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Black Alicorn | 656 | 38 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2012-07-08T13:08:43+00:00 | 2012-07-08T13:08:43+00:00 | 3,457 | "Will he be all right?" Twilight asked, hoping for positive reply.
"I've seen him in bad shape before, but not like this..."
Nurse Redheart turned to grab a chest x-ray, which had just been delivered by another nurse.
"Thankfully he gave us the complete rundown of human anatomy. And know we can say for certain what happened to him..."
She placed the x-ray on the screen and began the list of his injuries...
"Fractured ribs...take your pick. Third, fourth, fifth, sixth. All of this on the right side. The left ribs escaped with less damage. Slight fractures to the second and third. His left lung was punctured by the knife Shining Armor used...The same knife barely missed his heart. "
Twilight winced as she remembered the gruesome sight. Wolf lying face down on the floor, knife handle sticking out of his chest, practically floating in a pool of his own blood. Then she remembered her brother, just standing over there, Wolf in front of him, dying, in front of him. Because of him. If there was ever a time when Twilight hated her brother, it was now. How could he be so heartless? Twilight never knew that side of him, and frankly she didn't want to know it. She didn't want to know any of him...
Nurse Redheart grabbed the tip of another x-ray with her mouth, and placed it on the screen. This one was showing his head.
"Blunt force trauma to the back of the skull created by him falling on the counter...Same place where he hit his head before. That just made it worse..."
She paused, then sighed.
"Twilight, I'm not gonna lie to you. I've never, ever, seen a patient in such bad condition. The best definition I can come up with right now is a corpse breathing. We'll do all we can, but I'm still not sure..."
Twilight's lowered her head. An unknown force lifted her chin up. It was Nurse Redhearts hoof.
"But I do know one thing for certain..."
Twilight looked up at her.
"He would have never have made it in time for us to have a chance to save him if you hadn't brought him here when you did."
Twilight smiled a bit. That was reassuring. He had a chance, thanks to her. Hell, he had come through stuff like this before! He always healed quickly, and not to mention the fact that he had the luck of a demon. She was confident that he would pull through. But still, the thought of losing him when she had just found him again...
"Your brother escaped practically unscathed, just some minor bruising."
Twilight didn't even want to hear about her brother right now. Just the mention of the word brother made her want to kick down a door, break a window, etc...
"You can see him...if you want."
"Yes...please..."
"Right this way."
Nurse Redheart held out her hoof to show her which way to go. She guided her through the nearly empty hospital until she came upon a single room that had a certain number on it...
'713'
"He's in here. Call me if you need me."
"Thank you Nurse Redheart..."
Nurse Redheart too her leave, abondoning Twilight outside the door. It seemed massive to her. She cautiously moved her hoof forward and gently turned the knob. The door opened slowly. A loud creak eminated from the slighlty rusty bolts holding it in place. There she saw him. Lying in bed, most of his right side in a cast. The back of his head was also in a cast. Four separate needles inserted in his right arm, his left chest segment, his leg and the right side of his head, giving him much needed fluids. She walked over to him, tears falling from her eyes. As soon as she reached the bed, she rested her head on his stomach, tears still flowing freely.
"Please don't leave me..."
He didn't respond. His EKG continued to beep every second or so. Other than that, there was no sound in the room.
"You can't leave me...You Pinkie Promised..."
Amidst the sound of her crying and Wolf's EKG, she didn't hear Shining Armor come in the doorway. The sight of his sister crying over Wolf's seemingly lifeless body was almost too much to bear. He didn't like it very much, but he knew he had to protect his sister, even if it means hurting her that much. Twilight got up and turned around, then walked out the doorway, ignoring Shining Armor.
"Twilie..."
All he received in response was a good hard smack to his cheek from Twilight's hoof. He immediately felt it going red. The shock wore off quickly, and he looked to his sister, dumbstruck.
"Don't you ever talk to me again. I don't want to see your face, I don't want to hear you voice, I don't even want to hear your name. Just go away and leave me alone."
And with that, she left the large white (with the exception of his beet red cheek) stallion alone in the hallway.
In the wee hours of the morning...
Shining Armor knew what had to be done, even if it meant losing his sister forever. He had to protect her. Protect her from that...THING, that fell from the sky. He crept through the empty hallways of the hospital, nimbly dodging the occasional night guard. After a few minutes, he reached the room he was looking for.
'713'
He slowly pushed open the door and entered. There he was, clear as day, lying in his bed. It was the perfect time to strike, when he was so vulnerable. He hesitated though. It was one thing to hurt somepony, or in this case someone. But to actually kill that someone? It would require some preparation. He turned to make sure nopony was coming. He closed the door.
"Come to finish the job, eh?"
He gasped as he realised his target was awake. Things just got a lot harder. He didn't answer.
"I understand why you're doing this you know..."
Shining Armor turned to face him.
"How? How can you understand?"
"Because I'm a big brother too. Just like you."
Both of them paused. Wolf sighed.
"You have to watch your sister fall in love. That's nothing."
"Like hell."
"I had to watch my sisters die."
Shining Armor tensed up. To him, the words 'die' and 'sister' didn't even belong in the same sentence.
"As a brother, you had a duty to protect them. A duty you failed. That tells me that you'll fail to protect my sister."
He paused.
"And the fact that you're here today instead of having died with your sisters tells me that you'll run."
"Don't you pretend to know what happened! You want to find out why I'm still here today? Fine!"
- - - - -
This was in September, 2663. It was my turn to get some R&R. I chose my destination carefully. Pollux. I chose it specifically because of one thing. My sisters. You see, they were having a school trip there. The whole war aside, this was the golden age of human society. It was completely safe to go out at night. It was safe enough for schools to organise trips to planets in completely different solar systems. While I was a few days into my leave, they arrived. I stayed with them for a couple of days. Then came September 23rd...That damn day that's still burned into my head...The school was taking the children to some museum. I wanted to spend some time with my sisters, alone, without anyone to bother us. No school, no parents, no officers, nothing to ruin our day of fun. I asked the principal if I could take them out for a walk or something. He let me do it. He knew they would be safe with me. So I went out to talk to them. I only got through to one of them though. Chloe. They were twins, but they were different. Chloe was more of a free spirit. She'd much rather go out for a walk then sit in some boring museum for a few hours. Cassandra was the exact opposite. They disagreed on a lot. But when they had a common goal in sight, they were unstoppable. Cassandra wanted to see the museum, so I took Chloe out for a walk in the park. It was a long way from the hotel though. So I decided to drive there, then walk through the park, maybe get some ice cream, just a day in the park with my sister. She was talking to me while I was driving. An Armored Minotaur...While she was talking though...
A loud boom shook from the sky shook the ground. I looked up from the windshield to see something that still haunts my nightmares. A Spinar Assault Cruiser. I could not tear my gaze away from it. I ignored the screams from outside. I just stared at it. When it started to open fire, I probably would have just continued to stare at it, if Chloe wasn't screaming at me. Instinct finally kicking in, I just drove through the road, avoiding Spinar fire and the debris from the skyscrapers that were destroyed first. We were outside a small square on a narrow road when a shot from the Cruiser sent the Minotaur flying in the air. We crashed in a corner. My leg was cut up a bit. I kicked the door open and grabbed the M-72 from a compartment in the dashboard. I opened Chloes door in the backseat. She was fine, save for a few cuts on her hands and face. I gave her the rifle, and yelled at her.
"Take this and stay down!" I screamed.
A sharp pain in my left shoulder, followed by a tremendous force. It knocked me square on my ass. I pulled my sidearm out and took aim at the Drone that was standing on top of a small pile of debris. First shot, left shoulder. Second shot, right shoulder. Third shot, head. It fell dead to the ground. The pain finally catching up to me, I screamed in agony. Chloe got out of the Minotaur. She fired the rifle into the direction of the oncoming bugs. I was just screaming at her to get out of there, but...Chloe was stubborn to a fault. She...She said she wouldn't leave me. I still screamed for her to get out of here, fearing she might get shot, or worse. To my horror, that's just what happened. Three shots. Three spikes in her right shoulder, in a line going down to her chest. She fell to the ground next to me. She was alive, barely. I fired my pistol at them until the gun clicked empty. I knew we were going to die there.
All of a sudden, the roar of an engine, followed by the squealing of brakes. A few men in pitch black combat gear rushed towards the pile of debris and took cover.
"Alien target!" One of them yelled.
"Light 'em up!" Another shouted.
Two of them got up and began firing. One of them got shot immediately, and fell dead to the ground. Another man came in his place.
"Take 'em down!"
"There's too many!"
They just continued to shoot untl another man came up, holding a grenade launcher.
"Frag 'em!" One of them yelled.
The man pulled the trigger and an explosion followed. No more bugs. They were gone.
"Area secure!"
One of them, the leader, pointed at me.
"Get him up!"
One of his troops lifted me up, while another examined Chloe. She was alive, barely. A helicopter landed in the square. They took me to it. It had an insignia on it I recognised. They were Shadow Element. A 'non-existent' branch of the military under the direct control of the High Generals. They were the best of the best, the elite. And they had top notch military hardware. They put me in the helicopter. The leader hopped in.
"Get in here Corporal." He told to the man examining my sister.
"Sir, she's still alive!" He replied.
"Our orders are to extract Wolf, not some snot nosed little girl! Get in here, or stay behind."
The Corporal jumped in of course. Chloe reached out to me, calling to me. I think she was screaming my name...But the chopper blades drowned it out.
"No. No...No no no!" I screamed. They were leaving her behind. As the chopper lifted off, I could still see her, reaching for me...calling me. I leaned out of the helicopter and tried to jump down from about fifty meters in the air. One of the men pulled me back in. The last thing I remember was the butt of an M-72 meeting me square in the face...
- - - - -
Wolf paused, and inhaled sharply. Shining Armor was almost whimpering.
"When we took back that God-forsaken square a few days later...All that was left of my sister...Were the parts the dogs and the crows didn't like."
Shining Armor gasped. How could anyone be so cruel? Wolf began again, staring right into Shining's eyes.
"You think that's the end? Oh how I wish it was. But no...there's more..."
- - - - -
Two weeks after Chloe had died, and Cassandra was still missing. I barely slept at night, wondering if she was okay. At that time, I had also learned that the Spinar's greatest warrior, the SuperWasp, as he was dubbed, was on planet and was hunting me. Apparently I was becoming quite the thorn in the bug's side. Anyway, I was assigned perimeter detail in Saronus Square, with Eagle. Eagle was the best sniper I'd ever seen. He could take a bug's head off at two thousand yards. Anyway, Saronus Square was huge. We controlled one side, and the bugs controlled the other. We had set up some 24 mm HMG's to try and hold off the bugs. The barricade was secure, things had been quiet for the past few days.
I was taking a snooze, when Eagle woke me up, two cups of hot coffee in his hands. He passed one to me.
"Cheers." He said. I replied. The coffee tasted terrible, but it was better than nothing.
"Things have been queit round here eh Wolf? Too quiet for my tastes..."
"Yeah...sure..." I got up. I looked towards the other side of the square. I took a closer look at a light post close to the middle of the square. I saw something there, and it terrified me
"What?" Eagle asked me.
I needed a closer look. I ran back and grabbed Eagle's sniper rifle. I looked into the scope and focused at the light post. I screamed as I saw Cassandras mutilated corpse dangling from that lightpost. I dropped the rifle and went back further into the perimeter. Eagle picked up his rifle and saw it too. He gasped when it registered who it was.
"No, no Wolf don't!"
He saw me grabbing as many explosives as I could while whimpering.
"Wolf's its a trap!" He yelled at me.
"I don't care!" I screamed back.
He tackled me to the ground.
"It's what they want! They want you to come out and kill you!" he screamed at me.
"Get off me!"
"It's what they want!"
I punched him. Hard. I think I broke his nose. He came off of me immediately. I jumped up, and ripped off one of the 24 mil's from it's stand. I ran into the middle of the square, peppering the bug side with bullets.
"I'M OVER HERE!!!"
Unarmed Drones started to pour out of their territory, and tried to storm me.
"COME ON YOU SON'S OF BITCHES!!! COME OOOOON!!!
- - - - -
Wolf was whimpering. He wiped away his tears.
"I killed every single one of them. Not one was left standing. The High Generals gave me three days off to spend with what was left of my family. Bullshit. They wanted me to be there at my sister's funeral. They knew that when I was pissed at the bugs, I'd fight them even harder. So they wanted me as pissed as possible when I went back to the front."
Wolf swallowed after inhaling sharply.
"You try explaining to your mother and father why they're burying a pile of random bones and a bruised, cut up corpse. You try looking them in the eye when you tell them what happened."
Shining Armor was a mess. He had fallen to the floor. His breathing was irregular. He was very disturbed.
"So go ahead," Wolf continued.
"Do what you came here to do, finish what you started and spare me the pain of living each day."
Shining Armor just got up and ran out of the room and made a bee-line for the bathroom.
"Damn you Shining Armor! Go to hell!"
He ingored Wolf's screams and threw up in the bathrooms. He would be in there for a long time...
End Chapter 37. |
Black Alicorn | 656 | 39 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2012-07-28T02:17:40+00:00 | 2013-08-23T20:41:23+00:00 | 3,326 | A few hours later...
He lay in his bed, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. Every little detail, he noticed. A mosquito buzzed through the air. Bugs. Unlike many people, he didn't hate those kind of bugs. They were just doing what they were meant to do. No, he only hated the alien kind. The kind that killed his. Killed...more like completely obliterated. Everyone, everything remotely human. Millions of years of evolution went down the drain in less than a quarter of a century. Thousands of years of civilization, gone. Everything mankind had worked so hard for...Completely destroyed. He wondered what was the point then. What was the point of creating anything if it would be destroyed sooner or later? He shook his head. He was never one for philosophy. His take on life was simple.
"Live it while you've still got it." He said slowly, remembering his own words from just a year or so back. He remembered the first time he said those words. R&R with some of the guys.
- - - - -
April 24th, 2664, 0237 hours.
They had left the area designated by their superiors. It was a risky move. But they knew they had earned it. The four of them slowly crept through the forest, nimbly avoiding the searchlights from airborne patrols. They knew the standard search procedure, and that placed them one step ahead of them. They would search an area for awhile and move on. And so they did. Once they were sure that they were clear, they climbed up the hill they had chosen before they left the compound. They had planned this three days in advance. Wolf, Eagle, Python and Tiger. Tiger didn't die until a few months later. When she was alive, she was funny, smart, playful...
- - - - -
These memories were the only good that had come out of the whole ordeal. He laughed as he remembered another scene, taking place just a week before they enacted their plan and began their little trip...
- - - - -
Wolf walked into the showers, towel resting on his shoulder. The steam hit him immediately. The heat was intense, he hadn't been in there for two seconds and he was already sweating. Greetings towards him immediately filled the air. His most recent achivement was a big one.
"Congrats on breaking thirty thousand man! Your face is plastered on all the major news nets!"
"It always is..." He nodded to Kestrel.
A familiar voice rang in the air.
"They can't help it. Since he has SUCH a pretty face." Tiger smiled as everyone else laughed at her joke. They usually never meant these petty insults. Just another way to relieve some stress..
"Can it Tiger, I'm not in the mood for this shit..."
"Ooh...feisty today. They give you the wrong dogfood or something?"
He threw his towel to the ground. The laughing stopped immediately.
"Tiger, I really don't want to do this right now..."
She backed off. She knew he wasn't in a good mood.
"Okay okay, lighten up a little! We're not in battle here! Sheesh..."
He sighed as he realised she was right. He could take out his frustrations on the bugs next time he met them in battle. Which would be sometime soon...
He looked back to Tiger, mustering his courage to apologise. He caught her right as she was removing her shirt. He smiled as a thought registered in his head. She did tell him to lighten up...
He howled loud enough for her to hear him over the running water. She looked back at him and gave him a sly smile.
"Aw shut up..."
After finishing her reply to his cat err...wolf (?) call, she walked into the shower she had claimed for herself. Wolf chuckled as he removed his shirt in turn. Before he managed to walk in, he heard a low growl from a certain shower stall... He looked back at Tiger to see her leaning over the door, staring at him with her eyes half closed in a seductive manner, purring like a kitten. Much to her dissapointment, he removed his pants after the door was closed behind him...
- - - - -
He laughed as he remembered the good times they had together. That was definitely the most memorable. That and the conversation that followed.
- - - - -
"I don't get it," Kestrel said.
"Here we go again..." Wolf interrupted.
Kestrel ignored him and continued.
"Why was it called the DEMIGOD project when they named us after animals? Why not something like Achilles, or Perseus or something like that?"
As he was scrubbing his back, Wolf replied.
"Two reasons:
One, there aren't enough demigods to name us all after, and two, you're only saying that because they wanted to name you after the size of your genitals, isn't that right, Mouse?"
The entire shower room errupted in laughter as Kestrels darkest secret was finally revealed. He stared at Wolf with a look that could kill.
"Thank you Wolf..."
"You're welcome..."He shot back, smiling at him.
"Mouse."
If everyone else in the room wasn't laughing before, they sure were now. Their laughter was interrupted by an alarm blaring throughout the base. Wolf could hear the helicopters lifting off.
"I'd hate to cut this short people, but duty calls..."
- - - - -
His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. He turned his head to look who it was. He scoffed as he saw who it was. Shining Armor was even more pale than usual. His eyes were glazed over and he wobbled when he walked. He was in bad shape.
"Coward..." He thought to himself.
Shining Armor walked over to him, nearly falling over.
"I...I'd like to say I'm sorry...:"
"Apology accepted. By me at least."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I accepted because I fully understand and would have done the same in your position. She, will be a lot harder..."
He nodded behind Shining Armor.
"She?"
He turned around to be met with the sight of Twilight standing in the doorway.
"What do you want here?"
"Twilie...I..."
Twilight scoffed.
"Forget it. Get out of my way..."
She pushed past her dumbstruck brother. He offered no resistance. She stood over him, tearing up as she realised he'd be all right.
"Ouch...It's gonna take awhile before those two make up..."Wolf thought to himself. Unbeknownst to him though, his thoughts were anything but private...
Deep within Everfree Forest...
A lone Unicorn chuckled as he considered the oportunity he had here. He just needed something to seize it...Then he realised he had the perfect tool for the job. Slowly he began to invade his mind.
Back at the hospital...
"How are you feeling?"
He brought a hand to his head
"I've been better, that's for sure..."
He saw his answer didn't satisfy her.
"I'm fine, really."
"Are you sure? Maybe it's just the drugs, maybe you just can't feel it! Or maybe you're just saying you're all right just to-"
She was interrupted by Wolf's hand on her mouth.
"It's okay Twilight. I'm fine. Really."
She sighed.
"You scared me to death."
"C'mon. You know me. You know I pull through. And I think that by now you should know that I'm very hard to kill."
"That's for sure..." Shining Armor commented.
Twilight turned around and nearly killed him as their eyes locked. He shut up instictively. Twilight turned back to Wolf.
"Ignore him..."
She leaned down to him, intent on receiving something she needed from him... He knew exactly what she wanted. He closed his eyes. A voice echoed through his head.
"I have you know." The pain that followed nearly knocked him unconscious.
Twilight had her eyes open and saw him wincing. She was worried she had hurt him. His eyes shot open and she noticed the difference. His eyes were blue. Now, they were completely yellow. She had seen something like this before... Before she realised what was going on, she felt his hand wrap around her throat. He was trying to choke her. He got up out of the bed, yellow eyes glistening in the light. Shining Armor sprang into action and reared up, trying to hit Wolf with his forehooves.. He was too slow though. Wolf dropped Twilight and grabbed Shining Armors left hoof and slammed his fist in his face. He flew backwards into the wall.
"Wolf! Stop it!" Twilight screamed at him.
"Fight it!"
He tried to punch her in the face, but she dodged just in time. Her horn glowed a bright purple and locked him in a magic bubble of sorts. She gradually decreased the diameter of the bubble in order to restrict his movements. It seemed to be working. His arm swung out and shattered the sphere. Twilight was sent flying backwards. He quickly pulled the tubes out his arm, the others following. He grabbed a scalpel off a nearby metal tray and slowly walked towards Twilight. He smiled at her whimpering. As he was halfway there, a yell echoed through the room as Shining Armor crashed into him with his full weight. They both crashed into the bed, grunting and deperately trying to get a shot at each other. Wolf had the advantage. He threw him off of him and jumped out of the bed. The door flung open and three security guards appeared in the doorway. With a quick motion of his hand, he sent them back flying into the hallway, the door slamming and locking behind them. Wolf brought both his hands to his head and screamed in pain as he fell to the floor. His left eye had returned to normal. Tears streamed from it freely as the other, still yellow looked around annoyed. In a deep voice, he yelled:
"ENOUGH!!"
His blue eye turned yellow as he got up again. He looked around and saw the familiar sight of a gun handle. He pulled it out of the holster and walked over to Twilight. His eyes were blue again, but he continued to move towards her, much slower. As he positioned himself over her, his arm slowly came up, grasping the gun. He whimpered.
"S-..St-Stop-Stop me..."
His gun slowly rose up towards her face. His finger positioned itself over the trigger. He fought it with every ounce of strength he had left. But he was failing.
He heard laughing in his head as an image popped into his head. A Unicorn laughing. He realised that it had let his guard down. He knew that he would fail, but he had an opening here. He had to take it. And so he did.
Everfree...
The Unicorn screamed as a sudden wave of pain overtook his head. He fought it, but he failed...
- - - - -
The Unicorn was alone in a large forest. The trees towered above him as bats flew overhead. The only light was the full moon. He looked around nervously. A howl in the distance. Followe by another one, and another...Soon the howling had formed a chorus and was sending chills down his spine. He looked towards a bush to see a pair of yellow eyes staring at him. He looked around more. Every bush in sight was inhabited by the eyes. The howling resumed, much louder this time. Wolves jumped out of the bushes, their yellow eyes locked on him, snarling and gnashing their teeth at him. His heartbeat increased rapidly as his instincts told him to do one thing.
Run.
He tried, but he failed. They had surrounded him in a small clearing and were circling him. They lunged at him and each grabbed one of his hooves with their teeth. They sliced through the skin and the powerful muscles, causing him to nearly black out from the pain. They held him in place and suspended him in the air, stomach exposed. The forest faded away, replaced by a wall of black, the light illuminating him and his canine captors simply being absorbed by the wall of darkness. A figure began to emerge from it. It was Wolf. Wolf looked at him and snarled himself. He fell to his knees as his armor fell away in pieces, pushed away from the fur growing within. His arms slowly transformed into paws. His face transformed as well. When it was all finished, he had been transformed completely into a wolf. Only say, three times larger than the other ones. He positioned himself over the Unicorn, his snout meeting his muzzle. He snarled as he showed it his large, white, razor sharp teeth. The Unicorn whimpered as he went lower and lower, nearing his exposed stomach. He looked up into the Unicorn's eyes for one last time and growled, before ripping into it's exposed stomach.
It's screams of agony echoed around him...
- - - - -
Lieutenant Darkmane rushed towards his screaming master.
"My Lord! Αre you alright?!"
The Unicorn inhaled as he snapped out of his trance. He calmed down as he realised he was alright.
"What happened my Lord?"
"He has...broken my hold on him. He is free once more..."
Ponyville Hospital...
As Wolf finally beat back the invader, his exhaustion caught up to him. He looked down to his body. He was bleeding, badly...He leaned towards his right, before falling over unconscious. The last thing he heard was Twilight screaming for him... |
Black Alicorn | 656 | 40 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2012-09-16T08:50:16+00:00 | 2013-07-12T22:23:45+00:00 | 3,323 | Wolf slowly opened his eyes with a groan. With every little pull of the muscles in his eyelids, another wave of pain tore through his head. After much effort to keep them open, he started a new task. As the blur in his vision started to clear up, Wolf tried to lift himself up. He made it a few inches above the matress he was laying on. His arms began to shake before he finally fell back to the bed. Wolf groaned as his back fell upon the soft matress. He was sore all over. He could barely move at all. But Wolf was too proud and too stubborn to let his own weight defeat him. He pushed off the bed with renewed vigor. He winced as his back slowly lifted off the bed into the air. As he finally reached a position where he wouldn't just fall back again, he stopped straining his arms and exhaled, exhausted by the whole ordeal. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't over. As he made it up out of the bed, the new images sent by his eyes into his brain was too much for it in its weakened state. A severe headache was the result. The voice he heard only made it much. MUCH worse...
"You're up!"
Wolf waved his arm at the direction of the voice, before it finally fell back to the bed, too tired to continue. Unfortunately, the sudden pull of the arm brought him falling back to the bed. Wolf sighed. As the ringing in his ears stopped, he replied to the voice. He knew it was Twilight.
"Not so loud...please..." He whispered.
"What was that?" She asked in response, just as loud.
As the bells in his ears were ringing like there was no tommorow, he managed to blurt out:
"Not so loud!"
Twilight took a step back as Wolf finished his very loud sentence.
"Sorry..." She whispered.
As she was thinking about this whole ordeal, she had an idea that would make the whole thing easier. Her horn glowed as a bolt of white light shot out of it and was heading for Wolf's head. In that state, he couldn't get out of the way. Wolf closed his eyes as the bolt hit his head. He opened them back up immediately, feeling much better. He was actually feeling strong enough to get up out of the bed. His head still hurt though, just not as much as before. He wobbled a bit before finally regaining his balance.
"I feel like a mountain fell on me..."
"Mind control can have that effect..."
"Great...How long was I out?"
"Two weeks."
"Eh...I've had worse."
Twilight wanted to ask, but she realised that she really didn't want to know.
Wolf walked out of the room. Twilight forgot to mention something.
"Watch out for the-"
A series of loud thuds and cries of pain stopped her. She poked her head out of the door to see Wolf lying on the floor below her, dazed by the multiple impacts.
"-stairs..."
Wolf picked himself up slowly. He then dusted himself off.
"I'm okay..."
Twilight merely shook her head. She watched as he made his way into the kitchen and practically fell on a chair. Then something in her head clicked. She dreaded it and knew that it would come. And this was the worst possible time. There was no point in trying to control herself, she knew she would fail.
Wolf had just sat down on the chair when Twilight appeared right next to him, just like Pinkie Pie had done to him a couple of times. He looked at her face and nearly died of fright. Her eyes were wide open, her right twitching along with her ear.
Her voice uttering those two simple words nearly gave him a heart attack.
"Hi Wolf..."
He gulped as her ear twitched again. He barely managed to utter a response.
"Hi..."
He felt that she was staring right through him. He couldn't break free. He suddenly felt very vulnerable. He had seen this kind of behavior before and was terrified it would happen again. Twilight's horn glowed. His heart nearly gave out as a drawer in the kitchen slowly opened and saw the distinct purple aura of her magic peeked from the top of the drawer. He could only gasp as she levitated out a...
Pencil and notepad?
Wolf breathed a sigh of relief when he realised that she was just going through one of her 'interrogation' phases.
When she started plying him with questions, he realised that maybe his initial thought wasn't so bad after all...
He answered nearly all of them with 'I don't know, ask Sam.' But one he knew very well.
"How did the war begin?"
He sighed as he recollected the information he knew was buried in his head somewhere. But to reach that particular answer, he had to tell a much bigger story.
"By the dawn of the twenty-fourth century, we had already colonised our entire solar system. Every planet, every moon was colonised. But we still sent out probes to look for more colonisable planets. Everything changed when two men, Drs. Maxwell Whittenstein and and William Carson, two scientists working on deep space probes made humanity's crown achievement by mistake."
"I'm not sure this is the answer I was looking for..."
"Just bear with me Twi."
"By mistake, you said?"
"Yeah, some flaw with the fusion engines caused it to vanish before their eyes. It nearly exploded. Anyway, they assumed it was lost."
He leaned in closer to Twilight, who had sat down on a chair next to him.
"But, three months after the probe dissapeared, they found something."
"What did they find?"
"The probes locator beacon. It was transmitting from nearly three-thousand light-years away. They realised that they had just discovered faster-than-light travel. Research contunued. After three years of research, experiments and some other crap, they finally mounted the first Jump Drive on a ship."
"Why was it called the Jump Drive? And what exactly does it do?"
Wolf thought for a moment.
"For lack of a better name. About what it does...I don't know the physics behind this stuff, but basically? It tears a hole through regular space-time and sends the ship with the drive through Jump Space, where travel is much faster."
"But how does this have anything to do with how the war with the Spinar started?"
Wolf sighed. He had spent much of his time analysing that very question. The answer wasn't proven, but the evidence was overwhelming.
"In the late twenty-fifth century, mankind had colonised hundreds of worlds. Jump technology was getting better and better, and more probes were being sent into deep space. But something happened to one of them. Probe L-742. It was sent to a system that was designated L-742. That's how they named probes, by the systems they'd visit. Anyway, upon arrival, the probe sent a signal for a few minutes...then vanished, without a trace."
He shuddered at the continuation.
"And it was confirmed by recon ships sent only two years ago that..."
His breathing became irregular as he struggled to utter the words he wanted to say.
"System L-742 is home to the largest Spinar population that's ever been seen. Hundreds of ships patrolled it."
He gulped. He didn't want to finish, but he had to.
"And after...analysing a few captured Spinar ships...It was confirmed that...Their Jump technology is almost identical with our own."
Twilight gasped as she realised what he meant. Humanity's greatest achievement became their downfall. More questions lingered in her head.
"Why did they use children in the program to turn you into soldiers? Couldn't they use adult subjects?"
"No. Adult test subjects were already used. They either died or were severely crippled. The augmentations had to be received at a young age so that the body could grow into them."
"But couldn't they wait until you reached adulthood to deploy you?"
"Yes. But something happened that showed the High Command that they couldn't wait to deploy us. Our training was cut in half."
"What happened?"
"A Spinar Assault Cruiser breached the Earth's Lunar Perimeter. The fact that it even made it into our home system was scary enough, but getting that close to our homeworld? After we won there, we abandoned nearly three dozen systems to regroup our forces. By the time I entered the war, from a few hundred colonised systems, we had dropped to sixty-four. What I told you before, the hundred-twenty four billion dead? That was only in seven years of fighting. The war lasted twenty-four years. In total? Nearly two hundred-and fifty billion humans were slaughtered."
Twilight nearly fainted. She wanted to stop, but couldn't resist one last question.
"What was the training like?"
"In total it lasted four years. One was devoted to surgeries and implants. The second to psychological psychological training. The third and fourth was four months of vehicle training. Two months on a Cerberus Main Battle Tank, and another two on a Minotaur Light Recon Vehicle. Add another eight months of aircraft training. Two on a Harpy Gunship, Two on a Guardian Angel Helicopter, another two on a Thunderbird Fighter/Bomber and the last two on a Phoenix Space Superiority Fighter."
"And the other year?"
"Just regular combat training. Hand-to-hand, firearms, that kind of stuff."
Twilight was satisfied by the information received. She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She smiled warmly at him.
"Thank you. I know it must have been hard to tell me all those things."
"You know, they'd probably have me shot if they knew I told you all this..."
"Who would?"
"High Generals. Some of the stuff I told you was classified. Real hush-hush."
He looked straight into her eyes and smiled.
"But you're worth the risk."
Twilight couldn't resist the urge to kiss him. They locked lips together in the kitchen, as the sun's light began to fade away...
Many hours later...
The night above the dark Everfree Forest was stunningly beautiful. The full moon shone brightly, bathing Equestria in it's light. On top of a large boulder, a Unicorn wearing a cloak over it stared into the sky above.
"Such beauty..." He muttered.
"I believe it to be highly appropriate for our Queen to be reborn on a night such as this..."
As he started to descend from the boulder, he said one final sentence.
"Soon, the night's beauty will last forever..."
At the bottom of the boulder, three more cloaked ponies waited for him. Another Unicorn, a Pegasus, and an Earth Pony.
"Report, my Lieutenants."
The Pegasus took a step forward, intent on speaking first. He was interrupted by the other Unicorn. Her very tone of voice was taunting him.
"My Lord, Celestia's defeat at the hoof of the Changeling Queen was the turning point we hoped it would be. Thousands realised her weakness and joined our ranks."
"Excellent."
The Pegasus spoke next, making sure he wouldn't be interrupted.
"Lord Night, the Griffons have agreed to aid us. They will strike when we instruct them to."
"This is marvelous news Darkmane. Soon Equestria will be ours..."
The Earth Pony stepped forward and bowed.
"My Lord, I have gathered all that is neccescary."
"Good...She has waited too long..."
All four of them moved into a nearby clearing. Four pillars were placed in the corners of the clearing while a large circle with complex patterns was drawn in the dirt between them. Six more Unicorns emerged from the shadows.
"Welcome, Elders. It is time." Lord Night spoke. His horn glowed as a small bottle with a red fluid within levitated from a pocket on his cloak. Their horns glowed as the lines in the dirt the circle was composed of began to glow red. The clear sky began to cloud up as the wind intesified.
"Her two defeats at the hooves of Harmony shall only delay her rise!"
The bottle was placed in the center of the circle. The outline of it was now completely red, and now the lines inside it were beginning to glow red.
"And she shall rise again from her own blood!"
Lightning began to flash in the cloudy sky above as the red glow had reached the bottle in the center. It lifted in the air and hovered ten feet off the ground.
"Oh, Nightmare Moon, Godess of the night, Queen of Darkness, one more, you shall rise!!!"
A bolt of lightning struck the bottle in the center of the circle and it exploded in a cloud of smoke. As it cleared, the red fluid had multiplied many times and was taking form. A set of hooves appeared first, followed by the rest of the body and a pair of wings, ending with a horn. The ritual was complete. In the center of the now worn circle, a jet black Alicorn filly lay on the ground whimpering. Lord Night approached her. The filly looked up to him.
"Who are you? Where am I..." She paused.
"Who am I?"
"Calm yourself child...I will show you who you are..."
Lord Night only smiled as the plan was set in motion...
End Chapter 39. |
Black Alicorn | 656 | 41 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2012-09-23T10:28:47+00:00 | 2012-09-23T10:28:47+00:00 | 3,253 | 47 days later, Sweet Apple Acres.
Wolf rushed his target, intent on giving it everything he had. As the adrenaline flooded his veins, he increased his speed. When Wolf got close enough, he jumped into the air. He rotated 360 degrees and extended his leg. He gave out a massive war cry as his kick landed exactly where he wanted it to. With his other leg, he kicked off his target and landed on his hands four feet away. Wolf quickly repulsed off the ground, landing on his feet another two feet away. Wolf raised his head to see the results of his furious attack. He smiled at the results.
"Perfect..."
The apples flew free from the tree Wolf kicked, filling the baskets resting on it's roots. One however, didn't intend to end up like it's brethren. It hit the rim of the basket, falling out. It bounced off the roots of it's former home and flew away from it, intent on escaping. The apple bounced off the ground a few times, it's bright red peel deflecting the impacts with the ground. Newton's first law of motion however, would put a stop to it's attempt. It rolled another foot, before finally stopping.
Wolf eyed the defiant little fruit. A slight rumble from his stomach dictated his next action. He picked it up and took a bite out of it. It's sweet flavor was enough to cause him to close his eyes and give off a slight moan. He opened his eyes again and was greeted by the sight of Big Mac climbing up a hill in the distance, dragging a cart behind him. Wolf looked behind him, to see that the part of the orchard he was assigned to harvest was picked clean, thanks to him. Seeing as how he was done with his work, an idea popped into his head. He rushed a couple more bites, then threw the core to the ground. It wasn't a big deal. He knew it would make good fertilizer for the nearby trees.
Big Macintosh just made it up to the top of the hill. Normally he'd drag the cart with ease, but the fairly steep hill made it harder. He took a few quick breaths. A rustle in the bushes nearby caught his attention. He thought it was just the wind, but another, more intense rustle proved him wrong. He unhitched the cart from his back and moved towards the bush slowly. It continued to rustle as he moved closer. Big Mac towered above the small bush. One final rustle, and an apple core rolled out. The voice following it made his blood run cold.
"Boo."
A loud yell caused Big Mac to snap out of it, but it was too late. A huge figure jumped out of the bushes and tackled him to the ground. Both him and the unknown figure rolled three times, before it jumped away. Big Mac quickly got on his hooves again, trying to find his attacker. A fit of cackling laughter made it all too easy. He looked to his right and there was Wolf, on the ground and rolling laughing.
"You should have seen the look on your face! Priceless!"
Big Macintosh was silent, as usual. He wasn't very happy at the moment, but while Wolf was still on the ground laughing, a golden opportunity to get back at him presented itself. One he would exploit immediately.
Wolf's laughter was abruptly silenced as Big Macintosh sat on him. After his slight coughing fit was over, Wolf looked up to Big Mac. A massive smile was plastered on his face as he closed his eyes and looked up into the sky. A few minutes passed, and with Wolf's pride already cracked by his failed attempts to lift Big Mac off him, he finally made the decision that would shatter it, possibly forever.
"Uncle! Uncle!"
His revenge exacted, Big Macintosh lifted himself up off of Wolf, leaving him to gasp for air.
"You've been eating too much..."
Big Mac simply walked away, nose still high in the air, smile still on his face.
"So what do I do now?" Wolf yelled to him.
"Go home. We're done for the day."
"Already?!"
"Eeyup."
Seeing as how he had nothing more to do, Wolf began the walk back to the library.
The wind blew through Sweet Apple Acres, causing the leaves to errupt in a beautiful sound that would rival the greatest orchestras Equestria had to offer. The air was infused with the sweet, pleasing scent of apples. There was no rush, so Wolf decided to take it slow through the orchards, enjoying everything they had to offer. Acquiring a job here was a dream come true for him, although actually getting it was a bit hard, considering how stubborn Applejack was on the subject of his wages...
Two weeks earlier...
"WHAT am I going to do with that much money Applejack?!" Wolf yelled at her.
"Ah don't know, and Ah don't care. You're getting your fair share, and that's final!"
Wolf didn't care a bit about the money he would receive, as long as it was enough to cover his basic needs. No, he only wanted a job to keep himself occupied. And honestly, beating the crap out of trees was a perfect way to vent. It took him a few hours, but he finally managed to talk Applejack down.
It was one of the toughest things he had ever done, but he managed.
Wolf looked around. How did he get back to the library so fast?! He couldn't have walked that fast...could he? Dismissing the fact that he got there a lot faster than he wanted to, he opened the door.
"WOLF! GET READY!!!"
The voice sent him jumping into the ceiling. After the initial shock wore off, he asked.
"What?"
"GET READY!"
Twilight zoomed back and forth between the library with speed that rivaled Pinkie Pie. He had no idea what she was doing.
"For what?"
Twilight stopped in front of him, and told him.
"The Grand Galloping Gala!"
And with a flash, she was gone again.
"And what, pray tell, is that?"
Without any warning, she presented herself in front of him again, her mane a frantic mess.
"Only the biggest social event in Equestria! All the high class society, even the Princess will be there, and she sent us invitations!"
As soon as he heard the words 'high class society', a little part of him died on the inside.
"Oh no...not another big old party filled with rich snobs...I've had enough of those for a lifetime..."
"And we're all going!"
"Do I have to?"
Twilight stopped in front of him, and shot him a look that scared the living daylight out of him.
"Okay, okay!"
"We're leaving in an hour and a half! If you're not ready by then...Oh you'll be in trouble..."
Wolf got the message and walked right back out the door, heading to the Red Dawn in order to get ready for the occasion...
One hour and twenty minutes later...
Wolf walked back into the library, fresh out of the shower, wearing some expensive cologne ment for this type of...thing. Everyone was waiting in the living room in their Gala dresses, save for Rarity and Nyx. Twilight was levitating a checklist in front of her.
"Where's Nyx?" Wolf asked.
"Her, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle are stating in their treehouse tonight."
"And Rarity?"
"She's on her way."
Twilight noticed the case he was carrying.
"What's that?"
"What I'm going to wear tonight."
"Go upstairs and get it on!"
Wolf went up the stairs and into Twilight's bedroom.
Six minutes later, and Rarity finally came through the door.
"Alright girls, I'm here! Let's go!"
"Hold on Rarity, Wolf's still getting ready."
"Oh, he's coming too? Where did you get his clothing for the Gala? I don't think they'd be able to make something in his size..."
"He's going to wear his own clothes."
A look of sheer dread appeared on Rarity's face.
"His...own? This is the WORST. POSSIB-"
The upstairs door opening interrupted Rarity. Everyone looked towards the stairs, while Rarity covered her eyes, expecting the worst. Five gasps only confirmed her fears.
"It's horrible isn't it?!"
"Rarity..."
"Why didn't you ask me to design his clothes?!"
"Rarity..."
"Now we're going to be humilliated in front of all-"
"Rarity!"
"What?!"
"Open your eyes!"
She did so, and what she saw there caused her eyes to shoot open and her jaw to drop to the floor. Before her stood Wolf in a pure white suit, a very good looking hat on his head, and not one, not two, but three rows of medals pinned on his chest. She was flabbergasted. She expected a torn suit of camo gear, not...THIS.
"Class-A's. What? This isn't the first time I've been to this kind of event." Wolf said, staightening his shirt collar.
"I guess we're all ready then. Let's go." Twilight said.
"Oh wait, I forgot one thing!" Wolf replied.
He ran back up the stairs, into the bedroom, and looked into the case laid out onto the bed. He grabbed the pistol there, put the safety on, and tucked it into his pants, putting his shirt over it.
"Ready!" He yelled as he went back down the stairs.
"Good! Let's go!" Twilight replied, checking the final thing on her list.
They all walked out the door, except Wolf, who wnet out last, closing the door behind him.
It was going to be one hell of a night...
End Chapter 40. |
Black Alicorn | 656 | 42 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2012-12-13T12:56:33+00:00 | 2013-08-28T12:14:56+00:00 | 3,311 | The flight to Canterlot was a silent one for Wolf. He stood in the right corner of the chariot, looking into the distance, while the others were talking amongst themselves. The wind in his face was a hated and loved sensation for him. It was exhilirating. But it also made him remember the many times he got stuck with every FUBAR assignment they could think of. The glow in the distance was getting brighter every minute. They would be arriving soon. He looked out the side onto the landscape below.
Wolf sharpened his knife as he looked out the open bay of the chopper. A large city rested in the distance, the former capital of the area. Scattered bursts of tracer fire lit up the sky. The others in his chopper were chatting idly as they closed in on the drop zone. One of them took a picture out of his wallet. He showed it to the rest of his squad.
"That's my daughter, Janet. She turns two next week."
The trooper next to him placed his arm around him.
"Don't worry man, you'll be back home in time to see her."
Wolf didn't say a thing. He just looked at his knife before placing it back in it's sheath. One more orphan, he thought. Wolf quickly dismissed that thought. If he was thinking like that, then the Spinar had already won.
"How can you be so sure Hal? You know the bugs don't take prisoners..."
"Sean, you got nothing to worry about! We got the Wolf with us!"
And with that he pointed at Wolf, who was still staring out of the chopper.
"Stay focused." He hissed.
Most of these men were recruits. Fresh out of basic. What the hell was HQ thinking, trying to take back a city with a force that's 60% greenhorns? And they all counted on him...Hundreds of soldiers, riding on his every decision. It was a burden he was used to, but he hated it nonetheless.
The whipping of additional chopper blades reached Wolf's ears as the smaller buildings of the city came into sight. Another chopper showed up right outside the bay of his. The troops waved at him. He returned their gesture. A voice cracked over the intercom.
"First wave inbound. Operation Liberator is a go."
"Thirty seconds out. Stand by."
A loud whine snapped Wolf out of his trance as he traced the projectiles fired from the ground.
"Fireworks!" Pinkie Pie yelled into the air, jumping up and down on the chariot amidst 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the rest of the girls. A blinding orange flash as one of the fireworks exploded just twenty feet away from the chariot.
"That was too close!"
The chopper next to his exploded, and turned out of control, spirraling down to the ground spewing orange flames.
"We've got flak! We've got flak!"
"I'm hit! I'm hit! GA 2-7 going down hard!"
"Break formation! Evasive maneuvers!"
Wolf was forced to grab onto the handhold as the chopper banked hard left to avoid Spinar AA fire. The pilots expert maneuvers saved them many times over. Or so they thought.
An explosion right outside their left bay door sent shrapnel flying into the troop bay. Screams of pain errupted from the men inside.
"Sean! Wake up man, wake up!"
Wolf looked at the trooper named Hal, shaking the corpse of his lifeless friend.
"Think of your daughter man! Sean! SEAAAN!"
The shockwave of another explosion rocked the damaged chopper. The picture of Sean's two year old daughter fell from his hand, and gently floated towards Wolf. He looked at it, to see the girl's face half covered in her fathers blood.
"Son of a bitch." Was all Wolf could mutter.
After finishing their course through the fireworks, one of the Pegasi pulling the chariot spoke up.
"It's a bit windy tonight! Gonna be a rough landing!"
Worried murmurs eminated from the girls. Wolf was unfazed. He had his fair share of rough landings.
Two loud clangs echoed through the troop bay as Spinar infantry fire hit the inside of the chopper.
"LZ is hot, repeat, LZ is hot. Get ready to hit the ground running Marines!"
The chopper descended into an open square amidst a hail of gunfire.
"Pile out!"
Wolf jumped out of the chariot first. Rainbow Dash followed. The others came out after recollecting themselves. As everything was in order, they moved towards the checkpoint at their landing pad. After the incident with the Changelings, Canterlot security was increased dramatically. The two Royal Guards stationed there looked at them, then cleared them through security. Then they noticed Wolf approaching. They hadn't received any instructions concerning him.
"Hold it right there."
One of them extended his hoof to stop Wolf's advance. Wolf grabbed it in midair.
"Hooves off."
"You're not going anywhere until you're cleared."
"Get out of my way."
"Is that a threat?"
"No. Just some advice."
"Oh ho, tough guy eh?"
"More than you know."
From behind the gate, Twilight watched as the guards and Wolf prepared to go all in. A familiar voice rang in the air.
"Twilie!"
Twilight turned to face her brother. He was wearing the same suit he wore to his wedding.
"Glad you could make it little sis."
"It's good to see you too Shining, but, you might want to clear Wolf back there. I don't think the guards posted there know what they're getting into."
"You sure we should let him in Twilie?"
The murderous look she shot him was a perfectly clear answer.
Wolf reverted back into fighting mode as the guards did the same. The second before all hell broke loose, Shining yelled to his men.
"Stand down!"
The guards turned to face their superior.
"Captain, sir! Are you sure about this?"
"Stand. Down. Let him pass."
The guard muttered to himself as he raised the gate.
"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret this..."
Wolf walked through the open gate, stopping for just a moment to look the guard in the eye. He huffed as he walked away. The others just stood there looking at him. Wolf straightened his collar.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go."
5 minutes later, Royal Gardens.
As soon as they reached the gardens and gazed upon what rested there, Wolf rolled his eyes. Hundreds of tables with pure white sheets on top of them. Waiters buzzed around the garden like bees in a hive, carrying trays of hors d'oeuvres, bottles of fine wine and champagne, trying to get them to the guests as fast as possible. The guests themselves were wearing all kinds of fancy clothing, obviously trying to compete with each other for who would wear the most expensive piece.
"You see one aristocrat, you see them all..." Wolf muttered.
"Bunch of back-stabbing hypocrites."
"What was that Wolf?" Twilight asked.
"Watch yourselves out there girls. And be careful what you say. There's nothing these vultures would like more than to get some good dirt on all of you."
"Dirt?! Where?!"
Wolf could only roll his eyes again as Rarity began hyperventilating at the mere mention of dirt.
A Royal Guard stepped up to Shining Armor and whispered something in his ear.
"All right, I'll on my way." Shining Armor replied to him.
"Well girls, I've got some matters to attend to, you go on, and I'll meet you later."
And with that, Shining Armor left. The girls practically ran into the gardens, leaving Wolf alone. The speed with which they left was so high, that it even took Wolf a few seconds to realise that they were gone. Panic set in.
"I'm alone?! With these...these..."
His fear was so great, he could barely mutter the words.
"...Rich people."
Wolf had been to all sorts of high class events before, but always with a familliar face, be it a general, one of his handlers, or a close friend. But to be alone among the upper class citizens? Where every mistake was as discreet as an earthquake? He'd much rather face a full Spinar invasion force. At least there, he'd know what to expect. After gathering all of his courage, Wolf finally made what could be the worst mistake of his life.
He went in.
Wolf's first destination was the buffet table. It was the least crowded area. He walked toward it as quickly as possible. Wolf's eyes darted back and forth at the ponies staring at him. He was used to the stares, but they were usually from the common folk, which were easily the most bearable. At least their behavior would change if they got to know you. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally reached the buffet table. Wolf quickly poured himself a glass of red wine. He took a quick sip. At least he remembered how to drink wine. That was a start.
"I have to say, I've been here for every single gala, and I've seen everypony here. But it's the first time I've ever seen you. What's your name?"
Wolf was startled by the sudden appearance of the fire-maned pegasus at his side. He noted the bright blue colors of her uniform. After a short, awkward pause he answered.
"Wolf."
"Well, Wolf, I'm Spitfire. Proud Captain of the Wonderbolts, the best flight team in Equestria."
"Yeah...in Equestria..." Wolf muttered.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Wolf turned to face her.
"I mean no offense ma'am, but the best flight team I've ever seen are the Blue Angels. Seven hundred years old, and they were better than ever. Every new batch of pilots is always better than the last. I'm damn proud to have been trained under them."
"You fly? How can you do that without wings?"
"I don't need wings...not when I've got a couple dozen Phoenixes in my hangars..."
Spitfire decided to change topic, as she didn't quite understand what Wolf was saying.
"So, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm a troubleshooter. I find trouble..."
Wolf took a quick sip of his wine, then looked at his glass.
"...and shoot it."
Spitfire ignored that last remark.
"Well, if you can fly, I might just have to challenge you to a race sometime."
Wolf smiled, then faced her once more.
"Be careful, I might just take you up on that."
"Anytime, anywhere."
Meanwhile, back at the Guard post...
Noises form the Gala aside, things were quiet at the gate. It was a bit chilly as well, but they didn't care. They were Royal Guards. The best of the best. The elite. A bit of cold at night wasn't enough to stop them.
"I am so...bored..."
"Yeah...me too...I hate guarding a gate...I didn't sign up for this..."
A thunderous voice yelled at them.
"Stow it you too! You should feel honored that you have such an important job! Now sit up straight and stop your bellyaching!"
They immediately snapped to attention. They both responded.
"Yes sir, Sergeant!"
"And if I ever hear you complaining again..."
They both resisted the urge to roll their eyes at their Sergeant's usual threats.
"You'll be cleaning soup kitch-"
A flash of red temporarily blinded them as an arrow went through their leaders head.
They both stood there, stunned, unable to fathom what they just saw.
"What the hell was that?!!"
"Where's it coming from?!"
"I don't-"
Cut off by a magic arrow to the throat, he felll to the ground, desperately trying to gasp for air, drowning in his own blood.
"Oh no, oh no oh-"
The third and final guard fell over dead, a black glowing arrow through his heart. The guard post was silent once more.
Four whisps of pitch black smoke appeared from nowhere and gently hovered above the ground. They came crashing down to the ground. The smoke swirled and from inside emerged four Unicorns in black cloaks. They examined the surrounding area, not missing a single detail, not making a sound. Once they were certain it was clear, the lifted their head up in the air and waited for the right time. Not yet....Not yet...Now.
They sent up four red sparks in a box formation just as another volley of fireworks was launched from the platforms above. Within moments, six Pegasi and three more plumes of smoke, one larger than the other two, were heading to the gate. The pegasi landed first, their hooves kicking up dirt from the ground. Like the Unicorns that arrived before them, they donned pitch black cloaks. The last three plumes of smoke came crashing down. From the two smaller ones emerged another pair of Unicorns. From the largest plume, emerged another Unicorn, but this one was not alone. Standing at it's side was a black Alicorn filly. He looked at her, and asked her.
"Are you ready, my future Queen?"
"Yes, Lord Night..."
He smiled.
"Tonight, we set in motion the fulfillment of your destiny."
And with that, they set off towards the celebration in the Royal Gardens high above...
17 minutes later, Royal Gardens...
Wolf laughed as Spitfire finished a funny story of hers.
"So what about you? Got any stories worth telling?"
Wolf's laughter died down at that particular questions.
"Plenty of them. But you'd need a pretty strong stomach to hear them..."
Something strange caught Wolf's watchful eye. He noticed an unusual number of ponies going behind the stage where the classical orchestra would be playing in a bit. One of them, was the most noticable. A black Alicorn filly. He turned to Spitfire immediately.
"I'm sorry Spitfire, I'm gonna have to cut this short, I need to go talk to someone..."
She threw her head upward to get her fiery mane out of her face.
"All right then. Catch you later."
Wolf muscled his way through the crowd as he frantically searched for Twilight. He must have been looking for at least a few minutes before he finally found her sitting next to the Princesses. He ran up to her.
"Twilight! I thought you said Nyx was with her friends!"
"I did! Why, what happened?"
He just nodded, before answering her.
"Nothing, just stay here..."
And then he ran off into the crowd again, leaving Twilight staring at him, confused.
"Is everything alright Twilight?"
Princess Celestia's voice startled her.
"Yes...I think so..." She replied.
A few seconds later, Wolf had managed to get in front of the stage.
Backstage...
"Let's finish this..."
The patterns on the floor grew bright red as the six Unicorns surrounding the alicorn in the middle of the peculiar patterns began muttering a spell. The small filly slowly began lifting in the air as their muttering had evelved into chanting. A low hum grew louder and louder as magical energy was gathering...
From outside...
The entire celebration was cut short as an explosion from the stage shook the entire platform the Royal Gardens were built on. A bright red flash nearly blinded everyone there. The sheer force of the explosion sent Wolf flying into a table fifty feet away. The entire crowd panicked as they moved away from the stage. As Princess Celestia was already mortified by the explosion and who might have been hurt, an all too familliar laugh froze the very blood in her veins...
End Chapter 41
( My original plan wasn't to end this here, but I'm short on time and I can end it here, so here we are!) |
Black Alicorn | 656 | 43 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2013-07-01T16:39:59+00:00 | 2013-08-28T12:16:44+00:00 | 2,261 | Wolf slowly opened his eyes. A cloud of dust erupted from the ground as a Spinar artillery shell hit the ground. He couldn't hear the explosion though...Just a high pitch whine...
More explosions, all around him. He calmly looked at them as they drew closer and closer...
Two Marines knelt right in front of him, one of them firing in the distance, the other screaming something at him, but Wolf couldn't understand him. As the whine began to subside, his hearing returned...
"Wolf! Wolf! Snap out of it!
The Marine gave him a hard slap to the face.
Wolf opened his eyes. He looked up into the night sky, just staring at it's beauty.
A strange laugh echoed in the air. Wolf lifted himself up slowly, groaning as the pain from the impact set in. He looked around the area to try and find out what was happening. Sitting at the VIP table, everyone looked like they were frozen. Princess Celestia with an expression of sheer terror on her face. Everyone else sitting there, the same thing. He then looked at the stage opposite the table, to see a cloud of smoke in it's place. As it began to clear, he could see the silhouette of the figure behind it. The other ponies around him all gasped as they saw her. But he couldn't see who it was. His view was still obscured by some of the smoke. But then he saw her.
Tall, jet black coat, half moon cutie mark, wearing a turquoise set of armor, was someone he had only heard about, but recognized anyway. In Equestria for a third time, ready to exact her revenge, was...
Nightmare Moon.
"No...It can't be..." Those four words escaped Princess Celestia's mouth.
"Yes...I have returned once more! You all thought me defeated. You all thought wrong!"
On another platform of Canterlot, Wolf saw something glistening in the moonlight. He then saw a red bead tracing on the table, then slowly moving towards Princess Celestia's head. Wolf knew immediately and ignoring the pain, clumsily barreled forward.
"This time, I shall not be defeated! This time, I shall have my revenge!"
A loud bang echoed through the night air just as Wolf crashed into Princess Celestia, followed by a glass vase shattering. Wolf rolled and gripping his pistol, swung around and showered the Griffon sniper with a hail of bullets, ripping him to shreds.
Chaos erupted in the Gardens. Screams of all kinds could be heard. Guests calling to friends and family members, Guards shouting orders to each other and so on.
"Form up! Protect the Princesses!"
A platoon of Guards formed a wall in front of the VIP table as a squad of armed Griffon soldiers landed in front of them, opening fire with automatic weapons. The Guards were turned to ribbons. Wolf turned the table over in front of them. The fire didn't stop however. When the Guards were disposed of, the Griffons simply reloaded and peppered the now overturned table. In a matter of seconds, the table was turned into a sieve. As the smoke settled, the Griffons started congratulating themselves for their work.
Just as they were replacing their spent magazines, a white haze leaped out from behind the table.
"Oh shit!"
"Contact!"
"Shoot him! Shoot the bastard!"
Their cries were drowned out as Wolf landed on the ground and stuck a blade in one of their comrades neck cutting the squad in two. Wolf spun the Griffon around turning him into a shield. His other free arm, bearing his freshly reloaded pistol cut down the half of the squad behind him, while the fire from the other side ripped through the flesh of their fallen comrade.
When their magazines were all but empty, and while they were trying to reload, Wolf abandoned his old shield, his blade still covered in fresh blood. He turned around, slicing the throat of one of his adversaries. Within another 30 seconds, all the Griffons lay dead, Wolf in the center, covered in the blood of his enemies.
From atop the stage, Nightmare Moon huffed.
"Impressive." She muttered.
"You are strong, but even you will not be able to stop what is coming."
Wolf stood up and faced her.
"Maybe. But I'm sure gonna give it hell getting here.
A bright glow behind Nightmare Moon grew steadily, and with a bright flash she was gone. Wolf looked up at the sky as Twilight and the others emerged from behind the table. They had all been saved from a magic field Wolf had projected just behind the table. Wolf turned, and walked off, muttering something as he went. Twilight wasn't able to understand what he said. |
Black Alicorn | 656 | 44 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2013-07-10T18:25:26+00:00 | 2013-07-11T09:16:40+00:00 | 2,299 | IMPORTANT NOTE!
Due to me finally realizing how much of an idiot I was a couple years ago, there are some changes to be made to Wolf.
First of all, his age is knocked up from 15 to 19. Age of his abduction is knocked up to 8 yrs of age. Age of first deployment is knocked up to 12. This is being done because:
Seriously, what the HELL was I thinking? 15 yr old? Yeah, great age choice on my part. Not that 19 is much better, but it's more tolerable. And now I'll stop my pretty much useless rant and let you get to the story.
Enjoy!
3 & 1/2 weeks later...
The events during the Grand Galloping Gala put everyone on edge. Princess Celestia the most. She knew something was coming to threaten Equestria once more, she just didn't know what. And that was almost as scary as knowing.
Almost...
During Twilight's coronation, Wolf was away, patrolling Equestria's northern borders by personal request of Princess Celestia just 13 days earlier. And now he was pulling up in front of the library.
Wolf jumped out of the drivers side of an Armored Minotaur. He walked back to the trunk, opened it, and pulled out two olive green duffel bags. Using his chin, he closed the trunk. Carrying the heavy bags, he walked over to the library, set one down, and tried to open the door. It was locked. He started knocking.
"Twilight! Open up!"
No response from within. No problem, she must not have heard him. So he started knocking again. When no one answered the third time, he knew something was wrong. He set the other bag down, opened it and pulled out an M-72. He leaned against the side of the door, and with one swift motion kicked the door down. He rushed in, clearing the main room. He vaulted over the table, then clearing the kitchen and the rest of the ground floor. A few minutes later, he had cleared the whole library. It was practically empty. Dust had collected on most of the books. A slight creak behind him. He waited for a split second, the turned around instantly, crosshairs centered right between the eyes of the intruder. He hesitated to pull the trigger, which saved the life of Shining Armor.
"Well, I guess you did come back..." He muttered, not wanting to move another muscle in fear of provoking him.
"Shining Armor...Damn. I missed my chance. I could have just pulled the trigger and said you snuck up on me. Oh well...too late now." He slung the rifle over his shoulder, awaiting an explanation.
"Well, I'm listening. What's going on, where's Twilight?"
Shining Armor saw his chance to screw with Wolf, and he took it.
"The Princess is taking care of royal business in Canterlot."
"I said Twilight you idiot." Wolf sighed while facepalming...
"That's who I'm talking about." Shining Armor retorted.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Twilight's the new Princess."
"When did this happen?!" Wolf's shock was evident.
"About a week after you left."
Wolf muttered a thanks, exited the building, walked over to the Minotaur, opened the drivers door and got in. He nearly ran over Shining Armor, either by accident or on purpose. Probably the latter.
Wolf sped off in the direction of the Red Dawn's crash site intent on claiming something within. Question's were in plentiful supply. How did it happen? Where? And more importantly, why? What was Princess Celestia's hidden agenda? He doubted very seriously that she did it out of the kindness of her heart. Nightmare Moon's reappearance, along with the fact that Celestia was unable to stop her had surely weakened her politically, but enough for her to give up the throne?
Before he knew it, Wolf was at his beloved warship. The Red Dawn. The pinnacle of human war engineering. His home away from home. And without knowing if he was going to be able to get to Twilight, it would become his home once more. He really wouldn't want it to be again, but if he had no choice...
"Major. You never visit me anymore...Just because I'm an AI doesn't mean I don't have feelings you know..."
Wolf knew that if he said anything wrong, he'd get into a long argument which he would eventually lose, either getting drenched by the ships fire-fighting systems, or whatever else Sam could cook up with the ship's systems. So he just muttered 'Sorry' a few times. Sam was disappointed. It had been awhile since her last chance to drench Wolf, and that was a much needed release for her.
"Sam prep GA 3-9 for takeoff immediately."
"Going somewhere sir?
"Yeah. I have some business to take care of..."
"Is the extremely lonely and helpful AI permitted to know?"
"I'll fill you in later Sam, just get my bird sky-worthy please."
"Right away sir..."
Good, that was taken care of. Sam was busy, so she wouldn't bother him with anything else for now.
"Sir?"
Shit.
"Yes Sam..?" he asked while sighing.
"Should I load the guns as well?"
Boy if Sam didn't know how to make a good question at the wrong time. Should he load the guns? He wasn't expecting trouble, but he would hate to be caught in a bad situation with no guns. On the other hand, if he was shot down (unlikely, but he still liked to prepare for that contingency), the ammo would probably go to waste. Along with a perfectly good Guardian Angel...
"Load 'em."
"Gladly sir."
Wolf weaved quickly through the metal corridors of his ship. He was heading towards one of Red Dawn's hangars. His ride was waiting there. He got there much quicker than he thought he would. This ship seemed so big at times, but now that he had gotten used to open areas, the cramped quarters of the ship seemed to close in and try to crush him, along with the memories within them. Some good...
All that Wolf could see in front of him was Tiger's well toned ass bouncing up and down on his...
Some bad...
Wolf could only watch while his first mate's head exploded in a burst of blood and brain matter as the spike from the Spinar rifle blew it to bits...
Wolf's smile at the first memory was replaced with a cringe as the second overtook it, despite Wolf's efforts for it not to.
The hangar door stood in his path, denying him access.
"Stupid door, I know just how to beat you..."
Wolf thought he could hear Sam asking why he was talking to himself, but he chose to ignore it as he punched in the access code on the security panel. The heavy door opened with a hiss of air. Wolf stepped inside.
Before him stood the once proud war machines of the Human race. Tanks, jeeps, helicopters, fighters, bombers, gunships...It was all here. But Wolf was looking for one specific thing. He found it. What looked like nothing more than a large tarp with a pipe sticking out of it. Wolf walked over to it, took a firm grip, and with one swift motion ripped it away. The gleaming silver armor of the Guardian Angel transport nearly blinded him. He placed a hand in front of his face to shield his unprepared eyes. After they were sufficiently adjusted to the light, Wolf looked at it again. It truly was a thing of beauty. The 4 barrels protruding from the nose, the finely crafted rotor blades, right down to the insignia right beside the canopy. The original insignia was always an angel with a shield in one hand, a sword in the other. On this one however, courtesy of it's pilot, the original angel was rubbed out and replaced by a snarling wolf with wings and a halo. They belonged to the 13th Guardian Angel squadron, but due to their position serving under humanity's greatest warrior, they saw it fitting to christen it with a new name. Thus, the Howling Wolves were born. They were some of the best pilots humanity had to offer...Before they died of course.
Wolf pulled the canopy release lever and it cracked open slowly at first, but gradually gained speed before reaching the apex of it's height. If all went according to plan, this would be a casual flight, no enemy air power, no bad weather conditions. So no need to wear his armor then.
"Fuel levels optimal, all systems well in the green. Ready for takeoff."
Wolf pressed the ignition, and the engine came to life with a whir. The whir slowly evolved into whipping air as the rotor's gained speed. Once the RPM's where within the required limits, Wolf moved the yoke and the Guardian Angel lifted off effortlessly.
"I'll be back later Sam."
"Looking forward to it sir."
And with a smile on his face once more, Wolf set off towards the beautiful capital of Equestria. Canterlot.
24 minutes later, Canterlot. VIP Airship landing pads.
Steady Aim was leaning leisurely on the back of his seat, waiting for something to happen. He was bored. Bored out of his mind. He was hoping for some action, especially after the Nightmare Moon incident, but nothing happened, so his initial enthusiasm had wore thin. His partner on the other hoof, Sharp Eye, couldn't be happier. He was perfectly content seeing empty skies for as long as possible.
They were the crew of one of Canterlot's MBC's. Requested by Princess Celestia herself, the Magic Blast Cannon was the fruit of the labors of some of the most powerful Unicorns in Equestria. These had been mothballed because of a long age of peace for Equestria. Nevertheless, training of gun crews never ceased, and production had resumed following the events of the last Grand Galloping Gala. The castle itself was the first to receive a dozen of these weapons. Canterlot's VIP Airship pads were the next, receiving three of the cannons.
Steady Aim and Sharp Eye manned the first cannon. If anything was coming by the landing pads, they'd be the first to know. While the MBC's weren't designed for it, they were fully capable of bringing down a fairly large airship, as long as the hit was well placed. With three of them together however, shot placement wasn't really that important. There were few things in Equestria's skies that could shake off three hits from a MBC.
"I'm bored..." Steady Aim lazily said.
"Suck it up." Sharp Eye replied.
Steady Aim was the gunner of the massive weapon. Sharp Eye was his spotter.
Sharp eye was the more focused of the two. He had to be. A spotter for one of Equestria's largest (and only) guns had to be able to pick out targets that were miles away, and convey their positions accurately enough so that Steady Aim could blow it out of the sky. Steady Aim wasn't nearly as focused on his duties. How could he be? Nothing ever happened. He never got to do what he was trained to do.
"Contact!" Sharp Eye yelled.
"Yeah right Sharp. That's the ninth time you've pulled that. I know better by now. Nothing ever happens around here."
"Seriously, we've got an unidentified contact out here!"
Steady Aim lifted himself up and turned to Sharp Eye, who was peering through a spyglass.
"If you're making this up again I swear to Celestia I'll-" Then he saw it, clear as day.
A silver airship of unknown design, moving towards the landing pads very quickly. Steady aim sprang into action, jumping into his seat and training the sights on the UFO.
"Range?" He asked.
"3240 yards. Closing fast." Sharp Eye replied.
"Altitude?"
"I'd say 3400 legs. Dropping gradually. I'd say 30 legs per second."
"Got it. Targeting..."
Steady Aim led his target, keeping the sight a fair distance in front of it, but never losing sight of it. The moment of truth. He was about to pull the trigger, but hesitated. He couldn't understand it. He'd waited for this for so long, and now when he got the chance he couldn't do it? After a battle within himself, he finally made his decision.
He pulled the trigger. Three beams of violet light ejected from three positions on the gun barrel's axis, joining in the center and building up a charge. Within a second, a bright flash of violet energy streaked through the sky towards the unknown craft.
Wolf could see the capital clear as day. It was even better looking in the daylight. His eyes darted around the castle. He had pretty much scanned the whole city before seeing the landing pads. He slowly began to descend. He would finally speak to Twilight after 2 weeks. Only she was royalty now. What would he say? What would he do? His attention elsewhere, he didn't see the bright violet streak coming towards him...
An explosion rocked the castle. Twilight Sparkle jumped as the shockwave shook her from her seat. She trotted over to the window to see what was going on. From there, she could only see a small airship spinning out of control, spewing black smoke and orange flames as it spiraled down to the ground. Something seemed familiar about it though...She had seen it before somewhere. Then it hit her.
"Oh no..." Was all she said before she burst out of her chambers, in full gallop towards the nearest balcony.
End chapter 43. |
Black Alicorn | 656 | 45 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2013-07-27T18:57:19+00:00 | 2013-07-27T18:57:18+00:00 | 1,942 | Fear. Dread. Terror. Panic.
Twilight felt all four at the same time as she raced down the castle halls, desperate to get to the nearest balcony. She had to see it. Maybe it wasn't him! But then again, who else could be flying one of those strange airships she saw in one of the Red Dawn's hangar bay? She knew it was him, but she didn't want to accept it. Maybe he would be alright! He's survived many things like this! He even survived an orbital reentry, and the ensuing crash! Diamond Dogs, Hydras, Ursa Majors, the bucking Griffon Army! To survive all that, just to be killed by friendly fire? It couldn't happen! It couldn't...He promised, no, he Pinkie Promised her he'd never leave her!
Twilight burst through the balcony doors. Once she took a few steps forward, she began scanning the skies hoping not to see it, hoping it wasn't real.
Unfortunately, it was.
The airship spun around itself continuously, spewing fire, smoke, and pieces of itself. She wanted to get a good look at the cockpit. To see his face, maybe for the last time. All she could see was an orange blaze behind the cockpit glass.
"Think Twilight, think!"
She got it! Her horn glowed as she tried to grip the falling airship with her magic.
"Come on, come on!"
She tried, but failed. She tried again, and failed once more. Twilight constantly tried and tried again, hoping to stop it's descent, hoping to save him. Every failure only served to terrify her even more. The fact that he might die was bad enough, but the knowledge that he might die because she couldn't save him was even worse. As the airship drew closer and closer to the ground, Twilight couldn't try anymore. She couldn't focus after bursting into tears. She collapsed to the ground, her regal dress stretching beneath the stone floor and Twilight's body. She could still hear the shriek of the airship as it fell further and further.
The shriek was cut short by a second, even larger explosion.
- - - - -
Surprise, anger, fear. The sequence was short and clear. Wolf was jostled in his seat as an explosion ripped his Guardian Angel open. The entire cockpit was a frantic mess. Alarms and red lights blaring and flashing all across the dashboard. Digits on the beeping altimeter changing like crazy. Wolf desperately tried to regain control of his falling aircraft, but to no avail. He was going down, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The only remaining option was to bail out. He pulled on the ejection lever, expecting to be dropped from the falling craft. The ejection systems of the Guardian Angels...of ALL helicopters nowadays would open a hatch under the cockpit, letting the pilot and copilot (if any) fall to the ground. In this case, that might not make much of a difference considering the chopper might fall on him, but the alternative was to simply accept his fate.
The ejection lever clicked like it was supposed to, but nothing happened. He pulled on it again and again and again, but with no results. He frantically scanned the cockpit for another way out, even though he knew that one didn't exist. As the ground came closer and closer, only one panicked thought and realization crossed Wolf's mind.
I don't want to die!
As the flames crackled and the smoke rose from below, Twilight's heart almost stopped. He was probably dead, gone forever. Erased from the face of Equestria. She had lost him again! And the worst part was, she let it happen! He had a fighting chance, but thanks to Twilight, it was lost.
NO...
Twilight lifted herself up, finally regaining control of herself. She was stronger than this. Wolf was stronger than this. He could have survived. Twilight wasn't going to bury him without making sure first. She wiped the tears from her eyes, unfurled her wings, and lifted off the balcony.
Near the crash site...
Twilight pushed through the bushes in her way. Due to the searing heat and billowing smoke, she couldn't land directly at the crash site, so she had to set down at a fair distance. Her heart sank. She could feel the heat even from this far. And even if the heat didn't cook the flesh off his bones, the smoke would take away any possibility of breathing. She pushed away one final bush, and there it was. A mangled pile of metal. It was hard to believe that it once soared through the air. Her heart rate increased as she started to run towards it.
"Twilie! Get away from it!"
Her momentum was cut in half by a massive white blur crashing into her. Before she could fully realize what was going on, Shining Armor had pulled her behind a log just before six thousand explosive tip rounds finally gave in to the searing heat of the crash. The third explosion was easily the largest. Fueled by unknown explosive compounds, the shockwave nearly sent the log and all hiding behind it flying into oblivion. The following inferno almost burned it all to a crisp. Both Twilight and Shining Armor could feel the heat burning the hairs off their backs. If it wasn't for the log shielding them, they would be just a pile of ash right now. The sound was deafening though. After the heat died down, her ears still ringing, she poked her head out to see. All that was left was a wall of flame with a few chunks of metal at it's base. She looked at the opposite end of the log.
Without that log, even if by some miracle they had survived the shockwave and the heat, the sheer amount of shrapnel would have ended them. The log was in pieces. Chunks of wood hung from every side of it, ripped to shreds by shards of metal travelling at high velocity. The whole thing was ready to collapse onto itself at the molecular level. The fact that the log survived that onslaught was a miracle in it's own right.
Now all doubt had left her mind. He couldn't have survived all that. He simply couldn't. He was strong, but not that strong. Once more, Twilight collapsed to the ground, knowing that he was dead. Now she knew she had failed. How she couldn't save him from death.
"You can't leave me like this...you Pinkie Promised..." She barely managed to pronounce those few words.
Shining Armor's words of sympathy fell upon deaf ears. Twilight had simply blocked everything out. It was doubtful that she would hear him over her own crying anyway. After a few failed attempts, Shining Armor managed to get her on her hooves. He started to push her away from the crash site, and she grudgingly obeyed. They were leaving. There was nothing for them left here.
Thanks to Twilight's crying, Shining Armor's voice, and the crackling flames, they almost didn't hear the metal creaking. They almost didn't see the badly burned, bloody hand raise out of the debris and spasm about.
Almost... |
Black Alicorn | 656 | 46 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2013-07-28T16:59:00+00:00 | 2013-08-28T12:30:46+00:00 | 2,070 | "Twilight, you're going to make a trench, stop pacing."
Twilight turned around to see who was speaking to her. She was greeted by the sight of her brother standing right in front of her. He was obviously watching her.
“I can’t...” She replied, continuing to pace like no comments were made.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine...”
“Fine?! Are you kidding me?! You saw what kind of shape he’s in!”
“If I remember correctly, he’s been in worse...”
Twilight’s head dropped. She wasn’t sure about that. From what she had seen from his time in Equestria, this was easily the worst. But what if he’d survived worse during that war he fought in...
Her train of thought was derailed as the door to the operating room opened. She turned towards the doctor faster than anyone thought possible. The doctor could see the desperation in her eyes. She was hoping for good news. How he wished he could give her some.
“I’m afraid he’s in worse shape than we initially thought...”
Great, even more bad news in this already bad day.
“He has third degree burns all over his body. His face is badly disfigured, arms, legs the same. The only thing that was relatively untouched by the flames was the torso...”
Well, at least SOME part of him was intact.
“Although it also took most of the shrapnel from the explosions. He’s got chunks of metal near almost every major blood vessel, and quite a few of the minor ones are torn to ribbons. He’s got massive internal bleeding. We’ve plugged many of the holes...But there are just too many for us to reach.”
Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. Too many to plug? But that only meant...
“I’m afraid...” The doctor inhaled sharply, mentally preparing himself for what was to come.
“...that we’ve done all we can. I’m sorry Your Highness, but...he’s not going to make it. He’s slipped into a coma right now, so...at least he won’t feel a thing.”
Anger. Rage. Hatred.
Another mix of all three flooded Twilight. Her horn began to glow deep purple as the magical energy, fueled by the toxic mixture building up inside her. Both the doctor and Shining Armor could see her anger.
Before their very eyes, Twilight shot up through the ceiling with a loud crash. Shining Armor looked up through the gaping hole in the ceiling, to see Twilight hovering there for a minute. He felt something drop on his muzzle. Something fluid, warm. He squinted to look at his nose, where he saw a tear rolling down the length of it.
Twilight’s loud shriek startled him. He looked up in the air just in time to see the lavender streak in the sky, the wake left behind Twilight as she barreled off into the distance. She was heading for the palace.
- - - - -
The sound of doors crashing open and shattering glass broke the tranquil silence that reigned inside the palace. Unable to stop the storm that was coming, the doors just gave way. nothing could stop her from reaching her destination.
Her wings suddenly clasping shut, unwilling to carry her any further. Gravity finally took it’s hold on her, sending her falling into the bed. She met the mattress with a soft thud. Immediately she buried her face in the blankets and pillows, trying to mask the sound of her sobbing uncontrollably.
This was it. He was going to die. There was nothing that could save him now. She would be alone once more. But he Pinkie Promised! He couldn’t leave her! He was bound for life!
“For life...”
Twilight finally caught on to the fine print. Leaving her, not dying on her. He wasn’t bound by that sense.
She spent another few minutes pondering what would happen after he would...go to a better place. How would she adjust? How would everypony who had known him adjust? And how was she so sure he would go to a better place? What if he was destined to burn in the eternal flames of the deepest darkest depths of Tartarus? Her mind then drifted to what was the cause of this. It could have been the burns. But they could have been treated. The shrapnel maybe? It did cut him up inside, causing profuse internal bleeding. But then, what caused the shrapnel itself? It was the explosion of course. But again, what caused the explosion? The answer was the crash. Then, what caused the crash?
She wondered why she even had to ask. She knew damn well what had caused this. Who had caused this.
Her eyes opened. They were completely dry now. She knew who had caused this, and they were going to pay for it. Her horn glowed purple again as her wings, now more than willing to carry her once more, unfurled from her sides. She lifted off the bed, turned around, and flew out of the broken windows, towards the VIP airship landing pads.
- - - - -
Wolf’s eyes shot open. Where was he? The sequence of questions that had formed in his head was interrupted by a wave of pain stemming from all over his body. As the pain subsided, his eyes finally focused on his surroundings. It was pitch black, all around him, save for a beam of white light coming from above, illuminating him and a small area around him.
He lifted himself up, shaking slightly as another wave of pain washed over him. He fought past it. and got back on his feet. He looked around once more. Darkness everywhere. Footsteps echoed through the darkness. Wolf turned frantically in an attempt to lock his eyes on the approaching object. He finally locked in it’s trajectory, training his eyes on one spot. And from that spot, slowly but surely, the light from above illuminated...
Him?
Wolf scanned the new arrival frantically. It was him! Save for a few differences, namely that the new arrival was clad in damaged battle armor, his hair a dirty mess, and his eyes...
Those pitch black eyes.
“Who are you?!”
It moved a bit, apparently processing what was said. Then, with a deep, raspy voice, it replied.
“Don’t you recognize me? I’m you of course!”
“I’m supposed to believe that bullshit?”
It laughed.
“No, of course not. The truth is, I’m not you, and you’re not me.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?!”
“Alright then, a little explanation is in order...”
It paused, then began to explain the whole situation.
“I’m the other part of Wolf.”
“I find that hard to believe, considering I’m whole and standing here in front of you.”
“You’re not whole. You’re half. I am the other half.”
“What?”
“We are each a piece, of a whole person. We are the pieces of Wolf. The two of us together comprise the whole being. He has all of your elements, and only some of mine...”
“And why would that be?”
“Because you were, and always will be, the stronger one. The good one...”
“If I’m good then, does that mean you’re...”
“Evil?” It interrupted.
“Yes. Yes I am.”
“You’re strangely civilized for someone that’s evil...”
“I despise the stereotype that says us villains are supposed to be barbarians.”
“So...what should I call you?”
“For some reason, I’m partial to the name Hyde...Cliché, I know, but I find it suits me.”
“Hyde then...I guess that makes me Jekyll?”
“Yes. Unless you prefer a different name...”
“I think I’d rather stick with Wolf, thank you very much...” He said, taking a few steps towards the left.
“Except that. It would be unfair, you see, considering you are not Wolf. Like I said, you are only a part of him. Only together, do we make a complete entity.”
“Jekyll is fine then...” Jekyll said grudgingly.
“So, Jekyll, had a bit of an accident now, have we?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that right now, thanks to you, we are sitting on a table in a hospital emergency room. And apparently, we are going to die...”
“How do you...”
“I’m always watching you...”
Jekyll shifted a bit, trying to grasp what Hyde meant.
“Watching me?”
“Whenever you have control, I’m always here, locked away in the back of his mind...Watching you...”
“What do you mean control?”
“You control him most of the time, seeing as how you’re the stronger one. During that time, I have no choice but to remain in my dormant state, like now.”
“So you’re dormant right now?”
“Indeed. It’s pretty much why I’m so calm and civilized.”
“So when do you take control?” Jekyll had to ask.
“When you’re in a very weakened state...” Hyde started to walk over to Jekyll.
“Like say, I don’t know, in a coma, multiple burns, internal bleeding...”
Hyde was now a few steps away from Jekyll. Jekyll noticed Hyde’s list of situations where he could take control...
“You mean like now?”
Hyde disappeared suddenly. Jekyll scanned the area frantically, trying to find him again. His raspy voice echoed from behind Jekyll...
“Exactly...”
Jekyll was knocked unconscious by a sharp hit in the back of the neck.
- - - - -
In the operating room, amidst the sounds of a beeping EKG, doctors talking to each other while attempting a last ditch effort to save Wolf, his eyes opened, revealing a pair of pitch black eyeballs.
A deep blue wave shot from out of his body, purging it of all shrapnel within it, regrowing the destroyed blood vessels, repairing all damaged tissue, while also sending the doctors flying into the walls, a jacket of sharp metal travelling behind them. Wolf got back up just as the doctors were ripped apart by the shrapnel that was forcefully ejected from Wolf’s body. Wolf craned his neck around in every direction, until hearing the desired crack. He then looked at his arms and legs as a wave of new tissue regenerated over the burned.
“Ah...much better...”
He jumped from the table and walked to the door, stepping in the growing pool of blood emerging from the doctors lifeless corpses.
- - - - -
She had found them. The ones that took him away from her. That killed him.
“Your Highness! To what do we owe this honor?” Sharp eye said as he bowed before Twilight. Steady Aim followed suit. They both wondered why she looked like that, but they didn’t dare ask.
“Because of a murder...”
They both shot up at the very mention of that word.
“Murder?! But who was murdered, Your Highness?”
Twilight responded in a calm tone...for now.
“The person I loved...”
They both gasped. Whoever did that would be in for a world of trouble. They both had to ask though.
“But who committed this atrocious act?”
Twilight’s muzzle pressed against Sharp Eye’s as she hissed out one word.
“You!”
“US?! But how...when...”
It both hit them like a sledge hammer. The airship...the one they shot down...it was him.
Oh shit. Oh SHIT!
Before they could mutter anything, their throat glowed deep purple as Twilight’s magic took it’s grip, lifting them into the air. Terror took it’s icy hold on them both. They screwed up badly, and now they were going to pay the price.
“And now, I’m going to repay you in kind!”
Both of them closed their eyes as they waited for their impending doom. But before Twilight could crush the life out of them, an explosion from the city broke her concentration. She let go of them and rushed over to the railing. Smoke billowed from the hospital. Something was wrong. She strained her eyes, trying to see what was going on. All she could see was a bunch of Royal Guards being tossed down a street like ragdolls. Then, she saw him walking down that same street, bypassing the injured Guards, his hands glowing dark blue.
“He’s alive...He’s alive!” Twilight began shouting that over and over again, much to the relief of the two stallions behind her. This meant that they were off the hook right?
Her joy however, was cut short as she felt the piercing gaze of pitch black eyes on her.
“Oh no...”
She knew. He was out of control. So much power, uncontrolled. He had the potential to cause massive damage.
“Twilie! Wolf’s out of control! He’s taken out an entire regiment of my troops!”
Twilight turned to face him, but was interrupted by an explosion of dark blue magic sending her flying into an empty crate. She shook her head, and saw Wolf standing there, grinning madly, allowing, his black eyes fixated on Shining Armor.
“Hello there, Captain...” His deep, raspy voice sent chills down her spine/
Shining Armor yelled at the top of his lungs as he charged towards Wolf. He had to protect his sister. With one swipe of his arms however, Wolf sent him flying into the wall.
“Naughty, naughty...”
Wolf grabbed him and threw him into the opposing wall as Shining Armor got back up and charged him. He then picked him up by the throat, and walked over to the two stunned stallions behind him.
“You two shot me down...That was very...very unwise of you...”
Wolf threw Shining Armor to the ground, right next to the two stallions. He laughed as he grasped the golden opportunity before him...
“All three of you together...how delightful...”
As Wolf’s hand glowed, forming a ball of magic energy getting ready to strike them all down, Twilight did the one thing she could do. She called out to him.
“Wolf!”
And for a split second, he stopped.
- - - - -
Jekyll got to his knees, and wiped away the blood that was on his nose. He then turned towards the light, where Hyde was standing. Jekyll knew what he was about to do. He could feel it. And he had to stop it.
“Sorry Hyde...It’s my turn again.”
And with that, Jekyll leaped to his feet, then charged Hyde, slamming his body into his. Jekyll had tackled him perfectly, grabbing hold around his waist, sending him to the floor. As he fell back, Jekyll punched him in the face with his right arm. Hard. As the arm stopped it’s forward motion, it swung back, hitting Hyde in the cheek with his elbow. Raising both arms, Jekyll fell down onto Hyde’s stomach with both of his elbows. The force of impact caused a black liquid to escape from Hyde’s mouth.
Jekyll got up from his defeated opponent, then stepped back into the light, reassuming control.
- - - - -
The blackness retreated from Wolf’s eyes, until finally stopping within the normal diameter of his pupils. Once it was gone, Wolf fell over unconscious, despite Twilight yelling for him.
- - - - -
“Well played, doctor Jekyll...Well played...” Hyde said, before retreating into the darkness once more...
End Chapter 45. |
Black Alicorn | 656 | 47 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2013-08-20T12:51:44+00:00 | 2013-08-20T12:51:43+00:00 | 2,134 | Curses. Screams. Prayers. Gunfire. Explosions. All blended in seamlessly with each other as they assaulted Wolf's eardrums. Despite all odds, he could pick up some random shouts from around him...
"Warlord, Warlord, Angel-7 under heavy fire in the Scyon building courtyard, requesting immediate evac!"
"Watch your left, left left!"
"Get a frag in there!"
"Snap out of it Dave! Snap out of it!"
"They're trying to flank us!"
"Find cover, find cover now!"
"Where's our bird?!"
"We're not gonna make it!"
"Damon! Damon where are you?! Talk to me son! Damon!
That last, final shout was interrupted by an explosion, followed by an echoing scream that still haunted his nightmares.
Wolf's eyes opened slowly, not wanting to cause another headache. He could feel the warm crimson fluid gently caress the parts of his body that still weren't covered by it. But was it his? He didn't know. There was no pain at all, so that meant either two things. One, he was fine, and the blood was someone else's. Two, was that he was badly injured, but he couldn't feel it thanks to the mixture of adrenaline coursing through his veins and the endorphins blocking his neurons. Neither were particularly appealing...
As the brain finally managed to process the information the eyes were sending, the image cleared almost instantly. He was in a large courtyard, surround by firing Marines, terrified civilians...and bodies. This was no courtyard...it was a graveyard. Bodies all around him. On top of him even. He never noticed it until now. Wolf looked at it closer. A look of terror and pain was forever frozen on this poor man's face. A large spike protruded from his back.Warm blood still dripped from his hands. Wolf looked into his cold, lifeless eyes, and he saw it. All and Nothing at the same time. The secrets of the universe, the meaning of life, all was hidden away in these dead eyes. But that was not all that was in them. In them he saw the endless Void, absolute Nothing. There was a strange beauty in the peculiar combination. It attracted him like a moth to a flame. All the answers to every question ever posed by humanity was carefully locked away in those eyes, and all he had to do to unlock them was to keep looking into them/. But fate had a different idea in mind...
All of a sudden, he was jolted away from the eyes that held All within them, and was met with the sight of a Marine Sergeant trying to get his attention. By slapping him in the face repeatedly while yelling at him.
"Snap out of it Wolf! Wolf! Snap out of it!" His gruff voice held an air of desperation.
That simple command didn't register in Wolf's mind, and he continued to look for the eyes, trying to find his way into their cold, yet warm embrace.
"Wake up!"
Wolf's eyes opened as he gasped for air. Yes, he had moved on, but the nightmares would pursue him relentlessly. Wolf ached all over, as if his entire body had been ripped apart at the molecular level then smashed back together with tremendous force. Despite this, he managed to lift up from the bed he was resting on and look around, scanning for any signs of life. It was dark, and with every passing moment it seemed to get darker. Wolf looked to the floor and saw a thin beam of light grow smaller and smaller, before disappearing completely. The sun's turn had ended, it was now time for the moon to gain control over the skies. A gentle, cool breeze caressed his skin. He scanned the room for it's source. It was an open balcony door. He got off the rustled sheets of the bed, and came in contact with the cold, hard floor. What was it made of, he wondered. Marble? Limestone? Wolf wasn't sure...He had only seen marble in the homes of financially secure citizens. Marble floors or walls had become a symbol of wealth for humans. A luxury to be enjoyed only by the super rich. Rich people...How Wolf hated them. Their snobbish behavior, their absurd 'requirements', their insanely priced clothing, their belief that they were better than everyone else because of their money. Not all of them were like that, Wolf knew, but unfortunately the vast majority of them were.
He felt a bit disoriented, but he managed to walk over to the balcony. Every step on the floors was sickening for him. As if fate was trying to mock him once more, he was now walking on the luxury floors of what could only be the estate of one of Equestria's aristocrats. Once he was out, the gentle breeze morphed into a light wind. The feeling wasn't as pleasant as before. It was more like a defeated opponent who was intent on scoring a few more hits on the victor before succumbing... Wolf walked over to the edge and leaned over on the protective railing, gazing out towards Canterlot. The entire city was filled with a warm, golden light from it's many street lights, which had been lit before the moon would solidify it's hold on the sky. It was beautiful. He didn't like cities much, too tightly packed together for his tastes, but this one had a unique charm to it...
The cobblestone roads reflected the light from the forest of street lamps, giving the impression that they were made of gold. The stonemasons of Equestria had outdone themselves, and Wolf was certain that they were showered with riches for their excellent work. As he looked out onto the streets, he could see that they were slowly filling with ponies. He wondered how the night life was in Canterlot. He recalled many jokes about the non-existent night life on previously dead planets, before they were terraformed.
"Yeah, there's no life on Shark's Tooth. After ten you can't find an open bar..."
Wolf smiled as he remembered the joke he had heard many times before, almost every one of them concerning a different planet. The wind began to die down now, reverting back to the gentle breeze that he enjoyed. Wolf greedily inhaled the cool air, filling his lungs to capacity, before exhaling and expelling the poison that filled them before. As the air whistled while it went through his nasal passages, he almost didn't hear the soft hoofteps behind him. He didn't turn around though, He knew who it was. Before long, he heard her soft, caring voice.
"You're awake..."
Wolf wasn't sure how to react. He hadn't seen her for two weeks, and he expected to come home to Ponyville, back in the library. And now he found himself in a palace in Canterlot, after being shot down and nearly killed, and now Princess Twilight Sparkle was behind him, expecting him to act like everything's normal. In the end, he just decided on a neutral response.
"Yeah...I guess I am."
The hoofsteps sounded again, as Twilight came in closer. Before long, he could feel her forelegs wrapping around him, pulling him in closer to her. After two weeks of being alone out on the cold northern plains of Equestria, searching for any suspicious activity, the embrace was more than welcome. He placed his arms on her forelegs, holding them close to himself. Oh what the hell? He could always complain later? And to be honest, he really didn't care. The initial suprise had long worn off. He would come to accept the fact that Twilight was royalty now. Eventually...After a few minutes in complete silence, Twilight finally let go, moved forward, and leaned next to him on the railing. For awhile they just sat there, looking out onto the lit city. The silence was finally broken by Wolf.
"How long was I out?"
Twilight looked up into his deep blue eyes. Such tranquility they held...Hard to believe they belonged to one such as Wolf.
"About thirty-eight hours."
Wolf looked a bit suprised, but he wiped that look off his face quickly. Now he needed to know what had happened.
"I must have blacked out for awhile. What happened?"
Twilight turned her head, trying to shift her view back to the city. The action sent a few strands from her mane soaring through the air, gently brushing against Wolf's nose. She had desperately hoped to avoid this question.
"You were shot down, and crashed below Canterlot..." Twilight said, confident she had just dodged the proverbial bullet.
"That much I remember..." Wolf replied, annoyed because Twilight knew what he meant to ask, but for some reason she wouldn't answer his question.
"How did you survive anyway?" She looked straight at him now, once again into his eyes. There was something so familiar hidden in them, so warm, it made you want to look into them forever.
"I cast a shield around myself..." He said as his hand began to glow deep purple as he channeled magical energy into it. He could feel the temperature in his hand rising slowly, but he didn't mind. It was a minor nuisance.
"...you trained me well..." He said to her, acknowledging Twilight's capacity as a teacher, and thanking her in his own subtle way.
Twilight could only smile as she realized that she in fact had saved Wolf. Without that shield, he would be dead. And she taught him how to cast one. She felt an enormous weight lift off her...
"After the crash...what happened to me?" Wolf asked, confident that she couldn't avoid the question this time. Twilight was trapped, and she knew it all too well. The weight that had lifted came crashing down on her with even more force. She had just avoided that damn question, but he asked again, he intended to get an answer, whatever that answer was...
"In the hospital, you...Something happened to you, and you went on a rampage.." Twilight said, fear growing in her voice. Why did he have to be so stubborn about this? Couldn't he just leave it alone and make her life just a bit easier?
Wolf eyes opened wide as his ears caught Twilight's answer, sending the sounds to the brain to be processed.
"Was anyone hurt?" He asked, his voice brimming with concern. He wouldn't like the answer, Twilight thought to herself.
"Seven dead..." She could hear him sigh as she said the number to be added to his already long list of victims...
"...Thirty one injured." She continued. He wanted an answer, so she would give it to him.
"Damn it..."
Wolf pushed off the railing, then leaned against the wall behind him, hand on his head. Twilight walked over to him, pushed his hand away from his face, then stared right into his eyes.
"It wasn't your fault." She said, trying to numb the mental pain that he was in.
"As if I wasn't enough of a monster already..." Wolf grunted as he pushed off the wall and retook his position on the railing, looking down on the golden city once more. Twilight followed him there, perching herself right next to him as he let out a loud sigh.
"It wasn't the first time..." He said in a sad voice, as he recalled one certain day, when a Spinar Queen fell...
"But let's hope it was the last." He continued, confidence growing in him as a smile appeared on his face.
The smile wasn't going to get any bigger. The knowledge that he had extinguished seven lives for no good reason and injured another thirty, was still too close. Wolf looked up into the night sky. He couldn't see many stars due to the bright ambient light, but the ones that he could see were beautiful enough. As he was about to get caught up in their beauty, he remembered his mission, and stood up tall, taking a more serious stance.
"The northern borders are secure. Nothing but rabbits, foxes and snow. Wasn't worth the trouble of getting there." Wolf said, slightly annoyed at how he spent two weeks searching for absolutely nothing.
Twilight was relieved. That was some of the best news she's heard in awhile. But know a knot had stuck in her throat. He had told her of the situation, now she had to tell him of it. And after that, she had to ask more of him than she had ever had before, even though she knew she had no right to. But, as Ruler of Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle to look out for her people first.
"Unfortunately, the North is no longer the problem." Twilight said, letting out a disappointed sigh. Wolf turned to face her, lifting an eyebrow. What new problem was right at Equestria's doorstep this time?
"What does that mean?"
"Outlying towns on the Western borders have gone silent. Celestia only told me of this after my Coronation."
"Big suprise..." Wolf interrupted. Celestia hadn't made it into his good books yet, and he seriously doubted she ever would.
Slightly annoyed by the interruption, Twilight wanted to say something, but decided against it, and continued.
"Contact had been lost for the past three weeks. At first it was just one town, but then another, and another and so on..."
"Three weeks you say? That puts it just a few days after that Nightmare bitch's return..." Wolf said, slightly worried.
"Coincidence?" Twilight replied with a question.
"Not likely..." Wolf said sternly. He then asked his question in turn.
"...So what, you want me to go out there and check things out?" Wolf asked, expecting her to answer yes.
"No, I think we already know what's going on..." Twilight said worriedly.
Wolf caught on to the message immediately. Towns going dark a few days after an evil queens return only meant one thing. Said evil queen was making a land-grab. And he knew from experience that these had to be put down quickly and without mercy. He laughed to himself. He doubted that Equestria was ready to put down a rebel movement like that.
"So what kind of preparations are you making?" Wolf asked, leaning back on the rail, about a foot away from Twilight. He could tell that she was very worried.
"We're mobilizing everything we can. We're placing cannons in all our major cities first. Reserve Guards are being deployed everywhere in preparation for an attack."
"Never thought I'd see this place gearing up for war..." Wolf commented.
"...Here's hoping it'll be over quickly."
"There's just one problem. The Griffons under their command." Twilight said, more worried than ever before.
"What about them?" Wolf asked.
Twilight was suprised and even more disappointed at the same time. One, Wolf completely underestimated the mounting Griffon threat, and two, it was blatantly obvious that he had decided not to participate. And that only made her position even more precarious.
"What about them? Wolf, they have superior technology, superior training, and there are a few thousand of them! The Equestrian Guard isn't trained to fight enemies like that!" Twilight shouted at an apathetic Wolf. She couldn't see any better way to ask him right now, and so she used the one she had just inadvertently created.
"But you are..." She said, wincing as those treacherous, poisonous words escaped her mouth.
Wolf was dumbstruck. Did she really just say what he thought she said? No...she couldn't have...She wasn't like that. She wouldn't...
But she did.
He looked at her, smile disappearing from his face completely, anger taking him over.
"I didn't hear that...You did not just say that..."
"Wolf...I..." Twilight said, regretting what she just said and trying to take it back.
"No! There's no possible excuse for what you just said!" Wolf yelled at her, enraged at what she just asked of him. And she didn't even have the courtesy to ask him straightforward!
"Wolf, I have no choice! I'm responsible for an entire nation now! I have to look out for them! Millions of ponies everywhere! You think it's easy?! Well it's not! And asking you to fight for us is even harder!" Twilight yelled back, shifting from defense to offense.
"And that just makes it alright? No, it doesn't! Do you have any, any idea what you're asking of me?! My war ended long ago, and it cost me very dearly..." Wolf said sighing as the anger melted away quickly. He continued...
"But now I've left that behind. And just when I think I can finally, finally start to lead a normal life, you ask me to fight in another one!" Wolf fell to the ground, sighing even louder than before as he finished speaking. His head rested firmly in his hands. Twilight went over to him and laid down on the floor next to him, fighting hard to repress the tears that were building up. She wished she could take her words back...He had returned to her after two weeks absence, and now that she had him back, she asked him to bring everything back, the pain, the memories, the loss, so that he could channel all that to start fighting again.
They sat together for a few minutes in complete silence, before Wolf finally broke it.
"I don't know Twilight...I just don't know...Just, just give me some time to think about it..." He said in an exhausted voice. He had only woken up after being unconscious for thirty eight hours just minutes ago. His batteries were exhausted already. Twilight buried her muzzle in Wolf's shoulder, tears flowing freely now. Wolf rubbed his hands through her finely groomed mane, moved down to her sides, where he encountered her wings for the first time. The soft feeling of the feathers was something new, but so far it was good.
"Those are going to take some getting used to..." Wolf chuckled, a new smile once again appearing on his face as Twilight looked up into his blue eyes again.
"You'll manage..." Twilight replied to him. Acting simultaneously, they locked lips after going without it for far too long. They sat there, locked together as tears streamed down both their faces. They both wanted to apologize, but couldn't find the words to do so. Thankfully words weren't required.
A few minutes later, and their embrace broke. The silence was broken by Twilight.
"I missed you..." Twilight said, just happy to have her hooves around him again.
"I missed you too. So...hate to ruin the moment here, but...Where's Nyx?" Wolf asked, realizing how he had completely forgotten about her. Twilight's answer was reassuring, and unsuprising.
"She's pretty much moved into the library here...She hasn't come out since we settled in. I imagine that'll change when I tell her that you're back."
"You haven't told her yet? Why not?" Wolf asked, curious to see what her answer was.
"I wanted to get to you first..." Twilight answered, her eyes closing slightly.
Wolf smiled, before replying...
"Well, I'm all yours..."
Before he could say anything else, Twilight kissed him, wrapping her hooves around him as the last light from the sun finally faded away behind them...
End chapter 46. |
Black Alicorn | 656 | 48 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2013-08-22T16:45:52+00:00 | 2013-09-05T10:10:01+00:00 | 2,393 | "Bring him down, bring him down!" The Lieutenant of the Royal Griffon 42nd Infantry Brigade shouted as his troops all fired into the darkest depths of the forest, felling whole trees. The Lieutenant himself was firing his own sidearm into the bushes around him, certain that his target was there, hiding away from the hail of bullets. The bush merely rustled as hot lead ripped through it's leaves, breaking it's branches into multiple splinters. Nothing was there though. He was just wasting ammo. Not like if he had actually hit the target, it would have done any damage. That damn thing, whatever the hell it was, seemed to be completely bulletproof. He hadn't been briefed of this. His men weren't prepared for this! How are you supposed to stop something bulletproof with just assault rifles?
"This is Eighth Armored, ready for close engagement, just point him out and we'll take care of the rest. ETA sixty seconds." A heavy voice, cracked over the radio.
The Lieutenant almost didn't hear it over the gunfire all around him. The commander of the 8th armored sounded almost bored, as if he knew that this would be quick. He was confident, and with good reason. Before they all defected from the Griffon Kingdom, the 8th armored had received a batch of the new Talon IV medium tanks. Armed with a long-barreled 75mm cannon and a 20mm heavy machine gun, they would be able to wipe the asshole that killed off half of his men off the face of the planet. The Lieutenant smiled as he knew his vengeance would be exacted. He wanted to go to the radio and thank him, but to do so now would be tantamount to suicide. Bullets buzzed past his head as the creature returned fire from his hiding spot in the forest. There was no muzzle flash, from it's weapon, strangely. As if being bulletproof wasn't enough, now his enemy could hide anywhere, and return fire without ever revealing his position.
Even more of his men fell over dead, their pristine white feathers turned red, soaked in the own blood. There were almost no wounded at all, it made sure of that. The bullets were flying at an alarming rate, and with deadly accuracy. The bodies of what was once the 42nd Infantry Brigade littered the ground. The Lieutenant hoped the 8th Armored would arrive soon and kill this son of a bitch...
"Incoming, get out, get out!" The confident, bored voice of the 8th armored commander turned into a panicked alter ego of itself. The Lieutenant was terrified now. What could possibly have spooked the commander that much as o order his men out of their tanks?
Three explosions both over the radio and audible in the distance completely derailed his train of thought. With no armor to support them, how were they supposed to defeat this...this...Ghost or whatever the hell it was?
"There he is, shoot him, shoot him!" A new barrage of gunfire echoed as all the Griffons that were left under his command all trained their rifles on the tall, grey figure that jumped out of the treeline and charged them. The Lieutenant had never been trained to deal with an enemy that would charge against the barrels of over thirty rifles. How the hell were they supposed to beat that? He could only watch as the tall, bipedal creature shot two more of his men with the rifle it was holding. Before he could do anything, the creature had dropped his rifle, and thrust his wrist's forward, sending two long blades shooting out from slots on it's armor. His own hands were now lethal weapons. The Lieutenant could tell that this thing knew how to use them very well, and that they were beyond all salvation now. He could only watch helplessly as the creature plunged it's arm right into a Sergeant, then using his left, pushed the impaled Griffon off his right. Turning to the left as he went, the left arm reached to it's hip and pulled out a pistol, shooting two more Griffons as he dodged another one trying to hit him with the butt of his rifle. Behind the first Griffon lay another one unfortunately, which suffered from a blade to his chest. This thing just killed five of his men in less than that many seconds!
Within a matter of moments, his entire unit was eviscerated. The creature just continued to walk forward, stepping over the battered corpses of what was once an elite combat force. The least the Lieutenant could do was warn the next unit of what was coming. He crawled over to the radio, sickened by the sight of his butchered men lying dead before him. The metallic smell of blood filled the air, turning his stomach. The crimson fluid leaked out of every open wound, pooling on the ground. The blood of over fifty soldiers mixed together, possibly uniting the brothers-in-arms in death.
The Lieutenant had to st...crawl over the bodies of his own soldiers to get to the black device that could possibly save many lives. It was impossible to tell where the Eagle ended, and where the Lion began. Both parts of his body were covered in the blood of those who followed him. His heartbeat grew faster and stronger as he drew closer to the radio. Just a few more feet, and he could give the second unit a chance to exact his revenge for him. He knew he wasn't going to make it. He could feel his own blood seeping out into the pool, joining with that of his fellow soldiers. He had hidden his wound well, not wanting to demoralize his troops further with the knowledge that their leader was wounded. Lot of good that did. He would be with them soon, this much he knew, but now he had to make sure that no one else would join them...and that they would have a second chance with the bastard that sent them there.
The Lieutenant finally reached the jet black radio, grabbed the mike after untangling the cable, then practically shouted into it:
"First line has broken, I repeat, first line has broken! Enemy is advancing towards the second line, I say again-"
A sinister voice interrupted his frantic, desperate attempt at a warning.
"You'll say nothing more..."
"Wha-"
The young Lieutenant's life finally extinguished as the blade cut his heart in two. For just a split second, he could feel it exiting his back. He tried to look into the eyes of his assailant. All he could see was the tinted visor of his helmet, before he finally went off to join his troops.
- - - - - -
Wolf slowly pulled his wrist blade out of the Griffon's chest as he saw the life drain out of it's goldish brown eyes. He silently cursed at himself for not making sure that it was dead. Now the enemy knew he was coming for them, to retrieve what they had taken from him. Fighting through a second wave of Griffons, one that was ready for him and had armor support didn't really appeal to Wolf, so he decided to call down the thunder.
"Sam, you got anything on your scope?"
Sam had taken remote control of one of the Hunters in the Red Dawn's large drone fleet and was flying it 35,000 feet above the engagement zone, well out of the range of Griffon anti-air weaponry. The camera on the underside of the drone zoomed in to an area a few hundred meters in front of Wolf. All she could see was the dark canopy of trees that made up the birds-eye view of the Everfree Forest. It was given a new green tint as the nightvision finally came on, illuminating the whole forest.
"Negative sir. I can't see anything through the trees." Sam replied with the light British accent that was she was programmed with.
"Switch to thermal imaging." Wolf commanded her. He knew that there were more hostiles ahead, and walking straight into them was not on his to do list.
The images the drone was sending suddenly became grey as the camera switched to thermal vision. Now things cleared up greatly. The drone's on-board computer had already marked the unnatural heat signatures. A large infantry force had taken up positions guarding the entrance to some kind of underground lair. Tanks were hastily covered in branches, leaves and anything else that could make them less visible.
"Multiple targets detected sir. Permission to engage?" Sam asked, hoping to receive permission. It had been so long since she had fired a projectile at something, and she didn't want it to end.
"Do you even need to ask?" Was Wolf's stern reply.
With an overwhelming amount of giddiness, Sam sent the signal to fire three high-yield Banshee missiles. It was enough firepower to level a building, and Sam was overjoyed to use it. She was happy as could be as the clamps around the three missiles suddenly shot open as a fountain of flame erupted from the back of the missiles, sending them hurdling towards their targets with a high-pitched scream. That's why they called them Banshees.
"The suspense is killing me!" Sam joyously shouted as the drone's camera tracked the missiles as they fell towards the ground, accelerating rapidly.
"I almost forgot!" Sam declared worriedly, as she forgot to adjust the feed from the camera. The grey enviroment suddenly turned green as the camera switched from thermal to nightvision, then black as it reverted back to standard imaging. The moon was not nearly full, so it reflected little sunlight back to the ground, making the whole area darker than the darkest pits of hell. She watched the timer count down with ever growing glee as the missiles drew closer and closer. As it hit zero, the black images sent by the drones camera suddenly came alive as three geysers of orange flame spewed from the ground in sequence, sending many enemies to their doom. Sam sighed contently as the images went through her CPU.
"I wish I had a body and some popcorn..."
Suddenly, an idea popped into her hard drive, then in a matter of moments, a screen on the bridge of the Red Dawn came alive, playing the feed from the Hunter. The small circular projectors on the roof and floor housing a blue haze between them suddenly shifted, taking the form of a young woman, sitting on a deck chair, wearing sunglasses, munching on a bowl of popcorn. The smile on her face only grew as the flames climbed higher and higher into the sky.
"Wolf's gonna be suprised when he see this!" She yelled once more, this day was oh so fun, and it was just going to get better!
- - - - -
Wolf charged towards the explosions, rolling under branches, jumping over large roots, vaulting over random rocks that dotted the landscape, until he finally reached his destination. By this time, he had reclaimed his discarded rifle from the ground, a modified LMG-240 and was now ready to gun down any survivors. There didn't seem to be any however...
Wolf stepped over many charred sets of bones until he reached his goal. What these Griffons had given their lives for. A hole in the ground. Wolf didn't know how or why it was put there, all he knew was that what he had come for was inside it. With a soft grunt, Wolf jumped in, rolling as his feet hit the ground. Stalactites dotted the ceiling of the subterranean passage, and the sound of the crystal clear water dropping from their tips echoed through the cramped quarters of the tunnel. As he walked through it slowly, always shifting the barrel of his rifle towards every new sound, he recalled the events that had led up to this...
- - - - -
42 hours earlier...
Wolf woke up slowly and calmly for a change. He couldn't remember when was the last time that happened. The sun was just starting to rise, taking back the skies from the moon. It's warming rays slowly crept through the open balcony doors, illuminating the floor and the white walls around it. As they continued to rise they eventually met his half open eyes. Now he had to get up. Shifting away from the sunlight would mean letting go of Twilight, and running the risk of waking her up. Getting out of bed wasn't a very appealing option, but he had to in order to complete the task at hand. Wolf slowly took his arm from around Twilight, then turning around as softly as he could he got up off the bed. The springs creaked as his weight shifted, making Wolf wince.
"Oh please don't wake up..." Wolf whispered, worried that she would indeed wake up. Twilight merely sighed and shifted a bit, ignoring the loud noise completely. Wolf sighed from relief as he glided across the room, making almost no noise at all. But as he stood up, the suns warming rays hit his back. Unable to ignore them he had to get out onto the balcony. A cool breeze entered through the balcony, cooling off the whole front of his body. The whole front of his body.
The balcony could wait a few more seconds for a pair of shorts hastily put back on. The shirt wasn't required, so it was ignored. As he walked out onto the balcony, he had to place his hand in front of the eyes as the sunlight intensified. He was reminded that while the sun usually gave a warm embrace when it had control over the ground, it could also be a vicious ruler. Once his eyes were adjusted to the brighter light, his arm came down, back in it's normal position. He breathed in the crisp morning air, cooling his lungs as the cold air mingled with the hot air that already occupied them. Wolf walked towards the railing and leaned over once again. He had watched Canterlot come alive at night, and now he wanted to see it coming alive in the morning.
The first ponies to come out were also the most tired. Wolf could see them all yawning from high atop the Palace towers. A sweet, pleasing scent filled the air as many restaurants and bakeries came alive, preparing themselves for the breakfast rush that was to follow shortly. Donuts, bagels, muffins...Wolf couldn't tell which was which. The scents blended together seamlessly, making them even sweeter than ever before. Cinammon, orange, and so many other scents danced around his nose together, putting the old city streets of Paris to shame . Wolf had gone to Paris on leave before it was destroyed, and it was one of the few good places he had visited, leaving a lasting impression on him. That impression was sent flying out the window by Equestria's beautiful capital. Wolf couldn't believe how calm they all were considering that Equestria was preparing for a civil war.
Unfortunately, he couldn't completely grasp it, due to the guilt he felt for what he was going to do. Wolf had told Twilight that he was not going to fight in the coming war. But that did not mean he would just sit idly by when the war came to Canterlot. And he knew it was. Twilight was right about the Griffons. They were a major threat, and with them at Nightmare Moon's side, Wolf doubted that Equestria's military forces could turn back the tide. He also seriously doubted that the Royal Guards would be able to stop them from bringing harm to Twilight. Sure, Shining Armor would give them hell, but he could only do so much. If that time did come, Twilight would need a real soldier to protect her. And that was where he came in. Yes, he wasn't going to fight, but if they came anywhere close to harming Twilight, he would rip their hearts out and toss them to the hyenas. But to do that, he would need equipment, and Wolf knew just where to get it.
"I should be able to get this right this time..." Wolf said as his hand glowed deep blue. He raised it in the air, and in a bright flash of blue light, he was gone.
- - - - -
"Well, that went nicely." Wolf said as he grasped the hull of his beloved warship once more. The repairs he had made were holding, that much was certain. The black armor of the ship glistened in the sun. Sam had cleared him through one of the ships many airlocks. Wolf quickly weaved through the halls of the ship as he reached his destination.
DECK 3 ARMORY
Wolf smiled as he opened the door, and saw the rows upon rows of weapons and ammunition within.
- - - - -
40 hours earlier...
Wolf had stuffed everything in crates and tied them together with heavy duty rope. An extremely strong titanium hook was tied at the end of the rope, waiting to be lifted away. The silence was shattered as rotor blades whipped the air mercilessly, generating the thrust that was required to lift the Guardian Angel into the heavens. It hovered above the crates, intent on carrying them with it.
From within the cockpit, Wolf looked out to make certain the chopper was put into hover mode. He pressed the button that released the hook that was placed on the Guardian Angel, behind the troop bay. The Guardian Angel wasn't designed to carry just troops into battle, but also any required supplies and light armor whenever heavier transport craft were unavailable. As the hook fell close to the ground, Wolf stopped it's descent. He closed his eyes, and focused on the hook of the chopper and the hook of the crates. They glowed blue as Wolf focused on them. Suddenly, defying the laws of gravity, the hook from the crates lifted into the air and joined with the hook of the chopper. As Wolf adjusted to the increased weight of the helicopter, he lifted into the air, sending dust and debris towards the ship behind him. It would be a short flight to Canterlot, and he hoped it wouldn't end like the last one.
- - - - - -
Wolf switched on the radio as he neared Canterlot and started broadcasting on all frequencies.
"Whiskey Seven-Thirteen to Canterlot, requesting permission to land." Wolf said into the mike, awaiting an answer.
Static dominated over the radio waves. No answer came for a few minutes.
"Whiskey Seven-Thirteen, requesting permission to land." He repeated into the mike, annoyed by the delay.
"Wake up assholes!" He finally gave in and shouted into the mike after a few more minutes wait.
"Whiskey Seven-Thirteen, priority clearance granted for pad three, repeat, pad three." A voice cracked over the radio, giving Wolf his much desired response.
"Thank you...Be advised, I'm carrying cargo, say again, carrying cargo." Wolf said into the mike again. He could at least give them proper warning. After a few minutes passed, Wolf regretted his decision. What the hell could they be doing now?
"Revert to pad six." The voice said once more. Wolf was glad the wait had finally ended. He pushed the stick forward, and the helicopter jerked forward, heading towards pad six, as instructed. As he flew around the landing pads, he finally reached number six. It was larger than pad three, most likely because of the cargo he was carrying. The pad was empty, and it was going to be a smooth landing. Wolf maneuvered the helicopter so that the crates were placed to the side of the white landing pad, so that he would have enough room to land. Once the crates were detached, he gently guided the Guardian Angel back to solid ground. The helicopter touched down on the pad with a soft thud as Wolf switched off the engine, generating a metallic whine as the gears stopped turning, bringing the rotor blades to a stop. Silence ruled over the landing pad, as if the air was happy that the merciless assault on it by the helicopter's rotor blades finally ceased to turn.
The canopy hissed as it slowly opened. Wolf jumped out and met the ground. He was glad to be back on solid ground, but things on the landing pad were quiet. Too quiet. No one was around, no deck officers, no loaders...nothing. The place looked deserted. Wolf started to walk over to the door in the side of the mountain when it started to open. Wolf's heart sank as he saw what had opened it.
Standing in the doorway, wearing her regal robes, crown glistening as the sunlight bounced off it, murderous look in her eyes, was Twilight.
"Oh boy..." Wolf knew he was in for a long, long talk.
- - - - -
28 hours earlier...
Wolf was suprised to find out that he had been gone for a little over two hours, during which Twilight had awoken alone in her bed, no note, nothing from Wolf to tel her where he was going, and all of a sudden he showed back up on her doorstep, carrying a large load of weaponry, including his armor. Wolf lost track of time as the hours passed by while Twilight continued to rant, until a whole day had past. Too angry to allow him into her bedroom for now, Wolf set himself up in an unoccupied watchtower looming over the city like a giant dagger in the sky, it's alabaster walls reflecting sunlight back to the city. By some mistake, Wolf had also packed a cot into those crates. Turns out it wasn't a mistake after all. Wolf wondered however if he had made a mistake by bringing all that hardware into the palace. He had barely been there for 3 days and already he had caused another fight between him and Twilight. Maybe he was too hasty to judge the outcome of the coming war. Maybe Equestria would win. Maybe Twilight wouldn't be in any danger after all. So he just caused a fight for nothing. Wolf turned in his cot as he sighed in disappointment. He had serious issues that he had to work on. But working on his personality quirks would have to wait till morning. Wolf was just too tired to do anything else. A day of scolding made sure of that. Wolf slowly closed his eyes, and drifted to sleep.
- - - - -
25 hours earlier...
Twilight couldn't sleep. She just couldn't. She had spent hours already just tossing and turning in her bed. Maybe she overreacted just a bit, after all Wolf just wanted to protect her...
Protect her...That he would go to such lengths to protect her, ready to enact terrible retribution on any that dare harm her, yet unwilling to fight against those who would order their subordinates to do so. A light breeze blew through the open balcony doors, sending chills down her spine. Those doors were pretty much useless considering that they stayed open almost constantly. Twilight pulled the blanket over herself even more. It was chilly tonight, and she was unwilling to get out of bed to close them. A light thud caught her attention. It wasn't anything important, so Twilight dismissed it. When another four were heard, Twilight had to see what was going on. As she reared her head out of the pillows, hey sight was blotted out by some kind of bag as something metal clasped around her horn. She tried to scream, but was silenced as a gag was stuffed into her mouth. Twilight tried to cast a spell and free herself. She could feel the energy gathering in her horn. Soon whoever was attacking her would feel the wrath of a princess.
A wave of pain washed over her head as her own magic was discharged back at her, shocking her. She started to feel lightheaded. The gag must have been laced with something.
"Mustn't close my eyes...Don't close your eyes..." Twilight thought to herself. She HAD to stay awake. But the bag she was placed in combined with the anesthetic laced gag rendered all of her efforts in vain. The last thing she heard was said figures talking to each other, mentioning something about the Everfree Forest, a Queen, and a note as she fell asleep...
- - - - -
17 hours earlier...
Wolf awoke by the sound of shouting Guards. He stormed out onto the balcony, straining his eyes immensely. He looked down towards the courtyards however, so the sunlight didn't bother him much. Below the watchtower he had spent the night in were large groups of Guards rushing in all directions. Their commander frantically barked orders at them. Something was wrong. Very wrong, and Wolf knew it. He had to find out just what the hell was going on. And he knew he had to go straight to the horse's mouth to find out. Wolf pushed the door open, rushed down the stairs and wove through the hallways of the palace. He didn't know where his target was, so he asked one of the Guards running about.
"Hey! Where's the Captain?" Wolf shouted to the panicked Guard.
"Down the hall and hang a right! Keep going till you're in the courtyard!" The Guard shouted as he ran off further into the palace. Wolf followed his directions and found himself in one of the palace's larger courtyards. Shining Armor was standing in the center, giving a speech or something to his Guards. Wolf only caught part of it.
"...Search parties sent everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Leave no stone unturned until you find her! Is that clear?!" Shining Armor barked towards the mass of Guards gathered before him.
"Sir yes sir!" They all responded as they marched off into the distance.
"Hey! Shining Armor!" Wolf shouted to him as he walked up towards him. Shining Armor turned to face him, then walked towards the castle. Wolf turned as they met midway, then walked with him.
"What's going on?" Wolf asked. Shining Armor just ignored him until they were inside, despite Wolf's multiple attempts to get his attention.
"Hey! Talk to me, what's going on?!" Wolf finally asked after getting in front of him, looking him straight in the eye. Shining Armor was captivated by their tranquil appearance. He had to answer now.
"Twilight's been kidnapped." Shining Armor said, waiting for a frantic response.
"What?!" Wolf asked, eyes going wide with dread. How could this have happened? He blamed himself. If he hadn't brought all that weaponry, then he would have been with Twilight when her kidnappers had come for her. He could have stopped them. But now they had gone too far.
"They left this for you." Shining Armor interrupted his thoughts. Levitating a small note, he gave it to Wolf. Wolf scanned it, needing to see what it said.
Hello Wolf, by the time you've found this, your precious Princess will have been in our hooves for hours already. If you want her back, then come and claim her. You know where to find her...
As he read the final passage, an image forced it's way into his mind. A cave, surrounded by dark green trees. Somehow, he immediately knew how to get there. Wolf crushed the note in his hand and walked off into the halls of the castle. Now Shining Armor was following him, peppering him with questions. It was his turn to be ignored. He followed Wolf up the winding stairs up to the watchtower, but his path was interrupted by a closing door. Shining Armor banged on the door mercilessly, hearing commotion from within. A few minutes passed, before the door finally creaked open. Shining Armor pushed it aside and entered. Within, he saw a new Wolf, one he didn't recognize. One clad in a grey suit of armor made from an unknown alloy, picking up a long metal device that was obviously a weapon of terrible power. Wolf turned around to face him. Lifting up the weapon and putting it on his shoulder, he said one thing.
"Whiskey Seven-Thirteen ready to kick ass."
- - - - -
5 &1/2 hours earlier...
Wolf looked through the binoculars at the multitude of hostiles before him. Griffons, many of them. Heavily armed, all of them. He overheard them mention something about tanks arriving late at night. Wolf wasn't sure of what to do. If he attacked now, he would be easy to spot. If the Griffons could see him, they could shoot him. And Wolf didn't intend to be a bullet magnet. On the other hand, if he waited till nightfall, he would not be spotted as easily, and he would have the support of a small army of Guards, but that would mean they would also have to face enemy armor. The latter was easily disposed of however. He went down a couple of branches on the tree he was perched on, turned around it, and activated his comlink.
"Sam, I need a Hunter fueled and ready to go, and I need it in about five hours. How copy?" Wolf whispered. If he was heard, then the whole plan would be shot straight to hell.
"Copy all sir. Hunter will be ready to go. Just give me the targets and I'll take care of the rest." Sam replied. Oh goody! She would get to blow something up!
"You have my location?" Wolf asked her.
"Affirmative sir." Sam assured him. Of course she had it. She would aaaaalways trace his signal when he contacted her.
"Check back with me when the Hunter achieves standard orbit." Wolf instructed her. Sam would do it. She always followed his orders to the letter. Well, unless they would backfire and end up in him blowing himself up.
"Yes sir. Talk to you in five hours. Don't be a stranger! Out." Sam said, then proceeded to prepare the Hunter that Wolf had requested.
"Good ol' Sam..." Wolf said, before hunkering down. He had a loooooong wait ahead of him...
- - - - -
7 minutes earlier...
Wolf's patience was wearing very thin. This was the perfect time to attack, when they didn't expect it. Those floodlights weren't doing much good for the Griffons. They had missed him many times. Stealth was something Wolf enjoyed, but the waiting that walked hand in hand with it wasn't on his list of favorite things. Like a ghost, he had evaded patrols, searchlights, everything the Griffons had thrown at him. And now he needed to get this over with, rescue Twilight, and get the hell out. He couldn't wait. He got so anxious, he didn't notice the three Griffons below him until it was too late.
"There!" One of the shouted, and all of a sudden he was nearly blinded by three flashlights shining at him. In an instant, Wolf jumped down after drawing his wrist blades, plunging them into two of the Griffons before they could do anything else. Gravity only increased the force of the blows. The two of them were dead before they even hit the ground. With one swift motion, the blades were out, and now he had to focus on the third target. Wolf lunged at him, using his left hand to knock the drawn rifle out of the Griffons hand. With his right, he plunged the blade into the Griffon's stomach, but not before he could discharge his firearm. The gunshots echoed through the forest, followed soon by the alarms blaring throughout the whole enemy encampment.
"Shit..." Wolf hissed. Oh well. At least now he could finally attack...
- - - - -
Present...
Wolf stepped out of the long, dark, damp tunnel, and found himself inside a large circular room. A smaller stone circle rested in the center of the room, with four stone pillars rising from the floor. Wolf couldn't see the ceiling. The room didn't seem to have a ceiling. A bright white light, as if heaven itself had opened up, illuminated the room. A little bit further than the center of the stone circle, was a certain lavender Alicorn...
"Twilight!" Wolf shouted as he ran towards her. A few feet away, he dropped to the ground and slid next to her, leaving his LMG next to her. He ripped his helmet off and tossed it to the side. It bounced off the ground with a series of sickening thuds, before finally resting at the edge of the room. Wolf lifted her head up, and turned her head to face him. He placed fingers on her neck, to make sure she was alive. She seemed to be unconscious, but all right otherwise.
"The bastards didn't hurt her, Thank God... " Wolf whispered to himself.
"Twilight? Twilight can you hear me? Speak to me..." Wolf said to her, hoping that she would wake up.
The illusion that she was unconscious quickly faded away when her eyes opened quickly, and after grasping who was in front of her, Twilight desperately shouted to him. The fear and desperation in her voice was clear. Wolf hadn't heard anyone so desperate.
"Wolf it's a trap!"
As his eyes went wide, from the other side of the room 5 heavily armed Griffons emerged from the shadows in a straight line formation and started firing. Wolf was vulnerable now, he knew it. Twilight fell to the floor, taking cover from the barrage of bullets. Wolf took a bullet to the shoulder, the force of impact knocking him back. With his right arm, Wolf grabbed his LMG, aimed at the closest Griffon, and fired. As the first Griffon fell, Wolf started to walk the LMG to the left, taking full advantage of the weakness of their formation. Soon they were all dead, their blood forming another pool on the floor. The Griffons he had already sent to Hell were going to have some more company...Wolf made sure that the area was secure, then returned to Twilight, who had just lifted her head up and was scanning the room. As he knelt next to her, holding his bleeding shoulder, Twilight shouted at him again.
"It's a trap!" The words echoed in the air for a moment, before Wolf replied.
"Yeah, I know, I took care of them." Wolf reassured her that everything was all right.
"No, not them! You need to-"
Before Twilight could say anything else, Wolf was swept away by a wave of magic, sending him flying straight into the center of the stone circle. Once he was above it, bolts of red lightning shot out from the pillars at the edge of the circle. Wolf could only scream in agony as the energy made it's way through his body. The bolts focused on his arms and legs, but the sheer strength of the magic sent the energy coursing through the rest of his body. Twilight yelled to him, feeling his pain. She tried to cast spells to help him, but to no avail. The ring around her horn made sure that no magic could be discharged from it.
"You cannot help him now." An eerily familiar voice echoed through the room amidst the crackling of the red lightning.
Nightmare Moon stepped out of the shadows, and circled the magic encased human as her clever trap was doing exactly what it was designed to do.
"Nothing can. I made sure of that. This is Old Magic..." Nightmare Moon taunted her. The person Twilight loved was being tortured in front of her, and there was nothing she could do about it. And Nightmare Moon was rubbing it in...
"I'll be greatly suprised if he survives this..."
Twilight could only watch Wolf squirm and listen as his pained screams echoed in the chamber, torturing her with their continuity.
Wolf was in sheer agony. He felt like thousands of volts of electricity coursed through his body, ripping it apart as if it was looking for something. His heart was beating like crazy, on the brink of complete collapse. His lungs hurt like fire was encased within them as they forced the air out of them. His vocal chords were resonating so hard they felt like they could snap at any moment. His ears stung like crazy as they were tortured by his own screaming.
The pain subsided a bit, as if the energy found what is was looking for.
- - - - - -
The air was being sucked out of the very space that surrounded him. Jekyll could fell it pulling him back, trying to consume him, whatever it was. A bright red light shone overhead. It's source, a bolt of red lightning cast out into the shadow and grabbed hold of something. A scream echoed through the shadow as Hyde was pulled out from his lair. The bolt past right by him, and so did Hyde. Acting on instinct, Jekyll reached out and grabbed his hand. Only now did he grasp the force behind this lightning. It took all of his strength just to hold on to Hyde. With his left hand, Jekyll grabbed hold of the ground.
"Hyde! Hold on!" Jekyll shouted to his evil companion as the lightning crackled overhead. It had grabbed Hyde by the leg and it didn't intend to let go.
"You can let me go Jekyll...I wouldn't blame you..." Hyde's deep, raspy voice was barely audible as the crackling intensified. Jekyll looked into Hyde's eyes and for the first time saw some sincerity behind them. He may have been evil but Jekyll wasn't going to abandon him to a horrible fate. His grip tightened, as he shouted his reply.
"No! I'm not gonna let go!"
For the first time ever, Hyde felt genuine respect for Jekyll.
- - - - - -
Nightmare Moon gave off an amused chuckle. The spectacle was entertaining for her. A powerful being such as Wolf, fighting against impossible odds. But now the time for amusement had ended.
"Putting up a fight eh? Amusing...Yet unacceptable."
Wolf's screaming only got louder as the pain got worse. Much worse....
- - - - - -
Hyde began screaming panickedly. Jekyll looked back to see why. The tip of the red lightning bolt that was wrapped around Hyde's leg started to turn black, as if it was sucking something out of him. Before long, he could see the tip turn red again, after extracting whatever it came for. Suddenly, it let go, and both of them fell to the ground.
- - - - - -
Wolf's screams ended in a sickening crescendo as something black and pulsing was ripped out of his chest by the lightning. Suddenly, the bolts that held Wolf's arms and legs in a tight embrace let go, now focusing on the black mass that they had taken out of him. Wolf hung in the air for a moment, before falling to the ground, smoldering in complete silence. Twilight rushed over to him. He couldn't be dead! Not after all that he had survived! She blew past a smiling Nightmare Moon and fell to the ground at his side, to see if he was still alive, and to try and bring him back if he wasn't.
Nightmare Moon ignored Twilight's frantic cries as she finally saw it. The fruit of her many labors. Such power...She could feel it from where she was standing! And now, it was at her disposal, all she had to do now was claim it. The bolts of lightning disappeared as Nightmare Moon absorbed this mass of pure energy. The power! There was just so much of it! She could feel the energy coursing through her, adjusting to the new body. She was lifted into the air by the sheer voracity of it. Once the process was complete, she gently floated back to the ground, stronger then ever before. Her task was now complete. With this new-found strength, she could easily conquer Equestria. But now she had to destroy the one being that could still pose a threat to her. If it could survive such an ordeal, and having it's magic stripped away from it in such a manner, it could still be a dangerous enemy.
Much to Twilight's relief, Wolf was alive. Barely. How he survived didn't matter to her, what mattered was that he did. His breathing was irregular as his eyes opened, fear painted on his face. He would not survive going through that again.
"So he survived...Impressive..." Nightmare Moon's poisoned words hung in the air, stinging Twilight's thoughts viciously. She would pay for what she did to him...she would pay.
Twilight got up and charged Nightmare Moon. Her horn may not be much use for magic now, but she could still use it to stab her.
"Don't waste my time with pointless offensives." Nightmare Moon said as her horn glowed and Twilight was swept off her hooves, and sent flying into the wall of the chamber. The sheer force of the blow knocked her unconscious.
Wolf saw it all. He had to stop this bitch before she could do any more damage. And he saw it, lying a few feet in front of him. His pistol, knocked out of it's holster from the wave of magic that struck him just seconds ago. It's well cleaned and polished structure glistened in the light, giving Wolf the feeling it could defeat anything.
Despite the overwhelming amounts of pain in his chest, Wolf slowly crawled over to his gun. Right arm...Left arm...Right, left. Right, left. Right, left...
As his hand finally gripped the handle, Wolf smiled. A new wave of pain washed over his body as the Dark Queen of The Night stomped on his hand with as much strength as she could muster. The gun glowed black as she gripped it with her magic.
"What were you planning on doing with this?" She asked him in a mocking tone. She only smiled and laughed at his attempt to vanquish her. Wolf looked at her with hatred that burned with the intensity of a thousand suns. Nightmare Moon ignored his glare and examined the weapon that Wolf would have used to harm her. Such a simple thing, yet it had such destructive potential...
"A crude...yet effective weapon." Nightmare Moon concluded as she cocked the weapon, intent on using it.
"Ironic isn't it? The very weapon that would have been my end...will be yours." Nightmare Moon declared, as the weapon turned midair, the barrel facing Wolf. He looked straight down it and knew it was all over. Nothing more could be done.
"Goodbye, Wolf." She said, grinning madly.
"NO!"
That one word echoed through the chamber as a large white mass, followed by a smaller dark blue one crashed into Nightmare Moon just as she pulled the trigger. The bullet missed Wolf by mere millimeters. He looked towards the two allies that had come to his aid, and identified them immediately. Princess Celestia herself, and a smaller Alicorn Wolf recognized from a painting he was shown. Celestia's younger sister, Princess Luna. The three battled for a few seconds, before a booming voice echoed through the chamber walls.
"ENOUGH!"
A burst of black energy, and both regal sisters were sent soaring through the air into opposite sides of the chamber. They had been defeated so easily. Nightmare Moon stood in the center of a small crater that was created when she generated that wave. They were all doomed, unless Wolf could do something...anything.
A gentle flash caught the corner of his eye. He looked towards it, and there it was. Still in it's pristine condition, his pistol. Wolf knew he would only have one shot at this. He mustered all of his strength, and kicking up a small cloud of dust lunged towards the pistol. He grabbed it, turned around, and emptied the five rounds that were left in Nightmare Moon's direction. He could hear two of the ripping through flesh, and the other three bouncing off her battle armor. Nightmare Moon hissed in pain as the small projectiles dared to tear into her. In pain, unable to fight now, she simply yelled.
"You will pay for that!"
And she was gone in a puff of black smoke.
The final dash draining what was left of his energy, Wolf collapsed to the ground. His breathing had become heavy, labored. Before long Wolf was unconscious once more.
The silence of the chamber was restored, as all who occupied it were unconscious.
The silence was quickly broken however, as the ceiling slowly began to crack...
End chapter 47 |
Black Alicorn | 656 | 49 | Nightmare Moon,Original Character,Shining Armor,Twilight Sparkle,Alternate Universe,Human,Adventure,Dark,Romance,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore,Sex | New Beginnings | A young human super-soldier crash-lands on Equestria. Now, he must leave behind his dark, dark past and embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning. More so, he must now protect it when an ancient evil returns to plague Equestria once more! | hiatus | 521 | 70 | <p>When a young human super-soldier falls to Equestria, he must move on from his dark past filled with war, tragedy and bloodshed. Will he embrace this new chance at life, this new beginning? And most importantly. can he protect it when an ancient evil returns for a second time?</p><p>(<b>NOT a Halo crossover.</b>)</p><p>!!!Due to an incredibly busy schedule now that exams for college entry are closing in, New Beginnings is on Hiatus!!!</p> | teen | 2014-09-28T15:12:21+00:00 | 2014-09-28T15:12:21+00:00 | 2,478 | Celestia shifted a bit, regaining her senses after Nightmare Moon's attack. How she had gathered that much power eluded her, but how really didn't matter at this point. What mattered was that Nightmare Moon had the power now, and was more than happy to use it. Celestia lifted her head up, and regretted that decision instantly. Her head ached as if someone had dropped a mountain on it. At that moment, a large chunk of the ceiling fell from above, crashing to the ground and shattering into hundreds of smaller pieces.
"Figures..." Celestia muttered.
In one quick burst of strength Celestia was back on her hooves. Unfortunately, that was only temporary. Celestia slumped down on her side after taking a few clumsy steps. She must have been hit harder than she thought. Another chunk of dirt fell to the ground, where Celestia saw Luna lying unconscious.
Ignoring the throbbing pain in her head, Celestia lifted herself up off the ground. She wobbled a bit, but now she was determined to stay up. Celestia walked over to her beloved sister, intent on removing her from this collapsing cave. Celestia focused on Luna, trying to grip her with magic. She tried and tried again, but failed each time. The pain was simply too much for Celestia to bear. She would have to carry her sister out the old fashioned way.
Legs still shaking, ready to give way at any time, Celestia got her head under Luna's motionless body, and just kept pushing forward. Her efforts bore fruit quickly. Luna was now secure on Celestia's back. Having to adjust to the extra weight, she couldn't move at first.
"Luna has to lay off all the moon pies..." Celestia muttered to herself as she put one hoof in front of the other and repeated the process continuously until she was safely out of the cave, her precious cargo still safely on her back. Once Celestia was a fair distance from the mouth of the cave, she collapsed to the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust. Luna slumped off of her sisters back, falling to the ground and generating a smaller dust cloud. The small clouds danced with each other for a split second, before gently floating away into the night air. With quick shallow breaths Celestia attempted to supply her body with the oxygen it so desperately needed. She would have simply stayed there, resting if one realization didn't smash her instincts to bits.
"They're still inside..."
Celestia's eyes went wide just as her adrenal system ejected it's emergency stores directly into her bloodstream. With her new-found strength, and the dulling of the pain, she was able to lift herself off the ground once more. She stood at the entrance of the cave, staring into it for a moment. The whole thing looked like it was beckoning her to come inside and seal her fate. She knew that this must have been what Nightmare Moon intended, but she honestly didn't give a damn. Twilight and Wolf were still inside and she was going to get them out, no matter the cost. She would have to hurry though. She could hear the cave ceiling falling to the ground, the loud crashing noises echoing through the narrow tunnel that lead to it.
With sheer determination, she charged into the cave, dodging a falling stalactite from the tunnel roof. She entered the chamber, and realized to her own horror that the part of the ceiling where she and Luna were lying had collapsed completely. If she hadn't woken up...
Celestia shook her head, She couldn't afford to dwell on that now. She had two lives to save. She desperately scanned the room, looking for said lives. She found them both on opposite sides of the stone circle, both resting under the pillars that comprised Nightmare Moon's clever trap. Both lay motionless. Celestia didn't want to admit it, but she knew that she only had time to save one. The ceiling wouldn't hold much longer. But who would she save? Twilight, her beloved student, Element of Magic and current ruler of Equestria? Or Wolf, the greatest warrior Equestria has ever seen, and perhaps their best and only hope against the Separatist Griffons? Celestia knew she had to make her decision quickly, or else they would all be buried in this place.
"Take...Twilight..." A gruff, pained voice echoed from the right side of the chamber. Celestia's head snapped to it's source. Wolf was trying to lift himself off the ground, but a falling piece of rock struck his back, knocking him back down. His shoulder bleeding, his free arm gripping his helmet, Wolf lifted his head up and looked Celestia straight in the eyes. A mixture of anger, fear, desperation and annoyance fueling his voice, he shouted one last thing.
"Go Celestia!"
Celestia wanted to say something, but she stopped, and simply gave Wolf a respectful nod. Wolf's only response was a violent coughing fit as the dust generated from the falling debris invaded his lungs. Celestia rushed over to Twilight's side, and repeated the same thing she did with Luna. Once Twilight was secure on her back, Celestia began a quick trot out of the doomed cave. Her face froze with horror as a loud crack echoed through the room.
The last crack.
Celestia winced and crouched down as low to the ground as she could, wanting to squeeze every last second she could as she could hear the ceiling giving way and falling towards her, gaining more speed with each passing second. A thunderous crash echoed in the disturbed air...
Celestia opened her eyes, wondering what the afterlife looked like. She was disappointed. It looked just like the cave she was just in. So that was it? She had lived for thousands of years, wondering how the afterlife would be, only to discover it was just the scene of her death?
A falling piece of rock derailed Celestia's macabre train of thought. Her head darted upwards, where she saw the harbinger of her doom looming over her just like before, only closer. Why had it frozen midair like that? A quick look around revealed the answer. The four pillars around the diameter of the stone circle stubbornly suspended the ceiling up just inches above Celestia's flowing mane. She silently thanked Nightmare Moon, something she thought she'd would never, ever do. For Nightmare Moon, in her attempt to destroy them all in one fell swoop, had just inadvertently saved them all. Well, all except one...
Regaining her focus, Celestia now galloped full speed out of the collapsing cave. She could feel the air rushing behind her as it was forced out of the main chamber by a few tons of rocks and dirt. The effects of the adrenaline wearing off, Celestia went all in. Her legs moving so fast they burned, she got out of the cave just ahead of the massive plume of dust that was forcibly ejected from the main chamber. The sheer force of the cloud nearly launched her into the air. Once she knew that she was safe, the effects of the adrenaline disappeared completely. The pain now finally catching up to her after biding it's time, Celestia collapsed, exhausted by this whole ordeal.
As the dust settled, two large military airships descended above the forest. Multiple cannons jutted out of the armored hull, ready to bombard anything below. These newly commissioned vessels were the first of their kind, fresh out of the shipyards of Manehattan. They were massive, large enough to give even a fully grown Dragon pause. They were the pride and joy of Equestria's hastily formed military. Since the return of Nightmare Moon, many mothballed facilities came to life as the needs of war loomed menacingly over Equestria's industrial capitals. As they were the first vessels in what would become a grand war fleet, they were immediately designated as the flagships of said fleet, and christened with names paying homage to Equestria's former rulers. Thus, the Celestial Blaze and the Lunar Fury were born.
Scores of Pegasi and Unicorn Guards roped, teleported, and flew down through the fairly thin canopy of trees covering their destination.
"Secure the perimeter!" Was the command that all the officers on the ground bellowed out to their subordinates. Immediately, the ponies that moments ago were descending from the warships that carried them all took up positions around the three Royal ponies that lay in front of them, unconscious. As soon as the dust had happily settled on the ground again, it was disturbed more rudely and more violently than ever before. Once all was clear, the all clear signal was sent back up to the Celestial Blaze.
Within the reinforced wooden hull of the majestic warship, two Unicorns stood by the cargo elevator controls, ready to perform their appointed duty. The all clear signal had been given, and they knew what that meant. Soon he would arrive, expecting them to lower him down to ground level. Sure enough, within the next few seconds, the door in front of them opened, revealing Captain Shining Armor, clad in unique set of purple Guard Armor. Handed down from Captain to Captain, it was one of the few military relics of Equestria, and one of the most prized. The Captain trotted over to the elevator, followed closely by a pair of Pegasi Guards, both donning the iconic golden armor of the Equestrian Guard. The trio all stepped onto the elevator in complete silence. Once they were ready to descend, Shining Armor nodded to the higher ranking of the two. Upon seeing the Captain's nod, he turned to his subordinate and said sternly:
"Pull the lever."
The second Unicorn, in turn, smiled slightly as he finally got to perform his duty. He gripped one of the levers with his teeth, and quickly pulled down on it.
Suddenly, a hatch below his superior opened suddenly, sending him plummeting to the ground below. All he could do as he fell was to scream at the top of his lungs, completely destroying the serious atmosphere below him.
“Wrong leveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrr!!!!”
His scream was interrupted by a soft thud, The Unicorn then looked at the Captain, and asked the one question that was in his mind.
"Sir, why do we even have that lever?"
Shining Armor shot an evil glare at the young Guard. He immediately got the message and pulled the correct lever. The gears creaked slightly as the elevator slowly descended to the forest floor. As it strayed further and further from the ship, it became more and more susceptible to the elements. The elevator swayed a bit as the wind tried to remove the stubborn obstacle that dared to interrupt it's flow. All it did however was bounce off harmlessly. Tonight, the obstacle would win...
The elevator finally set down, kicking up a small cloud of dust that quickly scattered in the breeze. Shining Armor stepped off, followed by his two-Guard escort. All three walked in complete silence at first, but the sight of his sister lying unconscious on Celestia's back was too much for the Captain of the Royal Guard to bear. Breaking years and years of training and discipline, he ran out to the three alicorns, exhaling heavily as he came closer and closer.
The last few meters were covered by skidding. The dust cloud kicked off from the ground and twisted and turned in the air in dizzying patterns.
"Twily..." Shining Armor's voice broke, as tears welled up in his eyes. His sister was there was lying there right in front of her, and he could do nothing. He blamed himself of course. He had failed to protect her, left her with...with...
No. Shining Armor couldn't afford to think of him now. He could take care of himself. Twilight needed her brother with her. Celestia coughed, and Shining Armor remembered she was there too.
"Princess, are you-?"
"Did he make it out?" Celestia's question came at him so quickly it took him time to realize what she had asked.
"Who are you-" Then it hit him. Shining Armor didn't have an answer. He wasn't sure he wanted to have one. He just looked back at the entrance of the cave, dust still billowing up in plumes from the entrance. Where it used to be at least. Shining Armor's mouth hung open as he looked on the sheer amount of rock and dirt that now flooded what once was an opening large enough to fit three chariots side by side.
"I don't think he..." He couldn't say it. More importantly, he didn't want want to say it. And he didn't. Twilight's gasp for breath cut him off. Her eyes opened slowly, and Shining Armor saw his reflection in her eyes. He had to regain control of himself quickly. Anything could still happen.
"Shining?" Twilight's voice was only half as strong as it normally was. She wasn't fully aware of her situation yet. And that was exactly what he needed right now. If she was, she wouldn't like what he was going to do. Hell, she would hate him for the rest of her life anyway once she came to. Mustering every scrap of authority he had in him, he gave his command.
"Get the Princesses aboard the ship. We're leaving."
Deep down he regretted it. He thought he'd never leave anyone behind. But now he had no choice. They were still in dangerous territory, and the Princesses were needed back in Canterlot.
"Captain...no..." This voice came from Celestia, who was in relatively better condition that Twilight.
"I'm sorry Princess, we can't stay here." Shining Armor's words were firm. Or at least as firm as he could make them under the circumstances. A group of twelve Earth ponies came up to them, each holding one corner of three stretchers. They were followed by several Unicorns. Their horns glowed, and the three Princesses were lifted onto a stretcher. Immediately, the Earth ponies sped off towards the elevator of the Celestial Blaze. Shining Armor looked around and saw that the makeshift perimeter had collapsed, and all of his forces were retreating back to the ships at breakneck speed. He followed the last group onto the elevator, and was then lifted back into the belly of the ship.
Shining Armor told one of his lieutenants to make best speed towards Canterlot immediately. He himself stepped back into the rear observation deck of the ship. He opened the door and stepped out on the deck and watched as the ship lifted away from the clearing. The wind blew his mane forward as his eyes fell upon the cave.
"I'm sorry." He spoke those two words as a tear threatened to fall from his eye.
- - - - - - -
Within the bridge of the Red Dawn, the only sound was a loud beep every few seconds. It came from the only monitor that was on, flooding the room with bright blue light. Several sections of the monitor were brighter than the others.
W713 "Wolf"
Sam monitored his heart rate closely, noticing every fluctuation. Something had gone wrong. His pulse was fading, and she could do nothing to help him. Maybe send out a Hunter drone to pick him up? But would he be in any condition to board it if his pulse was dropping? Most of her processing power was dedicated to solving the problem. But nearly all processes stopped dead in their tracks as the beeps were replaced by a high tone screech.
"No..."
Whether through condensation or some miracle, a thin droplet of water appeared on the monitor and flowed down it towards the floor. |
Akailo | 659 | 1 | Adventure,Dark | Deals of the Devil | The Elements of Harmony, an old and strong force. How will they hold up against evil incarnate | hiatus | 15 | 4 | <p>The Elements of Harmony are a great force for good in the world of Equestira, but what happens when the embodyment of evil and chaos takes an intrest?</p> | teen | null | 2011-08-28T22:49:46+00:00 | 1,115 | Deals of the Devil: Skies above
Ponyville, a peaceful little hamlet located just outside the Everfree Forest. Considering it was so close to a place of chaos and danger nothing of interest happened in the small town.
Although the occasional event occurred that shook things up. For the most part it was idyllic, a place of calm where parents could raise their foals without a care in the world.
Such places however, are never as they seem. The more peaceful a town is, the more tempting it is to tricksters and hateful creatures from beyond the veil. For nothing is tastier to a demon then tainting something pure, and it didn’t get more pure then Ponyville.
*****
Rainbow Dash let out a yawn as she began to stir from her nap. Everything was perfect in the young pegasus's small world, but there was still one thing that always haunted her once she awoke: The Wonderbolts. She loved that group more then life itself.
Stunt flying was her whole existence outside of the weather jobs that made up her occupation; her speed was her everything and she took pride in that fact, (to the extent that her ego swelled).
Unfortunately for her, as hard as she tried, her heroes were always just out of reach. She had tried to impress them time and time again, and each time had claimed praise from their leader, Spitfire, but never a place in the group.
At times it infuriated her, she knew she was the best, so why wouldn't they let her join? She was the fastest flyer in the whole of Equestira for Celestia's sake, and she was the only one to ever successfully pull off the Sonic Rainboom. So why wouldn’t they take her?
Rainbow Dash shook these unpleasant thoughts from her head as she began to lift herself off the cloud that she had been napping on. After a few stretches on her wings and legs she began to take off, when the most peculiar thing occurred.
A note floated down from above her. Startled she began to look around for the mail pony who had dropped the letter, but there was no one in sight for miles around. Rainbow Dash scratched at her rainbow mane, she wondered where on Equestria the note could of come from.
She shrugged her wings she looked down at the mysterious letter. It was the strangest thing she had ever seen. The envelope was a pale black colour with odd markings around the edge. Two words adorned the front of the note. “Rainbow Dash”, written in crude letters that shone against the black in a deep red colour.
Rainbow searched for a return address. “Nothing”, she muttered to herself.
How odd that this note had come out no nowhere. Rainbow, however, didn't take much note of this; impulsive as ever, she began to open the strange letter.
“Perhaps it’s from a fan?”, she thought as she unfolded the small flap of paper that she procured from the black envelope.
Miss Rainbow Dash
I have heard your story, and frankly I'm insulted that a group like the Wonderbolts wouldn’t take a flier as talented and skilled as you. This needs to be corrected as soon as possible, and I just happen to be in a situation where I can help you. If you so choose to accept my kind offer, please come to the edge of the Everfree Forest at midnight sharp.
Don t be late, this is a one time offer Miss Dash.
Signed
A friend who can help.
A huge grin had plastered itself on Rainbows’ face. Rainbow Dash rushed back to her cloud home as fast as her wings would take her. In her haste she left the note behind, should she of stayed she might of known the danger she was in. The letter had combusted into flame leaving only a small bit of ash on the cloud.
******
“Midnight on the dot”. Rainbow Dash had been ecstatic all day, she couldn’t believe that somepony was going help her get into the Wonderbolts.
On the trip there, thoughts had popped up her mind, however: thoughts of doubt. Who was this person that was going to help her? And why she seem to interest them so much?
It didn't add up; something did not feel right to the cyan pegasus.
Her ego promptly took control of the second question but the first still burned in her mind. To get her into her heroes group they would have to have a lot of power in Canterlot.
She wondered if it was some noble or something trying to get some fame by getting a new star into the group or something.
All the thought was cut abruptly when she heard a voice coming out of the forest.
“Welcome, welcome Miss Dash. I hope I wasn't too hard to find, and sorry about the time but I assure you I have my reasons.”
A unicorn stallion had moved out of some bushes towards the young pegasus. His coat was a dark red, his mane only slightly lighter shade of red as if he had rammed his head into a bucket of fresh berries.
The first thing that Rainbow Dash noticed were the sunglasses he was wearing. Who needs sunglasses in the middle of the night? Shrugging the question aside she began to speak.
“Who are you? And why do you want to help me anyway?” Dash couldn’t help but eye the strange stallion suspiciously.
“Why Rainbow Dash, I am just a humble fan of yours who wants to see a great injustice corrected. I happen to have some level of power over the Wonderbolts.” he was grinning by this point, and something about that smile began to make Rainbow Dash shiver. “If you will it, I can make you a Wonderbolt, as simple as that”.
“What's the catch?” Rainbow quizzed, feeling a little off put by how easy this seemed to be.
The stallion began to laugh, “No catch my dear, dear Rainbow Dash.”, he began to grin again. What was it about that grin that unnerved Rainbow so much?
“I will however need you to join me for... one day, that's all, one, no more, no less.
His horn began to glow a sickly red as a scroll and quill appeared before Rainbow Dash.
“All you have to do is sign. Do we have a deal?”, he floated the quill over to Rainbow Dash, who took it in her teeth. Something inside her screamed this was wrong, to run and never look back, but this chance didn't come every day. She could have her dream, to be a Wonderbolt!
Gulping hard, she threw all her worry out the window and signed her name on the bottom of the scroll.
“Gotcha”, the unicorn exclaimed with a large toothy grin. Rainbow could only stare at the figure before her. His teeth were sharp as fangs, as if he took a file to them every morning to make sure they stayed that way. The red of his coat began to melt away showing a crystal white underneath.
Not all the colour vanished however, splotches of deep red remained on his flank like fresh blood from an open wound.
Shocked Rainbow Dash began to run, forgetting she even had wings in this situation. However, a large dome of living fire began to surround both her and the stallion. She turned back to him, eyes wide in shock as he removed his sunglasses, revealing two blood red dragon eyes.
“Ah ah ah, don't be a naughty filly, you signed of your own free will, so for one day you’re mine!”, he chuckled in a sing song voice, the flames began to get closer until they engulfed both ponies, leaving nothing left but some light traces of ash on the ground.
******
Rainbow Dash finally awoke, noting the splitting headache in the back of her head, “What happened to me?”
She was in a small black room devoid of all light. She tried to move her legs but, to no avail; even her wings wouldn’t move. She gasped in horror as she realised she was bound to a medical table, legs tied and her wings pinned to her back.
“Hello, is anypony there?” she screamed into the darkness, desperately trying to get free of her restraints. Then in the distance she heard it, the sound of hooves on stone. “Help, please get me out of here,” was all she could scream into the darkness, hoping with all her might the pony in the shadows was friendly.
What she saw, she couldn't believe. A pink earth pony with a bubblegum pink mane had come bounding up to her, a huge grin on her face. Rainbow Dash knew this mare, it was her best friend Pinkie Pie.
Relief spread through her body like a river as she saw her friend; she knew Pinkie would help her after all.
“Pinkie, oh I'm so glad to see you! I have no idea where I am or what happened. Can you please get these ropes off me?” sighed Rainbow in relief.
Pinkie Pie began to bounce around the table and in her sing song voice spoke to Rainbow, “Silly Dashie, you can't go yet, the party has only just started, and leaving would be rude and you’re not rude are you?”
“Wait, you’re in on this? How could you! I thought you were my best friend.” Rainbow was shocked at this point, rage growing on her face. Pinkie just giggled as she looked back to her helpless friend.
“You really don't know what you got your self into, do you Dashie? Didn’t any one ever tell you to beware strangers bearing gifts, well unless it’s a party then that's ok, ohh I know we should have a party right here right now shouldn’t we Dashie?”
Bounding back into the shadows Pinkie was gone only a second before coming back with a big black toolbox. “Hey Dashie, I heard from Twilight that putting pins into people can feel good, well I couldn't find any pins but I got the next best thing” digging in the box she removed a box of nails and a rusty hammer.
Rainbow couldn't believe her eyes, was Pinkie really about to do what she thought she was?
“Don’t you dare Pinkie, this isn’t funny”, the first spike of pain hit her as a nail was driven into her hoof.
Screaming in agony as blow after blow came to her cracking bone and leaving a trail of metal in her legs, the pain was greater then anything she had ever felt before, she wanted to cry but couldn’t, she just wanted it to stop.
“So Dashie, was Twilight right, did it feel good, hey did it, did it?” Pinkie, her normal self, was giggling again, “Oh that was so much fun, what should we do next?” Rainbow was unable to say anything, her blood dribbling off the table through the fresh wounds in her legs.
“You’re....not....Pinkie,” she spit in a quiet voice, panting with each word. “She wouldn't do this!”
Pinkie stood there dumb struck, with a small frown on her face. “Aw, did you have to go and figure that out so soon, I was having fun, spoil sport,” the Pinkie clone was grinning now, her normal teeth began to sharpen and point at the ends. Her face began to melt off the bone and ooze with blood before falling to the ground with a wet slap.
At the sight of this Rainbow Dash wanted to vomit more then anything in the world, but nothing would come; just the horrid feeling of nausea sitting in the pit of her stomach. She closed her eyes in an effort to block out the horrid event, but the sounds still haunted her.
Then she began to feel the heat, snapping her eyes open she began to see the flames again burning at her flesh, leaving nothing but bone and ash in its wake. It was agony, Rainbow's blood curdling screams filled the tiny chamber.
*****
The moment felt like an eternity, but soon the pain ended and Rainbow was sprawled on a cold stone floor. Leaping to her legs, she examined her whole body. Nothing was wrong, not a feather out of place. “W-whats going on here!” She had felt the pain and seen the wounds, but nothing, all of it was gone: she was as fit as the day she was foaled.
The sound of hooves clapping could be heard from the darkness behind her. Turning around to face the sound she was almost blinded by the lighting of giant fire pits which seemed to engulf the large rectangular chamber.
At the back of the room flanked by two of these pits was a large stone throne, carved into the shape of a pony's head crying in terror, just looking at it you could almost hear the screams.
The stone almost shone with a dark light and was made of some unearthly ore Rainbow had never seen in her life, and sitting on the stone tongue that made the seat was... him.
That same unicorn that she had seen just before the fire took her the first time and brought her to this Clesetia forsaken place.
“I must give it to you, you’re stronger then I thought you would be,” his horn was glowing as a glass of wine apeared before him, swiftly taking a drink he looked back at his visitor. “Most ponies go insane before they even figure out that it's not their friends killing them slowly.”
“What are you!” Rainbow dash snapped, wings open trying to look as threatening as she could. However all this did was cause the creature in front of her to laugh.
“Oh how rude of me, I never introduced my self.” raising from his seat with a flourish he began to boast. “I go by many names in many worlds, but I could sit here forever counting off the names you creatures have called me over the millennium.”
He vanished and reappeared right in front of the mares face, causing her to stumble backwards.
“You however can call me Blood Red, master of this realm you see before you,”
“Where are we anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked, suddenly ignoring what happened to her just a moment ago, as curiosity got the better of her.
“The Netherworld, the Underworld, that place bad ponies go, call it what you want you’re there missy,”
“Wait, so I'm dead then?” Rainbow stuttered at the idea that she could of left the land of the living early.
“Not quite,” Blood said in a serious voice, which seemed to be rare for him up until now, “You wanted something, I gave you the chance to obtain it. However such things require... payment.”
The blood rushed from Rainbow's face leaving her white as a sheet (or as white as you can be with blue fur) “What...kind of payment?” she questioned, the fear ever-present in her voice.
Blood chuckled wildly, “The best kind: you are to say here for one whole day as my play thing. Enough chatter, it’s time to get to the fun. I'm a busy demon after all.”
Fire began to engulf the room yet again. Rainbow tried her best to brace herself for the pain. It was in vain, as agony took Rainbow again, just like the first time. Rainbow Dash felt herself being reduced to dust before everything went black.
******
Rainbow Dash blinked again as the world began to refocus, finding herself in a long tunnel which seemed to go on forever, stretching into the abyss.
Anger began to boil in Rainbow Dash as she remembered what Blood Red told her. “A play thing!” she screamed in her head, how dare anyone treat her like this!
Suddenly Blood Red appeared floating in the air before her, a sick look of amusement on his face. He was staring into the dark void that lay before them. “Now, shall we begin my little toy?”
“I'm not your toy, I'm Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in Equestira, and I can take anything you throw at me,” Rainbow spat at the figure floating above her, sick of looking weak.
Blood span his head in an impossible way, looking at her behind him without ever turning his body his eyes glowing as he spoke, “now this one has spirit; lets see if we can do something about that shall we?”
With a glow of his horn a key appeared in front of Rainbow Dash, “Do you think you were the only one I managed to trick down here, that pink one wasn’t half as much fun as you have been.”
“What have you done with Pinkie Pie, ANSWER ME!” Rainbow Dash hated the idea that one of her friends was in trouble. She had to find her.
His grin grew wider until it went from ear to ear. “Don't worry your little head over it my pet, she is safe for now and I'm going to give you a chance to make sure she stays that way.”
“See that key in-front of you, well your little friend in down this tunnel. This key opens the lock to her cage, all you have to do is,” he leaned in close next to Rainbow's ear wispering, “Take it.”
With that Rainbow grabbed for the key with her teeth but as she tried he quickly made the key vanish again. “tut, tut, did no one teach you any manners, nothing is free you silly filly.” Rainbow was getting angry now, she could see he was enjoying this but there was nothing she could do.
“What do you want for it?” she spat, clearly unimpressed by his actions. With this Blood Red began to look into the void, deep in thought for a while. Then he turned back to Rainbow and flew just inches away from her face, that impossibly large grin growing larger still.
“How about... your wings!” At this Dash recoiled, he wanted her wings but they were the most important thing in her life. Without her wings she would no longer be able to fly, her dreams of being in the wonderbolts would be made impossible.
“But if you take my wings isn't this whole thing worthless? I wont be able to join the wonderbolts without them, isn't there something else you want instead.”
“And what would you be willing to give up, your legs, your soul, your innocence?” Blood chuckled at every word, “no I have made up my mind, I want your wings. However I could be convinced to just let this game slip by and go onto the next one.”
Rainbow was horrified at this though, she couldn’t just leave Pinkie here, she would never forgive her self if she let one of her friends take the fall for something she did, after all she was the element of loyalty.
“I cant say what will happen to your little friend though, she might live or she might die. What good are friends anyway, waste of time.” Blood grumbled through his teeth, not pleased with the idea of friends at all.
Through gritted teeth, she couldn’t believe she was going to say this but she had to for her friends.
“Fine, take them, just give me that damn key,”
Yet again Blood Red began to laugh manically as a red glow began to coat his horn, the same glow began to envelop Rainbow's wings, spreading them out as if she was about to take off.
In a split second the silence of the tunnel was filled with the echo of tearing flesh and screams of pain and anguish.
Blood dripping from her sides, all Rainbow could do for the moments after this event was focus on the pain, stopping herself collapsing, “Give...me...the...key,”
“As you wish my dear,” he gave a small bow before igniting the two torn wings turning them to dust, then he brought the key to Rainbow once more. She grabbed it this time without any altercation, and galloped full force down the tunnel into the inky blackness.
It felt like forever in that dark abyss, but Rainbow Dash steeled her self and kept going, no matter how much her sides ached. At least they had stopped bleeding now which was some consolation.
Finally she saw it a small red cage just sitting there at the end of the long expanse, she had managed to make out a small pink figure inside the cage. “Oh Celestia, let her be alright please.” she muttered to her self, key still in mouth.
She rammed the key into the small keyhole on the side of the cage and fumbled with the lock, she was almost jumping in glee when she heard that click. Slowly she opened the cage but there was no movement from within.
Rainbow rushed to the aid of her friend, she took her in her hooves trying to get her to wake up. But the pink pony lay still as stone, her body covered in injuries and burns, her mane not its normal bouncy chaotic mess but strait as it clung to her cold body.
“No, Pinkie don't do this to me, I cant lose you, please be alright,” Rainbow Dash was on the verge of tears at this point she couldn’t hold it any more, her friend lay dead in her arms. She began to sob into the pink pony’s mane hoping for movement, begging for a smile or for this to just be one of Pinkie's pranks.
Rainbow knew better. She placed her friend back into the cage and screamed at the top of her lungs. Why did she have to take that damn ponies offer because of her she had hurt her friends, she had betrayed them.
Just then the body of her friend began to burn with white hot fire. Rainbow dash panicked, she didn’t want the body hurt any more then it already was. With her hooves she began to stomp on the body trying in vain to stop the flames, it was too late the body was gone only ash was left.
A familiar voice could be heard from behind her. “Now wasn't that fun,” Blood red chirped, pleased with how things played out.
“Fun....FUN!” Rainbow screamed in rage, “HOW WAS THIS FUN, you took my wings, killed my friend, and asked me if it was fun!”
Blood's grin began to melt from his face being replaced by an angry growl, looking at Rainbow with a stare that would make Fluttershy proud, “me, it’s MY FAULT!? No you stupid foal it’s yours, this is where your damn loyalty gets you. Your friend is dead, your wings are gone and what do you have to show you for self giving ways, NOTHING!”
Then as soon as it began, his frown turned right back into a big toothy grin, “Friends are a waste of time look, what loyalty has given you, pain nothing else.”
“Come with me, it’s time to make your final choice,”
“I'm not going anywhere with you, MONSTER! Why are you doing this to me, what did I do to deserve this.” Rainbow Dash was still crying but her rage couldn’t be contained at this point, this thing before her had taken everything from her.
“Why am I doing this?” Blood's grin grew large yet again, “Because I'm master here that's why, I can do whatever I want and you have to take it, you signed the damn contract and it says you have to do as I say while in my realm, that is if you bothered to read the damn thing.”
Confused, tired and very angry, Rainbow Dash just stared at him until realising she had no choice. After a long time of silent walking they finally made it to a large chamber with a giant hole stationed in the middle.
“I'm giving you a choice now my dear little Rainbow Dash, one last test and I let you go. Fail and I keep you here forever.” Blood Red was solemn while he spoke for once. “Don't disappoint me,”
“Wait I thought you said I only had to stay here for one day?” Rainbow Dash was confused at this point, Blood's outburst had shown he cared about the contract they had made, yet here he was about to break it.
“Heh, silly foal, this is why you always read the fine print,” horn aglow, Blood made the contact appear in front of Rainbow, and there it was right at the bottom in tiny writing. “Ahem.. should you break this contract at any point during this little trip into the underworld, the contract will be made null and void.” with that the scroll vanished again showing his grin yet again.
“Which means, you’re mine forever! Now on to the test.”
“Dangling over this pit of fire is some one you know, this leaver allows her to drop, your test.” a demonic look had formed in Blood Reds eyes, “Kill her!”
Rainbow Dash's eyes shot up to the rope when she heard this, and sure enough tied to the end of the rope was Applejack, another one of Rainbow's close friends. The orange earth pony hung there lifeless.
“Think about it Rainbow, just pull the leaver and you get everything, fame, the Wonderbolts, I will even return you wings to you.”
Blood laughed, “ Just one little life, and it’s all yours.”
Rainbow couldn’t believe what she was hearing, killing Applejack, no she couldn’t, she wouldn’t. But then again she had suffered so much down here, her wings still just bloody stumps, Pinkie was dead, what would one more hurt.
She shook her head as hard as she could, she couldn’t believe she was even thinking about doing it, Applejack didn’t deserve this but she did, she signed that damn contract. Taking a deep breath she looked at Blood with fury in her eyes. “The contract says you have to give me whatever I want correct?”
Blood just stared at Rainbow for a second, “Yes whatever your heart wants, why?”
Rainbow Dash took another deep breath, “I want you to set free Applejack, and take me instead.”
This had not been the answer Blood had wanted, smile long gone he began to scream with primal rage. “YOU DARE!”
Blood sighed, and began to grin once more, “ Fine but know this Rainbow Dash, this means you’re mine forever.”
Rainbow just nodded in agreement.
With this Blood's horn began to glow once more firing a jet of flame at Rainbow Dash. Without her wings she had no way to avoid the gout of fire rushing at her. Everything went dark once more.
*****
Back in this throne room, Blood Red wasn’t happy at all, but he didn't look angry either. He looked more like a spoiled foal who didn't get his way or his toy taken from him.
Behind him a voice chimed out “So, how did it go then?”
Blood Red gave the newcomer a pout, “she passed, no matter what I tried I couldn’t break the element of loyalty,”
“So where is she now,” the mysterious voice asked.
“I sent her back, no fun in messing with her any more she wont remember any of it, it was like she was never gone,” Blood sighed at this.
“Oh well you still have five more don't you?”
Blood jumped to his feet, his grin growing once more, “So I do, I cant wait to get started on the next one I'm sure they all won be unbreakable, I will show you sister, I'm stronger then them!”
Authors note.
I would like to thank everyone that helped me with this Darthmedivh/spitfyre who helped with ideas and proofreading and valvoja who helped me with ideas.
Also big shout out to EPR who have made me love being a brony since day one. |
Akailo | 659 | 2 | Adventure,Dark | Deals of the Devil | The Elements of Harmony, an old and strong force. How will they hold up against evil incarnate | hiatus | 15 | 4 | <p>The Elements of Harmony are a great force for good in the world of Equestira, but what happens when the embodyment of evil and chaos takes an intrest?</p> | teen | null | 2011-09-15T01:31:38+00:00 | 845 | Deals of the Devil: Parties End
Light filtered through the window as Celestia's sun began to rise, filling the room with its warm glow. At this, nature's alarm clock, a figure began to stir under pink sheets.
Yawning loudly the mare began to drag herself from the bed, towards a small mirror stationed on the wall to inspect herself. Suddenly as if she had just drunk a whole gallon of coffee, the mare began to radiate energy as she saw herself in the mirror.
“Goooood morning Pinkie Pie!” she exclaimed to herself in the mirror. A small squeak could be heard from a basket on the other side of the room, (a reaction to the noise which now filled the area).
The pink earth pony bounced over toward to basket before nusseling the bed to remove its contents. “Good morning Gummy, did you have a superrific nap?” A small alligator had appeared from the basket, it gave another squeak before looking at the ball of energy with a blank stare.
“Come on Gummy, we have a fun, fun day ahead of us, so lets get this party started!” At the call of his master the small aligator clamped onto Pinkie's tail, (which didn’t hurt since he had no teeth after all), and both of them made their way to the small bathroom off the side of Pinkie's bedroom.
After her morning rituals were completed, Pinkie Pie bounced down the stairs to begin her day as Ponyville's apprentice baker and all around party pony. Her employers Mr and Mrs Cake, or family as Pinkie saw it, were already beginning the day, stocking shelves with baked goods and working the ovens in back, filling the shop with a heavenly smell which would attract ponies for miles.
“Hello everypony!” Pinkie was grinning every bounce she took, but most ponies in Ponyville were use to her by now. If they were new to Ponyville however it never took them long to meet the resident party pony. She had a sixth sense when new ponies came to town, and would always throw a welcome party in their honour.
“Good morning Pinkie Pie, cheerful as always I see.” chirped Mrs cake, from the kitchen trying to get everything ready for the new day. “I'm glad you're awake we could use your help this morning, oh and the mail came, there is a note for you dear.”
Pinkie was ecstatic at this news, she always loved getting mail no matter what it was, after all it could be a party invite or even something from her relatives. She didn’t hear from them often as they were always busy with the rock farm, but she always loved getting something from them.
“Yay mail, I love getting letters.” she screamed as she rushed to the pile of notes on the counter. “Bill,bill, hey Mr cake you may of won a million bits, bill, ah here it is.” she muttered as she explored each note trying to find the one for her. There it sat, a strange black envelope nothing like what she was expecting, party invites were normally in pink or colourful envelopes and anything from her parents was always simple.
This note however was very Gothic with strange runes adorning the rim. Two words sat in the centre of the paper in blood red ink, Pinkie Pie.
“Oh and dear, Rainbow Dash was here not long ago she said she had to call off hanging with you today, something about talking to Twilight about strange dreams.” Mr cake remarked, while stocking the shelves.
“Aww, we were going to try out some new pranks today as well,” Pinkie pouted before she brought her attention back to the strange note she had received that morning.
Opening the note she began to read,
Miss Pie
I represent the Manehatten Party and Prank emporium, it has come to our attention that you are one of our best customers in Ponyville, and we would like to extend an offer to you.
We are always trying to create the best in new party gimmicks. We would like for you to test one of our newest projects. 'The Rainbow Streamer', by far the greatest thing to happen to parties since the invention of the balloon and the cake.
If you should choose to accept, please come to the edge of the Everfree forest at midnight sharp.
We know this might be risky but we fear attempts from opposing companies trying to steal the design from us, so discretion is needed.
From the desk of:
Red Balloon
Lead Design Technician
It was hard for Pinkie’s grin to get any bigger at this point, her eyes lighting up as she began to jump for joy, “A new party supply, oh I cant wait to try it out, and I know just the party to use it for. Rainbow's birthday is coming up and these new streamers sound like just the thing I need.”
Eating a quick breakfast, Pinkie began to go about her day unknowing of the dark force grinning at her from the shadows.
******
Pinkie arrived at the agreed meeting spot, more excited now then she had been in years. Looking up at the sky she could tell it was midnight on the dot. Pinkie began to bounce as she waited for her visitor to arrive which didn't take long.
A rustle from the bushes announced his entry, a Red coated body with a light red mane, his cutie mark was a single large red balloon with a scroll tied to it. Bowing deeply he began to address the pink earth pony.
“Greeting Miss Pie, can I call you Pinkie?” with a nod Pinkie agreed. “Thank you for meeting with me on short notice Pinkie, my name is Red balloon, I am the lead designer and tester for the PnP emporium in Manehatten. I'm so glad you came I'm so excited about this new product and you are just the pony to test it for us.”
“Can I see it please, please.” Pinkie couldn’t contain her self she wanted nothing more then to see this new party tool in action.
“With pleasure,” the unicorn stallion replied, “we are really proud of this, I present to you The Rainbow Streamer!” with a flourish his horn began to glow making a small box appear. With baited breath Pinkie opened the small container that had appeared before her.
As the container opened a glow as bright as the sun could be seen for a moment as the contents were shown to the world. Small strips of paper lay in the box red at first before turning to green and then to blue. They seemed to turn every colour ever made, Pinkie could hardly believe it.
“These are ultra-super-riffic, I would love to give these a go in a party,” Pinkie grinned as she looked on the chromatic display in her hooves.
“Great, just a technicality however, before I can leave these in your oh so capable hooves I need you to sign an agreement. It just says you wont sell these onto another company for profit or anything.” Horn aglow once again, Red made a scroll and quill magic out of nowhere in front of the pink pony.
“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie said cheerily as she took the quill in her mouth and signed her name on the bottom of the parchment.
As the scroll vanished once again into thin air Pinkie noticed something odd, her knees were pinching. “Mr Red we should probably move, my Pinkie sense says something scary is about to happen.”
“Oh Pinkie, I know;I know.” with that Red's coat began to melt from his body revealing a crystal white coat in its place, the red balloon replaced by blood stains. He stared at Pinkie grinning, his teeth began to sharpen and point. Laughing maniacally he summoned fire to surround the two figures.
“What's going on,” screamed Pinkie, there was no answer, there was only fire.
******
Heavy panting could be heard through the small dark tunnel, torches made the shadows dance as a small pink figure ran as fast as she could down the snaking darkness. How did she ever get into this Pinkie thought to herself, one second she was admiring a new party favour and now she was running for her life.
She tried to block it out but her thoughts kept returning to that small chamber she had awoken in and the terrors which occurred from then on.
******
Pinkie slowly awoke to find out a few things about her new location, first her head hurt like a hammer had been used to reshape it, second there was little light in the small square room but it smelled like chemicals.
A small red glowing bulb illuminated a small switch on the other side of the room, Pinkie hoped that was the lights as she made her way towards it. Luck was on her side this time as the small switch made an audible clack. Small lights on the ceiling began to flutter and come to life.
“There we go much bett.....” she said to her self before turning around catching the first sight of the contents of the room. Her heart stopped in her chest and her blood ran cold at macabre contents.
Five metals tables lined the room in a row on the left side of the room, on the right stood tables with all manner of tools and implements used in surgery each one slick in a coat of red liquid.
Each of the tables were flanked by a small bucket, however Pinkie couldn’t make out the contents from where she stood. Each of the tables were covered by a white blood splatted cloth, the shape of ponies distinctly showed from under.
The room had the look and smell of a morgue that had been abandoned, red stains coated the walls and the small sink at the back of the room was covered in mold and foul water.
Pinkie shook her head wondering why on earth anypony would want to take her here in the first place. Her eyes shifted back to the medical tables, everything in her mind screamed leave them alone, to run, but her curiosity was getting the better of her.
She slowly moved towards the centre most table and holding her breath removed the sheet with a quick yank. The sound of a balloon popping could be heard throughout the room as the pink mares normally bouncy hair deflated leaving a strait mane that normally was never seen.
Pinkie could only stand there, dumbstuck in horror as she looked towards to body laying on the table. It was a unicorn, or at least had been once its horn long since removed with some form of hacksaw. The unicorns rich purple coat was stained red and a large empty hole lay in her chest.
The unicorn had no cutie mark, that didn't mean she never had one, just that it had been removed by a knife or other sharp tool. Only a bloody mark remained where they should have been on the poor things flanks.
Pinkie knew this unicorn. It was her friend Twilight Sparkle.
Pinkie Pie stumbled backwards after discovering this, as she did however he hoof caught metal tripping her over causing her to fall flat on her face. Dusting herself off she walked to what had caught her hoof and her eyes narrowed into pinpoints, her face tinted green at the sight.
Rushing to the corner of the room she brought up everything she had eaten over the past day. The object was one of the buckets, its contents now spilled over the floor leaving a large red pool of blood. Internal organs lay festering in the puddle of body fluids.
The smell and sight had been too much for Pinkie to handle and it took her a fair while to recover from this event. Panting, sitting on her haunches she tried to get a handle on the situation that was befalling her.
Getting to her feet she began to do the same to all the other medical tables, removing the sheets one by one to confirm her fears. It was true, the bodies of all five of her friends lay mutilated on the tables horns and wings removed.
“No, this cant be happening, you guys cant be dead. It's not possible I don't believe it this is all a bad dream.” Pinkie screamed to the darkness of the room. She fell to the ground and began to sob her eyes out.
A voice dripping in malice and hate then began to speak, “Oh but it is true my little pink plaything, and do you want to know something else. It's all your fault!”
“Who's there,” Pinkie called.
Taking the chance at a grand entrance, with the flash of fire and brimstone a unicorn had appeared in the room with Pinkie Pie. She knew this unicorn, he was the one who offered her the rainbow streamer, but why was he here, did he do this?
“Mr Balloon?” questioned Pinkie Pie, puzzled as to why he was here. Then it hit her, he had done this, he had taken her and her friends and was planing to do to her what he did to them.
“Leave me alone, you hurt my friends, GET AWAY FROM ME.” Pinkie screamed at the newcomer to the room.
“Oh but Pinkie, I didn't hurt your friends. Don't you remember, the rending of flesh, the cracking of bone, the screams. Why it was all you and you loved every minute of it, why you're even dressed for the part.”
Pinkie looked down at her self an noticed he was right, she had a pair of gloves on her hooves made out of latex and covered in blood, and on her chest she wore an apron made from the skinned flesh of ponies.
“After all they were your party guests, and we worked so hard to prepare this party my dear Pinkie,” the unicorn grinned at this, he knew he was getting to her now and he loved every second of it.
“No I would never hurt my friends, not ever!”
“Oh but Pinkie you did, and they never even got a chance to thank you for your wonderful job. Oh I know how about I wake them up so they can give their thanks to you personally.”
Wake them up? They were dead how could he wake them up Pinkie thought to herself, just then his horn began to glow as a sickly red aura began to coat the bodies.
The bodies on the tables began to convulse and shake, their eyes shot open leaving empty sockets filled with an creepy red light, they began to get off from their tables one by one each staring at Pinkie Pie.
Even though they had no eyes Pinkie could see malice in their stares. They all screamed at once, the sound sent shivers down Pinkie’s spine as she could only watch in horror as the dead bodies of her friends began to shiver and drag them selves closer towards her.
“Pinkie...it...hurts...why?” the body of Rainbow Dash began to say.
“We...were...friends.” Fluttershy croaked before falling over only to get back on her broken hooves.
“Punishment.” screamed the body of Twilight Sparkle.
Pinkie couldn’t move at the sight of this, she wanted to run, to scream but she just stood there paralyzed.
“Now now Pinkie be a good host and greet your guests.” chuckled the unicorn before vanishing in a wisp of fire.
******
Pinkie ran as fast as her hooves would take her, it had been a while since that horrid room now. She dashed down another tunnel in an attempt to lose her pursuers but no matter how slow they shuffled after her or how fast she ran they would always catch up.
Her shoulder was bruised from the slam she took trying to open that first door. It was worth it for she didn’t want to think what would happen if her friends caught her.
She had no idea what he had done to them to make them do this. It hurt Pinkie to even think about it her friends now nothing more then ghouls hungering for pony flesh. Pinkie let out a sob as she ran, they blamed her for it as well, she would never hurt her friends yet they blamed her.
The small dark hallway that she had been navigating began to widen into a large rectangular central chamber, small torches wreathed in fire adorned the walls like grim watchers to the events that transpired here each day. Large pits of flame and brimstone lined the outer rim of the room leading towards a large throne as the centrepiece of the room.
Pinkie gasped as she saw the throne in all its demonic glory. It was a pony head screaming in horror, how could anypony want to sit on something so morbid. Blood stained the walls and the stone as a tattered carpet ran the room toward the ghastly chair.
A bolt of living flame jutted from the ground as a figure appeared on the chair, glass of wine held by his magic, a demonic grin on his face.
“Now Pinkie, isn't it rude to leave your guests without a host they're waiting for you as we speak.” Blood couldn’t keep his elation to him self erupting in a cackle at this thought.
“Who are you?” Pinkie questioned, “your names not Red Balloon is it, and your not even a pony are you!”
“Now, now Pinkie, I'm a pony just like you. I am however more or less trapped in this realm only able to leave at places of chaotic power such as your Everfree forest. My name is Blood Red, lord of this realm. But I guess you ponies don't even remember me, I've been down here so long.
Blood Red actively looked sad at the fact that he had been forgotten on the surface realm, “but that doesn't matter at all, it looks like your guests have caught up so don't let me interrupt your party.” He said with a giggle as he took a sip from his glass.
At this the five ghoul ponies began to emerge from the dark tunnel from behind Pinkie, groaning in pain and shouting horrid things at the pink mare. “Your fault,” they began to chant in unison as they dragged their fetid bodies towards the cowering pink mass.
Pinkie now resigned herself to her fate, at least it would be her friends she spent her last moments with. Then it hit her, like Rainbow Dash after she failed a trick or Applejack had given Pinkie a swift kick. These couldn’t be her friends, even in death her friends wouldn’t attempt to hurt her she knew this with all her being.
They were just ghosties, brought by this evil unicorn to scare her. She knew this now, she didn't know how but she did. And what did Granny Pie always tell her.
Before anypony in the room could notice what happened Pinkie was on her hooves, her pink mane a large frizzy mess as it normally was. She stared at the ghouls creeping towards her, a huge grin on her face. With this she began to laugh.
Something happened then which had never occurred in the deep bowls of the netherworld. True laughter echoed throughout its halls, not the demonic cackles that Blood was known for no, but pure laughter that could only be conjured by some one of heart and joy.
The beasts began to slow to a crawl, stopping just short of their target. They began to shake and convulse as if lighting passed through their forms. With this they ignited into pink flame thrashing on the floor in pain before being reduced to nothing more then ash on the ground.
Spinning her self around Pinkie began to look to her captor, by now his jaw was hitting the floor. He couldn't believe that after all he had put her through, all that pain and torment she could still laugh in the face of pain.
Blood Red was angry, there was no reasoning with him now. His plan had failed, his fun cut short and if there was one thing you never wanted to do to somepony with the mindset of a sadistic spoiled brat was spoil the fun.
He lifted himself from his throne in a fit of rage and began trashing the room, fireballs and magma began to rise from the pits as if they were just extra parts of this unicorn raging before Pinkie Pie. “YOU!” he screamed at Pinkie, “How could you get past this, how could you after all I did laugh like that.”
Pinkie began to recoil at the flaming form before her, Blood Red had taken a form similar to the one twilight took when she couldn’t figure out her Pinkie sense. However this was much more terrifying.
The flames on his back were devoid of colour, pure black as the void its self. His aura at that moment would make even Celestia seem powerless.
“BEGONE!” he growled as he fired the void flames towards Pinkie, the feeling that occurred to the pink mare could never be explained in words. The closest she could ever get to it would be to say it was like never being born.
******
Pinkie woke with a fright. Sweating and panting she began to take in her surroundings. She was home, in bed like any other night. Flopping back down on her pillow she tried her best to remember her bad dream. Nothing came to her only red eyes and black flame.
Thinking it was probably best she couldn’t remember anything she went back to sleep, unable to shake the fact that it might not of been a dream. She would have to talk to Twilight about it another day.
******
Blood Red was restless after this encounter, not one but two of the elements of harmony had beat him now. He hated to feel weak more then having his playthings get the better of him.
“Well?” the mysterious voice spoke again.
“The blasted mare laughed! Can you believe it I show her, her dead friends and she laughs.” Blood slammed his glass to the floor smashing it.
“I did say Dagon, that they cant be beaten like this.”
The look of rage on the face of the unicorn doubled, “Do NOT call me that, you have no right to even utter my real name after what you and my damned brother did to me.”
The voice sighed, “we had no choice, you would of destroyed everything.”
“Bah, begone!” with a wave of his hoof the voice vanished. This wasn’t over he thought to himself, even if he couldn't break the elements he had a backup plan.
But for now he put his focus into his next victim, after all he only had to break one for them to come all crumbling down. |
Akailo | 659 | 3 | Adventure,Dark | Deals of the Devil | The Elements of Harmony, an old and strong force. How will they hold up against evil incarnate | hiatus | 15 | 4 | <p>The Elements of Harmony are a great force for good in the world of Equestira, but what happens when the embodyment of evil and chaos takes an intrest?</p> | teen | null | 2011-11-02T23:05:33+00:00 | 646 | Deals of the devil : Twisted Kindness
The dank and musty feel of the cave seemed to permeate the air itself. Small indents lined the walls of the cavern blocked by large iron bars glowing red in the meager torchlight. The air was thick with dust and damp making it hard to breathe.
... Wailing echoed through the makeshift prison. The sounds of tortured and unfortunate souls who had been imprisoned there writhed in pain and anguish. The cells, however, had no ponies or even other races of Equestria, but masses of black smoke which had a life of its own.
One cell however was devoid of the ghostly smoke which haunted the other cells. This cell was a small room off the side of the cave, blocked by a large wooden reinforced door which stood proud in the hellish depressing surroundings.
Rats and other such creatures skittered about the small chamber grabbing whatever they could find from the straw covered floor. Blood stained the stone walls and the bones of old inmates were an ever present reminder of the fate that would befall a new cell-mate.
This cell was not empty however, but its 'guest' was still very much asleep in the corner of the room. Two other creatures were huddled up to the yellow mass in the corner. They were rabbits and they were desperately trying to wake the third in the room. To their horror she would not wake no matter how much they tried. Just as they had begun to give up and resign themselves to their fate the yellow mass began to move.
It was a butter yellow pegasus with a bubblegum pink mane. She slowly began to rise, blinking in an attempt to get used to the darkness. Still being quite weak made attempts to stand futile and just ended in her falling into a heap back to the floor.
Confusion fogged her mind as she couldn’t recall anything that had happened after she had left her house to look after an injured animal the day before. "Hello?" she whispered towards the door, "is any pony there? Where am I?"
Just then she noticed the two shivering balls of fur at her hooves. Two small rabbits were cowering next to her legs trying to look as small as they possibly could. She didn’t recognise one of them but the other was unmistakable - her pet rabbit she loved and cared for at home; Angel.
The small white rabbit, seeing movement from the pegasus, jumped onto her neck in a steel grip and began to hug the pony as hard as his little bunny body would let him.
"Angel, do you have any idea where we might be?"
The small rabbit could only shake his head as he looked up at his master with worry in his eyes.
The quiet of the cell was disturbed by the distant sounds of hooves on stone. The pony began to panic, she had no idea if the pony coming towards the door would be friendly or not. Considering she was being held in a small locked room she thought it might be a good idea to try and hide.
However the room was scantily furnished, a small table no where near big enough to hide her sat in the corner with a small lantern adorning the top. A small pile of hay in the other corner, which could be used as a make shift bed, and a small foul smelling bucket which was just by the back of the room.
She had a feeling she knew what that was for but the idea quickly faded from her head as she embarrassed herself.
The hoof steps could be heard getting closer and closer now. She spun to look at the door, nowhere to hide and terrified at what might enter. As the rusty locks were moved and manipulated all the yellow mare could do was squeak a small noise which was meant to be a scream.
The door swung open, revealing a pure white unicorn, hair as red as fresh blood. Blood Red looked over his guest grinning to himself. Oh it was all to easy to get her to sign, just claim some animal was in trouble and she would do anything in order to help it. She was kind to a fault and Blood loved it.
"Fluttershy, oh how wonderful to see you are awake. I hope I didn’t disturb you, but I wouldn’t be a very good host if I didn’t greet my guests now would I?" At this Angel rushed to Fluttershy's side flinging his arms wide in an attempt to keep the monster in front of him from attacking his beloved owner.
Horn glowing, a red aura began to envelop the rabbit. With this he flew into the air and hard into the wall collapsing, alive but out cold. "Damn fur-ball, I don’t know how on earth you put up with these 'things' Fluttershy." He began to draw closer to the scared pegasus, staring her right in the eyes.
Fluttershy fainted there and then due to the stress of the whole situation, terror gripping her very being. Blood could only laugh at this, before rubbing his eye with his hoof. He guessed he would have to try again later after she had composed herself a bit more.
He didn’t mind waiting. Ideas of how much fun he was going to have with the timid mare made the time fly by to him. He sat by the small table conjuring a small list and began to write all his plans and ideas down while he waited.
*******
Ponyville awoke that morning as if nothing had ever happened. Peaceful and serene as always, ponies began their day as they always did. Mothers sending their foals to school, ponies on their way to work or the market. Nothing out of the ordinary.
However a dark feeling was gripping two of the members of Ponyville, both suffering strange nightmares the past few nights and unable to figure out what they might mean.
Pinkie Pie bounced towards the tree that made the library, her normal self for the most part. However, if you looked close you could notice her smile was not as big as it normally was.
She opened the library door and stepped in to find a familiar figure. The librarian, hard at work as always, was one of her best friends. The unicorn - Twilight Sparkle. However, she was not alone as Pinkie had thought. Floating in the air just above her was Rainbow dash.
"How strange, are you sure you told me everything Rainbow?" Twilight quizzed her friend.
"Sorry Twi, that is all I remember, I wish I could tell you more but it's all still a bit fuzzy." remarked the cyan pegasus. Bags under her eyes, it was obvious to an onlooker she had not had a good few nights.
"Hey girls, what'cha talking about?" Pinkie chirped, teleporting next to the pair and almost giving them heart attacks (how she did that no living thing on Equestria knew, but Twilight was determined to one day find out).
"Oh, hello Pinkie. Didn’t see you there, though I never see you there. How do you do that anyway?" Twilight remarked, trying to catch her breath after the sudden shock to her system from the pink party pony. Pinkie just shrugged. Twilight wasn’t sure if she even knew how she did it.
"Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. I was just telling Twi here about some weird nightmares that I've been having the past few days. Really freaky ones too." Rainbow added before Twilight could totally change the subject to trying to figure out how Pinkie ticked. She shook her head. That would keep them here all day!
"Wow, you too? And here I thought I was the only one who was having nightmares right now! That’s why I'm here, I wanted to know if Twilight could give me any advice on how to stop them."
"Pinkie," Twilight chuckled, "with the amount of sugar you eat I would say it was that, but tell me what they were about first."
"Well, it normally starts with me having my normal dream about the river of chocolate milk in a sugar cane boat. When I dip my hooves into the river to taste it, it always tastes so good, just like the kind I used to have when I was young and I was visited by my granny pie. Did I ever tell you guys about her....."
"PINKIE!" screamed Twilight to get her to pay attention for a moment, " get on with the nightmares please!"
"Oh, sorry Twilight," giggled Pinkie Pie, "alright, well, after a while the whole place goes dark apart from a dark blue-black flame, which is weird because it's still giving off a lot light. Well anyway, after a while the flame grows bigger and bigger, then after it's got to about double the size it normally is a unicorn appears from within it." Pinkie started to look quite disturbed at this. "Well, he's got a white coat like Rarity but his mane is red and he's got an odd cuite mark, like someone threw red paint on his flank."
Pinkie was starting to look rather shaken even remembering the events of her dream world. "After that he stares at me for a while and then I see a small pink fire coming out of me and into him. Once it reaches him his sides erupt into large blood red wings. Then the dark fire starts to burn me and I wake up."
Pinkie looked up at her friends after staring at the floor for a while. She was surprised to see her friends eyes had grown wide, a look of confusion glued to each face.
"Odd - that was almost the same dream that Rainbow Dash said she had the night before last," mused Twilight. She began to scan over the books she had scattered on the desk in front of her. Levitating a small red bound book, she began to search the pages for the passage she wanted.
Pinkie, turning to Rainbow asked, "what is she looking for?" Rainbow could only shrug at the pink pony. To be honest she had no idea either, she had only just got through telling Twilight about her strange dream before Pinkie had come in anyway.
"Hah! Here it is!" the sudden sound from Twilight made both of the other ponies jump for a second before looking to their friend with expectant looks on their faces.
"I thought I had read about that figure in your dreams before! It says here that he goes by many names, but his true name is unknown. He is a harbinger of chaos and destruction and is only seen in dreams." Twilight slammed the book closed. "Just an old pony tale though I'm sure it isn’t anything to worry about."
"But didn’t you tell us that you didn’t believe Nightmare Moon was an old ponies tale? what makes you sure this is the same?"
"Pinkie, I did a lot of research into the mare in the moon event, however that had real facts behind it. This is just some tale to scare little ponies into eating their alfalfa and being good before bed. A boogie man. Nothing more."
Pinkie wasn’t sure though. The dreams seemed so real she couldn’t believe that it was all in her head, even more so since Dashie had the same dream as her. Twilight saw the concern in her friends face, rare for the pink pony, and sighed, "fine, alright. I will do some more research into it."
"Oh, thank you so much Twilight! I'm sure you are right but I cant shake a bad feeli....." Just then a look of shock and horror sprang to Pinkie's face. Her knee was pinchy and she knew what that meant - something scary was about to happen.
She ran out of the library screaming, "There is something wrong with Fluttershy! Hurry!"
Before the two other ponies in the room could react, Pinkie was gone. Rising from their seats they began to follow the pink blur. They knew better then to ignore Pinkie's Pinkie sense.
******
The dark figures in Fluttershy's vision began to come into focus, becoming more and more pony-like. She had finally started to awaken and could swear she saw a unicorn hovering above her, but as the room came into total focus she was alone.
"Hello, is anypony there?" she cried into the dark room, as loud as she could, which was just above a whisper. This noise, however, was enough to gain the attention of the two other inhabitants of the room.
The two small rabbits came from the dark corner of the room and one jumped to the neck of the pony who had just yet again awakened. "Angel! Oh I'm so glad to see you! And who is your little friend?"
At this question the other small bunny almost jumped out of her skin. She was a small brown little thing about half the size of Angel, and from the look on her face, terrified beyond all reason.
Just seeing a small creature like this broke Fluttershy's heart as she took the small bunny into an embrace and began to hug and coo at the small one in order to calm it down. It didn’t take long for everyone in the room to calm themselves as Fluttershy had a way with animals like this.
"So little one, what is your name?" The rabbit began to try and pantomime out her name to no avail and a small snicker from the older rabbit in the room. Frustrated, she began to look around the room for any way to give her name to the yellow pony. After a few minutes she found what she was looking for.
Since the room that they were locked in was built directly into a cave wall, strange rocks and stones adorned the wall trapped within the coarse cut walls. Every so often there was a small shard of something a little more valuable then the normal rocks and stone that made up the cavern.
The rabbit returned a short while later with a small clear gem in her hand. Fluttershy was careful to take the stone from the rabbit since it had not been ground or polished leaving the gem rather sharp on one end.
"Your name is Gem?" Fluttershy asked trying to guess the name with the new clue in hoof. This was responded by a quick shake of the head as Fluttershy guessed again. "Crystal?" With this the female rabbit jumped for joy and began to hug one of Fluttershy's hooves.
"Aright Crystal, Angel, I don’t know where we are but stay close. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you two." The new silence of the room began to break as hooves approached the room once more, however this time the door didn’t open but instead a voice could be heard from the other side.
"Awake at last I see! After the last time you fainted I was so bored I had to have a little fun with you since you wouldn't play with me."
"Who are you?" cried Fluttershy, able to keep a bit more bravery this time as the figure was behind a solid door that could protect her.
"Why do they always ask me that?" quizzed the voice from beyond the door. "Ah well, it doesn’t matter. I just came to tell you of my little joke to pass the time. You have been infected with a certain kind of poison! Now now, before you freak out, the cure is in the room so you don’t need to worry about death."
Fluttershy now looked rather shaken by the thought of being infected with a dangerous poison. "Where is the cure and why did you do this to me?"
She could hear laughing now. It was wrong, sick laughter. Like a child who was having just a bit too much fun stomping on ants.
"The reason? I felt like it! The cure? Well, that’s where the fun begins! For this poison the only cure is adrenalin. Now now, before you think - Alright! All I have to do is get scared! - No. It has to be a certain kind of rush. You can only get this rush when you take the life of another!" The assailant behind the door could then be heard walking away.
All three members in the room looked horrified at the new turn of events. Fluttershy, sensing Crystal's fear of being killed, began to hug both of the rabbits. "I would never hurt either of you so don’t worry," she cooed, " we will be saved soon, I'm sure of it."
******
Sleep was hard to get in the small cavern jail and even harder to keep once it had been obtained, but at last all three members were fast asleep. That was until Fluttershy swore she heard something. A wet noise she had never heard before. It was almost like a knife cutting a rotten apple, but no, that couldn’t be right. There was nothing in the room that could make that noise.
Then, before she could go back to sleep thinking it her imagination, she felt a warm wet feeling coming from where Angel had been asleep. Snapping open her eyes she began to look at the terror occurring before her. Crystal had taken the gem she had used to prove her name and was thrusting it into the now limp body of Angel over and over as blood pooled bellow his body.
"Stop," Fluttershy whimpered, "please stop," she said again a little louder, "STOP IT!" she screamed. Only once had she been this angry, this enraged. That fateful night at the gala. But Crystal would not stop. In some twisted blood lust she kept stabbing again and again, making sure no life could be held in Angel's body ever again.
Fluttershy didn’t know what to do! She wanted Crystal to stop, but she wouldn’t! Perhaps if she did something she could save Angel. Something. Anything! Her mind went blank. Rearing up on her back legs she slammed her hooves into Crystal's head.
With a wet crunch the small female rabbit was no more, but it was too late for Angel as well. He had been dead long before she had even woken up. Fluttershy broke into tears about the loss of her faithful pet and her new friend she had only made the day before.
What had made Crystal do it? What had made her kill Crystal? Fluttershy couldn’t make sense of the whole event.
With this, the big reinforced wooden door swung open, revealing a very pleased Blood Red.
"I see she took me up on my offer then. Shame she didn’t live long enough to learn the truth of the matter." he chuckled at the mare sobbing on the floor.
"So, murderer, how does it feel to take a life - the ultimate act of cruelty? Invigorating is it not?" Fluttershy just sat there in silence, unable to refute what she had done. "And even worse, she was just trying to help you." That now trademarked grin began to adorn Blood's face.
"I had told her that if she killed the other rabbit I would give you the real cure to the poison. Oh, she liked you so much! almost like a mother!" The yellow mares eyes were now as big as dinner plates staring into hell itself. "Oh, but don’t worry about that poison!" He couldn’t stop laughing now. Slowly he began to walk closer to the mare, placing his muzzle right next to the sobbing pony’s ear, whispering ,"There never was any poison!"
With this Fluttershy screamed, screamed louder then ever before. She began to glow with a bright yellow light .
"At last, the power to restore myself will soon be mine," Blood thought to himself. The glow began to grow into a small orb above Fluttershy, connected to her body by white light. He was so close now he could taste it.
Then it happened, the glowing orb retreated back into the body of Fluttershy, turning her into pure gemstone. However, a small glowing shard lay in front of her now petrified body. The small yellow gem glowed brightly with a small flame nestled in its core. Just then the body of Fluttershy shattered into dust which blew around Blood Red before vanishing into thin air.
"NO!! I was so close to getting the damn element! My brother always was overprotective when it came to his little toys. Damn protection spell sent her back to the surface before I could finish the job." Blood scoffed.
It was then he noticed the shard. "Oh, what is this?" his grin returned.
Back in his throne room he admired the new stone he had obtained. "Do you see this, sister?" he yelled into the darkness.
The mysterious voice returned once again "Yes brother, I do, and it worries me greatly."
"With this and a change of plans, not you, not my brother, not even your bastard spawn daughters that the surface so kindly name princesses can stop me!"
******
Back on the surface Pinkie Pie could be seen rushing to Fluttershy's house with everypony (and spike) in hot pursuit. As they arrived, Pinkie noticed the front door was open. Scared for the well being of her friend she rushed in.
When everyone was in Fluttershy's bedroom their fears were confirmed. Fluttershy lay in the bed with a look of pain on her face. But no matter what was tried she would not awaken.
"Well at least she's still alive." Said Rainbow Dash, trying to be ever optimistic about the whole situation.
"Twi, what the hay is going on?" asked Applejack from the back of the room.
"I have no idea, but it cant be good." With this a familiar sound of a letter could be heard from the small dragon in the room. Quickly opening it, he began to scan the paper.
"Twilight, the princess wants to see us all right away. She says it's urgent." said Spike, jumping onto Twilight's back and handing her the letter, which she promptly grabbed with her magic.
"Girls, I think this is about to get worse." |
Akailo | 659 | 4 | Adventure,Dark | Deals of the Devil | The Elements of Harmony, an old and strong force. How will they hold up against evil incarnate | hiatus | 15 | 4 | <p>The Elements of Harmony are a great force for good in the world of Equestira, but what happens when the embodyment of evil and chaos takes an intrest?</p> | teen | null | 2012-05-23T15:35:38+00:00 | 238 | Dark Sins
Dark lights flickered around the chamber, as the flames from dimly light candles danced in the darkness. Nothing could be heard in the oppressive landscape. If death had a voice this place was sure be it.
Large blue flames suddenly began to grow and pulsate in the middle of the rooms antechamber, growing as if they had a life of their own; spinning and dancing around an unseen force, and with a flash of foul light, he appeared.
The living embodiment of chaos couldn't help but grin at this new gift he held within his evil magic. It was all coming together for him now and he would let nothing get in his way.
With a flick of his horn the ground began to shift and stir, like dark blood, it began to reshape its form into whatever he wished. This was his domain, and he had control.
After a few moments of sickening undulating, the ground began to fix into place, a large obsidian basin now stood proud in the center of the room.
A demonic grin formed on his face, as he placed the small pulsating yellow shard into the basin.
“Time to begin, and nothing will stop me now,” for something so vile, his voice was as smooth as silk.
“Nothing will stop me this time, nothing at all.”
------------------------------
The girls wasted no time in their summons from the Princess, they caught the first train to Canterlot.
There had been some protests about leaving Fluttershy behind at first, but Twilight assured them that nurse Tenderheart and nurse Redheart would be able to take care of her during their leave of absence.
The trip went along, almost in total silence, as no one on that train had any idea of what was going on, or who was to blame for all of this. It did not help that the nightmares had badly affected both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
Rainbow was tired throughout the whole trip, but outright refused to sleep. While Pinkie was a shadow of her former cheery self, after realizing the dreams may have been true.
As the train skidded to a halt at Canterlot, a normal citizen would have been shocked at the amount of guards waiting at the station.
“We have had escorts before, but nothing like this I wonder if something is wrong,” Twilight thought to herself, but paid it no attention as a guard began to approach her.
“Twilight Sparkle?” motioned the guard, “I am here to escort you to the Princess, she wants to see you as soon as possible. Please follow me.”
“Come on girls, we had best see what this is all about.” With that, Twilight and her friends began the short trip into Canterlot proper.
The castle was as opulent as the day it was built, something about it always reminded Twilight of safety.
Right now, however, there was an aura of darkness around the old castle. Something was wrong she knew it, heck, they all knew it. Without further delay, they began to make their way to the throne room and hopefully find some answers.
---------------
Princess Celestia paced around her throne room, any onlooker would only see the calm and collected Princess just as she normally is going about her day.
This was not the case however, she was worried, scared even.
Something had happened, some disturbance in the natural magic of Equestria. It felt wrong to her, like some slimy creature was slithering over her skin, making her feel almost violated.
She had summoned the living embodiments of the Elements of Harmony to try and help her figure out what could have caused such a ripple in the magic of Equestria. The doors slammed open, and a warm smile drifted onto the face of the Princess.
Her student ran up to her and began to nuzzle her, she was more then happy to return the favour.
“Twilight, I'm glad to see you. I'm sure you have all been wondering why I have called you here.” Simple to say, there was a unanimous nod between the group.
“Twilight have you noticed anything strange with the natural magic of the world?” Twilight began to ponder this question.
“I guess there have been some strange things happening at the moment, but no Princess, I haven’t noticed anything wrong with magic in the area.” Twilight shook her head disappointed that she didn’t have an answer for her mentor.
However Celestia looked slightly shocked at this, “What sort of strange things?” She questioned.
“Well,” Twilight began telling her mentor the story of how both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both dreamed about the same strange blue flames, and how they both knew there was something they were forgetting with the dream, something terrible.
“Twilight this is most disturbing, but I was wondering, where is the Element of Kindness? Where is Fluttershy?”
Twilight looked visibly shaken at this, Applejack took this opportunity to answer for her. “We don’t rightly know what has happened to her, your highness. We couldn’t wake her up this morn'in.”
“I remember winning in my dream, perhaps the same thing happened to her, and she lost,” added Pinkie Pie, her mane straight as it was when she was a filly.
“Fluttershy would never lose to a dream!” shouted Rainbow, annoyed at the fact that Pinkie could even suggest such a thing, “but the strange thing is that I remember also, it was as if I was tested but I passed.”
“Winning, in a dream?” Celestia began to muse over this information, such things were not unheard of, at least in the realms of dream magic; however, this magic was difficult and not obtainable by a normal unicorn.
Twilight could of done it with a lot of effort, but she would never attack her own friends. This made no sense to the Princess of the Sun.
“This is troubling news indeed. If somepony is using dream magic to invade the minds of the Elements of Harmony, they would have be very powerful indeed. That might have been the cause of the magical disturbances, as dream magic is no easy task.”
“Is there anything can do, anyway we can help Fluttersh....” Before Twilight could finish her sentence an emerald green light appeared, and began to blind everyone within the room, even the Princess of the Sun.
As the light began to dim, sight returned to the stunned ponies in the room. Shock filled them all as they noticed they were no longer alone in the room.
“Greetings Tia. My, my, how you have grown since the last time that I saw you,” the new voice was soft almost motherly, it put even Celestia to shame.
“Who are you and how do you know the Princess,” before anyone could react, Rainbow Dash had rushed towards the intruder trying to size her up.
The new pony in the room had a coat as green as verdant grass, and a mane of such deep emerald it put even the gemstone to shame. She had no wings or horn, so the whole room was puzzled on how an earth pony had managed to teleport alone into the chamber. That, however, was quickly forgotten as they realized for an earth pony she was as tall as Celestia, if not slightly taller.
Her cutie mark was that of a great tree, with roots plunged deep into the ground with vines running down to the bottom of her legs. It was as if her cutie mark was covering her whole body with live plants.
The air around her felt like a summer's breeze on a warm day in the middle of a great forest, and her mane flowed as if there were small woodland creatures frolicking within.
The wide eyed Princess of the Sun began to walk slowly towards the new voice stuttering, Twilight had never seen her mentor like this before.
“M..m.mmm..Mother?” Celestia barely managed to get out, just louder than a whisper.
“MOTHER!?” the occupants shouted at the same time.
“This can’t be possible, you have been gone for almost three thousand years. We had no idea where you went, that one day you upped and vanished.” Celestia, normally cool and collected, was overflowing with emotions.
“My sunshine, I am sorry I had to do that to you and Luna, but it had to be done. You had to take responsibility for the world as our time grew to an end. We agreed that after the windigo problem, we had to step back as too much of our power was leaking into this world causing more harm than good.” The mare seemed sad at this, but resolute.
“Wait a second,” spoke Twilight, “Princess Celestia never talked about her parents. And the windigoes were caused by hate between the three tribes!” Twilight was not impressed that everything she knew about her mentor, and even the history of the world, was shattered.
“Ah, I feel that I should introduce myself to your subjects, my dear daughter. My name is Terra Blossom, mother of the earth and goddess of life, and mother of the celestial twins.” Twilight was shocked to see all of this, but had no reason to disbelieve what Terra was saying.
However, Twilight saw some things that were not adding up. “If you are a goddess, then why are you not an alicorn.” Terra began to laugh, but in a gentle way.
“Little one, would it make you feel better if I was?” Twilight nodded her head, and before she could react the earth pony before her grew large wing that looked like leaves of a great tree and a horn that twisted in on itself like grizzled bark.
Afterwards she began to speak again, “Is this better?” she smiled. Twilight could only nod quietly after seeing such a feat.
“I understand why not being an alicorn would make you mistrust me as you have only ever known great beings of pony kind to be thus, but no I am not an alicorn, rather something more. I am the essence of the earth itself. And it is also my pleasure to be the goddess of earth ponies.”
“So you mean that you're the reason earth ponies are so good with the fields?” Applejack asked the new goddess.
“Indeed, it has always been my pleasure to watch you tend to the earth so well.” nodded the verdant alicorn.
“Celestia, if that is the case then is it also true for unicorns and pegasi?” Twilight questioned her mentor, always hungry for new knowledge even in times like this.
The Sun Princess nodded, “ My uncles are the living spirits of order and chaos, Unicorns belonged to the realm of chaos once, as they were so aloof and magic has always been a chaotic force in the world. However, Pegasi once belonged to the realm of order, warlike they took pride in knowing that they could win anything with a bit of planning and help from the weather.”
Terra began to giggle, “If my brothers could see their children now, Pegasi loving freedom and unicorns studying and learning, they would have a heart attack.”
“We hardly need more chaos anyways, after uncle crafted discord as a laugh” Celestia was not impressed at that.
Terra’s smile quickly melted off her face, as she remembered the reason she had come in the first place. “Pleasantries aside, I come with a warning for you, and your ponies, my dear Tia. When we left this world, we had sacrificed our powers to seal ourselves away, my brothers did not like this and refused at first.
Terra sighed. “After seeing the torment that our bickering was causing on you ponies, the God of Order and myself agreed to the fact. If we had never started fighting each other then the windigoes would have never been brought into existence, and would never of forced you all from your homes.” she looked almost sad now.
“However, chaos is as chaos does, and he didn't want to be confined to another plane. He felt like he still had much work do. So sadly, we were forced to seal him using force, breaking more of his power than was needed.”
Terra trotted to the window and began to look into the distance. “We should have never done that, but order was adamant that it had to be done. I realize now he was as bad as chaos, and I have never fully forgiven myself for it. However, my brother is now doing something I can’t overlook. And although I promised that I would never get involved again, I have come to give you and your ponies a warning.”
“He's the one behind the attacks on my friends isn't he?” Twilight asked.
Terra nodded, “ Indeed he is, he is trying to use the elements of harmony for his own means to restore the power that was once lost to him.”
“So why hasn't Fluttershy woken up, what has he done to her!” Rainbow began to yell.
“I'm so sorry, I felt so bad for him. I started talking to him and he claimed he wanted to test you all, to see if you were really worthy of the elements. I realised too late, he wasn't testing you at all, he was breaking you in order to steal your elements. He almost won with the element of kindness but before he could get the whole element, it fought back.”
“Fought back?” Celestia asked.
“Indeed, her element sealed her mind way into her body to protect her from more harm. Do not worry she will wake up after a period of time, how long however I do not know, she lost something in his realm.” Terra sighed once again
“She lost a shard of her element, he can use this shard to restore his power if he is ignored long enough. So I give you this choice, you can go and recover what Fluttershy lost in order to restore her quickly or leave her to recover on her own. If you choose to stop my brother in the mean time that is your choice but I give you the key to do so.”
With that Terra shed a single tear which quickly turned to gemstone.
“Take this gem and travel to the depths of my daughters old castle in the Everfree forest, there you will find three mirrors, we gifted these to them as we left. These mirrors are the entrances to our realms where our power is sealed. Hold the crystal to the mirror of chaos and you will be able to enter his realm for a short time.”
With this she said her goodbyes and was gone in the same emerald light as she came, nary a trace.
The girls began to look at each other a look of both fear and determination on their faces, “Time to save the world again?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Seems like it.” answered Twilight. |
Parchment_Scroll | 661 | 1 | Apple Bloom,Applejack,Opalescence,Rarity,Comedy,Slice of Life,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Rodeo Gaga | Rarity follows through on Applejack's dare and enters a rodeo while the farmpony is unable to. | cancelled | -1 | -1 | <p>When the Equestrian Roving Rodeo comes to Ponyville, Applejack's excited to strut her stuff in the annual event until an unfortunate accident leaves her unable to participate. With Applejack laid up and Big Macintosh handling a large delivery to Appleloosa, it's up to the unlikeliest of ponies to represent Sweet Apple Acres in competition.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-29T02:40:07+00:00 | 2011-08-29T02:40:07+00:00 | 1,814 | Rodeo Gaga
The Roving Rodeo
"Applejack! Applejack!"
The blonde, orange-furred pony rolled her eyes, lining up for another buck. Anyone who thinks farm life's quiet an' peaceful ain't been 'round mah sister, she thought, then lashed out with her back hooves with well-practiced aim. As the apples fell from the tree into her carefully arranged basket, she adjusted her cowboy hat and called out.
"Ahm raht here, Applebloom! What's put a bee in yer bonnet t'day, huh?"
The little yellow filly scrambled over to her big sister, a large piece of paper flapping from her clenched teeth. "Ook! Ook! Uh Ehestiah Ovee Oeeeooh ih hummi hoo Honyvih!"
Applejack rolled her eyes. "I cain't understand yuh, thar, Applebloom," she said, taking the flyer from her sister and spreading it on the ground between them. After a moment to take in the flyer's contents, she began to grin. "Well Ah'll be a prancin' party pony! The annual Equestrian Rovin' Rodeo's comin' ta Ponyville this year!"
Applebloom scowled, kicking a small rock. "Ah just said that," she complained, but her sister wasn't listening.
* * * * *
Twilight Sparkle and Spike were in a bit of a panic. To be fair, Twilight Sparkle was in a panic, and Spike was just exasperated with her, but if she wanted to think he was panicking too, he'd let her. Misery loves company, after all.
"I can't believe this!" She magically took book after book off the shelves. "How could the Mayor do this to me? I mean, I don't know a thing about rodeos! That's Applejack's..." She frowned, levitating a thesaurus over and flipping through pages before grimacing and giving up. "Thing," she finished weakly.
"So ask her for help," said Spike.
"I can't do that!" Twilight Sparkle whinnied. "Applejack is going to be competing! I can't turn to one of the competitors for help!"
"It's not like you're going to be organizing the rodeo itself, Twi," put in Spike. "They've got a whole staff for that! All you have to do is help them out with local things like supplies, a place to set up..."
Twilight seemed on the verge of calming down before she went off the deep end yet again. "Agghh! I didn't even consider that! Whenever I think of where they could set up, I think of Sweet Apple Acres' grazing fields, but that won't do at all! What will the cows do for lunch?"
Spike rolled his eyes. "Settle down, Twi," he tried again. "It's a rodeo! They're tough, they can handle a few changes. It's not like Princess Celestia's coming to--"
"PRINCESS CELESTIA!" Twilight's eyes widened in horror. "I totally forgot about Princess Celestia! I've got to make sleeping arrangements! Who-- Rarity!"
Spike blinked slowly, waving a clawed hand in front of Twilight's muzzle. "Twi, Princess Celestia is not coming to Ponyville. It's just. A rodeo!"
Twilight rounded to face Spike, her head pinning him against a counter. "Spike, Princess Celestia always goes to the Roving Rodeo. She started it! It's in her honor! She judges half the competitions!"
As that handily explained Twilight Sparkle's frantic mood, there was nothing Spike could say, other than "Oh."
* * * * *
Halfway around town from the Branches and Leaves Library, a similar -- albeit more controlled -- frenzy was taking place inside Ponyville's premier house of fashion, the Carousel Boutique.
"Oh dear," Rarity said. "Oh dear, oh dear. What ever shall I wear? I simply cannot be seen by the Princess wearing anything other than the finest of my wares!" She began to lift a jewel-studded lavender gown from one of the forms. "Oh, but I can't possibly wear this to... a rodeo."
Opalescence rolled her eyes. She loved Rarity as much as a pampered cat can love a pony -- which is to say she tolerated the high-strung fashionista's panic attacks, so long as Rarity doted upon her with all of the pampering and care she richly deserved -- but sometimes the unicorn could be a bit much.
"What's that, Opalescence?"
The cat, who hadn't so much as mewed, merely yawned and curled up to nap until the unicorn-induced storm of fabrics passed.
"But I simply must attend the rodeo, Opalescence! Princess Celestia will be there, which is to say, everypony who's anypony will naturally be there as well."
Before Opalescence realized what was happening, Rarity had swooped in on her and scooped her up with both front hooves. "And if I'm not there, that means I'm not somepony. And if I'm not somepony then I'm nopony!"
After Opalescence escaped, and the third outfit was rejected, Rarity let out a frantic laugh. "That's it! I must consult... an expert!" She trotted straight for the door. "Don't wait up, Opalescence, dear! Mommy's going to be a while!"
* * * * *
Rarity barely escaped the library with her sanity intact. She'd hoped to be able to consult photographic records in the library's archive, not get roped into one of Twilight's social-anxiety-induced frenzies. Not that she couldn't empathize with Twilight Sparkle, of course. It's just that neither of them was of any use to the other -- each only heightened the other's state of anxiety until the two of them were a nervous wreck.
Rarity stifled a small laugh when she realized this was perhaps the first time Spike had suggested a plan of action that separated her from the baby dragon. But he'd had a point. If Twilight's records were in disarray, the only ponies likely to have a good photographic history of rodeos in Equestria were the Apple family!
Head high, mane bouncing, and a song on her lips, Rarity trotted off to see her good friend Applejack.
Along the way, she found herself thinking about the orange pony. They'd hardly been acquaintances when Twilight Sparkle first came to town. But between the confrontation with Nightmare Moon, the lesson learned at Twilight Sparkle's first sleepover, and numerous other minor adventures through the weeks, they'd become much closer friends. Well, the unicorn mused, they do say it takes different trots for different ponies.
She'd barely finished the thought when the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of apples falling into baskets alerted her that she'd reached her destination. Looking around, she spotted her friend bucking apples in the south field. "Why, hello, Applejack," she called out merrily.
Applejack, startled, turned mid-buck, her right hoof hitting the tree at an angle, while her left hoof, disastrously, missed entirely. "EEeoow!" Applejack's eyes screwed up in pain. "Tarnation," she griped. "Ah ain't missed a buck since I was Applebloom's age."
Lining up for another buck, she planted her front hooves, lifted her haunches, then winced and collapsed. It was no good. She'd wrenched her hip too badly to buck. |
Parchment_Scroll | 661 | 2 | Apple Bloom,Applejack,Opalescence,Rarity,Comedy,Slice of Life,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Rodeo Gaga | Rarity follows through on Applejack's dare and enters a rodeo while the farmpony is unable to. | cancelled | -1 | -1 | <p>When the Equestrian Roving Rodeo comes to Ponyville, Applejack's excited to strut her stuff in the annual event until an unfortunate accident leaves her unable to participate. With Applejack laid up and Big Macintosh handling a large delivery to Appleloosa, it's up to the unlikeliest of ponies to represent Sweet Apple Acres in competition.</p> | everyone | 2011-09-16T18:30:44+00:00 | 2011-09-16T18:30:44+00:00 | 1,512 | Rodeo Gaga
But You Must
"Oh dear, dear, dear," Rarity fretted. "I am ever so sorry, Applejack. How... how is your hip?"
Applejack grimaced. "Ah'll be fine," she said. While she didn't actually come out and say "eventually," it hung unsaid in the air between them. "Jes need ta rest up a mite, is all. Now what's got y'all in such a lather, Rarity?"
"Oh," Rarity said, crestfallen. "Oh, I hate to even mention it what with your current condition and all, but... Well, I require your expertise. You see, as I'm sure you're quite aware, the annual Equestrian Roving Rodeo is coming to Ponyville this year..." She looked over at Applejack, hoping the earth pony would infer her meaning.
"Ah'm aware," Applejack said with a wry smile. "Fact is, Ah wouldn't'a known fer a couple'a days yet if it t'weren't fer Applebloom bringin' a flyer by earlier t'day." She cocked her head. "Ah reckon yer the last pony ta care about that sorta thing, tho, Rarity. So what gives?"
"What... gives," Rarity said with difficulty, "is that the Roving Rodeo is, in fact, a major event in the uppermost echelons of Canterlot society. A chance for the nobility to, ah, get their hooves dirty, so to speak."
Applejack nodded. "Well, ah reckon that's good fer anypony. S'all in good fun, after all, and everypony likes good fun."
Rarity nodded. "Everypony," she said, "including Princess Celestia."
The light dawned on Applejack. "Ah git it now," she said. "Y'all want ta make a big splash in front o' th' Princess, but ya don't want ta stand out too much." She grinned. "Ah got just th' thang. Y'all wait right here, an' Ah'll get th' family album." She started towards the farmhouse, then grimaced and collapsed, her off hind leg too injured to support her weight.
"Perhaps," Rarity said, "you should wait here, and I shall go fetch the album, no?"
"Perhaps," Applejack acknowledged ruefully.
* * * * *
The Mayor smiled. Things were going so smoothly for a change. She would have to write to Princess Celestia to thank her for allowing Twilight Sparkle to stay in Ponyville after the Summer Sun Celebration. Winter Wrap-Up had gone off without a hitch for the first time in years. The presentation of the Prize Pony of Ponyville to Applejack had been a major event instead of an impromptu gathering as previous such awards had been. And now, the Roving Rodeo! And it was all thanks to the unicorn librarian's exemplary organizational skills.
Her office had been bustling with activity all day, but the most frequent visitor had been Miss Sparkle herself, coming to personally update her on the Rodeo's status. If there was one thing Twilight Sparkle needed, the Mayor thought, it was a bit more confidence. Ah, well, she thought, that'll come with time and experience. Her ears perked up, and she felt a sly smile spreading across her muzzle. Experience, she thought, like judging an event or two in the Rodeo! It was perfect! The hosting city was allowed to provide two judges to each event, after all.
* * * * *
It hadn't taken long to find the Apple family albums (plural, as it happens, because some ancestor of Applejack's had shown organizational foresight that would make Twilight Sparkle proud and separated photographs by type of event) and still less time to locate the one dedicated to rodeo performances over the generations. Big Macintosh, ever the gentlecolt, had been quite a help, and Rarity made a mental note to repay him. Perhaps with a nice custom saddle? A new harness for his yoke? She'd have to ask Applejack.
In any case, she and Applejack were going over the photographs, and she found them not only an education, but an interesting picture of rodeo fashion changing over the years. "Yes, yes," she muttered to herself, "there's actually quite a bit more to work with here than I'd originally suspected."
"What, did y'all think all us farm an' rodeo types were complete rubes?" Applejack frowned as Rarity's discomfort became apparent. "Don't answer," she said.
"Oh, my, Applejack, you are simply stunning in this spangled saddle and blanket," Rarity said, trying to deflect her friend's ire with a compliment. "And quite the trick roper as always, I see."
Applejack looked at the indicated photograph, then broke into a grin. After a moment, the grin became stifled chuckles, then a full belly laugh. "Well thank ya kindly, Rarity, but ah reckon y'all of all ponies woulda noticed that ain't me in that thar picture." She jabbed a hoof at the picture.
"What are you talking about, Applejack?" Rarity frowned, taking another look at the black and white photograph. She'd seen her friend performing that exact rope trick several times over the years, and recognized the skill and, frankly, perfect posture and control required for... She took a closer look at where Applejack was pointing, and felt horrified. She prided herself, after all, on attention to detail, and a pony's cutie mark was quite a bit more than just a detail. "Is... is that...?"
Applejack grinned. "Eeeyup," she drawled. "Granny Smith, champeen trick roper o' th' Apple family fer better'n two decades, afore she taught me ever'thin' Ah know."
Rarity beamed at her friend. "Look at you, cut from the same bolt of cloth, definitely." Eagerly, she flipped ahead in the book. Once the photographs were in color, it became much easier to tell when one generation moved aside for the next. "Ah," she said. "There you are. I imagine if we took this picture and put it up next to the one of your grandmother, the only difference would be the... well, your cutie marks!"
Applejack smiled. "Eeyup," she said, "Ah do mah best ta make Granny Smith proud ever' time ah go out thar."
Rarity frowned. "And now you won't be able to compete," she said, "and it's my fault."
"Hay now," the earth pony said with a matching frown. "Ah know better'n ta let mahself get all distracterated when Ah'm a-buckin'."
"Oh, now you're doing it on purpose," Rarity said. "'Distracterated'? Really?"
Applejack laughed. "All right, all right, that 'un wuz on purpose, ah admit. Jes' wanted ta see if'n Ah could make ya twitch a bit. Anyhoo, Ah'll be fine. Ah was tryin' ta figure out how Ah could manage the Sweet Apple Acres stall an' compete at th' same time. No conflict now, Ah reckon." She grinned. "Heck, y'all dared me not ta compete in th' next rodeo what comes t' town, anyway," she said.
Rarity laughed. "That I did," she said. "And, as I recall..." Her eyes widened, her grin brightened, and her mane even seemed to take on some of her excitement. "IDEA!" she caroled with glee. "I shall compete on Sweet Apple Acres' behalf! That way, you can mind the stand, and your farm won't be unrepresented at the competition!"
Applejack frowned. "Ah dunno, Rarity. Ah mean, sure, yer heart's in the right place, an' two sizes too large as always, but are ya sure ya won't be all fussed about it? Rodeo folk git dusty," she said, narrowing her eyes at the unicorn. "Dirty, like."
Rarity smiled nervously. "Oh, I'm sure there's something I can compete in where I won't completely shame you, Applejack," she said. "And as for the dust... well, if I do compete, and that is the case, well, it will only serve to demonstrate to you practical farm types that my designs are durable as well as elegant."
"Ah dunno," Applejack said again, but Rarity cut her off.
"Well I do," the unicorn said. "I am dressage trained, so even if I lose, I shall do so with grace and poise."
She did not let her friend know what she was really thinking, which was, What have I just gotten myself into?! |
Parchment_Scroll | 661 | 3 | Apple Bloom,Applejack,Opalescence,Rarity,Comedy,Slice of Life,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Rodeo Gaga | Rarity follows through on Applejack's dare and enters a rodeo while the farmpony is unable to. | cancelled | -1 | -1 | <p>When the Equestrian Roving Rodeo comes to Ponyville, Applejack's excited to strut her stuff in the annual event until an unfortunate accident leaves her unable to participate. With Applejack laid up and Big Macintosh handling a large delivery to Appleloosa, it's up to the unlikeliest of ponies to represent Sweet Apple Acres in competition.</p> | everyone | 2011-09-19T05:50:58+00:00 | 2011-09-19T05:50:58+00:00 | 1,645 | Rodeo Gaga
For Pony's Sake
"Oh, Sweetie Belle," Rarity fussed, "I'm afraid I've bitten off more than I can chew yet again!"
The fashionista's little sister frowned. "You always do that whenever I'm going to have a sleepover with my friends," she complained. "How come you never think about what I want?"
Rarity froze, aghast. "Sweetie Belle! I am very sorry. It's just that I promised Applejack I would compete in her place in the Roving Rodeo this year, since it's my fault she is too injured to compete. I can't, simply can not abandon a friend in her time of need!"
Sweetie Belle's frown deepened. "But what about my time of need?" She pouted at her sister. "Applebloom, Scootaloo, and me were gonna work on getting our cutie marks together!"
Rarity gritted her teeth. She loved her sister dearly, and the group of friends they called the Cutie Mark Crusaders were, frankly, rather adorable when they weren't being completely exasperating. But a promise was a promise. Of course, she had also promised her sister...
"Hay, Rarity," Sweetie Belle said with a sly grin. "I have an idea." The unicorn filly was already on the way to the door. "I'll go get Applebloom and Scootaloo, and we'll help you get ready for the rodeo! Then we can get our... our rodeo helper-outer cutie marks!"
Rarity raised a forehoof and started to voice an objection, but Sweetie Belle was already out the door.
* * * * *
Twilight Sparkle was suffering from mixed emotions. On the one hoof, she was concerned for her injured friend's well being. On the other, she really needed help organizing the Roving Rodeo's stay in Ponyville. On another, Applejack clearly needed help tending to her duties on the farm. On yet another, she had to admit there was some humor to be found in her friend's current condition.
"All right, Twi," Applejack fumed. "What in tarnation is with that thar look yer givin' me? It's like ya ain't seen a pony hurt before."
Twilight snickered, then covered her muzzle in shock at her own behavior. "I'm sorry, Applejack," she confessed. "It's just..."
Spike, on the other hoof (how many hooves was that, anyway? Five? What kind of pony had five hooves?), had no problem laughing out loud. "Wow, Applejack," he said, "I've heard of a pony having their butt in a sling before, but I never thought I'd actually see it!"
"Haw haw," drawled the farm pony, unamused. After a moment, she let out a slight chuckle. "All right, Ah'll admit, when y'all look at 'er that way, it does make it a mite funny."
"A, uh..." Twilight offered a sheepish grin. "A mite."
"In any case, Ah'll do what I can ta help ya, Twi, but fer obvious reasons Ah'm not sure how much help Ah kin be."
Twilight nodded, taking a moment to get her composure back. "Well, as I'm sure you're aware," she began.
"Th' annual Equestrian Rovin' Rodeo's comin' ta Ponyville," Applejack finished for her. "Ah shore am aware. Wouldja believe Rarity wants ta compete on mah behalf?"
Twilight was taken aback. "Really? That's... um..."
Applejack grinned. "Aw, it's right neighborly of her is what it is. Anyhoo, what kin Ah do fer ya?"
"Well," said Twilight, "it's just that I'm having a terrible time figuring out where they can set up the rodeo grounds. The only place I can think of is, well, your grazing fields. But that won't do at all!"
"Why not?"
Twilight blinked. "We can't just take over the fields. Your cows need them for grazing!"
Applejack laughed. "Shoot, Twi, I knew y'all were a bit sheltered when it comes ta farm stuff, but Ah figured y'all would know pert' near anythin's in a book about it! Ain't y'all heard o' rotatin' crops?"
Twilight nodded. "Well, yes," she said, "for crops like corn or wheat or barley, but not for your apples, or just grass!"
Applejack could barely contain her elation. Things, it seemed, would work out nicely this year after all. "Naw, we don't rotate th' apples, that'd be plum crazy. But we got three grazin' fields and three more fer crops, and we rotate through all six o' them. So the cows're usin' the south and southeast fields right now, and the northeast, north, and northwest are bein' used fer grains, but the southwest field is layin' fallow 'til next month."
"Won't having a bunch of ponies trampling the field cause problems down the line?"
"Naw, not really," Applejack said. "We kin git along jes' fine with five fields 'stead o' six. And it'll mean Ah ain't gotta find a way ta git mah stand ta th' other side o' Ponyville. Now that is what Ah call lucky!"
Twilight grinned. "That's fantastic! I'm so relieved!"
Applejack laughed. "Y'all worry too much. T'ain't like ya ain't got yer friends ta help out when ya need us, Sugarcube."
"See, Twilight? No problems at all," Spike said. "It's not like--" The little dragon hiccuped, then let out a colossal belch of green fire, a scroll appearing in the sparkling flames.
With practiced ease, Twilight caught the scroll with her magic and unrolled it, scanning it quickly before showing all the telltale signs of a full-on Twilight Sparkle signature panic attack. "No problems?" she said with a twitch. "No problems at all?" She began to giggle maniacally, letting the scroll fall to the ground.
Spike picked it up and read it aloud.
"My Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle,
"I am overjoyed to hear from the Mayor of Ponyville about your participation in not only organizing, but helping to judge the upcoming Equestrian Roving Rodeo. I can't say how happy I am to see you step forward and represent the town, and how much I am looking forward to judging the competitions alongside you and all the other judges.
"Your loving mentor,
"Princess Celestia"
Twilight twitched again. "I'm going to judge the competitions? I can't judge the competitions! I don't know anything about judging rodeo competitions! How can I judge the competitions? I need to study!" So saying, she galloped off towards the library, leaving a bemused Applejack and Spike in her wake.
"I should probably go help her," Spike said. "You take care of yourself, Applejack!"
"You too. An' take care o' Twilight, okay?"
"You got it!" |
No One | 662 | 1 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-03-16T03:23:12+00:00 | 2012-03-16T03:23:12+00:00 | 46,217 | Prologue: Heroes
War... war never changes. Somepony told me that once. Somepony old, I think, given the vagueness and wiseness of the statement. I didn't know if it was true. I wasn't a very smart pony, but it seemed to me war changed often. Long ago, ponies fought hoof to hoof or with sharpened spears. When iron was found and molded, ponies fought with blades: in their mouth, with telekinesis, or strapped to wings. Before long, we figured out how to shoot things at each other without the use of magic, and not long after magic and science were combined into balefire bombs. When the bombs finally fell, it should have been the end of war, but ponies survived long enough to fight wars after the apocalypse.
We're resourceful like that.
I stared across the vast, empty expanse and sighed. Besides killing almost everything, the balefire bombs had the unfortunate effect of turning everything brown. I’d once imagined the entirety of the Equestrian wasteland was a shit taken by a lazy god who hadn't bothered to clean it up. Either that or it was some sort of cosmic joke. The bright and colourful coats of the inhabitants contrasted the brown and dreary landscape; there was probably something profound about that. The fact that my job was to watch out for signs of an attack, which could happen at any time, was proof of the sick nature of ponies. Don't let our pretty manes fool you.
“And that’s the news. This has been DJ PON-3, bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts,” the PipBuck on my foreleg boomed. I’d got it years ago from a trading caravan but could never get anything but the radio to work. The way it wrapped around my leg like some Old-World magi-tech armour made me feel almost as tough as I looked. If a would-be raider wasn't scared enough by the rifle on my battle saddle, they might just think I was the 'Wasteland Saviour' (who was known to wear a PipBuck). Yes, I looked just like a dragon slayer. Maybe a baby dragon... if it was blind and deaf.
“You still list’nin' to that?” a voice drawled behind me. “And here I was thinkin' we finally turned ya off it.” Its owner trotted toward me. Red was her coat and red was her mane, paired with the deepest green eyes I had ever seen. “He's a liar and a cunt. Ain’t no good fight but survival.” With a flick of her curly mane she grinned at me.
I pointed my rifle at her, my mouth closing into the trigger bridle. “Now you’re starting to look like a raider to me,” I said, flat as I could.
“Hon, you couldn't hit the sea if you were swimmin'. You ever shot that thing before?” Ignoring my threat, she cantered closer, stopping only to wink seductively.
“Cans behind Marefort.” In truth, I hadn't practised in months, but I’d always been a crack shot. “Smaller than your head. Further away, too.”
“Now hon, what would you do without me?” Before I could really say much of anything she was nuzzling my neck gently; I could feel my face burn. I pushed her away with both hooves and turned back to my desolate wasteland. “So you like it rough?” I turned nearly as red as her mane.
“I'm on guard.”
My guardhouse was a dilapidated shack with only two and a half walls to its name that barely stood on its cliff-side perch, built from the remains of a carriage. It had a roof though, and when the rains came, I was thankful for that.
Popping up beside me and completely ignoring my protests, she peered into the brown... brownness. “I don't think those dead trees and rocks are going anywhere.”
“I'm not watching rocks.”
“That's all that is out there, hon.”
I flushed again. Somehow she always made me feel even stupider.
“Come on. Nobody will miss you,” she purred. “It wont take long... ”
“... and you know I'm not into mares,” I didn't turn my head to look at her, ‘cause if I did I knew she'd laugh; she was forever laughing at me. “And for that matter neither are you.” For all her flirting with everything she saw, I had never known her to go beyond that. Then again, I was well known for not noticing the world around me when I wasn't at my post.
“Eh.” She shrugged, sitting on her haunches. “I'll try anything once.Or twice.” She smiled enigmatically at me.
Yeah. That was not going to happen.
“Try somewhere else. I have rocks to guard.”
A unicorn pony could use their magic to float binoculars up to their face; being an earth pony, I had to nail my pair to a rotating swivel on the north half-wall-barrier-thing that faced... uh, north. The only real travel-able road from the north was a rutted trail weaving between high hills on either side. A dangerous trek that lasted for miles, and ambush could happen at any turn. I could see it all from my shack on its perch atop the highest cliff for miles. Anypony coming from the north, or goddess forbid east or west, I would see well before they got to Marefort, and only a fool would try coming from the south.
South was where Smooth Tongue and his raiders 'The Crimson Hoof' made their base, in one of the old Stables.
“I'm bored, and Mayor Mare seems to think I'm distracting the counting girls.”
I sighed, thinking of the kind of distracting she was doing.
“Your watch isn't for another three hours.”
“I'll wait.” She nudged herself dangerously close. “You don't mind, do you?” She purred in that sultry tone that was damn near impossible to say no to. “I knew you'd see it my way.”
I wondered briefly what she'd look like riddled with holes. No, that was too gruesome. As much as I wanted to smack her, she did make the endless brown waste slightly less boring.
“You know you're the only pony that doesn't sleep through your watches, right?” I didn't bother to acknowledge her.
“Don't know why we even bother watching... ” She continued on, oblivious. I was more concerned with DJ PON-3 droning on about a toaster repair pony than I was with Wildfire's ramblings. “Only raiders that come 'round these parts are killed long before they get within ten miles of Marefort. The Crimson Hoof sees to that.”
“The Crimson Hoof are raiders,” I said blankly. I watched a molerat fight a bloatsprite in the distance. Dimly, I wondered which one was the predator and which the prey.
She shrugged her dainty shoulders. “They protect us.”
… and in exchange we give them all the ammo in Marefort. Given it was built in an old army warehouse, we had ammo aplenty. Enough for an army bigger than any that existed. Every few years or so somepony would stumble upon a new cache, and trade would continue. With it we bought protection and food and medicine. But only from the Crimson Hoof and those the Smooth Tongue let on their lands. Without them, Marefort would be able to thrive, but with them we didn't burn. I wasn't sure if it was a fair trade, but it was close enough that nopony complained.
“And besides, without them I'd actually have to stay awake during my watches. I so enjoy my beauty sleep.”
Her beauty sleep was clearly effective. It was not for nothing she was called the hottest mare in Marefort.
“And I enjoy the radio.”
She was also the most talkative.
“What, hon, am I drowning it out? Silly me. I should just stop talkin' and let ya get on with listenin' to your propaganda.”
I rolled my eyes and shot her half a glance. I knew she was just trying to get a rise out of me, but it was difficult not to say something.
“It is not propaganda.” Once again I was not a very smart pony.
“Sure it is. Look, here he goes on 'bout how some great hero bloodied Red Eye's nose and managed to increase her radio signal. Nopony is that good. Either he's lying, or Celestia has come again. Far as I can figure he’s up to starting a revolution. A new world order where what he says goes.”
That was just stupid. Even for me. A revolution needed somepony in power to be revolted against, and there was no such pony. Every town had its leader, and most leaders bowed to some local warlord, slaver, or raider tribe. If DJ-PON-3 wanted to start a revolution he'd first need to create a large governing body to be usurped.
At least, I was pretty sure that was how revolutions worked.
“Whatever.”
“You could try arguing.” She huffed, disappointed.
“No thanks.” No doubt if I tried she'd make me seem the fool... Not that she wasn't doing that already.
“Do you really believe there's a pony out there doing good? Rescuing slaves, killing raiders, and kissing foals? That in this,” she waved a hoof towards my brown rocky wasteland, “there's a hero?” She smiled and then laughed when I didn't deign to answer. “Ain’t no heroes no more,” she said sweetly. “If there was, they'd be killed quicker then I can spit. You're better off listening to silence.”
“Are you done?”
“Why yes, hon.”
“Good.” There was no point arguing. As pretty as she was, I knew the sadness behind her eyes could not be reasoned with.
When we were just fillies, we stumbled across a cache of strange ammunition. When I looked at it, the colour shifted before my eyes like shadows dancing in candle light. First purple, then blue, always waving and changing. Mayor Mare, the first Mayor Mare anyway, called it Starmetal. When the Crimson Hoof came the Mayor refused to give up the ammo; said it was too dangerous. Smooth Tongue killed her himself. She was my mother, and he killed her. When Wildfire's father tried to step in, they killed him too. Then for good measure they took my brother as a slave and were on their way. I tried to comfort Wildfire, but she just pushed me away. She said she understood why they did what they did, survival of the fittest or some such. She’d refused to talk about it since.
Then again, I never did ask a second time.
So to her there were no heroes. Only fools and them what kill fools. This “Saviour of the Wastes” was just another fool. Couldn't say she was wrong. If half of what DJ-PON3 said was right, she was more than a bit of a fool. Then again so was I, and she had managed to do more good as a fool then I ever had. So I listened and prayed that one day she would come to Marefort. That she would kill the Crimson Hoof for what they did and give us freedom to trade and prosper.
Wildfire chatted beside me, almost completely unaware that I wasn't listening. It was gossip mostly: who as dating who, which of our scavengers hadn't come back, news about the outside world she got from traders and caravans -- things I never bothered to care about. All that mattered to me was doing my job, living, and maybe fantasizing about the Crimson Hoof's bloody demise. Schoolyard murmurs mattered little to me. Some ponies said I never paid attention to anything not two feet in front of me, and that was almost nearly true, save for the rocks I was guarding, of course.
“Marigold is sleeping with Nos. I think Nos is smitten but, well, you know how Marigold is--” She stopped and turned to me. “Are you even listening?”
“No.”
She sighed heavily at that and slowly got to her feet. “You should, maybe, pay attention. You're not going to get anywhere if you never see what’s going on 'round you.”
Somehow I doubted knowing who was dating whom would ever save my life, but I kept my disbelief to myself.
“Whatever.” I saw a glint on the horizon. Lifting the binoculars to my eyes, I peered into the distance.
“A caravan.”
That piqued my companion’s interest. “Traders? Oh, how I love bartering.”
No doubt; though I wasn't so certain we'd ever get to trade with them.
“How many?”
“Three carts.” It seemed to me that they were a professional caravan, considering they had managed to train Bighorners to pull their waggons. I was curious as to what was inside those waggons to bring them all the way out here. “Maybe... a dozen ponies. It's hard to see... wait--” that couldn't be right, was that pony... flying? It had wings, and they even looked real.
“A pegasus.” Pulling away, I saw Wildfire squinting into the distance.
“What?”
“You don't know what a pegasus is?”
I shook my head. What did she suspect? I was never very bright and cared little for history. “I thought they were just a myth. Winged earth ponies.” The thing did a barrel roll and a loop as it scanned the horizon. No doubt it saw my little shack. “It's beautiful.”
It wouldn't be for much longer.
“No flag.” There was a brief flash of horror in her eyes, then acceptance. This was Crimson Hoof territory, and any trader that came through only did by their word. Those that could raised a flag showing that they had freedom to pass. If they didn't, then... I sent a warning shot echoing over the valley at the 'pegasus'. I could see the creature regarding me, and swooping in for a better look but it failed to follow through when I didn’t take another shot.
Decapitated heads on spikes marked the road, but the caravan paid no heed. An old billboard painted over with a red Hoof print. They ignored that too. They were begging to be killed.
“Celestia watch you and keep you safe,”
The sweet tone of Velvet Remedy blared from my PipBuck as a bullet shot through the pegasus' wing in a spray of blood.
“As you travel down the path you choose.”
It was one of the newer songs, but I still found myself humming along as the pegasus tried to dive-bomb the ambush. Over a dozen Crimson Hooves by my count, and more storming over the hills from where they had been hiding.
“May Luna be with you and keep you strong, “
To the pegasus’ eternal credit, it managed to take out one of its attackers before taking another hit and spiraling to the ground. It was around then that the rest of the traders took notice. Panicked, they scurried for weapons, ammo, and a place to hide.
“So your courage you will never lose. “
The traders managed to form a semi-circle barricade with the carts, as their attackers came swarming over the hills. For a second, I thought I saw a colt with the traders. I chose not to look for it further, in case it was true.
“Remain loyal, honest and brave, “
The traders’ semi-circle exploded in a wave of blood and splinters so violent I felt the shock wave hit me in the chest like a hammer. Wildfire must have felt it too by the way she turned away and winced. Missiles were an unfair advantage for raiders... and I remember Marefort selling them to the raiders not days ago.
“Forget not the ones that you save,”
Miraculously, the pegasus pony had managed to get back up. Surrounded on all sides by hostile raiders, it put on a hell of a show. I watched as it took down two with its rifle before it jammed. The pony managed to pull out a spear and continue fighting despite multiple wounds. It was an impressive last stand, and like all last stands it eventually fell. Even as the pony was stabbed and shot to death, I felt nothing, not sadness or sickness or remorse. I had seen it all before.
“And in our hearts you will do no wrong... ”
I turned away from my binoculars. I had seen enough. It was true what Wildfire said: I really could sleep through my watches. I figured they only made us hold watch so they could show off their strength on the off-chance we ever sought to rebel against them.
“Hmm.” Wildfire had taken up looking at the carnage when I moved away. “Say, what did your brother look like?” I shot her a glare that could boil water. Meadow was not a topic that was discussed.
I answered anyway, “a Silver-grey coat, with a purple mane.” I hadn't seen him since I was a filly and the damned raiders stole him from me, but I would never forget him. He was taller than most but skinny compared to my bulky frame. When we wrestled, I always let him win because he was older, though I could have beat him if I tried.
“He had a rose as a cutie mark right?” I shot my head up and turned to her. Something was not right with her questioning, even I could figure that out. I nodded slowly. Her eyes studied my saddle, and gently she placed a hoof on my neck, and lead me to the binoculars.
Looking through, I saw a silver-grey pony with a purple mane and red-rose cutie mark showing under ripped barding. My brother. He was killing a helpless trader who’d survived the explosion.
They made him do it. I was sure of it. They’d kidnapped him and were forcing him to kill ponies. DJ PON-3 was reading the latest news as my head throbbed. Resting my head on the wall, I gritted my teeth and with a single kick shattered the binoculars into tiny pieces.
---
“This is insane!”
I ignored her protests. The inner armoury, where we kept all our best weapons and ammo, was locked by a heavy wood door. I bucked it open in one try. I was not pretty. In fact, I was bulkier than any pony in Marefort... but when you could buck anything that bugged you straight to the moon, who needed prettiness?
“You will die.”
I nodded numbly at Wildfire's protests. My hooves searched through boxes until I found the one I wanted. Flicking it open, I came face to face with the rifle of my dreams. Near twice as large as my current rifle, it fired rounds large enough to be used as bludgeons and its slick black coat made me positively wet. Designed for earth pony snipers, it had a scope I could flip over my right eye that was twice as powerful as the binoculars I smashed. I loved this rifle so much.
“Are you even listening? This is suicide. I-”
Unlatching my battle saddle, I went to work equipping the new weapon. It was hard work without unicorn magic, but we earth ponies were known for our stubbornness. I kept at it until it was good and stuck. Smiling at my own work, I lashed the saddle back on. It was much heavier, I realized, but not enough to make a difference to a pony of my size. I did a quick lap around the room to get used to it while Wildfire screamed obscenities. Only after I was done did I bother to reply.
“Be quiet or you'll wake the whole town.”
She face-hoofed as I grabbed a nearby pistol and placed it in a holster on my leg. If I was going to storm Stable 42, I couldn't rely on a single weapon, especially not one built for long ranges. Not being a unicorn pony made it difficult to switch between weapons, so I had to stick with the two.
It had been days since I saw him. The pounding in my head retreated to a dull throb, but I couldn't ignore it any longer. I knew what I had to do. If this “Hero of the Wastes” could free slaves by herself, then by the Goddess so could I. Maybe it was stupid; maybe I would die... but at least if I died I'd die doing something right for once. I had lived too long in apathy. It was time to make a difference. Even if the difference was only that one more corpse fed the ground.
“Silver...” she pleaded, “don't do this...” I almost wanted to call it off when I saw her eyes, red and sore with tears streaming down them. I nearly started crying too.
“I'm going.” I said after a long moment of silence.
“Then I’m going with you.” My friend clearly read too many stories if she was going to bust out that cliche. “And don't say ‘no'. Celestia knows we're going to get ourselves killed, but I can't in good conscience let ya go alone.”
I couldn't remember a time she’d ever cared for her conscience.
“No,” I said anyway.
“It's not up for debate.”
“No,” I repeated.
She stomped her hooves. “Yes, or I'll scream an' wake up the whole damn town.”
If they knew what I was planning they would never let me leave. The town, perhaps rightfully so, cared more for peace then it did justice.
“I... ” I was at a loss for words. Not that remarkable, considering how few I used. “Fine.” I sighed and turned away. Maybe she thought that this stunt would convince me to call it off, but that was never going to happen. If I was going to save my brother like I should have done years ago, and if she wanted to risk her neck for it, I couldn't very well say no.
She kissed my cheek, and I was quite thankful the room was dark enough to hide my blush. “Now that’s a good girl.” After saving Meadow I was going to buck her into next week. Kick her, I mean! Kick.
“You know how to use a battle saddle, right?”
“You bite, and bullets come out.” A utilitarian and, ultimately, correct response. I motioned her for her to grab a saddle. When we were finally armed and armoured, I led the way into Marefort proper.
The warehouse was huge, a proclamation of earth pony ingenuity. Houses of old train cars and hammered-together shipping crates lined the walls, stacking against each other until they reached the roof of the huge building, bridges crossing between the levels. To outsiders it would seem a maze of stairs, ramps, bridges and stands that managed to fit more ponies in a small space than was seemingly possible. When I was a filly, I saw it as an endless game of tag made all the more fun by the off chance that the smallest misstep could possibly send me to my death. Today? I saw a midden heap of scared mares too frightened of their own shadows to come out of their precious warehouse and see the sunlight outside... or what counted for sunlight in the Wasteland.
I tiptoed my way around garbage and junk, doing my best to make no noise; the houses were small, barely more than a single bedroom, and their walls were thin. Eventually I crawled my way to the far side, and took my last look at Marefort. For its problems, ugliness, and crowdedness it was still my home. Home was not a thing you hear often in the Equestrian Wasteland, so it was something to remember. Even if it wasn't perfect.
Sighing, I turned back, never to see it again.
Outside the air was cool and crisp with the slightest taste of radiation. The facility had once held three massive warehouses and an office building, but all save Marefort had fallen to ruin. Surrounding everything was a large fence of chain link and wood, with guard towers every hundred meters or so. Most would be unmanned, and in those that were manned, the guards were probably asleep. Up on the high cliff overshadowing the entirety of the complex was my Guardhouse, shining a small light. They wouldn't be looking at me though. The guard house looked over the northern pass, and I was heading south.
I cast a longing glance at the ruins of the westernmost building. “That's where it happened.”
“What?” Wildfire had been uncharacteristically quiet.
“Where me and my brother found the blue bullets. Starmetal. The reason they took him. How this all started.” I didn't bother reminiscing. It'd only hurt. I’d had enough of looking at the past and wondering how I could change it. I was going to fix the future or die trying, and why not? Saviours seemed to be popping up everywhere, and I was more than strong enough to throw my metaphorical hat into the metaphorical ring.
“Well.” Wildfire trotted up to me, way too close for comfort. “It's Hero Time.”
---
“Sniper... ” Of course, they had a sniper.
It had taken a few hours trot to the cliffs leading to Stable 42: two high cliffs with a skinny ravine between, leading to the door, that lead to the door that lead to the old stable. A small guard house perched on top of the cliff that the stable was nestled in -- not too dissimilar to my old haunt. It overlooked the only viable path to the Crimson Hoof headquarters.
I ducked back behind a rock, Wildfire hunched beside me as, and motioned for her to stay down. She had been talking the whole trip, though thankfully in hushed tones. I really should never have brought her. She was a good shot, but never at another pony. She winced at the sight of blood, and she never much cared for anypony but herself. Why in Equestria she tagged along I'll never know.
A shot echoed. I would never get the chance to ask.
Blood. There was so much blood. I could feel my heart shatter as I hoisted Wildfire's lifeless body on my back. Celesita dammit, why did she look? Why couldn't she keep her thrice damned head DOWN!? Dammit dammit. I could hear the blood dripping from her wound onto the ground. I could smell it. Why did I take her, why was I such an idiot?
I turned to the sniper, the scope snapped up over my eye. I wouldn't give the murderer a chance to shoot again. I bit into the battle saddle so hard I thought I broke it. His head exploded into bloody chunks. I could still hear Wildfire bleeding.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
My whole body shook. I closed my eyes, blinking away tears. Maybe, just maybe, when I opened them Wildfire would be smiling at me. Laughing at me. Telling me how stupid I was and making me blush.
When I opened them her head was still bleeding, and then I was retching.
When I turned my head to see her hanging off my back, her head a bloody mess, I think I cried. Or vomited again. My whole body hurt so much. Why did it hurt? My eyes stung with tears as I ran to the stable. They had to have medical supplies. Something. Wildfire couldn't die. I... she couldn't. We were supposed to be heroes. Heroines couldn't die. The pipbuck on my forehoof sang a sad song, but I couldn't hear the words. Somepony was sobbing too loudly to hear anything.
I ran my way to the stable. A wooden door leading to a tunnel barred my way, so I kicked it into splinters. As I ran, half-blinded by tears, half-blinded by darkness, I could still hear the blood.
Drip. Drip. Dripping.
Thankfully, the huge gear-like door of the stable proper had long since been moved. There were guards, but I must have killed them, because they were dead by the time I eased Wildfire down to the ground.
She was breathing. Quick shallow breaths that sounded almost painful. Looking at her head I saw why. I vomited again. Half of her head had been blown apart. The whole right side of her head was a bloody mess. Chips of her skull were plastered in her blood soaked mane, and... and I could see part of her brain, oh god.
She was already dead.
I could hear her breaths, and she struggled to talk, but she was dead all the same. A bullet to the head was not something a healing potion could fix. Hell, all the goddesses' magic couldn't bring her back. I fell to the ground beside her, my whole body aching.
“Heh.” Was she laughing? Tears streamed down my face. “I... never gotta... shoot...”
“... My gun.” I finished for her. Her eyes rolled into her head and I felt my stomach tie itself into knots. “No...” She looked at me with all her strength. It was hopeless. Why did it hurt so much? My head throbbed; my body heaved. She was shot, not me, so why did it hurt so damn much?
“Love... you, hon... sorry...” I shook my head. Why the hell was she apologizing. Blood flowed down her cheeks like macabre tears, but she kept talking. She was dead, and still she talked. “Wanted... impress you... hurts... it's dark... where are...”
“Stop... just... I'm sorry... please...” I cradled her body into my chest. “D-don't. Be quiet. I'll get... something... a unicorn... fix you right up. You have to..don't talk.”
“Sorry... I... been fun... I'm cold... why is... so dark? Kill... kill them... for me.”
Dead. Her warm blood flowed over my forelegs staining my coat a deep red. I wished I could die with her. Just stay there on the floor and never move again... but...
“What the hell?” A voice to my left. A raider. Wildfire had told me to kill them; it was her dying wish. Wrenching my pistol from its holster with my mouth, my tongue pulled the trigger unleashing a fury of lead. Ten shots, but the raider was dead by the third.
As gently as I could laid Wildfire's body down. A surge of emotion took me, and gasping, I fought back tears. Leaning down, I planted a kiss on her forehead. She tasted like iron. “I'll be back... I'll bury you...” I promised her. I knew if I didn't she'd haunt me, and part of me wouldn't have minded so much.
Three doors flanked the entrance area. Not caring about which, I charged down the centre one. Ponies needed to die, and I was just the one to make it happen. A strange fury took me. I needed to hit something. To break everything I saw. Things needed to die.
A poor buck turned the corner towards me. His eyes grew wide: surprised, worried, scared? I didn't care. Spinning in place, I bucked his head into a bloody pulp. There was a second. A skinny unicorn in barely-held-together barding. My tongue clicked the trigger of the gun still in my mouth. Nothing. When did I waste my clip? No matter I swung my head and sent the pistol flying into the unicorn's face. He backed up, shrieking obscenities, giving me just enough time to aim my rifle.
More turned the corner. I heard hoof steps behind me. Of course they knew. How many had I killed? That wouldn't go unnoticed. Hell, they probably had cameras. If they had then they knew about Wildfire... they'd know I had no intention of stopping. Good. Let them come.
One popped around the corner. My gun clicked. Crap. I jammed the barrel into the pony's eye. He screamed like a filly. He dropped after I pulled it out, grabbing at his eye socket and giving me all the time in the world to crush his skull. I grabbed the gun from his mouth and shut the door. I could hear the sound of distant hooves closing in on my location.
I took a quick look at my surroundings as I scraped the raider’s brains off my hooves. A medical station by the looks. Spying a huge medical cabinet by the door I peeked inside. I grabbed a few health potions and bandages as the door slid open. I scurried quickly to the side of the cabinet and gave it a quick kick, sending the whole thing toppling on an unaware pony. My heart was pounding but I felt calm. Nothing had ever made this much sense. Kill the fuckers what killed Wildfire. Simple.
“For fuck's sake, catch the bitch,” somepony yelled on the other side of the door. Part of me wanted to stand fight and die. It'd be easier that way... but then what would be the point? A few less raiders, a voice in my head told me.
I turned tail and ran anyway. I dully realized that had once been white but was now stained yellow. Two centuries of dirt and grime builds up. I leaped over a surgery table, kicking it over. I didn't notice the skeleton on it until it clattered to the ground behind me. For a minute I wanted to figure out how it died. What happened that caused raiders to invade this stable. Pick locks, hack terminals, figure out the truth.
I realized how stupid that was. A 200 year grave needed to be let lie. Curiosity killed the molerat... or something.
I just managed to squeeze out of the medical offices' second door, which was stuck halfway open. Down the hall I heard hoofbeats but saw nothing. Stairs. Of course. Stables ran deep into the ground of course there would be stairs. Maybe I should have thought of these things before getting my best friend killed.
I ripped my battle-saddle off. It hung heavy in my jaw, but I hardly had time to reload my weapons, and didn't have the advantage of magic to make it go faster. So I ran to the stairs, saddle limp in my mouth. A pony with a pink spiked mane was running up the stairs at me.
I swung my head and let go. I didn't see the rifle and saddle connect, but I heard the sickening crunch and the dull thuds as he crashed back down the steps. Looking down, I saw him tangled up in my saddle, his rump sticking up in the air. What kind of cutie mark was a pistol anyway?
I dove off the stairs and skidded past him stopping only long enough to rip the spear from his unconscious mouth. Funny, given his cutie mark, I would have expected a gun. At the bottom of the stairs was a short hallway with a glowing sign hanging from the ceiling. “Atrium?” I said, though with the spear in my mouth it sounded more like “Ariuh.”
I wasn't sure what an 'Atrium' was, but it seemed I was about to find out. Crashing though the door, I found myself in a large room. The floor I was on acted as a second floor balcony encircling the large open area below. Doors lined the sides of the balcony leading to several different rooms and hallways. Across the gap from the door I’d entered was a huge round window looking into an office.
On the other side of the window was an olive unicorn with a thick grey mane. I knew that pony. From where? I stared at him for a long time until I realized. It was him. He took the blue bullets; he killed my mother. I found him. Smooth Tongue. The leader of the Crimson Hooves. With all my strength I sent the spear flying across the gap. My laughter echoed in through the large room but died off.
Had the glass not been there the spear would have skewered the bastard like a stuck molerat instead of bouncing away harmlessly.
And now I was without a weapon, in an enemy fortification, having just announced my presence to everypony with functioning ears. Well fuck me sideways with a spear. The first pony to come scrambling through a door to my left would have happily obliged, had I not already been on him.
He was an earth pony with a thick brown coat and a pistol in his mouth. Frankly, mouth based firearms were wildly inaccurate at closer ranges so it was easy enough to smash his head in with my forehoof. This whole incursion made me glad I was so large, worth the teasing I got as a filly.
A searing pain ripped through my flank and I bucked my legs out wildly. I hit something -- the kick vibrated through my legs -- and I heard a scream and crash in the room below. I knew whoever it was was no longer a threat.. Another pain shot through me at my back knee. Gritting, my teeth I turned and struck out with my foreleg, my PipBuck smashing into the face of somepony.
They came swarming now. I could hear the stomping of hooves and a few pops but no gunshots. That struck me as odd, but I pushed through anyway, until something struck my neck, sending pain roaring up into my ears. Crying out, I reared.
I bit the closet pony in the neck. Kicked another. Bucked a third off my back. Another arc of pain soared through my chest. The world was spinning. Stables shouldn't spin. My whole body felt weary. My eyes dropped. Still, when I saw the eyes of a raider I headbutted him, sending him sprawling. More piled on me. I tried to shake them off. Tried.
There were too many. Dammit. I just needed to rest. I could kill them all. For Wildfire. If I could just rest.
---
“Oh, you're awake.” I heard a voice call out as soon as my eyes fluttered open. I should be dead. I'd been shot, and tackled, and stabbed too, I guess. Hay. I was on hay. Looking up, I saw Smooth Tongue staring down at me with large red eyes. “I know you must feel like you've had a string of bad luck that'd make a slave cringe, but trust me kiddo, the dice have been loaded since 'fore you stepped into my stable.” He smiled leaning on the desk on the other side of the room. “I am nice though, so I kept you alive despite it all.”
I tried to charge but fell. Chains jangled around my legs. “I am, however, not an idiot. You killed half a dozen good ponies, I am not about to let you walk about unabated.” I glowered at him, wishing I could set him on fire with my eyes. “Do you really hate me that much?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but my tongue felt thick and heavy. “Yeth.” I finally managed to slobber.
He chuckled. “Don't try to do to much. You're tough, though, I'll give you that.” He waved a hoof at a small dart on the desk beside him. “Two of these took down a Hellhound... you were shot with six. Heh. Summer Silk, grab our guest a drink.” A few seconds later a mysterious pony in full armour laid a bottle of sparkle-cola before me.
I wanted nothing more then to buck it at his face... but I found myself so parched I drank it up anyway. It was luke-warm and carroty but also quenching. “Why?” I managed to say, my tongue feeling looser.
“You are stronger than any pony I have ever seen... not too bright, I'll admit. Charging head-first into blazing guns like the bloody Hero of the Wastes? But you are strong. I am not a pony to throw away talent, so I had a mind to recruit you.”
I spat.
“Pleasant. At least hear my offer.” His voice was smooth, charming and graceful. If he hadn't of killed my mother, maybe I would have listened.
“That's... not what I asked.” I didn't care why he kept me alive. “Why... why did you kill my mother? ”
“Hmm.” He studied me carefully. “Yes. Yes, I see it now. I thought you might be her. It was such a shame what happened that day. Such. I really had no choice.” Other then murder. I wanted to laugh, but it hurt too much.. “My hold on the Crimson Hoof was tenuous. The former leader had come down with a severe case of broken neck earlier that week, and I was in charge. You have no idea what those bullets were do you? Starmetal?”
I shook my head. They were blue, and purple. I remembered that much, but ‘starmetal’ meant nothing to me.
“More valuable then you can imagine, and more dangerous. I was new, and your mother denied me. In front of my herd no less. A herd that was still getting used to my power. Had I backed down they would have turned on me like dogs, tearing for bits of flesh. I regret what had to be done, but had I cowed, the Crimson Hoof and all the towns under its control would burn.” Towns? I had thought only Marefort was ruled by them. “One life, or hundreds, it was not a tough choice... but it was a hard one. I regret what I did, but it was needed. 'Nopony who seeks to rule can hope to keep their hooves clean of blood.' Luna said that once, and she knows more then anypony.”
“You lie.”
“Often, and with great pleasure.” He smiled brightly and started to walk around his desk. “I rule thirteen towns, the largest of which is Marefort. I have secured trade lines with New Appleloosa, Fillydelphia, the Finders of Hoofington, and am currently working on a deal with Tenpony Tower once I can convince them I am no raider. Since I have taken control of the Crimson Hoof, everywhere my ponies go there has been peace.” My mind recalled the brutal slaughter of a caravan not days ago.
“You're raiders,” I said sharply, my hoof smashing the remains of the sparkle-cola bottle for emphasis. “You kill, pillage and rape.”
“Not I.” His eyes sparkled in the dull light, “I tend to wolves as well as sheep, and my flock is far from innocent. I try to root out the weeds, but I cannot remove them all. Too many. As much as I despise what they do, I need them. I have too much land and too few ponies.” I glared at him still. “Disbelieve? I care not.” He trotted up to the window and looked down at the Atrium. “Even if I was as you say, raping and pillaging is bad for me as well. I can control villages through fear, but it only takes one murder to send somepony like you off the deep end.”
“You have guards,” I pointed out. “They stopped me; they could stop anypony else.”
“I have some. Even still,” he knocked on the glass, “had this been broken, or not there, or had I been in the Atrium eating, I would be dead. No. Fear is good, but I need respect too. Most ponies see that, despite what they think of me, I am necessary. So I continue to be necessary, so that all can thrive,” he smiled at me, “I apologize, you must think me some old serials villain, gloating at his great works before I have you killed. That is not the plan.”
I struggled to my feet, the tranquilizers already wearing off. “What are you going to do with me then?”
“As I said before: If a pony resists you, you must feed them lead and fire. However, if they bend the knee, you must help them back up, else nopony will ever bend. I am giving you a choice, and I am telling you WHY you must need take it.” His eyes glimmered with... something. Hope, maybe. Whether it was hope for the future or hope I was fool enough to trust him I could not rightly say.
“You are scum.”
“All ponies have their place. I am sure you'd like to smash me. Beat me until my face was as unrecognizable as your friend's.” I charged at him again, and again the chains sent me falling to my knees. “Worry not, she will get a funeral.”
“Thank you,” I said bitterly, but with a touch of relief. If I could not complete her final request, I was glad she would have rest at least. “For Wildfire's sake and nothing else.”
“As I was saying, you could kill me. But then Marefort would burn.” I tugged at the chains again to no result. I could hear them straining to contain me. Creaking and groaning against my inequine strength. “I have appointed no single second in command. I have five, in fact. They hate each other. Should I die by an assassin’s... spear, they would fight. Marefort would be attacked, ravaged and sacked. It has enough ammo for a war, after all. Tell me, do you still wish me dead, knowing this?”
“Yes,” I said instantly.
He sighed heavily, turning to me. “Really? You hate me that much?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You kill ponies.”
“So do you.” I shied away. Something about that hurt more then it had any right too. “Tell me, where do you think I get the stallions to defend my land... do you know where my army comes from?” I shook my head, and he facehoofed. “Idiot. How many bucks live in Marefort?” I stopped. There was Grey Wind... but he was just a colt. Old Redwyne was so old he couldn't walk anymore. Bright Flame was maimed and only had one leg, and a few other colts whose names I could not remember. Was that truly all there was? I opened my mouth and shut it.
“Do you get it?”
It came. Slowly. So few stallions at Marefort (funny, I never realized what the name meant before). So many Crimson Hooves. My brother taken. I dropped my head low. It throbbed as the horrid realization came to me. “You spent last night killing the brothers, fathers and sons of the ponies you grew up with. Of your friends. Even if I let you go, they wouldn't accept you back.”
My body seethed. All my muscles tensed, and the only thing I could think of was splattering his brains. I moved, slowly at first. The chains binding my legs to the floor creaked as I pressed. The stress burned my legs, but I inched forward despite it all ignoring the sharp pain. Then, with a resounding crack, the chains shattered. Smooth Tongue turned, his eyes wide.
I charged.
Only for that damnable, quiet guard Summer Silk to tackle me. Was he a fool? I snapped chains like small ponies snapped twigs, I was not to be messed with. Wrestling him off, I rammed him up against the office wall, my head bashing against his helmet. Bad idea. I recoiled and backed up as my forehead throbbed.
He moved forward at me again, mores the pity. With an almost lazy blow I cracked my PipBuck against his head sending him sprawling to the floor. I spat blood, moving forward as his helmet rolled off. I reared up ready for the kill. And stopped.
A pony with a silver-grey coat and purple mane stared up at me. Somehow I knew beneath his armoured-barding there would be a rose cutie mark. “Meadow... ” I gasped. It couldn't be. My brother. Why... why did he strike me? I was going to save him... I.
“Silver Storm,” he replied coolly.
“What the fuck!” I screeched. Behind, I could hear Smooth Tongue chuckling. “... I came to save you! Wildfire! She... ” The words caught in my throat, and I would have cried all over again but my anger burned away the tears.
He brought himself to his his feet and glared. “I don't need rescuing,” he said his voice like a whip, “you fucking idiot.” Those words hurt more then any wound I had suffered. “I am here by choice. You heard Smooth... this is the best way. We have peace, and you're trying to fuck it up!”
“You're a raider.” I refused to believe. My brother. I... he was always so kind to me. When the other ponies hated me and made fun, he comforted me. This pony... he couldn't be the same one. No.
“A Crimson Hoof,” the silver-grey pony countered.
“The same thing.”
“No. We protect ponies. Dammit Silver, why can't you just se-”
“I saw.” My voice was a hoarse whisper. “I saw you kill traders. Murder them. I saw the blood on your smiling face. I wanted to think that they forced you... that... that it wasn't you who I saw. Just who they made you become. A shadow. That you only did it to survive. I was wrong... about so many things.” Every muscle in my body felt so tense, like they were about to snap. “I... ”
I looked at him. He was still my brother, I realized at last. Same as before. Only he was wrong. He was excusing himself; he had become a monster. Or... either that or I was the monster trying to break peace. But... how could I accept peace at this cost! Why can't anything be clear?! All I wanted was to save my brother! To be a hero! What the fuck happened to good and evil? When did everything become so confused? Why... why...
I stomped my hoof leaving a bloody indent in the floor.
Smooth Tongue touched me. Trying to comfort me? I bucked him. Behind, I heard the glass window strain and shatter. A half-second later, a deep thud.
My brother. No. He wasn't, not anymore. He stood in front of me, shocked.
He reached for his pistol so I charged through him. I bucked the office door open and escaped. To where, I didn't know.
A blinding pain shot up my left foreleg. Looking down I saw a hole and blood. Shot. I was shot. By who?
It didn't matter. I ran. Anypony was welcome to come and try to stop me.
---
I don't know how I managed to get out. But I did. Hours later, or perhaps days, I stopped and laid down atop a cliff. I had just managed to get the bullet out of my leg. It hurt more coming out. I may have screamed.
Dropping the fragment beside me, I looked at it closely: twisted metal shards dyed deep red with my blood. Beneath that was something else. A deep purple colour that seemed to burn through the blood. Or was it blue? I turned my head, and the colours shifted and twisted until I realized what it was.
Starmetal bullet. More dangerous than I knew, Smooth Tongue had told me. Yet when I drank a healing potion and wrapped my leg up tightly with the bandages I scavenged from Stable 42, it didn't feel any different then a normal gunshot. Exhausted, I closed my eyes and rested.
When I awoke my leg was stiff, but that was good considering I’d been shot. Getting up slowly, I started walking. I didn't know where I was going. Smooth was right about one thing: Marefort would never have me back. So I walked south, away from the Stable. The only way I knew I wouldn't be seen.
The first few days I managed with the supplies I had. Thankfully, the Hooves never took my saddlebags when they captured me, and I’d prepared enough supplies for two. I didn't feel thankful though. Each step was a test. Each time I moved forward, I fought the urge to lay down and never move again. I deserved it. I’d sacrificed the life of my best friend and-- all for a dream and a voice on the radio.
Even the upbeat tunes of my PipBuck couldn't keep me happy. I may have cried. I just kept walking. After a few days my leg got stiffer and stiffer. When I unwrapped the bandages I smelled decay. My leg. The coat had fallen off and the skin was deathly purple. Starmetal.
I kept walking. My leg got worse. It smelled like death, and soon I could not move it all. I ran out of supplies, too. I kept walking. The sun filtered by the ever-present cloud layer beat down on me. But I had to walk. I dragged my leg. I hoped to find somepony, anypony to take me in.
I collapsed.
I spat out dirt, but I didn't have the strength to get up. I had eaten my food, drank my water. I was going to die. With all my massive strength I tried to move, but my body roared in protest, and I fell back down. I closed my eyes. My whole body hurt. My stomach rumbled and growled and stung. My throat was parched to the point I tried to drink the dirt. I was nothing. I managed to look back at my body. Once strong, now feeble. Between the barding and saddle packs I saw my cutie mark.
Three rocks. Maybe that was my destiny. To become part of the wasteland, to feed the rocks with my body. My soul had already died with Wildfire, and it was all I had left. The wasteland took everything I had to give and wanted more, like a greedy foal. It would take my cutie mark too if it could. I didn't deserve it. I didn't deserve life. I failed at everything I’d ever done, because I was too stupid to see. If only.
War never changes. I never understood it, not until that moment. Methods change. Ponies change. Organizations change. But in the end war takes everything from you and leaves only a shell. That part... that part never changed.
I hadn’t lasted a week when all was said and done. The last thing I heard was my PipBuck relaying the static-y news. “Arbu is dead. Reports have reached me that every pony in the town, over two dozen, have been killed. And listen children, I don’t know how to say this… but…
“But it looks like it was the Stable Dweller who was responsible. “
There was no such thing as heroes.
Footnote:
Silver Storm
Special:
Strength: 10
Perception: 4
Endurance: 8
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 3
Agility: 5
Luck: 5
(A/N: First I would like to give props to Kkat for creating a world so enthralling it basically begged to be written in. credit goes to theBSDude for editing and making the thing awesome. ~No One~ ) |
No One | 662 | 2 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-07-13T08:35:10+00:00 | 2012-07-13T08:35:10+00:00 | 30,687 | Chapter 1: Deja Vu
"It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance"
Dead. I should have been dead. Then why did everything hurt so fucking much? My eyes filtered opened. Light. Blinding. Something standing above me. A pony... or... I could barely see. I thought I saw wings. Maybe. And a cutie mark. I could see... two clouds. That's what it looked like. A closed sky cutie mark. Like the wasteland. Fuck, everything hurt. Wildfire... she'd save me. Dead. She was still dead.
My eye closed. When I opened them again, the pegasus had a syringe in its mouth.
---
“Hmm. Are you awake?”
My eyes opened and painful light filtered in. I was alive. Somehow. Starved, dehydrated and suffering from some vile poison, yet I was alive. I should have died with Wildfire, so I closed my eyes, trying. I breathed deep, and my chest stung. If only I had a gun, I would shoot myself and finish the job the wasteland started.
“Oh, stop that. Open your eyes.” A dark brown stallion with a purple and green mane was looking over me. I guessed he was a doctor. Not because he was looking over me, but because he was wearing a white lab-coat doctor-y goggles with a stethoscope.
“Who...” damn, when did my throat become a desert? Seemingly reading my mind, the doctor floated a bottle of water, and I quickly sucked it back, wishing for more and expecting nothing. It tasted like a dinner fit for kings.
“Dr Morowynd,” he said with a sweeping bow, “head physician and cybernetic expert of Watcher Caravan 54.”
“A what?”
“A Watcher Caravan,” he said slower.
“What?”
Sighing, he face hoofed, “Starvation must have killed brain cells.” I glared at him. Starvation had nothing to do with it; I was a certified idiot. If he didn't believe me, he could very well ask Wildfire. “The Watchers are an...organization formed in the NCA, Eye Glow to be precise, whose goal it is to help every pony survive. Not for free, but we charge as little as possible to keep us going. Currently, my base is in-”
“You saved me?” I looked around the room wildly. It was a small dingy room that smelled of stale piss and mold. The white walls were chipping, and the medical equipment seemed rusty, but better than anything I'd ever seen in Marefort. My heart sank as I thought of my hometown. Had I been alone I would have cried, but weakness was not something I could afford to show. Steeling myself up, I gave him my most defiant look, praying I didn't betray it.
“No.” He stopped. “Kind of. Somepony carried you to Bridle Hope, can't say who, never did see him." No, not save me. I was dead, as dead as Wildfire. She died trying to be a hero, but heroes die. I was given a second chance, and idiot as I was, I never made the same mistake twice. If surviving was all I could do, I swore to myself on that hospital bed that I would survive. Survive. No job too low, no boundary I wouldn't cross. I...I needed to be stronger. Tougher. I promised Wildfire I'd kill the Crimson Hoof. All of them. And to do that I had to throw away any pretensions of heroics. Heroics would kill me sure as rain. I needed to survive. “What... is your name by the way.” he seemed worried.
“Hired Gun.” Who names their child Hired Gun? Idiot. Quickly I added: “Where is this place?”
“Bridle Hope Implant Center and Hospital.”
That made sense. Herbal medicine and all that, “So you sell plants.”
“Uh no. Implants.” he shuffled his hooves awkwardly, “I may have already added a neural enhancement into your frontal lobe, though it may not have been enough... You looked liked you needed it. Among other things.” Other... I tried to roll onto my front to get to a sitting position. Something was wrong. I couldn't feel one of my legs, but when I moved to roll something helped me, and something helped me onto my haunches. Hearing a slight whirling and creaking I saw... it.
“MY LEG!” Didn't exist. The one shot with Starmetal. The one that was twisted and blue. In it's place was a skeleton of metal and wires. Fuck me with the barrel of my gun, I was a fucking robot.
“Now calm do-” I pushed off the bed and tackling him to the ground, ready to shove my calm down his throat. “Pu-puhplease. Li-s.”
“What the hell did you turn me into!”
“You were dying!” He screeched, his voice shrill, as I raised my new metallic hoof over his head. A more ironic death I couldn't figure. For some reason the joint between my torso and metal leg burned. “The Poison. I-it took your leg. It was dead. Had I waited any longer... your whole body. Infected. I had to a-act.” More dangerous then I could imagine. “A single scratch from those things and the infection will take you. If the scratch is about the head neck or torso death is within hours. In the legs... it can be staved off for weeks depending on the pony, but the blood will be forever tainted. You will die, but it will take longer for Starmetal to claim you. Amputating the leg was all I could do to slow the infection... it gives you a chance. The prosthetic is free of charge, no worries about that. Please, don't do this.” I backed off him, stepping around the bed where I had been laying. The burning in my joint calmed down as he levitated a shotgun back onto the counter. He had been pointing it at my head... and I didn't notice. Shit.
“Okay.” I said sitting back on my haunches. Calm. Cool. Collected. Silver may have been hyper aggressive when threatened, but Hired Gun had to be calculating, and silent. “Where in Equestria am I?” I bent my left foreleg a bit, hearing it squeak. I suppose, being free, I couldn’t expect it to be top-of-the-line.
“Not Equestria. Bridle Hope in the-”
“What?” Not Equestria? But that was a pony I was talking to.
“You're not in Equestria. Or not in what WAS Equestria before the war. That's north past the cliffs. Before the war this territory was an independent state known as Caledonia. They still were ruled, technically, by Celestia, but it had it’s own governing party.”
“You were never bombed?”
“We were.” he assured me. That was good. Radiation was such a part of my world, I'd be sad to see it go. “Not as severely. The states never officially declared war against the Zebra...but there were more than Zebras and ponies in the war... Zebras fed spells to their allies, and we were bombed. Much o--” I just realized how little I cared about history.
“Okay. Bridle Hope. Whatever. I need work.”
“You still have a debt to pay.” He looked taken aback by my interruptions but must have learned not to aggravate me. Smart pony. “I...the leg was free, but other services we provided were not. Worry not. You look capable with a gun, right? I will give you some caps for a new one, and I'll need you to help me guard a supply waggon east. We are supplying purified water to the outlining villages you see, and raiders...well you know. After that, all you need do is follow me to Dise to meet my boss, and you're free to find work.”
“Dice?” Like the things gambling-type ponies rolled. I wasn't sure I was understanding.
“Dise.” Licking his lips he continued, “You've never heard of Dise?” As I shook my head I swear I hear him mutter something about another implant.
---
The city of lights. Sin's city. Once called Celestia's Paradise, but the sign baring the name had faded to just Dise so that's what the residents called it. Before the war it was some sort of 'getaway' where the worst of all sins were treated as common-place. According to the Doctor, and his rather sketchy sources, The Ministry Of Morale billed it as an “adult party” where veterans of the war could go to wash their fears away. Only the main strip was actually owned by Equestria; the rest of the city was independent. Apparently it survived the war. Or at least it wasn't bombed quite so much as everywhere else in the world.
There was gambling there, he said, and I agreed to go. Hell, this 'Last City In The World' might be half interesting, and the idea of gambling my caps away warmed my stomach. First, we had to deliver water, which seemed weird. According to him it'd take a week there from Dise, and a week back. Wouldn't they need water...sometime between that?
Par for the course it was just me being an idiot. The water, he explained, was for medical procedures and the like. Nothing more dangerous than pouring radiation straight into a wound. They also delivered Rad-away and Rad-X when the locals did have to drink the local supply, but the fresh water went a long way to help the small communities. Hell, if Marefort had semi-regular pure water shipments it would have reduced trade costs by a sizable percentage, due to the less Rad-Away we'd have to purchase. More over, The Watchers gave it away for bloody free. Free! Maybe they hadn't gotten the memo that the world had ended and it was fight-for-yourself time.
Still, I know I had wantonly decided to be a cold-blooded mercenary and all that, but I couldn't help but be thankful the first job Celestia sent me was from such a group. Stable 42 was just a taste of what was to come in my journeys, and I knew that, but at least working for The Watchers wouldn't make me hate myself. I already hated myself enough. And I really should have paid attention to where I was going.
I tripped.
Fell face first into a mailbox with a ringing sound and sharp pain through my head. My neck snapped back as I flipped onto my side groaning. Looking down at my leg I saw my stupid mechanical leg stuck in a hole. Of course if I'd had a real fucking leg, I would have felt it, but metal has no nervous system. Sighing, I stayed on the ground staring up the cloudy sky. Grey and dead, just like this town. Well, this town was actually brown and teeming with life, but just let me have my metaphors, okay?
“I need... ” I said aloud,“DJ-PON3.” Lowering my head, I pressed my pipbuck with my nose. Nothing. I pressed again. Nothing at all. That's it. I'm going to burn all technology.
“Bridle Hope General Store?” Since when did my pipbuck have a map? Apparently passing out in the Dise wasteland improves your technology. Maybe if I got myself in two more coma's my pipbuck might just come with magical limb regeneration powers. That damned implant did something with my mind; I never had this... imagination thing before. I was like some sort of idiotic daydreaming cyborg. Named Hired Gun. I really should have thought the name through.
“Hey there, Sweet Pea.” Of course, there are worse names. Above me was a slightly older mare with a thick black mane with white streaks and dirty green coat. “What'cha doin' on that there ground? Ain't never seen ya 'round these parts 'fore. Ah'm Nanny Jane, proprietor of this store. And you are...”
“Hired-”
“Gun yes, one don't forget a name like that easily,” her grin mocked me. “You’re the one what passed out south of town, right? Or what was dragged here some say. No matter, Ah suppose. Way I hear it, you're in debt to the Watchers. Good folks them, don't be listenin' to any rumours; they’re good folks.” Repetitive and annoying. Great. If she knew me at all she'd know I didn't listen to any rumours. Nothing but bad blood there. “Now, you be wantin' some guns right? Well you come ta the right place Ah says. Just stay outta tha backroom.”
Trotting behind me, she pushed me until I got up, and walked into her store. Celestia approves aggressive marketing. “You'll be wantin' a battle saddle.” I nearly said I had one, until I remember I’d used it to crush somepony’s face. Good times. “Now this model ain’t new, but reliable. Comes with ’n auto reload function and dual .357 repeaters.” The guns were not impressive. They looked old, rusted, and ready to fall apart. Whatever, they shot bullets, and that was enough. “500 caps.” The Doc would later yell at me for getting scammed.
I also bought some Apple Snacks, and a bottle of Sunrise Sarsaparilla. It was a nice town I guess. A few cobbled together houses made from the remnants of a Pre-War town. Less ponies then Marefort, but a larger area. It felt open. Like I could walk for hours and still be in town. No tripping over sleeping ponies, or dodging fillies as they ran underfoot. Idiot. Stop thinking of Marefort, that pony is dead.
When did I become such a drama queen? I needed to kick something.
Sometimes the goddess' were just. As I walked down a small hill I heard shouting. “Get off my damn farm!” Pop quiz: What happens when lizards absorb too much magical radiation?
They grow and gain sharp needle-like teeth of course. Another reminder of the apocalypse. I charged headfirst down the hill and splattered a gecko's head with a resounding bang. To my left, a second climbed a white picket fence and jumped maw-first at me. Apparently my metal leg was inedible, given its whine as it chewed on it. With a single shake the beast lost it's grip and went airborne. It was the easiest thing in the world to aim and...
My joint burned and the beast’s head exploded without me firing a shot. I turned my head to see a (beautiful) white unicorn mare standing there with a smoking gun floating beside her. Her deep red mane cascaded down her head and back like a waterfall, reminding me of Wildfire's...damn, now I'm sad. And throbbing. Looking down, I saw that one of those fuckers had its teeth sunk into my leg above my pipbuck.
“Get off!” I shook my other leg this time, but the only thing that accomplished was to make it sting more. It was then I realized how much better it'd be to be a unicorn, as I couldn't aim my battle saddle at my own leg. The Gecko exploded into bloody chunks thanks to the (beautiful) unicorn mare. Turning my attention I gave a bloody grin. Three left. I bit my battle saddle reigns hearing the lovely click of a reloading gun.
---
“You're an idiot.” I winced a little as the (beautiful. Okay, I think I made the point clear. Feel free to add the word beautiful from now on) unicorn mare painfully cleaned my wound. “Why would you charge down the hill like that?” She had her head down so I could just barely see her radiant (it's not beautiful, shut up) purple eyes peering through her hair. Her name was Pearly, and I had said it was a lovely name because I am stupid. Apparently, idiot heroes were in season as she smiled when I said that. “You have a new leg, ya know, and have you even tested them guns yet? They could've been faulty.” Truth be told, she seemed more disturbed when I mentioned I bought my gun from Nanny Jane than at my skeletal metal leg. I didn't question it further though; rumours never helped anypony.
She had half led, half dragged me to her little shack on the other side of her meagre farm. Turns out radiated water is not the best for growing crops, but she tried. She mentioned something about a NCA farm near Dise that managed to find a way around the problem, but that really meant nothing to me. Her shack was a little on the small side, with little else besides a stained mattress and table to it's name.
“Sorry.” I said as coolly as I could. She just smirked at me making me feel half a fool. Which, since I always felt half a fool, made me feel like a full fool. Or something. I never was good at math.
She sighed deeply looking at me. “Listen, thanks. I don't have any caps to pay you for your help, but I can take a look at those guns of yours. Make'em run right... that Nanny Jane,” She made the word a curse. Why was gossip so tempting? “Don't know the butt, from the barrel.” She pressed her hoof to my forehead, checking my temperature I guessed. The flushing in my cheeks must have skewered her data though...”You feeling sick? Light headed? Dizzy?”
I shook my head.
“Weak? Like you're going to throw up?” I shook my head again and she just frowned. “Those gecko bites are poisonous... you should be sick.” Nope, wasn't. “Whatever, you're feeling fine, and that’s what matters. Hate to see you sick...” Her smile made me smile. Damn things are infectious. Come on Silver, you're supposed to be a cold hard killer. Or... something. “You don't talk much, do you, hon?” Why, oh why, did she have to use that word.
“No.”
“Why not, hon? Ya got a lovely voice.”
“Nothing to say.”
“Hm. Quiet one, eh? Ya know... you don't leave till the morrow, and you look like you'd make a good poker player. That quiet hard-ass, yeah, you'll bluff like a pro.” I had no idea what that meant. “Let’s hit the casino.” A casino, as I found out later, was a large building full of colourful flashing lights. Also they sold whiskey.
Whiskey is amazing.
---
I woke up with a headache. Visions of the night before flickered dimly in my head. The first hour was clear. I turned out to be terrible at poker as I couldn't understand the rules, but I liked blackjack. Even an idiot can count to twenty one. Then the drinks came, and things got... less clear. There was drinking and dancing. Somepony dancing... I doubt it was me; I never danced. There were... other memories too. Nothing clear though, but I remember being warm. Very warm. I shook my head, and that made it throb more. Why did whiskey forsake me so?
Groaning, I opened my eyes rolling onto my side as my metal leg clanged loudly against something sending a spark of pain flashing through my head. It was then I realized I didn't know where I was. I had been staying at the local clinic, but this wasn't it. It was small, dirty and... what was my Battle saddle doing crumpled in the corner? Wait... this was Pearly's house. Now why was I in there?
Speak of Nightmare Moon, and she appears. Pearly trotted into her house at that moment, a basket of shrivelled apples in her mouth. With a smile and a blush she dropped it before of me, flipping her red hair a bit before regarding me shyly. “Ah know it ain’t much, but, you know what with radiation and all, it's amazing anything grows at all.”
“You have must have a green hoof.” That was stupid; obviously her hoof was white, not green. Apparently speaking in cliches was all I was capable of. I blame the whiskey. Or that neural implant Doc installed. Both were amazing and shitty. Like my life, except without the amazing part.
I've also been rambling a lot more. Maybe the my brain is trying to get used to the new enhancements by subliminally making me think of stupid shit to work it out. Lowering my head I bit into the apples. Kinda dry, but very tasty. At least compared to the two hundred year old food I was used to eating. “They're good.” I wasn't sure if the look on her face was one of pride or of relief.
“So...about last night...” Something in my stomach tightened. Clearly, she was nervous, and about something I didn't remember. Crap. Damn you, whiskey; give me my memories back. Was she blushing? Yup blushing, and staring at the floor.
Quickly I got to my feet and nuzzled her neck. “It was good...”
Her head jolted back. Startled maybe? “Yeah, heh. good.” I wonder if there was some sort of emotion-detecting-implant. I was a cyborg already; one more couldn't hurt. Maybe then I'd understand these crazy ponies. She backed off turning quickly, ”The doctor was looking for you. You should go. He's impatient, and you should never keep a Watcher waiting...”
“What?”
“Nothing. A stupid rumour.” She turned, smiling brightly with her eyes. “Want some dirt on who you'll be sharing Guard duty with?” Normally rumours were not my cup of tea, but between the headache (for once I was thankful for the overcast sky. Any brightness and my brain would have exploded. Twice) and the confusion regarding my activities the night before... well I couldn't say no.
“Now the unicorn is named Lye. She speaks softly but a lot even though most'um can't hear a word she's talkin' bout. The Pegasus is... Sail I believe. Don't know much bout him ’cept he's a mercenary from Dise or something. Seems a nice buck, but he gives the dirtiest looks.” I groaned a bit resting my head onto her table, “You feelin' alright, hon?”
I nodded groggily. My head was pounding and now I was learning things. My brain officially hated me.
She poked me with her horn, “You sure?”
After getting dressed she (kissed) waved goodbye, giving me a present (of the explosive variety) as I left. As I strolled through town, various ponies I didn't recognize smiled at me and called out. I replied curtly as I couldn’t remembering anything. One of these days I would ask Pearly what exactly happened, but then again somehow I knew that question would be awkward. Oh well, I'd just not think about. What was the likelihood I'd ever come back to this backwater town, anyway?
As I trotted my way up the hill leading to the clinic, I took a break from staring at my feet (to make sure my stupid metal leg didn't trip on anything) to notice that beside the clinic was a rather large building with flashing lights all over it. It took me half a second to realize it was the casino. When the hell did it get there? And better yet: why, if my temporary residence was mere meters away from the casino, did I stumble all the way to Pearly's home? Also who builds a den of inequity and hubris next to a medical building? It was just asking for trouble.
“Hired,” Dr Morowynd cantered up to me, “Glad to see you up and about... and so active. Normally rehabilitation takes much longer.” Rehabila-wha?
“Rehabila-wha?”
“You know, learning how to use your leg, now that its... gone.” The brown doctor perked up, and he tilted his head.
“Oh. Sorry. Didn't know I was supposed to be rehabilitated.”
“So,” He measured me closely, holding his head high so as to look at me eye-to-eye, “you didn't need rehabilitation... because you didn't know you needed rehabilitation? You truly are special.” He whinnied before trotting back to his caravan, intentionally or unintentionally whipping his green tale at me.
Four covered carriages. Eight brahmin to pull the carriages. Twelve ponies including myself. One pegasus. And more bottles of purified water than I cared to count. So at least a dozen.
“This is the pony I was talking about,” the Doc was saying to his ragtag bunch, “Hired Gun.” He really didn't have to snicker every time he said my 'name'.
Cracking my neck to the side, I regarded my company. Other than the Doctor, I recognized a bright blue pegasus in a twin battle saddle and a Black white-maned unicorn with a soft smile. The rest I hadn’t bothered to learn the names of. Hopefully they wouldn't try to talk to me.
“Introductions later,” The Doc said hastily, “We’re days behind schedule.” And thus we left.
I took one last look at Bridle Hope, realizing I had never really looked at it. A single road ran from the clinic and casino, weaving in between rows of once-identical houses that had fallen into ruin or been repaired with spare parts. The road split near the centre into a broken highway, leading north and south. To the south-west, near the bottom of a small hill, was Pearly's shack and farm. For a second, I thought I saw her staring up at me. The only other building of note was an abandoned school with a tall bell tower; notably lacking a bell.
Sighing, I followed behind the last cart, walking slowly to as not trip. On the other side of the hill that held the clinic was a small dirt road that twisted down and east for a ways before turning north into the hill lands. Raider territory.
---
“What brings you here?”
A pony named Smooth Tongue, you? Sighing, I backed away. NCA guard station, the blue pegasus, Sail, told me, I really could have guessed that. They were decked to the nines in large battle saddles with dual rifles, armoured barding with the letters 'N.C.A' embroidered on the side like a target, and full helmets that made them basically the faceless representation of their entire government. “Governments” Sail corrected flipping in the air to land to my left, “New Caledonian Alliance.”
“Cale-what?” This seemed like one of the things I should have known. Maybe if the Crimson Hoof allowed free trade we may have gotten some traders from the south, and you know, information of the world besides the small section we were permitted to trade with. I used the word trade three times in that last sentence, if my idioticness needed any clarification.
“Caledonian. It's like the country what was here 'fore everypony blew up.” He jumped into the air flapping beside me. Maybe if I hit him he'd stay still. “The NCA is actually a coalition of five cities who formed an alliance so as to deal with outsiders more unifinededly.” Even I knew that wasn't a word. “Truth is the five of'em fight amongst themselves more then they make deals without outsiders. Their for-ray into the Dise wasteland is their first real attempt at diplomacy,” Well, they're doing a fantastic job. Random under-staffed highway checks near raider territory certain wouldn't end in wholesale slaughter. Also, this Sail seemed to be able to read my mind. “It's for appearance. They want the locals to think they care.”
“Why?”
“Hell if I know. Do I look like that government-y type to you?”
“You're Enclave.” I knew that 'cause he kept mentioning it.
“True Enclave! Don't let them assholes closing up the sky tell you any different,” Mentally I reminded myself to try and care, “We left on purpose, we did. And we'll show them one day. We'll show'em why we're the True Enclave.” Sounded like a blast.
“You are working for the Watchers?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?” He crossed his forelegs flying backwards facing me.
“Why?”
“Huh? Cause they hired me? What're ya dumb?” Yup. Still his explanation didn't seem to touch on the real point, and that was why the Enclave, these superior government Pegasus types, would hire themselves out for caps. Pearly called them 'Enclave Remnants' which obviously meant some sort of separate breakaway group not at all associated with those what closed off the sky (Pearly had explained who the Enclave were earlier, and I’d pretended to care). “Hmph. Don't matter. These NCA types ain’t gunna stay. They expect Dise to bow to their superior tech and fancy uniforms. Ain’t gunna happen. Dise answers to no pony.”
“Whatever.” I watched as the Doctor spoke with the two NCA officers. The ramshackle hotel that served as their headquarters loomed behind them. The stallions, actually one stallion and one mare, spoke to the doctor from behind a newly-erected fence. Any pony could easily have walked around their guardpost, but our carriages wouldn't have made it up the steep hills that flanked us. The only other option was taking the time to go around one of the hills and hoping there wasn't another guard station there.
“How much looooonger?” a voice said below me. A green colt pouted up at me shaking his grey mane.
“Soon, Mischief.” That really was a bad name to give a colt. He was… somepony's son. Or an orphan who worked for The Watchers. I forgot. The cutie-markless colt prided himself as the group’s mascot. Maybe we needed a flag with him on it.
“They should hurry uuuuuup. I'm bored. We're The Watchers, you know,” I know, “And nobody messes with The Watchers. We give water to all the ponies, so they should just let us through!” I tried to respond, but Mischief sped away kicking dirt in my face.
I coughed. “Kids.”
“He's right though. If the NCA wanna gain the trust'o the ponies, they'd best learn not to impede The Watchers.” I could have nodded. But the fact that the two NCAers opened their gates and let us pass without any further difficulty proved that point.
As we marched past their little operation, I took the chance to steal a look at their weapons. Semi-automatic rifles with recoil suppressors attached to their saddles, and what looked like a special ammo changing mechanism activated by the pull of a lever. Nice. One the of NCAers (I needed a better name for NCA grunts) disagreed and glared beneath their helm, growling. Matching the glare, I kept my eyes on him till we passed by.
“Is it always like this?”
“Yes...” a soft voice said beside. Lye, The unicorn mare Pearly had told me about had somehow appeared beside me, and I hadn’t noticed. She looked absolutely ridiculous with that huge gun attached to her tiny frame. “In the east, NCA guardposts are as prevalent as the raiders are resilient. You'll find Steel Ranger outposts too but less often, and they move frequently to avoid the NCA. Closer to Dise you'll be stopped constantly by one of the major gangs sending out patrols to keep undesirables from getting close to the city. Most will leave you alone, or at most filch some caps from you. In the west... don't go west.” I had to literally stretch my ears up even to hear her.
“Steel Rangers?”
She sighed. “You'll know them when you see them.” I've always said ponies need to be more vague.
---
I did know them when I saw them.
As daylight waned in the sky (I assumed by the dimming light, but when the sun is perpetually hidden, it’s hard to say) they came rumbling out from behind brown rocks that looked eerily similar to my cutie-mark. Four of them trotted slowly to us completely unafraid of our superior numbers. I didn't blame them. Each was dressed from nose to tail in thick metal armour that I don't think all our guns combined could pierce. Their flash-light eyes glowed eerily as their huge laser weapons unfolded on their backs and pointed at us. I was positive a single one could have wiped the floor with us with one fore-hoof, and fight off all of the Crimson Hoof with the other. But, even in all their armour, I was still larger than any one of them.
“We can take’em. We can-” Quickly I lifted Mischief up by the mane and threw him on my back. “What! Put me down! I wo-” I turned my head around and shot him a glare that could shatter glass.
“Who leads here?”
Doctor Morowynd stepped forward his head held high.
“‘Chief,” I said to the rambunctious colt, “stay back. “ or else. He got the picture, hopped off my back and galloped away as I took my place beside the Doc.
The Steel Ranger who’d spoken took off his helm and shook his-- oops, her white mane out before walking up. The yellow pony seemed smaller and younger without the ferocious mask, but completely in control. This was routine for her. “I am Blackwater. Name. How many in your party. Destination.”
“Doctor Morowynd, thirteen and a colt, to the villages of Maring, Stafford, and Wendin to deliver water.”
“Humph.” She looked the doctor over a few times, her eyes as cold as ice. “Water?”
“Aye. On behalf of The Watchers.” There was a faint smile on her muzzle.
“No doubt. Do you know how often I hear that? Somepony is providing weapons to the Raiders around the hills... the other day a patrol was hit by a rocket launcher. Can never be too careful.” Her head half tilted to the silent Ranger behind her. “Search their things. How many guards?”
“Three.”
“Kill anypony with a weapon who is not a guard.” She finished almost impassively. Was this really them trying to impress the locals and gain support? At least the NCA threats of bloody murder were subtle instead of overt. “You.” It just made no sense, “You!” Huh? I blinked realizing Blackwater was staring at me. “Are you slow?”
My response was a dead stare so she continued. “Who are you?”
“Hired Gun.” I matched her cold tone.
“Oh? And where are you from Hired Gun?”
“North.”
“North is large and expansive, be more specific.”
“Equestria.”
Sighing she tried another line of questioning. “What happened to your leg.” She eyed my metal leg greedily as I heard shouts and complaints behind me. Steel Rangers were not tactful and not subtle. No wonder so many disliked them.
“Lost it.”
“How?” She stamped her hoof, obviously impatient.
“Shot.”
“With?”
“A bullet.”
Thinly held back rage flashed across her face as thinly veiled amusement flashed across mine. “You know. If I had reason to believe you were helping raiders or affiliated with a raider gang, I could have you arrested and strip that leg out from under you. Do not treat this as a game.”
“If.”
She laughed a bit. “I like you.” She turned away from, finally. “Tattle, Backlight. Report.”
“Nothing.” Both said in unison as they trotted up to her, the final not far behind.
“Well.” Blackwater said magically placing her helmet back on. “You're clean. Thank you for your cooperation.” They stood aside and let us pass. It wasn't until we were a ways away before they left their spot. Clearly they wanted to keep where they were going a secret, and their checkpoints random. Their strategy was clearly more effective, if more hostile.
---
Blood. So much blood. It soaked through my coat, painting it bright red. I tried to save her. I did. She was shot. Killed. I tried to avenge her, I did. I killed the fucker what killed her, and then his blood soaked me too. I ran, and kept running. One pony with a spear in his mouth, and gun on his flank blocked my way so he died too. My brother stood in front of me laughing, and I had to kill him. So much blood. I ran and ran until I could run no more.
Then I found the mirror hanging from the ceiling from a length of rope. I saw myself. Dripping in blood. I shook my head. No. I was under that blood. Silver Storm. Silver coat, white and pink mane, lavender eyes. I was there. I had to see myself. There was only blood; in the mirror even my eyes were red. Above the mirror was two words floating in air. “Hired Gun”. Gasping I stepped back.
The pony in the mirror reached out and touched me.
I did not wake up by jumping out of bed.
That never happens to anypony. If you thought that was going to happen, you’ve read too many stories and should be ashamed. I awoke slowly, my eyes filtering open. Firelight blinded my vision for a second, making my head pound. Blinking away the light, I strained to see. The waggons had been put at a perimeter around our little camp, and the fire made everything outside the circle nothing but blackness.
Groaning, I rolled onto my feet nearly falling when before I realized my metal limb didn't react. Looking down at the metal thing as I leaned heavily on my good right leg I noticed it wasn't glowing. Had it been before? There was supposed to be a light or something... I really should have asked about its operation.
“Battery must have died... ”
I quickly turned leaning forward and going to bite for my bridle-trigger...which was not there. Because I was sleeping. And nopony sleeps with weapons on them.
From the darkness around the camp emerged the Doctor. “Just me, taking a piss. Sail is flying around, says the light round here makes it too hard to see.” He nickered at me, “Did you not think to ask how it works?”
“I assumed Science.”
“I... ” he stopped. I wasn't sure if he was going to laugh or cry, “That's the gist of it.” I the middle of the night, he launched into a near hour long lecture about proper cybernetic maintenance. The most important parts I'll summarize for the sake of being laconic, First: Recharge or change the battery every three days, second: Don't wear it while swimming, third: cover it up when it is raining, fourth: clean it regularly to make sure it does not rust, and finally: do not wear it if it is sparking. He also gave me instructions on how to actually remove the leg should I need to.
Having already lost one leg, and not wanting to lose the same one twice, I actually listened. I shock myself sometimes.
After I changed the battery, for the curious a small pack that could be removed from the leg near my shoulder with a small green light when charged, there were rocks to guard. Mine was the last shift, so after standing and looking at darkness I was treated to a long hike through the dreary brown wasteland. Then the Raiders came.
---
The rockets overhead deafened me.
In truth, I should have seen it coming. Things were going far too well for me. I’d survived the hell of Stable 42, met some ponies that didn't hate me, got my lost leg back, and even started building a new life for myself. Obviously, it was not to be.
Sail fell first. We’d been trudging along in the unbearable heat when he called out a warning. I looked up just in time to see a bullet burst through his wing in a spray of blood. He crashed too far away to save, and that's when they came. Quickly barking orders, I’d managed to form our waggons into a circular defensive barrier, but the wood walls were weak, and the raiders had the high ground. Even though everypony had managed to get in the circle of (except for Mischief, the poor colt... ) three more of our group had fallen, and Morowynd was dying.
“Here,” I felt my mouth say, but my ears were still ringing too loud to hear anything. Pouring the last of the medical potions down Morowynd's throat he coughed up most of it. These supplies were supposed to go to needy villages, but fuck them. “Drink.”
“Heh...” The brown pony spat out the rest as my hearing returned treating my senses to a flurry of gunshots. “No...dying...” The idiot had tried to save Mischief. Ran out into open fire to the colt’s corpse and got shot for his trouble. Blood was flowing down his chest when Sail somehow recovered from his crash and managed to draw all the fire on him. The distraction was enough for me to drag the Doc back into the 'safety zone', but it was for naught. Sail gave his life in an impressive last stand for a pony what was going to die anyway.
Dammit, is it too much to ask to save a single life sometime?
Of course, a voice in my head told me: heroes are dead; survive.
Bullets pierced the bottom of the tipped-over cart I was leaning behind making me near jump out of my skin. Leaving the dying doctor to rest, I inched my way over to the side of the barricade in the gap between waggons and peaked out. I fell back gagging. The colt. Mischief. Half eaten by carrion crows and half torn by the explosion that wracked his body. I wouldn't look. I couldn't. No thinking. Grieve later, it was time to kill. Leaning out I saw a target.
BANG. BANG.
The second shot wasn't mine. Something pounded into one of my guns throwing me off balance. Almost falling I instead rolled so I was behind the opposite barrier from before. Breathing heavy I swore. A lot. My rightmost gun was a bent and battered mess. My new fucking gun!
“Wont be long...” Lye said beside me. Damn, how did she do that. Turning her small green frame, she regarded me slightly. “They think we have something of theirs, else they would’ve used that launcher directly. They're biding their time, hoping we'll surrender...” Awww hell! Why didn't we just do that? “So they'll have an easier time killing us, after plundering whatever they're after.”
“At least,” I grunted as bullets rained down at our barricades, “They're efficient.” And cautious. Even the Crimson Hoof would have just swarmed us and got it over with. These guys were worried about causalities. So either they were running low on murderers or were the most brotherly of all raiders. I hoped the former. Turning to Lye, I notice her barding had ripped, revealing an eye-shaped cutie mark. Hmm.
“Seeing.” She explained when she noticed my staring, “My magic allows me to see through walls and buildings and the like,” It didn't make her soft voice any easier to hear over the din, “Why?” Pulling the two grenades Pearly had given me as a present when I left her shack I looked to Lye. Her expressionless face threatened to smile. My shoulder burned as her horn and eyes glowed. Turning my back to where she was looking, her hoof motions directed me.
At a count of three, she tossed the first grenade behind me, and I bucked it as hard as I could. Seconds later an explosion echoed across the dusty hill lands making the remaining ponies huddled around the barricade jump. Useless, the whole lot of them. Only two had attempted to take up weapons, even after the raiders killed their family. One just kept muttering, “Watcher sees, Watcher sees, Watcher sees,” over and over, and the rest sobbed or stayed deathly quiet. I was better off alone, or with Lye. Trying to save them was going to get me killed. “To the right, and not so hard,” Lye instructed.
The second explosion was followed by a hail of screams, so I knew I did that one right. Lying low, I crawled over to Lye who had just turned her sight off. “They're useless.” I motioned to huddled mass behind her. Only six, but that was all that was left of the caravan save me, Lye and the Doc. Shit. Turning swiftly I remembered leaving the Doc lying in blood. Inching over to his bloody body I touched the brown stallions head...dead. Shit.
“Of course they are.” Lye had followed. Damn she was quiet. “Their leader is dead. They've never held a gun in their life. They know we are going to die.” Heh. Dying was not in my game plan. I had already died once and it totally sucked.
“Cowards.”
She raised an eyebrow at me, “In the face of such overwhelming odds, what would you propose?”
“Make them regret killing us.”
“You're one of a kind.”
I clopped my metal hoof on her shoulder, “Two.” Her mouth opened as if to speak, but instead her eyes glowed, and she looked to the hill wherein the raiders were camped. “Wh-” -at is it? I had meant to ask. Screaming answered.
Four of the six scrambled towards me. All would have been dead if Lye hadn't chose that moment to stand up and lay some cover fire. I scrambled the past the herd to find the pony what had been muttering 'Watcher sees' missing a sizable chunk of his forehead. A purple mare with purple and pink hair wept over his body. “Come’on.” I tried to touch her but she shrugged me off almost violently.
“No. Don't die. Please.” I growled trying to tug on her tail, but she didn't notice, “Everything. I gave you.” Her tears fell mixing with the blood on the ground. My stomach wrenched for her, but I kept pulling. Dying wasn't going to bring him back. “Please. We were going to have a child. You can't. Watcher sees. He wouldn-”
A shot rang through my ears.
Her body fell on top of him as the last of her tears hit the dirt.
I dropped beside them as more bullets rang overhead. Our 'barriers' had been shot to hell, looking more like swiss cheese than a barricade. They’d lasted longer than I had expected, in truth. Peeking over their bodies to the other side of the circle Lye stared at me, the remaining ponies huddled behind her small frame. With her huge gun hovering with magic above her head she spoke. I couldn't hear her words, but I could read her lips. “They come.” Taking a deep breath... I nearly gagged from the smell of death.
Gritting my teeth, the rumble of raiders running down from their hill drowned out all noise. Turning my back to them I used all of my (considerable) strength to buck the remains of the waggon at them. There was a sickening crunch and a satisfying scream. Facing the horde I shot the first thing I saw: A yellow unicorn with a pink mane. His head exploded into the faces of his comrades. Taste that raiders? That's death. You'll get your fill soon enough.
More came streaming over and I could hear the blasts of Lye's gun to my left. I didn't look. No time. Shooting again, I dropped a pony charging me to her knees. The second shot entered her neck. She probably died, but I never bothered to check. Running and jumping over her, I careened into another. Before I had a chance to think, he managed to wrestle me to my back. My battle shrunk to the two of us.
His hoof pressed into my forehead pushing it hard to the ground. Involuntarily grunting in pain, I managed to untangle my metal leg. I rolled my eyes to see a serrated knife in his red maw. Fuck. My heart kept pounding. His knife moved closer. My metal hoof cracked against his skull, and the knife fell from his grip. I struck again and he fell off me. I found myself on top of him. His face was purpling. Why. Oh. My metal leg was pressed into his neck. Blood bubbled around where the metal bit into him, and he gave one last wheeze for air before dying.
I stood.
The screams and scent blood hit me. Turning I saw Lye backed into a corner by six ponies as the last of the survivors died nosily. Walk away, Hired Gun told me. Saving her would just get me killed. All around me ponies were dead and dying, one more body wouldn't change that. Walk away when nopony’s looking. Survive.
Her gun clicked. Empty. I charged. I took the first one from behind, lifting her up with my head and throwing her to the ground. Shots rang. Biting into me. Even as blood ran down my body, I didn't care. I shot until I ran out of bullets. Killing some. Wounding others. I bashed the head of one who still had their gun magically pointed at Lye. My joint burned. I was too late.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lye's head exploded into bloody chunks.
Now I was dead. Too many. I should have ran. Survive.
I backed up. The Raiders were dark, dirty, and covered in blood. The way they circled me, guns bristling, made it seem like they were one body. A single raider entity that encompassed all the separate dirty parts until one of them broke the circle.
A single earth buck. His mane and coat were a uniform brown, save for a single streak of black in his mane and tail. Green eyes regarded me warily a frown dancing on his lips as his tail whisked back and forth behind him. “You.”
“Me.” I agreed.
I did so love it when raiders glared at me. He wore no armoured barding, showing his grey chain cutie mark proudly. On his back was a battle saddle with a single scoped rifle. The urge to kill rose suddenly. I had to dig my hooves into the ground so as not to strike out. Sail. Doctor Morowynd. Mischief. Lye. He killed them all. My friends, or almost.
“You have caused me a lot of trouble,” he measured his words behind carefully concealed rage, “And now you stand here. Drenched in the blood of my men. Surrounded. Any last words?” All I could think about was the smell of blood. So many ponies had died here, and for what? Was I just to stand here and let him win? I couldn't fight them all. My body was weak, and my wounds seeping blood. If only I could rest I could fight.
The voice in my head screamed, Survive!
I asked, “You hiring?”
Footnote: Level Up!
New Implant!: Intelligence Implant, Intl +1
New perk!: Dash Speed Reload: All your weapons reload 20% faster.
Quest perk!: Legless: Strength +1 DT +1 Unarmed + 10.
S.P.E.C.I.A.L note: Your strength is jacked up to 11!
Skill Notes: Unarmed 50
(A/N: A special thanks to Kkat for building an awesome world. This chapter was brought to you by my awesome editor theBSDude(who is awesome), and the TVTrope ‘infodumping’. ) |
No One | 662 | 3 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-03-15T07:21:02+00:00 | 2016-10-13T00:17:25+00:00 | 22,196 | Chapter 2: The Last Thing You Never See
"You take out a debt; it's only a matter of time before someone comes collecting."
My cell leaked. A. Lot. I managed to keep my leg dry by curling up in a corner. It was uncomfortable, but then again, it was a cell. Expecting anything else was just asking for trouble. To be quite frank, I could have escaped. The cell was little more than a huge iron cage shoved in the corner of the room, and I was strong. very strong. If I had been pressed, I could easily have bent the bars and escaped. Into a raider base without a gun. My strength was good, true enough, but not near enough to take a raider base by myself.
Actually, my wounds stung so badly I wasn't sure I could even bend the bars. In the final melee that ended with my surrender, I had managed to take no less than five bullets. Though three just grazed me, stinging only a little, and one had bounced off my leg, the other was buried deep in my flank. The Raider 'doctor' removed it and gave me a healing potion. Given the taste, I suspected he’d pissed in it. Unsurprisingly, I was not a very popular pony. Maybe if I wore blood-soaked rags with spikes sticking out, these folks would like me better.
Just outside my bars ponies were laughing and gambling. Poker, it looked like. Leaning in a bit, I ignored the water that dripped on my head and wet my mane. Four raiders were sitting on their haunches around a table. Unicorns, the lot of them. Holding up cards magically so as to make my joint burn. Sure, I wasn't perceptive, but I wasn't foalish enough not to notice fact that the joint between my fake leg and shoulder burning every time a unicorn used magic. Starmetal poisoning, I guessed.
The mare with the bloody dagger cutie-mark put two cards down, and the old green stallion gave her two more. Bets were placed, and two of them folded outright. When the cards fell, it was the quiet filly (without a cutie mark!) who won the round with a three of a kind, netting her a whole pile of caps. The next few rounds she dropped out, sipping on whiskey (who gives whiskey to a filly?), but the round after she managed to get another pile by making everypony else drop out. Bluffing. Pearly told me what it was, but I hadn’t understood till I saw it. Don't show your cards, and always pretend they were good, but not unbeatable.
Or something.
“Whiskey,” I suggested when the bloody dagger mare looked at me. Instead, she magically chucked an empty bottle which shattered and blanketed my cell with glass. Great. “No, then.” Sighing, I rolled back into my corner as thunder roared outside. My flank pounded as the flesh knitted itself back together, and my joint burned from the magic. Most of all, my head throbbed, and guilt wrenched my gut. I had managed to negotiate my freedom, but at what cost? Survival. My head roared like the thunder outside.
They had killed the doctor who had saved my life. They had killed an innocent child, left his body torn and his... no, I couldn't think of that. Even still. I had gained my life by offering to work for them. The brown stallion with the chain for a cutie mark called himself “Silver Bullet.” I told him the name was fake. He told me mine was. Yet, he brought me along as captive to his little raider den anyway. He was going to request of me a job, and with it, I'd truly see if my will to survive overruled the stupid morality that nagged at me.
“You.” The filly who had been winning at cards was standing outside my cage, looking down to where I lay. I guess the game was over, and judging by the way the bags on her back swelled with caps, I figured she’d won. “What's your name?”
“Hired Gun.”
“Whats your real name?” Silver Storm... The filly's voice was sweet... but living with a raider company, I guessed she wasn't. Filly or no, I could trust her none at all.
“Hired Gun.”
She giggled and trotted in a circle, “I'm Spitshine,” she announced proudly, “an’ you're my prisoner.” It sure looked that way. “Youse gotta tell the truth, or I'll kill ya.”
“No.”
That only made her giggle more. “I'm going to be big and strong one day, so you better do what I say. And smart. All the ponies say I'm smart. Are you smart? ’Course not, because you are trapped. Smart ponies don't get trapped; they're the trappers.” Lightning flashed through a window and thunder boomed.
Spitshine jumped and squealed.
How could I not chuckle at that? “S-shuddup. That was a trick! I'm not really scared! I-” Thunder boomed again and she vanished, running to hide behind 'bloody dagger' mare. Chuckling, I gave 'bloody dagger' my very best grin.
Her face darkened. “Scare Spitshine again, and I'll bugger you with my knife.” She looked deadly serious
Okay, no talking it was then.
The rest of that night was spent counting my sins as I watched ‘bloody dagger’ sharpen her knife. At least the Cutie-mark she had was well-earned. From the look of her knife, it had seen use many, many times. In case we ever fought, I mentally noted to stay as far away as possible and pump her full of lead before she got close. Hopefully, it'd never come to that. That little filly Spitshine seemed to take to 'bloody dagger', and even if she was a raider in training, taking a filly away from her friend was harsh. If I had to, I would, but I'd take no pleasure in it.
Maybe that was the point, I thought resting my head on the iron bars. The wasteland bid you do what you gotta in order to survive, but... but if you started taking pleasure in the dirty business, the wasteland won. Even if you had to resort to dirty work, you could never let yourself enjoy it. Somehow, I knew this epiphany was going to come in handy sooner rather than later. When I was blindfolded and marched to their little hideout, I promised to do whatever job he needed. I was just a gun for hire after all. Eventually, he was going to cash in on that, and I wasn't going to like it.
My stomach twisted in a knot.
When morning came, the rain still pounded on the windows, and there was a good-sized pool in my cell. Getting to my feet, I stretched out as much as I could, my metal shoulder aching a bit. It had been since the rain started, but sleeping made it worse. “Water.” Bloody dagger was staring through the bars at me. Sneaky bitch. Oh, but she was giving me water, how nice. As I drank from the bottle, my pipbuck went clicky-clack.
Wait, what?
Leaning down, I poked it with my nose. Still clicking. That was annoying. What the hell happened to it? All I wanted was my radio back. Still clicking. By Celestia's beard! Stop clicking!
Okay, Silver Storm may have taken over my because I smashed the stupid thing against the steel bars. “Ain’t that a kick in the head~”
It worked though. Except, I had never heard that song before, and DJ PON-3 only had like ten songs. Then, as if to taunt me the song stopped and a DJ spoke. ’Cept it wasn't DJ PON-3. It was some older stallion with a voice like honey poured over thunder. “Sometimes the only thing you can do after a kick to the head is get back up. How are we doing today, Dise? Because it's time for the news,” Instead of excitement bordering on dash-addiction, this pony was smooth, suave, and...damn that voice. He could talk to me all day long.
“After a failed raid of the Megaspell power station, the Mustangs are denying all responsibility. Their leader Roy had this to say, 'Listen folks; I tells ya it weren’t us, no way no how. Celestia above knows me and The House have always been friends, and I ain’t never betray that trust.'” Wow. I had heard a lot of untrustworthy ponies in my time, but that? Yeah, so I knew one thing for sure: the Mustangs attacked a power station. “When asked about the noticeable downsize in Mustang forces on the streets Roy declined to comment. One more piece of news for you. A Traveller from the north was found near the town of Bridle Hope in critical condition. After emergency surgery by a Watcher Disciple, she reportedly made a full recovery. It just goes to show that there is goodness in everypony, if you know where to look.” After a short segue music resumed leaving me dumbfounded.
I was on the radio. Oh joy. Dr Morowynd was too. And now he was dead. Maybe that was the wastelands way of punishing him for taking back a life it had so dutifully claimed. Well, that ruined my euphoria. Slinking back to my almost dry corner I sighed, my chest heaving involuntarily. How come everypony I liked died? Except for Pearly, but hell, there was still time yet.
“Whiskey?” I asked ‘bloody dagger’, prompting her to glare... uh... daggers at me. Water was good and all, but whiskey was best.
“Just drink. Bullet wants to see you.”
So I drank. My pipbuck still made that clicking sound, but it was drowned out by music. Were they going to escort me to Bullet's chambers? Were they aware the last raider I parlayed with got a kick out a window? Of course, that was Silver Storm not me. Me? I was going to actually listen to what this bastard had to say. Also, I would refrain from calling him a bastard to his face.
They unlocked my cage, but not before having four more guards (and Spitshine) flanked me. At least two had their weapons trained on me at all times. If I hadn’t known better, I'd’a thought I was dangerous.
The little tour of their base took me through darkened rooms of horrid smells. At one point, an errant lightning bolt lit one of the rooms up fully. Only for a second...I was glad for that, any longer and I would have retched. Ponies should not be inside out. Maybe they were actually taking me out back to shoot me. That'd be nice. Better than actually working for these monsters at least.
They finally led me to a clean room. Sitting behind a desk, writing something with the pen in his mouth, was Silver Bullet. “Leave us.” Good idea. I sat on my haunches facing him as the guards filed out. “Don't try anything stupid.” he said when the door slammed shut behind me.
“'Kay.”
“Were you serious?” he asked, leaning his head forward, “You would really work for me?”
“Yes.” I said as quick as I could, adding, “But I don't mutilate ponies.”
He chuckled a bit getting to his feet. “Good. I took over this… 'operation' two months ago. It went rogue and turned raider when nopony was looking. Soon, there will be no more mutilation, but my... urgh... herd don't understand just yet. In time though.”
“Good.”
“I never said we were doing 'good'. Just... less gruesome work.” He sighed walking closer to me but keeping a good ten-foot distance. “I have a job for you. Somepony in Bridle Hope has... stolen something that belongs to me.” He turned and paced dramatically showing off his grey-chain cutie mark.
“You need it back.” Of course. Theft for a gang of raiders. Seems like fun. I’d preformed guard duty for raiders for years and that never bothered me. The Silver Storm in me demanded justice for the doctor. But the doctor was dead, and joining him in the grave did nothing for nopony.
“I need her fucking dead.”
“Why me?” I could kill her. My stomach heaved at the thought of being this bastard’s bloody executioner, but it was that or death, and by the sounds of it this mare had asked for it. What if he wants you to kill Pearly? my conscience asked. I ignored it. It wouldn't be. Kill some bitch... still. Argh, fuck the wasteland. Kill or die. What a choice.
“My bucks would make a fucking botch of it. Would kill half the damn village or set it on fire. Without Bridle Hope, trade would be fucked up from here to Wendin, and that’s bad for everypony. It's the centre between north and south and east and west. If the villagers left, or if, goddess forbid, the NCA or Steel Ranger took the opportunity to procure the town... no. She needs to die and JUST her.”
“Didn't answer my question.”
“Because you're available? Because you're a good shot? Because your life is already indebted to me? Because finding another would take too long? Take your pick. If I had my way, I'd have you killed... but only an idiot lets tools go to waste.” A tool. That's all I was. A tool for some raider to use and throw away.
Buck, was I a tool.
“And the reward?”
“Freedom, if you want it. A full-time job if you like the work.”
“I'll need caps.” If I was going to... actually do this, I may as well make it worth my while. “And a gun. For shooting.” He grinned.
The next hour or so was hammering out a deal. He did most of the talking, but I said a lot more. Eventually, I managed to get a deal for a new gun, armoured barding, and 800 caps. Half now, half on completion. All that in addition to my freedom, which I figured was priceless. Back in Marefort, Wildfire often handled the bartering, and more than once she demanded I come with her, so I guess I must have picked up a trick or two.
Of course... all this was for killing another pony. I had killed ponies before, sure, but this was different...those ponies were raiders and my target was just...
Don't think about it. Do it. Kill or die. Survive.
---
When I was a little filly, I’d hated the rain. I liked to run and play outside, but when the rain came, I was cooped inside Marefort like a bird in a cage. Then my mother had told me that the rain was actually Celestia's tears. That the Goddess wept for her forlorn children and wept for what had brought them to such a place. I didn’t like the rain any more after that, but I felt like I understood it.
Celestia's tears poured from the heavens. I could barely see three feet in front of me, and the strands of my white-and-pink-stripped mane falling in my face did not help. Though it did remind me I needed a manecut. Sighing, I stopped, my hooves sinking deeper into the mud. Lifting my right leg up, I poked my pipbuck with my nose.
Silver Bullet had come from a stable, he said, and knew how to work the thing. Somepony, the Doctor maybe, must have fixed the thing when I was dead. It had a thousand and one uses, Bullet had told me. Maps, inventory management, radio, something called SATS, and a Geiger counter, among other functions. I didn't know what half that shit was, but the map and radio were useful.
It had been a long haul from Raider Base Camp back to Bridle Springs, but not as slow as it had been leaving. On my own, I could traverse ground much more quickly, mostly because I could climb steep hills and other stuff carts couldn’t. Still, with my mind bearing down on me with all the weight of a Bighorner, it felt like it took twice the time it did. I was so lost in my mind that I didn't see the building until I ran head-first into it.
Choking down curses, I searched through the grey rainy haze to get my bearings. According to my pipbuck map I was at the Casino. Good. From here I could--
“No, Not a word,” Shit! Voice closing in. My heart leaped into my throat. Catching the sight of a large crate against the wall, I quickly dove behind it praying to Luna that whoever was coming by wasn't observant enough to see me. “I know, I know. I just worry, so don't give me that.”
“Daisy, calm down. I'm sure they're fine,” a stallion said.
“Fine!?” her voice turned shrill as the hoof-steps closed in. “We lost two caravans last week! Raiders, slavers... and worse live in those hills. Being a Watcher caravan don't mean two shits that far away from Dise.”
“Yeah, yeah. And the Mayor sent word to the NCA, and you know how they are. Desperate to 'improve relations' so they set up a camp.”
“I know... still... I wish they'd write. Or get that Pegasus to write a letter or... something.” She sighed heavily, her voice disturbingly close. “So this is it?”
“Yup, just came yesterday. Pearly said'a stash it back here till she can round some folks up to put it together.”
“Think it'll actually work?”
“Galician approved, they use the same model.” The mare chuckled. Somepony knocked on the opposite side of the crate. Holding my breath, I refused to move. Luckily, due to the rain, they didn't linger that long, eventually filling away the way they came. Taking a deep sigh of relief, I peeked out behind my cover. Nothing but raindrops and dirt.
Creeping out, I walked down the hill where I came, and travelled in a wide circle before I hit the lower town. Given the rain and the fact the casino was most likely the only building that didn't leak, I assumed most, if not all, of the town ponies would be there. I eventually found myself pressed against a broken-down building.
No noise. I quickly pushed open the back door of the house, my eyes scanning for signs of life. I was almost positive the house was uninhabited, but I had to be sure. I was almost mostly correct, as it was inhabited but by giant crickets. Giant, of course, compared to regular crickets. After squashing them, I climbed the crumbling staircase to find most of the top floor open to the elements as a good portion of the roof has been torn off. Trotting quickly under the section of the roof that managed to stay up I leaned against a wall. I was safe from the rain here, time to think.
First things first, though. Using my teeth, I managed to unzip my metal leg’s protective covering. It was little more than a plastic bag designed to keep the prosthetic dry, and it looked even uglier than the skeletal leg underneath. Lifting the leg up to eye level, I could hear the whirling and ticking of it's internal components. I laid down on the floor so as I could use the light of my pip-buck to get a better look without, you know, falling over.
It really was an impressive bit of technology. Sure, from a distance it looked like somepony had dipped my skeleton in adamantium and let me walk around on it, but up close it's true genius shown through. The were wires so thin you could barely see them as they traced up and down the leg, and at the joints, if you squinted, you could see the gears and springs that kept the leg moving and natural looking. The doctor told me they’d used magic to actually attach it to my nervous system so I could control the whole thing mentally. Stretching it out, I marvelled at the ease of movement, wondering how I never noticed how amazing it was before. Oh yeah, I hated it because I lost my real fucking leg.
Sighing, I pulled the covering back on and fastened it. It made me wonder why they didn't just build water proof legs. I turned the radio on but kept it low as the rain started to lighten up outside my little enclave. From my vantage I couldn't really see much of the town. The Casino and Clinic on its’ hill were clear of course, and from the light coming out of it, it looked bursting with life. Good, the fewer the better.
“... Fires continue to rage. Meanwhile in the Dise wasteland, I have been getting reports that a slaver company has taken to attacking trading caravans in the east in brazen daylight raids. NCA officials, who have pledged to solve the Slaver problem, had this to say. 'It seems to me the Slavers have responded to the NCA crack-down by ramping up their vileness. We'll flush them out of their caves soon enough and bring enlightenment to the Dise Wasteland. You can bet on it.'” The radio whispered to me as I thought.
I was almost positive my target would be at their house, and not out at the casino. A stroke of good fortune if you asked me. Even still I couldn't barge in, take the shot, grab the loot and leave. She'd scream, and people would come running, I needed to hit her from a distance. Chewing on my lip I juggled ideas on how, where and when in my head. It was easier than thinking.
“In other news, riots have broken out when Ponitrons showed up to quell a protest in front of the Black Salamander Casino and Research Center. So far there thirteen protesters have been injured, three killed, and another five missing along with at least a dozen Ponitrons in need of repair. Both the Hizais and Galicians have yet to comment on this recent incident. Well, I... ” I turned the volume down so much it was nothing but a faint murmur to my ear. I couldn't risk being heard.
Lightning flashed across the sky, and two seconds later a boom shook the house so much I thought it was going to cave in around me. Time to act. Crawling back down the slippery steps, I walked out into the town, keeping myself wary. Even though the town felt abandoned, I snuck my way around. If even a single person saw me, they might recognize me, and then I was dead.
The rain had become so light I couldn't tell if it was rain, or simply a thick mist. Whatever the case, it didn't help my mane get any dryer and made my tail stick to my flank in a most uncomfortable fashion. Ignoring it, I finally made my way to my destination: the abandoned school house.
I pushed down on the handle. Locked. As thunder boomed above, I kicked the door open. Walking in, I quickly stomped two more giant bugs to death before searching for the stairs leading to the bell-tower. I didn't even hear her walk in behind me.
“Hired Gun... ” Her voice was strangely soft as she stood there. Lightning flashed behind her illuminating her white coat making it look beautiful and drenched.
“Pearly... ” I responded dimly aware of the new gun pressing into my side. Backing up I never took my gaze away from her. My stomach twisted itself into knots yet again. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make any other words form on my lips. “Pearly.” I repeated.
“What the hell is going on here? Where’s everypony else? An' what’s with that gun? Ain’t one of the two you brought with you.” She just had to go and point everything wrong with what was going on, didn't she? Was my head supposed to hurt so much?
“Don't ask. Leave.” I said, the wavering in my voice betraying my attempt at confidence.
“Why? Hon, I-” She walked towards me.
“You shouldn't be here.” I insisted, backing up and knocking desks over behind me.
“What. The. Fuck.”
“I'm not a good pony.” I tried to explain as truthfully as I could. “But you knew that.”
“So what? What the hell happened. Why are you here? Where is everypony? What the fuck do you think you're doin' sneaking around?”
“I... ” Stopped. There was no point lying, she'd find out soon enough. “Dead.” She stepped back, shock clear on her face. “Raiders came. We fought. Then died. I'm sorry.”
“You... why're you still alive? Did'ja escape or.. .” Or was I working for them? She didn't need to finish the question for me to understand, and I didn't need to reply for her to. She already knew the answer I was sure. Why did she torture herself like this? I didn't want her to know. She... I had hoped never to see her again. She was such a good pony, and I wasn't. “Why... they killed them all, and now you're working for them?”
“Needed caps.”
“So that is it?” Goddess, she looked like she was about to cry. “You'd work for murders if you got caps? I thought you were... ”
“Hired Gun.” She stopped, and glared at me. My heart may have broken then. “My name. It's who I am.”
“You're a monster.” Maybe. But on a scale from one to abomination, I was near the bottom. “So you're here as an assassin? IS that it?! Going to kill some fucking pony?! Some innocent-”
“Innocent?” I smiled sadly at her. Goddess, she was beautiful, and a lot smarter than me, but if she truly believed anypony was innocent in the wasteland, she was the biggest foal I had ever met.
“Oh, you're a judge now? An executioner too to carry out the sentence? Is that it?”
“If that's what it takes.”
“When did you get so cold?” I shivered. When did this room get so cold was a better question. Damn. This was going badly.
“Survival. The world sucks. Good ponies die. Bad ponies piss on the graves of heroes. Only thing I can do is survive.” That may have been the longest string of words I had used since before I left Marefort the first time, and by far the most meaningful. It was necessary though. She had to understand.
“You... ” She choked up. “Shoulda figured. No pony with hope left would change their name like yours... so what happened to you? Doc said you were beat up bad when he found you. Rival gang get you? Mark gone wrong? Drug dealers? What?”
“My brother shot me.” Maybe if I told her the truth. Then she would get it. It was stupid. I could have lied, pacified her until I could complete the job. But I never lied to another pony.
“Your brother.” Her voice was somewhere in between disbelief and sadness.
“Yes.” The whole room brightened as lightning flashed.
“Why?”
“I tried to rescue him.” Now she was laughing at me. Or crying. Tears were streaming down her face. But she was laughing, though I could barely hear her over the sound of rolling thunder.
“Ya expect me ta believe your brother shot ya. After tryin' ta save him?” Was it really that ridiculous? “You're a fuckin' liar. So why are you really here? ‘Cause that raider bullshit ain’t foolin' me.”
“It's true.”
“Then... ” She wiped her tears away with her hoof. “I'll just have to stop you, 'fore you kill some pony.” Sighing, I shook my head. Suddenly, 800 caps didn't seem like a deal anymore. No amount of caps could would be enough if I had to fight Pearly. My shoulder burned more painfully than it ever had before, when she lifted her shotgun off her back and pointed it at me.
“You can't,” She started opening her mouth but I cut her off. “I mean physically. I'm bigger. Stronger. And a faster shot. You'll die.”
“To save somepony. Worth a shot.”
“You don’t even know who I’m killing... ”
---
The rain had all but stopped, leaving only the thinnest hint pouring down on me. Looking through the scope of my newly obtained bolt-action sniper rifle, I could see the silhouette of my target on their window. Just a candlelight shadow though, I couldn't take the shot, not yet. I moved the rifle, looking at Pearly as she finally made it back to her farm. It had been surprisingly easy to convince her to leave once I told her who I was killing. Feuds were not my forte, but this one clearly ran deep.
Sighing, I turned back to my mark. From my vantage point on the school bell-tower (notably lacking a bell), I had full line of sight over the whole town. Like I had suspected, only two ponies were in the town, the rest were in the Casino gambling away what few caps they had. If I could be anywhere right now, it'd be there, or in Pearly's shack, or beside Wildfire...
I shook the thought out of my head.
No thinking.
A yellow streak tore across the sky. Counting under my breath, I looked through the scope. “Three... two... one” thunder boomed. My mark's window blew open suddenly so loud I thought I heard the clattering. Lightning broke the sky again, like clockwork. “Three... two... ” Her head appeared in the window, trying desperately to close the window. “One.” Thunder boomed in my ears. I didn't bite down, I didn't shoot.
Shoot! My mind cried out at me, Shoot. Kill!
I tried. With all my heart I did. But... dammit. I couldn't see my mark, all I could see is Wildfire her face a bloody ruin as she died. My stomach heaved. Retching, I cursed myself. I had to do this. I knew. But...
Lightning flashed.
I peered through my scope. She got the window. She was closing it. All I had to do was take the shot. “Three.” I'd never have an easier shot. She was right there. A single bullet and it would be done. The wasteland would have another body and I, my freedom. “Two” DO it! Shoot. How hard could it be. I'm not a raider; raiders did this shit for fun. I took no pleasure in it. It's different. But I...
Survive, A voice inside me whispered.
“One.” The thunder masked my bullet.
Thus ended the life of Nanny Jane.
---
I didn't move for a long time. I just stood there, staring through the scope of my rifle. Her head had snapped back when the bullet hit, and blood sprayed out behind her. I couldn't see her now though. Her corpse had fallen, hidden. In my mind she was there though; lying in a pool of blood with half her face torn off. Telling me she was sorry-
Maybe death would have been better. Was this really the only two choices the Wasteland had? Die a hero, or live a villain. Maybe that's why there were so few good ponies left, all of them had died out or had the goodness beaten out. I tried to be a good pony once. For that I lost my L... I lost my Wildfire. My leg. My family. My home. So now I'm a bad pony. An assassin. It made me lose something else. My heart felt cold, like it was missing something. Something important. No matter what you did you lost. Fuck the wasteland. Fuck the zebras and ponies what made it, too. Maybe one day I'd learn the name of them what caused the apocalypse so I could damn them each to hell personally.
Then after I died I'd meet them there.
I took my time going down the winding steps of the bell-tower. I toyed briefly with the idea of falling down the stairs to my death. No less than I deserved. Still I kept walking down the slicks steps and never tripped. Did my gun always feel this heavy, burrowing into my side? I couldn't be sure. I choked back emotion. I just had to walk. Don't think, move.
I made it to the school room where me and Pearly had our little, 'showdown'. She was right of course. Killing Nanny Jane was a mistake. Dying would have been better. Beat the wasteland; don't let it beat you. Die on your own terms; not live in its. After taking so much from me, did it really manage to take more?
Did the wasteland take my soul?
Celestia's tears fell with renewed vigour soaking me to the bone. Only my metal leg stayed dry, and I couldn't even feel it. Moping about the rain? Yeah, I was a bit depressed. Slogging through mud, rain and everything else I finally made it to the Bridle Hope General Store. For a second, I nearly knocked, until I remembered what was on the other side.
So I kicked open the door. Maybe somepony heard, but I really did not care. On the other side, I saw her.
The wounds were so similar I was sure it was the wasteland mocking me. The way her head was torn, the blood. Tears blurred my vision but that only made them look even more alike. I kept looking though. Forcing myself to. I watched as the blood dripped from her corpse into the pool. I saw the ripples the blood made like rain falling on a lake. The way one eyes rolled back, and the other was dangling off the side of her head, yes I saw that too. This. I caused this. Maybe I was a bad pony. Maybe I was a killer, assassin, or whatever. But I was not a raider. A raider watching this would laugh, where as I could only cry. They'd revel in it, whereas I could only retch again.
I was sick. I was horrible. Evil, vile and a thousand other things, but at least I could have been worse. I had to keep reminding myself. My shoulder burned, mocking what I’d done. Still, I looked. I didn't stop looking until I felt the rising urge to retch again. The food the raiders served me before I left was gross enough going in, coming out it was twice as bad.
Tearing my eyes away I breathed deeply.
“Right... package.” I flicked the radio of my pip-buck back on and got to searching. Silver Bullet told me I would know what I was looking for when I saw it, but he was kind of an ass. Having no idea what this package was I searched aimlessly, and when I found something good (including a healing potion and three grenades) I threw it in my saddle bags. No sense letting it go to waste. I had just killed a mare, okay? Don't think too bad of me for something as minor as theft. Or grave robbing, whatever.
Still nothing. Until I saw the door to the back. Of course! Nanny Jane told me not to look in there before. It'd only make sense that whatever she stole to send a raider assassin on her tail would have to be locked away. More proof of my idiotic-ness if doing a job for an obviously-evil raider band wasn't proof enough.
That door was locked too. Sure, I could have found the key on Nanny Jane but... I couldn't bring myself to look again. So instead I kicked the door down. It may have been my imagination, but I thought I heard something squeak when it crashed open.
The stairs twisted deep underground. Dark, dirty and dusty. Turning I grabbed the candle holder from a nearby desk with my mouth and made my descent. As I walked, the candle light made my shadow danced along the walls. For a second, my shadow looked small and afraid, and then huge with sharp teeth. Never for long though, as the candle flickered wildly.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, the candle fell from my mouth.
The package, I realized instantly. Such a light pink it could almost be mistaken for white had the light not illuminated further. It was chained to wall. She was a filly.
The package Nanny Jane stole was a little filly.
---
Footnote: Level Up!
Skill Notes: Guns 50
(A/N: Thank you first and foremost to Kkat without whom this story would never exist. A very special thanks to theBSDude for his effort in making this shit readable. ~No One~) |
No One | 662 | 4 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-03-21T03:33:46+00:00 | 2012-03-21T03:33:46+00:00 | 20,731 | Chapter 3: Bullets And Brainwaves
“We were making a table?”
The filly didn't talk.
After I snapped the chain that bound her to the floor, she just stared at me with those big grey eyes of hers. When I moved to leave, she got up and followed, her eyes trained on me but still never speaking. Even as we sneaked our way out of town she followed. Hiding when I hid, moving when I moved, and still as quiet as a mouse. Walking through the darkness, we only had the sound of my radio to keep the silence from engulfing us.
“The Pro-Restriction group that held last night’s protest that turned violent. 'Celestia's Vision' has denounced the events saying that while they oppose the inequine research of the Hizais, violence was just stooping to their level. They also called for what they called, 'an internal investigation' on who in the Galicians ordered the Ponitrons to fire. Once again the Hizai and Galicians have refused to comment. In these times of trouble, let’s not forget how good we in Dise have it. Have you ever felt lonely even with ponies all around? Here's Odyssey telling you what that's like, brought to you by The Moon Casino. Have you been naughty, and need to be punished? Come to The Moon, the best place to be banished.”
“Luna, won’t you cry for me. I'm as lonely as I've ever been...”
Sighing, I stopped. Grey clouds still blanketed the sky, and Celestia had not stopped crying. Still, it had been a long night, and my whole body ached. It'd take half a day to walk to the meeting place, and we weren't scheduled there until the next evening. As the sun peaked over hills I found us a small cave and lay down. “What's your name?”
The filly lay down across from me, never speaking. Her coat was a light pink, so light it could have been white, and her yellow mane and tail was splotched with patches of red that looked like stains. On her left hind leg she still wore the shackle that had chained her to the ground because whenever I tried to take it off she moved away. Her eyes stood out the most though. Children shouldn't look so sad. “Serenity...” Her voice was almost a whisper.
She hated me, I realized at once. Her whole life was probably jumping from one slaver to another, and to her I was just transferring her to another prison. Which was true. I couldn't help wondering who her parents were. Did slavers kill them before taking her? Did they leave her in the wasteland? Did they sell her? I would never know the answer. The wasteland had but little, but it had never lacked for orphans. “I'm Hired Gun.”
Goddess, would she please stop staring at me. I didn't want this... but I was hired for a job, and dammit I had to see it to the end. I mean if Spitshine could eke out a living in their gang, Serenity could. It wouldn't be so bad, right? Funny. I’d thought I was better at lying to myself, but I just couldn't make myself believe it. “Where do you come from?”
Her sad eyes regarded me, before turning her head away. “Dise.”
“Was it nice there?” I tried to smile at her, to reassure her that everything was going to be alright.
“No.”
---
I woke up at what I assumed to be noon, though I couldn’t really tell with the sun hidden behind the clouds. I rolled to my feet, smiling as I realized the rain had finally stopped. Ripping off the cover to my metal leg, I trotted over to Serenity poking her with said prosthetic. Groaning, the filly rolled over.
“Get Up.” We had a schedule to meet. “Now.” I punctuated my statement with another poke to the gut.
Finally she opened her eyes, and gasped. “Omigosh!” Jumping to her feet, she walked under me and weaved between my legs as she circled my prosthetic. “A Series 19-B Model Cybernetic Leg with a custom leg extender. I've never seen a working model, wow!” Great, apparently my leg was out-of-date tech. “These were the height of technology back before the war! Some purists say they're still the best for their customization.” Customi-what?
“You like this sort of thing?” She stopped dead in her tracks and turned her head to me. In an instant the jubilation in her eyes fell to a dead gloom. My face does that to fillies. More-so to fillies I am about to sell to a raider band of questionable integrity.
“Yes.” Her eyes fell to the ground.
There was no point pressing the issue. Of course she hated me. For such a cute little thing she managed to hate as well as the best of them. I deserved it.
The road was long, winding and filled with rocks. The only sounds were breathing, hoof-beats, the metal clang of my leg and my radio. The DJ must have been sick, or sleepy, as it was just the same series of maybe a dozen songs playing on repeat. Not bad songs per se, but without his voice to break them up, their repetition got a bit...irritating. Not to mention how much I love that voice of his.
“What’s that?” A small voice said so suddenly I nearly jumped. I spun quickly to see she was staring at a small wooden door chiseled into the side of a sheer cliff. Trotting a bit closer I poked at the door with my metal hoof. It look familiar. I was sure I had seen a door like this before.
I rested my hoof on the door. “A Stable.” I was sure of it. Stable 42 had a door like this that lead to the main stable and its great cog-like barrier. Another stable. Goddess I hated these things. I had only known one in my whole life and it had been where everything that could have gone wrong did. So here stood another, in the middle of what might have been my biggest moral failing, mocking me. Closing my eyes, I could hear Wildfire whisper to me, telling me how wrong I was. I shook my head violently.
Wildfire was dead. And might I remind myself she died doing the right thing, and if I was so eager to join her in the grave following her example would make that happen. Sure as I could spit, running now would just get us killed. Fuck it. I was hired to do a job and, for good or ill, I was going to finish the damn job.
“A stable.” I set my hoof back down. “Let’s go.”
---
We got to the meeting place a few hours late. The crest of a small hill beset with rocks. Two great hunks of stone were positioned on either side of the hill, each with a sniper trained on me. Maybe he didn't trust me. Across the way came trotting up Silver Bullet, his brown coat as dirty as his soul. Trotting by his side was the mare I knew as 'Bloody Dagger'
“You're late.” Oh good, he can tell the time.
“Whatever.” His face showed the slightest hint of a smile. On his flank I could see his grey chain cutie-mark showing proudly. Stomping for a second, he looked to one of the rocks where a sniper stood, and then to the other. Subtle. Real subtle.
“Where is she?” I side stepped showing off Serenity. My heart wrenched for her, really it did. She was lying on the ground and visibly shaken with her yellow and red-splotched hair covering her eyes; tears fell from beneath her hair splashing onto the dirt. Celestia, what was I doing? Walking behind her I gently touched her shoulder.
“It's time.” From one cell the next. To Serenity's credit she wiped her eyes dry, got up on all fours and trotted slowly to Silver Bullet's side. Her grey eyes were fixed on me though. Begging me.
But a deal was a deal and would be until I got paid. “You never told me.”
“I didn't think it mattered.” he tilted his head quizzically. Beside him, 'Bloody Dagger' just glared at me. Apparently, she had never gotten over me laughing at Spitshine once. Spitshine. Yeah. I'm sure her and Serenity could be friends. “A package is a package; don’t matter how it’s wrapped.”
If I told you that just then I realized he was a slaver, I hope you don't think me any stupider than usual. It all made sense. He’d claimed his group had turned raider, and there was his cutie mark. It looked so much like the chain that bound Serenity to the floor. I should have realized it then. In my mind I imagined Nanny Jane as a middler who was asking too many caps and had to be taken care of.
Or a rival slaver. My mind tried to justify killing Nanny Jane, but in my heart it wasn't justifiable. When I took the job she was just a shop owner, whatever came out after my shot didn't matter. I shook my head. I would have done it again in a heart beat, if only the package was different.
“Caps.” I demanded, and dutifully he threw me a small bag. Catching it in my mouth I shook it lightly, not putting it into my bag before I heard that lovely jingle jangle sound. The price of freedom. The cost of a small pony’s life. I should have asked for more. Nothing was worth this. Becoming a slave.
“Good?”
I nodded.
“We're done here.”
“Wait.” Idiot. I just had to open my big dumb mouth. I didn't even wait until the three had turned away like the cliche; I just blurted it out right away. Stupid. It made it sound like I cared. As if, somehow, this next question actually mattered. “So we're even. I'm free. The job’s over, right?” Oh the laughter in his eyes made me want to tear one out and show it to the other.
“Huh? Oh yeah, of course. You done your job good, Gun. If you’re ever in the area and needing work, I’m sure I can find something for ya.” Like attack a peaceful caravan? Drag screaming foals away from their mothers? Maybe whip a slave or two when I had the free time? Oh yeah, I’d be back.
That look in his eyes. The way he looked back to Serenity but quickly snapped his head back to me. Was he getting nervous? Suspicious? Was he afraid I was going to do something stupid? Really, he didn't know me at all. I did the job for him as Hired Gun, but even she would have balked at the job if it involved filly slaves, but she didn't know. Still, I’d agreed to the job, so I had to complete it. In the future I would ask for more details. I gave him my very best smile, but it didn’t seem to reassure him.
“If I’m ever in the neighbourhood.” I stretched out for a second. “One more question.”
“Go on.” Impatient as always. Just like a stallion.
“What will you do with the filly?”
A brief moment panic washed over his face, “I... might sell her to The Moon. Some clientele will pay extra coin for a filly in their be-” d.
He never got to finish the sentence on account of the bullet that ripped into his head, turned his brain into mush, and exploded out the back. The voice in my head screamed, Survive!
But fuck it, some things are worth dying for.
As the brown corpse of Silver Bullet fell in an heap, I quickly grabbed the grenade I pilfered from Nanny Jane. “Run.” I mouthed to the scared little filly before kicking it across the yard into one of the giant rocks flanking us.
BLAM. BOOM. BLAM.
The snipers fired simultaneously to the sound of my explosion. Fire lanced up my leg as one bullet pierced it. The second I heard bounce harmlessly away. The rock, it seemed, was perilously positioned and the explosion was enough to send it toppling over, the sniper along with it. I would have heard the crunch as the pony was crushed under what used to be his perch if not for the deafening smash the rock made upon landing.
My leg nearly gave out. I could feel the blood run down my leg staining my silver coat a rusted brown. I grit my teeth and kept moving. I didn't have time to feel pain. My eyes met that of the second sniper. I was a quicker shot though, and less than a quarter of a second after biting into my battle saddle I saw a red hole explode through his chest. The pony wobbled, unsure of what happened, and then fell from his perch, landing in a mangled heap. One left.
“Watch out!” Serenity called. Funny, I could have sworn I’d told her to run.
Instead of watching, I dropped my belly to the ground. It was the last thing 'Bloody Dagger' was expecting as she tripped over my body, landing with a deep thud my ringing ears could barely recognize. I got back up on all fours ignoring the pain raging in my leg. There before me was the body of 'Bloody', her knife spinning away from her.
“Don't move.” My gun was pointed at her head. At this range it had turned Silver Bullet's face into soup, a fact I was sure she was aware of.
“Go on, bitch, pull the trigger.” She spat. Pleasant, it also made what I was about to do that much stupider.
“No.” Sighing I backed up, nearly bumping into Serenity who must have been as confused as 'Bloody' there. “You live.”
“What? Are you a fucking retarded fucking cunt or something? Fuck, let me live, and I'll-”
“Nothing. Follow me with any force, and you die.”
“What the fuck! You killed Bullet, you fuck-tard. Only thing what stopped them from tearing Spitshine apart, so if you fucking think-”
“I want you to take Spitshine and run. To one of the villages. Change your name, your Cutie-mark, whatever.”
“You're fucking serious aren't you?” Her eyes narrowed at me, unsure of her own words. “What... what the fuck?”
“I have a soft spot for orphan fillies and broken things. Take your filly and leave. You keep playing raider...” I sighed. This was too much. Why couldn't she just take my offer? It was too generous already without her bitching about every little thing I said. I hate talking with raiders. “... I'll kill you.” We matched glares for a second and then she nodded.
“Serenity, take her weapons.” If she wasn't going to run she could at least make herself useful. Dutifully the little filly untied 'Bloody Dagger's' battle saddle. Motioning for Serenity to keep the battle saddle, it could bring in a pretty penny, she stuffed it into my saddle bags as I turned to 'bloody dagger'. “Take your knife and go.”
---
My leg collapsed out from under me sending me face first into the dirt. “Fuuf.” I attempted to swear, spitting out dirt. Blood completely soaked my fore-leg and dyed it a rusted brown. In retrospect, I should have bound it up to stop the bleeding before hiking across an endless wasteland of dirt and rocks. Gritting my teeth, I tried to force myself to my feet.
Pain lanced up my leg into my chest.
I flopped back down. Resting it was. I groaned and poked the wound with my metal hoof. More pain lanced through me making me feel nauseous. “It looks infected... ” Serenity stood beside my leg, inspecting it. When her head turned to regard me I couldn't help but notice her eyes no longer had that sad, morose look. Instead, she looked confused, maybe, or tentative. “Why didn'tcha bind it?” Why? Because, my dear, I'm an idiot.
“Had better things to do.” Like saving your life.
“Whaaat? Ya can't be serious! A bullet wound is dangerous... Do you know what an infected wound could do!?” For a little thing, she sure was talkative now. I looked to my metal leg and smiled at her. I was pretty sure I knew the effects of infected wounds, though I doubted this one was nearly as serious. She bent over my leg frowning at the bloody wounds. “So close to the subclavian artery, not good. Gunna have'ta remove the bullet. ” She was ranting and walking around me like she had just ate a whole bowl of sugar.
“Why?”
“Most of the time a bullet ain't dangerous; more dangerous to take'em out, what with the poking around ya gotta do. But from that shot, it could wander and puncture an important artery! Could bleed out inside!”
What? “You know this... how?”
“Humph.” She stopped raises a hoof dramatically to her chest, “I was an apprentice medic with the Watchers before... before... ” The word chocked in her throat, but she shook it off. “There were other fillies and colts when I was taken. Some were wounded, but I helped them... and then... ” her tiny face scrunched up and she kicked at the ground with both hooves.
Groaning, I eased myself to my feet. Pain shot through my body, but I kept to my feet. “In my bag. Pills. Hand me one.” My shoulder burned as Serenity levitated a single small blue pill out. It was chalky and hard to swallow, but as soon as I managed it, the pain in my leg faded to a dull... dullness. Med-X in pill form. It came in injections too, but either way it was insanely useful. It was a shame I could only pilfer a few from Nanny Jane.
“The stable,” I remembered suddenly. We had been walking back the way we had come. I had planned to skip around Bridle Hope on the small dirt road my pipbuck showed that led to the main highway on the other side of a huge mountain that rose in between Bridle Hope and Dise. From there I had hoped to find somepony to take in Serenity, but with my new information I would drop her off with The Watchers in Dise when I went to see them. Doctor Morowynd said he was to take me to see them, so I figured I would go myself and see if there were any caps in it for me. First things first though.
We reached the wooden door in the cliffside just as Celestia's tears began to fall anew. With a single kick of my metal leg the rotten wood turned to splinters. A few more kicks and it was nothing more than a hole. “It wasn't locked.” Serenity said, a sly smile on her face. Rolling my eyes, I continued into the cave. It was dark, almost too dark. I found my metal leg tripping over rocks, nearly sending me sprawling more than once.
The painkillers ran out as we reached the huge cog-like door of the stable. From the looks of it the door had long since been rolled away to the point it looked rusted to the metal floor of the stable. Groaning, I nearly collapsed but held strong. There on the floor in front of the small stairs that led to the sable proper, and beside the door control device I saw a rusted brown blood stain. In my mind it was Wildfire's, the two stables so similar.
“This way.” I limped up the stairs. Three doors, I had been here before. I took the centre one as the lights overhead flickered and waned. Honestly, I was surprised there was power at all, or at least I would have been, if I had been able to think about anything but my leg. Getting shot sucked. It wasn't the first time I got shot, but it was the first time I had taken a high calibre round to bare skin. The wound stank, or maybe that was the Stable.
I froze at the intersection where I once bucked a pony to death.
“Are you okay... ?” A small voice asked. Great, now she was worrying about me. I grunted and kept on, rounding the corner. All the stables were the same, somepony told me once, so I knew where to find the clinic. I walked past the spot where I once stabbed a pony in the head with the hot barrel of my gun.
I shuddered. The whole place just seemed so quiet. The last stable had ponies running, and screaming, and... there was something else I couldn't put my finger on. In this stable, the only sounds was my hushed breath and the whirling of the lights overhead. Creepy.
“Here,” I groaned, pointing to the medic door. Thankfully, it was the same as stable 42, so maybe my adventure there wasn't a complete waste disaster. Of course, if I had never gone to stable 42, I would never be here in stable... stable... “Did you see what stable this is?”
“Stable 123, the door said...” Stable 123. I pushed on the door to the clinic, and it slid open with a reliable whoosh. The white room on the other side looked half a mess. Waste baskets were knocked over, spilling used syringes across the floor, and the huge medical cabinet was lying on its back, completely empty. Of the two examination tables, one was broken in half, but the other was standing upright and only slightly stained. So much for a sterile environment. Everything had been looted multiple times by the looks, well except for a yellow and pink box hanging off the side of a white wall.
I limped to the box poking it. Locked. Great. “I could pick the lock,” Serenity said standing on her hind legs to reach it, “If I had a bobb-”
SMASH
I placed my metallic hoof back on the ground as the medical box creaked and opened. “Or not...” Serenity was rolling her eyes at me, but I didn't care. Mission accomplished. Lets see. Two healing potions, a rad-x, a bottle of purified water, and some tweezers. Serenity gathered the supplies with magic, sending that stupid burning sensation through my shoulder again. I was never going to get used to that.
“Okay! Lets get started!” She seemed a bit too excited for open surgery. She picked up a stool from the ground and placed it by the examination table, motioning for me to get on. The whole thing creaked under my considerable weight but held firm. Stretching out the offending leg, she peered over it, a grin on her face. “This may sting.”
With a wisp of magic, she poured the water directly into my open wound and got to cleaning it with a rag she apparently kept with her. Gritting my teeth against the pain I nodded at her. She licked her lips in anticipation as she floated the tweezers above my open wounds. I took a deep breath.
It took a few seconds after the tweezers went in for the pain to register. It was nearly blinding. I bit my lip to hold back the pain and very nearly bit right through. The magically powered tweezers dug into my open wound, digging and clawing until she eventually pulled them out holding a bullet shell with an mushroomed tip. “Hollow point.” I said through my teeth. No wonder the wound hurt so much; the bastard hit me with a .308 calibre hollow point round. It was a miracle I didn't bleed out.
“Hollow what?” She was a smart little filly, so I was a bit surprised at that she didn't know that.
“Its a type of bullet. Expands going in... for massive damage.” The little filly seemed to be contemplating that as her grey eyes assessed the damage to my leg above my pipbuck. Cleaning the wound a bit more, she looked around.
“Need bandages. Even with the healing potions it should be bandaged up as well, ya know? Healin' potions are good my master always said, but healin' spells plus some good'ol TLC is even better. Besides I’ve heard stories of them what think they can drink a couple dozen healing potions and be fine, but later die of lead poisoning cause they didn't treat them wounds good 'nough. Healin' potions aren’t magic... well okay they ARE magic, but magic can't solve all your problems.” Says the unicorn to the earth pony.
The static from my pipbuck boomed as Serenity bounded up my leg with bandages I still had from stable 42. The DJ's voice played over the radio, and was as handsome as ever, but lost something with the interference being in the middle of a mountain caused. “This is... Paradise... In the west causing trouble for the NCA... canyon ridge bridge under... NCA say they will stop at nothing...” I growled at the thing and turned the radio off. There was no point if I could barely understand what he was saying.
Finally finished with the bandages, Serenity jumped down off her stool and looked up at me. “There. Now get some rest, you look awful.” I must have. My mane stuck to my forehead with sweat, I felt too light and too heavy at the same time. It had been a long couple days, and that nap earlier really hadn’t been all that satisfying.
”Can’t. Gotta move.”
“No buts, you're sick.”
“Can't leave you here alone.”
“What! Don’t be silly, silly. You've done waaaay more than enough, more than I could have hoped for, so it's my turn. You rest, okay? I can't just let you walk around all sick and injured.” I had done as little as equinely possible, but I was much too fatigued to say so, so I nodded dumbly.
“Fine... just don't wander off.” I closed my eyes, and almost immediately went to sleep.
---
“T’ain’t nothin’ ‘ere, ah tells ya. T’ain’t nothin’.” My eyes filtered open, the sound of voices drowning out the gentle humming of the lights. “Told'ya they wouldn't be, an 'ere we’s are neck deep in raider territory, an’ ya tellin' me ta look harder.” I didn't recognize the accent or the buck what spoke with it. Groaning, I rolled to my side towards the sounds.
“Keep looking. We go back empty handed, and we won’t have enough to eat,” the second voice said. Another Stallion, but more refined. Probably grew up in the city.
“Ah told'ya t'ain’t nothin’ here. Ya think youse the first what thought ta look dis stable?”
“I thought maybe we'd find something the others picked over-”
“Youse got us trapped in Raider country an-”
“Both of you, shut up!” A mare snapped, her voice a shrill whip. “Well, what do we have here, a filly?” Serenity! Jumping off the bed, I suddenly remembered where I was. “Hey, where you going?” I heard metallic hoof-steps outside my door as Serenity turned and ran, but only half a second as the sound suddenly vanished. “Well, follow her! Sell the filly, and this trip's actually worth something.”
“I t'aint no slaver.”
The door slid open. “No. You're not.” I glowered down at them, standing up straight to show my true height. The mare was a tiny little thing with a comically oversize rifle strapped to her back. She reminded me of Lye, except she was an earth pony with a tear-drop cutie mark.
“What? Who're ya? An' what ya think'a doin'?” The colloquial stallion spoke. His coat and mane were both a deep black, with a desperado hat of similar colouring atop his head. Covering what must have been a horn as my shoulder burned and the shotgun on his back started to glow ever so slightly.
“You're an idiot, filly.” The third spoke. I could barely see his coat with the heavy armoured barding and large helmet he wore, but in between the cracks I thought I saw stripes. “Three against one, you're unarmed and...” his head turned to my bandaged leg, “Injured.”
I stretched back, tensing my muscles, growling a bit. “Don't have to,” I spoke to the mare with the tear drop cutie mark, “I can kill one. Thing is,” I grunted as pain from my leg lanced through my body. It wasn't as bad as before, not nearly. “Y’all don't know which one.” I had seen these types before working at Marefort. Scavengers and traders who had no love for each other, but stuck together out of protection. They'd kill for each other, but not die.
The pure black stallion was the first to back off. Dipping his desperado hat over his eyes, and easing the magic on his shotgun he stepped back. “T'ain’t no way ah'm dyin' for this. T'ain’t no slaver, never have been and I ain't dyin' ta start.”
“Coward,” The armoured stallion said stepping up, “She's just trying to scare you, no way she could kill a one of us. She doesn't have a single fucking weapon on her.”
“True.” The black unicorn replied, “But I seen them augmented freaks 'fore. One stomped my ma's head to mush in one try.” I stomped a pony's head to mush before I ever got my metal leg, but I kept that to myself. “Might be that fancy armour keep ya safe... might be it won’t. She look big 'nough ta bend steel.” Snap chains anyway.
The mare tried a different method. “How much for the filly?” she whinnied.
“Your head.” I said flatly.
“Nothing then.” The tear drop mare looked at me, and then to her two comrades. “We could kill you and take her.”
“I ain't doin' nothin like that.” The black unicorn interjected.
“You could try.” I answered the mare, who was obviously the leader.
“It's not worth it.” The armoured stallion said finally. ”Fillies don't bring as much as colts. Even if we kill this one, no way she goes down without a fight. No matter what we'll be at a loss.” Sure you could just tell yourself that.
“Good. Leave my stable.” The tear drop mare looked ready to argue, but she turned at the stomp of my metal hoof. The huge metal one with stripes under his armour stopped to glare, before vanishing around a corner. Three ponies scared away at only the threat of violence, though laziness may have played a part. I stared down the hall they left for a good minute before remembering.
Serenity. “Fuck.”
I didn't bother running the way I assume she went. Instead I strolled casually down the hallway, limping all the way. If I remembered correctly this hallway led down stairs and into the Atrium. From there I could pretty much get anywhere in the Stable. By themselves these massive structures were just metal and concrete and not entirely dangerous. My real concern was her getting stuck somewhere.
As I started down the steps, I couldn't help sense something wrong. Maybe it was the smell of stale air, or the annoying humming of the lights, but it just felt... unnatural. These Stables were built to save ponies lives, but it seemed to me not their spirits. Even when compared to my brown wasteland, these tombs seemed ready made to suck the soul out of any pony what entered. How could ponies live in a place so gray?
“Serenity!,” I called, sounding unnaturally loud as I got to the bottom of the metal steps and into the concrete hallway. Above me hung a dark yellow sign -- ‘Atrium’. Deja Vu again. If I could burn down every stable, I would. Goddess how I hated these places. Instead of heading down the same path I took in stable 42, I veered off to a side room.
The small room looked very much like what I would expect of an office. What a stable needed with an office for I really couldn't say. A tall cabinet had been thrown to the ground, spilling its contents across the ground (An ample supply of wonder glue and blank paper, but nothing really of worth). I hopped over it and made my way to the single desk, with a terminal still glowing.
I poked at the thing with my hoof. I may have jumped back when the damn thing beeped at me. Leaning closer once again, I prepared my fragile heart for beeping. In my defence, I had never seen a working terminal, much less used one. The controls were finicky and undoubtedly made for a Unicorn’s magic, but I did manage to scroll through a list of journal entries. Three of the four were marked in red, so for once in my life, my curiosity got the better of me and I opened them in order.
---Journal Entry Day 360---
Doc says I should use this terminal to write down my feelings and stuff. Says I'm too mopey and should find myself a mare and start a family. Why? I mean, we been here a year, and it looks like we'll for much longer. The hall lights hurt my head, and everything smells. Our government never should have aligned with those Equestrian fools. They provoked the lion, but we're the ponies what get mauled. Isn’t fair. They're the ponies what died, but... Stable-Tec promised that these stable's would save us. They didn't though. No. Equestria Killed us, Stable-Tec built our coffin.
I'm never leaving.
Not sure I would if they offered. I hate this place. I hate the lights, and the floor, and everything. I hate the way the basement leaks when it rains and fills the whole place with the slightest scent of radiation. But I wouldn't leave. I saw the outside world and what it offered. Ponies should stay down here, and just live out their lives. Our race should end for what we did. What those Equestrians made us do.
Nah, we're still procreating. The first foal of the new world was born today. Cute little thing. Born to live and die all in darkness, with the ever-present consequences of their mothers’ and fathers’ failures pressing down on them. With the memory of war and death the only thing they'll ever know. Does that sound fair?
Whatever. Doc doesn't know shit. I'm not moping. Just telling it like it is. World is burnt; our race is buried. We killed the world, and now live in it... does that sound fair?
Well that sounded... bad. I clicked to the next marked entry.
---Journal Entry Day 10925---
Nearly thirty years and I still haven't figured out how to change the Automatic Journal Names. I'm too old for this.
Something big is going to happen soon. I can feel it in my bones. Outside the rains have been going on non-stop for weeks now, and the Over-stallion is worried. Can't say I blame him none. Most of us here remember the war, and most saw the green flames wash over Celestia’s Paradise as we ran. From miles away it was impossible to miss. We saw the world end and now... This talk, I hear it. The kids want to go outside. See the world. But they don't understand. The world is dead. We killed it. The Over-stallion understands this... but public pressure will break him like it broke her.
I'm too old for this. Got nothing much to say but to fill this damn thing with the regrets of an old pony. An old pony who saw the world burn, and now my grandsons and granddaughters plan to prop up it's corpse on strings and make it dance. Seem fair?
The final entry was not dated, and consisted of a single word.
Goodbye.
Struck by the words, I turned suddenly to the wall behind me, staring at the splattered rusted grey stain on the wall.
I stepped back. My chest felt tight, and I quickly let out the breath I was holding. It wasn't elegant writing, nothing amazing but it was... real. I know the world ended, but to read the words from a pony who saw it happened, and then he ended himself. Shaking my head I cleared it. History was not helping me find Serenity, or survive. Mysteries were nice, but for later.
I walked out of the room, and back to the hallway. “Serenity!” I called out, my voice dancing through the hallway into the Atrium and echoing back to me. Did all the Stables echo so much? Making my way to the atrium, I found my cell in the same place again. The room was the same as it was in stable 42. A large lower area, though this one looked mussy and strewn with litter and tipped over tables, and an upper balcony which connected to various rooms. All in standard Stable colours, rusted grey, grey, and gray.
Across the gap was the round window leading to the Overma-Stallion's office. If I squinted my eyes I could almost see the mark where my spear struck it before bouncing away. Really? That was not the time for flash backs, I had a filly to find. Shaking the memory out of my head I tried to remember how in the wasteland a pony got into the office. I had run out of one once, and found my way to the surface, but didn’t know how to get there.
Honestly it didn't take me that long. A short limping hike through dark, dingy, and, as the journal had promised, smelly hallways I found the door clearly marked “Overmare's office.” Strange, I was under the impression it was an Over-stallion. No matter! If the lights were still on and humming, then likely all the surveillance cameras were too, and I remembered the wall of monitors from that time I kicked Smooth Tongue out a window. Reaching up I turned the handle.
Locked. Good. That most likely meant nopony had bothered to loot the damn thing. A locked door was not that much of a problem for me, however.
SMASH.
Opening doors with a buck. It was a wonder nopony else ever thought of it, or maybe they’d tried and failed. Few ponies were as large as I, and even fewer were as strong. With my super strength and robotic parts I wondered if I technically qualified as a super hero. Minus the hero. Whatever. Once again, my intelligence chip had brought my mind to new and disturbing places with its 'imagination'.
The room was so similar to the one in 42 it was almost depressing. Though it was notably cleaner and missing the chain that had once bound me to the floor. Everything else, from the wall of monitors to the round desk with a single terminal, was eerily similar. Of course everything about this place was, so it shouldn’t really have come as a surprise. The wall of monitors was off, but there had to be a way to fix that.
I made my way around the desk. Good, the terminal was still working. With a few clicks I got it... and as my pipbuck downloaded files without my consent it started to play something. “Hello! My name is Scootaloo. You probably know me (since I am pretty famous) for my awesome performances at events like last year’s GALLoPS, or maybe just as the founder of Red Racer… Actually you might not. Never did get a foothold into Caledonia...
“It doesn't matter right now. You're the... lucky mare to find herself as the Overmare of Stable 123, and I can't say I envy you. You see we here at Stable-tec have... a philosophy. The worlds turning to shit... I know. But we have to find a way to make it... better. And... fuck... you wont like what comes next.
“You can't stay here. You need to leave. I am asking this of you... when the radiation goes down to liveable levels, leave. Go out and make the world a better place, fix this fucking mess we caused. You aren't Equestrians; you shouldn't get it bad... hopefully... hopefully you can leave in a year. Two. Every Stable was made with an idea in mind...find a way to fix the mistakes. When the other stables come out of hiding... I want there to be a world for them to live in.
“Yeah...I chose a non-Equestrian stable for this reason. Only six stables were made outside of Equestria, and this task I made sure was in one of them. We fucked this world up. We can't fix it. Not yet. Not until we’re ready, and maybe not even then. So when the times comes I am asking you... leave and rebuild the world.
“If you don't want to, then I’m sorry to say I'm not giving you a choice.
“You may have already noticed the basement leaks. It will flood. You may have noticed the smell. The air filter will break down. You may be able to live for ten, twenty years. But eventually you’ll have to leave, or everypony will die. Yeah... I'm a fucking monster. But somepony needs to fix up this mess we caused, and fuck it I'll make sure they do it whether they want to or not.
“Download the coordinates and passwords on the terminal. They'll lead you to help, a start. We have a second chance.
“If it's any consolation, I’m sorry. I never wanted this... get out there and start rebuilding. Soon everypony else will join you. We'll have learned. I'll make them learn. So this will never happen again. May Celestia bless us all.”
The voice faded from the terminal and began to repeat. Well that was certainly... interesting. This Scootaloo pony seemed like a right asshole, but she had a... a good idea? I'm not sure. Whatever it was she thought she was doing, she clearly cared enough about it to chance hundreds of ponies lives on it. It didn't matter. Whoever she was, she was dead. And whatever she wanted didn't happen. The past was over, and she lost.
Flicking through the terminal with some difficulty, I eventually found the 'Security Cam Control Switch' which had been switched to 'off'. With the press of a hoof the whole wall behind me powered up.
Grinning like an idiot to myself, I scanned the screens. Almost a quarter of the screens showed nothing but a murky wet haze. I guess Scootaloo hadn’t been kidding when she said the whole place was going to flood. It didn't take long for me to find a little ball of pink amidst the grey-greyness. The Camera seemed to suggest it was on a lower level, and the room looked deteriorated, but she looked fine. Curious though. I saw her inch out into the centre of the dilapidated room.
The floor cracked. Serenity fell into the murky waters. Trapped.
Fuck.
---
How did the doctor say to take this damn thing off? Push this button, wait, think about ice cream. Argh, it needed a switch or a button or something. There. With a hiss and a snap, my metal leg clanged to the ground. Taking a step I nearly fell over. Well that's awkward. Looking at my shoulder there was still a sheet of metal and electronics attached where the leg proper could be attached. I hoped it was water proof, but it was worth the risk.
It was a half mad scramble to the lower levels. I quite literally bucked out the window of the Overstallion's office and jumped to the lower Atrium instead of wasting the time and walking the whole damn way around. Luckily, one of the files my pipbuck had downloaded was a Stable Map, allowing me to descend into the dank and mouldy halls without getting lost.
Looking down, I could see the frighteningly dirty water where Serenity had fallen. She was nowhere to be seen though, and if my Pipbuck was right, the level below was just as large as everywhere else. Who knew where the current could have taken her. I steeled myself, taking one last gulp of air, then dropped into the cold water.
I fell below the waves water, flooding my eyes. It was physically painful to wrench them open to look through the murky waves. On my wrist my pipbuck made its click-clicking sound, which I knew couldn't be good. Especially not with all the radiation the water must have had soaked in. I kicked my legs and sucked in air as soon as my muzzle broke the surface. My invisible leg stung, but it wasn't shocking me, so that was good. Diving back under the water, I spotted the nearby doorway.
Only problem was, on the other side the water flowed to the ceiling. When I tried and failed to surface, I panicked. Lashing out, everything became lost in a murky haze. My heart pounded and my face somehow ended up pressed against the floor. My eyes strained to make heads or tails of the water. My entire world became the murky haze around me and nothing else. For a second, even Serenity was forgotten as I struggled with the water. Everything looked green, and I could barely see, but I would be damned if I was going to drown. Shaking my head, I got a sense of the world around me.
Dragging my way across the bottom of the sunken tunnel I ignored the rising urge to... breathe. Looking up I could see... a light. Something. I swam for it. The pressure in my chest burned. Fuck. I need breath. Air. Please be there. My head slammed against the light. No air. I tried to inhale, but water flooded my throat. Burning. Dying. I needed to breathe.
Mercifully, I found a small kink in the ceiling. I surfaced, coughing out water, which burned as much coming out as it did going in. I was here to save Serenity, but how? My pipbuck kept ticking and I hadn't any idea of what to do, and I had breathed enough water that I felt like a fish. Fuck. This was going bad. Looking down, I could see my bandaged foreleg unravel spilling blood into the water. In case it needed to get dirtier. Shivering, I took a deep breath and lowered myself back into the drink. Flooded indeed. No wonder the ponies that lived here left.
I squirmed through the murky wastes and felt... something. A vibration. In the water. I searched around wildly. For a second, something yellow flashed in front of me, in the murky water. It vanished. Wait, it was here, Serenity. Kicking with all the might my three legs could muster, her form slowly came into view. The vibrating was shaking my whole body, but it was fading.
Those sad grey eyes looked at me as I realized her tail was tangled in a fallen chair, holding her down. Her legs were kicking furiously and her horn glowed, but when those eyes fell on me, she stopped, and smiled. I wanted to scream at her to keep fighting, but she had lost. Who knew how long she had been down here, lost and afraid. Her mouth opened involuntarily.
No! Not again!
My fore leg wrapped around her body, and my legs kicked dragging her with me, the chair trailing behind. My shoulder burned, my leg throbbed, and my chest shrieked out in pain from the water I’d breathed. Faintly, I could still hear my pipbuck clicking angrily. I pushed all that away. Pain faded as I saw Serenity, the life fading from her. This was no time to feel pain. Now if only I could find the exit.
I lashed around, looking. My pipbuck clicked and I glared at it... just long enough to see the map. Yes! I was a genius.
As my chest cried out for air, I pushed towards the direction it told.
I had managed to find the stairs. I dragged her up with my mouth, limping along on three legs. Dropping her, I leaned down pressing my mouth to hers. Wildfire had made me practice mouth to mouth resuscitation once. Stopping I put my hoof to her chest and pushed. Nothing. I breathed into her mouth again, tasting metal. Not a good sign. My hoof pressed against her chest, “Breathe.” I grunted. “Breathe, dammit.”
She coughed up water, and breathed.
I collapsed beside her as my pipbuck flashed a warning. It was then that I remembered I didn't know how to swim.
---
“You... saved me...” I heard Serenity say. We didn't fall asleep there, or rather I didn't, but I did lie there a while, taking stock of my wounds. I hadn't even fought anything this time, and it hurt worse than when the raider attacked my caravan. Groaning, I rolled to face her.
“Yeah?” My throat burned just talking. Who knew water could be so painful?
“Why?”
“Couldn't let you drown.” I coughed a bit. I painfully moved my pipbuck in front of my eyes. Huh. According to this I had 'minor rad poisoning'. I'd seen ponies die of rad poisoning back in Marefort. All of their hair fell out, and they lived in pain, vomiting profusely, and shitting blood before dying. Not a good way to go.
“No...” her voice sounded weak. “Before... you were... gunna sell me. Then you saved me.... Nopony ever saved me. Why?” Well that was a stupid question.
“I did sell you.” For 800 caps, a new gun, and my freedom. A good deal I thought once. “Then, after the deal was done... I killed him.”
“So... you didn't kill him till your deal was done?” Of course not. I made an agreement, and I wasn't about to back out like that. It wasn't the way I ran things. “But still, why did'ya kill 'em? You plannin' to sell me?”
“No. Because he was an ass.” Urgh. I rolled onto my feet, well most of them. “Need to find my leg.” And I hobbled off. Walking with three legs, I should mention, is insanely difficult. I had to rear up and stretch forward, then scoot my back legs up. All while Serenity, sick as she was, managed to giggle at me. Lucky for me, the room Serenity fell from wasn't far away.
I lifted up my dead metal leg in my mouth, impressed with the weight. When it was moving me around it hadn't seemed quite so heavy. Not caring, I quickly slammed the connector into it's port on my arm. And screeched. My whole body convulsed and I dropped to the ground as the nerve endings forcibly connected, crying foul. It had only lasted half a second, but it felt like minutes of my whole body being dropped in boiling water.
Gasping as the connection finished, I could feel my leg move. Why the fuck didn't the doctor warn me about that?
“Are you okay?” Serenity said by the doorway. Grunting and nodding, I hoisted myself to my feet.
“Never felt better.” Nothing like a near death experience to wake you up in the morning. Afternoon. Whatever. Bending over, I grabbed my saddle bag from where I left it, and tossed it over my back. “Get some radaways from my pack.” My shoulder burned with renewed fury as the pink filly took out our medicine. It tasted bitter and made me gag, but it was better than being, you know, poisoned.
We eventually dragged our bodies back up to the infirmity, neither really talking much. Nothing else to say, I guess. When I looked at her eyes, she didn't look sad anymore; instead her grey eyes seemed very nearly happy. Or at least the closest approximation she could get while still keeping that 'sad orphan filly' vibe.
“Wha’s your name.”
“Hired Gun.” I was sure she already knew, but didn't bother protesting. It was much more profitable to collapse to the ground on my bedroll.
“Your real name.”
“Argh.” I smacked my head against the floor. “it IS my real name.”
“Liar.” She giggled lying beside me, her head resting on me. Great, now she was all cuddly. Why can't kids be consistent?
“Where I come from ponies get two names, one when they're born, and another they can choose after they get their cutie mark.” Wildfire was born 'Cakewalk' and changed it as soon as equinely possible, and I always knew my brother as Meadow, but Smooth called him 'Summer Silk'. What a stupid name.
“Oh... Can I change my name when I get my cutie-mark?” She grinned up at me. I have no idea why she was asking my permission; I had just saved her life, twice, but it didn't make me her mother.
So I didn't answer. Instead, I poked at my pipbuck, thanking Luna these things were water proof, until one of the audio files I had managed to download started to play. As it started to play I realized that maybe I should have waited until Serenity wasn't around.
BANG BANG BANG
“Oh Goddess. They're coming. Fuck. Gotta keep a record. They won’t. Fuckers won't know how to delete this. When Stable-Tec comes I want them to know... want them to know I tried. Fuck I did. But... they're afraid. It's been what, eighteen years? Everypony remembers. How could they forget? They saw the world burn, but they don't get it. The leaks are getting worse, and... and ponies are going to get sick soon.
The world outside... it's dead, but not dying. The geiger counters say we can live outside but... they're afraid.”
BANG
“Shit. Not much time. They're going to kill me. Fuck, I lived too long. But we need to get out of this place before it kills us. They won’t listen. They're afraid. Scared enough to kill. Why the fuck did Stable-Tec give us so many Celestia-damn guns. Doors breaking, yeah, I'm one dead mare, and they know it. Fuck, I lived too long. I'm trying to save them, and they're too blind.
SMASH
“Shit!”
The recording ended with a crash, and howling wail. I'm not sure what was worse, the fact she was killed for being right, or the fact that those that killed her would create the hell-hole known as the Dise wasteland.
Footnote!
Level Up!
New perk! Intense Training: Level Up Perception by 1.
Skill Note: Speech 25
(A/N: Thanks to Kkat for being awesome and writing such an amazing story, and theBSDude for putting up with my shit writing and making it better.) |
No One | 662 | 5 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-03-15T07:24:27+00:00 | 2013-09-07T17:27:29+00:00 | 23,477 | Chekhov Stole My Gun
“If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there.”
“Hey again Dise, it's me, Mr New Haygas, which means it's time for the news: it seems the Steel Rangers patrolling around the Snake and Old Rush rivers have accused me, Mr New Haygas, of being a shill for NCA bits, an accusation as foalish as it is incorrect. Dise only accepts caps, and there's no place I'd rather be than here.” He chuckled into the microphone, “When the NCA comes up, I report it as I would anypony, and Celestia knows they have enough to report about. Well, that's how it goes in the wasteland. Here's a new song from a local entertainer known as 'The Traveller'; don't ask about the name, I couldn't tell you. .”
“Oh, give me a home where the Minotaur roam.
Where the mole rat and the bloat sprite play.
Where seldom is heard an encouraging word,
And my coat is not glowing all day.
“Home, home on the wastes,” Well this song got repetitive. I lowered my head let out a sigh and kept walking. It had been a long trip since Stable 123; we lucked upon a small trading group called 'The Gun Farmers' who, uh, traded guns. Go figure. They were a bit suspicious of us, and I of them, but Serenity knew the land little, and I not at all so we needed a guide. Luckily enough, they lost a few bucks on their trip and needed another gun in case of raiders. Unfortunately, I still had to pay way for Serenity and even then they did not like the idea of dragging a filly around. Not that they spoke much to me about it. Apparently, I was scary.
“Where the rads ain't too high, and The Watcher's aren't bad
The Hydras are playful and mild
Oh, I would not exchange this home on the wastes
for the only big city so wild”
Something told me the song was being just a bit sarcastic in its assessment. For the most part, the travel had been slow going, moving at a ludicrously slow brahmin speed around a huge jut of a mountain that rose like a pimple on the face of the wasteland. Hills the wasteland had in spades, but this was the only mountain in miles. It also took a bloody long time to get around.
“Home, home on the wastes.
Where the Goddess' great armies still play
Where seldom is heard an encouraging word,
And my rads just keep rising all day.”
“You mind turning that off?” The buck in front of me asked. He was a pale purple stallion with a green and blue mane, hiding under a rather fancy looking hat, and a stub of a tail that did little but accentuate his rather fine looking flank. What? Don't judge me. There's nothing wrong with sampling the merchandise.
“No.”
“Please...” Fine ass, but no backbone. A poor combination. Also prone to headaches and whining from what I've seen. He was apparently a pro at fixing things, so at least he had that going for him. Still annoying as hell to walk guard duty with.
I cleared my throat.
“No.”
“Home, Home on the wastes.
Where the mole rat and the bloat sprite play.
Where seldom is heard an encouraging word,
And my coat just keeps glowing all day.”
“See it’s over. Was that so bad?” He grumbled and nodded as my radio continued to blare. As we walked my leg began to sting but a little. It had healed well after the incident at Stable 123. Serenity had been doing better as well; the murky water and whole almost dying thing left her with a bad fever. The first few days she was barely conscious, but it had broken the night before: she was still ill, but at least she was awake.
“You shouldn't tease, Grimy,” She mumbled on my back, using her pet name for Grimer (if you haven’t figured it out, that would be the whiny unicorn I was bothering with music). Shrugging my shoulders, I shook her just enough to make her think she was falling and sending her into a giggling fit. “S-stooooop. I’m bein' serious.” I stopped in my tracks just long enough to turn off my radio. The songs were getting repetitive anyway.
“Thanks.” Grimer turned his head offering me a dull smile, before trotting back along his head low.
If I told you this shell of a pony was the 'leader' of these 'Gun Farmers', please don't laugh too hard. To hear his trading partners talk, he looked weak but knew guns better then anypony else alive; after he managed to fix up my .308 calibre sniper with parts from my old .357 repeater I simply had to agree. Even still, of the ponies I'd met so far in the wasteland Nanny Jane would have sold him manure for a love potion, Pearly would have kicked his head the other way around, and Silver Bullet wouldn't have wasted the bullets killing him. That being said, he was alive and that was more then two of my examples could say: so, he must have been doing something right.
As we corned the last part of the rocky mountain base, I looked upwards. The very tip of the mountain struck through the cloud layer leaving a small patch of clear blue sky encircling the mountains tip. Luna Hornfuck me, I don't think I've ever seen the sky before. Just looking up with the the huge mountain framing the endless void... woah. Yeah, that's one way to make yourself dizzy. Shaking my head I tore my sight away from the abyss.
“Yeah.” Grimer smacked his lips, “Threw up the first time I saw it.” I'm sure he did. “Over there, called Timber.” He pointed with his head. Following his movements, I saw a small village on the south side of the mountain that looked, and I could have been wrong, recently built.
“Impressi-”
A gravely voiced roared, “Stop Where You Are!” That's okay, I really had nothing to say anyway. I backed up quickly, and bent down on my haunches to let Serenity off, before turning my battle saddle at the voice. Scratch that. Voices. The horn fucking thing was really just an expression, it wasn't meant to be taken literally. Metaphor appeared not to be the wasteland’s strong point.
Adrenaline pumped through me as a squad of NCA ponies marched up to our little group. Only five though, and they didn't even attempt stealth, walking straight down the road at us. The safety of my rifle clicked off, and the scope snapped up over my eye. I hunched down as the rest of our gang scrambled for guns and ammo. They stopped just meters in front of us, the only sound the cocking of the guns on all sides. Serenity whimpered and hid behind the only cart. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife.
“We surrender.”
What!? My head wrenched away from my battle-saddle towards Grimer. He was cowering and bowing, that coward. I gritted my teeth and turned back to the NCA.
“Take their weapons, and confiscate their goods until we can verify they aren't selling to raiders.” I glowered at the Stallion with the star shaped badges. Until he took of his helmet magically. His skin... was not. It looked almost as if he had been flayed and only grew it back half-way leaving it patched grey and red, with wisps of mane sticking ostensibly to his head around his rough horn. When he cracked his neck his molted skins broke and opened, but didn't bleed.
The rage subsided into shock. I'd never seen a ghoul before.
----
The NCA troopers relived us of our weapons and supplies before marching us down through the one pony town. To my surprise, the town was completely new, or at least not two hundred years old like everything else. Houses and buildings lined the streets made of wood, not reconfigured trains carts or the like. None were painted, but just looking at them was impressive. A full town made in the wasteland from material that wasn't scavenged. Compared to Bridle Hope or Marefort, the place was a pristine centre of wastelander ingenuity. Well, except for the ramshackle tents on the far end of town. Outside the tents, they had planted a flag showing a red phoenix rising in front of a green five pointed star on a white background.
We stopped at a large three-story building and were pushed through under strict orders not to leave town and not to cause any trouble. The bar we were pushed into was large, but the way the walls seemed to slope inward made it feel cramped. It still was cleaner then Marefort. Smelled better too; like sweat and fire instead of shit and oil.
The sweet (and talkative) bartender took pity on our plight and gave us a room for free until a paying customer needed it. The 'room' consisted of a single bed on the ground, and a small dresser.
Shaking Serenity on my back she didn't respond. I bent my neck around and couldn't help but smile at the small pink pony sleeping in a ball on my back. Lifting her up as gentle as I could by the scruff of her neck, I laid her gently on the small bed. For a second, from the way her leg twitched as I set her down, I thought I'd woken her up. But she just curled back into a ball, snoring softly.
Don't get any ideas, I didn't care for fillies and planned on getting rid of her as soon as possible. Seriously. Turning from the room, I quickly trotted downstairs. I needed a drink.
“Rather die then live like that.” I growled as I finally sat down at the bar beside Grimer. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the image of that corpse-pony out of my head. Even when they took my rifle away, I didn't protest, my mind too fixated by the ghoul. I'd heard of them sure enough, but to see one up close was a completely different thing. Sometimes things are so disgusting you just can't look away.
“Ain't so bad,” Grimer said, letting an empty shot glass drop from his mouth onto the bar. “Hear tell they live forever.”
Forever as a corpse. Was that cosmic irony? I sighed, motioning for the bar tender to pour me a glass. I could really go for some whiskey... and from the looks of it I wasn't the only one. The large ground floor was filled with down-on-their-luck ponies. They were drinking in silence, with the wooden walls of the bar leaning in on them as if they held the weight of the world.
“It'd be bad,” I insisted, as my drink finally slid down the bar towards me.
“The NCA has more Ghouls than you can spit at.” I imagined ghouls got spit on a lot. “Eye Glow, the largest of the City-States that makes up the NCA is made almost entirely of ghouls. Come from Stable 102.” I raised my eyebrow as the whiskey snaked down my throat and burned into my chest. “Heard the recordings myself. Stable-Tec made the vault wrong on purpose to test the effects of extended magical radiation.” He grinned with his rotten teeth, “Guess they found out.”
“You know this how?”
“Been there once,” He scratched at the hard bar with his hoof, “More then once. Fought in the Red War too.” Never heard of anything like that. Though I couldn't say I was surprised. War never changes. “It's a nice place, not so nice as Dise, but what is?”
“You've been around.”
“Here and there.” He admitted, dropping off his stool onto all fours stomping the dirt floor to stretch his legs. “Travelled from Manehatten to Flankyard, Roam to Dise.” I was... surprised. He didn't seem the adventurous type, or the type to be able to survive. If he went to Manehatten, that meant he must have travelled through the northern passes, and the Crimson Hoof by all rights should have torn him apart. And yet there he was, standing with his beautiful ass to me.
“Anywhere you haven't been?” I smirked, gulping down another drink courtesy the doughy unicorn mare who worked both the bar and inn. By the way she was talking excitedly to near every customer at the bar; I was surprised she was paying enough attention to get me a drink. Turning he laughed a bit, and shrugged.
“I've been everywhere what matters. 'Cept Hoofington. Only a fool'd go there.” I giggled a bit, my head feeling light from the whiskey. The only remedy for that was even more whiskey. “ Even sheriff-ed a town once in NCA Crest territory fore they took it over and I hadda flee. They left me a bullet in my brain-pan as a parting gift.” He paused, grinning at my disbelief of him as a law pony. “What bout you Miss Gun?” he said, taking his stool back. “Where have you been?”
“Here. There.”
“Oh? Here in Timber, There in Stable 123? Don't tell me you don't have a story. From the looks of you, you used to wrestle Hell Hounds for sport.” And dragons. Also this one time with a griffin and a hydra...
“And profit.” I replied dryly. “My life was not so interesting.” Partly true, I guess. At least it was a boring story. Or. Something. It was hard to think, like somepony parked a cloud over my brain. Needed more whiskey.
“None? Then how'dya explain that daughter of yours? No story about the lucky buck what helped make her?” My... what?
“Serenity, sshe ain’t mah daughter.” I slurred after I pounded back another glass. Funny, it didn't burn nearly as much that time.
“Just an orphan filly?” His breath tickled my neck, sending shivers down my spine. When did he get so close? “You must be a kind pony.” Kindest killer he's ever met, I'm sure. Saving orphans and what have you, I was a damned Alicorn I was so goodly.
“Y-yeah,” I chuckled, “Save 'er from slavers...”
Warmth flushed through my body as he kissed me. I was patently glad I wasn't a pegasus right then as I kissed him back.
BANG
“Fuckity fuck fuck.” I wrenched my lips away. Whiskey ruined my ability to swear property. I took a long look at him. He wasn't ugly, but he wasn't really good looking neither, and while his teeth were a ruin, his ass was fine. So I was left with a choice, get some of said ass or figure out why ponies were shooting...
Ass it was!
BANG BANG BANG
Nope, I already made my decision. No amount of shooting was going to change my mind.
“Hireeeeeed!” my head snapped to the stairs leading to the second floor where we had made our room. The light pink filly was flying down the stairs, a face of terror on her... face.
Sex was going to have to wait.
Tearing myself off the stool and away from Grimer, I nearly fell when my hooves hit the floor. Damn, why was the world spinning? It shouldn't spin. As a rule. Serenity seemed oblivious to my plight as she quickly jumped onto my back yelling in my ear, “Raiders outside! They're killing ponies!”
“Why aren't you asleep?”
“W-what! How can I sleep when ponies are dying!” Because ponies die constantly and it's more work saving them then it's worth. Of course I wasn't about to tell a filly that, so instead I stretched and groaned.
BANG.
A bullet shot through the boarded up window and buried itself in the bar an inch from my leg.
Stomping my hoof, the cloud over my head waned and I charged the door, forgetting my lack of firearms.
---
I burst through the door in a flurry of broken wood and splinters. The single street had become a war zone with over turned carts and barrels used for cover. The NCA was held up on one side, a small band of raiders from the north on the other; both sides seemed to be staring at me in shock.
A black-and-red maned raider got off a single shot before I was on him. The bullet grazed my skin, but I felt nothing. Whiskey is awesome. My metal leg rose and lashed out as I reared. His head resisted for less than a second, before cracking and caving in. His body twitched and fell; his pistol falling from his foaming mouth. I scooped it up and dashed behind a water trough for cover as the rest of the raiders realized what just happened.
My head pounded as bullets shot through my makeshift cover, missing me but splashing my mane with water. “Weww!” I yelled at the NCA troops through the pistol in my mouth, “Cawge 'em!” A battle cry roared over the NCA troopers and bullets started firing. Good.
Turning quickly, I bucked the remains of the water trough towards the gang. It didn't go very far but it was distracting. Turning back, I half charged and half stumbled towards their ranks. My pistol blasted out missing more of its’ nine shots then it hit. It was enough though, as one pony in front of me was soaked in blood from a hole in her chest. Hopping over, I charged the nearest pony.
The force of my blow on the poor raider’s back was enough to send him to the dirt, squealing like a stuck pig. “Fuck!” One of the raiders backed away from me, “She's a monster.” That was so nice of him to say. So nice I could only smile when his bullet ripped through my leg. “She's a fucking Dash-head!”
I stumbled towards him and chucked the pistol at his feet. “It's empty.” I had no idea why I said that.
The raider took one look at me, another at the gun, and a third at the NCA battalion crawling up behind me. He ran. The rest of the raider following suite save for a single unicorn that was summarily shot to bloody pieces. Dropping to the ground I rested my head in the dirt.
Yum. Dirt.
---
I came off my buzz in searing pain as the full extent of my injuries became clear. Two bullets tore straight through my recently healed leg, another scraped across my side. That was not to mention the knife protruding from my meaty flank in the centre of the three rocks that made up my cutie mark. “Got stuck in a muscle.” Serenity said as she tore the blade from my side, sending fire lancing through me. Swearing under my breath, I clenched my teeth down on a rolled up blanket that tasted of dirt.
“What the hell was that!” The ghoul commander, who so kindly took my weapons earlier, screamed at me. The glare I sent him, as Serenity applied pressure with a cloth to my wound, must have said something as he quickly lowered his voice. “Why would you charge into a raider gang like that? Do you have any idea what they're capable of?” If it wasn't for the fact we were in his camp, under his own personal tent, I would have smashed his ghoulish teeth in.
“They woke up Serenity.” I replied, letting the dirty blanket drop to the ground.
“So.” His pale eyes leered at me out from his rough sunken face, “You charged a group of raiders because they woke up your daughter? Are you insane!” Yes. Also drunk. The thought reminded me, I bought a bottle at the bar. Reaching into my saddle bag, I tore out the bottle and took a chug. A burning warmth spread down my chest, and already I could feel the pain dulling.
“She's not my daughter.”
“Yes I am!” Serenity chirped in merrily behind me, still tending to my injured flank.
“She's not.” I repeated. The ghoul would have raised an eyebrow at me if he had one. “Really.”
“It doesn't matter.” He trotted back and forth in the small tent, his mood switching constantly from rage to barely concealed rage. The NCA had set up a small camp on the outskirts of the small village, but from the way the ghoul was talking they owned the town. Or at least ran it. “I'm thankful for your help, but we do not require your assistance. This is NCA business, and we do not need civilian casualties.” See what I mean?
“You've got raiders... uh... raiding your town.” I nickered as Serenity trotted over to me and shoved a healing potion down my gullet. Coughing it down, the bullet wounds in my leg started to knit together. “You'll have casualties either way.”
“And what do you suggest miss-?” He left it open for me to fill in my name. How nice of him.
“Gun. Hired Gun.”
“Convenient.” He whinnied, “I'm Lucky.” Lucky enough to be turned into a ghoul. The wasteland continued it macabre sense of humour as I took another swallow from my whiskey bottle.
“Well. You've have the pony-power. Take the fight to the raiders.”
“No.” Now that was just rude.
“Why?”
“All military action is strictly classified.”
“Including actions you don't take.” Serenity giggled at my side as she fussed over my leg. The flesh had almost completely knitted itself back, but she was obviously still worried about infections and the like. He blinked dumbly at me before responding.
“We have been ordered not to attack, unless they pose a credible threat to the safety of the wasteland. As we have them holed up save for a few isolated incidents, we don't have the authority to carry out such an... extermination.” He chewed his lip a bit after he spoke.
“Well. What if they had a hostage?”
Lucky grinned.
---
I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say the very next day I found my back legs bound in irons, my fake leg deactivated, and being led blindfolded into a raider base. Why did it seem I was held captive by one raider group or another every three days or so? If history had it's say, the leader of this gang was going to get kicked through a window or shot in the head. So you know, it was going to be a hell of a day.
My head cracked against a low door frame before I was pushed through ducking and cursing. Wherever I was, it smelled damp and dusty. Even though they took off my blindfold after the door clicked behind me, I still couldn't see anything. I guessed somepony forgot to turn on the lights.
“Lights, Turn on.” A raiders gruff voice said at my side. Suddenly brightness. My eyes burned and I had to cover them to stop pain flaring up through my head. Suddenly, I knew how Grimer felt. Behind me some pony was laughing, so I reluctantly tore my eyes open, and stared in shock.
I was looking at a room almost impossibly huge; nearly five times as large as Marefort ever was. From floor to ceiling it was coated in pure white bricks, save for thin lines of magical lights shining down across the room. Sitting in huge stacks from wall to wall, and occasionally floor to ceiling was wood. Stacks upon stacks of wood, of all different shapes, cuts, sizes, and textures. Almost all were encased in a strange purple glowing shield. On the far end of the room I could see a small door that suggested this complex lead even further. Why the fuck would anypony need to build this in the centre of a bloody mountain?
“What the hell?” Pain shot through my mouth as the nearest raider struck me. Spitting out a glob of blood, spit, and my shattered tooth,I turned and glare at the attacker but he seemed not to care. Looking at my pipbuck, I saw the place was labelled, 'Reconstruction Center'. Looking closer at the room, I saw that some of the stacks of wood were missing entirely or not nearly as large as they should have been. It made a lot more sense now where Timber got the wood for their town.
The raider camp was just that; A small collection of beds, guns, and dirt near the exit. Only twenty beds, and given there were no more then fifteen raiders who caught me, and none waiting here, I gathered this operation consisted of only them. How the NCA, and all their firepower, was unable to take these guys out was beyond me. “Tie her down.”
I was shoved roughly onto one of the bloodstained mattresses, and suddenly I realized how terrible a plan this was. Deal was a deal though, but that didn't stop my mind to think up all the horrible things they could do to me as they bound me to the mattress. Just hempen rope though, so as at least if it came to that I could break free. My metal leg creaked at my side, and I questioned just how strong I could be with it deactivated.
A pale green unicorn with a spiked mane grinned down at me maliciously, and I figured I would find out sooner rather then later. “A fresh mare, heh, strong too.” I'd to wonder how he could talk with his tongue forked like that. “Betcha have a nice tight a-”
“Somepony shut Snake up.” The closest stallion bucked Snake in the chest, sending him slamming into the ground with a thud. “Nopony is to touch her. We'll get more money for a Major if she's unmolested and healthy.” A bald red stallion walked over to me with a grin, “You best hope they willin' to pay though. Rank don't matter here. We'll fuck you bloody if they don't produce the caps.” He chuckled to himself, congratulatory.
The ruse was working then. Lucky had dressed me up all fancy in his green NCA Garb, including his shiny metal badges, and sent me off 'scouting'. All it took then was to wander too close to Raider territory and to take a page from Grimer's book and surrender. Raiders didn't know much, but they knew well enough not to kill a valuable hostage. Even though in reality I was a mostly worthless hostage. Of course, when the report was to be sent they'd write my part as 'an NCA hostage'. It'd be enough for the bureaucracy, I was told.
Serenity hated the idea. In retrospect, I really shouldn't have told her, but there was no way to explain why I was going to be vanishing for a day or so. The only other option was not telling her, and I didn't want to risk her thinking I abandoned her. I didn't mind it when she got mad and yelled, but then she started crying! What was I supposed to do with a crying filly? Comforting fillies was not in my repertoire. I'd hugged her and told her I was going to be fine, but she just pushed me away saying, “that's what they always say.” Saying that, “they always die.” It almost made me reconsider my course of action... but I 'd already made a deal. Hired Gun doesn't break contracts.
“What the fuck are you looking at.” I turned my head back to the bald leader. So lost in thought was I that I was staring at the door on the far end of the complex.
“The door. Where does it lead.” My voice sounded annoyingly choked up.
“Fuck if I know.” he cantered impatiently in circles around me as the other raiders cooked suspicious looking meat over a large fire. “Sent a few bucks to check that shit out, but only one came back, riddled with bullets. Said it was a stairway to the fucking top of the mountain but was guarded by fucking robots of all things. Ain't got the ponies to check it out further,”
“Could be loot up there.” And knowledge. Why did I all of the sudden have the urge to explore this building? To eek out it's secrets and find out who built it and why. Maybe because I already had my suspicions and they needed to be validated. It was like a mosquito bite on my back. No matter how hard I tried I knew I wouldn't be able to scratch it, but damn did it itch.
“Could be our graves, are you a fucking idiot?” Yes. Though I'd to wonder why raiders felt the need to swear every second word. Though, these raiders were different than what I'd expected. Save for the blood stained mattress, their entire camp was surprisingly clean, and there were no mutilated bodies to be seen. Not that I was complaining.
“So. How'd you end up here?” The bald pony raised a hoof and I winced and wriggled the binds on my legs tightening. The blow never came though.
“Gotta go someplace. Used to be traders, some of us. But then you fuckers in green came and arrested us. Said we traded to raiders.” he snorted laughter, and Snake laughed too trotting over and sticking his mutilated tongue out at me.
“They did to.” Snake hissed at me, his breath dangerously close to my neck, “My old gang and Reddy here traded, sure as fuck.”
“Fuck off, Snake.” Red said and Snake snapped his head up chuckling to himself.
“Heh. Can't fuck'er, an' now I can't fuck with'er. You're a stickler, you sonofabitch.” He nickered trotting over to the nearest stack of wood and leaning on it. Or rather leaning on the barrier covering the wood as he never touched it.
“As I was saying, you and your fucking NCA came, called us out and arrested us for trading with raiders. Who the fuck else are we supposed to trade with I asked, but they didn't care. So we broke out, joined the remnants of the group we used to trade with and came here.” he laughed bitterly in my face, “You fuckers turned traders into raiders, and now you reapin' your reward. How’s that feel?”
“Like shit.” I admitted. Squirming for a second I helped the rope dig into my legs the more I struggled. Fucking things burned. “Would you go back to trading? If we let you?”
His face was blank for a second before he shrugged. “Don't know.” And I guessed he didn't care either by the way he walked away.
Time ticked by incredibly slowly as I waited for my rescue. Behind me raiders chattered about their plans, how many kills they each got, and what they were going to do to me once the NCA refused to pay. It took all of my mental strength not to say something as they spoke of how they were going to ram a red hot gun barrel up my ass. It was exhausting and completely destroyed what little pity I 'd felt after the bald ponies story.
Eventually I found myself drifting off to sleep, dreaming of all the torture these ponies thought up for me.
---
I woke up to the sounds of an explosion.
My eyes snapped open and turned to the wreckage of the door. That's one way to get in. My heart started pounding and I tried to remember what I was supposed to do. Bullets flew over head, and screams could be heard as the NCA stormed in, guns blazing. Chuckling, I lowered my head again and waited for rescue.
“You and me.” Snake was suddenly standing above me, ignoring the hail of lead. The dread in my gut was only matched by the burning of my shoulder. “We're gunna have fun.” Gasping, the mattress I was on lifted into the air and was thrown behind a stack of two by fours that reached to the ceiling.
Oh fuck.
I took a deep breath as Snake cantered after me a sick grin on his face. The ropes burned against my legs as I struggled against them. Turning my head, I could see Snake and his... snake. Both seemed happy to see me squirm. My gut twisted into knots and I resisted the urge to vomit. Fuck, he was getting close. Far too close. The ropes stung, and I uncharacteristically screamed for Lucky to help me, but my voice was drowned out in the din of gun fire. “Take a good look bitch. This is goin to-”
SNAP
One rope broke and my leg snapped out. He seamed not to notice as he reared up ready to -- it doesn't matter -- as my hoof struck him between the legs, and I could feel him squish under the force.
“Fucking bitch!” He fell. Rolling, he drew his hooves to himself in pain. “I was gunna be fucking gentle too, you bitch.” One by one my legs snapped free except for my powerless mechanic leg. Standing on my three good legs, I pressed down on the stained bedding trying to wrench it free. The ropes tightened around my metal leg but didn't snap. Turning my head, I saw that twisted bastard rolling onto his feet cursing as he he tried his best to avoid becoming a gelding. When he saw my gaze he ignored the pain, and charged.
Quickly, I dropped and rolled onto my back as the rope attached to my metal leg pulled the mattress above me. Lashing out with all three legs, the rope finally broke, and the bed slammed full force into that bastard, sending him sprawling. Scrambling to my feet, I pressed a hoof to my nose and snorted. The small power crystal I'd stored in my nose in case of emergencies fell rolled in my snot. Grabbing it with my teeth, doing my best to ignore the taste of mucus, I slammed it into my metal leg. The sound of the my leg whirling and powering up was the second most amazing sound I'd ever heard.
My head turned to the mattress and the raider squirming underneath. I jumped onto the mattress with my full weight. My legs lashed, pounding into the mattress as blood began to seep out from underneath. The sound of his guts squishing out as I stomped him to death; that the first most amazing sound.
The battle was still raging though. The centre camp was a bloody graveyard, but the surviving raiders were weaving in between giants stacks of wood. The NCA would be hard pressed to search them out in the giant maze-like complex while dodging gun fire and worse. It didn't help that the raiders knew the complex far better than the attacking NCA. Since I was still getting paid, I entered the fray. Charging, I jumped over the body of a red pony who I realized was the bald trader. I felt a twinge of pity for what happened to him, but it melted away when I remembered he allowed scum like Snake to live.
Weaving around a pile of wood I found my first raider. He turned far to late as I kicked out his front legs with my prosthetic sending him face planting into the white brick floor. Rearing, I brought down both legs on his head causing his skull to cave in; spraying blood, brains and bone chips over my face. Spitting, I nearly retched at the taste; but I didn't have the time to be sick so I simply grabbed the fallen pistol, ignoring the taste of blood, and galloped on my way.
Turning one corner or another, I ran face first into three surviving raiders. All wielding automatic weapons. I slid back from whence I came just in time for bullets to splinter through the wood, spraying the hall. Wait, splinters. Me, being an idiot, didn't realize this was one of the towers that had the barrier deactivated. Most of its’ top had been scavenged, leaving only a ten foot high wall instead of a tower reaching toward the ceiling.
As the raiders came running up the way I went, I moved to the opposite side of the wall and gave it a great kick. The wood creaked and groaned and fell. Between the crash, and the shouts, I gathered my ploy had worked. Peaking over the pile of wood, I saw one unlucky pony's head sticking out between logs. A single bullet was all it took to put him out of his misery. My shoulder still burned, though.
“Whats going on?” Turning, I saw three NCA troops standing, guns pointed at me.
“I was the hostage...” I said slowly and pointed my head to the pile of wood, “Should be two more alive under there. If you feel like killing.” And with that I trotted off to hunt some more raiders. Any fucker who worked with Snake deserved to die.
I managed to find the last one if you can believe that.
A mare, pretty too, and stupidly I had to wonder what she thought of Snake. She was huddled in the corner of the room crying with her weapon unloaded in front of her. “Puh-puh-please. L-let me go. I-” she sobbed, “I-i never wanted this. T-t-they said if I didn't he-help they'd...”
BANG
Her head exploded.
Tearing my eyes from the blood splattered on the wall, I turned my head to see Lucky, uniform-less, with a smoking gun levitating beside him. “Raiders. They'll do anything to get out of punishment.” His eyes caught mine and he chuckled. “What? Trust me kiddo I've lived long enough to know a Raider and how to deal with them,” They're basically immortal, ghouls that is. I'd to wonder how old he was though. Maybe he was from Eye Glow, maybe he remembered when the bombs fell.
“You could have come sooner.”
“Did they hurt you?” Hah, he actually sounded almost worried.
Looking down I took measure of the rope burns on my three legs, and counted in my wounded dignity before shaking my head. “I'm fine.” my head turned to the bloody mess that the Mare's corpse made. “Who’s going to clean this up?”
Lucky shrugged his rotten shoulders, “Nopony, who cares. Some fucked up pre-war compound without any real loot.” Not any real loot? Maybe he was blind as well.
“Rows upon rows of timber. More then enough to build an entire city.”
He snorted. “Yeah, and they're protected by magic. The kind what needs a special code to get through, a code nopony seems to know. The only things useful here were taken. Save for whatever's upstairs, but those damn robots make it impossible. Trust me, I tried it years ago.”
Whatever. It was stupid of me to ask. I just needed my pay and to get the fuck out of this stupid town. Me and the NCA squad, who I found out suffered zero casualties, left through the smoking remains of the door into the day. I took one look back into the compound with its bright lights and white and red stained bricks before leaving out the side of the mountain. For the life of me I still couldn't figure out why they'd build something like this in a mountain.
---
“You're hurt!” Serenity said, weaving between my legs fussing over my rope burns.
“Not that bad.” I winced as she poked my wounds and levitated a healing potion to my lips. Waving it away I caught Serenity, lifting her up with my leg. “I'm fine. But we aren't rich enough to drink a healing potion every time I get scratched.” She pouted at me, and I very nearly changed my mind. Putting her down, I turned away and took a look around our small inn room, my eyes reaching the single mattress on the floor. It made me sick just looking at it.
“Humph, sorry.” She hung her head low and made a whole dramatic thing of trotting slowly over to the bed and flopping down in a ball. I sighed heavily and I could have sworn I heard her giggling. The door opened behind us and I was half pleased half annoyed when Grimer walked through the door flashing a rotten grin.
“You're a lucky lady.” He nickered. “Also a bloody idiot, why the hell would you make yourself a hostage? Do you have any idea what raiders do to prisoners?” More then he knew. Being treated by a bloody foal by some cowardly stallion was the last thing I needed.
“What do you want?” I said curtly not bothering to hide my annoyance. Taking one step back, he gulped as his eyes darted about the room.
“S-sorry,” He stammered, looking abashed, “I just heard you were back in town and thought we co-”
“I know what you thought.” The folly of the day before was becoming clearer by the second. How could I possibly get involved with somepony so weak. Even if it's just for pleasure, he'd think more into it then was there...
... And every time I looked at him, the only thing I could see was Snake's forked tongue.
Gulping again, he backed up through the door he came from, and right into a couple of NCA troops. “Grimer?” One of them asked, faceless beneath a green helmet. Drawing back, Grimer felt it necessary to back up into me instead. If he wasn't already staring death in the face, I would have knocked him out. My shoulder started to burn as the NCA took aim at Grimer. Celestia above knows why.
“Y-yes,” He stammered.
“You're under arrest.” For what, I nearly said until they read my mind and answered anyway, “For raider activity.” How could I not crack a smile at the idea of Grimer being a raider? “Including trading with raiders, slaving and arms dealing.” Those last three I'd to admit were not beyond the realm of possibility. It also occurred to me that most of those 'crimes' were far more accurate on my rap sheet, so I didn't say anything. “Come quietly.” Or else, the not so subtle threat said.
Not wanting to start a fire fight a foot away from Serenity, I 'gently' placed my metal off on Grimer's back. “You should go.” The floating NCA guns cocked. “Now.” I shoved him ‘ungently’ towards the troops who formed around him, and marched him out. His head turn giving me one last pleading look before he vanished through the door. No doubt going to meet the same fate as that red pony.
“You.” My shoulder was still on fire, and that did not bode well. Perhaps less for the single helmeted Unicorn standing before be if he decided to shoot. “You were working with him?”
“No.” The pony stared silently waiting for me to elaborate, “We're escapees from slavers. Met him and his men and paid for security.” He kept staring, what the hell did he want from me?
“We're going to Dise.” Serenity perked up behind me from what was supposed to be sleep, “Have family in The Watchers.” The NCA troop gulped, stepped back and nodded. “Where you from~?” The pink filly asked pleasantly.
“Crest.” He brought himself up, his voice sparking with pride. “Heart of the NCA, don't let anypony tell you different. Second to come out of the Stables, and first to rebuild thanks to Prime Minister Saigns , Goddess' Bless Him.” The little filly bounced off the bed and hopped towards him in obviously fake wonderment.
“Really? Oh wow I heard about it~ is it true General Scoiatel comes from Crest?” The NCA Pony looked down at the little pony quizzically before nodding. “Oooooooh. That's Awesome~.”
“Heh. Guess it is.” The burning in my shoulder subsided as he put his gun away. “You two stay out of trouble.” With a nod and flourish he too vanished from my room. A room, I should mention, I took the time to lock when I first entered. Apparently, locked doors didn't mean as much as I'd thought they did. Even still, I took the time to lock my door again before making my way back to Serenity and her stern grey eyes.
“Did we just sell out Grimey?”
“No.” I shrugged, lying on the floor beside the bed and resting my head on my rope-burned leg. Needed to rest. Feeling weary seemed second nature in the Wasteland, but that didn't make it pleasant, and I hadn't slept since the fight at the Warehouse. And the sleep I had there was anything but restful.
“We did so...” She pouted at me.
“He sold himself out. I didn't force him to work with Raiders.”
“You've worked with the exact same ones,” Yes Serenity, I remembered. And then I killed them. Seemed fair to me. There was no point arguing with a filly, so I closed my eyes and turned on my radio.
“Hello and welcome, Dise. You've tuned in just in time for your favourite segment, my voice.” I chuckled and rested my head again. Sure as an overcast was Mr New Haygas the best part of the radio, and not for his news. “Also, the news! Who would have thought? Well, it seems a high ranking Mustang has been seen converting near the Minotaur Base at Canyon Ridge Bridge. Predictably the NCA has something to say about that, straight from General Scoiatel himself,” After a brief burst of static a gruffer sounding pony was speaking, “If it is true, and the Mustangs have aligned with the enemy then we will have to speak very seriously with the other gangs of Dise. As much as we support Dise independence we cannot have traitors within the walls of such a great city.” The military stallion finally shut up and let New Haygas speak, allowing me to finally drift of to sleep to the sound of his smooth voice.
---
KNOCK
“Mmm,“ I mumbled in a half asleep haze, “Don't think it'll fit...”
KNOCK KNOCK
My head shot up and I quickly shook away the blush on my cheeks. Damn dreams. Always ended a second too early.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
“Stop that.” I growled getting clumsily to my feet. It seemed my metal leg always worked worse when I was sleepy. Looking at the shuttered window, I saw only darkness peaking in. I guess it was too much to hope for a full nights sleep. Who the hell needed sleep anyway? According to everypony, not me.
Walking slowly to the door, I quickly unlocked it (which is harder then you'd expect without magic) and opened the door... to have no less then three ponies rush into my bedroom making such a racket I saw Serenity twitch in the corner of my eye. Was I really going to have beat manners into these intruders? Then again, at least they knocked before barging in. “What?” I said trying to blink sleep out of my eyes.
“Hired Gun?” One of the ponies shrouded in darkness said. I could barely make out her features, but her voice gave away her gender at least. I nodded. “We... we need somepony with yours skills. You see, we heard about what happened at the warehouse, and if anypony could do it you could, so we're here to ask you for your help an-”
“How much?” I cut her off. Some ponies really did need to learn how to shut up. Eeping, the pony jumped a half step when I interrupted and stared at her feet during my reply. The two, male, ponies behind her did nothing but glare at me.
“F-five hundred caps.”
“Six Hundred.”
“You don't even know what the job is. How can you bargain?!” The glare I sent her hopefully sent the message that I wasn't negotiating anything. “I mean. Um. Okay the job. I'm sure you've noticed the raiders,” I managed to find the only pony in the wasteland stupider then me. “Well we never did have mucha problem 'fore the NCA showed, you-you see? They took most of our traders and arrested them as raider sympathizers for 'trading' with them which is stupid because they're traders and that's what they do you know so-”
“Please.” my voice betrayed my annoyance, “breath.”
“S-sorry. Ahem. So. I was saying. After they took them prisoner they threw them in the mountain complex thingy you were in and even killed the Sheriff when he protested! ” By the goddess she actually paused to breath! “They were supposed to be taken down to work the farm. Except they managed to escape, and the NCA have been unable to fix the problem they caused until you showed up, and now they want to rule this town.”
“And you don't want that to happen.” I stated matter of fact.
She nodded her head curtly in the deep gloom, but my eyes had gotten used to the light so I could actually see who it was I was speaking too. To my surprise, it seemed the bartender of this very inn was my mysterious employer, but then again I really didn't care. “No. We've had it up to oue necks with the damned NCA, but they won’t leave. They say we need protection from raiders they created. So we need a sheriff.”
“I'm not a sheriff. “ I had to dispel that rumour as quickly as equinely possible before she got any crazy ideas, “But I know where you can find one who has a lifetime of experience. “
---
The streets were dark and the sky was moonless. A stupid thing to say as I've never seen the moon, but I just felt it'd set a dramatic scene. Stupid idea, I know. Even still: it was quite dark, so much so that I managed to get my metal leg caught no less then three time (for those keeping track: a pot hole, some abandoned fencing, and a broken water trough). Inching my way down the only street, I slowly closed in on the NCA encampment hoping to Celestia that they'd all be asleep.
They weren't.
A single sentry stood guard over the entrance of the camp. If it was possible I would have snuck around, but a rudimentary fence of scavenged chain-link and barbwire surrounded the encampment. It would have hurt too much to climb over, and I wasn't positive I could break through without causing a ruckus. That meant I'd to use my guile and quick wit to get through...
“I need to get in,” I said sourly, walking up to the guard who seemed to snap his head up at me. Why couldn't their bloody helmets show, you know, their eyes? Would have made it a lot bloody easier if I knew he was asleep.
“W-why? State your name and rank.” Rank?
“Hired Gun...” I paused thinking up a rank and coming up blank, “Uh, Hired Gun?” That's a rank right?
“Whats you-Oh” He shook his head for half a second and stood straight up, “You're the mare what was working for Major Lucky, innit?” Blinking, I nodded dumbly, “Aww hell, that stunt ya pulled back at Timber Yard was amazing. Throwing yourself to the wolves jus' for us. Hell, you're amazing. I'd never have the balls ta go through with that, I tell ya what. Pardon my language, you've gotta go, I bet business with the Major. Don't let me keepya,”
“Thanks.” I mumbled, lowering my head and walking through the makeshift gate thanking my lucky stars so many ponies equalled my level of stupidity.
The camp was not near as dark as the town, with small candles still glowing inside various tents giving me ample reason to avoid them completely. Luckily, I'd remembered where the 'prisoner tent' was in the complex, having been given a small tour when I was with Lucky the other night. Lowering my massive body, I crept between tents and moved 'silently' towards where I assumed Grimer was kept.
“Who the fuck are you?” A pony cantered towards me, opening a tent flap as he exited. Behind him I saw a glint of pale purple. My pipbuck cracked his temple as soon as he got close sending him sprawling with a thud. He glowered up at me and stumbled to his feet, blood running down his temple.
Fighting here was too loud, dammit, we were going to wake up the whole damn camp. The burning in my shoulder told me I did not have the luxury of thought. Turning swiftly, I bucked him hard sending shock-waves through my legs, and him rolling into the tent. Too loud. Fuck.
Following suite, I galloped through the tent flap meeting Grimer's eyes as I slid to a halt. “What the fuck?” Very good question Grimer, I thought, giving the NCA guard another swift kick his shotgun falling out of his magical grip. “You're here to save me?”
Nope, try again.
“How'd you like to be sheriff.”
“What?” He stood up slowly, the shackles on his legs jingling lightly, “What exactly does that entail?”
“Declaring war on the NCA.” I intoned dully. By his blank stare, I guessed it wasn't funny. “Usual sheriffy stuff. The alternative are the shackles on your legs.” He smirked with his rotten teeth before nodding.
“Aye, sounds like something I could go for.” I nodded raising my foreleg.
CRACK.
My metal leg snapped through the chains on his legs with a single strike. Clearly, my leg was made of stronger metal as I quickly knocked off his back-leg shackle as well. There, now all we had to do was-
“What do we have here?” Fuck.
My eyes shot up, meeting pale eyes of Major Lucky. Oh and at least five guards, including the one I met at the gate. His voice was calm, but I could tell with much reluctance on his part. “You're stepping just a bit past where I am comfortable you bein'. Yeah, you helped us a bunch at the Reconstruction Center, but don't think that means I can overlook this. Jail-breaking, resiting arrest, assault. More then enough for a execution order.”
“You have no jurisdiction here.” Grimer stepped forward, shotgun in his mouth but without a noticeable slur when he spoke. Clearly this was nothing new. “NCA Doesn't rule Timber. Think 'cause you kill the sheriff that gives you rights cause it don't.”
“Shut up and lie down!” Major Lucky bellowed. The pale purple pony winced, his head stinging no doubt, and leaned back so far that I nearly expected him to obey.
BANG
The buck shot tore a bloody hole through Lucky's already mangled ear. “The NCA took everything away from me once. I've tried being nice. I've tried bowing, I've tried listening and running but fuckit I'm tired.” Huh, and here I thought he was a coward. “Step the fuck down and leave Timber alone. You wont get your teeth in here.”
“Do you really think you can slaughter a whole camp?” If he had eyebrows the ghoul would have raised one, “Even if you did you'd bring upon the wrath of the NCA down on you like you wouldn't believe.” Oh good, nopony was paying attention to me. That gave me all the time in the world to reach back into my saddle bag...
... and pull out the last grenade I stole from Nanny Jane.
“Dun gotta.” I mumbled awkwardly, the metal apple cool in my mouth, “Explothion, ponies die. Bad publithity.” The NCA were not well loved, except when handing out food, and even then they were merely tolerated. A stain on their reputation like, say, a riot, could have disastrous consequences and he knew it. The way he took a step back gulping, confirmed that fact.
“You'd die.” He pointed out.
I shrugged. “Got a Contract.” Truthfully, I was hoping the threat was enough, but if it came to that I wasn't planning on backing down. In the wasteland, you had to have a virtue, and I promised myself I’d never break a contract. No matter what came of it. Survive, a voice whispered in my ear.
“Yes.” His corpse like head nodded. “We'll leave.” He smirked a bit, stretching his face revoltingly.
“Good.” Grimer stomped his hoof. “Though's a shame. Was looking forward to killing ponies.” Grimer smirked, showing his rotten teeth. With a wave of the hoof and a chuckle, Lucky dismissed his bucks save the injured guard on the ground. I kicked him again for good measure.
“So that's it huh? You'd betray anypony for a few caps.” Lucky said, backing up a few steps into the night, the candle casting shadows across his face. “Work for Him,” His head motioned to the rather smug looking new sheriff, “then me, Then him again. That the way of it.”
Grimer suddenly stood up straight and clamped a hoof on my shoulder, “You're not thinking of trying to buy her off because she wo-” I turned away, quickly sending his hoof off my shoulder and stomping on the ground, “Would you?” he gulped at me.
“No. Gotta keep him as sheriff.”
“What if there was another contract? Nothing in Timber, would you be interested?” Of course I was.
---
And thus ended my and Serenity's adventure in the little town of Timber. Even though Serenity did very little, being sick the whole time, I knew she'd be upset if I didn't include her. Sheriff Grimer was reminisce to inform me that the NCA still had their confiscated goods when they left town (except for my rifle which was returned to me after I helped the NCA out the first time). Still, the talkative bartender, whose name I never had the pleasure of knowing, gave me all the caps promised and a couple bottles of whiskey for the road.
It hadn't occurred (Funny how often things don't) to me how long we had stayed there until Serenity complained about having to leave. Between the confiscation of our goods, and me rescuing Grimer from the jail cell I helped put him in; it was two full days, and another day and a half before we actually left the the town. I could recollect the injuries I suffered in said time, but frankly that'd take far too long. Still, it was a good few days, judging only by the caps weighing down my saddlebags.
“Hey.” Serenity walked up to me. Oh yeah, Serenity was feeling better too. I'd taken to standing on the crest of a small hill that shadowed our camp site. “What'cha lookin' at?” With a smile I motioned my hoof towards the horizon. Serenity squinted her small grey eyes, “Dun see nuffin.” Leaning down, I took the little filly by the scruff of her neck and deposited her onto my back. “Oh. I see!”
So did I. There on the horizon highlighted by the red clouds burning from the east, as the sun began to rise, was a great wall. Inside the wall stood dozens of tall buildings peaking above it; sparkling lights shining in only one of every five buildings. Above them, all four tall building stood like monuments to the glory of the past, their lights shining brighter than any star I'd never seen. The tallest of which stretched so high I thought it was touching the cloud line, and at it's tip was the giant head of a pink pony. Its eyes glowing eerily. For days I've heard of Dise. I never believed them until I saw it shining like polished steel. This was Dise: The greatest city in the world. And with help from the Watchers, maybe a place where the small filly on my back could find her home again.
And damn, was it beautiful.
Footnote:
Level up!
Skill note: Sneak 25
(A/N: First and foremost I gotta give mad props to Kkat and her world that without this thingy here wouldn't exist. Also my editor without whom this would be a garbled mess of unreadable messiness, theBSDude.) |
No One | 662 | 6 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-03-23T10:19:25+00:00 | 2012-03-23T10:19:25+00:00 | 24,412 | Beneath The Surface
“The most massive characters are seared with scars.”
“We sell guns and gun accessories.”
Robots were not the best for conversations, less so those that hide behind bulletproof glass. They were also terrible barterersl all their weapons had a set price that I was unable to talk down, even with all my and Serenity’s charm.
The robot on the other side was little more then a screen hanging off the ceiling of its booth with various long, spindly arms that waved around uncomfortably. I could just imagine that one of those things could crush the skull of a would-be thief as easily as a pony could crush eggshells, so robbery was out of the question. Reluctantly, I placed my caps on the the counter and watched as the robot slid them to his side of the glass and slid my overpriced .308 rounds to me. While I was still fairly wealthy (if you asked me), it just hurt parting with so much money for so little ammo. Though after how well grenades served me in the past, I made sure to pick up a bushel with no care to the cost.
“Thank you for your patronage.” Patrowhat?
“Can I have a gun?” Serenity was resting her forelegs on the counter so she could see into the shop. Peering down at the little filly, I gave her five seconds to realize how stupid that statement was before answering.
“No.”
“Why not?” Really? Have I mentioned I hate children?
“Because,” I said trying out my 'caring matron' voice; though judging by her face it didn't work, “You haven't been trained. The smallest mistake can kill.” Not to mention giving a mentally-scarred filly a gun was just a stupid idea. Yeah I'm an idiot, but I knew guns and when ponies shouldn't be carrying them.
“Commooon. You need a second gunner! Back up! I'm the best backup... Ever!” The little pink filly literally bounced as she bragged.
“I'm sure.” How could I not roll my eyes at that? “Maybe, if we find a gun range, and I can see your skills.” She beamed like the sun. However, I still had no intention what so ever of giving her anything even close to a gun.
“Haha! Watch out Wasteland; Serenity is coming.” For catch phrases I'd give that a three out of five, plus some bonus points for actually saying it out loud. Now for any other pony, I would kindly point out that in a few hours we'd be (presumably) safe behind the massive walls of Dise and wouldn't have much need for guns, but I had to let Serenity have her delusions. Sometimes in the Wasteland that's all you really had.
Well, that went depressing in a hurry.
I backed up from the booth with my wallet emptier but my guns fuller. All in all, it was not such a bad trade. Looking up past the small armoury, I could see the massive grey wall of Dise looking not nearly as impressive as from a distance. What I'd thought was a massive slab of concrete was, in fact, a loosely held together jumble of wood, stone, brick, and metal that looked ready to fall apart at any second. Atop its ramparts, if I squinted, I could barely make out the signs of ponies patrolling, and for a split second I thought I saw the glint of a scope pointed at me.
Stepping back, I surveyed our options. Getting in Dise was not going to be easy. Because, while from a distance, the main entrance looked like a straight walk, the huge grey ruins of Old Dise stood in the way, most of which was actually inhabited. Just to get into the ruins, before even the city proper, you had to pass a NCA checkpoint, and somehow I figured that wouldn't be the only obstacle into the city. As I looked at the buildings that towered over the massive makeshift wall, I couldn't blame them for wanting to keep the city safe. Every single pony for miles around could see the city, and I was sure every one of them wanted a piece of it.
Me included, if I must be honest.
“Do you think they'll let us in?” Serenity chirped in, breaking my trance.
“Uh,” I shook my head and started onwards to the NCA Guard post literally meters away. Like seemingly all of its kind, the guard post was surrounded by a chain-link fence lined with barbwire. The rest of the inhabited ruins made due with small walls consisting of trains cars, sheets of metal, and, most jarringly, huge metal spikes. Predictably, I chose to take my chances with NCA questioning. Very brave of me, I know.
The Guard stopped me, “State your business in Parasite Mound.”
Parasite what now? Of all the names I've ever heard for towns that was by far the worst. The NCA trooper in his fancy blue uniform and faceless mask managed to glower none the less. An impressive feat, matched only by my not giving a fuck what some schmuck in blue thought.
“Sex, Drugs, Rock And Rolls.” It was the title of a book Wildfire loved in Marefort, and it was more than enough to send Serenity into a giggling fit. Mission accomplished. The NCA troop just continued to glower for a second before turning his head towards the small guard posts at his back.
“This her?” he called out. It was at that point, I became acutely aware of the fact several troopers had positioned themselves around the check point, and all of them had their weapons pointed at me. My shoulder couldn't have burned more if Celestia herself put the sun onto it. Gulping, I turned to the guard station as the door opened with a smash. Pushing Serenity behind me with my back leg, I lowered my body and readied my weapon.
“Took you long enough!” A gravely voiced barked from beyond the door, and I instantly let go of the breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. The burning subsided as a certain ghoul strolled out of the office building as easy as you please. “Kick me outta my town, and then you follow me. You're not going to kick the NCA out of here, if that is what you're planning.”
“Not less someone pays me.”
“You're bold; I'll give you that. Do you have any idea what you're doing?” Not a clue. The rough idea was for me to barge into The Watchers, deposit Serenity into their care, find out why Dr. Morowynd wanted me to go with him. After that, my plans consisted mostly of whiskey and trying to find work. “You want into my town?”
I took a good hard look at the grey unicorn with his molted skin, and dead eyes. Then I turned my head to the other side of the checkpoint at a place called Parasite Mound. It certainly fit its namesake with grey buildings half torn down by war and half by age; piling atop each other like a great concrete hill. Skinny ponies darted back and forth between half-destroyed streets and newly-formed alleys, scavenging and sometimes fighting for salvage. It was a stupid name, but I could not think of a single place more apt to it, and from what I heard it was also the easiest way into the city.
“Yes.” I answered.
“You can't walk into a place like this like you walked into Timber. Ponies here have rules, and they have rulers, and if you don't know both, you'll be dead or dying. Worse yet your daught-”
“She’s not my daughter.”
Serenity pouted behind me.
“Whatever. Fact is, she'll be dead too unless you know the rules.” He smirked and stepped back waving a hoof at his office. “I'll tell you who rules and by what rules fo-”
“For a price.” I finished. Yeah, I'm pretty stupid, always have been, but eventually you figure out how the Wasteland works.
---
“... these disturbing reports have been verified by numerous refugees from the North. If you're just joining us now,” Lucky snapped on the radio in his office as I took my seat on a pillow across from his desk. “The reports have been verified that a huge explosion reminiscent of a Balefire bomb has gone off in the heart of Equestria. What more, the elusive Enclave have been seen outside of their clouds for the first time... ever. What this means for Dise, and our very own Enclave Remnants here in Dise remains to be seen. We'll be reporting back with more news, as it becomes available,”
“Distressing,” Lucky said shaking his head at the radio, “Huddled masses have been coming through the northern passes in numbers unseen. Trying to escape whatever terror the Equestrian Wasteland has to offer, and it has always offered a lot. Back before the war, Equestria was always larger, did you know? Caledonia was what this land was called, and for reasons no pony could remember. It managed to pay lip service to Celestia without becoming a state of her nation despite being several degrees smaller in population due to what was once a sizable desert. Now, what was once Caledonia is the New Caledonia Alliance, and we have outgrown our former masters. Now, they seek our guidance and our power as we once sought theirs, and I have half a mind not to give it to them.” His body writhed as he spoke, muscles tensing visibly where the skin had flaked away on his neck.
“You talk like you were there.” Right, a ghoul. Of course he was.
“I was.” Things were starting to make sense. “I saw the apocalypse, and it saw me. When I close my eyes I see the green flames licking the sky, and felt myself slowly wither and die as the company your ancestors built, Stable-Tec,” he managed to make the name a curse, “poisoned me and my family out of fucking curiosity. Then I, dead, choose to flip off death and continue to live. Rebuild. I helped turn Eye Glow from a graveyard to a city, I helped form the Alliance of the five cities.”
“So? Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want you to listen to the radio and understand what’s at stake. We built up the world from the brink of death, and now Equestria is coming here to kill it again. They'll want food. They'll want blankets. They'll want water and supplies and they'll want it for free or they'll turn raider.” he leaned in glaring at me, “They always do. Equestrians. Like you.”
“I'm paying you for information, not history.” Couldn't ponies even rant at the proper times anymore.
“But I like history... ” Serenity complained.
“Fine,” Lucky said ignoring the plea of the filly, “What do you want to know?”
“How do I get into the city?”
“Three ways.” He smirked at me in an entirely uncomfortable manner, “One, you have a passport, either by being issued one by the NCA or Dise indicating you a resident of either or forging a fake one. Two, you prove you’re a tourist with more then five thousand caps. Three, you provide proof you have a job waiting for you on the inside.” As far as I could see, all those options were out of my reach. How very helpful.
“What should I expect inside Parasite Mound?”
“Violence,” He said a bit too calmly, “It's not NCA territory, though we've agree to help guard it. A lot of ponies desperate to get into the city live there, some more then others.”
“Do you have anything useful to say?”
“Keep your leg on.” He chuckled a bit. “From what I've seen of your 'habits', you'll fight a Hellhound for the right price, and here that's going to get you or your filly hurt.” he stopped tapping at his desk. “That goes for here as well as Dise. This is not the Wasteland where the biggest pony is top dog. Here, if you overstep or take the wrong job, you'll end up in an alley.”
“So I paid you for a warning?” I already regretted going to this idiot pony for help. Two hundred years old and was unable to give me a solid piece of advice. With a raspy sigh, he magically levitated a piece of paper across the desk to me. Ignoring the pain in my shoulder, I leaned over the mahogany desk. On it was a name and an address.
“We've been investigating a gun shop owner named Deadhead for suspicion of creating fake NCA passports. As it stands, we are several days before being able to convince 'The Finishers' to allow us to arrest him.” He shrugged his shoulder. “From the way I hear it his fakes are good, but expensive.”
---
I never did find out if his information was worth the caps I spent, as Deadhead wasn't at his shop when I'd gone calling, or even why Lucky needed the caps bad enough to charge for such information. Maybe it was supposed to be of those “life lessons” I have heard so much about. Everything comes with a price, yadda yadda, something about the soul. You know the usual tripe mothers and old mares push down the throats of fillies and colts to try and get them to go to bed. Some ponies really took to that sort of thing.
Parasite Mound (can we stop just for one more second for me to say how much I hate that name?) was mostly what I'd expected from the name: a teeming cesspit of violence and debauchery cleverly disguised as a cesspit of violence and debauchery. You'll notice it's not actually as crowded as it appears. Certain streets were filled with half-flanked stands of questionable meat and supplies while other streets managed to be completely empty, save for a hobo or drug addict sleeping by a derelict building. Rightfully so, I kept Serenity close at all times and forbade her from wandering.
If it were not for the locals, the town actually would have been amazing. At least to me. Tall stone buildings, some even up to five stories, towered on all sides in front of cracked stone streets. Steel poles rose from the ground, and their tips suggested they once held lamps to light the street even at night. They were long broken though, and the buildings had mostly turned into shells of their former shelf by war, weather, and lack of repairs. So what could have been an impressive town across the Wasteland turned into the refuse dump of Dise.
In front of us, however, was the final gate. The last door to Dise. Not an hour after leaving Lucky, I had happened upon it and stood under it, breathless. It had been a week or more since I woke up in Bridle Hope with a new leg and a new name. So many adventures and battles had led me to this place, but as I stood before it, I had no idea why. It was a mammoth of metal, wood, and, surprisingly enough, thick black paint, and as I looked at it I realized how little clue I actually had. My plan was to somehow get through this gate, find the Watchers, do something, and then make a profit.
The robots guarding the gate didn't help my sudden feelings of insecurity. They were vaguely pony-like in the way a flower is treelike. They were stout torso like boxes with rounded edges lacking any pretence of legs and instead were balanced by two wheels: one in the front, another in the back. Rather than a head, a stand with a monitor served: showing the static face of a annoyed pony with a rather fancy helmet. Off the back of the machine, where a tail should have been, was a beeping red antenna. Most distressingly were panels etched into the surface of the pony, that, when threatened opened an array of huge automatic machine guns. When a small colt tried to make a beeline to the gate, I saw with my own eyes the power of said guns.
Behind me, Serenity wailed.
I took one last look at the bloody colt, his blue body still twitching, and at the five “Ponitrons” guarding the gate before I turned and hefted Serenity onto my back. Growling a bit under my breath, I took a left turn down an empty alleyway and skid to an abrupt spot. Helping Serenity to the hard concrete, I gave her room as she curled into a ball sobbing. I knew she had seen death before, but that of someone so young seemed to have hit her harder then I expected. Knowing this, I should have tried to comfort her, but when I opened my mouth my tongue tied itself into knots. Words refused to come just as they had refused before.
Without words, what else could I do but take a step back and watch? She sobbed deeply, the tufts her of matted yellow and red mane bobbed with her. She was such a small little thing to hold so much sadness. Even if she tried to hide it, her mask was cracked and easy to see through. Stepping forward, I searched for something to say.
“Give me all your caps, an' nopony'll get 'urt.”
Turning, my glare stiffened at the site of a skinny-looking grey earth pony with a knife in his muzzle. Was he really going to threaten me? I had to wonder how much he was going to curse his timing as I reared out, my metal hoof connecting with a crack.
Toppling to the ground, he rolled a few feet before halting. A great gash tore through his cheek, and blood was beginning to pool around his head, until he lifted it that is. His grey face was painted red; his weapon nowhere to be found. Strolling casually up to him, I began my usual 'retreat and live' spiel when his white eyes found me: burning with hatred. Before I could blink, pain flared up my chest where he bucked me. Backing up I wheezed as my sight grew blurry.
Not good.
Guessing the second kick was coming, I lifted my metal leg in defence. My metal leg thudded and shook violently as my sight straightened itself. Ducking a third kick, I drove my head between his forelegs. Lifting my head, I tossed him off his feet. Hearing his body slam against concrete, I decided he didn't deserve my mercy. Lifting my metal hoof, I was ready to end it.
“Vat iz this?” My head snapped to the alley entrance.
Please believe that what I saw is true, no matter how ridiculous it sounds. Before me stood five matching ponies of varying races. Their manes were a uniform white, save for two whose roots were starting to show, while over their eyes they wore bright pink goggles. Instead of protective barding, or anything sensible like that, they had on gaudy black, white, and pink stripped dresses complete with matching pink ascot. They strutted towards me with such arrogance I almost forgot I was in the middle of the fight.
Oh, and for some reason one of the ponies was blaring background music.
“I said, vat iz this?”
I blinked as the leader sauntered over to me leaving her posse behind. Her dull blue coat seemed slick with sweat but it looked to bother her none. “Tried to rob me.” I said plainly, my raised hoof not leaving its place above the grey ponies head. Below it, I could see him squirming and trying to protect himself from a blow which never came.
“Iz that so?”
How was it possible to walk with your rump up in the air like that? These strange dress wearing ponies must have been some sort of magical cult. Or insane. Or both. I was torn between possibilities as she leaned down and sniffed.
“Hmph. Zis is not ze sort of pony ve vant in our city. Girls, dispose of him.” I could not place the accent as it was like nothing I'd ever heard, or wanted to hear. The leader raised her hoof to her chest, “I G-”
“Wait.” The pony stopped and glared at me through her thick goggles. Around me her “gang” grabbed the ragged body of my mugger and dragged him away. Clearly, they cared little for the well being of their leader if they left her alone with me. “What the fuck?” I enquired as politely as I could.
“Do not tell me you have no heard of ze great Photo Finish. Photo Finish is vat all ponies aspire to be,” Oh goddess, I hope not. Shaking my head, I waited for her to continue. “Sigh.”
Did she just say the word ‘sigh?’
I never had the chance to ask as she quickly continued, her outrageous accent forgotten, “Photo Finish was the most glamourous pony before the war. She had set up a fashion company in Dise and oft' instructed students in the ways of fashion.” She looked just a bit frustrated with me. “ When my mother found her old studio she devoted her life to bringing back her style to the world. Ponies lost their sense of civility, she said, and by bringing back fashion we can bring back all the socialization that is inherent in it.” She finished her obviously rehearshed speech before her accent returned, “Does zat satisfy you?”
“Yes.” I said as blankly as I could, my mind still trying to understand what I was just told.
Staring for a second, she brought a hoof to her chest, “I go!” And galloped off the way she came.
Turning around I saw Serenity staring at me, her grey eyes huge in shock. “W-What,” She stuttered slightly. “What just happened?”
---
“Nope.”
You had got to be kidding me.
“Why?” I said, making my voice as flat as possible as my eyes scanned the store. It was disgusting to look at. Piles of guns, barely cared for, were strewn haphazardly around the room. Crates of mixed calibre ammo were shoved into the corner like a naughty child. My life in Marefort was bucking the inside of my head, and it took all my mental strength not to push Deadhead away and fix up his shop myself. Weapons and ammo need to be taken care of.
The crotchety old stallion seemed just a second closer to bellowing with each word. “Ever since Major Lucky an’ his crew waltzed in they've been pressuring me to stop my perfectly legal business practices, and the Finishers are itch-in ta get on the NCA's good side. I ain’t stickin’ my neck out for some pony what I hardly know so she and her whelp-her whelp who is touchin’ my guns!”
“Serenity!” My voice cracked like a whip. Instinctively, she jumped back away from the shotgun she was toying.
“S-sorry. I've just never seen a gun like it is all.” Looking at the shotgun again, I just then realized why: it was a small pitch black semi-automatic shotgun with a pink stencil design. Not for kids my flank. “An's not like he's gunna keep these loaded. It's safe.” Occasionally, she gave this wise beyond her years vibe, but underneath it she was still a kid, and still naive.
“Treat every gun as if it's loaded.” Back when I was a filly, handling weapon maintenance and ammo sorting, I was told to treat every gun we handled that way and to treat each bullet as if it was a live grenade. Of course, I scoffed at first, thinking I was too smart (if you can believe it) for that, but after Sidewinder was shot through the neck with a shotgun on accident... well then I took those words to heart. Praying Serenity would be wiser than I, I turned back to Deadhead. “So-”
“Nope. Sorry. Can't do it. ‘Less you can convince those Finishers to get the NCA off my back, I have to cut off my legitimate business practices. Shame I know. Now, buy a gun, or get the fuck out.” As if I was going to buy a gun from someone who kept his stock in such ill repair. I might as well sign my own death warrant. A jammed gun at the wrong time was just asking for trouble. Yeah, I'm not the smartest pony to ever walk the Wasteland, but at least, I knew how to take care of the things that kept me alive.
Kicking the door open a bit too forcefully, I walked into the street to find a slight drizzle wetting my mane. Great. “Serenity, my leg co-” I spoke, turning around to find Serenity no where to be found. That was until I looked back in Deadhead's Gun Emporium. She was sitting on her haunches looking at the shotgun on the shelf above her head.
Really? So much for wisdom.
I literally pulled her out by the tail. She squealed and whinnied, but I was not in the mood to deal with such childishness. And to think she wanted to be my sidekick.
“Why no-”
“We're not talking about this.” I said tossing Serenity roughly onto my back after attaching my plastic leg cover. I knew she was pouting, but I really didn't care.
“What if we get attacked again! By one a those muggers in tha Mound here. Could be dangerous, could be deadly, an extra bull-”
“Would miss, or hit me on accident.”
“I would not!”
“On purpose.” I continued walking through the damp haze. Serenity protested on my back, but soon quieted down when she realized it was not up for debate. The rain was warm and made me feel a bit sickly as I trudged through it, but thankfully it was not very hard. We needed a place to sleep, and I'd seen an inn near the gate. At least that is what it looked like, and it looked to be open too. The streets were empty as I made my way there, save for a bedraggled blue pegasus on the sidewalk with his green and yellow mane plastered over his eyes.
Finding it through the thin rain was easy enough, as it was one of the few buildings with working lights: lights that read Death Clock Casino. Pushing the door open with my hoof, my senses were barraged. Lights flashed indiscriminately around the lobby in all the colours of the rainbow, and the ghoul comedian on stage could barely be heard over extremely loud music pounding through the speakers. The colour scheme was as gaudy as it was bright, no doubt to cover over the cracked shoddy looking walls.
“Welcome!” Blinking, I realized I was being addressed. I turned to the small front desk almost hidden in the wall and the two unicorns manning it. “... to the Vinnie May And Franny Mac Death Clock Hotel And Casino.” I don't know, but the name didn't seem nearly long enough. “I'm Vinnie May,” The female unicorn bowed.
“An' I'm Franny Mac...” The Male said obviously trying to mimic his partners enthusiasm and failing. “How can we help you? We have every possible vice for sale. What shall it be? Greed? Lust?” What the hell was he talking about? After looking at him for a second, I glanced around the room spotting the separate room where numerous games tales stood just out of reach. Haunting around them, other then the gamblers that is, were multiple pretty young mares in clothes that seemed scanty even when taking into the fact most ponies didn't wear clothes. Somehow the way their short dresses emphasized their flanks made them just that little bit more tantalizing.
“Just a bed.” My voice sounded sour.
“Sloth it is.” He chirped, “A popular choice, now would you like some lu-”
“Just.” I snapped. “A room.” Clearly this Franny Mac was an idiot or a creep if he thought I was going to hire pleasure with a child in my room. Chuckling, he slid the key over to me, and I slid caps over to him. An even trade. Now if only I could think of a reason to smash his muzzle in.
“Thank you, and remember, we here at the Death Clock believe life is too short for virtues.” Right, whatever.
Pushing away, I cantered up to the stairwell and ascended to the second floor. I couldn't help but notice that outside the two main rooms, the hotel let go it's pretensions of excitement and painted every wall white, complete with large cracks and dust.
Our room was that much worse, looking like it hadn't been cleaned in years. A thick layer of dust covered the entire room and I had to grab the single blanket in my mouth and shake it about just to get it somewhat clean. That was not to mention the large suspicious brown stain on the wall or the tooth Serenity found when opening the cabinet. Despite this though, the room was large, dry, and, most importantly, cheap. Flopping down on the bed I closed my eyes.
“Gun... ”I felt Serenity snuggle up to my chest. Luckily, I realize she was saying my name not asking for one before I chided her.
“Yes?”
“Do you like me?”
“You're being silly.” I murmured. It had been a long day, and I could already feel my conscious fading. “‘Course I do.”
---
“This is So boring.” Wildfire bitched beside me. Apparently, walking slow through identical looking hills was not her idea of exciting. “Ah'm sayin' we need to find a way to liven this up. Whaddya say, hon?” She fluttered her long lashes at me, and already I could feel my face starting to burn up. I shook my head though.
“Pay attention.” The road winded perilously, and I did not want to chance a random attack. We were two of twenty from Marefort assigned by our so called 'protectors' the Crimson Hoof to protect a valuable cart of goods north past their territory and trade off with a group that was to be meeting us there. We had not the pleasure of knowing the nature of the cargo, or why it needed so many protectors and no one really felt like asking. In Marefort if the Crimson said “Jump” our job was only to ask, “Over what?”
“To what, hon?” She giggled daintily. For some reason, the other mares in the caravan were more than happy to give us the rear guard alone, and few wandered back to talk to us. Wildfire claimed that it was because I was the frightening sort. It was hard to argue with the true sort of logic. Even back in Marefort most give me a wide breadth, and I was okay with that. Now if only Wildfire would do the same.
“Everything.”
“Hmmm.” She arched her back a bit and narrowed her green eyes. “This is bandit country.” Rolling my eyes, I did my best to ignore her and continue after the rest. Until she tackled me that is. “Raider!” She squealed.
Standing strong, I withstood her playful attack and righted myself with Wildfire hanging off my back like a sack of apples. “I am not a raider.” Struggling to maintain my composure, my mouth threatened to crack a smile. “Now g-hnng.” Squealing I tried to shake her off as she tickled me. Deep breaths. Just needed to take deep breaths and resist. With a chuckle, I shook my whole body.
“Die Raider!” Why did she have to be in one of her moods? Her hooves proved too strong. My knees buckled, and I giggled. I snorted, chuckled, laughed, cracked up, and even guffawed as I broke down in the dirt, tears streaming from my eyes from laughter.
“S-stoahaha” I couldn't speak without breaking out louder. Before long, she gave up her attack and stood over me. Her red mane blowing in the wind triumphantly. Looking up, I managed to calm myself. Until an errant wind sent her mane into her eyes. Giggling like a lunatic, I buried my muzzle in my hooves. Oh Celestia, it hurt. Beside me, I could hear Wildfire start to chuckle, and eventually laugh twice as hard as I ever did. This was ridiculous, I thought in between fits of laughter, we were supposed to be guards.
Oh yeah.
Snorting, I raised my head and confirmed my fear. The Caravan had moved along without us. Stifling back the giggles, I nudged Wildfire with my nose. She looked up at me her face red and winded from laughing. I nearly started laughing again, but I managed to stop myself. One of us had to be adult here, and she certainly wasn't rising to the occasion. “They've gone.” I said pointing my head in the general direction we had been travelling.
She jumped a bit, and finally stopped laughing. For a few seconds anyway. “We'll just follow the tracks,” she pointed at the dirt, “Easy pe-” Without so much as a warning, the rain came. In an instant, we were both soaking wet standing in an ever increasing mud puddle. The tracks we were going to follow were washed away faster than we could spit, and I wanted to cry... but at the sight of Wildfire's proud mop of curly raid hair plastered across her face like a wet dog I started laughing all over again.
Once we overcame the second bout of laughter and we managed to get our collective minds together, we followed along the path we had been going. Since our group had been following the road, we too followed it, and none to pleased as the hard rain pounded down with ever increasing force. The water froze us to our very bones, and the mud was far from being helpful. It was sickening to the point Wildfire had cozied up to me as we walked, sniffling and sneezing.
Then we reached the fork.
Suddenly, and for no reason I could see other then to piss me off, the road split into three separate paths. Try as I might I could not suss out which road it was that our companions had travelled. Wildfire shook violently. I didn't get the benefit of time to figure it out either. Growling, I hefted her onto my back like a sack of apples (funny how often that happens). She was heavy, but nothing I couldn't handle as I galloped towards the nearest hillside praying for a cave. For once, Celestia saw fit to answer me.
The entrance to cave stood right in front of me, seemingly glowing through the thick rain. Perhaps it was destiny that brought us to this particular cave. Easing Wildfire down as we entered, I gave her a minute to rest. She coughed and weezed but quickly got back to her feet grimacing. “Fuckin' chest.” She mumbled to herself.
“Lets go in further.” The very last thing we needed was a raider gang to find this cave with us asleep.
Although, as we traversed the dank cave it became clear that a raider gang had already found it. The darkness that should have been there was replaced by an orange glow as we walked further. The cave expanded into a great cavern showing the remains of some hidden village. And it was on fire.
Not a lot of fire though, just the smouldering remains of certain stubborn buildings that turned the entire cavern into orange light and dancing black shadows. I marched Wildfire over to the smallest and seemingly safest of these fires and bade her rest. She had gotten us into this mess, but now that we were knee deep in it (and I am not talking about the mud here, though it had stained both our coats to our knees) I had to take charge. “I'll see if there's food.” Taking one look at me with her weary green eyes, she nodded, and I trotted away.
Food proved difficult, however, as I searched through the wreckage of the village. Pushing over rubble, I saw a blood stained hoof sticking out. Gulping, I backed up. It was strange that we hadn't seen any bodies, and this one was blackened by fire and crushed. Whatever happened here, I was certain that I did not want to know. “Silver... ” Wildfire called to me.
Ignoring her, I continued my search for food making sure to stay far away from the crushed corpse. “Silver.” She repeated. After what her games caused I was not in the mood for her whining. Waving my hoof dismissively, I prodded through a small stack of burnt sheet metal. “Silver!”
“WH-” I saw what. Cuddled between her fore legs was a charcoal grey filly.
---
I woke up in an understandably pissy mood. There were bad dreams and then there were dreams about her; that charcoal filly I'd been doing my best to forget. Even though I knew her name, I refused to think about. Desperately searching for something, anything, else to think about my eyes caught Serenity. They could not have been more different, but just seeing another filly brought back the feelings again. Her eyes fluttered open.
“Hi-hired?” She said her eyes only half open. I nodded slowly. “Are you okay?” I nodded again. “You look like you're about'ta cry... ” I stopped for a second to wipe the tears from my eyes before reaching a hoof out to embrace Serenity.
“I'm fine.” I know I didn't sound fine, and I sure as fuck didn't feel fine, but I wanted her to think I was. “What time is it?” She shrugged as I turned towards the shattered remains of our room window to see dull light peeking in, filtered through the ever present layers of clouds. I could only guess that it was morning.
With a deep chested sigh, I struggled to all fours, my metal leg dull and motionless beneath me. Damn shame too, as I was down to my last power crystal and was hoping this one would last a little bit longer. No point with what ifs though, so I motioned for Serenity to grab me a new one and carefully inserted it into my leg. I could barely hear Serenity speak up over the sound of my leg whirling to a start, “Does it hurt?”
“What?”
“Your leg.”
“Oh.” I smiled down at her and shook my head. “Only around magic.”
She blinked.
“Magic... but that don't make sense it is magic partly. All Cybernetics are, dont'cha know, else gems wouldn't work for power. How can it hurt around magic?” Her face scrunched up a little as she poked at my leg. In truth it was more like it burned because whatever Starmetal poisoning is but I really didn't want to get into that whole shebang.
“Don't worry.” I said, beckoning her to follow me out of the room.
And it wasn't nearly soon enough. After staying there even the air tasted dusty. Marching downstairs, I took the time to think of some sort of plan. Clearly, I needed to talk to the Finishers and find a way to convince them to stop the NCA from arresting Deadhead, so I could partake in his perfectly legitimate business services, or find away to get enough money to get into Dise myself. The question was answered for me as a red mare in a black, white, and pink stripped dress was waiting for me at the bottom of the steps.
“Mrs. Hired Gun.” What no accent?
“Awww, you should use the funny voice.” Serenity said beside me mirroring my thoughts. Good Girl. All the better to make me seem less stupid.
“Wh-I. It matters not.” Compared to the blue pony I spoke to yesterday, she was markedly less fun. “You are Hired Gun and her companion, are you not?” At least she didn't say Serenity was my daughter. That was starting to get annoying. She kept talking well before I could even confirm my identity. “I have been instructed to bring you to the fabulous Photo Finish. Now, come. It is neither polite nor wise to keep such a wonderful mare waiting.” She put no effort into her speech at all, sounding trite and listless.
I followed along equally as listlessly. I'd been hoping to make the choice on my own, instead of it being forced upon me. Of course, I could always have said no to Photo Finish, but I had a feeling in my gut that it was going to be a really good offer. So as we walked through the rainy streets of Parasite Mound I did my best to not let my disappointment show.
Which was easy enough when Serenity decided to make a show of jumping in puddles. I smiled for a minute before pushing her out and on our way. I didn't want to chance her catching a cold.
I started up my radio to distract her from the ever growing number of puddles, “It's Mr New Haygas here again with that thing we call, 'the news!' Shocking, I know. Well, it seems a store owner in Bridle Hope has been found dead of natural causes: a three o'eight caliber embolism. As natural as it gets in the Wasteland. Residents are unsure how the assassin managed to kill her unnoticed or why anypony would want such a kindly ma-”
“Turn it off,” Serenity pleaded. She didn't have to ask twice. That was not really the sort of distraction I'd been expecting, or wanted. How could I have forgotten where I had found Serenity locked up in the first place? Luckily enough, we happened to have gotten to our destination anyway.
It was a stout corner building that had the distinction of looking relatively well maintained in comparison to everything else and to have working lights in all the windows. On the front, painted pink and gold were the words, “Photo Finish Gallery Of Ze Magicks”. I had no idea what that was supposed to mean as we walked into the building.
It was surprisingly subdued. There was a simple pink patterned wallpaper, but nothing nearly so gaudy as the Death Clock Casino, save for the multitude of mares wandering about in their matching outfits. Except, they weren't all mares. I never would have noticed had I not have been staring a bit to closely at one of their rears. I quickly looked away, flushed and drove it from my memory. Thinking they were all mares would just be easier on my mind.
“We go.” The red mare we had been following said, suddenly gaining an outrageous accent, trotting at a much quicker pace that we were forced to follow. The winding halls had many doors flashing past my vision as we ran. Some seemed like bedrooms, or dressing rooms, but many more were plain rooms adorned with white backdrops and a series of large lights and cameras. The second floor, I learned as we zoomed up the stairs and through it, consisted almost entirely of sleeping chambers. By the third floor of running, I was just about ready to hit this stupid red pony. Why the hell was the boss’s room on the top floor? By Celestia, that was aggravating. What I wouldn't give for an elevator.
We finally made it, red faced and out of breath. The red Finisher bade us to take some time and compose ourselves (meaning make it look like we hadn't just run up three flights of stairs) before opening the door and letting us see what all the fuss was about. The room was simple and nearly without ornamentation save the multitude of cushions on the floor and small pink bed with a huge closet beside it. Inside the room was (gasp) the same blue pony we had met yesterday. “You bring them?” She asked, and the red Finisher nodded. “Wunderbar. Screenshot, go.” She pointed dramatically as Screenshot galloped back out.
“Screenshot is loyal, ja?” She said, directing her glass-covered eyes to me and Serenity, “Not, as you would say, enthusiastic.” She smiled a bit, pointing to a series of cushions in front of her, “Sit. Now.” Something about her voice demanded to be listened to.
“I, Photo Finish, am going to make you a star.” She said, raising a hoof to the sky dramatically as we sat down. Serenity started to giggle until I shot her a look.
“I'm not a model.” Had to get that out in the open as soon as possible. Wildfire bought me a dress once. I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice to say, it did not end well for anypony.
“Dahling, of course not. No. I, Photo Finish, have greater plans for you.” She rose to her blacklegs with her forelegs waving triumphantly in the air before standing back up proper. She sure was laying it on thick. “You have heard of the Enclave Remnants, ja?”
“Vaguely.” I shrugged, waiting for her to stop moving so erratically. “Met one. Claimed his group broke off from the ones above. So?” To be clear, she did not once stop moving around: like a gold fish on dash.
“They are strong! Fearsome! Rich! The Finishers MUST have them for allies! However, a delinquent know as Flare, a former Enclave himself, has taken to Parasite Mound and causing no end to trouble. His drug addled ways are an embarrassment to the Remnants, and embarrassments they do not oft forget. He must be reformed or taken care of. Obviously we, The Finishers, seek to educate the word of beauty and glamour. Killing is not our way.”
“So?” Still waiting for a job offer.
“So say he found a way off drugs or... went missing.”
“Remnants might crack a smile, so?” She faced hoofed dramatically. Adding the adverb dramatically after everything she did was getting redundant so feel free to add it yourself from now on.
“So if you, Hired Gun, deal with said pony, you may find Deadhead's business up and at your eloquent command. Moreover, you may find the greatest gang in all of Dise in your debt. You'll become famous, a rising star in a city of rocks.” I was not sure whether to comment on the creepiness that she knew about me trying to get a passport, the irony of her rising star comment given my cutie mark, or the fact she spoke so passionately she knocked a lamp off her desk with a crash.
“Sure.” I said, shrugging my shoulders.
“Now!” She pointed at the door, “You go!”
---
He wasn't hard to find.
“And Then They Came Flying Outta The Sky Like Whooooos Whamp But I Wasn't Scared So I Took Out My Guns All Like ChimmieChanga Ratatatatatat! BOOM SMASH! Got Shot Pretty Bad But Ya Know I Wasn't Scared Picked My Self Up An-” At this point, I feel it is important to mention all I did was ask him his name. Serenity giggled along with him as he chanted his story in a tone I was positive part enthusiasm and part Dash. No wonder the Remnants thought he was an embarrassment. He was. “And THATS Why They Call Me Flare!”
“And then what happened?”
“Serenity, please.” For my sanity, I silently pleaded for him to shut the fuck up.
“Well You See I-”
“Am addicted.” I finished for him, shocking him enough to finally land, giving me a good look at him.
His blonde and green mane stuck to his head and down his neck, falling just above his pink bloodshot eyes. Whisking his similarly colour tail behind him, I could see him tense up his light blue body underneath his red jumpsuit. He was so skinny I could see his ribs through his clothes.
“Fuck No! Yeah I Take'a Puff Now And Then To Calm My Nerves Bu-” Did he just say calm? Oh for fucks sake. I charged.
My head slammed into his chest, cracking ribs and sending him sprawling to the ground, wings spread out and losing feathers. Stepping up, I pressed my un-metal hoof on his neck.
“Hired, don't hurt him!” Serenity squealed behind me. Against my better judgement, I released some tension on his neck giving him just enough room to cough uncomfortably.
“Listen. Carefully.” I said, lowering my head so close that my warm breath blew on his neck standing his coat up on ends, “You are an addict. That means The Remnants don't like you. So the Finishers don't like you. I need them to like you. So they can help me.” Was that subtle enough? I was never sure. By the way he was shivering under my hoof on the cold grey street I figured he got the message.
“Man Fuck You! I Can Take Whatever I Want It's A Free-”
“No. It's not.”
“Mr Flare.” Serenity poked her head around my leg and moved close to him. “You should listen to my-” If she said mommy I swear, “friend. She's all like a mercenary, ya knows? You're a nice mister, and I like your stories, but Photo told Hired to get ya off tha streets one way or'nother.”
“Bloody Rainclouds... You Want Me Clean So The Remnants Can Save Face Well Fuck Them!”
“I want you clean.” Drug addicts piss me off. “So I don't have to kill you.” My hoof pressed down hard on his neck, and I could feel his neck bone pressing against my hoof. His face started to purple and he gasped, but I didn't let go until he nodded his stupid drug-addled head.
“Ack. Fine. Bitch. Don't.” He gasped for breath on his back as I stepped back with his wings flapping uselessly, “I. I Wanted To Kick... to kick the Dash. Nothing but trouble. It's good I mean but... ” He blinked for a second, staring up at me. It almost looked like he was about to cry. Just what I needed, more crying ponies.
“What do you need?”
“What?”
“To get you clean.” I don't imagine it'd be anything as simple as talking to a scary mare with a metal leg, or 'give me ten doses of 'fixer' and I'll totally quit forever'. Though I am sure those two things helped. “Actually. Serenity, search him.” The familiar burning sensation of Serenity's magic flared up in my shoulder as her horn glowed lightly. A faint pink glow surrounded the Pegasus as various unmentionables flew out of his pockets.
In total, we collected seven doses of Dash, two syringes of med-X, a pill bottle of buck, something called Hydra, three tin containers of Mint-als, and one of its cousin Party Time Mint-als. All of which I stuffed deep in my pack for later. Not to use, to sell obviously. Though it was tempting, as Serenity was removing them Flare thought it necessary to go into a long winded speech about the effects of each of them. Honestly, the idea of chewing a mint and suddenly becoming smarter sounded farfetched to me. According to him, he only took Dash, and just kept the rest to trade with other addicts if need be; I didn't believe him.
“Now. We need you clean. Or clean enough.” All the drugs weighing down my pack made me feel more dirty than the mere thought that I’d stolen them from an addict. A sign of the times I guess.
“Clean enough for what? Yeah it's just a job for you, ain't it? Clean enough then leave me back to the wolves, might as well kill me yo-”
“Shut up.” Apparently, nearly strangling a pony to near death was enough to convince him to listen when you speak. “Enough to get into Dise. You'll come with me. See the Watchers.”
“As if the Watchers woul-”
“They would so!” Serenity literally bounced, “The Watchers help every, and I mean everypony that needs it s'long as you can get to them. They could fix you up something good I tell you. Got special methods of flushin' the body outta toxins and what have you. Come on, whaddya say? Let us help you help us help you help us both?”
Wait, what?
“Wait, what?” Flare intoned before I got the chance. “Wh-whatever. Yeah. Okay. I need Fixer. And... okay this is going to seem odd, but I'm broke.” Taking one look over his skinny body and dirty clothes I raised an eyebrow, “That’s not the weird part. It's that... there's this gang, hiding under the Finishers noses. They like, they like sell this shit real cheap like. Without them, I wouldn't be able buy nothin'. It'd help, if they were, you know.” No, I did not. “Disappeared .” I raised an eyebrow, “Fucking kill them, I mean.”
“Oh.” Huh. Now that was a dilemma. I shook the rain out of my hair as I thought. Normally, I would have to charge a lot for a job like that as it involved murder-like activities. On the other hoof, this whole thing was more like a huge job with the ending being entrance to Dise. Then again, I just procured hundreds of caps worth of drugs (or as Deadhead would call them 'perfectly legal reality modifiers'). I guess a few drug dealers were worth it. How armed could drug dealers be. “Okay.”
“Hah, you ain’t so bad, Miss Hi-”
“On the condition you come with.” The shock on his face was clear and very amusing. The thing is: I couldn't justify leaving Serenity by herself at the hotel in a place like Parasite Mound, and I certainty was not going to let a drug addict look after her while I was away. The only logical choice was to bring them both and have Flare and Serenity stay far enough back to avoid fire, but close enough I would be able to keep track of them. Then again, I am an idiot.
“Now.” Maybe I should have waited for him to agree, but that would involve giving a damn what he thought. “Where is this base.”
“Below.” He said shakily.
“Below us?” Well that didn't sound good at all.
“Ain’t you never heard of the Paradise Sewers?”
---
Sewers was a patently incorrect term. Apparently, the massive underground tunnels buried beneath the last city were created as a fallout shelter by a wealthy stallion who owned most of the city before the war, Mr Wallkirk as Flare called him. Not trusting Stable-Tec to protect non-Equestrians, he built them under the disguise of a massive storm drain for the yearly storms that often flooded parts of the city. From the looks of it, they did neither job well. Unless you counted being a pain in the ass to get into a job well done.
Sure there were many ponyhole covers and drains that led into it, but there was no way for anypony (unless you're a Pegasus) to go straight down without, you know, falling. So we had to find and locate a small rubble strewn building with one of the few entrances available in the Parasite Mound. After finding it, it was up to me to push the heavy lid off the hole in the ground revealing a spiral stair case that was disturbingly narrow. After the harrowing climb, for me anyway as Flare just flew and Serenity rode on my back, we finally made it into the sewers.
We came out of the small stair room into a long hall with vaulted ceilings and grey walls covered in cracked and yellowing with decay. Even still, the lights on each wall were still lit. The floor was a metal grate that made my leg clang nosily with each step. Below the rusting grate was a swirling river of green water that seemed to flow into small crevices in the wall.
“Know anything else 'bout this place?” The sound of water leaking in through cracks in the ceiling or from grates connecting to the surface was going to drive me bonkers. Even Flare was preferable.
“I know everything! Back before I quit the Remnants, we used these tunnels for secret transport. Goes all across Dise they do,” Well, why the hell didn't we just take these instead of going through the front door, “But all the entrances to Dise proper been claimed by some gang and are monitored and the like. Still a bribe is oft' 'nough to convince them, but they might take it and kill you anyway,” Sounded like a lovely time. “Still lotsa ponies live down here,” He motioned his head to a door to my right, “That leads to a small village. Nice folk. Most're shy though, stay underground cept for trading and scavenge. Though plenty of scavenge to be had here. Lotsa places here weren't radiation proof so ponies died clutching their remaining treasure. If ya don't gotta problem scavenging from corpses.” Well if history has shown anything...
“Wait.” He stopped turning to a small door with a brown stain on it in the shape of an 'X'. “In here. Okay. Just go in. Take them out. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right?”
“Right.” I bucked open the door with a resounding crash.
The poor guard didn't know what hit him as my bullet shot through his brain pan, splattering the wall with gore. Squealing behind me, Serenity hid behind Flare. As much as I hated bringing her to a place like this, I could see no other real way of protecting her. Yes, I'm an idiot, why do you ask?
The hallway on the other side of the door was different than the main hall. It had no grate on the floor or river underneath, and while its walls were still high they weren’t as much so. The lights on the wall were similarly still working, but very dim.
Oh yeah, and hanging on the roof was a flayed pony in a spread eagle position like a grotesque flag.
“Flare.” I warned. “Make sure Serenity does not look up.”
Me, I couldn't help myself. The thing was staring down at me with empty holes where eyes should have been with its lips peeled away showing a row of broken teeth. Its’ entire coat and skin was stripped away to the muscles underneath, some half clinging to the body and half falling down loosely revealing bones underneath. Tearing my eyes off the monstrous monument to pony indignity, I made my way back down the hall.
The doors on either side of the fall way seemed for the most part, boarded up and blocked with debris, so I ignored them. The only door that seemed to matter was the small door on the other end of the hall. Which opened.
That wasn't good.
Two ponies appeared from inside the room, which seemed to me to be an excessively small broom closet. I never did get a good look at them as I realized one was magically holding a rocket launcher.
No time. I spun around. Grabbing Serenity and Flare, I dove behind a pile of debris just as a rocket flared past.
The sound was deafening. The light blinding. It exploded against far wall, covering us in dust as we huddled in relative safety. Minutes passed until the roaring in my ears settled down, but my head still stung and voices were fuzzy.
“You okay, Hired?” Serenity said, looking up at me surprisingly unhurt with her horn glowing lightly. Nodding, I turned my attention to the door. Peeking out from the rubble, I scanned for out attackers. Only. They weren't there. The only sound I could hear, and admittedly my hearing was still weak, was a faint trickle of water from the main hallway far behind us.
“Wait here.” Flare nodded dumbly, biting his lip so hard it looked almost bleeding. Sneaking out from behind the rubble pile I turned back to where we came. Past the door I kicked in, the grey wall was black and even more cracked with the entrance itself measurable larger than it had been. Making my way slowly, I crept as low as my massive body could go until I reached the supply closet.
To find two charred ponies.
From their back legs to their necks, they were a blackened mess of burnt flesh and hair smelling vaguely food like. My stomach rebelled at the thought and I quickly turned away from them, motioning for my gang to move forward. Not before pushing the corpses back into the similarly burnt room and closing the door.
“What happened?” Flare said with strange brevity.
“Backblast.” Another weapons lesson from long ago. Rocket launchers expel gas out the back to avoid massive kickback. But if fired with ponies behind you or in a sealed room, the effects... were as seen. Potentially deadly, and always stupid. “Not the brightest ponies.” Serenity giggled a bit, while Flare just shrugged looking around warily.
“Shouldn't we be... ” He started
“Going,” yeah yeah. Can't I bask in the glory of the one thing I actually know?
The next stage in our roaring rampage of revenge was easy enough to figure out. The drug dealers were not the brightest, as already pointed out, and their sections of the sewers had every door blocked save the ones that lead to the bosses chambers. So I simply went through the only possible door on the right side of hall beside the storage closet.
This room was nothing more then a small room, with three bunk beds pressed against the walls. I scanned the room twice over making sure no ponies were hiding in wait. If they didn't know we were here by now, they were truly not very bright, I took a single step.
BEEP.
Fuck. Looking down, I gulped, already feeling sweat trickle down the back of my neck. Under my hoof was a small disk that was beeping ominously up at me. Slowly, I started to lift my hoof up.
“Wait!” Flare zoomed past me, floating at eye level his wings beating hard, “Don't move! That's a mine! You'll blow yourself the fuck up, and less you wanna lose the other leg just don't move.” Nothing made a pony more fidgety than being told not to move. “Just. Don't. I'll get it.” Reaching into his pack, he came out with a bobby pin and a screw driver in his mouth, “Ah got 'is” he mumbled.
Five tense minutes later, the beeping stopped.
Lifting my hoof off slowly, I was relieved I didn't explode. Grinning, the blue pegasus snatched the device in his mouth and sliding it back into his pack. “What? I used to be an explosion expert way back 'fore I quit. Know how'ta make'em explode and you know how to make them... not... explode. Ya know?”
I'd had no idea, but I was still kicking. I attempted to pat him on the back to no avail because at the touch he quickly twitched backwards leaving me hanging.
He said, “S-sorry. Last time-” I almost chocked him to death. Funny, in wake of him saving my life I'd forgotten that fact. Honestly, considering the facts, I was surprised he went through the trouble of saving my life to begin with. I tore him from his comfort zone into a bloody war zone, he should want me dead.
Ponies made no sense.
“Lets go.” The small bedroom was small enough, and completely empty of life. Not wanting to waste time I charged forward-
“Wait!” Flare screamed, “Aint'cha gunna look around.” Look around? I turned my head one way. Then the other. Boxes, boxes, bed, trash, locked safe, bed and bed. Looking around done. “I mean scavenge, They've got to have good loot.” Please tell me he was kidding. From the way his pink eyes pleaded with me, I knew he wasn't.
“We're kinda of in a hurry.”
“Bu-”
“Hiiiiired,” Serenity whined, “Just for one minute,” How could I say no to those big puppy dog eyes. Fillies were tricksy.
“Five Minutes.” Much squeeing and position giving away was had. Then again, I was pretty sure by that point everyone was well aware we were coming, and I kind of liked the idea of ponies cowering behind desks wondering if we'd ever come for them.
“Hired.” I heard the pink filly wail as her magic struggled with a locked safe. “Helllp!” With a heavy sigh (funny how often I sigh, isn't it?), I slowly walked over to the small metal box. “It won’t open, you need to-”
CLANG
The metal box reflected my leg, sending it shooting back so hard I nearly lost my balance, “Why would you do that! You can't kick everything open. You're going to ruin your leg!” Sure I could. I just needed more practice. Trying to step my metal hoof down, I suddenly wobbled, nearly toppling over before I took my weight off it. The fucking hoof of my metal leg was bent all askew and Serenity was giggling triumphantly at my distress. That was, until I slammed the damn thing down as hard as I could, forcing it back to its original state. Mostly.
“Time's up. Lets go.”
All counted we had collected: A huge pile of trash. I loathed the thought that I'd have to try and sell that shit later. Not that I really had the option to throw it out the way Serenity was watching me. What the heck would I ever need wonderglue for? Maybe if we had actually managed to open that damn safe it'd have been worth the time (and embarrassment) it took. “We done?”
“Haaah. Thanks. We need ta scavenge more often. Back in tha Watchers they used to tell me the Wastelanders would be much better off if they stopped to look through empty rooms. He said could be your life in there.” Because that made perfect sense. “Lets go.”
Like the rest of this poorly designed drug dealer base, the room was completely linear. Two doors, the one we came from and a wooden door on the other side of the room.
It couldn't be more simple. In fact, this whole adventure had been just a teensy bit too easy. Apart from nearly being blow up... twice. I've changed my mind this whole adventure had been a pain in the flank and it'd be a goddess send once we finally got out of this filthy, stinking hole in the ground.
I knocked twice on the wooden door shouting through it, “Listen up. Who's ever in there. Leave now. Leave everything on the floor. You live. Fight back. You die.” I backed up a step and waited, my eyes watching the door. I was just hoping the remaing drug dealers on the other side were sane enough to take my offer. They weren't.
Then it exploded.
Shrapnel tore through the air as the shock wave sent me spinning to the ground. My ears roared as my body smacked against the the floor. I groaned as the flames washed over me briefly, leaving me sore but alive. Lifting my head, I saw the body of a purple mare drug dealer, glowering at me through the smoke. There was no time to think.
I rolled quickly on my back, a shot ringing against the floor where I'd been laying. Struggling to my feet, my hearing returned, broadcasting the groans of my companions behind me... followed shortly by a second shot. Pain struck through my ear and already I could feel the blood flowing down my cheek. I didn't allow her a third shot.
My first bullet tore through her leg and sending her to a bloody knee. The second slammed into her chest with a meaty thud. She looked straight at me as the life faded from her eyes. Gasping for one last breath, she slowly toppled over; a pool of blood forming around her corpse.
I forced myself to look away, releasing a breath I realized I was holding. My ear throbbed and my face felt sticky with blood. “Well.” I turned to my companions, “That went we-” It had been going so well too. Cleared out a drug nest. Helped out a community. Saved a pegasus from addiction. And got a pass into the City Of Lights for our efforts. Of course I couldn't have such luck.
Serenity was lying in Flare's forelegs breathing heavily. A large wooden splinter was lodged into her chest.
Footnote:
New perk! Element Of Loyalty: When you drop below 50% HP, companions gain DT.
Skill note: Explosives 25
(A Special thanks of course to that marvelous mare, Kkat. As well as a thanks to theBSDude and Errant who made this readable without bleeding eyes) |
No One | 662 | 7 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-03-23T10:19:59+00:00 | 2012-03-23T10:19:59+00:00 | 20,026 | Murphy's Law
“If anything can go wrong, it will...”
“She, she is dying,” The doctor said.
My hoof stomped down cracking concrete. “Then. Fix. It.”
I didn't remember much of what happened after the drug dealers lair. Visions of fire and rage swam through my memory but were gone just as quick. What I do know is that me and Flare managed to safely carry Serenity back up to the Finisher headquarters where they proved themselves useless. Had her life not been in their hands I would have killed them all.
“Ve cannot.” The Finisher's doctor said with a shake of her head.
“Do it. Anyway.” My voiced was cracked and strained, while tears stung my eyes. Most ponies on the verge of tears looked pathetic; I looked frightening.
“Ve...Ve have not ze technology.” The mare was visibly shaking over the body of Serenity.
She was strapped down to the table her coat pale with life visibly leaving her eyes more each second. The stake was still in her chest stained with blood, and the doctors were too afraid to remove it. They said she'd bleed out if they tried to remove it. They said she needed a blood transfusion. They said they needed medical equipment they didn't have. They needed to save her, because if they didn't nopony could save them from me.
The door creaked open and a familiar blue unicorn stepped sterile white room. “Hired Gun.” She said softly, “Iz she well?” How long have I been in that room? I really could not say. It may have been ten minutes, or an hour. But as I saw Serenity draw less air in with each consecutive breath I knew it had been far too long.
“She's dying.”
Tension blanked the room like a thick fog.
“For what it iz worth, I. Am sorry.”
What the fuck? Who the hell bows like that when a filly is dying five feet from them? Of all the times to stay in character this was the worst. Rage boiled my tears away.
“You will be.”
“I-” She was clearly not accustomed to being threatened. There was no need to tell her that I wasn't threatening, I was promising. “It shall no come to zat. I, Photo Finish, have a plan.”
I didn't like the sound of that. Nevertheless I tore my eyes away from her and back to the small filly dying on the bed. She seemed so small at that moment. Just a tiny little thing writhing in pain as her body failed her. My mind raced back to the time I met her. Lying in her own filth. Chained like a monster. She seemed so small then too. So vulnerable. She was just a filly, it wasn't fair that Celestia deemed her to die. To die so close to her home. Tears fell from my eyes for a second before I wiped them away. I could not allow that to happen.
I trusted this Photo Finish little, and her plans none at all. But anything was better than standing around useless as Serenity died. A fools plan was better than no plan. Even if it was a fools plan that got her into this mess. “Tell me.” I said my voice cracking.
“Flare, come in.”
My neck snapped to the door. This was his fault.
His blue face purple.
He gagged. Dying.
It took five of them to pull me off. Had I not heard Serenity whimper it would have taken more. I should have killed him. Let him die on the street like the rat he was. Nopony would have cared. Nopony would even had noticed. Instead, I took pity on his drugged up ass and went along with his little plan. Raid a drug dealers base. How hard could it be? Four ponies died in those sewers, and a fifth was coming shortly. I don't care who he was, his life wasn't worth that of five others.
Carefully, I wiped the sweat off Serenity's brow. Behind me I heard Photo Finish go on about... something. I wasn't really paying attention to the details.
---
“I am supposed to put her life in his hooves?”
Once again I found myself without any viable options. Serenity was dying of internal injuries and the Finisher's doctor had done everything in their power to prolong her life. But they didn't have the abilities to actually remove the spike in her chest. Well they could remove it but she'd die of blood lose before healing potions could fix her. If they gave her healing potions with it still in her chest it'd cause massive internal damage. They didn't have any options. I didn't have any other options.
That is how I found myself in front of the great Dise gate beside a... a something. It looked almost like a carriage but had no visible wheels that I could see. Instead it had a big block of mechanical whosits that Flare claimed was an engine that allowed him to fly with it attached to him with relative ease. Most importantly he claimed it would ride smoothly with Serenity in the back. The Finisher's 'doctor' would be riding along side too, even if he was a sham and deserved a bullet in the brain.
“Iz no choice.”
Photo Finish, for her part, was surprisingly accommodating. I was sure it wasn't my charming personality that made her put so much effort into getting Serenity help, but I didn't bother asking. Don't get me wrong. I was grateful for her help; I just would have been more grateful if it wasn't her fault. Well, not really her fault but she did share some of the blame as did Flare.
And me. Of course. And my idiotic means of protection.
“What if he crashes?” Far from my over-emotional state earlier I was feeling much calmer. Though that could have had something to do with the whiskey.
“Ponies die. Unfortunate. But Zat vill not happen. You have mine, Photo Finish's, word on that.”
“I'll ride with her.”
“No.” Flare said harshly walking in front of me. Behind him I saw the ponitrons manning the gates eyeing us with suspicion. “I am...not very strong. Can't take the weight.” My muscled tensed, and he must have noticed. Walking towards me he whispered in my ear, “It's a long run. If you want to keep up. Might want to try some of what you took from me.”
Dash.
Like its name sake it made you go faster. Think faster. Act faster. If what I have been told was correct it'd make you forget you weariness and make you like a bolt of lightning. The Watchers base was on the other side of Dise (not a small distance I assure you) and I was tired, sore, and a little bit drunk. I was not entirely sure I could run the distance, and I did not fancy leaving Serenity alone with strange ponies for any amount of time.
Photo Finish went first, giving the ponitrons our newly acquired, perfectly legal, forged passports she had gotten from Deadhead earlier that day. Three in total, as she herself had no intention of leaving her city. I marched carefully behind Flare who was hovering with his cart just above ground level. The five mechanical things watched us eerily as we passed through the gate. I did my best to look forward and ignore the corpse of the colt that had been gunned down the day before.
In my mind, the colt was named Mischief.
With a crash the gate shut behind us. We were here. This was Dise.
To my right with shining lights in every window was a huge building with a pool in front blasting jets of water into the air. The water streams danced and shimmered in multicoloured light as music blared from hidden speakers. The huge flashing words 'The Moon' doubled as its name and the entrance as stairs lead into the huge 'Os'. What caught my attention most of all, I was ashamed to say, was the pretty young mares in front. Gulping a bit as heat rose to my cheeks, I turned my head.
Directly across the street were a series of smaller hotels and skyscrapers that mostly looked empty, or at the most under filled. Except for a large hotel down the street. It was made up of three large circular building that looked almost like large barrels of alcohol connected by a series of bridges and a large rectangle centre first floor in which each building rose from. In front of the building was a large sign stating 'The Ale House!' complete with exclamation mark.
And there were so many ponies!
The street was so large it could have fit fifty ponies abreast and very nearly did. Ponies of all builds and races swarmed the streets going too and fro. I counted numerous NCA ponies in full blue uniform but obviously not on duty by the way they staggered and swerved. Apparently, I wasn't the only pony what liked a good drink. There was no doubt that this was Dise.
The last city.
None of that mattered. I shook my head. Not the lights or the ponies. Only getting Serenity to saftey.
“Flare.” I turned to him as he hovered waiting for me. “Go.”
He shoot off like a rocket.
Dash. Just one little puff. It couldn't hurt. I needed the speed.
One puff was all it took. Suddenly, everything in this obsessively bright town was. Shiny. So shiny. Look at all the pretty ponies, I thought, I could just go dancing with them-where does HE think he's going! I could beat him. I was faster. I started after leaving a wave of confused ponies in my wake.
My hoofs beat against the ground like a song. Smash clang smash smash. Smash clang smash smash. I found myself staring at my leg. It sparkled like the stars in the light. Why weren't they all like that? It would have made things so much- “Watch out!” some pony screamed.
Jolting upwards a huge multi tiered water fountain with the stone figure of a stuffy military pony rearing victoriously grew out of the ground. I swerved and circled around it but ran straight into an excessively tall pale green unicorn with a red and orange striped mane.
“Sorry. Nice To Meet You. Gotta Race,” I yelled, giggling to myself as I tore away from the pony and continuing my race. I recognized for half a second that the fountain marked a cross road in the city with four streets heading off, each equally large. And shiny. So shiny I wanted to go down them.
Until I saw the cart zooming ahead of me. No fair cheating.
I zipped off again as my hoofs began their racing song. Smash clang smash smash.
Past the fountain more buildings rose up to my right. Lots and lots and most even glowing. Largest of all was a wide stout hotel named 'The Clips And Clops' judging from its flashing sign. It would have been ordinary, even if you counted the abnormal amount of ponitrons standing guard around it, (and the whole block really was swarming with those mechs) except for on top of it was a tower. Not any tower but a huge one that rose up like an arrow to the sky. I had to stretch my neck back to far it hurt just to see that the top floor was shaped like a Pink Pony with an equally pink and poofy mane. It seemed to smiled across the city, the tip of its hair lost in the clouds. I wanted to just watch it as I ran past.
Until nearly ran into a pegasus with two clouds as its cutie mark.
Leaping nimbly over the pony, I skidded on the other side and kept racing.
I was getting a feeling for this city. To my left was going to be another fancy hotel that shattered what I imagined possible. Except there wasn't. I pouted as I weaved in between ponies. There was a hotel, and it was a fair bit larger than all the other buildings near it but instead of looking high and fancy it looked worn and beaten. Where other hotels had kept their pre-war names this hotel was notably scarred where the old sign was. Instead a huge banner with the words 'Black Salamander Hotel And Casino' painted crudely on it was hung. The only thing even remotely unusual was fact unlike the other three city blocks I passed every light was shining from every window of every building. Right. Boring. Racey racey.
Ahead of me I could see Flare zipping along. I was catching up. He had to slow down to dodge a group of ponitrons escorting an ageing mare in a walker. I too swerved to dodge them but managed to keep my super impressive speed. Hah. I was going to win. Score one for Earth Pony awesomeness.
The road narrowed suddenly to a stone path. The main blocks of Dise were behind me. We were getting closer I knew. Closer to the Watchers. On either side of me in states of disrepair were two large octagonal buildings surrounded by what must have been rather nice looking parks, but had since been burned and charred looking black. A sign I raced past called the place “Luna's Low Income Residency.” I couldn't help but notice a multitude of pegasi flying around the left. The right building looked deserted but a shanty town of make-shift houses were perched all around the building.
Whatever. I was running. And losing. Damn cheating pegasus!
We rounded around the Pegasus infested building following a new path and running face first into a wall. Not the great Dise wall but a shorter wall of mortared brick inside Dise. It seemed to cover a large swath of land and was made in the style of castles of old with ramparts and the like. It made me want to be a knight. Sir Silver Storm at your service. Pretty maiden to rescue? Not a problem! A lance is all I need...
Two large wooden gates creaked open as I finally reached Flare and his flying waggon thingy.
“Hey!” I bounced around his side, “Hey. Watcher Guys.” Guarding the wooden gate were four ponies with battle-saddles. “Hey! Pay Attention. We have An Injured Filly.” The guards ignored me completely and talked in low hushed voices with flare. Assholes. I was being serious.
“HEY! Listen! Filly Here. Needs Care And Shit, Get Your Best Doctors On It Before I-”
The guard with a spike mane glared at me before speaking into a metal-device-thingy on his foreleg, “Got two addicts here. Looks like dash. And a Critically injured filly. Advise.”
“I Am Not An Addict,” I said bouncing for a second before running to the other side of the cart. “Listen, I-” I stopped talking as a muffled voice emitted from the guards foreleg. I didn't really hear what it said as I I suddenly found my Pipbuck far more interesting. It had lights and buttons and switches and I had no idea what half the shit did but it made it that much cooler. This thingy could hold the answers to all my problems if only I could twist this stupid thing right.
Though I wasn't paying attention to their stupid conversation I did hear the term, 'Number Six' come up multiple times. And then something about restraining... unruly... I really should have payed attention.
Next thing I knew somepony had pressed a sweet smelling rag against my face.
And then blackness.
---
“Ehh...” my eyes fluttered open slowly seeing nothing but darkness.
Slowly I rose to my hooves. Only that didn't happen. What really happened is I tried to rise but thick leather straps kept my legs tied down making me accidentally smash my head off the table I was strapped to. I was just glad nopony else was around to see that sorry display.
Nopony else...
Someone tied me down face first into a table and now they were nowhere to be found. In my experience ponies rarely tied you down without being somewhere close. You know in case them what they tied down tried to escape. Not everypony would consent to being tied down, and to be frank it reminded me of a forked tongue. Not something I liked thinking about. Ever.
I struggled with the leather straps my eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light. If my eyes were right I was in some sort of medical room. Rows of medical equipment lined the room. Had I any idea what any of there were, or did, I would tell you but lacking in such knowledge all that can be said is their seemed to be an abundance of tubes shiny eerily in the darkness. Either a medical room or a mad scientist’s chambers. Or both.
“Oh.” Light burned my eyes.
Squeezing them tight I slowly opened them to see it coming from a small lamp hanging from the mouth of a unicorn stallion. I gathered he was a doctor by the stethoscope around his neck. Slowly and deliberately he placed the lamp upon the table before turning to me with his small black eyes. No not black, but a deep grey it looked black. Not creepy at all.
He chuckled, “Yes. My eyes. When I was but a colt the other fillies and colts thought I was a demon. When I can they'd run from my presence.” He smiled amiable which only served to make me squirm with my restraints more. “On the other hoof it served me well, for whenever I commanded one to fetch me a Sparkle Cola it was not long before it was in my hooves.” He licked his lips at the thought.
“Why am I tied down?”
“To keep you from moving.” He guffawed and turned from me facing one of the medical stands or something. “I kid. It is standard procedure for addicts. Some do not wish to be here, and sometimes it is better they are not given the choice.” As he stood with his flank to me I could not help but notice he lacked a cutie mark. Or rather where it should have been looked like it had been burned.
“I am not an addict.”
I gave my very best growl as I turned and stared straight ahead. It was the most comfortable position I could get without breaking the leather straps, and I wanted to save that for a climactic turn in the conversation. It was at that time I realized I was an idiot, and that I was actually in a blue tarp tent not a building proper. Most ponies would have noticed that much sooner.
“Do you know,” He started turning his blue body to me, “what happens when alcohol and dash mix? It doesn't react right away, but within the hour it takes two already dangerous chemicals and makes them deadly. Back in Eye Glow, young stallions and mares dared each other to take them together. Called it Ghoul Blood, said you felt like you could live forever. It'll get you higher than you've ever been, and then kill you. One time they found fifteen corpses around a bonfire in some abandoned building. You'll never guess how they died?”
Groaning, I slammed my head into the table. How the hell was I supposed to know that? He flipped his short cropped black and red mane at me. Classy. “Lucky your friend Flare was smart enough to tell us what was going on.” It was his idea to take the dash. Just so I could... I could.
“Serenity!” I shot up so violently I tore two of the leather straps binding me asunder. The doctor took a step back chuckling.
“Impressive. The filly is fine. She is currently sleeping peacefully. You were lucky to get her here just in time. Very. She is such a nice filly, I remember her well from her time here, and she had a great deal to say about you. You knew Doctor Morowynd, did you not?” I nodded. “As we heard. You had suffered starmetal poisoning. A sad thing and unfortunately too common. Well, more common than it should be. “
“What?”
“No doubt you had not heard, but a few months before the great war a chunk of said metal had fallen just outside the city. The explosion took many lives, but it was covered up under the guise of a minotaur attack. Nopony wanted to hear that the sky was falling in between hostile raids. So Mr Haygas reported lies as reporters are wont to do-”
“Mr. New Haygas?” There was no way it could be the same pony. New Haygas's voice was too damn amazing to be a ghouls, and there was no other way a pony could live that long.
“Mr Haygas.” The doctor corrected. “He was a DJ before the war, and his voice was famous. Since Dise came to be, many took up his mantle,” He stopped before staring at me quizzically, “You really know nothing about this area do you?” I shook my head slowly wishing I had a sweet clue about anything. Ever. “I guess it doesn't matter. What matters is getting you and your friends right as rain. Now about what Morowynd wanted you for...”
“What is number six?” It came to me in a flash; memories of the night before. I remember them saying that multiple times.
He swallowed for a second. “It's... a code. Code six stands for a life threatening injury that needs immediate attention. Now, are you going to let me give you caps or what?”
I'm listening.
“When you were out we weren't exactly sure if the drugs you took were going to kill you. So we may have done some tests on you when we had the chance.” I narrowed my eyes at him but gave him the chance to finish. If only because he did save Serenity's life. “Yeah. Sorry. Back where I come from there's a saying that: time waits for nopony. The tests were simple enough. It's just. You are very remarkable. There have been stories of ponies surviving exposure to starmetal for years, but all official records have them living three days tops. You're, well, the answer to a question.”
“Thanks... I guess.”
“And we've arranged for a hefty transfer of caps to your saddle bag for being a good sport about our totally unethical practises.” Right whatever. All I heard in that sentence was caps, everything else didn't matter.
I shrugged up at the blue pony and tugged at the remaining binds. “You mind?”
“Oh yes. You'll want to see the filly.” I shot up again.
Serenity. Yes. I had to see her. And then make sure she had a home here. A place she would be safe from radiated water, crazy slavers, and exploding doors. So obviously a place not anywhere near me. As much as I liked the filly, my life was dangerous and getting worse all the time.
“Don't break anything else please.” He chuckled. “Ginger, please come in here.” What kind of name was Ginger for a pony?
It wasn't.
Ginger wasn't a pony.
He was something. Instead of walking on all fours it stood on two almost goat legs like a griffin, if a griffin had goat legs. Its massive upper body and chest towered over everypony else in the room, and he seemed to have almost no neck at all and a tiny head with two huge curving horns. Instead of forelegs it had, arms, I guess, ending with griffin like claws, except with three fingers and one thumb. His whole body was covered with thick brown fur. It glowered down on me, and me even I seemed small in compared to it.
“What the fuck!”
---
Minotaurs.
I had heard about them. Many times in fact. One time in verse. I had thought they were just another gang of ponies. Trying to claim their namesake. Of course, I was a complete idiot. If I would have thought, would have asked, would have anything I may have figured out the mystery much sooner.
Apparently, before the war Caledonia never actually fought Zebras. Instead, they fought a war by proxy against the Zebras’ close allies known as the minotaurs. They were an illusive race that roamed the vast plains and deserts to the west destroying or conquering all they saw in a massive horde. No pony, or zebra (or buffalo, though to hear tell they tried their hardest) had ever succeeded in dealing with them before they started attacking Caledonia settlements. As the war pushed forth, the Zebras gave their allies megaspell technology, just as Equestria gave Caledonia. When Roam and Canterlot went up in green flames and pink smoke, Caledonia and the minotaurs too joined in the apocalypse.
After the war was different though, the Minotaurs had never stayed in one place for long, so the end of the world did not affect them as much. They still roamed the West, though in smaller numbers, and have been harassing NCA settlements. There was a war, or something.
I'll be honest I started to doze off as the doctor got to this part of the lesson. Yes, lesson. He sat me down for a half hour long lesson about minotaurs before he let me see Serenity. Because apparently I was supposed to know and care about this stuff. Frankly, It really didn't matter to me if they found a way around memory orbs two hundred years ago.
The only part that mattered was the fact they had regrouped. And were massed at the Canyon Ridge Bridge, and controlling everything west of it, trading insults with the NCA. Apparently, they wanted to destroy Dise for reasons that made no sense. Whatever the matter they were apparently a threat to the city, and the only reason the city's waring factions hadn't torn each other completely apart.
“Thanks...” I mumbled rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. “Serenity?”
He perked up, his black and red mane nearly standing on end, “Yes.” He motioned for Ginger to open the tent flap revealing The Watchers camp in twilight. “Huh. It was bright when I came in here.”
I groaned and rose to my feet. It still would have been light out if he didn't stop every three minutes to recall a memory of his childhood. If you wished it, I could detail his entire foalhood. Not that I really desired to go through that again.
Ginger walked in front of us with slow unsteady movement. Like he was about to fall over with each step. Wherever he went ponies scattered. Subtly though, like rats scurrying away from being stomped, not running and screaming like fillies from a monster. Still, you could see how it annoyed him. Even if he never spoke. “A refugee from a minotaur camp.” The red and black maned doctor explained, “He has vowed never to speak until his former comrades leave the Caledonian wasteland. Unfortunately no one else would take him in out of fear. So we did”
“How nice.” I remarked blandly. It was getting to be a struggle just listening to what he said after that lecture, nevertheless caring. So instead I gazed upon the watcher camp.
It was. Not what I had expected. When Serenity excitedly explained them as healers, and helpers at all I was expecting grand hospital able to fit thousands of ponies. What was there was a large flat area of the city quartered off and filled with tents. Hundreds upon hundreds of tents filled to the brim with ponies of questionable integrity, and health. The blue tarp tents almost looked like a sea, or at least what I pictured a sea looked like from what I have heard of them. The largest and grandest seemed to line along the walls of the compound and seemed to be saved for the critically injured, or as housing for the doctors and nurses.
“So.” I said slowly, fearing another verbal tirade as I walked beside the doctor, “This is The Watchers.”
“Awe. Not always what ponies expect. We've grown a lot in the last few years. It was only this year, actually, that we started sending out caravans to tribal villages in the north-eastern hill-lands. It has not gone as we would have liked,” his voiced trailed off in reminiscence, “but the Watcher does as the Watcher wills.”
“Huh.” Religion. Was this really a conversation I wanted to have with a pony that potentially had storage lockers full of poisons. Apparently it was, as my stupid mouth kept moving before I had a chance to, ya know, think. “It's a religion now?”
He chuckled a bit before responding, and seemed to slow down as he led me through the maze of tents, “It is to some. We have no books, or sheets of prayers, or physical deities to dote upon, but it is something.” He gazed upwards at the clouded sky. I was surprised he didn't not run into anypony the way he wasn't looking where he was going. Ginger may have had something to do with that though. “We believe that we were put on the earth for a reason. That the wasteland had purpose, and that somewhere we are being watched by something greater than our understanding. Something that wants us to do better. To be better. So that's what we do.” Well that explains the name. Shame, I was hoping for something more mysterious.
“But I have talked too much,” Ya think?
We stopped suddenly at an identical looking blue tent to the thousands of others. The flaps were closed but inside I saw like peeking through. “We're here.” Serenity. Inside. It was just about time for a sappy reunion. I could hear the violins already.
“Hey.” I said as the doctor and his Minotaur friend had already started to walk away. But he turned and gave me a impartial gaze with his dark eyes. “Who are you?” Maybe I should have asked that earlier when we first met, but hindsight is 20/20.
“Clean Cutt. I am the founder, and leader of the Watchers.” And then he trotted off into the sunset without a hint of irony.
Whatever.
With a fluttering in my chest I opened the flap expecting the worst after what I put her through.
“HIRED!” She had her forearms wrapped around my neck as I felt warmth rising to my cheeks. “I missed you.” How long had I been out? Another question I should have asked but did not. She pulled back from the hug; her grey eyes regarded me with warmth I did not deserve. “You Saved me! Again!” She giggled so much I had to wonder if she was on pain medication. But when I looked at where the wound was on her chest, it seemed all but healed with only a faint scar remaining.
Gently I placed her back on her bed as she kept talking. “Three times now. Three! I need to start keeping track.”
“Serenity, I-”
“I was hoping when they fixed me up they'd add some robotic parts. Like a heart! Then I'd be a cyborg. Like you! Wouldn't that scare the pants off any raider.”
“Serenity, li-”
“They didn't though. It's a real shame as that would have been awesome, so very awesome I stayed awake all last night thinking about it,” Well that explained it. I made a mental note to keep my fillies rested from then on, “Well, mostly I stayed up hoping you wouldn't be mad at me-”
“Mad at you?” I had to stop there. Why in Equestria would she think that? It was impossible for me to be mad at a filly for more then five minutes, and trust me, I have tried. “No, Serenity, I'm not mad.”
“Good. Once they give me a clean bill'o'health, we can leave and find a job with-” Perhaps I should have shared my plans. Told her why we came to the Watchers. To find her a home. So now it came time to break it to her, but I couldn’t. The words caught in my throat, and my intestines twisted themselves into knots.
“You're staying.”
She looked at me. I could taste the tension in the air.
“W-what. You don't like me?” I couldn't bear to look her in the eyes. This was... it was not supposed to be this difficult. She was suppose to hate me or dislike me. I sold her to raiders. For like thirty seconds...
“No. I like you.” Words stuck in my throat. Again. Why couldn't I channel Smooth Tongue just for a minute. “It's that. Look at you.” She stared down at her healing body, and around at the medical tent she had claimed as her temporary home. “It's not safe with me. You'll get hurt. You'll die.”
“With you protecting me?” She said flipping her mane and dismissing my worries, “Never.”
“You just got hurt.” Or did she really forget what happened just days ago. “Nearly died.”
“B-but. That was just a one time th-”
“And when you nearly drowned at the stable.”
“Well.” Serenity stopped her muzzle scrunching up trying to think. “y-you saved me. Both times.”
“Barely.” I sighed nuzzling her neck softly, “I'm not invincible. Or infallible.” No shit. Yeah it was obvious, but I had to stop her before she started treating me like a hero. “I can try my hardest. But, shit happens. I can't risk you dying.” Why did I have to be so sappy?
Emotions and I were... not close. I could kick down a raider without fear, but I didn't know what to do when tears started to form in my eyes. I couldn't kick tears no more than I could shoot my feelings. So I did what I always did and choked them back.
“I.” She started and stopped for a second her grey eyes welling with tears. It was getting too much. “I want to be with you. I. I mean, I liked the Watchers. B-but. They never cared. None of them would have done half'a what you did.” I felt a blast of warmth as she licked my cheek.
“I'm not a good pony.” Not for the longest time at least. I worked for bad ponies and did bad things. Constantly, and I had no intention of stopping.
“No.” At least she knew that. “B-but you aren't bad. You're... ” Her muzzle scrunched up again. “...honest. I think. You do your... job. But you never lie about what you're doing... when the jobs done and you're on your own. You always do the right thing.” A few times did not mean always. I promised myself to stay true to my contracts, but I didn't always do the right thing when I was away from them.
“I. It's still too dangerous.”
“I'm a big pony. I can decide that!”
Silence.
“Okay.” I broke the silence, and with a word I turned her expression from misery to mirth. “But.” I added before I could be bombarded with 'ohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh' “You can't decide now. Think about the dangers. Then give me your answer.”
“I alre-”
“No.” I cut her off. “You haven't. When they say you are healthy enough to leave, then tell me.” She nodded sadly and curled herself into a ball unable to contain a yawn. “You need to sleep.”
That had gone not as well as I had hoped.
Turning I moved to leave back to my tent when I heard a small voice call out. “Hired. Could you. Sleep here?” I craned my head around and gave her my best smile.
After taking a few moments to move some junk off the floor before carefully lying down beside Serenity's bed. It was only a few seconds after closing my eyes that I felt something small and warm against my chest. I really didn't understand this filly. But that was okay. Sometimes you didn't have to know everything, you just had to know enough.
Wow.
That was deep. I'm impressed.
---
Being under medical sedation for a few days apparently made me more rested then I had thought. According to my pipbuck, I only napped for an hour before waking up to find Serenity snoring softly at my side. Sighing contentedly, I laid my head down and enjoyed the moments of peace. They were few enough. Of course, it didn't take long for my mind to wander and I started obsessing on how I planned to protect this little filly and still eek out a living. I couldn't stop doing the tough jobs, not when I had a promise to Wildfire I hadn't kept yet.
Depressing.
So instead I got to my feet, my metal leg humming ominously, before tugging the blanket over Serenity with my mouth. When I left the tent it there was darkness outside, well as dark as Dise ever got. Lights shinned in all directions like a thousand stars had wandered too close. Looking up at the tall buildings outside, I had to admit they're beautiful.
My gaze shot down when I heard screams.
I looked around at the sea of blue tarps. I know I heard screaming, but I saw nothing. I turned my head and saw somepony running away, their flank to me. Were they running away from me? I knew I was a cyborg technically, but I never expected I was scary enough to run away from.
So I turned on my radio, “...for the news!” Why did it seem whenever I turned on my radio the news was always on. “Strange Reports from the Big 52 of what appears to be a pink ghost. More details as they become available. Well it seems two, and I use this term lightly, vigilantes have taken to duelling in the Dise streets at night. One calls herself the Batmare, while the other The Laughing Stallion. From eye witness reports, often they arrive at the scene of a crime scene at the same time and promptly forget to fight it in favour of themselves. I... There are no words. So here’s some music.” Vigilantes. Right.
As I walked through the maze vainly trying to find the exit, I saw nearly nopony. Those that I did see took one look at me, and my leg, and quickly made themselves scarce. Only one pony stood to match my gaze and it was a cutiemark-less colt. He glared at me with something coming perilously close to loathing before a hoof appeared behind a tent flap and pulled him inside. Somehow, and I wasn't sure why, I did not feel welcome.
“Scarin' folk again, Hired? And here I thought detox would do you some good.” Soaring out of the sky Flare landing in front of me looking... well looking really good. Don't get any ideas. I mean compared to his skinny twitching self from before, he looked healthy. His coat seemed bluer and fuller; his pink eyes were no longer blood shot and lacking in the bags as before. Hell, it even looked like somepony cleaned his mane.
“Looks like.” I scanned the rows of tents seeing nopony.
“Yup, you're an idiot. Good things. Means I get to be Mr. Exposition and tell you shit like I'm an egghead or something.” Flare had trick to speaking. He took a simple statement then added as many unnecessary words as possible. “Ya never heard of 'Celestia's Vision' have you? I don't suspect so, what with you not knowing much of anything, but they don't like cyborgs.” I had heard of Celestia's vision, though I couldn't recall from where.
And I took offence to the term cyborg. I mean, I was, technically, one, but it still felt like a word reserved for lunatics what lost their soul. As far as I knew my soul was still intact. Then again the stigma of cyborgs losing their soul might be why these 'Celestia's Vision' whatevers did not look kindly on us limbly-challenged.
“And.” Oh, Flare was still talking. A look of disdain masked my surprise. “Them folk actually got their start in the Watchers here, so most folk here either are a part of them or agree with'em. And that means that they don't like the looks a you.”
“You know this how?”
“Lived in Dise all my life, obviously. Only place the Remnants have a base after we got kicked out of the sky and what-have you. I wasn't no head commander or nothin', but everpony knows the basic run down of who does what and why.” As much as it loathed me to hear yet another lecture, I wouldn't mind learning a few things. If Lucky wasn't pulling my tail, it was a dangerous city if you didn't know who ran it.
“Lets get out of here.” The tension in the air was getting too thick. It felt like a thousand eyes were boring through my hide as we left.
---
“Fear.”
We trotted side by side through the streets of Dise moving towards the centre fountain. “Every pony here is 'fraid.” He flapped his wings for a second so he could gesture dramatically with his hooves as the plethora of ponies what swarmed the streets. “Ever since them NCA and Minotaurs, Dise has been afraid. Protests every other night, and when the Galicians send their ponitrons against them, they become riots. Mustangs fighting The House for control of the power-plant. I don't know what Molly and the Baises are doin' but it ain't good.”
“They the four gangs you said?” He nodded. Four gangs of Dise each trying to vie for power and control. Not counting the Watchers, Minotaurs, NCA, or Steel Rangers.
“Yeah.” He twirled around perching on one of the benches encircling the massive water fountain that acted as the city centre. “It's gettin' worse an worse. Rumours of a full-out gang war in the streets. Minotaur attacks, fears that the NCA will try to annex the city.” He reared up dramatically mimicking the statue of the pony behind him. He would have done a better job if he had no wings. “Soon the streets will burn, or something. Mark mah words. It wasn't no mistake I moved outta the city... though the drugs weren't part of the plan.”
His faced reddened as he continued, “But that's life. Anyway where was I? Oh yeah! Fear or something. Anyway ponies here like to drink and gamble to forget their woes for a night. Lets go to The Moon!” I knew that to be a casino. Sounded like a plan.
Before that I had to get a better layout of the city. The fountain did a good impression of a compass with four large streets pointing out in the applicable directions. North and south I already knew. Hotels to the north, hotels, the Watchers, and a jumbled mass of buildings to the south. So instead I looked down the western most street there was. Well nothing. It ended abruptly with the Dise wall cutting a building in half. Right. No way that's going to end up being important.
To the east there was a jumble of ponies getting thicker the further east it went. “What’s over there?”
“Huh. Oh, you know, houses and merchants and stuff. Anypony what doesn’t have enough friends or caps to live in the Cross,” The Cross I am guessing was what Dise called the four intersecting streets. At least it was well set up in that respect, four streets cut the majority of the city into four blocks. Each block owned by a different gang. Had to wonder who set that up. “Well they go there and live ina hut. Worst part of town if you don't count Parasite Mount or Eastside outside the city. Still, best place to shop, hardly ever overpriced.” He shrugged flapping over my head, “To the Moooooooon!” He rose dramatically before diving back and landing gently beside me.
Damn, I wanted wings.
“Why The Moon?” I asked keeping my head low as we started down the street. It wasn't like we were going to get lost with the huge water show constantly playing in front of it.
“It's the best fuckin' one. Sure The Alehouse has their little fight, but at The Moon everything is for sale.” Sounded like a good marketing strategy. Maybe. I honestly have no idea what a marketing strategy is. “No drugs for me though. I can resist. Just got clean for fuck’s sake, so don't go thinking that, but they got whores.” Heat rushed to my face as he winked at me. I just kept my head low and kept walking and prayed it was too dark out to see me blush. “Stallions... well, Mares for yo-” Wait, what?
“Wait, what.” I skidded to a stop. Mares? Wait. Did he really think I was a fillyfooler? Why the hell did everypony think that?
“Huh...” He stopped, looking embarrassed himself, “W-well, I thought. I mean the way you've been looking at the mares round here-” I was not! Dirty lying liar. “It don't matter. Stallions, like I said, though ain’t so many.”
I ignored him and kept walking doing my best to memorize the street.
“We're here.”
I looked up sharply to see a pretty, dolled-up mare smiling at me. Oh Celestia, why? She winked seductively, and I felt blood rush to my cheeks all over again. Behind me, I heard that blue bastard laughing at me. Growling, I pushed passed the whore as she said, “You like it rough? So do I.” I never answered and never bothered to look back at the water show. I resisted the urge to kick the door down.
“Hey there, doll,” A handsome Stallion said behind his desk, “Welcome to The Moon. Where the naughty come to get punished,” I could not have gotten more red. “We'll have to take your we-” It took me all of two seconds to unstrap my battle-saddle and dump it on his desk. I didn't really care; I just needed a drink.
“Don't get so worked up.” Flare nickered beside me flapping his wings, “You're always so uptight. Take a load off.” He opened the door from the entrance lobby, into the atrium. “This is the Moon.”
The whole floor seemed dark enough to give the illusion of nighttime but still bright enough to see everything. Most of that light came from a fake half-moon hanging from the ceiling overlooking the game floor. Two dozen tables of games I had never heard of and countless slot machines were spread out evenly across the purple carpeted floor. Gamblers rolled dice and flipped cards as serving mares in skimpy outfit strutted about, their flanks swaying as they walked. On the far wall was a simple stage with a single pool. I looked over just in time for music to start blaring and a Mare to come out dancing an...oh. Um. Wow.
“Drink.”
“Yeah yeah.” He hovered off to a nearby counter. From the vague memories of the Bridle hope I knew what this was all about. Before we could play and drink we needed casino chips. Gamble with those and trade them for drinks. Or other things here I guess.
I followed after him and got a lovely set of multicolour chips. Obviously, I kept enough in my saddle bags for later, I wasn't stupid enough to gamble all my caps away. “You ever play craps before?” I shook my head. “Hah, it's easy.”
After that point things got blurry. I remember a pretty mare getting me shots of whiskey. And the more. And then more. After that there was this vague sense of warm happiness. Scenes of gambling and caps. Kisses, mare and stallions. Someone telling me I needed to learn how to hold my liquor. The bottom of a toilet.
---
I awoke slowly cursing at everything I could think of. My head pounded like a jackhammer, and my stomach heaved when I tried to move. Something smelled like vomit and piss. It made my head hurt more. Groaning I opened my eyes. Why the fuck did I have to drink so much? Looking at the bed, I was happy to see at least this time I didn't wake up in some strange mare's bed.
I swear, I'm not a fillyfooler. Shut up.
“Hello.” I didn't recognize the voice. Oh fuck.
I drew my eyes to the doorway where a large red stallion was grinning at me from behind a pistol. “Smells like you had a fun time. I-”
“Piss off.” I burred my head into my pillow. “Your voice hurts.” He snorted laughter.
“Clean yourself up.” Fuck off. Does nopony get the message? “You spent too much last night.” Ya think? I mentally added a note that red ponies like to state the obvious. “You owe us two thousand caps.” I...wait. “You're broke. Even with the weapons we took. Until then, you work for us.”
Like hell I was! I rolled off the bed ignoring the urge to puke and die of a headache. Only to fall face first. Blinking I realized my leg was deactivated. The red fucker was still laughing at me.
“Congratulations. You're officially a Mustang.”
----
Footnote: Level Up!
Skill Note: Barter: 25
((First off I have to thank Kkat for creating this world I am abusing for fun and profit. And to my Editor ErrantIndy for being awesome and making this not, you know, suck. As well as to the folks at the FO:E Proto document, who are always there for support)) |
No One | 662 | 8 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-03-15T07:40:25+00:00 | 2012-03-15T07:40:25+00:00 | 22,171 | Made Mare
“A gentleman always has a flower handy to drop on an opponent's grave. “
I smashed his head against the table.
Blood seeped from just above his forehead and pooled on the surface of the table before I pulled him back up. He was tougher then most. The last two brought into 'The Room' had taken one look at me and squealed like a stuck mole rat. The buck glared at me with his deep red eyes and didn't say a word.
“Just tell us who you're working with.” The large red pony that 'recruited' me into his gang four days earlier smiled at the other end of the table. He'd do that for the stubborn ones. Smile and let me do the hitting. I think he liked The Room more than was healthy. “And you get to go.”
“Fuck yo-” My hoof struck into his stomach. Gasping, he held his stomach, and his head slumped back into his pool of blood. “you.” He gurgled, almost sounding like he was drowning. I rolled my eyes and looked away from the sorry sight. Doing shit like this made my stomach turn, at least it had the first time. Now I really didn't care.
“Listen. My friend here,” he waved a hoof at me before flicking his pitch black mane out of his eyes, “likes to hurt ponies. Not much for words, but the hurting part she gets, you see? This ain't no game.”
I stood as still as stone as the green stallion we were interrogating rose his head from the table and spat a glob of blood in front of the red pony. “Fuck you. I'm an NCA Solider and a citizen of Flankyard. Do you have any idea who you're fucking with?”
“Do you?” The large red pony could not hold back his glee as a smile formed on his face. “The NCA is toothless. They exist because Dise hasn't told them to fuck off yet. Do you have any idea how many NCA fools are buried in unmarked graves? And yet, the mustangs survive.” He laughed heartily enough to send visible shivers down the green stallions spine. “Show our guest what we think of the NCA.”
I clenched my teeth on his mane and threw him from his chair, sending him sliding into the white wall. Quickly I spit out the hair still stuck on my mouth, bits of flesh clinging to their ends. I resisted the urge to scrap my tongue with my hoof: The bits of hair I couldn't spit out were itchy and annoying but my boss hated when I broke my character. Finally I turned back to the pathetic green pony now bleeding heavily from the back of his head starting to dye his mane red.
“Will you speak now?”
The green stallion rose his head and looked up at me with glassy fear-filled eyes. I met them with my usual stoney look and he shuddered. “Y-you bastard. You and your fucking augmented, psycho, cyborg freak,” How charming. I made sure to remember that in case he survived this encounter. “Fine... fuck it. Fuck them, I'll tell you, just tell your dog to heel.” Now I was a augmented, psycho, cyborg dog. He really should keep his story straight.
Respectfully I backed up to my “masters” side as the green pony spilled the beans. Apparently him and four other ponies had come from the university (I don't quite know what a university is but it seemed to be key) in Flankyard and had developed a strategy to beat blackjack; Just by counting cards and some fancy mathematics. It was a good plan, a solid plan. Until they got caught, and when you get caught cheating in Dise (or when somepony thinks you are cheating) you usually are never seen again. Frankly the whole idea was crazy.
The house always wins.
“These are the names and profiles of the group,” red pony was saying to one of the guards of 'The Room'. “Send them to every casino in Dise, and might as well tell those fuckers at the Death Clock about them too.” He turned and grinned at me, “And House says we never do nothin' good.”
“You don't.” I helpfully pointed out.
“We don't.” he placed his hoof on my shoulder, “You're a Mustang. Might as well be proud of it.”
I shrugged him off. “You're an ass, Mayhem.”
“You could at least pretend to enjoy your work.”
“No. I couldn't.”
With a deep chested sigh Mayhem led me down the white hallway. It was a simple hallway that seemed almost too long and too bright, with only two doors on either end. This was intentional. Some ponies have been known to break down halfway through the hallway and confess their crimes before ever reaching 'The Room'. It was designed to intimidate, and it did it's job well. It was their own fault though. Trying to cheat the house was a good way to get a bullet in the brain.
“You're more fun when you're drunk.” Mayhem said leading me into the roomy cargo elevator.
“Fuck off.” Just thinking about that night made my head pound, and it didn't help that Serenity and Flare thought it funny to bring it up at every possible opportunity. If that damnable blue pegasus was to be believed, I'd hired a private dancer just to make her hoof wrestle me, I bought rounds of drink and dash for everypony in the casino, stolen a pit bosses gun and accidentally shot a hooker in the flank with it, and got on stage and danced. I didn't believe half of it, but my hazy memory of the night didn't give me good standing to argue.
Mayhem chuckled as the door slid shut. “You've got the next few hours off. Then boss wants you at the door to send away the street rats.” He said as the elevator started to jerk upwards.
How I hated elevators, they always made my stomach turn... at least the ones in the Moon did. I have never been in an elevator before and had originally thought them magic. Mayhem said something about weights and counter weights, but I was still fairly sure it was magic.
“And Serenity?”
“I guess your whelp can have some time off.” he shrugged.
“Call her that again.” I said as the machine jerked to a stop. “I'll kill you.”
“I only do it 'cause I know how it brings a smile to your face.” The door swung open and I briskly stepped out, and quickly slammed it on his smarmy face. The front of the door was adorned with the symbol of a pony in a wheelchair, with a sign claiming it was out of order. Sighing I walked past the bathrooms, and down the small hall into the casino floor.
The floor was just as dazzling as it had been the first time I saw it. Only now the large fake moon looked less sparkling and more chipped and cracked. The games on the floor with their bright lights now made me feel guilty instead of excited. And the dancer on the stage seemed a lot less sexy now that I knew her name was Mayflower, and was only working there to pay for her dash habit.
I blame Flare. That ass.
“Hey baby,” A skimpy mare sauntered up to me, “Do you want to-oh. It's you.” her voice dropped suddenly from its sultry tone. “Done with the NCA nerd already?” She flipped her hair and grinned, “hard to believe the gall of some'a them folk. Not hard ta believe you made'em crack though.”
“Thanks.” I mumbled my eyes searching through the casino floor. Reluctantly I'd gotten Mayhem to agree to let Serenity work, but only after Serenity had forced me to agree to let Mayhem let her work. Or something. I didn't want her anywhere near a place like this, and for good reason. But she was nothing if not stubborn. “Have you seen-”
“High rollers blackjack.” The mare said at once smiling at me, “So you got some time off? Why not get a drink with me, I'm a lot more... interesting than a filly.” Sighing, I turned my head to the sweet girl, knowing she was just looking to make some extra money.
“No.”
I trotted my way into the din that was the casino floor. Somehow It seemed they made the rows of slot machines and tables confusing on purpose. Had I not been forced to walk around glaring at ponies every day it would have taken me forever to find the high-rollers tables, even considering it was on an elevated platform. I was nearly stopped on the stairs up until the guard recognized my metal leg and let me through.
Serenity was easy to find after that. She was cheerfully lifting up a drink from the tray balanced on her back, [img][/img]and placing it telekinetically in front of a rather serious looking player. Like everything else, she was determined to do her job with a smile.
I trotted up just to hear an old mustachioed stallion say, “Hey, pretty filly,” he stroked back his sweat soaked grey mane. “How much for a ni-”
That was not going to happen.
“She's not for sale.” Both filly and old man turned to look at me. Serenity squealed in delight and quickly hopped onto my back, the tray on her back clanging to the floor. The old stallion just laughed at me.
“Listen, this is The Moon. Everything is for sale. Even you if I wanted.” He slammed his hoof on the table for effect, doing little more than drawing attention to us. Great, just what I needed. “Now hand her over. Do you know who I am I-”
“I said: No.” I repeated edging ever closer to the old stallion. More ponies turned and watched, but no pony said a word. I could taste the tension in the air, and the slight glow on his horn made my shoulder burn.
“Get out of my way you little bitch an-” With a less than gentle shove I sent his head into the blackjack stable. At the impact his head snapped back sending him sprawling off his chair onto his rump, blood dripping down around his horn. “W-w-w-what?”
“I said.” I said as I moved over his limp body, eyes burning red hot. “She. Is. Not. For. Sale.” I pressed my metal leg against his shoulder, pinning him to the ground, “Got it?” He nodded dumbly so I took the time to turn away, wondering what could make ponies so stupid.
Quickly I left the scene, hoping that Mayhem wasn't going to add more caps to my already expensive debt, but, dammit, some ponies needed to be taught manners. The crowd that had formed has already dispersed I saw as I looked back, and everypony went back to gambling. It wasn't that unusual in The Moon. Rude customers get a smack to smarten them up, cheating customers got dragged to ‘The Room’, and good customers got taken to the back for a private dance; Most were willing to risk the bad for that chance, so every pony won.
Except for me, because I wanted nothing to do with it.
“You didn't have to hit him.” Serenity sighed placing her fore hooves on top of my head, messing up my already messy mane.
“You're right.”
She peered over my head looking at me upside down with stern grey eyes. “Soooo. Why did'ya?”
“He pissed me off.” Sighing she returned to curling up in my back, pouting no doubt. I weaved my way back through the half filled maze of slots, and to the bar. The bartender recognized me right away and magically held up a bottle of apple whiskey and waved it in my general direction. Groaning I waved it away with my metal hoof. “You're an ass.”
“I thought you liked whiskey.” Oh, how I loved whiskey, and how I hated it.
“Two Sparkle Colas.” I sighed resting my head on the counter as the bartender chuckled.
“Two, you must be real thirsty.” he said just as Serenity popped up on my back and rested her forelegs on my head. Again. “Oh hey there, Serenity. Forget how to walk again?” She giggled and floated one of the sparkle coals over in a pink glow. My shoulder burned slightly, but honestly ever since entering Dise it had been burning non-stop. You couldn't go three steps without running into a unicorn. Luckily, it seemed the more magic around the duller the burning would get. Really, you'd think it would be the opposite, but what did I know?
I gulped back the carroty soda in the single gulp, letting the bottle drop the counter with a ting. Honestly, I wished it was whiskey, but Serenity would have given me one of her looks. Somehow she had a way of making me feel guilty over the most absurd things. Like beating up perverted creepy old men. Maybe it wasn't so bad, helped wane me off the stupider choices I was wont to make.
“Get up, Hired.”
Groaning, I lifted my head and turned to see Mayhem leaning on a nearby railing his legs crossed casually. “Boss wants to see you.” Boss? He was the boss. He told all the pit bosses what to do and only answered to Roy Mustang hims-... oh. Serious? Roy wanted to see me. There had to be some mistake.
“That must be a mistake.” I remarked, turning smoothly to the red stallion.
“I said the same thing, believe me. Boss don't usually like anypony, and lately he ain't seen nopony but me and his mares.” Note the plural. The only thing I knew about him came from the radio, and none of it was good. Apparently he was involved with a raid on the local power-station (don't ask what fuelled the station, I hadn't a clue. Magic I guessed), and later joined forces with the Minotaurs. Who were an equally nasty piece of work.
He was also my boss, so I was obliged to abide by his whims.
“Right. So I don't get a break?” I met his unflinching red eyes for a second before he laughed.
“No. Clean yourself up first... and wash your tail.” My tail was fine, I swished it back and forth to prove that point, “When was the last time you brushed it?” Never. That was a dumb question.
“Sometimes I brush it when she sleeps~” I glared at Serenity as she giggled on my back, suspecting she wasn't joking at all. She opened her mouth as if to continue her joke when somepony down the bar cut her off.
“Turn it up!” I turned to see a shocked little grey mare staring at the radio playing Mr New Haygas' show. Unsurprising, as it was also the only show. What was surprising was that Mr New Haygas didn't seem... his usual self.
“... you heard that right everypony. Yesterday- a day that will live in infamy- the NCA South Canyon Base was suddenly and deliberately attacked. It's too soon to say conclusively, but it appears the Minotaurs had a bale-fire bomb planted in the catacombs beneath the base...” He paused, as if not actually believing it, “It is unknown how many survived the attack, but what is known at this time, is that without a doubt we are seeing the start of another bloody chapter in pony history. May Celestia and Luna above, guide us.”
“What the...” My mind was swimming. A bale fire explosion. War. But what I thought most about was the Minotaurs, and their connection to the Mustangs. And to me, now. It seemed, without my knowledge or consent, I had declared war on the NCA. The only think I could think of, was a single word.
Survive.
---
“Ow,” I winced kicking my back-leg involuntarily. “Gentle.”
“Wimp, not my fault your tail is so tangled.” I turned to glare at Serenity as she gleefully brushed my tail silky smooth. She was clearly enjoying herself way to much, but it was too much of a hassle to do it myself... It's not my fault Celestia made me an earth pony. It made things difficult. Nothing I couldn't handle, at least when I had friends.
Dear Celestia: I'd officially become a cliche.
“This reminds me.” I turned my head to the window of our small dirty hotel room we called a home to see Flare float into our hotel room, landing with a flourish. “Of that night. You hired the bartender and got this brush-”
“Flare. Fillies are present.” Serenity just raised an eyebrow at me and giggled before running over to embrace the blue pegasus. Rolling my eyes I took a seat on the floor. “Did you need something?”
Flare didn't choose to answer my question, at least not before picking the small unicorn up, and doing a quick back flip much to her delight. “News of a sort. Figured I still owed you.” Damn straight. “It's serious though,” he said taking the time to ruffle up Serenity's mane. “Very serious. Like it's grade-A Celestia tier serious fucking business, so prepare yourself, this-”
“The attack on the NCA base.”
“You ruin everything!” Flare harrumphed, floating himself up so he could cross his forelegs at me, “Couldn't even let me have this one little things. Just once you know! Got a big whole dramatic thing planned and you go and ruin it by already knowing it. Now I need to think of something else exciting, oh I got it!”
“I'm on the edge. With excitement.” I intoned as dully as I inspected the wall paper. Once it had been white, with murals of Celestia and the Ministry Mares on it (from my understanding Dise was made for Equestrians looking to take a break from, you know, war) but has since yellowed and decayed, even stripping off at parts so I could see the rotting wood behind it.
“Somepony in this room might just get re-accepted into the Enclave. Well the Remnants. Honestly with the whole war thing going on in the north you'd think they'd change their name to something less.. less something. Way I hear it they’re sending Raptors against anypony what used to be Enclave, and that puts a big ole target sign on us bu-” Celestia's Nephew, he just didn't shut up. What did I do to deserve this?
“I thought you quit.”
“I did! Well. I was forced to quit after this one time I blew up one of our basements due to the fact I may have been on an altered reality, but I still quit you see.” He made this explanation while flapping his wings to allow him to simulate standing on the ceiling. Talking to Flare made me dizzy. “Not for a month though. Maybe less if the war turns out in force, but they wanna make sure I am clean before taking me back. Explosions and drugs don't mix they say.” His grin told me he thought differently.
“Oh, you can stay with us!?” Serenity chirped in. “Until you can join again. Hired's nice but she never tells me stories like you do.” Fillies are a fickle bunch. Also prone to putting me in awkward situations with annoying pegasi. Well, at least he did have some advantages, his story telling not withstanding.
“Yeah sure. A real power trio.” I waved a hoof dismissively before stretching and returning to all fours, “Come on, Serenity. The boss is expecting me.”
“Mayhem can wait. He's all bark and no bite.” Flare said prompting me to give him a sly smile as Serenity hoped onto my back.
Opting to be mysterious instead of helpful I walked out the door and shut it behind me, hoping to leave Flare bewildered. If for no other reason than because I found it funny. That's a valid reason, right?
The hallway of out sixth floor room was... very bland. Maybe to contrast the excitement of the casino floor, I wasn't sure. The wall paper was plain white (or it was white, but had since turned yellow) with a bar horizontally across the centre with pictures of the different phases of the moon. A lovely asthetic. At least I thought it was, and Serenity seemed to busy herself as we walked down the long hallway but counting the phases. So it was a win/win.
Blah blah blah. We walked and walked. Rode an elevator. Made some small talk. Honestly my mind was in a whole different place. For some reason my mind was flashing back to that contract Lucky gave me back in Timber after I kicked his ass out of the town. I was doing mental juggling trying to justify shirking the Mustangs if the war got started in earnest, on the off chance the NCA decided The Mustangs were too cozy with the Minotaurs. Argh. I tried to slam my head against the elevator door just as it slid open.
I hit the ground head first with a thud sending dull pain through my skull, neck... and my pride as Serenity giggled at me. “What're you doing?” Looking up I saw Mayhem's red eyes glaring down at me like I was an idiot. Groaning I jumped to my feet and shook the pain out of my head.
“Resting.”
Blinking for a second he turned away, “Why Boss wants you I'll never know. This way. Up the stairs.”
“Huh.” I looked around at the similar looking hallway, “Aren't we on the top floor?” Mayhem obviously thought that was a stupid question and just kept walking, so I had no choice but to follow him. The room he lead us to was just a bit remarkable in that upon opening the door, the only thing in it was a large spiral stair case with gold railing.
“His penthouse apartment is up these stairs. He said he needed to speak to you alone.” Mayhem sounded a bit insulted, so that made it all the sweeter.
When we reached the top I was a bit dumbstruck at the sheer extravagance. The entire top floor was set up so you see clear from one side to the other with nearly every outer wall covered in windows (which I made sure to avoid) . For lack of wanting to get into highly detailed metaphors describing the intricacies of the room that wont even come into effect I'll give you a short run down of the amenities in descending order of me giving a fuck: A large ballroom complete with crystal chandelier, a huge outdoor deck and patio with a large pool, a gilded telescope, a huge heart shaped bed sectioned off in the corner, an entire wall of swanky looking paintings, some sort of gold tub thingy (whoever built this place really liked gold), and a small (relatively speaking, as the place was fucking huge) hastily constructed wooden room with the words, “Bosses Office” painted on the front.
Hazarding a guess I walked up a set of red-carpeted stairs and gently tried to knock on the door. Only for it to swing wide open.
“Fuck took ya so long?” The pony was... not what I was expecting. A small, lithe royal blue unicorn was sitting on the cushion across from the door smirking with strangely white teeth. His black hair was cropped short, yet still managed to spike awkwardly, and his tail wasn’t visible underneath the huge white fur coat he wore. “You fuckers know who I am. So when I come calling you get your rotten tail up here, capeesh?” I nodded dumbly as he waved a hoof over to a cushion across from him.
As I went to slide down, Serenity hoped gingerly off my back.
“The fuck is that? Did Mayhem not give ya the scoop, I said alone. Last I checked fillies are ponies too.” Sighing he levitated a bottle of apple whiskey over to himself, drinking straight from the bottle. “Whatever. She can stay 'long as she learns real quick how to shut the fuck up.” My shoulder burned, and I so much much wanted to relieve that burn by shoving it into this pony’s smarmy face. “Introduction time. Go.”
“Hired Gun.” He rolled his eyes at my name, even though he already knew it.
“Serenity!”
“Whatever. It doesn't matter who you are only that you work for me. Roy Mustang. Got it? And before you go asking any fucking stupid questions like 'what kind of pony name is Roy,' my mother called me Rollo, but I stopped going by that after I stopped being fat, got it? Any questions? Good. Now, I've got some problems. You're retarded I can see, so I wont hurt your tiny head. Suffice it to say, I need you for a job.”
“What’s the-” I started to say before he cut me off.
“I'm getting to that part. Patience. Fuck it. Like talking to a foal.” Serenity giggled at that until I shot her a look and warped my foreleg around her drawing her close. “You've heard of the Baises, right?”
“Vaguely.”
“Course. Only two thin’s ya gotta know. First; they run the Ale House, and two; they want to take over my assets.” He groaned and rose to his feet, seemingly only to stare out the window at the dark alley mysteriously. “They think we're weak. That we'll bow down and capitulate.” Captiu-wha? “Surrender that is. Well, we won’t.”
“Are you?” I said with a sigh, lying down and resting my chin on my metal leg. He turned his head and raised and eyebrow, somehow not comprehending what I thought was obvious. “Are you weak?”
He said more in a defensive glare than he ever could have said with words. “No. Weaker, perhaps but the Mustangs are not weak. The raid on the Power-plant was a folly, but only because it failed.” I got the feeling he was trying to convince himself more than me. “But we will not fall, not to Molly.”
“Molly.”
“Leader of the Baises... you really don't know fucking shit, do you?” He turned back and took a seat, and didn't stop glaring at me until I stopped lying on the floor. Spoilsport. “She's a fucking liar and a cunt.” he sounded more like a spurned lover then a gang leader. “And she wants my casino, and my water.”
“Why her?”
“Because Mr House doesn't give a shit about anypony. Ain't good for nopony, but ain't bad neither. I attacked him directly, and his only response was to sneer and ignore me. The Galacians ain't much better. I've heard rumours of somepony trying to usurp me, and she's the only pony what can and would bother'ta. Now stop asking so many fuckin' questions and listen like a good little filly.” Urge to stomp into paste rising.
“Now here's what I need from you, so listen good.” He slicked back his pitch black mane with a sly grin. “I need you to break into that cunt's casino, and get me the juice on whatever she's plannin.” he rolled his eyes, “And before you ask any dumb as shit question I need those fucking plans to plan my counter attack, and if it comes down to it get the Galicians to assist. The Mustangs ain't without friends, ya hear?” He shook his hoof almost menacingly at me.
“What do I get?”
“The privilege of working for the fucking boss...” He rolled his eyes and causally strolled over to a small cabinet and levitating a large wooden box out before dropping it on the floor in front of me. “You'll get out of your debt by the end of the week, a job here if you want it, and this motherfucker.” he levitated the lid off with an orange glow, revealing the inside.
I licked my lips at the sight.
That was a damn fine gun. A Battle saddle mounted .50 calibre semi-automatic anti-material rifle with what looked like a custom oversized magazine and auto ammo-changing attachment, all in a sleek dark grey skin. I cannot express in words how much I loved that gun (Which is a shame considering the format you are getting this information in), but if I could I most certainly use the adjectives: sexy, amazing, unbefuckingleivable, wing-boner inducing.
Of course there were so many problems with this request; the most important being: how the fuck was I, the monster mare from beyond the stars with the subtly of a jackhammer, supposed to sneak into the head office of one of the most important ponies in Dise. I say this now, but at the time it wasn't really that important because goddamn that gun. It was what every gun should aspire to be.
“I'll do it.”
“Good.” he smiled. “Now get the fuck out. And Tell Mayhem to bring me the girls. Need to relieve stress.”
---
“That's a terrible plan.”
Less then two hours after meeting with the rather incorrigible boss of the Mustangs, me, Serenity, and Flare were sitting on my raggedy bed.
“I mean shit, just a terrible plan.” By the way Flare was flapping his wings I guessed he did not care for my plan. As he raged on I took the time to help the slowing peeling away wall paper by poking at it. “How do you plan to sneak through the fucking halls of the Ale House? Even if I could fly you on top, which by the way I can't, I ain't the Batmare.” He groaned 'accidentally' smacking my hoof with his wing. “Even if I could I wouldn't. You may be obliged to make an enemy of the Baise's, but I am not so dense.”
“You will.” My lavender eyes shot up meeting his in a stern glare. He started to talk, but I'd had just about enough of that. “Because you owe me.”
“For wha-”
“How much?” He raised and eyebrow as he slowly floated back to the floor. “Those drug dealers. How much did you owe?” I was taking a gamble, but a casino seemed an appropriate place for that.
“Fuck.” He stomped his hoof ineffectively on the floor. “Okay so maybe I lied, maybe they weren't selling drugs cheap they just were pushing me for money. Okay. I saw a fucking opportunity, and I,” he lowered his eyes looking almost ashamed, “I took it. How the fuck did you know, debt ain't a thing that spreads around.” I saw him eyeing the open window, and just as he did a pink glow slammed it shut. Smiling, I gave Serenity a nod of approval.
“I didn't. Until now.”
As I gave him time to pick his jaw off the floor I quietly congratulated what had to have been my most clever moment in a long time. “Now you owe me. You owe Serenity. Almost killed her, so you owe.”
“And if I refuse, what? You'll kill me, is that it? I know what I did was wrong, so you're preaching to the choir,” He said backing up towards the window nonetheless. “I just wanted a new start. A new life. I didn't think anypony was going to get hurt. I never wanted nopony hurt, you gotta believe me. I just...” he grit his teeth and tried his hardest to burn a whole in the carpet with his gaze. “Fuck. Alright. You win.”
Was there ever any doubt?
He groaned and flopped onto the floor, which gave Serenity plenty of time to tackle him. The blow sent Flare stumbling to his side and Serenity into a giggling fit. Clearly she had already forgiven him. I couldn't help but smile as they wrestled on the floor. The epic battle of wills not ending until Flare had manage to deviously ensnare Serenity in one of his wings. The tickling of his feathers proved too much and she was forced to surrender in between fits of laughter.
I was reluctant to stop them, but we had work to do. I quickly grabbed the map Mayhem had given me after my meeting with the boss, and rolled it out on the floor between us. It was a highly detailed, if crumbling, map of the top few floors of the Ale House’s third building. To be honest, I wasn't sure which of the three buildings Molly's office would even be in to pilfer the information the boss needed from, but this one was my best guess, if only because it was the building that once held the Casino's pre-war owner.
“Alright, so how are we going to die?” Flare said as Serenity scrambled out of the folds of his wing to look at the map too.
“This way.” I pointed out an overlarge vent that, for some inexplicable reason, connected the pre-war bosses office with the roof. Actually it wasn't that inexplicable, and it was the first thing I noticed when looking at the map. Honestly my best guess why that particular vent was oddly placed and oversized was not that the former owner wanted to be spied on, but as an easy escape route. It was simple to deduce. What with the war coming, and an easy escape to the Stable being a priority.
And Mayhem had told me all the hotels had secret escape routes.
“That could work... well if you were some other pony.” Flare rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Also I took offence to that. “Don't take offence. I'm just sayin' you're... well you're loud is all. And with that hoof of yours stamping all over the place in a metal vent, well you ain’t gunna be very subtle. Folk will either figure out it's a spy, or think a Sonic Rainboom is invading their hotel.” Sonic-what now? I raised and eyebrow but gave up on asking, I figured it was a pegasus thing.
“Well I could try to...” Do... something. Quiet like.
“What about... um...” Flare furrowed his brow.
This was a terrible plan.
...
A really bad plan.
Fuck.
“I can help.”
Those three little words nearly threw me off my feet. Instead I just sorta stared wide eyed and bewildered at Serenity. How was she supposed to help? Unless she magically got a cutie-mark in infiltration I doubted she would be much use. But I let her speak her piece. Just in case I was wrong, and/or an idiot. Turns out both.
“How?”
“I uh. Know this spell.” She gulped a bit her cheeks reddening as she stared up at the ceiling. “ Mister Morrowind taught me. It's um, well, I can turn sound off.” Off? Like a switch or something. “Do you remember the, um tunnels? With the drug dealers, and that awesome rocket launcher?” Me and Flare just nodded dumbly. “Well, I kind of used it there, cause rockets are loud when they explode, and I didn't want it to hurt my ears.”
Should I have noticed that? I remembered something about her being there, but... whatever. “Serenity. It's dangerous.” And stupid.
“It's okay!” She bounded up to me, “I won’t ask for a gun or anything. I just wanna help cause I like to help, even if it's dangerous. I mean, everything is dangerous. I know ya wanna keep me safe and I like being safe, but you know I have to take risks sometimes or we'll never getta do anything. So com’on. Please? Pretty please?” Those eyes. Nopony should be that cute. Argh. Puppy eyes are officially cheating.
“Fine.” Odds are currently, 9 to 1 that I regret my decision. Taking all bets.
Serenity squee’d with delight and embraced me. From the burning in my shoulder I guessed she was magicking something. “Just this once.” I tried to say, except what came out was... uh... nothing. My mouth moved but no words came out. And Flare was laughing his flank off.
Yeah, yeah. Serenity was just showing off now.
Even still. I had to laugh. Just a little bit. And only because nopony could hear me anyway.
---
“How much longer do we gotta wait?” Serenity was driving me batty. All we had to do was sit on the bench watching The Moon's water show and wait for Flare to arrive with what we needed for our mission. Instead she got bored and now was running in circles around the bench complaining.
“Until he gets here.”
“That's a stupid answer.” She hopped her way onto the bench's backrest and balanced on two hooves. “He's slow. You'd think a Pegasus would be faster, you know. Not super slow. I'm bored. This should be exciting not boring.” Everypony I know talked too much. I didn't ask for this.
“Ooooh.” My head snapped at the strange voice to see a frail old unicorn way to close to me. I may have jumped. Just a little. I'd never seen so much grey on a pony before. His coat, his mane, his clothing, even his eyes were grey. Just looking at him made me feel old.
“What?” I said. With a glare of course.
“Interesting choice. Yes. Very interesting. I haven't seen a working series 19-B in Dise in years. Yes, yes. Reliable, but so very old. So many more styles to choose from, yes, yes.” Was he talking about my leg? Not even a hello first? How rude. “Ma'am you should think about upgrading. Yes yes. I would suggest perhaps a Cerberus Model. Yes it'd fit somepony of your... stature. Retractable claws for gripping, yes yes, and a optional shotgun. Though it works better with a full set, yes yes. A quick amputatio-”
“My legs are fine.” I shoved the old man away harshly with my perfectly fine cyber-leg. Just because it was old and a bit skeletal looking didn't mean I needed a replacement.
“Cerberus models are dumb.” Serenity said resting her forelegs on my head, and her hindlegs on the bench backrest. “All kick, but they break down. Everypony knows that. You shouldn't try to rip ponies off.” I looked around, and though ponies were numerous (many liked to stop and watch the water show) none were Flare to save me from.. from whatever was going on.
“Oh?” the old stallion wrinkled his already considerably wrinkled snout. “And what would be better little miss know it all?” I briefly weighed the morality of murdering obnoxious elders.
“The Ten-Oh-One, for starters.” The old stallion rolled his eyes. “Pssh. It's a million times more reliable. Whats the good'a having a shotgun strapped to your leg if you have to clean it every shot?”
“So what?” came the dreaded response. “The Ten-oh-One is sturdy but useless other than for walking, not to mention heavy,”
“Where have you been? The newest version is sleek, trim, and twenty percent lighter. House came out with it last week, and almost half of his guards are wearing that version. Cerberus is a joke. Everypony knows that, at least anypony with a brain. Guess that don't mean you.” For some reason I felt this unnatural urge to chide Serenity for being rude, but I couldn't follow through. If only because I was far ruder far more often.
“What're we arguing about?” Flare!
Thank Celestia -- it was Flare floating above us a look of bemusement. “Save me.” I mouthed to flare as the two continued to bicker about wires or something. He laughed and did a quick flip before landing in front of us.
“Look at the time,” I quickly jumped to my feet pulling Serenity onto my back. “Lets go.” Before either of them could get off another word, I followed Flare.
He fluttered off just ahead of us as he lead us down a small alley way beside The Moon. I couldn't help but notice the difference between the outer facade of The Moon and the dusty dirty side walls that looked almost indistinguishable from the abandoned four story building on the other side of the alley.
“How did you convince them?” I asked, keeping my voice low. I was more than certain undesirable ponies hung out in the back alleys behind the Strip’s casinos. I kept my eyes to the sky at the dark cloud layer burning red as the sun began to set.
Flare landed in front of me before turning into a long empty street. Once upon a time, I was sure it had been a busy pre-war street, but now it was trash. A backwater street in a city where only the Strip mattered. Some buildings had stood strong, while others had collapsed into heaps or fallen into the street filling it with rubble. They said Dise had never been directly hit by a Megaspell, but looking at the tumbled down backstreet it was hard to believe. As pretty as the main street of the city was, this street looked no better than Parasite Mound.
“I asked nicely.” Flare floated down the street.
“And the Finishers just let you borrow it?”
“Nope.” He grinned turning and leaning on the Sky-Carriage. “They let you borrow it. Heard from Screenshot: Photo feels guilty for what happened to Serenity. Guilty! A weak back for a gang leader if you ask me, but what other gang is like The Finishers? They got a shtick and stick to it,” He tapped the wall of the carriage with his hoof, “so I ain't complainin'.”
“Well,” I said, trotting over to the back of the carriage and helping Serenity inside, “I'll have to thank them.” Serenity looked around the cart nervously as I turned back to Flare. “You can do this?” Before he’d said he wouldn't be able to carry me in it. Or was it that it would be too slow? Either way I wanted to make sure so as not to fall and die to our deaths.
“Yeah, no worries. I totally got this.” he lowered his body as if ready to spring out at me, “I'm good. You'll see. Smoothest ride ya ever get, you can count on it.” I'd rather not ride at all, and didn't plan to after this adventure. Not that I was afraid. No-sirree. I wasn't afraid of nothing...
Even if I was afraid, which I wasn't, Flare pushed me into the cart before I had a chance to say anything. It seemed as almost as soon as the back panel snapped up and locked (to keep us from rolling off). With a jolt that shook me off my feet and nearly into Serenity, who of course giggled, we were off. I could already feel that sinking sensation as my stomach tied itself in knots.
Turning to the open back of the transport, I saw the ground. I knew the plan was to fly high into the clouds so we could fly from west side of the main street where The Moon was, to the east where The Alehouse stood, but I was not prepared for the way the ground grew smaller and smaller, and the buildings shrank beneath us. I tore my eyes away and covered them with my good foreleg (accidentally whacking myself with my pipbuck). All that open space. How easy would it be just to fall. I hated falling.
I could feel Serenity nudging me with her nose. Quickly I moved my leg back to the floor, and stared at the front wall of the cart. I couldn't bear to show weakness. Again. Dammit. “Are you okay?” She moved closer, trying to comfort me, I was sure. Instead it was all I could do not to jolt away from her. “You're not gunna fall, don't worry. Flare will keep us safe... Hired?”
“Sorry,” I mumbled not able to look her in the eyes. Fuck heights.
“Are you afraid of heights?” No. I was afraid of falling.
“No.” I said, “Just. I fell once. Off a cliff. A long time ago.” I didn't actually remember the fall. Or the landing. Wildfire said I fell from my guardpost back in Marefort. “Nearly died.” It was... not a pleasant memory for a lot of reasons. And whenever I looked down that's all I could think of. “Seeing the ground like that. Just...”
In Marefort, I’d got over my fear of that cliff, so long as I never looked straight down, because I was there every day. This was different though. Nothing between me and the sky but a thin sheet of wood. And Serenity was there in the cart with me, and she reminded me so much of that charcoal grey filly.
Stupid, weak Silver. Get over it. Survive.
So I clicked on my radio instead. It helped me not think about falling. It was hard with the way my stomach twisted as Flare turned, but the radio was depressing enough to counter it. “Reports are still coming in hot and sketchy about the bombing yesterday. So far the NCA has reported less than two hundred casualties including thirty members of The Watchers who had a medical camp set up in the base. However we have reports from anonymous individuals who place the number at over three hundred and fifty. A huge blow to the NCA regardless of the actual figures... Well that's enough depressing news. Onto something heartwarming, it seems a Raider gang that had been pestering caravans in the north-east has suddenly vanished. Multiple witness' have reported a Mare and a filly walking away from a known raider base shortly before the Raider gang vanished. Keep up the good work, gals. Onto the music, now with twenty percent more repetitiveness.”
I rested my head as a familiar Sweetie Belle song poured out of my pipbuck, my mind going back to a raider I'd met weeks earlier.
“We're here~,” Serenity said a little while later, her head peering out over the back panel. Reluctantly and at Serenity's behest I looked out, and down at the top of one of the Ale House's three buildings. Gulping I quickly pulled my head back inside. Time to put my stupid plan to the test.
---
“Wait here,” I commanded Flare. We had waited until it had become full dark before truly descending and landing on the roof.
“Fine by me. Have fun storming the castle.” I rolled my eyes as I helped Serenity down from the cart, my fake leg creaking noisily. I really hoped Serenity could do that spell. Flare just watched, leaning on the cart.
“If anypony shows up, run.” His smile said he had already planned that. “Then come back. Later. We'll hide.” After I got a nod, me and Serenity were off.
The round roof had a series of vents sticking off the top, all around the relativity raised platform (with a huge letter 'V' tattooed on it) we had landed on. The one we were looking for was kind of obvious as that it was larger than the rest by miles (Nopony could fit in a real air vent unless they were a foal, and maybe not even then) and when I kicked the metal door open it had sloping set of stairs. I guess my theory was right.
Nodding, I let Serenity go first, and, reliably as my metal hoof hit the metal steps, there was not a sound to be heard. In addition, the light from Serenity's horn was more than bright enough to allow us to see. A vent being dark was not actually factored into my ingenious plan, as for some reason I expected the secret passage way to be perfectly lit.
Though a more important question entered my mind. How was it possible a filly with such magical ability didn't have her cutie-mark yet? I was positive I was younger than Serenity when I got mine, and I still had no idea what mine meant. I crouched low as the stairs ended and nearly whacked my head off the ceiling. It seems even overlarge escape-route vents still weren’t made for a pony my size, and I had more important things to worry about then cutie marks.
The vent twisted and turned as below me I could hear ponies idling chattering. Before you ask I did not bother to remember what they said, as idle chatter is usually trivial and non-important, but every time I heard them my heart jumped into my throat. Not out of fear, but out of not wanting to fight my way out of that damn hotel without a single weapon on me. Only a single shot rifle on my battle saddle.
Slowly we made our way through the vents, until it started to slope again, ending abruptly at a wall. Great. I suppose I could just kick the damn thing down. It always worked for my before. I lifted my hoof.
“... we need a patsy then.” A slick voice came from the other side of the wall, slightly muffled.
“Now, now,” a surprisingly feminine voice answered, “such an ugly term. All we need is a pony what knows how much a bottle cap is worth.”
“When Granny Dynamite finds out-”
“She wont. Don't worry your pretty head. Just get them ready... Poor Mustang won’t know what hit'em.” Jackpot. Could I get anymore lucky? Stumbling into information just like that. Almost anti-climatically. I chuckled a bit at the thought.
Chuckled.
Wait. I could hear myself... fuck.
Looking down I could see Serenity's horn had died down, and could hear her panting for breath. Fuck. Idiot, idiot. I let her get tired. Over use her magic and...
BANG
The bullet embedded into the wall right beside my head. “A rat?” The feminine voice said laughing a bit. “Sneaky Mustangs rats never stop crawling around my hotel. And now they think I'm an idiot and don't know my own hotels secrets? Tsk Tsk. Wont even need to call an exterminator for this one.” The second shot ricocheted, skinning my leg just above my pipbuck and knocking me messily out of my stupor.
“Fuck.” I said picking up the filly by the scruff of her neck.
We bolted up the stairs. Sort of. I had to crouch so I couldn't run, but I scooted as fast as I could for fucking sure.
My leg clanged nosily. My position was given away with every step as bullets flashed upwards through the vent. I had to stop. I threw Serenity onto my back and crouched down lower. I couldn't let my stupidly get her hurt. Again.
A sharp pain suddenly exploded through my back hoof. Gritting my teeth, I charged onwards. The vent creaked under me as more bullets sprayed, my blood leaking through the holes. Most missed. Still, it was all I could do to keep from screaming. Little light. Bullets everywhere. Serenity on my back.
I yelped in pain as a bullet scrapped my side. Another impacted my metal leg with a ting. The whole structured creaked. I kept moving though. Gotta keep moving.
There was a snap.
A creak.
Suddenly I was falling. The ground came up to quick. My chin cracked against the floor and I could taste blood. Somewhere Serenity was groaning. I heard shouts all around. But I could only see darkness.
I rose to my feet.
The remains of the vent tumbled off me. Looking up I could see the hole in the ceiling. And the parts of the vent that didn't break away. My exit. Now ten feet away and I couldn't jump that fucking high.
“She's a big one.”
I looked down. The whole hotel seemed wobbly. Maybe I was dizzy. Head trauma is fun. But even with the wibbly-wobbly way of seeing things I recognized the barrel of a gun. It was attached to a battle saddle, that was attached to a dark green mare with a huge yellow mane of varying shades. On her flank I could clearly see a cutie-mark in the shape if a black cowpony hat.
Click.
So apparently long falls fuck up guns. Why do all my guns break? I took my mouth away from the bridle and lowered my body. Bullet holes or no, I was getting out of this hotel. “Oh, calm down,” the mare smiled seductively. “You can't escape. We found your friend ten minutes ago.” She motioned her head to the right where Flare was sitting at the end of the hall, tied up and smiling sheepishly. “Or did ya really think you'd stumbled onto our secrets? Silly rat, that’s not how you play this game.”
Celestia's Cunt. This sucked.
“Well...” I slurred through my bloody tongue.
“Owie.” Serenity popped her head out of the rubble of our escape plan. “Wha... did we escape?”
“No, little one,” the green earth pony said, “but if you're good. And if you tell me why my hotel is infested with rats. ” she smiled brightly, “Then you might just. But if you lie to me, then mommy and I are going to have a little chat. In private.” I should have been worried about the impending torture and epic failing of my plan. Instead the only thing I could think of was...
“She’s not my daughter.”
Level Up!:
Skill Note: Sneak 40
Companion Perk Unlocked: Silent Goings: With Serenity in your party you have the option of removing all sound once a day for a five minute period.
New perk! Acrophobia: You have a fear of heights (probably due to some traumatic incident in your past). You're not a wimp, but you suffer -1 endurance and -15 DT when over 20 feet in the air, but gain +1 Endurance and +15 DT when on or under the ground. The sweet, sweet ground.
((This is the part where I thank Kkat for being awesome and doing awesome things, like writing stories for me to butcher. As well as a special thanks to my awesome editors theBSDude and Errant Indy. Finally, a shout out to the FO:E Sidestory protodoc. All aspiring Sidestory writers should visit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KaoFWVlFlMjYR2KmTWxwCYnvTZQcjEULO9YHSaqqk9U/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1#heading=h.ppfknyb4tr6 )) |
No One | 662 | 9 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-03-15T07:43:28+00:00 | 2012-03-15T07:43:28+00:00 | 23,813 | Chapter 8: A Fine Line
“What you don’t know, can’t hurt you.”
There was something odd about Molly that I just couldn't put my hoof on. Maybe it was the way her ears seemed way too long and flop-ish, or that when she caught me staring at them she immediately hid them beneath her black cowpony hat. In fact, her entire face seemed off, unlike any pony I’d seen. Not ugly, she was quite cute, just... off. Her body seemed thicker then her height would suggest, and it may have been my imagination, but her legs were thinner and more... flexible? She looked different-er than any pony I had ever seen, that was for sure.
“Tell me.” She said trotting over to her desk. With a tap of her hoof, the earth pony flicked a small pair of sunglasses from her desk into the air, making them spin majestically before landing gently on her nose. “What is a Mustang rat doing in my hotel? And please, don't lie.”
I gulped.
The spacious office was surprisingly under-furnished in comparison to Roy Mustang’s: the walls looked worn, the carpet threadbare, and one side was riddled with holes. Besides the desk (that was missing a leg with a stack of books substituting), the only furniture was the small chair the mare sat in, and a dirty mattress off to the side. I wanted to believe I had found the mare of the mansion, but given her room I couldn't tell. She called The Alehouse “her hotel” but her apartments left something to be desired from a gang leader.
Or maybe I was over-thinking it. That would be a first. She was clearly Molly.
Serenity squealed behind me. Snapping my head around I glared at the unicorn stallion foolishly trying to get Serenity to stand still. I took special care to memorize his face before another guard forcefully turned my head around with butt of his gun. All her guards were unicorns, my shoulder burning confirmed that, but she was an earth pony. Interesting. If I was a smarter pony I could have used that.
“Mustangs?” I took a gamble. “Not Mustangs.” I continued feeling all the eyes in the room turning to me. Defiantly a gamble. “Finishers.”
Is it bad when somepony laughs at your lie? Because the yellow-maned mare laughed far too hard for it to mean nothing. “No you're not. For one. You're ugly as fuck and smell like shit. They hire beautiful ponies only. Second. Seriously, no. Nice try. Now tell me what that ass, Roy, is bugging me about. Is he still as jealous as ever?”
So I laughed back. Well it was more of a smirking chuckle but it got across my fake derision as best as possible. “Mustang is an ass. Don't work for him. Finishers paid me.” Not technically a lie. Though I was getting tired of talking already. Even though I knew I was going to have to fast talk my way out of this situation, I really didn't want to.
“No. You don't. Stop lying or your daughter may never walk again,” The mare said with an off hand wave of her hoof.
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“No.” She just stared at me bewildered through her dark glasses. “She isn't my daughter. And. You won't hurt her.” She raised an eyebrow. “Because. I am not lying.” I added quickly. “Photo Fini-”
“Is not bold. She is many things, do not get me wrong, but she is not bold, nor will she ever be. This is a bold act.” She motioned to something behind me. “Not that it matters. I have spies around The Moon. They have seen you working inside there. Little rats should not think to toy with lions.” Though her mane was as golden and... large enough to be a lion’s, she was clearly not. I wanted to say she was a pony, but there was something wrong about that idea.
“Good. I was meant to be seen.” I gulped a bit before leaning in some, much to the chagrin of the two unicorns standing on either side of me. “Do you think. Only you have spies?” Once upon a time, I met a little filly named Spitshine. She played poker with raiders, and always won, not because she was smarter, or luckier, but because she could make the other players believe her hand was weaker (or stronger as it suited her) than it was. Pearly called it bluffing, and I think I was getting the hang of it.
“Really.” She laughed leaning back. “Okay. I'll bite, tell me, little fish-turned-rat, what do The Finishers, those paragons of fabulosity and beauty, want with a stallion like Roy?” In addition to my meagre bluffing skills, I also had this plan ready in case things went horribly wrong. Because, you may have noticed, things went horribly wrong often. It was a speciality of mine.
“Him?” I scoffed. Behind me I could hear the weakened voice of Flare chuckle. To be honest I hadn't even realized they dragged him into the room too. “Nothing. His hotel. That's the prize.”
Molly, the leader of the Baises hummed, resting her head onto her foreleg. “So hard to decide. One rat or another. Still, a rat is a rat. No matter its mother. Tell me my mysterious rat, who holds your leash? You say Finisher, yet the Finishers have no reason to break in. I assume Mustang, but you deny it on threat of pain and death. Even more your leg implies you're a friend of the ever-so-mysterious Mr House. So what rat? Am I to expect a squad of Ponitrons to burst in, just so you can be linked to the Galacians as well?”
“Truthfully. I was not to be seen here. Under Screenshot's orders.” That peeked her interest. It was also part of my plan, using The Finishers second in command makes it seem like I went around Photo Finish. And before you get these crazy notions like I am not dumb as a rock, please understand that just because I am stupid doesn't mean I can't have bouts of good ideas. Also the idea for a backup plan was Flare's... he even suggested The Finishers as the patsies, and asked them for permission for me. Honestly I was just taking credit for his idea... but in my defence I really wanted it to be my plan.
If you're laughing at me please stop. That’s just rude.
“Screenshot. Is she in charge now?”
“No. Which is why. I wasn't to be seen here.” So much talking. How did ponies do this all day. It felt like my tongue was going to fall off. I made a note to myself to never let Flare plan plans ever again. “I was to come here... and verify rumours.”
“Oh. Hah. So that's it, little rat? You scurry in my walls, then crawl back to your master and tell her I plan to destroy the Mustangs,” She grinned a bit too much at that, “And then she plans to swoop in and steal my prize from under my nose, is that it?”
“Pfft” Flare said from where he was being pinned down behind me. “You don't get the prize. At least you won’t no matter how hard you try.”
“Oooh. The Enclave Carrion wishes to speak,” the mare guffawed. “Squawk for me.”
“You aren't stupid, and you know that the Galicians won’t let you control The Mustang's casino OR their assets. You're not the first to try and hold two blocks. The Galicians have always enforced one casino per gang, it keeps their enemies fighting against each other, serves to stop ponies from rioting and rebelling against tyranny, and because they want it so if they're every taken down anarchy will destroy the city.”
What? Did that make any sense to you?
“I see the remnants scavenged enough to educate their members before running from the clouds like a scolded puppy.” I could almost hear Flare seething. “It’s a shame. You are right. My grandfather tried not long after wrenching this casino away from its previous owners. Lost his life for it. I am not one to make the same mistake, and underestimate the Ponitron army.” She gave a quiet smirk to my right where I assumed Flare was standing.
“So.” I was getting close. I could feel it. All she had to do was take the bait. The delicious bait. “You need a puppet. Somepony. Someponies. To take over The Moon. While being in debt to you. Right?”
“Right.” Yes! She agreed! Plan successful, this called for a drink. “But.” Celestia please stop fucking me around. “I don't really trust you. This is all good in theory, and under the assumption you're really working for The Finishers, and they really want me to tell them how to run their shit if I get them a Casino on the strip. However it is still far more likely you are a Mustang rat.”
Lies. Lies and slander.
“Well.” I nodded my head towards the door. “Check out our ride. A sky-wagon. In fact. Photo Finish's sky-wagon.” She hummed , and hawed. Apparently I made a good argument.
“Okay.” She nodded, standing up off her chair. Hah. That was easy. Wait, last time I thought something like that my whole plan nearly imploded. I mean Flare's plan. “On one condition.” I blame my intelligence chip for giving me bad luck. “You have to fight for me.”
What.
“You see, while the Mustangs have hookers and drugs to keep guests entertained The Alehouse tries to appeal to a more base natural instinct. The love of violence. To that extent I turn trained dogs against each other, and ponies place their bets. Very lovely to watch. It is never to the death, of course, but accidents happen and blood is spilled.”
“Okay...”
“Good. Because you don’t have a choice, as I planned to make you fight anyway. since maybe you're being honest with me I'll only make you fight once. Against the current champion, Torr. He's a lovely pet, truly, and gentle too. Outside of the ring.” She walked right up to me and reached up to pet me on the head. Really. One of these days I swore to end her. “If you win, you and your daughter.” I winced. “Can go back to the Mustangs, and find a door near the back of their casino. This door will lead to a small alley beside The Moon. You need to unlock it, and tell me when that is done to complete the plan. If you don't, I'll kill you, but only after my stallions have a turn at your daughter.”
Can you set somepony on fire with a look? I tried. I bet if I was a unicorn it would have worked.
“And that’s if you beat Torr. If you don't, I keep your daughter here, and you complete my quest, anyway. Got it?” Yup. That was totally going to happen. “Nopony can't say I didn't give you a fighting chance? Besides even if you are just a Mustang rat, I have more than one way to skin a cat, so if you attempt treachery it'll still fail.”
Survive, I whispered under my breath. I had to remember that.
---
“You won’t survive!” Flare flailed around gesturing wildly. He either knew his tail was on the line too, or he suddenly cared about me. Probably the first. “Did you see him? I mean for fucks sake-” I saw him.
We were hidden just off of a theatre-stage-turned-arena. What was once a classy playhouse, complete with glass chandelier, had turned into a fighting pit. The stage had been refitted with a large steel cage in which, I assumed, two ponies entered and one left. Dramatic, right? In the seats, ponies watched two of their brethren pummel each other into surrender, all while placing bets. The whole setup was made all the more classy by the blood stains -everywhere-, and the remains of the chandelier smashed upon the centre of the complex.
And, on the other side of of the stage, hidden from the crowd but not from me, was Torr. Now I have gone on and on about how large a pony I was, but this Pony made me look like a foal. He was over a head taller than me, and so bulky I had to wonder if his mother was minotaur. It'd be like if I started taking Buck, and didn't stop for the rest of my life. And even then he would have been bigger.
“Fillies and gentle colts!” Molly's voice erupted over the loudspeaker as she trotted back and forth in front of the cage, “Are you ready for a fight?!” The cheers of the crowd were almost deafening. “Today, it's our reigning champion, the slow but steady Torr, set to take on his toughest challenger yet!”
With that, the lumbering brute slowly walked his way onto the stage. It may have been my imaging but the ground seemed to shake as he walked. Either that or it was shaking from the massive roar that erupted from the audience.
“And his opponent!” She really did know how to put on a show.
I gulped and turned to my companions. They weren’t heroes, I realized, they were simply ponies, who for one reason or another were stuck with me, following me. Even though I didn't understand why, I had to appreciate it. They were the closest things I had to friends since stable 42. “Hired Gun...” The small pink unicorn trotted to me, determination in her deep grey eyes.
“Yes,” I said, partially drowned out by Molly.
“The mysterious mare without a name!”
Serenity looked down at her hooves, before turning her eyes back on me. “Don't die.”
I nodded, and turned, and exited my hiding spot. To the roar of the crowd. The entire theatre was only half filled, but it was more ponies than I'd ever seen in one spot, at one time. And they were cheering for me. Against my better judgement I smiled. And even waved my metal hoof menacingly before being rudely shoved into the cage.
I turned and saw him.
I don't know how to explain the sensation as the yellow stallion glared down at me. The way he flicked his blood red mane out of his eyes, and whisked his tail as if about to charge. It made my chest... tight, almost. It made me want to turn and run back the way I came. It made me almost feel as if i was falling all over again. Then, it hit me. This sensation.
I was afraid.
I'd been afraid before: of falling, and I was afraid of getting Serenity hurt. But this was... something new. For the first time in memory I was unhindered, uninjured, and facing another pony. And I was scared of them. Fearful that they could actually beat me. I... I cannot explain how unnerving it was. That sensation tingling up my spine making my mane stand on end. I gulped visibly as Molly spoke.
“The current odds are 9:1 for Torr. Bid carefully and bid often, gentlecolts. Who knows how long this match will last.” Thanks for the bout of confidence. I realized then, as Torr lumbered above me, that Molly never intended me to win. This was just an act to beat up a rat.
“Let the fight... begin!”
The crowd cheered one last time. Then they were gone, and the world shrunk down to me and Torr. Molly, Serenity, the crowd, hell, even the cage vanished from my sight and mind. Slowly I strafed right, and the lumbering oaf followed. “Me.” He said slowly as we circled each other like Chimeras circling our prey, “Me Torr. Who you?”
“I'm Hired Gun.” I took a step back as my heart started pounding against my chest so loud I could hear it.
“Me Sorry. Hired. Sorry. You go. Bye bye.” His first swing was slow and clumsy. But I couldn't move. My head started panicking and yelling but I couldn't get my thrice-damned hooves to move. It was as if I was glued to the stage. Paralysed by fear, what was I coming to. Then I heard a voice in my head say, Survive.
I ducked.
The blow gazed the top of my head. Pain flashed as I jumped back, but the sensation melted away. I couldn't even feel the blow. Not when he was coming at me again. Rearing up he lashed out but I danced backward. Dropping back down to all fours he charged me. Big as he was, he was slow, and it was the easiest thing in the world to roll sideways away from him.
That was, until my metal leg didn't know the drill. The damnable thing got tangled up under me as is tried to get back to all fours. It took a precious second for me to get my foot back under me. Too long.
I didn't feel the blow.
Nor did I notice I'd been thrown across the arena, slamming into a cage wall before slumping onto the ground.
Next thing I actually remembered I was opening my eyes to see Torr standing above me. One hoof raised. I was going to fucking die, even a stupid pony like me could understand that. I tried to move but pain lanced through my chest burning and stinging like I’d been shot with daggers on fire. I rested my head back down, and accepted my fate. Until I caught a glimpse of serenity standing beside the cage, tears in her eyes. “Don't die.” I could almost here her say.
Torr’s hoof came down.
And missed.
I managed to squirm myself under him, his hoof slamming through the stage, temporarily trapping him like a rat. The raging pain snaking through my chest didn't even pretend to go away, but I gritted my teeth. Monster or not, everypony had a weakness. And under him I was in the perfect spot to exploit his.
I squished his naughty bits like I'd squish a bug.
He screamed and fell.
I dodged his falling body, and scrambled onto my hooves. I stood wobbly as he dropped to his knees. There was blood on the floor, but I didn't know who’s. I was going to win though. I had to. With all the strength I could muster I lifted up my hoof.
And he kicked with his foreleg.
I had to jump back to avoid it causing pain to spike through my chest. It almost felt like my heart was exploding. Twice. Still I kept on my hooves, even as he too struggled to his. Somewhere in the back of my mind I could hear the crowd cheering, but they vanished just as quick. In a fight there were only two ponies, everything else was just a distraction.
“You...” The hulking pony said. “You cheat. Me no like. Cheat.” No such thing as cheating in a fai-SHIT. He charged full force at me faster then a pony that size had a right to. Without even thinking I stepped aside and lashed out with my metal hoof on his leg. The vibration of the hit sent shock-waves through my body as he tumbled and rammed head first into the cage.
I turned to face him. My whole body was shaking in pain and I could feel sweat drip down my face. I needed to end this I realized as I circled around him, but I didn't know how. I couldn't risk getting close as he was too strong by far, but I couldn't very well attack from a distance. For once I felt what it was like when regular ponies fought me. I didn't envy them one bit.
He charged forward again. Quickly I pivoted my body, and bucked. The feeling of my hoof striking his face with a crack was nearly orgasmic. Until, of course, he grabbed my other legs with both forelegs. I felt the strange sensation of lift as my connection to the earth was severed, and I was tossed. This time I felt the pain surge through my body as it slammed against the cage with an audible snap.
I think I broke the damn cage.
My body fell, but seemed to hang in the air, not falling the whole way. My eyes panicked, searching wildly as my whole body throbbed. If I was in a joking mood, I'd have asked somepony to get the number of the tank what hit me. Instead my thoughts consisted mostly of. Fuck, fuck, fucking shitty ass fuck. Celestia hoof fuck me with with the moon or something, fuckity fuck.
My skeletal metal leg was caught in a prong of metal jolting out where my body broke the steel cage. Tug as I might the thing wouldn't break free. Worse yet: I could hear Torr stomping up. With my heart racing, and my whole body throbbing Torr reared up behind me.
And I pulled free.
The hoof missed. Instead it struck the hole where my leg was stuck. Instead of being caught the metal ripped and tore at his flesh like the cage was a monster gnawing at its prey. Score one for fake legs. I reared up, and felt a tinge of pity as my hoof slammed into his face ripping his cheek to bloody shreds as his eye already began to swell. By the time I hit him again his eye was already swollen shut and blood flowed from his wounds turning his muzzle into a bloody mask. I reared up again.
And waited. I was done. I had won. By luck, or chance or skill I had him at my mercy. All he had to do was give up and let me have my victory. Instead he stared me in the eyes. “No. Me Torr. Me no lose.”
The next blow rendered him unconscious. His hoof still stuck in the fence as the metal bit his leg so deep I could see the slight glimpse of white bone through his wound. I turned to the crowd, and saw them for the first time.
Ponies of all different shapes and colours. Pink, and red, and blue. Unicorns, earth ponies, and even a pegasus or two. They were all watching Torr and I fight each other to bloody pulps. And they were cheering. These ponies didn't care about their brightly coloured coats, and manes. The only colour they cared about was red. How could I have ever thought that these ponies were worth fighting for? They were worse than monsters.
I gracefully strode out of the arena, a scowl on my face.
Except, that didn't happen. I tried to be all victorious, and epic, but the result was more like me falling face first into the floor with an echoing thud and a resounding “Oooooo,” from the audience.
“That is, Fillies and Gentle colts,” The weird-looking earth pony said standing above my resting body, giving me a nice view of her rear.
I mean her... uh... not nice, more like pleasant? That's no good either. What about, her tail. Her odd looking tail, I didn't get a good look at it before but now I did. It seemed to be tightly braided with a little poof ball at the end or something. That was definitely what I was looking at...
“It seems that the Mighty Torr has been bested for the first time. An Impressive feat, even for a cyborg,” That had nothing to do with it. My stupid leg got in the way more than it helped me. “Bet chits can be cashed in at the Box office in the back of the theatre, the next fight is between THE Batmane and Crazy Thunderhoof Facecracker at Eight AM. Be sure to come early for the best seat! In the mean time feel free to enjoy our many amenities. The White Tie restaurant is open until midnight, and of course the buffet is open 24/7. “ She took a deep breath as I slowly squirmed my way over to the cage entrance. “Have a good night, everyone.”
Finally the stage’s curtains swung closed hiding my stupid mangled body from the gaping eyes of the crowd. “Well.” Molly turned to me with a smile as Serenity took a tentative step forward. “You horribly injured my best fighter. You owe me, you little shit.” Blinking I stared at her my mouth agape. “I'm just fucking with ya.” She turned her head and gave a slight nod to Serenity who quickly charged forward.
“Ow,” I winched as she hugged me, pain spiking through my chest stinging all the way down my spine. “Not so hard.” With a squeak she jumped back and stared at me, a sad smile on her muzzle. “Your face is leaking,” I said slowly. For some reason my head felt all wibbly-wobbly. “I won. Didn't die. Tolda ya I would. Need a drink.” She quickly wiped the tears out of her eyes... and smacked me.
What.
“You've got a head wound: drinking is the last thing you needed to do!” I uh... No I didn't.
“No I don't... ,“ I said doing my best to struggle past the pain and rise to my feet, and failing horribly as the effort sent spikes of pain into my chest forcing me back down gasping and wheezing. “Need a drink. Forget about, pain.”
“Alcohol is a blood thinner.” So... I just sort of stared blankly at her. “Argh. It's just... no drinking!” She said with a pout digging into her bag.
“She's right you know.” I gave my head a half-turn to see Flare hanging upside down in the air snickering at me. “You're tough, you know that? I think I've only seen one other pony take a direct buck from Torr and live, never mind actually getting up.” I did not feel tough. “And that pony didn't even beat him. Only other pony whatever beat him was Sleekhoof of the ShadowBolts, and that was more due to Torr being slow as shit. Yup, you're going to be famous for this, for at least a week. A week! I'm jealous, truly.” he laughed doing, a quick flip.
“Let me guess,” I groaned, “You could beat him?”
“Hell no! Are you bucking nuts! He'd have torn me to pieces... Don't give me that look. Just because I'm arrogant don't mean I am stupid, and besides I'm an explosive expert. You know, things that go BOOM. Not all this messy hitting and kicking, and, just no. Besides I couldn't stand being caged like this. Gotta be free you know.” I'd no idea.
“Ek!,” I squeaked as something warm and wet splashed on my head without warning. And it stung. Like fire. “What the-” I looked up to see an empty healing potion glowing above my head, “Ow. Why. Couldn't I drink it?” If it was any pony other than Serenity I would have glared. Pouring things on ponies heads just isn't polite unless you warn them first. Already I could feel the wound I didn't know I had start to stitch itself together on the top of my head.
Serenity smiled at me in a slightly patronizing way. “Cause your ribs are all screwy,” No they weren't-
“OW!” She poked them to show me otherwise.
“And they might be poking your lungs.” I had to use my usual, 'what the hell does that mean look' before she continued. Flare just laughed. “It's like... the healing potions don't move your bones around or nothing, so if they healed in their wonky positions then they'd be poking into your lungs for the rest of your life... and that's... it's like deadly. I'm not sure though, but you should see The Watchers, they'll be able to fix'em up right good.”
“Can I break up this little love fest?” Molly snickered, leaning against the cage, her black hat slipped to the side, letting one of her long ears poke out. “You're not going anywhere until you talk to Mustang and make up some bullshit to appease him. And don't think I wont know. You got lucky this time.”
“Kind’a hard.” I said before biting my lip, and forcing myself up, “When. I can barely stand.”
The yellow-maned pony just smiled at me, “I've gone through worse. Stop whining like a bitch.” Obviously I glared at her, prompting her to wink under her dark sunglasses. “Find some way and get the fuck out of my casino. You know, before I regret my decision. I've killed ponies for smaller offences than breaking into my casino.” She snapped her head and barked at the unicorns tending to the broken and battered Torr. “Hurry up already.”
“Right...,” I groaned as Torr was levitated out of the cage. Molly followed with a wick of her tail. “Serenity. I need... something.” I wasn't quite sure what. Something for the pain. No what I was going to be walking out of her of my own strength without it. Then I remembered the two syringes of Med-X I confiscated from Flare back before the drug dealers base. “Med-X.”
Serenity sighed, before levitating it out of my saddle bags that I'd given to Flare to hold as I fought. (A huge mistake obviously considering he was an addict and I hadn't found the time to sell the drugs I nicked off him.) There was a sharp pain as the needle stabbed into my shoulder, a few seconds of nothing, then sweet relief. The pain washed away from me like the tide, leaving a lingering soreness, but nothing I couldn't handle.
Flare led the way like he knew the place, which he probably did, taking us through a series of back hallways before emerging in the theatre lobby from a door marked, “Employee Entrance Only.” Serenity, for the first time in a while, opted not to use me as a taxi, given my current condition.
The lobby had been beautiful once, with bright red carpets, gold inlaid wallpaper, and a marble staircase with gold railings leading up to the theatre balcony. Of course most of that had been destroyed; the carpet stained, the wall paper ripped. Though the staircase was reasonably intact. I couldn't help but wonder what the place looked like in its prime, no doubt it would have been a sight like no other. On the wall there was a slightly worn poster behind shattered glass. On it was a single grey mare with a dark grey mane, and some sort of... large guitar thingy leaning against her. I tried to imagine I was here to see her, walking in with a fancy dress on, and sitting to watch a musical performance in a swanky theatre. I tried to imagine I was in the past, in a place where were still able to sit down and enjoy something other than mindless violence and sex.
Which was stupid. The past was never coming back, and imagining it never helped nopony. The Med-X must have been messing with my skull. Moving on.
The rest of the hotel was set up in a similar swanky fashion. Red carpets, yellow-gold walls, with lots of lighting seemed to be the theme. It was honestly a nice change from The Moon (which seemed determined to make everything as dark as possible). I noticed at least two active restaurants, and the main casino floor had its own separate buffet table. I really wanted to ask what was with all the food, but chanced are I'd just be called an idiot.
“Congratulations on your victory.” A voice said as I attempted to leave the Celestia forsaken casino. Turning I saw a cute orange little stallion with an overlarge cowpony hat. “You're great.” He said with one of the brightest smiles I had ever seen.
“I uh...” Was I blushing? Oh for fuck’s sake this was not the time for hormones. “Thanks. I guess.”
“I mean really! It was just... amazing. Anyway,” He scratched the back of his head with one hoof as his voice sorta of trailed away. That was until the other pony manning the desk shot him a look and nudged him, “Eep. I mean. Thought if you had time, wouldn't mind, you know, getting a bite. Sometime. Maybe. With me” Gulping, I did my best to force my stupid cheeks to stop burning.
“No.” I quickly trotted out of the hotel pretending I was not just asked on a date by a cute stallion. I definitely did not run head first into a door labelled “pull”. I did not try two more times to push the door open. And without a doubt I did not blush furiously and storm out when I realized what just happened. If anypony tells you differently they are a liar. And a cunt. And a liar.
I needed a drink.
Which of course meant I was not going to get one for hours or days because Celestia hates me and likes to laugh at my stupidity.
“I guess I was wrong.” Flare said as I stormed northward up the main Dise street. While The Moon, and The Ale House were technically on the different sides of the same street the Ale House bordered the Dise fountain near the centre of the city, while The Moon was the first thing you saw entering the north gate.
“Wrong about?” I asked, as Serenity just giggled beside me. Clearly she knew something I didn't.
“Here I was thinking you were a fillyfooler,” wait for it, “when in truth you'll just fuck anything. I bet if I prettied up a Minotaur you'd-” There wasn’t any hope of ever getting respect.
So to make my point I kicked out Flare's front legs sending him face first into the ground. “Hate you.”
Flare just chuckled, “Where would you be without me?” Not here, and I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. I really needed to change the topic, before ponies got on my case on how uptight I was. So as Flare jumped back to his feet, I asked the first thing I thought.
“Whats with Molly?” Silence. Serenity and Flare were giving me the creepiest wide eye'd expressions. “She looked weird. Her ears, they were too long. Her whole face. It was...” Silence. Flare and Serenity exchanged a look I couldn't quite decipher and I already regretted asking.
“She's a mule.” Flare said in a hushed whisper, his pace suddenly picking up. He took the time to look around to make sure nopony nearby as we trotted closer to The Moon before continuing. “A Donkey Pony hybrid.” A... what? Could they even do that? The idea just made me feel sorta sick in my stomach. Either that or the Med-X was wearing off. Pain flared up blinding me in agony for a second.
“And please.” Flare said as I bit on my lip to try and relieve the pain, “Don't talk about it in public again. She does not like ponies mentioning.” I reminded myself to keep that in mind as soon as I got some more Med-X.
---
The elevator stopped on the third floor. “Flare,” I groaned as the new syringe of Med-X finally started to take effect, “put Serenity to bed.” I quickly preempted her puppy eyes. “It's late. Its been a long night. Sleep.” She pouted and grumbled and agreed. Not that she was getting a choice anyway. “Then meet me. Outside. Need your help.”
“Sure, only because you didn't kill me for that fillyfooler crack.” I pushed Flare out the elevator.
“I reserve the right to change my mind.” I said as the door closed. He just sort of smiled at me.
“Goodnight Mommy,” I could vaguely hear Serenity yell as the elevator jerked upwards.
It was then I realized that me and Flare were friends. At least I think we were, because honestly I was not well versed in the whole 'friendship' thing, but if we weren't than we were the closest thing possible without quite crossing that friendship threshold. And I certainly wasn't thinking that to keep myself from thinking about the fact that the elevator at any point could suddenly stop working and plummet me to my death.
One trip down a hallway and up a gilded staircase later, I was back in Roy's Penthouse. Instead of sitting in his office Roy was sitting on one of his many lovely couches, a mare to either side of him.
I may have just interrupted an orgy. I blushed just a bit, and walked in.
“So I said to the bitch if she can take my money she can take my-Gun?” His eyes grew wide as I stood there before him, bruises spattered across my chest, and my hair still stained with blood. “Holy shit. I heard you got captured!”
“I did.”
“And you had to fight that monster Torr.”
“Also true.” I sighed.
“What the fuck... whatever.” He clopped his hooves together, “Leave us, girls. Business matters. Shouldn't be long.” With an over-exaggerated shaking of hips the two whores slowly trotted down the stairs, seductively shaking their hips of course. I wasn't looking. It was just, they always did.
Roy however kept his eyes on their flanks until they left down the stairs before even bothering to address me. “Shit girl, take a seat.” I did. Flopping onto the couch I leaned back sighing as my injuries stung just a little bit. Above me I just realized was a skylight. Beyond the glass was blackness, no stars or moon, just clouds and the never ending darkness. I always found the night comforting back in Marefort. Infinite blackness in all directions but the small candle at my guardhouse. I don't know why, but it relaxed me.
“So.” He said tentatively as I turned to him. His fur coat was tossed haphazardly onto the floor giving a good view of his flank. And by flank, I clearly meant cutie mark. I wasn't sure what a jewelled cane was supposed to symbolize, but it was impolite to question another's cutie-mark, or so I was always told. “What the fuck?”
I told him what happened. About how the plan failed, we got captured, the deal, the fight, and all that. I even told him how I managed to talk my way out. “So she wanted me to unlock your basement door,” I lied, “The sewer door. Then tell her. For her attack.” Now before you get on my case for lying and breaking my contract please remember his words. He told me to 'get the juice' on what Molly was planning, but did not actually tell me to tell him. I broke no contract. It's not my fault he gave a vague order.
“Hah, that ass don’t know who she fuckin' with. Mustangs will show her.” He grinned. “Go to her tomorrow and tell her you did it. I'll load the tunnels up with so many mines she wont know what hit her.” He grinned deviously, I wasn't nearly as confident. Even if the Baises had actually planned to attack from the tunnels it was still a terrible idea to plant bombs under your own casino. You know. As a rule.
“My payment.”
“You'll tell the bitch what she wants to hear first, can't have you running off on me.” Bullshit. I just wanted my gun. Whatever there was not point in arguing, it's not like I had actually done what he wanted anyway. “Honestly, I expected you to fuck up. I mean you ain't a very subtle pony, but it's a pleasant fucking surprise.”
“If you thought I'd fail...”
“Don't get uppity with me bitch.” he stomped his hoof down, “I wanted you to succeed. But if you didn't it'd send a clear message that I knew she was up to something.” Hooray for being expendable. “but you did it. Or close enough. Mustangs aren't down yet, you can bet on it.”
I groaned stepping to my feet. My whole body was dull with pain, and even I could tell my breathing was laboured. “Okay.”
“Where the fuck are you going?”
“Watchers.” I turned my back to him. “Everything fucking hurts. If you got a Med-X...” I hated asking Roy for anything, but I knew the last dosage was not going to last me the long walk down the strip.
“Huh...” I guess he wasn't used to being asked anything. “Sure.” My shoulder burned, because I needed more pain, as he floated a couple of syringes over to me. “On one condition.” I turned and did my best not to glare. “I don't give a fuck if your filly wants to make extra cash or not. But under no condition. Do you ever fucking touch a client again. Or I'll rape her myself.”
---
I was not in a pleasant mood when I met Flare outside The Moon, and the stupid water fountain, and stupid whores dancing in it did not improve it. I did not like being threatened, and I did not like anypony holding Serenity above me like she was a fucking bargaining chip. And yet everypony did. I promised myself to kill them slowly when given the chance.
“Hey.” Flare said as I stormed past him, my rage and new syringe of Med-X masking the pain which still burned. “Okay...” He flew along side me as I stormed past stupid civilians as Flare zoomed beside me. “You said you wanted me. Are you okay?” No I was not fucking okay. Since sundown I'd been captured, interrogated, threatened, beat up, horribly injured, and generally treated like shit.
“No. Fucking hurts.” It was true enough. The third Med-X didn't seem to help as much as the second or first. Better than nothing, but dammit pain hurts. “Walk with me. In case Med-X runs out.” The walk from The Moon to the Watchers’ headquarters was much faster when running doped up on Dash. Walking across the city was just painfully slow, but running was just out of the question.
“Can I talk at least?” He said floating backwards in front of me.
“Sure, whatever.” I winced as a sharp pain shocked through my chest before subsiding. “Is Serenity. Asleep.”
“Dunno.” He shrugged. Apparently he didn't know how to follow simple orders... on the other hoof I actually said put her to bed, not to sleep. “last I checked she was lying in bed with her eyes closed. You don't have to be so protective of her, she knows more about the city then you do. I mean she was a slave before right? She's tougher than she looks.” She was going to be a slave but I saved her. Being knowledgeable and responsible are not the same thing, but I was too pissed to care.
“It's late. She's young. She needs sleep.”
“Yup. And you're planning something.” I hated it when Flare read my mind.
“No. My plans suck,” I groaned and stopping for a second to admire the water fountain in the cities centre. For some reason I really loved the statue of that stallion rearing in the centre of the fountain. I looked up at Flare. “However once we find out. How much surgery I need. You need to go to the finishers.”
“Wh-oh. Yeah. The Baises didn't give back the sky-waggon did they?” I shook my head. “Yeah... chances are they'll want some sort of compensation for the trouble it's going to take them to get it back. Maybe I'll have to clean up another druggie, or sort out a Minotaur family dispute. Whatever it may be I had to take the job. The Finishers were the only non-dicks I'd met since getting to that damnable city and I wasn't about to break our relationship.
“Yeah.” I said continuing south down the street. “Exactly.”
“So why couldn't your filly come for this?” he asked being careful to fly out of the way of the robotic ponitrons that patrolled in front of “The Clips And Clops” as we passed by it.
“She is not my daughter. Fuck. Is that so hard?” Seriously it was just getting annoying.
“Honestly? Yeah, it's a little hard to believe,” he said as I stared upwards at the Clips and Clops Tower. It always amazed me every time I saw it, rising up so high shining like a pink sun breaking through the darkness. Part of me really wanted to see the view from up there... the rest of me wanted nothing to do with it, knowing that it was way too fucking high and it would end badly for everypony involved. Mostly me, of course. Flare sighed snapping me out of my trance. “You treat her better than most mothers I've seen. You might as well be her mother.” He shrugged. “She wouldn't mind it.”
“How do you know?”
“What?” He smirked, “We can talk without you. I bet you I know more about Serenity's story than you because I try to learn. She lost her parents when she was a foal. Or she never had them. She doesn't even know. Watchers teach but they never gave her love, you know. Can you blame her for wanting something to stick to?”
“What. Are you a psychologist?” I growled, “I am not her mother. Pretending. Wont make it so.”
“What’s wrong with pretending?” Yeah he wouldn't mind it, being a druggie. “I mean. Fuck. Sometimes all you have is hope, and imagination.”
“What do you know?”
He stomped down in front of me.
Seriously.
“Where did you come from? Some magical land where ponies don't die, where life doesn't suck, where you weren't living on the edge wondering when the fragile peace would finally break down? Both my parents we're killed by raiders, my brother was shot down and tourtered by minotaurs when the fuckers first came here, and my sister was forced into prostitution by the stallion you work for. So excuse me if I want to imagine a better life. That's what hope is isn't it. Imagining something better?” His idea of imagination was playing house and getting high on drugs, so no, I didn't agree with him.
I pushed past him. “I really. Don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay. Whatever.” He sighed. “What have you got against being a mother anyway? From what I've seen foals are the only things you don't consistently want to smash into a bloody pulp.”
“It's...” Honestly I had a lot against being a mother. So I kept walking south past the apartment complex the Remnants called home, before I answered. “Difficult. I guess. Like...”
“Oh! Is it like some sorta history thing? Like your mother beat you as a child and now you're afraid you'll follow in her foot steps...” I just sort of glared at him. “What! When I was a little colt I was going to be an army doctor specializing in mental disorders.. I'm not as stupid as I look... Well I never actually went past a few classes, when I found out I'd have to go to The Flankyard to study I became an explosive expert. Also it paid more.” Explosions paid more than a doctor... okay then. “But I have a basic knowledge. Tell me about your childhood.”
“No.” The Watchers fort seemed so far away.
“Why not? You know you don't have to be mysterious all the time. I asked Serenity, and she doesn't know what you did before you found her either. So whats the deal. You hiding something. Did you used to be a raider? Or... I have no idea. It's just,” he floated upside down in front of me, “weird. You appear from no where, save a foal, then get knee deep into manure and politics in a city you've never even heard of. I just... you make no sense.”
“If I wanted you to know. You’d know.” I groaned ignoring the fading effects of the my pain killers.
“So I never get to know?”
“Yup.” To my surprise he laughed.
“Well... that’s your choice. Knowing you, it’d have to be something bad, and since you didn’t kill me when you could have, I have no grounds to argue for more special treatment, eh?” I smiled through the pain. Partly at whatever this heart to heart thing we were having, and partly because the we had finally arrived.
I trotted up to the Watcher’s Fort entrance where two ponies stood, battle saddles ready for any possible attack. Between them stood the huge hulking, ominous figure of Ginger the Minotaur. Predictably most ponies took the wide route around the fort, less the minotaur look at them! It'd be a sin. I trotted up happily. Oh there was still pain as the Med-X neared the end of its effectiveness, but I knew it would last much longer.
“Hey.” I said to the guards. One smirked so I guess he remembered me from that Dash incident. Lovely. “I need... uh... healing.”
“I Can se-”
“You!”
Me?
“Is it you! No way...” I turned to see a sea-green older mare trotting up her eyes wide. “Clean Cutt. He told me. Are you...” She gulped, “You couldn't possible be Hired Gun.” I blinked a bit and nodded. “You know my daughter! I mean... you knew her...” My stomach twisted itself into knots.
“Who?”
“Her name was Lye. She... she went up with a caravan, Clean Cutt said you were there! When... when you were attacked.” Lye... how long had it been since that moment? I had tried so hard to forget about her. “Is it true?”
“I... yes.” I did my best to avoid eye contact, but the mare was very persistent. “We were... attacked. She died a hero, trying to protect everypony. They took me captive. She was a good mare.” The sad older mare just nodded at me. “When I had the chance. I took revenge for her. For Lye's sake.”
“What!” My eyes shot up meeting hers as she shrieked. “My baby died! And you think More killing will help bring her back! Monster!”
I stood dumbfounded as she pushed past me into the watcher camp. “So.” Flare said from above me, “More of your mysterious past?”
---
“So what seems to be the problem?” I blinked at the doctor as I leaned heavily on the tent's cupboards before looking down at my side. Since the kick the bruise had went from blue to red, to a mottled yellow that looked positively sickly. “Oh that.” He poked it in a very undoctor like fashion. A wave of nausea burst through me sent my stumbling to my metal knee with a taste of vomit in my mouth. “Does it hurt?”
This doctor. As Celestia is my witness...
“I'm kidding. Yeah you got fucked up something fierce.” I stumbled to my feet glaring at the black coated doctor. “Hum... wait... shit! Are you that mare that fought Torr!” Seriously? I nodded hoping it'd make this stupid conversation shorter. “Mr New Haygas was talking about that. Shit. I mean... sorry.”
“Are you sure... you're a doctor.” I growled between my teeth.
“Y-yeah. Well, mostly.”
Mostly?
“I mean I'm getting full doctorship in a few weeks,” He slicked back his long plain white mane, “Since I'm the new guy they make me take the overnight shift. Shitty I know, but hey it's a living. So. Torr. Damn. You know they're still working on him,” I raised and eyebrow. “His leg got fucked. You did it, or was it when they tried to move him. Way I hear it somehow he lost a huge chunk of bone. Healing potions can't fix that shit, and we don't got the supplies. Best case scenario he gets an augment, or becomes a cripple.”
So on top of all the other ways I fucked up I managed to cripple a slow pony, thus stopping him from ever making a living. Well done Silver, you're a real class act. Should go burn down a orphanage next.
“Oh.” That reminded me of something. “In my, urgh.” Pain washed over me, but I fought through, “Saddle bag. Some drugs. For payment.” I was lucky enough not have bet away the drugs I confiscated from Flare during my drunken binge. Hopefully that would be enough to pay for whatever surgery I needed.
The doctor nodded and my shoulder burned as his magic rummaged through my bags. “Wait.” A container of something was suddenly floating in front of me. “Is this hydra?”
“The label thinks so.” The doctor blinked before looking at the glowing container to confirm. Laughing he patted me on the shoulder.
Sending spikes of pain through me.
That time I actually did vomit.
“Sorry..” he said as I spat and wiped my mouth. The taste of vomited permeated every breath, and made me want to puke more. “But, seriously. This hydra, it's very rare. The last shipment we got from Hoofington was over a month ago, and not a single word on why it has been delayed.” Okay... honestly I didn't even know what it did. I only took it because it looked drug-y.
“Whatever.” He just sort of laughed. I really hated my doctor.
“Okay! You first. Looks like you have come shattered ribs, we're going to have to remove them.”
“Why not? Heal?”
“Trust me. I'm a doctor.” The black coated doctor gave his very best smile... and I wanted to vomit again. This day was not going well, and it wasn't over yet.
--~~~--~~--~~--
Gentle winds blew across the field, making the flowers dance between the vibrant green grass. It was a cool breeze that just barely tussled my pink and white mane and tail. Sighing, I rested my head backwards and lets the breeze wash over me. Above me, the clouds glowed such a vibrant yellow, they looked like they were on fire. Like the sun was back. It took me a full minute of basking in warm rays of the beautiful afternoon before I realized I was resting my head in another pony’s lap.
Rolling I left my hooves sink into the grass, before climbing to my feet. Before me was a pony with a red mane and red coat. She gave me the same fiery look she always had, her green eyes burning with passion. “Good morning,” she said. I had always wondered what heaven felt like. As I lay back down, resting my head on her, I think I got my answer.
Drip drip drip.
My eyes jolted open as something splashed on my forehead. Just in time for whatever it was to splash directly into my eyeball. Squeaking I sat up and shook the liquid out letting the tiniest bit of it to splash on the ground. “Blood.” I realized what the red droplet was. Against my better judgement, I looked up to the pony whose lap I was sitting in. It was still Wildfire only...
Drip drip drip.
“Don't you still love me?” Wildfire asked, half of her head a bloody crater from a sniper’s bullet. The corpse gave me a grim red smile, “I didn't mean what I said. I only meant... it wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself. I'm sorry.” Her mouth moved slowly but her voice seemed detached from the movements. “Just wake up, please,” her voice whispered in my head but the corpse’s mouth didn't move.
“Heh.” I stepped back as memories of her voice poured through my head. “Yeah, this is not happening.”
While I wasn't looking, the plains had turned into a deep forest like the ones I had seen in books. Sunlight streamed through the thick canopy dancing on the green red and yellow vines. But the corpse of Wildfire stood in shadows, and when the many forest bugs moved too close they dropped to the ground and caught fire.
“Why can't you just talk to me!? Why must you always hide?” He mouth was still but the voice rang through the forest like a wave. Light burst forth as the trees around her caught fire. The smell of smoke and burning flesh filled my nostrils.
Backing up I hit a wall of trees I could not pass. “Wake up,” a tender voice said. “Wake up.”
--~~~--~~--~~--
“Pleasant dreams?” My eyes burst open to see Flare's pink eyes right in front of my face. “you were blushing in your sleep... were you dreaming about me?”
I shoved Flare's face away. “No. Creeper.” He nickered as I slowly rolled off the bed, landing on the ground with a thud. A dull throbbing sensation shook through my chest and back, but it wasn't that bad. “Did you see. Finishers?” I took a look around the hospital room. It was the same tent as before only now a pile of bloody rags were thrown in a corner beside a bin of similarly stained scalpels. On one of the counters a few empty healing potions were strewn haphazardly.
“Uh.” He flapped his wings a bit before tucking them back in, “Don't you want to check with the Watchers. See if you're... fit to leave?” I shrugged.
“Well.” I said stretching a bit, feeling the strain on my tense muscles. Those healing potions really were a thing of beauty. “I am walking. Surgery was success. Removed ribs. I think.” I turned to where the bruise had been but it was completely gone now save for a small off coloured patch of my coat. Magic, who would have thought? You couldn't even see the scars. “Been out too long.”
“Like four hours total, considering you just had surgery...”
“Too long. Some Med-X. I'll be fine.” Just a bit to remove the pain. “Still have work to do,” I said under the assumption The Finishers did in fact have work for me. I just sort of assumed ponies were going to get me to do their dirty work.
Flare looked at me with a pained expression before rolling his eyes and looking away. “Whatever. Clean Cutt came here personally to tell me to stop you from doing something stupid, but whatever. Not like I could stop you if I tried.” Nope. “You're popular by the way. Since I got back from The Finishers, Clean Cutt came to visit, then that mare that flipped out at you in front of the gate, and then some pony who heard you were a mercenary and wanted you to take a job in some fucking desert to the north west.”
“You told him to fuck off, I presume?”
“Course.” He bowed elegantly, his out stretched wings knocking over a IV rack. “Meant to do that.”
“Totally.” Suddenly, and without warning my head was swimming with stupid emotions. “Listen,” be prepared for something stupid, “about before. I'm sorry for getting mad. At you.” That’s right I just apologized. Seriously.
“W-what,” he looked at me his eyes wide in shock, almost as if he couldn't believe it. “Right. Me too. Don't worry. C’mon,” he said flying out of the tent, “The Finishers wanted you as soon as you're ready, and, fuckit, you say you're ready so you're ready.”
The camp was silent as death. We tip toed our way to the gate, and slipped past the guards with nary a nod. Now, I could bore you with a long, painful description of our walk north from The Watcher's fort to the main Dise gate, into Parasite Mound and The Finisher's headquarters. Hell, I could even give you a word by word of Flare's thrilling recount of the Battle Of The Song (a name apparently made up by a guitarist ten years later I should add) where the Baises took over the Ale House in the middle of a concert.
But I am far too nice to make you suffer through that. To keep things short, and your mind focused, let us say it is not important. After the long walk past the creepy Ponitrons, we made it through the Dise Gate, through the blackened streets of Parasite Mound (where I could feel eyes watching me from the darkness, piercing my coat and making me shiver). How I hated Parasite Mound.
Also the name. Such a fucking stupid name.
There it was, The Finisher's headquarters, shinning brightly through the dark town like a miniature sun. Nopony would dare attempt anything close to Photo Finish’s eye. Groaning my teeth fumbled with my saddle bags before pulling out the last Syringe of Med-X and stabbing it into my shoulder. There was a sharp pain, and then sweet relief. Flare gave me an odd look before pushing through the doors of their office, blinding me with light.
“You, are late. De Photo Finish, she does not like to vait,” said a red pony, dolled up in the Finisher's usual striped dress and sunglasses.
“Screenshot.” I nodded politely. “Sorry. My chest was opened up. And bones were removed.” There was a split second of revision on the ponies face, before she shooed it away.
“How... horrifying. No matter. De Great Photo Finish Awaits!” She lifted a hoof into the air! “We Go!” And was off like a bolt of lightning. Now last time we went through this I had to chase her up three flights of stairs. This time she burst through the nearest door.
I followed in a slow canter, walking into what appeared to be a small theater. Strange music blared over the loudspeakers, and various circular tables were scattered across the room. Starting at the far end and striking outwards was a long crudely made catwalk half covered by carpet with a single sultry mare trotting down the runway, spinning in front of Photo Finish at the tip of the catwalk. She sat with a stern face sipping on some sort of pink-y drink. I really hoped it was alcoholic and I was allowed to have some.
“Sit,” she commanded. “Dese recruits...,” she shook her head as I pulled up a chair. “No. It's just. No.” Her magic flared up as she levitated her drink to her lips. “No class. No style. No no no. Where is da magicks?” As the next sultry mare trotted down down the catwalk wearing what could only be called a dress by the strictest terms, I really didn't see much of a problem. “Drink?”
“Yes.” For some reason Flare chuckled beside me. Not unsettling at all.
“Now, now. Hired Gün. Ve are nice ponies, ja? We help ponies and moreover we do our utmost with all out strength to keep da streets safe. Ve have been nice to you, I, Photo Finish, have been nice. Now you get us into tricky situation, a tricky dangerous situation, so what do you say?”
“Sorry?”
“Yes. Dat, it is a start. Not enough.” Was it ever enough? Sighing, I leaned back and kept my eyes focused on the Stallion sauntering up the isle in a skimpy dress. Par for the course for The Finishers, I was just trying to make myself seem calm during the negotiations. “Sorry is not enough, compared to negotiating with the Baises for our Stupendous and marvellous flying machine, and having to pretend to work with those... ugh.” Visible disgust was on her face.
“You don't like the Baises?” I said as my pink drink finally arrived. I quickly picked it up and downed the sweet tasting nectar with great pleasure. It was fruity with just the barest hint of alcohol but that hint was enough. Especially when they poured me a second.
“You know nothing. They... A dress is only as dazzling as its wearer. Molly. That Molly, she, is the problem.” I raised my eyebrow and she just sighed. “It matters not, what matters is that ve cannot become her thrall. I, Photo Finish, cannot allow it. If she kills those despicable mustangs and lifts us upon his seat, den our power vill exist not for real but as an imagining. No. Ve cannot.”
“And you can't tell her no.” We both shot a glare at Flare who was leaning back in his chair his yellow mane messily covering his eyes. “What. It's true. Molly don't like being told no and The Finishers would not stand her wrath. I heard when she first got the job one of her underlings had the gall to call her a mule like she is and sh-”
“Shutup.” I turned back to my drink. The third one, I couldn't remember when I finished the second one but it was delicious. “So. What do you need?”
“The Galicians need to be informed. Alas, it cannot be I who tells them. They have no love for The Finishers and the hag would not trust The Great Photo Finish. So I need another, one who can be believed.” The music stopped as the last model disappeared through the curtains at the end of the stage.
“Me?”
“You. I, Photo Finish, said you will be out shining star across Dise, and Photo Finish does not lie. You are know to have fought against Torr, you are known to work with the Mustangs. You are believable... And frankly you look not smart enough to lie.” I could so. I lied all the time.
“Okay... so I have to speak... with...” I'd no idea who was the leader of the Galicians. I knew Roy ran the mustangs, Molly the Baises, and House was House. But the Galicians were a mystery.
“Grannie Dynamite.” Really? Her name sounded even more fake than mine. “But first.” She clapped her hooves together.
Suddenly at the end of the stage the curtains pulled open with a blare of music and a flourish. On the end of the stage surrounded by the models was a brown wooden circular structure. When a model tapped it, it swayed and drips of water splashed over the top onto the stage. Soapy water.
My face paled and I turned to Photo, “What is this.”
“A bath.” What. “Your friend, Mr Flare, thought you might not go willingly.” Serious, what. “You are to go as my envoy. A disciple of Finish, to speak with my, Photo Finish’s, voice under Screenshot's guidance.” No. This could not happen. “You must be clean.”
“No fucking way!” I tried to lift my hoof at her. Tried. Blinking I looked down at it as it wobbled and did not respond. My eyes darted around the room landing on the three drinks before me. “Did you... drug me...?” Photo Finish gave the daintiest of nods.
Around me the ponies surged. Tugging and pulling me closer to soapy doom.
“Take off her cybernetic.”
“Yeah, not supposed to get wet.”
“Guns too.”
“Ew, what did I touch? There's something living on her.”
“Is it supposed to be that colour?”
“Maybe her cutie mark is dirt she never scrubbed off.”
As I was dragged closer and closer, the one word I could think of was: Survive.
But there was no way I was surviving this.
Footnote:
Level Up!
No New Perks Or Stat Milestones. Wow you suck.
((Well, here we are again. I’d like to thank Kkat for making this beautiful world for me to play in, and thank her again for all the work she has put in as FoE nears to a close. I’d also like to give a special thanks to my editor, theBSDude, for making this chapter readable. And of course to Sidefic proto doc. ~No One~)) |
No One | 662 | 10 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-07-13T08:37:35+00:00 | 2012-07-13T08:37:35+00:00 | 22,590 | Ain't No Rest For The Wicked
“There are, always and only, bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides.”
“I hate baths.” I growled, as my head surfaced from the frothy broth. Flare just smiled from across the room at me... so I splashed him. It wasn't the most mature thing to do, but seeing his green and yellow mane dripping over his eyes made me grin, so whatever.
Wiping his wet mane out of his eyes, he smirked at me, “How old are you again?”
“Shut up,” I said, lowering my head back into the water. “This is your fault.” Dipping my muzzle into the water, I had nothing to do but blow bubbles as some mare scrubbed my back with a brush. Normally that'd be a more exciting prospect, but being drugged and forced to bathe put me in a bad mood. At least Serenity wasn't here to mock me too.
“She is done.” Photo Finish intoned halfheartedly behind me.
Blushing, I shook off my hair and had intended to use the newly renewed feeling in my legs to climb out of the wooden tub. What actually happened was I tried to climb out, lacked the capabilities with only three legs, and slipped. My body slammed into the edge of the tub, shaking it before it ever so slowly tipped over, spilling me and a wave of reddish brown water over the floor.
Groaning, I opened my eyes to see Photo Finish lifting a hoof up dramatically as my bath water dripped off it. “You have gotten my floor wet,” she pushed her sunglasses down to give me a good long look at her stern eyes. “It is, dirty now.”
“You took my leg.” I groaned and rolled to my feet, doing my best not to fall over. A tough task, everything considered. I turned my head away from the smug gang leader. After they’d drugged me and dumped me in water, they’d levitated me into some back room; and let me just say, that floating in a rickety container without muscle control was not frightening at all.
“Yes yes, but you look Marvellous dahling.” With a flash of magic, and a sharp pain where my metal leg should have been, I was suddenly staring at myself. I had to admit that without the blood and grime, my mane with looked much better, if a bit too long for my liking, and my coat seemed to positively shine. Had it always been so light? I guess it must have, but damn, did I look good. Or I would have, if not for the metal plate screwed to my torso with various sockets and gears to attach a leg to.
“Well,” Photo Finish added peeking her head around the full length mirror, “maybe not marvellous, but close, yes, very close.” Rolling my eyes I took a quick hop back.
“My leg, please.” With a single sharp step, a pony zipped up beside me levitating my leg. Excellent. I turned my head to it... wait was it? “Okay ju-.” Before I could comment on what they’d done to my leg, it was shoved into the socket.
Pain flared through my body, blinding me and dropping me to my knees. It almost felt like I had been bucked by Torr again, only this time when the pain faded it stayed away. Seething through clenched teeth, I stood shakily back to my feet as Photo Finish chucked daintily beside me.
“Does it hurt?”
“Yes.” I growled, shaking my metal leg and stomping quickly. It always felt weird when it was re-attached, as if it had too much feeling and burning in multiple spots, but it went away eventually. Just another benefit of losing your leg in an unfortunate stupidity accident. “No,” I growled, looking down at my mechanical leg. “Why did you paint my leg purple!?”
Flare laughed so hard he crashed into a near-by wall. My ears burned but I stood my ground. It was my fucking leg and they went and purple-ed it when I was being drugged and bathed, and no part of that sentence is right in any way. Seriously, I was a cybernetic killing machine not a doll!
“To make it beautiful dear.” It wasn't supposed to be beautiful. It was a device I used to smash ponies’ skulls in. Argh, I hated these ponies so much, and I knew it was only going to get worse. Photo Finish quickly clopped her hooves together and trotted through the nearest door, to get away from my murky bathwater no doubt, and beckoned me to follow. I knew I was in trouble.
Through the slightly dingy and dim halls of the backstage of the Finish HQ, we were quickly led into, you may have guessed it, a dressing room. “No fucking way.” I skidded to a stop at the entrance. The sight of all those, ugh, dresses made me sick to my stomach. I was against dresses as a rule, and that rule was never wear anything I looked ugly in.
“You vill,” Photo Finish's glasses shone eerily with light, “und you vill like eet.” She walked right up to me and poked me in the chest, “You owe me. You vill do this.” We matched glares for a second, but I broke first. I'd already agreed to the job, and that meant I had to go through with it, for good or ill. By the way my stomach was twisting, ill was the most likely.
“Fine.” It did not take them long to get me all dolled up. The dress they put me in was not the usual Finisher dress (I guess it was more of a uniform), but a white dress that flowed over my tail and onto the ground behind me. The lacy trimming was all a deep shade of of red with small rubies gems embroidered into the fabric. Around my neck was a simple tight copper necklace with a jewelled pendant. When I looked into the mirror, despite the fact it looked a bit tight, and my leg looked weird in it, I did look... well good.
I've lost all my mercenary cred.
“Humm.” Photo Finish stalked around me, “It. It is missing something.” Like taste. “Hum.” She poked and prodded, and lifted before turning to face me. “Aha! I, Photo Finish, has got its!” With a quick flurry of magic her pink sunglasses were suddenly on my face. Now I'd heard of wearing rose tinted glasses but this was ridiculous. The constant pink tint made me feel like I was in some foals fairy tale. “Perfect. It is needed, so they know you are with the Finishers.” I thought it looked nicer without the glasses. “Now for the other.”
Other?
Everypony in the room turned to Flare, who until then had been grinning along like a mad pony. Like a scene from a pink dream, the ponies tackled him, tearing off his red jumpsuit. In less than a minute it was no longer Flare standing before me, but a pretty blue mare in a frilly dress and a deathly scowl on her face. His dress seemed skimpier, and was a deep green with frilly light green ruffles barely covering his rump. Yeah, it was kind of cute.
“Its not that bad.” It took all of my self control not to burst into laughter. Turnabout was so sweet. “You look. Pretty.” He just glared at me from behind his own pair of shades as a scarf was tied around his neck. Under his dress, I could see his wings struggling to move until Photo Finish bopped him on the nose.
“Shush. This vas your idea.” I will admit that a stupid grin was plastered on my face, but dammit it was hilarious. If only Serenity was there to laugh at him with me... except then she'd see me in a dress. Yeah scratch that, I'd just tell her the abridged story later. “I cannot have un-pretty things go in my, Photo Finish's, place.”
The door swung opened and in strolled a red mare, “Are we almost do-what the fuck?” Screenshot's eyes were wide as she stared at me and Flare in our pretty dresses. The Finishers’ second in command just shook her head and facehoofed. “Photo Finish I-”
“Enough, Screenshot.” Photo Finish trotted up haughtily to the red mare with a sly grin. “I, Photo Finish, vill not allow my name to be used by those who are not beautiful. I know your standards are low, Screenshot, but do try to remember vhy ve exist, ja?” With that, Photo Finish and her Entourage vanished through the door leaving me, Flare, and a slightly bitter Screenshot.
“Maybe you should remember.” She said, and I got a feeling in my gut it wasn't something I wasn't supposed to hear.
---
Dawn broke over the horizon, turning the ever-present cloud layer into a light-show of reds and oranges. With a slight smile, I turned my head back south, following behind Screenshot and Flare. As we traversed the strip, more than one pony stopped to whistle at us. Of course, most of those times, the ponies that whistled seemed to be focusing on Flare. It was a good day.
As we walked nearly nopony spoke: Screenshot seemed to be too busy stomping to speak, Flare was far to busy blushing furiously (a fact I made note of), and I didn't speak on principle. If only more of my walks went so quietly.
Walking around the statue, a small orange pony with an overlarge cowpony hat waved and whistled at me before his friend kicked him. I just turned away and pushed my sunglasses back up, blushing ever so slightly. I had to admit it was a nice change from ponies immediately trying to avoid me on sight.. Even still, I was counting the minutes to get out of that stupid dress. At the best of times, I looked hideous in a dress and this one was a few sizes too small to boot.
Then came the Clips and Clops Casino: home to Celestia knows what. I had to stop and stare at the huge tower with the pink pony head cresting it one last time. Damn, it was impressive but I kept no illusions of ever getting to the top... an earth pony should stay on the earth.
Flanking the Entrance stood a row of creepily still Ponitrons, their screen-faces-things stoic and staring forward. Until, of course, we got close to the door. Turning in sync, their faces displayed a burst of static before changing to that of a grinning pink pony with hair that looked like a candy cane. “Howdy Do~ Welcome To The Clips And Clops!”
What the fuck? The Face was smiling and talking excitedly in a high pitched voice about the Casinos many, many (many) amenities, but the body stood eerily still. When the recording was done it was replaced by a burst of static and its usual army face returned. I am not going to lie, that was some of the creepiest shit I'd ever seen.
“What,” Flare nickered as he trotted up beside me, “never been to the Clips And Clops before?” He knew very well that I hadn't. “A bastion of yesteryear,” he stopped to wave his hoof dramatically at the door, “owned and operated by the Equestrian Ministry Of Moral, it has kept their particular flavour after the war. Oh yes, my second favourite casino after The Moon, and so very much better on Dash.” I shot him a glare, warning him not to make the money I paid for his cleansing go to waste.
“Silence! You shall be quiet unless I, Screenshot, say otherwise.” She turned her head and gave me a smirk. “Is zis understood?” Right, because I really wanted to do all the talking anyway.
We walked into the casino, and I was assaulted by pink. The doors lead to the main gambling floor, a large room with an arching roof with, no kidding, streamers and balloons of all colours hanging from it. The wall were painted in various shades of pink, and the slot machines lined up across the floor were shaped like cupcakes. Across from them were more than a couple blackjack, poker, and craps tables that too looked to be shaped like various sweets. Was this really a Dise casino or had I walked into a filly's daydream?
BOOM
Instinct took over. Spinning toward the source of the explosion, I pushed Flare behind me with my hoof and crouched down ready to strike. Only, what I was staring at was a table in a small restaurant off to the side of the casino, that was covered in confetti and balloons. That couldn't have been what I’d heard, so I looked further spotting a baby blue cannon still smoking.
“Why is there artillery inside?”
The adrenalin pumping through my veins nearly exploded when something touched my shoulder. I came very close to kicking the offending pony before I saw it was Flare. “Calm down. It’s a party cannon.” Screenshot was laughing at me, along with half the casino floor. I was blushing so much I probably blended in with the decor.
“What?” I said in a low voice, barely recognizable under Screenshot's laughing. She didn't have to make a show of it.
“It's a cannon,” Flare said as the cannon operator turned it at an empty wooden table, “that shoots parties.” With a boom, the cannon fired, sending a pink lacy table cloth over the table in a flurry of confetti and balloons.
It was a cannon that shot parties. Sure, why not?
You know, when I'd planned to go to The Finishers to repay my debt to them, I thought it was going to be something exciting. Raid a drugdealer’s base. Fight off insane ghouls. Something along those lines. Not have a bath, get dressed up pretty, and go to a land of pink parties. Celestia's cunt, I needed a drink.
Screenshot shook her head after wiping tears of laughter out of her eyes and continued through the Casino. Flare followed behind, a smug smile on his face until, I assume, he realized he was still dressed like a pretty filly. I mostly kept my eyes on the carpet as I walked, the casino’s bright and happy atmosphere being way to much for me to handle. Anything was better than this, even The Moon.
Surprisingly, Screenshot did not take us to an elevator. I was half expecting the bosses chamber to be at the top of the tower and I was mighty glad it wasn't. Don't get me wrong, I had no problem with Mustangs’ rooftop apartment, and while I did avoid the windows I could have handled them, but the tower was a different thing. It was by far the highest thing in Dise, and was even higher then we flew in the sky-waggon! That had nothing to do with my fear of heights (that I don't have), and much more due to the fact it was fucking high and anypony that wasn't a pegasus would be insane to go up that high, I mean for fuck’s sake I felt sick looking at it.
Okay that last paragraph got away from me. What I was trying to say is that Screenshot took us through a short series of hallways passing right past the elevator doors. The walls were painted pink with grey stripes, and the doors lining the hallway seemed to have the names of various drugs on them. Mint-als, Party Time Mint-Als, Buck, Dash (I smacked Flare when he stopped too long looking at the door) and so forth. I could almost swear I heard talking and laughing behind more than one of them.
Eventually, we reached a plain wooden door labelled “G.M. Office.” After Screenshot knocked thrice, the door slid (very cool effect, mind you) open. Two of those creepy ass robots flanked the other side of the door, and, most concerningly, they had their wide array of guns and explosives out and armed. Apparently nopony was trusted. Across the room was the mare I had to assume was Granny Dynamite.
She was only a wrinkled green pony sitting in a wheel chair. Her mane was grey and falling out, and she looked half asleep sitting there. However, I made sure to approach cautiously, as the earth pony had two belts off dynamite strapped across her body. Not counting, of course, the two in an X pattern on her flank.
Trotting over and noticing a lack of anyplace to sit, I took my place to Screenshot's right. “Granny Dynam-”
“Stuff it.” She sneered, and opened up her pale white eyes, “Call me Granny and cut that accent. I may be old, but I’m not deaf. I'm not blind either, no matter what you hear, so just spit it out. That prancing pony wanted me for something, heh. Wants my army. Heh. They all want it, well you can have em! Never done me no good. I'm kidding, of course. Well, stop standing there with your maws agape, speak!” I was more amazed at the way her neck flapped when she spoke than anything she had to say.
“Photo Finish sends her regards.” Screenshot said, the accent thoroughly dropped.
“Photo Finish can only sends her regards cause she got nothing else to send. Her mother was better than her and she's still a little girl tryin'a fit in her mother's boots. Well, what does she want? She can't give me anything so she must want to speak. Forever speaking, but she never says anything.” How exactly a pony could speak without saying anything confused me.
Screenshot mercifully got to talking. She quickly and forcefully told the old mare what the Baises were planning, having to talk through the old mare's interruptions no less than three times.
“So you heard this straight from that mule’s mouth?” She nodded at me, her eyes lids growing heavy again.
“Yes.”
“Yes what?” She groaned a bit.
“Yes Ma'am.”
For some reason, she face-hoofed. After she was finished with that, she leaned back in her wheel chair humming to herself. “You heard this too, my pretty young thing?” She nodded at Flare, who blushed hot red.
“Yes ma'am.” His wings fidgeted noticeably under his dress, “Molly gave the plans herself. Plans to take over the Moon, Finisher puppet and all that, I guess you heard enough about but its all true.”
“Yes... yes.” She stared at me, or rather it seemed like she stared past me. For a split second I thought I saw static on the screen of the Ponitron behind me, but when I turned to look at it the normal face displayed. “Pay attention,” the old mare said, snapping me back forward and the silly thought out of my head. “I don't trust you.”
That was for the best. I was surprised the old mare had lasted as long as she had as the ruler of the Galicians, as it seemed gang leadership was a cut throat business, so I guessed distrusting all the ponies helped.
“No. You don't,” Screenshot said simply, “but you can't not trust us. You want the peace right? If the Baises gain to much control, the city will erupt.”
“Shush, you think you know this is this it? Heh. You're barely a filly. Is that a real cutie mark, or is it painted on, I can't tell. Listen to your elders: I remember when the NCA first came to Dise, I remember the fires and riots, so don't you talk to me about such things. I remember when your precious Parasite Mound was a raider cesspit leeching off the lifeblood of Dise. I KNOW war.” The old mare was practically shaking as she spoke, “Do not presume to lecture me.”
“I am not lecturing. I am tr-”
The sound of Granny pulling a stick of dynamite off her belt shut Screenshot up. “Good. Listen to your elders.” She grinned, spitting it into her lap. “Good. Listen, what does it take to be listened too. Your bloody hulking mare, who looks awful in that dress may I add, is too dumb to lie. So she’s telling the truth, yes I get that. Heh. I can see why the Finishers would fear, nopony would suffer under Molly’s hoof for long. So that’s it. That's why you came here, for my army. Well. What do you have to offer?”
“Peac-” Screenshot started.
“Stuff your peace under your tail. Heh.” She leaned forward in her chair and once again I thought I saw the Ponitron beside me display a burst of static. I didn't look this time as it was clearly my imagination. “What I need,” she started again, “is a form of payment. Caps, deals, information. Something I can sink my teeth into.”
And then came the bartering. It made no sense why Granny would charge The Finishers to stop a battle neither of them wanted, but then again I was not a smart pony (and you're probably tired of hearing me say that). If I knew the details I would give them, but I may have dozed off about five minutes into it. I was never much of a bargainer... barterer... talker-pony. Thing. Except on the occasion that I was.
“Alright.” The old mare snorted, making my shoot my eyes open. Totally not asleep or anything. “You can make use of my robots, heh. Tonight. Get that mule bitch to attack tonight, and I'll have them ready to stop her. Midnight.”
“One.” I gritted my teeth, expecting a verbal lashing, but it was vitally important the raid take place after midnight. I didn't want it to go off early while I was still under Mustang contract. “Make it one. Midnight is too early.”
“Whatever. One AM. Not like I have to be awake for it.” She leaned back in her chair and waved a hoof. “This better be a real thing. Do not presume to fuck with me, you got that? The Galicians do not like to be fucked with.”
“We got it. Thank you for your time.” Screenshot said turning around and rolling her eyes.
Me and Flare followed suit and he whispered hurriedly to me, “Can we change now?”
---
“Tonight?”
I was surprised Molly even agreed to see me, since I got the feeling she didn't like me. Still, I was sitting in Molly's top floor office with a sly grin on my face, and noticeably less confined this time. I was moving up in the world.
“Yes,” I said, stretching just a bit. It felt so good to have that stupid dress off me, but I kept the sun glasses. Not there was any sun to shade, I just liked seeing everything in pink. And they matched my mane... dammit I wore a dress once and I was already thinking about how things matched. “Tonight. Roy, he’s having a party. In his pent house. Starts just past midnight.”
“Yes.” The mule put a hoof through her long mane, “Yes. You're not as dumb as you look.” She smirked at me a bit. “You're dumb, just not quite that dumb. I had plans to attack tonight anyway,” she said, fiddling with the drink on her desk as she, for some reason, stared at my purple leg. “You have the door unlocked, yes my little rat?”
“Uh.” Crap, I knew I was forgetting something. Quickly Silver, think of something smart. Dammit. Nervously I tapped my metal hoof on my pipbuck.
“Course.” Flare said hovering just above my head. He too seemed happy not to have his dress on, which is a shame. It did look so cute on him. “What you think we're stupid, we got everything planned and its going to be a blast. You like blasts, right?”
“Yes, my carrion crow,” Molly said with a yawn. “It shall be glorious. You may be gone now. Assuming you aren’t lying through your teeth, I will bother you no further. You aren't subtle, but you're effective.”
With that compliment thingy, I started to turn when she added, “But, if you ever need more work hit me up. I usually prefer unicorns, but you seem resourceful enough. For a rat.” Yup that was going to happen. In all honesty, my plans for after I finished that night consisted mostly of running as far away from Dise as I could and never looking back. Ever since I stepped foot into Parasite Mound, things had gone from bad to worse to worstest.
“We'll think about it, Miss Molly,” Flare said as the door shut behind us. At least this morning was better than the night before. I could walk now without pain shooting into my brain, and I was no pony's patsy but my own. Well, I suppose the Finishers had some say, but their desires really coincided with mine so it was a win-win.
Walking down the hall of The Ale House, we soon found ourselves down the elevator and leaving the building (an orange pony with an overlarge cowpony hat waved to me, but I ignored him). We really didn't talk until we walked outside and I heard... something. Like a loud sound that was... I wasn't sure but it was above me.
Highlighted against the noon sky (overcast, as always) was a hulking black armoured sky waggon. I could barely see it from where I stood, but it looked to have two round ball things to either side that maybe powered it, and on the bottom was a row of what could only have been missile launchers. Seriously. I shit you not.
“A Vertibuck.” Normally, I'd say something stupid like, 'the fuck is that?' but he finished his statement before I had the chance. “Like an armoured war vehicle. Stole three of 'em and a sky-tank when the Enclave splintered off, tried to take a raptor too, but... . ” He shrugged. I just sort of stared at the thing as it flew past. It really was a beautiful sight, and I almost wanted to fly in one. Almost. “Yeah.” Oh never mind Flare wasn't done talking after all. “The Enclave rents their usage out for a price.” Welp, if I were ever feeling the urge to go hurtling through the skies hundred of meters above the ground in a rickety container, I’d know who to call.
After the beast flew off south, me and Flare went to walking back to The Moon for the final part of our plan. And when I say “final,” I actually mean “the part we were supposed to do the night before but forgot to.”
“So,” Flare started. If I'd looked at him I may have noticed a subtle smirk forming on his lips. “You said the doctor took out some of your ribs, right?” Not really paying attention, I just nodded, until, of course, he flew right at my face stopping centimetres away. “Does that mean you can... ya know.” He nodded down.
I wasn't following.
“Well,” he rolled his eyes, “say you were to sit on your rump, and lean forward. Without your ribs I bet you could... .” I could what... ?
Wait.
Did he just suggest I... . My ears started to burn, and I could a hotness form on my cheeks. That fucking pervert. Only he would think of something like that. I glared straight at his eyes, and the second he realized I understood, he started laughing hysterically, and (unfortunately) flying out of my reach. Try as I might to leap and reach him, he just flew further away. Celestia damn those pegasi.
“Whats so funny? Oh, pretty glasses too.” I realized we had finally made it to The Moon. Looking down, I saw Serenity smiling back up at me, only she was wearing an adorable, poofy, pink-and-white dress with a pink bow in her hair.
“Nothing. What're you wearing?”
“Oh!” She squealed in delight. “You like it!” she said rearing up onto her hing legs, “Mustangs gave it to me to drum up business. Said I might as well put my talent to good use.” She did a little spin on one hoof before falling back on all fours and grinning up at me. “You like it?”
I thought for a second before replying. “How much does it cost?”
“Like your dress, Serenity,” Flare said swooping down from his skybound hiding place, saving me from having to deal with the consequences of my words. “Should have seen the one Hired had on earlier.” Aw shit, never mind, Flare's an ass.
Her eyes went wide and she immediately bounded up to me, “You wore a dress!?” She gaped up at me, “Can I see!? Pretty please!” Crap. I tried to squirm back only to bump into Flare blocking my escape route. “C’mon. It looked pretty right? You'd look beautiful.” The dress in my saddle bagged seemed to weight me down as she stopped for a second and sniffed the air. “Wait. Did you take a bath!? You smell clean for once!”
For once! Quickly, Silver, think of something more exciting than me wearing a dress.
“You should have seen Flare's,” I said, smiling down at the filly. And right away she was off, pouncing on Flare's wing.
Turning to them, I saw the pink unicorn hanging off one of Flare's feathers. “You were wearing a dress!? But you're a colt! Can I see it?” By the reddening of his cheeks, I safely concluded that I'd won this round. I let him have a minute of stammering before trotting over, lifting Serenity up by the hem of her dress, and throwing her over my back.
“He'll tell you later. Great story,” I said with a halfhearted smirk as I started walking towards the glorious water fountain of The Moon. “Right now we need to dis-”
“Is your leg is purple!” No it was silver,obviously. Wait, dammit. She hopped off my back and started poking at my metal leg, and I had to wonder how she missed it earlier. “Wow its pretty. Don't think it matches your mane though. Should'a painted it pink.”
“Serenity.” Blinking, she looked up to me and smiled. Finally I think I got her attention. Only Celestia above knew why she was so hyper. “Okay we ne-”
And she was off.
Some poor stallion was perusing in front of the water fountain, and had stopped a bit too long when Serenity pounced. “Hello mister.” She skipped up, a painfully fake smile plastered on her face. “Did'ja want to come in? We have a brunch special goin' on. A meal and a private dance, it's a bargain!”
“Uh.” The stallion looked around, taking a step back. “I'm just looking.”
“You don't want to?” She took the tinniest of steps forward. The stallion gulped a bit and shook his head. Without warning her grey eyes turned to the size of saucers and started to water just as her lower lip wibbled ever so slightly. “Aren't you gunna stay for brunch?”
Just like that the stallion looked left and then right trying to find a way out, before quickly galloping to two O's that made the entrance to The Moon.
“Inconceivable.” Flare said floating upside down beside me, “She's weaponized cuteness.” He turned his head to me and stated flatly, “We're doomed.”
---
“They had party cannons!?” Gulping, I looked to Flare, but he just sort of smirked. “Like! Cannons! That shot parties.” I gave Serenity the slightest of nods and she started squealing with delight. “That's so awesome! We need to go. I wanna ride one!”
“Uh.” I gulped and looked around. “Maybe later.” We had set up at a small section of The Moon bar with a lovely view of the main stage. I mean elevator. In case... somepony saw us. Yup. The fact that Myst, the most beautiful of all Mustang dancers, was current on the stage had nothing to do with it. “Now for the pl-”
“Point of order,” Flare said across the round table with his hoof raised. Considering he interrupted me I gathered he didn't care about what I actually thought so I just finished off the Sunrise Sarsaparilla bottle in front of me and shut the fuck up. Fizzy. “How come Hired makes all the plans?”
What? So surprised at the mutiny, I accidentally let the bottle drop out of my mouth and spill its remaining soda into a small puddle on the table.
Flare continued, “I mean, no offence, because if I gave offence you'd flatten me, but ever since I've known you you've been captured three times by three different gangs.” His wings stuck out dramatically, “I mean, that can't be good.”
“Three?” There was the Mustangs, then the Baises, and then... “The Finisher's don't count,” I finished.
“Two's still a lot, Mommy.” Serenity pipped up, standing on her chair still dressed in the outfit The Mustangs gave her.
“Serenity please do-” -n't call me mommy, I tried to say.
“She's right, Hired,” Flare said, leaning back in his chair, his wings twitching a bit, “two is a lot. And that's since I’ve known you.” He lifted his Sunrise Sarsaparilla to his lips with both hooves and drank deep and dramatically. “How many times before that, I have to wonder.”
“Once at Timber!” Serenity bounced.
“Serenity!” She was not helping. At all.
“Didn't you say you got caught by those raiders too?” The ones I almost sold Serenity too. Yeah I'd tried to forget about that.
“Well its not that simple.” I said between gritted teeth. This was just getting silly.
“Well, is that all? Never captured at all during your... 'mysterious,’” he moved his hooves in air quotes, “past.” I opened my mouth as if to talk but shut it just as quick as I tried to think of a good enough lie. Nothing came to mind, and Flare spoke too fast anyway. “I Knew it!” He pointed his hoof. “Clearly we can't trust your planning skills.”
“But Flare,” Serenity pipped up. I could feel her magic flare up as she quickly levitated his half empty bottle of soda and moved it towards her side of the table, “If she did get caught so many times, then don't it also mean she escaped that many times too?” Taking a sip of Flare's soda she continued, “Then she gotta be good improvisational, right? So ain't that what ya want inna good leader?”
He just sort of blinked and shook his head.
“Also,” I added, “I can kill you with my hoof.” Flare gaped at me before turning to Serenity, and then back to me, and finally back to his soda which Serenity was busy drinking.
“Oh, whatever,” he crosses his forelegs, “But if we get caught. Or shot. Or shot then caught and then shot again we won’t be blaming the pegasus, got it!?” Yeah, yeah. Unless of course it was legitimately his fault, which is always a possibility.
“OK.” I sighed. “Now for my pla-.”
The radio was suddenly blaring from the bar, cutting me off. Dammit. “...The Batmare has said she is considering legal action against 'THE Batmane' a fighter in the Ale Pit,” Fun fact: apparently the cage I fought in was called the Ale Pit. What was with this country and stupid names? “The word is still out on who The Batmare is planning legal action through, as Dise has not had an active justice system for two hundred years.” I really wanted to yell at the bartender to turn it down, but Mr New Haygas' voice was too beautiful, and his laugh too lovely.
“In other news, the NCA Council convened an emergency session after yesterday’s Balefire massacre. According to my sources, the council has voted 7/3 for engaging in a counter attack against the Minotaurs, who are believed to be behind the attack.” Serenity called to me but I rose my hoof to quiet her: this information was clearly important for anypony living near Dise. “Since according to the NCA treaty all acts of aggression must have a 75% approval with the council the matter is now before the Council Chairman who is allowed, in the event of a split vote, to give a tie breaking vote. If such an action does go through the NCA and all its subsidiary cities will have declared war on the Minotaurs. The Chairman, for his part, has said he will decide his vote within the next few days.”
After a burst of static a new voice played, obviously that of the council chairman (I have no idea what either of those two words mean). “This... this is not a decision I take on gladly. My choice, to go to war, or to vie for peace, will have a grave impact on all Citizens within the NCA zone, and a grave impact on our trading partners, and truthfully, the wasteland as a whole. However, the actions taken against us, the NCA, and the brave mares and stallions of the South Canyon Camp, cannot be forgotten. The perpetrators will be punished, but we must, as an organization, make sure our actions punish those who are truly responsible. If, as some in this chamber believe, the minotaurs were not capable of such an attack then we must act with caution. We are not the savages of Equestria, who turned to blood and violence after a similar attack, without first knowing the facts. However, If the minotaurs have once again made an enemy of the NCA then we must act swiftly, and with great force, to ensure they are never again able to threaten any city or country who pledges to be one with the New Caledonian Alliance. I will make my decision in a few days, but only after I have seen all relevant facts. Thank you, and may Celestia watch over us all.”
I was leaning back in my chair listening as the radio continued and Mr. New Haygas’ voice returned. “For their part, the minotaurs have been completely silent about the attack. All attempts to reach them for comment have been ignored. Oh well, if they're so eager to be attacked, I’m sure the boys in blue will help them. Welp, that’s enough of the news. Sorry for boring you folks, back to the same ten songs we always play.”
“So.” Serenity leaned over the table at me, “Can we hear the plan now?” She said with a simple smile.
Nodding, I remembered I totally was supposed to tell them both about my master plan. It was a really good one, too, “Okay so my plan-”
“Hired. What the fuck are you doing here?” Celestia hooffuck me. I turned to see Mayhem standing over me, a glare on his face, “The boss was looking for you.” Whatever. Fuck my plans.
---
Sitting on one of Roy's many couches, I stared up at the glass skylight, waiting for Roy to admit me. Above, the cloud layer swirled and swayed ever so slightly. It was hard not to wonder what was behind it. Sometimes cracks would appear and you could see the glimpse of blue and light, but it was rare. I stopped staring at the sky and looked around the huge apartment complex: it was useless to think about the impossible.
It wasn't long before I was called before Roy. Walking into the office, the blue unicorn seemed to be staring intently at the radio on his desk as it blared. “...Steel Rain has claimed that unless the Mustangs break all tie with the Minotaurs, there will be serious repercussions.” When he saw me, the radio clicked off and he said something I never expected.
“I never wanted this job, ya know.” His voice was strangely thick, all his former arrogance lost. “My... friend Melancholy was supposed to. All I wanted was to serve him. To protect him. When I was supervising The Moon floor, Enclave assassins killed him and the former leader. The Baises hired them, the bitch Molly did it because when she made an advance on Melon, he called her an Ass.” He stomped his hoof down on his desk with a sharp crack. I did the only thing I could do, which was sit down, shut up, and listen. “There was chaos. I took control because somepony had to. I just wanted to serve and I was forced to lead.”
His head turned, glaring at the radio. “Those NCA fuckers hate me. They've set a hit out on me, and they think I don't know. Do you know why?”
“You sided with the minotaurs,” I said, staring past him to the window facing the side alley outside.
“Hah!” he didn't particularly look like he found it funny. “They came marching up here and demanded a discount of my water supply. Demanded. I told them to fuck right the hell off. They stopped gambling at my casino and cut trades with me, so their water prices suddenly sky-rocketed”
“Your water?”
“Who do you think runs the fucking water-plant? Clean purified water and only three ponies know how it really works.” He grinned at me, “What you thought we only had a single business? But yeah. They fucked me over, and after the fiasco at the power plant, I was forced to get help from the minotaurs. The Baises won't trade food with me. The NCA won’t. Dammit.” He stomped his hoof again. “My ponies need food. The NCA and Baises own the food though, and they work together to make sure no pony else can get a bite without their say so.” he looked away from me. “I did what I had to. Hizai wont talk to me, Baises want my head, the NCA have hired mercenaries to kill me.”
There was a long pause where nopony spoke.
“I wanted Melancholy, not his job...” he said under his breath. “Now I have the power. But I have to protect my ponies. I thought the power plant would give me and edge, bring the Mustangs back.” He shook his head. “Mayhem convinced me. I shouldn't have listened. We're weaker than ever.” He looked up to me with deep eyes, almost as if he was about to cry. “I have so few ponies loyal to me. So few options. But... but I have to protect my little ponies, I have to defend my family. Fuck, I never wanted this job, but its mine so I have to protect them.” For a second, I thought I saw something, but I must have been mistaken. There was no way he was crying.
For some reason I felt sorry for him. Do not get me wrong, he was a horrible pony that did stupid and evil things, but I felt sorry for him, and for what I was going to do to him. That was, until I remembered what he told me the night before. What he'd do to Serenity.
Fuck him.
“What? Got nothing to say? Good. Keep it to yourself bitch.” He sat back up straight and shot me a glare, his good old arrogance returning. “So you got news for me? Speak, bitch! I have shit'ta do that don't involve ugly mares.” I think he was overcompensating for having emotions.
“Molly thinks I did it. Plans to attack the tunnels. Didn't tell me when.” He grinned, bobbing his head as I spoke. You'd think he actually did the work himself. “My payment?”
“In your room. You ain't half bad, bitch. More subtle than I expected. Maybe there is a brain inside that thick skull of yours.” He shrugged and leaned back in his chair levitating a glass to his lips. “You can stay though, with full pay. That's if you want it.” I shook my head. “Well. Speak up, bitch. Why wont you accept my offer.”
“Honestly?” He nodded his tiny squish-able head. “Since I got to this city. This city has fucked me over. I plan to leave. For a long time.”
Laughing, he nodded. “Can't say I blame ya. You're a beacon for trouble, but fuck it. You ever come around these parts again and you and your filly can work for me.” he pointed to the door. “You've done your job. As of now, you are no longer a Mustang. You can stay the night, but you don't gotta. Try not to get a bullet in the brain and get the fuck out of my office.”
Happily, I obliged.
Only to find Mayhem waiting by the stairs for me. Great, that's exactly what I wanted. I mostly ignored him as I trotted down the spiral stair case, and he mostly ignored me as he followed. That was until we reached the bottom and he started talking.
“What was he going own about?”
“Nothing,” I said as I kept walking down the hall, adding, “Don't eaves drop.”
“Me?” He gave me his usual slick smile. “I would never. Now I was just surprised he would talk to you so candidly.” Wasn't that, in itself, an admission of eaves dropping? Whatever. “So what did he tell you?”
“Nothing.” The elevator door slid open. I tried really hard to press the close door button before he could get in, but he was far too quick.
“Oh? He tends to talk a lot of nothing when he worries.” the red pony leaned against the elevator wall as it started descending. “He worries too much. Hasn't stepped a foot outside his apartments since he got the job, in fear of an assassin.”
“Can't blame him.” Not after what happened to the last Mustang leader and whoever Melancholy was. “Why do you care?”
The pony shrugged, but grinned just a little bit. “Baises are coming. Don't know when.” I did. “Don't know where.” I knew that too. “But they're coming. I like to know where my fearless leader stands, ya dig?” Yeah I dug. I mean, understood. “Sometimes I wonder if he's the right stallion for the job.”
Oh, now that was interesting.
Or would have been if I was still part of their little gang. But I was free, I’d filled my contract to the letter and was no longer obliged to give a fuck about their petty squabbles. The elevator doors slid open and I walked out, not bothering to answer of acknowledge his treason. I had bigger thoughts in my head than Mayhem.
Namely my gun.
My brand spanking new fucking gun. Roy’d said it was in my room, and I was nearly salivating as I stormed down the hallway. Some pony stopped to say hi, but I couldn't remember who it was, or anything about the encounter. The gun was just that much more important. I needed it, I pinned for it. I got my ass kicked from one side of Dise to the other for that fucking gun.
I kicked the door open with a slam. There it was, with its glossy sheen. In Flare's forelegs.
Wait.
He was floating there, pleasant as could be, with my brand new gun resting on his forelegs. His eyes were wide as he stared at it, and I could almost here his gasps of delight. “My Gun! Hooves off!” Gasping, Flare looked up and let go of the gun. It fell. Fuck. I screamed. “NO!”
---
Okay, so the gun landed on the bed, and I may have overreacted. Of course, I'd lost so many good guns since walking south of Marefort, it was a touchy issue. Between them being stolen, broken, lost, and used as bludgeons, I was basically a gun pariah.
After extensive modifications to my battle-saddle, I got the thing up and ready. It was excessively large, and weighed me down so much on my right side we had to add weights to the left to make it feel more even. After that, it was completely required for me to go out and show off my amazing-ass gun. First however, I managed to (finally) sell off the drugs I stole from Flare to the Mustangs. The only exception was a single tin of mint-als that Flare insisted would come in handy. After the way he almost cried when I sold the dash, I could hardly say no, so I stuck them deep in my saddle bags beneath my dress.
Then it was shopping time!
It was also a perfect chance to venture into a part of the city I had yet to explore, and look over possible escape routes. We walked south from The Moon to the statue that served as a cross roads that dissected the city into mostly four quadrants. If you travelled east on the east/west road you'd soon find yourself in what Flare had called 'the worst part of town.'
It didn't look nearly as bad as Parasite Mound. Once you got into the heart of the suburb, you found a slum that consisted of jumbled together shacks made from scavenged metal, and gutted, barely-repaired old buildings. It was a close, and cramped jumble of streets with the only open areas being the array of merchant stands that always flanked around the stone water fountains. Unlike most everything else in the slum, the fountains looked fairly new, and when I leaned closer I saw each bared a plaque stating, “Property of the Mustangs. Take what you need.”
“The Mustangs charge a flat tax of everypony living in the slums,” Flare said beside me, floating upside down above the mess of ponies that swarmed the street. “They collect on every house once a month.”
“Oh.” I'd thought for a second it was a charity, but that was a laughable. This was Dise, baby, and nothing in Dise was free.
Flare shrugged and landed in front of me where there was a clear spot. “Of course there are some who can't pay.” I bet they got shot up. “Roy lets them be.” Wait really? “Hard to believe right? I didn't either but The Mustangs just go and leave them. Don't get me wrong, they're slaving shitheads only looking out for the bottom cap, but on this they ain't so bad in this.” There was a pause. “oh. We need grenades too.” Flare said zipping off to a nearby stand, “And maybe a remote mine...” I raised an eyebrow at him. “What! They’re useful!”
I smiled for a second at the water fountain and pushed forward. “Serenity sure is quiet,” I said as we passed below a bridge connecting a pair of two-story huts. Can huts have two stories?
Flare nickered, “I think she has a headache.” He nudged his head, and I turned to see Serenity leaning off the side of my back poking at my new gun. Her horn was glowing brightly (normally my shoulder would have informed me of her magic, but Dise was so over-saturated with magic I couldn't pick up individuals) casting her whole head in a light pink glow. It was true that the slum was loud (really really loud), but I think she was over-playing it.
“She'll wear herself out.” I sighed, and continued my trek circling around a stick skinny pony begging for caps. My memory was back in the Alehouse where Serenity over used her magic and... you know the rest. I'd heard stories of unicorns over taxing themselves and having their magic implode and fizzle out. Forever.
“Don't be an over-protective mother.”
“She's not my-” I shot him a glare as he nickered. “Whatever. I have a question.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “If say. We needed to escape. Quickly. What would you suggest?”
“Well.” He looked around to make sure nopony was listening. “There’s a tunnel under the eastern wall. Dunno if anypony uses it now. Used to be for smuggling, way back when things were illegal. Hear the tunnel is still there, but locked. Scary rumours of ghosts and demons haunting it! OooooOooooo.” He waved his arms stupidly at my face, and I smacked them away. “I can lead you to 'em and through 'em of course. Why? Got plans to leave the city inna hurry, is that it?” No comment.
“Oh look,” I said dully as we reached another market area, “bullets.”
I trotted ahead to the small wooden stand with cases of bullets aligned neatly in a row. The tall teal earth pony behind it practically lit up when he realized I had no intentions to rob him. Grinning amiablely, he quickly laid out a row of .50 calibre rounds upon my request. Not bothering to inspect them, I shoved them into my saddle bag (actually Serenity did that when she noticed what was going on) as the stand owners small radio blared music.
“Would you like anything, little filly?” the teal pony asked Serenity, who was half-lying on top of my head to see the stallion's few wares. “How about a sugar bomb?” Giving a filly sugar. What exactly did that stallion have against me? Serenity nodded and floated the sugary treat into her mouth with a crunch before I had a chance to voice my complaint.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, looking around the small semi circle of stands and the largest wall of buildings leaning in on the clearing. Small paths zigzagged through the slums, leading every which way. It made me feel a bit nostalgic and reminded me of my filly days running around the maze that was Marefort, searching for adventure. Shaking my head, I turned back to the teal stallion. “We need... food and travel supplies.”
“‘Course. I have a little.” His head disappeared behind his little stand.
I could barely hear his radio over the din. From what I could hear, it seemed like the group 'Celestia's Vision' heard of a group of... something deep in the eastern mountains and had a militant group march up there to kick them out. Something about something in somewhere. The gist seemed to be that Celestia's Vision decided to pick a fight out east.
Not that I really cared. Fuck, I hated those guys. If you don't remember who they were,they were the ones who hated Cyborgs for being deviant of Celestia's vision. Get it?
“Also,” I said to the pony, my eyes still scanning the maze. It was about then I realized I was lost, “how do I get back to the cross?”
---
“...No shit, there I was!” Flare said, zooming in a circle. It had been a long day and I was glad to be able to lie down. “They tried to gun me and Sail down, but we were too quick. Sail layed down cover fire, KTCKTCHKTCH!” Resting my head on my fore legs, figured that guns didn't really make that sound, but his performance was energetic enough for me not to complain.
“Then what happened?” He was going to tell me anyway, so I decided to humour him. Not that there was anything else left to do but wait. We had left The Moon with all our equipment a few hours earlier and proceeded to move, well, to the building next door. Everything was coming together soon but I kept feeling like I was missing something.
We were in a small four story office building that I had to kick my way into. It was dank and dusty, but it would serve what I needed it for, so I’d made our group traverse the maze of cubical debris. The stairs were broken, but Flare and I managed to drag enough debris to get to the second story. Luckily, that floor was all but empty, and the stairs to the top floor were all intact enough for me and Serenity to use. Blah blah blah, we got to the room we were currently in.
I think it had been used as a shelter before, given that in a corner there was a dirty mattress (that I was currently lying on. I had to work off the bath somehow). “Anyway,” Flare said as my eyes were drawn out the window towards the wall of The Moon, “so while Sail was covering me, I loaded up my Bunker Buster-.”
“Your what?” I interupted, looking up at where the ceiling of the building should have been. Instead there was a huge gaping hole revealing the night sky, and a few stories above me, the glass walls of Roy Mustang's penthouse.
“Bunker Buster.” He gasped for a second before digging through his bags and pulling out the strangest battle saddle I'd ever seen. The whole thing was modified so the weapons would rest on his shoulders instead of his sides, and the duel grenade rifles had curved barrels to seemingly shoot the grenades down. “Fly over and lay down explosives. Made this baby myself. So I call her Bunker Buster! You should name your gun something awesome. All the best weapons have names.” Not bloody likely.
“Impressive.” Though I didn't sound impressed, I really was. Until then, I’d seen Flare mostly as a semi-useful hyperactive annoyance, but this quickly bumped him up to a mostly-useful hyperactive annoyance.
“So. They were running away like some crazy fuckers on dash.” I had the feeling he had first-hoof experience. “Anyway, needless to say the Steel Rangers fucked off a bit after that, and that! Is how I go promoted to Captain.” He petted his battle saddle fondly. “They took her away from me when I was kicked out, but let me have it back on the condition I don't blow up anymore computer labs.” Seemed like a fair deal.
Flare opened his mouth to start another story, but I lifted my pipbuck to silence him. I heard voices. Rising from the dirt-stained mattress, I started to move towards the window only to feel something tugging on my tail.
Turning my head, I had to smile just a tiny bit. Serenity had falling fast asleep on the mattress with her legs wrapped around my tail like it was a pillow. Reluctantly, I nudged her off and quickly dug into my saddle bag to drape the scarf that came with Flare’s dress over her. Then I made my way back over the window and looked down four stories below.
That was a lie. I did look down, but it took me a few tries, and a shot of Med-X to calm my nerves. Did I mention I bought Med-X?
Below, a gaggle of ponies stood half-hidden in shadows, and talked beside a small door to the moon. A small door. Fuck. “Flare.” He looked down at me from his perch on the broken roof. “Did we unlock the door?” That's all the Baises asked of us, and we completely fucking forgot. A glance down at my pipbuck told me it was 12:57. Not enough time to fix it. Molly was going to be so very pissed.
Looking back down (why did earth ponies need to build tall buildings?) I saw one of the ponies had something in their fetlock. About the locked door, no doubt. I flicked the scope up over my eye to get a better look at the goings on. The pony that spoke into his hoof dropped... something.
Wait, why were they all backing up and taking cover?
BOOM!
Light blinded me and I had to jerk my head back, pulling my eyes away from the scope. Behind me, I could barely hear Serenity groaning over the sound of my ears ringing. And this was from the gang that called me unsubtle!
Taking a second, I grabbed a bounty notice. Back in Timber, Lucky had given me a warrant. I'd never planned to use it, but I was given the perfect chance with this attack, so I had to take it.
I looked back down at the carnage. The Baises charged forward through the burning hole, only to find a flurry of bullets to greet them. Through the smoke, I could spot a large red pony grinning under his hat as the huge mini-gun on his back spun up again. Still no sign of my mark though.
A purple mare took charge of the Baises, and I could see her shouting orders over the gun shots. The Baises retreated back down the Alley, throwing debris in their path as cover. Just in time for The Mustang horde to emerge. I recognized faces and the knew them to be no fighters. Myst stood trembling under the weight of her guns, (much heavier than stripper clothing) and the bartender stood beside Mayhem, a confident smile on his face as more ponies emerged.
“Whats going on-” Serenity leaned over the window, just in time to see a stripper named Mayflower take a bullet to the knee.
“Serenity!” I pushed her back as she squeaked and covered her eyes with her hoof. Dammit, she was supposed to be asleep. She wasn't supposed to see the slaughter. “Flare,” I pleaded, “watch her.”
No matter what happened, I still had work to do and a mark to take out. Looking back down my scope, I saw Mayflower's bloody corpse lying on the pavement as the rest of the Mustangs charged forward. They were no match for the Biases though, and nearly a dozen fell before Mayhem ordered them back into The Moon. My scope scanned the area bobbing and weaving, but still I couldn't find them.
The large stallion laid down cover fire with his mini-gun as the Mustangs fell back into the burning wreckage of the door. Until he ran out of ammo. He kept his confident smirk, but when I zoomed in on his eyes I saw the slightest tinge of dread. I didn't see the bullet that hit him, but blood splattered out of his knee, painting the ground.
Following the trajectory, I saw the purple mare standing above her group, a smoking rifle on her back. With a smirk and a tug on her hat she shouted something I couldn't hear. The Baises charged The Moon’s side door as Mayhem limped backwards.
An orange pony with an overlarge cowpony hat charged ahead of Molly. I felt like a fly on the wall as I saw him foolishly rush Mayhem. Even injured and limping, Mayhem made short work of the pony; dodging his gunshot and kicking out his leg where he proceeded to crush his skull. In my mind, it was me crushing the pony, and my metal hoof was dripping with blood and brains.
I felt a tinge of regret at the battle, for it was I who caused it. More or less.
Then the little pony in my head said: survive.
No matter what I did, these two gangs were going to have at it. I just gave them a time, a place, and a chance. Now, Serenity sniffling into Flare's wing behind me was entirely my fault.
Two things happened at once. First, down on the ground a whirl of missiles and an explosion rocked the alley. Without warning, a dozen Ponitrons flanked either side of the street where the battle was taking place, their many guns out and aimed. Bullets were traded as the Ponitrons move in. Sparks lit up their chests from the shots, but they barely seemed to notice as they rolled slowly, ominously forward. The Mustangs had a fighting chance. Only if it hadn’t been for the second thing.
“Look!” Flare shouted, turning I saw him holding Serenity with one leg and pointing to the sky with the other. Following his hoof, I saw something black floating in the sky. The Vertibuck slowed to a stop over Roy's penthouse. I looked up through my scope just in time to see Molly grabbing onto a rope and descending out of view with half a dozen black clad ponies following her.
“Bitch!” My hoof struck out in anger, punching a chunk of the wall into the street. “She lied to me.” She was never supposed to be here. Just attack The Moon and fight up, she never said anything about hiring the Enclave, or... of course she’d lied to me. She never did trust me. This whole battle was a distraction, and all I had to do was give Roy something else but the sky to focus on. “Fuck. It didn't matter. “
“What?” Flare had left Serenity on the bed to zoom into the air for a better view.
“If I told! If I told Roy or not. It was all a distraction. To kill him.”
“No.” Flare had, at some point, equipped Bunker Buster. “She ain't gunna kill him! She wants to capture him.” Confusion must have been evident on my face. “To capture! Roy is the only pony she can be sure knows how to work the water plant. She wants his resources, not his head!”
Fuck. I turned back and scoped up my new gun. Below, the remaining Baises had surrendered and were surrounded by the Ponitrons as they whimpered and sobbed. Mayhem limped over to kick the nearest Baise in the head with a crack, and then laugh before falling over.
Back to the air, I could barely see anything from my angle. I saw bullets fly and glass shatter raining onto the street below. There was a bright light, and the thudding of an explosion hit my chest. Coughing, I stared at one window that remained untouched. It was Roy's office.
There he was; leaning with his back against the window with his white fur coat still on his shoulders and his horn glowing brightly. He was planing on an epic last stand no doubt, but Molly had different plans. Suddenly smoke started filling the room, but I could still see Roy's back pressed against the glass.
“Hey Flare,” I said taking a deep breath, my scope hovering over the Vertibuck, “I think I have a name for my gun.”
“What, is this really the time!?” He screeched as my vision bobbled. Serenity, for her part, trotted to my side and rubbed her head against my good leg.
“Yeah.” I took the shot.
My gun roared like thunder. Blood splattered as the bullet tore through both glass, and Roy. The shards turned into rain and spun towards the alley below, falling along side his bloody and broken body. Spinning through the darkness, he landed with a splat beside the Ponitrons. Everypony gasped, save for the Ponitrons who stood completely still. Ever so slowly, his white fur coat floated down from The Moon, and rested on his corpse. A more fitting shroud, I could not think of.
Molly leaned out of the shattered window, gaping at the remains of Roy Mustang as I smiled. The bounty I had been offered was complete. A simple form offering more caps than I could imagine, all for the death of one Roy Mustang. Consorter with Minotaurs, and enemy of the NCA. So signed Major Lucky.
Grinning, I wrapped my fetlock around Serenity and turned to Flare. I inclined my head ever so slightly towards my new .50 calibre gun, and gave it a name, “Subtlety.”
Footnote!: Level up!
New perk! MOA Agent: Gain additional 35% accuracy with battle-saddle weapons.
((A/N: A special thanks so much to kkat for creating this world, and doing that awesome shit she does. And a super special thanks to my editor theBSDude who I forced to up into the wee hours of the morning to finish this. ~No One~)) |
No One | 662 | 11 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-01-19T07:52:48+00:00 | 2013-06-10T03:48:40+00:00 | 21,381 | Darkest Before Dawn
“Hope is what makes us strong. It is why we are here. It is what we fight with when all else is lost.”
Shots rang out in the night.
As I huddled behind a flimsy piece of plywood, my daring escape collapsed around my ears. Mere minutes after the assassination, we were greeted by a red unicorn with a blue mane who had identified himself as Starscream. Oh yeah, and he had bitchin' cybernetic wings. He informed us that he was a liaison of Mr. House and I, along with my companions, were in some serious shit. Molly, you see, did not quite like me going back on my deal (in my eyes I broke no contract as it was a legitimate error on my part. I had fully intended to unlock the door... but she was not like to listen) and now had plans to death-murder me.
Whoops.
All this was made painfully clear when we tried to escape the city through the tunnel Flare had told me about that afternoon. We made it all the way to the statue in the centre of the city, we were even were able to get east into the slums before we were set upon. And shot. A lot.
“I've faced worse,” I said, huddling Serenity to my chest as shots blared out somewhere in the slums. Hiding behind a small wall in what appeared to be an abandoned house, and I use house in the sense that somepony lived there and nothing more, as it was smaller than my room at the Moon and consisted of a dirt floor and three walls. Safer than the street though.
“Yeah?” Serenity looked up at me. There was fear in her eyes, plain as day, but I knew she was trying her hardest. Being shot at was not for foals, and I knew well enough this was hardly her first time. Though the details were sketchy, at some point she had been captured and chained by ponies similar to our assailants, and I was determined not to let that happen again.
“Yeah.” A story came to my head, and I started speaking before I started thinking. “Less then a year ago. In my old town. We were set upon by raiders in the night. Ten times as many as now.” Her wide eyes looked at me and nodded. “Most of the town was captured in their sleep. Save for me and three fillies.”
“W-what happened?”
“We won. Beat the raiders. Saved them all.” Not all of them, but I could hardly speak of that. My chest tightened and I knew it was the worst story I could have told, because it had no happy ending. But it was a story, it was something not here, and she didn't know about the rope or death or any of that.
She smiled and nodded as the gunfire stopped. The story, for what it's worth, did the trick at least. So when it came down to it, I could never claim nothing good came of it.
Peeking out into the black maze, I saw nothing. When we had entered the slums, there were tiny lights in between cracks and through broken and boarded up windows. Now the lights were snuffed and voices silent. Was this a ritual perhaps? Shootings and fights were not uncommon in the slums, and no doubt every pony already knew to lie down and shut up when the bullets started to fly.
“Hey!” Flare glided down from a hole in the roof, landing gently before us with Bunker Buster resting on his shoulders. “Looks like we have fifteen or so on our tail.” Not so bad. “Some of them are heavily armoured, and I saw at least one with a minigun.” Fuck. I looked down at my bare chest and wondered why I hadn't gotten 'round to buying, you know, barding. Not to speak of the minigun, I saw what Mayhem did with one of those and I was not eager to be on the receiving end.
You know after killing Roy I'd expected the Mustangs to be out for my blood, not the Baises.
“We should be able to-Watch out!” We should be able to what?
“Gotcha,” somepony said.
Suddenly something cold and sharp was on my neck. Without thinking (shocking, I know), I grabbed the foreleg with both hooves and threw it with all my strength. The deep brown pony flew across the room crashing into the far wall. Serenity gasped as I realized that on its fetlocks was a pipbuck-like device, but instead of magical science it came with a retractable blade. I had just come really close to dying.
Leaving Serenity for a second, I trotted over to the groaning brown earth pony and cracked his skull with my pipbuck. I lowered my glare as I turned to Flare. “Take him somewhere.”
“Got it.” In a streak of blue, Flare grabbed the pony with his forelegs and burst up through the ceiling, taking special care to crack the brown ponies' head on the way out. A few seconds of steely silence later, there was a sudden shriek, and a dull thud. Following shortly after were shouts far to my right. Licking my lips, I helped Serenity onto my back.
“Be strong,” I offered, “and be quiet.” Serenity, to her eternal credit, narrowed her eyes and nodded.
I burst through the half-rotten door into the dark maze. The only light was the amber glow from my pipbuck illuminating the walls and stands around me, making the whole area dance with shadows. Above there was darkness, and beyond the glow of my pipbuck I could see nothing. My stomach tied itself into knots as I tried to remember the way to the tunnel. Behind me were the lights of Dise, so I must have been going vaguely in the right direction, but beyond that I wasn’t sure.
Gunfire renewed my conviction, and I took off.
Shadows whipped past me as the rhythm of my hoofbeats overtook the sound of my heartbeat. That is to say, got very fast. Galloping, I crashed through a wall I didn't see until it was too late. Wood shattered into splinters and washed over me and Serenity, who squeaked but kept remarkably quiet. Inside the building, I took three steps, leapt over a terrified teal earth pony and his family, and smashed through a boarded up window head first.
Landing back on the slum streets, I barely broke stride, though my head hurt like a week of binge drinking. No time to worry about such silly things like brain damage though, as I started to hear hoof steps catching up on me. I weaved left around empty food stands, and quickly splashed my way through one of the many water fountains.
“Found her!” Fuck. Somepony was talking about me. “Follow the light!” Fuck again. I kept galloping as I glared down at my stupid shiny pipbuck. They were useful for radio and maps and stuff, but it being all glow-y was going to get me shot.
There was a shadow following me. Across from me in another street. As I galloped, the gaps in the walls and building that separated us showed glimpses of my stalker. What was worse was that the two streets seemed to be getting closer together. I kept running though, and did my best to get ahead of my shadow. “Close your eyes,” I whispered to Serenity, before turning and jumping.
Crashing through the wall that separated the two streets I landed on my feet and spun towards my shadow. Subtlety roared. My shadow was torn from her feet and sent spinning in a bloody mess from the shot. Behind her was a row of broken and shattered walls. Everything Subtlety touched turned to scrap, and I loved it. I turned my head back to nudge Serenity.
“I-I'm fine, we just need to-Watch out!” Not again, dammit.
My head snapped back the way the shadow came from to see four more ponies running two by two at me. I bit down on my bridle. This was nothing that couldn't be handled by a little tact and Subtlety.
BOOM
Argh, blinding light. The explosion hit my chest like a sledge hammer. Serenity cried out as the smoke cleared and the two ponies were gone. Buried and broken under a pile of rubble and stone that the explosion had turned the street into. Looking into the sky, I saw a glimpse of blue and red. Damn, that Bunker Buster was a beauty.
Suddenly weapons had names, that made perfect sense.
Thanking Celestia I had been far enough away from the explosion to avoid most of the shrapnel (I could feel a few scratches, but nothing so bad as a spike in the chest), I turned and kept up my desperate run through dangerous territory, wondering just how many more things were going to explode near me.
The answer was one.
Serenity saw the grenade before I did. Her pink magic illuminated it long enough for me to kick it away. The blast sent me face first into the ground and Serenity sprawling off me back through the dirt, and into an empty stand with the word 'apples' painted across it. Groaning I scrambled to my hooves and coughed out a metaphorical lung.
“Serenity.” I called out to her. Her small pink body twitched and I nearly lost my lunch. Until her head lifted ever so slowly, and she smiled dimly at me. “You alright?” She started to nod.
And stopped halfway. Her grey eyes went wide as a rifle pressed up against the back of her head, casting her in a green glow. A similarly-coloured unicorn emerged from the shadows, grinning sadistically.
Fuck.
Overhead I could barely make out the form of Flare flying. He must have seen the amber light of my pipbuck as he did not fire. Not that it helped any, from all sides I heard shouts of confirmations, and ponies merging from all sides. The glow of their horns illuminated the small market. Blackened wood and debris covered half of it, and the other half was ruffled by the grenades impact. No less then eight ponies surrounded me, and I did not trust Subtlety to be able take them all out without hurting Serenity.
“Well, well, well.” Fuck that voice. “A rat caught in a trap. Poetic, is it not?” Molly said, walking out of the blackness, her hat tipped over her eyes. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused me?” She stomped her hoof and glared at me, at least I assumed she glared, not being able to see her eyes and all.
“A lot?” I ventured.
“You have no fucking idea. Turns out the Mustang bugs are poisonous. Or rather their friends are. I have to wonder how exactly the Galicians knew when we were going to attack. If I recall that plan was changed last minute under your information. Funny. Don't you think, my little rat?” Actually I found that not funny at all, nor did I find her firing a shot a centimetre from my hoof funny. I really didn't care though, as I was using all my focus keeping eye contact with Serenity as she whimpered with the gun pressed to her skull.
“Hilarious.”
“Tell me,” she turned and pointed her gun at Serenity, “what would you do if I kept my promise? Killed your little bitch. I gave you the chance, I offered you a job and you were... well a rat.” Her voice barely concealed her rage. “First you fail to do the one thing I ask, and now the remnants are claiming they have to break contract. They claim they cannot kill one of their own. So I have to chase you through these slums, and you just refused to sit still. How many ponies have died tonight because of you? Because you failed. To. Listen.”
“Not enough.”
Something hit the ground with a “plink” and a “tisss.”
I started coughing from the stench before I realized what had happened. Smoke, smoke was everywhere so suddenly and so thick I couldn't even see my hoof in front of my face. Coughing more, I heard the sound of a hoof strike. A vague shape was hitting another to my right, but it vanished a second later and was fighting a pony at my left before quickly vanishing in a burst of magic (my shoulder confirmed that) and hitting yet a third pony. It was disorienting. I didn't waste a second and counted on the green mare to be the same place I left her. Subtlety roared, and I heard it slam through somepony with a screech. There was a tingling sensation in my shoulder, and somehow I knew it belonged to Serenity. Running forward through the choking smoke I lifted Serenity to my back, and got the fuck out of there as fast as possible.
The streets were as dark as ever as we suddenly continued the same way we had before. As we ran Serenity shouted into my ear. “What was she talking about.”
“Forgot.” I grunted, spinning around a sleeping bum who somehow remained unawakened by the battle. “About the door.”
“Nuh uh.” I skidded to a stop just so I could turn and give her my patented, 'what the fuck' face. She continued, “I unlocked the door. Like, when you were off doing whatever it is you do, I unlocked it as soon as I got up.” Then why the fuck was it locked? Oh well, it meant I hadn’t broken a contract even by accident. No clause in my contract to say it remain closed, so I was basically in the clear.
“Thanks,” I said, looking around. Just in front of us was a large ratted shack leaning against the Dise wall. At the top of the wall I could see hints of lights, and almost the vague silhouettes of ponies patrolling it. Not oblivious to the fighting inside the city, just instructed to ignore it. “We're almost there.”
I started towards the shake when a dark figure suddenly jumped before me from a nearby rooftop, gliding to the ground with a cape that looked eerily similar to a bat's wings. I readied Subtlety before I realized the pony was unarmed.
“Are you unharmed?” The mare was decked in an outfit of navy blue and purple with a deep black bat-cape and a mask (that did nothing to hide her horn) that seemed to make her ears stick up like a, you guessed it, bat.
“Yeah.” I stuttered before turning to Serenity to confirm. She nodded ever so slightly, and thus I returned to our caped crusader. “We're good... thanks.”
“Worry not, citizen. It is all in a day’s of work for THE Batmare.” She puffed her chest out and brought a hoof to it as a sudden wind blew her cape dramatically. “Be more careful. The forces of evil ar-” A chilling laughing reverberated throughout the slum. “By Wallkirk's ghost!” She turned dramatically to the side. “The Laughing Stallion! You will not escape, scum!” Suddenly she vanished in a flash of light, leaving us wondering what the fuck had just happened.
“Are you coming?” Flare asked, suddenly hovering above us, his red jump suit torn. You know, he had worn that thing since I met him, but I’d never realized. He just never took it off so it seemed like a part of him, and passed right over my vision. Until it was torn, that was, then it stood out like a sore thumb.
“Did you see that!” Serenity asked, planting her fore legs on my head and pushing my mane into my eyes. “That was a superhero! A real live superhero! It was so cool! She saved us.”
“I saved you,” Flare said, spinning upside down to smirk at us. “I saw her patrolling and told her civilians were being mugged. Hell, I even carried her over.” He flipped back, landing on the ground. “Basically you owe me.” Now that was a change.
“Fine.” I started towards the shack when I heard shouting behind me. Dammit, why couldn't they just take the hint! “Run!” I shouted, galloping as fast as my legs could take me. Slamming into the door full force with my shoulder (ouch), I tumbled through the other side in front of a trap door.
Good thing for this convenient trap door. Mind you considering the massive tunnel system in Dise it wasn't that lucky. Especially if it actually was haunted. Hah.
“Flare.” I called out poking at the chains locking the door.
Zipping over he kicked the chains away, “Already took care of it when you folk were running. Earth ponies are slow.”
“Funny,” I said, helping Serenity off my back. “Should have been watching our backs.”
“I did!” Flare protested. “Saved your ass with a perfectly timed superhero.” Serenity squeaked something but I didn't hear.
“Right. We shouldn't have been caught in the first place.” I said, as Serenity squeaked again.
“Well if you would have run fa-”
“The Door!” Serenity screamed. With a kick the door slammed shut and I smiled at Serenity. She just sighed and walked away.
“Flare.” He beamed at me. “You're right. Get the thing.” With a laugh he reached into my bag and set something up in front of the door.
Opening the trap door, I beckoned Serenity and Flare down the stairs it opened to, and started walking down myself when the door swung open. “Finally!” Molly growled stomping in. “Trying to scurry little rat. Do you really think you can escape?”
“Dunno.” I took a tentative step down the trap door stairs into the tunnel. “Do you think you can? Ass.”
Beep.
Looking down, she saw the remote mine at her feet.
“Shit!' She turned to her gang that was still rushing in. “Out, out, get out!”
BOOM.
---
Okay. So maybe waiting until the last second before getting out of there was not the best idea.
The shockwave sent me spiralling down the stairs in a heap, just in front of the rubble mind you. Despite my stupid last minute decision for an epic one liner, the explosion worked well in three ways. Firstly: it blocked off the route in case they felt like following us. Even if they wanted too it'd be difficult, Second: it may have incapacitated or killed Molly, and her gang (not killed -- she was going to come back to bite me in the flank), and thirdly: it proved just how badass we could be.
On the other hoof, it proved Flare right, as he insisted that we buy the mine earlier that day. That could set a dangerous precedent.
I stood up in the dark. “Everypony alright?”
Serenity’s horn lit up, and with it I could see the pale figure of Flare standing up. “I'm okiey dokiey.” Serenity said as Flare nodded an affirmative. I tried to get a grasp of the situation. The tunnel was similar to the one under Parasite Mound, but it lacked a few key things. Mostly, it was completely dark, devoid of the pale lighting from the other tunnel, as well the floor was concrete instead of grating, implying that this was a side tunnel, not the main tunnel. Most importantly, however was the fact this tunnel was much worse-kept. I had previously thought that was impossible.
Also, my pipbuck light! It was not on.
For fuck's sake. I broke my pipbuck. When I bought the damn thing, the trader claimed nothing short of a direct lightning strike would deactivate it. Figures, the amber light nearly got me killed outside, and now when I needed it, it was completely borked. I brought the stupid thing to eye level I tried to fix, but of course I couldn't see shit in the darkness. Thus, my fixing consisted of my smashing at it with my cyber leg.
“Stop it,” Flare scolded. I looked up at him and rolled my eyes before starting to smash at it some more. This worked to solve its clicking problem before. Logically, it had to work this time too. “Idiot. You really have no idea what you're doing do you? Its so bloody simple a child co-”
Serenity reached up and touched a button.
Suddenly the hallway was a glow in amber light. As I gaped at the light, Serenity chirped, “You turned the light off.” You can turn the light off! Or on! What the hell, how did she know how to use my magic-tech magical technology thingy better than me. This was. Argh.
I sucked at technology, and was a cyborg. I was a walking talking contradiction.
“Okay.” I said sitting on my haunches staring at the dim amber world. “How do we get out?” I turned to Flare and he just sort of shrugged. Lovely.
“Well there is a way. Ain't never been here on account of the ghosts.” Just as he said that, something creaked somewhere in the underground complex. “Heard stories about it. Ponies getting lost. Old walls crumbling and the dead coming to life.” Flare kept talking even as Serenity had started taking shelter under my legs. “They say the last pony to venture into these tunnels went mad, and found jabbering to himself in the darkness a week later. Ever since, the tunnel has been closed so only the ghosts may wander its halls.”
“Serenity.” I rolled my eyes and stroked her mane as she shivered, “Flare's just trying to get you going. Ignore him. He's an ass.” She gave the slightest of nods as I returned to my feet. It was time for one of those plan thingies I was so good at.
My light didn't give me all the illumination I would have liked, but it was better than nothing. The tunnel was long and dark and dirty, but it seemed mostly clear of debris. Directly to my right and left were two doors, though the one to my right was boarded up by wood with something scrawled in red above it. Ignoring those options I chose the 'walk forward until you reach something' option.
“Lets go.”
As we started walking, wind whispered through the cavern, and for a second I thought I knew what it was saying.
“So,” Serenity said not a few minutes later. The walk was so far tedious and sort of dirty, but had been peacefully quiet. Nothing but the whispering of the wind to calm my mind. “Know any other ghost stories, Flare?”
“Yeah.” Flare had kept to walking in the dirt like a regular earth pony. No doubt because the hallway was far too cramped for any of his usual aerial manoeuvres.
“Wait,” I interrupted with my usual grace, “I thought you didn't like them?” I kicked an empty can down the hallway. Its tinny ting echoed through the hall, and Serenity eeped at the unexpected sound.
“Well.” She squirmed on my back some. “Sometimes it’s really fun to be scared.”
“Right. I'd rather you not.” I rolled my eyes. I'd rather she not get scared and then run off or wet herself or something. Not that either of those things were very likely, I wanted to cut the chance of them down to zero. You know, as a rule.
“I've got a story!” Flare zipped in front of me, a grin on his face. I kept walking though, so he was forced to float backwards. I wasn't about to stop for such foolishness. “Its the horrifying tale of the giant, uptight ghost, who never let anypony have any fun!” That didn't seem like any ghost I’ve ever heard. “OoooOOooooOo!” He waved his hooves in front of me.
Serenity giggled on my back, and it was then that I realized what had just happened. Mocking me like that could not go unanswered.
“Well. I know... the... uh... scary story... about a ghost... who was annoying.”
Nailed it.
Since Serenity was laughing even harder, I knew I had achieved ghost story victory, so I rightfully pushed past Flare and strode forward. For about three steps.
Creak.
Never good. I kept walking, completely oblivious to the huge cracks in the stone underhoof, and the way it wobbled under my weight. I took two more steps.
Crack.
Fuck.
The floor crumbled away. With nothing under my hooves, I started falling. Without thinking, I reached out. Dimly I was aware of Serenity being plucked off my back. My flailing forelegs slammed into something. My heart racing, I could barely see until I stopped, jerking my heart into my throat.
I was hanging on; just barely. I could feel myself slipping as I looked at Flare and Serenity. They were lying on the non-collapsed floor breathing heavy but mostly alright, though Serenity's mane looked frazzled and I thought I saw a hint of blood on Flare's wing.
“Ow.” I groaned.
Without a second thought Serenity ran over and started pulling on my hoof. It didn't help much but I favoured her with a smile. “C'mon! Get up. We'll getcha out! C'mon Flare!”
Kicking my legs uselessly as Flare slowly moved over I remarked, “By all means. Take your time.” I was only hanging on the precipice of... of something. Looking down I saw only blackness, and heard only wind. Wind that sounded suspiciously like growling.
“I'm trying.” Flare grunted as he pulled at my leg. Was his wing supposed to have a hole in it? “You're heavy.”
“Thanks.” I grunted, trying to drag myself out of the pit. Ever so slowly I inched forward. Growling, I could feel feel a piece of steel rebar stabbing into my gut like a stabbing pain thing. As I slowly climbed out of the pit I could feel it drag against my chest, cutting into it. When it reached my saddlebag strap I heard a snap. Suddenly I was lighter... fuck!
As fast as I could, I reached down with my metal leg trying to grab my saddle bags. All I managed to catch was the hem of my dress as it fell out of my bag, with the bag in question falling into the abyss. Somewhere below me I head growling, a gnashing of teeth, and a tearing of... something.
For some inexplicable reason, I no longer wanted my legs dangling in the pit. With all our combined strength, I managed to crawl out. Out of all my supplies, all I managed to save was the one thing I didn't want. This dress was haunting me, I was sure.
I regretted ever thinking this tunnel was a good idea.
---
We walked back the way we came. Serenity had patched us up as much as she was able, which was not much considering nearly all our supplies were lost with my saddle bags. All we had left was my Celestia-damned dress, Subtlety, and whatever Flare had in his bags. Serenity had to resort to tearing Flare's red jumpsuit in order to make a bandage to wrap his wing in. Turns out being stabbed in the wing by a broken piece of steel hurt. Who knew?
My side stung as we walked, but I kept quiet about it. It was nothing I couldn't handle, and chest injuries were hardly new to me anymore. If I’d had a healing potion or Med-X, I would have taken it in a second, but without the option I would live.
It did not take long until we made it back to our starting point. So you know, excellent progress.
“Which door?” One was barricaded by wood, and the other not. It didn't really matter which one we chose, as we had no idea what went where, only that we were to open one and try to make our way out of this dank dark place. Serenity pointed at the barricaded one so I walked over to it.
The barricade was strong, but it still took me only a single buck to slam it open. Bringing my legs back down they felt a little numb, but I got over it and walked through the door. Waving my pipbuck around the room I got an amber interpretation of what the room looked like. Strangely enough it looked sort of office-ish. Shrugging, I started forward.
“Spread out. Flare, go with Serenity. Look over that side, and I'll look over here. Try to find a way forward.” Serenity's horn sparked with dull pink light and she nodded gravely at me before walking off, Flare in tow.
I waved my pipbuck around periodically to see, but it did not help as much as I would have liked. Shadows danced as I weaved through rows of tumbled and broken desks, and I hit the end wall before I even realized it was there. It was not a large room, and next to nothing in it. That was, until I saw a green glow out of the corner of my eye.
A working terminal. I trotted over ignoring the reek of something nearby. The computer looked cracked and dirty, but despite everything it was actually on, casting my face in an eerie green glow. Licking my lips for a second, I bent over and pressed a few buttons with my nose, hoping to find a map of the complex.
“Work has continued slowly in the eastern suburbs. A few local communities have formed groups and are protesting to the mayor. They claim the tunnels are a secret Equestrian project. Our boys managed to convince them it was not Equestrian in nature, but it was a tough sell. Regardless of what they do we still need to finish the tunnels... if only they knew. Its not my concern though. Wallkirk wants the tunnels done, and it will be done, but we will need more security. Can you send some?
Swift Star”
I clicked forward.
“Fr yu baby? Nt a prblem. Gt sme new stallins waiting fr a chance. Just say when and where and they'll be there. Tell Wallkirk I'll send the cheque in the mail, and he wn’t regret chsing surefire security.
Surefire Waves.
P.S. Srry, my '0' key is brken. Need t yell at tech supprt. ll”
Wow. Could that get anymore boring. Lacking anything more interesting to do I clicked to the final saved email as a strange wind whispered in my ear.
“Weekly Report: After the riot last week no significant protests have hindered tunnel construction. Of the planned lines only two have yet to be dug, and the main line is fully furnished and operational. In accordance to the increased violence on the western front, as well as in new information received from our Equestrian partners we have increased our schedule to be done by the new year. However, our former Security Contract, Surefire Security has suddenly cut all ties with the project. We believe it is due to the package you sent in last week for storage. We are currently exploring legal options on Surefire Security, and I will give you a full report when the papers have been filed. In the mean time I have attached all relevant documents regarding our contract with Surefire Security, as well as our updated timetable. Thank you for your time, Mr. Wallkirk.
Swift Star”
Welp, that sure was an interesting read. Turning back, I thought I felt that breeze again. Following it through the amber glow of my pipbuck, I came upon a door. Obviously, I opened said door. And nearly fell.
The door led to the hallway, right where the floor had given way. Groaning I took a step back cursing my luck when I heard a shout.
I knew the voice.
I ran through the office sending, shelves and desks out of my way, stopping only when I saw the dull light of Serenity’s horn. And the ghoul standing in front of her. Its mouth wide open, and dripping saliva.
Subtlety took the beast in the shoulder, spraying Serenity with gore, as the ghoul spun and fell. Not waiting a second more, I rushed over and held the foal in my legs. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” I said, but I was more thinking about where the hell was Flare.
“Get... this thing off of me!” Not three feet away, Flare was struggling under a second. Damn these things. Throwing Serenity onto my back I tensed my muscles as Subtlety fired again. The ghoul flew into a wall at the impact, making a bloody mural.
“Thanks.” Flare squirmed to his feet, his eyes still wide. “There's more!” Following his hoof I saw them. More than a dozen of those... those things shambling out of a hole in the wall. More than we could fight.
“Run.”
Out the door, and across the hall. We went through door number two and slammed it behind us. Without thinking, I grabbed the nearest thing I found, a filling cabinet, and threw it across the door. Then for good measure me and Flare pushed a desk in front of it too.
“Everypony okay?” I asked, leaning against out barricade ignoring my aching side.
“Y-yeah.” Serenity nodded. I didn't believe her. Considering the fact she was visibly shaken, close to tears, and had blood splattered over her pink coat and mane (the mane was more of a guess. Given the way red was splotched onto her yellow mane normally, it was hard to tell), I was going to assume she was just trying to be tough.
“Fuck no.” Flare whined. “My wing is all stabbed, an that ghoul nearly bit me! To top it off I think I'm starting to go crazy and hear things! It totally sucks dude, fuck these tunnels. I can't fly.”
“Well.” I groaned, getting to my feet to survey the room. “All the more reason to leave.” Somehow.
Yeah, I was worried. My heart was pounding, and my stomach felt like it was trying to tighten itself into a ball, but I ignored it. I brought us here with a filly, so it was my job to be brave. Even in the cold darkness where the wind whispered names to me. Even when we were chased by zombetic freaks, and we were out of food and healing potions.
The room was dark and stagnant, similar to the one before, but it seemed longer, and my pipbuck light was not nearly as strong as I would have wished. I took a single step forward. Into a pile of bones with a crunch. Twisting away, I had to shake my leg to get the bones off of me.
It was not all a loss though as beside the pony remains was a single 12mm pistol. “Flare.” I said before lifting the weapon up and tossing it to the pegasus. “Catch.”
The blue pony caught it easily as Serenity came strolling up. “Is that...” She poked the bones and gasped a bit, stepping back. I could see her already pale coat getting impossibly paler. “A pony?” Shit. I really didn't want to traumatize the poor thing. In fact, I wanted her to stay at The Watchers. Even as the easy excuse came into my head I dismissed it; I choose to bring her into an uncertain and dangerous situation and nopony was to blame but myself.
“It’s...” I struggled for the words. “A Pony.” I admitted. “A brave pony. Who died here two hundred years ago. Just like those ghouls, they were ponies once too.” What could I say but the truth. She knew very well ponies died, and there was no lie to say. “All ponies die. Even Celestia.” They weren't comforting words, I could see that plain as day when she looked up pleadingly at me. “But we aren't dead. And so long as we can walk, we can survive. It is good to feel sad for death.” I wiped a tear from her eyes. “It means you are a good pony.”
“I'm sorry.” She sniffled. “I'll be strong.”
“You are strong.” Cheesy I know. “So just keep being strong. We have a long way to go. And I need you yo be strong. Because you're a big strong pony. And I need you to keep Flare from being scared.”
“Yeah.” She smiled a little. “Flare is a wimp.”
“I am not!”
---
...wake up...
The wind whispered in my ear. I knew that the wind could not actually be saying anything, but it was doing a damn good job convincing me otherwise.
Looking around me, the dark walls pressed in on all sides. My pipbuck turned every object into a shadow and my movements made the shadows dance and mock me as I walked. Were I a younger pony, I may have been frightened. But there were more frightening things in this tunnel than shadows and imagination.
“Find anything?” Serenity called just outside the door.
I'd stumbled upon a small office room and was desperately searching for something. Anything. I was hoping, honestly, to find a few .50 caliber rounds and a half dozen healing potions, but instead found papers and pencils. The only thing of interest was an audio-log. Hoping it'd provide a clue as to how to escape, I stuck it in to my pipbuck.
“...Don't trust him.” One pony said to which another replies.
“And why not?”
“Ever since his crew took over for Surefire things have gotten tight. Ya know? Course ya do. And then I hear he sits all day staring at that orb and barking at anypony that disturbs him. It ain't right I say. And then there's...” There was a shuffling and the second pony said something I couldn't hear. “They say he records everything. Hidden cameras. Recorders. I just... don't feel safe. I'm going to tell Swift Star I'm resigning tomorrow.”
“If you're sure.” The second pony said. “Just stay safe dear.”
“I will mom.”
The recording ended and once again I got nothing useful out of it. I was starting to wonder if these recordings and emails were just set up to piss me off and confuse me.
“What was that!” Serenity said needlessly loud as I returned from the office.
“Nothing.” I shrugged. We were still stuck in the long office we used to escape the ghouls, though we had made it to the far end. We had also found a few more corpses, but Serenity was strong and pushed past, while Flare ignored them as nothing new. Scavenging around we had managed to find a few useful things: a bottle of water, a vial of med-X, a bottle of wonder-glue, and (strangely) a second pistol. I took that one for myself. Subtlety only held eight rounds I already used two, and all my ammo was lost with my saddle bags.
...Silver Storm...
I found myself jerking and searching for the voice. Stupid Silver. I knew it was the wind, but... it sounded so familiar.
“Yo. Earth. Earth to Gun,” Flare said, waving his forelegs in front of my face. I swatted at his hooves. “Welcome back. What was that?”
“Thought... it doesn't matter.” I pushed passed him. “Think I saw a door over here.” I trotted slowly across the room trying to clear my mind. This place was just... getting to me. I thought I heard Flare say something about 'going crazy' but I ignored that too.
There was, in fact, a door in the direction I was heading. Clutching uselessly at the handle was the skeleton of a unicorn. Sighing I kicked the bones away with a rattle. I could hear Serenity squeak behind me, but I chose not to address it. I figured she was trying hard enough in a bad situation and pointing it out would have been counter productive. Or something.
...You'll be late...
I shivered as the wind whispered again. Dammit Silver, just ignore it. Shaking the thought away, I turned back to the door. Illuminated in amber were the words: “Run. Escape. Do Not Sleep, The Voice.” written in what only could have been blood. A sudden burst of rage took over my and I shove my metal hoof into the door. With a crack and shower of splinters, the door and message were turned to firewood. Luckily, before Serenity could see it.
“Mom.” Her voice was a hushed whisper. So light I wasn't sure who she was talking to her. Even still I walked up to her.
“Serenity. What did I say about calling me that?” Her grey eyes blinked for a second as she turned to me. Something creaked somewhere and echoed throughout the building sending a shiver down my spine.
“I... ” She wasn't talking to me. Of course she wasn't. Nope, just hearing words on the wind.
... Actually. Why was there wind at all? I mean weren't we under the city in some Celestia-forsaken tunnel? How could there be wind at all? My body tensed and I swallowed. If it wasn’t wind...
No. It had to be the wind.
“C’mon,” I said, my head tilting towards the broken door. Somewhere off to my right I saw something. Without thinking, I turned and moved to strike... only to find Flare twitching his nose in the rubble under a desk. “Flare. C’mon.” His wing twitching, he stuck his head out.
“Found diff.” He mumbled around the magazine in his mouth. Really, I was not sure what I was supposed to do with that. Flipping his head the comic unravelled. On it was a surprisingly well preserved picture of orange coated mare with a comically large sword in her mouth.
“Canterlot Comics Presents.” I read out loud, “Sword Mare And The Revenge Of The Windigos... ” I raised an eyebrow and just shook my head. “Keep it if you want. Maybe Serenity would like it... ” Honestly, wasting my time on something so silly was just... silly.
“You've never heard of Swordmare? When I was a little buck I used to love her, figured she'd be your idol or something.” I basically ignored him and walked back the rubble of the door, and body beside it. He kept talking. “She was awesome. near the end of the war she traveled through time and fought Steel Rangers, but lost and teamed together to purge the Zebras. Seems silly to me, if you ask me, cause she could’a won with a simple Spark Pulse Emitter.”
Walking into the hallway, I shivered. It was the same one we started in, though from the looks of it we had cleared the section that had collapsed, meaning we were finally able to continue. Yay. So we had made progress and only had a few serious injures to show for it. Across the small hallway was another door, and it was a toss up between trying the door or chancing the long hallway that liked to drop me into pits. Either way there was a high probability of failure and pain.
...Marigold will be angry...
She can wait five minutes.
Fuck.
This was too much. “Somepony choose,” I said sitting on my haunches, exasperated. The wind was driving me nuts, my side was stinging like a bitch, and I hadn't slept since my surgery however long ago.
“Oh! I choose!” Serenity ran up in front of me and made a show of rubbing her chin with her hoof. She gave a good half-second of serious contemplation before pointing dramatically. Running over, she jumped up to the handle of the door on the opposite side of the hallway. With a click and a whoosh the door swung open.
Revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth.
Serenity shrieked. I blasted away with Subtlety, but being as I was sitting the bullet embedded itself uselessly into the ceiling with a shower of pebbles and plaster. As I scrambled to my feet the ghoul was moving to fast, its mouth clamping around Serenity's leg. There was blood. And a scream, and I just wasn't fast enough.
There was a blue blur. Flare's hoof moved so fast I could barely see it, and the zombie pony let go. The pegasus grappled with the zombie, trying to push him away, only for more to appear from the door way. Slamming the zombie-ponies head into the wall Flare stood his ground, though with one hoof fiddling with his battle saddle.
Subtlety fired, and a whole row of Ghouls found themselves with a large holes. Nudging Flare, I grabbed Serenity and tossed her on my back as gently as I could and ran the fuck out of there.
The ghouls followed. Their corpse-like bodies couldn't run as fast as Flare or I, but fuck did they try. Even still Ghouls never tired, I was pretty sure. So even as we ran forward, flashing past broken and barricaded doors, we would be caught. Eventually. Or... actually fuck that. We would survive. I didn't just go and piss off and escape from a city of gangsters just to be killed by some mindless ghouls and their creepy wind.
Through their moaning I heard something. The wind returned. Serenity sobbed quietly on my back and I tried to focus on her but I couldn't. I kept hearing the damnable wind.
...Silver... come back to bed...
Ignoring it I galloped on, and on. My side stung, and my legs grew sore, but I refused to stop, not so long as I heard those beasts behind me.
...don't leave me... I've been waiting...
Against my better judgement I looked back, though I kept running. Through the dull light of my pipbuck, and pressed behind the mass of ghouls and shadows; I saw her. A red figure glowing in the darkness. My heart leapt and I stopped. I knew in my mind it couldn't be , but... but it was.
...I knew you'd save me... quickly...
I don't remember taking Serenity off my back. But as I charged the ghoul horde she was no longer there. It didn't matter though. I had to get there. To her. Discord himself wouldn't have been able to keep me from her. It's been so long, but I knew she had to be alive. There was no other option, for there she was. Tears stung my eyes, because the Goddess' had given her another chance and still she came to me. So, I charged towards the red figure so far away, my gun cleaving scores of ghouls with each shot. Blood flew through the air like red rain, but it meant nothing to me. Only her. It was only ever her.
Then my world became fire.
Coughing I found myself on my back, groaning from the force of the explosion. In the flames above me Flare stood. His saddle blared and fire erupted again hitting me in the chest like a kick. “What're you doing!” I screamed trying to get to my feet. “Wildfire!” Through the smoke dust and flames I couldn't see the red. She was dying, the explosions they must have-
SMACK
My cheek burned from Flare's hoof. He glared down at me. “Get a hold of yourself! What the fuck, whatever you're seeing ignore it!” Behind him I saw the red pony. I nearly pushed him away. Struck him. Killed him. I could have if I wanted to but he kept yelling. “Serenity is back there hurt and scared and you're chasing ghosts. They aren't real. This place is fucking with you, and if you listen you're letting it win.”
Survive.
Behind him the the red pony twisted and faded into the wind. It was never there.
---
“What do you see?” I asked, staring down the long hall. We had managed to escape what ghouls Flare didn't blow up, and even found the main tunnel (I figured from the larger size and grate similar to the one under Parasite Mound). Staring down one side I saw the red figure again, perpetually out of reach.
“My mother,” Serenity said slowly, resting against me. When we had entered the main tunnel we had lucked upon a healing potion on the corpse a long dead pony. Though Flare was far more injured we had decided to let Serenity have the potion, because, well because she was a filly. She tried to protest, of course, but the bite marks on her legs were deep and painful enough she had to limp. In the end, she wasn't really given a choice in the matter.
We had to rest though, or the visions were going to drive us mad. Madder. So we stopped and laid down when it seemed the ghouls had left us alone, and together we stared into the darkness playing the 'hallucination guessing game'. It was Serenity's idea: instead of worrying about the words and images we talked about them, assuring ourselves of them. Reminding us they weren't really there. Moreover, she explained, it was fun.
“Knew it,” Flare said leaning not far away against a wall. “What was she like?” Flare, so far, had been really good at guessing.
“I...” Serenity scrunched up her face. “I don't remember. Well I do. It was just'a long time'ago. She used ta sing for me, and somehow she always smelled sweet.” She glared down the dark hallway at whatever it is the tunnel made her see. “She said she was coming back, but never did. Bad ponies got her.” She stomped her hoof and buried her muzzle in my chest. “I can hear her singing.” Apparently, the game was not as fun as advertised.
“Flare's is a mare.” I guessed quickly, trying to change the subject.
“Yeah, long time'a go. She was the sweetest little thing, though I can't remember her name I remember the face.” Flare sighed. “Didn't know her a month before we were talking about getting married. She was Earth pony though... my sergeant didn't much like that. Strange.” He didn't bother looking at me. “She turned up dead later that week. Until now. She keeps smiling at me.”
I closed my eyes and tried my best to be anywhere else. I succeeded. A warmth flowed over me and I had the distinctive feeling of being tucked under the covers. There was a vision and a memory and suddenly I was cuddled up beside somepony. A cold wind whipped through the room, chilling me to me bones. So I moved closer. The sensation of touching somepony was so genuine I was swept up in it. Even as she started to... oh... My eyes snapped open with a blush on my cheeks. That was not the sort of thing to daydream with a filly near by.
“What about you?” Serenity looked up at me, innocence fresh in her eyes. “What do you see?” Wildfire. I blushed just a little bit more.
“Wildfire.” Flare said trotting over to us, “Least that's what she said when I had to knock her block back there.” He grinned at me. “A marefriend?”
“A friend.” I insisted forcing back my blush. “She was a good friend. Died when I did something stupid. I don't want to talk about it.”
“Aww come on.” Serenity tugged at my ear with her magic. “We told our stories. Its your turn.”
Words could not describe how much that was not happening. “Nothing else to tell.” I slowly got to my feet, and looked around. “Flare. How many grenades do you have left?”
“Two. Won’t do us much good if they get the jump on us.” Not unless we had a death wish. Still he was doing better then I was. Having wasted all my .50 calibre ammo in my suicide run against the horde, I was left only with the pistol I scavenged (and I wasn’t even sure how many rounds it had in it), and my metal leg. Though it was a good thing Flare's grenade launchers were able to be modified to fire straight on instead of just down or we'd be really screwed.
“Lovely.” I said helping Serenity onto my back before waving my pipbuck around. The amber light helped just a little in getting out bearings, but the darkness only waned a little. There was so much I couldn't see, but needed to in order to make a smart decision. “Well.” I pointed down the main hall. “Those... vision thingies.” A red figure smiled through the darkness at me. “Coming from there, yeah?”
They both nodded.
“Well. I propose not going that way.” Serenity nodded just a little bit, while Flare looked a bit apprehensive but agreed. Turning my head towards the other side of the main hallway I said, “And that way is blocked.” It looked like a cave in but I wasn't really sure. “Which leaves.” Across from the door we entered the main hallway, was a similarly shaped door.
“Onward.”
Through the door was yet another decrepit hallway. I was shocked. Truly.
...Don't leave me...
It only took a few steps to run into the first corpse. A fresh one. After commanding Serenity to close her eyes I leaned over the body and gave it a once over. It looked to be a ghoul, and its security barding (Safe Bet Security; Always a Safe Bet) showed not signs of impact. It didn't look like a natural death though, the way the body was just lying there. Touching the body, I started to search for goods.
“No.”
It spoke!
I jumped back and gasped at the thing. It kept... talking. “I... escaped. Yes finally. The door opened. I escaped.”
I kicked the body. Hard. It didn't react. It just kept mumbling and sleeping. I kicked it twice more with my metal leg, but nothing happened.
“Welp.” Flare said jumping over it and turning to me and Serenity. “I guess this would be a perfect time not to sleep then?” Of course I had to yawn just as he said that. None of us have had a very good sleep schedule the past few days, and this realization only helped to make me sleepier. To my right a red vision passed, but I pushed it back to my mind. “This reminds me of a time.”
We moved around the pony and kept walking.
“Back when I was just old enough to join the training corps.” My eyes scanned the tunnel: every single crack crevice and stain to keep my mind occupied. “We went on a mission to deal with the minotaurs on behest of Flankyard.” Smeared across the wall was a deep brown stain. “Training corps was only there to watch you see, as the real Remnants worked. Managed to set up a meeting with the Chairman of Flankyard and Minotaur tribal boss guy thingy.” As we passed over a scrap of paper on the ground I took a second to read it. ...orb from the mountain. Mr Wallkirk says... We passed by and it didn't seem interesting enough to stop for. “Well during the meeting, the monsters poisoned the tea. Some sort of sleeping powder.” Something was in front of us I could see vaguely from my pipbuck light. “Well luckily I caught on an-”
“Dead end.” I interrupted Flare. He glared, but nodded when he saw the crumbled rock blocking our path. We could have climbed over it, but I didn't want to risk it. Instead I opted for a safer route.
“Lookie! A door.” Serenity pointed, and was quite correct. Luckily enough, there was a door to our right. “We can go through it, then I want Flare to finish his story.”
Inside I thought I saw something. Actually I knew I saw it, but just pretended I wasn't sure.
“C'mon.” I pushed away an empty desk. The room was large and when I waved my pipbuck above my head I couldn't even see the ceiling. “There has to be an exit.” No there didn't. In fact I was almost completely sure there was not an exit nearby at all. Still, I kept a slim smile on my face and led my little group through the huge room. What would anyplace need with so many desks?
“Wassat?” Serenity pointed to something on the wall to my left. Turning, I could see a simple wooden door with a spray of holes across it. Seemed like as good a guess as any so i trotted forth, ignoring the shockingly close pleading face of Wildfire.
Following her pointing hoof, we came upon a small door riddled with small holes. Opening it we came upon yet another small office, though this one had a lovely accessory: the bones of a pony slumped over a mahogany desk with a shotgun beside it. Also there was a bloodstain on the wall, and desk. “Stay here,” I said.
The first thing I did was throw the shotgun to Flare, in hopes that he actually knew how to use it. I had seen unicorns use them on occasion, but mouth firing just seemed far to difficult, not to mention painful. A filly back in Marefort once had one kick back so hard it flew from her magical grip and cracked anothers' head right open. If nothing else I supposed it could be used as a bludgeon.
...Is it bad?...
Gently nudging the skeleton onto the floor with a rattle I rummaged through the desk. Additions to my inventory were as follows: 24 pre wars bits, 2 bottle caps, one warm bottle of sunrise sarsaparilla ultra (now with radishes), a single shotgun slug, and (how exciting) a piece of paper with gibberish written on it.
Not your usual confusing gibberish that was hoof-picked to confuse the hell out of me. This was special grade-A gibberish. Top of the line. I figured it was basically rare and worth a lot of caps. On account on how little sense it made. It quite literally said:
“49:20:68:61:76:65:20:61:20:63:6f:6e:66:72:69:6d:61:74:69:6f:6e:20:6f:6e:20:74:68:65:20:6f:72:62:2e:20:
57:61:6c:6c:6b:69:72:6b:20:68:61:73:20:62:65:65:6e:20:61:20:62:75:73:79:20:6c:69:74:74:6c:65:20:62:6f:
64:79:2c:20:69:74:20:73:65:65:6d:73:2e:20:50:69:6e:6b:69:65:20:77:69:6c:6c:20:77:61:6e:74:20:74:6f:20
:6b:6e:6f:77:2e:20:43:61:6e:20:79:6f:75:20:73:65:6e:64:20:61:20:74:65:61:6d:20:64:6f:77:6e:20:41:53:41:
50:3f:20:54:68:61:6e:6b:73:2e”
Rolling my eyes at the ridiculous note, I looked up.
There was a sound like rushing water, and then everything turned grey. My eyes darted around the room, and somehow it looked new. Like it did when it was first built, only without colour. A colourless pony burst through the door and it's mouth flapped at me but I heard nothing. It handed me the note, but gasped and turned around. Two more colourless ponies burst in brandishing weapons in magic. On their chests were the words “Safe Bet Security”. Their guns flashed and the pony what gave me the note fell in a shower of blood. I screamed.
I fell from my chair, and Flare and Serenity rushed onto the room. “Are you okay,” Serenity asked quickly before giggling at me lying there on the floor.
“Peachy.” Only going insane, no big deal.
Groaning and getting to my feet I smirked at Serenity before returning to more lovely black underground office building thingy. Shadows and wind were there to greet me, which were as bad as crazy ass visions so I cantered on casually.
There was silence as we walked. I don't know if the others were having the same feeling as I was, but I'd this feeling of being watched. My skin crawled, and the visions of Wildfire flashing around the room at random did not help. With each step forward I felt my stomach tightening up. I smacked my dry lips together and kept my head calm as best I could. Between the winds whispering in my ear, the visions, and the tingling sensation on my coat it was really hard.
Then I saw her.
It took all of my will power not to run to her. That charcoal grey filly staring up at me. That poor little thing me and Wildfire found in the mountain village. That poor thing.
Shutting my eyes, I refused to think of her name.
Closing my eyes was a bad idea. Suddenly my senses were barraged by a memory. Warm night outside Marefort. Eating food brough in by newly arrived traders. Sweet smells and laughter as we started tried to teach Fo-that grey filly how to play soccer. It was a good day. Heh. A good day, it had been so long I forgot what it was like. I don't know how long I stayed in that place, so long ago, but it was far too long.
“HIRED!”
My eyes shot open and I was alone.
Flare was gone, Serenity was off my back. Serenity's scream echoed throughout the room, but I could see nothing. Until a pair of red eyes was suddenly in front of me. Follows shortly but a grinning muzzle of sharp teeth.
My hoof cracked the beast in the face as it lunged for me. It howled and fell back but charged again. This time I used the metal hoof. Blood seeped down the beast’s mottled flesh as it fell to a knee. I finished it. Every so slowly it toppled over, its brains seeping from its skull and onto the floor.
“HIRED!”
...Silver...
I followed the voice. Serenity's voice. Leaping through a broken wall I found three more monsters ready. They tried to rush me, but I really was not in the fucking mood.
BLAM BLAM BLAM.
With three shots of my pistol, all fell over, their blood splattered across the room. More groans followed but I pushed past and ignored them. They could fucking try to catch me.
They did.
My flank was burned, and I bucked wildly. The beast took to the air and crashed through a desk behind me. Looking back, I saw blood flowing down my flank from a bite wound just above my cutie-mark, turning it and my whole leg red. I winced in pain as I tried to move, but I heard a wordless scream echoing through the dark. So I kept going even as blood flowed from my new wound.
I could hear. That's all I needed. Follow the voice. As long as she kept screaming, my pipbuck would light the way, and Serenity didn't even have that, so I couldn't complain. I just had to save her. Light blinded me from the right as an explosion blasted out.
I guess I could save Flare too.
I charged towards the explosion. Serenity needed saving, but it'd be easier with Flare's firepower. I didn't like it, but dammit I had to. The first ghoul's head snapped hard to the side as he was flung into the wall. The second was stomped to death, and the third I kicked ineffectively as Flare had already shotgunned it to death. Throwing down his presumably empty shotgun he looked up at me. His coat was dark with dirt and dust, and his jumpsuit was in tatters.
“Hired!” he screamed, rearing up. “What happened!?”
I panted as blood soaked down my flank, “You. You tell me.”
“You just. Stopped for like five minutes. Wouldn't respond. Tried everything and then.. something leaped out of butt-fuck no where and grabbed her!... I tried to give chase but these zombie fuckers...” He shook his head and flapped his wounded wing. “Can't do shit. Everything fucking hurts.” He grit his teeth. “When I close my eyes I see things. Just for a second... but everything is going wrong and it’s hard... ”
Just lie down and sleep. Be with Wildfire and the filly for the rest of my life. I would be lying if I said there wasn't something inciting in that thought, but... Serenity still needed saving. And no matter how realistic a dream is, it is never real.
“Tell ya what. Once we get out of here. You can sleep for a week.”
He smiled grimly at me. “Yeah. I'd like that. I'd like it a bunch.” Stretching, he strode forward. “We better get go-”
“HIIIIIIIREDD!”
We ran.
The voice was getting louder and there was... a feeling in my shoulder that was not like anything I'd felt before. My shoulder did not burn like it did usually around magic, more like it stung. Kind of like being shocked by static, but constantly. I followed the sensation, and the pain only got worse as we moved.
I stopped.
“Flare.” I grunted. “Need the Med-X.” Without wasting a breath, the vial we found earlier was out of his pack and injected into my shoulder. Just like that, the pain washed away, leaving a dull feeling in my shoulder. Just enough so I could follow the magical presence to whatever was causing it. Something horrible most likely.
We happened upon a door. On it the words, “Security Chief's Office: No Admittance.” On a scale from one to ten, I gave exactly zero fucks about what that sign had to say. With a buck, the door was broken down, and I found Serenity.
If only that was all I found.
The room was large and spacious with no furniture except a single marble-looking pedestal. Upon it was a small sphere, no larger then a billiard ball that pulsed with.... With something. Whatever it pulsed with, I could feel the magic it expelled in my shoulder. Even with Med-X flowing through my veins, I could feel it like a bolt of lightning. Celestial incest, what was that thing?
“No. No no no no I was so close.” Seven were already in the room. Serenity was lying on the ground, bleeding heavily as six ghouls circled her: five normal ghouls, and a much larger ghoul wearing security barding (Safe Bet Security Chief). He still had wisps of a green mane hanging around his horn, and a bloody knife floated in his magical grip. “Wallkirk said. Have the soul, have the orb, have the ponies. Mine all mine, he said. Need a filly, I heard it. All I need. You're ruining everything! Get them!”
The five ghouls charged, and I prepared myself for a fight.
That never happened. Suddenly Flare glided in on his broken wing and kicked one ghoul in the head. The second was wing slapped, and a third was headbutted. “Hired!” He grunted trying to fight off too many ponies at once. “Save. Your daughter.” He bit one in the neck and twisted before turning back to me, his mouth bloody. “I got this.”
...Don't go... I need you...
Suddenly Wildfire was right in front of me. Not a ghostly apparition like before, but as real as the last time I saw her. There was a fluttering of eyelashes and I melted. I felt a flush of warmth across my whole body as she leaned over to kiss me. Then I ran right through her to Serenity without a second thought.
Two of the ghouls Flare was engaging broke off and broke my line of sight. Something happened to them, as a few seconds later I walked over their broken and bloody corpses. Even dead and feral, they should have known better than to get between me and my... Serenity.
Before that ghoul bastard could touch her again, I kicked that sonofabitch in the head. There was a crack, and the green-maned ghoul fell to the side, his knife spinning and clanging off the concrete floor. I ignored him, and wrapped my forelegs around Serenity's bloody body. Sweet Celestia, she wasn't moving. “Serenity,” I said softly. Vaguely I could hear Flare's pistol firing behind me.
“Serenity.” I bit my lip. It wasn't supposed to end this way. She was supposed to live. Why did every pony I like have to die on account of my stupidity? I never wanted any of this. I just wanted a peaceful life. A simple life. “Serenity... please.” Flare was right. I could just close my eyes. Fall to whatever magic haunted this place and I could live in peace. I nearly closed my eyes, when she opened hers.
Those sad grey eyes were the most amazing thing I ever saw. Reaching up with a timid hoof, she wiped my cheek. “Your face is leaking....”
Pain blinded me.
Suddenly I was on my back, my pistol spinning away and Serenity hitting the floor.
“No, nononononon! She IS Mine! I must have her.” I gasped for air, as my shoulder burned, and Subtlety dug painfully into my back. “You! You are supposed to listen gogogo to sleep my little pony. Go to sleep and let me in. Wallkirk said-he said I could be in control. Then then you ponies fucked it up. You bombed and died and now I am so close. The mountain calls soon I will be there, don't you see? Ccaaaan't you feel it. They call and all I need is a filly. I have the soul.” His horn burned with a green fury as I wheezed for breath but found nothing. Slowly my vision started to fade, and everything was dark.
I struggled, and squirmed but the darkness was too much. Each second I felt myself dying a little bit more under his grasp. Everything hurt so much. “Yes. Sleep. Feel it. Close your eyes and become mine, you will... you will.” I was. As much as I didn't want to I felt the visions coming back. Wildfire and the filly whose name I would not say. Everything was dark. “Yes. Yes you will di-”
BANG
Sweet air flooded my lungs. I gasped, my eyes shooting open as the pony fell on me. The room was back, and there was light. In front of me, standing over the body of the dead pony , was Serenity. Grasped in pink magic before her was my pistol, still smoking.
She was crying.
Flare stumbled over and wrapped a wing around her. A few seconds later I was there too.
“I... I killed him...,” she sobbed. “I... I don't wanna hurt anypony... I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I-i didn't mean it. I-i don't want to be a bad pony. I didn't mean to... but... but he was hurting... and I just wanted to stay with Mommy.” She was sobbing into my chest, staining my coat with tears and blood.
“I....” I didn't know what to say so I just held her. The first kill is always the hardest.
“Sometimes good ponies do bad things to survive,” Flare said. “He was a monster, Serenity. A monster about to kill your mommy. It’s... it’s not something you should be proud of,” he nuzzled her, “but you did the right thing.”
“B-b-but. I.” I sat there and let her cry. The only sound was the was wind whispering and the sobs of the pink filly until eventually her eyes were still and she looked up to me. For all the time I had known her, her eyes had never looked sadder then at that moment. “I'm sorry.”
“No. I'm sorry,” I said holding her tight with my one good leg. “I never should have brought you. Too dangerous. It’s my fault.... You should go back. To the Watchers.”
“But...” Serenity smiled so sweetly at me behind the tears, “who would protect you?”
I chuckled a bit, but not so much. Everything still hurt.
Serenity, I was glad to see, was not as badly hurt as I'd feared. The knife had cut deep on her ribs but hadn’t punctured a lung or major artery. Scavenging Flare's jumpsuit for more fabric, we created a bandage for the wound, before we finally got to address the real problem.
That crazy stallion was, well, crazy. Dangerous, mind, but just a crazy ghoul who lost his mind two hundred years ago. Whatever that orb was, was the thing really causing the tunnel to go crazy. We had to address it, if only so our final escape would be that much less shitty.
Helping Serenity onto my back, I took a look at the pedestal, and the orb. “These tunnels. How far down do they go?”
Flare shrugged. “Very.”
Walking up to the pedestal I ignored the orb, and instead looked at the wall and inspected it. There was a huge crack running vertically along it, and another matching one on the floor. Pressing my ear against it I could hear wind. These tunnels went deep underground, or so I was led to believe, so I had to hope it'd be far enough.
Walking back to the door from whence we came I carefully avoided the bodies. Had Flare really taken out four ghouls with an injured wing and half full pistol? I made a mental note to give him mad props later. We turned and faced the orb. I could hear it whisper.
...I never wanted this... for either of us...
BOOM
The force of Flare's last grenade shook the room with fire. When the smoke cleared, the orb was gone, and a huge hole was in its place. Slowly but surely, the wind faded, and I heard no more whispers. When I closed my eyes, only blackness reigned. When I opened them, the light of my pipbuck made shadows dance on the wall and put a smile on my face. This was the way it was suppose to be.
---
“I can see it!”
My whole body ached, and my eyes pleaded for sleep. How long were we trapped under Dise? How long had it been since I last slept? I wasn't really sure, but I was sure it was all about to end soon. We had found stairs. Stairs! After having managed to fight our way through the rest of the ghouls, we had found the exit. So many ghouls, I had to wonder how many other ponies died in these unfinished tunnels. This Wallkirk fellow had been trying to save Dise, but he had failed and doomed so many to death and an eternity of un-death. Well, I guess he had tried.
We reached the door. Was this really the end? I could see the faintest bit of light between the cracks in the door, but part of me couldn't believe it. Taking stock, it was hard to imagine we survived. Flare was suffering a punctured wing, and more bites, scratches, and lacerations then I cared to count. Serenity was carrying fresh emotional scars and a deep cut on her chest that made her whimper with each step. For my part I had a long scrape across my chest, a chunk of flesh missing where I was bit, and the distinctive possibility my brain was scrambled from the choking.
Just what I needed.
With a hard kick the door swung open, and we were free. I took a tentative step... just as Flare rushed past me basking in the air. “It feels so good! For fucks sake, look at the sky! Yesss.” He looked almost silly standing there in his ripped up jumpsuit, but I had to smile.
“Freeeee,” Serenity squealed as we emerged.
The door was a simple wooden door attached a cliff-side just under an overhang. Looking to the west, I could see the wall and the tall buildings of Dise. Not as far away as I would have liked, but it didn't matter much to me as I lay there on the ground. Serenity hopped off my back, just so she could lay beside me. “Going to sleep.” I grumbled. “For a thousand years.”
I didn't though.
Thank Celestia for that.
Something caught my eye to the north. When I turned there was a light. Spears of light suddenly stabbed through the cloud layer like giant fingers. The line spiked south faster then I could follow and split off in all direction like a spiders web. “What is...,” Serenity mumbled when it happened.
The fingers pulled apart, and the spiders web broke. Blue sky appeared in the cracks as the rays of light pulled the clouds apart, and then a golden light washed forth, so bright and powerful it hurt to look, yet I could not look away. Within seconds, the fingers pulled and the web was gone, leaving a great swath of the sky rich with blue. In the centre was a golden orb that cast its light across the world.
I started to cry.
For there upon the sky, I had seen the face of Celestia. After so long... the goddess was returned. The sun had been brought back and I was basking in its warmth.
“Hired...,” Serenity looked up at me, tears of joy upon her face. “What is it?”
“The sun.” I wiped the tears from my eyes and held her close as Flare chuckled.
Of course a pegasus would have seen it, but he smiled too. How could you not? Everything. Everything was going to be all right.
“Flare,” Serenity sighed, resting against my chest, “tell us a story.”
“I got just the thing!” In a flash he whipped out his Swordmare comic and started reciting it, describing the pictures as he went. He told the tale with such gusto even I had to laugh. It was a fun story. A silly story.
A story meant for a time of rainbows and sunshine.
Footnote: Level Up!
Quest Perk: Dancing With The Devil: You’ve traveled to hell and back, and are no worse for wear, gaining +15 health and +5 rad resistance. On the other hoof, the memory of your journey still haunts you, and sometimes you are sure the winds whisper in your ear...
((A/N: Here is the aprt where I give a super big props to Kkat for creating this world I get to toy with. As well as to my editor theBSDude, and special pre-read Mint Julep, who also draws for me. Without these lovely ponies you would be reading trash. Now you’re reading slightly better trash, huzzah.)) |
No One | 662 | 12 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-02-04T04:44:43+00:00 | 2013-09-07T17:29:54+00:00 | 21,038 | Knowing Is Half The Battle
“In a battle all you need to make you fight is a little hot blood and the knowledge that it's more dangerous to lose than to win.”
“Sorry, Flare, You're out.”
“You can't do this! This is an outrage! It’s just not fair! Listen, we've been through this so long, you can't... you can't just do this.” I shook my head and let Flare rage on. I knew he would never understand. But it had to be this way.
“Don't worry, Flare.” Serenity trotted up to him and patted him on the shoulder. “You can be on my team next time.” Not bloody likely.
“C’mon,” I said to Serenity, as I trotted over to the far end of the field. “Lets get this over with.”
“I can't wait to get started, but first let me set a few rules.” Serenity stood between us, hopping on top of the soccer ball and steadying it with her magic, “It's of utmost importance that there are no unfair advantages. So no wings, no magic, and no heaving around huge dangerous guns.”
“Subtlety is not huge.” It was a perfectly sized weapon, thank you very much.
“It’s the biggest motherfucking gun I've ever seen,” Flare said, waving his arms around to demonstrate. “It makes you look like a huge silver tank that explodes shit. Also, Subtlety is a dumb name.” Oh, he did not just go there. I was seriously going to soccer the shit out of him.
“I'm not taking Subtlety off.” We were standing in some random dirt field with two dead trees across from each other as goal posts, and we could be attacked at any time by any number of Wasteland unmentionables. We had moved a considerable distance the day and a half after the tunnel incident, so at least the Baises were not likely to find us.
“Please, Hired,” she said, making her face all pouty. “Pretty please, mo-”
“Fine,” I cut her off. “Not because you did that sad thing you do when you don't get your way. Only on the condition you stop calling me mommy.” She just pouted more. “Stop that. Just agree so we can play.” Then her eyes got all big and watery and tied a knot in my gut. Against my better judgement, I said, “Fine! We'll talk about it later, okay?” Grinning just a bit, she nodded.
Grumbling and taking off Subtlety, I had the distinct feeling I had just been outsmarted by a foal. Again. It seemed that being outsmarted constantly was half of what I did. The other half was, of course, getting captured.
“Any other rules?”
“Uh. First to five points wins, gooooo!” said Serenity, with all the enthusiasm a little filly could muster. Incidentally, a lot.
With that she leapt off the ball and gave it a great kick with her tiny hoof. It went about three feet before rolling to a stop in front of Flare. Not wasting any time, the blue pegasus was off with a blur, kicking the ball faster and faster with each step. He was moving so fast he was almost hard to keep track of. Damn pegasi.
I ran over to intercept him as Serenity tried to run her way back down the field. The pegasus was far too fast for me, and zipped easily past me. Turning as fast as I could, I reached out with my mouth and grabbed onto the tattered remains of Flare's jumpsuit. There was a slight tug and then a tear as his worn jumpsuit finally gave way and ripped right off revealing his naked blue body. After having seen him always wearing clothes, it looked a little obscene.
With a kick, the soccer ball flew through the air, ricocheted off our goal tree, and flew back smacking Flare in the face with a thud and a wail. So far the score was: 1 – Flare, 0 – Serenity and Silver Storm, and 1 – for soccer kicking our collective asses.
Patting Flare on the back, I said, “Stop being a wimp.” Looking down at his flank for a second, I continued. “What is that supposed to mean?” I motioned to the open book tattooed on his flank.
“Huh. Fuck, you finally saw it?” He sighed heavily and fakely. “I’ve been trying to hide it. It ain't very badass, is it? I was hoping for like a grenade, or an explosion, or an exploding grenade!” That was all well, but didn't answer the actual question. “It's for my story tellin'. When I was just a little buck, me and a few other pegasi accidentally fell through the floor of the Enclave base into the Dise tunnels. We were young and weren't good fliers so we couldn't get out, and nopony know we were there. So we had to find out own way out. Well, we know how bad those tunnels can be. So I helped keep the tension down by telling stories about our old teacher’s farts--” Serenity giggled. “--and how they saved the world from Discord. When we finally were found and returned, I also found my cutie mark.”
“It looks stupid,” I said dully.
“So? And what do those rocks on your flank mean?” he nickered at me. “Were you an expert slingshot-er? Did you used to eat rocks? Well, its gotta be somethin', and I'm fresh outta ideas.” With a final grin, he trotted across the dirt field after our soccer ball.
If you are curious as to where we found a functional soccer ball: Serenity found a deflated one, and used a lot of her spare time as we travelled fixing it up. It's fairly easy to fix things up when you don't have to walk yourself, and I was sure magic helped as well. For once though, she was not riding on my back out of laziness, but because she was wounded enough I forbade her from tiring herself out. We were all wounded of course; it had been over a day since the tunnel, but without healing potions our wounds kept. Flare, for his part, could still barely keep off the ground never mind the flying tricks he usually preformed just to have a simple conversation.
I was mostly fine though. The wound on my flank had scabbed, as had the cut along my chest. Though sometimes, if I closed my eyes, I heard the wind whispering to me. I knew, for sure, that this time it was just my imagination but...
This soccer game was honestly more about keeping us active and making sure we were prepared for a raider attack than anything else. Well, I saw it that way. Both Flare and Serenity claimed it was 'Fun'. I was mostly adverse to the idea of fun, but I was outvoted.
“Stop it stallin', slowpoke.” Serenity ran past me, the sun shining on her smiling face. Sometimes it was hard to believe it was actually back. I could see it shining down upon our game, but even looking at it... it was unreal. The pegasi closed up the sky 200 years ago, and there was no way it could be back now. Not without a miracle, and if there was one thing I learned in the wasteland, it was not to trust miracles. “HIRED!” Serenity squealed stomping her little hoof. “We're playing! Can't let Stupid get another point!”
“Right.” Nodding my head, I was off. The ball was back in the middle of our makeshift field so I charged at it. Flare nearly got there first, but I dove. The edge of my hoof kicked the ball, sending it rolling just out of his reach. He turned fast, but Serenity was already there kicking the ball ahead of her, and doing her damnedest not to trip.
She failed. While she was running along, the ball slipped under her hoof and sent her tumbling over it with an “Oof.” Flare started to zip past her, but slowed down to see if she was okay. Just enough time for me to grab his tail with my mouth before he zoomed off again. His chin smacked against the ground as he fell. I caught up to the ball, and pushed it forward and kept on running.
The recently-recovered Serenity called out to me as she ran alongside. Not worrying about the fact that a filly could run as fast as me, I kicked up the ball towards her. Suddenly, Flare jumped out of nowhere. He dove towards the ball with his wings outstretched. Inching closer as if in slow motion, he made a grab for the ball.
And missed.
He slammed into the ground with a shower of dirt. Serenity jumped up and lowered her head into the ball, hitting it with a thick thud. When she landed back on the ground Serenity grinned to herself and leaned forward to watch the ball. Tilting her head in confusion, she turned to me. “Did it hit?”
I chuckled. It took only a slight tug to slide the impaled ball off of her horn. Letting the ball deflate and fall to the ground I said, “Looks like it’s game over.” Serenity groaned, rubbing the area around her horn with her hoof, and murmured an apology.
“Welp.” Flare grinned pulling his face out of the dirt (or more accurately: pulling his face out with the dirt). “I guess that means I win.”
“No.”
That was not a voice I recognized. Turning to the sound, I saw a whole gaggle of metal ponies. “We win.” One of the ponies stepped forward. She was completely unrecognizable from the rest due to their similar power armour, but that huge ass gun on the back made it clear to me she was in charge.
So I did what I always did when faced with impossible odds. “Fuck off.” I stepped forward and glowered at the Steel Ranger. I had met them once before way up north somewhere, and I was not in the mood for their dickery. “We're trying to play soccer.”
The helmeted pony turned her head to me. I imagined she raised her eyebrow. “The fuck are you?” The pony shook its head. “We have been ordered to take Captain Flare, and any travelling companions, into custody, by orders of Elder Chunky Soup.” Really? That was a dumb name. “Comply and you will be spared until your guilt or innocence can be determined.”
I moved to fire Subtlety. Only to clack my teeth together hard as the bridle, and battle-saddle, were still lying in a heap. I knew I shouldn't have taken them off. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew Flare was adding this to the list of times I was captured. Even though it was totally his fault because he...
“Captain Flare?”
---
“... Can you feel that, Dise? Does it warm your very soul? It’s a new day and still the sun is with us, and ain't that just glorious? They say no news is good news, but in this case, news is also good news. The NCA Chairpony has reached a non-hostility agreement with the Minotaur King under the belief that we have reached a new era, and peace should reign. A bit sappy if you ask me. The Minotaurs still deny the slaughter at the South Canyon Base, but have offered their condolences. In related news, the NCA council has voted 10/10 to declare 'Sunshine Day' as a holiday across all NCA States, and the four gangs of Dise have ratified the decision as well, with Mayhem taking his place as the new head of The Mustangs.
“In other news, bodies are still being counted from the horrific battle that exploded a few nights ago. In addition to the dozens of Mustangs and Baises killed outside The Moon, including former leader of The Mustangs, Roy, multiple civilian causalities were confirmed after the fighting spilled over into the Dise Residential area near the eastern wall. Finally, a NCA guard stationed on the wall fell to his death when an explosion shook the wall.” That would be my bad.
I walked along solemnly as chains clinked between my legs. They were tight enough so I couldn't run, but could still walk, though slowly and carefully. As we marched, the Steel Rangers seemed more interested in Flare than me. They had him chained heavily, with four knights flanking him, and had his injured wings tied to his chest with rope. All I got was a single guard stalking beside me. Serenity was, thankfully, allowed to ride on said guards back, though her hooves were tied together so she could barely move at all. Who knew, the filly could be dangerous. She cried at killing an insane ghoul, the idea of her taking down a Steel Ranger was just silly.
“Confusion still reigns over the nature of Roy Mustang’s death.” We were lead up a rutted path on a hill not far from where we were captured. While not permitted to talk, I was given full permission to play my pipbuck as loud as possible. I had avoided it since the tunnel, worried about the effects of the battle, but anything was better than angsty silence. “Molly of the Baises has denied responsibility for the death, claiming she was attempting to bring Roy in alive for his alleged murder of peaceful power-plant workers a few weeks ago.”
As we crested the hill I saw something off the left side. Sunlight bounced off the structure, making me wish I'd put on my sunglasses before being captured. Off in the distance the structure cut into the sky like a skinny, white knife, with wisps of clouds surrounded its tip.
“Mayhem, who has taken up the role of leader of The Mustangs, said, and I quote, 'Molly's excuse is laughable'. In his opinion Molly was clearly pulling an assassination strike against the former leader, and claims the real question is whether she was working alone or with NCA backers.”
There was a burst of static before the the familiar voice of Mayhem played over my pipbuck. “No, I’m not saying the NCA put out a hit on Roy. Alls I am saying is The Mustangs and NCA have never gotten along, ya dig? And if the Baises are honest, and only wanted him alive, then who else in Dise would want our noble leader dead?” You would, I thought spitefully, And me. “It shames me to say we were woefully unprepared for Molly's treachery, and our hotel has been damaged considerably. If water prices get higher soon, I hope your listeners don't blame the Mustangs, not after everything we’ve done to keep it running, even after multiple attacks against our ponies and character.”
Mr. New Haygas was back. “Bored already? Well don't turn the channel just yet, because the news is done, and it’s time for your favourite tunes! Brought to you 200 years after their popularity killed the world.”
“End to the hostilities,” my guard scoffed to the side of me, “my bloody hoof.” She was a female, and through her armour that was all I could tell. Even with it, I was a fair bit taller than her, but she had guns, and they had taken Subtlety from me. “This. This is nothing but an armistice for a week, Maybe two, a month if we're lucky, but there will be war.” The mare looked at me, her helmet's eyes glowing, “The NCA got megaspelled.”
I said nothing, ignoring her. Not being permitted to speak made it difficult to comment on such things. “You wanna know what I think?” I nodded dumbly, keeping my eyes on Serenity who somehow managed to sleep on my guards metal back. She could sleep anywhere. “Well, the Chairpony of the Council is from Sandy Stifle, and they want to end the war. Can't vote yes to war right as the sun comes back, oh no. He'd be lynched. He's waiting till they attack first.”
“They did.” I nearly gasped as Serenity murmured on the Ranger's back, not as asleep as she seemed. “Heard on the radio.” Apparently she did not get the “no talking” memo.
“Ah, you're a smart little one.” Serenity smiled proudly, though her eyes stayed closed. “Nopony knows what caused the megaspell ta go off. Most ponies assume minotaurs, but the minotaurs haven't seriously attacked anypony for years. So why now? ’Less the minotaurs get aggressive, and aggressive that can't be denied, ain't nothing going to happen.”
“So?” I figured the ban on talking was lifted.
“So, means the NCA will trigger the war without telling their respective cities, get it? Force the minotaurs to attack. Then boom. World goes to shit, and Celestia above can see how we ponies eat each other alive.” I imagined she was smiling at me, but really, who could tell?
“You seem to be helping.” I said, as deadpan as I could go.
“Not my job to help.” Of course, she was what, only a knight? Way I heard it, you had to be at least a Paladin to have an opinion. “I take my orders and complete them without question,” she sighed, looking off past the hill we were cresting. Behind us, I could still see the huge grey walls of Dise and the buildings that peeked over it. The giant pink pony head seemed to be staring at me from across the wasteland... not creepy at all. Turning back to my guard, I saw what she was looking at.
Off in the distance and slightly right-ish was a large compound with small grey walls. The vast complex seemed to have a series of buildings lined up along the edges of the walls, while in the centre it looked like rows of green things were lined up in rows. It was very, very confusing so I sorta looked away.
“The NCA farm,” the Steel Ranger chuckled. “Used to be the Baises’, but it never grew as much as needed. Apparently the NCA knows a little something of farming in these radiation-blighted lands, some secret or what have you; they think to use it to buy Dise's membership into the NCA.”
“How interesting.” I said, trying to suppress a yawn. Why did ponies always lecture at me? Was it so much to ask to be allowed to do a job without somepony feeling it necessary to explain in minute details the exact political strategies involved? I didn’t care about the NCA, their farms, or their allies. I just wanted to escape these steel assholes, finds the nearest NCA outpost, and collect my bounty for killing Roy.
Also, I would like to go a day without being captured.
That would be nice, but even with Celestia above smiling down on me, I don't think she liked me enough to grant my wish.
“Are we there yet?” Serenity complained, after a few minutes of pipbuck music. I was honestly wondering the same thing too. As much fun as it was to be a captive wandering the wastes, I couldn't wait until we got to wherever it was we were going so I could escape already.
“Soon.” She smirked a bit (I assumed. Damn masks did nothing for facial expressions) as the whole group stopped. “We need to blindfold you.”
For fuck’s sake.
---
We were marched for what felt like miles, and, chances are, it was. In the dark, I wasn’t able to see much of anything (occasionally sending shivers down my spine as it reminded me of that tunnel), but I could feel. Contrary to popular belief, my brain worked perfectly fine, as did all my senses. The wind was blowing south when we walked and tussled up my hair, so I knew that when we started walking downhill and the wind stopped blowing that we had travelled down the north side of the hill. I knew by the feeling under my hooves that we moved off the dirt and onto pavement, and judging by the fact we did not walk very far before going inside, I'd to guess it was little more than a small store off some main road. Perhaps a rest stop, with a secret backdoor.
That's right, I planned ahead. Eat your heart out doubters. I can, in fact, learn.
From there, we walked down, and down, and down. I felt a twinge of anxiety in my gut as we continued descending. I know I have been bringing up my travels into the dark a lot recently, but that sort of thing is not something that leaves you quickly. It had only been a few days, and I'd a feeling the memories would haunt me for long after. Or I'd go insane. Either way worked if you asked me. Since I was a child I'd always been just a step away from insanity, so I was kind of interested to see the other side.
We were led through a series of musty smelling rooms, something between rotten paper and stale air, before being led into a room that very definitely smelled like manure. Of course that would be our jail cell, because c’mon? How obvious was that? They could have at least put in an air freshener so we would be surprised at the horrid state of our apartments.
Of course, when the blindfold was removed and artificial light blinded my eyes, I was surprised. Not by the fact that our cell was dirty, and we had a just bucket to shit in, but by the fact Serenity was nowhere to be seen.
I turned, and pressed my face against the nearest Steel Ranger's mask. “Where. Is. She?” There was no room in my voice for questioning.
“W-while she is here she is not your con-”
“Where. Is. She?” I repeated. If he thought for a second this was a show and I was just posturing, then I was going to rip open his tin can head.
“I s-said.”
“Where!”
“Upstairs.” He pushed me away roughly and took a second to regain his composure. “Her wounds are being looked at and treated, and she will be given proper boarding for her duration so long as she does not cause trouble. You are our captives, but our directive stops us from harming foals, or putting them in deplorable conditions.” He shoved me roughly.
After all that was through, I was shoved into my cage. The whole dirty room was cut in half by a row of rusty steel bars. My part had such lovely amenities like a pile of rags for a bed, a shitting bucket, and what appeared to be a half eaten mole-rat. Dinner, maybe?
The other side of the room was lovingly equipped with the stairs higher into the compound, a table with a single seat and a large overhanging light. Classic interrogation style, if I was any judge, and seeing as I’d spent plenty of time in The Room during my employment with The Mustangs, I'd say I was a good judge. The whole room seemed similar to a Stable-style complex but more concrete cleanness than metal and stone 'we're totally not evil at all'-ness.
As befit their stupid attempt at intimidation, two more Steel Rangers came down the steps dragging Flare along. As befit Flare's character, he grinned all the way to the table as they slammed him onto the seat. His head slumped dramatically as the light was positioned over his head.
“OH CELESTIA!” he screamed a second later, his wings poofing out dramatically! “It was me! I did it! I never meant to, I was forced! Please, please don't hurt me! I'll tell you! Tell you everything please nooooooo!” He squealed and squirmed, and I tried to stifle a chuckle. The two guards who had dragged him down took their places on either side of Flare, while the one who pushed me into my cell paced at the other end of the table from Flare.
He took each step solemnly and slowly, as if to contemplate the meaning and purpose of each step. The type of actions designed to make the watcher nervous, to show that this was a pony who knows what he meant to do. With a smooth movement, the helmet hissed, and he carefully lifted it off his head, and placed it on the table. Inside he turned out to be a bright pink stallion (I snickered) with a short cropped green mane, with a hilariously drooping moustache. Serenity would have liked him.
“Tell me,” he said, his voice much higher now that his mask was off, “Tell me everything.”
“Okay.” Flare gasped, stomping his fore-hooves on the table, and bringing his wings back to bear. “Come closer.” The mustachioed stallion leaned in, his pink coat glowing slightly in the light. “Closer.” He leaned closer. “I...I..”
He paused dramatically.
“Stole the cookie from the cookie jar!” I chuckled from off to the side, and he burst out laughing. “It was me! I did it! You finally caught me. It’s the noose, I expect.” He rubbed his chin, grinning at his own wit. “Might I say, that moustache suits you. Says, ‘I may be a pretty filly, but I am also badass’. Really. Trust me.” He snickered, and furrowed his brow.
The steel ranger slammed his hooves down, cracking the table. “I AM PALADIN CURLY FRIES, AND YOU WILL SHOW ME RESPECT!” Flare lasted all of three seconds in silence before bursting out laughing making the Stallion's moustache twirl in rage. “Enough,” he sighed.
There was a thud and a gasp as one of the steel rangers put an iron hoof into Flare's gut. He coughed and grinned, as Curly Fries glowered from across the table. ”Don’t you fuck with me,” the pink stallion said, his voice low in rage. “I know who you are.”
“Flare,” Flare reminded the his interrogator. “So I guess you heard the stories right? Listen, it’s not true. Okay, so maybe I killed one or two knights with my giant swinging co-” and another armoured hoof. This time the blow sent him slamming into the table, blood dripping from his mouth. “Okay. I lied just a tiny bit.”
“Do you think you're funny?”
“He is funny.” I said just loud enough to be heard from my cage.
“You're next, cunt,” Curly Fries said, waving a hoof at me but not bothering to give me a glance. “As for you, Flare, you will talk.” I resisted the overwhelming urge to mention that he had been talking. Just not saying anything. “What are the Enclave planning?”
“Lots, and more.” He waved his arms. “Gonna have a potluck, week after Friday! Everyone's invited, you shoul-” Another iron hoof sent him reeling and grinning. “What did you expect?”
“Information. And then your death.” Curly Fries laughed. “After what you did to the Steel Rangers five years ago.” Five? That didn't make much sense, just how old was Flare? “I was there. I saw you killing innocents! CHILDREN!” Flare visibly grimaced, and I was more confused than ever. “And now you stand here acting like we're the bad guys.”
“Yeah.” Flare smiled through bloody teeth. It was a grim smile, and it looked horrifying and foreign on his face. “Hah, funny story, that. Steel Rangers spent their days sniping us back at the mountain, we go down try to ward you off, and we're called foal killers.”
“You are.”
“Yup.” His smile waned and he grimaced. “I remember. Don't get me wrong, Mr. Moustache, I remember. You should too; you were there. We gave you a fucking warning. Told you fuckers to piss off or there'd be war. Told you that if you didn't want causalities to move your non-combatants. You didn't. We attacked. I had good aim.” He shook his head. “That wasn't a funny story, but it changes nothing.” He leaned forward. “Your side used foals as shields.”
“And yet. You still attacked, you murderous bastard.”
“Aww, you wound me.” He put a hoof over his heart. “You’ve had five years, and this is what you come up with? You're as silly as you look, and you look fierce silly. Besides,” Flare flipped his mane, “you think the Remnants forgot what the Steel Rangers did back when we first lost the sky?”
Everything goes back and back, doesn't it? The Steel Ranger hated the Remnants, who hated the wasteland ponies, and all our sins and rivalries can be traced back in the annals of history. Minotaurs killed some NCA, now the NCA kill them back. Zebras kill ponies, ponies kill zebras, war flares, bombs drops and after the end, the presence of our forefathers is felt, and the wounds still burn deep, but after so long, who could even remember what the war was about? In the end, violence begat more, and I had to wonder if it was worth it. If maybe all this hate and violence wasn't solving anything, and never would. I'm not a smart pony, but I couldn't help but feel that all these factions and allies and grudges over who flag you're under solved nothing. That maybe, just maybe, each pony should be judged by who they were, not who they served.
Of course that was silly, cliche, and trite. The world wasn't that simple, but it was nice to think it was.
“Don't quote history at me, you colt,” Curly Fries grumbled and stormed as he paced back and forth. “Tell me what the Enclave is planning and I will give you a quick death. You have already been found guilty of murder, but its the least I can do to make your passing easy.”
Flare leaned back on his chair. “Slow is fine.”
“You're fucking with me.”
“Nope.” Flare squirmed in the chair for a second, perhaps wondering why they always seemed made to be as least comforting as possible. Almost like they weren't made for ponies at all. “See, I'm not dumb. Hired Gun there is a brick with fewer IQ points, but I got the brains of the operation. Also I'm much funner. I basically have all the best traits, anyway. You see, I think you'll kill me any damn way you please no matter what I say. Talking won’t do anything but give you information. So, Fuck. Off.”
It seemed that it was the day of epiphanies because I realized something. No matter what I thought of Flare, he was still a solider. He was trained, presumably since birth, to fight and do solidery things. Among those I could imagine were to stay calm under pressure (his actions in the tunnel shocked me. When he wasn't punching me for freaking out he was telling stories and joking to keep our minds easy...) and withstand interrogation. The entire time I had known him, he had been doing silly things, so much so I had forgotten who he was and where he’d come from.
“Will you still act that way if I take knives to your marefriend?” He pointed dramatically at me.
I let Flare do my laughing for me. “Marefriend! MAREFRIEND!“ He kept chuckling even as a kick sent him spiralling off his chair and bleeding. “You fucking kidding... she’s ... fuck, she wouldn't fuck me if the wasteland depended on it. She's some sorta fillyfooler, you dolt. Hah. Fucking marefriend. You're great. We should be a comedian team. I'll tell the stories, you tell the pu-”
He was unceremoniously lifted up and thrown into my cage. As he rolled into the shit bucket, the door slammed behind him and locked shut. “Hey.” I said, walking up to the Curly Fries. “Only one bed and bucket.”
“Share,” he growled, motioning for the two Steel Ranger guards to stay put. With a huff he stormed up the steps burning from ear to ear. I didn't really care about the slop bucket, I just thought the whole thing was hilarious.
Flare slowly rose to his feet and grinned at me. Feeling strangely euphoric, I smiled back, and that made him burst out in laughter. I even chuckled. Just a tiny little bit. When he got himself back under control, we had actual work to do. We were stuck in some Celestia-forsaken bunker, awaiting torture and death by some ponies who weren't bad, just desperate. If I was to guess, anyway.
“They're not so tough.” Flare mocked to out silent guards. “A Spark Grenade, or a Spark Pulse Emitter, turns those suits of theirs into little more than fancy weights. Most can't even move.”
“A what?” I sat down in what was the closest approximation to a bed we had.
“Its like... a tazer gun. A short pulse from it and ZAP, their armour is deader than Roy Mustang. Steel Rangers stole a bunch a while back, ‘long with some energy weapons. They've been trying to reverse engineer Enclave tech, might have a few lying ar... OH! Once we escape we should totally look for some. It'd be awesome. Fuck those bastards or something.” We might at that.
A gun of Steel Ranger slaying in the Steel Ranger lair, what are the odds?
---
Time passed as it often did: slowly and with great amusement as it made the ponies that followed it wait.
I'm not sure if that last sentence made sense, but what I was trying to say it that time passed slowly. Me and Flare took turns pacing, being hungry from barely eating since the tunnel, doing nothing, and using the bucket (at which time the other turned around and whistled loudly, pretending they were not there) so overall it was a lovely time. At least we weren't being chased by ghouls or assaulted by daydreams. In comparison, I guess you could say it was a good day.
“So.” I broke the silence. Not because I disliked the silence, any silence with Flare around was to be treated like a rare gem, but because I had to know something and it wasn't going to stop nagging at my mind until I asked. “What happened at...” I groped uselessly for words.
“Bitter Steel Camp.” Flare seemed to read my mind, something that happened with an odd frequency by folks around me. I was not a subtle pony. “The foals right?” Yes, the battle Curly Fries spoke of. Of Flare slaughtering foals.
“Did you know they were there?” I gulped, as I asked. Part of me didn't really want to know the answer. As much as Flare annoyed me, the hyper pegasus had grown on me. It would have sucked, having to kill him.
“Yes.” My muscles twinged at the reaction, and I was sure he noticed. My ears roared in rage, but I kept myself controlled. I could not abide the killing of foals, by anypony. It was... not right. “And no. Let me explain.” He gulped, and I took a step back, cursing myself ever so slightly.
“It ain't a story I like telling, and I'm a stallion of many stories.” He flapped his injured wings for a second and sighed. “I... we sent them a warning a week in advance. We told them to leave or die, we told them if they insisted on fighting they should remove their children. We tried, and tried, and... I thought they listened.” He voiced faded and he shook his head. This was not a Flare that I was comfortable with, his voice was sour and dark.
“We attacked at dawn. The morning rain was letting out, and a thick fog blanked the camp. Sail had told me the nightly reports. Lights were seen in the night leaving the camp, and I was so happy they’d heeded our warning.” He shook his head. “The Steel Rangers wouldn’t leave, but the children.... So we flew. My squad was to hit the flanks and take out supply depots.” There was a sad smile on his lips, and tears welling in his eyes. “We did well. My squad took out ten rangers. Zapped them with spark grenades and blew them to pieces with guns and Bunker Buster. So we went to our secondary objective.”
“It was a plain building. A store before the war, but we knew they used it as an intelligence and weapons depot for the tech that they 'liberated' from uncivilized wastelanders. So...” He sniffled and rubbed his eyes. “Bunker Buster took it out. A pretty fireball, and I couldn't have been happier. I was going to be promoted to captain, my squad did well, with no casualties. Then I saw him.”
He shuddered but kept talking. “The colt running from my blaze. His mane was on fire and he screamed so loud. They kept their children in the same fucking place they kept their bombs!” He screamed, his pink eyes bloodshot and wet with tears. “I killed them... I...” He wiped a tear from his eye. “Yeah... I killed them. I got my promotion, but... I never wanted it after. I heard that scream.... For the rest of my life I’ll wake up and hear that scream. It’s in my dreams.” Was that what he heard down in the tunnel? That scream? “I got a medal, commendations. General Skylight gave me a pat on the back. Then I went back into my room and... and let a part of me die.”
He sniffled and looked up at me, the memories clear in his eyes. It felt like I'd been there. Felt the explosions ripple through my body. Smelled the smoke. Heard the scream.
Against my better judgement, I wrapped my good hoof around his neck. And I hugged him.
Part of me hated him for killing foals, but I couldn't kill him. He was doing a better job of it than I ever could.
Ponies have stories right? Sometimes I forgot that. Behind the eyes of each and every pony I met there was a long and detailed tale I couldn't remember, even if I had the chance. Yet it was always there, and it drove them. Sometimes, you meet so many ponies you forget they had a life before, that they existed and did good and evil. They lived, and died, and bore the scars. When you live in the wasteland, everypony has a tragic backstory.
So that was Flare's. I guess it made sense, and while I was sure there was more to that, bringing a pony to tears was not something I enjoyed doing. Once, after cutting my head open by accident, my mother had told me that big ponies weren't supposed to cry, and I should get all my tears out when I was still a foal. She was lying of course; big ponies cried all the time. I wasn't a smart pony, but I understood why she had to lie. When you're foal, you have to believe in the big ponies, you had to latch onto something and proclaim it strong and just, even if it wasn't. Because you weren't given anything else to believe in.
When I let go of Flare, he smiled up at me. As much fun as waxing poetic was, I think I was out of juice for the day.
“Okay,” Flare said, smiling brightly. “Hired Gun!” he said dramatically, so I would forget about his previous bout of emotions. “It is time for you to tell me your tragic backstory! I know you ha-”
“Wait,” a guard turned sharply and studied me from under his helmet. “Hired Gun?” That's my totally not fake name. I raised an eyebrow at the guard and nodded. “I remember you... you were guarding a caravan up north right?” I nodded again. “I heard they all got wiped out... how did you survive?”
“Who are you?”
“I'm Backlight.”
“Come again?”
“Knight Backlight.”
“Sorry, it doesn't ring a bell.” I shrugged. “I survived by luck... why?”
“I... It’s nothing.” He squirmed under his armour as his fellow guard gave him a look. “Just. Surprised. Is all... whatever.” I liked him. He amused me, and better yet he allowed me to avoid telling Flare anything. I would rather not think about what happened. Which was a lot to not think about.
“Knight Backlight.” I grinned up at the stairs as the pink stallion came walking down the stairs, now dressed in Paladin robes instead of his usual power armour. “Do not speak to prisoners.” He glided down the stairs with the grace of a Brahmin, and strode up to the Knight. “Are we clear?” The knight nodded.
“Hired Gun, so that's your name?” he strode up to our cage, and wrinkled his nose at the smell.
“Sure.” I kicked my metal leg idly, hoping he had a point.
“Tell me. This filly we have upstairs.” My shoulder burned suddenly. My eyes darted around the room. Curly Fries was facing me, but the two guards were facing the stairs. Crap, that wasn't good.
Without thinking I grabbed Flare with both hooves and drove him into the ground. “LET HER GO!” I screamed. “OR I KILL HIM!” He gasped, but did not squirm. Shaking him, I smacked his head against the floor ever so lightly. “I swear!”
Everypony turned to look at me. The two guards scrambled to get the keys, but Curly knocked them away and bellowed orders. The door to our cage swung open and Curly was in front of me shouting something I didn't hear. Me eyes were fixed on the stairs. The two guards were facing me, backing up slowly to the stairs, as if ready to run for help. “I WILL!” Had to give it a few more seconds.
The burning continued as a brown blur jumped from the stairs. It landed on the first guard who let out a wordless scream. A green energy pulsed from a weapon in its pink magical grasp sending the Knight to its knees, its armour de-activating. The second turned just in time to get lasered in the face by the spark pulse emitter. The small pony in the brown robe turned to me and took off its hood grinning.
Serenity's magic was keeping the knights silent. I loved that resourceful filly.
“Just kidding.” I let Flare flop to the floor gasping for air.
“What’s that?” Flare pointed suddenly. Curly fries turned and saw the two ponies with my pink filly waving her spark emitter. It wasn't going to work against Curly without his suit, but I'd other plans.
“Catch!” I said. Curly turned to me again, his eyes wide in confusion. I kicked the manure bucket sending it, and it's brown contents, over his face.
“What is this I-” I bucked him into the cage, his head ringing in the bucket. The pink body of Curly Fries slumped to the ground, apparently passed out, as brown gunk slithered out of the bucket on his head. Not wasting anymore time, I ran over to the two fallen knights and threw them in the cage as well, before locking it. I didn't know how that pulse emitter whatever worked, but without their suits being active they were basically helpless. They were too heavy to move on their own.
“Sorry, Backlight.” I grinned as the door locked. “We'll meet up again later.”
Alright, Operation 'Get the Fuck Out' was ready to begin. Smiling, I ruffled Serenity's mane with my hoof causing her to giggle and squirm away. “Nice job. Where'd you get all that?” She was wearing a plain brown robe with a hood, completely unadorned with anything, and that boxy looking pulse emitter was still floating in her magic, a string of green electricity pulsing between its two prongs.
“Upstairs!” she chirped. “Stupid ponies put me in some acolyte’s room. He was toying with this magical thingy, and even told me what it did! That silly. So when he wasn't looking I stole it and snuck out.” Easy when you had noise nullifying magic. “The robe I found on the top floor. So much stuff! I found Subtlety and Bunker Buster, and all our stuff just thrown in a heap! Can you believe it? This escape is going to be so easy.”
Right, easy.
“Hey,” Serenity bounced, “how did you know I was coming?”
“Yeah,” Flare said, rubbing his neck with a hoof. “I was curious too. Thought you were going to fuck me up for a second there.”
Tapping my metal leg with my... uh non-metal leg, I said, “Felt it.” Serenity raised an eyebrow. “I don't know. My shoulder burned and it was.. familiar. I'm not sure, but I knew it was Serenity's magic. Right?”
Flare stared blankly at me and turned his head to gape at Serenity, before looking back at me. “She can... do that? FEEL magic like a damn unicorn or something? Innit, like, not an Earth Pony thing?” Maybe he was upset that an earth pony got cool powers, for once. “She can really do that? Really. Are you guys fucking with me, 'cause that would just be mean.”
Me and Serenity shared a smile. Well, time to leave, and it wouldn't be soon enough.
---
Three gears stood in the middle of the picture, each ringed about a magical spark. Through the picture’s centre a sword struck upwards, blue wings flying out from either side. It was a bit... fancy for my tastes. I preferred something I could sink my teeth into, like the NCA's five legged pony. This thing I was standing before was a symbol I couldn't remember even if I was a smart pony. Maybe that's why they felt the need to plaster the symbol every five meters inside the compound?
Outside the cell, stairs led to a large room, which I had to guess was for conferences. That room was long, with a huge table and many seats surrounding it. We were lucky; it was also completely empty. Turning away from the stupid-looking symbol, I strolled up and down the length of the table looking for something... anything. I was not much of a curious pony, but I found myself in the precarious position of possibly having useful information.
There was little-to-nothing to find, save for a single scrap of paper at the head of the table. With my usual weary sigh, I leaned over and read it, my words mouthing what was written out of habit. “Meeting notes: We argued about how we always argued. Nothing was accomplished.
Elder Chunky Soup”
I was the paragon of finding useless crap. You know how in the stories, if somepony found a piece of paper lying on the ground it would always be a clue that turned out to be key in solving the puzzle... apparently, my luck was not so fabled.
“Well, Serenity, you know the way?” She nodded confidently under her brown cloak, the hood firmly over her head. There was exactly no reason for her to have stolen that thing, and frankly it looked silly, but being shrouded amused the filly, so I couldn't tell her no.
“It’s this way!” she said, confidently trotting over to the far wall. Two doors flanked either side of the wall, and I had a feeling they both led to the same room. “Just gotta go through this an-”
The door slid open.
With a squeak, Serenity bolted back and found a perfect hiding spot behind Flare. The spark flare... gun thing... The spark pulse emitter (nailed it) was smooth in my mouth, my front teeth precariously holding onto the trigger button. Somepony walked through the door and I stepped forward with my very best glare. “Stand down.” I muffled before even getting a look at the pony.
He was hardly a threat: an Elderly pale red pony with only the barest wisps of grey mane clinging to his skull. He was wearing a blue and yellow robe that had the Steel Ranger symbol adorning the back, and he didn't seem at all surprised to see me. He walked forward just enough to let the door slide shut. “There was a time,” the ageing stallion said, his voice quivering, “when we had no need for cells or dungeons.” When he shook his head, the extra skin on his neck flapped. “I supposed you killed Curly then?”
“No.” I said simply. “Though he's worse for wear... wait, I said stand down!” I got back into my fighting stance and glowered at the stallion.
“Or you'll hurt an old stallion... how chivalrous.” Serenity giggled and peaked out from behind Flare. “Ah, Captain.” He gave a mocking bow to the blue pegasus. ““You took longer than I expected... though perhaps you were biding your time?” Biding our... I glanced down at the pipbuck and realized just how late it was. Nearing midnight, so without a doubt most of the Steel Rangers would be asleep, which boded well. If only I'd actually planned it. “Oh and look, a foal you haven't murdered; there's a shock, indeed.” Flare winced and drew himself back as Serenity looked on oblivious.
“Yeah,” Flare said confidently. “Didn't expect to see you, Elder.” They knew each other? Flare must have seen the look I gave the both of them “Ah, Hired Gun, this is Elder Chunky Soup, head of the Dise regiment of the Steel Rangers.” Oh. I guess I should have expected that.
“Might be the last elder anywhere.” He strode past me as if I wasn't even a threat. “First Red Eyes comes with his slaves to take our headquarters, then these Applejack Rangers split away, then the Enclave come flying in all high and mighty. We've lost contact with the north...” he sighed heavily. “I've drawn our forces back, and my Paladins mock me when they think I don't hear. Such is my burden: I must order a group of unruly children around, even as they scream and bicker. It is for the best.”
“Whatever.” Totally did not care.
“Such an attitude.” The Elder smiled at Flare. “She is a keeper.”
“Say that to her face, I dare you. So, Elder, I was surprised to hear you wanted me arrested. We’ve talked about Bitter Steel...”
“I do apologize, but I did not expect you or your squad to be anywhere near here. I can see you did not expect to either -- no, don't tell me. I'd rather not know what you're doing with a filly and a cyborg.” I had a name. “It was necessary to placate my Paladins. No one wanted to stop our patrols. They said the public was warming up to us.” He shook his wrinkly head. “They were wrong, but how am I to intrude on such a good delusion?”
“So you sent Curly Fries as our interrogator so we could escape?”
“No. I planned for you to be killed by him.” It felt like a punch to the gut, and I knew nothing good could come of that. “Though,” he sat on one of the chairs, “I don't plan to stop you, but if you get caught, you will die... and please don't kill anypony. Or foals.” He stressed that word. “Especially foals.” He turned his eyes over to Serenity, still half-hiding behind Flare. “Especially that foal.”
“Why?” He raised an eyebrow. “Why let us go?”
“Because, after all these years, I can see a lot in a pony's eyes. More than most. And I got a good look at yours. You see... there is a darkness under Dise. Something black and squirming and begging to be let free.” I felt my coat stick out on ends, and heard the sound of a wind whipping past my ear. “Looking at you... I see it. The blackness, can you feel it? It taints your very soul, but...,” there was the slightest bit of a grin on his muzzle, “but you're strong. You interest me. Maybe you'll fight the poison that eats at the heart of the last city... or maybe not. My Paladins think I am too trusting, and I am inclined to believe them. Still, here's your chance.”
“Uh.” I gave Flare and Serenity my 'get the fuck over here' glare before nodding at Chunky. “Thanks for... not... killing us I suppose. Or not trying that hard to kill us... or... thanks for whatever it is you did.”
With my usual display of eloquence we left the conference room and entered into what appeared to be an auditorium. The door we entered was directly beside a small wooden stage and podium, and lengthwise down the long room were rows of benches. On the walls were the Steel Ranger emblem; a much larger one was painted directly behind the podium. Walking down the length of the room, Serenity took the lead, ready to cast her awesome magic.
“Well,” I said slowly, “that went better than expected?”
“Who knows.” Flare trotted along slowly beside me, his face a mask of... something. “Don't trust him much... met him a year after Bitter Steel on what was supposed to be a diplomacy mission. We talked privately and came to an understanding but... well, the meeting did not go well. Would be best not to trust Chunky... “
“Right,” I said as we reached the far end of the auditorium and turned to the door on the left wall. Together, we snuck up to it and nudged it open so we could see through but hopefully not be noticed. The hallway on the other side was long and plain (only a few large screens on rickety stands adorning it) with two doors on the right side, and one on the left. It also had the unfortunate amenity of a Steel Ranger slowly patrolling the hall..
Serenity pointed with her hoof towards the one door on the left side. I had to guess that was where the stairs were. The pink filly nodded at me for half a second before I saw a spark of magic on her horn. Way across the hall one of the monitor stands shook slightly in pink magic, and toppled over with a resounding crash. Gritting my teeth, I pushed the door open as the Steel Ranger turned to investigate. At once we three scrambled to the left door, Serenity's magic hiding the sound of our hoofsteps.
The door slammed shut behind us and I let out the breath I was holding.
I was not made for sneaking and crouching. I really wanted my Subtlety back.
Sneaking along quietly, Serenity pointed me to the stairs. Apparently we were on sublevel four, which gave us a long way up before we got back to the outside where we belonged. Being underground was just not something I enjoyed. Traversing the stairs, the three of us did our best to be as quiet as possible without wasting Serenity's precious little energy. Though that was considerably more difficult for me as I had a hunk of metal for a leg.
Climbing the stairs in the dim light, I was happy to note that they seemed to go all the way to the surface level. That would cut down on my sneaking time, and make my life much easier (in retrospect I should have found this suspicious). I did so hate not having my guns and weapons and stuff. I liked shooting things, not sneaking around things. It felt cheap.
I walked confidently past the door on the landing to the third floor, just in time for it to slide open.
My heart stopped. I turned my head to see the flashlight eyes of a Steel Ranger staring at me. Beside me I could feel Serenity and Flare stiffen up as we watched the pony. For a long time no one said anything as we stared down the ranger, waiting for him to attack, giving him the chance. Did he feel lucky? Did he think he could take us? Was he giving us a chance to surrender?
Then a horrible gasping, honking sound was emitted from the pony. He was snoring...
Was he really sleeping?
Seriously?
Quickly, Serenity zipped up and jumped, waving her hooves in front of the pony. Yup, he was totally sleeping. Facehoofing, I shook my head as my heart calmed down to normal speed. That had to be the stupidest thing I eve- The Steel Ranger twitched.
Serenity squeaked, and we ran to the next landing.
---
“Hired...,” Serenity said as we neared the steps to the stairs’ final platform, “are you my momma?”
Silence.
Flare coughed loudly, drawing my brain back out of it's shell. “No,” I said slowly. By the look on her face I knew it was not the answer she wanted to hear. Squeezing my eyes shut for half a second, I steeled myself to her. It tore me up inside but I was not the pony she wanted as a mother. “Is this really th-”
“Hiiiired,” she whined, and I stopped on the landing halfway between the first and second floors. “Why not?” She was clearly determined to have this conversation now. Flare looked pleadingly at me, but I just shook my head.
“Serenity...” I leaned down to face her eyes to eye. “Please. We'll talk later... but right now we need to go. Okay?”
“Promise?” she asked, a pout on her lips.
“Promise.” That seemed to satisfy her, as she smiled and jumped onto my back.
Slowly, we made our way to the first floor. The doorway led to a small hallway that changed quickly into a four-way split. The four hallways split off the centre, cutting the top floor into four sections. Of course, in the centre of the crossroads was a Steel Ranger standing firmly, his steel ass presently facing us. I knew in my gut that he wouldn't be asleep, so... fuck. I could have taken him out with my spark pulse emitter, but he would cry for help, and I couldn't leave Serenity there, making sure he didn't make a sound, as we searched for the exit.
Looking around, Serenity pointed to a small doorway a few feet away on our left. Biting my lip, I quickly ran through the door in magical silence, with Flare following right behind. Taking a deep breath at our new-found safety, I looked around the room that saved us...
To see rows of beds lining the room, all with sleeping ponies in brown robes. Swearing loudly, I clamped a hoof over my mouth. The magic pink glow was still surrounding us so my words weren't heard, but I didn't know how much longer the filly could keep it up. Turning around, I could see sweat beading down her face and dripping onto my back. On the far end of the room, on the right wall, was another door. Nodding confidently at Flare, I crouched as low as I could and inched forward.
Had it not been for Serenity's magic, my fast-beating heart would have woken up every Steel Ranger in the room. The walk was slow and gut wrenching. The beds were packed together so close, the space between barely had enough room for me. It did not help that they were also a tad small, meaning many ponies’ legs stuck out into the isle awkwardly. Flare went first and was waiting at the door on the right wall seconds later. Damn that fast pegasus.
My body stopped as I touched a pony’s hoof. Ever so slowly, I turned my head to see the pony. She was a cute green pony with a tussled mane, and she was still sleeping peacefully. Thanking my lucky stars, I continued down the row. By the time I reached the end of the row I was sweating heavily, and I think my heart may have exploded. What I wouldn't have gave for the chance just to kick all their flanks and be done with it. Sneaking is stupid.
Flare nickered in magical silence as we opened the door.
Across the hall was another door, but more importantly at the end of the hallway to our right was a (third) door with the word, 'Exit' glowing above it. Freedom. Before moving towards the exit I turned my head towards the Steel Ranger. He was still stupidly staring the same way he had before. Grinning I started for the exit... until Serenity tugged at my mane.
I felt her clamber onto my head and saw a pink hoof stick out over my eye just into my field of vision. Why would she want to go into the room across the hall... because our stuff was there along with whatever else the Steel Rangers had scavenged. It occurred to me that Serenity had said earlier that she had explored this area, by herself, before finding us. She was a much better sneaky pony than I, so it was no wonder she found it. She probably knew the whole layout of the building...
Of course, that also meant she had been overtaxing her magic. That silence spell could not have been easy, especially now she that had to cast it over all of us.
I nodded and quickly sprinted through the door, hearing it slide shut behind me. There was a wicked grin on Flare's face as he caught sight of the room. Piles upon of piles of boxes and crates were stacked up throughout the storage room, all full to bursting with technology and supplies. I had heard that Steel Rangers stole technology and hoarded it, but I was not prepared for it when I saw it.
If only I knew how to use anything more complex than a gun.
After nodding to Serenity to turn her magic off, I followed Flare as he dug excitedly through one of the boxes. Inside there were strangely shaped metal boxes with wires and gem stones and... I'll be honest I'd no idea what he was looking at it. Given that Serenity didn't seem interested the only thing I could tell is that they weren't cybernetic parts.
Those boxes off in the corner, however, were cyber parts. I knew this because as soon as Serenity saw them she zipped off and dove in. Smiling, I trotted up behind her and watched her work through the crate. Cyber leg, cyber leg, something that looked like a spine (that must have hurt), a cyber eye? Who would ever need a cyber eye? The concept just seemed silly to me.
Turning away, I remembered why we had come to this room in the first place. Somewhere, in this mess of dimly lit technology, our gear was stored. Lightly I poked Serenity's head. “Our stuff.” She looked up at me, a mess of wires hanging from her mouth.
“Oh yeah!” She let go of whatever it was she had in her mouth and bounded off around a stack of rocket launchers (didn't seem safe, that). I waited for a second until I heard a muffled cry for me to come over. Yeah, it did in fact take me that long to realize the little filly wouldn't be able to carry all our stuff over.
I trotted to where she was, but stopped a few seconds later. Laying haphazardly on top of a pile of... something... was barding. Up ‘til then, I'd gotten around wearing... well nothing but my skin and coat. Lifting it with my metal hoof, I studied the garment. The brown barding seemed just a bit worn, but it had a heft to it that told me it was well-reinforced. Its collar was high and stiff with small pockets lining it. Just enough room for a healing potion or two, and much easier than having to reach into my saddle bags. Moreover, it looked exactly my size, if a little tight.
After putting the barding, I looked down at myself and silently approved. It wasn't Steel Ranger armour, but I was getting shot way too much to not wear anything. I tested out one of the front pockets by putting the spark pulse emitter in it.
“Gun!” Serenity said, way too loud. I nudged my barding into a more comfortable position before following after her. It was going to take some getting used to, having something pressed against me at all times, but it was better than, you know, death.
“Serenity.” I then said the silliest thing ever to a pony that could literally turn sound off. “Not so loud.” She looked abashed for a second before pointing me to our supplies, lovingly heaped in a messy pile. From the looks of it, Serenity had managed to find everything, up to and including Subtlety and Bunker Buster. As well as a brand new saddle bag. “Oh.” I poked at it. “For me?”
“Your last one got lost in the dark, remember?” Yeah... I remembered. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a splash of red, but I didn't look. It was just a scar I had to carry with me. I allowed myself a shudder, then pushed the thoughts from my mind.
“Thanks.” I said, slipping the saddle bags on my back. Then came Subtlety. Between the barding, bags, and gun, I felt almost as tied up as when I wore the dress. The dress that was still sitting in Flare's bags... Gulping, I tried to put Serenity's mind onto something else before she realized that fact.
Spotting a glimpse of pink in the pile of our stuff, I kicked at it. My pink shades flipped through the air majestically, and I tried to make them land on my nose. They did... only upside-down and off-kilter. While Serenity giggled loudly, I quickly fixed my glasses, just in time for Flare to come around the corner, hauling something in his mouth.
“Wha’ I miss?” he mumbled between mouthfuls of electronics. I raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged. “Bomb stuff... gunna be good trust me,” he said after spitting the crap on the ground. “Also!” He flapped his wings happily, and I noticed that the one was missing the hole it had gained in the tunnel. “Found a healing potion... only one, but c’mon, gotta fly.” He flapped his wings a few times and lifted off the ground... for a second until he veered strangely, slamming into a wall.
With an omph, he slid to the ground. “So,” I said, watching him, “Rusty?” He smirked at me and got back to his feet. “Get dressed, quickly.” Rolling his eyes, he nodded and did as I bade him. The lights flickered and I shuddered just a bit. We had stayed too long here, and been too loud. Still, I wanted to stay longer. This room had more than I could ever imagine; just another minute to steal and we would never want for food or protection.
“Thought I heard something.” The metallic voice reverberated through the room and into my core.
I turned around and aimed Subtlety faster than I'd any right to. The Steel Ranger from the cross section of the floor was standing there, his metal eyes shining. “Don't move.” I tried to warn him.
“Normally,” the way his helmet was tilted it almost looked like he was grinning, “I make the thre-”
BANG
The bullet tore through his armoured leg in a splash of gore. With a cry of pain, the Ranger stumbled and fell, his helmet smacking against the floor with a thud.
Serenity was looking up at me, her eyes wide. “Hired, wh-” I lifted a hoof to quiet her down. The Ranger was injured, but he was alive. Elder Chunky Soup begged me to not kill, so I did not. He was, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.
“Not now.” I lifted Serenity onto my back and made for the exit. My heart was pounding, but I was confident we would escape. With my gun and I together again, their whole army wouldn't have been able to stop me.
---
“Stop right there, crimina-”
Subtlety roared.
One of the two steel rangers guarding the base’s facade fell, his leg bleeding and soaking the ground. The second was more proactive, firing rounds from his mounted machine gun at me. Most missed, but I felt one thunk into my barding, going through before sinking into my chest. Gritting my teeth through the pain I fired two shots.
The first tore the pony's gun from his back, sending scraps over the ground; the second hit the steel leg right above the hoof. Howling curses, she fell as well, her blood mixing in with her partner’s. As we started to run, sirens wailed behind us.
“Flare. Re-learn to fly and get the fuck out of here!” We had made it all the way up the stairs into the entrance foyer before the alarm started to ring. When we left, I could have sworn I heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs. The two guards outside had taken too long to incapacitate, and I knew it wouldn't be long before we were caught.
“But I-” Flare started, his head inclining to his duel grenade launchers.
“FLARE!” He nodded briefly and let Serenity onto his back. As she clung tightly to his back, I tried to soothe her by petting her mane down. “Hold tight and be good. I won’t be long.” She nodded firmly, but I could see her sad grey eyes. She didn't think I was coming back.
The door burst open behind us. Looking back I saw metal ponies with glowing eyes, their guns flashing in the darkness of the night. Yeah, coming back did not seem likely. I smacked Flare on the flank with my metal hoof, and he shot off into the air. I could only pray to Luna the night would conceal him.
Maybe it would have before the sky had cleared. Looking up, I could see the blackness of the sky, but it was not total darkness. Between the clouds, thousands of lights danced like diamonds in the sky. They were bright, but compared to the huge crescent moon their light was paltry. Before the opening of the skies, Flare could have hidden, but Luna above seemed content to mock my efforts.
I stopped as he flew and looked down at my glowing amber pipbuck. Here came the choice. I smacked my dry lips together, wishing I had something to drink... or eat for the matter, but I pushed the feeling away. I was weak from hunger and foggy from thirst, so I wouldn't be able to outrun these guards. At the same time, I knew how to turn my pipbuck light off now so the thin darkness might be enough to hide me if I found a shady area quickly. Survive, that ever helpful voice in my head told me. Though... doing that may make them look to Flare's silhouette in the sky, and focus their efforts on him.
Was there ever any doubt?
With my pipbuck still glowing it's orangish light I flew through the night.
My hooves slammed against the concrete, each reverberating strike revealing my position to anypony with a brain.
Bullets zipped past me and faded into the night. Flare had gone left when he flew, so I ran right. I had to draw them away from Flare's flight path, not for long, but for long enough.
In front of me was a small hill with a steep incline I would never be able to climb quickly enough. The mound stretched out horizontally against my trajectory, and when I ran along side it, I was perpendicular to the ponies seeking to kill me. I ran fast but I was still a damn easy target running sideways.
A shot clanged off my metal leg, while another embedded itself into the ground in front of me. I skidded to a stop and tried to turn, only for a bullet to stream past my eyes.
I pivoted and faced my attackers. Five of them with their eyes glowing, but they didn't shoot at me. There was a clicking and a shouted warning for me. Five metal ponies against one cybermare.
My stomach growled in protest, and my throat begged for water. I shook a little on my hooves. This was too much. Too much running, too much hiding. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes. Fuck, what I wouldn't do for a drink. I promised to return to Serenity, dammit; I couldn't get caught now. I had barely made it any distance at all and now I was trapped. Was this the best I could do?
My eyes shot open, glaring with hatred. No. Fuck them.
I charged, shouting defiance from my parched throat.
A few stepped back as I kicked up dirt. No, they wouldn't expect this. All I could hear was the sound of Subtlety roaring like midnight thunder. Bullets zipped past me, into me, but I kept running and firing. I dimly felt my battle-saddle reloading and I started firing again, and again.
I reached them, bloody and hurt. The first I kicked in the face, sending their head back. My body moved faster as if possessed by some demon, bucking the pony in the neck.
There was a shout of confusion as the pony fell. Not from me, I was euphoric. I ducked a clumsy hoof strike by one pony, and laid down kicks when he stood confused. Subtlety blared-point blank into ponies’ legs. Another tried jumping from behind me. I felt their cold weight press against me, pinning me down.
So I bucked them the fuck off. The thrill of the fight consumed me and blinded me to all else.
I don't know how long I fought the five metal giants, I just know that when all was said and done I faced the last at fifty paces.
One of her flashlight eyes glowed while the other was shattered. Had I done that? I... I couldn't remember. All around me four ponies groaned and gasped in pain. None of them dead though... I avoided killing... I promised Chunky Soup and, dammit... it was a promise.
The battle fell from me, and I suddenly felt so very tired. My stomach was complaining its emptiness, and my body was on fire from a dozen different wounds. Subtlety felt like the weight of the world on my back, and I could almost hear my spine cracking under the strain. Fatigue washed over me, and I wanted nothing more than to sleep.
“Give up... and... I'll spare you,” the mare gasped under her armour. She sounded tired, and maybe a little impressed. I bit into my bridle, but Subtlety clicked empty. Well... fuck.
“Uh...” I shook the idea out of my head. What part of return to Serenity and don’t kill anypony didn't I understand? I was not a clever pony (I’d just charged five steel rangers...) but I wasn't going to break a promise. “Could you?” I said between laboured breaths that stung my chest. “I promised... not to kill anypony.”
She laughed. “Even now you persist... you're... impressive.”
“Thanks.” I intoned, shifting my back leg back a bit. I felt the collar of my barding sway under my unsteady movement, and something inside the pocket hit against my neck.
Wait.
I charged again!
My hooves beat into the dirt in an unsteady stride. Trails of blood followed my hoofprints in the dirt, but I kept running. She jerked in surprise and opened fire. Blood splashed over my face as my ear exploded, but I didn't feel it. The thrill came back. I was deaf to everything else. Time seemed to slow as I jumped. Bullets flashed past me. I reached into the pocket on my barding.
And pulled out the spark pulse emitter.
That's right. I fucking forgot about the Steel Ranger-slaying weapon in a battle with five Steel Rangers!
I was not a clever pony.
I was a fighting pony, though. I landed on top of the poor mare. There was a flash of green energy that engulfed her, glowing in the night like balefire.
I stood over her. “Fuck,” she said, unable to move.
I won. I beat them... I...
Collapsed.
Blood pooled around me. I was lying in a lake. Blinking, the pool seemed to edge slowly outwards before getting sucked into the dirt. Beside me I saw the steel ranger struggling with her armour. Things seemed fuzzy, and half-remembered after that. I may have lapped at the blood to parch my thirsty throat, but I... don't remember. Not long after I felt consciousness fade. A blackness consumed me, where there were no stars nor moon to light my way.
---
“Over here...”
Somepony said. The voice was fuzzled and obscure.
“I see her... the light... look.”
My eyes fluttered open. Everything was so dark I could barely see. The steel pony... where... she was supposed to be there.
“Are you okay?!”
No, she wasn't there... I saw her armour. It was spread all around, scrapped.
Suddenly I was looking in the face of a green unicorn. Wisps of red mane fell over his face. He was pretty. So pretty. Then again, everything looked pretty. Like the stars behind his head, and the way his glasses sparkled. So pretty.
“She lost a lot of blood!” Serenity's voice. Yes I knew it. “Momma needs a healing potion.” I saw her face now. Sad grey eyes. They were always so sad. “Healing potions. Please. However many you have.”
Something was shoved into my mouth. It tasted bitter, and that meant healthy. How did I know what oranges tasted like?
Wounds knitted together, making me sick to my stomach. I hated that feeling. I would have puked had I eaten anything. Still, my strength was coming back. Slowly.
Things became clearer. Eight ponies surrounded me. Serenity and Flare were two, as well as that green stallion with the straight red hair. The others were strange faces wearing NCA uniforms. Where did they get those... where. My mind cleared, and slowly ponies helped me to my feet.
“Five...” I said slowly. “There were...” I looked around, seeing a single Steel Ranger pony on the ground... dead. There were pieces of armour everywhere but no other ponies. Blood and bullet casings but where... a pony helping me up twitched, sending pain firing up my flank. “Where did they...”
“We saw four steel rangers limping back to their camp,” the green pony with the red mane said, his voice smooth and confident. “I'm impressed.” He leaned in far too close, and I tried to lift a hoof to strike him but it just sort of, didn't move. Looking down I could dimly see that somepony had removed my legs power source. “The Steel Rangers were too. Left you here. Though maybe they were too weak to drag you. Would explain why they bandaged your wounds.”
My head lowered down to Serenity, who smiled hopefully up at me. “Who the fuck is he?”
“High Stakes.” He bowed gracefully. “I am a representative for Mr. House.”
“Mr. Stakes,” one of the NCA ponies helping me up said, “has vouched that you killed Roy Mustang, on the word of Mr. House himself.” The pony looked serious under his helmet.
“Yeah... don't go spreading it around.” So Starscream told House, who told High Stakes. My head hurt.
“Good. The NCA awards your service, and will keep your secrecy.” He smiled. “You're set to be a very rich mare.”
I looked forlornly to where the Steel Ranger headquarters stood. “I'd rather be a living mare.”
High Stakes chuckled. “Worry not, Steel Rangers won’t attack any NCA personnel so close to the Farm.” To the farm... yes it was just over the hill... which is where Flare went. Which is where House sent High Stakes to find me, because it was the closest NCA base. Which is why the Steel Rangers won’t attack, because they'd be wiped out. Everything made so much sense it hurt my head.
“You.” I pushed the ponies away from me.
“I'd take a step back about now, Stakes,” Flare nickered, spinning so he was floating upside down. Somehow I knew he missed that. “She bites.”
“Fuck off, Flare.” I shook my head as the healing potions did their work. I wasn't back to full health, and I was sure I'd enough bullets inside of me to severely piss of a metal detector, but I was not dying. “High... what does House want?”
“He has a jo-”
“I'll take it.” Serenity giggled softly, off to my side, and Flare nickered. The NCA ponies and High Stakes shared a number of confused looks before High Stakes opened his mouth. “I said.” I pre-interrupted. “I'd take it.”
I couldn't tell if High Stakes was suppressing a laugh or looking at me like I was an idiot. Maybe both. “Is she for real?” he asked nopony, and everypony. Flare nodded affirmative. “Right. Because this makes perfect sense.” He shook his head. “Fine. You're hired. First, we need to get to the Snake and travel up it.”
“Woah. A snake? Like a big one.” A huge mutated snake we had to travel up! Or maybe many small snakes and we had to travel up through its territory. Either way really cool.
“Hired...,” Serenity tugged on the barding that had probably saved my life, “the Snake is a river.”
Please don't laugh at me. Please don't laugh at me. I looked around and nopony laughed... well except for Flare but he hardly counted.
“Right.” I started walking. At least, I started walking after Serenity deftly replaced my leg's power supply. “Lead the way.”
“Hired Gun,” High Stakes smooth voice dances through the moon light illuminated darkness. “You should not stress yourself. You are-”
“Fuck that.” I looked up and smiled at Luna. The night was young and so was I, but neither would last forever, so there was no time for delay. “Let’s go. To this river. I'll be fine.” The ponies all looked at me like I'd lost my mind. I had just fought five Steel Rangers in bloody stupid combat, and here I was leading the Celestia knows how long walk. Maybe I was crazy, but I was alive. I shouldn't have been, but there is something to be said for being a big, tough pony.
---
Do you know what a river is?
See, that's a funny question. I had assumed I knew what a river was because I'd heard of them. Some sort of waterway, but it never really occurred to me how large they could be. Standing on the darkened banks of the river and looking forward I could not even see the other side, even with the riverboat's lights shinning.
Apparently, a boat was a form of transportation you used on the river. It looked to me like a giant bulky house. It seemed to lay flat on the water, but I was assured there was a good portion sunken under the water. The main deck we climbed onto had a small area around the centre building for which to walk, as well as a sizable deck on the front, but the majority of the area was taken up by the building. Looking up I could see it was two stories high, but given the small topmost building, it seemed the top was the boathouse. That is to say, the place where they steered the ship. Looking over the back half of the ship, I could see a long, large, tube-like wooden structure sticking out. It wasn't solid, but instead had wooden panels going from the rim into the centre. Or something, having never seen anything like that before I am really not sure if my explanation is appropriate or correct. Well, fuck it, I tried.
“The Snake is slow,” the stallion said. He was a tiny orange pony with a long grey mane that almost touched the ground. Scrunching up his face as if my questioning his boat’s sturdiness was an insult, he said, “Even with the rains. She won't tip. Mah colts treat her well, and missus cooks a fine meal. Best boat on the river what isn't full of pirates.” He nodded firmly. “You in or...?”
“Five hundred caps...” I repeated the price slowly.
I turned to my companions.
The five NCA ponies had escorted us all the way to the Snake (thankfully only about four miles away) to dissuade Steel Rangers from pursuing. The green pony who worked for Mr. House was with us. And of course my two companions. A lovely travelling company if I hadn't of hurt so much. Even with all the healing potions they pumped into me, I still felt weak as a kitten, and my entire body ached in pain with each movement. At one point on the trail, I had needed a shot of Med-X just to continue.
Serenity blinked sleep out of her eyes and yawned loudly, though I could see she tried to hide it.
The NCA had given me the six thousand caps for killing Roy while we walked. They were very careful to give it to me when the light was the darkest, and nopony was around. “Yeah.” I said to the boat pony. “Five hundred.” Caps were exchanged, and fake smiles were given.
“Your names?” The pony asked pleasantly. “I am Red Sky.”
“Hired Gun.” I nodded, my head still pounding from the fight. I pointed to me companions. “Flare. Serenity. And...” That pony was coming with us... what was his name. I was sure he told me, but my mind was fuzzy and... “High Stakes.” I said eventually.
“Welcome aboard. Don't shoot nopony.” Now what would give him that impression... other than Subtlety hanging heavy on my back. “Two rooms upstairs, mares and stallions if you please, or whatever you want.” Mares and stallions sounded about right. “You lot look tired, and I don't want anypony saying I kept the NCA waiting. We push off in the mornin'; we'll explain the rest then.”
“Okay.” I turned to Serenity, who was rubbing her eye with her hoof. “Okay, off to bed with you.”
“But.” Without a second’s warning her eyes went big and round, verging on tears. “But I wanna stay up with you.” Her lower lip quivered just enough to make my heart pang with guilt. “I'm not sleepy.” On cosmic cue she started yawning. When her pout slid back into place, I felt the slight guilt she forced on me melt away. I gave her a stern look to bite back further protests. “Fine... but you promised we'd talk...”
Crap.
“Flare, Stakes. Do whatever it is you do. Serenity is going to bed, I'll be down soon.” Flare smirked and trotted around he boat to the front deck, and High Stakes followed for some reason. After nodding my thanks to the NCA ponies, I turned back to Serenity. “Okay. Talk, then bed.” She nodded happily and I rolled my eyes. “March then.” With a smirk she was off.
I hung back as she magicked the door to the main building open. After a brief stretch of my painful muscles, I followed after her. The inside of the boat was lit with candles through the main hall, all the way to the stairs, along them, and into our room. I was pleasantly surprised to find out room was lit too. The smoke from the candles filled the room, but it was a pleasant smell. Overall, it was nice, I suppose. Very clean, but with only two stiff-looking beds for comfort.
“Serenity.” I started to say, but I was cut off.
“Why can't you be my momma?!” she said, almost as soon as I shut the door.
“Because. I'm not.”
“So?” She sat on the floor looking stubbornly at me. “I rescued you, you owe me.” She did at that, but that was a big request. I don't think she truly understood how big.
“You did good.” Still, I shook my head. “But you don't want me as a mother.”
“I'm pretty sure I do.”
“Listen, Serenity.” I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible. The subject of motherhood made my already fucked-up body twist in agony. It was just... a bad idea for so many reasons. “I'm a bad pony... okay. For Celestia's sake, I almost sold you when we met.”
“No,” she squeaked, staring solemnly at the floor under her hood. “Y-you listen... I... you don't understand, Hired... you. I-I was in The Watchers all my life, it was dull and boring and all, nopony cared for me, not really. They gave me food and shelter, and teachings, but nopony there cared. Even still, I just wanted to help ponies, then one day, for the first time, they let me go on a caravan! I was gonna help ponies!” I sat on the bed and watched the filly. She spoke with such emotion, I could almost feel it myself. “B-but they came... the slavers.” She sniffled. “Ponies died around me.... me and the other foals couldn't do anything. You... you're always so big and strong... I wish I was... all I could do was cry and wet myself as they tied us up and made us walk. We walked for days and days until my hooves were bloody... I was strong. I was, really. I helped the other foals... when we stopped I treated their injures... One night, when I thought I was going to die of exhaustion, there were gun shots...
“I thought we were saved... I was so happy.” She shook tears out of her eyes. “Watchers came back... they found us, I thought. Only... it was just her.” She made the word her own personal curse. I had no idea she could be so venomous. “She locked us up, too. All of us in her store... I could hear voices and I screamed and cried until I ran out of tears, but they never heard. The ponies upstairs ignored us. Eventually all of the foals were sold... but me. I was next... last... I... had given up hope. Nothing mattered. When you came down and rescued me I knew you were just another slaver... I...
“I was right...
“It didn't matter, I could have ran, but what was the point? So I followed... I followed you to Silver Bullet and did what you said. I knew my fate... “ She scrunched up her muzzle. “Then... he said where he was gunna sell me too. Your face, it was... like a mix of rage and hate and pity, and you shot him. You were outnumbered four to one and you shot him! For me!” Her eyes went wide at the thought, hardly believing it herself. “You... you saved me. For no reason... I didn't understand. Then you went to the stable, and I got my stupid foal head all drowned... and you saved me again...
“You're the only pony who ever did that. You... you saved me against stupidly impossible odds.” She let her hood fall back, and to my shock, she was crying. “You saved me. You... you care. You're the best momma cause you care... you care about me.” What the hell happened to this filly? Had she had such a shitty life that anypony showing her an iota of kindness was a thing of beauty to be cherished forever.
I wrapped my hooves around her and let her cry. What was I to say? How could I tell her no after that? She needed somepony to care for her, care about her, to tell her she did good, to punish her when she misbehaved. But how could it be me? I couldn't take on that responsibility again. I was a stupid pony, prone to running into impossible situations and getting fucked up. I could barely keep myself alive and hale. How could I be expected to help a filly too? I couldn't. I was a failure in everything I did. How could I drag her down with me?
Looking down at her tiny body sobbing tears into my chest, I realized I couldn't say no.
My whole body was sore. Pain lanced through me at each small movement, and my head was hit with a sudden blinding pain.
I couldn't tell her no. But I couldn't tell myself yes.
Eventually, Serenity stopped crying and used my coat to dry her tears. Slowly and timidly she looked up at me. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her mane was a frizzled mess, but she smiled ever so lightly. “I...” I tried to speak but no words came out. What was I supposed to choose?! If I told her no, I would break her heart, and I couldn't bear to see her cry again. If I told her no, I would fail her like I had failed every other pony I tried to protect.
Fuck.
“I...” Life is not simple. I tried so hard to treat life like a fight. If you survive, you win, but in this case... sometimes life gives you a choice and both answers are wrong. How are you supposed to work with that? I am not a clever pony, I can't deal with vagueness. I can't do responsibility. I was not a good pony, I was not a smart pony, I was not a... not a mother. My mind was swimming, but I had no idea. What was I supposed to do? Give her disappointment now, or later?
I wanted to cry, drink, and kick something. But none of those things held my answer.
“I need to think about it.”
That saddened her, I could see. How could it not? I brushed her mane back with my hoof and sighed a bit. “It’s a big thing... I need to think. Please.” Reluctantly she nodded.
“You'd make the best momma.”
No, that I would not.
“Maybe.” I lied through my teeth. Then I patted her on the back. “Now go to bed.” Her pout was ineffective as I pointed her toward the bed.
With a grumble and a yawn she jumped onto the bed. Tucking her in, she continued to be grumpy, but I knew as soon as I blew the candles out, she'd be asleep. “G'night,” I said softly.
“Night, mommy.”
The lights were blown out, and I walked down the stairs and into the night.
The wind was chill and crisp and smelled of water and life. On the front deck I could see High Stakes and Flare chatting. I trusted Mr. House's employee little to none, but as long as he kept Flare occupied I was happy. I walked the other way, to the rear of the ship, and sat looking up at the sky.
The vague shape of Luna was half hidden behind the ever shifting clouds. They hadn't gone away fully, but there were less, and most moved and shifted as if blown away. Celestia and Luna had returned, but life still wasn't rainbows and sunshine. Life was even more confusing than it had been, but there in the sky there was still hope. There was nothing I could say to Serenity without breaking her heart eventually, and there was nothing I could do to stop the wasteland from trying to tear me down.
But that's life right? Problems came and went, and even as they got resolved, more show up to take their place. There was time to change, to fight back, to survive. Luna came out from the cloud layer, her light shining down on me and fluttering over the still river water. Things weren't so bad. I had a leg to stand on, friends of a sort, a filly who looked up to me... and a job on the horizon.
It was time to move forward, and I would do it with the sun on my back.
That's not so bad, is it?
Level Up!
New Perk: Intense Training Level 2: Actually paying attention to your surroundings and companions has finally paid off. +1 to Perception.
Skill Note: Sneak 50
((A/N: Once again I need to give my thanks to Kkat for creating this world and doing those awesome things she does. As well a s big thanks to theBSdude [without whom I’d be dwindling in obscurity] Julep, and ErrantIndy. All three help make this thing here readable, so give them your praise.)) |
No One | 662 | 13 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-03-03T23:36:52+00:00 | 2013-09-08T01:34:16+00:00 | 25,871 | Innocence
"All things truly wicked start from an innocence."
“Can't catch me, can't catch me!”
I squealed and ran as fast as my stubby little legs could carry me. Meadow had always been uncomfortable around heights, so I sped up the ramp onto the third platform before climbing on top of Three-Legged Forest Fire's house. It was the highest spot in Marefort, and I knew my brother wouldn't have the stomach to reach me. Standing on top of the rickety metal shack, I could see the whole complex. I didn't understand just how strange a place it was then, boxes stacked on boxes shoved inside an old warehouse like a maze. Buildings rose and fell, bridges spanned gaps, and stairs led to higher platforms, all under a roof that was old enough to have plenty of holes for natural light. Well, as much light as you got in the wasteland.
“Get down here!” my brother screeched in his high-pitched voice. He was a year older than me, but I was taller and thicker. Everypony said I was going to grow up to be a big mare. Still, Meadow was in charge because he had his cutie mark, and I didn't. It was a red rose, and he was supposed to be a stallion! How silly is that. When I got mine, I planned to have something cool like a silver bullet streaming fire, or a big stick for fighting off bad-ponies.
I stuck my tongue out at him. “Noooo. You smell.”
I could practically hear him grinding his teeth together in annoyance. Music to my ears. “I said get do-”
Flying Silver Storm tackle!
I landed on him with a thunk and we both went tumbling across the floor. Giggling, I let him get on top of me and pin my forelegs down, my head dangling just over the thirty foot drop to the Marefort floor. He was older and had his cutie mark, so even though I was bigger, I had to let him win. It was a rule. I could have beaten him though. I could have beaten anypony.
“There, now stay put. Marigold-”
“Is a butt.” I finished with a grin. He snarled and lowered his head so we were nearly at eye level. Marigold was a butt though. Her mother was the scavenging supervisor and apparently that meant she got to make all the rules, it didn't help that she was nearly a grown mare in her own right... still a butt.
“Silver Storm I-” I licked his cheek. He tasted like grease, so I spat as he jumped back and recoiled in disgust at my sudden display of affection. Well, it was more of a sudden display of something I knew bugged him. “Yuck,” he said, far enough away now I could scramble to my feet. I puffed my chest out, and stood up tall so he could see how much shorter he was than me. “Stop that, you look stupid.”
“Your face is stupid.”
Rolling his deep brown eyes, he said, “Stop being a brat. We have work.” Work was dumb. I didn't even have my cutie mark yet, and they were already giving me extra work! Just because everypony else my age had their cutie mark didn't mean I should have to help them, too. Momma said it was because someponies thought I didn't have mine because I was stupid, but I wasn't stupid. Besides, cutie marks are dumb and have a dumb name. I never even wanted one.
“Naah.” He just shook his long purple mane at me.
“Meadow's right.” A red filly trotted over from Three-Legged Forest Fire's house, a scowl plastered on her stupid red face. “You have work, an' you woke up my father.” She was the tiniest filly I'd ever seen, and the reddest. Her name used to be Cakewalk, but after she got that tattoo of a fire on her butt she made everyone call her Wildfire. I just called her a bitch... only I called her that when Momma wasn't watching.
“Your father is always sleeping.” Even Meadow found her insufferable. That's what he told me anyway, but sometimes when he though I wasn't looking, I caught him staring at her cutie mark. “Besides. Marigold wants you to come along too. Says we're finally going to dig into the west building, and we need all the help.” Really! See, that was actually exciting. That thing had been a crumpled heap forever, and there had to be a lot of goodies there. They had other things to scavenge from before so they never needed to risk digging in that rubble, but apparently things had changed.
“What?!” She looked shocked, and it was sweet. Stupid Cakewalk, I mean Wildfire. “I need to take care of pa-”
“Ain't he sleepin'?” He was always sleeping. Three-Legged Forest Fire had lost his leg a long time ago, and was sickly ever since. Lately though he had been getting worse, rarely leaving his house at all.
“What do you know, you're a blockhead.” She stated plainly, “And a stupid blank flank. Aren't you supposed to be ol-”
“Wildfire.” My brother spun and glared at her like only he could. He was nice most of the sometimes, but every once in a while he just got so angry. “Shut up. We're going, and you're going to stop picking on my sister.” He didn't have to stick up for me like that, but as Cakewalk, I mean Wildfire, backed off I couldn't have been happier.
“Okay, bye!” I said with a grin.
I hopped off the edge of the third platform. Grabbing the ledge with my fore legs, I kicked my other legs idly in the air trying to get myself to swing. Meadow screamed something his brown eyes wide, but I ignore him as I got my swing on. Once. Twice. And go!
Letting go mid swing I flew forward under the third platform right into Nos' window, over her bed, and rolled onto the ground. The 'house' was a single room with a bed on one end, and a table on the other. Oh! And there was a door there too. I bolted out it and skidded to a stop so I could turn. I sped over one of the rickety rope bridges that lashed the two halves of Marefort together. Stopping midway I did something Momma always told me not to. I jumped.
Squealing, I fell twenty feet and landed with a bounce on a pile of sodden mattresses left beside June Bug's cleaning shop thingy. They had been there for a week, but she hadn't gotten to them. They made an awesome landing pad though. Giggling and rolling off the pile, I shook the dirt out of my mane. I was sure June Bug was scolding me, but I didn't listen. Looking up I could see Meadow and Wildfire on the second platform, still making their way down. Maybe I wasn't a super genius pony or nothing, but I did know Marefort better than anypony else. It was a maze, and I, the maze master.
“CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!” I shouted my challenge up to them, but I doubt they heard. Marefort was always loud.
I burst through the ever-open doors of Marefort with a grin on my face. The day was wet, a slight drizzle falling from the sky. Celestia's Tears, my momma called it. All around I could see buckets set up to collect the water for drinking. It was healthier than ground water, Momma told me, but I always thought it tasted gross.
“Get back here, Silver!” Crap! Looking back I could see them exiting Marefort. How had they managed to catch up?! They must have used my super secret jumping technique. Actually, considering Cakewalk's frazzled red mane and slightly paler red face, I was going to guess that is what happened. They were trickier than I had thought.
So I ran as fast as my stubby little legs could carry me. As I neared the ruined remains of the western buildings I could see so many ponies working in and around it. Building, lifting, removing. Looking for stuff to sell, or something. I zoomed past Marigold, her gold and orange mane blowing in her face from my speed.
I skidded to the stop in front of the rubble and suddenly ducked. Meadow had caught up so much he couldn't stop! He tripped over my curled up body and flew into the rubble with a puff of dirt.
I giggled as Wildfire trotted up to me, and gave me a dirty look. “Aren't you going to help him?”
I raised an eyebrow at Cakewalk, just as the silver-grey body of Meadow popped out of the rubble. “Yeah....” I said slowly. “FLYING SILVER STORM TACKLE!”
I flew like the wind smashing into him and sending both of us tumbling into rubble and remains. I dimly heard Wildfire say how dangerous that was, but I ignored her because it was also fun! In my mind, fun was far more important than things like danger or dangerous stuff.
The furious battle of wits and tiny hooves only ended when I conked my head hard against a wooden box. Meadow backed off and let me study the offending object. It was big and sturdy, and had words written on it, but I couldn't really read... oh well. With a kick, the lid of the box slid off.
What I saw was....
It was amazing. Rows and rows of bullets that seemed to glow. If I tilted my head, their colour shifted and faded from blue to purple, and back to blue again. I didn't know what they were, but I did know that they were something impressive. Behind me, Meadow pushed and squirmed past trying to get a look all for himself.
“What is this?” I turned to the unfamiliar voice, and that was odd as I knew every pony in Marefort. Meadow jumped in front of me to shield me, but I could see over his head. He was a tall olive pony with a long, flowing grey mane, wet from the rain. “Do not be afraid, my little ponies. My name is Smooth Tongue.” He politely waved a hoof at the box we were protecting. “Please, show me what you found.”
---
My shoulder became pain, fire lanced through it and up my chest burning and stinging. Dimly, I heard muffled sobs. Serenity.
My eyes shot open.
In the darkness of my room, I saw a a figure over me. Hooves on my bed. No. One was on my bed, the other pressing against my shoulder. The earth pony sneered and gave the hoof on my shoulder a twist. Pain blinded me. I may have screamed.
With a kick, the pony fell off me, the blade sliding from my shoulder. It stung like a bitch, and blood started soaking down my body and wetting my mattress. No time to think though, I rolled off the bed and looked across the room. Serenity was crying in her sleep. My assailant regarded me with a grin and tried to circle. Was he aware he was standing between me and my Serenity?
In the gloom, I could not see his colour or cutie-mark, but I could see he was an earth pony and on his leg was a strange pipbuck-like device. He moved to kick at me with his hoof, a long skinny blade sticking out of his leg-device. I'd seen one before.
Still sluggish from sleep, the blade grazed my cheek just enough to bleed. He kicked again, so I ducked and weaved back out of the way. Fucker was quicker than he should have been, waving the blade in front of him like a crazy pony. Grah, this was irritating. In a desperate lunge, he charged towards me.
I brought up my metal leg. The blade clattered and got stuck in a hole. I thought I could hear wires slicing, but it didn't matter, for with a twist his blade snapped off. The look of horror on his face was glorious. Did he really think a single stab would take me down when Serenity was crying? The fool flew through the air at the power of my buck. His head smashed through the door when he hit it, before his body slid to the floor. Normally, I would have made extra sure the assassin was extra dead, but Serenity!
Running over, I scooped her up in my forearms, just in time for her to wake up. “You're okay,” I whispered, my mind drowsy from sleep and rushing from the fight. “You're okay.”
“I...,” she looked up to me, her grey eyes full of sleep and tears, “you're... I thought. That ghoul... he was choking you again and I....”
“Just a dream,” I whispered. I let her dry her eyes in my chest. “Just a nightmare. I'm still here.” My heart tightened and I mentally kicked myself. What possessed me to bring her into those Celestia-forsaken tunnels in the first place? If I had only known, if we had only known.
I never wanted this, for either of us.
The words in my head chilled me to the bone and numbed the pain in my shoulder. Shaking my head, I ignored the words; they were just my imagination. Just the shadow of my history come back to haunt me.
“Hired....” I nodded still trying to comfort her. “You're bleedin.”
She looked up at me, the right side of her muzzle was caked in blood. My whole chest had been dyed red, and my shoulder kept going. I blinked, and my head started to feel fuzzy. Blood loss. Again. Fuck. “I'm fine.” I lied. The night before, I had nearly got myself killed by Steel Rangers, and now I felt the need to lose more blood.
Serenity didn't seem to believe me.
“What the hell?!” Flare burst through my broken door, his green and yellow mane frazzled. His pink eyes went wide, looking at me, my blood, then down to the unconscious assassin. “Kinky, but keep it down! Some ponies are trying to sleep off a night of rescuing your flank....”
Another pony entered behind Flare. I didn't realize it the night before, but that pony... what was his name... High Stakes. The unicorn that worked for Mr. House, he was much taller than I thought; almost to height with me, but much skinnier than I. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. “What is this commotion?” He raised a dainty eyebrow. “It seems you are injured, Miss Gun.”
”No shit.” I muttered. Serenity giggled, squirming away from me so she could find something to clean off her blood-stained face.
“After your recent activities, might I suggest taking a few days of rest? It'll be two days ride up the Snake, and you will need to conserve your strength.”
“No. I'm good.” I groaned, crawling off Serenity's bed onto my hooves, only for my foreleg to collapse sending me to a knee.
“Rest,” Flare agreed, smoothing back his mane. “Lots of it. Looks like you just finished wrestling a hellhound. Don't worry about Mr. Stabby Stabberson.” he kicked the assassin. “We'll feed him to the fishes or... whatever it is you do on a boat, no worries.”
“But.” No, rest was bad. Gotta keep in shape for whatever tried to kill me next. Probably a hellhound, then a dragon, in that order. “Shouldn't w-” I winced as a stab of pain went through my body from one of my many injuries. “We. Find out... who he's working for.”
“The Baises no doubt. Mr. House has given me a full dossier on you and known alliances. Molly has been known to employ earth pony assassins with similar gadgets.” The pip-knife thing. I remember one ambushed me a while before. “I imagine she could have tracked your PipBuck, if she has one in her possession.” Was that a thing? “ We should continue another time, I think; you are injured and need rest.”
The room seemed to grow darker as Flare nodded. Desperately I turned to Serenity to support, but she already had a healing potion in her mouth and nodded happily. “Momma's day off.”
Maybe I didn't want a day off!
---
Maybe I didn't have control over my life. Somehow, I found myself lying in bed and drinking down healing potions like no tomorrow. Serenity claimed they were only ever a quick fix, and would never fix me permanently but still forced me to drink more than I would have liked. It's not like we wanted for money now, and Captain Red Sky seemed to have plenty of the potions stocked and eager to sell, but still.
Groaning, I rolled onto my stomach and flicked on my PipBuck's radio. As the fuzzy static faded to music, I took a look around our cabin. The blood had been mostly cleaned by High Stakes’ special unicorn magic or something, and all evidence of the fight had been cleaned away. I wasn't really sure what happened to the assassin, and I knew enough not to ask. Most likely, he was thrown overboard or killed outright.
I still couldn't figure out how he got into my room! Even if Molly had a pipbuck, how would she know how to track mine? Even if she could, how did her assassin get to me so fast? According to High Stakes, the boat was already swimming upriver by the time the assassin woke me up (about noon. Don't judge me. I fought five steel rangers the day before. I deserved an extra long sleep. ), so he must have found me at night. Argh, it hurt my head!
I buried my face in the pillow just as Mr. New Haygas’ voice came soaring over the radio, sounding like a silk god.
“Good Afternoon, Dise. And how are we today? The Sun is still shining, so I am feeling mighty fine. It's time for the news. In a show of goodwill towards the NCA and to show they plan on holding onto their side of the non-aggression pact, the Minotaurs have removed a quarter of their forces from the Canyon Ridge Bridge. However, there are still whispers of shady dealings between the Mustangs and Minotaurs, even after Roy's assassination a few days ago. In light of said battle, the new leader of the Mustangs, Mayhem, has denied all claims of involvement, but stated that he is seeking additional revenue options to secure the safety and security of The Moon, as well as to make sure his water supply reaches all the thirsty mouths of the city. To that end, he has cut water taxes on all citizens of Dise, but raised its price to all major factions within Dise, including: Mr. House and the Hizai, The Baises, The Galicians, The Watchers, The Remnants, Cerberus Co., The Finishers, The NCA, and the newly formed Red Racer Construction Company. Mayhem claims this will allow his water to get to the ponies that need it most, while still giving him the extra caps needed to repair after the Baises’ unprovoked attack.
“In strangely unrelated news, two NCA officials are under questioning after a unusual incident last night. According to lieutenant Dusty Breeze, three ponies approached the Parasite Mound check point near midnight, and asked for admittance into Dise to set up a school. She says they were alicorns from Equestria, and so she opened fire, causing them to flee. This despite the fact an Alicorn has never been observed past Equestrian borders. The current NCA line is that the two NCA officers who saw the alleged alicorns were weary from a twelve hour shift, fell asleep on the job, and dreamt the alicorns up. This does not, however, explain how two ponies can have the same dream at once. Well, that's NCA logic for you.
“Finally. A few days ago we gave you word of a mother/daughter team who wiped out a raider base in the north east that has been plaguing caravans for months. Well today I heard the duo found themselves at the small village of Wending, just as a Radscorpian swarm stormed through. What else could they do but kill every one of those buggers and save the whole town! The townsfolk of Wending are calling them heroes, and I guess I am inclined to agree.”
“You really listen to that?” A voice snapped me out of my Haygas-induced haze. I turned my head to see a pale green unicorn enter. His long red mane was shockingly straight as it fell from his head, covering up half of his face. I had to figure having strands of hair scraping against glasses couldn't be good for them, but what did I know? Fashion was never my forte. “And here I was thinking all ponies knew not to trust the news.” A bit of an arrogant stallion, wasn't he? When he trotted over and laid beside my bed I got a good look at his cutie mark: a pair of dice, both showing the 'one' side up.
“Whatever.” I clicked the pipbuck off, quietly annoyed I'd have to listen to High Stakes instead of New Haygas. Have I ever said I love that radio stallion’s voice? “This job. What is it?” I couldn't tell if he was snorting or chuckling.
“I thought you’d never ask.” His teeth were so perfect and white when he smiled, it made me want to smash them. “Mr. House has been watching you for some time.” I've always wanted a stalker. “He's looking to hire you in a more... permanent position.” You mean he's not going to chain me up and force me to do a dirty job for him? (get your mind out of the gutter) Wow, he's far brighter than every other gang leader I’d met. “But first, a test.”
“A test...?”
“Yes, you know, I throw you into an ambiguous environment, tell you to do something, and silently judge you.” That sounded so stupid. I face planted into my pillow. So soft and fluffy. “For this we need to travel to the eastern mountains. Have you heard of a group that calls themselves Celestia's Vision?” I nodded dumbly, still hiding in my pillow fort. “They have for some reason, known only to themselves, travelled up to the town of Karkhoof. Apparently it has been reformed as a Zebra haven in Caledonia, and well.” He smirked a bit. “Celestia's Vision hate all things ‘unnatural’. To them, that includes griffins, alicorns, donkeys, mules, minotaurs, hell hounds, buffalo, cyborgs, pegasi, and especially zebras. It doesn't help that much of Dise shares most of their sentiments. So they marched their way up there, fixing to start trouble, but for now they're just blockading the trade route and protesting.”
“So?”
“You are to stop it.” How helpful.
“Stop what?”
“Whatever you wish. Getting up there will be the hard part, what with the eels, but House wants the situation dealt with and has left you to decide how and in what way.” I raised an eyebrow at him just to make sure he was serious. The spark in his deep green eyes told me he was. Apparently, this Mr. House had been watching me closely but hadn’t yet realized I was stupid. I had charged five Steel Rangers by myself yesterday, and he wants me to resolve an ambiguous situation. For fuck’s sake, I was going to end up killing some innocent pony, I could feel it.
“House....” I remembered something. It was a fuzzy bit in the back of my memory, but I remembered it. “He does cybernetics right? And hires them mostly.” Stakes nodded. “So...” I studied High Stakes over and tried my very best to be witty. “You are a mercenary not a full time employee of Mr. House... and he wants me to side with the Zebras.”
“Yes... and no. It is true I am not always in the pocketbook of Mr. House, though this could change, but there is no indication I got from him he cares what side you choose. Celestia's Vision has protested his hotel before, he never really cared. They are a thing to be ignored. What he wants is to see what you choose.” Really? Whatever, it was clearly him wanting me to pick the side that didn't hate him, and see if I was smart enough to figure it out. “It's a tough choice. Ponies that hate you or zebras.”
“Zebras,” I said lifting my head from my pillows. Why was my ear throbbing? Ears shouldn't do that.
He looked... shocked maybe. I wasn’t sure, but not as confident as he had before. “Zebras... but they are....” His face twisted in disgust.
“Zebras.” I failed to see the issue. Far as I knew, the difference between a zebra and a pony was small. Why should it matter?
“Err... zebras. May I ask why?” he asked, carefully adjusting his glasses with a green glow. His magic burned into my shoulder, but I was in so much pain I could hardly feel it at all. The sensation was still there though, as clear as day, like all magic. The more often I felt that burn, the more I could feel the difference between ponies. I am not sure how to explain the slight difference in sensation, but I could tell it, somehow.
“Well... Celestia's Vision hates me. Zebras don't. Be easier to land a contract.”
He stared at me blankly. “You're an... interesting pony.”
“LUNCH TIME!”
That burst of excitement could only have come from one pony. Serenity came flying through the door (without knocking), with a bowl of soup floating in a pink glow before her. “Move, Mister Stakes,” she said with a grin, trotting over to my bedside. “Sick Momma needs her soup.” The stallion chuckled heartily and deftly removed himself from my bedside. He did not leave completely though, preferring to watch us from the corner of our room. That creeper.
“Serenity, I'm not si--.” The soup was spicy and tasted of carrots when the spoon was shoved in my mouth. I grumbled around the spoon as she pulled it free from my lips, “Serenity, that's not fun-” Another spoonful of the thin soup. Apparently, words weren't going to do the trick. So when she tried to pull the spoon out again I clamped down hard on it. After a brief struggled she gave up, and I bit the head of the spoon off.
Letting the handle fall onto the floor and spitting the head down with it, I said, “Serenity. Stop that. I am not sick.”
“You broke my spoon.” She pouted down at the snapped utensil... right before floating another one out of her saddle bag. “Good thing I brought an extra!” Oh, you have got to be kidding me! Before she could even try again, I ripped the bowl from her magical grip with my teeth, tilted my head back, and gulped it down. Letting the container dropped to the floor, I gave the pouting Serenity a blank look.
“Really, Serenity?”
“What?” She rolled her eyes at me. “I was just trying ta help. You were sick-” Not sick. I hadn't been sick for months. Sure, it felt like me and a dragon got into a boxing match, but I wasn't ill. Only sore. I disliked the idea of being sick on a whole. Something about being sickly and weak from something other than being shot or stabbed didn't sit well with me.
“I'm not sick,” I interrupted. High Stakes chuckled off to the side. He was quickly getting on my nerves. “I just need rest... apparently. Steel Rangers. Their armour is tough.” To kick. The bottoms of my hooves still ached. “I can feed myself.”
“Fine, I just wanted to do something . Streamwind wouldn't let me help with the soup either....” Who? “She's the Captain's wife she is she-”
BOOM
Suddenly, I was rolling across the room as the boat swayed and rocked.
BOOM
Stumbling, I was shaken to my knees by the second blast. Pain throbbed through my back, and I grunted as I got back to my hooves.
BOOM
I managed to keep my balance and searched around the room. High Stakes had vanished completely, and Serenity was rolling across the floor towards me. After catching her with a hoof, I helped her onto my back. “Serenity, get Subtlety.” My gun was lying across the room, so I walked towards it slowly as a pink glow engulfed it.
BOOM
The pink glow faded with a squeak. The gun and saddle started glowing again, and started to unsteadily float towards me. I stepped under it, and felt the weight drop against my back. It was heavy, but I was basically a tank in pony skin, so it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Together, me and Serenity managed to get it strapped onto my back.
BOOM
Oh, for fuck's sake. My shoulder slammed into the door frame cracking it and sending, yes, even more pain lacing through my leg. Not wasting anymore time, I stormed down the stairs and into the bright daylight.
It was... kind of scary. I'd been bed-ridden since the night before and hadn't seen the boat on the water. The river seemed so wide, and the far shore seemed so small. Peering over the railing, I saw a thick, clear blueness. The light shining down made it sparkle, as a two headed fish looked up through the water at me... actually that was gross.
BOOM
Ack! I found myself half hanging off the ship my forelegs kicking wildly, while Serenity took the opportunity to jump off my back onto the deck. As tempting as that water was, I had a sinking feeling it'd be like swimming in radioactive waste.
“Hey.” With a flurry of blue feathers, I was staring nose to nose at Flare as he hovered just inches from the sickly water. “I wouldn't swim in that if I were you. Had a friend who swam in the river and one of her wings fell right off! You don't have any wings but I can't imagine it'd be healthy.” Oh fuck off, Flare. With a tug he lifted me back onto solid-ish ground. “I think we're being attacked or something; you should see to... wait shouldn't you be in bed?”
Seriously, fuck off.
I limped around the side of the boat onto the spacious front deck. Across from us, floating low in the river, was a long, skinny boat with a strange tree-like structure in the centre. The pole shot up into the air with a huge cloth sheet hanging from it. Confusion must have been clear on my face as Serenity explained. “It's a sailing boat.” Oh! I knew that. I just forgot for a minute. It happens. Don't judge me.
On the deck of the other ship stood five of the filthiest ponies I'd ever seen, including myself, standing around a huge black gun. Wait. I knew that, too. It wasn't a gun it was a... cannon. Like the party cannon from The Clips and Clops... only shooting death instead of parties.
“You scurvy river rats!” Captain Red Sky yelled across the gap. The pirate ponies chuckled among themselves, and I trotted up beside Sky. He gave me the slightest of nods when he saw my weapon before turning his attention back to the pirates. “Y’all leave my ship alone, I'll tell you what!”
“Yeah!” one replied with a grin. “When you give us all your goods, we will!”
“Dear.” What, who? I turned my head to see a small black unicorn mare with an almost obscenely bright pink mane. “You might want these.” In her magic was a magazine of .50 Calibre rounds. Each of the bullets had a bright blue tip. I nodded dumbly at her as I realized I’d already used all my ammo fighting the Steel Rangers.
“Please.” The mare who, I assumed to be Streamwind, the captain’s wife, turned to my battle saddle and got to work. She gave me a lovely view of her flank in the progress.... I mean cutie mark! I was not checking out a married mare, as I didn't like mares and....
Does anypony even believe that anymore?
I meant to say I was looking at her cutie-mark, which was a green bullet surrounded by a magical pink glow. It was kind of badass-looking actually, the sort of thing I wanted as a filly (instead I got three rocks). After she was done, the small mare (Actually she may not have been that small. Normal sized mares tended to look like fillies compared to me) nodded at me, and I turned back to the pirates.
“Last chance, mate!” the pirate screamed across the water. “Next shot is going through your pretty fa-”
BANG
The bullet sprang from Subtlety with a streak of red careening into the mast of the pirate ship. There was a slight spark on the wooden post and then a subtle whoosh. The mast was on fire, and the fire was spreading.
I just got bullets. That. Shot. Fire.
Mwahahaha.
Subtlety sent blasts of fire out again and again. The second shot slashed through the sail, setting it ablaze faster than I could blink, the third struck the side of the ship, cracking wood and igniting something inside. Before long the ship was engulfed and casting a bright orange glow across the river. I could barely hear the screams of burning pirates over the sound of my own glee. My gun shot fire! FIRE!
I turned to grin at my companions who mostly stood watching with pale faces. Flare faced-hoofed, High Stakes shrugged, and Serenity looked as if she was going to be sick. Sick...
Suddenly, the boat rocked under my feat making me unsteady. I felt my stomach heave at the sensation and felt strangely nauseous. Dimly, I heard the sound of another cannon ball, but I certainly felt the wave shake the boat sending my lunch into my throat.
As fast as my hooves could manage, I ran to the side of the boat. The soup tasted a lot worse coming up than it did going in, but thankfully I didn't get any of it on the deck. Leaning over the railing, my face a bit green, I heard Serenity’s voice.
“I knew Momma was sick!”
---
The next few days went along swimmingly, if you'll pardon the pun. I do so love puns. Serenity insisted on acting as if I was deathly ill for the first day or so, even though she knew I wasn't. I'd suspected it was because she was bored. I mean, since we had got into Dise, she’d always had something to do, but on the ship, she couldn't even walk or look around to alleviate her boredom. I mentioned this to Streamwind, and she did something I never would have thought of.
She gave the filly a toy.
Who would have thought! I mean, I never had toys when I was a foal, and she seemed so mature sometimes I never thought of it. The toy in question was a small orange pegasus doll with a soft and brush-able lavender mane. Serenity had taken it a bit warily at first, but soon was brushing its hair, giggling all the way, and even named the doll Scootaloo. It distracted her enough for me to sneak out and take a nap on the deck. What? The room was stuffy, and I liked the rest.
When I had returned to that night she had smashed off one of the pegasus filly's wings, and cut off the left back leg, and replaced them both with cyborg parts from the stuff she scavenged from the Steel Ranger base. When she saw me staring blankly at what she had done she enthusiastically informed me that she was 'cooler this way' and called her, 'Scootaborg.'. I wasn't sure if it was creepy or adorable, so I kept my mouth shut and let her do what she wanted.
This was basically my life for two days. It was far better than being chased by ghouls, going crazy, or fighting Steel Rangers, so I was perfectly content. Flare seemed to be absent a lot though, but I figured he was off scouting for us so we'd know if other pirates were nearby. Mr. House's agent wasn't around much either, but I didn't care. He bothered me in ways I couldn't begin to describe.
“So.” We were nearing the end of our fun boating adventure, and I had taken the time to find Streamwind in the boat house. It was a good view from there; with windows on every wall, you got a 360 view of the river. The rocking of the boat ceased to bother me as much as it did before, but honestly that was more the waves caused by the cannon shaking the ship. “How much for all your fire bullets?”
“Now dear,” She said with a sweet smile, “They're called incendiary rounds.”
“Right those in... incenary rounds.”
“Incendiary.” Serenity corrected, resting Scootaborg on the top of my head and peeking up over it. “Zebras useda' make'em with their magics. They set stuff on fire... but I thought only zebras made'em?”
“True enough, little miss.” She smiled at the filly on my head. “But, then again, most ponies don’t have ammo modifying as their special talent. So I get to break all the rules.”
“When I get my cutie-mark, can I break rules?”
“No,” I added quickly before she got any ideas. “So how much?”
“500 caps. They're hard to make, but I have 75. Considering you won’t find them anywhere else, I suggest you take it.” I nodded dumbly at her. It seemed like a good deal. “Uh... wait, really? Dear, you ain't too bright are you.” I shook my head, no use denying it. A change of caps later and I had my fire ammo. Fire ammo!
Serenity giggled at my glee, as I turned to the door. I never did have the chance to leave, though. Suddenly Flare was there, floating up the stairs while smoothing his hair back, with High Stakes coming up behind him.
“Are we there yet? This boat is sooooo boring, I tell you. I mean it's like... I dunno.” He flipped upside down to look me in the eyes. “You feelin' any better? I mean you have been getting stabbed and shot a lot recently. If it hadn't of been for your barding, you would’ve been a Swiss cheese pony.” A... what? “You look better.”
“Sore.” I said simply. “But better.”
“Good, go-oh!” He flapped his wings and leaned forward to stare at Serenity's doll on my head. “Who’s that?”
“Scootaborg!” Serenity lifted the strange toy up. “She was a child during the Red War,” Red War... now I know I have heard that term before, “and lost her hoof and wing when Hoof Town fell. She was found by a wandering stranger and nursed to health. After getting her Cyber parts, she decided to travel the wasteland looking for revenge and also her special talent.” That was a pretty extensive backstory.
Flare just smiled amiably and nodded during the story. “I see. I am going to guess you made the... uh... accessories yourself?”
“Sure did!” I could practically hear her smile. “They don't work though. Too small, and I'm not that good yet. I can like, fix'em, but making from scratch is difficult you know?”
“Yeah, know all bout that shit,” He smirked before floating over to Red Sky. The Captain seemed to ignore the Pegasus, as he carefully fiddled with the ships steering wheel. Either that or he was annoyed that his cabin had suddenly become crowded.
“Where have you been?” I questioned Mr. House’s pet unicorn. As a rule, I distrust anypony working for a gang, especially if said pony was my employer. I had been having really shitty luck with jobs, so it was healthy to assume I was going to be stabbed in the back. In fact, the only jobs that had gone the way I’d wanted were the ones back in Timber. I really hoped I hadn't jinxed anything by thinking that.
“Reading.” I made my 'ewww, what' face at him much to his amusement. “Books are a rare thing in the wasteland, and getting rarer. I treasure the ones I can find that are complete. Lately, I have been reading a manual on obscure Zebra magical fetishes.” Magical... wait what. Actually never mind, I really didn't want to know. “It is very interesting, and I thought appropriate as for our current mission, wouldn't you agree?” Yeah, sure. Whatever.
“Yeah, sure. Whatever.”
“What did you think I was doing, may I ask?” He smirked at me, and I could have sworn his glasses sparkled in the sunlight.
“Uh.” I blinked at him and turned away to the main window. “No clue. Why I asked.”
“She thought you were spying and doin' secret things.” Serenity said half hardheartedly from my back. Sometimes that filly needed to learn when to not speak. I turned my head around to give the stallion a weak smile. By the stern gaze he cast upon me, I got the feeling he trusted me less than I trusted him.
“There it is.” Thank you, Captain Convenient Distraction! Red Sky pointed off in the distance, so I trotted over to his side to see. Not too far away, near a bend in the river, was a expansive dock and what looked like a little town. Maybe fifteen buildings hugged the river bank, surrounded by chain-link fence. Atop the tallest building (a skinny, four-story building) waved the NCA flag: a phoenix on top of a green star on a white field. “Snake's Head. It ain't the top o'the snake but it's the last settlement on it. Safest and most well fed too.”
“Oh?” Most well fed, eh? That reminded me how much I liked to eat.
“Yeah. Snake runs all the way through the NCA Farm, you know. They ship food up and down all the time, often with me. Good business. Pays more than being a glorified ferry.” He shot a glare at me, so I just sort of smiled. “From there you'll go wherever you needa go. Quick trip, right?”
“Uh. Yeah.”
“Good. Don't want anypony hearing I kept the NCA or Mr. House waiting.” He shook his long grey mane. It reminded me of a pony I used to know. “Too old for this faction shit,” He sighed, steering his ship towards one of the docks. “You know? When I was a foal, there was no NCA, or so far away and so small them didn't matter. The Watchers just a dream, the Minotaurs a legend to tell children. The Steel Rangers a nuisance, but left everypony alone, the Enclave kept to themselves, and the Dise gangs fought, yeah, but it didn't seem so. Something. Now everypony is out there choosing sides and playing games like they matter.” My, wasn't he the bitter one. “Sun’s come back, and I think everypony should learn to play nice.” Everypony. Part of my mind made me wonder if that included Zebra's, Griffins, and Minotaurs.
“Nice dream.” I said as the boat slowly stopped.
“Yeah. Streamwind, get the anchor; I'm sure the NCA will want to question us. They love their damned questions.”
---
“Where are you from?”
“North.” I said, rolling my eyes and shifting my stance a bit. We hadn't even got off the dock before a trio of NCA officials came over to question us. The water sloshed under the wooden planks as the ghoul officer glared at me. At first I thought he was Major Lucky, until I realized he wasn't a unicorn. All ghouls sort of look the same to me.
“North is a big place...,” the ghoul sneered at me.
“You're very observant.”
“And your friends are from...?”
“Flare.” I waved a hoof at the grinning Pegasus. “Remnants. High Stakes .” Another gesture. “House operative.” I smirked a bit. Did that count as me having powerful friends?
“And the filly?”
“She uh.” Now that was awkward. “A former Watcher.” I thought I could see him gulp and lick his lips. “We're looking for a caravan that is going to Karkhoof. That enough?”
“Fine.” He motioned for the ponies behind him to move. “Welcome to Snake Head. There’s a trading Caravan going up to Karkhoof, leaving tomorrow morning. If you’re quick, you might find work. Probably get eaten by a shark, but the opportunity is there. Check the NCA headquarters.” Muttering to himself, he trotted off the dock and let us pass into the town.
It was okay for a town I suppose, though from the looks of it, all the citizens of the town were NCA soldiers or NCA civilians trying to live out on the frontier. They looked cleaner than the ponies I met in Bridle Hope or Timber, better fed too. I guess there was something to be said for being an NCA civilian.
Serenity actually jumped off my back for once as we walked through the small town, just so she could run around looking at things. Snake Head was a refurbished pre-war town, but it had been refurbished really well. I don't think I had ever seen houses painted so many colours. And from out of every window I smelled baked fresh food! A far cry from the dingy and smell city, that was for sure.
Not that that made it better. A town like this was nice looking, and nice smelling, but it wasn't the same for security as Dise. Pirates or Raiders could attack by any time, not to mention any group that felt like cutting off a piece of the NCA.
The NCA building was where exactly where I thought it would be. The four-story building near the centre of the town doubled as a watch tower. It seemed... large and grey. The only building in town that lacked the splash of colour. It was, honestly, a bit of a shame. I would have loved to have seen a bright pink office building.
Opening the double doors, we found ourselves in the main reception area. Lots more grey, and I was not surprised. The two ponies at the front desk seemed engaged in conversation so I got my gang to wait just close enough to eavesdrop.
“...Nightmare's Fall?” The pony behind the desk raised a red eyebrow.
“That's what they're calling it.” The mare on my side of the counter shrugged. “They say the Ghost of the Big 52 died there.”
“How can a ghost die?” the officer asked, to which the mare could only shrug. “Whatever, file your report and I'll have it sent to brass.” He snorted as the mare walked away. “Ghosts and nightmares. Next they'll be giving me old mare's tales for reports. Next.” He glared at me. Nice guy. He was a dirty blue stallion (it matched his blue NCA barding) with a mess of a red mane that made mine look neat.
“Hello. I heard about a caravan.”
“Yes, we have caravans going across the wasteland every day. Care to be more specific?” Oh. Right, I suppose that could help. He didn't have to be such an ass about it.
“To Karkhoof. Trying to apply as guards. If there is room.” The pony eyed Subtlety on my back, before shuffling through his papers with magic. It seemed to take a good five minutes before he found the one he was looking for.
“Yes.” He peered at the paper. “Two open spots for guards if you want them. Not that surprising really, a lot of ponies won’t be caught dead near Zebra town. The route to get there ain't a picnic either And then with the protests going on up there, well it ain't all too surprising.” Yes, you said that already. “If you want all four going you'll have to pay for them to come along. 250 caps for both. If you want, that can be taken out of your paycheque, leaving you with a combined 350 caps for the trip.”
“Sure.” He blinked at me and shrugged, writing down my name when I gave it to him. I needed to get up, there for a job anyway, and I was pretty much already rich, so the exact details didn't bother me much at all. As long as we got up there and didn't die on the way. Fuck, I need to stop jinxing things. I wasn't a superstitious pony, but my luck was shitty as it was.
“Sign here.” I took the pen in my mouth and... was interrupted.
“Shouldn't we read the contract first? One can never be sure what the-” I ignored High Stakes (he was being pompous and annoying again), and signed it anyway. “Or we could not.” He gave a heavy sigh and shook his head. “How exactly have you survived this long?”
“Carefully.” I replied sliding the paper. Okay, maybe I wasn't really that careful, but the line sure was pithy, right?
“Luck.” Flare continued with a flap of his wings. “Luck and being the size of a tank, with a gun that is large enough to be mounted on a tank.” I rolled my eyes at his antics, but as usual nothing could stop his verbal diarrhoea. “As well as a strange will to live and scarily persistent desire to stop anypony from hurting her daughter. It's not that surprising really, she's more complex the more you get to know her.” Flare the psychologist. Turns out he makes a shitty psychologist, actually.
“And she's big'n'strong and stuff. Also, I saw her glare crack'a mirror once.” Thanks for the help Serenity. Though speaking of mirrors I haven't really seen one for a while, and I was middling curious to what I looked like after my numerous stupid fights.
“Right.” High Stakes had a habit of making his face go completely blank at strangely appropriate times. It was actually sort of annoying. “Now that the part where we sign onto a vague job is done with, shall we go on?” Wow. Sarcasm. That's original.
We did in fact go on, though. Upon leaving, I nearly trampled on a couple of foals playing tag right outside the door. After apologizing, I had to stand there and watch for a few minutes, as Serenity decided to join them. Flare flew to the top of the Guard tower while this was happening, leaving me and High Stakes alone. He seemed to shuffle awkwardly at the prospect, but I really didn't care.
Maybe I shouldn't hate every pony I meet?
Well, here goes nothing. “So....” High Stakes looked at me, and sudden awkward silence happened. “You're a mercenary?” Work is a valid topic of conversation, right? There should be like, a small talk class I could take, because I was so bad at it. Like, really.
“Yes.” It didn't help that he suddenly took on my speaking-style. I did one word responses before it was cool. “Been with Mr. House for running on a year now.” Oh yay, he was giving me more information. I need my companions verbose and talkative to make up for me. “Before that, I traveled here and there, taking the jobs that paid the most,” he said, as I watched Serenity successfully tackle a brown colt before running away in victory. “I would be a permanent Hizai, but Mr. House only lets cyborgs into his service. Don't ask why, he's a crazy kook, so I'm on permanent temporary status.” Somepony sounded bitter about that.
Serenity was fast for her age, but a skinny unicorn filly who was 'it' seemed to be at least a year older than her. She went so far as to jump over my back to get away, but the filly caught her anyway, and Serenity was 'it' once more.
“So. Will he hire me?”
High Stakes snorted. “I really couldn’t say, Hired. Mr. House is a man of exacting standards, but your leg makes it far more likely. It is not that he hates those who are normal, he just thinks having a gang of cybernetics improves their standing in the city. You may have noticed some ponies look down on those with... accessories like you. Since The Watchers came to town, the problem has become more severe.”
“Oh... Celestia's Vision, right?”
He nodded in affirmative, while at the same time Serenity managed to catch a colt pegasus by the wing and make him 'it'. “The Watchers try to keep it quiet, but the movement started from them. Apparently their leader was a former Watcher doctor.” He smirked at me, “But once again, Mr. House has no preference on how you handle the situation in Karkhoof. He just wants to see what you do.” He wants to see me get shot and almost die? Who am I to judge, I guess.
“This Mr. House. What is he-”
“I am not allowed to answer that. He does most of his work through agents, and I have only met him face-to-face a hoof-full of times. For the most part he wishes to keep certain things secret, I am sure you can understand.” How else to cultivate the 'mysterious benefactor' appearance? Whatever, so long as he paid good on the caps, I couldn't care less what he did.
“Helpful.” Of course, I still couldn't resist the urge to be sarcastic. “Serenity.” I called and she skidded to a stop, just in time for the pegasus colt that was chasing her to slam into her back. “We should go.” I was actually getting really hungry. “Maybe find some place to eat.”
Her pout quickly turned into a grin at the mention of food. “Seeya later, Spring Fresh, Peppermint Bark, Joist, and Peanut.” She said, before quickly running over and jumping on my back. “Peanut's dad owns the restaurant near the front gate. Only one in town, so I think we should go there.” It was the only one in town, where else could we go?
“Food?” I nearly jumped when Flare's upside down head popped into my vision. “I heard food, we should get food. It is one of my very favourite things you know.” Really? You don't say. Not like we needed it to live or anything....
Serenity stood on her hind legs, and planted her forelegs on my head. “Onward noble steed!”
“Excuse m-. Nevermind.” I could let her have this.
The town was small enough that the restaurant was easy to find. All I had to do was walk past a few colourful buildings, find the large sliding gate that was the entrance to town, and find the closest restaurant thing. It turned out to be a stout, one-story building with a large, clean, window on the front.
“Come in! Oh please come in!” an enthusiastic mare said upon seeing us. “Table for four,” she shouted to the back of the restaurant. It seemed longer inside than it had outside, and it had a series of small round tables with small haystacks for seats. Actually, they looked far more comfortable than the chairs I’ve seen in other places. The waitress (who had a sandwich on a tray as a cutie-mark) led us to one of the unoccupied tables and smiled as we sat down.
Well, except for Serenity, who was short enough that sitting down meant her head was under the table. She had to stand, and even then she was barely over the top of the table. The whole restaurant seemed to have mirrors on every wall. Back in Marefort, Wildfire used to say that having mirrors made the room look larger; I thought that sounded stupid. Still, the mirrors gave me a good look at myself.
I was was dirt stained, and my mane was a tangled mess, but I didn't look as bad as I thought. Except for.... “My ear... what happened to it?” I twitched it, and my mirror self twitched a little stub of a right ear back at me. Most of it was just... gone.
“Huh.” Serenity looked up at me with a grin. “It was all bloody after you fought them Steel Rangers.” Yes, I noticed they kept being brought up. “And it was just gone. Does it hurt?”
“Only my pride.” Who was I kidding, I had no pride.
“...Daisy sandwiches, daisy soup, and some Brahmin meat if you like... ugh, high protein.” She grimaced at the thought. Apparently she had been talking the whole time I had been checking out my ear.
“Daisy sandwich.” I eyed my companions and they all seemed to nod. Good enough. “Four.”
“Okay!” She seemed relieved that we didn't choose meat. “Right away.” She trotted off towards the back of the restaurant.
“So. What you mean to say is that you managed to get your ear shot off, and are only now realizing it?” High Stakes smirked.
“Yes.” I rolled my eyes as the waitress came back with our food. They looked. Fresh. Fresh food. My mind could barely comprehend that. It had to be some sort of mistake. Fresh food stopped existing around the time the world ended. That I was sure of.
The plate was place before me and I sort of... stared at it. A daisy sandwich, with freshly baked bread, and fresh daises. I must have been dreaming. Slowly I lowered my mouth to the delicious morsel....
BANG
Oh for the fucking sake of fuck. Fuck. This had nothing to do with me, nothing at all. Let me eat my damn sandwich.
Though I really tried not to, I could still barely hear a muffled yell from outside. “We aren’t leaving until we get Flare. We will burn this town down if we have to!”
Me and Flare exchanged a glance and ran for the door. I would rather not get this town burned, if I could help it. Of course, it was only after the fact that I realized I had left Serenity alone with a stallion I trusted as far as I could throw him.... Okay bad analogy, I could throw anypony really far.
We ran up to the gate just in time to see an NCA officer (also a ghoul) yell at the half dozen Steel Rangers outside the gate. “Nopony in town by that name, and you'd be fucked up your steel arses if you tried. Now go cry home to your Elder before you get a spanking.”
“Listen, No-coat, we know he's in there and-. He shows himself!” A Steel head turned to me and Flare. I grinned just a bit as I recognized the voice of Curly Fries. “This Foal Killer must be taken into custody! He cannot be allowed to roam free.”
The blue pegasus flicked his yellow and green mane out of his eyes and turned to me, saying so low only I could hear. “Go to Karkhoof, I'll get these steel idiots off your tail and meet you there?” I nodded. “Don't get Serenity killed without me.” With that, he flew into the air and said in his most Flare-like voice. “WELL! YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO CATCH ME!”
I followed his trail as he sped through the air in a blue blur. I kept watching and watching until he was nothing but a speck against the setting sun. As Curly Fries barked orders and the Steel Rangers vainly chased after the speck, I realized something that frightened me to my very soul.
I was worried about Flare.
---
I went back to the restaurant, ate a sandwich (delicious), found a hotel room, went to bed, and had a dream. It was about cupcakes and the proper way to make them using tree sap, then I fought a ninja. You know, sometimes dreams aren't prophetic or important. Though like in all my dreams, Wildfire died at the end.
We had to get up early in the morning to go with the caravan. Apparently, it was going to be another day-and-a-half journey which meant early wake-ups. Luckily, High Stakes was there to wake me up in time, or I may have missed it. I wondered briefly if I could set an alarm on my pipbuck. I quickly smacked myself at the thought because PipBucks were strange magical things that I could not control. Very handy to smack folk with though.
“Serenity.” I poked her sleeping form. “Serenity.” I poked her again causing her tail to flick slightly. Come on, this was ridiculous. “Serenity. Serenity.” Oh come on already just get up. Up!
“Can't you just carry her?” I shot a glare at that snobby unicorn before doing exactly what he suggested. Unsurprisingly, she snuggled into my back and didn't wake up.
Outside the hotel I am too lazy to describe because it was boring, I saw something amazing.
A sunrise.
I had seen them when the world was covered by clouds, but seeing it now was different. The sun basked over the landscape. Over some distant hills, rays of light fanned outward like fire setting the ground and sky alight. The orange rays danced off the multicoloured buildings making them shine like rainbows shining through the morning mist.
Yeah, it was beautiful.
Even High Stakes, that smarmy bastard, seemed impressed. “Let’s go; they won’t wait forever.” Or not. Were his glasses always so shiny? I imagine that made it hard to see.
Snake's Head was deathly still as we moved through the streets. The only sound was our hoofsteps, and the ever-so-subtle snoring of Serenity. It wasn't dark though, and I enjoyed the sight of the rainbow coloured buildings in the morning light, so I was okay with that.
A mare walked up to us as we neared the main gate. “You're late.” Fuck you, I'm late. She was a spindly unicorn with a dark grey coat, a green mane that was cut ludicrously short, and a chip on her shoulder. “We need to get past the canyon a'fore night fall, and you ain't helping.... Is that a fucking foal? Whatever, eel food then.” I was so going to stab her.
“Eels?”
She stared blank faced at me and face hoofed. “You took this route, and don't know 'bout the eels? Whatever, you'll learn quick’r die.” The mare glared and turn away back to the caravan outside the gate. There were a dozen or so waggons full of supplies, and I was surprised to see they were pulled but big, bulky stallions (not as large as I, but then, who was?) instead of brahmin or other such. “You're on the back waggon.”
Whatever.
The waggons were different than the ones I'd seen before. The main compartment was stouter and seemed to hold less, and it had a set of stairs up one side leading to the roof. On top, the was a wooden railing just high enough to lean over, a few cushions, and haphazardly-thrown-around provisions. I placed Serenity one on of said cushions and took a seat looking around. Each of the waggons in the line seemed to have at least four ponies on it, and when we started moving they didn't line up in a straight line. Instead, they went two-by-two, with two waggons sticking close enough together to reach into the one beside it.
They moved fast, too, fast enough to jolt Serenity awake. Finally.
“Wha... where are we?” she asked, as a bump in the road sent her spinning off her cushion. Shaking the hair out of her eyes, she looked around and pouted just a little. “Why didn'tcha wake me up?”
“We tried.” I said simply, favouring her with a smile. Smiles are favourable right?
“Often,” High Stakes said plainly, taking his weapons out of his saddle bags. He claimed to be mercenary, so I was more than a little interested in the weapons he brought. The first seemed to be a riot shotgun with an extended barrel. The other was .308 calibre bolt-action rifle with ironsights. I wasn't that impressed . He seemed to test out the sight of his gun as he said, “I am surprised you stayed asleep as long as you did. You are certainly a determined foal.”
“I'm not a foal,” she said with a determined glare. So he was half right at least. “I'm a big pony. Just... don't have my cutie-mark yet. I will soon! You'll see.” High Stakes only chuckled and fiddled with his glasses at that. Oh what I wouldn't do for a random story....
Did I really miss Flare? He had barely been gone half a day. It was official, I was crazy.
“I know. Ignore him.” I smiled at Serenity but she just stomped off to a corner to brush Scootaborg's mane.
“It is not polite to ignore one's travelling companion.” We ignored Flare too, but at least he had the good manners not to notice. Rolling my eyes, I glanced over to the cart beside us. Four ponies rode atop it looking strangely grim.
Leaning over the edge of the cart, I called to the nearest pony. “What’s with this route?” She was a tiny (mind you most everypony looked tiny from where I stood) orange unicorn with a white and red striped mane. I could feel her magic flare up as she repositioned her rifle so she could lean in over the gap that separated us.
“Land Sharks.”
...
“What?”
She blinked in disbelief at me. I returned the favour. “Land Sharks.... That's what we call'em anyway. Showed up about fifteen years back. Tainted quarray eels that can swim through the ground without breaking it.” How did that make any sense. “Need this route tho-”
“Backup,” a purple stallion, who was resting with his hat over his eyes, said, “shut up. The fucking noobs didn't bother to learn, let them be eaten.” I made a mental note to shoot the fuck out of that guy. It didn’t look like it’d be that difficult. The unicorn seemed lanky, with a long green mane sticking out from under his hat.
“Might be I push you out and let 'em take you,” she spat back. The purple stallion just chuckled and went back to his resting. “Ignore Dragonslayer; he's an ass.”
“Dragonslayer?” That was more than a little bit impressive. Even if he was an ass.
“Well...,” Backup seemed a bit apprehensive about talking behind his back. Or face, or, whatever. “He claims to have killed a dragon. Way he tells it, he lured a dragon into a tight place where it couldn't move very well, painted a mannequin to look like him, dressed it up in his barding and explosives. The dragon thought he’d caught up, tried to lunge, and had his head blown off for the trouble. Been callin' himself that since, but I find it sketchy.”
“It's true,” the stallion pretending to be sleeping said. “Fed my home town for a year. Named it Dragon's Reach after me.” I eyed his flank, looking for a dragon-slaying cutie-mark, but it was hidden by his barding.
“Whatever.” Backup rolled her eyes. “Fact o'the matter is he uses that for a name now. A bit cocky,” Dragonslayer snorted, “but whatever. Like I was saying, this route is dangerous, but the alternative takes like, a week.” She pointed forward as the rows of fast moving waggons we were following.
The road was not a rutted dirt one like I was used to, but instead made from nearly intact concrete. The old-world highway stretched on into the horizon, highlit by the rising sun so I could barely see. Wait.... Digging into my bag I brought out my pink sunglasses and found my sight much better. Not too far off, the highway dipped suddenly as two wall struck out on either side forming a huge canyon.
Right off to the side of the road I saw a huge billboard that managed to survive the past two hundred years. On it’s weathered face was what looked like three ponies in power armour (It looked like Steel Rangers, but i wasn’t sure) standing in front of what looked like a small pre-war town. On it were the words “Have No Fear Caledonians, The Equestrian Army Is Here To Protect You.” Spray painted in red below it were the words, “Thanks. Good Job.”
“An old Caledonian legend says that when Discord first ruled the earth, he found the lands of Caledonia too flat and perfect. So he struck out at it, and created these huge canyons and mountains to break it up. That's why there are so many ravines and hills that seem to make no sense.” Backup nodded at me with a smile. I didn't know for magic or legends but I guess that was as good a theory as any.
“Why would he do that? It's just silly.” I wasn't sure when Serenity started listening in. The speed of the carts made her mane whip into her face, and she angrily sought to disentangle herself. “Why would he do that?”
The unicorn shrugged and gave her very best patronizing smile towards my filly. “Why would Discord do anything?” Serenity considered that for a second before Backup answered. “Because he's Discord. It's in the name.”
“But... my name’s Serenity, and sometimes I do un-serene things.” That was far too logical for my tiny brain to handle, so I just sat back and watched to see if Backup could come up with a smarter answer than me.
Backup had nothing. Once again, my filly proved smarter than full grown mares.
Did I just call her my filly? She was clearly infecting my brain with thoughts of motherhood.
“Maybe,” High Stakes felt the need to interrupted what was clearly a mare's only conversation, “physical personifications of elements of nature name themselves more accurately than wasteland ponies do. It's much harder to explain an element of of Chaos being called Tim, than it is a less than serene unicorn being called Serenity.” Again with the being logical thing. I wholeheartedly disapproved. His glasses seemed to shine in the sunlight.
How did he do that?
I turned my head to the sun and tried to tilt my head down. Then a little to the right. Maybe if I leaned into it I could get the light to hit my glasses just right. What about if I-
“What are you doing?” I turned my head to High Stakes to see his glasses had returned to their normal not shiny state.
“How do you do that?” He simply raised and eyebrow. “Your glasses. They shine sometime. How can you see?” There! They did it again as I mentioned it. That couldn't have been natural. Maybe some sort of Unicorn magic? I'd have to ask Serenity sometime.
“Uh....” He blinked at me as his glasses topped shining. “I’m not sure, I guess it helps when your glasses aren't pink....” Was that an insult? I liked my glasses.... “Just. Nevermind. We have land sharks to watch out for....”
---
The walls of the canyon rose above us-- foreboding, brown, impassible walls. The canyon seemed to stretch on forever, and only the sun above stopped me from feeling like I was trapped in a dark tunnel again. The highway was tight here and littered with holes. It seemed to take an inordinate amount of effort for the ponies pulling the carts to keep up their speed while dodging the potholes.
“Through solid stone....” I mumbled to myself. I'd heard once that Hell Hounds could dig faster than a pony could run, but to pass through it as if it wasn't even there...? It just seemed... weird and unnatural.
“Don't worry too much,” Backup said in the cart beside me, “sometimes they don't ever show up.” Right. I wanted to believe her, but the look on her face made it clear she was lying. Even if she had managed to hide the grim smile, I could see Dragonslayer and the two other ponies in her cart, and I could see the way the other ponies rode glumly through the pass in front of me. “There's two types. The biggies and the smalls. The small ones latch onto the biggies and jump off near ponies, and they're the real danger. Poisonous fucker can kill a pony in ten minutes flat.” I gulped and nodded.
“So. Why not the long way?”
“Well...,” Backup seemed to be searching for the words. “The NCA needs the zebras, ya know? They can make water cleansing talismans, not as potent as pre-war stuff but effective. Thing is they need lots, often to keep their farm running so to them it's a calculated risk.” Gambling with ponies lives? Lovely.
A roar shut me up.
It echoed through the chasm making my coat stand up on end. “Serenity,” I said softly. “Wear your cloak.” If nothing else, it might stop a poisonous bite. She nodded and quickly draped it over herself, the brown of it nearly blending in with the waggon floor. “And,” I slid over the pistol I had got back in the tunnels. There was a faint smile on her lips, but I could see she was tentative when it came to picking it up. Bad memories with it and all. “Just in case.”
“Okay....” She looked at it and I saw a pink glow engulf the weapon, floating it in the air. “I... don't want to hurt anypony with it.”
“You won’t....” I felt a surge of magic behind me, and I turned to see High Stakes standing tall with his two weapons floating in red beside him, and the breeze whipping at his red mane. He sure liked to be dramatic.
Another roar shook the ravine.
“Mr. House needs Karkhoof dealt with so it would be my personal suggestion that you do not die.” Thanks, Mr Tall Unicorn. You're always so helpful. I had to wonder if ponies called him Captain Obvious behind his back.
Ponies started screaming. The jolt of extra speed nearly took me off my feet. I searched the ground, but I couldn't see it. Somepony had seen something. I didn't know what, but it had spooked them. Of course that was until I noticed the shadow. I'd thought it was only a trick of the cavern at first.
Until I looked up.
Holy fucking shit. The Eel looked like a giant red snake with a million green spines sticking off it. It's dragon-like mouth was wide open and it was falling. It wasn’t the only one. As I looked up, two more sprang from holes in the side of the rock wall and started their freefall.
Oh, and one was aiming straight towards us.
Subtlety blasted at the thing. I saw it connect in a flurry of green gunk and a spark of flame, but it didn't even slow down. I grabbed Serenity and dove. The beast crashed into our cart, sheering half of it off. Suddenly, I was sliding. I managed to hang on by slamming my metal hoof through the floor, catching me. Most of my body was left hanging slamming into the remains of the cart, water from the waggon's cargo spilling on the ground marking our trail. The road seemed to zip past me as I looked down, making me dizzy. I looked back at the huge red beast. It wasn't falling into the ground, but seemed to pass through it like a fish through water.
The green spines on it's back wiggled for a second before breaking off and leaping off. No. Not green spines, other eels. They hit the ground, passed through it, and then leaped through the air a second later, much closer than they had been.
My leg slammed painfully against the remains of the waggon. Despite the condition of their vehicle, the ponies hitched to the front still ran, but that may have been just to save their own lives. Back on the cart, Serenity clung tightly to the railings near Backup's cart, and High Stakes managed to stand despite the now-sloped floor. Show off.
“Help!” I calmly suggested to High Stakes. As he started towards my hanging body, I corrected him. “Not me! Serenity.” he gave me the blankest look as if hanging by my metal leg near poisonous flesh eating land sharks was more important than a filly! Idiot. With a flurry of magic I gave a sigh of relief as he lifted Serenity onto Backup's cart. Thank Celestia she was safe at least.
Pain. Tears watered in my eyes from the fiery pain in my leg, but I forced them away. One of those green fuckers were hanging off me, chewing at my flesh with what looked like glee.
Ten minutes until death? Challenge accepted.
As I flapped in the wind, my other leg kicked at the beast. It seemed to growl low and deep at me, so I kicked it again. The third time, my hoof found it's eye, and it flew off this a squish. Despite everything I knew, it still was a shock when it didn't slam into the ground but fall through it.
Looking back towards High Stakes, I reached out and grabbed his hoof which he at some point extended at me. I could see his green eyes watching my wounded leg with near concern. Blood dripped from it, and I could have sworn I felt the burn of poison snaking through it, but dammit there wasn't time. With a tug, I tore my metal leg from where I smashed it through the floor, and he, with magical enhanced strength, lifted me from the brink.
“Maybe we should switch rides?” He nodded his head towards Backup's cart. Totally Captain Obvious.
Not bothering to worry about leaping at high speed from cart to cart, I crossed the gap. I was just in time to see Serenity blow away a land shark with her pistol. That's momma's girl.
Fuck. Ignore that last sentence.
“Where the hell have you been!” Being worm food. You? “Get shooting.” Backup didn't even look my way as her rifle fired shot after shot off the back of the waggon. The green beasts jumped up towards her again and again, but she and Dragonslayer did a good job keeping them at bay. Sort of. To my sides I could see the land sharks flying through the air just at eye level before diving back into the ground.
“Serenity. Behind me.” I was a good shield, even if I was bleeding a little bit.
The first eel that Subtlety hit flew backwards through the air, catching fire and landing with a thud on the concrete. Okay, they only moved through the ground when alive. It had to have been some sort of taint magic. That was a thing, right?
Ack. My rambling thought process distracted me enough to let a eel get too close. Luckily, the fucking thing couldn't eat steel. My metal leg kicked it off, lining me up for what must have been the easiest shot in the world. The beast became engulfed in flames, and rammed into another shark in mid air, setting it on fire too.
Yeah, I'm pretty awesome.
High Stakes, for his annoyingness, wasn't bad either. He switched between his rifle and shotgun with almost scary ease. The further beasts got a taste of .308 lead, but the ones that got too close took a buckshot to the face. Either way, they fell in droves, making me feel just a little jealous. How was I supposed to compete with a unicorn?
“Serenity.” I said feeling something being tied around my back leg. “Is this really the time.” I turned my head to look at her, but she didn't even acknowledge me. At least she had something to occupy her mind other than green and red death flying in at every angle.
Not for the first time I regretted dragging her around with me.
“SHIT!” Dragonslayer turned and pointed.
I looked up towards the rest of the caravan just in time for to see a red quarray eel leap out of the ground. It caught an entire waggon whole. With a snap it's giant mouth closed. Bits of pony and wood rained over the canyon, but that wasn't what worried me. I was more concerned with the fact our cart was about to run right beside the giant red mass, and it was still squirming with smaller eels.
“Serenity!” She didn't need to be told twice to use me as cover as the five of us turned to the side of the cart. “High Stakes, Dragonslayer, take point. Backup, beside me.”
“Who put you in charge?” Dragonslayer cried. Well, obviously I did. Instead of answering, I unleashed eight shots of fire into the giant eel's side, setting a whole section ablaze. Green eels peeled off the beast and hit the ground as burning sludge. If that didn't put me in charge, I'd no idea what would. Dragonslayer declined to comment, so I guess that left me in charge.
“I need a grenade.” In a second, one was soaring through the air. I caught it with my mouth, and shoved it into one of my barding's front pockets, just in time for the first wave.
The green vermin flew from the top of the giant, raining down on top of us. I could hear the remaining ponies pulling our old cart fall and scream. It made me shiver, but I couldn't afford to watch them die. Subtlety flared out. Part of me hated having to waste fire bullets on vermin, but fuck these vermin. They were terrible. And they bit me! Subtlety turned everything it touched into ash, but it fired slowly, and I had to reload so very often. Even Backup with her rifle did better, but not with nearly as much class.
Turning to my side, I realized how good a thing it was that High Stakes was covering our drivers' flanks. Otherwise despite all my planning, we'd still be really, really dead. Congratulations came later!
Fuck, we were getting too close. Our cart was going to pass by the main beast in seconds. I really hoped this worked.
“Cover my flank!” I screamed, biting into my bridle. Eight shots. Reload. Eight more shots. I had to keep firing until it looked right. The thing had hard skin, but if I could make a big enough hole. I fired eight more fire bullets into the beast. I made the mistake of looking up and seeing just how little of the beast I was actually hurting. It was like an ant stabbing a hellhound.
More green bastards fell. Shots blared out, but I deafened myself to it. We inched closer as if in slow motion. There, the red scales melted down it's body. There was my target. The grenade was cool in my mouth. Beyond all reasoning I was calm, even with the fire and pain around me. There. The grenade left my mouth, and I pushed at it hard with my metal leg. I didn't feel my leg enter the burning Eel, but when I tore it free it was covered in blood and guts. Lovely.
Our cart passed the beast. Three seconds passed.
BOOM
There was a scream like nothing else I'd heard before. It was an otherworldly wail that seemed to shake the ground. Just hearing it made my heart beat faster in my chest. The creature continued it's cry as it fell backward slowly, sinking into the ground.
I let out the breath I was holding. Whatever it was, it wasn't dead, but I doubt it'd feel like following us after that.... Or I just made it angry. I sucked in another breath and leaned over the railing. The road behind us was deathly silent. Corpses of ponies and beasts alike seemed to litter the canyon, strew haphazardly between bits of splintered wood and burning carcasses. It smelled like fiery death.
“Fuck.” I spun, and instinct made me lower my head to my bridle. Dragonslayer was standing above Backup's body, sweat drenching his brow. The mare was bleeding heavily, the blood pooling on the floor around her, from a bite wound to her flank. Already, I could see her begin to pale. Ten minutes. That's what she said. Her wound seemed to already be infected with a strange smelling green pus. I wasn't sure when she was bit, but I don't think it mattered....
I looked back at the bite on my leg. Against all logic it was... normal. Like any other wound I've had, it stung, but I wasn't dying. I was poisoned, I should be dying....
“Hurts....” I ran over to the dying mare. Serenity was wiping backup's brow, and started to pour a healing potion down her throat. “No....” She gave a halfhearted wave of her hoof. “No... dying....” I stood beside her, my body casting a show over her face. Her eyes shot to me, and I could see how weary she looked. So old. “Finish i-”
BANG
Serenity shrieked and started to sob. Bits of Backup’s skull skidded across the cart, as even more blood stained the floor. Among other fluids. Dragonslayer, he with a stupid name, had a smoking gun glowing beside him.
So I kicked him. Not hard. Just hard enough to send him to the floor so I could press my metal leg down on his throat. Just a little more pressure and his head would pop. “What the fuck!” Maybe I shouldn't have yelled. I was too stressed to care. “Why did you-”
“She was dying. Tends to be, you know. Deadly. There is no cure, not yet. I gave her relief. Would you prefer she suffer?” What? No! We should have helped. We could have. We.... I wasn't supposed to care was I? When I cared about ponies they always died, so why did I start again?
I lifted my foot off.
She was just one pony. A pony I just met. She was dying anyway. He did the right thing.
So why did I care?
---
“It's your fault they're dead.” I didn't wince at the accusation. I let is flow over me, I let myself ignore it. “You took too damn long getting ready. You were late. We leave for a fucking reason. We get there before they wake up; we get there when they're too groggy to attack. Because of you, we lost three carts, and over a dozen good ponies.” My face was stern. So long as I didn't show emotions her accusations couldn't sting.
“Sorry.”
“Sorry, won’t bring back those ponies’ lives!” the grey mare said, spraying spittle in my face. It wasn't my fault those ponies died. The NCA decided their lives were worth the Zebra's talismans, and the ponies themselves decided it was worth the risk. The few minutes I was late had changed nothing, and she knew it. I couldn't blame her for lashing out at me, though. She had lost more ponies this run than the last ten runs combined and she needed somepony to blame.
I was good at taking the blame.
“Don't you have anything to say!?” The camp would have been quiet if she was not yelling. The caravan had travelled far after the incident with the Eels. Nopony talked much. We had lost two carts and a handful of other ponies. By the time we stopped for the night, everypony was exhausted mentally and physically, so much so that only a few stayed up to watch me get yelled at.
“Sorry.”
“Get out of my camp. You and your friends. Get out and don't come back.” She glared at me. Not me. She was mad at her own failure and used me as a punching bag. I was okay with that. I didn't need the caps for this trip, I just needed to get to Karkhoof. I forget why. It didn't seem important.
Was I really still upset about Backup? I had known Lye for longer, but I managed to put her into the that place in the back of my mind that I never touched. Why couldn't I do that for Backup?
Maybe it had something to do with Serenity's tears. Or the fact she succumbed to the poison and I didn't. The thought made my back leg itch, but I was still alive. Somehow.
The thoughts were making my head hurt. I turned away from the still-screaming mare, and headed for my companions. She kicked me out, so I left. It meant I wasn't on her payroll anymore so I didn't have to play punching bag for her.
“Serenity, Stakes.” I said, walking up to them. Despite the fact it was well-past sundown, they both seemed well awake. It may have something to do with the fact I made them take a long nap after the land shark incident. Honestly, I half-expected this outcome. The mare would need to blame somepony, and who better than a slow earth pony? I didn't begrudge her it, so long as she left Serenity out of it.
“We need to go.” I finished. High Stakes showed a spark of annoyance, then give a resigned sigh. Serenity, on the other hoof, just jumped onto my back and got comfortable. You let a sick filly ride on your back once, and you're a taxi for life. “Got kicked out. Because we were late.”
“Glad to see the NCA has kept their common sense and good manners in these troubled times.” Was that a joke? I wasn't quite sure, so I nodded. I do that a lot. Often times I nod dumbly. I don't really know what makes a nod dumb, but I think it happens when I nod.
“Right.”
Nothing else left to say, I led my squad outside the camp. The ground was rough and rocky, but between my pipbuck and the stars above, we could see fine. After we left the camp, everything became.... Quiet. The sounds of the camp behind us slowly faded, and it seemed nopony was up for talking. Inanely, I missed Flare. He would never have let it get so quiet.... Since when did I find quietness a bad thing?
Damn that blue pony.
It made no sense. I didn't even like him. He was just some stupid pony that followed me around. Was I so devoid of friends in my life that I would consider such an annoying braggart one? Or maybe... maybe I felt bad for what happened to him back at the Steel Rangers. But that would imply I cared about anypony beside myself, which was clearly not true. Except for Serenity of course.... And Wildfire. That filly whose name I refused to think of. Something in the back of my head told me Pearly was a good pony too. And Photo Finish, but only because she helped me. And Backup for some reason....
For Celestia's sake, I cared about ponies. I swore off that, and yet here it was again. Coming back. It needed to change. When I cared, ponies died.
“Why did you leave?” High Stakes asked quietly, careful not to wake up Serenity. How did that filly sleep so much? “You could have demanded to stay. You could have pressured her into giving you your pay.”
“She told me to. It was an order.” It was simple enough. Until she kicked me out I would follow her orders.
“So? She didn't fulfil her end of the bargain; why should you?”
“I....” I took a look around. The highway seemed to stretch on forever into the night, spiralling up a steep hill before being obscured by ever growing mountains. It was a simple question he asked, but he just wouldn't understand. “Because. She ordered me.”
“Do you always act like that? Like you are some tool to be used, abused, and tossed away at your employer's whims. Despite your job, you are still a pony.” Really? He really didn't know me very well if he was going to try to philosophize at me.
“No. I am a tool. That's the way it should be.” Cold, emotionless. A perfect weapon. I had tried to be that at the start, and it all broke down when I killed Silver Bullet. So what was I now? I wasn't Silver Storm, but I wasn't really Hired Gun either. “Ponies use me as a tool. I'm okay. The blood is on their hooves.” Not mine. I was just a tool, a gun for other ponies to shoot. I....
Don't know.
“That's flimsy reasoning.” Yes, it really was wasn't it? Even for me. “Why do you do it?”
I stopped. I could feel the darkness of the night engulfing me and there was a tightening in my stomach. The road up to Karkhoof suddenly seemed so.... Pointless. What reason did I have to go up there? Why did I even want to work for Mr. House? I had kept on moving, kept on walking because I wanted to survive, but was that really enough? My survival for the lives of all the ponies I killed. I was just another pawn in a world of pawns, ready to be used and thrown away, so did it even matter. Eventually I was going to die, my meaningless life extinguished. So why did I try? For some misguided sense of pride or self-worth? I could feel my knees weaken as I slowly began to realize that I had no reason for walking, no reason for living, and no hope at-
There was a sound that took me out of my sudden bout of over dramatic emoness.
A snore. I turned my head and saw Serenity on my back. She seemed even smaller then, curled up on my back, her sleeping face illuminated by Luna's light. She was innocent, a little light in the big dumb darkness that blanketed the wasteland. She was something worth protecting, something that needed to be cared for.
But not by me. She deserved better.
---
Karkhoof was not hard to find. We followed the highway even as it circled through a series of tight mountain passes. Luckily, even as we walked higher and higher there were no sheer cliffs or steep hills to aggravate my not-fear-of-heights. It was a beautiful area though. High peaks of mountaintops rose all around, making it hard not to stop and marvel at them. As we followed along, between brown trees, I saw smoke and smelt fire.
It was a camp. And a large one.
“Doesn't that hurt?” Serenity stood on my back, leaning over to see the wound on my leg. We had walked all through the night, and the sun was just beginning to show itself. I paused for a second to admire the sun cresting over white capped mountain tips as a wind sent spirals of snow off a peak and into the distance.
“No.” It did. Only a little though, as I had taken a shot of med-x during the night. “Don't worry.” She would worry of course. Even with the bandage job she gave it, she was still sure it needed a health potion. Not that we had any to spare. Still, I could see it bothered her. She wanted so much to be a good, helpful pony....
I stopped for a second.
The three of us had travelled a long ways since the fight with the Steel Rangers. From boats, to caravans, to being kicked out and forced to walk. It seemed to happen so fast, but it all seemed.... I'm not sure. I wasn't sure of much. Part of me desperately wanted to return to Dise, because even in chaos there was stability. The sense that you could find a place, even if it was at the lowest rung. Here, in the wastes, who knows? I could travel from place to place, fight to fight, and never really find something steady.
“Are we not going? Mr. House will not wait forever.” High Stakes didn't seemed tired from our all night hiking trip up a mountain. He was a mercenary after all, so that was to be expected.
“Yeah.” The camp was not very well defended. A few turned-out slabs of concrete served as a barrier at the end of the highway. Beyond the two mercenary guards that stood behind the barricade was a mishmash of tents strewn around a series of fire pits. Unsurprisingly, most seemed similar to the tents found in The Watchers camp. Somewhere deep in the camp a flagpole rose. Flapping from it's crest was a simple flag showing a rising sun.
Behind the camp, I could just barely see Karkhoof. It had small grey walls that didn't seem like they'd hold well if Celestia's Vision decided to kill all the zebras themselves. Not that I really cared either way. I was just here to do my job and get one of the factions to leave. Or die. Whatever worked, I suppose.
“Halt, who goes there?” Really, that old bit? Apparently somepony took their job way too seriously.
I trotted slowly up to the guards and felt a slight burning as they started to point their weapons magically at me. “Hey.” I looked at the automatic rifle floating by one of the guards’ side. “Stop that. I work for House. Need to speak with whoever runs the camp.”
The guards stopped. Apparently, even way out here in the wastes, House still had clout. Even when dealing with ponies known to protest his cybernetic company. Sort of interesting. I filed that away into 'things that may be useful later' section of my brain.
“Who are you?”
I started to respond, but High Stakes trotted in front of me. So much for letting me handle the situation. “I am Mr. High Stakes, representative of Mr. House. It is requested we are allowed access to the camp.” The guard glared for a second but then sort of shrugged.
“Sure,” he said with a hint of a smirk. “Go ahead. Righteous Song is near the gate. Don't do anything... stupid.”
That was. Interesting. High Stakes lead us through the camp so deftly I'd have thought he’d been there before, except the camp had only been there a week at most. Maybe he was just a good pathfinder. Not a bad trait to have. Upon closer inspection, I determined the multitude of tents were the exact same as the ones found in The Watcher's compound.
There was that connection again. There were always connections between the Watchers and Celestia's Vision. Which was strange to me, because Serenity was clearly taught enough about cybernetics to be obsessed with them, and Morowind was a cybernetics expert. Yet Celestia's Vision hated cybernetics as a rule, so how connected to the Watchers could they be?
“...wicked things, but you need not hear it from me! Look through these bars and see for yourself. Look at how they hate you, look at how they fear and despise you. Discord tried to make ponies, but he could not, and see the fruit of his work. So close to us, so close the majesty that Celestia designed and yet so flawed. So filled with anger and hatred. They pervert our great land and destroyed our beautiful kingdom, and yet we let them scavenge off our corpse! How can this be allowed?”
We heard the voice before we saw the crowd. It seemed all the ponies in the camp had swarmed the giant metal gate to Karkhoof in order to hear Righteous Song. She wasn't hard to miss, standing confidently on top of a soap box and spew hate convincingly. Behind her stood the gate and behind that, I could see a half dozen Zebra's watching on with thinly-concealed rage.
“So, we ask you again! Will you leave peacefully?” Song was a short white unicorn mare with a long blond mane and a rising sun for a cutie-mark. Despite her size, when she spoke, it was very hard not to listen. There was a sense of command about it that couldn't be ignored.
“Leave us alone!” one of the Zebra's shouted.
“When you leave, my stripped friend.” Song smirked. “You have three days, if you are not gone by then may Celestia save your soul.” She jumped off the soap box and started walking through the crowd. The masses of ponies screamed and surged around her, but nopony seemed to get close enough to touch. They wanted to praise Song but were careful not to touch her.
This was easy to see from my vantage point, being tall has it's advantages. I started moving towards Song... only for the crowd to push me back violently. Dammit. I tried again, but the ponies pushed me back again, as if I wasn't even there. How many ponies were even here? I had no idea Celestia's Vision attracted so many stupid ponies.
“Why not kick your way through?” Serenity asked, resting her forelegs on top of my head.
“Because.” I grunted trying to force my way through the crowd. “hard to make a deal. With a pony. After you kick their followers.”
Grah! I stepped back and watched the crowd. How could one pony have that many fans! It wasn't like she was the Bringer of Light, or Security, or anything. She wasn't a hero; she was just some random pony that liked to talk. But damn, her followers were determined not to let me get a word in edge wise.
“So. You are thinking of siding with Celestia's Vision, despite their ideas on cybernetics.” Shut the fuck up, High Stakes. At least when Flare talked he said things worth listening to. Or were at least entertaining. “This is an interesting choice.”
“Whatever.” I turned back to the camp, ignoring Song for the time. I had already agreed to find some way to break these ponies up, but I didn't have a sweet clue as to how. If only I could get an easy answer.
“You.” I looked up suddenly to see a pony staring at me. Wait.
“Dragonslayer?” Why was he here? The Caravan wasn't supposed to be here for a few hours at least. I could feel Serenity tense up at the name on my back. She was still mad about Backup. I couldn't blame her. She was so innocent. The only time I'd seen her not balk at death was when I killed the slavers that I almost sold her to.... That was a bad memory.
“Oh, you remember. Good. That will make this a tad easier.” He followed me.... But why? “What exactly is your business here?” I blinked at the purple unicorn. He looked different somehow. More confident, which was impressive considering how cocky he had been before. The wind blew his green mane into his eyes, but he didn't even blink. “You're here on House’s orders.”
“You-” High Stakes took a step forward. “How do you know that? This mission is a secret, so I kindly as-”
“Shut it, four eyes.” That was original. “Do you really think the Dise gangs don't spy on Mr. House? I recognized you the second I laid my eyes on you. Not that hard to remember, seeing as you're the only non-cyberpony House has on his payroll. When I saw Miss Hired Gun, I knew exactly what was going on.”
“You're a dummy; you don't know anything.” Way to go Serenity.
“Maybe, little miss. My points stands.” The Unicorn adjusted his hat sending a flare of pain through my shoulder.... Wait.
A light bulb went off in my head.
Dragonslayer had to have been following us to get here. But he hadn’t used magic or I would have sensed it. That meant he purposely left his magic off, so he must have known about my sensing skill. Whoever this pony was, he wasn't tell the telling whole truth. He knew about my power, so who was he working for?
“I need you to do a job for me,” Dragonslayer said crossing his legs casually. “I need you to start a war.” I looked around quickly to make sure we were alone. The crowd of ponies had moved on, and over at the gate the Zebras had left, too. Why was it so quiet all of a sudden? “Moreover, I need you to make sure it looks like the Zebras started it.”
“Who are you working for Mr-” I cut High Stakes off before he thought he actually got a say.
“Okay.” I said. “But. I want the payment up front.”
Dragonslayer laughed. “Deal. It doesn't matter who wins. Just make sure the Zebras start it.” With a flurry of magic, he took out a single pistol.
Not an ordinary pistol though. It had intricate silver etchings in the handle, and seemed to be polished to a shine. It looked .32 calibre, but it was not a make I recognized. I leaned in close to inspect it, and found it.... Strange. I wasn't sure how to explain, but it was different than any pony pistol.
“A zebra pistol. Enchanted to make slugs fly faster and hit harder. This along with 500 caps.” I licked my lips and nodded. It was a good weapon.
Deals were made, caps were exchanged, and Dragonslayer vanished into the distance. Or something. I never did ask who he worked for. I suppose it really didn't matter. A contract from one pony was as good as a contract from any other. When he was far enough away I helped Serenity off my back and ignored the protests of High Stakes.
“Serenity.” I went to one knee and looked her in the eyes. She was upset. At me for taking this job. At Dragonslayer. At everyone it seemed like. “Here.” I laid the pistol in front of her. In a second all of her sadness vanished and she stared in shock at me. I was a horrible parent and a horrible caretaker. If nothing else, this proved that. “You want to follow me. That's okay. But it's dangerous. You can have this. I....” Didn't want to give her a weapon. I didn't want to ruin her innocence. But she needed to protect herself. I realized this with the land sharks. “I don't want you fighting with me. It is for emergencies. If you have no other option.”
She nodded and lifted the weapon up slowly, marvelling at it.
It was not a good sight. She was innocent, and I was not. If she had to come with me, I wanted to make sure she could protect herself. The sight of her holding a gun though.... It was hard for me to take. She was going to become me, and she could be so much better. She needed to leave, to go back with the Watchers. And I knew how to convince her.
---
“I know you.”
I seemed to be getting more popular. Or more noticed. Maybe it had something to do with my my particular hair colouration. Or my strange cutie mark. Or, far more likely, that I was a huge hulking mare with a metal leg. We were a rare breed in the wasteland, so I am sure I made an impression on most ponies. Somehow I think becoming a lackey to Mr. House was not going to help my infamy issues.
The Zebra on the other side of the gate was a large kind. Not as large as I was, but it took a special pony to match me. “Who are you?” It was still midday at this point. I knew the caravan should be coming into the camp any moment and I was hurrying to make myself scarce before then.
“I.” The Zebra glared at me. “We met. At stable 123.” I don't think I remember seeing any Zebra's there. “Me and two ponies. You convinced us to leave when we tried to capture your daughter.” She's not my daughter.
“I'm not her daughter.” Wait, what? Serenity was suddenly lying on top of my head grinning at the zebra. “Not yet but soon will be. Right?” I....
Had to wonder if she knew how her words made me feel. If she was just using my insecurities to twist my gut until I gave in.... Nah. That couldn't be it.
“Not important. When we left the stable, my two companions died in a raider attack. I guess I have you to thank.” Not a problem. Always happy to help. “Doesn't matter. They were asses anyway. Called back to the clan... what exactly do you want?”
“Why. To help of course.” I gave him the most sincere smile I could muster. As it turned out, I was pretty good at mustering smiles. The Zebra didn't seem that convinced. “And because Mr. House of Dise sent me to aid you.” I nodded my head towards the massive form of Subtlety.
“Mr. House? Why would he care?” Thankfully, High Stakes came to my rescue with the best answer.
“Celestia's Vision has been plaguing his operations in Dise for months. Enemy of my enemy, so on and so forth. “ That was true to the extent it was a believable lie. However it would make no sense for House to send agents against a group that is currently leaving him alone.
Yeah, but on the other hoof he did send me here. To deal with the situation. Would he really send a recruit on a mission that potentially decided the fate of an entire village? Come to think of it, I barely knew anything about him. Most ponies seemed to to be forthcoming with information. All I knew was that he liked cybernetics, possibly was around before the war (maybe a super advanced cyborg), and didn't meddle much with politics.
The zebra looked contemplative. “I shall speak to the elder. Don't move.” The zebra stalked away giving me plenty of time to examine the zebras’ compound.
The wall was not as large as Dise’s, but it looked more. Sturdy. A maybe twelve-foot-high barrier made in the pre-war era. It was more designed to stop ponies from looking in than it was to stop them from breaking it. Hanging above the wall and splattered with spray paint was a sign that read, 'Karkhoof Vacations'. Peering inside the complex, I saw two rows of fake log cabins placed in a semi-circle around the gate. In the centre, directly in front of the gate, was a large three story building that could only have been the administrative building. Or something.
I couldn't see any zebras though. Besides the one that was guarding the gate (who apparently knew me), all the others seemed to be holed up in their houses waiting for the ponies to leave them alone.... Why exactly did ponies hate Zebras? I mean, I know there was a war a fifth of a millennium ago, but that hardly seemed relevant. Yes, ponies still hated zebras, and vice versa. Two hundred years was far too long to hold a grudge. So what if my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother got killed by a zebra? Ponies confused me.
“Why do they have stripes?” Serenity asked.
“Because they are zebras. Why else?” I wondered if it was impossible for High Stakes not to be haughty. It didn't help that from what I've seen he was actually skilled enough to warrant arrogance.
“But... I mean why do zebras have stripes? Wha’do they do?” Out of the corner of my eye I could see a flash of confusion on the pale green unicorn's face.
“They... you know, I am not rightly sure. I suppose they do the same thing as a ponies’ colour, which is to say little-to-nothing.” I chuckled a bit at the explanation. I didn't expect that to sate Serenity's curiosity, and she moved to ask more, but the guard came back. Serenity was smart enough to be quite during negotiations, at least most of the time.
The zebra returned with an elderly zebra mare. Is mare the correct term? Whatever, I'm going with mare. The Zebra that I apparently knew bowed respectfully. “Thank you, Zahini. Leave us.” The zebra backed away just far enough so he couldn't hear but still close enough to watch. “I am Ahgna. Who are you?”
“Hired Gun....”
“Serenity!”
“I am High Stakes. It is a pleasure.”
That about covered it. The zebra's deep grey eyes studied us closely, lingering and narrowing at my metal leg. “Why?” Not this question again. I'd enough of naval gazing for the moment, thank you very much. “These... ponies hate us. The NCA merely tolerates us. Why does this, House, care?” There was a sharpness to her tone that could only have come from many years of cynicism.
I coughed into my hoof and waited for High Stakes to answer. He didn't and instead stared blank faced at me. That ass. “Well....” I started. Then stopped. I had a speech planned. What was it. Fuck. Improvisation. “Well. You see. Celestia's Paradise. Doesn't like. You. Or.... uh. Cyborgs....” I hated that term. Cyborg. It made me feel like I wasn't a real equine 'cause I got shot with a space bullet once. “And I am. You see. And Mr. House likes cyborgs. So....” I paused to blink. There was more. What was I going to say....
“Do you always let your hired help speak for you, Mr. High Stakes?” I flushed and looked intently at the ground. If she wanted me to be the dumb muscle, I might as well oblige.
“Sorry,” he chuckled. “I wanted to see what she would say.”
“You are not doing a good job of convincing me,” Ahgna said plainly.
“The easiest answer is that Mr. House has reasons for wanting to give Celestia's Vision as much trouble as possible. They often harass his customers, and it would be just good business if they had as much trouble here as possible.” The elderly Zebra seemed to accept that, if tentatively.
“And the filly?”
“Hired Gun's technician.”
The zebra licked her cracked lips and nodded. Then nodded again. “Yes. Come in then. I warn you, if any of my zebra's die in 'freak' accidents, you'll go with.” So she obviously didn't believe our story. Or was wary enough of ponies’ treacherous ways to make sure we understood.
Ahgna nodded to Zahini who trotted over to the gate. Ever so slowly it slid open, just enough to let three of us in.
Karkhoof was eerily quiet. We walked down the main path with rows of cabins circling inward to the main building. When I looked over to one of the fake-log houses, I thought I saw a trio of striped faces. But as soon as they realized I was looking, they ducked away and curtains slammed shut. Turning my head the other direction I just caught sight of a door slamming in my face. Apparently, ponies weren't popular here. Considering the mob outside, I couldn't really blame them.
“If you really want to help, you can take a sniper position. Zahini show them.” The stallion (or male zebra. I really needed to learn these terms) nodded respectfully and followed along. “Do not talk to zebras.” Ahgna said. It wasn't a threat, but more of a warning. “They may warm up to you, may not. They might just kill you.” That was a nice thought I suppose.
We stopped in front of the double doors to the large three story log building. “Follow Zahini. I have things to attend to....” She paused for as second struggling with her words. “If you are sincere, thank you....” There was a sense of honestly in her dark grey eyes that made my insides squirm. I wasn't being sincere, not by far. It made me almost feel like I was betraying this pony... zebra I hardly knew.
I was. But not for the reasons she expected.
---
The entrance to the main room seemed fairly nice. The wooden interior (or at least fake wood, wasn’t so sure on the matter) seemed relatively clean, and on the floor was an intricately-designed rug. To my right upon entering, was a long bar-like desk that I had to assume was where ponies checked in. We were led down a small corridor that immediately ended in stairs. Not much else to comment on, except that on the walls were woven murals of scenes I didn’t recognize.
“And that means it is time for the news!” There was a few seconds pause because Mr. New Haygas laughed. “Just kidding. We have a brand new song from 'The Traveller'. Enjoy kiddos.” Zahini lead us slowly up through the building before bringing us to a cramped room on the third floor. The only noticeable feature was a window pointing outwards towards the camp of crazy ponies outside Karkhoof. From the third floor I was high enough to see over the wall, but not so high I was going to have a panic attack anytime soon.
“Watch for trouble,” the zebra said coldly. “Don't shoot first.” A song started playing over my pipbuck's radio. It was a new song alright, and featured the sun as it's primary source of inspiration.
“You hate me.” I wasn't sure if that was a statement, question, or something far stupider. But for whatever reason my remarkably slow brain decided that was the thing to say.
“Yes,” the zebra said simply, as the song continued. Yes, it was about the sun, but not about its light. The Traveller sung of how beautiful the sun was, and how deadly. “I hate ponies.”
“All ponies? What about those you were with at the stable?”
“They --” He paused for a second. “Yes. I hated them. When zebras receive their glyph mark, the elder lets them leave. Explore the pony world. I left longer than most, but like everyone else I returned to Karkhoof.”
“I....” Didn't bother asking why he hated us. The mob outside seemed like a fair enough reasons. Not that they were exactly representative of ponykind as a whole, but if all you've ever known is angry mobs, it's hard not to understand. Me? I didn't hate Zahini. He hasn't really done enough to deserve it yet. I disliked him, sure, but I disliked just about everypony I met. Everyone I met.
Without another word, Zahini turned and walked away. I stared at his flank as he left. No not his flank, I meant his cutie mark.... Glyph mark.... Thing. It was not like a pony’s. It was like a swirling black vortex with symbols and meaning. Or.... I wasn't sure. Sometimes I try too hard to make things meaningful. As he finally vanished from view, The Traveller sung about how the sun was back, and this was great and horrible. About how every silver lining is often accompanied with a horrible black cloud.
The Traveller was not the most optimistic pony.
“High Stakes.” I turned to the pale green pony. “Wait in the hall.” He blinked for a second but nodded his approval. A few seconds later there was only me and Serenity in the small cramped room.
My stomach twisted at the thought of what I was about to do.
But I had to do it. I had to show her that I wasn't a good mother. I wasn't who she should be looking up to. Maybe she wasn't as innocent as I liked to believe, but she was still naive.
“Serenity.” My tone was too harsh. I knew. But I had to keep a stern face. If I was to do this thing, I had to do it right. “Here.” I pulled over a stack of boxes and set them in front of the window. She tilted her head at me, but jumped up anyway. “Watch.”
I scanned the area. The court yard of Karkhoof was still deathly silent. A few zebras had left their houses, but they seemed to creep along quietly, trying not to be noticed. Out in the camp, I could see ponies surrounding campfires, and they seemed to smiling and laughing heartily. Off at the edge of the camp I could see Dragonslayer watching me. Or.... I wasn't really sure if he saw me, but he was looking in my direction. He wasn't with the camp, more like looking over it from a distance.
“I'm not a good pony.” Serenity moved to speak but I cut her off. “I'm not. Let me finish.” My eyes found what I was looking for. The caravan I was with before had finally arrived, and it's leader was sitting by a fire being served soup by an excited looking colt. “I do bad things.” The scope of Subtlety snapped over my eye.
“For example.” I zoomed in on the black mare. I never did learn her name. “I am going to kill a random pony. To start a war. She may be a good pony for all I know. But I am going to kill her. For money.”
“Don't do this, Mommy....” I didn't look at her. I knew what she was going to look like already. I.... I didn't want to do what I was about to do, but I had to. I had to show her who her mommy really was. “You don't....”
“I do have to. I took a job.” Take the job, kill the pony. I was just an assassin. One step up from a raider. Nanny Jane, Roy Mustang, this leader of the caravan. I killed them all. I killed them all, and they all never saw me coming. Maybe this made me evil, but whatever it made me, Serenity needed to see. Or else maybe she'd try to be like me, and I couldn't take that risk. Saving a pony’s life tends to colour their view of you, you know?
“I'm sorry, Serenity. I can't be the pony you want me to be.” She never wanted me to be her mother. She wanted her mother to be me. There's a difference in that, I think.
I bit the bridle.
“NO!” Serenity screamed. A sudden weight on the barrel of Subtlety sent it lurching to the side.
Subtlety fired.
A streak of red flew through the air and hit it's mark. The serving colt.
My heart stopped. Seconds turned to minutes. The bullet slammed through the colt's leg as he walked over to give soup to my intended target. He fell. The bowl spun through the air as a spark flashed. A second later, the colt was engulfed in flames.
Tears stung my eyes as I watched him writhe. He slammed into a tent, and soon that was on fire too. It was too far away, but I thought I could hear him scream. I yearned to hear him scream, but when I strained my ears all I could hear was the wind whispering to me.
I never wanted this... for either of us....
Serenity ran off. I don't know where, I couldn't tear my eyes away the burning colt. Long after he died, I watched. As the camp surrounded his smouldering body I watched. When the faint stench of cooked flesh filled my nostrils, I watched. Even as the camp surged around the boy, and the first ponies charged the gate into Karkhoof. Even as the war I started with a bullet began in earnest, as gunfire flared between Celestia's Vision's and the Zebras, I kept on watching.
Maybe if I stopped watching the burning colt, I would have seen it in time to dodge. I tore my eyes away just in time to see Dragonslayer fire. I heard his bullet zip through the air. There was a crack in the windowsill.
Then my world became pain. I hit the floor and gasped, my hooves grasping at my face. Dragonslayer shot me! Why? I was his client. Who was he working for? Why did he want to start a war? Why did he shoot me? None of these things matter compared to the pain surging through me. The pain twisted my stomach, and I puked.
Blood dripped into the vomit from the gory hole where there was once my right eye.
Footnote: Level Up!
Quest Perk: Hard Hearted: You know what you have to do, even when it's something you don't want to do. You've learned to push everything down, lock it away, and focus. Your focus is incredible... at the expense of your situational awareness. +20% to accuracy, but an extra 20% damage taken from sneak attacks.
Stat Milestone: Explosives 50
((A/N: First I need to give my thanks to kkat for creating this world I have lovingly defiled. Secondly, as always, I need to give my editors props for the hard work and effort they put into making my story not terrible. So if you see theBSDude, Julep, or ErrantIndy hanging around, make sure to buy them their drink of preference. Because I like long footnotes I also need to thank Fallout Equestria Resource and the owner Arcane Scroll for putting so much work into organizing the FO:E Fandom, as well as the Sidefic protodoc people for being so helpful and encouraging, except for Dina)) |
No One | 662 | 14 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-02-27T07:55:31+00:00 | 2012-02-27T07:55:31+00:00 | 24,377 | Event Horizon
"You can't see anything properly while your eyes are blurred with tears."
“Dear Princess Celestia,
“I fucked up.” I'm not sure why I spoke. Maybe it was to drown out the screaming outside, or maybe it was to keep myself thinking and awake. The pain raged through my skull worse than anything I had experienced before. Half my vision was a black and red blur. “I don't know what I was thinking.”
With all my strength, I got myself to my feet, leaning heavily on the wall. Blood poured from my eye, dripping onto the floor like macabre tears. “I was trying to show her, show her why I was a terrible mother.” I reached back but had to stop to gasp, closing my one eye tight. Fuck, it hurt so much. But I didn't allow myself to fall. I had to keep fighting. “I guess I did that.” That at least happened the way I wanted. Everything else, well, I guess you could call it temporary insanity. Or me being me.
I never should have trusted somepony named Dragonslayer. I never should have taken the job. I never should have taken the shot. I never should have set that colt on fire. In my mind, he was still burning. I doubted he'd ever go out. “So I murdered a child. To teach another a lesson. Then I killed a village. More than a village.”
I reached back and opened up my saddle bags. Sitting on top of the assortment of junk was a vial of med-x. You know, I wasn't sure where I bought it from, but there it was. Always waiting for me when I needed it. And I seemed to need it a lot. “Are you even up there, Celestia?” I doubted it. Part of me still had that foal-like belief she was watching over us, but I found it hard to believe. “Can you see me?”
I jammed the vial into my back.
The pain faded, but it didn't leave me completely. How could it? I lost my eye. Still, it was enough to keep me upright. “Do you hate me, Celestia? You should. I'm not a very good pony.” I took a few steps, as Subtlety shifted uncomfortably on my back. “I killed that colt. I saw him burn, so you should hate me. Can a goddess hate?” That's a stupid question. Of course they couldn't.
I stepped out of the room. Was the hallway always so long? I took a few more steps, my knees shaking. Dammit, I took the vial; I shouldn't be hurt. I should be strong. I knew I only had a single vial left, I don't know how I knew, but I knew. “For what it's worth, Celestia, I'm sorry.”
I stumbled into the nearest wall with a thud. Was the room spinning? Rooms shouldn't spin. So much spinning. Across the hall I thought I could see Wildfire smiling at me. She wasn't real, but I saw her. I blinked, and she was gone, but I could hear the voice in my ears. You're working yourself too hard... take a break.
No. No breaks. Ponies were dying because of me. Because I make stupid choices. I took a job to start a war, but I always took a job to end one if it started. That mattered too. “I'll try harder. I'm sorry. I've learned something important.” My leg collapsed bringing me to a knee. It shouldn't hurt so much. I was only shot once. Only once. “I learned...”
There was a figure in front of me. I could barely see. “Celestia?”
“What?” The voice. I knew that voice. “You're delusion-- Celestia's Ghost, what happened to your eye?!” High Stakes. That was it. “C'mon, there's a battle out there. If you fight, you'll die. We need to get you to safety.”
“No.” I shook my head, sending spikes of flame into my brain. “Med-X. In my bag. Healing potion. And...” And what? What was I going to say? “Ammo. Change it.” With my half-vision I could see him wince back, a look of confusion on his face. “I have a job. To do. Find Serenity, keep her safe.”
“You're going to risk your life for zebras?” Zebras I brought into this. Zebras I killed. Yes. Of course. I had a contract... and. And I had to prove to myself, and to Celestia, that I wasn't a lost cause. “You're insane.” Behind him, I could see Wildfire smiling at me. Of course I was insane. How could I be anything else? Ever since the orb, maybe before.
“Do it.” He gave me the potions and a few seconds later, the Med-X was flowing through me, and I could feel my eye stitching itself back together. Sort of. My sight didn't return though, and the look on High Stakes’ face was enough for me to realize it was a lost cause. “Thank you,” I grumbled, my mind clearer, and the visions gone.
“I'll find your daughter.” Was he mocking me, or being earnest? Being around Flare so long, I couldn't even tell the difference. I wished Flare was there. He always knew how to lighten the mood, even if at the expense of my pride. “First.” With a delicate magical touch he tore off a piece of the tapestry hanging on the hallway wall and quickly fashioned me an eye-bandage-patch-ugly-thingy. “Keep it clean. Maybe if we can find a pony with medical skill, it can be salvaged. If not, then at least you will be free from infections.”
“Thanks,” I said again, and stormed my way down the hallway.
Upon reaching the stairs I half ran, half slid down them. I was three stories up, and I needed to get to ground as fast as equinely possible. I couldn't risk not being as fast as possible. I don't know how, but I was going to stop this massacre. This battle. This battle I started.
Just as I got to the bottom step the door burst open. How long had it been since they started fighting? How had they gotten so far so fast? The pony that broke the door down was a bulky stallion in mercenary armour. Two more followed after him. Why were semi-religious protestors so well armed? It didn't make sense.
Subtlety fired.
I managed to take two of them down in three consecutive shots. The third, a mare with red hair, darted off to my right, into my blind spot. Grunting in annoyance, I slid into cover behind large desk. Bullets pierced through it in a flurry of splinters as easy as a fish through water, but since she couldn’t see where I was, every shot missed. Cover didn't necessarily mean protection, but it could still save your life.
The burst of fire stopped, and I could have swore I heard the sound of a gun reloading. No time to lose. I jumped up, slamming my forelegs onto the table for stability. I must have accidentally hit a button on my pipbuck as suddenly everything whooshed.
The sounds of the battle were gone. Everything seemed so deathly still. I could see the red maned mare in front of me in perfect detail. Suddenly I was staring at... words? Amber words seemed to fill my vision.“Welcome To SATS: Stable...” I started to read, only to find to my frustration I was unable to move my lips when I read. That made things difficult. Okay. Needed to get out of the twilight sparkle zone and....
“Skip?” I said, reading an amber word near the bottom of my mind-text. Suddenly the message vanished, leaving me still very still. The mare across the room was highlighted in an eerier amber glow, and for some reason her head's glowing highlight thingy was thicker. Beside it was more glowing words. 95... and then some sort of mathy symbol I didn't recognize.
Sure, that sounded good. I guess. Off to the side, I saw a flash of words and then suddenly I was back in reality.
Subtlety fired without me even realizing. The mare's head became a red smear on the wall, and all over the room really. It was a little disappointing to see the majestic and aged carpet on the floor splattered and destroyed because of me. Of course, it'd be more disappointing if I didn't get out there and stop the fighting.
I ran through the door of the building (trying to forget my strange time standing still adventure) and into hell. Somehow the camp had caught fire almost completely, and all the ponies from it were flooding into Karkhoof like a stampede. Bloody battles seemed to be taking place in every house, but I'd no idea who was winning.
Celestia's Vision seemed to have split into various smaller, and torch-bearing, mobs. Each was headed by two ponies in heavy mercenary-style armour. The groups fanned out across the town, picking houses at random and setting fire to them, and killing any zebra that got too close. You would think this was a clear indication of who was winning, but....
A single Zebra burst out of the remains of a house, blood drenching his face. One of the mercenaries sent out a blisteringly fast burst from his automatic rifles, only to hit nothing but air. In all my life, I'd never seen anyone move so fast. The Zebra ducked and weaved, not a single bullet hitting him, and slammed his forelegs into the the pony’s head. It snapped backward with a sickening crunch. The pony fell, and the Zebra went to work on the rest of the mob. Why didn't they just do that in the first place!
“Strange.” I turned to see Zahini standing beside me, his face grim. “You show up, and suddenly everything goes to hell. Is there some sort of secret you do not wish to tell?” Wait, was he talking in rhyme? This really wasn't the time. “I should kill you.”
“Please don't.” I grunted, a numb pain washing through me. “Trying to save you.” I ignored him; there really wasn't time to talk. Instead, I charged a nearby mob of twenty ponies.
The mercenary directing the group tilted her head at me as I charged. I could see confusion in her eyes. I guess in her mind there was no way a pony would be rushing to defend Zebras. Maybe that was true, but she hadn’t taken into account just how colossally stupid I could be. The mare got off a single shot from her pistol before I rammed her. Sticking my head between her forelegs, I lifted her up with my neck and then sent her soaring through the air.
The second mercenary in the group turned to me, firing off a shot that embedded itself into my barding. Subtlety was faster than he was, as it took off his head at the neck before he could fire a second shot. Gore splattered the mob, and I saw their collective eyes go wide. Just like that, they scattered, most running for other small groups or back towards burning camp.
“Good. Run.” In the part of my vision obscured by the eye-patch, I saw a splash of red. Wildfire was there in my blinded vision shaking her head at me. “Go away.” I said to her. “You're dead.” She didn't, so I ignored her and charged off. If I could, I would find Righteous Song, the leader of Celestia's Vision, and use her to stop this madness. This madness I caused.
Serenity would never forgive me for this, that much I was sure, but I wasn’t even sure if I could forgive myself anymore. The smell of smoke and fire burned my nostrils, but beyond it I could sense the stench of death, just beneath the surface. It was something I'd tasted before, but somehow it tasted all the worse because I was the cause of it.
Fuck, depressing thoughts. Go away, I'd ponies to save.
I took two steps when it hit me. That was, a something cracked my skull and sent me stumbling. Fuck my ability to see right! I turned and aimed Subtlety to see a striped muzzle glaring at me. Magical time stopping powers activate! Nothing. Fuck. “Wait!” The zebra ignored my call and charged me. Her hoof blow was deflected off my metal leg. “Stop it!” She turned and bucked. My neck snapped back, just dodging her hooves. Damn, she was fast. “I said.” I said as I ducked a hoof strike. “Let me!” I caught her hoof with my metal leg. “Speak!” With all my strength, I threw her into the ground. I watched her skid across the ground before saying. “Okay?”
The mare slowly got to her feet but said nothing. Unfortunately, she also didn't stay long enough to let me speak my piece and instead ran off into the din of war to find an easier target to fight. Fuck this was...
BANG BANG BANG
Shit.
Bullets slammed into my legs, and chest and sent me stumbling to a knee. That's okay; I wanted to lose more blood anyway. I gritted my teeth and looked up to see one of the mercenary ponies pointing a rifle at my head. My shoulder burned as the aura around the rifle glowed.
Looking up at the barrel of the gun, I gave a grim smile. Just pull the trigger. End it. I started this battle, it was only fitting I died during it. Do it.
“DO IT!”
The pony behind the gun balked. Startled by my words. Good, I didn't want to die anyway. I batted the rifle away with my pipbuck, stumbled to my feet and blew his face off. He should have killed me. It would have been more just. But since when did the Wasteland care about justice?
I shook the thoughts out of my mind. Screams of pain came from all around. Dammit, it smelled so bad. Why did I have to do this?. I closed my eye, but all I could see was the colt burning and Wildfire's disappointed green eyes. I wasn't sure what was worse.
It didn't matter. I had to stop this. Somehow. All around me was chaos, how was I supposed to....
There was a scream.
It sounded like Serenity. I took off in the direction of the scream. A mob of ponies were in my way, so I crashed into them. And trust me, when I crashed into ponies they got the fuck out of the way or got crushed. It didn't matter to me which. That scream was imbedded in my mind, and that's all I could focus on. Was it strange I orchestrated this whole thing to make Serenity hate me but still charged in when I thought she was in danger?
In the end, it wasn't even Serenity. Instead, when I got my way through the crowd of murderous pastel ponies, I found a white pony with a long blond mane standing over. Something. “Not the children,” She said. “I told you all-”
“They killed Post Haste!” Somepony in the mob spoke, but it could have been any one. “Why should we hold bac-”
“Silence.” It was then I realized I'd found Righteous Song... and she was protecting a zebra child from harm. “Are we not better than they? You are comparing our actions to savages, so does that not make you too a savage?” The crowded quieted. “This was to be a last resort, but if we cannot stop the murder of children how can we presume to be in the right?” The mare stood, her hair blowing in the wind. “Call the Steel Hooves; tell them to retreat. We have taught the Zebras a lesson today, but we cannot continue killing foals.”
The mob stopped but did not do what was asked.
“NOW!” she screamed, and the mob scattered.
She stood protectively over the striped form. She was here to kick these Zebras out of their homes; why did she care? Her eyes snapped to me. “Who are you? I don't recognize you. What do you want?”
“You're a mother, aren't you?” I guessed. Her features softened just a little bit. I wasn't sure how I knew. It was just the way she was standing over that foal protecting him. I'd seen it before.
“You look injured, I will have the medics look after you.” She turned away. All around, the ponies were fleeing, but the Zebras didn't follow. It seemed that after the ponies they were fighting turned to run, the Zebras refused to follow. It didn't make much sense. “We need to leave, now.”
I didn't, instead I turned my eyes to the sky. I heard it before I saw it peak over the horizon. A huge black vehicle flying through the sky. A Vertibuck. I'd seen them before around Dise, but why would they be here. It made no sense. Until I realized I had told Flare to meet us here.
Well, at least he came in style.
Of course, my Med-X had to wear off then. Even as Righteous Song fled, I fell and faceplanted into the muddy dirt. Yum, dirt. I closed my eye and let myself drift into pain-fueled unconsciousness. I was not looking forward to the nightmares.
---
“O-once. Up on. A Time.” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to give them rest. Not too long though, because I could feel Wildfire's stern gaze. Opening them back up, I looked down at the book and the row after row of squiggly writing. How could anypony look at this and understand? It wasn't that hard to find my spot though... I was still on the first line. “In the... mag...” I scrunched up my muzzle at the word, and tried to sound it out. “Ma-gick-a-clay”
“Magical, hon.” Wildfire's voice was soft, yet I for some reason I still felt a fool for not getting it.
“Magical,” I said a again, and tried to continue. “Land of...” What the hell was that. Words should not be that long. It was... argh. “E-que...rest...” I blinked and rubbed my eyes with my hoof. I could do this. They were just stupid words! Everypony else could read, so dammit I would too! Even if it killed me.
I looked down at the troublesome word. Yep, definitely kill me...
“Eck...west...try....eh?” I winced at what even I knew was a mangling of the word. I peeked over to Wildfire standing beside me. Turns out she was just as beautiful as the last time I looked, only her green eyes seemed sad. No, that was not the right word. Her eyes looked to be pitying me. If there was a clearer indication I got the word wrong, I didn't know.
“Silver...” I winced at her tone, “where do we live?”
I looked down at the word again. “That word doesn't look like 'Marefort'.”
She chuckled softly. “No hon, try again.” Try again? I stared at her blankly. We did live in Marefort. What else could she be saying? “Equestria.”
“Oh!” I perked up and went back to the word. Now that she mentioned it, it did look a lot like Equestria. Argh, I wasn't a smart pony. Reading should be left for eggheads. Not that Wildfire would let me stop; she had ways of making me do what she wanted. Okay, next part. “Equestria, there we are two re... regl... regarl... reg...”
Fuck it! I kicked the book up and sent it flying through the air and into a wall. I looked around and glared at everything. Our house used to belong to Wildfire's father, and like most houses in Marefort it only had a single room. Ours, however, came equipped with two beds and a single table in the centre of the room. So it was a little bit cramped.
“Silver!” I winced and brought my glare to Wildfire's green eyes. Okay, I could do this. Just keep glaring. Keep. I couldn't hold up the facade and look at Wildfire too, so my expression softened and I looked away. Damn her. “You are the one who wanted to learn.”
“That was before I realized how difficult it is...” I grumbled. It was difficult. I don't know how ponies thought it was so easy. Most of those squiggly letter things looked exactly alike. In my annoyance, I kicked the nearest thing, and that was the skinny mattress on the floor that served as our bed. It wasn't really big enough though...
“Well...” She trotted around me to make sure I was looking at her. “If you want to read to Foundation, you need to learn to read.” I winced at that. Ever since we found Foundation in the ruins of her home, and started living together to take care of her, Wildfire had taken to reading a bedtime story to her every night. After a month or so, I got a little jealous. So Wildfire agreed to teach me. I was regretting my rashness a little bit, but it would be worth it if I could read Foundation that story.
“Argh.” I sat down on out mattress bed thing. “I need a break.”
“Oh.” Suddenly, her muzzle was way too close to mine. I could feel her warm breath on my neck sending a tingling sensation down my spine. “Well, hon, I know how to make you relax.”
“Stop it.” Was I blushing? Argh, I knew she did this just to make me flustered. “I don't swing that way...”
“You did last night.” I squeaked and felt myself get an even deeper shade of red. Which should have been impossible.
“I...” I flattened my ears, and looked away. “That's... it's.” I didn't like mares! Really. It was only Wildfire; she was different. Something about the way her mane flowed down her neck, or that smile she gave when she was thinking of being mischievous. It wasn't fair! “What if somepony sees us?”
“They'll pretend they didn't and walk away...” she said with a fluttering of eyelashes. I know she didn't want anything, she was just trying to get me going. “C'mon, it won’t be long.” She was so good at getting me going...
It was really hard to say no. I don't know why I didn't wanted to be thought of as a fillyfooler, but to me it just felt weird. Maybe because I wasn't one... except when Wildfire got so close and I felt warm... warm in so many places. I opened my mouth to protest.
And she kissed me.
All thoughts of abstaining vanished in my head as I touched her lips and melted into the kiss. She always tasted of raspberries, and her kisses couldn't have been sweeter. If I had it my way I would have stayed there until I grew old, and let her kiss me until we both died. It would have been a good life.
“Oh.” I opened my eyes to see a charcoal grey filly staring at us from the door, her ruby red eyes (Poetic, no?) staring up at us in confusion. “Sorry. I didn't mean to... I'll just.” She looked away and squeaked a bit, trying to hide behind her long pale-green mane (which reminded me that she needed it cut. It was so long it was reaching the floor and was a frazzled mess overall).
“It's fine,” Wildfire said, giving me the cue to scramble away. “Have you been playing with the other kids?” Her tone was hopeful, but that hope was smashed when the filly shook her head. Foundation liked to go out and watch the other foals play, but if they asked her if she wanted to join, she usually shook her head and looked away. Some of the other parents (is it strange I just thought of myself as a parent... I didn't feel like one, but there wasn't really another word to use) came to us, worried she was a mute. It was a bit shocking actually, as she had never been afraid to talk to us, but with anypony else she seemed too timid to talk.
Not that I could blame her, after what she went through.
“Sorry,” she said meekly, stepping slowly into our house. She always seemed too wary, afraid the floor was going to give way, sending her plunging down the levels of Marefort. With a slight smirk, I picked the brush off the table, reached over and hooked Foundation with my foreleg, and pulled her over to my bed. Sitting her down beside me, I started brushing the tangles out of her hair. For a filly that apparently didn't play, she had the messiest mane I'd ever seen.
“What did you do then?” Wildfire said as she trotted across the room to sit opposite us on Foundation's bed.
“Mari-” She squeaked, as I tugged a bit too hard at an aggressively tangled knot. “Marigold. She wanted you. She, um, said...” The filly looked pleadingly up at me, but I shook my head. Her hair was getting untangled, and that was the end of it. “She said Smooth Tongue. Said he agreed.”
I raised an eyebrow over to Wildfire, who looked contemplative. I tried to stay uninvolved in the politics of the town, but I knew the name Smooth Tongue well enough. How could I not know the name of our tyrant raider leader? “Agreed to what?”
“Independence,” Wildfire said softly. “We have been trying to... disassociate ourselves with the Crimson Hoof for a while. So Mayor Mare, Marigold, Nos, and I proposed a plan. A deal...” She looked at me with a smirk, “You wouldn't understand the specifics, but it seems he's... well he's let us become independent. Just trust me, it's a good thing.” I nodded at that and continued to brush Foundation’s hair. I didn't understand politics, trade, or negotiations, but I did know Smooth Tongue and hated him for what happened to my mother. Any chance to get as far away from him was a good thing in my eyes.
Everything you love is going to die.
My eyes darted around. I could have sworn I heard something.
Don't love, it hurts too much.
There it was again! Foundation and Wildfire both seemed not to notice but I could have sworn.
Let them go, it'll be easier...
I realized that I recognized the voice.
Survive.
The voice was mine.
---
My eyes fluttered open.
Sorry, that should have been “eye”. My left one, as my right seemed to still be wrapped in that makeshift eye patch. With a groan, I started to look around the room but didn't really see much -- until a pony caught my attention. A skinny pegasus buck in pitch black armour was staring at me from across the room. His helmet showed none of his features and came equipped with creepy bug-like eyes. Behind him, I saw his tail swinging back and forth, looking more like a radscorpion’s tail than a ponies. Carved into the armour's flank was a picture of a cloud and lightning bolt.
“Like it?” What, me? Wait a second, I knew that voice. “Been a hell of a long time since I wore it. Was my grandpappy's back when he fled the skies, and it passed down to me once I came of age.” Wait a second. My eyes shot to a the pair of Grenade launchers sitting in the corner of the room. “What happened to your eye, anyway? Wait, wait, don’t tell me. Someone tried to shoot your brains and missed?”
“Flare?”
The stallion laughed, reared up on his hind legs, and paused there as if waiting for me to take a mental picture. Yup, it had to be Flare. “Took you long enough to figure out. Can't say I'm that surprised. It is I, Flare. You did tell me to meet you here after I lost Curly Fries and the metal flank brigade.”
Something wasn't meshing with my remembering of events though. He must have brought the Vertibuck, but as far as I knew he wasn't back with the Enclave yet. Back in Dise, he had said he'd be able to join in about a week... which was about how long it had been. Huh. But then if he joined back with the Remnants, why even come back to us at all. And why would he bring that flying... thingy.
“So...”
“I suppose you should know the Remnants were hired by House to bring you back once you finish his task...” I knew Flare well enough to know he was smirking at me, “Considering what I saw outside, I am guessing we're just about done here. Didn't take you long at all did it?” No. It didn't. Apparently starting a war was as easy as shooting a kid. Post Haste, I reminded myself. It was important to remember his name.
“What happened...” my throat felt scratchy.
“Funny. I was about to ask you the same thing...” he whipped his scorpion tail back and forth. “Not that you ever know. From what I hear, somehow both sides say the other shot first. There was fighting until Celestia's Vision retreated. Then, according to Aghna, the Steel Hoof mercenary company broke its contract with Righteous Song forcing her to take her cult back to Dise or risk being slaughtered in the inevitable Zebra counter attack. Congratulations, whatever you did got the two sides to leave each other alone.” At the price of how many lives? I didn't feel all that victorious. “Cheer up, mopey. They were going to fight no matter what. All you did was make'em fight sooner.”
Maybe that was true, but I couldn't get the memory of Post Haste burning. Even if the two sides did fight, without me here Post Haste wouldn't have burned.
“Great, I make my triumphant return to find my travelling buddies are depressed.” He shook his head, and used his forehooves to pry off his helmet. Yup, it was definitely Flare under that armour. I think he looked more badass without the helmet on, because it made me realize it was in fact Flare I was talking to. And the contrast from what Flare was like when I met him and what he was like now was so strong it was hard not to be wowed.
“Serenity...” Right. Last time I saw her, she watched me murder a colt. Fuck. She was going to hate me... I know that's what I wanted! It didn't make me feel any better about it though! She needed to hate me so she could learn how not to act, but, still, it hurt.
“Last time I saw her, she was sitting in a corner replacing Scootaborg's tail with wires.” Right, not creepy at all. I rolled off the bed (oh, I was lying in a bed, I guess that was important) and moved to the door. “Really? You're leaving. And here I thought you missed me. Such a shame. Shouldn't you, like, ask about what happened? Or! How about where you are? These are important things.”
Shut up, Serenity was more important.
Besides, looking around the room I could see it was the centre building in Karkhoof. This obviously meant there had been enough survivors that they could afford to give me medical attention, and that they believed I was on their side because of my actions during the battle. Meaning they were stupid for not realizing what I did.
“C'mon.” Flare gave a weary sigh, and followed me into the hallway. Apparently I was getting smarter, because as soon as I entered, I could tell what floor I was on. You see, one of the tapestries hanging on the wall was ripped, meaning it was probably the tapestry used to make my eye patch, meaning I was on the third floor. Across the hall, I could see a small zebra stare at me with shock before quickly scurrying out of view.
We didn't make it two steps before High Stakes appeared out of a side room. Wait, was he smiling at me? That couldn't be right. “I see you got her to wake up.” Hey! Don't talk around me.
“She's a heavy sleeper,” Flare said with a shrug. “Might have something to do with losing an eye, I hear that saps the energy right out of ya.” Tell me about it. The fact half my vision was obscured didn't help anything at all. Fighting was going to be a pain in the flank.
“Mr. House will be glad to see you are up and running. Once you are done with... whatever it is you are doing, we should leave; it is not wise to keep him waiting.” Why did it even matter? After he learned how I bungled this job, I wasn't going to get a job with him. “Though first, I should ask what you did when you kicked me ou-”
“Fuck off.” I stormed past him, shoving him into a wall with my shoulder.
Behind me I could hear Flare say: “Don't mind her. She's surly in the mornings... and afternoon. Evenings as well, and it's best not to speak to her at night either.” Argh, why did I miss Flare again? It certainly wasn't his wit. I hated his wit.
I got to the end of the hall when I realized I didn't actually know where Serenity was. I suppose that would have been a problem if I wasn't blessed the ability to burn around magic. Or. Something. Basically I could feel the tingling sensation in my shoulder that let me knew magic was nearby (more specifically, Serenity's magic) and I followed it. Second door on the right, and there she was.
I found her sitting in the room from which I had shot Post Haste, sitting on the same boxes where I had made her watch. I wasn't even sure she was aware. She was just half leaning out the window staring at the setting sun while she brushed Scootaborg's tail (I should mention the tail had, in fact, been replaced by a series of thin wires). For a second I didn't think she heard me walk in.
“Why?” she asked, not turning around. Maybe she was afraid to see me. I couldn't blame her. Between my lack of ear, lack of eye, and lack of soul, I was not a pretty sight. “Why did you...” She choked up. It didn't take an egghead to realize she was crying. This was the sort of thing I was trying to avoid...
“I...” Didn't mean to shoot the child, is what I wanted to say. It felt hollow though. I was deluding myself if I thought the battle wasn't going to kill children. Maybe it was better if she saw me shoot him. Let her know who I really was. “I...” I couldn't think of anything to say. I did a horrible thing. I deserved to be hated. “I'm sorry.”
“You're horrible.”
I was.
“You're a monster.”
I couldn't argue with that.
“I hate you.”
You should.
“Go away.”
I turned and walked away.
Mission accomplished. This is what I wanted wasn't it? I wanted her to hate me, to fear me, to think I was a monster. She had to see me as I truly was. How else was she going to stop idolizing me? How else was she going to learn to be a better pony? But, if everything had gone according to plan. How come I couldn't stop crying?
---
“Are you sure there is nothing else we can do for you?” Aghna, the zebra elder, said as she followed us out of the centre building. Serenity reluctantly came out as well, though she stayed as far away from me as possible.
“No... you've done enough.” I'd done enough. At least five of the homes in Karkhoof were nothing more than smoking rubble heaps, and three more of the ones I saw were burned badly enough to be unusable. The air stank of death and smoke, making it hard to breathe. In the centre of the town, the black veritbuck stayed parked, attended to by no less than five black-armoured pegasi. Throughout the town zebras zipped back and forth. Carrying corpses. Fixing up broken buildings. Moving wreckage. But the Zebras made sure not to get close to the pegasi, and the pegasi made sure to avoid the zebras.
“Are you sure?” The old zebra seemed honest, and almost eager. A long shot from the way she was when we first met. “I saw you out there. Were it not for you convincing that bitch to leave...” Did she really think that was what I’d done? She had made the choice on her own, all I did was watch. That wasn't even my plan, I was just going to shoot her until she got them to surrender.
“No...” Out of the corner of my good eye I saw two zebra's carrying a corpse away. “It was nothing. Nothing at all.”
“Are you sure you do not wish for a potion? They are zebra secrets, but for what you did... perhaps a bon-”
“NO!” I quickly clamped my mouth shut, and looked away. I shouldn't have yelled. I growled low as I could. “Sorry. I mean no. It has been a long day.” I looked up at the setting sun. A long day indeed. Had we really only been here for a single day? It felt like so much longer. “So many died today...”
The mare looked down, but nodded. “They shall be returned to their ancestors. We have lost many, but this is nothing new. We will survive. It is what we have always done.” She looked so very tired. “But if you must, please go on your way. Some of my clan do not much care for ponies... it is not hard to see why.” Not at all.
“We will go... sorry.”
“It is not your fault, child.” I tried to open my mouth to say something, but the words refused to come. So instead, I walked past her and towards the Vertibuck. Flare flapped ahead of me, and gave me something of a stern look under his helmet.
“Will You Be Okay To Fly?” Huh. Something about his voice sounded weird. I chalked it up to the helmet. “Because Last Time You Flew You Nearly Wet Yourself, And This Trip Will Be Long... You Should Go To The Bath-” I cut him off by pushing past and stepping into the flying machine. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit nervous. And I may have been shaking. Just a little.
Inside the Vertibuck's seating area was a single pale yellow pegasus with a pure white mane, and two clouds for a cutie-mark. “Hired Gun, I presume,” he said in a strangely commanding voice. “I am Sky Fall, as Captain Flare has taken the duty of helping to fly us, I will be accompanying you back to Dise.”
“Wait... this thing is powered by pegasus?” The pegasus nodded once. “That seems... strange.”
“It is best not to question pre-war technology. Often, the answers you get merely raise more questions.” Right. Whatever. He must have seen me looking around nervously. “Do not fret, we are safe. This machine has never broken down on accident, and if it did, the pegasus powering it would be able to glide us safely to the ground.” Unless we were attacked. But who would attack us?
Well, the Steel Rangers for a start. Molly and her gang, if she survived that explosion (which she probably had if she had sent an assassin after me). Not to mention Granny Dynamite if she realized I went behind her back to kill Roy... well three factions wasn't so bad. I might be exaggerating my infamy a bit, anyway. But it made me feel good to think so many ponies wanted me dead, even if it wasn't entirely true.
“Right.” I took a seat as High Stakes and Serenity followed in behind. For reasons I could not explain High Stakes took the time to glare at Sky Fall before sitting as far away from him as possible. Serenity took a seat beside me, but kept just far enough away for me to know she didn't want me around. She didn't even look around, just sullenly sat there staring at Scootaborg.
So. This was going to be the most awkward flight in Remnant history.
Then the Vertibuck lurched beneath me. I felt the urge to vomit rise in my stomach. A few seconds later I could feel the machine start to speed up. We were flying. Fuck, we were flying. High up in the air. With nothing but a few pieces of metal, and the trust of a few unknown pegasi keeping me from falling a thousand feet. I hate flying.
So much.
---
Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it.
“Stop being a wimp.” Serenity sneered. I did not like applying that action to Serenity, but it was unfortunately correct. She didn't even bother to look up at me when she said it; I think it made it easier for her.
“Your daughter seems upset, Miss Gun.” Sky Fall said after politely coughing in his hoof. Nopony had talked since we left Karkhoof, and I could see he was eager to break the silence.
“She's not my mother.” I winced. Despite everything I thought I knew, I found that blow hurting more than any other I've taken since I left Bridle Hope. This made no sense! This is what I wanted. I wanted her to hate me, right? That's what this whole thing was about. I couldn't be her mother, I wasn't ready for that. Not again. So, what? Why did I feel so sorry for myself when she said I wasn't? Was I really so selfish I wanted her to think of me as her mother but without me having to think of her as a daughter? I'm even more horrible than I had anticipated.
“So. Miss Gun. Where are you from?” Sky Fall said. I noticed that unlike the three of us, he sat so still he could have been carved from stone.
“The North.”
“May I ask where?” He gave the slightest hint of a smile.
“No.” He stared blankly at me. Right. I guess talking to mysterious pegasi was better than silently contemplating every single way the vertibuck could break down sending me plummeting to my death. “Who... are you?”
“Ah, I was wondering when you would ask. I am Colonel Sky Fall. Second-In-Command of the Grand Pegasus Enclave.”
“Remnants.” High Stakes countered. He seemed oddly scowlly with Sky Fall. “Didn't you get the memo? The Grand Pegasus Enclave is losing. The sky has been cleared, the Light Bringer defeated their armies, and you and your little breakaway is next. You're little more than sixty year old rotting pus from a newly dead corpse that hasn't had the good manners to flush yourself down the drain. The wasteland would be better off if you laid down arms.” I may have been going out on a limb, but I am guessing High Stakes didn't like Sky Fall.
“Do I know you?” Sky Fall didn't reacted to the verbal onslaught at all. It was actually creepy.
“No, but I know you.” Today was cryptic reply day. First pony to hit fifteen cryptic replies first wins! So far I was leading with four, but High Stakes was catching up quickly.
“Have I insulted you? Your family? Your... glasses?” As if on cue somehow his spectacles caught just enough light to shine ominously. High Stakes did not seem ready to answer the question, which was strangely out of character. Or in character. I'd no idea what his character was like. Whatever his character, was it was making my flight more awkward than I would have liked.
So, to make sure everypony is on the same page, the count was: One sulking filly, one statuesque pegasus, one cryptically pissed of unicorn, and one earth pony mare (who totally was not afraid of heights). Basically, it sucked. A lot. It didn't help that the trip seemed to be hours of us just staring blankly at each other.
I hated flying.
“So... You're a colonel.” It was up to me to save the trip. Sky Fall nodded with an enigmatic smile. “Then. Why go on a random contract?”
“To see you, of course.” Great, that's what I wanted to hear. “You caused quite a stir, killing Roy, and I wanted to see what the fuss was about.” It didn't take an impressive specimen to shoot a pony. Though I suppose it did take guts to kill a pony like him. “And the Watchers seemed very excited about your... condition.” I raised an eyebrow. “The Starmetal of course.” Right of course. How could I forget. “It seems the Caledonian Military did extensive research on the material before the bombs fell. Very interesting stuff.” I'm sure. “Of course as a side effect, you'll find bits and pieces across the Dise Wasteland. Even a little scratch in the wrong area can kill a pony, yet you live. According to the Watchers it was a combination of dumb luck and quantity.” I wasn't so sure on the 'luck' part, but I'd 'dumb' going for me.
“So?”
“So I was curious. I am in a position of considerable authority, it is in my best interest to know the dangers I send my ponies out to face. Starmetal is not a huge danger, as it was a rare and costly thing, but it is dangerous enough to warrant care.” He smiled at me. His teeth were perfect and white. For some reason that made me hate him. Either that or I was just in a hatey mood.
“So I am. A specimen?” I honestly didn't see what the big deal was. Which is not a surprise I suppose.
“Yes.” Well, at least he was honest. “You are remarkably healthy for one who is dying.”
I was dying? I don't think I was. I didn't feel like I was dying. You'd think it'd be one of those things you'd know for sure.
“Dying?” Serenity asked, surprisingly soft. Even High Stakes had the courtesy to look shocked at this sudden proclamation.
“According to all research I have gathered Starmetal is al-”
“I'm not dying.” I cast my glare at him and met his eyes. He had green eyes, and I hated green eyes. They always made me feel uncomfortable. “I don't know your game. I'm not dying. Stop... looking at me like that. I don't know why you came. Doesn't matter. But I'm not your lab rat. And I'm not going to die. Not anytime soon. Whatever angle you're pulling, stop it.”
He didn't react but to give a sad smile.
Just then the Vertibuck slammed down into the something. My badass glare was cut off by a moment of panic as I thought we were crashing. We weren't. A few seconds later and the door lifted open revealing a black-clad pegasus.
“And we're here, hope it wasn't too boring.” The pegasus made a show of sniffing the inside of the vertibuck. “Smells good, so I assume Hired didn't find it too scary.” I had guessed it was Flare, and that confirmed it. What an ass.
I followed him out of the Vertibuck and onto the roof. Off the edges of the roof I could see hints of buildings, and streets far below. Off in the distance I could see the three barrel shaped buildings of the Ale House, and right across the street, rising high into the sky, was the huge tower that topped the Clips and Clops Casino. Even from where I stood, high above most of Dise, the pony head as the top of the tower looked ominous and imposing. How could anypony build something so high?
So here I was again. Dise. Hadn’t I just escaped this damn city? So why was I back here again? This place took my hopes and dreams, chewed them up, and spit them out, and then pissed on them. It was a horrible, miserable city, made all the worse that it was one of the safest places in the wastes, and that if it were not for this stupid, fucking city I wouldn't have been holding 6000 caps in my saddle bags. I hated Dise, and it had made me rich. It seemed like all roads lead to Dise. So I had to get used to it.
“Molly, Granny Dynamite, Roy Mustang, Mayhem, Clean Cutt, Photo Finish, Elder Chunky Soup, Righteous Song, Sky Fall, and now Mr. House.” I turned to Flare, who had taken off his Enclave Helmet. “I've lived in this city since I was a foal and only met three of those, until I met you. For a pony that claims not to like talking, you sure do get around. What's your secret?”
“Alcohol.” I said dryly. “And being strong.” He raised an eyebrow. “Well. Way I see it. Ponies in charge think they're smart. Smart ponies in charge like to have dumb ponies to follow their orders. I make a good dumb muscle.”
“I'm sure Roy Mustang would agree.”
I tried out one of those enigmatic smirks that seemed so popular. “Exactly.”
“Did you really kill him? Forgive my disbelief, I have heard it said, and yet...” Ack! Who! I turned my head to see High Stakes standing beside me. Right. Half my vision was black. This was going to be hard to get used to. Could be worse I suppose. At least I had most of my limbs.
“She killed'em all right. Saw it myself too, it was a classy move. Though it would have been nice if some of us were in on the plan before you did it.” I turned my head to see Flare hanging upside down grinning at me. I would have smiled had Serenity not spoken up, her tone dark.
“Let’s just go already.” A pink thing darted past us, and into the waiting darkness of the rest of the rooftop. Eventually we were going to have a talk, a real one, and my gut was already tearing itself apart in anticipation.
“Oh.” A voice behind me. Fuck all these ponies! I remembered a time when I actually got some peace and quiet to be over-emotional.
I turned to see Sky Fall waving at me as the Vertibuck started to ascend. “Take care of Captain Flare for me, and try not to die too soon.” I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. Also, it turns out I cannot, in fact, make ponies' heads explode with my thoughts.
---
“Starscream. Right?”
The red buck with a royal blue mane smiled at me. “What gave it away?” He flapped his robotic wings a little. “Is it because I'm an alicorn?” He wasn't, not really. I mean it was pretty cool that he was a unicorn that got augmented with wings, but that didn't make him an alicorn. They were something special. I'd met him once before, right after I killed Roy. We didn't have the chance to talk much, as I had to run for my life, but I knew he worked for Mr. House. Honestly, I was a bit surprised to find him here. “Ah, High Stakes, you have returned. Perhaps you’ve reconsidered Mr. House’s offer?”
“Not likely. As much as I appreciate it, I prefer to keep my body as is.” He shook his head. “And no, I am not listening to Celestia's Vision's swill, I merely want to keep my body my own.” Starscream was obviously preparing a rebuttal before High Stakes cut him off. “Yes, I know it need not be anything big. A tail, an eye, or dermal armour -- I am not interested.”
“Ah, well, it was worth a shot. Mr. House is very interested in your considerable talent.” He turned back to me. “And yours. Though it seems you hit a rough patch, since we last spoke. You seem to have lost an eye.” I gave a weak smile. “Your cybernetics are more than enough to be admitted as a Hizai, but we can arrange a new eye for you as well. If House agrees, and if you agree to his proposal.”
“What?” Flare smirked. “Don't we get to talk about it at all? Discuss? Seems like the thing to do. I'm well versed in bart-”
“Captain Flare, right? You’re lucky House is allowing an Enclave rat like you in his presence. He may employ your service, but he knows who you and your kin really are.” He said it so sweetly, I almost forgot just what he was saying. It was a rare talent indeed. “But I can assure you there will be no bargaining. House will tell you what the deal will be, and you will accept or not. He does not negotiate; if he is feeling generous he will allow time to think.” The cybernetic alicorn kept on smiling. “Also, I should be clear any deal he makes will be for you, Hired Gun, not your companions, and especially not the Enclave rat.”
“Can we go in? It's cold.” I suppose I should have mentioned that we were still standing on the roof, right in front of the entrance to The Black Salamander Hotel Casino And Whateverelse. It seemed that ever since the clouds had fled, the nights had been getting cooler. I blamed magic.
“Oh,” Starscream said from the open doorway. “Right this way.” It was at that moment I realized I was leading Serenity into what could only be considered Cybernetic heaven, and she didn't react. She just stared at the floor. It was... kind of depressing. Like everything else that happened today. I was sensing a pattern.
The Casino, hospital, thing. From now on I am calling it the BS, because it lacks a pithy name. Anyway, the BS was fairly clean and very well lit. The other casinos I'd been in were lit well enough so that I could see, but it seemed Mr. House was obsessed with keeping every light on at all times. I could only imagine it was just another dick-waving manoeuvre: same as why he only fully employed cyborgs.
The actual style of the BS left much to be desired. It wasn't bad, but it didn't give me anything to latch onto. The Moon left me feeling dark and dirty (as was intended), and The Alehouse looked like a mix of class and debauchery, while the Clips and Clops made me want to eat a lot of cake. But as I walked through the halls of the BS, I didn't get any impression at all. Maybe that was on purpose. It just felt so bland, and sterile.
Evidently, I should have gotten a cutie mark in interior decorating, the way I was analyzing the hotel.
Starscream eventually led us to what could only be Mr. House’s meeting chamber (I made sure to put on my shades before entering. It's always good to make an impression). It had to be, because it was a huge semi-circular room with giant windows that faced Dise covering the entirety of a section of wall. Directly in front of a an array of computer terminals was by a giant monitor that looked to be ten times larger than was necessary. The rest of the room, however, seemed pretty fancy as well. Expensive looking couches, lamps, and what looked like a door on the right side that lead to a personal bedroom. Though that was only a guess. In terms of extravagance, it was slightly below Roy's huge penthouse suite, but above the offices of the other gang leaders I met.
“hello,” The computer said.
Wait a second. I stepped forward and let my companions file in behind me (if you are keeping track: Starscream was standing by the door, High Stakes to my left, Flare to my right, and Serenity far behind me glumly looking at Scootaborg [could Scootaborg become a Hizai?], not saying much) and watched the computer screen.
On it was the picture of a classy looking stallion with a pencil moustache. For reasons I couldn't explain, the screen was rather static-y, and the voice fuzzy. You'd think he'd have gotten an upgrade. “i am mr. house. i have been wa-”
“This is such bullshit!” I turned my startled gaze to Serenity after her outburst, to find her glaring at the screen. “You can't just talk to us from a screen! Do you have any idea what we went through to do your stupid job? At least talk'ta us face-to-face, stupid.”
“heh. you are a smart filly.” Was the computer laughing? “most take hours before they ask. yes I will show myself.”
So he wasn't just a voice or something? That was slightly disappointing. The door on the right side of the room cracked open. If you guessed that was where he was hiding, give yourself a cookie now.
Mr. House came out of the door. He was not exactly what I had been expecting. He was a short-statured earth pony, wearing a classy suit and hat. Surprisingly, from what I could see, he had exactly zero cybernetics. Considering his pretense of making all his employees be cyborgs, I couldn't help but feel cheated. Oh. And he was a ghoul. It was the easiest way to survive 200 years.
“I,” he said, trotting in front of of his giant computer screen, “am Mr. House.” He gave us a mocking bow. “You are Hired Gun; do not bother with introductions. I know all about you. Yes. It is not every day a cyborg wanders into Dise and kills a gang leader, and, let me just say, you are horrible.” I... what? “You made a sloppy mess of your schemes. Your killing of Roy, while not a bad idea, was executed, if you’ll pardon the pun, poorly enough that anypony with a sufficient information network could have deduced you were the pony who did it. Dozens of better mercs walk into Dise every year, and most don't get half of the chance you are getting now.
“I am not hiring you because you are anything special; you are not. I am not hiring you because of whatever the starmetal has done to your insides; it does not matter. I am not hiring you because you are smart, or talented, or good at your job; you are not. I am hiring you because, for good or ill, you have become known in my city. What is more, known as a cyborg. I am the the cybernetic paragon in this city, and I do not like cyborgs getting loose and sullying the name of my industry. For this reason, I plan to claim you. Hopefully by you agreeing, I can teach you how not to fuck up an assassination.”
He paced when he talked, and it was hard not to stand up straighter as he criticized me. He was clearly a pony that was used to being in charge. Oh, and he kept. Talking.
“On the other hoof, I thoroughly enjoyed you throwing a wrench into Molly's schemes. She is a transparent ass, excuse me, and I had plans to stop her before she got too far, but seeing an idiot throw her for a loop? Well, that was juicy. I assume she must have insulted you something fierce for you to go so far out of your way to mess up her plans and incriminate her in the death of Roy as well.” he grinned with his stained yellow teeth. It was interesting. Unlike other ghouls I had known, his voice lacked that cracked, gravelly feeling. Maybe he had a voice synthesizer cybernetic? “Now that that is over. High Stakes, your report?”
“Yes.” High stakes seemed to stand straighter out of the corner of my eye. “Well, she appears to be an idiot.” Yay. A glowing review. “However, she is an honest one. From what I have seen and the reports I have gathered, she is very, very strict when it comes to upholding her contract. Her lack of planning skills is made up by a strength that is at times frightening.”
“And the child?”
“A liability,” he admitted, “though a small one. It seems few ponies last long after threatening her.”
Mr. House seemed unimpressed. I was okay with that. “Your recommendation?”
“Important but non-critical missions. Preferably outside of the city, where you may disassociate her if she goes off the rails, and where she can cause as much carnage as possible.” Mr. House seemed to think about that for too long, so High Stakes continued. “She is not, as you can imagine, suited for infiltration or subterfuge.”
Now that part confused me. If House tried to hire all the cybernetics, it'd be assumed that anypony with cybernetics was working for him (in fact Molly assumed I was at one point) so how could they spy? After a few minutes of rumination I realized not all cybernetics were as obvious as a metal leg. Like organ transplants, dermal armour, maybe an inner ear implant? I'd need to ask Serenity... oh wait, she hated me. Fuck.
“Though.” Oh. Turns out High Stakes was still talking. That's all these important-type ponies did. Talk, and talk, and talk until their tongues fell off. “I would not put her on guard duty either. She is strong, but not perceptive, and prone to boredom. “ I was not.... Nopony believes that, do you? Fuck. “Still, send her against something that needs to die messily, and they will die come hell or high water. Is that sufficient?” House nodded. “Now, can I ask why I am the one to give this report, rather than, say, an actual Hizai?”
Mr. House chuckled. “I appreciate your outside view.” he turned back to me, bits of skin flaking from his face. “So, Hired Gun, considering your glowing recommendation, I will give you a deal. Five hundred caps a month, plus expenses. Of course, this includes a room here at the Black Salamander, as well as any meals you have while staying here. You still have to pay for chits if you want to gamble. I'll have Starscream draw up a formal contract. Obviously, it will includes things like not ever taking a contract which could go against my interests bu-”
“Wait.” He did. His mouth slammed shut, and his eyes shot me a glare that could melt a mirror. Not shatter, melt. “Why should I take the contract?” That is right. I just asked for details before blindly agreeing to the first contract I got. Karkhoof taught me that maybe I should ask questions before pledging my life on completely the mission. Make no mistake, I still would perform every contract I agreed to without question, but I decided to think before I agreed.
“Why? You mean other than the fact you've spurned every major gang to the point they'd rather kill you than look at you? That other than me, your choices are putting on a uniform, putting on a dress, or learning to be a doctor?” He adjusted his hat with a hoof. “Or more specifically. Do you expect me to monologue like a villain?”
I nodded.
“Well, at least you are honest. You want to work with me because I hold the only chance Dise has. War is coming, make no mistake about it. And when it comes, it will come with a fury the world hasn't seen in two hundred years. What do you think will happen to Dise? We are fractured and weak. We are the last city, a bastion to the resurgence of Old Caledonia, a hallmark of engineering and enterprise. But when an army comes to our doorstep, do you imagine we, splintered as we are, have a chance? Dise will fall either to tyranny or to the bullet. What we need is a united front, and I am the only pony that can provide it. The other gangs hold onto their power and horde, only I have created more. I turned Cybernetics into an art form, and have started not only business, but business’s essential counterpart: competition. Only I have survived two hundred years of in-fighting and gang wars. The others rise and fall, but I have been steady as the rocks the city was built on. I plan to rule Dise, and make it a centre of industry and progress. Make no mistake, I don't need you to work for me, but I am offering you the chance to have your hoof in the door.
“Still, I am sure it is a tough decision. If you would like, I can give you two days to decide. In the meantime, I have had a room prepared for you. If you choose not to accept there will be no repercussions, but if you do accept I can assure you that it will be worth it. I am very influential, and may be able to do something about the bounty on your head.” I gulped, as he smiled and walked away. So that was Mr. House. When you invite him to monologue, he really gave it his one hundred and twenty percent.
---
I take it back.
The BS was not plain at all. At least my room wasn't. I was given huge suite with three separate bedrooms, a living area, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. I know! It could have fit my house from Marefort inside it ten times over. The beds themselves were huge even for me, and the blankets smelled clean! Like, cleaned and everything. I thought I was hallucinating (which, actually, wouldn't have been that shocking). Damn. I knew this was a not-so-subtle manipulation by Mr. House, but damn.
“What's this?” Off in the corner of the living room was a rather large box, with a letter strapped to it.
“Oh.” Starscream smiled at the box and flapped his metal wings. “Apparently some kid out west sent you a package. Mayhem seemed pissed he had to catalogue your mail.” Mail? What, really?
I stepped up to it, and opened the letter. “Let’s see. Dear Hired Gun, First of all, ‘Hired Gun’? I’m thousands of kilometres away, and even I know that’s a fake name.” Ouch, that hurt random stranger guy. “Something something, didn't take a job. Oh. Beer. That's good... Who the fuck is Clover?” I shook my head and crumpled the letter up, then turned to Flare who had followed me to my room. “When did I turn down a job?”
Flare looked contemplative before answering, “When you lost that rib.” Oh, yeah. Fucker hurt. “Some idiot came down asking you to take a job in some random desert. I turned him away for you.”
“Right. I owe you a beer.” I looked down at the box. I wasn't sure what Golden Harp was, but it sounded delicious. Unfortunately, drinking was going to have to wait.
Flare and I needed to have a little talk, and there was no way it was going to be good for anypony involved.
I looked around the room and sighed in relief. Serenity was off exploring our suite, Starscream seemed to have vanished, and High Stakes seemed to have left for his own personal room. It was just me and Flare left in the living room. “When did you join the Enclave again?”
His smile faded. “When did I-”
“You heard the question,” I snapped. It had not been a good day. I was worn out, tired, grumpy and more than a little depressed. “Don't answer. Let me guess. Since I got you detoxed, right?”
“Four days after...” He admitted. That fucker. Four days after was when I was working for Roy, before I’d even infiltrated Molly's Casino. “Guess there's no point lying about-”
“You were spying on me-”
“Of course I was!” Flare laughed, but he didn't seem that jolly. “Fuck, Hired. I like you; you know that. It's nothing personal. You're a fun pony to drink with, and you've saved my ass. Hell, I'd call you a friend, but family comes first. Sky Fall told me I could get back in so long as I kept my eyes on you...” He shook out his mane. “It's not personal, really. It wasn't even your actions, he just wanted to know stupid shit. What time you got up. If you ever got sick. How pale you look. Signs of demonic possession. You know, the usual!”
“You spied on me!”
“The world is not about you, Hired,” he said softly. “Hard to believe, right? You're a good pony, really. But if you thought for one second I would throw away my family, my home, and the only life I've ever known for you, you are stupider than I ever could have imagined. You... hell, you cleaned me up and gave me a chance to get my life back, and now you’re shocked when I took that opportunity? I didn’t want to do it, but what choice did I have?”
Spied on me. My friend spied on me. My filly hated me. I never should have cared. It was easier when I didn't. Everything was going wrong, right when it should have been going right. Fuck Flare. Fuck his smarmy attitude. Fuck everything. I shouldn't have cared about him; he was always unreliable. Why was I shaking? He was just Flare.
“Hired, listen. I promise I ain't been giving no secrets. The stuff he wants to know... it doesn't matter. He still wants somepony spying on you, and it's better me to your face than somepony watching from a dis-”
“Get Out!”
He jumped back. I shouldn't have shouted. I knew I shouldn’t have shouted. Everything was just getting too much to handle. There was nothing I could rely on, and things just kept getting worse. I was dying, and nopony cared. Flare needed to leave, because if he kept talking I was going to shut him up for good.
“I-” He started to talk but lowered his head, his ears drooping. “Sorry,” he murmured before turning and slowly leaving my room. The razor tail of his enclave armour swung back and forth as he walked, cutting up the door frame. He was gone, so what now? I needed a fucking drink.
So I walked over to the box of Golden Harp and pried it open. A few seconds later the first bottle was open, and in my mouth. I barely got a drop before I saw Serenity staring at me from the corner of my eye. With a heavy sigh, I put the bottle back down.
I really didn't want to talk to her.
“Why did you do it?” she asked, her voice so quiet. It was scary. There was something behind her words, something that hurt. A lot. “Why did you shoot him...”
“I...” I gritted my teeth together. “Because I... I was paid to.” It was a weak excuse. Of course it was, but it was the truth. “I wasn't aiming for him.” Yet he died. What did intent matter when the result was the death of foals? I couldn't agree with my own arguments. “I... didn't.”
“You killed him!” I winced. She was crying again. Of course, she was. I was built up as an idol. Something to praise, and now I took that out from under her. Her idol couldn't even make up a proper excuse. Her sad grey eyes seemed to ask: how could I ever want this monster to be my mother?
“I did.”
“Why?!”
“It was an accident.”
“You don't even care.” If only she knew how wrong she was. “I thought... I thought you were different! You were supposed to be,” she sobbed back up at me. I did this to her. I made her see me for who I was. Part of me knew it was better for her to face the truth now, but the rest of me wanted to kick myself for hurting her. “I... you saved me... so how could you kill him?”
I bit the bridle, pulled the trigger, let the bullet fly. How? Easily. Killing ponies is the easy part, it's the living with yourself after that is tricky.
“I'm not a good pony...” I looked away. “You had to see. You deserve better...”
“But I wanted you! You didn't have to kill him! You didn't have to take the job. You could have said no. You should have said no. You would have said no. You... you only did it to teach me a lesson! That's not... it's not fair!” No... it wasn't fair. She may have been right. Maybe I did take the job just to show her I was horrible. Somehow that made me so much worse. “You're... how...”
She sniffled before wiping her nose with her foreleg. “You were supposed to my Momma.”
“Is that all you care about?” Stop talking, Silver. Let it go. Don't get angry. Stop it! The words came out anyway. “You say I don't care, yet it doesn't matter to you who I am. You just want me to protect you, and who gives a fuck about my opinion on the matter? You're so desperate for family you're trying to create one where it doesn't belong, and then whenever we fail to live up to your ideals you pout and cry until we do what you want.” She's just a filly; shut up, Silver. Why couldn't I just let it go. It didn't matter. And yet... “You've been manipulating me since I saved you. I care, but you're trying to force me into a role I'm not ready for. That ain't right, and you know it. I... I can't do this Serenity! And you're not making it any easier!”
I looked down at her. My mind was swimming, my whole body ached, and I was so mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted I just felt like falling over and never getting up. However, when I looked at her face it made everything that much worse. It was twisted in a grimace, that looked like she was trying to process fifty emotions all at once. She was looking at me, and for the first time she saw me for who I really was.
A monster.
So when she started to cry and fled the room, I didn't bother to chase her. I just stared blankly at where she had been. My mind tried to process the things I had just said to her. I tried to see how she must have felt. I really was a monster. “Dear Princess Celestia,” I mumbled, still in complete shock at what I'd said, “I fucked up.”
“I'm back in the city I hate.” I stormed over and grabbed the still open bottle of Golden Harp. I chugged it in a single go, not even bothering to taste it. “My soon-to-be-employer knows I'm an idiot.” I looked down at the open box. The bottles of beer stood ready for me. My own personal army. “My friends spy on me.” I grabbed the entire box in my teeth.
The largest bedroom was only a few feet away, through a door. So I stormed in there and threw the box over the large bed. Bottles spilled out, covering it, but not a single one broke. “And my filly?” I flopped on the bed and grabbed another bottle in my mouth. “She ran away. Back to the Watchers probably.” I downed the bottle.
Fuck, everything hurt so much. I just wanted to stick a Med-X in my eye and make all the pain go away.
I dropped the empty bottle, flopping back into the bed. I may have been crying, but it didn't matter. None of it mattered. “Serenity hates me. I made her hate me. I said horrible things to her because I'm horrible.”
I drank another bottle. And then another. Maybe if I drank enough, I could die, and this would all go away.
Footnote: Level Up...
Something: You can’t really remember what perk you took, but it was probably a stupid one...
((A/N: I would like once again to thank kkat for creating this world I so lovingly defiled, and to heap praise upon my editors theBSDude, ErrantIndy, and Julep, without whom this story would be a mess of improper commas and run on sentences. Oh, and don't forget to check out my Asksilverstorm blog!))
((Oh, you’re still reading. The chapter’s done, but if you want some more Fallout Equestria goodness you could always check out these stories: Operation Flankorage, Tales Of A Courier Reloaded, Heroes With Wings, and Guise Of Chaos )) |
No One | 662 | 15 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-06-02T04:39:29+00:00 | 2012-06-02T04:39:29+00:00 | 24,288 | Vanishing Act
"If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you; I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."
“Get up.”
The words were like a hammer to my skull. Each syllable pounded harder and harder, and all I could do was squeeze my eyes tighter and hope they went away. Something smelled awful. Like dirt-stained piss, vomit, and stale beer. It was better than my dreams though. Someone once told me that you didn't dream when you passed out drunk. Someone lied. It was the usual dream. There was blood dripping, lengths of rope, hopeless situations. Only this time it accompanied with the smell of burning colt. Being awake was bad, but sleeping? There was no question.
“Get up.”
That sound again. Like griffon claws on a chalk board... not that I had any idea what that sounded like. But it sounded bad. My stomach lurched under me. I didn't puke, though. I wanted to. I felt so icky. So very gross. And thirsty. I could have drunk The Snake dry.
“Get up. We won’t ask again.”
Fuck off. I didn't say that though. I let out a pitiful groan and rolled over onto an empty beer bottle. It prodded up into my chest where there should have been a rib. Of course I’d had that taken out a while ago... the bottle didn't hurt much though. Not compared to my head... or the rest of me. It was a nice distraction from feeling like shit. Nothing less than I des-
Everything was suddenly cold and wet.
My eye shot open. After pushing my wet mane out of my eye, I saw Flare and High Stakes standing in front of my bed, a bucket floating in front of them in a green glow. “What th-ARGGH” The light! It burned! Like someone shoved the sun into my eye hole. Oh, goddess. I grabbed my eye and fell back. “Fuckfuckfuck, fuck off!”
“Hired, get up. You're markedly less fun when you're wallowing in depression.” And High Stakes was a lot more fun without a fucking head. What did he know anyway? He was a heartless bastard. I killed a foal then lost one, and what would he know about that? Fucker needed to learn his place and leave me be.
“Fuck you.” Fuck was my new favourite word, and I didn’t give a single one. “Flare's a fucking Enclave spy, and you fucking ruined my bed with your fucking bucket of whateverthefuckitwas.” It felt like a drill was slowly boring its way into my skull. “So leave me alone. To wallow... in whatever it is I'm wallowing in.” A mix of water, vomit, and beer it seemed like.
If Wildfire were here, she'd have let me have my misery... that was a lie, but I'd like to think she'd at least understand.
“Hired.” Suddenly I was floating. Oh fuck. Fuck me sideways with a silver spoon. My good eye opened, light pounding into it, setting my brain on fire, to see I was hovering a good meter off the bed. I turned my head as I lashed out with my hooves trying to fight the green glow that surrounded me. “This is not good at all.” High Stakes said as his horn was wrapped in multiple layers of shining green light. Beams seemed to break away from it like he was having trouble holding them in. Was I really that heavy? “Mr. House has, against all logic, given you an offer of a lifetime. An offer I shall never receive. I refuse to see you fuck it up.”
In a dizzying flash of magic, I found myself tumbling head over hooves into the bathroom. I shook my head and opened my eye just to see the door slam shut. “You aren't leaving until you shower and get yourself together...” There was a slight pause. “And you already ruined your bed anyway!” I did not! I just puked on it. A little bit... a lot.
With a groan, I flopped back. And immediately cracked my skull against the bathtub. Swearing like a fucker, I grabbed the back of my head. Of course, I did it with my metal hoof. Turns out that after smacking your head against something you shouldn't kick yourself in the same spot.
Long story short, I was curled in a ball on the bathroom floor, my chest coated with vomit, and my head pounding like it never had before. So I was a pathetic piece of shit. Why did it matter? I always knew I was, I just had to be reminded every once in a while.
As much as I wanted to, I couldn't cry on the floor all day. Serenity had left, but I had to make sure she made it to The Watchers. I don't know why I even cared, but I did. It was the least I could do (quite literally) to make sure she got safely to the place I forced her to go. Yes, I still cared about her, and that was the problem. I've been keeping a running list of things I cared about and it was not looking good. I brought doom upon ponies. Doom. What a fucking stupid word.
I can't even wallow properly!
I stood. My legs wobbled under me (save for my cybernetic one), but I stood. The bathroom was small enough having all the basic amenities you'd expect. I turned slowly to the cracked mirror above the sink and shrunk back from myself.
My coat was pale, dirty, and slick with sweat, not to mention crusted with vomit in places. My mane hadn’t faired much better, and somehow looked worse the way it was plastered to my face, and was matted to the point I doubt I'd ever be able to get the knots out. And I would rather not get into the way my tail looked. I prodded idly at the makeshift eye patch over the hole in my skull. Against my better judgment I slid it off my face to see what the ruins of my eye looked like.
Urgh. You really don't want to know. Trust me. It wasn't good.
I blinked my right eyelid. Oh good, at least that still worked. It would have been a bitch to shower with water soaking into my throbbing eyehole.
I turned to the shower. I’d never seen a shower before, so I’d no idea what I was supposed to do with it. The porcelain tub was set into the far wall, with a little door facing outwards so I could walk in. I gave the room a quick scan for a bathtub and came up empty. I guess I was learning how to shower. No way could I fuck that up horribly. Who was I kidding? I could fuck anything up horribly.
First thing first. I prodded at my cybernetic for a few minutes before it came off with a hiss and plopped to the ground. Then I started to tilt. Fuck. Stop. The metal plating on my shoulder slammed into a wall sending spikes of pain through my torso. Great. More pain. That's what I needed. Everything hated me, even myself. Groaning, I hobbled forward towards the shower. It might have been easier to just buck the door down and tell High Stakes to stick it where the sun don't shine, but honestly I felt so weak I doubted I could.
Okay, so showers are weird. When I finally got in and the short door closed, I realized the faucet-nozzle-things were hanging length wise from the ceiling. Made perfect sense right? On the floor of the shower right in front of where my forehoof stood was a series of buttons? Pressure plates... things. I stepped on the one that said soap and immediately I felt a cold gel like thing fall onto my back. With another press it was followed by water. Hot, hot water.
It took a little bit of getting used to ( I nearly jumped out of my skin when water spurted from the floor. It made sense, but it was shocking), but after a little bit, it felt. Nice. The warm water soaked into my coat, and I could feel the dirt and grime of the day before washing off me. My wet mane fell into my eye, and lacking an extra hoof to brush it away, I let myself be blinded by it.
As the water streamed down my face, I did my best not to think. It didn't really work. Even with my eye closed I could still see the fire. In my mind, Post Haste was still burning, only when I pictured him, he was charcoal grey with a long green mane.
I really did kill him, didn't I? The thought left me numb inside. Like a little piece of me died with him. I’d spent weeks doing my best to protect a filly and instead killed a colt. It seemed I was a danger to foals everywhere. I either failed to save them or killed them with my own hoof. From Misfit, to Post Haste, to... her. Nopony was safe. The shower washed away my tears.
How was I supposed to go on? I had to survive, but how could I live with myself after what I’d done? How could I go on...? It was a good thing Serenity left. She would be happier without me. If it hadn’t happened in Karkhoof, it just would’ve happened later. It was better she saw me for who I was, now. It'd hurt less. Maybe she was trying to force me to be her mother, but she didn't understand why I couldn't be. It's not a thing I could have explained. I wasn't good with words. So I had to show her.
Right?
It's funny. I was so sure it was the right decision when I pulled the trigger. But I’d still spent the hours since trying to convince myself of it. As time passed, I realized that I wasn't even convincing myself. I tried to imagine that maybe if I hit my intended target. That if Serenity hadn't altered my shot, maybe it wouldn't have felt so bad. But when it came right down to, it I made a shitty choice and paid for it.
It felt good. Rivets of water washed down my face, a few dripping into my eyehole, stinging it. It felt good that I lost my eye. That I paid the price. It felt good to know that Serenity was safely back at the Watchers', away from me. Even though I made a shitty choice... I wouldn't have changed it. It needed to happen. She needed to see why...
Why it didn't matter how much I cared for her... how much I loved her... because I could never be her mother.
I couldn't. I choked up, tears still streaming down my face. I fell to the shower floor and buried my face in my foreleg. I just couldn't do it. I killed that colt because I was afraid. Afraid of getting hurt again. The water washed over me like Celestia's tears. As I sobbed, I had to wonder what it was all for. Why did I keep getting up in the morning? I was a stupid pony whose only expertise was death and destruction. I couldn't help build the world. I knew that trying to save it was useless. My mind was so utterly warped that the idea of getting close to a pony made me freak out and shoot kids. So why did I persist in charging through the wasteland with only half a brain? I... there was nothing I could offer the world so maybe it would be better if I was dead....
I let the thought sink in. It was a dangerous thing, that idea, but it didn't leave. It festered in my brain as I laid there. The option was tempting. So very tempting.
Until I heard a familiar voice in the back of my head say, “Survive.”
So I got up, dried myself off, and prepared myself for the day. I couldn't die. Not yet.
---
“Huh. You look... better.” Was it really that shocking, Flare? After I had showered and re-attached my leg (it fucking hurt), I did my best to brush my mane (noting how long and annoying it was getting) and tail. I also attempted to get my makeshift eye patch on but it was really difficult without magic so I gave up. Let them see my ruined eye, maybe I could scare somepony into submission.
“You still look like shit.” I rolled my eye at the blue pegasus. My bedroom was mostly the same as it was before, though the beer bottles had been taken away, and the bed stripped for cleaning. The room would have looked much better, though, if High Stakes and Flare weren't in it.
“Whoa, a joke?” Not really... “You must be hanging out with me too often. Might be I'm finally breaking your poker face. Oh! I know! We could be a touring comedian act-”
“Flare. Shut up.” He did. Good. “Does High Stakes know you're spying on me?” I asked with a raise of my eyebrow. To my surprise the tall stallion nodded.
“I have known for a while, in fact. He had described to me the extent of what he was doing and I deemed it reasonable. So long as he doesn't divulge information on Mr. House, I could care less what he tells his master...” Right, High Stakes didn't like Skyfall for whatever reason. He did like Flare though, even though Starscream didn't like him. Flare, of course, disliked the Steel Rangers and the feelings were mutual and...
I really should make a chart. I couldn't keep straight who hated who.
“Whatever.” I aimed my glare at Flare. “You're spying on what exactly? My health?” He nodded. That made perfect sense. Except that it didn't. “Nothing else?” He nodded again. I had to wonder if I knew what he was spying about if it still counted as spying... “Right. Honestly, I don't fucking care. You said he'd get another spy if I killed you?” Another nod. “Right. You can stay then. Don’t trust you none. But I'd rather you than someone from a distance.” At least with Flare I could scare him into obedience and make use of his skills.
Also, what did I care if he spied on me? I had no grand secrets or plans. So, he wants to tell some big shot about my pissing habits because said big shot thinks I was dying, why should I care? Yeah, I mean, it did hurt that he went behind my back like that, but it was my stupid fault for trusting him anyway. Besides, he was right, if I was in his position I'd do the same thing. So, even though I wanted to hate him, it would have been stupid to do so.
“Wait, seriously?” He grinned. “High Stakes, you owe me fifty caps. I told you she'd let me stay.” With a resigned sigh, and the slightest smirk, High Stakes tossed the pegasus the bag of caps. Apparently my actions were the subject of gambling now. Good to know...
I kicked him hard in the knee with my metal leg, sending him face first into the floor. Before anypony could react, I place my hoof on his head and pressed. “Flare.” I lowered my head to make sure he could hear me. “Lie to me again.” I pressed down hard enough for him to gasp in pain. “And I will kill you.” I pressed down more forcefully, “Got it?” There was no response so I pressed down harder. “Got. It.” It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
“Y-eah. G-got it.” I got off his head and shook my cybernetic leg. Huh, it felt weird. I guess it didn't matter. “Could have just asked.” Flare grunted rubbing the back of his head, “But I got it. Lying bad. Truth good. Or Hired smash.” Damn fucking straight. “Thanks for the help, ass.” Flare glared at High Stakes.
The pale green unicorn shrugged. “Have you seen her? You really expected me to help you against her? I am many things, but suicidal is not one of them.” Of course he wasn't. Yet, I had a feeling he would attack me without hesitation if he were paid to. We were the same in that respect.
“That's a shame.” I walked past them and into the living room of our Suite.
To see Starscream sleeping on my couch. Oh, for fuck’s sake, I am not that popular. Everypony needed to leave me alone.
So I kicked him in the ribs. Not very hard, but it was enough to have him jumping into the air, his metal wings humming, and him glaring at me. “Oh.” His expression softened. “I was looking for you, but was told you were showering. And well, your couch is very comfortable,” He smiled amiably at me. “Have you taken Mr. Houses offer to heart yet? He is eager to get it over with.”
“Well...” I’d spent last night getting drunk, and feeling sorry for myself. Not much time to think of his offer.
“Doesn't matter! I have spoken to him and he has agreed to give you a prototype cybernetic eye as a sweetener to his offer. Normally, he would not bother, but he needs a new test subject for his toys, and even his most loyal subjects balk at losing their eye.” His metal wings flapped and hummed and he returned to the floor. “Oh.” My shoulder burned as he pulled out an eyepatch from his saddle bag and floated it over to me, “Much better than what you had. See.” He slipped it over my eye and I... didn't see. Obviously.
“Haven't decided.” And I wouldn't until I made sure Serenity was nice and comfortable. After that... maybe. It seemed like honest enough work and was right up my alley. It would be a steady paycheque, and having my ammo paid for was a nice perk too. I supposed I should have made my decision based on his promises of utopia but really... I found his proclamations the night before a bit hard to swallow. Three cheers for scepticism!
“C'mon, Hired,” Flare zipped up beside me. “Think about it! You'd be part of the second best group in Dise. Travel the wasteland righting wrongs and assassinating political enemies. It's a dream come true.” No. And I would like it if he didn't drape his leg over my shoulders like that. “And, most importantly. You would make High Stakes really, really jealous.” Now that was tempting. “So just get the little miss and... and where is Serenity anyway?”
Oh. Yeah.
“She left...”
“Serenity le-” he cut himself off mid shout before saying a bit softer, “What did you do?” I winced and avoided eye contact. “You must have done something. That poor filly adored you...” Maybe I should have told Flare or High Stakes what happened but... fuck that noise. “You're aren't going to tell me are you? Of course not! I'm just Flare the loveable pegasus companion who is always kept out of the loop an-” Oh, for fuck’s sake. He knew more about what was going on in the world than me! He had no right to complain. Ass.
“Wow. The pegasus chump sure likes to talk, now doesn't he?” Starscream smiled. He was forever smiling. “C'mon, Miss Hired Gun, I'll give you a short tour of the facility. I know you are busy, but it will not be long.”
“Do you do this for all potential recruits?” He seemed a bit too interested in me.
“‘Course. At least for all the ponies what could be working under my tutelage.” I... er... what? “Oh? I thought you knew. The Hizai are split into three divisions. Internal handles security in the Black Salamander and Dise proper. Infiltration does... exactly what you think it does, and Operatives handle missions outside pertaining to Mr. House's yadda yadda yadda. All you need to know is: if you join you'll be working for me directly as I am the leader, for lack of a better term, of the operatives. I also handle most mercenary contracts when we are understaffed. Right, Mr. Stakes?”
“I really hate you, Starcream. I just felt it was important for me to get that off my chest.” High Stakes said blandly. The robotic alicorn just whinnied.
“Of course, you do.” Starscream shook his head. “The stories I could tell you about that one. Never trust that stallion to walk behind you.” Uh, I. Sure, whatever. He was winking at me when he said that, too, making me even more confused. “For later though, I am sure Mr. Stakes would kill me for speaking. Nice chap. Onwards and outwards I say.” Without another word, he trotted out my door into the hotel proper.
So, I followed.
---
“...used to live in Caledonia before the war. They had the most amazing ability to regrow lost limbs. After Mr. House procured the hotel for his purposes, he named it after them.” History lessons. I hate history lessons. It didn't help that Starscream had a lot of them.
I mean, I appreciated that he showed us through the hotel hospital thing: the first three floors were hotel rooms, the next five hospital, and the top floors were reserved for the Hizai and Mr. House himself. It is, I suppose, important to note that the Hizai were not the only ponies under Mr. Houses pay. They were simply his enforcers. It was interesting to see the cybernetics lab, but it was hard to pay attention. I just kept getting a nagging feeling in the back of my head that Serenity would have enjoyed it so much more than I.
“Here we are! The crown jewel of The Black Salamander, the casino floor!” He fluttered into the air so he could point with both hooves more dramatically as we walked out of the elevator.
I had to say, it was impressive. The room seemed to be set up with various levels sinking into the floor, kind of like an upside down pyramid. The bottom-most level seemed to be the High Rollers’ tables, given the extravagance of it. The next level seemed to be craps, followed by blackjack, then the one legged bandits, followed finally by the top level I was on that seemed to have the bars and cashier places. The entire area was decked in red carpet and gold trimming, with a fancy (and large) chandelier hanging in the centre of the room.
Of course I noticed right away that the chandelier was hanging right over the High Roller's pit, so if it was to fall a lot of rich ponies would die. That was literally the first thing I noticed. Apparently, I was becoming morbid as well. Lovely.
“Thanks, Star. We need to go now.” I’d meant to leave a while ago. I was sure Serenity was safely at the Watchers’, but I just wouldn't be satisfied until I knew for sure.
“Are you sure? There is so much more I can show you. How ab-”
“Starscream.” Flare zipped in front of him, both floating in the air. “Buddy, pal, guy... You need to learn to use your ears. It's important for living, you know? When the mare says she needs to go that means she needs to... you know, go. Ain't that hard to figure out, ya know? Now! I am sure you're a smart unicorn... thing there, but you should work on comprehension, get it?” He paused to grab Starscream's shoulders. “What she is trying to say is, leave her the fuck alone for five minutes. Dumbass.”
“Oh, my apologies,. He smiled and backed off. “I have work to attend to anyway.” And so he left the way we came. He really was a strange buck.
“Where are we going anyway?” High Stakes asked.
“Well...” I started moving around the pit. “To the Watchers. I need to make sure Serenity is safely there.”
“So, you ever going to tell us what exactly happened back at Zebra-Ville?” Flare asked as I weaved around a mare with a tray of drinks on her back. By 'weaved around' I clearly meant 'stole a drink from'. It burned going down, and I probably shouldn't have spat the glass on the ground, but fuck it. “Seriously. Hired. Stop dodging the question. You're a terrible liar an-”
“Fuck off, Flare.” Maybe I should have killed him. It would have been easier than answering questions. Questions led to memories, which lead to guilt, which lead to visions of Misfit dying. I mean Post Haste... I shook my head but he kept peppering me with questions. “Flare. Seriously.”
“Fuck off?” He shrugged, “It's actually a fair bit harder than you think, I mean without thumbs you have to use both hooves an-” Oh Celestia, I did not just hear that. Bleach, I needed it. I needed it bad.
“High Stakes, please. Make him stop.” There was a sensation of burning magic, and when I turned up to the flying pegasus he had a wad of cloth stuck in his mouth. Ahh, the peace and quiet. Okay, the casino floor was actually fairly full and not quiet at all, but you know what I mean. “Thanks. You're a pal.”
“I am here to serve... or whatever. Frankly, his constant chatter has a habit of breaking the moment. So, you were about to tell us what exactly happened when I was dismissed from the room at Karkhoof.” Oh for Celestia's sake, his glasses were shinning again. “From what I can recall, you threw me out. A few minutes later most of the town was burning, Serenity had run off, and you had lost an eye. Something important must have happened. Though what, I cannot know. Given past evidence, I am going to guess you killed somepony. Brutally.”
“High Stakes.” I gave my best 'shut the fuck up voice' but he kept talking.
“Now, I know you'd never kill a foal, but I do not think Serenity would react so hostile otherwise...” Fuck off. I stormed forward slamming through the doors of the casino into the outside.
“Shut. Up. Now.”
He didn't. “So maybe you were aiming for someone, but a foal got in the way. Or...”
“High Stakes.”
“Or Maybe Serenity tried to stop you and altered your shot. Am I getting clo-”
CRACK
The force of my buck sent him flying backwards into the doors of the casino. His head slammed backwards into the door so forcefully it left a dent. Slowly he slid down the door until he was resting against it, a swath of blood covering the door. Flare rushed to his aid immediately as I fumed, rage filling my ears. “High Stakes.” I seethed, as Flare fed him a healing potion. “Fuck off.”
I turned and stormed down the Dise street.
They followed me slowly but kept their distance and didn't talk. To that extent I stopped long enough to click on my Radio. Mr. New Haygas was far more interesting the fucktard duo behind me. “...refugees keep filing in from the war in the north. Despite reports that the pony known as 'The Light Bringer' defeated the Enclave, war still rages across the wasteland. Lacking space in the city-proper, many of the refugees have taken up shelter in the ruins of Eastern Celestia's Paradise, now known as Eastside. The NCA has expressed fears about the state of the refugees, stating that unless they are given food, shelter, and water there is a strong likelihood they could become desperate. They have said publicly that the last thing Dise needs is a new raider gang within minutes of the city.
Speaking of raiders, it seems a group of raiders who have traditionally kept to themselves in the border between Caledonia and Equestria have started moving south. Little is known about their motives, but the NCA plans to send an envoy asking about their intentions.
More news let us see. Mayhem has issued a boil order for all water in the city after some ponies in the slums have taken ill. According to him the issue appears to be with one particular fountain, but has requested all ponies boil their water if they can, until he can look into the issue fully.
Finally I need to end this broadcast on a sad note. It seemed that the section of Celestia's Paradise that went to Karkhoof has been wiped out,” I stopped in the middle of the street. That. That couldn't be right. They retreated what... “After the battle in Karkhoof yesterday, they were forced to retreat. Reports are still coming in but it seems the mercenaries they hired for safety fled after the fight, leaving them alone. That night their camp was beset by Zebra Assassins killing everyone inside except for the foals and Righteous Song herself. Details are still fuzzy, and we will update you when more information becomes available.”
They killed them all. Every last one. Except for the foals. Why. Why would they do that? I had thought after Celestia's Paradise left the fighting would be over. For fuck's sake. “The NCA has already condemned the attacks, as they are wont to do, and has already insisted on retribution. There is no way this won’t end up horribly... time for some music!”
Good job, Silver. You solved nothing at all. This shouldn't be a shock. Maybe that was my special talent. When things went wrong on an epic scale, things tended to turn to rubble. Perhaps that is what the rocks on my flank represented. My ability to turn victory into defeat just by existing.
I really needed to kick something, and High Stakes was too far back to reach.
I eventually did storm my way over to the Watcher's Fort in southern Dise. To my surprise, Ginger, the minotaur, was standing in between the two pony guards at the front gate making them look a bit uncomfortable. The minotaur had that effect on ponies. I think it was either the way he looked like somepony took a bunch of different animals and sewed them together or the way he stood on two legs. Mostly the two legged thing. I know griffins could walk like that (but preferred all four), and I heard that hellhounds and diamond dogs could walk like that as well, but it didn't stop it from being creepy.
The Minotaur stared down at me. “Hello, Ginger,” I said up at it. Of course, Ginger said nothing but to point with one of his fingers (digits are creepy) at one of the guards. Obviously, indicating for me to talk with one of them. It was a shame; I really wanted to hear him speak. “Right.” I turned to the guards. “Hey. Did you two work last night.”
One of the guard ponies with a long red mane nodded.
“Did you see a filly come by?”
She shook her head. I felt something in my stomach twist.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep,” The guard said. “Worked all night. Ain't no one came at all last night, certainly not no filly.” Okay. Calm, Silver. Serenity could have just snuck past them. She was a sneaky pony with her magic and everything.
“I need to talk to Clean Cutt.”
“I...” The guard looked abashed before muttering something into the device on her foreleg. It looked sort of like a pipbuck, but different. I couldn't exactly hear what she was saying, but I was sure the number six came up once or twice as she spoke. “He will be one minute. Please wait right here.”
I waited. Flare and High Stakes got up the nerve to come sit beside me too, so that was good. I didn't really mean to kick High Stakes that hard... he was just pissing me off. So I apologized for kicking him so hard. A bit out of character for me, but I felt it was important. Maybe I was actually learning, but I doubted that.
Eventually the leader of the Watchers did show himself. Clean Cutt always mildly creeped my out, mostly due to his pitch black eyes. Still, he was nice for the most part so I ignored it. “Ah, Hired Gun. It has been a while. How is Serenity?” Oh, fuck.
“You... don't know?”
The blue buck stared blankly at me with his dark eyes and shook his head. “I... No. You lost Serenity?” There was a tone in his voice that I really didn't like. “Did you really? In the city?”
“Well. I had thought she'd come here.” That was not only the truth of it; that was the plan. Where else could she have possibly gone?! This was not good, not good at all.
“Hired Gun,” he said, his tone harsh, “you must find her. There have been a rash of kidnappings in the city recently. Orphans have gone missing, and nopony has been able to find them... if Serenity is with them. It is vital you find her.”
Missing. Kidnapped. No no no no. This was not the plan at all! She was supposed to be safe! Healthy. Not trapped Celestia knows where. I stood up forcefully, my heart in my throat and my stomach twisting so much it hurt. I needed to find her. Before... no I couldn't think of that. I just needed to find her.
Fuck.
---
Okay. Calm, Silver. Calm.
“Hired, calm down, if you keep pacing like that you're liable to make somepony dizzy.” Fuck off, Flare. Okay, he was mostly right. I stopped and took a deep breath. I hadn't gotten fifteen feet from the Watcher fort before completely flipping out. Serenity was gone. Vanished. Poof. Just like that. No combination of that could ever be a good thing. Ever. I had to find her. I caused this. Again. I couldn't let it happen again. Whoever was kidnapping orphaned foals had to be up to no good. I was going to find them and use their body parts to decorate my suite, I swear to Celestia.
I shut my eye. Calm, Silver. Think about something calming. Lengths of rope are not calming, stop that. Even with my eye closed I thought I could see a spark of red. I wasn't deliriously in pain, she shouldn't be here. Wildfire just sighed at me.
My eye snapped open. Okay. Freaking out and going insane. There was nothing good about this. Calm Silver. “Okay.” I stopped pacing. “Need to think of a plan. Need to. Find her.”
Flare flapped into the air and flipped upside down so his frown looked like a smile. “Didn't you want her away anyway? I mean this was your plan, wasn't it? Obviously I'm lacking in details, but if High Stakes guessed right, why do you even care?” Because she's still my filly! I wanted her away from me because I cared about her, because I knew if she stayed with me something horrible would happen to her!
Seemed I was too late in that regard. My bad luck had already spread, and now she was kidnapped by Celestia knows who. “Flare. Shut up. It's not the time.”
“I have spoken in depth to Clean Cutt.” High Stakes said making me nearly jump out of my skin. Fucking ponies sneaking up on my blind spot. I hadn't even realized he wasn't with us, shows how much I pay attention. “He seems to have little information on the disappearance. Though he claims Mayhem might know something.” How woul- “from what he said a new recruit of Mayhem vanished, and he never lets things like that go uncovered.”
“Mayhem. Got it.” I needed to go there then. Back to the Moon. Apparently, it was still mostly standing after the attack, though I doubted Mayhem would be using Roy's penthouse. If I remembered correctly most of the glass was blown out in Molly's attack, and who knows what else got destroyed. Besides, it didn't seem to be Mayhem's style.
Because I knew all about style.
“I have a question!” I looked up at Flare who was still hanging upside down. “Does your eye hurt or something? You've been strangely quiet about it.” I've had better things to think about.
“Yes.” It hurt constantly. Despite still feeling the effects of my hangover (I have kindly left most of them out of the narrative to avoid being repetitive about how shitty I felt), my eye throbbed constantly. It was like a knife was stuck in there and just kept twisting. To that end I’d taken a Med-X to help make it less, pain-y. “A lot.”
“Oh goodie. I've always wondered what it'd be like losing a body part. After seeing you I changed my mind. It clearly does nothing for looks, or brains.” He was getting one step closer to losing a body part with every word, I swear.
So I turned and walked down the street.
I hated Dise on principle, but it was amazing. Sure, most of the buildings were falling into rubble but for the most part many were still intact. More amazingly was that ponies walked back and forth without fear of being, you know, randomly killed. No Steel Rangers to confiscate technology. No land sharks to rise from the ground. No raiders or pirates, or little wars. Sure, sometimes you could get killed in a gang war, but compared to outside the wall, it was, for the most part, peaceful. Though a city of vice and suckitude, it was hard to find a place safer.
I spent most of the walk trying my best not to think. Thinking led to bad thoughts. Thoughts like 'Seriously what the fuck, Silver? You let her get kidnapped! Who knows where she is, or what the pervert who kidnapped her is doing? You fucking fucktard why would you think it would be a good idea to let her off on her own, ever? Seriously. What the hell?’ And there I go again. Lovely.
I think Flare was talking as we walked, but I wasn't really paying attention. Partly because I was still pissed at him, but mostly because I just couldn't concentrate. Whine whine moan. I know! But my filly was missing! How else was I supposed to react? Why couldn't she do this one thing? I just wanted her to be safe, I just...
I stopped to wipe the tears from my eye and continued on my way.
“Hey. Hey, Hired.” Huh. I shook my head and turned to see Flare flying in my blindspot. “Hey, are you alright? You seem more out of it than normal...” No, I was not alright! “Okay, I guess that was a stupid question. Listen, I'm sure Serenity will be fine, okay? And she'll forgive you for whatever happened at Karkhoof, so don't worry. It'll all work out.” I didn't want her to forgive me. I wanted her to hate me from a safe distance. “Seriously. C'mon, insult me or something. This mopey Hired is getting hard to take. Do ya wanna kick me?”
I smiled, just a little bit, at that. “Sure. Stand still.”
Flare laughed but flew away. Right. I needed to work on this not being mopey thing. How about stressing out? Is that mopey. Calm Silver. Just breathe. You can do this.
I gritted my teeth and stormed into The Moon. I could do this. Flare was right. I'd find Serenity. Kick the ass of whoever thought it was a good idea to touch my filly, and deposit her back with the Watchers where she belonged. I could do this.
“I'm sorry, baby. You're gunna have to leave the gun here.” I stopped at the entrance and stared at the suited stallion at the front desk. He was not a pony I recognized. That was strange mostly because I knew every freaking pony who worked at the Moon. Or I did. I guess I had been gone for a while, and with Mayhem running the show...
“You can't have Subtlety.” I could not stress that part enough.
“Baby, now I ain't askin. See this is how it rolls in the Moon: you give us your weapons, or you get the fuck out.” Who the fuck was this guy? I was going to give him my gun alright, right after I give him my- Suddenly, Subtlety was floating off my back, and my shoulder burned. “High Stakes!” I turned and glared at the chuckling unicorn.
“Hired, I'd rather you not get us shot. I know how hard that is for you, but you could at least make an attempt.” Oh, now he was going to mock me, too! Fuck stallions. And not in that way. “For now let us meet this Mayhem and get the answers you seek.” Stop being right; I hate you so much.
“It's all good, baby.” The door greeter stallion welcoming guy said as he carefully put Subtlety and Bunker Buster away. “We'll take good care of them. Don't you worry your pretty little head off. They'll be safe and sound till you need to leave. Not sure why you'd ever want to.” That's because you're an idiot. Big surprise there. A stallion with shit for brains.
I stormed past, my two shit-headed stallions following behind. The Moon was looking pretty good considering. There was a section in the far back wall that had to be boarded up (no doubt where the Baises decided it'd be fun to blow it up), but beyond that there was little sign of physical damage. The debris were cleared and cleaned, and it was business as usual. Though the dancer on the stage wasn't Mayflower... a bit of a shame she was such a lovely mare. Instead it was a new mare I’d never seen. I was sensing a pattern here.
“Ah, The Moon. How I missed you. The smells. The views. The alcohol, th-”
“Really, Flare?” High Stakes chuckled, and I could almost hear his glasses shine. “I suppose it is to be expected. But I was hoping you had more refined tastes than... here. I feel sullied just by stepping into this place.” Try being a tad more arrogant. Might help your image.
“Don't be like that! This place is like the heaven of sin and debauchery.” Flare fluttered up just so he could spread his forelegs out and spin dramatically.
“You mean hell,” High Stakes offered helpfully, only to gain a spiteful look from Flare.
At least my companions made themselves useful by distracting me from my panic attack. “You're no fun at all, you know that?” Flare groaned, still floating. “A stallion just wants to have a little fun, and you 'tut tut' all over it. Well I, for one, refuse to bow down to your 'tut tutting'.”
“I never said ‘tut tut’ I just sai-” High Stakes was cut off by a furious round of 'tut tutting' by Flare. It was difficult not to smile at that, but I was well-practised at not smiling.
It did occur to me as I walked, that I didn't know where I was going. I mean, I knew The Moon like the back of my hoof (insert “I never saw that before” joke here) but I didn't know where Mayhem was. He clearly wasn't going to take up Roy's shattered suite. So where would Mayhem set up shop? I guess he must have had an office back when he was Roy's right hoof stallion, but I never did find it.
So that left me... where exactly.
“Hired Gun?” Blinking, I turned. There, standing before the fake bathroom door that really led to a secret elevator, was the old bartender. Only now he was decked out in a battle saddle and fancy suit. I really should have gotten around to remembering his name. “We'll I'll be a minotaur’s uncle. I heard you got killed!” Wait, really? “How have ya been, girl? Where's your filly anyway? Heck, soon as I saw ya I immediately started thinking that I should grab you some sparkle-colas.” The unicorn chuckled. “Good to see you well... well, mostly well. Nice eyepatch, real sporting.”
“Hired Gun has friends,” High Stakes remarked, half-shocked, “I must be dreaming.”
“Ignore him.” I waved my metal hoof at the annoying green unicorn. “I need to see Mayhem.”
“Mayhem is a busy stallion, but I'll see what I can do. He was mighty upset when he heard you died and has been dying ta talk with ya. Can't tell you why, but hey, give me a second.” The unicorn backed off and spoke into his hoof. Seemed to be a common thing for ponies to do these days.
A few minutes of hushed chatter later and he came walking back up. “Says you're okay for a chat.”
“Where is he?”
“Why, The Room of course.” Only Mayhem would make an interrogation room his personal office. I stepped towards the door, “Now wait just a tick. Only you can go, not your friends. Ya dig?” I blinked. “Listen, he doesn't really trust you. Can you blame him? So just you, your friends are welcome to the many amenities The Moon has to offer as they wait. I have some vouchers for free drinks and dances if they want.”
“Whatever.” I turned to Flare and Stakes. “Don't get too drunk without me.”
---
The sterile white hallway that led to The Room was just as I remembered it. Back during those days when I worked for the Mustangs I had walked the same walk many times. Though then, I was in a position of power. Now, though, I was gunless and mostly in Mayhem's power. I licked my lips and kept walking. The lights above were outrageously bright, and made the whole hallway shiny. Did it really have to be so long though? I could feel my heart pounding harder with every step. Something between a combination of being worried for Serenity, nervous about what Mayhem wanted me for, and frustrated with everything that had happened.
You know what? Fuck that. If Mayhem tried anything, I'd kill him like I killed Roy.
I stormed past the two guards standing right outside the door and entered The Room. It wasn't exactly as I remembered. It was still obscenely white, but the single table had a large terminal on it now, and was mostly covered in documents. Mayhem, who was sitting on a cushion, looked up from the computer screen at me. Sighing, he flicked the monitor off. “Hired Gun. It seems the rumours of your demise are unfounded.”
I...” The door clicked behind me. It locked from the outside. “I suppose so.”
“Considering I started them, it is not a surprise.” I... wait what? “I was hoping Molly would have killed you. It'd make waving away Roy's death that much easier.” He wasn't making much sense. “Some think I hired you to kill him, so it would be easier if you were dead... and yes I know it was you. It's the worst kept secret in Dise. For the time, anyway.”
“How do you-”
“Spies. And then spies watching the spies. Any gang leader worth their salt has an extensive network watching everypony else's business.” The red stallion smirked. “So, of course, Roy had none. It took me a couple days to modify my existing network, but the first word I heard was about a large mare seen near the scene with a huge gun. You, of course. Still you did get one thing right. No pony has any idea why you killed him.”
“Let's keep it that way.”
“Of course.” He stood up. For some reason he seemed a bit thinner than I last remembered him. Still large, just not as much. And his... woah! From around his left knee down was replaced with metal. It wasn't skeletal like my leg, but instead rounded and more like an actual ponies leg, only, you know, cybernetic.
“That's my style.” I said plainly as he started to pace.
“Hah, well too bad. The thing is new too.” He stretched it. “Waited too long to take a healing potion. By the time I tried, most of my leg was too fucked up. Didn't need to amputate but limping would just incite someone to usurp me. So I hired a Watcher doctor and Cerberus cybernetic tech to come in and do it. Bitch is hard to get used to, and it burns sometimes, but apparently that's normal.”
“Cerberus?”
“The other cybernetic company.” He smirked. “Couldn't very well have my rival work on my leg could I? Hear the Cerberus clowns came from some stable up in Equestria. The one I talked to was a new recruit but apparently the founders were all earth ponies, and had a different tech design. More efficient than house could ever dream of.” He smirked. “Stables, apparently they did one thing right.” He laughed bitterly. “Sorry. They have me on painkillers. Apparently they have a side effect of making me a jabbering idiot.” Strange, Med-x never did that for me. “What exactly is it that you wanted?”
The pleasure of your company, of course. “I heard you know something.”
“Know lots of things.”
“About the vanishing foals.” He raised and eyebrow before smirking.
“So they got Serenity.” I winced. “Now how did you let her go? Normally, you are so protective.” There was a smirk on his face I didn't like. “Maybe I know something about her...” He started circling the table. Slowly and methodically. “Maybe I could help you find her. Maybe. Then again, you did kill my boss...”
“You mean,” I corrected, my voice expressing my barely contained rage. “I gave you your job.”
“Aye. That you did.” He kept circling until he started walking around me. I knew the tactic well enough so I didn't bother following his path, and instead stared at the papers on his desk. Imagine that, sensitive information just waiting for me to read. I idly wondered how much of it was planted information. I was stupid, but I wasn't stupid enough to think he'd leave vital information on his desk like that. Mayhem looked like a large tub of stupid, but he was annoyingly smart. “But you still killed Roy. You have upset some important ponies. I could sell you to Molly a-”
“No. If you tried, I'd smash your head in. Besides.” I rested my head on the table. I was not in the mood for these stupid games he always felt like playing. Serenity was somewhere and I had to banter words with this fuck-head. “You wouldn't sell me to your enemy.”
“And how do-”
“Molly still wants The Moon. You aren't going to give her anything. Stop fucking around.” I grit my teeth and tried to calm my tightening muscles. Every fibre in my being was telling me to beat him. “You won’t sell me. Not to the Baises. Not to House. Not to the Galicians. Not to the NCA. All of them hate you more than me. I'm a fly. You're a poisonous snake. I can be ignored, but to them, your gifts would be tainted.” Great, now I was giving animal metaphors like Molly. “Just tell me what you want. What price. I'll pay it. I need your information.”
Mayhem made a tut tutting noise at me. “You know how this room works. Interrogation, beatings, ruin ponies’ sense or worth and entitlement.” There was a smirk behind me before he started walking around some more. “The rules still apply. Don't make me have to break you. This room has met tougher opponents and won, ya dig?”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “There is a difference.” I lifted my head up. “Something you had before, that you don't have now. Something that let you get what you wanted. Something that could break ponies.” He raised an eyebrow, begging me to continue. “You had me.”
“Aye. I need a new stupid mare to scare folk. So what is it you wanted again?” Fucking fucker mother fuck fuck. I played your game of words, now just tell me what I wanted to know. “Right the missing foals. Well I got a new shipment of foals two days ago.” I winced. “Don't worry. They'll be trained to be guards and given freedom. Roy had some fillies in the sex trade but... well, I may be a horrible evil bastard, but I would never go that far.” Right. No killing Mayhem for child slavery. Not yet anyway. “I had them running drills in the alley outside. And by drills I mean tag.” Huh. Tag? “It teaches foals many important skills. Strength, speed, agility, teamwork, that sort of thing. Blind Spot went missing, and some kids reported seeing a flash.”
Was that it? How long had I spent down here for that little tidbit of shit! Really! Fucking really! Serenity was missing, and that's all the information. I... calm. Silver. Just calm down. Don't rush headlong. Calm for fuck's sake.
“Is that it?” Okay. I did not sound calm. And maybe I was shaking. Just a little bit. I don't think he noticed.
“No...” Tell me. Tell me. Tell me! “But. Information is not cheap. If you want me to tell you, well I need something in return. A promise. A contract. That someday, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a year, you'll help me. No questions asked. No matter what it is.”
I slammed my hooves down so hard they cracked the table. “Even I am not that stupid.” My rage bubbled to the surface, and I had to bite my lip to keep my voice down. “I won’t agree to that. I. You could make me do. Anything! At any time. I am not that stupid. It's too vague. I-”
“Hired.” He smirked at me, leaning against the wall non-nonchalantly. “You and I both know you will take the deal. Because Serenity is on the line.” My metal hoof cracked down slamming through his table. Not to show my defiance, but because he was right. I was going to take the offer. Serenity was out there... somewhere, with someone. I choked back tears. I had to be strong. Until I found her. Just a little bit longer.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Yeah. Fuck you.”
“I just knew you'd see it my way.” He walked over to his table and tut tutted at the hole I put through it before swiping the fake documents away. “Now, I suppose I could make you sign a contract, but well, you have been getting a reputation for always following the word of the contract. Just the word though. Do you know how to combat that?” I shrugged. “Be really vague or really specific. If you agree to this, you are agreeing to accept a single job from me without question in the future.” I nodded. “Good.”
“Now tell me.” I barked. Well. I didn't really bark, but it is the closest approximation to the sound of my voice at that point in time. “What. Do. You. Know.”
“Patience. Well, after one of my foals vanished I had to find out who took him. And no, he did not just escape.” I wasn't thinking that.... “They came to me slaves, I let them play tag and gave them food. Moving on. I am nothing if not thorough. So I sent my little ponies out to investigate. It seems to have started a few nights ago. Vanishing colts and fillies, sometimes flashes of lights. Only orphans or slaves though... not sure how your daughter was mistaken.”
“Get. To the point.” I was tired of trying to match wits with him, so I just glared.
“You know there are ponies living under Dise right.” I blinked. “For serious? Fuck.” Wait. That sounded familiar. I was sure I heard something like that before. “I hate having to explain this shit, look. Way back before the world blew up some crazy ass idiot created a huge series of tunnels under Dise. Supposed to be large enough to hold the entire city at it's peak, but it didn't work. I mean, it withstood the blast partially but wasn't much protection against radiation. Ya dig? Ponies died, yadda yadda, but more importantly is a lot of the facilities still work. So there are a lot of tribes and villages down there that trade with the surface.” But the tunnels I was in didn’t seem... livable. Also, it was full of crazy. “Some feral ghoul attacks, but safer than the surface. Entrances are sprinkled throughout the city, but all of them in Dise are held by an important faction so ponies don't use it to smuggle.” Talk more; you're not boring at all. “Fact of the matter is some of the villages have been... talking.”
“About?”
“Shut up. I'm trying to help you.” No. You are just telling me so you can blackmail me in the future. “Strange occurrences and these flashes of light. Same thing as before, ya dig? This tells me that something is down there. Something that is kidnapping these foals.”
That was. Something. I felt a spark of hope rise in my chest. It was a lead. It was something I could latch onto. I had to follow this until the end. Somehow I knew it was the only lead I was going to get, and I wasn't going to let it go.
“I... thank you.” I backed away from the table, and turned to walk away.
“I am not done.” I tilted my head back. The red stallion seemed to be enjoying himself way to much. “Here.” On the table he pushed over a map with some notes scrawled on it. “Directions to the village that saw the flash. Clues, maybe.” He smirked as I rolled it up and stuffed the map in my saddle bags. “And this.” He pressed something under the table.
And the wall started moving.
Wait, what? The white wall he was standing in front of cracked, and slowly stated to rise into the air. As the door rose slowly, dust and paint chips falling off it, I could see a small room on the other side with a staircase. At first I thought it made no sense, but then I used my head. I knew Wallkirk built the tunnels to save ponies (even if he failed hilariously), and I knew that at least one other hotel had a secret exit (The Ale House, of course), and I also knew that the major factions personally controlled the entrances to the tunnels. So seeing this one here in The Room, which I knew was underground, shouldn't have been a surprise. I should have expected. Then again, I was not a clever pony (if you don't believe me ask Post Haste).
“Well. That's convenient.”
“If Molly ever attacks again, it most certainly will be.” Mayhem grinned deviously at me. Somehow I knew I played exactly into his hoof, but I didn't know how.
Nodding, I started forward to the hidden stairs. “Mayhem. Do me a favour. My companions will miss me. Tell them. Also. Make sure they don't get too drunk without me.” he nodded.
So, I took a deep breath, closed me eye, and descend back into the tunnels. Already I could hear the winds whispering in my ears. I never asked for this... for either of us...
---
Silver. I heard a voice whisper in my ear.
Just calm down. Oh. I was just thinking to myself. Yes. Calm, Silver. Just because you were in a tunnel didn't make it the tunnels. Look at the differences.
Right. First of all was the fact that the tunnel I was in actually had working lights strung up on the walls. This gave me the lovely ability to see without making shadows dance around me. Secondly, would be the fact that there was no mysterious wind, and when I closed my eye I wasn't transported into an inescapable dream. Right. Just think about this rationally. Which was all well in good if I was a rational pony.
Of course, I wasn't. So every three seconds I snapped my head to the right, making sure nopony was sneaking up on my blind sport, and every minute or so I needed to take a deep breath. If I’d a choice, I would never go underground again. Never ever. But... well, something under here stole Serenity. Nothing under Dise was good, so I was going to find it and kick its ass. Even if the tunnels made me a tad nervous. I just needed to get over it.
Fear was all well and good, but I was better than that. Just keep moving forward, stupid. You're just worked up over Serenity vanishing. The tunnels don't scare you. I mean, I disliked them, but they weren't scary. Just needed to calm myself down. Fuck the tunnels. If they got in my way, I would kick them the fuck down.
So I stormed through the quiet tunnels. I would have felt better with Subtlety on my back (and my right eye in my socket), but I had to go with what I had. My hooves clacked loudly against the metal grate, and somewhere I could hear dripping water. It wasn't as creepy as the darkness of that tunnel, but it had its own charm. For example, it had a subtle mildew scent that never seemed to leave. Almost as if it was following me, and every once in a while something would drip on my head making me almost jump.
The walls were still creepy. Whatever tunnel I was in had the metal grate that served as a floor cleaned, but the walls told the truth. It was lined with centuries old stains of indeterminable origins. The moldy brown sometimes nearly wrote words, but were so faded it was hard to see. However, there were some words carved into the stone that I could see. “Celestia, help me.” wrote one. “We're dying, save us” wrote another. “The tunnels were never meant to save anypony” yet a third carved note said. The final will of ponies who have been long dead, forever immortalized in stone.
Apparently, tunnels made me thoughtful and morose... very thoughtful, considering I just used morose in a sentence. If only Serenity were here to hear me be so verbose. Oh! There, I did it again.
Right. Apparently being nervous turned my intelligence chip into overdrive. Or perhaps thinking about Serenity made me subconsciously remember some of the more impressive words she used... or I just got lucky twice in a row. Or maybe I was getting off topic.
Just to make sure I knew where I was going I pulled out the map from one of the pockets in my barding, and rolled it out on the floor. Right, so If I started at this 'X' and walked... how many doors did I pass? I was. Somewhere. I looked around, then back at my map, then around again. Well... I guess this was a good time to realize that I didn't know how to read maps. I mean, I thought it was easy. Look at map. Instantly gain knowledge. Apparently there was a part where you had to decipher the map and stuff.
Fuck.
Well, this can't be too hard. So, after I packed up my map, I kept walking. I mean I was looking for, what? A little underground village of surface hating ponies. Or... something. Either way, it shouldn't be that hard to find my way to it. All I had to do was follow the screams.
Wait, screams?
Fucking screams. It seemed in my worried daze I completely missed the fact that somepony was screaming!
I dashed down the hall, following my ears. Quickly, I turned right, slamming through a wooden door with my head (What? Not like it could damage my brain anymore), and into a small hallway. That shrill scream sounded again, further down the hall way. One more doorway, and I seemed to have found the voice.
She was standing in the middle of a rather large, empty, dirty brown room. I didn't get much of a look at her as I was paying more attention to the swarm of radscorpians. Right, it was Hero ti-
There was a flash so bright I had to close my eye and cut off my epic rescue. When I opened my eye again the rad scorpions were suddenly tied up in a giant net hanging from the ceiling. Standing smugly before them was a black suited pony with a mask covering her entire face. “Have no fear, Citizen. I am here to help.” The Batmare said, turning to the mare who had been attacked.
The brown mare didn't answer though as she was pointing a frightened hoof in my direction. Wait. She didn't think I was a bad guy o-
KAPOW!
A sudden kick to the head sent me staggering to the side. My shoulder flared in protest, but when I turned to see what hit me it was gone. Dammit, The Batmare was using her fancy teleporting tricks and... my shoulder was burning again. I tried to turn, but for some reason my leg faltered, reacting slower than it should have.
URKKK!
Argh, there was a sudden weight on my back, and something mashed into the top of my skull. Reeling in pain I tried to buck her off of me, but she was surprisingly strong. “Surrender now, evil doer, and face justice!” Take your justice and shove it up your ass. With a growl I dropped and rolled and the mare vanished off, making my shoulder sting.
ZOK!
Batmare's hoof just nicked my forehead as I managed to pull back just in time. I noticed that my shoulder started to burn right before she appeared. Heh. There is no way she'd be expecting that from an earth pony. As The Batmare tried for another kick, I stepped away and tried to give her one of my own, only for her to, predictably, disappear.
CLUNK!
Her foot slammed hard into the stone floor, missing me completely. Before she had a chance to realize I could predict her attacks, I turned and slammed my back legs into her with a powerful KRUNCH!
She flew through the air but vanished before hitting the wall. Only to reappear in nearly the same spot she vanished, just standing upright. “You are no amateur villain. Tell me who you work for! Is it the Laughing Stallion? The Cat Walker? Mr. House? Or are you alone, here to spread vileness and evil for your own mysterious purpose. It matters not, for I Am The Batmare!”
“Wait, I-
And she was gone again.
SWOOSH!
I ducked just in time to dodge the blow. Gritting my teeth I turned to my right to face her, but she started circling me. Trying to stay in my blind side no doubt. For fuck's sake, I didn't even want to fight this whack--”Fuck” I cried out stumbling to the side as she bucked me hard in the ribs. “Will you stop. I'm not a-” She flashed her horn and vanished again. Argh, this was getting irritating.
Wait, Idea.
Ignoring the burning in my shoulder as she appeared behind me, I charged forward. The bag of rad scorpions was hanging from the ceiling. Leaping up I grabbed the rope holding them up, and snapped it. As I slammed into the ground I twirled my head around, swinging the bag of poisonous creatures like a flail.
My shoulder burned. I don't know how, but I could always tell where the magic was coming from. So when she appeared to my right I was ready. I slammed my improvised weapon into her, and let go. The force sent her tumbling to the ground, smothered in writhing giant insects.
She laid dazed just long enough for me to say, “Stop that. I am not your enemy. And.” I pointed around the empty room. “That other pony left already.”
Another flash. Oh for fuck's sake.
Except instead she flashed infront of me, far enough away that she clearly wasn't trying to hurt. “Gone you say? Hah, my apologies.” Hey! What happened to the epic voice of truth and justice? “It is necessary to keep up my facade long enough for them to leave, I did not think you were a threat, but it is about appearance. She thought you were scary, so I fought you.”
“I... what?”
“Now tell me,” She said beneath her mask, “What are you doing down here? You are clearly not known. If you are a criminal vagabond, I shall be forced to continue my righteous beat down.” Beat down? I was winning there! I mean sure I got kicked hard a few times, but... shut up. She cheated with her stupid unicorn powers. And I still was making a come back... with my own mysterious magic like powers.
“I am looking for...” I furrowed my brow. How was I supposed to explain what Serenity was to me. I don't suppose 'random orphan I picked up and subsequently scared away by killing another kid' would work for Ms. Truth and Justice. So I gave the response you're all waiting for, “my daughter.”
Was she smirking? I couldn't tell under her mask. “Yes, another taken by the dastardly child snatcher.” She started to pace, pausing briefly time to time so she could pose. “I have heard tales. The most innocent and helpless of orphans stolen by this evil creature. They say he is ten feet tall and shoots lightning from his eyes. Few have gotten a good look, but many have traced him to this very tunnel! I am getting close. I have an inkling that the Laughing Stallion might be behind these abductions, but I cannot be sure. If you wish to help me, please leave. This is no job for amateurs.” Ama-what? I'll show you amateur.
“I'm not a-” I stopped speaking when she winked away. Unicorns, bah.
Still, when I felt a dull burning in my shoulder I followed it. Stupid superheros weren't allowed to insult me and get away with it. I slammed though a nearby door, and into another dimly light dirt hallway. Followed by another one, bringing me into one of the large hallways.
Batmare stood there, staring blankly at me. Obviously, she must not have figured out my super special, and not suspicious at all, powers. “How did you find me so quickly?”
“Magic. Listen. I'm coming with you. Serenity is missing. I am going to find her.”
“You are truly a pony with honesty and justice in your heart! I shall gladly take you on as a sidekick for this mission.”
Sidekick? Really?
---
The tunnels were endless. They sprawled along in every direction, stretching out in patterns I could barely understand. It was like a giant maze, made all the more confusing by the numerous cave ins and passages rendered impassable by debris. How the Batmare knew where she was going at all confused me, but somehow she kept walking, so I followed. The wanna-be super hero was not one for chit-chat, and I wasn't sure that was a good thing.
Eventually, she did say something. “You are a good fighter. Well, tough at least. It was lucky I recognized you from before. Twas the leg, an uncommon make even in Dise. Otherwise I would have laid you flat instead of taking it easy.” I had to roll my eyes at that statement. Sure she was going to try to save face even after I smacked her upside the head with a bag full of rad scorpions. I made a mental note to never forget that.
“Right.”
“You believe me not? A shame. Perhaps I should change my mind about you being my sidekick.” Please do.
“What are you?” She stopped and turned her masked face to me. So I continued, even though she was tapping her foot against the metal grate in annoyance. “The costume. The act. That stupid, stupid voice. I don't understand.”
“If you must know.” Sure, why not. I love backstories. She continued on walking, so I followed. “I was inspired during my travels across equestria. In manehatten I found long forgotten stories of somepony known as 'Mare Do Well.'” That was a stupid name. “When times were tense, and ponies troubled, she came as a beacon of justice. She fought evil, thwarted zebra plots, and saved innocent ponies. When I finally reached this city I looked upon it and saw a swarming, pus-filled shit hole so full of crime that law itself was outlawed. So I became a law unto myself. Following Mare Do Well, I struck back at the evil. A beacon of hope for this beleaguered city. I am here to give the citizens that hope.”
“So...” We turned a corner. If I’d been paying attention to where I was walking I wouldn't have stumbled on a shattered statue lying in front of a wooden door. Looking down, I kicked at it in annoyance before looking up at the door. There was a centuries old plaque on the door that said 'Wall'. Right, apparently the door had multiple personality disorder.
“So...” I continued, having briefly forgotten that I was talking. “Your parents didn't die and drive you crazy or anything?” I mean the whole 'inspiration' thing was dandy, if a tad strange, but it was the wasteland. Her story wasn't nearly tragic enough.
“Well, yes,” she admitted, “but that is hardly relevant.” Honestly, the dead parents story seemed far more interesting. If Flare was here he'd tell the story right. And then, I don't know, report my reactions to Sky Fall. Apparently.
Though I could have brought him and High Stakes with me. I mean, they were waiting upstairs in the casino, so it wouldn't have been much to convince Mayhem... why didn't I think of that?! I mean I know I was a stupid pony, but that was just ridiculous. With their combined, uh, talents it would have been that much easier to find Serenity.
I sighed. Serenity. Somewhere down in these cold, dank tunnels. Taken by somepony. I was trying my best not to think about, not to worry, but... well I was bad at that. Each step seemed to twist my stomach more and more. There was a pounding in the back of my head as I thought about it, warning me of who might have taken her. Reminding me that it was my fault for letting her go... for forcing her to go. I meant for her to be safe, but I fucked that up.
Urgh, whining wasn't going to get me anywhere. Just needed to calm down.
“You seem troubled.” The costumed crusader said, not bothering to look back at me.
“This thing. Whoever has been... foalnapping. Do you know what it is?” I doubted she did, but the sound of talking would distract me from the omnipresence of my failure.
“I cannot truly say,” she said after a moment of silence. “Whatever it is, it is magical. It started three days ago. Orphans mostly, but I have heard talk of slaves being freed.” Yes, one of Mayhem's was taken. That made no sense to me. If somepony was trying to do something horrible, it made sense to take orphans. Who would miss them? But slaves, that seemed odd. If they went missing somepony would notice. Maybe I was overthinking this.
“In either case,” The Batmare continued, “The figure what took them has been seen but rarely. Descriptions vary but two things are known for certain. Firstly: whatever it is, it is of a monstrous size. Comparisons have been made to being at least as tall as a minotaur. Secondly: whatever it is, flashes of light are always seen nearby when it shows up.”
“Thirdly, it's in these tunnels?” I asked.
“Maybe.” That felt like a buck to the chest. What have I been doing these past few hours if she wasn't actually near by! I had to be sure, each second we wasted she could be... “But there is a good chance. Many have spoken of flashes of lights, though no children from the villages have been taken.” Right, villages. I have heard ponies lived in these tunnels, but apart from The Batmare and that one pony we saved, I’d seen none. Of course the tunnels were designed to hold everypony in Celestia’s Paradise at it's peak, so it wasn't that shocking. That was a lot of space for so few.
“Well... what if it was you?”
She stopped in the middle of a T shaped intersection and shook her head. Either that or she was deciding which way to go. “No, I rarely go down here.” Yet she knew her way well. “And when I do, I rarely teleport, save for instances of battle.” I guess that made sense. Magic couldn't have been easy so she would want to conserve her... magic, swirly glowing... energy... stuff. “This way.” She turned right.
I followed after. The tunnels were getting dirtier I noticed. The ceiling above looked to be caked with... something, and every few steps I would splash into something really gross. If nothing else it was proof that destiny did not want me to bathe as it always sent me into dirty places right after I did so.
“Are you sure it’s-” I stopped. My shoulder was burning. It was light, but it was still there. “Yes. We're going the right way.”
“How would you know?” The Batmare questioned.
“Magic.” I closed my eyes, and focused on my shoulder. The tingling of the scar tissue under the metal plate felt so real, so alive. It didn't burn, but I could feel something. I had never felt residual magic like this before. Even under the tunnels I didn't sense the magic until I was close to the orb. Whatever made this was really powerful, or really careless. “I can feel it.” My heart was beating more and more. Something ludicrously powerful had taken Serenity, and I wasn't sure I could stop them.
I banished the thought from my head. I couldn't... remembering would just hurt. I could do it this time. There was no other option. But my mind kept going back to what Elder Chunky Soup told me. “There is a darkness under Dise. Something black and squirming and begging to be let free.”
I opened my eye. Sweat drenched my chest at the thought. I don't know what Elder Soup was talking about, but a highly powerful magical thing stealing children seemed black and squirming to me.
“We need to hurry.” I ran.
I let my instincts guide me as the dirty tunnel flashed by in a blur. Somehow, I knew Batmare was following, but I couldn't care less. When I turned, slammed through a door, and fell thirty feet onto the rubble of what used to be a staircase, I barely even stopped. I knew they had come this way. So I kept running. I think I was bleeding, but I wasn't sure. There was a sudden spike of fire through my shoulder making me stop, as The Batmare appeared beside me.
“Don't do that!” I said too loud. Though I barely heard my words over my pounding heart.
“What? Why not, it is the only way I can keep up.” I looked around. The lights were still on at this level, but more and more were broken. The walls were so dirty they seemed almost black, and there was an overpowering smell that I could not place.
“The magic is faint. Your magic cancels it. Makes me lose the...” The what? The burn? The signal? The feed? I was not a smart enough pony to even figure out where the burning came from, never mind use proper words to describe it. It seemed to be enough, though, as she nodded. Saying no more, I took off down the dark hallway.
It got darker as I ran. This was not a good thing. I no longer liked dark hallways much, but I kept running. How could I not? Serenity's life was in danger by something presumably black and squirming. Dammit, and it was all my fault. I could only pray to Celestia that I wasn't too late.
I slammed through a door, ran three steps, then stopped.
The dank hallway vanished, and suddenly everything was... clean. The walls all looked freshly scrubbed, and every light was glowing. My shoulder was burning fully too, and I knew that Batmare beside me wasn't using any of her magic. So I stopped running, and spoke in a hushed whisper. “We are close.”
We inched past doors, most closed. The one that was open went into a room with a series of small beds laid out in a row. My heart started pounding more and more as I inched closer in the complex.
There.
A solid wooden door. I could feel, something. I inched closer and stuck my ear up to -- quickly realized I used my stubby ear -- I turned my head around and used the other. Muffled voices spoke on the other side. Whatever took Serenity. Right behind this door. I licked my lips.
“On three.” I said to Batmare. “One.” My heart pounded against the door. “Two.” Another heart beat, I took a breath. “Th-” There was a familiar burning sensation. Wait. I knew that feeling.
Serenity!
The door shattered into splinters as I charged, then skidded to a stop. Standing in front of me was a... I wasn't sure. She was taller than any pony I’d ever seen, but thin and majestic. Her deep blue coat seemed to shimmer, and her hair was strange. It seemed to flow in waves of toxic purple and green. Her horn too, seemed too large even for her size, and her wings... wait, wings? Holy shit I was staring face to face at an alicorn. I was so stunned by her beauty I couldn't even completely my attack. “Celestia.” The Alicorn took a step back when I heard.
“Momma?”
I turned my head so hard my neck almost snapped. Rows of foals sitting at a table, but they didn't matter. Only Serenity, who was staring at me, tears forming in her large grey eyes. Slowly I turned back to the alicorn, who seemed to be glaring, and then to the wall she was standing in front of. It was a strange green board with strange jumbled symbols filling it. Was this alicorn teaching Serenity some sort of evil, alicorn magic stuff!? I had to stop her and sa-
My thought process was cut off by a soft popping sound.
Suddenly smoke filled the room. Dimly I could hear the sounds of coughing children as I rubbed my eye, trying to see. Everything was a grey mist. Then there was a quick purple flash, a sound of a kick. Batmare, she was fighting, no wai-
Pain. The burning sensation in my shoulder exploded so violently I cried out.
Something slammed into me and I fell. The Batmare was on top of me groaning. That was a bad place to be.
As quickly as the smoke came it twirled away with another burst of pain to my shoulder. The Batmare winked away leaving me lying on the floor, the cat like eyes of an alicorn glaring down at me, her horn glowing ominously. Fuck. I was so fucked. I had to save Serenity, I had to get up, but when I tried her heavy hoof pushed me down. I was stronger, I could overpower her! I...
“No!” Serenity cried. I could hear hoofsteps before I saw her beside me. “Don't hurt her! Please, she's my... don't...” Why was she crying? I was here to save her; she should be happy.
---
“...math?” I repeated. The giant alicorn nodded once again. After the incident, the alicorn bundled me up in her magic and took me to a small (I had to assume) infirmary. Guessing by the number of boxes with three butterflies on them and the white cot I was lying on anyway. Turns out the fall earlier had cracked the bone on my left back leg. Thankfully I got a healing potion before the injury could set.
“Yes.” the alicorn said. “Long division to be exact.” She had a haunting voice that seemed to reverberate through the room. And I'm not even sure what that means.
“Never heard of it.” The Batmare probably knew what long division was, but she vanished after her failed attempt at fighting... fighting... whatever her name was. “What's your name?”
“I am...” She paused, her muzzle scrunching up for a second. “Platinum Haze. Yes. You must forgive me. It is a new name, and sometimes I struggle to remember it.” Err, what?
“How is the name new?” Was it a made up name like Hired Gun? Was she running from something too?
“It... well, it is not.” She looked puzzled. “But it is. Alicorns are different. Were different. It was my name before I joined the song of Unity, and it has become my name once more.” Did that make sense to anypony? Ever? “Now, though, you must tell me your name in exchange, and why you have smashed your way into my home.”
“I...” Argh, my stupid eyeball was throbbing. The one that was torn up, anyway. “I am Hired Gun. You stole my filly. So I came for her.”
“Yes,” She smiled just a bit. “This I already have knowledge of. I found her upon the street last night, crying and cold. So I took her unto my care, and she spoke of you with some heat. Though after a time she softened.” Great, I am sure she told this child loving alicorn about Post Haste. No doubt I was about to get a beating. Oh well, I could take her. “Tell me,” Haze continued, “Why did you do it?”
“It was a job.”
“I do not believe you.” She shook her head (her mane didn't shake like a normal mane due to the wavvy-ness). “For when I spoke to Serenity, she did not believe you. There is a test, if you will, to verify the validity of this statement.” I what.
“Listen. I know what I did. And why. I am a bad pony. Bad ponies need caps. I took a job for caps. Piss off.” I don't care if she was some beautiful demi-goddess. She was bothering me and my delicate sensibilities.
“I promised your filly I would try. She is determined you are not at all what you try to be, and thusly, to ease her mind, I promised. It is a simple test. A memory spell, to let me see what you saw as you saw it. It takes but a second.” No. No way was I letting a strange alicorn into my mind. Never. “Though to be truthful, she did not expect you to search for her. Not at first. She seemed positive you did not care, but from the stories she told I knew you would come... perhaps not in that manner, but such is the way of things.”
“Of course I would come,” I said softly looking away. “Fine.” I sighed, and rested my head upon the bed. Idly, I wondered if this counted under the 'Silver does something stupid and gets captured' rule. “How does this work? I tell you something. You magic up if it's the truth? Or... it doesn't matter.” I sat up on the bed. “I want to ask you some questions first.”
Platinum Haze looked down at me with a smile. Her eyes were very... something. I wasn't sure if they frightened me, or if they were just really pretty. Perhaps a little bit of both. “Of course, whatever to put you at ease. I know you must have had a rough day.” No. You really couldn't know that. But thanks for pretending.
“Who... no sorry. What are you? Why are you here? What the fuck is going on down here?”
“I am an alicorn,” She said simply. Right, because I couldn't tell that. But that really made no sense, I mean as far as I knew only goddesses were alicorns (unless you counted Starscream). “It is... difficult to explain. I was not always as you see me. There was... a spell, and magic, and a song. It is... fuzzy but I was turned into this and joined Unity.”
“Unity?”
“Yes, that is what I said.” Was she mocking me? Given the regal way she spoke I wasn't quite sure. “It was... a collective of minds. With... it matters not. We were all one, once and now we are separate. It is hard to get used to, but it is better to not dwell.”
“So what happened?” I regretted asking. Turns out I didn't actually care. She could at least try to make the story interesting.
“The Goddess exploded.” Wait, Celestia? She exploded? But she's a... a goddess. Those can't die as far as I knew (though since they can't die I imagined they could explode twice). “Unity was broken and I remembered...” She scrunched up her muzzle. “Things. It matters not. Confused, I joined... a different pony who promised us we would be able to find mates.” Mates? As in male alicorns or... what? Actually, I don't want to know.
“He was killed by the same pony that killed the goddess.” I am sensing a pattern. Whoever that pony was she sure liked fucking super powerful goddess type beings around. “We learned. So we sided with a friend of the Destroyer. A mare named Velvet Remedy. She was not like The Destroyer. She promised to help us find mates and bring in a new wasteland. We are called the Followers Of The Apocalypse.” There was a hint of a smirk at that. “Velvet wanted to get a start at building a new world. At least preparations. It was my idea to bring a wing here, it was my home once and I thought it would be a good place to start... Velvet agreed, though I wish she hadn't.”
“So. You came here and stole orphans.”
“Rescued. We were given many caps and have the skills to acquire more. We attempted to enter the city legally but were shot on sight...” She sighed. “Diamond Sky and I survived and found our way through the tunnels. We found the remains of a schooling area and are refurbishing it to our needs. We have tried to speak with adults of this city, but most scream, shoot or... bite. So we have taken to gathering foals who are more open and teaching them. It is not exactly what Velvet wanted, but it is hard in this city.”
“That's stupid.” And I knew stupid. “Go into cities, teach them. I mean...” I understood the intent, I suppose. The sky was clear, let’s rebuild, but... whoever thought of the plan must have been naive. “Whatever...”
She laughed prettily, before turning to make sure the door was locked. I took the time to get a good look at her, trying to get a sense of what she was, but for some reason my eyes kept falling on her rump... oh fuck, not this again. Feeling my cheeks heat up, I turned my sight away. This was not the time or place to crush on majestic, otherworldly, beautiful... stop that. Not a fillyfooler. Bad Silver. I needed to take a cold shower.
“Whatever is the matter?” She asked so simply, but I blushed more and kept looking away. Is it gay if it's with a goddess?
Okay, that was a stupid question. “Nothing.” I lied. This wasn't the time. At all. I found Serenity. She was safe, and soon I needed to get back to wallowing in self pity. “Do your memory thing.”
“Don't thou wish to learn how the spell works? It is fairly tricky an-”
“Just.” I turned my head back to her, doing my best to glare. “Do it.” Haze looked concerned for a moment before nodding. In seconds her horn became engulfed in a brilliant blue glow. Slowly, she lowered her (very large [not in that way]) horn and touched my forehead. There was a shocking sense of pain in my shoulder before everything went black.
There was no sound in the blackness. No light. Just an endless void leaving me engulfed and restricted. A rising sense of terror took over me as I realized how trapped I was. Even when I tried to struggle it was as if I’d no body... because I didn't.
Do not panic.
A voice said in the darkness, reverberating through the inky blackness of my world.
This will not hurt. Relax, and let me see
I relaxed but not before regretting going into this stupid magical world. There was a white spot in the distance. Ever so slowly the white spot grew and grew until it engulfed me. Because it was me. A few minutes ago staring at Haze's...
Oh my...
Oh Fuck. Was she laughing at me? Stop laughing at me, goddess alicorn magical voice thing! Damnit. Time reversed again, and suddenly I was back fighting The Batmare. My senses were all there, but my thoughts at the time were missing, and all my feelings were dulled. Especially the burning in my shoulder, which seemed to have vanished completely.
A whoosh and I was back in the showering feeling miserable. I felt myself standing up and shaking the water off before walking out. Huh... I didn't quite remember taking a Med-X then.
Suddenly, my soul was torn from my body, and time reversed again, flashing back even further to when I was talking to Mr. House. Back again to the Vertibuck ride. Back, and back, and back until I was standing in the room back in Karkhoof.
Subtlety hung dully on my back, and I was scanning the the camp again. This memory. How I hated it. I could feel my mouth moving, but once again there were no words attached. The world was soundless but I knew the words by heart. I felt myself leaning down to bite the bridle of my battle saddle. Then I felt the strangest things. Tears in my eyes. I didn't remember crying, but I was. Even before I had shot I had already hated myself. I am not sure what that proved.
I bit the bridle, the shot swayed by Serenity's weight, and the foal died. I had replayed this memory too many times. A few tears changed none of this.
So she was right, The voice boomed as the memory played, she did affect the shot.
What.
No. No no no no, she did not! I wasn't sure if she could hear me, but my mind screamed out to her, trying to explain it wasn't Serenity's fault the shot moved. It was mine. Did she really set this up just to prove it wasn't my fault... or did she... did she feel guilty for what happened? That made no sense. This was.
I am sorry for tricking you. She had to be sure... and she can be very convincing.
Get out.
Yes... I...
What was going on. The time was flashing back again to the battle with the land sharks. I could see Dragonslayer (note to self: you still need to kill him) glaring at me again. What the hell was going on?
I... this has never happened before. The voice said. I can fix this. Give me a minute
Had she even done this before?
O-only once. Reverberating voices shouldn't stutter! My magical abilities were quite limited in Unity. These spells are tricky, and I have had little time to learn an-
We flashed back again. Fix it! Fix it already!
She didn't and stopped speaking. We kept going back and back, living out minutes at a time. There was Elder Chunky Soup talking cryptically. There was the soccer game. The tunnels. The Batmare. Roy Mustang’s death. Time kept spiralling backwards, and I seemed powerless to stop it even as I screamed out with my voice.
As we moved back, I realized, with resounding horror, that if she didn't stop soon we were going to go past my time in Dise. Back to Marefort. To Stable 42. No. I saw an image of the swimming through murky water trying to save Serenity, and then we flashed back again. No, we were getting too close I had to end it. If she went back to Wildfire's death... I don't think I could take it.
Or worse... if she flashed back to... no. I couldn't think of it. I had to stop this fucking magic gone awry.
No. There I was waking up in Bridle Hope. Damnit, no. Stop. We moved back again, past Smooth Tongue, and to...
I was cradling her in my arms again, rocking her softly. She was saying something as she bled from the horrible wounds in her head, but my eyes were so blurry from tears I couldn't see. Why can't you just stay dead?! Wildfire. Just. Stop coming back. It's hard enough living without you, so why did you keep coming back to haunt me? Just... just stay dead. It's hard enough to live with myself and... and I couldn't bear knowing I could be living with you.
We flashed back again.
I'm... I'm so sorry.
And again. And again. Time moved back until I was in the hospital listening to the radio. And again to the cliff. No... no I had to end this. Get out.
Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. GET OUT!
Light.
I was back in the bed in the tunnels under Dise. Looking down I realized the magic must have made me vomit. I felt...
So sick. So tense. Like there was this heavy pressure in my head that was just about to break and send everything out. Tears. I could feel them already. I’d been crying so much lately.
“I... I didn't think. I-I am sorry.” She stuttered. “I thought I could control... I could hear everything.” Of course. She took away my senses but kept them herself. “Wildfire, I a-”
A second later I had her pinned to the floor, my metal hoof pressing against her neck. “Never.” I hissed. “Never say that name.” Tears fell, splashing onto her cheeks. “Never... you can't. She has to...” She had to stay dead. I couldn't think about it. I had to be Hired Gun, not Silver Storm. Silver died, she died with Wildfire. It was the only way I could survive.
I was sobbing again. Damnit. I needed to be tough. The wasteland was hard; I needed to be harder. I couldn't cry. Nopony likes someone who cries. But it was so hard. My metal leg felt weak and slipped from her neck. The next thing I knew I was sobbing into Platinum Haze's chest. Why did she have to bring the memories back. I had almost got rid of them. I was so close...
But I kept crying and hoped she understood.
---
What happened next was sort of fuzzy.
I know there was crying involved. Deep heartfelt moments of talking and more crying. I spoke more than I ever had before, and she just sat there and listened as I spilled my heart out. Why? I’d no idea. It made no sense, but I couldn't stop myself. I told her about Wildfire, about Serenity, about my feelings. I...
I didn't tell her about Foundation. I could never go that far... but I told her more than I should have.
She just listened to me though. Even though I talked about the stupidest things. It was her fault anyway. Messing up the spell. Making me go back so far but, thankfully, not as far as she could have.
With a heavy sigh I rested my head on her neck, my eyes too dry to cry anymore, and my heart so numb I could barely think. I guess I should mention that we were cuddled up on the floor, and she had a wing over me, but it hardly seemed important. I know ponies would get the wrong impression (or the right one...) if they saw us, but I was so emotionally exhausted I really didn't care. I just needed somepony to be close. Even if it was a stupid fuck-up alicorn that I was only close to because she read my memories wrong.
“I really am sorry,” She said slowly.
“I know... you said that. Fifteen times.”
“I-”
“I counted. It's enough.” I closed my eye. “It's okay. I never should have let you do it. Never trusted magic.” She squirmed for a second, but I didn't bother opening my eye. She was so warm I could sleep right there.
“It is just very confusing. The world. Ever since I broke apart from Unity things have been moving so fast. It is a challenge keeping up.” I felt her chest move as she sighed. “With Sea Breeze dead, and Diamond Sky gone to rescue the remains of Celestia's Vision--” I would like to pause to remark on the irony of Celestia's Vision being rescued by an alicorn. “I am supposed to be teaching the children we have gathered... I am not doing a good job at this moment.” I thought she was doing a wonderful job being warm.
“I guess... where are the children?”
“Playing, I assume. The ages vary, but we have tried to contact those orphans who would not shoot us on sight. The older ones take good care of the younger and...” I peeked open my eye to see a look of stern concentration on her face. “Whoever made this school under the ground equipped it with a playground.” Wallkirk, no doubt. That mysterious (OoooOooo) buck who built the tunnels thought of everything. Except, of course, how to make the tunnels radiation-proof.
“Makes sense. Must have toys too.” She nodded a bit, and I closed my eye again.
“... I really am sorry.” Oh, c'mon. Just let it go. “All those things. I...” She shuddered. “It could not have been easy. If I had known... I did not intend to make you cry. Your filly was just so sure...” She didn't make me cry. It was a long time coming, I suppose. She did help. I guess. At least it gave me someone to angst to.
“It's fine. And she is not mine.”
“And why not?” She seemed very indignant. Wait, that's not the right word. Haughty maybe? Well, she seemed very something at any rate.
“I... I'm dangerous.” That was true at least. “I bring bad luck. Ponies around me die.” Why would she even ask? She just saw the truth of that for herself. Sure, maybe she didn't see as far back as she could have but she saw enough to know the truth of it. “She needs to be safe. Not around me. So she's not mine. She can be the Watchers’. Much safer.”
“Huh.” She stood up, depriving me of her warmth, a fact I was a little bit upset about... get your mind out of the gutter. So I wanted some comfort after the past few days of horrible stupidness and extreme emotions... It didn't make me a fillyfooler or anything. Seriously. And I wasn't staring at her ass!
Right, she was talking. Pay attention. “Strange that you would think the Watchers would be safer for her,” she said walking to the door of the infirmary and peeking out. “She had told me much when I found her, and I remember distinctly it was the Watchers’ fault she was enslaved.” Oh yeah... “And were it not for you, she still would be. If anything, I would think that would give you reason to protect her directly.” But... I mean. So the Watchers lost her.
Then failed to save her. I mean they must have tried, right?
“Safer than with me.” I got to my feet as well because the floor was cold and stuff... “Since we met, she was nearly drowned. Hit by shrapnel, stabbed, and almost shot. Not to mention being captured. Many, many times.”
“But.” She retorted as her wings flared out. Stretching them I think, but it did do a good job making her more menacing. “You saved her each time, did you not?” Well, yes, but. I tried to speak but she cut me off. “This is the world we live in. It is dangerous and life threatening. I was chosen for this city because I had lived here in my previous life, and I know the hostility of Dise and the surrounding wasteland. As long as she is young, she is in danger, so tell me what would be better protection for her. An organization that cares but cannot commit resources to save a filly from harm, or a single mare with the strength, fortitude and ability to bring her through even the most dangerous places relatively unharmed.” Stop being so reasonable! “I believe you when you say you don't think she should be with you, but you can't continue to lie to yourself an-”
“Fuck off. What do you know?” She looked visibly shocked by my outburst. Good. “I can't protect her. I couldn't before; I can't now. So I got lucky a few times. Fixed my mistakes. In the end, I can't. Just. Let it go.”
“You have said you want her safe. An admirable goal, but you have offered no real solutions to achieve it. I will not attempt to convince you of your own qualifications, but you can't seriously think the group that failed to protect her once is right.” Well I. I grit my teeth and looked very sternly at the ground. Why couldn't she do it then? “And yes, perhaps she could stay with me. I have sworn to protect my charges, but to be frank... you are the first adult pony who has not tried to kill me on sight.” I what, really? Why would anypony try to attack her. She was like a beautiful goddess... thing. “So if we were found out, then who knows. Perhaps Diamond Sky could teleport us to safety.”
“Why wouldn't you?” I assumed Diamond Sky was another Alicorn.
“That spell is beyond my ability. You see each alicorn was created with...” Eyes glazing over. “...just, I can't. But even if we were found here her safety couldn't be guaranteed.” She sighed. “I understand you wish her safety, but nowhere is safe. Not even here.”
No. Of course not. Ever since I got into Dise ponies had been telling me how it was on the edge. That the forces vying for control were one step away from destroying themselves, and I was finding that easier to believe. With the minotaurs to the west, the NCA to the south, Steel Rangers and Zebra clans hanging out east. Not to mention the four gangs of Dise, The Watchers, The Finishers, Celestia's Vision, and Remnants. Everpony wanted a piece, but Dise wasn't that big.
And ever since I met Dragonslayer I had been getting this sinking feeling that somepony was trying to make the balance break down. Maybe it was Dragonslayer himself (if that was his real name) or maybe it was whoever he was working for.
So what then. Dise wasn't safe, so I had to take Serenity further away, but to where? South to the NCA wasn't a bad idea, but I wasn't sure how to get there. Or maybe to Equestria but that would mean travelling near Crimson Hoof territory, (not happening) and I’d heard there was still fighting up there. Besides, if the NCA lost control of Dise, what would happen? There just wasn't a simple answer. The world had ended, and it was up to me to keep a single filly alive in the madness.
“It doesn't matter.” I said simply. “She hates me.” As she should. “I can't protect her anymore. She wouldn't let me.”
“Do not be so sure...” She looked to the door. “I have been gone too long, and Serenity will want to have words with you. I shall retrieve her. Please, just think about what I said. You aren't perfect, but when you're not trying to be horrible, you are the best she’s had.” It was hard for me to contradict her when she just saw the short form of my life since I left Marefort. Stupid unicorn magic. Alicorn. Whatever.
With that, she left the room and closed the door behind her. Only for her magically flowing hair to get stuck, causing her to gasp in pain. I grinned just a little at her, as she sheepishly opened the door and blushed at me before closing it again. It must have sucked for her. She was so large everything must have seemed small to her (I could feel for her on that, though she managed to be larger) and her flowing uncontrollable mane and tail couldn't help.
I looked around the infirmary for a few minutes (It was white and boring. Medical equipment seemed strewn about haphazardly, and I may have looked through the medical boxes to see what they had) before I called out: “Batmare, she's gone.”
With a sharp burning sensation The Batmare appeared to my left. “I know better than to question how you knew,” she said simply. “I trust the alicorn not. Anypony that takes up the visage of the Goddess is not to be trusted.” I rolled my eyes. Eye. Sorry, that was going to take some getting used to. “But... it seems for the nonce she is harmless. I have studied her facilities and watched the children. In such a short time, she has accomplished a lot. I do not trust her, but see no reason to dispense justice upon her.”
Thanks. I guess. If she went and slaughtered Haze it would just have been another weight on my already guilty conscience. “So you are leaving?”
“My work here is done. I have figured out the mystery, and deemed her no threat at the moment.” She paused. “Your daughter is here, correct?” I winced but nodded. “For your sake, I shall tell nopony what I have seen.”
“...mind telling two ponies?” The superhero turned her head to me, I could only assume in curiosity as her face was a mask. “Do me a favour. I need to let my... friend. Know where I am. If you could sho-”
“Do I look like a servant?” No. She looked like a... bat? I suppose.
“How about I give you the description of a known, er, evildoer.” She liked to fight them right? Well, I’d just give her Dragonslayer's information, and maybe she'd take him out for me. If nothing else, it'd be a thorn in his side if he ever came to Dise.
Reluctantly, I got her to agree. After giving her a detailed description of the asshole who shot out my eye, as well as what Flare (turns out they met before) and High Stakes looked like (as well as where they would most likely be). With a flash of magic she vanished again, leaving my shoulder feeling slightly burn-y.
My head hurt. Everything was happening faster than I liked, and you know, getting mind raped made my brain ache. Not to mention my emotional breakdown after having to relive Wildfire's death... seriously. Don't mention it. Ever.
To the extent of my emotional exhaustion and pain I scavenged through the medical boxes again, took out a med-x and jabbed myself with it. The pain faded immediately. If I was going to have yet another serious talk with Serenity, I needed to be in my best health. I kind of blew it last time because I was in pain, and grumpy. Now I was emotinally exhausted, but mostly good, and my pain had been soothed. I could do it. Just one more heart felt conversation...
Fuck. I was going to fuck this up.
Okay. First things first, stop pacing. Good. Stand still. Now smile. No, a real smile. Urgh, okay don't smile. My smiles reminded ponies they needed to throw up, not good for reconciliation. Okay. Maybe I should offer her a gift like a-
The door creaked open and I felt my heart jump into my throat.
“Serenity...” The filly walked in, her eyes staring intently at the ground. “Serenity I-” She looked up. Her grey eyes were even sadder than usual, and the words caught in my throat.
“Your leg.” My what? Before I had the chance to say anything she stormed over, and with a flurry of pink magic unattached my leg before stomping her way into a corner to look at it. I hopped on my three legs to get a look at her, but she didn't bother looking my direction. “You got it wet.” I did? Oh yeah! When Flare and High Stakes woke me up, I forgot about it.
“Serenity.” She kept tinkering with it, not even looking back at me. “Serenity... just look at me. I-”
“I'm sorry.” No. Stop that. In order for a pony to be sorry they must first do something wrong. That didn’t happen so she could not be sorry. “I... I shouldn't have interfered. If I didn't, then-”
“Is that was Haze told you?” She shook her head.
“I...” Why couldn't she just look at me? “I knew. From the start. I-I shouldn't have blamed you, you were just do-” No. This is what I wanted to avoid!
“No, Serenity. You should have.” I sighed taking a seat facing her. The Med-X wasn't enough to stop my head from pounding again. “I was wrong. The job I... I shouldn't have taken it. Shouldn't have showed you. I was... trying to prove. Something.” I sighed. “It made sense before. But now... I was wrong. I killed him.”
“I helped.” She sniffled, and I could hear tears dripping. “I... I messed up your shot and... and I kept bugging you 'bout being my mommy, an I shouldn't have... but I thought if I kept asking... that maybe. I thought that maybe you were testing me. Trying to see if I really wanted you to... so. I shouldn't have, though. ‘Cause whenever I asked, you looked so hurt but I didn't know why, and I really wanted... needed somepony and-” She sobbed.
“I- I'm sorry.” What else could I say. I felt like there was a barrier between us. An invisible wall of emotions I wouldn't be able to break or get through without telling her about Foundation but... but I just couldn't. Just the name sent shivers up my spine and if I thought about it... it was too much, but I knew it was what was needed. I couldn't figure out what was worse. Argh. “I... I was afraid. That something would happen to you. So I... tried to show you who I was. I fucked up.”
“Yeah...” We at least we could agree with that. “But. I'm not mad at that... well I am. Sort of. But it was my fault, and it was an accident, and I'm really mad. I don't know!” She slammed her hoof against my good leg. “I'm so... I hate you for what you did and myself for helping, and not realizing that everything has gone all wonky and... and I don't know what I want and...” More tears. “And I still want you to be my momma, but I don't. And you're horrible but amazing and... and I don't know.”
“Serenity. I don't know either.”
“Why! Why can't you... couldn't you be my momma?” She turned her head halfway to me, tears streaming down her face.
“I...” I couldn't break down that wall, not yet. But I could at least try to explain it. “I had a daughter once.” This was surprising enough that her eyes lit up. “But. Things didn't end...” I could feel myself going back there. To that place. It felt like my body was slipping away, as if I was in that time spell again. I couldn't go back. I wasn't ready.
I slammed my hoof so hard against the floor the concrete cracked, and Serenity jumped. “I can't. I just. It's hard. I can't. Just trust me. If I could, I would. But I got scared and... and did something stupid.” It shouldn't have been so hard. It was only the past... but it was a past I’d spent so much time pushing away and pretending didn't happen that even acknowledging it was hard. “I want you to be safe,” I said softly, barely above a whisper.
“Mo-Hired. I don't... I don't know. I want to forgive you, but...”
“I thought the Watchers would be safe. I was wrong. Clearly...” Dise wasn't safe. It was Safer, but it was not good enough. “When I asked and found you gone. When I went looking. Nopony was surprised. Annoyed yes, but foalnapping wasn't a shock.” Foals went missing, and no pony was surprised. It was normal. Sure, maybe this time they went here. But what about next time. More slavers? Murders? Crazy scientists? Who the fuck knew, but it'd be normal in this city. In the wasteland. Who could save her if something like that happened and I wasn't around? This city was too broken, too...
“I've decided.” I stood up on my three legs. “I am going to fix it.”
“What?”
“The city. Dise.” Despite everything, Serenity started smiling so wide it seemed like she was holding in hysterical laughter. “I'm serious. I'm going to join House. Help him fix the city. Bring it together. One ruler instead of eight. So that... so you'll be able to grow up. Without fear.”
“Hired...” She stood slowly, my metal leg slipping away from her. “You can't fix the city... it's always been like this. I... I don' even know... if I forgive you. You still killed Post Haste, and I don't know -- how can you say this all of a sudden!”
“No place is safe. Not with me. Not with the Watchers. Not here.” I gritted my teeth. I was determined to give her safety. To let her know peace. “If I can’t put you someplace safe, I will make it.” I could hear Flare now. Telling me how stupid I was. How it's ridiculous for me to claim I wasn't her mother, and then immediately proclaim to change an entire region for her, but fuck it. I'm stupid! I needed to do this. It would be my purpose, and I would fail in the end, because I always did, but I would give it my everything.
The wasteland needed a place where fillies didn't have to worry about slavers, wars, or gunfights. I wasn't the pony to do it. I was a horrible foal killer, a monster, and a Hired Gun. But I was going to give it my all, because somepony had to try, even if it killed me. I didn't deserve to live. I should have died so many times, but somehow I hung on. Better ponies than me had died in my wake, yet I survived. But survival wasn't enough anymore. I had to survive for something. Giving Serenity the peace she deserved... I couldn’t think of a better reason to live.
Even if I couldn't be her mother (not yet). Even if she hated me (and she should). I would do this thing. Because it needed to be done, and I was the only pony stupid enough to try.
“Hired...” She walked up to me and hugged my good leg. “I'm sorry... I shouldn't have manipulated you... I... I am sorry.” Stop being sorry, I'm the one who was wrong! “I... I don't know if I forgive you. Because... I...” She sniffled.
I laid down on the floor so I could wrap my leg around her. “It's fine. I don't forgive me either.” I guess we made up. I wasn't even sure. It seemed just as bad as ever. Now not only did she hate me for killing Post Haste, but she hated herself because of her part. I... I could tell it tore her up inside more than she wanted to admit.
So where were we? I wasn't sure. But I think for the first time we were honest with each other. From there whatever we were could grow, even if she hated me. Or herself. We could move forward. Or apart, whatever she wanted. But in either case I’d made my choice.
I held her closer. Her eyes were closed, but she was not smiling. Her muzzle scrunched up tight and she let out a soft sigh. She wasn't going to forgive me soon, if ever. But for now, that didn't matter.
Level up!
Perk Remembered: Cherchez La Filly: It seems in your drunken fit last night you accidentally bucked down your closet door! No, you can't change your perk now, and it doesn't matter because everypony already knows! Yes, it was just that obvious, so you might as well admit it to yourself because you get +10% damage to the same sex and unique dialogue options with certain ponies! ... No. You can't get rid of the perk. Stop asking.
((A/N: Hi, and welcome again to the authors notes. I’d like to thank kkat for doing the world building for me, and my editors theBSDude, Mint Julep, and Errant Indy, as well as substitute editor editor Menti. They require all of your praise.))
((Also, if you’re looking for more FOE goodness, try these stories. Fallout Equestria: Salvage, Fallout Equestria: Misfits, Fallout Equestria: The Ditzy Doo Chronicles, and Fallout Equestria: Best Served Cold.))
((Don't forget to check out the final instalment of Heroes With Wings!)) |
No One | 662 | 16 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-05-25T03:36:03+00:00 | 2012-05-25T03:36:03+00:00 | 23,294 | Coincidences
“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”
So, here's a question. At what point do you look back at your life and realize how much you fucked up? I mean, in the grand scheme of things, everypony has regrets -- things they wish they could take back, choices they wish they hadn't made -- but I think ponies like to cover up our faults. It's so easy for us to gloss over our mistakes and make excuses for ourselves. That's okay in some cases, but when you’d fucked up on as grand a scale as I had, you needed to look back and kick yourself, else you'd just keep fucking up.
I'm rambling again. Point is, I’d messed up. Maybe if it had only been Post Haste, I would have been able to get over it. But it wasn't. I, in my immense wisdom, had managed not only to have Karkhoof burned, but also the entirety of Celestia's Vision slaughtered in retribution. Of course, that wasn't all I‘d done. If we wanted to take a tally of the horrible things I’d done, we'd have to go back a ways, and I'm sure it'd take hundreds of thousands of words to properly describe. But the worst things I did, I think, were against foals.
From Foundation to Post Haste, I failed them all. Hell, not twenty minutes after raiders killed Mischief (remember him? Precocious Watcher scamp I met way back in Bridle Hope. I always wondered if he knew Serenity), I offered to work for said raider squad. The work I got involved me killing an innocent (Nanny Jane was not innocent, but at the time I had thought she was) and kidnapping another filly who I nearly sold to the same raiders that had killed Mischief. In the end I hadn't, of course, but getting that close had been bad enough. And those were not even my worst crimes.
Wildfire used to tell me I was a natural with foals. A natural killer maybe, but I'm not sure what else.
So that left me in an awkward position. Somehow, I needed to reform. Do better, be better, or hell, I'd settle for not fucking up any more. Yet I was not sure how I was supposed to go about that. Should I wander the wasteland, righting wrongs and saving ponies like The Lightbringer? Or should I stay in Dise, fighting petty crime like The Batmare? Would either of those things really be penance for my numerous crimes, or just a way to try and forget what I did? Would any number of raiders killed, or ponies saved, really make up for Post Haste? Or would it just be me trying to go out in a flame of glory, my death for a noble cause somehow washing clean my record?
These were questions for a smarter pony. A part of me longed to fix my past, but I couldn't, so I had to try and help the future. I doubted it'd ever remove the guilt or the dreams. So I decided to try and fix things here in Dise. Maybe Mr. House wasn't the best that Dise had to offer, but he was the only pony I could think of capable of uniting the city. If I could do that, somehow break the stalemate of war that captured the city and create a place where ponies could live unmolested, then maybe I could die happy.
“But I'm not sleepy.” Serenity pouted up at me.
Happiness. I probably didn't deserve this moment. “What if I read you a story?” We were still lying on the floor of the infirmary, but it was getting late. Haze had popped in a few minutes ago, saying she was going to put the other children to bed, but that Serenity could sleep in here if she wanted. Obviously, as a filly, she took offence to sleeping. Ever.
“I'm not a little foal; I don't need a bedtime story.” I raised a single eyebrow at Serenity. “But...” There was a burning in my shoulder as she levitated a book from her saddlebag, and propped it up against my outstretched leg. “I would really like one...”
I smiled down at her, but she didn't look up. I knew at least part of her still hadn't forgiven me for what had happened, but I think she was trying to move on. She was willing to give me another chance, and that was more than I was willing to give myself. Looking down at the book, I found I knew the words already.
“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria.” I read flawlessly. It was strange, I never did have the chance to read this to Foundation. I'm sure she would have liked it though. “There were two regal sisters...”
I’m sure you know the song. There was a good sister and a bad sister, and for some reason the good sister banished the bad one to the moon because the bad one was feeling unloved.... Well, maybe stories aren't as clear cut as we wanted to believe. Maybe both sisters had good and bad, and both made bad choices that they felt were necessary.
Or maybe I was grasping at straws to bring them down to my level.
The story ended with Twilight Sparkle and her friends using the Elements of Harmony to defeat Discord, bringing peace to Equestria for another thousand years. Well, at least the book had an optimistic view on the future, even if it got a few things wrong. It was a nice story, though, with a happy ending. More than I could say about any story I knew.
When I looked down at Serenity, I realized she was flopped over my leg, her eyes closed and snoring softly. I couldn’t give her up, not after every that had happened. Not when she was like this. I had tried to force her away, tried to make her leave, because I cared about her too much.
So, I guess I could go on and on about my conflicted feelings and regrets and stuff, but I think I've made my case. I was going to try to do better by her, create a place where she could live unmolested. If she wanted to come with me... even after everything, then I wouldn't try to stop her.
In my head, she was already my daughter, despite everything... Yes, I know it doesn’t make sense! It's a deeply confusing and complicated issue, so hard to wrap my stupid head around. Truthfully, I'd seen her as my daughter ever since the tunnels... but I was scared. Can you blame me, after what had happened? So I had freaked out. That cost me an eye and a good chunk of my soul, and part of me still argued it was the right choice. Stupid brain, make sense!
See, this is why I bottle up my emotions, because when I didn't, they made no sense and conflicted with each other.
Right, I needed to pause my navel gazing to get the filly to bed. Luckily, Serenity was as sound a sleeper as ever, so it was easy to lift her up to the hospital bed and tuck her in without her even opening an eye. It was harder to look away from her sleeping form.
There were more conflicting feelings, of course; it seemed par the course recently. Mostly now it had to do with how I saw her. In my mind she was a sweet innocent pony, and for the most part that seemed true. On the other hoof, she had admitted to trying to manipulate me, even if she didn't fully understand what she was doing. So that left me... where, exactly? One of these days I'll come to a conclusion about something eventually... I swear.
“Is she asleep?” I turned my head sharply to see the blue alicorn, Platinum Haze, standing in the doorway. “You must be good. Last night it was a chore getting her to sleep, though I am sure you bear some of the blame for that.” She smiled just a little bit, but I couldn't read her intentions. “I had an easier time getting all the others under my charge asleep than that one. I don't know how you manage.”
What was it Serenity said about The Watchers? That they were nice, and kind, but never seemed to care about her. That she was just another child to them. I had no doubts about Haze's motives or ability, but would she really be able to care for Serenity the way she needed it?
“Practice,” I said.
“You must teach me someday. For all that she said about you last night, she seems to have taken you back with surprising quickness.” Because I gave her the love and attention she desired, maybe? Even if I, myself, was unsure of why I was giving it. We were, like, the most messed up family in the wasteland. We could defeat raiders with the pure force of our emotions.
“Maybe...”
“You spoke many more words to me earlier, why the brevity now?” You mean when you mind-raped me into an emotional breakdown? Yeah, that was totally normal for me. With a sarcastic roll of my eyes... eye, I pointed my head at the sleeping filly. “Oh. Perhaps we should converse in a place where we will not disturb anypony.”
“You don't say?”
She led me out of the infirmary and down the small hallway of the school structure. It really was surprising how much she and her partner had managed in such a short time. I mean, it looked mostly clean! Cleaner than any section of tunnel I'd seen, and considering how dirty all the tunnels around were, it was impressive. If I were a normal pony, I'd worry about how they planned to feed, clothe, and care for all the foals they were kidnapping... rescuing... whatever, but that hardly seemed important as Haze walked in front of me. Her hips swaying as she walked. I mean, I wasn't a fillyfooler, but I was staring so hard I thought for sure her super alicorn senses were going to notice.
Stop judging me.
“Are you feeling okay?” She asked when we were a ways down the dank hallway.
“Uh,” I said staring at a particularly large crack hastily covered up with tape. “Well. I'm a one eyed tank with crippling attachment issues. So...”
“I mean I saw you injecting yourself with a Med-X when I came in. If you are hurt, I can take a look.” Oh, did I mention I had developed a headache from all the emotional thinking-stuff, and I had taken a Med-X to release some of the pressure? It wasn't that big a deal, so I didn't think it was worth mentioning.
“It's nothing.” I couldn't see her face, so I couldn't judge her emotions, but I was just going to assume she understood. “Where are we heading?”
“To my room.” The narration will continue after I drag my head out of the gutter. “You will need a place to sleep tonight, and I don't imagine you'd like to bed with the foals.” Of course. “Since I will not be using it, you can have my bed.”
A light flickered to my right, almost causing me to jump. Lacking that whole sight thing on that side can be tricky. It felt like somepony was constantly sneaking up on me. “Uh.” Right, talking. “You don't sleep?”
“Well. It is complicated.” Don't tell me then. I wouldn't understand. Why did it seem that everything having to do with these alicorn things was complicated? “We can sleep, but it is not as necessary unless we are injured and have no radiation to heal with.” They heal... with radiation? That didn't sound very healthy to me. Of course I was not a master of health and safety, so I didn't express my disbelief. Alicorns just worked funny, I guess. They were magical and did magic stuff... with magic. That's all I needed to know. And they were pretty...
“I see...”
“You do not understand at all, I am going to assume. That is okay. We are strange creatures, I am sure.” Yeah, something like that. “Right this way,” she said before stepping through a doorway (she had to duck).
The room was... er, sparse. Half of the floor was covered by a giant pile of rubble (I guess when they were cleaning the school, the junk had to go somewhere), and the only furniture was a shockingly clean mattress on the floor that I wasn't even sure she could fit on. The lights that usually lined the walls in the tunnels seemed half out, too, giving the room a dark, foreboding feeling... okay that wasn't true. The dim lighting reminded me more of The Moon.
“Are you blushing?” Ack. No, I was not. I stormed in and looked away from her, but I couldn't avoid her chuckle. “It is fine; I find it cute.” Wait, what? “I mean, uh. That is not the intent I was... what I had in mind, what I meant to say was...” Socially awkward alicorns are the best alicorns.
“It's fine.” I collapsed on the bed. Somehow it felt like the Med-X had worked its way through my system already. “Slip of the tongue. Calling me cute.” I closed my eye and wished I had a pillow. It'd be so very nice, though I did not enjoy the idea of actually going to sleep. Nightmares and all that.
“No... no, I mean, you are cute, but it was improper to say it in such a nonchalant way.” She seemed to speak in an uncomfortable titter. A far cry from her attempt at pompous regality at first. Of course that all went away when she messed up that spell of hers. “I mean. You have a lovely face? Er, not counting the eye... or the ear. But I mean, I really like your... mane?” I laughed.
I knew it was a little rude, but it was hard not to. I mean, you spend your entire life putting off the advances of a mare like Wildfire (whose special talent was flirting, I swear...), and it's hard not to find her attempts just a little silly.
“I --” she stopped, “I am not very good at this, am I?”
“Not really.” I opened my eye to see her standing back, a faint blush on her cheeks. I wasn't even sure why she was trying at all. I mean, she knew I was dangerously emotionally unstable. And it wasn’t like I was exceptionally pretty... okay sure, I was the first pony she'd met in Dise who hadn’t tried to kill her. And yes, I get that she was previously part of a hive mind, and it must be jarring being alone after so long like that... okay, so, I guess it made a little bit of sense.
“I am sorry. It is uncouth of me.” Unco... I did not know what that word meant. Let’s see. 'un' made the word negative, so she was clearly not couth. And couth sounded like coo, and... yeah I was lost. “It is just... when I saw you staring at me, I'd thought that perhaps you had an interest, it does not matter, my apologies.”
“You need practice,” I said with half a smirk.
“I used to be quite practised!” I couldn't tell if she was honestly insulted or faking it. “Before Unity, that is. I had acquired many marefriends, and all praised me on my flirting skills.” It was a struggle not to laugh some more. “I... stop laughing at us!” I wasn't, really. Heh. “We are not to be mocked; this is a truth we have told.”
“I am not laughing.”
“‘Tis a lie, we can... I can hear you.” She blushed a bit but kept her eyes on me. “You shouldn't mock us... me like that.” She fidgeted awkwardly, “I am sorry for trying. I understand now you are not interested...”
“Nothing against you.” You just made me relive my ex-marefriend’s death a few hours ago, and I wasn't in the cuddling mood. “I'm not a fillyfooler.” And then she was laughing at me. Well it was more of a nicker, but it was close enough that I counted it. “What? I'm not. Really.” She kept on laughing. She knew me all of a few hours, at the very most. How could she possibly know my preferences?! I don't care what anypony says, I was not that obvious.
“If you remember, I saw you staring at me with your own eyes.” With that stupid memory spell, right. “And you are not the most convincing liar.” I was the most convincing. Ever. I'd managed to get everypony I met to buy into the whole, 'My Name Is Hired Gun,' thing, despite it being a really stupid name (though not so stupid as Dragonslayer). “I suppose after what you went through tonight it was a bit early... but... it matters not. Sorry.”
“You apologize too much.” She also seemed to pace as she talked, speak in plurals, and explain her thought process out loud. If you were wondering my opinion on her. Which you weren’t. “I...” Was not looking for a marefreind. Because I wasn't a...
You know what? Fuck it! I was a fillyfooler. There, I said it. Wrote it. Whatever. I was deeply enamoured with the cunts and asses of the female persuasion. Despite my reservations at this revelation, it was getting harder and harder to live with this charade. And while it still made me uncomfortable thinking of myself as such, it was so clearly true and obvious there was simply no point lying about it.
Even if I really, really wanted to lie. It was just so much nicer in my closet. Maybe because in my stupid mind, stallions and mares was the way it was supposed to be, and the fact I deviated from my stupid mind’s stupid rules made me question how much power I had over my life.
Are we happy now? Huge revelation over! Now if only ponies (Flare) would stop bugging me about it.
“I hadn't thought about it,” I said quietly. I mean, companionship was not something I was against, but this was a bit sudden. She was pretty, I suppose... well, mind-bogglingly beautiful, but that was... uh... my train of thought got lost somewhere. Right, just because she was good looking was not a good foundation for a relationship (A great foundation for a good lay though), and...
Mental images. Fuck.
Bad choice of words. Okay breathe, Silver.
“Are you alright?” Fine. I was fine. Just the mental images. Right, going back to not being a fillyfooler. That was fun while it lasted. “I have made this all very awkward, haven't I?”
“It's fine.” With a tired grunt, I lifted myself off the bed and trotted over to her. “I just. Need to sleep. And think.” Not that I wanted to, navel gazing was hard work. “And. It's just. Sudden.”
“In my experience, the wasteland can be quick and brutal. So much has changed in barely two weeks, it is... so many of my sisters have died, and... if one does not act quickly, than they may lose. I am sorry for being so forward.”
“No I... Don't worry about it. At least you're honest.” I gave her a half hearted smirk, but she seemed a little bit down from my rejection... thing. Stupid, cute, pouty goddesses. I was going to regret this, I knew.
I leaned up and kissed her.
She gave a murmur of surprise before a sigh of acceptance. It wasn't the best kiss I’d ever had, but it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I really needed somepony. It was comforting to have that kiss, even if it only lasted a second.
“I KNEW IT!”
My eye snapped open, and I turned my head to see Flare grinning from ear to ear at me, his eyes sparkling with what must have been a thousand jokes.
Fuck.
“What the hell are you doing here?!” I said, after High Stakes (who also showed up) pulled me off of Flare. I gave Flare my very best glare and scowled at him, while I secretly wondered where Haze went as I couldn’t see her. My question was answered quickly for once, when she appeared out of thin air, blushing slightly.
“Some crazy mare dressed as a bat showed up in my hotel room! We had the door locked and everything, and POOF there she is. Told us you needed us, so we come down here to see you making out with what appears to be a goddess... and let me just say, daaaamn. When you come out of the closet you come out with a bang.”
“It was just a misunderstanding...” I said, giving a glancing look over to Haze who was sitting meekly on the bed beside me.
“Oh! Did you misunderstand?” Flare flapped his way over until he was right in my face. “I saw you!” He poked my nose. “Kissing you!” He waved his other hoof at Haze who meeped and blushed, ungoddess-like. “This is like. Blackmail heaven.”
“To be perfectly clear, Mr. Flare, was it?” Haze had managed to get past her embarrassment quickly, as she was stood with her wings outstretched threateningly. Flare sunk back to the ground nodding. “I do not know who or what you think you are, but this place is meant to be a secret, and if you cannot keep secrets fully then there are other ways to make you.” It may have been my imagination, but her yellow eyes seemed to be glowing. “Are. We. Clear?”
“Uh,” Flare mumbled as High Stakes chuckled at him. “Crystal.” I like my alicorn marefriend. She wasn't my marefriend, but it just seemed like a good thing to say. “So. Are you going to explain what the fuck is going on down here? Ain't nothing good in these tunnels; they're crawling with ghouls, radscorpions, and who knows what else.”
Oh right, with the explaining. Haze explained what exactly was going on in this particular section of the Dise tunnels (the rest of the tunnels were still up for grabs) and I explained why I had told ponies about it. Or rather, told somepony to tell somepony. Mostly, it was so they knew where I was, as I had descended into the questionable depths of the Dise underground, and oftentimes that's unsafe.
“Ain't never heard of no Followers of the Apocalypse,” said Flare, who was hanging upside down in the air. “And let me compliment the name choice. It really screams, 'Saviours! Seriously, trust us'. But I did see an alicorn or two. Went on an escort missions a while back to try and open up relations with a group up there... something about an eye or something.” He smirked. Or frowned. Being upside down it confused me for a second. “Anyway the deal was a bust, but I saw one of those alicorns... come to think of it they looked a bit different than you. The ones I saw all looked like twins, but... eh, it's been a while.”
“Red Eye’s army,” High Stakes said. The name made Haze go rigid. Apparently, she knew it. “I worked for him a long time ago, but left just around the time he started contacting alicorn emissaries regularly.” His glasses shined. “I made a rule of working for whoever paid the most, but even I could see that Unity was up to no good. Considering events in Equestria recently, I can safely say I made the right choice.” I bet he actually got fired and was hiding it.
“Unity was up to good,” Haze said sharply. “Though perhaps our methods required more thought, the goal was true. Alicorns are better suited to life in the wasteland. Radiation heals us, and we are immune to taint, both of which would kill any regular pony. I fail to see how making everypony an alicorn would be a bad thing.”
“Now wait, young missy, hold it. You've gone and oversold it.” Flare landed on the ground with a thud, and pointed a hoof dramatically. With a sigh, I laid down on the mattress and closed my eye. This was a fight for smarter ponies. “I know for a fact that Unity couldn't even make male alicorns, or alicorns out of anything but unicorns... “ There was a brief pause. “What? I've read the reports... they weren't my reports, mind, and I had to steal them, but I read them!”
“We were working on ways around those issues; if we had had a little more time we...” Her voice slowly faded away as I drifted off to sleep. What? It was a really boring topic.
---
I... don't want to talk about my dreams. I'm just going to say they weren't suitable for foals or the elderly, and it was very nice. Don't judge me.
“...Alicorns this far south, I tell you what, ain't never thought I'd see them this far ya know? It's madness! Madness!” The over-dramatic stallion whose voice I awoke to was Flare's. As if there was ever any doubt.
I could already tell I had only slept for a few hours by how tired I still was. And sore. For some reason my head was pounding worse than from a hangover. I'd take a Med-X, but I didn't want to have to explain myself to the likes of Flare and High Stakes.
“It's not so strange. With the goddess defeated and Red Eye dead, they must go somewhere. Platinum Haze claims to be from the city before her turning, so it is logical that she would wish to return here.”
“Stop using that fancy logic thing, and let me have my emotional over-excitement!”
“Flare. You're loud.” I grumbled and my eye opened. Lazily, I scratched at my eye-patch. My eye seemed to itch when I woke up, how annoying. High Stakes was lying on the floor as Flare flapped around him. As I slowly got to my hooves, I could feel a slight burning in my shoulder. “Where did Haze go?”
“One of her foals wet the bed, and she had to go deal with that.” Flare nickered before gliding over to me. “Now aren't we glad Serenity don't do that? Honestly, I don't know how she plans to deal with all these kids, I mean sure she has 'Unlimited Cosmic Powers,' but that don't mean dick when you gotta deal with foals, am I right?” Totally. Kids were trouble, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Also, I spoke entirely in cliches right after waking up.
“Yeah.” I said, stifling a yawn. I should still be asleep. That would be nice.
“She seems nice enough, Hired.” High Stakes was giving me his chiding tone, so I prepared myself. “But I would advise caution if you plan on pursuing a relationship with an alicorn. They are notoriously unstable.” And I wasn’t? Not like I was slowly going crazy and hearing my dead marefriend whisper in my ear constantly or anything. “It is ultimately your decision, but I would rather you not become a splatter on a wall.”
“Right.” I stumbled off the bed. “I'm not a fillyfooler.” Okay, I was for all of five minutes... “And I wasn't going to. I barely know her.” There's a saying in the wasteland: You're going to die young, so live fast. It was by that motto that the population of the wasteland continued to be replenished despite the high death rate. Though re-population was hardly an issue in this case, the rest of it still applied. It wouldn't be fair to Haze if I accepted her clumsily made offer anyway. Not with that whole Wildfire landmine ready to explode at any given time.
Watch as I attempt to logically address my emotional issues! Because that always works.
“If you say so, but you seemed pretty invested in the kiss from where I was standing,” High Stakes said.
“Right... when I want your opinion I'll ask.”
“Hired, really?” Flare said. “Maybe you should listen to the opinions of others, ‘cause when you don't, you go crazy and shoot colts, and-” before I even had the chance to charge him High Stakes zipped in front of me with a stern glare. “Right, touchy subject. Got it. I think y’all need to get over shit like that, ya dig?”
“Flare...” I tried to warn him.
“Just hear me out for once before kicking me into next week. I mean, way I figure.” He gave me a pleasant smirk. “World we live in thrives on misery and hate and all that lovely stuff. It's trying to make all the ponies into mopey mopes... like you, so the best way to fight back is to smile. World wants to kick you down, so grin at it, because it can't take away your ability to smile and by doing so you beat the wasteland at its own game. A personal rebellion, and it works so well.” He smiled. “If the wasteland could talk, it'd be flipping its shit right now.”
High Stakes, of course, threw in his two bits. “While I am fairly sure that the wastelands lacks an anthropomorphic representation to personally try to make your life miserable, Flare is not without a point. Studies done before the war showed that smiling actually improved one’s mood.” There was a pause as I tried to comprehend that statement. “Mind you, those studies were performed by the Equestria Ministry Of Morale...” I wasn't sure what that meant. I guess it was humorous because Flare was certainly laughing.
“No thanks.” I dismissed the entire idea out of hoof on principle.
“Thanks?” Flare snickered. “That was very nearly polite, Hired, we're very worried you're losing your touch. Just be a little bit ruder. For old times’ sake. Your marefriend must be making you soft.” Going to kill him, I swear. “Oh! You fell asleep before we could give you something, so hold off on the ass-kicking. Mr. High Stakes, if you will.”
The tall stallion nodded, and at once my shoulder began to burn, and his horn glowed. Actually, my shoulder had been burning sporadically since I woke up. Hm. My mind was torn away from the mini-mystery when I saw what they had brought for me.
“SUBTLETY!” I grabbed my weapon in my forelegs and caressed it gently. I was never going to go without it again. The poor thing, I'd been neglecting it so much recently, and it really needed to be cleaned and maintained. The poor thing.
“I guess I owe you twenty caps,” the unicorn said.
“And you doubted me! Hired loves that gun more than damn near anything, I was surprised she let it go in the first place.” I could hear Flare smirk. I'm not sure how, but I just knew he was. Then there was my shoulder burning again. Right I still needed to deal with that.
“Thanks.” Two thanks in a single conversation. Maybe I was going soft... “Oh. Batmare, you can come in now.”
With a flash the dark clad mare was standing between us all, her mask glaring. Because masks can do that. “How did you...” she said before stopping. I had to turn from her to attach my gun onto my saddle, but I was totally paying attention. “I suppose this is another one of those things you do not wish to explain.” When my shoulder burns, there's magic around. Explaining didn't matter because I didn't understand.
“How long have you been listening?” High Stakes demanded, his voice unnaturally tense. I wasn't entirely sure why, but whatever bugged him was okay with me.
“Not long, I have only just returned for a matter most urgent.”
“Oh.” I turned back to see the remains of a blush on High Stakes cheeks. “Good.”
“What is it?” I turned back to The Batmare only after re-attaching my gun onto my back. Just where it belonged.
“A matter most urgent.” Right, you said that. Care to explain? “Recently there has been a rash of sickness in the slums in eastern Dise, and from my studies I have deduced the water fountains are the issue.” I heard the exact same thing on the radio the day before, I failed to see her point. “I believe it has been poisoned.” My ears perked up. Now that was something. “If it is true, the culprit might try again tonight, but I am only a single pony. The more fountains that are observed, the more likely we can find the perpetrator. I am asking for your assistance, and to fulfill your duty as my sidekick.”
“Wait, wait wait. So, Hired here is a... Super Hero In Training? She needs custom barding with that emblazoned on it!” Flare flapped in the air so he could rub his chin. “But that might be too long. Well maybe if we make an acronym of it...” What?
“Make whatever it is you wish, but it must be tonight, and now. Your companions may help if you wish... Yes.” The Batmare posed dramatically. “But we must be off! Before he can strike again!”
“What about Haze?” I said. It was impolite to leave like that.
“Write her a note or something, just hurry, Hired, we're going to be 'super heroes'.” Right, got it, Flare.
After a I wrote a short note (Sorry. Have to fight crime. Be back soon.), the four of us left Haze's room and started for the surface. I felt a bit ridiculous doing this thing, and High Stakes seemed to have his own reservations, but I had made a resolution to try and fix Dise, and letting ponies die of poison seemed to go against that entire goal. It was strange though, going off to do a job without a direct paycheck waiting for me. At least I was sure this was something Serenity would approve of.
---
Running sucked, and I wasn't very fast when nopony was in direct danger. Even High Stakes was about to outpace me by a few ponylengths, and that was not even getting into Flare and Batmare who had to slow down so they weren't miles ahead. On the plus side, this allowed to me to hit myself with a Med-X when they turned a corner without me. My head was still pounding, and I didn't want to explain myself and run at the same time.
The tunnels had been friendly to me lately. When I had first gone down them again, I had been sure I was going to be attacked by fifty packs of radioactive ghouls. While that was certainly still possible, it now seemed less likely. The tunnels we were in now were not only partly clean and well lit, but they even had ponies in it from time to time. Not many, but still.
Of course, we also ran past a half dozen rad scorpions too... remember that time I beat the Batmare with a bag of scorpions? That was fun.
Eventually, we reached our destination, which was, not surprisingly actually, a rickety set of stairs. What was surprising was that when we reached the top we found ourselves in a ruined shack in the middle of the eastern Dise slums. I'd been told multiple times that while the tunnels spread out across Dise like a web, all entrances in the city proper were owned by a gang, or group, or something. Yet here we were in the half ruined, shoddily re-made buildings of eastern Dise, and nopony was stopping us.
“So this is the entrance.” High Stakes said. with a smirk he looked around the small shack, before stepping thorough the door into the moonlight. “Mr House has heard rumours that an old entrance was being used by smugglers, and traffickers.”
With a flash of light, The Batmare stood before him, glaring through her mask. “If you inform anypony about this I shall consider you a agent of chaos, and all who serve evil must be culled. You do not wish me for an enemy.” I am pretty sure the Batmare would win. Her teleportation skills were just cheating. It'd be like being able to sense magic or something... oh wait.
Speaking of sensing magic, I could feel a slight burn. I made a mental note to focus on it to make sure we weren't being snuck up on.
“I would think not.” High Stakes' glasses shone in the... moon light? I guess. Not sure what else was bright enough around. Actually, I've decided to stop thinking about it. Oh, High Stakes was still talking. “I see no reason to give this information away so freely, it could be valuable... to my safety it seems.” He finished when he saw that the superhero was still glaring at him.
“Justice has its eye on you!” she shouted, far too dramatically and far too loudly, before vanishing and reappearing a few feet back.
“I like her!” Flare said. I shot him a look as he continued, “She's insane, but at least she's amusing. And if she can do half of what she says she does, then she's helping to keep the forces of evil at bay!” I sighed and nodded along. I knew he wasn't being serious, but it was far too late for me to care. So instead, I walked out of the little shanty and did my best to remember where it was. I'd need to if I wanted to see Haze again.
“Sidekick!” The Batmare flashed in front of me. “Take the insolent one to the nearest fountain due west and keep to the shadows! The winged one can cover multiple sites. I shall be off on my own. If you manage to capture a dastardly villain, merely shout my name, and I shall be there.” Why shout? Why not something more subtle? Like a searchlight shaped like a bat. No pony will notice us at all.
“Right...” Why was I doing this again? Right. Because I decided to fix Dise. Whatever that meant.
“Good! Get to work, brave soldiers of peace!”
POOF!
And she was gone just like that leaving the three of us staring awkwardly at each other. “So...” I said slowly looking between the two stallions. High Stakes coughed into his hoof.
“So... guess I'll go, uh... fly.” Flare vanished in a blue blur, leaving me and the tall unicorn stallion I really never did like.
“Why exactly did we agree to this again?” Stakes asked, trotting off down a gloomy rubble filled street. “It is not like we are getting paid for this, and it seems out of your character to accept a job without so much as a second word.” Right, now I was being lectured for not being greedy enough.
“Things change.” I shrugged before stepping over a sleeping drunk. “Besides. Poison water effects everypony. I drink too. It's in my best interest.” And maybe, just maybe, this pony had an ulterior motive. If there was a crazy pony poisoning water I wanted to know who hired him. And somepony did hire him. This was Dise after all, nothing happens on accident.
“Really, poison?” There was a hint of amusement in his voice. “Not sure why you'd care about a thing like that.” I did not comprehend. Not that it mattered we had arrived at out destination. A small square shaped like a circle (Or. Something. A clearing place where ponies buy and sell stuff) with a small water fountain well thingy in the centre. No ponies were there now, but the water was still flowing.
“Over here.” I said. There was a small unused stand off to the side of the square... circle thing. I guess that during the day it was used to display a large quantity of questionable merchandise, but for now, it would serve as a hiding spot as we would be able to fit between it and the house wall it was up against (though the wall had a window on it, I was sure nopony would look out to see us).We couldn't really see the fountain behind it, but we would hear if anypony was nearby. Or if a unicorn had a silence spell (like Serenity), I would be able to feel their presence. After we settled I finally said. “What did you mean about poison?”
“Do you remember the land sharks?” The skyscraper-sized worms that tried to eat me? I forgot all about them. Idiot. I nodded to keep him talking. “Their poison is one of the most deadly ever researched in the wasteland.” This I knew also after what happened to Back Up. “You were bit by one.” Oh. Okay, that I actually forgot. I was bit wasn't I? It wasn't one of the things that got extra attention during Haze's spell, but I remember seeing something like that. Or it was my own fuzzy memory of the event.
“Right... so?”
“You're not dead,” he said, laying down beside me. He was uncomfortably close, but it was the only way for the both of us to fit in the hiding spot.
“I....” I looked down and moved my hoof around. “Nope. Not dead. So?” I'm sure he had a point somewhere in there, but I wasn't sure where.
“You should be dead. Nopony had ever survived a bite from them until you.” Okay? So? I was a very lucky pony what was the point. “There is a high likelihood you are immune to poison.” That didn't seem uh... possible.
“I'm not.” I said, putting my head down. I could feel a slight burning in my shoulder not coming from High Stakes. It was far enough away I didn't worry about it. “I got drunk last night.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “I threw up. Alcohol poison. Means I can't be immune.”
There was a second of shocked silence before he said. “Good point. I did not consider that... perhaps you are only immune to particular poisons or... uh... I don't suppose you'd agree to undergo some testing?”
“No.”
“Oh. Acceptable, I suppose. And I'd thought I was being clever and everything. Not that it would matter if you were poisoned anyway. According to Sky Fall.” He spat. Really. He actually spat at the name. Way to be dramatic. “You are dying as it is. What's dying a few months earlier.” He gave me a smirk. Was that supposed to be a joke? I certainly hope not.
Besides I wasn't dying. I had seen ponies die of sickness before and they always seemed... sick. I was healthy, and strong, and not coughing or anything. There is no way Sky Fall was right. Star Metal or no, I'd plans to live for long after he expected me to drop dead. He was just trying to bug me or something. Pegasi were always trying to play pranks like that...
Another few seconds of awkward silence passed.
“So. Should we tell Serenity we know she's there?” I said. “Or should we wait a few minutes until she realizes?” The unicorn stallion tilted his head at me. I guess he didn't know. She had been following us since we left the school. She was trying to be sneaky by using her spell... I guess she figured if she was far enough away, I wouldn't be able to sense it.
Less than a second later I felt something land on my head.
“How did you know?!” Serenity said loudly into my ear. She’d evidently been hiding in the window above us.
“Magic.” I rolled my eyes. “You should be asleep.” She just giggled.
“Couldn't sleep, Haze was being loud. Think she knocked something over.” That wasn't very surprising. She tried very hard but was not nearly as graceful as you'd imagine a goddess to be.
“I too am curious on how you were able to locate Serenity following us. I neither heard nor saw anything of the foal.” Did I really have to explain my special powers to everypony? Couldn't I just be awesome and not have to give exposition all the time? It was stupid. To that extent I didn't explain and let Serenity do all the talking.
“Hired's leg burns around magic,” Serenity said with confidence. Only to amend her statement when she saw him staring at my flesh and blood leg curiously. “The other leg silly... not the leg, like the neural connection port thing.” She waved a hoof at my shoulder plate thingy. “She says it burns when somepony around her uses magic, an' I think she can tell who’s usin' it and how far away they are.”
He stared blankly at me, no doubt wondering if we set this whole thing up to mess with him. I kind of wished we had because it would make more sense that way. “How can...” High Stakes paused and face hoofed. “I suppose it matters not. No doubt you two have no idea the implications of what you just sa-” his mouth kept moving but his voice was cut off. I gave a slight chuckle at the pink glow around his head. Serenity's magic had so many uses.
Unfortunately, High Stakes still had more to say. His horn began to glow as well, sending out rays of green light against the wall of pink. There was a brief, tense moment as the two beams fought against each other, but it only lasted a second before the spike of light shattered through, lighting the area in a green glow. As soon as that happened, the battle of wills was over, and the pink aura dissipated into mist.
“Impressive.” There was a faint smile on High Stakes lips. “You held that longer than I expected, you are talented for your age it seems.”
“I'm basically in the top ten most best unicorns in Dise.” She giggled. Clearly not sleeping made her hyper. To think I read her that story for nothing... “Morowynd taught it to me, and it's like the only spell I know 'sides telekinesis a ‘course, but I'm good at it.”
“That's the only spell he taught you.” She nodded. There was a look of confusion on his face, that slowly faded. “Right. Whatever. You two are very confusing, if you weren't aware.”
“You're following us,” Serenity said, right before jumping on top of the stand we were hiding behind and breaking her cover. “You don't gotta, I mean. You work for House, right? So you never had to come here at all. So if we're confusing, you're even more confusing for following confusing ponies into confusing places.”
High Stakes stared up at Serenity as his brain tried to process the information. “Your filly is far too logical. I hope you realize this.” Naw, shit? “You two couldn't be more different.”
“Sure we could.” I mentally prepared myself for more impeccable logic. “Hired could be a Hellhound, or a Minotaur, or a Griffin, or a Discord.” Yes I suppose those things would be fairly different. I'm not sure I'd want to be any of them either. I mean between being bipedal, winged, or a chaos god thing. I'd still rather be an earth pony. It just made more sense.
“Discord is not a species,” High Stakes pointed out. He was helpful like that. I was starting to think he and The Batmare should be the ones teaming up. He was Captain Obvious after all. “He is... or was a draconequus. Hired could never be a discord... It's not important.”
You don't say?
Serenity giggled and did her very best to stifle a yawn. “You're silly. I like you.”
That can't be good. Last time she liked a pony I had to drag them around everywhere... Okay, Flare has saved my ass once or twice, but still. Actually never mind. Flare may have been spying on me (and I wasn't quite forgiving him) but overall he'd been okay. At least he was amusing, and reliable when he wasn't spying.
“Er.” High Stakes looked away before continuing, “I am glad I could please you then.”
“Soooo.” Serenity said leaning over the edge of her stand towards High Stakes. “Can you teach me any cool magic tricks?” The stallion groaned, but Serenity seemed not to hear. “Like, a moustache one! Can you teach me? Flare would look so handsome with one, don't'cha think?”
---
The night dragged on at an astoundingly slow pace. Yet no matter how long we waited, no pony besides the three of us entered the square. Maybe there was no poisoning pony, or maybe he was going to a different fountain, or perhaps we scared him away with all our chatter. And by our, I clearly meant Serenity's. I was content with listening and brooding over my mistakes. I won't go into that though, for I am sure you are sick of it.
Eventually though our (Serenity's) chatter died down. The little filly was valiantly fighting her sleepiness, but it was just too late for her. Still with a stifled yawn, and irritated twitch of her leg Serenity jumped off my back and away from our little hiding place. “So bored,” she said, turning the corner.
“Serenity.” I said. The stupid stallion to my left just chuckled and shook his head. “Serenity, get back here.” There was once again no response. “Seren-”
“Don't worry.” Came the response. Because that was going to happen.
With a sullen sigh I stood up, my body towering over the stand that was our cover. It probably did a horrible job. Serenity was balancing on the rim of the water fountain, waving her forelegs on occasion as she tried to keep from falling. “Don't worry.” She said licking her lip in concentration as she teetered on the thin lip.
“Well, Serenity.” High Stakes stood beside me. He looked a little exhausted, and I couldn't really blame him. “We are supposed to be keeping watch for a... er, bad pony, who is trying to hurt other ponies.” I was going to venture Stakes wasn't really good with kids.
Serenity managed to slowly lift her forelegs off the lip and balance just on her back ones. I was a little bit impressed. “The poisoner pony, Ah'm not stupid, stupid.” She giggled. “'sides. We've been waiting here forever, and ain't nopony showed up. What's the chance of-” Why was my shoulder burning.
There was a sudden bright flash.
The light burned my eye, and I had to close it, but I could still hear the sound of splashing. When I opened it again I saw Serenity flailing around in the fetlock-deep fountain, as The Batmare watched on with what I assumed was an frown on her face. After shaking her head, Serenity sat in the water, her mane dripping and her eyes glaring at the superheroine.
“What are you doing in the open?” The Batmare scolded me, ignoring the glaring and wet filly climbing out of the fountain behind her. “That is counterproductive to the mission. You are jepord-”
“You just. Teleported here. In a flash of light.” I helpfully pointed out. “Stealth doesn't seem to be the goal.”
“What is she eve-it matters not!” She posed herself dramatically as a wind blew out of seemingly nowhere to ruffle her cape. “I have to address a matter most urgent! It seems there is a commotion in the very place the water is purified! The water purification centre!” You don't say?
“So?” I said.
The Batmare gave me a very hard stare (I assume. Once again, that damn mask.) while High Stakes chuckled. Eventually the would-be hero said, “If you were trying to poison the denizens of Dise, could you think of a better place to do it?” Oh wait, yeah I guess that made sense. “Flare spotted flashes of lights he claimed were most certainly explosions. We must be swift!” And she was off running.
“Wait, I do-.” She turned the corner. “Fuck.” I quickly ran over to Serenity and threw her on my back before giving chase. Damn fast Batmare. I turned the corner to see a long empty street. Broken buildings rose on either side, their facades masked in the shadows of the night. Not that poetry helped me any.
“Do you even know where the water purification plant is located?” High Stakes asked, standing beside me with a slight smirk. My silence seemed to be all the answer he needed. “Follow me.” This time, when he took off I followed right away. I really need to get a map of the city. It'd save me so much time and effort.
We exited the Dise slums and started down the eastern road that lead to the city centre. Serenity tugged on my ear as I ran, and she said into it. “Is this a good idea?” You mean running towards explosions? Probably not. But if the Batmare was right, this pony needed an asskicking, and I was in the mood to grant him that. Besides, poisoned water does not generally cause a stable society
“Not at all.” I admitted.
“So why-?”
I cut her off. “Somepony has to. I'm free.” I guess the answer worked, as she didn't question it further.
When we reached the fountain in the centre of the city, I found The Batmare perched on the top of the pony statue in the centre. Also there was a small crowd of drunken ponies crowded around watching her. “How did she get up there...” I heard one pony ask. There was a murmur of questioning as the Hero stood perfectly still staring down at me.
“Sidekick!” she called when I got close, causing the whole crowd to turn my direction. Fuck. “What is taking you so long?” I needed something to hide behind. Dammit, they were all staring at me. What I wouldn't give for the ability to teleport right about now. “Well, say something!”
They were still staring at me. I hate crowds. I mumbled something at the ground, and did my best to keep from blushing. “uh...” I coughed into my hoof as one of the drunken ponies cheered. Great. “I was... caught up. Thought I saw a robbery?” Yeah that was it. I had to go and justice or something.
“Yes. Justice waits for nopony!” With a flash and burning sensation, she appeared in front of me. A ragged cheer went up from the small crowd, and I thought I heard a few ponies stomping their hooves in approval. “For now, we must be off. Follow me!” She took off again, this time travelling down the south road. Leaving the bewildered crowd behind me, I took off after her as Serenity giggled on my back.
High Stakes was nice enough to slow down enough to keep pace with me. “Why must we always run?” He sounded more than a little bit tired. It was a good question though. This Batmare seemed to always want to run everywhere. I'm sure it helped her super-heroing, but I was getting tired of it. Oh well, keep running.
As we ran, we passed a series of increasingly bewildered ponies. Hopefully none of them would recognize me. I really didn't want to be associated with the wackjob of a superhero. Eventually, we moved past the two apartment buildings (one of which served as the Enclave home base) and even south past the Watcher camp. Not long after, we came upon a clearing and a split in the road.
To my left, down a short, straight road, was a huge domed building that seemed to emit an eerily green light that shone up the side of the Dise wall it was built against. To my right was a huge compound of buildings surrounded by a large and imposing metal fence. Complete with barbed wire on top. The Batmare went right so I followed.
As we closed in the facility I could clearly see three ponies standing in front of the large entrance gate, and one on the other side. They seemed to be conversing casually until they saw us running up. “Hey!” a green earth pony shouted. “You aren't allowed in he-”
The Batmare vanished.
She reappeared a split-second later, landing on the stallions face with a resounding smack, hind legs first. She pushed off his head, sending him into the dirt, and flipped through the air. She landed with an impressive kick to a second pony's side. The second pony grunted, but kept her hooves, at the same time bringing her pistol around with magic. The bullets hit nothing but air.
A series of flashes later and the second pony was lying on the ground with most of her teeth cracked in. All this in mere seconds, while the third and the fourth ponies yelled loudly into their radios. The Batmare flashed behind the fence smashing the fourth pony's head against a console. An action that made the metal gate start to slide open. A second later, the fourth pony was thrown through the now-open gate directly into the third pony.
With both of them crumpled over each other, the hero wasted no time appearing on top of them. With a few sharp cracks, they lay motionless. Maybe dead, but I wasn't sure. At this point, the first green stallion was starting to get back up. Luckily for me, I'd just gotten close enough. He turned his head towards The Batmare. It was so easy just to buck him. The impact shook up my legs and sent the poor buck flying through the open gate and sliding through the dirt.
The Batmare gave me an appreciative nod as a roar ripped through the air, coming from inside the facility. It was enough to send her off running again. I stood there a second as the ponies groaned in pain around me. It really was a good thing that mare was on my side. Sure, I managed to fight her to a draw, but I'd had an advantage. Any other pony didn't stand a chance. Even I just happened to get luck. Another explosion.
“Hiiired.” Serenity said jumping on my head. “Shouldn't we go...?”
Right. It was hero time.
---
The hallway was bright, cleaned, and completely empty. I wasn't sure where Batmare ran off to, so me and High Stakes decided to go to the largest building and try to find the source of the commotion and (more importantly) find Flare who had went to check it out ahead of us. Normally, he would have met us at the entrance, or we would at least be able to hear him talking or something.
I started down the hallway, the only sound was our collective (Serenity had decided to walk and had apparently brought the gun I gave her at Karkhoof [I'd forgotten about it in all the commotion...]) hoof steps. We passed a few empty offices but didn't have the time to explore. Empty...
Why was everything empty?
A better question might have been was why was my shoulder burning if everything was empty? My two unicorn companions were not using magic, yet I could feel something... even worse, it was something familiar.
“Ever been in here?” I asked of nopony in particular as we walked down the long hall. Off at the end of the grey hall, I could see a set of double doors which seemed to be the best bet of where to look. It didn't help my gut that the closer we got, the more my shoulder burned.
High Stakes spoke up, “No. The Mustangs have always been very protective over this facility...” And yet where was everypony? There should have been more than four guards... something very strange was going on here, and if Mayhem didn't know now, he would soon. I'd hope not to be here when that happened. “I think I should have stayed home; there is no way this will end well. I have a terrible feeling about this.” Way to jinx it.
“Maybe they all went to bed?” Serenity said with half a yawn. I could see her watching the empty offices as we passed, just itching to go exploring.
“You don't believe that...” I stated plainly. We were already reaching the end of the hallway.
“I'm just tryin'a be optimistic. You two look grim.” She snorted. “Making the same face 'an everything.”
“I'll be fine, Serenity, we just need to find Flare and leave this place. What happens here has little to do with us,” High Stakes said.
“Or.” I said reaching the door. “We could stop whatever is going on.” I pushed the doors open slowly, “You know. Do the right thing for a change.” High Stakes could only smirk as I stepped through the door into a huge room.
The large room stretched out impressively, but it had a noticeable lack of substance besides a low ceiling and some overhanging lights. This was because most of the room was a giant vat of water, save for a walkway around the edge of the room. Moving over to the edge of the walkway and leaning over the railings I could see a huge pool of water. Bubbling steaming water. Oh! And there was a rickety catwalk above the bubbling pool with two ponies on it. I guess I should have mentioned that first.
“Flare!” High Stakes started running towards the catwalk. Idiot.
I looked at the catwalk again and saw why. Flare was being held over the bubbling lake by his neck by a Minotaur wearing what looked like a blue uniform. That was easy enough, I just had to scope Subtlety and... fucking hell! In my rush to be reconnected with my favourite gun I accidentally mounted it on the right side. I couldn't scope with a missing eye, and I couldn't shoot from the shoulder with Flare so close. So I had to start running too. I reached the rickety catwalk just as Flare looked over at us, and grinned.
“About time!” Flare yelled over at us. “I've been stalling to show yo-” Flare was shut up when the minotaur punched at him. The blue pegasus ducked the blow and slammed his hoof against the Minotaurs uniform, leaving something with a blinking light sticking to it. “you this!” With a flap of his wings, the pegasus detached himself from the monstrous beast and zoomed away. At the same time, the minotaur desperately clawed at his shirt. He managed to tear it off and throw it down the catwalk when...
BOOM
The explosion shook the walkway sending me stumbling to a knee. High Stakes behind me fell too, and Serenity I was sure felt it. As smoke started to rise I waved a hoof at High Stakes. “The catwalk is too small for two. Get Serenity! I'll deal wi-” He was already gone when I looked and talking to Flare with a look of relief on his face. So I guess it was “Ignore the leader” day.
I turned back to the minotaur and got myself a good long look as he slowly struggled to his hooves after being knocked over from the blast. Unlike Ginger, his coat was a deep blue, and he didn't seem nearly as buff as The Watchers pet minotaur. In addition his horns spiked straight up, as opposed to the curled ones on Ginger, and how the fuck did he get in here without anypony noticing? As he stood to his true, impressive, and bipedal height, he didn't seem to be that stealthy. That was until his hand glanced a device on his waist. With a crackling fizzle he vanished from sight, and my shoulder started to burn.
“You can use magic!” I spurted out. There was barking laugh but no answer. It didn't matter, fuck minotaurs, Silver Charge!
He may have been able to turn invisible, but that didn't mean shit to me. I was able to turn and buck exactly where he was. My hind legs connected with his chest, turning his laugh into a hacking cough. I couldn't see him, but I could feel the burning fade slightly as he backed up. Booyah, my super powers were improving. It was just enough I could close in, rear, and kick him, much to his surprise.
“How can you see me, pony?!” I heard a disembodied voice growl. Then the burning shifted suddenly sideways as if he had jumped off. But down there was boiling water and steam, and that would be suicidal and... the burning was behind me. I tried to turn, but in the narrow corridor I couldn't manage it quick enough.
A sharp pain in my back sent me face-first into the steel grating. Pain flared up my back from another hit. Before I could try to crawl back up, I was lifted into the air by my hind legs! Flailing my forehooves around, I tried to kick something, anything, but I couldn't connect. I could feel him staring at me, but I was looking at thin air. Actually I was looking at the end of the catwalk as Serenity and High Stakes watched on. They could have shot him at any moment, but no doubt were afraid of hitting me. Thanks.
“You ponies are an annoyance,” the voice growled. “I am trying to do my job not deal with-” Feather! Flare slammed into the minotaur. I hoped it was enough to distract him. I started swinging. Back and forth. Back in Marefort, I could trapeze my way around like no other, and I still knew how. My forehooves connected to the beast’s invisible chest, and he dropped me. On my head.
After crying out in pain, I rolled onto my hooves, rubbing the back of my head. The burning sensation was moving again, but this time I saw a flicker as his device weakened. It was just enough for me to see him swinging along the outside of the safety bars with his stupid hands. They must have been so useful... So I saw where his hand was, raised my hooves, and stepped on it, inciting a cry of pain from the minotaur and a creak from the catwalk.
“You stupid little pony!” Something grabbed me.
The beast tugged at me with its scarily strong arms and pulled me over. Turning, I managed to hook my cybernetic leg on the edge of the railing. This still left me dangling over a vat of boiling water. The steam it was releasing was making me hot, and sweaty, and slick. I could almost feel myself starting to slip.
“Stupid pony.” The field of magical whatever faded leaving me staring over the railing at a pissed-off blue minotaur holding a mangled hand with his good one. “Just trying to do my job.” The monster grabbed my metal hoof. “So piss of-”
BANG
A splash of blood came out of the creature’s already-injured arm, and off to the side I could see High Stakes lining up another shot. He didn't get the chance though, as while the minotaur backed up down the walkway I felt something pushing me up from behind.
“You're... too fat,” Flare grunted, before dumping me on the grate. “Go kick his ass already!” Right. Got it. I scrambled to my hooves feeling catwalk shift under my hooves. That explosion of Flare's must have done a number on it, and this fighting wasn't helping.
“Stupid pony,” the minotaur grunted, holding at his arm, but doing little to stop the blood flowing down it and dripping into the water underneath the grate. “Don't make me hurt you.” He took a step forward. “Leave now.”
“You work here?” I asked. He kept saying he had a job. I wasn't sure if it was working here or sabotaging the facility, but I had to try to ask. “Is that I-” I shut my mouth as he lowered his head and started charging! Lowering myself I lifted up my metal leg.
With a smash, and a shriek from Serenity behind me, his horns pierced through my leg, but stopped centimetres from my face.
Their points were a bit too sharp and a bit too right in my face. With a grunt I lowered myself more. “Stay.” I lashed out with all my strength. “Back!” The horns ripped through my leg in a shower of sparks and wires, but he was sent into the air. He landed with a crack on his back, grunting and gasping for air.
“Now.” I said with a stomp of my hoof. “Do you work he-” The catwalk shifted. With a echoing crack the whole platform started tilting down sending us both sliding down towards the boiling water. Shit shit shit! Flailing over to the side, I managed to hook a leg on a railing, leaving me dangling on a catwalk that was only getting steeper by the second.
With my hind legs dangling, I looked further down to see the minotaur barely holding onto the grate with his one good arm. With a grunt he tried to climb up, but between me and High Stakes his other arm was useless. I really didn't want to him to die. I have no idea why! I must have been getting soft.
“Stay still, I think I can carry you!” Flare said, his wings beating fast. “Just.” He started groping at me. I could feel my leg slipping from the steam, but I shook my head.
“Grab the minotaur.” I said with a grunt. The pegasus looked like he was about to a laugh. “Seriously! He might know what's going on.” There was more confusion on his face. Idiot. It wasn't like we were the only ponies here. “High Stakes, levitate me up.”
“He did just try to murder me. That sorta thing doesn't lend well to my heroic instincts.” The catwalk cracked and shifted nearly making me lose my grip. “And he's heavy, I ain't that strong and if he struggled he might-”
“FLARE!” My voice brokered no argument. “Just do it!”
“Fine, fine, but if we all die, I refuse to take the blame!” He floated down and grabbed at the blue beast with his two forelegs. “Now hold on tight, and no more choking me.” The beast nodded it's bull-like head, and held on as tight as he could with his good hand. Slowly Flare managed to drag him up through the air, but only by flapping his wings as fast as they could go. Good.
“High Stakes!” He lifted me back in the BS, so he should be able to do it again. The stallion nodded and I felt myself go weightless as his horn started to glow a pale green. More layers of light were added to his horn as I was slowly lifted up. I could see sweat forming at his brow, and he grit his teeth. Apparently telekinesis was not his forte, but he still managed to lift me close.
That was until I dropped.
My heart fell into my chest. I was falling. I slammed into the metal catwalk with enough force to snap it. Fuck, it was falling! Flailing my hooves, around I prayed to Celestia I'd grow wings. The metal catwalk hit the water with a splash of scalding liquid. I covered my face. This was going to suck.
Nothing. I stopped.
Opening my eyes I saw myself centimetres from the water with a green and pink bubble surrounding me. With my heart in my throat and steam on my face, I was slowly, much too slowly, levitated up and deposited beside my very tired-looking friends. High Stakes was sweating and looked drained, while Serenity just laid on the ground with her eyes closed. She’d done good.
“So.” Flare dropped the Minotaur a meter on the ground. The creature landed with a thud, and grunted. “Are you going to explain why you almost got yourself killed for the sake of a... thing that tried to kill us?”
Right. I stood slowly to my hooves... and fell over as my metal leg gave out. Landing nose first into the concrete, I swore as loud as I could. Before I could do anything else Serenity was standing beside me, her eyes wide as she looked at my leg. “Noooo, look what you did to it!” she yelled, glaring at the minotaur. “Argh!” She dug strips of metal and wires from her bag, as well as a series of tools I really didn't know how to describe.
“Can you fix it?” I asked. Yeah, I know Flare had asked a question, but this was more important. And he seemed busy talking to High Stakes anyway. Serenity frowned at me, sighed, and went back to work on my leg.
“No, but I can make it work well enough till we can get better supplies.” She licked her lip and started laying out some wires from her bag.
“Right.” I looked up at Flare, and the minotaur (who was sitting pleasantly on the ground with his arms crossed), “Can somepony... er someone explain to me what is going on.”
The minotaur looked at me blankly as if I was already supposed to know. Clearly what we had here was a failure to communicate. “You attacked us.” The beast said, “How can you not know?”
“Attacked you!” Flare spoke up. “We're in Dise not... where ever you are from! Somepony was exploding open locked doors or some shit so I went to investigate and saw you!” he pointed his hoof dramatically. “You're lucky I didn't kill you outright! After what your people have been doing, you're lucky we don't kill you, you lying liar who lies!” Wait, what?
“Stupid ponies.” He fidgeted at the device on his belt. “I work here. You should not be seeing me,” He fidgeted some more. “We are not supposed to be seen. You are not with them, are you?” I shook my head. “This is not good then, not good at all.” He slowly got to his hooves. “My name is Unbreakable Will. My clan has agreed to work with the group you know as 'The Mustangs' in exchange for clean water and information. We are better suited to perform the tasks needed to keep the facility operational.” Right. Hands sure seemed like they'd be useful.
“Wait.” High Stakes had a devious smirk on his tired face. “You are saying that Mayhem has hired Minotaurs? As in the same Minotaurs currently camped across canyon ridge bridge with a huge army? The ones that sacked Hoof Town a year back and painted the river red with blood?” He winced a little bit at the accusation but didn't say no. At the mention of Hoof Town, Serenity, for a reason I didn't understand, took Scootaborg out of her saddle bag and let her watch. “Do you have any idea how much this information is worth?!” He laughed bitterly. “Oh don't worry, I won’t sell this little tidbit. I'm keeping this for a rainy day.”
“We were not meant to be seen for this reason...” He sighed. “It doesn't matter now. My clan members have gone-dark as was instructed. Most have gone to inform Mayhem, but I am not sure we have the time. The white faced pony came, and his ponies overpowered the guards silently. I fear it may have been an inside job; he seemed to know when and where to hit, and all the alarms were deactivated beforehand. “ That couldn't be good.
“White-faced one?” I asked.
“Maybe the Laughing Stallion?” Flare said flapping into the air a little annoyed he fought a minotaur for nothing. “I heard he paints his face white or something.” Creepy, I guess. “Kind of a strange coincidence if it was him though. Just happening to be involved in this and his arch nemesis being the one to find out about it first. I mean...” Coincidence. Was it?
“This... Laughing Stallion. Does anypony know who he is?” I asked to the shaking of heads. Even Serenity took time out from fiddling with my leg to shake her head at me. “Who showed up first, him or The Batmare?” I remember hearing something on the radio a while back. New Haygas claimed the two spent a lot of time fighting each other, much to the chagrin of Dise residents. By herself, The Batmare could do a lot of good, but if she spent all her time against one pony, and never resolving it.... Well, that would sour the city to her, wouldn't it?
“The Batmare.” High Stakes answered first. “She has been working here for a while. The Laughing Stallion came a few months back, and it was him that caused her to become a feature on the radio.” Just a coincidence. “Why?”
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “Serenity?”
“Five more minutes.” She pouted up at me. “It's criminal what you did to it! It'll never be as good as it was. A classic piece of cybernetics ruined.” With a huff she nudged Scootaborg closer, almost asking her to watch, “You'll be able to walk, but don't try running or kicking 'till I can fix'em right, got it?”
“Sorry...” I turned back to the minotaur. I mean, Unbreakable Will. He was a monstrous creature, but monsters don't have names so it was important to remember. “Will, did you see where he went?”
“Yes.” There was a long pause. Maybe he didn't know if he could trust us with the information? “The main pumping building.” I uh, didn't understand. The silence was so absolute the only sound was the boiling water in the large vat. “The water at this plant is taken from a large underground reservoir, beneath even the deepest tunnels. From there, the supply goes through a series of purification rooms. Boiling is supposed to rid the water of minute traces of radiation.” I had to wonder how much fire it’d take to boil all this water. Maybe that's why Roy attacked the power station.... Power stations make fire right? The minotaur continued. “If they seek to poison the water than they have gone to the wrong place. The purification process is thorough enough to clean away anything.”
“Why poison?” Flare said. At some point I realized he was flying upside down, but he did it so often I didn't even care. “If I were them, I'd blow the whole thing up.” Really Flare? Your first reaction would be to explode things, who would have thought. “Seriously. What better way to poison the populace than make them all drink irradiated water by blowing up the purification place... thing.” Wait... fuck. That made sense.
I jumped to my hooves.
“It's not ready!” Serenity said getting up as well.
“We need to go, now,” I said, before quickly adding to cut off Serenity's complaints. “We don't have time.”
“Go,” Unbreakable Will said. “My clan will watch, but we cannot interfere. I will be punished for talking to you.” Huh? “We swore to remain unseen or kill those who see us. I cannot kill you, and you have seen me. It is a great dishonour to my clan.” Err, sure.
“How do you even get in here? I mean, Dise.” Flare said as he landed beside me. “I mean, ain't like you could walk through the front door.”
“The tunnels,” he said simply. Of course. I guess minotaurs were just one more danger in the tunnels.
---
“Where did The Batmare get to?” Flare asked as we left the building. Unbreakable Will gave us instructions to get to the main pumping building, and we left in the hurry.
“I for one haven't the slightest clue. She ran off as soon as we got close.” High Stakes said in a low voice. Who knew who was watching. Well, given the burning in my shoulder I had an idea. I wondered how many minotaurs were watching us right now.
“Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll already have defeated the bad guy!” I smiled down at Serenity as I limped my way along. It was a nice thought, but not very likely. That would imply we had good luck.
The complex itself was annoyingly... uh, complex. Sure, there were walkways between the various buildings, but it still felt maze like with so many different buildings, and that's not to mention the astronomical amount of pipes. It felt like a world away from Dise. What did a plant like this need all these buildings for? I didn't stay on that train of thought long though, as there was no way I'd be able to understand went on in this facility. The only thing I needed to know was that explosions equal bad.
“Just in case, shouldn't we like, hurry?” Flare seemed to be flapping his wings in an exaggeratedly slow pace. Given he was flying to my right, I had to turn my whole head to see him though.
“No way!” Serenity jumped up, grabbed his wing, and dragged him back to earth. “Her leg is stuck together with tape and chewing gum right now, if we move too fast, it'll break!”
“We could go ahead, it seems Hired would not be of use even if we all get there together.” Haughty Stakes. I mean High Stakes said. “Best not wear her out. Flare and I can handle any trouble there.”
“Like you handled the minotaur?” I replied with a smirk, trying to ignore the way my leg creaked with every step.
“That was...” He scrunched up his muzzle to the left of me. “I had little option. I did not risk a shot at first for fear of hitting Flare, and after with you two fighting I could not see him. I am not a melee fighter.”
“Neither is Flare.” I continued the chain of thought. “So if you two go alone. And get jumped. You lose, everything goes boom?” He gave me a long hard glare. “It's better to go together.”
“You aren't fighting with that leg!” Serenity was insistent. Apparently the destruction of possibly the last functioning water purification plant on earth was less important than me breaking my leg. That was just... exactly what I expected from Serenity. I really should have left her back with Haze.
Wait. I did do that. And then she followed me. I guess I should have scolded her, but I was on thin enough ice as it was, so I didn't want to risk it.
We did eventually find the main pumping station to discover it was a fairly small building with four large pipes coming out of it, one from each side of the building. The entrance was a simple metal door that was strangely malformed, a black ring of burnt stuff encircling what was probably a lock and handle once. There was no question that somepony had entered recently. And not with permission.
“Serenity.” I said in a low whisper. “Your soundy magic, can you... make it so we can talk normally, without other ponies hearing us.”
“I... I'll try.” My shoulder burned as her horn started to glow a dull pink. Slowly a small bubble of glowing magical stuff surrounded us. “Can't hold it for long...,” she grunted, adding another layer of magic to her horn.
“Impressive.” High Stakes said, his glasses shining because... that was just what they did. I’d stopped trying to make sense if it. “A double wrapped sound barrier that blocks sound from both sides, but allows us to talk freely. It's technically the same spell but such a clever adaptation of it.” Serenity beamed in pride but had to add another layer of magic to hold the spell.
“Here's the plan.” I said. “We go in. Shoot everything. If they have a bomb, we get Flare to deactivate it.”
“That's it? Charge in and hope we don't die?” High Stakes sure loved to complain. I guess I could have pointed out nopony even invited him along, he just sort of followed, and thus didn't get a say. “We should try to sneak in, and attack from a flanking position.” Blah blah blah.
“There's only one entrance. The building is small. Can't be more than one room.” With a resigned sigh, he nodded. There wasn't a point questioning it. Let's go, charge. “Serenity. Stay behind me. If things turn ugly run and hide.” The little filly nodded. She looked so tired, and was trying so hard to be strong, even as sweat beaded down her head and around her glowing horn. “Lets go.”
The magical field faded around us. I charged over and bucked the door open with a crash, and stormed as fast as I could into the room.
I made it two steps before I was staring down the barrel of a gun.
“Hehehahahahah!” The gun was a mouth-held shotgun pointed by a stallion who could apparently laugh and bite down at the same time. “You should see the looks on your faces! Priceless~” The stallion’s coat with a murky red, and his mane was long and yellow, but his face was, as stated, painted white with a stupid red smile. I could see why he kept his face like that, it helped to partially hide the fact that half his face was cybernetics.
“Hey... “I heard Flare mutter behind me. “We were just passing through and thought you'd like some help an-”
BANG!
A bullet slammed against concrete and I heard Flare gulp. Behind the demented stallion, one of his nearly dozen lackeys (all wearing white masks) had a smoking gun in their mouth. All of them were earth ponies. Out of the corner of my eye I could see one of them saunter behind us, and close the door.
“Let's play a little game~” The Laughing Stallion clicked his back hooves together in glee. “It's called, who dies first? Will it be you? The filly? Oooooor, who knows!” He chuckled loudly to himself. “Or I’ll tie you all up and let you go BOOM!” The room was small and crowded by ponies and rusty pipes.
My shoulder started to burn and my eyes shot to the ceiling. On the ceiling was a small grate that let in moonlight...
“Really? You're kidding, right?” I said. He tilted his head at me, still chuckling. “I mean. Painted face? Laughing? What the hell are you doing?”
“Why, I’m giving the ponies a show! Ponies love shows, and they love to be entertained. What is more entertaining than two heroes locked in an epic duel?! Oh yes. Sure, we destroy a lot, but it's all part of the game.” There was a sadistic grin on his face, but it felt wrong. Something about this felt wrong. Too easy. He showed up just to fight the Batmare, but why? His story didn't add up. His character didn't add up. It felt too forced. I'd met actual crazy ponies, this guy felt like an actor trying too hard. “Too bad Batsy isn't here for the fun, but you'll have to do.” He chuckled. “An earth pony, a pegasus, a filly, and a unicorn. We really have a full house, so Miss Hero, any last words?”
I looked back up at the grate, and thought I saw a flash of a purple cape.
“Yeah.” I smirked. “Duck.”
For half a second his act dropped. “Wha-” He turned his head. There was a flash of light, tink of something hitting the ground, and suddenly smoke filled the room. I cracked my metal hoof against his face. My Metal leg shuddered but kept together. And he went sprawling into the growing smoke.
Gunfire filled the room.
“Serenity!” She was faster than I was, and I could feel her magic off in a corner. Good. I charged in after the Laughing Stallion trying to kick at him. Too bad smoke was everywhere.
It was chaotic. Muzzle flashes and Batmare's magic came from every direction. I tripped over a pipe into an earth pony that I promptly kicked in the face. A second came from beside me, mistaking me for a friend. So I turned and bucked him into a wall. I don't know how Batmare thought these smoke grenades were a good idea! It was crazy.
A bullet tinged a pipe right in front of me. Water sprayed at my face, making me sputter and take a step back. Right into a pony. I tripped and fell on my rump over somepony. It was lucky though as I saw the dim outline of a pony diving at where I was a second ago. I felt some pony walk into me. So I grabbed their leg, and threw them down.
“Hey! Hey!” Flare?
“Sorry.” I let him go. “Can't see shit.”
“You're half blind anyway!” Flare barked laughter. “I like it like this! Been so long since I've been in a proper confusing fight.” I smacked him lightly. “Fine!” He yelled over the gun fire. “Watch this.” I heard him flap into the air and a few seconds of furious flapping and all the smoke was pushed to a side of the room giving me a better view of the battle ground.
I saw the two ponies I knocked out groaning and struggling to their hooves, while the one I'd tripped over stayed dead from the bullet in her brain. At least five more lackeys had bullets lodged in their heads too courtesy of High Stakes, who was doing astounding well with his rifle. He had backed up in a corner, and a score of bodies laid out in front of him. How had he been able to see in the smoke? The glasses maybe? The Batmare herself was flashing around the room giving, kicks at random. Not enough to kill, but hurt and confuse. As I looked around, I saw a lot of bodies and spurting water, but no Laughing Stallion.
“Hired!” I turned to Serenity's hiding spot to see her and the villain standing face to face. A drop of blood sliding down the side of his face. How did he know where she was! Could everypony see in smoke but me? No time to think, fuck him!
I dove at him.
Time seemed to slow as I stretched my legs out in a tackle. He turned his head, shotgun still ready.
BANG
My cybernetic leg took the shot and turned to scrap. I slammed into him with my other leg. We rolled through the ground. He got another shot off but barely scraped my barding. My head slammed against the floor. My sight blurred in pain. Before I could react, he was standing above me, shotgun pointed at my face.
“Soooo strong, and yet. Do you feel happy with this life? Do you fancy yourself a hero?” I grit my teeth. “Tell me.” Somehow the metal half of his face twisted into a grimace. “What is the nature of a hero?”
“Pain?” I guessed. Something to keep him talking so I could get ready to kick him.
“Failure. Hehehehe, get it?” he kept talking. “Heroes fail. They try and they fail. If a hero doesn't fail, they aren't doing it right. So congratulations, you succeeded in being a hero, by being a failure. Riddle time is over, now please di-”
A shot rang out.
A bullet hit his shot gun, tearing it from his mouth, and showering my face with shotgun remains. A second bullet ripped through the stallions leg. At once his facade faded. “Fuckityfuck. Dragon doesn't pay me enough to... fuck.” He turned and ran, taking another bullet in the flank before running through the door disappearing in the night.
Dragon... he said Dragon. Could he mean Dragonslayer? I groaned and rested my head on the floor. This sucked.
“Hired!” Serenity was standing above me, her pistol floating in her magical grasp. “Your leg! It's ruined!”
Flare was standing above me now too. “I deactivated the bomb. Thanks for the help, by the way.”
High Stakes was there too. “Your plan almost got us killed. Luckily I was there to save you...”
The Batmare flashed above my too, a scowl on her mask. “You let the Laughing Stallion get away!”
Failure. If that was the nature of a hero, there was nopony more heroic.
---
I limped my way out of the building. Serenity had wanted to fix up all the leaking pipes, but we really didn't have time. I was sure invisible minotaurs were watching us, and Mayhem was going to arrive at any moment. I think she was still upset about the loss of my leg. I kind of was, too. It had been with me since Bridle Hope, and even though I preferred my real leg, my cybernetic one was good too. She even went through the trouble of collecting the larger pieces, as well as the stump still connected to my shoulder.
“High Stakes.” I said to him as he exited behind me. He seemed slightly bemused at my three-legged limping. “Tell... Starscream or House or whoever I accept their offer, so long as I get that damn cyber eye... and a replacement leg.”
“House doesn't usually bargain... but considering the circumstances....” He nodded at my stump. “A Hizai is far more useful with four legs. I will tell him... tonight I am guessing. Where will you be?”
“Thanks. The School.” I needed the rest, even though it was getting scarily close to morning. “Take Flare.” Please.
“Sure.”
“What!' Flare flapped in front of me, “Don't I get a say in this at all?” I shook my head.
“No.” I turned my head to The Batmare. “Can I ask something of you?” She tilted her head. “Teleport me to the alicorn school orphanage... place... thingy. With Serenity.” Serenity looked half asleep. As we stood there, I saw her closer her eyes, start to fall over, only to snap them open and straighten up at the last second. I really shouldn't take her on these wild excursions, but she... well she was invaluable help. And with her help, we had stopped a crazy pony from blowing up the city’s water supply. I'd have to give her some candy later.
“I can...” She sounded tired, too. “For your help here today, but after this I must request you stop asking requests of me. I am neither a taxi nor a messenger.”
“Sorry...” I mumbled shaking the sleep out of my eye. “Here.” I nudged Serenity beside The Batmare as the hero's horn started to glow. High Stakes and Flare stood across from us in the darkened water complex. All around I could hear the sounds of pipes rushing water around. “Thanks, you two...” I was being polite tonight. “Tell me.” The Batmare's horn started to glow brighter. “What is the nature of a hero?”
“Stupidity,” High Stakes said with a snort, as if the question was beneath him.
“Defiance.” Flare shot High Stakes a dirty look. “A hero needs to balk at the established order. Why?”
We winked away into light.
The sensation was hard to describe. It was like all the cells in my body were pulled away and dissipated, sending a burning light (sort of like the feeling in my shoulder around magic) throughout my very soul. It didn't last long, as soon enough I could feel myself being pushed back together. The whole feeling lasted less than a second, but it was something I would never be able to forget. To think that the Batmare did it daily and so rapidly was mind boggling.
My eye shot open revealing the door I'd used to first enter Haze's orphanage thingy. My hair felt a little... singed, but other than that I was all there in however many pieces I came in.
“You are here,” the Batmare said. Not sure why she said it, I still had my eyes... er, eye. “Faithful sidekick, you and your daughter.” I winced, and could see Serenity shuffle awkwardly out of the corner of my eye. I'd forgot to explain the situation to her, didn't I? “Have served my cause well tonight. I thank you for your valiant efforts in foiling that dastardly devil, and saving the city’s water supply.
Was it really in danger? We took long enough getting to the Laughing Stallion. He could have blown it up at anytime, yet seemed to wait for me... or rather the Batmare. Like he was trying to make it close... and dramatic. The whole situation seemed too easy. Too coincidental. I knew there was something I was missing, but I just couldn't see it. At least I knew about Mayhem and the minotaurs now. That was something simple and easy to understand, and gave me a certain amount of leverage.... Of course since Flare and High Stakes both knew, the Remnants and House were going to learn soon.
I needed more friends who didn't work around me....
“Hired...” Huh? “Hiiired.” I looked down at Serenity. “Batlady left...” I looked around. Apparently she had, and I was exhausted.
“Right.” I limped towards the door. “You did good tonight, Serenity.” She grinned, as if she already knew that. “But... if you're still mad at me... why?” She had said as much early that night (It really was the same day wasn’t it? So much had happened I had lost track of time.)
“I...” She ran ahead of me and spun back. “I don't know. I don't like what you did, but inside you're still a good pony, I'm sure of it! So... I'm giving you a second chance. I'll try to be better this time though! I promise. I just... want to be with you; you don't have to be my mother or anything, I just. Please? We'll both do better this time, I know it!”
I leaned down and gave her cheek a warm nuzzle. She giggled, and pushed me away just a little. “Yes, Serenity, we'll do better.... Thank you.” For giving me another chance. After all that had happened. I didn't deserve it, but I was going to take it as it came. If I was going to build a better world for her, I had to start by giving her a better future. Even if I couldn't be all that she wanted, I could be what she needed. And what she seemed to need more than anything, was a pony to care for her. For so long she had been alone, and I could give her that.
“Run off to bed. It's late.”
She didn't even argue with me. She just nodded, said, “Goodnight, Hired.... Thanks...,” and ran off down the hall and leaving me alone. I wasn't sure what to do at this point. I really just wanted to make sure Serenity got back alright.
I wasn't sure where we stood. It was... different than before, but... better, I think. At least we were being more honest, and that could only be good. I wasn't excited with her following me around again, but it was her choice and I knew she needed it. Hopefully this time I would avoid freaking out and shooting foals...
I limped my way over to Platinum Haze's room.
Opening the door with my skull, I limped inside to see the beautiful blue alicorn resting on her mattress. Her eyes were closed so I assumed she was asleep and collapsed on the bed beside her. With a groan I shut my eyes and let myself be comforted by the radiant warmth of her body. I didn't know if I was ready for a relationship yet, but she was too warm to pass up.
One of her wings lifted up and draped over me.
I felt myself blush. “I thought you were asleep.”
“We do... I do not need sleep in this form.” She shuffled closer to me. I didn't complain. “I was worried when you left suddenly.... What happened?”
“Fought a super villain. Nearly died in a vat of boiling water. The usual.” I said with a yawn. I don't think she believed me. “Really. Ask the Batmare.”
“You mean that mare who assaulted me when we first met?” Right, that's the one! I chuckled a bit, and lifted my head up so I could rest it on her side. “I am not sure how I feel about that, but at least you are safe. Mostly safe. Serenity vanished as well, I assume with you.”
“She followed me.”
“See. I knew you two would make up.” Her feathers tickled a little bit. “I'm glad you're safe.... I am sorry about earlier.”
“Don't be.”
“It's just that I shouldn't have come on to you. Considering the circumstances, I understand your hesitation, and reluctance, and it was not wise of me to act the way I did. I-” Oh for Celestia's sake. I leaned up and kissed her cheek. There was slight pause before she started stammering and blushing. “I... er... why did...”
“Stop that....” I rested my head on her again. “Stop over thinking.” I was the master of not over thinking. And not thinking. “Just... be glad for what you have. And let me rest.” I gave her a shy smile and she stuttered something before composing herself.
“I... right. Sorry. It's just.” I felt her kiss the top of my head. Now I was blushing too. Great... I'm not a fillyfooler, she was just comfortable. Shut up. “Thanks...”
“Haze...” She hmm’ed at me. “What is the nature of a hero?”
“Uh...” Clearly that was not the question she was expecting. “Humility.” That took The Batmare out of the equation. “I think a hero has to do what they do because it is what is required, and not for fame. Velvet Remedy is a good example. She followed the Destroyer silently and let her get all the fame. Velvet did the right thing for the right reasons. If anypony was ever a hero, then it was she.”
“Mhmm.” Was all I could say in reply. She was so very warm. So hard to stay awake. It was strange. I barely knew her... but after the memory thing, and everything that happened, I really needed that moment. I think she needed it too.
“Why?”
“It's a riddle.” I yawned. “I hate riddles.”
Level Up!:
New Perk: Violent Vigilante: You are a force of justice and do not take kindly to corruption or violence in the city you’ve claimed as your own. Against sleazy Dise gangs and disorganized criminals you do +15% damage and have a bonus to hit in SATS. Not that you use SATS...
Quest Perk: Sidekick!: Sometimes, just when your enemies think they have the upper hand, The Batmare appears in a flash to save the day! However, this perk is only active in and around Dise, and keeping this perk active means you must occasionally drop everything you are doing and go fight in the name of Justice!
((A/N: A big thanks to the lovely Kkat for creating FOE so I can dick around with it. And a huge thanks to my editors theBSDude, ErrantIndy, Mint Julep, and Menti without whom my story would suck. Seriously.)) |
No One | 662 | 17 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-08-11T09:31:41+00:00 | 2013-06-23T21:52:46+00:00 | 27,310 | One Step Forward
“Every solution we come up with seems to create more problems than it solves “
“Well, why not!” I had made a mistake. You see, after Serenity's sullen reaction last time we were in The BS, I had figured there wouldn't be a problem taking her there again. I was mistaken. She had lasted about three minutes before pouncing on Starscream and demanding to know how his cybernetics worked.
“Because.” I sighed. “You can't have wings.”
“But they'd be so cool!” she said way too loudly, jumping up for emphasis. We were supposed to be meeting Mr. House, but he was busy with... something. We didn't ask. And that left the five (Serenity, Flare, High Stakes, Starscream, and I) of us standing outside his office.
“They are pretty cool,” Flare said as he wiggled his feathers. That was actually kind of disturbing. Serenity stared blankly at him before going back to gushing over Starscream. “What! Metal is boring, all natural is where it's at!” Yes, clearly. At least High Stakes looked amused.
“You do not wish for these, child,” the cybernetic alicorn (who was not nearly as good-looking as a real alicorn) said.
“But I do!” I don't think she understood how annoying cybernetics were. Sure they looked cool. And they increased your physical strength, made you tougher, and a better fighter. They were also replaceable (Serenity managed to build me a leg out of two leg pieces she had scavenged back at the steel ranger base, but insisted I get a real replacement), and... I lost my train of thought.
“These wings...” he snapped them out, making them look almost sharp, “were a mistake.” He kept smiling as he leisurely strolled to the office door. “It was an attempt to give a unicorn flight, but the wings themselves were not enough, and attaching them caused pain throughout my body. It seems without pegasus magic a unicorn is too heavy to fly. House attempted to fix the problem by hollowing out my bones as you'd see in a bird, but this caused... more complications. Cybernetics had to be drilled into my bones, and more enhancements were added to help with blood cell growth. In the end I gained flight, but am in constant pain.” Serenity winced back a bit at the story, but Starscream still seemed to be smiling.
“You're awfully pleasant for all that pain.” High Stakes glasses shined in the hallway light.
“Med-X... and mint-als for the mood.” The cybernetic alicorn said. “I may be addicted, but the alternative is much worse. I have to undergo detox every few months to make sure the pain-killers don't decrease in effectiveness.”
“Fascinating.” I yawned. It did make me feel a bit sorry for him, and glad that my own cybernetics didn't come at such a cost. Yet. Part of Mr. House’s deal included a (experimental) cybernetic eye, and that could go wrong in so many ways. So long as it got me the job though, I guess it'd be okay.
Serenity backed up between my forelegs and rubbed her head against me. “I don't want wings anymore... can I have a leg?” No no no. “Just kidding~.” I had no idea if she was serious or not. I know she liked cybernetics (if being obsessed counts as liking), but I really didn't want her to get any. At all. Ever.
And there I go jinxing things. We're off to a fabulous start.
Well, she had insisted on sitting in on my eye surgery. Hopefully that would turn her off wanting one of her own, because apparently it wasn't going to be pretty. Considering the first part involved cutting into my eye and removing the remaining tissue and... Starscream had explained the rest of the surgery, I just couldn't remember. Something about connecting to my nerves, or brain stuff. And then... something.
“How much longer?” Flare asked, standing on the ceiling. I don't know why he couldn't just stand still. It was like a compulsion of his to constantly do silly little tricks. “As much as I like waiting here, I could be off... doing, like stuff. And things. I have this idea for a disguised mine and I need some supplies.” Yeah, I believed that.
“Whaaat? You aren't going to stay to watch?!” Serenity seemed legitimately shocked.
“It may be difficult to believe, young Serenity,” Stakes said, “but some ponies do not enjoy the sight of ponies being opened up wide and fitted with sharp metal objects.”
“Why not!?” Apparently, Serenity was a bit morbid. Or didn't fully understand. Perhaps a little bit of both.
“Er.” Flare scratched the back of his head.
“Well...” High Stakes couched.
Hah. My daughter managed to creep out my two companions. This was a cause for celebration... and I just called her my daughter. Even my brain was against me.
“It is not so strange for foals to find hobbies.” Starscream smiled down at my da-... Serenity. “When I was your age, I was quite enamoured with the construction of buildings.” There was a sad smile on his lips. “I am sure it shall not be long before you get your cutie mark. If you wish it when you are older, we may be able to set you up as an apprentice.” Her grey eyes went wide and watery. Then her eyes met mine, and they went even wider.
“Yes, Serenity. If you want.” She started jumping for joy, but I had to quickly silence her with my hoof. “Just. Don't get any yourself. They hurt.” She nodded but still looked absolutely giddy. Apparently this was a big deal... even if it was coming a pony who actually had no power in the cybernetic department of House’s empire. Though I am sure he could swing it, if he really tried.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” She hopped around me, getting strange looks from a pony in a white coat down the hall. “Yes!” She beamed up at me. I wondered if she would get a cybernetic cutie mark. She liked it well enough, but it was hard to explain her sound ability. Magic like that wouldn't really help a cybernetic spell set, and yet it was the only one she knew. Not that it mattered, a pony didn't have to do a job based entirely on their cutie mark.
The door creaked open.
A tiny blue mare with two really advanced robotic legs walked out. “Starscream!” She leaped up hugged the alicorn (who hugged back dispassionately). “How have you been?! Are these the new recruits? You've given them a good scaring, I hope.” She giggled and stepped off him, and tilted her head at us before running a hoof through her black and white mane. I wasn't sure what a 'locked door' cutie mark was supposed to represent, but I'm sure it was easier to explain than three rocks. “I am Tight Lips.”
“Er, hi.” I stared blankly at her until Serenity kicked me. “I'm Hired Gun.”
“Oh!” She perked up. “You're the one who killed Roy, right? Hah! I was trying to convince House to let me have you, but somepony claimed dibs.” She stuck her tongue out at Starscream. “Oh look! You have friends, how nice? Oh. One of them is High Stakes, not nearly as nice.” She giggled, and I could just imagine High Stakes’ glasses shining at that. “As you probably know, I am the head of the Hizai Internal Department. Handling defence and security for all of Mr. Houses assets. If Mayhem had had me, he wouldn't be dealing with cleaning up the mess The Batmare and The Laughing Stallion made of his water plant.” Yeah. They were the ones to make a mess all right.
I did not know that, so I stared blankly at her and pretended I understood.
“She doesn't know, does she?” Everypony else shook their heads. “Starscream,” she playfully smacked at him with one of her cybernetic leg,. “you dog, always keeping your newbies in the dark.” She turned to me and gave me a grin that was way too wide for her face. “I handle all security for House, and I hope Sky told you 'bout infiltration?” I nodded. “Their leader, Mr. Star, you might not even see him... and if you do, he's doing his job wrong. He handles the smallest number of operatives, but highly specialized. They infiltrate other gangs and organizations. Don't tell anypony, but we have an operative working beside NCA General Scoiatel and another currently deep in the heart of Minotaur territory.” I wasn't going to tell anypony, but I couldn't say for Flare who sure liked to blab stuff like that.
“I see...”
“Hah!” She patted me on the back. “You're a good pony. I heard The Boss has a job for you, so try not to screw it up and die, okay? Maybe if you manage that, we'll go out drinking!” I'd like that. The drinking. The mare herself was a bit too hyperactive for my tastes.
She trotted off down the hall and proceeded to glomp a doctory-pony. Right. Strange pony.
“Don't mistake her appearance.” High Stakes warned me. “When I first got this job, I had intended to shove past her, annoyed that my appointment was being rescheduled. She broke three of my ribs before I hit the ground.” I once broke my ribs so hard they had to be removed. So I could sympathize with him. I made a mental note not to pick a fight with Tight Lips unless I had to.
“You're just a wimp, Stakey,” Starscream said with a tiny grin. “House is free, follow me.” Flare nickered at me as we followed Starscream into House's antechamber. The huge computer and monitor on one side of the wall was currently turned off, and the stallion himself was standing beside it looking out the window at Dise. I would rather not join him...
I wondered what it was like being a ghoul. He had lived in the city for over two hundred years. He'd seen the fall of civilization and watched as it slowly brought itself back from the edge, only to begin to tear at the seams. It must have been hard for him, living so long and seeing so much, but not being able to enact the change he so desperately wanted. I wondered what he'd give for that chance. I was only one pony, but I had to help him. He was the only pony who had shown himself competent enough to unite this fractured city.
Fear my critical thinking.
“Mr. House,” Starscream said, adopting a grim expression.
“Yes.” The ghoul turned and gave me a sickening grimace from his partially melted face. “I knew you would see reason. You are lucky. After your show last night, I heard Molly was getting ready to send her assassins against you. With me, she wouldn't dare. Not so brazenly.”
“So she's still in danger, but now if she gets killed, it'll be all quiet like?” Flare smirked to my left.
“Enclave rat. Do not speak unless spoken to.” Flare gulped and nodded, staring hard at his hooves. “We shall proceed with your surgery. Your new eye is experimental technology using a more refined system than those Cerberus fools used. So no, it will not glow red.” That was good. “After that, I have a job for you. High Stakes, you will accompany her in this job to make sure it is completed even if she fails.” Thanks for the vote of confidence.
“As you say.” High Stakes bowed his head slightly in deference.
“A large raider gang has been moving slowly south from the hills bordering Equestria. The NCA sent an envoy to them, requesting that they state their intentions. The envoy came back missing an ear, with a map declaring much of the north their territory. The NCA may move against them. This issue here is the town of Bridle Hope. It is an important town, more so then they realize. It holds the centre between north and south, and east and west. I do not care who holds the territory, but I need to make sure that town is free. Or, barring that, that all caravans going through will be free of taxes or fees.” I nodded. Kill some raiders, free some citizens, all in a days work.
“I can do that.”
“I hope so.” He motioned his head to my left. “For all the money I am putting into you, I hope it's worth it. I'll be handling the surgery myself.” Really? He was an earth pony ghoul, I wasn't sure he would be able... but I was not going to tell him that. “I am the most experienced of my doctors, and the procedure is new. It is safer for me to do it, and now. It may take several hours, but if this works your recovery time will be short. Let us get started.”
“Right now?” I was just slightly nervous about this. I mean. Having my face cut open and stuff would have to hurt. I wondered if I'd get pain medication or something. That'd be good.
“Yes, weren't you informed?” I shook my head, and he shrugged. “Just follow me, Starscream lead those who wish to watch to the viewing platform.”
So I followed House down the plain halls of The BS and into a room on the same floor.
It was a large, sterile room, painted all in white and decked to the nines in fancy-looking medical equipment stuff. The bed I was to lay on was fairly plain (also white) and had an eyeball on a tray beside it. Not to mention a shit load of wires. Also in the room were four white-clad ponies hidden behind medical masks, and what looked like stadium seating in the room above, with a thick glass window separating the two rooms. Serenity waved to me, so I gave her a slight smile. Her face was literally pressed up against the glass. I guess she was excited...
As soon as I walked in, there was a great deal of fussing. The doctor ponies started touching me, taking off my eye patch and my makeshift leg (One doctor looked more disgusted at my leg than at my eye remains) and helped me onto the bed. On my back... moving on.
“Here.” One pony said putting a mask over my muzzle. “Lie back.”
“Okay.” I rested uneasily on the bed, unused to being on my back. “Uh, what're you doing?” I knew what they were doing, but I didn't like it. Two of the ponies were slowly strapping me in with thick leather bindings so tight I could feel it cutting into my skin.
“Don't worry.” The pony who helped me with the mask said. “Just in case you move in your sleep.” I nodded. “It'll be fine. Don't worry. Tell me where are you from?”
“Uh...” I blinked. Why were my eyes so droopy? “Marefort.”
“Can you count how many ponies were in Marefort?” Sure... I could. Fuzzy-headed pony. It was... Um...
“One... two... three.” Four. Five. “Six.” Wait, did I say those two out loud? I needed to start again. “One. Two. Two.” My eyes closed. Just needed to rest. Then I could finish counting. “Seven.”
---
“What are you doing?”
I looked at Wildfire lying on the ground behind me, then ignored her. Before me was a pile of rubble that had to be sorted through. Lowering my body, I squeezed under an iron girder and started. After getting it snugly in place on my neck, I slowly started to lift it, gritting my teeth to keep my neck tight.
“You can't lift that.”
“Grrr.” Every muscle in my body was complaining, and it felt like they were on fire. I had been growing at an exceptional rate, but I was still barely older than a filly. I could do this though. It was just a stupid bar. I could lift it.
“You're going to hurt yourself.”
Well, I couldn’t with that attitude! I continued to ignore her, as I ignored most ponies, and did not stop ignoring her until I lifted the girder and tossed it aside. I was sweaty but damn triumphant. Standing up tall, I looked down at Wildfire. “You were saying?”
She laughed prettily and shook her head. “I stand corrected. But... why?” I was scavenging for material. It's all we ever did in Marefort. There were enough guns and ammo stored around here to last another hundred years.
I turned back to the small section of collapsed building. “Why what?” I poked my nose into the pile before picking up some metal wires with my mouth and throwing them away. “I'm working.”
“You know you don’t work today, right?” With a growl of annoyance I took my nose out of the dirt and looked her over. While I was growing bigger, she was getting taller and sleeker. Her coat seemed to shine, and her mane was just so... so something. The problem was that she had a cast on her left foreleg, and that meant she couldn't do any work. If she didn't do work she didn't get paid, which meant she didn't eat.
“You do,” I said simply before going back to digging through piles of rubble. Peering through a small opening in the rubble, I thought I saw something... boxy. So I started digging with renewed vigour.
“What?” What was she, stupid?
I didn't have the time to look back at her while I was digging. “Working for you. So you can afford to eat.”
“I can work.” She sounded almost a little insulted.
I tossed a chunk of concrete off to the side. “Idiot.” She snickered at that. “You can't. Leg is broken. Schedules are locked. You have scavenging all month. You can't work. Can't eat.” I grunted, trying to paw at the box. “Rations aren't enough. You'll be hungry.”
“I'll survive on them.” Ack. I caught my leg on something sharp and pulled it out. “Why do you even care?” I think I was bleeding. Looking down I could see blood start to swim down my leg, definitely bleeding. Fucking hell. “I won’t die, won't be comfortable, but I won’t die.”
“Idiot,” I repeated, shuffling my bleeding leg close so she wouldn't see it. “You need strength. Heal faster. Then you can work again.” If I did her work for her, then she would heal sooner, so I wouldn't have to. There was nothing wrong with that train of thought. “I'm helping.”
“Why?” I turned my head to give her my 'what the hell are you talking about' face. “You barely even talk to me. Or anypony. Then, out of the blue, you start helping me? That doesn't even make sense.” Makes perfect sense, stop questioning it. “You do this all the time, too! After Smooth Tongue...” Her voice trailed away in thought. “You spent a week standing in front of my house and glaring at anypony who came close, so I could rest.” I wanted to explain that her father died, and she clearly needed to rest without being bothered. “And, when Nox got lost a few months ago, you ran off to find her!” Well, she was lost. Lost ponies needed to be found. “What about that time with Star Belle?” Well she accidentally shot herself, and I was the only pony that remembered the safety instructions...
I tried to apply pressure to my cut. It was kind of deep... that couldn't be good. “Someone had to.”
“But why you?” I wish she'd stop questioning this. “You don't talk to ponies otherwise.”
“Shut up.” I tried to reach down towards the back again, but pain shot through my leg, and I drew it back. This sucked. “I'm helping. Does it matter why?” I turned to see her nod. “Fine. Because I feel like it.” It wouldn’t be so hard, working a double shift. I was nearly the size of two ponies my age, so it only made sense. “Let it go.”
“Silver...” I shook my head.
“If you want to do this, keep arguing.”
She huffed. “Fine. Fine! I'll just sit here and...” She paused and I looked back at her to see her pretty green eyes to go wide. “Are you bleeding?” I looked down and saw that blood had pretty much soaked my entire right leg. And most of my left since I’d I tried to put pressure on it. And it was pooling on the ground.
I looked up sheepishly. “No...”
“Silver... get over here.” She turned to dig into her saddle bags, but I shook my head. “Silver.” Kept shaking. “Hon, it won't do any good if you can't work either.” Yeah. That's true. I guess. “Hon.” She started using pouty lips. They just weren't fair.
“Fine.” I stood up slowly and walked over, careful to avoid any of the sharp pieces of junk I threw away. By the time I got there she had gotten a bundle of medical supplies out of her saddle bags, and was resting them on her cast. Standing over her, I let my blood pool in the dirt. “Uh...”
“Lay down, please. Close.” Yeah, close. I laid down, putting my bleeding leg out towards her. “This looks deep.”
“Sorry...”
She took out a cloth rag and pressed it into the wound which just made it hurt more. “Be still.” Easy to say when she wasn't the one hurt... other than her broken leg. I had nothing. “Does it hurt?” I grimaced and nodded a bit. “I'm sorry, it's just...” her voice trailed off as she looked up into my eyes. She had the most beautiful green eyes. I... didn't like her like that, it was just that... looking at her eyes sometimes I lost track of time and....
“It's fine.” I flushed, looking away. She might have been blushing, too, but it was impossible to tell through the color of her coat.
She nodded, then took out a healing potion and poured just a little bit into the wound. It stung a bit, but not that bad. “That should close the wound. Just be careful around the leg.” I nodded. “And... I... thank you. For helping me. Even if you're weird... and...” She looked away. “And I uh...” She turned her lovely green eyes back to me.
So I kissed her.
It was sort of sloppy. I think it was my first kiss, and it ended way too soon, before I really understood what happened. I pulled back.
“I, uh... sorry.” I smiled bashfully up at her.
“It's fine.” She nuzzled my cheek. “It's fine...” There was something wet on my shoulder. I thought, for a second, it was tears.
But when I turned to her, there was a gaping hole in her head, and blood was flowing down over me. I could hear it dripping. Drip. Drip. Drip.
---
“Grah!” I gasped and opened my eyes. I was glad I didn't shoot up out of bed, because I was not in the mood to be a cliche. I felt a burning in my shoulder and thought it felt familiar, but chalked it up to being in a hospital and around medical ponies. I was more concerned with the throbbing in the back of my skull. I spied a med-x on the table by my bed, and used it as recommended.
Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself. Just a dream. I hated my dreams. I would just like one without somepony dying. You know? Is that so much to ask? Of course it was. I wouldn't be Hired Gun if I wasn't haunted by the ghosts of my forgotten past. I hoped one day I would be able to forget the past, but apparently it was not that day. Which is lovely.
After calming myself down, my eye slowly got used to the darkened room. It wasn't the same one I was put out in, that was for sure. It looked vaguely hospital-ish and I saw apparitions of medical, equipment-y stuff all around. It was a small room though, and it seemed I didn't have a roommate. That was good. I disliked ponies watching me sleep.
With a sigh, I fell back into the pillow. I doubted I was going to sleep that night. Just alone with my thoughts. Huzzah...
The burning started to get stronger. Hmm.
There was a knock on my door. I looked down at my pipbuck to confirm it was well past midnight. “Uh, come in?”
The door opened and nopony entered. At least, I didn't see anypony enter, but I heard hoofsteps and the burning in my shoulder intensified, making me wince. A few seconds later the door closed silently. “Platinum Haze?” I hazarded a guess. It was either her, a minotaur, or an assassin trying to kill me. I was really hoping for the first one.
The veil of invisibility dropped and I was lying in bed before a rather beautiful alicorn. A welcome sight for my (literally) sore eyes.
“Ah,” she said. “Are we interrupting? We hope we have not awoke you from your rest it is-”
“I.”
“We are sorr-oh. Sorry. I am not awakening you am I?” Her gaze lowered and she looked a bit saddened. “Diamond Sky has returned, and has told me to take some time off. We... I do not require sleep and found ourselves rather bored, so we wished to remark upon the status of your operation.” Well she was trying at least. “I hope w-I am not intruding, or pressing against the boundaries of my social limitations.”
“I ain't even sure what you just said,” I said, and carefully scooted up the bed so I was sitting up with my back resting against the headboard. “Surgery went good. I guess. I'm not dead.”
“I have noticed you have acquired a new leg, it looks to be the same model as your last one.” Huh. I looked down at my leg and saw a brand new (relatively speaking) cybernetic leg. I wasn't quite sure when I got that. Lifting it up, I swung it around a few times for practice. It certainly felt like the same leg. “It is much more practical than the one your filly constructed.” Yeah, but I liked Serenity's mish-mash. I was thinking of hauling it around in case my stupidity broke my leg again. She continued after I nodded. “Is there pain?”
A fair bit. Even with the med-x it was pretty bad. “Felt like I headbutted a vertibuck. Or wrestled a hellhound.” She smiled prettily at that. “Don't worry. They gave me pain-killers.” I waved to the table beside me with the empty med-x syringe.
“I see. So long as you are taking them as directed.” I rolled my eyes. “Hired...”
“Everypony and their lectures. Barely know you two days. And you're starting too.”
“Perhaps if you did not make it so easy.” I chuckled a bit as she moved close and laid beside my bed. It put us at about eye-level because alicorns are really freaking tall. I kind of liked it actually. There were so few ponies even close to my size, and it was refreshing to be overshadowed some times. “So long as you are well. We have heard you are to be leaving tomorrow?”
Something like that. I didn't know if I should have been looking forward to it or not. The work I was doing with House should hopefully start setting right what was wrong in Dise, but it meant dragging Serenity (willingly) into the fire. As much as I loved murdering raiders, it churned my gut knowing Serenity had to come. Hopefully now that she was armed, she would be able to protect herself. And we were going to have a long boring discussion on why she should be hiding in every fight, not standing in the open all the time...
“Yes.” I answered eventually. I had forgotten to speak again. “To the north. Fight some raiders. Protect a village. Hero-y stuff.” The dark room cast a shadow over the blue pony's face, obscuring her expression. “Ever hear of Bridle Hope?”
“Yes,” she answered, a bit quickly. “Please be wary, it is where Serenity was imprisoned, and we do not wish her undue emotional distress.” Wait, what? How did she know that? I muttered something and stared blankly at her. Apparently she too could read my mind. “I was in your memories, remember? It was a point I remember quite clearly.” Right. Gotcha. I kept purposely forgetting about that incident.
“Yeah. Good point.” I hadn’t even thought of that. I really need to ask Serenity about what happened down there. She never spoke of it, and when she did tears were usually involved. I hated seeing her cry (the irony of me constantly making her cry was not lost on me). “Sorry. Didn't even think of it.” It made sense though. It would be like dragging me to Stable 42 and asking me to act rationally.
Not that I ever acted rationally.
“It is fine. It is why I reminded you. We worry about taking the filly along, it will be dangerous.” I nodded. “Harmful.” I couldn't argue. “Potentially life threatening.” Yeah... “Are you sure she will not be better off with Diamond Sky and me?”
“She would be.” I said. Shuffling a bit, I brought myself up and steeled my face. “But. She's lonely. I think. Since she was young she never had a pony... to, like, care for her. She never got the love and attention she needed. It's why she attached herself to me. Haze.” I sighed. So many words. “I think you're good at what you do. But, I think... I think Serenity needs more than that. Ya know? So if she wants to follow. I can't say no.”
“We understand bu-”
“I will protect her.” I reached out my hoof and lifted her chin up. “I will. I promise. Discord himself could fly down from the sky shooting lightning from his eyes, and I would still protect her.” I gave her a weak smile. “I promise.”
“Yes. We are sorry. We worry about foals; it is part of the job. We hope Serenity will be happy with you and will find what she is looking for her. Just.” She smiled at me. “Don't forget we are always an option... and even if you don't let us help, you could visit or...” In the dim light I couldn't tell if she was blushing, but it amused me to think so.
“I'll visit. When I'm in the city. Wouldn't miss it.” Moonlight filtered through the window making her face light up. “You worry too much.”
“And you not enough.” Eh, I couldn't argue with that.
“Why did you come and visit anyway?” I closed my eyes, slipping back further into my bed. I didn't really care that she did, though I found her timing eerily impeccable. Unless she was waiting in my room, and just stepped out when I woke up...
“I... we er.” She looked away. “As we said, to make sure you were okay.” I'm sure that wasn’t it. Even I was able to see through such an obvious ruse. I awarded points for tenacity, but I still wasn't interested. Okay I was interested, how could I not be?! It'd be like banging Luna... I'm a horrible pony, forget I said that. I needed a cold shower.
“I understand.” I smirked. “Just teasing.” It wasn't that I disliked her. Or disliked companionship, it was just I wasn't a fillyfooler. And if you don't believe that, would you believe that I didn't think she wanted a fling (I'd be okay with that) and that I wasn't emotionally ready for a full fledged relationship? I mean, sure we'd start small but the idea was just... weird. And kind of scary. And in the end what she wanted was something comforting. A stabilizing factor at a place where she feels she had lost control (all guesses on my part, but really... a few weeks ago she was part of a hive mind super entity. It wasn't that hard to figure out), and I was not, well, stable. I was emotionally broken, afraid of commitment, and prone to sudden bouts of... er, death. I wasn't what she needed.
I was just the only pony nearby that didn't try to shoot and/or kick her on sight.
“Hired?” Huh, I turned my head back to her. “Oh. You went quiet suddenly, and we thought you fell asleep.” I really need to time my bursts of deep introspection for when It was not my turn to talk. “I did not cross the line coming here, did I? I know it is late but...”
“It's fine. Sorry. Thinking.” There was a smile of hope on her face. “I'm glad you came but...” Watch as I crush the hopes of magical goddess ponies under the pretence that I would hurt them later.
That was a familiar argument. Sorry, I can't commit right now because I’m a bad pony and I'll hurt you later. Last time I travelled down that path, I killed a foal and went weepy for two days straight. I shut my mouth and cried out in annoyance, slamming my head back against the pillows, and sending pain lancing up my skull. Post surgery sucks.
“Hired, have we annoyed you.” She began to rise slowly. “We didn't mean to, we shall go an-”
“It's fine. Just me. Thinking,” I said. She raised an eyebrow, which meant I had to respond. “I hate thinking.” There was a subtle smirk on her muzzle. “Can I be honest for a second?” She nodded so I continued. “I am getting the feeling you like... want something. Between us.” She gulped but nodded slightly. “It's just. I don't think you want me. At least. Not me, in particular. It's like. You've been saying how everything’s been moving fast. So. Maybe you aren't looking for me. I think... I shouldn't be telling you how you feel.”
“No...” She looked a bit ashamed. “We would be insulted were you not correct in some manner. It would be nice if we had some stability in our life and... yes, we are sorry. It is not fair to pressure you in this manner.” She stood upright. “It as a mistake.”
“Why not just hook up with Diamond Sky.” Alicorn on alicorn action... my mind was going to very bad places.
“Ah. Well unlike me, she is waiting patiently for Velvet Remedy to find a way create male alicorns.” As I absentmindedly wondered if male alicorns were... proportional, I realized my brain was in a very strange place after surgery. Fuck. Wait, dammit.
“I see. Um.” My brain needed to reboot. “It's just. I ain't stable. So you won’t find stability with me... and you know. I'm all fucked. In the head. You saw that yourself. You have my pity... So. It's not that I'm not interested.” Even though I wasn't a fillyfooler, you can't turn down a date from a freaking goddess without thinking about it first! And she was so pretty. And... it twisted my stomach to tell her no, because a part of me wanted her so damn much. But... it wasn't her I wanted. It was Wildfire, and the warmth of companionship. She couldn't live up to a ghost, and it was wrong to try and force her to. “It's that. I guess I'm not ready. And I'd end up hurting you.”
“We doubt you have that ability, we have been through more than you can imagine an-oh. You mean emotionally don't you?” I nodded. “Well. Even still, we do not see ho-”
“Well. I could freak out. Then sleep with a hooker to drive you away.” She winced a bit at my blunt assessment. The knot in my stomach twisted harder. Sometimes I really hated myself.
“You wouldn't,” she said, defiantly. Sure, she knew me better than most due to magical mishaps, but she didn't know me that well.
“I... don't know. After what I did to push Serenity away? I'm not taking that risk. Don't want to hurt you.” I closed my eyes. “Sorry. It's not you, it's me.” She started laughing. This wasn't a joke! I was trying to be serious. I huffed and felt her kiss my forehead gently.
“Sorry. It is just that claim is a tad overused, and we could not help ourselves. We will respect your wishes, but just want you to understand something.” I opened an eye. “If you wish to get past your issues, you can't hide away from them. We are of the belief that you eventually must confront your issues and try to push through them if you are to be who you wish to be.” She smiled just a bit. “W-I. I may be biased.”
“I'-” I was cut off by a goddess.
“‘I will think about,’ you are about to say, am I correct?” I nodded. “We had guessed as much, for a pony who claims not to be smart, you most certainly think about many things.” She looked behind her shoulder. “We must be going. The foals will be up soon, and dealing with so many in the morning... I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.” There was a faint smile on her lips when she vanished from sight.
“I'll think about it. Take care of yourself. And...”
There was a haunting voice in the room. “May the goddess watch over you; please be safe, Silver.”
The door opened and closed, and I fell back onto my bed, hard, wondering if I had just made a really stupid mistake.
---
Morning came quickly, and I didn't sleep. I stayed up all night, mourning the fact I turned down alicorn love... that's a lie. I actually spent most of the night worried I’d hurt her. I really hoped not. I was so tired of hurting ponies. But... I guess it didn't matter. We'd still be friends, and I'd still talk in cliches.
Light filtered in from the window curtains and aimed directly for my eyes, making me wince and turn away. Brightness sucked. I scratched at my eye patch and wondered if I would be able to take it off soon. I heard that before there were healing potions, it'd take days or weeks (or months) to recover from surgery, but things had changed. I'd be adventuring by lunch. Hopefully. My head was still throbbing.
I laid back in my bed. I just wanted to be released.
It was another hour before the door opened. I was staring at the wall when it happened. It was white. I hated it.
“Ah! You are awake!” I turned to see a doctor-y pony walk through the door. “We were worried an-”
“MOMMA!” A pink blur sped past the doctor, flew through the air, and landed hard on my chest. Her grey eyes looked wild. “You'reokayweweresoworriedmrhousehadto-” I stuck my hoof in her mouth. She was being a bit too loud. Slowly I took it out. “You almost didn't make it!” I... what!? She latched her forelegs around my neck and squeezed.
I turned to the Doctor and saw Flare and High Stakes follow him in. The grey doctor in his full white uniform looked a little embarrassed as he began. “There were complications. A previous implant was making the eye install troublesome, and near impossible. We had to alter it...” But my intelligence! “But that required removing pieces of your skull and screwing it back together.” I winced and instinctively wondered how much med-x it'd take for that wound to go away. “It went well after that, and we installed your new eye without further issue. But in the process, it seemed as if we may have deactivated some of the functions of the chip, but we couldn't remove it to be certain due to the time constraints. Do you know what it did?”
“It was an Intelligence chip.” Flare started laughing. He came in just to laugh at me. I could feel it in my bones.
“Oh. It was not a model House was familiar with so we did not insert a replacement.” I could feel my intelligence leaking out of my ears. I was going to miss it so much. “However, when your new eye is activated, it should provide your brain with extra computing power, that can be used when it's not using its more labour-intensive functions.” Oh! I guess I got to keep my smart... ness. Except when I was working out my eye. Or. Something. I wasn't sure so I'm just going to assume it stayed the same. Easy!
“So... I'm okay.”
“You are awake and not brain dead; it would appear so.” The doctor placed a hoof on Serenity's (who was still hugging my neck) head. “This one was very brave throughout the tense moments. Heck, I think she was fascinated more than worried.”
“I was worried.” She lifted her head up to explain. “But I knew you'd make it. We've been through worse.” The doctor raised an eyebrow, and that was a perfect time for Flare to step up flapping his wings.
“True. Remember the tunnels under Dise with that crazy cult ghoul who did cult... things?” Serenity winced and Flare chuckled. “Don't stress, Serenity. He deserved it.” There was a look of rising horror on the doctor’s face as High Stakes also stepped up, his glasses shining.
“When we stood against those landsharks she displayed remarkable fortitude and... accuracy.” That was a good time, with a bad ending. Honestly those land sharks were disturbing. What would Dise do if they ever moved towards the city? Die. I guess.
The doctor however looked very concerned with the story and was looking at me with a mixture of shock and amazement. Apparently dragging a filly around on horrific adventures wasn't an 'in' thing. “I...” He shook his head and tried to maintain a professional calm. “I guess...” he said. “Never mind that. We need to do some tests on your eye to make sure it is working at capacity.”
“Good.” After helping Serenity off me, I rolled out of bed and landed hard on my new leg. I leaned on it, then kicked it against the floor. Yup. It's certainly working right, but something felt different. It seemed just a bit heavier. “How do-”
“Oh!” Serenity jumped up. “Can I do it!?”
“Only if we want Hired to explode,” Flare said, inciting the filly to use her powerful glare against him. It wasn't very effective. “No offence but I think we should let the trained... you were trained right? The trained professional do the activating. That way if she does explode, we can sue.” He laughed. “Right?”
“No courts in Dise,” High Stakes explained.
“Bugger.” Flare kicked at the ground. “Oh well, points for trying.”
“Your friends are all insane.” The doctor sighed and pulled a long skinny device thingy out of his coat. “Take your eye patch off and...” He looked up at me. “Kneel down.” I picked at my eye patch until I could get it off, before kneeling down. The doctor continued, “High Stakes, there is a med-x on the table, please get it.”
“You are mistaken, doctor; the only thing here is an empty syringe,” Stakes said. I gave the doctor a weak smile and he just sort of glared before sighing.
“In my coat pocket.” I felt the familiar burning of Stake's magic and looked up to see him standing beside me. He jammed a med-x into my shoulder. Sweet relief.
Then the doctor jammed the device into my eye.
Half my vision turned white. For a split second I began to see to my right again. I was about to cry out in joy, but I just started crying out as pain lanced through my head like somepony had slammed it through a rock crusher. I dropped to a knee and squeezed my eyes tight as I emitted a high pitched squeal of pain. That was until I felt another needle jam into my side and the pain fell down to a heavy throbbing. Blindingly painful, but at least I was able to think.
“I'm sorry, Miss Hired!” The doctor sounded really defensive. A part of me was begging me not to hurt the nice doctor pony. “The med-x should have taken care of the pain, I did not think we'd have to use two.”
“It's.” I gritted my teeth as the pain slowly faded away. “Ok... what the fuck!” I took a step back and stared at the doctor, my new eye moving awkwardly in its socket. There was a strange orange box highlighting the white coated pony, and above him a little tag that said 'Dr. Pony'. This was almost like that time I turned on crazy time-stopping mode. Only now I had little moving ticks at the bottom of my vision in amber and red. They kept moving around.
“Oh. Yes.” The doctor smoothed back his mane nervously. “The new features. You'll see in addition to your EFS--.”
“What.” I stared blankly at him.
“Eyes Forward Sparkle.” Serenity giggled. “Ain't 'cha have those ticks in your vision before? Cause of your pipbuck?” I shook my head and she giggled more. So did Flare. “Basically the little ticks there correspond ta ponies in your location, an' shows if they're friendly or not. Green, or yellow is friendly, red is meanie.” Red is... I looked back at my EFS and noticed the red one was gone. Right.
“Your daughter is smart,” the doctor said. Flare seemed to be amused so I tried to glare at him hard enough to make his tick turn red. “Ahem.” I turned my head back to the Doctor Pony. “The icons around us correspond to our threat level. Amber is non-threatening, brown is low threat, red is middle threat, and purple is high level.” Blah blah blah. “This can be determined via a magical fields that measures po-” I zoned out as he explained how it worked. It wasn't really important. “Also, you'll be able to utilize SATS even if your pipbu-”
“Wait! I can make everything go all time-stoppy again!”
And everypony stared at me. Like I was an idiot.
Because I was.
“Yes...” the doctor said really slowly making me flush a little. “Yes, you can.” There was a look on his face that seemed like he was wondering if I really was supposed to be an elite cybernetic agent of house. “What exactly did you use your pipbuck for?”
“...the radio,” I mumbled under my breath. “And...” There was something else. What was it. “Oh.” I facehoofed. “The map.” That would have helped me two nights ago when I was fighting crime with The Batmare.
“Right...” Doc sighed heavily. Off to the side of the room, I saw High Stakes leaning against a wall being all bored-like. “The eye is powered via the same power source as your leg. There is a small wire under your skin from your head to leg, but should be deep enough it won't be cut easily. It has a small backup power source that will last a day if it does... the wire may itch.” Dammit, it was itching now. Why did he have to say anything? “We have provided your companions with power gems, and painkillers.” I reminded myself to make sure I got a hold of those right away. “And... House wishes to speak with you about functions of the implant I am not privy too.” He huffed. No doubt offended that I would have the information despite being something of an idiot.
“Right.” The Doctor walked away, and I watched his tick move on my EFS until it flashed out of sight. That was pretty cool actually, but a bit confusing. It didn't seem to tell between levels, so a lot of the ticks from the few floors above and below me meshed into each other, and I couldn't even see the ticks behind me. So it wouldn't help if I got sneak attacked.
There was a strange silence in the room that lasted for minutes. My companions’ eyes were watching me. Very Closely.
“Uh...” I said slowly shifting a bit from side to side. My leg did feel weird. Maybe that's what they were staring at. “Yes?”
“Your eye...” Flare said slowly. “It's green...” I... wait what. I looked down at Serenity who nodded. “Very, very, very green,” Flare finished.
Why was my eye green? Before I had a chance to respond, High Stakes floated a mirror in front of me. There, sunken into my face among a series of thin white scars, was my eye. It certainly looked like an eye, but the pupil seemed strangely light, the white part had small green veins in it (that glowed) and the iris itself was green and glowing.
“Why... is my eye green?” I asked slowly.
High Stakes answered, “I did give House your correct eye colour... it seems he had forgotten my recommendation, or it was not an option. Whatever the case, I do not think changing the colour is possible at this time.” But. I liked my eye colour. It was one of my most redeeming features... I guess it didn't matter anyway. It was better than no eye at all...
“Right.” I leaned over and picked up my discarded eye patch with my mouth. “Serenity.” I kneeled down to look her in the eye. “Help me put this on.”
“But Mom- Hired, why would you do that?! Your eye is so cool now and has all these special powers an-” I gave her a hard look. With a heavy and exaggerated sigh she lifted the patch up and slipped it over my mechanical eye. At the same time the boxes around her, Flare, and High Stakes vanished, as did their name tags. The tics in the bottom of my vision stayed there though, and continued to be a distraction. “What a waste.” Serenity said when she finished tying my patch on.
“It's my penitance for what I did...” I tried to explain. It was... important. I lost my eye right after killing Post Haste, and... and keeping my new one covered would be a reminded of the lives I'd taken. Of my mistakes. In my mind it was important.
“Penance.” I turned my head to High Stakes, and he continued. “The word you're looking for is penance. To atone for one’s sins.” I kept staring at him. “What?”
“Are you a dictionary?” I asked. Flare started cracking up laughing. I considered that a win.
“I guess,” Serenity said as she kicked softly at the ground. “I guess. If it's so you can do better, that's okay... but you gotta take it off when you're fighting. The systems in it could save your life!” I nodded. “Please...”
I ruffled her mane with my good hoof causing her to squeal and squirm away. “I know, Serenity.” She smiled softly at me. “I know.” Just then, the door opened.
A ragged ghoul stormed through the door so fast, I thought his black and gold hat was going to fly off his head. He turned sharply at me and set me with a hard look that was just shy of a glare. “You are awake late,” House said. I've been awake all night, but that was just logic talking. “Your eyes don't match. I thought you had green eyes...” he said looking at the eye that wasn't hiding behind an eye patch. Lavender was not green at all.
“Thanks for that,” I said.
He snorted and shook his head. “Right. Moving on.” He started talking. Fast. I guess I was an annoyance. “I installed an earbud into your... ear.” We had a new contender for captain obvious. “Before the war, a wealthy idiot placed a large number of two way radio amplifiers in and around Dise. I modified these to carry my special channel, and amplified it to take the signal across much of the Dise wasteland. We will not be able to be in contact directly, but the channel will direct you using a series of agent-specific keywords which I have programmed into your pipbuck for reference. The ear bud will allow you to listen to my instructions discreetly. For the sake of the channel your codename is 'Star-Mare'.” I wasn't sure what to think of that. “For safety purposes, each Hizai has their own codename, and their own set of command words to substitute ponies and places.”
“What...”
“For example.” He looked annoyed. More annoyed. “If the channel indicate that, 'The Star-Mare must head to D-tank' you would check your pipbuck and see that D-tank stands for Dise. However another ponies command word for Dise may be, 'Leftish'. That way if one of my agents gets caught they won't be able to give out the code to deciphering all of my messages. Only the ones directed at them.” I nodded. That seemed, quite smart. Actually. “I would suggest reading up on the command words in your free time. The list covers most ponies, places, and requests I could ask of you. I have prepared for every opportunity.”
“I... thank you.”
“As well you should. I have given Stakes provisions for the trip, along with ammunition and...” He turned to look at Flare. “Grenades. Please try not to die. It would be a waste of resources.” I'll try. “If there isn’t anything else, I have reports.”
“Yes... you are from before the war right?” I asked. That was a stupid question so he simply raised a non-existent eyebrow at me. “Right.” There was something I was actually curious about. A name that seemed to pop up a lot. “What do you know about Wallkirk?”
He laughed. Actually laughed. I was not expecting that.
“Wallkirk? A damn fool of a pony.” He adjusted his hat slightly before continuing. “He was the son of some wealthy pony. He was in the army for a few years, but when his Father kicked the bucket and left his riches, he moved to Caledonia and declared himself a war hero. Mind you, this was back when the Minotaurs had just started raiding the outskirts of the land, and the ponies of Caledonia were excited at his fame and set him up as mayor of some no-name town. Well, with his riches and backing from the Ministry Of Morale, he built 'Celestia's Paradise' as we see it today. Even put his damn statue in the centre of town.” Wait, that was of him? I must have walked past that statue at least a dozen times and didn't even realize. “He hated competition though, and he hated when I started here. He bribed some of my best technicians to quit their jobs with me and go work for something called 'Project Steelpony’.” he scoffed at the name.
“I take it you didn't like him?” I asked.
“No.” Was the simple reply. “He was an idiot. He put his hooves in every pot. He bought the unfinished Stables from Stable Tec when the controversy came up that Caledonian stables had lower capacity than Equestrian. He took money from the Caledonian military and Stable Tec and used it to build a stupidly large military research centre in the middle of a Celestia damned mountain. Even I don't know what went on there, but I know whatever it was pissed off the Equestrian upper brass. Around the same time the bombs started falling, the MoM launched a raid on 'The Clips And Clops', where Kirk worked. If the world hadn't ended, it would have been a deathblow to Caledonian independence. In the end, he was a fool. All his plans were half-finished and half-assed. His top advisers stole from him and spied on him.” Which would explain how House knew so much. “Given a few more months, he would have been betrayed and replaced... but time was on his side. So he got to die rich,”
“What happened to him?” So that was the great mystery of Wallkirk. He was some business pony before the war, tried to juggle too much, and was almost killed for it. I wasn't sure why I cared, but it seemed important somehow. For good or ill, the city existed because of him, or at least because of his bits.
The ghoul shrugged. “Bombs fell. Everypony dies. Anymore stupid questions?”
“No...”
---
We left the BS not long after that. I had the distinct feeling I had forgot to ask something, but I couldn't remember.
Either way, we started walking down the main street of Dise, and I paused to stare at the pony statue in the centre of the city. I had seen it many times before, but this was the first time I really looked at it. The stone looked weathered and faded, covered with nicks and scratches. The right forehoof that I suspected was supposed to be raised in the air was missing to the ages, while his face was so beaten it was a blank slate. This was Wallkirk. I had hoped that maybe if I knew about him, I'd be able to find out why the city was so fractured. But he’d died two hundred years ago. Useless.
“Hired.” Huh? I turned to see Flare staring at me. “You're doing that ‘stare into space’ thing again.” Oh. Right. I tore my eyes away from the broken statue and kept walking down the main street. “Hired... Hiiired.”
“What.”
“You okay? You've been actin' funny.” I looked to my right to see him smiling at me... but instead of focusing on him I looked at the three large buildings of the Ale House rising into the sky behind him.
“Molly has been silent.” He gave me a 'what' look. “She sent assassins after me... yet here I am. Meters from her front step. And nothing. Not a word. Shouldn't she be... killing me?” Flare shrugged as I continued. “I guess she gave up...”
“Not Likely.” High Stakes scoffed behind me. “Molly doesn't forget, and she certainly doesn't forgive. You don't stay a gang leader in this city by forgiving, and certainly not when you have the pressure she does. Many ponies resent her race, and look for any excuse to hate upon her. She needs to be harsh and swift to her enemies, to show them why they shouldn't be.” I cast a longing glance at the Ale House and nodded. She was going to send somepony against me soon, and I had to be ready for her.
I angrily kicked a can down the road. Of course, Serenity followed the can and gave it a few more good kicks for me.
There was just so much more I needed to do in Dise. I had to talk to the Batmare, kill that damn Laughing Stallion, try to get out of that free job from Mayhem, deal with Molly, talk to Clean Cutt and the watchers about what was up with the starmetal in my body. It was frustrating that I had to live it again so quickly... and I really wanted to see Haze again. I never should have turned her down.
For lack of anything better to do I flicked on my pipbuck and started to hear it pounding in my ear. That was new. “...Mayhem has claimed due to the damage to his water-plant water prices will have to be risen for the second time. When questioned about how two crazy costumed ponies even managed to get into his highly secure facility he declined to comment. Well how about that folks, ain't that just grand. If you see the Batmare give her a pat from me, and then tell her that if she wants to play superhero not to do it around vital city resources. Well, enough of that...” Wait.
“That wasn't what happened!” I said out loud.
Serenity's can hit my metal leg and bounced off it as she came running over. “What didn't?”
“The... Haygas is claiming Batmare cost city resources. She... well, we saved the damn water plant.” I growled. That wasn't fair. We worked hard doing something right for a change, and got blasted for it on the radio.
“That is common,” the Batmare said. I jumped a little, and spun to see her standing beside me, a vague look of bemusement on her face. She clearly didn't teleport, or I would have noticed. Right? “I have foiled The Laughing Stallion so many times that the city has forgotten what happens when I don't.”
“What happens if ya don't?” Serenity asked the obvious question.
“I --” The Batmare paused. “Well, I have always foiled that dastardly stallion. But it would be bad!”
“Why not... ignore him?” I said. She looked almost insulted. “Or. At least focus your effort on something else. Parasite mound. It has a lot of crime.”
“Refugees from Equestria have been flooding the town as well, making the problem more prevalent,” High Stakes added helpfully. I'm not being sarcastic. He was actually being helpful.
I continued, “Maybe help out there. If nothing else, The Finishers will be happy. It'll give you some friends. Or something.” I shrugged. “Just. Saying.”
The Batmare nodded. “We shall take that into consideration. Oh, Sidekick. We just came here to wish you a safe journey. May you bring justice to those who need it most.”
She flashed away, this time my shoulder burning. Well that was something at least. She could have stayed longer to chat though... Hopefully she would listen. I don't know why I cared. It just figured that Parasite Mound was always such a shitty place, it'd be nice if they had somepony to help clean it up.
I felt Serenity jump onto my back, breaking my trance. I turned my neck to smile at her. “You know. Unlike me you have all four legs.”
“Yeah,” she admitted, lying on my back, “buuuut, yours are so much bigger. Mine are tiny and get worn out. An' I’m lazy.” That was a terrible excuse, I knew for a fact she had a lot of energy. She proved it by immediately digging into my bag to pull out her makeshift leg, then she started to tinker with it. Most lazy ponies didn't try to build complicated pieces of magical cybernetics. But what did I know?
So I kept walking.
We stopped at the giant gate of Dise and had to wait as it slowly opened. Serenity and Flare had started discussing something about the difference between Enclave and Steel Rangers, and I didn't really care. When the doors finally opened, I noticed a section of the ground near the entrance was stained red. I remembered... back when I first came to Dise, a colt ran towards the gate and was killed. His body was taken away but the stain remained.
Something smelled like smoke.
“Hired.”
Yeah, definitely smoke.
“Hired!” I felt two little hooves slam into the back of my head knocking the smell away. “Hired.” Serenity sounded annoyed. “You were staring into space.”
“Oh...” I tore my eyes away from the spot of blood. “Sorry. Just. Been thinking.” Under my eye patch my new eye started to sting and itch. I almost wished I had stayed blind, it was annoying. “Too much.” I started walking through the main gate. The ponitrons on either sides turned with me as I watched, their large array of weaponry seemed to be targeted at me... however their ticks on my EFS stayed amber so I ignored them. Still didn't keep them from making my mane stand on end.
Parasite Mound seemed busier than I had ever seen it. Multitudes of ponies buzzed back and forth across the few streets not covered with rubble, and many of the broken down buildings seemed to have been somewhat repaired. I had lost track of how long it had been since I was here, but it was much more than I was expecting. Most of the ponies were dirty though, and way too many were laying on the street begging for caps. I indulged a few, but could not spare enough for all of them.
As I walked past the ‘Photo Finish Gallery Of Ze Magicks’ I saw the blue mare herself standing in front of the entrance talking with some heat to a pony in an NCA officer uniform. She paused for half a second to give me a polite nod and to adjust her glasses, before going back to arguing. I wasn't close enough to hear all the details, but it seemed to be important.
Seeing her reminded me how bright Celestia's sun was today. I paused for a minute to fetch my sunglasses. Sure, seeing everything in pink was strange, and they must have looked weird over my eye patch, but I loved them. Much cooler than High Stakes’ glasses even if they didn't shine nearly as much.
“Why are there so many?” I asked, as we started walking. I was sure one of my companions knew why these ponies were crowding Parasite Mound, and I was sure they'd tell me in the most patronizing way possible.
High Stakes, never missing a chance to be patronizing, answered first. “The Enclave war is still raging in Equestria, or so I have heard. Many ponies travelled south to escape, and were even past the border on the day of Sunshine and Rainbows. Having no homes left, I assume they kept walking. Dise is not too far from the border, and famous, so they tried to come here. When they were denied entry they must have just stayed here. The pressure has been building on The Finishers for some time, and they have been forced to kick some out.”
“Really.” That didn't sound much like the Photo Finish I knew, but when I turned back to look at her arguing I guess it wasn't that surprising. She couldn't have had the resources to handle so many ponies, and the pressure on her to do so must have been intense. “Where did they go?”
“Some ruins.” High Stakes Said, “They are calling themselves Eastside. The NCA is worried they will turn raider. It would be the first time ponies in the Dise outskirts threatened the city by turning raider.”
I was about to come back with a really witty reply when I noticed a commotion behind High Stakes.
Blue clad NCA soldiers had surrounded a store labelled 'Deadheads Gun Emporium’ and were dragging an old ragged stallion out of the store. The old buck was flailing and screaming about deals and treachery but quickly shut up when one of the soldiers put a hoof in his face.
Against my better judgement I trotted over to the scene. “What is going on here?” I asked as I felt Serenity jump off my back.
One of the ponies scoffed at me from under his helmet. “Nothing to see here ma'am.” I looked down to see a beaten old pony bleeding from his mouth. “Move along.” This was not fitting into my fixing Dise plan so I moved no wheres and lowered my glasses so i could glare at him on a more personal level. “Uh...”
“What is going on here?”
The buck I was speaking too didn't feel like answering me, but a large mare with a plum mane did. And while hoisting the prisoner pony on her back no less. I was impressed. “Deadhead here has been selling illegal passports to travellers, ma'am.” He turned to give the pony the dirtiest look. At the same time I felt the telltale sign of Serenity’s silence spell in my shoulder. So I smiled and kept listening so Serenity could do whatever it was she was doing. “We have been instructed to take him into custody. I am sorry about Cpl. Steady Hoof, he's a new transfer from Hoof Town, and doesn't yet know the way it works here.” She turned her rather fierce glare to the Cpl.
“How it works?” I paused, and still felt Serenity’s magic, so I decided to keep her talking. “What is your name?”
“Major Willow, ma'am.” She stood straight at attention. “You are an agent for Th-” She corrected herself. “Mr. House.” I smiled at her just a little and nodded. Though I was more curious if she just assumed I was an Agent due to my leg, or if the NCA actually put out memos about all the new House agents. Also it opened up the possibility that House and the NCA worked closely together. I wasn't sure if I liked that.
“What proof do you have of Deadhead’s involvement?” I asked in my most professional sounding voice as High Stakes and Flare stood to either side of me, looking threatening. Well, Flare was probably making funny faces, but he was on my blind side so I couldn't chastise him for it. Not that it mattered. I really didn't care about the stupid pony. It was his fault I couldn't get a passport into Dise the first time I tried.
“Direct order from Major Lucky.” There was an old name.
“Excuse me.” High Stakes said, “But didn't you just say you were also a Major? Where is it in the NCA playbook that you must take orders from ponies of the same rank.”
Willow looked flustered for half a second as she repositioned the prisoner on her back. “Major Lucky is... different. He choose to keep the rank he had before the war, but acts outside of the chain of command. He takes the positions he feels like, and his word is considered equal to that of a Generals. Opposing an order from Lucky would be...” She grimaced and looked down the street. “Suicide. Political and career.” She shifted the prisoner again. At the same time I felt Serenity's magic fade, and felt a weight on my back. “If it's all the same ma'am I need to get going. The rest of my guards are staying here to make sure the store is not looted.”
I nodded letting her go ahead and followed her down the street after a spell. Not stopping until we were far enough away the guards around Deadheads old shop that they couldn't hear.
“Serenity what wa-” I turned around to try and ask what that was all about. And then I saw it. Cradled in Serenity's hooves was a sleek black shotgun with pink trimming. The same one she tried to steal way back when. “Really, Serenity? Really?”
“Really what?” Flare asked, sounding genuinely confused. “That's a nice gun. Why are you being so 'serious?”
“She knows,” I said simply. Serenity just smiled meekly. “You already have a gun. You don't need two.”
“But Mo-” I cut her off.
“No buts. You don't need two and... look at it!” it was nearly as big as she was, for Celestia's sake. “Maybe when you're bigger.” She started to pout. “Oh stop that. Put it in my bag.” She did slowly, pouting more. “You have a better gun. Why would you need this one?”
“It's pink.” I facehoofed at her answer. I did that a lot. It couldn't have been good for my brain. “Fine, you can have it. Matches your mane, but I want it when I'm older!”
“You're silly.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “So silly.” I said as I started to walk to the exit of Parasite Mound. We had a job to do.
We did eventually manage to leave the city and get on our way, and without randomly running into a single other pony I had met earlier. For a bit there, I thought I had suddenly become magnetic to ponies I'd met before. When I left the city though, I did notice the robotic gun vendor I had bought supplies from before. Pasted on the top was the acronym, 'NCAAD'. New Caledonia Armoury Distribution. I had to wonder if that played a factor in Deadhead being taken down.
In the end, we walked for the rest of the day northward, towards the town where I began. I wonder if there is something symbolic about that? I guess we'll find out! Of course that was not the topic of discussion, as nopony (except Haze) knew enough about me to know the circumstances of how I got into the Dise wasteland.
Instead, the time was mostly spent with Flare recounting the story of how his little breakaway group broke away from the Enclave. According to him, it happened during a war with the griffins (which I did not know existed). It seems the remnants were so disgusted by The Enclave’s brutality that when they were ordered to fire on chicks, they refused. This brought the hammer of The Enclave down on them and they were forced to escape to their home Thunderhead (not sure what that is) in an attempt to start an uprising. They failed and were forced to retreat below the cloud layer with little but their armour and a few Vertibucks.
The story was actually interesting. At least the way Flare told it.
Eventually though stories got old, and ponies got tired so we were forced to stop for the night. I had hoped to stop in Timber, but it was not to be. We found an abandoned shack, (Little Tyke’s Flying School For Pegasi Who Can't Fly Good) and set up camp in there. Since it was missing most of a wall and the roof, we were forced to use some of the wood to make a small campfire (Flare assured me it wouldn't burn down the shack). We drew straws to see who'd get what watch, and wouldn't you know it, I got mid watch, meaning my sleep would be cut in half and end up insufficient. Which is exactly what you want.
So I laid down beside Serenity and tried to get a good nights sleep. Tried. It's the key word in that sentence.
---
My dreams were filled with smoke and fire. I was running through a burning red hallway filled with thick black smoke. Somepony. I was looking for somepony, but I wasn't sure who. I gave a wordless cry and coughed out thick black smoke. I had to keep going though. There was a pony that needed me. That needed my help.
To my right there was a flaming door. On it was the word 'Foundation'. My eyes went wide and I turned to run down the hall. Flaming doors with names flashed by me. I didn't look, but I could reach each name. Wildfire. Mischief. Lye. The names of my failures streamed past until they were a blur.
At the end of the hall there was only one door. This one wasn't on fire, thank Celestia. The name. It said Serenity.
I bucked it open with a crack. When I looked inside Serenity was nowhere to be found. Instead I saw a small colt whose mane was made of fire, and whose tears were made of blood.
“Why did you kill me?”
I woke up with a groan and the sense that my subconscious had gone from moody to melodramatic. It didn't help that I could still smell smoke. I opened my eyes, and was treated with a face full of fire.
“Shit!” I scrambled back and moved to cover my face. Only... it was just the campfire. Nothing else. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to calm myself.
“Interesting reaction to fire, Hired.” My eyes snapped open to see Flare smirking across the campfire at me. “Don't scream so loud though, the others are resting.” Serenity was curled in a ball not a meter away, and High Stakes was sprawled out, taking up as much room as equinely possible. “When I was flying to Karkhoof, we could smell the smoke from kilometres away. It was... unpleasant. The smoke and fire, that is. Things like that have a tendency to bring back unwanted memories, ya know?” Did I ever. With a groan I rested into a sitting position and nodded. “Listen. Can I ask what happened there? High Stakes seemed to hit close but... nopony is really sure 'cept you and Serenity, and you aren't talking.”
“I...” My voice cracked. “There was a colt... I was supposed to start a stupid fucking war. I was aiming for a mare but I...” I couldn't tell him Serenity altered my shot, “I hit a colt.” Flare winced and looked away as the fire flickered between us. “With my fire bullet. Post Haste.” I laughed bitterly and covered my good eye with my hoof. “Then the pony that hired me tried to kill me.”
“Instant karma.” Flare copied my laugh. “Yeah, if only it was that simple.”
“Yeah.” I slowly put my hoof back down on the cracked stone floor. “How did you deal with it after... what happened to you?” At Bitter Steel or something. When he accidentally bombed all those foals, it couldn't have been easy.
“Lots of drugs, moping, and bad jokes.” Flare gave me a strained smile. “That... won't be an option for you. Drugs are bad, and you should feel bad, and you suck at jokes.” I did not! It's just that my jokes were usually unintentional. “Moping though. I think you've mastered it.”
“It took years of practice.”
“Oh, I'm sure. Standing in front of a mirror each morning, practising grimaces. But you never turned back, you kept going, no matter how hard being a downer was.” He mockingly clapped his hooves. “We honour your sacrifice. Really!” I gave him a slight smile. “Really though, not sure if I can help you. Murdering a foal, it's... well that's not something you let go.” You don't say. “Because it's an evil thing, whether you meant to or not, and it taints you. You want to do better, but how can you? How can you do better when you've fallen so far. Some ponies give up at that point and go raider. They can't do worse, so why do better? Other ponies focus their self hate into making the world better. Into trying and fixing the fucked up world. Some just drown themselves in guilt and drugs and alcohol... But if you want to forget about what happened, let it go and move on? You can't. It's one of those things.”
“Great.” I think he underestimated how much I could repress. Not that it was a healthy thing to do, if my dreams were any indication. “Thanks... I guess.”
“Sorry, Hired,” he said, as I looked up through the missing roof into the sky. It was a clear night, not a cloud that I could see, and every star was shining bright. I could see why Luna wanted ponies to see this. “Not much I can say. It's... they say time heals all wounds, but it doesn't fix scars. It's hard for you, so soon, but in time it gets easier living with yourself. Even if it never goes away.” He laughed. “There was supposed to be a joke in there, forget where. Damn, your mopiness is catching.”
“I do that.” I grabbed piece of rotten wood and threw it onto the fire. “A lot... sorry.”
He laughed and flapped into the air some. “You're saying sorry to me? Hah, ridiculous. After what I did?” I raised an eyebrow. “That whole 'spying' on you thing, or did you forget. Of course you didn't! How could you...” He looked solemn. “I didn't want to, you know.”
“Liar.” I stared into the dancing orange flames. It was hard, I kept seeing a colt running through them. “If you didn't want to, you wouldn't have.”
He snorted and scratched the back of his multicoloured mane with his hoof. “Yes, well... what I mean is that I didn't want to later. When they asked, I had known you for, what? Three days? In that time you nearly killed me twice, and got drunk with me once. Not the best records, so when it was requested I agreed. It was after I started to know you that... that I didn't want to. After you ran to save me, even when you knew your filly was in trouble. In the tunnels, do you remember?”
“Yeah... you got mobbed by ghouls.”
“Fucking ghouls.” He seemed to stretch his wings out at that, is if remembering the old injury he got there. “I'm a shit melee fighter, they would have eaten me alive if you hadn't showed up. I think Serenity is better at close range combat than me.” As if she could hear her name in her sleep, the small pony started to mumble something. I think I heard the word 'sugar' in there.
Schooching over, I put a hoof on her head, and stroked her mane. “I remember.” Visions of Wildfire flashed through my head. I remembered all too well.
“Spying on some asshole you barely know is easy... after seeing the lengths you'd go to, to save Serenity... and me. Well. It changed things. I was going to tell you on the boat but I got... summoned to Sky Fall. Then it was too late.” He shook out his mane and stared up at the starry sky. “Sorry. Shit got out of hand, but I shouldn’t have...”
I looked up from Serenity to smile at him. “Laughing at me when I confronted you was also not bright.” He laughed quietly and nodded. When he landed in front of High Stakes he leaned over to see if he was awake. “It's fine. Just... don't do it again,” I said.
“I'll try my hardest. Don't need much incentive to avoid your wrath.” He smiled over at Subtlety. “It was a stupid decision... but honestly I'm not sure it was the wrong one. I like you Hired, but compare to my family? I don't know.”
“Don't worry about it. I'll kill you later,” I said, giving Flare my sternest look.
“Don't.” He winced back. “Stop looking at me like that! Damn, your poker face is deadly.” I moved to make a reply but he cut me off, “I know I know, 'And so are you.' Very classy come back. I know you aren't going to touch me ‘less I try to touch you. Hell, unlike that one,” he nodded his head to High Stakes, “you wouldn't even kill me for caps. You'd say you would, but chicken out.”
“No comment.”
“You're too hard on him.” He smiled at the green pony. “He tries, but he's had a hard life. Did you know that he was a slave once?” Wait, really? “It's true. Mother sold him when he was barely a colt. He had to win his freedom in some sort of fighting games or something...” That'd explain why he always seemed so calm and efficient whenever he fought. Kind of creepy. “That lever-action rifle he carries was the weapon he used to win his freedom.”
“I... didn't know. I mean. I wouldn't have guessed.” I took a good long look at the tall stallion. “He talks so proper.”
“He claims he forced himself to, so ponies wouldn't suspect.” I chuckled a bit. “I guess it worked. After that he worked for whoever paid him. He's rough around the edges, and believes in caps and all that, but... he's trying. I mean, he's rough around the edges but I think I... we... can smooth it out. In time.”
“Before he shoots us in the ass for fifty caps and a new hat?” I grinned.
“Before he shoots you. Nopony wants me dead... not counting the metal hat brigade. They don't count.”
“Don't count?” I layed down on the ground. “They have the biggest guns. They count twice.”
“You're insane.” I shrugged. I was okay with that. “And I'm following you. Does that make me more insane? It's a great mystery of our time. Oh!” He checked his wrist... “Look at the time. I should sleep, it's your watch now. Enjoy looking at... rocks.” he paused. “Is that what your cutie mark means?”
“Yes, Flare, my cutie mark mea-” I stopped. I heard. Something. “Shhh.”
I waved him down. It was my guard duty time anyway, so I might as well do my job. I inched closer to the far window. The muffled sounds seemed to get louder, and I recognized them as voices. I was hoping we wouldn't run into any ponies. Which I guess should have been my first guess that I was going to. Things never worked out the way I wanted, except when they did, and even then they didn't.
That made sense right?
I peeked up through the empty window frame and saw a light coming down over a hill. Not just a light, it looked like half the sky was on fire, and illuminated by it were ponies running. As they got closer I heard them yell, and talk in hushed voices. As they got closer I turned and nodded at Flare who seemed to be trying to wake Stakes up. “Stay here.” I said. He looked up and nodded.
I moved quickly over to the door and opened it into the dark night. The smell of smoke was still strong. I had thought it was the campfire, but I wasn't sure with the lights to the north. Something was burning, but what was up there that could cause such a blaze.
“Stop, stop!” One of the ponies running this way cried. I moved to meet them on the road as they skidded and slowed, but not before making sure Subtlety was tight on my back. “You!” A deep red mare said. “Don't go that way!”
“Why not?” I felt something in my gut tighten. Past the hill they ran down I could see so much light.
“It's...” In the dim light I could see tears in the mare's eyes. “Timber! Timber is on fire!” The mare started to sob and ran past, the three others in soot-stained barding followed.
---
We didn’t go to Timber right away. That's because it was still hours off, and we'd never get there fast enough to save anypony. Instead we rested the rest of the night and headed off first thing in the morning. I did tell High Stakes about it when it was time to change shifts, and he didn't even really seem to care. Maybe he had never been there before, but it was bothering me all night so I could barely sleep.
In the morning I had to tell Serenity that 'something' happened to Timber, and that it was not going to be pretty. She was understandably a bit upset at that, given how long we stayed there last time. It was... frustrating. I could do nothing but pray. I hated being helpless, so we left as soon as possible.
It was a long, quiet trek. With each step we could smell the smoke more and more. I hated smoke.
Eventually we got to a small hill about a mile away, overlooking the town. What was once the town. Maybe a tenth of the buildings were still standing (barely), and the rest blackened husks. Squinting a bit, I could see a few bulky figures in heavy armour walking down the main street, and past the town towards the huge mountain that overshadowed the city I could see more figures moving. They were moving towards the mountain... not... towards the 'Reconstruction Center'. What the hell happened here?
“I have a bad feeling about this.” I said crouching low on my perch on the hill.
Something slammed into the back of my head making my eye sting. “Dumbass,” Flare said harshly. “Never say that! Might as well say 'what's the worst that could happen?' or, 'don't worry, it's safe'.” I what? “Saying shit like that means bad stuff will happen. You've doomed us all.”
“Flare.” I gave him my best glare. “This is serious.”
“I am being serious! Do you have any idea what you've done?” He was flailing his forelegs very dramatically, at least until High Stakes kicked him in the side. “Okay, maybe I'm being a little over dramatic, but just to be safe, don't do that again!”
“Should we go look for...” Serenity gulped. “Survivors?” Yes. Great thinking.
“Why?” High Stakes looked down at the hell that was once Timber without an emotion on his face. “We were instructed to go make sure that Bridle Hope is safe from some roaming raider gang. We have no reason to rush to the rescue of every poor town that didn't think to protect themselves.” He flipped his straight hair out of his eye just in time for his glasses to flash. “Besides, do you have any idea who took the town out?”
I had an idea.
High Stakes kept talking though. “Do you have any idea what's in that mountain?” A lot of pre-war tech that was supposed to be used to help re-build the world. “Do you know why it hasn't been used?” Because the bottom level was protected by magical shields, and the top levels guarded by robots. Except for the very top which was once used by the Enclave. What? Sometimes I paid attention. “Do you know which group would have a great interest in that much pre-war tech?”
“Steel Rangers.” Flare said.
“Exactly! We can't barge into newfound Steel Ranger territory an-”
“Steel Rangers!” Flare flew into the sky and I snapped my head away from Captain Obvious to see two Steel Rangers approaching our hill with surprising speed. “Fuckity fuck, I hoped they'd leave us alone.”
“They're not after us, Flare.” I said slowly. “They want the tech in there.” Not just tech though, so much more. Dammit. Why would they hurt so many just for a few cool guns? “We'll take these two out an-”
WHOOSH
Rocket launcher, rocket launcher! I grabbed Serenity and dived backwards from where we were. The explosion hit like a minotaur and made my ears ring sending bits of dirt and muck into the air only to shower over us. I looked down to see Serenity, alive and mostly unhurt. Though she looked to be whimpering as she held her ears. I guess she couldn't get her spell up quick enough.
“Is everypony okay?” I said, barely able to hear my voice over the ringing. High Stakes was standing a bit away, and I could see his mouth moving. Dammit, those things were loud.
I shook my head and was vaguely able to hear him say. “Fine.” He wiped dirt off his glasses with a rag. “We need to leave.”
“Yeah, once those fuckers die.” I spat out dirt and helped Serenity to her hooves.
“You got lucky once fighting steel rangers! This time they mean business, you can't wi-” He was cut off by another rocket whooshing into the air. “FLARE!” He turned to the sky, his eyes wide.
Flare was looking down as the rocket screamed towards him. He twitched. It got closer. Flare, watch it! Do something! Move!
The Rocket exploded.
No. Dammit, Flare, why didn't you move? You aren't allowed to explode! Flare had to be safe, no way he got hit. Flare...
“DID YOU SEE THAT!” I spun quickly to see Flare grinning wildly with bunker buster on his back. “He tried to shoot a rocket at me, and I detonated it with a shell of mine! One in a million shot, and who could do it but me!” He kissed one of the barrels of his grenade launcher. “She never lets me down.” he smirked. “You okay, Hired? You look... worried.”
“I hate you,” I said, and Serenity giggled. This was not the time to be giggling! “What are we going to do?”
“Fight, die, or run,” answered Flare, so very unhelpfully. Thanks.
I turned away and moved towards the crest of the hill. “Watch my back!” I ran over the side to see the two steel rangers climbing up the hill. I quickly scoped Subtlety and used my stop timey mode. They can't beat me if i can stop time! Thank you, Stable-Tec.
Fuck you, Stable-Tec. It said I only had a five something chance to hit! I knew nothing about math but I knew that was less a chance than if I aimed normally. So I reluctantly turned the spell off and tried to aim Subtlety. A bullet fired and slammed through the helmet of one of the steel rangers. The beast didn't even fall over, just stop in his tracks as his armour kept him standing.
I didn't shoot though. It came from the town.
The second ranger looked away towards the town in shock. That time it was me who ended him. I got lucky, those explosives nearly fucked us up.
“Lets go, now.” I tossed Serenity onto my back and made a beeline to the town. Flare and High Stakes followed, I assume because they realized I was stupid and going to do whatever I wanted anyway. That's just how I worked.
We reached the first row of buildings eventually, and I quickly slid behind its charred facade. Flare and High Stakes followed me, which I was thankful for. I had almost expected High Stakes just watch from afar. Flare said we could rough out his edges, but I doubted that. I guess, partially, because I'd have to smooth out my edges first.
I looked at Serenity beside me and nodded to her. Just like that, we were covered in a soundproof pink glow. She was getting much better at that. After smiling proudly at my little magician I slowly moved around the edge of the building, and peeked my head out into main street. There, I saw nothing but a few charred bones, rubble, and what looked to be the remains of a water trough.
I motioned for Serenity to put down the barrier. When it faded I said, “Coast is-”
BANG
“Fuck!” I dove back behind cover as the bullet missed by centimetres hitting the ground in a small puff of dirt. “Okay. Coast is not clear. There's a sniper in town. He doesn't like us.” I paused. “Or me. Probably me.” No pony liked me. Maybe it had something to do with my brutish behaviour or the way I tended to fuck up the lives of those around me. Or both.
“I have an idea.” All heads turned to High Stakes. “How about we head towards the crazy sniper trying to kill us.” His voice dripped with sarcasm.
“Great plan.” I grinned. He face hoofed and clearly misunderstood that I got his sarcasm and just didn't care. “The shot came from across the street.” I pointed to the mark left by the bullet. “From high up, further down. I checked. Probably the old inn.”
“As good as that information is, I fail to see how it helps. We can't get across the street, not with a sniper scope on us.” Oh High Stakes, why must you spend all day trying to make me hate you? Is it really that hard to be a little bit likeable? He kept talking. “How do you plan to get over there. It is not like we have one of Batmare's smoke bombs.” There was an idea. I really wanted a smoke bomb.
“I have a plan,” I said sternly, as I wrapped my hoof around High Stakes’ neck. “It is...” I threw him out of cover into the street. “Run!” As he gasped and started running, I ripped off my eye patch. Suddenly, everypony had orange boxes around each other.
I dashed out and looked up at the second floor of the bar. Sure enough I saw a red box in the distance highlighting somepony. So I aimed there and let Subtlety roar. In the distance I saw splinters flake off the buildings and the red box vanished inside the building. They were still too far away for my EFS to work.
I really was getting the hang of this technology though.
“What the Hell!” High Stakes screamed at me, his glasses shinning. There was a thin trickle of blood flowing down his muzzle. “You could have got me killed!” I hadn't even thought of that...
“Stop being a wimp.” I rolled my eyes at him. “You're fine. A credit to the team.” I turned my head down the street. “We need to go... you know. Because of the sniper about to shoot... at us. With his rifle.” I blinked. “Seriously.”
Flare ran past carrying Serenity on his back. “Stop bickering!” he said as he flashed past... only to trip on the remains of a water trough. I had to wonder what that was doing in the middle of the street. Seemed like a terrible place for it. I mean, really. I still followed.
The run was quick. And brutal. The charred and ruined buildings to either side smelled like smoke and death. If I chanced a look, I could almost make out pony remains in the buildings. Fuck. I can't believe what happened here. It was such a good town. I was going to find Elder Chunky Soup and feed him hot lead for what he had done here. I don't care if he let us escape before, this was just fucking evil.
Evil. Yet, when I looked around at the town it wasn't Timber I was seeing. It was Karkhoof. I could hear the ponies screaming, and smell the new smoke. How could I call this evil, when I did the same thing? Fuck. I closed my eyes tight to hold back the tears, and then opened them again when I heard Serenity tell me to stop.
There. The town’s inn/bar thingy. Up top was a sniper with the answers. “Let's do this,” I said.
I slammed into the door headlong, then, as if punishing for me for speaking in cliches, felt something slam into my side and send me flying to the side. Groaning, I opened my eyes and looked groggily around. There. Above me on the other side of the doorway was a shotgun. Rigged to a trip wire. Which I hit. Because I’m an idiot.
“Fuck!” I said. Serenity rushed over with a healing potion already ready. “No.” I grunted as I slowly staggered myself to my hooves. “No...” I looked down at my barding. “Didn't pierce.” I winced as I shook off some of the buckshot from my barding. “Just. A med-x.” That's all I needed.
“Uh.” Serenity looked down. “If you say so; does your eye hurt, too? It can sometimes get bad post-op, an’ if you're not feeling good...” I nodded. It didn't hurt that bad, but enough. A few seconds later Serenity injected the syringe into my back, and I could already feel the sweet relief. My side still stung, but not that bad.
“Thanks.” I smiled. “Much better.” She nodded nervously as I got to looking around the bar. What I saw didn't look good. All the tables had been pushed to the sides of the room except for a lone chair in the centre of the dirt floor. It was dyed red, and around it there was a huge stain that looks suspiciously like blood. Not good at all.
“What the hell happened here?” Flare asked. As if we'd know. “I can't even think of a good joke! It's a tragedy.” I shot a glare at Flare. “Too soon?” Dumbass.
I tore my eyes away from the bloody chair and moved towards the stairs. It was just too much. I knew the Steel Rangers were capable of brutality but this just seemed like too much to believe. I had to figure out what happened. I was too late to stop it, but I had to do something... right?
The stairs were exactly where they were before, which I suppose was a good thing. They seemed clean though, I half expected them to be slick with blood. Maybe I was just in a morbid mood. It was a tense walk up them, and I was sure everypony could feel it too. A sense that something was about to go wrong. That we wouldn't be able to do anything. I swear I could hear Serenity's heart beating in her chest.
The hallway was dark, almost black if it wasn't for my pipbuck light and slightly glowing green eye. In my EFS I could see a single red tick. Two doors down. I motioned for my companions to stay behind as we inched closer. There was no point using Serenity's magic. At this point whoever the sniper was he knew we were here. Which was not really a comforting thought at all.
We stopped at the door. My techno magic stuff said the pony was upstairs and I wasn't arguing. I licked my lips and stood point with Subtlety scoped and pointing towards the red tick in my vision. With a nod to Stakes, he reluctantly moved to buck open the door. Hopefully he could manage. With a few more nods of my head I was able to direct Serenity and Flare to either side of the door. I was getting better at this.
Okay. Deep breaths. Calming myself I nodded to the tall stallion. The door broke open with a crack.
I slipped into SATS. Chose the sniper’s head and... stopped. In the compressed time state I saw my EFS change slowly from red to green. I turned it off for the second time without firing a shot.
“Grimer?” I asked. The scruffy light purple pony with bad teeth, and a badge for a cutie mark. The last time I saw him, I was making him the mayor of this Celestia-forsaken town. He was cowering in the corner, his hooves resting on a large sniper rifle that uses a push button, so that earth ponies can use it. “What the hell?”
“Hired...” He whimpered. “Hey.”
I walked in slowly, as the tense stallion seemed to be jumping at the sound of out hoof falls. He was the last pony I had expected to be in here. You'd think they'd kill him first. My companions followed along, and we took a long silent time getting settled across the room from him so he could still watch the window he was crouched beside.
Eventually it was Serenity who spoke. “Grimy!” The stallion winced at the noise. “What happened! Are you okay? It's so good seeing you again but what happened!?”
“You happened,” he said slowly, his eyes scanning the street. “Well... Hired happened. Funny. When I saw you two coming up, I thought you were the heroes I've been hearing on the radio. The mother daughter band fighting evil in the northeastern villages...” He shook his head. “Maybe you came to try and save us even though it was too late... you're not the heroes from the radio are you?” I shook my head. “No... It was a vain hope, after what you did here...”
“I... what?” I rubbed my forehead. “Last time I checked. I left the town with a new mayor and NCA fr--” I stopped and thought about what I was saying. I left the city NCA free, and what did I know about NCA and Steel Ranger relations? What did I know about the Steel Rangers in general? “When I forced the NCA to leave. Fuck. No way...”
“It was a matter of time.” He hefted his gun up and balanced it on the window sill. “The NCA kicked most of the fighters out. They became the raiders you helped kill in the Reconstruction Center. When you forced the NCA to leave, the town was virtually unprotected.” He looked up from his scope to give me a sad smile. “We should have seen them coming...”
I heard Flare flap his wings beside me. “You're telling me. They've been after that place for years, can't tell you why though. I mean it's like...” Flare looked a little... wary. As if he was expecting a Steel Ranger to jump out of the wall behind him and pin him down. “They won't get anywhere. I've been in the base at the top. Go down two levels and you reach a giant stable-like door. Unblastable. At the bottom, robots and worse patrol, and they aren't friendly. Not to mention...” His voice trailed off.
“Tell me,” Grimer said. His voice seemed strained. Well it always did, but worse now. “I want to know why my ponies died.”
“Hired, do you remember the tunnels?” Flare asked.
A voice whispered in my ear. I never wanted this... for either of us.
I nodded, and Flare continued. “Something like that. Sometimes you'd be walking down the hallway and see a face in the corner of your eye but nothing was there when you turned to look. When you slept sometimes your dreams would be vivid memories of the past... or the future you wanted most. Ponies used to call it haunted, but I wasn't sure.”
“Some sort of magical recurrence.” High Stakes gathered. “Why stay there if such things were happening? The Remnants had other options. Though I suppose in the end you did move your base.”
Flare looked around at all of us before sighing. “Listen.” He scratched the back of his head. “This is super classified shit right here, and I don't want it spreading.” He waited until we all agreed to not tell anypony before continuing. “For a while, the Remnants still had unofficial contacts with the Enclave at large, and we only moved our base to Dise when we got wind Operation Cauterize was going to go down. But the reason we stayed was...”
He paused and looked around before groaning loudly. “The reason we stayed was...” Another look. “General Steel Wing believed that there was a megaspell inside the facility.” Wait, what! A megaspell? Like the 'end the word' type megaspell. “The pony who built it was playing the Caledonian Military, and Stable-Tec, for funds, and rumours have been rampant that he abused the money on illicit experiments and megaspell production. If the Steel Rangers have that information, and got their hands on a fucking megaspell...”
“Then a lot of ponies will die.” I said simply. Fuck. I rubbed my forehead. Things just got a lot more complicated. “Why would Wallkirk make a megaspell there? It was supposed to be... rebuilding, right?”
Flare nodded but also shrugged. “Don't know. I'm not a history buff, but I do know Stable-Tec was banned from Caledonia near the end of the war. Political bullshit. They needed an outside contractor to build their stuff, and Wallkirk was rich, right? So I mean. He used that money, and the Caledonian military money... I’m sure there is more in that mountain, but that's what I imagine the Steel Rangers are after.”
“Without the NCA to stop them, they tore through the town...” Grimer said. “They brought ponies into the bar and tortured them. Saying they must know something. They killed so many.” Tears welled up in his eyes. “I'm sorry, Hired. I was strong once. The NCA put a bullet in my brain a long time ago, and since then... I tried, I really did.”
“I know, Grimer.” I sighed. “I know.” A fucking megaspell. A pony like Curly Fries getting his grimy hooves on a megaspell was just unthinkable. Apparently, the Steel Rangers didn't use their scavenged tech, but after the way the NCA had been pressuring them...
“Who cracked?” High Stakes asked the sensible question. Well, almost. The best question would of been, what did they tell them?
“The bartender,” Grimer said after a moment’s hesitation. “Doughy and talkative mare.” He shook his head before scanning the street again. “She lasted an hour, but they broke her. It... it wasn't pretty. I saw it from the w-... I saw it.” His voice sounded like barely repressed sadness and anger. “She told them what most ponies apparently knew. That the town was built by the survivors of Stable 123.” I remembered that stable. Moreover, I remembered I still had that recording of Scootaloo that I’d downloaded.
I paused to turn off my ear bud, find the recording on my pipbuck, and play it for all to hear.
“Hello! My name is Scootaloo. You probably know me (since I am pretty famous) for my awesome performances at events like last year’s GALLoPS, or maybe just as the founder of Red Racer… Actually you might not. Never did get a foothold into Caledonia...” it made sense she never got a foothold in Caledonia. By the time she recorded this her company was forced out for political reasons. I had to feel sorry for her.
“It doesn't matter right now. You're the... lucky mare to find herself as the Overmare of Stable 123, and I can't say I envy you. You see we here at Stable-tec have... a philosophy. The world’s turning to shit... I know. But we have to find a way to make it... better. And... fuck... you won't like what comes next.” They wouldn't like what came next. I remembered that stable well, and it ended in bloodshed.
“You can't stay here. You need to leave. I am asking this of you... when the radiation goes down to liveable levels, leave. Go out and make the world a better place, fix this fucking mess we caused. You aren't Equestrians; you shouldn't get it bad... hopefully... hopefully you can leave in a year. Two. Every Stable was made with an idea in mind... find a way to fix the mistakes. When the other stables come out of hiding... I want there to be a world for them to live in.”
I had to agree with Scootaloo here. Her heart was in the right place, she was trying to fix things. She failed in the end, but she tried her best. I had to wonder how much it hurt her, to know the world was going to end, and not being able to do anything. That all her work would end up being for nothing. My mind went back to the Laughing Stallion's question, 'What is the nature of a hero' and I wondered if doing all you could in impossible circumstances was the nature of a hero.
“Yeah...I chose a non-Equestrian stable for this reason. Only six stables were made outside of Equestria, and this task I made sure was in one of them. We fucked this world up. We can't fix it. Not yet. Not until we’re ready, and maybe not even then. So when the times comes I am asking you... leave and rebuild the world.
“If you don't want to, then I’m sorry to say I'm not giving you a choice.” Was not giving them a choice the right thing, even if it was to help rebuild the world? I wasn't sure.
“You may have already noticed the basement leaks. It will flood. You may have noticed the smell. The air filter will break down. You may be able to live for ten, twenty years. But eventually you’ll have to leave, or everypony will die. Yeah... I'm a fucking monster. But somepony needs to fix this mess we caused, and fuck it, I'll make sure they do it whether they want to or not.
“Download the coordinates and passwords on the terminal. They'll lead you to help, a start. We have a second chance.” A start. In the end her start wasn't what she thought. Wallkirk gave the pretence of help with the lumber and supplies in the bottom level, but above that was anypony’s guess. If anypony would ever be able to find out.
“If it's any consolation, I’m sorry. I never wanted this... get out there and start rebuilding. Soon everypony else will join you. We'll have learned. I'll make them learn. So this will never happen again. May Celestia bless us all.”
Scootaloo's voice echoed through the room before fading into tense silence.
“That's the one,” Grimer said. “It has the password?”
I paused, I wasn't sure. The recording I downloaded said it did, but I wasn't sure. So I said, “Probably. They might be going there now. Or sending a few ponies.” I sighed. “I fucked up.” Karkhoof, and now Timber. I suppose I should get a list of towns I wiped off the map by my actions. It'd put it beside the list of foals and innocents my incompetence and moral failings killed. I stomped my hoof so hard it cracked a floor board.
“Mommy...” Serenity said softly. “Don't do anything stupid.”
“I won't, Serenity. But I will stop them.”
“Really, Hired?” That would be High Stakes. I shot a glare at his smug face. “May I remind you that you have a job to do. Bridle Hope needs protection too. And House ordered you there. Once we are done with that, I'm sure he won't be against us trying to stop Steel Rangers from getting a super weapon... but not until we complete our job.”
The small room was getting smaller, and more tense. The worst part was that he was right. I had a job to do. I was still Hired Gun, and a Hired Gun that doesn't shoot at what it's pointed at has no use.
“I'm sorry, Grimer...” I said slowly. “I'll help, but I need to go north. We'll be back.”
“I won't be.” He leaned part way out the window and fired a resounding shot. “They burned my town. I'm not leaving, and eventually they'll find and kill me.” I tried to say something, but he cut me off with a near screeching voice. “They burned my town! I'm tired of running! Of being a coward!” He turned away from me, glaring out the window. “They let them go home. The ones that survived. Then they burned it. Entire families. I don't know why they didn't burn the bar, but they didn't. I could hear their screams but I was powerless. There is nothing worse then the sound of a pony burning.” He grit his rotten teeth together. “I've ran my whole life. I ran from one side of the world to the other. When they came I-... Not now. They will come and I will kill as many as those fuckers as I have bullets.”
“You could run. Make a new life. Start again.” I tried to convince him. Eventually the Steel Rangers would find him cooped up in there, eventually he would die. Bloodily.
“No.” He shook his head. “Not this time. I'm tired of running, of failing. This at least I can do right.” He gave me such a sad smile. “Nice eye, Hired; it suits you.”
“...Grimer.” I turned to Serenity. “Get him three healing potions, will that be enough?” Grimer nodded. “And some food. Whatever we can spare.” Serenity started digging through my bags and I turned to Flare. To see him already looking through his bags.
“I don't know this Grimer buck,” Flare pulled out a few mines, “but if he's going to risk his life killing Steel Assholes, then I'm willing to help. Celestia knows the wasteland needs less of them.” He slid the mines over. “Plant them by the door, if you want to go out with a bang.”
“Don't look at me,” High Stakes said quickly. “If he wishes to die, I am not going to assist him.”
“Ignore the asshole.” I rolled over the last two bottles of beer I got as a gift when I first got to The BS. “You won't want to die sober. It'd be a damn shame.” He lifted it up and put it beside the other supplies I gave him. I briefly thought about maybe giving him a med-x but decided against it. I didn't really have enough to spare.
“Um.” Serenity looked around. “Why can't... he just come with us? If the plan is to come back here, then we all win! Right?”
“Sorry kiddo.” The old stallion smiled. “I'm not running again.”
“You'll die though!” Serenity's voice sounded strained.
“Yeah.” He looked out the window. “Yeah. I've always wondered what it's like after you die. I'd like to go to Celestia's side. Be better than here. I should have died a long time ago.” He wanted to die. It was pretty clear. Something happened that he wasn't telling us about, something bad enough he felt the only way he could redeem himself was getting himself killed in a bloody rampage of revenge. My only thought was that maybe, when the Steel Rangers came, he had run away. Turned coward and fled, and came back when it was too late to save anypony.
“Can't be so bad.” Flare grinned. “There'll be a party, I'm sure. You like parties, right?” He gave a bit of an awkward laugh. “When you get there save some cake for us. I don't plan on dying anytime soon, but I'm sure heaven cake won't ever get stale.”
“I like cake,” Serenity said confidently.
“Sorry, Grimer.” I looked at the floor. “This is my fault. I... what I did here. I should have known. I tried to help this town. But I didn't know anything. I tried to help with a problem, and I didn't know all problems...” I looked at at him and winced. “Sorry. I...”
“Oh get over it. Stop whining and do what you have to do. Yeah, you fucked up, I fucked up, everyone fucks up and sometimes ponies died. You didn't kill the town though.” Grimer spat.
“Just left it to be killed,” I said.
“I liked you more when you were an emotionless bitch.” I laughed when he said that. “Shit happens. Move on and do better, or die fixing it. Just don't run away like I did.” He looked out the window. “They seem to all be up at their camp. If you want to leave, best do it quickly before they cut off the road.”
I got up, and we moved to the door. I turned back to see tears in Grimer's eyes.
“Goodbye,” I said. “Kill them all.”
---
Another town down. It seemed like everywhere I went, I managed to bring destruction along with me. I guess it was my fault. I had been so determined to be some sort of ruthless mercenary that I forgot to think about what I was doing. There were a thousand ways I could have gone in and out of Timber without inadvertently causing it to be demolished. And at least a million ways I could have handled Karkhoof without causing a war. But thinking of an alternate solution would have been the smart thing to do, and you know me.
The escape from Timber was long and tense. Most of the Steel Rangers had left a while back, but not all of them. We had to crawl through the remains of Timber’s houses in order to leave, and it was... unpleasant. I had Serenity close her eyes the whole way through. Bodies and skeletons seemed way too abundant, and all were charred black.
I tried not to think about it. One hoof ahead of the other. Keep going. Don't look back.
At the same time, I had to see some of the chaos I caused through my actions. I had to smell the burnt flesh and dwindling smoke. For the same reason I kept wearing the eye patch, I had to remember what I did and why I had to do better. Hopefully without moping so much. Flare was going to stab me if I kept moping.
We did make it out of town, and booked it down the road as fast as we could. It was still a few days’ walk ahead of us. We had to travel around that huge mountain and head north a ways to reach Bridle Hope. If we moved fast, High Stakes said it would take two days walking. So we moved fast.
I was really itching to get there. If there was one thing I could kill without looking back and kicking myself, it was raiders. Apparently this gang mutilated an NCA envoy, so they had to be bad news, and if we got to Bridle Hope before them, we could teach them a lesson in pain. I even switched Subtlety's ammo to the fire ammo, and I hadn't used that since Post Haste. Foals shouldn't burn, but raiders sure as hell should.
“You seem excited,” High Stakes noted as we trotted quickly down the old highway. The sun hung low in the sky, and it was going to be time to stop soon. We were nearly around the bloody mountain though, partly due to my excited walking.
“Yeah,” I said squinting into the distance, “I guess you could say that.” I looked up to see Flare lazily flying above us. He could’ve been to Bridle Hope and back five times by now. “Just. After seeing Timber. I need to kick something.” I grit my teeth together. “Hopefully without it kicking me back later.”
“Of course, I understand.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “I do. Don't look at me like that. You are angry and you can't fix the thing you are angry about, so you wish to vent it on somepony who hopefully deserves it.” I guess it was something like that. “You know, if you wished, we could have stayed at Timber and took on the Steel Rangers. You did not need to change your mind on account of me.”
“What good would that do?” I spat and trotted faster. Serenity whined about the rocking motion from my back, but I ignored her. “I can't save Timber. Grimer wants to die. I fucked up. Bridle Hope, though. If we get there soon maybe...”
“Maybe you'll be a big damn hero, vanquish evil, and save the day before galloping off into the sunset?”
“Shove it, Stakes.” I glowered at the road ahead of me.
“Then let me be serious. You may not find what you like there, and you may have to do things you don't like. Our job is not to wantonly kill everypony and save the day, we are there as a representative of House.” I kicked a can I pretended was his head. “We are to negotiate a trade agreement to avoid fees for caravans on this road, and if they will not listen then we provide them with the fire you are so wishing to bring.”
“Shut up.” I glowered some more, because I could never get enough glowering.
“I am trying to help you.” I shot him a confused look to see his face looked at most slightly annoyed at my insults. If that was his helping, I didn't want to see his hindering. “If you go there looking for a fight, then a fight you will get and nothing else. More ponies will die, and maybe they're raiders or slavers, or whatever you have a hate for at the moment, but each of those ponies you are running to kill have family. They have loved ones, they have hopes and dreams, and for every one that is irredeemable there are ten more that can change.”
“How many raiders have you met, Stakes?” I asked him.
“Thousands. I used to work for Red Eye, and most of his so-called army was raiders or slavers. They're not all bad.” He shook his head and paused to move his mane out of his eye. “I'm urging caution. We are here to make caps, not to go on a righteous crusade. You are not The Lightbringer and you are not Security. You are a mercenary who happens to work for a gang leader.”
“What did you say the nature of a hero was?” I asked as we started a down a gradual turn in the road that led around, finally, to the northern side of the mountain.
“Stupidity.” He smiled just a bit. “For every hero that fights evil and clears the skies of Equestria, a thousand more die un-mourned unloved, and too soon.” There was a sense of sadness to his voice. “Just try to keep that in mind. Anything that happens there is not personal, it is just business. Okay? You seem to take everything so personally, but it's not about you. It's not about House, or raiders. Everything in the wasteland is about caps and survival.”
Survive. “I know, High Stakes. Don't worry.” I smirked at him. “Don't know why you care.”
“I was the one who advised House to put you on his payroll. If you fuck up, that's on my shoulders.” His glasses flashed at me. “Like I said, it's just business.”
“Of course...” I could forgive Flare spying on me behind my back, because in the end he was right. I barely knew him when he did it, and afterwards he regretted it much. If anything, Flare shouldn't have cared what I thought at all.
But High Stakes was hard to stomach, because... maybe he reminded me of who I tried to be. Survive, gain caps, survive some more. For so long that was all I was doing. Hell, it was what I was still doing, but I was so bad at being heartless. Part of me still wanted to be that heartless mercenary, it would make life so much easier. But with each fuck up, it became harder to hold to that illusion. High Stakes didn't seem to care, though. Not if he got paid. Did I really want to be like that?
Survive.
“I won't let House down,” I said finally. “If I have to, then I will gleefully take down all those fucking raiders, but the job comes first. It always does.” I paused for a second. “I really want to shoot something.”
“Knowing you, you'll be able to. I'm sure when we get there we'll be set upon by hundreds of raiders and assassins crying out for blood.” He gave a mischievous smile.
“And monsters. The kind that turn invisible and shoot laser beams from their eyes,” I added.
“A hellhound or two as well. Fifteen Steel Rangers.” I looked up to see Flare grinning at us. “They've been following us.” He flipped through the air to land on the other side of me. “Been keeping a way back. I don't know what they're doing, but they are following us. Might be they recognized me, though I had hoped that after their last botched attempt and seemingly new goal, they've forgotten. It was just some stupid-ass political thing anyway, to keep the detractors busy.”
“Great.” I groaned. “Just what we needed. Steel-clad stalkers. Did you notice any assassins too? I figure Molly has been waiting a while. Might want to try again.”
“Can't say I have, though I wouldn't be surprised.” Flare smiled. “Have you pissed off any other deadly group we should know about? Because if you did, this would be the time to tell us.”
“Nopony you'd know.”
---
Despite being stalked, the rest of the walk was completely uneventful. We stopped that night in a small cave low on the mountain, and Flare set up his remaining mines at the entrance in case our stalkers got a little bit too nosy. Despite that, I actually had a full night’s sleep without a single nightmare for the first time in a long time. I didn't wake up sweating, or cry out in my sleep or anything. This, of course, made me very suspicious.
I did not have much time to dwell on this. as we rushed out there as soon as Flare disarmed his mines.
The walk north was long, boring, and nothing interesting at all happened. Often, that seemed to be the way it went. If you weren't being attacked by radroaches or raiders, nothing interesting happened. Sure, we talked a bit, but most of that was between Flare, Serenity, and High Stakes and was hardly important. Such as the three hour discussion on which was the best flavour of snack cake (turns out it's carrot), an even longer argument on the best way to cook a radroach (Flare was heavily on the 'roasted' side but in the end stew won out).
Part of me really wished something interesting had happened from the time the sun came out and we left our cave, to when we reached the outskirts of Bridle Hope sometime near midnight, but... well, nothing. By the end of the walk we were all so tired of walking (and of each other) nopony spoke at all. It just doesn't make for an interesting narrative, sorry.
It was not a good sight coming into the starlit view of Bridle Hope. All around the town were large banners flying a symbol obscured by darkness, and crude tents were erected along the main street. We were too late. The raiders were already there.
“This is not good,” I whispered urgently to Flare, as we hid behind a rather large boulder. “Not good at all.”
“You're telling me.” He smirked. “So much for saving the town. The way House talked, I had hoped we'd be able to get here before them. Celestia knows we moved fast enough... for earth ponies anyway.” I kneed him in the chest. “Too soon?”
“Ass.” I smirked and peeked back over the rock towards main street. Most of the camp was too far away for my EFS but I picked up at least one red tick. I could vaguely see the outlines of ponies in the tent, illuminated by light inside. The largest number of ponies weren't by the tents, though, but gathering around the Bridle Hope general store. It seemed it got a new owner, this one certainly as vile as the last.
“See anythin'?” Serenity tugged on my barding to ask. Slipping back behind cover, I nodded... and then shook my head. I saw something, but what I saw wasn't really worth squat. I knew some raider clan was camping in the middle of town, but I didn't know who, and most importantly I didn't know where the townsfolk were. I only stayed here one night, but there was at least one pony I'd like to see safe.
Pearly. It had been so long since we had... whatever it was we had done when I first arrived. I still wasn't clear on the details of my drunken haze, but I had a few ideas. If she was still alive, I imagine we'd need to talk about that, and I'm sure Serenity would like to discuss with her a few things in regards to what happened to her. If nothing else, we could do that. I looked down at Serenity and remembered Haze's words. I had to make sure she was okay with all this. This town brought her no good memories, I was sure.
“So, now what?” I asked my companions. Maybe they had a better idea how to proceed then me.
“We should go to the raiders as representatives of Mr. House,” High Stakes said simply. “It was what we came here to do, remember.”
“Well,” Flare said slowly, “I remember House saying something about an NCA envoy being mutilated. Now, last I checked, House is not more powerful than the NCA, so in all likelihood they'll treat us worse. Much worse.”
“If we could find the townsfolk,” I said, “we'd have a better chance of making our next move. Wanton murder, or whathaveyou.” This was not working out the way I wanted. Since we’d left Dise, we'd run across one destroyed town, and another now under raider control. I wanted to ask if things could get worse, but I am sure Flare would have stabbed me for jinxing our chances.
Serenity sighed. “Scootaborg would know what to do...” She paused as if listening to something. “She says you should give me that shot gun.”
“This is not the time, Serenity.” I growled. Think, Silver, think. I had to do something. Something smart. Something that wouldn't get me or any of my companions killed. Something that...
CLICK
It seemed I’d forgotten that my EFS only worked in the direction I was looking, and not behind me. Because it seemed that when I was busy trying to think of a solution to our problem, part of the problem snuck up on me and pointed a gun at my face. A stallion with a green mane and a pissy scowl, to be exact. It didn't help that he was standing on the boulder we were hiding behind, pointing his gun down at us.
“My my my, what do we have here?” There was a sadistic grin on his face that slowly faded to one of confusion. “You with the glowing eye. Do I know you?” He turned his scowl back on. “It doesn't matter, you're coming with me. I was told to bring any trespasser to see S-”
Serenity threw Scootaborg at his nose.
The raider drew back as it hit his nose, his eyes going crossed as if he wasn't sure what hit him. It was just long enough for me to stand on my back legs, grabs his gun and toss him off his perch and onto the ground with a hard thud. Before he could move, my metal hoof was on his neck. “Would you like to know me?” I growled.
“Nice line, Hired!” Flare clapped his hooves together, “You're getting better.”
I shot him a glare as my temporary captive spoke. “Who the hell are you supposed to be?”
“Hired Gun. Representative of Mr. House.” I pressed my hoof down harder. “We are here. To make sure trade can pass. Through this town. For free.”
“Good luck.” He spat.
There was a long pause.
“Is that it?” I tilted my head at him. “Aren't you going to tell me who you're working for? Curse me? Explain why I'll fail? Do something... dramatic? That's what they usually do.”
“Are you an idiot?” Was that a trick question?
“She totally is,” Flare said ever so helpfully. “But she's an idiot with an iron hoof to your neck. So, under the circumstances, it'd be prudent to keep her satisfied. So scream a little. Beg for forgiveness. Something. You're such a boring captive.” I wasn't sure if I should laugh or kick him. Maybe both.
“Captive?” He asked. I didn't like the way he was smirking. “We've been watching you for miles. Nice pipbuck. Do you know the problem with EFS? It only works in one direction.” Wait. Oh shit. Oh fucking shit. “I'm not a captive, I'm a distraction.”
“FUCK!” I turned as fast as I could to see two ponies with pipbucks behind me pointing rather large guns at my face. Fuckity... “Flare, how did you not notice?!”
“You have pipbucks, too. Bet you can tell how far away you need to be for EFS to not trigger.” Flare grimaced, looking at one of the ponies legs. “I wasn't looking, didn't expect it.” I heard the sound of breaking branches and turned to see even more ponies behind me. I wouldn't be able to get close to the bridle of Subtlety without being blown to bloody bits. Even worse, I could hear Serenity whimpering as she hid behind my legs.
“Take their weapons.” My once-captive said as he scrambled to his hooves.
Why did everypony take my gun from me? I growled and glared at the ponies who came near, promising to destroy them at a date to be determined. Flare looked really aggravated at ponies taking his weapons, but High Stakes seemed resigned. I'm sure he was finding some way to blame me for this. Just because I got captured once or twice... At least they didn't check Serenity for weapons. I guess they figured a foal wouldn't be armed. And I still had that shotgun Serenity had stolen in my bag. I was surprised they didn’t check. It was something, if we had to fight our way out, and knowing my luck...
“March,” the stupid now-captor said. “Maybe our leader won't kill you.”
We were forced to take a long, humiliating march around our rock cover and down the main street of Bridle Hope. In front of the camp were two flags planted on iron poles, but I didn't even look at them. I was too busy trying my hardest to think of a way out of this predicament. There had to be a way to fix this. I could do something... anything. Yet we kept walking down the street, and once again I was powerless. For all my vast strength I could never do anything.
We took another step into the camp. I really was useless wasn't I? Even when I tried to do good, like in Timber. I failed, and ponies burned. They burned when I was evil, and burned when I was good. Every action I took was just another failure upon failure. Serenity should have stayed with Haze; she shouldn't have been witness to all my failures.
Another step. I wondered who the leader of this raider gang was. If he or she knew anything about me though, they'd do the smart thing and kill me without a second thought. I've betrayed so many ponies now, it'd be foolish not to. I could only hope I was still anonymous enough to get away without being known. I was a failure, and couldn't even live up to my less than optimistic name.
Ponies were sticking their heads out of their tents as they watched us pass. Flare and High Stakes seemed to have their heads held high, but I kept mine low, staring at the ground. At the corners of my EFS, I could see so many red ticks I didn't even want to start counting them.
Another step closer to the store where I had killed Nanny Jane and rescued Serenity. It was my first job with House, and I’d failed already. Maybe... there was still the hope that their leader would negotiate with Mr. House. Maybe I could pull it off. No. Not me. I was not a smart pony, and it'd take a smart pony to talk themselves a deal from a position of weakness. I had failed, and now had to hope one of my friends would bail me out, again. Maybe I should have listened to High Stakes and marched up, demanding to speak to their leader. It'd look better on us than being dragged there.
Another step closer and I looked past the store and up at the casino and hospital on the hill overlooking the town. I could see lights shining from the windows... I wondered if that's where the townsfolk were. It'd be a good defensive position. If these raiders attacked it they'd win, but take heavy losses. Pearly would know that. She had to be alive.
We stopped at the entrance to the store.
“I don't wanna go in there.” Serenity whimpered. “I don't wanna, don't let them.” My eyes watered a little bit as I looked down at the poor filly cringing away. I should have listened to Haze, but that would have been the smart thing to do. I should have asked her to keep Serenity in Dise. I should have asked her to kiss me.
“Serenity...” I whispered down at her. “Be strong. Nopony will take you from me. Not while I live.” I steeled my gaze for when she looked up at me. “Not here. If they try, I'll kill them all.” I heard one of our guards jeer, but I shot her a look that would shatter bones before turning back to Serenity. “Nanny Jane is dead. You don't need to be afraid her. I won't leave you.” She looked away. “Look at me, Serenity.” She did, reluctantly, and her sad grey eyes were full of tears. “They won't hurt you.”
She nodded.
“I love you, momma...”
“Love you too, Serenity.”
I wasn't sure if she meant it. I know that deep down, she was still mad at me for what I had done, and I deserved that anger. But now she was going to face a place I know she never wanted to, and she needed something to hold onto. A foundation she could build her emotions on to keep her strong. I could be that something.
We entered the General Store.
I am not sure where the goods all went, but they’d been cleared, leaving the entire room empty except for the lower counter that was being used as a table. On the other side of the table was an olive pony with a thick grey mane, smiling wanly at me. It made my stomach turn and twist into knots. A thousand horrid memories came to the forefront all at once. Wait...
No...
No. Fuck. No way! It couldn't be!
“I killed you!” I blurted at the raider leader.
“I thought the same of you,” Smooth Tongue of the Crimson Hoof said, “Silver Storm.”
Level Up!
You forgot to keep track of your stats! Idiot! New Milestones: Guns 75. Unarmed 50. Sneak 50.
((A/N: Sorry for the wait, but here we are again, and once again I would like to thank kkat for the wonderful world she created for me to defile. As well I’d like to thank my awesome editors who helped make this stupidly long chapter readable. Them being: theBSDude, Julep, and Errant Indy.)) |
No One | 662 | 18 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-05-09T07:54:14+00:00 | 2012-05-09T07:54:14+00:00 | 27,314 | Choices
“If a pony resists you, you must feed them lead and fire. However, if they bend the knee, you must help them back up, else nopony will ever bend.”
“Who the fuck is Silver Storm!?” Flare, as always, asked the best questions, even if he didn't truly understand why. Who was I? I certainly wasn't a loving mother, and I was a failure as a heartless mercenary. So who exactly was I, and why was I there? Somehow I failed at being both Hired Gun and Silver Storm. I guess that meant I needed a new name.
Smooth Tongue, that fucking bastard, seemed amused at Flare's outburst. “Why, the giant mare with the silver coat... Oh, has she not told you? I suppose that is to be expected. She was always good at running, weren't you, Silver?” I winced and avoided his eye contact. Dammit. What was he doing here? If it was any other pony but him...
“You know this freak, Hired?!' Flare seemed more than a bit shocked at the revelation. I nodded slowly.
For his part, the bastard leaned across the counter grinning from ear to ear. “Yes, she used to work for me. Do you really know nothing at all about your travelling companion?”
“Fuck off, Smooth.” I looked back up at the olive buck and showed him my most defiant glare. “I never worked for you. Never.” I would never work for him. Fuck him. Just. Dammit.
“Oh?” He tapped his pipbuck on the table. Wait, when did he get one of those? “If I recall you often guarded over my land. Not to mention the thousands of times you scavenged through ruins on my behalf.” I flushed and looked away because he had the right of it. “And those times you fought for me, or did you forget?” No, I only tried to. How could I forget my home though? Loath as I was to admit it, anytime I worked for Marefort I worked for him.
“You...” Flare folded his wings to his back, and looked over to me in shock. “You were a raider?” Was I? I didn't do any raiding myself, and the only time I fought was in the defence of my home. On the other hoof, I worked directly for him and my work, my town’s work, was vital in him keeping control over large swaths of land. Hell, the weapons that he had pointing at me were probably ones I had dug out myself.
“I...” There wasn't an easy answer. “No. Yes.” I stomped my metal leg. “Maybe.” He didn't seem impressed. “It's. My town. It was under his control. I never killed for him...” It was the closest thing to the truth I could think of. “I tried to kill him. I...”
“Failed.” Smooth Tongue failed. “Guards,” he looked at the group that had brought us, “thank you for bringing these ponies to my attention, but I have ample protection.” He nodded to the guards on either side of them. As our capture-ers left, he continued, “she nearly killed me though; you should pat her on the back.” High Stakes did. I think he was mocking me. “She broke my leg and left me limping, and I can't thank you enough for that. I was out for a week, and during that one of my lieutenants tried to seize control of Marefort.” I suddenly stood up much straighter. “Luckily most of the ponies were smarter than you, barricaded themselves inside the central building. A few still died, but not as many as could have.”
I gulped and looked at my feet. “Who died?”
“Star Belle, Whitewalker, Brightflame, Hedge, and Grey Wind.” I winced. More names to add to my list of failure. “You'll be happy to know your failure put my leadership into question. I needed a show of force to remind ponies why it is I in charge. Extending my territory works and once these fool ponies surrender. I will establish one of my most trusted ponies as mayor and return to Stable 42. It is further than most of my towns, so I fully expect him to rebel, but by then my little show will be over, and it won't matter.”
“You're wasting the lives of those under you, so you can prove a point?” High Stakes did not seem at all impressed, at least guessing from the haughty look he was giving Smooth.
“Of course.” I really hated the way Smooth Tongue smiled. It just made my skin crawl. “It is the game those in charge must play. It is a show of power, of force, showing that I will do whatever I want. I am not physically strong, so I must show in some way why I am allowed to rule, and why others must follow. When they doubt that, I crush them.”
“You get others to do the crushing,” High Stakes said simply. “Others like me, or like Hired.”
“Power is not just about the size of one’s gun or how many ponies they kill. Oh yes, that can be important, but it is not everything.” He waved his hoof. “I doubt you would understand the subtleties.” I understood Subtlety all right, it was exactly what I needed to end him.
“You're mean,” Serenity said scrunching her little face at him, “And... and you smell.” Nice one. I smiled my approval down at her.
“Oh. I did not see the little one.” He leaned almost exaggeratedly over the counter. “Tell me little one, what is your name?”
Serenity continued to give her best scowl before saying, “Serenity.”
“A pretty name for a pretty filly.” Coming out of his mouth that was way too creepy. “Silver, I am surprised you picked up another one,” he said, as if it was as easy as buying a new gun, “considering what happened to your la-”
“Smooth Tongue If You Finish That Sentence All The Guards In The World Won't Protect You.” There was no bluffing in my voice. His guards could riddle me full of holes but if he dared to bring up Foundation against me, I would tear him limb from limb, and if I died trying, I'd come back from the dead to finish the fucking job.
“Touchy as always. But more talkative, this can only be a plus the way I see it. So tell me... Hired, was it?” fuck him and his grin. “What have you been doing with yourself? So much has changed and I feel we haven't had the time to catch up.”
I didn't respond.
“Really? Nothing at all. So many friends for so little done.”
“You know,” said Flare, “I am going to base a villain off you in my next story. You hit all the marks perfectly. Tell me, is it on purpose, or are you just like this naturally?” The raider leader laughed.
“A little of both, I am afraid. The type of ponies I deal with are better handled by treating them as if they are beneath you; if you lower yourself to their level, they think they can be you. It is fine if they hate me, so long as they fear and respect me.” There was a slight chuckle in his voice. “If you wish, I can go further into the realm of villainhood so to have somepony to hate accurately. Let me see... I suppose I should start by insulting the tall pony’s glasses and hairstyle. Straight over one eye? Are you a sullen teenager? Next I would mock you,” he said, addressing Flare. “Perhaps mentioning how ineffectual and pathetic the Remnants are, and then pointing out you are not nearly as funny as you believe. Next would be mocking Silver for her new cybernetic equipment, making her question if she is truly pony or just a soulless machine, followed by an obvious insult towards her lack of intelligence.” With a weary sigh he continued, “Finally I must, as all great villains do, threaten to harm the child if my wishes are not met. Is that sufficient for your work?”
“Can you laugh maniacally, too? Place your hooves together and reference vague events that will only make sense in retrospect? I mean if you're going for the 'evil' thing you might as well go all the way.” Flare said. To my eternal surprise Smooth Tongue laughed.
“Oh, I like you. How would you like a job?”
“How would you like a mine in your rectum?” Flare shot back. “You know, on a scale from one to ten.” Smooth Tongue's jovial expression faded as a guard entered the room behind us.
“Sorry.” A far too familiar voice said behind me. “Am I intruding?” The voice paused. “Silver? What the fuck are you doing here?” Wanting to kick my brother in the face... I hadn't seen Summer Silk or Meadow or whatever he was calling himself now, since stable 42 when he shot me. With poison. From space.
“Getting captured. Shocking I know.” Flare answered for me. Once he gets going he just doesn't stop. “Who are you anyway, another of these raiders?”
“I am Summer Silk,” he answered. “Of the Crimson Hoof. Silver Storm is my idiot sister. I apologize for whatever she did to bring you here.” The silvery-grey stallion said as he slowly trotted around us giving me a wide berth before standing off to the side of Smooth Tongue.
“Uncle?” Serenity asked.
No one answered her. That could only be for the best.
“Meadow. I assume you are here to shoot me again?” I glared at my former brother. “Don’t miss this time. You won't get another chance.”
“T-that was...” He sounded abashed. “One time, and you attacked first.”
“You shot me with poison! From space!”
“Are you two done bickering?” Smooth Tongue asked. That's exactly what we were doing. Just like old times. Only with poisoned bullets. From space! And Smooth kept talking because ponies loved to talk me to death. “Have you made any progress with the villagers, Summer?”
“Sorry, sir,” my stupid ass brother said. “Anypony who gets halfway up that hill gets shot at. We could take it by storm but with impressive losses. On both sides. We've tried all sides of the hill, but they have plenty of snipers...”
Continuing his theme of being evil Smooth Tongue said, “As if they stood a chance. I applaud them their valour for defending their home, but it is pointless. We hold superior numbers and tactics. If I wished it I could sent a stealth squad into their casino, slaughter their snipers and raze the building to the ground without ever firing a shot.” I doubted that, but I wished him the best. Except not. “I would like to avoid that however. A town without townsfolk is a graveyard, and I would prefer to have the town continue, only under my control.” A slightly different tone than when Meadow wasn't around. Interesting.
“We'll talk to them,” High Stakes said.
Wait, what? No we wouldn't! And most certainly not for that asshole. I had to work for him my entire life and I was not going back just as soon as I got free. No way.
“Hired, stop glaring at me.” I wasn't glaring at High Stakes. I was trying to set him on fire. With my mind. “We were sent here to do a job.” He turned his head back towards Smooth Tongue, and he didn't catch fire. Drat. “Hired here has been to the town before and may be recognized. Meaning we may be able to negotiate a deal for their surrender... however we require payment. A promise that all caravans coming through this town will not be taxed.”
The leader rebutted, “Taxes are a good source of income, and the Crimson Hoof will require tribute by the town.” And in time they would use the town, steal it's males, and make a larger army. I am not entirely sure why males though, as females could fight just as well. Maybe each town's pony tribute was set up differently...
“Yes.” High Stakes admitted as his glasses flashed, “but caps can be gained in more than one way. The reason this town is a hub for caravans has to do with the casino. Take a percentage of their profits and open up trade routes with your towns in the north. You get more traders coming in and more money for your casino. Taxes will drive business away, but this way you'll get more, and thus more caps in the long term.”
The raider leader clapped mockingly. “Well now, I am impressed. If it works. But it’s the brightest idea I have heard all day.”
“I'm still lost,” Flare said. “So.” He pointed a hoof at me. “You worked for him.” He pointed at Smooth. “Or lived in a town he owned. You're also his sister.” He pointed at Meadow. “And he actually works for him because he's an ass or something.” I nodded. “So then you.” He pointed his hoof at me. “Tried to kill him.” Why did he keep pointing at ponies. I didn't understand. “But was protected by your brother who shot you.”
“With poison. From space.” I added.
“Right, space poison, which explains why Sky Fall is so obsessive.... Where was I?” He furrowed his brow. “Fuck. I'm lost again. Whatever. You're all insane, and I hate you.”
“Thanks for the input. It has been noted and discarded.” His eyes gleamed at High Stakes. “How do you deal with these stupid ponies? It must be a task.”
High Stakes did not respond.
“Right.' Smooth Tongue continued. “But it is your job, and you do it so amiably. What was your name?” High Stakes moved to answer but was cut off. “It doesn't matter. Funny that. Now that we are done... catching up, I suppose I should put you to use.”
My lovely brother eyed me warily and gulped nervously. “If I may offer a suggestion... it seems you are plannin' to let her try and convince the townsfolk to surrender, but is that wise? She did try to kill you before, and doesn't seemed to have changed temperament.”
“Never let a tool go to waste, Summer. Silver Storm may be wild and unpredictable,” I hated it when ponies talked about me as if I wasn't even there, it was just rude, “but at the very worst it'll be one, maybe two more ponies we'll need to kill. A single pony can't change the tide of an unwinnable battle, no matter how strong. At best, we win without much of a fight at all. Besides.” His red eyes sparkled as they stared at me fully. I knew what he was thinking, he didn't even say it. There was no way he was taking Serenity from me!
I put my hoof down in front of Serenity and focused on the shotgun in my saddlebag. I wondered if I grabbed it, then switched to stop timey mode if I stood a chance. It was the only option as there was no way... I refused.
“Do you know why villains use less than savoury methods?” Smooth Tongue asked me. “Because they are effective. Please tie the filly up as insurance to Silver's good behaviour.” He smiled. “Be good, and not a hair in her mane will be hurt. Can't argue with that, now can you? Tell you what, I’ll even let you take your pegasus friend with you to help with your negotiations. It's just business, right? Do this and I can assure you that the town will allow caravans free travel.”
“Don't worry, Momma.” I looked down at the source of the small voice. She was shaking, but her face seemed confident as she said, “You'll come back for me. You can do it. I'll be fine, don't worry... I'll be.” I could do it. Yeah... I was not okay with this. There was no way I'd ever be okay with this. Not wither her, not here. But I had no choice.
“Heartwarming,” Smooth said. “Escort Silver and the pegasus as far as the hill, and leave the others here as collateral. Worst comes to worst, they are mistaken as Crimson Hoof and the defenders lose two bullets.”
---
“So,” Flare said turning the 'o' into a long whistle, “you’re Hired's brother.” As we walked through the silent camp toward the casino on the hill I resisted the urge to take out my shotgun and kill everything. Obviously it was Meadow who was chosen as our escort because, really, Smooth Tongue hated me and wanted it to be as awkward as possible. “What was she like as a filly?”
“Loud,” was the instant answer, “and hyperactive. She mistook our home for a jungle gym.”
There was a slight pause as Flare seemed to process that information. “Hired Gun... loud and hyper...” He looked intently at the dirt as we walked before turning his head back to Meadow. “Are you sure this is the right mare?”
“No.” That hurt. “She is different than the way she was. I heard she changed from the time I was taken away, but such a change is unsettling.” There was a sense of heavy sadness in his voice. “She was never bright, but she would smile before. Maybe she grew up or what happened hurt her more then I knew. I loved my sister.”
“I changed?” I growled. “You are working with raiders. I saw you kill peaceful folk.” For the brief second I pushed my own sins out of my mind. “You became something horrible. You are working with him! He killed our mother.”
“Do you remember our mother?!” I winced at his tone. “Do you even remember her name?” It was... Mayor Mare. Except that was just her title... and I always called her momma. I didn't know. I didn't know my own mother's name. “Maybe she treated you like a pretty princess, but she was a drunkard, and brutal with punishments. She resented her position, resented the Crimson Hoof, and resented me because she knew it was only a matter of time before they took me. She'd beat me when she drank too much, and tell me how worthless I was. How I'd never accomplish anything. Sure she'd dote upon you, but she was a horrible mare.” But. She was my mother! She wasn't bad. I didn't remember any of this. “It's just like you Silver. You were always good at forgetting the past when it was inconvenient. Smooth Tongue was more of a parent to me then our mother ever was, so don't talk to me about who he killed.”
We stopped at the edge of the hill where the casino was waiting. “You...” I was shocked. I... in my mind, Mom was never like that. She was nice and kind and... “You can't talk about her like that!”
“I'll talk to her however I like!” His eyes were furious and torch light from the camp set his body half in shadows. “You clearly never met the mare, just the mare you wanted her to be. Just go, Silver. I had hoped... hoped that if you survived you'd see your mistake. That you'd come back... I've missed you Silver. But you refuse to learn. So... just go. It was foalish of me. Just...”
There was a glint of tears in his eyes. I reached my hoof out but I wasn't sure why. Part of me wanted to embrace him. Strike him down. Something between but I couldn't. He was a monster and my brother, so I put my hoof back and stomped at the ground, turned to the casino and stormed away. It didn't matter. Well, it did matter! He was my brother. He would stand up to bullies for me when I was awkward and afraid to say anything back. I didn't want to let him go... but I didn't know what to do. It had been so long.
I was halfway up when I realized Flare was talking to me. “You alright, Hired?” I didn't respond. Just kept walking. “You both seemed a little worked up. It's a hard situation but...”
“Shut up. What do you know?” It seemed like I was stepping so hard I was leaving indents in the dirt.
“I have family you know. Two younger brothers, but even though I was older, they were bigger, and they loved to pick on me an' give me noogies. When I left the Remnants they refused to talk to me at all and pretended like I didn't exist. Since I went back, I hadn't spoken to them. Too afraid at what they'd say.” I nodded dumbly. Of course, he had family. I guess it was one of those things I should have asked about. “There's nothing tougher on a pony than family, I understand. So stop moping about it. You have much more important things to mope about. Like the fact we are stuck in hostile land with your filly captive to the whims of a tyrannical mad stallion. On the bright side at least you still have your health!” There was a short pause as he remembered the starmetal. “Or... well you have your... stunning good looks.” He gave a weak smile.
“I don't know what I'd do without you.” I looked up at the casino we were closing in on. Considering we weren't being shot at I guess we... weren't going to be shot at. Or. Something. “I don't like this.”
“Which part?” There was the sound of a smirk on his face. “The part where we walk slowly towards a building loaded with snipers and a great deal to kill for? Or the small raider army behind us? What about the fact we have companions captured meaning we can't rebel?” He’d forgotten about the family connections, and the overall stupidity of being dragged into this. All I wanted to do was travel to Bridle Hope and kill some raiders. Instead, in my travels, I’d found out I had accidentally caused the destruction of an entire town and was a direct cause of another being taken over by asshole raiders I was related to.
“Yes.” All of the above and more. It felt like my gut was trying to eat me from the inside out.
As we got closer I saw a glint of a scope from a partially boarded up window, but there was no shot. I guess we were in the clear. The facade of the casino was partially worn down by time, but I could still see the vague outline of a cowpony with a comically large hat. The multicoloured neon sign once said 'Black&White Casino' but since only the blue lights still worked, it said 'BCWT AI' which was a pretty stupid name for a casino, if you asked me. So the locals just called it 'the casino'.
We reached the large double doors without a fuss, but when I tried to push through I found it locked. Or barricaded. I was sure that I was more than large enough to break the whole thing down if I felt like it, but that would not have helped my attempt at negotiations. So instead I raised a hoof to the wooden door and knocked a few times with a heavy thunking sound.
On my EFS I could see far too many red ticks on the other side, and only a few green ones. If I strained my ears I could hear the sound of voices beyond the doors. As I tried to listen I noticed a few of the red ticks turning green. There was a loud crash and a few more turned green. It wasn't long that all the ticks on my EFS were green. There was a scraping sound, another crash, and finally the doors opened.
“Workin' with raiders now?” A pair or purple eyes peered out of the casino at me. “I wish ah could say ah was surprised.” A beautiful white pony with a thick red mane strode out of the casino with a bit of a swagger. I would be lying if I said it didn't cause my eyes to lock onto her flank... er. Her cutiemark. It was an apple.
“Pearly...” I said slowly. It had been a long time since I last met the beautiful pony I’d had a one night stand with, and we did not leave on the best of terms. Mostly because I told her of my plans to assassinate a town member, and while she didn't like her she still took exception to who I was hired by. I barely stopped her from killing me. “It's been a while.”
“Ain't been long enough, hon. Not nearly.” There was no warmth in her smile. “Now, last I saw you, you were running back to a group of slavers with... product at your heels.” I guessed that after I killed Nanny Jane she watched me take Serenity away, but I had hoped she hadn't. “Where is she now? Safe in the hand of murderous thugs?”
“Well...” I looked back at the camp. “They have her so I don't betray them... I never gave her to the slavers.”
She laughed and moved in close, wrapping a foreleg around my neck and kissing my cheek. I didn't even have time to blush. “I know.” There was a hint of playfulness in her voice. “Heard from a reliable source. I'm glad. You seemed like such a good mare when we first met, an' it didn't sit right knowing you'd stoop so low.” If only she knew how low I would stoop.
“Hired, hold your libido. What would Platinum Haze think if she saw you like that?” Flare said. I flushed red and pushed back. This was no time to be blushing, damnit. “You don't want to cheat on an alicorn, given their phenomenal cosmic powers.”
“Is the lad daft, Hired?” Pearly gave me a quizzical look before turning to the entrance. “Alicorns and the like.” She scoffed. “Come inside before you get shot up.” Better advice I'd never heard.
The entrance hallways to the casino had been reconfigured to the point I could barely recognize it. Nearly all of the lights were out, and the ones that were on were dim and made shadows dance in the strangest places. The dimness helped to disguise the plethora of traps loaded around the room. All of them had been deactivated, but as we passed, I heard ponies behind me sneaking out of hiding spots to set them up again. All in all, I saw four shotguns loaded on trip wires, three mines, and four pressure plates that appeared to be connected to a rope on the wall. I followed one of the ropes to the ceiling where there was a fake panel and probably something heavy hidden above to fall on the unsuspecting. Or boiling oil if they were feeling old-school. Overall, it was an impressively macabre hallway that, if you included the ponies apparently hiding out to ambush attackers, would tear the raiders to pieces. Not enough though, not nearly enough.
The door at the end of the hallway led to a vaguely familiar sight. The Bridle Hope casino floor was set up like a hexagon with the outermost, and largest, ring used for slot machines (mostly Rainboom Riches and Fishing for Winnings.). The middle ring was traditionally used for blackjack, poker, and craps, while the centre was the high rollers table. The whole place was meticulously designed so every side looked the same, and finding your way out was beyond difficult. When I first saw it, I had thought it was the height of old world preservation, but after seeing Dise and all its wonder, I could see where it was starting to wear.
The carpet was dirty and torn, the machines were rusty and broken, and some of the tables had large holes in them. It looked even worse now that it was full to bursting with ponies from the town. Most had set up crude tents and quarantined areas as their 'homes', but the chaos of it all made the whole place look that much worse.
“Home sweet home,” Pearly said. There was a hint of bitterness in her voice. “Lucky for us, armies are easy to spot; we were able to bring everypony in here before they got close, but they've held us here for days. Eventually food is going to run out, and then what? They know it too, and they're waitin' until we're half-starved and can't fight back. Ain't like no raiders I've ever seen. Bridle Hope has been attacked before, and we've retreated here. They always try to charge the front door and our traps tear them to pieces. Now though... They're fucking waiting.”
I followed her as she snaked past a Rainboom Riches machine. “They want you to surrender,” I said as she stopped to wave at a group of stallions sitting around a craps table drinking. “They want me to tell you to surrender. They promise nopony will get hurt...”
“The day ah trust a raider is the day ah die.” She looked back at me with her hard purple eyes. “Don't play the fool with me, we can't trust them. They want us to put our guard down an' they'll gut us. Every last one. I've been trying to convince the mayor to bring the fight to them, but she ain't listening. She says now that we have 'The Hero Of Wending' that they don't stand a chance. I think she's a damn fool”
“Hero of Wending.” I could already hear him preparing a joke. “Been up to Wending once or twice back when I used to do caravan runs. Nice little town but built on top of a radscorpion nest. Once time I near got stabbed by one of those beasties. Heard something on the radio about a mother daughter team clearing those fuckers out and blowing a twenty foot tall bastard to hell.” That sounded familiar. I guess. Also it wasn't a joke so I was disappointed.
“The very same.” We moved slowly around a table but Pearly had to stop and tell a filly to get back to her mother before we could continue. “She didn't look that impressive, but the description matches, so what can I say?” In the centre of the casino was a large walled-off tent structure that we seemed to be moving towards. “They say she cleared out a raider base by herself, and stopped a mysterious plot to poison a town’s well. I guess when she heard about the army she came here to help.” Now she sounded like a right saint.
“Does she have a name, or are we expected to call her 'Miss Hero’?” Flare paused to smirk. “Not that I have a problem with that, I'd just prefer a real name. How about Lightbringer Jr.? Part-time Security? The Ghost's Apprentice? Merchant's Bagboy? You know, something catchy like that. She is a little hero after all.”
We stopped in front of the entrance flap to the centre tent. “If you call her that, she might just stab you. I hear she's fond of that. Her real name is Pinprick”
“How... heroic.” I said looking up at the tent. It was a large cloth thing that hung from a rafter and fell down in almost a cone shape. Without any further adieu, we pushed our way in. All the gambling tables that would normally be in the area were flipped on their side and pushed to the side, pinning the cloth down and making something almost similar to a wall. Inside the tent I noticed four ponies.
One was a pale yellow pony with a light grey, almost white, mane who was currently fussing over a large pink cannon. A party cannon, I remembered them from the Clips And Clops. The other two were playing cards, and must have been the so called 'heroes'. The filly was light grey with a purple mane and a devious smirk on her face as she held up her cards in a field of magic. The other was deep grey with a spikey red mane and an unsettling look in her eyes. The two of them looked vaguely familiar. I watched them and tried to figure it out as the pair dropped their cards and the filly raised her hooves in victory.
“Woohoo.” the filly grinned. She turned, looking to brag at the grey maned mare no doubt, when she saw me. “No way!” She gasped running up to me. “My prisoner!” She giggled looking up at me. “What're ya doing here? You escaped, I heard, and momma said we had to leave but...” Who the heck was this filly? Flare looked over at me and shrugged. I looked over at the filly’s mother who seemed to smile sadistically at the sight of me.
Then I looked at her cutie mark. A bloody dagger. The memories came flooding back all at once. I was captured by raiders and met these two there. Then when I took Serenity to them and killed Silver Bullet, I spared her and told her to take her daughter... Spitshine. Right. Her Daughter Spitshine away so they could do better. It never occurred to me that the heroes I had heard on the radio could be them!
“Bloody Dagger!” I shouted at once waving my hoof at her.
“Pinprick, you fucking git.” Pinprick. Right. Bloody Dagger was never her name, just what I knew her as. She grinned at me through yellow teeth and walked up to her filly. “Remember this fucker?” she asked Spitshine. The filly grinned and nodded. “She was fucking mad when you had to leave, she’d have liked to fuck you, but what can you do?”
“Another part of your mysterious past I'm guessing?” Flare seemed amused. “They just keep piling on today.”
“Oh, you got a birdy to fuck then? Looks a bit skinny for my tastes; a pretty little cunt, too.” Was Flare blushing? I hope so.
“We're friends. What the hell happened?” Everypony in the tent was staring at us now. Pearly for her part seemed to be enjoying it. I guess Pinprick here was how she knew I hadn't thrown away all my morals before. I was still in shock it was her. It had been so long, I thought I would never see her again.
“Tried to leave that damn place with Spitshine like you said, but didn't work so well. Fuckers got up in arms and we had'ta clear them out.” Spitshine helped by making a 'Bang' sound. “A whole lot too, and it weren't easy I tell you. Managed to stumble half bleeding to a small town. They healed us up, and in return I helped fuck up some idiot fuckers who tried to attack.” She paused. “It felt good. Doing good, and after the radscorpion incident we just got used to helping idiot fuckers what can't fight. Feels good, even if it's stupid.” She paused. “You were right, I think, and a cunt like you being right pisses me off. I was playing raider because that's what my momma did, but I ain't never enjoyed it. Once we were free things got better. So thank you, you fucker.”
“You're... welcome?” I wasn't sure what to say.
“That's it? Fuck, you're a piece of work. Was manning the sniper when I saw you coming and convinced these fuckers you were good to deal with. Even this cunt,” She waved a hoof half heartedly at Pearly. “Wasn't so sure you weren't a fucking agent, but you know I talked them out of stringing you by your feet. So you best be thanking me too.”
“Thanks...” I turned my head to Pearly. “You were going to kill me?” She had least had the courtesy to look ashamed at that.
“Well darlin' when last I saw you...” She paused and let me fill in the blanks. “I mean I didn't want to think but considering the circumstances...” Yeah. I guess I couldn't really blame her. I mean we hadn’t ended on good terms, and if I had been in her horseshoes I'd think the same thing.
“It begs the question.” A soft voice I didn't recognize said. Looking around I saw the grey maned pony hunched over the pink cannon was speaking. “What you are here for?” She stood up slowly and wrenched her neck sideways so it cracked. “You are here on the behalf of the raiders, aren't you?” I stared blankly at her. “Oh, where are my manners? I'm Mayor Buttercup, I saw you once when you were unconscious, but we haven’t met proper.”
“Hired Gun...” I said slowly, eyeing the blue pegasus to my left to make sure he didn't correct with my real name. “That is Flare. We are here for them... they have friends of ours. Won't release them until we deliver a message. They will attack. Show no mercy. Unless you surrender. Then everypony gets to live...”
“Let them come.” The older yellow mare grinned. “We have the heroes here, and the casino is a death trap. They don't stand a chance.”
“Now I don't want to tell you how to run your town... casino... thing,” Flare said, “But you don't stand much of a chance, and I'll tell you why. From what I have seen they have you outnumbered three to one. That wouldn't be that bad since you have a position of power but it seems they have better training, and equipment. Hell, a few of them have pipbucks and know how to use them. If you fight them they will tear your townsfolk in half, hero or no. No offence, Pin.”
“None taken, been trying to tell this fucking cunt the same thing for hours now, but she's not a listening type bitch.” It was good to see that despite trying to be heroic 'Bloody Dagger' still took time out of her busy schedule to swear like it was going out of style. What kind of hero swears that much anyway? Seriously.
“What other option do we have?” Buttercup said her voice annoying high. “We fight or we die, there are no other options.”
“That's just retarded, pardon my language, but for fuck's sake, dyin' ain't in the schedule,” Pin said as her filly jumped on her back and rested her forehooves on Pin's head. “I'm saying we set the best in your hallway of death when they attack, and send the rest out fleeing out the back. Hopefully they don't grow a brain and put some ponies out back too. If they do that, well we try to punch a hole through and run as fast as we can.”
“What you're asking is for ponies to die voluntarily,” Buttercup said. “Anypony left to defend here in your plan will die.” She shook her head. “That is not an-”
“The other option. Is we all get fucking torn to bits. Do you know what raiders do to prisoners? I fucking do. We want as many of these fuckers as far away as possible when they get into mutilation mood, that make fucking sense to you?” Pin stomped her hoof. “Some will die so the rest can live, now that's a fucking plan. Ain't a good one, but one that doesn't have a 100% failure rate.”
“They have nice kids here, don't want 'em to die,” Spitshine said sadly. “So it's the best plan. We'll lead the escapees and 'bang' anything that gets close. This way most survive!”
“Ya'll know my opinion on the matter,” Pearly said.
All eyes turned to me and Flare. “Running is the best plan... the Crimson Hoof is not kind if you oppose them. Either that or surrender.” There was a look of shock on the other ponies' faces. I guess that option was off the table completely. Exactly what I wanted to hear... “But. We have companions caught... a filly. We can't let them die.”
“But you'd let my ponies die so others can escape?” Buttercup said. She sounded upset, and I guess she decided it was all my fault.
To my surprise it was Bloody Dagger. Er, Pinprick who came to my defence. “As if fucking volunteers are the same as random fucking cunts that got fucking captured. One’s a filly too, so no fucking way we can stand back and let that bitch get a knife shoved up her ass, you hear me?” You know if you looked past the way she swore as much as everypony I had ever met combined, she was actually nice. I suppose. At least, she was trying to be.
“Well...” Pearly started, “once they attack, you two can swing around the side and rescue them.” There was a awkward pause. “Unless.. ya don't think he'd shank them 'fore that, do ya?”
I wanted to say that I wouldn't put it past him, but Flare cut me off. “I wouldn't say likely. The guy we talked to seemed like the kind who enjoyed lording power over ponies. If he did kill Serenity or Stakes then he wouldn't have power over us, and we'd have no reason not to strangle him with his own entrails.” He shot me a knowing glance. “That one flips the shit if Serenity is even hinted as possibly maybe being in the proximity of something dangerous. Killing her would be him signing his own death sentence.”
The little filly on Pinpricks head had been smiling but at Flare's statement her smile faded into something similar to scowl. In a tone that left no room for the imagination, she said simply, “You'd be surprised what you can live through.”
Nopony wanted to think about that. The ponies in the tent looked away and to their own business. The only sound we could hear was the constant background chatter of the rest of the casino. What was worse is that I knew Spitshine was right. And I knew all too well what could be done.
“So... nice cannon. Going to throw a party for the raiders and discuss the issue over tea?” Do I even need to tell you it was Flare who said that?
“No,” Buttercup said, fussing over it, “I'm trying to fix it so it'll work properly. I bought it for a defensive weapon after I heard the Galicians used it in their casino. We were expecting something... that exploded more.” That was all Flare needed to hear to cause him to flash across the tent push Buttercup onto her back away from the cannon so he could get a better look. “What are yo-” the mayor started but was cut off.
“I can fix it. Trust me, if it explodes violently, you want me on your side.” I couldn't really argue with that logic.
Pinprick walked towards me and pushed past. “We're running. I'm going to find some fuckers who want to cover our escape. Think about how to save your little bitch too, Hired. Good luck.”
“Don't worry!” I heard Spitshine yell as they walked away. “You'll save her! Well, you better or I'mma be pissed. You're still my prisoner, and you gotta do what I say.”
“Well...” I looked around. It seemed everypony was busy. Great. I guess I would just wait here. Hoping Serenity wasn't dying.
“I'm on lookout duty.” Pearly turned and started to leave. I didn't even notice until I felt her tail stroke under my chin. “You should come too.” I opened my mouth and tried to form words. They refused to work properly so I just nodded and followed.
---
We stood on the roof of the casino, looking down at Bridle Hope. It was alive with lights. They danced in the tents that lined the streets and filtered across the town, making it positively glow. Off in the distance I could the small bell tower of the school from which I had once sniped Nanny Jane. My eyes traced a line from it to the General Shop, which was glowing more than anything else. Inside I thought I could make out movement in the windows. I almost wondered if I could shoot them from here... until I remembered they still had Subtlety.
Beside me, I felt Pearly snuggle up close. For warmth, I hoped. It was almost a beautiful sight if I could forget the fact that my oldest enemy was down there with my daughter captive. That just made the whole thing really dramatic and “pissing me off”-ish.
“It really is a nice little town...” Pearly sighed, resting her head on my neck. “It's a shame we have ta leave. I know you ain't from 'round here, but you must understand the hardship of leaving home.” Yeah. When I left Marefort the first time, I didn't think I was ever coming back, but it wasn't until Stable 42 that I really understood the breadth of what I’d left behind. Of my failure.
“It's never easy,” I said simply, as I stood stiff. The nights kept getting colder.
“Must be an eventuality for an adventurer like you. Always travelling from place to place, never stopping for long.”
“We stop,” I said simply. “For a few days. Here. Dise. Timber...” I let the word hang in the frigid air as I imagined the charred corpses and blackened streets. “The stopping is the best part. The world is harsh. The more you move, the more you see. Maybe we should have stayed. One place, never moving. Would be better.”
“Why not stay in one place then?” she asked.
“I don't know. Been thinking about it. Now, though.” I shook my head. “One place is bad. So is any other. Stayed here, would have had to leave. Stayed at Timber, would have burned. Dise isn’t better. It hides murder under flashing lights. There is no safe place.” Even Marefort got attacked, though it was my fault. Timber was my fault. Bridle Hope my fault. Karkhoof even more directly my fault. The blood of the innocents I inadvertently led to death could fill a river.
“So why not make a safe place, hon?” Hon... I focused on the way she said that word.
“Trying to. It's hard.” I smiled down at her. “Don't laugh. But I'm trying to fix Dise. Make it better.”
She laughed anyway, and her voice echoed down to the streets of Bridle Hope below. “Sorry, it's just. That's a mighty big order there, and I ain't sure you're the one for the job.”
“Oh, I'm not.” My eyes fell back on the Bridle Hope General Store. I could only assume Serenity was still being held there as far as I knew, and waiting for me to broker a deal I knew was never going to happen. “Not for me. For her. Serenity... I rescued her that night. Do you remember?” She nodded, a hint of sadness in her eyes. “She hated me. She should hate me. I nearly sold her, but... I couldn't. Killed my employers. Drug her around with me. Now she thinks I should be her mother. Or did think that... So. I need to protect her. Fix it. Give her a safe place. Even if I die trying.”
The words made the world pause for a brief second. I had admitted my desire to myself, but I hadn't really told anyone. Saying it out loud made it seem almost... juvenile and simplistic. Which I was, so I stick to it.
“It's a nice thought, now I ain't sayin' it's not. It's just Dise ain't lookin' to be fixed. Only been down the once, but I hear stories, and it seems to me it enjoys itself the way it is. And the rest of the wasteland is beyond what a single pony can do.” She looked at me and shook her head. “I mean look at you. A few weeks after I see you and you're head to hoof in scars, you lost an ear, have a green glowing eye patch and hell... Hired, you'll die before you fix anything.” I was going to die anyway. Everypony was. If Sky Fall was right I would die much sooner than that on account of the poison coursing through my veins. “I don't want you to die.”
“Why not?” My voice must have been harsh because the force of it sent her flinching away from me.
“I...” She scrunched up her nose at me. “What kind of question is that?!” The correct one. Maybe she didn't want me to die, but when it came down to it there was no reason for her to care. I was an unthinking brute who killed innocents at the command of caps. Maybe there was 'goodness' inside me, but it was covered so much by blackness and failure you couldn't see it without squinting.
“A good one?”
“Now hon, that just ain't fair.” She moved closer but was far more stiff. “I don't want nopony to die, ya hear? You done some rotten things, and I ain't saying those don't count or nothin' but you can do better and I can see that you wanna. You've got a daughter now too, right?” Well yes. Er, no. Something like that. “If nothing else, I want you alive for her sake.” She licked her lips. “And I wouldn't mind finishing what we started when we first met...”
Wait... finish? When we first met, we went out gambling, I got drunk for the first time, er, ever, and I woke up in her house. It didn't take an intelligence chip to fill in the gaps.
“Uh... but didn't we... already.” I felt heat rise to my cheeks and turned my head from her. “You know... after...”
She laughed.
I felt my cheeks start to burn hotter as she said, “Hell no, hon. Don't get me wrong, it ain't like I didn't wanna. You were loaded and stumbling so I helped you back to my house.” I felt a sinking sensation in my stomach. Whatever came next I really didn't want to know but was going to find out anyway. “We got there, you kissed me, Threw up in my mouth. And passed out.”
Well...
That was...
I started talking so fast my tongue tripped over itself as I desperately tried to explain just how sorry I was. What came out though was mostly a jumbled list of nonsensical statements and stuttering, followed by me shutting my stupid mouth glaring at the roof we were standing on, and hoping I'd wake up. My only consolation was that Flare wasn’t there to make fun of me about it.
Pearly laughed hard enough to make up for his absence though. “Don't worry too much 'bout it. The nature of whiskey is to make you want a good fuck, and then make you fuck it up when the time comes. It's a tricky mistress.” You're telling me. Strangely enough her words did nothing to stop me from blushing furiously and avoiding eye contact. She kept talking, “Hell, if I’da known you’d never drunk before, I wouldn't have given' you any. I worried ya were mad at me for it.”
“I puked on you...” I paused. “In your mouth. And you. Were worried about me being mad?”
“Well when you put it like that, you make it sound like ah'm crazy.” She chuckled and went back to staring at the town. The raiders down there seemed busy, I saw a lot of vague shapes running back and forth. It made me just a little bit uneasy at the whole situation. Serenity... she had to be safe. I was coming for her.
“Hate waiting.” I growled my displeasure.
“She'll be safe.” I felt her breath on my cheek, but didn't dare look. “Don't worry. You'll get her. She travelled with you this long, right?” She kissed my cheek. “You'll save her, in time.”
“And what would Platinum Haze say if she saw you!” For fuck's sake Flare! I turned my head and gave the pegasus a withering glare as he came floating over with a cannon strapped to his underbelly. “Now I did warn you not to cheat on an alicorn, but no. Nopony listens to poor Flare. A terrible, horrible, awful situation. When she tears you apart, I'll be the who'll have to bury you, and do you know what I'm going to put on your gravestone?”
I gave a weary sigh. “Here lies Hired Gun. She should have listened?”
“Damn. You know me too well. I'm going to have to come up with new jokes.” Or Flare could just try actually being funny. But for him that might be too difficult. Instead, he flew over to the edge of the roof and slowly lowered the cannon down as Buttercup followed up behind him and unlatched the subtle bright pink cannon.
“You're dating an.... alicorn?” Pearly inched away giving, me a cockeyed look. “Now ah'm pretty sure alicorns don't exist.” Oh, how much she had to learn. “Or is he just fuckin' with ya?”
“It's...” I turned my head to Flare and watched him fuss over the cannon. “Complicated.” I shook my head and trotted over to where Flare was, but was careful not to go too close to the edge. The last thing I needed was a reminder of how high I was. Urgh.
“Didn't take long to load this thing up with something that actually goes 'boom',” Flare said as I approached. I looked at the pink cannon cautiously. “Can't say for sure the whole thing won't break down after one shot, but what a shot it'll be! Imagine the explosion. Like music to my ears.”
“Will it work?” Mayor Buttercup asked as she hunched over the device, her rump in the air, giving me a good look of her cutiemark (Some sort of flower). “If it does... we might be able to hold them off. If they come through the front. We could hold the town.” She sure was... persistent in that desire. I couldn't blame her. She was the mayor and this was her home, running away could not be easy.
“It'll go boom,” Flare repeated. “Can't say if it'll work twice. Never seen a cannon like this before... who the hell makes a cannon that shoots parties!? It works with, like, counter-logic.” I was going to have to take his word for it. “Interesting design I'll give it that, but still!”
“We're not fighting,” Pearly said. “Just ain't gunna happen. Even if we win, we'd lose over half the town, and that's if. Yeah, we got traps, but these ain't the normal raiders to walk right into them. It's too big a risk. We either make a deal with'em or run to the nearest NCA outpost and hope they are smart enough not to step on the NCA's hoof. It's a risk either way, but I'm going for the one what don't put us up against a large force with superior training.” She leaned lightly on me. “‘Sides, far as I know the 'hero' is already telling people to start packing up in case we need ta leave in a hurry.”
“Running is better than dying,” Flare agreed. “High Stakes and Serenity needed saving first.” There was a look of frustration on his face when he looked up at the moonlit sky. “If I had Bunker Buster, we might stand a chance. If nothing else, it'd cover your escape.” He kicked the cannon. “Guess I have to be useless. Again.”
“Sticking to tradition Flare? Can't go wrong with that,” I said as deadpan as I could manage.
“Great. You've been around me too long. I can't take the competition. Clearly we need to have a snark off. One on one. Mano y mano. You and I! A battle for the century! I'll write a book detailing it. Okay, on the count of-”
“Flare.” He snapped his mouth shut and grinned. “Shut up.”
“Well.” Pearly smirked. “We have a winner. Ain't gunna make for much of an epic novel though.”
“From my experience, all written work is five percent truth and ninety five percent 'truth'” He wagged his hooves in the air in what I could only imagine was a crude attempt at quotation marks. “So we have plenty of material. Add in a few fight scenes, a tragic backstory and perhaps a megaspell detonation.” he paused for a second with a wicked grin. “I got it! Silver's comeback was so fierce it set up and detonated a megaspell inside her!”
“Now, hon.” Pearly just shook her head. “Now, I know you ain't a unicorn, but you should know megaspells don't work that way... Well... would be cool if they did. Tell ya what, just chalk it up to artistic integrity.” Flare grinned and did a mock bow.
“Is this really the time?” Buttercup didn't seem that amused. That's a shame, because it was actually kind of funny. Which was rare for Flare. Though, I understood her point. Looking out towards the raiders camp, it was eerily silent, but I could make out movement. More than the last time I looked. I knew they weren't going to attack so long as they thought we were still doing peace negotiations (or rather giving the townsfolk an ultimatum), but it was unnerving.
Not nearly as unnerving as a shrill scream that echoed across the town.
We looked at each other. I could hear hearts beating in chests. There was a silent recognition at the looks we gave each other, a realization that we had all just heard that.
A second scream, deeper, but no less terrified. Coming from inside the casino. I tore off my eye patch and looked back at the camp. My green cybernetic eye whirled for a second before I started to see red and purple boxes even in places where I could not see ponies. And they were moving, towards us. The realization hit me a second later: we were just sent here as an overture of peace so that when they attacked the town wouldn't be expecting it.
I think it worked.
“Flare!” I shouted. “Use that cannon thing 'till it stops working. Then meet me by the general store.” Flare nodded and turned to the cannon as we heard a small voice behind us.
“Come quickly!” Spitshine was running from the stairs that led back to the casino. “They got in through the backdoor. Invisible ones, hurry!”
---
The casino floor smelled of blood, and panic.
I could see ponies screaming and running around wildly trying to gather their things and avoid attackers they could not see. There were pops of sounds and a pony in the distance fell and died in a pool of blood. How could you fight what you can't see? Well, they couldn't, but between my magic sensing and EFS, I could. “Round them up,” I said to the three behind me. “I'll find Pin. We'll punch through the backdoor.”
Off in the distance there was a resounding boom that shook the casino. Good to see Flare was working properly.
My shoulder burned. A few meters away I saw a panicked blue mare backed up against a 'Rainboom Riches' machine, her eyes wide and her hooves covered in blood. In front of her was a recently dead pony, but her attacker was nowhere to be seen. My EFS showed something red nearby but everything was so panicked I couldn't be sure where. I started running towards her. I had to hope the burning in my shoulder could find her attacker. As I moved closer the feeling started to sharpen at a certain point. I took to the air, planted my feet on a stool, and pushed off. As I passed over the top of the slot machine I connected into something.
The invisible pony and I slammed into the ground hard enough that their stealth-buck broke, and I could see her beneath me. I brought my metal hoof down hard smashing through her skull and painting me red with gore. Standing slowly I shook the brain matter from my leg and turned towards the mare I was protecting only to see she had vanished. Gritting my teeth, I looked around. Needed to kill raiders. Save Serenity. High Stakes too, if he was around. Too much to do.
I felt a sharp burst in my shoulder that quickly faded and realized somepony was directly behind me. Swearing, I spun around to, I don't know, kick him or something, only to see a knife flash through the air and hit my would be attacker in the back of the neck. The raider pony twitched for a second before falling over.
“Whatever these cunts are using.” Pinprick waltzed over with a grim look in her olive eyes. “Doesn't last forever. Fuckers came out no where.” The mare leaned over the dead raider and plucked the knife from her spine. “Throwing your weapon is a fucking badass move, but fucking retarded. Lucky for you I needed you alive.” Wait wh-
Before I could react the mare had her dagger so close to my eye I was afraid to blink.
“Well bitch,” she sneered past her dagger, “how'd you like to lose the other one?” Shit, shit, was she working for Smooth Tongue? I felt my heart beat faster and I tried to figure out how I could grab the shotgun from my bag without getting stabbed all to hell. “How much did he pay you? You come here, make us think he's willing to deal. So he can waltz up unprotected. We aren't fucking foals to fall for that. I'm going to pop your eye out and feed it to your master for fuck-”
“You've got it wrong!” I tried to back up, but she twitched and brought the dagger closer. “I didn't know. No idea. I swear it.”
“Why should I believe you, you cunt? You took the job for us back then. Everypony has their fucking price.” I felt a cold sweat run down the length of my spine. Those words were too true to counter. So I tried something different.
“I saved you once. Could have killed you. Gave you the benefit of the doubt.” I gave her the hardest stare I could while simultaneously looking down the length of a blade. “You owe me.” let her think about that for a second. “I need to save Serenity. I promised. So let me.”
“You should do it, Momma.” I heard a small voice say behind me. Spitshine. “She's not a bad pony, and I can tell. Besides, she's my prisoner still, 'till I say she's not, and I forbid stabbing.” The dark grey former raider had a look of pure rage on her face before softening and moving the dagger away.
“I hope I don't regret this,” she muttered. “Spitshine, get your gun. We need to help these fuckers.” The raider gave me a hard look and shook her head. “I hope you're not a lying cunt. If you are, I'll find you and kill you.” That was... good to know. “And no buts, Spitshine.”
The light grey filly trotted over to her mother before stopping to smile at me. Well, smile and levitate her gun up to my head and saying, “Bang! You're dead!” before running after her mother, giggling.
As I watched the two mares leave, I realized that Pinprick might have been the smartest pony I met in a while. Because she did not trust me at all. Maybe it was because she remembered what happened when Silver Bullet trusted me. Not that I was upset over killing that bastard, but it was a good solid lesson on why trusting me was just a bad idea. If only more ponies realized that, then I wouldn't be in a position to fuck so much up. Like right now.
“Can't say ah'm surprised she don't trust you.” I felt the sensation of Pearly's magic as she sauntered up beside me. “Ah don't much either. I want to though. But, I mean, you know?”
“I did kill that one.” I tilted my head towards the remains of the pony whose skull I’d crushed.
Pearly narrowed her eyes at the crushed pony before moving back to look at my bloody metal leg. “Eh.” She shrugged. “Good enough.” With a burst of magic I felt her dig into her bag and levitate a shotgun over to me. Before I could protest and explain I already had a gun in my bag she shoved it in my mouth. “We need to help punch through the raiders at the back. Lets go.”
I mumbled my agreement through the shotgun and scanned the area. Orange boxes and the ponies they were surrounding moved about wildly, but I noticed a pattern of most of them moving towards the back of the casino. I saw a few red boxes, but upon them showing up, most vanished. It seemed that while my EFS could pick up invisible ponies, the functions of my eye could not. Good to know.
I followed after Pearly as we snaked through the casino. She yelled at ponies as she passed, begging them to evacuate before the bulk of their forces came up. Most of the invisible ponies that came through the back were dead or run off, and those who hadn’t been were quickly overwhelmed when their stealthbucks gave out.
We reached the back of the casino to see a great mob heaving and pushing towards the exit. It was near chaos, and my EFS was so filled with ticks that I couldn't get a fix on anything. For a second I thought I saw a flash of red though, but when I focused I couldn't make out the proper highlights. Between the EFS and the eye-tech my vision was getting awfully crowded.
“One at a time!” I heard Pearly scream above the din. “One! At! A! Time!' The mob didn't seem to pay her heed and continued panicking in the general direction of the door. With an exasperated sigh and a stomp of her hoof she turned her head to me. “Ah'm going to make sure they all get out. Go on, follow them outside and head ‘round to save ya daughter. There's an NCA outpost ‘round these parts we're to be headin' to, meet us there.” Before I could properly blush and stammer she kissed me. “We'll have to try 'gain another time.”
I nodded dumbly, the taste of her lips still overriding all my other senses. Realizing my state of temporary shock, she pushed me towards the mob. The funny thing about panicked mobs is that you can be the largest pony in the world (and I was certainly a contender) but against the heaving masses pushing against you in close quarters you're going nowhere. So instead of fighting I went along with the crowd of ponies.
The cold outside air hit like a punch to the face. As soon as the crowd started exiting the unfortunately small door, the mob became a stampede, but was not so crowded, so I was able to push my way away from the group. After getting a fair distance away, I turned to watch the group tear down the hill in a disorganized mob. At the bottom of the hill, my eye picked out Pinprick and Spitshine (holding a torch above her head). Surprisingly the panicked ponies stopped at her, and formed a semicircle. I could barely pick out her voice above the masses, but I couldn't hear the words.
I stood watching in awe as the supposed hero stood and the ponies gravitated towards her like moths to a flame. Somehow she managed to ease the calm of the ponies as they streamed from the casino and battle raged behind them. Part of me went back to the question, 'what is the nature of a hero?'. For her, I could only guess profanity.
There was a sharp shout. A shimmer of light appeared behind Pinprick and suddenly a pony was standing there, a purple box around them in my sight. The supposed hero turned suddenly, moonlight glinting off her dagger, and a second later the raider was falling in a spray of blood. Without skipping a beat the hero sheathed her weapon and kicked the corpse over and looked back at her mob. She said something I couldn't hear and they all took off into the night, hopefully to safety.
I watched them go for a minute before I felt heat around my cybernetic leg. They just didn't learn did they? I wasn't as fancy as the pony I saved so long ago, but I was damned strong. I bucked the invisible pony behind me so hard the vibration shook up my legs. I turned quickly and fired my shotgun spraying the ground with blood. The blood moved violently and I heard the pony scream. So I unleashed another shell into the pony and it was silent. Even with the user dead, the stealthbuck field stayed active so I never got to see the pony I killed.
Not that it mattered. I killed so many, what was one more?
Before I continued, I made sure to jab myself with one of my Med-X's. I was really thankful they weren't taken, as they'd be a goddessend as I prepared to go into battle. Assuming I was actually going to fight anyone at all. The real plan involved no fighting actually, but it never hurt to be prepared. So... yeah.
I headed down the side of the hill away from both the escaping villagers and most of the raider army, but not before turning my pipbuck light off and reattaching my eyepatch the best I could. I had learned something, and the night concealed me as well as it ever could have. The hill on this side was a shallow incline, so when I reached the bottom of it, I was a fair distance from the town proper. I didn't like being so far away from a fight, but it allowed me to loop around virtually unseen.
It didn't take long for me to start moving closer to the town and hit the first of the sparse buildings. Bridle Hope had once been a fairly large town in the pre-war days (judging by the buildings), but now the only occupied buildings were on the main street or nearby, leaving large swaths of empty buildings half broken by time. Which was good for hiding. I knew this because, as I moved through them, I saw two glints of red on my EFS.
There was an old house right in front of me. The roof was completely gone, and it looked like most of the rest of the second floor was too, leaving only most of four walls and a floor. Sentries, I could only guess, and there was really not a good way to head towards their position without being seen.
So instead of trying and failing to sneak up, I did something really stupid. Beside me were the remains of a small shack (really only two wooden walls barely standing) so I slipped over beside it, then turned on my pipbuck light and took off my eyepatch again (and two orange boxes appeared around their vague shapes). The reacting of the sudden amber glowing thing was immediate. There was shouting, and I saw the the boxes turn from orange to red. Just then I ducked inside the shack and let bullets zip by.
It was almost too easy as I saw a red tick move in my vision. Three. Two. One. Saw a pony move on my EFS and moved my head with it. The pony popped into view around the corner and I took the shot.
And missed. The sentry dove to the ground, and my buckshot sailed over his head. Before I could adjust my aim, something slammed into my side, sending my stumbling, and I heard a gunshot. Pain throbbed in my side, but the med-x I’d just taken numbed it down enough I was able to ignore it. However I wasn't fast enough to stop the unicorn from charging me head on. There wasn't time to think. To act.
So I instinctively stuck out my hoof and rammed into into the charging unicorns horn. The spike slid into the metal plate of my foot only a few centimetres before the unicorn came to a sudden stop. I overpowered a minotaur, who did this raider think he was? I didn't have time to ask as I emptied my shotgun into him. By the time his face was mush the one who shot me was no longer in my EFS. So much for sneaking.
So I kicked the corpse out of my broken shack thingy and went to reload my shotgun. This lead to the startling revelation that I didn't actually have any ammo for it. And that reloading weapons by hoof was really fucking difficult. Seeing no other option, I took out the shotgun Serenity’d stolen a while back and removed most of the shells from that. It had only held five rounds in the magazine (even I wasn’t dumb enough to carry a shotgun with a chambered shell), but Pearly’s loaner only fit four at most anyway, so I guess it worked out in the e--. Wait. By the time I’d realized the foolishness of partially unloading a weapon to load a less-useful weapon, I’d already finished. The thought of going through the whole thing, including clearing the chamber and digging the round out of the dirt, was so frustrating, I merely stomped my hoof and put Serenity’s gun back in my bag(It still had a single thought, so I guess I could use it if I ran out).
The night was still dark, and full of raiders. None nearby me, but at the top of the hill I could see a large group. There was no point being sneaky anymore so I took off at full gallop through the blackened streets. I knew exactly where the general store was, and it didn't take me long to get there. It was thankfully unlocked, and I burst through the door without ever checking my EFS.
“Silver.” I ran face to face with my brother. “It took you longer than I expected.”
Thanks...
“It's fine, I suppose. You did your job admirably. Job, meaning ‘be a distraction’.” Did he have to say it like that. It was really annoying. I stomped my hoof and glowered at him.
“Get out of the way,” I said. There was no room for misunderstanding in my voice. I’d let him live last time out of shock, but now I truly understood how hard he’d fallen. He would get no mercy from me, and certainly not if he stood in the way between me and my daughter. I knew Serenity was in there, and I wasn't about to let him keep her.
“Okay.” He stepped sideways letting me look straight down at the door. “I'm not stupid enough to actually get in the way.” Oh... I guess that was a good point. “You don't get it, do you, Silver? What we're trying to do here. Do you know the first thing we're going to do when we claim the town? The very first thing?” I stared blankly at him, trying to explode him with my mind. “Build a wall.”
“What?” I didn't move forward, I couldn't risk leaving my back to him.
“A wall.” He stated again and rolled his eyes at me. “Large structure around a settlement designed to keep the ponies inside it safe. We're going to build them a wall and establish trade routes to Equestria. They'll become rich, and safe by our hooves. We aren't the bad guys, Silver.”
“You are.” I shuffled right so I could move closer to the door without putting my back to him. “You kill ponies. You rule by fear and intimidation.” I licked my lips and kept moving. “You're murderers.”
Then he said in a voice so hushed I had to strain to hear, “And you're not?”
That stung enough for me to physically wince away. I was a murderer... I killed Post Haste, and countless others. I killed three ponies that very night. Ponies who had mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and friends. Regardless of why I was a murderer, I destroyed Timber, and Karkhoof through my actions. I felt tears start to sting my eyes, but I forced them away.
“So call me whatever you want. Murderer, raider, villain. But don't stand there looking down at me from your soapbox and tell me that you're innocent.” He spat at my hooves. “We're going to save the wasteland piece by piece. Build up our influence and bring peace wherever we go. Even if we have to kill ponies to do it. Maybe we are evil, but we're evil because it's the only way to win. And we will win.” He shook his head. “Sorry, Silver, you failed.”
I took a tiny step back towards the stairway. Thoughts of my failures seemed to float around, taunting me. Post Haste run past me burning. Wildfire smiled at me with her head half shattered. And Foundation... I heard words in my ears.
I never wanted this... for either of us.
The little pony in the back of my head screamed, Survive, but all I could do was turn and run away.
The run was so familiar. I could feel the pain in my heart, and the tears stinging my eyes. I remembered the sounds of voices below, and the way my legs shook in fear as I moved. When I reached the bottom I saw Serenity like I saw her the first time. Curled up in a sad little pink ball, before sitting up and looking at me with her sad grey eyes.
Her legs were shackled again, and I ran to her and snapped the chains off with all my strength before dropping down and embracing her. I let the tears flow down my cheeks as she buried her face into my good leg. “It's okay,” I said as she sobbed. “It's okay. Mommy's here. You're safe. I came back.” I licked at her cheek. “I won't leave you again. They won't hurt you. You're safe now.” I murmured all the soothing words I could think of, until I just let her sob. She never should have came with me. If I was smart I would have realized that earlier.
“I’m sorry. I-I tried to be strong. I was just... so alone and... and I thought she was coming back an-.”
“Shh.” I whispered. “It's alright. You're safe. She'll never hurt you again.” I had killed Nanny Jane once, and if she came back from the dead I would kill her again. Damnit, I never should have brought her here. I should have listened to Haze. But that would have been the smart thing to do. I kissed Serenity on the top of her head. “I'm sorry.”
There was nothing left to say, so I just laid there, holding her. If my words could have taken away the bad that had been done to her, I would have said anything, but I was powerless. I couldn't take away her past, so I had to try and give her a future. If nothing else.
“Silver.” I looked up across the room to see High Stakes standing there. “Took you long enough.” He shook his leg where he was chained up to the wall. “Reminds me of old times...” His voice trailed away. “I'll have to tell you about that sometime.”
“I'm sorry...” I addressed to him, still holding my filly tight. “How're you holding up?”
He grit his teeth and looked a bit overwhelmed. “Better than her, but not as much as I would like... Don't worry, I'm fine. But if you could unshackle me...” He jingled his leg chain again. “It'd be a nice gesture.”
“Yeah.” Ever so gently, I helped Serenity onto my back where she grabbed onto my my mane and held it tight. With a kick I was able to free High Stakes from his chains. I knew how much it hurt Serenity, but the memories could not be pleasant for Stakes either. “What happened?”
“They threw us down here as soon as you two left, and didn't return. Serenity... did not take it well but would not listen to me. I’m sorry, Hired. I tried.” He sounded sincere to me, which was a bit of a shock. Not really knowing what else I could say, I patted him on the shoulder.
“It's fine. C'mon. Let’s get out of here.” Another day, another failure. Not only did I fail to save Bridle Hope, but I was unable to secure the trading contract House wanted, and as an added bonus, re-traumatized my filly. Today was going wonderfully.
---
The shop was empty when we returned, and I was thankful for it. I didn't know what I would do if I saw my brother again, but whatever it was it wasn't fit for a foal’s eyes. Thankfully, when we exited the store Flare flew down to greet us. Just as planned. Which seemed to be a rarity.
“Hey... you two look like shit.” He must have been addressing High Stakes and Serenity. “We don't got time to talk about it though, as them raiders are a wee bit miffed that I exploded them, you know?” He tilted his head towards the exit. “Like, now. Before they shoot me. You all know how much I hate getting shot, right?”
“I'm not going.” I was determined. “I'm going to find Smooth Tongue. And Kill him.” I turned my head to Serenity on my back. Her face was streaked with tears, and it broke my heart to leave her... but I had to do this. I refused to let him win. Not again. “I'm sorry, Serenity... I'll be back. I need you to be strong and go with Flare. You'll get to fly. You love flying.”
She nodded weakly and jumped over to Flare's back hugging his neck tight. “We'll wait for you, Mommy.”
“Hey, Hired Gun,” Flare said as he started to float into the air, “er, or Silver Storm... Hired Storm? Whatever your name is. Don't die. You either, Stakes. Dying is bad, got it?” We both nodded our approval as he took to the air and leisurely floated away.
“So.” I looked over to the pale green unicorn with his usual unreadable expression and shiny glasses. “You're coming with me?” He gave me an enigmatic smile.
“That I am. Someone has to keep you alive.” There was a pause. “How are you going to find him?”
Oh yeah, that was a good question now, wasn't it? I mean, he had to be somewhere, but it was a large town and he could be anywhere. Not to mention the multitude of raiders just about everywhere who wanted my head. I was starting to think this was just an insanely bad plan on every level. Which meant something was about to go very wrong in about three seconds.
“You won't need to find me.”
That voice.
I turned and pulled out my shotgun aiming down the street. Smooth Tongue was alone and limping his way down the main street at me, his grey mane blowing around in the wind. I took a few steps ahead over passing High Stakes. He didn't move to follow, more content to watch my back for me.
“They call me stupid.” I scoffed. Moonlight gleamed off my shotgun as I aimed. “Last words?”
“Stupid, stupid Silver.” The Stallion shook his head. “You really are predictable, did you know that? I knew you'd never give them my offer, and I knew you'd come back here to save your foal. You served well as a distraction, but you need to understand that's all you are. You can't beat me, and you're going to die if you try. I don't want you to die, Silver. I knew you'd be here, and looking for me. So, instead of risking the lives of my men, I have chosen to meet you myself. Let me talk, and please, Silver, listen. I just want you to listen.” I saw no reason to. He could talk anypony out of their barding if he was given enough time.
“You want me to serve.” He wanted everyone to serve him. That's all he was capable of. He pictured himself above everypony, looking down and expecting those below him to do his bidding without question. Well I was standing above him, and I had a fucking gun. “I won't.”
“Reconsider. I could give you a home.” There was a touch of sadness in his voice. “A purpose, a life. You would be able to do something good for the wasteland, instead of destroying it wherever you go.” He took a step forward, and I steadied my gun, causing him to pause. “You think I’m some evil madman, ‘Join me and we can rule together,’ all that tripe, but it's not the case. I want you to join me, but so I won't have to do something I would regret.”
I felt my hate rising up inside me. This bastard really thought I was going to give him the time of day.
“Think about it, Silver. All the caps you could ever want. A job paying twice as much as you get now, no strings attached. A permanent home, and the opportunity to rise in the ranks. You'd have security for your foal, and whatever loved one you could want to bring. You'd have caps to spend, things to spend them on, and goals to achieve. You could bring peace. You know it yourself, the only time Marefort was attacked was when it cut ties with the Crimson Hoof. So long as we are in charge no harm would ever befall you.” Except when you killed my mother and stole my brother.
“No. Never.” I bit down hard at my shotgun. “You die tonight.” Behind me I could feel High Stakes levitate the black and pink shotgun out of my saddle bag. It was good to have backup.
The olive stallion gave a heavy sigh and pushed back his thick grey mane. “No, Silver. You never understood, did you? Did you really think I was only going to offer this to you? Are you so arrogant to think I wouldn't give the same offer to your friends?”
The black and pink shotgun clicked behind me.
“I'm sorry, Silver. I really am.” High Stakes’ smooth voice wafted from behind me. I tried to scream. To turn. To stop him. I had to. “It's just business.” I saw the glint of his glasses and then...
Bang.
Level Up!: Despite failing in everything you did, you still gain a level! That sure is... Well, it’s something.
New Perk: Adaptive Eye Programming 1: Your practice with your new eye has paid off, increasing the range of its EFS, and improving its threat-level indicators. In addition, you’ve noticed your eye has the ability to see the awareness levels of ponies in the vicinity for enhanced sneaking!
((A/N: As usual I am here to express my gratitude to those who made this story possible and non-sucky. Such as the great Kkat, for writing her fabulous story, and my editors theBSDude, Errant Indy, and Julep. I love you all.)) |
No One | 662 | 19 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-06-02T03:49:56+00:00 | 2012-06-02T03:49:56+00:00 | 21,031 | So Says The Mirror
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
High Stakes’ shot tore through the air, missing me completely.
Instead, it hit Smooth Tongue dead centre in his chest, making his red eyes go wide in shock. The olive stallion reached for his chest. Blood welled up around his hoof and dripped to the ground. The pool of blood grew as life drained from his eyes. He had lost. He saw it now. Everything he tried to do was for nothing. He thought he could turn my friends against me, but he was dead wrong. When I walked up to him, planted my shotgun on his forehead, and pulled the trigger, he was dead too.
And it couldn't have happened to a nicer stallion. As I was showered by his blood and brain chunks I couldn't help but laugh. Finally. Finally! My greatest enemy paid for all the wrong he did to me. It was just so sweet.
I could have stayed there reveling in the moment forever. It was just so... so sweet.
Until I opened my eyes.
Vague images above me. Voices, I could hear voices.
“She's waking up!”
“It's too soon, she should still be out.”
“She might complicate the surgery.”
“Get the anesthetic. Blackwater wants her alive.”
Alive. I was alive. My heart was beating in my chest I could hear it. Where was I? Ponies moved above me. I could see them. They all had black faces. Blood. I could see so much blood dripping from their heads. Where was I? Why was I alive? I had been shot. In the head. I remember the pain. There was so much. I couldn't escape it. Why did it hurt so much? Somepony shot me. Somepony.
“Looks like it's infected. Dammit, we need her to stop struggling.”
“We should just kill her. They don't really need her, just her pipbuck,” a familiar voice said. “End her suffering. And besides...” My brother. That voice, I knew it. It was my brother. “She's too dangerous alive.” Alive. I was dangerous, but I was dying. I could feel my heartbeat getting weaker. Why did everything hurt so much?
“No, she is to be sold alive. Never let a tool go to waste.”
To waste. I was going to waste. My efforts thrown into the fire of Dise to fuel its hatred and its strife. Nothing I did helped. All I could do was destroy and make things worse.
Something was placed over my muzzle and I started counting backwards like a voice in my ear told me. One hundred civilians killed by my carelessness. Ninety-nine foals without parents. Three towns destroyed because of me. Karkhoof, Timber, and now Bridle Hope. Two friends I had left who didn't betray me. One bullet into my skull.
---
I lay in bed, unable to sleep. The darkness was engulfing and all-encompassing. Far off in the distance, I thought I heard shouts, but I ignored them. Marefort was never quiet, even when it was. Marefort was a cramped sort of living. Ponies piled on top of each other, and crammed as tight as possible in a huge building that loved to echo, and you could imagine how well it worked if you were a light sleeper. It made... interludes with Wildfire difficult, when ponies living below us called for us to quiet down. Not that we had the chance that often anyway with Foundation living with us, but it was awkward when we did have the opportunity.
For some reason, when lying in bed contemplating life, my thoughts turned to sex. Clearly I'm well adjusted. I rolled over trying to put a leg over Wildfire to find her missing. She must have left to take Foundation to the bathroom. She had lived in Marefort for almost a year, but was still afraid to walk around it at night. Not that I could blame her, if you didn't know your way, you'd trip and fall, and while Marefort lacked many things, it did not lack places to fall from.
I hoped she would be back soon. The night was bitterly cold, and her warmth made it easier to bear. I don't know how I ever used to sleep alone. For a second I wondered if Wildfire felt the same way, but I doubted she ever slept alone. No, I didn't mean that in an insulting way, but I knew Wildfire well enough to know that before she found me she was quite... insistent on looking for love. We had more than a few discussions on the subject. Long awkward discussions. It still made me uncomfortable, but we all had our burdens and issues, and so long as I understood hers, I was okay.
There was that sex thing again. My head was the gutter when lying alone in bed. There was another scream from far away. It wasn't playful like the one before.
And it was followed by more, and more.
There was a smell of smoke that made me sit up in my bed and think of a name I shouldn't have known. “Wha...” I murmured, my mind coming off it's half asleep daze. Something was wrong, something was very wrong.
There was a sharp knock on my door. With a groan and a feeling of dread, I rolled onto my hooves and slowly made my way to the door. It was not a long walk, as the house was small, but the knocking got louder, and louder. The feeling of dread did not leave when I got to the door, and was not helped that when I opened the door to look down the barrel of a gun.
“Hello,” a voice said, way too cheerfully. “You're coming with me,” a mare stinking of blood said from the shadows, her face half illuminated by the purple glow around her horn and the rifle.
“Yeah.” I spat at her hooves. “That's going to happen.” A shot blared out in the night, but I had known she was going to shoot and had ducked low before the trigger was pulled. I charged forward and rammed my shoulder into the pony’s neck with the full force of my girth. She gasped as I pushed. There was a brief second when I felt her try to push back, but she wasn't nearly strong enough. With a final grunt I I felt her slip off the edge of the Marefort landing. She shrieked loudly as she fell, but not for long.
I peered down at the darkness but didn't see the body in the blackness. I heard things though. Shouts of pain, cries for help. They came from everywhere and nowhere at once. Actually, as dramatic as that sounded, they definitely came from somewhere. Below me actually. I heard a shout of confusion and a grunt of pain. Whoever these fuckers were, they weren't going to get away with touching my Marefort.
I skidded back to my doorway to the mare’s dropped rifle and picked it up. I wasn't the best with mouth-fired weapons, but it was going to have to do. Back when I had been a little filly, I’d known the best routes around Marefort. I wasn't as agile as I’d been back then, but I still could get around better than anypony I knew when I was in a rush.
Moving quickly to the edge of the walkway I’d thrown the mare from, I dropped off. I grabbed the edge with my fore hooves and swung twice. Letting go mid-swing, I slammed through the window of the house below mine with a crash. Just as I’d thought, there was a strange blood-smelling pony pointing a gun at Marigold. He stopped to watch me with a surprised look as I crashed through. Good.
Before he could point his gun at me, my own was aimed point blank at his head. Even though I sucked at mouth fired weapons, I couldn't miss. His brains painted Marigold’s wall.
“Urgh.” The sight... it was so... ugh. I turned my head to vomit. How could anypony get used to killing? It made my stomach turn. Wiping my mouth, I looked over at the shaking form of Marigold. She was forever my boss, but I hoped she wouldn't be too upset with me breaking her window and painting her wall. “Are you alright?”
“Dammit. I'm so sorry Silver. So sorry.” Why was she apologizing? I broke into her house. “it's all my fault... I never thought.” I let her blabber on as I leaned down to pick up my new gun.
“Here.” I slid over the dead pony’s gun. “Need to save the others.” My voice sounded hoarse even for me. My filly was out there somewhere. I knew Wildfire would never let her come to harm, but I had to be sure. Marigold was going to help me, because somepony had to. “What are you waiting for?”
“This is my fault, I never thought...” Tears streamed down her cheeks. What kind of pony cried that much? It was unbecoming. “They're here because of me. I... I... the Mayor, Wildfire, and I. We... don't you know? We cut ties with the Crimson Hoof, we let go of their protection. And now... and now look. Smooth Tongue warned us, we should have listened.”
“Shut up.” I rolled my eyes and forced the gun into her hooves. “Fight now. Cry later.” The golden maned mare just looked up at me with an unreadable expression. “Get up,” I said, perhaps too harshly. “Get. Up.” I didn't understand what she was talking about. How she’d caused this or whatever. “You caused it. Help me fix it. Take the gun, and let’s go save them.”
“They're probably all dead,” Marigold tried to explain to me. It didn't matter. So long as I was breathing, I would stop whatever was happening.
“Well, I’m not.” I trotted out the door, and hoped she would follow me. I hadn't a clue what was happening, but I knew Wildfire and Foundation were out there, scared and confused. It was time to save them. There was no other option, and I would not take failure for an option.
---
“About time you woke up.”
There were vague memories, things I could not understand. Muffled voices in the back of my mind, and I had been awake before, for a bit. But I could not remember when, or why, or where I was. I was lying down somewhere, as my head pounded and thoughts swirled in my head. Had I always been lying there? Perhaps, and everything else been a dream. Or maybe I was dreaming of being in bed, and when I opened my eyes I would be back in Bridle Hope about to destroy Smooth Tongue. Something touched my shoulder.
My eyes shot open to see a white ceiling with rows of lights that were far too bright high above me. I knew this place, I knew it as soon as I opened my eyes. “Why... why am I here?” Why was I even alive? My head throbbed, and every fibre in my being called out for med-x to make it go away. Things were fuzzy, but I remembered a glint of light from glasses and a sharp pain worse than anything I had experienced.
High Stakes... the memories came flooding back that easily. He’d betrayed me. I should have seen it coming. Smooth Tongue offered him the same thing he’d offered me (when High Stakes was playing captive no doubt), the same thing High Stakes complained House would not offer. Of course he was going to betray me. It was all about the caps, but I was too dense to see the signs. Stupid Silver gets shot by former friends. Nopony is surprised.
Groaning, I blinked my heavy eyes. The white ceiling was still above me. Smooth Tongue should have killed me, but instead I was alive and, for reasons I could not comprehend, was in the 'Reconstruction Center' inside the mountain. I recognized the aesthetic anywhere, and that could only mean that I was currently in the possession of the Steel Rangers. Again. If I got out of this, I swore I was never going to get captured again.
“You piss yourself in your sleep, did you know that?” That was an interesting statement to wake up to. “'Course, you've been out for three days, so I suppose that's natural.” A yellow mare peered over me, her white mane falling into her face. “You don't recognize me, do you?”
“Have I threatened you before?” I asked with a weak smile.
“We met once, a long time ago. It seems my memory is sharper. I am Paladin Blackwater.” Cool story. “I recognized you coming out of Timber and remembered hearing you’d escaped our base so I had a squad follow you.” So Flare wasn't being paranoid when he’d said we were being followed. That was always good news. I needed fewer crazy companions. And ones that didn't betray me.
“So.” I sat up slowly, pain lancing through my entire body. “Why did you... buy me?”
“We didn't buy you, we bought your pipbuck,” she said, as I looked around the facility. It was, shockingly, exactly the same as when I’d left it back when I helped clear out that raider den. The large stacks of wood were lined in rows and all covered by a strange purple glow. And, most noticeably, it was still obnoxiously white and made my eyes cry out in pain from the brightness.
This was just all too much to take. The last thing I remembered was that I was being betrayed and now I was miles away in the hold of a different group. For all I knew, they would kill me if I tried anything at all, and considering what happened the last time I was in Steel Ranger care I doubted they'd hesitate. So what could I do, weak as I was from my coma, but play along and hope I had an opportunity to escape and reunite with my friends later.
“Why.” I said as I watched squads of unarmoured Steel Rangers run drills down the centre aisle, while across from them, pieces of armour were being cleaned and maintained. It was... surprisingly efficient looking. Say what you wanted about Steel Rangers, but they were damned good at what they did, and they made it look good.
“You have a password on it, a password that we need. There was talk of cutting your leg off, but your pet pegasus-”
“Flare!” I sat up as straight as I could, ignoring the pain throbbing through my whole body. My eyes scanned the area again, but I couldn't see them. “How...” He was supposed to have left. I gave him specific orders to leave. Dammit Flare, couldn't he listen to me just this once? I guess our reunion wouldn't be that far away after all.
“After you were sold, he came swooping in, trying to save you.” The yellow mare rubbed her back legs together. “Let me say, your filly is one hell of a shot.” That was Serenity, alright. Good girl. “They lost, obviously, but he made a good point.” That made me very uncomfortable. All of Flare's good points were terrible. “He said, ‘why not use you?’ This centre is well known for danger, and delusion. We send you and your friends in, if you come back you tell us what to avoid, if you don't we go in full force. At best, we know the dangers of the centre before we have to deal with them ourselves; having to deal with them; at worse, we will do what we planned to do all along.”
“And my pipbuck?”
“Has a tracker. How did you think we found you anyway?” Oh, I guess that made sense.
“What... is on my pipbuck exactly?” That seemed to make the mare perk up and grin confidently. I did not like that at all. I didn't like any of this, and my head (not to mention the rest of me) was still killing me. Being in a coma for three days would do that, but if only I had some Med-X I could make it go away.
“A password, like I said. You downloaded it at stable 123 with an audio log according to the stables computers. Luckily, the computers kept a record of the tags of all the pipbucks to connect to them. I don't suppose you know about magical resonance?” I shook my head, and that just made her grin more. “Stand up and follow me.” Reluctantly I did, and noticed for the first time I was surprisingly unshackled (and naked). “You!” she called to a knight we passed, “Go fetch a squire, a unicorn squire.” That didn't make much sense, but I kept walking and wishing I had my saddle bags and inventory with me.
We did not walk far, just to the nearest stack of wood with a glowing magical barrier around it. Stepping up to it she tapped it with a hoof making it ripple and glow, but not budge. “This is a magical barrier. Similar, if you will, to the one that once surrounded Canterlot, but smaller, and not as strong. If we wished it, we could fire rockets at it until the barrier fell, but that would be... troublesome and expensive.”
Just then a small unicorn stallion came running over, huffing from lack of breath. “Y-yes, Paladin Blackwater?” The red stallion was sweating profusely and seemed afraid to look the paladin in the eyes.
“Perform a spell,” She said, watching the glowing barrier.
“W-which one Ma'am?” The yellow ranger gave him a withering glare that could melt glass. The squire shrank down more and cast a simple telekinesis spell that made my shoulder burn.
More importantly it had an interesting effect on the barrier. At the closest point to where the spell was cast the barrier glowed brighter than it should have and seemed to be emitting a strange heat. In a circular pattern outside the glowing hot point the glow slowly faded to its normal state, as the spell did not seem to be affecting more than that singular point.
“You may stop.” Blackwater said. The unicorn did, and shrunk down more. “This is a perfect example of magical resonance. It is well known that every spell, and every unicorn’s magic, has a different wavelength.” I did not know that. “The magical engineers of Caledonia realized magical devices, like a pipbuck, could also produce magical frequencies, but unlike ponies could change their tune to copy a pony's specific wavelength.” So much jargon, my head hurt. More. “They came up with these force fields, along with other triggers, that only react to particular magical frequencies.” She looked over and saw the obvious confusion blanketed on my face. “Think of it... like a magical key. Only one spell can unlock it.”
“I see...” I didn't at all.
With a weary sigh she grabbed my pipbucked hoof and started flipping through the menus faster than I ever could. “Damn thing only works when you're awake.” She muttered until she got to what she wanted, and pressed a button. “This is the password, if you will.” My pipbuck emitted a strange screeching noise and glowed softly, making my shoulder burn with magic. The barrier around the piles of wood reacted immediately and started glowing bright as it did with the other spell, only this time the glow didn't stay in the same place, but grew and grew until the entire barrier was white hot and too bright to look at.
Then it fell to nothing. The stack of wood stood there unimpeded by magic like they were before. “Woah.” I rubbed my eye,a bit dumbfounded. That was just... insanely cool.
It was about then that the realization hit me that I had downloaded this magical thing in Stable 123. Meaning before I ever went to the reconstruction centre the first time. I could have used it on all these supplies and sold them to make a killing, with exactly zero trouble. If only I understood... anything. It would have made my life easier, and been a huge boon to the wastes.
Instead I let the opportunity pass me by, and now it was useless. It was a punch in the gut after an already crappy day.
Not only was I a failure who couldn't even figure out when she was about to betrayed, but I also let the chance of a lifetime pass me by because I couldn't work a device I’d owned for over a year. Add that to my already grandiose list of failures and well... you get the picture.
I scratched an itch on my foreleg as Blackwater grinned at me. “You see now what you have on you.” I nodded slowly. “That password is a catchall for every security terminal in the entire building, and if my hypothesis is correct, it will stop the patrolling robots from attacking you. Of course, to make sure, we are sending you and your friends up first.”
I gave her my hardest glare and hoped my physical weakness wouldn’t give me away. It didn't help that halfway through my glare my leg spasmed and sent me on my ass. “Why them? Let me go alone.” If they were actually here, and it wasn't a bluff, I wanted them as far away from whatever danger was up there as possible. If the mere rumours of this place had Steel Rangers shaking in their armour, I didn't want Serenity there.
“Because. We want you to survive and come back. That password on your wrist is supposed to disable all security features and make the facility open, but I’m not going to risk the lives of my ponies on that word. I need to know what exactly that password does, and what security features are still active. I need you to check at least the first five floors. At least. Making your filly go with you is...” The yellow mare looked thoughtful. “Incentive. A pony will fight twice as hard for their son's or daughter's lives than they would for their own. The pegasus is simply because he annoys us.” That was Flare all right. “There is another incentive for you to search quickly.”
My stomach twisted into a knot. Whatever she was talking about I could feel it was not going to be good, and it made me feel nauseous. As I wiped some sweat from my brow. I saw her take out a small clear plastic bag. That was... less than climactic. Until I saw what was in it.
A vial of Med-X.
As soon as my eyes fell upon that beautiful syringe, I felt myself lurch forward, and the pain throbbing through my legs felt that much worse. Wincing, I was pulled to a stop before I could tackle her as a cramp in my leg made it hard to really do... much of anything. Gritting through my teeth I said, “That's mine.” It had been in my saddle bags, and she’d stolen it. That bitchy thief!
She laughed prettily, but with a hint of malice. “You could try being subtle about it.” I watched as the bag swung back and forth in her mouth when she talked. “You want this, don't you?”
“It's mine,” I corrected. “I want it because it's mine.” And because everything hurt so damn much, and I needed it to make me feel better. Just a quick jab and I could get the relief I needed. Then I could break out of this place, save Serenity and Flare, kill High Stakes (bastard) and go back to House. I just needed that bag.
“Right.” She smirked as the bag swung. “I'm sure that's exactly what it is.” She dropped the bag. My head followed. She was going to break it. Against my better judgement, I dove and grabbed it in my mouth before it could hit the ground. There was a sharp sense of pride on my catch, followed by a sharper sense that I should just inject it and get rid of the pain already. That was, until I heard her laughing again.
Looking up, I saw her red eyes flash with clearly evil thoughts. “What...” I asked slowly, though I think I already knew.
“Even in a coma you'd kicked, cried out, and twitched. After your Pegasus swooped in to be easily captured, he suggested Med-X.” She smirked. “Imagine my surprise when it calmed you down right away.” I knew where this was going. For some reason the bag in my mouth seemed to get a hundred times heavier, as if it was weighing down my very soul. “The last time you were injected was eight hours ago, you already feel the desire don't you? The pain in your legs, the cramping in your gut. You want to cry, but can’t see a reason for it. You want to cry out because it hurts too much, as sweat pours from your brow.”
Oh shit.
“Congratulations, you're an addict. So, for long as you're in our care, that's the last vial you get until you go up into the centre and come back down to tell us what is waiting for us.” There was a devious smile on her lips. “So you better hurry.”
---
Okay. So maybe I really liked Med-X because it helped make my many, many injures feel less... injuryful. But I mean, I couldn't really be addicted. I've seen addicted ponies before and they were always so pathetic. I mean Flare was all but lying in the gutter when I first met him, but I was fit as could be. Hell, before I got knocked into next week I was stomping ponies into oblivion. I mean, sure, I think I’d had a med-x or two then, but I was still able to do it. Addicts couldn't, they were weak....
Or maybe they were just weak when they didn't get their fix. As soon as the Med-X was injected in me, most (not all) of the pain faded, and I felt like I could run a mile uphill. So... maybe I was addicted. How could you be addicted to a medical drug though? Shouldn't they be designed so that wasn't possible? Right? I really wanted to be right. So much had gone wrong, being addicted on top of everything just made it all the worse.
I couldn't counter her argument though. Since that fight where Torr had shattered a few of my ribs, I had been taking Med-X nearly everyday. I mean, my life got a lot more hectic around then, but after a while I had stopped taking them just when I got hurt. Then there was the time I had taken the med-x from Haze's infirmary....
I didn't know. All I knew was that I needed the med-x in me for the moment so I could do what they asked of me. Maybe then we would be allowed to leave, and I could figure all this out. It was just. Like a great weight on my brain that refused to go away.
I had bigger problems to worry about. Like being a captive of the Steel Rangers. Again.
“What happened to Timber?” I asked Paladin Blackwater as she led me slowly through the complex. It was an obvious question with an obvious answer, but I needed a source of rage to drive the confusion from my head.
“We burned it.” The way she said it like it was trivial made my blood boil. “Not at first. We came galloping over the hills and the townsfolk just about pissed themselves. Not a single pony was shot. Well, maybe one. So we rounded them up and put them to questions.” She shot me a knowing glance. “I am not a foal like Curly Fries; when I question ponies, I play for keeps.” I don't think I liked the way this was going. “By the fourth death they started talking, but nothing useful.”
“Then a pony cracked,” I said as we turned a corner around a stack of wood.
“Oh quite right. I believe she was the bartender in town. I wanted to do the mayor first, but we couldn't find him.” She chuckled. Did I mention how much I hated her. Because it was a lot. “So we let the ponies back to their little houses, and then set them all on fire. It was a lovely blaze.” Filled with screaming foals. I could almost picture Post Haste in Timber, running from building to building. “Oh how they screamed.”
“You're sick.”
She didn't even deny it. “I'm strong. The strong survive, while the weak die. It's the way of the universe, and if you tried thinking like that, you'd have more power than you'd know what to do with.” Yes I could survive on my strength alone. I could rule a raider gang destroying all who oppose me, but at what cost? I've already done so much that my soul was irreparable. Anymore and I would stop being... whoever I was.
“Disgusting.”
“Would you rather we just kill you?” She snorted. “I could order it. Or should we torture your filly first?” No... “How do you think we got the bartender to crack? Sure, I could have put anypony to the question, but from my experience there is no way to make a pony talk faster than by hurting their children.” I was going to kill her. Rip her head off and shove it up her ass, burn her corpse. Then, I would find a zebra and get them to bring her back to life, so I could kill her again.
Not now though. As much as it made my muscles twitch and my ears roar thinking of the evil she committed, I couldn't act. Not here in the middle of the Steel Ranger base, not while unarmed and weakened. So I did the only thing I could, and walked beside her, using all of my willpower to push down the urge to stab her in the face. It was really difficult. I couldn't even look at her. Just. Ugh. She managed to jump to number one on my 'needs to fucking die list' ahead of High Stakes, Dragonslayer, and even Smooth Tongue.
Once I got back to Dise, I needed to get that list laminated.
“Does that bother you?” Blackwater's voice dripped with maliciousness and made a shiver run down the length of my spine. I denied her an answer; she already knew it. “I really do not understand why that foal knight had a problem with you.” It might have been because the difference in threat levels between her and Curly Fries was the same as the difference between me and Serenity. There was no contest. “Of course he was already an idiot. Do you know he went gallivanting after you when you got away.”
“Yes.” I grunted my response, hoping it'd please her enough to shut up. “We met at Snake Head. Chased Flare away.”
“He actually caught up!” She stomped her hoof once in appreciation and kept walking. “Shocking. He claimed as much when he came back with his head low. Elder Chunky Soup told everypony that you were not to be followed, and called back the Steel Ranger hit squads. He never expected to find Captain Flare or anypony else on the hit list, it was just to shut ponies up. After the fiasco he didn't want to waste any more resources, so when Curly galloped off with his squad, the Elder was furious.”
My entire memory of the Elder was from a single conversation when he warned me about a darkness under Dise. Or, metaphorically under at least, and let us go. He didn't seem to care if we lived or died. Seeing him furious just seemed odd, and out of place. Still, I wouldn't test his patience.
“Eventually Curly came back with his tail between his legs. The Elder came outside to greet the failure himself.” She nickered. “Then, he took out a knife and jammed it through the eye socket of one of Curly's ponies. It was a warning he claimed, and exiled him. Apparently we get to kill him if he shows up again, now won't that be fun?”
Yes, but I was not about to agree with that bitch.
She kept talking, and just about every time she spoke I had to hold back from tearing her throat out with my teeth. “The Elder told us his plan to take this place. He's been salivating over it for decades now, and finally it was open without one faction or another willing to defend it. Nothing but a town with piss poor defences between us and the wealth of the Caledonian military. Don't know why the NCA choose to run with their tails between their legs. Hell, we took more casualties after we burned the town to the ground than we did taking the damn thing. Damn sniper.”
“What happened to him?” We left Grimer ready to give up his life fighting. It was the least I could do, to find out how he died.
“We killed him, of course.” We turned the corner into a narrow aisle between stacks, and at the end a series of tarps and sheets that looked to be a makeshift tent. “Oh, he put up a valiant fight.” She smirked as we moved towards the tent. “Took two of my ponies down, so we sent a rocket up his ass. Wouldn't you know it, he jumped out of the fireball from the second story. I would have applauded but he threw a live mine at me.” Oh, I liked the thought of that. “So I shot it out of the air and gunned him down like a rat. Good show though, it was enough my Knights thought he deserved a proper funeral, instead of a pyre like the rest of the town.” There was a short pause as we reached the entrance to the tent. “I set him on fire anyway.” She laughed and opened the flap to the tent, “We're here. You have one hour to deal with this shit, then we will come for you. You know what happens if you escape.”
With a growl, I entered the dimly lit tent.
Inside I could see the form of a blue pegasus pacing and back and forth along the far wall as a small, light pink pony stood on his back, looking immensely sad. They didn't even turn to me when I entered, apparently used to being checked up on. “Uh...” I said slowly. “Hello...” The tent flap closed behind me, leaving us alone.
“Momma!” A pink blur zipped through the air and attached itself to my neck with such force I nearly gagged. “We were so worried!” The warmth of her hug melted the anger right off me. “Never ever ever do that again! You almost died!” Slowly I kneeled down so she wouldn't be hanging from my neck, and put a leg around her. “We tried to save you, but they shot at us a lot! Can we shoot them back now?”
“Not now Serenity...,” I said softly. “Soon.” I looked up and over at Flare who sat guiltily staring at me. The fact he looked guilty was not an encouraging sign. I really hoped he didn't know what High Stakes was planning to do, but considering Flare already betrayed me once, I couldn't put it past him.
“Hey Hired, you're looking well.” He placed a hoof awkwardly on the back of his head. “Well, considering you were out for three days on account of a shotgun to the face.” I hadn’t even really thought of that. There had to be scars on my face from it, which was great because I wasn't nearly ugly enough. “We tried to pull off a daring rescue, but it seems I'm useless without an idiot to run ahead of me and soak up all the bullets.”
“Really, Flare?” I shook my head and pushed my greasy mane out of my eyes. “Is this the right time for that?”
“I thought it was funny,” Serenity said from her place buried into my neck.
“See! Serenity has my back.” He grinned for half a second before donning his guilty look. “Did High Stakes really shoot you?” My intelligent response was to stare at him like he had three heads. That seemed to get the point across. “That's a yes then....” He sighed. “That idiot. I can't believe he'd do this to me!”
Wait. Did he say 'me'? But Stakes shot me. I know because I remember his glasses shining when he did it. I noticed Flare catch his slip up and say something under his breath as a slight blush formed on his cheeks. Why would he be blushing...?
“Wait...” He kept blushing, and it hit me. Since those two had met, they’d seemed to be unnaturally close. And... for some reason I could remember vividly them sleeping in the same room multiple times when no one was around. There was that time The Batmare teleported into their hotel room that seemed to make Stakes really annoyed. Flare's insistence that High Stakes was really good on the inside, his knowledge of Stakes’ history that he apparently didn't tell just anypony. The realization flashed in my head as I stared dumbfounded at Flare. “You and him were... you were!” My voiced spiked high before I lowered it. “Really?”
“How much do I owe you Serenity?” What? That wasn't an answer. Stop avoiding the question, Flare!
“Twenty five caps.” Came the giggly reply.
The blue pegasus took out a small sack and tossed it into the waiting telekinetic field of the filly before saying, “We had a bet. Serenity won.” He gave me a weak smile and I could tell he was trying to force his blush away. “I thought it was going to be three months before you found out, Stakes gave it over a year. Serenity was more optimistic.”
Serenity continued her giggle as I slowly realized that everypony knew but me, and I was really dumb. “I figured you'd walk into 'em kissing eventually.” Kissing... right. I rubbed my forehead as the bevy of new information hit me.
“You and him...” I said again. It may have shocked me more than I realized, and all the more because it was so obvious! “We are the gayest little group in the wasteland.”
“Hey!” Serenity squeaked, finally detaching herself from her hug and taking a few steps back, “I don't like mares, they're dumb.” Wait, did that mean she liked colts? I mean, she was around the age that most ponies got their first crush... I swore then and there that any colt who touched Serenity was going to have a chat with Subtlety. “Colts are gross, too. They have cooties and smell funny.”
“They do not,” Flare scoffed, and held his hoof to his chest in mock pain. “Besides, when have you even met a colt your age?”
“Miss Haze has a bunch in her orphanage, stupid.” With a remark like that, I simply had to smile down at Serenity. It was so amusing when she proved Flare wrong, if only because I was so bad at it.
“So, you and High Stakes...” I said slowly, my head still trying to wrap around the fact. Clearly I'm an idiot, if that wasn't already clear. Flare nodded and smirked a little, which was aggravating. The whole time he had been bugging me about being a fillyfooler, he'd actually been cuddling colts on the side. If he'd just have told me, it would have been easier for me to admit that I was... I'm not a fillyfooler. “Flare...” I said slowly, keeping my eyes level with his. “Did you know he was going to?”
“If I did, would I have tried to rescue you from my sworn enemies?” He matched my glare with one that was surprisingly intense. “I swear, you act as though you can't trust me. Just because I spied on you once or twice.”
“And dated the pony who shot me in the face,” I added in my usual helpful manner.
“Right, that too. I mean, that's hardly an excuse not to trust me.” I stared blankly. “Eh, I guess it's good enough, but no, I didn't know he was planning on that. You'd think he'd tell me, but nooooo, he had to go off and be secretive. I wouldn't be surprised if he thought I'd approve or something. Sometimes, that stallion, I swear it...” He rubbed his forehead. “He just don't get it, a crying shame. He had such a nice ass too.”
I felt heat rush to my cheeks. “Flare!”
“Eh, you know you liked it.” He laughed as I felt my face grow hotter, and I shook my head adamantly. This was not subject matter fit for fillies. “No... I didn't know he'd do that. I should have guessed though, it's always been about the caps for him in just about everything. Should have seen it coming, but it's too late now. Guess I'm going to have to smack him next time we meet, and we will meet.”
“If you get to him first.” I growled.
“But Momma, what if he was blackmailed into doing it?” Serenity said. “I mean, maybe they took his daughter and held her hostage and and!” The filly gave me a look of such determination I almost wanted to believe her. She didn't believe it either, but she had to hope.
“He didn't have family,” Flare said, “and I wasn't threatened, so he did it on his own, for his own price. Some smart ponies used to say 'Everypony has their price' but I was really holding out that his would be a little bit higher.” I thought he was already paid for, though. It just never crossed my mind that he would shoot me after already being paid not to. Breaking contracts, what has the world come to? “Enough of that.” Flare waved a hoof. “We can discuss his guilt and punishment when we aren't being held by stupidly evil ponies.”
“I was trying to forget about that.” I said. If anypony was stupidly and sadistically evil it was Blackwater. She was no better than a raider, only with a fancier set of armour and much more support. “So what do we do? You know this place. Right?”
“Of it,” Flare corrected. “The Enclave was based way at the top, and most ponies weren't allowed to venture down to the lower levels, not after the rumours of it being haunted started. Ain't never been in the complex proper, but I'll tell you what I do know.”
There was a pause as he stood up and puffed out his chest.
“Ahem,” he started, “I don't know shit.” Huzzah, helpful as always, Flare. “Well,” he continued in his regular manner, “I'm guessing your pipbuck has a key they need, and I'm pretty sure the Enclave took my DNA and put it into the central system so that might help something, but I wasn't allowed into the dangerous areas. Sorry.”
“It's fine.” I said. It was not really fine because Lucky mentioned deadly robots. If I had my gear it wouldn't be a problem, but Subtlety was a long way away (that poor baby) and the rest of my stuff was confiscated when I was... sold. Did that make me a slave? I guess in a sense I was.
Which made my day so much better.
“Are you okay, Momma?” We needed to talk about that too. “Momma? You don't look well.” Maybe it was the fact I just got out of a coma and may have been addicted. “Momma.” I looked down at Serenity and wiped tears out of my eyes. “Don't worry, we'll get out. Because you're here, and when you're here we always find a way out. So don't be sad. Okay?”
Slowly, I put my hoof on her head and ruffled up her mane. “We'll get out of this. You're right.” The little filly batted at my hoof playfully and backed off to stick her tongue out at me. Yeah, it was going to be alright.
---
The hour was not nearly long enough. I had hoped in vain we'd figure out a way out of this predicament, but we hadn’t even discussed it. We all knew that it was impossible, so we talked about silly things to keep our mind off it. Hell, maybe my worry was for nothing. The facility had been closed for two hundred years, so what was the likelihood of all the killer robots still being active?
Of course, from what I have seen, pre-war Caledonia was very obsessed with having their technology last exactly two hundred years, which was quite helpful. In that it wasn't. At all.
Eventually Blackwater came calling for us with a grin on her face, and flanked by two fully clad Steel Ranger knights. I really didn't now know what Elder Chunky Soup had been thinking when he’d put that bitch in charge. “Are you three done with your love time yet?” she sneered from the tent's door way. “That med-x won't last forever, so you best hurry, Miss Gun.”
Serenity jumped onto my back as I stood up and glared at the bitchy-bitch. “We're coming,” I said with my voice dripping with venom.
“Not like that,” The Paladin said as something flew through the air, landing on my head and hanging there. “Your barding. We have some old Enclave armour from our war with them. Not pretty, but it'll stop him from becoming dust from whatever security systems this place is said to have.” That was good. “The filly gets nothing, so you best be careful, Hired.” I gave her my best glare.
When the Enclave armour arrived Flare looked visibly upset at the quality of it, but dutifully put it on anyway. My barding fit snugly on my body, and it made me feel a bit safer, though I wished I had something for Serenity. If we got back to Dise, getting her proper protection would be my number one priority. As I took a step towards the smirking mare, I felt something in the collar pockets of my barding. Reaching into it I saw a small mouth held device I had nearly forgot about.
“Oh you found it,” Blackwater chuckled. “The spark pulse emitter you stole from our base. Don't try it on us, but it might help you if you get attacked by a killer robot. Consider it a gift, because you aren't getting any guns. And no, you don’t get to keep it when you’re done. Also, if you’re thinking about using it to escape, don’t: everypony knows you have it, and half our guards are equipped with regular barding as a precaution.”
I hated it when ponies read my mind.
After that, we were led out of the camp and 'escorted' through the facility. It was a short, silent walk, and the only thing I could focus on was the door we were getting closer and closer too. Something was behind it, and, for who knows what reason, we were the ones who had to go find out what. Honestly I don't think Blackwater really cared, and just felt like putting me in a horrible position to watch me fail.
Oh, and I would fail.
“Look On The Bright Side, Hired,” Flare said from behind his rusty new Enclave mask. “We’ll Find Out What Wallkirk Was Doing. You Seem To Have Been Focusing On Him Lately, So It’ll Be Like An Adventure.” Oh yes, I did so love adventures. “You'll Be The First Pony To See This Facility In Two Hundred Years Without Being Killed.” As cool as that idea was, it didn't make much sense. If I had the password to unlock this place then the founders of Timber must have had it too, and why wouldn't they have gone exploring? For that matter I couldn't have been the only pony to scavenge stable 123 (and in fact I remember somepony saying it had been picked clean already) so somepony else must have downloaded the password.
Unless it required a pipbuck, but even then. Somepony must have been up there before, but then how come there were no records? I hated mysteries.
“Whatever you say, Flare.” I was too tired to argue. Sure I had slept for three days, but comas really don't count. I guess. If you could even call it a coma. Which I didn't.
We stopped in front of the door, and I finally got a good look at it. It was a simple little metal door with double bolt lock with a broken terminal beside it. With a creak Blackwater opened the door. “Here we are.” On the other side was a staircase. “Go at least five floors up so we can see that password's power. Or else.”
I heard the gentle whirl of my eye when I took my eye patch off and looked at Blackwater. There was a purple box around her, the highest threat level my eye gave. I don't know how it knew, but I was not about to argue. We took a few steps through the door as the door shut behind us.
“So. Any thoughts?” I asked to break the eerie silence.
“Well.” The bug-like eyes on Flare's mask looked up. “We Could Go Up There.”
“I'm with the walking plan.” Serenity said. Turning, I gave her my best 'seriously' look. As if she ever walked anywhere. Using her powers of mind reading Serenity gave me a sheepish smile before sticking her tongue out at me. “I stick by what I said. Mush!” She kicked my flanks and I was off.
We ran, up and up and up. The stair lasted way too long, but I suppose it made sense, given it was in the middle of a mountain.
At the top was a small grey room. On the ceiling, hunks of what were once a turret hung lazily down on a mess of wire. Directly in front of us was a smashed in door with a terminal beside it, and an open doors to either side. I took a few steps forward and listened to the silence. Only it wasn't silent. There was a steady hum of lights above, and deep within the pristine facility I heard the rattling of machinery. There was also a whirring sound right above us. Looking up, I saw a small black ball above us.
“A camera,” Serenity said, standing her forelegs on the back of my head to get a better look. “It's watching us.”
Something red twitched on my EFS. The sound of mechanical maneuvering came closer, and when I peered out the main broken door in front of us I saw the hallway split into a crossroad. Judging by the EFS marking, it was just about to turn the corner and—.
“INTRUDER ALERT! MINOTAUR SYMPATHIZERS WILL BE DEALT DEATH!” A cone shaped robot rolled around the corner. At the top if the cone was a see through section with what looked like eyes on every side, making Serenity 'ooooh' at it. However, when it started shooting gunks of green magical energy at us Serenity screamed and pointed hysterically at the nearby side door. I guess my password didn’t mean dick to these robots.
“Right!” I said diving towards it, a few steps behind Flare. A flash of heat hit my hind leg, making me cringe in pain and wish for med-x. I slid through the door, Serenity in tow, and kicked it shut. “This sucks!” I groaned and looked back at my smoking leg.
I quickly scanned the room as Serenity hopped off my back. Two plain brown desks were lined up on either side of the room, and one had a working terminal. In the centre of the room was a small pile of pink dust with a rifle lying beside it. Somewhere I remembered that magical weapons sometimes reduced ponies into ash... like that. Well ain't that grand.
I pulled the spark pulse emitter from its pocket and pointed my metal hoof at my black-clad friends. “Flare. Grab that desk and barricade the door. Serenity.” The tiny filly grinned up at me, nearly jumping for joy that she had something to do other than be captured and wait for rescue. “See if that computer-y thing controls the robots.” Without another word, she jumped over to it, as Flare flapped his wings and buzzed to the desk.
I turned my head to read the EFS and found the robot was getting shockingly close. It's voice rang through the door, “DO NOT THINK TO HIDE FROM JUSTICE!”
“Do Not Think To Hide From My Cock!” Flare yelled as he slid the desk over. Obviously, I raised an eyebrow at him. “I Don't Think Well Under Pressure!” he said, punctuating with a grunt. That was a good enough reason for a bad joke, so I didn't pressure him, and instead positioned myself beside the barricaded door.
“Serenity, anything?” I asked, huddled down with the spark pulse emitter in my mouth. So far this exploration was going wonderfully.
“Nothing but reports! Something about sending security guards to eastern tunnels because of a mass walk off. Talk of orbs, and stuff I don't understand.” That was hardly helpful. “Sorry, there ain't no nothing about deactivating robots.” She looked a little bit sad.
Something slammed into the door, making it shudder.
“Serenity, hide!” I screamed. The pink filly dutifully zipped behind the remaining desk and stayed there. Flare however was not so smart, and so stood near the door, his scorpion tail swinging back and forth. The door shuddered again and I crouched and watched as it screamed.
“DEFECTORS WILL BE BURNED!” There was a subtle whoosh and fire. The wooden door and desk became kindling. My heart lept into my throat, and I ran backwards as the flames licked at me. A colt was running through the fire screaming. I watched him until the pyres shuddered and snapped and the cone shaped robot burst through, spraying globs of green. “TRAITORS WILL BE SHOT!”
The hulking beast of a robot seemed to target Flare and fired a volley of green bolts at him. The black armoured pegasus was having none of that. Say what you want about that pegasus, but, damn, he was agile (I'm sure High Stakes would agree [This is not the right time for that sort of thinking!]) and quick. I sat watching, dumbfounded, trying to regain my senses from the fire. Why did it always have to be fire?
“Dammit!” A green bolt clipped his wings. Shit, I should be helping. Standing up, I charged the robot. It ignored me. More bolts of green energy flew out at Flare. Something slammed into his helmet just as I jumped. Flare screamed. The full force of my body slammed into the cone shaped thing sending it tilting. There was a crash as it fell over, me on top of it.
“RESISTANCE IS FUTI—.” I slammed the spark pulse emitter into what I figured was it's head. Electricity danced over its body as the thing writhed and shut down.
There was not time to celebrate my victory. I quickly dashed over to Flare who was struggling on the floor. So he was alive, but when I tried to stop him and looked at his mask I saw a blackened hole where his helmet's bug like eye was. “Flare are yo—.”
“Stupid, Broken-Ass Piece Of Shit!” He slammed his hooves to either side of his head and slowly removed his helmet with a hiss. Underneath Flare looked, well, perfectly fine. “You just can't talk in these things!” He threw the helmet into the inferno that was still raging. “I should have brought my quality armour, not this shit.” He looked up to me his pink eyes glimmering. “Way to take your time back there? Looking for some roast pegasus, huh?”
“I...” Shuffled my hooves a little. “The fire. I wasn't expecting...” It felt like my sight glazed over for a second before Flare patted me on the back.
“Yeah yeah, you and your trauma and regrets, I get it.” He smirked and trotted past me, over to Serenity (who at some point had come out of hiding and was perched on the fallen mechanical monster to strip it of its energy weapon and flamer) and looked past her to the fiery remains of the door and desk. “That didn't work at all. Any chance fighting this robot will be enough to please that bitch?” Hey, the password doesn’t work on robots, have fun fighting them. Yeah, that’d work.
“I doubt it.” I said. “She'll want more. Search out a few floors for a way to turn them off at least. If she's not happy then...”
“We get toasted.” Flare laughed. “Well, I'll say this Hired, you always take me to the most interesting places. Perhaps we should get captured by tribals next, then be forced into an active volcano as a sacrifice. It'd be par the course.” That sounded likely actually. Caledonia seemed the sort of country to have a random volcano just to torture me with. And now that I thought it, it was bound to happen. Because everything hated me.
“Or a plant monster. Captured by tribals. Sacrificed to plant-monster-goddess.” Might as well give the universe more options for my impending torture.
“Maybe there’s a giant mechanical god in this facility that wants to feed on our DNA and turn us into robots,” Serenity added, sticking her head out of the robot, her mouth full of wires. “That'd be so cool!” I facehoofed and shook my head at the filly. That would not be cool at all.
“Right.” I sighed. Now that our future entrapment was decided, I had more pressing issues on hand. “Anypony have a fire extinguisher?” I asked, looking at the flames blocking the only entrance.
---
We did, in the end, find a fire extinguisher and extinguish our way out of the room. After picking up the rifle in the middle of the room (it had three shots), Serenity urged us to check out the room across the hall. We did and found one of the terminals locked out with the message: “Safe Bet Security Terminal Access Failed. Please Contact Your Supervisor.” The second had a list of ponies who were allowed special access. Most of the names were redacted. Which, by the way, was really bloody helpful.
So we left that room and walked up to the crossroads. Three different hallways leading three different ways, and I had to wonder whose idea it was to make the complex so confusing. If only I had a map. Oh wait. I stopped and lifted up my pipbuck. This thing was supposed to have maps and stuff.
As we stood there waiting, there was a whirring sound, and something slammed into the ground hard enough to shake the floor. That was a terrible sign. Looking behind us I saw the hallway we came through was suddenly blocked by a large steel wall. Which was not there a second ago. On it there was a sign that said 'If You Are Reading This A Code Yellow Warning Has Been Issued And All Exits Will Be Locked While Security Looks Into The Matter, It Will Be Cleared In 24 Hours, Or Until Security Gives The All Clear. Please Be Calm”
“That makes me calm,” Flare said, smirking at me. “What about you, Hired? Feel calm being trapped here?”
“Positively peaceful.” Trapped here for a day without any med-x. Maybe if I found a bathroom medical kit...
“Stop Where You Are!” We were already stopped so that didn't take much. “What Are You Doing Violating These Hallowed Halls?” the booming voice continued from what I assumed to be hidden speakers. Looking up, I saw another black bubble above us. I just loved being watched.
“Looking for treasure, and riches,” Flare nickered. “What're you doing?”
“Do Not Question Me! We Control This Facility!” the voice boomed. As if I really cared. I just made a mental note to inform Blackwater of the crazy pony. “Intruders Will Be Terminated!” Blips on my EFS started showing up. Quickly turning my head I saw two red dots on the left and one more on my right. None were in front of me (and obviously none behind), and I had to imagine the ones on either side were closing in.
“I don't have time for this.” My newly acquired rifled fired, and its bullet slammed into the black dome shattering it in a shower of sparks and shrapnel. “Let's go.” It was a waste of a bullet, but I was not in the mood to deal with megalomaniacs. The hallway zipped past us as I led my merry crew through the forward passageway where my EFS was reading nothing currently trying to kill me. I don't know what I would’ve without it.
Actually I did know, and the answer was get shot a lot and lose body parts.
The white hallways were unnerving, and the lights above were far too bright for me. It almost felt like they were boring into my skull. How could a place like this still have power? The walls, at least, were not entirely white (a beige off-white actually) and were at least interesting. Pre-war posters. You know stuff like, “If You See A Spy Report Him,” accompanied with a picture of a Minotaur sneaking around with a bandit mask and a brief case. You know, classy stuff.
“Where are we going?” Flare asked.
“Forward,” came my reply. To be honest, I didn't have any idea at all. This place was confusing, and without a map we could wander for hours. Not to mention the plethora of robots following us. Each time I looked up and saw a little black orb looking down at us I wanted to shoot it. However, my rifle only had two shots left and I couldn't waste them.
“Apt. I mean, we're supposed to explore five stories of this place to figure out what dangers your pipbuck can bypass, or access, or whatever. So far we have killer robots and insane ponies on the speakers out of our reach.” Flare shook his head. “And that's on the first floor. The password has some effect apparently, but it ain’t gunna give them a free ride, what else do they need to know?”
“We could go that way,” Serenity said from my back. When I looked back I could see she was pointing at a glowing sign that said 'Cafeteria'. “Might be a floor plan there,” Serenity explained. “Some of the pre-war buildings put maps in places like that so ponies knew where the exits were in case of fire.” It was worth a shot, but from what I had seen this place had only one exit.
For half a second I wondered if maybe it did have another exit. A way out apart from the way we entered. If that was possible then maybe, just maybe, we could get out of Blackwater's grasp. She was a bitch, and I knew in my gut that when we came back she was going to kill us.
“Good thinking,” I said to Serenity and followed the sign.
It was easier this way. It was better to run through the halls of an ancient facility than to think of what happened, of what I’d lost. Of how badly I’d failed my friends, and how I got them into this situation. Part of me wanted to blame High Stakes (and I did) but maybe if I’d listened to him. Or maybe... maybe if I had realized he wasn't trustworthy. If I had thought that maybe Smooth Tongue would try something. If I were a smarter pony. If I hadn't kicked Smooth Tongue out that window and started this whole mess. I had failed, utterly and completely. And running around let me forget it. If only for a moment.
My face still stung from where I had been shot. I had been lucky enough not to die, but I had been too afraid to look in a mirror and see how much it had messed me up. Another blemish, another scar. Like so many before, it was another mark of failure, another sign of my incompetence. Like my leg, and eye, and ear. My failures built up like the damage to my body.
It was too much. I had to think of something else. As we slowly traversed to facility towards the sign of 'cafeteria', I looked at the doors we passed and left un-scavenged. All of them seemed to be storage rooms, and were marked with that they held. One said 'terminals' while another was marked 'wiring', and a third stated, 'electronic handbooks and guides.' You'd think the guides would be first, but I figured I understood the reason. This place was made so ponies could rebuild, or at least that was the facade. So the first few floors would be for inspection, and above that was whatever the facility was really used for.
Megaspells.
At least if Flare could be trusted (so much had happened, and that was up in the air. I wanted to trust him, but sometimes it was difficult). Even still, the very thought of megaspells would leave any gang of Dise watering at the mouth. And they were going to the Steel Rangers. At least with Steel Rangers, chances were they would just hoard the technology, instead if use it like most anypony else in Dise. So that was good. Unless somepony gave Blackwater the big red button.
So, what? I had to stop her from getting whatever tech was in this facility, but how? I was weak from being out for days and, you know, being shot in the face. Not to mention I may or may not have been addicted, and without med-x I wasn't really strong enough to take on the brunt of the Steel Rangers’ forces. So I needed to stop her, and I needed a plan. I was terrible at plans.
“There!” Serenity pointed from my back. Never mind the fact it was hard to see somepony pointing while they were riding me, I still knew what she was pointing at. Above a set of double doors straight ahead of us was the word 'Cafeteria' in bright gold. I guess this was the place. So, I opened the door.
It wasn't a cafeteria -- I realized a second after opening the door -- it was was graveyard. The cafeteria had a mostly open second story, with stairs around the far walls leading to a balcony level, and the entire area was littered with tables and skeletons. There had to be at least a hundred in the large cafeteria, and nearly all were hunched over tables, their faces in food trays (the food must have rotted away), while others were flopped on the floor. It was like everypony had gone to sleep where they were, and then just died.
“Do You See Now You Can't Escape?” the voice boomed across the cafeteria. “You Have No Chance, Make Your Time.”
“Didn't we tell the loud voice ta shut up already?” Serenity hopped off my back to glare at the nearest ceiling camera. “You're a butt!” she yelled at it. “If I had mah pistol I'd shoot ya.” Good girl. Always shoot the loud voices from nowhere. It was the proper thing to do.
“Foals! Feel The Wrath Of My Protectitrons!”
“That's a stupid name!” Serenity countered. She made such a compelling argument I had to agree. “Ack!” Looking up at the balcony I saw two of those rolling, cone-shaped robots. They were shooting at us. I pushed Serenity back with my leg and slid in front of her. A green bolt slammed into my chest.
“Fuck!” The front of my chest was on fire. A section of coat was burned off and it looked like it was melting. It hurt. Dammit, If only I’d had a med-x.
More bolts of green energy were falling towards us. Flare was the smart one and flipped a nearby table. I grabbed Serenity and dove for it. We huddled behind as green energy slammed into it. I could smell burning wood. “So, any plans?” I grunted, holding my chest with my good leg.
“Well.... We have how many shots in that rifle?” Flare said licking his lips. “Because unless you got a full mag and good aim I don't think those things are going down. We can't get close enough to spark'em.” He chuckled. “Great, I'm going to be killed by giant, death-spewing dildos. What a way to go.”
My metal leg hit his head lightly. “Not in front of Serenity. Also, are your jokes getting worse?” For one they didn't even look like dildos... not that I knew what those looked like. At all. “I have two shots. Take one out. If I have good aim.” And even that didn't seem likely. It wasn't a particularly good rifle.
...Is it bad?...
I jolted upright and looked at my companions. Did they hear that too? Their faces looked contemplative. No... it was just me. A word on the wind. I did not like. I hated hearing voices. Closing my eyes I forced the words away. Just going insane. That's all. No big deal.
A burning sensation slammed into my back. Swearing, I pushed away from the sideways table to see a blackened hole where my back was resting. Note to self: tables make terrible cover. Enough of this shit. I had a rifle, time to use it. I reared up and planted my fore hooves in the table for stability. Mouth fired rifle. I hated them, but I was a damn good shot. My first bullet cracked into the coned creatures clear top. The second shattered it in a flurry of electronics. Noticeably the green energy waves had been reduced to one at a time.
“One to go.” My chest burned, and my back was blackened by magical energy. I hated robots. Hate, hate, hated them. The table we were hiding behind wasn't fairing much better then me. One side was blackened, and now it had numerous holes penetrating it. This fight was going well.
“I have an idea.” All eyes turned to Serenity who was crouching low the ground. She didn't look afraid at all. I was so proud of her. “Those things have wheelies, not like hooves. So if we can, like, lure it over to the stairs, and it tries to go down'em.” They'd probably fall in a heap. Aha! That was genius! My daughter was a genius! I mean my... filly was. Oh, whatever. It made this fight much easier without turning into blackened bacon.
“Serenity, I love you.” I told her, earning a high pitched giggle. “But I need you to stay here.” She pouted but nodded. All right Silver. Time to use your totally existent leadership and battle-planning skills. I stood up briefly to get a look at the room but had to duck when a shot of green energy singed my mane. The closest staircase was to our right, and from the look of it, there were enough tables to form a makeshift path so we wouldn't get burned alive. “Flare, you're faster and better protected. Run past, overturn the tables.” They made shitty cover, but I couldn't really bring in better cover so they would have to make do. “I'll follow, and lure it over. If it doesn't bite, I'll charge.
“I like plans when you charge at fire-spewing mechanical monsters.” I pointed my hoof the direction he was to head. With half a chuckle, he zoomed off, flipping tables as he went. Luckily for me they all landed sideways, providing the most cover possible.
“Serenity.” I smiled down at her. “Be good and stay here, okay?” She gave me an unsure nod. It was the best I was going to get. Not wasting another second, I took off.
I had thought of diving from cover to cover, but decided against it. I needed to get from point A to point B as fast as possible. So I took off in a full gallop. The mechanical pain in the flank kept firing the whole time. Green blasts of energy zipped past me. One hit my flank, making me cry out but not slow down. Just had to keep running. I got to the end only a little worse for wear, and slid behind the table Flare had set up beside the staircase.
“Took you long enough.” Flare nickered. “Think I almost died of old age.”
“Your material is getting stale.” He just shrugged as I peeked around the edge of the table. Just like we had expected, the machine was rolling closer to the staircase. “I'm having doubts.”
“About this plan, or your direction in life?”
A green bolt flared towards my face, and I had to duck back behind cover as it left a shallow, blackened hole in the ground.
“Yes.”
Okay, deep breaths. Just needed it to wheel a bit further, then I would pop out and hope it was stupid enough to roll forward. Simple. Assuming the programmer was like me. That is, an idiot. “All right.” It rolled in front of the staircase to get a better shot. Good, exactly as planned. Now I just needed to run into the line of fire, and hope everything didn't suck. “Wish me luck.” Flare just gave me an over exaggerated salute and pushed me into the line of fire.
I stumbled out. There was a pause as I turned my head up at the robot. It, however, didn’t pause at all and unleashed a torrent of green bolts at me. Shit, it wasn't rolling forward. Green blasts flared past me, too fast to dodge. Something hit my good leg, and I fell, smoking and stumbling. Bad, bad idea. It was right there on the edge. Just a little further forward and it'd tip. I swear, if I found the pony that programmed that robot, I would stab them.
I struggled to my hooves, only to drop again when a green bolt slammed into my forehead. Pain raged through my body. I was going to die. Gunned down by a cone with wheels. I guess it was time for plan B.
Charge!
With my usual grace, I stopped caring and started running forward into the blasts. I tore the spark pulse emitter from my pocked mid-stride. Just had to get up the stairs and—. There was a flurry of pink behind the robot. A blast of green fired at the pink blur. Serenity screeched but kept running. She hit the robot, that was already teetering, with all her filly might. There was a slight pause as it thought about tipping over. It fell.
That part of the plan worked well. Rolling cones were not made for going down stairs and it started clanging and tumbling it's way down. Right at me. Welp, this was going to suck. I tried to jump as high as I could as it rolled towards me. But I was running up stairs, and it was difficult! My heart soared as I managed to clear it with my forelegs. However, my hopes were dashed as it slammed into my back legs.
I staggered in midair. My forehooves flailed. Suddenly, I was falling head first. I stuck my metal hoof out. I felt it slam into the ground, sending the shock waves up my shoulder. Right after, my face hit home. There was a stabbing pain through my jaw, followed by a throbbing pain. The stair was cool on my face though, so I just laid there a minute. Closed my eyes and thought of home. Of Wildfire sleeping beside me, curled in my hooves. Of Foundation hiding behind my legs whenever she met somepony new.
“Hired. Hey Hired. Come in, Hired. Robots have been defeated. You can stop napping now.” I, what? My eyes shot open and I saw Flare hovering above me with a disapproving smile. “Oh, so you are awake. Thought the fall put you to bed. Again.” You know what this day needed? Another coma.
Just then I remembered the filly’s scream. “Serenity!” I jumped to my hooves and pushed past the ponderous pegasus and up the stairs. Serenity was sitting on her haunches fussing over a nasty looking burn mark on her side. The wound looked to have burned the coat and scorched the skin, but I don't think it was a direct hit. Serenity didn't seem that concerned about it, but when she poked it, she winced.
“Did'ja see that, momma?!” Her grey eyes filled with excitement as she saw me come limping over. “I totally beat that thing up, it was so awesome. Stupid thing shot at me though,” she huffed, looking at her injured side. “Hey can I ge—.”
“No, you can not get a cybernetic replacement.” She tried her pouty look thing, but that wasn't going to work. “It's not bad enough for a replacement. A healing potion maybe, but that might be a waste.” There was a look of confusion on her face before she slowly realized I was joking with her. Apparently that was unheard of.
“Well I guess if you didn't get one for your face then ah can deal with my battle wound.” She looked down at her 'battle' wound with a proud smile. It wasn't the first time she had gotten hurt in one of my fights, but it was the first fight she got hurt in that wasn’t emotionally upsetting after the fact. So I let her have that moment...
Wait. What about my face?
“What about my face?” I asked, scrunching up my muzzle. I mean, the whole thing was still slightly sore for the whole being-shotgunned thing, but that was mostly gone due to the med-x.
Serenity blinked at me and gave a confused smile. “You... saw your face right?... Right? I mean --” She gulped a little and looked up worriedly at Flare when he came floating down. “Cause it's kinda...” She and Flare shared a concerned look and I felt my heart sink. I don't think I wanted to know.
“Figured Blackwater would want to taunt you a little with a mirror or something. Uh...” His pink eyes darted about, finding what looked like a cafeteria serving station on the wall (might I stop to point out how stupid it was to have the food on the second floor and the seating on the first) with a shiny metal sneeze guard. “Try that, might be reflective.”
Right. Just walk over there and look at myself in the mirror. How bad could that be? I mean, not like they were being really vague about it or anything. Or like I was shot. In the head. Just take a peek, couldn't hurt. Maybe if it was bad I could get face cybernetics like The Laughing Stallion.
...Tell me... what is the nature of a hero?...
Honestly, that question was beginning to drive me mad. Did it even matter? It was just some stupid riddle that was stuck in my head. Pushing it to the back of my mind, I stepped up and looked down at the reflective metal.
Well. That didn't look pleasant. The entire right side of my muzzle (and parts of my neck) was criss crossed with large pink scars that protruded from the surface of my face. Entire sections were missing and replaced with scar tissue. It was almost as if my face had been clawed apart and hastily put back together. The sight of it made my stomach turn. I wanted to take a step back, to look at anything else, but it was... fascinating, in a horrifying way.
“You got lucky, you know,” Flare said from behind me. “Way I heard it, you turned just in time. Any later and the blast would have taken off half your skull. There was some ricochet of course, but nothin' got into your brain pan. So you're lucky...” Lucky. I slowly moved my hoof up to touch the scars. “Some got in your eye too, but the right one... I wasn't there, but apparently it was nasty. Nearly lost you on account of blood loss, and had to stitch you together in short order. Apparently it wasn't easier. Swelling in the scars should go down in time, and it won't look so bad then...” Not look so bad. Yeah. But it looked bad. Like I'd gone five rounds with a Hellhound.
The scars ached and made me wince. It hurt, for some reason. My face had never been beautiful, or pretty, or anything like that, but seeing it like that wracked my gut. I'd lost an eye, an ear and a leg, what was half a face? Another mark, another blemish. Maybe this time I'd learn how to stop getting my stupid head in trouble. It was just... looking at my face was too much. It'd been such a long, frustrating day, and everything had gone wrong. I was weak and lost and betrayed by a pony I had thought I trusted. Part of me just wanted to just lie down and sleep. Let the world pass me by, it didn't need me. I never did anything for it but fuck up.
“Momma? Momma, are you crying?” Great, blubbering over facial scars. Some hero I turned out to be. “Momma?”
“It's nothing.” I wiped the tears from my eyes. It wasn't the scars that hurt, just what they represented. At least I was alive though. How many ponies got shot in the face and survived to be chased by robots days later? “Never mind, let’s g—.”
“Do Not Think I Will Allow You To Escape That Easily!” the booming speaker voice cut me off. That was starting to get on my nerves. “Robopony Robots Are Not Felled That Easily! They Are Equipped With Self Repair Talismans To Repair Critical, Yet Non-Destructive Damage!”
“What, exactly does that mean?” I asked. The green bolt that zipped by my ear a second later answered that question. Turning around I saw the Protectitron that I'd shot in it's 'head' whirl and start moving slowly towards us. “Oh, fuck that.”
I’d had enough of robots. I’d had enough of being shot. And I’d had enough of this stupid, fucking facility. My hooves pumped me forward in a vicious charge. The thing was still right up against the guardrail that marked the end balcony, so when I hit it with my full force, we hit said rail. There was no pause or hesitation. One second, I charged into it so hard my shoulder throbbed, the next we were airborne.
My head slammed into the robot as we crashed into the ground. I felt blood trickle down my face and over my scars. That didn't matter. I sat up and pinned the Protectitron on its side with my massive weight. Not even bothering to take out my spark pulse emitter, I slammed my hoof down on the stupid thing. Then again, and again. I kept smashing it with my hoof until its side was torn asunder in metal and wires.
“Stupid.” My hoof slammed into it again. “Fucking.” My mouth clamped around some wires and I pulled back tearing them out. “Machine!” When I was done, I was standing over a pile of scrap metal and breathing in short raspy breaths. There, it was fucking destroyed. Could I just get this shit over with already?
“Hired...” Flare was beside me. When did he get there? “Are you okay?” No. No I really wasn't. It was just too much. Too fast. I needed to get out of this place. Part of me wanted to run and hide, go back to Dise. Live the rest of my life with Platinum Haze where things made sense. “Hired... you're creeping me out. Seriously...”
...Just talk to me Silver! Let me in! I... I just want to help!...
“I need a drink.” I pushed past Flare and closed my eyes, ignoring the voices in my head. Just needed to get a drink and get my senses back. Everything would be alright.
---
We couldn't find anything to sate my thirst, which was unfortunate. On the bright side, on the other side of the cafeteria bar, under the counter, there were cans of baked beans and a box of BUCKO cereal. Both with the label 'Guaranteed to last two hundred years, or your money back!'. Well, we ate it and didn't die of food poisoning, so I guess we wouldn't have to go to any corporate offices and demand our caps back. We didn't leave right away after eating though, as both Serenity and Flare seemed to think we had to rest. I didn't want to. Vainly, I hoped that maybe we could find a security office, open the entrance again, turn off the robots from there, and leave within a few hours. The longer they insisted we wait, the more I realized that just wasn't possible.
“Why are you fidgeting so much?” Flare raised an eyebrow at me.
“I'm not,” I said as I tapped my forehooves on the table (we had to relieve it of its dead occupants) we were sitting at. “Just waiting.” Tappity tap. Well, with my hooves, it was more like 'tappity smash', but it achieved the same effect. The facility was just getting to me. Not counting the long dead bodies, everything was too clean, too white, and the lights were too bright. Just. Getting into my headspace.
“You need to rest, Hired.” Flare gave me a grim look. I disagreed, I had slept for three days, I needed to get moving. “You look like shit.”
“Yeah, yeah, scars.” I wanted to touch them, to feel the way they marred my skin, but it didn't matter. What was a scar? Just because I had nearly died, and got them from somepony I thought was a friend. It didn't matter. Just another scar.
“I mean, hell, you shouldn't even be here. After what you've been through, you should be resting, not running around this shitty place.” Yeah, I agreed, but so what? We needed to keep going if we wanted to get out. “After everything that happened back at Bridle Hope... it's got to be eating up you up, I mean—.”
My metal hoof cracked into the table. “I'm fine, Flare.” Fine. So what if the Crimson Hoof had taken over the town I tried to save? Who cared that I’d been betrayed and shot in the face? Not me. I was only being stupidly vain because of the scars. It didn't matter, we just needed to move on. The light was just giving me a headache. “Just have to beat them back later.”
“Momma are yo—.”
“Fine.” I stood up abruptly. Sitting there for a second longer would have driven me insane. “Just fine.” My cybernetic eye scanned the area. We were back on the bottom floor, and I remembered there being a door with a terminal up on the second floor balcony beside the serving area. It wasn't much, but it'd get us one floor up. Only had to go up five floors to make Blackwater happy. Then I could go back to Dise and sleep for a year.
They followed me when they saw where I was going. Good, I really didn't want to go on without them. They exchanged worried whispers though. I'm not sure why. I had been through worse. Nearly lost them both with my eye after Karkhoof. This was easy compared to that. So long as I kept moving and didn’t dwell.
The door was just off to the right of the serving area, right beside an entrance to the kitchens. Part of me wanted to go scavenge in there for melee weapons, but at that range my hooves or the spark pulse emitter would do far more damage. So what was the point? Instead, I walked up to the terminal hanging on the wall.
//Input password//
Oh, that was easy. I help up my pipbuck-ed leg and looked down at it to see it was still on the same screen that Blackwater left it on back on the main level of the centre. All it took was a press and it started glowing and screeching and making my shoulder sting again. Just like before.
//Magical Input Recognized//
//Analyzing...//
//Password Accepted//
With that the metal door slid open, opening a new hallway to us. That was... convenient. I suppose having the master key to the whole facility wasn't really a bad thing.
“Must have been annoying putting in the password every time you wanted to get something to eat.” Flare said as we walked through the door. It was a good point, at least until I saw an old boot by the door with strange markings on it. It took me a few seconds to realize it was probably used to prop the door open to avoid the password every time. Because who cares about security?
“Do you know where we’re going, Hired?”
Forward. Because if we kept going forward maybe we would get to where we needed to go. Not that I knew where we were going. “Uh.” I looked around the hallway. Dull and white. I was beginning to think it was designed to drive ponies insane. “No.”
“Oh good.” Flare seemed pleased. “For a second there I thought you finally had a clue.”
I didn't respond except to look over and give him a glare. Dealing with him was just hurting my head, more than it already hurt. We walked for a while in near-silence (except for the humming of lights). Serenity had tried to jump on my back, but quickly jumped back off once she saw the rather large laser wound that might as well have been still smoking.
Twice the “great” voice on the speakers yelled at us, but we ignored him. It was nothing important, just more 'You know not what you do!' and 'Continue at your peril'. The usual shit nopony cared about.
Unlike all the rooms on the first floor, the ones we passed all seemed to be a series of offices. We didn’t really explore that much into them as all the terminals were locked, and it’d take too much work to use my pipbuck on them all for little information they might hold. The offices were all really creepy, too, because each and every one had skeletons still sitting at their desks. Unmoved for centuries.
Even stranger was that as we walked through the halls, I noticed a skeleton lying on the floor clutching a mop. A bucket was beside it (empty). It was as if he just dropped dead in the middle of mopping. Even with radiation, death takes a while, so why not here?
“Turn right,” Serenity said abruptly. We were at yet another crossroads in the facility. “I said right, c'mon.”
“Why?” I asked shortly. Every direction looked the same to me, except for the signs on the doors.
“‘Cause I stole the map from the cafeteria, and it says this way is tha security offices.” Looking down, she did have a map floating out in front of her. I felt her magic before, but just assumed she was carrying Scootaborg. Of course... she never did get her back after she threw her at that pony in Bridle Hope. “There we might find a place to unlock the front door, or turn them robots off or something.” That was a good point. She sure was resourceful.
“Well, lets go.” I offered her a weak smile. Guilt was starting to rise up from the way I had been acting. I did want to apologize for being quiet and broody, but I couldn't think of the words, so I kept walking.
---
The security offices came up surprisingly fast and with very little fanfare. In that the there was a huge sign, a metal cage-like wall, and a locking door just to get into the wing. Of course, locked doors did not trouble me much at all. One buck later and we were inside the wing, looking around. The first thing I noticed was that there were no security cameras. I guess nopony watched the security ponies.
“Whaddya think’s in here?” Serenity asked as she trotted over the nearest door. A simple wooden door that said 'Internal and External Information And Analysis Center.' My guess was information. So I opened the door without another word.
Inside was a shockingly small room with a single desk with a skeleton face down on a broken terminal for decoration. Another pony that just happened to drop dead where it was sitting. You'd think the entire place had been poisoned from the number of casual corpses we found. Two doors flanked either side of the desk. One read 'Observation Chamber' and the other, 'Exterior Information Gathering.'
“Now.” Flare walked over and tapped the second door. “I've never been here before, nor have I ever worked security, but to me, that's a fancy way of saying spying.” Oh, I guess that was a good point. “So I say we start here.” Sure, what could possibly go wrong?
The long skinny room felt a little bit cramped. Two rows of desks lined either wall and they all glowed green with monitors. Most distressing was at the end of the room was three clear pods with three deactivated Protectitrons. I didn't want to be anywhere near those things, but it seemed my companions didn't care and trotted in anyway.
“So.” I walked into the centre of the room. “Looking for door controls. Or floor plans. Details of security systems. Something to appease Blackwater.
... Please... Show me what you found...
“Fuck off, Smooth Tongue!” Before I finished saying it, I realized I had just yelled at a voice in my head. Not going crazy at all. By the looks my friends gave me, I don't think they believed that. “Uh, I mean, then we can get out of here and fuck over Smooth Tongue.” They didn't seem to believe me at all. “Just... go do those things. With the terminals.” They kept staring. “Just do it!”
Serenity huffed a little and ran over to the nearest terminal, while Flare just laughed. He did go do as I asked once I glared at him though. If there was one thing to say for hideous facial scars, they sure put the scare in ponies. I suppose I could have helped out with the computer hacking but... uh. I was bad with technology. Even at my best I could only sometimes get my pipbuck light to work properly. I didn't really want to risk anything.
So, instead, I sat in the middle of the chamber (the floor was really cold) and stared off into space. This place made it hard for me to think right. For some reason, I kept picturing High Stakes lying bloody and beaten at my hooves. It was such a sweet day dream too. I could almost hear his pleas for mercy. Smell his blood pooling around him. It was exciting. I could hardly wait until we met again, so I could teach him not to leave a job half done.
“Hired.” Huh. “Yo, Hired. Damn, you've been spacing out a lot.” Flare wasn't turned to me, but he was waving me over with his wing. “This thing needs a password to get into some deep files. Try your magical pipbuck!” Right. Slowly I rose back to my hooves and trotted over the glowing green screen. My pipbuck was still on the 'super-password' part of the menu so I just pressed activate.
With a flash of lights and the burning of my shoulder, the screen flickered and Flare laughed in victory. With a furious series of taps his pink eyes started scanning, a subtle green glow illuminating his face.
“Anything interesting?” I asked.
“Reports and reports, some crazy shit.” He seemed at least mildly amused. “Whoever was running this facility had spies all over the place.” He tapped the screen. “Reports from ponies placed in the Equestrian Ministry of Morale, Ministry of Image, Stable-Tec itself! Something called the 'OIA' as well, but I'm not sure what that even means.” So?
“Pre-war shit,” I growled. “Who cares?”
“Well. You got somepony making a lot of enemies, means they might design their security to counter these enemies. Get it? Could be useful stuff.” Right. I'm not sure if that made any sense or if Flare was just justifying his curiosity. Chances are it was a little bit of both. “Or even better, look!”
On the grainy green screen was a crudely drawn map. Flare hit a few buttons and the map shifted and rotated rising to another floor. A few more clicks and it moved fast sideways and turned into a map of a large factory. “See the legend in the corner?” Flare said. Sure enough in the corner there was some words written. “Tells me what to type to see what I want to see. Think it comes on every terminal in this place so folk don't get lost.” That would have been useful hours ago. “But look. This place has entire sections for weapons manufacturing. Living quarters spread out across the facility. Hell, we've only been through the administration offices. Look at all this!” Flare’s eyes were wide as he scrolled through the map. “It's just. Shit. I knew it was large ‘cause I was stationed in a base at the top, but this is insane! It was like a city!”
It was... Rather impressive. As he scrolled, newer and newer areas just kept opening up. “How did Wallkirk pay for this?”
“He didn't.” Flare flicked a few more thing bringing up a list. “Look here, the Caledonian military paid for the bunker in case of war, and Stable-Tec paid to have supplies saved for stable 123. Wallkirk owned the mountain, and combined the two to create... whatever the hell this place is.” Flare looked deadly serious. “If the Steel Rangers got complete control of this facility...”
...Then the wasteland would instantly have a new superpower. Even if there weren’t any megaspells here. So we were about to hand the most dangerous fuckers in the wasteland a small city whose entire purpose was manufacturing weapons and storing technology. Fucking lovely. The only thing I could think to do was try and delete the password from my pipbuck. If I could do that, then maybe Blackwater wouldn't be able to get to the more dangerous areas. Some NCA pony mentioned to me once that the robots made scavenging impossible, though I imagine the door also had something to do with that.
“Momma... you might wanna see this,” Serenity said from her terminal across the room.
“Already seen the map,” I said, still watching the map.
“It's about the password.” I turned and ran down to where she was. “Read this.” She pointed at her terminal.
“Listen Grinder. I understand you have some trepidations against the magical master key, but understand, it's only for extreme circumstances. What is the likelihood of the world ending anytime soon? Besides, the Stable is only programmed to give out the password five times before it deletes itself. And only onto a pipbuck, and they aren't exactly commonplace. And even if they were, if the pony wearing it gets killed or their pipbuck ripped off, the password deletes itself. Sure, once it's on the pipbuck it can be copied but only once, and the copied password can't be moved or copied itself. Nopony is ever going to use it anyway because we're going to win the war, so stop worrying. See? This is not something we put on without proper precautions.”
“See, I'm thinking thas why them Steel Rangers kept you alive. They must have found out the way it works an' kept you alive so you could transfer it to Blackwater here, ya know?” So she already had a copy of the password and was just fucking with me.
“Great.” There went my plan of deleting the password. Now I had to fucking kill her. Well, assuming I got out alive. Wiping some sweat from my brow, I looked over the email again. “Why did she send us here again?”
“Well,” Flare said from across the room, “to find out the security and tell her what to expect. Though, given what we know, I’m going to bet she knew the security systems and sent us here to kill as many robots as we can before we die. Then she'll probably grab the tapes of it after she cleans the place out to laugh. Don't you love it when ponies fuck with us?”
“It's great.” I groaned.
“Oh, shit.” Huh. My head snapped to Flare who was frantically pressing at buttons as his screen flashed red. “Shitshitshit. That's not good. It locked me out and it might be starting up th—.”
A flash of green energy sped past my face. Serenity started to scream. I pushed her behind me. When I turned, three cone-shaped robots were rolling towards me. Lowering myself, I felt my knees shake. Dammit, I felt so weak. These things were going to roll right through me. Having no other choice, I quickly flanked right, crouched under the nearest desk, and threw it across the skinny room. That should hold them.
As soon as the desk shifted into their path there was a burst of fire. Flames licked at me, and I could smell pieces of mane singing. Fire. Why did it always have to be fire? I took a shaky step back, unable to look away from the flames.
...They say time heals all wounds... but it doesn't fix scars...
Out of the flames of the desk I saw something. At first I didn't believe it, but I know what I saw. From the burning desk a small colt with a hole in it's leg was crawling out. His mane was flames, but he had the brightest blue eyes. When our eyes met, I reached out a hoof to him. I had to pull him out. To save him. I couldn't kill him again. Just a little closer and I could pull him out. It was so simple.
“Hired, you idiot.” Something tugged on my tail. “We run away from fire, not towards it.” Looking back, I saw a blue pegasus tugging at my tail. Flare. Right. How could I forget? “C'mon!” I blinked and turned back to Post Haste... to find him missing. Tears stung my eyes. I was so close. Why did Flare stop me?
“Momma, you're scaring me.”
I shook my head, dislodged the tears, threw Serenity onto my back, and ran the fuck out of that room. Post Haste was dead, but Serenity was alive. Had to keep moving or this place would kill us or drive us crazy. Maybe both. This whole place reminded me of something I couldn't place my hoof on. Whatever, keep running.
Flare slammed the door behind us. Without waiting for Serenity to jump off my back, I ran to one side of the desk in that room and pushed it until it was directly in front of the door, blocking it. It wouldn't hold them for long, but it'd buy us some time.
“This way.” Serenity pointed at the door marked 'Observation Room.' Well, it was as good a choice as any. If we hid near the door we could jump them one by one... hopefully.
We quickly scurried into the room as a robotic voice boomed. “OBSTRUCTION DETECTED! PROBABILITY OF MISSION HINDRANCE: ZERO PERCENT!”
Closing the door, I checked to make sure Serenity was all right before looking around.
It was a large room with a series of semi-circular tables (with many terminals) all arched around the far wall. A wall, I should mention, that was covered from floor to ceiling in monitors. On each monitor was a rotating view of hall ways, factories, and... what the hell was that room? In the centre of the monitors was one three times as large as any other. There was something about it that was enchanting, and it seems Flare and Serenity thought so as well as we all moved closer to get a better look. Even with the threat of death by vaporization I had to see.
The large room in the screen seemed to be in a strange shape, with sixteen different walls, each the same length, making it a strange shape (I could only see half the room, so I guessed). On each of the walls, I could see a number painted, encircled with strange runes. The floor was covered in a mosaic of a white so pure it made the rest of the facility look dirty, and in a pattern so strange and arcane I couldn't make head or tail of it. In the centre of the chamber there was a empty space without tiles, dyed a deep blue. It was just large enough for a pony.
“What the shit?!” Flare gasped.
A pony that wasn't there before appeared. It was pure white like the tiles, and lacking a mane or tail. Something about the pony made my shoulder ache.
The pony flickered.
One second it was lying down. The next it was standing, its back to the camera.
“Is that really... there?” Serenity asked in a hushed tone, as if she was afraid the thing could hear us through the screen. But how could it?
There was a rush of wind. Something creaked.
The pony’s head turned all the way around. It stared into my soul with pits of fire for eyes.
Level Up!:
No New Perks Or Stat Milestones. Lame.
((A/N: This chapter is later, and I do apologize, but sometimes making these things readable takes effort. Ask Menti, Julep, and theBSDude, the humble editors who are awesome and stuff. As well I must thank Kkat for allowing me to mess around in her world.))
((Tired of waiting between chapters? Try these stories: Murky Number 7, Morality of Property, Homecoming, And Best Served Cold. )) |
No One | 662 | 20 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-06-13T03:35:09+00:00 | 2012-06-13T03:35:09+00:00 | 17,080 | Virtues And Vices
“A world at peace. There had to be sacrifice.”
“Mom, is it safe?” Foundation's ruby eyes looked wary at best.
“Of course, sweetie.” I stretched out my forelegs. “Just a spar. Keeps me big and strong.” Big and strong and unbeatable.
Twice a year in Marefort, the guard ponies would gather for a series of competitions. There was marksmanship (Nos won the last five years), races (Wildfire won this one, actually), and of course sparring. It was mostly to make sure all the guard ponies were ready in the event of an attack, but also became a bit of an event for all of Marefort. They liked to call it the 'Iron Pony Competition' and place bets on who would win. Apparently the bet was twenty to one that I would beat Star Belle in the final bout.
I could see why. The golden pony with a dark amethyst mane wasn't good at sparring, but she was much smaller than I. She won her previous bouts by ducking and dodging and wearing her opponent out. From the look in her eyes she knew that wouldn't work for me. My muscles weren't for show, and I did not tire easily. To beat me, she was going to have to fight me at full strength, and that just wasn't possible.
“I mean for her.” She scrunched up her muzzle. I really didn't want her to be worried. It was a miracle we had even been able to convince her to come. She was afraid of crowds, and most of Marefort was surrounding a small circle in the dirt. Sure, she was half hidden under Wildfire's legs, but it was a start. She looked up at me, “You're big...”
With a smile, I ruffled her mane which made her squeak and try to hide behind it. “I won't hurt her, I promise.” She bit her lip and looked away. Which is what she did whenever she was unsure. “Trust me. I didn't hurt the others, did I?” She shook her head. “Exactly. Just stay with Mommy.” She nodded and gave me a weak smile. I was so proud of her coming out here with us. It was a big step. I gave her a quick kiss on the top of the head, then took a step back and turned towards my opponent.
This was going to be almost too easy. Of course, it always was for me. The rules were simple. Kicking was not allowed, what you had to do was wrestle the pony until they were flat on their back for three seconds. It was simple, and could be brutal. I was just so much stronger than everypony else it was never much of a challenge.
“You ready to lose, big girl?” The small mare across the ring from me stretched. “Time to bring you down.”
I stared blankly at her. No words were needed. There was a bell rung, and ponies started cheering. I pushed them out of my mind though. Before me they became grey shapeless figures. The only thing that mattered was my opponent. This was the way life should be. Straightforward.
She charged at me. I was not expecting that. Quickly I strafed right and she passed by. She turned quickly, and smirked. Just a test. We circled each other around the ring. Just to get a feel for each other. Maybe I underestimated her ability. Or something.
The pony dived for my leg. I didn't even bother to move. She just clamped her legs around it, and tried to tug me over. I didn't budge. At all. Instead, I lifted my leg out forward with her still attached. With a raised eyebrow I shook her slightly. She gave a weak smile back as if realizing and accepting how badly thought out her plan was. “Are you done?” I shook her hard, but she clung on. I think somewhere in the mass of ponies I heard laughter, but I pushed it out of my head.
“Not yet.” Faster than I could follow she climbed up my leg and snapped her hind legs around my neck. There was a sudden sharp pressure around my throat. “C’mon.” Damn, her thighs were made of iron. Black sports flared in my vision. Oh. That couldn't be good. Dimly, I heard somepony say, “Timber!”
My eyes snapped open. Crap, I was on the ground. That was never good, ‘specially not in a wrestling match where the point was to put the other pony on their ass. Something was pushing against my chest. Star Belle. She was ramming me with her head to try and get me to turn over. This really wasn't a fair match. I mean, she couldn't even move me.
“Fuck, you're heavy,” Star Belle grunted.
“Yeah.” I grabbed her neck in my fetlocks, and rolled. She flipped over me and slammed hard into her back. She tried, but I was over twice her size. It would have taken a miracle for her to take me down for good. Three seconds later, the match was over. It really wasn't much of a challenge for me.
Before I could get back to all fours, I felt a small body slam into me. Knowing immediately who it was, I rolled over and fell on my back with an over exaggerated 'oof'. Serenity climbed onto my chest, giggling pleasantly.
“You were teasing her, weren't'cha? I knew it, ya just pretended to be downed.” Yeah, that was it. She didn't have thighs of iron or anything. It was all an elaborate act to mess with my daughter.
“Yeah.” I reached my metal leg up to ruffle her yellow mane. Huh... had it always been metal? Part of me said yes, but looking around at Marefort it just felt... wrong. I couldn't put my hoof on it. “Totally let her get me down. Makes the victory sweeter.”
“You should teach me!' she said, jumping up and down on my chest. “It'd be so cool!” She blinked for a second before gaining a wicked grin, “Oh, if I'd something to make me strong, I bet I'd be unstoppable, can I, Mom? Just new legs, cause mine are boring.”
“Serenity.” She stopped hopping to smile at me. “Really, now.” The pink unicorn pouted and hopped off my chest. “Go to your momma, and don't ask her about them either. You know she'll just say no, and you know how I don't like you going behind my back.” She giggled and ran off to ask her mother. Because who ever listens to the giant mare.
With a sigh, I rolled onto my hooves and cracked my neck. She’d really done a number on me. “Here.” I stretched out my left hoof to Star Belle. The golden pony took it happily and helped herself up. “You nearly got me.”
She laughed and wiped back her mane. “I nearly did, but, damn, you're heavy. How did you get so bucking huge?” Her eyes were wide as she looked up at me. I had to chuckle just a little bit. “I mean, seriously.”
“Born this way. And exercise.” She laughed a bit at that. It wasn't really a joke. I was always big for my age, and after momma died and my brother got taken away I'd had to fend for myself. This meant I needed to take the more labour-intensive jobs earlier than most ponies because you got more rations that way. Of course as a filly I wasn't strong enough, so I had to spend a lot of my free time resting, or exercising so I could keep up. Eventually I got stronger and stronger, and after that I just didn't stop exercising. It became routine and I became a walking tank.
“I should try that,” she chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck. “Next time, I'll beat ya, so you best watch out!” She laughed and galloped off. I watched her for a minute before turning back to my 'family'. It wasn't a real family, but this was the wasteland and it was close enough.
Foundation was carefully navigating from underneath Wildfire. Now it wasn't like my red mare was large, but Foundation had always been a bit on the runty side ever since we found her. Maybe that was how she was able to survive the raider attack that killed the rest of her village. Either way, she was always careful to be close to someone she trusted, or hidden enough the other ponies couldn't see her. If she agreed to go into a crowd, she always hid under either me or Fire.
Quickly trotting over, I was surprise-attacked by Wildfire, giving me a kiss on the cheek. Foundation made an 'eww' noise and I copied it. “Ugh, Wildfire, in public? Ponies might get the wrong idea.”
“Or the right one, hon.” Ah this old argument. We both knew the steps and could dance the dance without flaw. I for one, was too tired from getting choked to respond. We shared sly smiles and nothing more was said about the matter. “So, when do we get our prizes? I heard there were carrot cakes involved. You know how Foundy loves carrot cakes.”
The little filly below her nodded adamantly until I looked down at her. She gave a weak smile, nodded once more, and tried to hide behind her mane. It was long and unruly, but it didn't work that well. “Y-yeah. They're the best.”
“And you get two whole ones! How exciting.” Cake was something you got once a month, and never a whole one. I never much cared for sweets, so I always gave my share to Foundation. Wildfire did as well, though she liked to steal bites. Never big ones, just enough for Foundation to catch her and playfully scold. Wildfire said it was supposed to be teaching lessons of honesty, but I think it was just a silly game so she could get a bite of cake. They both enjoyed it though.
“It's very... I like cake...,” she paused for a second as we moved closer to the Marefort housing warehouse. “Two whole cakes. All for me?” Her ruby eyes were wide in wonder. That was a lot of sweets, and I'm sure if she were the type, they would have gotten her all types of hyper.
“Well,” I smirked as we neared the entrance, “not all at once, of course.” She made a soft 'awwwwwing' sound as I saw a golden maned pony stop to wave at me, before trotting my way. “You two go ahead, I'll see what Marigold wants.”
Wildfire gave me another kiss (to see me squirm in front of Marigold) and trotted off with a giggle. Marigold snickered. “Pretty mare, good thing she's not taken.” My glare apparently told her to change the subject fast. Not before laughing at me though. Ponies were forever laughing at me. “Right right, I got it, Hired. No need for your stink eye.” Shouldn't that be stink eyes?
“What is it, Mari?” I asked with an exaggerated sigh.
“Your cake, of course.” She chuckled softly. “You put up quite a show; next time we might have to offer the prize to anypony who can last a minute with you. Damn those muscles of yours.” Yeah yeah, I've heard it before. “And Wildfire winning the race, now that came as a shock. Hell, next time we should have a mechanics competition so your filly gets a prize too, eh?” Yeah, she'd like that. More cake for her.
“Thanks. I think.” I tried my best to smile as I tapped my metal leg against my pipbuck.
“Hah, you always sucked at taking compliments, didn't ya.” She bent back to grab something from her saddle bags and throw them at me. I was quite deft, so I managed to catch them in my saddle bags. “There, cakes. You earned them. Tell Fire I need her in two hours, can ya?”
“Yeah, no problem.” There was an awkward second where I wasn't sure if I should have walked off or not, but since when did I care about courtesy? Wildfire had already entered the Marefort, and was halfway up the ramp to the second level by the time I caught up.
Marefort was its usual self, that being busy and full of din. Serenity absolutely loved it though. She said the place reminded her of what would happen if a town got cybernetics. I didn't really understand the reference, but always nodded along when she said it anyway. When I caught up to them Serenity was literally bouncing on Wildfire's back.
“So, cake? Cake? Cake?” She grinned at me. When I didn't respond right away she started to frown. “You did get the cake right?” She licked her lips, “I'm in love with cake 'cause it is delicious. Top three favourite candy of all time. No! Top two, I've decided this.”
“Why not top one?” Was the obvious question as I trotted up beside the pair.
With a heavy sigh she just shook her head at me, “You need'a leave room for other foods to grow. Give them an opportunity to succeed, so the top spot is always empty.” I was not entirely sure that made any sense at all. But hey, whatever works for her. I wasn't about to argue.
The thing about Marefort is that if you're fearless, getting down from the top is quick, but no matter what, getting back up is a pain in the flank. To get to our house in particular, there were three ramps to climb and two bridges to cross. So if you lived in Marefort, you had to be strong because you'd be walking up and down them everyday. Some of the ramps were stupidly steep, too. Sometimes it felt like a chore to get home without being cut by poorly designed buildings, or getting a hoof caught somewhere, or falling.
This time however there was one casualty. That being a long scratch in my left leg that bled slightly. It wasn't really enough to worry about, though when we reached out house Foundation crawled out from under Wildfire and winced at the blood. I just had to dab it with a healing potion to show her it was nothing. She really didn't like the sight of blood. Nudging her inside the house with the promise of cake I looked around to see if the coast was clear.
Wildfire didn't wait for my check before leaning down to kiss me. It was just long enough to leave me satisfied, and have me begging for more. She was a talented mare like that. “Something something, 'I’m not a fillyfooler' right, hon?”
With a heavy blush I nodded. “Yeah, yeah.” With a kick at the floor I said. “Marigold said she needed to talk to you. Didn't say what about. Guess you should go.” She gave me another quick peck.
“You look so sad about it, too. Ya know how I hate it when those pretty eyes go all mopey.” I wasn't moping. That'd be dumb. “Make sure she doesn't eat too much cake. You know how she gets. She'll like it better spread out in tha long run. I won't be long hon.” With that she turned and sauntered off, her tail rising suspiciously high. After staring for a minute (can you blame me?) I turned and went back inside our house.
It really never changed much. Two beds, a table, and very little space. Serenity was already bouncing happily on the bed in anticipation. Considering her excitement, I decided on ‘quickly’ instead of spread out and placed the cakes on the centre table. My eye patch was itching so I took it off as well. “You ready for cake?”
Foundation nodded. She didn't say yes, but I could see in her eyes how much she wanted it. It was her favourite type of cake after all... huh. I just stood there looking at my filly for a minute. Something felt...
“Argh.” My right eye stung. Something must have fallen into it. My right eye... right.
“Momma, what's wrong?” Nothing. Nothing at all. I looked away from her and to my table to see the eye patch was gone. But it was just there. Just a minute ago. “Momma?” Serenity said. I would recognize that voice anywhere. But Foundation was there...
I backed up. The table fell, spilling its contents on the floor. A round cake rolled across the floor before resting at my metal leg. Something was wrong. Something was. Looking over, Foundation’s ruby red eyes seemed panicked. Or were those my eyes? Something was just...
I screamed.
---
Light filtered into my vision like liquid fire. I kept screaming. The light swam through my skull, setting it on fire, until all I felt was fire. Never before had I ever seen something so bright. Dammit. I slammed my head down and hit something hard. There was no pain though. Everything already hurt way too much for there to be any pain. It was just a sense of pressure and nothing but the fire in my skull. For a second I thought someone set me on fire. That I was going to die. It would have been appropriate.
And just like that, the fire left and I was left in darkness. I felt a chill wind blow over my eyes and shuddered at the sensation. Slowly my eyes opened, but still there was only darkness on all sides. My gut twisted. What happened? I was in Marefort. There was an Iron Pony Competition, and then everything went wrong. So very wrong.
I sat up slowly. My metal hoof clinked off the floor. Metal, it must have been. I reached my hoof over to my pipbuck and clicked on the light. There was a deafening second before the light finally clicked on and bathed my world in a dark amber light.
The room was small. Smaller than I was expecting, barely enough room to turn around. The walls were a dark and dusty grey (I believe, amber is not a good light colour for judging things like that) with a liberal amount of cracks crawling up them. More distressing me was the fact that one wall was less of a wall, and more of a series of impenetrable iron bars. Apparently I was in a cell. Which was great, except it wasn't.
There were noises from beyond my walled barrier, and a gasp of pain. Apparently somepony had been in the dark so long even my meagre light hurt their eyes. The voice wasn't one I recognized, so I hoped maybe they'd be able to tell me something. After getting to my hooves, I peered through the gloomy bars. Sure enough, there was another cell across from me, and inside it, a cowering pony.
“W-who are you?” Good question. I was about to ask the same thing myself. The pony was an almost pure white unicorn with a yellow mane that hung in clumps, as if it hadn't been washed or brushed in weeks. His cheeks were gaunt and hollow, and his eyes were sunken and looked lifeless. On his flank was a picture of an open book with a series of numbers underneath, but it was scratched and bleeding as if he had been trying to remove it. He was alive, but had he not spoken, I wouldn't have known it.
“Uh, Wildfire.” I don't know why I lied, or why of all the names I could have chosen I had to pick that one. “Where are we?” The pony looked so scared that I did my best to keep my voice calm, despite the itching in my mind telling me how wrong all of this was.
“You don't know...” It wasn't a question. “It's... where I'm not sure. This place is hell... yes, that's it.” His eyelid twitched. “Caledonia military... thing.” Not New Caledonian Alliance. It had to be before the war... there was a sinking feeling in my gut. “Ponies in uniforms, some with stars. It has to be... I'm sorry.”
“For what?” I tried to press myself up against the bars so I could look down the hall. As soon as my cheek touched metal a bolt of electricity slammed into me. Next thing I knew I was sitting on my ass, my eyes spinning. “Woah...”
“Sorry,” he repeated, his eyes downcast. “There is no escape... none. You'll die here...” Oh good. “Others have. Better. They're... experimenting. Trying to... I don't know. I can't know. If I know they'll kill me. Anything to beat the minotaurs, right?” I nodded dumbly. Part of me wanted to explain that the war ended and everypony died, but he didn’t seem in the mood. “I-I was bad so...”
“So, what?”
“I wasn't bad!' His eyes went wide. “I wasn't! I... I was a psychologist. I-I helped ponies. G-got to the root of their issues. Gave comfort.” He peered at me. “You need comfort. You'd need me but... I... I was bad. There was a conference and...” His eyes glazed over and his tone went from nervous to dead. Just... dead. “I was invited to discuss wartime stress disorder and how to fix the soldiers so they can go back to fighting. I said maybe they shouldn't be back fighting so soon. I said if we just ended the war, told Equestria we're not fighting their proxy war, that we should quit.” His voice started shaking again. “They took m-me the next day, do'ya see? I said we should end the war! I was bad and...”
“And they couldn't let that stand.” Right. I was getting a clear sense of pre-war sentiments. “What happened?” The story must have been important. Otherwise why was I here. How I got here could wait.
“And I was taken... to the Snake Bite labour camp. So much work, b-but wasn't so bad. Not so bad... until I was... chosen.” His head moved back towards his flank. In the dim light I saw the numbers under his cutie-mark again. “My number. Five-Six-Eight-Nine-Four-Seven-Seven. You have to remember. Five for the years in college. Six siblings. Eight times a patient committed suicide. Nine weddings patients invited me too. Four children. Seven times they whipped me when I forgot. Seven days before I could feel again.” He looked up at me. “You have to know your number.” He paused. “I forgot. Not what brought me here. I was chosen. There was a lottery. They said... they said I'd won and I'd get to go home.” He sobbed. There were no tears though. He must have used them all up so very long ago. “They lied.”
“They brought you here instead.” Wherever here was... when I found out I vowed to destroy this place. Tear it to the ground with my teeth if I had to. I knew nothing yet, except how much I hated this place. Hated what it did to him... I don't know what it did, but just looking at him made my heart sink.
“Yes... here. I never saw but it's so... white. I hate it they... do things. Needles and tests and... the others died, I didn't... I'm stronger. You're new, you'll die.” He started shaking. “Die screaming like rest, but it's for a good cause. For the war. We shouldn't end the war. We need to win. No... no matter what.”
Far down the hall there was a click. A rush of cold wind followed. Then hoof steps. They fell heavy and hard. The sound reverberated down the hall and into the darkness. I could almost feel the ground shake at each hoof fall. The pony heard it to. From the look on his face it was the sound of death itself.
“Tell them!” He shrieked. “Tell them what happened here! My number my number. Five-Six-Eight-Nine-Four-Seven-Seven, I have to remember. I had a name once! I... I had it. It was... Five six eight nine four seven.... Five six... six....” His muzzle scrunched up. “Simple Heart. Tell them! What happened... remember. Remember your number, and my name. Please.”
Three ponies walked into view. Two were dressed in all concealing security armour making them indeterminable, but the one in front I could see. She was a astoundingly pretty lavender unicorn with a sea green mane chopped short. Her smile was pleasant as she trotted over to Simple Heart's cage. “Talking to yourself again?” She paused... “What was your number?”
“Five-Six-Eight-Nine-Four-Seven-Seven” he said instantly. “No... talking to Wildfire. He pointed at me and I felt my heart sink. Something about that mare made me want to curl away and hide.
Her crimson eyes flashed at me. Only... through me. As if I wasn't even there. “You're a real piece of work aren't you?”
“Yes Miss Baptisia.” he bobbed his head up and down. “Seeing things. Bad things. Sorry. So sorry. It won't happen again. I promise.”
She laughed venomously. “No, because you won't be coming back.” He gulped. “Not like that, after this you'll be... free.” That didn't seem pleasant at all. “Red and Rum.” she looked back at the two anonymous guards. At once the two 'helped' the white unicorn out of his cell, and 'escorted' him down the hall. He didn't even try to fight back. Part of me hoped he'd look back at me one last time.
The pony named Baptisia did though. Not at me, but close enough it made no difference. For a second she opened her mouth and I thought she was about to say something. But she just let out a breath and walked away, her green tail whisking behind her. She stopped though, and gave me one last lingering look with her crimson eyes.
When she left, there was just me.
Well, not just me. Darkness was with me too. It wasn't your usual sort of darkness, but the kind that closed in each second I waited. At first my pipbuck light was enough to shine across the hallway of cells, but it grew weaker. At the end of the hallway was a deep and growing darkness, and it moved towards me. It was slow, but certain. Whatever the darkness was, it was going to reach me sooner rather than later.
It was just a dream though. Or something close to a dream, I was sure. So it didn't matter if my light faded, I would wake up soon and find whoever was messing with me. Only. I didn't wake up. The sinking feeling in my chest grew, and my stomach twisted itself further into the knots the longer I waited. Something was wrong, something was so very wrong.
“It's just a dream.” I said to the darkness, but it declined to reply.
“Is it?” Something replied, but not the encroaching darkness. Something else said that, someone.
A thin mist came out of the darkness and swam along the ground in front of my cage. It swirled in a circle before rising upwards with a dramatic thrust, becoming what could only be described as a tornado. Slowly, ever so slowly, the mist turned red and started swirling into shape. The red mist took the form of a pony, but didn't stop there, it added details and figures until I realized who it was.
It was at that moment I realized I couldn't have been dreaming. All my dreams ended with Wildfire dying, but here she was already dead and standing before me.
“Ah.” The ghostly apparition cracked its neck, “It has been so long since I've taken this form.” Her phantom eyes addressed me coldly. “You look like shit, hon. No offence.”
“Y-y-you.” Get it together, Silver. She's not real. It wasn't the first time I've seen her. I was just going crazy again, nothing to worry about. “You're dead,” I said finally. “I saw you die you...” bled. There was so much blood, and I could still hear the sound of it dripping to the ground.
“Yeah.” She gave me a weak smile. “Sorry about that, hon.” She scratched a spot on her head and looked down the hallway, “We don't have long. I've missed you.”
“I...” Tears stung my eyes. “I missed you, too. I'm sorry.” My nose was running too, so I wiped at it with my leg. “You never should have come with me to 42... I shouldn't have gone. It was... I fucked up. Meadow didn't even want me. I'd hoped...”
She leaned against an invisible wall, wisps of red smoke rising from her. “I shouldn't have come with you... hell, I don't need to tell you I'm no fighter. Ain't never been, but after what happened... with Foundation.” Just her saying that name sent my head spinning with a throbbing sensation in the base of my skull. “And after... I thought maybe you went there to... die. One last hurrah, and hon, I couldn't let that happen.” There was a pause and a bitter chuckle, “Well that worked out didn't it? I'm dead and here you are... “ She looked towards the creeping darkness. “No time to reminisce. I'm sorry.”
“Are you really here?” My throat felt raw. “Or... is this just my mind playing tricks with me?”
“Does it really matter? Listen, hon. Maybe I am real, but if I was, nothing could convince you of it.” As she spoke puffs of red smoke came out of her mouth. “Silver, you need to rest. I know... I know sometimes things are beyond what you can do, but you need to get back to Dise and rest. With that Platinum Haze there, maybe. She seems nice.”
If she'd even take me now. Wait... I looked over at Wildfire and blushed furiously, was she really suggesting this. “I don't know what-”
“Right, with the denial. I'm dead, hon, ain't cheating, and she seems like a right fine mare. And a Goddess too, now ain't that somethin'?” Her smirk was seductive and her eyes half-lidded, but the expression was lost on her semi-transparent misty face. “And I want you to talk to that poor foal'a yours. Tell her with no ifs ands or buts that you're her momma, okay?”
“But...” Memories of Foundation ran through my head making me feel faint. “You know I can't just... what if I fail. What if... I can't put her there. I'm not ready!”
“Well, get ready!” she snapped at me. “Dammit, Silver, have you seen the way she looks at you? After what you did, you're lucky she's willing to take you back, but she needs somepony there for her, and you've already accepted the spot. Saying it aloud won’t change shit, but it'll do her a world of good. Yeah it's tough, hon, I understand. After what happened... but she needs this more than you need to hide from your past.” Her voice softened. “You can do it, Silver, really.”
I gave her a small smile. “Came here to lecture me, then? Oh, that brings back memories.” I sat down and noticed the darkness creeping in ever closer. “Yeah... you're right. Always were. I'll... try.” She gave me a stern gaze with her ghostly eyes. “I will.”
“I know it's hard, hon.” She looked over into the darkness. It was so close now, parts of her misty body were dissolving and being sucked in. “Time's up. Fuck. It's never long enough. Silver. Listen to me. I know it's hard, I know life likes to kick you around, but don't give up! Keep going! You are strong, and you’re smarter than you realize.” Phantom tears fell from her eyes and turned into smoke. “I know you miss me... and...” My tears joined hers. “I miss you too. I know... I know you can do better, be the hero you wanted to be. You can do it... so don't give up. I have faith in you.”
The darkness was on us now. The light from my pipbuck faded completely as the black swirled around us like rushing wind that chilled me to the bone. It engulfed Wildfire first sucking up her ghostly smoke and leaving nothing but a pair of green crying eyes. “Silver...” the eyes said crying smoke. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Tears fell from my eyes and into the swirling dark. Part of me knew it wasn't really her, just an apparition, just my mind's image of what she should be and what she should say. But it didn't matter. It was enough for me to hear her voice again.
Her eyes vanished, too, and I was finally alone. Just me and my thoughts, and I couldn't imagine worse company.
---
I woke up alone.
The first thing I realized was that I was no longer in the security room with the monitors (which is where, presumably, I’d lost consciousness) and instead I was in the same cell as I’d been in, in the dream. At least, I think it was a dream. Sometimes it was hard to tell. There were differences though. Such as the cage door being broken off, and there actually being light. Though, I was lying in the same spot as in my dream. My stomach lurched in protest, it was too uncanny and just...
“Don't think about it.” I said to myself to break the silence.
So I didn't. Instead, I rolled over and got to my hooves. My knees were shaking as I stood there, and I felt a cold sweat on my brow. That felt... safe. I took a tentative peek outside my cell and looked back and forth down the narrow hallway. It was remarkably like my dream, down to the last detail. Especially when I looked down the hallway to the exit; the last few lights had gone out, leaving it in darkness. Just darkness. I could almost feel the cold it emanated.
This wasn't my dream though, so it wasn't a cold bastion of evil (or whatever it was supposed to symbolize in my dream-space), but just a lack of light. Which did so much to alleviate my fears. My head pounded to look at it, but I remembered the dream well enough. It was the only way I could go.
So I took a step forward. The impact trembled up my leg and shook my body and made me cough. How long had I been out? Why did I feel so weak? It couldn't have been that long... So I took another step, this time with my metal leg, and it proved much sturdier. Just one step at a time. I could do this. Something had happened. My head was swimming and pounding, but I had to get out. To search, to find out what had happened.
Flare and Serenity were gone. As I walked through, past the cages, I looked in each one. None of them contained my companions, though a few held skeletons. Each step made the next easier as I closed in on the darkness. Still, my body felt so... wrong. My back legs were cramped and itching, and my stomach twisted. Something was wrong with the situation. What though, I couldn't say.
Something snapped behind me. My body reacted faster than my mind. I turned on the spot and lowered myself, ready to lunge. The sound of my heartbeat was all I could hear. Steadily my heart slowed down and only the whirring of lights remained. Whatever cracked behind me was gone, or never existed.
...How long is she going to be like that?...
Right. Just my nerves. Turning, I faced the darkness again and stepped towards it. There was more shaking, and my mane stuck to my face from the sweat, but I was moving. Maybe they’d poisoned me., and that's why everything was so difficult. That had to be it. The voice on the speaker... he was behind this. If I could find him, kill him, then I'd be able to find them. Find Serenity. Wildfire told me I had to talk to her, so I had to.
I moved into the darkened hallway. You know, it seemed ominous before, but as I stood in it, I realized it was nothing at all. It was barely dark at all when I got closer, and I could even see the door to leave the hallway. It was simple. Just simple. I walked through the darkness and opened the door. There was nothing to worry about at all.
“MINOTAUR SPY! EXTERMINATE!”
For a second there I thought the universe was going to go five minutes without fucking me over.
The Protectitron fired a wave of green energy at me. I didn't even have the chance to dodge as the bolt hit my scarred face. Searing pain filled my vision, and all I could smell was burnt flesh. My legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground, letting the second bolt fly over my head bathing me in heat. Great. I lifted my head up and saw the cone object rolling close. It was going to kill me.
Only... it didn't. Instead it rolled over and bellowed, “YOU HAVE ASSUMED THE SUBMISSION POSITION! AWAIT SCAN OR BE DESTROYED!”
A small devise popped out of the machine and flashed a light over me that tasted like blue. My shoulder burned warily, as it stood over with its little scanner thing. You know, it wasn't really doing much, but it was close and taking its time. Whatever drug me to this cell didn't have the wherewithal to remove my barding. Which meant....
I reached into my collar pocket, pulled out the Spark Pulse Emitter, and jammed it into the machine. Bolts of electricity danced around the machine as it cried. “STAY SS-S-S-S-S-STiiiiiLLLL OoOOR...”
“Or what?” I asked with a self-satisfied smirk. Sure, everything hurt, but I’d kicked that machine's ass.
I really wanted to just lay there forever, but I remembered some internal system in these stupid things repairs them from anything but the most serious damage. Of course my spark pulse emitter had probably taken that down too, but who knew for how long. So I got up faster than I wanted, ignored my shaking body, and took a look around. The room seemed to be a fairly spacious office, with a few desks (and accompanying skeletons) scattered around. From the looks of it, the room was not in the security wing we found before, which would make sense as these prisoners were being kept from outside the facility.
Turning back to the robot, I wondered if I would be able to smash it like the one in the cafeteria.... I didn't think so. I was not really feeling up to my usual strength, and that'd take too much of my scant energy. So instead, I stumbled my way around the room looking for some sort of weapon.
Turns out my luck was not entirely shit as I found a pristine (barely working) combat shotgun under one of the desks. For a second I thought it was painted pink, but it was just my imagination. With the shotgun in mouth I limped my way back to the robot.
Following High Stakes’ example, I moved the shotgun to near point blank. Two shots later, there was a huge hole in the machine. At that point, I shoved my metal leg in and kicked the shit out of it, until its internal components looked like pasta. Then I pointed the shotgun in it again for one last blast.
If I was going to explore this damnable place, I’d want it to be without being followed by death throwing pieces of shit.
First things first though. I looked around for the nearest terminal. If the wasteland had taught me anything, it was that terminals only had so much information, and usually it was always relevant to the situation at hand. The nearest was on the desk from which I obtained my new shotgun. It was also the only in the room, which I thought was very suspicious.
//Enter Password//
My pipbuck did its magic thing, and just like that, the computer opened up. From the looks of it, all the entries in the terminal were listed by date. Just to see what was on, I clicked one at random.
Day 451
Project Completion: 67%
Subject Causalities: 2
Remaining Subjects: 7
Subject Morale: Poor
Notes: A series of blunders made today especially poor for morale, pertaining to both subjects and testers. Firstly: When attempting to implement the framework into Subject Gamma's form, Dr. M forgot to properly enhance the magical restraints resulting in rejection by Subject Gamma's body. Attempts to revive Subject Gamma were unsuccessful. Secondly: when trying out a new stabilizing agent (Codenamed: Rainbow) Subject Theta escaped from their restraints. Subject Theta managed to find a scalpel that was to be used in the surgery and injure five doctors, including Dr. P. All tests were halted for the day.
Subject Sigma still refuses to consume more than one meal a day.
Overseer B is pushing to complete the project before W. engages in one of his impromptu inspections. Overseer B believes that, with the facilities and tests as they are, we will not be able to hide the truth. With that in mind, Overseer B has ordered a new shipment from Snake Bite and ordered an increase in testing.
That was. Well... it made me feel better. I mean, sure I felt weak, my whole body was shaking, and I was sweating like a radhog, but at least I wasn't being mutilated in testing. Against my better judgement I scrolled up the list to the last entry date. This should be... interesting.
Day 500
Project Completion: 99%
Subject Causalities: 0
Remaining Subjects: 1
Test Subject Morale: Non-Existent
Notes: Today is the day, Overseer B assures us. She has ordered this final note be recorded for posterity. We managed to replicate results on the small scale with Subject Beta the day before. Though Subject Beta later died of complications due to repeat testing, the theory is solid. With W.’s inspection within the week, Overseer B has put us on an accelerated timetable. Subject Sigma will begin and finish the procedure today, instead of the week as is recommended. Overseer B believes this is worth the risk, as if successful, it could mean a definitive end to the war, and W. will gain all credit for it. Even if he is angry over our... willingness to disobey, he will not be able to publicly reprimand us.
However, Subject Sigma has been showing signs of stress and psychosis. Even if tests are successful, the subject's mind may not be able to process the increased information, and the subject may not be able to follow commands. Doctors M., Y. and T. have signed an official recommendation to wait for a new shipment, but Overseer B and Operator K have denied authorization.
...
I'm going to break protocol here because I want this on the record. I hate what we're doing here, and I hate what we are throwing away to do it. When this is over, I have made plans for me... well. I won't be around long after the war. What was done here was monstrous, but it was a monster of necessity. We can't win the war conventionally, and Overseer B. understands that, so she created this way we could win. She understands the tensions growing here in Caledonia, not just between us and the Minotaurs, but between us and Equestria. She understands that if we don't act fast there won't be a Caledonia to save, and she even understands that there might not be a world left if it goes on too long.
What she doesn't understand, is that when we save the world, we won't have a place in it. The things we have done are too unforgivable. It was the only option, but it has tainted our souls. This new world won't be for me. Or for her. But for our children, and our children's children. We can have peace in their time, and it was for them I woke myself up every day for nearly two years. Soon it'll all be over though. The world will have peace... and then I'll have mine.
I don't know why I am writing this here, but it needs to be written. I'm a horrible pony. For everything I have done. For all the ponies who died. I am truly sorry. I don't deserve to live any longer, and I won't.
What could I really say?
I hated this nameless doctor with every fibre of my being, and yet I felt bad for her. She truly thought all this was going to save the world, save her countries and her kids, but in the end she failed. Something horrible happened here beyond her control and the world still ended. So what could I say about her? Maybe she got what she deserved... whatever that was.
Unlike all the other desks in the room, hers was lacking a skeleton. So... I guess she died before the end of the world. Maybe she offed herself when it all failed, or she was taken away for what she wrote. Whatever punishment she got it would never be good enough, and it would always be too much. It was just too much. I really hated this place. What else could I do but rest my forehead on the desk and wonder where ponykind had gone wrong.
When I lifted my head, there was a spot discoloured by my sweat. Well, that was pleasant. With nothing else for me in this room I took one last look around for supplies (hoping for a med-x or healing potion to be honest), but there was nothing of the sort. Eventually, I had to leave the relative safety of the room and venture outside. I was not sure how well it'd work, considering, but ponies needed rescuing. Probably.
Before even thinking of going out the exit, though, I checked my EFS. Like I should have done earlier. It was thankfully clear, but I was not really confident. Surely something out there was going to kill me, it was the way of things. Of course, I didn't really have a choice in the matter so I shakily opened the door.
Another bland looking hallway. Lovely. Oh, and the office was right across from a janitorial closet. So there's that.
I looked both ways down the hallway to make sure the coast was clear before walking out. Because everything ever hated me, as soon as I’d taken two steps into the hallway, I started hearing voices. My eyes darted back and forth down each section of hallway but my EFS was clear. Either they were far away, or they didn't count as existing. Either way, I darted (read: limped fast) into the janitor closet.
As soon as I entered the dark room (I stepped on a rat trap, I hoped they didn't hear...) and quickly shuffled around the clutter so I could peer out a crack in the door. It took a few minutes before the voices got loud enough to hear. The first I was surprised to find I recognized.
“...Understand that, due to the nature of the job, all information is very confidential. Any leak of information is treated as willful treason,” a sickly sweet mare's voice said. “Not that I suspect it of you, but I'm required to explain that little tidbit so nopony gets any ideas. One pony tried giving away information, but their contact was a plant...”
“I'm guessing,” a youthful stallion said, “they were executed.”
“Quite right,” the mare said with a short laugh. “You'll fit right in.” The pair of ponies walked into view from the crack I was looking through.
Like I expected, the mare was in fact the mare from my dreams, Baptisia (worth noting that this time I got a chance to see her cutie mark: a wilted flower) while the other was a young brown stallion with a blond mane and a huge grin. Interestingly enough both were... transparent. As if they were just holograms. Even still, I didn't risk letting myself be seen. Just in case. They walked out of view as fast as they came into it.
“So when does the project start!” The stallion seemed to be bursting with enthusiasm. “Sorry. It is just I have been trying to get a government job for so long. Help the war effort you know?”
“Yes, but please understand; we aren't officially government.”
“Right right.” The stallion laughed. “You're working for Wallkirk who is contracted by the government. It's close enough.”
“Yes, but it's an important distinction. Plausible deniability and all that.” The mare's voice did not seem amused. “Here is your office. Your duties don't start for a month so you have time to acquaint yourself with the facility. You will be in charge of keeping profiles on all subjects, including side effects and moods. Beyond that you are to write up daily reports and assist other doctors if needed. Your full duty list will be emailed to you in the coming weeks. There's a meet and greet with the newcomers next Thursday. Any questions?”
“None at all!” I could almost hear the cheerfulness in his voice. “I just can't wait to get started. We'll do a lot of good here, I'm sure!”
Then there was nothing at all. It was like they’d completely vanished. Assuming, of course, they were ever there to begin with. I was starting to think the facility enjoyed fucking with me. There was a cold chill behind me. Turning around, I saw a pair of ghostly eyes burning like the sun.
I ran. I didn't stop until I was all the way down the hall and out of breath. Whatever it was, it didn't follow me. Not yet...
---
I kicked a hole in the medical box.
Whatever level I was on, it had a shit-load of medical labs and surgery stuff. Yet no matter where I looked, not a single one of the medical boxes had any med-x at all. Hell, I had managed to find only a single healing potion too. Apparently this place was not big on the recovery aspect of surgery. Not that it was really much of a surprise. After taking my hoof out of the box, I kicked the empty thing away and turned back to the room.
It was a lovely surgery chamber of questionable morality. This was best demonstrated by the fact a skeleton was still strapped to the operation table by harnesses that did not seem at all consensual. It was not, of course, the only skeleton in the room, as when I tried to walk for the exit, my hoof got caught in a rib cage. The unfortunate pony was dressed up in a lab coat, so I didn't really feel bad for desecrating her corpse. It was annoying though, having to kick my leg several times to get her off.
So far my adventure in the labs had been a resounding failure. I found more than a few bloodstained surgery rooms, a few labs with broken equipment, and an office locked with a regular key. I'd been too weak to try and break down the door (I could have if I had tried, but I didn't want to waste my limited energy on it.) So it was summarily ignored in favour of this lab that I had hoped would have something to help me make it through. It hadn't, obviously.
However, the surgery room was directly connected to an office, and maybe that had information, or something. I limped my way over there to find the door said 'Dr. Maplewood'. It was already half open too so I didn't even need to limp my way over.
It was a lovely small room with a 'Grand Galloping Gala' poster on the wall and a terminal on the desk. Other than that there was nothing of note in the room but... but... a vial of med-x.
Holy shit! My eye must have been bulging out of my socket, and my heart was racing a mile a minute as I stared at it. Yes, I knew this stupid place would have one! With that I would be able to ignore my body’s weakness and press on, nothing would be able to stop me. I dove for it and jammed the needle into me waiting for sweet relief.
Nothing.
No relief. No wash of heat. Nothing but me staring at the needle in teary eyed confusion. Looking down at the needle that was jammed into my side, I saw it was empty.
It had always been empty. It was just a thrown-away vial. In my rush I hadn't even noticed.
“Fuck!” I tore the syringe out and bit down so hard it shattered. “Fuck!” I said again, this time punctuating by spitting out blood and glass shards. “Just...” A wave of nausea washed over me making my stomach flip and my head to spin. Everything got dizzy and I just had to sit down. Sit down and wait for it to pass. “Just, ugh.”
Thankfully, the wave of nausea passed without me throwing up or passing out. My head still felt out of it, but I was able to move again. Slowly at first. Not wanting to risk meeting any robots until my head space went back to semi-normalcy I crawled my broken ass over to the terminal.
//Password//
“Fuck you.” I growled as my pipbuck did that glowing burning thing. The machine whirled and booted up. Without any prompting, an email popped up on the screen.
Dammit Bap, I'm a doctor, not a spy!
That was literally all it said. It was in the outgoing messages folder, and I decided whoever wrote it was my hero. I was a big fan of witty one liners. To appease my curiosity (and because my stomach was still being a bitch) I clicked to see what exactly the message was a reply to.
Maple, I need your help. Wallkirk is coming in four days, and you're the only pony I can trust. By now I'm sure somepony told him what happened, and he won't like that one bit. I need something against him, some dirt that'll make him too afraid to work against me. A little birdy told me he has spies in the Equestrian Ministry Of Image, Stable-Tec, and something called 'OIA'. If I could find out what he's doing, get evidence of his involvement, something on him... I need your help. Right now, the facility is turning its back on me. They all agreed and helped before, but now... they won't even let me leave. It was to save the world, it almost worked! It...
Doesn't matter, does it? Because it didn't work, and now it's all on me. Please, Maple. You have friends, friends that have turned on me. You're the only one I have left. Please, try to find something. Anything.
Baptisia
Suddenly, Maple's reply was less of a witty one liner, and more of her betraying her friend in thirty characters or less. It did nothing at all to settle my stomach. Sure, this Baptisia was a total bitch, but, her friends should still have stuck by her instead of making her take the fall... for whatever happened. I still didn't know that much. Something about test subjects and...
Something started laughing in my ear. It was a small subtle chuckle that sent shivers down my spine. The monitor fell off the desk with a crash from my kick, giving me enough space to jump over the desk and scramble for the door. My heart as in my throat by the time I reached the door. Against my better judgement, I turned around to see who was laughing.
Nothing. Only the lingering memory of closeness, and the sense of wrongness in my gut. This was just getting weird.
“Okay, calm, Silver.” I said it aloud to hear a voice that wasn't creepy in my head. It didn't calm me, but it grounded me. I was Silver Storm. Hired Gun. I'd lost legs and eyes and half my face. I'd charged down minotaurs and gunned down land sharks. I'd gotten up from near death on too many occasions, and I had escaped from capture like a million fucking times. I wasn't about to be scared by ghosts!
With all my rage, I tried to buck over the operating table in the lab. Unfortunately it was bolted to the floor, and I was weak as fuck, so what happened was I kicked it and faceplanted. Because what I needed right now was more fucking head trauma. At least It wasn't into a skeleton. I slowly got back to all fours and took a deep breath. The fresh air cleared my mind. Just needed to calm down.
I slowly, whilst keeping an eye on my EFS, trotted back into the hallway. Just in time for the voice in the speakers to make its reappearance. “Do Not Delve Further Into History Or It Will Be Your Doom!”
Well that was interesting. A ghoul perhaps, who survived whatever went wrong. Oh, now this was interesting. I so loved mysteries. So much... Not that I had a chance to look. A wave of nausea washed over me dropping me to a knee hard. My stomach twisted as I heaved my guts onto the floor. Hated. Puking. Ugh...
I fell over. Just needed to rest for a bit. After that I could keep going. Find Serenity and Flare...
---
My eyes burst open. Where was I? On my back. In the darkness, somewhere. Everything was dark, and I could hear my heart racing in my chest. Squirming didn't seem to help at all. On all sides, something was stopping me. Dammit. I needed to get out. Out of whereever I was.
I flailed my metal leg to the side and hit something. The sound that came from my hit sounded a lot like wood. When I tried to other side I heard the same sound. Above and below me as well. Wood, just wood. Dumb as I was, it didn't take long for me to realize where I was. Somepony buried me alive....
I tried to roll over and my casket creaked. When I carefully pressed my hoof to the roof of my tomb, I could feel the meters of dirt pushing back. Fuck. Okay. So I was underground surrounded by black darkness. So what. It was like being captured by death, and I've escaped worse predicaments, right? I just needed to use my not-brain and figure this out. How hard could it be. Just. Breathe.
My breath was ragged, and parts I couldn't reach itched. Okay. Calm was not working. Not working at all. Wait, my pipbuck light. There was barely enough room but I managed to squeezes my hoof over to flick the light.
My body was washed over by the amber light. It was beautiful, the power to see in blackness, but it wasn't enough to stem my growing fears. Even with it, I still had no way out. I could see the lines of wood, every knot and crack, but in the end it didn't help me break out. All it did was confirm my predicament. Trapped under the ground. No way to escape. No hope.
I might have screamed.
When my throat was raw, I stopped. That didn't help. Panicking didn't help. Needed to be calm. Even though my tomb was closing in. Thousands of pounds of dirt pressed in on every side ready to squash me, but I just had to be calm. But I couldn't. I was going to die. Crushed.
Maybe it was better this way. It was an okay way to go. It'd be quick, I think. Not painless, but only as painful as I deserved. Celestia above knows I didn't deserve peace after all I did, but it'd be nice, you know? Just lie down and sleep. Never have to worry about anything ever again. No more haunting dreams, or regrets. It'd be...
Survive, the little pony in my head that liked to live whispered. But why? And for what? I was already buried, so why not die too?
Because Serenity needed me. She was... where was she? My mind was foggy and it was hard to remember, but I knew she was lost and needed my help. So I had to find her. Break free. Even in the darkness. Even as the walls pounded in on my, and each second called for my doom. If for nothing else I'd survive for her.
I kicked upwards. The wood instantly cracked along a groove, showering me with dirt. Instead of letting it bother me, I spit out the dirt and kicked again, And again. Each time my hoof hit, the hole got wide and wider. I could escape this, all I needed was one more kick.
---
My eyes opened.
Once again, the whiteness of the facility startled me. I was back. Of course, I'd never really left. Just sorta passed out... or the facility made me pass out. It reminded me so much of the tunnels, only where the tunnels were very blunt with their creepiness, the facility was subtle. Very subtle.
Most of the time. Right now though something was standing above me. There was a warm breath on my back, and the sound of breath. Nothing to be afraid of. There was a pressure on my back from a hoof. Probably just a ghost rapist I had somehow insulted. Not bad at all. Against the part of my brain screaming how bad an idea this was I turned my head to see.
Nothing was there, and pressure went away. I must have imagined it...
I didn't move for a long time though, and I don't think I could have if I tried. As I lay there on the floor the only thing I could think about was how I must have been going insane. Eventually, and with great effort, my body started to calm down enough for me to get back up. When I finally made it back to my hooves I realized I'd been lying next to a pile of vomit. Mine, from before. Thankfully I hadn't rolled over onto it in my weird... dream... thing.
“VAGRANT DETECTED! INITIATING DELETION PROTOCOL!” My eyes darted down the to where the cone robot was rolling up. You know what sucks? A blast of green energy slamming into my chest and making my chest feel like it was on fire.
“Celestia damn, just, aghr.” I said as I stumbled backwards. I really hated these things. Just as I managed to dodge a second burst, I looked behind me. There was a hallway splitting off from the one I was in just a few meters behind me. It wouldn't give up right there, but it'd give me time to plan and think. Because I did both of those things so well.
Another blast flew over my head, scorching my mane. Right, leaving. I scrambled backwards as fast as my weak legs could take me and threw myself around the corner. Resting my back against the wall, I felt my ragged breath burn my chest. Clearly I was sick with something, I just didn't know what. It was enough to make this facility hellish. I could make it though. Worse things than sickness, haunted ancient labs, and murderous robots had tried to kill me and failed. Just need to think about how to do this in the way that kills me less.
“UNIDENTIFIED SUBSTANCE LOCATED! COMMENCING CLEANING!”
Wait, what? Slowly, I peeked around the corner to see the metal monster standing above my vomit puddle... and cleaning it with a strange vacuum thing. That was awesome. Now I just needed to find liquids and throw them in front of those robots whenever they got close as a distraction. It wouldn't stop them forever, but it'd be just long enough for me to get away. Which I should have done while watching it. Right.
After hiding back behind the wall my eyes scanned the hallway I was in. Hallways and labs. Just what I’d always wanted. Alright, whatever. I picked myself back up and ignored the sensation that I was being watched. This facility had more mysteries, and more importantly it had my friends. Somewhere. So far, my luck at finding them was nil. It wasn't like they were just going to appear in front of me. It was going to take time and effort, and a lot of searching.
Something flashed on my EFS in front of me. A red mark and... Amber. A friendly... Either that was Flare, Serenity, or a robot that somehow gained sentience and wanted to help me. Since that last option was rather unlikely, I ran forward at full gallop. Given my condition, my full gallop was a slightly faster than normal limping run. Regardless, I ran like a mare on a mission. Which I was.
The EFS was moving away from me and when I reached the right hand turn at the end of the hallway and turned towards the mark in my vision, it had already gone down another hallway. Whoever designed this building deserved to be flayed, because it was a fucking maze. So I ran down that hallway too and turned again where my EFS said the robot and its buddy were.
Another long hall exactly like the last two. Only this one had other occupants. Like a cone-shaped robot dragging a blue pegasus in a net. My heart leaped. Flare. I’d found him, thank Celestia I’d finally found him! Now I just needed to find Serenity and then find a way to get out of this place and never, ever, go back. Ever. My hate for this place could not be described in mere words. It had to be written in the blood of whoever had built it.
“DO NOT INTERFERE WITH PRISONER SUBJUGATION PROTOCOL!” Well, that explained why I ended up in a cell. Apparently these things just dragged them there after defeating them with green, pulsating, suck balls. That sounded wrong. Whatever, killing time.
The robotic kidnapper fired a bolt of green energy when I started to get close. Luckily for me, it slammed against my metal leg, leaving a black mark, but causing no damage. It didn't get a chance at a second. Apparently the programming on it made it so it didn't fire at me until I was far too close, which gave me plenty of time to jam my spark pulse emitter into it. Electric energy danced around the machine’s casing as smoke started to rise from its crevices. Less than a second later, the Protectitron was silent.
Normally I'd have freed Flare, but I knew these things could were able to partially reconstruct themselves so I took out my shotgun and unloaded it the rest of its ammo into the fucker. This was followed by 'carefully' using my metal hoof to tear it apart. Or at least apart enough that it wouldn't be able to fix itself quickly, if ever. Time to get me a pegasi.
I turned back to where Flare was netted in a ball. Only, it wasn't him that caught my attention. The faceless pony stood over him and watched me. Just as quickly it vanished again leaving me with a feeling of dread.
...Oh yes, right there, that's the spot...Ooooh...
I froze. Okay. My hallucinations just got dirty on me. In Wildfire's voice. Because apparently being laced with burn wounds, suffering from some strange sickness, being weak, dizzy, nauseous, and hallucinating wasn't enough. I also had to be horny. Fuck you, ominous facility of death. Really.
Okay. Needed to focus on anything other than that. Like kneeling down and making sure Flare was okay. And that it was Flare, because I hadn’t gotten a good look. So I slowly rolled the pegasus shaped ball over so I could see his face. Well, the stallion certainly looked like Flare, same pompous smirk even while sleeping, same mane. I would have checked his cutie-mark but he was still wearing that Enclave style armour.
“Hey. Hey. Wake up.” I shook the body but he didn't react. So I shook him more. “Flare. Wake up. C'mon. Dumbass.” I sat back. This was not working at all.
...oooh. Oh...OOOH!...
I was getting light headed, and my face felt really warm. Not to mention the feeling in other body parts. Damn, this place was really just messing with me now.
...Oh My... you're getting so much better... now it's your turn...
“Flare!” I kicked the unconscious body. “Wake the fuck up.” Because I needed something to get my mind off the voices in my head. You'd think being sick and in pain would stop my libido. Maybe it was because I hadn't been with a pony since... well I had thought Pearly, but apparently before that. I kicked him harder. “Seriously.” Nope nothing. Oh for fucks sucks.
...Oh Silv-
Nope nope nope. Not listening. I leaned over Flare and sighed. Whatever sort of deep sleep he was in, it wasn't natural. It was like the tunnels all over again. “Flare.” Slowly, I untangled him from the net so he had more room. You know, when his mouth wasn't flapping, he wasn't bad looking. His face was cute, if a little girly, and he was well-kempt. The armour without the helmet was kind of dashing too...
And he was gay. Don't forget that part. Clearly my mind was in a bad place if I was thinking about Flare like that. Stupid bloody voices in my head, making me aroused. Closing my eyes didn't help either, because when I did, my mind filled the darkness with images of Wildfire in... compromising positions.
“Agh.” I slammed my hoof into the ground. “This is stupid.” So very stupid. Even still, I leaned over Flare's sleeping face. “Wake up.” I pressed my forehead against his. “Please.” No, I didn't kiss him. Because when I was about to, there was a sound of rushing water in my ears, making my eyes cross and my head feel dizzy. So dizzy.
---
Another dream. I was starting to get the feeling these weren't normal dreams.
At least this one put me in a place I knew, instead of a coffin. I was standing in front of the apartment-building-turned-Enclave-base in south Dise. Only, it wasn't all of Dise. It was like this small section was torn out of a book and I could see the ridges. All around was a swirling red and black void, and the only available direction was into the Enclave base. Only the base looked a bit different. It looked newer than I remembered and a lot brighter. Nearly every window in the building was glowing, and that was an unusual sight in Dise, not counting the House-owned buildings of course.
On the bright side, without the moaning in my ears, I was feeling far less amorous. Of course that sensation was replaced with a sinking feeling in my gut that something really bad was about to happen very soon. Since the dream only gave me a choice of creepy void of death or the Enclave base, I walked towards the former apartment building. Each hoofstep felt heavy and sent gravel flying from the path when I walked.
Two guards flanked the entrance when I walked up, and when I walked up they pointed impressive looking MEW's at me. Great. I was about to be hit by more energy bolts, and I wasn't even awake. Apparently the universe liked to fry me.
“Halt, who goes there?” The two pegasi spoke in near unison.
“Uh.” Right.... I wondered what name to use. Considering it was a dream, they'd probably only react to my given name, but since it was also a dream of Dise, my chosen name might actually work. This guards looked displeased at my delay, and the rightmost shot a warning on the ground in front of my hoof making me jump.
“Name!” they repeated.
“Hired Storm!” Okay. I might have panicked a little bit there. The pair looked at each other in creepy symmetry and the rightmost spoke quietly into his helmet.
A few tense seconds later and they spoke again. “The Admiral is expecting you. Make your way to the third-floor training room. Do not touch anything. Do not take pictures. If your eye has a remote camera we will know.” Huh, that was right. My eye. I had gotten so used to the boxes it put around ponies I didn't even realize these ponies didn't have them. Must have been a facet of the dream world. I kind of missed them now. They made the world more colourful, and less brown.
The entrance to the building slid open with a subtle hiss. Fancy. I trotted inside to find a surprisingly high-tech building. It was a metallic interior with a series of banners about pegasi superiority hanging on all the walls. Every door was the sliding type, and, peeking inside a few, I noticed high-tech labs and terminals. All of which looked very brand new. You know, my subconscious was very weird if this is what it was bringing up.
Not that this was a normal dream anyway. The last few hadn't been. They were dream-like, only they felt a lot more real. I've had realistic dreams before, mind you, but these might as well have been actually happening. The only reason I knew it was a dream at all this time was because of the incomplete outside.
My mind raced as I wandered through the building, my hooves instinctively knowing where they needed to take me. The more I walked, the more I realized how unnatural all this was. These weren't normal prophetic dreams, they were something else. This Enclave Base made that all the clearer. It was like the Facility was just fucking with me. Which, given its track record....
Still, I kept walking. Somehow, I knew exactly where I needed to go. More weird dream bullshit. As I closed in on my destination, I took a look at some of the pegasi. They seemed real enough, but my eye did not identify them as such, and their actions seemed a little... wooden. Not all the time, but watching one mare flying past me, I noticed at one point her wings did not bend when they flapped. Only once though.
“Creepy,” I muttered aloud. Nopony nearby so much as noticed I had said anything. That did nothing to alleviate my suspicions about this place.
I did eventually make it to where I was supposed to go. I knew because it was clearly stated as 'Third Floor Training Room' on a gold plaque on the large double doors. The two doors slid open as I approached revealing a room that was much too large to fit in the building. To my imperfect eyes, it looked to be at least a hundred meters long, and nearly as wide. The whole facility looked like a giant gym, only with high ceilings for pegasi. Various exercise and training equipment were littered around the room. On the far side, a troupe of ten black-clad pegasi (sans helmet) were practising a routine in front of two stallions.
As soon as I realized who the two stallions were, I realized something vital.
This wasn't my dream.
It was Flare's.
“Hey, Hired!” Flare clopped his hooves together and the performing pegasi stopped in a 'v' formation. He was leaning back in an oversized chair with a pony lounging in a smaller one beside him and many dash inhalers scattered around the floor in front of him. Unlike with everypony else, my eye put a coloured box around him, so I knew for sure it was him. “How've ya been? Crazy couple years, eh? Who'd know they'd make me Admiral.” He laughed and leaned back to whisper something to the green unicorn behind him. The two of them laughed. “Ya still look like shit though, eh, but not even time can fix that face, right?”
“What’s going on...?” I took a few steps closer as I scanned the pegasi flying guard. Surprisingly one of the faces was familiar. The pegasi named Sail who was a guard with me on that doomed caravan run right after I woke up in Bridal Hope with a new leg. He was dead, but I suppose dreams don't work the same way as logic.
“Training my security detail. All of them volunteered: they used to be my squad way back when I was a captain, ya know. It's good to seem them all together again.” And alive, his voice seemed to say. “Stakes thinks it's a waste, and that we can protect ourselves, but hey, better safe than sorry.” A the mention of his name, the stallion beside him leaned over to nuzzle Flare's cheek, eliciting a chuckle and a soft whisper I could barely hear: “Stop it, not in front of guests.” The green stallion stopped, but with a satisfied smirk.
The stallion, however, was not High Stakes. He was close, but not quite. Differences like the fact he was an earth pony now, instead of a unicorn, and that he was bulkier than normal, and not wearing his trademark glasses gave away that the pony was not as he should be.
“That's not what I meant.” My voice sounded ragged and hoarse.
Flare's pink eyes seemed to narrow. “Hired... don't do this,” he said, very carefully. “Just turn around and walk away.” Sensing the threat I seemed to pose, the security detailed lowered and started to surround me. I guess I'd make good target practice. “Let me have this...”
“It's just a dream. Flare-”
“You think I don't know that!” His voice caused waves to ripple through the building like it was made of water. “I'm not stupid. My squad is all but dead to a pony, and Stakes shot you in the face and betrayed me. I know...” his voice went soft. “I know.”
“You know...?” The dreams I had all seemed real until the last second. Even this one I wouldn't have realized if it weren't for the fact it was Flare's dream not mine. “But... why are you still here?”
“I... I like it here.” There was a sad smile on his lips. The pony masquerading as High Stakes leaned over the arm of Flare's chair for a kiss. Never one to turn away a kiss, Flare obliged the pony, but even from where I stood, I could see it was heartless. “My squad’s back, High Stakes isn't an ass. Hell, you're here too so everything’s set for me. So it's a dream, I don't want to leave.”
“It's not real.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He waved a dismissing hoof and leaned back further in his throne. Obediently, his security detail flew behind it and fanned out, and High Stakes leaned over the arm and held him. “I wake up and suddenly I’m an admiral? Obviously fake as shit, but who cares? Real or fake, I have everything I need. If you aren't going to enjoy it with me, just leave me be.” I tried to speak but he cut me off again. “So what if it's a dream? The dream is better. It's like those tunnels, Hired, you remember? Close your eyes and it'd give you what you wanted. Only this time it's the future I want, not the past I miss. And fuck, I like it. Not like I was doing anything anyway.”
This wasn't working. I guess it was plan B. By now you should know my plan B is always the same. I charged.
The pegasi squad quickly fluttered in front of my path, but I bowled through them like they weren't even there. 'High Stakes' tried stopping me as well, and I got to live the fantasy of high-speed headbutting him. With them out of the way, I was free to ram into Flare on his throne. The seat cracked and fell over, sending us tumbling over each other. A few chaotic moments later and I had the pegasus on his back.
My forehooves slammed down hard on his wings, pinning him down and eliciting a screech of pain. “Flare!” I yelled. “Snap out of it!” The pegasi writhed on the floor but that only stretched his wings out even more painfully. “Why? You know it's not real. You can have a real life. One that's worth something.”
“Why! Fuck it, Hired, why fight?” His face contorted to a look of anguish. “So I can die in two years when I relapse, or when I get betrayed by the next buck I fuck? I've never done a single thing right in my life, so who cares if I die here in this dream? At least I'll be fucking happy.”
I kicked him in the face. “Dumbass. Is this about High Stakes?” There was a shocked look on his face when he nodded. “Well he’s scum. He's not worth you throwing your life away. You knew him, what, two weeks? If that? Get over it.”
“Every buck I date ends up dying or stabbing me in the back.”
“Well then you have shitty luck. Don't throw your life away because of that vermin.” I kicked him again. “You're talented at explosives. An amazing flier. And are handsome. You can do whatever you want. Any stallion would be lucky to have you.”
For a second it looked like he was going to cry, but instead he laughed. “You kicked me!”
“You deserved it!”
The dream cracked and fell apart at the seams.
---
I woke up laying over Flare...
“Listen Hired. In case this wasn't clear, I'm very gay.” One of his feathers prodded at me. “And you're very heavy. Mind getting off?” Right, gotcha. I carefully rolled off him and flopped on the ground. My body was still slick with sweat, and my head felt even dizzier than it had before. The lights above me seemed to spin in a circle. “You alright?” He peered over me, his pink eyes narrowing. “Ah, I see.”
I swatted him away half-heartedly. “See what?”
“Tell me.” He poked my nose, making me scrunch it up. “When was the last time you had some med-x?” Really, this again? There was no point answering. I just rolled onto my shaky hooves and started walking past the robot I destroyed earlier. I was not going to discuss that with anypony, especially not him. As if he had any right to judge. “Hired.” I heard his voice following. “I wasn't insulting you Hired.”
“Shut up, Flare.” I still needed to find Serenity and suss out what exactly was happening here. I didn't have time for his wild theories on who I was or what was going on with my body. “We have more important things to do.”
“Which is good.” Flare flapped his way so he was flying backwards in front of me. “If you can do the things you need to do. Hired. You know how I hate making fun, but you look like shit. Not normal shit neither. The type you get after eating food that wasn't preserved properly all-”
“Get to the point.”
“Right. Basically, I'm fairly certain you got yourself hooked on the cool juice.” I stopped and blinked at him a few times. “You know... block, cube, mojo, M, Murphy, mud, Luna's Helper, Celestia's Favourite, first line, hows Miss Blue?” What the fuck was he talking about. “Hired!” He pressed his hooves on my cheeks so I'd pay attention. If I’d felt better, I would have kicked him. “Med-X. You've got it bad.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I pushed away his legs and pressed my hoof on his forehead. “Can we go now?” I pushed hard sending him sliding back in the air. “Serenity is still somewhere, and we need to find her.”
“Oh please, Silver.” The use of that name drew my attention. “Have you seen a mirror? You're sweating, you're shaking, your eyes are dilated as fuck, and that's only what I can see. I'm guessing you have phantom pains, dizziness, and nausea, too?” My only answer was avoiding eye contact. “Nailed. Check your pipbuck, how long have we been in here? Because it seemed like a long time when I woke up the first time.”
“Uh...” I looked down at my pipbuck. It was still on the password screen, but helpfully it listed all the times I’d used it with time stamps. So all I had to do was take the time of the first use, then do a little math. And by a little, I mean it took me five minutes to figure out. A new record. “Nineteen...” No, the first time was an hour before we entered the facility, “Eighteen hours...”
“Yup, withdrawal. I ain't an expert, mind, but I've been through it once'er twice with Dash, and some things are similar I'm pretty sure. Hell, I’d be surprised if the stress and pain of being shot didn't help speed up the symptoms.” I'd no idea if that made any sense at all. “Listen, I'm worried about you. I don't want you going down the same path as me...” I tried walking past him but he zipped in front of me. “Listen. Now I'm sure this is not the ideal place for an intervention, but hear me out. I know shit like this, okay? So you and I are going to find you a med-x so you don't break down, and if we make it back to Dise you're going straight to the Watchers...” he pauses. “It won't get rid of the problem. You'll still want them, but your body won't need it to survive.”
“Fine. Whatever.” I said. It was enough to get us to keep walking.
Honestly I was looking for it anyway because I was blackened and burned from the plethora of energy blasts, and it'd help, but not because whatever he thought. Though... maybe it was true. I wasn't sure. I mean. It was true that I took med-x a lot. Okay, maybe more than a lot. But I needed it a lot. I've had the shit kicked out of me all across the wasteland, and if it wasn't for those painkillers then I wouldn't have survived.
Then again there were a few times I guess, I hadn't needed to take it. I guess. But they still helped even then. Flare was so positive, and Blackwater too. And Flare at least would have a good idea on that sort of thing. Maybe once we were safe I was going to have to think it through. Look at everything that happened. I was fairly certain I wasn't an addict, but a part of me nagged at the back of my mind asking 'what if you're wrong?' And if I was wrong, well that wasn't something I wanted to burden Serenity with.
...It'll only sting a little...
I cried wordlessly in annoyance and built up a limping speed following the pegasus. He didn't react to my annoyance and didn't speed up, forcing me to slow down again. I guess it was for the best because the increased speed had just sent more aches up my already shaky legs.
“Don't go right.” I said when we reached a crossroads. My EFS was flashing a lot of red that direction.
He nodded and we kept going forward. I noticed he caught sight of one of the many laboratories on the right side of the hall. I, however, was far more interested in a door to the left. A certain office with the title of 'Overseer' on it. Sure, the lab could have med-x, but that office could have mysteries. And they were almost, if not more addicting.
“Where are you going? We’re not treasure hunting,” Flare said when he spotted me by the door.
“Shut up, Flare.” I tapped my metal hoof against the wooden door. It sounded really hard. After looking around in vain for an access terminal, and then trying my password to no avail, I had to do the unthinkable: ask Flare for help. “Could you knock this door down?” Normally I could do it, but I was not feeling strong enough, and I didn't want to risk it. I mean, if Flare couldn't I would, but I'd rather not.
“Sure can!” He flew backwards and towards the ceiling. He gave an over exaggerated lick of his lips and flashed towards the door at full speed. I thought for sure he was going to hit it head on. Only, he didn't. Instead, he stopped on a bit right in front of the door, calmly reached a hoof out to the handle, and opened the door. “Not every door is locked Hired.”
“Well aren't you a smart one.” Serenity was smarter. At least in some aspects, but it still amused me to note that a filly was smarter than him. Of course, both were heads and tails above me, but that really wasn't much of a contest.
The office interior was fairly large with the fanciest furnishings I'd seen so far. The floor was actually carpeted (though it seemed a bit stained) and the large desk that took up the majority of the room was carved all fanciful. Hell, there was even a bookshelf with a large number of books I would never be able to understand, not to mention the mountains worth of reports. What interested me the most was the terminal. I know I had more important things to do, but I couldn't help my curiosity.
“What are you doing here anyway?” Flare stood in the doorway. Well, more like leaned against the doorway.
“Something is fucking with us.” He seemed to muse over that before nodding. “On the monitors. That made us pass out. Whatever that was. It was created here. If we can find out what...” I left the ending vague because I was not sure what we could do if we found out. Maybe if the creation process also came with a weakness, but how likely was that.
“Right, well. I'll stand watch. Celestia above knows why I'm letting you, of all ponies, do the reading and investigating.” Well obviously because I already had the head start. And because I felt like I was dying and needed to sit down anyway to clear my head.
So I did just that, but first I had to push the skeleton out of the way and take a seat. With a sigh, I pressed a button on the terminals keypads. I really hated how small they made all these buttons. I was passable with time, but it seemed like it'd take longer than just writing. Luckily for me the computer wasn't even locked. The screen flashed on in the middle of an unfinished email.
Wallkirk get out of Celestia’s Paradise now, or...
Well that was useful.
“Mind hurrying, Hired?” Flare looked nervously over his shoulder towards the hall before shuffling inside and closing the door.
I would get right on that. After I checked a few more emails. Most of the emails seemed to be deleted though, except for a few marked 'Vital'. After scrolling through a few, I opened a couple that seemed interesting enough. After that, I planned to look into whatever else was on the computer. Honestly, Flare should have been doing this: he was so much better with technology.
The speakers in my office are wigging out. I don't give two shits about ponies thinking my office is haunted, I want it fixed. It keeps going on and off at random, or repeating old messages. Just, fix it. And before you ask I know it's not only happening here, but I'm the overseer of a major project, for fuck’s sake. Get your boys up here today!
Overseer Maple
Flare seemed a little more nervous than usual, and was pacing back and forth in front of the door. Which meant it was time for the last email I randomly picked out. Part of me wished I'd time for all of them, but what can you do?
Yeah it's a little creepy being in her office after everything that's happened, but I deserved this promotion. Bap wanted to help ponies, but she funnelled a lot of money into her pet project and she deserved what she got... not that I know what she got... Won't lie; I got a shivers down my spine a few times today. There's just something about this place that is putting me on edge. There are rumours that Bap died in this office, and it's haunted, but I don't believe it. But I've got more important work to do than worry about ponies long gone. Thanks for the concern though. Keep in touch.
Overseer Maple.
“You about done there?”
“Just a second.” I flipped off the the email closed and looked at all the juicy classified information. It made sense that my password could access it. After the end of the world they must have figured ponies trying to start anew could benefit from this sort of information.
“How about you throw me over the spark taser,” Flare said as he backed away from the door. I think he meant the Spark Pulse Emitter, or whatever it was called.
“Wh-” A flurry of splinters cut me off. Through the door came a storm of green blasts that tore it apart and forced Flare to flip backwards through the air and take cover behind the desk beside me. More greens bursts came through and slammed into the terminal. With a fzzt the computer blacked out and fell apart. Well there went critically important research data I'd never understand anyway.
“Duck!” Flare pulled me down as something rolled into the room.
There was an ominous sound of machinery, and a few boops and beeps like all good robots made. “Surrender now and you will die painlessly!” The voice was clearly robotic, and loud, but more smooth and suave than the normal Protectitrons.
“Protectitron Mk2, the voice on the speakers told me as much when I woke up the first time. If I didn't have this armour I'd look worse than you.” That wasn't funny at all. “We might die here, just as an FYI.”
“You have ten seconds to comply!” Ever so slowly I peaked out from the side of desk to get a good look at the metal monster. It was similar in some ways to the normal Protectitron. It still had the cone shape and movement patterns, but it was slightly shorter and skinnier, with thick black armour. Oh, and two large Gatling MEW's hanging on either side of its body. This was going to suck.
“Any ideas?” I slipped back into cover. The pegasus shook his head. Great. That means the idea was up to me. “Well... you said you fought one before?”
“Ran from one before,” he corrected me. Great. “They have good tactical sense too. Look at it, it's standing right in the doorway. It knows we're trapped, and it's going to wait us out.” Great. To run down we were facing a heavily armoured mini-tank with gatling lasers without anyplace to run, and limited cover with only a melee weapon. The level of suck just hit critical mass.
“Wait!” I pulled out my Spark Pulse Emitter. I had a plan, and it was awesome. Rolling out behind cover I quickly went into SATS. This was genius. I could stop time, how could a robot even think about getting me? Just had to line up a few hits just to be safe and...
0%
I had no idea what that meant, but zero of anything was bad. The sinking feeling in my gut confirmed just how bad a plan this was. Okay. Think. Even in my stop time I could see the starting movements of his guns. Slow, but certain. My only hope was if I could get back behind the desk, and the desk could take more of a pounding as I came up with a plan. With a gulp I slid out of SATS...
And realized I wasn't fast enough.
The guns were revving. They fired before I could move. Blasts flew through the air. At me. Green globs of death a hundred a minute. Well there was no way I was getting out of this one. My body tried to dive. I just couldn't.
A black and blue blur intercepted.
Green waves of energy danced off the armour's black coating. Flare pushed me on my ass and bent over me protectively as blasts bounced off him. Each one was punctuated with a grunt. “Stupid. Idiot.” He wrapped his forelegs around me tight. “Roll.”
The two of us rolled back towards the only cover in the room. We made it, mostly alive. Flare looked in a bad way though. Parts of armour were melted through, and I could smell burning. Carefully I nudged him under the desk where there was more protection. His breaths were slow and ragged.
“Fuck.” He closed his eyes tight cough roughly. “That hurt. Always... always getting yourself killed. Fuck.” Tears stung my eyes. If he died I don't know what I'd do... “Kill that fucker... so we can... yeah. Be fine. Need to rest. Do you smell smoke?” I did my best to smile securely at him as the beams of green whittled down our safety.
You know what? Fuck this robot. It hurt my friend, and that made it personal.
“Further delay will result in termination!” Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Not while I was still breathing. Maybe I was sick and tired and injured, but I was also pissed, and that gave me strength. With my body under the heavy desk I slowly rose to my hooves. The desk was heavy, but with a grunt I managed to heft its full weight onto my back. I took a tentative step forward. The desk wobbled on my back, and the weight almost made me fall. Still, there was no choice but to go forward. And do it fast.
I charged as fast I could. It wasn't fast enough. Green blasts broke through the desk and slipped past me, singing my coat. Still I pressed on and slammed into the advanced robot. It heaved and slid back through the door.
“Obstruction Detected, Obliterating!” The revving sound got louder as it started to tear apart my barricade. That was all I needed though. Without it firing at me directly, I was able to dodge the blasts, climb over the desk, and slam the Spark Pulse Emitter into the robot’s bulbous head.
Electricity surged through the metallic monster for nearly a minute before it finally went dead.
I stumbled backwards from the robot, my eyes stinging from the smoke that it was emitting. My body cried out in pain from the dozens of different burn wounds over the past eighteen hours, and all I wanted to do was to lie down and rest. Turns out office floors are comfy so I laid down and closed my eyes. Then I remembered the freaky magic in this place and opened them again...
To reveal a ghost standing over me. It was fairly easy to tell it was, in fact, a ghost by the way it was all see-through and wavy. Unfortunately, it wasn't Wildfire. Instead, a ghostly version of Baptisia stood above me, looking almost scared. I was getting tired of her.
She didn't stand there for long, as a minute later three more ghosts walked into the room. One was a slightly overweight brown stallion, the other two just guards. The stallion and Baptisia flapped their their mouths at each other for way too long before the two guards flanked the former overseer and escorted her out of the room.
“What the fuck.” Flare mumbled from his side of the room.
“Agreed.”
---
Eventually, we picked our broken asses off the floor. Flare was in rough shape, wincing at every step, but he didn't complain but to mention how much of an idiot I was. I had to agree: running out in front of a super robot was a terrible way to defeat it. We didn't bother talking about the weird vision. It made no sense, and we knew it. We also had more important things on our minds. Like not dying.
And finding Serenity. Actually, that was first.
“Enough of this...” I leaned against the wall looking around the destroyed room. “This med-x shit. Help me find my daughter.”
“Find...? I know where she is.” Flare’s lips curled into a small smile. “I woke up before. You and Serenity were asleep, so I scooped up the filly and flew off to try and find a way out. I was gonna come back for your heavy ass, but the filly comes first. Anyway, I got cornered so I stashed her somewhere the robots wouldn’t find her...” He kicked at the floor nervously. “Then I fell asleep again. Sorry.”
“It's fine.” I hobbled my way to the door. So much debris in the way. My weak limbs went to work clearing the way. “It's better. Smart to take Serenity. Thank you. Where is she?”
“Nearby. Asleep and safe of course. I guess we can find med-x for you after, but somepony has to carry her, and I figured you'd want to. Not that it matters now, neither of us are in any shape to carry anypony.
“I'll wake her up.” His raised eyebrow begged the question. “Same way I did for you.”
“Kick her?”
“... No. You know what I mean.”
“You called her your daughter.”
“I hate you.” With a kick the rest of the desk moved out of the way. For once I was really glad I had a cybernetic leg. Unlike my other leg, it wasn’t weak or shaky. It was pretty much the only thing holding me up. “I did call her that, though. Tired of games.”
And Wildfire had told me I should accept her. I had known it for a long time, but I was so afraid. Despite what that dream tried to tell me though, Serenity was not Foundation. The past was the past, and nothing I could do would change it, but I had a chance to be better for Serenity. To learn from my mistakes, and give her the love she needed. So I had to do that. For her, because she deserved it.
“Really? Shit, it's about time, Silver.” As if I didn't already know that.
“If she'll have me. After Karkhoof...” I left the name linger in the air as I pushed the deactivated bot out of the way. For good measure I also jabbed it again with my Spark Pulse Emitter. “Why do you keep calling me Silver?” It was a desperate attempt to change the conversation.
He followed me outside the room with a noticeable limp. “You know. It's your name. I haven't decided which I like better: Hired Storm or Silver Gun.” I went to correct him, but realized at the last second that he was mocking me, so I shut up. “Really though, Silver Storm is a nice name. Why change it?”
“Because.” I took a look both ways and Flare pointed one direction with his wing. Since he had the information of where he put Serenity I followed his directions. “Bad things happened with that name...”
“You mean bad things happened to you.” This was the part where I turned to glare at his jackass face. “And if you'd notice, bad things are still happening to you. You know, name changes don't actually make your life better.” He trotted up beside me and patted my back with his left wing. “Seriously, I get it. Run away from your old life, start anew. But the way that thing works is your past always catches up to you. Sooner or later, you have to deal with it. Or it'll chase you down and devour you, piece by bloody piece. It starts by tearing out the throat so you’ll bleed out before-”
“Flare.”
“Right, that metaphor ran away from me there.” There was a slight pause. “Get it? Because... oh never mind. I mean it though, you have to accept what happened. Changing your name won't change shit.” Flare was giving me advice about not running away from the past. I'll just let the irony sink in.
“Right. Got it.”
We went back to walking. My EFS scanned the area as we went. We passed more than a few tempting labs, but we kept on going. As much as I wanted to explore to find out the secrets (and find med-x and healing potions), Serenity trumped those desires. At least Flare had had the good sense to take her first, and to hide her when he had been cornered. I'd have to thank him after we got to her.
As we turned the corner I noticed... something at the end of the hall, a strange staircase that seemed to call to me. Against my better judgement, I ran (well, considering how injured I was) towards it.
The stairs were made of carefully polished white marble. The small stairwell went up sixteen steps, and, while the bottom of them was fairly wide, it narrowed slightly upon rising. At the top was a pair of large wooden doors set with odd, gilded carvings. Something seemed to call me up the stairs. A powerful force was beyond it, so much so my shoulder was flaring in absolute agony.
“Hired!” Flare rushed to my side when I dropped clutching at the joint where my metal leg connected to my body. It was lightning coursing through my eyes. Fuck. “Hired, are you...”
“Yeah.” I grunted. His eyebrows were furrowed as looked down at me. “Fine... just... the magic.” burned through my body. “Beyond that door.” He turned to look up the stairs. “Something...” magical. Powerful. Part of me already knew what. In the observation room where we saw the video of that pony, it was taking a video of the room beyond those stairs. One more mystery. Some of the pieces to unravel the puzzle I already had, but I couldn't help but think I was missing something.
“Yeah, I figured you'd want to see that...” He attempted to help me up, but apparently forgot how much I weighed. “Uh, can you get up?”
“Yeah...” Slowly I did, trying my best to ignore the pain in my body. While the pain didn't leave, I grew accustomed to it enough to get to all fours. “Later. Where is she?”
“You passed the room I put her in; c'mon.” He trotted backwards until I started to follow. From my vantage point, I could see where the MEW's had left his armour melted and slagged to his back. He didn't even complain. That stallion was tougher than I wanted to give him credit for.
I followed him to a small door that I would not have noticed had he not pointed it out. When Flare opened it, I could see it was a simple, cramped storage closet I could barely squeeze into. On the shelves to either side were a large variety of cleaning and electronic supplies, and a locked ammo box for some reason. The most important thing in the closet, however, was the small pink ball in the centre of the room. Serenity...
...you can't blame yourself, Silver... you did everything you could...
Flare didn't try to stop me as I limped to her body and lay to the ground beside her. Her chest rose and fell in short shallow breaths; her mane was so slick with sweat it was sticking to her face. Lowing my head I pressed it to hers and closed my eyes.
Tears stung my eyes. “I missed you, my Serenity.”
---
I had no idea where I was at all. For reasons I could not explain, I was standing on a hill, overlooking a city in a valley by a giant river. The river was so vast it seemed to stretch in every direction until it met the horizon. The city itself was in various states of disrepair with the ruin becoming more intense the closer it got to the giant crater in the exact centre of the city that actually glowed green. Squinting my eyes, I could see ponies moving in the distance, looking as small as ants.
A road that looked part dirt, part pre-war materials, wound from the city and towards the hill I was standing on. Beside the road was a rather large sign with writing I just couldn't make out. I really wished that my eye had a zoom function. Maybe when I got back to Dise I could ask House for one. If I got back to Dise. After all that had happened, it seemed the likelihood of returning was fading more and more.
With a resigned sigh, I turned to try and figure out where I was.
Directly behind me was a huge white house I hadn't noticed. It looked to be three stories high at least, and had to have been freshly built and painted. It looked like a picture of pre-war equestria had been crudely plastered over the wasteland. Even the lawn was a pure green, even while the dirt around it was as brown and lifeless as it had always been. Children's toys seemed to be scattered across the lawn, including a complete swing set.
“Well...” My eyes scanned the house. It was big and beautiful, like nothing I had ever seen before. I made my way slowly towards the door, but I made sure to keep my eyes watchful. Having no idea where I was obviously meant I had no idea of what dangers could be lurking.
By the time I reached the solid wooden door, I was almost positive there were no dangers. Everything around was wasteland, but the house and its lawn were positively idyllic. It was obviously a dream so I didn’t bother knocking, but I did try to press my ear against the door to see if I could hear anything.
From inside I heard... something. It almost sounded like a song, but why would anypony be singing? Well, the only real way to answer that question was breaking and entering. The door opened silently and I was inside the house.
The house was actually really creepy. The living room I entered into was painted a strange silvery-grey, and all over the walls were posters of cybernetic parts laid out on great detail. The singing became more clear as I walked towards the striped white and pink couch. In front of it was a small metallic coffee table, and on that was a single picture frame. Since I was breaking in anyway, I might as well sate my curiosity.
I knelt down to get a better look. The picture was of a small pink foal whose yellow mane looked to be just starting to grow in properly. Though she was young enough to still be in diapers the foal was leaning over a magazine depicting an artificial leg with a screwdriver in her mouth. Above her, on the frame, were the words 'She Is Always Watching Over You'. It didn't take a genius to figure out who the foal was. Part of me wished I could steal it for myself, but I was fairly sure this was a dream. Which meant no stealing baby pictures. No matter how cute.
The singing got louder, but I still couldn't make out the words. However, it was easy to tell they were coming from up the stairs on the far side of the living room. When I made my way across, I noticed the stairs were actually carpeted, and in alternating colours of green and yellow. The entire stairwell was blue, which made the whole thing look a little gaudy. About half way up it, I started to hear the words of the song.
“It's a big world, baby~ And you're little, for a little while~”
The hallway at the top was painted a deep blue that made the room look smaller than it was. The carpet was toxic green, and the only door (strange, that) was purple. It was cracked open slightly and I thought I saw movement on the other side. The singing got clearer as I got closer.
“It's a big world, baby~ And you can fiddle, in your own style~”
I carefully peeked into into the room, hoping whoever was inside wouldn't notice me. The room was light green while the carpet was designed to look like puzzle pieces of interlocking red and orange, and it was currently covered with toys. Two rectangular windows shone light from the outside on the two figures in the middle of the floor. Well, I found out who was singing.
“In your own style~ In your own style~”
A tall, skinny grey pony with a long, pink and yellow mane had her forelegs around Serenity and was rocking her softly as they sang. The filly’s eyes were closed blissfully, and she was either asleep or getting there.
“In your own style~ In your own style~”
When the final note faded into the air the pink filly smacked her lips together and yawned. The larger mare petted her mane softly as Serenity got into a more comfortable position. “Would you like another song, sweetie?” The mare's voice was soft where mine was rough and gravelly. Serenity nodded. “Your favourite?”
“Yes, momma.”
Well, enough of that. The door shattered at the force of my kick. That got their attention, and woke Serenity into attention. “Let my daughter go.” I stomped my hoof for emphasis.
The skinny mare turned to me, her green eyes wide. “Who are you?! Get out! You aren't allowed in he–‒!”
“You called me your daughter!” Serenity pulled herself away from the strange pony and ran over to hug my leg. “I knew it! I love you, Momma.” I... my heart fluttered, and I felt really warm and happy. It didn't last long as I felt the dream start to crash around me. That was easier than I'd expected.
---
I woke up to find a certain filly doing her damnedest to choke the life out of me with a hug.
“Serenity,” I said, but she just squealed and hugged me harder. “What happened?” It took me forever to break Flare's dream... “Didn't you want to stay. You looked...” She shook her head and let go of me.
“Who cares 'bout any'a that? I have'a real momma, and that's all that matters!” She smiled. “You meant it right? For real? You really wanna be my momma, cause if ya don't it's okay, I understand. Don't wanna force ya, but I'd be really happy because...”
“Serenity.” She zipped her mouth shut at my words. “Yes, I'll be your foster mom. If you'll have me. I should have said so earlier, but after everything that happened... I just. Just if you want me to be, I will. I do love you, you know. I'm just not smart and fuck up how to show it.” She hesitated for a minute, her brow furrowed in thought.
Then she hugged me again, and that was all the confirmation that I needed.
“Touching,” Flare said after a minute. “But it should wait. We’re still trapped in this fucking creepy-ass place and we have no way to get out. So...” He held the word way too long. “Let’s head out. Once we're safe, you two can be all mushy and sickly sweet. Just not around me. I don't want diabetes.” At that cry Serenity jumped up and started showering the pegasus with kisses. Each more deadly than the last. “No, nooo, get it off! It burns us!” Flare fell in a dramatic flare of wings and twitching legs. “So. Much. Cute.”
With a final twitch, the great pegasus's head fell to the floor. The monster was vanquished once and for all, and the heroine took her rightful place standing with one hoof on his face with a look of triumph on her face.
As much as I wanted to play there with Serenity forever, we had things to do. For one thing, confront what was behind those strange doors, and then find our way out. Then we had to actually to escape the mountain, confront some Steel Rangers, let Subtlety (I missed her) have a nice long chat with High Stakes and my brother. Then eventually get back to Dise a failure and fall asleep beside Platinum Haze. That sounded nice enough to push my weary body forward.
Serenity and Flare followed after me when I walked into the hall and turned my head towards the end of the hallway where the stairs were. Even from this distance I could feel an intense heat in my metallic socket. It was painful, and familiar. As far as I was concerned, that room was the answer to what happened here, and I had to find out.
“Are you sure we should go in there?” Flare asked. “I mean, it's kinda, ya know.”
“Not even sure where we are. Weren't we in a security room?” Serenity asked.
Oh, right. I quickly gave Serenity the short version of everything that had happened since we got knocked out the first time. She bobbed her head in tune with what I said, so I had to assume she understood. Considering it was Serenity, she definitely understood if I did. She was just that much smarter than I was.
So we made our way towards the double doors. The walk seemed longer than it should have, and each step sent shockwaves up my body. My body was still weak, and it had been getting weaker since I’d woken up, but I had to keep going. Since I was young, I had always able to take more than most ponies, and this was no different. In time, I'd rest, so I kept moving to get to that time. In my mind, figuring out what happened was the key to getting out of here, and then getting the long rest I needed.
So just a few more steps. We reached the sixteen stairs and looked up at the doors. It was close now, and my shoulder was in agony. I could take it though. To escape, to get free, I could take it. Now that I had Serenity with me, I was determined not to let anything stop me. Just a few more steps and I'd be there. Find the truth, and then we could escape.
“What do you think that pony is?” Serenity asked as we ascended the stairs. I had a few ideas, but nothing solid to go on. Whatever that pony in the monitor was, it was something powerful. Maybe evil. Still, if it was behind that door, I'd have to meet it. Maybe it'd kill us, but if that was the case, it could’ve killed us at any time.
I really hated this place (if that wasn't clear already), but we were stuck here until we could escape. I was positive that something behind this door could help. I could feel it. So we had to try. It was the only way, and yeah it totally sucked, but what choice did I really have?
“Lets find out.” I opened the door, and held my breath.
Level Up!:
New Perk!: Intense Training Level 3: Through hard work and extensive body modification you almost have an average intelligence! INT +1.
Skill Note: Magical Energy Weapons 25.
((A/N: Wow, you actually got through that chapter? I’m a bit shocked. I guess I should thank the lovely Kkat for building this world for me to defile, and my editors theBSDude, Menti, and Mint Julep for their hard work.)) |
No One | 662 | 21 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-06-24T05:40:24+00:00 | 2012-06-24T05:40:24+00:00 | 15,435 | Graveyard Of Good Intentions
“Half of the results of a good intentions are evil; half the results of an evil intention are good.”
Just because you try to do good doesn't mean what you are doing is good. Ponies and zebras waged bloody war for decades, each side sure it was something they had to do, that the other side was evil, that it was the only choice. Their intentions were to save their race, but in the end they doomed it to two hundred years of standing on the edge of the abyss. Wallkirk tried to do good by building elaborate tunnels and bunkers under the city he basically ran, but they did not protect enough, and entire families were irradiated or ghoulified.
Baptisia too had intended to do good, or at least I believed that was her intent. She seemed convinced that subjecting ponies to tests and trials was going to end the war. That whatever it was that she was trying to do would stop the war faster than a traditional weapon. She failed, of course, and was dragged off to be used as a test subject. A karmic way to go, but she was trying to be good, even if all she did was kill and fail.
So I felt a profound sense of connection to the mare when I opened the door to the project she thought would save everypony. I knew what it was like to try to do good, only for it blow up in your face. What we did was different, as were the results, but failing was something I could relate to. I felt a little bit of pity for the mare; even after all the ponies she’d killed, she was trying to save everypony.
At least her intentions were good. To save ponies. So much of the blood on my hooves was from actions not taken to help, but because I was a selfish pony only looking out for herself. Sure, I could make an argument that the ponies I had killed were bad, but I had still killed them out of selfishness. I had to remind myself that no matter what I saw in there, no matter what Baptisia did, she was still a better pony than I.
The room was large and empty. Its sixteen white walls seemed to shine in the bright lights. On each wall was a small number in a red circle. It went clockwise from one to eight, and then again. The ceiling was made of many glass panels with lights arranged under them in a way that made them look haphazardly placed at first, but the more I looked, the more sense the pattern made. The floor was a shallow conclave that I hadn't noticed in the video, and, except for the pony-sized stand in the centre, was made of thousands of small marble tiles in white and grey, arranged in a archaic pattern. Just looking around me, my shoulder surged with a strange energy that was not fire. The place just felt powerful and mystic.
“A megaspell chamber,” Flare said beside me, his pink eyes wide in awe. “I’ve never seen one, if you were going to ask, but, hell, look at it! If this isn't one, I'll eat my tail!” Being a stupid, non-magical earth pony, my knowledge on magic was limited. Hell, I wasn't even sure what exactly a megaspell was, except that it was like a spell, only more. Despite my lack of knowledge, it was quite clear what this place was.
“Woah,” Serenity said as she started walking the circumference of the room, seemingly studying it. “This place is so cool. Look at it.” Her horn was glowing lightly though she wasn’t casting a spell. I could only guess she was thinking using her magic may help her get a feel for what the room was. Or that it looked cool. With Serenity either one was possible. “I mean, just so awesome. Ain't no super magic-y pony, but c'mon. Look at it!”
Yeah, it was impressive to look at... but that was about it. There was nothing there. Just a big fancy empty room. I had hoped to find... I wasn't even sure, but something. This was the pinnacle of the information I had found in the lab after all. This was the end result... but it was just empty. There was no big reveal. There was only a lingering sensation of disappointment.
“Don't You See!” The voice came from behind us, where the double doors leading into the lab were still open. Apparently speakers were never installed in the megaspell chamber. “There Was No Great Secret To Find. You Have Fallen Into My Trap. By Planting That Information Around I Led You To A Place You Could Not Escape.” On cue, four Protectitron MK II's rolled around the corner towards us.
“Well... fuck.”
Please shut up.
Wait, what was that? It was in my head, but it wasn't a voice I recognized like every time before. But upon the voices command, the two doors slammed shut and I could hear them locking.
The voice was annoying. An earth pony though, she is interesting. An earth pony comes from beyond these hallowed halls and stands against the realities this one offers her. Many have tried, some have succeeded, but she offers an interesting challenge.
I turned very slowly to my companions who shared looks of confusion on their faces. It was clear at that moment they could hear the voice as well. Well, at least at this point I was not going completely insane.
“Well,” Flare said, “this is nuts. You're like a weird voice thing, and you argue with the other weird voice. I just imagine you have shouting matches all over the mountain!” The voice in our collective heads seemed to shut up at that. “Or do you talk dirty to each other after you pick the bones of adventurers who dare enter.” I really shouldn't have laughed. It was just so inappropriate I couldn't help myself.
So an earth pony has chosen her fate. The door started to unlock.
“Wait!” Flare said when he heard. “Just kidding, really. Ha. Ha. Ha.”
The door locked again much to every ponies relief.
An earth pony is at this one's mercy here, she best not forget it. Tell this one, why did an earth pony break away from what she wanted? Why resist?
I turned and looked around the room to find there was no change whatsoever. Wherever this mind-talking thing was, it apparently wasn't here. Unless we couldn't see it. It'd be more than a bit disconcerting if it could go invisible too, and it didn't help that my shoulder was acting strange enough that sensing magic was basically out of the question.
And he was talking about the dreams I'd been having. Of course, I wasn't the only one to wake up from the dreams, as Flare did as well, but he still directed his question at me. So I had to answer. “They were fake. Not real. Fabrications. So I left. Why wouldn't I?” Not that I was sure how I left. It seemed accepting it was a dream and wanting out was the trigger for it breaking down. “And they were creepy. Putting me in a coffin. How would that work?” I resisted calling the strange voice a dumbass.
An earth pony does not understand. This one did not choose your reality. An earth pony’s mind builds it from your desires; this one is not privy to the nature of her reality.
“I'm not suicidal.” Even as I glared around the room, visions of cliffs flashed in my eyes. No, I couldn't think of that. “You did something. Stupid. This is stupid. I broke free because whatever you did failed.”
This one created no realities. This one has been using this spell on many patients long before an earth pon-
“Wait.” I cut off the voice. Flare and Serenity who had just been listening turned to look at me. “What is your number.”
My number. Five-Six-Eight-Nine-Four-Seven-Seven. Five for the years in college. Six siblings. Eight times a patient committed suicide. Nine weddings patients invited me too. Four children. Seven times they whipped me when I forgot. Seven days before I could feel again...
Even in my head I could feel the words coming out as if by instinct.
How did you know that.
Hah, I one upped the magical talking voice. Flare, at least, didn't understand, “The hell was that? Did you brainwash the goddess voice, Hired? What did I tell you about doing that. Don't They get pissy about it.” Flare laughed. “Seriously though, what the hell?”
“The voice... he was a test subject here. Before the war. His name was-”
DO NOT SAY IT!
The voice was like driving a spike through my skull. I couldn’t help but drop to my knees and place my hooves over my ears in a fruitless attempt to turn it off. The voice died as soon as it came, but I was floored, as were Flare and Serenity. My daughter even attempted to put a sound barrier around her to avoid it, but you can't turn off what's in your head.
His voice came back, but softer, and less mechanical than before. An earth pony is surprising. She feigns stupidity but catches on quickly. This one is conflicted.
“Oh no,” Flare replied as he, for some reason, flew up to the ceiling and tapped on the glass. “She really is stupid. It’s that she's so stupid, sometimes she forgets she's stupid.” He was speaking at the ceiling... did he think the pony was up there? I guess it was a better guess than I had.
“What are you?” Serenity spun in a circle, making sure to glare at everything. Just in case.
This one is a god. A unicorn would not understand the power I possess.
“I have a guess.” I sat up slowly. My mind still felt like liquid sludge, and my body was tearing apart at the seams, but I think I'd this figured out. This room, the information, it was all so... obvious. “This place is a megaspell chamber. Right?” Flare and Serenity nodded. They probably didn't know for sure, but I had to trust their judgement. “They were doing experiments on ponies. Here. or.” I looked at the large double doors. “Out there. I saw you. In the camera, you were here. I think.” The hairless pony with burning eyes. “You're a megaspell.” There was a pause as I looked around the room. Sixteen walls, each had a number painted on them. This was a clue... I could do this. “You were made into a megaspell...”
Silence, this one will not stand for your accusatio-
“Oh! I get it.” Flare looked down at me with a smug grin. “This room has sixteen sides. Numbers go from one to eight like a clock. This is a time megaspell, right? That's my guess! How many points do I receive?”
Stop th-
“Huh?' Serenity jumped up so we would notice her. “Can ya even do that? Attach a megaspell ta a pony, wouldn't it kill them? Magical overload and what not.” Serenity knew more about magic, so I'd to defer to her judgement.
Are you do-
“Oh, and maybe...” Flare paused. His wings flapped twice before he slowly glided to the ground. “Actually, I had nothing else to add, I just thought it'd be funny... Don't zap me with lightning. Please.”
There was an sound in the back of my head that sounded like a cry of exasperation. Apparently we weren't very good at listening to monologues. Maybe it was because we seemed to get one every three days or so, and we weren't in the mood for listening. Maybe because we’d spent the last day being mindfucked with and shot at. So fuck the magical voice.
This one is surprised, but this one should not be. This one gave an earth pony too much information to lure her here. The closer an earth pony is to this one's body, the stronger this one becomes, and the easier to give her the sleep she desires.
“But I broke out, right? You failed. You're terrible at being godly.” The god seemed to pause, so I kept talking. “I mean. I, stupid Silver, broke out. Then I broke Serenity out. She was, what? Twenty meters away from here? Maybe you aren't as powerful as you think.”
This one has been infused with the power that has destroyed entire cities. This one will not be mocked.
Did he have that power? I wasn't so sure. He could certainly fuck with our minds, and make our dreams adhere to our wishes, but he couldn't read minds, and the only physical presence he had was to close the doors to his room shut. He was powerful, but as strong as balefire? If Flare was right, this was some sort of time spell... would that really need as much energy as world destroying missiles? Not every megaspell had to be exactly as powerful.
A memory came back. Back in the tunnels. The orb that was there glowing with a strange power that made us hear words, and when we closed our eyes it gave us our favourite memories. This was... something similar. He was...
“You...” I said to the voice. “Wallkirk tried to drain your power...”
This one’s soul was torn asunder, and its pieces scattered. One to the deep abyss taken, another to the sky, a third north and north until there was only snow. The evil pony tore and killed me in pieces, but even a dead god can dream. Even a dead god can bear retribution. Only life can pay for life, and this one took the life of the pony whose magic tore us. This one denied the evil pony of his desires, and thus, this one was victorious, even in death.
“He doesn't sound very dead. Dead ponies dun talk s'much. I checked.” Serenity had a good point. How could a pony who claimed to be dead be monologuing like that? On the other hoof, that orb had creepily similar powers. Creepy enough to send shivers down my spine.
What would a unicorn call being torn asunder from the inside? Less of this one’s soul is here than exists elsewhere: this is being dead. ...The invading ponies have seen a piece, haven't they? That is how they broke free. This one’s lost souls are as strong as this one, but dead, less precise, but practice is practice and now it is no wonder the invading ponies were able to fight this one.
“What’s the voice talkin' bout now?” Serenity said as she continued to walk around the perimeter of the large room. “He's annoying. He's in my head an' talkin' all funny.” Right Serenity, the voice talked funny and nopony else. “Since when are gods supposed to talk so much...”
“Now, apparently.” Flare flew down beside her on the other side of the room. “He's talking about... do you remember the tunnels?” Serenity blinked at him. “The dark ones? With the visions and shit?” Serenity's eyes went wide, and even from across the room I could see her shudder. “Yeah, exactly.”
The invading know of the location... they must tell this one! Tell this one where these tunnels are!
“Uh, no.” I answered. Why the hell would I give the unstable megaspell more power? Besides. He was planning on killing us anyway, and it was the only bargaining chip I had.
An earth pony will tell this one. Or this one will
“Kill us!” Flare jumped up. “That's what you were gonna say right? Right? Because weren't you going to do that anyway? Or was the whole luring us here just for fun? So how about we make a deal. We don't want to die, well I don't want to anyway, apparently Hired's psyche is less sure, but still. The deal. Lets say you help us escape this place of hellish-hell place and we'll go grab your soul chunk and carry it up to you. Howsabout it?”
This one has no reason to believe you.
“Does it matter? You know we've seen a piece, so you know, that we know, that you know, that we know where it is. If you want it back, you have to play by our rules, and our rules say get us the fuck out of here.” Flare grinned, knowing full well he had won. “Now this place is like, city-sized right? There is no way it had only one entrance, but the Steel Fucks only know of one. Show us another entrance; we leave, then come back and throw this orb at your face. It's really your only chance.
“What about the giant robots'n'stuff right outside tha door?” Serenity posed the logical question, of course. “Even if he told us how'ta get out, we're like, kinda trapped in this room. Unless it has a secret exit.” She jumped suddenly looking excited, “OH! Does it have a secret exit? That'd be so cool! C'mon, does it?”
It does, but this one has still not decided to let you go.
“Why not?” Asked Flare. “We already figured out the puzzle. Everypony knows the only time spell allowed you to go back in time once, and only for a few minutes, but never forward. So They tried to bond a time megaspell to you, so you could go back and forth at will and tell them how the war ended, and how to end it sooner. Of course they didn't expect this, but it was a nice thought. So we win the game!” He grinned. “And you know you can't kill us because we have the information you need, and you already said you can't read minds. So let us go. It'll be fine, really.”
So that was it. All the deaths in these labs were to create him, a failure to end all failures. Instead of looking into the future, they did little more than power up his magical abilities to some sort of extreme state and make him almost immortal. It wasn't a bad idea in theory though. Hell, if the war hadn’t ended the way it had, it could have worked. Actually, when you think about it, even if he did travel to the wasteland and back (assuming he didn't die) that would be enough to possibly end the war before everything had gone to shit. If the ponies, zebras, minotaurs, and whoever else knew the consequences, it might have been enough to stop all of this. Baptisia was almost a heroine, and all the death she caused would have been worth it. Instead, she was carted away like the criminal she was, and experimented on. At least, I think that was her fate. The memory I got had been very vague, most likely altered.
Of course, he’d said before he couldn't put specific memories in our heads. But that was exactly what he’d done, twice! Well, three times, if you include that dream I had. So he was lying to us, or I misunderstood. Still, I was fairly sure he couldn't read our thoughts, only project them into our heads. I guess if I was going to convince him to let us go I was going to have to put that to the test.
The scarier thought was if any of this was real. If he could make us see things, and dream things that weren't ours, how did we know this whole thing wasn't just an elaborate dream and he was sucking life from us, or whatever he did. There was no way to be sure, was there? I could only really guess and hope I wasn't getting duped. The thought made my heart beat faster than it had been, and considering how it was already going crazy that couldn't be good. Just needed to calm my thoughts. Take a deep breath.
“You killed them all didn't you?” My voice cut through the silence. “This facility. The dead ponies you...”
They were dead before this one touched their minds. This one gave them peace instead of horror for their last hours.
“All of them. None could have survived?” My voice felt raspy and shaky.
None. The evil pony that designed this place did not understand. The radiation would not have gotten into the heart of the mountain, but this place only had enough food for six months. Even if most had died, it would last five years, and by then the blanket of radiation would kill them if they stepped towards the exit. This one did a horrible thing to save them from a worse fate.
“So you killed them.”
Ended their suffering. This one is evil, and you can expect evil things from it. An earth pony would do well to remember it. This one is a monster.
“You're not. You're a pony. Monsters don't have names.”
This one has no name.
“Simple Heart. You told me to remember. So I did.” I think he did, but I was gambling on his morality here, if he had any left. What happened to him was beyond words, and he had a god complex to be sure, but he was still a pony. If he could see that, maybe he'd help us escape.
The voice in our head was silent.
“How did you know his name, Hired?” Flare grabbed Serenity and flew over beside me. “Because if he kills us over this, I'd like to know what to curse.”
“Use my name.” I smiled grimly. Not that I knew what a grim smile looked like. “Just to be safe.”
The pegasus nickered and reached out a hoof to pat me on the back. He stopped when he noticed a lot of my back was a mess of unhealed burns from the robots. “Right. I can do that. How about it, Serenity? You wanna curse your momma with your dying breath?”
“Ya huh. Sounds like fun. Can I, Momma?”
“Go ahead,” I smiled. “Why not? I deserve it.” Finally the voice started to talk again. He must have been tried of our banter.
That is not this one's name. This one has decided to let the invading ponies die.
Oh, hell no! I charged towards the centre of the the room. The epicness of it was almost cut short when I nearly slipped on the polished white marble, but I found my balance and kept going. I could hear him in my head, telling me to stop, but I already figured this part out. When I reached the centre I turned around and bucked with what little strength I'd left. My hooves connected to something.
The impact shook my body, but I didn't move. I just stood there with my hooves against the invisible force. In my mind, I heard the voice grunt. When I turned my head to see what I had hit, there was nothing there. Until nothing flickered. There was a brief flash, and before me stood a pony with a coat, but without a face. He stared at me with eyes like suns. I felt my shoulder flare up in pain from the pure magic that engulfed this pony but, I did not back down.
In a fluid turn, I grabbed my shotgun from my pack and pressed against his faceless head.
This one is a god. His eyes flashed as the words struck like daggers in my skull. Do you think you can kill a god?
“Does an Earth Pony think she can kill a god.” I corrected him. His lapse in speaking style only confirmed to me that I was scaring him. “You said it yourself, 'Even a dead god can dream.' Which means you can also die.” My shotgun cocked. It was empty, of course, but he couldn't read my mind so he had absolutely no way of knowing that. “I've tried appealing to your pony side. I've tried bargaining. I've tried talking. I'm tired of talking. I've been lectured by better ponies. And for better reasons. You will help me and my daughter leave. Or I'll kill you. We'll still die. But so will you.”
An earth pony cannot be stupid enough to threaten this one.
“Oh, I can.” Threaten him with an unloaded gun no less. “I've been shotgunned in the face. But the pony that shot me missed. The goal is to hit the head. The brain. I won't make that mistake. It'll only take one shot to end you.” At that moment I was positive I was going to die. I was threatening a two-hundred-year-old abomination with an empty gun. But I didn't waver. As weak as I felt, as dizzy and nauseous, I’d still promised Serenity I'd get her through. And I’d promised Wildfire I'd survive. If not for me, than for the ponies who (for reasons I couldn't understand) needed me.
This one...
“Had three seconds.” My teeth dug into the handle of the weapon. “I wasn't kidding. You're a pony. I'll find your soul for you. I don't want to kill you. So don't make me. Let us go and you have my word.”
There was a long second of silence.
This one will help you...
There was a collective sigh from the three of us. My ruse worked. Thank Celestia that even gods fear death.
This room has an emergency exit. In case the spell went wrong. An elevator that leads to the tram system. At the bottom of the elevator there is a map. It will list all exits. Is this sufficient?
“Yes.” I sighed. “Yes.” Even though I took a step back I didn't put my shotgun away. Even if it was useless, I had to keep up appearances. “I promise. I'll find the orb. Bring it back.” If he wanted to he could wait until we left and then mind rape us some more, but I had to trust him. Even if it was only because it was the only real option we had. So I rolled the dice and prayed.
The wall opposite the doors was designed to be easy to break. Beyond that is the exit. This one will not stop you.
I gave a slight nod to Flare. He saluted, then flashed through the air and slammed into the wall so hard it turned into dust. A few second later, he came out and waved a wing of approval. There was our best chance for leaving. Very carefully, I circled around the megaspell pony, keeping my shotgun trained on him. Ever so slowly I backed up towards the exit with Serenity following beside me.
“Sorry.” I said honestly to Simple Heart. “Really. You deserve better.”
I turned and ran into the elevator beside my companions. It was a rather large ugly metal thing that seemed to be designed to hold at least two dozen ponies. Maybe more. The metal grate of a door slammed shut when we all entered, and I was very glad I couldn't see down.
“Going down.” Flare pressed the only button on the control panel and we started to descend.
I dropped the shotgun and went to say something but couldn't. A laugh just started to build in my chest, and I couldn't contain it. Something about this whole situation was so funny that my whole body shook with laughter. Flare stood over me and I tried to stifle the giggle long enough to say something. It didn't work because he fell on his rump and started laughing too. It was just too much. This whole situation. Serenity joined us too, because apparently we were hilarious.
Eventually we got control enough to speak, but it was still hampered by giggles.
“Did you just... threaten a fucking god?” Flare said trying to contain himself.
“With an empty gun.” I kicked the shotgun sending it spinning across the elevator floor. “We should be dead.”
“Oh Hired, words cannot express how much I hate you, and how much I love you right now.” Flare laughed again as we continued to descend into the depths of the facility. Maybe Simple Heart was just playing us, but it was so worth it even if he was.
The elevator lurched, and for a split second I thought I was falling. There was a look of horror on my face, before relief washed it away. That moment was enough though. We weren't out of the water yet, not by a long shot. So I couldn't get comfy, the worst was still yet to come. Who knew what awaited us in the bottom of the facility.
---
The darkness was all-encompassing, and not even the light of my pipbuck and eye could stop it. It was like a great black void in that sucked in light and gave nothing in return, and the longer I stared into it the more I felt it staring back at me. When I was told the elevator lead to the tram line I'd expected that it would be, you know, lit, and actually lead to a platform. Except when we got to the bottom we walked out over some tracks in the middle of the tunnel. Thankfully Simple Heart was right in one respect; there was a map just outside the elevator.
It was surprisingly helpful. The map gave us a lovely 'you are here' icon, and showed routes to the major areas in the facility. There was a section for 'Weapons Manufacturing,' 'Stable-Tec Storage,' 'Offices,' 'Magical Experimentation,' 'Mechanical Experimentation,' 'Training,' and a few labelled with 'Exit.' The closest exit was near the storage area, so I mentally crossed that one off and looked for the next one. It seemed to be right inside the manufacturing area... oho! I got the brilliant idea of stopping off there before leaving. More guns could only be a good thing, and if nothing else we could sell them later.
Serenity was very helpful and tore the map off the wall before rolling it up and storing it away. Magic really was useful in situations like these.
“Dark, creepy tunnels,” Flare remarked, seeming almost unimpressed. “What's the likelihood of this one being filled with ghouls?” Serenity seemed to shudder at that. It had been a while, but the memory of killing that pony must have still hurt. Not everypony could be cold about it like me, and I was glad in a way, that she disliked it. “Oh, the flashbacks.” Being on the ground, having the life choked out of me, wondering if we'd ever escape, the feeling of hopelessness... oh yes, the flashbacks.
“Let’s just go.” I pushed past him, deeper into the darkness.
“Where are we going, anyway?” Flare followed after me with a weaker version of his trademark grin. “Did you find another exit?”
“Yes. There was a factory too. The exit is in there. We're going to get big guns. Get out of here. And torch High Stakes and my brother. If they haven't left.” There was a sparkle of amusement in Flare's eyes.
“Alright! I love this plan! Bloody vengeance and what not!” Sometimes it was really hard to tell if he was mocking me or not. Everything he did was in such a Flare way it made it very open to interpretation. “Lets go kill some folk. After we survive whatever horror is waiting for us down this dark tunnel of course. They better not have done anything with Bunker Buster; I miss her.” I could sympathize with that. Poor Subtlety... but that gave me a thought.
“Serenity, do you still have your gun?”
Serenity looked up from the rock she had been studying. “No, I...” She blinked. “Wait.” Turning around, she dug into her bag for a second before producing her zebra pistol. With a slight blush she said, “Um, I forgot about it...” I had, too, so I couldn't blame her. After the Crimson Hoof took mine and Flare's weapons, they didn't even check Serenity, and, in the commotion of us being dragged off and me nearly dying, it had slipped our collective minds.
“It's fine.” I ruffled up her mane a little bit, and noted how much she really needed to take a bath. “Take care of it for now. I might need to borrow it, if we find anything that needs be shot, that is.”
“You're not really gunna shoot my uncle, are you?” Her, what? Oh, did she mean my brother? I wasn't really sure why she should care about that. Sure, in some strange, convoluted way they were related, but he was still a huge asshole who didn't deserve to be cared about like that. The only time they had interacted was when he had helped chain her up again, so why would she care?
“Maybe.” I sighed and kept walking in the dirty darkness. “He's not a good pony... he wanted to kill me.” He used to play tag with me, and when we wrestled, I'd always let him win. “He went down the wrong path. He works with raiders.” He used to read to me when mom was busy, and let me borrow his toys. “I tried to save him, and he threw it in my face.” They took him away from me. “I...” My voice cracked.
“Momma, are you cryin'?”
“No.” I kept walking as tears stung my good eye. It was nothing, just bad memories I couldn't get rid of. Well, the memories were good, but what they represented was just bad. Not that it mattered. In the end, it was going to come down to the two of us and a gun, and when that happened, I had to be the strong one. After everything he’d made me suffer through, after the years without him even trying to contact, only for me to find him like that... No. He had to die, but only if he made me kill him.
Nopony spoke for a while after that, and I couldn't blame them. After everything that had happened, I was sure they were avoiding conversation so I wouldn't have yet another mental breakdown. Not that I could really blame them. I felt like I was standing on the edge. What I really needed was a day to rest, where I could just process all the horrible shit that went down, just some time for my brain to reset. Instead, I kept getting pushed closer to the cliff, and at this point, it was just going to be one more push before I fell.
Of course, me going insane wouldn't exactly be a long fall.
I wasn't as bad as when I had started, though. At least, I think I was getting better at some things. Somehow I had managed to break into my friends dreams and help them come back to reality. Not to mention survive a deadly maze of giant robots while sick, and then talk down a deadly god-thing. So despite all my failings I was managing to survive, and to help my friends get through it all too. So that was something. Maybe I was borderline insane, and probably a med-x junkie, but I was surviving and growing. Also, I was getting really sappy.
The tunnel kept extending further, and the more we walked, the more it felt like we weren't making very much progress. It didn't help that I kept stumbling on the dirt floor. It wasn't made for ponies to walk on and was covered in holes and rocks, and I was tired and sore and weak. If only we could find a place to rest then we could move on. Flare looked like he could use some rest too. His Enclave armour was still partially melted onto his back, and he seemed to wince at nothing as we walked.
The only pony who seemed really ready to keep going was Serenity. Thankfully, she had been asleep for most of the time in the lab and hadn’t gotten shot up like Flare and I. Mind you, if she had been awake, then maybe we would have been able to make use of her gun, seeing as she was the only pony who was armed. It probably wouldn’t have done much good against those metal monsters, but it would have been something.
“So I've decided,” Flare said as the tunnel started to take a gradual turn, “I blame Curly Fries.” I looked down at Serenity to make sure we were still going the right way. When she nodded I turned back to Flare who was grinning in my pale pipbuck light.
“Really, Flare? Knight Curly Fries?” What did he do? Sure he was an ass a while ago, and then got bitch slapped and kicked out of the Steel Rangers, but that didn't have much to do with our current predicament.
“The way I see it is that if Curly hadn’t gone and get himself kicked out of the Steel Fuckwads, then he'd still be with them. He'd obviously be assigned to the mission in this stupid centre, and his failure to be anything other than a joke would counter Blackwater's over the top evilness. So we would have been able to escape as they butted heads, and wouldn't have had to go through this at all.”
“That...” I blinked. “Almost made sense.” Almost, not quite, but it was a valiant effort. Hell, I almost wanted to agree. It seemed a lot easier to blame Curly Fries every time something went wrong.
“Well, I tried.” He flapped his wings once. “What's that?” He waved a hoof in front of us. Now that he mentioned, it the light of my pipbuck did seem to be hitting something a little further into the tunnel.
The object slowly came into view and we couldn't have been more lucky. Filling the majority of the tunnel was a large structure of metal and wood, standing perfectly still on the rails that ran through the centre of the tunnel. The vehicle seemed to be fairly open, with a ceiling and floor, but no walls except for safety railings, support beams, and a damaged windshield in the front that glinted in the light from my pipbuck.
“A tram! Cool!” Serenity ran over the dirty ground and managed to jump onto the back of the vehicle. A few seconds later, the back railing opened and a set of emergency stairs came off the back. Standing at the top of the stairs, Serenity struck her best heroic pose. “Please come aboard.”
With a half chuckle, I climbed up the stairs. The tram was smaller than I had expected, with a series of small wooden benches in a single cart. There was an engine at the front of the tram, near the glass window and what must have been the drivers seat. Unfortunately, many of the seats were still occupied by skeletons. Simple Heart's last legacy. With a simple look between me and Flare, we got to work clearing out the bones.
When we were done, I sat down. Why had we even done that? It wasn't like we could even make the thing move. Whatever was powering the other parts of the facility left the tram lines in darkness, so what good was it to clear it out? It just seemed like the right thing to do.
“We should rest here,” Flare said, lying on a bench. “I need rest. You need rest. Serenity needs rest.”
“No, I don't!” Serenity, to nopony’s surprise, found her way to the engine. Standing over it, she undid her saddlebags and laid them beside her. “Got plenty'a sleep in that stupid dream. You two can rest, though. I'll stand guard.” I gave Serenity a look. Or rather the look. “Oh, c'mon, Momma. You need sleep, an' Flare does too. I ’ad more’an both'a ya, and I didn't get shot at, like, at all. You two sleep, and I'll work on this engine. Bet I can get it working by the time you wake up.”
“How, exactly?” I punctuated with a yawn. I couldn't really disagree with her on the “needing rest” part. “You need tools and...”
She pulled out a series of wires, gems, and tools from her saddle bag. Apparently, she was a lot more prepared than I gave her credit for. “Always keep tools on me, an' I scavenged some robots when we first got locked in here, remember?” Oh yeah. “Ain't really my field'a expertise, but it seems simple enough. Some trial an' error’ll get it fixed in a jiffy. If anything goes wrong, I'll wake you and Flare, okay?”
Flare laughed a little bit. “Sounds like a deal. But what if Mr. God Complex tries to do his dream-invading thing again? Could be trouble.” That was a concern, but if he was going to do that despite our little talk, we were as good as dead anyway.
“He could even if we’re awake. Remember.” I rested my head on the floor. “Serenity.” I looked up at her. The force of her smile made the dark tunnel somehow brighter. “I trust you. If anything happens, wake us.”
My daughter saluted me before turning back to her work. Before I closed my eyes, I caught a look from Flare that made it clear he wasn't so sure it was a good idea. I did my best to comfort him with a look, and it seemed to work. Just to make sure, I said. “If you get sucked into a dream. I'll kick you out again. Beating you up was fun.”
---
My dreams were the pillar of normality, and for that I was glad. Of course, for me 'normal' dreams often include haunting memories, dark shadows, lengths of rope, dripping of blood, and the smell of smoke, all tied together with a feeling of dread that lasts for hours after I wake up. I guess it means something when my 'abnormal' dreams are much more bearable than my normal dreams, but you can only trudge through so much shit before it starts caking on your hooves.
I fell asleep to the subtle sounds of Serenity tinkering and woke up a few hours later. My whole body felt as weak as a kitten, and my head was pounding against my skull, but I couldn't afford to show weakness. Even if I felt like I was about to vomit... again.
“Should be sleepin', Momma.” Serenity said as she took her head out of the engine. “You need'a sleep.”
“Can't.” Which was the truth. At that point I was so sore, it was seriously going to impede my chances of catching a few winks.
“Tha’s fine.” She floated a few wires over. “Stupid thing is more difficult than ah thought...” She muttered to herself before looking over at me again, her grey eyes almost glowing in my pipbuck light. “Was it a normal dream? Or did he break his word like I figured he would? Ah don't trust'im.” She frowned. “He lied; I can still hear her singing.”
“Maybe he can't control it.” The little filly scrunched up her face at that but let me talk. “His powers might be out of his control. Or getting there. Me and Flare... we kept seeing visions. From the past. No way he did it on purpose. And... I dreamed I was here.”
“Whaddya mean? Ya are here. That ain't nothin' special.” She giggled. “Not makin' any sense anymore.”
“I mean. I was here, but in the past.” She sat down as a little smile found itself on her muzzle. “I met a pony in some cells in the labs, and he was a bit crazy. But, he gave me his name, and his story. Simple Heart.”
“Ain't that whatcha called the crazy-voice pony?”
“Exactly... and he didn't know how I knew. So maybe, he's been alive so long his powers are getting out of control.” I closed my eyes and sighed. “It's only a guess. But... if the orb could do similar things without a brain, maybe he's not as in control as he wants us to think.”
Something warm snuggled up against my body. With a smile I put a leg over Serenity as she said, “Dunno why Flare calls you dumb.” She nuzzled my leg. “Sometimes you're dense, but you're awesome when'ya try real hard.” With my eyes closed, I slowly stroked my filly’s mane. It was very greasy, but this wasn't the best place to suggest a bath.
“No, I'm not...” I sighed. “After Karkhoof. And everything else... I am dumb. You are too for accepting me.”
“I'm still upset about that...” Serenity’s voice broke and she had to take a second to compose herself. “But... we all messed up. It sucked, but you're not a bad pony. Just have something'ta make up for.” She sniffled. “What matters is that yer my momma, and you love me. Everything else can be worked out later...”
“Sometimes you're too mature.” I brushed her mane with my hoof. “Not usually though.” She said. “I do love you though. I hate it when you get hurt, and I couldn't imagine living without you anymore. You're a little bit of purity in a world of suck, and I would fight the whole wasteland and all their guns if it meant keeping you safe.”
“You're a sap.” I rolled my eyes. “You look sick, too...”
“Something like that.” With Serenity curled up beside me, my body was bubbling with so much motherly love I barely noticed the symptoms... at least, I wish that was true. Truth be told, she did nothing to make me feel better, and each second it felt like I was slipping further and further into the abyss. “I'll be fine. How’s the engine?”
With a grumble she crawled out from under me and over to the engine, poking at it. “Stupidly annoying, and stupid. At this rate, we could'a walked the distance.”
“But that'd be boring.” I opened my eyes and struggled into a sitting position. “Right?” She smiled and nodded. “And it's good practice. And we need rest. And I'm lazy and don’t want to walk.”
“You ain't lazy when ponies need'ta be beat up.” Usually I beat up ponies when my life was at stake, and generally speaking that was not an environment conducive to laziness. “But I guess that's important,” she continued. There was a frown on her muzzle and she gave the engine a small kick.
It was upsetting to see Serenity annoyed like that. I know how much she wanted to help us, and how frustrating it must have been not able to do it when she got the chance. My mind started going through ways I could help to cheer her up, and it got stuck on one particular. Back in her dream, the pony posing as her 'mother' was singing a song. While I was not a good singer by any measure, I just couldn’t get the thought out of my head.
So, against my better judgement, I opened my mouth and started to sing what I could remember.
It's a big world, baby. And you're little, for a little while.”
My voice was raspy, and hoarse, but I was trying.
It's a big world, baby. And you can fiddle, in your own style.”
The last note hung in the air and reverberated through the darkness. For the life of me I couldn't remember the rest of the words to the song. I hoped it was enough though... Serenity seemed to have stopped in her place. Slowly she turned around to face me, tears welling in her eyes. She opened her mouth, and looked like she was about to speak for a second. Instead she turned back around to hammer harder at the engine.
I guess the song didn't work. Must have been my voice, it was too rough to hold a note.
“Silver, you shouldn't torture cats.” Flare said groggily. Turning my head to him, I could see he was slowly getting to his feet... I didn't really understand what he said about cats though. I liked cats, and would never hurt one. It must have been part of his dream. “Any progress?”
“Almost,” Serenity said in a hushed tone. “Almost.”
“Good! Earth ponies and unicorns are so slow.” He beat his wings once. “If I was alone I'd be out of here like that.” He gave the floor a sharp stomp. “But I'll wait for you slowpokes.”
“How’s your back?” I asked from my heap on the floor. For some reason saying the words made me taste bile in the back of my throat.
“Crispy, and in constant agony. I've had worse though. Did I ever tell you about the time I was flayed?” Wait, what? I shook my head. “Well, it was when I was barely older than Serenity here. Okay, I was about five years older and had just got my first position. My patrol was hit by raiders and I got hit in the wing and crashed landed... in a raider den.” Serenity gasped. “You're telling me! Luckily these weren't the Smooth-Tongue-style super raiders, just your regular dumb ones. They couldn't even get me out of my armour, never mind shoot through it. They really wanted me out though. After a lot of trial and error, they managed to tug off a piece of leg armour.” He tapped his right foreleg with his left.
“What happened!” Serenity blurted out, no longer paying attention to her work.
The pegasus bit his lip and grimaced a bit. “The predictable. They took a long sharp knife,” he made a knife sound, which was surprising as knives don't usually make sounds. “And started peeling away at the skin so I could see the muscle underneath.” Serenity icked and looked away as if it would stop her from hearing. “It was... so painful The raider was taunting me too, even though I couldn't hear the words through the pain. I could see though, and as soon as he got too close...” The scorpion tail of his enclave armour snapped out and pierced the side of the tram. “Through the eye.”
“That's so gross.” Serenity whacked something in the engine.
“Hey, that's the truth for you. So don't worry about this wound, okay?” Flare smiled as he got to his hooves. “How long before we're ready to go, Chief?”
Serenity smacked the engine one more time. There was a small humming emanating from the machine before it turned into a full blown whirring as the whole platform started shaking making Serenity give a sharp yelp of surprise. Carefully she looked around to make sure no one heard her before announcing proudly, “Got it working! Just like I knew I could!”
“Good job, Serenity.” She beamed all the more proudly as she hit a button and the tram started its slow steady pace.
---
“And that's how you can integrate'a pipbuck's spell matrices inta a cybernetic eye, see it was simple that they did.” I stared at Serenity as her words went in one of my ears and spewed out the second without taking a stop between them. She may have been trying to teach me something important, but it just wasn't sticking. No matter how hard I tried.
My head bobbed up and down as I feigned understanding. “Uh, yeah. Totally. The magical energy... stuff.” Our eyes met for a second and I thought she was about to call me out for not understanding. Instead she just giggled and turned to look out the tram window. Thank Celestia.
I hadn't really moved since the tram had started, and I was okay with that. My body wasn't getting better very quickly, and nausea seemed to be a permanent part of whatever I was experiencing. The only time I really moved was to scratch one of the constant itches. Mostly my hind legs. I knew my companions were worried about me, it was sort of obvious by their faces, but they were kind enough not to ask. Just let me stew in my self-created weakness. Maybe Flare was right about the Med-X.
No part of me wanted to admit it because of what that would mean, but I couldn’t I deny it any longer. My only saving grace was that if I was addicted, it would be a new addiction so the symptoms of withdrawal wouldn't be as bad, and it'd be easier to break. Of course, that’s only if I knew anything about drugs, which I didn't. And of course being shot at by, like, a thousand deadly robots with laser guns. That couldn't have helped anything at all. At least it seemed like those things weren't active down here.
Cue the world fucking with me in three, two, one.
“Did You Really Think Hiding In The Tunnels Would Save You From My Sight! I See All! I Hear All!” The voice on the intercom said. At first, I had thought the intercom voice was the pony making the weird things happened, but after what happened upstairs I was less sure.
“Oh!” Serenity perked up a bit. “Can I ask a question then?” She didn't wait for an answer. “How come upstairs is all bright'n'shiny, but here has no power?” As usual, my daughter asked the best questions. If in a slightly strange and rude way.
“W-what! You Cannot Ask Questions Of Me!” The voice paused. “I Will Answer So You Are Less Ignorant In Death Than In Life. The Megaspell Generator Powering This Facility Has Nearly Run Out Of Energy! As Per Protocol, Energy Has Been Directed To Critical Areas.” That made sense for the part of the facility used for housing rebuilding supplies, and the labs around Simple Heart... but what about the cameras, speakers, and all the areas near the entrance? Unless the voice lit those areas to lull adventures deeper into the heart of the facility... Did I just have a smart thought?
“Wait.” Flare, who had been remarkably quiet up till then, looks up and asked. “Why would you use weapons to power-”
“FOOL!” So said the electronic voice. “Megaspells Are Not just Weapons. The First Was A Healing Spell! Any Spell Can Be Amplified!” Like a time spell. Which begged the question: why did Flare ask that? He clearly knew that megaspells didn't have to be weapons.
Flare started laughing, and confirmed my suspicions. He was up to something. “I know.” There was that grin on his muzzle. “Do you know how many ponies know what the first megaspell was? Wasteland ponies I mean, because they teach history above the clouds, and even my remnants have enough information to know that. Regular ponies don't though...” oh, I understood. “So. You're either an uncannily smart wastelander from a stable, and I don't believe that for a second, a pegasus, a ghoul, or something that's not a pony.”
“What Is The Meaning Of This?”
Flare completely ignored it. “So I'm going to chalk off no for a wastelander who can manipulate the facility’s controls without the password, and chalk off pegasus for the same reason and because I know for a fact no pegasus alive, except me, has been in deep enough to find controls.” He paced as he ranted. “Now you can't be a ghoul from here because of Mr. Crazy thoughts. Now, you could be a ghoul from stable whatever that had the password, but the password was designed to be deleted when life signs vanish, so you'd have lost access.” He stomped a hoof. “So what the actual fuck are you?”
“I... I Don't Have To Subject Myself To These Questions!”
“Oh! Can I guess?” Serenity seemed to think it was a game. Or was just messing with the voice, I couldn't tell which. “A mechanical robot AI who wants to turns us into your minions? Right? Right?” I just shook my head at her. It could have been an AI, but I doubted very much it wanted to turn us into robots. Of course, if it did, I already had a head start.
“My guess is another megaspell gone awry, so it fights with the other magical pony for control.” Flare said. I wasn't so convinced of that.
“No... Not A Megaspell... Enough! I Have Had Enough! You Will Die!”
“Thanks, Flare. You pissed off the voice. The robot-controlling voice.” Flare shrugged at my words and just smirked. “I hate you, Flare.” I didn't really hate Flare, but at that moment it was something close. Luckily for him, I was feeling too weak to actually do anything but lie around until I had to start walking again. With the way the tram was moving, it'd be a while. Unless the voice actually had plans to blow us up or something. Which would be par the course in this fucking place. Just to be safe, I lifted my head up and scanned around with my EFS.
I didn't have to look much, for as soon as I stared forward two blips appeared in my vision. They were red, of course. And we were heading right at them. So much for the tram actually getting us anywhere. Just when we got it working, the god of the facility decided we needed to fight more crazy robots.
“Shit.” I growled stumbling to my hooves. “Serenity. Dead ahead.” My legs shook under my weight. When did walking become so difficult. I stumbled forward as Serenity peered into the darkness.
“Don't see anything.” Serenity mumbled. Flare nodded his agreement. Serenity got the engine working, but apparently not the headlights.
“Wait...” I squinted into the darkness trying to work my bleary eyes into seeing the threat. After a few seconds of nothing, my vision whooshed and half my vision took a green tinge that allowed my sight to pierce the darkness. As I thought, two robots stood in our way. My eye tagged them with a purple box and the name 'Protectitron mk 2'. “Hit the brakes.” Serenity tilted her head at me. “Just do it.”
“Right, right.” Serenity hit the brakes and we started sliding to a stop. Luckily, we weren't going that fast or we would have ploughed right into them and they would have shot us the fuck up. “What was that all about?” Serenity looked up at me with a pout (my vision turned off the green, darkness-seeing thing when I turned back to Serenity). She really liked the tram after she got it working.
“There are-” My statement was cut off by a gasp as a bolt of green energy slammed into the windshield, melting it. “That!” When a few dozen more green bolts slammed through is rapid succession we all collectively decided to get the fuck out of there.
Unfortunately I was not in a running mood, so the others had to match my slowly shaky hobbling. The only reason we survived at all was because the tram blocked us mostly from view once we got off the back. Not that it left us with many options. The tunnel was long, and mostly devoid of any place to hide. We could run back the length of the tunnel, but at the speed I was hobbling, the machines would catch up all too quickly.
“Any ideas?” I gasped as the machines roared behind us, spitting out green death.
“We could die.” Flare looked back. What was once darkness was now growing green from the constant barrage of magical bolts. “But I do so like living. Death is so terribly final.” I would have smacked him a little, but I wasn't feeling up to it.
After pushing my sweat-soaked mane out of my eyes, I tried to turn my night light on again so I could look for a place to hide. You know, it would have been really helpful if House actually told me about that feature before. It seemed like he hid half of the shit my new cybernetics did. It was probably a test.
There was something in sight, thank Celestia: a small door off the side of the tunnel. It must have been a maintenance room or something like that. Regardless, I made a beeline for it, and my companions followed after me. If only because I didn't really give them a choice in the matter. If nothing else, the room would bottleneck the robots to one at a time, and that might be enough for us to kill them. Not likely, but it was the only chance I saw in our condition. Or, really, my condition.
“How did you see that?” Flare asked when we reached the door. I tried to answer but when I opened my mouth I taste bile. “I mean, fuck, can you see in the dark or something?” The answer was yes, but I made no move to speak. My stomach was heaving uncomfortably, and I did not want to take chances.
When I tried to open the door though it locked. So much for Flare's lesson about not all doors being locked. Thankfully there was a terminal beside it. It gave me the usual password spiel, and a few clicks of my pipbuck made the door click, giving us access. I tore open the door with all the strength I could muster and looked around the room.
It was much bigger than had I expected it to be. The room was oddly shaped with a small hallway leading to a large room that stretched out perpendicularly. It had a mattress thrown in the corner beside a counter with a sack on it. The room was fairly cluttered with boxes, and other junk getting in my way. What caught my eye most was the trash can near the mattress and counter. I ran over there as fast as I could and puked my guts out into it. That did not make me feel much better so I collapsed onto the stained mattress and tried to stop my head from spinning.
It didn't really work well, so I closed my eyes. My ears painted the picture for me. I heard Flare shouting something. Sounds of plasma fire washed over me, and the sound of a door clicking closed blocked them out partly. Hoofsteps came towards me, one tripping over a box, spilling its contents. They voiced words of concern but I could barely hear them over the pounding in my head. I just need it to go away, then I could help. It'd be so simple.
“Hired...” I heard the voice that time. It was mostly masculine, but soft to the ear. Flare's voice. “Hired, are you okay?” There was nothing I could do in response. My body felt weaker than it ever had, and I wasn't even sure why. No... at that point I knew why, even if I didn't want to admit it. Denial would not save me this time.
“Momma, c'mon. Get up.” That was a softer, younger voice that was prone to squeaking when stressed. Something poked into my ribs, and I grunted a response. I would be fine, I just needed to rest for a little. Between the burns and the withdrawal, I wasn't up for fighting robots right now. It didn't seem like I had a choice though. They were coming. I could hear their guns moving close. The door wouldn't hold.
“Hired...”
“Go without me.”
“I would, but they're kind of blocking the door, and we need our meat shield.” There was a soft smack and I heard Flare chuckle. “Ow, that hurts Serenity. But, really, we need you. You can't give up here, not now. Not after what we've been through.” I wasn't giving up... Okay, maybe I was giving up a little. But at this point I was just slowing them down, Flare could grab Serenity, zip past, and escape without me. Serenity was all that mattered anyway. She was all that ever mattered.
“Take her, fly-”
“We'll be shot down, we need you, you big stupid oaf. Now get your ass up!”
“Momma is not a mule,” Serenity said indignantly. “C'mon. We can take'em. I have my gun, you can grab Momma's Spark Pulse Emitter.”
“Yeah... I'll do that, go wait in the hallway, yell and come back if they try to break in.” I heard the filly diligently run off to her duty. “Hired, oh Hired, you should have listened.” There was a shuffling sounds and something dropped to the ground beside my bed. “You're lucky we stumbled on what looks to be a smuggling hideout.” I felt a sharp pain jab into my shoulder.
There was sweet relief at last. It washed over me like a splash of cool water in a desert. I let out a contented sigh as the drug worked its way into my system. It didn't alleviate all my ills though, but it was something. If not enough. My whole body seemed to ache for more, just one more.
“Stay here, but don't dawdle.” I felt clumsy hooves fiddle with my collar pockets. “Once that starts working, we'll need you. Here.” He floated something down and attached it to my pipbuck. “An audio-log, or something. Once that's over, you should be ready. I'm a fair fighter, but I'm no Hired Gun, so we need you. Don't let your new daughter down.” There was a shuffling of hooves and boxes as the pounding in my head subsided. The recording Flare gave me started up.
Hey Baptisia, here's the recording you wanted. A voice spoke from my pipbuck. So you know it's us, or whatever. The stuff you wanted was easier to procure, the receipt is on the counter. The count is twenty vials of Med-X, thirteen counts of Rage, five Hydras, and one container of Buck. Thanks for the easy job, by the way. You have no idea how hard certain gems are to find, not to mention Flux. IMP was by far the worst. There was a chuckling sound.
I opened my eyes to see the bag of drugs lying on the ground in front of me. Any one of those things could have helped me. The Med-X Flare gave me just wasn't enough, not after everything that happened. My body was still so sore, and I felt weak.
I would ask what you need these for but... I get the feeling you won't answer. I've heard rumours of shit going down, and I hope you're safe. If not, I hope you get this message. You know, we've never met one-on-one, but it feels like I've known you all my life. You're a good pony, and this business venture has been profitable. So stay safe.
A vial of Med-X jutted out of the bag, so close. Reaching forward, I wrapped my mouth around it and stabbed myself with it. The sharp pain was mixed with sweet relief. It was good, it was enough. The sounds of gunfire filled my ears, drowning out the recording.
...want starmetal. Sorry I couldn't get it, that shit is rare and kept hidden. If I had more time... but it looks like we're out of time anyway. If it means anything, I thought you did good.
Something else fell out of the bag when I took the Med-X. It looked like a three syringes tapped together with a needle sticking out of the middle one. Rage. It was called Rage. I'd heard about it before. It made you stronger, faster, better at fighting. Just what I needed.
So... goodbye, you strange bitch I never met. May Celestia watch over you. Heh. Never expected to be a religious smuggler, but the way things are going, even crotchety old stallions need something to believe in.
The Rage was in my mouth. Part of me kept asking what I'd do if I got addicted to another drug, but there was another voice drowning it out. One that told me I needed to survive. And this drug would help me. One of those Mk 2's nearly killed us, and without this we couldn't handle two. So if that was the choice, I didn't have one.
The needle pierced my skin, and I felt heat rush through my body. My heart started pumping faster, and my ears burned as the drug took hold. My whole body twitched. I felt. Strong. And angry. I hated that facility. With all my being I wanted to tear it down with my teeth. I wanted to kill the ponies responsible for it, I wanted their blood. I needed blood.
I stood up. The mattress below my hooves was uncomfortable, and had springs sticking out of it. It pissed me off so I stomped hard. My hoof cut through the mattress as the rest of my body lifted off it. With a swing of my leg the mattress flew across the room into a shelf with a crash. Fucking mattress.
There was a shout of surprise from outside. The voice, my filly's. Those things were hurting my daughter. Oh, they needed to die. My hooves carried me out of the room faster than I thought was possible. I was unstoppable. My whole body felt like it was made of flames: deadly, fast, and full of fury. The thought of tearing those machines to bits just made me giddy.
In the tunnel I saw a blue and black blur zip down the tunnel, and my filly was nowhere to be seen. However, I could see the robots. That's all I needed to see. Those robot bastards and their magical energy weapons. My whole body convulsed as my mind pictured what they'd look like exploding. Their guns started spinning, but the sound of my laughter drowned them out. Oh, yes, let’s do this.
They fired, and I ran.
It felt like I was running on wings, and their blasts couldn't touch me as I moved towards them. I didn't go straight for them, instead I was just off to the side of the leftmost, running along the wall of the tunnel so they had to turn to aim for me. They were too slow, and they wasted their ammunition on the wall just behind me. There was nothing they could do, not to me, not by then.
At the last second I pushed off the wall and propelled myself into the air. My path took me above the closest robot’s guns. They tried to aim upwards, but they weren't fast enough. The full weight of my massive body crashed into one. And, like whenever I crashed into anything, I won.
My forelegs wrapped around one of the Protectiron's magical miniguns. With my metal leg hooked I pulled as hard as I could. It struggled with me for a moment before my strength overcame it and the massive weapon tore off at the socket in a shower of sparks and wiring. Balanced on my hind legs, I swung the weapon at the machine. Machine and weapon cracked and broke; the weapon snapped in half, the machine caved in muttering about errors.
Its remaining weapon didn't stop firing though, and the other machine was already starting to spray at me. It gave me an idea. Grabbing the machine in my hooves I turned it around so it was between me and the other machine. In a flurry of magical energy, the two machines blasted at each other until both were melted. Unfortunately for me, when the robot I was standing behind stopped, the other was still going, though with only one gun still working.
“Fuck you!” I kicked my robot into the other. “Just die!”
I charged towards the remaining blip on my EFS. Its blasts licked at me, but only one made a direct hit. I was too fast, still too fast. My hooves fell like thunder on its hide, each strike tearing at it more and more. There were showers of sparks, blasts of green, and me. It was so easy, how could I not laugh. Fuck this facility, I was back.
When they found me I was laughing madly in the midst of the carnage I created. And why not laugh? It was funny. Without the drugs, I was forced to run and hide like a coward as a filly and pegasus fought my battles. With them, I tore robots apart with my bare hooves with nary a scratch. So maybe I was addicted, but who cared? If I could tear apart the robots that had been plaguing us since we entered without so much as breaking a sweat, then the drugs were a good thing. Yeah, I needed them, but when I got them I was unstoppable. That was funny. That was the joke, don't you get it?
Flare carried Serenity back, apparently at the sound of my laughter. When I saw she had taken a bolt to the chest Serenity had to pull me off Flare. He was supposed to protect her. Not let her get shot by weak-ass robots. If he couldn't do his job, then he should just die. Fuck his failure ass. Just... everything was just pissing me off.
“What the fuck, Silver!” Flare said in a shower of spittle when he got his voice back. “What the actual fu-” he stared at me and face hoofed. “No, seriously? What did you put in your system you fucking idio-”
“Fuck off.” I wasn't going to listen to that. Not from him. So I stormed off. He followed, though.
“Was it the Buck? The Rage?” He flew in front of me. “Hired listen to me, this is not a joke. This is a road you don't want to go down, okay? The drugs won't give you what you need. They promise great things, but all they do is take and take and take until you have nothing left. Do you really want to be that pony like me lying in a gutter, begging ponies for your next fix? I've been there, and it hurts.... Are you even listening?” Despite the roaring in my ears telling me to stomp him into putty I was listening. “I know what it's like. Thinking you can't live without them. As if they made you better, but they don't. They make you weak.”
“What do you know? You gave up Dash. At the first opportunity.” I stormed back into the Tram. Serenity followed but was silent. I hoped she didn't understand it.
“Fucking moron, you think that was it? You think I didn't stress over it, get tempted when shit went overboard?” I stopped and stared at him. “Three times I had the chance to use again, but stopped. Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it didn't happen.”
“What? When?” I started pacing a little bit. My whole body felt the need to move. Keep moving.
“The night right after detox for a start. You were still out, and I was alone. It would have been easy to find some... but I didn't. I can't tell you why, but I held off taking.” He looked. Upset, not mad, but disappointed maybe? “The second time was in the tunnels. You went catatonic, and those things took Serenity. I like her too you know, I hated the thought of harm coming to her. So I ran off after her. Well... you know how that turned out. I got sidetracked by ghouls, and desperate. As if Dash was teasing me, I found one on a desk. If you hadn't of shown up just then I might have...”
For some reason his voice calmed the rage in my belly. “The third time?”
“When we got back to Dise after Karkhoof.” I hated that name. With every fibre of my being I despised it. Just hearing it made the rage boil up again, nearly spilling out. “I knew you were going to talk to me... figure out what I did. To you. You were pissed, and I knew it. So I panicked. I begged Starscream for Dash when you weren't looking and the bastard gave me one. I felt like I needed its strength... in the end I let it go. Maybe I should have, but I needed to face you myself. We both fucked up, and I was determined to face it myself. No matter the result. I needed to face my actions more than I needed Dash.
“Silver, you've fucked up. You've fucked up here, you fucked up in Karkhoof, in Timber, and in Bridle Hope, and Celestia knows where else. And yes, you need to face your fuck ups, just like I need to face mine. But not like this, not with those. You can be a great pony, despite your mistakes, but you need to let go of the things holding you back. With that shit in your system you'll only be a failure, and you'll fail again and again until all you know is the gutter.”
I drew my eyes away from Flare; I couldn't stand to look at him. My eyes fell on Serenity, but I couldn't bear to see her either. With a frustrated sigh I sat on a bench and stared at the ground. The rage that filled me was fading.
My mind traced over Flare's words again and again. Maybe he was right, but I wasn't sure. With the drugs, I was able to come from the bottom to save the day, and without them I was just a useless sack of shit. How could I not use them when the difference was that much? On the other hoof, he spoke from experience. I had time to change, it'd be easier for me than it had any right to be.
Then there was facing my past. Looking back at my mistakes and accepting them. If only it was just Karkhoof, if only it was just Timber and Bridle. How could I look back at Wildfire and Foundation and accept that? How was I supposed to get past the totality of my failure? Just thinking about it brought tears to my eyes, if I could bear to do even that. The Med-X helped with that, it dulled the pain, but it was never enough. Not really.
The tram started moving again. Everything was silent. Just me and my thoughts, and I had a lot to think about.
---
We found the factory maybe an hour later, and the Rage had already wore off. I really hoped it wasn't addictive.
The entrance to the factory was a long staircase off the platform the tram stopped at. As we walked silently up the stairs I remembered I left an entire bag of Med-X back in the tunnels. That was... just lovely. And doing a wonder to improve my mood. Really. With my usual heavy sigh I just kept walking.
“You okay, Momma?”
“Yeah...” I sighed. “Just tired.”
“You slept on the tram.”
“Not enough.” The stairs went on for what felt like forever. “Not nearly enough.”
“Oh... “ The little filly frowned. “Sorry. We'll be out soon, an' we can get back'ta Dise and rest. I'm sure Haze will wanna see you. She likes you a lot, ya know.” Yeah, I knew that. After everything that had happened, I wasn't so sure she'd want to see me though. Not with my face looking like something out of a horror novel, and my mind fucked up beyond recognition. As Flare would put it: I had a cargo bay full of baggage, and half of it was explosive. It wouldn't have been so bad if the world wasn’t always trying to set me on fire....
“I blame Curly Fries,” Flare said from beside me.
For a minute I was thinking about arguing that again, but instead I just shrugged. “Dammit, Curly Fries!” I said way too loud. It was cathartic.
“Dammit, Curly Fries!” Serenity agreed before giggling.
“So.” Flare said as we reached the apex of the stairs where double doors awaited us. “We can agree that whatever horror is waiting us inside is Curly Fries’ fault.” We all nodded our approval. He seemed like the perfect stallion to blame. “Oh, and I made sure to get some medicine from that room.” Huh, wait, did he mean... “Ten doses at two a day should be enough to get you back to Dise... unless we get detoured, or, you know, explode.”
“I don't like exploding.” The Med-X wouldn't be so bad though.... I was still... conflicted over what I was going to do, but it was good to know he was trying to help me. At least in his usual Flare-like way.
“Exploding is bad for ya health.” Serenity nodded. She would know, of course, because she used to be with The Watchers. “If you explode, I'd blame Curly Fries.” With a small chuckle, I patted her on the head. With any luck she'd go on a years-long quest for vengeance. Hopefully, it'd keep her out of places like this.
I kicked open the doors. My strength had returned, well, not completely, as the vomiting had taken a lot out of me, as did the whole getting shot a lot thing. It was more than enough to kick open a few doors though... and apparently it was enough to kick said doors off their hinges. It wasn't my intention, but they crashed to the ground none the less.
“Show off,” Flare muttered and walked into the dark factory floor.
According to our map, it was some sort of weapons manufacturing area, for the war, no doubt. I had to step inside to get a good look, as the area was devoid of power. Even with my pipbuck light, it was still so dark that my eye whirred in place and made everything go green and clear again.
It was... huge. The factory floor seemed to stretch into infinity. Conveyer belts on floor level were matched by large, incomprehensible (to me anyway) machines across the ceiling and above the ground. For reasons I'd never understand, numerous catwalks seemed to be strewn above the factory floor. Because that was safe.
Most distressing of all was the number of skeletons. They seemed to line up across the production floor in rows. Some were hanging from the catwalks, or half caught in long defunct machinery. The number was simply boggling. I'm not sure if knowing that they all died asleep made it any easier to bear.
“It's... impressive.”
“You can see shit, Hired?” Flare squinted into the darkness. “I can't see much but vague shapes and outlines. Wait, that eye of yours? Are you a superhero now? Seeing in the dark? Maybe Batmare was right to have you as a sidekick, that's a pretty cool power.” If the Batmare got caught in a situation like this she'd just teleport back to Dise. Sure, seeing in the dark was cool, but it wasn't really as impressive as all that.
“Yeah.”
“Makes sense, with the higher tech forms of cybernetics tha systems are designed to unlock over periods of time so as not'ta overwhelm a new user with all these features one by one. By staggering releases it allows the user better control faster.” Serenity sure was smart.
“How long until I unlock laser beams?”
“You're not allowed to have a laser beam.” Flare said.
“And they don't exist for eyes.” Serenity paused. “Yet.” So there was still hope. Excellent. Of course the last thing the wasteland needed was me with the ability to fry people by glaring at them... because if I killed everyone I gave a dirty look to, the wasteland would be filled with corpses and pretty mares.
We continued on across the graveyard, finding more bones with every step. It was disheartening that Serenity no longer looked upset at the sight of skeletons: after all we had seen it made sense, but that didn't mean I really had to like it. Taken one at a time, the corpses didn't bother me much, but the sheer scale of those who had died here threw me off. I was glad that Serenity didn't have my augmented sight. No filly needed to see that.
It was quiet in this part of the facility, and that did nothing for my nerves. It wasn't like the tunnels that had echoed with every hoofstep. Every sound we made here was instantly eaten by the facility, never to be re-heard. Every creak was a sudden sharp sound that disappeared so fast I wasn't sure if I had imagined it or not. Every word quick and sudden. Then there was nothing. I almost missed the humming lights of the laboratory, because the silence was too much. But it was awkward to break; it didn't even want to be broken. As we travelled further in even Flare's jokes became nonexistent. Sacrificed to the silence.
It gave me time with my thoughts, and if you know me you know that me and my thoughts were at constant war. So instead I watched the production line. This part of the facility seemed to be making assault rifles fit for battle saddles or mouth work. They didn't seem to be that well-designed, but they were mass produced so I couldn't really expect much. What was good to know though was that the further we walked down the line, the more complete the rifles got. At the end, there should be a good stock of 'new' rifles... if nothing else we'd pack up as much as we could and sell them.
Which gave me an idea... this facility wasn’t deep in the mountain, it was just that the entrance was hidden. If I got enough caps, I could set up an operation to restore the weapons here and I'd have enough guns for my own personal army. Or sell the position or... oh.
“I've know how to stop them.” I stopped suddenly as I scanned the factory. Serenity and Flare both looked at me so I continued. “The Steel Rangers. It's simple. Serenity, you have the train map, right?” With a glow of her horn she unrolled the map. “How many exits are there?”
“Er, five, it looks like. Why? We're almost out.”
“Where are they located?”
The little filly scrunched up her muzzle before pressing it to the map. “One's here, another is with the Steel Rangers. One's at the 'Medical Research Bay' another at the 'Limb And Organ Fabrication Plant' so cybernetics ah think. The last is at the 'Training Facility.”
“So? What's the grand plan Hired. The shit in here is dangerous, if you go too far-”
“For us, maybe. We were reckless, and weak. The Steel Rangers are strong. If Simple Heart is growing weaker... then he won't stop them. The robots won't either. Slowly, but surely, they'll strip this place.” They'd take everything of worth and use it against the wasteland. “So we make others get to it first.”
“How? Wait, what?” Flare seemed confused.
“Tell House where the cybernetics entrance is. For example.”
“Oh!” Serenity grinned. “And the Watchers where the medical wing is.” I nodded at her, she got the idea.
“Tell the various factions only one entrance. They all get pre-war tech. It cancels out the Steel Rangers monopoly. Gives these factions equal footing.” Then I'd tell the remaining factions that the Steel Rangers were there getting valuable tech. Some might try and thin them out... “Not the best option. But the only one.”
“Well, who're you going to give the information to? A lot of those folk want your head, just, you know, for your information.” Flare chuckled. “Guess you could tell your brother, you know, after you wipe the floor with him.” I just shook my head. There was no way the Crimson Hoof was getting involved in this plan. Not ever.
So that was the plan. It was half formed at best, but it was the only real option I could think of. It'd give the other factions the same technology as the Steel Rangers to combat whatever they tried to do
“Do You Really Think I'd Let You Leave With Your Lives? Fools!” The voice made a triumphant return. “Where Exactly Do You Think Needed The Most Security? Here! You Shall Die Tonight!” Was it actually night? I wasn't so sure on that matter. We had been in here so long my sense of time was getting all screwy.
A flash of green came from somewhere in the facility. I looked around but they were too far away for my EFS. “Running sounds like a good idea,” Flare said. I gave a curt nod and helped Serenity onto my back before taking off in a bolt.
My eye was able to give shape to the vague things that plagued us. Some of them in the distance were shaped like regular Protectitrons, other Mk 2's. In both cases, waves of green came flying at us from all directions. Thankfully the crowded factory floor caught most of the blasts before they got close. Just had to keep running.
The dark corridor was alight with green. The blasts flew and reflected off the machinery, creating almost beautiful light shows of death to help us run by. In front of us, I could see we were closing in towards the end of this particular assembly line. Rows of never-been-used guns sat there illuminated in jade. If we could grab those we could fight back, we could survive. And maybe make a few caps on the way.
“Here!” I yelled through a few skeletons to a stop. The sounds of their rattling bones was mixed with the blasts of green. “Guns. Grab as many as you can. Place won't be a total waste.”
A blast of green energy singed Flare's mane.
“Is this really the time to scavenge?!”
“All the more guns to kill High Stakes with.” I answered. That seemed to please Flare as he started shoving rifles into his saddle bags until they didn't fit anymore. I did the same. Serenity tried, but her bags were small, and they didn't fit, she did however float one into her magic so she was wielding both rifle and pistol while propping herself with her forelegs on my head. Flare flapped into the air beside me armed to the teeth, and I took the last rifle off the production line and aimed.
Click.
It was then I remembered you don't build guns fully loaded.
We started running again.
Just... come back... don't leave me.
What the fuck?! Why was Wildfire talking to me now; it wasn't the time for that. And Simple Heart said... he said... he might have lied. Shit. More blasts fired past. Serenity returned fire, but her pistol wasn't designed for armour, and the robots were all armour.
“Heeee's back.” Flare said with a bitter laugh. Just then the 'god' of the facility decided to grace us with his voice.
This one heard the intruding ponies’ plans. This one does not approve. This one will not let you escape!
Apparitions flooded my vision in rapid succession, but I kept running. Post Haste ran past, and I could smell the smoke and burning flesh. Foundation looked up at me, her eyes red with tears and I could taste blood in my mouth. Wildfire lay draped across the floor, blood pooling around her head wound, and her final words rang at me, clear as a bell. Even so, I kept running. The visions came and went, and I did my best to ignore them.
I'm not sure my companions were fairing as well. Flare was flying erratically, and Serenity kept aiming her gun at things that weren't there. Of course, how did we know the Protectitrons firing at us where there either? Maybe this whole thing was a mirage, a mistake, a dream. Did we ever wake up at all, were we really going to escape? Maybe this had just been an elaborate illusion to trap us in a dream world. Part of me contested that I knew he didn't have the power to create dreams specifically... except I only know that because he told me...
Fuck. I kept running. Dream or not, I was getting out.
I could only hope I was running towards the exit. It was hard to tell, but I had to hope. It was the only way to go though, so I kept running.
You can't run from this forever...
Like hell I couldn't!
If I’d had Rage, I'd have been able to run faster though, maybe I would have escaped with just another shot. But that didn't matter, because I didn't have it. All I had were my legs, weak from no food, little sleep and withdrawal. They had to do.
A green bolt blasted into my metal leg, causing sparks to fly. I closed my eyes from it for just a second, but that was enough for memories to start dancing vividly in my head. Not the memories I wanted either. I tore my eyes away as I couldn't before and kept running.
“We can make it!” I yelled. “Keep going. Whatever you're seeing.” Foundation laughed gently in my ear. “It's not real. We made it this far. Just a little further. Just...”
I stopped.
My mind blanked. I could hear the bolts of energy wizz past. I could see flashes of green. I could smell burning flesh. None of that mattered. Because I found the exit. I knew what it was. It was the way out. Except for the length of rope dangling in front of it.
And Foundation hanging from the rope.
I couldn't see her like that, but I couldn't look away. I felt my heart shatter again, I felt my soul break at the sight. How could I leave her like that? I had to cut her down. Save her. Dead. I couldn't save the dead. The memories ran through my head, as fresh as day it happened. Nopony should have to remember the way their daughter’s corpse smelled.
Sobs wracked my body. My eyes blurred with tears. Why run? Why escape? What did it matter? I couldn't protect Foundation, I couldn't protect anypony. All I could do was mourn them. Lay down and cry. Beg for forgiveness that would never come. I muttered apologizes, but it wasn't enough. It could never be enough. I didn't deserve to escape. This place would be my grave.
Survive. A pony in my head whispered.
I ignored it, same as when I had ignored it on the cliff overlooking Marefort. It had been a long fall, or so I was told. I never could remember. Somehow I had survived. Luck, or Celestia's favour. I cursed both of them. Why should a mother outlast her daughter?
I could hear Flare and Serenity yelling at me, but their voices didn't register. I was too lost in the memory. The sadness was too overbearing. Nothing else seemed to matter but my tears... and Foundation swaying in the wind.
There's no wind inside.
Huh... against my better judgement I forced myself to look. Foundation was swaying. Inside... because she wasn't there. It was an illusion. I knew that... but what did it matter. She was still dead. My failure. I didn't deserve to live after that. After my daughter.
You have a new daughter who needs you.
Who needed me? What was I? A bundle of failures wrapped around too many muscles and a penchant for violence. I had never done a thing right in my life, and only dragged her to horrible places.
You are not your past. You must face who you were.
How...
Survive.
It wasn't Wildfire's voice I heard. Nor was it some quasi-magical apparition. It was my own voice. The part of me that was still fighting. Still trying to do good. Still trying to live. So I listened to myself and got up. The tears still flowed from my eyes, but it was a start.
I took a step forward. Foundation still hung there. It still tore at my heart. But I had to keep walking. To survive. So I wouldn't repeat my mistakes.
“Momma, are you okay?” Serenity said, her voice thick with panic.
“Yes.” I sounded oddly calm. “I'm sorry. Let’s get out of here.”
I opened the door, and there was the bright light of the sun. We left through the door, and didn't look back. We had done it. We had escaped. We were free.
Level Up!
Skill Note: Survival 50
((A/N: I’m sorry for the delay; there were... complications. But here’s the chapter, brought to you by me, No One, Kkat who created the story, and my editors: theBSDude, Julep, and Menti. Give these ponies your thanks if you see them. )) |
No One | 662 | 22 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-07-31T06:50:04+00:00 | 2012-07-31T06:50:04+00:00 | 14,763 | Paying Debts
“Sorry, it's just that Shining Armor and I have always been so close. He's my B.B.B.F.F.!”
We didn't talk about what we had seen. During those final minutes when Simple Heart threw all his power at us in his attempt to subdue us, we had all seen terrible things, things meant to break our will. Things we really did not want to talk about. We never told each other we weren't going to talk about them, but when we had burst through the door into the crisp morning air, we just knew. It was impossible to get the image of Foundation hanging there out of my mind, just like it had been for so long back in Marefort. I was thankful the exit we found was just a carefully disguised door behind a large rocky outcrop, and not on top of something high...
The morning was still new, and there was a thin mist curling around the ground as we walked towards the highway. Nopony spoke for the time. What could we say? Our minds were still processing the amount of bullshit we had just been through, and we were all nursing wounds. I was by far the worst, my coat more black from burn scorches than it was grey, but Flare wasn't far off; the back of his power armour was actually melted into slag on his back, and he winced at the slightest touch. Even Serenity had her scars. Although she’d only been hit directly once in the battle under the tunnels, given her size, it was not a pretty thing. Between the three of us we needed a Vertibuck full of healing potions to get back to full strength.
We found the highway easily enough, as we had been there before. Turning, I looked back at the mountain close behind us. It stuck so high and so sharp into the sky, it looked like a dagger from the earth trying to pierce the heavens. Clouds swirled around its snow-tipped peak, and it made me dizzy to look at. For a second I thought I saw a bird, but it must have been my delirious mind.
I took a deep breath of the sweet morning air, and turned to my weary companions. “You have to choose.” I pointed north. “Go with me to confront my brother. And High Stakes.” I motioned south. “Try to avoid Steel Rangers. Go back to Dise.” Then I sorta waved east and west. “Go the long way around. Easier to avoid Steel Rangers. Much longer.”
“Dise,” Serenity said at once. “Just wanna go home.”
“I say we go find High Stakes and chop his head off.” Flare said that far too happily. “Your brother too. If they control the town, we could try talking to them, convince them we aren't a threat... or something.”
“High Stakes won't be in Bridle Hope.” I was pretty sure. Even chained and sold, I don't think he'd risk staying in one spot while I was alive. Not if he was as smart as he claimed to be. “Smooth Tongue either.” He said he was moving on, and that was true enough. “He said he'd leave a lieutenant. Might be my brother. If it's not, the pony may be tractable.” They looked at me strangely. “I still have a job to do. Make sure trading is not interrupted. I may kill them all yet. But until then I was paid to do a job. I can't go home until it's done.”
A lot had happened since I got the job back in Dise, but I still had to do it. There was no way I was wrenching the town from the Crimson Hoof's... er, hooves, so that means I had to work with them no matter how much it grated at my mind. I was still Hired Gun, I was still a Hizai, and I was Hired for a job, so I had to do it. Hired Gun does not back out of contracts... she may kill her contract holder after the job is done, but that's a completely different story.
“You just said we had a choice.” Flare incorrectly pointed out.
“I said you had a choice. You don't have to go with me. I'd rather not risk it...”
“Momma, we're comin' with'ya.” And that was that. Normally I would have tried to convince Serenity it would be safer if Flare flew her back to Dise, but she got that stubborn look on her face, and I had given her the option to choose. Even still, there was no way I was letting her into the town proper.
“Okay. Go with me. Wait outside the town. Don't want to risk you. Again.” I looked at Flare who smirked back. “Either of you.”
“Yay, I'm accepted!” His voice was exaggeratedly happy. “Oh, we should make team uniforms.” What? “Every team needs a pithy name and a uniform. We could be the 'Wasteland Crusaders', but we'll need capes. I wonder how much the Finishers charge to make capes.”
“If you go to them,” I said as I started down the highway, eager to leave the mountain on the horizon, “they'll put you in a dress again.”
“You know, Hired, that gives me an idea. If you're going to go negotiate, you should look good.” Wait, what? “I still have your dress in my bag you know.” I turned my head partially around, giving Flare a nice view of my scars. “Remember in the tunnels? You lost your saddle bag and only managed to save your dress. You gave it to me to hold. I've been keeping real good care of it.” Seriously, is this really where he was going.
“No.”
“Think about it! If they recognize you, they'll shoot on sight, but if you saunter up asking for an audience looking all fancy-like; well, it'll be more likely they won't put you in chains.” He paused as he trotted to catch up. “Not impossible, you're still Hired, and getting caught is your modus operandi.” My... huh?
“Momdius, openrendy?” What the heck was that supposed to mean.
Flare just laughed. He had done that on purpose. “It means like, how you do what you do, get it?” I nodded. “Anyway, wear the dress. You'll lose fewer body parts.” Well, that was always a positive. At the rate I was falling apart I'd be a robot by the next full moon.
“Oh! Momma, you really should.” Serenity trotted up beside me. “It'd cover up your wounds, make you more presentable.” It wouldn't do much for the tangled mess of hair that was my mane, but it would look better than my thousand burn scorches. At least the Med-X made them bearable. “Pleeease.”
“I'll. Ugh, think about.” They tried to talk again, so I flicked on my pipbuck radio. It had been a while, and I was missing out on a lot of news. Somehow I knew I'd be involved.
“...to circulate about the ghosts of the Goddesses living under the city. If you ask this newscaster, thats’ a bit too crazy even for a city of robot guards and super heroes.” I smiled at that. It was good to know. “And I have more casualty reports from the violence in the north. Seven more survivors from Timber have found their way to Dise, all telling matching tales of the horrors they saw at the hooves of the Steel Rangers. An official spokespony for the group has stated that what they did was a necessary evil to secure the safety of the wasteland, but did not elaborate. They also said nopony travelling near Timber will be harmed. Officially, the NCA has declined requests to bring the group to justice as Timber was not under control at the time. To quote Major Lucky; 'The NCA cannot be held responsible for every evil in the wasteland, and Timber passed up its chance for NCA protection and justice.' Whether you agree with the NCA decision or not, it is true that they lack the pony power to police the entire wasteland. But that does raise the question if they are able to protect Dise like they claim.”
As I listened, Serenity walked beside me, looking up with pleading eyes. She did like to ride on me, but I was still sore all over and there was no way I was up to being a mount. I glanced over at Flare, and he sighed, picking her up and placing her on his back. Trotting beside me, he gave a rueful smirk and shook his head.
“Reports from Bridle Hope have been more mixed. We originally reported that the town was being attacked by raiders from the north, but new information suggests that there was an internal dispute inside the town, and one side hired mercenaries from the north. Reports are hard to verify, but I can report that the new town leadership has promised the town will continue as it had before with a few cosmetic changes. We will try to dig a bit deeper. For now, the town seems safe, but keep your chamber loaded just in case.”
“Finally, after the zebras of Karkhoof's sudden and devastating attack on the retreating Celestia's Promise that killed nearly all the ponies involved, the NCA promised to march an army to Karkhoof to make them pay for their crimes. When they arrived however our reports state that the town was empty. Apparently, the zebras fled in the night, and nopony seems to know where they have gone.”
As I focused in on the rather glum news, I felt something heavy land on my head. Something giggling. Strands of yellow and red passed into my vision before I got a view of an upside down Serenity. “Can I ride up here? It’s real comfy. Kinda smells though.” With a smirk, I nodded far too much, forcing her to grab onto my ear to stay on. With a giggle, she righted herself and got comfy.
“In other news, the Chairpony of the New Caledonian Alliance is coming to the NCA base outside Dise in the next few days to sign a peace treaty with the Minotaurs. This unprecedented action is fraught with perils, but he insists it is for the good of the Alliance, and of all nations within.”
“Woo! We got time for one more story, so let’s end on a happy note. I reported earlier that the Hero of Wending led a group of civilians out of Bridle Hope to escape the crossfire, and that those ponies credit her and her daughter for saving their lives, well guess who came to visit me today in office. None other than the Hero herself! Though she prefers to be called Pinprick, and we didn't have time for a proper interview. She was... not what I expected, and had a mouth that'd shame Nightmare Moon, but she's a good mare, and she's doing the hard work, so if you see her give her a pat on the back. And maybe some ammo.”
“Two towns wiped off the map, another in disharmony, one peace conference, and a hero... it seems the wasteland is moody. Well that's enough of my blathering, lets get to the part you actually care about.” A song I've heard a thousand times in the past few weeks played over my radio. The news was grim, and getting grimmer, with a little bit of hope sprinkled on top.
It was nothing I could deal with now though. I had a job that needed to be done, no matter how much it pissed me off. So I kept walking northward. Honestly, after everything we had been through, I was looking forward to the long boring walk. It was better than slowly being driven insane while robots shoot green death at you. So there was that. At least I had Serenity, even if she was determined to be a hat.
---
We made it to the outskirts of Bridle Hope by dusk. At least, I was fairly sure it was Bridle Hope, but it was hard to be certain with a wall around the town. It seemed all the unused houses in the outskirts of the the village had been torn down and used to make the barricade around the town. I know Meadow had told me he planned to build a wall around the town, but I hadn't expected him to do it so quickly. It was hard to not be a little bit impressed.
Serenity had long since fallen asleep on the walk, and was snoring quietly on my head as we stopped and hid behind a large rock. Flare helped me place Serenity on the ground, and took out her brown cloak to use as a blanket. “She is cuter when she's asleep.” Flare smirked. When he saw my look he quickly added, “Because she's quieter, I mean. When she's awake it's all 'an I was fixin' her cybernetics when tha inhibitor coil snapped an I had'a-'”
“Right.” Flare did an uncanny impersonation of Serenity, and it was more than a little creepy. “Point made. Just get the dress.” The pegasus looked scarily giddy at that prospect.
“Oh, yes!” He tore his saddle bag off and threw it to the ground with a heavy thunk. Turning his back to me, he dug through it (how much could it even hold?) and chuckled so much to himself I wondered if he just liked embarrassing me, or actually liked the way it looked. It did give me a good look at his back, and it still looked bad. Slagged metal melting on your back had to hurt, and he was being shockingly blase about it. Of course, as he said, he’d had worse before, but still, it made me feel like a wimp for complaining.
“Find it?”
“Found it!” He laughed and turned, holding the slightly wrinkled white and red dress. “It's a shame Serenity will miss it, but there'll be time later.” I hoped not. While Flare thought it'd put me in a good position for bargaining (not looking like I'm about to smash heads is always a plus) I was half wishing I'd get into a firefight and ruin the thing. “Alright. Now... how do you put it on again?”
“Uh.” I stared at him. “You're the expert.”
“Just because I like stallions doesn't mean I like dressing up as a mare. I take offence to that.” Wait, I didn't mean that! I just... “Just fucking with you Hired -- the look on your face. I should have told you sooner, because it’s funnier this way.” I glared. “Though, I really don't know how to put it on.” We both stared at the dress...
An hour later I was finally dressed. It was a long awkward thing that we both agreed to never speak of again. Suffice it to say, dresses are annoying and I hate them.
“So... I just walk over to the gate and ask to see the mayor?”
“Sure! Why not?”
“And if they recognize me.” The dress pinched at my chest, and rubbed against the worst of my burns. “I die?”
“Why? You're no threat. They're trying to make themselves look like not-raiders, right? Well, killing random passersby wouldn't be very fitting. Besides, they might be expecting you to try and sneak or fight in, so walking through the front door will surprise them. It’s genius.” Flare seemed proud of himself.
“Or they shoot me in the face.” Just saying that made the scars itch.
“You'd just get back up even more pissed.” I stared at him for a second before giving a conciliatory nod. How could I argue with that. So far two ponies had shot me in the face, and besides missing a few body parts and my good looks, I was doing well for myself. Just had to keep going, and I'd show the two that shot me how you properly kill somepony.
“Watch Serenity. If I take more than a few hours, leave. If-”
“First sign of trouble, blahblahblah, got it. Just go.” He smirked. “It'll be fine. The wasteland is due to cut us a break, don't you think?”
“Now that you said that, I'm going to have to wrestle a hellhound or something.” That was enough to get an amused smirk out of Flare. “Seriously. Be careful. I'll be as quick as I can.” Flare nodded, and I turned to walk away, imagining the thousand ways this could go wrong.
I stepped out onto the roadway and stared down at the town walls. Behind them, a wall of light shone up, and I could see the casino resting on its high hill. It was the same town, but different. From the outside, it felt more secluded, hidden. Licking my lips, I started down the road, ignoring the burning in my wounds. Right. Just go and talk to Crimson Hoof management, no way that is going to be tough.
I took a step forward, and warnings flashed in my head. This was stupid. Suicidal. Going to get me shot again. Still, I kept walking. How bad could it be? I never really tried talking on friendly terms, and running and gunning wasn't going to work this time, and not just because I lacked guns. Maybe I could do talking. How hard could it be. So long as it wasn't Smooth Tongue...
The gate loomed, and I could see two ponies standing guard outside it. Behind each of them was a crudely painted flag of a bloodred hoof print. Subtle. Still, I kept going forward, even as they pointed their guns at me. Right. Be cool. I've done this before.
“State your business.” The blood red mare to my left said. Wait, mare? That seemed wrong, but I couldn't put my hoof on why.
“The mayor. I need to speak to her.” I did my best to brush my mane in front of my scarred face. “I am a representative of Mr. House.” The two looked at each other, confused. “A gang leader, and partial ruler of Dise. Do not keep a Hizai waiting.”
“Uh.” the mare turned to her stallion partner and nodded at him. At that he swiftly went into the city, probably to ask what a 'Mr. House' or 'a Hizai' was. “What’s your name?” The blood red mare squinted at me. “Do I know you?”
“Hired Gun. And I doubt it.” I smirked at her, trying my best to look confident in my dress. “I've come a long way to be here.” Not a lie. “You shouldn't hold me up.”
“It's my job. Nopony without business in Bridle Hope will be let inside by orders of Mayor Summer Silk.” Ah, so it was Meadow in charge. I tried not to let my apprehension show on my face. It was a good thing the night was dark. “Are you sure I don't know you?”
“Ever been to Dise?” The mare shook her head. “Then no.”
“Who did you say you worked for again?” The mare was very careful to keep her mouth close to her battle saddle bit.
“Mr. House. Runs 'The Black Salamander Casino'. Has a cybernetic empire. His enforcers are called The Hizai. Cybernetic warriors.” I motioned to my leg, but that seemed to make her more suspicious. “Here to organize a trade deal. Were you taught nothing?”
The mare's suspicious look turned into a rather heavy glare. She didn't say anything else so I matched her glare and brushed my mane out of the sway of my scars so I'd look more menacing. The stallion took his time so we just stood there staring at each other as the wind whipped at my mane and dress.
Eventually she asked, “Why is your eye glowing?”
“Last one got shot. Got a better one.” I missed my eyepatch. I'm not even sure where I had lost it, but I missed it. Part of me had hoped I'd find another lying around. “It has many functions. It also shoots laser beams.”
The red mare laughed. “Now I know you're lying.” I shook my head. “Show me.”
“No.” I quickly added. “It'd kill you.”
“Don't aim at me. Are you an idiot?” Well, ask a stupid question.
“Well.” I looked at a rock not to far away and glared at it. “Stand back.” The mare did so, looking a bit conflicted. On the one hoof it was clear she didn't want to believe me, but on the other I could see how curious she was. So I glared hard at the rock. My eyes started to whirr to life and I could feel its glowing intensified. The sound of my eye intensified until I was sure it was going to overheat and...
Nothing happened.
My eye could still not shoot lasers. The look on her face was really amusing though, so I kept it up for a few seconds longer. Just in time for the stallion to return.
“Jas,” He panted, running through the gate. “Summer wants her brought to him at once, and requests you escort.”
“Huh,” The pony named 'Jas' said. “But...” she turned to me and glared.
“Well.” I looked away from the rock and attempted to saunter past her without tripping. “Another time then. It is such a cool trick, too.” His glare only intensified as I trotted through the gate and she was forced to follow. I was beginning to understand why Flare always teased me, it was pretty funny.
The town looked very similar, if much smaller now that it had a wall to constrict it. I noticed some of the more decrepit buildings (including the old school with the bell tower) had been torn down, making the town feel cleaner. Also, wooden posts with lamps now lined the streets making it far easier to see. It was annoying. The changes actually improved the town, at least on a superficial level. But it had only been, what, five days at most since I was shot? There was no way he should have been able to work so fast.
“Protection is paramount,” Jas said bitterly when she noticed me staring. “Summer had us use all our resources to construct the wall. It’s still weak, but with time... the lanterns were so we could work through the night and be able to see. The remaining civilian population liked it, so we've decided to keep it.”
“I see.” I noticed she was leading me towards the casino, that was not much of a surprise. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why protect the town?”
“It is under Crimson Hoof control, and when we take control of the town, we keep it under our control. To do that, we break a town’s resistance, and then offer them a better alternative to rebelling. In time they accept us.” She smirked as we started up the hill.
“Where are you from?”
“Stallionguard.” She laughed. “A bloody stupid name for a small town. Called after some bigshot city in the north, we took it because it fit. I doubt you'll ever go deep enough into Crimson Hoof territory to find it.” Stallionguard. For some reason I imagined that's what Marefort would have been called if the mare's were dragged off, and the stallions stayed... I was going to have to ask about that, because it piqued my curiosity.
“Right.” I almost asked about Marefort, but I thought better of it. This mare clearly had no idea who I was, and I didn't want to say anything that could tip her off. “So you like them?”
“Who, the Crimson Hoof?” I nodded. “Well, fuck.” We reached the door to the casino. “I guess. They're my family, and my job. It's not a matter of like or love or shit, they're my family.” She shrugged. “Now shut up, I don't know what Summer wants with you, but it can't be good.” She eyed my dress. “Nice, a bit small.” She was telling me! Fuck, it stung. Chafing against my burns.
The casino was almost exactly the same, save for a few blood stains that had not been properly cleaned up, and it was completely empty. The blood red mare (who I just realized had a grey mane peaking out from under her helmet) led me around a few Rainboom Riches machines to a small, dingy back hallway that led to a room labeled, “GM's Office.”
The room was small, with a large window overlooking the town dominating one wall and a chart on the other. I didn't pay attention to it, as my brother was sitting across the room from me at a desk. Upon entering, he pushed the paper he was looking at away and stood up. “Sister.” I opened my mouth, but he kept talking. “I've been going over casualty reports. How many did you kill in the battle?” Accident.
I was a bit startled; he didn't even look at me. “I... three. Or, four. Something lik-”
“Primrose.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jas tense up at the name. “Was found dead outside the casino with her stealth buck still activated.” Oh, yeah, I remembered that pony. “Head caved in. Such a shame. What did she do to you?”
“I-what? She attacked me. In a battle. I was fully justified in everything I-” Something slammed into my chest. Grunting I stepped back, and turned. My EFS flashed red, and my eye placed a brown box (meaning she was a low-level threat) around her. When she turned and aimed her battle saddle at me, though, it quickly changed to red. “Shit.” She was too short, I couldn't duck.
So I did what I always did. Charge.
My head hit her neck hard, making her gasp for air. A second later I wrapped my foreleg around her neck, and slammed her to the ground. The mare struggled with me, but even injured she didn't stand a chance of overpowering me. I looked up wild-eyed to my brother as I tried to figure out why he did that.
“Jasmine.” He leaned over the desk. “Silver will let you up, and you will go peacefully.” The mare glared but nodded.
Though I didn't really want to let her go, I did. When I did she immediately wrenched away, spat at my hooves and walked out the door. When it slammed shut I turned my head to my brother. “You killed her wife.” I blinked. “Primrose, the invisible mare you assaulted. Or did you think the ponies you killed had no lives? You don't even know how many you've killed.”
“She would have killed me.” I stomped my hoof.
“Yes. So you killed her first.” He smiled. “We're both killers, but you try to lie to yourself about what you are.” What, what the hell was he talking about? “And I-”
“Oh shut up.” I straightened out my dress. “One of these days I'm going to kill you. Not today though. I'm not that stupid. I'm here on behalf of Mr. House. I had hoped it wouldn't be you but...” he shrugged. “I'm not here to argue morality. Accuse you of being a raider. Or shoot you. I'm here about trade.” My EFS showed three green ticks, but only one pony. My shoulder burned, so I had to assume stealthbucks.
“Oh...” a blush came to his cheeks. “I thought you'd be... uh. So...” he chuckled awkwardly. “So... about trade...”
“You make a shitty Smooth Tongue.” It was clear what he was trying to do. He thought I was going to come in here raging about this or that, and he was going to throw that death in my face. While I felt bad about the fight, so his plan worked, his attempted manipulation wasn’t really conducive to the conversation. “He would have waited. Until he knew why I was here.”
“Thanks for the advice.” He grimaced. “So... Silver.”
“Meadow.”
The silence was deafening.
Why couldn't I have been anypony else? It was bad enough swallowing my pride and finishing this job for House, but with my brother here, it made it all the worse. Old wounds resurfaced and made my blood boil and what was left of my ears burn. After everything he had done, how could I just dumbly accept this. I should have killed him. Nothing less than what he deserved... so why did I hold back?
“I can't believe it's you,” Meadow said. “When you were a child you were so... happy. Full of energy. Large, yes, and a bit slow, but this is...” he shook his head and sighed. “Why did you attack stable 42?”
“For you!” I said at once, almost believing it. “I saw you. Attacking the caravan, I was going to-”
“Bullshit, Silver.” He glared at me. “That's bullshit. You had over ten years to care about me, and where were you then? Do you think I don't know what happened? You fall from a cliff, tell everypony you lost your memory, and then come and try to save me?” I winced. That was not one of my better lies. But after everything that had happened, I just wanted to... forget. Pretend like it didn't. Go into my little world and forget my failure, because remembering hurt too much. “Were you trying to get killed?”
“No!”
“Because if you were.” he continued as if he didn't hear me, “I can get you help. Dise has some good therapists I hear, it'd cost-” I slammed my hoof down and he shut up.
“I went to save you. I thought. Fuck, you're working for raiders.”
“Didn't you just say you came here to not have this argument?”
“Well, we're having it now!” He just smirked when I said that. “I mean, that's why I went to save you. Because of... them. And....” and maybe I was looking to redeem myself. Make up the loss of one family and get another one back. Or maybe he was right and I was trying to die a hero. “Yeah, I fucked up.”
“How many did you kill?” One, Wildfire. The others didn't matter. When he saw I wasn't answering, he kept talking. “Seven. I informed each of their families. And you can't even tell me why!”
“They were raiders!”
“So what does that make you?”
I... that... I was a.
Fuck.
Tears stung my eyes. I just wanted to be a hero. Like The Lightbringer. But instead of making mistakes and doing better to the point of clearing the skies, I just made mistakes, got ponies killed, and then did it again and again. I lost my brother and mother, so I made up for it with Wildfire and Foundation... then they died, and I found Serenity and Flare. How long until I fucked up and...
I felt something soft on my face. My brother... was nuzzling me.
That was so not happening.
I wrapped my leg around his neck and threw him to the ground. After everything, I refused to take comfort from him. To my surprise he actually rolled back to his hooves and lunged at me. Did he really think he could out wrestle me? I know I promised not to kill him, but damn, he was just making this way too easy.
Except. When all was said and done, he had me pinned on my back with a cocky grin on his face. Even after all these years, instincts kicked in, and I let him win. Just like when we were foals.
For some reason this made me astoundingly uncomfortable, and I wrenched away and rolled to back onto all fours. “It really is you.” He looked bewildered. “I had thought maybe... I don't know. Thought maybe you weren't really Silver, it had been so long after all... that maybe...” he paused. “I'm not sure if that makes it better. That you'd do all of this.” He laughed bitterly.
“You mean like.” I did my best to hide the emotion in my voice. This was my brother, still. I thought he’d changed, but maybe it was just me. “Attacking a town. And stealing control.”
“If it wasn't us, it would have been something worse. We let anypony who wished to surrender stay unmolested, and many did. We are giving them safety, security, and the backing of an up-and-coming empire. If the Steel Rangers came through would they be offered such courtesy?” The charred remains of Timber flashed through my mind. “Or raiders? Or when the slavers got bored of using this town as a hub and decided they'd get more money just taking them all? Or if the minotaurs crossed the east western and thought this would be a great place to send the NCA a message?”
“What if the NCA came. Protected the town. They'd do a better job than yo-” He cut me off.
“They're more professional and have more ponies, but they have enemies. So far the only enemy we have is you. If the NCA took the town, it's the closest to their most dangerous enemy, and furthest away from their power base. They would retreat.” Oh, that was a good point. “The town would be defenceless. The town can't survive these troubled times on their own, it needed direction. What would you have us do?”
“Give them a choice.”
He laughed. “Yeah... we could have done that. But ponies are stupid. They need guidance,”
“Not like this.”
“Well we're at an impasse then, aren't we.” He slowly trotted back to his desk. “There. We had our little sibling spat. We're never going to agree with each other. If there was any way I could reach you, I'd do it, but you've always been stubborn.” He sighed. “Silver... you're my sister, it kills me to see you make this mistake. The Crimson Hoof is not a raider gang. We're ruthless, but for a purpose.”
“And Smooth To-” he slammed a hoof on the desk to cut me off.
“He's not your enemy! When you attacked the stable and killed ponies he offered you a job, a job. When you came back again he tried to convince you to stay, and when you were dying from your wounds he ordered you fixed up. He told me if I saw you again to give you anaother chance. Hell, how do you think you got that pipbuck?” Huh... Wildfire bought it for me. From a trader. You know, I never did wonder where a trader got a functioning pipbuck. “Smooth Tongue gave them to ponies who weren't selected to join under the regular procedures, but he felt were worth it.”
“Wildfire gave it to me...”
“She knew full well what it meant. Smooth wanted you to join him, and you keep spurning him for no reason.”
“He killed our mom!” How could he keep forgetting that?
“Silver, she was...” he sighed. “We've been over this. Are we never going to have a civil conversation?” I glared. “That's a pretty dress. A bit tight, but it suits you.” I... my glare softened a little.
“Thanks.” I paused. “I guess. Whatever. Lets just get this over with. Mr. House requires something of you. He needs-”
“The town to be free of taxes on traders, I know. High Stakes and I have already worked out a deal that should be satisfactory.” He did, what, why?
“Wait, what?”
“He insisted on finishing his job before joining us. He made a good argument, and we agreed. Which reminds me.” He pulled something out of a drawer with his mouth, set it on the desk, and nosed it towards me. Slowly, I edged forward and took the object.
“An audio recording.” I took the recorder in my mouth and slipped it into one of my collar pockets. “Why?”
“High Stakes. He wanted me to give it to that pegasus of yours if you came back.” He laughed. “Buck was getting all emotional about it, too. You should have seen it.”
“The only way I'll see him is dead.” My brother winced at that. “Where is he?”
“You know I can't tell you that.” He shook his head. “He did try to kill you after all, and I know how badly you take that. Shoot you once an-”
“You shot me with poison from space!”
“One time!”
We matched glares. Mine won because he looked away first.
“I just... can't do this with you Silver. You want me dead; I want you gone. We can't go five seconds without yelling, so I think you should just... go. It was a mistake to think you changed.”
“Meadow...”
“Oh, get off it. We hate each other. I'll have a guard escort you to an empty house, your friends, too.” He looked past me out the window. “Yes, I know about them. You were reported hours before you got here... the weapons we took off you will be returned.” For some reason, getting Subtlety back felt hollow.
My emotions were a twisted wreck. On the one hoof, this stallion had betrayed me, but on the other he was still my brother. Even more, he actually wanted to help me in his own little messed up way. Part of me hated him, hated the sight of him. And the other part wanted to rush over to hug him and apologize for whatever it was I did. Tears welled in my eyes again and I tried to force them away by remembering the time he shot me. That just made more tears come. It just hurt, and I didn't know why. He wasn't the same colt he was... but.
“Fine.” The two stallions who were stealthed beside Meadow decloaked.
“Escort Silver away. Make sure I never see her again.” His voice was cold and passionless. I followed the two ponies to the door, and heard Meadow speak one last time. “Silver... if you don't leave tomorrow. I'll kill you myself. I'm sorry... goodbye. Get better.”
“Seeya, Meadow.” I was taken away from my brother, and I doubted I would ever see him again. Instead of sad, angry, or anything, I just felt... dull.
---
After getting my weapons (Subtlety!), the guards escorted me out of the casino and into the night. Right outside the door, I saw Jasmine glaring at me as I passed. No doubt she was going to try and kill me, and then I'd be forced to kill her back. That thought did not fill me with joy. It was easy to kill ponies when you don't know them, but killing a pony you’d widowed was many times more difficult, even if in self defence. Not that I usually fought in self defence...
The mare didn't touch me, on account of my guards, but I could see she wanted to. As I was escorted down the hill, I did my best to think about something else, anything else. It was surprisingly difficult.
I was led to a one-story house that was built so close to the wall it looked like it was more support than home. It looked mostly intact though, if you didn't count the windows which had been blown out centuries ago. One of the guards shoved me roughly inside with the command. “Don't start trouble. We've been ordered to kill if you do. Your friends will be brought to you shortly. In the morning, we’ll bring you to the edge of town. You are not allowed back. Ever.” Yeah, I got all that before. Idiots.
The door clicked behind me. Inside, the house was mostly empty, save for a table in the kitchen, a single bed in the bedroom across the hall, and a chair in the living room. A few candles had been set up and pre-lit. That was awfully nice of them, because I had just been going to use my pipbuck light. Lacking anything else to do, I sat down at the kitchen table and hefted Subtlety onto the table.
The orange light reflected off the smooth black surface, gleaming on all the scratches and scuffs. My brother had been doing a shit job keeping it for me, and it desperately needed to be cleaned and maintained. Well, I had the time, so I took out a rag and some cleaning supplies and got to work. Unicorns liked to brag about how their magic made things easier to manipulate, but earth ponies and pegasi had practice, and for me it was simple to start taking Subtlety apart. My mind faded from my task as my hooves did their work. I'd taken apart so many guns in so many ways (In Marefort, when we found weapons we had to make sure they worked before we could sell them) it was like second nature.
My mind went back to the facility. So much happened in so short a time in there that it stayed with me even though I'd been out for nearly a full day at that point. There was just so much in there, and I never found the answers to my questions. Like what actually happened to Baptisia. Whether or not anything Simple Heart told me about his powers was true. How they managed to attach a megaspell to a pony. What the hell was up with the voice over the radio. Why all robots suck. Unless I ventured further into the deep of that facility I would never really know.
And that was not going to happen. While all those questions (the robot one in particular) were important, I wasn't about to risk going back there just to figure them out. The most nagging question was the voice (not the robots, that's just the most annoying). I was confident that the voice and the megaspell-pony were not the same, but beyond that.... Flare gave a few good options of who it could be, but that really raised more questions than answers.
With a frustrated growl, I set aside the detached barrel after cleaning it. Subtlety really was a piece of work. For what it was, it was surprisingly simple in design compared to some over-engineered high-powered rifles I'd seen. It had fewer parts to be worn down or get gunked up, making it the most reliable anti-material rifle I'd ever handled. Made it fairly simple to clean too, but I took my time. It helped me relax.
Well, it usually helped me relax. In the dim candlelight that day, it just seemed to make me more nervous. Taking it apart reminded me of Dise. Or at least the structure of how it was run. The vital internal parts were like the gangs; if you wanted the city to function you needed them all. The scope was like the NCA or the Watchers. It wasn't necessary to fire the weapon, but it made it many times more useful. Just like Subtlety, sometimes the pieces inside needed maintenance, like killing Roy needed to happen to put the Mustangs back on track. And sometimes pieces needed to be replaced completely, like way back when the Baises took over another gang for control. Eventually though, if the weapon breaks more and more, you were going to just need to get a new gun.
I set the last cleaned piece off to the side. Some of the components were getting used, but for now they'd still work well enough. Once I got back to Dise though they'd need to be replaced or Subtlety would break on me at the worst possible moment.
“Alright.” I grabbed the receiver of the gun. “Time to put it back together,”
“You know Silver, you shouldn't talk to yourself,” Flare said from the entrance chamber. “Somepony might mistake you for unbalanced.” I couldn't be bothered to crack a smile at the joke.
“Flare!” I heard Serenity say. “That's not even funny.”
“In the kitchen.” I finished snapping Subtlety together and set it on the table. My brother had given me my ammo back too and I looked at my two options. When I had come down to Bridle Hope what seemed like forever ago I had planned to use my fire ammo to take out raiders, and I hadn't used that since Post Haste. Once again though the thought of using the bullets left a bitter taste in my mouth. Sliding that magazine away, I loaded Subtlety with a magazine of regular bullets.
“You won't believe what we found while waiting for you.” Flare trotted into the kitchen. I turned around to see Serenity riding on his head, and something riding on hers.
“It's Scootaborg!” That it was, though she looked much dirtier than last I saw the toy. “I must'a lost her when she attacked that guard, when we got nabbed behind that rock back when we first came here, 'member?” That I did. “So when I woke up outside, guess who I saw staring at me!” She lifted the toy dramatically in her magic. “It was awesome! She needs replacement parts though, hers are all dirty.” She frowned, but I could tell she enjoyed the prospect. There were few things Serenity liked more than fixing Scootaborg.
“Oh.” Flare trotted over to the table. “The stupidly named gun has been returned, too.” He was one to talk. “Please tell me-” I cut him off by pointing to the corner where I’d dumped the rest of the weapons we got back. “Bunker Buster!” He flew over to the corner and excitedly cradled the weapon in his forelegs. “I missed you so much.” He started to pet it. Talk about over the top.
“Are you just about done?”
“Wait...” He petted it twice more. “Waaait.” and a third time. “Okay done now.”
Serenity jumped onto the table to get a better view for which to smirk at Flare from. He was being especially silly. “So, Momma.” I turned to her and gave her my most convincing smile. What I wouldn't do for a healing potion. “Are we captured again?”
“Actually no.” Both Flare and Serenity stared at me in stunned silence. I did not find it that amusing. “We could go now. But he gave us a place to rest tonight. We have to leave tomorrow, though,” and somehow make it around Steel Ranger territory. There was no way they were going to be pleased with my escape. “If we don't, then he'll kill us.”
“That's a marginal improvement!” He laughed. “So instead of being forced to stay, we're being forced to leave. Just peachy.”
“Better than robots.” Serenity frowned. “Robots are like... super-cybernetics, so they shouldn't suck as much as they did.” She rubbed her burn wound. “Hate them. So much. An' better than creepy voices and singing an...” her voice trailed off. “When're we getting back to Dise?”
“Soon,” I said at once. “I hope.”
“Can we stay there for'a while, 'cause I like it there 'an...”
“Yeah.” I pulled Serenity into a quick hug. “We can stay there for a bit. It'll be safer than... whatever it is we've been doing.” Hopefully House would put me on jobs inside the city, or nearby. If I went too far, Serenity would demand to come, and I didn't want her to. If nothing else, maybe I'd get a break for detox... assuming I did that. I was still torn on the issue.
“An' we can see Haze again right?” With a blush I hoped was unnoticeable in the candlelight, I nodded. I would very much like to see her again. For many reasons. Which, for some reason, reminded me of the audio-log my brother had given me for Flare.
“Yeah, we can see Haze.”
“Ya gunna kiss her?” Warmth rose to my cheeks.
“Uh...”
“That means yes.” I mumbled something incoherent and blushed more. There was no way that was going to be hidden by the dim light. Judging by the combined laughter, I guess they noticed. Or my reaction was hint enough.
“Uh... so. Flare.” I cleared my throat. “I have something for you.” That cut his laughter off and garnered me an inquisitive look. “Wait...” I nosed through my pack until I found the disc and slid it over to Flare. “Here. Meadow claims it is from High Stakes.”
“So the ass has something to say,” Flare said. His voice sounded cocky, and he smirked, but I could see nervousness in the way he stared at the disk without looking away. “Mind if I use your pipbuck, Hired?”
“Sure.” I hefted up my pipbuck to him. Very quickly he attached the device and stared at it saying nothing. “You don't have to...” I did my best to be comforting, but it was new territory for me.
“Hah, it's. Nothing.” He pressed play and my pipbuck clicked. “Nothing at all.” High Stake's voice wafted over my pipbuck and through the room. It pissed me off.
“Is this thing on? Yes. Yes. If you are listening to this I hope you are Flare, and nopony else. If anypony else is listening to this, it does not concern you and I advise you to turn it off.” Flare looked at me and shrugged. Neither me nor Serenity went anywhere.
“When you did not come back, I guessed what had happened. You went to save the idiot, did you not? For all you insult her, I cannot understand why you have been so loyal to her, but... I should still have guessed that would be your choice in the end. I had wanted to believe... I wished you would see your mistake, and come with me. I could have offered you a reprieve from your life, a way out. You could have left the Enclave; they never respected you. They have treated you like shit since before Bitter Steel, you have said as much yourself. You have given them your everything and they threw it in your face! You deserve so much better than that. You could have gotten away from Hired too, for all you like her you cannot deny the danger she presents. Every day another stupid reckless action, another haunted tunnel, or hopeless battle. I could have...
“We could have gone with Smooth Tongue. Nopony would bother us. The jobs would be easy, the pay good. We would have been together without having to hide from your superiors, we could have had everything you said you wanted. A free life, a safe one. Instead you went after her... Why? Why would you run after that... she doesn't care about you, not like I do... I thought you'd realize, understand and...” His voice choked and it sounded like he was breathing heavily.
“Fuck. I mean... okay. I just do not understand, I thought you cared, that you -- l... it does not matter. I was wrong. Just another fling in the wasteland... right? I do not know. Maybe if I had killed her properly you'd be with me and I wouldn't have to... to...
“Flare. If you are listening to this... wherever you are. Just know I did what I did because I thought it was the best for you, for us. I thought we could be happy, a foolish thought in this world but when I saw you smile I believed it was possible. And what is one life compared to that? I am... sorry I failed to understand you. I am sorry you failed to understand me, and that we didn't get enough time together.
“I feel like an idiot. We barely knew each other, a little over a week, maybe more, but in the Wasteland you take what you can find, and I found you. Then lost you...
“Now I have lost my point. I am sorry, Flare. If you are listening, please know I am so sorry I hurt you. I never thought... I understand if you never want to see me again, but if you do... the deal still stands. If you want me again, then I will be waiting. Until then, I guess this is...” the voice choked again and the sound became something muffled and unintelligible before it turned off.
We stared at the tape for a long time and nopony spoke.
Eventually Flare, tears welling in his eyes, stood up. He quietly turned around and left the kitchen, and a few seconds later I heard the bedroom door shut, and the lock click. I pretended I didn't hear anything else after.
---
“Is Flare gunna be okay?” We had moved to the couch in the living room after putting out the candles. Since Flare had claimed the bedroom for his pity party, we were resigned to sleeping on the couch. It was problematic, given the couch could barely hold me. So Serenity was forced to sleep on my back.
“Yes... I think.” She squirmed on my back. “He just needs time to think it through...”
“Is he gunna...?”
“I just said he'd be okay.”
She prodded me in the back of the head, so I half-turned to look at her. “I mean, go with High Stakes.”
Huh, oh. I guess he was given the offer again. If he wanted to, I'd let Flare go. Not that it'd be my choice, but I didn't think it'd be good for Flare. High Stakes was a dick, and Flare could do better than him. On the other hoof I was biased on account of the fact that he shot me for caps. Of course, I'd shot a lot of ponies for caps too, but it was different when you're on the receiving end of the bullet. I suppose if I was a smarter pony I would learn something from that.
“Oh... I don't know,” I said eventually. “You should get some rest.”
“You should, too.” Yeah, I should, but that was not a likely outcome. To say I was troubled would be an understatement. Between the final vision Simple Heart forced on me, having to deal with my brother, Flare's mental state, and all my usual problems and issues, my brain was swimming to much for sleep to seem plausible.
“I know.”
“What’s wrong, Momma?”
“I'm tired.”
“Then sleep!”
I laughed. “Not... that sort of tired, well kind of... it doesn't matter, I'll try to sleep.” And the next day we would travel south to Dise and try to avoid being caught by the Steel Rangers. Somehow. Hopefully I could just kill any that got too close with Subtlety, but the chances of it being that easy were... yeah. I rested my head on the couch and sighed.
“Goodnight, Momma.”
“Goodnight.”
I didn't sleep there. For a long while, I just rested there and listened to Serenity snore on my back. How long had it been since I last slept? It must have been at the tram. It felt like forever ago, but I couldn't find it in me to sleep. I was as tired as I had ever been but I just couldn't...
The house was dark, save for the light from my pipbuck. Slowly, I brought over the device and looked down at it. Carefully I flipped on the ear bud before turning to the radio function. Mr. New Haygas wouldn't be broadcasting live, so it'd be either all music or repeats of what I already heard. I tapped it a few times when I noticed I had a second station saved... I didn't remember doing that. So I flipped it to that, and listened.
“...Wishing star, alpha protocol to hybrid rockstar, welcome next stop.” Wait, what? I stared at the screen as it spoke more insanity into my ear before I remembered something. Way back when I first got my new eye (I still needed a new eyepatch), House had told me about how he contacted his agents. A radio station filled with codewords, but the catch was each agent had their own set of codewords, so they couldn't give away anypony else’s. Which means... he may have been trying to contact me.
So I listened to that for a while as I flipped through the database of codewords also on my pipbuck. My codename was supposed to be Star-Mare, so I just had to wait for that to come up and hope I could keep track to see what he wanted to say. It seemed a bit complicated, but if it kept secrets.
“...Star-Mare.” Oh, that was me. I was on the radio, that was pretty cool. “Blackbird et alamo. Luminosity.” I tried my hardest to remember what those words were, even though it sounded mostly insane. Flicking through the log I was able to determine that 'Blackbird' meant 'Return to base' and 'et alamo' meant 'or request assistance'. As for the second word...
What was it again. Luna... light, lumi... something. Crap. I skimmed the list of keywords, but I couldn't recall what the word was, and it didn't help it was one of those big words I didn't know anyway. Growling I moved the pipbuck away from my face.
At least I knew he wanted to see me, probably asking why I was so late. The job was done at least, even if it took longer because we got sidetracked through pre-war hell.
As I stared into the darkness I thought I heard something. Straining my ears, I could pick up the sound of shouting, and... that was a gunshot. Lovely. I guessed it was just a fight, and it didn't concern me, so I kept my head down and tried to sleep. Eventually the yelling died down, and I felt my eyelids grow heavy. Sleep, I hoped. At last.
Knock, knock, knock.
The world hated me, I decided.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Fine. Carefully I set Serenity down on the couch and trotted over to the door. After tripping over no more than three things I found myself there to hear somepony knocking again. Annoying. When I opened the door I was treated to my brother standing there.
“You need to get out,” He barked at me. I just glared back.
“You said we could stay for a-”
“Shut up.” He barged in. “Get your things. Wake up your friends. You need to leave.” I stepped back for him, but didn't stop glaring. When I went to open my mouth he cut me off again, “They've come for you. Steel Rangers.” Oh shit. “I don't know how, but they know you're here, and they aren't happy about it.” With everything that had happened I'd forgotten an important fact; so long as the facility’s password was on my pipbuck, they would be able to track it down.
“Why do you even care?”
He looked at me for a second and didn't respond.
“How many?” I guess it was better not to ask that last question.
“Enough. Five by my count, but that's enough to blow a hole in this town it'd take months to fix.” Only five? Hell, I’d managed to take out five on my own. Of course I took them by surprise, and it very nearly killed me. Still, I had Flare on my side, and Bunker Buster...
“Is there another way out of town?”
“A few secret exits, that's why you need to be quick.” Meadow trotted his way around looking for something. My companions to wake up, maybe. “We can't pacify them forever, and some ponies want me to give you away.” Lovely. “So hurry the fuck up.”
Yeah, yeah. I quickly trotted over to the bedroom and knocked hard on the door. “Flare. Flare. Get up. We need to leave now. You can finish moping later.” On the other side I heard a grunt that sounded like an agreement, so I walked away. Hopefully he could get his shit together soon enough to escape, I was hardly one to talk, but we didn't have the time.
By the time I got over to where Serenity was, she had already dressed in her brown cloak with all her stuff packed into her saddle bags. She smiled at me. “Heard ya' talkin', so I got ready.” With a smile, I nodded and turned back to the main hallway.
“Oh,” Meadow said looking at Serenity. “This is your new daughter right?”
“New?” Serenity tilted her head in confusion. At that moment I really wished I could shoot laser beams from my eyes.
“What?” He looked at me. “You didn't tel-”
“Do you have any healing potions?” I cut him off before he could continue unveiling my past before I was ready. He gave me a curious look that I pointedly ignored, before he dug into his bag and hoofed over four healing potions. After drinking one (It felt so freaking good to finally heal some of my burns.) I let Serenity have one. She wasn't as badly hurt as Flare or I, but she was smaller and not used to pain like us.
“Thanks, Momma.” Serenity smiled at me. “Feels much better. Battle scars are cool, but they hurt!” With a smirk, I nodded at the filly. “So from now on I'mma hide behind you; you're better at getting shot.”
“I don't think,” my brother said, “that getting shot takes skill.”
“Nah, but getting up after does, and Momma is the best at that. This one time-”
“This isn't the time for stories.” Not that I wanted to share any with him, anyway. I really didn't know what I was supposed to think of my brother anymore. He was an antagonistic asshole who worked for raiders, but claimed he was doing the right thing and sometimes you had to kill ponies to save more. Which was not so far off from my thought process working for Mr. House, and it didn't help that I came here in the first place planning on slaughtering a raider gang. But then, he came here explicitly to save me (unless he had a nefarious purpose I couldn't see). It really did a number on my 'kill the fucker’ plan.
Flare had gotten emotional over High Stakes' message, which meant he probably had some feelings for the bastard, so I couldn't kill him yet either! My murder list was getting annoyingly short. I blamed Curly Fries. At least he was still on my list. Right alongside Blackwater (I could imagine her cackling evilly at the thought).
“Flare, we need to-”
He burst from the door in a flurry of feathers with a smirk on his face that looked painted on. “I'm ready, I'm ready.” He fiddled with his grenade launchers and when I tried to hoof him a healing potion he pushed it back. “The armour is still sort of partially melted into my back, hurts like a bitch, by the way, but if I try to heal it then it'll heal around the metal and make it harder to remove. I'll need surgery when we get back to Dise, and I expect you to pay, you crazy, crazy mare.” I tried to interrupt, but he kept talking. “Hey look, it's the Nightmare Moon to your Celestia, rape any foals lately?” Calm, Silver. Calm. Flare was just overcompensating, and I shouldn't go beat his face in for being an idiot.
I took a deep breath, placed a hoof on the back of his head and pulled him close so we could talk in near-private. “Are you okay?”
“Peachy, chief.” He smiled. “Didn't know you liked being this close, are we going to...” his voice faded at the force of my glare. “Don't worry about it. I'm not abandoning you, not yet anyway.” That was... mostly reassuring. I guess.
“Do you want to... uh, talk about it?” That was my attempt at being friendly. It wasn't really in my skill set.
“No! Yes, maybe?” He pulled back, “Maybe once we're back in Dise and things have settled down; we have shit to do.”
I nodded an affirmative and looked over to my brother for his plan... there is no part of that sentence I liked. “We need to get you three outside town. There's another gate, but it's kept hidden. Go east through the hills before turning south if you plan on going back to Dise. Once you've been gone long enough, I’ll let them look through the town. You owe me one, Silver.”
“You shot me! With poison! From space!”
“That’s right. I guess we're even.”
“And it won't work. We'll need to kill them.” He stared at me blankly. “They can track me. Sort of. If I leave they'll know... and know you hid me.”
“...Okay.” That was easy. “Kill them, bury the bodies. They were never here. But how?” He must have seen my look of confusion. “They're assholes. Half of my ponies want to kill them, the other half you. This way I can prove my strength against a superior force, in terms of armament anyway.”
“Right.” That made sense, right? “The idea is. Lead us out the gate. We flank around. I hit them with Subtlety.” I motioned to the large gun on my back.
“You named your gun?” My brother raised an eyebrow.
“A stupid name too, if you ask me she shouldn't be allowed to name any-”
“This isn't the time!” I cut Flare off. They both shut up and let me talk, though Serenity looked like she was about to laugh. That filly was forever giggling. “I hit them with Subtlety, and Flare hits them with Bunker Buster, which is a much stupider name,” I quickly added, “while they're distracted. Have your ponies shoot them. You have strong guns right? Armour piercing bullets?”
“We can manage.” He didn't sound so sure. “Anything else?”
“I'll need 25mm grenades,” Flare said confidently, “as many as you can spare. And if I can add an addendum to the plan, I get my weapons and set up in the sky on the other side from S'n'S.” I guess he meant me and Serenity... “Subtlety is not exactly subtle, so I'll wait for the signal and blow them apart. That way if one of us gets caught the other can jump in to help.” I guess that made sense.
“What do I do?” Serenity asked, jumping up in the air to be noticed. “I can fight too.”
The three of us looked down at her silently.
“So...” Flare said slowly, not looking away from the filly. “That's the plan.”
“Yup.” I agreed, ignoring Serenity.
“Yes.” My idiot brother agreed.
---
After quickly leaving the house, Flare was escorted away by one of Meadow's ponies, hopefully to get weaponry. Serenity and I, however, were led to a small door in the wall which blended in so seamlessly that I didn't notice it until we were already there. It must have had something to do with the fact the wall was junk hastily made into a wall shape, with wooden beams holding it up. After a few minutes of fighting with the door, Meadow let me through.
“Silver,” he said when I was halfway through, forcing me to turn awkwardly in the narrow doorway. “Whatever else you are... you're still my sister. I hate you, you hate me, but we are blood.” His eyes narrowed. “I'd like to think... think that still means something.” Like it meant to our mother? Is what I wanted to stay, but I kept quiet. “So don't die out there... and just... get better.” Because I was fucking sick, yeah I knew. I couldn't really argue with the mentally damaged part (my denial only goes so far), but hearing him talk about me like that twisted my gut.
Still, I was having a really difficult time hating him. Since Stable 42, we had talked so little, and all our conversations vitriolic, that I'd imagined him in my head as a Blackwater-esq villain. You know, lighting ponies on fire to hear them scream, kicking puppies, that sort of thing, but he wasn't. He was harsh, but he actually thought he was helping. When I looked around at the wall it was hard not to believe he was helping.
“I'll try not to... You too. I'll. Leave you alone. When this is done. Thanks.” I looked away from him and kept walking into the night. I didn't look back at the wall until I heard the door shut behind us.
“I thought you were gunna kill Uncle... what's his name?”
“Meadow. No... not yet anyway.”
“He's confusin'.” There was nothing else to add, so I nodded silently and started walking. Luna was out in full force that night, letting me see even without my night vision turned on. Instead of following the wall, I went out a bit before circling around. The ground was as rough and rocky as it had ever been.
Obviously, my pipbuck light was turned off as I walked, and I tried to crouch as low as possible, even when I couldn't directly see the Steel Rangers. Serenity copied my technique but didn't cast her silence spell because of the light. She was a smart filly. Eventually we passed into the line of sight of the Steel Rangers.
Five of them stood in a rough line, bathing in the torchlight of the front gate. It gave me a good view of them, now I just needed a spot to fire. Serenity tapped my leg and pointed out a large gathering of rocks similar to the ones we hid behind those two times, with an easy way on top. I could fire from there and hide behind it if they counterattacked. It was... well, an obvious plan, but whatever worked.
I just had to hope that Meadow kept his side of the bargain.
By the time I reached the rock the clouds moved in and partially covered up the moon. It didn't take long to get set up on the rock, but it did take a bit longer keeping Serenity hiding behind it. She wanted to watch the fight, but that never worked out well. After I finally placated her (I let her take out her gun and watch my back), I looked at the group of Steel Rangers.
I really liked their armour. It was large, and shiny, and hard to break, not to mention making you faceless so ponies wouldn't be able to see how ugly I was. Too bad all the ponies I had seen wearing it so far were a good deal smaller, so I doubted I'd find any that'd fit me. It was a nice thought though, and I almost felt bad for having to destroy a few.
Sitting there waiting to take my shot reminded me of back when I’d first found Serenity. It had been raining then (it rained a lot less since the clouds had cleared), and there was thunder, but I felt the same sort of tension. There was a cool sweat on my forehead as I pressed my eye against the scope. There were five ponies this time, not just one, but it still was important I killed on the first shot. I took a deep breath and marked my target.
Of the five, three of them had large miniguns attached to their power armour, another had a couple of grenade launchers, and the final (and I presumed leader) had a rocket launcher on one side, and a grenade machine gun (Flare would be jealous) on the other. If there was a firefight I was going to need to take him out first so he didn't accidentally destroy the entire town. Who needed that many explosives? Really. He must have been overcompensating for something.
I wasn't really sure how far away I was from the pony, but I had to guess two hundred and meters away, maybe a little bit less, and the wind was blowing slightly north. After adjusting my aim to compensate I watched the pony. She just stood there, turning her head from time to time. She didn't seem to move, which was good for me. So long as she stood still, Subtlety could give her an apple sized hole and we'd be able to start the assault.
I inhaled and held it there. My aim was perfect, just had to bite the bridle and she'd die, and I'd survive. For some reason I hesitated. My mind went back to that invisible pony I killed, and her wife. Maybe this Steel Ranger was married, maybe they had kids, a family. Who was I to decide they needed to die? Why was it in my right? Just because I had a big gun and got the jump on them. My jaw clenched, and I couldn't bring myself to kill her.
Above me, the clouds parted slightly, letting Luna's moon shine over the dark wasteland: a light that just happened to hit my scope.
The pony whose head I was stalking turned to me so fast I flinched. Subtlety roared. The bullet zipped past the pony into the dirt.
“Shit!” I screamed, loading up another shot, but they were already moving towards me too fast, I didn't have time.
“Sniper!” somepony shouted, followed by a whoosh of a rocket.
The missile hit the rock just as I tried to jump away. The blast wave hit me and sent me flying. Pain throbbed through me as I hit the ground. My ears were ringing, and dust and bits of rock were raining over me. I tried swearing to alleviate the pain, but I couldn't hear my own words. When I opened my eyes, my vision was fuzzy. Still, I scanned for serenity. She had to be okay she...
...was huddled behind the half destroyed rock with a pink glow around her. When she saw me looking she started waving, so I waved back. For some reason that just made her wave harder. Oh, she wasn't waving. She was pointing. Why? My brain hurt.
A steel face appeared over the rock glaring at me with glowing eyes. Oh, that's what she was pointing at. Fuck.
The Steel Ranger aimed her weapon.
And a flash went off behind her. The world shook, and the steel ranger turned. It had to be Flare, that cheeky bastard, I owed him.
Quickly, I rolled to my hooves. I charged. Before the Steel Ranger could react, I was on her. My body slammed into her steel carapace. It was strong; I was stronger. She fell on her side, and I was on her in an instant. My metal hoof met her metal face with a great clangour. Neither budged so I kicked again. I could feel her helmet start to give so I kicked down again and again, and again, eventually raising my whole body and bringing both hooves down with all my weight.
By the time I was done, the helmet was a flattened bloody husk.
My vision was so focused I didn't notice the rest of the battle going on around me. One of the other Steel Rangers were lying on the ground, probably dead, while the remaining three were retreating away from the flaming wall. Wait, shit, why was the wall on fire? Some ponies seemed to be putting it out while other fired against the steel soldier, their weapons doing pitiful damage. Somewhere over head I thought I saw a blur, and a second later the Steel ranger ranks were scattered by fire and smoke.
I scoped Subtlety and looked down at the smoke. The battle was moving too fast though, and I started charging towards it to make my shot easier. Unfortunately that also made their shots easier, as a Steel Ranger scrambled to her hooves in the smoke and just happened to see me. I could barely pick up the sight of her minigun starting to warm up before I started to move. The bullets slammed into the dirt in front of me as I started to run sideways away from them.
It didn't seem to matter how fast I ran as the bullets caught up nipping at my tail. If only I had Rage, I would have been able to outrun them.
Pain flared through my right hind leg as bullets ripped into it. I fell hard and rolled through the dirt as bullets whizzed closer to me. This was going to suck. Only it didn't. Because I wasn't shot. Which was surprising, as this was usually around the time I got shot and lost a body part. Since my ears were still not working properly I had to look up from my ball of fail at the fight.
In the dim light I could see a silver-grey stallion rapidly shoot a shotgun into my attacker's head. The metal helmet sparked and snapped back. Then the pony’s head righted itself and the stallion was kicked back. The iron clad pony swung around, minigun still spinning.
For reason I didn't understand I scrambled to my hooves (my hindleg roaring in protest) and I took aim. Subtlety fired and found its mark. The steel ranger stumbled, a new hole her armour, when I fired again. The third shot put her down for good.
Meadow looked over to me, his face unreadable in the moonlight.
Another blast filled my vision (I could actually hear this one as my ears slowly recovered), so I turned away from him to the battle. One of the remaining steel rangers was a twisted sack of metal still smoking from the explosion, while the last was being pushed back with concentrated gunfire.
I helped the final Steel Ranger on her way to Tartarus, then sat back on my flank. Fuck, my leg hurt. And bled. I hate bullets. If it wasn't for adrenaline, my leg would have hurt a lot more, so yay science I guess.
Doing what I imagine Serenity would do I tore out a healing potion and poured it over my leg. The wounds stitched themselves closed, and I felt a small measure of relief wash over me. Not as much as I'd get with Med-X, though. Luckily I was fairly sure it was getting close to the time I could get the dosage off Flare. I was looking forward to it. One thing at a time. The fight was over, and I needed to see to a few things. Namely my idiot brother, my daughter, and... Flare.
Slowly I returned to my hooves and looked around. The Steel Rangers were already being systematically stripped of their armour and weapons. I doubted they'd be able to use the armour, given its super high tech nature, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt for them to try. Unless it exploded. If that happened there would be one less Crimson Hoof to deal with! There was no way I could lose.
Yeah...
Before I could go and confront my brother I felt something slam into my back leg. “Momma! Are you okay?” Sure enough, the little pink filly was latched onto my leg with a hug. “I tride'a shoot at them, but mah gun didn' work right, it kept not workin'.” She frowned. “I need more gun.”
“No.” She pouted. So I shook her off my back leg making her land on her rump. “It's for emergencies, not for Steel Ranger hunting.” This did not please her at all. “I'll take away your dessert...”
“As if we ever have any!”
“I'll buy some, then take it away.”
“... Fine.”
With that victory, I helped my daughter (maybe if I kept calling her that it'd stop making me nervous) and trotted over to Meadow. He was in a middle of a group of ponies, waving his hoof this way and that way to direct ponies. Patiently, I waited outside the little circle until the ponies dispersed and my brother stood there. His face was a mask of blood from a small wound above his eye that he must have used a healing potion on. When he saw me he frowned.
“Silver. You should go.” He walked over quickly, lowering his head. “I lost seven ponies here, most new recruits, so you're lucky. We would have lost more without your plan, but if we had given you up...” I nodded my head in understanding. Seven more names to add to the list of my failures. “I'm trying to play it as a victory against overwhelming odds and a hostile aggressor. If anything it'll show the civilians we mean to protect them, so I can play it right, just...”
“It's fine. If you see me again I'm dead.” He nodded. “I'd like to kill you too.” With the blood stains over his face I couldn't tell if he was grimacing or smiling. “Actually... I have something for you.”
“What is it?”
“Give me one second.” I quickly turned away from him and moved a good distance before looking at Serenity. “You have the map of the facility?”
“Yeah, it's...” She magicked out the map. “Here, momma.” It took a few minutes but I was able to figure out where one of the entrances to the facility would be by using my pipbuck map (which marked the factory’s entrance) and comparing it to the facility map. It would have to work; my defence against the Steel Rangers depended on it. I marked the approximate location on my pipbuck and turned back to my brother.
“Here.” I shoved out my pipbuck. He just stared at it. Then back to me. Then at it again. “Ugh, Go to that location.”
“Why... what are you try-”
“Bring explosives to breach the door. Inside is an advanced pre-war facility. That's the entrance to a training facility. It will have equipment. Programs. Lots of it. Enough to help you. Fight the Steel Rangers if they find out what happened. Give you power. Tell your ponies you got it from a corpse. More propaganda.” He seemed to like that idea. Giving this technology to The Crimson Hoof was probably a bad idea, but my brother just went far out of his way to save me. Moreover, both were powerful groups around Dise, but not based in Dise, so the chance of conflict was high. I needed the sides as evenly matched as possible.
“Is this a joke?”
“Not at all, Uncle!” Serenity had found her way to my head. “It'll help ya! For real!”
My response was to shrug and say, “Go there or not. Up to you. I'll leave now; don't die.”
I left him there. I've had enough of emotional goodbyes. My emotions were as mixed about him as ever, and I just couldn't deal with it. I just had to find Flare, and that'd be the end of it.
Flare wasn't that hard to find as he landed in front of me with a cocky smile. “So.” He flicked back his sweaty mane. “Did you see how many I got?” He blew on each barrel of Bunker Buster despite the fact they obviously weren't smoking. “That's how the Enclave does it.” He gave a triumphant victory pose.
“You're a credit to team. I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything for you, Hired, because, you know, I haven’t saved your ass nearly enough.” There was a smirk on his lips I wanted to smack off, but I suspected he knew that.
“Fly to Dise as fast as you can.” He nodded slowly. “Tell House I need help. Get him to send... somepony to help escort us. The Steel Rangers will be out for blood. Can yo-”
“No problem,” he cut me off. “We all need to get back, I'll run the message. I'll need to borrow some of your medicine.” My ear twitched. “Just two. My back is...” yeah, okay, that was a good enough reason. “You can keep the rest, do not use them all right away or you'll be fucked, I'll be back as fast as I can.” He quickly dug into his bag and tossed me most of the medicine in a bag, “There's something special in there too.” He winked and flapped his wings. “I'll be quick; don't die.”
Just like that he flew off. I still needed to talk to him about High Stakes...
After taking out a Med-X and giving myself a dose of sweet relief I gave the rest of the bag to Serenity. “Put that away for me.”
“Huh.” Ever curious, Serenity started to shuffle through the bag. It was not like it was possible to hide it anymore. “What's this?” I turned to the south and started walking down the road. Behind me I heard the sounds of ponies working and small fires burning. Carnage I had created. “In case of emergency.” Serenity said for reasons I couldn't explain. So I kept walking south. I was running on no sleep, and no time, with enemies determined to hunt me down. So I had to keep walking.
Something fell over my eye, and half my vision was gone. My cybernetic eye flashed warning and attempted night vision before turning off.
“In case of eye-patch emergency,” Serenity repeated. “Flare thinks of everything.”
The lack of vision made things clearer. I was tired and sore, but I'd places to go, ponies to talk to, a city to save, and redemption to be found. Just had to keep walking.
Level Up!
New Perk: Adaptive Eye Programming II: Your practice with your new eye has paid off, increasing the range of its EFS, and improving its threat-detection in low-light environments. In addition, you’ve noticed your eye now has a night-vision function that turns on automatically after you’ve been in the dark for a second or two!
((A/N: 100K views. That’s a terrible way to start a sentence and yet there it is. It’s been nearly a year, 300K words, and 100K views. I wouldn’t be here without all my wonderful readers [yes you!] so you have my utmost thanks for sticking through this sorry excuse for a [excellent] story. You’re awesome, and I love you.
I as always need to thank Kkat as well for giving me a blank canvas to write upon, and my lovely editors theBSDude, Mint Julep, and Menti. Here’s to another 100K! )) |
No One | 662 | 23 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-08-18T03:56:04+00:00 | 2012-08-18T03:56:04+00:00 | 14,678 | Are We There Yet?
"These people, they're like ghosts, always hiding in the shadows, always hiding behind lies and proxies."
Dawn broke over the horizon, bathing the land and sky in a beautiful wash of oranges, yellows, and reds. It also stung my bloodshot eyes and reminded me that it had been a long time since I got any sleep. Even Med-X could not stop my eyes from burning. Serenity, however got a lot of sleep last night and the day before, so she was ready for the day. And loud.
“So I thought you were a goner f'sure, what with tha blast an’ everything!” She gleefully retold the events of the night before. “But I had'a believe you'd be okay, so I whipped out my pistol and BANG!” My ears twitched and I did my best not to wince. “'Cept it bounced right off his mask! Can ya believe it?! My magic zebra pistol! Well I was determined ta defend ya, so know what I did?”
“What, sweetie?”
“Kept shootin!” I never would have guessed. Her story didn't make walking much easier, as she had to stop every few seconds to pose dramatically, or act out a scene. “See, I had this brilliant plan. Whenever my bullet hit her visor, it sparked, so I kept sparkin' at the visor, givin' ya plenty a time to-”
“I was there, if you remember.”
“Ya were hardly payin' attention to the finer details 'cause ya were busy stompin' ponies flat.” Well, it was one of the few things I was good at. “So you're lucky I was there ta help ya. I'm an awesome distraction. Oh, I had an idea. What if I got a-”
“Whatever you are about to ask, no.”
“What bu-”
“You're not allowed to get cybernetics.”
“I wasn't even gunna ask...” Her voice trailed off, and she pouted. “How'd ya know I was gunna ask?”
“Because you always ask.” I smiled weakly. “Then I say no. You pout. Then we do the same thing again the next day.” She blinked at me.
“Same time tomorrow then?” she said with absolute sincerity. I nodded, and she gave me a smile before hopping onto my back. “'Cept it's early an' I'm gonna want to be sleepin' now, so maybe we can postpone it.” Yeah, I thought that was a great idea. Morning, as a rule, sucked. Especially mornings where you have been fighting and walking all night.
In the distance I could see the mountain, getting closer and closer. Even though we were far away, it still looked like a huge blot on the horizon, and it made me shiver to look at. As if the memories of that horrid place weren't bad enough, it reminded me of the memories I had to relive in there. Things that... I closed my eyes and thought of something else. Anything else.
I forcibly shifted my thoughts to the task at hand. Between us and Dise were dozens of Steel Rangers who could at least passively track me down. They were armed to the teeth wish high-tech ballistic and explosive weaponry, and were currently being commanded by a mare who made Nightmare Moon look like a paragon of mercy. As usual, my choices were dim, my hope little, and the chance of success high.
The best chance I had was to take the long way and try to circle around the mountain, but that would take an extra couple days, and I was uncertain that I'd enough Med-X to last me that long. My Pipbuck map only marked towns I'd been too, and there was nothing nearby (the closest was Snake Head but that was days east). Of course that was not even counting our food and water supply which was also not doing the best.
It'd be easy enough to find a small stream, but it'd be irradiated and I didn't have any Radaway. Still, that would be better than nothing. If I ran out of food, I could go hunting, it wasn't like the wasteland lacked wildlife (mostly mutated, but still). However, I was not sure Serenity would eat meat if offered. So that was not a very good option.
Our best hope was that Mr. House was tractable when Flare went to ask for help. That is if Flare hadn’t decided to ditch us for High Stakes, but I tried not to even think of that option. He really should know better than that, but love makes you do strange things. If it was indeed love, it's hard to tell.
I sat down on the road (causing Serenity to slide off) and rubbed my eyes. So tired. If I could have gotten away with it, I would have slept there forever. Or at least for a day. Nightmares be damned.
“You okay, Momma?”
“Tired.”
“Don't think we should jus' sit here though.” She looked around warily. “Too open. Don't look like much nearby.” Rocky brown hills to the east and west, Bridle Hope behind us, and the mountain in front. Wait. I looked to the east again. There was an amber blip in my augmented vision. It faded, then came back. The blip did this a few more times, travelling north to south before disappearing.
“Hey. Hey, Momma!” Serenity waved her hoovsies. “Are you lookin' at your HUD? Innit cool? Can I get one? What do you see?”
“Yes, yes, no, something.” I got back to my hooves and walked towards where the blip had vanished. It was worth a try at least, and with Subtlety on my back I could destroy it if it was a hostile. Not that I figured it would be hostile, because my magical vision told me it wasn't. That sounds logical right? When has technology ever failed me...
Despite the obvious flaws in that argument, I kept walking. It was easy enough to walk up the shallow incline of the closest hill, and on its crest I could see that it was steeper down the other side. Between the hills, I could see a figure a good distance away walking south. My EFS read her as a friendly, but with my eyepatch on I couldn't read any additional information about her.
“HEY PONY!” Serenity yelled from beside me. “HEY! HEY!” The pony stopped and turned to us. She looked familiar. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? HEY! WHERE YOU GOING? WE NEED HELP!”
The pony waved and started walking towards us. Oh, wait.
“Pearly?” I said when she was close enough to hear.
The white mare smiled sweetly at me. “Now there is a sight for sore eyes.” To my surprise, and embarrassment, she nuzzled my cheek. “Saw ya back in town, and I thought, wouldn't it be nice if ah lent ya a helping hoof.” She smiled down at Serenity who seemed displeased about something.
“Town? Bridle Hope?” She nodded at my question. “Why were you there?”
“Well it weren't like I could escape. When them raiders took the Casino, they gave a lot of us the chance to surrender, ya see. Now we lost and I didn't like dyin' so...” Yeah, I understood. “They made us help build the wall, and then gave us the option to leave. But, for many ponies.... It’s their home, you know? Lived there forever and didn't want to leave, so most stayed. Some what got evacuated even came back. Not me though, I was plannin' on leaving once I got my stuff together.”
“And then we came back?”
“Yup! Heard bout it right after that fight from some mutterin' guards. So I took to hoof to find you. Figured you'd take the south road.” What else could I take? “If you're heading to Dise, you should join a trade caravan. Strength in numbers, and smart ponies won't attack them what are protected by the NCA.”
Oh, well that did make a lot of sense then, travel south and pray. Now that I thought about it, too, wasn't there an NCA base nearby? I remembered hearing something about that sometime. It was... I could not recall. Somewhere.
“Where is it?” Serenity asked the smart question, though she was still giving Pearly a weird look.
“This way, ah'll lead the way.” At that, she trotted off north-eastish, over a hill. Serenity motioned for me to wait and hopped on my back when she was a good distance away.
“Who's she?” It was right about then I realized I was an idiot. For some reason I just expected Serenity to know her, but each time I had met Pearly, Serenity was unavailable. So of course she would be suspicious of some random mare I found on the road and started nuzzling. This was the sort of thing I should have thought of before making a fool of myself.
“She's a friend, from Bridle Hope.”
“She sounds familiar.” There was a haunted look in her eyes.
“Serenity...?”
“I...” her voice trailed off and she seemed to be staring into something in the distance. “Okay, right. Friends. Let’s go.” I tried to ask if she was alright but she cut me off. “I'm fine! Really! Just... c'mon...” Reluctantly, I looked away from her to see Pearly waiting a good distance away looking at us oddly.
“Okay...” I said to Serenity before following after Pearly.
---
We found the NCA Camp around noon. By then, I was completely exhausted, to the point that I fell asleep multiple times while trying to walk. Which is not nearly as difficult as it should have been. Pearly gave me a Sparkle Cola, and that was supposed to help. It almost sort of worked, as I didn't fall asleep, but I certainly did not feel less exhausted. I might have felt worse actually.
The camp itself seemed to be a small outpost on top of a rather large hill that was so steep on one side it might as well have been a cliff. We had to take a long way around the hill to reach the stairs that led to the series of tents that formed the camp. I noticed that at the foot of the hill there was a small building and a few carts of goods. Made more sense than dragging them up the hill, I supposed.
The top of the hill had the camp surrounded by ditches, dikes, and what looked like spiky walls pointing outward. I also may have been mistaken, but it seemed like the wooden staircase had a series of plastic tubes attached to it with a strange liquid inside. If I had to guess, I'd imagine something flammable. Clearly this place was very well defended. Which was pretty self-evident given what I just described. I'm an idiot sometimes.
Two guards stopped us at the main gate. I didn't get a good look at them, as I was busy wobbling from side to side trying not to fall asleep. I did notice they talked with Pearly for a few minutes and there was an exchange of caps. I would need to pay her back for that. Near the end, my weary mind picked up the words. “Place to sleep...” from Pearly.
The guard pointed into the camp mumbling something I couldn't be assed to listen to. When Pearly motioned for me to follow I did.
“Darling, we need to get you to bed. When was the last time you slept?”
“Uh.” I tripped over a rock. I thought I heard a pony snicker near me. “It was... I was supposed to. At the town... but...” I blinked. “Before that. In a mountain... for a few... before that...” I only really slept for maybe an hour or two on the trolley, and I was pretty sure the psychic dreams didn't actually count as restful.
“Long time.” I nearly jumped when Serenity spoke. She was still lounging on my back, but she had been very quiet, so I’d almost forgot about her. “When we headin' out?”
“Tomorrow, just before noon; they're waiting for a general from an outpost in the east.” Why, exactly? “You should rest until then, you look beat up.”
“The face right? Scars. I'm ugly now. I mean. Always been ugly. Much uglier.” It was hard to talk when tired. My tongue kept moving before my brain could catch up.
“Ain't that bad.” She was lying. If that wasn't clear. “They make you look badass.” I was badass before. That's all I was, and now I was ugly and badass. The worst kind. “Considering you got shotgunned in the face, you're a picture of health.” I wish she didn't remind me of that. It sucked.
“Yeah. Lucky me.” It was just my luck my best friend’s buckfriend betrayed me. And I was also lucky enough to be put through psychological hell inside an ancient pre-war facility where everything that moved wanted to zap me to death. I was the luckiest motherfucking pony ever.
“Well, maybe not lucky but... hon, don't look so glum. You have your health, and your-”
“GUN!”
Yes, I did still have Subtlety. Wait. I lifted my head up and looked around. Who said that last part?
“HIRED GUN!” The gravelly voice yelled again. I kept turning around, looking for the voice, until I was face to face with—
Zombie! I almost screamed that out loud in my exhaustion. Instead I caught my voice, looked the ghoul in his milky white eyes, and said, “Major Lucky?”
The ghoul gave a gross grin and nodded. “It has been a while Hired. Too long. I see you're doing...” he looked at my face, my eyepatch, and half missing ear. “Well, you're alive.” He paused. “We need to talk.”
“What are you even doing here! You were in Dise. Before. Right?”
He just turned away. “Please escort Miss Gun to my tent.” Two guards flanked me. So much for sleeping. “And only Miss Gun... well, and her foal. You can try to take the filly away from her if you wish, but I doubt you'd survive.” Damn right. Even half asleep and sore from a thousand wounds I'd kill anypony who tried to hurt her. Or touch her. Or anything.
“Wait, hon.” Pearly said, but a shoulder shoved her roughly away. “Hey now, that ain't how ya treat a pony. I'll meet you outside his tent Hired! Don't fall asleep.”
Yeah, that was going to happen. The lovely and talkative guards led me silently through the outpost to a rather sturdy looking tent underneath a small watch tower. Inside was a small desk, a foldout bed, and other assorted stuff... I'll be honest I was only really looking at the bed. It looked so comfy.
Focus. Just. Focus. I sat across from the desk with the guards still flanking me. I hated them.
A few minutes later, the ghoul officer strolled through the entrance and took a seat across the desk from me. This seemed to happen a lot right before I was lectured at. I can't imagine why. “Hired.” He shuffled through some pieces of paper not looking me in the eye. “I have received a report...” his voice trailed off and he got the piece of paper he was looking for. “That you are currently a Hizai.”
“Uh. Yes.” I scratched idly at the scars on my face.
“An elite cybernetic warrior, assassin, and spy charged with advancing Mr. House’s interests in Dise, Caledonia, and beyond?” I nodded. “One of the elite...” he shuffled the papers. “Well the numbers are changing, but there are anywhere from thirty to sixty, and you are one.” I nodded. “Really?” I nodded harder. “Don't li-”
“Yes! I'm a fucking Hizai!”
“Just making sure.” He set the papers down. “You can understand my... suspicion. You are not exactly known for your tact.” His face contorted to what must have been a smile. “Why, exactly, did Mr. House hire you?”
“It's classified.”
“Right. I need a favour to ask o-”
“Two hundred caps.” I leaned over the desk with a grin.
“Oh, I was going to offer you three hundred.” Oh come on! “Just kidding. I'll pay you one hundred and fifty.”
“Two hundred and twenty five.” I put my metal hoof on the desk. It was actually more to keep me from falling over and going to sleep than to intimidate.
“You know, ponies don't usually don't go up from the starting price.” He seemed only mildly amused.
“Normally. But you need me. You made it clear you need a Hizai. We tend to be difficult to find.” I gave a smile. “So how about two-fifty.”
“Two hundred.” He slid a envelop over. “I need you to deliver this to Mr. House. Not to his assistant, or his friend, or on his desk, to him directly. Don't open it; it is for his eyes only. Yes I am sure you will anyway, but you won't understand it so there is no point.” Now I felt like a spy. That was pretty cool.
“Okay...” I slipped the envelope into one of my collar pockets. “If I can ask, why are you here?”
The ghoul tapped his rotten hoof on the table and gave a sickly smile. “I don't believe that was part of the trade.” Ugh. I was too tired for this shit. “But I'll tell you. I'm here because of you.” Well, wasn't I important. “You did the NCA a great service.” He continued not to make sense as he rose and started to walk around his desk. “Did you know that since Timber burned and Bridle Hope was taken over three new towns have joined with the NCA? That was in a matter of days. Days. In a few weeks who knows how much larger we will have grown.” What? I didn't understand.
“Why Timber? You didn't control Timber. You were kicked ou-” Wait. Something hit me.
“Yes, you forced me out. After you helped me kill the last of the fighting ponies. Do you remember?” I nodded dumbly as he continued towards me. “It was all over the news, and wouldn't you know it, a few weeks later it burns. Which wouldn't have happened if we were there. It got ponies thinking.”
“Really.” I looked away from him. “You expect me to believe that. You planned this? Really? That's a bit contul... convulated.”
“Convoluted.” I hated when ponies corrected me. “And yes, it would be. It was one of many contingencies I worked out, and it just happened to be the option that stuck. Why have one plan when you can have a dozen going all at the same time?” I guess that made sense. If you were a smart pony. I could barely hold down one plan at a time (and my current one was a doozy) so I could only nod.
“Congratulations. I totally care. So you're here to... supervise the change in management?” Serenity snickered on my back, but then went back to being completely silent.
“Supervise the new supply lines needed for our new territories. Such as this camp. A well defended outpost for trading caravans. The route completely ignores Timber, and Bridle Hope too.” He must have noticed me start to doze off because he shouted. “Attention! Listen up. You are suppose to be an agent of Mr. House, now don't you think he might find this information crucial.” I blinked at him.
“What?”
“You are useless.” He just shook his head. “Go, I need you no longer. Make sure to deliver that letter.” Right, I think I was missing something important about the nature of our conversation. Not that it mattered if it was that far above my head, so I just turned around to the tent's exit. “We're leaving tomorrow just before noon. Be ready.” He called out at me.
I turned my head back around. This conversation was annoying. I just wanted to sleep. “We?”
“To Dise. The NCA Chairpony is giving a speech, and I'm going.”
“Right.” I walked out through the tent flap, imagining all the ways that this could go horribly wrong. On the top of my list was a random Balefire Explosion.
Thankfully, right outside, I saw Pearly waiting. “Pearly.” I walked up to her. “Don't take this the wrong way. But take me to bed.”
---
Soldiers in green stood in a line overlooking their enemy's encampment. They had been making steady progress, and it was nearing time to put the war to an end. For each pony that stood ready to bring the battle to an end, five more had fallen in the line of duty; good ponies who only wanted to return home when the battle had run its course. For their sake the green soldiers were prepared to put everything on line in the final assault. A battle which would change the course of pony history.
There was a whistle. Panicked ponies looked upwards, but they were too slow. The cap slammed into their line sending ponies flying.
“No fair... ” Foundation was, like any filly, really good at whining. She looked from her line of toy ponies to where I sat on the bed. She had managed to take over much of our little house, winning her bed, much of the floor, and the table, and forcing me back to a small semi-circle around my bed. It was a delicate game of war that I always seemed to lose. “It was my turn,” she continued. “You can't attack on my turn.”
“Sweetie, you're the one who said bottle caps could be used at any time.” Wildfire stood by the door and was forced to play referee in our little game. It was possible that I always lost because Foundation was allowed to make up new (and entirely inconsistent rules) on the fly, while I got to deal with it. Not that I was complaining, I was perfectly content to let her win.
“I meant I get to. Momma can't.” The red mare raised an eyebrow at her daughter. “‘Cause she gets to set up a new soldier every turn, an' I can only every other turn. It's only fair.” While they argued I just smiled and leaned back on the bed.
“Oh... I see.” Wildfire looked at me and I gave her a curt nod. She could have this little victory. It was going to be lunch soon anyway, so we had to quicken our pace. “Okay, next time. But this one still counts.” The filly gave a little pout and reluctantly nodded.
“Take this momma!” She bent down and grabbed a bullet casing in her mouth and tossed it at my army. It slammed right through the centre of my soldiers knocking at least five of them down. “Hah! Now it explodes.” As she made an explosion sound, I good naturally reached over and knocked over a few more of my surrounding ponies. She gave an approving nod as she scooped up a few nearby toys, jumped off the table, and inched them closer. Once they reached my bed the war was over.
It really was a stroke of luck we even managed to get these army ponies. One of the infrequent trade caravans came down a little over a month ago boasting about its supply. Wildfire had jokingly asked if he had any foal toys but didn't really expect any. Yet as soon as she said that the merchant had a tub of army ponies ready to be paid for. Toys were hard enough to find in the wasteland, so we hurriedly picked them up, along with a small thing of paint so we would have two armies instead of one. They may have been colt toys, but Foundation was more than happy to play at war.
When it was my turn again I flicked a broken pencil at her line, but I hit it too hard. It flew above the closest ponies and hit uselessly against the floor. Foundation took this as a sign of her victory and declared, “Since you missed, I get to shoot twice.” Of course she did. Her first shot destroyed all but a single pony on my bed, and she just beamed up at me. “I'm going to beat you, now.”
“Oh?” with a deft hoof I snatched the remaining pony. “It's time for a tactical retreat.” Wildfire snickered as I placed the pony behind me on the bed.
“Hey!” she leaned to the side trying to look around me to see the toy. “No fair, you're in the way.”
“I am? Really. Whatever will you do? I guess it's a draw then.” The filly narrowed her ruby eyes and pushed her mane out of her face. “Or not?”
“I got this.” She grabbed a half-broken soldier toy that was serving artillery duty and tossed it up into the air. As it started to fall she turned around and bucked. Her hoof connected sharply and sent the shell over my head. I followed it in awe as it bounced off the ceiling, into a wall, and finally hit the pony behind my back knocking it over. “Heh.” She smirked. “That was awesome.”
“Huh...” I traced the trajectory with my eyes and looked back at my filly in amazement. “How did you do that?”
“It's a secret!” she blurted out. “An earth pony secret!”
“Sweetie.” Wildfire trotted over to her, careful to avoid stepping on any toys, and kissed the top of her head. “We're all earth ponies.”
“Oh...” She looked up at me again. “I don't know. Just did. It's like. In my brain I knew it'd work!” She smiled. “Momma used to say it was earth pony magic... oh... I mean.” She flushed and looked down at the floor, her long mane falling over her face. “Not you Momma, or Mommy.” I was Momma, and Wildfire was Mommy. “Old Momma. She used to say that...” her voice trailed off as she dug at the floor with a hoof.
It always happened like this. When we first took her in she was constantly shy around us, and refused to let other ponies even look at her. Over time we got it so she was able to be more open with us, and was able to actually talk to other ponies. She didn't like talking to other ponies, and was really shy around them but it was improvement. Once anypony mentioned her old life though, she would just get really sad and revert to how she was before, if only for a little bit.
We had tried to get her to talk to us about what happened, but she just couldn't. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but every time she started to describe the day when her village was attacked she would just start crying, and no amount of comforting would make her feel better. After a while we decided to wait until she was older, but it just hurt to see her like that. Wildfire suggested seeing if we could find a psychologist outside of Marefort, but neither of us had the faintest idea where to look for one. We did ask a few of the merchants who came by, but they were entirely unhelpful.
“Foundation...” I said softly, reaching out for her. “Are you okay?”
The filly didn't react as I stroked her mane.
“Foundation.” Wildfire looked down in confusion. Usually when she got like this she would either flinch away or hug us and cry. “Are you okay?” She brushed the filly's mane out of her face. “Foundation!” she screeched.
Our daughter’s face was cold and blue, and her eyes bloodshot. With a gasp I rushed over to her, cradling her in my forelegs. “No! You're going to be... to be...” her breaths were short and shallow, and for a second I thought she was trying to whisper something to me. “Please you have to be... you can't.” Tears stung my eyes. Even in my blurry vision I could see the length of rope tied tightly around her neck.
---
My eye opened. The tent was bright with morning light, and it reminded me how long I'd slept, and how much I hated sleeping. With a groan, I pulled my pipbuck out from under me to check the time. Before noon at least, that was good. Looking away from the device and back around the tent I noticed, it was empty save for me. Pearly must have went to get Serenity breakfast... I knew this, but after the dream it twisted my gut into a knot.
I took a deep breath. Just needed to relax. To that end, I turned on my radio, but instead of turning it to New Haygas I flipped over to the Hizai special channel. Hopefully Flare was at Dise by now and told House that we needed help, so I listened to the channel to see if my orders had been updated. I was still fairly sure House was going to be pissed about everything that happened, but hopefully my information would prove useful.
The channel did more than just inform me: the gibberish of codes that I didn't understand also gave me a good chuckle and helped calm my nerves. Once the effects of the Nightmare were over, I had to admit I felt good. It had been so long since I got a proper sleep, and so long since I could just relax, I almost forgot what it felt like. Hopefully this was going to be trend, but I didn't count on it.
“Star-Mare exodus Wishing Star.” The word spoke into my implanted ear bud so quietly I almost missed them. Once I realized what was said I quickly flipped through my list of key words. 'exodus' roughly meant, 'will be assisted by agent'. So I guess whoever was designated 'Wishing Star' was going to come to my aid to help me get to Dise.
Just Wishing Star. Flare must have gotten to House if my orders had been changed, but I wasn't confident he understood the gravity of the situation. The Steel Rangers were ready to tear me apart limb from limb, and they had a way to track me. How as a single pony supposed to be able to assist me? I wouldn't turn down the help, especially not now that a NCA caravan might be caught in the crossfire, but I'd hoped for something a bit more substantial. Maybe House was annoyed at my incompetence and wasn't really trying to help me. If that was the case, I was lucky I got a single pony to help, so I guess beggars can't be choosers.
At that point, I'd been laying in bed so long I was sure I was going to get bedsores, so I rolled off the cot and trudged over to my equipment. Subtlety was as beautiful as ever, and it was a joy to help her onto my back once more. It was less of a joy when I realized I had set her up on my right side (again), and the eyepatch on that side made it impossible for me to, you know aim. So I had to take her off and put her back on correctly. Part of me wanted to just give up and take the eyepatch off, but when I did, I thought of Post Haste burning, and decided it should stay on, if only to remind me which paths not to go down.
“... is how I got my cutiemark.” When I heard Pearly's voice I realized I didn't have much time, so I took out a Med-X, injected it, and put the empty vial back in my bag. A few seconds later she appeared through the tent flap with Serenity following along beside. After what happened the day before I was worried she and Pearly wouldn't get along, but I guess I was mistaken.
“I didn't even know apples could explode!” Wait, what? “Hey Momma!” She smiled and trotted over to me. “I changed my mind, Pearly is pretty awesome!”
I looked over to the white unicorn. “Well,” she looked abashed, “she heard my voice when she was with her.” Yes, Nanny Jane. No other pony I killed deserved it more. “So she thought I was working with her, when I explained I tried to barge downstairs to see what she was hidin' an was turned 'way, she changed her mind.” That made a lot of sense. “I just... wish I could'a gotten Serenity out of there. I thought she was doing something, but if I had known it was that bad...”
“You couldn't have known...” I shook my head and looked over to Serenity. Her smile had faded at the talk, but she didn't seem too distraught. I was really going to need to take that filly into therapy. Maybe the Watchers had a program I could use.
“Yeah. It’s fine Pearls.” Serenity smiled. “Anyway, now that Momma is finally awake, we should get ready. The loud ghoul been sayin' we need'a pack up.”
“Right. Have you seen Flare?” My filly shook her head as she went over to her side of the tent. “Damn.” I’d hoped he had started to make his way back... of course he had no idea where we were so even if he did, he wouldn't be able to find us. Hopefully he wasn't flying around Caledonia looking for us. He was probably smart though and just waiting by Dise. So long as the message got through everything was good. Well, as good as it ever got.
With a sigh (I sighed way to much) I turned back around to Pearly... to find her extremely close. “Uh.” She nuzzled at the un-scarred side of my face. “W-what are you doing?” Why did it seem so many mares delighted in seeing me blush?
“You know, hon, it is a shame you slept for so long. I had plans for what we could do to pass the time. And what plans they were.” I tried my best to not focus on the sultry tone in her voice as I looked over to make sure Serenity was not paying attention.
“Why?” I pulled my head back. After the dream I was in a decidedly un-sexy mood. “I'm not pretty. Never was. Look worse now.” The mare carefully brushed her hoof across my scars making my mouth twitch.
“Well.” She seemed to be looking past me. “It was never your face I was interested in.” She grew a sly smile as she looked at something past my face. “I swear that thing is a lethal weapon.”
“What are yo-” I cut myself off when I realized what exactly she was staring at. “Oh... uh.” And I blushed harder.
With a cunning smile she pulled away from me. “Sorry, hon, it's just seeing a big mare like you blush like a school filly. It's adorable.” I had been called many things, but adorable was not one of them. That might have had something to do with the fact I was a giant freak of nature, rippling with muscles, thick of body and thick of head. In essence, if you took everything cute, and flipped it, you would get me.
Some ponies just had weird tastes.
“Stop hittin' on my momma,” Serenity said super seriously as she walked over to us.
“I was flirtin' with her, not hittin' on her.”
“What?” She tilted her head. “What's the diff’rence.”
“Semantics.” She gave a grin before trotting over to gather her supplies. “Let’s go. That ghoul you were talking to yesterday was giving me the stink eye, so I think he wants to see you.” Lovely, another chat with Lucky, just what I wanted. “I say we avoid him. He's hardly a pleasant stallion to be around.” She wrinkled her nose.
“I'm not sure I can.” Because when I spoke to him I had the unfortunate responsibility of talking to him as a representative of the Hizai, the same way he spoke to me with the authority of the NCA. Like it or not, my position gave me a sort of authority and obligation that I couldn't pass up just because he was unpleasant. “Sorry.”
“It's fine, hon, ah get it. You've got to do your duty.” She chuckled. “Ah still find it hard to believe you're working for a pony like Mr. House. I've only been to Dise a handful'a times in my life, but even ah can tell that House there is a big name, an' only works with the best... not that you're bad, hon, just...”
I was about to tell her not to worry about it when Serenity chirped in. “Actually! She got hired 'cause she had really noticeable cybernetics, and on her own she was givin' House a bad rap, an he wanted to curtail that.” She grinned, apparently quite pleased with herself.
“Thanks, Serenity.” I deadpanned as Pearly nickered. It wasn't like I was that bad before meeting House, I did manage to assassinate one of the top gang leaders in the city without anypony catching me, and even the ones who suspected it was me didn't know why I did it. Sure, it may not have been the cleanest kill, but I got the job done.
Of course, jobs like that were just going to get more and more difficult. I was able to get to Roy because he didn't know who I was, and didn't suspect that Lucky had hired me to kill him before hand. So when I set up the cards in order to get him to fall without breaking any of my contracts, and without implicating me in the crime (Molly was still the prime suspect for obvious reasons), he didn't stand a chance. Now, however, I was known by nearly every major gang leader at least in passing, and I wouldn't be able to hide my affiliation. Which meant jobs like that would have to be played without getting directly involved.
Still, killing Roy was my proudest moment. Not the actual killing (as epic as it was) but getting no less than three gang leaders to do what I wanted in order to facilitate the killing. Sure there was some ambiguity over what Mayhem knew, and Molly had gone behind my back, but it was still a fairly effective operation. Of course, none of that was news, but damn it made me smile to think about. If only I could achieve a similar effectiveness with my current gambit.
If I could actually get the different groups I helped to fight the Steel Rangers, and waste all their resources against each other to maintain the delicate equilibrium (Serenity taught me that word!) that kept Dise stable, then I was pretty sure that elevated me to Dise power player. Some ponies liked to compare politics to poker. They say it's about keeping your hand hidden, bluffing, and knowing when to fold. That was close, but not quite, because in Poker you can see all the players at the table, and who would suspect the dumb muscle actually had her own plans?
“Are you coming, hon?”
I, er, what? With a shake of my head, I was back in the world of reality, instead of living in a world where I was a genius and everything went according to plan. It was a nice dream though.
“You're not?”
“Yes, I mean no. Or...” Serenity smirked at me as I shut my mouth and started to follow them into the camp. “Sorry. Lost in thought.” If Flare was there he would have made a crack about smelling smoke. But he wasn't, so I got off without a single insult, and that meant my ego could run wild.
The NCA camp was fairly busy, with ponies running every which way. Apparently the trip south was a big deal as one in three ponies seemed ready to head out, leaving the outpost with only a small contingent. Either that or all these ponies were from elsewhere, and just meeting here for the final leg of the journey, and the contingent here was always supposed to be small.
Then I remembered I didn't actually care about NCA troop movements! And my life made sense again.
We found Lucky talking with a rather large stallion. Lucky's friend was a green I couldn't imagine existing in nature, and his mane was a yellowish orange. He was wearing the standard NCA military blue barding, but he had four golden stars in the shape of a diamond above a fancy looking symbol on his right foreleg. The stallion seemed to be in a good mood, laughing and patting Lucky on the back. Lucky didn't seem to approve of the touch.
When we approached, Lucky looked over at us in relief, “Ah, here she comes.” He looked back at the stallion. “General Scoiatel, may I present to you Hired Gun, of the Hizai.” At the introduction I strode forward. “Hired Gun, this is General Scoiatel, one of the five Generals of the NCA, commander of the Crest Division, and second in command after Major General Hailstorm herself. He arrived last night, but you were sleeping.” All of that sounded very fancy, but I didn't really understand.
The green stallion looked me up and down and whickered in approval. “I say. That is some fancy ironwork you have upon your leg.”
“Uh... thanks...” I wasn't sure what to do with somepony like him. He was clearly a pony of importance, but I was bad at showing reverence.
“What model is that, good mare? I must know.” His smile was fake, and his attitude irritated me. Also I forgot what model that was.
“It's'a Series 19-B.” Serenity was suddenly beside me and grinning. “The Series 19 was the 19th iteration of Cybernetics used in pre-war Caledonia, and's called the most reliable even though five more came out after. The -B classification indicates it is using a modified version to include a leg extender for taller soldiers. If yer wonderin', the -A class was a popular retractable blade.” She looked at my leg and then back up to the general. “Technically, this is a replica of a Series 19-B cybernetic foreleg. Mr. House made it special for Hired 'cause she was already used to the model, but hers broke...” she looked harder at my leg. “I'm pretty sure the original leg was made'a steel, while this appears'ta be an aluminium alloy. I really need'a ask House ta make sure, otherwise I could be gettin' maintenance wrong.”
General Scoiatel looked a bit shocked at the filly's loud and long interruption. “I say. Your... mechanic, I take it? I am surprised they come so young... she's not a slave is she?” He tsked at me before I could answer.
“My adopted daughter.” I might have said that a bit defensively. “She really likes cybernetics.”
“Of that I am quite aware.” He knelt down with a smile. “So you're a little mechanic are you?” Serenity put on a stubborn face and nodded. “Tell me, little dear, why do you like cybernetics?”
“Because they're cool!” The stallion laughed and started to stand up, apparently expecting just that. “And they make ponies better.” Serenity added when he was halfway to standing, making him stop in place in an odd, hunched-over position. “Ponies're flesh and bone and hair, and that stuff’s good. But sometimes it's not good 'nough. With this technology we c'n become better than our bodies, beyond our limitations! Weak ponies can be made strong, dumb ponies can be made smart. We all get better, an' when we're all better the world is too.”
“I see...” he said slowly. “You are a precocious little scamp aren't you?” What? “You, Miss Hired, I must say she must be a hoof-full, wot?” I looked at Lucky to see if he could help me, but the ghoul just gave me a knowing nod before leaving me to the crazy pony by vanishing into the crowd. “I say, let’s walk and talk. It's a glorious day, and we are just about ready to be on our merry way.”
“Sure... can they-”
“Yes, yes. Your filly, and your marefriend, can come. I'm sure anything I told you would be repeated soon after, wot.” I... was not sure what to say to that, except to wonder how this pony became one of the highest-ranking officers in the NCA. Must have been magic, or he had connections. Or he had magical connections.
The three of us (Pearly came too, I think she found the whole situation hilarious because she wouldn't stop smirking) left the gate of the camp and started down the steep set of stairs. Looking down as we walked made my stomach twist, and it was really hard not to close my eyes. It wasn't a sheer drop, but it was steep enough and high enough that my phobia apparently thought it counted. It didn't help at all that the stairs were skinny and crowded with ponies heading down.
As we walked, Serenity lectured the military pony about the different types of cybernetic limbs. She gave a detailed description of how they connected to the nervous system and listed the pros and cons between feeling and unfeeling legs. She also remarked, frequently, about how cool it was to have swords in your leg. I had to agree with her on that part, but I was sure if I tried I'd end up stabbing ponies by accident. A lot of ponies.
When we reached the bottom the General asked an interesting question. “What about other types of cybernetics?”
“You mean like eye replacements? Or-” Serenity started but was cut off. That did not endear me to this pony.
“Combat augmentations. Stealth systems, reflex enhancers, muscle supplements to make ponies stronger, bone strengthening, dermal armour.” He waved a hoof in a circle. ”Things like that, wot.”
“Huh, well. 'Course that sort'a stuff is on the market. My favourite is the high jump boosters. By augmenting the muscles used in jumping, combined with a focused blast of air and levitation talisman it allows ponies to jump nearly fifteen feet in the air!” I wasn't sure that was a combat cybernetic, but it sounded really cool. “But, it's like, anything like that tends ta be on tha expensive side, ‘cause it requires more in-depth surgery and more delicate wiring. Heck, it's possible ta create a super soldier that's almost entirely cybernetic and eats gems to power themselves, but it's so expensive ta do, it would hardly be worth the investment.”
“I see...”
“Why'da ya ask?”
“Curiosity.” General Scoitel stopped near where a group of brahmin-pulled carts were waiting. “Does it hurt?”
“Yes.” That was a fast answer. “It d'pends on tha pony a'course, but it hurts. Sometimes right after the surgery, sometimes forever and ever. It's delicate, and a single mistake can turn'a ponies life inta pain.” The large stallion grimaced before placing a huge hoof on Serenity's head to ruffle her mane. Just in case, I had Subtlety trained on his head.
“You're a smart filly. Where are you from?” He said amicably before removing the hoof.
“From Eye Glow 'riginally, but grew up mostly in Dise with The Watchers.” Serenity apparently got bored of the ground because she decided it was a great time to jump on my back, forcing me to stand sideways so we could both see Scoiatel.
“The Watchers?” The stallion was unconvinced. “From the reports I have seen, The Watchers have never properly approved of cybernetics.”
“Yer reports are wrong... or wrongish. They're mostly wrong-like. Ya see, you got 'The Watchers' who're the group what gives out medical supplies an' treatment for near as free as ya can get, then ya got 'The Church Of The Watcher.' Them’s the ones what worship The Watcher, an’ The Watcher is basically Celestia after tha war. Somethin' bout she doesn't interact with us anymore cause we disappointed her an now she watchers and waits for us'ta get back on tha right path.”
“They're related to Celestia's Promise, right? The ponies who protest Mr. House, and tried to throw the zebras out of Karkhoof?”
“Celestia's Vision.” Serenity corrected. That was good to remember, I could never seem to get it right. “They're an offshoot that wantsa force others ta turn ‘way from their sins forcefullably.” She took a deep breath. “Jeez, you keep makin' me talk so much I'm gettin' light headed! Anyway, like I was sayin' 'The Watchers' themselves don't mind cybernetics, but summa them what are affiliated dislike, so their use'a em are on the down low. They used to work mostly with Mr. House, but lately contract out ta Cerberus.” Sometimes I forgot that my filly lived in Dise much longer than me, and had a deeper understanding of how it worked. At least when it came to The Watchers.
“I see...” He nickered in approval. “I need to go tend to some business, I say, but since you've been so helpful hows-about I let you ride in the cart instead of walk.” Serenity grinned and nodded despite clearly not intending to walk at all when she had a momma-taxi. “Good show! I'll get it all set up then, I say this has been quite enlightening, wot!”
The large stallion gave his best fake smile before trotting off into the crowd, leaving us standing there a bit dumbfounded. I for one had no idea how I was supposed to comment on what just happened. “So... hon, does this happen often?” I turned my head over to Pearly who was standing quietly. “I mean, big name ponies walking up to you asking for favours.” Every damn day.
“More than ya'd think,” Serenity said proudly. “Momma is popular.”
---
Just as promised, the three of us got a cart to travel during the ride. Other than once or twice when soldiers came back to make sure nothing was missing (I'm not a trustful-looking pony), we were left to our own devices. It was a long and mostly boring trip, and while a few times the line stopped and I heard gunfire in the distance, it never lasted long. Probably just mutated animals following the large group hoping for a free meal.
Flare was dearly missed during the trip because, while Pearly was an okay story teller, she didn't really have the spunk that made Flare's tales so endearing, so we ended up listening to the radio for most of the journey. With all the repeated songs, and occasionally repeated news, that started to grate on my nerves too. At least it was better than listening to the memories of my past like in the Reconstruction Facility. I guess that was one good thing about that place. No matter how much things annoyed me, I could look to that place and remember that things could always be worse.
Eventually the group stopped, and we made camp. There was a meagre meal given out, but for the most part we slept through the night, to be ready for the next long day. Of course, when I say 'we' I actually meant Pearly and Serenity. I, for one, was in no mood for sleep after my dream the night before, so I laid on my back staring up at the stars.
They had been there for weeks by that point, but I had never really looked at them before. Sure, I’d seen them, but I never really looked. They were like little diamonds dotting the sky between clouds. There was something mysterious about them, a forlorn sense that no matter how hard I tried I would never really be able to understand what they were. At least they were pretty.
With my metal leg I reached out and tried to touch them. I didn't get close, of course, but I tried. It was funny to think that no matter how hard I tried I could never reach them, but they could come down to reach me. My leg was testament to that. A star fell a long time ago, was made into a bullet, shot into my leg, killing it and nearly me, and here I was trying to reach out to them with my replacement. It was a little bit silly, but even more than that it left me feeling small. No matter how hard I reached I could never come close to a star, but they could ruin my life without really trying.
I put my hoof back but I didn't look away. Despite all that, I liked the way they looked fading between the shifting clouds. The way they twinkled and sparkled. Maybe I should have gone to sleep, because I clearly was not thinking right.
“Hey...” A soft voice said beside me. “You're still awake, hon?”
“Yeah...” I closed my eyes. “Yeah.” Then opened them again. No way I was going to sleep. There was a shuffling in the cart before something pressed onto my chest, and I felt a warm breath. “What're you doing?”
“Ya know, for all that muscle you're still comfortable.” In the darkness I hoped she couldn't see me blush.
“Pearly...”
“Ya know,” she said softly, her breath tingling against my chest, “for all I make ya blush, I've been gettin' tha feelin' ya ain't interested in me.” Oh shit. “Or am ah wrong? 'Cause when we first met ya seemed a lot more... reciprocal. To my advances.” With a sigh I carefully put a hoof on her back and slowly rubbed up and down her spine.
“Why do you even like me?” I didn't want to look at her. She was nice, but it was true I wasn't really interested in her. Beyond the blushing, I didn't feel for this mare. Maybe if I never met Platinum Haze I would have given her a chance but... that just made me feel worse. Like I was shallow, and couldn't accept a mare who wasn't an alicorn or something.
“Now, normally, hon, you’d have to answer my question first. But 'cause you asked so nice...” she paused and sighed. “I ain't sure. You seem like a nice mare, big'n'strong, and I've always liked my mares with some meat on their bones. You're not pretty, but you got heart, and I guess I just feel like we could make somethin' special.” I guess that made sense. “Ya gunna answer my question, or did ya just plan ta fluster and confuse this poor mare?”
“Sorry...” I said softly. “It's not you... I mean. I'm... a stupid mare. Big and dumb and stupid. With issues. So many issues.” I tried to say this very seriously. “You wouldn't like me. If you got to know me. Really. I'm not... I'm troubled and... and you would get hurt.”
“And you got yer eye on somepony else? Ah ain’t gonna fall for that 'it's not you it's me' shit.” Aw, shit. “Though I'm sure you have issues. Can see it in your eyes.” It wasn't really fair to Pearly. Platinum Haze had seen a lot of my issues first hoof, and while she thankfully stayed away from Foundation, it gave her enough of an insight to understand me.
“Sorry...”
She nuzzled my chest, making my stomach flutter. “Don't be. I mean, ain't like ya can help who ya find attractive. Believe me, for the longest time I tried to convince myself I wasn't a filly-fooler.” I couldn't help but laugh. “Hey! It's not funny hon, mocking a pretty mare after breaking her heart.”
“Oh... uh...”
“I'm teasing.” She lightly swatted at my chest and laughed. “It was silly, but I learned my lesson. So I mean, ya can't help who you're attracted to, but doesn't mean ya shouldn't give others a chance. So... if it doesn't work put between you and this other pony, give me a call. Or we could just have crazy sex. I'm good at that. It'd melt your mind.” Normally I would give a cry of indignation, but it'd been so long since I’d been mind melted, I just blushed furiously and imagined how that felt.
She must have felt my excitement, somehow, and stood up slightly to look me in the eyes, blocking my view of the stars. “What do you say, big mare? Just a fun night, no attachment, no expectations.”
“Uh...” Her deep red mane fell over her face in front of her half-lidded eyes. She was really pretty and I squirmed at the thought. “Um.” It was really hard to think with her looking at me like that. “Sorry.” I hated myself. So much. I really, really, really, did. “I can't...” If Serenity weren’t sleeping a few feet away from us, I probably would have agreed. She wanted me, and while I didn't want a relationship, I did want her, but... “My daughter...”
She gave an adorable pout and looked over to the sleeping filly. With an exaggerated sigh she laid back down and returned her head to my chest. “I understand, hon, maybe another time. Until then, I claim rights to use you as a pillow.” I returned my hoof to its comforting rubbing on her back as I cursed my decision. Sometimes I was just really stupid. “Not sure how I feel about you rubbin' me down after rejectin' me.” I er, what. I carefully lifted my hoof. “I'm just teasing, hon. You're too easy.”
“You're really not mad?”
She nickered. “Mad? No. I could never be mad 'cause a pony made a reasonable choice... I'm upset though. Not at you, just, you know. I want you ta be happy, but I'd be happy if ya said yes.”
“I know... but...”
“Your daughter, I understand.” I stared back up at the stars to clear my mind. “You know, when I heard you adopted her, I wasn't sure. You're not always the nicest pony, hon, and you're not sharp. No offence but, well you know.” Yeah. “But you really care for her, don'tcha? That means a lot, I think. So I'm not that mad you turned me down. It was to do right by her, and that poor filly deserves it.” Serenity deserved more than me, she deserved everything. If I could pluck the stars from the sky and give them to her I would... then I remembered my metal leg and decided that might not have been the best idea.
“They're pretty,” I said stupidly.
“What, hon?” Pearly replied sleepily.
“The stars. Look.” She tilted her head towards the sky and a smile formed on her muzzle.
“Yeah... yeah they are.”
We just rested there in the starlight and thought of better times. Eventually, Pearly fell asleep on my chest, her breath blowing at my coat. She really was a beauty, and no sane mare would’ve have turned her down. Too bad she had to ask me. With a sigh, I turned and looked up at the stars and stayed awake. I didn't want to sleep, sleep made the nightmares come, and I was too content to let them take that moment away from me.
---
The morning came and I must have fell asleep at least for a little bit because Pearly was nudging me awake. After thanking Celestia that I didn't have any dreams, I opened my eyes. Our personal cart was on the move already, at least judging by the way I was bumping along. My head was pounding, and my sweaty mane was sticking to my face. I hated morning.
“Wake up, sleepy.” Pearly nudged me. “Some ponies brought breakfast. They seemed annoyed we got to ride. Why do we get to ride, hon?”
“Hizai.” I rolled over and started nosing through my bag looking for... well it was pretty obvious what I was looking for. “Special privileges. House always wins. Blah blah blah.” I jammed the vial of Med-X into my leg. As soon as the medication hit I let out a sigh of relief. In an instant it felt as if all my worries had washed away, and ponies wondered why I used this stuff.
“Hon...” Oh yeah, Pearly was there. Judging me. “What are you doin'? Are ya hurt?”
“I'm coping.” Oh, and I was coping so well.
“Hon...” She started but I really didn't want to hear it.
“Remember my face.” I poked at the scar tissue. “It helps with that. And the constant surgery. Lots of cybernetics. Little rehab. Okay? Is that good enough? Fuck.” She looked a bit shocked and just slid over a meagre plate of food. I ate it slowly, and it did nothing to improve my mood. Why couldn't ponies just let me have that one thing that actually stopped me from feeling like shit. Was that so much to ask?
Pearly was a bit distant after that... I didn't mean to offend her, or to get mad, it was just annoying that every other pony in the wastes could have their own vices, but I wasn't allowed. Because obviously I was too dumb to know what I was getting myself into. Not like I tricked a god or anything.
My mood only improved slightly when Serenity awoke. I wasn't entirely sure why Pearly frustrated me so much that not even Serenity could pull me out of it. Chances were I would have to apologize by the time the day was over, but at the time I just felt like fuming. Serenity’s a smart filly, always quick on the uptake, so she realized my malaise and spent her time playing with Scootaborg and annoying, I mean talking to, the pony leading the brahmin pulling the cart.
Pearly didn't talk to me for a while after that, and instead rested as far away as she could from me (The cart was fairly small, and full of other supplies as well.) reading a book. A few times I caught her looking over at me with sad eyes, but I pretended not to notice. I really didn't want to have another fight, if it could even be called a fight. If one side is a raging bitch for no reason, is it a fight? I was going to have to apologize, I knew, but I didn't want to despite it all.
Eventually my scowl faded and I looked over to Pearly. She was still staring at the book in front of her. “Listen.” She flipped a page with her magic (my shoulder burned, but this should not be news), waited a second, then looked over. “Sorry.”
She smiled sweetly. “It's fine, hon.” She turned back to her book. Well that was anticlimactic. “You've had a rough week. But you shouldn't blow up at your friends. For next time.” She didn't sound angry, but she certainly felt angry. With a sigh, I just let it go. It just wasn't worth pushing. I’d said my piece, and now we just both had to cool down.
Sometimes I sound reasonable, and that is just scary.
With nothing better to do, I hefted up my pipbuck and flicked on the radio to Mr. New Haygas. If nothing else, his soothing voice would help calm my mind. “Well, hello there Wasteland, have I got news for you. Hold onto your hats because I'm about to lay it on yo-”
“Momma...” My radio show was interrupted by something far more important. Without a second thought, I flicked off the radio and looked down at my filly. “Can we talk, I uh, need'a ask a question. Might be 'portant.” I nodded and Serenity and looked over at Pearly. She got the hint and inched further away, pretending not to eavesdrop.
“What's wrong, Serenity?” She seemed reluctant, so I wrapped a leg around her and pulled her in close. I think it helped, but I was never really sure.
“Um, do ya remember back at Bridle Hope hope, Uncle Meadow... or... your brother.” She wrinkled her muzzle, “Can I call him Uncle?” There was no way around this, so I just nodded. “Uncle Meadow said somethin' 'bout me bein' yer 'New' daughter. Don't that mean you had an 'old' daughter too?” Just then, the cart shuddered to a stop, and my heart mimicked it.
Shit.
Shit shit shit. And might I just add, shit.
There was no good way to have this discussion. None whatsoever. No matter how this talk went, it was going to go badly. At best she'd think I was irresponsible, and at worst she'd leave me altogether after losing all faith in me. How could I tell her that? Some secrets are best kept in the dark. But how could I lie to her? After everything we'd been through, I didn't think I could do it to the filly. Not now, when she seemed so concerned.
“Uh...” My heart pounded against my chest so loud I could hear it, and I could feel a cold sweat start down my back. “Um...” My stomach twisted itself into knots, and my mouth felt really dry.
“Momma? A-are you okay. You look pale.” Fine. Just fine. I was just a helpless pawn in a game bigger than I could imagine, risking my life for ideals I didn't believe in, all the while putting a filly I couldn't protect into danger time and time again. How was I supposed to save one, when I couldn't save the other. What gave me the right to drag Serenity into danger as visions of lengths of rope invaded my every waking thought. How could I-
“Momma you're shaking.” No... I wasn't shaking I was panicking. There was a difference. “M-momma...”
“Yes.” Yes I had an old daughter. And then she... “Yes. Long ago.” It was not that long ago, and it most certainly was not long enough. “I...” Felt like running away. I hated that feeling. Every sense felt more real, everything I saw reminded me of my past. I just needed something, anything, to connect me back to reality. Where I was a big strong assassin, not a helpless mare watching as her child...
“What happened to her...?” Serenity said quickly before realizing her mistake and clamping a hoof over her mouth. “Ah mean! Ya don't need'a... I was just... don't be upset...”
“Sorry.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The breath filled up my chest, and I held it so long it started to sting. I focused on that sensation, the twinge of pain as my body called out for breath. Slowly I let out a long slow breath before inhaling deep once more. The rhythm helped. It gave me focus, a place to ground myself. Force back the memories and all the emotions that came with them. It wasn't easy, but I couldn't cry in front of Serenity.
“Sorry.” Inhale. Exhale. “It's not... a happy story.” Inhale. Exhale. “I'll tell you some day.” Inhale. Exhale. “But... not today. Please.” Inhale. Exhale. “So another time.” Inhale. Exhale. “But...” Inhale. Exhale. “Serenity... no matter what.” Inhale. Exhale. “I still love you.” Inhale. Exhale. “With all of my heart.”
Inhale. Exhale.
“I... I gotcha momma. Sorry. I didn't mean'a...” She hugged me hard. “I love'ya too. Sorry about what happened to... her...” I winced a bit too much and she looked up in shock. “Oh, I'm...”
“It's fine.” I reached down and mussed up her mane. “Really.” she nodded sadly and let go of me.
“I'm just... I'll be workin' on Scootaborg. So ya can think or... whatever...” She bit her lower lip, took one last look, and trotted off.
That... could have gone better. I was still not calm by any sense of the word, but I was no longer freaking out. And at least I figured I had sated Serenity's curiosity for the time being. With any luck she would never bring up Foundation again... though I was sure she would. It was in her nature to be curious. At the very least, then, she didn't completely hate me for my repeated failures as a mother, at least not yet.
I banged my head against the bottom of the cart with a heavy thunk. The thoughts were coming back. What I really needed was something, anything to distract me from them. Thankfully, for once, Celestia heard my prayers.
“HIRED GUN!” Of course the distraction she sent me was Major Lucky. I'm not sure if that was a good thing or not. “Get your ass up.” I lifted my head up and turned to the ghoul. He was as ugly as he ever was, and looked none too pleased. Not that he ever looked pleased. “General Scoitel wants to see you, now.” Judging by the way he spoke I could tell he would broker no questioning.
“Okay...” I slowly got to my hooves and jumped off the cart. He seemed a little surprised that I didn't ask him anything, but I was really not in the mood. I'd just listen and follow and let whatever was going on overpower the conflict in my head.
The caravan was one of the largest I'd seen. Not for the amount of supplies brought along, but by the sheer number of soldiers accompanying it. Of course when you're escorting a high ranking General and a famous Major, you make sure you have enough ponies around to frighten away any threat. Not even the dumbest raiders would risk attacking so many ponies. The only things that would even try to attack would be monsters, and even most of those were smart enough to steer clear.
As we walked forward through the mass of ponies, I noticed I could see Dise. Its towers and skyscrapers stuck into the sky like a dirty splotch on the horizon. The largest tower stared at me still. No matter which direction I was from Dise, the giant pink pony head always seemed to be looking at me with its glowing eyes.
When we got to our destination though, I realized I'd much more dangerous glowing eyes to deal with, because standing there blocking the road were two Steel Rangers. One of the steel rangers was a small green mare in a brown scribe’s robe, and though she had a grenade machine gun on her back my EFS marked her amber. The other though was showing a red tick though, and on his armoured back was a... thing. It was made of a long tube cut in half so the bottom part was carrying a strange glowing ball, and the top was open to the air. I may have been wrong, but it looked like it was a type of catapult to throw whatever that glowing ball was. As we got closer though, my shoulder started to throb and ache, and I knew what that glowing ball was.
“They have a megaspell!” I whispered hurriedly to Lucky.
“A Balefire Egg.” A what? “And a B.E.L. It's the only reason we haven't just killed them.” Part of me had to wonder if that toy wasn't one of the weapons they found hidden in the facility. This was exactly why I needed to tell the other gangs, to even the odds. Because right now it simply was not fair. Though I had to enjoy the irony of the last remnant of the Equestrian army having to take supplies from a Caledonian military facility in order to survive. That's irony right? I'm not sure what irony means.
“I say, here she comes now.” General Scoitel did not smile at me when I approached as he had the last time we spoke. “This is the mare you're looking for, wot?”
The Steel Ranger who was carrying the weapon so large I was sure he was overcompensating looked at me. “What is your name?” It sounded like he found the whole thing very amusing. His scribe, however, didn't seem amused at all. She stared at me with a determined look.
“Hired Gun,” I said sharply.
“Yes, you are, aren't you. Did you really think you could escape?” Apparently somepony had been taking Blackwater lessons.
“Actually, yes.” Doing verbal battle with idiot Steel Rangers really helped clear my mind. “And I did. In fact, I’ve escaped twice, now. Your record is shaky.”
“Yes, Elder Blackwater has noticed this. Which is why I'm not here to capture you.” He was here to kill me, and the scribe was going to take my pipbuck off my corpse just in case. I hated it when ponies finally smartened up, but it was about time they started realizing I always escaped. Usually in some brilliantly fantastic show of wits. Or shooting. Either way.
“Oh.” I did my best to sound upset, but I was a bad actor. “Is that what that thing is for?” I waved my cybernetic leg at his weapon.
“This is a B.E.L. It shoots miniature balefire bombs. And by ‘miniature,’ I mean it'd still kill every pony here and leave their corpses irradiated.” I already knew that. “I brought it to make sure whoever was harbouring you would give you up...” He paused. “And because, well, you survived that Facility and managed to escape. Blackwater wants to make absolutely sure you're dead this time. You might call it overkill, she'd call it assurance.”
I grimaced just a little bit before looking over to Major Lucky. “Tell me. How well did balefire kill you?”
The Major actually laughed and lifted up a ghoulified hoof. “Well. It killed me. I just got better.”
“So, whoever you are,” I addressed the steel clad ranger. I would taunt the scribe too, but her intense look was kind of off putting. “Do your worst. And when you're done? I'll climb out of the crater. Fight my way through every last one of you. And kill Blackwater myself. You tell her that. Tell her you killed me. And that I'm going to kill her back.”
Truth be told, I'd no plans to die easily. It was clear to me that the NCA had sold me out, but I couldn't really blame them. It was either they gave me up, or he'd bomb the entire caravan into submission and kill me anyway. Sure, it sucked, but I wouldn't hold that against them. Not that it mattered. I resolved not to die. Serenity still needed me, Flare still needed me, and Dise needed me to stop them. I didn't go through that hell of a facility only to die like a chump.
“Sorry, Hired. I hate to do this, but...” The General looked at me with a frown. “I am charged with the protection of my ponies, and right now it's between you or them.” If the entire caravan fired, they would be able to take down the one Steel Ranger, but not before he got a shot off, and that one shot would be devastating. My life wasn't worth that, not to him anyway.
“It's fine.” I said. I still had Subtlety, and she could pierce Steel Ranger armour. All I'd to do was follow him along, then kill him before he got a chance to fire. If he tried to take her from me I would just jump him and smash his skull in. It has been proven multiple times that while Steel Ranger armour is tough, it's not tough enough to stop me, but of course few things were.
“You.” The Scribe spoke and suddenly everyone looked at her. The small green mare was still looking at me with strangely focused eyes. “What is your designation?”
“Shut up, Breeze,” the armoured ranger hissed.
“What is your designation?” she repeated. Her voice seemed to lack inflection, and was creepy enough nopony stopped her.
“I'm a Hizai.”
She nodded and repeated, “What is your designation?”
“Hired Gun?”
“What is your designation?”
“Silver Storm.”
“What is your designation?”
It was then it hit me what she was asking for. With a sly smile I nodded knowingly to the scribe and said, “Star-Mare.” Then I asked her, “What is your designation?”
She whispered, “Wishing Star.” Her leg suddenly shot out sideways (I wasn't sure ponies could move like that), as a blade shot out from it. The cold steel slammed into the Steel Ranger’s armour piercing it just enough for him to cry out. Before the stallion could retaliate, the mare jumped and twisted in a way that shouldn't have been possible. She landed on the Ranger’s back with all four legs stabbing into him.
“Fuck! Get off! Fuck, shoot, shoot dammit.” Everyone was too stunned to move. He was trying to fire, but couldn't. “Get off, Breeze!” He tried to struggle, but it looked like his armour was starting to shut off.
The mare was silent as she lifted reared up on his back, her bloody blades glinting in the sunlight, and drove her hooves into the back of the stallion’s head. There was a sickening crunch, a gasp, and slight shudder from the stallion before he fell over into a heap. Blood pooled around his lifeless body from his wounds.
“What the hell are you!” Major Lucky demanded to know as the mare strode forward. The mare ignored him, and instead ripped off the scribe’s cloak and started towards me.
As she moved, she started to... change. Her green coat shimmered and faded revealing a deep golden coat hidden partially under a plethora of cybernetics. All four of her legs turned from pony legs to deep black metal legs that seemed to be made from many plates of shifting metal, and designed to look almost pony like, if only from a distance. Her torso seemed mostly pony-like, save for a metal line running down her spine, and a few instances of wiring that had reached the surface. When she stared at me I say her eyes were glowing green like mine, and in her mouth were many metal teeth. Of course, the most noticeable change was the face she was not a mare, but a stallion. The green mare called 'Breeze' was gone, and in her place was a black and gold cyber-pony who was undoubtedly a Hizai.
“You are Designation Star-Mare.” It was not a question, but a statement. “I have been instructed to escort you to Mr. House.” I realized that when I had felt magic before, it wasn't just the B.E.L., but also whatever magic he was using to make that disguise.
“How did you do that?!” Just looking at him made me feel self-conscious about my low-grade cybernetics.
“That information is classified.” He paused and stared into space. “I am allowed to inform you the disguise system is based off of Changeling magic.” Changelings? I'd always thought they were just a myth. Of course back in Marefort, I’d thought pegasi were a myth too.
“I mean. To...” I looked at the dead body.
“I disconnected the wiring to his battle-saddle in his helmet. I then damaged the powering system in his back. Then I killed him. Do you have another enquiry?” He stood eerily still as we spoke. The other ponies who had been watching just sort of stared.
“You're a Hizai.”
Other ponies would have looked at me like I was an idiot (Major Lucky and General Scoitel actually did), but he simply nodded. “Affirmative. Our mission is to escort you to Mr. House. You are currently not authorised to know the nature of our previous missions.” You know what, I was good with that. Flare did good getting the word to Mr. House. Now if only I knew where he was. It wasn't like him to leave and not come back.
“I say, good show.” General Scoitel walked over. “You did good, son, really had us going.” The General had returned to his amiable facade, and tried to pat Wishing Star on the back.
The Stallion slid away faster than he had any right. “I request you do not touch me, or else I will be forced to retaliate.” He turned his head to look the General in the eyes. “You have Mr. Houses thanks for escorting designation Star-Mare. Mr. House requests you take us the remainder of the way.”
“Uh, Sure, son. You deserve it for that show.” The General backed off and whispered something to the Major.
“So...” The stallion snapped his head back to me as I spoke. “Your designation is Wishing Star. What is your name?”
“My name is whatever Mr. House desires it to be. I am designation Wishing Star, you are required to call me by this name.” I, okay. “Mr. House is curious as to the outcome of your mission. It is hoped you did not disappoint.” He was really starting to creep me out.
“I'll, uh, inform him. Upon. Arrival.” That was fancy right? “Uh. I'll take you... to our cart.” If nothing else, it'd be amusing to see Serenity beg to take him apart and see how he ticked.
---
Serenity did not disappoint. Her reaction upon seeing Wishing Star was something between a gasp, a squeal, and a cry of excitement. I had to physically stop her so she wouldn't touch him. After a little bit of coaxing to both of them, Wishing Star agreed to let her study the cybernetics on the condition that she did not, under any circumstance, touch them. So for the remainder of the ride Pearly and I watched Serenity interrogate the poor cyborg.
Most importantly though, Wishing Star let me take the B.E.L and keep it. It was one of the happiest days of my life.
After the cybernetic inspection and brahmin-pulled cart ride, we finally made it back to Dise. We stood before the great wall that surrounded the city. How long had I been away from the city? It felt like forever. There was so much I had to do now that I was back, so many ponies I had to talk to. Before, I’d tried to escape the city, but now it kept drawing me back. It was, for better or worse, my home, so I had to get used to that.
The Ponitrons at the front gate let Wishing Star, Serenity, and me in, but they stopped Pearly. I gave her a few caps, told her where to find the casino-hotel-thing, and promised to help her get into the city once I got paid for the job. I'd have more than enough to ensure she got in, but after that I wasn't sure I would be able to get her a job.
Then we entered the city.
It was like walking into a different world. The sheer volume of ponies filled up my EFS almost instantly. Just being past the gate assaulted my senses: the neon lights of the hotels shining, the sweaty smell of a thousand ponies, the sounds of so many ponies talking, and the feeling of burning in my shoulder from the near constant abuse of magic. The wasteland was nice, but this was civilisation. The last refuge of ponykind. At least until the gang war, minotaurs, or secret conspiracy destroyed it. Of course, since this was Dise, I'm sure half the ponies had placed a bet on how exactly it would get destroyed.
The cyberpony escorted us to The BS, seemingly not noticing all the gawking ponies staring at him. It was a fairly quiet walk (Flare still hadn't found us, and I was starting to get worried) as Wishing Star didn't seem to speak unless spoken to, Serenity was too busy staring at him like a filly with a crush (that’d better just be a simile, because Serenity was not allowed to have crushes) and I just rarely spoke. Or I tried not to.
Eventually we made our way up the BS, and waited in front of Mr. House’s door.
“Momma,” Serenity said, looking up very seriously as we waited. “You need more cybernetics.” Somehow I knew that was coming. Before I could say anything she cut me off. “Not just 'cause they're cool, but they could help. Like when we were in tha facility, and didn't have any weapons. If you had, like, a stealth system and blade arms, ya could'a tore those robots apart. There's a thousand different cybernetics you could have that'd help ya, and since you're already a cyborg, why not get more?” I guess that made sense.
“Maybe...” I looked over at Wishing Star who stood very still as we waited. As useful as I’m sure his cybernetics were, I was quite positive I didn't want to look like him. It wasn't because I was afraid of losing my identity as a pony (Honestly I thought ponies who thought that to be even stupider than me) but because I kind of liked physical touch, and I wasn't that fond of the cybernetic aesthetic. Not that there would be anything wrong with more subtle augmentations. “Did you have any suggestions?”
“Well ya might wanna cloaking system. Kinda like stealth-bucks, but it recharges based on yer power so it lasts longer. Maybe some sort'a auto-healer that injects health potions during fights. Oh, and definitely a sword leg! Those are super cool, and useful.”
Wishing Star looked over at me. “I can confirm the versatility of said augment.” That was a ringing endorsement. “Do you require our opinion?”
“Sure,” I said. Serenity agreed with me by nodding excitedly. She apparently really wanted to hear what this cybernetic god had to say.
“I would suggest dermal armour. A combination of skin strengthening, and superdense armour plating under your hide. It'd decrease the damage done by bullets, and make you harder to injure...” He looked very seriously at me. “It is my understanding you are often hurt, and this would assist. In addition, you may find a stealth system useful.” He suddenly lifted his head up. “Mr. House is free.”
“How... do you know.” I looked around the hall. Then I remembered he was very cybernetically enhanced. “Radio system built in?” The stallion nodded. That made perfect sense, too. So I helped Serenity onto my back (She liked to be there when I was talking, so ponies would pay attention if she said something) put my new B.E.L and Subtlety outside the door (Shouldn't walk in on your boss ready to kill), and entered the room.
As we entered Mr. House turned off one of the panels on his huge computer system and turned to us. Actually, he turned to Wishing Star and nodded approvingly. “Wishing Star, report,” he rasped, walking over to us.
“Yes, Sir.” The cybernetic pony stood perfectly still as he spoke. “Our first assignment was to infiltrate the base of Baises and report on how Molly was able to hold onto power despite the dislike of her kind in the city. We found the information within three days of infiltration. The answer is real and legitimate threats to a pony resulting in death if her race is brought into question. Upon joining the organization I was given a video to watch. It has been recorded and I will present it here as it has been deemed clearance beta.”
Without another word the stallion trotted over to the large screen in the far side of Mr. Houses room (the one where House first tried to convince me he was just a head on a screen) and did something. It looked like he plugged a wire into his leg...
The screen flickered on and went fuzzy before changing. The scene appeared to be some sort of party around a large boardroom table and our view was from a security camera that showed the length of the table. The only pony I recognized was Molly at the head of the table, and only because I recognized her black hat. “We were informed that this was the day after Molly took control of the Baises when her mother passed away.” Wishing told us.
The first part of the video was fairly normal. There was a party. Ponies were drinking, and talking, making it so loud I could barely hear what any one pony was saying. That was until one pony at the far end of the table slammed his hoof down. His was a green earth pony with a yellow mane, and could have been mistaken for Molly's brother had he been a mule. All at once the crowded quieted and the green mule at the end of the table lifted her hat up some. “Uncle, are you upset?”
“Upset...” he lifted his head up and looked around at the ponies staring at him. “Upset! My father... built this organization. He took over this building, and made us into something. For you... you. A bastard-born bitch to take control. You... mule.” He spat. “This city was built by ponies. When the world was destroyed, ponies built it back up again. We kept it running. Ponies made this organization, ponies made it great, to see your kind trying to take control of it, it makes me sick.”
Molly did not answer. Instead she pulled a sawed-off shotgun out from under the table, held it in her fetlock, aimed it across the table, and shot him in the chest. “Really? That’s what you have to say?” She fired again. The slug slammed into his head jerking it back in a spray of blood before he slumped back over the table. “Listen up, you rats.” She climbed onto the table, kicking away a glass of wine, and looked around expressionless. “I'm an open molly. I'll listen your complaints. Your questions. Your concerns. But, if you ever question me because I'm a mule.” She cocked her shotgun. “You know the rest.” She walked back to her seat, and the party continued.
“I have deemed this reason, along with the good work she has done for the Baises, is enough for the ponies in her order to not turn against her.” The video shut off and Wishing faced us again.
“Thank you, as for your other assignment?”
The cyborg looked at me. “I have deemed it classification Alpha, Designation Star-Mare does not have the appropriate clearance to be privy to the details. I request she is asked to leave, or I inform you another time.”
Mr. House nodded. “Just so. Be on your way then, I have things to discuss with Star-Mare.” The cyborg nodded and left the room at a measured pace. “So, what did you think?” I blinked. Because that was a vague question. “I bought him off a slaver, gave him the choice to live free or work for me. I saved him, so he worked for me. All of those augmentations you see he took by choice. Now he's my best warrior, and head of the infiltration department of the Hizai. Technically. He is not very proactive, but he follows directions to the letter.”
“His cybernetics are so cool!” Serenity said that. If it wasn't obvious. House even seemed to chuckle a bit at that.
“He's... nice. I really like his... uh... legs.” I coughed into my hoof.
“Yes, I thought you would. Which reminds me. I had that pegasus friend of yours...” Flare! He was around. I guess he stayed in Dise after he spoke to Mr. House, because he knew it'd be too hard to find me. “Put some magazines in your suite. High level augmentations. I suggest all members of the Hizai get whatever best suits their job. Now tell me, why did this job take you over a week, and why now are the Steel Rangers trying to kill you? Did you at least get it done?” His voice was calm, but he looked furious. “And what happened to your face?”
“High Stakes. He shot me...”
“I knew I shouldn't have trusted him. I take it you killed him?”
I winced and shook my head. “Let me explain though! Do you know of the mountain facility, the one Wallkirk founded?”
“Yes. I had spies in there before the war, but never anypony of a sufficiently high level. My knowledge is sparse at best, and I lost all contact with them when the bombs fell.” I think I knew what happened to them. “Why?”
“My pipbuck. It has a password to all of the facility’s locked doors. Terminals. And barriers. If you can find the robot level. It'd probably turn them off too.” The ghoul's eyes literally sparkled. “He shot me. Sold me to the Steel Rangers. They threw me into the facility. We... managed to escape. I know a way in. I know a way into the section where Caledonia was working on experimental cybernetics.” It was one of the four entrances I’d found, and the best suited for Mr. House.
“I'm... impressed. Your pegasus friend had me thinking you'd all but gotten yourself killed.” Well, there was that too. “Where is this entrance, not near any Steel Rangers, right?”
“Yeah...” I waved at the computer. “Can you bring up a map?” Mr House seemed annoyed at the request but obliged me. “Here.” I pointed at the approximate location judging by the indoor and outdoor map. “It might be hidden. A warning though. It's dangerous. Lots of robots. And weird magic...” He raised an eyebrow. “I'd say have teams go in to scavenge. Another waiting outside. Have them report every five minutes. If they don't, send an evac team to clear them out. Quickly. And lots of Spark pulse weapons.”
“There's voices in there too!' Serenity added. “Tha scary kind, tell'em not ta get too scared, an not ta sleep. If they see weird thingies, not ta follow. Okay?”
“Duly noted...” He looked a bit surprised that I’d managed to get all this information. Or was that scepticism. “I'll send a team over there as soon as I can, and you will be kept on call if your password is needed.” I nodded. “Now. This is good. What about your actual job?”
“I tried to stop the Crimson Hoof-”
“Who?” he cut me off.
“A northern raider gang. I have previous affiliation with them. They took over the town anyway. Then I went back and made a deal. They agreed. No tariffs or taxes will be levied.”
“Maybe I was wrong about you,” the ghoul said to me. That was kind of nice, I think. “I had expected you to die, to be honest, but not only did you complete the job, you have given me valuable knowledge and a chance at valuable supplies.” That was a compliment. I think. “To be honest, I only brought you in here today to chastise you. I had thought you failed. Instead I think I'll be giving you a raise, and a few days off to recuperate. I'll have a new assignment by the end of the week, until then, rest.”
“Thank you.” I was being polite so my next assignment would involve fewer ancient secrets and megaspell-powered demi-gods.
“For now, I have things that need to be done; it is good that my kind never sleep or I'd be much less effective. So go, I expect a full written debrief presented to Starscream by the end of the week.” Blah, I hated writing more than I hated reading. I nodded though, and went to leave his spacious office. “One more thing.” I turned to look back at him. “Tell your pegasus friend to be more discerning as to who he brings into your room. We have a reputation to keep.” Oh... kay. The only ponies I figured he would bring would be pegasi, and I guess he didn't want to be associated with them.
As soon as the door closed behind me Serenity jumped off my back, and we hoof bumped. “Nice work, impressin' yer boss! We did real good, didn't we, Momma?” Well, maybe not good. If everything worked as planned we broke even, and that was good for us.
“Real good.” I hefted up the B.E.L and Subtlety onto my back. “Let’s put this away, then I want to go see Haze.” Serenity gasped and giggled something about me having a crush before merrily leading the way to our room.
In a way, it was really good to be home. When I'd left the BS before, I did not think I was going to be gone for as long as I had, and I found myself missing the city. It was a horrible place to me at times, but things seemed to go right for me more often there than anywhere else. Most importantly though, it was mostly secure. I could rest in Dise, unwind, and let my brain work though everything that had happened to me. To us.
It had been a harrowing experience to be sure, but for some I was really excited to tell Platinum Haze about what had happened. Just to see her again, to talk to her. I'd thought before it was just a silly crush because she was pretty... and it was a silly crush, and she was pretty, but she was more than that. I could only hope she still liked me despite my face. It was foalish of me to dismiss her out of hoof before. Yes I had issues, but I realized that most of those problems could be resolved just by taking it slow. I didn't need a 'true love' but I could really use the comfort of a casual marefriend. Maybe start out with a date or something...
Blah blah blah not a filly-fooler. I'm not even sure why I keep saying that.
Eventually we reached out room. Serenity jumped up, turned the handle, and opened the door.
Inside was Flare, lying on top of very well-endowed stallion on the couch. Scattered around him and across the room were dash inhalers and whiskey bottles. When I walked in, Flare looked up at me, blushed hot red and gulped. “Hired! You're... early...” His eyes scanned the many empty vials of dash. “I can... explain...”
“Go on...” I wasn't even really sure what to say to that. My mind just went into a complete halt at the scene.
“Curly Fries... it's his fault...” Seeing as the prostitute was clearly not Curly, I found that hard to believe. “Really...”
Level Up!
Skill Note: Speech 75, Unarmed 75
((A/N: Another late chapter. I do apologize once again and am trying to do better in the future. But it is here, and I’ve hit another milestone. So here’s to the ten thousand of you that read the prologue. I love you guys. I also love Kkat and the story she created, and my editors theBSDude, Menti, and Mint Julep. Cheers! )) |
No One | 662 | 24 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-08-24T08:34:58+00:00 | 2012-08-24T08:34:58+00:00 | 15,455 | Time Off
“Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.”
I kicked Flare off the whore, then I hooked my metal foreleg around the other stallion and lobbed him out the door. Perhaps I threw a bit too forcefully because he hit the opposite wall and slid down it in a daze. After slamming the door so hard I cracked the frame, I spun and focused my rage on the smirking pegasus.
“You Should See The Look On Your Face,” he said in between giggle fits. “Priceless!” He just laughed there on the floor, kicking his legs and flapping his wings. He was high as fuck.
So I kicked him in the gut and turned his laughter into a gasp for breath. “What the fuck Flare?! Dash? Really?” I couldn't give a damn about his stallion-whore friend. He was allowed to fuck whoever he felt like, but going back on Dash? Didn't he give me a big speech in the facility about overcoming addiction? And now this.
He didn't respond right away, so I took a step closer. “Momma don't!” Serenity cried from behind me. “You're hurting him!” Good! He was supposed to be the model I was going to follow. A way to prove to myself that I could kick my addiction by looking at his example.
“Listen To Your Daughter.” Flare scrambled away and flapped into a corner.
“Why Flare? I thought you said you kicked this? You're going to relapse for the sake of a bastard li-”
“Yeah, Fuck You Too, Hired.” He held his stomach where I kicked him. “I've Fought For You, Bled For You, Killed For You. High Stakes Is An Idiot, But You're Not Much Better.” He spoke fast and loud, and I wondered if he could even control the inflection of his voice. “High Stakes, Hired Gun, Serenity, Mr. House, The Enclave, The Steel Rangers, The Reconstruction Center, Simple Heart, Timber, Bridle Hope, Bitter Steel! It's Too Much! Something Had To Give.” He gasped. “Something... I Needed It, I Needed Its Help. It's Too Much. It Was Dash Or I Break Down.”
I wasn't sure how much of what he said was true. It was a lot of stress, but I honestly thought that this was about High Stakes more than anything. It was easier when High Stakes betrayed him, but that message shifted the blame to just about everyone including Flare.
“Buck up! You're a stallion, act like one. You're better than-” He cut me off.
“Hired 'Give Me Your Med-X' Gun Is Telling Me To Quit?” I grit my teeth and took the insult. “Yeah... That Makes Sense. You're A Hyp-”
“SHUT UP BOTH'A YOU!” Somehow Serenity stood between us, though I wasn't sure when she got there. “Flare, ya go take a shower, Silver, we're gunna go see Haze. Both'a ya are gunna be 'part for tha rest of tha day, an tomorrow when ya cooled down ya can talk.” I don't think she was allowed to decide that. “Ah'm serious. It's late, an I don't want ya two bickerin' all night.
“Sure!” Flare grinned, clearly still tweaked out of his little pony mind. “I'll Just Have To Go Apologize To The Mustangs For Damage To Their property An-”
“No whores.” I glared at Flare. “Not in my room.”
He just pouted, “No Fun.” My glare seemed to bring him down. “Oh, Well, Fine Then. Tomorrow With The Talking. I'm Looking Forward To It! No... Wait, The Opposite Of That!” Or not. The urge to kill him was rising; it was lucky for him that Serenity was there. “Well, Go Now,” he said.
Ugh, this was just sucking. With a little bit of annoyance I started to leave until I remembered walking around the city with a B.E.L. might just be a bad idea. Reluctantly I set the weapon near the door and glared over at Flare. “If you touch this. I will kill you. A lot.”
“Yeah, Yeah,” Flare said. Which really raised my confidence and my spirits.
I spun around, walked out, and slammed the door. Words cannot express how angry I was, but the closest guess I can think of is that it felt like I'd taken another dosage of Rage. I stomped my hoof once and stared at the imprint it made on the floor. It wasn't enough though. I don't know why it upset me so much to see him regress like that, but it really did.
“Momma, c'mon. Haze is waiting.” Yeah. That was good at least. Serenity tugged on my leg some and I reluctantly looked up and shook the anger out of my head. I could deal with it later, for now I had to see Haze. To see how I felt. It was important. I started walking down the hall, slowly at first, but steadily picking up speed.
How long had it been since I'd seen the alicorn? It must have been over a week, but I couldn't seem to figure out exactly how many days. Too many, of that I was sure. Hopefully she would even want to see me. I did turn her down, and I wasn't exactly prettier now. She always seemed nice, but she was also annoyingly gorgeous and her standards would have to be above my scarred hide. It was clear that I'd made a mistake by turning her down before, but I could rectify that. We just had to keep it slow. Give us both time to adjust. That makes sense, right? Well it would have to because that was my plan and I was sticking to it.
Of course, when I was deep in thought I wasn't looking where I was going and ran face first into Starscream. Well it would have been face first if I wasn't a head taller than him. “The he- oh Hired.” He took a step back and retracted his sharp wings. I must have surprised him. “So you are back, it's not just a rumour. Some of the Hizai stationed here were betting on if you'd survive.”
“Of course Momma would!” Serenity said haughtily from beside me. “Nothing could kill her.”
“My thoughts exactly, little one.” He smiled sweetly at my daughter before turning his head to me. “So I owe you a drink. I am quite a bit richer now.”
“Uh... thanks.” I really hoped that wasn't him hitting on me. “Maybe another time. My day off. Need to see somepony.” Wait. “Quick question first, you hiring? I mean the hotel. Not the Hizai.” Pearly still needed a job.
“Yes, I believe so, if you have a friend who wants a job it can be arranged. So long as she doesn't mind serving drinks.” There! Something went right. The day was not a total loss. With a nod I continued back on my way. With a sheepish grin he quickly moved out of the way, “I'll have to speak to you later though.” He said as I was halfway past him. That was more than a little annoying but I turned to him anyway and raised an eyebrow. “About your pegasus friend.”
“What did he do...” My voice was low, and it was my intention to be threatening.
“He has been ordering quite a bit on your name. Drugs, whores, alcohol. From the Mustangs and Galicians mostly, which makes it more expensive. I'll have to take it out of your pay, unfortunately, unless you can convince him to pay.” My eye twitched just a little bit. “Are you okay?”
“I'm going. To murder him.” I hissed through clenched teeth.
“Well I'm afraid that won't pay your bill.”
“It'll be worth it!” I huffed. The amiable cyborg alicorn just shook his head at my display. Maybe I was just being a little bit childish about the whole affair, but that was pretty much par the course for me.
“Whatever you say.” He smirked and nodded down the hall where the elevator was waiting for me. “Oh!” he said as me and Serenity passed him, “one more thing.”
“What!” Okay, so I was getting more than a little pissed off.
“I still need that report about what happened.” Seriously? “Have fun.” He laughed and trotted off. I wasn't sure if he was enjoying my discomfort, or actually thought tedious reports were funny. Well the joke would be on him if he expected whatever I wrote to be half way legible.
So I with my bad mood, and Serenity with her fruitless attempt to cheer me up with smiles, entered the elevator. Elevator technology was still kind of strange to me, but whatever. So long as the cable didn't snap and send us tumbling to the first floor. Though it would have gotten us there quicker, as the elevator was infuriatingly slow. Not to mention quiet.
When we eventually reached the first story I stormed out of the elevator, through the main hall of the BS casino, and out the doors. The sun was just starting to set in the west so I came out of the building to look at the bright orange sky beyond the buildings and walls of Dise. It was sort of beautiful to see, even if I didn't get a good look with so much in the way. It didn't do much to put me in a good mood. It reminded me too much of fire.
---
We descended into the tunnels below Dise from the secret entrance in the east side slums. No longer did the tunnels remind me of the darkness and whispered promises. The trip through the black hell that was the eastern tunnel was a thing of the past, and while I would always carry the scars from it, it was no longer something that haunted me. Not now that I knew what caused the visions. When the orb was a mystery, dark and powerful, it hurt more, and knowing the truth, or at least part of the truth, helped. That all being said, I doubt you could pay me enough to journey back there. Which was a shame because I had made a promise to journey down there and find it no less.
I didn’t plan on doing that right then, so I kept walking. By then I'd already memorized the path to Platinum Haze's orphanage. So long as the dim lights above us didn't fail, and so long as no paths were caved in, I would be able to get there. The tunnels really were amazing, an interlocking web of passages that connected all of Dise. They seemed to spread out infinitely. A thousand different paths, a thousand unexplored corridors. Though the tunnels were populated (because they were safe, and secure, and provided much to scavenge) that was only a small fraction of the entire mass.
So much of the tunnels were unexplored. Maybe because some of the lower levels were framed in dirt, and incomplete, or because large sections lacked power. Who knew what treasures were hidden in these uncharted catacombs, who knew what mysteries lay dormate? Hopefully I never would. The reconstruction centre had filled me with more mysteries, catacombs, and hidden dangers than I ever wanted or needed. It didn't help that both were built by, or at least paid for and supervised, by Wallkirk. It seemed everything that stallion touched turned to rust, decay, and death. Of course... considered the world all but ended, the same could go for any pony who lived before the war.
It was strange to think that ponies must have built these tunnels. Real, living and breathing ponies two hundred years ago had carved under their city to make a home. Or at least that was what Wallkirk had promised. It was supposed to be a fallout centre, the world’s largest Stable. Instead it became the world's largest tomb. What would those ponies have thought, the ones who built this place, to know their years of hard work had accomplished nothing. That despite the blood and sweat they had poured into this place, nothing had been preserved except their failure. A vast network of tunnels and caverns, of would-be homes and schools, and hospitals, an underground city made for the residents of Dise, and all that was left of this promise were ruined halls and lights that barely worked.
It was a depressing thought, but a necessary one. Sometimes it was easy to forget the ponies that came before. Most everypony who lived knew that the old world burned in balefire, but the scope was hard to imagine. How many ponies could have lived in these tunnels. Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? The scale was above and beyond anything I could imagine, and this was just one city in a sparsely populated country. How many cities burned in Equestria itself? How many millions died that day?
Sometimes I wondered if ponykind still existed. Yes we were technically ponies, but as a race we were dead. We were a shambling corpse of a race stumbling around looking for one last thing to do before we kill each other off. Like maggots that eat at the flesh of a corpse we as ponies only existed to feed off the remains of our former glory, to suck the buildings dry, to scavenge the flesh and technology from the bones of the corpse of our culture. And when our meal ran out, when we scavenged the last wire and gun and light, when the flesh was gone and not even bone marrow existed to feed on, we would die off for good, after living a mere two hundred years longer than we should have.
I hated these tunnels.
Whenever I came down, here my mind travelled to a world two hundred years dead and made me think. These thoughts just made my head hurt. It was better to ignore the past, keep moving, and survive. It was the only way. Maybe the world had died, maybe our race had died, but I was still alive, and I was going to survive.
For the second time that day, I was so lost in thought I wasn't watching where I was going. I tripped on a fallen and cracked statue as I turned a corner and fell face first into the metal grate that made up the floor.
“Momma!” Serenity ran over to me head and started to shake it. “Are you awake? Were ya sleepwalkin'? You were so quiet I was sure ya were sleepwalkin!”
“I wasn't.” I mumbled blinking up at the dim light above me. The glowing tube blinked for a second and looked like it nearly went out. “I'm... good.” I looked around the hallway still tumbled over on my side. On the side of the wall was a simple wooden door with a plaque that had the word 'Wall' written on it. It looked really familiar.
“Well let’s get goin' then, ‘for ya fall 'sleep fer real.” She tugged at me in an attempt to help me it. It might have been effective were she not tiny, and I not massive. “Come. on.”
“Wait...” She stopped pulling at me and let me get up myself. “I need to see something.” I walked over to the door and studied the plaque. On the golden background the black words 'Wall' was clearly visible, but if I looked closer (I briefly lifted up my eyepatch so my cyber-eye could assist) then the faint outline of letters that had fallen off and faded were still barely visible. 'Wallkirk'. The door said said 'Wallkirk'. Looking back at the broken statue that had tripped me, I noticed that, if it had still been standing, it would have been remarkably similar to the statue that adorned the fountain in the centre of Dise.
“What is it Momma?” Serenity asked.
I should have responded, but something struck me about this door. About this place. Ever so carefully I pressed the flat of my metal hoof against the door. Then kicked. The door gave way in a shower of splinters, which made Serenity gasp and run behind me for cover.
“Sorry.” I walked through the door. “Have to see something.” The room was marginally more preserved than most in the wasteland and much more ornate. The wallpaper would have been fancy if it weren't stained and peeling, and the desk that took up most of the room would have been a marvellously thing with its golden outline, had the desk not cracked down the middle leaving the right half collapsed, and the left only standing because it was learning on the right. In order to walk over to the desk I had to carefully step around the countless papers strewn across the floor as if somepony left in a hurry. As I walked I tried to read them, but the words were smudged, and paper stiff and ready to crumble.
Off to a the side was a large full length mirror. As I passed it I couldn't help but look. It was a strange picture, seeing me reflected there in the centre of the room. The room was a fancy, if slowly decaying, picture of the old world, and I was most certainly a pony of the one that came after. Scared and broken and walking through ruins in order to find something to feed upon so I could survive one more day. I didn't belong here, the reflection seemed say, but yet there I was treading through the murky waters of the past.
“Momma, what're you doin...?” Right. I had stopped to think. That was getting annoying. I kept getting lost in thought as of late.
“Looking.” I carefully walked around to other side of the broken desk. Besides a single broken lamp, the desk was completely empty (no doubt whatever papers were on it found their way to the floor). Carefully I scanned the desk and noticed a few intact drawers on the side that hadn't completely collapsed. Upon opening them I found the first three to be completely empty, the last one however was different. It was completely empty like the others, but being close to it made my shoulder burn. That could only mean something magical.
I hefted the drawer out of its socket and placed the whole thing on the desk, studying it intently. Serenity got bored of waiting and ran across the room (disturbing the papers I had attempted to avoid) and jumped onto the desk. She poked the drawer a few times before giving me a confused look.
“Magic... I can feel it.” But what kind of magic was the real question. Apart from the fact that something about it was magical, I couldn't figure much else out.
“Huh.” Serenity prodded the drawer and lifted herself up to get a better look inside. “Oh!” she used her magic and a few seconds later I heard a pop as she lifted the bottom of the drawer out in a pink magical field. “False bottom...” She grinned. “And there's a... magical something, look.”
Sure enough, when I looked into the drawer with the bottom removed I saw a thin purple glowing shield covering where the false bottom was before. Underneath it was a small binder of papers, apparently secret like. I knew from past experiences I wasn't going to get through the magical field without a lot of ordinance, or I had the particular magical it was looking for. So instead, I flipped the shelf upside down, slammed my hoof through the bottom of the shelf, and took the papers out that way. Whoever designed this system was not very bright.
The papers were all perfectly preserved in a hard plastic binding. With all the care I could muster with my large clumsy hooves, I set the documents before me. There were four in total, but I noticed on the back of the binder it listed more. He must have taken some with him when he went... wherever it was he went.
As I started to read the first of the documents I realized I already knew what it was about. It was a carefully detailed document about what happened to Simple Heart, how he became what he was. There was also a long section about Baptisia's betrayal, as well as numerous quoted reports about who she could have been working for, and who her know allies were. The final section said it was going to detail her fate, which is why I only skimmed the rest and went straight for that. The problem was it said nothing, but told me to refer to a collaborating report.
Which I did, as said report was right there. Reading through it, I instantly got bored, which was impressive considering it was about spies and subterfuge. Maybe it would have been interesting if the spies were looking for interesting information, but instead they were looking for some book. Apparently it had some cool spells on it or something, and was a huge secret. It must have been important because according to the records he spent a lot of money just to have a single pony read it. Not even steal, just read once. Once I got to the section about Baptisia I found it referred me to yet another document.
“Momma... are you okay? Ya starin’ at that thing and we need’a go.” Yeah. I closed the reports and shoved them into my saddle bags. I could always read the rest later.
“I’m fine. Let’s go.” After pushing away from the desk I got up and walked back towards the door. This time I didn't care if I disrupted the mess of paper, and I didn't bother to look at the mirror for some more philosophical conundrum. Fuck philosophy; it was just another remnant of the past trying to scratch its way back to the surface, and all it did was make you realize how much everything sucked. I stopped at the door and took a look back into the room. There was... something I was missing. I wasn't sure what, but there was something.
“What was all that, Momma?” Serenity asked as we continued down the hall.
“Nothing important to us.” the documents felt heavy in my bags. “Just old world shit. House might want it.” Like everything else in the tunnels, it was just the old world coming back to haunt the new.
The tunnels were as still as silent as they everywhere, and there was nothing to listen to but our steady breathing and hoof steps. Maybe it wasn't so bad the ponies down here died, maybe it was a mercy. Ponies were liable to go insane down here. Of course, the same could be said for stables. Maybe I was just trying to reassure myself that what happened wasn't as monstrous as it had seemed.
We walked down a set of stairs to where Platinum Haze lived, and it was then I started to hear voices. Angry voices. Without so much as a second thought I started to run. After turning a corner I saw a disturbing scene.
Platinum Haze (when I saw her at first, I almost missed everything else going on. She was just too beautiful) was standing in a defensive position with a opaque blue bubble shield encompassing her. The more pressing issue was the fifteen or so gun toting ponies surrounding her yelling demand. The leader was a short white unicorn with a long blond mane, and a rising sun for a cutie-mark. She started to hush the crowd with a wave of her hoof.
“Serenity. Take cover.” The little filly frowned and nodded before scurrying back behind the corner we turned. Just as I started to get Subtlety ready my eyes met Platinum Haze's. To my surprise she just shook her head. She was in danger though. Why wouldn't she want help. I headed her wishes, but my stomach twisted in anxiety.
“You.” The mare challenged the alicorn with a look. “Have taken foals that belong to Celestia's Vision. I command you to return them to where they belong.” I had remembered Haze spoke of her partner travelling to where the remnants of Celestia's Vision after Karkhoof Zebra counter attack were, and bringing back the foals. It should have been expected that move wouldn't be without consequence.
“We Apologize!” Her voice seemed to boom across the room, and her eyes were glowing. “But We Cannot! The Foals We Have Taken Were Parent-less And Without Guidance! If Their Parents Are Still Alive We Will Give The Foals Up To Them, If Their Relation Can Be Proven! In Addition, We Have Asked Each And Every Foal If They Wished To Stay With Us Or Return, And All Agreed To Stay! We Will Ask Again, But Will Not Return Any Foal Who Does Not Wish To Go!”
“No, you will give them up.” The mare floated up her pistol threateningly. “I will not allow them to be with an abomination such as you.”
“We Are Sorry You Feel That Way In Regards To Us, But We Cannot Abide By Your Request!” Her voice echoed one more and the sounds of cocking guns was the reply. “Please!” Her booming voice faded turning to normal, “Do not do this, we beg of you. You are making a mistake...”
“No. You are.” A single bullet slammed into the shield.
The rest of the ponies didn't fire. Platinum Haze's horn adopted a second and third layer of glowing energy and suddenly a light blue field wrapped over all fifteen ponies weapons. There was a brief tug of war with each weapon simultaneously but the blue won over and Haze pulled every weapon away, turned them around, and pointed them at her attackers. There was a collective gulp as the group looked shock. The white pony in particular looked like she was sweating bullets as she looked down the barrel of her own pistol.
Haze's voice returned to its booming tone. “We Warned You! But You Did Not Heed!” Every single weapon in the room cocked, and I was fairly sure one of the ponies wet themselves in fear. “You Will Regret This Decision...”
All at once Haze detached the ammo feed from every weapon, and and removed every chambered bullet. There was a collective sigh of relief. It turned to more of annoyed groan though when haze bent the barrels of all the weapons in such an impressive feat of magic is made my shoulder burn so hot I almost thought it was on fire.
“We will not kill you, it is not our way.” The broken weapons clattered to the ground. “But neither shall we allow you to have the foals, if they do not wish it. Leave this place at once, you have nothing more to do here.”
“W-what I...” The mare with the rising sun on her flank gulped. The ponies around her seemed a lot less confident now that they realized they didn't have the upper hand.
“Ahem!” I said loud. Everypony looked down the hall towards me. “She might not kill you. I won’t make the same promise.” The white mare gave me a strange look I couldn't decipher and waved the ponies away. One by one Celestia's Vision started to leave the area, but it was not until the last one turned the corner I walked over to Platinum Haze.
I'll admit I was really nervous to see her again. A lot had happened and I was worried she wouldn't like me anymore. After the way I rejected her, and got all cut up, I did really deserve rejection, but I didn't want it. We could make this work, I was sure of it. If we took it slow, did things right. I really wanted it to work. “Platinum Haze, I-”
She cut me off, and I waited for the worst.
“Silver! Your face! Are you okay?!” Her voice was high and worried. She was just held at gunpoint by fifteen ponies, and she asked me if I was okay. That was the same Platinum Haze alright.
---
Platinum Haze quickly casted an invisibility spell over us (I didn't have time to explain how that hurt) and hurried us towards a... wall. Only it wasn't an actual wall given she was able to walk right through it, and so were we. Haze explained that the school was becoming known, and it was a priority to keep its whereabouts hidden at all costs. Once inside Haze and I deposited Serenity with the other foals, at Serenity's request. Apparently she made a friend before, and was excited to talk to them again. I was instantly suspicious.
The first thing I noticed once I got a look at the orphanage was how much better it looked than before. The walls had been repainted (white and pink) and most of the rubble had been moved. The lights seemed to be completely new, and a lot more magical than before. Perhaps most importantly I noticed more than one non-foal walking around the orphanage tending to tasks.
“Some have heard of us and expressed interest. We took great precaution to interview them, and we personally performed a memory spell on them to hear their true intentions.” Haze explained after nodding to one such mare. It was hard to pay attention while I stared at her majestically flowing mane, but I got the gist of it. “Diamond Sky was apprehensive about the idea, but we won her over. It has become much easier to handle with extra hooves.”
After smiling and nodding my understanding, Haze led me down to her room. It too had been refurbished and looked a lot more like an actual room rather than a dirty mattress on the floor. Haze begged me to rest on her new bed (complete with bed frame) and rushed off to speak with Diamond Sky. It didn't give me much time to think though, as she came back just as quick as she left.
Upon her return she laid down beside the bed I was on (we were roughly at eye level) and enquired as to what had happened. So I told her. It was an obscenely long story, and I may have skipped over a few parts like the visions, but it got the job done.
“And... your face...” she asked timidly looking as the web of scars that marked half my face. “It looks...” ugly. Disgusting. “Like it hurts. Are you okay, we worry.”
“Shotgun...” I rubbed the scars. They still hurt sometimes, or maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me. “Nearly died. But apparently I was 'useful.'” I chuckled bitterly. “High Stakes, like I said before. I never should have trusted him...” Flare shouldn't have either, but that ship had sailed. Now I just needed to figure out how to get Flare out of his funk, and then maybe find High Stakes and murder him.
Before I could say anything more I felt Platinum Haze wrap her hooves around my neck. “We were so worried about you. We are aware it is silly as we have not known you long... but we have not been apart from Unity long, and time is relative.” That made sense, I think, at least from what I learned about it. “We...” she pulled away, “we apologize. We are aware of your feeling, you made them clear before we shouldn't...”
“You'd still want me even though I look like something a rad-scorpion dragged home for dinner?” I gave her a slight smirk and tried my best to portray Flare like levels of humour. It makes the conversation less serious, and thus easier.
“Your good looks were never what we were attracted to, and we do not think the scars detract from your looks in any fashion.” She said simply. “We found you... fascinating. You did not treat us as anything but another pony. Even those we have hired to work here act as if we should be worshipped and feared, yet you did not. We found this comforting, and when we saw your story we were able to look past your brutish nature.” Ouch, that hurt. “We cannot fully explain our feelings, but we say this to explain that looks are not, and have never been our primary concern.”
That made sense, I think. It seemed silly in retrospect I ever thought my good looks were why she was attracted to me. Even unscathed I had been passable at best.
“B-but, we. We are aware you did not wish to pursue a relationship, we apologize.”
“Haze do-” I tried to wave a hoof to calm her down but she kept talking.
“W-we understand, really. W-we missed you thought, and were worried. You were gone for so long and we feared...” Tears seemed to water in her cat-like eyes.
“Haze, really lis-” She cut me off again, her voice starting to waver even more.
“A-and w-we understand. Really. We are simply silly for getting attached. We are sorry, we will leave you alone and-” Oh for Celestia's sake.
I leaned over and pressed my lips to hers. It was not a long kiss, or even a very good one, but it got my point across well enough. When I pulled back I saw instead of nearly crying she was blushing a hot red. It was almost impossibly adorable.
“Can I talk now?” She nodded silently. “Thank you. Haze.” I lifted her chin up with a hoof, because I really was a sap. “I was wrong. Before, I shouldn't have... I was right. I was afraid we were going to go too fast, and that would have been... wrong. Not healthy. I didn't even think of taking things slow. One step at a time. Deal with issues as they come, and tread carefully.” That sounded stupid, and I found myself blushing. I hated blushing, yet every time. “I... I like you. I'd like to get to know you better.”
“W-we would like to as well.” She seemed unsure as she looked to the ground, but quickly brought her eyes back in line with mine. “We would like it a lot.”
“I only have one condition.” She looked at me quietly, which I could only guess was giving me the option to answer. “We're never allowed to be this sappy again. Somepony could see. I have a reputation to uphold.” At first she gave me a bemused look, and I worried that my teasing had gone over her head, but it slowly turned into a small grin, and finally into a high pitched giggle.
“We apologize.” She stood up to bow. “We did not mean to jeopardize your reputation.”
“It's fine.” I nodded impassively. “The walls won’t tell. But next time.” It was simply too silly not to smile.
“Do you mind if I stay the night...?” Watch how I make a fool of myself by not thinking before I speak. “I-I mean not stay, just sleep. Not, with you, that is. It's Just. Flare, and.” I did my best to stem the rising tide of my blush. After a few deep breaths I looked back at Haze who had a bemused smirk. “Flare and I got into a... fight. It's a long story. Just need to cool off...” and he needed to come off his high. “So I need a place...”
“It is fine Silver, we do not mind. Tonight is not a night we sleep.” I'm not entirely sure that made sense.
“I thought you didn't require sleep? That's what you said. Before.” The day of travelling had left me pretty tired, and the fight with Flare did not help matters either, so it was possible I was remembering things wrong.
“We... did state that, but in error. In Unity sleep was not required, but in this forms it seems as though it is. Though, we have determined it is not as important, and we can go longer without.” She blushed a little. “When we found this information it was on accident. We vanished while looking for more orphans, and Diamond Sky was ragged with worry. It turned out I was standing outside the door, only invisible and asleep... it is a lucky thing that we snore.” It was a task not to laugh at how silly that story was. “If you were here we might have been found sooner.”
“Yeah.” I said trying my best to get comfortable on the bed. “I'm special like that.”
There was a strange silence, and when Haze did not respond right away I looked over to her. Her yellow eyes were closed and she looked like she was contemplating something, or trying to remember. Eventually she opened them and looked gravely. “We... are not certain you are.” Was that suppose to be an insult? “One night, we were up top looking for orphans to rescue when we passed this mare. Please understand that when we go up we use multiple spells that keep us completely silent and invisible, and we did not pass within twenty feet of this mare, but I swear. She turned and looked at me. Right in the eyes. She was an earth pony too, there was no way she could have seen us, yet... it was only when we flew away that she went on her way. It was unsettling.”
Really? Another pony with that same strange power? It seemed a bit circumstantial, but there wasn't really another way she could have seen Haze if her spell was as good as she said. Maybe there was an actual reason for my powers. “What did she look like?” If I could find her, and ask, maybe I'd be able to figure it out. I've been able to sense magic for so long it had just become part of who I was, but with this information something in the back of my head nagged at me to find out its cause.
“We are sorry... we cannot recall. It was dark.” She looked abashed. “We just thought the information was relevant.” It was at that.
My mind circled backwards trying to remember when the ability first came to me. As an earth pony, most things magical had been far beyond my grasp or understanding, and unless I was sorely mistaken I didn't start being able to sense magic until Bridle Hope. A thought struck me, and I slowly lifted up my metal leg. I only had that ability since I got my leg, maybe the two were connected somehow.
“Did she... have any cybernetics?”
The alicorn looked at me and slowly panned down to the my leg. Slowly she shook her head, “None that we could see, but we did not get a good look. We apologize.”
If it wasn't the cybernetics what else could it be. Maybe something from stable forty two... oh! The star metal bullet! Of course. Me getting shot in the leg was what led to my new leg, and maybe that was it. Everypony I talked to claimed that nopony else had survived direct contact, and according to Sky Fall I was still minutely infected (and possibly dying, but I ignored that part). It was possible that some sort of... thing in the poison in substance gave me the ability. I wasn't a magical pony, so I couldn't know for sure.
“Do you know what Star Metal is?”
Platinum Haze's eyes went wide and she slowly, and perhaps a bit fearfully nodded. “We are aware... it is most dangerous. What is the nature of the enquiry?”
“Do you know... of anypony that has survived it?”
“We...” she looked away almost as if she was trying to say something, and then shook her head. “Our knowledge is limited. From everything we have seen we cannot give you an accurate answer. We apologize.” That was a strange way to word 'no', but it was good enough for me. Maybe I would hit up that pegasus bastard who Flare worked for, and see if he knew anything more substantial. “Are you okay?” She asked.
“Huh, yeah.” I smiled at her. “Sorry. Just thinking. Too much. I'm a dumb pony who forgets I'm dumb.”
“We do not think you are dumb...” With a sigh she slowly stood up and looked back towards the door. “We hate to do this, but Diamond Sky will require our assistance shortly.”
“It's fine Haze... it's good to see you again. I'm glad we got this.. worked out. Ish.” She smiled and I saw a hint of a blush on her cheeks. “Can you get tomorrow night off?”
“Uh... perhaps. For what, may we enquire?” The tall equine seemed a bit nervous at my question, if the way she kicked at the floor was any indication.
“Would you go on a date with me? The Alehouse has restaurants. That's what you do on dates. Right?”
She nodded slowly. “W-we would love to! But... if we go out in public, we fear we will be subject to an attack.”
“I have an idea. About how to hide your appearance.” For once I had an idea, and I'm pretty sure it was awesome. “How do you feel about dresses? I'll hire the Finishers to make one. They can be 'hush hush.' With that you'll just look like a unicorn.”
“A rather large one; we will stand out.” Admittedly that was true, but who would ask a giant unicorn why she was a giant unicorn?
“If anything happens turn invisible and we'll escape. It's worth a shot right? Just once. Please.” This time I took a page from Serenity's book, and I gave her a pouty look. It seemed to be enough to make her smile.
“Oh fine, we cannot deny you of anything.” She giggled before leaning down to kiss me. It was just long to leave me satisfied and have me begging for more. Not to mention how shocking it was that she took the initiative. When she pulled away her blush had grown twice as red, and was working its way up her ears.
“Uh...” my blush was not much better. “Tomorrow. Ask. I'll arrange things. I missed you...”
“You said that.” She had a smile on that seemed to light up the room, and I loathed to see it go away when she left the room. Unlike before she managed this time not to get her flowing mane stuck in the door when she closed it. Instead it was her tail. With a cute squeak, a blush, and apology, she managed to leave the room without anymore damage.
I flopped back in the bed and started giggling. There was no reason to giggle (in fact I prefer to chuckle, chortle or nicker if I had the choice) but I couldn't stop myself. Something came over me after that very successful conversation. I just wanted to lie there and giggling like a fool until the date. Everything just felt so great, and I was... happy. It wouldn't last, but I wanted to savour it. So I kept giggling. Through the door, I could have sworn I heard Haze doing the same.
Eventually the giggling had to fade, and the worries came. My plan for the date was not really as sound as I'd pretended, but I had to go through with it. It was the perfect way to take it slow, and it'd take my mind off everything trying to kill me. Still, if I could get the dresses, and the plans, if everything worked just right then maybe. Maybe it'd be something special. I'm not sure what 'something special' was, but it seemed like the thing to aim for.
Sleep wouldn’t come though. My thoughts were too persuasive, so I dug out those documents and hoped they’d put me to sleep. I remembered the last one I read told me to reference a particular document, so I picked out the one it suggested.
This one, strangely enough, talked about stealing some sort of technology from Stable-Tec. Apparently they were working on some high-tech computer, and Wallkirk wanted it for whatever reason. Unfortunately a lot of this document seemed to be missing. Entire sections just didn't exist. Infuriatingly, one of those was the section on Baptisia. I guess I would never know what had happened to her.
Idly I lifted up the fourth report and shifted through it. The final one seemed to be less... cloak and daggers. It was entirely about his contract with the Caledonian government to attempt to build the tunnels under Dise. Apparently they thought he was the best choice as he had previously bought an unfinished stable (it did not say which) which gave him and his company the means to study it. Which was strange as the tunnels were not anything like the Stables I'd seen. Which made sense when I got to the last page where is stated:
“Upon further inspection it is clear that the tunnels may not be able to keep out the expected levels of radiation from a megaspell strike. If the reports are correct it would be prudent to rethink the entire structure they are built with. As it stands right now only the deepest level would be liveable, and even that seems to be up in the air. Because of this I have sent a formal request to redesign the tunnels. I am aware that construction has already began but at a modest fee, they could be restructured to withstand the projected radiation level. I have attached an official request along with how much the project will cost. Please consider it. It could save lives.”
Folded inside the document was a five page letter that was undoubtedly the project proposal. On the back page was a red stamp stating 'request denied' with Wallkirk’s signature beside it.
I dropped the document and just stared at it. That killed my good mood at frightening speed.
---
I dreamed of the tunnels during their final hours. I saw ponies running down for safety. They were huddled together at explosions rang out, and lights flickered. Then one by one they started to choke on an unseen poison, and one by one they died thinking they were saved.
Opening my eyes nearly made me jump out of my coat though, as standing above me was an alicorn. For a second I had thought it was Platinum Haze (this alicorn and Haze shared the same slit cat like yellow eyes), but this pony was purple, not dark blue. “W-who...” then I saw the alicorn's mane. It was like a black field with a thousand stars sparkling in its wavering folds. “Diamond Sky?”
“You are correct. Are you awake? I will wait until you are.” That would have been a better ultimatum if she was not standing directly above me. “I will wait, but if you could hasten your pace I would appreciate it. I have much to accomplish today.”
“I...” I said as I slowly pulled the blankets off me and rolled off the bed forcing Diamond to take a few steps back. “You said I. Not we.”
“You have amazing powers of perception.” The alicorn remarked dryly. When I tried to explain what I meant, she quickly cut me off. “Yes, Sister Haze does speak in plurals as we did in Unity. As much as I love my sister, you must understand she is troubled.” Huh, is that why she was here? “When Unity broke, it did not break evenly. Thousands of souls and minds clamoured together around and through mother, and when mother died the minds and souls stayed in the body they were in, unable to move. Some of my sisters have many inside them. Not many wholes, but many pieces of which they must focus to make them whole, to make them a singular again. Sister Haze... is different. When Unity broke it was hard on her, and I took it upon myself to help her, to help her grow despite the challenges. That brings me to why I am here today.” The door slammed shut behind her and locked.
“Uh...” My eyes darted over to Subtlety which was lying beside the bed. “What about.” At those words she moved closer and leaned far too close to me, and flared her wings out.
“I want to make something clear.” The light in the room started to dim, except for her eyes which started to glow. When she spoke her voice seemed lower, and focused at me. “If you hurt her. If you abuse her. If you take advantage of her. I will kill you. Then I will hide your body where none shall find it. Sister Haze may refuse to kill, but I do not hold to that oath. I make exceptions. If you dare do anything to hurt her mind body or soul, you will be an exception. Am I making myself perfectly clear?”
This was not the introduction I'd been hoping for. I had heard a little of Haze's friend, and Haze had always seemed to be fond of her... I could see why. It was good Haze had a friend to defend her, and I had no intention of ever hurting Haze, so her threat didn't mean much.
“Perfectly.” Despite knowing I was safe, my throat was still dry making my gulp. “Really. I like Haze. I would never...”
The alicorn stared at me for a good long while, and I held her gaze. “Okay.” She stood back up to her full impressive height, which was taller than even Platinum Haze unless I was mistaken. “I have warned you, I can only pray you are not a liar... you have known Haze at least somewhat to make her care for you. You must understand she is very... she does not like taking charge. The right pony could abuse her, and if that were to happen...” her eyes hardened. “I promised to protect her, and protect I will.”
“Are you like her mother?” As soon as I said that I knew I had misspoke. The alicorn's eyes flashed against and I shuddered.
“We are her sister. Our mother is dead, and we-”
“Sorry!” I cut her off. “I didn't mean... you are like her older sister?”
Her anger seemed to have faded at those words and she nodded. “I find this simile appropriate. If it helps you to think about the situation, that is. So long as you understand.” I nodded my understanding. “Good. What, exactly, is your intention with Sister Haze?”
“I... uh.” I scratched my two back legs together. They itched something fierce, and I hadn't had my morning medicine. I was in no way in a good place for this discussion, but I doubted stopping it to get high would really endear Sky to me. “I have no intention. I like her. She likes me. We go on a few dates. See where it goes. I'd like a marefriend... I guess. And I like to see Haze happy.”
“Okay. I will allow this. Remember my warning.” She said very sternly and I heard unlocking behind me.
“What would have happened... if you didn't allow it?” I was good at stupid question.
“I would have stopped your heart, and teleport you into the darkest corner of the tunnels.” Even though she wasn't hurting me then, it still felt like my heart was seizing up at the words. Thank Celestia I didn't say anything stupid. “Have a good day.” With a brilliant purple flash (that reminded me of the Batmare) the alicorn vanished from the room.
As soon as she left I hurriedly threw Subtlety onto my back to feel safe again, and quickly took out a Med-X. With the delicious drug flowing through my veins I felt my rapidly beating heart start to slow, and normalize. It did remind me I had to speak with Flare that day, but with Med-X in my system I was sure I could handle it. With Med-X I could handle anything.
As soon as I left the room I was hit with a high pitched squeal and impact to my side. “Momma!” She was hanging off Subtlety and kicking hind legs uselessly to try and propel her on properly. “Haze said'ta wake ya up as looooud as I could but ya're already awake. Haze gave me candy too, I like candy, you should give me more. It's really good, it's called chocolate. I like it. It tastes like the best thing ever, and I was gunna use it to wake you up, but I eated it instead. Sorry. Scootaborg ate some too, she likes it more than me, but she wasn't allowed to have much.” There was a reason I never gave Serenity much candy.
“Oh really.” I remarked in a flat tone as I helped her onto my back. “Why?”
“Cause too much is bad for lil' ponies. Luckily I'm a big pony and allowed to have as much as I want, that's what Haze said.” She stood on my back, and decided it's be a good idea to kick my back. “You need somethin' for me to sit on. Oh! How about a saddle, that'd be awesome.” Awesome was not the word I would have used. “Guess what, momma?”
“You're actually an alien sent from outta space?” It was as good a guess as any.
“No Momma, you're silly.” I couldn't argue that logic. “The guessing is that I made a friend. He's real nice, you'd like'em.” A friend. A colt friend. Suddenly Diamond Sky’s rant to me felt a lot more justified. “And Haze told me ya two are going on a date! Is this true! That's so cute, can I come?”
“Serenity... no.”
“Drat, I was gunna embarrass you with embarrassing stories.” As if she knew any. “Or wear the tablecloth as a cape and run around. That's cute right? Either way, it'd be fun.” I was starting to think this was just a ploy to convince me to make Serenity stay at the orphanage for the trip. If that was the case, it was working wonderfully.
“Let's go...” she had clearly won that round, so I dropped the topic and started walking towards where I'd assumed Haze was. Well, not assume. I felt magic, and went towards it. When has that ever went wrong?
In this case it didn't go wrong, for as soon as I reached the end of the hall Platinum Haze trotted out of it. For some reason she had a small yellow colt hanging off her mane. “Hey! Who're you? You're ugly. And you smell. What's your name? Can we be friends? Are you going to kiss Auntie Haze? You look like you are. Who’s your friend? Why are you looking at me like that? Do you have any candy?”
With the straightest face I could muster, I replied, “Hired Gun. Sorry. Sorry. Hired Gun. No. Yes. Because I am. Serenity. Because. No.” The colt just stared at me with his jaw hanging open as I leaned to kiss Haze's nose. “Good morning.”
“Good morning Silver.” Haze said as another toddler suddenly appeared peaking around Haze's horn. “Since we have tonight off, Diamond told us to watch the pre-school foals. We are unsure why Diamond always makes us watch them, we think they are simply wonderful..”
“Aunty Haze finks we're wonderfall.” The tiny filly that was clinging to Platinum's horn said. “I fink I'm wonderfall. Raygun isn't wonderfall. He's mean. An'a bully.” As if challenged by those words a third foal, a colt, jumped onto Haze's head and started to wrestle the filly. A few seconds later and they were tumbling down Haze's neck.
“So Diamond makes you take care of the young foals. Can't imagine why.” There were shouts and screams from Haze's back.
With a sigh that was nearly exasperated Haze's horn lit up, and she flared her wings out. Without looking back she pulled the two wrestling foals away from each other and placed them one on each wing. “You two behave.” She said sharply. “Or no dessert.” The two pouting foals mumbled something that sounded like 'yes Aunty Haze' and there was order once more. “They can be a hoofful, but we simply adore children.”
“Aunty Haze doesn't have her cutie-mark yet.” The colt hanging from her mane said. “Most big ponies do but she doesn't. I don't either. We're gunna help her get her cutie-mark. An' then she'll help us. It'll be like'a team... thing. A group! We'll have'ta think of a name.”
“Sorry, Silver, but we must be going. The children need their breakfast, or they will get upset. We will see you tonight?”
“Yes. Meet me in my apartment after you're off. I'll bring a Finisher over.” I said as I moved to the side to let her through. “Don't worry about caps.”
It was a tight squeeze as she passed because her wings were splayed out, and it didn't help when she stopped mid stride to say to me, “Oh, and your pegasus friend is waiting outside. Diamond Sky said he was not allowed in.” Lovely, I was hoping to postpone our heart to heart as long as possible. “We will see you later."
“Oh! We get to see Uncle Flare sooner. Good, ya two need'a hug and make up.” Serenity said from beside me prompting me to give her a questioning look. “What, they call Haze 'aunty' Haze, an I've known Flare longer than they’ve know Haze. It only makes sense.” That made too much sense in my brain for me to try to argue.
“Uncle Flare it is.” If he didn't apologize and shape up he'd be 'dead Uncle Flare'. Which was, from my understanding, a much worse title. “Lets find him.”
After getting lost a few times in the orphanage hallways (and interrupting another math class), I eventually found the door by following my magic-sense. I'd forgotten about the illusion that made it look like a wall. Upon exiting I was greeted to the sight of the sorry excuse for a pegasus sleeping on the dirty grates that made up the floor.
So I kicked him. It was a light kick, but it was also with my metal hoof so he grunted and opened his eyes. “The fuck... Oh...” his eyes were pink, as they always were, but no longer bloodshot. “Hired.” He slowly got to his feet blushing a little bit. “Lets walk and talk. Being underground rustles my feathers.”
“Yeah.” I grunted and started down the hallway. As I did Serenity jumped onto my back, because who likes walking?
“Listen... Hired. Shit, I'm sorry.” He kept his eyes downcast. “It just got too much to handle, and I broke. Taunting you was probably not the best move. Or buying stuff on your credit.” he smirked. “But what stuff I bought, you should have seen this one stallion he had a-”
“Fuck off Flare.” I cut him off. “I'm tired of your mouth.”
This seemed to spark something in the pegasus said as he instantly replied. “Maybe if you weren't such a bitch, this would be easier. Yeah I fucked up, but check yourself before you start throwing me around.”
“What! You go and bitch and moan about how your fuckbuddy was an ass, and I'm the bitch.” My own words made me stop in my tracks. After going over what I had just said, I realized something... “Am I a bitch? Serenity?”
“Uh...” the filly on my back gulped, which answered my question. “Maybe?” She said tentatively. “it's not the word I'd use but it ain't 'xactly non-correct neither.”
I didn't mean to be a bitch, it just came naturally to me. It wasn't like I had a lot of friends. For the longest time Wildfire was my only friend. Sure I had acquaintances, but they didn't really count. So, I guess I wasn't really in the right mindset to deal with Flare. When we were good, it was fine. He'd make jokes, I’d threaten him, but I wasn't sure what to say when he was upset about something, and clearly I was handling it wrong. Apparently ponies don't like it when I diminish their problems.
“Ugh.” I said eventually. “Listen.” Flare had been silent since my last so to make sure he was listening I stopped and put a hoof on his back. “I’m sorry. I'm a bitch. Totally.”
“Yeah you are.” He responded perhaps a bit too quickly. “I've always done this. I get attached too quickly. Just like last time...” He started walking again after I took my hoof off so I followed.
“Last time?” I guess it was story time.
“Yeah...” he looked around the tunnel and shuddered. “I mentioned it before. Back in the tunnels, well I called him a mare then, but there's no point to continue that lie.” Oh, yeah. I'd completely forgot about that. “It was a long time ago now, but I found a cute little mercenary buck. He wasn't what you'd call a talker, but it was cute to get him to blush.” Flare gave a small smile at the thought. “He took a job to clear out some rad-scorpions in these tunnels maybe a month after we met. He never came back...” His voice turned grim really quickly. “Broke my heart, and I got all emotional. By then the jig was up.”
“Jig?” Now I was confused. “Why were you dancing?”
“Momma, ah think he means some sorta secret or somethin.”
“Uh...” Flare seemed to hesitate. “You know. The whole, liking Stallions things? The Remnants don't take too kindly to that sort of thing.” For the life of me, I couldn't imagine why they'd even care. “Reproduction.” Flare explained. “There are not many surface pegasi... or there were not. Having foals is pretty much required.” Oh... that made sense, but it didn't piss me off any less. “After that there was a huge deal about finding me a marefriend, and that was ever so much fun. So there, another sob story courtesy of yours truly.”
I was starting to wonder if any of us didn't have some sort of attachment issues.
“I see...” I looked down the hall. The exit was coming close. “Listen. So long as you try to quit... and don't waste my money. I'll try to help you, I guess. Somehow. How?”
“Beats me, I'll get over it in time.” Flare flapped his wings a few times so he could hover in front of my while flying backwards. “Which reminds me. I spoke with the Watchers. Booked a detox. You might want to come. For, you know, support.” he winked at me. At least he was somewhat discrete, I guess it was the most I could hope for.
“When... ?”
“Tomorrow.”
“I'll be there.” We stopped at the stairs that led to the secret exit out of the tunnels. All the real entrances inside Dise were owned by gangs, and heavily guarded to stop immigrants, but nopony knew of this one. Yet, anyway. It was good to have some way in and out of the tunnels without a gang knowing my movements. I was sure House had a tunnel entrance, but I was loath to let him know every time I went under.
“Hey Hired.” Flare landed in front of me. “We cool?”
I chewed my lower lip and looked him over. He seemed weaker lately, more tired. The trip through the facility took its toll on him just as it had me, and leaving a loved one was never easy at the best of time. I really had been too hard on him, hadn't I? Sure Stakes was an ass, but Flare had liked him, and my feelings on the matter didn't really change how Flare felt. Mind you he shouldn't have broken and started back on Dash, but if I cut somepony off for having a mental breakdown I’d not only be an idiot, but a huge hypocrite.
“Yeah. Sorry about... being a bitch.”
Flare laughed, “I expect it from you,” and flew up the stairwell. I'm a bitch, he's an ass, and that's the way it should be.
---
We made our way from the Dise slums, up north past the main gate into Parasite Mound. We made a brief stop at The Finishers HQ. Nopony I knew was working the front desk, but I still requested a dressmaker at my apartment later for a rush job, and to bring a lot of fabric and the largest dresses they owned. It was not cheap, but with my pay cheque, the money Flare owed me, and the things we scavenged from the facility I would easily have enough.
With that out of the way I made my way to the 'Vinnie May And Franny Mac Death Clock Hotel And Casino' (which was where I directed Pearly to stay) to tell her the good news. Doing all these errands actually made me feel accomplished. It was a nice change of pace from fighting for my life, or travelling.
The hotel was as dim and dark as ever, and we were greeted by a hooker upon entering. In the lobby a stage was set up where a ghoul pegasus was badly singing a song about how much balefire hurt. At that sight I quickly made my way to the backroom where the signs stated the casino was both hoping that Pearly was there and that it was sound proof. Ghouls just couldn't sing. When the ghoul saw me scurrying away I could have sworn he stopped his song to call me a racist.
The casino was cramped, grimly, and sparsely populated. Only three one-hoofed bandits were in use, one roulette wheel, one poker table, and two blackjack. It was easy enough to confirm my guess as Pearly was sitting by one of the blackjack tables smiling smugly behind her two cards. To my surprise, I actually recognized two of the other ponies at her table.
One was a tall dark grey mare with a spiky crimson mane, and a bloody dagger tattoo on her flank, and beside her was a small lighter grey filly with a tied back purple mane. “Well look what the fucking cat drug in: a cunt.” The ex-raider laughed. “Get the fuck over here Hired, Pearly's been waitin' and I've been helping. With you here, I can go fuck off so my filly will stop eating all my caps.”
“Nu uh, mommy. You're just bad at counting. I'm a super awesome counter, and guesser. You'd do better if I could teach ya, but ya never let me.” The filly replied haughtily as the dealer shoved some chips towards the filly.
“Pinprick.” The ex-raider smirked as I walked up, “Spitshine.” I nodded greetings to the both of them. “Hey Pearly.” The focused mare just adjusted her hat and stared harder at her cards. I gave a soft laugh and looked at the dealer, “Deal me in?” The dealer took my caps, and gave me some chips in return.
“A chance to steal Hired's money without her kicking me? I'm in.” Flare sat down two and got his chips.
“Momma can I-”
“No Serenity.”
“But that filly gets t-”
“No Serenity.”
“I get to because I'm super awesome.” Spitshine explained. “Look! It's my cutie-mark, init awesome?” True enough on her flank was a picture of a roulette wheel. Not quite blackjack, but the theme of being good at guessing odds came through. “What's your cutie-mark?”
My fillies eyes went downcast and she took a seat beside me. “Doesn't matter...” she mumbled. “Didn't want to play anyway.” I mentally made a note to ask Serenity what was up with her reaction and why she didn't tell Spit she was a blankflank. It would have to wait until private though.
Finally Pearly looked up from her cards, “Hired? Oh hey!”
“The bitch awakens, whoop-de-fucking-do.” Pinprick remarked as the dealer took the cards, and started shuffling.
“Hey Pearly.” I smirked. “You're focused at this game.” At that note the dealer looked hard at us, reminding us to actually, you know, play. I put in a minimum bet, ten caps worth.
“Yeah... trying to figure how that runt keeps winning.” Pearly gave Spitshine a hard and playful gaze as the dealer floated over two cards each. Since most ponies playing the game weren't unicorns, the dealer handled all the cards on the table.
With a sigh I looked at my cards. A two and a jack. “She's got natural talent.” I suggested. Maybe it was right, because the filly was staring hard at her cards. “Hit me.” I waved at the dealer and sure enough I got hit with a ten of spades. “Lovely.” The dealer stopped at nineteen, and everyone else at the table either busted, or was lower. Except for Spitshine, whose first two cards were a ten and ace.
“Natural talent!” Spitshine giggled as I gaped. “I has it!”
“See what I mean, Hon?” Pearly smirked. “Not even fair.” She tapped her hooves on the table as the dealer took the cards in and started to shuffle again. “So did you find a way for me to get inta tha city?”
“I did. A job at the Black Salamander. Waitress. Nothing fancy, but it's a paycheque.” I placed the same bet as last time. “Is that okay? I could look for more, but...”
“It's fine, hon.” Pearly waved a hoof at me. “I owe you. After Bridle Hope was taken, I was lost. I couldn't stay there, but I had nowhere else ta go. So thanks for un-losings me. Ain't just anypony what'd do that for a mare.” I couldn't help but blush.
Thankfully the cards were dealt and it gave me something else to focus on. A seven and a three. This time I looked around to see what everypony else got. After I was assured nopony else was going to show off with a lucky draw I motioned for him to hit me. This time I got an eight leaving me at a comfortable eighteen. “I'll work out the details.” I said to Pearly. “Give me a few days.”
“Do it by tomorrow.” Pinprick said, oddly without cursing. This made me turn over to hear what she had to say. “Trust me bitch, you don’t want to twat around any longer than that. Shit's going down, and it's going down soon. Use your fucking hooves, and move.”
“Tomorrow, then...” I said uncertain. The tone in Pinprick's voice took my attention more than the fact I won the hand (along with Flare and Spitshine). “What is going down?”
Pinprick took a swig of her drink (which I didn't notice she had...) and said. “Something. You know that feelin'? Right before the thunder hits? When the brahmin stop mooing, and the molerats vanish? That’s the feelin'. Somethin's ‘bout to explode, right in this city’s fucking face.”
“The city always feels like that.” Was my reply as the cards were dealt again. “Hit me.” I said absentmindedly. It wasn't until after I said it I realized I hit on 21...
“It does? Fuck if I know.” She finished her drink and nickered at my call. As if I didn't feel stupid enough. “Still, the bat bitch seems to be worried, so I say you picked a good fucking time to come back to town. Keep your eyes out, and if shit goes wrong I told you fucking so. Cunt.”
Spitshine and Pinprick took the hand impressively. It might have something to do with most players being distracted by mine and Prick's conversation. “You know the Batmare?”
“You're looking to an 'official' Super Hero In Training. My momma would be so fucking proud.” Spitshine giggled a little giving me the feeling I was missing the joke. “But yeah, bat bitch and I have been tearing this town a new one. She's not simple; acts it, but ain't. For instance did you know she knew you entered the city, an hour 'fore you arrived, and brought me here to Pearly, cause I told her I like that cunt.”
“You're not bad yourself hon.” Pearly smirked across the table. “A tad vulgar, though.”
“Well there's no pissing around about that.” The dealer started dealing us again. “Anyway. We've been helpin' each other. We're both 'heroes' so to speak. I help her by getting her some good publicity. That radio dick has a hard on for me, and a hate on for the bat bitch. In return for working with her to improve her cred, she gives me the tips on the biggest busts, ya dig? It all works. We both get to play the fucking 'hero'.”
I grumbled at my cards. Two twos. “Hit me.” a six. “Hit me.” I didn't bother to look at the second card. “Play hero?”
“Hired, Hired.” Flare shook his head. “She means she 'acts' like a hero. You know, like a play, or a children's game.”
“Fuck off, Flare, I knew that.”
“I know what the bitch means. She's askin' if I feel like a fucking hero.” She waved a waitress over for another drink. “Which is a stupid ass question for a 'hole nother reason.” She chugged her new glass. “I'm no fucking hero. I've killed more fuckers than I saved, and that's a fucking fact. I counted. Shit like saving ponies an shit is good, but it ain't like washin' out my blood or whatever poetry you want to use. Fact is, I'm a killer, and now I just kill to save ponies. If cunts over the radio wants to call me a hero and use that to inspire them or some shit than sure I'll play along. I ain't like that cunt what opened up the sky, but fuck it, if it helps ponies I'll play their game.” she looked over at my cards. “You got blackjack, by the way.”
“Huh, oh shit.” I grabbed my chips and placed a much larger bet for the next hand. “So Prick, can I ask you something? What is the nature of a hero?”
“Is that some sort of fucking riddle?” She placed her bet. “The way I see it is a 'hero' is a title. And heroes are whoever the most ponies agree are heroes. Like the fuckbringer, or lightbringer. Whatever. How do you think the pegasi fared when half their cities vanished like dust when she pulled the clouds out from under them? When the Enclave up top started fighting for resources like the radio talks about. That shit kills ponies, ponies who get caught in the crossfire. It's the lightfuckers fault, but who down here blames her? Nopony. She's killed ponies, and done things what killed ponies, but she's still a hero because they proclaim her one. That fucking simple.” Pinprick sighed when she busted on her last few chips. “Great.”
“Sorry mommy, but I won a lot.” Spitshine held up her chips, “Loooook. I'm kind'a awesome cause of my cutie-mark.”
“Yeah.” Pinprick smiled warmly and ruffled her daughters mane. “We need to head out, some asshole is planning to raid one of the villages underground, and the bat bitch needs my knife.” She looked over at me one last time. “Keep your fucking eye open, if I were you I wouldn't hide your magic eye. See you cunts later.” We all said our quick goodbyes as Pinprick cashed in her daughters chips and left.
“She heard I was in town, searched me down, and gave me a bag of caps...” Pearly said a bit bewildered. “Because she knew how much I lost. She is the rudest, most un-agreeable pony I have ever met, and then she does stuff like that.” Pearly tossed some caps into a bet. “She's a strange one.” She could say that again.
“She's crazier than a bag of fire.” Flare, ever so helpfully, said.
“That don't make sense Uncle Flare.” Serenity said now that she was no longer pouty about Spitshine having her cutie-mark first. “A bag of fire would burn.”
“And that'd be crazy.” Flare smirked. “So Pearly, you up for a few more games?”
“Hopefully my luck will improve.” Pearly said as she fidgeted with her hat. “Should better without that filly. I swear she won every round.” That'd explain how Pinprick could afford to randomly give Pearly money.
“Momma is good luck, don't worry.” Serenity said without a hint of humour. She clearly believed that, but why I couldn't imagine. I have been many things, but 'good luck' was not one of them. “Can I play now?”
“Sure, Serenity.”
---
In the end I was down about fifteen caps, Pearly was up twenty, Flare broke even, and somehow Serenity was up over a hundred. Maybe that dealer just liked cute kids. Or Serenity stole chips. Either was just as likely as the other. After a few hours we had to leave though, so after promising Pearly I'd get her in tomorrow, and waving goodbye we left back for Dise proper. Judging by the time on my pipbuck Haze was either at my apartment, or heading towards it, so I hurried up. I was really looking forward to this date.
When the three of us barged into the BS I found it... busy. Unnaturally busy. The Black Salamander had always been the least populated of the four major casinos, but today it was full to packing. Many ponies crowded around the roulette wheels or poker tables, but even more were lined up towards the sign labelled 'hospital.'
“Sorry ma'am, we're full up.” A tiny blue mare stuck her hoof out in front of me as I walked through the door. When I looked over I saw only her black and white mane as she wasn't looking at me. “Come back tomorrow.”
“Tight Lips.” I said remembering the security mare from before. “I'm a Hizai, let me through.”
“Huh wha-Hired!” She quite suddenly hugged me. “Well don't that beat all, how've ya been?” She treated me like we were old friends, but we only met twice. “Look at all this business! Don't tell nopony, but it seems like the NCA is gearing up, and have started paying for cybernetics for their ponies. Talk about your A-Grade advertising, am I right?”
“Ya c'n thank me.” Serenity said proudly. “I convinced a general 'bout how cool it was.”
“Oh you did now sweetie, well we should upgrade you too! Free of cost.” Serenity got a really excited look on her face before the mare laughed. “Just kidding, I can't authorize that. I only run Security. Speaking of security, you really shouldn't let alicorns into your room without warning me, otherwise I might just shoot them.” My heart skipped a beat.
“What, ho-”
“Watch.” She tapped the side of her head and a pair of sunglasses slid out of her face. “Lets me see magical signatures, good for seeing stealth-bucks, and invisibility spells. Oh! And I can see through walls. That's cool too.” The sunglasses retracted. “We can't call be super soldiers like Mr. Star, but I have my tricks. I'm sure you have yours too.”
“You didn't... shoot her, did you?” For some reason asking made my throat die. This would have been a terrible start to a date.
“What, no! Hah. Maybe a few weeks ago, but after the sky went poof House sent a memo out. Apparently alicorns were coming south. Not many, but enough to be noticed. Some confused, some sane and running, but still coming. We were told to approach any and ask them if they'd like a job,” The tiny mare laughed. “Wouldn't that be something.”
“I've always said House needs an army of cybernetic alicorns, haven't I been saying that Hired?” Flare seemed amused by this information (maybe he was going to sell it to his boss).
“Haze said no, didn't she?” I said
“Well...” the mare hummed. “She didn't 'say' anything. I think I frightened her, but she did shake her head. A shame. She was a cutie... later I had to send a Finisher up there too. Makes me wonder what exactly you're getting yourself into....” black and white maned mare paused then giggled. “Take pictures!” You know what I really needed more of? Snarky ponies who delighted in seeing my squirm.
With a slight blush, I headed towards the employee only elevators. Which is to say the only elevators I knew about. I was sure there were regular ones, but I never really explored the building. It was too large, and I was too busy. For a given definition of busy.
As we waited for the elevator to go up I asked Flare to take Serenity to the orphanage while I was on the date, and after not to bug us. Which I'm sure he was planning on doing anyway. It was just his style, after all. Hopefully after our little fight he'd be more willing not to fuck up my relationships. Wishful thinking. To Flare's credit, he did agree, but agreeing and going through with it were two different things. Normally I would have already sent them off, but Serenity was upset last time I wore a dress without her being around. The elevator dinged our arrival and the three of us left into the hallway.
Our doorway was only a short walk away, and we got there without incident. Which is not that surprising. What was I expecting, the hallway to explode?
Without so much as hesitating I opened the door to my spacious apartments. To find Platinum Haze slinking out from behind a curtain set up in the middle of the room. She was garbed in a simple, flowing, purple cotton-embroidered dress in rolling black stitching for decoration. A dusty purple bodice wrapped around the alicorn’s chest, laced up the sides in shiny, black ribbon. A rich, red wrap with beaded trim was tied around her neck and draped across her back, hiding the bulges caused by her wings. Simple, black slippers capped each brightly polished, scarlet hoof. Her mane was tied into a braid in such a way it completely hid the fact it was magical and flowy.
“You look...” I said after picking my jaw off the floor, “Amazing.” I started to walk into the room only for a strange pony to cut me off. She was a pale purple unicorn mare with a long curly aqua mane (that was darker at the tips) and a fairly standard Finisher dress. She might have been glaring at me, but it was hard to tell beneath those hot pink sun glasses of hers. “Excuse m-”
“Amazing... Amazing!?” The Finisher just shook her head tromping over to the dress. “Look, here. It vas too short, and vat do I do? Add more fabric. Given no time to prepare you can see ze stitching! It's a travesty is vat it is.” I had no idea what she was talking about, and I could see nothing. “And zis wrap, it does not match the shoes! Vun is crimson, ze other scarlet. The bodice itself is centuries old, and too tight, look at eet. Dahling, do not call this vork amazing. I am ashamed to have my name on it.”
“Uh, I... what.” Did I really have to hire the most insane of all The Finishers.
“Hired...” Haze was blushing a red so bright she matched her slippers. “Thank you... we feel... pretty.”
The Finisher cut me off with a dramatic sigh. “Vatever you say dahling. Pretty, or vats it.”
The pretty alicorn looked over at the finisher and smiled shyly. “T-thank you so much as well. We appreciate what you have done for us, and your discretion.”
“Alicorns are above my paygrade.” The mare said simply. “I make zee dresses, nothing more. If I told anypony, I vould get dragged into the ugly mess, and zat, my dear Haze, is strictly against my non-confrontation policy.” The mare waved at me, “Vell, come in. I have much vork to do.”
“Uh thanks...” Haze stepped meekly to the side as I, followed by Flare (smirking at me) and Serenity (staring wide eyed at Haze) went in my room. “Who are you?”
“Cross Stitch, dahling. Now right this way. You have this date tonight, right? Too soon, too soon. How am I supposed to vork in these conditions.” Cross Stitch gave a dramatic sigh, fixed her glasses, and steeled her expression. “Best get to work then.”
---
Despite her constant complaints about how she didn't have enough time, how she was overworked, how I was much too large, she did a fantastic job. I had planned just to wear my last Finisher dress, but as it turns out wearing a dress over open burn wounds kind of ruined it. She took one look, spat off to the side, and threw it out and instead made me a sea green evening gown. The smooth fabric shimmered over my large body and, I wasn't a fashion expert but it seemed to accentuate my hips, and I wasn't really sure how I felt drawing attention there. Because Cross could not keep well enough alone she also took the time to do my mane up in a soft bun on the back of my head, held in place by a silver comb with two deep green, flowing ribbons. Carefully I took a few steps and let the dress flow and shimmer around me. The silver shoes might have been a bit tight, or maybe it was the criss crossing straps that laced up my legs (Only my hind legs, the shoes didn’t fit on my cyberleg, and the lace didn’t work around my pipbuck) that were tight. I thought about loosening the green buttons that held them on, but Cross looked... crossed at me when I tried.
“You look so pretty momma!” Serenity bounced around me. “Oooh, the dress is super pretty too. Oh! I just had the best idea. Make the dress a weapon.” I careened my head around to see her playing with some of the fabric on the hem of the dress. “Add some wires, a few blades, when somepony comes close ya press'a button and the dress poofs out and sends blades flying in every direction. It'd be so awesome!”
“She certainly has an... imagination, dahling.” The Finisher looked down at my filly from behind her glasses. That was one way to put it.
“Serenity is currently working on a way to make everything robots.” Flare had stayed to watch me transform from ugly to slightly less ugly. “Ponies, dresses, food, toys. With Serenity the sky's the limit. Meaning I'm sure she wants to make a cybernetic sky.”
“That doesn't even make sense,” Serenity said after sticking her tongue out.
“We think you look amazing,” Haze said breathily, and that was all I needed to hear. “W-we are glad you agreed to give us a second chance. We are just worried about being... seen by so many ponies.” She gulped.
“You look marvellous dahling, truly. Don't vorry your pretty little head of,” the Finisher said with a smile despite the fact she was disparaging the dress not that long ago. “And nopony vill notice your wings. Just do not touch that wrap, and it vill be fine. But I must go, I vill send a bill.” She started to the door after packing up her supplies.
“Wait.” I said as Cross was near the door. She obediently did so, and turned back to me. “You really don't care? About Haze?”
“Above my paygrade dahling. Have fun.” She walked out, leaving me with mixed feelings about the dressmaking mare. She clearly did a very good job with limited supplies and time, but on the other hoof she kind of annoyed me.
“Yeah, guess I should head off now too, before you put my head on a spike.” Flare chuckled. “C'mon Serenity, give the lovebirds some privacy.” he said, nudging at Serenity some. Despite my professed forgiveness, I was still a little bit sore over what transpired between Flare and me, but I tried my best to work through it and gave him a little bit of a grin.
Serenity didn't follow right away, because first she had to run over and hug my legs. “Have fun, Momma!” Then she put on her most serious expression and said very sternly. “And no hanky panky!” It was hard work to both not laugh and not blush at that proclamation, but somehow I managed. “Good.” She trotted off beside Flare before turning back one last time. “I'm serious!”
When the door closed that left me and Haze. Alone. Together. All prettied up. The awkward silence was deafening.
“So...” I said slowly.
“Yes... so...” Came the reply.
The silence continued.
“Uh...”
“Um...”
The silence would have continued but for some reason I couldn't help but laugh. Maybe because the situation was silly, or maybe it was just my way of releasing tension. Whatever the case I giggled like a little filly, and soon Haze joined me. By the time we were done the awkwardness had burned away.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I managed to get out after the giggle fit. “Go out I mean.”
“We... are nervous. But we believe it is a good move. We wish to be with you, and it will be fun. In addition it is a good way to test the waters. To see how ponies react to us so we can better judge when we can come out of hiding.” She carefully adjusted her bodice with her magic. “If we ever can.”
I made a sweeping movement with my hoof towards the door, “Shall we go? After you.” Haze nodded and started walking towards the door, and I quickly followed. However, as I came near the exit to my apartment I noticed that my B.E.L. that I left there had vanished. With a sigh I resigned myself to the fact that Flare probably touched and moved it. Normally I would go look to make sure... but I was going on a date with an alicorn, and thus quite distracted.
The hallway was empty when we left my apartment so I took the opportunity to sidle up close to Haze, an act which enticed an approving smirk from the shy alicorn. “We are not sure you should be so close, you might wrinkle the dresses.” There was a teasing quality to her voice so I didn't take her seriously.
“They'll get better.” It was an effort, but I managed to reach up and nuzzle Haze by carefully balancing momentarily on my hind legs. “I'm glad... you don't hate me.” Though by all rights she probably should have.
“We do not hate anyone,” she said as we entered the elevator and headed downstairs. Part of me wanted to question what she meant by that. It was nice not to be hated, but it could still mean she disapproved with who I was, but refused to fall into hate. Or maybe she actually liked me, and was being genuine. It was such an ambiguous statement that I wasn't quite sure what she meant. Nervously I clicked at the ground with my uncomfortable shoes.
Maybe I would bring it up at dinner, but at that time I didn't. As we got closer to the ground floor I could see her nervousness grow. She seemed to be looking around the elevator (which was a bit too small for her) in a twitching fashion, and twice I saw her prepare for a spell she never cast. “It'll be fine,” I said trying to be comforting. When she smiled at me, I could tell it was fraught with anxiety, but it was something.
The elevator stopped on the fifth floor and I felt my heart jump into my chest. Slowly the mechanical doors opened showing a sterile white hall and a green pony with a white doctor's coat standing there. He gaped up at Haze for a second, before looking at me. Something must have clicked in his head because he just nodded at me, and entered without issue. As soon as he turned around to face the door I looked up at Haze and gulped.
There was neither a response from Haze or the anonymous doctor pony, and when the door finally opened everypony left and nothing was said of the incident. Haze and I hung back as the doctor walked towards the exit. “You're okay?”
“Yes...” she said slowly. “That went better than expected.” That was good enough for me, so I let her take a few breaths to calm herself, and headed towards the casino floor. I really hoped that it wasn't as crowded as before.
Like most of the time my hopes were dashed to pieces. The casino was as crowded as earlier, and the huge line to the cybernetic office was even large. It seemed to snake out the front door, and presumably down the street. When I looked up to see if Haze was okay with this many ponies seeing her, her eyes were wide, and scanning the room. I tried to be comforting, and slid up beside her. “You'll be fine.”
We stood there looking out into the casino floor for a long while before we made the first step. Nopony looked at us, and if they did it was just a passing glance. As we walked to the exit few, if any, ponies noticed the giant unicorn in a fancy dress. We lived in a city run by themed gangs, under the threat of war with bipedal cows, and plagued by mutant scorpions and land sharks. Platinum Haze was weird, but not enough for the city to actually care. Just a large unicorn. If she had wings though, that'd be different. Until then we walked into the dark night free from judgement. She had to hide who she was, but it made me happy she was able to walk and be seen at all.
---
“So you won't fight, ever?” I asked between mouth fulls of some sort of soup... thing.
We had managed to make it to the Alehouse without so much as a sideways glance. The Casino was a different story, where the guard at the front desk both recognized me (casually mentioning that Molly had been walking the casino floor today and winking at me) and nearly didn't let Haze in for fear of the other patrons. I got around this by glowering and being fucking terrifying. Even in all my finery it was clear I was not to be messed with.
Once inside everything went smoothly. We made our way through the long hall (with strangely high ceilings) that led to the arena, casino, and various restaurants. The fanciest of the restaurants was called The White Tie. At first the waiter at the front did not want to let me in because we didn’t have reservation, but I was good at glaring. The restaurant itself was in a fancy room with high arcing ceilings, and a series of large tables with some sort of cloth on them. It was spacious though, and surprisingly empty. We were led to a table off to the side beside a family (a mother, father, and colt), and ordered our food.
Then we started our date. It was fun, we talked easily. And I never talk easily.
“Never,” she answered, floating a little sandwich over to nibble at it. “We firmly believe in anti-aggression. If the wasteland is ever to recover, we must change the way it operates. We have become a violent species, prone to anger and violence, and this must be changed.” Her voice was quiet, as it had been all night, but she sounded more sure about that statement than anything else I heard her say.
“But...” I hummed for a second and took a drink of the fruity alcoholic beverage that we were served. “Sometimes you can't not fight. There are raiders. And worse. Sometimes...” It was a shallow justification for me, but for many ponies it would be the truth.
She nodded slowly and sighed. “This is something we understand. We do not approve of violence, and will mourn all deaths, but we understand it is... inevitable. Not for us though. Mother has given us a great power. We are strong enough to live without violence, as you saw. So we will never strike another, an example to what can be done. That is our core principle.”
“Even when the world wants to kill you?”
“Especially when the world wants to kill us.” What else could I say about that? It was amazing, beautiful, and really naive and stupid. Yet she spoke the words with such confidence it was hard not to believe her. It must have been hard for her. Taken to some vats to be forcefully transformed, put into some sort of mind hive thing, then forcefully taken out of it into a world that seemed to despise her very existence. Yet there she was, determined to do no harm, or die trying. “W-what.” A blush formed on my cheeks when I realized I'd been staring.
“Sorry.” I quickly lowered my eyes. “It's just... you're insane.” A smile formed on my face. I felt giddy, and I wasn't sure why.
“That is mea-”
“It's a good thing. You're taking a stand, despite... everything.” I said with my head raised so she could see me smile. “It's. Good. You're a better pony than I.”
“We... uh.” She gave me a blush and occupied her mouth with a sandwich. When she finally swallowed she said, “Thank you, we appreciate the sentiment. We do not think we are a good pony. But... thank you.” If Platinum Haze wasn't a good pony, I couldn't imagine who could possibly be one.
With a bit of a giggle I said, “Yeah. The alicorn who runs an orphanage for free, and refuses to turn a hoof against her aggressors who hate her for no reason is not a good pony.” With a sly smile I shook my head, and then finished my soup. “You're the best pony I know... which is not as much as a compliment as it should be. This city does not breed good ponies.”
“What about Serenity?” Haze smirked.
“She's from Eye Glow.”
“Was she raised here?” Haze gave a little smile. To be honest I wasn't sure.
“She's never told me... she doesn't talk much about her past.” Though I was never sure why. Maybe I wasn't asking the right questions. “Wherever she grew up, she grew up well. She is so smart. Have you seen her do magic? She doesn't even have her cutie-mark. Not to mention she made a leg once. A cybernetic one. And it worked. She's just a filly. Fillies shouldn't be that talented. You should have seen her in the Reconstruction Center. There we are in a hostile environment. With no hope. But she doesn't seem fazed. She even told me to get some rest when we had the chance. ”
“You must be really fond of her.” Haze smiled warmly making me realize I'd been monologuing about how awesome my daughter was. “It is cute.”
“I... uh.” I had attempted to gather my thoughts by eating something, but I'd already finished my meal. “She's my daughter.” I said blushing. “So I love her. I'm just... bad at it. After last time...”
“You mean Karkhoof.” Fuck. I said that out loud didn't I? And then she had to go and mention Karkhoof. My Two biggest failures in one nice little package. Now if only somepony could bring up Wildfire too and let the my combined guilt drive me insane. More insane. “Not Karkhoof?” She seemed to be able to read my pained expression.
“Not Karkhoof...” When Haze messed up that memory spell before, I had managed to stop her before she got to that memory, and thank Celestia for that. But it would always come up. It seemed the more I ran away from Foundation, the more she haunted me. Maybe I should just accept her... fate. But that was... I couldn't. I couldn't go back there. I took a heavy breath and closed my eye. Just needed to think about... something, anything.
“It is okay.” I felt Haze's hoof being laid atop mine. “You don't need to talk about it. We're sorry. When you're ready though, we will always be there for you.” My eye opened and I saw Haze's. They were remarkable, and beautiful. They shown a golden yellow hue, and were slit down like a cats, and they sparkled in the light of the restaurant. It was when I first saw her eyes that I started crushing on her. It was corny, but... true. She was simply beautiful, not just her eyes. Everything about her was made in a way that shine beauty and grace. Admittedly she was not that graceful, but I didn't really care.
“Thanks I...” blushed and looked down. “You're too good for me. You deserve better.”
“But we desire you.” That was just cheesy, so I chuckled. “What? Did we say something wrong. We are quite serious. We have explained ourselves earlier, did we not. Why are you still laughing. Silver? Are you okay. Oh, we said something wrong didn't we. We're sorry. Silver, We-”
I leaned over the table, to kiss her. It seemed really effective in stopping her nervous rambling.
“Would you like desert, ma'ams?”
My kiss was halted halfway across the table leaving me in an awkward and embarrassing position. “No.” I growled, hoping she'd go away.
“But I insist.”
“Listen I-” When I turned my head to chew the waitress out I instead saw a green pony with a tied back mane, and a black cowpony hat. Sorry, not a pony. A mule. “Molly.” As I said her name one of the molly’s ears flopped out from under her hat. “Hello. It has been. A while.” Carefully I sat back in my stool keeping my eyes trained on the molly.
“You know her?” Haze seemed a bit shocked at both her arrival and my reaction.
“Oh we know each other, little dove.” Molly said pushing her ear back into place. “Me and your little rat go way back.” A few weeks was hardly way back. “She did a job for me once, then stabbed me in the back.” My eyes went to Molly's side where her sawed off shotgun hung. I remembered the video I saw the day before, and tried my best not to piss herself off. The dress was new after all, and I'd hate to get blood on it.
“If I remember. You had ponies stab me. Literally. And I did your job. I just did other jobs too.” And killed Roy Mustang. Of course, she didn't know that. At least I hoped she didn't. “What do you want, Molly?”
“Just this, my little rat. If you come into my home again, I'll send my cats to kill and eat you.” She lowered herself down and glared. “You're in my world here, and you weren't invited. When rats infest my world, I exterminate them.” Or send cats, she could at least get her metaphor right. That's right, I know what metaphor means. “Your status as a cybernetic freak means I can't attack you without reprisal, but you're stretching my patience here, Hired.”
“Let me finished my-” I tried to say meal, but she cut me off. For some reason I got the impression she didn't like me.
“No.” With a hoof she knocked the contents of the table onto the floor. That just was not necessary. “Leave now.”
“Excuse us.” Haze started to stand up and let her full impressive be seen. She absolutely towered over Molly. “We think you are being rude. We paid to eat, and we should be allowed to eat in peace. We humbly request we can finish our meal, then we shall leave, and never return.
“No.” Molly's hoof moved towards the shotgun. Time seemed to slow.
When I turned on SATS, time actually slowed. Every other time I used my pipbuck in that manner something went wrong, but this time she was close, and I had my hooves. There was no way I was going to even let Molly point a gun in her direction. I selected her torso, and slipped out of the spell.
As if driven by instinct my body slammed into Molly's sending us both to the ground. I managed to get the other hoof partially pinning her to the ground. She was fumbling for her shotgun though. And slippery. I couldn't pin her properly. There was a vague sense of screaming in the background, but when I fought I could only focus on my opponent. Even with me pressing against her, that shotgun of hers found its way to her mouth.
As quickly as I could I switched SATS on again, and aimed for her shotgun. Falling out of it my cybernetic hoof batted the shotgun to the side. The slug went off course and slammed into my table. She aimed again and I didn't have the position to hit it again. Grunting in annoyance I rolled off Molly letting her slug hit the air where I was seconds ago. My body was slick with sweat already, and The Finishers were going to be so mad about me ruining their dress.
“HIRED!” My eyes darted to haze. Shit. The father of the family sitting beside her was stabbing at her shield with a fore-hoof blade. Apparently Molly knew we were here and prepared for a fight. In the attack it looked like her dress was cut, and her red wrap that hid her wings fell on the ground. She seemed unhurt, by the by, but everyone in the vicinity could see the wing bulges on her back. It didn't help the fight was drawing the attention of everyone in the restaurant. “We need to leave!” She yelled over at me.
“Yeah I-” Something slammed into the bun my mane was tied into. I turned my head to see Molly there with her shotgun, because I was an idiot and didn't take off my eyepatch for the fight.
She aimed her shotgun at me again, and I waited for the pain. Instead if felt my body get light, and my shoulder burn. The slug passed below me as I was lifted up in a magical field. A few seconds later I was dropped on Platinum Haze's back. She carefully pushed away the assassin away with her magic, casted invisibility over both of us, burst her wings through the dresses weakened fabric, and took to the air.
The invisibility was confusing enough to have Molly, and the assassin attack where we were, and even though the rooms ceiling wasn't high, there was enough room to manoeuvre. My ride quickly flew to the exit (some of the ponies inside ran away at the sound of the fight, other moved towards the conflict. Whatever the case the exit was nearly empty by the time we got there.
“Listen for the sound of flapping wings!” Molly ordered. “And the feeling of wind.” Good advice.
“Thanks, hurry.” I whispered into where I assumed Haze's ear was. I wasn't really sure as I couldn't see her. It was not comforting to be floating in the air and not see anything underneath you.
We flew through the doors to the main hall of the casino, which unfortunately made them swing wildly. There was a vague sound of noise behind us as we sped towards the exit, but I didn't pay attention. Thankfully the hallways were high enough to fly unimpeded. The race lasted until we burst from the casinos double doors, and into the night.
Looking up at the stars I smiled a bit at them. That was until I started to move towards them. “No!” I nearly screamed as my heart started to race, and I wrapped my forelegs around Haze's neck to keep me safe. “Please, don't.” With my eyes open I could see the ground slowly shrinking below us, and still invisible there was nothing between us. Just me and the ground. Falling. “Please, go down.”
“We do not understand we need t-”
“I'm afraid of heights.” I blurted out squeezing my eyes shut. It didn't help. I still could feel the fight, and I could feel myself getting higher. Fuck. Earth ponies should stay on the earth, dammit.
“S-sorry.” As I felt out descent relief filled me., That was. Better. Much better. Not enough to stop me from panicking, or convince me to open my eyes. “We did not know.”
When we reached the ground in front of the BS I slowly got off her back and onto shaky hooves. I really hated heights. I blamed pegasi for making other ponies yearn to take to the sky. It was just not needed. Just... yeah. Eventually I managed to calm my nerves enough to look up at Haze. “Uh... sorry.”
“No we are sorry. We should not have talked back to Molly, it caused the conflict...” she blushed. “We simply wanted to eat in peace. We are sorry we ruined the evening.”
“No... you didn't...” I chuckled. “I did. The clusterbuck that is my past likes to catch up with me so it can kick my face in.”
“No, we-”
“Can we just kiss now?” A cool breeze blew my now tattered mane into my face, and I had to quickly brush it away to keep my eyes on Haze. She looked especially beautiful in the moonlight.
“Certainly.” We leaned forward once more. My whole body felt tingly. This whole night had been great, barring the minor mess up at the end. It reminded me that everything could work. I could get through my past, and maybe some time in the future I could grow to love Haze. Not now, but it was a possibility I never thought I'd have after Wildfire died. This kiss meant everything. The final reassurance. The icing on the cake. The-
“Hired?”
Oh come on!
My brain snapped out of its bleary Haze induced haze and I looked towards the sound of the voice. A deep crimson pony was walking out of The BS with a metal left foreleg. “I was just looking for you.” Mayhem. The leader of the Mustangs. And he was looking for me so hard he ruined my kiss. Of course since Haze's wings were free she went invisible at the noise making it look like I was trying to kiss the air. Which helped. A lot.
“Why?” Very carefully I moved myself to make it look less like I was trying to kiss the air, and more like I was just taking an awkward step. “What do The Mustangs want with me?”
“You.” He shook his head walking forward slowly. He seemed strangely unarmed. “Do you remember last time you were in town? You owe me a job. No questions asked. With absolute loyalty.” Shit shit shit.
“Yes... I remember.” I said bitterly. “What is it?”
“Come to my office tomorrow in the morning.” The large crimson buck said with a sly grin. “We'll talk then. It's good you're back. I hate to cash in so soon, but it is important.” He laughed and started walking towards his casino. “Goodnight Hired. Sleep well. You'll need it.”
Haze did not reappear until he was halfway down the street, and when she did she was glaring down the street to where he went. As she glared she said with the most vicious tone I've ever heard from her. “Stallions!”
I wasn't sure if that was a rebuke of him, or all stallions, but I couldn't help but laugh. “Stallions.” I agreed wholeheartedly.
Level Up!
New Perk: Terrifying Presence: You have been using this perk since you left Marefort, so it was about time you got it officially. With it you can scare the shit out of just about anypony, and get them to bend to your will.
((A/N: Another slow chapter, but I think Silver deserves a rest. Thank you all for reading. Tonights chapters was brought to you by Kkat, who created FOE and in turn let me write this, as well as theBSDude, Mint Julep, and Menti who edit my work and make it suck less. One of my editors were sick this week, so I may have missed a few errors. If you spot anything please PM me so I can fix them! Thank you lovelies. The lovely dresses you read about were the product of the mind of Kashin author of Operation Flankorage. Read it if you like dresses and death. Next chapter is my official anniversary chapter, if I had planned ahead I would have something special for you all, but alas... ~No One~)) |
No One | 662 | 25 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-09-25T03:44:41+00:00 | 2013-09-07T17:36:09+00:00 | 16,209 | Nature of A Hero
Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of an oncoming train.
I woke up feeling warm and happy. That's right, I woke up happy. Take that, nightmares, you lose this round. Of course that made it about three to five hundred, but it was something. Since I was already having a good morning I decided to murmur my approval and snuggled up with Platinum Haze. She had spent the night, but there was no 'hanky panky' involved. Just cuddling, and I was okay with that. Take things slow so my neuroses didn’t explode twice.
“Good morning, Silver...” Haze's voice sounded beautiful. “Did you sleep well?” I nodded into her coat. “Are you sure? You seemed... distressed. Did you have a nightmare?” Probably. I couldn't remember. Dreams are tricky like that. Nightmares were my speciality, so it was safe to assume.
“Maybe,” I mumbled. “Lots of nightmares.”
“Did you want to talk about them?” About as much as I wanted to talk about Foundation.
Before I could answer though, the door to my room burst open, and I heard the pitter-patter of hooves running towards my bed. “GERONIMO!” A ball of pink fur slammed into my chest, making me gasp. “Hi Momma, how was the date? You're sleeping in the same bed, that's suspicious. Nothin' better of happened, cause you said ya wouldn't. I already had breakfast, Flare give me sugar apple bombs. They're delicious!”
“I'm sure they are.” I rubbed at my eyes with my foreleg. “Can you get off me?”
“Your boss wanted to see you, better hurry up.” I looked over to see Flare standing by the door, faking a smile. I wasn't sure why House wanted to see me. There were still a few days left before I had to go to work, at least that's what he’d said before. If he’d changed his mind, I would be annoyed.
“Right.” Part of me wanted to stay in bed next to Platinum Haze forever, but we both had work to do. “Serenity,” I said again. That was all it took to get her off me, which gave me room to roll off the bed and trudge to the bathroom. “Be right back.” Before I went in, I grabbed my saddlebags and dragged them with me.
When the door was safely closed behind me, I sheepishly slumped to the sink. After splashing water in my face, I looked at the cracked mirror above the tap and sighed. Just as ugly as the last time I’d checked. Though my mane was starting to grow out even more, which gave me an idea. I carefully grabbed the hairbrush in my fetlock I started to brush at my mane. It wasn't easy because, as an earth pony my magic-less existence made manoeuvring things difficult, but also because my mane was a tattered mess of sweat and knots. After some considerable effort, I managed to brush a lot of my pink and white mane so it was hanging over the right side of my face, covering at least some of my scars and part of my eye-patch. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it'd work.
With that done I looked into the medicine compartment of my saddlebags. There was a tightness in my gut when I realized I was starting to run out of Med-X. I would have to buy more later, but doing that without anyone seeing would be the trick. Either that or I could request some from House, but I wasn't sure I wanted him to know. Every option seemed like it was going to lead to trouble. We had more important things to deal with, but I knew my companions wouldn't let it go.
Pushing the thoughts out of my mind, I decided to deal with the problem later. Instead, I gave myself a dose of Med-X (which made me feel much better about the whole situation) and tossed the container out.
“Momma, come see!” a muffled voice said through the door. Before I even opened the door I knew whatever she was doing was either completely adorable or dangerous enough to give me a heart attack.
When I opened the door I was glad it was the adorable option.
Haze had lifted up Serenity in her magic and was floating her around in a circle as Serenity stretched her legs out as if she herself was doing all the work. “Look! I'm flying.” That she was. “Make me do a loop!” As ordered, Haze used her magic and suddenly Serenity was doing loop-de-loops that would make Flare jealous.
“You're talented.” I smirked.
“She really wanted to fly,” Haze explained. “And we just could not deny her.” Serenity did one final flip before Haze let her drop safely on the bed, which of course made Serenity pout.
“I know that feeling.” I walked over to the alicorn and nuzzled her cheek.
“Momma's a liar,” Serenity said. “Momma denies me all the time.”
“Only when she wants cybernetics,” I explained to Haze. “She's obsessed.” Serenity didn't even try to argue that because it was simply true.
“So we have heard. We think it is a noble pursuit, and that it is good she takes such interests at a young age. We are sure it will not be long before you find your cutie mark at this rate.” She smiled at Serenity, but for some reason Serenity seemed a little upset about the proclamation. “Uh... “ Haze noticed the frown and wasn't sure what to say. “Anyway. We are afraid we must take our leave. Diamond Sky will be waiting for our return, and we cannot put off our work.”
“It's fine. I uh... had a good time.” I felt my cheeks start to get warm; Flare nickering confirmed that for me.
“We did as well...” She kicked at the ground.
“Yes well...” I gulped.
“Kiss!” Flare suggested in a manner that definitely did not make me want to kick him. Luckily for him, Haze took his suggestion to heart and I was too distracted by alicorn snogs for my daily pegasus beating. “Ew, mares!” Flare added. At that point I had to break away the kiss because I was giggling.
“Your friend is quite silly.” Haze was giggling too, and I noticed she too was blushing.
“Not the word I'd use.” Among my top adjectives for Flare were: annoying, aggravating, frustrating, and slightly amusing. “See you later?”
“Yes!” She blushed. “We mean... Yes, if you wish visit us at any time, and we will try to take time out to speak with you.” She kissed my cheek, walked over to the window, opened it, turned invisible, and presumably flew out. My eyes stayed fixed on the spot she had last been for a good minute. Part of me felt nervous, though I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because I lived a hectic, and often deadly life, and that could be the last time I saw her. Or I was simply worrying too much.
“Momma.” My eyes darted over to Serenity. “There better not'a been any hanky panky.” Why was my daughter was interrogating me about my sex life? It was just wrong on so many levels; I didn't answer. I walked out the door and pretended my life still made sense.
We made our way to House’s office, and as usual found him staring thoughtfully out of his really large windows. The first thing he said when we entered was that I had a job to do, which was annoying because I was supposed to be on break. So much for resting.
“You said I have the rest of the week off...” Was my obvious reply.
“Things have changed.” He turned around to look at me. It may have been my imagination but he actually looked sorry. “You have heard the Chairpony of the NCA is coming to Dise to give a speech about the Minotaur struggle?” I nodded. Lucky had mentioned it. “It's today. Apparently it is important, as the minotaur king is going to be there, and the NCA has requested guards from all groups in Dise be present in a show of solidarity. It seems like an official treaty is going to be signed.”
“And I need to go?” That made no sense. I was not a security specialist by any stretch of imagination, and the Hizai had an entire contingent of Security personal.
“I'm sorry, yes.” He walked over to his over-large computer system and pressed a few buttons. Not that I knew enough about how computers worked to actually explain what he did. “I got a request by Major General Hailstorm to send at least one agent with cybernetic eyes. She wants somepony up high to monitor the minotaurs that will be there. Tell her which are aggressive, and which were the most dangerous in case something went wrong. Unfortunately everypony else with that specific augmentation is out on a critical mission, so it's up to you.” The thought of being up high sent shivers down my spine, and if this was today that ruined that whole 'getting off drugs' thing Flare had set up. I'd try to hide my disappointment.
“Lovely. Is it tonight?”
“This evening, at the NCA train station. You'll go through the main gate, and go with the rest of the guards. Try not to fight with any Galaicians, Mustangs, or Baises...” he looked back at me. “The Finishers are sending a few too, you can fight with them if you want.” But I rather liked the Finishers. At least when they weren't drugging me. “Once you're there, you'll report directly to the Major General. You'll find her in the back of the station on the furthest rail-car. And Hired.” He walked over at me to glare face to face. “Do not fuck with her. She holds a lot of power, and I would like for us to be on friendly terms.”
“Sure.” What, did he think I was going to kick her in the face or something? I wasn't that dumb. “Oh, yeah, I found something...” The ghoul raised an eyebrow at me. “Serenity, could you get the documents?” it was just easier than looking through with my mouth.
“Sure, Momma!” A few seconds later the documents I'd found in the tunnels were floating out in front of my in a pink glow.
“What are these...” he started to flip through one to the end, and his eyes went wide as he saw the signature. “Wallkirk... where did you?”
“An old office of his in the-”
“My men found that office years ago.” he cut me off.
“Secret compartment of one of his drawers.” I continued pretending not to hear his interruption. “It was protected by a magical shield. It was poorly designed. They might be interesting.” I motioned at the documents. “Very interesting.”
“Humm, I will take a look...” his voice sounded kind of distant as he read. “You should be going, you need to be gone in an hour and a half.” Even better. “You'll get paid double though. Now go...” he trotted off awkwardly still reading the documents. I guess I did that right at least.
“Can't you go anywhere without stumbling across an ancient secret?”
---
Before I could go anywhere else I tracked down Starscream and bugged him until he gave me a passport into the city so I could get Pearly inside. After that I finally left the BS.
We didn't have much time to meet Mayhem before we had to go with the other gang members to the train station, so we hoofed it down to The Moon as fast we could. Well I did, while Serenity and Flare followed. Though I did take the time to explain why I had to go they didn't understand. It didn't seem that complicated. If you say you're going to do a job, you do it. If I couldn't do that I would be pretty bad at my job. I was a Hired Gun after all, and if a gun constantly misfires, you get a new gun.
Once inside I had expected to be ushered down to the secret room in the basement where Mayhem normally took his office. Instead the guard who was expecting me (who was the bartender when I used to work there) took me to a side office that I was pretty sure used to be a bathroom. The floor was still tiled, and the remains of plumbing could be seen, but it seemed he was trying to fit it up given the newish wallpaper.
Once I entered I saw Mayhem pacing nervously. His metal hoof clacked against the tiled floor as he did. “Hired.” He turned his dark eyes to me. “You're late. I almost thought you weren't going to show. I'd offer you a seat but...” he looked around. “Well it's not ready. So stand an-” he looked around me to see Flare and Serenity walking after and very subtlety adjusted the mini-gun on his back. “Your friends will have to wait outside.”
“But I always getta listen when Momma goes into secret meetings.”
“You heard the large stallion with the large gun.” Flare tugged her back. “Give them space.”
As Serenity was drug out of the room she thought it was a good idea to say, “But Momma is bigger, and has a big gun too!”
“Precocious scamp.” Mayhem watched her leave. “Now for you, how have you been?” He tilted his head and eyed the side of my face I had half-hidden behind my mane. “If my spies are correct you've been a busy mare. Fighting tough-ass raiders in the north, escaping the steel rangers... twice. Then you came back, and got into a fight with Molly.” He recited from memory. “How are you not dead yet?”
“Not for want of trying.” I scratched at the scars on my face that paid tribute to that fact. “I'm bad at dying.”
“Evidently. Well I'm sure that'll be rectified in short order.” He smiled and leaned against the wall. “I knew you were something as soon as you came into the city. Roy let me handle a lot of recruitment work, and I have ponies searching the street looking for good mercs. When I heard about a giant of a mare walking into a drug dealer base and cleaning it, well I had to have her. Then you show up, drunk and horny. Well it was easy to get you into debt. Then you killed Roy, and I knew I had a winner. It's a shame you had to go for House, I could make better use of you.”
“I'm not an asset to be traded and used.” I levelled my one eyed glare at him.
“You are, I am, we all are. Welcome to Dise, you must be new here.” he laughed. “Oh, I missed you. Do you remember the night Roy died?” Of course I did. It was before the clouds cleared, mercilessly dark, and slightly warm. It felt like the muggy day before a thunderstorm. “I do to.” he tapped his metal leg. “Lost my leg, and gained a gang. A fair trade. I would have lost more, but, unlike Roy, I knew you were full of shit.”
“I didn't break my contract...” My voice sounded a bit defensive. I worked hard to always to my work to the letter.
“Of course not, you did everything as ordered I'm sure. How many ponies were you working for that night?” I just smirked. “Right, a secret. I knew, and I prepared a counter attack... it didn't work as well as I'd hoped, but it was enough to stop her from torching the building. Tell me, why did you kill Roy?”
“He pissed me off.”
“You know.” He grinned. “I have a contract for any one job, I could make you tell me.” That would suck. I rather liked the fact that nopony could figure it out. “No matter., I have a better job. I'm sure House picked you to be one of his guards going down to help 'keep the peace' during the speech.”
“Spies?” I took a wild guess. He was always bragging about his spies.
“Of course.” He walked towards me, “Listen, the speech will be attended by the 'Minotaur King'. If anything happens, I need you to escort him out. Defend him with your life. Is that clear?” I just stared at him blankly. “A deal is a deal; if anything happens, you get him out of there. You don't want to break a contract, do you?”
“Okay.” This was going to suck. “I'll do it. I'm not going to kill NCA troopers to do it though.”
“If you must, you will.” His gaze hardened.
“No.” If Haze could survive with the entire city wanting her dead, I could manage with just a few hundred ponies. “I'll find another way.” There is always a better way. “Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
“Speak for yourself.” he barked laughter. “A little explosion is a good way to spice up a day of boring speeches. You're probably late, so go now. Remember the deal.” He narrowed his eyes. “Please don't fail me.” Well, he did ask nicely. “Oh, and one caveat, don't tell your pegasus, or little filly. If nothing happens, I don't want this spreading to the Remnants and the Watchers. Also, no telling Mr. House, or anypony affiliated with him.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved a hoof and walked out the door. “So many rules.”
---
“Hey, Hired?” Flare said. We had left The Moon and were just past the Dise main gates (The ponitrons gave us dirty looks) “Weren't we supposed to do something today.” Huh, oh yeah. The Detox. I had intentionally forgot.
“Right.” I shrugged and headed down the street towards the casino Pearly was staying at. “It'll have to wait for another time.” I was so heartbroken about it. Looking at Flare, he felt the exact same way. I wasn't entirely sure what my feelings were on that, but I didn't push the issue. Take what small victories I could get. If that was a victory. I didn't even know anymore.
“Alright. I'll talk to them when we get back.” He flapped into the air, “In the meantime, while you talk with the apple mare, I have a few contacts. Could go find something to tide us over.” Oh Celestia, yes! I mean, sure okay. I guess... I nodded at him, and hoofed some caps. “Shouldn't take long, meet you outside the casino.” He flew straight up, looked around, and dashed off.
I didn't mean to make that pun.
We made our way through the fairly busy street to the casino. Upon entering I was instantly greeted by Pearly sitting at a nearby table. “Hon! There you are. I've been waitin'. These ponies don't seem ta like me loitering none.” she waved a hoof at the ponies working the front desk. “Apparently I don't have enough for another night, so it's good that ya came.” She shook her head. “Spent too much gambling, oh well.”
“Here.” I placed the passport on the table. “Good news. Got you into the city. Report to the BS and they'll get you to work.”
“Aw, thanks Hon.” She got off the chair and stuck her tongue out at the desk ponies. “They'll want me out as soon as possible, so I can't stay'n chat. Y’all look busy too.” She kissed my cheek. “Stay safe, I’ll head right over. We c'n talk later, hon, see ya.” And she walked off towards the stairs presumably to gather her things. I had hoped to talk to her for a little longer, if only because I liked talking to Pearly.
“Momma, ya shouldn’t kiss other mares,” Serenity said from her perch on my back.
“I have no interest in her. Just Haze.” I paused and turned to her. “Just in case, don't tell her. It meant nothing. Just don't want her getting the wrong idea.” Most of all, I didn't want Diamond Sky to skewer me if she misunderstood.
“Sooooo, it don't mean nothin' but ya still want me ta keep it a secret.” She narrowed her eyes. “Suspicious.”
In truth, I wasn’t really worried about Haze or Diamond knowing that Pearly existed, but I was worried about them hearing the wrong thing and getting the wrong impression. Both of them were smart enough to know I had no interest in Pearly, but if someone like Flare made a joke that was misunderstood, then it could be an issue, and I would rather not be killed over a misunderstanding. Serenity was probably joking anyway.
Of course that just made me think of Platinum Haze and start to worry about her. Or, rather about us. My whole plan was to move slow so we wouldn't be overwhelmed, but I couldn't help but think maybe we were moving too fast. Of course, I wasn't sure what was fast and what was slow. The only pony I ever dated before was Wildfire, and that just sort of happened. There hadn’t been any dates, or defining moments, just a subtle transition. This was brand new territory, and utterly terrifying, and could end horribly, especially if I kept comparing her to Wildfire.
It was a sad thought, but no matter how much I liked Haze, Wildfire was foremost in my heart. It wasn't fair to Haze, but it was hard to remove my feelings for Wildfire.
Right, depressing thoughts go away, I had a job to do. When I exited the casino it was a surprise to find that Flare was not waiting for me, instead it was Pinprick.
“Hey cunt.” The grey earth pony grinned at me. “You're late as fucking usual. You're lucky this bitch is looking out for you.” She looked a little scuffed up, and her right foreleg was bandaged. It must have been from that bust she mentioned the day before. “And if you're wondering how the shit I know, the Batmare just happened to be eavesdropping on you this morning. Don't ask how or why, the bitch can teleport after all, and maybe she wanted ta make sure ya were comin'”
“Hi, prisoner.” Spitshine poked her head out from around her mother's legs. “Momma n' I got into a fight yesterday, but we're good now, are you?” Her mane seemed shorter than the day before, and it might have been my imagination but it looked slightly singed. “Ya didn't fight; ya dated, I heard. That's much worse.”
“I'm fine.” I smirked at the filly who still seemed to think I was her prisoner despite the fact I hadn't been since my first few days in Caledonia. “And well rested. Very well rested.” I looked up at Pinprick, “You're going to be a guard at the speech too?” She didn't look the guard type.
“Well, not 'fically. But it turns out some of the assassins what Molly hired don't actually communicate with each other, so I found one lonely bitch, knocked her out and.” she tapped the pipbuck like device on her foreleg. “It comes with an identification chip.” she barked laughter. “So I'm a fucking Baise, who’d’a known?”
“Is the Batmare going to come too?” Serenity asked beside me. “I like her. She's cool an' heroic, and can teleport cool-like.”
“Yeah, kid.” Pinprick snorted. “But not with us. The train station is 'pparently on the south west side outside the city, but since this is the only fucking gate, we have to go 'round. Now the Batfuck is different, she can just teleport past the walls, so she's already there an' staking the area out. She could'a taken me too, but I felt like talking to your cunt of a mother.” Serenity seemed to approve of this information and nodded happily. “Now lets get the show on the fucking road. There's a whole caravan of us waitin', ya know. All the gangs that matter.”
“How do you know who matters?” She'd been in the city for maybe a week at the most, so I doubted she had a real intricate view on how it was organized.
“The ones that do. Are coming.” She laughed. “Bird bitch incoming.” Huh, what. When I turned around it seemed Prick was right, as Flare landed behind me. “Told ya.”
“Oh, she wormed her way in too?” Flare said, trotting up beside me, “I got the stuff by the way.” I think that was his attempt at being subtle, but it didn't really work. “So, Pin. Ya get into a fight or something? If I had to guess, you offended someone and they kicked you for it.”
“I'm guessing you bird brain fucks don't listen to the radio then, 'cause if ya did you'd know that me an' the bat bitch took down a serial killer in the slums.”She spat at the thought. “He didn't touch me, but that fuck that the bat bitch keeps fighting showed up and turned things to shit. The joking stallion, or whatever.”
“Him again?” I gave an exasperated sigh, and started towards the NCA outpost around the exit of Parasite Mound (what a stupid name). That was the pony who first posed me the question 'What is the nature of a hero', which proved he was crazy, strangely philosophical, and bad at phrasing questions. He gave me the first answer, too: failure.
“Yeah, the fuck with a metal faceplate and terrible fashion sense.” She followed me as well, seemingly unconcerned it might clash with her 'disguise'. “I've never seen anypony predict the bat bitch like he could. Ya know her teleportation-fu, right? Fucker seemed to be able to guess where she'd appear. Guess when you and a cunt go at it night after night their fucking style gets memorized. I almost got him too, but he's a slippery bitch.”
“I don't like him,” Serenity stated. “He was mean. So I shot at him.”
“The trick is to hit him.” Spitshine pointed out. “I'll give you pointers. Hitting is the most important part.” Pinprick's daughter trotted out from under her mother and over to Serenity. I was understandably a little bit nervous with Serenity making friends with a former raider filly.
“I know how'ta shoot. I killed a ghoul that was tryin'a eat momma once,” Serenity replied a little bit haughtily. It was a bit surprising that she gave up that information so quickly because at the time she was really upset over it... but I guess since then we've been through Karkhoof, Timber, and the facility so she had worse things to dwell on.
“Oh! That's cool. What happened?” At Spitshine's proclamation Serenity lost her reservations and started to excitedly tell the story about the tunnels. Though it had a lot more over the top fights (I apparently hoof wrestled a hellhound ghoul) and much less subtle mind fuckery.
“I still don't get it.” My eye shot over to Pinprick who seemed to be staring at my filly. “Why Silver Bullet wanted her so much.” It took me to remember that Silver Bullet was the name of the slaver who gave me the job to kill Nanny Jane and take Serenity to him.
“Child slaves are worth a lot?” It was what I had always assumed.
Apparently Flare heard what I said so he took the opportunity to fly backwards in front of me and Prick. “Child slavery? Is this more of your secret past you don't tell anypony?”
“Eat shit, birdie.” Pinprick was always the one for polite conversation. “Nah, I mean. Yeah they're worth a pretty cap, but not to the extent that cunt was going, he would have burned Bridle Hope to the ground, and not all nice-like, like the Crimson Fuckers did neither.”
“Oh, I love mysteries.” Flare could not help but to flip himself upside down. I still didn't know how he did that. “I'm guessing you know some big secret, right right? Well, spill it.”
“Ugh, fucking birds. Can't stand them.” she looked back to me. “I know he was planning on a specific buyer, ‘cause the fucks came in a few times, but I don't know who. Think they might have been birdies.” She sneered at Flare. “Whatever his reason, it was lost when you broke his brain. A fuckin' shame.” Yeah, I was real broken up about killing him. For the longest time he was the only pony I killed who I felt really deserved it.
“I'm sure it was nothing.” The broken hive of Parasite Mound retreated as we closed in on the NCA outpost at the outskirts of the town. There just on the other side of the outpost I could see a great throng of pony guards representing every faction. Even as we walked closer I could see more joining the crowd. If anything represented Dise, it was that great crowd of ponies. Just ponies though, and it wasn't like the land was devoid of other races. I'm not sure what it said about the city, or about me that I was joining them, but it couldn't have been a good thing.
---
Though this was supposed to be a show of unity for Dise, as soon as the group started to move each of the gangs separated into their own separate marching columns. The only real unity we showed was that everyone agreed to glare at everyone else. It made the whole walk almost as tense as the infamous ‘most awkward vertibuck ride ever’.
It also made the walk long and slow. Because the train station was on the west side of Dise, we were forced to walk the long way around the city walls. It would have been frustrating but it allowed me to see the ruined city surrounding Dise in all it’s... glory? Much of it was nothing more than rubble or buildings barely clinging onto their foundations. It looked all the more dilapidated compared to great grey walls of Dise standing tall behind the ruins. It was an interesting juxtip...juxtospiton...
It was an interesting contrast.
As we walked, our route forced us down a cracked street in between large broken buildings on either side. There was a call from one of the NCA ponies in the front to be on our guard. The talking around me went quiet and it seemed like everypony around started to get tense. When I looked over at the buildings, I thought I saw shapes through broken windows and cracked stone; grey dirty things that moved quickly and quietly.
“Raiders. Or worse.” Flare said in a low voice. “Used to be bloodwings until the Enclave drove them out.” I wasn't sure what a bloodwing was, but I had a feeling it would be bad. One of the shapes in a second story window stopped and looked at me. It was a dark thing that barely looked like a pony at all. I carefully nudged Serenity behind me for protection, just in case. “They were driven out of Parasite Mound before I was born,” Flare explained about the raiders. “Some have been here longer. They have been so mutated by radiation and toxins they're barely ponies...”
Whatever the thing was that stared at me was, it didn't stare for long as it decided it wasn't worth the trouble. “Radiation?”
“You'll see. Keep your head down.” As soon as I did I could hear gunshots. The buildings made the noise echo though, so try as I might I couldn’t find the source. There was a flurry of repeating blasts before the street went silent again.
That seemed like a good enough reason to keep my head down. Though I couldn't help but look for scurrying in the buildings, but there was nothing there for me to see. Whatever raiders were there decided not to repeat the mistake of the pony that just shot at us, so they vanished back into urban jungle.
We were walking over a slight hill when everypony turned their head to stare at something. When I looked I was in awe, too. Less than half a kilometre away was a huge impact crater. At the centre of the crater was a pool of water that glowed with an eerily blueish green light. Part of me wondered if it was where the megaspell that killed Dise had fallen. Though it was strange, we were fairly close to it, but my pipbuck wasn't giving me a radiation warning.
“It's odd... that... thing emits a lot of radiation, like melt your face off levels, but it doesn't spread beyond it's little hole. Or at least not much,” Flare said, staring at it. He flew above Dise many times so he must have been used to the sight. I'd no idea something like that was so close to the city. “Funny thing is that apparently the megaspell that hit Dise was an airburst. It shouldn't have left a crater.”
“It don't look like the one in Eyeglow,” Serenity said, also staring at it. “There's one there too, but it looks different, it was wider there, an' more green'n stuff. Not as deep.” She paused. “At least, ah think. I ain't been there for'a long time, but from what I remember...” her voice trailed suddenly unsure.
“I heard once a meteorite hit the city...” Though I couldn't remember where I heard that. “And it got covered up as an attack.”
“Huh?” Flare looked over at me with a raised eyebrow. “Now that's new. Ain't never heard anything about that. I guess it's not impossible, just unlikely. Whatever caused that, it plagued the ruins of Dise for years. The new city was built keeping in mind to stay as far away from the crater as possible while still incorporating the larger buildings that hadn't been destroyed.”
“You're a wealth of knowledge today, Flare.” Either he was trying to be helpful to make up for that whole falling off the waggon (or is it getting on the waggon?) thing, or he wanted to rub his knowledge in my face.
“What? Knowledge is power, Silver.” He looked me over and smirked. “So you're screwed. And besides. It's fairly common knowledge, at least to us factions that actually teach our members. The Enclave takes great pride in teaching our foals, and history is important. Haze would be proud.” He added quickly, “At least, she'd be proud of the parts the Remnants didn’t greatly alter it to their own benefits. If you listened to their teachings you'd believe the Caledonian and Equestrian pegasi almost won the war single-hoofedly.”
Flare went on telling a few stories of ponies he knew that had actually ventured into the crater. Apparently one turned into a mass murdering maniac who tried to use a mega-spell to blow up Dise, while the other just sort of melted away. Of course it was Flare so it was safe to say that the stories were either greatly exaggerated or made up wholesale.
About an hour after we got around the crater, we finally made it to the NCA base. Looking at it from a distance, it looked more like a temple than a train station. Vines climbed up brown stone walls that made up the front of the building, worming their way around a large (broken) clock near the top before reaching the top of the wall that tapered off like a steeple. I could just see the ruins of the large multilevel staircase that lead to the main entrance. On each of the three levels were the ruins of what looked to be separate gardens, complete with fountains and statues.
As we got closer it only became more impressive because I realized just how large the building was. It was like an immense towering fortress looming over the weary landscape. It hurt my neck to look up at the top of the building as we made our way up the stairs.
“Who needs a train station this big?” I had to ask as we slowly made our way over ruined walkways and stairs so well used they were rounded and faded.
“Somepony with a small dick.” I gave Flare a withering glare so he would know that that sort of talk was inappropriate around my daughter.
Still, I had to guess. “Wallkirk?”
“Well it's called the 'Wallkirk Memorial Train Station', so that'd be a good guess.” Of course it was. It was something big and in Dise, so it had to be him. Sometimes I wondered why he didn't take his wealth and just make his own little country out of the city, but when I thought about it a bit more, I realized he sort of did. He could have at least done something right, if that was the case, instead of constantly failing in every endeavour I’d found out about. Never before had I heard of a stallion so full of ambition, yet so utterly incapable of following through.
“It's big,” Serenity stated, officially claiming the title of Captain Obvious.
“Thanks, sweetie, you're so observant.” She bopped me on the back of the head for that remark. Oh, did I mention she’d climbed onto my back during the walk? It happened so much it just seemed natural by then.
“Can you two be like... less sickeningly sweet? It can't be healthy.” The obvious response was to glare at Flare. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Serenity copying me.
As soon as we got to the top level of the building the different factions split off, but since Tight Lips and the rest of the Hizai went inside, I followed them. The interior of the building was even more impressive than the outside.
Looking up, I could see the high arched ceiling; it was made up almost entirely of glass-panes in a metal frame. Near the very top, I saw scaffolding and catwalks which seemed to suggest that the NCA was busy refurbishing the building. When I looked behind me, I saw a similar style of stone wall to the one I saw when entering the building (it even had a giant broken clock) but it was partially covered up on either side of the door by giant white screens that must have been new. In order to see the rest of the platform I had to walk around a crude wooden stage set up in the middle of the lobby. Hanging over the right screen was the NCA's Star and Phoenix flag, but above the left one was just a red banner. It must have meant something to the minotaurs.
I turned to face the other side of the stage and saw a large escalator system in the middle of the huge room. It was being guarded by multiple heavily armed NCA rangers so I didn’t go that close, but from where I stood, the escalators seemed to go down multiple levels, even underground. This led to the feeling that the room as actually split into three parts from side to side. There was a large area on the left side that stopped when it reached the escalator pit, or rather the barrier put up so ponies wouldn't fall in. That led to the pit area which was really a series of escalators that went down several floors, before leading to the right floor area that was the same as the left only on the other side of the pit.
It seemed a bit needlessly complicated, but immensely useful in this occasion as delegates from both the NCA and Minotaurs were already getting set up, and the two groups were split up, the Minotaurs on the right side of the pit, and the NCA ponies on the left. It was a neat little solution that was much better than actually having the supposed peace agreement be announced with ponies and minotaurs actually intermingling. Celestia forbid.
My eyes were drawn over to the Minotaur side of the lobby, though. For some reason in my head Minotaurs were all homogenous, a large hoard of identical monsters rampaging across the land. Instead I saw something much different. Even though few minotaurs were waiting, and all seemed to be soldiers (Given they were wearing metal armour and brandishing spears and guns) they were as different from each other as I was from Flare. Some were tall, others short, a few were dulled out reds and browns and blues, but at least one was a bright yellow, and two were a deep pink. It sort of shattered my prejudice, or at the very least cracked it.
“Hired.” Huh, what? “Hiiiired, Earth to Hired.” My eyes turned to Tight Lips who was waving with one of her cybernetic hooves. “Ah, you're back in the world of the living. Not sure what I am going to do with you, as you're not part of Security. Oh, wait! I get to do nothing; turns out you're special because of your eye and Major General Hailstorm wants to speak with you personally about your job. Makes my work easier.” She waved over a NCA guard. “This lovely mare will escort you to the general. Play nice, and remember, whatever you do, you do as a representative of Mr. House.”
“Right this way,” The female guard said starting towards the left side of the lobby. “Your friends can come too, but the Major General will need to speak with you in private.”
---
At the end of the long lobby, there was a smaller and less fancy series of doors that led to the first sign that this place was actually a train station. Out the back of the lobby was a large outdoor train platform where I assumed ponies used to wait for trains. On the left side was a train that looked like it hadn't moved since the end of the world, while on the left there were just empty tracks on a lower section. At least until you got to the end of the platform, where a few cars were left standing but seemed to have crashed violently, spilling partially onto the platform.
All along the platform NCA guards seemed on high alert as they patrolled the area. “Your friends need to wait here,” the mare who was leading us said.
“I wish I was as popular as Hired,” Flare nickered.
“Serenity.” I looked down at the small filly as she jumped off my back onto the floor. “Be good for Momma, and make sure Flare doesn't get shot.”
“Okay! I'm the best at getting ponies un-shot.” That didn't really make much sense but she said it with such unabashed confidence I could not help but agree.
“Alright,” I said after briefly mussing up Serenity's mane. “Lets go.” The guard smirked a little and led the way.
The car she took me to just happened to be at the very end of the really long platform on the left side. The car in question looked like it had been freshly painted blue, and above the door were the words 'Major General Hailstorm' in gold. My stomach twisted staring at the words, and I found myself stupidly nervous. I had met many of Dise's top brass to the point it was almost sort of silly, but it was this pony who made me the most nervous. Maybe it was because now I actually understood how the city worked, and how the NCA worked. Or maybe it was because this pony, as the top military commander of the NCA, had more ponies under her command than all of the other leaders I’d talked to put together.
The guard I was following showed no care for my existential crises and abruptly opened the door, making me scramble to follow her. “Hired Gun of the Hizai.” The guard said. The inside of the car seemed to have been cleared of seats and was carpeted in a dusty blue. The walls were painted a similar blue except for the occasional NCA crest. On the far end of the car were three ponies standing around a table.
One of them was General Scoitel who saw me and gave a short 'huzzah', while the other was Major Lucky who stared at me briefly with his pale eyes before mumbling something I couldn't hear to the pony I didn't recognize. The one I didn't recognize was a fairly large brown unicorn mare with her bright pink mane and tail both tied back in matching braids. She whispered something back to Major Lucky before finally looking over at me.
“Hired Gun of the Hizai, I have been waiting for you. Leave us, all of you, at once.” Her voice boomed through the car and at once the two high ranking NCA officers went for the exit.
“Don't fuck around with her, Hired,” Lucky said to me as he walked passed, while Scoitel just gave me a gentlestallionly nod.
That left me and the intimidatingly large brown mare alone in car. She gave me a hard glare before slowly cracking a smile. “You’re actually larger than me. I can hardly believe it. Well, get over here; nopony is watching, and I can’t abide by stuffy procedures. Would you like a drink?” She floated out a wine bottle and started to pour me a glass even though I didn't say anything. “The best thing about the apocalypse was that it made every bottle of wine a vintage.”
“Uh...” I stopped at the table but gave her a respectable distance. “Thank you, ma'am.”
“Ugh, don't ‘Ma'am’ me. I hate being ‘ma'am'd. It makes me feel old.” She sipped at her glass. “If anypony should be ‘ma'am'd, it's Major Lucky. He's as old as Celestia and naggy as a crone. Well, drink.” She stared at me hard enough that I took a drink. “Not what you were expecting, huh?” I looked the mare over. She wasn't that old, but I could see a few grey hairs in her pink mane, and wrinkles forming around her mouth and eyes. She looked strangely comfortable in what would normally be a very stuffy dress uniform. Though she seemed the type to be comfortable anyway.
“I didn't know what to expect...”
“I try to keep ponies off guard.” She looked over the table and flipped over something she didn't want me to see. “Enough about me, this is about you. House promised me a lookout, and I got you. You look like me in my prime, well, if I was a tad bit larger and with fewer body parts. Which is not saying much for your looking skills, as I could never be arsed. I preferred the front lines.” She grinned at me with an almost stunningly white smile. “Well, take the patch off, let me see it.”
My eye must have been getting used to the darkness because when I took it off everything on my right side was a mute colour. There was a slight whirring sound in my head as colour slowly returned, and the eye recognized I was looking at a mare. Immediately a purple indicator box was placed around the mare (which was the highest threat level) and the name Major General Hailstorm started to hover over her head. It was a little awkward to get used to (like every time I took my eye patch off) but I knew I'd get used to it again in short order.
“Impressive.” The General seemed to think it was okay to violate my personal space by bringing herself alarmingly close to stare at my eye. “Oh, I like it. What can it do?” I briefly explained the main functions. “Will it work if you're looking at a lot of ponies?”
“Uh, it has limited er...” the word escaped me for a second. “Processing power. Right, so maybe. If not it'll mark the ponies closest to the centre of my vision.” That seemed to be acceptable to her. “Why?”
“I need a lookout. Somepony that can pick out the most dangerous of those bipedal freaks in case this is just an excuse to get a lot of them close to us.” One time they poisoned tea during a peace meeting if Flare was correct (was he ever?) so her suspicion didn't seem entirely baseless, if still quite racist. “And House said you're the only one.”
Did I mention how odd I found that? Electronic eyes weren't the least common enhancement the Hizai had, and I wouldn't have been surprised if a few ponies voluntarily took them for the upgrades. So why then was I the only pony available. He had a whole security department, and there was no way none of them had cyber-eyes. There was just something wrong about the whole deal. As usual I got the feeling I was missing something vital.
“I guess so,” I said as calmly as my eyes scanned her office. For a remolded train car it actually looked almost professional. Of course in the wasteland not being covered in shit counted as professional.
“Right, good. Finish your wine, and no you can't have another...” She wandered off to get something out of my view.
“Are you really the leader of the NCA Military?”
She turned and glowered at me like I was an idiot. “What exactly did you expect?” She scoffed. “Kill enough bipeds and they'll give you whatever office you want. When the last Major General bit the hay there was a vote among the military top brass. It's really the only fair way, before the chairpony used to pick the Major General, but he has no military knowledge,” she laughed. “Clear enough? Stop asking questions. ‘Lestia, some ponies don't know how to give respect,” she muttered as she poured herself yet another drink.
“Sorry I...” I nervously took a sip of my wine. It was okay tasting, though a bit fruity. I'd take whiskey or Golden Harp any day of the week, but I seemed to be in shaky enough ground as it was so I shut the buck up. “Sorry.”
“Yeah, yeah.” The large unicorn walked over and placed a strange black device on the table in front of me. “Wear this. Short range communication device, it'll let you report what you see in real time. You'll be alone up there, it's right above the floor and high so it'd be of limited use as a sniper spot unless you can shoot straight down. “ High up... my mind went back to those catwalks I saw over the lobby. Oh hell no. There was no way I was going up there. No way in hell I was going up there.
“Uh... I-” Was cut off. That happened too much. It'd be easier if ponies just took turns speaking.
“It is good to know House remains such a... close friend to the NCA.” She filled up my cup. “Hate to have anything jeopardize that.” I made a mental note that Major General Hailstorm was good at reading facial expressions. “Have a drink, and then I'll have someone show you where to go.” She waved for me to finish my drink which I dutifully did. “I'll ask you go alone, none of your fellows or what have you. The Catwalks are old, and you look heavy enough...” Oh, and they were easily breakable. This was going to be fun.
I turned and walked out of the room and ran straight into my waiting friends who all but forced me to tell them my job. Which I did, with only a little annoyance.
“Aren't you scared shitless of heights?” Thank you, Flare, for your brilliant and annoying commentary. “Is this a good idea?”
“About as good as sending you on a diplomatic mission.” That was a witty retort right? I had been practising. “Good or not, House expects me to. So I need to.” Just had to not look down... while also looking down and scanning the area for the most dangerous minotaurs. This really only left one option.
“Will ya be okay, Momma?” Just fine and dandy. “Don't worry, we'll be right there with you.”
“Uh, actually...” I explained to them that it was not really possible, or a good idea, for them to come with me. Well, I guess they could, as they were both light, but I didn't really want Serenity that high up if it was so sketchy, and if she wasn't going Flare would need to be with her. Just because I had to do something stupidly dangerous for my job didn't mean I was going to let Serenity come with me. “Don't worry. I'll be fine,” I said, not really believing it myself.
“Well, from what I’ve heard, there's a spot in the back for non-military to watch the speech, so I'll be there in case you fall.” I raised my eyebrow because the thought of Flare catching me seemed unlikely. Until I remembered he’d actually done it once, though he had some trouble then. It would have to do for a backup, but it didn't fill me with confidence.
“Thanks...” I said. The guard who was leading us looked back and sped up her pace down the train platform. “Once we get back Flare... we really need to do that... thing...” I didn't really want to, if I had to be honest, because Med-X did help, and I needed all the help I could get. On the other hoof I didn't want to scare Serenity or push away Haze, so I guess... I'd just see how the detox went.
“Yeah, we'll reschedule.” He rolled his eyes.
“I'm serious.” Well, mostly serious. He must have sensed that because he stuck his tongue out at me as we entered the building again.
“What're ya two talkin' about?” Serenity gave us both very suspicious looks. “Somethin' secret? Bet I know what it is. Ah'm very intuitive like that.” I'm sure she was, and it wouldn't have surprised me if she knew, but I didn't really want to talk about it with her, so I stared disinterestedly at the marble-tiled floor. “Well?” She was impatiently waiting for a response. “I won't tell ya what I know then, if ya gunna be that way.”
“I already know what you know.” I said back as the guard led us through the fairly tight group of NCA Soldier set up to watch the speech.
“I know that ya know that ah know.”
“I know you know I know you know I know... wait...” I scrunched my face up. “What?”
“I knew you'd say that.” Flare smirked as we reached a small door in the side of the wall near one of the rooms many large windows.
I looked up nervously to see that high above me a catwalk extended from an unseen door and went across the top of the room before it attached to the walkway that went down the length of the building. “Up here,” the guard said, looking at me. “Keep the headset on.” I wished he didn't have to remind me about it, because it was annoyingly uncomfortable. “And keep in touch. Don't forget you can turn the mic off with a button the side. Might be difficult for an earth pony as it was designed for unicorns, but whatever.”
She opened the door revealing a very skinny room filled completely with an old metal staircase that was definitely not up to safety standards. “Have fun.” The guard chuckled and walked away leaving the three of us there.
“Hired...” Flare said uncharacteristically softly. “Are you going to be okay? I mean... uh...” I carefully looked over at him, trying my best not to look completely terrified. “Just... you'll be fine. I'll be watching. Just fine.” Just hanging way too high in the air (in a stupidly large room) on a catwalk that was stated to probably not be able to hold me. Oh yeah, just fine. It didn't make my chest tighten and heart race or anything.
Something small pressed up against my leg, and when I looked down I saw Serenity hugging it. “Don't worry mommy, I'll catch you.” She said as a pale pink glow engulfed her horn. I couldn't help but smile, and I felt some of the pressure in my chest loosen, but not nearly enough to make me comfortable.
“Thanks.” I wrapped my metallic leg around her. “I'm not scared.”
“Whatever you say, Momma,” she said with one of her brightest smiles. “Seeya later.” She took a step back with Flare, letting me enter into the room and close the door.
In the silence of the room I could hear the subtle sound of stairs creaking,and groaning. This did nothing for my growing anxiety but make it worse. I could do this though. I had been higher before (the most awkward vertibuck ride ever came to mind) and I had fallen farther (The time I jumped... okay, not thinking about that would be a good idea) so this would be a cake walk. I was built like a tank after all, so what did I have to fear?
Heights.
Right, almost forgot. I was very thankful Flare went 'medicine' shopping earlier because at that moment I needed a Med-X just to get onto the first step. It melted some of my worry away, enough to get my legs functioning again. You see it wasn't strictly heights that scared me, it was falling. And when the chance of falling increased, the fear associated also did. It was like math, but with my fragile mental state.
Slowly, and I do mean very slowly, I managed to climb the staircase. It was a long, treacherous climb, and every time I heard a creak or a groan I had to take a break to stop my heart from leaping into my throat. At the top was a sturdy stone landing with a simple door leading to the catwalk. I was very, very grateful that it was closed. It was one thing to be high up in an elevator or hotel room, and quite another to be on rickety platforms where you can see how far you will fall if anything at all happens.
My leg started to shake a little, so I took a brief moment to rest on the platform and catch my breath. It wasn't much further now. It wouldn't be so hard. Just walk onto something that could break if I sneezed too hard. Why did I have to be a huge bucking pony? This would be much easier on my brain if I was Flare-sized. Then I took a second Med-X and injected that too. It made my head a little woozy, but helped with the anxiety.
It helped a lot less when I opened the door and looked out onto the catwalk. It was a thin strip of metal (Whoever chose grating you could see through instead of solid metal was forever on my shit list) hanging way too high up over the lobby and apparently kept up by thin strips of metal wire hanging from the ceiling. All in all I was not impressed with its structural integrity, and completely flipping my shit.
I had to stand on that. With my hooves. Above... with only that to keep me.. how was I going... I... ugh.
I slammed my head into the door frame but all that did was made my head hurt worse than it already did. How was I going to do that. It wasn't... ponies who weren't afraid of heights wouldn't have even walked on that. It was insane, and stupid, and just.
Alright. I pulled out my third Med-X. It was the only way I was going to get on there (though more likely I'd overdose and die, but it'd mean not walking on that catwalk). The needle pierced my skin, and I felt a slow and familiar rush of euphoria. Only. Something felt off.
My head started to spin, and the world seemed to dance around me. Things moved that shouldn't have, or maybe that was just my head moving. My legs (even my cybernetic one) felt like jelly under me, and before I could do anything they gave way and I was lying face first on the floor. The cold floor. It was like someone took a cloud and parked it in my brain. Then there was darkness as my heavy eyelids fell over my eyes. That was okay though. It was a comforting darkness.
This was going to be awkward to explain.
---
“Go get Mother,” Meadow said to me harshly.
I didn't at first, I was almost too scared. Everything seemed to happen so quickly. First I was running around playing with my brother, and then I found a strange box of weird blue bullets. That was all good, until a pony named 'Smooth Tongue' showed up wanting them and suddenly everything was tense and weird. My brother seemed to be guarding the box for whatever reason, and a few nearby ponies were shouting things, which is when he started barking orders at me. I wasn't really one to argue with the older brother (even if he was smaller than me).
The olive stallion smiled at me as I tried to get around him and his weird friends. “Yes, go get her. The mayor should be here.” I didn't like the fact this pony seemed to know Mommy, so I stuck my tongue out at him and started to run back towards the main Marefort building. Since our house was right beside the entrance to the warehouse it didn't take that long.
Since Mommy was the mayor we got one of the biggest houses in town with two whole rooms! I found her in the second room where she kept all her weird books and stuff. Mommy was the prettiest pony there ever was, even when doing boring stuff like reading, and she always had time for me. As soon as I ran in she looked up at me and set her book down. “Hello sweetie, what is it?”
“I was helpin' with the thing over at the place there in the building and I found this box of bluey bullets and this bad guy came up all evil-like, and Meadow said I should get you, so here I am getting you.” I took a deep breath. “It seemed important.”
“‘Evil-like,’ dear?” She smiled ever so sweetly at me. “What did he look like?”
“Oh, he had evil eyes! An a weird green coat, and a long grey mane.” Her expression changed instantly to one I didn't understand.
“No, it's too soon.” She quickly put the book into her bookshelf (it had a black cover with weird white dots all over it) and started to the door. “Stay here, please. Don't leave this room.”
She quickly hurried out, leaving me alone in the room and very confused. Mommy usually let me go with her if I wanted to, and she never was this worried. There wasn't much for me to do though so I walked around in a circle until that got boring. I wanted to be a big pony. In my mind I was sure mommy was going to go teach that mean pony a thing or two, and I could help. Even though I was still young, I was big and strong and could totally beat him up. If only Mommy let me.
With a little huff I trotted over to her bookshelf and marvelled. She had over twenty books, that was more than the rest of Marefort combined! Mommy was a really smart pony, a lot smarter than I would ever be, she could read and think and do all sorts of cool stuff. Sometimes she read to me, but never with these books, because she knew I wouldn't understand. Still, I was curious as to what she was reading about.
So I took the weird black book off her shelf and laid it on the ground. I flipped though the book (I was careful to do it carefully and not leave any hoof smudges) and noticed it not only had words but cool pictures. Mostly the pictures were of strange coloured rocks, but I saw at least one silvery looking sword (It was so cool) and some strange looking armour. It wasn't until I was halfway through the book I saw them. The blue bullets.
I was shocked. Mommy was reading about the bullets just at the same time I found some? This had to mean something special. The others had to know about this book, because maybe it was important and would stop whatever was going on. But to do that I would have to go against Mommy....
I figured this was far more important than staying here on Mommy's order, so I took the book onto my back, and left our house. Since the entrance to Marefort was literally right outside my door, it didn't take me long to leave the warehouse and look towards the west building.
That's when I saw the commotion. There had been a lot of ponies scavenging there before, but it was just crazy how many were there. Vaguely I could hear shouts, and big ponies talking. Probably about the bullets I found. I could stop it though, because I had the book. Finally I was going to be a big pony, and do something right. Hopefully I could get to beat up evil eyes too.
So I ran towards the crowd.
When I got there it was so noisy that I couldn't make out what anypony was saying. “Hey.” I tried prodding somepony in the back of the crowd. “Hey, I needa get through. I have the book.” the ponies didn't listen though, and the crowd just seemed to push me back out when I tried to force my way through. “HEY!” I tried yelling but that didn't work either. Maybe it was because every pony around was talking too. It was annoying and hectic, and if they'd only listen I could solve it.
Gritting my teeth I tried to make myself as small as possible and squeeze into the mass of ponies. It was a success! I managed to get into the crowd, but it was still hard to get forward, and especially without getting stepped on. Thankfully I managed to keep the book balanced, but it almost fell off a few times. That's when I heard the strangest thing.
BANG.
I had been in Marefort long enough to know what that was! Without even caring about the book I forced myself through the ponies blocking my way with surprising ease. Either they finally realized I was there, or were so shocked they stopped moving. It must have been the second because the crowd quieted down too, and all I could hear was the sound of somepony crying.
When I emerged from between some ponies legs I saw Cakewalk first. She was crying over something, and it took me a second to realize what. It was her father, old Forest Fire, he was on the ground and surrounded by a red puddle. Wait... that was... blood? Someone shot him? But why? He could barely walk. What was going...
“Silver, no!” My eyes shot over to where my mommy was sitting. Her eyes were welling with tears and I was so happy to see she wasn't shot too. “Don't, you need to leave!”
“Mommy, wha-” The olive pony behind her smacked her hard with a pistol. “NO! Don't hurt Mommy!” I tried to tell them about the book, but the words caught in my throat. The only thing I was capable of saying as the evil pony lifted the gun up to her was no.
So I charged at them. I could do it. I had to save mommy. She was mine and I wouldn't let anypony hurt her. Tears stung my eyes, but I kept running at them, I had to stop them, I had to-
BANG
Something slammed into my chest causing me to stumble and fall. There was a fire in my chest like nothing I had ever felt, and all my energy was sapped from me. The world around me started to fade to black, and the noise started to fade. I could see them, the olive pony, and mommy. “No...” I whispered and reached a hoof out to them., When I couldn't reached I slammed it into the ground and pulled my limp body forward. “No...” my eyes started to close as the fire intensified. “No...” my eyes sprang open, I couldn't sleep. Not now. I could stop them. I could...
BANG
A hole in mommy's neck suddenly appeared in a bright red spray. Mommy fell to the ground, her lilac eyes staring at me as I tried to crawl to her. It wasn't too late. I could still save her. “No...” I whispered as the last of my strength left me and my eyes closed on their own. I failed. Mommy she was... she saw me try to save her, and I couldn't... if only they had the book...
“No...”
---
“Hired Gun!” My eyes shot open.
“Mommy?” I said blearily not really sure where I was. There were stone walls,a staircase, some sort of walkway... oh, yeah. Back at the train station. I had the job... “Ugh.” My brain felt cloudy and throbbed in annoyance. Maybe three Med-X was too much. “I'm here... I'm...”
“Hired, turn your damn mic on.” Right. Right. Slowly and with shaking limbs I got back on all fours and pressed the button on my head set.
“I'm here, sorry.” My tongue felt heavy, and the words seemed slurred. Hopefully it would wear off.
“You better be.” The voice was the major general's. “Get on there and report, the speech is about to start in ten minutes.” Ten minutes? Just how long had I been out?
Stupidly I tried to nod in reply, but then I remembered she couldn't actually see me. “Yes ma'am.” I stumbled onto the catwalk. The creaking sound it made when I first stepped on was enough to snap me back into reality. I gasped a little and felt my stomach fall into my throat when I looked down and saw ponies far far below me. Who needs such a high roof? It served no purpose except to look cool and frighten me.
Still I had a job to do, so against my better judgement I took another step forward onto the rickety metal grating. A few steps later and it was still frightening, but my limbs had loosened up enough that I could walk properly. Part of me really wanted to take another Med-X, but the rest of me was positive that would be a bad idea.
When I got to the crossroad where the catwalk running across the room and the one running down the length of it intersected, I stopped and took a look around. From the looks of it, everypony (and minotaur) who was ready for the speech was already there. The right side was filled to the brim with soldier-looking NCA ponies, while the left was slightly less full, but still contained a sizable number of minotaurs. It must have been strange for them being in a building designed for four-legged creatures.
The catwalk I was standing on was directly over the stair pit in the middle of the room, and looking down made the ground seem even further away, which did nothing for my anxiety. At the very bottom though, I thought I could see the remains of more train tracks. Maybe an underground train system? Or something.
“Hired, are you there? Report.”
“Here, here.” I replied walking across the walkway so I was directly above the minotaur side. My eyes slowly adjusted to the strange creatures and thin multicoloured icons started appearing. “Near the front.” I said into the mic. “A purple minotaur with the weird hat, he's a high level threat.”
“That's their king.” The static-y voice said into my ear, “and that's a crown, but it's good to know it is working.” Oh, right. I made a mental note to watch him in case anything went wrong because Mayhem told me to protect him.
“Okay...” My eyes scanned the small semi-circle of minotaurs guarding the king. “His guards are low... except the one directly behind him. Another high. The brown one.” Just then I saw a trio of ponies start to climb the stage in the front of the lobby. They were too far away to see properly, but my eye labelled one as 'Major Lucky', the second as 'General Scoitel' and the third unlabelled so it must have been a pony I never met.
“We are gathered here today to mark a momentous occasion.” A gravelly voice (Lucky's) said over the speaker. “After years of strife and tension between our people we have finally achieved peace.” There was a round of applause that sounded strangely forced, and died quicker than it started. “The Chairpony of the NCA is here to make the official announcement, but due to security concerns his speech will broadcast over a live feed.”
“Green minotaur in the back.” I whispered and listned to the speech at the same time. I’m a multitasker, apparently. “And the other green one beside him, both are high threats.”
“How do they seem? Tense?” The Major General asked over my headset.
“Calm.” That was true enough. All the ones I could see seemed to be leaning lazily on their spears, or standing quietly, but none looked ready to fight. “This all might be for nothing.” Just as I spoke the two giant screens beside the stage flickered, and came to life. On them was, I assumed, the chairpony of the NCA. He was a surprisingly young (if plump) light grey stallion with a short cropped bronze mane. His eyes seemed focused, and his mouth as tight and serious.
“Fillies and Gentlecolts, Bulls and Cows. It is my great honour to speak with you all today.” The Stallion's face was stiff as he spoke. “The war between us has gone on far too long, and we can no longer fight pointless battle after pointless battle. We can not go the way of the Zebras and Ponies before the war to destroy ourselves instead of make peace, and for this reason the NCA council of cities, and the Minotaur Royal Court, has agreed t-t-t-t-t-t-oooooOOooooooooo.” The picture stuttered and started skipping, and for a second thought I saw something red on the screen.
“Uh.” Major lucky tapped his microphone. “We seem to be experiencing a minor technical difficulty. We're dispatching some technicians to look into it if you'll all please be patient.” My shoulder suddenly stung, and when I winced and held it I could have sworn I saw something flying above the glass ceiling. A pegasus, maybe.
“Hired, the minotaurs, are any hostile.” I snapped out of the pain, and ignored the height long enough to look down at them. They seemed calm, if a bit confused, and my EFS had them all non-hostile.
“All non-hostile. “I reported as the screen started to come back. “Everything is goo-” my voice trailed off as I saw who was staring over the lobby from the screen.
The pony had a murky red coat under a heavy application of white face paint, and even with the face paint it was easy to see half of his face was cybernetic. “Hello lovelies!” You had to be kidding me. “I'm The Laughing Stallion, and if you haven't heard of me, well then you really haven't been listening to the news!”
“Everyone stay calm!” Lucky screamed into the microphone, “Nopony move, everyone just... stay put. We will handle this situation, but we need everyone to stay put!”
“WHAT THE HELL! Someone find that stallion, find him and kill him now.” As the voice yelled in my ear I looked down below and saw a squadron of ponies break off from the crowd and head down the stairs.
“Now, I bet you're all wondering what I called you here for.” He snickered and then giggled. “Oh wait, you're not here for me! You're here for... him.” he shoved the camera roughly to the side where the NCA Chairpony was tied up, gagged and struggling. “Seriously, pre-recording a speech and pretending it's live? That's evil even by my standards.”
He may have been a joke of a pony, but this was serious. My eyes shot down to the minotaurs below and I noticed that the King's bodyguards had created a circle around him, and all were hefting their spears up. They looked tense, but none of them were noticeably hostile yet. Whatever was happening it didn't look like they planned it.
“I want his head ten minutes ago!” The voice in my ear screamed.
“Yes ma'am.” A second voice said.
“Hired, don't move. Keep an eye out. If any of those bipedal bastards make a move send them to hell.” I gulped and gave a quiet affirmative. It wasn't really something I could do under Mayhem's orders, so I really hoped I could just give warning shots, and that they’d listen.
This had gone so wrong so quickly. The NCA Security were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and the guards from the gangs just stood dumbfounded and staring at the screen. There was no way that fool could have done this much by himself. The entire lobby below me had went from peaceful to enough tension they were about to break in five seconds.
And then it got worse.
The catwalk underneath me started to groan and shake, but I hadn't moved. Wait, that meant... My head snapped towards the nearest door only for my eyes to catch sight of something rolling towards me. It was too late to run away, and suddenly my world was filled with a stinging green light.
Warning System Malfunction
Red words appearing in my vision was bad right? Yeah that was bad.
Critical Error, System Shutdown
My eye flashed a few more errors, distorted my vision, and finally shut off. Whatever just hit me it was like my spark pulse emitter but in grenade form. “The fuck.” I muttered and tried to take a step forward only for my cyber leg not to budge sending me face first into the grating. The whole walkway shook uneasily, and I heard the sound of cracking somewhere. “Is going...” I looked up and saw him. “On...”
“I bet you're all wondering what I'm doing.” The Laughing Stallion said as the stallion looked down at me with a self-satisfied smirk. “I'm just here to talk.” The purple stallion just shook his head at me, and pushed his long green mane out of his eyes. “But I bet even now ponies with guns are coming to kill me. Oh how scared I am.”
“It's been a while.” The stallion above me said.
“Not long enough, Dragonslayer.” I should have known he'd be involved. The last time I met the Laughing Stallion he mentioned working with 'Dragon'. I should have put the pieces together. Realized who I would be dealing with. “Been busy?” It was basically required for me to ask a stupid question.
“Stealing the Chairpony of the NCA out from under their noses does take a certain amount of preparation.” He pointed his rifle down at me. “I'm surprised to find you here. You're supposed to be dead.” His golden eyes flashed with amusement.
“Yeah.” I struggled to my feet, and fumbled for Subtlety, but he was faster. His bullet missed me, but I heard it crack against my battle saddle.Still, I had to try. my teeth clenched against the firing bit and... nothing. No bullets. Whatever he shot broke my saddle. Fuck. My gun was broken, my leg useless, the only thing i could hope to do was stall him, and I knew how ponies loved to lecture me. “You tried to kill me, but here I am. To stop you.” That wasn’t why I was there, but who cares about facts.
“Really?” He looked over the the screens where The Laughing Stallion was still ranting, and below him where the ponies and Minotaurs were growing even more tense. “Good job. You really think you're important, don't you?” I just glared in response hoping I could stall for long enough for my cybernetics to start working again. “You have no idea what’s going on.” I had a few ideas. “You were important once, but you're not anymore. Now you're just another deluded fool trying to survive in a city actively trying to kill you.”
“Fuck you.” Keep talking you arrogant bastard. He had to, I needed the time.
“What I am here to tell you, my lovelies, is that the war is not over.” Even though I was not looking at the screen, I could still hear that crazy stallion over the speakers. “Oh no, not at all, because you see, nopony wants it to be.”
“Don't you ever wonder why I wanted Karkhoof to get into that battle?” All the damn time. “You idiot.” And he said nothing more about it. Helpful bastard.
“What?” I tried to move forward, but had to drag my metal leg. “You're trying to... get the city to fight? That’s it right? You’re begging for a war!” Why else would he go to these lengths to break up the peace meeting, conference, speech thing. “Why? Who cares? The city has always fought.” There was no way he was alone though. He had to be working with someone, something, to pull this off.
He must have been working for a gang. One of the more ambitious gangs that was tired of the constant infighting. It was the only option that made sense. Have everypony fight and let his own gang pick up the ashes and take un-paralleled control of the city. Maybe re-igniting the war between the NCA and minotaur was a way to remove the dangerous NCA influence? That was it!
He had to be working for the Steel Rangers. They were forever hampered by their inability to fight the NCA, so by taking them out of the equation they could better control the fractured city. Especially if they got everyone else fighting too. Taking control of the pre-war technology stash was clearly the first step of their plan.
“I can see you think you've figured it out.” He just shook his head. “You haven't, trust me. I'm not an idiot, Hired, not like you.” He walked towards me. “For example, only an idiot would fight you one on one and expect to win. So I took out your cybernetics, and now you can't fight me. Easy. So trust me when I say anything you think you know is wrong, I'm just fucking with you before I kill you.” What an arrogant little git.
He talked and talked. Not to me though, but past me, as if I wasn’t worth of his words. I realized that he wasn’t even looking at me. I loved it when ponies weren’t paying attention!
CRACK
“What the-” my pipbuck slammed into his skull. He tried to scream as he stumbled to the side, but I kicked him again with my working leg. The only problem was the force was hard enough to send me stumbling and limping, which gave him enough time to back up.
Shit. I looked around for some sort of advantage. I couldn’t let him get the upper hand again. That’s when I saw his rifle on the ground. he must have dropped it when I started kicking him. Without a second thought, I kicked at it, sending it sliding through the railings and onto the ground far below us.
“Not bad...” Blood was flowing down that bastard’s face. “Not bad at all.” He shook his head and pointed at the screens. “But it's too late to stop this. Take a look.” My curiosity was overwhelming so I turned my head to the screen.
The Laughing Stallion had the Chairpony of the NCA by the back of his head and was choking him with a crowbar. “What? Can't find me? Can't shoot me? Too bad, because I'm ending this now! Ginger!” He smirked as he dropped his improvised weapon to the floor. “Get in here.”
A giant brown minotaur walked into view and the whole building gasped. The beast grabbed the chairpony up by the mane and pointed a gun in his face. Even at the face of death he had the courage to spit at the creatures face. “We'll kill you all... every one... you fucking bastards.”
The minotaur grimaced and then glared, and it was then I realized I recognized him. It was the Minotaur the Watchers employed, but why here, why now? “For Discord.” Ginger grunted, and started to squeeze the trigger. Before it could go off a purple flash blinded the camera.
BANG
“Fear not!” Suddenly the Batmare was there delivering a kick and a monologue at the same time. “I am here to rescue you!” With a flurry of flashes and kicks the minotaur nearly thrice the Batmare's size was beaten back.
I looked over and saw Dragonslayer standing there looking shocked at the screen. It was the perfect time to strike. I limped forward and swung my good hoof in an unbalanced arc. He was too quick though. My hoof just scraped his head. He started to back up so I had to put my hoof back on the ground and force myself forward. I could beat him. Gunless, and legless, I could do it.
When I got close he suddenly turned. I reacted to the buck before I saw it, and threw my whole body painfully into the guardrails. My ribs flared with pain, but I had the advantage. Before he could bring his legs back, I tackled them. He fell with a hard thud. We wrestled for a few seconds before I had him pinned by his neck, but he was struggling and kicking, and I couldn’t fucking finish it.
I grunted and tried to stop him from squirming. “Fuck you.” He kept moving so I pressed my knee onto his neck. “Stay still.” He didn’t though. His wormy lips moved as if trying to say something, but all he could do was spit bubbles of blood.
“Your reign is at an end!” I looked up and saw The Batmare delivering a powerful kick to the nose of Ginger sending him stumbling back as blood ran down his face. “You could never win!” With a kick to the back of the head the great creature bent over, and finally with a teleport enhanced knee to the face, Ginger fell to the ground grunting in pain. The creature had blood matted to it’s brown fur, as it writhed in agony. “Good always wi-”
BANG
The Batmare dropped to the ground as blood stained the leg of her outfit. “Oh shut it.” The Laughing Stallion walked into view. “You want a fight.” The gun clanged to the floor. “Fight me.” Even in pain the Batmare didn't fail to deliver. She quickly vanished from sight, and reappeared mid-kick behind that bastard of a villain.
Only for The Laughing Stallion to duck.
The Batmare was caught off guard but managed to recover with a devastating uppercut... which also missed. She blinked, and blinked again, but each move was deftly dodged by the pony in white face. The Batmare reappeared across the room (in the corner of the camera’s view making it hard to see) staring at the stallion with a confused look on her face, but that quickly morphed into annoyance. She muttered something I couldn't hear and blinked again.
CRACK
Only for the laughing stallion to pick a crowbar off the ground and almost lazily slamming it into the Batmare's chest sending her flying out of screen. “You're just delaying.” There were no jokes on The Laughing Stallions lips as he walked off screen. Never before have I seen a pony so ready to kill somepony.
“Fuck...” I whispered to myself. Before I could say anything more I felt my shoulder burn. My eyes fell to Dragonslayer's horn, and I followed it's magic to notice he was pulling at one of the cords holding the catwalk up... oh shit.
The cable snapped and the platform lurched uneasily to the side. Giving me full view of the ground below me. Then I started sliding towards it...
Shit shit shit, falling is bad.
The movement sent me rolling off Dragonslayer and nearly to my death if I hadn't caught myself at the last second. My heart was racing so hard I had stop and calm myself, and I completely lost track of Dragonslayer. At that moment the only thought I could think was ‘falling is bad!’.
“Goodbye, Hired.” Oh, he was standing above me. With a pistol in his mouth.
BANG
Both of us turned our heads to the screen to see a massively injured Ginger kneeling over the body of the NCA Chairpony. A smoking gun was in her hand, but the bullet missed. He lifted his hand again, and tried to aim through the pain, but it kept shaking. He had to put his other hand on the gun to steady it. He fired a single shot.
BANG
The Minotaur laughed to himself in triumph. The NCA Chairpony was splattered against the floor by a Minotaur as hundreds of ponies and minotaurs watched on. There would be no peace after this, no hope for reconciliation.
“E-everybody!” Lucky screamed over the loudspeaker. It was too late though, already I could hear shots being fired below me. “Stay calm there must be an explanati-” A spear flew from somewhere in the minotaur side of the lobby.
Everyone not already shooting gasped as the ghoul stumbled back and sat down. His eyes fell to the spear protruding from his chest. It looked like he was speaking, but he was too far away from the microphone and the words were lost. The two ponies beside him rushed to help, and maybe he would survive, but it was too late to stop it.
Bullets flew like hail from the NCA side and I could hear the shouts and cries of minotaurs as they died in blood and pain. Some ran forward to the guardrail for some measure of cover, while others retreated back looking for something else to hide from, but all of them threw their spears in return before switching to rifles, and heavy looking machine guns.
“So much for peace.” Dragonslayer quipped as my ears boiled with rage. It couldn't be like this. There must have been something I could do. Anything. I did the only thing I could do and charged. It was a un-steady uneasy gait with my powered down leg, but I hit him all the same.
The purple stallion was pushed back, grunting in pain. I saw his pistol fall from his grip, and I kicked it off the edge, like I'd done to his rifle. The distraction was all he needed though, because when I looked back at him, his horn was glowing.
Something tugged at my leg hard. My balance was thrown and my face slammed into the grating so hard it cracked.
There was another burst of magic, and the sound of a cable snapping. Then I started to slide. As my hooves scrambled for something to grab onto I looked behind me. Whatever he did, it snapped the catwalk in half, and the side I was on was tilting heavily to the floor. Panic filled me as the edge slowly came closer.
My heart jumped into my throat and my hooves flailed about trying to stop my descent. this was not how I wanted to die! Damnit! I needed Flare, or Platinum Haze, or... or wings or anything!
My leg snagged onto the guardrail just as my hind legs went over the edge. My leg tightened around it, and I held on with all my might. My hind legs kicked out uselessly from where they hung over the edge, but I couldn’t get myself back up. With a slow gulp I looked down. I could only bear to look for a second, but it seemed like the minotaurs were retreating down the stairs. At the same time I noticed a pony running across the lobby towards the stairs to the catwalk...
I couldn’t tell who it was, because just then The Batmare fell back into screen. Her mask was torn in half, but her face was covered with blood. She tried her best to stand, but her knees shook and she fell into a growing puddle of blood. “Pathetic.” The Laughing Stallion sauntered into view seemingly unhurt. There was a spark of anger as he saw her horn start to light up.
CRACK
The crowbar slammed into it, and the Batmare wailed in pain. The glow didn’t stop though, despite it all. Barely over the speakers I heard he speak, “No... I will...”
CRACK
“I-ARGGGGH” The second hit to the Batmare's horn left a long crack from base to tip. The glow vanished in a bright light. This did not stop the mare, as a small spark of light appeared on the tip of the Batmare’s horn...
Only for it to vanish, and her to gasp in pain.
“You don't get it, do you.” He dropped the crowbar and leaned over. “You're not a hero, I'm not a villain. You're just a stupid little mare who was trying so hard to be a hero you lost yourself in the fantasy. 'The Laughing Stallion' doesn’t exist! He never did.” He rolled his eyes at the name. “He was created to give you something to fight, to distract you. Get it now?” He listed her head up, “Get it?! It was a game, and you lost You’re not useful anymore, this was the final gambit. Now you die! And I can take off this paint. You worthless bitch..” He stood up and whipped his face with a hoof leaving a smear of white paint. “You could have been a hero, not this pretend one, but a real one. Instead you're going to die a failure.”
For all the trouble the Batmare brought me my heart couldn't help but throb for the poor mare. All she wanted to do was help ponies, and now...
“I always liked him, such a good actor.” My eyes turned back to where Dragonslayer stood (Safely on the part of the catwalk that wasn’t collapsing) over me as I dangled above death. “Shame he has to go like this.” Has to go like, what?
He pulled out a strange device with a long antenna from his barding and magically pressed the button. I felt a shockwave of familiar pain wash over me as the device did... something.
“AIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
The Laughing Stallion was holding his head and screaming in pain. He took his hoof away from his face and a sickly green light started to shine from his eyes.
“What did you...” I tried to look over at Dragonslayer but he was galloping over the rickety catwalk towards the door.
“Midnight, get me out of he-” His words were cut off as the door suddenly exploded into splintered and something came flying out. Not something, somepony. A purple pegsus hit the ground and sent a shockwave through the walkway that almost made me lose my grip. “Midnight, no, what...”
“No, crazy pony... make her...” The pony slowly rose to all fours, and to my shock it wasn't just anypony standing there. It was an alicorn. Dragonslayer had an alicorn, and I was going to guess it wasn’t the nice orphanage running kind! “You said we'd fix it.” She grimaced and glared at something out of my sight. “We had to fix I-fuck!” She stumbled back more and I saw the vague outline of her attacker, and a glint of steel.
The next thing I knew I saw Pinprick standing over the corpse of a dead alicorn and pulling her dagger from it's eye, and back into its sheath on her leg. “Fucking cunts!” She screamed. “First the Batbitch and now Hired Cunt! Can't any of you do your jobs without me!” Her glare could have frozen Balefire, and the force of it sent Dragonslayer retreating.. “Don't know who the fuck you are, but I already lost one friend, don't plan on sending another to fucking Celestia!”
“No, you don't understand.” The fucking bastard had the gall to sound frightened. “We need to leave, come with me, we need to leave or else!” My attention went back to The Laughing Stallion, whose eyes were glowing brighter and brighter.
“You don't understand!” She charged at him and went for a kick, but at the last second the device around her leg that she stole from the Baises activated sending a long skinny blade out. “Fuck you!” the blade cut across his face leaving a trail of blood on his already bloody muzzle. I saw him step back and heard a sharp gasp. “I'd rather die than let that cunt die. So fuck your offer, I’m not running until you’re radhog food!” Her blade dug into Dragonslayer's shoulder. “She saved me! I won’t let her die!” I could just barely see her leg twist, but I definitely heard Dragon slayer cry out.
He kicked at her and she backed up taking her knife with her. He tried to charge her, but was forced to back off as her leg-blade came dangerously close to his face. “She saved me! That cunt has a daughter. Like mine. And you expect me to leave her! Fucking dumb asshat!”
The sound of The Laughing Stallion’s insane cackling filled the room.
“If you want to live,” he said through gritted teeth as Pinprick stabbed at him, “I could save you.” He brought his leg into the path of the blade, and it dug in so deep It protruded from the other side. “But...” He grunted in pain as his horn start to glow. “You don’t!” His magic wrapped around Pinprick’s dagger.
“WATCH OUT!” I screamed uselessly.
The blade was pulled free of the sheath and slammed into Pinprick's neck. Her eyes dilated, and she stopped moving. For a second it looked like she was trying to say something. Instead blood spewed from her mouth and ran down her chin. She gave one last shudder before falling limply into the railing with the bloody dagger still in her neck.
Tears stung my eyes. She couldn't be dead. She had a daughter. She couldn't. Not again, I couldn't let another mother die.
It was too late, it was always too late. Dragonslayer tore the blade out of his leg and threw Pinpricks lifeless body over the railing as he ran for the exit. My mind felt blank as I saw her corpse tumble down and land with a dull thud.
It couldn't be, she couldn't... she died and I couldn't help her. All I could do was hang there trying not to fall as she was killed. I saved her, then I let her die.
..I was alone on the catwalk, still dangling uselessly as better ponies were killed. Tears were streaming down my face when I heard it. The question. My eyes turned back to the giant screens still playing despite the fact it was only I who was still watching.
“What is the nature of a hero!” The laughing stallion said. Even with my blurry vision I could see flashes of green come out of his mouth as he spoke. “What is the... oh Celestia, I get it. I get.” He hunched over. Cracks started to form on his suit. Small at first, but they grew until the suit was shreeded by the green light bursting from a hundred points of his body at once. “What... what is... is the nature of a... hero.” Whatever Dragonslayer did when he pressed that button was bad. The burning sensation that washed over my shoulder as he started to break apart and glow confirmed what I already knew. What he was, what he was doing.
He was a pony-megaspell. Like Simple Heart. Only this time, whoever did this to him didn’t mess up. They wanted to created a concealable living bomb. They succeeded.
And he was about to go off.
We were all going to die...
But then I saw her. Off on the corner of the screen the Batmare crawling over to him with all her energy. “The nature...” she wrapped a leg around his neck and ignored the green energy coming from it. “Of a hero?” She wrapped another one as her broken horn started to light up. Her mouth moved, but she spoke so quietly I couldn’t hear the words.
Then they both vanished in a brilliant purple light.
My eyes shot upwards, past the glass ceiling, and into the sky. For a second I thought I saw a purple flash, but It was overtaken. A great blast of green energy exploded. In a second the idyllic blue sky became a balefireic hellstorm.
BOOM
The sound and shockwave.
Glass shattered all around me and fell over the train station like rain. There weren't many ponies left though. Most were dead, dying, or deserted. But those that were stopped to watch the green light despite the glass shards.
As I hung there unable to help anypony, unable to save anypony, I pondered the first and last question the Laughing Stallion asked. 'What is the nature of a hero?'. As radiation fell over us like a blanket, sending my pipbuck ticking, I realized that he was always right. The nature of the hero was exactly what The Laughing Stallion said it was.
Failure.
Level Up!
Quest Perk: Freedom in Failure: Without enough support in the city of Dise, Batmare and her organization have fallen to the Forces of Chaos. You get +10 speech for the purpose of dealing with Dise gangs, and +1 PER when trying to avoid trouble in the dangerous back alleys of Dise. This perk is incompatible with Sorrow in Success or Confusion in Compromise.
((A/N: ~No One~))
[[ED Note: Hey guys, this is theBSDude. No One has allowed me this space to correct a small travesty. Mane Effect, an excellent Mass Effect fusion fic, does not have nearly the readership it deserves, less than 400 unique views at the time of writing. It’s top-to-bottom, FoE-style integration of Mass Effect and FiM, with one of the most interesting takes on Shepard I’ve ever seen.]] |
No One | 662 | 26 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2012-12-01T05:43:20+00:00 | 2014-11-28T08:24:46+00:00 | 15,748 | Shadows
“You're no savior. Your talents lie elsewhere.“
The radiation dial on my pipbuck slowly ticked upwards. Perhaps I should have seen it coming, this outcome. Well, I'm not sure how I could have seen The Laughing Stallion exploding coming, but I should have expected that I would have failed in some spectacular way. It wasn't even that I failed, it was that I failed without ever getting close. I never had a chance to save the Chairpony, or the Batmare, or Pinprick. Even if I had tried harder, done better, I couldn't convince myself that I would have been able to save them. That was what hurt the most. Not only that I let good ponies die, but that even if I tried my hardest I would have been helpless to stop it.
When I was just a foal I was helpless to save my mother and brother, and I made myself a promise that I would never be helpless again. So I made myself stronger. I trained when I was alone, and became a mountain of a mare. Since I was a foal I was always big, but I made the choice to be strong. It didn't help. Even for all my strength I couldn't save Wildfire from being shot, and I couldn't save Foundation from...
In the end I was just as helpless as I was the day my mother was shot. Despite everything I did, everything I pulled myself through, I was eternally too late to be any good. Was it so much to ask that I could stop being helpless and actually save something before it gets destroyed. From Marefort, to Timber, to Bridle Hope, I could only ever help after the worst happened. Or, like Karkhoof, to make the worst happen.
“Hey, Silver.” I opened my eye and looked through the tears at Flare. “We need to go...” He was flying beside me where I hung from the remains of the catwalk. “Something went wrong, ain't gunna shit you about that, but you need to stow the tears until we're all safe. “ I sniffled and tried my best to stop the flow. “Good... I'll ask what happened later.” The blue pegasus reached out a hoof to me.
Part of me didn't really want him to fly me back to the ground. I could have let go right there, fallen like Pinprick did. It would have been easier that way... but when did I ever do something the easy way. My eyes turned back up to the catwalk as I thought. That's when I saw her. Standing on top of the catwalk was the ghostly form of Wildfire. She was smiling sadly down at me, and seemed to nod, before she vanished from sight. That was all I needed.
I quickly let go of the railing and grabbed onto him. My whole body lurched downwards taking the pegasus with me. For a second I thought maybe I was going to fall anyway.
We only dropped a few feet before the furious flapping of Flare halted our fall. An odd chill moved slowly down my spine, and I wasn't sure if I should have been terrified, sad, or annoyed. I seemed to settle for a mix of all three as Flare slowly set me onto the safe ground. If the world wasn't in the middle of going to shit I would have kissed it.
“Momma!” Serenity ran out of nowhere and hugged my currently not working metal leg. “I was so worried! I thought’cha was gunna fall!” As I carefully wrapped my leg around Serenity, I looked around the train station. There was so much glass on the floor that it could have been mistaken for a carpet. The guard rail that surrounded the pit was shot all to hell, as were parts of the walls. And the corpses. At least a dozen minotaur corpses littered the ground on the side I was on, and on the other side I could make out just as many pony corpses.
As I looked over the wreckage I saw her... Pinprick, but she wasn't alone. There was a tiny figure hunched over the body rocking back and forth.
“C'mon...” I stop back to all fours and helped Serenity onto my back. “We need to do... something.” I limped over the small figure as Serenity poked at my deactivated leg.
Spitshine was hunched over her mother's bloody corpses and sobbing. As I got closer I could hear muffled words, “Please... please get up... you can't... you're not allowed to... wake up... I'll be good, I swear... Momma... Momma I need you, please...” The filly's voice choked up. “Momma...”
“Flare...” The blue pegasus who was flying beside me raised an eyebrow. “I need you to take Spitshine to Haze, please.” He nodded confidently.
“Spitshine...” I walked closer to her, but kept myself at a respectable distance. “We need t-”
“Why didn't you save her!” Spitshine didn't even look at me. “Why didn't you... she always said you saved her, but now... you should have. Why didn't you...” she broke down sobbing again. “Go away... just... go... I hate you, all of you.”
“It's not safe here...” I said in my softest voice. “You need to go. Your momma would want you safe.” The truth was that no place was safe anymore, not after what had just happened. Dise was a powder keg, and somepony just lit the fuse. Still, if anyplace was safe in Dise it was an invisible orphanage under the city, so I had to try and help Spitshine. It was the least I could do. The very least.
“I'm not leaving her... I'm not leaving Momma...”
“We'll come back for her, I promise... but you need to be safe first. She loved you more than anything, she wants you to be safe...” Slowly Spitshine looked over to me with her bloodshot red eyes. “Please...”
“I... I don't want to... but Momma always said... I gotta be safe.” She rubbed her eyes. “You better not lie, you g-gotta come back for her... or else!”
“Yes... I promise. We all do.” Flare and Serenity both nodded their agreement, “Flare... I need to do something. Take Spitshine to Haze, then come back for Pinprick. We'll be back in the city as soon as possible.”
“Yeah, okay.” He landed on the ground and lowered his body. “Get on Spit, I'll take you to safety.”
The little filly nodded and slowly climbed onto Flare's back her eyes still wet with tears. She took a glancing look back at her mother, and started sobbing again. Tearing her gaze away from her dead mother Spitshine latched onto Flare's mane for something to cry into.
Flare looked down at me. “Don't think we can blame this one on Curly Fries, can we?” I gave an exasperated sigh and shook my head. “Don't think so... Don't stay above ground too long; Celestia knows how much radiation we're in for.” He flapped his wings a few times and took to the air. I watched him fly until he was safely out of the train station, and I could turn my attention to other pressing matters.
Not that my job for Mayhem really mattered at all. Something insane just happened, the Chairpony of the NCA was dead, along with The Batmare, Pinprick, probably Lucky, and countless others. The city was being blanketed by radiation, and to top it off, the NCA and Minotaurs were at war. Basically everything ever sucked, and I was still going to do a job for some fuckhead because I made a promise. And why not? I'd probably fail that and die, and won’t that be fun.
“Momma?” Serenity tugged at my mane. “Are yo-”
“Fine... I need...” I lowered my gaze to the broken body of Pinprick. “I need... my...” I turned away from her, from my failure. “My leg and eye got deactivated, can you start them up?” My filly said nothing, and got to work.
There was a stinging feeling as she powered up my leg and eye, and it was as painful as ever. I just didn't care. It felt pointless, everything did. If ever there was a chance to make a difference, to save somepony, to be a hero it would have been here, it would have been stopping this whole mess, but I failed. With my failure ponies better than I died. So why try? Nothing I did mattered. I had my chance and let it burn.
Perhaps it was for the best. Heroes always seemed to die, or stop being heroes.
“Where we goin' anyway? What’s this secret mission thingy, an' why didn't ya tell us sooner?” Serenity said quietly from my back.
“Make sure the Minotaur King gets out alive... Did you see which way he went?” In all the chaos I wasn't able to follow his movements. Not that I had really tried. Perhaps I should have. That at least I could have done.
“Uh, well... when the shootin' started, Flare drug me behind a wall for protectioning, but I could'a sworn I saw some of the minotaurs head down the stairs in the centre there... Uh, Momma. Why're we helpin' them? Ain't they sorta like the enemy?”
“No...” I headed across the glass-strewn floor and ignored the pain as my hooves got cut and scratched. “They're not... we work for House not the NCA... and this whole thing was set up... and... trust me.”
“Alright! When has that ever gone wrong!” Great, sarcasm. That was exactly what I needed. Why couldn't ponies just take me at my word? Oh, right, because I was always wrong and all my plans backfired on me in a spectacular manner. How could I forget...
Still I had a job to do, and despite the pointlessness of trying, I had to finish it, if for nothing else than the sense of normality to it. My name was Hired Gun after all, and even if the world was going to shit, it was my job to do petty assignments for piddling amounts of caps.
Thankfully, once we got down the large staircase in the middle of the room most the of the glass cleared up. Except for the pieces sticking out of my hooves of course, they didn't go anywhere. Thank Celestia I was still high on Med-X, or else it would have really hurt. So I was probably going to regret it later, but I regretted everything, so it was nothing new.
As we neared the first small platform (which seemed to allow access to an area below the train station), we heard shouting further down. I could barely make out the sounds, but I did feel a burning sensation in my shoulder, and a few seconds later Serenity said. “Ponies downstairs yellin' an' tellin' someone to stop and drop their weapons.... ah think on the next level down.”
Had I more time, I would have questioned how she did that (or at least ask when she had modified her sound spell to amplify, not block out sound) but it was apparently urgent. I would have jumped down the stairs, but the idea of falling any length at all right then made my stomach twist so I made do with a running trot until I reached the second basement level. “Where to!?” That was a stupid question. Straight ahead was more stairs, and to my left was rubble blocking an entrance to whatever was supposed to be on this level, so I turned right.
I barrelled through a door that read 'Offices,' into a series of tight hallways and small rooms. It was so cramped I could barely move at all. It clearly wasn't designed for running, or anypony tall. Normally I would take the time to explain how bland and drab the colour scheme was, but I had voices to follow, and by then I could hear them without Serenity's help.
“You will tell me your name!” A commanding voice shouted, but there was no reply. It was enough to give me a sense of direction, just down the hall and- shit!
Next thing I knew I was sprawled on the ground and my face stung. I let out a pitiful groan and I picked myself up with my forehooves and looked to see what tripped me. To my eternal annoyance it was nothing more than some sort of cord running down the hallway. Who the hell would put that there, it was a hazard. I mean sure, nopony would expected someone to be running down this hallway but... yeah it was my fault.
“Momma, stop layin' around.” Serenity, who must have fallen off my back, nudged at my flank with her head. “Get up, c'mon, you're tha one what wanted'a save whatshisname.” Thanks for the support.
“Yeah.” I picked my hind legs up and started off again, this time in much slower trot, because I would rather not fall again. Strangely enough, the wire was going in the same direction I was. I studied it as I trotted down the hallway, and for some reason it looked, well, not new (hardly anything was truly new in the wasteland) but newer. Of course, the realization of what it was didn't hit me until the wire turned into the room the voices were coming from.
I didn't turn into the room right away though, instead I did the (almost) smart thing and slid up against the wall, and peeked into the room to see what was going on. There were four NCA ponies (thankfully none of them were ones I knew) holding three minotaurs at gunpoint. The one I identified as the Minotaur King was standing with his hands up, while his guard were both on their knees, (minotaurs have knees, right?) with their hands on their head. This was not counting the several dead ponies and minotaurs littering the room... wait... my eye was giving one of them a box, so it must have been living. A brown minotaurs lying beside a... large camera...
Holy shit.
My eyes scanned the room again, and sure enough the broken body of the NCA Chairpony was there too.
“Alright, you beasts,” the NCA soldier said. “You're coming with us.”
I motioned for Serenity to stay out of sight before I jumped into the doorway and pointed Subtlety. “Sorry. You can't do that.” Only the commander of the soldiers and one other pony turned to look at me, while the others kept their weapons trained. “I need the King.” My brained worked quickly. “By orders of Mayhem.” I had to take the job, and I had to complete it. But Mayhem only told me not to tell Serenity, Flare, or Mr. House about it, he said nothing about the NCA.
“Are you fucking kidding?” The commander attempted to size me up, but much to his dismay I was still bigger than him. “You're a big motherfucker, but even with that you can't hope to take the four of us.” Oh I had no doubt I could completely destroy them. I've smashed through ranks of Steel Rangers, so this would be foal's play. Only I made a promise to myself not to kill them.
“Maybe not.” I lied. “But I can kill him.” Subtlety was actually pointed at Ginger across the room. “Do you have any idea. What a 50. Cal does to a pony? Or minotaur? He'll be paste.” Of course my gun was actually still disconnected from my battle saddle thanks to that fucker, Dragonslayer, but they didn't need to know that. If it worked on a god, it would work on them.
The stallion gulped sharply before glaring, “So fucking what. We'll have the King, and you'll be dead.”
“You don't want the King.” I smirked. “Not as much. Anyway. Ginger killed your leader. Everypony knows it. You could be the one to bring him. To justice. And. He's more important. He was involved. Do you really think. The King would come here himself. If he was planning on blowing it up? He didn't know. Only he did.” My gun motioned forward at Ginger. “He's who you want. He could give you. What you need.”
There was a few seconds of chilly silence before I saw his expression soften. “And what am I supposed to tell The Major General? That I let the King out of my grasp? That I let him go?!”
“The truth.” I lowered my mouth to the dysfunctional firing bit. “Tell her. You had a choice. Between the King. And Ginger. You choose the option. That made sense. You can see it, can't you?” He raised an eyebrow at me, but also visibly seemed to back off. “Something is wrong. This whole thing. Pieces don't fit together. Things don't make sense. There will be war. After all this. But with him... With him you could end it sooner. Or prolong it. If that's what you find. But the truth here? It's not with the King.”
The commander seemed to think this over before turning and whispering something to the pony beside him. “We keep the guards.” My eyes darted over to the, obviously confused, Minotaur King.
“One. You get one.” The King nodded slowly in approval.
The officer hummed to himself before staring at the ground and growling. “Fine... release the King... and one guard. Now.”
“Sir,” one of the of subordinates said in a wavering voice. “Are you sure this is wi-”
“Don't question me, welp, and release the fucking prisoners.” The Soldier stood quickly to attention and moved away so the King, and one of his guards, could get up. For his part, the King seemed apprehensive about the situation, but took a few slow steps forward. When he saw that he wasn't being shot he, and one of his guards ran past the NCA ponies, and past me, into the hallway.
Just to be safe I kept my gun trained on Ginger for a little more than a minute. “Well?” the officer said in a tone that seemed to suggest he was annoyed with me. “Go, we're not going to follow.”
“What's your name?”
“Huh, what? What does it matter.” The guard narrowed his eyes at me. “Major Knife Fall.”
“Major Knife Fall...” I said the name slowly as I looked over to where Serenity was waiting. I gave her a short nod and she quickly climbed onto my back. “It's been a pleasure, the Mustangs send their regards.” Before he could get in another word, I turned and galloped back down the hall, though this time I was careful to avoid the wire.
While I was not the fastest of ponies, it turned out that I was at least faster than bipeds, because by the time I reached the landing, I had caught up to the Minotaur King and his guard. No wonder they were caught. “Get going!” I yelled at them, “You need to get out before more come.”
“I cannot.” The King's voice was surprisingly youthful. Out of all the minotaurs I have heard (that is, two) he was by far the youngest sounding. “I must capture and prosecute the traitor. It is our way.”
“Well getting you out alive is my way! So go!” As I shouted I heard voices to my left. Sure enough at the top of the stairs a whole squad of NCA ponies were lined up and heading down. “Shit, move!” I pointed my gun, “Move or I'll shoot your legs and carry you. I'm saving you whether you like it or not, so go!”
“I... but...” He turned to his guard, who silently nodded. “Fine. This way then, quickly.” He started running down the stairs.
“This is a great idea!” Serenity said from my back as I followed them down the stairs. “Follow da monsters'n people ta protect'em.” As soon as we got to the bottom floor (which was, as I suspected, a train station) the Minotaur King jumped off the platform and started hitching it down one of the dark tunnels. “Oh! Follow'em inta tha darkness too!”
“Serenity, please stop.” I jumped off the platform and followed quickly behind them. How they were able to see I wasn't sure, but my eye quickly adjusted to the light. “Trust me. It'll be fine.” Well, that was probably a lie. The region was at war now, no matter how you cut it, but the plan at least would be fine. Hopefully. Doubtfully. Nothing ever went right for me.
---
The minotaurs seemed to know where they were going, if for no other reason than the fact that they just happened to find a torch lying there in the train tunnel. It was a little bit suspicious, but really to be expected given that is where the minotaurs seemed to be headed when the fight broke out. The tunnel itself was not the Dise tunnels I was used to, but instead a large cavernous thing like the tram tunnels under the Reconstruction Facility, only these were wider. It was a bit surprising to see them here at all, because I had no idea there were train tunnels near Dise at all.
Though, if I was correct, the tunnel we were following led away from Dise, not towards it. At least that is what my pipbuck map seemed to suggest. Given the size and scope of the train tunnel it wouldn't have surprised me if they were connected in with Wallkirk's tunnels. It'd seem the logical thing to do if people were riding the train when the end happened.
Which they were. This I figured out when we passed a long half-crushed train car filled with century old skeletons that had managed to crash despite being on rails. It was... a bit unnerving, the way the skeletons were piled on each other near the door. I had to wonder if they were moved that way by some scavenger, or if that is how they died, scrambling for an exit.
“Where are we going?” I had to ask, because we never seemed to stop walking. “Is there an entrance to the Dise tunnels? Show me to it. Then I'll go. You're safe now.”
“No, not safe here. Here is where they come to feed; little ponies should not be here alone.” The King said, but did not stop his fast pace. I immediately straightened up. There was no need to even tell me what 'they' were, because if it was something I had to fight then history dictated it was going to be some ungodly horror, or an arrogant jagoff. Given the feeding comment, the first was far more likely.
“Momma is not little at all!” Serenity said indignantly. “I am, but she's probably bigger'en you, ‘cept you cheat 'cause yer on two legs.”
“Perhaps this little pony is less little.” He turned his head back to look at me. I don't think I liked the way his brow furrowed when he stared, as if trying to memorize what I looked like, or perhaps trying to figure out if he knew me. Or something. I'm not really the best at deciphering looks. “But little is still little, still, you saved my life, and for that you have my gratitude.” I'd rather he kept it. It was not like I saved his life out of the goodness of my heart, and while I didn't really care about the Minotaur v. N.C.A. squabble, I would rather not be associated with such an ostracized group. “To whom do I owe my thanks?”
“Hired Gun.” I looked away from the strange creature. “That's who I am. You should thank Mayhem. Circumstances forced me to take this job.” So long as he didn't go around praising me for saving him I would be okay.
“So you're a slave,” he remarked so casually I almost didn't realize what exactly he said.
“What!” My eyes narrowed into my usual glare. “I am not a slave.”
“Aren't you?” He didn't even seem to notice my annoyance. “My guard here...” He waved a... hand, I guess, at the green minotaur walking beside him. “Immovable Object, his name. His father was one of many who struck Hoof Town many years ago. Back during the first war. His father was unnerved at the violence, and he fled the field of battle. Because of this, his family now must pay his debt; his son must fight in his stead. Does this make him a slave?”
“I... what?” I guess that made him a slave? Sort of. It wasn't the usual definition, and the practice was a bit barbaric. “Maybe?”
“In the same sense you do not wish to do this job, yet you are doing it.”
“It was my choice...” For some reason I felt defensive.
“But you said yourself you did not wish to.” Now he was just pissing me off. “If it was your choice, but you do not wish to, then what convinced you?”
“I... it's my code. Always complete a job. To the letter.” I don't really think I liked what he was getting at. It didn't seem like he was trying to agitate me on purpose, but he was still doing a great job of it.
“Then you are a slave to your code. So it is your code I must thank?” He scratched at his chin with a claw. “I am not sure how one goes about that, so I guess I will thank you. For making the code that made you a slave. Thank you, Mr. Hired Gun.”
“Miss,” I corrected venomously. “I'm a mare.”
“Oh. My apologies. With ponies it can be hard to tell.” With me it was no doubt harder. Not counting my rather butch features I was also decked out in grimy armour that completely concealed any guess at knowing my gender. The closest give away would be my voice, but I couldn't really expect a non-equine to pick up on that.
“How do you tell on minotaurs?” Serenity seemed legitimately curious.
“Horns, it is the simplest ways. Bulls have them, cows do not.” He drew a hand up to his own pair of horns as if to explain what that meant. Or prove he was a bull? I'm not entirely sure.
Serenity went to give a reply, but was cut off when the Minotaur raised his hand from his side: “Shhh. There are things near... they come, be on your guard.” That'd be really easy, especially because I didn't actually have a gun that worked on me. Well, Subtlety worked, but it was disconnected from my battle saddle making it effectively... wait.. it still had a trigger right?
“Serenity!” She jumped on my head so she could look down at my face.
“What, Momma? Gunna tell me ta hide'an be safe?” Sort of the opposite of that. I took a quick look around the tunnel. The cavernous semi-circular hall was not as sturdy as I would have liked. Along the walls a series of doors could be seen (service tunnels, or entrances to the Dise underground?) and on the floor there were multiple grates, probably for floods or the like. Whatever 'they' were, I suspected they would come from one of those places.
Something fell on my head. For a brief second there was a strange pinching pressure on my head.
“GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!” Okay. I might have panicked. Just a little bit.
BANG.
I wasn't sure who shot, but the thing (radscorpion, I'd find out) fell off my head a second later. “Momma are you ok....ay...” She gulped as I felt something drop onto my flank. “Run!”
I didn't need to be told twice.
Not that I ran far though, just enough to get to the two minotaurs, and turn sharply to see what the hell was going on. It was not good. Almost instantly, my EFS started showing hostile after hostile, until it was just a thick red line. From the ceiling radscorpions came pouring out one after another in a colossal torrent of stinging death. Then they started to move towards us. “Serenity.” The closest one broke out in a running scuttle. “Serenity, pistol now!”
She tossed the weapon into the air and I caught the still smoking pistol in my mouth with just enough time to adjust my aim and blast the thing to pieces. The spray of blood and ichor did absolutely nothing for the hundreds more pouring from the ceiling and filling the tunnel. There was a sickening sensation in my gut as they swarmed closer. Maybe (for whatever reason) I was strong enough to withstand their poison, but not even I could survive that many.
“Die.” I fired a bullet into the hoard, but it moved forward without even noticing. “Please. Just. Die.” Bullet after bullet flew from the zebra-enchanted pistol until my mouth was sore from the impact, but still it came. Shit shit shit.
“Little pony!” There was a mind breakingly painful tearing sensation on my backside when something tugged hard on my tail. “Run!” Right. Fear overcame pain as I turned tail and ran.
I was not a fast pony, but at that moment I felt as fast as Flare. My hooves pounded into the concrete so hard that it sent shock-waves up my back (thought that was mostly the fault of my injured backside). As I ran, I couldn't help but notice the minotaurs were starting to lag behind. They just weren't built for speed. Part of me whispered to survive, to let them die and be eaten by the teeming mass to give me time to escape. The more sensible part reminded me that I was apparently running towards a Minotaur base, and they'd probably shoot me on sight if the King wasn't with me.
So I took a look back. They were so far back that the Scorpions were nipping at their heels. With poisoned stingers that didn’t bode well at all. I skidded to a stop, and did a one-eighty towards the stupid slow bipedal idiots. “Serenity! Head.” I shouted.
“But Momma, you're running the wro-”
“Just do it!” I'd have to apologize for my tone later, but all that mattered was getting us all to safety. It was stupid I know, but as I ran to the King's aid I couldn't help but think that maybe this time I'd actually save someone. Maybe this time I wouldn't fail.
I got to them just as the swarm was about to overtake them. One of the foul black creatures had managed to wrap its legs around that of the fleeing King with its stinger poised to strike. My hoof was just in time. The metal prosthetic (Serenity said that means 'fake leg'. Or something) slammed into the wide of beast with enough force to send it flying back into the swarm. For the briefest of a second I thought I saw the King look at me with surprise in his dark eyes, but I didn't have time to verify.
“Move!” I shouted as my metal leg slammed into the tail of a larger beast, severing it completely. “Faster! I'll push them back.” Not for long, but I'd try, dammit. The King seemed to be in wordless agreement as he scrambled down the hall at an increased speed. Not fast enough, not nearly.
Without warning, there was a burst of fire beside me. My heart jumped and I scrambled backwards from the too-close flames. The flames weren't alone though, being wielded by the torch-carrying Immoveable Object, the King's guard. And it worked. Sort of. The Swarm didn't stop so much as pause— balk at the swinging flames. But the torch was small, and swarm larger than was reasonable.
“Go,” he grunted as he swung the flames. “Protect the King.” But. He shouldn't have to. He was a slave, right? Or so the King said. How could I let someone like him take my place. Sure, he was just a minotaur, but it felt. Wrong. It felt. “GO!” He kicked his goat-like leg at me. It missed, but I got the message and flew the opposite way down the tunnel once more.
I looked back as I ran though. How could I not? I saw as the black mass surrounded him slowly. As they did, he waved the torch around wildly, trying his best scare them off. It wasn't going to happen though, I think he’d known all along. But he kept trying. Even as they started to swarm over his body, he swung and flailed. And when he fell and the creatures amassed around his fallen body there was a burst of flames from the centre as something in the mass took to fire.
But it was snuffed out a second later, and they started at us once again. Worse, they seemed to move faster now that they’d got a taste.
By then I had all but caught up with the King, and the sight wasn't pretty. Without the torch to guide him (and lacking cybernetics to assist) he was running blind. His legs were bleeding, and something stuck out of his arm. “Serenity, keep low!” As soon as I felt her press her little body flat against my skull, I charged forward harder.
By bending down low, I caught the King under the knees, making him twist and fall. It took a great deal of skill, and much more luck, but I managed to get him to slam stomach first onto my back. He was as heavy as anything I had ever lifted, but my body was filled with so much adrenalin, so much will to escape, that I hardly noticed. At first anyway.
Sure enough, the longer I ran, the heavier he felt, and the slower we moved. “This is no way to treat a king.” he protested, giving me something to think about other than our impending death.
“It is a way. To save a king. Keep still! And quiet!”
As dramatic as that was, I was starting to get the feeling that it was far from accurate. The mass didn't seem like it was slowing down anytime soon, and I had no idea how much further I had to run. Worse was the fact that we had almost been caught up to. “Fuckfuck.”
Luck was on my side (for once) because as I rounded a sharp bend I saw a faint light at the end of the tunnel. It had to be our destination. The way to safety. Or it was some sort of light monster leading me into its mouth, but that'd be a cleaner death than that of a thousand thingies.
“There!” The King shouted from his lofty position on my back. “Faster!” I tried! Really. But with such a weight on my back, and the pain of my previous adventures (like stepping through glass) coming back, I just couldn't force myself any harder.
Which was precisely when I felt a sharp stinging sensation right above my hoof. Without even looking back I somehow found the will to push myself hard, distancing me somewhat from the swam. It wouldn't last though. All I could do was pray to Celestia above to grant me some sort of mercy and let the King speak true.
“Who goes the-” A voice from the light shouted as we came closer.
“I AM THE PRIME MINISTER! READY FLAMETHROWERS!” The King bellowed from my back.
The minotaurs came into view from the blinding light a second later. There was some sort of instalment of lights, and mounted guns, but I didn't care. I slammed through the barricades, and into the nearest Minotaur in my haste. The four of us tumbled head over hooves as I felt a blast of heat from behind me, followed by the sound of a thousand screeching rad-scorpions.
I turned my head from my awkward fallen position to see a wall of orange flame and black burning limbs covering the tunnel. It was the first time in a long time that the sight of fire didn't make me freak out. I did. I saved someone. I actually managed to save someone. It wanted to laugh but everything hurt too much.
Wait...
My mind rewound to a few seconds earlier, and I looked over at the Minotaur King who was lying on his back. “You're the prime minister?”
---
To explain my confusion over The Prime Minister's correct titles you have to understand that my job was to save the Minotaur King. Not Prime Minister. Right after hearing that I had worried that I had been through all that, just to save a minotaur I wasn't contracted to save. It would have been beyond frustrating. Thankfully that was not the case. Well, sort of.
“So you are the King?” After a few long confusing minutes at the front gate of the... town, I guess, we were instructed by the King to walk with him(with a few guards of course). I was still on the edge of deciding if the underground settlement was a town or a military encampment. On one hoof it seemed to be filled with Minotaurs performing drills, but on the other I saw a more than a few calves running around.
“Yes and no,” he answered as he walked beside me. “By all accounts, the line of Kings died out during the war, but when addressing pony-folk we still style ourselves as such. We have found that ponies are more receptive to royal monikers than political ones. Even independent Caledonia worshipped the princesses before the war, after all.”
It was strange walking in that town. I decided that right away. As we passed the rows of tents that lined the tunnel walls I could see and feel creatures inside staring at me. It was as if they had never seen a pony before, or at least never saw one there. I wondered if that was how Ginger felt in Dise. It was... odd to be the minority.
“What does that mean. Prime Mini Star, that is.” Serenity leaned onto my head to ask the question.
“It means instead of ruling by divine authority, like the Princesses, I rule by election.” He chuckled. “You ponies have elections in some of your cities, right?”
“Ya Huh.” Serenity said in a slightly higher-pitched voice. I knew that tone well enough, it meant she knew something she thought was cool and wanted to tell someone about it. “Eye Glow has a Mayor, is that sorta the same? I remember the election a little, it was cool. There was a parade, then a gunfight.” That sounds like my kind of parade.
“Perhaps they are similar. Would you like to hear the process?” Dear Celestia no. Please. No politics. I looked around frantically for some sort of escape, but all I managed to do was come face to face with a goat. Which proceeded to bleat in my face. “Don't mind them.” The Prime Minister glared down at the goat. “Don't you have somewhere to be?” The goat bleated again before trotting off. “Sorry about that, some of them don't know their place.”
“I've neva' seen a goat before.” Serenity stared over at the strange skinny legged creature.
“You probably won't again.” The king seemed agitated now. “They're... workers.”
“Like Immoveable Object?” I asked pointedly.
“Yes, they are indentured servants to the minotaur race for...” He rubbed his forehead with one of his massive clawed hands. “It matters not little pony. I am sure you are not interested in ancient treaties and the like. Simply accept it and move on.” Yeah, I wasn't interested in anything of the sort, but it was better than a huge speech on how the minotaurs political structure worked, because really I didn't care.
“I guess not...” He led us to a door in wall of the tunnel that we had to squeeze past tents to get to. They really could use work on their space management.
“Now we have a problem.” The Prime Minister (does he even have a real name?) said tapping on the door with his claw. “We do not take prisoners of war, you see.” This didn't sound good at all. “But at the same time you did me a great service... twice over. And yet, the knowledge of this base is a secret, and if word got to to your pony government how close we are to them... well, we would have a problem. So far we've gotten away with it because the rad-scorpions make the tunnel too dangerous to travel normally, so they haven't checked, but if you told them...”
“I won’t.” I gulped nervously. “You have my word.” Which as about as good a word as you could get from anyone. I did save him twice on it after all... yet I still doubted he would be swayed that easily.
“Yes, yes of course. But I still risk this encampment on the word of a pony.” Racist. “I will need to think on it. For now you will be our... let’s say honoured guest. There was a general who used this room as his quarters, but he was a casualty of that mess, so it's yours. If you want to wander the camp, feel free, but you'll need a guard with you at all time.”
“So I'm a prisoner here?”
“Oh of course not!” He chuckled good naturedly. “You can leave anytime. Just not alive. Lets just say you're a prisoner here as much as you are a slave to your code.” Briefly I wondered what the punishment for murdering a Prime Minister was. Maybe it'd prove my strength and they'd make me P.M. Instead.
“Thanks...” I opened the door slowly. “I guess.”
“I'll make my decision within twenty-four hours. Fair warning, if I take longer than that, you're better off trying to make a run for it.” He gave me a short bow. “Thank you once again for risking your life to save mine twice. I pray Discord's blessing on you.”
I was halfway through the door when I had to stop and turn around to give him a dazed look. “Discord?”
“Who else?” He motioned to his large body slowly. “Do you think anyone but the Lord Of Chaos would create beings such as us? Legend has it he grew bored in his first reign and crafted the first of us from a goat, a bull, and an ape...” he gave me a level look. “Why did you think we joined the great war on the side of the zebras? You ponies imprisoned our god.” That, made a certain amount of sense. Maybe that's what the final straw was in the train station. Ginger praising Discord.
“Oh...” I said dumbly. “I see.” The P.M. gave me a look that resembled a glare before nodding and turning around with one of the guards. The other two minotaurs remained though and flanked my door. With a sigh I walked into the room as instructed and took a look around.
It was a small room, perhaps a large maintenance closest in a past life, with too many amenities that made it feel cramped. I guess if I walked on two legs it'd be easier to navigate. Taking up one side of the room was a surprisingly large fold up cot, while a large desk took up part of the opposite wall. Due to the narrowness of the room, however, the two things looked to be right next to each other to the point you could fall backwards off the Desk chair directly onto the bed. Off in the corner was a tall skinny wardrobe. Most of all though, the room was clean, so clean that the walls looked white. I guess the minotaurs favoured cleanliness, or the former general was a germaphobe.
The door slammed shut so hard behind me that I nearly jumped. I didn't bother looking back though, instead I took a few slow steps towards the desk. On it was a book that looked to be a diary, and for a second I really wanted to read it. To find out more information about the minotaurs. After how long I had been in Dise everything I had heard about minotaurs had been myth, legend, or biased propaganda. Getting information was rare, after all... yet...
Yes, I didn't care. After I carefully helped Serenity off my back, I flopped over on the cot and closed my eyes.
Things had happened so fast I had barely had time to let the gravity of the situation truly sink in. Now that I was away from danger and responsibility, I could truly think about what had happened. It wasn't pleasant. The memory of me hanging there helplessly as Pinprick was killed, trying to defend me no less, the thought of her daughter crying over a broken corpse, the sound of The Batmare's horn cracking, the feeling of pressure as the blast wave washed over my body and showered me with glass, all of these things came rushing back to me. It was like being there again, seeing the chaos and confusion, and once again being powerless to do anything to stop it.
If there was anything I loathed, it was being helpless. My entire life, I’d done my best to avoid that fate. I’d always been big, but I chose to be strong, but even that didn't save Foundation. I’d tried to push ponies away, thinking that if I wasn't close to them then I wouldn't be put into a position where I was powerless. It was a silly notion, and did nothing at all to save Wildfire. I tried to be a hard-ass, but that just changed me from helpless to destructive. Even then I was always too late.
I was too late to save Foundation, to slow to make Wildfire duck. I managed to get to Timber only after it burned, and got caught up in my own drama that I couldn't help Bridle Hope. Maybe I was just too slow. I couldn't put the pieces together fast enough, so everything I did was delayed. If I was as smart as Serenity maybe I could have stopped what happened at the train station. Figured out something was fishy.... or something.
With a groan I rolled over in the cot. Part of me didn't care if the Minotaurs did kill me. At least it'd be actually saving someone. Go out on a high point. It would be easier that way. Just let it all fall into somepony else’s hooves. Stop worrying about the conspiracies and plots, and everything that made Dise, Dise.
Then I thought about the blade sliding into Pinprick's neck. Somehow I don't think I would ever forget that, and I was glad for it. It gave me something to hold onto. Maybe I could die, but I didn't want to die until I had ripped off Dragonslayer's head, and then slaughtered every single mysterious pony he was working for. That was something. Revenge. I’d tried being a hero, and that had failed; maybe I'd do better if I was motivated by revenge.
I guess for that matter I still had High Stakes and Smooth Tongue. Maybe I'd put all their heads on pikes when I was done. That was if I ever got out of this situation. Knowing my luck that was far from likely, but still I could dream, right?
Of course.... Living meant I'd need to go back to Dise. I wasn’t sure I could take going back to the city that I failed so thoroughly. It would be washed in radiation by then, and somehow I suspected the bubbling gang war would finally spill over into the streets. It was close before, when I killed Roy, but after the explosion.... Hooves would be pointed, ponies would be desperate, and the stronger of the gangs would try to devour the weaker ones.
Maybe lying in the bed forever would be easier then. I'd be dragged into the inevitable gang war, as it's what I'm paid to do. No part of me wants to fight that war. I thought before that Mr. House had the right vision for the city, that he had the ambition and ability to unite it. Yet lately it seems all he can do is further divide and conflict it. Maybe I made the wrong choice, but what were my choices.
A large stallion with a grandiose self image, and sense of importance? An easily angered and extremely violent mule? An old mare, who by all accounts shouldn't have been in power as long as she was. Sure those were just the main gangs, but what else could I join? I wasn't an NCA citizen. The Finishers were too weak to make any sort of difference. As an Earth Pony, I couldn’t join the Enclave, or the minotaurs. The Steel Rangers were right out, for obvious reasons. Sure I could have joined 'The Watchers,' but their leader, Clean Cutt, gave me the creeps, and I'd be a shit doctor. Mr. House was really my only choice, and I still felt like shit for making it.
Maybe I would just sleep here forever. No responsibility. No need to get up. Just sleep. Maybe I'd dream without nightmares too. It sounded pleasant really. Maybe if I escaped here I would go wander in the Dise tunnels until I found orb we buried, and it'd let me sleep. I wouldn't have to worry about this. I wouldn't be haunted by memories. Maybe then I could be at peace...
“Momma.” Something nudged my back lightly. “Momma, I'm hungry.”
Of course, I still had at least one reason to stay awake.
---
“What a fine selection... of rad scorpion meat.” I said. The yellow bull standing on the other side of the table merely grunted in response to me.
It really was a good selection. Small rad scorpions, large ones. Red ones. Blue ones. Rad-scorpion on a stick, or sauteed in oil. I guess when your town lived underground then you didn't have much in the way of variety. Or, more likely, they were hiding all the good food from the freaky pony. I don't think I've been glared at more in my life than when I walked through the tent town. Even my so-called chaperon was glaring at me for all it was worth.
“Are you buying?” The bull glared down at me. It was... unsettling. I really hated when ponies, er, people were taller than me. Which didn't happen very often -- except in this minotaur town. They were all friggin’ huge. Thankfully I was still fairly sure I was stronger than all of them. Which is not saying much as I've still yet to meet anypony (anyone) who has some close. Except for Torr, but I kicked his ass.
Serenity put her hooves on the table so she could get a look at the food. After a few sniffs it looked like she was about to gag, but she eventually said, “Still hungry. Can we get the ones on the stick?” They must have smelled the least bad.
“Two of those... things.” The minotaur nodded and turned around.
Behind him was an open tent with what looked like a barbecue inside with a goat standing in front of it. The minotaur, to my surprised, bleated at the goat in what sounded like a harsh tone (I could be wrong, I don't speak goat) before turning back to me and grunting. “Is that your daughter?”
Before I even had a chance to reply Serenity cut me off, “I am, she's my momma.” I could hear the pride in her voice. “Only just recently.” The Minotaur raised an eyebrow but did not question her on that. “Isn't she awesome?”
“She is a small pony. Many scars. Bad fighter, or too many fights.” A little bit of both. My fighting style wasn't what you'd call refined. Though I did routinely turns ponies into refined paste.
“Lots of fights, she's awesome at fighting, just...” She hummed over the wording before saying, “Just lots'a ponies wanna kill her. Robots sometimes too. An' animals, but not nearly as many of them! This one time she fought these giant snakes though! It was awesome! An' really scary.” Ah yes, the infamous land sharks. How I hated thinking back to them. Thankfully I rarely did as they were overshadowed by my guilt ridden mind by the events of Karkoof.
“And survived?” The yellow minotaur sized me up. “Metal leg, and eye. Pony technology. She is lucky.” He walked back to the Goat to yell at it about something, and it was then I realized that the bottom half of the bull's right leg was made from wood.
“Awww.” Serenity noticed too. “Oh! I could make you a new one, mister.” Considering her earlier reservations against Minotaurs she seemed to be warming up very nicely. Perhaps being around them enough convinced her they weren't going to eat her, or something.
“No.” He turned back to us once he was done bleating at the goat, though now he was carrying two plates of food. Or rather 'food'. “Pony technology is not allowed. We must recreate without help.” I'm sure rampaging through pony lands would help that, but I wasn't about to question their motives. To their face at least. “Here food.”
Serenity attempted to sway the bull's opinion by pouting at him as she nibbled at her scorpion shish kebab, but he seemed unswayed. I decided it would be best to change the topic before her pouting got any worse. “So. Those goats.” I looked behind the yellow bull to where the goat was still standing. “Why do they... work for you?”
“Pony would not know story.” The yellow minotaur looked thoughtfully at me before deciding he did want to answer. “During the war, goats lived with us. Fought with us. They were almost equals. Then they betrayed us. Some took a megaspell to the heart of our capital. The price for cowardice and treason is paid for in their sons’ and daughters’ lives. But such a crime that even if all sons and daughters for a thousand years paid it would not be worth. So we took all of their kind in payment. Until the debt has been settled.” Somehow I got the feeling the debt would not be settled for a long time.
“So they're your slaves.” I said coldly before biting down into the food I was given. The strange juices of the meat flooded into my mouth, and nearly made me gag at first, but after a second it became... not good, but tolerable.
“Yes. No.” That was a helpful answer, but I was not asking a question so it didn't really matter. “They are not bought or sold or traded. They are given to those who need them.” he grunted in annoyance. “Begone, pony. I have work.” He snorted and turned away from me.
“Nice guy.” I muttered as I walked away.
“I wanted ta build him a leg.” Of course Serenity did.
“How did you plan to do that? You can't make one from scratch.” I said after finishing my meal. Okay, the food was actually good. Minotaurs managed to take a disgusting bug thing and make it eatable. Somehow.
“Still got that one I made for you after your old one got smashed. At least you should.” She looked at me accusingly. Did I still have that leg? It had been a while, and I nearly forgot about it. Just to make sure I lifted up my pipbuck and flipped through the menus with my nose until I found the inventory management part. Yup, it was still there. At my nod she continued. “Besides, his leg was missin' past the knee so it'd be easier ta make. An'a challenge! Never built anything for a minotaur before.” Nor was she likely to.
“Soon you'll be making full androids.” Serenity beamed at my compliment. “I'm still surprised you were able to learn. The Watchers seemed... less receptive to the technology.” We had to stop and stand to the side as a row of Minotaurs in full armour came barrelling by. I couldn't help but take a look at their guns as they passed, and I might have salivated a little bit.
“Well... It's not like they dislike it officially. Jus' they're associated with a religious thingy that dislikes 'em. Sometimes ponies come in what need help an' are cyborgs, and we help everyone so some ponies're trained in it. I jus' took ta it early because it's really cool!” She explained as the minotaurs passed. “If everyone was a cyborg it'd be so much easier... hey, Momma, can I ge-”
“No,” I said quickly. “Maybe when you're older.”
She waited for maybe a few seconds before responding, “I'm older now! Can I?”
“Much older,” I clarified.
“Awww, why?” She whined. As a foal I thought that I was good at whining to get what I wanted. After adopting Serenity, I realized I was subpar at best.
“Firstly, you're too young to make that decision, you might change your mind when you older. Usually cybernetics are a 'forever' deal.” Yes, I had this speech prepared in advance, because I knew eventually I was going to have to use it. “Secondly, you're still growing, so you'll have to get replacements every few months and there's no way to afford that. And finally; The technology is still growing, wouldn't you want to wait for cooler technology in ten years?”
Serenity opened her mouth to whine again, but closed it before I heard a peep. Her brow furrowed in confusion (probably over the fact I actually made a coherent argument) before she hung her head. “Good point.” She admitted. “Fiiiiiiine, I'll wait. For a few years. How'd ya get so persuasive?”
“Dealing with you. If I didn't learn, you'd walk all over me. I don't have enough caps for that.”
“Now if only ya could talk ta any other pony without looking like yer about'ta tear their leg off and beat them with it.” Though I had never actually done that, I was positive I could if so inclined.
“That's a different sort of persuasive.” With that final snarky remark we found ourselves back in the doorway to our cell, I mean room. Not that I minded. The cramped room was better than a hundred accusatory glares.
“You, pony.” The minotaur who was guarding us said sharply as we moved towards the door. “I have a question.”
“What?” I snapped turning to glare at the much larger creature.
“Not you. Her.” The creature pointed down at Serenity with one of its sharp claws. It made me want to kick his head inside out. Serenity took a step forward and nodded. “You. You work for this group. The Watchers?”
Serenity shook her head, but the minotaur kept, for a lack of a better word, watching her, so she explained. “I used'a... sorta. Why?”
The minotaur narrowed its eyes. My guess was that it was studying her, but for what reason I didn't know. “I see... don't trust them.” What a genius this minotaur was. Telling us not to trust a faction in Dise. As if that wasn't obvious. Not like he was biased because that Minotaur Ginger defected and joined them.
“Sure, whatever.” Serenity huffed before turning back into the room. Well, that soured her mood quickly. He just had to ruin the only moment of levity in a really shitty day, didn't he. Without even bothering to say anything to him, I too walked through the door, and took the time to slam it shut. It was mostly for effect though, because if I was really angry, the door would have been in splinters.
“Hey, Momma.” Serenity had managed to usurp the bed from me while I was busy being childish, “Um...” She frowned and looked down at the blankets. Guessing that she wanted to talk about something serious I took a seat on the floor and motioned for her to continue. “What's gunna happen ta Spitshine?”
“I...” I shut my stupid mouth and decided to think before speaking. A rare event for me. “I'm not sure. It depends on what she wants.... Most likely she'll live with Platinum Haze and her orphanage.” The thought of Pinprick dying flashed through my memory again. I had to force the memory away. There would be plenty of time to dwell on that later. “If she doesn't want to stay there... I'm not sure. I'll do what I can for her.”
“Will she come travelling with us?” Huh? I hadn't really thought about that option. No part of me really wanted another daughter. As much as I loved Serenity, the idea of bringing another filly into the shit I got into didn't sit right.
“Uh... maybe.... Um.” If she really wanted to, I'm not sure if I'd say no. I owed it to Spitshine to make her happy. “That depends. Not if you didn't want her to.” With my new found ability to think ahead I realized that if Spitshine did start travelling with us, then it might just make Serenity jealous (for whatever reason) and if so it would be completely off the table. Serenity had enough to deal with that I couldn't add jealousy on top of it.
Though it was all mostly a moot point because I really doubted that Spitshine would want to travel with us after how much I was implicated in her mother's death. That is to say my failure directly caused it, and she was smart enough to realize it. Maybe to make it up to Spitshine, I'd capture Dragonslayer and let Spitshine kill him. That'd be nice right?
“I don't know... maybe having a sister would be nice, but I don't wanna share.” She fidgeted awkwardly. “That doesn't make me a bad pony, does it?” I really was the last pony in the wasteland to ask that question to. If I could tell the difference between good and bad I wouldn't have gotten into half the messes I did.
“I don't think so,” I said anyway drawing a hoof around her. “You've been through a lot; you deserve... more than I can give you.”
Serenity didn't respond right away. Instead she opted to sit quietly studying the bed. “Momma... why did he do it?”
I ran my hoof through her mane and asked, “Who?”
“Dragonslayer. Flare said he saw ya fightin' with someone who looked like him. It was him wasn't it?” I nodded. “Why did he kill Pinprick?”
“Pinprick was trying to stop him from killing me.” If she hadn't shown up at that exact time... well... nothing. He would have escaped just like he did, given he expected the explosion to kill me. That was... a depressing thought. She didn't even manage to save me, despite giving her life in the attempt.
“Well! Why was he tryin' kill ya?” She furrowed her brow. “Why did he want everpony ta starting fighting in Karkhoof too? He paid ya... and...” She frowned. That was not a pleasant memory for anyone.
“I don't know.” Maybe I'd ask him before killing him. “I'll... I'll find out. There has to be a reason. He'll pay for what he's done...”
“What if... maybe he had a reason... or he was confused. I mean... you've killed ponies too. Maybe he's like you.” Maybe... but someday I would have to pay for my crimes too. Hopefully after Serenity was grown, but eventually the family of one of the ponies I killed will come back to make me pay. If I had to guess it would be Jas, of the Crimson Hoof, whose wife I killed.
“I... I don't know. Ponies do things for complicated reasons. But even still, what he's done.” And what I've done. “I'm not sure if anything could... make up for that. But if he's trying to start a war.” I guess it would have been more correct to say 'If he tried to start this war' but I was still holding onto a slim chance that maybe something would stop it. “Then he needs to be stopped.”
Serenity nodded her understanding. “So... if you stop him.... will you be a hero, like The Batmare?” Nopony would ever be a hero quite like The Batmare.
“I'm not sure I want to be a hero. But... I still want to kill him. Or stop him. Or... I don't know...” I sighed and lowered my head. I wish I had better answers to her questions.
“I just wish ponies would stop fighting. Even the stupid minotaurs I guess... if everypony stopped fighting then maybe things would be better.” She huffed. Pulling her into a tighter hug, I attempted to comfort her to the best of my ability. It wasn't fair that she had to be stuck in the middle of all this. Maybe it would’ve been better if I’d made her stay at Platinum Haze's orphanage.
“Just... get some sleep. We can't do anything until we get out of here.” I added, “Whatever happens. I promise I'll keep you safe.” I had no right to be alive after my numerous (and impressive) failures. But I had to be alive for Serenity's sake. She deserved a better mother, but she had me, so I wasn't going to let my guilt keep her from her happiness. One day, maybe not soon, but eventually, I would find a safe place for her, so we could live together in peace. At least until my past caught up to me. Leaning down, I planted a kiss on her forehead.
It didn't take as long as I had expected to get her to sleep, just getting her to lie down, then a few minutes of snuggling. It had been a long day, so I guess I should not have been surprised. After double checking that she was asleep, I carefully moved away from her. She was such a little thing, and the way she hugged that Scootaborg toy of hers just made her seem even smaller.
Then the guilt of dragging her through all such horrible places came back, and I was forced to turn away.
Unfortunately, I wasn't really tired at all, and since there was no way I was going to leave Serenity alone, I was stuck in this tiny room. With a sigh I brought up my pipbuck and turned on the radio, though I was fairly sure it wasn't going to work underground. True enough, all I got was static and jumbled words.
“... explo-... In the centre... rio-... confusion... unkno-... Watchers... radiation... range-...” Groaning I clicked off the radio and mulled over what little I could make out. It was... useless, and told me nothing. I guess it was a worth a shot at least. I really wanted to know what was going on in the city after the explosion. How did the residents react to the radiation. Celestia knows why I actually wanted to know. Whatever was happening, it was bad, and it was my fault. There was nothing I could do about it.
I squeezed my eyes shut and ground my teeth together. I really wanted to kick something, but there was nothing around to kick. I just... “Fuck,” I hissed. I just needed to take my mind off... everything. Worrying more wasn't going to save anypony, only drive me crazy.
That's when I caught sight of the book on the desk. I’d seen it earlier, but hadn’t wanted to read it then. With nothing else better to do, I decided to put my hard-won reading ability to the test. It was a tight squeeze, but I managed to sit beside the desk so I could read the book, without bumping into the bed. This room was still annoyingly small.
“The council has once again rejected my proposal to change the electoral system.” Well, it was at least written in Equestrian, but one sentence in and I was already bored. “They claim that my proposed changes were too orderly for a functioning government, and that it would go against Discord’s will. More importantly, they once again claimed that I was bitter over my loss of the election. As much as they spout their religious malarkey, I still don't see why a chaos god would care about how we elected leaders. By all accounts Discord died two hundred years ago along with the pony Goddesses, so why should we follow such silly rules to honour him? There are claims he created our kind, and while this may be true it doesn't mean we should put so much reverence on him. To decide the election on the draw of a card is simply... I will never understand. Still, my reservations aside I must abide by their ruling and abide I shall.”
And this point in the writing a few things were scribbled and crossed out over a few lines before it continued. It wasn't what I would call 'interesting' but maybe it would help me sleep.
“Beyond my continued annoyances at the council, my real reason for writing you is to tell you I have been promoted to General, and am being stationed at a secret forward camp. Due to the nature of this position. I will not be able to send you any further letters, and I apologize. Soon this war will be over, and I will return. Please be patient and take care of the calves.” There was further scribbling and the words “Rewrite.” written below it.
Sure enough when I turned the page I found the a slightly different variation on the letter. And on the page after. Apparently this minotaur had a thing for boring letters and perfectionism. Still, I scanned through the book. I had thought it was a diary before, but what it really was was a work book for a minotaur's rough drafts of letters. Most of the letters filled an entire page, a few two, but almost all were completely boring, and I was unable to get through a line without turning the page to find the next.
There was one, however, that consisted of a two lines, and a small note.
“No, the war with the NCA is not an attempt to curb population growth due to recent food shortages. Why would you even waste time sending me this?” On the side there was what looked like a personal memo. It was hastily scribbled so I couldn't make out the words, but the letters 'P.M.' stuck out like a sore thumb.
More political bullshit. Who knew the minotaurs were so stuffy?
Still, I kept reading. It wasn't really out of interest, more out of boredom. It was probably the most I’d read in a long time, and there was no doubt to me that I wouldn't remember any of it by the time I was done.
---
Yeah, I fell asleep reading the book. This should be a surprise to exactly nopony.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
The loud banging jerked me awake. The room was still blurry, and I mumbled something incomprehensible.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
“One... One sec.” I blinked a few times as I remembered where I was and what was going on. I moved over to the door, but stopped when I realized one of the pages had stuck to my face when I face planted onto it in my sleep. After carefully removing the offending page I looked over at the door. I didn't open it right away; a familiar sensation hit me. I reached into my saddle bag, took out a med-x, and injected myself.
With myself now safely calm, I opened the door.
“You know,” the minotaur King... Prime Minister... thing said before I even opened the door, “making a ruler knock thrice is grounds for an execution. You're lucky.”
“That's bullsh-” I stopped myself when I realized that might be offensive to an actual bull. “I mean. Untrue.”
“Probably. I am actually leaving, but I thought I would give you some good news, and some bad news.” He smirked. “The good news, little pony, is you can live.” Here comes the catch. “The bad news is. To live you must do a task for us. That thing, on your leg, it allows you to spot hostiles, right? Including animals?”
“Anything hostile. Why?”
“This morning the NCA has officially declared war. We have been at war for years, but now it's in writing, which means... a lot of things.” He crossed his arms. “This base is secure because of the radscorpion infestation. They're all over your tunnels, but worse here, so none of you ponies have ventured through this tunnel, but now it will cause a problem. We need it for a surprise attack and cannot risk being caught by those bugs. We have managed to find out where the queen is, which should cut down on the scorpion menace, allowing us free movement, but it would go easier with your assistance. Since you are able to spot these things without sound or sight, bringing you along would help the team we are sending.”
“You want me to... help clear out the only thing stopping you from surprising one of NCA's largest bases, in exchange for my freedom?”
“Quite.”
“Okay.” He blinked at me, almost shocked, before grinning. It was either that or dying, and more importantly going on this mission would give me plenty of opportunity to escape without even doing the job. Considering he just confirmed that this train tunnel connected to the Dise underground.
“Good... good. Get your things in order, then talk to the guards. You'll be given the appropriate gear and instructions...” He stared at me for way too long before turning and walking away. It did not leave me feeling very hopeful.
I decided right away not to tell Serenity about the job. I for one didn't care about the NCA-Minotaur war, but she might, and I didn't want her to get the impression I sided with the minotaurs. Even if it was sort of true in this case, it wasn't true overall, because I really didn't care who won. No matter who won, Dise would lose, of this I was sure.
“Serenity.” I nudged her awake. “Wake up.” She blinked away and let out a heart-wrenchingly adorable yawn.
“Hmmm... hey Momma...” She rubbed her eyes. “We getta leave now?”
“Yes, sweetie. We need to do something first.” I explained to her the basic idea of what we had to do, but ignored the reason why. If anything, she would assume that it was to stop things like what happened to us yesterday. I also added the fact that if this was the 'Queen' it would reduce the rad-scorpion infestation under Dise. She seemed to agree with that, though she looked a bit worried at the prospect of going to hunt this thing. It was hard to reassure her of that, since I was just as worried, but given the circumstances...
It didn't take long for us to get our gear together, because we didn't really have much gear, and what we did have we’d never really unpacked. After some breakfast (grilled scorpion legs), we were taken to a large tent near the front of the tunnel camp.
Inside the tent I found myself surrounded by five rather large Minotaurs. All of them were decked out in heavy-looking black armour and large flamethrowers. The largest of the minotaurs opened the visor of his helmet and looked down at me. “Please relinquish your saddle weaponry and barding. We need to upgrade them with the proper equipment for this mission.” He looked over at my filly. “That might be difficult...”
“Okay...” I took off my battle-saddle and armoured barding and hoofed it over to the minotaur as requested, and he handed it over to a different minotaur who scooted out of the tent. “What is this about?”
“The most efficient way of handling the radscorpion threat is with fire. We are equipping you with a flamethrower, and upgrading your barding to make it at least partially fireproof. We are seeing if the filly can be made a set of barding, but if it is not possible, then she will be forced to stay here.” Let Serenity fight giant mutated bugs, or make her wait with minotaurs alone. What choices.
“I see.” I looked between them. “What exactly is my role...”
“You will point out groups so we can get the jump on them. Also, we have orders to kill you if you try to run off.” Well, that's no fun.
“Right. Gotcha. I wasn't planning on running anyway.” The minotaur gave me a level look and said nothing, but pulled his visor back down. “Okay...”
“Do you guys have names?” Serenity perked her ears up and looked between them. “My name is Serenity, and Momma's name is Hired Gun.” One of the Minotaurs snorted at the name. Still, after all these weeks, nobody believed it was my real name.
The lead minotaur didn't speak up, but one of them did. Given that she had no horns, I guess she was a cow. “Ignore him, little filly, he is just in a bad mood because he does not like your kind.” Her voice was muffled behind her mask, but it was still soft. She brought a hand to her chest. “I am Peace Of Mind, but you may call me Peace, or Pom.” She pointed out the two quiet minotaurs on either side of her, “These two are Forward Movement, and Forward Thinker. But we call them Move and Think.” Both grunted in greetings. The one she pointed to when she said 'Forward Movement' was a cow, like her, while the other was a bull. “And our fearless leader.” Fearless leader sort of sounds like a minotaur name. “Is Unrelenting Will.”
“Nice ta meet'cha!” Serenity smiled. “I like making new friends, are you my new friends now?”
“Sure, kid. And might I just say.” The cow looked at me. “I'm grateful that you saved our Prime Minister. It would be a hassle to do elections in a time like this.”
“Uh... you're welcome.” I took a seat on the ground. “How long is it going to take to get the gear?”
“A few hours. Intricate Detail likes to take his time.” Unrelenting Will said harshly. “Get comfortable.”
---
You know what is not comfortable? Sitting in a room with four giant minotaurs. Never before had I felt so out of place, and I almost always felt out of place no matter where I went. It got better though, after about an hour the minotaurs all but forgot we were there, which let me zone out.
Once the smallish minotaur (taller than me, but shorter than the others) Intricate Detail came back, I was finally able to get suited up. My barding had been turned into a full body black armour similar to the ones the minotaurs wore. The barding now covered all three of my legs completely (not my metal one though) except for a hole where my pipbuck screen was. It also came with a gas mask (Made for a pony, I didn't ask how they got it) that was slightly too small, and didn't match. The only part of the armour that wasn't changed at all were the pockets on the collar where I kept emergency supplies.
My battle-saddle was also tricked out with a new flamethrower, though they said I had to give it back after the mission, and a gas tank on my back. As well they fixed the feed system for Subtlety that Dragonslayer broke the day before.
Serenity's armaments were less impressive. She got what amounted to a large black fireproof sheet with a head hole cut in. Once she put it on, the sheet covered her tail and all four legs as if she had a blanket draped over herself. Which was essentially what it was. She also got a gas mask, but one far too large for her head (Her horn actually fit in the mask without a hole, not that she had a very large horn to begin with), heavily padded inside so it wouldn't wobble. What it did, though, was give the impression that she had a giant head. It was also, apparently, extremely hard to move her head with all that extra weight. I tried my very best not to laugh.
Apparently it wasn't even that hard to make either, given how fast Intricate managed to do all that work. Either that or he was some sort of mechanical savant. Probably the second, it was the wasteland after all.
Once I was properly instructed on the use of my new gear (It came with two firing bits now, one for each weapon. Mixing them up would be bad) and a short bit on tactics that I pretended to listen to, we left the tent. “Keep your eyes up,” Unrelenting Will said as we passed the barricade that marked the exit of the camp. “They could be anywhere.”
Part of me wanted to ask where exactly we were going, but I doubted that would have garnered much information, as it was probably already covered in the tactics meeting. Instead, I asked something stupid. “So, your name is Unrelenting Will?”
The larger minotaur looked down at me with a look of confusion before replying with a gruff, “Yes.”
“Are you related to Unbreakable Will?” That was the minotaur I found working for the Mustang water purification plant. Normally, I was bad at remembering names, but that one had stuck with me. The minotaur looked back down at me and nodded slowly.
“How do you know that disgrace?” Oh, well, that wasn't going well at all. “He is supposed to remain unseen. Don't tell me the fool was caught?” I was never going to understand the minotaur's sense of honour.
“Oh, ignore him.” Peace admonished Will. “He and his brother don't get along. Because...” She was swiftly cut off before she could say another word.
“That is none of the outsider’s business.” He looked back forward. “Speak no more of it or I'll cut your rations.”
“But then I'll just steal from you, sweetie.” She looked back to me. “He's so grumpy, this fearless leader of ours. Oh. He should have been named Fearless Leader. His father made a mistake in that account, but we all much pay for the sins of thy father, right Will?” The minotaur she was addressing move ahead and completely ignored us. I got the feel the two of them did this a lot.
Peace Of Mind snorted in response but made no move to continue the conversation, leaving me awkwardly standing between five stoic minotaurs, and one bored filly. “So.” The smallest of the minotaurs addressed me. “I have never seen a pony calf up close before.” He leaned in. “They are quite cute, I must say. Their eyes are so big, I am fairly sure that is what achieves the effect.”
“Foals.” Serenity corrected. “Pony children are called foals. The girls are fillies, and the boys are colts. Ya should really know this.”
“They also seem to be very intelligent and somewhat arrogant...” Intricate Design remarked, which elicited a glare from me. “Oh, I'm just teasing, Miss. Trying to lighten the mood.” No more was said by him, and he fell back into line as we walked.
The more we walked, it seemed, the quieter the group became. By the time we reached the door in the tunnel wall everyone was dead silent. Even their hoofsteps seemed lighter. The torch flickered in one of the minotaur’s hands as Unrelenting Will moved to open the door. He looked to me first, and it took me a second to remember why.
“Oh, right.” I said suddenly and looked at the EFS in my vision. We showed no red, and no amber except the people nearby. “All clear.” Unrelenting Will nodded silently to me and opened the door. Beyond it was almost exactly what I was expecting, a tunnel just like the ones that criss-crossed under Dise (though this one lacked the lighting). From here I would be able to get into Dise, so long as I didn't get lost... yeah, perhaps it was better to do the job and not risk getting shot, then lost.
Peace went next, followed by the twins, Intricate Detail, and finally Serenity and I. It was a nice change to the familiar. The tunnels of Dise had become as much a part of me as the city streets, even though not all memories in the tunnels were good. The darkness did not help the memories either. The last time I walked into darkened tunnels was... unpleasant to say the very least. Sometimes I could still hear words whispered on the wind. When the tunnels under Dise got dark, you didn’t stick around, you ran. As I walked, I wondered if I should have listened.
---
The tunnels were dark and empty. Each step we took echoed down the hall into the distance. I could hear the tension in the quiet breaths of my companions. Even Unrelenting Will seemed uneasy, his movements awkward and nervous. Serenity, for her part, spent most of the time on my back, hugging me close. The darkened tunnels were worse for her than they were for me, and once again I had dragged her into bitter memories.
Time seemed to slow as we moved along, helped in part by the quietness of my companions. Once or twice I saw a flash of red across my vision, but it went away before I could say anything. Even with my EFS, I was still on edge. Every creak could have been the scorpion swarm, every groan could have been a long dead ghoul searching for prey. Thankfully I found no ghouls, but as for scorpions, it was inevitable. That was what we were here for after all, so I had to expect them. To be ready for them.
I let out a shallow breath as red flashed across my vision. It didn't go away this time. “Stop.” My voice was a whisper. At the word, all the minotaurs stopped and became even more focused, if that was possible. “There's something.” The red blip moved to my right, but it vanished before quickly. “There was something to the right.”
The five of them heaved up their flamethrowers, and I felt myself adjusting mine. Directly to our right was a wooden door, and Unrelenting Will didn't even bother to try and unlock it. From a kick from one of his goat like legs the door fell inward. He peeked his head in and waved his torch around making shadows dance in the gloom. “Nothing,” he said. There was a pause in his voice. “Wait.” He leaned in a bit further, and brought his flamethrower to bear.
I was not expecting the heat to bathe over me the way it did when his weapon sent out a spurt of fire. I recoiled away instinctively, but only for a second. Never did I actually see what it was that he set on fire, but I did see the flames reflecting in the glass of his gas-mask, and his eyes underneath. They were narrowed, and his brow furrowed. I don't think he knew quite what it was that he was setting on fire, but I think whatever it was needed the fire.
“Let’s keep going.” He said grimly. None of us questioned his actions, or asked what he set on fire. I would like to believe it was just a stray scorpion.
That did nothing to help with the sense of tension in the darkened corridor. Instead it put everyone more on edge. The Minotaurs flanked to either side, with Peace at the back walking backwards, and Intricate Design in the centre of the formation with me.
“Open every door.” Unrelenting Force said as we moved again. “If anything moves burn it.” The tone of his voice was deathly serious, even by his standards. My gut twisted as the next door was kicked open by Peace Of Mind... and then set whatever was beyond on fire. I could hear her gulp when she was finished and step back into line. Nothing more was said, nothing more needed to be said.
“Do you think it's... that... thing?” Serenity asked into my ear.
“No.” It wasn't the orb, we buried that in a tunnel on the other side of Dise. Whatever they were seeing wasn't an illusion, though part of me wished it was. After my encounters with such magic it would be more familiar, more welcoming than whatever this was. “It's just a precaution.” I tried my best to be reassuring.
“Okay...” She said softly. “Are we ever going back there?”
“What?” Unrelenting Glare turned back to me. His eyes were obscured by his mask, and the gloomy light, but I got the feeling he was glaring at me for talking
“Back there... you told... Simple Heart... you said we would get that back. That thing.” The orb, right. I did say that didn't I. “And you normally keep your word...” Yeah, she had to bring my honour into it. My slavery, as a minotaur would put it.
“Yes.” It was my code, and I planned to keep it. Sometimes it was the only thing that made sense. “I'll... probably go alone. You don't need to.”
“Shut up,” Unrelenting Will hissed at us. “Intricate.” He motioned from the small minotaur over to a door in front of us to the right.
“Fine, fine. Make me do all the work. I'm a mechanic, not a soldier you know.” He walked over to the door muttering. “Work work work.” The wooden door creaked open and the minotaur peaked inside. “Hum. What is...” He brought his torch closer and waved it around. “Nothing.” he turned back towards the group. “There's a hole in the floor, but nothing more.” Red flashed on my EFS.
“Watch out.” I said quickly. It came out of nowhere and moved across my EFS indicator faster than it had any right too.
“Huh.” He turns back around. There was a gasp from his mask and he struggled to bring the nuzzle of his flamethrower up.
There was a sickening crunch. A black stinger burst out of the back of Intricate Detail in a spay of blood. His body went limp, but didn't fall. Instead the tail lifted him off the ground and slammed his body into the door frame. By the time he fell from the stinger if he was still alive, it wouldn't last for long. Not with that huge hole in him.
From the door the culprit scuttled out. A rad-scorpion the size of any pony. “Shit!” Peace Of Mind acted first, rushing forward with her flamethrower. The gout of orange fire licked the giant bug making it hiss. It tried to run around, but flame from Unrelenting's weapon blocked its path. By the time Forward Movement and Forward Thinker added their weapons to the attack the thing was a charred mass of flesh.
“Shit...” Peace Of Mind kicked the charred bug and looked down at Intricate Detail's corpse. She spoke some words in a whisper before leaning down to move his hands over his chest. “We need to keep going.”
“Yes,” Unrelenting Will agreed. “There's a hole in the room,” he said of the room Intricate Detail had tried to clear. “Go down there.” We really were quite crazy, weren't we. This mission was just... insane, in every way.
Peace Of Mind nodded and motioned for us to follow her in the room. Whatever the room was before the war, I couldn't really tell. With the only light being the flames, and my pipbuck, it was hard to see the room at all. The only thing I really had eyes for was the hole anyway. I kept staring, looking for signs of red, but I got nothing. When Peace saw that I saw no danger she jumped down into it first, making the room I was in that much darker. By the time the siblings went in, the room was all but dark.
“Hold on tight,” I whispered to Serenity. When I felt her hooves tighten around me, I jumped into the dark hole and landed with an echoing thud. It was strange though, just as I landed I thought I heard above me the sound of a flamethrower going off. The creature was dead though, so I wasn’t sure what he could be shooting at. And when Unrelenting jumped down beside us, he didn't say anything at all about it.
“This way.” The leader strode forward with his torch waving in front of him. He seemed to know where he was going, so we all followed. None of them said a word about the comrade they had just lost. It wasn't necessary, apparently.
When we entered hallway on the other side of the door, I saw the unmistakable sight of a red dot on my EFS. “To the right.” I whispered. “Hostiles. One... two... six... eight. Maybe more.” I looked down the hallway I said, but it stretched on further than my EFS could read. Unrelenting Will let out long burst of flame down the way I pointed.
The hallways became alive with light and shadows for a second, enough to see that on the other side were maybe a dozen smaller scorpions. At the flames they started to skitter towards us, but when the first few were roasted by flames the rest of them scattered into the darkness.
Unrelenting Will didn't say anything, but he started moving down that hallway so we all followed, more on guard now than ever. Peace walked behind me backwards, her flamethrower perpetually hefted into one hand and pointing wherever she looked, while the siblings walked to either side and sent a blast of flame into every doorway we passed, just in case. A few of the times they did that I could hear hissing in pain.
“Are we going the right way?” I asked after a few minutes of eerie silence. It was more to hear my own voice than my actual curiosity. Although, it was a bit odd we jumped down a hole. That couldn't have been in any map.
“Yes,” he said hoarsely. There was nothing else to be said, and I was not about to question him further. Just keep walking and hope we survive. It did ruin my plan of running away, though. I didn't really want to get lost in this place.
“Maybe we should have brought a larger force.” Five minotaurs and me seemed a bit small for something this crucial. I mean, I was a one pony army, but there were a lot of these bugs.
“Don't you ever shut up?” If he thought I talked a lot, he would never ever want to meet Flare. Or Serenity on sugar. She was very quiet right now (as she often got when things were tense) but on sugar...
Still, at that I shut up. I gathered there was some reason why the squad was so small, and I had a feeling that it had something to do with the minotaurs’ sense of honour. Maybe they had committed some crime, and their punishment was this suicide mission. It'd explain why the Minotaur King seemed sure I was going to object to the job. He, of course, made the foolish mistake of thinking I was smart. But I showed him.
A red dot flashed across my vision. I followed it with my eyes so I could get an idea of where it was, and where it was going. I really wished EFS actually showed height. The red blotch on my EFS could be right around the corner, or a floor down, it was impossible to tell. Still, when I noticed it slow and stop on the right, I had to say something. “Next hallway, on the right.”
Unrelenting Will grunted a response and motioned for the rest of us to hang back. I wasn't about to argue if he wanted to take on... whatever it was that was on my EFS. He inched forward carefully, and peered around the corner. When he seemed to be satisfied with what he saw he turned into the hallway.
Only to gasp. His torch fell from his hand as his arm shot out suddenly. He gave out a loud grunt and stepped back a few feet letting his foe come into view. It was a rad-scorpion (no surprises there) bigger than the one that killed Intricate Design. Unrelenting had his hand holding onto the creature’s stinger, barely holding it back. When it tried to forget its stinger and rush forward with its claws Unrelenting very calmly reached out a hoof and slammed it into the creatures head holding it back.
For all the confidence in his face, I could hear him grunt to try and hold the creature back. It was far too close to use his flamethrower, which really only left one option.
I slid into SATS and queued up a single shot to the bugs side. When I slipped out of it, Subtlety let out a blisteringly loud roar, and the a hole tore into the creature’s side. It let out a pitiful screech before falling silent and motionless.
“What did you do that for!” Unrelenting wiped his bloody hand on his armour before turning to me. “I had it taken care of.” Oh, I'm sure he did.
“Trying to speed things up,” I remarked dryly eliciting a slight chuckle from Peace.
“Ugh. We must continue to mo-” He stopped mid-word and looked around. “Check your scanner.” he must have been talking about my EFS. So I did. Oh...
“Lots more red dots coming this way.” I motioned to the hallway the radscorpion Unrelenting fought came from. When I looked around again to double check I noticed something much more distressing. “And a lot coming behind us... like a lot, a lot.” Apparently they didn't cull as many as they thought yesterday because in both those directions my EFS was just a solid wall of red.
This left us with one direction. Forward. As it was the way we were going anyway, everyone took off in a sprint. Which for me was a jog, as I didn't want to get too far ahead of them and end up alone. Minotaurs were really slow (and top heavy), but we had enough of a head start that I think we were in the clear. We would be caught up with eventually, but unlike last time I didn't think we'd be completely overrun.
I'm also an idiot.
Instead of giving us enough time to regroup, the massive swarm caught up with us within the minute. I could hear their chattering behind us, and sure enough when I looked back I could see claws starting to appear in the gloom of our torch light. With that incentive I started to run fast, hopefully urging my companions to move faster than they had been. Not that it worked.
“Turn and spray.” All at once the four remaining minotaurs turned and let out bursts of flame. “Momma!” Serenity instructed me, so I turned and let my flamethrower go with them. The familiar heat washed over me and I was glad that my barding was fire-proofed. Serenity let out a little squeal and I felt her duck behind me for cover.
The end result was a literal wall of flame stopping the creatures dead, though behind the fire I could see more moving, waiting for the flames to die down. Unrelenting Will grunted at the sight, then turned and hurried down the hallway, eager to put as much distance between us as possible. Part of me wondered why leave at all, we had enough fuel to kill them all. Still, I wasn't about to fight them all on my own so I followed eagerly.
“Their queen has to be around here...” Unrelenting Will grunted back to us. “We're in the heart of their nest.” He could say that again. Every direction I looked I saw smatterings of red. Too much to even think about calling out all of them. Unless I saw something important.
Like when we reached the end of a hallway, with two doors on either side. One had a solid wall of red behind, the other, only one. “Right.” I said quickly. “Left has more scorps.”
The lead minotaur grunted and moved to kick the door down, and before he even did all of us moved to go through. I didn't notice until halfway through his kick that there was light pouring through the cracks around the door frame, and being so close to the door made my pipbuck’s geiger counter start clicking. Sunlight burst from the now open door into our eyes. After so long in the dim light of torches the light was nearly blinding, but it didn't stop all of us from charging blindly forward.
Of course, I only had one eye that needed to adjust, my other say everything just fine. If I wasn't being pushed forward by a bunch of large minotaurs I would have stopped and run.
In the centre of the room was the largest scorpion I had ever seen. It could easily outsize a verti-buck (though still smaller than a land shark) and its black carapace seemed to shine in the sunlight. Its two massive claws could have easily cut a pony in two without much effort. As soon as I stopped being pushed I stared so dumbfounded at it I couldn't even comprehend our surroundings.
“Momma... what is...” I could hear the fear in her voice. Right! She needed a place to hide. My gaze was torn away from the giant (now screeching) beast to scan the room.
The first thing I noticed was that that the circular room was cut in half. There was a whole section missing and led out into space, and it took me a second to realize what I was seeing. The crater outside Dise that I had seen yesterday, I was in it, well I was right beside it. It managed destroy the section of tunnel, leaving a gaping hole. All I would need to do was run out that hole and I'd probably fall into the massive crater. Part of me remembered what Flare said yesterday, that strange mutations seemed to happen to things that got too close to it, and I had to wonder if that was what had caused the scorpion to grow so large.
The rest of the room was empty, except for patches of strange black ichor. All along the walls and floor were small holes, large enough for smaller rad scorpions to leave from, but not enough for any of us, not counting Serenity. What it did leave were various piles of rubble around the edge of the room. “Serenity, hide.”
“B-but...” She started to protest but I turned and gave her a look through my mask. It was enough for her to nod and run off to hide behind a pile of rubble, though I was sure I saw her float out her pistol as she ran.
“Forward.” Unrelenting Will commanded. “Try to force it off the edge.” That was actually a good plan. As big as it was I doubted it could survive the fall, and it was much easier than trying to kill it normally due to the fact it was really fucking huge.
The five of us made a semi-circle and all at once let out matching jets of fire. The creature let out a hideous shriek in pain and recoiled from the flames. As it did, I felt the tension in my stomach lift. Maybe we could actually kill this monstrous thing. It was backing up the way we wanted. All together we took a step forward, and the wall of fire made it recoil more, inching closer to the edge.
We could actually win this, I could actually do this. After so many failures I had a chance to do something good. To start making up for the past. Sure it was going to help the minotaurs, but I had heard stories of radscorpions infesting the tunnels under Dise, and have seen it for myself on multiple occasions. If this could help stop them, halt their growth, it would be something. Maybe only a little thing, but dammit I deserved to be proud of something. I needed to prove to myself that I could do it, I could change the way the my life was heading. I just needed to push a little further.
The creature crawled back more, hissing in pain. I could smell charred meat, and see smoke rising from the great beast’s black shell. I licked my lips and pressed forward again, ignoring the intense heat scalding at my armour. Just a little further. Just a little.
Forward Movement's flamethrower took that moment to sputter out of fuel, leaving a gap in flame wall. Before any of us had a chance to respond the giant beast’s tail snapped.
When I turned my head in shock toward the sound I saw the Minotaur impaled on the beast’s spiny tail. He made a weak gurgle before falling limp. The tail was torn out of the corpse in a spray of blood and entrails that made my stomach turn.
“NO!” Forward Thinker shouter. The two of them were so quiet I had almost forgotten they could talk at all, and more importantly I forgot they were siblings.
“Get back in line!” Unrelenting Will tried to order, but the cow didn't listen. She dropped her flamethrower and rushed to her brothers corpse. I understood; if it had been my brother (as much as we disagreed) I might have acted similarly, but it left a gap in our wall. It gave us an increasing chance of failure. It-
Something cracked into me and I was pushed over tumbling onto my side.
With a groan of pain, I brought a hoof to my chest, but winced away when I touched it. It was like someone had set my side on fire. There were shouts around me, and the sound of the creature moving far too fast. When I looked up I saw it towering over Forward Thinker.
The cow looked up at the beast, and to her eternal credit, reached for her backup rifle and even managed to get off a single shot. It was too little too late. The radscorpion queen's claw moved forward and, with sickening ease, cut the minotaur in half.
“Shit.” I muttered as I struggled to my hooves. I didn't have time for panic, or worry. All I could do was fight, and try to survive.
I fired Subtlety into the side of the beast, and when the bullet tore a chunk from its shell it let out a frightful screech. It distracted the beast that Will and Peace (who had been pushed to the other side of the beast) were able to light it up its side with their flamethrowers.
The queen did not die though. I shot it three more times in the side, and still it just refused to die. On the contrary it swung its massive claw through the jets of fire into the two minotaurs. The fire was cut short and I saw the two slam into a wall. The scorpion's tail turn to the now defenceless minotaurs, and looked ready to fight.
So I stopped time.
I slid into SATS And lined out a shot at tip of the queen's tail. When I came out of the pipbuck's spell Subtlety fired. The bullet ripped into the tail, not cutting off the end but leaving a massive hole. The creature once again screeched in pain, and the pause allowed the two minotaurs time to move away from the creature.
Unfortunately the only way the two could retreat was closer to the edge where the room was cut off by the crater. “Shit.” I dimly heard Unrelenting Will growl as he banged his claw against this side of his Flamethrower. He dropped the weapon and pulled out his assault rifle.
The bull let out a spray of bullets at the back of the scorpion as it moved to turn around. Perhaps this was our chance. It was big, but slow, and maybe.... I moved forward, blasting at its side with my flamethrower. Peace too used her still-working flamethrower to char at the areas that Unrelenting was shooting at. We still had a chance. Even three members down, and in pain from the beast’s attacks, we could still come out on top. We just had to push a little bit harder.
I fought through the pain (not enough time to grab a med-x) and moved forward as fast as I could. The fire from my weapon sprayed across the side of the creature’s shell, burning and melting as it did so. The heat that washed over me was intense, but I kept pressing into the attack. I could survive a few small burns, so long as we survived this. So long as I could get Serenity out alive.
Then the stupid thing had to do something unexpected. It started backing up, really fast.
Without even bothering to turn around it charged blind into the heat and gunfire. Peace Of Mind was swift enough to dodge, but Unrelenting Will was hit hard and sent stumbling back towards the edge. He seemed to regain his balance just as he was balancing on the edge of the room.
Then a piece of the floor gave out on him. He slipped, his back slammed into the corner of the edge before he rolled off the side. Not completely though. I could barely see that he managed to grab on to the edge with his claw.
“Will!” Peace didn't drop her flamethrower, or stop praying, but she did edge towards where he hung. Maybe if I distracted the thing she'd have a chance.
So I fired Subtlety into its side until I had to reload. It seemed to work. The creature turned to me and screeched out in pain. As it started walking towards me I noticed it seemed unsteady, and ichor dripping from innumerable wounds. We were wearing it down. Just a little longer and maybe we could get it to bleed out. I lowered my bruised body and let out a spray of fire from my battle saddle.
“Fight me!” I yelled at it, really hoping to keep its attention more than anything. I bit down harder and let another blast of fire wash over the creature. It seemed to balk and give me time to look over to see how the minotaurs were doing.
Not good, as it turned out. Peace had managed to grab Unrelenting's hand and was struggling to pull him up, but she wasn't having much luck. As much as she grunted and pulled, he wasn't coming over the edge, and she didn't look like she was about to back down.
Crack.
The floor they were on shook for a second. Then it broke. One second the two minotaurs were there struggling to get back into the room, the next they were gone. Vanished. Dimly I thought I heard a distant thud of landing far below, but I couldn't be sure.
My head turned back to the giant scorpion that was now renewing its effort to kill me. The fight had started with five of us, and I was the only one left. In such a short time. Fuck. Fuckity fuck. My eyes darted to the entrance of the room. Screw this mission. Screw this radscorpion queen. I was done. I let out a final blast of fire to warn the queen away, then turned.
“Serenity!” I started to move towards Serenity had hidden, “We need to get out of he-” A sharp pain made my words die in my throat and turn into a muffled scream.
My head turned back, towards the pain. The burning sensation like fire under my skin. My leg. My left hind-leg was pierced through by a black stinger. My body froze in place. I couldn't move, I could barely comprehend the sensation. I wanted to laugh, to cry, to scream, but all actions failed me.
Until I was lifted into the air by my impaled leg, and I was able to truly understand the enormity of the situation I was in. Looking down I could see myself rising higher above the ground. I panicked, my legs kicking wildly as I tried to dislodge myself. It didn't work. Nothing seemed to work. I kept flailing, but I was still in so much pain, and still hanging about to die. It was only when the queen started to lower me within range of one of her giant claws that I saw my chance.
The hole I had blown in the tail earlier. There was a huge chunk missing, and it looked weak. Maybe... I kicked my free hind leg at the wound. The creature gave a hiss, but I was still moving towards the claw. Another kick. I was in between the two parts of the claw, and it was about to snap shut. There was no time for panic, or fear. All I could do was kick with all my might and pray that Celestia was merciful.
She was. The kick snapped the end tail off, and I fell.
I landed head first in a heap on the ground with the claw snapping above me. My whole body was wracked with pain, but I was alive. Somehow, against all odds. As the scorpion scurried away backwards I moved to get back to my hooves. There was still time. We could still escape.
For some reason I fell when I tried to stand. I couldn't understand it. Why was I falling, what happened. Why did my leg stop hurting so much. My eyes scanned the room, maybe I tripped, maybe. My brain wasn't working, and my eyesight was getting blurry. How could this...
My leg. I saw it. It was lying on the ground a few feet away with the barbed stinger still in it. Why was it over there? It was bleeding. Was I bleeding? It didn’t make any sense. Why could I think. What had... my eyes fell to my hind leg... to where my hind leg was supposed to be, but it wasn't there anymore. It was cut off at middle, leaving only a bloody stump. So much blood. It was already pooling around me. My leg it was...
Gone. Cut off. How could this... how...
“MOMMA WATCH OUT!”
My bleary eyes looked up. The Scorpion was mad. Charging at me. Oh. I was going to die anyway. It seemed funny. After everything. I would die like this. Part of me wanted to laugh, but I had misplaced my voice.
“NO!”
A light pink field enveloped the scorpion. It started screaming. In pain. At least it moved its mouth like it was, I couldn't hear anything. The creature started flailing. And backing up. Serenity was doing... something to it. It slammed into the door we used to get into the room.
“Momma shoot it!” Shoot. With...? Right... My gun...
I still had Subtlety. I could still survive. So I struggled to my three legs. My vision was blurry though. And I couldn't stand straight. But I had to shoot. To...
So I slipped into SATS. Time stopped and the fog over my brain was lifted. I aimed a shot with the targeting system right at the creature's eye. The bullet tore into it, and it cried out in pain. I was still wobbly, and it wasn't dead. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Serenity firing her gun too, but it was hard to tell. Sounds seemed so muted.
When SATS recharged I went into it again and fired another shot. This time it didn't scream. It didn't fight. It just slumped over. Dead. Please let it be dead. Not that I could check. As soon as it fell I did too. I was losing blood. I seemed to be fading. Part of me said I needed to survive, but the rest said I've done enough today, and I had to sleep.
It seemed like a smart voice, I thought as the world greyed around me. Sleep seemed nice.
---
“Where am I?!” The light was burning my eyes, and I could hardly see. “Where?!” My hooves were strapped down. That was silly. I could lie down just fine on my own.
“Sweetie,” A familiar voice called out in the blinding light. “Calm down.” When my eyes adjusted I saw I recognized the voice. She was a friend of Mamma, but I could never remember her name. Wait. Momma.
“Momma!” I screamed. “What happened...? Where...?” The memories were blurry. The last thing I remember was that olive stallion. He had a gun. There was a lot of pain. So much pain. And momma was bleeding. I tried to save her. Did I? Had I managed to save her? “Is she... can I see her? Please...”
Momma, please. You have to be alright.
The mare shook her head. What was her name? “I'm... I'm so sorry sweetie she... she didn't make it.” Didn't make it. She was... oh... I was a stupid foal, but even I knew what that meant.
“I...” I wanted to cry, to feel sad, but I couldn't. I just felt... numb.
They were talking to me, I saw their mouths moving, and I heard the sounds, but they didn't become words in my head. Just... sounds. Meaningless, abstract. The ponies in front of me, I knew them, but not their names. They made pointless sounds, they tried to sound reassuring, but it meant nothing. Just noise. So I didn't pay attention. When I asked about my brother they made more noises, comforting noises, but still useless. All that mattered was that he was gone. Forever they said. Their noises couldn't stop that.
You have to live... I can't lose you... please... I can fix it...
They had to be lying. I decided this with sincerity. They were lying to me. Momma couldn't be dead. Brother couldn't be gone. I tried to move, but they stopped me. They said I was shot. With a bullet. Another lie. Bullets were deadly, momma always said, and I was alive. I squirmed in their strangle hold, and eventually they let me go.
I stood up on the ground. My body was sore, but like the noises they made it didn't mean anything. I walked out, into the open. It was raining outside. Cold rain on my coat. Momma always said should stay inside when it rained, but I had to go out. I had to find her. They were lying, and I had to find momma. So it was okay to be out in the rain.
My legs carried me without thinking. Towards where it happened. When I found the bullets, where Momma was... where I would find Momma alive. She had to be there. She wouldn't leave me, she would never leave me because I needed her and she loved me. She always loved me. Just a little bit further and I would find her waiting for me.
Bang Bang Bang
The memory of the bullet hit me. The pain in my chest, the struggle to move. Maybe they weren't lying about that part, maybe the noise was right... but then maybe they were right about momma too. How could I know. I had to see. So I ignored the memory, and ignored the pain, and kept walking to where I knew I would find momma.
Tears stung my eyes but I wasn't sure why. Everything felt numb, except the tears. They were real, they meant something even though everything felt meaningless.
I saw it. The building we were supposed to scavenge. It wasn't empty though, there was a red ball lying there in the grey rain. Why... as I walked closer I saw Cakewalk... or Wildfire, whatever her name was. She was crying too. Curled up in a ball, she was crying. Even though I think she was asleep.
I walked up to her and looked over her. She was a small filly. Such a small filly, and she was crying, but why? I was too dumb, and I couldn't figure it out. I leaned down and nosed at her cheek, but she just whined and turned her head away. She needed to wake up, if she slept out here she was going to get a cold. How could I wake her up though?
Boom
I blinked my eye in confusion and looked around. Was that an explosion... no. It must have been my imagination. But whatever it was Wildfire heard it too because she was sitting up now, her eyes bloodshot red and staring at me. “You... you did this.” She sniffled. “Daddy... he was protecting you and your stupid mother!” She was yelling at me, but I understood those noises. What she meant. She was angry.
“I'm sorry...” I choked up, the words hurt to speak. “What happened...”
“They shot him... daddy... because...” She started to cry again. “Leave me alone. I want... I want to be alone.” No... her daddy was alive. Along with my mom. She just had to believe.
“You'll catch a cold... lets go... back... you don't want a cold.” I tried to tell her, but the words came out slow and awkward. It was cold and wet, and she would get sick. We could wait for them inside Marefort. Wait for our parents to come back.
“No...” She stood up aggressively. “Leave me alone! I-” She was being silly. So before she could finish talking, I picked her up onto my back and started walking towards Marefort. “What are you doing?! Put me down!”
I didn't, and when I didn't respond to her, she returned to her quiet sobbing. She shouldn't cry, it was just going to make her more wet. And it was raining so we were already wet enough. I couldn't blame her though, I was crying too. Not as much. She cried more.
I walked her through the gloom of the rainy evening and into Marefort. I paused right before the door to decide. Part of me wanted to go my house, but... but I wanted Wildfire to be comfortable. She was the sick one, or she was going to be. So instead I started walking towards the ramp that led to the second level. I remembered the way, I had ran up that way being chased by my brother earlier that day. It seemed so long ago. Like it happened to another pony. A younger one.
I reached the top of the stairs. There were so many stairs in Marefort, and it wore me down, and it took a long time. As I walked ponies spoke to me, noises in the back of my head. I couldn't hear them, not their words, so I didn't acknowledge them. Instead I kept carrying Wildfire up and up. To where her home was at the highest point in the mess that was Marefort.
By the time I reached the top I heard snoring. Wildfire, she was asleep on my back. She cried herself to sleep, that seemed nice.
Is she gunna wake up?
I don't know... give her time.
I opened the door to her house, and realized I had never been there before. It was really small, much smaller than my house. There was only a single room, with a table in the centre, and two beds on either side of it. There was no way of knowing which bed was hers so I walked over to the closest and placed her on it as gently as I could. I was dumb, but strong. Everypony in Marefort agreed on that.
When she was safely on the bed I pulled the blanket up and tucked it in tight like Momma used to do to me. That would stop her from getting sick. I was sure of it.
When that was done I... didn't know what to do. I had to go search for Momma, but I didn't want to leave Wildfire. She might have been sick. Very sick, she was outside in the rain for so long. So... Momma could wait. She'd still be there. I would look the next day. There was a free bed so I walked towards it.
“Silver...” Wildfire said groggily. I must have woken her up. If everything wasn't so numb I might have felt bad. “Your cutie-mark.”
But I didn't have a cutie-mark. I was a late bloomer, momma always said. When I looked at my flank to confirm... I was wrong. My cutie-mark was there. Three brown rocks... that meant something, though I wasn't sure what. It was too hard to think.
Instead I fell into the second bed, and went to sleep. I could figure out what my cutie-mark after I found Momma. She would know. She knew everything, and she would always be there for me. Always...
---
I woke up to the sound of my pipbuck clicking. My eyes opened and the dream faded. My cutie-mark, three brown rocks. I never did figure out what it meant, anymore than I found my dead mother.
“You're awake?” A muffled voice asked.
“Yes I-” I froze when I looked up. A bug, with glowing eyes. The Scorpion queen. It was talking to me! It was!
It was just a mask. My mind figured it out slowly. A helmet, armour. Enclave armour, I knew it. The enclave had found me. “Calm down.” Now the enclave was telling me to calm down. I didn't feel calm. I felt sore, and groggy, and... alive. I was alive. How was.
My eyes looked around the room. The corpse of the giant scorpion was lying in front of the door, with a blown out wall beside it. And... more scorpions, three small ones littered the nearby room. What had happened. How much had I missed? My eye fell to my leg, my back one. To see what was left.
To my surprise there were robotics there, not very complex robotics, but since my leg was cut below the hock, they didn't need to be. Serenity must have done that... and...
“What... what happened?” My voice was a whisper, and even that was painful.
“You,” the Enclave said to me, “almost died. Seems to happen a lot to you. You're lucky your daughter here--” Serenity! I looked around and found her hugging me in her sleep. She looked... almost peaceful. “Is so damn amazing. She managed to stop your blood loss and make a quick replacement leg. I'm sure House will get you a new one.” My daughter. She was amazing. So amazing. I needed to give her candy. So much candy.
“Who... Flare?”
“The very same.” The Enclave pegasus nodded.
“What... how did you find me... why are you... wearing that?” Why did it hurt so much.
“Pipbuck tags. It made you easy to locate, hard to find.... As for the armour,” he sighed, “It blocks radiation, and there’s a lot to block. As soon as you're ready we're heading back to Dise. Mr. House will want to see you and... and you'll want to see what happened.” Back to Dise. To see the fallout of my mistakes.
I didn't want to see it, but it was something I had to face.
Level Up!
Skill Note: Guns 100!
New Perk: Monster Hunter: Hunting down giant creatures takes a certain type of pony. You gain +10% against all mutated wildlife, and 24% poison resistance. As if you weren’t completely immune already.
((A/N: Is this thing on? It is! Hi, I’m No One and yes, I do still exist. It has been a hectic few months and I am terribly sorry for the lack of updates. A little while back I lost my job and between that and fighting to get EI [so as to buy food and other lovely things] I sort of went into a depressive state which made writing extremely difficult. I’m still unemployed, but I got EI, and I’ve been feeling better so with any luck I’ll provide you, my fabulous readers, with more sub-par post-apocalyptic pony goodness. Thank you so much for your patience.
I would like to thank Kkat for creating Fallout Equestria, as well as my current editors who make this stuff readable: theBSDude, Menti, and Julep. I would also like to thank my friends on the FOE:IRC who have helped me through this difficult time by being awesome people. And finally I would like to thank my faithful readers. If you’re still reading this after two paragraphs of wangst you must have a strong will and kind heart. ~No One~))
INDEX |
No One | 662 | 27 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2013-02-17T03:54:47+00:00 | 2013-02-17T03:54:47+00:00 | 12,593 | Zero Point
"Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
“How long can we sit here, huddled in darkness, dying of radiation and starving for food, before we must rise up? How long can we let the aptly named 'gangs' hoard the food, water, and medicine we need to survive? When the balefire erupted over the city, their first thought was to shoo us to the unprotected tunnels, while they hide in their towers, drinking rad-away like water. They do not share their wealth, or their food, or their medicine, but leave our children to die of sickness and disease. If ever there was a time to rise up and take our city back, it is now!” I had to admit, the speech hit enough emotional aspects that it almost made me sympathize with her.
Almost. Not only were there a few inconsistencies (underground was not radiation-proof, but most certainly more radiation-proof then buildings on the surface), I was also suspicious of the rant because I knew the pony speaking: one Righteous Song of Celestia's Vision. Unless there was another white pony with a rising sun as a cutie-mark. She was standing on a soapbox in a crowded tunnel while followers gathered to listen to her. Not many stayed, I noticed, and most of the ‘crowd’ just paused in front of her for a moment before moving on.
“We have fed Dise, and these gang leaders, with our caps, with our livelihoods, and with our blood. Is this how we should be repaid?” Though, I did have a feeling her following would grow as things got worse.
Flare and I moved away from the commotion down a smaller tunnel, but it too was crowded. It seemed all of Dise flooded the tunnels (although Flare said only the top levels of tunnels were crowded, and everything below was still empty.). Once the megaspell had gone off and the streets were awash with radiation, the gangs of Dise threw out all but the most vital employees, and left the rest of the citizens to retreat underground.
There were whispers of the riots that took place. How, when some citizens had been denied access to the gang-controlled entrances to the tunnels (the entrance I’d used to get underground was actually secret, so most did not look there, and instead to the entrances held by the various gangs), they had fought back in short but bloody battles. Rumor was that, when fires broke out, Ponitrons came to quell the fighting, but were beaten down and stripped for parts.
Of course the madness hadn’t lasted long, as the threat of radiation drove everypony quickly off the streets. Not that the tunnels were the best place to go. I could still hear my pipbuck ticking slowly as I walked the tunnels, proof of the ever-present threat. Overnight, rad-away and rad-x became worth their weight in gold.
Surprisingly, the first thing Flare did after rescuing me was feed me two rad-aways. Apparently, by the time he arrived for his dramatic rescue, Serenity was already very ill, and getting worse (despite fending off a few scorpions as I was unconscious), but I was doing much better because my larger body type was more resilient to the radiation. Still, it was a testimony to how badly rad-away was going to be needed in the coming days.
At least the journey through the scorpion tunnels to the part where ponies actually lived was mostly uneventful. On his way in, Flare’d had to fight his way through, and since he’d blown up everything in his path, it left us with a mostly safe (and easy to follow) way out. Which was good because my makeshift hind leg was both incredibly painful and very awkward to walk on.
Of course, considering the circumstance in which Serenity made the leg, it was basically a work of art. My mind couldn't even really comprehend the work she must have done on my leg to make it even able to be used with the prosthetic, never mind the fact it was all done while in a hostile area, being irradiated and attacked by scorpions. Once she woke up I was going to buy her as much candy as I could find.
“Watch it!” Somepony growled when I bumped into them, which broke me out of my contemplative stupor.
“Huh, I...” I wasn't sure who’d said it because the tunnel was a mess of ponies, and when I looked back the pony was gone. The tunnels may have been made for the entire city, but they were only utilizing one one hundredth of the tunnels’ actual size.
“Don't bump into ponies.” Flare looked back at me. Not that he had much of a problem running into ponies; everypony saw his Enclave attire and gave him a wide berth, though this was accompanied with a lot of dirty looks.
“I have a new leg. Not my fault...” I lifted up my makeshift hind leg and looked back at it. It... wasn't pretty, but it worked enough to walk. If you considered awkwardly limping around walking.
“At least you lost it for a noble cause. Like a true hero,” Flare said as he turned his head back forward. I groaned at the word and tried to put it out of my mind. The last thing I needed was more over-thinking about what it meant to be a hero. “That's only partially sarcasm: those rad-scorpions were a menace. Have been for year; with so many ponies migrating into the 'safety' of the tunnels you probably saved a lot of lives by removing the source. I had a friend who tried the same thing a long time ago...” His voice was... strange, almost sad, but it was hard to tell through the voice filter. “He never did come back...”
Flare stopped to lower his head for a second before suddenly walking again at an increased pace that I could hardly keep up with. That is to say I couldn't keep up with him at all, especially not with the other ponies walking the other direction and blocking him from view. I thought I was able to see him far ahead of me in the crowded corridor until I found myself in a large room that was apparently set up as a miniature market and he was completely gone.
With Serenity... normally the filly would be riding on my back, but after the fighting I was too worried about falling and dropping her, so I had let him carry her. Lovely.
With a grunt of annoyance (and pain, even with med-x my body stung), I tried to stand up taller and stretch my neck out to see better. It didn't really work, and made me look something like a fool, which I found appropriate. With that attempt a failure, I tried to push my way through the crowd. Hopefully he would notice I was gone and listen for the yells of 'watch where you're going', and find me again. Normally I could navigate the tunnels myself, but it looked different filled with ponies.
As I was looking over at one of the many stands set up (it was actually selling rad-away, and was guarded by five fully armoured and armed earth ponies), I noticed something bump into me. At first I thought it was just another pony attracted to my clumsiness until they said something other than 'excuse you' or 'watch it'.
“Um, excuse me. Are you a Hizai?” The words made my heart jump for a second. Because I was a Hizai, and apparently Mr. House, my employer, kicked ponies out of his hotel to fend for themselves, as he hogged rad-away for himself (well, he was a ghoul, so he would have been hogging it for his employees. Though the effect was the same.)
“Uh.” I managed to turn slightly to the speaker, a diminutive purple mare with a short cropped yellow mane. “I'm, uh.”
“Cause, um, if you are,” she started, looking nervous, “I was just wondering... you see. My daughter’s really sick... and I don't have any rad-away. And I heard the gangs, that they had a lot. And if you could spare some.” She gulped and looked at the ground.
“Of course she's not a Hizai, stupid mare,” an older mare said from the crowd nearby. “No Hizai would have that shabby of a leg.” The older mare waved in the direction of my new hind leg. With a huff, she vanished into the crowd, her grumpiness apparently spent.
“Oh, right.” The purple mare nodded her head in realization. “Yes. I'm sorry. I'll just... I didn't mean to bother you... please forgive me.” She gulped nervously and took a step back. “It’s just... my daughter... and... I... I need to go, I'm so sorry for bothering you.” She quickly backed up, running rump-first into a confused stallion. This led to more apologizing and running off into the crowd -- where she no doubt ran into and apologized at more confused strangers.
I watched her leave for a few seconds before she was lost in the sea of ponies, then let out a sigh. Maybe I could convince Mr. House to use some of his rations to help the ponies down here. Radiation was seeping in, and it was only time before ponies started dying, and when that happened they'd get even more desperate.
“Hired.” Flare was beside me so suddenly that I nearly jumped. “You're really easy to find in a crowd, you know that? In battle, you must be the equivalent of shooting the broad side of a barn.” That'd explain how I kept getting shot... in the face. Of course if I was a barn, it'd have to be a high durability barn made by Stable Tec or something.
“Sorry.” I looked over to him to find his rather creepy bug eyes staring at me. “You started walking too fast.”
“Sorry, I forgot about your pegleg.” He snorted. “Now let’s get a move-on before somepony recognizes you and starts to wonder if Hizai keep rad-away in their blood.” Ponies would have a harder time recognizing me if he didn't say stuff like that out loud.
So I didn't bother answering him and tried to pretend that I didn't know him. Of course, this was a mite difficult as I was still following him through the throngs of tired and sick ponies. I knew Dise had a lot of ponies in it, but it was very different seeing them all packed together.
Over on the wall of the tunnel we were walking down, I noticed that someone had painted the words 'We're dying' and 'We don't have to' in red paint, followed by the word 'Unite' in green below it. It was an eerie green, the last word, almost sickly. More than anything though, it reminded me of the jade explosion that erupted over the city. I could still see it when I closed my eyes, still feel the shock wave thudding against my chest. The colour, I was sure, was no accident.
Not that it was the only thing written on the walls, it was simply the brightest and most coherent. It seemed the public airing of grievances had been taken to the walls of the tunnels. Perhaps as a way to pass the time, or maybe because they were afraid of saying certain things out loud for fear of who might be listening. Or maybe I was just thinking way too much about graffiti.
It wasn't long before we pushed past the thickest concentration of ponies, and managed our way to what was apparently the exit. It wasn't the one I was used to, and it was heavily guarded by a trio of battle-saddle-wearing ponies. Of course, I still had that flamethrower so I could have wiped the floor with them if I wanted.
“Stop right there,” one of the three said. “What's your business on the surface? I mean, other than the fact you're clearly retarded and want to die.”
Flare took a step toward the mare and used a hoof to point at his black enclave armour. He replied dryly, “Take a wild guess.”
“Fashion parade?” was the guard mare's answer.
“Enclave, I have business with my commander.”
“Oh yes, how could I forgot what you tossers look like. Pardon me.” She seemed agitated. To put it lightly. “Celestia forbid I deny any of you anything, you'd shoot me down with one of your laser guns or something.” She looked over at me. “What's the big bitch for, target practice?”
“Yes,” Flare replied.
“Good enough.” She turned her head to the guard closest to the door. “Let them through.” She looked back at us, “Don't blame me if you stay up too long and come back all ghoulified.”
“What was that all about?” I asked Flare as we went through the door into the dark corridor beyond. On the other side of the hallway I could see a set of stairs, and light peeking through. I tried to ignore the fact my pipbuck seemed to tick faster the closer we got to the door. “That 'Enclave laser gun thing',” I clarified.
“Oh, that.” He kept walking, but I saw his head lowered. “Well, I've mentioned that things have been changing rapidly.” Yes, he had mentioned that... “Well, ever since that whole 'sunshine and rainbows' thing, ponies got all excited about the Enclave. Not the Dise Enclave, but the one that's still in the sky, started something of a civil war.”
“I assume this is going somewhere,” I said as we started up the stairs, my pipbuck clicking faster by the second.
“Yes, yes. Just listen. So there was a civil war,” Flare explained as he opened the door to reveal a small dirty room with only one exit on the far side. “The Enclave use clouds to grow food, you know, and with only so much saved up and less farmable land there were food riots, and factions breaking off, and other lovely things like that. Apparently the pony who cleared the skies thought it was better that ponies on the ground could see the sun than it was for pegasi to eat.”
“Right.” I wasn't really smart enough to question that logic, but it did seem a little bit strange.
“High General Steel Wing, the current ruler of the Enclave Remnants, the ponies that I work for,” I was a little bit insulted that he felt he needed to remind me of that, “has been in touch with one of these factions for a while.” Flare walked over to the door on the other side of the room and pushed it open. “Now we're aligned with them and we've acquired... well, see for yourself.” He seemed to be looking at something off in the distance and when I stepped out to see what he was looking at I gasped. “Welcome to Dise.”
Off in the distance, floating over the apartment structure to the south-west was, well it was, er, it was something. It was a large structure that looked like a cross between a boat and a thundercloud, only many times the size of a vertibuck, and loaded with what had to be giant cannons. Flying around it were many black-armoured pegasi illuminated by the setting sun, as well as more vertibucks than the Remnants had had before, and a few other flying machines I didn't really understand.
“That, is a Raptor Nacreous. It was partially knocked to the ground when the rainbooms that cleared the sky went off, but it was flying low and the damage was able to repaired.” He sounded a little bit proud of the giant thing. It scared me though. If the Remnants had completely dominated the skies about Dise before, now their hold was unshakeable. How long would it take for them to decide to just take the city, and when that happened who could possibly stop them.
Not that there was much of a city left to conquer. As I stepped onto the Dise streets, I heard... nothing. There were no sounds of ponies talking and laughing amongst each other. There was not even any of the ever-present music drifting from the casinos onto the street. All there was to hear was a harsh wind whipping through the tall buildings, and the loud clicking of my pipbuck.
There were so few lights. Normally there would be bright lights shining from every window and sign. Great beacons that proudly proclaimed that this wasn't a mere wasteland settlement. It was a city like those of old: proud of its accomplishments and more than willing to shove them in your face. Now it seemed dead... or deader. Without the noise and the lights, I could really get a good look at the city.
Its tall buildings were in disrepair, many close to falling over, and even the well-maintained ones looked skeletal. The paved road was cracked and shattered in places in ways I hadn't noticed before, and the great neon signs seemed cracked and half-hanging on. Overall it was lonely. A great expanse of buildings and roads and walkways, now all empty but for us. Well, there were some lights peeking out from the four major casinos, but they seemed paltry compared to what it had been.
Between the raptor flying menacingly overhead and the deserted streets, I barely felt like I knew the city at all. Everything was changing too quickly for me to keep up, and it was my fault.
Well, not really. It was true that I had failed to stop what had happened (and that my failure was impressive), but I hadn’t caused it, had I? Dragonslayer, and whoever he was working for, had done it. Maybe I failed to stop him, but it was still his plans, his hooves. This wasn't another Karkhoof, where I was the pony who set the town on fire; I had only failed to stop him. This was his doing, not mine. All of this. And if I ever met him again, I'd tear off his leg and beat him with it.
When I met him again. I was positive that once I told Mr. House what I had learned, he'd fit me up with a new leg and send me out after him. It was a long time coming, and that bastard deserved it.
“Silver.” Flare was a few feet ahead of me. “Hurry up. You're unprotected like that, and so is Serenity.” That was all I needed to get me going at a really quick pace. Despite the fact she was still wearing that black fireproof sheet (though she’d taken off the gas mask), she wasn't protected much from radiation.
“How will The B.S... er, Black Salamander.” Flare probably wouldn't know of my internal shortened version of the Hotel's name. “How will it be, you know, safe.”
“Well,” Flare said as he quickened his pace, “ever hear of a Spell In a Box?”
“A... what?” My knowledge of magic was... paltry at best. The most I knew was that when my shoulder burned magic was around. “Is it like... when you enchant a box?”
“Sort of.” He said as we neared the hotel. “I'm not a unicorn, so I'm no expert on magical whatists, but from my understanding it's a spell you put into a box that goes off either when triggered, or when certain conditions are met. Really advanced stuff, or so I'm told. The point is that after that whole apocalypse thing, Mr. House put a lot of work into thinking about how to use a box'o'spell to help if something like that were to happen again.”
“Mr. House is an earth pony,” I said. Given he was an earth pony, all the thoughts in the world wouldn't cast a spell.
“Doesn't mean he's dumb. He happened to know quite a few unicorns, and some of them turn all ghoulified with him. Blah blah blah. He used anti-radiation magic, which exists but in too small an area to normally be useful, put it into a box, put the box in the wall of his hotel and BAM. It sucks up radiation before it gets in. Takes a lot of them I hear, and he sold the idea to the other hotels, it's how he got a lot of his post-war wealth. I think. I may be making some of this up, but generally that’s how it works.”
“If there's a spell that cleans radiation. Why is it still around?” I had to ask, because that part made no sense to me at all.
“There's less then there was. Anyway, it takes a lot of energy to clear a small space, and it seeps in from infected areas eventually. The spell-o-boxes won’t last for more than a few weeks at most.” Then everypony above would have to retreat, too. At least it was a little bit of hope.
With my pipbuck still ticking, I decided I had spent far too much time in deadly radiation and increased my hobbling speed to The BS’s door. Flare reached it first and was already knocking by the time I walked up to it. “Open up,” he said loudly. “I said open. O-P-E-N.”
There was a long, worrying pause when there was no answer from the beyond the door, but eventually a voice spoke over the intercom beside the entrance. “Who is it?”
“It's Flare. Captain Flare of the Enclave Remnants. I'm under orders to bring back one of your Hizai who got caught outside after the blast,” Flare said through the door. “So you really should open. We have a civilian out here without protection.”
“Designation?” The voice replied, irritatingly calm.
“Star-Mare!” I yelled through the door. “My designation is Star-Mare.”
There was an even longer pause before the voice before the voice spoke up again. “Ah, you. Mr. House had been waiting for you...” Well that sounded ominous. “One second, disengaging emergency door.” There was a loud clangour from the other side of the wooden door for what seemed like hours (though probably only a minute) before the door finally opened. “Well, come in,” the voice said.
I shoved Flare through the door and followed quickly, and before the door could even fully close behind me, something suddenly hugged me around the neck. “Star Mare!”
“What! What!” I took a step back, dragging along the mare who hugged me. “Oh.” I realized it was the strangely perky and affectionate Tight Lips.
“Hah! And here I was betting that you were dead. Serves me right, I made the same bet last time you vanished off the face of the wasteland you know.” She winked at me. “You'll simply have to share your stories over a drink.” That was not going to happen. “But you have things to do first no doubt, and I'm simply positive that Mr. House will want to see you. Because he told me he wanted to see you. I'm intuitive like that.” She chuckled to herself and took a few steps back. “So, welcome back to The Black Salamander.”
She waved a hoof to the casino floor, and to my surprise it was different. The slot machines were pushed together with poker tables on top to make makeshift shacks, and the pit in the centre of the floor was filled with supplies of all sorts. And ponies, the entire place was completely crowded with ponies, even more than it was when all the NCA ponies were getting cybernetics.
“I thought the gang leaders didn't take in any city ponies...” That's what I heard in the tunnels anyway.
“Oh, Mr. House didn't.” Tight Lips seemed amused with my mistake. “Most of these ponies work for Mr. House, or are family to ponies who did. He kept most of his employees in rooms upstairs, but when the bomb went off he moved them down here. That way the spells that keep the place radiation free are more contained and will last longer. The first few floors of hospital and research are protected too, but anything above isn't. Mr. House is still in his room because ghouls love that radiation stuff!”
That all actually made a lot of sense. And while Tight Lips said all these ponies worked for Mr. House, I wasn't sure. Maybe Mr. House had a heart under that decomposing flesh after all.
“Doctor!” My mind snapped back. “Serenity, my daughter.” Tight Lips looked over my back and looked over the sleeping filly with an almost grim look. As grim as Tight Lips ever looked.
“You sure have her dolled up, but that wouldn't protect against radiation. I'll get her into a cleansing right away.” She gave out a sharp whistle and a pony came running up from somewhere in the casino shanty town. He quickly helped Serenity Flare’s back, and carried her off to the doctors floor. I didn't look away from my filly until she passed out of view from between a set of double doors.
“She'll be fine.” Flare put a hoof gently on my back. “She's a tough filly. Always has been.”
“I know,” I said quietly. She was a tough little filly because I dragged her through the mud. Even though she wanted to come with me -- I still wished she didn't have to be so tough. “I know.” I repeated to myself to make sure I believed it before turning back to Tight Lips. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem. We're colleagues, compadres, sisters, in a way.” She perked up. “Speaking of friends, you're super lucky, did I ever tell you that?” No, and probably for a reason. “Because your friend, Pearls, or, whatever. She got here just in the nick of time to be allowed to stay, and she's been a great help. You sure know how to pick'em.” She winked at me, and it took me a second to get what she was implying.
“Er. She's just... I mean.” I fought the blush away, and just shook my head.
“Oh good! Because I was thinking of picking me off some of that.” She paused to laugh. “Just kidding, I'm straight. She will want to see you though, but you have things to do first, and fraternizing will have to wait. Things like seeing Mr. House about that ugly-ass leg of yours. That simply won't do. So off you go.” She shoved me lightly. “I'll even let you bring that cute buck-friend of yours. Even if he is a filthy Enclave vulture.” She turned to him. “No offence.”
Even Flare seemed a bit confused. “Uh, none taken.” She nodded at this and trotted off towards one of the security ponies guarding the door. “She's weird,” Flare said when she was out of earshot.
“Yup...” I sighed and looked towards the elevator. “Let’s go see what Mr. House wants.” Probably for me to run off into another suicide mission to lose more body parts. I was starting to wonder if I was the only agent he had, because it was either that or I was the most expendable.
Without waiting for Flare to reply, I started off on slow walk towards the elevator, and did my best to ignore the stares of ponies milling around. It was clear as I navigated the mess of ponies that these were Mr. House's ponies, because nearly all of them had some sort of noticeable implant or another, and all were staring at my 'ugly' back leg in mild disgust. It infuriated me. Sure, they couldn't know that it was built by a filly in a hostile tunnel after saving me from bleeding out, but it didn't mean they had the right to judge my daughter’s work. It was better than anything any of them could make at that age, or ever.
Shaming a mob wasn't on my to do list, however, so I kept walking until I reached the elevator. Flare hit the button to Mr. House's floor, and the doors finally closed behind me; I let out a sigh.
“She did a great job,” Flare said as he put his helmet back on. “Your leg, and Serenity, that is.” He apparently saw the looks, too. “Considering she's a filly, she should get a damn medal.” What she should get was a mother who didn't drag her into situations like that, or at least one with a brain. Instead she had me. “Hey...” Flare tilted his masked head and stared at my... collar.
“What.” I looked down at myself and wasn't sure what he was looking at. I was still wearing the modified black fireproof barding that was made for me. He seemed to be staring at the collar pockets built in for easy access (having no magic sucked sometimes), but there wasn't much in them: emergency ammo, emergency grenade, spark pulse emitter, Med-X, and note. Wait.
“Was that there before?” Flare pointed at the same note I saw. Apparently, he was very perceptive.
“Uh, no.” I carefully pulled it out of my pocket and laid it on the ground to read. “Room 829. What?” How the heck did that note even get in there...
“That's your room.” It was a good thing he said that, because I wouldn't have noticed. Really, I forgot what number it was. Maybe the note was something I put in my pocket to remind me what my room number was. It didn't look like Serenity's writing though (and if it were mine, it would be completely illegible), so I doubted that.
“Might as well check it out.” I hit the number eight button on the elevator pad. “It's on the way.”
“And a little extra radiation never hurt anypony.” You know what I never got enough of? Sarcasm.
“That reminds me,” I said as our ride rocked to a stop on the eighth floor. “Do you know what happened to my BEL?” I walked into the hall and heard my pipbuck ticking warily at me. “It was in my room before.”
“What, oh.” Flare followed after me, clanking in his heavy armour. “Starscream came in to check on you, saw it lying around, lectured me, and took it into private storage. Apparently having such a weapon lying around was just asking for trouble.” Well fuck him, too. “I didn't touch it at all, but damn was it tempting.”
“I wouldn't trust you with it,” I said as we walked into the hall. Immediately I could hear my pipbuck starting to click slowly. “Not that I trust myself with it either...” Really there should be a law barring me from getting close to mega-spells. Or explosives.
“Why not? I carry enough ordinance with me to double the size of a BEL launcher explosion, and you haven't said anything about that.” I was a bit suspicious of that number, but having never seen a BEL explosion I really couldn't doubt it. More likely than not he was just trying to trick me into letting him use it.
“I... maybe.” It sort of worked, his argument that is. On the one hoof, I didn't trust a drug addict with a weapon like that, but on the other, having that sort of power on my side could be crucial. I just wasn't sure the risk was worth the potential reward. Maybe if we had a super dangerous job fighting a dragon or something. “One thing at a time.”
I really needed a list of things I needed to get done. Step one: see what's waiting for me in my room. Step two: talk to Mr. house, get a bullshit job and some new body parts. Step three: find out who is behind the attack in the Train Station. Step four: kill them a lot. Step Five: take a long nap.
Yeah, that would do. I guess at some point I should add 'help Mr. House take over Dise' but I really wasn't sure I wanted to do that anymore. Still, the last help put my brain in order, so on to step one. I opened the door to my old room.
And there was nothing in there. Well, there was stuff in there. A few empty beer bottles I hadn't gotten around to cleaning up and a bed I’d left unmade. A few odds and ends, but nothing out of order. “Huh.” I guess it was just something someone wrote down for me so I could remember where my room was. With a sigh I walked in. I guess I could pick up some of the things I’d left, now that I was here.
“Ooooh, dramatic.” Flare had a way with words. He flew past me and looked out the window on the far side of the room. “It's a nice view, you know.” I didn't know, I tended to avoid that window and just shut the curtain. I didn’t like thinking about how high up it was. “It's just... empty down there. You know, I've lived in this city all my life. I've seen the city grow and shape, I've been witness to gang wars and threats from the outside. One year there was a drought that nearly brought the city to its knees. But I've never seen it so empty before. So quiet.” He paused and turned away from the window. “I don't think I like it.”
Me either. Against my better judgement I walked over to the window and looked out from it... it was a good view wasn't it? Everything down below looked so small, and I could see so much. Was this what pegasi saw every time they flew? I could almost see the allure. That was, until my stomach twisted and for a second I felt like I was falling again.
I had to step back quickly and take a deep breath to calm myself down. I really wanted to use one of my Med-Xs but I had to ration them. It wasn't that I was lacking for them, but with Dise dying, I wasn't sure where I could get more.
“If you are afraid of heights it would be advisable not to stand next to someplace high,” a familiar voice said from behind me. When I turned I saw nothing, but soon that nothing faded and Platinum Haze stood there with a smile on her face. I had known something was in the room, from the burning sensation, though I wasn’t positive it was her. “We are sorry. Did we surprise you? That was not our intention.”
“Oh! Hey Haze!” Flare waved a wing at her, which was strangely familiar.
“Of course not...” I said softly and walked over to her. I had intended to nuzzle the beautiful alicorn, as I had before, but something was different. I couldn't reach... and for some reason my pipbuck was clicking more.
“Oh!” She said quickly and backed up. “I-it would be best you do not get too close.”
“What? Are you taller?” With her further backed up I could she see was taller, by a fair bit too. So, I was fairly lost as to what the heck was going on.
“S-sorry. Tight Lips delivered the message to you then, right?” Message? Oh! The note in my pocket. And Tight Lips giving me a hug. Damn, she was good at that. Don't know why she made it so secret. “She said that she 'had to let young love bloom' but couldn't risk House finding out.” That was interesting, but it didn't explain the size difference. “We are sorry about our size. My kind reacts this way to high concentrations of radiation, it is one of the reasons why Mother believed we would be the ideal race to rebuild equestria...”
That was different. “I'm just glad you're okay... but, why are you here?”
The alicorn looked over at Flare with a bit of confusion, “Did you not inform her of the situation? We thought we had requested such.”
“Sorry, Haze,” Flare said half-heartedly, “there was a lot to tell her, I guess I forgot.”
The alicorn cast a sharp glare at Flare that, along with her increased size, made her almost terrifying. But it faded quickly into a resigned smile. “Okay.” She turned back to me. “We... not long after the explosion, as crowds began storming into the tunnels, a group approached the orphanage. Celestia's Vision, they came back with what we could only describe as a mob. Somehow they knew where we were hidden, and attempted to take the children back by force.”
“What.” I felt myself panicking at the thought, but her calmness lead me to believe it wasn't as bad as it could be.
“It is... well, we cannot lie, we were worried. Our shield was fading, and rounding up foals in a panic was difficult for Diamond Sky and the others. We were convinced we would have to sacrifice ourselves to protect them.” Part of me wanted to ask why she didn't just kill them back, but I already knew the answer. “Your friend, Flare, he was able to save us. He used a flashbang to blind the crowd, then engineered a tunnel collapse. It did not stop the mob, but slowed them down enough for Diamond Sky to teleport the foals to safety.”
“Spitshine too right?” I had to make sure. “And, er, to where?”
“Yes.” The alicorn nodded. “Of course. The foal, was that her name? We did not have a chance to question her, given the circumstances.” She looked to Flare for confirmation on that and didn't continue until he nodded. “As for where they were taken, we are not allowed to disclose that information, but it is a safe place. Far away. We had set it up, first, in the event of an emergency, though we can say we did not expect to need to use it so soon. We are to wait here until the time is right to return.” She seemed upset by that. “We hope that the children are okay, we will miss them,”
“What will you do until then?” Who knew how long it would take the radiation to fade.
“We... we do not know. We are unsure of what to do with free time. We imagine we can help you, but we can't think that our particular help would be of much use.” Right, the pacifist thing.
“I'd always appreciate your help.” I gave her my best smile. Which was just big enough that I looked sincere, but not enough to stretch my facial scars that much. “I guess you can stay in my room for now... I won't be getting much use out of it.”
She gave a heavy sigh and nodded. “Thank you.” She seemed to stare at the floor with a sad look on her face.
“I'm sure you'll see the foals soon enough.” I did my best to sound reassuring, but really I didn't know for sure.
She looked up from the floor to stare at me with her strange yellow eyes. She looked like she was about to say something, but stopped herself and scrunched up her muzzle in confusion. “Where is your foal? We would very much like to see her...” She frowned for a second and looked over at my back where Serenity often sat... then gasped. “Your leg!”
“Oh.” I felt like an idiot for not telling her. “It's.. a long story.”
By the time I told her what happened I realized that either the story really wasn't that long, or that I sucked at details. Possibly both. Either way, I ended with telling her that Serenity was being looked at by doctors, probably for radiation sickness that they could easily cure. At least, I hoped.
“I'm sorry.” She gave a heavy sigh. “We wish we could have assisted you at that time. But, we are curious. You stated that your leg was cut off, but where did you acquire that replacement?”
Somehow in my short story-telling I completely forgot the most important part. “Serenity made it. Or rather, modified it from the old one she built... after saving my life. I think she killed a few bugs too...” I gave a long pause to think about that. “She's pretty amazing, isn't she?” How could a filly like that not have her cutie-mark yet?
“Yes... she is.” Platinum Haze smiled at me and moved forward and kissed me on the cheek, before quickly retreating to her spot across the room again “We are sorry for taking time away from your day; we are certain you have things to do. We will remain here for now, but we may go down to check on Serenity for you. We worry about her.”
My cheeks started to burn up at the kiss (or maybe the radiation she was emitting), but I had more important things to worry about. I closed my eyes and nodded. “Yeah. Need to see Mr. House... thanks, for caring. I... I'm going to find out who did this. The radiation. I'll find out why, and stop them.” Someone had to, and I was the only one with any clue at all. “And then the orphanage can move back. That'll be great, right?”
I waited until she nodded before I turned and left the room. No part of me really wanted to leave Platinum Haze, but I had a job to do and blah blah blah. I was Hired Gun, so off I went to my employer. Some things never change.
---
“It's not right...” Were the words we heard Mr. House speak to himself as we closed in on his room. As a ghoul, radiation actually healed him, so he never moved from his old room, or even bothered to close his door it seemed. “It's not the same...” Flare and I entered his room to find him staring at one of the screens on his giant computer terminal.
“Do you know,” he said to us when we entered the room, “that I stood in this exact same place when it happened.” In this context the 'it' didn't need to be explained. “My aids were telling me I should leave, yelling at me about a vertibuck and a stable, and how we should go. Reports were flooding in they said. Manehatten, Flankyard, Cloudsdale, Canterlot, Hoofington, even Trotonto... all gone. Yet Dise stood, for the longest time it stood still, halfway between panic and eerie calm. I thought perhaps we dodged the bullet, that we would survive.” He looked out his window, which I now realized was shattered. “Then everything was fire. Thousands died in the flash, and I was thrown back. When I awoke, my skin was peeling, and the world was dead. I could feel the radiation, feel it keeping me alive. At the time it was strange, but by now it's... normal.” He turned back to look at me with glowing green eyes, “Something is wrong. The radiation, there's not enough... in two hundred and fifty years I have made a lot of memories, but that one. Those early moments. I'll never forget.”
“So maybe the combination of all the megaspells going off made it feel different than the one that went off this time.” Flare said.
“Maybe. But... no. It's still too weak. If whatever went off was a megaspell, it was a weak one... bigger than a balefire egg, but it wasn't the same as the ones I've seen.” He stopped and looked directly at me, his eyes reminding me of how The Laughing Stallion looked right before he exploded. “You were there; you need to tell me. Is it true? The rumours. That the Minotaurs rigged a mega-spell to that freak who fought the Batmare?” He seemed tired and frustrated. Though I admit I wasn't the best at reading faces, especially ghoul faces.
“Maybe,” was my reply. “Sort of. Do you remember what I told you of the Facility, and Simple Heart?” He nodded slowly. “It was like that. He was the megaspell. It was like Simple Heart. Only it worked.” I then added quickly. “I don't think it was the minotaurs though... they seemed confused, and denied it.”
“And yet,” he added sharply, “I'm sure you have no theories of your own.” He turned back to his computer. “But I believe you. This was not minotaur work, if only for that megaspell technology would be beyond them. Even during the Great War, they borrowed weapons from zebras. And...” He tapped something at his computer. “Those files you sent me indicated that the pony-megaspell research data was sent to Trotonto, well beyond Minotaur reach even now.”
“Where?” I moved slightly closer so I could see he had a map on his terminal.
“Oh...” His voice broke from cocky to confused for a split second. “Eye Glow. That's the name now, I always forget...” He quickly composed himself. “It was the capital of Caledonia before the war, and now it's the largest city in the NCA.” If I remembered correctly it was also the city Serenity came from before she was with the Watchers in Dise. “I'm not sure where in Eye Glow, but it hardly matters. Never has a single Minotaur set foot into that city, everypony agrees, and while it doesn't completely rule them out, it's enough to shine doubt. Thank you for giving me this information, Hired... but now we need to get to another matter.” He closed what he was looking at in the terminal. “Where were you? My only operative close to the scene vanished for a day and a half; do you have any idea the disadvantage it put me in?”
“Uh...” I really should have thought of a decent lie before hoof, so I just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I was taken prisoner by the minotaurs... They thought I had something to do with the explosion, and didn't believe me when I denied it. I managed to escape but.” I turned around slowly and showed off my new amputation. “Not unscathed.”
Mr. House visibly grimaced at the leg, but then... stopped. He leaned in and inspected the leg curiously. “Isn't this the same one your filly built?” I was a bit amazed at his memory, considering. “Yes... yes I can see it. She modified it to work as a hind leg, that's... impressive.”
“Yeah... she built it after stopping my blood loss... and while fighting rad-scorpions. And there was the radiation...” I said slowly, as if not really believing it myself.
“I see...” He turned away, “We'll need to get you a better one... and once this radiation thing is over I'd like to set your filly up in an apprenticeship position.” Wait. What. “If she's this skilled so young, I want her trained right, and I want her working for me.”
“I... I'm sure she'd be ecstatic...” To put it lightly. I couldn't wait to tell her. “But... just all of a sudden.”
“I wasn't aware just how talented she was. Does she have her cutie-mark yet?” I shook my head which prompted him to continue. “Good. Maybe she'll get a cybernetic cutie-mark if we nurture her gift. I've never seen a pony with that as a special talent... it'd be amazing.” If he said so. I didn't really get the importance of cutie-marks anyway. I mean my special talent was being as dumb as a rock, or something.
“Okay...” I shuffled awkwardly.
“We'll still need to get you a new leg, and there are a few things I need to get done concerning the documents you brought me the other day, but those can wait until you're fitted with a new leg. I won't bother asking you what model you want; I’m sure you won't understand.” He looked at my foreleg for a second and hummed. “We really should add a sword to that. You fight hoof-to-hoof right?” I nodded. “Right, I'll have my technicians add a blade.” Apparently, I didn't get a choice.
“Okay...” I said and Flare just snickered at me.
“I'll send a message, unless you have something better to do.” His tone suggested I didn't have anything better to do. He turned back to give Flare a strange look. “I suggest going down there soon. I need you fixed up as soon as possible. There are precarious times; Dise is changing, whether we like it or not, and the winner will be he who acts first.” he let out a sigh and looked out the window, only this time he looked up at the raptor looming over the entire city. “What are you waiting for,” he snapped when he noticed me pause. “Go.”
Flare and I shared a look when we turned to leave his room, but neither of us said anything. There was nothing left to be said. I had my orders (and I'm sure Flare had his), so all we could do was our jobs...
As we walked together towards the elevator, I brought up the courage to ask Flare a question. “If there was ever a time... if the Enclave told you to kill me, would you?”
Flare snorted through his iron mask, and said, “Who’s to say they haven't already?”
Was that supposed to be a joke? I really didn't know, and I suppose I didn't want to know because I never asked. Though I'm not sure why the Enclave would even want me dead. I was also not sure why somepony would think detonating a megaspell around Dise would be a good idea either, so clearly we couldn't go by my understanding of how the world works. I just had to be confident that Flare would never actually try to kill me, and if -- Celestia forbid -- he did try, that I could stop him and kick some sense into him. For all I liked to complain about the pegasus, I'd rather see him alive than dead.
It was then, when we were walking into the elevator and I was fully confident that Flare wouldn't try to kill me, that a little voice in the back of my head asked.
What if you were ordered to kill him?
Then I would kill him...
I turned my head to look over at the armour clad pegasus. He was flapping his wings impatiently and tapping his hooves against the floor with his head down. He looked up suddenly and towards the digital sign above the door that said what floor we were on. I could hear a subtle sigh emitting from his mask and he looked back at the floor.
Actually. I don't think I would kill Flare. Instead I would simply quit the job, and refuse to accept it. My personal 'code' or whatever you wanted to call it forbade me from breaking a job I agreed to, so all I would have to do is not agree. The way I saw it was that any boss that wanted me to kill Flare wasn't somepony worth working for.
“There's smoke coming from your ears,” Flare said, breaking the silence quite suddenly. I was about to ask what he meant, but he added, “You had that look on your face like you're thinking hard. Or trying to take a shit.” Just because I resolved never to kill the pegasus didn't mean he didn't deserve a smack from time to time.
So I reached out and kicked one of his forelegs out from under him. He apparently wasn't expecting it because he started to fall. Unfortunately, he managed to catch himself with a wing and push himself back to a standing position, but I think I got my point across.
Eventually we reached the medical floor, and just like Mr. House had said, the doctors there were waiting for us. Or, rather, they were waiting for me, because they chased Flare away as soon as we entered. Apparently they thought he was a distraction or something with that heavy armour clanking around.
It was the same process as the last time I got cybernetic work done. I was taken into a small white room, stripped down, and placed on a soft bed. They put a mask over my face and made me count down from five.
---
Marigold asked me hurriedly, “What are you planning?” as I stormed out of her house with blood still on my hooves. Despite saving her from the raiders that were invading Marefort she was surprisingly unhelpful. She kept babbling about The Crimson Hoof and Smooth Tongue and such things, but she didn't understand. None of that mattered. Wildfire and Foundation were still alive, so I would have to save them. What else would I do?
“I’m a guard, right?” I stopped near a ramp to a lower level. To an outside Marefort would seem like a mess, but if you lived there long enough you got a feel for its oddities.
“Y-yes.” Marigold would know. She was always my boss. Even if she was a bit of a coward.
“Then I have to protect them, all of them.” Wildfire and Foundation in particular. “It's my job. Right? So that's what I'm going to do.” I turned back to look at her. She was a pitiful sight, with her eyes bloodshot red, and her golden mane a frizzled mess. “You're going to help. Until we can rescue others. First, I need to know more.” She seemed confused as she tried to dry her eyes. “How many? Where did they take ponies? Any escaped?” I doubted she knew anything... and I wasn't sure what I'd do with the information once I got it. But it seemed the important sort of thing to have.
“I-I-I'm not sure. I saw... a lot. Two dozen. Maybe more.” Okay... that was a lot. “We can't fight that many.”
“I can.” Though I wasn't so sure of my words. I had never really been in an actual fight to the death before that night. So far I was doing good, though, and I was strong. I would need help for sure, but I was confident. “Did you see where they took the others?”
“I... I didn't really... I just saw them from my window, and heard them outside my door. Some ponies might not have been grabbed yet.” She was right, I realized then. I could still hear a few cries from below. Ponies being corralled no doubt. There might be time to save others though.
“S-silver!” Marigold was pointing, and my eyes snapped to the sight. In the gloom I could see a unicorn with a rifle leading another by a length of chain.
“The fuck are you two doing?” The stallion snorted walking closer. The glow from his horn was enough to illuminate his ugly face. He had some sort of hideous scar that made it look like something had tried to tear his face off and eat it, but he had it hastily sewn back on. “If you want your fucking knee caps I suggest you drop the weapon, freak.” I think he was addressing me.
“No.” If he seriously though that was an option he must have been as stupid as he was ugly.
“Bitch, that wasn't an option. If you come quietly you won't be hurt... much. But if you resist things will go bad.” He gave a sickly smile, as if that would convince me. Not that it was his smile that caught my attention, rather my eyes were drawn to the faint glowing to my side. Didn't look at what I saw, save for a parting glance, because I knew he'd see me.
He had floated his rifle off the side of the walkway we were on, to bring it around on me, unseen. Except I did see, and that gave me that advantage.
“Okay,” I said through the rifle in my mouth. “Okay...” I tried my best to make my voice deflate. It had to convince him, or I was as good as dead. I leaned down in an apparent attempt to drop the rifle on the ground.
At the last second I bucked. My hind leg slammed into the floating rifle just as the stallion pulled the trigger. The bullet flew wide and rang against the metal walkway, and thankfully not into me. As he desperately positioned his wobbling gun for another shot, I pulled the trigger of my gun. Unlike him, I hit my target and his knee shattered in bits of bone and gore. Instantly his magic faded from his horn and he collapsed.
Marigold was sobbing in shock as I walked over to the whimpering stallion and finished him off. “Marigold, please.” I had to hope the rest of raiders would think the shot was from them executing an unruly citizen. The sobbing might help that effect, but it was still hard to move around unseen like that.
Marigold reluctantly stopped at my command, so I was free to speak to the pony the stallion had chained. “Are you alright?” I recognized the mare right away as Star Belle. She was always a fiery little thing, so seeing her tied up was... it was wrong. She gave me a small confident nod and spat in the direction of the corpse. “Good. Uh, Marigold, could you search the body for any keys.” If he did have some they might just work on any other captive we found.
Marigold was most unhelpful, and refused to touch a dead body, so I had to go searching. Thankfully I found the key ring on a string around his neck rather quickly, and I unlocked the collar around Star Belle's neck, and fetlocks.
“Thanks, Silver. I should’ve known they'd never take you. Not without a whole army backing them up.” She gave me a weak smile. “So, what's the plan?” She walked over and grabbed the dead pony's rifle. “We can't take them all on.”
“We can try. First, we need to free the others.” I slid the string with the keys around my neck. “They caught us by surprise. But if we arm, we can drive them out.”
“That's a plan...” She looked over to Marigold. “Is she okay?”
“I-I-I'm fine.” Marigold said. “If we g-get out of here. Alive. We should run to Stable 42. S-smooth Tongue, he can...” Star Belle looked confused at this statement. “It's the only way.”
“Well, I'm not willing to risk lives by running there and back,” Star Belle replied. “We need to fight.”
“B-but. If we had Smooth Tongue a-and the Crimson Hoof. If they p-protected us again.”
“Who’s up there?” A voice called from a lower floor. From the distance I could see a silhouette staring right at us. “Stay there! Ponies escaped up there!” The mare yelled at the top of her lungs, and all of Marefort became aware. I could hear the pattering of hooves starting to run.
“Run now. Talk later.” I started off in a gallop. I could hear my two comrades behind me, but behind them I could start to hear the rest of the raider gang converging on us. We had to move fast, but luckily I knew Marefort better than anypony. Which also meant I knew how to escape. “This way!” I said just loud enough for the two behind me to hear.
Instead of turning for one of the ramps down to a lower floor, I just kept running until I found the shack I was looking for. It was was flush against the wall of the warehouse Marefort was built in, and at the time unoccupied. When Star Belle and Marigold entered, I slammed the door behind them. We had to be quick, and they had to not chicken out, or we'd all end up dead.
“There's nothing here! We're trapped!” Marigold cried out. It took a lot of reserve not to smack her.
“Here.” I moved quickly across the room to where the bed was. I pushed it out of the way to reveal a hole large enough for a pony to crawl through. On the other side was a small lip on the outside of the structure barely large enough for somepony to stand on, but it was a escape. “Quickly!”
Marigold balked for a second when she realized what she would have to stand on, but her resolve steeled when she looked back at the door and realized her other option. After she was through Star Belle quickly followed. When it was my turn, I crawled out backwards, dragging the bed with me to partially cover up the hole. It wasn't perfect; the raiders might find the hole, but not quickly.
The wind whipped violently at us and nearly shook me off the small ledge. When I looked down at the dark abyss below me, though, I wasn't scared, just more secure in my decision. This plan was going to work. It had to.
“There.” Not far from the back wall of Marefort was the cliff face that rose above the town, and provided a great lookout spot. More importantly was that said cliff had many grooves and ledges large enough to fit ponies. I had snuck out of Marefort many times in the past when I was a child, or when I wanted to meet Wildfire at the guard house without being noticed. “Jump,” I commanded.
“B-but...” As Marigold tried to protest Star Belle jumped. It was easy enough for the small mare and she made it onto the cliff without issue. Marigold gave a short sniff and wiped her eyes before jumping also. She almost didn't make it when part of the rocks she landed on crumpled beneath her, but Star caught her and helped her back up. The golden-maned mare was shaken, but unhurt.
“Okay,” I said when I landed beside them. “Marigold. That way.” I pointed the opposite direction from where we were facing, where the cliff path snaked upwards. “Leads towards the top. You can go to Stable 42 from there. Me and Star will go rescue the others. Okay?”
She gave a tentative nod. “Yes... good plan... I... Silver. Thank you.” She suddenly wrapped her legs around me in a tight hug. Now, I was awkward at the best of times, so right then I must have looked ridiculous patting her on the back. Eventually, she let go and started up the cliff on her journey leaving me and Star Belle.
“Yeah, what she said. But don't feel too bad, I'm just not the huggy sort.” Star smirked at me.
“Yeah, me either.” I started to walk down the sloped path towards the ground. It was so dark out I could barely see my hooves, but I knew the way well enough that I didn't need to. It was a strange path, and for some reason there were a few spots on it where rusted metal poles jutted out from the ground, blocking me from the edge. Whatever they were for, when I saw them it let me know how close to the ground we were, as otherwise the darkness was so impenetrable I couldn't tell.
When we reached the bottom I took a deep breath of cold night air. Wildfire and Foundation were still out there, and I had to find them. Or die trying.
---
I couldn't have been more glad that I finish that dream. I knew where it led, and it was not a place I wanted to go ever again.
My eyes opened, and I was immediately blinded by bright hospital lights. After a few seconds of whining groggily, I sat up. My new hind leg stung like a bitch, and when I looked to the table beside me I could see an empty Med-X syringe. Only one though, which wasn't nearly enough. Still, I didn't want them to think I was trying to OD, so I would have to wait before I went searching through my bags for another. At least until they inspected me and let me leave.
In the meantime, I inspected my new hind leg. It was the same colour as my foreleg, but the style was very different. Instead of skeletal, it was full, and looked rather like a metal cylinder in shape. All along it were various ports for devices I was unfamiliar with, probably more spying equipment.
“Oh, you're awake.” My eyes darted to the door where one of my doctors stood. “How do you like it? It's a relatively new design: completely quiet, and it comes with a shotgun that goes off on impact.” That wasn't going to backfire at all... “And your foreleg has been modified with a retractable blade. There was some concern about, er, accidents.” Mr. House didn't trust me with built in weaponry, and really I didn't blame him. “So I implemented a safety feature. The sword is controlled via your mind, and simply thinking will allow you to use it, but only if a physical safety switch is hit.” He walked over and pointed to the small button on the side of my hoof-cuff. “Try it out.”
Cue me accidentally stabbing out my remaining eyeball. Actually, when I hit the switch, nothing happened, and it wasn't until I pointed my hoof away and actually thought about it that the thin blade shot out. It was about a third of a meter long, and really thin.
“It's a special alloy. It should be hard to break and easy to maintain.” Carefully I mentally retracted the blade and turned the safety back on. I made a mental note not to forget to turn the safety on. “I had wanted to perform an update to your eye, but there were concerns about the odd intelligence chip you have installed, and I didn't wish to endanger you.” Thanks... “I am sorry for going through this all so fast, but you had a visitor who said it was important.”
“About time, Doc.” Flare walked into the hospital without his armour, and looking like he desperately needed a shower after being cooped up inside it for so long. “You look good, Hired... okay, you look better than you did. You've never looked good.” At least Flare was honest. “Serenity's up, and I think she had something to tell you.”
“Serenity!” I leaped from the bed without a second thought, and the impact on the ground to my newly installed limbs caused jolts of pain to run through me. “Where?” I ignored the pain. It didn't matter. Nothing else mattered.
“I'll show you,” Flare said, stifling a chuckle. “You're so predictable. This way, I'll show you to her room.”
There were many questions I'd normally be asking. Like... how long I was out? Where was all my stuff? Why wasn't Flare in armour anymore? But who cared about that shit? My daughter needed me, so I had to go to her.
Flare showed me through a series of odd-smelling halls before he reached the room where Serenity was. I found myself nervous for some reason, and hesitated going in. She had saved my life back in the tunnels without a doubt, and I had almost gotten her killed by bringing her with me. Of course the other options hadn’t been much better, but there was that pang of guilt I always got. I should’ve been a better mother to her, but I didn't know how.
I steeled my resolve and moved to go through the door. But again I faltered. What if she wanted to leave, stay with Platinum Haze at the orphanage? That'd be a good thing, right? ...except she couldn’t know that was no longer a possibility. If that was what this was about, how could I disappoint her?
Just talk to her... a familiar voice said in my head, and instantly I felt silly. I couldn't have a pretend discussion about something when I had a real one to attend to. Worrying about things she hadn't said yet wasn't going to get me anywhere but one step closer to death by anxiety. So I just opened the door.
“MOMMA!” Came a shrill cry as soon as my head stuck through the door. Before I could respond the little filly had wrapped her hooves around my neck. It seemed like forever since I had seen her without that black fireproof outfit on, she was wearing it the entire time she was passed out. “MOMMA, LOOK!”
I did. Well, I had been anyway. I was admiring how clean she managed to keep her pink coat despite everything, but when she said 'Look', I knew what she meant. There on her coat was what she had been waiting for.
“Isn't it awesome?! It's just so perfect! Look! See?!” For being sick, she sure was hyper.
“It is awesome, sweetie; it fits you so well,” I said in a soft tone as I admired her cutie-mark. It was a much better one than mine; hers actually made sense.
It occurred to me that she must have gotten it back in the tunnels. When she saved my life and made me a leg on the spot. It made sense, but with everything that was happening I hadn’t thought to take her outfit off to check.
On her flank was a picture of a heart. The left half of it was a bright pink, enough to stand out against her pale coat, while the other half was comprised of three yellow gears and a snaking yellow wire on a gray frame.
Level Up!
Companion Perk: Emergency Mechanics: Serenity now has a +30 chance to complete mechanics checks, and an extra +15 when the check has to do with cybernetics.
((A/N: There’s a lot of excuses I could make for the slowness of this chapter. Like I was looking for a job, and I’m at school now, and my editors have lives that sometimes delay things. All are true, but most of it was because this chapter was hard to write. Not because it was a long chapter, or an emotionally hard one, but because its that part of the story where it’s hard to keep writing. The middle part of stories is always the hardest, and its hard to write sometimes. I haven’t given up, nor will I, I just need to force myself to write even when it’s hard. It’s my fault for the delay, and I’m sorry. I will try my best to do better for you, my lovelies.
As well I need to thank Kkat for creating this world that I get to play in, and my editors three for helping me out and making the story suck less; theBSDude, Menti, and Julep. Cheers! ~No One~))
INDEX |
No One | 662 | 28 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2013-06-29T18:36:21+00:00 | 2013-09-06T23:04:22+00:00 | 13,490 | Deicide
“I am a pony, more sinned against than sinning.”
“You're joking right?” It was odd for me to say those words, because Mr. House never joked. And he certainly wouldn't bring me, Flare, and Serenity up to his irradiated office, just to tell a horrible joke. So he must have called us up to tell a horrible truth. When he had said a few days earlier he had a job he wanted me to do when I was healed, I was hoping it would involve sticking a spike through Dragonslayer's heart.
The plan, for lack of an appropriate term, was for me to somehow infiltrate The Clips and Clops Casino (home to Granny Dynamite, The Galicians, and about fifteen thousand ponitrons), sneak into their basement, and look for a computer that remotely controlled the ponitrons. Apparently the documents from Wallkirk's office I’d delivered to Mr. House indicated there was an extra electrical room in the basement, this one connected directly to the local power grid, and considering the hotel had been Wallkirk's base of operations before the war, it seemed to indicate some kind of network control. It seemed like a stretch to me, but Mr. House was convinced that the ponitrons had to be remotely controlled from somewhere, and up until that point nobody had any clue where.
“For once I agree with pea brain,” Flare said, standing closer to the door than the rest of us for fear House would notice we’d let an Enclave officer into a private meeting.
The ghoul snapped his eyes towards the blue pegasus, his glowing eyes narrowing, “You are here, pegasus, not because I like or trust you, but so I can tell you this directly: if any of this information is leaked to the Enclave, you won’t survive the night. Your opinions are of no concern.” Mr. House turned back to address me. “There is more, of course, and you needn't use the front door to access the room. Wallkirk created the tunnels, and he was nothing if not paranoid, so he created a back-door connected to his tunnel system.”
That made a certain amount of sense, as it seemed every one of the major hotels had some sort of emergency exit. It seemed odd to me how prepared the city was for the apocalypse. Not that it’d helped in the end. “What if the door is locked. Or blocked. Or can only be opened from inside?” I thought of the secret tunnel entrance Mayhem had showed me a while ago.
“That,” he looked back over at Flare, “is why I'm letting you take him.”
“No door can withstand my might,” Flare said in a self-amused tone.
I had to admit the existence of a back-door did make it more likely there was something important in that room, but that didn’t mean he was right about what that thing was. It was probably just a secret room like the one under The Moon... and Mr. House, like everypony else, needed something to cling to.
“If there is a computer there, how will that help?” It wasn't as if I knew how to hack, the best I could do was kick it, or hope Serenity was able to do something with it. Even though Serenity managed to wriggle her way into coming with me to the briefing, if only so she could see Platinum Haze afterward, but she was far too sick to come along. Besides, with the tunnels awash as they were, I would have insisted she stay in Dise anyway.
Mr. House walked back to his computer and started to type something, “If I'm right...” That was a pretty big if. “Then the computer would have to transmit and receive information wirelessly. Assuming it's a model of computer that is similar to the popular models before the war...” There we go again with the assuming. “I should be able to upload a program onto your pipbuck that you can transfer onto the computer so I can control it remotely.”
“And when it's no-” Flare started to snark, but was swiftly cut off.
“If it's not.” Mr. House dug into a drawer and removed a... crown. Actually, I think it was technically a tiara, with a black opal inlaid into it. “This is a recollector. It's incredibly valuable—virtually priceless. It will allow you record any memory so long as the device is on and active. I want you to wear this once you enter the room, and look very closely at everything inside. If the program doesn't work, I want to know as much about it as possible.” At least it was pretty... though after Platinum Haze's memory spell fuck up, I was nervous about using that thing.
“Why don't you just send Wishing Star.” If I remembered correctly, the impossibly advanced cyborg had like, camera eyes. And he could disguise himself, so he would’ve far better suited for this mission than I would.
“He is away on a mission,” Mr. House said in an almost bitter tone. “Most of the Hizai are. Only you, Starscream, and Tightlip's security detail are available, and the others I need.” He beckoned me with a hoof to his computer terminal, so I did what was asked. Serenity was lying down on my back, but I think she’d fallen asleep a while ago.
“Hoof.”
I lifted up my metal leg.
“Other hoof.” Oh, right, my pipbuck.
He plugged a wire into my pipbuck and connected it to his massive computer, but kept talking. “Do you know they blame me.” I didn't even get to ask 'who' before he answered, “The people. Somehow they found out I'm a ghoul, and they think I wanted this...” The radiation, because ghouls healed from it. “They're in the tunnels blaming me for what happened, accusing me of kicking out civilians to die while I horde rad-away for my Hizai and bask in the radiation. They think I wanted this!” He looked up at the window towards the raptor still looming high over the city. “I can't save everyone; I kept as many inside as possible, but I couldn't bring the entire city into my walls. So they blame me, and they're going to come for me. The longer the wait, the more the discontent in the tunnels grow, and eventually they will come for me. Tight Lip will do what she can, but I do not have as many guards as I would like, and if the city rises up to tear me down it won't be enough.” He closed his eyes as my pipbuck beeped that it was finished downloading the program.
“Who... who do you think did this then? Blow the megaspell, that is...” I knew it was Dragonslayer, but what I didn't know was who he was working for. I assumed it was the Steel Rangers, or at least the Steel Rangers controlled by Blackwater, that horrible bitch, but I wasn't sure and maybe Mr. House knew something.
He looked over at me, “Do I really need to answer.” He pointed a hoof towards the raptor hanging over the city like a black cloud. “Who had the most to gain from this chaos? And then that thing shows up on the same day. I don't believe in coincidence.”
Flare coughed politely into his armoured hoof, “The Enclave doesn't have the resources to manufacture regular megaspells, never mind fuse them with ponies.”
“Nopony asked your opinion, chicken.” Mr. House said with a sneer directed at Flare.
“Since you asked my opinion, I think it was the Minotaurs.” I almost laughed. The Minotaur King was at the Train Station when the bomb went off. “Who’s to say the guy they sent as their 'King' was anybody at all? Maybe he was just a good liar who'd die for the cause, and when the cause was wiping out the entirety of the NCA top brass and security personnel from every major gang, then it was worth the price.” If I hadn't travelled with the Minotaur King to the base in the tunnels I might have agreed with Flare.
“And still you continue.” Mr House hoofed over the crown-like device to me, “Be careful with this. If it gets broken, I'm taking it out of your pay.” I was going to have to thank Flare later for putting my boss in a bad mood. “I don't know why you put up with that Enclave bastard.”
“He's not so bad,” I replied as I carefully put the expensive device into my saddle bag, “if you can get past the talking. And he saved my life a few times.” My memory went back into to the time he took the gatling laser to the back to save me, and it burned so bad it melted part of his armour to slag. A crowning moment to my stupidity.
Mr. House lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “Whatever your reasons, watch him. I don't trust him, and neither should you.”
---
But I did trust Flare. Which was weird to think about, because he hadn't always always honored that trust, but when it came right down to it, I knew he'd risk his life for me or Serenity, and that's what really mattered. So long as that didn't change, I would always trust Flare, idiot that he was.
“Mmmmmh...” I heard mumbling on my back right as we left House's office. “Is it over?” Serenity asked before smacking her lips and giving a tiny yawn.
“Yes, sweetie,” I said as I continued to walk towards the elevator.
“And you missed it!” Flare said with false enthusiasm that was slightly undermined by the almost robotic like voice his mask made him sound like. “There were balloons! And Cake! Then we got the awesomest mission ever. Shame you fell asleep.”
“Butt.” Serenity said, and I couldn't have been more proud of her. “What really happened? Where we goin' next?”
“You're going nowhere.” We entered the small elevator, and I quickly punched in the button to take us to Platinum Haze's floor. “Except to hang out with either Platinum Haze or Pearly.” I hadn't really asked, but I was sure one of them would be willing to watch Serenity for a bit. Though I was more hoping Pearly would agree because of the radiation issues.
“But moooo-”
“No 'but mom's. You're still sick, and you need to get better before I will even think about taking you on another dangerous adventure.” Hopefully I would never have to take her with me ever again, but even with my limited pattern recognition, that I knew that wasn’t likely.
“It's going to be boring anyway,” Flare said in an attempt to back me up, “just computer stuff.” It was a poor attempt.
“But I love computer stuff!” Serenity tugged on the back of my mane, “Mommy, you need to let me come now! How are you going to be able to do computery stuff, and what if I need to save your life again?”
“I'll be fine, honey.” Well, as fine as I ever was. “Flare will be there too, and he's saved my life plenty of times too, and the computer stuff is simple.” Probably.
“But what if I need to save his life too!” Serenity said as we walked out of the elevator towards the room.
“Then I guess we'll all die a horrible death as we cry out our stupidity for not bringing you along. It'll be sad and tragic, and you'll be secure in how right and awesome you are.” Flare said, his voice echoing from the mask. “You're still not coming with us.”
“Awww, but-” She let out a series of coughs that almost knocked her off. “I'm not too-” Cough. “Sick.”
“Sweetie.” I stopped in the middle of the hall and listened carefully to the ticking of my pipbuck. The radiation levels outside of safe zones hadn't gone down at all since last time. “Here, drink this.” I took out a rad-away, and before I could turn to hoof it to her I felt Serenity magic it away and start chugging. “You're probably too sick to be up here at all. I'm worried about you, which is why you can't go. You can't save anypony if you're puking your guts out.”
Serenity finished the rad-away, make an 'ick' sound, and put the empty potion into my pack before replying, “Yeah... alright... just this once.”
“Just this once.” I promised, opening the door to my old room.
The inside was just as I left it, including the blue alicorn lying across the couch floating a book in front of her. Platinum Haze's ears twitched and she turned to smile at us. “Ah, we were not expecting you back so soon.” She carefully bookmarked her page and set the book down on the coffee table. “We regret to inform you we are still slightly bleeding radiation, and it would dangerous for us to spend any excessive time in close contact with eac-”
“HAZE!” Serenity, not one for listening to warnings, charges forward and wrapped her forelegs around the alicorn's neck, “Hi!”
“Uh, hi.” Platinum Haze stretched out a wing and wrapped it around the filly hugging her close. “While we are glad to be seeing you again, we must repeat our previous statement about it being dangerous to have prolonged contact with us, due to our body’s affinity with magical radiation.”
“It's fine!” Serenity said with the type of confidence only a child could have. “I just had some of that icky rad-away, and I got much sicker the other day after saving Momma's life. But I had to do it; you know how she is, always getting' shot'n stuff. Most ponies would be dead by now, but they're not as tough as Momma.”
There were few enough ponies who were quite as tough as me, so I guess that was good. “Yeah, I'm a tough one,” I said stepping into the room as well, “and Serenity, that's enough hugging for now. You don't want to be sick for any longer than you have to.”
Serenity gave Haze's neck another squeeze but did reluctantly let go and walk back over to the other side of the room, “Stupid radiation...,” she muttered under her breath.
“We are sorry, young Serenity,” Platinum Haze said as she got up from the couch to stand at her full impressive height across the room from us. “But we heard you were very brave.”
Serenity's face lit back up at the talk about how brave she was and she nodded enthusiastically, “Yup! I saved Momma's life, and scared away the big bug when it tried to kill her. Silly things were weak to loud noises; I think it hurt him.” Huh, I hadn't actually thought about the spell that Serenity used. It must have been some sort of modification of her sound dispelling spell. “OH!” Serenity spun around quickly showing off her cutie-mark, “Look, look!”
Platinum Haze smiled softly, “It is quite lovely to be sure. What do you imagine it means Serenity?”
“It means I'm good with cybernetics and have a big heart, I think. Yeah, totally. Because I'm awesome, I'm going to make cybernetics when I'm older, Mr. House said he's going to train me, and stuff.” Serenity said with a huge smile. “Isn't it awesome?”
“Yes, we believe it is indeed something worthy of considerable praise. We have met many ponies, but we cannot recall meeting anypony with that particular special talent. Truly you are unique and special.” Serenity seemed to accept this compliment judging by her huge smile.
“Hey...” Serenity squinted her eyes at the alicorn, “How come you don't have a cutie-mark anyway? You're like, way old.”
“We are somewhere roughly between sixty and eighty years old.” Wait, what... there was no way she looked that old! “Though we cannot be completely certain, as, while it is true Mother only began increasing the demand for alicorns within the last ten to twenty years, she had been perfecting the creation of our sisters for much longer; and after studying what memories we have that we believe to be our own rather than a by-product of Unity, comparing them with more recent post-unity memories in regards to structures we have seen, and contrasting the relative age, that is the most accurate judgement we can make of our age. There is no way to properly confirm our suspicions, but given our altered state, age is no longer of much importance to us.” She seemed a bit perplexed at her own answer for a few seconds before realizing we were still staring at her. “We are sorry, what was the question?”
Serenity gave a slight giggle before answering, “I asked why you don't have a cutie-mark.”
“Oh! Yes, we are unsure.” I prepared myself for another long winded rant. “We are quite positive we possessed a cutie-mark before our induction to unity, but our lack of one following the dissolution is a bit concerning. It has come to our attention to none of our sisters seem to retain their cutie-marks, except in special circumstances, as some sort of result of Unity. Our belief is that the changes to our body and soul was enough to divorce us from our previous talent, and we must either remember and enact our old special talent, or discover a new one. This is of course, only a theory, since Mother is no longer with us, the exact nature of the changes are mostly a mystery.”
“So...” Serenity said slowly, content to ignore the explanation, “that makes me more mature than you. Right?”
Platinum Haze paused to think this over before giving the filly a warm smile. “We suppose it does, but we suspected you were more mature than us anyway.”
“So,” Flare piped in, reminding me he was still in the room, “what was your cutie-mark before, er, whatever happened to you happened?”
Platinum Haze stared at Flare with unblinking yellow eyes for longer than was comfortable before answering in a shocking quiet voice, “We do not remember.”
The quiet in the room was almost deafening in its intensity, with the only sound being the ticking of my pipbuck's radiation detector to break up the silence.
Eventually, much to everyone's delight, Platinum Haze spoke up, “Oh, we had meant to inquire as to the nature of your visit. While we are always thankful for company, we understand the intrinsic danger in visiting us in this state.”
That seemed like as good a distraction from the unnerving awkwardness of the previous topic as any. “Well. I wanted to ask you if you could watch Serenity, if the other pony I was going to ask isn't able. Me and Flare have a job to do, and after everything that’s happened, I really don't want to bring her into the tunnels with me.”
Platinum Haze nodded slowly. “We suppose we could, but it would be safer to house her with somepony else, given our current state. More radiation in her condition would be dangerous.”
“I know.” I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “It's a dumb thing to ask, and I'm really hoping Pearly can help. It's just I need someone to make sure she is okay, and safe. I can't leave her alone with everything going on, and if Pearly can't help, you're the only pony I can really trust. So it'd be either with you, or going with me, and there would be radiation either way.”
“You're the backup plan,” Flare said, “because apparently she comes up with those now. Most likely Pearly will just handle the brat.” Serenity stuck her tongue out at Flare for that, and I'm sure he would have returned the favour if not for the mask. “So it was mostly an excuse for Silver to make kissy faces with you.”
“Fuck off, Flare.” Came my obvious response.
Platinum Haze gave a slight smirk. “Ah, we see. Well we cannot disapprove of such a noble goal.” This almost had me blushing, almost. “Though you have piqued our interest in to what exactly your current mission entails.”
I quickly, and succinctly, explained our current mission. Well, I'd attempted to, but Flare kept correcting me on the details and I ended up letting him explain it all. It wasn't that I didn't understand the mission, I'm just not a detail-oriented pony.
Platinum Haze just nodded along to our description and waited for us to finish before speaking. “We see. We wish to make an odd request.” There was a lull in her speaking which made me realize she was asking me if she could ask a question. Which was odd, but I nodded anyway. “We request we assist you in this task. Given the explanation of the mission at hoof, it would not violate our non-aggression policies, and we believe our magic may be of some use. In addition, we must admit to being rather bored here alone, and we would very much enjoy being a beneficial partner.”
My answer was obvious, but I looked over to Flare to see what he thought. “There's going to plenty of radiation down there no matter what, so welcome aboard!”
“What!” Serenity said loudly. “Now I have to come with y’guys! C'mon. It ain't fair. Please, pretty please.” When nopony immediately answered her, she realized her fate was sealed and resorted to pouting. “This sucks.”
---
We arranged to meet Platinum Haze outside the BS, but with the understanding it might just be to escort Serenity back to the room on the off chance Pearly was unable to help. To that extent the three of us went down to the main floor of the BS to find it still in the same organized chaos as it was before. The makeshift tents and walls reminded me of a similar scene I saw back in Bridle Hope when it was being besieged by the Crimson Hoof, though the BS was a bit more organized. Or rather, it certainly appeared to be with the smattering of armed guards standing around to control movement through the floor, and the considerably larger amount of guards surrounding the pit in the centre of the room where the supplies were being stored.
“Now...” I said my eyes scanning through the mess of tents and ponies, “how to find Pearly.” That part looked like it was going to be more difficult than I'd hoped for. Until I remembered I had a secret weapon. “Flare?”
“Right, right.” He flapped his wings thrice before taking off into the air. He soared high above the din of the floor and circled around the room. I could see a few ponies stop to watch him nervously, and nearly all of the guards tensed up at the sight. I was starting to think maybe Mr. House didn't foster much trust for pegasus in his ranks.
It took him a few minutes, but eventually he came back down to us with a look of confidence on his face (which I could tell because he took his helmet off once we got down to the radiation free main room.) and told us, “I found her. Right this way; follow me. No staring at my ass on the way.” He walked away briskly and I had to wonder what he was talking about, because when I looked at his ass it was just metal plating like the rest of his armour. “Pervert.” Flare said turning his head slightly to catch me staring... which I wouldn't have been if he hadn't said anything.
Serenity snickered at me, though I don't think she really got the joke, and I went and followed the tricky pegasi anyway. He led us through the crowds of ponies (luckily most gave him a wide berth) until we found Pearly.
She wasn't alone, and it didn't look to be the good sort of not alone either. She was partially cornered by two ponies I didn't recognize. One was a sea green unicorn mare with a light blue mane, and light red unicorn stallion with a yellow mane. “Who else could have taken it!” I could hear the unicorn mare raise her voice as I closed in. “We saw you walking by away from our tent, the same night it went missing.”
“So?” Pearly asked nearly as loudly. “It don't mean Ah took yer damn food; Ah don't even know which tent is yers.”
“I'm sure you'll talk when we tell Mr. House-” The mare was cut off by Pearly.
“Tell'em what, pray? That’cha saw me near yer tent, an’ what? Ya don't think he got more ta deal with than paranoid delusions?” Pearly growled. “Ah ain't got time fer this, so ‘less ya gonna start making sense, y’all ken get outta my face.”
The mare shoved at Pearly with hoof.. “Listen up, you little bitch: if I catch you near my shit again, I’ll have you strung up by your fucking ears.” And for a split second I thought Pearly was going whip out her shotgun, but she seemed to catch sight of me walking up and stopped.
“I am sure,” I said, making my presence known, “that Mr. House. Would like to know about this. Accusations like this. They are very serious.” The two unknown ponies turned to look at me, their eyes falling quickly on my cybernetic foreleg. “However. He hates to have his time wasted.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” The mare asked, her eyes still on my leg.
“Hired Gun.” The mare scoffed for a second until I finished, “Designation: Starmare. Of the Hizai.”
That caught her haughty voice in her throat for a good few seconds. “Oh... Well... I... we.” She looked over to the stallion, who did nothing but glower at me. “We wouldn't want to waste his... time.”
“Then I guess. You have nothing to do here. Unless you have evidence.” I raised an eyebrow at her, trying to look inquisitive, but she shook her head.
“No... not yet. I'll, we'll be back though.” She huffed and turned around, and when the stallion didn't immediately follow, she grabbed his mane with her magic to help him along. The two of them trotted off at a brisk pace away from us.
“Yeah, you better run!” Serenity decided it was a good idea to shout at them, and oddly enough it really did make them start running faster.
“Thanks, hun.” I turned back to Pearly when she started talking, her hoof rubbing her forehead in annoyance. “Them two...” She sighed and turned towards a tent that was made by draping a blanket over rows of slot machines, with a second working as a door. She started to lift the blanket as if to invite us in, but turned to look again, “Actually, Ah’d thought t’be polite an' invite ya folk inside, but Ah'm 'fraid there won’t be 'nough room. We good to talk out here, hun?”
“Uh, sure.” My eyes glanced over to where the two ponies went. “What was that all about?”
“Nothin' ya wanna get all worked up 'bout, Ah assure you,” she said emphatically. “Well, them two just think Ah went outta mah way ta go'n steal their food. Ah don't really blame'em, t’be honest. There's some folk what’re riled up 'cause folks like them what work at the powerplant been gettin' more food rations, and some have taken to stealin' from'em ta ‘make it fair,’ ‘r someshit. Ah didn't do it, but Ah musta wandered by their tent at the wrong time, and since Ah'm the new girl 'round an’ nopony trusts me, it falls t’me.” She sighed. “Not that Ah ain't grateful Ah'm here; much better’n starvin’ in the tunnels,”
“Mr. House still has the power plant running?” Flare asked walking up beside me.
“You betcher feathers he does.” Pearly smirked. “Ya see these lights?” She pointed up to the lights hanging from the ceiling, “They don't run on friendship, Ah’ll tell ya that. Somepony has to go into the radiation to make sure it's running, so they get extra food for their efforts.”
“I'm sure he's charging extra to the other gangs,” Flare said with some confidence.
“Beats me hun, nopony really keeps me up to date with his policies...” She looked between the three of us. “But somethin' gives me tha feelin' there's more to this visit than food crises an' power politics. What can Ah help ya with, hun?”
“I was hoping for a favour,” I said.
“Well, ain't nothin' Ah wouldn't do for my favourite overly chaste mare.” My cheeks flushed slightly. “And ya did get me inta here right 'fore everything went bad, so Ah owe ya pretty big.”
“The thing is. Flare and I have something of an important job to do. And well. Serenity is still recovering from radiation sickness. We don't want her to risk coming with us.”
“Not another word.” Pearly raised a hoof. “Ya need me ta watch the little tyke to make sure nothin' happens to her, that right, hun?”
“Yeah. Basically that. The mission isn’t supposed to be dangerous,” I admitted. “But. Knowing my luck.”
“Knowing your luck, you'll be missin' another body part by the time it's over?” Her eyes fell on my new robotic hind-leg, “Like that one right there; ah'm gunna guess there's a story behind that.”
“Yeah!” Serenity perked up. “There were scorpions, and I saved momma's life!”
Pearly's gaze softened when she looked at the small filly. “Oh I'm sure you did, sweetie.” Pearly moved her hoof to brush aside the blanket that acted as the door to her tent. “Why don't you come inside and tell me all about it.”
Serenity nodded but turned to me first. The little filly stared up at me with her big grey eyes, and it wasn't until she whined, “Moooom,” that I thought to lean down. She wrapped her hooves around my neck as soon as it was in range, and I carefully put my foreleg around her shoulders. “If ya lose another body part, or like, die'er somethin', then I'll never ever ever forgive you, okay?”
“Okay...” I answered softly, releasing the embrace, “You be safe too, and make sure to listen to Pearly.” As much as she listened to anypony, anyway. “I promise I'll be back as soon as possible, and you'll be able to come with next time, and... I love you.”
Serenity loosened her hold on my neck. “Love you too, Momma,” she said as she let go completely and turned to walk into Pearly's little... shack thing. She stopped halfway in to turn around at me and narrowed her eyes. “Never ever forgive you.” She repeated one last time before vanishing.
Pearly rested a hoof on my shoulder. “Nothin'll happen to her—I'd risk my life to keep the little darlin' safe.”
“I know...” My eyes were still on the entrance to the tent. “I just worry...”
“Good!” Pearly said, leaning over to plant a quick kiss on my cheek. “You're suppose to worry, and I think you of all ponies could stand to worry a little more about the consequences of your actions.” I really couldn't argue with that. While it was true I probably spent too much time looking back at my failures, I seemed to fail consistently with seeing the results of my actions before I perform them. “So, just be quick, and come back safe.” With that Pearly too vanished inside her makeshift tent leaving me and Flare alone.
With no more pressing matters the two of us made our way through the throngs of ponies in the casino towards the exit which was still heavily guarded under Tight Lips’ watchful eye.
The mare smiled and waved at us when she saw us walking towards her, “Hey!” she yelled over. “Heard you two were coming. I'll open the door lickity-split—don't want to keep Mr. House’s mission waiting.”
“Uh...” I said walking over to the always-excitable head of security. “Thanks.”
“I see that little darling of a filly isn't with you, I hope she feels better soon.” The mare gave me an overlarge smile. “I'd hate for anything to happen to her—she's such a sweet filly. Probably best she's left behind though, what with all the radiation,” Tight Lips said in her usual chatty manner as she moved to unlock the door, “And of course it's safer inside here, much safer.”
The doors cracked open enough to let the harsh sun from outside shine through the cracks. My pipbuck started ticking immediately, though it was a slow steady tick. Without another word Flare and I stepped once more outside, ready to face the radiation once more.
---
“New day, same radiation-blasted hell-hole, but hey, it's home.” The voice of New Haygas boomed from my pipbuck as Flare, Platinum Haze, and I made our way to a tunnel entrance. It had been a while since I’d listened to the radio, and it was about time I checked in on the news. I knew it would be bad, but I had to know how bad. “Now folks, you know how I hate to be a downer, but I don't have a lot of good news for you this lovely day, so let’s try to speed through this quickly so you can listen to soothing tunes.”
“Update on the warfront, first of all. The NCA has found a series of secret bases in the old train tunnels outside of the city. NCA officials admitted the bases were troublesome with how close they were to the city, and how far away they were from Minotaur land, but stressed that they cleared all the bases of minotaurs and they were confident no further bases remain. Meanwhile, the battle over the west canyon bridge is still locked in a stalemate. NCA officials declined to comment on the state of the battle.
“In sad news it has been confirmed that a body found in the aftermath of the Train Station Disaster was in fact that of local hero, Pinprick, A.K.A. The Hero of Wending. Not much is known about the enigmatic pony, and by all accounts she appeared out of nowhere with a filly by her side just in time to save the town of Wending in the north from destruction. Her heroic deeds seemed to spread across the northern villages culminating in a climactic defence of the trading town of Bridle Hope from raiders where she saved most of the population by organizing an escape. She soon found her way to Dise proper where she teamed up with local wackjob 'The Batmare' to take down an illegal drug dealing gang in Parasite Mound. Nopony knows for sure what she was doing at the train station, what exactly killed her, or where her filly sidekick is, but it can be assured she was doing her best to stop the tragedy. She was a great pony who gave her life to save others, and she will be sorely missed. The Watchers have stated plans to hold a funeral for the mare, but gave no more information.”
It really stung how little New Haygas seemed to know about Pinprick. The way he was talking about made her out to be some goddess-like figure that was too good for this rotten world, and I knew Pinprick would have hated to be thought of like that. Pinprick was a good pony by the end, but she was more than that. She was a flawed and troubled mare who was trying to make up for an unsavoury past. She deserved to be remembered for what she was, because knowing where she came from made her sacrifice mean more.
And where was The Batmare's eulogy? She did just as much as Pinprick if not more, and The Batmare's sacrifice actually saved hundreds of lives, but she got nothing. It seemed unfair.
“Speaking of the Watchers, they are still giving out free Rad-away at stations throughout the tunnels. If you have foals, they ask you bring them with you so they know you're not lying. Clean Cutt, leader of the Watchers has stated emphatically that he understands how desperate everypony is, but if you try to push to the front of the line, you will not be given any rad-away. So please, everypony, be patient; you'll get your rad-away so long as you just stay calm.” The radio pony coughed sharply into the microphone for a second before cutting a sound away. A few seconds later he was back, “Sorry about that everypony. Well that's your news for this hour, time for some music to take your mind away.”
Platinum Haze looked over at me when music I didn't recognize started to play through my pipbuck, “If we are not mistaken, this Pinprick was a friend of yours, correct? Once we are done here, we will see if we can ascertain details on the planned funeral.”
We made our way east of the central water fountain into the former slums. They were always confusing: a mishmash of broken buildings and hastily repaired shacks all climbing over each other. It almost reminded me of Marefort, at least it had when it was full of ponies. Now that it was empty, it just creeped me out.
“No,” I said softly, “she wasn't a friend. Well. She was. It's complicated.” I sighed, my eyes scanning the empty hovels and broken grey streets. “I was there when she died, you know.” I closed my eyes, the memories coming back to me. “She was trying to save my life when Dragonslayer killed her. She said... that I saved her. I think she meant like. I saved her from herself. Because who she was before was... unpleasant.” I opened my eyes and looked over to Platinum Haze. “I don't want to go to her funeral. It's not for me. It's for ponies who've heard of her on the radio, ponies who want a martyr. It's not for ponies who knew her.”
“Wow, Hired,” Flare said from my other side. “That sounded almost deep. Who knew you had it in you? And where did you learn the word “martyr”? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just a bit surprising coming from you.”
I shoved Flare's side lightly with a hoof. “Fuck off, Flare.” The pegasus dramatically stumbled into a nearby wall.
“We find your relationship odd,” Platinum Haze said as she waited for Flare to get back in line. “If we did not know any better, we would assume that you two did not get along.”
“Oh we don't!” Flare said brushing off his armour. “We actually hate each other. I can't stand this insufferable bitch, and she's ugly as sin.”
“Flare is an idiotic pretty-stallion who is not nearly as funny as he thinks he is. It's a blessing from Celestia I haven't crushed his annoying skull beneath a hoof,” was my reply.
“See...” Haze's melodic voice was tinged with confusion, “We are unsure if we are supposed to laugh at this interaction, or if we are to pull you two apart. It is confusing to us.”
“There's the trick!” Flare said. “Our friendship is based on abusive behaviour and mutual hate. It's not that complicated.”
“Really though,” I said as we came upon one of the entrances to the tunnels, “you're not as funny as you think you are.”
The three of us went into the entrance and down into the abyss. As soon as we came out of the entrance into the tunnels proper I could feel my shoulder begin to burn; Platinum Haze had turned invisible behind us. I knew it was for the best, but sometimes it was difficult to get used to the burning sensation. It didn't help that most of my hind-leg was cybernetic too, now.
The tunnels had not changed much from when Flare took me through them a few days before. But the ponies in the tunnels seemed to. Maybe it was just my mind comparing them to the healthy ponies in the BS but the crowds of ponies looked pale and unnaturally skinny. They walked around with their heads hung low as if they were being pushed down by some unseen weight.
There were no crazy ponies on soapboxes calling for armed insurrection this time, but it really wouldn't have surprised me if there were. We didn't stay in the populated parts of the run down tunnels for long, because our route took us down to the lower levels of the tunnels that were less populated, and because Platinum Haze would have a really difficult time dodging ponies while invisible.
After shoving our way past sick looking ponies that gave us dirty looks, presumably for my cybernetics and Flare's armour, we made our way into an unused side passage that led to a stairwell. On the wall to our right I saw something newly scribbled on the wall: 'The Shufflers Wanted This'.
“Shufflers?” I asked nopony in particular.
Flare was the one who chose to answer, as he often did when it let him flex his knowledge. “It's a derogatory word for ghouls.” My mind went back to the two ghouls I actually knew. Mr. House seemed to be paranoid that the tunnel dwellers blamed him, and the only other ghoul I knew was Lucky, and I wasn't even sure if he was still alive. “There used to be some living in the tunnels before... they weren't really allowed in the city proper before.”
“We are incredulous. Are you seriously proposing that there are those who blame ghouls for the radiation?” Platinum Haze (who else would use the word incredulous?) said.
“Desperate ponies will believe stupid things if it gives them someone to blame.” Flare sighed as we started down the staircase. “It's just the way ponies get.”
“We shall concede to you that point as we can find no inaccuracy in it, however it still strikes us as implausible that ghouls are being blamed. As previously stated, they had no power, and it seemed most did not know any had been living in this area. Unless someone is purposely spreading rumours of the atrocity being caused by ghouls, it is unlikely such a belief would spring up.”
“Maybe one guy got paranoid and started spreading it, but that's what the word is down here. Or so I've heard.” We continued our way down the winding staircase further than I'd actually thought the tunnels went. It seemed odd to me to go down so far, but that's what the map told me.
“We suppose so, but we are still highly suspicious,” Platinum Haze finished as we reached the bottom.
I knew that it was the bottom of the tunnels because apart from the landing in the stairs everything was... unfinished. The walls were complete, but the ceiling was still bare stone with jagged rocks jutting out oddly, as if it were a natural cave, The floor was bare stone and packed dirt and nothing else. The whole place smelled stale and stagnant, like nothing had been touched in years. There were no lights anywhere, apart from the landing, and the darkness of the tunnel was way too close, as if it were actually eating what paltry light was left.
“Brings back memories...” Flare said quietly beside me. Platinum Haze looked confused at the remark, and looked over at me to answer, but the answers were ones I didn't want to give.
“Yeah...” I sucked in a deep breath and listened carefully to the silence. We were so far down the radiation hadn't penetrated yet, and I wasn't close to Haze, so my pipbuck wasn't ticking. The only sound was breathing, our breathing. When I was confident I couldn't hear the sound of wind I stepped away from the stairs towards the darkness.
---
The amber glow of my pipbuck did little to help penetrate the darkness, but combined with the glow from Platinum Haze's horn and the headlamp on Flare's mask (which I hadn’t known he had) we managed to see somewhat in the gloom. At first nopony said anything, but eventually Flare started talking to break the overwhelming tension that filled the air.
“... so I ended having to mop all the floors in the building as punishment!” Flare ended his story with a barking laugh, and even Platinum Haze gave a diminutive chuckle. I cracked a smile, but I was too nervous to laugh.
“We are surprised that someone as mischievous as yourself managed to ascend to the ranks of captain in an organization renown for their strict policy.” I don't think Platinum Haze meant that as an insult, but I was worried Flare would take it as one.
“Well they did kick me out, you know.” Flare gave another short laugh before continuing. “Actually, I used to be a good soldier. Well, decent. Pretty good for me. I worked hard for my rank, though I mostly did it to keep my mind focused and off... other things.”
“Other things,” I said slowly, turning my gaze to the pegasus. “So this happened right after that mercenary of yours disappeared.” I remembered the story Flare told before of an old colt-friend of his vanishing while going to fight rad-scorpions.
“Bingo. It was upsetting, and the brass was on my back about it. I needed an outlet for my frustrations so I spent the next several years working my ass off.” Flare sighed a little. “For all the good it did. It just put me in charge at Bitter Steel, and I wasn't ready... not for that.”
“We are confused,” Platinum Haze said slowly, her voice echoing through the cavernous hallway. “We do not appear to have enough relevant information to understand this conversation.”
“That's for the best,” Flare said sadly. “It's not a good story, neither of them. You're better off not knowing. See, the the truth of why me and Hired here are friends is because we really have no choice. We've been through so much, and know so much about each other, we're destined to either be best friends, or mortal enemies. Since I like living, I decided on the friends option.”
“Oh, we suppose that is a suitable reason. We have heard some stories about what you have done, and your hypothesis seems acceptable.”
“I'm a story pony, ask my cutie-mark.” Flare said as he flapped his way over some rubble that blocked the path. “But some stories don't do justice to the truth. I could tell a thousand ponies what I saw... what we saw in that celestia-forsaken mountain, but nopony would truly understand.”
Platinum Haze flew over the rubble as well, and lifted me rather suddenly with her magic, almost giving me a heart attack. “We did not mean to imply we understood exactly, only that the concept seemed plausible.”
“I know, I just have a flair for the dramatic.”
When Platinum Haze put me down and my heart stopped racing I looked over at Flare, “That'd explain the name I suppose.”
“Pony parents do have a thing for prophetic naming don't they?” Flare seemed amused at the idea as we continued through the dark. “I've already figured yours out, Silver.” I raised an eyebrow in his direction giving him permission to continue with whatever silly thing he was going to say. “Your coat is silver, and everywhere you go looks like a storm has just pass through! It's a perfect name.” Once again it wasn't funny enough to coax a laugh out of me, but I did smile. “You, though,” he pointed a wing at Platinum Haze, “I don't know why you're named that.”
“Oh, we know why.” The alicorn smiled. “We have named ourselves Platinum Haze.” I guess if I could name myself Hired Gun, she could name herself whatever she wanted. “The reason for naming ourselves that is that we can recall that before unity the word 'Platinum' was present in our name, but we cannot remember the rest, thus 'Haze'.”
“You can't remember your old name?” Flare asked carefully, he was probably worried about it being a more sensitive matter than Haze was letting on.
“There is much about our former life we cannot remember clearly. Our name not the least of all,” Platinum Haze said in an almost wistful tone. “Oh, we have a problem,” she said as the three of us stopped. She was right about that last part. Before us the tunnel split in three separate ways. What was worse when I checked my pipbuck map there was only supposed to be one tunnel. Whoever was building the deep tunnels was apparently not following instructions.
“Which way?” Flare asked, and it was a really good question, but I didn't really know the answer.
“We believe it is this way.” Platinum Haze pointed towards the rightmost tunnel. “We can feel wind, which would indicate that an exit lies this direction.”
“Yeah... sure.” It was as good an answer as any, so we headed down that tunnel. For some reason my shoulder was hurting more than usual, but between Platinum Haze's magic and the fact it had been painfully long since I had a Med-X, it meant nothing.
Quickly though I got the feeling we’d made the wrong choice. While it was true I could hear wind as we went further and further down the tunnel, I couldn't actually feel it. Also, the tunnel seemed even more unfinished. I was no tunnel expert but it seemed like the latest to be built, as the only thing marking it as something other than a naturally-made tunnel was the wooden support beams attached to the plain rock walls.
We didn't have to travel that far for my suspicions to be confirmed, as we soon reached the end of the tunnel. It wasn't just a bare wall though, at the very end of the tunnel was a giant drill like machine pointed at the uncut wall. It was actually really impressive looking and the sort of thing I am sure Serenity would have loved to see.
“I guess this is the wrong way,” Flare said wandering over to the giant drill. “Kind of a waste of time.”
“But...” Platinum Haze stood back looking confused, “We are sure there was wind this direction. Certain of it.”
“Hmm.” I could hear wind too, so it had to be coming from somewhere. Since the route in front of us was just a solid block of stone and had now answered, I looked up. This proved one of the smarter things I did that day as I found the answer. Above of the ceiling seemed to very... cracked and worn, and through one of the larger cracks I could see a hint of metal and some light. “I think. We're under another floor.” I pointed up.
My two companions looked up. “Ah,” Flare said. “That makes sense, it looks unstable up there. They probably shut down tunnelling out of concern of a cave in.” I guess that made sense.
Platinum Haze frowned deeply as she stared up at the cracks, “We... suppose. We are sorry for the mistake...” There looked to be something bothering her, but I didn't ask. Instead I walked over to where Flare was to check out the giant drill.
“Yup,” Flare chirped. “Guess we'll try the next two. So much fun.” His voice dripped sarcasm.
“Lets just rest a minute here,” I said taking a deep breath.
“Rest? C'mon you can't be tired already, if we need to stop to get our bearings it should be at the crossroads anyway, not here,” Flare said, but didn't actually move to start back down the tunnel.
“Yeah yeah.” To be completely honest, I was just stopping to try and think of an excuse to use some Med-X. I was starting to crave the stuff, but I didn't want Haze to know about... that. Maybe if I pretended to stub my hoof or something. As I tried to think of a good excuse I casually leaned onto the back panel of the giant drill, an act which was incredibly stupid.
With the sound like a dragon roaring, the machine sparked into life.
“What, shit!” I stood straight up as the world started to shake. Slowly the drill started to spin, and as it did tiny rocks rained from the ceiling onto my head.
“Hired... Hired, make it stop!” Flare said looking around in panic.
“I'm trying!” The panel didn't make any sense. There was so many buttons I didn't even know which one I accidentally pressed. I tried pushing some at random but it didn't seem to help.
A giant boulder crashed into the ground behind me.
“Just book it!” Flare sped away towards the exit to the tunnel.
“Silver! We advise immediate withdrawal for your own safety!” Right... right Haze. I turned to run towards her, but that's when everything came crashing down.
I heard them before they came, and my eyes shot up. The entire ceiling was falling. I kept running, but I knew it was too late. My natural luck and incredibly tough body wouldn't be able to survive this one. I didn't give up though, I kept moving against the odds.
And against the odds, nothing hit me. Not because I was too fast (I wasn't) but instead they bounced off a glimmering purple shield. My gaze shot back over to Haze, whose horn was shimmering purple. I kept running until I reached the end of the shield, and when Haze lowered it I ran over to her to give her a hug.
“Thank you,” I said breathlessly, “You saved my life.” And she was cute too, so I kissed her on the cheek for thanks. My shoulder was burning even more as I hugged her, but I figured that was due to being so close to Haze's horn.
“Hired...” Even through the mask I could tell there was something troubled in Flare's voice. “Hired...” I glanced over from haze to him to see him staring at something on the floor. Behind me. “Hired... w-we need to fucking go. Now!”
I let go of Haze and turned to see what scared Flare so much.
And I saw Wildfire. She was standing on top of a rubble pile that was half rock, half ruins from the tunnel above us, and right in front of her was a glowing orb. “Did you forget me?” Wildfire asked as blood seeped from her lips.
“No... no no no...” My eyes went wide and I turned around in panic, only to run into Pinprick, a dagger still jutting out of her neck.
“You... were suppose to save me...” Pinprick said.
“You're dead!” I just had to remember that, I couldn't let them get to me, and I couldn't close my eyes. I remembered the orb. If I closed my eyes memories would come back, memories that were impossible to escape. I couldn't go back there. Fuck. How did it end up here. I should have noticed. We buried the orb, but not far enough.
I ran through the ghost of Pinprick, her body dissipating in my wake.
“W-what.” Haze stuttered, “We do not understand, what is that, why...”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Flare grab onto her neck and turn her around to help her along, “When we say run, fucking run!”
We ran.
I should’ve realized. I should’ve noticed. I should’ve remembered. I should’ve seen it. I should’ve... fuck....
Images flashed past: vague memories, sounds, images. It was like before. The orb, it made memories come back. Words from my past haunting me. It wasn't as powerful as Simple Heart himself, granting your wishes in dreams, just memories, but they were enough. I had to keep my eyes open. I couldn't fall into the trap again.
“Don't close your eyes,” I yelled over to Haze.
“W-what? We... we will not, but why!” She yelled back, though it seemed unnatural coming from her. “It feels right, we feel tired...”
“NO!” Me and Flare shouted in unison.
“We... we do not see the harm.” We turned into the four way intersection. “We...”
“Haze!” I stopped to turn towards her pressing a hoof against her, “You have to promise me you won’t close your eyes. It’s dangerous; it’s... Haze...” Shit. She slowed to a stop as a my hoof pressed against her, and I could see her eyes drooping. “Haze... Fuck! HAZE!” I shook her with my fore-hooves.
It was too late. She stood stark still with her eyes completely closed, the spell of the orb wrapped around her, holding her. Like others we saw in the tunnel so long ago she could be stuck in that memory for as long as she lived. I had to stop that from happening! I had too...
“She's gone, isn't she?” Flare said, looking over at Haze, but something caught his eyes and he turned slightly to face it. “Go away.” I heard him hiss, but I pretended not to notice.
“She's gone...” I grit my teeth in annoyance. There had to be something... “Help me with her, I need to get her lying down.” Sleeping standing up really wasn't that hard, especially with the spell helping her, so I had to press against the backs of her legs to get them to fold. With Flare's help we were able lower her to the ground.
“What are you planning?” Flare asked me as I stared down at the poor alicorn.
“Do you think it works the same as Simple Heart?” I didn't look over at Flare. “The magic is similar... but different. I could enter your dreams, in the mountain. Do you think that was on purpose?”
“Well,” Flare said, “I told you how I'd planned to be a psychologist, a long time ago right? When I was a colt.” That sounded vaguely familiar. “Well I got the idea in my head by reading a novel about a doctor who used a spell to make ponies relive traumatic events, and then he'd go into the dream to watch them and use what he saw to help them recover. You said Simple Heart was a psychologist before he went all... crazy, right?” I nodded again. “Maybe it's the same sort of idea.”
“So...?”
“So if it worked in the mountain, it might work here... and what other choice do we have?” None.... None whatsoever. “I'll watch over the two of you; I can handle the orb. I've done it before... just... please, don't be too long.”
“Yeah.” I lowered my head, pressing my forehead against Platinum Haze's, “I promise.”
The world swirled around me.
---
Is Celestia A Goddess?
The question was scrawled in bright red over the entrance of a burning building; a single-story shack, half pre-war, half scrap, sitting alone in an arid brown field. I hesitated to enter through the fire, but when I approached, I found that the fire gave no heat and my hoof passed through the flame with nothing but the warming sensation of direct sunlight. I looked up at the message and felt like it was asking me directly.
“Yes.” I answered the question, though nopony was around to hear me. It seemed important.
The door opened with an echoing creak. I stuck my head inside to look around. It seemed to be larger on the inside. There was a single bed in the room, but instead of a wooden type like you might see in Marefort, it was a stable bed, only, unlike the ones I've seen, brand new. It was the only thing of stable-make in the room. There was a dining room table, and a fridge, but they both looked like they actually belonged in the wasteland. Importantly, the inside of the house was not on fire.
“Some memory...” I mumbled to myself, stepping inside the building to take a closer look. There didn't seem to be another exit to the house, but Haze wasn't in it. She had to be somewhere, it was her dream after all. Something flickered in the corner of my eyes, and when I turned, I saw a staircase.
Though I was certain it had not been there previously, I walked up to it. The stairs led nowhere, just ending abruptly at the ceiling. They were cracked and bowed, definitely not able to hold my weight, even if they had lead somewhere. The oddest thing about the staircase was, the longer I stared at them, the more blurry they got, until the stairs vanished altogether as if they were never there. Which was the most likely option as they didn't actually go anywhere.
So the answers wouldn't be found up the non-existent stairs, so I moved over to the bed to try and figure out why it didn't fit. Maybe this house (which I assumed to be Platinum Haze's old house before that 'Unity' thing) was near a stable and they stole a bed from it? It was the only answer I could think of when I studied the bed. Out of curiosity, I lifted the covers to see if anything underneath.
Oh. There’s a pony-sized bloodstain, and not an old one either; it’s bright red, rust-smelling, and wet. If this was a memory, it wasn't like the ones the Orb brought me to last time. Those were happy memories, and this... the thought occurred to me that this might actually constitute as a happy memory to Haze and that was more unnerving still.
With nothing left to study about the bed I turned my way towards the table; perhaps it had some clue to where Haze was. It didn't, not really, but it had... other clues. Lying on the table was piece of paper that looked like it was been ripped out of a book and re-purposed as a canvass for an artistic kid. Drawn over faded words with crayon with a rather impressive picture (especially since it was clear it was a child’s drawing) of three ponies: one was an older male, one a colt, and the third a filly. Their shapes were the only consistent things about the images, as the colours of the ponies changed every time I blinked. The only thing that was static was the silvery colour of the filly’s mane.
“This is pointless,” I said, to dispel the unnerving fear that was gripping me. “Pointless.” I pushed the picture away from me and closed my eyes, trying to concentrate. Haze had to be in this mess somewhere, and I had to find her if I wanted to get out. I needed to rescue her from her dreams, but more and more it seemed I needed to rescue myself as well.
When I opened my eyes, the answer lay before me. A door. This wasn't the same door as before though. The first door was a rickety thing made of sheet metal, and this one was a thick oaken door with a window at head height. When I lowered my head to look through the window, all I saw was my reflection. Groaning in annoyance I looked around the door and saw words above it, in haunting red.
If So, Why Were You Taken?
Taken...? From what? To where? I reached out and turned the knob of the door. There was only one way to find out. I looked over my shoulder to make sure there wasn't anything else around, but the room had been engulfed in flame. “Forward then...”
The door opened and I fell through.
Fell is an appropriate word because as soon as I opened the door I dropped at least a meter through the air, landing on my rump in the middle of a caravan.
At least, it had all the makings of a caravan. There were waggons filled with what looked to be goods, and harnesses hooked up to the waggons for ponies or brahmin to pull. But there were no ponies, just emptiness, and silence.
The waggons looked to be as good a place as any for Haze to be hiding in a memory so I walked over to the first one and climbed up to peek my head inside. There was (for the first time so far in this dream) nothing of note. Stacks of bottled water, bags of canned food. A few empty Sparkle~Cola bottles, and not much of anything else. It was a nice change from... whatever was going on at that house.
After being confident that there was no Haze in that waggon I moved up to check the second of three. As I peeked into the interior of the cart something caught in my throat. It was full of chains. Just filled completely up with all assortments of chains. Some long and thick, others short and thin. More chains than I'd ever seen in my life. I backed off the second cart, and felt my back-hoof clank against something.
Looking down at the ground I saw more chains, but these were different. There were two rows of chains running beside each other down the length of the caravan. Interspersed through the chains were small shackles in groups of four. Nervously I walked over to the shackles and put my hoof over one shackle. Now, I was big even for an adult, but seeing how much my hoof dwarfed the shackle confirmed the only pony they would have fit were foals...
“Fuck...” I said under my breath. I was nervous, nervous enough to whisper even though nothing was nearby. It felt like something was watching me though, and that it was going to make its presence known any second. Still, there was one last wagon to check, and I had to. I don't know why I had to, but I did.
Creeping my way over there I slowly and carefully peered into the final cart.
If So, Why Were You Beaten And Broken?
Red words looked up at me, mocking me. I hated the words. I tried to slam my cybernetic hoof through them, but it only bounced off. With a quiet growl I backed away from the cart, and ignored the ever growing row of chains on the ground. I still had no answers, and no Haze.
There was only one thing I could think of to do, and that was to follow the rows of chains. They seemed to extend now far past the frozen caravan into the distance. I gritted my teeth and started walking beside the rows of chains. As I walked I could hear voices, whispers. There were giggles, sobs, and cries for help all mixed together into a cacophony of sound at the edges of my perception.
It didn't get louder as I walked, but it did get noisier. More voices joined the mix, more sounds. Most were foals, but not all, and the further I walked more adult voices joined the nearly silent din. Until I hit the end, rather suddenly. The chains kept going to the horizon, but I was forced to stop at a cliff face.
There was a city below the cliff, grand and stretching. But it wasn't always... the same. It changed, twisting and morphing. At first it seemed like a huge seaside city with a giant pony statue out resting in a harbour. Then it appeared to be a inland city of smoke and grime, with pink balloons floating about looking almost like pony heads. It slowly transformed into what was almost unmistakably Eye Glow, complete with glowing crater.
Then, finally, it turned to a ruined city. Skyscrapers were topped over, resting on others precariously, and the rooftops were all linked up with hastily made bridges. Below the bridges, I could see, was water. This city was flooded nearly completely, and it was unlike anything I'd seen before. It stayed like that, the flooded city, until I looked away from it. I really hoped I didn't have to search through that to find Haze.
My eyes gaze down, looking perhaps for some path off the cliff into the city, but what I saw was a door. It was hanging perpendicular to the cliff face so that when I looked down it was staring back up at me. “You've got to be kidding me.” And just like any time anypony ever said that sentence, the door was not kidding. “Fuck.”
So I jumped. To tell the truth, I hadn't actually expected to fall, and I definitely hadn't expected to be suddenly plummet face first towards the door. If it were a real door it would have shattered under my girth, instead it just shook and opened slowly.
I landed on my hooves on the other side of the door.
After calming my nerves with a few quick breaths I looked up to gather my bearing. Just my luck, I was staring straight at a bullet.
I jumped back and swung at it, knocking the bullet away. It spun around through the air before stopping once more in mid air still pointing at me. Right. More dream trickery. I just... had to keep my head about me. Keep calm. Deep breaths. Figure this out.
There were many more bullets, and each and every one pointed directly at me. Ignoring them (and it was hard) I saw I was in... some kind of cavernous building. The floor was mostly clear of debris, and the regularly-spaced support pillars were still in good condition.
Something bright and yellow caught my eye from behind one of the pillars. I attempted to walk over there but the wall of lead facing me was blocking my way. It was silly, but the idea of walking into bullets even though they weren’t moving and all this was just a dream, still unnerved me. There was no time to be afraid though so I gritted my teeth and closed me eyes.
I could feel each individual bullet press against me, but the feeling didn’t last. When I opened my eyes, I saw that each bullet, once I pushed past it, bounced off my skin and spun away, then turned to face me again. It was... odd, but harmless, at least for now, so I kept walking, and soon got used to them bouncing away from me.
When I reached the pillar with the flash I saw what I expected to see. It was a gun, mid muzzle flash. I would say what gun, or even what type, but it changed and shifted, and I couldn't even begin to keep track. There was a floating set of barding close to the gun, but there was no pony inside it. The barding shifted too, but not nearly as fast, and seemed to linger on spiky blood-stained armour.
I looked around the room and suddenly more sets of floating armour and guns appeared. Enough that I could get a sense of the conflict that happened here. The armour that I was staring at continued to shift, and as it did every single piece of armour on that side changed with it, while the other side of the ghostly conflict didn't shift armour. It was always the same.
I walked over to the nearest set of ghostly armour that didn't change, and as bullets bounced off me I began to see what made that side different. Along with the shifting guns, and static armour, the ghostly form also had a collar on that looked like it was rigged with wires. It didn't take a genius to figure out what those collars were. “Fight or die,” I said to myself, imagining the orders they must have been given.
I turned to walk away from the collared ghost, but when I did I didn't hit anything. Where were the bullets? My eyes shot around the room to see they had all turned to point at something else, something on a nearby slate-grey wall. Another door.
This time it was a sliding metallic door that seemed to be trying harder to be fancier technology than it was. As I walked close a set of words written in red above it appeared to me.
If So, She Has Forgotten You. But I Have Not.
On the other side I was standing on the edge of a giant crater that reminded me of the one on the outskirts of Dise, though not nearly as large. Across the gaping hole was a large crumbling building that was half swallowed by the giant sink hole. Even with it half destroyed it looked like something resembling a fortress.
I tried to take a step towards the building, but suddenly the world twisted and turned and I ended up standing right in front of the equally impressive entrance. Etched above the entrance were the words, “Maripony: Ministry Of Arcane Science Hub.” As I read the name of the building, smaller red words wrote themselves before my eyes.
I Have Seen Your Wounds, And I Have Wept.
The doors opened by themselves revealing a grand hallway that looked pristine. Not preserved like the mountain facility, but brand new, almost shining. I hadn't seen anything like it in my life, so I eagerly stepped inside the building. As I did the doors slammed shut behind me.
The cleanliness faded and turned into cracks and rubble. Without so much as a bright flash to signal their coming the hallway was filled with Alicorns. There must have been at least one hundred in the long hallway, each standing side by side with their wings outstretched, lining both sides of the hallway. Green, blue, purple, they went in order, the greens facing greens across the fall, the blues the blues and so on. I had never seen so many in my life, and the staggering number made me feel small and frail. I could only imagine how a regular pony would have felt.
Slowly and carefully, so as not to startle them, I made my way towards the end of the hall.
“You Are Not Alone. I Can End Your Pain.” One of the blue alicorns boomed at me nearly making me jump out of my skin.
“Right... good to know.” I kept to walking, my hoof steps echoing down the hallways, which I was sure were longer than the building was.
“I Can Set You Free.”
Another spoke at me, a blue one again. I tried to ignore it but a third blue spoke at me, then a fourth, until all I could hear was their voices booming.
“I Can Give You Life.”
“I Can Bring You Hope.”
“I Can Break Your Chains.”
“I Can Heal Your Wounds.”
“Celestia Does Not Care For You.”
“Not Like I do.”
“Join Us, And Be Happy.”
“At Last.”
“I Can Set You Free.”
The last word 'free' hung in the air for longer than it had any right to as I reached the end. The last door, and I was almost certain it was the last, was the same as the first. Above it were the words, written in red.
Unity Is Your Salvation
I opened the door and walked out onto a catwalk. The room looked like it had once been some sort of factory, but of what I couldn't even begin to guess. Two thirds of the ceiling had collapsed, revealing parts of the complex above, and most of the catwalks were destroyed, except for the portion I was standing on. The floor below me was.. well I'm sure there was a floor there at some point, but all I could see was a thick layer of sludge covered with dust and debris. I swear I saw something swimming in it. There were five vats of something in the room, but three were destroyed. Luckily for me the catwalk I was on ended right above one.
I didn't want to know what had happened here, but... but I had to know. I walked towards the end of the Catwalk, nervousness rising in my guts. When I reached the end I closed my eyes and pointed my head down at the vat, so that when I opened them I would be forced to see whatever it was.
My eyes opened to the sight of a strange green and purple liquid. It was... odd, but not... wait... there was something else. Slowly the liquid swirled and swirled until a pony’s face was staring up at me. It mouthed words at me, but I didn't know what, and I wasn't about to stay to ask it! I stood up and moved to turn, but something blocked me...
“This was a good memory.” Platinum Haze was beside me, and if she hadn't talked I would have mistaken her for another vision. “But it is faded. Polluted by other memories. So many memories, so many voices, and I can still hear them.” I... she said I, not we. “Sometimes I cannot remember what happened to me, and what happened to my sisters. Or perhaps my sisters are me...”
“This... this was a good dream?” I asked quietly, still not sure if she knew I was there or just talking to herself. For a good minute I was still not sure, as the blue alicorn stared into the vat with intense yellow eyes.
“Yes... my first one...” She did not stop staring at the vat.
“Those... things. Visions. Did those actually happen... or... what the fuck?” Swearing was probably not the best thing to do at that moment, but dammit I was confused.
“Yes. No...” She paused, her eyes not even glancing over at me. “They are a part of the memory. Things... memories, places. She showed them to me, and my sisters, to open our eyes. To see the blessing she was about to bestow.”
“Blessing?” I glanced down at the vat, but grimaced and had to turn away. “You call that a blessing.”
“Mother gave us purpose. She gave me a reason to continue my existence, to continue living. She gave me happiness, and family. She gave us immortality, and the power never to be hurt again. With her, with Unity, we were never alone.” She stomped her hoof so hard I swear it cracked metal. “Then the destroyer came and took it away!” She turned to me, her eyes fierce. “What right has a mortal to judge a goddess! What right did she have to take away our family! She took my home! She took Everything! And They call her hero! Lightbringer! She tossed us into a sea, confused and afraid, and she cared not!” Her eyes lowered and she looked to be on the brink of tears. “I can still see the flames of green... I can hear my sisters scream. So much pointless death, and for what and who? Do you... do you know what my mother’s last words were?”
I shook my head, unable to form words. I'd never seen her so angry.
“‘Fly My Children. Save yourselves’...” She turned her head away from me back to the vat. “They call her a monster, but she was not. She was a mother, and everything she did, she did for us. And she did so much for us... she made a deal with the destroyer, knowing she could not be trusted. She risked herself, and sacrificed herself, in an attempt to save our species... mother wanted to make stallions. So we could reproduce, so we could have a larger family. For us. For that... ‘crime’... she was murdered. So many of my sisters murdered. Some of my sisters have forgiven her, the destroyer, but I shall not.”
“I... I am sorry.” Part of me wanted to ask more about this... Goddess. To see what she truly was. Because the last pony I met claiming to be a god was less than forthright. But it didn't matter, not then. The truth could wait.
“You need not be... you did nothing, and the past is past. I cannot fight the past, so I must live for the future. Mother is dead, she cannot come back, but her children live on, and I will do proud by her.” She looked back over at me, her eyes wet with budding tears. “I knew it was a dream. From the start. It was wrong, too many memories, too much.... I am glad you came for me.”
“Not surprised?”
“Should we be?” I opened my mouth to say something but she continued on a tangent. “If nothing else this vision has reminded me of something that once was... before Unity, I had a cutie-mark.” I'd assumed that. “Two chains, crossed in an 'X'.”
“Oh...” I said quietly, my mind racing trying to think of something positive that could represent.
“I think.” She lowered her head staring deep into the vault. I caught a sight of a tear dripping down from her eye and dropping into the vat below. “It's time to go home.”
She wrapped a wing around me, turned, and fell into the vat pulling me along with her. I screamed. We hit the face in the centre of the vat. I think it was smiling. There was a splash. But I didn't get wet.
---
The sound of whispering welcomed my return back to the world of the living. When I opened my eyes again I saw Wildfire standing in front of me, tears in her eyes. “We've been over this,” I said to the ghostly form.
“W-what?” Came a mutter from one side. I turned my head to see Flare staring at me. “Oh... phew, you’re awake. I thought I was hearing things, more things, how'd it go, is she-”
“We are fine,” Platinum Haze said, cutting Flare off. Hearing her speak seemed to calm the stallion down. “We are sorry about that...” I stood up first and offered a hoof to help the alicorn up. She grabbed onto my outstretched leg, and used it to hoist herself back up to all fours. “Thank you.”
“Right. So. We're all good...” He paused. “Should I even ask what happened?”
“Best not,” I said checking my pipbuck's radiation detector to distract myself from the voices in the air. “Not now anyway. We need to go.”
“We... must agree. This place is a danger. This magic, it is a terrible blight, and a lie. It begs us remember the past, live within it, but nothing comes from reliving the past, even the good parts.” Platinum Haze sounded more like she was trying to convince herself more than us.
“Right. Well. I can't argue there. But where are we going? We still don't know the right path, maybe we should just head back,” Flare offered as a solution.
“I think.” I flipped to the map on my pipbuck, and the answer came to me. It was stupid of me not to realize it sooner. There may have been three paths to choose from, but the map only had one, so all we had to do was choose the path that went the same direction as my map said we were suppose to go. Just because there were more tunnels than my map said, didn't mean the path we had to choose changed. As I berated myself internally I pointed to the leftmost tunnel. “This way.” I started walking down it, but neither of my comrades went to follow me. “Trust me.”
Platinum Haze and Flare looked over at each other and then, in silent agreement, started to follow.
We walked as fast as we could without breaking into a full gallop. As we moved down the tunnel we found it getting more and more complete and like the tunnels in the upper levels. The walls became more flat, and uniform, the ceiling was also smoothed down and lights were installed letting out of the oppressive darkness. Most importantly of all, the more we walked, the fainter the whispers of the orb became, until they had vanished altogether.
The tunnel was excessively long, taking us the better part of an hour to get through it, and was almost annoyingly twisty. Which made for a very long, very quiet walk (not counting the whispers). Though even after we left the range of the orb’s powers nopony really spoke for a while.
I eventually broke the silence, “I need to find a way to bring that orb back...”
Platinum Haze said nothing, but looked down at me in confusion, but Flare responded. “Wait. You mean that deal with Simple Heart? Wasn't that whole thing like... abandoned? You know when he tried to kill us...”
“I know,” I said softly. “But that complex might be useful. Later. If I could get on his good side...”
“He doesn't have a good side.” Flare scoffed at the very idea. “He has a crazy side and a kind of depressing side.”
“We are confused once more,” Platinum Haze said softly, “Who is this 'Simple Heart' and what connection does he posses to that... thing?”
“Simple Heart is the self proclaimed 'god'...” Flare started, eliciting a confused and slightly upset look from Haze, “of the complex in the mountain near Timber. Some sort of science experiment gone wrong, now he's crazy and mind fucks anypony who enters. The way he spoke it seemed like before the war they somehow siphoned off some of his power and put them in orbs, and Hired agreed to get them back.”
“We must agree with Hired then, it may help him to have such an object back. Perhaps it could calm his mind...”
“Easy for you to say.” Flare shook his head. “But this isn't ordinary crazy. Besides, even if we wanted to, there's no way anypony is carrying that orb anywhere and staying sane.”
Platinum Haze seemed to think about this and responded in turn, “We may be able to come up with a spell to shunt out its powers... we will think on this.”
I hoped Haze would come up with something, because I could think of a lot of things to do with that facility if I could gain Simple Heart's trust. Sure, I would still need a way to kick the Steel Rangers out, but if I could... there was just so much technology stored there. And building materials. And if push came to shove and the radiation didn't go away quick enough, maybe the residents of the Dise tunnels could move into it. It had the infrastructure.
That was only if Platinum Haze was able to help, and if Simple Heart appreciated it. Mostly it hinged on him becoming less crazy with the orb...
So that was unlikely, but I'd liked to have some options for once.
I did not have time to think on the subject for long, because very soon the hallway ended. At the end of the hallway was not a staircase (like my map suggested, so it really needed an update) but a door, and a button beside it. It was fairly clear what the door was supposed to be, so I pressed the button and... waited.
“It seems to still be operational,” Platinum Haze said. “We wonder if it has seen maintenance, or if it is impressively resistant to the passage of time.” That was a good question. My theory was proven right as the elevator in the facility was also still working even though there was no way anypony went there to repair it, and they were both made (or at least paid for) by Wallkirk.
“Two hundred years isn't that long,” Flare said dryly.
The elevator dinged when it reached the bottom and opened up. It was much smaller than any other elevator I had seen, and the three of us were squashed together. There were only two buttons on the inside though, so I pressed the higher one. “This is... uncomfortable.”
“Yes.” Platinum Haze was hunched over awkwardly so her horn didn't go through the ceiling. “We summarize this elevator was designed for a singular pony.”
“Hopefully we're not over the weight limit,” Flare said, and when I checked the weight limit it occurred to me we actually were. This did not at all help with my previous (completely reasonable) fear of being dragged up a shaft in a rickety metal box.
I held my breath the entire ride up, and I nearly ran out of the box when the doors opened. Before I could even look around a voice spoke over a speaker.
“Welcome back Mr. Wallkirk. It has been seventy three thousand seven hundred seventy seven days, twenty one hours, thirty three minutes, and four seconds since your last visit.”
Platinum Haze closed her eyes when the numbers were recited before adding, “That is about... five days before the end of the great war.”
Wait... what. “How did you-?” Platinum Haze turned her head to me blinking in confusion. “Math. In your head. Nevermind.”
Flare chuckled and walked past, getting an eyeful of the room. “Maybe Mr. House was right.” That reminded me we were finally there.
I took stock of the room, well, it was more like a hallway. It was a sleek grey hallway that we were at the end of. Behind us there were two elevators, one the one we used to get here, the other presumably that led up into the Clips And Clops. On the ceiling, besides the lights, there were not-so-secret video cameras and speakers. At the far end of the hallway was a door, no doubt where we needed to go. There was also... oh... shit.
“Are those Ponitrons?” Flare asked as two robots rolled up to us.
“Do not move,” The two equine-shaped robots said in unison, guns unfolding out of their backs. “Any action will be taken as host-”
CRACK CRACK
Bolts of lightning flew from Platinum Haze's horn in quick succession, and faster than I could blink the Ponitrons were nothing more than smoking wrecks.
“I thought you were a pacifist!” Flare said, having at some-point jumped into the air out of shock.
“What?” Platinum Haze stepped forward to kick the scrap of the ponitrons out of the way. “We are indeed secure in our pacifist beliefs, but these are autonomous machines, and destroying them is not a violation. If they had some measure of AI, or the capacity to feel pain, our beliefs would be altered, but they do not, so it is a harmless act.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said quickly following after the alicorn. “Where did you even learn that spell?”
“Unity.” And that was all the answer I needed.
“Sure,” Flare scoffed fluttering after us, “be all cryptic and stuff... Hey Hired, aren't you forgetting that crown thing?” Oh right.
I dug into my saddlebag and pulled out the tiara. I turned it around to study the device to see if it had any, you know, on switch, but it didn't seem to. The only thing that it had was that black opal... well, I had to put it on eventually. I did it slowly, carefully. It was super magical, and expensive, and I was leery of memory magic for so many reasons.
“Did anything happen?” Flare asked when it was secure on my head.
“Uh...” I waited... nothing. I tried tapping at it with my hoof. Nothing. “I'm not sure...” Mr. House didn't really give me any instructions. It should have done, like, something, right? Or I should have felt something. It was just... normal, except for making me look gaudy. “Well. He should have given me better instructions.”
“We have no extensive knowledge of the recollector device, so we are unable to assist in this manner,” Platinum Haze said as we continued down to the door at the end of the hall. I was surprised she even knew what the thing was, but I shouldn't have been.
Then came the moment of truth. It was clear at that point that there was something down there, even if we didn't know what, so all we had to do was open the door to see if Mr. House was right, or if we had all just wasted our time. I cracked open the door, and when I was sure it wasn't about to explode or anything, I opened it all the way.
Inside was a computer. No, the computer. It was so large it filled up three of the four walls so that when I walked in I was surrounded on all sides. This put to shame every computer I’d seen in my life. I remembered one of the documents I found detailing computer technology stolen from Equestria, but I didn't expect... this.
“Woah...” I said breathlessly. It took me a minute to remember what I was suppose to be doing. My eyes scanned the whole room slowly so that when Mr. House saw the memory he'd see it all. If I couldn't find a port I'd look at it in greater detail, but until then a glance would do.
“The old kook was right.” Flare walked in behind me. “Colour me impressed.”
“This... this looks like something we have seen before, but we cannot recall.” Platinum Haze spoke her mind out loud.
“If you remember tell me.” Right, so I needed to find a port. Or whatever it was called. Something to hook my pipbuck to. If it was going to be anyplace it was probably going to be on what looked like access panels below the giant screen on the far wall across from the entrance.
I walked over to study the row of buttons and... stuff. It was all really really confusing, and way out of my league. I really did wish I'd brought Serenity then, because it was probably right up her alley. But I hadn't, so I had to do it myself. Somehow. It would have helped if I could have found a damn access port though!
“Do you like it?”
I jumped back as the voice boomed. My head shot up and my eyes scanned looking for whatever just did that!
“What the hell!” Flare asked loudly, just as confused as I was.
“It is called a Crusader Maneframe.” The Voice paused before continuing. “It was supposed to be anyway, but my spies were unable to steal complete design documents, so we had to improvise. It is as close as you'll find south of equestria though.”
“Who are you!?” I thought it was someone from the Clips and Clops toying with us over the speaker system. They’d seen us with the cameras, and now were letting us know how screwed we were. I was wrong.
The giant monitor flicked on.
On it was the moving image of a slightly overweight brown stallion. He was balding slightly and his hair was a deep grey. It took me a few seconds, but I realized I had seen that pony before.
“I am the true ruler of Dise,” The stallion on the screen said with a knowing smile. “I am Wallkirk.”
Level Up!
Skill Note: Survival 75
New Perk: Rad Resistance: Your natural resistance to radiation and its effects is now 25% better than a normal pony of your same health and size. If such a pony existed.
((A/N: Hey there everyone! Turns out I am back! First I would think Kkat for creating the FoE universe and letting people like me muck around in it, and thank my editors Julep, Menti, and theBSDude for making this crap writeable. Also I wanted to apologize for the delay. I started university, and that among other things slowed down production. I can’t promise the next chapters will come out faster (I will try though) but I will promise that I’m going to finish the story. I know some people were worried about Heroes becoming a dead fic, but that will not happen. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and I will try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible. ~No One~ ))
Index |
No One | 662 | 29 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2013-09-08T01:24:06+00:00 | 2013-09-08T18:11:57+00:00 | 12,358 | Hamartia
“But history’s lessons, are snubbed and spurned. The day the world died, Nothing was learned.”
This had to be a joke. A very elaborate joke Flare was pulling on me. There was no way I was talking to the Wallkirk. “You’re a computer,” I told the screen. “Just a computer.”
“And that,” the pony on the monitor said, “was my greatest failure.”
“We... we remember.” Platinum Haze eyed the monitor warily. “In Unity we remember a thought about a computer such as this; we remember it was said that it was so powerful one could upload an entire pony mind into one. But not the soul: other... methods were required for that.”
“Ah, an alicorn, and she speaks as an individual; how fascinating.” The pony on the monitor seemed amused. “I had heard the rumours of the death of your ‘Goddess’, but it is good to finally have confirmation.” The glare Platinum Haze gave him could have melted his screen. “But she speaks the truth, in regards to the upload... process. My mind, or rather the mind of Wallkirk is all here, but the soul...” He shook his head. “Which leads to a rather exorbitant amount of philosophical debate! Am I really Wallkirk, or just an AI pretending to be him? In the end, does it matter? I have his memories and his thoughts, so I am Wallkirk, for better, or for worse.” For worse.
“So... you don’t have a soul?” Souls were a concept I never really understood to begin with. Some sort of... intangible thing that made you, you. Like a spirit, or a ghost or something, by possessing your body. I think.
“Alas, no. I was supposed to, but you know: ‘the best laid plans of mice and mares oft go awry.’ This... computer was supposed to be my last resort, if and when the worst occurred. I went far out of my way, inserting spies into so many Ministries, into so much of Equestrian politics. It took years, decades, all to get a single agent a single minute with that damnable book.” He looked at Platinum Haze when he spoke, and I realized the reason I didn’t understand any of what he was saying was because he wasn’t speaking to me.
“The Black Book.” Platinum Haze’s mouth twisted into a grimace. “Mother sought it as well; it cost her her life when she was betrayed.”
“An interesting story; you must tell me some day, my dear.” Until then I didn’t realize a smile could look slimy, but his certainly did. “But yes, that book, the very same. It only took a minute for the words and spells to seep into his brain, or so I am told. He wasn’t... the same when he came back, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t need him sane, just alive, but there were... complications.”
“You’re very talkative, you know, for a mysterious ruler,” Flare said, flapping into the air. “Why tell us this at all? Boredom?” Flare flipped himself upside down and grinned at the screen. I think he was trying to show off.
“In time, pegasus, in time. Let an old stallion finish his tale first.” Flare raised an eyebrow (Well, he was upside down, so I guess he lowered it?) and Robo-Kirk continued. “I know you, well you two,” the pony on the screen pointed at me and Flare, “have been here.” The screen turned into a picture of a giant mountain, one I remembered right away. Those were not good memories. Wallkirk kept speaking, but he kept the picture on the screen. “Then you must have met... him.” He didn’t need to explain who “he” was. “And you probably met her as well.” I wasn’t sure who “her” was though.
“Yeah, your crazy… megaspell pony… thing. That didn’t work.” In my mind I could see Simple Heart standing there in the centre of the megaspell room, as if he had always belonged there. But also I remembered The Laughing Stallion and his eyes burning green. “Somepony made it work. Just thought you should. Um. Know.”
“I know, but that thing was not my doing. In the facility. Baptisia betrayed me. I wanted a weapon, a surprise attack. She wanted a pony who could travel through time at will, so we could see the future and know how to alter it, to avoid the unavoidable. In the end she created a monster who tormented us, one with unfathomable power. We had to stop him, so my agent, the one with the knowledge granted by the black book, had to divide him up. Before he could try, we had to test the spell on something, to make sure it worked.”
The voice on the speakers. The one that controlled the robots and argued with Simple Heart. It couldn’t have been... but I had to ask. To have the mystery be unravelled. “ You attached her soul... to the security maneframe.”
The screen flickered away from the picture of the mountain, to a screen of Wallkirk’s scowling face. I guess he didn’t like me guessing his dramatic reveals. “Another mistake.” I was noticing a pattern. “Though a manageable one. And proof of concept, so there was something good to be had of it. My agent was able to cut apart the soul of that monster, to syphon off his power.” And his sanity. “Though he became... malleable after that, he enacted revenge on my agent... A week after he did his work, a day before he was supposed to move to Dise to be with me in case of the end, he committed suicide.” That day I had once again been witness to the power of Simple Heart, just a small portion of his power, acting on its own. Even that small thing could have been enough to cause somepony to commit suicide, I couldn’t imagine what Simple Heart could do when lashing out in revenge.
Actually, I could imagine. The thought of Foundation rushed into my head, hanging from a rope, her face purpling. How close I came to the edge when Simple Heart taunted me with her. Yes, I could see how he got his revenge.
“And that, my friends. Is why I am a simple machine. I tried, but couldn’t get another agent into the Ministry of Image to see the book, not in time.” Wallkirk finished his little story. “And that is why I am ‘just a computer’ as you put it.”
“I have to ask.” I took a step towards the computer screen. “Have you ever done anything right?” The image on the screen glared at me. “You built the tunnels. To protect Dise. But you failed. The radiation got through and killed everypony. You funded the mountain facility. And the megaspell project. But Simple Heart killed everypony in that facility . And the pony-megaspells... they weren’t completed until after your death. You say you’re the ruler of Dise. But even just since my arrival. There has been gang wars. Mega spells. General fear and discontent. Even yourself. You failed to preserve yourself like you planned. Everything you’ve done has ended in failure.”
To his credit Wallkirk didn’t even flinch... or maybe that was more telling than if he had. “You’re one to talk. I have been watching you; failure is one thing you are well acquainted with.” At least I admitted mine, tried to make amends. Whatever that was worth. “But we’ll get to that. My failures... were... a fault in intelligence. The tunnels especially, I had not expected balefire...”
Flare decided to answer that, I think because it amused him to mock somepony supposedly so powerful. “Why not?” He was also still flying upside down. “It was common knowledge that the Minotaurs were allies of the zebras, so why wouldn’t they share megaspell technology? What were you expecting?”
“The sun,” was Wallkirk’s cryptic explanation for his utter incompetence.
“Celestia One,” Platinum Haze said almost immediately. The pony on the computer screen nodded to her, but I was completely baffled. “It’s... a megaspell. The primary weapon of the equestrian army, it focused the sun’s light. You believed you were going to be attacked by Equestria.”
“‘A limited megaspell exchange to force a surrender, followed by a prolonged occupation and annexation.’” Wallkirk sounded like he was quoting something. “That was what our top war analysts thought Equestria was planning. However it was our belief that we would rebuff the annexation force resulting in a two front war for us and Equestria. We had planned for the war, set up secret bases...” The mountain facility was really far north, close to the Equestrian border, not the minotaur... and the weapons warehouse Marefort was built in: was that an Equestrian warehouse, or Caledonian? Did it matter? “Nopony believed the zebras would attack with megaspells outright, but if Equestria was weakened by another war, our analysts gave a 67% chance that the zebras would launch a megaspell assault to overwhelm Equestria before they could respond, but it would end with mutually assured destruction. All signs pointed to a Caledonian/Equestrian conflict triggering an apocalyptic scenario: I built the tunnels under Dise to withstand Equestrian megaspells. It was for naught though, as the zebras attacked before Equestria...”
So that.... Interesting. It made a lot of sense, it made things I had seen make sense, but it didn’t mean anything. It was all just history. Still, I was curious. “Why were you so sure Equestria was planning an invasion?”
Robo-kirk looked almost insulted by the question. “They had already started. Poor governmental decisions allowed Steel Ranger battalions inside Caledonian borders, and there was a subtle creep of cultural and political pressure by Equestria. The writing was on the wall, one only needed to be able to read the words.” Okay, that Steel Ranger thing was certainly true... and there were other things. Maybe Baptisia was actually trying to prevent war with Equestria when trying to fuse Simple Heart with a time megaspell. Maybe... there were a lot of maybes.
“Okay...” I said. “But why tunnels then? How would it be different. If it were a sun megaspell. Not balefire.”
“Okay... that... takes some explaining,” Wallkirk smiled, “but I love to see curiosity. You see, megaspells have two effects. There’s the initial blast of the spell going off, followed by a linger effect. The second lingering effect is closely tied in to what he spell was designed to do. For example during the war a healing megaspell was used, and to this day that area is known to produce the herbs that are used to create healing potions. It was believed that while Celestia One would obliterate the city in its initial firing, and possibly melt the first level of tunnels, everything below would be unharmed. It was also believed the after effect of the megaspell would create a massive heatwave that would last for ages...” The computer pony paused for a second before continuing. “It is said that Celestia One sank islands when it was fired, and the oceans boil to this day... It was believed that the lower sections of the tunnels would be cool enough to be survivable. Balefire radiation was never accounted for.”
“It should have been,” was the only reply I could think of.
“Ah, hindsight!” I didn’t get it. “Regardless it was not. These you claim were mine were not. Why should I carry the burden of errors and betrayal? I did the best I could.”
“It wasn’t enough.” My voice seethed. I don’t know why I was angry, but something about his tone just make me want to break him.
“It never is. Still, the fruit of my labours are not all bad. Now the tunnels are the last refuge for a war stricken Dise.” Except that radiation was still sickening them and making them even more desperate. “Do you have any other questions?”
“Why,” Flare started to ask, “are you even letting us ask questions. Boredom?”
“Partially. But it is mostly to show I have no secrets and much knowledge.”
“We have a question,” Platinum Haze said. She still looked displeased about Wallkirk’s ‘Goddess’ comment earlier. “You claim you are the ruler of Dise, but in what manner? From what we can see, nopony rules Dise; it is fought over by various gangs and factions.”
“There were only supposed to be four.” The screen flashed with pictures of each of the four casinos in succession. “Mustangs, Baises, Galicians, and The Hizai. But then the Enclave Remnants showed up to complicate things, and the Steel Rangers started to stretch their muscles. Soon the NCA came north to try and annex the city, and with them The Watchers.” Pictures of a Enclave vertibuck appeared on the screen, ollowed by a Steel Ranger in full armour, and then the NCA Flag: a phoenix with it’s wings spread in front of a five pointed star on a white field.f “It has gotten more difficult. Originally, I set up a situation where the four gangs held competing power, none stronger than any other. I’d allow a gang to be overthrown by a new gang, but in situations where an existing gang would take over an existing one I would interfere to ensure the balance of power.” He appeared on the screen again and pointed at me. “You were involved in one such occasion. Where you warned me about the Baises’ attempt to take over the Mustangs. I intervened with ponitrons to ensure that didn’t happen.”
“Why?” was all I asked. Finally we were getting to something that actually was relevant to this century. Not that I could blame a computer made two hundred years ago for being stuck in the past.
“The populace would be divided. A united population is a danger, a united population starts rebellions and overthrows ruling power. United Dise would outnumber and destroy my ponitrons, perhaps create a new city, but without me to guide it; this New Dise would fall. If I only created two gangs then the population would turn to civil war, even worse. Four was the optimal number. It kept the populace divided enough never to think about overthrowing the ruler, because as far as they knew none existed, and avoided all out war because no one gang could hope to overtake the other three. It also meant my ponitrons would be able to be more effective in deciding battles with less opposition. Make no mistake, I rule Dise, but it is best for everypony if nopony knows that I do. It has not always gone perfectly, before the system was in place, that clown Mr. House attempted a coup, and even now he is a constant thorn in my side.”
“You know I work for him, right?” Should he really be telling me all this, considering my affiliation. Of course, if he didn’t know, me telling him was probably not the smartest thing I had ever done.
“Of course I know, do you take me for an idiot?” The imagine on the screen didn’t look insulted, though the tone implied it. “I was getting to that part. Here’s the thing: I need you, Hired.”
“I’ve heard that before.” It seems I couldn’t talk to a single gang leader, king, or military general without them asking for a favour. Even Simple Heart asked for something, and he called himself a god.
“You’re loyal; I’ve seen it through my camera system and have heard many reports. What’s more, that you’ve found this place which proves you’re resourceful.”
“So? I already have a job.” And he already said I was loyal, what was he playing at.
“Hear me out at least.” I nodded to the... screen. I wasn’t really sure where his cameras were so I guess that’d have to do. “I’m not freely giving out the secrets of the past just to enlighten you, I’m showing you that I trust you, and that you should trust me. I have a problem: Do you remember Granny Dynamite?”
“Yes.” She was the leader of the Galicians... well, I thought she was. I guess she was really just a pawn of Wallkirk.
“She served me well, but she was old.” Even an idiot like me could notice the fact he was speaking in past tense. “She died a few days ago, peacefully in her bed, which is a... problem.” That would be. Without a leader, ponies might find out about him. “So I need a replacement.”
“So... your genius plan,” Flare said, still upside down, “is to try and recruit somepony who has a job, and you already described as ‘loyal’? Suddenly the destruction of Dise makes so much more sense with you in charge. The Galicians have employees, why aren’t you asking one of them?”
“Because they’re loyal to money, not to the contract, and there is a difference. And unfortunately, with Mr. House’s new contract with the NCR, that old fool can outspend me.”
“That leads to more questions,” I replied. “If you know he can out-pay you, why you’d tell me that, and why you’d think I’d break a contract.”
“As it turns out,” the pony on the screen had a smug smile on his face, “the answer to both those questions are the same. I can offer you something he cannot, something that is more important to you than any of my current employees. Security.” I blinked. He was going to need to explain. “Mr. House has you out fighting raider gangs, scouring irradiated tunnels, and nearly getting killed in megaspell explosions, whereas all I ask from you is to give my orders. I know about your filly too, and I know each job you get you’re forced to bring her with you, or leave her alone, neither of which are options you like. But with me, nothing, no danger. You can live your life with her free of danger and fear. Free from the harshness of the wastes, with your only task being repeating my orders. You’ll live to be as old as Granny Dynamite, and when you die, long from now, peacefully of old age, your daughter will have the option to take on your position.”
That was... tempting. So very very tempting. It was what I wanted, wasn’t it? To be free of the pain and the fighting and settle down in peace. Serenity would be upset that she couldn’t learn cybernetics from Mr. House... but the trade off.
“No.” I surprised myself with my answer. “Not yet.” But it was the right answer. Security was nice, but it was not something he could promise. Radiation blanketed the city, and the culprit... culprits were still at large, and would strike again. How could I take an offer of peace if I knew that it wouldn’t last. No... I wanted to take his offer but I couldn’t. Not until I ripped out Dragonslayer’s heart and found out who was behind the madness engulfing the city. Maybe after... “It’s too dangerous. You know it. You said so yourself. Things are falling apart. It wouldn’t be security. Not until somepony stops it...”
“And that pony will be you?” the computer intoned in a disappointed tone.
“Who else?” If the Batmare or Pinprick were still alive they would have been vastly more qualified to take this on, but they weren’t. Only me. I was the only one who knew Dragonslayer was the key to everything, the only one with the information and ability to go after him.
“Silver here has a personal stake in the matter,” Flare said finally turning right side up. “Revenge. If you knew her better, you’d know that when she wants revenge, she won’t stop until she gets it. So yeah, I can see her stopping whoever set up the bomb.”
“We are of the belief that Hired Gun’s tenacity, strength, and endurance -- along with the knowledge she has gained from travelling across the Dise wasteland -- has made her uniquely prepared for this task.” Platinum Haze added.
“I see... still, think on my offer. Keep what you learned here a secret, and think it over. I can hold off on replacing Granny for maybe two weeks, with everypony concerned about other matters, but if I do not get an answer within that time frame I will be forced to find a replacement. However, so long as you tell nopony what you learned, you can take up my offer any time within those two weeks.”
“I... okay...” There was no point burning bridges, and who knows. Maybe if I sped up my adventuring time all this would be over in a couple weeks... it wasn’t likely, but it was too good an opportunity not to try. “I’m sure Flare and Haze will not tell anypony either.”
“Who would we tell?” Platinum Haze asked.
“My lips are sealed, don’t worry; I don’t like you when you’re angry.”
“If that is all,” the screen said, “I’ll have my ponitrons escort you to the surface.”
“Wait. One more question.” Wallkirk raised an eyebrow at me when I asked, but he didn’t stop me so I continued. “You seem to know a lot, so tell me. Who do you think caused the megaspell explosion?”
“Heh, you don’t know?” I had my theories. “All one needs to do is look at the evidence. For a long time the NCA council has been on the verge of war with the minotaurs. Various city-states involved were pressuring the council to vote for war, with some holdouts determined to stymie the vote. What the council needed was a push, and what a push! With it the cities that wanted war got the one they wanted, and weakened Dise, the city they’ve been trying to annex for years, all in a single explosion. After that, the answer is obvious.”
“You think it’s a false flag operation?” Flare asked. “That a group within the NCA set it, and the Batmare, up to make it seem like an attack, but with the only ponies getting hurt are actually in the city?”
“How could it be anything else?”
I didn’t believe that, not even for a second, but it was... well, it was an idea. There were so many options, so many possible ponies. So many factions. This task I set for myself seemed more impossible by the day.
---
I’d only been in the Galician casino once before, way back when I was a newcomer to the city, but it looked the same as I remembered, and how could I forget. It had an arched ceiling decked out with streamers, ribbons, balloons, and an excessive amount of pink. All of the card tables and slot machines looked like candies, and it was all unbearably sweet. I felt sick just walking through empty casino floor.
I guess that was different. It was completely empty. I know Flare talked about Mr. House selling those spell-in-boxes that can eat radiation, but had Wallkirk even bought any? Given his apparent dislike for Mr. House, it seemed unlikely, which added a new element to the question of why he didn’t have an employee take Granny’s position: there were none left. It was just my suspicion though, but the ticking of my pipbuck as we walked through the building helped to confirm that.
“We are confused,” Platinum Haze said, breaking the silence. (Well, it wasn’t completely silent between the hoof steps, my pipbuck ticking, and the whirring ponitrons made, but close enough to be awkward. “Why would this casino be the home of Wallkirk?”
“What?” I asked, because I didn’t understand. Where else would he work?
“Wallkirk spoke of a cultural annexation by Equestria, but this entire city was partially funded by the Equestrian Ministry Of Morale, and this hotel in particular was designed in part by its head Pinkie Pie.” That was information I didn’t know. What kind of name is Pinkie Pie? “To wit, the pony head at the apex of the hotel is in the likeness of Pinkie.” It was good to finally put a name to that creepy face. “If he was so worried about cultural corruption, why would he spearhead it?”
“Plausible deniability?” Flare suggested. Before I could even ask what that meant Flare explained. “If what we learned is right, he spied on and stole heavily from the Equestrian government and Equestrian companies. So if it was ever noticed, he would be an unlikely suspect due to his work with the MoM.” But wouldn’t that shift the blame over to the Caledonian government and be worse? If it worked at all, because they could still prove it was him. “Or maybe he just really wanted to build a city in honour of his giant dick, and had to stick it in a few unsavoury holes to get it done.”
“That,” Platinum Haze said slowly, “is not quite how we would have put that, but we cannot deny both those options are plausible. Perhaps if we meet Mr. Wallkirk again we will query him.”
Assuming we survived long enough to ask, I was curious too. Not that the politics of two hundred years ago really mattered, but I couldn’t help my curiosity. There was a time when I wouldn’t have cared at all, but it seemed that the more I learned about the past, the more I wanted to know.
We reached the exit to the casino and the ponitrons that had been shadowing us suddenly stopped and turned away. I guessed that was as far as they were going to go. I wasn’t sure why though, it wasn’t as if outside was dangerous to robots as the city was completely dead. Still the robots whirred away, so Wallkirk must have had some reason, probably just to hold back his strength in case something happened.
The doors swung open and the four of us walked out into the dead city.
Only, it wasn’t dead. In the distance the sound of magical energy weapons filled the air, making the streets buzz. At first we looked around, unable to figure out where the shots were coming from. They weren’t close enough to be a direct threat, but if there was a fight it could escalate. Flare saw it first.
“Shit!” I looked over to Flare, his helmet staring into the sky. I followed his gaze to the raptor that was still hovering over the Enclave base.
Highlighted by the setting sun, black blurs zipped around looking like bugs around the nest. Only these bugs were firing green blasts of energy at each other. There had to have been a dozen pegasi fighting around the raptor that I could see, but I couldn’t tell who was fighting who, it was just a mess of black and green bathed in golden light.
“Shit,” Flare said again flapping his wings. “I know you have stuff to do, but they’re my people.” Flare looked down at me. “I have to figure out what’s going on.”
“I know.” I turned my gaze from the fighting to him. “Figure out what’s going on. Stop it.” There was enough wrong in Dise, we didn’t need an Enclave civil war in the middle of it.
“Right. I knew we shouldn’t have brought in those enclave deserters, fuck.” He looked up at the fighting then back at me. “I might need to call in a favour, but not yet. Need to see what’s happening; just... be ready.”
I figured he saved my life enough for that to be fair. “Just go, and try not to die!”
“Haven’t died yet; don’t worry your tiny brain,” Flare said as he flew off towards the fight. Hopefully, if he was smart, he avoid the actual fighting and just find out why they were fighting... but this was Flare.
“Lets go,” I said to Platinum Haze as I started to gallop towards the BS. Luckily it was just across the street, because I wanted to get there as fast as possible so I could be ready to help Flare out if he needed it.
I reached the door to the BS within the minute and started to knock.
There was no answer.
I knocked hard.
Still nopony answered.
“This better be a fucking joke.” I growled between my teeth. Platinum Haze looked down at me concerned but I didn’t care. “HEY!” I yelled at the door. “LET ME IN!”
“We are certain they will; just be patient, Silver.” Yeah, no. I was anything but patient.
There was an echoing thud as I kicked the door so hard I dented it. “I SAID-”
“I’m sorry!” A voice replied through the door in a breathless tone. “We’re... there’s been an emergency, nopony is allow-”
“I am a fucking Hizai. Designation Starmare. Open the door right now!” Normally I wouldn’t have been so pissed, but between the radiation flooding into me, whatever was happening with the pegasi and Flare, and the fact it had been far too long since I’d any Med-X, I was not in the mood to wait.
I could hear the barest sound of murmuring on the other side for nearly a minute before the door creaked open. “Haze, meet me in the room.”
“We shall await you there then.” Her horn shimmered and my shoulder burned as she turned invisible.
I slipped inside when I realized the door wasn’t going to open any more. It was a tight fit, but I got inside and as soon as I did the guard ponies slammed the door behind me. “What was the meaning...” I started to yell at the guard, but my voice slowed as I realized that while I recognized the two guards, Tight Lips was missing. “Of this... Where is Tight Lips?” They mentioned something about an emergency right?
“Oh... M-miss Hired,” the stallion stuttered as my eyes turned away from him looking across the casino floor. There were more guards than before, and most seemed to be questioning residents of the shanty town. “T-there was a... incident. You... uh... I’m not sure how to put it... um...” the guard nervously stammered.
“What?” I turned towards him again. He was sweating so much that his mane was slick and matted to his forehead. “What’s going on?”
“I-i-it’s.” The stallion looked like he was ready to flee at a moments notice.
“It’s what!”
“Your daughter.” The stallion took a deep breath as my eyes widened. “She was taken.”
---
Pearly wasn’t in her tent. Perhaps it was for the best; I don’t know what I would have done if she was. I think I heard the guard pony follow me when I ran off, but maybe I was wrong. It was hard to hear over the pounding in my head. It was like somepony was beating a drum on my skull, and it was all I could hear. My eyes burned and blurred as I tore apart the tent looking for something, anything. The only thing I found was a orange toy that was modified with metal limbs left in the middle of the room.
“Scootaborg.” My voice sounded raspy as I picked the toy up. “Fuck.”
I stared at the toy. Tears dropped from my eyes and fell on it, wetting the figure’s mane and I couldn’t think of words. How could this happen again. I was being careful. I thought I was being careful. If this ended up like Foundation-
No. I couldn’t think of that. Anything but that.
I squeezed my eyes tight and sniffled. After tearing my eyepatch off I wiped my eyes with my good hoof. Apparently a cybernetic eye could still cry.
There had to be a way. I couldn’t... I couldn’t let the memories of Foundation, the possibilities of what might happen stop me. When I found Serenity I would kill whoever took her from me, and when I was done nopony would dare take her from me again. But how... how could I...
“Ma’am?” a voice said from the door of the tent. “Are you... I mean, uh,” the stallion stuttered.
“What.” My voice was dry, but I’d stopped crying. I must have looked a mess when I turned to him, given the way he recoiled. He eyed the toy I was still carrying and sighed.
“I-i’m sorry. It was... Tight Lips... she...” He took a deep breath to compose himself. “She was a spy, apparently. We didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late. We t-tried to follow her when w-we realized but she escaped on a vertibuck.” The Enclave... it had to be related to the fight outside. Maybe Flare had already blown up Tight Lips and gotten her back for me... maybe.
“Where...” It was hard to speak. Fuck. I just wanted to kill something, but I could barely tell who was my enemy any more. When did everything become so muddled.
“I... we don’t know... I’m sorry. We’re... looking into it. M-mister House. He wants to... speak with you.” He looked around nervously. “But, your friend. The unicorn here, she... she’s in the infirmary, injured but awake... I can, um...” He chewed on his lip a little bit. “You... probably want to talk to her, right?” I nodded slowly, the pounding in my head making it hard to think properly. “I can... uh, bring you there. Mr. House wanted to see you right away... but, um...”
“Thanks.” I said after a long pause. “Just... give me a minute.” The stallion disappeared behind the curtain leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I didn’t want to be alone for long, so I only stayed long enough to put Scootaborg into my pack and make sure I left nothing important behind. When I was certain that nothing else of Serenity’s was in the room I took out a vial of Med-X and jammed it into a vein. The drug did little but dull the pounding in my head, but it was enough for the time being.
When I left Pearly’s tent, the guard stallion whose name I’d not yet learned led me through the casino. A few of the residents gave me sad pitying looks, but all of them averted their gaze when I looked at them. Nopony talked when I walked by though, so it was mostly quiet. The guard stallion did not talk either, he simply led me to some stairs to the medical wing, and then to a crowded white room.
Beds lined the walls with barely enough space for each patient. A few ponies were lucky enough to have curtains around them but most did not. Clearly this room was not designed to hold so many ponies and I was a bit surprised that so many were even here. I didn’t think Mr. House would keep injured; at least not so many. “After the bombs went off and the riots started many ponies were hurt. All these are recovering,” the stallion explained.
“Serenity... she had her own room...” I said remembering back.
“Yes, she’s a daughter of a Hizai, and got special treatment.” Of course she did, but not special enough to protect her it seemed. “Your friend, down this way.” He walked to the end of the room.
Pearly was turned away from us, and I could see where part of her mane was shaved away and her scalp was stitched up. It looked... bad. The cut had to be almost eight centimetres long, and deep. She must have lost a lot of blood. Pearly didn’t turn when we walked up. I don’t think she noticed.
“I’ll uh... leave you two...” The stallion looked intently at the floor. “Remember, when you’re done. Mr. House.”
“Yes.” I said sternly enough for the stallion to quickly back off. I walked closer to the white unicorn trying to contain myself. Make no mistake, I was furious with Pearly for letting Serenity go, but I knew it wasn’t her fault, so I tried my best to contain myself. “Pearly.” I said a little bit louder when I got close.
“Silver...” She turned over in the bed. Her eyes were bloodshot, and there was still some dried blood on her face that hadn’t been cleaned off yet. “I’m... so sorry.”
“I...” I wanted to say I forgave her. She looked like such a mess it was hard not to feel sorry for her, but... I couldn’t. I couldn’t forgive her, and I couldn’t forgive myself. Not yet. “I know... just.” I took a deep breath. “What happened?”
She started to sit up slowly. “We were... playin’ a game. It... can't recall what it was, ain’t important ‘nuff ah guess... then. That guard, Tight Lips, she comes in happy-’s-y’please and asks how we’re doin’. Said ya asked her ta... y’know, check on us. Ah was a little bit put out, thinkin’ ya didn’t trust me, but ah kept mah trap shut. Said we were fine.” She reached behind her head to carefully poke at the stitches. “Next thing I know ah’m down, blood everywhere. Serenity’s screaming and tries to use magic, but she puts this... thing on her horn, and... I tried ta get up, when that didn’t work ah tried to magic mah shotgun but she put a thing on mah horn too. She leaned in real close-like and told me ta deliver a message.”
“To me?”
“Just so.” She nodded painfully. “She said t’tell ya ta go to your old room, she said... she said it’d be clear then. Ah tried ta tell the guards but... it was hard, ya know.” She sighed. “I’m... I’m sorry. Ah tried... Ah managed ta get the thing off, but... I couldn’t give chase.” She dug around under the blanket and pulled out what looked like a ring out. “Here, this is it.” It was a silvery colour with a few small gems imbued into it. “Don’t know what it is, but might help ya?”
“Thanks.” I took the ring and stored it. Celestia knows how useful it would turn out to be, but I wasn’t about to turn away a lead. “Pearly...”
“Don’t... I know, yer mad; ah can’t... blame ya. If ya never want t’speak t’me ‘gain, ah’d understand, just...” She rubbed her eyes. “Ah tried; ah would never let anything happen ta Serenity if ah could help, but... ah couldn’t. Fucked up, got hit and... y’know?”
“I know...” I lowered my eyes, it was hard to look her in the eyes. “Get better soon...” I turned and walked away. I couldn’t stand to be there a second longer; it was just too much. It was as much my fault as hers, and if I could have walked away from myself, too, I would have.
---
“What took you so long?” Mr. House asked when he heard me open the door. I didn’t bother to answer; I really wasn’t in the mood. “I’m sorry about Tight Lips; I can assure you, I have ponies looking into what happened. For now though, I have a job for you, but I suppose I should hear what you uncovered.” Was he joking?
“What job?” I’m not sure what he was trying to pull, but if he seriously thought I was going to be doing anything but rescuing Serenity...
“This business with the Enclave has me worried.” He was staring out the window again, looking up at the raptor hanging above the city and the lights flashing around it. “You have an inside source with them, so I need you to infiltrate the conflict, see what’s going on, and if necessary make sure whichever side is victorious is thankful for the help I provided.”
Rage filled me, and it took all of my power not to kick his head in. How dare he try to keep me from rescuing Serenity. I gritted my teeth together and said as politely as I could manage: “No.”
“What do you mean, no?” He didn’t even bother to look back at me.
“I mean ‘no.’ I’m not doing the job. Not whi-” I tried to explain, but he cut me off.
“Yes, your daughter; I should have expected that reaction.” He turned back to look me in the eyes. “While I can understand your concern, going gallivanting off Celestia-knows-where to rescue her won’t do any good. Not only does my proposed job help me, but it would assist you.” He turned back to his monitor and pressed a few buttons. “This was caught on the roof’s security camera.”
The monitor flickered to life and a picture of the roof of the BS appeared. It looked the same as I remembered it for a few brief seconds before I noticed some debris getting knocked loose and fluttering in a wind that wasn’t there before. It was almost as soon as I noticed that, that a black brick of a vehicle descended into view. I remembered the vertibuck well, but I was shocked to see it there. If House was using the video to convince me, it had to be related to Serenity’s foalnapping, and possibly whatever was happening with the Enclave.
Sure enough it was only about a minute later that they came into view. Seeing Serenity tied up on Tight Lips’ back brought back all the anger and sadness from before. It was hard to watch with my eyes blurring with tears, but I kept watching. I needed to remember it, and the faces of the ponies who helped. So that I could kill them later. I couldn’t help but smile though, when Tight Lips tried to throw Serenity into the vertibuck only to be bitten for her efforts. It wasn’t enough to free her though, and the video ended with the vertibuck flying off.
“The two events are related,” Mr. House concluded, “and by doing this job, you’ll be able to gain invaluable info into what happened to your daughter, so we can organize a rescue. As you can see, this is beneficial, even beyond your contractual obligation.”
“No,” I said for the third time. He still did not seem to understand. “I’m not doing your job. This information helps. But Serenity comes first. I don’t have time to... play politics with the Enclave Remnants.”
“This is not up for debate.” He sounded... tired. Perhaps frustrated with my refusal to do his bidding. “It is your job. When you became a Hizai, you put your life in my hooves. To do what missions I tell you. So I’m telling you to do your damn jo-”
“I quit,” He stared slack jawed at me for a good minute.
I didn’t care. Ever since I came down into Dise, I tried to make my word as good as gold, to do my jobs as instructed, to never break contract. To some this made me loyal, to others I seemed like nothing more than a slave to my contracts, but to me I was simply being honest with myself. Never take a job you can’t do, so I took the ones I could do, and I did them to the letter. Now though, now things were different. Honour and honesty didn’t mean anything when compared to Serenity. I’d always assumed there would come a time when I would have to choose between my job and what was right, but I’d never imagined the choice would be so easy.
“Y-you what!” He was... angry. That was odd. I had never seen him so furious before, and I almost felt sorry for him. He was used to having control, but here he was powerless. “I need you! The city needs you! This is not the time for—where are you going?”
I turned around and walked out the door.
“I’m not done; you can’t leave. I forbid it!”
I kicked the door shut behind me. The echoing thud of it slamming punctuating his last (incorrect) sentence.
There was a part of me that felt guilty over leaving him like that. Not because I wanted to do his stupid job and felt bad for not, as there was nothing that could have made me feel guilty for looking for my daughter. Instead, I felt guilty I didn’t tell him the truth about Wallkirk. By all rights I should have told House the truth, and the falling out with Serenity didn’t affect the results of a previous job, but I still couldn’t tell him. I knew that by denying House I was burning a bridge, and I could afford to do the same with Wallkirk. So I kept the truth to myself, and prayed it would pay off in the end.
I didn’t stay in the hallway for long, as I was legitimately worried he was going to call Security to deal with me, so I galloped quickly over to the elevator and stared at the panel. I needed to get out of the building as fast as possible, then find Flare and see if he knew...
“Shit.” I punched one of the buttons on the panel and the elevator jerked downwards. In all the commotion I’d forgotten about Platinum Haze... I had to tell her what happened, she deserved to know...
Maybe telling her wasn’t the best idea, I thought as the elevator moved agonizingly slow. She was close enough to Serenity and I, so she deserved to know, but... she would want to go with me, to help me find her. That wasn’t bad, but she was painfully pacifistic. If I tried to kill Tight Lips (and I would as soon as I saw her smug smile) she might try to stop me, make it a big moral dilemma and... and call me evil, but I didn’t want that. I just wanted to kill that bitch, like she deserved and be done with it.
The elevator slowed to a stop at the floor my room was on. It was a long, slow walk as I agonized over my decision. In the end, it wasn’t until I opened the door and saw Platinum Haze standing in my room with a sad look in her eyes that I decided.
“Serenity, she was...” I started, feeling the emotions welling up in my chest once more.
“I know.” Her eyes were downcast. “We... if we had not gone with you, if we had stayed to protect her this would not have happened. We are sorry.”
“What...” I took a step into the room, closing the door behind me. “How did you find out?”
Platinum Haze looked up at me, and floated a piece of paper in her magic. “This was left on your door. It... You will want to read it.” She floated it over to me, keeping it at eye level in her magic.
Dear Hired Gun,
You’ll be happy to know that I survived our last encounter, despite your valiant efforts to the contrary. You’re starting to become a thorn in my benefactors’ side, so I encouraged them to deal with you. We don’t have the time to deal with you in a similar manner to how we removed your Batty friend, so this is going to be rather straightforward. I apologize for the lack of subtlety on our part, but desperate times and what have you. To wit, we have your daughter. Now, while we could use her as blackmail material promising safety for compliance we both know that wouldn’t work. Since you’re too stupid to be reasonable, you’d come for her anyway, so we’re going to cut out the middlepony. You’re going to come for her, and you’re going to do it with fire and lead and all those things you love so much. So come for her, she is safe and sound, and will remain so until you get here. Ah! But you must be wondering where ‘here’ is, though I suppose it’s somewhat inaccurate, as at of the time of writing I am not ‘here’ yet, nor is your daughter, but it sounds more dramatic, no? As for the answer to the question, it is where it all began (or, if we’re feeling artistic, where the ending began). I’ll give you a few minutes to figure it out; the answer is on the back. I hope to see you there soon.
Your Dear Friend,
Dragonslayer
I didn’t bother trying to figure out his stupid fucking riddle. I ripped the page from Platinum Haze’s magical grasp and turned it over.
South Canyon
That... It took me a second, but when I realized what it was talking about it made so much sense. It seemed so long ago when I first entered Dise and worked for the Mustangs, but during that time I remember hearing on the radio about an attack on a base apparently located in the originally named South Canyon. What more, it was a megaspell attack. It was a while ago, but I remember there was talk about the NCA and Minotaurs going to war over it, but it never happened because there was no proof it was the minotaurs...
Then, weeks later, there was a megaspell attack on the NCA that could be loosely tied to the minotaurs. Whatever Dragonslayer was trying to do with the attack on the train station, it wasn’t the first time he’d tried it... It didn’t explain what he was trying to do, but it did make certain groups unlikely to have been involved. Wallkirk’s belief that it was a false flag operation was nigh impossible considering how many lives were lost in the South Canyon attack. What concerned me more, though, was that the group I suspected as the culprit (The Steel Rangers, as previously stated) were far away at that time.
Either that or Dragonslayer had nothing to do with it and was just trying to fuck with me. It was entirely possible that Serenity wasn’t even taken there... but I was going to go anyway. It was the only lead I had.
Below the word, however, was another message.
PS: My benefactors were worried when the NCA intercepted messages between us and our spy within Mr. House’s operations. A spy even informed us of an NCA Major giving you private information to deliver to Mr. House, but it was lucky for us it wasn’t relevant. Perhaps you should think twice before trusting the NCA again.
Private information I was suppose to... give... shit.
“Hired? May we inquire as to what you are doing.” I heard Platinum Haze say as I tore off my saddlebags and started digging through the pockets. “Hired?”
Eventually I found it. It was hidden deep in the bottom of my saddlebags, slightly ripped and crumpled from misuse. Lucky told me to deliver this to Mr. House but I... forgot. Was Dragonslayer just playing more mind games, or did I really have information that could have stopped all this, but just forgot.
I opened the envelope as fast as I could and tore the letter out from it and read aloud with a wavering voice: “An intelligence asset of ours managed to retrieve an encrypted message that was to be delivered to a pony named ‘Dragonslayer’. We haven’t been able to crack the code, but we were able to confirm it came from your security chief. It is in our mutual interest that you handle this situation as quickly and quietly as possible. As usual, you did not get this information from us.”
“Silver…” Platinum Haze said after a moment of silence, “it is not possible for you to have known what the message said; the foalnapping of Serenity was beyond your ability to control. If Tight Lips had been found out by House prior, they would have used somepony else.” Haze was wrong of course—it was my fault—, but I appreciated the attempt. It was my fault, so it was my job to fix it.
“I know,” I lied. “We need to go. Now. We know where they took her; we need to...”
“What if he’s lying?” Platinum Haze’s words almost broke my resolve. “It is within the realm of possibility for him to tell you one location, only to head to another; even if he is telling the truth it could be a trap.”
“Could?” I looked Platinum Haze in the eyes and hardened my gaze. “It is a trap, one he knows I’m going to spring, that’s why he is going to be there. He is going to try to kill me. I plan to spring his trap, survive, and kill him back.” Platinum Haze started to talk, but I cut her off. “I know, you won’t help me kill him; I won’t ask you to. But... if you want to come, you have to promise me. Promise me that you won’t stop me.”
“Silver we canno-”
“Haze,” I had to cut her off again, “you have to promise me.”
“We...” she looked conflicted, but eventually conceded. “We promise you, but please, put Serenity’s safety ahead of your desire for revenge.”
“Always.” I turned to leave the room when I heard a sudden sharp knock on the windows.
I turned to see if it was just Haze leaving the way she usually did, but instead I saw the shape of a pony on the other side. Haze started to open the window with her magic so I ran over to it, just in case whoever it was wasn’t friendly.
“Open it faster next time!” Flare said through his mask. As he continued to talk I noticed his armour was smoking and marked with scars, but it seemed like he wasn’t hurt. “There’s a coup going on in the raptor! Fucking unbelievable! And Serenity, she was kidnapped by-—”
“We know,” I replied, cutting him off. “What’s a coup?”
“Nothing good.” Flare looked behind him. “Shit, they’re coming. We need to get out of the city now. Hired, I know this will be hard for you, but you need to mount Haze—” was this really the time for jokes? “—and follow me.”
Before I could object to the plan, I was lifted up in Haze’s magic. “We are sorry, but we must hurry. Hold on tight and close your eyes,” Haze said as she dropped me onto her back. She didn’t need to tell me twice as my legs were already wrapped around her neck and back and my eye closed tight by the time she sped through the window. As was often the case, though, my curiosity overpowered my good sense and I peeked my eye open.
We were flying towards a vertibuck’s open door, but since it was speeding above Dise’s main street we were flying at an angle to catch up to it. When I looked to see what the rush was I saw, two more vertibucks giving chase, with a few Enclave personal supporting them. Three of the enclave ponies seemed to break off from the chase and aimed for us. “Haze!” I tried to warn my ride.
“We are aware,” she replied, still flying to intercept the Vertibuck Flare was heading towards.
The enclave ponies were taking aim. “Haze!” I said again louder.
“We already stated: we are aware!”
She didn’t seem aware as the Enclave ponies were getting really close, and I swear I could see their weapons charge up. “HAZE!” Haze’s horn glowed and a shield formed around us just in time to catch the energy blasts and make them fizzle out. “Finally!”
“We were completely aware of the situation.”
“You didn’t seem aware.” I replied as more MEW bolts danced on Haze’s shield.
“Regardless of what may have appeared, we had the situation under control.” Haze said as we closed the gap to the vertibuck Flare was leading us towards.
“The bickering is cute, but get inside.” Flare was suddenly beside us and pointing at the vertibuck’s open door.
Haze banked hard left and stepped inside. I barely had time to get off Haze and get my bearings before the machine accelerated so quickly I fell on my rump. My eyes traced the room and I noticed an elderly pegasus in the room with us, though I was more concerned about the open door. That couldn’t be safe. “Who are you?” I asked the pegasus who seemed confused to have been asked that question.
“I am High General Steel Wing.” High General? Maybe taking dash was a big problem in the enclave. “You must be Miss Gun.”
“Yeah... how did you know that?” I asked as I tried to get back to my feet. “Do you know what the fuck is going on?”
The General gave me a dirty look and was about to respond when Flare rushed into the cabin. “I’m so sorry about her, sir! She doesn’t know any better.” He kicked me in one of my remaining shins. “Nobody has instructed her how to talk to her betters, sir.” My betters? That old pegasus?
“You two are similar in that respect, Special Operative Flare.” I was just getting more confused. Last I checked Flare’s rank was Captain, or something. “It is no matter; I cannot expect deference from wastelanders.” He turned his gaze back to me, and with Flare standing beside me I realized that despite what was going on he wasn’t even wearing armour. “I do indeed know what is going on, but we can’t talk now, I’ll explain later. SO,” that seemed to be directed at Flare, “close that door before one of our guests falls out.” Flare nodded and turned towards the door.
There was a bang. A flash. Everything went white.
All I could hear was a high pitched ringing sounds. I tried to stand up, to move towards the door, but I tripped. I hit the ground, I think, and felt something brush against me. I wasn’t sure what. It felt like armour. I thought I felt a flap of wings, but with the air from the open door blowing I couldn’t tell. If only I could see... see.
I ripped my eyepatch off, and my cybereye solved that problem. Half my vision was still a mess, and I couldn’t hear, but I could see enough to notice two sets of enclave armour. Flare was fumbling with the door with a hoof over his eye plate, but another was heading towards the equally confused general. I tried to yell at Haze to help, but whatever hit us hit her too. Whatever was going on, I knew that Steel Wing needed to be safe.
I scrambled to my hooves and charged the stranger. My back hooves slammed hard into his side when I turned and bucked him, and the intruder stumbled but didn’t fall. I moved closer and bucked again, but I didn’t connect. Before I could put my hooves back on the ground I was suddenly turned upside down.
The enclave soldier had grabbed my legs, I realized in a panic, and he was flying. It didn’t take a genius to realize what direction he was flying, and before I knew it I was hanging upside down high above the city. Before I had the chance to react my stomach lurched and I was falling.
By more luck than skill, I managed I catch myself on the edge of the vertibuck with my cyberleg. So I was alive, but still dangling above the city. Dangling from things seemed to be a new habit of mine.
As I struggled to pull myself up and, the enclave pony was back. They ignored me though, and just flew through the door to get back at Steel Wing. Thankfully I’d delayed the pony long enough for the flash bang to wear off, and Flare’s eyes seemed to clear just in time to grab me and help me up. The other enclave pony was getting closer to Steel Wing, so I didn’t have time to thank him. I just scrambled back up with Flare’s help and jumped at the intruder.
The idea didn’t even hit me until I was in the air, but it was so good I had to do it. I managed to force the blade in my leg to slid out, and I stabbed it into the enclave pony’s hind leg. The force of my blow was enough to drive the blade through the armour, if just barely. His screech was so loud it pierced the ringing from before. When I dropped back to the floor I dragged the screaming enclave pony with me.
“HIRED, WE REQUEST YOU MOVE!” As fast as I could manage I removed the blade from the ponies neck and rolled out of the way. It was just in time too, because Haze hit the enclave pony with a blast of energy with sent him flying out of the vertibuck in a wild spin. I gave her a confused look and was about to ask her what that was about but she answered before I could. “That attack was non-lethal. We are opposed to killing, not self-defence.” Right, I knew that.
It seemed everypony was getting their senses back because the general was yelling, too. “SO, forget the door; just get them off us.”
“Yessir!” And Flare was out the door. A few seconds later there was an echoing explosion that shook the cabin and forced me to take a seat.
Before anything else had the chance to try and kill us, I looked over at Haze and asked: “Are you okay?”
“We have a slight headache, and our ears are still ringing, but we are by and large healthy. Thank you for your concern.” The yellow eyes scanned me and stopped at my hooves. “We... think it would be wise to put your blade away.”
“What?” I looked down to see my sword was still sticking out of my leg. “Oh, right.” First I wiped off the blood on my barding then retracted the blade with my mind. It was really weird, just thinking about the blade and having it slam back into my leg, but it worked so I wasn’t complaining. “Forgot about that.” I looked over past Haze towards the open door and the sky streaming past way too fast. We must have been well over Parasite Mound by then.
Before I could say anything else the nose of another vertibuck came into view through the still open door.
“Uh, General?” I looked back at him as the other vertibuck started to get closer. “Shouldn’t you, get somepony to shoot that?”
“High General,” he corrected. “And this is a troop transport; its not very well armed, and the only guns it does have are forward-facing.” Which was really helpful. “That’s an AMR on your back, is it not? This seems like a good job for you.”
Before I could reply the door was covered in the black carapace of the other vertibuck as it slammed into us with a thunderous crunch. The room shook around me and Haze had to steady me with her magic as the two vertibucks parted from the grind flying further apart. “Well, shoot!” the general shouted.
You know, I’d always just used Subtlety as a large sniper rifle or a giant saddlegun; it was weird to have to use it for what it was actually made for. I climbed out of the seat and faced the open door. The Vertibuck that had slammed into us was still shaking but looked like it was starting to move in for another ram. My scope was useless at such close range, so I had to eyeball it, which wasn’t risky at all. I did what I could to aim for the portion of the vertibuck that held the pegasi that actually powered the machine and opened fire.
The cabin echoed the roar of Subtlety to an almost deafening degree until I ran out of bullets. By then, though, the vertibuck was listing heavily. I must have killed something. My battle-saddles reloaded Subtlety and I put another round into the machine.
That did it. It started to fall out of view, and a few seconds later I swear I could hear it crash in the distance.
“Impressive shooting,” the High General said behind me.
I was about to reply to him when Flare came flying through the door and finally closed the door behind him. I swear that was really dangerous. “The rest of them are backing off, I think we’re in the clear...” he looked past me to the General. “Uh, I mean. All clear, sir.”
“Well done, SO. Come, sit; we have plenty to talk about.”
---
In all the fighting before I hadn’t gotten good look at High General Steel Wing. He was a dark grey ageing pegasus with a short cropped silvery white mane. I wasn’t the best at guessing ages, but if I had to, I’d put him at over fifty, maybe even sixty, though by the way he sat straight and stared with his hard, unblinking eyes it was clear if he was that old, he didn’t want it to show.
“So...” I started to say when things got really quiet and awkward, “what is going on? And I thought Flare’s rank was Captain.”
Steel Wing looked long and hard at me before leaning to look around me at Flare. “Have you not told her?” Flare didn’t say anything, but he must have shook his head or something because the General kept talking. “When I found out Flare was spying for Sky Fall I made him an offer. Instead of spying for him, he’d spy on him for me. It came with a pay raise, a special rank, and a promise he couldn’t be fired so long as he kept the rank.”
“Oh...” You’d think Flare would have told me about that...
Apparently Steel Wing could read my mind because he said: “It was highly classified, and he was instructed not to tell you.”
“We are confused,” Platinum said from the far side of the cabin. “You were his superior, why was it necessary for you to spy on him?”
“His rank gave him a high level of independence, and the structure of our organization made it difficult for me to watch him through conventional means. I knew he couldn’t be trusted, but I needed eyes on him. It turned out I was right, but while Flare was able to give me some information, Sky Fall was smart enough to keep much away from him.” I wondered if maybe Sky Fall knew he was being spied on, and fed only titbits of information to Flare to make the High General think it was working.
“So... then what happened? Did he attempt a takeover or...” It was related to Serenity somehow, that much I knew.
“No... I moved first, and he reacted. It was my fault; I miscalculated the depth of his support. The former Enclave personnel we acquired with the raptor sided with Sky Fall, when I had thought they would support me.” The aging general shook his head. “I moved to remove him from his position after I heard he had used one of our vertibucks to kidnap a foal. Your foal. I barely escaped the fight with my life, and those loyal to me have been forced to flee. We spread out to make chase less likely, and we have plans to rendezvous for a counter-offensive, as much as it pains us to fight against our brothers. But before that, I owe you.”
I stared at him for a minute, trying to think of what an aging general I’d never met before could possibly owe me. “What?”
“I should have known more. The kidnapping of your daughter took place on my watch, but I was impotent to help until it was too late. For that, my honour compels me to help you. I can fly you to any place in the greater Dise region, except for the city itself. This...” He paused and refused to meet my eyes when I looked at him. “This is hardly recompense, but it what I can offer you for now.”
“I need to get to the old NCA base in the south canyon.” I said without hesitation. If Serenity was there, I was going to be there too.
“That... I cannot do.” So much for anywhere. “It is a day’s flight, and I need to return to my men before then. However, there is a river near the NCA farm that was used to ship supplies, I doubt they’re still supplying food to a destroyed base, but there is no doubt a boat will take you there for the right price. I’ll shall fly you to the port on the south side of the farm and provide you enough caps for transportation.”
Before I even had the chance to reply Flare felt it necessary to interrupt me. “Sounds fair to me, oh, and also I’m going with them.”
The general looked annoyed, but not surprised. At least that was my guess, but I never was the best at reading faces. “SO, we will need you. There are hard times ahead of us and, your moral lapses and judgement notwithstanding, you are an excellent soldier. “
“With all due respect, sir,” Flare said, very clearly indicating his next words would be disrespectful or otherwise contradictory. “While I do love praise, and would never ask you to stop with that, Serenity is a friend of mine, Hired too, I guess. And... well... I need to help her in any way I can. I promise I’ll return once she’s safe... but I can’t leave her hanging, not now.”
The High General sighed. “I suppose I must let you, otherwise you’d just quit again.” Again? Flare seemed to know what he was talking about as he nodded. “Fine, but please hurry; you will be needed.”
“Fast as I can.” Flare looked over at me, and I met his eyes. “You ready to go kick some ass?”
“Yeah... yeah.” I tried to make myself sound confident, but thinking about what had happened had a way of dampening my spirit. Not that it was going to stop me. Put an enemy in front of me and I’d show them a mother’s wrath, but sitting in that cabin with nothing to do but wait. It got to me.
“Now I need to ask you a question.” I turned back to the general. “I know this is hard for you Miss... Gun… but it may be important for me to know why your daughter was taken.”
“To get to me.”
“Who are you?” That was a fair question.
“Nopony.”
“You know,” the general said, “you’re not helping me make sense of the situation.”
“I...” Why did everypony need me to talk? “I got too close to something. Something I shouldn’t have. A pony named Dragonslayer. He hired the pegasi to help. I don’t think they’re that involved.”
“Involved in what?” he asked in a sharp tone. I don’t think he was used to ponies not giving direct answers.
“I... don’t know.” Truth be told, I wasn’t sure if I could trust the High General. It seemed as if he didn’t know anything about Dragonslayer, but... I just wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to get in anymore trouble. “Dragonslayer. He was hired by.. somepony...” If only I knew who. “The balefire bomb. That was part of it. I got too close. He thinks if I’m not taken out then... then I could ruin whatever his plans are.”
“That... is still not very helpful.”
I stared at the High General and said: “That’s all I know.” That was more or less the truth. I had my suspicions, but nothing I cared to tell the pegasi about. Maybe I wouldn’t kill Dragonslayer when I found him. Maybe I would drive my sword into his shoulder and twist until he gave me some answers. And if he told me truthfully I’d let Subtlety kill him quickly. Even though he didn’t deserve it.
“That will have to do,” the High General said. “I suppose once you... confront him, you’ll know more, and Flare can fill me in. If he was involved with the explosion, that is most troubling. So many on the surface blame us, you know.” Oh, I knew.
“Can you blame them?” Apparently that was the wrong thing to ask because he responded with a glare so heated I thought I was going to melt. “I mean. The next day a giant airship shows up. And you all have those suits. That block radiation. And... let’s be honest. Pegasi don’t have the best... reputation.”
“I know all about our reputation—,” I half expected him to spit on me. “—but we aren’t like the other Enclave, the cowards who stayed above. My father... he was there during the war with the griffins. The things he was ordered to do by the higher ups... nobody liked it. But it was the only world they knew, and it was follow orders or join the slaughtered. Even still, my father and hundreds of others refused. Risked life and limb, leaving family behind for the sake of griffins they had never met. Those are the types of ponies that make up the Remnants. Ponies who gave up everything to be exiled by their homeland and mistrusted by the surface. So don’t speak to me of ‘reputation’. For having wings -- that we are guilty of, nothing else. Certainly not whatever madness this balefire bomb was.” I think I hit a sore spot.
“I... uh. Sorry. I didn’t mean... I just meant...”
“I know,” he sighed. “I know. I can understand their mistrust, and the Enclave above with their little ‘invasion’ has only made matters worse. Now with Sky Fall and his coup, we’re going to be mistrusted for years more, despite everything we have done.” He looked up at me. “But once I take back control, we will continue to help the wasteland. As we always have, despite their mistrust.”
“We can empathize with you,” Platinum Haze said. “When we and our sisters attempted to enter the city peacefully, we were fired upon. Still, we are attempting to help the city as our order has requested, because we believe it is the correct course of action.”
“Yes...” The general looked past me to Haze. “What is your order exactly?”
Haze seemed genuinely happy to be asked. “We are a member of the Followers Of The Apocalypse. We are a disciple of the teachings of Lady Fluttershy and Miss Velvet Remedy in an attempt to create a brighter future for the wasteland.”
“I had heard stories of alicorns in the north... I didn’t believe them, and stories were more... violent than you seem to be.”
There was a hint of a blush on Platinum Haze’s cheeks. “There were mistakes made when we were being controlled by our mother... we... would tell you the story, but we are afraid it would take far too long. Suffice it to say, not all alicorns are as the stories say, and many and more are confused without mother to guide us. Many have joined the Followers, but not all.”
“One day, I will need to get the full story out of you. But it can wait. If I meet another alicorn, I will promise not to be hostile. As an act of solidarity.”
Platinum Haze bowed her head. “We are thankful for that High General. Many judge us as monsters at a glance, perversions of the Goddesses. We are happy to hear we have changed at least one mind in this matter.”
“When you say ‘we’... do you mean yourself, or are you talking for all alicorns? One of the rumours said something about a mind link, and while I did not believe it then... well, it is better to look a fool while being cautious then die not asking the right questions.”
Platinum Haze silently frowned for a second before answering. “We... were party of Unity... that mind-link these rumours spoke of. But that has been dissolved. Suffice it to say our manner of speech is an... after effect. Conditioning, perhaps. It is simply how we are used to speaking.”
The conversation reminded me that I really should talk to Platinum Haze about what happened in that dream. I was not the best at serious discussions... or most discussions. But I owed it to her to see if I could help.
“I see,” the High General said. With that the conversation faded away, leaving me with awkward silence (and the usual feeling of impending doom I got from flying) for the rest of the long flight.
---
I had never seen the inside of the massive walled-off farm the NCA ran to the east of Dise, and indeed still have never seen inside. It seems they were protective over their secrets and didn’t like to have civilians looking around. Or Enclave personnel for that matter. When we first flew near, we were almost shot at and had to land outside the facility itself. Luckily the river dock was actually on the outside of the facility.
The General himself went out to handle the monetary arrangements leaving me, Flare, and Haze waiting in the vertibuck. The weight of the last twenty-four hours was still heavy on our minds so none of us talked. Instead we sat and listened to the slow ticking of my pipbuck, courtesy of the still-irradiated alicorn sitting beside me. I hated the silence. In the chaos of the firefight, or the subtle confusion that came from the previous conversation, I could lose myself. But in silence, with nothing to distract me, all I could think of was what I lost, and how much more I stood to lose.
For all I knew Serenity could already be dead, slain by the Dragonslayer and used as a prop to lure me into a trap. Considering what I knew he was capable of, it wasn’t that far fetched... but I couldn’t think about that. I had to have hope. I had to fight to keep her safe, so I didn’t allow myself those thoughts. But still, they came creeping into the back of my mind, reminding me how pointless it all was.
Before the darker thoughts could overwhelm me, the door slid open.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting.” I looked over to see the General. “There were only a handful of ships on the dock, and only one was willing to head that far south. They say it’ll be two days,” far too long, “but they’ll do what they can... I know it’s not enough, but it’s all I can do for now. Once things have settled down I’ll have Flare send for you, and I’ll pay you back in full.”
“Thank you,” I said as I left the cabin after Platinum and Flare, “for all your help.”
“It’s the least I can do.” He waved a hoof behind him. When I looked over his shoulder I saw a row of boats floating lazily on the river next to wooden walkways build over the water. A dock, I guess it’s called. “Your boat is the last one on the right, they’re expecting you.”
I nodded my thanks once more before heading off in the direction indicated with my companions in tow. It was still eerily quiet until Flare took off his helmet. Underneath he looked really sweaty and his mane was matted to his head. “Finally, no radiation.” Except for Platinum Haze, but he was far enough away it must not have registered. “It’s so stuffy in here, I can’t wait to get out of it. No offence to you two, but I’m going to hit the sack as soon as we get aboard.” I couldn’t blame him for wanting sleep, I was exhausted, too. Though I wasn’t sure I would be able to get to sleep. I knew I would have to during the two day trip, but the prospect did not endear me.
“We too require sleep at some future point,” Haze replied. “We feel we must be properly rested if we are to deliver Serenity from harm.”
The talk of Serenity dampened the mood, and not a soul spoke until we finally got to the boat.
“Well, would’ya look who dropped by.” The captain said as I started to walk onto his boat. It took me a second to realize I knew him. The last time we took a boat, it seemed so long ago, he was there. Red Sky, that was his name. “You’ve got a smart head t’get away from the city, way I hear it. Nothing but nastiness on the radio; whole place has gone ta shit, and what did I tell ya. The faction shit was only going to implode in on itself. Well, come aboard; we’re two days downriver without stopping, and I hear you’re in a rush.” I made my way onto the boat, followed by Flare and Haze. Red Sky eyed Platinum Haze as she came aboard, but didn’t ask any questions. I figured the General had told him about her.
I still remembered the way to the cabin, so I made my way quietly there, but when I went to open the door I found myself face to face with a pitch black pony with a pink mane. Her... I knew her too. Streamwind. “Oh, well lookie who it is. Been a long time, Miss Gun, come back for more a’my fire bullets?” Images of Post Haste flashed through my mind.
“No!” I said too loudly. The last thing I needed to think of was burning foals. “No.”
“Are, are you okay?” She looked around me. “Say, where’s that darling filly I gave that toy to? I hope nothing happened to her...”
It was too much. I pushed past the mare and to where my room was last. She shouted something at me as I stormed past but I couldn’t hear it. I slammed the door behind me when I entered my room, and I was alone. Alone with nothing but the darkness.
---
The darkness held no answers for me and no sleep either. I heard whispering outside my door after my little scene, but even after it stopped I couldn’t sleep. I felt the boat jerk and start to move down the river, but I still couldn’t sleep. Hours later as I listened to the river and creaking boards, I still could not sleep. All I could do was think, and thinking just brought sadness. I knew I was going to save Serenity, but the goal seemed so perilously far away. And with no enemy to kick, my rage just brought restlessness.
I held Scootaborg above me as I laid on my back, and just stared at it. I knew Serenity loved her toy, and I remembered that she always seemed to tinker with it when she was troubled. All I could think of was how scared she must be, and how the one thing that could have helped her was in my hoof. I let the toy fall from my hoof and bounce to the floor.
I needed air.
Maybe I could look up at Luna and ask for guidance. Maybe she would listen. So I rolled off of the bed, stepped over the fallen toy, and moved towards the door.
I cracked open my door and stuck my head out slowly to make sure nopony else was up. For some reason I wanted to be alone. I crept along the ship to reach the back deck like I had so long ago. Only, I didn’t find it empty. Instead I saw Platinum Haze sitting there, glowing faintly in the moonlight as she looked up to the sky.
“Haze...” I said quietly as I moved towards her, but she didn’t look over at me. I think she knew I was there though, because she still didn’t react when I sat down beside and looked up at the moon with her.
“Luna was beautiful.” Platinum Haze said eventually.
“You know what she looked like?” I asked in wonder.
“Yes... in a sense. Memories, vague images, remnants of Unity linger still. She was a beautiful pony, but also powerful and dark. It was no wonder Celestia abdicated to let her sister sit the throne; Luna was a pony built to fight a war.” I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant so I nodded in silence.
Eventually I asked: “Do you often have those, er. Memories. Of other ponies. I remember, in your dream... things kept...”
“Yes, they are always there. We have learned to separate those that do not belong to me, but at first it was very confusing. It is only remnants though, ghosts. For our mother... we are not certain how she managed... Perhaps she did not. Diamond Sky once proposed to me that perhaps she did not manage. That the minds became too much, and that is why she grew more unstable. We... do not like this theory...” She still did not look at me.
“You like your mother very much.” It seemed strange, of course she liked her mother.
“She saved us from ourself. She lifted us up, gave us hope and purpose worth living for.” She closed her eyes and let out a sad sigh. “Before we came unto our mother, we had seen much, and done much. You saw the visions, did you not?”
“Yes,” I said softly. “You were a slave.” Taken as a child no less. Taken from her home... I closed my eyes and shook away the comparison.
“That... and more.” More? “After so long of the whip you get dulled to the horror of it all. The macabre seems normal, and that is when the claws sink in. I was told to collect slaves, so I collected them. I was told to train them, so I trained.”
“T-that’s... that is not you—”
“Silver Storm,” she turned to look at me with piercing yellow eyes, “we understand your intentions are pure, but we kindly ask you do not attempt to justify our sins. We all have to bear the wounds of our histories, and I have committed many things that cannot be redeemed. We were not forced to do what we did, we were asked, and we complied. Regardless of anything else, we made the choice, and so we must account for it.” She looked back to the moon.
“I’m sorry...” I said softly.
“We know... we... Let us finish the story. We... think you deserve to know. There were many we trained, but there was one, years after. She kept crying, asking her why we were doing this to her. We tried to explain, explain what we were taught. But she kept crying, and crying. Eventually those above me decided she could not be trained, and were to have her killed... that is the moment when we realized what it was we had become, the true extent of our horror. We could remember being that child, so long ago, and it broke us. We refused to train any more, and we were deemed no longer useful. We too would have been killed, but instead we were given to Unity. Mother saved us from ourself, gave us a chance at redemption.” She smiled up at the moon. “But we are still looking for redemption. We see much of you in us, the pain, the hurt, the hunger for meaning. We... the two of us have done bad things.” That much was beyond question. “But we, you and us, are trying to get better, to become better. We believe the chance at redemption, it is one everypony should have.”
I closed my eyes and thought about what I heard. Me, thinking; shocking, I know. Still, so much of who Platinum Haze was seemed to make sense. The pieces fell together, and the full picture emerged. No, not the full picture. People are complex, and I didn’t think I’d ever know everything there was to know about Platinum Haze, but it was more than I knew before, and I was grateful that she trusted me.
“Thank you...” I said, “for... telling me. I... “ The words fell away. “I’m sorry, it’s not fair. You shouldn’t have... it should have been... better...”
“We thank you for your condolences. Since the sky was cleared by The Destroyer, we have often enjoyed going out at night to look to Luna for guidance and forgiveness. It clears our mind during troubled times.” She looked back at me with her yellow eyes. “We know you must feel the same. With... what has happened. We will get her back... We promise you.”
It was hard to look her in the eyes. “I know,” I whispered. “It’s... hard. I can’t lose another one... not again... not Serenity.”
Confusion flashed in her eyes. “Another one?”
“I...” I wasn’t sure if I should tell her, but eventually I decided that she had shared so much with me, she deserved to know the truth. “Before Serenity... back in Marefort, I... had a daughter.” The tears came unbidden to my eyes making it hard to see. Thinking about Foundation was always hard, but with Serenity taken from me... it was hard to think about, never mind talk. “It seems so long ago now bu-”
Something creaked and cut my voice short. I stood up quickly when I saw something glowing. Last time I was aboard this boat an assassin had tried to kill me, and that memory was still in my mind when I moved to stand defensively in front of Haze. “Who’s there?”
A ponitron rolled out of the shadows, leaving me terribly confused. It wasn’t until it spoke that I realized who it was. “Well, continue, it sounds like a lovely story.” On the ponitron’s monitor was Wallkirk’s smiling mug.
“What are you doing here!” The sadness from before turned into pure rage. “How did you even know where we were!”
“I bugged you.” What. This mother fucker. “To make sure our secrets remained ours, and to correct you, I am not ‘here,’ I am merely controlling this platform remotely. I am still safe below The Clips and Clops.” The screen smiled at me. “And I am here to help you. I could not let a future investment die, now could I? And if what you said about this ‘Dragonslayer’ is true, then the full force of my influence will be used to eradicate whoever is paying him.” I did not want Wallkirk there, and I did not like him eavesdropping. But having him on my side to take out whatever Dragonslayer was planning? Even in my anger I couldn’t deny how useful that was.
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “How did you even get here?”
“Once again, I am not here, this is... oh never mind.” The robot chuckled. Could robots even compute humour? “I had a contingent of ponitrons helping guard the NCA Farm. I overrode one to use as a personal platform and used it to make sure only this boat would be hired to take you south after I heard the plans. I had attempted to make my presence known earlier, but you were indisposed, and this was the only time you’ve been out of your room.”
This little scene did not endear me to the computer, but... at least he was trying to help. In his own way. “Fine,” I repeated. “Just don’t get in the way.”
“Oh I am sure you will find some use for me,” he said as he wheeled off. I really was beginning to hate him.
I looked over at Haze and sighed. I still owed her a story, and I needed to do something to take my mind off Serenity. Thinking about Foundation wasn’t something I found enjoyable, but... it was better at that moment than thinking about Serenity.
“Sorry... about that. Let me... start from the beginning.” I looked up at the moon, and leaned against Haze. She wrapped a comforting wing around me as I began to recite my story. “I guess, I should start by telling you how my mother died...”
Level Up!
Skill Note: Melee Weapons 40
((A/N: Hi there! Thanks for tuning in. I’d like to thanks Kkat for creating the world I play around in. I would also like to thank my editors theBSDude, Julep, and Menti for making this stuff readable!
Also, you may have noticed a retcon in this chapter. While I’m normally against such things, I felt it necessary in this case to fix an idiotic decision I made years ago. Anyway, the NCA Flag is now a Phoenix flying in front of a green five pointed star on a white field. It’s better now, trust me. ~No One~ )) |
No One | 662 | 30 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2013-12-24T20:30:21+00:00 | 2013-12-28T08:22:09+00:00 | 12,435 | Enemy Within
“Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.”
“Just follow the road,” Red Sky called down from the deck of his boat. It had been a tortuously long boat ride, and now that we had gotten as far as we could by river I was eager to get going. “It’ll merge into one of them ancient highways, and that’ll lead you right to the base.”
“Thanks.” I looked behind me to where my comrades waited patiently to get going. Except for Flare, who seemed to be in the middle of falling asleep. It wasn't my fault we were landing so early in the morning. “Anything I should know?”
Red Sky looked off into the distance as if contemplating my question. “Can’t rightly say. It’s too far away from the river for me to have ever gone, so all I've got are stories. There was that there balefire explosion a while back, so be prepared for radiation an’ all-that-goes with it.” I looked back at Platinum Haze and decided that wouldn't be a problem. Whatever monsters radiation could create, it’d also give her the energy to help. Even if she wouldn’t fight, that shield of hers was powerful from what I’d seen.
“Alright.” I took a deep breath to calm my nerves.
“We'll wait here for you,” Red Sky said, which surprised me. “For three days. That’s as long as we can… just get your filly and bring her back. She don’t deserve what happened, and neither do you.”
“Thanks,” I replied softly before turning back to the road before us. I know they sailed the boat as fast as they could, but it still felt too long. All I could do on the ship was wait and pray (though I still wasn't sure who I’d been praying to), and that was infuriating. With ground under me I was finally able to take the matters into my hooves; even if I was only walking, I knew I was walking towards Serenity, and that was enough to keep my spirits high.
Though in reality I knew it was just as likely I was walking into a trap. Dragonslayer was no fool (as I’d learned to my horror), and he was going to be prepared to take me down. But he’d made a fatal mistake I was going to capitalize on.
He thought Serenity was my weakness. Serenity was my strength. She kept me moving when I was sore and tired. She made me smile when I wanted to cry. So long as she was taken from me, I would fight to find her, and if she were ever to be taken from the world I would destroy everything in my path until I got vengeance. Dragonslayer may not have realized it, but when he took my daughter, he had signed his own death warrant. The only thing left was to decide when and how.
To that end I took another step, my hoof kicking up dirt. The wasteland that stretched out before me was brown and rocky and plain; but it was comforting in a way, familiar. I breathed in the the stale air and kept walking, my hooves moving faster. I was coming for my daughter, and woe to anypony who dared get between me and her.
---
The walk was quiet for a long time. I was sure my companions were watching me, judging me. Throughout the boat ride they had fussed over me (well, except Wallkirk, but he hardly counted.), worried about what losing Serenity had done to me. For a while it was infuriating. I understood their worries, but I had just wanted to be left alone.
As we walked though, I was glad for their worry. It was nice to have ponies care for me, to worry about my health and safety. It was not an experience I was used to, even back in Marefort. While Wildfire loved me, I don't think she ever worried about me (at least before Foundation) because it had always been my job to worry about her. To be the stable one, to hold up our… relationship.
So I welcomed the worry, even though it was unneeded. I was still… upset to say the least, but I was motivated. For so long I’d been bounced around from one moral conflict to the next. Every pony I met seemed good and evil in parts (though some more evil than good) but it became harder and harder to see past the murk. But as I got closer to Serenity things didn’t become murkier, they became clearer. Serenity was my daughter, and any who took her from me against our mutual will was evil, and if they stood in my way when I went to get her back the only moral thing would be to remove them. I want to say it was refreshing to have a black and white goal, but I don't think the word was appropriate.
“Hey, Hired, you sure you’re okay?” Flare asked flying beside me. “I mean, you’ve been really quiet, even for you. It’s kind of eerie, and you look like you’re trying to set things on fire with your glare.”
“I have a flamethrower for that,” I replied dryly, remembering I still carried the flamethrower from the time in the tunnels that cost me my hind leg.
“Was, was that a joke?” He looked at me strangely.
“Maybe.” I kept walking. It was true the greater sense of clarity was helping me focus, but that didn't mean I was in a good mood. “How much further is the canyon?”
“We do not believe it is much further,” Platinum Haze said as she squinted into the distance. “It appears we are about to reach the merge with the wartime highway, and from there we were led to believe it would not be much further.” Sure enough, in the distance I could see our dirt road merged into a cracked and crumbling concrete road.
“I can access the radio if you want,” Walkirk chirped in his usual robotic tune. His suggestion was actually surprisingly good too, which was a nice change of pace. “I believe the funeral for that friend of yours is going on…” He paused for a few seconds before confirming. “Ah, it is. The Watchers leader… Clean Cutt, I think. He's doing the eulogy, it's rather touching.” I take back calling it a good idea. That was the last thing I wanted to listen to.
Before I had the chance to protest he was already playing it. “…fought tirelessly for the good of all ponies. Like a loyal dog defending it's master she protected us and ours from the harshness of the waste from Wendin to Dise. When she died, she didn't in vain, instead she gave her life for ours, defending us, the citizens, from the machinations and political instability that sought to destroy us. She did not stand down when she saw injustice, and if she were still with us, she would not want us to stand down—.”
“That's enough,” I growled, “I don't need someone else telling me how to feel. I knew her. Better than him. That's not her. It's a lie to make ponies feel good. I've had enough of lies.”
“Some would say a well placed lie is better than a mishandled truth,” Wallkirk replied. Still, he turned it off, and for that at least I was thankful.
“And besides,” Flare felt the need to add, “she’d take exception to being called a dog. Pinprick would no doubt prefer ‘bitch’.” I gave a half-hearted smile. That was much more like Pinprick, but she’d probably go a step further and call herself a ‘fucking bitch.’
“We are sad to say we did not have the pleasure to ever be properly acquainted with her, but we are certain she was a remarkable mare,” Platinum Haze said as we finally reached the highway and turned to follow it.
That was one word for it. If nothing else she was straightforward. She never hid her intentions or feelings. Everything you needed to know about her, she’d let you know.
“Still, as much fun as she was, you’d think they’d give the Batmare a fancy funeral too,” Flare added. “I mean, she was a bit odd, but when she kicked folk, it hurt! You remember, don’t you, Hired? At the water plant, when she just slipped in and knocked out three ponies before they had a chance to think? Fucking awesome, that.” How could I forget? It was the second I realized that The Batmare was possibly the most dangerous singular pony in Dise.
“The Batmare? She was a lunatic who caused more trouble than she was worth.” I stared at Wallkirk for a long time before dignifying that with a response.
“Without The Batmare, half of Dise would be rubble.” I spoke slowly so as not to be misunderstood. “She gave her life to teleport the balefire bomb. So that nopony died. Er. Directly.”
“One good act does not forgive the rest of her life.” I was beginning to doubt how much of a grasp Wallkirk really had on Dise. He claimed near omnipotence, and yet he would say such things. “For all her talk of ‘doing good’ she got in the way more than she helped.” I was starting to understand his grievances. The Batmare fought what she saw as evil, regardless of where it came from (though she did seem focused on The Laughing Stallion) so to that end I wouldn’t have been surprised if she threw a wrench into one of Wallkirk's plans. I was sure most of the Dise gang leaders were cheering when they found out she died.
“Whatever,” I replied looking at away from his smug robot face. There were more important things to do than to argue with an AI about a superhero.
Still he kept talking. “What gives her the right to show up one day and sta—.” His voice cut out to a series of static-y buzzing sounds. “S-s-s-sorry.” I couldn't tell if he was saying that, or his platform was. “There is an incident in Dise that requires most of my processing power, I can no longer afford to control this platform for the moment. It has been given orders to follow you, I will regain control of it once the situation in Dise is settled.” With that Wallkirk’s face faded off the Ponitrons screen.
“Alright then?” Flare said. “Can’t say I’m that upset, he’s an annoying twat.”
“Although we cannot profess to disagree with your assessment, given as he is slated to become Hired’s boss, it would be in our mutual interest if you keep such thoughts to yourself for the time being,” Platinum Haze replied. I wasn’t sure if she was joking around or being serious, with her it could be hard to tell.
---
“Fort Spitfire,” the plaque read. “May those who died to defend peace never be forgotten.”
We had found the entrance the army base (Fort Spitfire, apparently) an hour down the highway. The entrance to the facility was a one story building with a large pitched roof surrounded by metal fencing on every side. On the other side of the far fencing we could see the beginning of the canyon, but it was hard to tell much about it except that the other side of the canyon looked to be really far away.
I stepped away from the plaque that was hanging beside the open fence gate and looked at my companions. They tended to have a greater knowledge of history than me, but they both shrugged their confusion. Whatever the plaque meant, it was a mystery to us.
I stepped through the threshold into the south canyon base; a cold shiver ran down my back. Serenity was nearby, I could feel it. I wasn’t sure how big an army base was, but it didn’t matter to me. If I could find her in the tunnels of Dise and the maze of the mountain facility, this place would be nothing. Still, it took me a minute before I could take that second step, to keep moving. The more excited I got to find her, the more worried I became that it would all be for nothing.
“Hired?” Platinum Haze asked when she noticed my hesitation. “Are you—.”
“I’m fine,” I said sharply, taking another step towards the building. “Fine,” I repeated, more to convince myself than her.
The inside of the building (the ‘Fort Spitfire Welcome Centre’ according to the door) was dark, musty, and full of boxes. I mean absolutely full, from floor to ceiling and covering most of the floor. I nosed through a few nearby ones, but found most of them contained uniforms, clothing, and flags, oddly enough. I could only guess that this stuff was in the middle of being shipped up north when the megaspell went off, only to be forgotten about and left to rot. It was sad, in a way.
As I looked around the building I realized that it was just one huge room. It looked there had been walls in there once, but they’d been knocked down; no doubt to make room for more boxes. Which worked out, as the boxes made the entire place a sort of maze.
“This is a home decorator’s nightmare,” Flare announced when he walked in behind me. “It’s just so very tacky.” It was an attempt to lighten the mood, and I was grateful for that so I played along.
“The NCA should hire you,” I said as I attempted to navigate the maze to find the exit. “You’d fix this place right up.”
“You’re such a flatterer. Alas, my loyalties are strained enough already, what with the civil war and you pulling me every which way. There’s not enough dash in the wasteland to make me add a fourth party to the pinata that is my metaphorical life.”
I chuckled nervously and glanced over at Platinum Haze. We hadn’t really gotten around to explaining our mutual drug… affiliation with her, and I was worried about what she’d think. It wasn’t like I was some junkie… well, so long as I had my Med-X. And I recognize that wording it like that was certainly not helping my case.
I suppose I’d been lucky on the boat. With everyone worried about me, they often gave me space enough I could take some Med-X without drawing attention to myself (thank Celestia I was still well-supplied), and I had even managed to take a shot that morning. But it had been a long walk, and I could feel the cravings starting. It would be some time before I had to take one… but you know, I’d like to. It’d help calm my worries about Serenity at least.
“Hired, we believe you that should see this,” Platinum Haze called out to me from somewhere in the building. She had apparently ran off on me while I was thinking about drugs. Which also didn’t help my case. I eventually found her standing in front of a giant window frame (the window must have broken) staring out into the canyon.
I walked up to her. “What are you do—.” Then I saw it.
Stretched out before me was the south canyon base. When I heard “canyon,” I’d expected it to be similar to the canyon with the land sharks, with high walls but narrow and short. This canyon managed to be taller, with giant sloping walls awash with colour standing nearly a kilometre apart from each other, and it seemed to expand in into the horizon indefinitely, completely dwarfing the base that lay in the valley..
That’s not the say the base was small, it was anything but. It was a mess of buildings and facilities connected by roads and bridges that engulfed much of the nearby canyon. The first thing I noticed was a giant staircase that led from the welcome centre into a square of many large, thick buildings at the base. It seemed to be the hub of the base and stretched off from there. A road to the east from there eventually led into a giant crater that was half-filled-in with rubble. It was no doubt where the megaspell had gone off, and it seemed the blast was so powerful it cut into the canyon wall making a cylindrical gap in the otherwise mostly straight wall. I hoped Serenity wasn’t there, but if she were, I’d find her. To the west, however, I saw something quite the opposite. There was a giant domed structure that looked like a stadium I’d seen in pictures, but larger. It was still dwarfed by the canyon itself, but it did a good job at compensating.
It was altogether unlike anything I’d seen before.
“There is a lot to search,” Flare said as he walked up beside me. He was wrong, of course. The canyon was large, but not when compared to the entirety of the wasteland, so it was a marked improvement compared to how it could have been.
“Yeah.” It was easier to just agree though, and I didn’t feel like talking so much. “Let’s go.” Since I could see the steps from the window, I knew approximately where the exit was so I started to head in that direction.
Not that I got very far. A few steps in that direction and I was face-to-face with a rather larger monitor. A large monitor that was inexplicably on, and playing a video.
---
“Hello, yes, is this thing on?” The pony on the video wore a white lab coat and a medical mask, so I took a stab in the dark and figured he was a doctor. He also looked vaguely familiar, but with most of his face covered with the mask, it might have been my imagination. “Good, okay. Boss, here’s the monthly status update as you wanted. I don’t understand why you want a video, but, ah. Yes.”
The pony coughed into his hoof and continued. “I’ll get the bad news out of the way first. The cutie-mark ascension project is simply unsuccessful. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it's simply not possible. All tests have been complete failures, all research has produced the same negative result. Simply put, no amount of resources or pony-power will fix the project. It’s dead in the water. Consider this a formal request to get rid of the project and move the assets involved into other areas. This leads me into my second point.”
“Consultation with the north has resulted in a viable test subject for The Broken Arrow Project.” His voice started to raise in excitement. “After preliminary testing, the subject remains stable, and we should be able to move onto completion within the next few days.” The stallion took a breath, but still looked exhilarated.
“Sir, this is a breakthrough, and you shouldn’t need me to tell you how important this is. I think it’s important you come and see this for yourself. If this is a success, and I am positive it will be, then… well, you know. This is a momentous occasion, and it would mean a lot for everyone if you were there. Either way, we won’t start the final test until we receive a reply. We hope to hear from you soon.” He made a cutting motion across his neck and the feed dropped.
---
“That was… unusual,” Platinum Haze said. “We are unsure of the time frame of this message. It could be a message from before the war, but we can’t imagine why it would play here. Additionally, we can’t imagine why it would play here if it were made after the war.”
“Maybe Dragonslayer is fucking with us,” Flare offered a reasonable suggestion to my immense surprise. “We are easy to fuck with, and it would fit his MO.”
“We suppose that is an alternative option. Though, we are curious as to how he knew when and how to play this. As it is not playing again, it cannot be on a loop.” As soon as she said that I thought I heard a sound behind me, but when I turned to look I saw nothing. It could have been my mind playing tricks on me, but still…
“It doesn’t matter.” I walked past the monitor to the door. “It’s old and irrelevant. Or an attempt to confuse us. Either way. Ignoring it’s the best option.”
“Good point,” Flare said flying after me. “Because, really, fuck Dragonslayer.” That was not what I wanted to do to him, unless ‘-ing kill’ was added.
I walked up to the door, but paused when I saw what I was walking out into. My fear of heights hadn’t gone away, and looking down at the endless steps curving down the cliff face did nothing to help it. Part of me really wanted a Med-X (well, that part being most of me), but I’d yet to mention that to Platinum Haze, so I couldn’t. Still… it would be easier if I had it.
I gulped and took a step. And just as I did Flare flew out behind me so fast I nearly lost my step. I managed to catch myself at the last second, but my heart went into my throat either way. When I looked up I saw Flare grinning at me like the doofus he was. “Race you to the bottom!” Before I could reply to him he was already halfway down the canyon. Ass.
Eventually I did make it down the steps, but at my own pace. The only pony I managed to beat down was Haze, but I think she just did it to make me feel better. Either that or because carrying that stupid robot was difficult. I was leaning towards the first option though, because Haze had a way of making the most difficult things seem easy.
“What took you so long?” Flare asked, leaning against a nearby building. “I almost fell asleep. Or maybe I did. What day is it?”
“Bite me.” I growled at Flare before looking around the complex. There were a series of large buildings in a box like formation around the centre square. The largest of the buildings was a seven story monstrosity with a single closed green door. It also looked to be one of the few buildings that was still liveable, as the others were in various stages of disrepair. It may have been my imagination, but it seemed like a few of the buildings had a new coat of paint.
I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could get a word out Wallkirk-bot made a buzzing sound and chirped back to life. “There we are!” it said. “Sorry about that.” If only he’d been gone longer than just a few hours.
“That’s it?” Flare asked impatiently, “Just ‘sorry’? Aren’t you going to to tell us what’s happening in Dise.”
“It’s not important.” For better or for worse, that city was our home, and considering everything that had happened recently, I was on Flare’s side here. We deserved to know.
Flare’s eyes narrowed and I could see a scowl forming on his face. It was rare he ever got angry, but considering the Enclave coup and his relation to it, it was a perfectly understandable. “Just tell us; we don't have time to play word games with you.”
“Fine, fine,” the robot tsked. “There was a bit of a… I don’t want to say ‘riot,’ but outpouring of frustration after the funeral. Nothing too difficult; it just took some time to properly… contain.” That did not sound good. “As I said, ‘not important’; certainly not worth derailing the mission. So if we could be on our way….”
“Oh, lovely.” Flare rolled his eyes. “You know, for a secret dictator who apparently controls Dise, you sure don’t seem to do much.”
When Wallkirk spoke again, his electronic voice seemed to have an annoyed edge. “Dise is not a simple place, and it gets more complex with the day. It takes work to maintain balance, and it must be done carefully. Canterlot wasn’t built in a day.”
“I’d like to see how you maintain balance.” Flare seemed to take exception to Wallkirk’s assurances, and once again I was on his side. “Unless this is what you consider maintaining balance. A balefire bomb goes off over your city, and you don’t have a clue who did it or why. There is a Enclave coup, and once again you’re helpless to predict, stop, or even delay it! Now there’s rioting in the streets, by your own admission, and still you can’t do anything.”
“Give it time,” Wallkirk assured. Or tried to, anyway. “I am just one pony, but with time, I can fix the issues, bring back the status quo.”
Flare sneered and, uh, flared out his wings. “Dise doesn’t have time; we don’t have time! The city is dying; it’s people are dying! You’ve lost control, and as soon as everyone else realizes how weak the gangs are, there will be change, but it won’t be you, it’ll be Skyfall, or Dragonslayer, or Molly, or someone else ambitious enough to capitalize and then everything you’ve worked to maintain will come crumbling down. You’re either in control, or you aren’t. And as far as I can see, you aren’t.”
Wallkirk did not say anything, but on his monitor his face contorted into a scowl.
“Not now. Argue later.” I said walking between the two. “We need to find Serenity. Then we can worry about Dise.” I looked around the various buildings in the plaza. Huh… the large building with the green door, I had sworn that door was closed before… “We need to look for clues. Flare, can you do a flyby… just. Not too far away. Look for anything that could be a clue. Wallkirk and Platinum Haze. Look through these buildings. I’ll look through the large one.” There, we had a plan. It wasn’t a good one, or an encompassing one, but it got us working and not arguing.
The three of them turned to me when I gave my proposal. They must have agreed because at once they all turned to the tasks I asked of them. Which left me to investigate the large building with its magically opening door.
I trotted off in silence. When I entered through the green door, I found myself in what must have been a waiting area of sorts. It was rather spacious, with the remains of benches against one wall and a service counter in the other. Luckily for me the lights (at least in that part of the building) were still working. I carefully looked around to see if there were signs that anypony had been in there recently (as I suspected) but I found nothing in that room.
So I moved on to hallways just outside the entrance area. It split off in two directions running the length of the building, though only the right side still had light. I never did explore either side though because I noticed that one of the doors in the hallway was still open, the one that led to the stairs. As I entered the stairwell cautiously I thought I heard a faint buzzing sound from somewhere above.
I’m still not sure if I heard that buzzing sound, but I did hear the loud zap that followed it.
At that point I was positive something was fishy, so I raced up the stairs. As much as I hated heights, I didn’t really mind stairs. I made it up the seven floors without breaking much of a sweat, but by the time I got there whatever made the sound was gone. The only evidence that anything was there was a black mark on the wall that was still smoking.
“Oh fuck this.” I growled. Now that I knew something was there, I was determined to find it and destroy it. I didn’t like being stalked, and I knew it was just one of Dragonslayer’s games (that bastard).
It wasn’t hard to figure out where to go next, because once again there was only one open door in the hallway. I was starting to wonder if I wasn’t being lead by the nose here. Not that it would stop me, if I’d proven anything I’d proven that I was adept at stumbling into traps.
This time the conveniently open door led to what I guessed was supposed to be the barracks of the building, though why they put the beds on the top floor I couldn’t figure out. It was also terribly cramped, with little room between the row of tiny cubical-like bedding areas and the wall. For regular ponies you might have been able to fit two beside each other down the hallway, but I was large enough I filled it up easily. It just seemed really cramped, but then again maybe that was on purpose.
As I walked bed after bed I realized that there were actual beds there. They weren’t new, but they were well maintained. I could only guess that the NCA used this building a lot before the place had to be evacuated…
Before I had the chance to ponder the building’s evacuation, I saw something. Someone. He was crouched down on the floor slowly rocking back and forth wearing what looked like tattered NCA armour. I was positive that I’d found my stalker.
Until he looked at me, and I saw he was missing half his face.
The ghoul screamed and charged.
I barely had the presence of mind to get my leg up in time. The ghoul chomped hard down at my cybernetics, but all it got was broken teeth.
Behind me I heard another scream. When I turned to look all I saw through the flickering lights were sharp teeth. I was starting to think the breadcrumbs (the metaphorical kind) that led me here were just a part of a trap. Or maybe I had shitty luck.
Or, as a third possible option, the ghouls were the ones with the bad luck. After all, there were only three ghouls behind me, and the one biting me. Compared to what I’ve killed, four ghouls was a walk in the park.
The first one charging at me got a shotgun in the chest, courtesy of my new cybernetic attachment. It flew back, tangling up its fellows, which gave me time to heft up the ghoul biting onto me, and toss him over my shoulder into the crowd. That gave me more than enough time to turn around (The cramped hallway made it difficult, but I was nothing if not resourceful) and unleash a torrent of flames from the flamethrower I “borrowed” from the minotaurs.
Did you know burnt ghouls smell like bacon? It’s shameful, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me a little bit hungry. It also made me want to puke, so I think it evens out.
I didn’t leave right away, not because I wanted to watch ghouls burn, but because I was worried they’d get back up and I’d have flaming ghouls chasing me. It also gave me plenty of time to take a Med-X without Haze noticing. It was hard enough to take some on the ship, but travelling made it worse and it wasn’t like the cravings were going anywhere. I wasn’t sure how Flare was doing with his dash… thing, but I made it my business not to pry. So long as he was still doing what we needed from him…
Once I was positive the ghouls weren’t going to get back up I turned around and continued down the cramped hallway. It occurred to me as I was walking away that the fire might spread, but it didn’t look like it was spreading so I didn't worry. Because I’m a genius.
At the end of the rooms with all the beds was yet another hallway, because this building didn’t have nearly enough of those. Beyond that though I found yet another open door. At that point I was clearly being led, but I was curious. And I couldn’t really go back the way I came, not with all the smoke.
I’m pretty sure the room I entered was a classroom, at least judging from the rows of desks that surrounded a giant monitor on the far wall. There was only one exit though, so I wasn’t entirely sure where else I was going to be led.
The monitor flickered to life, and I realized I’d been led there.
---
“Are you certain she is stable?” The video I was watching seemed to have been taken from a security camera. It was a grainy black and white recording of a hallway, with only one pony in view (I think it was the same doctor from the previous video) with the voice coming from just off screen. That voice though, I swear it sounded familiar. “All previous attempts looked promising too until—.”
“I’m positive.” The doctor interrupted. She then immediately realized what she had done and turned almost white, “I mean, sorry.”
“No, speak.” The voice was male, probably a young-to-middle-aged pony stallion. “I am intrigued to see what about subject six makes you so confident.”
“Oh, um. Ahm.” She coughed lightly into her hoof before continuing. “I don’t need to repeat to you the failures of subject one and two.” She grimaced, “but subjects three through five were different. We had thought previously that they showed no signs of rejection before their… demise. But upon reviewing the records I saw something startling.” She dug through her saddlebags with her magic and floated a clipboard off screen. “See here, look at their heart rates and MRI scans, what do you notice.”
“They’re consistent with a pony undergoing burnout.” The pony off screen said without a hesitation. “So?”
“I think that is what killed them, the burnout.” She took a deep breath, I guessed to gather her thoughts. “My theory is that by combining the megaspell directly with them—.” Wait wait wait. My heart nearly stopped in my chest when I realized what these recordings were. The importance of them. But why was Dragonslayer showing them to me? “—that it overloaded them. Their bodies weren’t used to the influx of magic going through them. It worked like a magical burnout. When a unicorn goes through burnout they use their bodies’ natural energy as a replacement for magical energy when they’re depleted, severely weakening them, and since these ponies were not used to the magic their bodies kept using energy to try and stabilize the megaspell until they expired. Look, you can see, the one unicorn, subject four, she lasted three days longer than the others, because she used her own magic in combination with her natural energy.”
“Well done.” The mare beamed with pride, and it just made me want to puke more. The off-screen stallion continued, “But that explains the problem, not the solution.”
“Yes, yes, sorry, I just had to. Sorry.” She dug through her bag again, producing a stack of what looked like mouthwritten notes. “My recommendations for the new procedure we attempted with subject six. I know we should have waited for you, sir, but—.”
“I understand.” Magic wrapped around the papers, but it wasn’t coming from the doctor. I guess the mysterious voice was a stallion. “Time waits for nopony.” There was a brief sound of paper flipping.
“S-so. The solution was to create the megaspell first.” She stood up straighter, seemingly impressed with her monstrous science. “We were following the plans laid down for Simple Heart.” Whoever these ponies were, they had access to the data about Simple Heart. This seemed important. “But we forgot: Simple Heart was a failure. If it wasn’t for the nature of the megaspell he would have died too, I’m sure. But, if we create the megaspell first, then bind it with the subject, the megaspell will already be stable and not require the pony’s energy to stabilize.”
“But there could still be rejection?” The voice asked.
“Yes, maybe. It’s been a week longer than all the rest. I think we got it. Sir, this will work.”
“Good, good. Is the subject safe to visit?”
“What, oh yes! Certainly. I can explain more once you see the subject. Be warned, she is heavily sedated… heavily. She is more resistant than I would have expected.” The mare turned and started walking down a side hallway. When she did I saw something in the corner of the screen. The voice off the screen had turned, and I could just barely see his flanks. I was hoping to see if it was a cutie-mark I remembered, but instead it was all scar tissue.
---
I coughed loudly as the video stopped. Huh, when did the room get so smokey. It must have been the old video machine struggling to work.
“So what did you think?” A voice echoed through the room. Without thinking I crouched down into a fighting position ready to stab the next thing I saw. Only I saw nothing, because the voice was coming through an old speaker system.
“Dragonslayer.” I growled, recognizing the voice.
“Not much of a critique.” Have I mentioned how many ways I was going to kill him? “I see you found your way here, and faster than I expected… which was to be expected. See, this is the reason I choose to undertake the task of removing you from the equation. You are too unpredictable and too dangerous. It’s a terrible combination for such a delicate operation.”
“Don’t talk in riddles.” I spat, though I don’t think he could see it. “Come and fight me if you’re so secure.”
“I would rather you come to me.” He sighed audibly. “I wish it didn’t have to come to this. My benefactor wanted to try and convince you to join him, but I knew it wouldn’t work. Still, if we must fight you need to come to me. I’m sure you saw the stadium when you entered the canyon, I’m waiting there for you. With Serenity.” The voice clicked and I screamed a wordless curse.
That bastard. So much death.
My rage was cut off by a hacking cough. What was going on. I looked back towards the door I came through and saw thick black smoke pouring into the room.
Oh yeah, the flamethrower.
Before I could think of a plan of escape something charged through the door. A ghoul. On fire. Just my luck.
I'm not sure why it decided it was feeding time but it charged at me as soon as it saw me. The heat was intense when it came close to me, but I was fortunate to still be wearing the fireproof barding the minotaurs made for me.
I caught the ghoul with my hooves, and used it's momentum to toss it across the room, and through a window. Oh look an escape route.
I took two steps towards the shattered glass when I felt an odd heat on my head… on my…
MY MANE!
Instinct took over when I realized my mane was not fireproof. I stopped, dropped, and rolled like my life depended on it.
After I was certain it was out, and a few more rolls after that, I stopped. I felt my mane with my hoof and to my relief it wasn't completely gone, just much shorter and a bit crispy. Taking a deep breath I looked back towards the window…
To see Flare staring at me with a bewildered expression. “When we saw the flaming ghoul fall six stories we knew it had to be you. Need help?”
“Help.” I coughed out as I made a beeline for the window.
“S-silver!” Platinum Haze was flying beside Flare, she must have seen the flaming ghoul too. “What are you doing? We, we desire to know that you are well!”
“I will be if you get me out of here.” I said through the window. Thankfully she complied, lifting me through the window with her magic (My shoulder burned at the magic, but that was better than the rest of me burning). I was so happy to be out of the burning building that I barely noticed the height. Barely. I would have freaked out at how high we were if we didn’t immediately descend before I had the chance.
“Now,” Haze said when she put me back on solid ground, “are you injured anywhere, do you require any healing you… your mane…” She frowned. “It’s shorter… we should cut it, to make it even.” I waved a dismissive hoof, “Well, we did not mean to intend to suggest would would perform that action at this present juncture.”
“No, I mean.” I stood up to my shaky hooves and looked back at the building I just escape. Flames were bursting out of the top floor, and seemed to be spreading quickly… I didn’t mean to do that, but when I heard the screams of the ghouls inside I wondered if maybe it was for the best. “I know where Serenity is.” I said sternly, and started to walk. The others didn’t need to hear anything more and started to follow.
---
“Are you sure we can trust him?” Wallkirk said as we walked down a long concrete road half carved into the side of the cliff. We were moving towards the giant stadium, but it didn't seem fast enough.
“Of course not.” I answered without a second thought. “He’s clearly planning a trap. But for the trap to work. We need to be there. Where he wants.”
“So how do you plan to avoid said trap.” Wallkirk kept talking, even though I had thought I was being completely clear. “I don’t have so many of these ponitrons I can have one wrecked so far away that I wouldn’t be able to repair it.”
“Avoid?” I shook my head. “No, we spring the trap. We endure it, then kill him.”
“Uh… why is it you are the leader of your little group anyway?” The robot turned it’s head to look at Haze and Flare, to see if they were going to back him up.
“We have endured far more pain and hardship than a single pony could possibly hope to inflict, even one as insidious as Dragonslayer. We are certain that he overestimates his plan, and Silver will prevail against any attempts to harm her or our persons.”
“I’ve got power armour and fifty pounds of explosives on me at all times. I’d like to see his trap: I’m sure it’ll be cute.”
They obviously did not agree.
“And when in doubt, we just throw Silver at the problem. She usually comes back with fewer body parts, but she’s still got plenty of those left. Personally, I think she was supposed to die a long time ago, but scared Death into giving her a few more years.” Flare chuckled.
It was probably true. I tried to count all the times I’d nearly died, but I lost track pretty quick. Suffice it to say, my continued existence was more due to luck than any skill. And judging from the speed at which I lost body parts, if I continued at the pace I was going I wouldn’t last another month. Still, I couldn’t give up, not until Serenity had a place where she could live that was free of assholes like Dragonslayer.
“You are a wonder,” Wallkirk said. “Where are you even from? All reports I have mention you coming from the north, but you don’t look like you’re from one of the hill tribes.”
“She’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma, our Hired Gun,” Flare commented.
“Near the border of Equestria. Town called Marefort.”
“The border?” Wallkirk pressed; it was aggravating. “My spies indicated that that area is under raider control.”
“It is.” Maybe the ponitron has a mute button. I resolved to look for it as soon as possible. “Town was under raider control. Why do you care.”
“Well… I was just prodding for information before… but given where you are from… have you seen any stables?” That was an odd question.
“Near Marefort?” It was more of a rhetorical question, as I knew what he meant. “Yeah stable… 42.” I did my best not to think too hard about the stable.
“You've been inside the stable?” Wallkirk sounded almost breathless… for a robot. “How does it look?”
“Why do you care.” I didn’t want to remember how it looked.
“That..” He smiled. “Memories. Stable 42 is technically in Caledonia lands, and… I’m not sure how well you know history…” The robot looked at me. “Not a lot. Well, many Caledonian stables went… incomplete after a controversy. Turns out Stable Tec was building them smaller than Equestrian stables, something about a smaller population needing fewer. Either way there was an uproar and the remaining projects were sold, I bought that one. I had intended to move the Crusader Maneframe there and use it as my base of operations… well things didn’t go to plan.”
“Shocking!” Flare interrupted. “A plan of yours going wrong? Will wonders never cease.”
“This, this was not of my doing. You can thank The Zebras and Equestria for it, I surely cannot be blamed for ending the world, can I?”
“Give me five minutes, I’ll think of a way.” Flare was probably smirking under his helmet.
“Enough.” I said as the road reached an end. We weren’t at the Stadium, instead we were at another cluster of buildings, and I was worried we’d find more ghouls there. “We need to be on guard.” I walked towards the square of buildings to get a sense of where we were. The Stadium was still a ways off, but we were at an impasse.
The bottom of the canyon had its own little crests and valleys. The road we were on had been sloping upwards, but in one spot it dipped down to form a little mini canyon. This new obstacle had another road across it that we could not reach without an annoying amount of rock climbing. I suppose it was possible to just fly across, but I didn’t want to wear Platinum Haze out anymore than possible. I was counting on her to take Serenity to safety while I dealt with Dragonslayer.
As I looked for an alternate option I thought I noticed a bridge spanning the gap. It would make sense, considering this was supposedly a military base, but I wasn’t sure. Too many buildings were lined up right against the crevasse, blocking my view.
So I had to go take a closer look by squeezing in between two buildings. Sure enough there was a bridge, or rather there had been a bridge. Most had collapsed into the ravine. On the bright side there was an alternate path. One of the buildings built a causeway between it and a building across the way, acting as a covered bridge.
“What are we looking for?” Apparently Platinum Haze had followed me, possibly worried I was going to get into another tussle with flaming ghouls. That was really unlikely though.
A horrifying screech echoed as soon as I thought that.
I turned as quickly as I could. The sound wasn’t coming from there, I realized too late. It was coming from above. I looked up just in time to see a ghoul crawl out of a window from one of the buildings we were beside, and drop straight down.
It landed on Haze before I could warn her.
“Haze!” I tried to get a shoot off with Subtlety, but Haze panicked, rearing up in surprise.
“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!” Haze tried to buck the ghoul off, but all it did was make it more tenacious. The creature bit down hard on her wing eliciting a sudden screech. “WE DEMAND YOU LEAVE!” Magic wrapped around the ghouls, and before it could get another bite the creature was flung across the canyon, “BEGONE VILE BEAST!”
With a flash of purple the ‘beast’ was thrown far across the canyon. I didn’t see exactly where it went, because I had looked to inspect Haze’s wing. “Are you okay?” I asked quickly. Turns out me inspecting the wing didn’t mean much as I knew nothing about medicine. There was blood though, and that was never good.
“F-fine. We will be fine.” She wrapped her wing close to her body. “We shall not slow you down.” I didn't really care about that.
“Hey!” Flare was galloping over, “What happened, is everyone okay?” He looked at Haze's bloody wing and grimaced, “Oh. Well, can’t you do that radiation thing? Heal it right up.”
“There is no radiation here; we…,” Platinum Haze trailed off and looked around, immensely puzzled. “There is no radiation here. Why is there no radiation here?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, but then I realized. This place was megaspelled only a few months ago. It was huge news, and there were ghouls everywhere, but… no radiation. Nothing. Wasn’t that stuff supposed to last forever? And yet…. “You’re right….”
Platinum Haze lifted her head into the air and started to sniff. “Yes… we had thought something had seemed odd since we got here. There should be radiation. Megaspells always leave an after effect; this is implicit in their design.”
“I bet if we ask Dragonslayer he’d know,” Flare suggested, which just made me scowl even though it was probably true. “If you can’t use radiation, do you have a healing potion?”
Platinum Haze shook her head. “I am afraid I do not….”
“I always let Serenity carry the healing potions.” I added. “I have some med-x though, if that’d help?” Not that I really wanted to part with my med-x… but giving away wouldn’t be that bad, right?
Platinum Haze gave me a confused look. “It is a small wound; we could use healing, but a painkiller won’t be effective. Don’t worry about us…” She tried to spread her wings out to show how fine she was, but she winced before they were even half unfurled and brought them back to her sides. “We are fine.”
“There’s plenty of buildings around.” Like the one the ghoul jumped out of. “We’ll check them for a healing potion.”
“No, we would hate to slow down your search. We do not require healing at this juncture; let us just move forward.”
“That’ll be difficult, considering the whole gap thing, and you not being able to fly. I doubt I could carry Silver that far, she’s been putting on weight.” I glared at Flare, as usual.
“There’s a bridge.” I pointed to it, because apparently everyone else was blind. “Goes through a building. We can do both things.” Before anypony could argue I turned away, intending to walk away,
Instead I was face to, er, monitor with Wallkirk, “What was that you were saying about radiation?”
I pushed passed the robot mumbling, “Don’t fucking eavesdrop.” I probably should have shown more deference considering he was going to be my boss, but I couldn’t muster up the will to care. He must not have cared either because he still followed me, though it was only after the others had passed him.
The building with the bridge connected wasn’t that hard to find, given it was the largest building in the area. I looked up to see if it had a sign or anything (I was curious) but if it did it was long gone, so I was left to guess what the building was used for. Curiously, when I walked towards the door to open it, I saw that it was ajar.
I furrowed my brow and wondered if I was being led again. Though if I were it was a lot less conspicuous than it was before. We didn’t have time to waste though so I cracked open the door and peered inside, only to find it depressingly dark and dusty. Unlike the other buildings in the area, I wasn’t certain this one had been refurbished and used by the NCA. I tapped on my pipbuck light, and just to be safe this time, I took off my eye-patch and let my cybernetic eye whirr into activity.
Once I walked into the building it took just a second for the night vision to turn on, letting me see clearer. My pipbuck’s EFS didn’t show anything, but I really never trusted that thing. Besides the fact that it picked up things like radroaches as enemies, it also couldn’t tell what floor things were on, making it useless most of the time, especially in large, old buildings.
“Looks clear,” I said cautiously. The others entered at my word and took their own look around, each providing a little extra light to help. “The building is big. How are we going to find the bridge?” It was one of those sorts of buildings where the developer got too hallway-happy and you could get turned around easily.
“Well,” Flare walked over to a wall while talking, “we could search the building for hours in the vain hope of finding what we’re looking for… or we could use this map.” Map? I walked over to see what he was looking at and sure enough it was a building plan that happened to give the exact location of the bridge (and every other room in the building).
“We could use that,” I conceded. “Through that door.” I pointed to a nearby door. “Two stories up and…”
That same door opened.
“Oh fuck that.” I turned and started galloping towards it.
Flare said something, and Haze cried after me. I didn’t listen. Something was playing with me, I was sure of it, and I intended to figure out who, or what!
I bust through the door into a hallway. My EFS showed an amber dot in front of me, and something moved in the range of my night-vision, but I couldn’t see what because it fled through another door before I had the chance. “Get back here!”
I screamed as I chased after the… thing. It was possible the others thought I was having (another) mental breakdown, but I didn’t care. Dragonslayer’s little game was pissing me off.
I reached the door the thing darted through. More stairs. That was no problem though, because I knew where it was going. A door opened above me, and a few seconds later I was at that door and going through it.
The dot was heading for the bridge and it was two steps ahead of me, but I wasn't sure why. As I sped into the bridge I still wasn't sure why, but I was close.
It was a ball, a floating metal ball with wings. As soon as I saw it the ball turned in mid-air to, uh, look at me I think. It didn’t have eyes, but the face of it was clearly seeing me. “Get back here!” I lunged at it, but it slipped away before I could get a grip
The metal ball buzzed at me before floating off, “Oh no you don’t!” I scrambled to my hooves and chased after it. “Get back here!” Dammit. It ducked through a window before I could get close to it, and short of diving through the window it was out of reach.
Safely out of my reach the robot flying thing turned in mid air. “Hello, Silver.” Fucking Dragonslayer spoke through the device. “I did not expect you to actually find this device.”
“What the hell are you playing at?!”
“Context,” the robotic voice chirped. “Giving you context, so that later, you will understand.” By that he meant playing mind games with me. “Have you ever seen one of these?” He answered himself before I could. “I didn’t think so, they are quite rare this far south.”
“Shut up.” If I couldn’t catch the thing, I’d just kill it. I aimed down my sights and-
“Bad Silver.” A hot bolt of plasma impacted my forehead sending my head snapping back. By the time I had regained my sense the robot was flying away too fast, but still talking. “You better hurry up.”
Before I had the chance to scream another obscenity Flare Haze and Wallkirk came running down the bridge.
“What the hell Hired?” I shot Flare a glare when he spoke, but since when has that ever stopped him? “Just going off an adventure, or what?”
“Dragonslayer was spying on us with a robot. Chased it up here.” I frowned and looked off in the direction the robot flew… towards the stadium.
“We must ask you, was it round?” I turned to Haze and just blinked. “Was the robot round, and flying? We are wondering, that is.” I nodded slowly, not sure what she was getting at. “We see, it must have been a Sprite-bot then… we were simply confused because to my knowledge they were only common in Equestria.”
“So what.” I turned towards the other end of the bridge. “We have things to do. Can’t worry about robot.” More mind games, maybe hinting that his benefactor was someone who lived in the north… or maybe it was nothing. Either way it was irrelevant to our task, and I wouldn't let myself get distracted by it.
---
“Ah.” Wallkirk said as we reached the door to the stadium, only to find it cut off by a glowing purple force field. “Did you know I invented this type of spell, well not me personally, but I was the brains behind the project. It’s called a ma—.”
“Magical resonance force field.” Wallkirk turned, a confused face on his monitor. “It’s a spell, that reacts to a certain magic… something. I forget the word. But only spells from certain ponies. Otherwise it won’t go down.” I looked over at Haze, “Like if Platinum were to use a spell—.” Her horn started glowing to show off, though I hadn’t expected her to. Just like the last time I saw one, a normal spell made a part of the barrier closest to her horn glow and warm up, but that's all. “Yeah, that. You need a special key. Magic key.” I was impressed at my own recollection.
“I take it you’ve seen one before?”
“A few.” Well, many in the facility, but I tried not to think of that. “One in your old office.” I smiled coyly at him. “I don’t have the key for this though.”
“We would like to add that we too lack the prowess to open this door as well….” It was good she said that, as I was about to ask. It was a long shot, but when it came to magic Platinum Haze used to be psychically connected to a demigoddess of pure magic, so it was always worth asking.
“So we’re stuck?” Wallkirk didn’t seem that upset.
“I doubt it,” Flare scoffed. “Dragonface wouldn’t know how to create a barrier like this; there’s probably another entrance, or a hole or something.”
Wallkirk looked up at Flare, a smirk placed electronically on his monitor. “This barrier has lasted two hundred years, due to one of my projects. I suppose not everything I touch is a disaster after all, pegasus.” Here we go again.
“Except, it’s, you know, blocking our way. So if you want to take credit for it, be my guest,” Flare said smugly. It seemed he really enjoyed taking the piss out of Wallkirk, not that I could blame him. I did hope it didn’t hurt my future job prospects though.
However, I was not in the mood to listen to bickering, so I started to walk around the perimeter of the building. Dragonslayer had entered the building somehow, and if that door was closed there had to be another one. When the others saw I was not putting up with their silly games, they shut their mouths and followed me.
It didn’t take long for me to find the entrance I was looking for, though… it was not what I was expecting. There was a five metre wide hole in through the outer-wall of the building that was completely black with soot and smelled like smoke. It was like someone burned through it with a really large flamethrower, but when I walked through the hole it was cool to the touch. It must have happened a while before.
I paused when I got into the building proper, and took a deep breath. Serenity was in the building, I knew it. She was just a few minutes away, and after so long, I was scared. Dragonslayer wouldn’t just let me have her back… No, he’d use her, try to break me… like what happened with—.
I cut off the thoughts with a stamp of my hoof. Not again. I wouldn’t lose Serenity.
This time, I’d win.
“This building looks to be large,” Platinum Haze said beside me. “Perhaps we should split up and search the building; it would be faster.”
“No.” I pointed to the lights on the ceiling, and motioned down the hall where there was a split. “Only one path has light. There must be limited power. Follow the lights, find Serenity.” And Dragonslayer.
It was as good a plan as any, and knowing Dragonslayer he was going to lead me right there. So I followed the light and ran. The hallways passed by without me noticing, stairs and rooms and windows, all became a blur. Nothing but my single-minded determination to find Serenity mattered. Just the run and the lights, and what would come when I followed them.
There was a rising sense of urgency in my gut as I ran. The feeling that I might be too late, that it was a fools errand that… I closed my eyes only for a second to collect myself, but I never stopped running. I couldn’t think of the possibilities, I couldn’t imagine the horrible outcomes. I had to have faith. Serenity would survive.
She had to.
I turned a corner and stopped running, though the lights didn't go out. There was a pony standing there, next to a window. I recognized her, from the videos Dragonslayer had been playing.
“Number six.” She said when she saw me. “It took you long enough. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.” She tried to make herself sound soothing, though I wasn’t sure why. “Come, see this. Dragonslayer wants you to see.”
“See what.” I croaked, inching my way closer. Whatever she wanted me to see was beyond the window she was standing next to.
“Your daughter.” I sped up until I was standing beside the doctor looking out through the window.
It lead to a small room with a projection screen on one end, and a single desk. What mattered to me, the only thing that mattered to me was that Serenity was there. Sitting at the desk, her head down. I slammed my hoof into the glass. Anything that was between me and her was going to break, yet the glass didn't and my hoof bounced off it.
“You won’t break it.” The doctor said. “It’s designed to take up to a fifty-calibre rifle without breaking, not even you can get through. The only way you’ll get to her is through the door, and I have the key.”
“Let me in.” I realized then that I was alone. The others must have fallen back, to get Wallkirk up the stairs perhaps. It didn’t matter, they would be with me soon enough, and Serenity was right there.
“Dragonslayer wants you to listen.” She seemed nervous, perhaps it was because of the look in my eyes. She brought up a remote control and pressed a button that let me hear into the room, and it was the last mistake she would ever make.
Inside, a pony I didn’t recognize spoke. I hadn’t even realized they were there, but they spoke. “Your mother didn’t care about you.” My heart stopped in my chest. “If she did do you think she would let you get captured? I’ve been trying to tell you.” The voice paused, and I saw the pony walk over to Serenity to get closer. “She sold you.”
“N-no…” Serenity was crying. Her head on the desk, sobs wracking her body. “N-no. She c-cares. She w-wouldn’t.”
“She sold you,” the pony inside repeated, his voice deathly serious. “She doesn’t care about you.”
“S-she d-doesn’t care.”
My vision went red.
---
“I don’t care.” My voice was hard, I had to suppress everything I felt. I had to tell her that, I had to or she'd die.
I looked down at Foundation, caught in a cage, all alone, blood matting her mane and told her I didn’t care if she lived or died.
Star Belle and I tried to counter attack the raiders, to save those who had been captured… but we failed. Star Belle broke a leg, I was disarmed. We killed a few, but there were too many, we were overrun. Marefort had fallen, and I was taken capture with the rest.
But I had made them angry, I had killed some of them, fought back, so they said they were going to make an example of me. When they found out Foundation was my daughter they took me too her, told me… told me either I break her heart or they’d kill her.
“B-b-but Momma.” Tears sparkled in her ruby eyes.
“No.” My voice was harsh, it had to be. I had to be believable. “Don’t call me that.” I saw all hope leave her. She fell down, weeping in a ball, crying. I had abandoned her. I could never forget what I did, but I did it for her. I had to break her, make her cry or else… the choice was easy. Let her die, or let her think I didn't care when she needed me the most.
She had to live. I couldn’t let her die because of my mistake…
But she would. My mistakes ruined her.
---
The doctor was right when she said the glass wouldn’t break. Despite my best efforts, the safety glass stood strong. However, the walls around it keeping it in place did not hold up nearly as well, and the whole thing came crashing down. I stood up, on shaky feet, and looked back to the doctor. To show her.
The doctor was already dead. I'd killed her. With a gun or a sword or a kick, it didn't matter. She was dead and her blood pooled on the ground, but I didn't care. She came between me and my Serenity.
“Momma!” My eyes fell to Serenity, he grey eyes glistening with tears.
“Serenity…,” I whispered, my voice hard and hoarse, and almost too quiet to hear. But I did hear. So did Serenity. She smiled, a small frightened smile, but one filled with hope. Hope that the other pony was trying to take from her.
I walked past Serenity. I wasn't done. More blood needed spilling.
---
“You said she would live!” I screeched at my captors who had me chained down. “You promised!” I pulled at the chains, tried to break them. Had to break them. In the room across from me was Foundation, crying, screaming. They dragged her in there, and I could hear her but she couldn’t hear me.
“Ya should’a listened better,” a raider said, cracking me on the back of the head. It should have hurt, there should have been pain. Instead I just pulled harder at the chains. “We said we wouldn’t kill her… but we ain’t.”
Screams from the other room. Foundation. I had to stop this madness. I had to…
“We’re gunna leave that up to her.”
The chains bound me in place. Constrained my strength, made me helpless.
Screams came from the other room. Foundation.
She was hurting, they were hurting her, more than I could have imagined. I made her hopeless, I took away her momma. And they were hurting her.
Because I fought back, because I tried to take on too much, I failed her.
My stupidity would kill my Foundation.
---
There was so much blood. Who knew a pony could have so much blood. It was all over the floor, and covered my legs. Some was even in my mouth. It tasted like iron and justice.
The pony was dead, beaten to a pulp. He might have screamed for help. Good, let him scream like Foundation screamed.
The corpse didn’t look like a corpse, it looked like an overripe tomato that had been dropped. And it was missing a leg…
No, not missing, there it was across the room. Good, it was better there, he didn’t deserve it. He deserved death.
And he was dead. That could only be a good thing. I killed him, made him suffer, I know he suffered because he screamed, oh how he screamed. It was music to my ears. If only I could have made the raiders scream too. What a day of retribution.
Yes, that’s what it was. He may have cried for mercy, but he didn’t deserve it. It was bloody retribution, blood for blood. And he had so much of it to give.
It made me laugh, though I knew it wasn’t funny. I couldn't stop laughing.
What a joke I was. Full of blood and rage, taking revenge on a pony for an even he wasn’t there for. He deserved it though….
---
Eventually Smooth Tongue’s forces took the town back. It was a lesson for the whole town. We thought we could be independent, apart from Smooth Tongue. But we learned, and what good timing it was for Smooth Tongue that we were taught a lesson and he was able to show how much we needed him to defend us. How fortuitous.
They found me hugging Foundation’s corpse, though I couldn’t remember how I got there. Her face was blue, and the rope was still tied around her neck, and she was red with blood, her blood. Maybe my blood too. There was so much of it.
They had to pry me off of her, but I didn’t want to let go. It was my fault. I made her lose hope.
I tried to protect her, and I failed.
Without hope she was lost, and when the raiders started… they gave her the rope, they made it her choice, but it was my choice in the end. I gave up on her, and that made her give up.
Foundation died because I failed. Her ruby eyes were closed when I found her, and I would never see joy in them again.
How do you get up and keep going when you destroyed everything that mattered to you? I tried to forget. Tried to pretend to forget. I ran across the wastes. Got Wildfire killed… got more ponies killed. Their names would be etched onto my soul, and they would always hold me back.
Foundation. Wildfire. My past. No matter how far I ran they would follow. Maybe I had to stop running, to accept. To move forward.
When they finally pried me off Foundation I cried out. Told her that I still loved her. That I was sorry. It wasn't good enough, she would never know how much I really cared for her… and that hurt worst of all.
---
“Momma?”
I was hugging Serenity, liked I’d hugged Foundation. There were tears like before too, and blood. But Serenity was alive…
“Momma…” She sounded worried, about me. I should have been the one worried about her.
“I'm okay…” It was hard to speak. “You’re o-okay… never again… I’ll never leave you again… never.” I sniffled. “I p-promise.” I would tell her, I decided then, and Platinum Haze, and even Flare. Let them know what happened before… and if they thought I deserved it maybe they could help me through…
“I know….” She nuzzled into my chest. “I never thought… I know he was a liar. You’re not like…” Her voice drifted away and I just held her. Behind me I could hear the others. They must have caught up. They were talking, but I didn’t hear. It didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered.
“I… I have something for you.” I reached into my bag and produced Scootaborg. “I-i found her. I know she means a lot….”
Serenity’s eyes went wide and she took the toy gently from my with her magic, holding it in front of her. “Thank you…. I missed her… and you….” She gulped. “I knew you’d come….”
“Always.” I had to stand. I wanted to stay there hugging Serenity forever until the memories faded, but I had to get up. There was still one thing left to do. “W-we need to get up.” Serenity nodded quietly, disentangling herself from me. All the while her grey eyes stayed on me, as if she were afraid if she looked away...
“What happened here?” Flare asked. I reluctantly took my eyes away from Serenity. Behind the window where the glass was Flare Haze and Wallkirk stood, staring at all the blood.
“I killed them,” I said of the two bodies.
“Silver, you know we cannot ap—,” Haze started to speak, but I had to cut her off.
“It doesn’t matter. They're dead..”
She stared at me sternly for a few seconds before slowly nodding. “We understand.”
“Serenity.” I looked back to my daughter. “Do you still have your gun?” I smiled when I saw that she had balanced Scootaborg on her back.
“Y-yea.” She was smiling, I saw. It was weak, and strained, but it was a smile, and that meant a lot. She pulled the gun from her backpack, my shoulder burning as she used her magic. “There’s no ammo… they took it.”
“I have some…” I’d always kept most of the extra supplies. “In my pack, take it.” There still might be ghouls around, or other ponies that needed to die….
She took the ammo from my pack and slammed it into her gun. She hovered the gun in front of her, ready… I think it made her feel better. Having something to defend herself with. “T-thanks, momma.”
“We need to go,” I said to everyone. “Find Dragonslayer and….”
Before I could keep talking the projector screen at the far side of the room turned on, and started to play.
---
It was another security camera, this time inside of an operating room. There was a table, and on it there was the figure of a large pony under a sheet. Beside it was the doctor pony that I had killed. There was also the back of somepony’s head, probably the same pony from before. It was almost as if he knew where to stand to avoid being seen.
“Subject Six.” The doctor said with a grin on her face. “With this, we have done it. I told you we could, sir.”
“And you are positive she will live?” The other pony spoke.
“Yes, of course!” The doctor just beamed.
“And how will we set off the megaspell?”
“It’s a bit complicated, but.” She took out a remote-like device I swore I’d seen before. “We used a similar magical code, like the terminals in this facility use.” My stomach sank, because I realized where they were. The white hallways, the pony megaspells, everything. They were in the mountain facility. But how. “It’s been set up that when a chip in their brain receives the signal, it’ll start the detonation process.”
“And the detonation itself?”
“Well, for this subject we used a full sized megaspell, however we are confident with time our next subject will be able to be fused with a miniature one. Enough to cause a large explosion, but small enough the spread of radiation will be minimal and fade after a few months, just like you asked.”
“Excellent.” The pony sounded mildly pleased. “Are there any known side effects? It would be preferable that they never know of the change.”
“As far as we can tell subject six has no anomalies. The only thing is.” She lifted part of the sheet to show a metal leg, “We had to amputate the leg, and use the connection port in her shoulder to house the magical receiver. When magic is used around the subject they may feel a slight burning sensation around there. They most likely will think it is just a side effect to the cybernetics, but anypony without cybernetics…”
“I see.” The pony reached out a hoof to raise the pony's metal leg then let it drop. “Then we shall have to only perform the operation on ponies with cybernetics… a slight annoyance, but it’ll be more than adequate.”
“Thank you, sir!”
“You have done very well… now, I need you to find a way for the subject to return to the wasteland.”
“What…” The doctor went wide eyed at the very thought. “B-but the subject—.”
“We need to test them under normal conditions. Make up an excuse for how she got where she is, I don’t care how you do it. We can study her from a distance to make sure she can withstand the rigours of the wasteland without cracking or the project may yet fail.”
“But sir… I… I don’t mean to contradict you. But we purchased her from the tribe north of Caledonia, under the understanding she was never to return, how will we—.”
“I don’t care,” he said sharply. “Think of something.” The pony in charge walked off screen leaving the doctor alone.
…
Me.
---
Nopony spoke.
Nopony breathed.
What could be said? What could be thought?
Serenity held up her gun in magic still, and I felt something in my shoulder.
It burned, and I finally understood.
Level Up!
Skill Note: Survival 90
New Perk: Unstoppable Force: Your martial might is truly legendary. You do a large amount of additional damage through enemy blocks with all Melee Weapons and Unarmed attacks. It’s also useful for breaking down walls!
((A/N: Wow, so, that took a while. I apologize for the wait I had a few… issues with it. Firstly I had to scrap half a chapter when it wasn’t working, then when I rewrote it it got accidentally deleted… fun stuff. But it’s here now, Merry Christmas! Thanks to Kkat for creating this world that I abuse, and thanks to my editors for making this shit readable: theBSDude, Julep, and Menti! Also thanks to my lovely boyfriend RainbowYoshi for helping me out with some plot details.
Oh, and if you like your stories dictated not read, check out Equestrian Narrator’s audio book version of Heroes! It’s really good: http://www.youtube.com/user/EquestriaNarrator/videos )) |
No One | 662 | 31 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2014-06-14T19:52:04+00:00 | 2014-06-19T06:19:07+00:00 | 10,644 | Cui Bono
“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
“We need to go.” My throat felt raw, and the words took more effort than they should have. “Dragonslayer….”
“Silver,” Flare said in a soft tone that was so unlike him, “I think he can wait; we need to—”
“It's a trick.” It wasn't a trick, but I really wanted to believe it was. It explained… so much: how I got to Bridle Hope so long ago, why ponies so helpfully gave me cybernetics, the burning sensation I thought was caused by star metal. I’d been such an idiot, and now I could see the full extent of my stupidity.
I could feel it, too. It was like a fire in my veins, and now that I knew it was there, I couldn't get rid of it. It surged through me, an immense magical power. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt it inside me, like it would burst forth and melt my body like the other subjects. Or maybe it would consume me slowly, turn me into a twisted monster so far detached from my equinity that I wouldn't be able to see it anymore. Like Simple Heart.
“Silver, c'mon, you're not stupid enough to think—” Flare kept talking.
“If Momma says it's a trick, it's a trick,” Serenity said sternly. She was still holding her gun in her magic, and I could feel it in my shoulder. The burning.
Flare opened his mouth, but I gave him one of my patented glares, and he slowly closed it. “We can talk about it later.” Yes, later. It was a trick, maybe. At the least, he was trying to weaken my resolve. I couldn't let it work.
“We do not care what is supposedly inside you,” Platinum Haze said. “We know that you are you, and we trust you, so we shall not let this come between us.” She gave me an unsure smile, but when I smiled back hers got wider and more confident.
“You too, Haze….”
I started walking towards the remains of the window, lowering myself so Serenity could jump on my back, to make it easier for her to get through. When I made it to the other side of the wall I was suddenly standing face-to-face with Wallkirk.
“I would like to examine you.” He was getting very close to examining one of Subtlety's bullets. “If what that video insinuates is true, you are something of a remarkable—”
I pushed my metal hoof against his… mouth? Whatever. It shut him up. “Shut up.” I pushed past the robot, ignoring the dirty look the face gave me.
I couldn't think about it, even if it seemed the rest of the world wanted me to. At least not until Dragonslayer was dead and his games were over.
“You know, Hired,” Flare followed after me swiftly, “technically what I said was: I was going to go with you until you found Serenity.”
“Hi, Flare!” Serenity jumped off my back and onto his, hugging him around the neck. “I missed you too.”
“You too, kiddo! Not your smell though.” Serenity giggled at Flare, though I wasn't sure why. “Anyway, Hired. I know I said that, but I think I'll extend that a little bit longer.”
“You want to turn Dragonslayer to ash too.” I said with a forced smirk. “The more the merrier.”
“Uh…” Platinum Haze walked over to the two of us, looking concerned. “We know we said we would not interfere, but we must inquire if killing him is truly the most profitable option available to us. Certainly there are other ways of dealing with him without murder?”
“Nope,” Flare said.
“No,” I replied after.
“Nuh-uh.” Serenity added a shake of her head to give her statement more impact.
“I doubt it,” Wallkirk said last, not that anyone cared what he thought.
“We simply mean that perhaps he has useful knowledge, and that hearing him out might be a wiser course of action. From what we have heard and seen of his actions, we deduce he is most likely proud, and if he thinks we are about to die anyway, he might be more loose with his words.”
I gave Haze a long, hard look, but when I saw how sad her eyes looked I had trouble continuing my previous line of thought. “I…” I chewed briefly on my lip. “I'll talk… but chances are I'll…”
“We understand.” She leaned down to give me a kiss on the cheek, but she stopped short at my still-bloodied form; so she pulled back, picked up a rag from her bag to wipe my face off (much to my protest), and then kissed it.
“Now fuck!” Flare said loudly.
I gave him a glare that let him know that I didn't approve of that sort of thing, at least not around Serenity. It didn't stop him from laughing to himself. It was nice, just hearing him laugh, it took my mind off… everything.
I sighed, ignoring the alien feeling inside, and kept walking. I wasn't sure at first that I was heading the right direction but then I saw monitors on the wall with brightly coloured arrows pointing me in the right direction. It didn't take long for us to reach a large set of double doors that seemed to beckon us.
“Knock knock.” I muttered to myself as I bucked the doors wide open.
The room we entered was… large. Not just large, cavernous. I had thought before the building was some sort of stadium, but I wasn't so sure anymore. There were no seats, just sheer walls all around until it reached what looked like the curved ceiling above, but it was hard to see with such little light. It was as if a stadium had been built without the intention of anyone actually watching.
“It took you long enough,” a voice said, stopping the five of us just outside of the doorway. It was coming from… something in the middle of the stadium that seemed to cover most of the floor. Just a huge mound of… stuff. Computer parts, building materials, at least one entire house, gems, caps, broken guns, just anything you could imagine in a giant pile. Walking on top of the pile was none other than Dragonslayer. “Hired Gun, Flare, Serenity… uh,” he looked at Platinum Haze, “I don't know who you are… or your robot. Does your robot have a name?”
“No,” Wallkirk said.
“Oh, good, easier for me to remember.” Dragonslayer started to walk down the mound, a sway in his steps. “What, you aren't going to shoot me?” He grinned.
“Take another step.” Subtlety's scope flipped up over my eye. “And I will. You wanted to talk? Talk. You brought me here for a reason.”
“To kill you, and I will be getting to that part. It'll be about time too, Celestia knows I've tried.” He stopped at the bottom of the mound of… stuff. “But first, I have a question. Have you figured it out yet?” Before I could ask what I was supposed to figure out, he clarified: “Figured out who I work for? Who made you so… special?”
“The Enclave,” I said at once. It was the only answer that made sense given everything I knew. How else could they transport me to wherever they… yeah.
“The Steel Rangers,” Flare said quickly. He looked over at me. “What? Makes more sense than your answer.”
“It was the NCA obviously,” Wallkirk said stiffly.
“We have not been in the city for long, but if we had to guess, it is probably the minotaurs,” Platinum Haze offered.
“Don't matter, some jerks,” Serenity finished.
Dragonslayer just smiled. “Hired was closest… we work with parts of the Enclave Remnants and organized the recent coup, but I don't work for them. Any other guesses?” He made a sharp whistling sound when nobody answered and the sprite-bot robot thing that had been stalking us floated up to him bobbing ever so slightly. Now that I got a good look it seemed really well worn.
“A long time ago, when our founder was but a colt in Eye Glow, he wandered outside the city. He was always a lonely child, timid and afraid of his peers, until he found this half buried under rubble.” He tapped the robot. “He brought it back to his home and repaired it, and when he did, he found a message recorded in it. The message was short, but powerful, and it changed a lot of things.” He tapped a button and a voice started to play.
“The portal to hell is paved with good intentions… the ponies of the past made mistakes… to get back to where we were we need to do better. Do better. You can't stand by and watch… you need to act, to do something good before it's too late. Who am I? I guess you can call me The Watcher.”
My eyes went wide. That… Dragonslayer couldn't be implying with that what it sounded like he was implying. That was impossible.
“Clean Cutt made the Watchers in the years following, he grew and cultivated them.” No… the Watchers couldn't be doing this. That didn't make any sense.
“NO!” Serenity screamed, pointing her gun at Dragonslayer. “Take that back! They'd… They'd never do that to Momma, or me! They're nice! Take it back!”
Dragonslayer just smiled. “You may not understand his methods, but you can all understand his motives. He came to Dise with a bright heart, ready to give unto the wasteland, to grow it, and what did he find? Desolation of morality. The basest sins on every corner, the greatest surviving technologies in the wasteland kept in hiding by feuding gangs, and an endless war that left innocents dead. Without a central authority, Dise is a death trap, sucking you in with honey before closing its mouth and trapping you.
“Do any of you truly understand what the city has? It has a water treatment plant. A plant that purifies water of magical radiation, and even if radiation can seep back in what that means is beyond compare! Think of how many children died of thirst or of radiation poisoning because there was no clean water! And Dise refused to share, the Mustangs too scared of losing their only edge. And the megaspell power plant, to think what ponies could do with that technology. These two things could be copied and rebuilt, and could you imagine how the wasteland would look then! But their usefulness is squirrelled away, helping Dise continue its torture of ponies’ souls.
“Something had to be done, but how? You can't build an army large enough to take over the city, you can't take the technology for yourself. The city is too fractured to properly fight, or control. So you either walk away… or do something drastic.
“Dise can't be fixed, and it can't be fought conventionally. So it needs to be wiped out. Not… what you're thinking. We aren't espousing genocide or anything like that; we're talking a revolution. Dise is a powder-keg, and eventually it was going to collapse in on itself, so we chose to speed up the project. Incite war, chaos, anarchy, let each faction blame their neighbour until the war threatens the civilians so much that they must run away to survive. Dise the city will die, like it was destined to from its inception.
“But from it we can build something great. From the destruction of the idea of Dise we can build a true paradise. We have been storing supplies, we have a small army of volunteers loyal to our cause and when the city turns to dust we will ride in and save it. The Watchers will be the heroes who saves Dise, and then the wasteland, when we get access to the technology the gangs have been hiding. We will spread the technology from here to Canterlot to Roam and everywhere in between. With it we can rebuild what was lost, we as a society can do better!
“Can you truly tell me this is not an honourable cause? You of all ponies have seen Dise at its worst. It's an impenetrable and unforgiving hellhole that sucks life from all who enter. It is not worth saving and… yes there will be losses, ponies caught up in the chaos, but we're doing what we can to lower the collateral damage. The megaspells we put in ponies are low yield with limited explosive potential, and spread low, manageable levels of radiation. But even if a thousand ponies get caught up, more would be lost if we didn't go through it…. Do you understand what we're trying to accomplish?”
I wasn't sure I did… he was trying his damnedest to paint everything they'd done in a good light. To explain why what they were doing was good, and part of me wanted to buy into it. That The Watchers were pushed into the fight by forces against their will, and are trying to save the wasteland through it….
But to do that by sowing chaos, sticking megaspells into ponies, and kidnapping fillies. Was the only way to save the wasteland to become a monster? There had to be another way…
“Momma, don't listen to him.” Serenity looked up to me with pleading eyes. “He's lying: he's not with the Watchers; it's a trick…. He can't be; they're good ponies.”
“We are unsure, Silver. He speaks of wanting to help but his actions are horrendous. In this way he reminds us of mother, but we cannot condone his actions regardless of any noble intent.” Platinum Haze looked down at me.
“If he wasn't such a dickbag I might be inclined to give him the time of day, but fuck him. Scrap him and talk to Clean Cutt, see what the real score is,” Flare suggested.
“He's threatening Dise, he's clearly mad,” Wallkirk added… helpfully?
I looked between my companions, unsure what to say. If he was right and what they did really would save more than they lost, wouldn't it be a good thing? If the end result was peace. I didn't know. “Why are you telling us this?” I said slowly, uncertainty still twisting in my stomach.
“The usual reasons. This is the part where I reach my hoof out to you,”—he mimicked the motion—“and plead: ‘We can save the world together, join us.’” He smirked. “Then you say: 'No, I'll never join you!' At which point I pull out this,”—his horn lit up and a remote floated out of his backpack—“and tell you that if you don't, I'll blow you up.”
“What!” My eyes went wide again. “Y-you can't!” I could feel the fire rising up in my chest again, waiting to burst. “You…” That remote, it was the same one he used the day he blew up the Laughing Stallion. And I didn't blow up then. He couldn't detonate me (And what a weird sentence that was). “You can't. …You've tried before.”
Dragonslayer smirked and threw the remote to the ground. “Well, you called my bluff. I guess I'll have to stick with the standard question. 'Join me and save the world, or deny me and die.'”
“I…” I looked at my friends, studying their features, remembering that I trusted them. “You kidnapped Serenity, killed The Batmare, and killed Pinprick making Spitshine an orphan. Everything else.. whatever morality you're saying. Maybe you're right. Maybe it'd be worth it. Maybe it'd be justified. Maybe you'd save the wasteland. But after what you've done… I can't join you.” I started to aim Subtlety. “Sorry. Goodbye.”
“I see,” he said calmly. “I figured it would be a waste, but five minutes of my time was worth the effort to try. You can kill them.”
The ground shook throwing off my aim.
“What the-” I started looking back towards Dragonslayer… past Dragonslayer.
Behind him and rising fast was a mountain of flesh and purple scales. From behind the giant mound of miscellaneous crap, a dragon rose.
It opened its mouth. I barely had the chance to see the flames before I felt the heat of them on me.
Only… they stopped. The flames crashed into a transparent purple vale, swirling around it and us like a vortex from hell. “Haze!” I said turning to the alicorn as soon as I recognized where it came from. The alicorn's horn was glowing in bright layers, and sweat was trickling down her face as she strained.
“W-we… advise you… to… get ready,” she grunted, bracing herself as if she was being physically pushed.
The fire died down as fast as it came, leaving a semicircle of flames still in front of us.
“Now!” she cried dropping her shield and turning. I grabbed Serenity with a leg and threw her onto my back, then ran back the way we came before the dragon got another chance!
We had barely managed to run down the hallway and duck into a side hall before a jet of orange death covered the corridor, leaving it a black and smoking ruin. “Fuck!” I shouted. “Fuck fuck fuck!” I looked around frantically. “We need to… fuck!”
I kept running, even though I didn't need to. The dragon couldn't fit in the hallway, it was too big… but if it wanted it could destroy the entire building. But even if we got out where would we go… there was no getting out of this one. If only I had my balefire egg launcher.
“Flare!” I turned to him. “I need you… once we get outside. Take Serenity to the boat. Get as far away as possible.”
“But Momma!” Serenity looked scared… or was it determined, it was hard to tell sometimes. “You said… you said you wouldn't leave me again!”
Somewhere deep in the building there was a great mechanical groan so powerful it seemed to shake the floor.
“Serenity I… I know I said that but…,”—She bit her lip—“keeping you safe is more important.” She started to pout, so I kneeled down and gently caressed her cheek. “Sweetie. I know you want to keep me safe… but you have to do this. I can't bear to lose you, not so soon after getting you back. I promise this will be the last time… but this… this is too much.”
She sniffled but eventually nodded. “O-okay. But this better be the last time.”
“Thanks…” I kissed her forehead and looked up at Flare. “Take her to the ship, wait for me… I know you've been meaning to go back to the pegasi and everything but…”
“No sweat, Hired. Those traitorous dogs don't need me killing them right away, I'm sure; they'll still be alive if it takes a day or so longer.” I was pretty sure Flare was smirking under his armour. “Just, you know, try not to die. I know your barding is supposed to be fireproof, but it's not that fireproof.”
“Yeah.” I nodded grimly. “Once we get outside, I'll distract the dragon, then you fly away. It's me Dragonslayer wants dead, so he shouldn't follow you.”
“What shall we do?” Platinum Haze was dutifully scanning the hallways as we took time to talk. “We do not like to fight…”
“I know…” I got back to my hooves and walked over to her. I had meant to kiss her on the cheek, but she was too tall and didn't seem to get my meaning. “Uh… just… you have other spells. Stop Dragonslayer from getting close. Use your shield if you can. You don't need to fight to be helpful.” I looked over at Wallkirk, his screen displaying a knowing smile.
“Yes? Oh, do you have commands?”
“Don't you have any like… weapons?” I asked.
“Of course, this platform has a rocket launcher with five missiles, and a large magical energy cannon,” the computer robot thing said.
“Right… just… shoot. Try to hit Dragonslayer. If he shows his face. He'll be easier to hurt.”
“Don't you trust my abilities?” I trusted him about as far as I could throw him… and I wasn't even sure what that meant.
I didn't bother replying to him because I felt it was just a stupid question anyway. I just walked past him and down the hallway. The first thing we had to do was get out of the building… and after that… I wasn't even sure.
---
We eventually found the way we came in: a giant hole in the exterior wall that looked like it had been burned and blackened. A roaring sound from outside reminded me what it was that made the opening. “How did he even get out?” I wondered aloud, though it was probably a stupid question.
“The stadium was built with a retractable roof,” Wallkirk explained, finally doing something helpful.
I turned back to him and raised an eyebrow.
“It's a training facility for pegasi; it was designed so pegasi could practice manoeuvres without being spied on from above,”—another design based on the assumption of a war against Equestria no doubt—“but some required more room, or more height.” I still wasn't sure that reasoning made sense, but he had been around back then so I would have to take his word for it.
“Right.” I peeked my head outside the hole and looked around to make sure Dragonslayer wasn't waiting for us. “Okay, Flare, Serenity.” I looked over to them. “Haze, Wallkirk, and I are going to make a run for it, and try to grab their attention. Wait until we're followed, then you two make a break for it.”
“Alright… just try not to die, if you die I swear I'll kill you.” Flare said.
“But, Momma,”—I looked down at Serenity—“how are you gunna, like… kill it after we leave?”
The ground shook when the dragon roared again.
“Leave that to me.” I said to disguise the fact I didn't really have a clue. “I mean. I've survived getting shot in the face twice, those landsharks, the Facility, and that giant scorpion. I'm good.” I gave my most convincing smile, but from the look in Serenity's eyes I knew it wasn't enough.
“Aright.” She climbed onto Flare's back. “Just…,” she chewed on her lip and lowered her gaze, “promise me y’all come back?”
“I promise,” I said sternly, before leaning down and kissing her forehead, “Nothing will keep me from you.” That seemed to be acceptable given her smile, so I turned away looking between Wallkirk and Platinum Haze. “Okay! We make a run for the building with the bridge we came through. That should be enough to draw their attention.”
“We can manage that.” Platinum Haze nodded. “We will prepare our shield spell, but we regret to inform you we cannot use it while moving.”
“Affirmative,” Wallkirk said, his back panel opening up and revealing a selection of rather large weapons. “Just getting ready.”
“Alright, go!” I was going to count to three and then run, but I didn't want to take any longer than I had to.
Mere metres out of the building I heard a great thudding of flapping wings, and another roar. As fast as we were going it didn't take long for us to be completely covered by a giant black shadow. I gritted my teeth and pushed myself faster, wishing I had dash or something to help me along.
It didn't help that both Platinum Haze and Wallkirk were faster than me, and I was losing ground every second.
The dragon roared once more, so close now I could feel it blow my mane. The thudding of wings got closer, and I remembered how stupid I was, and why I should never be allowed to make plans.
The dragon would have caught me too, but Platinum Haze tripped mid stride. She hit the ground hard on her chin, and I zoomed past her without even registering what happened until a second later. I looked back and saw the dragon descending on her, claws outstretched as if to grab her.
“Fuck!” I pivoted and turned towards her. I ran. I wasn't sure what I was planning to do when I got to her. With the dragon swooping down that fast, there was nothing I really could do, but I couldn't just leave her there! So I ran at her, and when I got over her, I jumped.
The dragon reached out, as I passed over her. Its claw wrapped around me tight, and I could feel it begin to squeeze. “Run!” I choked out to Haze. She looked conflicted for a second, but as I began to rise with the dragon she must've agreed; she got to her hooves and scrambled off.
The claws tightened around me. I gasped for breath, and I swear I heard my ribs cracking when the dragon squeezed making it feel like my chest was on fire.
There was a whistling sound, and explosion so close that it almost made me go deaf. Then the squeezing stopped, and I gasped for breath as I fell.
I hit the ground hard, and pain surged through my body as I rolled across the dirt. I flopped to a halt beside Wallkirk, and when I looked up at him I saw his rocket launcher smoking.
“You can't die yet,” he said as I groaned and got to my hooves. “Let’s go.” He swivelled and turned to the entrance to the building we were heading towards. It was thankfully close. I got to my hooves and galloped the rest of the way.
As I burst through the doors, I turned back to look and make sure Flare had left, and sure enough, far in the distance and getting further was a winged black speck. “Good,” I said slamming the doors behind me.
“We must apologize!” Haze said upon seeing me, running up to hug me with her wings. “We did not intend to fall in that manner, we are not very good at running and… we are sorry, we should not have left you.”
“It's fine.” I groaned, rubbing my ribs with my hoof. “It was an accident. Just be more careful.” Platinum Haze nodded vigorously, blood dripping off her chin as she did. Most of the lower part of her muzzle and neck were covered in blood. “Fuck, are you okay? You fell hard.”
Platinum Haze brought up a hoof and gently prodded the scraped and peeled flesh, flinching a bit when she did, and again when she saw blood covering her hoof. “We are fine.” She grimaced. “It was not a graceful fall, but we do not imagine the injury is serious enough to cause us to pause; though our wing is still injured as well, so if we do happen upon a healing potion….”
“So what’s the plan now?” Wallkirk interrupted. “My body is completely disposable, but the same cannot be said for the two of you, so unless you're hiding a teleport spell….”
I wasn't that concerned with what happened to me. From what I'd seen, I was going to die soon anyway: it was only a matter of time before the megaspell melted me from the inside out, and if it didn't do the trick the starmetal would. With a groan, I rubbed my forehead and tried to focus, but with everything that had happened it was hard.
“This is a military base, are we correct?” Platinum Haze asked. “Because if it is, would we not be able to deduce that there is probably some weaponry nearby?”
Wallkirk answered that for me. “Before the war this facility was primarily responsible for the training of new recruits, as well as other training programs, not for operational storage or field tests…. However, the NCA used it frequently for the transportation of materiel, so it's possible.”
That was… something. Not quite hope, but the closest approximation to it. “Where?” Wallkirk turned to me, the face on the screen looking disapproving. “I mean. Where do you think?” He really wouldn't know exactly where the NCA kept their weapons, but he might have an idea. More than me at least.
“There… was a rather rather large building that was used to house air transports and the like,” Wallkirk said, a picture of said building showing up on his screen, “but it's close to where the previous megaspell went off, so even if anything is there, there’s no guarantee of any of it working.”
“We can't run,” I grunted and pointed in the direction of the bridge. “So we have to fight. Our weapons aren't good enough… so we have to have…” I wanted to say hope, but the plan was lacking in anything of the sort. Maybe if I grabbed that balefire egg launcher I had stashed in the BS… but that seemed lost to me since I had burned bridges with Mr. House.
“What if there are no weapons there?” Platinum Haze asked, following behind me quickly. “Or we reach there only to find it all destroyed? After fighting our way there we cannot imagine we would have the strength to look elsewhere.”
“Then…” I looked back at Platinum Haze for only a second before turning my gaze forward and shutting my mouth. I had no encouraging words to give. Serenity was safe, and I was certain we were just biding time until our death.
If we were going to die though, it had to be a good death. We'd go down fighting… but we would go down.
“Then what? We do not believe you have finished your entire thought.” She was never good at taking a hint, was she?
“Nothing.” I kept walking, letting her suss out my meaning on her own. As oblivious as she could be, I figured she was smart enough to realize the implication of fighting a dragon without anything that could kill a dragon. She didn't say anything further as she followed me through the dusty building, so I could only assume she eventually understood.
It didn't take long for us to reach the bridge that lead to the other part of the building, and it remained eerily quiet the whole time. Which was good because the only way to make my impending death feel worse would be listening to Wallkirk as I waited, but at the same time it was… unnerving. There was a dragon nearby, and I couldn't hear it… that's really not the sort of creature you want sneaking up on you.
As we reached the bridge I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A bathroom, by the looks of the door anyway. I didn't remember seeing it before, but I wasn't about to argue good fortune. Platinum Haze's wing was still injured, and if we were to find a healing potion that would be the most likely place. “You two keep going,” I said as I veered off course, “I'll only be a second.”
I assumed they’d listened; by the time I entered the darkened bathroom they weren't following me.
There's really not much I can say about a bathroom. It was dark, but my cybernetic eye made it so that wasn’t a problem. There were half collapsed stalls and glass all over the floors and around the surprisingly still intact sinks. And there was writing on the wall (in blood, of course) that said something depressing, so I didn't waste my time on it. I didn't need any help on that front.
There was also a lovely little pale yellow box with three butterflies on it. I'll never know whose idea it was to put these medical boxes in every bathroom, but I loved whoever they were…
I also hated them, because for some reason they also saw fit to lock said medical boxes. What was even the point of that? Not that it stopped me at all, a tiny lock was no match to a sharp kick. There was a resounding smash and the box’s contents were open to me.
The final tally of useful medicine (Not including the pointless rolls of bandages) were: two healing potions (there had been three, but my kick broke one…), a RadAway, and two syringes of Med-X.
I looked to the bathroom door quickly to make sure nobody was coming in before taking one of the syringes and jamming it into the nearest vein on my leg. It had been a while since my last once, and I needed the relief. Nothing like facing ones death high.
Which was a term I never really understood. When I grew up I got all these lectures about how drugs would tweak me out of my mind, make me be unable to control my body, and everything else… but with Med-X it was never like that. Alcohol was more likely to make me lose control, Med-X just made everything… easier to deal with. I think.
Whatever, I was tired of people giving me lectures. Who knew better what I needed to survive than me?
When I was done with that I tossed the empty syringe onto the ground, gathered up the rest of the supplies, and headed back out the door. I couldn't have been gone for more than a few minutes, but sure enough, Platinum Haze and Wallkirk were already most of the way across the bridge. I trotted off to join them.
But I stopped. For a second I heard something, like a giant flapping of wings…
I jumped back just in time. The ground shook beneath me, and there was a great crash followed quickly by a plume of dust. It all happened so fast I could barely see, but when I opened my eyes the bridge was gone, demolished, and there was the body of a dragon in its place. The creature looked at me for a split second before roaring and flying off, leaving destruction in its wake.
Across the gap I could see Wallkirk and Haze were shaken, but thankfully unharmed. I opened my mouth to yell out for them, but before I got a word out I saw Haze's horn start to glow.
BANG BANG BANG
Had I not recently had some Med-X I would have jumped, but instead I turned quickly (when I did I finally noticed that I was surrounded by a purple bubble shield) to see a grinning Dragonslayer behind me.
“Damn, you caught on,” he said as the shield around me faded.
I looked back quickly to Haze and Wallkirk and shouted, “Keep going!” They seemed confused, yet turned to run off. I looked back to my enemy. “Just you, no dragon?”
“There's so many of you, we need to split up the work. At least until we find out where your little friends went scurrying off to.” He didn't seem to realize they were escaping the fight, and I wasn't about to correct him. “Besides, I want you all to myself!”
He charged, pulling a dagger out of seemingly nowhere with that magic of his. I tried to track him with Subtlety, but the shot I fired missed. He was too close, and too fast. Before I had the chance to fire a second shot he was beside me, his blade raking through my armour and across my ribs.
With a shocked gasp I turned, lashing out sideways with my metal hoof, but I hit nothing but air. Too fast. He was too damn fast. I backed up quickly as I finished my turn, firing off a few quick shots with Subtlety. I didn't expect them to hit him, I just needed to scare him off before he could get close.
It seemed to work, because by the time I backed up a few steps we had switched places, me facing him and him with his back to where the bridge once was. “You could just die. Fall on my blade. I promise I won’t think any less of you…”
“Fuck off.” I brought up Subtlety. It was a good gun, but nearly useless at such short ranges.
“This way you won’t blow up when you die. No collateral damage. Just you.”
“I won’t anyway. Your trigger doesn't work.”
“You assume that's the only way to set you off.” There was something decidedly wrong about his smile. “You've got it all wrong, my dear. The chip that House's surgeons moronically broke is just an intermediary between the magic trigger and the bomb. The bomb inside you is still active, and there is more than one way to set it off.” Out of his bag he pulled out a small syringe with something glowing and white inside it. “Now stay still….”
That wasn't happening. His little vial of something awful came flying towards me in a burst of magic and I ducked right, the vial of whatever it was missing me by a mile. Something else scraped against my neck though. Fuck, I hadn't even seen him throw his knife. It was shallow, but still!
I straightened myself as quick as I could and bit down on my bit, ready to end him once and for all.
No bullets came out of Subtlety…
I bit harder but it didn't do anything except hurt my teeth. In shock I looked down trying to figure out what the problem was. Then I saw it. The knife Dragonslayer threw wasn't aimed at me, it was aimed at the cord that connected the firing bit to my battle-saddle. “Fuck.”
BANG.
I stumbled back when a round slammed into my shoulder. Pain flared, but the Med-X from before was enough to dull it slightly. “This has been fun.” Dragonslayer looked so Celestia-damned smug. “But it's time to end this. I'm sorry it had to come to this but we can't have you mucking up everything.”
I refused to let him win… not like this. I didn't have my gun, but I was killing ponies long before I got it! So I did the only thing I could do, I charged.
There was a brief look of shock on his face, and the sound of a gunshot barely missing me, then I hit him.
We slammed together with such force our hooves left the ground. We soared out, over the gap where the bridge once was. We fell and fell and fell until we came to a sudden stop in the rubble below.
---
“…Get up. You have to get up.” Through tear-blurred eyes, I saw Wildfire kneeling above me, tears streaming down her face. “I can't lose you, too….”
I reached a hoof out to her. To touch her, embrace her, promise her I was okay and everything would be alright… but my hoof passed through her, and her body turned to red mist blowing away with the dust.
“Wildfire….” My voice was sore… as was the rest of me…. High above I could see the ruined building, and the ragged hole I fell from. It was so high up. I would ask myself how I survived a fall like that, but I've had worse. Though last time I was in a hospital for a month, even with the help of healing potions.
I rolled to my hooves. Or rather I attempted to, as my legs collapsed from under me when I tried. “Fuck.” I groaned, digging into my bags. The two healing potions I had intended to give to Platinum Haze were there, and they were delicious. I'm sure Haze wouldn't mind me taking them, considering the circumstances.
They did their job well enough to help me stand and walk, but they weren't enough. “Fuck,” I said as I tried to walk without constantly wincing. I still had some extra Med-X in my bag, and it was damned tempting to take another to help me along, but I didn't want to overdo it, not when I still had a bastard to kill.
The rubble I was standing in barely looked like a bridge anymore, it was just a mess of stone, metal, and glass… and amongst it somewhere was Dragonslayer.
I heard a cough.
So I followed it to find Dragonslayer halfway down the rubble pile from me, with a piece of rebar sticking through his back and out his stomach.
As I stood over his crumpled form I realized that I had forgotten just how small he was. Skinnier than Flare, shorter than Pearly, and with his barding torn open, I could count every rib in his chest at glance. His skinny legs, pawing uselessly at the rebar through him, were lacking any definition, anything that looked like strength. I was nearly twice the size of him, I realized.
He’d always been so much bigger in my imagination. A smug figure thwarting me at every turn, an opponent to fight and defeat. But he never was. He didn't get the better of me by being stronger, or faster, he beat me by moving diagonal when I charged straight on. Like this, without his tricks, and schemes, and plans… he was nothing.
I felt a little bit of pity for him in that moment, but just for a moment, then I remembered all he had done.
My metal hoof pressed into his forehead, eliciting a gasp. “You're going to die. If you want to beg forgiveness. Do it now.”
“D-do you—” He coughed. “D-d-do you know what we did to h-her?”
I pressed harder. “Who.”
“Y-y-your d-daughter.” There was a faint smirk on his mouth, somewhat undone by the way blood had matted his mane over half his face.
“What did you do to her?” I ground my teeth. He’d had her for so long, and if they could plant a megaspell in me in less than a week, I could only imagine what horrors they could do to her. “Tell me.”
“N-nevermind.” His smirk grew as the sun above us was suddenly and immediately shadowed. “You'd never believe me.”
A second too late I realized it had just been another one of his tricks. But by then the dragon was on top of me, wrapping its claw around me and dragging me into the sky. “EAT HER!” I heard Dragonslayer yell from the ground before screaming in pain from the effort.
The dragon pulled me high into the air. The roof of the giant stadium passed by (it had been opened at some point), and soon the entire chasm was far below. We were so high up I could see the many canyons laid out before me. It looked liked somepony had dragged a giant dagger across the surface of the earth, but as we grew higher I realized just how small the canyon was in the grand scheme of things.
There was just so much ground below me. To the east I could see as far as the river we’d come down on, but it was so small the details were lost to me. To the north I swear I could see the vaguest hint of Dise's skyscrapers on the Horizon, but it might have been wishful thinking.
Suddenly the dragon let me go, and I was flung into the sky. My hooves flailed as I soared against my will. Looking down I could see the Dragon's open maw ready to swallow me whole. A pink and black pit. What a way to die.
Survive
Except I wasn't dead. There was time. And I didn't want to die.
There was still work left undone, ponies to protect, but it was more than that. I wanted to live, because I just wasn't ready to die. Since Foundation, I kept living for other ponies, but this time I wanted to live for me.
I started to fall, and so did my options. The mouth came rushing towards me, and I tried to remember all the times I'd seen Flare fly. I lacked wings, but something still had to be applicable, right?!
I angled my body so I was pointing away from the creature's mouth. Still, it wasn't working. Falling too fast. I didn't have wings, but I needed something to move me.
Then the idea hit me, almost too late. I kicked my good hind-leg into my cybernetic one.
BANG!
My leg hurt like a bitch, but when the shotgun went off it was just enough. I landed with meaty thwack into the corner of the dragon's mouth before bouncing off.
I was free! Sort of. I mean, I wasn't food, so that was good, but I was still hurtling uncontrollably down a dragon's neck. At least until I slammed into the dragon's shoulder, fell off onto the dragon's leathery wing and started rolling down that instead. Out of options, and closely reaching the end of the wing that would send me off into even more certain death, I let the sword in my leg spring forth and stabbed downwards.
The blade slowed me with a sudden jerk as it tore a hole through the beast. Eventually it managed to slow me enough to stop, but I swear I could hear my metal leg strain in the effort.
“GET OFF ME!” The dragon's voice rumbled through the air liked thunder as it suddenly dove straight down.
Wind whipped against my body as we surged downwards, and my hind-legs flailed in the air. Still my sword kept steady, but I could hear the joint start to creek and stretch. I'd have to find some way to get down relatively safely and soon, or my leg was going to break off and I'd find a less safe way to get down.
I didn't even realize how far we had dropped until the creature turned to the side and I could see down. We were closer to the ground, but a fall at that height still wouldn't end well for me. Not that anything I did ended well for me.
The only hope I had was to try and dislodge my blade and try to land on a building high enough that it would only break one of my two remaining legs, then I could limp to safety. I realized then, as I was hurtling through the air on the back of a dragon, that I was probably going to die despite my dramatic resolution to live… and I didn't really care. That's not to say I wasn't afraid (how could I not be?), but that I knew I was probably going to die. Still, I refused to be resigned to that fact. I chose to fight it, because stupidity is always an option.
Then the stupid choice appeared to me. The six-story building near the stairs out of the canyon that I had searched earlier was closing in on us, and it looked high enough to fall on. I didn't have time to aim properly, so as soon as it looked reasonably close I yanked on my sword, tearing it from the dragon's leathery wing.
I started to slide down the wing. Then roll. Then I felt suddenly weightless as I rolled off the side of the beast. The feeling lasted as long as it took me to crash, back first, onto the top of the building.
I could barely hear the dragon’s roar over my pained scream. Those screams turned to gasps as the sharpness of the pain turned to a dull throbbing all over my body. I was alive. Somehow… I wanted to laugh, or cry, or maybe both. It seemed funny to me that I had lived. After all that.
Perhaps it was a bit of a premature reaction, because as I rose to my shaky hooves, I felt the ground shift beneath me. The dragon had landed. I had just turned to where I’d heard it land when I saw it rise above the building, its claws digging into the roof to stabilize itself. The beast looked down at me, and even from the sixth floor building it was still towering over me. Its eyes burned a fiery red as it opened its mouth. Rows upon rows of sharp teeth lay within, and for a second I saw a spark of a flame inside.
BOOM
The grisly vision was gone in a sudden explosion. Another impacted the dragon's forehead, and it recoiled, roaring in pain. The third and the fourth made the beast reconsider its attempt to set me on fire, and it chose instead to beat a hasty retreat.
“You know, Hired,” Flare's voice boomed as I saw his black armoured form land beside me, “you sure do get yourself in trouble a lot.”
“Yeah.” I took a seat on the roof, either that or my legs gave out, but I like the first interpretation better. “You don't say.” Serenity jumped off Flare’s back looking very pleased with herself. “What are you two doing here…”
“Saving your life.” I could hear Flare smirking even though I couldn't see his face. “You look like shit, by the way.” I couldn't argue with that. During one of my dramatic falls I must have cracked open my skull because the blood running down half plastered my mane to my face.
“Thanks.” I looked over at Serenity, trying my best not to look annoyed. They shouldn't have come back, it defeated the whole point of getting them away. “Doesn't answer my question though.”
“Well…” Serenity scrunched up her face in thought. “Well, because ya can't protect me… well ya can, but only if you're with me. I ain't stupid, I can see. The world's a big messed up place, and if ya step down the wrong alley, or even the right alley at the wrong time ya ain't gunna live long. You can't hide me away and expect me ta live. Sure, I could go and hide on that boat, but last time we were on'a boat it was attacked by pirates, and you went'n drove'em off. If you weren't there, who knows what would'a happened. So the way I figure it, if ya want ta protect me, like really wanna, the best way ta do that is be nearby. And that way I can protect you too.”
“But it's dangerous here, there's the dragon an—”
Serenity cut me off. “The whole world's dangerous! True, some are less than others, but if I hadda bet on what was the safest place in the whole wide wasteland, I’d have'ta say by your side.”
“Serenity…” I had to try and talk some sense into her. There was a dragon flying about, it wasn't a time for games.
“No, don't. Momma…” She took a deep breath and puffed out her chest. “I'm staying. So I can protect you, and you can protect me.”
I gave her a stern gaze, to show her I didn't approve, but she met my gaze and didn't back down. Eventually I gave a reluctant sigh and said, “Okay.”
“Now aren't we a big ol' happy family!” Flare said putting a leg around my neck. “So charming, so heartfelt. The emotions! If I weren't so jaded I would cry.”
“Get off me.” I said harshly, and Flare did, but only with a chuckle. “Flare, go find Platinum Haze and that robot. They were heading this way. From the building with the bridge. We'll find a way down, meet you outside. Unless the dragon comes back.”
“A fine plan! Really it is.” Flare flapped his wings and took to the air. I don't know how he did it, but I could always tell he was grinning even when he was in full armour. “Try not to get eaten while I'm away.” And with that he zipped off across the canyon.
“We can probably get down through here!” I heard Serenity yell. Somehow in my brief conversation with Flare she had managed to run across the roof and was staring down a hole made by the dragon's claws. As I walked over to the massive gouges I was… greatly discouraged by the fact that the holes were easily big enough for me to fit through.
“Right…” I leaned down and peered into the building, there didn't look to be anything dangerous below. “Here goes nothing.” With a hop I landed onto the dark floor below. It smelled like smoke and sweat.
---
The fight I had with the ghouls had gutted a lot of the interior of the building with fire, but the fire had tapered off leaving only the faint scent of smoke and blackened walls wherever the fire had spread to. Every so often, echoing through the halls, I could hear a ghoul's cry, but none came near us. Maybe somewhere in deep recesses of their broken minds they remembered me.
So it was safe-ish, and the building was large enough that it was going to take a while to get out. “Serenity,” I said slowly, “I need to tell you something.”
For once she was walking beside me, not riding on my back, so she stopped and looked up at me. “What is it, Momma?” I couldn't help but smile when she called me that.
“Walk and talk,” I said continuing on my way, not talking until I heard her catch up with me. It was easier this way because I wouldn't have to look at her. “I… a while ago I said I would eventually tell you about my other daughter… I think it's time.”
“Momma…” she said, suddenly very serious, “you don't have to. I know it... I mean it ain't easy.”
“I… need to.” It wasn't closure, not really. But Serenity needed to know, and I needed to talk about it eventually. “Just… it was a while ago. Back when I lived at a place called Marefort. Me and… a friend found a town that had been attacked by raiders. There was only one pony left alive. A little filly named Foundation… I think you would have liked her…”
“So you took her in?” Serenity asked, obviously knowing the answer.
“Yeah, we took her in.”
“Why?”
“Why?” That question stunned me for a second. “Because… somepony had to.” The answer seemed to satisfy Serenity so I kept talking as we moved through the smokey building. “We lived for a while, it was a good time, the three of us. I even learned how to read so I could read her bedtime stories.” The thought brought a smile to my face. “But… one day the town was attacked. And I… did something stupid. And…” My voice caught in my throat, and I couldn't continue.
“Momma…” Serenity said softly.
“And I never forgave myself. I never…” I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. It was hard to talk about, hard to keep talking. Every part of me just wanted to run away, to hide from what happened. “When I saw you for the first time, you looked like her when I first saw her…
“But you weren't her; you… you're different, so different. And that's great. And I knew I couldn't let anything bad happen to you. At the same time I knew if you stayed near me it would. Ponies I care about die. So I tried to push you away, and protect you at the same time… but it wasn't about you. It was about me, and Foundation.
“I needed forgiveness. I needed to forgive myself, to do something right. I thought maybe if I treated you right, if I protected you, I could look myself in the mirror.” I looked over at Serenity, walking silently in thought beside me. “It wasn't fair. You… I love you. And you're so smart, and resourceful and… special. I tried to put you on a pedestal, protect you for my sake, and…”
“I shouldn't have. You are not Foundation. You aren't just a way to make up for old mistakes, I never should have placed the burden on you… Just… know that I have always cared for you, I just needed to remind myself why caring was important. I'm sorry.”
I don't like talking; I never had. Maybe when I was a really little filly, but even then the words were meaningless. Emotions came hard for me. Talking about them was worse, but it needed to be done. Serenity had seen so much, been through so much that I needed to tell her… The words had come pouring out; I couldn't have stopped them if I tried.
“Momma, I…” She sighed as we started down some stairs. “I understand… It's… I wanted you to be my momma. To protect me… because… I don't know. But I understand… I don't blame ya for how ya felt.” She paused for a minute before continuing. “Thanks for tellin' me though. I know it ain't easy for ya but… I don't know, thanks.”
Perhaps telling her right then wasn't the best of ideas, as the silence in the air became palpable. It made the rest of the walk through the dank smokey building awkward, but I had no doubt she was using that time to think about what I said. I just wasn't certain that was a good idea.
---
“You won’t believe who I found!” Flare said immediately, as I opened the door to finally leave that smoke-ridden building. Apparently Flare had been waiting just outside the door to surprise me. “Your favourite pony in the whole wide world.” He waved a wing to Platinum Haze and Wallkirk who were standing a bit back, looking confused at Flare's antics. “And Platinum Haze.” Ha. Ha.
“You're an idiot,” I said, pushing past Flare so Serenity and I could finally leave the building. Flare didn't seem to mind, if his incessant giggling was any indicator.
“How are you faring, Silver?” Haze asked me as I closed the gap between us. “We were most worried when we saw that beast descend upon you, and we are fearful to even ask how you managed to outpace us here.”
“I flew.” was the only answer I could come up with, luckily Serenity was there to fill in the gaps.
“She rode on a dragon’s back! I think it tried to eat her, or set her on fire, maybe both. Luckily Flare and I scared it off! We're brave like that.” Serenity took this as an opportunity to pose dramatically with her gun in her magic.
“We are sure you made a most fearsome foe,” Platinum Haze replied, leaning down to ruffle Serenity's mane with a wing, “But still… we are glad you are relatively unharmed.” I didn't feel unharmed, I felt like I'd just been too close to a megaspell. Which was almost the truth… “We should hurry on our way though; the dragon will not remain occupied for long.”
“For your sakes, I do hope that weapon cache is still operational,” Wallkirk said, with a smile on the face his screen presented. I suppose it was hard not to be smug when you weren't in any real danger but everyone else was.
“Yeah…” I was still uncertain about that plan. Still, it was the only plan we had so I turned to it. “Lets pray it's th—”
A deafening roar that echoed across the canyon cutting me off. Shit.
“Flare, Wallkirk! Hit it with your heavy weapons! Platinum Haze, Serenity; to me!” The dragon swooped overhead, flames spitting out and setting the ground alight but thankfully missing. “Serenity.” I kneeled down and looked at the little filly. “My battle saddle is broken, how fast can you fix it?”
“Uh, I….” She stared at my battle saddle, thinking so hard I almost swore I could see smoke coming out of her ears. “I don't know.”
“Just try.” I said quickly tearing off the broken device. “Please.” She gave a quick nod and took out her tools.
I looked around to get a grasp on what was happening. Flare was starting to take flight, and I could see the rocket pods inside Wallkirk's Ponitron start to unfold. Maybe we didn't need whatever weapons were hidden.
The dragon swooped down for another pass, but this time it landed, and when it did, I felt the ground shake under me. Wallkirk was off to its side and fired a rocket in the dragon's direction only for it to careen off to the side and into the air just missing. Before he had a chance to fire off another one the dragon's tail whipped around lazily, slamming into the robot with a crash and sending it sliding through the dirt.
I turned away from the twisted metal that once housed Wallkirk and saw the dragon staring down at me, mouth open. “Haze!”
Once again Haze's purple shield enveloped us just in time for the flames to slam into it in a wall of light and smoke. Eventually the orange flames died down leaving Platinum Haze panting in exhaustion as the shield faded around us. I was about to say something to Haze when I saw him standing across from me a smirk on his face.
His clothes were bloody, but he seemed no worse for wear, though he might’ve been faking it. Apparently Dragonslayer had some healing potions on him… which I should have expected. He always seemed to be prepared.
“Hired Gun. You should have killed me when you had the chance.” Two knives were pulled out of hidden pockets with magic. “I'm sorry it had to come to this.”
Before he had a chance to live up on his threat, two somethings exploded in the air. The dragon pulled back and screeched in pain, its face smoking from where Flare's grenades had slammed into him. It didn't seem to do any permanent damage, but it must have hurt. “Avarice, kill the pegasus quickly.” The great beast flapped its wings with a grunt and took off after Flare who smartly zipped away.
“Haze, protect Flare. Or try to.” Haze looked at me for a second. I had forgotten that Haze’s wing was injured, and the alicorn winced as she unfurled her wings, but while it obviously pained her she flew off in pursuit of the duo all the same. “Serenity, stay back. Work on the saddle.”
“I…. Okay, Momma.” She grabbed the saddle with her magic and started to drag it across the ground.
“Just you and me, Dragonslayer,” I said, starting to circle around him, careful to avoid the parts of the ground still wreathed in flames. “Sure you don't want to call your dragon? You can't fight me.” He was going to try at the very least. He chucked his daggers at me; I batted them away with my cybernetic leg.
“You're seriously calling me a coward.” Dragonslayer ducked under one of my kicks. “Do you think I care?” He backed off as I swung my cybernetic leg sideways at him, but not far enough as my sword came shooting out of it scraping across his cheek.
“Yes!” The idiot chucked another knife at me, though I'm not sure where he pulled that one from. “You're arrogant. You want to kill me. One on one. Or I'd already be dead.” I batted the dagger away again only to realize I was looking straight down the barrel of a pistol. How many weapons did he have on him?!
BANG BANG BANG
I side stepped to the right as fast as I could, but at least one of the bullets scraped against my leg. I grunted in pain as I tried to get out of the line of fire. “You’re already dead.” More bullets, he kept shooting until the gun clicked, but he was aiming wildly, and most missed. Most. “Even if you kill me The Watchers won’t let you live.”
I gritted my teeth through the pain as I quickly turned and bucked. My shotgun hind-leg exploded the pistol into shrapnel and it was so very satisfying. “Fuck The Watchers!”
“You don't fuck The Watchers!” I heard a snap and looked down just in time to see one of the knives Dragonslayer had thrown earlier come whizzing back through my cybernetic leg cutting an important looking wire. Before I could manage to stabilize myself after the buck, I fell flat on my face. “The Watchers fuck you.”
I rolled quickly away when I saw another blade flying through the air, just narrowly avoiding a dagger in the back of my neck. “You said. They wanted to save the wasteland.” Dragonslayer was on top of me rearing up to try and stamp on my face as I laid on my back. “Give everyone. Water, energy. Remember?”
“We will.” For all his bluster, in the end Dragonslayer was a skinny stallion, and it was easy enough to bring up my still-working leg to block his attempts to stomp me. Even if he had succeeded, I don't think it would have hurt that much. “You think you're doing good by getting in the way, you think you're some big hero, but you're not. You're just a stupid mare harming the only ponies actually trying to protect the world.”
“Maybe I'm stupid.” I grabbed his leg with my good leg and used my massive girth to easily flip our positions. Even if he incapacitated my cyber leg it was easy to stand over him. “But you can't take the high ground. And kidnap little fillies. At the same time.” We had rolled so far we were right next to a part of the ground still on fire from the dragon earlier. Flames licked near us, and I could feel myself start to sweat.
“It was for the greater good.” Before I had the chance to shut his mouth for good I felt a series of hot sharp pains in my back. His horn was glowing, and I didn't even to look behind me to know that my back was starting to look like pin cushion. It took all the willpower I had not to cry out in pain. “We'll save who we can. But those who get in our way need to be dealt with. What is a couple deaths to the entirety of the wasteland.” There was a knife at my neck, it was cold and sharp and already starting to cut into me.
“Everything.” I rammed my head down as hard as I could and headbutted the base of his horn. He cried out in pain, and I did the same as the knife he was holding cut into my neck. It was just one cut though, and wasn't too deep. Hopefully. “I wonder.” I said, my voice harsh and raspy. “How many ponies. Used that same logic. To sleep at night.”
“Y-you. Don't understand.” Blood from my neck dripped onto him as I gave him one last chance to explain. Between the fire close to us, and the neck wound I was starting to feel a bit dizzy. “The wasteland can't… it can't be saved by heroes. Only by ponies… ponies like me.”
“But not you. Not anymore.” I reared up. Even with knives in my back, a profoundly bleeding neck, and a single working foreleg, it would be more than enough to squash his tiny head like an grape.
THWAP
I didn't see the dragon fly low, and I didn't see its tail slam into me. I did see the flames as I soared over them though. I felt pain as it shook my body. And I felt the warm blood coming from my neck as I fumbled with my good leg to put pressure on the wound. Maybe that headbutt was a bad idea.
As I laid there I realized I missed too much during my fight with Dragonslayer. Flare was on the ground, his armour visibly smoking, and Platinum Haze was there with him, trying to help him up. The massive building I had landed on before was completely engulfed in flames, and was half-ruined from the dragon’s and Flare’s fight that I hadn’t been paying attention to. Serenity though. Serenity was nowhere to be seen. I tried to call out to her, but no words came out.
The ground shook.
The dragon landed in the flames it had created, seemingly unconcerned with the heat and the pain. It was so massive, so huge. Looking up from the ground, I felt so terribly small, and so afraid. How could we fight this thing… everything we had done by that point to the dragon amounted to nothing more than scratches and mild annoyances. Between the dragon’s massive legs, past the flames, I could see Dragonslayer struggling to his hooves.
So this is how we lost? It wasn't what I expected to be honest… we did good though. We fought as hard as we could, against all odds. But how do you kill a dragon that's stupidly loyal to a manipulative bastard? Those odds… you can't beat those odds. No matter how hard you tried.
The dragon's head lowered towards me, glaring at me with chilling reptilian eyes.
“THIS WAY!” a shrill voice called out. “LOOK THIS WAY!” The dragon turned his head towards the sound, looking confused and annoyed that something distracted it from its supper.
Serenity was standing there, beside Dragonslayer. He must not have heard her approach, because she wouldn't have let him. In the distance I heard him say, “What the.” as he turned his head towards the little filly suddenly yelling beside him.
BANG!
BANG!
Two shots to the head.
The purple stallion's head jolted back. A spray of crimson mist flew out behind him and he collapsed as a purple corpse. Serenity stood there, grim determination in her eyes as she stared at the body in front of her. I didn't like the look in her eyes, but… it was hard not to be proud of her. In her pink magic was a zebra gun, and it seemed funny to me when I remembered where she got it from.
The dragon's eyes went wide in shock. “PAPA!” it yelled as it rushed towards the corpse.
Serenity jumped back, but it wasn't necessary.
As the dragon rushed towards the corpse it began to… shrink. I don't know how else to describe it, but when it stood before me it was a massive over-six-story-tall monstrosity, but by the time it was cradling Dragonslayer in its arms it was less than a metre tall. Only frightening if you were a bloatsprite, or radroach.
And it was crying. In between blubbering tears I could hear it repeat the word “papa” over and over again.
I rolled onto my back and closed my eyes, content to take in the moment. The world smelled of sweat, smoke and blood, and all I could hear was crying and the crackling of flames. But it was over. Somehow… in some way, for a reason I couldn't even begin to describe… I smiled.
Level Up!
Skill Note: Speech 80
Quest Perk: Death from Above: You take half damage from falling!
((A/N: Hey guys, I’m sorry it took so long to get a chapter out to you. I’ve been bust with life, but that’s not really a good excuse for such long delays. To that end I am sorry, and will try to be faster in the future. Anyway. I need to thank Kkat for writing FoE, as well as my editors TheBSDude, Julep, and Menti. Also a special thanks to EquestrianNarrator for his work narrating this chapter. His work can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKEOfCxCcjYppvHA2zlA9vlNmRNnxnUr2
Also this guy I know wrote a story, you should read it: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/196350/fallout-equestria-wings-youve-earned ) |
No One | 662 | 32 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2014-08-09T10:45:11+00:00 | 2014-08-09T10:45:09+00:00 | 11,036 | Eye of The Storm
“When she awoke, the world was on fire.”
“Ah.” I gasped at the sharp pain of a needle going through my neck.
“Stop moving.” Serenity carefully used her magic to clean and sew the gaping wound in my neck. It didn't hurt too bad, but that was mostly a combination of my earlier Med-X and blood loss. Apparently I’d lost a lot of blood. “It’s a bad wound, ya know; wouldn't wanna make it worse. Yer really lucky ya only nicked tha major vein what goes to ya head.”
“Lucky,” I groaned as Serenity finished stitching up the wound, tying the wire in a little knot. “Didn't know you even had a kit like this.”
“‘Course I do, had it fer a while; can't always rely on them healing potions.” She wiped sweat off her forehead with a hoof. “Though it's gunna scar, without a healing potion.”
“Oh no.” I deadpanned, rolling into a sitting position. “Whatever will I do.” I scratched idly at the scars that marked over half my face as I looked around. The fire that had marked the ground had died out, but the building behind was still burning loudly, and I imagined it would until there was nothing but ash left.
“Are you going to talk to him?” Flare asked, plopping beside me with a heavy thud. He still had most of his armour on, but his helmet off, revealing his soot-stained, sweat-streaked face. “I would, but we got along poorly.”
“Who?” I asked looking over at Flare, feeling a pang of guilt for forcing Flare through that ordeal. “Oh, you mean…” My eyes wandered across the complex to the tiny figure rocking back and forth over the body of Dragonslayer. Why anyone would weep for such a… monster, I couldn't imagine.
“Someone needs to talk to him… Can't leave him here, right? I mean sure, he did try to kill us all a little… but he's just a baby dragon. Dragonslayer probably stole him as a child or something.” Flare was certainly an odd stallion, showing sympathy over someone who tried to kill him. …Maybe I could learn a thing or two from him.
“We will speak with him,” Platinum Haze said, her voice soft and slightly wavering. Looking up at her I realized she looked completely exhausted, her body slumped and her head hung low. The tip of her horn sparked slightly and I wondered if maybe she had overexerted herself, but that seemed hard to believe.
“I'll go too.” I said, standing slowly, my legs shaky. So shaky I nearly collapsed until Haze wrapped a wing around me to stabilize me. Without the adrenaline pumping through me, everything hurt so much.
“I uh… would too.” Serenity looked at the ground… “I don't think… he probably…” There was a look of guilt on her face.
“It's not your fault.” I reached out to mess up her mane, “But… don't worry about it. We'll talk to him…”
Serenity nodded, but did not look comforted. “Okay, Momma…. Uh… don't… walk too fast… or anything. You're really hurt; you'll need lots'a rest.”
“After we get back to the boat, I'll sleep for a week.” That actually seemed like a really good idea, and it seemed to placate Serenity somewhat.
As I hobbled beside Haze (Serenity had wanted to fix my leg first, but Haze insisted on my neck which was probably a good idea, but it meant the leg was still not working) I wondered if this was a good idea. We had apparently just killed this dragon's dad, and if I knew anything it's that most people loved their parents even if they weren't the best to others. I looked up at Platinum Haze and wondered if she could sympathize…
“Excuse us,” Haze said as we approached the dragon. A sense of dread was rising in my gut, as the memories of this dragon repeatedly trying to eat me flashed through my mind. The prevailing smell of smoke didn't help. “We are sorry to disturb you, and we are sorry for your loss. We wish to know if there is anything we can do to assist you in this time of need.”
“Go away.” The dragon huffed between sobs. “Just.. go away. I hate you… I hate all of you.”
“We… understand your pain.” She lowered her head. “We once lost our dear mother, and it is not fair. We cannot dictate how you should feel, but if you require anything, we will help you for as long as we stay here.”
“Why…” He hissed between his teeth, still hunched over Dragonslayer's corpse. “Why did you fight him… us… he was making the world a better place…”
“We…. Reasons are complicated, and the world is not a place of simple whites and blacks. We did not participate in any fighting, we simply protected those who we love,” Haze said solemnly.
“Not you, her!” He turned all of a sudden pointing a small claw at me. It was hard to remember that this small purple and green dragon, with its large yellow eyes and tiny wings was the same dragon I was fighting not long before. Even with all the rage he could muster in his tiny face, he was anything but threatening.
“I…” I felt like I’d been hit. “He… he manipulated me. A while back. To start a war. And he used The Laughing Stallion to attack Dise. He killed Pinprick! A friend of mine with a small daughter. He killed the Batmare! By setting off a megaspell! He kidnapped my daughter!” My voice slowly rose as I spoke until I realized I was yelling. I shut my mouth and looked away, ashamed at raising my voice at such a small creature. “I…” I grit my teeth and took a deep breath as the small dragon quivered in front of me. “He would have done the same to me. He tried to do the same. You did, too. I know you loved him. But to me he was a monster.”
“You should have listened,” said the dragon--no, Avarice, that's what Dragonslayer called him. “He tried to show you… but no, you wouldn't listen…” he huffed, rubbing his eyes. “I don't want your charity.” He spat on the ground at our hooves. “Leave… go… let me bury my papa in peace… then let me leave. Far away, so far away I’ll never see your likes again!”
I bit my lip lightly and gave a nod. “Okay… I… for what it's worth I'm sorry. Not that he died. But that he died… and meant so much to you.”
“Just go away,” the dragon begged once more. So we did.
---
Before we could leave, Serenity had to fix my foreleg and just for good measure stitch up the stab wounds on my back. Those had been mostly absorbed by my armour, so they weren’t that pressing, but she insisted. Unfortunately as we were doing that, Flare just had to go poke around at the disabled Ponitron and turn it back on.
At least he was somewhat bearable when he was complimenting us on our victory over the dragon, but that didn't mean he wasn't frustrating on principle.
Eventually though, we made it out of that damnable canyon. As we took our last steps outside the gate I turned and looked at the words written on the plaque leading into the base.
Fort Spitfire: May those who died to defend peace never be forgotten.
I laughed, just a little, it would have hurt to much to laugh more. There was something profoundly funny about that plaque, I didn't know what, but it was worth laughing about at least.
“So that was fun,” Flare said, looking back towards the canyon, carrying his helmet under his wing. “A filly rescued, a madman killed, a dragon defeated. This is the type of story that needs to be written down, lest ponies forget… ah but there's so much missing context.” There was a sly smile on his face. “But it all worked out, nobody died, and Hired didn't even lose a limb.”
“Came close,” I said, grunting through the pain throbbing through my body. Who knew repeatedly getting knocked around by a dragon took a toll on you? “At least we survived.”
“For now.” Flare looked back at me. “Listen Hired… I know you want to take a swing at The Watchers, because if Dragonslayer is telling the truth well.… What they did to you? What they're planning to do? I'm not going to try and stop you or anything stupid like that, but… be careful. They made you like you are, and they can unmake you.”
The pain in my gut burned away to dread and fear.. Just thinking about what they did… what it meant. It made me feel queasy. “I know…” I stared intently at the ground, trying not to betray my emotions. “You sound like you won't be there with me.”
“I won't.” He flapped his wings gently to lift himself into the air. “My home was attacked, my family betrayed… well betrayed by themselves. The Remnants needs me; I like you Hired, but they're my family and I told you I'd need to go to them after we rescued Serenity…. It's time.”
“I'm sure there will be plenty of time. To take out The Watchers together.” I walked closer to him. “Until then.” I placed a friendly hoof on his shoulder. “Stay safe.”
“Oh you know me.” He placed his helmet on his head, then flapped a few times until he was flying upside down. “I'm too awesome to get hurt. Toodles, Hired.” He turned his head towards Serenity, “Take good care of your momma. Remember to put her to bed early and no water before, even if she whines; she's such a whiner.”
Serenity gave Flare a stiff salute. “Aye aye, Captain!”
He blew a kiss to Platinum Haze too for good measure. “And I'm out.” With a few sturdy flaps of his wings, Flare was speeding off towards the horizon so fast I thought for a second I almost saw a blue and green trail in the air behind him.
“Nice chap, shame he's a pegasus.” Wallkirk chirped, eliciting a glare from me and everyone else. “What? I don't mean— I just mean the Remnants are a dangerous group; A shame he's associated with them.”
“You said you run Dise,” I said sternly to Wallkirk.
“I do.”
“Name me one group that's not dangerous.”
He stared silently at me for a good minute before he started to roll away. Good, maybe if he kept quiet the long, excruciatingly painful walk back to the boat wouldn't be so bad.
To his credit he was mostly silent, which was nice. I liked the peace and quiet, it gave me time to count my broken ribs and groan in pain as I hobbled along. One of these days I was going to do something cool without getting completely fucked up in the process… really. I suppose I was lucky though, most anyone else would have been dead several times over in the canyon alone. Maybe Celestia really was looking out for me… or she thought my pain was funny.
When we finally reached the river and boat it was such a relief I could have fainted. By then I had long since lost the ability to walk on my own power alone and had to lean against Platinum Haze for support. Still, just seeing the boat, and with it the idea that I would be able to sleep, it was refreshing. It was such a pretty sight, though partially that might have been something to do with the fact the sun was setting then too bathing the ship and water in orange light.
“You're alive.” I heard someone gasp. Looking up, I saw Red Skies running towards me. “By Luna's beard. I was watching for you, and… I swear I saw a dragon!”
“Yeah.” I grinned. “Just a small one. No big deal.”
“What. I…” He shook his head in disbelief. “So long as you’re alright, we can take you back up the river if you like. Serenity is alright, right?”
Just then Serenity decided to show herself from behind me. “Hi! I'm alright! It was super scary, but it wasn't so bad because I'm brave. Oh!” She jumped a little in excitement. “Wanna see Scootaborg? She's changed a lot since I first got 'er from you guys.”
“Sure, my wife would be interested as well.” He started to turn back towards the ship, “But first, I get the feeling your mom had a long day. Let’s get her to bed.” Yay. I really needed to sleep. For a few years. I also needed a bath because I was covered in blood, but that could wait.
“Thanks,” I muttered to Red Skies.
“C'mon, Momma, I'll tuck you in!” Serenity said, running ahead of me. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't. To be honest, as soon as I made it onto the boat and collapsed into my bed, I was out like a light.
---
Ashes.
The world was nothing but ashes. As far as I could see the world had burned to the ground, but the fires had long since given out. Just blackness and charred rubble. Looking to the sky I saw it was glowing a sickly green. My stomach churned as I watched the lights in the sky dance and burn. This was wrong, so wrong, but I couldn't put a hoof on how.
I walked forward through a century of dust and decay, my hooves breaking through burnt buildings and blackened bones alike. I should have been sickened at trampling through pony remains, but they were so old and frail it was hard to imagine they had ever been anything other than bones. They were a part of the land I created, nothing more or less.
So I walked through them, kicking up soot.
What had happened here? Was there a city here once? Did ponies live, breath, laugh, love where now there was nothing but remains? It was curious, and sickening. So I kept walking. I don't know how, but I knew I was heading towards the centre… Just, the centre of what, I didn’t know.
Eventually I found it, bathed in green light. Unlike the rest of the world, the small space at the centre was pristine. White walls, medical devices, and a stretcher with a figure beneath a white sheet.
I stepped into the white centre, tracking dirt and dust and bones. My hoof reached for the centre, for the pony on the stretcher, but I stopped. I knew what was underneath… I knew. Revealing it would do nothing, I already knew the answer. What good is finding out the truth, if the truth was horrible?
But I couldn't help myself. My hoof moved beyond my control and revealed myself under the sheet.
I opened my eyes and screamed.
I struggled against the bonds that lashed me to the stretcher, against the world that held me down. When did I get so weak, so powerless. I fought with all my might, but my strength barely budged the world.
Above me stood a pegasus, wrapped in darkness. I couldn't see his face, his colours, or his cutie-mark; all I could see was the glowing green syringe he had in his hoof. His face contorted in a smile too wide for his head as he pressed the syringe into my leg.
Fire filled my veins, and I cried out. No amount of screaming could stop the flames though as they spread through my body, engulfing me. My blood burned first, a sickly green. Then my lungs, and I felt like I could breathe fire and death, but not even that could break my bonds. Then my brain burned away and shrivelled, leaving me unable to comprehend what was happening. Finally my heart caught fire, and turned to ash because why would a monster need love?
Only when I was nothing but a tool, someone else’s flames, someone else’s torch, could I break free of my bonds.
I stood up and the stretcher sank beneath me. The room was once white, but as my body looked around it, led by invisible strings, it turned blacker and blacker. So I walked out of the centre into the world. A great city stretched before me, vast and untouched.
Buildings lay before me, and ponies. As I walked on unbidden hooves the world behind me started to burn. I walked past Lye and Mischief and they burned away to bones. I saw the town of Timber burned as I walked by it, my hooves trailing fire. Grimer tried to run away, but he couldn't escape. How could he? Mustang was next, but he tripped and fell, and then there was nothing.
I pushed Post Haste into the fire myself, my wire-guided hooves listening to no command I gave them. I was death, I was fire, and who could escape? Pinprick and The Batmare ran for a while, but I was too fast, too steady, and soon they too were naught but ash.
Then Foundation came. I tried to fight against the wires that guided me, but those pulling the strings were too strong. Foundation, Wildfire, my life, gone to the flames. If only I still had a brain to save them, and lungs to breath life back into them.
“Cut the ropes.” Wildfire stood before me, her body made of grey smoke and red fire. She pushed against me, my green flames and body of black ash stopping in their tracks. “Cut the strings. You're not a puppet.”
“I've always been a puppet.” I explained to the dead, my voice my own where my body was not. “Too stupid to fight back, to stubborn to see. I'm a follower, like Platinum Haze.”
“Cut the strings and run!” Wildfire was saying desperately, her flames growing brighter and brighter. “You are you. Don't let them manipulate you.”
“I am fire and ash.” My head lowered. “I am death and destruction. The rubble on my flanks show it, that's what I bring. I see it now. I didn't start the fire, but I spread it with every move I make. I can't fight what they made me. I'll die at their command, at their word, they made it so. And when I do, the world will burn, and that's my destiny.”
“You're smarter than you realize! And stronger than most can comprehend.” The smoke took solid form, but only for a second. “You're tough, too tough. Do you know the phrase ‘between a rock and a hard place’?” I blinked at her in confusion. “You are the rock! Shove them into a hard place and you are sure to win! To get out.”
“I… What do you know!” My voice rose, and behind me the flames rose. Emerald and jade, they threatened to swallow me whole. Tears stung at me eyes. Wildfire, she couldn't understand. “You're dead!”
“Yes,” she said softly, her smoke and fire dissipating until there was nothing left. “But you don't have to be.”
---
I woke up soaked in sweat. My eyes were blurry as I looked around the room. It was dark -- it must have been night -- the only light was from a candle in the corner. Which was odd. Why was a candle lit in the room I was sleeping in?
“Oh, you have awoken,” Platinum Haze said, suddenly appearing into view.
“Uh… why were you invisible?” It was a very important question to ask. Because it didn't seem to make much sense to me.
“Oh, uh, you were mumbling in your sleep, we worried that if we were right here when you awoke it would startle you.” She smiled softly from the side of my bed. “Do you need anything? We can acquire water or food for you.”
“No… nothing.” Though my head was a little dizzy and my body was in a lovely amount of pain. “For now… I just. Need to think.”
“We are sorry, were you having a nightmare? Is there anything we can do to offer assistance?” It was a sweet offer, but I wasn't really sure there was anything she could do.
“Yes, a nightmare.” It was different from my usual nightmares, though. Wildfire didn't even die at the end, I guess because she was already dead. “I. Can I ask you a question. A personal one? It's important…”
“Feel free to ask us anything you desire, and we shall answer it to the best of our ability.”
“How did you…” I struggled to find to finds the words, maybe it was because of all that blood loss. “How did you deal. With what happened to you… I mean. You used to be a pony before right, and now you're… you were taken, and changed.” It wasn't the same as what happened to me, not by a long shot, but out of all the ponies I knew she was the only one I could imagine understanding.
“We…” She looked down at the floor for a second. “We are not the best alicorn to ask such a question. We have heard many of our sisters’ complaints about Mother's actions, and while we understand them we cannot admit to agreeing on their feelings.” She gulped a little bit. “We… liked what had happened to us. Our life was not… pleasant before Mother took us in, she gave us a purpose, meaning, and family. “
“Oh…” I said softly, feelingly slightly disappointed.
“Perhaps you could speak to Diamond Sky,” Platinum Haze said. “She… she would understand, we think. She has always been bitter of Mother's designs, and never wanted this form, and still wishes she did not have it. We have spoken to her about it on many occasions. She has told us she felt… violated by the actions taken against her will, that she often had trouble looking herself in the mirror because the figure that looked back was not her. When I asked her why she felt this way she said it was because her life should be hers alone, and ponies using it to their own ends without a care for her… it upset her. We can understand these feelings.”
I nodded along as Platinum Haze spoke. “I'm not sure what to think…” I pressed a hoof to my chest, trying to see if I could feel the fire burning inside me. “I hate it. What they did to me. I don't even remember it, but I hate it.”
“Why?” It was a simple but powerful question.
“Because! They had no right…” I grit my teeth together, “It was my life. My body. They stuck me full of needles. For what? So I can die on their command? So I'll kill everyone around me. Without even having a say? Did you see the way they talked about me? On the videos? I was an experiment. A tool.” I slammed my hoof down on the bed, needing to get some of my anger out.
“We are sorry,” Platinum Haze said sincerely. “We are unsure what words of condolence we can offer you.”
“It's fine.” I lowered my head back onto my pillow. I'm not sure what I was expecting from her, but sympathy was what I was going to get. Of course I knew she wouldn't feel what I felt, but it was good to have some small part of understanding. Not that it made me feel any better, or make the fire in my chest burn any cooler. “Where is Serenity?” Last time I was sick on a boat she spent most of her time by my bedside.
“We sent her off to bed a while ago; we recognized she cannot stay awake with as few ill effects as us. She protested at first, but we assured her we would make sure no harm would come to you this night. We are not even sure what she imagined would happen.”
“Well. Last time I was on this boat I was… uh. Attacked by assassins.” Good times.
“You were… what?” She seemed a bit shocked, though I wasn't sure why. “For what reason?”
That was a very good question, and like most very good questions I didn't have an answer for it. “Uh…” I tried to think but came up with nothing. I knew they were from Molly, but I wasn't sure why she wanted me dead so badly. I know she blamed me for ruining her attack on the Mustangs… “Molly wanted me dead.” I eventually said. “Not sure why. She wanted me dead when you met her too.” She ruined my date; I really was going to need to have a chat with her about that.
Assuming I didn't explode in the near future.
Before I could say anything more there was a sharp knock on my door. “Hired.” It was Red Skies' voice. “Are you awake?”
“Yeah,” I said through the door, wondering why he was bothering me.
“Well, if you're well enough you need to get up and come to the deck. Some NCA folks want to see you, and they don't seem to be the type what ask nicely.”
“Uh… okay.” I started to roll out of bed, which was painful but thankfully I had Platinum Haze there to help me.
“Can you walk?” I nodded to her question. Sure it was going to hurt because everything hurt, but that never stopped me before. “We are curious as to why the NCA have come here, and for what purpose. We were unaware they even knew of your existence.”
“I worked for them. A couple times,” I said as I started out the door.
“We are constantly amazed at the number of important ponies you have met that also want to kill you.”
“I never said they wanted to kill me.”
“You did not have to.” That was a bit of a pessimistic way of looking at things; I wasn't even sure that was what the NCA wanted. Of course, the last time I had interacted with them, I had gone out of my way to save the ruler of their enemies from being captured… but what were the chances they still remembered that?
I walked outside and realized it was just becoming morning. The sun peaked out over the horizon and bathed the sky and water in an orangey red. It was also so incredibly bright it took a second for my eye to adjust (my cybernetic eye had no such problem) for me to see the two uniformed NCA soldiers standing on the deck wearing disapproving frowns. Behind them, attached to our ship by a plank, was another much larger boat with sizable cannons on the sides.
The pair looked at me, and one spoke. “Are you Hired Gun?” Both ponies were red mares (maybe they were related) though the one speaking to me was taller, and had a green mane where the other’s was blue.
“Uh, yes?”
“Good.” The mare pointed her battle saddle rifles at me. “You are under arrest for treason against the New Caledonia Alliance, please come quickly and quietly. Anything you say will be recorded and held against you. Once formal charges have be laid you have the right to speak in your defence at your trial, is this clear?”
“Wait, what?” I took a step back. Even without Subtlety I had enough weapons on me to make short work of two ponies, but that ship would prove more troublesome. So the only option was to talk my way out of whatever this was. “I'm not even an NCA citizen.”
The short pony spoke. “Did you or did you not receive a contract from Major Lucky, of the NCA Armed Forces?” I nodded slowly to that, as I had thought that particular contract was a secret. “According to NCA unified law, and NCA Armed Forces regulations, all contract employees of the NCA are to be treated as NCA civilians in order to prosecute any misdeeds they may have done. If the contract is for any reason terminated they will continue to be treated as NCA civilians for a period of one year to be sure they do not misuse any intelligence they may have received from the NCA Armed Forces.”
“Uh… shit.” I looked over at Platinum Haze but she was nowhere to be seen. It occurred to me at that moment that the last time she had met anyone from the NCA she was shot at… I couldn't really blame her discretion, but I really could have used her help. “Er, well. I refuse to go with you.” Red Skies gave me a bit of a glare. “What am I even being charged for?”
The shorter mare answered again. “Conspiracy to commit murder against NCA personal, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and obstruction of justice. Specifically in regards to the events that unfolded at the Wallkirk Train Station.”
“What did I supposedly do?” I got the feeling these ponies weren't really important enough to know.
“Do you think we care?” The taller mare asked, which was also a good question. “These orders come directly from Major General Hailstorm. Maybe you're innocent, maybe you're guilty, maybe you're actually Celestia in fucking disguise, but when you get a signed letter from the Major General you follow those orders.”
“Well I-”
The tall mare cut me off, and walked close, as she did so my cybernetic eye started to recognize her as a threat and put a border around her that marked her as the highest level of dangerous: “On that ship behind me are thirty heavily armed NCA Soldiers who are mighty pissed they're not on the front lines. They've been itching for a fight ever since the bipeds tried to blow up our base, and they've been stuck looking for you. I was also told by a little birdy that you were injured recently and have no healing potions, and I also know you have a marefriend and a daughter you don't want to get hurt, and while we at the NCA would never condone hurting innocents, a firefight in such a small space would cause… accidents. So let me make this choice abundantly clear for you. You can stay on this ship, but a contingent of ten guards will be present with two following you at all times. Meanwhile we will escort you and your ship to our farm north of here where certain ponies eagerly await an audience with you. If you try to fight, or this ship tries to escape, we have orders to kill you and anyone who tries to stop us. So I kindly suggest you agree to these terms; am I making myself clear?”
With great reluctance I nodded my consent. It would be easier to escape NCA custody when not on a ship, so I would have to wait and plan my escape until after I met whoever was so interested in meeting me… but first I was going to have a talk with Wallkirk, because I had a feeling I knew who the little birdy was.
Of course it occurred to me a few minutes later that there was no way I was going to be able to talk to Wallkirk because the mere fact he existed was a secret and he wasn't about to talk to me with new NCA guards tailing behind me. I wanted to talk to Platinum Haze, at least, but I doubted she would show herself with such a high chance of getting shot.
“I'm going to take a shit,” I said to the two NCA guards following close behind me. I wondered idly if they realized how little of a threat they posed to me. Either way I walked over to the boat’s bathroom and started inside the door. And just as I expected the guards started to come in with me. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Uh…” The guard looked confused. But ever since I laid eyes on him he seemed perpetually confused. “We have orders to keep an eye on you at all times.”
“I'm not letting you. Not in the bathroom anyway.” I glared at the guard in mock outrage.
“But my orders-”
“There's no window. Just a toilet. What do you think is going to happen?” I kept my gaze glued to the stallion’s in an attempt to intimidate him. It usually worked.
“But I-”
“Listen.” I pushed him out of the doorway. “If I don't get out in five minutes. Knock. Or break the door down.” Before he even had a chance to reply I walked through the door and closed it on his stupid face, leaving him standing there with his partner looking befuddled.
I looked around the small room for a brief second before whispering, “Haze.”
Like magic there was a slight shimmer, and suddenly there she was standing. To my surprise she wasn't alone, Serenity was perched on Haze's head, her tiny horn glowing pink. “Hi momma.”
“We are sorry about our actions earlier…” Haze said slowly, “We have brought Serenity with us so we can talk in peace, we have heard she has a unique spell that has proven useful.”
“I'm basically a ninja,” Serenity explained tapping her horn. “Probably the best ninja ever.”
“Of that we are sure.” Platinum Haze tried to look at Serenity to smile at her, but given the filly was on her head it proved difficult. “Oh, um.” She turned her attention back to me. “We mean to apologize for our actions, we should not leave you bereft of friends at your time of need, but our previous experience has shown the NCA are hostile to our kind.”
“I understand,” I said with a sigh. “It's no big deal. If they were actually arresting me, they wouldn't let me stay on this boat.”
“Are you certain this is the case?”
“Well. Yesterday I learned I'm actually a walking bomb. So no, I'm not certain about anything.”
Haze visibly recoiled, I guess my self-deprecating humour wasn't funny. “We… are stilled worried. The NCA's intentions are suspect from what we understand, and it would be in the best interest of all if we had an escape route planned if they mean to go through with such an act.”
“We go invisible, run away?” I offered as a plan.
“We suppose, though that is a bit simplistic.”
“So am I.” Besides, we didn't have a clue what to expect, so trying to plan anything bigger with such little information was foolhardy.
“I could shoot'em all with my ninja skills!” Serenity offered as a potential solution.
I was slightly taken aback by Serenity's enthusiasm. “Do you really want to?” I asked her.
“Not really,” She admitted. “Just wanted to sound cool.”
There was a loud rapping on the door. “Are you done in there?” Stupid annoying guards.
“Right, okay.” I looked back over at Haze and Serenity. “Just… when I go, follow me silently. Be prepared for anything. It's not for a few days yet. So… be careful on the boat with the guards around.” And with that I turned to walk out the door as the two of them vanished behind me.
---
I don't remember the sun having an eye before. Maybe I couldn't see it before because it was too bright, but there it was staring down at me. Funny thing about the clouds being gone, it means the sun can watch you all the more. It wasn't just the sun though, it was the walls too, when I went inside. They had eyes, following me as I walked across the room. When it was overcast the clouds had eyes, and when it rained the puddles looked up at me. I couldn't escape the eyes, no matter how hard I tried.
“We are watching you,” the eyes whispered.
I would ask why, but I wasn't allowed a voice.
They heard my wordless question anyway. “We are The Watchers,” the eye said, its pupil burning a bright and vibrant green.
“Wake up.” Huh?
“Wake up.” Something jabbed me in the stomach and suddenly my eyes shot open. The guards who had been following me for the past few days as the ship sailed up river were there. “We're here; your presence is demanded.”
“Yay,” I mumbled sleepily and picked myself up out of bed. The past few days had been obnoxious, as it was hard to rest and recuperate with morons following me around. On the bright side they had healing potions on them which Serenity was nice enough to steal from them and sneak to me when they weren't looking. That combined with Platinum Haze walking around invisible led them and the other NCA ponies to suspect the ship was haunted. They looked relieved to finally leave.
I stood up and stretched my legs. I figured I wouldn't be allowed to bring my weapons, but it wasn't like they were going to take my legs so I was more than confident. They let me put on my armour though, which was nice and clean because I was able to wash all the blood off it during the trip. “Who am I meeting?” I asked as they escorted me out of my room.
“You'll find out.” Was the only answer I got.
“I hope it's Major Lucky, we get along so well.” One of the guards shot me a surprised look which pretty much confirmed my guess. Either that or he was surprised I had met the ghoul before.
The two looked relieved as we finally left the boat onto the waiting dock. I had never seen the great NCA farm before, and the only thing I knew about it was that it was partially owned by Molly, and it provided most of the food in Dise. It was simply massive, stretching for miles in every direction even as the river bifurcated the farm in half. There was more green there than I had ever seen in my life, not to mention an entire orchard filled with full-grown trees.
“Whoa,” I said quietly. “How is that possible?”
“You can thank the zebras of Karkhoof,” The guard said with a sly smile. “Or, could. They provided talismans that could purify soil of radiation to allow trees to grow. The radiation seeps back eventually. We used to trade them for fresh water, but since they vanished… we have enough talismans for now, and the NCA is looking at a way to make more…”
I was surprised he was telling me all this. “Who works the fields?” I saw a lot of ponies in the fields, but it wasn't just ponies. There were at least three minotaurs out there, and a lot of armed guards.
The guards kept walking towards a large building on the wall of the farm. “Workers from Dise mostly. They usually work in shifts, a week here, a week at Dise. Though the NCA has been known to buy prisoners and put them to work; better than letting them rot.” Oh, that's why he was telling me. He expected me to be put to work in the field… I would probably be good at it, but it seemed rather boring.
“I see.”
“You will.” The guard smirked again, reminding me that I hadn't kicked him in the face yet.
Eventually we reached the building, which to my surprise was actually a pre-war building. They must have built the farm around it because the other buildings I saw (I think they were residences) looked to be made of the usual scrap. The inside was slightly rotten and dank, with candles lighting up the room. I was quickly ushered into what I think used to be a dining room, but was turned into something of a war room. Maps and diagrams of the area were spread out across the tables, and there were a few computers
The doors closed behind me, leaving me with the two ponies in the room. Both of them I recognized right away, even if they didn't even look up from the map they were looking at. I walked forward and cleared my throat, but the two just whispered to each other.
“Uh…” I eventually said. “You had me arrested?”
“In a minute, Hired.” Major Lucky growled. Eventually he and Major General Hailstorm looked up at me. “You look like shit.” Apparently a healing potion and a few days of rest weren't enough to make me look good after a dragon fight. The stitches that were still in my neck probably didn't help.
“Better than you.” The last time I had seen Lucky he had a spear in his chest, and I guess the radiation from the mega-spell was enough to keep him alive, but it didn't fix the gaping hole where the spear once was.
“Glad to see you and our prisoner get along so swimmingly.” The Major General looked vaguely amused. I think she was just happy to get away from strategy for the moment, it looked like it was taking a toll on her. At the very least on her pink mane, which was so frazzled I had to wonder if something was nesting in it.
“So I actually am a prisoner?” I walked over to a nearby cushion to take a seat. “I am curious. Where do you plan to hold me?”
“We're not stupid.” Lucky's voice was quieter than it had been before, almost painfully though. “We cannot afford to keep you against your will; you are far too stubborn. We just knew this was the only way to get you to come to us, especially after you foolhardily quit the Hizais.”
“How do you know about that?”
“We have ponies paid to keep tabs on the major gangs, and your leaving caused waves, but this is not why we are here.” The Major General waved a dismissive hoof. “We have a few questions for you. What was your relation with the pony named Pinprick.”
“What?” That was the last question I expected. “She was a… friend, I guess. Before everyone called her a hero. That’s when I met her. Why do you care?”
The two looked at each other in confusion before looking back to me. “You haven't heard about the riots… have you?” Lucky asked leaving me dumbfounded. Which I guess answered his question. “Her funeral sparked riots across Dise. Against the gangs, against us, against anything resembling a power structure. They've been going on for days. We had no means to fight rioters without killing them so we had to pull back. Other gangs were not so… kind. Bodies are burning in the streets, the way we hear it some of the gangs have already fallen into ruin, and the rest are next.”
“What… no…” It was already happening. The Watchers plan. Dise was burning, and soon they'd swoop in to clean up the mess they made, but not before anyone who could oppose them was dead… “You have to stop it!”
“We had hoped to understand why they happened,” The Major General said. “Granny Dynamite sent us information saying your connection to this Pinprick and to a pony named Dragonslayer could give us the information we need.”
“They couldn't come at a worse time.” Lucky looked to be seething. “First the Zebras are attacked, then the war with the minotaurs, now this. The NCA does not have enough resources to fulfill all of these obligations, and if the council has its way we'll be pulled out of Dise completely to focus on the minotaur threat.”
Of course the NCA council would pull out… it all was starting to make sense. The Watchers wanted to capitalize on the chaos, and to do so they needed to make sure stronger parties couldn't first, and how better then starting a war. The pieces were falling into place, and all I could do was watch. Then something struck me…
“During the build up to the war…” I said slowly, trying to organize my thoughts. “I remember seeing NCA soldiers. At the Black Salamander. Getting cybernetics.”
“You better be going somewhere with this.” Lucky growled deeper than usual.
I didn't bother responding to him, I had to complete my thought. “Were there any soldiers who… got cybernetics elsewhere.” The BS wasn't the only place to get cybernetics. There was a shadowy company called Cerberus that competed with them. I remembered that the current leader of the Mustangs, Mayhem, got his cybernetics from them, as he didn't want to support a rival.
Lucky glared at me and looked like he was about to tell me to fuck off before Hailstorm cut him off. “A few weren't able to get appointments and made… other arrangements. Only four to my recollection though, of the three dozen NCA Rangers who got augmented.” She walked back to her computer and pressed a few buttons, “We've been keeping close watch on all the new augmented troops, why do you ask?”
“Did any of them mention… a burning sensation around the cybernetics?” Just saying that made the fire in my stomach burn and twist. Just imagining what was inside me was painful.
The two look dumbfounded at my eerily specific question. Hailstorm scrunched up her face and looked down at her computer, apparently looking up that information. “We were worried about rejection,” Hailstorm explained, “So we asked about every medical problem was reported and recorded. According to our files two of them reported similar burning problems, but the source couldn't be found.”
Shit.
I could feel a thin trickle of sweat bead down my neck as my eyes went wide. “Recall them! Or… whatever. Don't put them on the front lines… you need to get them into surgery. Get them away…” I took a deep breath trying to calm my mind, as the pair looked even more confused at me. “They have… a chip in their head. It's the detonator. You need to find it and disable it or else…”
“Or else what.” Lucky growled walking towards me. “You're not making any sense, and we don't have time for your ga-”
“They have megaspells inside of them!” That stopped Lucky dead in his tracks.
“What…” Lucky said slowly.
“You saw it, you two were both there. You must have seen it.” I took a deep breath. “On the screen, The laughing Stallion. He started to glow… then the Batmare teleported him away. He had a megaspell inside of him. The pony you mentioned before. Dragonslayer. He set him off.”
“I was… indisposed,” Lucky said, a hoof moving to touch the hole in his chest.
“I saw,” Hailstorm said. “I… didn't know what that was. I never thought…” She sobered up. “How could you know this.”
I put my cybernetic hoof to my chest. “It happened to me.” There was shock and disbelief on their faces. “I know you find it hard to believe me. It is the truth though. The trigger they put in me was disabled by accident when I lost my eye. I was lucky… your ponies may not be.”
“Who would do this.” Lucky's voice was filled with disbelief, but the fact he was asking me questions not just dismissing meant I must have been getting through to him.
“You wouldn't believe me.”
“Hired!” his voice raised enough to make me take a half step back. “Tell us.”
“The Watchers.” More disbelief. “They… I am pretty sure it is them, unless Dragonslayer was lying. But according to him they want… they want Dise. The technology in it.”
“We can't believe you,” Hailstorm said after a long awkward silence. “Not without proof.” They had to believe, they had the power to stop it! “But, for safety's sake we can take two soldiers out of the fight for a week or so for some evaluations.” She started typing something on the computer but stopped. “Oh… that's not good.”
The last thing we needed was more bad news. “What?”
“Master Corporal Dead Whisper has been reported missing in action.” Hailstorm read. “It seems he was reported missing in action during a battle for Canyon Ridge Bridge to the west.” She reached over and grabbed a drink from the table in front of her and took a sip. Which was weird because I didn't remember it being there. “He is presumed captured by Minotaur forces, with no hope of recovery.”
“I need to get him.” I said sternly.
“No hope of recovery.” Major Lucky repeated. “No hope. I don't know what you were doing with the minotaurs, but ponies are shot on sight.”
“Then,” I said with a small smirk, “I wont be seen.”
Lucky gave a raspy wheezing laugh that I didn't appreciate. I waited patiently for him to finish. “Hired, you aren't exactly subtle.” Funny, I remember another pony said that to me once…
“I have Subtlety on my side. And…” I waved my hoof off to the side. For as much as I hated the megaspell inside of me, the ability to sense magic was very welcome and let me get away with big gambles. “I have Platinum Haze.”
Before they had a chance to ask who or what a Platinum Haze was the shimmer around her fell leaving the tall alicorn standing their with all eyes on her. “Hiya~” Serenity said, lying on the alicorn's head. “Sorry, we didn't mean'ta interrupt or nothing.”
Before I could stop him Lucky reached for his gun, only stopping when Hailstorm put a hoof on his shoulder. “An alicorn. I heard rumours that they have spread. Are you as dangerous as they say?”
“We are unsure how to answer that question accurately. We do not know the pony or ponies referred to as 'they' and thusly we have no knowledge of their expressed level of danger. However you should have little to worry about in regards to us being potentially dangerous. We have vowed never to harm a sentient being, and thus far we have never broken our oath. Our name is Platinum Haze, it is a pleasure to meet the both of you.” Platinum Haze reached out a hoof.
Hailstorm shook it. “Damn, I was hoping you could be on our side. Don't suppose you know any other alicorns who would be able?”
Platinum Haze shook her head. “We have a sister nearby who did not take such an oath, but she is doing an important task. No other sisters who we are associated with have travelled this far south, however we know some lost sisters have. We cannot speak for them, or their desires, but we would wish you did not harm them.”
“Sisters?” Lucky said curiously. “Like Luna and Celestia?” I had forgotten Lucky was old enough to remember when they were in pony form.
“No… it is a long story, and we wish not to say it, but all alicorns are our sisters, and shall remain so until such a day when new alicorns can be born. The new alicorns would be our nieces we suppose…”
Hailstorm looked a mite confused, but accepted it. “And how exactly will you help Hired on this extremely dangerous mission the NCA officially doesn't condone or recognize?”
“Huh?” She tilted her head and looked over at me, “We imagine she refers to our obvious abilities in invisibility. As a blue alicorn we have been bestowed the power of invisibility not unlike your stealth-bucks. We are well practised, and are hard to notice, as you can attest to. Serenity here is also helpful in those endeavours, she is well versed in sound magic.”
“Together we're basically ninjas,” Serenity explained. “Well, me more'an her, cause I trip less!”
“Ninjas…” Lucky looked dumbfounded.
“Three Ninjas if ya count Scootaborg!”
“Serenity!” If she started talking about Scootaborg all hope of ending this conversation quickly would be lost.
“Sooooorrrry,” Serenity said in such a way it was clear she wasn't sorry.
“Anyway.” I tried to steer the conversation back on track. “We need to find him. Get him back. In the meantime. The one who's still safe. Look for the chip in his head. You'll see.”
“And if we do.” Lucky started to pace across the room. “Then what? The Watchers are evil?” Serenity scrunched up her face. “Or, at least antagonistic towards Dise. What do you imagine the NCA would do about it? We're caught up in a war and don't have forces to spare.”
“Stop your war. Focus on the ponies who caused it.”
Lucky just laughed at me. Either that or he was gargling rocks, it was hard to tell with ghouls.
“What Major Lucky means to say…” Hailstorm’s brow was furrowed as she stared at Lucky. I was amazed she hadn't shoved her hoof in his mouth to shut him up. “Is that the NCA council would never agree to stop the war, it's been coming for too long. However, the Watchers aren't a large organization, and if there is proof…”
“Right.” I got the feeling they didn't believe me.
“Now, what can you tell us about Pinprick?” Hailstorm quickly changed the subject. “It was her funeral that caused the bloody riots, but nobody seems to know why.”
“She was a foul-mouthed bitch.” There really was no way around that. “But she helped ponies. The radio called her a hero. Ponies believed that. When a hero dies they become a martyr. Martyr’s are easy to exploit. Who she was doesn't matter. She's a symbol now. Of everything wrong with Dise.”
“That's not helpful.” Lucky looked displeased at the whole conversation.
“Sorry.” I tried to sound as sincere as I could. “I gave you everything I know.” Not everything, but it was everything they asked at least. “Can I go?”
“Would you take no for an answer?” Lucky asked. I didn't bother to respond, I just raised a curious eyebrow in his direction to see if he was serious. “Fine.”
“The NCA officially pardons you of all charges laid against you,” Hailstorm said, a small smirk on her face. “But don't go just yet, I assume you're going straight to find Dead Whisper?” I gave a slight nod. “You'll run into NCA patrols, so you'll need authorization. I'll write something up for you, say you're there to perform some routine maintenance on our artillery. Once you go on your mission though, you won't have the paper shield anymore. Try not to get caught or die.”
“We will endeavour to make sure she does not get caught,” Platinum Haze said as I nodded my agreement.
Serenity just said, “Ninjas,” and left it at that.
---
We got our paper shield, got our stuff from the boat, and went on our merry way. Our two guards seemed confused why we were let go, and I found it fun not to tell them. We said our goodbyes to Red Skies and his wife before heading off across the wasteland, the map on my pipbuck providing a useful guide.
“Why they hell did you tell the NCA I could help them!” I waited until we were far out of the NCA's hearing before yelling at Wallkirk, who had spent the past few days acting like a robot, much to my annoyance.
Or maybe he actually just left the platform, because he didn't answer me.
“Hey! Wallkirk!” I smacked the robot in the face only for it to beep at me.
“He does not appear to be responding, perhaps a different tactic is required.” Platinum Haze offered as a solution, well not really a solution. “Though we know very little about such devices apart from their apparent weakness to bolts of lightning.” Like most things do.
“I do!” Serenity hopped a few times to make sure we all heard her. “I mean, not really, but more cybernetics, how hard could it be?”
Platinum Haze looked in the distance towards the waning sun, “It is late, we could camp here as Serenity tries to re-establish a connection. We are sore and wish to rest as well…” She said the last part quickly, which made me think she didn't want it to affect my judgement on the matter too much.
“We can camp here.” I looked around. There wasn't much cover, just brown rocks and craggy hills, but there was a blackened husk of a tree nearby we could use for firewood, so it was as good a place as any.
“Sweet!” Serenity ran towards the robot, a screwdriver already in her mouth.
Before going over to the tree for some firewood, I moved closer to Platinum Haze, putting a hoof on her back, “Lie down and rest. What's hurting? Did you take any healing potions on the boat?”
Platinum Haze did as I asked, lying down softly. It also had the odd side-effect of allowing me to look down at Haze. “Our wing. The one which was bitten by that wretched ghoul. We worry we have done some serious damage. After we flew after Flare to protect him from Avarice, our wing has been… in pain. Drinking a healing potion quelled the pain, but it returns still whenever we move our wing. We are afraid flying is out of the question at this moment.”
“Did you have Serenity look at it?” She gave me a quizzical look. “She learned some things from The Watchers. Saved my life at least once with her skills. Usually it's related to cybernetics, but, I mean. She's no doctor, but if something is serious, she might be able to at least tell you what.”
“Ah, we see. We shall enquire about it when she is not so busy with her little project.” Her head tilted towards where Serenity was desperately fiddling with the robot.
I gave her a soft nod before pressing my lips to her cheek. “Alright. Just rest for now. Don't overexert yourself.”
“We shall endeavour not to,” she said, a slight blush upon her cheeks. “Though, we shall refrain from pointing out the irony of you, of all ponies, telling us not to overexert.”
I gave her a sly smirk. “Most ponies aren't me, so they shouldn't copy me,” I said before turning towards the blackened tree.
You know, I had always wondered if trees grew this black, or just were really old. I guess it was one of those mysteries I would never solve, and I guess either way if they burned, they burned. It didn't take much to break through the tree. Just a few quick bucks and I had nearly as much timber as, well, Timber.
Which was a poorly worded statement given what happened to Timber…
It took me about twenty five minutes to have a nice stack of firewood. I was just about to bring it back when I heard a scream.
“AAAAAAAH, MOMMY!” That was never something I wanted to hear.
I booked it back towards the campsite to see Serenity cowering as the robot loomed over her. Platinum Haze was nearby, but she seemed to have fallen asleep and was only just then groggily waking up.
“Unauthorized Modifications Detected, Commencing Hostile Disabling Protocol,” the robot said, and still no Wallkirk to be found! Not even when the robot's missile launchers started to unfold.
BANG
Subtlety shot a round through what was the approximation of the robot's head in a spray of wires and sparks. With nary a beep the robot slumped over, its lights turned off. “Hostile disabled.” I walked over to the robot and put a few more rounds in it just in case before turning to my companions. “I never liked his company anyway.”
---
I couldn't sleep. I’d had trouble sleeping since my nightmare a few nights ago, and what sleep I did have tended to be fitful and interrupted. Something about these nightmares unnerved me more than my usual ones. Perhaps I just needed to get used to them before I could sleep again, but in the meantime it was a hassle. All I could do was stare at the fire as it dwindled and waned in the moonlight.
I hated fire.
Fire consumed things. It ate up whatever it could touch and left nothing but ash. Even the smell of smoke unnerved me. It reminded me of things I would rather have forgotten, of mistakes I could never undo. It was funny though, how much fire seemed to follow me. Around me things burned, sometimes metaphorically, but often literally. And then when the flames died only the smoke remained, the memory of the fire that once was.
Of course fire was also warm. It kept the dark at bay, and keeps you safe from cold and loneliness. But at what cost? It was over so fast.
The orange flames flickered around the broken ashen sticks that fueled it. The colours blended together, and the flames twisted together like a music-less dance. Before long the flames became a pony in my eyes, then it became the pony.
The wind breezed across the rocky plain blowing my mane this way and that, but the image in the flames remained, her body still but flames swaying. “I don't blame you,” I heard it say, or perhaps that too was the wind. “I never blamed you.”
“You didn't have to,” I whispered under my breath. The blame I put on myself was enough for two. It was no wonder we fell apart after that. She tried to pull me back, but I refused to talk about it, refused to acknowledge that any of it had happened. How could I blame her when she gave up trying? Maybe she never gave up, maybe she was just waiting for me to be ready. Perhaps I finally was, but it was far too late.
“Come back to me.” The dancing flames sputtered for a second, but before long the figure returned, glowing all the brighter.
“I can't.” The fire inside my chest burned once again, I could feel it. Ever since I heard the truth I could feel the fire inside flickering. Perhaps I soon would be with her, going out like an inferno before fading away and finally being with my lost family.
“If anyone can survive, it's you.” The flames sputtered again.
Slowly, but surely, Wildfire faded again. The light died, and the figure before my eyes was no more, leaving only a thin trail of smoke to remember her by.
“Momma?” Serenity was standing on the other side of the fire, half obscured from smoke. “A-are you awake? I thought I heard you talking.” Her voice was low and uncertain, as if she were afraid to wake me up. I suppose it was a good thing I was awake.
“Yeah.”
Serenity stepped around the dead fire to me. “Um, can I sleep over here with you tonight?” It wasn't that odd a request, but there was something about the way she asked it.
“Of course.” I'm not sure if she actually expected me to say no. “What's the matter?”
She didn't say anything at first, instead opting to lie down next to me and wait until I put a leg over her. “Nothing…” Well that was a pretty feeble lie. I didn't call her out on it though, I just stayed quiet. If she wanted to tell me she would… and eventually she did. “I… Dragonslayer was a bad pony, right?”
I had a feeling I knew where this line of questioning was going, so I answered as simply as I could. “Yes.”
“Like really really really bad?”
“Yes.” I repeated.
“B-but… the dragon… Avarice.” She corrected herself to make sure she used the dragon's name. That seemed, I don't know, important. “He said Dragonslayer was his papa.”
“He did.”
“So I killed his papa…” Serenity concluded. Once again I didn't bother to answer, letting her work through it herself. “Does that make me a bad pony?”
“Do you feel like a bad pony?” It was the most relevant question I could ask.
“No… yes. Maybe?” She huffed and snuggled herself closer. “He deserved it, but… but Avarice didn't think so… but he tried to kill us too.”
“We tried to kill his father first.”
“But! He set traps for us and kidnapped me and-”
I cut Serenity off. “I'm not defending them. But we were planning on killing him.”
Serenity pouted at me for a minute, but it slowly faded away. “I don't like it… killing ponies. I kept trying to remind myself that he was a bad pony, ya know, an' that he deserved it but… then his dragon son was cryin'. That don't make him any better tho'.”
“But it makes you feel worse?” I slowly lifted my leg up to brush at her mane.
“Yes…” she admitted.
“Good.” She looked up at me with a mask of confusion on her face. “Killing should never be easy. If you get used to it… if it starts to feel normal, or right. Then something is wrong. You should feel bad when you kill ponies. Even bad ponies. Because you should wish there was another way.”
“Do you feel bad?” It was a simple question, but one I didn't really know the answer to.
“I try…” I stopped petting her mane to place my hoof gently on her back, “But. You don't have to kill anyone. You could be like Platinum Haze, and vow to do no harm.”
“But… I've saved you before. By killing.” She made a good point, but it wasn't as relevant as she thought it was.
“Sweetie, then you make a choice.” I closed my eyes and gave a deep sigh. “I can't tell you what to do… you have to chose for yourself. Whatever you do, it won't be easy though… it never is.”
“I… that wasn't tha answer ah was hopin' for.”
“Sometimes… lots of times. There are no right answers. …Just answers that seem right at the time.” I gave her a squeeze. “You're strong and smart though. And very capable. If you never want to touch a gun again, I understand.”
Serenity nodded but didn't say anything. I wish I could have been more comforting to her, but I didn't want to lie. She was in too deep for comforting lies to help at all. Eventually she fell asleep snuggling up to me, but I stayed up and looked down at her, praying she would make better choices than I had.
Level Up!
Skill Note: Speech 90
New Perk: Megaspell Anomaly: You now explode when your health is 20 or below! It is probably deadly.
((A/N: Thanks once again to Kkat for creating FoE so I can ruin it. Also thanks to my lovely editors theBSDude, Menti, and Julep for their hard work editing this chapter. I am already starting work on the next one, and with any luck I’ll be less of a lazy ass.
Also I mentioned this previously but a boy who is also my friend (winkwink) wrote a story called Wings You’ve Earned. It starts a three legged pegasus colt and a whole town of children, and it’s really starting to get exciting, so check it out: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/196350/fallout-equestria-wings-youve-earned ) |
No One | 662 | 33 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2014-11-07T19:00:21+00:00 | 2014-11-07T19:00:20+00:00 | 10,020 | Building Bridges
“In order to obtain or create something, something of equal value must be lost or destroyed."
“Are you sure this will work? We are unconvinced.” Platinum Haze tugged at the hem of her dress with her magic, and I saw the fabric on her back shift when she tried to move her wings.
“It will if you stop doing that.” I reached up to pat her wings down. “And it worked before. Ponies see what they want to see.”
“And nopony wishes to see an alicorn?”
“Er.” I hope she didn't take offence to that. “I mean. Nopony would expect to see an alicorn. You're kind of rare… and mostly up north. It worked once, so it should work again.”
She nodded sagely. “If you are certain.” We were less than an hour away from an NCA encampment near the conflict at the Canyon Ridge Bridge. It was apparently the only currently functional route across the western canyon separating the Minotaur controlled territory from that controlled by the NCA and Dise. Going around was either impossible or would take weeks, and any other way across was dangerous at best so it had been a point of tension since the war reignited.
“We have another question to ask you,” Platinum Haze said with a nervous tinge to her voice. When I nodded she continued. “We have noticed… we… First we should apologize. On our trip here we noticed you… we do not want to say the word ‘sneaking,’ but it seems appropriate… sneaking off in the morning, and we—”
“You followed me and saw what I did.” Of course she did, and I knew she did anyway. There was a burning in my shoulder and I knew she was following me invisibly, but I didn't care. I had sort of hoped she wouldn't mention it out of embarrassment or something… “I'm addicted to Med-X,” I said. “I…” My brow furrowed as I tried to explain. “I didn't mean to. I get beat up a lot and it… helped…” It helped so much. “I have enough… It's not a problem. For now. I know I need to get myself clean. But… there's so much to do. Only so much time. After, I promise.” It was easier to say than I expected. I had known it was coming for a while, but somehow the words weren't as difficult to find as I had feared.
“We appreciate your honesty… While we cannot approve, we understand.” There was a pause as I breathed a sigh of relief. “But.” But was never good. “When we saw we… recalled an event. When you first discovered us and you were taken to the infirmary at the orphanage. Afterwards we noticed that some of our supplies were missing, specifically our supply of Med-X.”
“Uh…” There was a long pause. Platinum Haze technically didn't ask me a question, so technically I didn't have to answer. Loopholes are fun.
“Was it you?” Her eyes narrowed, staring at me with such an intensity I couldn't bear to look at them.
“Uh…”
“Silver Storm.” I hated it when people called me by that name. “Answer the question.”
I gulped. “It… I…” I lowered my head. “Yes.” Perhaps the problem was worse than I thought when I was stealing from orphanages.
“We see.” She said nothing else, but kept up the glare. “As soon as there is time you will be getting yourself clean. This is not up for debate, and if you resist we will be very displeased.”
See, I knew she would never hurt me, but just hearing the barely controlled anger in her voice was more terrifying than an entire legion of Steel Rangers. “Okay,” I said meekly, which is not something I do often. “Sorry.”
“If you do not do as we ask, we can assure you that you will be.”
Well, that was ominous.
There was a lingering tension in the air that was so thick you could cut it with a knife. It would have been a lot more awkward had Serenity not taken that time to come running over.
“Momma! Haze!” She was really fast. “Some soldier-y ponies are heading this way; they don't look happy. It might be because I threw a rock at them when they asked me my name. But it was a really small rock, I promise.”
“Serenity…” It was hard to scold her after getting a scolding myself, but I tried my best.
“Really small!” She assured me as two NCA soldiers ran towards us.
“Get back here you little runt!” one of them shouted, and I noted a small dent in his helmet when I saw him approach. “Whoa, wait.” The two of them stopped and looked at each other in confusion before pointing their weapons at us. “Travel is restricted in this area, what's your business.” Their guns, I noted, were pointed more at Platinum Haze than me. Even completely unarmed and wearing a dress, she made an imposing figure.
“And what’s with your mane!” the second guard said. His voice seemed higher pitched, and I swear I heard it crack. It seemed the NCA recruited young. “It's all… all floaty.”
“Er… we—” Before Platinum Haze could say anything I stepped forward.
“My companion's mother. She got irradiated while pregnant. It had… a strange effect.” I doubted either of them were experts in the field of megaspell byproducts, so that'd work until I could think of a better lie. “We're looking for the NCA base.”
The guards shared another look as if judging if my story made any sense. “Why?”
“Major General Hailstorm sent us. We're… mechanics.” I made a motion to my cybernetic leg. I'm not sure if that proved anything except that I was clumsy but they seemed to buy it because we weren't shot. “She was worried about your artillery. Wanted us to do some routine maintenance on it.”
“And I'm Celestia's grandson,” the older guard said with a sneer. “You're not getting into the camp with a story like tha—”
“I have proof.” They stared incredulously at me.
“Well what is it?” The older guard asked impatiently.
“What if they're spies?” the younger one warned, which was a bit weird because that's not something you're supposed to say in front of the possible spies.
“Then we're the worst spies ever,” I said digging out the note Hailstorm gave us and giving it to them. “Here. It says everything.”
The two ponies took turns reading over the letter and giving us dirty looks. “You'll have to speak with General Stand Fast; he's in charge of operations and he'll want to verify things. Follow us.” He turned to walk away as his younger companion continued to stare.
“If you run, we'll shoot you. Just to be safe,” he clarified, before turning as well, leaving us no option but to follow. Though we did so at a distance so we could talk somewhat privately.
Not that it mattered, because as soon as we started walking Serenity asked, “You guys took forever to get dressed, what was keeping you?” and that sort of killed my mood for conversation.
---
“So.” General Stand Fast was older than I expected, mostly balding and what wisps of mane he had left were white as snow. Not that I had ever actually seen snow. “Hailstorm sent you?” I noticed that he didn't call her by her rank, and nodded in reply.
We had been taken by the guards into the NCA camp, and it was much bigger than I expected. Set right on the edge of a massive canyon (Caledonia had so many canyons, I swear) it was a huge encampment surrounded by a monolithic wall of scrap metal and wood with a guard tower just about every ten meters. From the looks of it, it started off as a scattered camp, but tents were partially built over to form buildings in some places, while in other places the ageing tents were left to stand, marked by many patches and signs of constant repair. It gave the entire camp a sense of chaotic order. This was only magnified by the sheer multitude of ponies in the camp, more than I had seen in a single place outside of Dise. Nearly all of which wore some form of uniform, which made us stand out more in comparison.
“You know they passed over me for the rank of Major General,” he said with an indignant snort. “For some up jumped filly with barely any experience. I've been a member of the NCA since before she was out of diapers!” Maybe his age was part of the problem, but I wasn't about to suggest that. “Why should I let you have free reign of my base?”
“Major General Hailstorm is your boss right?” I asked slowly, trying not to overstep.
“Yes, but she is far away and her signature could be forged.”
“So, she gave you this position then? She must think highly of you. To give you command of such an important… er… base.”
He seemed to think about that for a second. “I suppose you are right. Though I am no friend of hers, it is not as if she had intended to jump over me. ” She probably had, but that was something else I wasn't going to suggest. “So you are here to… look at the artillery?”
“That's correct.” I gave my most reassuring smile. “We're the best in Caledonia. Taught my filly everything she knows. She even got her cutiemark in fixing things. Major General Ha-”
“You're a liar.” I was, but he didn't have to be so mean about it. Hurt my feelings. “You're too heavily armed to be a mechanic, and we already have our own mechanics. I don't know wh—”
“Right. I am a mercenary.” He seemed taken aback by my sudden honesty. “My daughter however,” I motioned towards Serenity who was grinning from ear to ear, “is a prodigy. We worked at the farm. Major General Hailstorm heard of her ability. One thing led to another and we were sent here. Serenity here thinks she can modify your artillery. Make it shoot further and more accurately.”
The General narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Then why lie.”
I gave him a good natured smile. “Nopony would believe what this filly is capable of. It was necessary. But you're a reasonable stallion. Imagine the glory if these improvements work. Nopony will know it was us. Or Hailstorm. Just you. You'll be a hero.”
He considered that for a second before nodding. “Yes. Yes. You and your entourage will be given room and board for tonight, and free run of the camp -- barring any high security areas. You may also not leave the premises under any conditions. This is a war zone you're in, and it's for your safety. Not that you could anyway, all entrances are locked and under guard.”
“Of course,” I said, giving him a small smile. “We're not crazy.”
---
“We are fairly certain that this plan is demonstrably crazy,” was the first thing Platinum Haze said to me as soon as we had been left alone in the small room we were escorted to. It was a small, cramped room made from scrap, and still had a dirt floor. The bed looked nice and soft though.
“What’s so crazy about it?” I thought it was a good plan.
“While it makes sense to use our invisibility to leave, our wings are too injured to fly over anything, not to mention carry.”
I was pretty sure she was calling me fat. “You don't need to. We'll use Serenity's sound absorbing spell to sneak to the gate.” I mimicked sneaking over to the door, “Then bang!” I gently kicked at the door. Obviously in practice it'd be a lot harder. “Lock broken.”
Platinum Haze stared at me, but her expression was unreadable. Or I was terrible at reading expressions. “We suppose that could work, though there is still a problem.”
I stood back up proper and looked at the door to make sure I didn't actually hurt it. “What?”
“Locks, as we understand it, exist for a purpose. By destroying their lock, we could be putting them in danger, which is not something we wish to do.” That… was a well reasoned argument.
“Well. We don't have a lot of options.” I shrugged. “We can't really stay here long. Serenity knows nothing about artillery. Our bluff will be called.”
“That much we agree upon, we must leave tonight or sooner.” Haze sighed. “But… we do not believe it is right to do so in a manner that puts others at risk.”
“Not much of one.” I was less sympathetic. To be honest, I had never found myself particularly enamoured to the NCA, and it wasn't as if a single lock would matter much. “They'll find the broken lock in the morning. And fix it.”
“If they notice, we are unsure they will notice.”
“Do you have a better option?”
“Well, no-”
“So it's settled,” I said firmly. “We need to leave. It probably won’t hurt anyone. Don't worry about it.”
“We still worry, unforeseen consequences of our actions may be dire, and we wish to-”
“I have an option!” Serenity was standing in the doorway. I hadn't even heard the door open, or noticed she was gone… “I was waitin' fer tha perfect time to come in. Dramatically. But ya'lls were boring so I'm doing it now!” She trotted into the room and jumped on the bed.
“Where were you?”
“Shh, Momma.” She put her hoof up to my lips to silence me. “No using the momma voice.” I don't know what she was talking about. “And close the door, it's worth it. Promise.” With a sigh I slowly closed the door. “Taaadaaa!” And floating out of her pack in an aura of pink magic was a key ring with a single key on it.
Platinum Haze looked shocked, and so did I when it occurred to me what she had. “We must confess, we never considered that option.”
“Where did you get that?” I put on my so called “momma voice” again.
“I found it.” I stared at her. “In a desk.” I kept staring. “In the general's office.” I didn't take my gaze off her and she squirmed under the pressure. “Past a few armed guards. They didn't notice me though!” Only then did I look away from her, and she let out an audible sigh of relief.
“That was dangerous,” I explained.
“But fun!” Was her counter, though at that point I think she was just trying to rile me up. “And it solved your problem. Everybody wins.”
“Except the general. Who you tricked and stole from.” I said, trying my best to sound disappointed.
“He'll get over it.” Serenity jumped off the bed and headed towards the door.
“We are wondering where it is you think you are going?” Platinum Haze interjected.
Serenity stopped and turned back, “Er, leaving? We can turn invisible, what point is there to waiting for night?” The fewer people around to see the magically moving gate for one, but she seemed to enthusiastic.
“Let’s go,” I said, following her.
---
It was an interesting experience walking around in what should be plain view, but having nobody notice your existence. Also a lot more work than I had anticipated. I was not a small pony (have I mentioned that before?) so trying to navigate the crowded base making sure I didn't touch anybody, or accidentally knock something over was fairly difficult. It also had the problem of me not actually being able to see Platinum Haze, so I guess I was once again lucky I could sense magic.
And wasn't that just a weird way to think of it considering.
Eventually we made it to the gate to find it locked and barred. Unlike the slightly slapdash wall of wood and metal topped with barbed wire, it was a huge metal sliding door that looked like they ripped it off of some warehouse. Which was probably exactly what they did.
Surprisingly, it was not guarded directly, but instead had two massive watch towers made from shaky-looking scrap metal that rose from either side of it. I suppose they didn't really expect anybody to sneak out, and certainly not in the middle of the day. We were rebels though.
We walked straight towards the door. I couldn't see, but I heard the click when the door was unlocked. I whispered as silently as I could, “Okay, slide it open quietly.”
“Momma,” Serenity said in her normal voice, “I'm magicking. Ain't nopony can hear us. Can do it on the door too, simple as cake…” She paused for a second before adding, “Oh! We should steal some cake before we go.” When I didn't answer she eventually said. “Or not.” And started to slide the door open.
It was a weird experience hearing the door creak open loudly, but not seeing who was opening it, and knowing that nobody would hear except me. Well us. When the door was open enough the three of us (I assume, I couldn't see them) slipped out, and the door was closed behind us. All and all it was much easier than I was expecting.
“We should hurry,” I said. “Haze, how is your magic holding up?” I didn't want to wear her out.
“We are fine, and shall be for many more hours. We possess an expansive magical reserve.” Right. It did make me glad she was on my side, though I supposed even if she weren't it wasn't like she'd try to kill me.
“Alright.” I continued towards the bridge, hoping our entire enterprise had been unnoticed.
“Hope it don't rain.” Huh. I looked up to the sky when Serenity mentioned that, and sure enough the sky was filled with thick clouds. I hadn't even noticed. I had lived so long with the cloud cover that it seemed normal to me, even though I probably should have noticed. I was still getting used to the sun. “Scootaborg doesn't like getting wet.” Serenity exclaimed. Probably because she was a cyborg. I could understand; I was very glad when I finally got water resistant cybernetics.
The bridge before us was a pretty fancy looking suspension bridge. Though it looked fancier from far away, when we got closer the effects of time showed in its rusted form. The top of it was cluttered with debris and old long-abandoned carriages. Also mines.
Serenity saw the first one, and thank Celestia she did as I was about to put my hoof down on one. Of course it didn't stop at just one, there were hundreds. From then on our progress slowed to a crawl. None of us were keen on being exploded, and I at least was worried about the mines causing a chain reaction. As cool as that would look (and I'm sure Flare would agree), I wasn't sold on being in the middle of it. Partway through the bridge I noticed the mines changed design, so I supposed that both sides were culpable in this frustrating endeavour. It did not help that the closer to the middle of the bridge we were, the more it seemed to sway in the wind. I was just thankful I wasn't close enough to see off the edge to see of it.
By the time we reached the other side I was drenched in sweat from the tension, and muttered. “Lets never do that again.”
“We have to on the way back, though we suppose it might be easier knowing where everything is.” Platinum Haze reminded me.
“I'll ride on you. Like Serenity did.”
“Not enough room for Momma.” Serenity explained. Did I mention how weird it was not being able to see the people I was speaking to?
“And you will probably need to carry the pony we are rescuing.” Right, I had forgotten about that. Dammit.
Since there was no point worrying about it, we moved on. The Minotaur camp was not hard to find, but it was thankfully less guarded. It lacked the massive walls of the NCA camp, had no gate, and only two large watch towers, both pointed towards the bridge. I suppose it wasn't as if they were going to get attacked from any other direction, so more advanced security was pointless.
The camp itself was a bit of a mess, but I suppose that made sense for a people that seemed to worship Discord. The centre of the camp was a giant three story building that I guessed was some sort of factory before the war, but now I imagined was the head quarters. Helping confirm this was the fact the camp, which was little more than a cluster of tents and prewar buildings, spiralled out from the centre point, slowly thinning in density until the buildings just sort of stopped. Compared to the organized chaos of the NCA camp, this was more of chaotic chaos.
We shuffled closer to the camp, keeping our movements slow so we didn't do something stupid like kick up a bunch of dust. It was stressful, to say the least, knowing we would probably be killed if we made the smallest mistake. I couldn't imagine the minotaurs took kindly to invisible ponies sneaking around their camp.
Once we got into the camp proper I felt the weight drop off a little though. Guards posted in guard towers were expected to look for trouble, whereas random folk walking around the camp would probably be less suspicious. It was still nerve wracking, just less so.
I suppose it helped that once we made it into the camp nobody was even so much as looking in our direction. I wasn't sure why, but it seemed like every minotaur in the area was heading towards the centre huge building. It did make me realize it was a mistake going in the day and not night, because regardless of how invisible you are if you bump into someone you're going to get found out.
But, it was what it was. “We should check it out,” I said under Serenity's spell, so nobody could hear but us.
“We had thought our job was to find the captured pony and return him unharmed.” Platinum Haze did not seem convinced.
“It is.” I said, watching as minotaurs passed close enough that I could count the hairs on their head. “But this seems important. And. He is probably in there.”
“We suppose…”
“Good!”
It was more difficult to get to the main building than I thought. The mess of tents and buildings got thicker the nearer they were to the centre building, and at least twice we made a wrong turn and ended up in a dead end. By the time we got to the factory everyone was inside and the doors were shut and barred, not that we would risk trying to open them with so many minotaurs inside.
Still, I was not about to give up that easily. I stalked around one side of the building, then another, looking for another entrance. I didn't find that, well not exactly. What I did find was a shaky looking metal fire escape clinging onto the side of the building, leading to an emergency exit.
“There.” I pointed to the fire escape’s collapsible ladder, but then felt like an idiot when I remembered I was invisible. “Up there, the ladder.”
A second later Haze's purple magic enveloped the sliding ladder and gently… pulled it off. Apparently two hundred years of rust left it very fragile. “Oh…” Haze gently placed the ladder down against the wall.. “We could fly up there…”
“No. Your wing is still injured.”
“Then how are yo—” I ran forward towards the ladder. It shook as I charged up it, and cracked when I pushed off backwards. Turning in midair I reached my hooves out and connected with the fire escape platform with both hooves. I dangled there for only a second before swinging my lower body to help pull myself up.
“I was an active kid. This place reminds me of home.” I explained, but I am not sure how good an explanation it was. “Don't think this will hold all of us…” It was shaky enough with just me. “You wait here. Serenity with me.”
“We cannot keep you invisible without keeping sight; if you are determined to do this, we pray that you will be careful.” I saw a ball of magic surround something vaguely pony shaped and float up to me, and a weight on my back a few seconds later confirmed Serenity was with me.
“We will.”
“We're ninjas!” Serenity explained as we headed up the rickety fire escape. Did I ever mention how much I hated heights? I hated them even more on rickety metal platforms, especially after that incident at the train station. Still, I had a job to do so I didn't balk, though perhaps I was a bit paler than usual.
This was confirmed for me when the magic surrounding us turned off revealing the two of us. I let out a sigh when the pressure on my shoulder was lifted. Well, partially, Serenity's magic was still around me… which was a bit surprising. Her magic must have been getting stronger, as I didn't think she could hold it for so long.
“Are you okay?” I asked quietly as we reached the top. “I don't want you to overtax yourself.”
“Fine.” Serenity said quickly, while at the same time hopping off my back to take a look at the door. It was old and rusted, and most importantly the wall around it had partially crumbled so it was easy to open. “What were you'n Haze arguin' about before?”
“Er…” That was an effective way to change the subject. I peeked through the crumbled wall to make sure the room behind was empty before opening the creaking door. “Nothing.” I stepped inside and coughed. Centuries of dust and decay hit my nostrils like a sledge hammer. “Ugh.” The places I've been, and the things I've smelled. They were going to haunt my dreams for years, assuming I lived that long.
“That's not an answer.” Serenity skipped into the room behind me. Other than giving a brief scowl she seemed unperturbed by the smell.
“Uh…” I said in my usual charismatic way. I walked forward into the room and looked around while I tried to gather my thoughts. The room was a dark and dusty office of some sort with much of the interior lost to time. Just rubble that sort of resembled desks and a few errant bones, but no full skeleton to be seen. “I guess the minotaurs don't use this room.” On one side of the room there was a huge glass window, but it was so covered up in dust and grime I couldn't see through it.
“Also not an answer.” Serenity walked towards the window I was looking at and pressed her face against it. I don't think she saw anything, and all it seemed to accomplish was dirtying her face. “You should answer.”
With a sigh I pulled Serenity close and used my barding to wipe the grime off her face. “It's nothing you should worry about.” I then used my barding to wipe at the window. It sort of worked. Through it I thought I saw figures below, lots of them, but it was so blurry as to be useless.
“Ah'm already worrying.” She said with a frown, squinting through the window. “You two like never fight, it's weird an' ah don't like it.”
“We're over it now.” Well, sort of. I was pretty sure Haze was still mad at me, not without reason. I looked around the room until I found a door on the same wall as the window. I pointed to it. “I promise. If anything serious happens. I'll tell you. Okay?”
She chewed on her lip for a few seconds before reluctantly sighing. “Fine.”
“Thank you.” I slowly opened the door and peeked outside.
True to what I had suspected, it was a rather large factory area. The door led out to a metal catwalk that snaked over the factory floor (it seemed like an odd design to me) before leading to stairs that led down. The floor looked to be partially cleared of whatever machines had been used here long before, though some conveyer belts apparently were too difficult to remove. Which I suppose worked for the minotaurs as they were using it as a soapbox of sorts, with a couple of them standing on it calling for attention.
The floor was absolutely awash with minotaurs; there were even more here than were at the train station. They were crowded in the building so tight it looked like it would be hard to move, and each and every one of them were carrying weapons. Though oddly none of them wore uniforms, and even the armour they wore tended to be vastly different in style.
“Quiet! Quiet!” The minotaur on the conveyor belt was walking back and forth. He was unarmed, and wore no clothing, but when he spoke the rest of them listened. “Today is an auspicious day. After the betrayal by the NCA, we have finally regained contact with our bases across the canyon!” There was a great cheer. “Our Prime Minister has returned, and he is here!” What.
Sure enough, across the catwalk the King himself walked out as if on cue, his gaze searching the room. He looked older than last time I saw him, and he seemed to be limping. His gaze passed over the door I was peeking out of, but he did not seem to notice me.
“The longer we wait here across the canyon, the longer the NCA has to rally forces against us. They are in talks with the Enclave, who now possess a great warship. If this deal is established they will not need the bridge, nor will they need to spend the time and money taking the long journey to us around the canyon and river.” His voice seemed strained, but he did what he could to put on a show. “We must strike, and now. Right now we have have spies in their midst, replacing and neutralizing their scouts and watchmen. In the cover of darkness we will cross the bridge. Maps have been made to avoid the mines, and if we go single file not a minotaur will be lost.”
Another cheer, this one louder.
The king rose his fist into the air to silence the crowd. “They have refused to capitulate, as they have in the past. Their words drip honey as they sharpen knives behind their backs. When they destroyed our farms and cattle, we tried to sue for peace, but they tricked our delegation and refused to release them. Even still they blame us for retaliating and burning Hoof Town. Still, we made peace. Once again they encroach on our land, and made false platitudes backed up by fire. No more. We gave them too many chances. Too many lives. Tonight chaos shall reign, as it should be.”
That was enough for me and I slowly backed out of the room, closing the door. Serenity looked at me worriedly, “It's not our concern,” I tried to say.
She replied, “It will be…” Soon it would be everyone's concern. It seemed to me nobody wanted this war, and each side blamed the other for breaking this truce and former ones. A misunderstanding, obviously, but one set up to happen. They had been enemies for so long, it was easy to jump to the wrong conclusion even when all the facts didn't add up. If only they spoke to each other, tried…
But I couldn't blame their mistrust, nor could I blame the NCR’s. Something had to give, and The Watchers knew where the weakest points were. If this war erupted in full, Dise would need The Watchers for stability, and when that happened…
I don't know. Something bad. “Lets go,” I said in a whisper. “The pony we're looking for. He's not here.” I left the room. It had started raining lightly, but getting stronger by the second. I wasn't a fan of the rain, it always reminded me of my mother.
We made our way down the stairs, and I could see Platinum Haze standing there. She must have been trying not to drain her magic. “Nothing,” I said jumping down beside her. “Just war talks. We need to keep looking.”
“We see,” With a painful burst of magic we were invisible. Just in time for thunder to crack and the rain to pour even harder. My mane was soaked in seconds, and it chilled me to the bone.
“Great,” I mumbled to myself and started walking with the others, following my magic sensing ability thing… We turned onto a side street as we heard the large group of minotaurs exit the factory. We weren't on a main street, just some back alley, and we waited as we saw a few minotaurs pass in front of us on the main road.
Then we heard footsteps behind us. I turned to see two minotaurs walking down the alley, guns ready. I turned forward and two more. This couldn't be good.
“We can see you.” One said.
Shit.
Shit shit. How could they… then I looked at Platinum Haze and realized I was an idiot. The rain. It was raining, but we were still stopping it in the air, how dense could I get? Apparently very.
“Serenity,” I said quietly and felt her magic fade, at the same time Platinum Haze's did. “What do you want?” I asked the minotaurs, my mouth ready to fire. I didn't though. I wasn't a fool, I couldn't fight an entire army. Well… I could, but I didn't want to. “We mean you no harm.”
“We don't care.” One minotaur grunted. “The prime minister wishes to see you. And nobody else is to see you. Come quickly. Or else.” Great, this was going great.
---
We were led quickly to an obscure building, being careful that no one else other than the four guards saw us. We were eventually shoved into a small empty building and told to wait. It took over half an hour for the door to open again, and the Minotaur King to walk through.
He did look older than before. Weary, and limping. I don't know what happened to him, and I wasn't sure I wanted to. “Hired Gun,” he said, his voice echoing, “you are not dead.”
“Not for lack of trying. I assure you.”
“I saved her! From a scorpion!” Serenity grinned happily.
“I am sure you did, little one.” His gaze fell on Platinum Haze, “We have not had the pleasure, though I am sure you have quite a story.” Platinum Haze nodded and stayed quiet. “Hired, what are you doing here? You are lucky it was I who saw you, and I still owe you for saving my life, and removing the scorpion problem.”
“We're looking for a pony. Dead Whisper. You captured him.” Might as well get down to business, I did not want to take longer than necessary.
“We do not usually. I was not here when it happened, and would not have approved, but the General wished it to be so. He told us about the Enclave, and not willingly. We have no more use for him, we planned to keep him locked up for now, why do you need him?”
“Can't you just take my word?”
The king shook his head. “No.” He leaned down to look me in the eye, “Do not play games. I am tired, and the night will be long.”
“He's a megaspell,” I said simply, which made the king visibly flinch. “Like the Laughing Stallion. Who blew up the train station. If you keep him… well…”
“How can you know this?” The shock turned into suspicion in his eyes.
“I don't. Not for sure. But do you want to take that risk?”
He seemed to consider that for a moment, crossing his arms and leaning heavily against the wall. “I trust you. Against my better judgement. Were it anypony else I would stab them through and be done with it. But I cannot broker such a risk against my people. It seems we are forced into this foolhardy war, and more death I cannot abide.”
“You do not wish the war?” Haze interrupted suddenly. “Then why not call it off? Forgive us, but you are their Prime Minister, their leader. Is it not in your power to end it?”
“No.” He said closing his eyes with a deep sigh. “I cannot. Governance is not always top down, and I cannot stop what has happened. If I tried my Generals would call me a traitor and put my head on a spike. Those loyal to me would fight back, but many more hate ponies than they like me. Minotaur blood would be shed, but the war with the NCA would remain, only we would be sure to lose. Under my guidance we might be able to make this war short, maybe…” He grimaced. “I would, if such a power belonged to me.”
Platinum Haze looked confused, but didn't argue further. Considering what she lived through, it must have been hard for to imagine a situation where the leader wasn't in complete control. The Goddess, from what I heard, wasn't one to accept a disagreement.
“The NCA seem similarly stuck. I’m not sure they want a war.” I said.
“Then perhaps there is hope.” he didn't seem convinced, and I wasn't surprised. Why would he accept my bleak optimism. “But, this pony. I will bring him to you. My guards will escort him outside the camp, and you may take him. Most will think he is going to be killed. Then leave… and” His eyes snapped opened, and looked at me. I never realized how bright they were, just a shining yellow that seemed to make his whole face light up. “Get far away. Far from Dise, to the NCA, or Equestria. For Discord's sake, go to Roam, and live in the scorching heat, but if you are in the Dise area, I cannot guarantee your safety.”
“I understand.” I paused for a long time, long enough for the King to start to leave. “Wait!” He turned to look at me. “What if… what if I could postpone it.”
“Postpone… what?” he didn't understand, his face was scrunched in confusion.
“The war.”
“Are you a god, to promise such a thing.”
“The NCA. They aren't going to get Enclave help.” He raised an eyebrow. “So… you don't need to attack.”
“You should be aware, your assurances won’t be enough.”
“So… if I could. Pause the war. Would you be okay with it? Would you… if you wouldn't be harmed.”
“Explain.”
I shook my head slowly. “I just need an answer.”
“Do it,” he said and walked out into the rain.
---
With the rain pouring outside, and the minotaurs all inside their tents, it wasn't difficult to leave the encampment and go to where we were told to meet up. With the dark night and heavy rain there was little worry about being seen far away from the camp, so we turned the magic off and instead Platinum Haze created a shield above our heads to keep us dry from the rain. Which was sort of pointless because we were already soaking wet, but it was the thought that counts.
“I'm bored,” Serenity mumbled. “How long we gotta wait?” It had been nearly an hour waiting, and I had to agree it was far longer than I felt was necessary.
“Not much longer.” In the distance I could see it. The rain fell hard, but there were large patches of air that were not hit by a single drop, and they were moving closer.
Platinum Haze must have saw it as well, because she commented, “It seems we are not the only ones who can become invisible.”
Sure enough the figures came close, two minotaur sized ones, and one pony. Then without so much as a warning the pony became visible, and was pushed towards us, as the others moved back into the storm.
“Come here.” The figure was wet, and shadowed by the dark night. “Under here, it'll be drier.” The pony slumped towards the makeshift umbrella, and into the light of Haze's horn.
He was an averaged sized stallion by any guess, but I could see he was stronger than his size might suggest. His mane was long and dirty, and either the colour of mud or so covered in mud it was impossible to determine. His eyes were a vibrant green, but one was swollen and blackened. He was still wearing his NCA uniform I realized eventually, but it was so ripped and stained to be completely unrecognizable at first.
“You are?” I asked as Serenity watched on from my back, and Platinum Haze from beside me.
He spat out blood so red it looked black. “Lucky.” He didn't look like Major Lucky to me. “Master Corporal Whisper.” he eventually admitted. Just the pony we were looking for. “Is this a dream? An Alicorn, like Luna, you look just like her.”
“We do not, in fact. While we are blue like Luna, we are a different colour blue, and our mane and eyes could not be more different, though we understand the confusion as Luna is no longer around.”
“Not Luna. Right. Who are you then.”
“Ninjas!” Serenity exclaimed from my back.
“Friends.” I corrected.
“Friends of minotaurs.” He was keeping his distance as much as he could. “How else could I be here.”
“From time to time,” I admitted. I sat down on the ground and sighed, letting Serenity slide off my back. It had been a long day, but at least there were no dragons. “I'm Hired Gun… a mercenary of sorts. Or I was… I'll be honest. I don't know what I am.”
“Saved by a question mark. Great.” I liked him.
“This is Serenity, my daughter.” She trotted up beside me. “And my marefriend, Platinum Haze.”
“Never heard of any of you.” He sat down too, made things more amiable when he didn't look like he was about to flee. “You're not NCA. Why are you here?”
“For you. You…” I looked him over but couldn't see any signs of cybernetic modifications. “You did get cybernetics right? Tell me about them, and where you got them.”
“Oh, we're playing twenty questions.” He looked thoughtful for a second. “I wasn't able to get an appointment at the Black Salamander. I still wanted something though, and I heard about that other company. Cerberus. I mentioned them to my superior, and they managed to set up an appointment with me and a few others on conditions we didn't mention where we got them from because the NCA has a contract with Mr. House to get all shit from him.”
“What happened then?”
“I'm getting to it! Don't rush me.” He held his head with a hoof, and I thought I saw a bit of metal. “It was weird, we met in some ruined buildings near… the Watcher Compound I think. We were lead underground and then… we were led out two days later. I don't remember anything else. I got some bone reinforcements, things to make me stronger, and a blade in my hoof… minotaurs broke that though.” I winced at the thought. “Not as obvious as yours.”
“Few cybernetics are.” I snorted. “Tell me. Does your hoof burn?”
The question hung in the air, and for a long while all I could hear was the sound of rain.
“Yes…” He looked up at the magic umbrella. “Near magic…” he whispered. “They said I was insane… how did you know?”
I rubbed my shoulder that was still burning. “Lucky guess. It’s…” I sighed, how to explain without scaring the piss out of him? “When you get back. Medical tests will be done. Lots. Then you'll be safe.”
“So I'm not now…” He figured that much out at least, but I couldn't bear to tell him any more than that. “Who is Cerberus?”
One arm of an octopus. Like Celestia's Vision, Dragonslayer, and The Enclave. All controlled and manipulated by the Watchers, strangling Dise from so many different directions at once they were too busy chasing shadows to see the threat. “I don't know.” It was too much to explain.
“Damn,” he sighed. “I wanted to know who I need to enact revenge on.”
“One day.”
“Well, I can still kill some minotaurs.” He seemed way too happy about that.
“Probably not.”
He frowned and looked back at the camp. “So… you rescued me. For secret reasons. Because I'm in a bad way, but you can't tell me how, and you won’t let me get revenge, and won’t tell me why?”
“When you put it like that, you make it sound as if we are secretive.” Platinum Haze said.
“Says the freaking alicorn!” He rubbed his temple, “Whatever. I'm sore. I hope whatever is going on, you guys have some idea what you're doing. And aren't complete idiots.”
I gave him my most reassuring smile, “We do… and... I know a pegasus who you would get along with.” It seemed every stallion I met was either a bastard or some sort of master of snark. Stallions are weird.
“Right.” He seemed unconvinced.
I stood back up and motioned for him to do the same. “We need to go now.” I started walking towards the bridge as lightning flashed overhead, and thunder boomed. They all followed; apparently the Master Corporal just accepted that I was the leader. Which was good. I couldn't be bothered to argue any further with him when I had work to do.
The walk across the bridge was more difficult this time than it was before. The wind was whipping, and the ground was slick, and it wasn't like there were fewer mines than there were before. Dead Whisper being injured from his stay with the minotaurs didn't help.
He didn't seem to take it too badly though. He stood up straight, and spoke with confidence, but whenever he thought we weren't looking he limped along. At one point he nearly tripped into a mine, but Platinum Haze caught him with her magic. He almost seemed thankful, but didn't say as much.
By the time we got to the end of the bridge, we all looked exhausted and tired. It was a shame that we wouldn't be able to sleep indoors that night, as much as I would have liked. Lightning cracked in the distance, revealing the bridge in an eery glow. It was a large bridge, with two large towers rising up into the sky on each side, and a mess of cables connecting them. I imagine that each side had snipers up in those towers from time to time, but I hoped there wasn't anyone up there.
“Platinum.” She looked down on me, rain pouring down her face. “I know I asked a lot of you. But one more thing. Then like… a week’s rest”
“When you spoke to the minotaur king, we had realized what it is you were planning.” Her horn started to glow, then another layer of purple glow covered the first. Off towards the bridges a thousand dots of purple magic appeared.
I knew what she was doing. And when lightning struck once more I could see well enough to confirm it. She had picked up every mine on the bridge she could see, maybe a hundred, or more, it was hard to tell, and floated them towards the far tower.
Her magic faded, and I knew it was ready.
“What are you doing!” Dead Whisper said far too loudly. “The bridge, we need it to-”
A pink ball of magic surrounded his head, and not a sound came out. He looked confused for a second and tried to yell louder but it didn't work. “Let Momma explain.”
I turned to the Master Corporal, standing as tall as I could and looking down on him. “This war is pointless. You have been manipulated. I don't care if you believe me. But this war can't continue. This will postpone it. Maybe. Fewer lives will be lost. In any case. I'll find the ones who started it. And prove it was them.”
The magic faded and Dead Whisper looked around in confusion, “You're insane.” Was I? I suppose it was possible, but I had never considered it. I did see dead ponies…
“Maybe.” I gave a half-hearted shrug. “If I am. Then it's what Dise needs.” Lightning flashed overhead, and I could see his face, frozen in grim determination, for only a split second. “Go home. You need it.”
I turned towards the bridge and I could hear him run off. It was pointless of course, I had already decided how this was going to go. Lightning struck the bridge's tower and I shot.
Subtlety's bullet hit true. There was a split second delay and…
The explosion was deafening.
It wasn't all at once, but one exploded and it triggered more and more so it started quieter until more and more exploded in a cacophony of fire and steel. The impact hit us a second later, nearly knocking Serenity over, and when the smoke cleared you could see the damage.
The far tower of the bridge was buckled over sideways like it had been struck in the gut. It creaked and groaned for a long time, slowly bending over more and more. Until it fell.
The tower toppled but came to a sudden stop as the cables attaching it to the other tower tightened. Only for a second though, and that was all it took. The Tower fell, and with it the other tower toppled. Concrete stretched and broke apart, louder than any explosion, and the pieces fell like the rain into the canyon far below. It was over.
Lightning struck once more revealing the damage. The lead up to the bridge still existed, but the stone quickly turned into a gaping chasm where the rest of the bridge once stood. The second tower had collapsed forward, lying across the remains of the bridge and sticking out into the abyss so delicately it looked like it was about to fall over too. No army would cross that gap, not without Enclave help.
Behind us I heard yelling.
The NCA was coming. Even in the storm it was impossible to ignore what had just happened. I looked at Haze, and just like that we vanished into the night. I'm sure that if they really tried they could have found our outline in the rain as we left the scene, but they never did. They were too amazed by what had happened.
Maybe the NCA and the Minotaurs would tear themselves into bloody bits. Maybe what I did meant nothing in the long run, when eventually the two sides threw so many lives at each other that nobody on either side would remain. But it wouldn't be tonight. And that’s what mattered.
Level Up!
Skill Note: Sneak 80
((A/N: Hi, No One here. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I just want to give my thanks to Kkat for creating FoE. And to my Editors TheBSDude, Julep and Menti, as well as to the guy who does the audiobooks, EquestrianNarrator for his help as well. Without these guys this story would be nothing. So Cheers.)) |
No One | 662 | 34 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2015-02-06T21:02:56+00:00 | 2015-02-06T21:02:55+00:00 | 10,548 | Moon Fall
“In a time of destruction, create something.”
“A freak lightning bolt hit Canyon Ridge Bridge last night, setting off a chain reaction of mines that resulted in the bridge's destruction an NCA spokesman confirmed with me.” Mr. New Haygas was saying over the radio. “The NCA spokesman was clear though, that they were still committed to removing the minotaur menace, but would have to find alternative routes across the canyon. Meanwhile, an unconfirmed NCA insider who wants to stay anonymous claims the NCA is looking at the recent Enclave Remnant split, and trying to get one of them to help them across with promises of helping them in their fight. According to this insider the NCA is 'not picky' on which side they choose.” The Radio was lying obviously, the NCA knew it wasn't lightning, but it was easier to explain than what actually happened.
We managed to find some ruins to hunker down in during the night that kept us mostly warm. We saw a few NCA patrols at a distance, but none came close to us. By morning the harsh storm had passed and turned into a light drizzle and a cold grey day. That day stayed with us as we walked back towards the city. I managed to find and save one of the megaspell ponies, but I wanted to save them all, and to do that I needed to find out who all was turned into one. The only way I could figure out how to do that was to bust down The Watchers’ front door.
“Revolutionaries clashed against the Mustangs again last night, turning the northern half of Dise into a bloodbath. We reached out to the Watchers and Mustangs for comments, the Mustangs refused to comment and the Watchers had this to say.” The radio clicked, and Clean Cutt's voice fed over the radio.
“The Watchers have always stood for peace and order, and while we have never been fans of the chaotic system of governance Dise has to offer, we by no mean condone these clashes. We understand some think we are the 'leaders' of the revolution, but we are simply healing and providing help to the injured. To be honest, I am not sure what to tell you. Everyone at The Watchers are praying for an end to the violence.”
Mr. New Haygas' voiced came over the radio again. “Revolutionaries, who claim to be headed by a pony known only as Mr. X, have refused all communication, stating only that every pony with eyes and ears can understand their demands. The riots were sparked during a funeral for local hero, Pinprick, and since then Mr. House’s Black Salamander casino was mobbed, and his employees were forced to regroup outside the city, with some claiming Mr. House died in the fighting. Molly of the Baises was apparently captured by revolutionaries, but her casino has so far refused to back down. The Mustangs have clashed the most openly with the rioters, and has faced mass defections. Revolutionaries claim the casino is on its last legs.”
“Meanwhile the remaining Enclave remnants, and the Galician Ponitrons have remained out of the fighting. Both groups claim they support the revolutionary goals, though various revolutionaries reveal they are on the list of of groups the revolutionaries wish to be disbanded or forced out. The revolution has a list of grievances, most stemming from what they say is a systemic failure to provide adequate food and medical supplies following the balefire explosion over the city.
“It is… a dark time for Dise, many claiming the darkest since the apocalypse. I for one do not wish to be alive to see the destruction of our great city, but I love you folks out there, and if this ship goes down I'll be here every day to keep you informed. Stay safe out there lovelies, and let your worries be carried away in song.” Music started to play over the radio, but my worries were not soothed.
We were heading into the heart of chaos. I don't know what The Watchers were trying to pull with this 'revolution' crap, and part of me wondered if they had planned it at all. They certainly riled up the public, but that's easy. Controlling them is much harder, and if they lost control, and with the security of the NCA taken away, and the various grudges already in play…
“The situation seems dire,” Platinum Haze said. We had made good time, and by the time the sun was setting we were nearing the ruined buildings of the aptly named 'Parasite Mound'. “We are truly unsure how to resolve these problems that have been presented to us. If we are even attempting to.”
“I don't know,” I said with a sigh. “The city needs order.”
“The city needs a good smack!” Serenity exclaimed from her position sitting on my back.
“Maybe that too.” I would rub my temple in annoyance, but it was difficult to do that and walk at the same time.
“Still,” Haze said, her voice sounding somewhat distant as she stared off into the horizon. “Someone will need to step up and provide a balm to the city's ails. We cannot fault these ponies for trying to overthrow the order of Dise, oppressive and chaotic as it is, but they cannot fight all of Dise without destroying it. Someone must step up to unite the city…” Haze turned her gaze to stare at me.
“What?”
“Someone needs to lead the city.” She said to me again.
“You…” That was funny actually. What she was implying. “You're joking.”
“You have a… memorable figure. You look like a pony who could stand against a hurricane without bowing to the wind. A form that demands respect and admiration.”
“I look like I took a wrong turn into a blender.”
“You look.” She took a deep breath. “Like a survivor. Everyone in the wasteland can respect a survivor.”
“Until they hear me speak.” With my raspy voice, and idiotic sayings.
“Darling.” I think that was the first time she called me that. “We are simply suggesting a possibility. You are uniquely situated to evoke positive change. You understand not only the systemic problems within the Dise power structure, but also the conspiracies to undermine that structure that caused the problem. You also have met and worked with many powerful leaders across the region. If not you, perhaps you can find someone to lead in your place.”
“I…” I sighed and looked down at the ground. “Maybe.”
I couldn't really fault Haze for thinking of me in that light. Or rather, for thinking of anyone in that light. She came from a place of pretty strong central authority (putting it lightly) and I'm sure she meant it only as a positive for me to take up a similar role. But it was just plain stupid. Yes I knew powerful ponies, but I was a nobody; worse, a nobody who wasn't even that good at her job. There was no chance anyone would follow me.
By then though we had made it to Parasite Mound. A lovely little hellhole, that today probably looked better than Dise itself did. The entrance that had once been home to a NCA patrol was now suspiciously empty, and when I looked in their old headquarters I found nothing at all. The NCA stripped everything before abandoning the city.
However as I got further into the town I saw something strange: normality.
It seemed the radiation that had blanketed the city had died down (as Dragonslayer claimed it would) and ponies were walking around normally, conducting their business. There was no sign of trouble, or fights, no fires or bullet holes or any damage beyond what you'd expect for the type of ruins they were. It was… strange. It seemed the denizens of Parasite Mound didn't care for the revolution, or those that did had already run off through the wall into the city proper.
So there was an odd calm surrounding the town. That was, until I noticed someone in a dress in the corner of my eye. There was no mistaking the flashy uniform of a Finisher, and a townie was speaking to her with some heat and pointing to us. That wasn't good…
It was about a minute later as we were turning a corner that I noticed all the townies seemed to have vanished from around me. And there was a stereo on the ground by the side of the road.
“Here we go…” I said, and as if on cue music started to blare.
“Vat have ve here!” A voice said from the roof tops. I looked up to see two ponies standing on roofs on either side of us. I had expected Finisher dresses, but I was wrong.
The two ponies were decked out in power armour. There was no mistaking it as Enclave style, but it seemed the ponies wearing it were determined to make that hard to tell. The armour was painted in pinks and pale blues, with the backs of dresses glued onto them. The enclave masks were cleverly painted to give the illusion of eyeshadow and blush on the masks’ faces.
The two powered armoured ponies jumped from the roof simultaneously, slamming into the ground but looking un-phased. They walked dramatically up to us as the music played in the background.
“Cybernetics. Scars.” One said in a really bad fake accent.
“Ze alicorn, in a dress, not fooling anyvun.” The other tsked, her accent seemingly more practised.
“Ze Finishers protect ze people here.” The first said pushing an armoured hoof against my chest.
“Ve vill have no violence. Ve vant no part in your petty var. Hizai, or mercenary. You vill find no vork here.” The other did the same to Platinum Haze.
“And we…” One paused and stared at us before laughing. “No way… no way.” her accent dropped. “Hired Gun.” She reached for her mask and pulled it off, revealing the face of the second in command Finisher, Screenshot. We did business a while ago, and I never expected her to look like that.
“Screenshot.” I gave her my very best convincing smile. “Can we speak to Photo Finish?”
---
“You vould not believe it.” The three of us had made our way three stories up the ‘Photo Finish Gallery of Ze Magicks’ to find Photo Finish, if that was her real name, waiting for us. She too was wearing a set of enclave armour, though hers was dolled up even fancier. “Zis… flying truck fell from ze sky, crash! And inside are ze most marvellous of marvellous armours. Sure, zey had corpses inside, but zat vas no vorry.”
“You're welcome,” I said dryly, remembering the night I had taken out the vertibuck clearly. I hadn't really thought what would happen to it, so this was a surprise.
“Can I have one!?” Serenity asked from my back.
“Dahling, you are much too small. Perhaps vhen you are older.” Photo Finish walked across the room towards me, putting a cold metal hoof on my cheek. “You dahling look exhausted. I vould offer you another bath, but you seemed not to enjoy my last vun. I have been trying to keep track of you, but you are a slippery mare.”
“I am?” I hadn't really thought I was.
“Apparently so. Still, here you are, mostly in one piece. Vat exactly do you vant?”
That was a good question. What did I want. “You created peace here?” I remember that when I first came to Parasite Mound, Lucky gave me a stern warning about the dangers here, but compared to Dise proper it was a breath of fresh air.
“Yes.” She smiled proudly at the suggestion and walked over to the nearest window to stare dramatically out of it. The Finishers needed a steady source of drama to keep functioning. “Though I cannot take all ze credit. Refugees from the north came down, fleeing ze Enclave, and found themselves here. Too poor to enter ze city. So they stayed here, wanting to rebuild. We facilitated them, and used them to increase our standing. They needed food of course, and vater. It vas hard to feed them, and costly, but a happy populace is a productive vun. With hard vork together ve built something here, something that out lasted Dise it seems.”
“Could you do it in Dise?”
She laughed. It was one of those fake mocking laughs. “Dise has always spat on us here. It can burn, we will rise. What reason would I have to help save the mess they brought on themselves.” I was so happy that she canned the accent. I felt like I needed a translator.
Still, I didn't really have a good answer for her. She seemed content to let Dise burn, perhaps out of selfishness, or because of a grudge, but I got the feeling they were excuses to mask over the real fact of the matter: She couldn't help even if she wanted to. The Finishers had limited personnel, and limited funds, and from the sounds of it they nearly bankrupt themselves maintaining order in their own neck of the woods.
“I was told once that the Finishers wanted to civilize the wasteland. Well there are thousands of people next door. Waiting for that.” It wasn't really true, but it was a good embellishment.
She looked back at me before sighing and looking back out her window. “I cannot help Dise, it is lost. The people angry, and rightfully so, but anger is not conducive to peace. I can't provide them a means to let out their anger. And even if this was not the case, the Finishers are too small to fix such a large city.”
“What if.” I chewed on my lip as a plan came together. Well, not so much a plan, as plans require details, but… an idea. A vague shape in my mind, that would one day grow into an idea. It was what I had. “What if you had help.” She didn't look back at me. “What if. I could get you something.”
She turned to look at me again, this time taking a step forward. “Speak already.”
“All the ponitrons.” Even though she was wearing glasses, I could tell she was going wide eyed at my proclamation. “All of them. In Dise. I could get them… let you control them. Under one condition.”
She laughed again. She did that a lot, it was probably unhealthy. “I'll bite, dahling. If you can give all ze ponitrons in Dise I'll do vatever you wish.”
“Don't use them. Not until I say so.”
“Dahling, what's the point of having them then?”
I rubbed my temple with my hoof, “Just, trust me.”
“I don't.” Well that hurt my feelings. “But. A promise I only have to keep after you do some insane task is an easy promise to make. So sure. I hope then you'll tell me more details of… whatever you're thinking. But that still begs the question. What are you doing here now?”
“Trying to get into the city!” Serenity at some point had wandered off to jump on the nearby bed, but stopped long enough to say that.
“I can help vith zat. I know a tunnel, and vith chaos in the city it vill not be hard to make it through unmolested. Is zat all?”
“Info. On the Watchers. The Revolution. Everything.” I quickly added before she could bring up a complaint. “Everyone in Dise spies. You know whats going on there. More than me.”
She smiled and motioned to a cushion on the ground, “Have a seat dahling, I vill get someone to get us tea.”
---
It turned out that the Finishers didn't know a lot about The Watchers, because like with most ponies they assumed the Watchers were harmless, which was the most clever thing they had managed to do. However, according to Photo Finish, Molly had been captured by the Watchers while investigating their facility, and was currently being held by revolutionary forces somewhere in the tunnels.
She made it clear to me, that if I wanted to find out anything about how The Watchers were run I'd have to ask her. Though, I supposed Serenity knew stuff too, but nothing that'd really help me find what I was looking for. That made my goal perfectly clear, find Molly, pray she wasn't harmed, and make her give me the information I needed. Or, go straight for The Watchers and walk in blind, which I was reluctant to do after how poorly it had served me before.
Of course, the idea of going to Molly for help wasn't much better. If I was being honest it was probably a far worse decision, given how much more open she was about trying to kill me, as opposed to The Watchers’ stealthy technique. But she was supposedly locked up, so I probably wouldn't get shotgunned, even if she was as stubborn as a mule.
Was that racist?
Either way, we set off down some tunnels. I really disliked tunnels, considering everything. Yet there I was once again, this time being led by a slightly off-putting mare who kept drinking from a flask whenever she thought we weren’t looking. Not that I could judge.
“Dahling.” Why did they all have to do the accent? I get it was for show, but c'mon. “You should have hung up zat dress. You look vunderbar, truly, even vith ze wrinkles, but it could be so much better.”
Platinum Haze lowered her head somewhat. She was still wearing the dress she wore to the NCA base, and I guess it was sort of wrinkled. “We apologize, we had not the time to properly care for it.”
“Oh. You're that Finisher. Who made us dresses that one time…” I said when the realization finally hit me.
“Ja, dahling.” She kept on leading us, not even bothering to look back. “It vas not so long ago for you to lose your memory.”
“Long for me…” A lot had happened since then, it felt like a different world. “And you know… you all dress so similar.”
“Hah.” The dark tunnel led to a small door near an impassable pile of rubble. “Zis is as far as I vill go.” She tapped on the door a few times. “Dressed like zis I doubt they vould look kindly on me. Vould you like some advice?”
I nodded. I wasn't really sure what I was getting into, but I was sure advice could never hurt.
Her accent dropped completely. “The ponies are frightened, angry, and hungry. Large groups of frightened angry hungry ponies tend not to be the most sociable, nor the most likely to listen to reason, but you shouldn't treat them like the enemy. They’re a symptom of a larger problem, and while their actions are their own, you can't take apart the reality that made those actions possible. That's… all. A mob is scary, and dangerous, but if you hate you'll never learn.”
With another acknowledging nod I started towards the door, opening it slowly only to be stopped by a hoof on my back. I looked over at the mare, and she looked seriously back at me, her rosy sunglasses falling down her nose so I could see her olive green eyes. “I don't know what you're planning, but if you can help, do it.” She gave me a cheerful smile and pushed her glasses back up over her eyes. “It's all above my pay-grade dahling.” She started walking back out the way we came, humming to herself. “Follow ze path, you'll be fine.”
“I like him,” Serenity said from my back as we walked forward into more dingy tunnels. It was dark, but my eye could pierce the blackness, and Serenity and Haze could cast light besides.
“Her.” I corrected Serenity as we made our way through what I think was a long-lost bed room.
At the very least there was a broken metal bed-frame, and what must have been the remains of a mattress. I think there was a dresser, though it was blackened with mold, and broken down. Shattered remains of a mirror lay strewn around the dresser, though it took a second for me to realize with how covered with dust they were. It was easy to forget these tunnels under the city were built to save.
There was a faint rumbling in the distance as we moved on, weaving between bedrooms, and dining rooms. A whole apartment complex by the looks of it. Eventually we realized the rumbling was talking, and walking, a whole heck of a lot of it.
“We knew they fled underground, we suppose they must have set up a home of sorts nearby.” Haze reasoned, no doubt inspired by her orphanage which had a very similar set up.
“When I was here before,” I looked around the hallway were were in. The lights were flickering above now which meant wherever we were it must have been used recently, but everything else was new to me. Or at least I didn't remember it. “Not here, but… after the explosion. There were markets, and a great amount of chaos. If we try to blend in quietly. We probably won't be noticed.”
“Then what?” Serenity always asked the tough questions.
“We need to find Molly. Not sure how. Ask around maybe.” That wouldn't really be suspicious at all. “Sneak around. We like sneaking right?”
“We are a blue alicorn, and have been granted the magical gift of invisibility from our mother. We would be remiss not to use this ability whenever we can… and if we are being honest we find ponies looking at us unnerving, due to how often we remain out of sight.” Haze said bashfully. Or nervously, those two things really aren't the same but they seemed to get mixed up a lot.
“Of course!” Serenity jumped off my back and ran in front of me, “I'm basically a ninja now! Scootaborg is actually pretty jealous, so don't tell her.” I was pretty sure she was close enough to eavesdrop.
“So. Blend in. Then try to find someone who looks important. Stalk them. Pray to Celestia it works?” It was as good a plan as I ever had, though Haze snorted softly when I mentioned praying to Celestia. Probably was poor choice of words on my part, considering.
“We see nothing dangerously wrong with this plan.” Platinum Haze said, and Serenity seemed to agree the way she went marching off expecting us to follow her. We did of course, because it was just easier than trying to reign her in.
It wasn't hard to follow the noise, considering the way it echoed down the halls. I heard once that the poorest of the poor lived in the tunnels under the city, with everyone else living above. That was before the radiation of course (I also noted that my pipbuck wasn't ticking though we were close to the surface) but I had to wonder what happened to those ponies when the rest of the city moved in. The tunnels were designed to holds tens of thousands, so did they just slink off to a darker corner, or did they try to blend in. Maybe it was silly to be thinking of them, but someone had to, right?
Regardless, we found out where we were going not minutes later. It was a rather small door, but the noises we were hearing were obviously coming from the other side. “Quietly,” I said, opening the door and slinking in.
The room was large, much larger than I was expecting, simply massive in scope. Even though the ceiling was only a little higher than the rest of the tunnels. The room echoed with noise from the multitudes of ponies crowded into the room, but most of the noise seemed to be coming from a pony on the far end of the hall standing on a small stage. He seemed to be in the middle of a speech.
“Tonight we will strike a final blow against the Mustangs, and take the water back-” His gaze fell on me. “You.” He pointed, and with that the entire room grew quiet, and turned towards me. It was then I
realized what I had done.
The ponies were dressed in varying sorts of armour, from what looked like stolen NCA armour to bits of scrap tied together with string. Many had their faces covered with masks, or helmets, or painted, and all were carrying some sort of weaponry. Apparently I had interrupted some sort of war meeting… riot meeting. Something I shouldn't have. Really stealthy of me.
“Uh…” I gulped, looking around, the eyes of a hundred ponies boring into me. “Sorry, wrong room.”
“Stop!” The stallion said as I tried to turn to leave. He was wearing basic brown combat armour, and he alone had nothing covering his face, but considering how plain it was I supposed that wasn't really necessary. “Cyberleg, scarred face, large weaponry.” Glad to see he had working eyes. “You are a Hizai.” The crowd booed at his proclamation and I shrank back. I was a strong mare, but fighting such a large group wouldn't really work.
“Er, was,” I said trying to be heard over the din. “I quit.”
“So a coward besides?” The rather annoying leader said. “While we suffered below the streets, your boss lavished in his precious radiation. He got what was coming to him.” I didn't like the sound of that.
“Hah, well… uh.” I looked over to Platinum Haze for help.
“We mean you no harm we are simply… uh…” I saw her horn start to glow, no doubt to turn us invisible, but as soon as she did the entire crowd seemed to shrink back, and I saw guns start to come up.
“Wait wait!”
A familiar voice pierced through the din. A thin light blue pegasus pushed his way through the crowd. He was wearing a jumpsuit, and a piece of cloth wrapped around his face. “She's with me!” He said walking towards me, and I couldn't help but smile. “She's a bit of a huge idiot, so she didn't think when I asked her to meet me here.”
“Flare,” I sighed moving forward to give him a hug, but stopping myself. It felt too awkward. “It's uh. Good to see you again.”
He made things less awkward by patting me gently on the back, “You too; we have a lot to catch up on.” He looked back at the stallion at the podium who shrugged and continued his speech as Flare lead me off out of the crowded room. It was just like Flare to come back at the best possible moment.
“I'm surprised. I left you alone for nearly a week and you still have all your limbs.” He said when the door closed behind us. He kept walking like he knew where he was going, so I kept following. “Unless you have really convincing cybernetics.”
“It's all me.” I said to the back of his head as he led us on.
“Uncle Flare!” Serenity said, eventually jumping on his back, “I missed you too!” She gave him a warm hug around the neck, and Flare sort of tilted his head towards it as a way of reciprocating without stopping.
“That’s me! I got something for you too!” Serenity's let out a high pitched 'ooooooh' that deflated when Flare finished his sentence. “When we get to my room.” She eventually quieted down as Flare hit an intersection and inspected each dank hallway quickly before continuing on. “So I heard the war has stalled.” He turned back his head so one of his pink eyes was looking at me. “Something about a bridge.”
“A shame,” I said dryly, “a damn shame. It just fell apart.”
“The radio said the NCA was looking into possible culprits, sounds serious. I hope they catch the perp.” If it wasn't obvious before, it was obvious then that he knew I was involved.
“It's just a bridge. Probably saved lives. It was a stupid war.” We stopped at an inconspicuous door etched into the fairly unremarkable hall. “Got someone out though. Like me.”
Flare let himself chuckle and let out a wholly inappropriate explosion sound as he opened up the door. “You're good at getting into trouble.”
“Getting out too.” The three of us followed Flare into the room. It was a moderately sized apartment with a small dining table, a couch, what was once a TV, and the faint smell of decay. “Are you good at it?”
“Maybe.” Flare closed the door once we all settled in before walking over to the couch and collapsing on it, draping a wing over the back of the couch and letting one leg swing freely off of it. He tore off the cloth around his face with a sigh and exaggerated gasp for air.
“We hate to question your activities,” Platinum Haze said as her eyes scanned the apartment, “but you seemed to have ingratiated yourself within this… group rather quickly.”
Flare lifted his head to look up at the large alicorn, “I knew a lot of them once. Spent a few good years on the streets. After my fallout with the Enclave. They're a good sort, don't let the masks and intimidation fool you, most are worried parents or sick teenagers looking for the better life the city promised them. Their leader is a dullard, but what can you do?” he chuckled. “The Enclave, the part I represent anyway… we really need to set about giving the new factions names to keep track better.” He sort of trailed off and I coughed into my hoof harshly to throw him back on track. “What, right! They sent me here to spy, and see what the other Enclave is doing.”
“So?” I asked.
“So what?”
I took a seat on the nearest wooden chair, hearing it creak underneath me. Thankfully it held . “Did you find out anything?”
He rolled his eyes and dropped his head back down onto the arm of the couch. “The Watchers are behind this. But the people don't know. Once the rest of the gang leaders are caught, or bite the dust – and they will - The Watchers and Enclave will swoop in.” He made a swooping motion with his hoof, in case I wasn't clear. “And neatly solve all the problems. They will take control and then, I don't know.”
“That ain't so bad is it?” Serenity said making all heads in the room snap to her. “Ah mean, ya know.” She gulped before standing up straighter, “Their methods, I mean, they're all messed up'n'stuff, ya know? But if it works, then it'll still be good'in'it?”
That was a fair point, until Flare interrupted. “Maybe,” he admitted, sitting up out of his slouched position, “but if they're willing to do all this.” He pointed up towards the city, “To gain power. What will they do to keep it?” I wasn't really sure that was a fair assessment, but I accepted it because I really wanted to make those fuckers pay for what they did to me.
Serenity didn't seem very impressed by the argument and kicked at a table lightly to show her disapproval. “But you can't know that…”
“Or. They'll take more power.” I sighed leaning against the table, “The NCA would be weak, War with the Minotaurs. Maybe that's… you know…”
“We can't know that.” Flare said before Serenity had a chance to rebut, but I could tell she really wanted to. “It doesn't matter. After everything they've done… like you know, trying to blow you up. Starting wars, stoking the flames of rebellion.” He got up off the couch and walked towards the kitchen, “Someone needs to be held accountable. Maybe we aren't the hoof of Celestia falling from the heavens to smite the wicked, but if we can deal out justice, well…” He trailed off doing… something in the kitchen. Making tea maybe?
“We are uncertain we should.” Platinum Haze said, standing in the middle of the room like Flare bought a statue but didn't realize how much room it'd take up. That was a tortured simile. “We have no right to demand justice, we may be…” She sighed, “Perhaps our personal perspective are overtaking reason.”
“Maybe that's a common problem.” I got up from my chair to see what Flare was doing in his little kitchenette. Sure enough, it was tea. “So, this is your home?” I had thought at first he had just been here since the Enclave sent him on this little spy mission, but he seemed really at home.
“Found it years ago. Power worked, so I spent a while cleaning it up, when I wasn't sleeping on the streets. Good location, nice amenities, locking door so people can't jack my shit.” He sipped his newly-made tea with a delighted sigh, “So, what now?”
“We need to find Molly.” I hadn't really expected to find Flare there so I wasn't really sure how to explain the plan to him.
“The psychotic mule who’s in charge of the Baises and literally tried to kill you a half dozen times? The same one who is currently captured by the very revolutionaries I've spent a week ingraining myself in?” I nodded. “Okay, just making sure.” He sipped his tea. “When do we start?”
“Don't you want to know more?”
He gave a shrug as he put his mug down. “Why? It's probably something insane, and it's more fun this way!” That made no sense, but I wasn't about to argue.
“I'll show you the way to her ce-” Flare was cut off by a stern knock on the door. Which was annoyingly convenient. “It's unlocked.”
The door creaked open revealing the guy from the stage before. He was still incredibly unremarkable, a brown coat with a dark yellow mane and a brown leather jacket on top of that all combined to give the appearance he was birthed from mud that morning. He was leaning leaning against door frame lazily with a simple SMG hanging around his neck. “Flare.”
“Glorious leader,” Flare replied sarcastically.
“So your friends are here, good.” His eyes were sharp though, and distrusting. “So you worked for House.” he didn't move from his position blocking the door, and seemed to do his best to make sure nobody was comfortable except him.
“Yes.” I too was good at making people uncomfortable, but he didn't flinch at my mismatched glare.
“Explain.”
“He hired me.” I said simply, moving slightly closer. “Then I quit. Our goals were not aligned.”
“Are our goals aligned?” That was a dumb ass question.
“No,” I said resisting the urge to roll my eyes. “But they don't contradict. Is that all you wanted?”
He didn't move from his spot but his gaze shifted from me to Flare. “The Mustangs fall tonight. They have the key to freshwater that our people desperately need.”
“So?”
He sighed, “I'm calling in the favour.” Flare looked momentarily shocked before sighing and lowering his head.
“After all these years, I thought you forgot.” Flare looked over at me. “The Glorious Leader here once paid off my debt with some, er, you know, collectors.” Drug collectors no doubt. “Out of the goodness of his heart, and apparently the knowledge he would someday lead a revolution to overthrow corrupt and failing system of governance.”
“You're a doll.” He pushed himself straight. “Two hours we'll be massed before the door of the Mayhem's casino. Be there, bring your friends if you want. Maybe our causes will be aligned when she sees the good work we do. If not, then do what you need to with her and be on your way.” he pushed himself into a standing position and turned around leaving the door open. There was an awkward silence hanging in the air for a minute before I finally broke it.
“So you and him…” I didn't need to say anything more.
“We did not!” He shouted in exasperation, but I continued to stare, “One time! One! He wasn't even very good.” I don't know if he was playing up his frustration, but either way it made me smile and reminded me why I liked him.
---
Flare did end up giving Serenity her present, which turned out to be a new gun attachment for Scootaborg which Serenity spent the next thirty minutes attaching properly before playing with her and Platinum Haze near the couch while Flare and I talked in the kitchen.
“So how’s it going?” I asked, leaning slightly against his fridge, which to my surprise actually seemed to be functioning.
“In general or…” His voice trailed a little bit as he glanced towards the two playing in what I supposed was his living room. “You know?”
“Dash.”
He face hoofed and sighed, “You're supposed to be all cryptic about it, gosh.” He looked back at the others again before leaning in towards me, his voice lowering. “Listen, I have it covered for now. I mean, dealers aren't hard to find in tough times, and I have enough caps…” I gave him a stern look, “I know, I know. You do recognize the hypocrisy here, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then.” he added sharply. “You know the only recourse is through the Watchers themselves, who you are no doubt aware are out for blood. Listen, I didn't want to scare any of you, but ever since yesterday I swear someone has been following me, they know who we are, and that we're a threat. We can't go there for help, even if we wanted to.”
“Do you want to?”
He sighed and stood up straight. “Yes. No. Maybe.” He rubbed his forehead, “It's all fucked up, we're all fucked up. I know I shouldn't have relapsed, but, it was too much to handle. And it's getting worse. Once we're done with all this shit, I can drop it. Once the stress is gone.”
“Will it ever be?” He raised an eyebrow at me, so I guess I had to talk more. Damn. “We kill Clean Cutt. Destroy the Watchers. What then?”
“We win?” He shook his head as soon as he heard the answer. “That's bullshit isn't it?”
“Someone has to run the city. Wallkirk is useless. He can't adapt.” Maybe his program was faulty, maybe the brain transfer didn't work properly, but there was something seriously off about him that I couldn't trust.
“So, what? We'll be the new rulers.” He stood up straight and posed dramatically, I swear his mane was blowing in the wind. “President Flare the Gay, and my Vice President Missing Limbs!” he said just loud enough that behind him I saw Platinum Haze look over in abject confusion. “We aren't fit to run a vegetable stand, nevertheless a city.” His mane deflated, or maybe it was all my imagination. “And you know it. Even without the whole drug abuse thing.”
“So? Someone has to.”
“Let the gangs take control,” Flare said dismissively.
“Those gangs. They would have burned the city. If Wallkirk wasn't there. And it still led to this… revolution.”
“That and the Watchers pulling levers.” He sighed in defeat, leaning against the counter again. “So we need to find someone not-shit at running a city and give them power? As we control them from the background to make sure they don't go full Nightmare Moon, is that the plan?”
“Maybe…” I sighed. “Just thinking out loud. I do have plans though.” He raised his eyebrow again, I swear he did that too much for my likings. “I'll tell you if they work. Or I finish them. Trust me?”
“Figuring out you're actually a bomb with legs changed you,” he said simply, and all I could do was nod.
“I…” my voice cracked. “I won't live forever.” My eyes fell past Flare to Serenity who was energetically having Scootaborg attack Platinum Haze's mane. “If I can make the world safe. Safer. I… I wont be around to protect her forever.” I blinked hard to get rid of any tears. “Okay?” I walked past him, “It's time isn't it?”
He nodded, following me, then overtaking me. “Alright.” he said to the assembled group, “I have to go blow up a door, then we'll split off and find Molly for whatever messed up reason. I'm sure it won't end terribly or anything.”
With that he left his house and led us outside.
The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon when we got outside. Due to walls and buildings I couldn't actually see the sun, but it was easy to see the way the sky was streaked with orange and the clouds were on fire. It made the empty Dise streets glow with an eerie light. Well, I suppose they weren't exactly empty, but it did make for a nicer image.
In truth the street around the Mustangs home base was far from empty. The large building brought back memories, and it stood defiant, even choosing to keep all the lights on in the entire building. The crowd of ponies that were meeting down below were now amassing towards the the entrance stomping all over the fountains where water shows used to play, their guns ready and looks of murder in their eyes.
Flare, Serenity, Haze, and I watched some distance away as the leader of the so-called rebellion led his troops towards the door before turning and heading towards us. My eyes fell off of him and towards the huge buildings we were supposed to be assaulting. It must have been my imagination, but I swore I saw a glint of something in one of those windows.
“Do you have the charges?” the brown Stallion asked, looking at Flare. “Mayhem has always been paranoid, and the entrance to his home has been as impossible to get through as he is stubborn.”
“Yes.” He said, the perpetual grin always on his face, “Though my contacts weren't happy. And I'm still certain that it'd be easier to just blow a wall than-”
“Not again.” The stallion looked nonplussed at the suggestion. “It's symbolic. With House gone and Molly in our pens, this is the final strike to show who truly owns the city.” He turned to point towards the entrance to the building, which even at this distance I could see was like a massive wall of metal, “Get it set and I'll-”
There was a sound like a thunder crack.
I took a surprised step back and the others followed suit. Except for the brown stallion who stood stock still for a good few seconds before toppling over, blood pooling on the ground below him. Shit. His voice was a harsh whisper, “Help… them… help-”
I walked past him as Haze's horn started to glow. More cracks echoed out, but no more aimed at us. The mob of ponies started screaming, and shots were fired back at the windows. This wasn't going to do. We weren't here to fight their war.
“Haze, shield. Serenity, help him.” I pointed at the brown stallion, and the pink filly ran over to do what she could. “Flare, fly over and set up the charges. The ponies are panicking. I'll try to get them to back away from the door.” With a nod Flare flew over and I charged towards the crowd that seemed to be rushing at the door.
I hated crowds. Worse when the crowds were shoving and shooting, and more so when others were shooting back. Still I pressed into the teeming mass of a crowd, shoving my way past everyone. Some of them looked shocked as I pushed them aside, but I was already gone. The crowd pushed back, but I was stronger, and as more shots cracked the crowd seemed to disperse more, but not enough.
I eventually pushed my way to the metal behemoth of the door to see Flare flying along with his bombs, and to see twenty odd ponies pointlessly pushing at the door, some even shooting at if as if ricochet was something that could never hurt them. “Back off!” I shouted, my voice getting lost in the din.
“Move!” I grabbed one stallion near the door and pushed him so hard he slid across the ground, his armour scraping loudly. That was enough for the rest of the ponies looking at the door to stop and look at me. “Are you trying die?”
“They're shooting!” a mare screamed.
“We need to get in, to stop them,” a stallion agreed.
“Then move!” I pointed at Flare who was hovering above, planting plastic looking stuff over the hinges of the large metal door. “It'll break the door! What do you think it'll do to you?” They stared at me for a bit longer. “MOVE!” They finally left the door pushing back against the crowd that was trying to push forward. It wasn't much, but it was enough to give them room to not die. I wasn't even sure why I cared about these ponies, they were throwing themselves into a war after all. But if they were so determined to die, it might as well be in a less embarrassing way.
“Flare.” I said moving with the crowd to get away from the door. “When ready.”
It didn't take long for Flare to fly to me and set the whole thing off.
BOOM
It felt like a punch to the chest and between the brightness and smoke it blinded me for a good twenty seconds. When I opened my eyes and could see again the door was still there however, though blackened and dented. “Flare?” I asked, but he didn't even seem to hear me, instead he watched with a smile. With a creak and a groan the door shook before toppling over with a resounding thud, and a cheer behind us.
The cheer turned to gunfire when on the other side of the door was more than a dozen ponies, guns pointed at us. “Shit.” I dove for Flare and dropped him to the ground as behind us ponies charged past us to fight and die. It didn't take long for the air to smell of blood and gunpowder. “C'mon!” I dragged him to his hooves, and pushed back against the charging crowd.
“No tactics at all,” Flare muttered beside me as we pushed through. “Stepped on my wing, those jerks.”
Not really having the time to worry about that sort of thing I kept pushing as bullets whizzed past me. The only direction I could go was forward, so when I reached one of the fountains with ponies still on top of it firing at the building I climbed up. Aside from the few ponies still up there shooting the path was finally clear, and in the distance I could see Haze's shield alone on the city streets.
Just in time to be blasted in the face with something wet. The sudden burst of water shooting into the air knocked me off my hooves, and when I scrambled to get back up I saw everyone else on the platform was having similar trouble. Then I saw one of the ponies head snap back with a spray that turned the water pink.
“Shit.” I grabbed Flare and tossed him on my back and pushed through the dancing wall of water, ignoring it, the colourful lights, and the sudden blaring of music that accompanied it. I burst out of the other side of the fountain and towards the purple bubble that was Haze's shield.
Once we got there Flare jumped off my back, and the two of us turned towards the chaos of the street. It was a bit of a surreal sight, to see the water dance to music and lights as gunfire and explosions echoed through the night. If you ignored the fighting, and focused on the water, it all seemed like it was part of the show.
“How is he?” I asked as Platinum Haze lowered the shield revealing the blood stained brown pony. His chest seemed to be moving slightly, but in short uneven bursts.
“Not good,” Serenity said looked up at me. “I mean. Alive, but, you know. He needs to see like a real doctor, or somthin'.” Her hooves were stained bloody, and her face was twisted into a frown.
“You did everything you could.” I said patting her on the head. “But we can't wait here.”
“We're just going to leave him?” Flare asked, his voice tinged with shock.
“We can do no more for him, but perhaps we should inform those who he is closest too and let them deal with him,” Platinum Haze said looking towards the din.
“Whatever you do.” I said harshly. “Do it quickly.” I turned back towards the chaos. “They're up here. So Molly will be easy to get to.”
---
You might be surprised to know that the prison of the revolutionaries was in some Celestia forsaken tunnel near the bottom of the tunnels where there was bare rock for floor instead of… well, floor. The last time we had travelled that far was unpleasant to say the least, so I was wary as we walked silently through the darkened caverns. We passed a few guards with flashlights and the like, but those were easily avoided, and Flare soon led us into the heart of the complex. A small empty room with a mule sitting in it, chained by all four hooves.
“Like moths to a flame.” The mule did not look up at us as we entered the room. The room was guarded of course, but I simply broke down the wall from the room next door while Serenity cast her silence spell, which worked like a charm. “You do not know how to stay away.” The mule's mane was in disarray, and her coat was stained and dirty. A single candle was lit in the room making shadows dance across her face.
“Molly.” I walked towards her close enough I could see for sure who it was. “You're looking good.”
“Ah.” Her eyes were downcast, but she had a wicked smile plastered on her face. “How they have been waiting to tear me down. These ponies never liked me. Something about my ears being too long. Also how horrible a person I am. But I remained. Then explosions and war, so I go curious as a cat.” She finally looked up at me, her eyes harsh and unafraid. “I could trust nobody else, so I went to see what the Watchers were up to. And I found out.”
I licked my lips as she started talking and motioned for Serenity to stay nearby to continue to make us sound proof and for Flare and Haze to go keep watch to make sure we weren't interrupted.
Molly's eyes lingered on Haze as she left. “Lovely mare you have there. I am sorry for breaking up your date, but it was a matter of principle. You were my enemy and eating at my casino. No hard feelings?”
I towered above her, moving closer to intimidate. “You tried to have me killed. Multiple times. Fuck your apologies. What did you find?”
She was as unafraid as ever. Maybe she was already expecting to die, in which case what could I scare her with? “A megaspell chamber.”
What.
“What?” I looked over at Serenity and she seemed as confused as me. “You mean in the mount-”
“Hidden under Dise. Looked new. Fancy. A spider's brand new web to trap those unsuspecting. The Watchers are making bombs.” She grinned viciously. “Made of ponies.”
I guess she really couldn't have known I already knew that, but it was still amusing to see confusion on her face when I ignored that part. “I should have figured. A megaspell chamber here. Easier than dragging ponies to the mountain…”
“You knew?” She seemed annoyed that I ruined her secret. “Nobody else would believe me. Those Watchers are mad, and these revolutionaries are playing right into their hooves. They'll be swallowed up before they realize.”
“Can you show me where it is?”
“You wish to destroy it?”
“Well duuuuuh.” Serenity spoke up with a roll of her eyes. “What else?”
“Then what?” Ponies needed to stop asking me that question. Mules too.
“The Watchers.”
Molly struggled against her chains making them jingle slightly. “Then. What.” We exchanged glares. “The city is broken. Dise is dead. It was a dream, a good dream, but it’s no more, and perhaps it never should have been. But the old dog can learn new tricks, if we can tame it.”
“What? You think I'll give you any sort of power?”
She laughed at the idea as much as I did, good to see we were on the same page. “No. But I want to help. We've had our differences sure, but we can look past them. I can reorganize the Baises, and with them you'd have a force to help stabilize the city, assuming you even defeat the Watchers.”
I scowled at her. “Then what? You betray me? Why should I trust you?”
“Because.” She tugged at the chain some more in annoyance before looking back up at me. “Who else? My people are loyal and strong. House is dead I hear, and selfish and isolationist beside. You broke up with him, he won't have you back. Mayhem is a violent fool. Granny Dynamite has been dead for a while if my spies are right, which they usually are. The Enclave is fractured, one side supporting the Watchers, the others too weak to help. The Steel Rangers care for Dise about as far as they can throw it. The NCA has cut its losses with Dise, and seem content to let the fires burn the city then pick at its carcass like vultures. Who then will build your city? Who then will protect it? You are a predictable pony at times.” Her eyes fell to Serenity who was was standing awkwardly by, her horn covered by her pink magic. “You want a city for your daughter, you need me.”
I spat on the ground by her hooves.
“Fine.” Her head lowered and once again became shrouded in shadows. “Save the city by yourself. Then watch it turn to dust in your hooves. You got your information, go and let me die in peace.”
There was a good minute where nopony spoke, we just stared at each other in awkward silence.
“What do you want?” I eventually asked. “You know. In general.”
“Peace, freedom, respect.” She flicked her mane out of her face. “I rule with an iron hoof because it's all these people will allow. Show weakness and be killed, more so when I am so unlike them. I have no kin, and my body won't ever allow me to, but I still love this city. When I was younger I wanted power, but it was foolish, all I want now is for the city to be free of these petty wars. I sought to take out Mustang and take his power not because of greed—well, not entirely because of greed—, but because of the knowledge that once I threatened the balance of power I could finally end this charade of peace.” Her face lowered and she sighed. “But I fed into it didn't I? The fear and paranoia I helped instill led to all this. But I have a chance to fix it. Free me from my shackles, and I will give you my loyalty, my people. You want a free and secure city, so our goals are aligned.”
She kept talking and talking. I was tired of it. Tired of her words, the way she spoke them of… everything. I rose my hooves into the air and brought them down.
CRACK
The chains around her hooves broke easily to me. She blinked up at me as I went about breaking the others as well. When My work was finished I looked down at her, dirty thing that she was. “You'll show me to the chamber. Then you'll return to your Hotel. Then leave the city, go to the Finishers and wait for my instructions.”
She slowly stood up and stretched out her legs before giving me an… odd smile. “You'll never regret this.”
“I already do.” This was going to go poorly, I could already tell. I guess there was always the option of killing her later.
Just then Flare and Platinum Haze stormed back into the room from the hole I made. “We are afraid there is a slight—”
“Guards are coming!” Flare interrupted Haze pointing towards the hallway. “Bringing food when they saw us—” They weren't the best warning system as the door suddenly creaked open.
“Fucking—” I pushed past the two of them and let out a gout of flame from my flamethrower igniting the ground in front of the door and bathing the room in a red glow. Behind the wall of flames the guards shouted and backed off but I was fairly sure I managed to miss them and block their path.
Through the crackling fire I swore I heard one of them yell, “They've got the prisoner! Sound the alarm!”
“Moths to the flame was an analogy.” Molly explained as she dug through a box that was off to the side of the room. “I did not expect you to take it seriously.” She stood up, her black hat back on her head. “There, now we can leave.”
“How? The way we came will be swarming, our going invisible trick isn't going to work.” Flare pointed out.
“We're the worst ninjas,” Serenity said with a sigh, staring at the flames.
“Flare,” I pointed at the wall on the other side of the room from where we had entered. “Door.” He happily obliged and a few well timed explosions later and we had a brand new door. One I didn't really have time to appreciate, as we rushed out and back into the tunnels.
---
We managed to escape the revolutionary guards, and to be honest it wasn't that difficult. They were well-meaning, but not really well-trained. The only problem was the escape route we took was circuitous, and in the tunnels actually finding your way was difficult even if it was an area you were familiar with, which we weren't. So an hour later we were clambering through barely lit tunnels, the only sounds were our hooves on the metal grating below.
Eventually Platinum Haze spoke up looking over at our dirty mule companion. “We are surprised you have agreed to assist us, considering you did attempt our murder last time we met.”
“No hard feelings,” Molly said adjusting her hat somewhat. “Though I must say, your disguise was not the best, but I guess there's no getting around your height.”
Platinum Haze blushed slightly and looked away, “We expected some might notice… though your attack forced us to reveal our wings which was unpleasant.”
“Well, sorry…” Molly said reluctantly.
“So we're really just forgiving her?” I looked back to see Flare scowling at the mare. “She did try to kill us, and you, and now she's on our side? I mean really.”
“You got a problem, bird?” She replied with an incredibly unhelpful sneer, turning to face him. “I run an organization that employees more people than you could count. What do you bring to the table?”
“Loyalty, explosions, a history of not trying to murder the people I'm working with. My good looks.”
“You're Enclave.” She snorted. “Loyalty is not your kind’s strong suit. Murder is though.”
“My kind? Coming from a mule that's rich.” As soon as Flare stopped talking I could feel the tension in the air, so much I put myself between the two of them before they started making out or killing each other.
“Stop it. Pretend to like each other. Then never talk again once we get out.” There, that was my get over it speech. Of course it didn't work, but it was worth a shot.
“You can't honestly trust her.” Flare looked flabbergasted. “I mean after every—”
“I don't! But she deserves a second chance. And if she tries to betray us, I'll just kill her.”
“Way to make me feel a part of the proceedings, boss,” Molly said in a tone that implied the idea of me killing her was amusing.
I was about to produce an amazing rebuttal when the sounds of cocking guns interrupted me. We had been so busy arguing we didn't notice the wall beside us moving. Well Serenity had, as I just noticed she was frantically tugging at my armour. On the other side of the door was a sterile white room with a large red pony with a metal leg surrounded by guards. It was then I realized where I was, right beside The Moon's secret entrance to the Dise tunnels.
“What a surprise.” Mayhem grinned tapping his cybernetic leg on the ground. “Here to finish the job?” His mane looked wild and unkempt, and he had bags under his eyes that suggested he hadn't been sleeping. His hotel going up in flames might have been a part of that. “Here to destroy the Mustangs! You started this, ever since you killed Roy-”
“You always were one to beg at the masters table.” Molly stepped forward, and despite her recent captivity and filthy form she seemed more in charge than Mayhem and his legion of guards. “You were always just a pup. You bark and bark and bark but when the big dogs came you hide with your tail between yours legs. Roy was a paranoid fool but he could control people, charm them, keep them loyal. You never could.”
Mayhem growled and stomped his metal hoof on the ground. “Come to kill me. Mock me to my face. You're probably working with those rioters. Bring peace through flames. They wouldn't listen. They think I'd just give clean water away, give away rad-away. Fuck them.”
“Kill you? You're irrelevant, always have been.” Molly seemed pleasantly amused by this distraction, but gleefully stepped out of Mayhem's way. “Leave, go cower with your tail between your legs to your Minotaur masters.”
“No! You're here to kill me!” Mayhem all but charged for two steps but stopped himself just short, but it was frightening enough for all of us to get our weapons out, including Serenity who was floating her weapon in her magic. “Argh.” he grabbed at where his cybernetic limb connected to his knee. “It burns.”
Burns.
Shit.
“Mayhem!” I grabbed him by the shoulder with my own cybernetic limb. “Your limb. Where did you say you got it?”
Just hearing that made it click in everyone's head.
“What? He is one of them?” Molly said taking a cautionary step back.
“We must give him assistance, whatever crimes he has done he does not deserve that.” Haze said sagely.
“Fuck this shit, leave him to his whinging, we need out.” Flare didn't seemed amused.
Serenity for her part just looked shocked and quickly jumped onto my back expecting a quick exit.
“What are you…” Mayhem looked at our shocked faces and took a step back, jerking himself from my grasp. “Cerberus. They had me sedated and brought me to their secret… why are you looking at me like that?” He took a few more steps back. “What? Tell me!”
“You're a megaspell.” I took two steps towards him, basically pushing my way into his pure white office. I used to torture people there on his behalf; it seemed a century ago. “Cerberus put a balefire bomb inside you. I can get you help. But you have to trust me.”
“Trust you.” He started laughing. “Fuck you. This is some trick. To kill me. That's why you're here. They took my casino, now you're after me. Get ba-ack.” He was stepping back so fast he tripped over the cushion he normally sat on and smacked his head hard against the edge of his desk.
“Shit.” I ran forward to help him up, to make sure he wasn't hurt. “Calm down. Trust m-” He opened his eyes and they were glowing green. “Me…”
“Burns-” His voice sounded like static, and the glow in his eyes flashes on and off. “I need… help… it…” I looked up and scanned his guards quickly when I saw her. A smirking mare with a remote control in her hoof, just like the one Dragonslayer had…
Almost effortlessly I grabbed the desk in front of me and tossed it across the room letting it smack into the mare with a sickening crunch. “Run.” The guards panicked and ran, their loyalty to their dying boss apparently lost. I moved to follow them through the tunnels when Flare grabbed my shoulder.
“Upstairs!” He yelled grabbing the attention of everyone in my party. “The blast might destroy the tunnels. The firestorm will burn us. We can't escape that way! We leave the building or we die!”
I didn't know enough about explosions to really question, but when I saw Molly booking it down the pure white hallway, I followed suit with Platinum Haze and Flare not far behind. We slid through the elevator door and it closed behind us while Molly frantically pressed the ground floor button.
It was of course an elevator, so it moved agonizingly slowly upwards. What was worse was that there was barely enough room for any of us to stand comfortably, never mind pace in a panic. Luckily Flare was there to lighten the mood. “If anyone wants to piss themselves in fear, I don't think any of us would judge you for it.” Did I say lighten the mood, I meant make me want to strangle him.
Eventually the door started to slide open, but I didn't have the patience for it so I kicked it down and started booking it towards the exit. It was all very familiar, except on fire. The building was thoroughly looted, with only stragglers standing by trying to pick the remains of the corpse. I yelled at them to leave, but they wouldn't listen, just stared at me dumbfounded.
I couldn't stop for them, not with Serenity on my back. I leaped over corpses of Mustangs and revolutionaries alike as I moved towards the entrance. I was a bulldozer. At least one pony was in my way as I charged through the main casino floor but I pushed her aside and knocked over the slot machine she was looting. The light wasn't far then. I could see the burned out rubble of the door, close.
I jumped through the hole in the wall and landed on the metal door, my hooves clanging loudly against it. I looked back briefly to make sure my friends were still following. Also Molly. When I saw they were, I continued on charging. Not even bothering to disrupt my course as the water fountain was before me, loudly blaring music oblivious to the death, destruction, and impending doom. I leapt through the water, took a dozen more steps, and turned to look at the building as everyone filed in beside me.
It seemed so peaceful. Ignoring the corpses and just looking at the dancing and music. It was nice, almost-
BOOM
The ground shook. The music stopped. The water faded. And the light. It burst forth from the building from every door and window with blinding green light. It felt like forever as I stood there covering my eyes, but eventually the sound stopped and all there was was the gentle ticking of my pipbuck.
I opened my eyes.
The building was listing heavily, smoking green and black. The bottom floor looked to be a ruin, and the entire building was cracked. It looked like any other ruin, not the majestic building I first saw when I entered the city. But it was there, burning and smoking, while we were alive. We got out.
The building started to fall.
The front of the building crumbled in slow motion, and with a great cacophony the building listed harder, and faster, by the time we realized what was happening the building fell and everything turned black.
---
I awoke in rubble.
With a groan I started to move and push. Everything hurt and the air smelled like smoke and blood. Whatever was on top of me was heavy, and my bones were sore. But I pushed against it with all my might. My muscles ached, and I felt myself let out a wordless scream. Slowly the piece that was on me started to budge, and with it light started to filter in. It burned so I closed my eyes and kept pushing.
Slowly it moved.
I got myself to a standing position as I pushed against it. I realized in that moment the piece of rubble in question was a wall. It wasn't my imagination then. The Moon…
With another voiceless scream I pushed the wall aside, and it crashed away from me.
I looked around, trying to understand what happened.
I was standing in a crater of rubble, with just a final layer of rubble covering the ground. Platinum Haze's shield I realized, but it must not have lasted… Platinum—Shit!
I dove back down, digging through the ground! I was safe, but I was also harder to kill than a hellhound in power armour. The others!
I found Serenity first. I didn't realize it happened, but I must have curled around her to protect her, and she was still awake sobbing loudly. “Shh. Shh.” I started to per her mane. “I'm here. We're safe.” She started to mumble something through her tears, but I just shushed her. “It's fine. We're safe. We'll… don't worry. Just Rest. It's safe.” She started to calm down but was still sobbing. I wanted to spend a lot longer comforting her, but I had to find the others.
Platinum Haze was easy to find too, given how large she was. I took off the bits of rubble that had fallen through the wall that covered us to find her unconscious, but mostly unharmed, though her dress was ripped and torn and her injured wing was twisted in a way that didn't look natural.
I went to look for the others, but as I did Molly sat up behind me. “Ugh…” She looked around at the rubble, “Wow. I never liked the building but…” I rolled my eyes and kept searching as Molly frantically looked for her hat.
Eventually I found blue feathers sticking out of rubble. I reached down and grabbed the feathers and pulled trying to dislodge Flare. Instead my head snapped back easily.
In my mouth was a wing, dripping blood. My brain took a minute to realize what had happened when I saw the rest of Flare a few feet away, bits of flesh and bone sticking out of his back and bleeding profusely where the rest of his wing should have been.
Level Up!
Skill Note: Speech 95, Survival 95
New Perk: Bloody Mess: With the Bloody Mess perk, characters and creatures you kill will often explode into a red, gut-ridden, eyeball-strewn paste. Fun! Oh, and you'll do 5% more damage with all weapons. Increases the chance of dismemberment.
((A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for the wait! Serves me right finishing a chapter during everyone’s busy season, but there you go. Once again thanks to Kkat for creating FoE and to my editors TheBSDude, Menti, and Julep, as well as my audio-book-er, EquestrianNarrator.
So now that you’re done this chapter, you’re probably bored. Well you’re in luck, because I have two stories here hot off the presses you should read. Fallout Equestria: Ashes by Relyet, and Wings You’ve Earned by RinbowYoshi. If you want I guess you could check out my deviant art where I try and fail to learn how to poni.)) |
No One | 662 | 35 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2015-05-08T02:54:02+00:00 | 2015-05-08T17:54:00+00:00 | 8,926 | Silver Alone
“Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination”
I took another step.
The weight on my back was huge, pressing down on me, and I could feel my legs shake when I stopped.
So I took another step.
Maybe this wasn't the time to carry the weight. A building had just dropped on my head. But I took another step regardless.
I stopped. My legs shook and my back ached, but I needed to see it again. I looked back towards the city. Towards where The Moon once was, only to see a gaping hole and a pile of rubble. It was like when you lose a tooth, and your tongue can't stop poking at where it once was, it was hard to look at the city without The Moon there. I gritted my teeth and turned to keep on walking.
I took another step.
Platinum Haze was lying unconscious on my my back, her wings dragging across the ground as I walked. On top of her was Flare. I think he might have been conscious, but he only spoke in pained groans.
I took another step.
It could be worse. I was able to console Serenity and get her moving, and it wasn't like Flare was fully suited up in his Enclave gear. So there was that going for me. And Flare was lighter without his wing…
I shuddered, then took another step.
I guess it was inevitable. I had always thrown myself into the action, taking stupid risk after stupid risk and more often than not it hurt. Sometimes pieces of me fell away, but I still kept getting up because I could take it. But for Flare… he went into danger with me time and time again, and I couldn't protect anyone.
I took another step.
My pipbuck ticked and ticked as we kept moving. I looked up at the destination. The Black Salamander… It was sacked I heard. The Revolutionaries took the place, and House was dead or worse. But it was where we needed to go. It was partially immune from the new blanket of radiation, and it had facilities. The kind we needed, that Flare needed.
I took another step then opened the door.
“Home, sweet home.” I muttered under my breath, taking in the carnage. The building was completely empty, save for corpses that littered the casino floor. What had once been a camp for the entirety of the BS' staff was turned into a battle ground, ravaged and blood soaked. I knew people here, Pearly… I shut my eyes and looked away from the carnage. We couldn't rest there. Still…
I kicked the door shut and the ticking in my pipbuck stopped.
I kept walking. The weight on my back didn't get any lighter, but it felt like some of it was gone. To my right I could see the pit that BS used to be famous for. The High Rollers table was at the very bottom, and each ring upwards was slightly less expensive until you got to the top, like a reverse pyramid. Though the last time I saw it, it was filled with supplies. Now the supplies were gone, and the pit was filled with crushed glass and the remains of the chandelier that used to hang over it.
“You should have let Molly help,” Serenity said from beside me.
“I can carry them.” I said sternly as my eyes fell to the old ticket booth with the door wide open. They could rest there as I searched the rest of the casino for… well, House. There was no way it could be completely empty, and I needed a cybernetics expert for Flare…
“You're hurt.” Was I? I just felt numb.
“I can carry them.” I repeated as I took another step. It would have been easier if a building hadn't just fallen on me, but another two could have and I still would have carried them. And I would have carried Serenity too, but she insisted on walking. “Molly has to get to her hotel… She put the map on my pipbuck. It’s fine.” If only we could trust Molly…
We entered the ticket-booth and I carefully placed Flare and Platinum Haze on the ground.
Flare was… bad. He looked impossibly pale, and was sweating so much his mane was sticking to his face. Serenity managed to bandage up his wound and stop the bleeding somewhat, but the bandages had become red with blood and the bit of bone that was still there was sticking up grotesquely. His eyes were half open, and his mouth was moving, but it was incoherent mumbling before his mouth closed again.
Haze fared somewhat better, her coat was fine if dirty from that whole building fiasco, and her horn sparked from time to time. The worst was her wing, the one that was still injured from that ghoul, and made worse by overuse back at the canyon. It was twisted… oddly, like the bone broke and… I shuddered. At least it was still there, but it was not good.
“Serenity.” I looked down at her. “Watch over them.”
She looked up at me, near to crying, her grey eyes large. “Momma…”
I rested a hoof on her head, “You're strong. I just…” I took in a deep breath. “Flare needs help. I need to find help for him. But there could be danger still. So I need you to watch over them. I won’t be gone long. Be brave for me?”
She gave a little nod so I leaned down and kissed her cheek.
I left the ticket booth and as soon as I did, I heard Serenity lock the door behind me. She would be safe there, I was sure. Nobody knew she was there, they were hidden, and it was locked. I had to keep reassuring myself, because I hated to leave them.
Still… they needed help, so I had to find it. Somehow.
Could House really be dead? It seemed so… impossible. He had been alive for so long that he was less a pony, and more a force of nature. The kind of force that weathered all storms… the metaphor really didn't hold up to scrutiny, but it still felt weird thinking that he could be… gone.
As I trudged through the bloodied halls of the BS, weaving my way around toppled slot machines and broken blackjack tables, I couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt. My eyes passed over the few corpses that littered the casino (not as many as I had though, but I guessed many fled and then came back to bury loved ones. Maybe). I couldn't help but wonder if I could have saved them if I’d stayed with House. Maybe it wasn't my job to protect them, it hadn’t even been my job when I’d worked for House, I still felt like I could have done something.
I shut my eyes and looked away from the corpses. There were enough weights on my back, I could not afford to add the deaths of ponies I had never met. Acting for the future was more important than playing guessing games about the past. Even as I tried to convince myself that, I could not help but feel a tightness in my gut.
I let out a sigh of relief when I finally reached the elevator. Then a sigh of annoyance when nothing happened when I pressed the button. No sound, no movement, just silence.
“Fuck.” I really needed to cut down on my swearing, it was a bad influence on Serenity.
It did not take me long to find the stairwell and open it. Looking up the shaft as the stairs spiralled around was a dizzying experience, which would only be worse if I had to walk down. I licked my lips and looked behind me before digging through my saddle bags. There, near the bottom where I hid them, was my Med-X stash.
It just took one shot into a vein and I felt the pressure of the world lift from my shoulders. The climb up twenty or more stories no longer seemed an imposing task, but little more than a walk around the park. With renewed gusto, and a slightly clouded mind I started to trot up the stairs, humming softly to myself.
It was a hard feeling to describe. I felt lite like air, like nothing could touch me or hurt me. My physical ails were soothed (and I had stacked up many of those, not even including having a building fall on me) and I felt like I could fight a hellhound. Sure it made my head feel fuzzy, but it wasn't as if I was sacrificing a brilliant mind for the effects, so it was worth it. It made things easier.
And things drastically needed to be easier.
The world was falling apart.
No, scratch that. A world that had already fallen apart, but had been stitched together with spare masking tape and was starting to break apart again. Somepony had to do something about the dangers, right? Somepony had to fight back.
And I was somepony. Which is a dramatic thing to say and to think, but it didn't change the fundamental problem of me not knowing how. So here's an impossible test, a set of stairs a thousand miles high that I needed to climb while weighed down by those I was so determined to protect. It was daunting, so who cared if I needed something to help? Something to keep me going.
My mind getting sidetracked made the walk that much quicker so there I was at my destination, where I needed to be. The floor where Mr. House's office was. If he was still alive, that's where he would be. It's where he always was.
I opened the door and left the stairwell.
The smell hit me right away, something I could not ignore. Corpses. It did not take long to find them, three bodies dead against the wall right outside House's office. Two of them I vaguely recalled seeing around on guard duty.
The third I remembered vividly. A red unicorn stallion with a royal blue mane and two large cybernetic wings. I leaned down to be closer to his corpse, he deserved that much. The history of his death was written on his body. I traced my hoof across the armour he wore, stopping at the holes that stained blood on his lower chest. Shot from below and from the front, multiple times. He was loyal to the end.
I looked back to his face where his eyes were still wide open in shock and I reached over and gently closed them. He told me before that his cybernetics caused him constant pain. So at the very least, he would be in pain no longer.
Still. There was work to be done. I stood up and opened the door to Houses office, praying.
There he was standing at his computer that somehow still had power. Mr. House did not turn his head at all, but he did speak. “I have been waiting for you,” he said simply. “You betrayed me.”
I took a step into the office and took a look around. He still hadn't gotten the windows replaced from the explosion, and besides the working computer the rest of the office looked… broken. Not just from the explosion, but it looked ransacked, and I clearly saw a stain on the carpet that looked like someone had tried to clean up blood.
“I sent so many ponies on your stupid mission.” He didn't move except to press a few buttons on the terminal he was looking at. At least his voice didn't change, but it was odd hearing a normal voice coming from the stallion. “To the mountains. There was not enough left to protect me. I barely survived.” He did not move, he did not pace, he did not gesture.
“You didn't.”
He stood completely still, as if he were made from stone, and let the words hang in the air for a solid minute before responding. “Explain.”
“You're not Mr. House.” I took a step forward towards whoever was there. “Who are you?” I had my suspicions, and they turned out to be correct.
The pony that looked like Mr. House turned to me and his body faded revealing a golden stallion with shiny black cybernetic limbs. “You knew… it was not a very good disguise.” He stared at me with unblinking red eyes. “Mr. House did survive though. I saw him. The mob lynched him, but ghouls are hard to kill. I… wanted to save him. But I was given directives. Continue his work.” He looked… sad? Maybe. It was hard to tell.
“Wishing Star…” It was his name. The absurdly powerful cyborg Hizai agent Mr. House loved. He had the power to make him look like someone else using something similar to changeling magic, not that I knew what that meant but that's what he said. “Are you okay?”
He lowered his head and didn't speak.
“Wishing.” I moved closer, but slowly, careful not to startle him.
“He is currently being held in the Enclave Raptor.” he turned back to the computer, his form turning back into that of Mr. House's. “I am not allowed to rescue him. You can. It would be penance for your betrayal and… I would be thankful.”
I gulped and nodded. “Are you the only one left here?”
He didn't look back at me, he just kept staring at the terminal, not touching anything. “Yes,” he said coldly, not even bothering to disguise his voice again. “I have no medical skills.” He tapped a button and the screens on the large computer turned into a series of security camera feeds. One was pointed at the ticket booth where Serenity and a now awake Platinum Haze were whispering over Flare. “The second floor has medical supplies. Tools. Cybernetic gear. No wings though. Enough there though to help. You may stay in my hotel.” He let out a sigh. “There is so much to do…” His voice faded and the computers turned back to what they were.
Slowly, I backed out of the room and closed it behind me. So the BS was currently being run by an imposter, while the real House was locked up in the raptor that hovered over the city. At least he wasn't too bitter, if he even had those emotions left. Still, I needed to get wings from somewhere, I couldn't leave Flare groundbound.
Then I saw him, still lying where he was before, but with his eyes closed. Starscream's final flight, and now all he was was a corpse and spare parts… it made my stomach twist and turn, but as I eyed the cybernetic wings on his back I knew it was too good to give up.
I grabbed the wing in my teeth, pushed down on the corpse and pulled. It was an awkward position, and maybe that's why no matter how hard I pulled the wings were not coming loose. I let the wing drop from my mouth and thump back down to the ground. Flare needed the wing, he needed to…
I looked down at my metal hoof and just stared. It really was a sophisticated design, the way the gears and electronics blended together, yet still somehow made something that could last what I've been through. I raised the hoof above the ground, and with a soft metallic scraping sound let the hidden blade inside show itself. I looked at the blade, then back to what remains of Starscream.
Maybe it was the Med-X thinking, but something had to be done.
---
I headed back towards where the others were waiting for me. I didn't find help, but I found the next best thing. The walk down the impossibly long stairwell was faster than the walk up, so I had that comfort at least, but it was a bit more dangerous as I did it mostly with my eyes closed. The gap in the middle of the stairwell (that was just big enough to fit, say, me) was not something I wanted watch as I descended.
I made it down in one piece, thank Celestia, and back to the ticket booth.
“Hired!” Platinum Haze rose when I walked in, and I couldn't help but notice her legs were shaky. “You're okay! We… We were so worried.” She did not move to greet me, as the ticket booth was narrow, and Flare took up a good chunk of it lying down. “We tried to stop the building but…” Her head lowered in shame that I couldn't comprehend, and I could see her horn spark a faint purple.
“You saved all our lives.” I said as gently as I could, but my voice sounded rougher than I meant it. It had been a long day, and it was going to get longer still. “Today, and before. Don't worry.”
“But we—” she started until Serenity interrupted her.
“You heard the lady! No tear-faces, an' we got work to do, c'mon.” She stood up as well looking to me, “Is there anyone here, Momma?”
“Just one person. He's… he can't help.” She started to deflate but I quickly added, “But there's medical stations on the second floor, and, I found these.” I pulled out the cybernetic wings I borrowed from Starscream, “And these.”
Serenity's eyes went wide and she lept over Flare to look at the wings up close, “Those are so cool! Where did you get them!”
“Yes,” Platinum Haze said, looking down at my slightly pink tinted hooves. “Where?”
“It's a hotel of cyborgs that got sacked, I found them.” Which was not exactly a lie, though it was certainly as close as one could get without their pants catching fire. “Flare could use them. He could… he loves flying, so I thought…”
“We should ask him what he thinks of it,” Platinum Haze said. “He may not wish to augment his body.” That struck me as odd, and then it instantly made sense. I was so used to have bits and bobs of metal jammed into me whenever something went wrong, it had never even occurred to me that someone might not want it. It was a painful procedure after all, and there was the stigma attached. Would the rest of his Enclave family even consider it the same, would they shun him? I didn't know the answer, but it was still a personal matter. It just… was odd to me, but I had gone so far down the path of cybernetics I could have my whole body replaced without missing much… but that'd look dumb.
“But they look so cool!” Serenity said, pointing excitedly at the wings, “If he doesn't want them can I have them?”
“No.” I tried to use my 'don't argue with me' voice, but it didn't work.
“But why~?” she asked, deliberately trying to be as whiny as possible.
“You're too young.” She started to talk over me but I lifted a hoof to silence her. “You're still growing. You'd have to replace them constantly, and it would be painful. When you're older, and stopped growing, we'll talk.”
“Oh…” She thought about that and nodded, “Thats a good point. Alright, we'll talk then! But um,” she looked down at Flare, “What should we do?”
“Get him to the medical ward. Heal him as best you can, then… when he wakes up, we talk. Can you do that?” The healing up part I meant.
“I think so…” She didn't sound so sure, “I know a bit, and… I'll do my best!”
“After that, you may need to look at Haze's wing.” Looking over at Haze it was plain to see that even with her wings folded up, one of them was crooked in a way that made me wince.
“We… are unsure that is possible.” Haze said as I started to help Flare onto my back. Once I got him secure up there I looked back up at Haze to let her finish explaining. “Radiation heals us,” I don't think I liked where this was going, “Our wing bones were broken and crooked and… healed like this.” She lifted up her wing revealing the odd crook.
“Oh…” I wasn't sure what that meant, but I could take a guess and say that it was not a good thing.
“Owie,” Serenity said wincing. “I could, um… maybe if you break it and…” Maybe it was a bit too advanced for her.
“We will be fine. We were poor at flying regardless, so it is not a terrible loss for the nonce,” she said calmly. “We should worry about Flare: he is in dire straits.” Right, we couldn't stand around talking anymore. I turned and left the ticket booth and headed towards the medical bay.
---
The medical wing had most of it's consumables ransacked, but there still remained a few well-hidden healing potions, antibiotics, and other things I didn't know the names of. The larger machines were there as well, but I wasn't sure what they did though Serenity seemed excited about some of them. I didn't stay to watch as Serenity did her best to heal Flare (though I did set up a few boxes so she could reach him on his bed), as I didn't want to distract her. Platinum Haze followed me out into the hallway, which was a plus as I had wanted to speak to her.
“How are you holding up?” I asked in the sterile white hallway. I wasn't a fan of pure white buildings, so at least history had decayed it enough that it wasn't too disturbing.
“Considering we had a building fall upon our head, we cannot complain overmuch about our state. We would be lying if we said we were not sore though, and our wing troubles us when we move it.” I nodded grimly, taking another look at the mangled wing.
“I know the feeling.” Though med-x helped dull the pain, it could only do so much. “Your horn is on the fritz right?”
“Yes, our magic has been expended. The ambient radiation outside is helping, however it may be a day or so before we can cast another spell. Is there something you required of it?”
I licked my lips and nodded, “If you wanted, that is.” I sighed, “Do you remember that orb in the tunnel?” She visibly shuddered but gave a consenting nod. “Is there a way you could… nullify it's power? Like…”
She nodded slowly, and I could tell she was deep in thought. “In it's essence, it is illusion magic, though incredibly powerful. We could enchant a device to wrap around it that could suppress it's magic field, but nothing we could do would be able to remove its power entirely.”
That was… good. “When you're ready, that'd be helpful.” I had plans for the orb, though I had no idea if they'd work at all. Plans really shouldn't be made that relied on a crazy ancient megaspell pony with a goddess complex being reasonable.
“We shall start right away.” She started to turn but I held up a hoof.
“Haze.” She stopped in her tracks and turned back towards me. “You need to rest.”
“Oh.” She seemed to have forgotten the fact that her horn wasn't working.
“Haze.” I reached up to touch her cheek, “You don't have to listen to me.”
“We often don't,” she said, which was fair enough. Still, I had this worry, and it had been nagging at me for a while. She had been so used to being bossed around by a powerful figure, a goddess apparently, and I didn't want her to think of me in that role. It didn't help that she kept pushing me into taking some semblance of control over the city.
“Just…” Why were things so hard to explain.
“You are worried that we care for you only because thou art an imposing figure who reminds us of our mother?” I looked back up at her to try and decipher what she thought about that, but her face was fairly neutral. “We understand, but it is not so. We care for you because you’re earnest and straightforward in a world of twists and turns. You are a rock we can rest our burdens upon and we know that when the storms come we shall not wash away.” She smiled. “We understand that simplifies things to a certain degree, but we feel it is the truth enough and should lessen your worries.”
I gave her a small earnest smile, “Thank you.” With that she leaned down to nuzzle my cheek affectionately.
“Thank you. We pray that when this is all over that you will still be well, and that perhaps we can spend some more private time together. As it stands now we have so little time to rest.”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “Maybe take a vacation.”
“We would like that.” She started to turn away, “For now we will think upon the spell you asked us to perform, but we shall not attempt it until we are certain we can do so within the realm of safety.”
Things became quiet for a while after that as she thought about the spell and I worried over life. To be truthful, I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing, or what my plans were. I knew I had to destroy the megaspell chamber, and use the fractured alliance I was building to confront The Watchers, but when and how to do that escaped me. The larger assumption that my alliance, or whatever I was going to call it, would stick together long enough to bring an end to the chaos was on shaky ground, and that was ignoring the fact that The Watchers were well-versed in sowing chaos,
Ugh.
I rubbed my temple and took a deep breath. I needed to focus, and tackle things one at time. The most important thing was to get rid of the megaspell chamber. So I had to do that. Molly had given me the location of it, so I just had to get in there. It was pointless to try by myself, and my companions were too occupied. I suppose I could have waited, but it was so close… the fire that burned inside me needn't burn inside anyone else. I wouldn't risk anyone else becoming a weapon against their will.
So I had to go… and at that moment I realized how I could.
“Momma!" My head jolted up shaking the thoughts out of my head and I looked towards Serenity who was peeking out of the door. “Flare's awake, he wants'a talk with'ya”
Right. More talking. I stood up and entered the room past my daughter to see Flare awake on the hospital bed. His coat looked pale, and there were bags under his eyes, which were even more bloodshot than usual.
“So.” He said as I walked over slowly, his voice sounding hoarse and haggard. “The moon fell on us?” I nodded my agreement. “It'll make a good story,” he said bleakly. “Serenity told me about… my…” His voice choked up and he took a deep breath. “It's the greatest fear of any pegasus you know… our lives, our identity, everything we are, everything that makes us special, it's all tied up in our wings. It's our identity. It's what let the Enclave live safely among the clouds. It's what allowed the Enclave Remnants to break away from the depravity of the enclave and find a new way. It's on cutie-marks, and flags, and…” He closed his eyes.
“I'm sorry.”
“I know.” He lifted a leg shakily to wipe at his tearing eyes. “What am I supposed to do?”
“I… I found a cyber wing… you could—”
“What?” he interrupted sharply. “Become a freak, a fake, a pose—” He stopped and stared at me, “Listen, no offence…”
“None taken.” He was obviously in a bad way, so being offended would have just been stupid. I needed to let him vent.
“I just…” He sat up a little until Serenity hopped up to gently push him back down. “To the Remnants, I was always half a dirt pony. I spent a lot of time with them, had various boyfriends, you know, not a single one was a pegasus.” I actually didn't know that. “Then the incident at the mountain, I eventually quit the Remnants, you found me on the streets, sleeping in dirt.” He smiled. “Where I belonged. You said it yourself then, they were going to kill me.”
I nodded slowly. It was an odd thing to think of, that I was originally suppose to kill Flare. “But they took you back.”
“Hah.” He smiled. “That's a better joke than anything I ever told. Sure, they took me back and gave me a special rank and patted me on the back. But only because they could get something. I was complicit in what happened to you, I realize it now.”
“What?” He was rambling a lot, it didn't make a lot of sense.
“The Enclave and Watchers. They're… you know, partners. I was brought back to watch you… heh, watch. And… what do you think I was watching for?” Oh. “I didn't realize it at the time… but there you go. Now with the civil war going on they don't want me with them planning an attack, they sent me to the bloody revolution, the teeming mass of dirt pony dissenters, and do you know why?”
“Because you're closer to them?”
“I have a fucking house underground! Did you see it… what kind of joke is that?” A bad one. “So maybe we should cut the other wing off…”
“But you… Flare. You love flying.”
“Yeah…” His voice lowered and he looked off in the distance. “But what's the point? They won't take me back. I've outlived my usefulness…”
“So then get cybernetics!” He looked back up at me. “I mean. They won’t take you back. Or… accept you. Either way, right? So… get the wing. Fly, and be free of them, fly for yourself.”
“He might never forgive me if I do that…” Oh for fuck's sake, not the pronoun game.
“Who?”
He seemed surprised when I asked, almost as if he had thought he was just thinking it not speaking out loud. “High Stakes.” I started to talk, but he cut me off. “You never knew him!” he said defensively. Though I did know he was a good shot with a shotgun. I scratched at my scarred face irritably but I let him continue. “He was kind, comforting. He listened to me, and cared what I had to say I…” He shook his head slowly, “He thought he was doing the right thing shooting you… maybe he did. Maybe I should have gone with him…”
I let out a sigh, “Maybe you should have.”
“I think about him a lot. It's stupid, I know. He betrayed us, betrayed you. But he…” Flare closed his eyes. “I...I need to think about it.”
“But-” He cut me off before I could continue.
“Just let me think. A day. Or two. I need to walk my own path, decide from there.”
---
I still had walking to do. Work to be done, places to go, ponies to… see. I had thought about waiting for my friends to get back to full health, but the longer we were in the city, the more dangerous it became. The Watchers were often true to their name, and our presence in the city would not go unnoticed for long, and that made it dangerous. So I had to be quick, get what I needed.
Then figure out the next step. It wasn't as simple as one hoof in front of the other, it was a complicated step, like a dance to a song I’d never heard of before. Maybe I wasn't the right pony for the job, but somepony had to, and nopony else was around to try. It would probably easier if I had some sort of plan.
Well, I had a plan, It just wasn't a very good one. The first step was talking to Wallkirk, and to do that I had to go outside and face the radiation. My pipbuck started to tick as I stepped out the doors of the BS into the smoking city. It smelt of dust and ruin, and the surface was abandoned again. My eyes glanced over to the missing spot in the skyline where the Moon once stood, then down to the rubble that blanked the street all around giving testament to what it once was.
It was hard to tear my eyes off the empty space. It just felt so wrong for there to be nothing there, and it was hard to adjust to the new reality of the city. My eyes fell to my destination, barely a walk across the street. Clips and Clops home of the Enigmatic Wallkirk was heavily guarded. An army of Ponitrons stood at the ready, and none looked friendly. Among the robotic guards were various ponies walking back and forth looking annoyed and worried in turn. It was odd to see Galician Guards, as most of Wallkirk's gang spent their time inside and let the robots do the grunt work. Either way it was problematic, as it meant gaining access to my destination that way was impossible.
Luckily I knew another way to Wallkirk. I headed off to the slums of the city, and as I drew near to the teeming mass of newly built structures half built on-top of one another I realized it still had ponies occupying it despite the new blanket of radiation that covered the land.
The Slums were a hard place to describe. The city was essentially split into four quadrants with a giant fountain in the middle and two roads intersecting in the middle. Going north brought you to the ruins of The Moon on the left side, and the Alehouse on the right, while going south took you to The BS and Clips and Clops on alternate sides of the streets (Eventually leading to the Enclave Apartment building, and Watcher HQ). If you go west from the intersection you couldn't go far before reaching a wall that cut off the city dramatically and if you went past the wall you'd reach the giant crater from an impact (a meteor, or so it was said) from during the war.
East, and you find the slums, built in what was apparently once a giant plaza, or maybe a park, before the war. It little resembled that now. Wood and stone were piled half-haphazardly on top of each other creating makeshift houses, stores, and the like. The slums were probably small at first, but eventually spiralled out of control until it was a maze of half-ruined and half-built buildings, teeming with people.
Well, usually teeming. The balefire had driven many underground, but not all. As I walked through the nearly empty creaking ruins I heard a voice. It was a gentle coughing coming from a rough wooden shack nestled into the chaos. Stepping over debris, I made my way to the building, pushing through the blanket that the residents had used as a door. The coughing grew louder as I entered.
Inside were two ponies, a young colt old enough to have his cutie-mark but not much older, and a sickly looking older stallion. The stallion's mane had turned grey, but I could tell that wasn't it's original colour, and he looked impossibly skinny, with sunken cheeks and bones stretching his thin skin with a patchy coat that only half covered him.
The smell inside was obnoxious, like vomit and other less savoury things. I wasn't a medical professional but I guessed his father was suffering from advanced radiation poisoning. It was the most obvious answer.
The boy turned to me and yelled, his voice hoarse, “Go away! You already took everything! There's nothing left!” Tears were welling up in his eyes as he screamed. “G-go!”
I thought about asking him for his name, but it wasn't my business. “Here.” I still had some rad-away left in my bag I had been planning to keep for myself, but the child needed them more so I tossed them towards the stained mattress the two were sharing.
The colt looked tentatively at the two potions not making any movements before looking up at me with big eyes. “W-why…”
That was an odd question considering. “Go to the Black Salamander. Inside the radiation won’t hurt you. I have friends there. They could help. Can you carry him?”
The colt looked unsure but gave a strong courageous nod. “Yes!” He quickly picked up the rad-away and fed it to his father (I guessed) as I closed the curtain and went on my way. I heard him ask what my name was as I left, and I answered.
“Hired Gun.”
There were others as I walked through the slums, more and more ponies, most sick or caring for the sick. Slowly from talking to them, and telling them where to find some semblance of help, I learned that the only entrance to the tunnels in this area had been under guard by Watcher forces. Despite their stockpile, they said the most desperately ill couldn't go underground and get their help because they were already lost causes and it would take away resources from those who could possibly be helped. Maybe it was true, but I can't say I liked that sort of deadly math.
Regardless, I eventually found my way to the tunnel that had been sectioned off. The building I knew to be the entrance to the underground had a crude wall built around it, and was patrolled by a number of nervous looking guards. Also notable was that I saw no bodies surrounding the encampment, but I did notice a few suspicious stains.
I didn't stop though, just walked calmly towards the gap in the fortifications.
“Stop!” I heard somepony yell, but I kept walking.
“Stop!” a different guard said, but I took another step.
“I'll shoot.” Said a third, and then I did stop to look at the ponies. Three stallions and two mares were pointing mean looking weaponry at me. “Step back.” The mare who was lugging an LMG on a battle saddle said. When I didn't she said more seriously, “This area is restricted. We have no medicine for you. We're sorry.”
I stared at her very seriously before asking, “Do I look like I need medicine.”
“You have blood on you,” one stallion said.
“You're limping,” one of the mares pointed out, which was true enough.
“Your pupils are oddly dilated, are you high?” a second stallion added.
I continued to stare until they answered my question. They looked away from me briefly to whisper furiously amongst themselves before turning back to me. The mare with the LMG said, “You can come in, but don't expect any medicine.”
---
These tunnels I had taken before, so my hooves moved step after step without even having to think of them. All four of us had travelled these tunnels before to get to Wallkirk, so I was careful to avoid a particular side tunnel. Not that it helped the whispering wind in my head as I moved close to it, but I avoided the more obvious mental alterations for which which I was thankful.
I knew I needed to come back down to these tunnels again sooner rather than later, but that was a bridge I'd go across when I came to it. For the time being I had other pressing matters (and indeed the number of pressing matters I had grown by the hour) so I kept walking even though my body still ached.
Instead I thought about more distressing things. Like if Flare was going to be okay, if Platinum Haze would regain her magic, and if she too would ever fly again, if Serenity would have a place to stay and be safe when this was all over. That was the goal, in the end, create safety. The Watchers said that was their plan too, and I had no doubts that they truly believed that, but their attempts were tearing the city apart.
So I had to stop them. Somehow.
Then I had to tie the fractured remains of a broken city back together.
I had to stop all the death and destruction that had gripped Dise.
It was a daunting task, probably impossible, and just thinking of it made the tunnels seem so much heavier above me. The ceiling felt like it was sagging, weighed down by the city on top of it. Thousands of tons of buildings, and people, and with each new tragedy the weight just kept growing, threatening to collapse the tunnels and crush me.
I stopped to close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to let the stress wash off me like rain.
I took another step, and kept walking. One step at a time. Canterlot wasn’t built in a day… though it was hard to forget that it was destroyed in one.
Eventually I found my way to the secret elevator, and stepped inside. It was the same as before, and when I reached the top the speaker that greeted me as “Mr. Wallkirk.” told me the last time I visited was just weeks ago instead of over two hundred years. Outside, the remains of the Ponitrons Haze zapped were still there, lying still as the grave, so nothing stopped me from entering the computer room.
Walls of electronics greeted me, much as I had remembered before. I didn't bother looking at them, they meant nothing to me, I just looked at the largest screen where an image of a slightly overweight brown stallion was waiting for me looking annoyed and impatient.
“You've returned,” he said impassively.
“I have.” I licked my lips, looking around the room curiously. “Lovely city you have here, I love what you've done with it in my absence.”
The picture on the screen narrowed its eyes at me. “You dare—”
“I'm just curious. You told the NCA where to find me. Why?”
The pony on the screen still seemed unamused, but answered, “I came to the conclusion that their military might would be useful against the actions against my great city. I cannot let it die.”
“And yet,” I said slowly, staring the pony on the screen dead in the eyes, “it is dying. Dise is dead. Isn't it?”
The pony grit his teeth and reluctantly nodded. “For now… I have been forced to give in to some… demands by the Watchers on behalf of the revolutionaries.” That was a shock, and I recoiled back slightly looking behind me. “Don't worry, I didn't give you away. Just let them use my facilities for the time being.… I am making plans to remove them and restore the status quo, don't worry. I would have invited you, but you destroyed my vessel.”
“You stopped occupying your 'vessel'. Then it attacked us.” I pointed out.
“Don't get me wrong, Hired, we are still on the same side.” I wasn't sure we ever were. “I did what needed to be done at the time, and I am still doing that. Trust me. I've kept the city in line for so long, and I will wrestle it back, but you must be patient and follow my commands.” That was a joke, right?
I wouldn't have followed Wallkirk's plans even if it were him who I was talking to. But I wasn't talking to Wallkirk, not really. It was a copy of his memories on an incomplete computer. A series of ones and zeros going through the motions, pantomiming life, but it wasn't really. The way he talked, his vocabulary, his inflection, everything about him, it was as if an alien was mimicking pony behaviour but couldn't get it right, or someone was above him pulling strings like a puppet. He made all the right movements, but something was off. The more I talked to him the more I realized it.
He was dangerous. Stuck in the past, in his old ideas and plans to keep Dise safe, he couldn't see that his way was broken, that by keeping the city fractured he contributed to the problems we were all paying for. There was no alternate method for him, maybe his program wouldn't allow it, but he couldn't see past.
I licked my lips and stared him dead in the eyes. How easy it would have been for me to destroy his computer right then. To smash it into pieces, to scatter the wires and circuits and hard drives so his body could not be repaired. But I needed him. For the moment. I don't even think he realized the threat I posed.
“Hired?” the machine said.
“Of course. But I have a plan.” The pony on the screen looked to be frowning before the screen turned into a picture of a clock ticking down.
“You have one minute.”
Really? How dramatic. “Give me control of your Ponitrons.” Barely took three seconds, that.
The clock paused and I heard an electronic chuckling coming from the computer's speakers. “You're kidding.”
“No.” I licked my lips in anticipation. This had to work, I needed them, I had a project I needed to complete. The sooner the better. “But I know where the megaspell chamber is. Under the city. I need them to destroy it.”
“How do you kno—”
I cut him off. “You have one minute to decide.” Okay, I wasn't actually going to count out a minute, but I felt teasing him by turning his words back on him would help my case.
“You can borrow them…” He reluctantly said fifty nine seconds later. “On your pipbuck. Bring it here.” The screen pointed to a port on the vast computer system that I could connect my pipbuck to. It took me a few tries to figure out, but eventually it worked. “The commands can be complicated…” he said as a program was downloaded onto my pipbuck, “But I installed some foolproof operating systems.” He clearly underestimated my ability to be a fool. “It should allow you some basic control over nearby ponitrons… I hope you know what you're doing.”
The computer beeped and I pulled my pipbuck away and turned towards the door in one smooth motion. “I don't.” I said, and walked out the door.
One step at a time.
I was getting closer. I could feel excitement rising in my gut, but I knew there was more to be done, and I had to keep moving before everything caught up with me. I had the map on my pipbuck, the one that led me to the megaspell chamber. First I needed my army, and I knew just where to get it. Instead of taking the elevator down back into the tunnels I took it up into the Clips and Clops.
I'd been in the casino a few times before and, other than it being deserted, it remained remarkably the same. So I glanced at the doors as in passing and read the names of the drugs on the signs as I walked through the still halls. It was a place where you came to have fun, after all, no matter how you did that.
The main floor of the casino was a vast pink party. Streamers hung from the rafters, though most had been torn. Balloons were tied to each and every slot machine, but the helium in them had started to leak and they drooped lazily to the floor as if holding themselves up was too tough. Garbage was strewn across the floor haphazardly, covering up the bright and erratically coloured carpet, and My pipbuck ticked gently. Whoever inhabited the building were on high floors, in radiation proof rooms no doubt. The Baises, and some of the Watchers too, sitting up there waiting.
It amused me to walk underneath the Watchers hooves. They didn't realize I was crawling below them, wading through the empty party, undetected, yet heading off to destroy them. I wondered if Clean Cutt was up in some secret room plotting, or if Tight Lips, that traitor, was pacing back and forth nervously as the news that I was alive reached her ears. They knew I was coming for them, they must, but they didn't know how or where. And by the time they did, it'd be too late.
So long as I kept walking.
I exited the main entrance of the casino.
All at once the ponies and ponitrons guarding the door in a line turned to me, weapons pointed. I lifted up my pipbuck to press a button then kept walking. Simultaneously the Ponitrons lowered their weapons and started to line up behind me. “Stop!” one of the guards said, her face twisted into a mask of confusion.
“No.”
“I said stop!” the mare yelled again, and the pain in my shoulder told me she was lifting something in her magic, probably a gun, but I didn't turn around to check. It didn't really matter, she wasn't going to shoot.
And she didn't, I kept walking, and the robots rolled behind me.
What can I say, I had a penchant for the dramatic. It was also the easier route to where I was going, so I hung a right on the main road and marched my way down to the main Watcher Compound.
---
I wasn't the best at following maps, I must admit, but I eventually found my way there, though the Watchers didn't make it easy. I had to find my way through an abandoned building to get to a secret entrance to the tunnels, and follow through a maze of corridors, traps (literal traps, mines and what have you) and hidden entrances to get to my destination. It was hard to imagine how Molly got all the way through undetected, because I knew I hadn't. I used brute force to get through doors, and had my little minions blow up obstacles in my path. It didn't matter to me, I knew where I needed to go, and it was just one step away.
Eventually the maze led me to my destination. I knew when I got closer because the shabby walls of the tunnels turned into newly painted corridors, refurbished and made to look brand new. There were no stains on the wall, no graffiti, no signs of death or destruction. Somehow the dank dark tunnels that terrors called home looked brand new. It made me sick.
I turned a corner. Behind me the dozen or so ponitrons I had… borrowed... rumbled loudly. It was not a tactical strike by any means. At the far end of the hallway I entered was a large metal door guarded by two mares with guns, rather large guns to be honest.
“Halt!” one of them screamed, but I kept walking. A lot of ponies had told me to stop today, and yet…
“Not another step,” the second mare said glaring, and for the first time I stopped. They looked scared. They must have known I was coming. Scanning the white painted hallway I noticed a speaker in the far corner that looked freshly installed, at least by wasteland standards. Perhaps they were told I was coming. The Watchers probably had cameras, and the explosions weren't subtle. I wondered what their orders were. Maybe to kill me? Or just hold me off until they could get backup. That seemed very unfair to them.
So I let them off easy.
I bit down on the bit of my battle saddle and let a gout of flame burst forth from my flamethrower into the air. It wasn't close enough to hit them, but the sudden heat and fire made them flinch back.
I ran.
The remnants of the fire and smoke swirled around me singing my coat and mane. Jumping forward the sword in my leg shot forward. At the end of my jump my sword was jabbed painfully in the rightmost mare's foreleg.
She screamed, but I ignored it. My head turned to the other mare but I kept my blade in the first, even though she writhed in pain. “I ignored major arteries. I think.” The second mare gulped, but kept her gun trained on me. “Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe when I pull this blade out, she will bleed out. I wonder how long it will take.” I looked back towards my ponitron followers. “This is a Watcher base. There has to be medical supplies nearby. Maybe you'll have time to save her.”
I pulled the blade free and stepped back.
The second mare rushed to her fallen friend, hoisted her up, and ran off down the hall, my ponitrons parting to let the panicked mare past.
My heart was racing as I turned to face the great metal door. I pressed my hoof against the door, and let out a deep sigh. I was so close. Beyond the door was the start of all this chaos, and I was about to remove it from the equation. I reached for the handle but a crackling sound stopped me.
It was the sound of a speaker turning on.
“Hired Gun,” a smooth authoritative voice spoke to me, and I felt a chill go down my spine.
“Clean Cutt.” I recognized the voice, I had talked to him before, enough to force myself to remember. “You didn't guard this place very well.”
“I sent most of them away,” he said simply. “I don't know how you hacked those ponitrons, but I get the feeling your daughter helped with that. I remember when we found her, so small, so timid, but she took to technology like a pegasus takes to flight. It's how we used to calm her down when she got upset, show her some fancy technology, and even at her tender age she would focus in on it. Truly it was her destiny.”
“What is your point?” I tried to keep my tone level. I was sure there was some game he was playing, some trick. This was the person that orchestrated all this chaos, I couldn't trust him.
“Just something I thought you'd like to know. You did a good job fostering her natural ability.” When I didn't immediately respond I heard a static-y chuckle flow out of the speaker. “You are so suspicious. I am not your enemy.”
“That has to be a joke.” I just shook my head. “You tried to kill me. Kidnapped my daughter. And so much more.”
“Heh.” Well that was comforting, “I suppose you have a point. But what I mean is we needn't be enemies. I just wanted to talk to you. I know you want to be a hero, but sometimes that's not possible.”
“Excuse me if I don't care to listen.” I started towards the door again. “I've heard enough of your stories from Dragonslayer.”
“I am not Dragonslayer.”
“One time I took a caravan through the canyon to Karkhoof. Dragonslayer was there. Did you know?” When he didn't say anything I continued my story taking another step towards the door. “As we travelled, giant canyon monsters attacked. Called land sharks. Or quarry eels. Doesn't matter. They attacked, and I fought back. Does it matter at that point which one attacked first? All were a threat.”
“That's a fair point, but if you will allow me. I have a metaphorical tale as well.” He coughed into his microphone and continued. “At my old practice in Eye Glow I had a patient, a young filly no older than your daughter.” I could already tell he was going to try and tug at my heart strings. “Her mother brought her in with a wound to her knee. A small gash, but it wasn't healing, it smelled and reddened and spat out pus. A terrible infection, I knew it right away, and I told the filly's mother the truth. To save the girl, I had to remove the leg. The mother wouldn't have it, she refused to see the danger her daughter was in. She thought a healing potion and prayers would fix her, so do you know what I did?” He didn't give me a chance to answer, as he kept talking. “I removed the leg without her permission. It was a painful surgery, and it was immoral to do it without her mother’s consent. But you must see, that if I did not do it the child would die. Years later when I was taking my organization out of Eye Glow, and to the newly found city of Dise that child came to me, and begged me to let her join. She saw what I did for her was worth it.”
His was certainly more long winded if nothing more. “So that's your justification for everything you did?”
“No, it's merely an illustration.” The voice on the speaker sighed. “I am old and like to tell stories. They help one thing, let them see with clear eyes the truths that are often obfuscated. Still, I can see I will not convince and in truth I never intended to. You are stubborn, I know. When I bought you I learned a lot about you.”
I glared up at the speaker before taking another step towards the door only to see it open all of a sudden.
“Smooth Tongue told me your history, about your wife, and your daughter.”
Inside there was a large darkened five sided chamber. The walls of the chamber did not go straight up, instead they bent at odd awkward angles, each differently, and each kept bending and twisting until they somehow reached the middle of the ceiling at a sharp point. The walls were covered in strange runes, eldritch designs I couldn't place that glowed a faint and deadly green in the dark light. I walked forward to find a series of stairs leading to the centre of the chamber. These stairs too were not designed in normal right angles, but at odd points, with gaps, and drops that made walking down them difficult and confusing.
“Do you know what it takes to make balefire?”
In the centre of the room there was a table covered in blood, with three lanterns around it standing on what looked like black shelves. The lanterns were all glowing, but seemed to produce little light, and when I got closer I realized that those flames were dragon fire. I don't know how I knew, I couldn't explain it, but it was like the burning in my shoulder, I just knew.
“Ghouls aren't created from nothing. Dragon flames are laced in necromancy. The black arts were difficult to learn, but to save the city and the wastes I would sell my soul and help others do the same.”
It was a terrible place, just being in the chamber sent shivers down my spine, and I could feel sweat bead down my forehead. This was an evil place, a dark place, and yet somehow I felt like I belonged here. It was here, or a place like it, that I was turned into an abomination against my will. It was here I would end this. Or at least… start the ending.
“We could bring them back.”
The words creeped into my ears and sent shivers down my spine. I squeezed my eyes tight, but it didn't make the feeling of dread go away. Just being in that room made my head pound, and closing my eyes made the pounding harder. Like the darkness of the room was clawing at my skull, digging and trying to get inside. The temptation tore at me, and I could feel my resolve weakening. If he could do that…
Survive.
The word whispered in my ears. I had to step forward, not back.
My eyes shot open and I turned around and pressed button on my pipbuck. As I did the ponitrons started to file into the room, weapons raised. Another button press and they started to fire. The walls cracked them crumbled, the flames were shot through and put out, and slowly the room was breaking and burning, the way it was meant to be.
I let them shoot and walked out the door. I had friends to see, to tell them the good news, to inform them that I had plans. Plans for the city, to fix the city, to take it out. And though the darkness of the room haunted me, and reminded me of what had happened, I knew I had to keep walking forward. Dise may be dead, but it could be renewed. If I did things right. No half measures.
I took another step.
Level Up!
Skill Note: No Skill Milestones!
((A/N: This chapter was a pain, time was not on my side. Though I would like to thanks Kkat for creating the world, as well as my editors for their dutiful work: TheBSDude, Julep, and Menti. As well as Equestri_Narrator who does the audiobook which will be coming within a week.
To keep you all informed these past few months I have been working every weekend all weekend at a military base, as well as going to University five days a week. So writing has been difficult. It will be even more difficult this summer as I will be on an army course full time. I might have weekends off, but I doubt it, so here’s the plan going forward. I will be finishing a chapter before I leave (June 8th) and give it to my editors, and I will attempt to go through the edits and post it while on course when I have time. If not it the chapter after this will be posted near the end of August, it’s the best I can do.
If you really need to read something, Fallout Equestria Ashes has just updated with a huge 30k chapter! Read it)) |
No One | 662 | 36 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2015-10-24T05:09:25+00:00 | 2015-10-24T05:09:25+00:00 | 9,065 | Icarus
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
“Do it.” It was the first thing Flare said to me when I got back. He didn't ask where I’d been or what I’d done. Perhaps it was the look on my face, because nobody else did either. “I want to fly,” he said calmly, securely. “I need to fly. If I can't fly, what good am I?” I was going to point out what good he was, and how I would still be his friend and other such heartwarming crap but he cut me off. “Don't contradict me, just… let me.”
“Are you sure?” I was so sure at first he'd want to, but now I was second guessing myself.
“It worked for you right? An earth pony without legs is like a pegasi without wings.” He looked visibly pained just saying those words. Either that or he was pained from the pain. His chest rose heavily as he sucked in air between his teeth. “What's my pride compared to the sky?”
“Nothing?” I suggested, but I wasn't really sure. I’d never really been a big fan of flying, or heights, but he enjoyed it and that's what mattered.
“Nothing,” he agreed. He looked down at Serenity. “You're sure you can do this?”
The filly nodded excitedly. “Of course! I mean, I gots all the equipment here I need, just need time, yanno? Don't worry 'bout it!” She looked over at me and pointed an accusatory hoof. “You either. Haze said she needed you, so if ya'll need'a run off'n'stuff, don't worry about it. It's all handled here. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.” I wasn't really sure what lemons had to do with it, but she seemed confident.
“Okay.” I leaned down to nuzzle her cheek softly. “I'm not sure what Haze wants, but we'll be back. As soon as possible.” Serenity waved me away with a dismissive hoof. I couldn't help but think she was slightly over-playing how nonchalant she was feeling. “And you,” I said turning back to the injured pegasus, still lying on the sterile hospital bed, “I think you made the right choice.”
“Yeah,” he sighed, leaning back on the bed. He wasn't even looking at me, just staring up at the ceiling as if it held all the answers he needed.
I didn't want to interfere though, and I had no doubt that I would if I stayed. There was still work to be done too. I needed to transfer control of the Ponitrons to The Finishers like I had promised, and then do whatever Haze had planned.
Luckily she wasn't hard to find, considering I bumped into her as soon as I left the hospital room. “Oh! We were waiting for you.” She said cheerfully. “We think we have been able to devise a spell as you desired.”
That was fast, like incredibly so. Perhaps I should have expected more from Haze considering her vast magical talent. “You can neutralize the orb?”
She nodded. “We have searched our memories and knowledge, and we believe we know a spell that when placed on a container would essentially cause the orb's magical effects to be reflected. It would be incredibly powerful inside the container, but the walls of the container would continuously reflect it so the magical field would be unable to exit.”
“Uh.” I wasn't entirely sure any of that made sense, but she looked incredibly confident about it so I knew better than to question her. Especially considering how little I knew about magic. “I thought your horn got worn out though?”
She nodded and sighed, lowering her head. “We are afraid we did not think that through. Considering the large amounts of magical radiation that has been expelled outside, if we were to stand near ground zero, we would quickly gain back our magical strength.”
“What about your wing?” I said looking over to the wing in question. Even folded against her body it didn't look right, twisting at an odd angle that made my stomach tie in knots.
“It has already healed incorrectly.” She stated simply, not bothering to look past it. “It… can be healed, properly. But the process will be painful, and we lack time for such an endeavour. For now, additional radiation will not harm it any more than it already has been. The damage is done, and all we can do is accept that fact and continue on until an opportunity to fix it presents itself.”
“You aren't upset?”
“We… were never proficient at flying. It was pleasant, but not something we cannot live deprived of. As well, we are confident we will be able to heal ourselves in time, as we are very resilient. If anything, we are more upset for Flare, if our shield hadn't failed…”
“You can't blame yourself for that.”
She looked conflicted for a minute, but let out a sigh, “We shall endeavour not to, but it can be difficult. Even if he is granted the gift of flight through artificial means we recognize that it is not the same, as you can attest to.”
Could I? On the rare occasion I had briefly flirted with the angst that came with finding bits and pieces of you lopped off and replaced with cold metal, but for the most part I took it in stride. I accepted what happened and moved on; I didn't look back on that, at least, with too much regret. Maybe if I had some sort of defining feature that had been removed, then maybe I could understand. The only thing appreciably close was my eye for which I still wore an eye patch most of the time, but my… feelings towards that was not on loss but regret.
Still, I was in no position to contradict her, so I smiled and agreed, “Yes. It is… weird.” That was true at least. “We should go, though… The Watchers are not pleased with me. Our time in the city might be short. If we want to get everything done, we need…” I searched for the appropriate term, “concurrent activity.”
“Yes, that is wise.”
---
When I left The BS, I commanded some Ponitrons to follow me as I walked down the main strip towards the gate that separated Dise from Parasite Mound. I wasn't sure how I was going to find Photo Finish in Parasite Mound, so the next best thing was to create a big enough scene to have her find me. This of course involved going past the remnants of the Moon, a fact I hadn't considered.
It was… odd seeing the city without the building, a fact that was hard to get over especially as I drew closer to the rubble. If I looked closely enough I swore parts of the rubble even looked familiar, pieces of the facade of the building that stuck out that I swore I could remember. Or maybe it was my imagination, trying to find sense in the senseless. A pattern in the chaos.
I hadn't expected the giant crater though, when really I should have. Much of the underground had been destroyed, and the wreckage of the upper building had fallen in, creating sinkholes of rubble, even less safe than a normal knocked down building. The crater was massive enough that buildings to the left, right, and behind The Moon (Well, those that hadn't also been reduced to rubble) were tilted, sliding towards the remains. I wondered how the tunnels fared underneath, no doubt the massive explosion did damage, and I was suddenly struck by the realization that ponies could be trapped underneath by cave ins.
This thought was prompted on by the fact I could see many ponies digging with their hooves through the rubble. They were far enough away I couldn't make out faces, but they looked dirty, maybe blood stained, as they risked their lives. How many ponies had been trapped in the building when it went down? The remainder of the Mustangs were there for sure, and the invading revolutionary forces. Was this what the Watchers planned? To weaken the revolutionaries and Mustangs both with this attack, forcing them to fall back to them?
Did it matter?
Platinum Haze looked down at me, sadness in her eyes. It hadn't even been a full day since the explosion, but the ponies looked so weary, I could tell how much she cared. “Well, go.” My pipbuck had been ticking ever since I got outside, but I chose not to worry about it, but closer to ground zero it ticked faster so she could help and heal, if there was anypony left in there to help. “Wait!” I said as she took a few steps.
I searched through my bags and pulled out all the Rad-Aways and Rad-X's I had. It wasn't much, but it would have to do, “For them.”
She nodded and I watched as she walked over the rubble gracefully. Okay, it wasn't so graceful, as she tripped a few times, but it still made for an impressive image when all the gathering ponies stopped to watch her in awe. They looked shocked, and one of them drew a weapon, and when she helped to dig they all implicitly understood and went back to their work.
I watched for a minute before looking down at my pipbuck. It only took a few clicks before the Ponitrons that made up my entourage rolled away from me and towards the rubble. Their wheels made it difficult, but they would have to do to help, at least for now. The ponies working accepted that too in turn, though they were more careful to keep their distance from the robot than from the Alicorn.
I could have gone and helped myself, and perhaps I should have. But there was other work to be done, and I had to take it one step at a time. There wasn't time to help every single pony who needed it, not if I still wanted to help everypony by creating a safer city.
It was weird having that as a goal. It was so farfetched, so out there and nearly impossible to achieve, not to mention stupidly naive, and optimistic. Still, it was my goal, and if I took it one step at a time…
Eventually I made my way to the gate to find Ponitrons still guarding it. Unsurprisingly, they let me pass without issue, which really made sense considering I still had absolute control over them. I took a few steps into Parasite Mound to find it mostly dead and quiet.
My pipbuck was still ticking off steadily, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. I could only hope the Finishers had enough medicine to keep their people alive a little bit longer… and it didn't take long for me to find out the answer when a rainbow coloured suit of power armour leapt from a building in front of me. “We've been waiting.” Screenshot, I recognized the voice even through the filter.
“Not for long. I hope.” She didn't seem to be in a very good mood the way her body was hunched over like a cat ready to pounce.
“Long enough,” the voice said sharply. “Another explosion. We have barely recovered from the last…” She wasn't even patient enough to do the accent. It was a little disappointing.
“Then maybe I can help your mood.” I held up my pipbuck, “I have the command codes. For every ponitron in the city.” Even through the bug-like mask, I could tell her eyes went wide. Her stressed posture instantly became more relaxed, though not too much.
“Dare I ask how?” One step at a time.
“Best not.” I licked my lips nervously. “But remember the deal.”
“Follow your ‘master plan’ was it?” You could almost hear the sarcastic air quotes around the words 'master plan'. Not that I could blame her.
“Yes.” I sucked in a deep breath. “Control them carefully. Help with them as you can. But nothing overt. Do not tip your hoof that they belong to you.” She looked at me carefully, it made me a bit nervous.
“Until when?”
“Until…” That was a good question, a question I should have thought about long before. “Until I say otherwise… week, maybe less.” That’s all it would take… if everything worked out. If I could decide on all the things that I needed to work out. There were a lot of ifs involved, but I figured that the longest I could force the Finishers to wait before they got impatient was a week, so that was the time frame I would go with.
“And what's to stop us from ignoring you?” Screenshot said, and I had to admire her honesty if nothing else.
“Nothing.” So I matched honesty with honesty. “Except I got it for you. You didn't believe I could. And here I am. If nothing else don't I deserve a little bit of trust?”
The power armoured pony seemed to regard me suspiciously before taking a step forward and fiddling with her hoof and pulling out a long wire from near her ankle, “Plug this into your pipbuck.” She said giving me the end of the wire, and I obliged. “The Finishers are choosing to trust you.” She said simply.
My pipbuck beeped and I looked down to see a series of files and programs being deleted or moved. There were a few warnings and I clicked through them without really reading. It was more important to get this done quickly before anybody noticed.
“It is done.” I said when it finished, unplugging the wire from my pipbuck. “Enjoy your new army.”
Screenshot nodded and moved to turn away but stopped and looked at me seriously. “When I first met you, you were a random merc with an attitude problem. Now… now I don't know what you are. Do you really think whatever your plan is will work?”
No. “Yes.”
“May Celestia grant you wisdom then.” She bowed her head and ran off.
I stood there for a minute, just long enough to feel drops of rain start to fall on my head. Looking up I could see an angry arrangement of grey clouds blowing in from the north. Another storm was coming, but there was still time to do what I needed to do without getting too wet.
---
The rain was still a light drizzle when I found my way back to the wreckage of The Moon. Platinum Haze was not hard to find in the wreckage, the way her body seemed to shimmer and glow, and the fact she was several inches taller since the last time I last saw her. It was amazing the effects radiation had on her.
“We are sorry.” She said when she walked back up to me. “How long have you been waiting for us-”
“Not very.” It was easy to forget, with everything that had been going on, just how beautiful Haze was, but it struck me at that moment. Perhaps it was the way her mane was frazzled, or her face flecked with dirt from her work. I was never good at articulating such things so I let it go, “Has your magic returned?”
“We believe so.” I’d been about to ask if she found any survivors, but I was already quite certain of the answer, so I didn't bother bringing the mood down. “We are ready… we are fairly certain this will work.”
“Okay… if there's time, you can come back up to help,” I said turning to walk away, letting Haze pad up beside me.
“Thank you.”
It was quiet for a while, and I imagine that was for the best as we both had a lot to think about. Still, it wasn't exactly unpleasant, except for the growing sickly feeling in my stomach the longer I stayed outside. Luckily we made it to the tunnels in short order using the same entrance I had used before to find Wallkirk, though this time there seemed to be no guards. Not that I minded, I didn't feel the need to talk to them again.
It didn't take long to find our way down to the half-finished dirt tunnel at the very bowels of the tunnels. It felt like as soon as my hooves touched dirt I could hear the whispering of the winds. I needed something to distract myself from the memories that always seemed to come near pieces of Simple Heart, and luckily Platinum Haze helped with that.
“May we ask, what is your plan?” It was a good thing to ask, it helped me think.
Survive
The wind wasn't wrong in this case. “I'm not sure.” She seemed to deflate, so I guess that wasn't the answer she was looking for. “The Watchers need to be stopped. But I'm not sure they can be. The city is little more than ash now. Their goal is to make it rise from the ashes. But in their image.” I took in a sharp breath. “So I'll stop that.”
“How?”
It was a good question, and it was the sort of question that gnawed at the edge of my consciousness because I knew I didn't have a full answer. Not yet. “By… turning the people against them.” That was the gist of it. “Revealing them for what they are. Showing a better alternative. If the Finishers and Molly can work together…” The plan was always sort of murky in my head, but as I walked it started to take shape, piece by piece. “Then maybe… I need to undermine them.” Then it was gone again, back into a formless fog in my head.
“But why Simple Heart?” She asked curiously, with a hint of nervousness in her voice. After the last time she was visited by that orb I couldn't blame her for not wanting to deal with it again.
“He holds the mountain. There's so many supplies there…” I could picture it. Stacks and stacks of lumber, and metal, and tools, and so much else in the main room alone. The facility had so much, and if I could get it… “We could rebuild the city.”
“We understand. How better to win the trust of those in the city by endeavouring to rebuild it with a plethora of supplies.” I smiled when she put words to what I was trying to think of. “It will be a dangerous endeavour, but we imagine that will be our next destination?”
“It has to be.” I looked down the darkened tunnel. Sliding the eye patch off my face provided a little light, but in an eerie green glow that didn't help matters. I knew what was down there, I could never forget, and I felt it tickling at the base of my neck the closer I got. “We will want to be rid of that as soon as possible.”
“We agree.” She looked round the darkened tunnels nervously, her horn's light doing little to penetrate the darkness that enveloped us. “We are certain our spell will work… but still.” She shuddered. “We can hear her, we dislike this feeling.”
“Her?” I asked curiously, ignoring my own voices. Just keep moving.
“Mother.” Right, her. “She is telling us not to be afraid… then she tells us we should be afraid, and that she loves us, and for us to run.” Her gaze darkened and I could see the barest hint of a scowl forming on her face. “We do not like this place.”
You can't keep doing this, you can't ignore…
The voices on the wind chimed in, but I wasn't sure if it was talking to me or Haze. “It'll be over soon.” It was getting strong, the whispering, and the sounds. Images flashed in the corner of my eye, but I didn't dare to look, I knew there was nothing good to be found when searching for ghosts.
Yet they still found me, and where once only one voice whispered now many spoke louder and louder until I could hear nothing else. I looked to Haze frantically, my heart racing to see her mouth moving but nothing came out, just the roar of winds in my ears like a hurricane.
We must purge the evil from the—
Cunts, the lot of them, every one, let'em fucking burn—
What is the nature—
It was a matter of time—
The wasteland can't… it can't be saved by heroes. Only by ponies… ponies like me.
In the darkness I could see him, see his stupid fucking grin. He was smoke in the blackness, a vague apparition, but somehow so solid I could see the colour of his eyes. I charged forward, he had to die again, I wouldn't let Serenity finish the job this time. It would be me.
But when I charged into the darkness his form faded and shifted around me.
It took you long enough. You're already dead.
He's dead. I saw him die. Bullet through the head. Bang, done. I could almost taste the blood splatter, but then why was he still haunting me!
You're going to die a failure—
“Shut up!” Another voice, another apparition, more wind in my ears. All dead. I saw them all die, and they keep coming back, one after another. “I won’t!” They're dead! What do they know! All dead, they can't stop me…
I thought it was a trick… they killed me. Like you.
More and more, the dead started to rise from the ground, their visages made from fog and smoke but I knew the dead all by name.
I never wanted this job. A small ghost said, I could hear a sneer in his voice. You killed me for it.
Never saw you coming. A ghost made of green smoke said, and kept saying even as I swiped my hoof through her. Never had a chance.
They came. They call her a hero now. My murderer. I see, but nobody remembers.
What is the nature… A final ghost said standing before me as the others grew and circled. He didn't have to finish the question, I knew the question as well as I knew anything, but still I didn't have an answer for him. Living or dead he continued to mock me.
So many dead. Another ghost said. Time and again. We must do better, why can't you see… you want to be a hero.
Fucking hero they call me…
A hero I shall be…
This is not the time for heroes. Give up.
They wouldn't stop talking! They circled around me and spoke and spoke and spoke until I could hear no more. Their words became a jumble of memories half forgotten, and words I could barely discern. The smoke circled and slowly the ghosts merged with each other just as their words did leaving me in a prison of fog and guilt.
Survive.
A single voice pierced through the fog like a knife. A red form strode through my swirling fog cage, a smile on its ghostly lips. The first ghost, the last. “Survive.” The voice said, and all at once the fog faded.
I blinked.
The fog was gone. The ghosts were gone. The voices were gone. The only thing I could see was the dim image of Platinum Haze standing before me, holding my hoof in hers. Before I could say anything she learned down to kiss me, and I felt blood rushing to my cheeks. “H-haze.”
“It is done.” She lifted up a sack in her magic, and I could sense the orb inside, but its power was gone, shielded by the spells Haze had cast. “We are sorry you had to go through that, but it shall not happen again.”
“I'm sorry,” I said at once. “I let i—”
“You are a silly mare.” She leaned down to kiss my cheek this time. “We love you, and would never blame you for this horrendous magic. Let us go now, and never speak of this place henceforth.”
---
We did it. I couldn't help but feel a sense of elation as we left the tunnels. My plans were starting to come to fruition, as sketchy and vague as they were. One step at a time we were making progress, and I was sure the harder part would come when trying to bargain with Simple Heart for a piece of his soul, but when last we spoke he seemed so enamoured with the idea.
But forgetting all that, how could I not be happy that it worked? We beat those tunnels. Ever since the first time I entered them, when the winds whispered and I shivered and everything felt ill at ease, I thought they were unbeatable. Another blot on my memory I couldn't erase, that came back every time the winds blew.
But they were gone. Not the tunnels, obviously, but what made them so dark and terrifying. They belonged to me now, and they would never torment another living soul. It made me want to laugh, or cry, but mostly it just put a goofy smile on my face.
“You appear to be elated,” Platinum Haze said as we surfaced in the slums of the city.
“Of course.” I could skip. Everything was going so right.
“We are happy that you are happy. Recently you have seemed very despondent, and we wish it were not so, you look much more beautiful when you smile.”
“I…” Wasn't sure how to answer that. “I'm not beautiful. Smile or not. You don't have to lie to me.”
“Many things are beautiful, my dear.” She looked down the road to where The BS was waiting for us, shining like a diamond amidst the empty ruins. “The sun rising above the wasteland, the laughter of children, pretty mares to be sure, but not just that. You are not conventionally pretty, but do not sell yourself short, you have a strength and determination about you that is attractive, and you would do well to remember that.”
I had enough grace to blush. “Thanks…”
“And what beauty you have is your own,” she said solemnly, but I wasn't really sure what she meant at first. I eventually figured it out, but only after a long drawn out silence in which time we had reached the main doors of the BS.
“Haze…” I really should have thought of a cutesy nickname for her, but I was really bad at such things. Maybe Serenity had some idea… “You would be beautiful even if you never became an alicorn. I… I love you because of your heart, not your looks.” I paused. “I mean, the looks aren't bad either, just don't think—”
“We know.” She leaned down to kiss me on the nose. Another blush, great. “We were just feeling sorry for ourselves, a hobby we have had practice at. We are sorry if it caused you distress.”
“You need to stop apologizing.” I said, stepping through the door and into the BS.
I had nearly forgotten I had sent people inside the casino to escape the radiation, but as soon as I opened the door I was reminded. There were even more people than when I left earlier that same day, nearly two dozen by my count and those were just the ones I could see on the casino floor. They all looked sick, or old, or injured, but were doing their best trying to make living spaces out of the old camp that had sprouted when the first megaspell went off.
And they all stared at me as I entered.
I was used to getting stared at to be sure. I was freakishly tall and strong, and my cybernetics or scars tended to make an interesting first expression, but they weren't looking at me with fear or revulsion or curiosity. They were wide eyed, like they adored me or something. A few muttered things I could barely make out as I walked by in silence, but it sounded like thanks, or maybe a prayer.
I didn't get it. Why would they care about me? I didn't create the BS or the spells that kept it safe, all I did was show them the way, but some of them looked at me as if I had personally saved them from some great tragedy. I hated it.
Platinum Haze loving me was one thing, but this sudden outpouring from people I didn't know for trivial things just… bothered me. I wasn't a good pony; I was a murderer and worse, and they acted like I saved the… well I did save their lives from the radiation technically, but not in any overt way. Still, they had no reason to like me, I wasn't a pony used to be liked.
“They need somepony to look to,” Platinum Haze said to me as we climbed the steps towards the hospital ward.
“They should find somepony else.” I muttered, my good mood turning sour for what I admit was a fairly petty reason.
“Who?” I hated when she was all sensible like that. But she was right, the city was at a loss for people to look up to. The Revolutionaries had their leader, but he was probably dead now, along with how many of their people? Some people looked to the Watchers, but they caused the mess and eventually the people would realize that they were doing nothing to solve it. Pinprick was dead. The Batmare was dead. So who was left?
“Nopony noticed me before.” I replied eventually.
“How many ponies did you save before?” Another uneasy question.
“You're my marefriend!” I sputtered in disbelief as we finally reached the surgery room where Flare and Serenity were. “You're supposed to take my side.”
“We are, we simply think you have not chosen your side properly.” She smiled, but I couldn't tell if she was sincere or mocking me. With a huff I turned and opened the door.
Blood.
So much blood. On the floor, on the walls, on Serenity… all over Flare. I had never seen so much blood come from a living pony.
“Serenity…” She wasn't looking at me, she was scrambling over tools frantically. When she heard her name she looked up, her grey eyes bloodshot red and drenched with tears.
“IT'S NOT WORKING!” She screamed, choking back sobs. “I… there was… bits… left, I had to cut them out, b-but I c-cut too deep, and then there was blood, I, tried to a-attach the l-limb but… I stopped it, but I can't, it's not working!” She sobbed pitifully. “I fucked up… I fucked up.”
I looked from my crying daughter down to Flare who was barely conscious on the table, his eyes open but glazed over. The heart rate monitor was beating rapidly, and his body covered in blood.
I let this happened. I should have supervised… fuck.
Okay, calm, don't panic. Deep breath. This was my fault. Serenity had no knowledge of pegasus anatomy, no matter how well versed in medicine and cybernetics she was this was uncharted territory. I couldn't be mad, I needed to… okay. Plan.
“How bad is it?” I walked in as calmly as I could, checking over the unmoving Flare to see if he had any wounds that Serenity hadn't manage to fully close.
Serenity wiped her eyes, but seemed to recognize the seriousness in my tone and replied. “He lost… a lot of blood. Um including what he lost earlier? Uh… l-like, maybe… a third? Maybe more…” Okay, a third wasn't good. “He… I think he needs a blood transfusion, b-but I couldn't find any and—”
Platinum Haze chimed in. “It is our understanding that it would not be possible to find compatible blood here, as Pegasi, benefiting their unique physiological structure, have a vastly different blood type. We need pegasi blood.”
Okay, that was a problem. I looked down at Flare and swore under my breath at how pale he looked as I placed a hoof on his forehead to check his temperature. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with the information I got, but it seemed like the thing to do. “Pegasi blood.”
“We… may have an answer to that.” Serenity and I both looked over at Platinum Haze anxiously. “It is our understanding that Enclave ships are equipped with Med-bays to deal with traumatic injuries.”
My eyes turned to window in the room. It was hidden by window shades, but I knew what was beyond it in the sky, hovering over the city like a metaphorical and literal black cloud. The Raptor…
“Alright.” No point arguing the point. Flare had to live, and for him to live he needed blood, and this was the only option available to us. No point arguing or figuring out how, just go. “The Enclave home base is an old high rise apartment building.” I remembered that much, it was the setting of Flare's dream that I visited. “If they work with The Watchers. And we're sure that they do. They might have a dock… or we can threaten some pegasi.”
“Momma… how… it's dangerous! I can't… what if something happens… and we can't leave Flare.” Serenity had stopped crying, but it seemed only barely.
“Right, so we'll take him with us.” Serenity looked up at me bleary eyed. I had to stay calm, thing one step ahead. “It doesn't matter. What happened? All that matters now is we do what we can to help him. Feeling sorry for yourself can come later.”
“But—”
“No buts. You're the sneakiest.” Platinum Haze could turn invisible, but she was clumsy and loud and large so having her infiltrate a building with a lot of narrow hallways would not work out well. “We need you. If we all want to get through untouched, you need to go through first, find out which areas are used, which aren't, and how we can get onto the ship.” It was a lot to put on the filly, but it was our best chance.
“I…” She sniffled and nods, “Okay.” There was no time to debate, or worry, it was one thing, then another. Make a quick decision and follow through with intensity. That was how I was going to make sure Flare was alright.
---
The rain was coming down harder once we got outside, and there was a boom of thunder in the distance. I didn't mind so much getting wet, but it meant that Haze's invisibility would be less effective. The wind was also obnoxious, the way it blew my mane into my face reminding me how much I needed to get it cut. But those were worries for another day, far down my list of priorities.
It didn't take long for us to get to the apartment building on the south side of the city (It was basically across the street from the Watcher HQ, which made me uncomfortable). Luckily the ambient radiation all around us provided Haze with more than enough magical energy to keep us mostly invisible, still we were careful not to get too close as we waited for Serenity to return.
I didn't like the idea of sending her in there alone, but I couldn't really think of another option. We needed pegasus blood to help Flare from dying this, and this was the only way to get it quickly. And charging in there guns blazing with Flare lying limp on my back simply wasn't an option. So I had to rely on her… but if she wasn't back quickly, I had already resolved to turn the building into a crater to get her back. I was not a patient mare after all.
Luckily I did not have to wait long out in the rain, as it took less than twenty minutes for Serenity to slink back to us. I didn't even notice her arrival until she suddenly said, “There's no way onta the ship.”
I nearly jumped before I realized who it was. I didn't bother asking how she managed to sneak up on us. “What do you mean?”
“There's no bridge, or, anything. We can't just walk on…” Her mane was matted to her face from the rain, but she didn't seem to mind.
“There has to be a way onto the ship.” I looked up at the sky to find the Raptor. It was hard to see, as it blended into the dark clouds filling the sky, but the bits of metal that stuck out of it gave it away. Once I found it, it seemed to dominate the entire sky. If we were to walk under it, I bet we would stay dry… “Without having wings.” I clarified.
“Well, um.” She looked around thoughtfully. “I found a new map on the wall, that they use. There's some sort of taxi service near the top. For injured ponies, or people visiting, but. We'd need to get somepony to fly us. All the air vehicles I saw needed pegasi to fly them.”
I gave a stern nod. “Right. So we take a hostage.”
Serenity looked at me, uncertainty clear in her grey eyes, but when Flare moaned in pain on my back it seemed her mind was made up. “I can lead us there… yeah, just, you know, follow me.”
So I did. She led us around the building to a small door near the back with a computer lock that took her three seconds to hack through. Though I imagine she had already done that earlier so it was less hacking and more waiting for it to work; regardless of the specifics, the door slid open, revealing the revamped apartment building.
It was an interesting experience to walk into the building and realize it was all familiar. Though the hallway was dimly lit, and clearly not used often, I recognized its metal walls and the sliding doors used for every room. I had been there once, in a dream, and being there in reality brought a strange sense of deja vu. I took a few more steps in, and shook off the odd feeling.
I had to keep moving. One step at a time, and Serenity was already rushing forward, her horn glowing pink as she walked. It was an uneventful walk to be honest, as half of the Enclave forces had abandoned the building during their civil war, and many of the new Enclave recruited after their disastrous war in the north preferred the comfort of their raptor to a ground-bound building.
Though I imagine that without Serenity scouting earlier it would have been a lot more perilous with me and Haze bumbling around. We eventually found our way to the top of the building, and found ourselves outside a simple looking door with the word “docks” hastily spray painted over it, and the sound of wind whistling through the cracks of the doorframe. I carefully placed Flare onto Haze’s back and kicked down the damn door.
The poor pegasus on the other side was so surprised he dropped his weapon and stumbled onto his ass. I suppose it might have been a little bit of an overkill to send the door flying across the room and off the side of the building. “What ar—”
I wasted no time shoving the point of my gun down his throat, “Shut up,” I said venomously. “I don’t want to hurt you.” I kicked his MEW rifle across the floor and took a quick look around the room.
It seemed the top floors of the building had fared poorly, collapsing in on themselves and leaving only a little hallway that led to the door we entered intact, so the room was more of a roof with the barest hint that walls had ever existed before. The majority of the floor was covered with various vehicles, though most looked like waggons with overlarge engines, but there was one metal monstrosity that reminded me of a turtle. Nothing on the floor looked as sleek as the vertibuck I had used before, but that was probably too much to ask for.
“Do they work?” I asked the buck who was still gaping at me from the floor. Only one guard for all these vehicles, they must have been the dregs of whatever fleet the Enclave possessed.
The buck nodded his head slowly. Then shook. Scrunching up his muzzle he slowly and quietly started to speak, as if he was worried doing so would incur my wrath. “Uh, some. Not well, but I mean, uh, why?” I never did take a good look at the buck before. He didn’t seem the army type, but I suppose the Enclave took what it could get. He was all skin and bones, with a dark pink eyes, a mop of a messy green mane and a stupid looking jumpsuit on. Judging by the grease still on his nose he was probably a mechanic who got guard duty, a shame for him.
“I need to fly.”
The stallion gulped. Well, he was barely more than a foal, perhaps fifteen if I had to guess. “Well, I mean, I uh, you know, can’t fly you. On account of you breaking my door and probably being an enemy.” That seemed like a reasonable enough sentiment, but it wasn’t really on the table.
“I am nobody’s enemy.” That was a lie, so I followed it up, “So long as they aren’t mine. Where do you stand?”
“I don’t even know you…” The pony said stubbornly. “I could yell. People would hear, they’d come kill you.”
“But you’re not going to. You’re going to fly me and my friends to the raptor.”
“Why? You’ll die.” The pony frowned. “Besides. You can’t make me.”
That so? “Haze, Serenity.” The two of them entered the room at my word, Haze still faintly glowing from the amount of radiation she had consumed. “Get strapped up to the best waggon kid. We are going.”
The stubborn boy was about to complain again until he saw the body draped over Haze’s back and his pink eyes went wide. “Uncle?! What did you do to my uncle?”
“Uncle? Ya mean Flare?” Serenity said walking over to the boy confidently. “I call him that sometimes, but he ain’t really.”
The boy bolted to his feet. “He is! For real, my dad’s younger brother! What’d did you do to him!” The kid really needed to stop talking so loudly, as well as stop asking questions that were difficult to answer.
“We are trying to help him.” I found the best way to get around a difficult question was to ignore it. “He lost a lot of blood. He needs more. Medical stuff. But we didn’t have the right blood.”
The boy scrunched up his muzzle and turned sharply away from us to half dash towards the nearest sky waggon. Wordlessly he strapped himself to it and looked over at the three of us expectantly. I suppose that must have convinced him well enough that we weren’t going to kill him, so we climbed onto the vehicle and prayed the boy wasn’t leading us to danger.
---
Flare, as it turned out, had four siblings: three brothers and one sister; which totalled a half dozen nieces and three nephews, along with more uncles, aunts, and cousins than I cared to count. It seemed that with dwindling numbers, the Enclave Remnants were very passionate about breeding, a fact that was a bit of a shock to me. Flare mentioned family rarely, and the few times he did I am pretty sure contradicted themselves. The boy who helped us didn’t have an explanation for us as we travelled, but when he called his father up in secret as we landed we figured it out.
Flare’s brother had a similar colour to him, though his coat was light green not blue, and the colours in his mane were swapped.
“Flare is a liar,” the large stallion said. He called himself Flash, and he was about half a head taller than his brother, thicker of body, and about ten years older judging by the way he was starting to go bald. He also had a booming laugh which was uncomfortably loud considering we were sneaking into a ship. “Stories and lies are one and the same, and my bro has always been good at both. He ever tell you about the time he convinced our mom that it was my sister who accidentally set fire to his room?
“He never mentioned it,” I said, unsure. He never mentioned you at all, is what I wanted to say, but it seemed awkward.
“His room weren’t even burnt.” The stallion laughed again, his voice echoing through the halls of the raptor. “Mom never trusted him again, goddess keep her soul. Can’t blame her neither.” He was surprisingly unworried about his brother’s bloodied state. A fact Serenity, ever blunt, decided to bring up.
“He’s hurt!” She said, rushing towards the stallion. “You need to help!”
“Have no fear little one.” When the stallion smiled it was easy to see he was missing teeth. “I am a doctor; he is not in danger of bleeding out, I can tell. And he would want us to laugh, he always wants everypony to laugh.”
“My dad is the best medic in the Enclave! Don’t let anypony tell you different,” the boy who flew us to the raptor said. Apparently his name was Rain Dance, and he had a sister who was clearing the way for us called Moondancer. Ponies loved their themed names.
“Are you sure?” Serenity had some medical training I knew, and had saved my life on occasion, but she was young still and not a doctor by far. Yet part of me trusted her a lot more than this stranger who claimed he was brother to my friend.
“Trust me,” Flash said. It was the same thing his son had said when he flew us to the ship. Instead of flying us to the main dock, we were flown to a clouded wall of the ship and told to jump through. Trust me, he said. I made the jump, but I was certain it was a trick that was going to kill us. But it didn’t, so perhaps this large stallion was worthy of some small measure of trust.
“We kindly thank you for your assistance in this matter,” Platinum Haze said serenely. “We did not know that Flare had siblings, but we are grateful for your help.”
“Proud to help! I have never seen one of your kind before, I would help just to see your beautiful smile.” Platinum shuffled awkwardly as the stallion thankfully continued by changing course. “And Flare has always been… difficult. He and Father don’t get along, not since Mom died. They had a falling out, and then when his… Er… Preferences came to light my father took it poorly. Our family was loyal to the Enclave, he said, and loyal families should breed before the ground pounders drowned us out. Meaning no offense.”
“Uh. None taken?” I was unsure how that was not offensive, but I wasn’t in the arguing mood to be sure.
“We haven’t seen much of him since. Gosh, he was just a bit older than my colt.”
The colt frowned, “I am not a colt! Besides, he always showed up for birthdays, telling jokes. I just thought he was too busy. Grandfather said he was some sort of super soldier.”
I had to laugh, well it was more of a snort but the idea was there.
“Special operations,” Flash said. “My dad was proud of him for that at least, though he would never admit it. More than he was of me for going into medicine. He never knew how much it killed Flare though. I could see it inside his eyes, something happened and ever since, it felt like all his jokes were forced.”
He didn’t know about what happened. Considering the distance Flare kept from his family I shouldn’t have been surprised he never mentioned the Bitter Steel event to them. I wondered if they would still help him, if they knew about the foals he killed. Accident or no, that wasn’t something that could be overlooked. I bit my lip and held my tongue.
“War touches us all,” Platinum said quietly. “It is best we do not dwell on it.”
“No doubt, no doubt; which is why I stay far from it. Oh, I’ve been in scrapes, but I avoid all the gunfire and death.” He smiled broadly, still showing his missing teeth. “Told my kids the same thing, two of them listened.” He looked down on his son, who was smiling back up at him, “the last didn’t though. She was determined to put her best hoof forward for the Enclave. She’s a sniper now.”
“If you aren’t all war-y why are you here working for the bad Enclave?” Serenity demanded. The boy looked confused, but Flash just grimaced.
“That nasty bit of civil war? Didn’t even know what was what until the lasers started firing; it wasn’t my choice but we are stuck here now…” The stallion shrugged. “We defy them in our own small way, but we still want to live… my sister and her kids are stuck here too, but one of my brothers escaped… And the other.” He sighed long and deep. “The battle was nasty. We never got Fury’s remains, but high command here tells us he died a hero.” Flash spat. “What good is a hero? He had a wife and three little fillies. Will heroism bring their father back? I told him, a thousand times I told him not to take up arms, to look at the way it broke Flare, but he was determined to follow his big brother. I don’t begrudge Flare, it’s not his fault Fury wanted to be a hero, but it still hurts.”
“I never knew Uncle Fury much, he was always busy even on birthdays, but Dad told me a lot about him,” Rain Dance explained.
“Pah. Why brood over such things. You brought my brother home, so I can help him at least. He better have a good joke for me though.” He was taking the whole thing better than I would have, or he was simply hiding his pain, which was something I could relate to.
It didn’t take long for his daughter to reach us, peeking into the small supply closet we had hidden in. Moondancer was a skinny wisp of a thing, but obscenely tall to the point she could almost look at me eye to eye. Her mane was short cropped and styled in such a way it covered one of her eyes, and she seemed to be smiling constantly as if somepony just told a joke that only she got. Teenagers were want to do that I found.
“Path should be clear, Daddy. Everyone’s busy with the big move, but we should hurry; your friends aren’t inconspicuous.” She said that last bit grinning up at Platinum Haze.
“You would be surprised.” Haze said as I felt magic wash over me with a familiar burning sensation. In a blink of an eye we were gone.
“Will wonders never cease,” the mare said with a half chuckle.
The raptor was an interesting beast to admire. Made half of clouds and half of steel, the hallways were skinny and high, designed for vertical passage, not horizontal, and the way I heard it, some only had shafts instead of proper stairs. This one apparently was modified when families of soldiers also lived on it before the war, so kids and perhaps non-pegasi had to be able to travel through it as well. Beyond that it was mostly spartan in appearance, with little of the way of decoration or boast beyond the occasional poster espousing the glories of the Enclave.
Except, the Enclave barely existed anymore. The original Enclave in Dise were refugees who refused to participate in the mass slaughter of griffons many years before, but the true Enclave persisted above the sky. Until recently to hear Flash tell it. The Enclave came down in force in the north it was said, only to face such heavy resistance that the high command was scattered, slaughtered, and the sky cities torn asunder when the cloud cover was parted by half. Civil war raged above the sky it was said and most of the military might of the Enclave was downed when the sky exploded, save a few raptors. This was one of the last working raptors in all the world, a final shining reminder of the world that was.
It was a shame I was going to have to destroy it.
That could wait though, perhaps a few weeks as I placed everything else where they needed to go. Flare was my first priority and luckily one of the medical bays was not far away, and was empty. As soon as we entered, Moondancer locked the door behind us and Flash took his brother to the medical table with Rain Dance there to help.
The tall lanky mare looked at us warily for a time before saying. “How long have you known my uncle?”
That was a good question, though I wasn’t sure of the exact time. “Months, a few months. I didn’t keep track.”
She didn’t seem pleased by this answer, but she was careful to keep a smirk on her lips. “That so? How old are you three anyway?”
“Old enough to have my cutiemark!” Serenity said defensively.
“Sixty? No perhaps seventy, or eighty…” Haze hummed to herself for a minute before explaining, “It’s a complicated question truly.”
“Twenty… Odd. Why does it matter?” I wasn’t sure I liked being questioned.
“I’m seventeen. Are you sure you’re only twenty some? You’ve got so many scars. It’s cool, but also kind of ugly.”
“I’ve lived an interesting life.” It was the only way I could think to explain it, and it was the truth at any rate. If I couldn’t claim to have an interesting life who could?
“Truly. I had wanted to join the army like my sister, but my dad convinced me against it, now I’m his favourite. Calypso is still bitter about that, but at least she has an interesting life. All I do is paperwork, better to fight I say, not be some clerk.” She sighed slightly, but was still smiling. “Everypony says I’m big too, or could be. I thought so, too. Figured I was tall and could be beefy if I trained, until I saw you. Doubt I’ll ever match what you bring to the table.”
Serenity snorted derisively, “Nobody is stronger than Momma.”
“You don’t want an interesting life.” I tried to explain to her. “Being strong is good though. It helps.”
“You ever kill someone?” She asked bluntly. At the question, Serenity looked away guiltily, and I tried to distract from that fact by speaking back just as bluntly and quickly.
“Yes. Lots of people.” It was a bit of an awkward thing to confess to. “Lots of ponies. Some of them were trying to kill me but not all of them.”
The mare looked at me thoughtfully, as if she were unsure if she should believe me or not. Eventually she said in a whisper, “Me too…” She gulped a little bit, her smile wavering, “Don’t tell Daddy. He doesn’t know.” I wanted to ask her what happened, how she felt about it, and so many other questions, but I didn’t. I am not sure why she told me, but it wasn’t my job to pry, no doubt she just wanted to tell somepony who understood, and I looked the type.
“I won’t.”
“Uncle Flare knows. He never told either, he made a joke and made me smile and told me to never stop.” She was still smiling. “So don’t let him die, so I can keep smiling.”
---
Three times pegasi knocked on the door to the medical bay trying to get in, and three times Flash rebuked them and told them to find another place to go. It was a good thing that Flare’s brother was well-respected, or else our stupid plan may never have worked. But it did work, and it didn’t take long for Flash to properly treat Flare’s wounds and get him the blood he needed, though he stayed unconscious for a long time, leaving us waiting impatiently for him to wake.
Too long in the end, because a few hours later the floor beneath me suddenly lurched causing me to stumble before I found my balance. “What the heck.” The ship was moving, I could feel it just as well as I could feel my own anxiety rising.
“Is it that time already?” Flash frowned.
“Time for what?” I demanded, leaning against a wall to keep from toppling over. I hated flying.
“I had tried to move things along quickly… But we have been scheduled to move. We have learned of a vast cache of supplies, both military and civilian, hidden in the mountain base we used to call our home. We always heard it was haunted, but it seems high command has decided to ignore those warnings, half our forces are being sent to secure the rest of the base.”
Secure it from who I wondered, but I already knew the answer. The Steel Rangers never abandoned their little pet project, even after I gave them the slip, and I gave information on secret entrances to the building to the Bloody Hoof, The Hizai, and even The Watchers. Not to mention they all would have to contend with the facility itself and its two glorious overseers, Simple Heart and Baptisia. Like as not, the past would consume them all.
This was the last place I wanted to go, but it was exactly where I needed to be. I glanced nervously over at Platinum Haze, thinking of the package she held. Already I could hear the winds whispering to me, but I shook my head to drown them out. They weren’t real, just my imagination, but what an imagination it was.
“Good. How long will it be?” I looked down to the floor where serenity had been napping, and I decided not to disturb her rest until the last possible moment.
“Good?” Flash seemed unsure, “You better not be planning to take my brother with you on whatever fool mission, he needs to rest.” He started to speak more, but a faint quiet voice spoke up, and the stallion’s voice caught in his throat.
“Since when do you speak for me?” Flare stirred on the table, slowly starting to sit up, only to collapse back down. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”
“Uncle!” The two teenagers said in unison, rushing over to hug at Flare only for him to bat them away with his remaining wing.
“No hugs, it hurts. The wound, not your love. Except your love, Moondancer.” He looked up at her. “Your love is likely to break me; how much have you grown since I last saw you?”
The mare blushed prettily, “Enough. Mum says I haven’t stopped growing yet, a few years and I’ll be as tall as a princess.” She looked over at Platinum Haze with a smirk, “Excepting I don’t have a horn, which I feel is cheating height wise.”
“Ah, you’ve met the lovely Haze, she is such a cheat.”
“What! We would never.” I don’t think she understood the subtleties of teasing.
“You stole Hired’s heart, and there’s no way to do that fairly.” As Haze blushed and stammered, trying to think of a good reply, Flare manage to push himself into a proper sitting position. He didn’t look back at his wing, so I could only assume he knew. “I see you have all met my family, I trust they’ve been hospitable. My brother is not much to look at, but at least he is friendly.”
“Says the sack of shit who looks like he had a building fall on him.” Flash said with a smirk.
“I did.” That shut his brother right up and brought even more concerned looks from the kids, though Moondancer continued to smirk. “Don’t look so bad considering…” He left a pause hang in the air before asking in an even more weary voice, “where is Dad?”
“On the bridge…”
“See we don’t go there.” He didn’t need to say more than that. “Are we moving? Where to?”
I decided to answer that one. “The facility.” Home sweet home. It was where The Watchers made me what I was, and where I had intended to destroy them. At least, it was the next step to their destruction.
“Oh good, I am sorely in need of a few more hallucinations.” Flare’s assembled family shared a confused look, but he didn’t bother to explain. It was something you had to experience, and if things kept going the way they were it was possible they might. I could only hope my peace offering was enough to make him tone down whatever the fuck he was doing, if that was even possible. There was a chance I was only making things worse. “You got the thing that we needed?” I gave an affirmative nod which made him smile slightly, “forgive me for not wanting to go with you, I am sure you can understand my trepidation.”
“And you are injured.” I added.
“Faking. I am a good actor, all to avoid the tunnels, please forgive me.”
“How long until you are able to leave?”
Before Flare could answer, Flash interrupted. “You can’t mean to take him away! He is gravely injured, he needs to rest and recuperate, not follow you in some fool’s errand.”
“Rest where?” Flare asked with just the hint of venom in his voice. “Not here surely, I am a traitor and Father would throw me out. Which leaves, where? The smoking pit that used to be Dise, or the hidden cave the rest of the rebels ran off to when Clear Skies ran us off?
“There are places we could hide you, once we get to the facility…”
“Brother, I love you, really, you were always my favourite, despite your ugly mug, but if I have to choose between you and Hired for protection, I have to choose Hired.”
“We can hide in the ruins of Timber,” I suggested, trying to push away the memories of how the burnt town had smelled when the Steel Rangers had torched it. “Nobody would look for us there. It’s close to the facility too. It’s a good choice.”
“A bit depressing though.” Flare sighed. “But it is a good choice, though we may need to work the décor as we wait.”
Before we had a chance to work out the finer details of our plan a sharp knock on the door helped us make up our minds. “Open the door!” A voice from the other side said. “We know you’re holding outsiders!” Guards, guards who knew too much, but I wasn’t sure how. Were there security cameras our hosts didn’t know about, or did one of them give away the game.
“Shit.” Flash turned away from the door, grabbed the nearest bed and shoved it bodily against the door, though I wasn’t sure that’d do anything but confuse them. “We need to get out of here!”
It was an obvious sentiment, but one I was happy to follow. Without asking for permission I grabbed Flare with a hoof and threw him onto my back. The medical room had a back door, but I had the sneaking suspicion it was guarded too.
“Well everything is going wrong today, isn’t it?” Flare said dryly from my back.
“It’s probably Curly Fries’s fault.” I said, trying to match his humour. “Platinum Haze.” I pointed to the back door and she got my meaning. As she moved to the door I quickly moved over to Serenity and nudged her, “Sweetie, time to go.”
“Wha.” The filly rubbed the sleep from her eyes, but when she saw me, and the panicked expressions of Flare’s extended family, she got the hint well enough. “Okay…”
When Haze opened the door the room became awash in bolts of green as the guards opened fire, and flashes of purple when the magic slammed into Haze’s shields creating ripples and light. The Enclave guards looked momentarily confused, and it was just long enough for me to charge them with all my weight, much to Flare’s chagrin.
I slammed into one, knocking them into and through a cloud wall.
The other I just nicked, but they stumbled and it was enough for Haze to grab her weapon with magic and toss it aside. Even in full power armour, the guard looked confused when I bashed her with my pipbuck hard enough to crack the glass eyes in her helmet. She went down, dazed.
“Go go go!” Platinum Haze was first, followed by Rain Dance and Moondancer, then Serenity with her little pistol out before finally Flash who had no weapon but a scowl on his face. I followed behind, watching our backs. “Faster!”
I hated the Enclave ship. The walls were clouds some of the time, and metal at other parts. The floor was usually solid, so that was good, but there were enough places where instead of elevators there was just empty shafts. The halls were all too tall, too, designed for pegasi to fly over each other instead of walk side by side. Altogether it seemed designed to remind anypony who was not a pegasi that they didn’t belong. This wasn’t my place, and just thinking about it made my stomach curl as I remembered just how high up we were.
Of course, the worst part was how confusing it all was. Flash had to scream directions as we raced down the halls.
“Left!” Flash yelled and the whole train took a sharp left just in time for a confused Enclave soldier to stumble out into the hall in front of us. They weren’t so confused to not start firing a pistol though, the bolts whizzing past my ears singing my mane.
“That almost hit me.” Flare complained loudly from my back as I followed the rest of the ground around the corner.
“Shut up or I’ll hit you.” That seemed to work, because I didn’t hear another peep from him.
“What’s the plan?” Flash asked me as we sped down a corridor.
“Get to a skywagon. Fly to Timber. Hide.”
“I never wanted to get caught up in your fight, you know.” Flash complained. Flare and him had that in common, the complaining.
“We don’t have a choice now, Daddy.” Moondancer said as we reached the end of a corridor.
Haze burst through the door at the end of the corridor, her shield already up and ready to catch bullets, though none shot, which I am sure she was thankful for.
The room we entered was by far the largest I had ever seen. A cavernous hall completely devoid of support structures (being made of clouds and all) that made it look expansive beyond my imagining. On the floor were dozens and dozens of ships, ranging from sky waggons, to tanks, to vertibucks, lined up in neat rows. One wall was completely gone, a hole in the world looking out into pure sky and nothing else, which made my stomach lurch even more. Outside the rain was pouring down even harder, and I saw a crack of lightning out in the distance.
Rain Dance took charge, which was nice to see, running past us and over to the nearest sky waggon, which I think was his, and was already strapping himself in by the time we got there. “Get in!”
He didn’t have to tell me twice, I jumped aboard without question, as did Haze, Serenity, and Flash. For whatever reason Moondancer stayed outside, and when Flash tried to object she just slammed the door in her face. “Stubborn girl! She’s going to get herself killed!”
“She can handle herself,” I found myself saying, with no real proof.
The floor beneath our hooves jerked to life and we started to lift off, but not before I heard shouts from outside. Clearly our escape drew more attention than we had hoped, which was really not a surprise. Flash tried to open the door, but the sky waggon jerked suddenly, sending as all falling, and the big stallion slammed face first into a wall. I could tell we had left the Raptor, from the sudden sound of rain pounding on the roof of our cabin.
“Stay inside, daddy!” I heard Moondancer say through the MEW fire that started outside. “I have a gun; I’ll protect you. You’re not a fighter.”
“Where did you get a gun!” Flash demanded angrily to a wall.
“I know ponies!’ Moondancer said defensively as the sky waggon twisted and turned awkwardly under my feet. “I go-“ She started to say but cut herself off with a sudden gasp of pain followed by what must have been a war scream.
I stumbled my way over to a window of the waggon and stuck my gun out to see if I could help, but the Waggon kept twisting and turning, and the pegasi outside were speeding around too fast for me to get a decent shot. Though at one point an Enclave bastard happened close enough to my window that I could spray a gout of flame out the window. The pony was unharmed but screamed in shock, giving Rain Dance enough time to turn the waggon, swiftly sending it crashing it into the pegasi with such a forceful jolt that I bit my tongue hard enough to taste blood.
Before I could get my senses back the waggon took a sudden dive, sending me stumbling toward the front of the cabin, and then a sudden rise so steep I slid backwards, slamming into the rear wall with enough force that I heard something (either me or the wall) crack from the force. Then there was a sharp turn that sent me stumbling towards the window hard enough that somehow my head got forced out the window, which was good because the rocking was upsetting my stomach and I found myself retching. Unfortunately, I missed the Enclave pony who was flying right below me.
Thunder cracked as the ride calmed just long enough for me to get my bearings. I looked back and saw Haze grabbing onto a seat with her wing, her face looking paler than I have ever seen it, and Serenity was hanging onto her mane for dear life. Flash was stumbling back towards the door looking more annoyed than anything, while Flare, who must have fallen off my back at some point, was lying on the ground beside me laughing, though I didn’t get the joke. He might have tried to tell me, but I couldn’t hear him over the shouts and gunfire and rain.
I hated flying.
I got the chance to hate it more, when Rain Dance decided that he had to do a loop to escape our pursuers. One second I had all four hooves on the ground, the next I had to jab my sword into the wall of the cabin to keep myself from falling, leaving me dangling by one hoof, while holding Flare with the other. We flew upside down like that for what felt like minutes, but was probably just a few seconds.
“I thought I’d never fly upside down again.” Flare thought the whole thing was a game, and I was sorely tempted to let him go, or throw up on him.
Instead I laughed too and said, “I rode a dragon like this once.” Though with the dragon it was higher, and scarier, and I nearly broke my cybernetic sword leg thing right off.
Mercifully the Waggon started to right itself…
But then lightning flashed outside, suddenly and violently, and we started to dive.
“Rain… RAIN!” I heard Moondancer shout.
And we kept diving. Longer and longer. I looked out the window and saw blackened buildings rapidly approaching through the heavy rain. It was then I realized something had gone very dramatically wrong.
At the last second the cabin jerked and I felt like I was floating in midair, weightless. But it was too little too late as the ground came up to meet us with a devastating crack.
Blackness.
I don’t know how long I was out, lying amidst the broken buildings and broken ponies. A minute, an hour, a day? It was still light out and rain was falling gently on my head, so it couldn’t have been that long, or could it? How could I tell, everything was spinning. The whole world felt like a painting, unreal. I saw my friends lying, and there were cries, or screams. Blood, I smelled blood, that was certain. And smoke. Smells of pain and suffering all around.
Or maybe I imagined them.
I closed my eyes and opened them again. How long had passed, the cries had died down, was I even in the same place as before? It looked like the same painting, but something was off.
Oh, there was a pony standing above me. A marked change in landscape.
Power armour. Even in my delirious state I could recognize it. I panicked and started to move when the figure placed a gentle red hoof on me. Red. Not Enclave, it wasn’t Enclave. Steel Rangers? That could be worse, but something was weird. The colour wasn’t right.
The pony didn’t have a mask on. I could see her face. No, his face. I had thought for a second that it was Blackwater, the Steel Ranger that kidnapped me before. But she wasn’t pink.
And she never had a drooping green moustache either.
Level Up!
Skill Note: Sneak 85!
New Perk: Your ability to constantly get beat up has granted you even more life! I don’t know how this works, so you shouldn’t ask, but it gives you an instant increase of +30 HP.
((A/N: So… hey, been awhile, eh? This chapter is much more delayed than my ususal style, mostly due to the fact I spent the summer in a military training camp with no computer. I managed to write some on my iPad, but the quality was shoddy. Still, here it is, and the next chapter is half done so I pray I can release these faster! Only fives chapters left.
This is the part where I thank Kkat for creating Fallout Equestria and my lovely editors. They did an especially good job this time, as over half of this chapter was written on an iPad while sleep deprived, so kudo to them: theBSDude, Julep, and Menti. Three cheers eh? Until the next time.)) |
No One | 662 | 37 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2016-05-09T23:33:05+00:00 | 2016-05-10T19:43:33+00:00 | 10,323 | Convergence
“Follow your heart, but take your brain with you.”
The rain beat loudly against the burned out ruins of the house. It was a steady sound, loud but predictable. Unlike the thunder. The sky would split asunder somewhere in the black of night, and the world would become day for a half a second, bathed in a sickly white glow. Then that too would fade leaving only the boom of thunder to come after it.
“It’s good that it takes a few seconds between lightning and thunder.” Curly Fries said beside me, his face briefly illuminated by another flash. His red tinted armour shined prettily in the light, and I could count all the apples he had painted on his flank. “The longer it takes, the further away the danger is.” When we escaped there was no delay, the thunder and lightning came as one, and Rain Dance…
“How long must we stay here?” It had been a day and a half, all rain, all thunder, it never seemed to end. The streets of the ruined town ran with small rivers, and were filled with mud. I couldn’t be too upset, considering how much nicer Curly’s hospitality was this time. Though he did spit on Flare…
“Where do you plan on going?” He smiled down at me, dim in the light of my pipbuck. “You wanted into the facility did you not? My Applejack Rangers can help, soon.”
Apparently a lot had happened to the Steel Rangers in the north, as Curly Fries found out. There was a civil war of sorts, and these new Applejack Rangers had apparently dedicated themselves to helping the wasteland (not that I trusted them). Curly, in his exile from the Caledonian Rangers, went north, found them, and brought them south, uniting those who felt disenfranchised with Blackwater’s way.
The true leader of these Rangers was a small mare called Lemon Cake, who appropriately was bright yellow, with a darker yellow mane. She seemed to rely on Curly a lot though, especially when dealing with these southern rangers. She was off somewhere, overseeing the siege of the facility. Blackwater had been forced to retreat into the facility, blocking the entrance, but inside she was apparently fighting the other groups who found their way. Lemon Cake was sure it was only a matter of time before she surrendered, but I was less sure.
They were hospitable guests though, especially after we crash landed right in the middle of their siege lines. Serenity broke a leg in the fall, and Flash had lost a few more teeth. The crash also reopened Flare’s wound, and when the lightning struck Rain Dance it apparently did a lot of internal damage. That was not counting what it did to his coat, which was now crisscrossed with scars that looked like veins across his skin. He didn’t mind those so much, given how badass they looked. All of these wounds the Applejack Rangers gladly looked after.
It could have been worse though. My leg was damaged, but the rest of me was just a little banged up, and Platinum Haze’s small injures were quickly healed by the ambient radiation still inside her, and Moondancer escaped with only a few small burns from the preceding firefight. Oh, and I was apparently suffering from radiation poisoning, but they quickly dealt with that.
“Soon is not soon enough.” I responded, staring out into the black of night.
“Why not? You worry too much. I can’t imagine what you’re afraid of, how many Rangers did you take out when you escaped me before? Three, four?”
Five. “It’s not that. There’s somepony I need to meet.” How would he feel with so many ponies crawling over his facility? Simple Heart was not the most accommodating of ponies, and with his insanity and powers… anypony trapped inside there would be going crazy no doubt, and I worried it was driving Simple Heart more crazy at that. I needed him somewhat sane, to accept my gift, and stop… whatever it was he did.
Only then would I be able to clear the facility of the rats, and take it for my own.
“You’re being delightfully vague,” Curly Fries said as another bolt of lightning lit up the sky in yellow and white. “You would make a good ranger, you know.”
Now that did take me by surprise. I gave him an appraising look, trying to figure out where the mockery in his statement was, but I couldn’t find any. So I had to laugh.
“I’m being serious. You’re an earth pony of strong convictions, and just imagine how unstoppable you would be in power armour.”
It was true, but the thought made me laugh harder. “Do you have any that will fit? I won’t join. But I would like the armour.”
“I figured as much.” Whatever happened with the Applejack Rangers did a lot to calm Curly Fries, which could only be a positive. Though he still looked ridiculous with his pink moustache. “Lemon Cake says the Applejack Rangers are looking for ponies to fill their ranks, and said I should ask you. I knew it wouldn’t go through, though I feel like your daughter would make a good scribe.”
Serenity was in the room too, looking smaller than usual as she slept fitfully. There was a small white cast on her left foreleg, and she said it still itched and hurt at times. I did what I could to help by writing a little note on her cast, which got her to smile and made her to decide to doodle all over the cast to make it prettier.
“There’s a lot of things she would be good at.” I said proudly. “I can’t decide that for her.” Though I already knew it would have something to do with cybernetics. She already asked me twice if she could just cut off the broken leg and replace it. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to find it cute, or creepy. Probably a mixture of both.
“Maybe another time. We have more pressing things to worry about.” Thunder cracked overhead again. “The facility is a mess you know. I wonder who is to blame for that,” Curly Fries said with just a slight sneer.
“Are you going to arrest me again?”
“It’s worth thinking about.” He chuckled to himself. “We’re here, and the Steel Rangers as well. We’ve seen some of your cybernetic comrades, what are they called, Hizai? And we caught a few raiders from the north, the Crimson Hoof, sneaking around our camp, and this is not to mention those damned robots inside the facility we’ve heard reports of. Now the Enclave are here too…” He sighed. “I blamed you for a long time for everything that happened to me. I wanted to kill you, you know?” The feeling was mutual. “But it’s too late for that. I hope you know what you’re doing. Things are getting dangerous.”
“Were they ever not?” I closed my eyes. There must have been a time, but it felt like forever ago.
“Fair enough….” I could hear footsteps from behind, I didn’t really bother to look, but Curly did. “You.” He said, his tone venomous.
“Just so.” I turned my head to see the blue pegasus walk into the with a cool air of confidence, despite the bandages wrapped around his back. He had gotten a lot stronger in the past few days, the healing potions helped heal his wounds, but the scars were still there.
“What do you want?” Curly Fries, for all he had changed, did not seem intent of forgiving Flare for what he did in the past. Not that I could blame him, but it made the last few days dangerously tense. If Lemon Cake had not insisted that Flare be helped, Curly probably would have killed him while we were all still recovering from the crash.
“Her, for a chat. Mind buggering off for a bit?” Curly Fries glared, but did storm off, taking the effort to push past Flare even though he wasn’t really in the way. “He’s still a twat. A bit of a nicer twat, but still.”
“Are you okay?” I wasn’t sure it was the best opener, but I couldn’t think of anything else.
“No? Yes? Maybe.” He walked up beside me, to admire the pouring rain and booming thunder. “I don’t have a good answer. But hey, you met some of my family. That must have been nice? They’re great.”
“Yes.” I conceded, “Great ponies. That you never mentioned before.” It sounded more like an accusation than I had intended.
“I did… I think I mentioned having a brother…” He licked his lips. “It’s… complicated. I never wanted to get them involved, and honestly, Hired, ponies you meet tend to end up with a terminal case of dead, intentional or no. I wanted to keep them safe, and I don’t like talking about my past.”
“I don’t blame you. But it would have been nice to know.”
“You know enough now.” Rain poured down outside. “Flash does like to talk.”
“And this thing with your father. I am going to have to kill him, aren’t I?” I was, perhaps, a little cavalier about the prospect.
“Maybe?” He seemed unsure how to take my rather sudden announcement. “It’s complicated, family always is. I was always his favourite, for a long time, but he wanted grandchildren and I disappointed in that regard. Not for want for trying… heh. Still, it drove a wedge between us. He’s been looking for a replacement ever since.”
“A replacement?” With all the craziness that had happened to me, my mind started thinking about clones or something stupid.
“Another favourite,” he clarified. “He’s big on fighting and war and what have you. Now that I am a disappointment, he’s been looking for somepony else. I think Flash’s older daughter holds that spot now…” He glanced towards the room he came from, where the rest of our party was sleeping, other than Serenity. “So,” He quickly changed the subject, “let’s talk about you.”
“Me?”
“You made a big deal about me hiding some facts about my family.” He said with an enigmatic smile, “While you stand there half a mystery. I learned a bit here and there, but scraps.” I guess it was true, I never really mentioned much about my past to anypony. “So you must have parents, right? Siblings? Give me something, I need to even the dark-and-troubled-past scorecard.”
“No siblings. My mom was killed when I was young…” I said as emotionlessly as I could. The memories made my head hurt, so I did my best to not remember.
“Oh, sorry. No father?”
That was a… good question. “I guess I do.” Flare raised an eyebrow at me. “I mean. To be born. I never knew him. Probably a raider.” I wasn’t really sure about the mechanics of it, but I assumed most mares in Marefort had their children with members of the Crimson Hoof. And I had killed a few Crimson Hoof members before… huh…
Flare just laughed, “So no siblings then? Any good hookups?” The glare I gave Flare was enough for him to instantly retract his question, “Never mind then.”
“Maybe one day. Not today.” That seemed to placate him. “You never gave a good answer to my question. About if you’re okay.
“I’m not…” he sighed. “Really, it’s… a lot to think through. I hate looking up at the sky, knowing I’m stuck down here…” He looked up towards the black cloudy skies. “Well maybe not tonight.”
“We could try the whole cyber wing thing again?”
He glanced over at me, unsure if I was being serious. “One day… eventually.” He shuddered slightly. “I think I just need time to process it all. More time. But, I may not be one hundred percent, but I can still help your dumb ass out.”
“I wasn’t asking for my benefit. I’m just worried.”
“Don’t be, not for me; you have enough on your plate. All this emotional stuff can be sorted out after we fix this mess we’re in.”
“Don’t you think that maybe it’ll be easier to fix this mess. If we’re all a hundred percent.” This was apparently the funniest thing Flare had heard in a while given the way he laughed at me.
“Silver, Silver, Silver. Or is it Hired Gun?” he chuckled to himself, at least I think it was to himself. “My issues are well documented, Serenity is dealing with more death and destruction than she deserves and this is beyond her previous attachment issues, and Platinum Haze is ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag. Then there is you.”
“Me?” I pretended not to get his meaning.
“Sweetie. You talk to yourself, when you think nopony is noticing. Half the time I talk to you, you look like you’re looking past me listening to some completely different conversation. You’re neurotic, and completely unstable.” Well, that was just a bit unfair.
“So… what’s your point?” I knew his point, given the direction of the conversation, but I was feeling particularly defensive when my flaws were painted on a canvas before me. Outside thunder cracked and lightning struck, and I saw a sad smile on Flare’s face.
“This thing we are doing. Stopping The Watchers, saving Dise from itself, this crazy plan of yours you won’t even tell anypony. These aren’t the plans or actions of ponies at 100%. These are the actions of the flawed and damaged, the weak and weary. If we stopped everything to see a few good psychiatrists to sort out the messes in our heads nothing would get done.”
“I know that.” Considering my plan for this conversation was to make sure Flare was… okay, with everything that happened, I was completely unprepared for this turn of events.
“Do you?” He looked out towards the rain. “Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me you’re looking for something that doesn’t exist. You want a Hero to come down and save us, a perfect creature to burst forth and do what needs to be done, and you keep comparing yourself to this myth and coming up short. What is the nature of a hero, and all that. Where does this come from?”
“Uh…” I wasn’t sure what he was looking for.
“Nevermind.” He let out a sigh. “Maybe I’m seeing things that aren’t there, I just mean… don’t compare yourself to impossibilities. You’re not perfect. We’re not perfect. But perfection never saved anypony.”
“I haven’t saved anypony either.”
“You saved me.”
Thunder struck the ground behind him, and for a second I thought I saw rain pouring down his face.
Before I had the chance to say anything the door behind my burst open. “Hired, Hired fucking Gun.” I turned my head to see a small yellow mare in heavy power armour. Paladin Lemon Cake, the leader of the Applejack Rangers near Dise.
“Lemon?”
“We helped you.” Lemon Cake was small, but struck an imposing figure. Her mane was cropped short, though it was soaking wet, and the eyepatch over her left eye and corresponding thick scar made it clear she was difficult to kill. “Helped you, your filly, and your friends. Now it’s time you pay your debt. We’re attacking in half an hour. Bring whoever in your little party is capable, but if you want into the facility, and I know you do, you’ll come now.”
“Half an hour? No more time to prepare?” I said getting to my feet. My whole body was still sore from… from a lot of things, but I was ready, as ready as I ever was. I still had some Med-X left, so what could stop me?
“No.” She walked forward, the brown cloak she had draped over her power armour fluttered behind her. “We may still have spies in camp. Things had to be kept secret. Who are you taking?”
“I’m going.” Flare announced walking up beside me.
“If you or Curly Fries kill each other, I’m killing whoever survives. Just so you know.” Lemon Cake did not seem in the mood for games, though I was unsure she ever was.
“I’m going. Platinum Haze and Serenity stay here.” Haze would not want to go into a warzone, I knew her well enough that it wasn’t even a question, and Serenity was injured.
“Me too.” Moondancer appeared in the doorway behind Lemon. “Sorry, missus. I heard you stomping about and just had to be a part of it.”
The mare looked Moondancer up and down for a second before nodding. “You three. Meet us in front of the doors in twenty minutes. Tell as few ponies as possible, and only those you know are loyal.” She sighed and pushed past Moondancer in a rush to complete whatever it is she had left to do, no doubt.
“So, uh.” Moondancer looked nervously over to us. “What did I just agree to?”
---
“Awww, why don’t we get any power armour?” Moondancer was whining to me as we waited outside in the pouring rain. Twenty five or so Applejack Rangers were assembled, about half of their total force in Timber. Twenty five power armoured rangers could take any city in the wasteland (save for Dise itself), but here I was uncertain. I knew what the numbers were like inside.
“It takes years of practice to operate them.” I explained as we continued to wait in the back of the formation. Lemon Cake was making her rounds, and doing final counts.
“No it doesn’t.” Flare contradicted. “Like, a two hour class. I think we’re just not special enough.”
Moondancer pouted, but it was so fake I could only roll my eyes and wonder if this is what Serenity was going to be like in a few years. That was an odd thought, the future.
“Rangers.” Lemon Cake was in front of us, talking just loud enough to be heard over the rain. “We are a long way from home.” Great start, make them homesick. “This is not our first time fighting our lost brothers, but we can pray it will be the last. They are like we were once. We lost our way, thought technology and power were the means to an end. We were wrong, as they are wrong. What is power if we cannot protect ponies? Look around you, at what our false brothers and sisters have done.” She motioned to the burned corpse of Timber. It was a friendly little town once, I could remember it clear as day. It was hard to remember this burned wreck and that town were once the same. “They have forsaken what it means to be a Ranger. Now they seek greater power, and who will burn next?”
There was a quiet murmur of assent through the crowd.
“This task I have given you is not easy. But it must be done. But remember, they are not our enemies, they are our family, but because they are our family it means we are responsible for their lapses. If any one of them lays down their weapon, take their surrender. But if they fight, put them down. It is not an enviable task I put before you, but it is one we must partake.” She turned towards the hill where the entrance to the Facility was. “Together we march, for unity, without fear.”
And so we marched towards the hill, under cover of darkness, and as quickly and quietly as we could allow. Lemon Cake fell back slightly, looking over at me and my little group. “I know you intend to go into the heart of the facility. More dangers lurk within. Take out any Steel Ranger you see, and come back with Intel of what lies within. This is your task.”
“Won’t let you down, Missus Cake.” Moondancer grinned.
“Indeed. And don’t get in the way.” She looked towards the hill. Crude fortifications and towers were built up to guard the entrance. There was a door once, but it had blown up the first time I was in the facility.
“They’ll see us coming.” I pointed out, and sure enough I saw lights from the walls looking towards us.
“Yes, because we’re making a scene.” Lemon Cake replied, her eyes fixated on the walls. “They were expecting an assault for days. Looking out for large groups. This is the third time we marched to the walls. A shame they weren’t looking closer the first few times, or they would have noticed the shimmer of stealth bucks in the night.”
Out of a pocket in her cloak she pulled out a small rectangular device, with a conspicuous button. “Look away. Then run.”
Boom.
The crude walls and fortifications were gone in a flash brighter than any bolt of lightning. Bits of wood showered over us as I felt the explosion’s shockwave thump into my chest. I stood transfixed at the show of light and dust before us. All that was left in an instant was blackened remains and a whole lot of smoke. And ponies running.
I shook myself out of my stupor and charged a few seconds late, well behind the main mass of power armored ponies.
Before I knew it I was in a dream.
The facility: its walls were stark white, and its warehouse so large as to seem to be endless. Large stacks of wood and metal, protected by purple barriers. A crude camp tied between the rows and rows, and a battle.
First time I was a… prisoner, a fake one. Raiders were attacking the town, I agreed to help, for a price. I could see it all clear as day, that raider Snake, the way I crushed him. The chaos of the first explosions. The mad fighting. It was the same only… different. The ponies now were all armed and armoured better. Before it was about protecting the town. Now, it was avenging it.
“Hired!” Flare tugged at my good leg, shaking me out of my memories.
The inside of the facility was quickly turning bloody. The Applejack Rangers caught the Steel Rangers by surprise, and many were unprepared. I could see the crude sleeping area I woke up in when Blackwater captured, and it looked like some ponies didn’t have the same chance to wake up.
As Flare, Moondancer and I moved behind the nearest pile of magically protected lumber for protection, a picture of the battle soon came into play.
The AJ Rangers had moved in quickly, utilizing surprise and overwhelming force to mask their lesser numbers. They pushed the surprised Steel Rangers almost all the way to the back wall, but couldn’t pursue because the Steel Rangers were able to recover quickly. This left the two sides effectively on either side of the warehouse, taking potshots from behind cover.
It was a terrible situation.
The Steel Rangers had the numbers, and many of Lemon Cake’s troops were of uncertain loyalty. She needed to bust in and destroy the Steel Rangers utterly, but instead they formed opposing trenches. The longer the battle drew out, the higher the chances the Steel Rangers could use their superior terrain knowledge to their advantage, or the higher the chances the less loyal of the new AJ Rangers would stay on the right side.
I glanced over at Lemon Cake as bullets zipped into the corner of my cover, making the purple shield ripple. She didn’t have her mask, and though she looked as determined as ever I noticed it was starting to crack.
“MOVE FORWARD!” She bellowed. “Apple Squad, covering fire; Bridle, Move up. Canter and Equus, flank left; Filly and Gallop, flank right.” With renewed vigor the ponies she yelled at started to move, but I wasn’t sure it was fast enough. “Withers! Fire your rockets on my word, pick your targets!” She turned her head to see us. “You idiots, GO!”
Right, moving. “After me!” I said trying to be heard over the cacophony of gunfire. I sped around a corner that led to the door. It was a good thing I had been here so often, I knew my way like the back of my hoof.
Though there were far fewer guns pointed at me last time. When I turned the corner I couldn’t help but spot a Steel Ranger peeking around cover, “Flare!” Before they could get a shot off Flare blasted the area with enough explosives to make them think again.
I weaved in and out of cover, making my way closer to the exit doors. I didn’t mind a good battle, but I just knew if I stayed in there any longer than absolutely necessary I’d lose even more body parts.
“Hired!” I ducked into the wrong cover when I heard that voice behind me. Turning my head I saw a yellow power armoured mare with a white main pointing what appeared to be a rocket launcher at Moondancer. To her credit Moondancer just smiled, but it seemed more strained than usual.
“Blackwater.” I said calmly. How could I forget her? She only bought me once.
“I bought you, and you didn’t do your job.” I hope she didn’t pay too high a price, but the Crimson Hoof probably ripped her off. “So I’m going to kill you. You brought this army on me, don’t try to deny it.”
Heh. It was funny, so funny, I couldn’t help but laugh. She gave me a withering look, but I didn’t care. Even the din of gunfire, explosions and death around me couldn’t break my mood. “Come on then. Kill me.”
I remembered what she said when she last had me captive. How she tortured foals in Timber in front of their parents to get information on the facility before burning the entire town to the ground. She was a dead mare walking, and she didn’t even get the humour of her being the one to confront me. As if she had no idea what danger she was in.
“What?” She had backup, two Steel Ranger idiots behind her looking confused at each other. I wonder if they were the ones I beat up escaping the Rangers the first time. Oh, it was too good. They probably understood, but she never would.
“Kill me!” I yelled to be heard over a nearby explosion that showered us with wood chips and blood. It wasn’t every day I actually got to kill somepony who really needed to die, and she really needed to die. At least Dragonslayer had the excuse of trying to help, in his own psychotic way, but Blackwater had nothing but wanton ambition.
“Okay.” She made the fatal mistake of taking her weapon and firing a rocket towards me.
Before she even shot I was moving. The rocket sailed past me exploding indistinctly in the distance. The sword in my leg shots out and slammed into a kink in her armour right above her knee. It wasn’t very deep, but it was enough. With my other hoof I kicked out her left leg. Just like that, even in all her fancy armour she was falling.
I tore the blade out and reared up. I had stomped on so many heads, what was one more.
BANG BANG BANG
Oh right, her backup. A felt a bullet bling against my cybernetic, as another grazed the scarred side of my face. The impacts were enough to send me stumbling back.
“Hired, duck!” Flare yelled from behind me. How he got there I wasn’t even sure, but I wasn’t about to question him. Which was thankful because just as I moved out of the way a grenade went flying right above me.
The explosion ignited right behind the two guards with enough force to at least knock them down. I turned back to look at Flare only to see him and Moondancer already far away running for the door deeper into the facility. I took a glancing look at Blackwater, who was already getting to her hooves, and decided I could kill her another day. There was too much chaos here to lose myself to revenge.
As I followed through the door into the facility proper I slammed the door shut behind me and looked around. The door didn’t seem that stable, but when I saw a terminal beside it I decided a locked door was better than nothing. I popped a few wires into my pipbuck to unlock the terminal, then locked the door with a satisfying click. It wouldn’t hold them forever, but it would help.
“What was that?” Moondancer asked with eyebrow raised.
“Don’t mind her, she just has the master key to the entire place.” Flare said pushing his niece towards the long set of stairs that lead up to the facility. “It doesn’t help.”
“Help what?” She said as she flew easily up the stairs while me and Flare were forced to run.
“You didn’t tell her?” I asked.
Flare shrugged, “I thought you would.”
---
You really are predictable…
Voices like wind spoke, but I shook them away. I never thought to warn Moondancer what this place was, what it could do to her. The Facility wasn’t just full of physical dangers, but mental ones as well. When we reached the first landing and saw the stark white walls, and smell of stale air it all came back to me.
As we made our way through the all too familiar halls I explained the strangeness of The Facility the best I could. The mental tricks, the dangers that lay in wait. The God we were seeking. I never should have taken Moondancer with me, but I was not the smartest pony. And while she was free to make her own choices and deal with the consequences, I could have at the very least explained what she was getting herself into.
“You’re pulling my tail.” She laughed looking over to Flare. Perhaps she was expecting him to laugh too, make it all a big joke, but he just sighed. “Uncle?”
“You Have Returned!” A voice suddenly boomed over the loudspeaker. Without missing a beat I turned and shot it into pieces. I was hoping that voice would have more to do than torment us.
“’Fraid not sweetie.” Flare sighed. “That stupid voice is hardly the worst. Just keep your mind about you. If you start seeing things… or hearing things…”
“It could be a hallucination,” I said. “Or it could be the weird time magic that’s going on. Either way, tell us.” Megaspells, no matter the stripe had an… after effect. Balefire caused necromantic radiation, but other spells left lingering effects too. I wonder what my effect would be when I… was detonated. That was a poor word to choose, but I could think of no other.
“That’s helpful,” Moondancer muttered.
“We could turn back,” I suggested. “Whatever fighting that is going on downstairs. It is probably almost over. We probably won.”
Moondancer near spat at the suggestion. “No, we keep going, I’m not afraid.”
“Nothing wrong with fear,” I said as we turned a corner. I knew where I was going, sort of. I was following in the footsteps I had walked before, down and down to the cafeteria where we fought robots before.
She didn’t respond to what I thought were words of wisdom. A shame, I had a few other good ones about how facing your fears was true courage. Instead she just sighed and looked away. Just in time for the gunshots.
They weren’t at us, they were from down the hall echoing from the cafeteria. I was well versed in gunfights from that direction, so I could tell. “Stay here!” I shouted taking off down the hall, “I’ll go scout!”
I got halfway to the cafeteria when I remembered I was shit at scouting without Platinum Haze or Serenity to pick up my slack. By the time I got there I realized it didn’t matter either way.
The cafeteria was split into two sections. A lower level, and an upper balcony level connected by two large staircases on either side of the room. At the bottom level I saw a four ponies of varying degrees of cybernetic enhancements taking cover, and at the top level a far larger group of ponies firing down.
Led by my brother.
He didn’t notice me at first. Not until one of his lackeys pointed a gun at me and started to fire. I started to run out the way but caught sight of him noticing and jerking their gun out of the way so the bullets missed. For that, at least, I was thankful. I had managed to find cover behind some tables the cybernetic ponies had cropped up.
From a loudspeaker off in a corner a voice boomed, “Stop Fighting In My Halls!” I remembered the voice well enough, taunting us throughout the halls, sending robots at us. She wasn’t Simple Heart though, and as far as I could tell she and simple Heart didn’t even get along. Who needs one abomination haunting the facility, when you could have two. Luckily this one was easy enough to ignore.
“Star-Mare?” One of them looked at me, unsure. A small mare, carrying a minigun larger than she was. No doubt without her four metal legs she wouldn’t have been able to wield it.
“Yes!” I cried out peaking around the table to see my brother yelling, but it was drowned out by gunfire.
A stallion further down the firing line glared over at me, but only for a second as he had to turn to shoot a laser from his eye… holy shit! They can actually do that! I was going to need to speak with Serenity after all this was done. I’ve always wanted to kill somepony with a glare.
The stallion eventually spoke tearing me away from my excitement. “She’s a traitor.” He was staring at me, and his eye was glowing. Aw, shit.
“Wait!” The small mare attempted to put herself between me and him, with question results given our size difference. I appreciated the effort. “Focus on the enemy, she’s clearly on our side. If she wanted to attack she would have,”
“I’m not any anypony’s side,” I tried to explain, but it seemed like that avenue of approach wasn’t working given the way the stallion was getting angrier and angrier. “Fuck this.” I stood up and walked away.
It wasn’t the smartest thing I had ever done, standing up and walking into the middle of a battlefield, with bullets and lasers still going off on either side. Still, it seemed to slow the shooting as opponents on both sides just… watched me, unsure what to do.
Then somepony shot me.
“Fuck!” The dropped to my knees as blood poured out of my good foreleg. Will that was a shitty idea, I thought. At least, until I saw my brother crack the pony who shot me over the head with his rifle.
“Silver!” he leaned over his hastily made barricade. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Trying to get through,” I tried to explain, holding my bloody leg. “Then you shot me. Again. Was it a regular bullet this time? I hope so,” I muttered as I dug into my bag for a healing potion. I should have checked my provisions before entering because it was my last one. Still I sucked it down.
Meadow laughed and shook his head. “As much as I enjoy your comedy routine, we are in the middle of something. So move.”
“No.”
“Silver.” His toned hardened. “I thought we had come to an understanding before. You need to stay out of Crimson Hoof business, I won’t ask you again.”
“Why are you fighting?” I asked as I sat on the ground as the healing potion did its work.
The stallion from behind chipped in. “You attacked our camp,” he said, his eye glowing menacingly, “if you have forgotten.”
Meadow just looked pissed as he raised his rifle. “We did no such thing. You started the fight.” He looked down at me. “There has been trouble at Stable 42, we were ordered back there halfway through scavenging this place, but when we tried to leave we found them camped at the exit you provided to us. They refused to move, and attacked. They even destroyed the exit out of spite, we have been looking for another exit, but have been… assaulted. It is vital we return.”
“You mistake yourself,” the Stallion interjected. “You attacked our camp, we were forced to flee.”
Meadow spat. “My sister might have a skull thicker than this facilities walls, but I am not so dense. I know what happened.” I don’t know if insulting me was really necessary, but I took it in stride.
“Maybe it’s a misunderstanding,” I suggested trying to mediate the situation.
“Misunderstanding or not,” The Hizai stallion said, “They have killed over half of us with their superior numbers. This is not something we can forgive. We will not make nice with them.”
“I have no issues with a truce,” Meadow said, much to my surprise, though a few ponies on his side started talking excitedly at once they shut up when he waved his hoof. “This is a distraction. I pursued them this far because I felt they could be a threat. If they promise to stay out of our way I see no reason to continue this charade.”
“Sir,” a mare said pointedly, “This could be a trap. Your sister is a known collaborator with Mr. House, and the Hizai, and she has not been… friendly with us in the past.”
Before Meadow could respond, the stallion burst in. “She betrayed us. I would never work with her.” Good to see I was well-loved. Though I didn’t really put any effort in making myself loved in my former employment.
“See?” Meadow said with a laugh. “My sister makes enemies, not traps. And if she wished to kill me, I have no doubt she would just shoot me. With a bullet, possibly from space.” I thought it was at least somewhat humorous, if a bit ill timed, though his comrade looked really confused.
“But I trust you less,” The Hizai stallion responded. I really needed to learn ponies names. “It’ll be a cold day in hell—”
The smaller mare with the minigun interrupted him. “You’re not in charge,” She reminded him. “Every agent is independent, answerable only to House. We have received orders to return, and so that is our directive.”
“House is dead,” the stallion replied.
Luckily enough I had a good counterpoint to that, when I said, “He’s not. He’s been captured.” This got the attention of the remaining Hizai. “He’s on the Enclave Raptor, which is currently docked at the top of this facility. They’ve been working with the Watchers. If you truly want to help. That’s where you’d go.”
The Hizai stayed silent for a distressingly long time, giving each other uncomfortable silent stares before the stallion said, “Is that why you came; to give us this information?”
“No.” I admitted. “I have my own goals.” He didn’t seem happy about that. “But they may align. Sort of. But it’d be easier if ponies weren’t warring through the facility in my way.”
“If you’re trying to avoid war you’ve come to the wrong place,” Meadow said. “Steel Rangers have been scouring everyone they see. The robots never seem to end, and the Enclave haven’t been helping. What is your agenda, Silver?”
“Classified.”
My brother scrunched up his muzzle. “Have your secrets.” He turned his attention to the Stallion. “Is this it then? A truce. I have no desire to continue this. I will trust your ponies to leave ours alone.”
The stallion looked annoyed, and seemed to think about it for a while before the mare with the minigun said, “If House is here, we’re going to rescue him. It’s our job. If you get in our way, we’ll move you, but we have bigger things to worry about.” The stallion grunted his approval before the mare looked at me. “Star-Mare. Thank you for bringing us this information. I am saddened you won’t return to our ranks.”
The stallion added. “If you get in our way, we’ll move you too.” He still didn’t like me, and after I was so warm and friendly to him too. I suppose you can’t please everyone.
Slowly the Hizai started to move themselves out of cover, while Meadow and his Crimson Hooves watched passively from the balcony above. When the Hizai were certain they were not about to be shot they started to move their way up the stairs and past the Crimson Hoof, who followed through on their promise and did not get in the way of them. It was good to see I was able to stop some fights from happening, it would make my work a lot easier.
“Silver,” Meadow said when the last Hizai left the room. “Thank you. We lost too many ponies on these petty battles. I have come to hate this facility.” He waves a hoof. “Make a camp, we need to get some rest and come up with a new plan… I don’t suppose you have any food on you, Silver? We’re running low.” When I shook my head he sighed, “A shame. Feel free to rest with us if you want protection, but we won’t keep you.”
I had no intention of taking him up on his offer. I just wanted to get done with my goals at the facility and move on to my next objective. Which was probably going to be recruit the Steel Rangers, or Applejack Rangers, whatever they were calling themselves, for my coalition, but that could wait. One step at a time. I had a plan, and it was nice.
“Silver.” I turned my head quickly to see Flare running my way to shatter my plans. “It’s Moondancer. She’s… well.” He didn’t have to say anything, on his back was Moondancer, completely passed out. In this place, I knew what that meant.
“Fuck,” was all I needed to say. “That was fast.”
“You’re telling me.”
“This way.” I lead Flare and Moondancer up the stairs to meadow’s camp. “Brother.” I said to him as he looked really confused at the passed out mare. “I may need some help.”
“What’s wrong with her?” He didn’t look concerned, just curious.
“This place it’s…” Evil? Haunted? The work of many ponies failing spectacularly? “Weird.” It was perhaps the most succinct way to put it. “It gets into your head. Shows you visions and dreams… it’s… a long story bu—”
“I know,” Meadow said. “I’ve seen it too; we all have. One of the reasons I agreed to let them go. I didn’t want to prolong us getting stuck here. How can we help her?”
“You can’t… well… maybe you can. But it’d be better if I did.” That didn’t help alleviate his confusion. “Trust me? I just need you to keep watch. It shouldn’t be too long, but…”
“Fine.” He was difficult to read, his face a mask. Most likely he only agreed because whatever else we were, we were family. “You seem to know what you’re doing.”
“I really don’t,” I said as Moondancer was placed on the floor in front of me. “But I’m trying.” I lowered my forehead to hers as I had done twice before to Flare and Serenity, and let the magic fill me.
---
I had no intention of ever doing this dream-walking thing again. I had my fill of it last time I was in the facility, and didn’t want to repeat it. Yet here I was, intruding once again in a place I knew I should never go. Maybe I should have let Flare do it. Yeah, that would have been smart.
At least I knew the area well. Dise was alive with lights, glowing from every building, making the dream’s darkness shine alive with light. Like the other dreams it seemed the area was not complete, though, and the further the buildings were from us the less detail they had, until some far back looked to be painted onto a background other than actually existing.
I had started off on the main strip of Dise, a bit south of where The BS and Wallkirk’s Clips and Clops stared at each other from opposite sides of the streets. Clearly this dream was from the past, it had to be, because off in the distance The Moon still stood, and there was no Raptor floating above the city. Most importantly, the streets were filled with ponies just living their lives.
Enough nostalgic sightseeing. I had to find Moondancer before things went bad back in the waking world. She couldn’t be too far; it was her dream after all.
Sure enough I found her easily enough. Of the ponies that crowded the streets, so few seemed… natural. Most walked into ways that were just… off in imperceptible ways. But Moondancer walked normally, a few blocks down I saw her walking nervously down the street before ducking into a back alley.
With a sigh I gave chase, pushing past ponies that dissolved into mist as soon as I touched them. Well, that was new. As I got closer I started to hear voices (Not unusual for me, but these were different than the normal ones) that sounded like they were right next to me, but clearly weren’t.
“I uh… I have the money,” Moondancer said. I recognized the voice. Apparently dreams had trouble with how sound travels over distances. “Do you… you know.”
“Little filly wants to cut right to the chase,” A mare said as I go closer to the back alley.
“A shame,” a stallion this time said. “Turns out the price tripled. Shouldn’t be a problem, I heard you birds are loaded,”
“What, I don’t h—” Moondancer started but it cut off into a sharp gasp.
“You’ll pay,” The mare said. “Then you’ll find somepony else to smuggle for you. Your daddy knows what you’ve been up to, been causing problems for me and mine. We’re honest business folk, you see. But now one of mine has a broken leg ‘cause you birds caught on and beat him for information. Somepony has to pay, and It’ll be you.” I started moving faster when I heard what was going on. When Moondancer told me of the time she shot somepony, this wasn’t really what I was expecting.
I turned the corner around the corner just in time to hear the gunshot.
“Shit.” The mare and stallion had cornered Moondancer by a wall, but both backed off quickly revealing her with a gun in her mouth. “Hey, fuck.” She was bleeding from her leg and limping, “Calm your shit. Not worth getting killed ov-“
BANG
The bullet ripped through the mare’s neck. She fell with a thud, and was still breathing rapidly as blood pooled around her. Desperately she clawed at her neck trying to staunch the wound, but nothing she could do could stop the bleeding, and slowly her frantic clawing became less and less animated until her hooves stopped altogether and she gave one last dying wheeze. Unlike everything else in the dream, her death was vivid, so much it was hard to take my eyes off of.
I’m not sure what happened to the stallion, he must have run, but when I took my eyes off the dying mare there was just Moondancer curled into a ball sobbing with the gun thrown off to the side.
“Moon…” I walked over to her and sat down beside her. “Are you okay?”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.” She flinched away when the growing pool of blood touched her hoof. “Not again… I had a chance…” She sniffed hard, trying to stop herself from crying. “To make it better. It was all my fault.”
“I…” I was bad at this whole consoling thing. “I’m sorry. But you can’t wallow. You need to move on. Survive.”
“I thought this time I could change it…” She sniffled sitting up so I could see her red eyes. “It was stupid, I know. This is not even real is i-AH!” Her voice turned into a shrill scream. I jumped back to see a bright red hole appear on her side.
“What.” I gasped, and started to pick her up. I looked around to see where a shooter could have come from but I couldn’t see anything. “Something’s wrong.” This hadn’t happened before, something was wrong.
A sharp piercing pain shot through my head. I stumbled back dropping Moondancer on the ground on accident.
The world started to waver, like I was looking at it through water. My head was spinning, it was getting harder to say on my feet. “Hired,” Moondancer was saying, but it sounded so far away. “What’s going on?”
“I can’t… ugh.” The world wavered again, followed by what felt like somepony drilling into my head with a spike. Then everything faded.
---
“Run.” A voice boomed through the halls, shaking me awake.
When I opened my eyes I was staring face to face with the armoured face of a Steel Ranger. It was then I realized why I was driven out of the dream. We were attacked.
“Wha—” Before they had the chance to say anything to my sudden awakening, I released the blade out of cybernetic leg and stabbed them through the neck. Blood dripped down the blade, drops splattering on my face.
As the corpse started to collapse onto me I kicked them off and scrambled to my hooves to get a sense of the situation.
I was in some incredibly white hallway, but I wasn’t sure where. In front of me there was a group of ponies fleeing, probably Crimson Hoof. They reached an intersection and turned left. I saw Flare turn back to look at me but I waved him on. And behind me…
“Get her!” Steel Rangers.
Right. We were attacked. Rangers followed us. Moondancer wasn’t with me, and wasn’t with the Rangers. She was safe. For now. Until they were caught…
Subtlety shot out into the group of Steel Rangers giving chase.
One went down, maybe killed, but it wasn’t enough. There were a dozen there at least. The Applejack Rangers must have pushed them back too far. Right into us. I couldn’t fight a dozen Rangers, probably. So instead I bolted down the hallway. But when I got to the intersection, I turned right instead of left.
I wasn’t really sure where I was, I had been in the Facility before but it was easy to underestimate just how massive the entire place was. One hallway was as good as any other, I thought as I passed rows and rows of doors. At least, I had thought any Hallway would do until I realized this one came to a dead end. Maybe I should have taken one of the doors.
At the end of the hall was clearly an elevator. Celestia, I hate elevators. I pressed the button calmly, but when a bullet impacted right above the button I decided to make things go a little quicker. I stabbed my hoof blade into the crack of the door, and used it to pry the elevator open. I managed to get it open just in time for a close voice to yell, “Give up, you’re surrounded.”
I turned around to see the group certainly had me surrounded, and I backed up closer to the abyss. I never did get a chance to see how far shaft went down.
“No?”
One pony stepped forward, but they all looked the same so I didn’t really care. “Blackwater will want you. You still have the key to this place. We won’t kill you.”
“I’ll kill you,” I warned. “You better leave.”
The pony chuckled through their mask. “There’s too many of us. You’re outnumbered, outgunned. We want you alive, but we don’t need you. So no, I don’t think you will be killing us.” As he spoke, I heard the elevator from above slowly get closer and closer to reaching this floor.
“I guess you’re right.” I jumped backwards into the abyss.
It was well timed because as I jumped the elevator fell above me, blocking their view. I twisted in midair and grabbed onto the wires that held the counterweight with my cybernetic leg. The air filled with the sound of metal on metal screeching, but it was slowing me down enough that when I got a few stories down and saw one of the elevator doors unnaturally propped open I was able to jump towards it and land with a roll without breaking any bones.
I think.
Wherever I was, it was disturbingly dark, but I didn’t have time to think. I could hear the elevator following me, so I started to shoot. It was a weird shot, and the wires holding the counterweight didn’t break on the first shot like I hoped, but after unleashing my entire magazine, the wire strained and snapped.
There was a great clatter of metal on metal, screeching like nails on the chalkboard, and screaming as the elevator and its occupants careened past me and fell far far below landing with a bang almost as loud as a shot from Subtlety and a great gust of dust and debris coming up the shaft. I wished the best of luck to the Steel Rangers above if they wanted to try and repeat my acrobatic trick in their bulky armour. Ponies never expected me to be so agile, so I enjoyed proving them wrong.
With any luck they would leave me alone, and with even better luck my little diversion would have led them further away from Flare and Moondancer too. If I were them, and I was right about them being pushed back into the facility from the attack, then I would find a defensible location with a few exit routes and make a stand there. Getting lost and split up in this place was liable to drive you insane.
I say that being lost and split up from my group.
Right.
I looked around the hallway, looking for a sense of where I was. It was near pitch black, I realized too slowly, and the only reason I could see anything at all was because of my cybernetic eye, albeit giving everything a green tinge. This hallway seemed less well kept than the ones I’d been before. The walls may have been white, but they were covered in dirt and grime, half falling apart, and what doors did exist lining the walls were broken and dilapidated. I hated places like this, it always made me felt like I was being watched.
“Lovely.” I remarked to myself making my way slowly down the hall, trying not to sneeze when my hoof steps send puffs of centuries-old dust into my face. I had to wonder why… whoever let this part of the facility fall into ruin. The rest was decently maintained. I had assumed the voice (Who I was pretty sure was Baptisia, who created Simple Heart) had robots clean the place.
Which led to the question of where I was. With the elevator taken out, I would need to find a set of stairs, or another elevator. After that fall I saw, I was going to bank my luck on some stairs. They are far less likely to suddenly collapse and make me fall two dozen stories too my death. Though with my luck I’d survive in pain for a week.
Before I had the chance to snark quietly to myself more I saw a flash of light coming from an intersection ahead. I took a quick scan of the area and quickly ducked behind a desk that at some point had been dragged out of an adjacent office. Luckily it was big enough to hide me, at least that combined with the darkness I assumed impaired their vision more than mine.
“Why are we doing this again?” a voice said from the intersection. “I mean, I like creepy hallways as much as the next mare…”
“Clean Cutt is looking for something,” another mare said. I could hear their footsteps down the hall and peaked around the desk to get a look at them. The green tinge of my sight made their colours hard to make out, but they were both clearly well-armed and armoured.
“I trust his judgement, of course,” the first mare said shining her flashlight towards my hallway, forcing me back further into hiding. “But he was a bit… vague.”
“True,” the second mare admitted as she took a few steps towards me. Fuck. I ducked behind the desk further, letting light glow over me as I prayed they didn’t hear me. “The noise came from this direction.”
“Look at the dust,” the first mare said dismissively. “Looks like an elevator finally gave way. They’re old enough. Surprised they lasted this long. That’s why Clean Cutt always has us take the stairs.”
“He’s smart,” the second mare mused as the light passed over me and left me in darkness. “Doesn’t comfort me that much more. Strange crashes in the dark and such. Going to make me paranoid.”
I could hear their footsteps move off, their voices trailing off. “If you’re that concerned you could get Tight Lips, and we could clear the rooms one by one as a group. It’d take forever, but we have enough ponies.”
“No no,” the mare brushed away her concerns as her voice faded away.
I had dodged a bullet there for sure.
It was concerning, to say the least. They had implied there was more than one group skulking about, and as tough as I was it would be a bad idea to start a war with every Watcher in the facility, not when I still had Steel Rangers and probably Enclave to dodge around too. This was just going from bad to worse. And then I felt a tingling on the back of my neck like somepony was watching me.
I turned quickly and stared into the darkness. My Cybernetic eye could pierce the dark, but it was possible somepony was using an invisibility spell… no. If they had been, my shoulder would have been burning. I brushed it off as my imagination.
I didn’t feel like waiting any longer so I sneaked towards the intersection and peeked around the corner. The whole area seemed to be a maze of narrow corridors, and large what looked like workshops, with various hallways branching off from various directions from the intersection I was at, so much so I couldn’t see anypony. But I could see lights here and there, flashing across hallways.
On the wall in front of me were the words “Security Solutions Inc.” I am sure I heard somewhere that certain parts of the facility were rented out to companies for private use to help pay for it. I suppose this place must have been one of them, but I couldn’t figure out why they’d want to, or what they’d use the space for.
I was sure I’d find out though.
Judging from the lights, it seems like all of the Watchers were off to the right where the two I saw went, so I went left down a dusty hallway. I got two steps before I heard something behind me. Spinning I pointed my gun at… nothing. Darkness.
Lights from adjacent hallways were getting larger though. A few seconds and they’d be in my hallway I was sure. So I sped my approach down the hallway making far too much noise and ducked into the first room I saw. Maybe I was just getting paranoid.
The room I had chosen to hide in was a large workshop, of sorts. Mechanical devices that were completely foreign to me lined the room, often accompanied bits of pieces of what looked like robot pieces. If Serenity was with me, no doubt she’d know exactly what the machines and robots were there for, but without her I could only venture a guess.
It was large enough though. It seemed to have multiple exits, one on the wall I just came from, and another off to the side. That second one seemed a more promising exit. As I ducked under a giant metal… fabricating… thing something fell behind me. I turned quickly, but I was getting used to this place fucking with me. Chances were it was Simple Heart’s mechanisms, more than it was a really stealthy pony following me.
Turns out both options were wrong. When I attempted to open the door something stabbed my leg, pinning it to the wall. I say something because whatever it was, it was invisible. I let out a muffled scream, all too aware that I was basically surrounded. Hurt like a bitch, but the sudden feeling of dizzy shock helped…
Whatever I was fighting was invisible. To my sight, and my magic sense. Wasn’t a unicorn or alicorn, maybe a zebra? I didn’t know how their magic worked. No time to think. I kicked wildly in the air with my cyber leg. I connected with whatever it was with a clank. Robot or zebra wearing metal. It backed off releasing my leg letting warm blood flow freely down my leg. That was my good leg too.
I couldn’t hear it, but when it knocked into a piece of machinery I could hear that. I charged at the sound. My head slammed into the metal with such force my ears were ringing. Robot. Had to be. I turned as fast as I could and gave the air a buck. My hooves connected and off in the distance I saw a piece of machinery crumble and collapse with a smash. Whatever or whoever it was, I hoped I taught it to leave me alone.
“What was that!” I heard someone yell from behind me.
Fuck.
No time to get anything out to heal, I charged for the door I was attempting to go through until I was stopped. No time to look both way before entering the hallway, behind me I could hear ponies following. “They left through that door.” I heard one say. I didn’t think they got a good look at me, but I couldn’t risk it.
The new hallway I was in just made me more lost. This place was so much like a maze, I wondered if it was intentional. Either way I charged down the hallway (it was more of a limping run, but I was trying really hard to charge) I saw no lights coming from. As I passed door after door I kicked every second one open to distract them, then went down the first intersection I saw. No time to worry, just had to get them off my trail.
The first door I saw I opened and slipped in as quietly as I could. It turned out to be a maintenance closet, long and thin with barely enough room to fit me, and that was without the two large shelves and mop-bucket sink cluttering everything up. Whatever was in the shelves was stolen long ago, and the only other thing of note was a large hole in the ceiling where a fan once went.
I could hear the ponies walking and talking in the hallway on the other side of the door. “It went this way.” “I told you this place was haunted. “ “It couldn’t have gone far.” All just white noise in the back of my head so long as they stayed away from my hiding spot.
I stared down at my wounded leg. Just looking at it made me flinch and sent my leg into throbbing fit. Even in the green light I could tell it was completely soaked in blood. The wound itself was impossible to see for the blood. I know Serenity would want me to clean it, and dress it before applying a healing potion… but I was out of healing potions anyway, and didn’t have time to clean it.
I had to do it quick and dirty. I pulled a small roll of bandages from my bag and wrapped my leg as tightly as I could. It stung like hell, but I knew I had to make sure it applied pressure. That would staunch the blood flow until I could get proper treatment. Or at least see Serenity, she was close enough.
“Is that blood?” A voice somewhere said and my mind snapped back to my situation. I had left a trail.
hoofsteps were closing in on me. Closer and closer as I felt myself tense up. It was two ponies at most. I could kill two ponies, bum leg or no. But killing was noisy. I had gotten lucky with the elevator before, but firing Subtlety again would draw ponies, and I doubted I’d be able to hide the bodies fast. Things would go from bad to worse in a heartbeat. For now murder had to be my last resort. Which for me was odd.
They were getting close, so I had to think fast. There was only one place to hide. My sight fell on the hole in the ceiling. A vent. They were loud metal and noisy if you moved around in them, not to mention small, but if I could squeeze in and keep still.
It was the only option as the hoofsteps closed in. I scrambled up the shelving units and reached up into the vent and squeezed myself in. It was a tight fit, so much so it cramped my legs and made my wounded leg throb even worse than it did before. Still, as far as I could tell, I was hidden, if a little bit stuck. And it couldn’t have happened soon enough.
The door opened, and I could see light in the corner of my vision.
“Aaand, nopony here.” A stallion spoke this time, I think, but my weird space made voices reverberate and I couldn’t see so it was hard to see. “I think this place is making you crazy.”
“I’m not.” A second voice, a mare, I think, “Look, blood.”
I was going to destroy whatever it was that stabbed me, it was ruining my attempts at hiding. Still, my leg was wrapped now, I could only hope it made the blood less… noticeable so they couldn’t follow it further.
“Blood trail ends here,” the stallion pointed out.
“Someone was here,” the mare insisted. “Coin Flip and Royal Flush were sent out to investigate that crash, they said it was an old elevator, but Coin Flip didn’t sound so sure over the means.”
“You know how it is over the radio; you can’t really be suggesting her tone was enough to convince you this place is haunted.”
“Not haunted,” the mare said doing her best to hide her exasperation. “This facility is crawling with ponies: Rangers, Mr. House’s ponies, those raiders from the north. Someone is watching us. Tight Lips needs to know, we need to sweep this entire place. Or at least get the lights working.”
“Fine. We’ll talk to her. But for the record, I think you’re going crazy.”
I waited for a good fifteen minutes before slowly squirming my way out of my uncomfortable hiding spot. I gave my shoulders a few good rubs as soon as I made my way down to ground level, groaning silently at how sore I felt. I had hoped a few days rest after that crash would have given my body some time to heal up, but it seemed it was not to be. I’d need a week, or a month after this was all done, assuming I still lived.
But nursing my wounds could wait, Tight Lips was here, and that was… concerning. She once worked for Mr. House, and she had betrayed me and kidnapped Serenity. It felt like so long ago now, but it wasn’t more than a couple weeks. I knew that if I saw her, I would kill her. As good as that would feel, it would cause more problems than it solved.
So I just had to get out of this mess without seeing her. Easier said than done. I peeked around the corner and looked both ways to see the immediate area was mostly clear. I just had to figure out where to go from here. Getting a quick spark of genius I ducked back inside my closet and checked my pipbuck for a map.
Unfortunately, it seemed my pipbuck was just as lost as me, as it told me I was in a featureless black void. Which I was, I suppose, if it weren’t for my night vision. I had never been happier to be shot in the face. However, while the pipbuck did little to give me a map, there was an arrow pointing me in a direction. Where it was pointing me, I wasn’t sure, but it seemed to have a better grasp of the situation than me.
I slipped through the door and kept on my way, keeping my head down and checking my leg every few seconds to make sure it wasn’t bleeding all over everything. Did I mention that it really freaking hurt? That bears repeating.
Still I had to move forward. It was the only option, other than, I suppose dying. But that seemed to be even more unpleasant than a random invisible thing stabbing me through the leg. So following the arrow my leg-computer created it was. Of course, it lead me straight into a closed door, with no real way of knowing what was behind it. Good arrow, that.
Putting all my faith into the arrow I opened the door as quick as I could and slipped inside the room fast and silently. Inside, luckily, there were no Watcher ponies roaming around. Instead it seemed to be a storage room for what appeared to be robots, which lined shelving units on either side of the high wall.
The robots were… interesting. They were curled up into balls to make themselves small, but I could tell they were designed to stand on two legs like a Minotaur and were almost as tall as one. In addition they had stylish horns on their head, and were skinny looking. I had seen a lot of robots in my times, but I had never seen any like this, I could only guess that they hadn’t been ready for market by the time the bombs hit.
All in all there were twenty of these robots lining either side of the room in an uneven pattern on the shelves. Hardly enough to sell off, but they were still eerie. They were just staring forward, watching me from either side as I made my way past, with black soulless eyes. I was half expecting one of them to jump off the shelf to strangle me.
Thankfully that never happened, so I could let out a breath I had been holding in. Just a creepy robot factory, nothing to worry about here. And look, an exit to a less creepy (marginally) part of the facility. I left through that door and looked around.
To see one of those things standing over me, red eyes glowing.
I’m not too proud to admit I yelped and jumped back. Only to run into another one on the other side. I nearly bolted until I realized they were posed there. Statues for show. I sigh and did resisted to urge to kick the things and went on my way.
I found myself in what I assumed was a lobby. Having come through a side door I saw the room was impressively large, with a circular reception desk to me right, and two wide open doors with light shining out of them to me left. That had to be the exit, and it seemed to have power. The only thing that was really standing in my way was a pit in the centre of the room.
It was, as I said, a circular pit that seemed darker and blacker than the rest of the pitch-black area. The uneven remains of a security barrier surrounded it, and as I moved closer, it was clear at one point or another there was an escalator that led to a lower floor, but that was just rubble now. It certainly lent an impression to the room.
“There she is!”
Fuck.
I turned quickly only to be blinded by what seemed like a dozen flashlights. My Cybernetic eye had to adjust to all the light to even get an idea what was happening, and what I found wasn’t very… promising.
Eleven ponies had me surrounded. Wait, that was ten, I had mistaken one of the statues for a pony… only the other statue was missing. I wondered briefly if they had knocked it over, before I realized more pressing matters were at hoof. Like the ten guns being pointed at me, and the cocky mare walking through the crowd with a grin,
“Hired?” Tight Lips sounded a bit surprised. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. We had intel you were in Timber. But how did you get in here, the door has been locked for centuries? We had to bust it open.”
“Magic.” I said taking a few steps back, but not too many as my back hoof nearly slipped into the abyss. This seemed to be a common theme of today. “Hey. I still need to kill you.”
“You realize you’re surrounded, and you’re injured, right?” She smiled. “I’m happy to help you with that! Just relinquish your weapons. You never know when they might accidentally go off.”
“No.” I grinded my teeth and looks slowly towards the door with the light shining out of it. I could make a run for it. Head around the pit, deal with the bullets as they came. I could only take so many without a healing potion… that was the same problem with fighting. Of course, surrendering was never an option. Not to them.
“Sweetie. Give up. I’ll give you to the count of three, and we can handle this like upstanding citizens, not act on our basest instincts.” She lowered herself slightly, as if preparing for the recoil of her gun. “One.” She started to bite down. “Two-“
BANG
The bullet whizzed off the wrong direction as she was suddenly and violently pushed. I never saw what hit her, and I never would.
Something crashed into me with such force I was sent backwards into the abyss.
Blood filled my mouth when I bit my tongue on the landing. I coughed and spat in pain, but I barely had time to think. Something was on top of me. With all my strength I grabbed the air and twisted.
I don’t know what I was on top of, it was still invisible. But I could still kick it.
My cybernetic slammed down with enough force to shatter the things head. When I did the remains revealed to be one of those creepy robots, which shouldn’t have surprised me. What did surprise me was when a second one grabbed my shoulder from behind.
I wrenched away and darted away trying to get a sense of where I was. Above was the hole with lights flashing and… oh, ponies were looking down and shooting. Fuck. I backed up more just in time for something to slash at my chest. More pain. I added it to my mental list and backed away firing subtlety with abandon at the air.
The air sparked and wires went flying, but the machine didn’t reveal itself. Maybe it was down, but its invisibility thing wasn’t broken, or maybe it was tough. I had no time to think. Less when a bullet slammed into my cybernetic leg and ricocheted nearly into my face.
I had to back up. Get away.
But I was out of room when my ass hit a metal wall behind me. With a cry of frustration I kicked that stupid wall with everything I had.
And the wall opened.
Praise Celestia! I turned and bolted into the unknown, praying I could close the door and lock off pursuit. When I turned around I saw I never needed to. The metal wall closed on itself, on the arms of one of those robots. I only knew that because the wall closed with such force the arm was severed, leaving its bladed arm lying on the floor like so much trash. In pain as I was, I decided to pick it up to give to Serenity later.
Only then did I allow myself a minute to sit down and calm down.
“Fuck!” I shouted into the void before breathing deep in an attempt to calm my nerves. I wasn’t made for sneaking, or fighting against groups. Not without some healing potions, a damn good plan, or a height advantage. These hallways made things impossible, and those fucking robots. None of this went as planned, I just wanted to scream.
I didn’t though. Not much. The one “fuck” got it out of my system, and I had to move forward.
I tried to distract myself by counting my injuries. My leg was still very stabbed, my back was killing me from the fall, my tongue too, and I had a gash on my chest. Not the worst I had it. Compared to the dragon fight it was nothing, but I at least had some healing potions there. Maybe I was just getting weaker. My months long journey into insane danger finally taking its toll.
Of course. Were it anypony else, they would probably be dead, or close. So maybe I was just letting my frustration get to me. There was no time to waste, I had to figure out where I was and how to get out before the literal army that wanted me dead could break through.
So I stood up and turned around.
The room I was in was larger, larger than I felt it had any right to be, and covered on three walls floor to ceilings with computers. It didn’t take me long to realize what I was looking at me, it was the exact same setup as the computers that Wallkirk programmed himself into. A crusader maneframe, or rather a poor copy made from stolen data. I never realized that he made two, but I suppose I should have figured. There was something weird about this place, a strange pressure on my head, it almost made me dizzy.
“You have found the heart of the facility.” A voice boomed through the loudspeakers. Unlike Wallkirk’s, there was no video playing, but there were lights that blinked on and off rhythmically. I also noted the voice wasn’t as loud as they were previous. The voice was the same one that had previously spoken through the loudspeakers, and controlled the Robots.
“You.” What do you call a two hundred year old soul forcefully transposed into a computer? I guess their name… “Baptisia.”
It was as good a guess as any. Last time I was here I learned she had created Simple Heart without approval, and when it went wrong she was dragged off… somewhere into the bowels of the facility to be tested on. At the same time Wallkirk was trying to figure out how to use necromantic magic to remove someone’s soul, and attach it someplace else. He must have had someone learn to use it, because he did it successfully on parts of Simple Heart’s soul, so I guessed Baptisia.
“Yes. I have brought you here.”
“Excuse me.” I stepped closer into the room, trying to figure out where to look to talk. With Wallkirk he always had a screen going. Here it was just lights and voices from all sides, red and green and blue and yellow, they flashed in a pattern in an almost calming way. I felt like I was truly walking inside her body, the voice coming from everywhere at once. Still, I wasn’t kowtowed by Simple Heart, I wouldn’t be by her. “I found my way here completely on accident.”
“Corralled, like a sheep, led by my dogs.” Before I had the chance to argue being called a sheep something glimmered in the corner of my eye. I turned and jumped when I saw one of those fucking knife robots standing in the corner. I moved to shoot it when I noticed it didn’t move.
“They tried to kill me!” I protested.
“Yes.” What. “They are… difficult to control. I am this machine, but I do not control it.” That made no sense to me so she tried to explain. “When bacteria gets into your system, you have white blood cells. They attack any intruders regardless of my input. However unlike your own systems I can direct where they go, so I directed them in such a way to bring you here. I was confident you could survive them.”
“I appreciate it.” The large steel door behind me started to shake. “Uh… are we about to be interrupted?” I did still have ponies following me. And there was one I wanted to kill.
“No,” she said calmly, if the voice could be calm at all. “I wished to speak with you. I wished to know. Why are you here?”
“I came to return a favour to Simple Heart.” I patted my saddlebags.
“No.” Some of the lights around me turned red, while others dark and it seemed like the flashing pattern became faster. Did she think I was lying or hiding something? I really didn’t want to get the immortal god machine thing mad at me. Not unless I really needed it to be. “That is merely a function of your intent, a step that leads unto your true goal. While I approve of helping that poor soul, that is not why you are here. What do you want from him?”
I had to scoff at the machine. I knew the truth of the matter what happened here. “After what you did to—”
“DO NOT TRY MY PATIENCE.” The words slammed into my skull like a sledgehammer and all at once the lights surrounded me seemed to be legion, red angry and all-encompassing flashing faster and faster. The lights faded, and so did the pressure from my skull. “I want to make amends for my mistake. But this does not answer my question.”
“I need this facility. I need ponies in here. I need him to leave them alone. We made a deal before. I was hoping…”
“Why?”
I was really hoping I wasn’t getting stuck in a loop. “This place houses supplies. Enough supplies to rebuild Dise. Medical. Technical. Construction. This was one of the functions of this facility.” I held up my Pipbuck. “But it never happened. These supplies are still here. Waiting. Because of you. Because of him.”
The voice went quiet for a long time. “I see. Why do you want to rebuild Dise?”
“Because it all went to shit!” I found myself yelling, venting months of frustration. “The Watchers have been playing with it. Poking this group in the eye. Framing this other faction for an attack. They have destroyed Dise. Divided the city. They want to swoop in. Take control. Become ‘peaceful occupiers’ and then rule the city.
“So long as we fight each other. As long as the gangs and factions battle. We all lose. If I can bring enough ponies together. If I can provide an alternative. Then we can get the city on our side. The Watchers’ secrecy will be their downfall. On the surface they have supported peace. If we can provide an alternative to them. A coalition focused on peace and reconstruction. A focus we can back up in actions then… then they can’t oppose us. Publicly at least. It’d give me time to dismantle them.
“We can’t fight the Watchers conventionally. So we need to win the image war. This facility is the key. They know that. So do I. I need Simple Heart sane… saner. And I need him on my side. To be honest I thought about you too. About destroying your robots. Neutralize that threat. One thing at a time.”
The room didn’t respond as I paced back and forth as I yelled my plan at a wall. Hearing it said out loud made me… nervous. It had been my so called master plan for a while now, but I had kept it close to my heart, and now that it was said I couldn’t backtrack. The words made it real, even if it was mostly to myself.
Was it a good enough plan though? Or was it just insanity, a dream built on a dream that perhaps was impossible to achieve or wouldn’t even work the way I had hoped. Still I had to try. I doubt I could get enough ponies on board with the planning of destroying a incredibly popular group like The Watchers.
“I see.” the computer said after a long time.
“Well? Is that it?” It had brought me here, it must have been for a reason.
“I wish to join your alliance.”
“Uh…” Now that was unexpected.
“I cannot stop our robots from attacking. But I can direct them away from your allies. And towards your enemies.” It kept going, lights blinking like this was completely normal.
“Why?” I asked it in return. It felt good getting back at it.
“I am… tired.” If a series of lights and computers could sigh, then it did. “I was forced onto this machine, my soul but not my mind. I am thoughts and feelings, emotions and intuitions. It took a long time to take those pieces and form this whole. I have been alive so long, so many walk in my halls, when I only wished to be left alone. And I am bitter. I am old and bitter and I want my revenge but I am stuck, able only to interact with the systems I have been attached to. A limited life, confining.
“I made mistakes. Horrors of my own.” Many of the lights around me turned blue, others simply turned off but the flashing pattern grew faster and faster. “Simple Heart… all those ponies. I thought I would save the world. I didn’t, I failed. As punishment I was sent here. My creation though. Simple Heart. His soul was mutilated, destroyed and cut up. It was unforgivable. He has suffered so much… because of me. He deserved better. I want you to punish he who did this to him.”
It was then it all sort of made sense, the chain of events that led me to this moment. I had seen the past where Baptisia had tortured Simple Heart. Did unspeakable things to him and others. But she repented now. A lost soul looking for forgiveness. I could understand that, even if I personally could not forgive her actions any more than I could forgive my own.
But she was trying. But the pony she spoke of. The one who trapped her here, and tore apart Simple Heart… he had done so much wrong. His failures here. His inability to make the tunnels under Dise sufficiently radiation proof. His inability to control the city that was his creation. He never once asked for forgiveness… for him there was always an excuse.
The lights around me grew so bright they were almost blinding, and I could feel a pressure hit my skull in waves in a rhythm. Thud. Thud. Thud. The soul that had been trapped here was all around me, trapped but powerful. I could feel it all through my body, the waves of pressure getting faster and faster in time with the lights and the soul got more and more frustrated looking for words that would never come until eventually it said.
Her voice suddenly pitched up, the way she had been speaking to me before through the intercoms.
“I Want You To Kill Wallkirk.” As the heart of the facility beat all around me, I already knew my answer.
Level Up!
Skill Note: Sneak 90!
((A/N: Wow, a chapter, and you thought I was dead. Going to take this time to thank Kkat for creating FoE, and my editors TheBSDude, Menti, Julep, and introducing Nyerguds. I am most of the way through the next chapter, so I’m hoping the next one take as long, sorry for the wait, but I hoped you enjoyed it.)) |
No One | 662 | 38 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2017-01-08T23:49:31+00:00 | 2017-01-08T23:49:30+00:00 | 8,830 | Walking in the Dark
“It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul”
“How much control of the facility do you have?” I asked as I squeezed myself through a small maintenance tunnel. A regular sized pony would have fit easily, but well, you know me. Still, it was the only way out of the area currently patrolled by Watcher henchponies and crazy invisible robots.
“I have access to all security features: camera, robots, some doors, and the speaker system.” A voice over a nearby speaker said. We were friends.
Well, perhaps that was stretching it a bit far; she did cram me like a sardine down this hallway that was so tight it was scraping against my sides and I had to keep my head ducked. Still, I was happy to be out of that… server room. Whatever it was. The essence of Baptisia was still so strong there, just thinking about it made me dizzy.
“Can you tell me what’s going on? Is there still fighting?” I pushed my way further and further through the tight corridor, following its twisty turns. Apparently the whole facility was filled with these maintenance tunnels, twisting through the facility like blood vessels, and according to Bap (we’re on nickname basis now) no less vital to keep the facility running. I wouldn’t know much about it, I just followed the blinking lights Bap sent to guide me the right way.
“Yes.” Helpful!
I found myself climbing awkwardly past a long dead skeleton, a poor little blood cell who died when the facility did. “Steel Rangers? The uh, ones in the armour.”
“Yes.” I waited a second and the voice continued. “They appear to be fighting each other, though I could not say why.”
My leg got caught on the poor dead pony’s leg bones and I had to shake it off. I had no issues dealing with corpses or skeletons, but it was still a bit awkward. “Who is winning?”
“The ones who are painted appear to be retreating deeper into the facility.”
“Wha-Fuck!” I lifted my head in surprise only to hit the low ceiling. “What do you mean?”
“What I said, I have been long torn asunder, my memories are far from static, I know not what each side is. However, the painted side is retreating.”
How could that have happened? It wasn’t possible. When I left, the Applejack Rangers were winning. It was all a bit bogged down, but we were winning. What could have gone wrong? Whatever it was, I blamed Curly Fries.
“Did I upset you?” The truth didn’t upset me, it… worried me. What upset me more were the blinking lights Bap set right beside a long ladder going straight up. I craned my neck to peer up the long shaft, but it was so long and dark even my cyber eye couldn’t see the top of it. With the pain in my leg from the stab wound I knew I wouldn’t make it on my own power, unless…. I dug through my bags and took out one of my few remaining Med-X, found a vein, and let the calm warmth flow over me. That’d make it easier.
Although, digging through the bag made me more than a bit nervous. I only had a single magazine of ammo left (all fire bullets I had been reluctant to use), one more Med-X, no healing potions, and some loose ammo for a pistol I should probably have cleaned up. It had been so long since I’d been able to stock up. With a groan, I looked back up and started to climb.
It was around then I remembered I’d been asked a question. “No… I’m just. Worried.” The battle meant little to me if I was being honest. I hated the Steel Rangers, especially after how Blackwater had corrupted them, but the Applejack Rangers were nothing to me. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t considered recruiting them for my grand coalition, but it was far from necessary. Still, I wanted them to win for the most part, if only because they were holding my… friends… “Can you see outside the facility?”
“No.” That was… not good. If something happened out there how would I even know. Maybe I should have taken Serenity with me, being apart from her was just making me paranoid. And with Tight Lips, her former foalnapper, hanging around…
I stopped to shake my head and look up into the yawning void. I wasn’t any closer to the top. I wondered just how far this tunnel went; it seemed like forever. Of course, it wasn’t as if there were only a top and a bottom, there were various side tunnels as I climbed up that I could have stopped at, but the lights were pointing me up and so up I kept climbing, even though the pain in my leg was throbbing, it was not as bad as it could have been.
“What about my friends, uh.” I stopped to decide how to describe them. “Two pegasi I was with. One male. One female. The female was… passed out.” I had tried to draw the Steel Rangers off them, and I felt like I’d succeeded, but Moondancer was still in trouble.
“I’ll find out, hold on.” For a good few minutes the only sounds were the subtle clanks of my metal legs as I pulled myself up and up until finally she responded. “They are safe, currently, with a larger group of ponies. The mare appears to still be asleep, or perhaps affected by Simple Heart’s magic. I suspect the second. There are days I very am glad his magic cannot touch me.”
“Fuck,” I swore as I reached the top of the ladder and pulled myself into the tight hallway on the other side. There was nothing I could do though, not until I got that idiot on my side, but that was more difficult than I wanted to admit.
“I understand you are here to give a piece of Simple Heart back to him. But how do you expect him to react?” the voice said over the speakers as I crawled my way through, ignoring the scraping of metal on my back. Someone really needed to widen these back passages.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Be grateful, maybe? Or saner. I’d be happy with not mind-fucking everyone he can.”
“And if he isn’t?” she asked, her robotic voice not betraying a hint of emotion.
“I have no backup plan,” I admitted, “so this one will have to work. But don’t worry. I will survive and keep my promise to you. I don’t break a contract.” Usually. Though I had on occasion. It was usually for very pressing reasons. Like quitting the Hizai so I could save Serenity.
“He is dangerous and unpredictable, though that is mostly my fault. I still worry you are underestimating him. He had an immensely powerful megaspell implanted into him; even with some of that power siphoned off…”
“So do I,” I said casually. I tried not to think about, as it was easier that way, but I could feel the fire in my veins. Unlike him, my megaspell was kept more separate from my… soul, I guess, or perhaps not being a Unicorn made it so I didn’t get all those super powers. Like I said, I tried not to think about it.
“You… you do?” This time the voice sounded distraught. “I had hoped that—” She stopped mid-sentence and reorganized her thoughts. “It was perhaps wishful thinking, but I had thought that the technology I developed, to turn ponies into megaspell housings had died with me. Just one more thing to atone for.”
“I’m not sure how the Watchers got it,” I admitted, “but they did. It’s not your fault, though. They chose to use it.”
“Without me there would not be an option.” There was a long pause before she continued, “But I cannot dwell. Well, I can and will dwell as I have all eternity to, but I won’t now. If you continue down this path it’ll lead to a secret door in a wall that is before the chamber to Simple Heart. I will continue monitoring the situation to— huh.”
“Huh?” I asked as I continued to squeeze my way down the hall.
“There is a princess in the hall, perhaps my monitor is malfunctioning but—.”
“Haze!” I panicked and started to run down the hall. Well, less running more cramped limping faster, but it was as quick as I could go.
A thousand different possibilities ran through my head. If she was here, something bad must have happened. If she was in the facility then something must have happened in the base camp. I knew that the battle inside the facility went bad for the Applejack Rangers. Perhaps they were betrayed? Maybe Serenity got hurt in the battle? Maybe she was dead! Baptisia was saying things to me, but I ignored them; I had to keep going, had to see what was wrong.
I burst through the door at the end of the hall and into the hallway on the other side. I had forgotten how blindly white the facility was and I had to cover my eye briefly as I looked towards the entrance of Simple Heart’s room. It looked the same as it had last time, but Haze was not there…
“Oh. Oh my,” a voice said from behind me. I spun around quickly to see… an alicorn.
She was as tall as Haze, perhaps a little bit taller, with a dark green coat, and a short cropped mane that still flowed mystically in streaks of yellow orange and toxic green. She was smiling brightly at me even as I was looking at her in confusion.
“I’m Thistle!” she explained happily. “I’m a Watcher.” As cheerful as she was I felt my stomach sinking.
“What?” I measured her up carefully as I took a few steps back. She was tall, but didn’t look particularly strong, on top of that she had no armour or weaponry. But I’d be a fool to think that if it came to a fight I’d win easily. I had seen Haze fight when she had to; she’d forced a mob to surrender without firing a shot, sent a ghoul flying with telekinesis, and protected us from dragon fire and a building with her a shield, all without causing harm to any sentient creature. If this mare was even half as powerful with vicious intent I was in trouble.
“A Watcher. Mr. Cutt says we are the eyes and ears of Celestia sent to pave the road to a new future: a vision of the past. Oh, doesn’t it sound just marvelous?” That’s not how I’d describe it.
“Right.” This mare was clearly a few bullets short of a mag. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, Mr. Cutt sent me here to see the megaspell-pony; it was too dangerous to come here himself.”
I licked my lips and checked my weapons nervously out of the corner of my eye. “Why are you with the Watchers? Why did he send you here?” I had a few more questions, but I figured I’d start slow just in case I asked the wrong question and she attacked.
“I was with my sister up north when the Destroyer blew up mother!” Not the sort of thing one usually says cheerfully. “Lots’a the others joined with The Destroyer’s friend, but I thought they were all mean so I left down here with a few others, and gosh Mr. Cutt was so nice we decided to help him. And he sent me here ‘cause he wanted to talk with the pony, oh, I should ask him what he wants to do with you.” I could answer that, but I didn’t.
“Boss?” she said literally to thin air. Maybe she really was just crazy.
At least, I thought that until her mouth started moving and a different voice came out. “Yes?” said a voice that was unmistakably Clean Cutt’s but coming from Thistle’s mouth.
“Some mare came out of the walls, what should I do with her, can you see her?” Thistle’s voice spoke this time.
“I can.” For a split second it looked like Thistle’s eyes changed colour as Clean Cutt’s voice came through again. “I will speak to her briefly, keep up the connection.”
“What the fuck,” I said, the words finally finding my mouth.
“Alicorns are amazing creatures, as you are well aware.” The alicorn spoke with his voice still; it was eerie. “We meet once again Hired, though I cannot say I am surprised, you always turn up in the most interesting places.”
“And you keep hiding,” I spat out. “Behind an intercom. Behind a mare. Come and talk to me one on one. I have so much to say.”
“Is that so?” He didn’t seem amused. “Why must we always be at odds? We have similar goals after all, a better world, a peaceful world, a world where ponies like your daughter can live unmolested by the horrors of the wasteland. Soon I will achieve my goals with or without you, so your consistent defiance is doing nothing but wasting all of our time.”
My metal hoof stamped down, cracking the pale white floor in my fury. “Oh, you want to protect my daughter, do you? The one you fucking foalnapped.”
The body did not seem at all disturbed by my outburst, perhaps because he did not need to be when his true form was so far away. “If you had not been a thorn in our side I would not have needed to. But you make a point that I cannot dispute, the actions we have taken are horrible, and through them we have become horrible. But then what are we to do? Give up and reveal in the horribleness, become a raider or worse? Or do we understand that sometimes horrible actions are necessary for the good of all.”
“Don’t preach to me.” You’d think he’d learn. He and Dragonslayer were cut from the same cloth. Snide and smooth talking, but utterly remorseless underneath.
“I’m not; I…” For a second he actually sounded conflicted. “I’m in a difficult position, Hired, you… you don’t have to understand, but you have the capacity to. You have been in similar situations before, I am sure. Sometimes we don’t have a good option; sometimes the choices aren’t between good and evil.”
“And yet somehow you always choose evil.”
“You keep judging. Perhaps if you listened...” The mare sighed, or he did, it was a bit confusing actually. “Things aren’t neat, you know this. The world is a mess, and perhaps it has always been a mess but with a prettier coat of paint. All of us have to choose, but the choice is not binary; it’s not good or evil. When I was being taught medicine I was taught to do the least amount of harm. Triage, we call it. You assess a situation, see how many ponies are injured, and choose which ones to save, but in choosing some still die.
“This is the choice we have, and I take no pleasure in making it. I came to Dise and appraised the situation, and I saw what anypony could plainly see. The city was dying, and it was only a matter of time before the whole thing collapsed. So I had to control the collapse, so it wouldn’t spread, and so there was room to build up. Yes, my actions resulted in dead ponies, and their names will be forever etched upon my heart, but I saw no other choice. No better choice.
“The water purifiers we have can be reverse engineered, but only now that the Mustangs are no longer guarding them. Work has already begun, did you know? The megaspell power generator that Mr. House has guarded so furiously belongs to us too, and with my experience in megaspells we have a prototype working. When these technologies spread…”
“You’ll have your own little empire,” I said with a dark grin. “This isn’t about the wasteland or helping ponies. It’s about control. You want to control ponies. You want everypony in the world to be your pawns. Like me.”
“Is this how this is going to go, Hired? You will refuse to listen to reason simply because you can’t see—”
“Fuck. Off.” The body he was inhabiting or controlling or whatever visibly recoiled from my words. “You turned me into a fucking bomb. You kidnapped my daughter. You’ve hurt my friends. My family. I’m done listening to evil fucking shits lecture me. This will end one of two ways. At your grave. Or mine.”
“So be it. I will leave you with this last thought. The choice you have now is between my way, or the destruction of Dise and all of its secrets and knowledge. Don’t compare me to the divine, my dear, compare me to the alternative.” The Mare bowed regally. “Thistle, show this mare to her grave so we may end this.”
“Okie dokie!” The mare’s true voice came out again and her horn started to glow bright green.
“Wha-ugh.” There was a sudden pain in my chest, sharp and piercing; it dropped me to one knee. It felt like I had been shot, only worse, somehow. I couldn’t think. The pain laced through my chest and into my limbs with such force all I could do was lay sprawling on the ground. In pain I shut my eyes, and when I opened them again I saw the alicorn standing over me, grinning giddily. She had a shield around her. There was nothing I could do.
“Die quickly, I have things to do!” she said cheerfully, though the sounds were dull in my ears.
She did this. How? Her horn was glowing. This was the power of an alicorn, unshackled from the chains of a moral code. And she was going to kill me.
I had to move.
Though the pain throbbed through my body, I managed to crawl to my hooves and turn away from her. At the end of the hall was Simple Heart. He could… he could do something. I moved my limbs, but they hurt so much it was hard to force myself down the hall. The pain in my chest spiked and tears stung in my eyes.
“You can’t run,” Thistle chanted as I crawled away.
My cyber limbs were doing most of the work. The pain didn’t slow them. Not like the rest of me. When I cried out in pain and fear, as I crawled up the small steps that led to Simple Heart’s door, they didn’t shake or collapse like my real limbs did. They kept me up, but my head was spinning making it impossible to think, impossible to do much of anything. I tried to speak, to curse my attacker, but when I opened my mouth I just screamed. Until I could no longer do that.
Somehow I found my way to Simple Heart’s door. Or rather, sprawling in front of it. I had blacked out for a second I think. It was hard to remember. All I could feel was the fire in my chest. Everything else faded to so much white noise. All I could feel was pain. And the desire to escape it. Pitifully I reached up towards the handle of the door. To freedom. To escape. But it was so far away.
And then my world became black.
---
My eyes opened.
There was still blackness all around me, only this time it was peppered by spots of bright lights way off in the distance. Stars? But that would have meant I was in space, or… I don’t know, but wherever I was I did not want to think too hard about it.
An earth pony has something that belongs to this one.
The voice reverberated through the endless void, shaking it, or perhaps I was shaking. I tried to say something back but words didn’t come out. Before I had the chance to try again something grabbed me and I felt myself get hurled through the empty void. Spinning head over hooves I thought I was going to be sick until I slammed into something.
Shaking my head to try and get my vision to right again I looked behind me to see… well it was a screen of some sort that had stopped me. Or it looked like one, with images on it I didn’t recognize, and it was floating in midair. This was getting weird.
It got weirder when I looked around and saw there were more of those floating screens. Dozens of them, all playing images of ponies’ lives, and all floating in the empty void I inhabited.
Return it to me!
The world spun and spun and spun until I felt like puking, and I had to close my eyes.
When I opened them again I was somewhere else. A room of some sort, it looked vaguely familiar but I didn’t remember it exactly. If I had to guess it was an old hotel room, and certainly not in use, as the mattress was rotted to the floor and the walls were covered with mold. It smelled like someone died in here, and come to think of it someone probably had.
There was still a window though, and it looked to be intact so I walked up to it to try and get a sense of where I was. I regretted looking as my stomach roiled from the height. I had to be at least ten stories up looking down at… Dise.
At that point it wasn’t difficult to figure out where I was. There were only four buildings still standing in Dise that were this high (For those keeping track: The BS, Clips and Clops, The Ale house, and the Enclave’s apartment) but this was not one of them. I had been up and down Dise long enough to know that the specific view of the streets I could only have been in The Moon.
Which of course made no sense. The moon had been destroyed. More than that, it had fallen, on me, not the sort of thing I was likely to forget, yet I had to be there. It was the only place to get this specific view overlooking the northern half of the city, and parts of Parasite Mound.
Looking down I could see an office building about five stories below with a large hole in the side. It was a place I remembered well.
Before I had a chance to take a close look the ground around me shook with a massive explosion. I stumbled and nearly fell but caught myself on that disgusting mattress. “Fuck.” I muttered wiping my hoof off as far below me I heard a cacophony of noise and sound. There was a battle going on below, on a side door to the Moon.
Which, I have to emphasise, made no sense as The Moon was fucking rubble.
But I think I understood where I was, though perhaps I should specify when. I flipped up the scoop to Subtlety and peered down far below me to see… me. Standing in the hole of the officer building, subtlety on her back, was Hired Gun, staring down at the carnage I couldn’t see with a neutral expression. How long ago had this night been? Days or weeks or months, time had been running together but it looked like forever.
The me who was below, she looked so calm, so confident and strong. This moment was a stroke of genius, I remembered, and it looked like I knew it. Had there really been a time where I looked so clean and strong? Below I was pacing back and forth without limping, with my head held high instead of hammered down by circumstances outside my control. I looked so in-control, not like now. Now I was burdened, by what had happened to me, by the sins I had committed, by the knowledge that the world was tearing itself apart and I had elected myself “person responsible for fixing this shit” and that burden was tearing me apart. Somehow between then and now I had collected more enemies, scars and wounds than I cared to remember.
Part of me wanted to shout down at her, to yell at her that not everything was going to be alright, to tell her what choices to make, and how to avoid calamity. It was so easy in retrospect. Don’t shoot Post Haste at Karkhoof, don’t trust High Stakes, when you’re acting as a guard in the train station don’t go to the catwalks go to the basement, and for fuck’s sake kill Tight Lips and Clean Cutt as soon as you see them.
But I couldn’t; she was too far away. The confident me was down there gleefully repressing the past and dreaming about the caps she was going to make. She didn’t know that in the months to follow, everything she thought she knew would be stripped away under the bludgeoning of chance. But maybe it didn’t matter. After all, despite everything, I was still standing. Sure I was bloodied, even as I was lost in thought my leg throbbed in pain from a stab wound I had no was of stopping, but despite being bloodied I was still standing.
Perhaps I was sent here to be frightened, if it were on purpose at all. To see where I had been, to see the mare I was and despair at what had happened. It was true that I was sporting more scars and fewer limbs, but I was a different person too. More honest, with myself, with others, stronger in spirit if not body. At least, that’s what I was telling myself to believe. Everything I had been through must have meant something, so if I convinced myself it was then it’d be easier to accept.
The air shook with a bang louder than all the rest, and when I looked back down at… myself… my gun was smoking. A few seconds later a body fell past my window, Roy Mustang I knew, but it went by so fast I never got a chance to look at him again.
And then I was back in the blackness, with only stars to keep me company.
An Earth pony is refusing the commands of this one.
The world was spinning more and more only to stop and shudder.
Does an earth pony not understand the situation they are in?
Before me were the white screens again playing clips of life. I saw a weird snake lion hybrid thing get turned to stone by a rainbow on one screen, on another a pink pony crying only to be drowned out in a flash of green, and a third showed a small green pony beaten and whipped and chained. The screens spun around me until I could only see glimpses, whispers of events past, future and present.
You have angered one who is far your superior?
Was he? From one living megaspell to another we were alike, only he had some limited control of the power flowing like fire through his veins, whereas I was shackled to the whims of someone else. Perhaps he was my greater, but I was not so sure.
Return it to me.
It. Is. Mine.
I felt myself being flung with such force the pictures faded all at once and the stars became blurry streaks in my eyes. I flew and flew spinning an erratic circle through the night until I suddenly stopped.
I opened my eyes.
I breathed and to my shock the air tasted… clean. The night was dark and cloudy, but I could see that I was standing in some weird leafy green stuff on the ground. Grass… I had seen grass before, but it was so much, it covered a small field, not stuck in small clumps clinging to the side of a cliff or anything, and it smelled so good! I leaned down and took a bite of it, savouring the taste as I chewed and swallowed. How could anything taste so good?
Was I in some sort of heaven? I breathed deeply in the fresh air and laughed to myself. Surely I wouldn’t go to heaven if I were killed, and even if I did that starry place was closer. So where was I? I had to focus, so I took the time to look at my surroundings.
Some of the buildings looked like they had been newly made, but it seemed that a vast majority of them were created from old train parts, but even in the dark I could see they were newly painted. I slowly made my way through the community, with nary a sound to be heard. People were sleeping, this much was clear, but I was shocked to find there was no guards roaming around to keep the peace. Even in the most peaceful town people were careful to ensure it stayed that way.
Maybe the town was actually abandoned? I didn’t see anyone nearby, and what houses there were seemed to have no lights, and I could hear no movement. Perhaps the fresh grass under my hooves was some sort of bioweapon that forced the residents to move after… after… I couldn’t think of a plausible bioweapon theory. I had thought that after it was revealed I was actually a pony-megaspell I could come up with whatever fanciful bullshit I wanted, but I wasn’t so creative.
Instead I made my way down the street as quietly as I could. If it weren’t for my body being about thirty percent metal, I actually would have been good at sneaking about. For now, I was just okay, so it was lucky that not much sneaking was required as I limped my way trying to ignore my numerous injuries.
I had never truly had time to recover from the experiences I had. Since perhaps the megaspell explosion over Dise, maybe earlier, I had only maybe a day or two to rest but even with healing potions it was never enough. There was the explosion, the dragon fight, the second explosion with the building falling on me, the frantic fight through the raptor, then everything that happened at the facility in the matter of maybe a week if I were being generous. Or was it more than a week? Honestly everything was flowing together I wasn’t sure anymore.
The main point being is that I was sore. Not just the throbbing in my leg that was impaled, but just a general all over soreness from a thousand wounds across the wastes. There were cuts and scabs and scars all across the body, so many I couldn’t even remember where they all came from. There was a long scar across my back that throbbed when I stretched wrong and I couldn’t remember if I got it fighting Dragonslayer or falling out of the sky after escaping the raptor.
It was all adding up. Injury after injury until I was just in a constant state of pain, so much that it was hard to remember what being healthy felt like. Didn’t half my head always throb? How long had I been limping for? I swear it was longer than my most recent stab wound. The area around my eye itched constantly, and I just had to ignore it because scratching only made it worse. Pain like waves crashing against a seaside cliff, but over time the water wears down even the toughest of rocks.
I took a deep breath, letting the smell of life consume me.
There was no time to sit and count wounds. There was work to be done regardless of anything else. There was something about this place that made that hard to think about. It was so calm, so serene, like a painting designed to remind someone of their childhood home. It felt perfectly innocent, and I was not perfectly innocent. Perhaps that is why my pains came to mind as I walked this quaint little town: the unshakable sensation that I did not belong here.
I was a creature of blood and war. A tool, quite literally, of mayhem and pain. I made myself a catalyst for destruction, and when I die others had assured that destruction would be what was wrought. And looking around this place didn’t look like it would even know what a bullet was if a gun was held to its metaphorical head. How could a place like this even exist? It was so perfect it was starting to make me feel ill.
“Fucking stupid place.” I muttered under my breath. “I hate it.” It wasn’t the truth, but it was enough of one to count.
Before I had the chance to swear more at the dumb city I looked up and saw two figures silhouetted by moonlight starting to head down the street towards me. I will admit it; I panicked. The town had appeared to me to be so haunted that the suddenly figures at night freaked me out, so I dashed into the closest house as quickly as I could being glad it was unlocked so I could hide myself inside without breaking down the door.
I waited for way too long inside the darkened home with my good ear pressed against the door to make sure I was not seen. Eventually I allowed myself to calm down enough to take my ear from the door and actually take a look around.
It was a house alright. My cybernetic eye was whirring in my head as my night vision fired into overdrive for the blackened house. “Pretty.” I muttered to myself walking past a small coat room into a living room of sorts. It certainly looked like a lot of living had been done here.
The entire living room was covered with toys of various shapes and sizes, scattered across the floor haphazardly. There was a larger pile of such toys near a toy box in the corner, but most seemed to have missed actually going into the toy box. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the state of the room as I looked over the toys to see if there was anything there that Serenity might like, but most of the toys seemed to be made for kids who were a bit younger than her. Though, my eyes fell on a bookcase near a rocking chair that didn’t seem nearly as scattershot or juvenile so I walked over there.
Unfortunately, more of the books were not the sort Serenity would like. They weren’t all childish like the ones Wildfire used to help me learn to read way back when, but none of them were technical manuals for cybernetic designs, so I doubted Serenity would have much interest. I was about to turn away from the bookcase completely until I saw it. Bound in black with simple white lettering, and clearly newer than anything else on the shelf.
The Book of Littlepip.
Without a second though I tore the book from the shelf and tore through the pages. That mare was my hero, I used to listen to DJ Pon-3 talk about her everyday when I was in Marefort where I could still get the signal. I knew she was doing great work, but I never expected she’d have a book. As I flipped through the pages I skimmed and saw stories I heard about over the radio, only more real. More details.
I read quickly about the train crash outside of Appleloosa, about the dragon fight (even skimming it I could see her dragon fight went a lot more smoothly than mine own), how she escaped the clutches of Red Eye. It was all here in black and white, every detail, every thought, every mistake and every moment of glory. I barely had a chance to see but I could tell it was all in stark gritty detail, the type I’d never expected.
It made her real in my mind. Before she was something of a mythic figure, a story I heard from far away who did all these great deeds but it was different to see how she felt about them. I skipped to the end where she performed her greatest deed of all, bringing back the sun, only to find her physically exhausted and racked with conflict. There was something about those emotions that brought her down to my level, that took her from the mantle of hero. I thought briefly of taking the book and showing it to Platinum Haze to see if maybe it made Littlepip a bit less of a villain in her mind, but I decided against that.
I was so engrossed with the book I didn’t notice another pony enter the room until they flicked the lights on.
“Ah!” I gasped and dropped the book on the ground.
“Eeeek!” The elderly mare shrieked as well, seemingly startled by my own gasp.
“Oh.” She caught herself when she noticed my bloody bandaged leg. “You’re hurt… oh my…” The mare was a short yellow mare with a mane that was somewhere between grey and pink and reached the floor.
“Uh. Sorry. For breaking in,” I said with a half smile. “I uh… I’m not from…”
“Who did this to you?” The mare seemed shocked at my wound, but I couldn’t figure out why. She rushed right over to get a closer look and shake her head. “What ruffians… oh dear… you need to uh, come with me. This way. I’ll fix you up.”
She trotted her way out of the living room and just sort of expected me to follow. Which I did because she was being really nice and it was refreshing to have someone who didn’t want to kill me, or expect something from me. She was just nice, with no string attached.
I found the kitchen area to be a lot less chaotic, with only a few dishes that still needed to be washed, and no toys to be found anywhere. She gently pointed at a cushion by the table and dutifully I sat as I took in my surroundings. On the counters, and on the walls were pictures. Some were of her with some friends, others were with her and gaggles of children. One was oddly with her and a statue of a tiny rabbit. There was a story here, I was sure of it.
“What happened to you?” She asked as she inspected the wound more closely. “Oh dear… did… it did.” She said looking at both sides of my leg. “How are you still walking?”
“I’m good at walking. One of the few things. You know. I’m good at.” I winced as she prodded at the bloody bandages. “And it was… a long story.”
She looked me straight in the eyes. “What happened? You can tell me.” I felt almost compelled to answer her for some reason before she looked away with a blush. “If you want…”
“I did something stupid.” That was not a lie, in fact it was possibly the most truthful thing I had ever said. “Very stupid,” I clarified.
Slowly the mare unwrapped my bandages with careful precision that I didn’t expect from a… oh, she was a Pegasus. I hadn’t noticed that before on account of every other Pegasus I know flying constantly. “It’s fine. We all do stupid things,” she said absentmindedly. “You can tell me.”
“I’d rather not think about it.”
“You have to,” she fully unwrapped my hoof and took out a washing kit and started to clean my wounds. It stung, but I didn’t let it show. “it’s the only way to… uh, heal.”
I looked away from the mare and didn’t say anything. I had enough things to think about, I didn’t need to think about not thinking about them. I was tired of getting chastised, even by these really nice ponies.
“I know it hurts,” she said, her cloth finishing its work as she took out a little suturing kit, starting on her work sewing the ends shut. That stung even worse than the cleaning, but I just gritted my teeth and powered through. “But you can’t hide from the stuff that happened. It follows you, doesn’t matter how far or how long you run eventually it…” Her voice cracked and she took a deep breath. “if you ignore it, it gets worse. You need to confront what happened, accept it, accept that it hurts. It’s the only way to… move on. It’ll still hurt, but not as much. Time heals, if you let it.”
“It hurts…” I said slowly. The passion from which the mare spoke was almost heartbreaking. I could tell she was talking from experience. “I lost family. Friends… my daughter…”
“I’m sorry,” she said as she started closing the wound on the back of my leg, this time I did gasp in pain and wince. “It hurts… I understand. I lost… my best friend… I’m still sad when I think about her. She saved my life… but I had to move on. I had to live. For her memory. So I stopped running, I confronted the feelings, and that let me heal. It never feels good thinking about what happened, but I can smile thinking about her now. The good memories we had. The pain doesn’t go away, but it becomes… acceptable. The hole doesn’t fill, it becomes a scar, and scars fade even if they never really go away.”
I looked up at her, with tears in my eyes until I wiped them away. “I don’t know how… I’m scared. To think about her. Them. My mistakes.”
“I am too,” she said with a sigh, pulling a healing potion from her shelf. “There’s no easy answer. But you need to accept it… I… I don’t know if it’ll help you. But I held a funeral for her, years after she died. It helped me move on. And my mistakes… they haunt me, and everyone really.” I didn’t understand what that could mean. “Nothing will make them okay, but I vowed to do better. I can’t forgive myself, but I can do good with what life I have left. It won’t make up for the mistakes, but it’s a reason to keep trying.”
It made sense in a way, perhaps she had the right of it. I had been running from my past for so long, I had been lying to myself, denying myself, all to forget the people I let down, and what did it get me? I just let down more and more people, I just made more mistakes. I needed to stop, to accept. Maybe when this was all over I would have a funeral for Wildfire and Foundation. Finally give them a rest they deserved. It hurt to think about it, but I think they needed it, and I needed it. Then I could make amends for my mistakes for Karkhoof and…
“Oh… oh dear. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“I’m not.” I wiped my eyes. “It’s just… thank you.” Maybe I just needed someone to tell me how to move on. I always heard people say you had to, but I never understood what it meant until now.
“Oh, okay.” She gave a smile as she started to pour the healing potion onto my wounded leg. “I’m glad I could… oh my.” Her eyes with wide at the way the healing potion glowed when it touched my wound. Then for reason I still couldn’t comprehend she started to hum something under her breath until the healing potion was gone.
I looked down at where my wound once was and found… nothing. The barest hint of a scar, but the wound itself was far gone. Confused I stood to my hooves and felt. Fine. Perfect. For the first time in a long long time I didn’t feel sore or tired. There was no pain in my back, my head wasn’t throbbing. I felt. Perfect.
“Hah... pfft.” I started laughing uncontrollably as I stretched out and found my body didn’t have kinks or cramps. I jumped up and down in place to find the impact didn’t rattle anything in my skull. There was nothing, just… “How! How did you!”
“Oh. I’m very good with healing potions,” she said, but even she seemed a bit unsure. Though her cutie-mark was glowing, so maybe it was some sort of weird magic thing. Her cutie-mark which was… three pink butterflies? How was that possible? I knew that symbol, every pony in equestrian knew that symbol, it was the symbol for the medical boxes pretty much everywhere. “I helped invent them.”
“What.”
“You don’t know me?” She looked genuinely confused, but I really did not. “I… you must be from far away. I thought you had… I’m sorry, that sounds so arrogant of me…”
“No, I don’t how did you make me feel so…” The room suddenly started to spin. “So.”
Spinning faster and faster and faster until it suddenly stopped in place. It was still there, the elderly mare, the kitchen everything but it was fuzzy. Out of focus. I could see the mare’s mouth moving, and I could hear something, but it was so muffled, so indistinct that I couldn’t make out the words. Like she was screaming from inside a house a mile away. I knew it was important, something I should have paid attention to, but I couldn’t. Then it all turned to black, and the world was gone.
---
I opened my eyes to see sharp white walls in an archaic pattern rising around me, and the sharp smell of dust and mold and decay all around me. It was a far cry from the smell of grass and trees and cleanliness that I had in my dream, but it was something and I was alive. The mare. Thistle. I had thought she killed me, that it was all a dying dream, but somehow I found myself alive, and in Simple Heart’s room.
I slowly stood to my hooves and… and. And felt nothing. I looked down at my leg that was stabbed and found it to be healed, as completely as possible. And I wasn’t sore. The pain that had surrounded me for so long was gone. I felt… good. Stronger than I had since… since before I could even remember. The dream was real. It was… how…
Now my head was hurting. Throbbing just thinking about the implications of what this mean. Everything that happened. Had it truly happened? It must have. Because when I passed out I was suffering from so many wounds, on top of my heart near exploding, and now I was fine. “Magic.” I almost laughed as I looked around the room I was in. Simple Heart’s chamber. I remembered the spell that was implanted in him and corrected myself. “Megaspells.”
Then I realized what I was even here to do and started to dig through my bags in a panic, only to realize it wasn’t there. The orb from the tunnels. It wasn’t in my bag it was... there. I saw it on the floor, free from the shield haze had built for it, in the centre of the room where Simple Heart was. Only. Simple Heart wasn’t there.
To be fair he was invisible most of the time, but I knew here wasn’t there for a certainty. When he was there before my shoulder burned like it never had before, but now there was nothing, not even a whisper. Whatever I did, I had unleashed him. Or perhaps, he was just sleeping. It didn’t matter, I had to let him know I completely my end of the bargain on purpose so I took a piece of paper out of my bag, and wrote on it with one of Serenity’s crayons. I could read fine, but my writing still left something to be desired:
‘I KETP THE DEEL. YOU O ME.
SLIVER SORTM”
Eh, close enough.
I left my expertly crafted letter in the middle of the room and… assessed my options going forward. The biggest problem was that I didn’t know how long I’d been out, and there was nothing I could do until I had that information. I wondered briefly why my friend wasn’t speaking to me over the intercom, but I remembered quickly that it was simply not possible in this room. So I had to go outside the room.
Where the Alicorn might be waiting.
That… thing was beyond terrifying. Without so much as a sweat she was able to nearly kill me, and there was little I could do about it. If I ever had to see Thistle again I could only pray that it was through the scope of Subtlety.
Still, I couldn’t wait in that bloody megaspell chamber for the rest of my life, so I moved to the exit and opened the door, just a crack. I peered outside with my cybernetic eye, knowing full well that if she was there at all the warnings and indicators my eye had would be flashing off the charts. But there was nothing there, silence and stillness, and the never ending sense of uneasiness. Deciding that victory belonged to the bold I flung the door wide and jumped through, my mouth on Subtlety’s bit, just in case.
Silence, for a good minute before a voice spoke over the intercom. ”You have returned! We were worried you were dead.”
“I’m hard to kill,” I grunted, my eyes scanning the hallway in front of me for anything moving. “How long was I out?”
“Six hours.” I winced and let out a groan. “Things appear to have not gone well for your friends, would you like an update?”
“Yes.” I started down the hallway, my hoof falls echoing around me. “I have people to kill. Point me at the best one.”
---
The situation was worse than I could have imagined. The AJ Rangers were betrayed by members who pretended to defect, and their assault was cut short when stragglers from town hit them from the rear. They were forced to retreat further into the facility. They were currently barricading themselves in a large room, but according to the voice it did not look like it was going to hold much longer. However, I had a much worse problem on my hooves.
Serenity was in the facility. When the AJ Rangers were being betrayed, Serenity, Haze and Flare’s brother snuck into the facility, most likely to warn me, but got caught up in events. They had managed to meet up with the AJ Rangers, but were currently surrounded by Steel Rangers who were trying to break into where the AJ Rangers were hiding. Flare and my brother did not fare much better; they had been captured by the Watchers and were being held in a giant prison cell somewhere near the bottom of the facility.
All this I managed to pry out of the voice as I crawled through the back tunnels of the Facility, and formulated my plan. I came up with Seven steps to escape.
Step one.
I slid out of a wall near the large chamber where my friends were being held. For whatever reason there were only two ways into that room, the front door and an elevator shaft with only one other exit for some reason, and that exit was much further down and I simply did not have the time to take that detour. So I had to go through the front door. Which was currently being besieged by Steel Rangers.
This is all leading to step one, don’t worry.
I knew the Steel Ranger disposition, they had ten Rangers trying to break through the wall into the chamber where the remaining AJ Rangers were waiting, while the rest went in teams looking for alternate routes in, or were resting. Now, I couldn’t fight ten at once, and I wouldn’t have to. I just had to be right.
Around the corner I could hear the Rangers talking. “Where is Blackwater anyway?”
“Looking for Hired Gun,” a second voice replied. “Alone. I think she’s obsessed.” It was good to know I was driving some ponies insane, especially if it was Blackwater herself.
“Better her than me,” the first one said, “Did you hear what happened to Bean Burrito in the elevator?” It was time to disappoint the poor pony.
I turned the corner to face hallway the Rangers were in. On the far end, up a set of three steps was a large set of metal double doors that were painted pink and green in strange patterns. Parts of the doors and walls showed signs of smoke and damage from explosions, yet the wall did not break which was… creepy to say the least. I could study the door later, I had to finish step one.
“Who is that?” One of the metal assholes turned to see me standing there. “What the hell?”
More turned to look at me as I stood completely still just smiling at them.
“It’s fucking Hired Gun!” one yelled in surprise. It was good to know I had fans. “Get her!”
I turned and ran as the bullets started flying. They were quicker on the draw than I expected and had I not had that timey-wimey healing potion I most likely would have added a few more holes. What it did mean, however, was that I was unable to get a good count of how many of the idiots I was able to attract.
I heard the thunder of their metal suits giving chase so I had to hope I had drawn enough away. I tried to look back but another bullet whizzing past my ear convinced me to look straight ahead and turn as many corners as possible. I knew where I had to go, it was just a matter of getting there.
My eyes spotted the sign as I turned a corner in my frantic run, and I made a sharp turn. The room I had entered was a meeting room of sorts once, dusty chairs and tables were scattered around collecting spider webs faces a broken down projector screen. It was almost sad if it wasn’t perfect. I gave my followers a second to follow me into the room before I turned to face them, my eyes glancing at the three different exits to the room not including the one they followed me in.
“Blackwater wants her alive,” someone in the chaos was saying as they stormed into the room, but a few bullets started flying so nobody listened to that voice of reason. Not that it mattered.
Step Two.
I unleashed a gout of flame across the room. The walls and ceiling were not flammable, but the tables chairs and everything inside took to the fire like so much kindling. Fire wouldn’t stop the Rangers, but it’d work as I bolted out the nearest door letting the room behind my fill with smoke and soot. I don’t even think they saw me leave by the way they were shouting at each other.
“Where’d she go?”
“This way!”
“Find her!”
Perfect. At that point it was easy as cake to slide back into one of the side tunnels and go on my way, leaving the Rangers behind me confused and off center. I still had to move quickly, however; my feint wouldn’t last long, and it was certainly possible that they were already heading back or had called more people to try and find me, as I knew for a fact most their forces weren’t there. But it didn’t really matter, as when I started moving quickly through side tunnels, my path illuminated by lights, a voice said:
“It appears to be working.”
Well that was good, because it was time for Step Three.
I burst through a wall right beside the two remaining Steel Rangers guarding the door. They barely had the chance to register before I rushed past the nearest one to stab my leg-sword into the second ranger’s knee with as much force as I could muster. It must have gotten through the armour because the pony lets out a muffled scream.
The second pony moved in to attack me from behind but I shut them up with a quick buck from my hind leg, followed by a shotgun blast from the same leg. Their head jerked back as they fell to the ground blood, leaking through cracks on their mask. They were twitching, so I think they were still alive, for now.
“Fuck!” the Ranger I had stabbed screamed, way too loud. “B-Blackwater. Is looking for you, she’s going to—”
I pulled my sword leg out of the first rangers leg and quickly back hoofed them with my metallic leg with a thick clunk of metal on metal as their head snapped around.
“Shut up,” I growled.
They dropped to one knee as I reared up and brought both hooves down on their head.
“And stay down,” I spat out on the chance they were still alive. To be honest that whole attack could have gone a lot worse if there was more than two Steel Rangers, or I hadn’t had the chance to heal, or if I didn’t have the element of surprise. I mean, I still would have won without all that in my favour.
Probably.
Either way I walked over and calmly knocked on the strangely impenetrable doors. “Hello? It’s me. Hired Gun. Open the door. Please.” It was the most polite I had been since… well ever. So I was grateful when a voice responded.
“Prove it’s you!” The voice was nasal and annoying, so I knew it had to be the one and only Curly Fries.
“Open the door. Or I’ll break you in half,” I growled, all my politeness washing away. “Serenity is in there. Let me talk to her.”
“Uhhh…” a voice on the other side hesitated so I barked.
“GO GET HER!” I said in my nicest yell as I looked behind me to see if the rest of the Rangers had caught up. Two Rangers I could take, but that lot? No chance, so they had to hurry.
There were a few seconds of pause until I heard a voice, “Uh, Momma, is that you?”
“Hi, sweetie—”
“IT IS YOU! We were so worried! Half the rangers fought the other half and we tried’a find you and the good rangers, but we got stuck and we thought you were hurt or captured or something, what happened to ya!”
“Long story.” One that apparently took years, chronologically, but I didn’t want to think too deep into that. “I need you to open the door, sweetie. I lured most of the rangers away, but they’ll be back soon. I have a plan, but you need to hurry.”
“Okay!” There was some loud talking on the other side of the door before slowly it began to open just a crack, enough for me to squeeze inside.
Inside I saw a gaggle of remaining Applejack Rangers, perhaps fifteen, though I didn’t count. I was too distracted by everything inside being so… so green. It wasn’t as if the walls were painted green, they were sterile white as anything, but green vines crawled along them nearly covered the wall completely in sections heading all the way up to the sloping ceiling. The floor curved gently into a bowl and was covered completely in grass and, in the centre of the room, flowers of all colours. Rising up from the flowers was a small white bed with pink and white flowers growing through the stained mattress.
“A megaspell chamber?” This would have been the third one I had seen, but there could be no mistake about it. The first one I saw I had just come from and burned into my memory, while the second in the bowels of Dise where The Watchers turned unwitting ponies into megaspells I destroyed, but this one was different. It felt, calming, almost. “A megaspell for growth?” I guessed, though why it existed at all I couldn’t say for sure.
“We are unsure.” I hadn’t even seen Platinum Haze walk up to me, though I knew she was in there. As soon as I heard her voice I threw my forelegs around her and kissed her. Perhaps it was a bit sappy, but whatever. “Oh... oh my.” She blushed when I let her go. “We are glad to see you as well, you are looking… well.”
“Feel it too!” I bragged standing up tall, “Some good healing potions is all it took it.” She looked a bit incredulous but smiled nonetheless.
“We are glad you are well. We have been having some… difficulty here. We—”
“Where is my daughter!” Flash, Flare’s brother stormed over looking a bit upset. “I never should have let her go! Where is she!”
“I—” I started to say, but he kept going.
“I can’t lose another one, this damnable war is ruining everything I can’t—”
“Momma will save her.” Serenity said with a grin hopping onto my back. “She saves everyone.”
I ignored the images of everyone who I didn’t save that flashed through my memory and said. “I will. I have a plan.”
“We hope so.” Lemon Cake, who was also there, walked over, her face caked in blood and sweat. “I hope so.” The leader of the AJ Rangers sounded annoyed. “We need to retreat, this is unwinnable, but now we are pushed into a corner.”
“Of course, just let me explain—”
“I am not sure we should put our faith in her,” Curly Fries was saying, interrupting me actually explaining my plan.
“We have to, my daughter is out there and my son is still injured.” Sure enough Rain Dance was there standing beside him, covered in scars and looking unwell. When he saw I noticed him I gave him a little wave and a smile which seemed to brighten his spirits.
“Some random enclave mechanic does not get to dictate our battle strategies,” Lemon Cake explained, “But I agree—”
“With all due respect,” Curly Fries cut in disrespectfully, “she got us into this mess.” I am not sure how he figured that out. I was tired of so many ponies talking over each other so I walked away. I was not a social pony, and this number of ponies was getting on my nerves. And I still had step four of my plan to get through, which wasn’t going to get done if they kept talking.
“Momma, where are we going?” Serenity was still on my back. I had almost forgotten because I was so used to her being there.
“Out.” I reached the other side of the room next to a vine covered section of wall, then turned and bucked it with a loud crunch. The second buck was enough to get the arguing ponies to look my way. By the third buck the wall had collapsed in on itself. revealing a door, and an elevator. Just like the secret elevator in Simple Heart’s chamber.
I coughed into my hoof before speaking up.
“You all are free to argue. If you want,” I growled. “Or. Follow me.” I took a few steps into the elevator and simply waited.
Lemon Cakes was the first to follow, though I did actually have to stop her. “That was just dramatics,” I had to admit. “This elevator can’t hold all your rangers. Not with their armour. Go in groups. At the bottom is a large tunnel. It should have a trolley. It goes to the back of the mountain. But just wait for me there. And once you have everyone down. Destroy the elevator. In case you are followed.”
“And where are you going, that I should trust you?” Lemon Cake asked me, sounding more tired than annoyed.
“Out. I know the way. Just wait for me. I shouldn’t be too long.” I looked over at Serenity and Platinum Haze. “I need you two.”
“My daughter,” Flash said as Haze and Serenity joined me on the elevator. “You never should ha—”
“Probably not,” I said, cutting him off. “She has to be allowed to make mistakes though. She’ll be safe though. Trust me.”
“I don’t,” Flash said as I pushed on the button causing the elevator’s doors to start closing. Nearby, I could see Curly Fries nod his head in agreement, while Lemon Cake looked mostly unsure.
“I’m sorry.” With a creak and a groan, the elevator started going descending. “You don’t have a choice.”
---
“You have a plan, we are assuming,” Haze said as the elevator slowly moved down and I did my best not to imagine the grizzly death that would await me if the elevator broke.
“It has seven steps.” I wasn’t sure if Platinum Haze was impressed or confused by my proclamation so I decided to change the subject before she could say anything. “Do you know a pony named Thistle?”
“We… uh, no?” This time she was confused.
“I met an alicorn by that name.” I watched Haze to try and gauge her reaction, but her face was a mask. “She was working for The Watchers. And tried to kill me.”
Haze gave the barest hint of a frown before turning away from me to stare intently at a wall. “We see.” There was a long pause before she spoke again. “Many of our sisters were lost after mother died. Had Diamond Sky and Sea Breeze not found me, perhaps we too would be would be lost. Without purpose. It was such a change, to lose all sense of direction. Some stayed with Red Eye to complete his… plan and create a new goddess.” Wait, what? “Others wandered. We are unsurprised some were tempted by the Watchers, for their faults they all believe strongly in their cause, and that sense of purpose is… enticing for one who came from Unity we can only imagine.”
“Right.” I think I understood what she was saying. Maybe.
“We would not want to see her injured, we pray that if we run into her again there is time for us to speak with her. Perhaps we can attempt to set her on a better path.”
“Well. She near stopped my heart with magic. So talking might be difficult.”
Haze nodded slightly at this. “A spell all alicorns know well.”
This was around the time Serenity pitched in from her spot on my back (Her leg was still broken, so I didn’t want her walking by herself). “You can do that! That’s cool!” I would disagree on it being cool. “Is it just like. Bwooooah.” I think that was suppose to be the sound of magic. “Urk, ack!” She flopped onto her back with a forehoof over her heart. “Dead.”
“Uh… well, yes, but we do not partake in such spells, as you well know.” Before Serenity could open her mouth Haze continued, “And we will not be teaching you or anyone. We doubt you would have the aptitude, and we are sure you do not have the heart to use it.”
“You don’t know, I might’a, you know for emergenc—Ack!” The elevator we were on jolted to a stop when I hit the emergency brake button. It was a bit more recoil than I expected, and I nearly lost my balance too. “Wassat all about?”
“This is our stop,” I said, prompting Serenity to look befuddled at the closed door in front of me, then back to me. “Trust me,” I said releasing my sword from my leg and stabbing it into the crack of the door and prying it open revealing… well, a wall.
“Dear, we are worried this place is taking its toll on you again.” First of all, that was impossible because I had lived up to my end of my promise to Simple Heart, and besides I hadn’t felt anything like that since I… woke up from my dream thing. And secondly, a light on top of the panel told me.
“Hired Gun is correct,” a voice said over the intercom. “This is the stop we pre-arranged with her I—”
“Momma, why is the crazy voice talking to us?”
The voice over the intercom seemed a little insulted. “We… what? We understand we may have appeared that way but I am perfectly… sane. Mostly.” As sane as a soul attached to a computer could be. “I have come to an agreement with Hired Gun. For now, we are partners.”
Haze and Serenity were staring at me so I waved off their concerns with an “I’ll explain it later.” Before turning around and giving the wall a good buck. It took a few but the wall opened up and light shown through revealing a hallway on the other side. “Besides, it is time for step five,” I continued.
“Can we trust it?” Haze asked as I squeezed myself through the hole in the wall that I made. On the other side, I used the larger space available to work, making the hole large enough for Haze to fit through too. “As we understood it when last you were here it took great pleasure in taunting you.
“I would not say pleasure,” the intercom protested as I finished working on the hole. Just in time too, because just after Haze made her way through the elevator started to head up.
“War makes strange bedfellows,” I tried to explain.
“And we are at war?” Haze didn’t seem so sure.
“What else do you call it?” Sure it wasn’t a conventional war, it didn’t have trenches or tanks, or clearly defined sides, but it was still a war no less deadly than the one the NCA was waging against the minotaurs. And if it wasn’t considered a war yet, it would be soon.
“We see. We wonder if it must be.” No doubt Haze did not want to participate in a war, which made sense to me. As opposed to killing as she was, and considering the violence she escaped up north. Still, I couldn’t control the facts.
“This way.” I started down the hall before doubt or indecision from Haze’s words could sink in. There wasn’t time to second guess goals, motives, or actions. It was time for decisive action, and those things could be sorted out after the fact.
The halls we were in were once used to school the children of workers in the Facility, that much was easy to determine given the children’s drawings on the walls, and formerly bright colours. Now it was the home base of a large portion of the Watchers currently inhabiting the Facility, by Baptisia’s count no less than twenty, but possibly more. It was more than I could reasonably take out on my own, so it was a good thing that it wasn’t part of my plan.
“Serenity, Haze. Do the thing.” Haze looked confused for a second until Serenity placed her sound-proof magic over me, which prompted Haze to turn us invisible. The burning in my shoulders from the two spells was enough to make me breathe heavily through my teeth, but it didn’t slow me.
A few right turns later and we saw some of them. The Watchers were not expecting anything from the way they acted. Beds had been drawn into the hallway for ponies to relax on (none were sleeping I noticed) and there were a few coolers filled with Sparkle Cola the Watchers drank liberally from. They chatted noisily to each other; even the guards were paying more attention to their conversation than watching the hallway we were coming from.
Not that I suspected any less. The Watchers were not a military organization, ostensibly they were something of a charity, and I wondered if those loyal to it knew how deep their corruption ran. I could justify hurting Steel Rangers, they had a choice, one with clear defined sides, and their decision involved burning a town to ash.
These Watchers though were blameless. Unlike Dragonslayer, they had no idea about the true machinations of the path they followed. If they were in my way I would have to move them, but I am not sure if I could ever justify it to myself. They truly though they were bringing order to a chaotic world with no clue their actions helped cause the chaos. Perhaps that was the greatest evil The Watchers committed: convincing innocents to do evil on their behalf.
I turned left down a hallway past a group of idling Watchers who were discussing the rain we’ve been getting lately. The back hall I was in was just as colourful as the others, but more empty. Baptisia had informed me the main hall and the classrooms on either side were used, but other parts of the school area were completely empty at least. For the most part.
Another right later and there was a single bored looking pony who seemed to be fighting off sleep. Not asleep though, which was a problem. I felt bad for what I had to do.
With a swift kick to the throat, so he couldn’t scream, I sent the poor stallion to the floor with a gasp for air. He clutched his throat for a second before I pinned him with both hooves and took out pieces of cloth from my bag. With a smaller piece I created a bridle wrapping the cloth around and inside his muzzled, then behind to shut him up. The second longer pieces of cloth I used to tie his legs up. I used Serenity’s help with the knots, but it took less than a minute for him to be complete incapacitated.
The door behind him wasn’t even locked, and I whispered a soundless sorry before stepping over him and closing the door behind me. Once inside I tapped on Serenity’s and Haze’s shoulder to signal they could turn their magic off for a second, I didn’t want to overwork them.
“We see you did not kill him. We are wondering why this is,” Haze said once the magic fell. I ignored her for a second to take stock of the room. It was a fairly safe office, seemingly timeless. A large desk with a terminal took up very little of the space, as most of the room was covered in bookshelves and, well, books. It must have been a teacher’s officer, or the overmare of the schools I reasoned given its size and shape, though I did wonder why an office like that needed a large gun case in one corner, but who was I to judge.
“Should I have?” I said, sizing the gun locker up with a glare. It had a sturdy looking lock on it, but was it sturdy enough?
“We are at war, are we not?”
With a heavy clang the lock shattered under my hoof as I turned at Haze pointing my offending hoof accusingly, “What are you trying to prove?” I asked harsher than I had intended. “I didn’t start the fight. I didn’t kidnap myself and put a bomb in me. I didn’t kill innocents. Kidnap foals. Practice necromancy. I didn’t start this. I am reacting to it. I am putting an end to it.”
“We understand.” Haze didn’t betray a hint of emotion. “Yet you speak of war as the inevitable conclusion to these actions. We notice you have been gathering allies. This worries us, and we worry about what it is you are planning.”
“What do you think?”
“We think you mean to combat The Watchers in a battle. We suspect you plan to use the resources here, as well as your allies, to launch an assault on Dise, uprooting all who disagree with you before you intend to rebuild.”
“Of course,” I spat back.
“Then what makes you different than the Watchers you so loathe?”
“What.” There was venom in my voice. I took a long deep breath to try and do something about the fire burning in my skull from that accusation.
“You protest the collateral damage The Watchers have caused, and we do not dispute this. However, your counter-plan is to cause even more suffering of innocents. In war, innocents always get hurt. We cannot stand idly by and not question an action that will cause such harm to others.”
“Don’t you compare them to me again.” I couldn’t even look at her. I had to turn away, back to the gun case. “After everything they did to me.” I could feel the fire in my veins, the flames they put there and everything it represented. “After what they did to Serenity. After everything you dare compare them to me? I am trying to save the city!”
“So are they. Violence is not—”
“Violence is the answer!” I said too loudly once more. “Against Clean Cutt. Against everyone who knows what he did. I don’t want to hurt anyone else. But I can’t let him win.”
“Is this about peace, or you winning? Is this about safety or victory? If it is a peaceful city, a safe city, that is the end result you want, then there might be other ways to achieve it. However, if your end result is death and destruction to those who have wronged you, then we cannot stand idly by and warn you that this path is not wise, and we—”
“It’s what has to happen.” I was still seething on the inside, and it was all I could do not to shout. How could she compare me to those monsters? “You don’t want to hurt anyone. Fine. Be a pacifist and let nothing change. I won’t watch The Watchers win. Never.”
With a sigh Haze kept going. “Hired, I am just trying t—”
“I don’t care.” I wasn’t going to let her compare me to them. No matter her motives.
“You guys don’t gotta fight,” Serenity said from my back. I had almost forgot she was there.
“We are not fighting,” Haze said trying to calm her down.
I was less helpful. “Yes we are,” I growled, opening up the gun locker I had kicked earlier. There were at least a dozen different weapons inside, with ammo to spare. I grabbed what I could and threw them into my back before heading to leave. “Let’s just do this. We can… talk later.”
“Momma…” Serenity did not seem as sure as I was.
“Just do it.” Without another word from either of them two different magic fields enveloped me and I continued on my way with Haze following me. At least I assumed, considering I was invisible. There was too much work to do to get bogged down arguing. I had to move forward.
There were a few more back hallways until I was close to the entrance to a locker room. The trick here was that the Crimson Hoof was being kept in the back part of the school’s gymnasium, and so there were multiple entrances into it, and not all were going to be heavily guarded. The Watchers weren’t military, after all, and they had no idea we were anywhere nearby, so they had no reason to be on guard.
Sure enough there was only one pony guarding the locker room door. Lacking any more cloth to tie the pony up, I did the next best thing. While invisible I grabbed their head and slammed them back into the wall behind them smashing their skull and leaving them lying motionless on the floor. They weren’t dead, probably. With a spiteful kick I went on my way through the door, well aware of platinum Haze’s glare.
I stormed through the locker room, barely giving it a second thought until I reached the other side of a room full of showers. I stopped at the door at the other end, ignoring someone tapping on my shoulder to get my attention. I didn’t have time to stop and chat though. I had a plan to finish; one step at a time I would get to my goal.
I opened the door slightly, peeking through the crack. The lights were off inside for the most part, save for a few candles in the far corner. It seemed nobody was guarding the prisoners directly, which they probably should have. I wondered how often it was The Watchers even took prisoners, at least officially.
Opening the door fully I slipped into the darkened gymnasium and made my way to the light. It was illuminating the side of a set of pull out bleachers, and from what I could see there was something leaning up against the opening. As I got closer, my suspicion was confirmed, a metal fence had been dragged from somewhere and attached to the side of the bleacher, and inside the bleachers were the ponies I sought.
Flare was pacing with pack and forth, and I got the feeling if here were there for just a few more hours he would have worn a groove into the floor. Moon Dancer was thankfully no longer passed out and was instead lying on the floor watching Flare pace. A little more than a half dozen other ponies were also there, all that remained of the Crimson Hoof in the facility. Not a good sight by any means, though my brother seemed more annoyed than downtrodden.
He seemed even more annoyed when Platinum Haze dropped her magic from around me. “Silver!” His voice echoed in the cavernous hall. “What are yo—”
“Quiet,” I admonished him, pacing up and down the length of cage to judge how it was attached. From the looks of it metal rivets were drilled into the side of the bleachers, and into the ground on base plates. “How did you get captured?” I asked, leaning against the side of the wire cage, feeling it bend against my weight. It was unlikely that anypony could break through these wires without tools, and it’d take even me a while to tear the wall off with sheer strength.
“Oh, the usual way,” Flare said with a sly smile. “We got surrounded. All part of the plan though, eh?”
“Step six, in fact,” I replied releasing my sword from my leg and jamming it into a hole in the mesh.
“What are you doing?” my brother asked, trying to mask his annoyance as those who followed him looked on.
“Rescuing you.” I pressed all my weight into the blade, and with all my muscle and mass my blade shattered through the mesh all the way down to the ground. “Rescuing them,” I said, pulling my blade out of the floor and retreating it back into my leg.
“She means us,” Flare said.
“I’m happy she’s saving us,” Moon Dancer said with a smile. “I had just the worst dream,” she said, more cheerful than perhaps she should.
“Yeah.” I pulled part of the fence back giving those inside enough room to squeeze through. “Are you okay?” I asked her, remembering the dream we had shared before I ripped out of it not hours before. Someone so young should never have to go through something like that, but nobody stayed young forever.
“Fine,” she said, ducking her head and squeezing through the gate. I think she was lying, but with her it was hard to tell.
“Did you make the deal?” Flare asked as he passed by me, but before I could answer he stopped to muss up Serenity’s mane with a hoof. “Keeping your momma out of trouble?”
“Tryin’a,” Serenity giggled, “but you know her.”
“Oh, I do.” Flare trotted by, waving his wing at Haze who gave a meek reply. The look on his face told me he knew something was wrong there, but he was kind enough not to ask about it.
“We have a deal,” I explained to Flare before motioning to Serenity. “Could you carry her? Step seven of my plan is dangerous.”
Flare lifted her up with his wing and ignored her whining. Someone had to carry her, though; her leg was still broken and in a cast, so she could walk, but running might be required soon.
“Seven parts,” Summer Silk said to me as he and his remaining forces squeezed out of their cage. “I am surprised you can count that high.” At least he took time in our years apart to grow up.
“You know,” Flare said with a smile, “me and your brother have a lot in common; we both love teasing you.”
“Uncle Silk is okay. He said he was sorry about shooting you.” With a magic bullet. From space. “He just didn’t know how to say it.”
“What, I—” Silk stuttered, looking awkwardly at his posse, who were smirking at each other in the dim candle light. “Ahem. We will discuss this later, Silver.” No, we won’t. I had nothing more to say to him.
“Worry about it later.” Without waiting for any more witty comments I opened up my bags and took out the treasure trove of guns I had stolen earlier, giving one to each of the Crimson Hoof and to Flare. “I have a plan.”
“Momma’s plans are the best!” Well at least someone believed in me.
I walked towards a far wall. “Someone bring the candle.” My group of rescued ponies (who were a lot more agreeable than the last bunch) followed me. One even brought the candle like I asked. “On the other side of this wall is a tunnel. It leads to a long ladder. Down three floors. Then we are going to follow some lights. It’ll lead to an elevator. Then to a tunnel. Then a trolley. We’re meeting some friends. Any questions?”
“Why are you telling us all this?” one of the Crimson Hoof asked.
The real answer was because the last group was so ornery and unwilling to listen, but before I had the chance to say that more diplomatically one of the other members of the Crimson Hoof spoke up. “Why didn’t you come in through the hole-wall-tunnel?” a younger looking mare asked.
“It’d be loud.” This one I actually did think about. “If you’re going to make noise, do it during the escape,” I explained as I detached the gas canisters off my flamethrower and placed them on the ground next to the wall. The wall itself wasn’t that tough, I probably could have broken it with my hooves. But that’d be loud too, and take longer, so I was taking the easier way. “Everyone back up.”
“Momma, is this a good idea?” Serenity asked from Flare’s back.
I took aim at the canisters with Subtlety from half court. “When do I ever have bad ideas, sweetie?” Before anyone had the chance to be annoyingly truthful, the lights in the gym suddenly snapped on with a thunk and blinding glare.
Then I heard that voice.
“Helllloooo!” Thistle said in a cheerful voice behind me. “Gosh, I knew it was going to be you—”
BANG. BOOM!
The explosion tore a hole in the wall and spread fire across the wooden floor with such force I had to brace myself for the impact. It was a bigger explosion than I expected, but it tore a hole through the wall that was large enough.
Without missing a beat my brother and his cronies turned around and started opening fire with the guns I gave them. I turned my head around to see Thistle’s green shield surrounding her, the bullets impacting and creating ripples off it as she pretended to yawn. Before the Crimson Hoof even had a chance to reload, their weapons were wrapped in a green glow and thrown from their grasp, the same way I had seen Haze do it so long ago. My brother took a step back, his eyes wide in panic. “I hate this place,” I could hear him mumble.
“Run!” I shouted. Turning to train Subtlety on the Alicorn. “RUN!” My voice was hoarse, and I could already feel my chest tightening, but it may have been from panic rather than the spell. Either way, death was going to come.
My brother and his forces started first, Flare and Haze took a few steps but stopped to look at me. “I’ll hold them back,” I said, firing off a shot of Subtlety. The bullet slammed into her shield with enough impact I could see her grunt from the pressure of keeping her shield up.
“Hired, what are you doing? “ Flare said, but I didn’t have time to respond, firing off another shot at Thistle. I had to kill her before she could get her spell off, it was the only option.
“Momma!” Serenity said, “Don’t leave me again, I…” I looked her straight in the eyes, never wavering. It took only a second for her to slam down and nod. “Momma will be back. Let’s go!” There was no more arguments from any of them, and Flare galloped off through the flames with Haze close behind. There were times to argue, this was not one.
I got them into this mess. It was my idea to go to this damnable facility. And I would be damned if they never got to leave on my account. With a defiant roar I started to bite down on my bit to give her another taste of Subtlety.
I only got halfway before I was covered in a sickly green glow, floating half a meter off the ground. I squirmed in panic as the Green Alicorn grinned sadistically at me from across the court. “They can run,” she declared. “Boss only wants you dead, so be a nice girl and die for good this time, okie?”
Before I had the chance to respond I felt myself get propelled. I spun head over hoof so fast I felt myself about to get sick, but mercifully the spinning was stopped by my body careening into the hoofball net with a sickening crack. Before I even knew what was going on I was on the ground again, covered in debris, with fire raging on all around me, and gasping for breath. My whole body throbbed, and I was sure something was broken.
“Fuck,” I said spitting out blood. “Fuck…” I groaned getting to my hooves trying to aim Subtlety. How could I fight against this sort of magic? Not that I had a choice.
“Mr. Cutt said you might try and help your friends, but gosh I didn’t think you’d attack the nice ponies here.” Just as I got the perfect shot my head jerked back and I gasped for pain. My hoof grouped at my chest in vain as my chest filled with fire. Her horn was glowing. She was doing it again. And Simple Heart wasn’t here to save me this time.
“Sister!” Luckily someone else was.
I was enveloped with a purple field of magic, and sure enough the pain in my chest died down leaving only the regular pain. From the fiery hole in the wall came Platinum Haze, her horn glowing and her face a mask of fury like I had never seen before.
“Not now, sister,” Thistle said cheerfully sending a bolt of pure energy at Haze. To my eternal surprise Haze managed to dodge it by juking left without tripping over her own legs.
“We needn’t fight!” Haze said standing a good yard in front of me protectively. “We must needs speak with you, we believe that we can find common ground. Mother would be most distraught if she saw us now, so please sister!”
“Mother…” Thistle giggled another blast of magic firing from her horn. Platinum Haze dodged this one too, but did stumble to a knee. “Mother never did like weakness, so let’s see who’s weak, okay?” Before Haze could right herself another bolt was heading towards her. Haze got her shield up just in time, but it slowed her and soon enough Thistle was pouring a stream of pure energy into the shield.
“Sis-sister!” Platinum Haze was enveloped in a blinding light from the force of the magic slamming into the shield. I had seen Haze take dragon fire without struggling so much, so to see her knees buckle from the force gave me pause. How much power did alicorns really have? “We do not wish to hurt you!”
“And I don’t feel like giving you a choice.”
But I did want Haze to have a choice. I grabbed a chunk of the hoofball net and threw it with all of my might across the gym. The net slammed into Thistle’s head with a satisfying crack and her magic dissipated in a flash as she let out a shocked scream.
Haze took the distraction and dropped her shield, and in a flash her magic was enveloping the entire room. With a grunt, and multiple layers of magic on her horn she pulled at the walls, and at the ceiling. It took a second, but a second was all she needed. The ceiling started to fall in chunks, pieces of lighting fixtures first, then a whole chunk of the wall started to fall.
“Don’t think I am going to let you—eep!” Thistle had started to cast a spell but was forced to back off when a chunk of ceiling nearly fell on her. “Don’t run!” Thistle pleaded as Haze turned for the tunnel. “I said—ack!—” She backed up to the door, her voice frantic, “Fight me!”
We didn’t. Haze and I fled through the burning hole I created into the veins of the facility as the roof collapsed in on itself in a shower of dust and rubble as we escaped.
We made it a hundred meters maybe before Haze buckled and collapsed onto the ground sweating profusely. “That. Was difficult. We are tired.” She groaned in pain. “I do not like fighting.”
“Yeah,” I said, helping myself under her wing to support her as we continued on. I didn’t want to wait in case Thistle was still following us.
“We need to talk. About… about all this.” Haze said as we stumbled our way half blind through the tunnel.
“Yeah.” I repeated myself. “But not now.”
---
We made our way through the facility, following the path I had laid out before in complete silence. We had to get out of the Facility, and as far as I knew this was the only way. There were a few times as we stumbled in the dark that haze started to say something, but she always cut herself off. She knew it wasn’t the time now, and I didn’t look like I was in the mood. Thistle could still be following us, and if she was, Haze didn’t have the energy to drop a building on her again.
How I hated this Facility and everything it represented. It was a product of the vain and paranoid thinking of the great ‘minds’ of pre-war Caledonia, bred and built on bloodshed and suffering to fight a war they weren’t even sure was coming. It trapped so many people over the years, promising them their wildest dreams before closing the noose around their necks. And here I was once again, chasing the dream.
And who could blame those who entered looking for riches? It had riches. It had enough building supplies to fix broken Dise and make it whole once more. It had weapon manufacturing to fill the needs of any army. It had the technology to create megaspells, and I could personally attest to how that knowledge was despoiled. Like everything Wallkirk touched, it turned to poison in the end, so perhaps it was a good thing I was set to kill him.
I had come here once more to unlock its secrets, but it was all turning wrong. Even my foolproof seven-point plan had turned to ash when Thistle showed up. It was all I could do to keep my head above water, but I was getting closer to getting out. If nothing else, I had kept my promise with Simple Heart, and while it wasn’t the immediate victory I wanted, it was a promise in the future, a small victory I could hold onto.
Eventually we entered the cavernous track at the bottom of the Facility. It was the same as before, I remembered it all well, how we escaped last time on the trolley. There was no trolley here this time, but the dirt floor had enough hoof prints to let me know the others had been here and left. Good. It would be a long walk to the other end of the tunnel, but it would be worth it in the end. Though I had to admit the ticking from my pipbuck that indicated radiation made me more than a little nervous.
“Perhaps we should talk now,” Haze was saying as I helped her along. She had regained some strength after her magical blow out, but she still seemed to be struggling. “It is as good a time as any.”
“What is left to say?” I asked coolly as we limped in the darkness.
“We fear you misunderstood our motives, and we did not want to give you the wrong impression.” Haze sighed. “We were perhaps too forceful. All this… fighting… action, whatever one wishes to call it. It has been hard to deal with, I fear I am not cut out for this sort of thing. So we are trying to explain our intent, putting aside the troubling circumstances.”
“Whatever.” Just being reminded of that conversation infuriated me in ways I couldn’t even express.
“Hired, please don’t do this, we simply want to t—”
BANG
“—alk. Urgh.” In a spray of blood from her chest Haze collapsed onto the ground.
“What! Haze!” Who was shooting? Why? What was going on? I barely had time to think. I remembered the ticking of my pipbuck so I could only pray it would be enough that the first shot wasn’t deadly to Haze, but I couldn’t let them make a second.
In the corner of my eye I saw a glint of metal and I went to pounce but halfway through my charge something fell onto the ground in front of me. There was a spark then a blast of static. I cried out in pain as my eye buzzed in my head. The overlay I had become so used to seeing was buzzing up errors before turning off leaving me in half darkness.
I tried to grab at my eye with my cybernetic hoof, but my leg refused to move. It was holding me up, but it wasn’t responding to my commands. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
A spark pulse grenade.
“Don’t worry Hired,” a familiar voice called, walking out of the shadows towards me. The smirking face of Blackwater greeted me while the rest of her was covered in their thick bulky armour. “She might live. Maybe. I’ve been waiting for you. I heard of your friends’ escape and I knew you’d go this way, same as you did last time.” She sauntered over to me tapping at my pipbuck and ignoring my growls. “And, I can still follow this. Or did you forget?”
“I’ll kill you!” I tried to aim Subtlety at her, but without full movement it was near impossible, not that I had much of a chance, as she quickly pressed the mag release on it.
“How?” She was so amused. “You’re a dog with no teeth, all bark and no bite without your cybernetics. Poor wasteland fool who can’t properly use the technology she never should have been allowed to have. It is my duty to protect the Wasteland from the likes of you, seeking to abuse technology you don’t understand.”
“Is that what you tell yourself? In the mirror? So you can sleep at night.”
“I sleep fine.” She shrugged. “You? I wonder. That’s why I had to come and find you personally. You have been such a fucking pain in my ass. You rally these AJ Rangers against me, you kill my ponies, free my prisoners. Why can’t you stay out of my business!”
“Because,” I growled, the memories of the torched town of timber flashing through my skull, “I’m going to kill you.” Her hoof slammed against my face causing me to recoil. “You’re a disgrace,” I grunted, ignoring the pain. “Your ponies hate you. They follow out of fear. You’re a despot. Delusional. I bet you killed the Elder.” I met their Elder once. He seemed a nice sort.
“Shut up!” she yelled, rearing up to slam too hooves into my chest. I barely budged, though it did sting a little. “That old coot died of old age. Someone had to take his place.”
“A shame it was you.” She slammed another hoof into my face.
“You are such a pain.” She was getting annoyed. Good. I needed her mad. She kicked me again, and again I barely budged. “I am a Paladin of the Steel Rangers, I have led them to glory, troves of technology like we never dreamed, I gave them a future. What are you?”
“I’m better than you.”
She kicked me again, this time I bit my tongue from the impact so it actually hurt, but it meant I got to spit a gob of blood into her face and see her fume. “Do you know why?” I grimaced from the pain of a kick to the chest. “Why people like you always go after me. Why you focus on me. Try to kill me. With dragons.” A kick to the knee almost made me buckle, but I had to stand and bare it. “Alicorns.” Another kick to the face hurt, she was getting angrier. “And megaspells?” She huffed and stopped kicking for a second, letting me taunt her some more. “Why I am the focus of your anger. Your effort. Let’s all kill Hired Gun. Do you know why?”
“Why!” she eventually screamed rearing up a long left hook.
I caught her leg with my good leg, and with what body parts I still had working, used her momentum and my strength to lift her into the air. I spun her above me and slammed her with all the force I could muster onto her back with a bone shattering crack. I stood above her, looking at the shock in her eye as I reared up. Only two good legs, but it didn’t matter; she was about to pay the price for underestimating me.
“Because I am that damn dangerous.”
My hoof came down like lighting. She started to scream out something but it was too late as the sound of her skull being crushed against the dirt. It took two more kicks to make her stop twitching, and by the time I was done I was covered in blood. Her blood.
It should have felt good finally killing that bitch, after everything she did. And it did. I would have done it a dozen times over again if I could, just to see the look in that bitch’s eyes when I was about to kill her. She never even saw it coming.
With a groan I leaned down and rooted through her personal effects, picking up two healing potions before limping my way over to Haze, who was still groaning in pain.
“Are you okay?” I asked leaning down to apply the potions to her gaping wounds.
“No,” she admittedly weakly, her wing fluttering in pain. “I want… I want…” She gasped as I poured the healing potion into her wound. “We want… to go home… to see the foals… the good foals…” There were tears in her eyes. “We don’t want to fight.”
I did. I wanted to go kicking and screaming against all those who wronged me. Against the Steel Rangers, the Enclave, The Watchers. I wanted to see my enemies die. I looked back gleefully at the memory of Roy Mustang falling from that tower. Even in the dramatic death of The Laughing Stallion I felt joy. In the melancholy end of Dragonslayer I smiled even as his ‘son’ cried at his corpse. The blood on my hooves from Blackwater made me giddy. I loved it, and the fact I loved it made me feel ill.
“Me either,” I lied.
Level Up!
Skill Note: Speech: 100!
New Perk: Rooted!: You're part tree! While standing still, you gain +50 Damage Resistance and your melee and unarmed attacks deal 50% more damage.
((A/N: Welp, been a long wait huh? We can chat more about that later, but first the thanks yous. As always there’s the thank you for Kkat as she actually created the world and allowed others to play in it. As well as my editors, TheBSDude, Nyerguds, and MintJulep, without whom you’d be very mad at me for my terrible writing.
Okay, so updates. Not going to excuse the wait, clearly it was too long, but life, man. However, there is good news. I have long said Heroes will stop at chapter 40, and this has not changed, and the astute amongst you will notice that’s only three chapters away [four if you include the mandatory epilogue that is required by an ancient treaty], but fret not as there are only TWO more updates until completion. Chapter 38 will release by itself, but chapter 39, 40 and the epilogue will be bundled together in a single update. So fret not, Heroes will finish.
Also I have this tumblr thing here that I haven’t been using. So if you ever wanted me to do an AMA, well it’s there for your questions and heck I might even answer some. Until next time [approximately 2027] have a happy new year, ~No One~)) |
No One | 662 | 39 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2017-11-20T23:13:47+00:00 | 2017-11-20T23:13:03+00:00 | 9,318 | How to Start a War in Ten Days
“Love is like war: easy to begin, but very hard to stop.”
The world was silent. Too silent if you asked me. Save for the steady shallow breaths of Platinum Haze and the ticking of my pipbuck, I could hear nothing but my own thoughts. I had turned off the light of my pipbuck too, leaving us in the pitch blackness of the tunnel. But we were alone… and safe, at least partially. No doubt the rest of the Steel Rangers were out looking for me, but without their leader I hoped they were in disarray. Clean Cutt was out there too, and his crazy alicorn, but I doubted they would know where I went.
So, for the moment it was just me and my thoughts, and my thoughts were all filled with violence. The violence done to me, to my friends, my family. The violence I had planned for my enemies, for those who had wronged me. It was a beautiful thing, revenge.
It had felt good to see Dragonslayer die, though I wished I could have done it myself. After everything he put me through, after what he did to the Batmare and Pinprick, seeing his bloodied form at my hooves. How could I not smile? But I never should have dragged Serenity into it; he was mine to kill, just as Blackwater was.
Clean Cutt would be the same, and that victory would be all the sweeter. After what he did to me, turning my body into an experiment for his own horrendous plans. After the chaos spread across Dise for his misguided idea of peace. The least I could do was destroy everything he cared about and burn it to the ground around him as he watched. Then I would let him die, but only then. He deserved no less. He could play at being a necromancer or whatever, but even if he could raise the dead as he claimed there wouldn’t be enough left of him to raise after I was done.
I seethed in the darkness, my anger growing at each remembered slight. My shoulder burned with the fire of the megaspell trapped within me. My cybernetic eye throbbed in pain as I remembered the shot that took it, and the pony behind it. My muscles ached, not from stress or strain but from the memory of what I’d gone through. Some days it seemed the whole of the wasteland was against me, a great storm swirling around me begging me to yield, to give in.
But here I was, alive and well. A rock, immovable, no matter how hard they tried.
I had enemies, but that list was getting shorter by the day. And when my vengeance was complete, when I finally got payback I… I wondered if I would have anyone left to celebrate with.
I brushed Platinum Haze’s mane gently with my hoof. In her state it drooped to the ground, no longer flowing and waving as it always had. She would live, I was sure of it. My pipbuck was indicating ambient radiation from something, though I wasn’t sure what. I knew that healed her, and since she was not dead yet she would live.
But what if there was no radiation? What if I wasn’t there to save her? I had spent a lot of time making enemies and I was putting my friends in danger, and I knew I would only be making more before this was all over. Could I truly risk them?
I needed to think, to clear my head. The silence was driving me mad.
I leaned down to kiss Haze softly upon the head, and whispered into her ear, “I will be back. You are safe here.”
I got up and took off the eyepatch that covered my cybernetic eye. All at once the tunnel became alive to me: shaped in shades of green and black. We had walked a while before being ambushed, but I remembered the area clearly as I walked forward. It was not far from where Serenity, Flare, and I first walked through this Celestia-forsaken tunnel. Had it not been for the multitude of fresh hoofprints marking the ground I no doubt would have found our own from that time.
I kicked at the dirt obscuring the hoofprints that covered the tunnel before me. Serenity and Flare went ahead, and if I knew them they were waiting at the tunnel entrance. They were more loyal to me than I deserved. They deserved better than me. I was leading them to their deaths.
There didn’t seem to be a good solution. I had waded so far into the conflict that it was safer to see it through than turn back, but doing so was putting people I cared about at risk. Even ponies like Haze and Serenity who didn’t deserve it. People who wanted no part in the violence, but were drawn into it because of me.
Well, I supposed there was a third option. Making a deal with the Watchers, trying to come to some happy-go-lucky solution, but Clean Cutt made the terms of that arrangement painfully clear. Submit or die. Oh, he said it with a nicer tone of voice, but that’s what he meant, and every word he spoke reinforced it.
Which left me with what?
It seemed that going for a walk didn’t help clear my head any better. I tried to continue my walk in silence, but all that resulted was the ticking in my pipbuck getting louder. Which was generally bad for me, but this was the path we had to go either way so I had to get through it eventually. It didn’t take me long to see what was causing the ticking.
Before me, bathed in a dim green glow, were a series of still broken robots. The same ones I had destroyed here last time, which I knew instinctively because I had torn one of their arms off and beat them with it, and it was that same arm I nearly tripped on as I got close. “Piece of junk,” I muttered mostly to myself as I gave it a kick, sending it skipping across the dirt floor and into one of the broken bots.
The one bot that was intact had a sickly green glow around it. I moved closer to it; the ticking on my pipbuck got faster. On the back of its cylindrical form the back panel was cracked open partially. It didn’t take much to tear the panel off completely and see what was making the glow. A battery of some sort, kinda like the one that powered my cybernetic leg, except the crystal at the centre of this one glowed sickly green. Radiation, obviously.
The blade in my leg easily and ungently pried the battery from its housing, and much to my surprise it continued to glow even when out of its chassis. Which was exactly what I wanted, but I didn’t expect things to go my way. If this was causing the radiation in the tunnel, then all I had to do was bring it back to Haze. Then she would, hopefully be good as new. Hopefully.
---
“Does it hurt?” I asked Haze after the radiation had done its work and she could move again. “The wound I mean…”
“Is that a trick question?” she asked, standing with a slight groan. By now the battery had stopped glowing, and my pipbuck stopped ticking, so maybe it didn’t last as long without the robot as I expected, but it was enough.
“I mean…”
“Yes, we are still wounded, though in comparison to before, the pain is manageable. We are lucky there was radiation about, as we feared we might bleed out without it.”
“Don’t worry she’s—”
“Dead.” Platinum Haze interrupted me quietly, but I knew better than to argue. “We must mourn that poor soul.” Incredulity must have been clear on my face as she continued. “We wonder what it took for her to take the path she did. Nopony would go down such a self-destructive route for no reason. We suspect there was pain in her past.”
It was difficult not to roll my eyes. “Some ponies are just bad.”
Platinum Haze sighed as she started down the tunnel path without me. She did slow down to let me catch up so I could follow, but she stayed quiet for longer than I would have liked. “Perhaps,” is all she said as she left.
Minutes passed in silence.
“So… are we just… not going to talk about this?”
There was at least another full minute of silence.
“Haze…”
Finally, she spoke again, but it was so quiet and under her breath that I couldn’t even hear her, so it was basically the same as not talking.
“Haze!” I said more sternly.
“What do you want from us?” she eventually said, her voice more sad than angry.
“For you to talk to m—”
“What is it thou expect us to converse about?” she said sharply. “You have made your purpose evident enough, and we disagree. What more need be said on such matter? You value violence, and we find it distasteful. We have known this about you from the start, and it has always weighed heavy on our heart, but what can be done about it? We cannot dissuade you from your path, and attempts to do so have failed.”
“Then why come with me at all?” I shot back.
“We…” There was another of those pauses. “We did not come to change who you are; we do not feel that is fair. But it was easier to accept violence when it is over there, a part of a story we were not in. Like that, we could accept it and see the good in you. We were attracted to your strong personality, your defiance in the face of hardship, how you cared for those around you even when you did not wish to show it… but you are right, we should not have come with you.”
“No…” I sighed. “I’m trying though. I really am.” She looked over at me curiously. I got the feeling she didn’t believe me, but wanted to. “This whole plan. Why we came here. I thought if we could tame the mountain. Get the resources inside… with that I thought we could take The Watchers down without firing a shot. They don’t want to be seen as evil. If I offer the city peace on my terms. They would have to accept. Outwardly. Then I could have worked on dismantling them… but then…”
“Everything went wrong?” she suggested. It was a succinct way of putting it.
“I hate failure. But it follows me everywhere.” I seethed thinking about the times I’d been bested, of my many failures and mistakes that had led me to where I was. “I’m a wild animal. When I’m cornered, I do the only thing I know how: I lash out, I get violent.” I kicked an errant rock on the ground sending it careening it into the distance. “Violence is a currency I understand. I’m good at it.
“I am trying. I don’t know how. I don’t know if I can be like you,” I continued, “so serene and good despite… everything. This world only respects violence. Yet here you are. I don’t know how to get there. To not feel hate. To not…” My voice faded, eaten in by the darkness surrounding us.
“Oh my sweet fool, it is not as if we do not feel anger. For so many years we had a hundred sisters’ voices in our head, and our mothers as well, seething at the world around us. Lashing out at injustice, at disrespect. We have been a part of that system, and we have seen what it has done to those whom we cared for. Our dear mother was lost to vengeance and pride, and we mourn her still. It is not as if we do not feel anger. We cannot speak to you what we wished to do to that knave, Dragonslayer, when he kidnapped Serenity, but we choose to rise above it. We choose to become a better us, despite this.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“We have it easy,” she said. “We have the option of avoiding conflicts by simply not appearing, and we have the magical ability to end many without bloodshed… we understand our judgement is not always fair considering these factors. Still, we are… disturbed by bloodshed and violence when it does occur, though we recognize it is perhaps an inevitability.”
“So where do we go from here?” I asked eventually. It felt like a pertinent question. Regardless of any attraction she felt towards me, I didn’t know how our relationship (such as it was) could get past such an irreconcilable difference.
“Forward. We still love you, and we will strive to help you become a better pony so long as you promise to help me become more understanding.”
It felt like a cheap cop out, considering all the differences, but I only heard one thing: “Oh, love?”
She seemed to blush a bit before stuttering out—“Don’t let it get to your head,”—and kissing me on the cheek.
I knew the way out from there, and it was as simple as putting one hoof in front of the other. Though I admit by the time we reached the exit (which was still strewn with debris from our last frantic flight from the Facility) I was about ready to pass out. I wasn’t too sore, but it was a long walk, and I felt like I hadn’t slept in far too long.
The door to exit the Facility was slid open, and as we pushed through I could taste the fresh air on my lips. If I never entered that thrice-damned place it would be too long. I sat outside the entrance and looked up into the sky.
It was clear cloudless night with a full moon beaming across the sky. From this angle, I could see the entire valley below the cliffside where the exit was. I could see every single star in the sky, so many I couldn’t count them all even if I had a hundred years. It was a damn beautiful night, and even more so that I was alive. Alive and ready to move on with what came next.
“Let’s get some sleep,” I said quietly, not wanting to disturb the stark silence of the night. I laid down beside the door and Platinum Haze rested beside me. “I know you don’t sleep much. But you deserve it.”
“We worry that we may be ambushed in the night, so perhaps…”
“Just for a few hours,” I said resting my head on her side and closing my eyes. “Let everything stop for a few hours. Stress and panic can call back later.”
---
I slept and it was good. It was perhaps the best sleep I’ve ever had. I didn’t even dream. It was just nothing, for a few hours, cuddled up against another warm body. I hadn’t realized how much I needed that.
Of course, an alarm had to blare and ruin everything.
I jumped to my hooves, shaking Platinum Haze awake, and looked around with bleary eyes. My real eye was thick with sleep, but my cybernetic one had perfect clarity, which was useful for spotting a flashing red light above the door to the facility. I moved to the door to try and see what was the matter just in time for it to slam shut with a bang that echoed down the valley below.
Platinum Haze walked over beside me. “What is the matter?”
“Nothing.” I muttered moving to a terminal sticking out of the mountainside. “Something must have tripped a lock. I can unlock it.” So long ago I had accidentally downloaded the master key to this place, and that act had caused my life no shortage of pain, but it had its upsides. Just connect my pipbuck to the terminal wait a few seconds and…
-ERROR.-
Okay, that wasn’t normal. I took out the connecting wires, blew on them and rubbed any possible dirt off them before connecting to the terminal again. How could this not work; the entire facility was designed to work with this.
-ERROR.-
“Of for fucks sake!” I slammed my metal hoof into the screen of the terminal, shattering it completely. “Uh, whoops.”
“Darling, perhaps you need to work on your anger issues.”
As I shook the shards of glass from my leg, I gave her a knowing smirk. “What anger issues.”
I assumed her smiling and rolling her eyes was a good thing, though before I got to ask a voice piped out from the mostly broken Console. “Hired Gun, is that you?” a familiar robotic voice asked.
“Uh… yes?” I had almost forgot about Baptisia.
“This is good, we were worried we lost communications as we lack a full communication suite in the unfinished tunnels at the lowest portion of the Facility. It is good you have escaped so you can fulfill your promise.”
Platinum Haze gave me a look that was clear she wanted to know ‘what promise’, but I waved it away and said to Baptisia, “Of course.”
“In the meantime I am afraid I have bad news for you. Someone, we are unaware who, has broken through our security systems. While I maintain control of the autonomous robots, they have changed the security key. Whatever it was you were using to facilitate travel unrestricted is most assuredly no longer functional.” I looked down at my pipbuck and couldn’t help but swear.
“Is that all?” I said trying my best at confidence. “The key is valuable: they will keep a copy close to them. All we have to do is find out where and get it back.” I tapped my pipbuck. “Easy.” I knew it wasn’t, but sometimes confidence helped.
“Then… I will leave you to it, I suppose. When you return, I pray you bring word of your adherence to our bargain.” There was a slight click as the intercom turned itself back off and I looked over at Haze.
“Are you sure you will be able to achieve this?” she asked me. “You sound far more confident than perhaps you should be, considering.”
I gave a halfhearted shrug, “Nothing wrong with raising expectations. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. But for now, we should go.” There was no use staying here and trying to sleep anymore, that was thoroughly ruined.
“Where shall we go?”
It was a question I had thought a lot about during our walk. Our first goal was obviously to link back up with Flare and Serenity, second to see what became of the Applejack Rangers, and third to return to Dise and plan the ousting of the Watchers from the city. I figured the first and second parts would mostly be the same, considering not all the Applejack Rangers participated on the attack in the facility and some stayed in Timber. It seemed the most likely place for them, and thus Serenity and Flare to go. Which meant more walking.
“Timber.” I said eventually stretching out to work off the sleep. “This way.” I sort of knew the way. At the very least I knew my way to lower ground and to the road that connected Bridle Hope with Timber, which was almost certainly the fastest route. “How do you feel about walking?”
“We adore it, of course,” Platinum Haze said as she followed me down the lower ground.
The day was crisp and warm, and just as clear as the night had been before. There was a cool wind blowing around the mountain that brushed across the greenish brown grass and plants and blowing them gently. As we walked everything felt so calm, so peaceful. Compared to the claustrophobia and pressure I felt in the Facility this was a metaphorical and literal breath of fresh air. I could have walked in silence for days, just enjoying the calm.
Which meant I had to go and ruin it by turning on my radio. It had been a while since I had an update from Dise, as getting radio in the Facility seemed impossible for some reason, and I had an insatiable curiosity.
“-continues to blanket the city, so stay safe out there. Remember the three rules of radiation. Stay hidden. Be quick. And drink rad-away.” Mr. New Haygas’ voice sounded a little weak, lacking it’s smooth and fearless tones. It seemed these times weighed on even him. “In other news, the NCR and the Minotaurs have reached a tentative ceasefire agreement, both sides wishing to take care of their sick as it seems balefire radiation has no true master. They have agreed to such things in the past, and with many people in the NCR and elsewhere blaming the Minotaurs directly for the balefire it is hard to believe that this ceasefire will hold. For their part, the Minotaurs claim all knowledge on how to create megaspells was lost to them two hundred years ago, and they could not be the perpetrators even if they wished to.”
“Finally, Dise is still in chaos following the destruction of The Moon casino. What is left of the Mustang organization is in shambles, and it seems to this reporter that they won’t recover from this. Earlier today the remaining leadership of the so-called Revolution has agreed to a power sharing deal with the The Watchers and The Enclave. He sent us this message to play in regards to the agreement.”
“Dise was in disarray.” A voice I did not recognize said over the radio. It seemed Flare’s friend who was in charge didn’t make it through the balefire bomb that took down The Moon. “We, ordinary citizens, not beholden to any gang or faction decided to stand up for it. To fight back. We took down the houses of power and gave them back to ordinary citizens. These gangs of Dise in their high towers starved us and let us die of poison as they were safe and fed. We have given Dise back to the people, and we must understand who stood by us. The Watchers gave food to our families, medicine to our children, and protection to our friends. They are the only true friends of Dise, and when the radiation clears I see two options. Let a new set of murderous thugs hold us down and suck away our life blood, or hold up the Watchers. We will either be a city made by the people, or made to oppress the people. Let us make the wise choice.”
“Now us here at New Haygas Radio don’t like to pick favourites, but we are all hoping for a peaceful solution here. Be safe out there. I’ll let a new track from the north take us away: ready your ears for the sweet tones of Velvet Remedy.”
The song at least was sweet, even if the news was not. If it was true and The Watchers were already beginning to consolidate their power over the city, it would mean… well. I am not sure what it would mean, but I knew for a fact it would make stopping them damn near impossible.
I barely had time to think about it as I heard voices coming from around a ridge as we continued to descend. And the voices I recognized immediately. “Ah’m tellin’ you she’ll come back this way. Like before. ‘Sides, it’s faster.”
“Maybe, but I still think she may have headed straight up towards Bridle Ho-aw shit.” The voices turned the corner and we were standing face to face with Serenity laying on top of Flare’s back (which made sense considering her broken leg). “How did you know?”
“Momma!” Serenity said, her voice reaching a higher register than I have ever heard before. She jumped off Flare and hobbled her way towards me to give me a hug, ignoring Flare’s question completely. “And Haze, you’re okay! We were really worried when the crazy alicorn showed up; how’d you get away?”
“Haze brought the roof down.” I said with a sly smile.
Platinum Haze blushed slightly and corrected me. “We used our magic to create a debris field to block their path, then used the distraction to escape. But only after your mother stunned her temporarily.”
“Ah teamwork,” Flare said, sauntering over. “I can get behind that. Still, I figured you’d be hot on our trail; what took you so long?”
“We met Blackwater.” I said coldly. “And killed her.” It was impossible to ignore the grin on Flare’s face just as it was impossible to ignore the subtle frown on Serenity’s. I scooped the filly up and placed her on my back before continuing. “I killed her.” I didn’t want them thinking Haze was involved.
“For the best; Lemon Cake will be glad to hear of it at any rate.” Flare said staring to lead back down the path. “And Curly Fries too, not that I care about that.”
“We should blame Curly Fries,” Serenity said from my back. “It’s his fault we got stuck in there again.
“Celestia-Damnit, Curly Fries.” I replied with a stiff shake of my head.
---
It was nice to see Flare and Serenity safe and sound, even though I hadn’t been too worried about them. They said my brother and his goons had retreated to Bridle Hope then they had helped direct Lemon Cake back to Timber (as she was new to the area) before doubling back to meet up with us. They even said that if we hadn’t come out by the time they got back to the entrance, they would have ventured forth to find us. Now I could have kicked them for thinking that was a good idea, but I appreciated the thought nevertheless.
The rest of the way down and around the mountain was… peaceful. There is little I could say about it that would be interesting, as it was simply a well-welcomed calm and peaceful time in our generally stormy lives. It wasn’t going to last, and I knew that, but I appreciated the calm.
A few days later, we closed in on Timber, smoke rising once again from the blackened ruined remains of the town. It was a dark and cloudy mid-afternoon, and there was a cool wind blowing up from the south that sent a shiver through my spine. Or maybe seeing the town again did that. Standing on the same hill, it almost looked so like how it was when I first saw it, or at least close enough: seeing its current state made me ill. Yet here I was back once again, repeating the same mistakes over and over…
“I’m surprised they haven’t been attacked,” Flare said from beside me looking down the road at the remains of the town. “Look at their defenses,” he said pointing to a ramshackle barricade that blocked the north and south roads around the building the smoke was coming from. They didn’t look like much; I could have broken through with ease. “And few guards. The Watchers had enough ponies, not even counting the Steel Rangers or the Enclave who remained. And yet, look up.”
I looked up to see plenty of clouds. “At what?”
“Look closer.”
I looked closer and saw the clouds in more detail. “I don’t get it.”
“There’s no Raptor.” Oh! Flare was right. Before the Raptor we took here had parked at the top of the mountain where the old Enclave base was, but now it was just… clouds. “They left: who knows what they came here to get, but they must have gotten it. Probably don’t consider the remains of the Rangers a threat… oooor didn’t know they went back here. Which is implausible. If I were them I would have sent that crazy green alicorn to remove the rest, but hey, leaving works.”
“Didn’t want to risk a fight. The Rangers were never fighting The Watchers. Just other Rangers.” I said starting down the hill towards the town. “We can change that.”
Flare just stared, incredulous, so Haze had to ask the obvious question. “How do you plan to encourage the Applejack Rangers to fight an enemy that thus far has not directly interfered with them, pray tell?”
“I have a plan,” I said with a smirk as I sauntered up to the nearest barricade. “Hello! I wish to speak with Lemon Cake.”
An armored head popped out from behind the barricade, “Who wants to see… Oh! It’s you. Come in, uh, you’ll have to climb over the barricade, you can never be too careful. I think the Paladin was waiting for you.”
That was a promising sign for my plan at any rate, so I quickly climbed over the barricade letting Serenity ride on my back to help her on her way. Not that it was tough to climb over, but Serenity’s leg still hadn’t healed from the crash before and I didn’t want to risk making it worse if I didn’t have to.
On the other side, it was the same burned up Timber I knew so well. Within the confines of the barricades there were about twenty or so AJ Rangers milling about, most sitting around the large fire in the centre of town that was currently cooking… something so black it was hard to guess what it could be. There were a few more ponies that poked their heads out of buildings when we strolled in, upping the numbers to near thirty. After all that had happened, that was far more than I was expecting.
As I walked towards the fire there were murmurs of displeasure in my direction. Apparently, I was a dangerous pony to have around, and one pony seemed to suggest I should be shot. I am not sure where this animosity came from, considering I had only helped them before, even if it had gone poorly.
Near the fire Lemon Cake turned around and laughed; “Hired fucking Gun.” I knew I should have given myself a middle name. “You glorious bitch, you did it.” Now I knew she didn’t like me that much. This was weird.
“Uh…”
“She’s not a bitch!” Serenity said defensively before Platinum Haze hushed her and gave a stern warning about swearing.
“I mean it as a good thing kiddo.” Lemon Cake grinned walking up to pat me on the back. “We heard what you did to Blackwater.” Oh, well that explained it. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer pony. When she died, nearly half of the remaining Steel Rangers jumped ship. There was nobody left to take up her mantle because she apparently tended to throw away anyone who could be a threat.” Rampant paranoia sounded like her.
“Didn’t some ponies who defected turn on you last time?” Flare asked. “I am not sure…”
“Some did,” She admitted, “but they have nobody to betray me to this time. And we took away the weapons from most until we can be sure of their loyalty. Others, well… apparently, some of their families were being held hostage. Most I think were tired of fighting their own… though most of the ponies who turned over are no fan of you.”
“For killing Blackwater?”
“Fuck Blackwater, for killing their friends.” I winced a little at the accusation. “I am not blaming you Hired, but… well… they might. It’s easy to understand what happened in there, in the chaos, and they were after you, but it’s a hard thing to rationalize. They’ll follow me, but I hope it doesn’t hurt your feelings to say they want nothing to do with you.”
“Hardly.” I scoffed. “But I have a proposition.”
Lemon Cake pointed at the fire, “Have a seat, we’ll talk, but we should make it quick.”
As I took a seat I motioned for my friends to do the same, but before I got a question off Flare butted in. “Didn’t you guys just have a war? There was plenty of killing on each side. I saw you blow up like five of them in one go; why is Hired being singled out?”
She shot Flare a deathly glare, but it seemed a legitimate question to me. “Because they understand my reasons, they can sympathize. But her? She’s like a tornado, she goes into an area, wrecks shit, and leaves. Or so I have been told. They think she’s a menace; hard to argue with it.”
“Thanks…” I said, unsure how to take that statement. I mean, Lemon Cake barely knew me, and I wasn’t sure that was the reputation I wanted spreading around. “But it doesn’t really matter. I have a… proposition.” I wasn’t sure what else to call it.
Lemon Cake looked at me coolly but seemed to be waiting for me to continue. So, I did. Of course, before I could even start to explain what I wanted her to do, I had to first explain a lot of stuff leading up to that. Specifically, in regards to The Watchers, what they did to me, and others, and their plans. By the time I was done with my explanation there was a look of disgust on her face.
“Assuming you are telling the truth.” I was, of course. “What would you have us do. We lost a lot of ponies, and even with our recent good fortune we don’t have the power to take on an army.”
“Not what I was thinking.”
“Then you need to explain yourself better.” That was probably true.
“How many Steel Rangers do you think are left in the facility?” I asked. She looked more annoyed, but I was leading somewhere.
“It’s impossible to say. We know that those who don’t wish to join us were looking for an exit, maybe they found one, but it’s impossible to tell. That’s why we’re setting defenses here in the most likely exit. However even if we wanted to venture forth much of the facility is locked.”
“It doesn’t have to be.” I tapped my pipbuck. “I have the key.”
“Bullshit.” Lemon Cake laughed. “Why would I believe that.”
Before I even had a chance to defend my completely untrue statement an unarmoured pony walked over. “Paladin Cake, Knight Buttercup.” She gave a little bow before continuing. “When this mare was… acquired by Paladin Blackwater after we first entered the facility, it was explicitly due to her ability to enter the facility. Her pipbuck has a program that can get around the internal security, but it is unable to be transferred and her pipbuck cannot be removed which is why we captured her. As much as I hate to say it, she is correct.”
“See!” I said pointing at the pony. “I mean, thank you. Uh… anyway.” I redirected my attention to Lemon Cake as the other mare, Buttercup, glared at me. “I can unlock the secrets of this facility just for you. It’s what Rangers want right? Technology.”
Lemon Cake turned to look at the fire to think about what I said, but before she could say anything Knight Buttercup interrupted. “Ma’am, with all due respect, I would not listen to a word she says. Her promises are poison, and she brings death wherever she goes. Just walk away.”
“That is all Knight,” Lemon Cake said, and when the Knight started to talk again Lemon Cake repeated: “That. Is. All.” In a voice was not to be denied. After the Knight walked away sullenly Lemon Cake continued. “What is it you’ll have us do?”
“Protect people.” I said simply. “Stuff is going down in Dise. More when we get there. All I want is for your ponies to protect the town. Parasite Mound. To protect any caravans if they go here for supplies. And possibly supply ponies with equipment or knowledge.”
There was another long sullen silence as Lemon Cake considered this for a long while before speaking up. “This falls in line with our new directive, and what we came down to this Celestia-forsaken part of the world for. We will do this. Probably, but we need more details for what you’re planning.”
“I have other allies.” I said for a start. “The Finishers.” She gave me a really confused look, but I pushed on, “The Baises, an army of Ponitrons. Ponies. They are south in Parasite Mound. We will go ahead. Tell them to expect you. Follow us tomorrow. We will discuss everything then.”
Lemon Cake gave me a long cool look before nodding. “Assuming you aren’t pulling my leg, we’ll go.” There was a long pause as I stood up and started to get ready to leave. There was no point waiting any longer. “Why are you doing this. What’s in this for you?”
Vengeance seemed like the most accurate answer. Either that or spite, which was like vengeance only pettier. Perhaps I should have said I wanted peace, justice, and the Equestrian way, but there was no way she’d believe that. Perhaps it was a hard question to answer because I was unsure of the answer. Eventually I gave the weak response. “Because someone has to,” I said, turning towards the exit of the town and avoiding the glare from Buttercup, who was still lingering around, “and I’m tired.”
She seemed to accept that answer because she didn’t ask anything more as we started to leave the town for what I prayed was the final time. I wasn’t about to get away so quickly as when we started to leave I heard a voice call from behind.
“Hired Gun. Flare. Wait.” I recognized that voice as the one and only Curly Fries.
“Ugh,” Flare groaned, turning to him, “what is it?”
The green stallion strutted forth, brushing back his long pink mane before looking Flare in the eyes. “Thank you.” That was unexpected. “I have not always treated you fairly. Nor have you treated me fairly. But you went out of your way to help us. You risked your family for us. Maybe you had your own reasons, but maybe… maybe I was wrong about you.”
There was a moment of tension as the two of them locked eyes, neither blinking. Eventually Curly Fries continued to talk, but every word made it more clear how hard it was for him to say.
“I don’t know if I can forgive you the things you did in the past. One day you will be judged for those crimes. But you have changed, and you have saved what family I have left. So, thank you… maybe you don’t deserve peace, but regardless I wish you find it in yourself.”
“Curly Fries,” Flare said back immediately and a lot more casually. “I have always hated your stupid fucking face and your ridiculous moustache. But you aren’t a bad pony. Just an idiot.” Curly Fries seemed taken aback, though I had to work hard to stifle my laughter. “But you’re learning, and trying to be better. That’s more than I can say about most of the ponies I have met in these Goddess-Forsaken wastes. So, keep doing that, and maybe you’ll stop being a little shit.”
“I am here trying to express my gratitude an- “Curly started before I interrupted.
“It’s a compliment. Flare is just an asshole.”
“It’s not a dick,” Flare said with a devilish grin, “Don’t take it so hard.” Before turning to walk away from the conversation, leaving me no choice but to follow him. I gave him a curious look as we left and he shrugged, “Curly Fries is such an asshole. We finally go back to blaming him for everything, and he goes and makes himself likeable.”
Serenity piped in at that point, “Gosh darn it Curly Fries, he even ruins ruining everything!”
“See, the filly gets it!”
---
There was more walking, far more than I would have liked, but we had places to go and ponies to see. The trip down from Timber took us until well after dark to reach Parasite Mound, the small haven outside the war waging endlessly in Dise these days. I could see the skyscrapers peeking over the walls from miles away, that pink headed pony watching us as we moved closer and closer to their city. As we got closer my pipbuck started to tick ominously, if infrequently.
The NCA checkpoint that had been outside the entrance to Parasite Mound was long gone, and now it was replaced by two young mares sitting in front of the entrance to the town looking obviously bored. One was clearly fighting the urge to fall asleep by the way their head was bobbing up and down, while the other was busy taking apart and cleaning parts of a light machine gun. She was the one who noticed us as we approached and nudged her friend awake.
“Halt,” the pony said, standing to her hooves and smoothing out her dirty red and blue dress. “What’s your business in Parasite Mound, we don’t want troublemakers.” The mare said, not even bothering to put her weapon back together.
“We’re here to make trouble,” Flare replied with an over exaggerated bow. Before he could say anything else a pink bubble formed around his head, silencing his voice. I gave Serenity a nod of approval for that.
“To see Photo Finish. She’ll be expecting me.” The mare gave me a curious look before looking at Flare, who was still struggling with Serenity’s silence magic, and Serenity who was giggling which seemed to make it difficult for her to keep the spell up, then finally at Platinum Haze who towered over everyone. She wasn’t even bothering to hide.
“What the fuck,” The sleepy guard said before the other shut her up with a kick.
“Not going to say no to no princess. I think I recognize you lot anyway. Just don’t cause trouble or we’ll kill you,” she said sitting back down to finish cleaning her weapon. “Or someone will. Not me. I never get any fun jobs.” The mare looked up at us, seemingly confused as to why we were just standing there. “Well, get going. If you need a place to sleep, the Death Clock Hotel and Casino is still operational. The prices are outrageous though.”
The name seemed familiar, but I couldn’t remember for sure, so I just shrugged and moved past them into the town proper. It was still a shitty little place, grey buildings ranged from two to five stories tall piled up on top of each other cresting up a hill. It looked like a hellhole, but now even at the dead of night I could feel a sense of peace permeating the place. Compared to what Dise had been reduced to this place was comforting.
Perhaps it was due to the brightly coloured guards Photo Finish had placed on every street corner. Some bored, others attentive, but all armed to the teeth even now at the dead of night. Some looked at us curiously, but when we didn’t cause trouble they looked for anything else that could be amiss. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw the guards drag somepony down a back alley, but when I turned they were already gone. Perhaps it was better not to see.
As we moved towards the hotel through the twisting streets, it started to rain, just lightly, but it was enough to wet my mane to my face and remind me that I needed a shower and a mane cut. Platinum Haze didn’t seem to mind; her hair flowed majestically rain or shine. Luckily we made it to the casino not soon after.
The Casino was a simple place, four stories high with bright lights outside reading ‘Death Clock Casino’, some of the few working lights in this part of the city. We stepped inside to find a muted and small casino. Lights were still flashing, and it was fairly crowded, but it seemed almost half-hearted as many ponies were just napping on the floor hiding from security, and those still gambling all had worried looks on their faces. So much for escapism.
I turned to the nearby front desk where two unicorns were playing cards. The male unicorn was wearing an eyepatch, and the female seemed to be recovering from burns along her back, I didn’t even want to ask.
I had to tap my hoof on the desk before they even noticed me. “What, oh.” The male unicorn looked me up and down. “Rooms I bet, it’s always rooms. We have two left. It’ll be two hundred caps a piece, but it comes with breakfast.”
That seemed exorbitantly expensive, but when I was about to protest the mare chipped in. “Either that or sleep outside in the rain. Town’s peaceful, but not so peaceful you might not get robbed blind. Pay up or shove off, we’re running a business.”
I searched through my bags, but only had seventy-five caps to my name, luckily Flare could spot another one hundred twenty-five, so we could get one room at least. Only then did we get the key, which seemed to relieve the unicorns so they could go back to their card game.
“Look, you head upstairs; I’m going to win some caps.” Flare said with a grin, looking over at one of the poker tables.
“Flare?” I had a whole speech ready but he cut me off.
“Listen, things are about to get rough soon; might as well take some pleasures while we still can, right? I promise not to accidently sell myself into a gang,” he said with a wink. It was a long time ago, but way to rub it in.
“Fine, just don’t wake anyone up when you come upstairs.” He gave a nod and skipped off towards the table. They were his caps after all, and I wasn’t about to stop a grown stallion from living his life how he pleased.
We found the room on the third floor, a cramped small thing with a single bed that would just about fit one pony which meant either Flare or Serenity as Haze and I were far too large. I decided Serenity could have the bed, and the rest of us could sleep on the floor. I had slept worse places, and she deserved rest, and so much more.
“Haze, darling,” I said as I hoisted Serenity onto the bed, careful to avoid being too rough on the cast that was still on her foreleg, “do you mind keeping an eye on Flare for a bit? I trust him. Really. But you know…” I let the sentence hang there for a bit and she nodded at me.
“Of course, we were going to do just that, to be honest. We do not want him falling in with the wrong ponies at this point. We shall be silent.” And with that the alicorn vanished from sight and presumably went downstairs.
“You don’t trust him,” Serenity said with a grin as I helped take her barding off and toss it off to the side.
“Would you?” I asked as I pulled the covers over her (I tried not to think about the last time they had been washed) and properly tucked her in. “How are you holding up?”
“Good!” she said with a smile, squirming her way into the bed. “I mean, a little sore,” she admitted, “but… everything is going to be alright, right? I mean, it has to be. So…”
“Yeah. I have a plan.” It was a pretty vague plan to be honest, but it was there.
“Good…” She closed her eyes briefly but opened them again. “Uh, I have a question,” she started hesitantly. When I nodded she continued. “So, you believe in Celestia, right?”
That was an odd question, of course I believed in Celestia. She was a historical fact. “Of course…”
“I mean, not just that…” she scrunched her face up before continuing, “that Celestia was like, a Goddess, you know?”
“Uh… I mean. I think she was…” I said, now profoundly unsure of where this conversation was going to go.
“But then. So… in the Watchers, when uh, you know, I lived there, we got sermons all the time by Celestia’s Vision. They said after the war, Celestia ascended to the heavens and watches over us all but. I mean. If she does, why do bad things happen?”
That was not a question I felt like I could answer, but she continued anyway.
“Like, Flare’s nephew. He was hit with a bolt of lightning, and it meant I broke my leg.” She lifted her cast. “But why? If Celestia was watching why wouldn’t she help us? Put the lightning somewhere else. Like… I mean, I could get it if bad ponies did bad things, and she can’t make bad ponies not do bad things, I get that. But sometimes bad things just happen right? And if she was watching…” She lowered her head and sighed.
“I’m sorry,” I said eventually, “I don’t have the answers. Maybe she can’t do anything… maybe… I don’t know.”
“Maybe she’s not watching,” Serenity said sadly. “I want her to. It feels nice, to have someone looking out for you but… she doesn’t seem to do much. I’m sorry. I thought maybe you could… I don’t know.”
I ran my hoof through her mane with a sigh. “It’s okay. I don’t have all the answers. You don’t have to believe in Celestia or anything. Even if she’s not watching over you, I am. I will always be.”
“I know…” She sighed. “I just. Thought maybe if she was, things would be easier. I mean. If Celestia is up in heaven watching over us, then things are simple right? She decides what’s good, and what’s bad so… But without her it’s just us? I don’t know, I don’t want to decide these things.”
“Serenity?” I asked quietly. “Is something bothering you, I mean, something specific.”
She looked down at bed for a minute before sighing. “When you were away, and we was being chased by Rangers. We almost got away, and like, I was scouting around to help us find a way out of the mountain, right? Cause I am silent and… and I saw this one Ranger, he was coming right for us, but he weren’t wearing a helmet. He was going to see us and call his friend and I…”
“Did you shoot him?”
“No!” She explained covering her face with her hooves. “I tried, I… I just… and he found us… called reinforcements. Some ponies died and… I could have stopped it b-but.” I could see tears running down her face. I brushed my hoof through her mane to try and calm her down. “A-am I a bad pony? I could have saved them but… but I didn’t want to kill anypony.”
“You aren’t a bad pony,” I said in as soothing a tone as I could muster. “Nopony should have to kill anypony. In a better world… But you never should have had to make that decision.”
“But I did… I made it…”
“You couldn’t have known the consequences.” I sighed. “I can’t tell you if you made the right choice. Maybe there is no right choice. But it’s the one you made… and that’s… what it is. You made it for the right reasons and maybe bad things happened… but… ugh, I’m bad at this.” I said with a groan. “It’s not fair, you shouldn’t have to be put through this bullshit! You deserve a normal life.”
“Momma?” Serenity looked up at me, tears still drying on her cheeks.
“Sorry I… I just want you to be happy, but I don’t have these answers. I don’t know about morality, and these tough questions, I just know these are situations you shouldn’t have to be in. Nobody should, but you most of all. I don’t know about any of that, but… I think the fact that you think about these things, that it bugs you, that you always try to do the right thing. I think you’re a good pony. And… I don’t know if that matters but.”
I felt tiny hooves grab onto my leg and hug it. “It matters…,” she said sniffling. “To me, and you, and that matters.”
“Yes… yes it does,” I said leaning down to rest my head on top of hers. “We’ll get through this. Soon we’ll get rid of the Watchers. Make Dise a better place. Then we’ll live free and happy. No more travelling, no more adventures, no more moral dilemmas. You, me, Haze; Flare can visit. It’ll be…” The sentence hung in the air for a while as I tried to think of a way to finish it.
“I’d like that,” Serenity said into my leg, still sniffling. My fur was getting wet from the tears, but I didn’t mind. “I’d like it lots.”
“Me too,” I said with a sigh. “Soon, I promise.”
---
Night came and went without issue, and that itself was something to make a note of. It was another dreamless night. Maybe I was past the nightmares that have plagued me for so long. I found it hard to believe, but it seemed as likely as any. When I finally opened my eyes I saw Platinum Haze standing way above me.
“Flare spent an hour and a half gambling and drinking before returning; we thought you should know he made four hundred and seventy-three caps in total. He got into no significant trouble, although he left early this morning and would not tell me where he went,” she reported dutifully. “How did you sleep?”
“Fine.” I groaned getting to my hooves and stretching out my legs. “Is Serenity still asleep?” I asked as I pulled Subtlety in front of me and started to take it apart. I figured I had a few hours at least, and it had been awhile since I cleaned up Subtlety. With a sigh I took out a spare rag and started to wipe the parts down trying not to think about the fact I had nearly no ammo left.
“Currently she is sleeping fitfully; we have been observing her throughout the night and have concluded her sleep is less than restful.” I was afraid of that.
“Okay…” I pulled the bolt from Subtlety and took it apart, careful not to lose any pieces before I looked back up at Haze. “I need you to do a favour for me.” She cocked her head slightly as I continued. “Your sister, that Alicorn. I am sure we’ll meet again. I need protection.” I backed away from my disassembled weapon and I pulled my thick armoured barding off over my head and placed it before Platinum Haze. “Can you do that, like you did to the bag we carried that orb in?”
I hated not wearing anything. I was scarred to shit as it was, but without my barding it became all the clearer. Jagged scars from daggers, bullets and whatever else crisscrossed my coat in an uneven pattern. Parts of my coat had never grown back after being scorched off from dragon fire. This was to say nothing about the mess of scar tissue where my cybernetics were connected. Without my barding every wound, every injury, every failure was laid bare across my body. It made me feel profoundly uncomfortable.
Platinum Haze didn’t even take a second look at me, instead moving to pick up my barding in her magic. “Certainly, though it will take us most of the day. We will give it a wash as well… but that is mostly for our sake.” She chuckled as she moved into the small bathroom that accompanied the hotel room. I am not too proud to admit that I enjoyed watching her leave.
When she was gone there was little else to do but head downstairs and get our free breakfast. That was more uncomfortable than I would have liked, and unlike Haze the drunks and gamblers on the main floor had no issue staring at me as I walked by. Judging me, as if they had any right. I brushed passed them all as coolly as I could manage and returned to our room with three plates of… well. It smelled like meat, but it was a colour and texture not usually associated with meat. It was edible, so that would have to do.
I woke Serenity up gently and we both ate… whatever it was. I offered some to Haze, but she seemed aghast at the idea, not that I blamed her. The texture made swallowing difficult, but it was food and I was hungry, so we ate. Afterwards we had little to do except head outside. Now I wouldn’t think about leaving before giving Platinum Haze a kiss, but after that was taken care of we left the Casino and went out into the rain.
It was raining harder now, so much so that little rivers were forming on the sides of streets looking for drains. One might expect that the rain might drive ponies inside, but instead we saw a large crowd not far down the street. “Interesting,” I muttered to myself before trying to flag down a pony to stop and explain what was going on. “Hey, hey!” Finally, a pony looked at me, “What’s going on over there?”
“Something about a fight! The Finishers are breaking it up!” a pony said before running towards the excitement.
I looked down at Serenity who was jumping in a puddle. “Want to go see a fight?” She looked up at me with a grin.
“Alright! Are we gunna break it up?” she asked walking over beside me. I ran my many through her wet mane, she needed a haircut, too.
“Depends if it’s anypony we know,” I said leading her towards the mob of people.
As we got closer there were sounds of shouting, and it became more and more clear that nearly everypony in Parasite Mound was here. I helped Serenity onto my back so she wouldn’t get lost or hurt in the mob and pushed my way to the front. I had a gut feeling that this was going to involve me somehow.
When I eventually made my way to the front I saw two large groups of ponies standing across from each other having a stare down. One was clearly the Applejack Rangers come down from Timber earlier than I had expected (they must have left at night), which was a pain because I didn’t have a chance to warn people. On the other side, dressed mostly in similar, yet sleeker power armour was a group of Enclave soldiers boasting well over double the number of the Rangers.
Flare was there too, talking hurriedly to a pony I recognized as High General Steel Wing, the leader of the Enclave who was overthrown and sent into exile not so long ago. I knew Flare was still in contact with them, but I didn’t expect he’d bring them here, at least until I saw Flash, Moondancer, and Rain Dance amongst the Enclave ponies. I had wondered where they went off to, and now it was clear where Flare sent them.
Standing in between the two sides was a small group of Finishers (easily recognizable by wearing outrageous dresses). A few of them were still wearing their… refurbished Enclave power armour with skirt attachment. As amusing as it was to see, I didn’t like the looks of it. Three groups of heavily armed, power armoured ponies at each other’s throats when I needed them working together. For me.
“That bastard shot me!” one of the enclave ponies said, pointing over to the Ranger side.
“You shot first!” Knight Buttercup shouted back. “Like you always have!”
“Enough, Knight!” Paladin Lemon Cake admonished. “We did not come here to continue an old grudge, we merely—”
The High General spoke this time: “Enough lies, we are not here for you, and we don’t trus—”
Only for him to be interrupted by Moondancer of all ponies, “They helped us, they’re not like the other rangers.” The High General gave her a look that made it clear he would have set her on fire with his mind if he was able.
Fortunately for her, Flash interrupted as well, “It is true. When we escaped the Raptor, my son was injured and they took us in.”
“Dahlings, dahlings,” said Screenshot, the Finisher second in command, “we frankly care not vun vit about your squabbles. Play nice or we vill remove you.”
There was more shouting after that. Apparently, the Enclave were pissed the Finishers had some of their armour, and the Rangers were annoyed some ponies in dresses were trying to boss them around. It was a nasty situation, it looked like it was about to get even more violent. So, genius that I was, I decided to get involved, though not before placing Serenity on the ground and instructing her to stay there.
“ENOUGH!” I bellowed, striding into the middle of the melee. “Do you all want to repeat the mistakes of the past! Kill each other again and again and again. Never learning? If so keep fighting! If you want to move forward, shut up!”
There was silence, and I continued in a lower tone of voice. “You all know me. Maybe you hate me, but you know when I give my word, it is gold. I need you all to work together.” I turned towards the rangers, “Lemon Cake, we made a deal. Keep your ponies under control.” She scowled at me, but didn’t say anything. “High General, Flare brought you here to help retake your home.” That was a pure guess, Flare kept his intentions secrets, but it sounded right. “Are you really going to risk it over a petty feud too long in the past?” I then turned to Screenshot, “We need to work together: try to deescalate, not make things worse.”
There was silence, even from the crowd. Maybe they were waiting for me to keep talking, but that was about as speechy as I ever got. Eventually Screenshot smiled at me, “Impressive,” she said quietly to me before speaking up. “Now that zat is done vith. I vill send escorts vith each of you to show you to your designated sections. Do not vander. Zen they vill inform you when out meeting vill take place.”
“That’ll work,” I muttered under my breath.
Screenshot looked me up and down before saying, “You have brought a lot of danger to our doorstep. I pray Photo Finish is right in trusting you. Regardless, she requires your immediate attention in her office as soon as you can.” She then called out to everyone, “Now, go!” With that one power armoured Finisher each went to the different groups to talk to their respective leaders.
I took the time to grab Serenity, who told me she was clapping for me speech, and ran over to where Flare was talking to his family quietly. “Hey, Hired!” he said when I walked over. “So that was crazy.”
I gave him a long sullen glare before eventually asking the obvious question. “Is there a particular reason you decided not to tell me you invited your Enclave friends?” I said, glancing over at the assembled ponies. There had to be almost a hundred, and they brought with them three vertibucks.
“Eh.” Flare shrugged. “I thought you would ask where my family went, but you didn’t notice.” He always liked to blame things on me not paying attention. “So I guess it slipped my mind, sorry. I sent them to get the gang, and I figured you’d want to meet here. And it all worked out!”
“You guys nearly killed each other.”
“But we didn’t,” Flare said, poking my nose and causing it to scrunch up in annoyance, “which means it worked out.” He gave me a big stupid grin but when my glare didn’t fade he sighed. “Listen. My family needed a place to go after they risked their necks helping us. And my… larger family needs their home back. I figured we were going to take on the Enclave Imposters anyway… so…”
“Flare,” I said, resting my metal hoof on his back, “just… warn me next time.”
“Like you warned me about what your master plan is?” I winced a little bit. “I kid, I kid, sort of. But next time, if there is one, I’ll be as open as a book.” Flare was many things, but he was not an open pony. The fact that he lied constantly about his family for months was proof of that. But there was only so much I could expect from a pony with a storytelling cutie-mark.
“Okay. But please. No more surprises.”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly.” That was a surprisingly dark promise coming from him, so I had no choice but to accept it.
---
“So, dahling.” I met the elusive Photo Finish in her apartment on the top floor of the bar she ran. Going from minor gang leader to one of the most influential ponies in Dise seemed to weigh heavy on her, at least judging by the bags under her eyes and the way she stared forlornly out a window as she spoke to me. “Vat is your plan?”
“We are going to decide that together,” I said. “You, Molly, High General Steel Wing, Paladin Lemon Cake, and me.”
“A Major Lucky from the NCA got word of this meeting and has been waiting for near a week. How he knew is anypony’s guess.” She turned to look at me, and seemed to smirk at the smile on my face. “Molly told the NCA I have no doubt. She has been near as impatient. It is a good thing you brought the Rangers, and those… Enclave, or I doubt they would have waited much longer. But you did not answer my plan, dahling. The details are immaterial, but vat is your plan? What are we to achieve.”
“To take back Dise,” I said sharply. “The Watchers and the Remnants orchestrated this whole mess to take power. They can’t be trusted with the city.”
“Oh, is zat all?” She smirked and looked back to the window with a long sigh. “I have never stepped a single hoof in zat city. I vas born under it’s shadow, I grew into a mare staring at it wistfully from rooftops, but never one hoof. Now I am expected to help vat, take it back? Are you sure zis is the right thing?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Enclave are bad, and their coup was a tragedy. But The Watchers… you put a lot on them, many sins to be punished for, but nobody else has seen them. But it seems like the people of Dise trust them, and why not? Now we suppose to tell them they are wrong, to take the city back and… then vat?”
“We can decide on that later,” I said, trying to hide my annoyance at the question, “but it is true. The Watchers are poison. If we let them just have Dise…” I shuddered to think what vile plans Clean Cutt would come up with. “It is the right thing to do. You’ve done a better job here. In Parasite Mound. Keeping people happy and healthy. Despite the radiation. If they really wanted to keep people happy. They could do the same. But they don’t. They want the conflict.”
Photo Finish sighed and nodded at me eventually. “As you say. Then we must decide what is to be done. Molly was ready to take on the Raptor herself when it returned, and the NCA seemed liable to help. If ve are to vork together, we must do quickly before everything unravels. I have instructed all sides to meet here this afternoon.”
“What needs to be done to get ready?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Turns out there was a lot of busywork to get a meeting like this together. Most of the details were being handled by Photo Finish’s mares, but I had a special project that befit my specific set of skills. Specifically, I had to go get the conference table that Photo Finish ordered from across town, and bring it into her little bar.
It was a heavy hunk of wood, seemingly recently carved and put together and painted with the highest quality spray paint cans scavenging could find. I mean, all things considered, it looked nice. Though the wood was plain, the painting was nice. Each of the major leaders had their own insignia spray painted on to indicate where they were to sit.
The Baises, and Molly specifically, had a stylized version of her hotel. The Finishers had the outline of a pony wearing a dress. The NCA had their rising phoenix, as on their flag. The most recent drawings were the Applejack Rangers, which was like the Steel Rangers except with apples instead of gears on the background, and what I could only assume was the Enclave Remants given it was an emblem of clouds and wings with a pair of eyes gazing out from the shelter of an arch, red and green on purple.
Then there was the final insignia. Three brown rocks, at the head of the table across from the Finishers. Someone was trying hard to blame me for this meeting when it was only partially my fault. Still, if someone was going to be the face of it, it might as well be me. All part of the master plan, I suppose.
As nice as the table looked, it was heavy. I mean, I could lift it and carry it across the town with little issue, but I was going to be sore at the end. Serenity didn’t make things any easier by insisting on sitting on the table on my back, because of course she did. I would have made her walk, but I couldn’t force myself to make an injured filly walk.
On the bright side, the table made a good makeshift umbrella and kept me dry the entire time, whereas by the time we made it back to the Finisher’s HQ Serenity was completely soaked from the rain. She had to shake herself dry in the foray of the Finisher’s HQ which annoyed the mares standing guard there a fair bit. Judging by their glares I wasn’t suppose to laugh.
“Special Delivery,” I said eventually, nudging the table on my back. “Where to?”
The mare was still glaring when she pointed me to the main bar room. It was a small room, as bars went, probably a Finisher-only establishment. When I entered, some of the mares were still taking care of the decorations, specifically trying to paint over cracks in the wall, and getting flags for all the parties involved. There was no furniture though, so it was easy enough to place the table down in the centre of the room.
One of the mares looked like she was about to say something to me, but then looked at the table, then at my flank and stopped talking. Maybe she thought I was some bigshot because I got to be included on the table.
“Soooo, can I be in the meeting too?” Serenity asked innocently hoping on top of the table. “I am soooo good at meetings. You’ll see. I’ll be the most… meeting like.”
“I’ll sneak you under the table. Nopony will question me. But you’ll probably fall asleep.” That was a guess, but if Serenity wanted to bore herself to death, who was I to tell her no.
“No I won’t.” She promised slipping under the table to show how well she could hide, “You’ll see.” She said as more Finisher mares started to bring in chairs.
“Well.” I said pulling up my pipbuck to look at it. Two hours before the meeting was set to start, lovely. “Let’s find out.” I grabbed one of the chairs from a Finisher mare and took my seat at the front of the table.
“Shouldn’t we go see Miss Finish?” Serenity asked from under the table.
“Eh, she’d just give us more work.” I said with a yawn. “We’ve done enough work. Let’s wait here, and see where that takes us.” I glanced idly around the room as I waited. On the table was the insignia, and behind each of the spots was a flag or a banner for the group. Then, there was me. My cutiemark laid bare on the table, and no banner to hide behind. Even my coat was bare for everyone to see.
There was a lot of implicit trust here, in this room. Trust that I knew what I was doing. That I could achieve these things I promised. That I was right about the poison that was The Watchers, and that I could help everyone move forward. I wasn’t sure that trust had been earned, but I was in a position where it just did not matter anymore.
Molly was the first pony to arrive, nearly an hour before the meeting. She stopped at the entrance when she saw me waiting there before sauntering in and fixing her cowpony hat on her head so it covered her ears. Behind her a few of her thugs followed. Considering how I saw her last, chained to a wall looking for escape, it was a far healthier look. “Hired fucking Gun,” She said with a grin as she took her chair, leaning back so she could rest her hind legs on the table. “One two… hmmm.” She muttered to herself looking me over. “You don’t appear to be missing any more body parts. Did you take a vacation?”
“I got better at adventuring.” I said with a halfhearted shrug. “How is your gang doing?”
The mule gave me a glare from under her hat, “Been better. The revolutionaries or… whatever have not been able to breach my casino. Not for want of trying. If they knew about the tunnel entrance they’d probably break through. Good thing they don’t, so I could squirrel away like a mouse for this. I hope you don’t mind, me helping set this up while you were… occupied.”
“Less work for me,” I said not breaking eye-contact with her. “Can we trust you?” I asked as bluntly as I could.
“No.” Her answer was as quick as it was predictable. “But you know what I want. So long as this… meeting of the minds achieves those objectives, well we’ll be… not friends, but it will work.”
“And what are those objectives?”
She raised an eyebrow at the continuing questions, but laughed it off. “Ah I see, playing the part of inquisitor. To chase after answers like a hound to the scent. Very well: Peace. Freedom. Respect. I am tired of these endless petty gang wars: I tried to do something about it by taking out Roy Mustang and taking his water treatment plant, but was foiled, as you recall. I want the city to be free from control by oppressive regimes I have no doubt the Enclave wish to install. And I want vengeance on my foes for daring to oppose me, and I have so many foes.”
“Simple enough.” I said slowly, my eyes never leaving her.
Hers left mine though when one of the Finishers brought in a bowl of fresh, slightly brown apples. She took a knife from her suit, stabbed it into it, brought it to her mouth and took a bite. “In return you have the Baises. The strongest gang left in Dise. Hundreds of ponies strong. And I have been recruiting. Dise may still hate me, but my ponies love me.” She chewed, swallowed, then wiped her mouth with a sleeve. “Are you happy now?”
“For now.”
It was another twenty minutes of tense silence before the next pony arrived. Serenity was napping peacefully under the table when Major Lucky arrived with his own retinue of troops. He still looked ragged from his near-death experience at the train station (Though ghouls nearly always looked ragged). It felt like forever ago, but he seemed to hold the injuries close, given the way he carefully covered the hole in his chest that was created by a minotaur spear with his loose fitting uniform.
He sat sharply down at his seat and his NCA troops behind him snapped to attention. “At ease.” He barked, and they obeyed. “Hired Gun, Molly.” He tilted his head slightly in recognition to both of us.
“We meet again, Lucks,” Molly said, still leaning back in her chair. Across the table her gangers and the NCA troops exchanged glares.
“I am surprised you’re here,” I said to Lucky, who seemed distinctly uncomfortable and stiff at the his seat. “I thought the NCA gave up on Dise.”
“Of course not.” His toned seethed with arrogance. “However our focus was to remove the minotaur threat, but with the bridge gone we could not pursue and were forced to reassess. With the new ceasefire we are looking to help stabilize the city.”
“Looking to capitalize on the chaos?” I asked, but it was less of a question, and more of a statement.
“Just so,” Lucky said sharply in what I had to assume was his drill command voice. “I think we all can agree the status quo of Dise was not working. Why not a new one? We are looking into possibilities.”
“We’ve been over this before, Lucks; Dise won’t bow before foreign overlords. The NCA will never tame the city like an obedient dog,” Molly replied before I got a chance to say anything.
“Nor would we want to.” He looked over at me, pointedly ignoring Molly. “You are interested in our intentions, this is clear, so I will be clear if only because if the help you have provided us in the past. We want to see a stable Dise. Stability allows the NCA to thrive, and continue existing: if that means NCA rule, or if that means another solution, then so be it. The only thing we will not allow for is a system of perpetual gang warfare that existed before. These are the terms of our assistance.”
“I’m glad you listened to reason, Lucks,” Molly said still wearing that smile plastered on her face. “And look, we got more ponies to attend our shindig. And you thought it was going to be a dull affair.”
“Indeed,” Lucky said not even sparing Molly a glance. “Let’s just get this over with.”
The last two ponies who entered I hardly needed to question for their motives, as I already knew them. The Steel Ranger Paladin Lemon Cake entered next. She took one look at her chair and shoved it aside, preferring to stand a stark imposing figure in her newly cleaned and shined armour as two Applejack Rangers flanked her. We had already made our deal, so what was there to discuss.
Not long behind her came High General Steel Wing in his shiny black Pegasus power armour. Now, I understood why the two of them wore power armour to the meeting, but it looked quite awkward as he took a seat at his chair. It was easy to see the tension between him and the Rangers across the table. With him came three enclave troops, and Flash, Flare’s brother. At this point I had to ask.
“Where is Flare?” I just sort of assumed he was going to be a part of the negotiations.
The High General looked down the table at me, “Specialist Flare is a well-regarded field agent who has redeemed himself in my eyes. However, he is not required for planning or negotiation purposes.” I was about to ask but Flash cut me off. “His brother is here due to his recent defection from the traitors. He may have unique knowledge.”
That was about as much as he could say when the entrance to the room burst open, and music started blaring. Striding towards the table, flanked by photographers, and flashing lights. She was wearing a red and black dress that looked deceptively heavy, no doubt from armor plates I was sure were sewn into the fabric. She strode by with more confidence than she had earlier that day, grabbed her seat, spun it, and took her place at the head of the table across from me. Say what you want about the Finishers, but they had a sense of style that was unmistakable.
She rose one hoof and instantly the rest of the Finishers in the rest of the room left in a simple orderly fashion leaving water, food, and a few writing supplies on the table. When the door closed Photo Finish lowered her hoof and said. “And so we are here.” That was my cue to kick Serenity awake to make sure she didn’t miss anything. She whined, but she’d appreciate it later.
“Let us get on with it,” Major Lucky said brusquely. “Time is not necessarily in our favour.”
“Then we shall,” Photo Finish said. “Dise is in chaos, it has come to our attention that those currently seeking to lead it cannot be trusted. You have all been briefed on the details, and if you have any issues with that speak no—”
“Pony megaspells,” the High General said before Photo Finish could, finish her sentence. “I am to believe The Watchers are committing these crimes with necromancy? I have no love lost for the Watchers, but this is frankly difficult to swallow.”
“Open wide, little birdy,” Molly responded. “I saw it with my own eyes, black and dark and evil and burning. Like looking into the eyes of a dragon. Nearly got executed as I tried to take this knowledge home.”
“So you claim,” the General said. “A lovely excuse to explain why you were so easily captured as the city fell into chaos. To think you were even invited here, as if we could trust the word of a ganger who—”
“Oh it’s true,” Major Lucky said, which was a bit of a shock. “Molly is a murderous mobster, but she is telling the truth. Ask Hired Gun if you want.” He waved his hoof towards me. “She warned me and Major General Hailstorm about it, told us about a chip in the head. We found a pony in our ranks it had been done to, and lo and behold. Further tests confirm immense magic in them.” Just them talking about it made me feel the fire in the veins burning and smoldering. “Therefore we chose to help. We need Dise stable, and with ponies who could do that… they can’t be trusted.”
“That is…” The Enclave General paused, seemingly lost in thought.
“Most likely the truth,” Lemon Cake said. “Watcher personnel were heavily involved at the Facility, and I was witness to a megaspell chamber there first hand. With all this other evidence, as fanciful as it may be.”
“Nopony will believe it,” the High General said, “true though it may be. It is my understanding you all wish to rule Dise when this is over, but that truth won’t do.”
Of course, it was unbelievable, how could anypony believe ponies were experimented on, megaspells planted into their bodies, then sent back to live their lives like nothing happened? If we tried to use that to justify taking power we would just been seen as opportunists and ambitious. We couldn’t hold anything like that.
“The answer is obvious,” Major Lucky explained. “We blame the Enclave.” The High General scoffed openly. “Foreigners from a northern war, equipped with a super weapon that kept the city at heel. They infiltrated The Watchers to corrupt them in a naked power grab.”
The idea put a sour taste in my mouth. Maybe there was no right answer, but the idea of letting the Watchers go free, to let people think they were only guilty of being too naïve made my blood boil. They had done too much to me, to my family, to even think that was an acceptable answer. They would pay in blood for what they did, Clean Cutt especially, and they could just try and keep me silent. I didn’t speak my reservations though, that would come later.
And I didn’t need to as a different fight was brewing.
“How convenient,” The High General seethed. “You would blame those who destroyed my home, who betrayed me, and in the same stroke ensure nopony would ever trust us again. I see through your games. You have no hope of holding this city without us, and I won’t allow you to use this underhanded tactic to sully our name.”
“You’re being absurd,” Major Lucky growled back. “Nopony will trust you to lead them because you are untrustworthy.” If there wasn’t a fight before, there was about to be one. The High General slammed his hoof on the table and started to say something, but Lucky just sat there and spoke over him. “Pegasi will never be trusted in power. You betrayed your own kind sixty years ago to come here, and people haven’t forgotten. Then you betrayed yourselves again. Not to mention the atrocities your kind perpetrated in the north. And the events at Bitter Steel. These won’t be forgiven. This excuse will change nothing, you will never be allowed anywhere near the leadership of Dise.”
“As if you’re much better.” Molly laughed. “The lot of you. The NCA left Dise in its time of need; the Enclave Remnants, well the less said the better; and you.” She waved a hoof at Paladin Lemon Cake without looking. “What have Steel Rangers done for Dise? You’re the worst of them all. If we play it well we can all win some good will, but not that good.” She stabbed herself another apple from the table and took a bite.
“Dahling, you are hardly vun to talk,” Photo Finish said with a flick of her mane. “So unpopular the citizens of your city arrested you and tied you up. Nopony will ever trust someone like—”
“Like me.” Molly stopped eating her apple and shot a glare at Photo Finish from across the table. For the first time, she took her hind hooves off the table and sat up straight, like a cat who spied an easy kill. “Now I agreed to attend your little meeting of the mice because I am a kind and generous soul who only wishes to help. But I think you came to insult me. So, tell me, what did you mean someone like me.”
“Dahling, I only meant your position as a gang leader no—”
“Just some ass,” High General Steel Wing scoffed.
“You fucking bird!” Molly was on her hooves having whipped her dagger and the apple with it at the table. As the dagger imbedded itself in the middle of the Enclave Symbol, Molly was grabbing at her shotgun.
“Stop this madness!” Lucky was shouting, suddenly on his hooves, but nobody was listening.
“We are trying to come to—” Photo Finish tried to say, but someone had kicked the bowl of apples in the chaos and it hurtled into her face.
“How dare you!” The High General said before starting to bark orders to his men.
This was getting ugly. Lemon Cake was backing up, edging to the door. Photo Finish was grabbing her face with her hooves, blood seeping through as her mares started to move her away. Molly and Steel Wing were going to kill each other, and I wasn’t certain Lucky was going to stop them.
But somepony had to.
I grabbed the bottom of the table and heaved. The table spun through the air and slammed into the wall with a crack. As it slid down the wall onto its side, I stood up. The shouting was done, for the moment, and all eyes were on me. There were advantages to always being the largest pony in the room.
“We don’t have to like each other.” I growled. “It’d be fucked up if we did. But we need to work together. This ends two ways. Either The Watchers and everything they represent rules Dise. Or we do. We find a way to work together. We grit our teeth. Make it through. We grow the fuck up and put our squabbles aside.” My glare went from pony to pony in the room, never blinking or stopping on one pony for too long. “Or we walk out that door right now.
“I don’t know about all of you. But I am tired of fighting. Of hurting. Of losing the ones I loved. My friends. We have the chance to end it. And we can. Or we can keep these petty squabbles. The in-fighting. We can do what The Watchers have been making us do. Fight each other. Never being able to see the cause. So let’s work this out.”
Lucky stared at me grimly before looking over at the rest of the ponies. “You speak nice. But it’s clear our goals don’t align. We can’t all rule Dise, and the NCA won’t abide by more chaos.”
“Why not?” My breath was shallow, and my voice hoarse. I hadn’t realized I had yelled most of my speech. “We don’t need one leader. We can meet. Like we are right now. Vote on changes.”
The High General looked sternly at me. “We have tried Democracy above the clouds. It is prone to corruptions and politicking.”
“Meeting in a room and lying is better than lying to shoot each other.” I said. It was as good an argument as I had. “We meet, we vote. If we can accept these rules… it’ll be a better way than before. It has to be.”
Molly was seething, it was plain to see it in her face, but she took a deep breath and took her seat again, though there was no table to accompany it. “Works for me.” That is the thing that shocked me the most of this whole endeavor. “These meetings are exciting. All the fun of shouting at you dogs without having to get my shotgun dirty.”
“I hate to say it,” Major Lucky said taking his seat as well, “but Hired Gun is right. That is a system like some of the cities in the NCA. We can provide advice on the rules and regulations.”
“And who, pray tell, will ensure they are applied properly? Who backs it up?” Steel Wing demanded, shooting daggers at Molly. “She nearly killed me, and I am to trust her word.”
I shot a glance over at Photofinish who was wiping off blood from her nose. She looked confused at my stare but then nodded. “I vill.” All eye turned to the flamboyant mare. “I have under my control all the Ponitrons in Dise. Unlike you vall I have no… quarrels. The Finishers have acted alone and for myself with no involvement in the petty battles outside our walls. And so we will remain.”
The seemed to appease Steel Wing enough that he nodded. “All of them? Does that not change up our battle plans? That is an army; with that we could wrest control of the city easily.”
“But not without bloodshed,” Photo Finish added. “We must take zis vun step at a time, and we mustn’t overplay our hand. If we can take out the enclave, the Watchers vill fall as they have no means of combat.”
“I am amazed,” Paladin Lemon Cake said, walking away from the door. “You managed to calm things down. And all I heard about you was about how you riled things up. This might work yet. Though I have one question.” When I nodded she knew to continue. “Has your filly been there the whole time?”
I looked down to see Serenity sitting there enveloped in pink magic to hide her sounds. With the table no longer on top of her, I was surprised it took people that long to notice her, and when she realized everyone was looking at her she let the magic drop. “Uh, hi,” Serenity said shyly, moving towards me. “Um…” She shrunk as everyone continued to stare at her. “This was a lot less boring than Momma said it was going to be.”
---
By the time the meeting was over, hours had passed. We had discussed a lot, and not all of it was in a logical order, but together we hammered out a plan, an excuse, and what we were going to do when it was all over. There were a few more shouting matches, and some egos had to be soothed, but it was better than I expected if I am being truthful.
We decided to start our operation just before dawn. Using the rising sun to hide their advance, the Enclave Remnant would carry in wagons and vertibucks. Together with select members of the NCA and some of Molly’s Gangers (and me), they were going to infiltrate and take over the Raptor as quickly and quietly as possible. The goal was going to be take out their senior leadership, especially Colonel Sky Fall, then force the remainder to surrender, a repeat of what I had accidentally done with Blackwater.
From there Photo Finish would use the Ponitrons to broadcast a message, while at the same time advancing block to block from the northern gate to the far south. The goal was not to fire on anyone unless they fired back. With each block secured, the remainder of the ponies would try to round the populace up and get the message out about Dise’s new ownership and the treachery of the Enclave and the Watchers. If anyone opposed, they’d be sectioned, but nobody was to be killed unless they were a direct threat.
The goals were simple and well-defined, and made enough sense to me. I was not master of battlefield strategy but if we wanted to hold the city we needed to take out our biggest threat, the Raptor. Then, hopefully, we could convince the populace to accept us. It was hard convincing the others not to try and exonerate The Watchers to make things easier: they deserved everything that was coming to them. But, if everything went well, we would have full control of the city by the end of the day tomorrow.
Then we would start rebuilding.
That was almost as daunting as the prospects of the fight tomorrow. Not just rebuilding the physical buildings that had been destroyed, and Celestia knows there was enough of those, but the trust that the city could be at peace. Ever since the balefire bomb that blew up over the train station, things have fallen deeper and deeper into systematic chaos, and to think that it could climb out of that hole? It was hard even for me to believe. But I had to believe.
After the meeting was over, I quickly slid out, not wanting to get caught up a moment more. I wanted to see Flare before things got out of control with preparation, to make sure he was doing okay, to ensure that he was going into this with a good head on his shoulders. Enough had happened to him after he lost his wing…
We were directed to the eastern section of Parasite Mound. More decrepit than the main body, this part of town was mostly destroyed buildings and large empty areas where buildings once stood but had completely picked over for scrap. It had been empty once, but now it was filled with tents. Some out in the open, others inside buildings or the canvas used to cover up holes in the more secure buildings.
The tent city seemed split between Enclave, Ranger, and NCA given their flags flying all over the place, and the tents themselves never mixed. I didn’t know where Molly’s gangers were; most likely the majority were still holed up inside her Casino in the city proper. I started towards the Enclave section of the city when I spotted an intersection in the road that split the makeshift camp.
There in the middle of the road was a roaring fire with skewers of rats and apples on a spit above the fire. Around the fire was mostly children by the looks of it, some older than Serenity but most younger, sitting around on old tires, bricks, and other objects looking towards a stallion on the far side of the fire. The stallion, with his flamboyant movements and sly grin, was unmistakably Flare.
“Hired!” He waved his one wing at me when he saw me move up, “I was just about to tell another story, come and take a seat.”
I moved closer watching the eyes of the foals on me. Unicorn foals, earth pony foals, pegasus foals, at least one zebra which was a surprise, and a curious foal who was covered head to toe in a hooded cloak and their head down so I couldn’t see their face. These foals didn’t care about the petty fighting of their parents; they were united in their desire for a good story.
“Another time maybe. The meeting ended and I—”
“It can wait,” Flare said sternly, waving towards the fire. “I’m sure Serenity would love a story, just take a seat.” I was about to object, but I looked down to Serenity with her big round eyes, and how could I say no?
“Fine.” I groaned as I took a seat on the ground across from Flare, Serenity beside me. “But make it quick.”
Flare gave me a wink and started his tale. “Now this tale takes place not so long ago, and not so far away. There was a small town, and a shocking murder most foul! The accused was dragged before the local mayor and told to plead his case. Now she was the mangey sort, with spiked armour and dilated eyes that darted around nervously. A known ganger that held territory not far from town, and this is the story she told.
“‘Yer honour, I am a scoundrel but ‘tain’t true, I ain’t no heckin’ murderer! The pony were a merchant and had this fancy gun I wanted ya dig? So I spoke to his partner, and we agreed to split the prize fifty, even stevens. He’d lead him outta town and I’d hold’em up real simple right. But something twekered in his head! He right shot his partner as soon as I tried’a threaten him. Now I ain’t no murderer so I fled, ya see. I wanted the gun but it weren’t worth that. I left the fancy piece on the ground when I fled.’
“The mayor was annoyed at this, but he wanted to get to the bottom for the murder so he had the dead pony’s partner taken before him. When questioned, the partner had this to say ‘Sir, I did not murder this pony, and I have never met him before the attack. I was going about my business as I normally do, helping my partner lead a trade deal, when that scoundrel held us up demanding that gun. I admit I panicked and reached for my weapon to defend myself and that is when she shot my partner. I scared her off, but I am a poor shot and she escaped.
“Now normally this would be enough for the mayor, as one pony was an upstanding citizen and the other was little more than a raider. However, there was a puzzle piece missing that gnawed at the mayor. Both sides spoke of a gun the mugger wanted but when his guards searched the crime scene there was no gun to be found. He put out a notice that anyone who knew about the weapon was to report to him. A few days later a farmer appeared in his office, and said he knew of the murder
“‘I saw the murder. More than that, three days before the murder, I saw the mugger and the partner in a back alley in town, exchanging caps. I was worried so I followed them when they left town. The mugger and the partner both jumped him at the same time. There was a scuffle and all three started to draw their weapons. Multiple shots went out and before I could intervene the merchant was dead. Both ponies looked panicked and fled the scene. If you looked at the gunshot you would be able to tell who killed him, as the partner had a pistol and the mugger had a shotgun.
“Now the mayor took all this information and thought about it long and hard throughout the night. If the farmer was right both were guilty, even if both didn’t shoot. The next morning he arose and brought all three to his office to announce the punishments for the crime. Do you know what he did?”
Serenity was the first to answer: “Let them go because it was an accident?”
Another foal laughed. “The partner was to blame! He should be punished; he betrayed his friend!”
“The mugger was crazy,” a filly yelled back. “Just like you, stinkbutt; he should go.”
“The mugger was cool, the partner was a jerk!”
“The merchant was dumb for going out without a guard,” one pegasi scoffed.
“The mayor hung them both, I bet!”
“You’re all dumb. The farmer was punished.” This caught the attentions of all the foals, as they looked to see which voice in the mass said that. Eyes were drawn to the quiet foal in the brown hooded cloak. “He knew about the weapon. When the mugging took place, he hid away and shot the merchant. When the others, fled he stole the gun. That’s why it wasn’t there.” His voice sounded oddly familiar, but I couldn’t place where I knew it from.
All at once the foals’ heads turned to Flare who was sitting there with a mischievous smile on his face. A pegasi filly asked him: “Well Mr. Flare, who was it? Who was the killer, we gotta know.”
Flare waved his hooves towards the fire and laughed, “Nobody knows who the killer was. Not you, not the mayor, not me. But this is a lesson for us all fillies and colts. A story is only as good as the pony telling it.”
---
Flare seemed to get a kick out of his story, but he did stop storytelling when I told him it was serious. He took the news gracefully and even volunteered to join the assault of the Raptor with me. Which is what I expected. We had been through so much together, what was one more fight in the grand scheme of things, really? Well, it was a lot, but still.
The three of us left the camp and returned to our hotel room to prepare for the adventure that next morning. Ideally we would get some sleep, but I still had a promise to keep. And when we were all together I told my companions my plan.
“Are you sure this is wise?” Platinum Haze asked. “We understand you made this promise to Baptisia, but this can be done after the battle. It would be best if you got sleep before.”
“Ideally yes,” I said taking a seat on our bed, looking back at the three of them. “But Wallkirk is… a problem. He gave me control of the Ponitrons. But I can’t be sure he won’t take control back. Or if he can. I can’t risk it. I need to remove him. And I need to do it before the attack.”
“You’ll be going into dangerous territory; you’ll need backup. Just in case.” Flare patted his chest. “Just let me go get my armour and I’ll see what I can do. Might be able to carry your ass out of the fire one more time.”
I had to laugh. “Flare you can’t even lift me.”
He blanched somewhat and said defensively, “I can so!” I laughed some more.
“I think it would be better,” Platinum Haze said bringing the conversation back around to the topic at hand, “if Serenity and I stay here. We have a safe place, and we are not equipped to fight this battle.”
“Awww, but I wanna help Momma.”
“You can help here,” I said resting a hoof on Serenity’s head. “If anyone gets hurt, you can help the Finisher medics. Platinum Haze, too. You don’t need to be a fighter to help people,” I said soothingly, or as soothing as my voice would allow.
“Are you sure Momma? What if you need us.”
“Then you’ll come for me. You always do.” Serenity scrunched up her face a little before nodding. She was still injured, and it was a bad idea to drag her into these things at the best of times.
“So that’s it then?” asked Flare. “We go off to deal with Wallkirk, come back, hit the Raptor, and end this once and for all? At least Curly Fries is around so when it all goes wrong I can blame him to his face.” He chuckled, as did Serenity who never tired of Curly Fries jokes.
“Just need to get our equipment.” I looked over to Platinum Haze. “Did you do the thing?”
She got to her hooves and nodded at me, “Follow me.” And so, I did. As I said before I loved to watch Haze leave so I had no issue following her as she made her way into the bathroom of our little hotel room. With the two of us in there it was more than a little cramped, but we made do the way we always do.
In her magic glow was my barding. It had seen a lot of wear and tear throughout our adventures, but after a wash, and whatever Haze did to it, it looked good as knew. Hell, it seemed to glow a little bit in the dim light of the room we were in. When I went to grab it Platinum haze leaned down to kiss me.
My face flushed and my body damn near melted. I needed this. I needed her. “You know,” I said pulling away slightly. “We have time. I could kick them out. Have the room to ourselves. Take off some stress before the fight you know…”
“My sweet Silver,” she said in a tone that I knew meant she did not approve. “This is not the time. When this is all done… I mean.” She blushed. “I have thought about it obviously. But…” She clearly had a speech prepared so I enjoyed it when she stumbled over her words at the thought. “Later, I promise.”
“Fine,” I said trying my best to copy Serenity’s tone when she wanted something. “I guess.”
She gave me another quick kiss to calm my whining and sighed. “Before you go. Just remember what we discussed. You will never be me, nor I you. But if it comes down to it, know there are ways to achieve your goals other than violence. I am impressed by what you managed to accomplish, but it could all be taken away… just don’t make the same mistakes the Destroyer did. Don’t destroy what can be salvaged.”
“I love you Haze.” That had nothing to do with what she said, but I felt like saying it. “I… I won’t make any promises. But I’ll try. Okay?”
“Okay…” She sighed once more. “Stay safe, and strong. If anypony can do this, it is you; have no doubt about that.”
It was my turn to give her one more kiss. But then I had to turn away and take another step forward. Towards my encounter with Wallkirk. Towards the enclave raptor waiting for me. Towards the Watchers. Towards Clean Cutt. For good or ill, things were about to change, and this time I was the one who held the power. I was done being everypony’s puppet, it was my turn.
I took another step, and never turned back.
Level Up!
Skill Note: Nil! |
No One | 662 | 40 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2019-04-14T04:53:59+00:00 | 2019-04-15T22:17:50+00:00 | 4,434 | City of Lights
“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
I took another step forward even as I felt the weight of the world on my back. One step and another and another I felt myself being pressed into the ground. My stomach twisted and turned, and my mind was racing with everything that could go wrong. I stopped to check my pipbuck for the time. It was close, so close I could taste it, and everything I had fought and struggled for would begin. I would end this war, destroy the Watchers, and bring peace to Dise. In five hours.
So then why did I feel so uneasy?
Maybe it was because I hated waiting. Before, when I got a stupid plan in my head I would charge forward without thinking, taking everyone with me on my ill conceived battles. Yet now we had plans, and planners. But I was not one of those planners no matter how much I pretended. I was a doer; I lived for the moment because the past was too difficult to think about and the future too hard to see. Maybe I could pull off visionary talk, but I had been taking these things as they came up until now.
And now things were coming hard. There was nothing to do but wait, so maybe that was why I decided to deal with Wallkirk now instead of waiting further. I needed to be rid of him, he was just too dangerous. Besides, it was either that or wait around until morning, and the stress of not doing something would kill me if I did that.
The tunnels were still occupied, but only in certain spaces. It was designed to house the entire city of over a million ponies before the war, so even with all the ponies of Dise occupying them so much was empty and barren. Flare seemed to sense my tension as we travelled alone through the darkened sewer tunnels that snaked under Dise like an ant colony.
“How are you holding up?” he asked me, glancing around carefully as we walked. It was a walk I knew well, as we had done it before: travel deep then come up at Wallkirk’s secret bunkers.
“Fine.” I lied. I was normally an excellent liar, so something in my voice must have given me away.
“Are you really?” He raised an eyebrow.
“No.” There was no point lying if he was going to know anyway. “You?”
“Hah! Now that’s a joke. I’ve never held up well: that’s why I make jokes.” It could be incredibly hard to tell how serious Flare was at times. “I’m doing better than I expected.”
“How do you mean?”
He gave a sigh and stared towards the darkened tunnel. “With everything. I lost my wing. After it happened I thought I would never be okay. That it would haunt me like… something haunting—I don’t know. But I’m still me, right? Wing or no wing.”
“You worried you’d become someone else?”
“Fuck, I mean, sure?” He rubbed the back of his head with his wing. “Since I was a kid I had it drilled into my noggin: ‘You need to be a good Pegasus, pegasi are the superior race: we control the sky so you’ve got to fly. We are low in numbers, so go find a pegasus mare and reproduce. We need to protect what we fought for, so make sure to join the army. Because of who you are. A pegasi needs to be strong and smart and fight for their people.’”
“That’s dumb.” I didn’t mean it as an insult, but it came across like that.
“I guess. I thought it was dumb too. Oh how I rebelled! I fell in with handsome earth pony stallions, I looked into other areas of work. But in the end I came back, joined the army, became a good pegasi to make my parents happy; or maybe I was just telling myself that. Maybe I tried to be something I wasn’t because I felt I had to. So I could feel like I belonged. And then it all came crashing down.”
“Bitter Steel?” I asked quietly. I had heard the story enough times I didn’t need to hear it again. How he directed his squad to attack a house that was holding children. I shuddered to think of it, even though I knew he didn’t know about them when he did it.
“Yeah...” His voice trailed off for a second before he caught himself. “Which is how you found me, give or take ten years and my entire squad falling apart, most dying. Because of me. You know, when we met you threatened to kill me.”
“I recall,” I said trying to suppress a smile, “I’ve considered it a few times since.”
“I considered it then too! We have so much in common. It seemed an appropriate end but then… you didn’t. And I followed you for want of better things to do. Then the Enclave hired me back to follow you. I was back, baby! I thought I had it made, and I found a cute unicorn stallion. Still no pegasi, but I couldn’t become a perfect stallion in a day. The point being I thought I had purpose again, and I thought it was a purpose the Enclave gave to me.
“But it wasn’t. I thought maybe it was you who gave me purpose, a reason to keep going but it wasn’t really either. I did it myself. I looked deep within myself, the good the bad, the fucking ugly and said, ‘why not try to do some good?’ And so I did. With or without wings. With or without the Enclave. With or without you.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” I asked, though I did ask so maybe it was my fault.
“Not sure,” he admitted. “Because I want you to know I feel… fine. Sure, things will be tough, but the world has always been tough. But I get where I am in the world. So I guess I am telling you not to worry about me. I haven't always been the most reliable, I know, but you know you can count on me, right?”
“I know.” I sighed as we continued on our way. I wished I could be as content as Flare was in his lot in life, but the chains of my past kept holding me back. Here I was with my grand plans for the city, but I couldn't even decide on what name I wanted people to call me. Maybe I wasn't the right pony for this job, too lost to the past to see clearly. But there was nopony else, was there?
Sure there were other ponies who knew about the conspiracy, but few others knew its depths and the true extent of the events in and around Dise. And even if someone else was knowledgeable and capable enough I would still insist on being here myself. I had to see this through, no matter where it led.
In this case it led directly to a door I had seen too many times now. Deep in the bowels of the city, underneath the Clips and Clops Casino, flanked on either side by destroyed Ponitrons was a small unassuming door. Behind it was the supposedly secret ruler of the city. But not for much longer.
“Lets do this.” I muttered to myself charging forward into the Crusader Maneframe room.
I had forgotten how similar it was to the room in The Facility where Baptisia resided. The computers were the same, the lights in the same place. It even smelled the same, like mold and copper, but it was different. Unmistakably different.
It was like the difference between seeing a picture of a beautiful sunset, and being there to experience it yourself. The room was the same, but it lacked something, it lacked a meaning that was hard to describe. When the lights flickered on and flashed at my coming my heart didn't throb to their beat. There was no weight on my shoulders, no sense of pressure in the air. It was sterile, clean, and devoid of life. There was a picture of a sun, but no heat.
“You return.” On the screen in the center of the room the image of Wallkirk smiled back at me. “I was worried you would not come back.” His voice was calm, but it was impossible not to notice the lack of inflection. The subtle signs of life that made him so unnerving to speak to.
“We need to talk.” I said as Flare trailed behind me, his grenade launchers primed and ready.
“I would say,” The pony on the screen said, “I have been watching your little alliance and I must say it is all for naught.”
“What?” That was not really what I was expecting.
“It won’t bring the city to peace, I have found another way. I have created a new intermediary to speak with them and decided that to truly bring the city back to its glory I need to work with them.”
“Looks like he's got a glitch. Where's the ctrl-alt-delete buttons?” Flare said helpfully from behind me.
“You're being played-”
“I have made all the necessary calculations.” Wallkirk interrupted me. “They are the only faction with enough support to create stability. The gap in power between the Enclave aligned Watchers is so much that no one gang matches, and all together would create a devastating war. My previous calculation will not work for now, I will need alter the arrangement. This will work.”
“You already told them about the alliance didn't you?” I don't even know how he knew. No Ponitrons were around for the meeting. Hidden cameras? Microphones? He basically built the city from the ground up, anything was possible. Fuck, I should have dealt with him sooner.
“Of course, they are a danger to my plan. I will bring peace back to my city, I have made the necessary calculation-”
“Just like the calculations you made for the tunnels?” I glanced back at Flare who looked confused at me, he was already starting to aim his grenades but stopped when I waved him down. Behind him in the room outside I could hear an ominous rumbling. Ponitrons that Wallkirk still controlled I had no doubt.
“What is that suppose to mean!” The computer protested simulating anger. It wasn't real anger, not like the kind that Baptisia had that made my head spin just being around. This was an approximation of anger, rounding to the nearest decimal point.
“You made your calculations. You thought you had enough material to block radiation from a megaspell attack. You were wrong and millions died!”
“That was merely-”
“The truth.” I cut him off as I started to pace about the room. I wasn't about to let him talk his way out of accepting responsibility. “You miscalculated, and the city died. When it was reborn you tried to control it, and how did that work?”
“Fine. I cultivated four gangs of similar strengths so that none could destroy the other, as it was too dangerous to have a single power for people to rise up against.”
“Until they did.” I said as I quickened my pace. “Until the gang system bled people dry, until they were tired and suspicious enough to allow the Watchers to manipulate them. You miscalculated.”
“But-”
“You tried to make a pony megaspell as an ultimate weapon, but so far the only times ones have been used were against your own city!” Behind me I could hear the sound of ponitrons filling in behind me, but I kept talking. “You miscalculated.”
“Well I-”
“You tried to live forever. But your crusader maneframe is flawed, your soul magic lost to you before you had the chance. Now you only exist as a defective program. You emulate but don’t feel. You are not Wallkirk, you never were. You miscalculated. You are a miscalculation.”
“That... that is absurd.” The ponitrons behind me stopped, and when I glanced back they didn’t even have their weapons raised.
“You tried to control the city and look where it left you.” I said sweeping my hoof in front of me. “Two megaspell explosions. The population decimated and afraid. Buildings broken and shattered without hope of repair. Dise is dead, and you killed it.”
“Well that’s not fai-“
“Name one thing you did right.” I took a few steps towards his screen, my eyes locked with his. “Name one damn thing you didn’t fuck up.” The air was thick with tension. Behind me I could hear weapons readying but I didn’t break eye contact. He had to answer, I wouldn’t let him squirm away from this one. He had to know.
“I… well…” The voice stopped and I could almost hear his processors working overtime. “I…”
“Nothing.” I spat out. “You want to do one thing right, you’ll tell me what information you gave away. Tell me what you told the Watchers.”
“The location of the alliance… where you were meeting… they plan to attack tonight.” That was… not good. Fuck. I turned and started to leave almost forgetting what I even came here for before a voice called back to me. “You do not truly think I did such a bad job?”
I glared back at him. “You are the worst thing that ever happened to Dise.”
The figure on the screen looked completely broken. I almost felt sad at the pitiful look on his face. He wasn’t real, just wires and electricity holding together a façade of a pony, yet clearly some part of him felt remorse. Or maybe it was just his programming not able to handle the information I just gave it.
“I… see… processing.” Nearby one of the lights blinked out of existence as the ponitrons before me rolled out of my way. “You will have to see yourself out. I have preparations to make.”
I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I didn’t care. I pushed past the ponitrons and left the room. I was still going to destroy him, but the time it’d take wasn’t worth it when he was so demoralized, and I didn’t know how to best destroy the massive computer system. Flare looked over at me with a smug grin and was about to say something but he was cut off with an audible crack.
I stopped to look back into the computer room. The screens were cracking. Electricity laced across the façade of the computer. Lights shattered and burst as an error siren blared over the speaker. I saw Wallkirk staring at me from his screen, his eyes filled with sadness as his dreams fell apart… as he fell apart. He smiled for a split second just as a crack crossed his screen. A second later it shattered, and the cacophony settled down save for a small voice.
“Self destruct complete.”
---
Explosions rocked overhead.
We emerged from the tunnels sore and sweaty from the run to see flames engulfing Parasite Mound. In the sky glimpses of black armour raining death from above stood starly against the orange glow that was lighting up the sky. It seemed the whole town had become an inferno. In my rage, I aimed my weapon up at them only for Flare to push my barrel down with a hoof.
“There’s too many, we need to regroup.”
I hated when he was right, but he was right. I couldn’t take on an army by myself, that’s why I enlisted an army. But where were they? Photo Finish should have had complete and unquestioned control of the Ponitrons by now, why was it that they weren’t firing back. The answer was almost too obvious, as when I looked towards the Finisher’s headquarters I saw it nearly completely collapsed and spewing flame and dust.
“Fucking, fuck!” I groaned and turned away from it towards the casino. I sprinted down the street, Flare close behind so I yelled back at him. “We are going to get Serenity and Haze and rally th-“ The ground in front of me exploded into a shower of concrete shrapnel.
The force of the blast sent me stumbling and my ears ringing. When I eventually could right my senses and look up I saw a black armoured figure circling around me high above before starting to dive again. So much for trying to stay unseen. With a grunt I hoisted Subtlety up and aimed… just in time to see another flying figure shoot straight up tackling them first.
For a second my saviour looked familiar, but when they started to spin against each other exchanging kicks I lost track. I would have helped, but if I tried to shoot either mostly likely both would die so all I could do was say a silent prayer, keep my head down and keep running.
I made my way through the burning streets as Flare sprinted beside me, shouting over the din. “We need to find the Finishers, Photo Finish.”
“But Sereni-“
“Is being protected by Haze! And look!” He gestured with his wing towards the casino I was heading towards down the end of the street. Mercifully it was completely free from the fire that was ravaging the rest of the town, and surrounding it was a large contingent of Steel Rangers shooting anything that even got close. “She’s safe there.”
As much as I hated to admit it, Flare was right. Serenity was safe surrounded by the best armed ponies in the wastes and an alicorn. There was nothing I could do to help her more than she was already being helped. I had to readjust, focus on the big picture. Not that it didn’t kill me inside to leave her be.
Photo Finish had to take priority if we were going to fight back. She had the key to the ponitrons. The key I gave her. Without that we didn’t stand much of a chance of taking the city, nevertheless taking it as bloodlessly as we were going to try. The bigger picture. Safety for Serenity not just now, but into the future, that was the goal.
The Finisher HQ wasn’t too far away, so I turned and made my way to there dodging fire and bullets along the way. Despite the constant bombing runs and madness engulfing the city it seemed like the Pegasi were focusing on firebombing buildings instead of ponies. The Finisher building was no expectation, as when we reached it, it seemed half the building was already engulfed in flames.
I reached into my pack and put on the gas mask I had received from the minotaurs after the first megaspell explosion. It wouldn’t help the lack of oxygen, but hopefully would filter out some of the fumes from the fire. Flare had his Enclave armour so he hardly had to worry about the fire at all.
As I burst through the flaming door I was glad to see the inside was not as bad as it could have been. Though the air was thick with smoke, much of the inside was yet to be touched, thankfully this included the stairwell at the far end of the hallway. I made my way there as quick as I dared, eyes darting into each room we passed to make sure there were no ambushes or ponies needing help.
To my eternal relief I found little in the rooms, save for a large ornate table burning to embers. And after all the work it took dragging it here to... This left little but for us to make it into the stairwell. If memory of the building served this stairwell would only take us to the third floor, to get to the fifth floor and find Photo Finish we’d need to get a separate stairway on the third floor. Oh how I hated this building. Judging by the fire I guess I wasn’t alone in that feeling.
The third floor seemed worse off than the ones below it. Through my gasmask I could see flames roaring through the hallways, and when I stepped out onto the floor I heard the building creak underneath my weight. We had to move quickly before it collapsed. “C’mon, we can’t dawdle.” I rasped, my voice hoarse from the smoke and lack of air even with my gasmask could do what little it could to help.
“Wait stop.” Flare raised a hoof in front of my face forcing me to slow my gait. He seemed to barely notice the flames licking at his black armour as he strolled slowly through the burning building. He whispered to me, “There’s voices.” How he heard voices through the roaring flames I couldn’t know. “This way.”
He moved as silently as anypony could in that bulky armour of his, slipping into a huge side room. it was at this point I realized why this floor was catching so quickly. Judging by the sheer number of half finished dresses in the room (most of which were on fire) this was where the Finishers actually manufactured the dresses they were so famous for. Flare didn’t stop to gawk, maybe he was still embarrassed about the one time they made one for him.
After a few more rooms Flare finally stopped at the edge of a doorway, and finally I could hear the voices as well. “I told you I don’t know how she controls them!” The voice was unmistakably Screenshot’s, Photo Finishes’ second in command.
“Is that so? Do you think that armour will save you? Do you know where it comes from? We’ll get our answer.” Flare stared at the door for a good few seconds before quickly peeking his head through then redrawing it twice as quick. Without saying a word he pointed at the wall he was currently crouching behind before making what I assumed was his attempt at a kicking motion.
He needn’t say anymore. Between my strength, and the fire ravaging the building, when I slammed into the wall with all my strength the wall fell outward onto the arguing ponies. Through the dust of the wall and the smoke I could barely see the carnage that unfolded, though I did hear the screaming. By the time I forced my way through to see what was happening Screenshot managed to wrap one of the Enclave ponies mask in a half finished dress and was firing at them frantically with a pistol making the black carapace spark but doing little damage.
The enclave ponies, two that I could see, swore loudly and were trying to reassert control. One grabbed for Screenshot but she squirmed away lashing out with the scorpion tail that came with her repurposed enclave armour while the other struggled with their makeshift blindfold. The blinded pony made for an easier mark.
It was simple enough, with them blinded all I had to do was walk up behind them and slam my forehooves down as hard as possible onto the weakened floorboard. With the fire, and his weight he barely had time to raise his wings in surprised before the floor gave way below him sending him crashing down in a great cacophony of ash and smoke and screaming.
Finally the second Enclave pony noticed me. I could see him start to aim, but it didn’t matter. Flare tackled him to the ground with a strength I didn’t know he possessed. There was a brief struggle as I made my way to them around the destruction I caused but with the element of surprise Flare got ontop of the other pony and grabbed for the Enclave pony’s helmet. “W-what, stop what are you doing F-” The pony screamed as Flare tore off the pony’s helmet. Underneath was a handsome older stallion, but without the helmet protecting him Screenshot’s pistol was able to find its mark.
One shot was all it took, but she emptied the magazine. When all was done blood was soaking into the burning floorboards.
“Flare did you know them…” I asked carefully, worried I was stepping into something I shouldn’t.
“Does it matter?” He sighed looking back up at Screenshot, “Are you alright.”
The mare huffed, her face red as she lifted up the fallen pony’s helmet and placed it on her head which hissed quietly to create a seal, “Better now. But we need to hurry. You must know who they’re after.” She said, her voice even worse than mine. “If they don’t have her already.”
“Where’s everyone else?” The Finishers may have been the least of the gangs, but they were not a two pony operations.
“As soon as the attacks started I sent them to protect our food and medical storage buildings. When HQ was targeted I went back to evacuate as many left behind as I could, which is when I was uh… accosted by these fine ponies.” She motioned to the fallen pegasi. “But we… we don’t have time for this. if they have me they have Photo Finish, and we’re lost without her!” With that she galloped off and we could do little but follow.
Unfortunately for the Finishers the higher floors were not as devoid of ponies as the lower. As we galloped through the building trying to stave off smoke and fire I counted no less than five corpses, some engulfed in flame while others were seemingly killed off in the initial bombing. When we reached the final penthouse we found the sixth corpse.
By a blackened burning hole in the wall laid Photo Finish. One leg was twisted all wrong, her mane was burnt away and her neck and face were charred to the point of melting. It looked like she attempted to crawl away from the fire when she collapsed, her head facing the hole in the wall. As Screenshot screamed and rushed towards the corpse my eyes were drawn to the sight outside the wall.
The last thing Photo Finish ever saw were the tall imposing walls of Dise staring back at her, and the shining shimmering skyscrapers just beyond. It seemed so far away from here, completely unattainable, as untouchable as the sun or moon. With a sigh I looked down at Screenshot who was trying her best to wake up a corpse. But no amount of slapping, or healing potions would awaken a corpse. She likely died when the first bomb hit, all alone…
“I’m sorry.” I said placing a hoof on Screenshot’s back, even as she shoved it off roughly. “But there’s no time. You need to take her place.”
“What?! How can I? Do you have any idea what we were before she came along. We were so close to getting the recognition we deserved to… to…” I could hear the sobs through her helmet. “I’m no leader, I’m a bookkeeper at best.”
“There’s no time. You said it yourself. I’m sorry but…” I pointed to the armour Photofinish was wearing. “Download the program. Take control of the Ponitrons. I promised it to the Finishers. You need to be Photo Finish now.”
“But-”
“But what!” I waved my cybernetic leg around the flaming building, “There’s no time. You can mourn her, or live up to her memory!” I hated this. I of all ponies couldn’t tell people not to mourn. But… we had to act now. Or else all our plans were going to go the way of Parasite Mound itself: To ash.
“I…” She took a deep breath and stood up straighter. “Y-you’re right.” her voice cracked. “How do I…” Even through her mask I could see her grimace as she looked down at her fallen friend.
For her sake I moved in to initiate the connection between the two sets of power armour, and the download. “The controls are simple.” I explained. “I’ll explain as we leave. The Death Clock Casino, the Rangers are holding it off. We’ll use that as a base of operations.”
“But, what should I do first.” It was impossible not to hear the sadness and confusion in her voice. Without her leader she must have been so lost. “She would have known what to do…”
“The Enclave. Those on our side. Protect them, lead them to the Casino. We need them.” With a heavy gulp she nodded. And we were on our way. There was no time to lose.
---
“Hired Gun.” An Applejack Ranger said when I approached the bastion in the chaos. Even as the town burned around us the Casino was untouched. No doubt because it was surrounded by Rangers on the ground and the roof. No Pegasi would dare get close. “What have you done?” Underneath the armour it could be no other than Curly Fries.
Part of me wanted to explain to Curly Fries how it was really all his fault, but I didn’t have time to explain the joke. “Saved the war.” I waved at Screenshot, “Let us in, my daughter is in there… safe I assume?”
“No thanks to you.” I couldn’t tell if he was looking at me or Flare.
“Let it go.” Flare sighed, “We don’t have time for this.”
Curly Fries grunted at us and nodded towards the entrance before letting us pass and letting him go back to his post. The inside of the Casino was chaos manifest. In the few short hours we had been gone it seemed that every pony in Parasite Mound had packed inside the relatively small casino for safety. There were few other places to go with so much of the city on fire so I could hardly blame them their choice.
“I need to find a corner.” Screenshot muttered, “Figure all this out.” Even through her mask she seemed bewildered trying to figure out how to work the new systems.
“Enclave First.” I reminded her. They had three vertibucks to use, which was all we needed to get to the raptor and destroy it. It had to take priority because if it started to fire its massive guns on our position we’d be straight fucked.
She nodded vaguely leaving me and Flare to awkwardly push through the crowd. I didn’t have to look for long, as Platinum Haze stood a head above the rest and tended to provoke a reaction even when she stood still. And of course there was Serenity.
“Momma!” She cried when she spotted me from her perch atop Haze’s head. “Over here!” She said with a wave of a hoof. For someone who prided herself in going unnoticed she sure could be loud when she wanted to.
“You’re safe.” Platinum said sighing quietly in relief. “We were worried.”
“I’m fine.” I said my eyes drawn to Serenity’s leg, “What happened to your cast sweetie?” I asked Serenity. Last I knew her leg was still healing from our fall from the sky.
“All better.” She said tapping it with her other hoof. “Setting the leg plus healing potion did the trick, so I took it off. I’m a doctor so…” She was hardly a doctor, but she did know more about medicine than anyone her age should.
“She insisted.” Haze said, with a look on her face that indicated she insisted frequently at some volume. “We are glad to see you safe, but we must ask. Walkirk, is he?”
“Dead.” I quickly corrected myself, “Destroyed. Disabled? I suppose the difference is pointless.” I could see she was about to ask how, but there were more important things to discuss. “But not before he gave away information on our meeting. We have the ghost of his ghost to thank for what has been done to Parasite Mound.”
“Not that they wouldn’t have figured it out soon enough anyway, but he did destroy our element of surprise. So… surprise!” Flare offered… helpfully?
“That is… unfortunate.” Outside an explosion rocked the building enough to shake it, and at least one person in the building fell on their ass. Somewhere a foal started to cry, either from the blast or the growing smell of smoke and ash and blood. Platinum Haze steadied herself, “What is it you will do now that the momentum has been lost?”
“Not all too much has changed in terms of strategy.” I turned my head to Flare as he spoke. I wasn’t sure I agreed with him, but I was curious about where he was going with this. “The Raptor still needs to take priority. It hasn’t attacked yet, but when it sees the Ponitrons activate it will. And when it does it’ll obliterate the entire town.”
“How strong are we talking about?” I asked. The great cloud monstrosity was impossible to ignore hanging above Dise like a blade ready to fall on the neck of the city, but I still had no real idea just how powerful it was.
“They were made to fight dragons.” That alone was enough to give me pause. “One alone could take on a medium sized dragon, smaller than the one we fought but not by much. A wing of five could take on ones damn near the size of mountains. A single blast from one of its main guns would vaporize this entire building.” he waved dramatically with his wing.
“So that’s bad…” I said slowly.
“No shit.” Flare sighed. “And after the civil war in the north I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the last operable one in the entire world. Taking it out has to be priority, hang everything else. So long as that thing flies we can’t win, and the longer we wait the longer it has to start to take aim.”
“We’re going with you right?” Serenity asked with a smile.
“No.” I said as sternly as I could, but I could tell by the look on my daughter’s face that this was not the end of the conversation.
“Why not?”
Platinum Haze thankfully answered the question for me. it was good to have backup. “We discussed this at length sweetie, it’s far too dangerous.”
“Not sure if ya’ll noticed but, uh, the whole town’s on fire.” Considering I was still covered in ash it was hard not to know. “An’ Flare said it already. Those big guns could destroy tha whole building. if they get a shot out who you think they’re gunna shoot. Far as they can see the Rangers are protectin’ this place more and more. If it shoots, BOOM!” She threw her forearms into the air to show what an explosion looked like.
“Then you should go so-”
“An’ who will protect me then? Haze is awesome but only one pony. And the Watchers know me. An’ they know you’re comin’ for’em. Folks always tryin’a spirit me away ta get to you, an’ that always happens when you’re away. I’m safer with you than anywhere else.”
“But…” There was a flaw in her argument, I just knew it, but I couldn’t figure it out right then. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“There wont be a later.” A voice said from behind me. When I turned I was looking at the face of Lemon Cake, sans helmet, her face smeared with dried blood and smoke. “Where were you?”
“Away, I-”
“Did you think, for one fucking second?!” I did not expect the yelling and had to take a step back in shock. “You may think you’re one piece in a puzzle, but you’re damned important in keeping everything together.” She seethed at me.
“I didn’t know I-” I tried to defend myself but she kept going.
“The Finishers were scattered within seconds, Celestia above only knows what happened when the Enclave hit them. Without anything to unify us we fractured. We needed a leader. I can lead my Rangers better than any pony living, but you ever see me try to give orders to one of those birds?”
“I’m not a leader I-”
“Bullshit.” She rounded on me, circling like a hungry shark. “I don’t care what you want. You brought us together, you kept us together. I am only here because of your fucking promises. Well I upheld my promises. I never said I was going to fight a war, just protect innocents and supply weapons, so that’s what I’m doing. I upheld my end. Now you need to uphold your end and lead before it’s too fucking late and we’re all dead.”
I grimaced at the accusations, looking for support in my companion's faces, but they seemed just as conflicted as me. With a sigh I stared at the ground at my hooves, feeling the weight of the city rest on my shoulders, threatening to crush me.
“You’re right.” I said eventually. “I shouldn’t have left in secret.” As much as it pained me, she was right. I was the glue that was holding this… grand coalition together. I couldn’t run away for my own reasons, not like I could do before. “I’m sorry.”
“Good, if you don’t smarten up soon we’ll all be sorry.” She spat back, still plainly enraged at me for what she could only see as an abdication of duty.
“Well.. I need an update then. Where is everyone.”
“Last I heard Molly is still at her The Alehouse waiting for orders. She was suppose to join the city reclamation force when the ponitrons got that far and cleared the siege of her casino. The Enclave Remnants Exiles or whatever the fuck scattered when the bombing hit their camp. As far as I could tell they’re trying to regroup. The Finishers, well you’d know more about them. The NCA have been the only reliable force, they’ve been evacuating and rescuing ponies caught in the blazes. Major Lucky is overseeing that. If I didn’t know better I’d say he’s enjoying getting his hooves dirty. I think meetings and shit tire him.”
“So you only have contact with the NCA?”
“And the Finishers now that you brought back… their second in command? Leader? Photo Finish is dead isn’t she?” She could tell from my grimace the answer to that question. “A shame. Never seen anything like them up north. Sure we have some pompus ponies in Tenpony Tower, but nothing so.. outgoing. They seemed effective, and that Photo Finish ran a tight ship. I can respect that. That being said, the ponitrons…”
“Screenshot has control of them now. Or, well, she’s working on controlling them. Told her to find the Enclave first.” I said slowly watching Lemon Cake’s reaction. She was inscrutable, but eventually sighed.
“That will do. The Raptor still need to be taken out. Have any of you seen those things in action?” I shook my head, but Flare raised a wing. Platinum Haze to my surprise rose a wing as well. Lemon Cake seemed to smirk at Flare. “Of course you… I mean no offense but you are a pegasi.” She turned to look up at Platinum Haze. “One of Red Eye’s?”
“Never.” Platinum Haze said defensively. “But when the Enclave came in force we found them rather hard to ignore completely.” She shuddered at the thought. Not that I had any clue what she was talking about.
Lemon Cake nodded before turning her glare back on me. “I was on the front lines during Operation Cauterize during the battle for Fillydelphia. I saw my commanding officer and three squadmates vaporized in an instant. I had to take the lead and managed to take out its main gun with some artillery I stole from Red Eye’s slavers.” I understood roughly half of that sentence, but it gave me a much greater sense of who exactly I was dealing with. This was someone who had seen the true face of war, and never backed down. She should have been in command, not me. “It has to go, this is beyond dispute. Until it is, we can have as many ponitrons as we want and it’ll mean nothing.”
“And how do we do that?” She seemed to have an idea what she was talking about. I mean, we already had a plan to infiltrate but I feel like if we ever had the element of surprise it was gone now.
“Either we get a fuck tonne of anti-air, some artillery, or you need to get close and personal. I’m not sure how many ponies are onboard.” She glanced over to Flare who shrugged back at her. “But I doubt fighting through them all is possible.”
“Give up the idea of getting inside.” Flare sighed. “Critical systems will be well guarded on the inside too much for even you to assault. With enough fire power outside you could take out a few propellers, that might crash, but there’s an easier options.”
“Don’t leave us in suspense.”
Flare furrowed his brow and took out a piece of chalk from his saddle bag so he could draw a crude sketch of a raptor on a nearby wall. Well, I assumed it was a raptor, the way he was drawing it looked weird. “Eyuck.” Flare said spitting out the chalk and wiping his tongue. “This is the top down view of a raptor.” Oh, that made more sense. “Here, and here.” he pointed to flanking sides of the ship, “Are the cloud generators.”
“Oh course!” I’m glad Lemon Cake knew what he was on about. “A Raptor cannot fly without clouds, and unlike other critical systems they need to be on the outside of the ship.”
“And at the top, to avoid attack from the ground, but if you land atop the ship.” Flare said with a sly grin. “A kilo of tnt, or equivalent on each side is more than enough, blow them at the same time and that fucking thing is going down.”
“And the Ponies inside?” Platinum Haze was the only pony who asked what was perhaps the most pressing question. Everyone looked up at her, but none responded. That said as much as she needed to know.
“I can provide C4.” Lemon Cake eventually said ignoring the question completely.
“Good.” Flare looked over at me, “Meet me on the roof, I need to get a look at the situation and I expect that’s where we’ll get picked up… if we get picked up.” With that Lemon Cake and Flare left to devise their little plan. Leaving me with Platinum Haze who was staring a hole through the back of my head.
“What do you wa-”
“We shall be accompanying you.” We had already discussed this, but it seemed more forceful now.
“Haze, you won't want to se-”
“But we shall.” She just kept cutting me off. “We shall see the destruction with our own eyes. We believeth to be our duty. We are partially responsible for bringing this battle to fruition, we shall not discount our part nor surrender the consequences through a veil of ignorance. We shall see, and we shall remember.” She sighed looking away. “We have spoken of this at length. Do what thou must, but pray remember the follies of those who have gone before. Lightbringer. Mother. Even Dragonslayer. Remember.”
“I will.” I said trying my best to suppress a grimace.
“Then we can ask no more from you.” She sighed. There was a brief blanket of silence that covered us, but thankfully not for long as Screenshot came running over to ruin this awkward moment.
“Hired!” She gasped, “I… okay, so. Need to be brief. So much to watch.” Her eyes looked frantic, and I didn’t blame her. “Helped rescue enclave. Three Vertibucks left. one went to pick up Molly. Stuck on her Casino. Burning. Other two coming here.”
“How long?”
“Five minutes.”
“Good work.” I growled before turning away letting Haze and Serenity followed me. I took one step towards the stairs, half confident half anxious. Whatever may come, there was no coming back from this trip empty handed. We won, or we died. This was it. No pressure.
---
“It’s getting closer.” I growled from the top of the Clips and Clops Casino. All around me the world was still ablaze, so bright it could have been the middle of the day instead of night. What’s worse is that it started to rain, but the thin sheets were doing nothing to deal with the fires, only make us more uncomfortable.
“And rising, look.” Flare said pointing to the Raptor on the other side of town. “To aim, there are too many buildings in the way. Any second now…” Flare paced back and forth nervously, “Where are they, we don’t have time to dick around.”
“Patience Flare.” Haze said serenely. “Can you not hear them?” How Haze could hear anything over the roar of flames was a mystery to me. Or, it was until I heard it too.
“This way.” I rushed to the edge of the building to see two Vertibucks flying low to the ground weaving between buildings. Trying to avoid fire from above, it was clever. The buzzing of the Vertibucks turned into a roar of engines as they rose on either side of the building, doors sliding open.
“This isn’t a damn family picnic.” A pony I didn’t recognize yelled from the inside of the vertibuck. There were only two Enclave in there, and no others accompanying. Too few. “Whatever get in. Big mare last.”
Platinum Haze glided in first, Serenity clinging to her back, then Flare. There was a gap between the vertibuck door and the edge of the roof, and it wasn’t that I was scared, it was just.
“What are you doing Hired!” Flare yelled back at me, and I shook my head. This was silly, I had to go… before I came up with the nerve there was a flash of light in the corner of my eye. So bright.
“MOVE!”
I didn’t need anymore prompting. I dove of the vertibuck landing with shaky legs. Behind me the swooosh of the beam was near deafening the world glowed a sickly green.
When it was over and I looked back I saw the raptor missed the Casino, but hit the building behind it. There was a hole larger than the vertibuck, and the edges still glowed green. A few seconds later and the building started to collapse. From a single shot…
“Go go go!” The mysterious pegasi shouted as I heard off in the distance the Raptors main gun start to charge back up. With a gut wrenching dip the vertibuck started to zoom off as the pegasi pushed at me, “You door. Specialist Flare open the other door. If anything flying follows us fucking kill it.” The pegasi grunted.
Against my better judgment I stared out the open door with Subtlety. The world zipped by, thankfully not open sky but buildings close enough to touch as we zipped close to the ground.
“Where’s everyone else?” I gasped at the Pegasi.
“Helping the NCA, and trying to stop the bombardment. This will be enough, stop fucking looking at me out the damn door!” I snapped my attention back towards the zooming buildings and gusts of air.
“How many do we have?”
“Five in this vertibuck.” Two manning the wings, the two inside, and the pilot I surmised. “Ten in the one over. Three in the one that picked up Molly. They’re going to join us, fucking gangers need to be good for something.”
“I thought she was back at her casino.” I shouted over the rush of wind.
“Mob broke in, revolutionaries finally taken down the last gang. Most escaped through Molly’s tunnel. The ass herself got caught on the roof.” The Pegasi said glancing between the two doors. “Don’t matter now, the General said we have a mis-” With a bang and a crash the vertibuck shook violently and started to list. “Fuck!”
I agreed, stumbling to keep my footing. I looked back to make sure Platinum Haze and Serenity were alright, just in time for the pegasi to yell at me again. “DOOR!”
“There’s nothing there!” I complained. We were flying so close to the damn buildings, all I could see was walls. I looked back at Flare’s window to see what he had sights on. There was another vertibuck right beside us, close enough to spit at. “Where are th-”
BOOM
The top of our flanking vertibuck exploded into shrapnel so bright I had to shield my eyes. When I looked back all I saw was the faint impression of a vertibuck sized hole in a nearby building before we zoomed past it.
“NO!” The pegasi beside me shouted. “A dozen boogies, maybe more, two vertibucks.” He was getting the information from somewhere. “No room to maneuver. We’re not close enough, fuck!”
“What’s going on?”
“We’re going up.” The pegasi growled as we rose higher and higher, flying erratically the higher we got. Before we were well above the rooftops, and I felt like I was going to puke as I looked down. There wasn’t time though, not when I realized what we were up against.
There had to be twenty armoured pegasi tailing us, and two vertibucks. At some point we were joined by another friendly Vertibuck on outside, but we were hopelessly outnumbered. We had managed to make it as far as The Alehouse Casino, but the raptor seemed like a world away the way it loomed over. Just in time for its main cannon to fire turning something far far away into rubble.
The pegasi surrounding us knew where we were going, and that we were too far away. Instead of attacking they surrounded us left right top and bottom until we were forced to hover in place or start fighting a battle we couldn’t win. When I looked back I saw the two enemy vertibucks, shiny an black and newly repaired it looked like, lurking. This was a folly.
“Surrender!” A voice boomed at us. “Flare, I know that you are in there. Stop this madness, all of you. We are all pegasi.”
The pegasi guard beside me muttered a curse, but had no response. Flare however did have a response, leaning out his door and yelling. “Dad?” Oh that’s great, all we need now is a family crises.
“Throw down your arms Flare. Tell me where my brother, niece and nephew are and you can all go free.” The pegasi who was speaking we high above us, and was the only pony without a mask. it was hard to see exactly in the darkness, but from where I sat he looked like a spitting image of Flare, only older and with more white in his mane. “We are family.” His voice slightly muffled by the rain that now fell in sheets.
“Are we?” Flare said with a smile on his face. “When was the last time we spoke, does it even matter?”
“Stop this Flare. I know you’re petty but-”
“Fuck off.” Flare turned to me and let out a deep sigh. “Do you still have the spark pulse emitter?” When I nodded he threw his helmet off and down to the ground below, “Won’t be needing that… let me have it.”
“Flare…” Outside his dad was still yelling but we ignored him. Flare only looked sternly into my eyes, his pink eyes never wavering. With a sigh I took the weapon out and hoofed it over. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
He took out the C4 he had been preparing and threw it towards me. “Nope, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t need wings to fly."
He grabbed the weapon in his mouth and leapt out the door before I had a chance to respond. This shocked everyone: me, Serenity, Haze, our pegasi guard, and the poor unfortunate pony he landed on top of.
“What the fuck get off!” The stallion panicked firing their twin machine guns rapidly in shock as Flare crashed into him. From the stallion's back Flare grabbed his head and pulled pointing the confused stallion's guns at his friends. Only when his fellow pegasi was shot down screaming did the stallion stop firing just in time for Flare to zap him in the back. The stallion screamed, but it wasn’t the pain that did him in. Without the technology of the enclave power armour, it was just an incredibly heavy weight, and the stallion couldn’t support it.
Not that Flare would stay on to see. He lept off the stallion as soon as spark pulse emitter hit , aiming towards his next target. How he managed to not slip in the rain amazed me almost as much as everything else. This pony at least reacted bolting upwards, but not fast enough. Flare managed to latch onto the pony’s hind legs dragging them down. At this point everyone was watching weapons trained, but nobody risked shooting. One pony dive to try and tackle Flare off, but as soon as they got close Flare zapped them forcing the one he was attached to catch her.
“What are you doing, you’re going to die!” Someone shouted.
Flare ignored them completely. he pulled himself quickly onto the pony’s back and zapped them too. The pegasi frantically opened their wings trying to glide, but they were falling fast as he tried to carry the weight of three ponies.
Three more ponies flew at him. He tackled one in mid air, but three against one it wasn’t a contest.
“Fuck. Get ready to move.” I said to our pegasi companion. He stared at me in confusion as I took aim at the jumble of pegasi wrestling in mid air. Maybe the pegasi watching didn’t have the guts to shoot. But I did.
Subtlety roared and one of the pegasi fell. A second soared down to try to catch them leaving Flare with one left. One that I also shot. Flare didn’t even look over to thank me for my help. Instead he grabbed the pony by the head and as they fell, attempting to glide, and steered them towards the enemy vertibuck.
He leapt off just before they collided. The pegasi slammed into the propellers, there was a crack, and a glimpse of fire before it started to list… Right into the other vertibuck tailing us. As Flare fell he looked up to see his handiwork as the two vertibucks erupted in the night sky. More pegasi flew down, to catch him. Or kill him.
I couldn’t watch. We had to go.
“Move! MOVE!” I shouted as our machine roared to life slamming into nearby pegasi leaving those remaining staring and confused. Some fired, and I fired back. There weren’t enough to stop us now. As we charged past Flare’s dad I saw he wasn’t watching us, but his still falling son. He continued to ignore us as he flew down, too slow to catch Flare.
“What the fuck was tha-”The guard started to say before I cut him off.
“If you’ve anyone left, deal with stragglers.” I grimaced taking a seat. Flare…
He was fine, he had to be fine.
“Momma, Uncle Flare is he?” Serenity said so quietly I could barely hear her.
“He’s fine.” I never saw him hit the ground. Ponies were chasing him. That fucking idiot. He was…
“He…” I took a deep breath. It smelled like ash and blood, barely dampened by the rain. “He’s fine.”
Serenity sniffled and peered out the door a bit too close before Haze pulled her back.
We didn’t have time to think about it. We had to keep moving. One step forward. “How long?” I gasped at the pegasi.
“Almost there.”
Sure enough in no time at all the giant cloudship lumbered into view. It was moving towards parasite mound down the strip. It was a distance away, barely at The Clips and Clops by the time we buzzed alongside and landed on it. Ontop of the ship’s deep black metal carapace it seemed like a great beast, lumbering through the sky.
“Get out.” The pegasi barked and we complied, the four of us. Beside us the other Vertibuck landed, and its occupants streamed out. Molly, and a good five of her gangers looking a bit rattled from the rocky flight. “You have work to do, so do we. Twenty minutes, we’ll be back.”
I stared in confusion at the stallion as he boarded his airship. “What? But-”
“One our ships went down. We’re not leaving them.” Before I had the chance to reply the vertibuck lifted off leaving me, Haze, Serenity, Molly and her goons alone.
Molly sauntered up to us, stopping just short to hold her hat on as wind whipped around us. “Where’s your fourth. The pretty little parrot, this is his sho-”
“Shut up.” Molly went to say something more, so I pointed subtlety at her. “If one more word comes pouring out of your cunt mouth I-”
“I get it, I get it, jeeze.” Molly laughed looking up at Haze, “Touchy isn’t she?”
“We are surprised to see you here Miss Molly.” Platinum Haze said cooly. “We had thought your base was secure, what happened and why praytell did you require rescue.”
Molly glared at Haze and sighed, “Those revolutionaries or whatever. Those people your Watcher friends co-opted finally found a way to break in, there were too many to risk fighting directly so I ordered my people to regroup in Parasite Mound. Meanwhile I forgot my hat in my office. By the time I got it there was a bit of a fire. Does that answer your question my little dove.” Haze did not respond, just continued glaring. Now I knew she’d never hurt Molly, but I wonder if Molly knew that. “What about you quiet mouse.” Molly said to Serenity, “You still like me at least?”
“I’ve never liked you.” Serenity squeaked.
If Molly was annoyed she didn’t show it, laughing opening and motioning for her goons to get closer. They walked slowly and carefully on the shaking and slippery hull of the ship. “With allies like these. So what is this mission I have been volunteered so generously for. How are we talking out this whale?” She said kicking the hull with her hoof.
“This.” I tossed a package of C4 at her hooves. “Take out their cloud generators. If we get both-”
Molly made a long slow whistling sound before, “Kablooie. Crashed ship. Good plan. Until the rescue birds don’t come back. I wonder how high we are...” It made my stomach lurch to think about, but if Flare could survive a fall at this height so could we…
“We won’t detonate it until they return.” I held up the detonator Flare gave me. “I need you to go to-”
“I know where it is. No need to howl at me. Do you think I haven’t thought about taking this monstrosity down? It comes between me and power.”
“A lot of things will come between you and power.” I spat back. “Just do it right.”
Molly laughed before whispering something to her goons. They started to make their way over the curved hull, slowly, carefully, as the ship seemed to shake constantly as it moved, and the wind up here was fast and bitter spraying cold rain in our faces. “I like you Hired, don’t die.” She said before sauntering off across the ship.
“Momma…” Serenity said quietly.
“It’s fine. We’ll all be fine when this is over.” Not that I was sure when that would be. I could only hope soon.
We made our way shakily across the ship. The rain made the going slow, to avoid falling, but not as slow as I would have liked. Part of me wanted to look out over the city, to see the view, but most of me wanted to puke at the thought. Fuck heights. So I just kept my head down and stared at the black shell of the ship as I walked. Watching my hooves to make sure I didn’t trip and fall I made my way over to the cloud generator.
Every so often the ship underneath us would shake violently, and it was then I knew the main cannon was firing. Too often. I had to hurry if I wanted to save our plan. Maybe I should have found artillery. Make this whole thing easier. Fuck.
“Momma look!” I reluctantly looked up to see what we were aiming for. Not a hundred meters away was a series of cables, and boxes my mind couldn’t comprehend. But it was pumping out clouds at an alarming rate. That was it.
“Thanks sweetie.” I said picking up the pace. I still didn’t want to look out over the city, but when I had something to focus on I barely noticed the fact I was dangling hundreds of meters above the ground on a machine I was about to fucking destroy.
We made it half the way there when alarms started to blare.
“Celestia Damnit!”
I moved faster than I had any right to, and I was just about to dig the explosives out of my pack when something slammed into my side. The next thing I knew I was flung partway down the ships hull tumbling head over heels, pain blaring. I looked up to see black armoured Pegasi staring down at me, weapons trained. It didn’t seem at all fair that they got rocket launchers…
I barely had time to cover my eyes before they fired. A split second later the world was awash with sound and fire. When I opened my eyes again I saw a shimmering purple shield around me, still smoking. I glanced over at Haze who was yelling something, but I couldn’t hear through the ringing in my ears.
I didn’t need to hear to know what was going to happen next. The two ponies could clearly see who was creating the barrier. But it meant they were taking their eyes off of me, which was always a fatal mistake. It gave me enough time to take the C4 out of my pack and slide it towards Serenity.
BANG
I fired so fast with Subtlety that I missed. But it was close enough to throw the pegasi I was aiming for off course. The other ignored their faltering comrade to let forth a volley of explosions which slammed into Haze’s shield. I’d seen her take Dragon flames before, this was nothing, so I had to focus.
Two more shots, but the pegasi was damn fast and I couldn’t get a good shot at this range with them moving. Luckily for me they stopped for a split second. Just long enough for them to fire a rocket at me. With Haze preoccupied. Fuck. I moved to dodge, for what good that’d do. If that thing hit anywhere near me I’d be dead.
But it didn’t hit me.
Instead it hit a thin pink magical barrier. The rocket didn’t explode but was redirected enough that it went flinging off to slam into the ship shaking it under my hooves. I turned my head to Serenity, who was standing as close as she could get to the cloud generator, her horn glowing pink. When the hell did she learn that?
The pegasi noticed too and shouted, “Filly what are you doing!” The mare yelled, until she saw the C4 she was carrying. “Wait, stop!” And pegasi dove at Serenity.
Not fast enough though. I dove through the air slamming into the pegasi mare midair. We went tumbling through the air, crashed onto the wing of the ship, and slid across it until we were half hanging off the edge. I was on top of her, but it meant I was staring down hundred of meters below, and it was all I could do not to puke as I felt the ship shift below me, and it was impossible not to feel so very small.
“Stop!” The mare choked as I pressed my forearm into her armoured neck. “If you take out those cloud.” My metal hoof slammed against her helmet, but still she kept talking. “Everyone inside.” Another slam of my hoof. “Civilians. Children! You ca-” The third kick took her out, dead or unconscious, it didn’t matter which.
Civilians. Children. It was going to be Bitter Steel and Karkhoof all over again. But there were children in the town the Raptor was destroying too. In the very building they were aiming for...
“Serenity!” I gasped turning to her as I pulled the unconscious body from the abyss, “Are you okay? When did you learn that?”
“H-haze.” I mean I figured she learned it from Haze. But then she said again, “Haze!” She pointed over to see Haze struggling with the other enclave pony. If she only let herself use her full power the pony would stand no chance, but she held back behind her shield.
“Stop!” I shouted as the pony reloaded again. “Stop!” She turned to me, weapon trained as I held up the C4 remote.
“What is that?” The mare glared down at me from on high.
“We’ve planted explosives on your cloud generators. Without those, this whole thing goes down...” In truth I had no idea if Molly had managed to complete her mission, but at this point it didn’t matter. it was bluff or nothing. Still I glanced over the curved roof of the ship. Somewhere beyond there Molly was working, I had to hope I’d hear from her soon before more came to bother us.
“W-what.” She balked glancing between Haze and I. “That’s madness.”
“You’re aerial bombarding us. Did you think we wouldn’t retaliate.” Even through the mask the mare looked conflicted as she slowly floated down to land on the ship with us.
“Please rethink this.” She said, her voice shaking slightly. “I have family on board I-”
“And what of the families in Parasite mound.” I glanced over the curve again. I couldn’t bluff forever, eventually she’d try to remove it, and then I would have to press the button.
“It’s war.” She muttered unconvincingly as she slowly made her way towards the engine.
“It’s war.” I repeated as she glanced down at the engine. Serenity hadn’t hidden the explosive well, and was backing up from the much larger pony. She was going to make a move any second. “Don’t think about it.” I growled glancing over at the curve of the ship. For a brief second, I thought I saw the tip of a brown hat.
Just in time for the mare to dive. I slammed my hoof onto the remote. The mare grabbed the explosive just for it to explode.
The combination of blasts shook the ship so much I was rattled off my hooves, and the mare was sent flying back slamming into the ship. She was smoking black almost as much as the engine which had caught fire. The whole airship was shuddering and sputtering.
Luckily for me it was Molly who was heading out my way, limping heavily, and bleeding profusely. She yelled at me from across the ship. “What did you do? Fuck, I didn’t fight through four of those fuckers to go down like a rat on a sinking ship!”
She was right. The vertibird hadn’t returned. We had no way off. I scanned around looking for signs of them, but through the rain I could see there was no vertibucks nearby. What where was though, was the roof of the Clips and Clops casino. The giant pony head. The raptor was listing heavily, and it seemed like the wing would pass right by, if we could jump we’d be safe. “There!” I shouted, and the ponies around me knew what I was talking about.
“No.” Platinum Haze had made her way to me, but wasn’t looking at me. She was staring off in the distance, her horn glowing. “You should go. Clean Cutt will be there, we are certain. There you shall end this… this…” her voice trailed off and she took a deep breath. “We shall stay here.” Slowly I saw a purple shield expand from below her hooves expanding in all directions. It didn’t take a genius to understand what she was doing.
“You can’t!” I shouted, but she wasn’t even looking at me. “Your magic. You’re overtaxed as it is. When The Moon fell it almost killed you to save us! This… you can’t!”
“Mayhaps we will die.” She said solemnly, still refusing to look at me. She just stared towards the city, eyes transfixed as her mane waved in the wind. “But we shall do it protecting all the ponies aboard. We shall not escape and let them suffer. Too many will die if we do not. If I do not.” She turned to me, tears shimmering in her eyes. “I cannot help you in this war. But this one thing, I can do right.” The shield she was creating shimmered and grew until it encompassed all of the ship I could see. Her horn was glowing with so many layers of magic I thought it might explode. It was simply madness.
“Haze…”
“Take Serenity and go. If we die do not mourn us, we hath made our choice.” She turned from me as another layer of magic encompassed her.
There was nothing I could do to stop her. So I did the only thing I could do. I grabbed Serenity, turned away, and leap onto the roof of the casino.
The world spun around me as air rushed past my ears with a roar.
I landed on the roof of the Clips and Clops with a thud, rolling across the giant pony’s head praying I didn’t fall off. I held Serenity tight in my grasp until we came to a slow skidding stop. All around me the world was spinning, but I couldn’t care about all that, I had to make sure she was alright. “Serenity.” I looked down at her to see her grimacing in pain holding the leg she had just taken a cast off of.
“I’m okay.” She said in a tone of voice that could only be a whine. As far as I could tell she looked fine, so I placed her carefully on the pink roof and looked around blearily. In the distance I could hear a great crash and crack. I shut my eyes and refused to look. Platinum was fine. Flare was fine. We had to keep going. We were at the bastards home base. Just get inside, kill him and… easy.
“We need to keep moving.” One hoof ahead of the other. I stood shakily to my hooves and glanced around. Unlike the top of the ship, the roof here was almost entirely curved in weird and awkward ways. It was shaped after a pony’s mane after all. Also blindingly pink. Even in the darkness of night and the haze of rain it was obnoxious.
“Move where?” Serenity said sullenly, glancing towards the mainstreet where the Raptor was still crashing. I gently placed my hoof under her chin so she would look me in the eyes.
“She’s fine. Flare’s fine.” I took a deep breath as I stared into her grey eyes. She was scared, terrified even. Nothing about this plan had gone right, half the city was in fire, and we were alone on top of the world. How could she not be. I was an idiot for bringing her here. I should have left months ago, to a safe place. This wasn’t my fight. Or hers.
But… wasn’t it my fight? I mean, it had to be somebody’s fight, right? After all they did to me, all I learned, I couldn’t have just walked away. But damnit, I wanted to. Serenity deserved better than this. She deserved a mother who could focus on her, and damn the world. But I couldn’t give that, I had to stick my nose in things.
“Momma?” She asked so quietly I could barely hear her over the din of the world all around.
“When this is over…” I wanted to promise her the world. That I’d get her a puppy, a new toy, some ice cream. But everything I could promise couldn’t make up for the hell I put her through. The tunnels, and the facility. War, death… forcing her to choose between life and death. It was all on me. She still fretted over the corpse of Dragonslayer, a pony who deserved far worse. Of course she did, she was so young. “I… I’m sorry.” It wasn’t a proper answer, but it was all I had. I turned my head away from her eyes.
There wasn’t time, we had to go. To finish this, finally.
“Momma, are you okay?” I wasn’t. Maybe I never was and never could be, but I had to pretend. To be strong, for just a little while longer.
There, in the distance. A hatch near the pink pony’s ear. We could use that to enter the building. To finish this… “Momma!” Serenity yelled as I trotted off.
One hoof ahead of the other. One more step. It was so close, I could taste it.
The hatch was easy to pry open with my leg and strength. Inside was a narrow dark ladder. it was going to be a bitch to get through but I had no other choice. We were almost there. “Momma, listen to-”
“Go ahead, I’ll be right behind you.” I said softly, looking down at the darkness below me.
“Mom!” Now that drew my attention and I had to look at her again. “We’re bein’ watched!” She pointed to a portion of the giant mane that stuck up in the air. And sure enough, standing on the peak was a tall alicorn. My heart jumped for a second thinking it Haze back already, but Haze wasn’t green.
“Thistle.” The one from the Facility. Fuck. “Get in.” Serenity glanced up at me so I said louder. “Get. In.” Still she didn’t move so I shoved Serenity towards the hatch. There was no time for gentleness, not with that thing. “Be safe, I’ll be right there.
“Momma wai-” Serenity started to say as I slammed the hatch. Serenity wasn’t strong enough to lift it, and that was all that mattered.
“Well?” I called up at the Alicorn. “What are you waiting for?”
“Where is she?” The mare said with a cheerful grin. I had no clue what she was talking about, so I let her continue. “My Sister?”
“Pre-occupied.” I took a few tentative steps forward. I was ready to shoot, but with their shields I knew there was little I could do. “Saving ponies.”
“A waste.” She gave a dramatic sigh before leaping off the tip of the mane gracefully to land not twenty meters in front of me. “Mother had the right of it, Sis should have listened. All that matters is strength, you know?” She said far too cheerfully, “That’s why Mother made us strong. If we help the weak more weak ponies will live dragging the strong down, it’s silly! Mr. Cutt gets it, he’s no Mother, but he understands the strong need to survive on their own.”
“Is that why you want to fight her?”
“Eh.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, I’ll find her soon, after I finish you off.”
“You think you’re stronger than me.” Even after everything I had been through that night, I had to smile.
The Alicorn’s horn flashed bright green, and I could feel her magic around me. For a second my heart skipped a beat, expecting the pain that followed like the time before. But here there was nothing. Nothing to stop me walking towards her. “Oohoho! A fancy trick, you should show m-”
BANG
Her words caught in her throat as I forced her to bring up her shield with a shot. Then another shot. And another. Subtlety rippled against the mare’s shield over and over and over until I was out of rounds. But her shield was cracked, and she was sweating and straining from the effort to keep her defenses up. She was not nearly as practiced as Haze.
“C’mon little filly is that the best you got.” She teased as her green shield slowly cracked and shattered into a flurry of lights.
I didn’t bother to respond, there was nothing left to say. She was a crazy alicorn, and the only thing between me and Clean Cutt. So I did the only thing I knew how to do, I charged. She wasn’t expecting me, and together we went tumbling across the pink pony’s head sliding and tumbling and sliding across the slick roof.
By the time we stopped I was ontop of her rearing up. Alicorns were magically powerful, but when it came right down to it they were only ponies with all the fragility that implied. All I had to do was finish her.
Until I felt something tug and lift me into the air. “What!” I shouted in surprise. My barding was immune to her magic. Haze wouldn’t have made a mistake she… I glanced over and saw her green magic wrapped around Subtlety lifting me off kilter. I barely had time to process the information when I was suddenly and violently tossed through the air.
I crashed into the pink pony’s ear so hard I swore I cracked the panels before sliding into a pile. My head was spinning, and I felt like puking from the throw. When I looked up I barely had time to orientate myself to the threat when I felt myself getting lifted into the air again. Without thinking I fumbled with my battle saddle tearing the harness off as fast as I could.
I landed on the slippery vinyl and watched my battle saddle, and Subtlety, get tossed off the edge into the rain before fading from view.
I turned back to see the alicorn mare stalking towards me through the rain. Her head was held low and she had a crazed grin on her face. She was having fun, I realized to my horror, this was just another game to her and I was finally providing a challenge. Shakily I stood back to my hooves, careful not to lose my grip in the downpour. It was a long way down…
Suddenly her cheerful smile broke into a glare as fast as a blink. “I knew you’d come!” It wasn’t Thistle anymore. I recognized that voice. Clean Cutt had taken control of her again, or rather she let him speak through her. “Thistle loves a challenge, and I knew you’d be able to keep her amused enough to do what I asked. She wants to know if you find this fun.” Her horn crackled with magic.
“Not really.” Which just made her laugh. The real her. Before I had the chance to try to tackle her again a bolt of green energy flew from her horn. I barely had time to duck before it cracked into the ear behind me. I dared to look back and see it starting to melt.
The second bolt came faster, and if I hadn’t moved before she fired it, it would have hit. But I did move, and charged right at her once again. She fired a third shot though, and I barely got my metal leg in the way to block it. It turned the metal so red hot that rain sizzled off it, but it wasn’t enough to melt, unless she shot again.
I had no other choice. I had to get rid of her horn and I still had one weapon left. I leapt at her with all my strength, letting my cybernetic leg extend the sword I had installed so long ago.
She was too quick though, and jerked her head back before my blade could reach. All I could do was cut into her cheek sending blood dripping down to mix into the rain. I stabbed again but I was off balance so the best I could do was slash at her neck. I nicked it and added more blood to the pool, but it wasn’t anywhere vital. By the time I got my third stab in she took to the air hovering above me.
Right, she could do that too.
She didn’t shoot blasts like before, this time it was just a stream of magical energy, right at my face. I barely got my blade up in time to catch the beam. I grimaced and my knees buckled as her magic streamed into the base of my blade turning it red hot. If I so much as twitched the beam was going to melt a hole through my skull. So I grunted and held.
As strong as my cybernetics were, they weren’t as strong as me. I could see the way the blade was warping and cracking. I had precious few seconds left.
The blade cracked and shattered and at that moment I dove away. The beam slammed into me for naught but a second as I leapt back, but the blastwave sent me tumbling across the roof until I was laying on my stomach meters away beside the remains of my cybernetic blade. My barding was burning and smouldering, but the rain was taking care of that, and it was a miracle the rest of my cybernetic leg was still intact. Behind me, through the heavy pounding of rain, I could hear the flapping of wings.
“You did well.” Clean Cutt said sadly through her voice. “I knew there would be resistance, but you did something I could not have imagined, something I could not have planned for. You should be proud.” She was above me now, I could hear it, and feel the beating of her wings on my back.
I glanced over at the remains of the blade. So close. I dove for it, grabbing the blade in my mouth and spinning with such force when I let go of the blade it flew through the air and slammed into her wing. her cocky tone turned to screeches as her flapping increased in an uneven panic. She was falling, and close enough I could reach her. “It huuuurts! Mother! MOTHER HELP!” I heard her screech. The pain must have drove Clean Cutt out. Good, I hated his fucking boasting.
I reared up and grabbed a leg with my forehooves, and with all the strength I could muster slammed her into the ground so hard it cracked. She let out a sharp gasp and the magic that had been storing in her horn fizzled out.
I stood above her, hooves on her wings. Her horn started to glow again, but weakly. There were tears in her eyes, and I almost felt bad for what was about to happen. “It didn’t have to be this way.” I grunted as the rain started to let up around us. “You could have joined Haze. She’s doing good work. We didn’t have to be enemies.” Talking hurt, and my mouth was bleeding from the sword I had been biting down on.
“You don’t get it.” She coughed. “It’s not about you. It’s about honouring mother. This was all for her. My sisters got caught in the lies of lesser ponies. I had to show them.”
“Nothing.” I grimaced. “You showed them nothing.”
“There’s still time.” Her horn was glowing strong, and my shoulder was burning. Something was wrong. My stomach twisted and turned as I looked around frantically. What was wrong!
And then I saw it. Floating in the misting rain was a glowing white syringe, suspiciously empty of anything save for one last drip of a mysterious liquid that fell and mixed with the rain. It was like the one Dragonslayer had tried to use on me, the one that he claimed would activate the Megaspell inside of me. It was already too late...
“Oh.” Was all I managed to say when it hit me.
It burned.
It burned.
It Burned!
I gasped and stumbled off. My veins were on fire. My mind racing. I could feel it. Begging to get out. A great pressure on my skull that I couldn’t get rid of. The tension was immense, pushing, struggling. I gritted my teeth and refused. I couldn’t let it. I refused to let it get to me. I stumbled back and forth, trying to find the right position to not let it overcome, to hold back the magic inside me. I couldn’t let it win. I had to survive!
But I couldn’t.
I could feel it. My skin that wasn’t covered in barding was cracking, and through the cracks a bright white light poured out. When I opened my mouth it felt like I was breathing flames, burning my mouth and all before me. This was it. The ultimate failure. After everything. I couldn’t withstand the fire inside of me.
I stumbled, leaning against the ear as my legs struggled to keep me standing. I was burning, dying dead. I couldn’t take another step.
With nothing left to do, I glanced over the city I failed to save. The height could no longer unnerve me as my body failed. The rain had broken, and the clouds had started to part just as the sun was rising, basking the city in an orange glow. If you could ignore the fires in parasite mound, the wreckage of the raptor, and the debris from the Moon it was something… incredible. From high aloft the tallest building with the city sprawled out below me I finally understood why ponies built towers so high. From up here, everything was so beautifu-
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No One | 662 | 41 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2019-04-15T00:17:15+00:00 | 2019-04-15T22:23:44+00:00 | 4,077 | Surviving
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.”
I was floating. Weightless, lifeless.
Was I dead? Was this what death was like? Floating in nothingness, letting my thoughts carry on for eternity. I was expecting something grander, crystal castles, feasts with Celestia. Or, perhaps more likely, eternal torment in the blackened halls of Tartarus, forever punished for my sins, and my sins were beyond count. Yet instead here I was. Floating through blackness.
Wasn’t there more to death than this?
“Hello?” I called out after what felt like an eternity. Perhaps it was an eternity. My throat felt sore and my voice was even more rough than usual. Did I have a body? I couldn’t see myself, but I could feel. So I couldn’t be dead. Right? Maybe I just imagined I had a body, or…
“Hello!” I said louder to distract myself from my thoughts. But they just kept coming.
Dead. I was dead. There was a megaspell inside me, it… I blew up. I fought and fought and fought. One hoof in front of the other. One more step. I kept telling myself I could too it if I persevered, yet in the end I couldn’t. I left Dise in flames, at my hooves.
There was no other choice, right? It was the right option, even if I failed. The Watchers, what they did was evil, the sacrifice was worth. Maybe we lost, but we had to fight. Didn’t we? I had to believe in our cause, but there was always that voice reminding me what I did. My sins. How could I say another was evil after my actions? Was it all foolish? Petty revenge that drove me and others. If so that meant…
I could see it again. Flare’s final flight. He lost his wing for me, and nearly died when I convinced him to get a new one. Yet at the last moment he still fought my wars. He still gave his life. Maybe. The last I saw he was falling, but surely his old comrades would try to catch him… even as he killed them.
Tears stung my eyes.
Platinum Haze too. In her last moment she protected an entire ship of enemies. So much magic. She was strong, stronger than she had any right to be. But the strain could kill her, if the crash did not. She was here for me. And Serenity. How could I let them do this for me? Let them fight my wars!
I could feel them, the tears running down my cheeks. Could a dead pony cry.
I failed them. I brought them together. Made them fight. And failed Them I-
“You are too self-centered, Silver Storm.” I opened my eyes to a dull light before me. Off in the distance, like a star, but getting closer. Out of it stepped a pony I didn’t recognize, a walkway forming beneath her as light streamed from her star bright enough to let me see myself, but not pierce the darkness around me.
She was tall, near as tall as me. With a sleek silver coat, and a white and pink mane cropped short and well cleaned. She was unmarred by scars or blemishes, and walked towards me with purpose and poise. She was me, I realized too slowly, or me if I had been born at another time, another place.
“You know Flare liked you, but he didn’t fight for you alone. His family always came first, The Enclave Remnants, as much as he believed in you, when they called, he always went back. He fought for them.” She brushed her mane out of her eyes and laughed, “And Haze fought for you, to save your soul. But she was not there for you alone. Her little children called the city home, and you know she wanted to allow her and her sisters to reside and work in peace. This was her goal, no matter her love for you. They choose, don’t be conceited.”
“How?!” I barked. “How do you know?”
“I know because you know.” She sighed. “You always get like this. You get wrapped up in yourself, in your little bubble, and you can’t see those around you.” I found it hard to deny her, the way her voice boomed with confidence and authority.
“Am I dead?”
“Do you want to be?” She responded in return, a smile playing on her lips. Here, in the void of all places, she seemed at home.
“Is this real?”
“Does it matter?” Another question in return, talking to myself was frustrating. “Perhaps this is a physical thing. We’re talking some place deep in the universe. Or deep in your mind in a dying dream. What difference does it make?”
“It’d make me feel less insane.”
“That’s not likely.” She glanced at me, through me. Her violent eyes seemed to judge me, and judged me far too kindly. “They fought for their own reasons. And you for yours. They choose. And so must you. Do you want to die?”
“What about the others. The NCA, The Rangers, The Finishers. They’re out there, burning, dying, for my ambitions.” I said ignoring the spectre’s question.
“An even sillier question than the others.” She said brushing off my concerns. “You convinced them to work together. But their goals are their own. Do you want to die?”
“So I’m not responsible for any of this?”
“Responsibility is not a zero sum game.” She was laughing at me, I realized. How could she be so calm and confident at a time like this. “Responsibility is held. But not all of it. It’s okay to let go. Do you want to die?”
“Don’t stand there and try to downplay my part. Our part. In all this.” I’ve never wanted to kick myself so much, with that stupid self-satisfied grin she had on her face. “We caused this!”
“You were a cause. Not the cause. Do you want to die?”
“What’s the difference?”
“It’s a matter of proportionality.” I knew that whoever this pony was, it couldn’t be me. I’d never say a word like that. “One presumes you are a catalyst. The other one in a series of ingredients. You did remarkable things. Both great and evil.”
“Mostly evil.” I muttered under my breath, but my phantom heard me, and laughed.
“Mostly foolish perhaps. You saved ponies when you didn’t have to. You showed mercy at times when violence would have worked better. You befriended those broken by time and chance and helped them rise again. Don’t downplay what you did. But even still it’s not enough. You have to make your choice, death, or…”
“Or what?”
“Or become a Hero. Not like the Batmare; wearing a cape and ranting about evil. Or even like The Batmare; sacrificing herself at the last moment to save hundreds of lives. You need to be like Pinprick; A hero others can look to. A beacon of hope. A rock others can lay their burdens against. A resource for others to spend and use. A symbol. But you aren’t that pony. Not now. You’re too haunted by your past. The choice is not to forget your past, but to push it aside. To hide it. To become the myth. This is the choice when I ask if you want to die. Neither option is easy.”
A hero? I had always wanted that, but after everything I had seen was there such a thing. Pinprick saved her life trying to save mine, but she was a raider first and how many died at her hooves? And what of Littlepip, the Lightbringer. In Marefort I listened eagerly to the radio of her adventures, but to hear Haze tell it she was as much a force of chaos as for good. And me, worse than both, how could I ever be a hero, if everyone else fell short.
“I can’t be a hero.”
“Is that your choice? Does that mean you want to die?” The mare asked.
“It’s not my choice! I just can’t-” I tried to explain, but she cut me off.
“Why do you keep avoiding the question? It is why you are here. Why we are here. You can’t leave until you answer it. Not back to Dise. Not beyond this star. Just answer the question.” She looked at me. Not angry, but perhaps a bit annoyed.
“Why would I want to die? What kind of question is that?” I scoffed.
“The kind that need an answer, do you want to die?” I could feel her. Not just in front of me, but all around. It was like being in Baptisia’s chamber back at the Facility, the power pressing in on me.
“This is foolish.”
“Do you want to die?!” Her voice boomed shaking me to me core.
“Yes!” I gasped. For so long I had wanted to die. I tried before… twice if you count the assault on Stable 42. I needed to die. To feel the release. The past haunted me. My mistakes. I killed Foundation. I let Wildfire die. I killed Post Haste, the child I burned alive. So many mistakes, why should I want to live when I can still smell the smoke.
“Then choose. I offer you this. Release. You are not dead yet, but you can be. Wildfire. Foundation. Karkhoof. The Batmare. Pinprick. If you choose their ghosts will haunt you no longer. The pain will be gone, and nothing will replace it. I... I understand.” She stressed at me, her voice cracking. “It hurts. I understand. Nobody deserves to go through what you did, and you did so well. You fought longer than many. You lost a daughter, a marefriend, a home, and still you fought! Nobody would blame you if you let go.”
“Yes…” I muttered, staring down into the darkness. It’s what I wanted for so long. Ever since my mother died there was a hole in my heart. I filled it with love and family, and when that failed with adventure and revenge and drugs. But nothing could fill it. I was a broken mare, and had been for so long. So many more than me who deserved to live died. It was my time…
Then I saw something. Out of the corner of my eye, a spark of red, and when I looked there was nothing there save for a familiar voice that whispered in my ear.
Survive.
I could see Wildfire, in my mind, reprimanding me for even thinking it again. I had people who cared about me, who needed me. Serenity was alone in the world without me. How could I look her in her sad grey eyes and tell her I wanted this. That she lost another family because I was too weak to bear the burden of my sins.
“No.” I shook my head. “I can’t go. I won’t.” I grinded my teeth in frustration. I was almost free, but I couldn’t take it. “Their pain, their suffering, it is mine to bear. I can’t run away from my problems. Not again. I will face it. Accept what happened. It hurts. But I won’t let the hurt win.”
The mare saw this and nodded. “Good.”
“Good? I thought you-”
“I gave you a choice. Fight, Silver Storm.” Her voice sounded distant, as far away as the star she came from. “Be there for them, even when it hurts. Even when they ask for everything.”
She was fading away before my eyes, into glittering starlight. “Who are you?” I knew she was me, but couldn’t be. She was too clean, too confident, too unmarred from the life I lived. She wasn’t me.
“I’m who you always wanted to be, but never was, because I am not real.” She faded away hooves first, then up, until only her head remained. “I am who you need to become. Hired Gun. A hero.”
I opened my eyes.
I took a breath, cold and sharp.
It smelled of smoke and ash and life.
I expected to see that damnable pink pony’s mane beneath me, from atop the Clips and Clops casino. But instead beneath me was… grass? A bright green patch covering most of the head of casino? I leaned down to sniff at it and take a test bite. It smelled just like it did in the dream Simple Heart sent me too. But how? How was anything standing.
I stood up on shaky hooves and looked around. Everything was… still there? I exploded. I remembered with absolute clarity, that I had exploded. The megaspell inside me detonated and yet… for whatever reason the city was no longer engulfed by flames, through smoke still rose. Something felt strange. There was an electricity in the air like it felt just before a thunderstorm, and yet the sky was clear and crisp, bathed in the orange and yellows of a rising sun.
Everything remained, despite my megaspell going off.
I had questions, and those questions had questions, but they all had to wait. Clean Cutt was still somewhere in the building below me. If I could find him and kill him, maybe I could cut the head of this snake. After I figured out what happened. So there was only one direction to go.
My head was dizzy, and I was a little sore, but after what happened I couldn’t complain. I made my way quickly to the hatch I threw Serenity down earlier and pried it open. I dug through my bags and took out the last of my Med-X. I thought about throwing it away for a second. But everything was hurting. I needed to make sure I was in top shape. So I let the relief fill me. Then I head down into the belly of the beast.
I didn’t hesitate or look back, I climbed down the ladder as fast as I could without falling off. There was no time to dawdle. I had to figure out what happened if I was going to fix this mess. The walls of the Clips and Clops were bright pink once, but the paint had faded leaving it pale and dull.
I stalked my way through the halls, but to my surprise there was nopony around. Neither Serenity, nor Watcher guards, nor any pegasi, nor even that crazy alicorn. There was just me, and my echoing hoofsteps as I searched. Every few minutes I thought I heard voices speaking quietly in the distance. I made my way far around them, but whatever few ponies were in the casino, none seemed interested in guarding it. Perhaps they never thought anypony would make it this far.
It did not take long to find what I was looking for. As I searched the empty pinks halls, and darkened rooms, I could hear it. It was quiet at first, but as I got closer it became clearer. It was the sound of someone crying.
I made my way to the sound until I reached a large oaken door. On it there was a rusty bronze plaque that once said CEO. I pressed my good ear against the door. The sounds were coming from this room, but I couldn’t for the life of me imagine who it could be. My best guess it was Serenity thinking I was dead, but it didn’t sound like her, and I had heard her cry enough to know what that sounded like.
So I opened the door.
Inside was a large ornate office. What drew my eye first was a large circular window that took up the entirety of one side of the room looking over the still smouldering city. It took me just a second to realize it was one of the eyes of the pony head that made up the top of the building. From there my eyes swept across the room. There were a series of desks, but only two were occupied. There was a three-legged mare at a small desk at a terminal, who had turned to look at me in shock, and behind the largest desk flanked by rows of monitors on the wall was him. Clean Cutt. His eyes red and bloodshot.
“You.” His voice was shaky but he sat up straighter at the sight of me rubbing his eyes and taking a deep stabilizing breath. “You shouldn’t be here.” I walked as quiet as a mouse into the room. It was dark and black, save for the broken morning light peering in, and the monitors. They drew my gaze. On the monitors were names, slowly scrolling. Some of the names I recognized.
“And yet here I am. What is all this.” I demanded.
He didn’t look away. His eyes were always strange to me, too dark and black, so it was hard to see how bloodshot they were from tears. Perhaps this was a side effect of the necromancy he practiced. He didn’t look much like a necromancer, except for the eyes.
“I am in mourning.” He admitted. “I suppose you think me a monster. Perhaps you should. I have done horrible things. So many died for my cause and yet…” He smiled, just a little. I hated with every fiber of my being how sincere he looked. “I have won.”
“The names.” There, written on one of the monitors scrolling past: ‘Hired Gun’. Would he really claim he was mourning me? “You had a choice, you had-”
“Save me your speech.” He waved a hoof dismissively. “I did what was required.”
“So you are going to sit there smugly and say you planned all this. To say you planned for us to fight back. That you planned for me?”
“No.” He scoffed. “I lit a fuse. The exact details did not go as I had expected I will admit, but they didn’t have to. For my plan to be successful only two things needed to happen. First, the city had to be thrown into chaos. And second, only The Watchers under my command would be in a position to capitalize. I had not expected you to foil the train station plot, but the result was the same. Minotaurs and NCR fighting once again, the city bathed in radiation, what more you gave me a martyr. I did not expect the sincere citizen lead rebellion in the wake of all this, but I cut off their leadership’s head when I destroyed The Moon, and they agreed to join me. I did not expect you to form your little alliance and yet…” he left the answer hanging in the air. “I planned, but plans are not enough. I had to improvise, and adapt. Easy enough to do, when nopony else knows what game is being played.
“The megaspell inside of me.” That was it, the improvisation. All at once everything fell into place. The grass below me when I awoke, and the grass in the megaspell chamber in the mountain. My meeting with the pony from the future Simple Heart sent me to. My extraordinary resistance. My immunity to poison, even Starmetal poison which was always fatal. The white glowing liquid in the vial that triggered me. I had always assumed there was a balefire megaspell inside me. I was always wrong.
“It was a healing megaspell.” I choked out.
There it was, that insufferable smile. “I had not intended you to try and pierce my inner sanctum that I had so carefully stolen from the gang here. But when I saw you fighting atop the raptor the possibility revealed itself to me. Did you truly think that we would test megaspells on ponies in the same foolish manner as in the past? For our first tests we used the most benign form of megaspell possible until we found you, our successful test case.”
My heart sank in my chest. When he said he won, this is what he meant. “You took credit.”
He leaned forward at his desk, the sadness I saw on his face when I entered was gone. He seemed tired, but proud. “The former architect of this city, Wallkirk, he was a paranoid pony. He built a series of speakers and warnings to be used from his office. This office. I explained what happened. The Enclave had betrayed me and attempted to take out any resistance when I told them my plans. I was able to take down their Raptor and use the healing megaspell I made to heal the wounds of battle. Who else but the head of the Watchers, the doctors of the wasteland? Even now the raptor is being surrounded, and the remaining enclave surrendering.”
“Skyfall won’t like this.”
“He has no choice. With his raptor gone he was of no more use to me. I suspected he would betray me after I cemented my rule. Pegasi are treacherous, all ponies know this after their actions here and in the north. Some of your ponies listened and helped, most retreated, but you must understand it is over.”
“No.” I stopped my hoof on the ground to emphasis. “We can still fight you.”
“Can you?” He smiled. “Of course, you can. But you won’t. The citizens here were never sure of my rule, in part because of my alliance with the pegasi. But now that I have healed them, their children, and the land of radiation. Who would dare question me? You have myths and fables. I have actions. Direct action to save the city. Even those you have convinced would falter to take up arms. When I had a super weapon hovering over the city resistance made sense. Now that I have saved the city… all you would do is break up peace. The peace I created.”
He stood up sharply and turned away from me to stare out the window. The head was over turning, but for now it was overlooking the city. It had seen better day. In the fighting buildings had been destroyed, and fires raged. Now the destroyed buildings laid still, smoking gently as the ashes settled on the streets around them. “I have created peace. With this I can build the city into something proper. I can take the technology and spread it across the land. The water purification, the megaspell power generator and so much more hiding. Without gang rule this place can be a paradise once more. All because of me. Dise is dead. Long live Dise.”
I started towards him but felt a gentle touch on my shoulder. The three-legged mare was there, nudging me gently with her nose. I had forgotten about her. She hardly seemed remarkable. “Sometimes what is necessary isn’t pretty.” She said, her voice sweet and soft. “He taught me that. You should listen. I know this has been hard on you. He told me.”
“You.” I realized who she was, though it took a second. When I destroyed his megaspell chamber under the city, he spoke to me over a speaker and told me of a girl whose life he had saved by taking off her leg to stave off an infection. “You’re her, from the story.” In the corner I could see Clean Cutt smiling at me.
“He likes his stories.” She admitted. “I had to go with Dad after what he did to save me. Mom never approved, but he was right. He’s always right.”
“Dad?” Realization hit me as I turned back towards Clean Cutt, his face as still as a mask.
“Did you think me incapable of love? I told you before that I understand you, I understand everything you’ve done, you’ve done for love.” Of course he had a kid. The child from the story he told me, I hadn’t expected. Yet it made so much sense. He wanted to build up a stable peace for his family, for his daughter. How could I begrudge him this.
“We’re not the same.” I growled. “Family doesn’t justify what you’ve done!”
“Please.” The mare pleaded with me, placing a hoof on my back. “Think about what you’re doing. Lay down your weapons and your grief, work for Dad, and for me. You can’t possible be thinking of destroying this peace we built after everything that has happened.”
“What you built?” I pushed her away. She had a good heart, but I don’t think she understood. “What you built?!” The words were like bile in my mouth. “What they built!” I pointed at the monitors at the desk behind him. “What Pinprick built. What The Batmare built. What the hundreds of ponies who didn’t have to die built. And for what?! You talk about spreading technology, but why should anypony believe you. A necromancer, a murderer. You’ve brought nothing but death to Dise, and now claim a victory that was never yours and you think that makes you untouchable! Who the hell do you think you are?!”
He turned to face me. Where sadness had been there was only pride. “A Hero. The city will look up to me as their saviour.”
“Is that it, is that all you are?” I took a step forward my whole body shaking with rage at what had happened. The city had been used and abused, manipulated by his whims in ways not even he could imagine. What good was mourning if you don’t regret your actions! “This wasn’t about Dise. This isn’t about saving the Wasteland. This is about your fucking pride. Your desire to look down on ponies, and see them look up! You’re no hero!”
“Does it matter? They will think I am.” There was a spark of sadness in his eyes again, but just for a second. “I’m sorry Hired. I always underestimated you, I never listened to Dragonslayer’s warning. You fought hard to get here, so I thought you deserved to know the truth. You deserved that much. Goodbye, may you find more peace in the next life than you found in this one.”
There was something metal in the corner of my eye. Floating in magic. Why couldn’t I feel the magic in my shoulder. My shoulder always burned around magic!
BANG
The noise was deafening. I twitched hard to the side trying to dodge it, but there was no way. At this distance I was dead.
Only I didn’t die.
Once again I was still alive.
Glimmering in the rising sunlight was a pink magical shield. Looking back in the doorway I saw a pony standing there. It took me a second to recognize Tight Lips, the cybernetic security guard who betrayed Mr. House and helped kidnap Serenity from the BS so long ago. I had almost forgotten her.
Behind her, half hidden in the doorway, her horn glowing pink, was Serenity. How long had she been stalking Tight Lips? Was she looking for revenge or looking for me?
“Mommy watch out!”
Tight Lips leaped at me, her cybernetic legs revealing claws as she dove. At Serenity’s cry I ducked and weaved out of the way. Tight Lips missed me, shouting. “Fucking shit kid, I knew you were trouble.” She turned at Serenity in the doorway, her gun pointing towards her. It gave me plenty of time to slam my hoof into her face sending the cyber mare stumbling.
“Catch Mommy!” With a burst of magic Serenity’s pistol was flying through the air. She said she never wanted to shoot anyone again. Not even her former kidnapper. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t defend her mother.
I caught the pistol in my mouth and in one swift motion shot Tight Lips in the head. Her head snapped back and blood sprayed on the wall. I was sure she had her own backstory. He own petty little motives. But I’d never learn them. They didn’t matter. And neither did his. I turned quickly back to Clean Cutt. He’d was improvising, as always. I saw his horn crackling with deep purple energy.
Then I shot it.
His screamed echoed through the office as I shot it again and again until it shattered and I was out of ammo. In my frustration I threw the pistol to the ground and took a deep breath as Serenity limped her way between my legs, rubbing her head against my foreleg right above my pipbuck to try to calm me down.
The sun was fully risen now, and light was shining through the window into the room as silence overtook us. Behind me was a mare’s corpse. To my right the three-legged mare, paralyzed in shock. In front of me was Clean Cutt, gasping as he grasped at the shattered ruin of his horn. And below me, my precious daughter. The reason I was here. The reason I had to do, what I was about to do. The same reason he had.
But I wasn’t him.
I took a step towards Clean Cutt.
He never looked away. He never begged or pleaded as he saw death approaching. I had to respect that, if only a little bit.
I reached him and looked down, taking it all in. He was a doctor, not a fighter, and his body showed that. He wasn’t weak, but neither was he strong. Tall and skinny, but not imposing. He blue coat was clean, and beyond the burns on his back half where his Cutie mark was burned off, completely unscarred. He didn’t look like a villain, he looked like a… like a doctor. He was. But when I looked closer I could see his sharp knowing eyes, marred by darkness. I could see his disdainful smile, and the dark crackles of energy his broken horn was emitting. This was not a pony to pity.
“So this will be it? The end of peace. You will cut off your nose to spite your face. Do you hate me that much?” He all but spat in my face.
“Yes.” I scooped him up with my cyberleg with all the strength I could muster and threw him through the window.
The eye of the tower shattered all at once, and then, he was falling. As glass rained down around him ,and he plummeted to his death, we locked eyes. It was only for that split second before he fell out of view, but I would never forget that look on his face. He was so confused. How could I not love it?
The three legged mare started to scream “Daddy!”, but not for long as I charged over to her. Distantly I could hear Serenity try to calm me down in increasingly pleading tones. For good reason perhaps, but I wasn’t going to hurt the mare. I needed her.
“I won’t hurt you. If you do what I say.” I said towering over the mare, backing her into a corner. The mare looked terrified as she cowered in my shadow. “The speaker system. Show me how it works.” I demanded.
“I-I-I.” She stuttered, her eyes looking past me to the shattered window. “O-over here.” She took me to behind Clean Cutt’s desk, pushed a few buttons and pushed a microphone towards me. “Say what you want to say…” Her eyes kept looking towards the window, tears pouring down.
“My name is Hired Gun.” I said into the microphone, distantly hearing my voice repeating what I said. “I worked for Clean Cutt with the Watchers. After releasing a healing megaspell and outing the Enclave as traitors he was attacked by a traitor in his own ranks, Tight Lips. Clean Cutt’s daughter and I fought off the assassin and killed her, but not before she was able to throw Clean Cutt from his office. We are deeply in mourning for his loss, but we must continue his great work. We can’t let mourning get in the way of our… our great work. We must work even harder to rebuild this city, and ensure his legacy and the legacy of The Watchers. I’m sorry I could not be the bearer of better news, but we can’t give in to despair!” I could only hope I sounded sincere enough. It was the best I could do. “I will turn the mic over to Clean Cutt’s daughter, she has a few words to say,”
As I heard my words echo behind me, booming over the entire city I pushed the mic aside and whispered so it would not pick up my voice. “You have a choice. The options aren’t pretty. Peace is still obtainable, but only if you play the part. I’ll give you the Watchers, I’ll keep the peace. In exchange you’ll do what I say. You’ll be head of the Watchers in name only. Choose.” I stared the mare in the eyes. They were dark, like his, almost black, and they had that same look of pride and determination. “What would your father do?”
She took a deep breath and wiped her face before taking the mice and staring at it. She took a second, but then, she started to talk.
---
It took days to count casualties and get everyone together again. Flare had suffered severe injuries from his fall, but had been saved by the healing megaspell. Platinum Haze had fewer injuries, but had shorted out her magic saving the lives of the ponies in the Raptor, though Molly had fallen off and cracked her skull. She was apparently losing a lot of blood by the time the healing megaspell saved her as well. And Serenity… she had been limping since the fight. Maybe her leg wasn’t as healed as she claimed, and when the megaspell went off who knew how wrong it healed.
Not everyone could be saved though. Ponies who were well and truly dead stayed well and truly dead. Photo Finish’s body was never found after her head quarters burned to the ground. Countless others perished in the firebombing of Parasite Mound, but many more survived thanks to the actions taken by the Applejack Rangers and the NCA. Many pegasi on both sides perished as well. Flash, Flare’s brother, apparently died fighting another pegasi to stop him from attacking us as we ran for the Finishers HQ and most of Molly’s gang perished before they could escape when her Hotel was breached.
There was death after the megaspell as well. Though I had attempted to take most of the Enclave Remnants from the raptor into custody, a mob broke through and lynched a few. Clean Cutt’s daughter, Redemption she named herself later, was able to restore order, but tensions were still high. Beyond that everything was quiet as preparations were being made to travel north to the Facility. All we needed was the magical code to unlock the stores of supplies, and we could rebuild Dise proper. But first we needed the code.
To that end everyone was summoned to Redemption’s office in the Clips and Clops, for the first time since the meeting preceding the fighting. The table we had built burned with the Finishers, so we pushed the desks in Redemption’s office together to make as similar a table as possible.
It was around noon when the last pony arrived to the meeting. High General Steel Wing made his way to his seat, this time lacking the awkward power armour he had before. Across from him Paladin Lemon Cake of the Steel Rangers gave him a pleasant nod. I closed the door behind him, and stood guard at it.
“You’re late.” Screenshot said from her place at one head of the table, having taken the leadership of The Finishers after their leaders death. She seemed nervous, but held herself with as much confidence as she could muster.
“There was an incident at camp.” The High General admitted. “My ponies are being harassed again.
“The sharks smell blood, and they will have it.” Said Molly relaxing in her chair. Her head was bandaged up from the wound, but she was alive. She would never know it was because of me. “You need to calm them, your Highness.” Molly said with a half hearted bow towards Redemption, who shuffled awkwardly in her seat. It had been my seat once, but there was no more room at the table so I gave it to her, leaving myself to stand in the back.
Redemption looked conflicted before staring back at me. I gave a slight nod and she sat up straighter. “I will hold a rally before you leave for the Facility to ensure they understand what The High General and his ponies did for the city.” She looked around the table and then asked generally. “Where is Major Lucky?”
I answered this question from the back of the room. “He was unable to make it, he is overseeing preparations and received urgent news from Eye Glow.” There was trouble brewing back in the NCA to hear him speak of it.
“Then we should begin.” A cold breeze blew through the room as Redemption spoke. The shattered glass hadn’t been fully cleaned or repaired, but there were plans. For now it worked, so long as nobody got too close. “About the codes.”
Paladin Lemon Cake spoke up. “I have spoken to Wishing Star, who claims leadership of the Hizai.” Last I saw him he was pretending to be Mr. House atop The BS Casino. I was not surprised he took control. “He claimed that before the Raptor fell his agents infiltrated it to find Mr. House who was held captive inside. He claims the old ghoul was tortured to death.” I winced at that thought. For all his faults Mr. House had treated me well. “He is demanding the perpetrators put on trial, and a seat on this council. In exchange he will give us the magical codes to use the facility.”
“Are you sure we need them?” High General Steel Wing asked with a frown. “That is a tall ask…”
I had the answer, but I let the ponies debate it themselves. I was not officially on the council. Molly shrugged as she picked idly at the bits of food provided. “Her Highness claims so, given the Watchers were crawling all over that facility like rats, I’d believe them.” Redemption nodded at her claim.
“It is still a lot, there are surely some other means of appeasement without a seat.” The High General said. Surprisingly Lemon Cake agreed.
“They did nothing to defend or protect this city. We cannot give out membership to anypony…” I couldn’t help but notice that Lemon Cake was staring daggers at Redemption as she spoke.
“Their leader died for the city.” Screenshot said defensively. “And they control a lot of technology. They faced great losses, but who among us did not. They deserve a spot. Regardless, we should vote on their proposal.”
I spoke up, my one official job in these meetings. “All opposed?” I asked loudly and clearly from the back of the room. Two hooves shot up, Lemon Cake and Steel wing. “All for?” Two more hooves, from Molly and Screenshot. There was a slight pause as Redemption stared at me in thought. I gave her a slight nod, and her hoof rose slowly as well.
“Motion passes.” It was the first official vote of the council. Rules had been made somewhat haphazardly, and things had to be ironed out, but it seemed to work. There was grumbling from the losing parties, but that seemed to stop as a cold wind blew through the shattered window and both stopped to stare at it. I hardly had to say a word to get them to agree.
The meeting continued without incident. Talks about land, movement, and other such things I did not care about. I didn’t have to interfere again as Redemption held her own on these minor matters leaving me standing silently in the back, watching and waiting to see if tempers would flare.
Hours later the meeting ended. It was decided the party would leave the next morning for Timber to gather supplies from the Facility, I along with them. I had unfinished business there to ensure they had safe passage, and proof of a contract sealed. As everyone left the room I stayed back to speak with Redemption alone.
“Would he of been proud of me?” She asked quietly after everyone was gone. It might have been to herself, but I answered anyway.
“I don’t know.” The mare was as old as me, but she still seemed sheltered despite everything that had happened. “But he achieve his goal. He’s a hero. There is peace…”
“You seem upset… wasn’t killing him enough?”
“No…” I said quietly. “But it will do. When we return, I will expect the designs for his statue. I want that finished as soon as possible.” People demanded a memorial to the war. The Battle For Dise they called it. They would have it, but it was hard to stomach.
“You don’t have to micromanage me.” She huffed defensively. “You don’t trust me.”
“I never will.” I said looking down at her. “Even still, this is where fate has brought us. Don’t take it personally.”
There was a long period of silence before a sigh. “Fine. I’ll ensure it’s done. Anything else?”
“Don’t ruin the city when I’m gone.” Wind rushed through the shattered window. “I want you to do well. You know it is what he would want.” I refused to say that fuckers name. It was bad enough everything I was doing to prop up the legacy of a monster.
As I turned to leave I heard her call back to me. “I hate you. I won’t forgive you for what you did to Dad.” I stopped for a second, and let the hate wash over me. I could understand it. The hate. Maybe she would try to kill me one day. I could hardly blame her. But now, we had peace. No matter how much hate churned in her stomach or how much churned in mine.
So I didn’t say a word, and kept walking.
I left her to my thoughts to find ponies waiting for me. “Mommy!” Serenity gave me a flying hug to the neck that nearly choked me. But I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hey kiddo, didn’t get too bored?”
“Nah, Uncle Flare and Haze kept me company.” She said waving to Platinum Haze and Flare waiting nearby. I hadn’t seen much of Flare since everything had happened, he was busy, as always.
“How are Rain Dance and Moondancer?” Their father had died in the fighting, I had only wished I could have saved everyone. Not even my megaspell could bring back the dead. Not that I want them to know it was me. I told Flare and Haze and Serenity of course, but told them to keep the rest secret. The councillors, such as they were seemed curious, but none broached the topic about what happened, at least not after seeing the shattered window. And the corpse of the mare who did it. How could a small mare like Tight Lips possibly have thrown Clean Cutt so hard? I am sure they wondered.
“They’ve been better. Rain Dance has been worse, crying when he thinks we don’t notice. Moondancer has been more sullen, but she hasn’t stopped smiling.” He admitted with a sigh. “Dad’s taking it the worst.”
“You’ve been visiting him?” I was a little shocked to hear that after what happened.
“In his cell. Once or twice. He’s halfway between depressed and indignant.” Flare looked away from me as he spoke. I probably shouldn’t have brought it up. He hated talking about his family, not that I couldn’t understand why. “Do you have any idea when the trials are set for?”
“We haven’t decided.” I admitted. “Lemon Cake seems insistent on a mass trial to get it over with, but Steel Wing is demanding each be tried separately.”
“Not everyone understood what they were doing, but some did. Skyfall needs to be dealt with as the organizer of the coup, but… the mood in the city has been troublesome. I want this shit over quickly, but I don’t want to feed into the paranoia.” He looked around to make sure nopony was watching. “In my opinion, the fact the Watchers fucks are walking free irks me. We know who was really behind everything.”
He was right, of course. The Watchers were untouchable now. Saviours of the city in name, even though I co-opt their victory I couldn’t officially touch anypony without causing pandamonium. “I’ll deal with the worst of them.”
“Hired.” Haze said with a frown towering above me.
“Haze.” I countered back giving her a peck on the lips. “I didn’t say I’d kill them… didn't say I wouldn’t either. But some of the top brass could use a long vacation. I hear the Zebralands are nice this time of year.” She was still frowning a little, but the blush made it seem less imposing. “Any news from Diamond Sky?”
“She is working on returning to the city with the children, we shall remain here and help set up our orphanage. She has informed us she has spoken to The Followers of the Apocalypse leadership, and they shall be sending aid. It shall be nice to no longer be required to remain hidden, although it has always been our talent.”
“Good. When we return I’ll make sure you get any supplies you need. Celestia knows the children have been through enough.”
“We thank you… uh…” She glanced over at Flare and Serenity, “We had hoped we could see you later tonight. We have much work to do, but we have not spent much time together since…” She let the words hang in the air.
“It’s a date.” I said cheerfully. “Hey Serenity, sweetie.” The filly looked up at me curiously. “How would you like to stay with Flare tonight.”
“But Momma, you said we could go look at the Finishers new dresses today.”
“After that.” I said with a smile kissing her on the head. “You won’t get to see him for a while when we head north.”
She scrunched up her face, but narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously before nodding slowly. “Okay…” I wasn’t about to explain why we wanted the privacy, but she was a smart filly. I scooped her up on my hoof and placed her on my back.
“Well. I promised this little filly we were going to look at dress.” I said with a smile to the other two. “We’ll be seeing you later.” I said to the two, giving a wink to Haze as I trotted off down the hall. Behind me I could hear Flare whisper something to Haze. A second later she smacked him upside the head with her wing, so it was probably something not fit for the ears of foals.
It was a long quiet walk to the elevator, and through the main complex. There were ponies working in the casino, Watchers mostly, but they avoided me. Some of them knew who I was, most knew I was lying, but they never said anything. There was one who confronted me and told me he was going to tell the city I was a liar. He… hadn’t been seen since. It would take a long time to remove the weeds from The Watchers, but I didn’t have another option.
“I’m glad you’re okay momma.” Serenity said from my back, resting a hoof on the top of my head. “I was worried…”
“I’m sorry I put you through that.” I sighed as I pushed open the doors to leave the casino. “It wasn’t fair.” The Casino was flanked by Ponitrons on either side, only now they were controlled by The Finishers. Not that anypony knew that.
The city had barely recovered from the fighting. If you looked north you could still see wisps of smoke from parasite Mound, and rubble covered the street from the fighting, and that wasn’t to mention the destroyed raptor that was taking up most of the mainstreet not far away. It was starting to be taken apart, piece by piece, but it would take years for something that massive. For now ponies simply walked around it delicately.
But there were ponies! Hundreds of them coming up from the underground where they huddled, dying from radiation to breath the fresh clean air. After all that had happened I had expected fewer, and that those that remained would distrust the idea of helping rebuild. Yet there they were, doing their part despite it all.
“It’s okay momma, I understand…” She looked like she was about to say more when a couple of foals came running over.
The two of them stared up at me in awe. “You’re her!” One of them shouted in glee. “You’re uh… Hired Gum. Mom told me about you.” It was hard not to smile at their enthusiasm. It seemed my reputation was spreading no matter what I did to stop it, not that I was doing that much to stop it.
“Yea!” The other foal said. “You worked for Clean Cutt and the Watchers!” The others said just as excitedly. It felt like I was kicked in the stomach, but I choked down the bile and kept on smiling. “He saved the city, he was really cool, mom said.”
My cheeks ached as I forced myself to keep smiling. “Yes. He was.” I replied curtly. “I’m sorry kids, I’m a bit busy right now.” I quickly turned away and walked down the street, letting my face turn into a scowl.
“Momma, are you okay?” She asked peering down at me from atop my head.
I closed my eyes and pushed my hate down. The thought of that bastard getting credit for fixing the things he himself destroyed. Kids being told heroic stories of him. People praising his good deeds. The thought of it all burned hotter than the megaspell ever did. But I had to push it down, there was no other option.
I opened my eyes and looked around. The city was safe. The city was rebuilding, slowly to be sure, but it was rebuilding. Ponies could walk the streets without fear of radiation or attack. The gangs of the city had been neutered, and their petty wars stopped. There was peace in Dise, and the price for this was my pride. I could pay that price for as long as I lived, I had to.
“I’m fine.” I lied as I took another step forward. |
No One | 662 | 42 | Original Character,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: Heroes | A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A lonely guard, inspired by Littlepip, goes to save her brother. | complete | 2,393 | 71 | <p>Inspired by the heroics of the mysterious mare known as the Stable Dweller, Silver Storm, a guard of the town of Marefort, decides to go on a daring mission to rescue her captured brother. Of course things rarely go as planned and her attempts at heroism drags her into a tangled web of plots and conspiracies as warring factions vie for control over the last great city: Dise.</p><p>Spanish Version translated by Spaniard-Kiwi: <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393" rel="nofollow">https://www.deviantart.com/spaniard-kiwi/art/Fallout-Ecuestria-Heroes-996263393</a> </a></p> | teen | 2019-04-15T23:12:31+00:00 | 2019-04-15T23:12:31+00:00 | 5,077 | Seven Years Later
“Serve... Save... Slave... Slay…”
“And did you find it?” I leaned back in my seat watching the pony in front of me curiously. I wasn’t happy with Ponitron only security, so years ago I set up an internal policing force, with the council’s blessing of course. This mare was one of my latest recruits, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember her name. Cherry… something?
“No ma’am.” She shook her head while she stared at the floor. If only she knew how weak I had become she’d not be shaking the way she was. “The rifle we found wasn’t to the specs you described, the pony was reprimanded and the goods confiscated.”
“Pay him market value for the goods you took.” The mare looked up at me, finally, in shock. “I can’t have him lying. About selling relics from the war. But we also can’t steal. Tell the captain I want him paid.” The mare was still staring at me with a gormless look on her face. “Now!”
“Yes ma’am!” She stood stiffly to attention before near galloping from the room. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at her antics. My history from the war preceded me. And ever since it was my job to put down the occasional rebels or attempted coup, as few as there had been. My actions brought awe because they didn’t know the truth…
I took the file from my desk and looked it over. The only word on the front was ‘Subtlety’. Ever since my fight atop the Clips and Clops I had been looking for it. But now it was too late. I had a council meeting to attend, and then… I’d leave the city for the last time. I gently tossed the file into the trash and started to stand.
It took a few seconds of aches and pains for me to force myself into a standing position. Not even Med-X could keep the pain at bay. My joints ached more and more every day, and when I looked down at my barding I could see it. Seeping out from under the edges of my clothes. Bright blue lines, like veins. They had been growing, close to covering me completely. With the healing megaspell inside me gone, there was little except my own fortitude to keep the starmetal poison at bay, and now that was failing too.
I was dying.
~~~
So where should we start…
“You’re interviewing me remember? You aren’t very good at this.”
Very funny. Alright, state your name, and your relationship to Hired Gun.
“Name’s Flare, obviously. Hired Gun is my best friend and closest confidant, even if she is as dumb as the rocks on her flank.”
Alright and then it was… right. So. Where have you been since The Battle for Dise?
“These past years I have been working with The Enclave, trying to rebuild our reputation. A flawed endeavour, but they were always my family, so I had to try right? Poor stupid Flare, throwing his life away for a lost cause. Feel free to weep for me.”
I’ll get right on it. Jeeze. Alright, final question. What do you think of Hired Gun. Answer truthfully, please.
“She was an idiot. A violent reckless fool who nearly got me and you killed countless times. But she was my friend, as close as I had ever gotten. I’d trust her with my life. That said… you and I know she has done some… lets charitably call it questionable things. It makes me uncomfortable when people praise her without thought. And let me just add, I think people don’t need to know this, and these memoirs you are putting together are a mistake.”
I didn’t ask that.
“You didn’t need to. But I know my thoughts don’t matter. The city isn’t ready for the truth. Not about her, and certainly not about Clean Cutt, and you can put that on the record!”
It was her dying wish to let people know the truth about Clean Cutt.
“That’s not what this is about. I know you too well to let you lie to me.”
~~~
The Council Chambers had been prepared for my final meeting. It still took place in Redemption’s old office, but over the years we had renovated the place. Instead of building a new oval table we had a table set into a half circle with single table in the centre for guests or applicants to speak where everyone could look at them easily. It was set up in such a way that the applicants were always facing towards the window, which now had a stained glass portrait of Clean Cutt. I had demanded it years ago. A joke that only I would get.
The councillors were the same, with few exceptions. High General Steel wing didn’t feel it necessarily to join meetings himself, and sent a representative in Flare, who spent most of his council time quipping back and forth at Molly. That stubborn mule was still there of course, I had long suspected she would outlast everyone else in the city by sheer will. Paladin Lemon Cake and Screenshot (Who long since went by the name ‘Photo Finish’ though I never called her that) were unmoved as well. The NCA had been absent from the council for years after their civil war kicked off in earnest, but there was still a spot left open for them. The Hizai, or what was left of them had a seat as well, and was occupied by a cybernetic unicorn I had never met in my time working for Mr. House.
Then, finally, in the middle of the table, was Redemption. She glared daggers at me from where I stood at the visitors podium. She barely even tried to hide her contempt for me these days, years of hatred boiling in her blood from what I did to her dad. Yet, when it came down to it. She listened.
“How long will you be gone?” She was asking me, though she knew the answer. Visitors were allowed in seating off to the side, and the seats were almost always full so she had to put on a show.
“If I survive, two years.”
“We wish you a... speedy return. Dise thanks you for your many years of service. Without you we all would not be here today.” She was saying through gritted teeth. She didn’t mean, but it didn’t matter. She would be rid of me soon enough.
~~~
Alright, so. Name, and relationship to Hired Gun.
“You know who I am… fine. You’ve become quite the little buzzy bee since you returned, my little hard worker. I’m Molly, councillor, leader, and owner operator of the largest casino on the strip. Hired Gun is my mortal enemy, or was, she got over it, as did I.”
Where have you been since the Battle for Dise?
“Here, in Dise. We spent years repairing the damage, and somepony had to rule, so it was to me and the others. Celestia knows why I bother, but like a moth to the flame I am attracted to hard jobs. I dare say we did a good job. You’d not even know a Casino was where the Moon once stood. Oh how Roy would cry to see it. The thought brings a smile to my face. And yes, of course, peace and prosperity a plenty. For the most part. We’ve had a few troubles in the years since the War, but they were always crushed. Personally I have made myself quite wealthy selling radiatited gunk to Equestria. Or the NCR. Whatever fool name they gave themselves. I suspect their alicorns bathe in it.”
And what do you think of Hired Gun.
“We’re mortal enemies, remember? She is a dangerous bitch, and she gnaws on grievances like a dog with a bone. We have that in common. But she is a dangerous idiot. Why she’s so beloved in the city I’ll never know. Still, I would not want to be on her bad side. Assuming she still lives. Does she?”
No more questions, thank you for your time Molly.
~~~
There used to be a statue in the centre crossroads of the city. I met The Batmare there once. It was a relic from before the war, but it was crushed and destroyed when the Raptor fell on it. Years later I had it replaced, and we had a huge ceremony to celebrate it. It was meant to immortalize the battle that nearly tore the city apart, and our strength to make it through. Four ponies were carved from stone we had imported from The New Equestrian Republic.
The first was Pinprick, though she had never looked so clean in person as she did in the the statue, and I has suspected the carver did not have a proper picture and had to use word of mouth because she looked off. Beside her was me, towering above the others, with a grim look on my face. Beside me was Clean Cutt. Perhaps his inclusion was what gave me such a grim look, but we all had to pretend, for the good of the city. In front of us was a small colt. I had told the carver he represented the will of the city, that we were protecting. In reality he was Post Haste, the colt I killed outside Karkhoof. It wasn’t proper penance, but it was the least I could do.
“You’re looking well.” A voice said to me as I stared up at the statues, my mind wandering. It did that a lot lately.
“Flare.” I said smiling at the blue pegasus who walked up beside me. He was looking older, his eyes weathered and the tips of his mane graying ever so slightly. He was young still, but not for much longer. “Don’t lie.” His one wing flicked a little bit at the accusation. He had never gotten a replacement like he wanted, and he seemed to take pride in that.
“I meant the statue.” he said with a laugh. He looked me over from hooves to ear. “You look like shit in person. So today’s the day?”
“Yes…” I said tearing my eyes away from him. There was pity in his eyes. I hated it. “Are you sure you don’t want to come? We could use you out there.”
“I have work here.” Flare said with a laugh, “And stallions to date. Well, stallion.” He said with a surprisingly genuine stallion, “I know you and High Stakes don’t get along, but we’ve been working it out. We’ll be here when you get back though...” He said placing his wing on my back.
I shuddered at the touch. “I won't be coming back.” I eventually said to break the silence.
We stared at the statue for minutes before he eventually replied. “I know.”
~~~
Let’s get this over with... Name, and relationship to Hired Gun.
“Smooth Tongue. I was her former boss after a fashion, she quit in a particularly spectacular way. Did she ever tell you the story little one?”
Yes. You do not come off well in it.
“I suppose not. A shame, we could have gotten along famously.”
Whatever… ugh… so what have you been doing since the Battle for Dise. The one you didn’t help with.
“Why would I participate? I’m many kilometers from the city, had no real connection despite my loyal Lieutenant having lands closer, and his personal relationship to Hired. It was nothing to us. I admit we have profited generously after the fight. Trade has flourished between the NCR and Dise, and they all go through us. It has been enough to set us up as a more respectable organization, to stake large swaths of lands, and defend it. We have achieved a level of peace and security that outshines even-”
Yeah yeah. What do you think of Hired Gun. And hurry up with it...
“I’ve known her longer than you, so I will speak for whatever length I deem appropriate. To be frank, I thought she was dumb. When she lived in Marefort there was some concern her size and anger would pose a problem, but they didn’t until the end. She passively did her job barely speaking save to her family. Except for her brother. Shall I speak of him as well, he is doing well in his position. He would like to s-”
I don’t want to hear about un-Summer Silk.
“If these are her memoirs I suspect she has notes on the events that took place here in regards to the child Foundation. I would like the opportunity to explain wha-”
I don’t want to hear it. This was a mistake, goodbye Smooth Tongue.
~~~
“Must you take her with you? We have found her help invaluable.” Platinum Haze said looking down at me. In the intervening years she was able to move her orphanage to a new building that was made from the parts salvaged from the Wreckage of The Moon. It was a nice enough building, even as her orphans got older and older, which is what happened when you killed fewer people.
“She wants to go, and you know her, when she sets her mind to something…” Haze and I shared a small room on the top floor of her orphanage. Sometimes I would help with the kids, but I was never as good at it as I would have liked.
“We know, but we have often found with the right motivation…” She sighed a little and gave me a warm smile. “We would never take her away from you, we will make do, as we always have.” I couldn’t help but look at her wing when she said that. It was mangled oddly during the fighting and had never really healed. She could fly, but not for long, and not without pain. If it bothered her she didn’t show it. She never did. “I’m proud of everything you have accomplished.”
“T-thank you…” I moved closer to rest my head on her chest. This was one of the few places I could just be, without worrying about who I was being. I needed it “I don’t think I’m coming back. I’m… I’m scared.” She wrapped a warm wing around me, and just let me continue. “I-I don’t want to die. I thought I did but… but…” I took a deep sharp breath as she gently rubbed my back with a wing. “I’m sorry I-”
“We know.” She said softly, her wing still rubbing up and down my back comfortingly. “I love you too.”
~~~
Name and relationship with Hired Gun.
“Sweetie, is this really necessary? You know whom we are.... Alright alright, we cannot withstand that look. We are Platinum Haze, we were Hired Gun’s marefriend for many years.”
What have you been doing since the Battle for Dise?
“You know this as well… oh very well. We have been continuing our work with the Followers of the Apocalypse, specifically we have spent the years working at, maintaining, and supporting our orphanage. We are pleased to say that with every passing year our services become less and less necessary, but we shall continue to provide them until they are no longer needed at all.”
What do you think of Hired Gun?
“We love her.”
…
“Oh, did you want more? Very well. We have always found her a difficult pony to love. We mean this not as an insult, but a statement of fact. All who know her know her to be quiet, distant, and troubled. However the undeniable strength in her. It is hard not to admire, to find joy in. We have found it worth it, despite the trouble. She is a person you warm up to, not one who you have a strong first impression of.”
And her… violent tendencies?
“We are not a leash, sweetie. We go our path, and she has gone her, and thus we all are happy. We cannot fault all her actions, even if we disagree, and she had done much to bring peace, not all through violence, as we have asked of her… you seem disappointed?”
No, that’s not it. Thank you for your time.
“Sweetie are you okay? You have been spending too much time in this project, perhaps you should take a break…”
I’m fine!
~~~
It was days walking north. We made the trip faster many times, but I walked slowly, and rested often. I hated feeling this way, but I knew there was nothing I could do. If there was one comfort I could take it was that Serenity didn’t complain at all. When we stopped yet again for me to catch my breath she just got to starting to bundle sticks for a fire.
She turned into a finer mare than me. Tall, though not so tall as me, thin, and elegant. She was graceful on her hooves and with her hooves, moving with a dexterity I couldn’t hope to match. As she grew she picked up my penchant for quietness, but never forgot her playfulness. She glanced over at me staring at her, and brushed a long strand of mane out of her eyes before chucking a stick at me. “No moping momma. I told you, it’s forbidden.”
My joints creaked as I brought up my metal leg to shield from another thrown stick. At least my cybernetics never got tired. “Who told you that you were in charge?”
“Did you want to fight about it momma?” She said raising an eyebrow, walking up to me to size me up. “I thought not.” She said tapping her hoof against my nose before I had the chance to respond. The metal felt cold on my nose.
“You know what, I’m feeling better, I guess we should head back.” I said chuckling as she returned to the bundle of sticks. She lifted her hoof at it, and then, fwoosh, a small jet of flame came pouring out of it. I never approved of her getting cybernetics on purpose. To me, it seemed morbid. But she was old enough to make her own decisions, and she spent years designing them just for herself.
“Not a chance. We’re going to get to the Zebralands and fix you right up.” She said more confidently then I ever could.
“Serenity…” I started to say but she turned back to me, her sad grey eyes pleading with me. She had to believe, I realized. I had to leave her with that. We both knew it was a lie, but what else did I have to give but lies? “Of course.”
“We’re near Bridle Hoof.” She mentioned changing the subject rapidly. I hadn’t been back there since my falling out with my brother, when the Crimson Hoof took over. “Are we going to stop by and see Uncle?”
“No.” I said firmly. “Do you think he’ll want to know what he did?” It was his fault after all. The lines of blue that were keeping across the skin. The fatigue. The constant pain. I was dying, and because of a mistake he made. A mistake I made. He shot me with poison from outer space. It was funny when I thought myself invincible, but now… the joke had faded.
“But momma, don’t you…” She looked back at me with a grin. She was always smiling, and upbeat. Except her eyes. Her eyes always seemed sad, now more so than ever. “Nevermind. Food shouldn’t take too long, but you could take a nap. It’s a long journey north to the port.”
~~~
“Well… are we to get started?”
Huh, sorry, sorry. I was distracted. I was still hoping Major Lucky or Major General Hailstorm would have responded by now.
“I’m never good enough for you, am I kid? You’re not likely to find them. I’ve got reports from the NCA and their Civil War hasn’t let up. You know how the NCA was formed right?”
Uh…
“I guess it doesn’t matter, suffice to to say old grudges are hard to hide without a common enemy like the minotaurs.”
Where did they even go… oh, sorry. Right. Interview. Please state your name and relationship to Hired Gun.
“Paladin Curly Fries, from the Applejack Rangers. And she was my… ally? Enemy? I suppose it depended on the day.”
Where have you been since The Battle for Dise?
“Through the Applejack Rangers, I have helped them on their new mission as agreed upon. We have maintained border security around Dise, and helped tame out outland areas Dise claims to hold. You’re welcome. We also have spent considerable resources studying the technology in the Mountain Facility. You would be amazed at the secrets of Megaspells we have uncovered.”
I’m sure I would. What do you think of Hired Gun?
“She ruined my life, then saved it. I have long suspected that the rocks on her flanks were for the rubble she left behind. But the way she handled Dise, the way she led it... She didn’t have to do what she did. It was impressive. Despite that, I still might still hate her.”
It’s still all your fault Curly Fries.
“What?”
Never mind.
~~~
We had stopped in the Marefort. The last stop before we hit Equestria proper. I never saw Smooth Tongue, though he knew I was coming. Despite everything it was good to be home. To see people I hadn’t seen in so long. To hear stories of what I missed. To walk the halls and walkways and huddled cramp buildings like I had never left at all. I never had many friends in the Marefort, but my stories had spread enough they were glad to see me. It was burdensome. It wasn’t home, it hadn’t been home for so long. It felt cramped. Old. Like a storybook I read as a kid that no longer held up to scrutiny as a mare.
I couldn’t sleep so I went for a walk. Serenity was snoring gently, and had kicked her blankets off, so I carefully tucked her in before I left. She was a full grown mare, but I still hated to think of how she’d live without me looking after her. She was going to get into so much trouble.
Still I needed to walk. Mind you I had to take Med-X to stomach the pain walking caused. The night was deathly dark, like it was before the cloud cover was opened. With my cybernetic eye I could still see, but barely. It was fine though. I liked the dark. And I needed to think. Seven years is a long time, and so much had happened. I gave my life for Dise. I brought the city together. I built it up after everything that happened. There was the Council, sure, but whenever something went wrong they looked to me to fix it.
And fix it I did. With all my power, and all my might, even as my strength faded. As my voice grew weak. I stood tall. For Dise. For a home. I had so few years left and I gave them to that city. I regretted it at times. The way I slaved over the city. They would never know me. The real me. The truth behind what happened. How could I not hate them for that? Hate them for never realizing what I did. What Clean Cutt did. And they should have hated me back. Liar, murderer, hero-killer, foal-killer. Everything that Dise was, was my mess. Was my lies. Perhaps that is why I choose to stay. Because I felt like I had to. I chained myself to the idea of being their Hero, even as I hated it some days.
I stared south, peering through the gloom and the darkness and I felt, for a minute. That I could see it. The light rising from over mountains hills and deserts. The diamond of the south. The desert jewel. The home I built. The mistakes I made. After everything that happened, they deserved to know the truth. I stayed for duty, not love. I was a monster, only slightly better than Clean Cutt, and all their myths and heroes were charlatans. I wouldn’t be there to tell them, but they’d know. Serenity had already started to write my memoirs when we rested.
My legs grew tired, but I knew where I was. So I stopped and took a seat. Before me were two stone graves, preserved in time. In the darkness of night even with my cybernetic eye I could not read the names engraved in the stone. I didn’t need to. I knew the name. I lowered my head. This place deserved reverence.
“I’m sorry. I love you. I will see you soon.” I whispered in the dark. I could only pray they would recognize me.
~~~
“Alright, your turn?”
What are you talking about Flare? I just came to check on how the editing is-
“Fine fine, I am a professional afterall. See my butt? Hah! But It was incomplete, it needed something, and I realized what! A testimonial from Hired Gun’s daughter.”
Um…
“State your name and relationship to Hired Gun.”
I’m Serenity, and I’m her daughter.
“Where have you been since the Battle for Dise’s Soul?”
Flare is this really… oh… fine. I have been working with the Watchers to help reform them. I did spend a lot of time on personal projects. I was still a kid after all.
“Still are! Why else would you be writing this? So tell me, what do you think of Hired Gun.”
What kind of question is that, she’s my mother. I love her with all my heart.
“How did she die?”
Flare… that’s not one of the questions.
“We can edit it out later, just answer.”
You don’t know what it was like over there! You didn’t see her as I saw her. She had been so strong… to see her so weak, so feeble. We barely made it there, and when we were in the Zebralands… it… it’s not something I want to talk about. I can’t. I’m sorry.
“That’s when Silver Storm died, not Hired Gun. Hired Gun will die when this book of yours gets published. It was a trick question. But since you brought her up. What do you think of Silver Storm.”
Flare, what are you getting at?
“What did you think of Silver Storm… your adopted mothers. After everything that happened. Did you really love her?”
Of course!
“Did you really forgive her.”
What-
“There’s more to this than letting people know about Clean Cutt. I’m not stupid, I’ve known you too long little filly. Tell me, can you really forgive her for Karkhoof. What she did. What she made you watch. Everyone will know the truth soon enough, everyone will face it. But you need to first. Do you forgive her for killing Post Haste.”
I…
Flare… you can’t… I…
...
No.
I don’t forgive her.
You want the truth, fine! The truth is that I never did. And never will. Not for that. Everyone wants to remember the dead fondly, but why? People need the truth, about her, about Clean Cutt, about everything. We never should've lied. So here’s the truth: I love her. Despite everything. But I still dream of that moment. I can’t forget, I can’t let go. People deserve to know their Heroes.
As I do. |
Raot | 663 | 1 | Big Macintosh,Main 6,Original Character,Princess Celestia,Spike,Crossover,Adventure,Comedy,Random,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Deduction is Magic | A silly story about Sherlock Hooves and Clopson. | complete | 10 | 1 | <p>A strange robbery has Sherlock interested, it leads him into unknown waters of magic and the occcult.</p> | everyone | 2011-09-21T00:56:02+00:00 | 2011-09-21T00:56:02+00:00 | 1,867 | Sherlock gazed angrily at the herd of cattle as they passed outside the carriage window.
“You really should have attended the gala Sherlock” Said Clopson. “You have been saying that you were bored, and it was different this time…”
“The Gala is always a waste of time.” Sherlock Hooves responded sourly while rolling his eyes to his companion. “I just wish someone could get murdered around here.”
“Sherlock…” Clopson stopped himself, “Look, I thought I found something to cheer you up…”
“If it isn’t dead I don’t want any of it.” Sherlock said. “But by the looks of things, we aren’t going back to our apartment.” He said, looking out at the herd of cows once more. “The cattle never graze around Canterlot. So what have you signed me up for this time? ”
“Look, it may not be a murder… but it’s a robbery alright?” Clopson tried to sell it. Sherlock sighed and leaned back on the seat, putting his fore hooves at his sides.
Clopson continued after shaking his head in annoyance at Sherlock’s apathy. “Inspector Lestrot asked for you to come by name. Celestia even wants you there…”
“I don’t care if Nightmare Moon herself came back and stole the sun, all I want to do is get back to my experiments… Those are more illuminating than these shenanigans you have me going through.”
“It’s the tower. Someone robbed from the princess, and they took something valuable.” Clopson tried in vain. “Look, if you solve it in ten seconds flat I swear I will stop harassing you.”
“… Fine. Ten it is.” Sherlock said.
“…What? I was kidding…”
“Nope, you said it. I’ll take that bet. Challenge accepted,” Sherlock said. Clopson sighed as Sherlock took in a deep breath and the carriage rolled to a stop. “At least now it will be a challenge.”
Stepping outside, Sherlock’s brown coat was partially obscured by a darker brown overcoat. His mane was disheveled and the plain equine could have been mistaken for a poorer earth pony if it was not for the shining magnifying glass cutie mark on his flank. In fact, he seemed to be the only earth pony present, the others either being Pegasus guards, unicorn nobles, or…
And there she was. Celestia herself was waiting for them by two broken down doors.
“Your time starts now.” Clopson said, teasingly, as he also stepped off. He was a blue unicorn, who fit in more than the dull brown earth pony. He stood up straight, flattened his white mane with his hoof for a moment, and then joined Sherlock, trying to look his best for the princess.
“It’s about time.” A grey unicorn walked up to them.
“Inspector Lestrot, good to see you again.” Clopson bowed his head politely as Sherlock gave Lestrot a single obviously fake smile of greeting.
“Don’t give me any of that Clopson. The greatest treasure in all of Equestria has been stolen!”
“Look, I’m sure it is worth a lot, but aren’t you overreacting? What did they…” Clopson was interrupted.
“The Elements of Harmony.” Celestia spoke and trotted towards the detectives. “ I kept the necklaces created when the Elements of Harmony were discovered, and I locked them in the tower in case a great evil returned.”
Clopson was astounded. “My word!”
“Elements of what now?” Everyone turned to Sherlock as he asked the question.
“Surely you jest…” Celestia started.
“I never jest, and don’t call me Shirley.” Sherlock rudely interrupted the all-powerful alicorn.
“Hooves!” Clopson hissed under his breath. “The Elements of Harmony! Used to defeat Nightmare Moon when she returned, they also turned her back into princess Luna…”
“Nightmare Moon came back?” Sherlock asked skeptically. “I thought that was an old mares tale…”
“It just happened!” Clopson hissed angrily in disbelief. “It was all over the news!”
“You know I don’t read the news.” Sherlock said. “Not since that wall eyed pony broke my window…”
“Don’t you remember the day the sun did not come up?” Clopson asked frantically.
“Oh, yes, I slept in that day, but I heard it was eerie.” Sherlock said.
“Ahem, well,” Celestia broke into the conversation once more.
“Don’t worry Princess, we have our best ponies on the job.” Lestrot said. She smiled.
“I know.” She nodded reverently to the ponies present, then continued, “I have other duties…”
“Of course.” Lestrot said, bowing. Celestia left as both Lestrot and Clopson bowed their heads. When she was gone, Clopson looked up.
“Sherlock…” Clopson started, but he was already gone, looking through the crime scene. He sighed and followed. The eccentric earth pony had no sense of decorum.
“It’s been ten seconds.” Clopson said, making his way into the broken vault. “Do you know who did it?” he asked.
“… Tell me, my dear Clopson, what do you think of the scene?” he asked. Clopson rolled his eyes.
“I don’t know Sherlock, I haven’t looked around yet…”
“Well, take your time. I would like another opinion before I voice my own.”
Clopson sighed and looked around. He saw a Pegasus Guard with his helmet off, being nursed back to health. He had quite the bruise on the back of his head.
“He was found outside the door.” Lestrot said, making his way to Clopson. “With those two right by him.” Clopson looked at where the colt pointed, and found two bruised apples.
“The perps knocked him out before he could see them, and then burst down the door.” Lestrot continued, motioning to the metal gates crumpled on the ground. “Then they marched right to the end of the hall, and snatched the jewelry.”
“Weren’t there any other defenses?” Clopson asked.
“And that’s what’s stumped us.” Lestrot said, motioning to the end of the hall. “There was a spell put of the floors to alert the other guards if some unauthorized pony broke in… but it never went off.”
“Hmm…” Clopson put his hoof to his chin.
“Ideas?” Sherlock asked.
“Yes…” Clopson went over the fact. “These are professionals. Probably a team of them. They would have needed a strong, accurate earth pony, a very powerful unicorn, and a Pegasus, to knock out the guard, break down the doors and fly over the floor. We should look for some powerful ponies with connections to each other. They will probably have a criminal record.”
Lestrot nodded his head. “We will have a thorough investigation of all our records.” Lestrot then looked to Sherlock. “Anything you wish to add?”
Hooves shrugged. “It all seems very reasonable.” There was a silence. Clopson sighed and face hoofed.
“What is it Hooves? What did I miss this time?” he asked.
“Only everything that matters.” Sherlock said patronizingly. “You even missed the red herrings that were meant to throw you off the trail. You failed at failing…”
“Knock it off Sherlock and get to the point.” Lestrot demanded. Sherlock sighed.
“First off, the apples.” He nodded to the apples. “Red Delicious and Granny smith, fresh from the orchard. The only place in Equestria that is close enough to have those kinds of apples is Ponyville. It is also home to many earth ponies, a lot of them farmers, who buck apples for a living…”
“So we are looking for an earth pony in Ponyville…” Lestrot tried to follow along.
“Probably not.” Sherlock answered. “As any apple farmer can tell you, using an apple as a projectile will mean sacrificing the apple,” he pointed at the projectiles. “These are bruised. Any apple with enough force to knock out a royal guard in full armor would splatter on impact. Also, if you look at the bruise on the guard you will find that he was hit in the back of the head, not the front. If you are already behind a guard there is no reason to risk using an apple. He was most likely hit over the head with a rock, or large stick.”
“So why are the apples here? Did the culprit drop them on accident…” Lestrot asked.
“Yes, but not on accident. You see, this was supposed to throw us off. Same with the entrance…“ He walked to the fallen metal doors. “A unicorn would not make this kind of dent, and no Earth pony could knock down a metal door. They can’t even knock down trees. No, this was taken apart from the inside.”
“But, it’s bashed in…” Clopson said.
“Excellent deduction!” Sherlock layered his words with enough sarcasm to kill a horse. “How did you come up with that one?”
“No need to be rude.” Clopson said angrily.
Sherlock sighed and continued. “Bashed, yes. Broken? No. The door its self is on the ground. Brute force would have broken the lock, or made a hole, but the metal is still intact. Somepony weakened the hinges from the inside...” he took a closer look. “Looks like they froze it and then smashed it. That would require liquid nitrogen…”
“But how did they get inside?” Clopson asked. “And if they were already inside, why break down the door…”
“Elementary.” Sherlock responded. “To throw us off the scent. These dents in the door were made posthumously… in a manner of speaking.”
“And the spells?” Lestrot asked. “How did they get across those?” Sherlock smiled and looked at the other two ponies.
“Well, if I knew that, I wouldn’t take the case now would I?” He turned to get back into his carriage. “The game is ahoof Clopson!” Clopson sighed in relief. Perhaps Sherlock’s boredom could be satiated for another day or two this time. |
Raot | 663 | 2 | Big Macintosh,Main 6,Original Character,Princess Celestia,Spike,Crossover,Adventure,Comedy,Random,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Deduction is Magic | A silly story about Sherlock Hooves and Clopson. | complete | 10 | 1 | <p>A strange robbery has Sherlock interested, it leads him into unknown waters of magic and the occcult.</p> | everyone | 2011-09-21T00:36:40+00:00 | 2011-09-21T00:36:40+00:00 | 1,391 | “So, the robber wanted us to think it was an earth pony from Ponyville?” Clopson asked.
“Good, you’re following.” Sherlock nodded.
“But then… why are we in Ponyville?” Clopson asked as they passed the town center.
“Because, those apples still came from here, and this is where the trail must start. But first before we go on…“ Hooves stopped and looked around quickly.
“The ponies here are a bit crazy.” He said to Clopson under his breath. “I think there’s something in the water.”
“HEY” came a high-pitched voice.
“Oh horse apples it’s her.” Sherlock cursed, looking at a pink pony that had come up from behind him.
“What are you doing here? Who’s your friend? I haven’t met him before.” She suddenly took a long gasp, “We need a welcome party! We don’t get a lot of new ponies here and it’s a really small town and I’m sure everyone would like to get to know you and…”
“Pinkie pie… that’s your name right?” Sherlock interrupted.
“Yep! Well, really it Pinkamena Diane Pie, And I think Diane is a really weird name don’t you…” Sherlock put his hoof over her mouth.
“Right! Pinkie! I am on a case right now!” he said. “And I need to know where Sweet Apple Acres is.” He put his hoof back on the ground.
“Of course! That’s where Applejack works, you know Applejack right?” she gasped again. “NO YOU DON’T! You never met her! And how can you know her if you haven’t met her? I mean you could know ABOUT her I guess but…”
“Pinkie!” Sherlock interrupted once more “Concentrate!” he continued when she tried to speak again. “Now… point us to the whereabouts of sweet apple acres.”
Pinkie pointed, but continued to follow the two colts.
“Applejack is fun, but she likes to work a lot and you like to work a lot so I think you have a lot in common. One time she even saved the town from a stampede! But then she over worked herself and made some baked bads. She likes to bake things and… OH I was just baking cupcakes when you came, I’ll go get them, we can have a mini pre-party, party!” she dashed off, back to sugar cube corner.
“Well, she seems like quite the handful. Not really your type.” Clopson commented.
“What do you mean type?”
“Well, you come into town and she makes cupcakes for you? Sounds like something’s going on…”
“No that’s just her. She makes cupcakes for everyone. Quick, we should start moving faster if we are to lose her…”
“What?” Clopson said in surprise “It’s about lunch time, I could really use a cupcake…”
“Trust me, don’t drink the water, don’t eat the cupcakes, try not to breath to heavily either. I just want to get out of the town as fast as…”
“Ihm baghck!” Clopson turned to see Pinkie quickly trotting towards them holding a plate of cupcakes with rainbow colored frosting.
“Don’t mind if I…” Clopson turned to see Sherlock eyeing the cupcakes suspiciously, looking back to Clopson, and shaking his head in warning. “...Er, actually, I haven’t been feeling well lately.”
“But you know what will make him feel better?” Hooves started. “Some fresh sweet apple cider...” Sherlock said.
“OH, I’m sure Applejack has some, here, I’ll lead the way!” she dropped the plate and sped forward.
“I like her.” Clopson said. The three ponies made their way towards the apple farm. “So how do you know each other?” he asked pinkie pie.
“Well, gummy went missing one day, so I found Sherlock and I asked him to find him, but he said it was stupid, so I said I would throw him a party if he found gummy, but he didn’t want a party, I don’t know why. Who doesn’t like parties? I asked him why and he said they were boring, but I said my parties are NEVER boring…”
------------------------------
“And it turned out!” Pinkie finished her story as they reached the entrance to sweet apple acres. “He was in the bathtub THE WHOLE TIME.”
“That was quite a thrilling tale.” Clopson said with a nod. “Especially the part about oatmeal…”
“Yes, but, we’re here now.” Sherlock said while stopping and looking to Pinkie. “We’re going to be doing confidential… detective… stuff now.”
“OH. Okay, I’ll get the party ready for Clopson!” she dashed away and back to her own home.
“Well howdy there.” Sherlock turned to see Applejack with her hoof held out towards him. “Ah don’t think we’ve met before.”
“No, we haven’t.” he trotted past the hoof and looked around the farm. Clopson took up her hoof instead.
“I’m sorry about him, hello, I am Clopson, and this is Sherlock… Sherlock!” he yelled at the pony as he took an apple from one of the nearby trees and took a bite.
“These aren’t your trees Sherlock, you can’t just eat whatever you want…”
“I’m not eating.” He spat out the chewed remnants. “Just tasting,”
“I am terribly sorry, I’ll get him to pay for that…” Clopson said apologetically.
“It don’t mind me none. Ah can see he’s got something on his mind.” Applejack said politely with a giggle. “But what can I do ya for?”
“Well, you see, there was a robbery in Canterlot…”
“Really?” Applejack’s eyes widened. “Me an the girls were just over there at the gala last night…”
“Were you now?” Clopson said curiously. He used magic to take out a pen and paper. “Who else went with you?”
“Well there’s Twi, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Dash, an I think Spike tagged along as well, why?”
“Well, I’m sorry, but I will probably need to question all of you…”
“What? You think me an my friends might have somethin’ to do with this…”
“No mam, but it is a possibility. And one of you might have seen something.” He said.
“Well alrighty then. Ah’ll see what ah can do to help y’all.” She said.
“You have a dog?” Applejack turned when Sherlock spoke. Winona had just walked up and barked at the newcomers.
“Er, yea, that there’s Winona. Best…” she started.
“I’m sorry, what other family members live here?” Clopson interrupted, angrily giving Sherlock a glance before continuing.
"Well there’s Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, Applebloom…”
“Half the towns probably related to the Apple family,” Sherlock said making his way back to the group. “That’s why I hate these backwater towns.”
“Beg yer pardon?” Applejack said defensively.
“Nothing. We’re done here.” He said, making his way out of the farm the way he came in.
“Wait!” he looked to Applejack and then back to Sherlock, sighed, put away his notes and apologized to her, “I’m so sorry for his behavior, but I have to go. Thank you for your cooperation.”
“T'aint nothing.” Applejack said sorely as Clopson went galloping after Sherlock.
“What was that all about? We hardly got anything from her…”
“There was not much there Clopson.” Sherlock said. “All I needed to do was test if the apples tasted the same as those at the scene. They did. They most definitely came from this farm, freshly picked, and because the security system is lax to say the least, any pony could have gone and taken a few.”
“Actually, I saw Applejack selling apples at the Gala.” Clopson said. “One of the other guests might have…”
“She didn’t sell a single apple there.” Sherlock interrupted. “Maybe a pie or two, but any gentlecolt of high standing would not be caught with their lips on common carnival fare.” Sherlock explained. “And I’m sure she watched her product like a griffon, and would have reported theft. No. The thief is here in ponyville.”
“And the dog?” Clopson asked. “Why was that important?”
Sherlock shrugged “Don’t see many dogs around here. It’s refreshing.”
Clopson sighed. “So where are we off to now?”
“Twilight Sparkles library.” Sherlock responded.
“She was at the Gala… do you think it was her?” Clopson asked. “She is very close to the princess, she might have been able to get in…”
Sherlock laughed, “My dear friend, I like your creativity, but Twilight Sparkle is far too loyal to cross Celestia, and with her standing, she probably could have very well asked for the Elements of Harmony and received them with no fuss.” Sherlock continued.
“…So why are we going there?” Clopson asked.
“It’s getting dark, and I heard she has an extra bed or two.” Sherlock responded. “She also has one of the few copies of ‘The Elements of Harmony’ and I believe it would be some good light reading.” He explained.
“We could simply find an inn.” Clopson suggested. “Better beds, better food, I know one just down the street…”
“The Inns have neither the company nor reading I wish. And you know I don’t eat on a case.”
“I was thinking of myself.” Clopson said.
“Ah, well, you know I need you Clopson. Magic of friendship and all that.” Sherlock said. Clopson rolled his eyes.
"Fine" |
Raot | 663 | 3 | Big Macintosh,Main 6,Original Character,Princess Celestia,Spike,Crossover,Adventure,Comedy,Random,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Deduction is Magic | A silly story about Sherlock Hooves and Clopson. | complete | 10 | 1 | <p>A strange robbery has Sherlock interested, it leads him into unknown waters of magic and the occcult.</p> | everyone | 2011-09-21T00:40:41+00:00 | 2011-09-21T00:40:41+00:00 | 1,307 | “There’s nothing wrong with sharing a bed Clopson.” Sherlock said, reading The Elements of Harmony from under the covers beside his friend.
“I’m just saying that we wouldn’t have to if we went to the inn…” Clopson said with annoyance.
“I am sorry, I don’t have many visitors.” Twilight said entering the room. “Are you sure there isn’t anything else you need?”
“Just fine thank you.” Sherlock said. “Oh, actually, can you get me that book of fables over there… on the top shelf.”
“I’ll get Spike to get it to you.” She said happily and trotted off.
“You could have gotten up you know.” Clopson said judgmentally.
“And leave your warm and comforting side? Never.” Sherlock teased.
“Here it is.” Spike said, carrying over a book.
“Thank you very much…” Sherlock said, “That will be all.” He opened up the book and continued to read.
“That’s the fourth book Hooves, are we ever going to sleep?” Clopson asked wearily.
“Well I’m not, but you can do whatever pleases you.” Sherlock said turning a few pages. Clopson sighed and turned away from Sherlock.
He just closed his eyes when the bed shook and Sherlock yelled, “I found it!”
“Uh, what?” Clopson asked.
“It says here that the Elements of Harmony exist within six qualities of friendship, and that it is the greatest form of magic known to pony kind.” He said. “However, there are other forces, and in this fable… admittedly, quite old, and not from a very reliable author… Nightmare Moon was created by jealousy and loneliness, but she was a completely different entity from Luna… there was another, very powerful being that influenced her, and unlocked the dark power within her.”
“So?” Clopson said.
“The Elements of Harmony unlock the magic of friendship, just as this being unlocks the darkness in others.” Sherlock continued. “Or at least, it can be inferred in the text…”
“I still don’t understand…” Clopson asked, wiping sleep from his eyes. “Do you really believe all this? It seems like you are jumping to a lot of conclusions.”
“No, of course not.” Sherlock answered, shaking his head. He showed the page to Clopson. “But somepony does.” On the page were shorthand notes. Somepony had written the whole of this plan in-between the printed words. “Somepony took this book and lacked some other place to write their notes.” Sherlock said. “Twilight!” he yelled. “Who else used this book recently?”
Twilight walked up to him, shaking the sleep from her eyes. She yawned and looked at the book. “Well, no one really, but everypony knew where it was after I took it out last time…”
“Everypony?” Sherlock asked.
“Yea, Rarity, Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy…”
“We will have to pay them all a visit then.” Sherlock said, jumping out of bed.
“At this hour? Really Sherlock?” Clopson argued, putting on his overcoat anyway.
“Pinkie Pie owes us a party.” Sherlock said dismissively. “Let’s collect.”
------------------------------
“…I’m sorry I didn’t plan the party sooner, it was going to be today and everypony was going to be here! But our refrigerator isn’t running today so everything went bad, and it usually runs, well, not around the house, that would be silly, we will have to go catch it and it would get annoying after a while if it kept running away like that. We never had that problem but I have had a lot of people calling me warning me about it so I think it must be a big problem around here…”
“Pinkie we actually came to ask you a few questions.” Sherlock finally found the energy to stop her.
“Okey dokie loki.” She said quickly. Her house was lit by candles, and the night sky, but otherwise it was quite dark.
“Have you ever checked out ‘The Elements of Harmony’ from the Library?" Asked Clopson, pen and paper ready.
“No, why?” She asked.
“They have actually been stolen…” Clospon said.
Pinkie gasped loudly, “REALLY? But mine was so pretty! And they looked so cool; you’re going to find them won’t you? Please please pl…”
“We have the best ponies on the case.” Clopson said. “So, do you know anything that could be of importance to the case?” he asked.
“Nope.” She said soundly. “Sorry.”
“Alright… I’m sorry to have disturbed you at this hour.” Clopson said.
“Oh that’s okay, I was up already.” She said.
“Why?” Sherlock asked quickly.
“What?”
“Why are you up so late?” he asked.
“Oh you know, just doing… stuff.” She said, looking up and away.
“Alright then, do you know where I can find Rainbow Dash?” Sherlock asked.
“Um, no, but I’m sure you could find her tomorrow…” she started. But she was interrupted by the sound of a gasp in another room. “Oh, that? That’s Ms. Cake, she snores weird. Like, all the time…”
Suddenly, the door opened, and Rainbow Dash began walking out, talking to another pony following her. Her skin gleamed with trace amounts of sweat “That was amazing! You have to show me how to…” then she saw that there were visitors.
“What is it?” Spitfire followed her from the dark room. “Oh, guests.”
“DASHIE. SPITFIRE. What were you doing in that room?” Pinkie said with a false smile.
“We... uh… we…” Dash started.
“Playing chess?” Spitfire suggested.
“Er, yea.” Dash said. “Playing chess… I love chess. She was like ‘knight to A5’ and I was like, ‘king me!’ and, and, um…”
“I should be going. I have a show tomorrow.” Spitfire said awkwardly, leaving the room.
“Oh, yea, and I have a busy day tomorrow too… napping. I seriously need some sleep before I .. nap… hardcore and stuff…” she zipped out of the room and the building.
“… Those crazy fillies.” Pinkie said with a smile. “Anything else you two need?”
---------------------------------
“Well, that was awkward.” Clopson said, walking away from Sugar cube corner in the dark.
“What?” Sherlock said.
“Oh you know… what happened back there?”
“I don’t follow.”
“She… nevermind.”
“No, enlighten me.” Sherlock said, as if offended.
“Well… I just… didn’t think Dash and Spitfire knew each other like that.” Clopson insinuated.
“Like what?”
“Do I have to spell it out for you? They were in a dark room, alone, together, sweaty, her mane is a rainbow, they are both a bit tomboyish…” Clopson began.
“What?” Sherlock said with disgusted facial expression. “Do you really think they were… doing that?” he said.
“Well… yes. What do you think they were doing?” Clopson said.
Sherlock rolled his eyes and began, “Spitfire became famous because of her skills, skills that Rainbow Dash admires. One of her most famous is where she literally, ‘spits fire’ and I hear that it is a closely guarded secret. And one that also causes heat, ergo, sweat.” Sherlock explained.
“And I suppose the technique would be best shown in the dark. Besides, the color of her mane, as well as their tomboyish nature is genetic, and shows nothing of her personal preferences. Their relationship is nothing more then platonic Clopson, at most it is a teacher-student arrangement. Get your mind out of the gutter.” Sherlock condemned his friend.
“Well, you can see me reasoning though right? I mean, they both were in a dark room…”
“Dirty, Dirty mind Clopson.” Sherlock continued. Clopson looked down and away as they walked down the streets towards Fluttershy's home, towards the Everfree forest. They were still surrounded by the town's buildings and dark alleyways however.
“… So… I guess that means she’s single.” Clopson said looking up. “You think I should give her my number. Ask her out for some hot chocolate…”
“Don’t be silly Clopson she is still obviously a lesbian.” Sherlock said rolling his eyes.
“What?!…” Clopson exclaimed. “But you just…”
“Shh!” Sherlock stopped and silenced his friend with a motion.
“What is it?”
“SHH!” Sherlock once again silenced him and looked around.
“… We’re not alone.”
Suddenly, there was a noise.
“The chase is on!” Sherlock turned and ran towards the noise, Clopson followed and saw the faintest wisp of a shadow entering a nearby alleyway. They followed, hot on the trail of the shadow, and turned into the corner just to see yet another glimmer of darkness turn behind a building.
They followed still, never getting a good look at the stalker, until finally, the trail went cold, and the shadow ran into the Everfree forest.
“That pony is a fast one.” Clopson said, stopping and catching his breath.
“Yes, quite.” Sherlock said, also windless. Clopson looked down at the odd tracks left by their prey. They were hooves to be sure… but they were strange…
“Coming Clopson?” Sherlock said, walking once more towards Fluttershy's house.
“Coming.” Clopson sighed in dismay and exhaustion. |
Raot | 663 | 4 | Big Macintosh,Main 6,Original Character,Princess Celestia,Spike,Crossover,Adventure,Comedy,Random,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Deduction is Magic | A silly story about Sherlock Hooves and Clopson. | complete | 10 | 1 | <p>A strange robbery has Sherlock interested, it leads him into unknown waters of magic and the occcult.</p> | everyone | 2011-09-21T00:45:52+00:00 | 2011-09-21T00:45:52+00:00 | 1,336 | “Stolen?” Fluttershy softly asked in surprise. “That’s awful!”
“Yes, and I’m sorry to have disturbed you at such a late hour but we are hot on the trail of the culprit.” He said.
“I’ll do what I can to help.” She said with a nod.
“Thank you, now, did you ever check out…” Clopson started,
“Do you eat eggs?” Sherlock interrupted, looking out the window at the chicken coop.
“Um… yes?” Fluttershy responded.
“When?” Sherlock asked. “What meals?”
“Breakfast.” Fluttershy said in confusion.
“What do you drink with it?”
“Er, milk?” Fluttershy said.
“Did you steal the Elements of Harmony?”
“No.” She said in surprise.
“Good, I believe you.” Sherlock said. “But you should probably stop eating eggs, bad for pony digestion, too much protein. Your not very active anyways.” He turned to face Fluttershy, “Have you seen any suspicious activities near the Everfree forest?” he asked.
“No, nothing.” Fluttershy said shaking her head. “But, I wasn’t really looking.”
“That will be all.” Sherlock moved to the exit. “Come along Clopson, we have one more pony to see…” He departed into the darkness.
Sometimes Clopson wished he knew what was going on in that ponies mind…
---------------------------------
“No, a size bigger, she’s big boned, and she has always talked about having a gown that fit her for the longest time… Who are you?” Rarity asked with annoyance the newcomers as she gave orders to her sister Sweetie Belle.
“I’m Clopson, and this is Sherlock Hooves, we are investigating…”
“What are you doing?” Hooves asked.
“Were making a dress for Rarities BIG friend.” Sweetie Belle started giggling.
“You said you wanted to help, but you should not be so rude. It’s not lady like…” Rarity patronized.
“Now, what can I help you two gentlecolts with?” she said, turning to the detectives.
“The Elements of Harmony were stolen.” Clopson said. “And we’re looking for the culprit.”
“That’s terrible!” Rarity exclaimed. “What can I do to help?”
“Well, if you have seen anything strange lately, we would appreciate…”
“Now that you mention it,” Rarity said quickly, “I have been seeing some pony I didn’t recognize outside my shop, and she is always out at night…”
“Really?” Sherlock asked.
“Yes, she usually walks by now at around midnight…” she said. “…Sweetie Belle said it was scaring her.”
“Did not! You were the one who…”
“Hush darling!” Rarity silenced her.
“What does the pony do?” Sherlock asked.
“She just looks up at the windows, and moves on…” Rarity said.
“Well, then, there is something you can do for us.” Sherlock said.
“And what’s that?” Rarity said.
Sherlock smiled “I would like a dress for my friend and I.”
-----------------------------
"Oh Clopy, isn’t it fun walking around in the moonlight!”
“This is wrong Sherlock.” Clopson said in his pink dress. “And it won’t fool anybody.”
“You need to lift your voice up a little higher darling!” Sherlock said through his purple corset and hat that covered his colt like face and body. “And my name is Shirley!”
Clopson sighed.
“She’s followed two colt detectives before.” Sherlock whispered under his breath once more. “Just act like a silly filly and we will blend right in.”
“This is ridiculous…”
“Oh hush Clopy.” Sherlock took up his high-pitched voice once more. “Oh look there! Another pony enjoying the stars! Hello there pony!” Sherlock spoke as if intoxicated to a dark figure moving down the road in a huge raggedy cloak. The figure turned to them for a moment, and then paid them no mind, walking up to Rarity’s shop.
“My word it worked.” Clopson said under his breath.
“That’s a good one Clopy! Yes it is!” Sherlock laughed as if he told a joke.
“Is she here yet!?” yelled Rarity from the top window.
The figure stopped, looked to Rarity, and then two the two ponies she yelled at.
Sherlock threw off his hat and ran at the figure as it bolted away. “She’s not getting away this time Clopson!” he yelled. Clopson followed quickly.
“…I guess that’s a yes.” Rarity said as the road became empty. “Hey! Don’t throw those on the ground! They’ll stain!”
They gave chase, but the figure was much taller and bigger, and Clopson found it hard to sprint in the corset.
“We’re gaining Clopson!” Sherlock yelled as they turned corner after corner. Soon they found themselves running to a kind of forest in the dark… a forest of apple trees. They had run all the way to Sweet Apple Acres.
“Bloody hay.” Clopson exclaimed. Ripping off his bodice with his teeth for air.
------------------------------
The Apple family’s barn was in sight now, and he saw the figure quickly open the door to the apple cellar and dive in.
“Into the breach!” Sherlock said with excitement, following the huge figure into the pitch-black darkness of the cellar. “Close the door! We have her trapped!”
Clopson dived in and closed the hatch as he was told… there was now no light at all.
“She’s over here!” Sherlock’s voice echoed all around Clopson. There were sounds of struggle, and then nothing.
“Where is she?” Clopson asked, ready to buck whatever came at him next.
Then, a door opened…
“Bandits in the cellar!” he heard Applejack scream. Clopson felt the cold hard sting of a hoof under his jaw and flew back against a wall in pain.
“No! No! Wait, it’s us, it’s…” Clopson felt another hoof hit his cheek and bring him to the ground. He tried bucking wildly, and hit something… he hoped it was the fiend they searched for.
“What’s going on?” Everypony stopped as a light suddenly came down from the heavens… well, down the stairs. Big Macintosh held a candle in a brass plate in his teeth and carried it down the steps, illuminating the room. Applejack was on her hooves, looking around, battle ready, and Sherlock… Well, Sherlock had taken Clopson’s hoof to the face and was rolling around on the ground.
“I almost had her…” Sherlock said, trying to get up.
“You almost had me! Mess with the bull, you get the horns!” Applejack said in anger.
“Who kicked me?” Sherlock shook his head.
“That’s not important right now.” Clopson said, changing the subject. “Where is she?” but there was no one else. The figure was gone.
“What in tarnation is going on here? An why are you two wearing dresses?” she asked. “An why are you in my cellar?!” she added.
“Suspect ran in here.” Clopson said, massaging his jaw.
“Uh… wait… wait…” Sherlock shook his head. “What did you say Applejack?”
“Uh… what in tarnation…”
No, before that.”
“Bandits in the…”
“No after…” And then, suddenly, Sherlock’s eyes widened… “Clopson, follow me.” He said, leading him out of the cellar.
“Sorry for the confusion.” Clopson added before leaving.
Applejack and Big Macintosh simply stood there for a moment.
“Did two colts in dresses just walk out of our apple cellar?” Applejack asked in astonishment.
“Eeyup.”
--------------------------------
In the old ruins in the Everfree forest, a single figure stood in front of the Elements of Harmony. She smiled underneath her cloak as the sun began to rise…
But before she could begin the rite, she heard something…
A slow clap from the other side of the hall. She turned to see Sherlock and Clopson.
“Very good.” Sherlock said. “You took everything you needed from the ponies around you.” He said.
“You took Applejacks Apples,” he said, advancing, "To frame her. And you took the liquid nitrogen from Pinkie Pie.” He continued. “Many bakeries use them for their freezers, that’s why hers was not working.” He added. “But most importantly of all, you were someone they trusted. Someone no pony would suspect.” Sherlock explained. “And you were something that could fool the protective spell on the Elements of Harmony… because you’re not a pony.” He squinted his eyes and raised an eyebrow, impressed. “Your not even equine… You're bovine.”
Clopson himself gasped, and the figure smiled and lowered her hood. The cow was none other then Mooriela.
“No one suspected you, even when you and your herd were grazing right next to the scene of the crime. Applejack didn’t see anything wrong with you grazing around the farm, and wouldn’t mind if you took a few apples. You passed right under Fluttershy’s radar every night, because you weren’t anything out of the ordinary… you gave her milk every day on your way to these ruins.” Sherlock grinned. “That was a nice touch. But then came your downfall… your vanity proved to aggravate the attention of Rarity when you only wanted to check on the dress you ordered…”
Mooriela grimaced, “We’ve been mistreated! We are farmed for our milk and have no representation!” She said. “We have no history, no culture, no magic, no wings… but with the Elements of Harmony, we can change all that. I just want to make things equal.” She said. “We deserve magic just as much as any pony!”
“A being that starts stampedes at the sight of a snake doesn’t deserve the earthshattering power of magic.” Sherlock said as two Royal guards entered the room. Mooriela looked around in panic. “I’m sorry, but the princess wants her property back.” She was restrained, and was being led out of the room when Sherlock stopped the guards for a moment. Others went to retrieve the necklaces.
“But there is one thing I don’t get.” Sherlock said. “Your not smart enough to think of this. You must have had help.” He said. “Who was it?”
Mooreila looked away for a moment, then back at Sherlock. She said, in an eerie, souls sucking voice, “I only have a name.” Mooreia looked away in anger as the sun began to rise. “He said it would work now… we set it up, it was supposed to give me magic when the sun rose.”
“These are fake.” Sherlock looked up, and Mooriela’s eyes widened in surprise as the guard looked over the gems.
“He stole them from me!” Mooriela said. “He tricked me!”
“Who? Who was it?” Sherlock asked with great curiosity.
The Bovine hissed the name in anger, and Sherlock was sure to commit the word to memory,
“Mooriarty.” |
JuyUnseen | 667 | 1 | Original Character,Princess Celestia,Princess Luna,Sad,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | This forest Prison | On a moonless night, a mysterious pony explores Ponyville. | complete | 18 | 1 | <p>On a moonless night, a strange Pony explores Ponyville. She gains a glimpse into the lives of the ponies there and envies them.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T16:25:11+00:00 | 2011-08-30T16:25:11+00:00 | 4,154 | This Forest Prison
The sun hung low over the Everfree forest. Its final rays were being cast as it slipped below the horizon giving way to the night. In one of the forests few clearings, a pony watched the sun set, just as she always did. She sat in the twilight, hoping against hope that the moon wouldn’t rise.
She stared for at least an hour, waiting, watching. The moon never came, and the forest was pitch black. A light began to emanate from her horn as she left the clearing. She walked a path that was overgrown, for nopony ever entered the forest. She followed it for some time until the trees gave way to a open field.
The pony looked around and gingerly stepped out from the embrace of the trees, bracing herself for some unknown force to stop her. She opened her eyes to find herself outside of the forest, standing in the moonless twilight. She began to feel giddy, she ran and jumped and felt the freedom of the open land. Her running brought her to a cottage by a river, a place for a lover of nature to live. She quietly entered.
She looked around the small, cozy home. What a wonderful place, she thought. She saw a yellow pegasus curled up on a small bed, wrapped around a young white bunny, and smiled. She knew Fluttershy, the caring young pony that took care of all animals. Many a time had she watched her play with them on the edge of the forest, and every time the silent mare wished to call out and join them. But the trees always held her back. She placed a small kiss on the yellow pony’s cheek before backing out of the cottage.
The pony followed the road into the small hamlet of Ponyville. The streets were silent, for everypony had worked hard that day, and all deserved a fitful sleep. She walked on and came across a building made entirely of sweets. It was Sugarcube corner, the life of the town. All the best parties were held here. Parties that, however much she wished, the mare could not attend. She looked sadly at the confectionary for a time, thinking of the pink mare sleeping inside, and then moved on.
The next building to catch her eye was Carousel Boutique. Here lives Rarity, thought the mare, the creator of beautiful things. She had watched her once, readying all her friends to go to the Grand Galloping Gala. She could picture perfectly the exquisite dresses she had crafted by hoof. The mare knew she had no need of such things, but the desire to have something beautiful of her own still remained. Blinking away a tear she walked on.
There was a turn in the road ahead of her, she looked down the road and saw far to the south a seemingly endless apple orchard. She laughed to herself, this wasn’t a natural forest like the Everfree. But where it lacked nature, I more then made up for with honesty. It wasn’t trying to be anything more than a farm where ponies work their hardest to do a good day’s work. Sweet apple acres had stood the test of time, and the town had so much to thank for it. The trees weren’t natural there, but the orchard was full of heart.
She turned and looked at a very different tree, an enormous tree with a house built into it. Here slept Twilight Sparkle, the luckiest pony alive. She had the truest friends anypony could ask for, and she had the love of Princess Celestia. The pony wondered if Princess Celestia had ever loved her. A flower outside the library was withering, the pony touched it with her horn and it re-bloomed, and more sprouted and bloomed around it. Smiling sadly to herself the mare walked on.
She came to the edge of the town. There was only one landmark here, a floating house of clouds. Inside she knew lived a blue mare, a mare she envied more then any other. In here slept Rainbow Dash, the most free pony alive. The fastest flier in Equestria, she could soar higher than any other, she could be anywhere in a heartbeat. The reason she chose to stay in Ponyville was here lived her best friends. She was loyal, and outgoing, and most of all free. All of the things the pony knew she could never be. More tears welled up in her eyes.
The sun began to poke its head over the horizon. The mare turned and bolted for the forest. As the sun rose and light began to shine over Equestria the mare seemed to begin to fade. She opened her wings and picked up speed. Her horn glowed with magic, desperately trying to keep her in existence. She broke through the barrier of trees into her forest home, and her form stopped fading and re-solidified. She looked at the land outside of the forest, she knew she could not live there. Ever. Light from the sun or moon made her fade, she was part of a different world. She curled up on the forest floor, and cried herself to sleep whishing she had never been cursed this way.
Princess Celestia looked over Ponyville, she had watched all night, watched the mare explore the place she could never live. Luna trotted up to her,
“Sister, why didn’t you want me to raise the moon last night?” Celestia looked at her, she looked so similar to the mysterious mare from the forest.
“I had a promise to keep,” she responded. Luna looked confused for a moment and then shrugged and trotted off, Celestia always had secrets.
Celestia looked back over the forest, remembering a time when it did not exist and there were three princesses in Equestria, tears welled up in her eyes as mistakes long since passed were called to mind. The goddess whispered on the wind,
“I’m so sorry Everfree. Can you ever forgive your foolish sister?” the forest held no response. |
Raot | 668 | 1 | Main 6,Original Character,Spike,Crossover,Adventure,Comedy,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | My Little Dark Knight | Readapting The Dark Knight script into pony. | incomplete | -1 | -1 | <p>I have a Few notes, <br/>1. A huge amount of this is strait from the original 'The Dark Knight' script. I was going to change it more, but allot of the lines just fit too well. Also, I cut out many scenes and fused a few characters for the sake of brevity.<br/>2. No fingers? Make horseshoe hoof guns.<br/>3. How do carriages move without being pulled? MAGIC.<br/>4. I have a huge amount of characters briefly appear, so I will only put down the mane six.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-29T23:04:23+00:00 | 2011-08-29T23:04:23+00:00 | 1,583 | On a dark day, A Pegasus lifted a unicorn up above a cloud just outside of a Ponyville bank. Both wore clown masks, and both prepared for the heist.
Meanwhile, inside the bank, three earth ponies with firearms mounted to their horseshoes made their appearance.
“Nobody move!” yelled one of them as they shot up into the air. They rounded up all the clerks and had them on the floor in seconds. One small dragon was able to send out a message before capture however…
“Got it!” said the unicorn outside, her horn glowing. “Strange though, it wasn’t going to Celesita…”
“Is that a problem?” asked the Pegasus holding her up.
“Nah, I’m done here… wait!” the Pegasus dropped the unicorn and let the pony fall to her doom. Because money split four ways is better the five.
“So it’s just us three?” asked one of the earth ponies after all the clerks had been accounted for.
“Nah, two in the air. Money split five ways is good money.”
“Six, remember the one who hired us…”
“Her? If she thinks she’s getting a share, she’s crazier then oatmeal…” the pony was suddenly blown of his hooves by a shotgun blast. The other two masked ponies dived for cover…
The Pegasus made his way in through the back and into the vault room and began working on the door….
“He has three left right?” asked one pony from behind cover. The other paused for a moment, then shook her head and tapped the floor twice.
The pony rose out of cover fired, and ducked down below the next two shots. He then nodded to his comrade and exited cover, but immediately got clipped in the shoulder. As the brave gunner began to reload the wounded robber shot him down.
“Where did you learn to count?” the wounded pony walked away as the other shrugged.
“You almost done?” asked the wounded pony to the Pegasus working on the vault.
“Yea, almost, they wired 5’000 volts to the safe, what kind of bank does that?”
“A diamond dog bank. I guess our boss is as crazy as they say. Hey, where’s the unicorn?”
“Boss told me to drop her when the job was done.” He opened the vault when he was finished.
“Funny, she told me something similar.” The wounded pony raised his weapon.
“Wait, wh…” he was silenced by the gunshot.
The bank was emptied out in a few minutes, and the final two ponies just finished loading the loot into the center of the bank when the wounded pony raised his weapon and pointed it at his last team member.
“She told you to kill me too didn’t she?” he asked her.
“No.” She said in a high pitched and cheery voice. “I killed Carmel.”
“Whos Car…”
Suddenly, a carriage burst through the wall, running down the injured pony, and leaving debris everywhere. The last pony picked up the gun from the floor.
“Hey?” a pony came out of the carriage. “Wheres ever…” he was shot down without a thought by the last pony.
“You.” The final pony stopped and looked down. It was the hero pony from before. “She’s just going to do the same to you. You think your so smart. Criminals in this town used to believe in things, honor, respect, what do you believe in huh? What do you believe in!”
The pony interrupted him by taking a Parasprite from her purple coat and shoving it into his mouth. “I believe.” she said, removing her mask. “That whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you…” she revealed her pink hair and face, painted green and white with blotches of missed spots. She then looked at the mans wound, and the blood pouring from it. “Pinker.” She smiled, loaded the money into the carriage, and dove the vehicle out of the bank and into a line of identical carriages outside. The man stayed there with the Parasprite in his mouth… too afraid to move… until he finally realized that the thing was made of frosting and chocolate.
He fainted from surprise.
“So, I heard on the news that you where close to catching the Batmane.” Asked the mayor, walking into the police department.
Spike, leaning back in his chair rolled his eyes. “The investigation is ongoing.” He said, throwing a dart at a board labeled “Batmane suspects.” On it was a picture of Celestia, Luna, and a cockatrice. Spike angrily left the room and started up the stairs…
On the roof, Twilight stood near the Bat Signal, Spike started, “Hasn’t shown?”
“Often doesn’t, but I like reminding everyone she’s out there.” Twilight responded.
“Why not?”
“Hopefully… because she’s busy.”
In a dark parking lot, two black carriages pulled up next to eatchother, out of one, came several diamond dogs, led by Gilda the Mob boss. The powerful looking griffon looked up and saw the signal in the sky. “That’s why we bring dogs.” She then took a very wall eyed Derpy hooves out of her vehicle. “Look what your drugs did to my customers!” she said to a pony leaving the other carriage.
“Are you another one of those NEGH sayers?” said a blue unicorn as she exited her carriage. “The Great and Powerful Trixie told you the compound would take you places,” The Great and Powerful Trixe smiled and laughed. “I never said they would be places you wanted to go! If you don’t like it, get another supplier, if Batmane left anyone else to buy from.”
Suddenly, one of the Diamond dogs began growling.
“He’s here.” Gilda said. Just then, a shotgun blast hit the side of one of the carriages. The dogs went wild, running everywhere, but the shadowy fighter seamed to be everywhere…
“It’s not her!” Trixe said, trying to get into her carriage. She saw a Batmane in her way and quickly used her magic to throw her back and run into the vehicle.
Just then, another black carriage burst through the wall. “That’s more like it.” Trixe said in the safety of her car.
“Shes getting away!” yelled one of the fake Batmanes. She pointed her hoof gun at Trixies carriage, but another hoof knocked the gun out of her hands.
The real Batmane made her entrance, hoofed her in the face, and quickly took out the other imitators. She moved like a shadow with armored black wings. The only part of her that was not armored was her light blue mouth and jaw.
She then quickly dashed towards Trixie’s retreating vehicle, flew above it, and smashed down, breaking the structure, and sending Trixie flying back the way she came.
Tied in a lasso, the fake Batmanes and Trixe were left in the parking lot.
“You can’t do this to me! I am The G…” Batmane stuck an apple in her mouth to silence her.
“That was for a friend of mine.” Batmane said. She then unmasked one of the imitation Batmanes.
“Whoa…” Batman stepped back “S… Scootaloo?”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER SUPER HEROS!” They all said in unison. Batmane sighed and facehoofed. “We just wanted to help…” Scootaloo said with a little guilt.
“Well, don’t, I got it.” Batmane said, getting into her big black carriage.
“Awwwww….” They all said in unison as Batmane rode away.
Applejack carried down a plate of apple fritters to the underground bunker. “An apple a day can only do so much sugar cube.” she said to Rainbow dash as she was stitching one of her fore hooves. “D’you get bit by a manticore or somethin?”
“Nah, diamond dogs… big diamond dogs.” Rainbow dash shook her head. “Armors too heavy, I need to be faster…”
“I’m sure Rairity’ll love to work on that for you.” Applejack responded. “But Ponyville may be getten better, jus’ look at the new DA…” A screen turned on and showed Fluttershy giving a speech in front of a crowd, talking to politicians, and walking beside a fiery haired yellow pony.
“Yea, I saw…” Dash said with some melancholy in her voice.
“Do I detect a might bit of jealousy in yer voice?” Applejack teased.
“Who Spitfire spends her time with is her business. Besides, Fluttershys a good pony, I’m sure she’ll make a good DA too.”
“Well, I hope you don’t follow me round on my days off.”
“If you ever took one I might.” Dash scoffed, finishing the stiches on her limb.
“Try an know yer limits Rainbow” Applejack said with caution.
“Batmane has no limits.” Dash said quickly.
“But you do sugarcube”
“I can’t afford to know them.”
“And what’l happen when you find out?”
“I know how you like to tell me ‘I told you so’”
“When that happens Rainbow… Even I wont want to.” |
Raot | 668 | 2 | Main 6,Original Character,Spike,Crossover,Adventure,Comedy,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | My Little Dark Knight | Readapting The Dark Knight script into pony. | incomplete | -1 | -1 | <p>I have a Few notes, <br/>1. A huge amount of this is strait from the original 'The Dark Knight' script. I was going to change it more, but allot of the lines just fit too well. Also, I cut out many scenes and fused a few characters for the sake of brevity.<br/>2. No fingers? Make horseshoe hoof guns.<br/>3. How do carriages move without being pulled? MAGIC.<br/>4. I have a huge amount of characters briefly appear, so I will only put down the mane six.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T12:15:38+00:00 | 2011-08-30T12:15:38+00:00 | 1,521 | Spitfire and Fluttershy walked through the lobby of the courthouse.
“The fact that they tried to kill you means we’re getting to them.” Spitfire said nonchalantly
Fluttershy squeaked in response, still a bit wide eyed from the experience in the courtroom.
Spitfire laughed “You’re Ponyvilles new DA, if your not getting shot at, your not doing your job right…” Spitfire blinked her eyes seductively at Fluttershy “But if you really were rattled we could take the rest of the day off…”
Fluttershy blushed immensely, and stuttered… “Oh, um, I can’t. I was going to meet Twilight here and…”
“Twilight? Alright. Go ahead. I know you two are friends. I’ll see you later.”
“I would really like it if you stopped playing games with me.” Fluttershy said, trying to be assertive.
“The official policy is to arrest the vigilante known as Batmane on sight.” Twilight shrugged. Fluttershy sighed.
“I just don’t like how you’re not telling me anything… can you at least tell me something before I sign off on the warrants you want?”
“In this town, the less people who know, the better…” Twilight explained. “… I can tell you the names of the banks.”
“Okay, that’s a start, but I want your trust.”
“Don’t worry, we all know you are Ponyvilles white knight.” Twilight said.
“But I heard they gave me another name after the gala.” Fluttshy weakly replied with a smile. Twilight smiled back before leaving.
“Anything else you can trouble me for?” Rairty asked after Dash was done speaking business.
“I need a new Suit.”
“But I just made you a wonderful dress….”
“I’m not thinking fashion rarity as much as I am thinking function.” Dash hinted. She then took out some diagrams and showed them to the unicorn.
“Hmm, so you want to be able to use your wings…”
“I’ll sure make going to the grocery store allot easier.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Wow, I can’t believe we got into this place.” Spitfire admired the restaurant.
“It took three weeks to get a reservation, AND I work for the government…” Fluttershy explained proudly. Spitfires attention was suddenly on something else behind Fluttershy. “What is it?”
“Spitfire? Fancy that.” Rainbow Dash came in with a hoof around the shoulder of Soren.
“Yes.” Spitfire said in a knowing annoyance. “Fancy that.”
“Spitfire, Soren, Soren…” Dash started
“We know each other.” Spitfire interrupted.
“Hi! Nice to see you again!” Soren said obliviously.
“Oh hi Rainbow Dash. It’s been a long time.” Fluttershy said. “Spitfire told me everything about you.”
“I certainly hope not.” Rainbow Dash said, taking her seat*.
“So… Soren.” Spitfire started. “Aren’t you…”
“Captain of the Wonderbolts, that’s right. I have been since you and Dash left.”
“Yea, Fluttershy said she taking me you a show next week.” Spitfire said.
“You like that sort of thing?” Dash asked Fluttershy.
Before she could answer, Spitfire answered for her, “No, but she knows I do…”
After dinner, and after Soren finished his pie, he continued the conversation, “I mean, Ponyville has really gone to the diamond dogs. I don’t see why you should try to raise a filly here…”
“Hey, I was raised here, I turned out OK” Dash said defensively.
“Is your cloud mansion in the city limits?” Fluttershy asked.
“Cloudsdale? Yea. As our new DA, you might want to figure out where your jurisdiction ends.” Dash defended herself.
Soren continued his point, “I mean, the kind of city that idolizes a masked vigilante…”
“Ponyville is proud of an ordinary filly standing up for what is right.” Fluttershy said.
“Ponyville needs hero’s like you! Not some pony who thinks she’s above the law.”
“Exactly.” Rainbowdash agreed with a smile. “Who appointed the Batmane?”
“We did. All of us how did nothing to stop the diamond dogs taking over our city.” Fluttershy said with more aggression then she was used to using. Dash gave her a proud look.
“But this is a monarchy Fluttershy.” Soren said. “there are rules.”
Fluttershy answered, “Not too long ago, if you remember, Celestia suspended the powers of the royal guard and her own powers to appoint Twilight a as vigilante to find the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon in a time of need. It wasn’t an honor, it was a public service.”
“But remember what happened the first time a pony tried to take power into her own hands?” Spitfire asked. “Luna tried to take power and start eternal night.”
“Well, I guess you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Look, Batmane doesn’t want to do this the rest of his life. He is looking for another Pegasus to take the job.”
“A Pegasus like you?” Soren asked.
Fluttershy blushed. “Maybe. If I’m up to it.”
“What is this?” asked Gilda as two ponies carried a Television in front of the group of mobsters. Among the them where predominantly Diamond Dogs, as well as a Manticore, Zecora, and a few ponies and griffons. The TV screen flickered on and showed the face of a dragon.
“As you are all aware” A dragon spoke in a deep earth shaking voice on the screen. “One of our banks was robbed. A relatively, small amount, 68 million bits.”
“Whos stupid enough to rob us?” Gilda asked angrily.
“I’m, told.” Responded the dragon. “The Pony who arranged the heist, calls herself Pinkie Pie.”
“Who the hay is that?” Gilda asked again.
Zecora answerd,
“She’s just a purple suit, some paint and Pony
Our problem is being tracked by the guards, pinkie pie is a nobody.”
The dragon cooly continued, “I have already moved all our funds into my cave. The royal guard have no jurisdiction in Dragon lands. And the dragons will not let a pony take one of their own. Your bits are safe.”
Suddenly, a laughter came from the back of the room, and all the mobsters turned their heads.
“haha, ha, hehe, ho *snort* ahah, hum.” They all saw the horrible, mangled, painted face of Pinkie Pie and the trotted into the room. “And I thought I thought I threw bad parties.”
The manticore stood up, “Give me one reason I shouldn’t have my diamond dogs rip you to shreds.”
“How about a party trick?” she slammed a cupcake with a long candy cane ontop onto the table. “I’ma make this cupcake… DISAPEAR.” The Manticore nodded to one of his dogs, who dashed out at Pinkie pie.
She sidestepped, and slammed the dogs head into the candycane in the cupcake. Red filling splattered all around the room, and the dog fell to the ground, limp. “And it’s GONE!” she said excitedly, some sugary red goop still on her cheery face. The Manticore angrily stood up, but Gilda stopped him.
“I want to hear what she has to say.” Pinkie Pie cleared her throat,
“A year ago, these royal guards wouldn’t cross any of you. What happened? Someone steal your royal jewels? See, a pony like me…”
“A freak” the manticore added. He laughed and so did a few of the diamond dogs.
“A…A pony like me…” Pinkie Pie tried to ignore the laughing. She shook her head and continued “I know why your throwing all your parties in the middle of the day. I know why you don’t have any sleep overs. Batmane. She is a party pooper, and Fluttershy is just the beginning.” She motioned to the dragon on the screen. “As for this little plan… Batmane has no jurisdiction.”
“What do you propose?” Gilda asked.
“Simple… Kill the Batmane.” There was a bout of laughter throughout the room.
Zecora was first to speak, “If this task is so petty, why haven’t your killed her already?”
“Grany Pie said if your good at something, never do it for free.”
“How much do you want?” Gilda asked.
“Half.” The room exploded into laughter again. “you don’t take care of this soon, the manticore here wont even be able to get a bit for his granny pie…”
“Enough!” the manticore stood up.
“Hey now,” Pinkie Pie unzipped her suit and put a wire in her mouth, revealing a vest filled with parasprites. “Lets not BITE off more then we can chew.” She said through the wire.
“You think you can get away with this!” the manticore said angrily, “I’m paying 500k for this pony dead! A million alive!”
“… well, let me know if you want to take things a bit more seriously.” She said as she backed into a door way and quickly made her exit.
“They say they’ve killed Pinkie pie.” Said snips, walked beside snails as they led two other ponies inside towards the manticore.
“They bring proof?” the manticore asked.
“They say they brought the body.” Snails finished. The two ponys laid the body on a nearby table and the manticore looked at the bloodied face of the pink pony before looking back to the ponys.
“So, dead, you get five hundred…”
“How about alive!” suddenly, Pinkie Pies eyes opened, she took a knife from her suit in her mouth and she came up behind the manticore, putting the blades inside the creatures cheek, and her face beside his. He was too shocked and terrified to move.
She pulled the blade taught against his cheek and spoke in his ear thought the handle of the blade, “Wanna know how I got these scars?” she started.
“My father was… a rock farmer… and a fiend. One day I threw a party for him, but he got a little crazier then usual. Mommy gets a big, sharp rock from the ground to protect herself. He doesn’t like that. No, not one bit.”
She tugged the blade tighter, “So, he takes the rock… with me watching… laughing wile he does it. Turns to me and says, ‘why so random?’ he comes to me with the rock, “why so random’ sticks the rock in my mouth… ‘lets put a smile on that face’ and…’”
She looked up to the terrified ponies watching and finished.
“Why so random?” she ripped her head to the side and all the ponies present flinched when the manticore hit the ground with a splat.
“So,” she calmly put the knife back into her pocket. “Our party has only a few guests, but you know what they say, the more the merrier. So, would any of you gentlecolts like to join in the festivities?” Snips and Snails nodded quickly. “Well, I only have one invitation, so wer’re going to have try outs...” she took a pool cue from the side of the wall, broke it ion half and threw them at the feet of Snips and Snails. “Make it fast.”
*(like lyra? Should their even be chairs… never mind doesn’t matter.)
(Note: What sounds better? Flutterfire, of Spitshy?) |
Raot | 668 | 3 | Main 6,Original Character,Spike,Crossover,Adventure,Comedy,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | My Little Dark Knight | Readapting The Dark Knight script into pony. | incomplete | -1 | -1 | <p>I have a Few notes, <br/>1. A huge amount of this is strait from the original 'The Dark Knight' script. I was going to change it more, but allot of the lines just fit too well. Also, I cut out many scenes and fused a few characters for the sake of brevity.<br/>2. No fingers? Make horseshoe hoof guns.<br/>3. How do carriages move without being pulled? MAGIC.<br/>4. I have a huge amount of characters briefly appear, so I will only put down the mane six.</p> | everyone | 2011-09-03T03:04:44+00:00 | 2011-09-03T03:04:44+00:00 | 1,291 | “Welcome to my cave Rarity, care for a diamond?*” The dragon asked as she entered.
“As much as I would love to, I’ve actually come on behalf of Dash industries to put our deal on hold.” She said.
“… I think a letter would have serviced.” The dragon said in in slight annoyance.
“Yes, well, I do love to see your gemstone’s, and Rainbow Dash did not want you to think she was deliberately wasting your time.”
"Only accidentally.” The dragon squinted.
“Yes accidentally, good one, I’ll be sure to tell that to Ms. Dash that she was wrong about your sense of humor.” She said anxiously. She quickly started on her way back down the mountain.
“Whats this?” RD asked as rarity passed her a small hoofheld screen.
“You know that spell I have to locating gems? This thing magnifies it, and lets you see anything around the gem as well, you will be able to see everything in that cave.”
“Awesome.” Rainbow Dash nodded.
“He has more then enough gems in there for you to see everything and everyone in there.” Rarity continued.
“Twilight is going to be in for a surprise.” Dash said, smiling.
“Your going to want to see this.” Spike said quickly to Twilight. She exited from her home and gasped when she saw the huge Criminal dragon, hogtied in the middle of the streets of Ponyville, with a note on the side saying, “Please deliver to Twilight sparkle”
“So…” Gilda said to Zecora in a bar, looking at the news on the television. “I put the word out. We hire the joker…” just then, she heard a jingle of metal, turned, and saw Twilight sparkled enter, levitating a pair of handcuffs.
“Fluttershy looks good on the tube.” She said.
“Would you allow me to make amends?” Zecora said with a smile, “Please don’t arrest me in front of my friends.”
“Don’t worry they’re coming too.” Twilight said with a smile.
“549 Criminal at once?!” The mayor yelled at Fluttershy and Twilight. “How did you manage to convince Celestia to hear this farce?”
“She shares my want for justice, after all, she is the princess.” Fluttershy said. “I mean, the head diamond dogs and gang bosses will make bail, but the others wont, and they’ll make deals, some including jail time. Think of what you could do with 18 months of clear streets.”
The mayor was silent for a moment, then told twilight to leave the room. Once she did, the Mayor continued, “Everyone likes you Fluttershy, so this might work. But now, everyone will be after you. Are you up to it?” Fluttershy smiled weakly, “You better be.” The mayor walked over to the window.
Suddenly, and tied, bloodied, and dark clothed Scootalo hit the glass and startled the Mayor.
“How’s it going?” Dash said to Applejack excitedly.
“The fundraiser is runnin smooth.” Applejack replied.
“And why do you think I wanted to throw a party for Fluttershy?”
“I rekon it’s the only reason you talk to anyone other then me an diamond dogs. Spitfire.”
“Pfft.” Dash shrugged off the answer, “It’s actually for Flu…” suddenly the news caught her attention.
It was Scootalo. Pinkie pie got her. And their was a message on the body that they were playing…
Scootalo was tied down in front of the camera.
“Tell them your name.” pinkies voice rang out.
“S..S…Scoot…Scootalo.” She stuttered in fear.
“Are you the real Batmane?” Pinkie asked.
“No”
“Then why do you dress like her?”
“Cause.. Cause she’s a symbol… that we don’t have to be afraid of ponies like you…”
“But you do, Scoots, You really do. You think Batmane helped Ponyville?”
Scootalo nodded uncertainly.
“Look at me.” Pinkie said. Scoot looked away. “LOOK AT ME” Pinke screamed, Scootalo looked back up. The camera then turned around to face pinkie pie herself. “This is how crazy Batmanes made Ponyville. You want order in Ponyville? Batmane has to go. Soo…” she leaned into the camera, “Batmane must take of her mask, and turn herself in. Every day he doesn’t… ponies will die. I’m a filly of my word.” As the tape cut to static you could hear her giggling and snorting, and you could hear Scootalo scream.
Fluttershy and Spitfire made their way into Rainbow dashes penthouse, not in the clouds, but close enough.
“Apple and Jack Daniels Fluttershy?” Applejack said to Fluttershy. She offered drinks on a silver tray.
“No thanks Applejack… hey, you know Spitfire a little better then me right?”
“Yep, sure do.” Applejack said.
“Any psychotic exes I should worry about?”
“You have no idea sugar cube.” Applejack smiled and rolled her eyes knowingly.
It was at that time that the sound of a Rainboom rang out through the windows. All the guests looked out to see Rainbow Dash and two Wonderbolts made their entrance to the party.
“Sorry I’m late.” Dash said, “Glad you started without me. Where’s Spitfire?”
Spitfire cringed as she made eye contact with Dash.
“Sptifire! When she told me she was dating Fluttershy, I had one thing to say… that Pegasus afraid of heights?” there was some laughter, and Fluttershy blushed in embarrassment.
“”I believe in Fluttershy”, nice slogan. Certainly caught spitfire attention. But then I started paying attention to Fluttershy, and what she’s been doing, and you know what? I believe in Fluttershy. So, ” She looked around at the crowd “A toast, to the face of Ponyvilles bright new future.” There was applause all around, and Fluttershy awkwardly accepted the praise.
“Twilight!” Spike shouted, running towards the purple pony. “We found DNA matches on Scootalos body.”
“Who?” Twilight asked. Spike gulped.
“Celestia, Luna, and Fluttershy”
“Okay, get a team of guards to the palace at once, tell the princess to lock down the whole palace. No one in or out until I get there, and someone find Fluttershy!…”
Luna was just finished raising the moon when she heard two Gaurds fly towards her. “Your majesty,” one of them said. “Please come into the carriage at once. Your in danger…”
“Whats the meaning of this twilight?” Celestia asked more then a little bit confused, as Twilight entered her chamber with a squad of Gaurds.
“Someone has threatened your life,” Twilight responded.
“Just another day.” Celestia rolled her eyes and magically took some tea from her cupboard…
“What wrong?” Luna asked.
“There's been a threat to your life, please get into the Carriage, there is a note for you, telling you where you are going.” Said one of the guards Luna shrugged and did as she was told. She walked into the Carriage and sure enough found the note. She had to squint her eyes, but then she saw it….
“The moon”
Suddenly the Carriage exploded, sending debris high up into the air, into the darkness of space, and towards the newly risen moon.
Celestia suddenly wheezed after drinking a sip of her tea.
“Princess!” Twilight yelled. “Someone get a doctor!...”
Applejack fell to the floor and gasped as Pinkie pie and other ponies with painted faces walked into Dashes party. Pinkie pie smiled wickedly and spoke, “Good evening Fillies and Gentlecolts. We are tonight’s entertainment.”
*(It was originally, "welcome to hongkong Mr. Fox" witch turned into, "Welcome to my cave rarity" and from there, i couldn't resist.) |
Tarkana262 | 670 | 1 | Doctor Whooves,Main 6,Crossover,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | The Emotional Illness | A mysterious blue box may be the answer to Ponyville's latest problem. | complete | 60 | 1 | <p>A strange sickness has infected nearly everyone in Ponyville. It seems there is no hope for a cure - until Twilight stumbles across a strange blue box...</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:26:05+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:26:05+00:00 | 3,327 | Had you, on that day, simply looked down at Ponyville from the rolling hills around it, you would have seen a quaint Equestrian town, complete with a library housed in a hollowed-out tree, a stage used for the inhabitants' numerous celebrations, and several outlying apple orchards dotting the countryside. Had you only glanced, you would have noticed nothing wrong.
But if you were to let your gaze linger on that point in the valley, you would have felt an uncomfortable feeling, a sense that something was amiss, and despite your better intentions, you would have desired to steer clear of that town as you made your way through the valley.
But even that strange observation would tell you nothing of the town's true situation, of the darkness that hid within.
*~*
The streets of Ponyville were bare, neither pony nor beast daring to use them. The morning was devoid of the cheerful chatter between friends and neighbors, or the clip-clop of hooves as they walked, worked and played. The air, usually filled with the aroma of fresh pastries from the kitchens and bakeries, was stale, unpenetrated even by nature.
The night had given way to a beautiful sunrise. But there was nopony outside to enjoy it.
The Ponyville library was the only building in obvious use. It was here that Twilight Sparkle had made her residence, and where she was now worriedly tearing through her bookshelves.
"No, no, no…" She opened book after book with her magic, flipping through the pages, hoping that there was something, anything she had overlooked the last time. But once again, her efforts yielded nothing.
She sighed as she began to replace the mountain of books that had accumulated during her search. Normally, Spike would have assisted her, but he was among the numerous victims of the town's crisis.
After finishing her task, she stepped out of her adopted home. Even now, the utter lack of activity in the town surprised her, deepening her mood further.
Applejack walked down the road, pulling along a cart full of food and supplies gathered from various houses. "Mornin', Twilight," she greeted, her normally bright tone replaced with fatigue. "Can ah get you anything?"
"No, thanks, AJ," Twilight said, dipping her head appreciatively. "I'm going for a walk if anyone needs me."
"Alright. Y'all be careful now, ya hear?"
The sound of Applejack's cart faded slowly as Twilight continued down the dirt road, and she found herself missing it. It had served as a reminder of the town as it had been, and hopefully would be again.
The sights of the valley did little to lighten Twilight's mood. How could they, knowing the horrors contained in Ponyville? Even she, having been there, could hardly believe what was happening. In the span of a month, the entire village had become unrecognizable. She felt her mood couldn't improve even if Celestia herself descended from Canterlot and embraced her then and there.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the box until she ran into it.
The blue box was a curious thing to behold, not just because of its unusual location, but also because it was unlike anything Twilight had seen before. It was identical on all sides but one, where double doors presumably opened to whatever was inside. A sign was posted on the right door, detailing something about police that Twilight did not understand. A cylindrical object adorned the top, which the mare presumed was a light. It was off, but another light was visible through the box's opaque glass windows. Though she wasn't sure why, Twilight got a strange impression that the box was both old and new at once, that it both had been placed here just moments ago and had been here forever. Curiosity overcame her as she reached towards the door handle.
It was then that a colt burst his head out the door with a cheery, "Hello!"
Twilight jumped back in fright. "Wha – who are you?"
The colt stepped out of the box and subsequently tripped over his own hooves, landing face-first in the grass.
Twilight slowly walked closer to him. He was a light brown earth pony with a complementary dark brown mane. His cutie mark was an hourglass shape, making her wonder what his special talent was. Unlike most ponies, who found little use for clothes outside of special occasions, he wore a blue suit with a red tie. Twilight wondered what exactly he was doing in the box, dressed so well.
"Um…are you okay?" she asked, leaning over him.
"Sorry, sorry about that," the colt replied, shakily getting up. "I'm still getting used to these. I mean, hooves! Nothing like a new set of feet to show you how much you take your toes for granted. Especially pinkie toes, I miss those little guys."
He looked up from his rambling to see the purple mare staring at him confusedly. "Oh, sorry!" he said, taking her hoof and shaking it firmly. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. And you are?"
"Twilight Sparkle," she replied.
"Right, Twilight." The Doctor fidgeted for a few seconds, looking around randomly before finally saying, "Sorry, bit of an idiot, but…where am I?"
"Well, Ponyville's just a few minutes down the road," Twilight replied, motioning behind her, "but you probably don't want to go there right now. The entire town's caught a weird sickness."
"A sickness, you say?" the Doctor said, intrigued. "That's good – well, it's bad, really, but it's good because I am…" he paused as he reached into his suit's pocket and pulled out a card and waved it in front of Twilight's face. "Doctor Whooves, pony doctor extraordinaire. But it's just 'the Doctor' to you."
The card was flashed too quickly for Twilight to see the details, but what she saw looked very professional to her. "So, you're here to help us?" she asked excitedly.
"Yes, indeed," he affirmed before running down the road. "Well, there's no time to lose. Come on, Twilight! Allons-y!"
He had run about thirty feet before Twilight said, "Uh, Doctor? Ponyville's this way."
The colt looked down the path both ways before turning around and breaking into a run again. "Yes, of course! Let's go, Twilight! Can't keep those ponies waiting!"
The mare shook her head in bewilderment and took off after the strange colt who called himself the Doctor. |
Tarkana262 | 670 | 2 | Doctor Whooves,Main 6,Crossover,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | The Emotional Illness | A mysterious blue box may be the answer to Ponyville's latest problem. | complete | 60 | 1 | <p>A strange sickness has infected nearly everyone in Ponyville. It seems there is no hope for a cure - until Twilight stumbles across a strange blue box...</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:25:16+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:25:16+00:00 | 2,747 | "So, Twilight, tell me about this sickness."
The two had slowed down to a walk after the Doctor had tripped over himself numerous times during his mad dash towards Ponyville. His balance was steadily improving, but Twilight was still amazed by his clumsiness.
"Well, it all started about a month ago," she began. "A few ponies started getting depressed suddenly and fell ill a few days later. It happened again the next day, and it soon spread over the next few weeks, until nearly every pony in Ponyville was sick. There are only six of us left healthy, and we've got our hands full."
"Yes, how did you manage that?" the Doctor asked. "Not getting sick, and all that?"
Twilight sighed. "I don't know. And honestly, I almost wish I would get sick."
A nearby apple tree reminded Twilight that she hadn't eaten breakfast that morning. She plucked an apple with her magic and took a bite out of it. It didn't taste as sweet as normal; Applejack hadn't been able to tend the orchards for some time.
She stopped chewing when she noticed the Doctor staring at her.
"Do that again," he said.
The mare swallowed. "What?"
"The thing with the apple and the glowiness," he said, waving his hooves in an attempt to explain.
"You mean…this?" Twilight's horn glowed as she waved the apple through the air.
The Doctor's face broke out into a smile wider than Twilight thought possible. "Oh, that is beautiful!" he exclaimed, leaning towards Twilight to get a better look at her horn. "Biologically produced zero-point energy! Brilliant!"
Twilight stepped away from the strange colt. "Yeah…haven't you seen magic before?"
"Magic? Well, I don't know about that, but this is amazing! Can all ponies do this?"
"Just unicorns," she replied confusedly. "Where have you been all your life? Everypony knows that."
"Oh, here and there." The Doctor said, shrugging. "Just not here, here. But I've never seen anything like – ah! We're there."
The Doctor ran towards Ponyville, leaving Twilight to wonder if Pinkie Pie had just met her match in randomness.
*~*
"Ah, there ya are, Twilight," Applejack said as she heard hooves behind her. "I need some help with – ah!" She turned around to see two ponies instead of one. "Who's yer friend, here?"
"Applejack, this is the Doctor," the purple mare explained. "He's here to help us with the sick ponies."
The colt grinned. "Yep, that's me. Doctor Whooves, certified pony physician." He whipped out his card the same way he had done with Twilight.
Applejack gave him a confused look. "That paper's blank."
The Doctor paused only for a moment before regaining his composure. "Oh, yes, yes, sorry!" he said quickly, looking at the card. "This must, er, be one of the blank ones. Oh, well, that's not important." He stuffed it back in his pocket and led the two mares further into town. "So, where do I start?"
"Uh…we're keeping everypony in the town hall," Applejack answered. "'Twas the only place big enough to hold 'em all, 'cept for the barn, but I think you'd understand why we didn't –"
"Applejack?" A new voice came from town hall. A white pony with a well-cared-for purple mane and tail stepped out of the door. "Have you seen Twilight? Spike's acting oddly around me again," Her eyes fell on the Doctor. "Oh, hello, sir!" she said cheerfully.
The colt returned her smile. "Hello, I'm the Doctor."
"Rarity, at your service," she replied, batting her eyelashes. "If there's anything you need, dear, and I mean anything, don't hesitate to ask."
"I'll be sure to. Now, the patients are in here?" he motioned to the building. "I hope it's not as bad a New New York. Well, technically, it was New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York, but that's beside the point." He continued to ramble as he entered the building.
The three mares stared after him. "Well, you've certainly roped yerself an interestin' colt, haven't you, Twilight?" Applejack said, winking.
Twilight gave her a confused look. "What?"
"And my, isn't he a looker!" Rarity said. "A little scruffy, perhaps, but still very dashing."
Twilight's cheeks began to redden. "I don't know what you're –"
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud thump. A quick look told them all they needed to know: the Doctor had met Pinkie Pie. The two had landed in the road, the Doctor on his back and Pinkie standing over him, hopping excitedly.
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" she said cheerfully. "What's your name? Where are you from? How'd you get here? What's your cutie mark? Can we be friends?"
The Doctor stared at her. "Uh…the Doctor, Gallifrey, TARDIS, hourglass…and, yes?"
"Yaaaaaayyy!" Pinkie jumped even higher than before. I'm so happy you're here! We haven't had anyone new in weeks because all the ponies are sick, and because all the ponies are sick, nobody wants to play, and everypony's soooooo sad, but then I heard you talking outside and I was like –" she gasped dramatically, "NO WAY! And you walked in and I said 'Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!' and I asked if we could be friends and now we're friends!"
The Doctor dusted himself off, wondering if he had been wrong to accept her friendship. "Yes, and you also tackled me doing so."
"Uh-huh!" the mare affirmed happily.
"Right…" the Doctor rubbed his brow. "Listen, it's been lovely meeting you, but I've got…doctor stuff to do, so, if you'll excuse me…" he edged past Pinkie Pie, and then ran as fast as his legs would carry him into the doorway before someone else had the chance to stop him.
"Wow!" Pinkie Pie beamed. "He's so noble, rushing off to care for his patients! I should throw him a hero party when he's cured everyone!"
Twilight shook her head as Pinkie hopped after the Doctor, not surprised that the colt had received a welcome from Pinkie Pie similar to her own.
Her amusement melted to depression when she saw the situation inside. The building was packed wall-to-wall with the residents of Ponyville, some of the ponies so ill that she couldn't look at them without feeling sick herself. Twilight's heart sank; how could one pony hope to fix all this?
The Doctor was undeterred, judging by his animated conversation with Rainbow Dash.
The blue Pegasus was eager to flaunt her abilities to somepony new. "Yeah, some say I'm the biggest, baddest, fastest pony in Ponyville," she said. "I don't like to brag, but, they're right! I've got moves that'll make your head spin!"
The Doctor, however, was more interested in her wings. "Amazing! And you can actually achieve flight with these?"
"Um, duh? Every Pegasus can." She flashed a cocky grin. "Just not as awesomely as me."
Twilight coughed. "That's all very nice, but don't you have a sickness to worry about, Doctor?"
"Ah, yes!" The colt ran to a bed and looked up and down the pony that occupied it. "I just need to get a good look before – oh, hello!"
A sudden, "Meep!" was heard as a cream-colored pony jumped up and hid behind a nearby desk.
"Oh, dear, you spooked the poor girl!" Rarity sighed. "Now she won't come out for ages."
The Doctor walked slowly towards the desk. "Hey, hey, it's alright," he said softly, kneeling closer to the frightened pony. "I'm the Doctor, what's your name?"
The young mare poked her head out slightly. "I-I'm…Fl-Fluttersh-shy…" she whispered.
"Fluttershy? That's a beautiful name," the colt said, smiling warmly. He edged closer, lowering his voice to match her whisper. "Listen, Fluttershy, I'm here to help you. I'm going to get these ponies better, so you can come out now, alright? Come on, it'll be okay."
She lowered her head bashfully and walked out from her hiding spot.
"See?" The Doctor said, gesturing her to keep coming out. "I'm not a bad pony. A little kooky, perhaps, but not bad."
Fluttershy giggled softly. "Thank you for coming to help us, Mr. Doctor."
"It's my pleasure. And please, it's just 'Doctor.'"
The mare nodded, blushing slightly, and ran to join her friends.
Twilight walked over to the Doctor as he began to examine the sick pony again. "I'm impressed, Doctor. Nopony's ever handled Fluttershy that well before."
"Well, you don't come away from all the places I've been without picking up a few things," he said digging in his pocket. "Like how to use Venusian aikido with only four limbs. Still haven't quite figured that one out yet, though." He pulled out a silver-colored stick with a blue tip. He pointed it at the pony and pressed a button; the tip lit up and made a whining noise. "But blimey! All these ponies in a month? That's impossible. Well, it should be, anyway."
Rainbow Dash crossed her arms. "Great! A disease that shouldn't be happening, and all we have to help us is a doctor who refuses to make sense and whose only skill so far is to calm Fluttershy." She huffed in defeat. "We had better resources when we went to find the Elements of Harmony!"
The Doctor looked up from his work. "The Elements of what?"
"The Elements of Harmony," Twilight repeated. "You don't know? It's…kind of a long story."
The Doctor pulled up a chair and sat down facing its back and putting his arms on the headrest. "Well, we're not going anywhere, are we? Besides, I love a good story; it takes the edge off of life-and-death situations. Especially having the in-laws for tea."
With constant interruptions from both the Doctor and the six mares, the story of the quest for the Elements of Harmony and the confrontation with Nightmare Moon lasted well into the afternoon. Most of the Doctor's questions were centered on magic – he was especially fascinated with Spike's method of letter delivery – and details about the manticore and the sea dragon. The others simply wanted to "correct" Twilight's narration with their preferred version of the story.
The Doctor rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So the Elements of Harmony are essentially vessels of psycho-empathic energy, and you six are the metaphysical embodiments of their power?"
The six mares all stared in silence; even Twilight was baffled by his terminology.
"I…guess?" she ventured.
"Brilliant!" the colt cried, jumping out of his seat. "I love new planets."
A moan brought their attention back to the sick ponies around them. The Doctor ran over to the colt, putting glasses on and pulling out the silver object again.
"His condition is worsening," he said, waving the object up and down in front of the colt, "but I'm not detecting any responses from his immune system. No white blood cells, no hemoglobin, nothing. But why?"
"None of our medicine is working, either," said Twilight. "They didn't have any effect on their bodies at all."
The Doctor's head snapped up. "No, of course not, because it's not a sickness of the body, it's a sickness of the mind!" He pointed the stick at the colt's head. "But what kind of neural disease causes an emotional response before a biological one? Think, Doctor, think!"
The silver rod beeped suddenly. He stared at it for second, eyes widening.
"Is that good?" Applejack asked.
"No…oh, no, that's very bad…" the colt said, turning to the mares. "And it's not just them…it's you, all of you…"
He started to run out of the building, but was caught by the tail by Applejack.
"Ah-ah-ah-owowOW!" the colt yelled, falling on his backside. "Blimey, was that really necessary?"
"Just hold yer applecart, Sugarcube." said Applejack. "You ain't just dashin' off an' leaving us in the dust with nary an idea what's goin' on."
"Well, then come along," he said, running out the door, "We have to get to the TARDIS!"
"The what?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Just follow me, alright? We have no time to lose!"
Left no other option, the six mares took off after the colt, not knowing how much stranger their lives were going to get. |
Tarkana262 | 670 | 3 | Doctor Whooves,Main 6,Crossover,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | The Emotional Illness | A mysterious blue box may be the answer to Ponyville's latest problem. | complete | 60 | 1 | <p>A strange sickness has infected nearly everyone in Ponyville. It seems there is no hope for a cure - until Twilight stumbles across a strange blue box...</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:37:14+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:37:14+00:00 | 2,739 | For the first time in a month, the sound of running hooves echoed across the valley as seven ponies ran down the dirt road. Nature took notice; birds looked down from their nests, bunnies poked out of their holes, and squirrels turned from their nut gathering to see them as the six mares chased after the blue-coated colt.
"Coshtarnit, Doctor!" Applejack yelled. "Can't ya slow down for one apple-pickin' second?"
Twilight didn't know what to make of the Doctor. Just this morning, he had been stumbling over his own hooves in the middle of the forest; now he had become a rambling colt who they were struggling to keep up with.
The Doctor finally slowed when the edge of the forest came into view. He led them farther in, stopping in the clearing where Twilight had first met him with the blue box.
"Right where I left her," he said, fumbling in his pocket.
Rainbow Dash wasn't impressed. "So, you led us running all the way out here, leaving all those ponies behind, just to show us a tiny blue shed?" Seriously, what kind of pony are you?"
"Well, technically," said the Doctor, "I'm not a pony. I'm a Time Lord, from Gallifrey. And this is not a shed, it's a –"
"Alright, that's it!" Twilight stomped her hooves. "I can take finding you in the middle of nowhere, stumbling over your own hooves, and your babbling about Celestia-knows-what, but now you claim you're not even a pony? Has anypony ever told you that you're crazy?"
"Once or twice," the Doctor admitted, pulling out a key and inserting it into the box's lock. "Well, more like ten times. Well, more like every person I've ever met. But you're the first pony, so good job on that."
Twilight slapped her forehead and groaned. "Oh, this is too much!"
"Alright, it's your choice if you don't believe me," the colt said, shrugging. "I'll just step inside my 'shed' then and leave you on your merry little way." He opened the door just wide enough to fit through and slipped in.
"Oh, no you don't!" Twilight yelled, following the colt into the box. "You're coming out and telling us who you…really…are…"
The box's interior was enough to silence any further accusations the mares held. It was impossibly large, rising higher than the trees outside and wider than their trunks. The walls were painted gold and dotted with white octagonal lights. In the center, a clear pillar rose, its base surrounded by a console covered with all kinds of instruments.
The Doctor leaned against the console, crossing his front legs with a confident grin. "So…what do you think?"
The mares simply gaped at the room until Pinkie Pie jumped up excited and shouted, "Oh! Oh! I know! It's bigger on the inside!"
The Doctor smiled even wider. "Even ponies say it. I love it!" He jumped up and beckoned them forward. "Go on, take a look around. Just be careful, and whatever you do, don't –"
"WOAH!" Rainbow Dash yelled from down the hallway. "There's even more stuff over here!"
Any control the Doctor had over the group was instantly lost as they ran through the halls, discovering what other wonders were in store.
"Oh, my!" Rarity gasped. "What a magnificent wardrobe! Such exotic designs and – what? Bowties? Ugh! How dreadful. That simply will not do."
Applejack sniffed as a familiar scent caught her attention. "That smell…it can't be…an apple orchard! I don't believe it! There's sunlight an' ev'rything in here!"
"Aw, cool! He's got a pool in here!" Rainbow Dash said excitedly. "It's even got waterslides! This is so awesome!"
"Oh my gosh!" Twilight gasped. "This library is gigantic! All these books…I couldn't read all these in a hundred years!"
Pinkie Pie hopped from room to room, her attention continually stolen from one place by the next. "Oh, what's this? Hey, that looks cool! Ooh, shiny! I could have the biggest party EVER in here!"
The Doctor noticed that Fluttershy hadn't left the control room; rather, she seemed awestruck, perhaps a bit afraid, of the chamber's enormity.
"Like it?" the Doctor asked, wrapping his hoof around her shoulders as the other five ponies returned. "I call her the TARDIS – that's Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. I've travelled all around the universe in this girl. As you have seen, there are all kinds of rooms here, but this," he extended his other hoof and waved it in front of the console, "this is where the magic happens."
Pinkie Pie reached for a lever. "Oooh! What's this do?"
"DON'T!" the Doctor yelled, diving across the room to protect the lever in question from the hyperactive pony. "That," he said slowly, "is the Wibbly Lever. I'm not quite sure what it does yet, but there's a slight chance it could tear a hole in time and space roughly the size of Belgium if not used correctly." He eyed the six mares. "So please, unless I ask, don't. Touch. Anything. Got that?"
The six mares all nodded in fear. After a few seconds of silence, the Doctor smiled and rubbed his hooves together. "Right-o! Twilight, I'm going to need you for some tests. Now, don't give me that look, this won't hurt a bit…"
*~*
A few more-or-less painful minutes later, Twilight Sparkle stood covered from head to hoof with wires, instruments, and other strange objects she couldn't identify, all culminating with a metal dome that sat uncomfortably on her head. The wires led to the TARDIS' console, where the Doctor busily pressed buttons and turned knobs (with some difficulty, thanks to his new anatomy). The other five mares had taken seats around the room, having become bored of the Doctor's project some time ago.
"I swear, I am never going to participate in any of your ideas ever again, Doctor," Twilight said bitterly. "If this doesn't kill me first."
"Oh, don't be like that," the Doctor said, while trying to figure out how on Gallifrey he was going to use the keyboard with hooves. "Think of this as a science experiment. Imagine: 'The Doctor and Twilight Sparkle: Discovering the Mysteries of the Ponyville Plague.' Hmm, 'Ponyville Plague,' I like that. Could somebody write that down?"
"What exactly is this theory of yours, Doctor?" Rarity asked.
"Hold on…" the colt tried to type, but soon threw up his hooves in frustration. He then pulled out his sonic screwdriver and, holding it between his teeth, used it to tap out a command.
"There we go!" he said as he finished. "Anyway, Rarity, it's not really a disease, strictly speaking; it's more of a series of symptoms caused by outside manipulation by a foreign entity."
"Smaller words, Doc," Dash said boredly.
The Doctor sighed. "Aliens are doing stuff."
Wires rattled against each other as Twilight moved towards him. "Okay, I'll admit I was wrong about this whole TARDIS thing, but…aliens? Really?"
"Of course, Twilight. I'm an alien, after all. Time Lord, remember?"
Twilight looked up and down at him in amazement. "But…you look pony."
"You look Time Lord," the Doctor countered, then looked up thoughtfully. "Actually, you don't; I do look pony right now, so I guess that makes me a Time Pony. Did we even have ponies on Gallifrey? Because, if we did, and they shared certain biological features with us, then technically they'd be Time Ponies, unless of course –"
"Doctor!" Applejack yelled.
"What? Oh, yes! Sorry!" He went back the main computer. "Where was I? Oh, yes – aliens are doing stuff."
"Alright," said Twilight, "assuming there are 'aliens doing stuff,' how do you know? You just wave your little blue flashlight and that proves it?"
"First of all, it's a sonic screwdriver. Second, yes, that's part of it."
"And the other part?"
The Doctor rotated the screen around for her to see. "There's one in you right now."
The six mares gasped as they saw the readings. Inside an outline of Twilight's body, a dark, amorphous blob writhed around. An unearthly noise, something between a hawk's screech and a bear's roar, emanated from the creature. As it moved, strange tendrils stretched towards Twilight's head and latched on to her skull.
"And it's not just her," the Doctor said in a serious tone, "there's one inside all of you, and everyone in Ponyville. That thing is a species of empathivore. The more common variety, the mörkön, has a physical form, but this one here is entirely composed of psychic energy."
Twilight slowly shook her head, eyes wide with fear. "No…it can't – that's impossible!"
"Anything's possible," the Doctor replied. "Little guys like that are wiggling inside your brains as we speak. As psychic energy, an empathivore can jump into a person's mind and generate a small field of despair, around itself, causing their host to feel negative emotions more readily. It then feeds off that energy, and uses it to grow and multiply, while the host slowly dies. After that, it's a simple matter of finding a new body to begin anew.
"What's curious about yours, though," he continued, leaning against the railing, "is that yours are entirely docile. No psychic leeching, no despair field, nothing. They're just…there."
"So how do we find out why?" Twilight asked.
"Research!" The Doctor jumped up and walked to the door. "We'll just pop back into Ponyville, do a few more tests on the sick ponies, and – oh."
The mares joined him and looked out the door to see every pony from Ponyville standing outside the TARDIS, all with no signs of sickness.
And with blood red eyes.
"Backinbackinbackin!" The Doctor pushed the mares backward and closed the doors just as the first ponies slammed into the TARDIS.
"What the heck was that?" Rainbow Dash demanded. "They were all bedridden when we left!"
"The empathivores can take over their host's bodies when threatened," the Doctor replied, running to the center console. "It's how they keep people from stopping them if they are found out!"
Dash rolled her eyes. "Well, that would have been nice to know a few hours ago. We could've locked them inside town hall!"
"I didn't think they had enough energy yet!" The colt ran around the circular panel, pushing and pulling on a seemingly random sequence of buttons, knobs, and what appeared to be a bike pump. "Besides, I don't think a wooden door would have stopped them."
"But that door's wood!"
"No, it just looks like it!" As he pulled a final lever, the glass orb in the center column began to move and the whole room started to shake.
"What's happening?" Rarity asked.
"I'm starting up the TARDIS," the Doctor replied. "It's time we got to the bottom of this. Strap yourselves in, girls; we're going to Canterlot!" |
Tarkana262 | 670 | 4 | Doctor Whooves,Main 6,Crossover,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | The Emotional Illness | A mysterious blue box may be the answer to Ponyville's latest problem. | complete | 60 | 1 | <p>A strange sickness has infected nearly everyone in Ponyville. It seems there is no hope for a cure - until Twilight stumbles across a strange blue box...</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:33:46+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:33:46+00:00 | 2,604 | The white walls of Canterlot gleamed in the midday sunlight. As Equestria's capital, the city displayed some of the finest architecture in the country, commissioned by Princess Celestia after the castle in the Everfree forest was abandoned.
With the return of Luna from exile, the Equestrian government had required some rearrangement to allow for the younger alicorn to rule alongside her sister. Most of the day, the two found themselves up to their necks in matters of state in some form or another, but at this moment, the two were sharing a rare moment together, appreciating the escape from schedule for what it was.
Unfortunately for them, the calm wasn't to last.
A loud rumbling filled the princesses' quarters. Celestia and Luna stood up, eyes looking for the source of the sudden noise. Their question was answered when a wooden blue box slowly faded into existence in front of them.
Luna shrank behind her older sister, afraid of what the box might bring. Celestia simply looked on in confusion.
The box's door opened, and a blue-suited brown colt stepped out. "And that," he said, seemingly to no one in particular, "my fine equestrian friends, is the only way to travel."
Applejack stumbled out of the box. "I'll stick to my own four hooves, thank ya kindly."
The princesses' confusion grew as the remaining five bearers of the Elements of Harmony all exited the box with similar discomfort (save for Pinkie Pie, who insisted that they all ride again), ending with the purple unicorn Celestia knew very well.
"Twilight Sparkle!" she gasped. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Princess Celestia!" the six mares quickly bowed. Twilight shot a glance at the colt. "You didn't say we were going to land in her bedroom!" she hissed.
"To be honest, I didn't know, either." The colt muttered, glancing back at the box they arrived in. "I wish she'd tell me these things more often. I almost think she enjoys these awkward situations."
The colt approached the dumbstruck princesses with a smile and kneeled. "You must be the Princesses Celestia and Luna. I'm the Doctor; very pleased to be in your audience –"
"Princess!" Three royal guardsponies burst into the room. "We heard noises and –" The leader caught sight of the seven ponies. "You! How did you get in here? Who –"
"Stand down, captain," Celestia said calmly. "These are my…" Her gaze lingered on the Doctor. "…friends. They are welcome."
The captain gave the Doctor a suspicious look before leaving with his subordinates.
"Now then," said Celestia, facing the group, "Perhaps you can explain your sudden appearance in my chambers, Twilight."
The purple unicorn mumbled several false starts before pointing at the Doctor and panicking. "It's all his fault! It wasn't until he showed up that weird things started happening and all this stuff about aliens and Time Lords and boxes that can fly and – and – and –"
"Calm yourself, Twilight," The Sun Princess interrupted. "I'm not mad at you, just…perplexed."
Celestia walked towards the Doctor. "It seems my student believes you to be responsible for this, Doctor. Would you care to explain?"
"Certainly," the colt replied, moving so he stood between the six mares and the two princesses. "Now, I'm sure you are at least partially aware of the situation in Ponyville?"
Celestia nodded. "Twilight informed me of a sickness almost a month ago, but I haven't heard anything since."
"Well, then I think you should know that it has spiraled spectacularly out of control thanks to a bunch of mind-infesting things called empathivores."
Both of the princesses stiffened at his final word. The Doctor's gaze hardened. "But you would know all about them, wouldn't you?"
"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?" Applejack asked.
"Empathivores don't just come out of nowhere," the Doctor explained. "And they're an awful long way from home…" He focused his gaze on Luna. "…which means someone brought them here."
Celestia blocked her sister from the colt's view. "She didn't know! We thought they had been –"
"Sister."
Celestia stopped, surprised that her sister had spoken up. "I think…it would be best if I explained it to him." She looked at her hooves. "After all, this is partially my fault."
The Sun Princess hesitated, then dipped her head in agreement. Luna stepped forward, wary of the Doctor's gaze.
"Over a thousand years ago, I ruled over Equestria alongside my sister. It was a different, smaller kingdom back then, but we still ushered the sun and moon as we do now. It was a good life, but as I looked at our subjects, I began to resent my role. The ponies worked and played under her sun, but when the moon came into view, there wasn't a soul awake. The more I saw that pattern, the more I began to believe that Celestia was loved, and I was not.
"Naturally, I grew jealous of her, but for months, I never dared to admit it. I tried to ignore it, to simply do my duty as always, but those feeling never truly went away.
"But it all changed in one night. As I raised the moon, I felt something new in the night sky, an object unlike anything I had seen before. A ship made of metal, floating through space! I reached out to it, and found the creatures you call 'empathivores.' They had taken control of the vessel's original crew, but those bodies had long since died, leaving the ship adrift as I found it.
"As we conversed, they sensed my long-dormant jealousy, and saw an opportunity. They asked that they would be allowed to enter my mind, promising to help me get the respect I thought I deserved." The dark mare shuddered. "Like a foal, I agreed. They came into me, and immediately, I heard their thoughts among mine, whispering to the darkest parts of me to bring them out. I used my magic to become Nightmare Moon, and refused to lower the moon the next morning."
"So when you were Nightmare Moon, it was really the empathivores in control of your body?" Twilight asked.
"No." Luna said without hesitation. "I was in full control during the whole ordeal. There were a great influence, but I was still the one responsible for my actions.
"Anyway, you all know what happened next. Celestia immediately sensed the dark presence in my mind. The Elements of Harmony were her only weapon, but she could not use their full power – that was meant for chosen ponies such as yourselves. Using what power she could, she trapped me on the moon I once governed."
"A spell that would last one thousand years." The Doctor turned to Celestia and frowned. "One. Thousand. Years. What did you think would happen? The empathivores would die? Luna would break free of them? But no; they remained. They had Luna to feed on, and she had a lot of life and anger left in her. And she sat there, waiting those thousand years out, as those monsters chewed on the corners of her mind. She could have gone mad from that, Celestia. For all you knew, she could have died!"
"I know, Doctor," Celestia replied, looking at her sister. "And not a day has gone by since then that I wished I hadn't."
"Sister…" The two princesses nuzzled, Celestia wiping the tears from Luna's eyes.
"But what happened?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Obviously they didn't die; so why are they only showing up now?"
"When you defeated Nightmare Moon, you forced them out of Luna's body," the Doctor explained, "but you didn't kill them. They must have been weakened considerably, so they probably have been piggy-backing in some ponies' heads until they recovered; they were most likely the first to fall ill."
"And I gather by your presence that things have taken a turn for the worse?" Celestia asked.
The door was burst open by the same guards from before. "Celestia! My lady, there's a mob of ponies marching to the gates! Something's wrong with them – their eyes… they're all red!"
"I think that answers your question," said the Doctor.
*~*
A full regiment of Celestia's royal guard lined up in front of the castle gates. Before them, the empathivore-controlled citizens of Ponyville marched towards them, almost daring the princesses to act first.
Fluttershy shivered behind the Doctor. "Those poor ponies…w-will they do that to us too, Doctor?"
"Not if I can help it," the colt replied.
The cream-colored mare looked into the Doctor's eyes in amazement. "Aren't you afraid of…monsters?"
The Doctor winked at her. "No, Fluttershy; they're afraid of me."
He walked over to Celestia. "I need you to hold them off as long as you can."
"We will do what we can," Celestia replied, "but I refuse to hurt my little ponies."
"I don't expect you to," said the Doctor, walking away. "Come along, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fulttershy, Pinkie Pie. Blimey, that's a mouthful. You ponies need a team name or something."
"I can assume you have a plan, Doctor?" Celestia asked.
"Not yet; working on it!" he shouted over his shoulder.
The Doctor led the six mares down the hall and into a room. "Right, I need to go fetch the TARDIS. Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back."
He ran off down the hall. A few minutes later, the blue box reappeared in the room, and the Doctor emerged carrying a strange object.
"So, it took a generous disregard for conventional laws of physics and my best coffee maker, but I believe this will work." He placed the device on the floor. It was shaped like a tower, with small bits of metal sticking out like tree branches. The top pulsed a rainbow of colors and six helmets were attached to the base by cables.
"And just what in the hay is that s'posed to do?" Applejack asked.
"The reason why the empathivores didn't get to you," he explained while making adjustments of the device, "is because you six hold the Elements of Harmony. You need to generate energy to cover the whole planet to get them all."
"The whole planet?" cried Rainbow. "How do you expect us to do that?"
"That's where this baby comes in," the Doctor replied, patting the machine. "You six wear these helmets, and it will multiply the energy and release it in one big bang." He handed out the helmets to the six mares. "In theory, anyway."
"In theory?" Twilight asked incredulously.
The Doctor scratched the back of his head. "Well, I haven't actually seen the Elements in action, so all I had to go off of was the readings I took from you earlier and your descriptions of how it worked, so…" He trailed off as the mares looked at him fear in their eyes. "It'll work! I promise!" he affirmed with a smile.
Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you Pinkie Pie Swear?"
The colt raised an eyebrow. "Do I what?"
Pinkie moved until there was barely an inch between them. "Cross you heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?"
"Eh…yes?"
"Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie smiled and bounced back to her helmet.
The sound of something colliding with the castle gates echoed across the room. The Doctor clapped and rubbed his hooves. "Alright, girls, we haven't got much time; let's get to work! Allons-y!"
*~*
The guardsponies struggled to put their weight against the gates. The castle was not built to withstand a siege of any kind, as Equestria had not known war for over a thousand years. Though the guards were well-trained, their expertise lay in non-lethal combat; the empathivores were willing to use their pony hosts to kill if necessary.
The captain of the royal guard made a hurried bow as he approached Celestia and Luna. "My ladies, we are doing what we can, but those…things won't let up. We can't hold the gate much longer."
Celestia nodded. "Reinforce the gate as much as you can, then fall back. We only need to keep them from the Elements and the Doctor."
The captain saluted and made his way back to the stallions under his command. Luna looked up at her older sister. "So much rides on that colt…do you think his plan will work in time?"
Celestia looked down the hall the colt had run down earlier, where he was doing something she couldn't discern. "I don't know," she answered, "but when I look at him, I get a feeling…that even though I just met him, I could trust him with anything."
Luna gave Celestia a small smile. "I know, sister. I get that feeling, too."
And so the Princesses of Day and Night joined the guards and watched the gate, waiting for the Doctor's plan to unfold.
*~*
Though her eyes were closed, Twilight could practically see the Doctor pacing nervously around them. The sound of the gate collapsing and soldiers fighting in the hallway had given them all a sense of urgency and a worry that the machine was not working fast enough. The meter on the device was so very close, but it moved agonizingly slow. They were cutting this too close.
A sudden shout came from the hall. The mares opened their eyes and saw four empathivore-controlled ponies had found them and were running towards them.
The Doctor stood between them; the determined look on his face told his intentions to all.
Twilight reached to stop him, but was too late. He charged the ponies, undoubtedly too aware that they could toss him like a rag doll.
A wave of emotion came over the six, and with it, the meter hit 100%.
The light from the machine glowed brighter than the sun as a rainbow of energy cascaded from it. It flew with such force that every pony in the castle was knocked off their feet. The wave continued wiping across the planet until it met on the opposite side with what would later be described as a "reverse rainboom."
The last thing Twilight saw before falling unconscious was the Doctor's wonderful smiling face. |
Tarkana262 | 670 | 5 | Doctor Whooves,Main 6,Crossover,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | The Emotional Illness | A mysterious blue box may be the answer to Ponyville's latest problem. | complete | 60 | 1 | <p>A strange sickness has infected nearly everyone in Ponyville. It seems there is no hope for a cure - until Twilight stumbles across a strange blue box...</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:36:44+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:36:44+00:00 | 2,850 | Twilight came to slowly, the weight of the Tiara of Magic on her head confusing her before her memory of what had happened moments ago had returned.
The Doctor had already awoken, and was now happily running from one unconscious pony to the next, taking readings from his sonic screwdriver.
"Brilliant!" he beamed, seeing that the six mares were stirring. "I almost don't believe it! All the Ponyville ponies are safe, completely unharmed with no signs of alien influence!"
"You mean…it worked?" Twilight asked.
"Wonderfully!" he replied, gleefully jumping around the room, giggling to himself.
"I think he got a little too much of Pinkie's Element," said Rainbow Dash.
"No, silly-filly!" said Pinkie Pie, joining the Doctor as he bounced, "It's juuuust right!"
The other five mares couldn't help but laugh at the two ponies' antics. The Doctor calmed down soon afterward, but Pinkie continued on, not caring that she was alone in her frivolity.
"Congratulations, Doctor." Celestia's kindly voice turned their attention to the doorway she and her sister were walking through, prompting the seven ponies to quickly bow. "I must admit, we were worried whether your plan would succeed or not."
Luna scoffed at this. "You were worried, sister; I was telling you everything would be fine."
"Either way," Celestia laughed, "you've defended Equestria from a great danger, and for that, we are in your debt."
"It was my pleasure, your highnesses." said the Doctor, dipping his head.
"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" Pinkie Pie appeared between them, bouncing excitedly. "I know how we can thank him! A PARTY!"
*~*
By the time the evening arrived, all of Ponyville had prepared for the celebration. Many ponies had tried to bring gifts, but when the Doctor politely refused them, they returned with the next best thing: food.
The Doctor had eaten at parties on hundreds of planets, but the Ponyville cuisine surprised him. Everything tasted spectacularly delicious – especially the bananas, which he requested to have several crates full of to take aboard the TARDIS.
Throughout the night, ponies crowded around him, asking him questions about himself and how he saved them. The six Element-bearers also had their own share of topics they wished to be cleared up.
"So Doc," Applejack said, "When you came on into town, why did ya show me a blank card?"
The Doctor nodded in acknowledgement as he finished his cupcake and gave a compliment to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who had made it their job to make sure that his plate was never empty. "Actually, Applejack, it wasn't blank – well, it wasn't supposed to be." He dug into his new saddlebags (the only gift he had accepted, as they were designed by Rarity and she wouldn't take no for an answer) and pulled out the card. "This is my psychic paper. Says anything I want it to. It's a very nifty little thing; I've been thrown in jail a lot less since I started carrying it around."
"So, then how was she able to see through it?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I mean, it fooled Twilight, and she's the nerdiest of us all."
"Well, she's the Element of Honesty, isn't she? Looks like that also makes her a living lie detector."
The night carried on, and soon thoughts of bed could no longer be ignored and slowly the party began to dissipate.
The Doctor had slipped out amidst the clean-up and stood on the hill where he had parked the TARDIS. The sun had not risen just yet; the stars and moon were shining their last before the new day.
His eyes were closed as the blue box hummed softly next to him. He knew that part of traveling and meeting new people was coming up, the part that never failed to make him anxious because the result was never certain: the inevitable question.
"You're leaving?"
The Doctor turned to see the six mares, along with the two princesses, had gathered behind him, all with the same sad look.
He gave them a soft smile. "Yep; I don't make a habit of staying in one place too long. The universe isn't going to explore itself, you know."
"But you've barely been here a day," Twilight pleaded. "You're welcome to stay as long as you want."
"Twilight…" the Doctor said slowly, "There are millions of people out there, all waiting for a knight in shining armor to step in and save them, and all they're ever going to get is a daft old man in a stolen box, or nothing. No matter how much I want to stay, I can't abandon them."
The groups' eyes lowered in disappointment. "So…this is goodbye?" Fluttershy asked, tearing up.
"Looks like it." The Doctor's expression suddenly turned sly. "Unless, of course, you want to come with me."
The mares' heads shot up. "You mean it?" Rainbow said excitedly.
"You've been inside. I could fit all of Ponyville if I wanted to."
The mares gave cries of joy and shared high-hooves, but Twilight's expression suddenly faltered. "But I have to manage the library…and Applejack has to help Big Macintosh at Sweet Apple Acres, and Rarity has her boutique, and…we all have responsibilities here." She sighed. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but…I'm afraid we can't."
The Doctor merely shrugged at this. "Alright, I understand. You can't just drop everything to go adventuring." He opened the door to the TARDIS and stepped halfway in. "Of course, she does also travel through time, but it's not like that changes anything…"
Twilight blinked. "Wait, what was that?"
The Doctor shrugged again, his confident smirk growing. "Oh, I was just saying that the TARDIS is a time machine, so we could take a trip around the solar system and be back in time for tea, but you've already said you can't go, so I'll just –"
The six mares crowded the doorway with huge smiles on their faces. The Doctor laughed. "I'll take that as a yes!"
Twilight bounced around, giddy as a schoolfilly. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" She stopped a split second before colliding with Celestia. "Um – I mean, if it's okay with you, Princess Celestia."
The Princess smiled warmly. "It's not my decision, my faithful student. I'm sure that this will make for some very interesting reports on the magic of friendship." She turned to the Doctor. "You will make sure her letters get to me, won't you?"
"I'm sure I can work something out," the Doctor replied. "Trans-spatial communication is one of my specialties, after all. That and running, there's an awful lot of running."
Celestia nodded. "Then allow us to give you a parting gift."
Celestia looked to Luna, and their horns began to glow in unison. The horizon changed as the sun and moon answered their call and brought dawn to the citizens of Equestria.
In the back of the Doctor's mind a million objections fired off, arguing that what he was seeing was impossible, that it went against the basest rules of the universe, that it was just so wrong.
But when he spoke, only one word escaped his lips: "Beautiful."
*~*
Spike was awoken from his post-party nap by Twilight bursting through into the library. He groaned as she merrily ran around the hollow tree, taking all kinds of objects placing them in a suitcase.
"Spike I'm going to be gone for a while," she said as she browsed the shelves. "You'll need to watch the library for me; get along with Owlowiscious and don't eat all the diamonds, alright?"
"Uh, sure," the dragon replied. "But, where are you going?"
"I don't know."
"Okay…when will you be back?"
"I don't know."
Spike narrowed his eyes. "Wait. You're going on a trip, but, you don't know where you're going or when you'll be back?"
"That's the beauty of it, Spike!" Twilight said happily. "An expedition into the unknown, guided by the Doctor, the only pony who's seen it all! It'll be fantastic!"
"Listen to yourself, Twilight," said Spike. "You're not making any sense. You just met the Doctor yesterday. You barely know who he is!"
She stopped at the door and gave the dragon a confident grin. "Then I'm about to find out."
Twilight stepped out of the library and ran to join her friends, old and new, on an adventure unlike any other. |
Tarkana262 | 671 | 1 | Princess Celestia,Princess Luna,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Void | A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret. | complete | -1 | -1 | <p>A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:44:22+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:44:22+00:00 | 1,445 | History haunts her to this day.
It had started slowly. Luna's words to her had become annoyed, curt. She would question her judgment, where before she simply nodded her agreement.
Had she ever truly agreed? Or had she feared the alternative?
Celestia had ignored the signs. It was all a phase, she told herself. It would blow over soon.
It didn't.
She still hates that fateful night, when Luna finally rebelled. She still hates the jealousy she saw when that monster called Nightmare Moon consumed her sister. She still hates the fear and sorrow she felt when her incantation banished her to the moon.
She still hates herself for not seeing the signs. |
Tarkana262 | 671 | 2 | Princess Celestia,Princess Luna,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Void | A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret. | complete | -1 | -1 | <p>A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:44:54+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:44:54+00:00 | 1,215 | Her subjects were distraught at the news of Luna's banishment. They feared what would happen if she were to escape. Would she seek revenge? Or forgiveness?
Celestia pondered those questions for herself. And as she thought, another one found its way in: would she show mercy if Luna asked her for it?
Despite her best efforts, the question would not be denied an answer.
She moved the moon for the first time that night. It felt so wrong, to do her sister's work, as if she was trying to replace her. As if she would never return.
It was then that she first saw the new collection of craters and hills on the moon's surface, all perfectly placed to form the shadow of a mare's head.
Luna's head.
It is said that Celestia's wails could be heard across Equestria that night. |
Tarkana262 | 671 | 3 | Princess Celestia,Princess Luna,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Void | A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret. | complete | -1 | -1 | <p>A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:45:21+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:45:21+00:00 | 1,298 | Time can be a cold, bitter mare, for time causes ponies to forget.
It took nearly six hundred years for them to start. Those who had seen the moon hang unnaturally in the sky were long since dead. Historians began to write of the threat of everlasting night as a legend rather than fact. Mothers told their foals and fillies tales of Nightmare Moon to scare them to sleep.
And slowly, they began to forget Luna.
But not Celestia.
Her dreams replay everything. Every sign she missed, every word Luna spoke, every tear that fell from both Luna's eyes and her own.
Many night's she cries to the night, begs and pleads to whoever is listening out there to allow her to forget.
But time can be a cold, bitter mare, for she causes ponies to remember. |
Tarkana262 | 671 | 4 | Princess Celestia,Princess Luna,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Void | A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret. | complete | -1 | -1 | <p>A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:45:53+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:45:53+00:00 | 1,290 | Her subjects think too highly of her.
Without Luna, they began to elevate Celestia's status. They began to pray to her, swear by her name, idolize her actions.
In their eyes, she is a god.
But for all her power, Celestia is not a god. She never asked to be one. She did not decide who lives or dies, or ordain the flow of time, or cause good things to happen to her subjects.
And yet they praise her supposed deity. And after every celebration, she cries, for Luna's fears are coming true. |
Tarkana262 | 671 | 5 | Princess Celestia,Princess Luna,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Void | A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret. | complete | -1 | -1 | <p>A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:46:30+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:46:30+00:00 | 1,152 | Even to ponies as powerful as Celestia, the gift of prophecy does not come voluntarily.
It most often manifests in dreams, preceded by great emotion. Through magic, the doors of time and space are opened, showing a chaotic image of what has yet to come.
For years, Celestia's dreams have foretold her sister's wrath upon her return. For years, she has feared tomorrow.
But now, tomorrow may change.
Her dreams now tell of a chance, a hope that Luna might return to her by the same magic that imprisoned her so long ago.
Her dreams also say that Luna's salvation will come at the hands of others. Celestia has not trusted others for a very long time.
But in the morning, she prepares, she manipulates, she uses; all in the hope that prophecy might one day be reality.
It is hard for her to trust. But in the end, it is all she has. |
Tarkana262 | 671 | 6 | Princess Celestia,Princess Luna,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Void | A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret. | complete | -1 | -1 | <p>A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:46:57+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:46:57+00:00 | 1,241 | The sun is brighter than she ever imagined.
When Luna returned, she came to Celestia first. Few words were said. Luna wanted revenge; Celestia accepted it.
She had never thought the sun to be so bright, so warm, so majestic.
So horrible.
Her plan is in motion. The Chosen Ones are on their way, searching for a power they already possess.
Celestia is well aware that they could very well fail. Luna might even kill them. Celestia would remain here forever, and she would welcome her fate.
Maybe then her heart would finally stop aching. |
Tarkana262 | 671 | 7 | Princess Celestia,Princess Luna,Tragedy,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Void | A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret. | complete | -1 | -1 | <p>A thousand years is a very long time to live in regret.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T00:47:32+00:00 | 2011-08-30T00:47:32+00:00 | 1,506 | It was finally over.
After a thousand years, the Nightmare had returned. And thanks to the Chosen Ones, so had Luna.
Celestia knows she has no right to ask for forgiveness. What she had done to her was horrible. Despicable. Evil.
But she had spent a millennium waiting, trying to fill the hole Luna left in her heart with something, anything. But like square pegs in a circular hole, nothing would fill it.
Celestia asks, and for a moment, she is afraid.
Luna cries, and runs to her sister, and at long last, the Luna-shaped void is filled again. |
Rex Ivan | 672 | 1 | Princess Celestia,Princess Luna,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | The Night of Lunar Collection | sad Luna talks to self | complete | -1 | -1 | <p>The stars align correctly only once a year for the magical night time ceremony to be performed. Luna sets about her work in the hopes that things will be set right again.</p> | everyone | 2011-08-30T01:06:09+00:00 | 2011-08-30T01:06:09+00:00 | 1,563 | The Night of Lunar Collection
"You will stand watch here, and permit no pony entrance. Fail me in this, and I'll have your families executed, and their heads displayed in the public square while you're all held starving in irons nearby. Is this understood?"
Each of the twelve stoic centurions stood as stone, only their mouths moving to acknowledge the order in perfect unison. "Yes, Your Majesty!"
"This does not exclude my sister. SHE ... above all others must NOT be allowed inside." At this she could suddenly see the slightest twinges of doubt in their expressions. She sighed. No threat of death would have kept this set of guards from allowing their Sun Goddess passage. In her mind she yearned for the age when she owned command over her personal army, each unshakable warrior ready and willing to give their life if she required it. She found, in the modern age, she missed them terribly.
"Very well. If she arrives, give her this." She levitated a sealed scroll towards the commanding officer. "I do not anticipate her arrival but it's best to anticipate such things."
The dark blue alicorn moved toward the heavy iron door. Her horn gathered a sparkling indigo radiance and the door swung inward. "Take positions now." As the guards fell into a formation she entered the stone room, swinging the door shut behind her.
*****
Darkness met her, enveloped her body and swirled through her thoughts as thick as smoke. Her concentration brought the outline of the magical circle into view, a deep inset of runes surrounded the chamber. Their dark blue shine glowed more intensely as her focus intensified. When she spoke, her voice was low but strong, carrying the authority of the thousands of years in her station. The words were of the ancient Lunarian tongue, a language long forgotten by the ponies of the Sun, but still as potent as ever in their hold over forces of night.
“Hear me now subservants of Ruk, for I speak to you in my own name and in the name of my Father who created the void and the night's breath. I, who am your master, command you. Open now the gate of Orothrix and cast away the subfuscon veil. It is the appointed day and hour, and all the bindings of our covenant remain intact. You will NOT deny me of this. You will open the Tie's Way and allow passage for the one I beckon. I hold now the link that binds us. You will find her, and bring her to me.”
Her horn's glow returned as the circle of arcane symbols pulsed with a bright enough light to illuminate the ornate stone ceiling. From her saddle bag she levitated a thin chain necklace joined to a metal ring which clasped around a tiny sealed vial. Inside a sliver of ornately etched, navy blue moon-metal began to rattle against the glass. The necklace swung down over her head allowing the vial to rest against her chest. It began to glow, giving off a black light, in a pulsing rhythm to the moon princesses own heartbeat.
“I can feel it … you are here. Come to me.”
A darker patch of shade within the room twisted and expanded, slowly leaking a dim violet light, forming into a slowly spinning nebula of star light. The Princess stepped toward the spacial disturbance as the vial tied around her neck began rattle and glow more intently. Slowly the swirling groups of light combined into a larger form, pulsing in time with the glowing shard trapped inside the necklace glass. From the center of the turning mass, a crimson point of light faded into existence, quickly growing until it had reached the size of a hoof. Ever so slowly it moved away from the spinning nebula, drifting a few feet above the floor. As it floated forwards a faint indigo outline leaked out of the center of the light, much like ink twisting into a still pond. After it had fully materialized, the darkened mirror image of Princess Luna stared out at her with star glow eyes, reflecting the coldness of space through a gaze. The deep red nebula light remained in its chest and pulsed with the steady rhythm of the glowing shard around the Princess's neck.
“I'm happy to see you again Luna.” The voice was echoing and light, reminiscent of dew drops falling off the upper tier of a wind-chime to sound the lower sections as it struck past.
“I am as well. It's the first time, you know, since … ” Luna's voice stuck in her throat. She felt the tension building in her chest, and her eyes closed as she looked toward the floor.
“There, there. No need for tears now.” As the dark form moved to her side the stars of the night moved through her coat and mane, just as clearly as if one were to slowly pan a telescope across the sky after sundown. She reached out to touch the alicorn on her shoulder.
“There's every reason for tears now, and I have to shed them here and now, while I'm still able.” Her weeping brought forth an open stream from each eye that ran down her face and dropped to the floor collecting into shimmering pools at her hooves, each reflecting the star-light that emanated from her approaching companion.
“Has it gotten that bad already?” The night form took a half step backwards as her star eyes narrowed slightly.
“It took effect immediately after your departure.” Luna lunged forward placing both her front hooves squarely on the floor inches away from her darker image, and stared into the star laden eyes with tears still streaming down her own. “Please. Forgive her. Just forgive her and return to me. We can all start over and -”
“No.” The emptiness of the abyss of space was carried with the word, and the light from the starry eyes grew suddenly very cold and distant. “There was time for that before. She saw what was happening and dismissed it. I can not yet forgive.”
“Do you not remember? She didn't know it had gone that far. She never meant for it to happen that way.”
“It hardly matters what she meant. What she DID is what we shall always remember. No. I can still not forgive her for that.”
“You know that she did what she had to. There was no other way.”
“There is ALWAYS another way, and another time and another place, and although you may have done so, I can not forgive yet.”
Luna peered into the hard blue-white eyes that burned rage back at her before stepping back and lowering her head. “I … I can't even enjoy a meal. I can't relish the feeling of a warm summer wind brushing against my coat in the evening. I'm-” She was cut off as a sob wracked her frame in mid sentence.
The eyes of the darker pony image lost all indications of anger as she leaned in toward the Princess of the Night Sky.
Luna straightened and sniffed loudly, brushing tears from her face before continuing. “I'm unable to feel the joy in a song, or the camaraderie of a simple talk. I can no longer feel the wonder that came from looking up at our starry night sky. I can't hear them anymore, the stars, when they try to talk. And the worst part is that I have, until this point, been unable to care at all. Please … PLEASE. Don't let me go back to that. I don't want to live that life anymore.”
“I … oh, Luna, I'm so sorry, but we both knew it would be this way.”
“Knowing it and living it are entirely different things. Please, make this stop!” She scuffed her hoof on the floor to punctuate her sentence.
“We can't do that yet. Even if I were to say that I forgave her, it would be untrue. If I were to return now, the Nightmare would certainly return with me. We can not allow that. It can NEVER be allowed to happen again.”
“I … oh, I know. But standing here now, so close … “ Luna looked down again in silence as more tears rained down.
A pitch black hoof reached down to Luna's chin, lifting her head upward. “Our time will come, Luna. We will be whole again. Time heals all hearts, but we must allow it to do its work. It can never be rushed. That is the only way to be truly healed.”
“ … but … when?” Luna's voice came out as half whisper and half sputter.
“It will not be now. It will may not be the next time either, but it will happen. It will happen.” As she said this the dark figure began to step backwards toward the spinning violet constellation matrix. “
“NO! Please, just a moment longer … “ Luna started forward but stopped as her shadow self pointed down toward the edge of the magical circle. In her haste, Luna had almost allowed herself to step outside of the barrier.
“We both have our limits in this place. I can stay no longer. I am sorry.” As the night pony stepped backward into the spinning apex of light, streams of silvery light dripped from the stars in her eyes and floated through the air, free of the constraints of gravity.
“I am too … Goodbye.” Luna watched as the swirling circle closed with a final flashing shimmer, and the floating silver light vanished into the ceiling. The glow around the small piece of metal slowed to a halt, and the blue alicorn's heart once again became a hardened chunk of ice.
*****
As the heavy iron door creaked open, Luna muttered the spell word that instantly adjusted her eyesight to the brighter room beyond. She was not surprised to find the guards gone, nor was she alarmed to find her sister sitting just outside, her back toward the door. The white alicorn waited as her younger sister closed and locked the chamber, and only opened her eyes as Luna approached from behind.
Luna walked forward and stood parallel to her sister, looking straight ahead. There was no expression on her face as the Sun Goddess looked expectantly towards her.
Luna closed her eyes before speaking. “Perhaps next year.”
The sun princess slowly lowered her head to the floor as she closed her eyes, her brow furrowing tightly together. She remained seated as her sister made her way down the long winding marble hallway.
As she moved, Luna looked out the windows lining the one side of the hall. It would be time for the sun to rise soon. She quickened her pace. She had no desire to see the dawn, and she would have to move quickly if she were to find the names of the errant guards before she retired for the day. |
Im_not_sue | 673 | 1 | Original Character,Twilight Sparkle,Slice of Life,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Paper | Twilight goes shopping, and finds herself curious about the pony who owns the paper store. | complete | 9 | 1 | <p>Twilight goes shopping, and finds herself curious about the pony who owns the paper store.</p><p>A self-insert fic done for a friend as a challenge to get into writing fanfiction, but you might still enjoy it.</p> | teen | 2011-09-20T20:06:47+00:00 | 2011-09-20T20:06:47+00:00 | 1,712 | A small bell softly rang its jingling notes as the front door into the only paper store in Ponyville swung open. The warm air of summer and the cry of cicadas flowed through the quiet shop for a few seconds as the door slowly creaked closed, the bell jingling again behind the violet unicorn that had entered.
That thing is so quiet, I wonder if the owner can actually hear it, Twilight Sparkle thought to herself. She glanced back over her empty saddlebags at the small noisemaker dangling from its red string as she took a step into the unfamiliar store, her hooves clopping softly on the wooden floor.
“Is… is anyone there? I’m here to buy some paper…” Twilight called out, her voice trailing off as the shop answered back with serene stillness and silence. The light of the setting sun cast long shadows from few passerby in the town street across the shelves inside, their noises muffled by the thick walls and double paned glass windows.
A folded sign on a small table by the door read ‘Please come in’, tilted at angle as if to invite the reader down the center of small isles that took up the main of the shop, each stocked with many different makes and colors of paper and miscellaneous crafts. Taking the unspoken invitation Twilight began her journey between the center aisles, her hooves making the floor board creak quietly as she glanced uncertainly at the many choices before her.
Twilight Sparkle had never actually visited this business herself, despite having purchased its wares and passed by its door on the way back from her visits to Sweet Apple Acres many times. She had always sent Spike out to supply her with her needed scrolls, seal wax, envelopes, ink, and other supplies whenever she ran out. She had always let Spike pick out whatever he thought would best suit her needs, and his choices were always satisfactory. He is my number one assistant after all, she thought to herself with a smile. Without Spike, she would definitely have a much more trouble handling day-to-day life in Ponyville.
Shaking off her reverie, Twilight glanced back at the many options before her as she walked to the end of the aisle, reading off the labels under the bins on each tier. What kind does Spike usually get? she thought to herself. Letterhead? High fiber? Birch, driftwood... ultra dense? Acid free? Spike doesn’t buy hoof-made for me... does he? Twilight squinted at the labels before her, flicking her tail absently in frustration. I haven’t read anything about all these different kinds of paper... much less know which would be the better deal. Ugh, I wish there was just a pile that said ‘scrolls’ in it so I could just buy those and be done with it!
“Owlicious, if you were any good at conversation or manual labor you can bet your feathered tail you’d be here instead of me, too.” Twilight groaned in frustration, turning slightly and noding her head at her saddlebags as her horn began glowing with a starry purple aura. The left pouch began glowing as well, the strap un-fastening itself and the quickly-scribbled shopping list left to her by Spike floating free as she manipulated it with her unicorn magic, shifting to the side and out of the large shadow being cast from behind her so she could better read--
Twilight froze in sudden realization, her eyes going wide and a bolt down her spine. Her whole body tensed in shock as she slowly became aware of the the presence looming over her. The baritone voice of its owner barely had time to utter the words “Can I help y--“ before Twilight’s instinctive reaction cut him off. Stomping her front hooves down hard Twilight kicked out her back legs at her aggressor, striking the other pony square in the chest with enough force to make him stumble back and slump to the ground with a stunned groan.
Twilight’s shock passed as her mind caught up with her hooves. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I didn’t mean-- You just came up on me so suddenly I did it by accident.” She said as she quickly turned around in the aisle to face the other pony, leaning down to offer support.
The other pony shook his head a few times as he slouched forward, lifting himself off the floor of the shop and to his hooves with great effort. Twilight’s mouth fell open a little as she watched the unicorn stretch his long legs and rise to his full height, towering over her by at least a few apples. Dear Luna, he’s even taller than Big Macintosh...
“Ack... chahh... that really hurt. I’m going to be sore for a week...” The other unicorn said, grimacing at the pain as he opened his pale blue eyes and looked back at the concerned Twilight. The unicorn sported a thin lavender-grey coat was ruffled at the front where Twilight’s hooves had struck him, but much to her relief no blood or broken skin was visible from Twilight’s quick inspection. His mane was a deep auburn-red almost the color of wine, cut short at the back and trimmed to his eyes at the front for the summer as many ponies did. His tail fell straight and loose and unbrushed just past his knees, emphasizing the unicorn’s impressively long and sleek legs supporting his otherwise plain body. It gave him a simple but handsome attractiveness. His only other feature was his cutie mark of a single folded white paper crane on both flanks.
Taking a deep breath Twilight bowed her head and tried her best to be apologetic. “Hello, my name’s Twilight Sparkle... I’m REALLY sorry I kicked you like that, you startled me and I just kicked on instinct.. I didn’t mean to hurt you so please don’t kick me out of your store because I would really like to not have to wait 3 months to get paper shipped from Canterlot.” Twlight giggled nervously and smiled, uncertain what the other unicorn’s response would be. Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that you shouldn’t kick or otherwise inflict unwarranted violence on somepony you just met and intend on purchasing goods from. Its the fastest way to lose the trust of every business in town aside from burning their shop down. I will submit a full report to you on the subject as soon as I find a source of paper on which to write it.
Surprisingly the other unicorn laughed a little, voice shaking from the blow Twilight had inflicted but smiling back nonetheless. “N-no its quite alright! I’ll be fine! I should know better than to approach an unaware filly like that. My name’s Lounge Lizard... ow, it stings...” Taking a moment to straighten himself, he looked up and met Twilight’s eyes with his own, the two finding themselves staring at each other for an awkward moment. She’s kinda kinda cute for a filly... Lounge Lizard thought to himself for a second, admiring Twilight’s features. A small blush creept onto his face as Twilight’s eyes remained locked on him, her eyes beginning to glaze over. “Um... miss...?”
“Can I... help you find what you’re looking for?” The lavender unicorn said to Twilight as stared up the infinitely tall bookshelves of Canterlot’s Royal Library. Beams of heavenly light shone through his deep auburn mane and across his sleek, beautiful coat as he flipped his head back. his piercing blue eyes gazing down at her from the ladder he perched upon high up on the shelf, telling her he was ready to fulfill her every desire.
“Dülmenstein’s Relativity: The Special and the General Theory... please...” Twilight spoke breathlessly, pages and pages of paper streaming down around her in slow motion as she gazed up at the hoofed beauty before her... Lounge Lizard was his name?
A chorus of pegasi could be heard somewhere overhead as the other unicorn gracefully leaned out from the ladder by his long gorgeous legs and grasped the sought for book in his teeth, freeing it from its high perch. With a sweep of his neck he let loose the item into the air to fall, his horn glowing at it’s tip like the light of a distant star as he magically dragged a podium from some impossibly infinite distance to intercept the book.
Lounge Lizard descended from the ladder at the speed of a Sonic Rainboom, landing with perfect poise before gently pulling the female unicorn close to him with his front hoof, gazing down into her awestruck face and whispering silently to her ”Is there anything else you... desire of me, Miss Twilight...?”
Lounge Lizard was the first to break the silence, clearing his throat and shuffling awkwardly. “Well... *cough* Um... don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” A few seconds passed as Twilight continued to stare as if she hadn’t heard a thing he had said, making Lounge Lizard sweat nervously. “Did you... come to ah... buy something perhaps?”
Twilight blinked slowly at this, the other unicorn’s voice piercing her daydreams. “Buy...? I... yes! I mean-- yes I’m here to buy something! Paper!” she blurted out. Realizing she had been staring, she quickly turned around to hide her deep crimson blush. Get a grip Twilight, you’re acting like you’ve just met your first handsome colt back at Celestia’s Academy and he offered to be your study partner or something. Stay professional! “I had a shopping list Spike gave me right... here... somewhere?”
“Is this it...?” Lizard’s voice came from behind as he leaned down to the forgotten list laying curled on the floor. Twilight turned to see the unicorn reach out with his hoof, the very tip of his horn glowing with a faint but piercing glow. As the underside of his hoof brushed across the scroll it stuck as if affixed by glue, clinging there tightly as he turned and offered it to the surprised Twilight who levitated it to her with her own magic as the glow from Lizard’s horn faded.
Twilight glanced down at the paper briefly before looking back up at the towering unicorn, surprised disbelief coloring her voice. “Yes, thank you. That magic you did just now... I’ve never seen such specificity in a spell done so casually like that. That sort of focus in a spell would leave most unicorn out of breath, even for a simple adhesion spell. Where did you learn to do magic like that?”
Lizard smiled with embraced modesty at the compliment. “I just went to Canterlot-U like most unicorn around here. I didn’t major in spellcraft theory or anything if that’s what you’re thinking. I actually studied philosophy and psychology. The magic specificity thing... I’ve just been like that since birth. I have a hard time doing general effect-area spells, but high-specificity magic is just how it it comes out when I try to cast anything. Like... I can’t levitate that shopping list of yours by grabbing the whole page with my magic, its too hard. I have to grasp a tiny part of it and pick it up that way. I just use my hoof because it’s easier if I focus on myself than whatever I’m manipulating and I don’t risk breaking or tearing anything. I’m not really that good at magic either, so I guess its just how I am. Probably has something to do with my special talent, or at least I think so...” Lizard nodded his head up, gesturing over his shoulder to the cutie mark on his flank as his voice trailed off and scrunching his brows together in though for a moment before continuing. “It makes sense to me anyway. Err... anyway I’m rambling. You’re probably here to buy something, not listen to me tell my life story, and its getting a bit late if you want to get home by sundown.”
Twilight did her best to hide her disappointment. “Oh no, not at all. It was interesting, but yes I probably should get what I came here for and get back to the library or Spike is going to wonder where I am when I get back.” ...handsome, smart, pleasant, has a magical condition absolutely begging to be researched? Can we talk more? Please? Maybe come visit the library, have some tea, show you the basement and let me hook you up to my encephalogram... yeeessss... and then we--
Lizard’s ears perked up. “Did you say Spike? You mean the little purple dragon with green fins who comes here every few days, right?”
Twilight jumped, but regained her composure and nodded. “Yes that’s him! He’s my assistant at the library here in Ponyville but he was busy today so I came myself.”
“Then you’re the pony he’s always running errands for. He never referred to you by name, just always said he had to get back to work before ‘the boss’ started wondering if he was slacking off.” Lizard chuckled a little, gesturing at the list in Twilight’s magical grasp. “Is this list just your usual order? I can just write up a receipt and get you on your way ”
Twilight's expression flattened to one of mild annoyance as she levitated the paper back over to Lounge Lizard, who began studying its contents. “I think ‘the boss’ is going to have to make some executive decisions on employee wages at the next meeting.”
“I hope you won’t go too hard on him. He’s always great company whenever he drops by, since my customers come so infrequently. I guess he wont be pleased with me to hear that his secret has been discovered either..” Lounge Lizard glanced away from the shopping list and chewed at his lip sheepishly for a moment before continuing. “Anyway, he works pretty hard to get everything to you from what I can tell. Looks he wanted to order a few extra reams this time.” Lizard continued muttering under his breath as he levitated a pencil to himself from a dish on top of the aisle. He began walking slowly down the lane toward the back of the shop, marking item numbers and prices on Twilight’s list while his long tail swished behind him.
Twilight’s eyes followed Lizard as he strode past her and down the aisle, and then tried not to stare at the shapely posterior swaying to-and-fro in front of her as she watched the other unicorn saunter down the aisle of paper products. ...handsome, smart, magic research topic candidate, and a nice flank? Twilight paused in her stride, shaking her head for a second before continuing, keeping her head turn down to avoid staring as a blush colored her face again. Wait, Twilight get a hold of yourself! He hasn’t even said anything to make you think he might be interested in you. He’s been courteous this whole time... does he already have a fillyfriend? Its not like there are that many attractive and still-available colts in Ponyville, he’s probably already taken. I guess I could ask him and find out...
Lizard’s voice snapped Twilight out of her inner dialogue, stopping only inches from walking her face into the other unicorn’s posterior as he turned back around to face her. “Well it looks that’s it. If you don’t mind waiting a few I’ll get everything loaded on a cart and I can get it down to the library for you, or I can deliver it in the next few days if you’d like...?”
“I don’t mind waiting.” Twilight responded, looking out the window at the approaching night as Lizard pushed through the swinging door behind the counter at the back of the shop and entered the stockroom. The sun had sunk below the hills and the remaining light was quickly fading. “Are you sure you’re okay delivering this late though? Its almost night and I don’t want to trouble you.”
“No I don’t mind! I’ll just lock up after we’re done here and make this an after-hours delivery. No problem at all.” Lizard could be heard shuffling around in the back room as he pulled various bundles off the shelves with his mouth. “Jsht gifve mh ah fehw minushts okeh?”
Twilight nodded silently to herself as Lizard went about preparing her purchase, feeling a little drained by the whole encounter. First you kick him, then you apologize to him, then you... I-... I get infatuated, then I get nervous? You don’t even know him Twilight. You don’t need to be all up and down over somepony you don’t really know, even if he is cute... Twilight looked down at her hooves, kicking a dust mote about uncertainly. Well, whatever...
Shaking her head with a sigh, Twilight glanced about back of the shop. The counter Lizard had disappeared behind was decorated with paper samples and price lists, typical for a shop of this kind. Behind the counter near the register was a hefty pile of cushions and pillows laid out on the floor along with a few books, probably enough that with his height Lizard would be able to see over the counter when a customer came in. The thought made Twilight giggle softly. Well, that’s probably why I didn’t see him when I came in, I would barely have seen the top of his head even if I had been looking. Huh, I know some of those titles. Lets see... ‘Platony’s Complete Dialogues,’ ‘Equestrian Myth and Legend,’ ...‘Cupcakes for Dummies: A Guide by Pinkie Pie’?
Raising an eyebrow at this and wondering how Pinkie somehow managed to insert herself in every aspect of life in Ponyville, Twilight walked over to the only other interesting feature of the shop -- a small table set lengthwise out from the wall, with a stool on one side conspicuously just tall enough for a small purple dragon to stand on. A small bowl with a few half-eaten gemstones confirmed who its usual occupant might have been. Twilight examined the table curiously. Arranged on the table were small thick wooden rectangles with exotic flower an animal designs on them in red, white, and black. On the side of the table against the wall rested an open box and a few stacks of circular wooden pieces. These aren’t normal playing cards... is this some sort of game? They’re arranged for two players and it looks like they match or group somehow... and these wooden tokens, they looks like bits so... this is for scoring or gambling then? Twilight levitated one of the cards over to her, examining the design. Is this... a scroll? And this one is... cherry blossoms? And... this isn’t a card, its folded paper? It looks just like his cutie mark. This box... by Celestia, there must be hundreds in here...
A knock at the door of the shop made Twilight snap her head up in surprise. Lounge Lizard was standing outside with his cart waving through the window at her, ready and waiting. “J-just a moment!” Twilight called back, dropping the origami crane back on the table.
“Ready to go, Miss Sparkle?” Lounge Lizard asked, his horn tip glowing with magic as he closed the door behind Twlight and locked it with a key dangling from from a cord on his neck. The sky was now fully dark, and a light breeze had picked up.
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie burst through the door, despite it being locked. “Do you honestly expect anypony to read all this? I am soooooo bored! Get on with it already! I’d love to chat but I need to get back to Poodle Puff’s story! See ya!” Then she went back through the door and disappeared in thin air.
Twilight and Lizard both stared dumbfounded and mouths agape at the closed door for a few seconds before turning back to each other.
“I... who...” Lizard stammered, looking like he’d narrowly dodged being struck by lightning.
“That was Pinkie Pie. Don’t try to understand it, you’ll just get a headache.”
Twilight kept her eyes down as the two unicorn walked down the road toward Twilight’s Library, the quiet squeaking of the wagon’s wheels and the clop of hooves on the dimly lit cobblestone the only noise breaking the silence. I’m not going to get anywhere by not saying anything... okay Twilight, lets talk about something. Anything. Taking a deep breath, Twilight turned to the other Unicorn.
“In your store I--”
“So your library--”
Both ponies stopped in their tracks, turning to look at each other awkwardly at simultaneously interrupting each other
“Sorry, you fir--”
“I didn’t mean--”
Lounge Lizard chuckled a bit, lowering his head apologetically and smiling. “Ah... sorry Miss Sparkle. Fillies first?”
Twilight chuckled back, lowering her head as well in recognition of his gentlecoltly behavior. “Well.. I kind of wanted to ask some personal questions, if that’s alright with you. And please, just Twilight.”
“Of course then, Twilight. Ask away.”
“Back in your store, I was looking around a bit... what were those card things on the table? I’d never seen anything like that in Equestria before.”
“Oh! Those are ‘hanafuda’ cards from Nippony. It’s an island nation kind of far away across the ocean. I have a friend, Matcha Sweet, who I met at Canterlot that lives in a coast town now which does a lot of foreign imports. He found his special talent making confections with ingredients imported from Nippony. Some of the flavors he makes with the stuff is truly bizarre. Anyway, he sent me these cards one time along with some rules on how to play. He knows I like somewhat exotic stuff. The cards are really kind of like normal playing cards, just with pictures representing the months instead of numbers.” Lounge Lizard smiled sheepishly. “Spike and I play a lot when he visits, it’s a nice little quick distraction and when he wins I give him a discount on your order. He doesn’t need to stick around and keep me company, nopony usually does. He’s always willing to lend an ear or talk about anything. I really appreciate that he would do something like that for me...” Lounge Lizard’s voice trailed off as he faced away from Twilight, looking at the ground.
Twilight remained silent as the two walked onward, unsure of how to respond to the other unicorn’s sudden change in mood. Is he... lonely? I wouldn’t have thought of that. He might not have a fillyfriend then... and now I feel guilty for even thinking about him like that. Ugh... Twilight grimaced at the unpleasant emotion, but shook her head slightly as she dismissed it. Well... I should just be up-front and honest if I’m going to ask at all. We’re only a few blocks from my library and then I will have missed my chance. If I’m going to say anything I should say it now. Here goes nothing...
Twilight cleared her throat and tried her best not to make eye contact as she started speaking, “That can’t be true. I’m sure you have lots of ponies who would love to do all sorts of things for you. Who wouldn’t? You’re tall and handsome and polite and smart and there’s probably lots of fillies who would love to-- I mean, its not like you would have any reason to be lonely in a town like Ponyville.” Twilight squeezed her eyes shut tight as she tried to get her words out. “I-I... um... what I’m trying to say is... I... was wondering if you had a fillyfriend b-because I... I kind of... like you.”
Twilight waited for the other unicorn’s response before realizing that he had stopped in his tracks. Turning around to face Lizard, she saw that he had his head slumped down and ears folded in shame “Oh... by Celestia, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to say something that might--”
Lounge sighed, shaking his head. “No... its okay. This happens every so often... Its not your fault. Its just that... I’m...”
“...you?”
“I don’t... like... fillies like that. I like other... other colts.”
“You don’t... like...? ”
Lounge Lizard closed his eys as he faced away. “Yes... I’m gay.”
Twilight blinked. “You’re... but...”
“Yeah.”
Twilight was struck speechless. Homosexuality wasn’t unusual in Equestria, but it almost always was between mares. The balance of gender favored the birth of fillies, so colts were traditionally expected to father lots of children. Polygyny had never taken root in Equestrian culture. For two male ponies to be in a homosexual relationship wasn’t against the law, but it could be the for cause a lot of social stigma for the ponies involved.
Lounge Lizard turned back to face Twilight and resumed his slow walk towards the library, his head still lowered submissively. The feeling of defeat was practically burned on his face, it was so apparent to Twilight. “So... yeah. This happens every now and then. Some filly in town gets eyes for me and I try to be polite without saying anything... Its not that I don’t think you’re cute or nice, its just... that’s how I am. I’m not offended if you would rather not talk to me... I know how it is.”
Twilight just stared mouth agape as Lizard walked past her down the street, finding it difficult to form words. She stood there unmoving as he walked down the block, the library waiting just beyond. Oh Luna, everything I did today has been doing this to him... first I kick him, then I start acting infatuated, and now he thinks I’m going to reject him. And with Spike, it makes sense now... Spike doesn’t care about pony tradition so he can act normally around him... He... probably doesn’t have any friends here because he worries how other ponies might react. He keeps them at a distance just like did with me. I didn’t mean this at all... Twilight shook herself free of her initial shock and gritted her teeth, galloping hard to catch up with the other other pony. “W... wait! Wait!! WAAAAIIIITTTT!!”
Lounge Lizard turned and froze mid-step as Twilight skidded to a half in front of him right at the door to the library. She was panting hard and glaring down the taller unicorn with a determined expression, making him back away uncertainly. “Um... I’ll just drop this off right here if you’d like, and I wont bother you anymore. Or if.. you’d prefer I can just leave the wagon and come pick it up tomorr--?”
“I am really, very, truly apologize for treating you the way I did today. I had no idea that you were gay, and I didn’t mean to make you feel like you were being set up by my stupid, immature, sillyfilly, foal-like, pegasus-in-the-clouds, hornhu--”
“Err... what?” Lizard said, blinking a few times.
“Um... I meant... I’m sorry. I got caught up on your charm without paying attention to you as a pony. I didn’t know you weren’t interested in fillies, but that doesn’t excuse my behavior. I mean... I don’t care that you like other colts like that. Well... I mean, I guess if you weren’t I might have other interests... b-but that’s beside the point.” Twilight sighed, bowing her head and looking to the side as she tried to grasp the words she was looking for. “What I’m trying to say is that... I’d... I’d still like to be your friend.”
Lounge Lizard stood there staring back at Twilight, his mouth open slightly as he took in all she had said. “I... I think... I’d like that. I’d like that very much.”
Twilight gave a huge sigh, falling back on her haunches in relief. “Good... I’m glad.”
Silence prevailed for a few moments as both ponies faced each other. “So... um...”
“Yes?”
“Should I leave you order here or...?”
Twilight chuckled. Polite as always. “Right here is fine, I’ll bring the wagon by tomorrow. You know... you could come in for some tea, if you’d like?”
Lizard blushed and looked to the side as he shucked the wagon harness, leaving it parked beside her door. “Err... don’t you think at this hour that might be a little... improper?”
“Oh... yes it probably is.... heh...” Twilight responded sheepishly, turning away and opening the door to her library to hide her embarrassment. Rarity would faint over a faux pas like that, Twilight. Wow. Good first step.
“Maybe... tomorrow morning then?”
Twilight paused, smiling faintly to herself before responding. Okay, maybe not so bad after all. “That would be perfect. I’ll come by tomorrow morning, just me. Will you make it home alright?”
Lizard nodded his affirmation, but as Twilight stepped inside her door he spoke again. “And... can I ask one more thing?”
“A question? Um... sure I guess.” Twilight turned back to the tall unicorn, curious what the question could be.
“From back in the shop... where did you learn to kick like that?”
“My friend Applejack taught me. Best applebucker this side of Appaloosa.”
“Hmm... This pony wouldn’t happen to be...”
“Applejack’s a filly, Lizard.” Twilight giggled.
“Aww...”
-END- |
Im_not_sue | 673 | 2 | Original Character,Twilight Sparkle,Slice of Life,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Paper | Twilight goes shopping, and finds herself curious about the pony who owns the paper store. | complete | 9 | 1 | <p>Twilight goes shopping, and finds herself curious about the pony who owns the paper store.</p><p>A self-insert fic done for a friend as a challenge to get into writing fanfiction, but you might still enjoy it.</p> | teen | 2011-09-18T22:53:25+00:00 | 2011-09-18T22:53:25+00:00 | 1,542 | Author’s Notes:
Hey everyone, this is a section where I put down my personal thoughts, inspirations, and comments regarding my own writing. I’ll also give any appropriate thanks, where deserved. Not everypony will be interested in these things, but for those who are I thought I’d include them. I also wish to apologize for a possible lack of aesthetics in uploading to this site. I wrote all this in googledocs and there was no import feature so some formatting may be a little off (for instance, a lack of footnote explaining the Pinkie Pie scene).
This is my first real fanfiction I’ve ever bothered writing out and I can say it takes a lot longer than I thought it would. This is probably a function of me being picky with details and feelings of certain sections.or how words will lead to a sense of repetition. That being said I’m pretty lazy when it comes to proofreading so all my (slaves) pre-readers who took the time to scan it for me, I give you my biggest thanks for doing the hard part for me. All in all I have no idea how good this thing is. I was hoping for at least ‘Okay, not bad,’ but I guess I’ll have to leave it up to my readers to decide.
The origin of this story came when shortly after coming up with ideas for OC ponies that represented us, I told my boyfriend that we should both write fanfiction for MLP. Since Twilight Sparkle is my favorite pony he said that I should ship my pony and Twilight, and I countered by saying that he would then have to do the same for him and Pinkie Pie. Being that it was kind of a tease (and that our OC ponies would be in love with each other), we both just actually ended up writing intro fics. I find the idea of shipping my own OC pony with any main character in the show incredibly pretentious anyway.
Lounge Lizard is a pony that represents me, but not perfectly. In real life I am (at the time of writing this) a graduate Psychology student with a BA in both Philosophy and Psychology, I am very tall, have red hair, and I have folded several thousand paper cranes in my life. I do not own or have ever worked in a paper store, nor do I ever want to. I’m not otherwise particularly good at origami, but I’ve folded sets of 1000 cranes for important people in my life a few times. My cutie mark to me represents this feeling of importance, but also that the way I try to express myself isn’t simple. I also had the nature of my unicorn magic reflect this complexity (in the episode “Boast Busters”, most unicorn only have a little magic having to do with their special talent). This theme of my personality doesn’t come up in this fiction really, but backstory of the idea helps. Another few notable distances between Lounge Lizard and I are that I’m not single, I don’t find ladies falling for me that much, and I’m not a socially ostracized loner. I’m actually pretty happy to live in a place where I don’t feel that I’d need to actively worry that much if someone thought or knew I was gay. The name Lounge Lizard comes from my personal tendency to be lazy and from a nickname my boyfriend has for me. Names don’t perfectly match cutie marks, so I felt this was okay.
Twilight is the main character of the story, so to speak. Her expressions probably follow my own a bit more closely than is true to the character in the show, but I like Twilight because she is a smart, bookish pony and I feel that she more closely matches my life than any of the other ponies do. I played her up to be a bit more shy than usual to match, but nowhere near Fluttershy’s level. I didn’t focus on my own character so much as I felt that readers would prefer to follow a character they knew and liked rather than some random author’s OC pony that I imagined you, the reader, would more than likely not give a shit about. This was written for my boyfriend (and tangentially my other friends who like MLP) who can see Lounge Lizard as a representation of me and can mentally fill in the blanks. In any future stories I should hopefully present readers with a better feel of the characters. Having multiple character’s all presenting their internal feelings and dialogue to the reader might be a bit much, so I would either focus on one character or split that effort amongst every major character.
And before I get to the end of the notes, I think its pretty sad that I can write three pages of author notes in a fraction of the time it takes me to write ten pages of actual fanfic. That’s how much trouble I have with details. My only hope is that it makes for something at least modestly enjoyable to read.
Several references I should explain.
Dülmenstein’s Relativity: The Special and the General Theory is referencing Albert Einstein. Amazon told me that it was the title of one of his books, and wiki told me that a Dülmen is a German pony. Einstein was born in Germany, so I figured it would be close enough.
Similarly, Platony’s Complete Dialogues is actually Plato’s Complete Dialogues. I have a copy of a book myself.
‘Nippony’ is essentially Japan. I’m not really that big of anime or Japanese culture nerd in real life, but I do like some of what I have seen come out of it. For all intents and purposes that section doesn’t contribute at all toward the story except to very lightly express an activity that Lounge Lizard and Spike engage in, which could have just been represented by a generic board game. Again, this is sort of a function of Lounge Lizard being a representation of myself, so I apologize to everyone who might find it too ‘weeaboo’ or otherwise a waste of a plot point.
I learned about hanafuda cards from a Nintendo DS game called ‘Clubhouse Games,’ and eventually bought a deck of my own. Koi Koi is a quick and fun game to play and you can use it for gambling if you’d like, but really not much more complex than other normal card games. You can learn about the cards here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanafuda
‘Matcha Sweet’ is a pony name that an MLP name generator produced when I entered my own name. Matcha is finely milled green tea (according to wikipedia), and I thought the name was actually pretty clever since green tea confections and sweets are pretty common. I thought the name would fit pretty well for someone who had connections to ‘Nippony,’ The name generator can be found here: http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/14459/
That scene where Pinkie Pie pops in for no reason and references a story you’ve never read? I was writing in a googledoc I shared with my boyfriend so he could help me out when I was stumbling over certain sections, and he wrote that in as a joke when I wasn’t looking. Yep, he’s writing his own fanfiction too and his OC pony is named Poodle Puff. I actually found it so funny and fitting for Pinkie that I decided to keep it. His story should have a 4th-wall breaker event as well involving Pinkie popping into my story so when he uploads his story, I’ll link to it here.
UPDATE: And here it is! http://www.fimfiction.com/story/896/Party-Planning
Time for shoutouts and inspirations!
‘Platony’ as a replacement pony name for Plato was borrowed from the fanfic “Progress” by Andrew J. Talon on fanfiction.net. Luna is reading Platony’s Republic at one point in chapter 7. Its quite an excellent and entertaining work of fanfiction and I would very much recommend it. It’s even had some fanart inspired by it made!
You can find it at : http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6982210/1/Progress or at http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/05/story-progress-luna-versus-microwave.html
I personally loved Plato most of all those early philosophers I learned about, and I thought it wouldn’t be strange to have some of his works in my pony’s collection too. ‘Platony’ was a great replacement name, so why mess with a good thing for the sake of a small nitpick on originality when I can instead give props to an excellent and inspiring work?
Similarly, my daydream scene with Twilight imagining an epically suave Lounge Lizard retrieving her book is inspired by the many amusing daydream scenes in “Progress.” Really, go read it if you haven’t, its great.
Music usually really inspires me for ideas... not this time! The whole idea was pretty much an idea based on me an my boyfriend being silly. In anything I write in the future, you might see more stuff here.
Special thanks to Nick for his love and getting me into MLP:FiM in the first place, and for taking spoilers on a story meant for him like a champ for the sake of proofreading. I am still not going to write clopfiction for you. We have every other author for that.
Thanks to Kyle for giving me great ideas for my other upcoming fics and being up late at night for me to bother and tease. You’re a great sport.
Thanks to Aaron for agreeing to read my fic even though you aren’t a fan of MLP. I haven’t read anything you’ve written and I know you’re the better author. You bring a helpful outside perspective.
Thanks to Wolfie for being a pervert. It’s your fault LL didn’t get laid and you know it!
And thank you, reader, for slogging through this wall of text I made.
You can find me and my other work at:
FiM Fiction: http://www.fimfiction.com/user/celestial_okami
FurAffinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/oddlyenough/
GoogleDocs: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B-2LklE1U7B4MWU1YmMwMjktMTE2OC00NGU3LTliOTAtYjZkZTQ3NTQwYTM4&hl=en_US
Tumblr: http://im-not-sue.tumblr.com |
Ganymede | 675 | 1 | Main 6,Princess Celestia,Spike,Crossover,Comedy,Random,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | The Breaking of the Wall | Pinkie Pie brings characters from other shows into Equestria. Chaos ensues. | complete | 58 | 5 | <p>When Pinkie Pie decides to explore beyond Equestria, the things she brings back wreak havoc in Ponyville.</p> | teen | 2011-08-30T18:34:19+00:00 | 2011-08-30T18:34:19+00:00 | 5,967 | The Breaking of the Wall
By Ganymede
"Sooooo, what's this about Pinkie Pie again?"
Twilight could barely explain it to Applejack the first time.
"Your guess is as good as mine. She told me to meet her at Sugarcube Corner. And she seemed...excited." Applejack gave her a look. "Well, you know. Pinkie-Pie excited."
"You mean totally insane?!"
"Yeah, that. She said something about, I don't know, exploring beyond Equestria, whatever that means."
"Yep. Sounds like Pinkie Pie all right. I reckon she's inventin' whole new world's in that there corkscrew brain of hers..."
They had been nearing the bakery as they walked, and were now approaching the door.
"You wanna come in? See what all the fuss is about?"
Applejack backed up.
"Nuh-uh! Whatever shenanigans Pinkie's up to, I want nothin' to do with it! Just make sure she don't bring no trouble near my farm! We got enough trouble preparin' for the reunion in a couple days without some Pink Crazy tearin' through there!"
"Oh, Applejack. I'm sure it's not that-"
She was cut off short by the Sugarcube doors blasting open, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Cake, sounding frantic.
"Oh, sorry. Coming through!"
Twilight, who had been smashed flat on her face by the exploding doors, pulled her nose out of the dirt, shook the derp out of her eyes, and stared at the now-dazed Applejack.
"Oh, Twi’. Whatever she's cooked up this time, it can't be good. You best bail while you still can!"
"No, Applejack. Friends don't bail on each other. Whatever it is Pinkie Pie has in there must just be...*gulp*...different."
"Different my hind hoof! I swear she's gone square into left-orchard this time! I know once you're committed, ain't nothin' stoppin' ya. Just take my word for it, though. Whatever's on the other side of that door ain't natural. Don't say I didn't tell ya so."
Twilight turned to walk through the door.
"Applejack, it's just Pinkie Pie! What's the worst she could - AAAAAHHHH!!"
The thing starring back at her from the open door was a creature about the same size as herself, but terrifyingly ugly beyond comprehension. Behind it, Pinkie Pie bounded forward. Applejack was nowhere to be seen.
"Hi Twilight! I see you met my new friend! She's one of our BIGGEST FANS!"
"Pinkie Pie..." Twilight muttered.
"Come on Twilight! She's helping me bake waffles! It's a new recipe she taught me!"
"She...???" Twilight repeated, staring at the creature.
She had read about these things. The books she read called them "humans", however you pronounce that, but this one didn't look anything like the pictures in her books! For one, her hair was dull dark purple...even darker than Twilight’s own coat. And it's shape...it was as if someone had carved a perfect cube out of hair, thrust the humans head in it, and made a spherical cut so her face could be seen! She was also dressed entirely in black.
"She says her name is Gaz!" Pinkie said, seeing Twilight's face. "I ran into her on one of my adventures!"
"You're...what?"
"Out there!" she pointed, not particularly in any direction. "Oh, it's SOOOOO much more interesting out there than it is in here! So many creatures! So many that like us!"
Twilight was finding it hard to catch her voice.
"Pinkie..."
"And then, one day, I just got SOOO excited! I just HAD to bring one of them back with me! And this one looked so lonely, and so sad, and that made me think! If I can go there, why can't they come here! And since 'there' was, like-"
"Pinkie..."
"-soooo dreary, and 'here' is, like, all happy and colorful, I was all like 'You wanna come along', and she was all 'Yeah, sure, whatever', and I was all 'YIPPEEEEE'! And so I brought her back here! And I was just so excited...I just HAD to bring some of my friends here! But-"
"Pinkie..."
"-Applejack is all 'no way, no how', and Rarity is all 'Oh, I really have too much work', and Rainbow Dash is like 'You're being really random today', and Fluttershy-"
"PIIIIIINKIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!"
The room went silent as Pinkie Pie stopped short.
"Gosh, Twilight! You're such a blabbermouth!"
"Pinkie! Did you even THINK before doing...all this?!" She waved her hoof at Gaz as she said "all this". Gaz hadn't spoken a word the whole time, nor had she even flinched.
"Look", she said with a facehoof, "this is all fun and games until you start bringing things back that don't belong here! Do you have any idea what kind of trouble we could get into?!"
"Oh, Twilight! You're such a worry-wash sometimes! It's just some silly girl!"
Both of them turned as Gaz cleared her throat.
"Silly...little...girl..."
It was the first sound she had made since Twilight appeared, and she did not sound amused.
"Awww..." Pinkie exclaimed. "Don't take it personally, Gaz! You're still my NUMBER ONE FAN!!"
This launched Pinkie straight into song, and launched Twilight into a headdesk on the dining counter. If Pinkie's sudden singing cheered Gaz up, she didn't show it. When Twilight finally looked up, she was just as expressionless as ever. Why Pinkie chose this particular creature was beyond her.
Since Gaz looked about how Twilight felt, Twilight took this opportunity to engage in whatever banter she could.
"Sooo", she started, grinning widely at Gaz. "Where exactly are you from? ...uh...Gaz?"
Gaz reached over and grabbed a mug the size of her entire head and chugged down half of it in one go.
"I'm tryin' to forget", were her only words, slamming the mug onto the counter.
Twilight stared at her a bit longer, her grin becoming uncontrollably wider as she involuntarily stepped away from the counter.
"Heh-heh-heh...well...I'd better get going! I'll just let you finish your drink, and Pinkie finish her...er...song..."
Twilight was out of the building and racing back to her home faster than a Wonderbolt, taking no time to chat with anyone along the way. As soon as she was inside the library, she slammed the door behind her.
Catching her breath, she looked up the see Spike staring at her.
"Um...Twilight? Are you okay?!"
Twilight now realized she was slumped in a heap at the door, breathing fast.
"Yeah. I'm fine..."
Then, "...but Equestria might not be, if Pinkie keeps this up..."
One long explanation later, and the two of them were trying to work out what had happened.
"So...wait. Pinkie what now?!"
"I don't know...she...opened a gateway or something. Something about 'beyond Equestria'. I don't like the sound of it, and it has me really worried Spike!"
"Nah! It's only Pinkie Pie! She does stuff like this all the time!"
Twilight shook her head.
"Not like this, she doesn't. This time, she's gone too far!"
Twilight woke the next morning to the sound of Rainbow Dash crashing into her living room.
"Uuugh...", she exasperated, throwing a pillow over her face. "What now!"
Rainbow Dash was busy disentangling herself from a picture frame when Twilight came downstairs, trying the shake the sleepy out of her head.
"New trick?" She tried and failed to hide her sarcasm.
"Oooold one...!" Rainbow Dash was still struggling her head out of the frame. "Juust...goot...distracted..."
A crash shook the room as Rainbow Dash explosively freed herself, scattering more books onto the floor.
"Need any help?"
"Nah. I think I can handle myself." She looked around the room. "You might need some help cleaning this place up, though."
Twilight gave her a stern look.
"Ummm...I mean...I think I can clean this up without any help, Twilight. Thanks, anyway."
"So, let me guess" Twilight started, deciding to help pick up anyway. "It was Pinkie Pie, wasn't it."
"She's just so random!” Rainbow complained. “I mean, it's bad enough having to put up with her balloon-popping competitions in the marketplace...or her bubble-blowing shenanigans in Cloudsdale ( trampoline. don't ask. )...or her strange ability to have a theme-song play as she hops down the street...but noooow, she has to bring guests!"
"GUESTS?! WHAT GUESTS??"
Twilight's exclamation made Rainbow jump.
"You haven't seen them?! They're right outside-"
Twilight didn't wait to let her finish before dashing out the door.
Pinkie wasn't hard to find. All she had to do was follow the commotion outside.
"Pinkie!" she shouted, when she finally caught site of the bounding pink blob in the distance. "Pinkie, what have you done this-"
She couldn't quite finish her sentence. Before she had even reached Pinkie, she caught site of the strangest group of creatures she could ever imagine!
One was obviously a dog...a big gray shaggy one at that, with hair over his eyes. And one was, as far as she could tell, a Gorilla...although she had ever exactly seen one, having only ever read descriptions.
The others made her blink and wipe her eyes to make sure she was seeing correctly. They seemed to be...a floating talking meatball...
...and...
...a box of French Fries...with facial hair...???
"Ummm...Pinkie???"
"Oh, hi Twilight! You're just in time to meet our NEWEST FANS!!"
Twilight wanted to say something, but the strange was hitting her too hard.
"Heeeey! Look! Pony!" said a whiny nasally voice.
Twilight looked around a bit before she realized the meatball was talking.
"Yes, Meatwad”, came a different voice. “This whole place is nothing but ponies."
Twilight found it hard not to faint upon seeing this strange conversation between a container of fries and a meatball.
"Isn’t this GREAT! I can't WAIT to bring more of these guys to Ponyville! We're gonna have THE GREATEST. PARTY. EVER!!"
Now Twilight really did need to lie down. Peering behind Pinkie Pie, she saw she wasn't the only one. At least 2 other ponies had clearly passed out already.
"Oooo, you're not lookin' too good" came the second voice.
Apparently, the French Fry guy was trying to talk to her...
"Actually, Frylock", said the meatball, "I don't think those other ponies back there looked too good either...why couldn't we have taken Master Shake with us?"
"Awww, Twilight, you look sad." exclaimed Pinkie. "I know what'll cheer you up!"
"I think I'm gonna be sick..."
A wet feeling by her ear let her know that the dog was right next to her.
"Come on, Niblet! Let's bring Twilight back to my place where we can all PARTY!!"
"Oooo, I like parties", said the meatball.
The gorrilla jumped up, slamming his fists into the ground, making the earth shake. He appeared to be unhappy. Pinkie gasped.
"Donkey! You're right! We CAN'T have a party just yet!"
Twilight put her face into her hooves. Did Pinkie really just call a gorrilla a donkey???
"We need to wait until everyone ELSE arrives!"
"PINKIE!!! NO!!"
Twilight jumped up despite herself, and nearly fell over from dizziness.
"Pinkie, I CAN'T let you do this!" she said, catching her balance. "You have no IDEA what could happen! These creatures...they don't BELONG here! You need to take them all back to where they came from! NOOOW!!"
Pinkie just hopped in place.
"Oh, Twilight! You're such a party-pooper sometimes! It'll be fun!"
"It's DANGEROUS-"
"-but fun!"
"You can't control it! It could be disastrous-"
"-but fun!"
"You have no idea what you're doing! It's insane!"
"-but fun!"
"Pinkie! You have to..."
Both of them stopped to stare at the dog, who was rolling on the ground in fits of laughter.
"What is it, Niblet?" Pinkie asked, standing over him and blinking wildly.
"BUTT FUN!! HEHEHEHE....BUTT FUN!! YOU PONIES ARE A RIOT!!!"
Twilight shook her head to stop from staring, then turned back towards Pinkie.
"Look, it's all in good fun until somepony gets hurt!"
"Twilight, why can't you just trust me!” she said, suddenly looking serious. “Like you should have done all those times before???"
Pinkie's face had gotten within an inch of Twilight's at these words. The silence that followed was palpable, with the only sound breaking it being Niblet's fits of laughter.
Twilight let out a long sigh.
"Fine."
"WEEEEEEEEEE...!!!"
"BUT! You have to PROMISE me that nothing will go wrong!"
"Oh, Twilight! Of course I promise! Cross my heart and hope to-"
"-fly, stickacupcakeinmyeye, yes I get it. Just make sure it doesn't happen!"
Twilight kept her eye on Pinkie until she was a few yards away before dashing back to her library.
"What's her problem?" said the meatball.
"Her problem?" said the fries. "Her problem is that she's the only sane pony in this place."
Pinkie was jumping up and down with a smile from eye-to-eye.
Twilight woke to what sounded like a bulldozer crashing into a freight train.
She stared ahead for a few minutes, trying not to imagine what could have caused the sound when another earth-shattering explosion came from outside.
Then another...
...then another...
Bolting upright, she half-stumbled, half-fell onto her bedside window.
It took a few minutes for her to register what was going on. As her eyes adjusted to the light and her ears adjusted to the cacophony, she was met with what could only be described as a war zone! She had never seen anything this bad in Equestria...even when the parasprites had invaded the marketplace! It was as if the Everfree Forest had decided to take up residence in the town! Only with 10,000 more types of creatures!
Giant Robots smashed into trees, super-human species fought barefisted with each other, metallic wagons raced each other, tearing up the grass as they went. It was a wonder how the library tree was even still standing!
Twilight sunk her head fearfully into the windowsill.
"Oh...this is bad...this is really, really bad..."
She turned to the crib by her bed.
"Spike! Spike we need to send a letter to-"
She cut off short upon seeing the crib. He wasn't there!
Running into the living room, she shouted even louder.
"Spike! Spike, where are you! Spike, we need to get a letter to the Princess before this whole place is leveled to the ground!! SPIIIIIIKE!!!"
But Spike was nowhere to be seen. Twilight knew he was gone the moment she went downstairs. She tried to ignore the tears rolling out of her eyes as she recapped the situation.
"Okay...Ponyville being flattened to pieces...baby dragon missing...Princess unaware of any of it...oh, what more is there I can do?!"
Moving to her front door, she opened it a peak.
"Yep", she said to herself. "Still a war zone"
"Okay, Twilight, think! What would Princes Celestia do if she was here...ohhhh, if only Spike was here..."
At that moment, she heard a distinct conversation approaching her door, even above the din of destruction.
"SHUT YOUR FATASS, CARTMAN!"
"MAKE ME, YOU STUPID JEW! YOU'RE THE ONE WANTING TO COME TO THIS LAME PONY LAND!"
"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO COME EITHER, CARTMAN! NOBODY ASKED YOU TO BE HERE!"
"GUYS! THIS REALLY ISN'T THE TIME TO BE ARGUING! DON'T YOU THINK WE SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR A WAY OUT OF HERE?!"
As the voices drew close, Twilight peered her head out the door to see three oddly-shaped human children approaching her door. Amid their conversation, the human in the green hat looked up at her.
"HEY! CHECK IT OUT, YOU GUYS, IT'S TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!"
Twilight didn't quite know what to say. Part of her was shocked stiff at the thought of being pulverized by some new unknown wizardry they might possess. But there was another part of her that hoped, so very very hard, that they were here to help...
"OH MY GOD, KYLE. YOU ACTUALLY KNOW THE NAMES OF THESE LAME PONIES?!"
"CARTMAN! DO YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE OR NOT?!”
The one in the blue cap raced up to her.
"HEY! CAN YOU HELP US OUT?! WE FOLLOWED PINKIE PIE IN HERE AND NOW WE CAN'T GET OUT!"
Twilight could almost breathe again.
"COME INSIDE! QUICK!"
No sooner were than all inside than the fat one yelled out
"Ugh...You live in a fucking library?! Weak..."
"Shut your fatass, Cartman!" replied green-cap.
"My Little...ummm...Humans!!"
All three of them turned towards Twilight now. Well...all except Cartman.
"Look, in case you guys haven't noticed, we're kind of in a crisis here!"
"Yeah", said blue-cap. "And in case you can't tell, this isn't exactly the first crisis we've been in either..."
"Nevertheless!" she shouted, trying to keep her cool, "there's work we still have to do! We HAVE to warn the Princess! And to do that, we need to find my pet baby dragon-"
"Spike is missing?!" said green-cap.
"Uh...yeah...how do you know all our names?"
"We watch you on TV!" said green-cap. "You ponies are one of the BEST shows!"
Cartman gave out a "Puh!"
Twilight tried not the think of this incomprehensible answer.
"Well", said green-cap, "the most obvious place to look would be at in the Carousel Boutique!"
"Of course!" Twilight bounced up. "Rarity!! Why didn't I think of that!"
Blue-cap turned towards the door and peered out.
"If we're going to save him, we'd better get going quick! This place seems like it won't last much longer..."
"Really guys?” said Cartman. “You're both gonna go save some lame baby dragon now?! Pfft, you guys could have at LEAST picked a show that has real dragons!"
"This show does have real dragons, Cartman”, said green-cap. “Maybe if we're lucky, you'll get eaten by one before this is over..."
"Guys, please stop arguing", Twilight said, opening the door. "We haven't got much time!"
Twilight lead them carefully outside, leading them around towards Rarity's Carousel.
"Now, if we can just manage to-"
WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!
Twilight found herself spinning like a top, derping as she came out of it. Another
WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!
this time overhead with a rainbow trail. Twilight stared.
"Rainbow Dash...?"
The kids behind her were geeking-out.
"Whoa, man! Did you see that?! It looked like Rainbow Dash was chasing something! Did you see who she was chasing?!"
"They were going too fast. I bet she was racing though! I've never seen her trying to actually catch someone-"
"Yeah she has! Don't you remember?! That episode with the apple tree and that Indian-pony!"
"Oh yeah!"
"Guys!" Twilight exasperated. "Can we PLEASE get on with this?!"
Five seemingly endless minutes of chaos later, they approached the carousel. Two humans were already standing outside the door.
"RICHARD!" the lady in blue yelled out. "COME ON! Of all the places in this...town, this has got to be where all the true ladies spend their time!"
"Hyacinth, this is a pony town! There aren't any ladies. Only ponies!"
"EXACTLY, Richard! Lady Ponies! Upscale ponies! Just the kind of crowd we belong in!"
"We don't belong in this town at all!"
Twilight snuck past them, trying hard not to be noticed, without much success.
"Ah, and here's one of the residents now!"
Twilight sped up.
"Miss Pony!" the lady shouted, tiptoeing up with her hands in the air. "Miss Pony!"
Twilight cringed out loud as the lady got between her and the door.
"Miss Pony! Are you a resident here in this town?"
Twilight was having trouble containing herself.
"Well I won't be for much longer unless I get a letter to Princess Celestia!"
"Ah, a Princess! Oh course! And to think, I wanted to speak with the mayor..."
"Um, could you please move?"
Twilight kept trying to weasel her way to the carousel, but the lady kept getting in the way.
"Perhaps you could take me to see this Princess! I'm sure we have plenty to talk about. Where does she live? I'm sure it can't be anywhere in this town."
Twilight turned and pointed at the white castle in the cliff.
"She lives up in Canterlot. And I've really got to get a letter to her before-"
"Ahh, Canterlot! Such a beautiful name, don't you think Richard?"
Richard could barely be heard mumbling amongst the subdued but still-persistent ruckus.
"And how might we get there, young pony?"
Twilight had had enough.
"Look! I really don't care how you get to wherever you want to get to! Just LET ME THROUGH!!"
For a few moments, the lady stared gasping like a creepy clown statue. Then...
"Well! I never!"
"Come on, Richard! We can do better than these pony people! We're going back to England!"
"But Hyacinth, I don't even know how we got here!"
"Come along, Richard! I won't have you loitering around this carousel!"
As the lady swept off, Richard could be heard trying to argue all the way around the corner.
Twilight bolted into the carousel, slamming the door shut behind her.
"Now", she said, turning around, "I just need to find Spi-"
She stopped mid-sentence.
Spike was just in front of her, a few yards away with his back towards her.
Rarity was opposite him, looking positively mortified.
Between them sat the strangest creatures Twilight had seen yet! At first, she thought they were baby dragons. But then the grayness hit her, and she saw the ears, and knew...these were some horrid crossbreed species! A cross between dragons and (from what she could tell) donkeys!
"Come on Rarity. Just look at them! See how adorable they are!"
Rarity looked up at Twilight, pleading for help with her eyes.
Twilight was trying hard not to laugh, now that she caught on to what Spike was doing.
"Just think about it, Rarity. It really could work out between us! I mean, the donkey out there even told me once of a marriage between a human and an ogre!"
A *plop!* resounded around the room as Rarity hit the ground in a faint. Spike looked at the ground and sighed.
"Spike!!"
Twilight ran across the room to embrace her lost baby dragon.
"Twilight! You made it!"
"Spike! I thought by now you would have learned your lesson about running away!"
Spike bowed his head.
"I know...I was just hoping these little guys could help me win over Rarity..."
Spike waved his hand over the crossbreed babies.
"Well Spike, we'll definitely be having a talk about this later. But right now, we need to get a letter out to the princess right away! The fate of Ponyville depends on it! And possibly all of Equestria!!"
Spike was about to argue when a large explosion from outside bumped him back into reality.
"How can I send a letter! We haven't got parchment and ink!"
Twilight raced around him, nearly tripping over the donkgon babies, and started tearing the carousel apart, ripping through every drawer she could find.
"FOUND SOME!!" she screamed, magicking it into the air.
She hastily wrote her note.
Princess Celestia,
Creatures pouring into Ponyville!
Town being smashed to pieces!
Get here ASAP!
-Twilight
"Send it!"
In one swift move, she rolled up the parchment, and magicked it over to Spike who let out a breath before he had even grabbed it. A green trail whiffed out the window.
"Oh, I can only hope it reaches her in time..."
Twilight looked around, just now noticing that the three kids that had followed her were nowhere to he seen. She couldn't blame them, of course. Who would have wanted to stick around with that annoying lady standing outside the door!
Spike looked down at the floor.
"I sure hope Rarity is alright..."
Twilight's ears perked at this thought, and she let out a small gasp.
"The others! We've got to find the others! Oh, I hope they're alright!"
And before Spike could say anything in return, she whipped Spike on her back and blasted through the door.
"WHOO....ARE WE GOING.....TO .. FIRST...!!?"
Twilight was going so fast, Spike was having a tough time holding on! She really hadn't put much thought into that. They had already been traveling for some time, and she had spent most of her concentration avoiding the battle zones. In fact, now that she thought about it, she was quite close to Sweet Apple Acres!
"WE'LL GRAB APPLEJACK FIRST!" she yelled out. "SHE'LL HELP WARD OFF THE CREATURES IF WE GET INTO TROUBLE!!"
In fact, now that she thought about it, Fluttershy probably would have been the better choice, considering her talent for taming creatures. But so many of these beasts were human-like that she wasn't sure how well Fluttershy would handle them!
Within five minutes, they were riding up to the barn. Twilight spotted Applejack shortly after. She appeared to be accompanied by two humans.
"Now it seems like you have a pretty good business here, selling apples”, said the human next to her. “I like apples. They make a tasty treat. Now if only Bobby here would recognize a good business opportunity like that-"
"APPLEJACK!!"
Applejack jumped at the sound of her name.
"Why, don't you look a might jumpy there, Twilight! Is it Pinkie Pie at it again?"
"Applejack, we have to get back to Ponyville! The whole place is coming apart!"
"Whoa there! Slow down! I knew Pinkie Pie had cooked up somethin' fierce. But the whole town?!"
"Applejack, we gotta go now! Princess Celestia will be here any moment and-"
"Twilight! Now you know we got our reunion in a few hours! Everypony's gonna start showin' up any old time now!"
The guy next to Applejack spoke next.
"A reunion, you say! If your kin are anything like you, I might have some interest in meeting some of them."
Twilight finally started to take notice of him.
"Oh, Twilight! This here is Hank. He's a human that just dropped by here a moment ago. And that there's his son Bobby. I must say, for a human, this here fella's got some mighty good principles. Heck, I wouldn't mind bringin' him on my farm someday to help with the apple pickin'!"
"Uh-huh..." Twilight could hardly believe Applejack's calm disposition.
"Applejack, what part of need to get back to Ponyville don't you understand?!"
"And what part of family reunion don't you understand! We can go back to Ponyville right after the reunion, I promise!"
"If we wait until after your reunion, there might not be a Ponyville!!"
"Twilight-"
She was cut short by two small figures racing up to them a few yards away.
"Hey! Hey, Twilight! You gotta come quick!"
Twilight recognized them as the kids she followed from back at the library.
"You and Applejack gotta come here now!"
As the two figures finally caught up to them, a third one in the distance could be seen panting.
"Hey........Hey, you guys.....you guys, wait up...."
"What is it, you guys?! Is it Princess Celestia?! Is she here?! Is it Rarity? Is she okay?!"
"No, it's worse!! Much worse!"
"What i-"
"IT'S FLUTTERSHY!!", they both shouted together.
Twilight felt a nausea creep through her at the thought. Applejack seemed to buck up a bit.
"What's this? Fluttershy's in trouble! Twilight, we gotta go help her! Come on!"
Applejack took off at lightening pace, leaving Twilight staring bewildered for a few minutes at her sudden change of heart.
"Come on!" the kids shouted, as the two of them led Twilight quickly towards Fluttershy's house.
"Hey......Hey, you guys.....you guys, I finally caught up....I..."
Cartman stared up at Hank.
"They left already, didn't they"
"Yup"
"So what's all this about Ponyville bein' torn to pieces?"
Twilight was trying hard to keep up with Applejack. They were beyond the borders of Ponyville, but she could still hear the sounds of destruction echoing from a distance.
"Pinkie...did something...let things through...they're attacking the town..."
As they neared Fluttershy's cabin, some of the lesser creatures could be seen. A large yellow machine that said "School Bus" appeared, shrunk to the size of a rabbit, and disappeared again. A tall woman dressed all in red vanished into the trees to their left, and Twilight could have sworn she saw a man standing there in a red-and-white striped shirt, but no sooner did she glance back then both of them were gone.
Twilight could tell Applejack was slowly being convinced there was a problem the further in they got. However, both of them had to stop and gasp when they ran into three massive robotic creatures staring towards the heart of Ponyville. She was sure that, from their tall vantage-point, they could clearly see the state of the town.
"It appears", he said in a booming voice "that we have a new race to defend. Autobots! MOVE OUT!!"
Twilight's jaw dropped as she watched the creatures fold into metallic vehicles and blast towards the town.
"Wha'n all tarnation was that?!" Applejack interjected.
"Whatever they were, they'd better be on our side!" replied Twilight.
Things only got worse as they continued towards Fluttershy's cabin. At one point, an arrow whipped past Twilight ear, twanging in the tree next to her. It was countered by a glowing disc whizzing past in the opposite direction. Looking in the direction of the disc, she could see a man glowing in neon light strips ready to throw another one.
"I FIGHT FOR THE PONIES!!"
Next to the guy was a massive metallic creature with a small human girl riding on top, charging into the fray to Twilight's right.
"GET HIM, MR. BUBBLES!! UNZIP HIM!!"
Twilight put her head down and tried to block the chaos.
Almost there, Twilight...just a little bit further...a few more minutes...
As she approached the cabin at last, the two kids and Applejack were already waiting for her.
"What did I miss? Is Fluttershy alright?!"
She looked around and felt something was wrong. The other two didn't say anything.
"Guys! Where's Fluttershy! Is she-"
And then she realized what was amiss.
"Where is everything?" she said, looking around.
Unlike the rest of the path she had trodden so far, the area surrounding Fluttershy's cabin looked almost abandoned. There was very little movement.
"Wha...where is everything? And where is-"
Applejack was pointing towards the cabin. Twilight followed her gaze until her eyes met a small yellow object cowering under the bridge.
"Fluttersh-!!"
Then she saw the blood...
There was no blood on Fluttershy herself. But all around the bridge, over and around the path, there were streaks and footprints of blood. Twilight became quiet, and realized that the others had noticed this before she had arrived.
"What in all of Equestria..." she finally said.
"SHH!!" came Applejack. Something was coming out of the forest.
At first, they looked like normal forest critters. Rabbits, Foxes, Squirrels, Birds... And they all seemed very happy!
...
Unnaturally happy...
As they finally got near enough, Twilight could finally see what they were all excited about. One of the creatures...a bear...was holding something very red...and dripping...
Fluttershy could be heard giving out a loud squeak from under the bridge, but the creatures paid no attention to this.
"Hey, Mr. Bear! Do you want to do the honors?" said the Fawn.
"Why certainly! We can do it right here!"
"YAAAAAAY!!"
As the bear held up the object, Twilight tried hard not to pass out. It was a heart...and it was still beating in the bear's hands...
The bear made a ripping gesture, and the heart exploded into a fountain of blood that rained and splattered all around the creatures, who proceeded to run around cheerfully like children playing in a sprinkler system.
"Hey! I want some too!"
"Over here! Over here!"
"I think I caught some too!"
All the creatures were looking up, some of them holding their tongues out, as if they were enjoying a good snow.
The next part made Twilight hurl onto the grass next to Applejack. The creatures had taken the blood that had landed on them, and were rubbing it into themselves before jumping on top of each other and grinding their bodies together.
"YAAAAY! BLOOD ORGY! BLOOD ORGY!"
Fluttershy gave out another squeak.
"Why, I cain't stand another danged minute of these here sickos!" yelled Applejack. "COME ON, PONIES! LET'S BUCK-EM UP, AND THROW-EM OUT!"
"No, Applejack!" Twilight yelled out as Applejack ran into the mess of blood and copulation.
But Applejack never reached the woodland critters. They were all jumping and running away as she came charging.
"Well", she said, stopping midway, "that sure was easy..."
She stopped upon turning around and gaped. Twilight took this cue and turned around too.
She was used to surprises by now. But nothing had prepared her for this...
Hundreds of human warriors were standing there...spears in hand...shields in hand...waving their weapons and ready to charge.
"NOBODY HURTS FLUTTERSHY!!!" yelled one, as the crowd screamed out in reply.
"THIS...IS...EQUESTRIAAAAAAAAA!!!" he shouted, and charged head-strong past Twilight, past Applejack, into the forest, and after the woodland critters.
Twilight and Applejack dodged the crowd of warriors until they reached the bridge where Fluttershy was cowering.
"Fluttershy! We've gotta get outa here! COME ON!!"
Applejack knew it was no use getting Fluttershy to get up on her own, as scared as she was, so she and Twilight lifted her onto Applejack's back and made a break for it.
Fluttershy could be heard squealing all the way back to town.
"WHERE DO WE GO NOW, TWILIGHT??!"
"BACK TO PONYVILLE!! WE NEED THE PRINCESS'S HELP! RARITY AND RAINBOW DASH SHOULD BE THERE!!"
"Twilight..."
Fluttershy was trying to speak.
"Twilight, I think I can walk now..."
"Hey, Applejack!" Twilight said. "Stop for a moment. Here, let Fluttershy off now."
Fluttershy stumbled a bit as she slid off her back. Twilight could tell she was still shaken.
"Are you alright, Fluttershy?"
"Yes...I think so..."
"Those critters didn't hurt ya?" said Applejack.
Fluttershy shook her head.
"No. I don't even think they hurt any of my animals! They seemed more interested in the creatures in the forest..."
"Fluttershy, what exactly were you doing outside? Why weren't you inside, away from all...all this?"
Now that they were near the town again, some of the chaos was becoming apparent again.
"Well, I saw these two little mousies wandering around lost outside...and I just couldn't leave them out there, so..."
"Uh, mice...?" said Applejack.
Something popped its head out of Fluttershy's mane.
"NARF!!"
Twilight put her face in her hoof.
Another head popped out, this one much bigger.
"Pinkie! Get back in here! We need to stay hidden until we reach canterlot!"
"But Brain! They're talking about us!"
Big-headed mouse pushed the other one back in her mane before diving back in himself.
"Can you walk, Fluttershy?"
"I think so..."
"We need to get to Ponyville as soon as possible. We'll need to run if we want to get there in time."
Once they got going, Fluttershy didn't seem to have any problem. Even as things got worse around them, Fluttershy just stayed close to her friends and kept running.
As Ponyville came into site, they could tell the place was falling apart at the seams. Fires roared, crashes and screams echoed, and one of the buildings could be seen collapsing into dust.
Oh, I hope we're not too late... Twilight thought.
Navigating the town was a challenge. Many of the streets were unrecognizable, and entire buildings lay in ruins. Twilight was having a tough time finding a lookout place for the Princess.
"We should find a place up town, near Canterlot! Follow me!"
Twilight had to wait on a large crowd of yellowish critters to pass in front of her before she could run. A hunched human was running after them.
"Minions! Minions come back! I've got candy!"
As the trio made a break for the edge of town, a scream resounded through the marketplace. Twilight looked in the direction of the scream as she ran, and found herself looking at the carousel.
"Rarity!" she shouted, before plowing head-first into something very solid.
"Ow..." she said, rubbing her head and looking up at the man she ran into.
He was wearing a business suit, and seemed to be preoccupied.
"Hey!" yelled Twilight. "Can you help us? One of our friends is in trouble!"
The man continued to stare with his back to her.
"HEY! YOU THERE, WHOEVER YOU ARE!"
The man turned around, staring at a place just past Twilight.
"I...am CSI..." he said, "and this..." he said, throwing on a pair of shades, "is way out of my league"
With a flash of lightening an a resounding "YEEEAAAH!", he was gone.
"Come on, guys! We've gotta help Rarity!"
WHOOOOOOOSH!
Something whizzed past Twilight, barely missing her this time.
WHOOOOOOOSH!
Something else flew overhead, trailing a rainbow behind it.
This time, however, the rainbow did an about-face, and came streaming back.
"TWILIGHT!" came the sound of Rainbow Dash, coming to a halt in the air and sinking to the ground.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight cheered. "You're here!"
Another small creature popped next to them as well, and Twilight realized it was the thing Rainbow was chasing.
"Ladies!" Rainbow Dash introduced. "I'd like you all to meet The Dash!"
Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy looked town at a human child wearing a red suit with an "i" imprinted on the front.
"This little guy is the COOLEST non-pony I've ever met! I've been racing him all over Equestria!"
"Rainbow Dash, that's really touching and all, but...in case you can't tell...PONYVILLE IS EXPLODING AROUND US!!!"
Rainbow Dash blushed.
"Ah, yeah, that..."
"We've gotta find Rarity! We think she's in trouble!"
As she said this, a rumbling sound came from her right.
"The carousel!" she shouted, as she turned to watch the building breaking at the foundation. "It's coming down! It's-"
Her heart leaped as she saw the terrified figure of Rarity bounding away from the building just as it collapse into dust.
"TWILIGHT!" she shouted upon seeing them. The force of Rarity running into her knocked her onto the ground as Rarity embraced her in a bear hug.
"Oh, Twilight, it's AWFUL! All my beautiful dresses! My designs! My tools! Even my beautiful home!"
Twilight tried to say something, but fell silent, letting Rarity sob into her shoulder.
"It'll be alright, Rarity" Applejack said, coming over. "We're all still here for ya..."
"HEY EVERYONE! LOOK!" Rainbow Dash pointed.
Through her tear-stricken face, Twilight could see a massive chariot descending upon the marketplace.
"PRINCESS CELESTIA!!!" Twilight shouted, hoisting herself up and bounding towards its landing place. The others followed close behind.
"PRINCESS!! YOU'RE HERE!!!" Twilight exclaimed, running right up to Celestia.
The Princess looked simply dumbfounded, staring around at the chaos and destruction.
"Twilight...what..." she mouthed, staring at a human plumber chasing after a dozen crawling mushrooms.
"It's a long story, Princess. Can you help us?!"
"I..."
Celestia's face grew more and more confused as she looked around.
"I...don't even know what I'm looking at, Twilight..."
"Pinkie Pie opened some sort of doorway! All these creatures are pouring in from outside Equestria!"
Celestia's face became green at this words...then pale...
"I...but...if these things...outside Equestria...Twilight..."
"Princess? Are you okay?"
"Twilight! I have supernatural abilities throughout all of Equestria! But...if these things aren't from Equestria...I'm not sure there's much I can do!"
Twilight cringed as another three buildings came crashing down behind her.
"But...but...you have to do SOMETHING!!!"
Twilight had never seen the Princess like this! It looked like she was genuinely scared!
"Twilight" she said, leaning her head close to Twilight's ear. "You must find your friend Pinkie Pie! Get her to take all these things back where they came from! You must do this quickly, before any of these things get too far beyond Ponyville!"
Twilight knew the Princess had never been more serious in her life.
"I will, Princess" was all she could say.
"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" shouted Applejack, as Twilight took off.
"TO SUGARCUBE CORNER!!" she yelled back.
By the time she arrived, Sugarcube corner was practically the last building still standing! Creatures surrounded it, nested on it, ran into it, licked it, talked about it, and danced around it. And yet, it didn't seem to have taken any damage!
Twilight trotted up to the door, through the mess of creatures all approaching her with beaming smiles, throwing party hats and streamers at her, and occasionally trying to grab her into a dance! By the time she had reached the door, she looked like she had been partying for hours!
"PINKIE PIE!!" she yelled as she swung the door open.
The inside was so crowded, it took her a while to spot her. Twilight finally saw her towards the back of the bakery, being held in the arms of what appeared to be a skunk, who was lightly and frantically kissing her all over her face as Pinkie Pie giggled in return.
"PINKIE PIE!!!" she yelled again, catching her attention and making her bounce out of the skunk's arms and land right in front of Twilight.
"HEY, TWILIGHT! I'm SO glad you could make it! This place has just been so lonely without any of my pony friends in it! Pepe here was just keeping me company while I waited, but it's just not the same without you guys! Hey, where are the others?"
"PINKIE PIE, YOU HAVE TO GET RID OF THESE CREATURES NOOOOW!!!"
"Awww, you're no fun Twilight! These guys just want to PARTY!!"
"PONYVILLE IS PRACTICALLY DESTROYED BECAUSE OF THESE THINGS!!! TAKE THEM OUT BEFORE THE REST OF EQUESTRIA FALLS TOO!!!"
"Destroyed!" said Pinkie. "Aw, you're just exaggerating, Twilight! You like to exaggerate, don't you! I did to, when I was a filly. But then I learned that's as bad as lying! Speaking of which, maybe you should lie down. Are you tired? You look like you've had a long day. OH, I know what'll cheer you up! Why don't you spend some time with Pepe! He really cheered me up! He's got some really cool friends, too! I-"
"Pinkie! Princess Celestia is just outside, and is demanding that you send these things back!! NOOOW!!"
Pinkie stuck out her bottom lip.
"Princess Celestia?! Are you serious?! OOOO-OO-OO-OOO!! THAT REMINDS ME!!!"
Pinkie bounded away for a few seconds and came back with a (for once) normal looking human...if you could ever call a human "normal-looking".
"Twilight! I want you to meet someone even more special than the Princess herself!! This is the real creator of Equestria!!"
Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing...
"Twilight! I'd like you to meet Lauren Faust!!!"
Twilight could tell Pinkie had expected a more exciting reaction at this introduction, but Twilight just stared at the perplexed look on the human's face.
"Come on, Twilight! Can't you at least say HI to our creator?!"
Twilight walked up close to Pinkie, not knowing whether to laugh, cry, faint, or collapse in insanity...
"I...I'm terribly sorry, miss..." was all Twilight could say to the human. The human just gazed around the party, saying quietly to herself.
"This...is the strangest thing..."
"Pinkie...why don't we go party outside for a bit!! Yeah! I could really use some fresh air!"
"OOO-OO-OO!! THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!! AND THEN I CAN MEET ALL MY FRIENDS OUT THERE AS WELL!!!"
And she bounded out the door, sticking her head back in to say "COME ON, TWILIGHT!"
The sound outside was deafening! Every creature seemed to be attracted to Sugarcube Corner like a magnet! Swords clanged, lasers fired, screams yelled out, explosions formed...there had been wars that were less chaotic!
"SEE, PINKIE PIE! YOU HAVE TO-"
But Pinkie Pie was off dancing with some of the yellow minions Twilight had crossed paths with before. There was just no getting through to her.
Twilight looked around. Yep! Ponyville's destroyed all right!
She looked the other way, and found Princess Celestia starring at her hopefully, surrounded by her friends. Twilight could almost feel her brain becoming unhinged.
"SO!" she shouted to herself. "PINKIE, YOU CREATE A PORTAL OVER THERE. CELESTIA, YOU DISTRACT THEM. EVERYONE ELSE, WALK SINGLE-FILE WHEN THE PORTAL'S MADE! BUT FIRST, EVERYONE GRAB A HAMMER AND REBUILD PONYVILLE!!"
She could feel her eyes begin to derp as she said this as the hair on her mane stood on end one strand at a time.
She hardly noticed that the wind was picking up, and the sky becoming darker. The few trees still standing started to bend from the strength of the wind now, and many of the creatures weren't smiling anymore.
Twilight looked back at the Princess, who she was sure was causing all this, but the Princess looked just as dumbfounded and worried as Twilight felt! Twilight watched in awe as hundreds of creatures were lifted into the air, and began flying away from Sugarcube Corner! Clouds of smoke were following, and soon she realized that the wind was in the shape of an enormous funnel, encircling the entire town! Creatures swished passed Twilight overhead as the funnel went faster and faster, closing in on them towards the heart of the town, growing smaller each cycle. Twilight couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't been swept up with it!
Twilight looked over at her friends, half-expecting Rainbow Dash to be missing, but she was still sitting there, starring at the whirlwind with everyone else.
As the cyclone shrunk to only a few yards in diameter, all the dust and clouds were pulled in with it, revealing the sky again, and bathing the rest of Ponyville in dazzling sunlight! Finally, the cyclone shrunk far enough to reveal two human men surrounding the cyclone, apparently controlling it! Both men had long beards and robes, and waved their hands as if they were orchestrating the symphony of wind together!
Finally, the cyclone died down, the dust settled, and the deafening sound which had consumed Ponyville for the last few hours was replaced by a deathly quiet. The cyclone had been replaced with a massive pile of (from what Twilight could tell) unconscious creatures!
The two men walked out in front of the pile to greet the ponies they had just saved. Both seemed quite pleased with their work. Twilight ran up, still in awe at what had just happened.
"THANK YOU!! WHOEVER YOU ARE, THANK YOU!! YOU'VE SAVED PONYVILLE!!!"
As she said this, she was still painfully aware of how little of the town was still standing. But she was too happy to mention any of this.
"We're just glad we could help", said one of the men.
Princess Celestia walked up to them as well, followed by Twilight's friends, and then every pony still able to walk came up around them as well!
"I, too, thank you two gentlemen!" Princess Celestia said, who was back to her old dignified self. "Please, tell us your names, so you may be known as the saviors to all of Equestria on this unfortunate day!"
The men smiled.
"I am Gandalf the Gray!" said the one on the left.
"And I am Gandalf the White!" said the one on the right.
The one on the left, looked at the one on the right. "I thought you said your name was Dumbledore!"
The one on the right smiled playfully.
"Well, whoever you are, we are most grateful! Can you not send these creatures back to where they came from?"
The one on the left shook his head.
"That cannot be done by us. Only the one who brought us here can send us back."
At these words, Princess Celestia, Twilight, and all her friends turned towards Pinkie Pie, who sunk low at the sudden stare she was receiving.
"Pinkamina Diane Pie" Celestia said, towering over her. "Look around you, and see the damage your actions have caused."
"But...but we were just partying! How could all this-"
"You need to consider all your actions, whether they affect you or not. The creatures you let through did not just appear in Sugarcube Corner, but all over the town. Did you not notice this?"
Pinkie Pie looked mortified.
"But......but....."
Twilight had never seen Princess Celestia so disappointed before. She clearly was not angry. But she was not smiling either, and she radiated a feeling of guilt around her so it was hard for anyone else to smile too.
"Now, Pinkamina...you have a chance of redemption" she said, bowing her head to look at Pinkie more directly. "Send these creatures back where they came from, and never let another one back through. Promise me this, and I will let this all go unpunished"
"Oh...Princess Celestia...I'm so sorry!"
As Pinkie Pie looked into Celestia's face, Celestia smiled back, and the whole place lightened up at once!
"Oh, I'm so sorry girls!" Pinkie said to Twilight and her friends. "I was just so excited at meeting new friends I guess I forgot about all my old ones...and the whole town..."
"It's okay, Pinkie" Twilight said. "You just wanted to have fun. Just...do some more thinking before you trying something like that again!"
"Okey Dokey Lokey! I'ma go clean up now!"
Pinkie Pie bounded forward towards the pile of unconscious beings.
"Oh, before you do that" said the grey-bearded gentleman, "you would probably like your town back, wouldn't you"
"OH, YES PLEASE!!" Pinkie shouted.
"Shall we?" he said, turning towards the other bearded man.
Nodding in agreement, they turned their backs to each other and began waving their hands as if conducting an orchestra of Ponyville infrastructure! Buildings reassembled, sidewalks repaired themselves, grass re-grew, and the entire town had returned to its entire old self within a mere five minutes!
"OH, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU-"
Pinkie Pie shouted out for a few minutes, bouncing around the old men before finally bouncing up to the top of the pile of creatures.
"This'll only take a sec!" she shouted from the top.
Twilight could hardly make any sense out of what Pinkie Pie did next. It was as if the canvas of Ponyville in front of her was a picture on a piece of paper, and a hand was grabbing and crinkling the paper where Pinkie Pie was standing! Ponyville seemed to bend in on itself, stretching and folding and collapsing around the pile until the entire pile had folded in on itself and could no longer be seen.
The next moment, the scene snapped back, jiggling like Jell-O, and there was Pinkie Pie, standing on the grass, not a single creature left in the pile!
As Pinkie Pie came bounding back, Princess Celestia came up to her.
"You have done well, Pinkamina. And now" she said turning back to the rest of the group "I must return to Canterlot. I was just in the middle of a negotiation when this came up! Farewell everypony, and try to keep the town in one piece while I'm gone."
As Celestia disappeared in her Chariot, and everypony started shouting in celebration, Applejack exclaimed
"Holy Sweet Celestia, the Reunion!!"
Twilight remembered too.
"Hey! Mind if we join you?" Twilight said. "I could use some time with my friends to relax! Besides, I think I might have left Spike there in all the excitement"
"Why...I never really thought about that...but...ah heck, why not! By golly, my family'll LOVE you fillies! Come on!"
Pinkie Pie jumped up again.
"OOO-OO-OO, DOES THIS MEAN?!"
"Yes, Pinkie" Twilight said, giving a little laugh.
A PARTY !!!
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that not all promises can be guaranteed. Sometimes, you have to realize when something is simply beyond your control, and trust your friends when they warn you against it. Sometimes, we all just need to step back, and admit that something just isn't a good idea.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
Credits
The following characters and references are Copyright © to their respective owners. The author does not claim any ownership of any of these characters, or any characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Gaz - Invader Zim
Niblet - Pound Puppies
Donkey Kong
Frylock and Meatwad - Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Kyle, Stan, and Cartman - South Park
Hyacint Bouquet - Keeping Up Appearances
Donkey-Dragon Babies - Shrek 2, 3, 4???
Hank Hill - King of the Hill
Magic School Bus
Carmen Sandiego
Waldo - Where's Waldo
Optimus Prime - Transformers
Tron
Big Daddy and Little Sister - Bioshock
Woodland Critters - South Park
Spartan Warriors - 300
Pinkie and The Brain
Gru and Minions - Despicable Me
Horatio Caine - CSI Miami
Dash Par - The Incredibles
Mario and Goombas - Super Mario Bros
Pepe Le Pew - Looney Tunes
Lauren Faust
Gandauf - The Hobbit / LOTR
Dumbledore - Harry Potter |
Calbeck | 679 | 1 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-01-30T20:50:43+00:00 | 2021-03-03T22:10:30+00:00 | 13,482 | >RUN FOALOUT.EXE
>> LOADING... LOADING... LOADING...
>> ACTIVE DLC: “Derp Money”
>> ACTIVE DLC: “Honest Hooves”
>> ACTIVE DLC: “Celestine Blues”
>> ACTIVE DLC: “Sunshine Road”
>>> MODIFICATIONS DETECTED: Alternate_Start.esp, Puce_Goose_Modpack.esp, Mister_Horse_MNS.esp
>>> REMINDER: ROBRONCO, INC., makes no guarantee nor accepts any liability regarding experiences which may occur due to modifications of equipment or software from their factory settings. Such modifications may cause systemic shifts which are beyond ROBRONCO's initiation or control; all risks involved in their installation or use are strictly those of the end user. Your ROBRONCO Reclining TemporoKinesis Memory Pod's Smiling Service Warranty(tm) provides no coverage for damage or circumstances arising from such modifications.
>>> ACCEPT? (y/n)
Y
>>> INITIAL BUILD (Database Preset: DEAD-SHOT)
Level 1 Earth Pony Stallion (+1 Strength/Endurance, Free Tag: Repair, Restricted Perk Tree)
Strength 4
Perception 7
Endurance 8
Charisma 3
Intelligence 6
Agility 6
Luck 8
Tags: Guns, (Repair), Sneak, Unarmed
Traits: Trigger Discipline, Kamikaze
>>> ACCEPT? (y/n)
Y
>>> LOCKDOWN ACTIVATED
>>> SAFETY PROTOCOLS DEACTIVATED
>>> SENSORIUM ACTIVATED
>>> STAND BY... STAND BY... STAND BY...
* * * * *
CHAPTER ONE: ...Like a Hole in the Head
"Your mileage may vary."
I was always pretty small, especially for an Earth Pony.
But I could take a beating, and often did in my early days, largely because I was relatively tiny. It soured me on people, for the most part: ponies, griffons, buffalo, mules, ghouls and anything else that promised to be a hassle. That being essentially anypony in the Great Western Wasteland.
It also made me pretty mean. Whenever my dad and I arrived in a new town with our caravan, the local bullies would start picking fights. I developed a habit of automatically looking for weak points on anypony I met, just in case. And when I inevitably lashed out at a given tormentor, my focus was on disabling them first and then causing the maximum amount of pain possible before I went down or was pulled off. My name would get around, and I’d be left alone... until the next new town and the next set of stupid bullies.
My dad didn’t much mind when I started in with guns early --- the rifle didn’t cost a mercenary’s fee, and as the years went by I made it pay for itself many times over. I hated that our constant moving around resulted in a never-ending routine of bully-culling, which I took out on raiders (with the rifle) and Dad (with my ever-sharpening vocabulary).
I wanted him dead. Especially after a particularly nasty argument, when he said I was adopted from junkies who’d initially wanted to sell me to him as meat --- for just enough bottle caps to swing a couple hits of Scorpio. I don’t remember what enraged me most: that he wasn’t my real father, that my real parents were such shitheads, or that I’d been worth nothing more to them on the bargaining block than some Luna-damned tribal snort.
Or rather, I’d thought I wanted him dead. That was our last argument. We couldn’t have another because, not long after I stomped out of the camp in a rage, one of the better-armed groups of local raiders hit. I came back from three hours of galloping through canyons and dry washes, with only my rifle and ammo for company, to find Dad riddled with small-caliber holes. What was left of our meager worldly wealth burned in sullen little piles on blood-soaked dirt.
I’d also thought I’d been angry before. So I was wrong twice that night... big-time. And I was immediate in exacting my revenge... big-time. It took little effort to follow the tracks of the bullies, less to spot their weak points, and none at all to turn every single one of them into cranially-impacted corpses before I even had to reload. I wasted not a single motion and missed not a single shot. And when it was over...
...the tears I expected to flood forth never came. I just methodically looted their corpses for anything I could sell, left the rest for the desert bugs, and walked into town the next morning wearing Dad’s bloody shot-to-hell barding. That’s when someone noticed my “cutie mark” had appeared: a stylized pony skull with a bullet streaking through it. “Cute”, my rosy pink flank --- as far as I was concerned, it’s a butt tattoo in poor taste. It’s also why folks started calling me “Dead-Shot”... my birth name? That’s in the past, and none of your damn business besides.
That didn’t stop Stiff Lip Security from offering me a job from the moment they laid eyes on me. I still think their slogan was stupid (“A Working Stiff Means You Get No Lip”), but it was work. And it meant I didn’t have to listen to another damn brahmin complaining about the load, or remember the pleasantries and jokes Dad would have spewed off to make it happy. Plus: I got paid to kill people who deserved killing... in somepony’s book.
I used to think that was all I needed to care about.
* * * * *
I stared at the dour brown pony behind the counter of Slimm’s Pony Express Office. “That’s... one helluva lotta caps.” He folded his forelegs over one another and snorted, dialing his expression from “bored” all the way up to “laconic”.
“Yep. Ya want the job or not, kid?” He slowly tapped a hoof against the signature line on the contract. “Reason I’m askin’ is you and your dad’ve done the Express a square before. This time it’s kinda personal... so I wouldn’t mind chippin’ in a bit if it helps make up your mind. Might also be a quick way to get known around these parts.” I read it over again:
Professional needed for corrective action. Property belonging to Mr. Edwin R. Horse has been purloined by parties unknown. The discovery and termination of these persons will obtain the payment of 500 caps, while the return of the aforementioned property (consisting of one [1] metal Poker Chip) will obtain a bonus of 5000 caps due to deeply sentimental considerations.
“Five thousand caps. For a poker chip. What, is his mom’s soul stuck in there?” The oldster, who went by the unlikely nom de plume of Nash Rambler, just shrugged and looked at me with eyes the same color as his washed-out hide.
“Not my business. But I got sixty caps right here, right now, what’d like some payback for the courier that originally took this run. I liked that colt. Told ‘im he shouldn’t’ve tried headin’ for New Pegas by way’ve Goodsprings --- too many damn badponies and nasty critters up that way. But folks around there might’ve seen who got ‘im.”
Loads of money, a bit of it up front, with a good payoff even if I never laid eyes on this overpriced chip, and an easy starting lead thrown in. I signed, pocketed the caps, and headed out for a couple hours’ light hiking along a cracked highway to the peaceful little agricultural community of Goodsprings.
I should have known better... I should have Luna-damned-well known better...
* * * * *
It was no secret, at least not to anypony in earshot of a radio over the last couple weeks, that the New Coltifornia Republic’s pet railway project had gone sour. They’d shipped a few hundred prisoners out to clear the old lines of rusted-out stock and lay new rail, which took a lot of blasting to do --- so of course at the first opportunity, the prisoners rushed the dynamite stores and took control of the NCR’s fancy new prison. Gangs of escaped convicts were galloping roughshod all over the area, so when I spotted what looked like a camp of them up ahead at the turnoff to Goodsprings, I thought I was being smart by cutting through some rocky foothills to avoid them.
I wasn’t just wrong. I was irritatingly wrong.
The first clue I had that the day was going to be annoying was a punk colt running up with panic in his eyes, begging me to save his fillyfriend. Supposedly she was trapped by a pack of geckos further up in the hills. Normally I wouldn’t give a crap about that, but gecko skins were worth a fair piece and the meat was good eating... and don’t look at me like that. Travel around the wastes long enough and you’ll find yourself licking the inside of a rusty tin can at some point. Only those with the wealth to keep themselves in fresh greens manage to stay vegetarians.
So I went up into the rocks, low and slow, with my (t)rusty old hunting rifle clenched between my teeth. No hurry at all... the kid’s filly was probably dead already, and it’s not like he was paying me anyways. I saw my first gecko, a green little bastard sniffing around a roc flower. Somepony supposedly named the thing after the healing powers of an ancient legendary bird, but the poet in me knew better than to interrupt when I was squinting to line up my rifle's well-tuned set of iron sights.
...oh, you didn’t notice? Yeah, I’m an earth pony. Unicorns have it easy when it comes to gunplay; pop a telekinesis spell and you can sling around a gun like you had tentacles or something. Earth ponies have to make do with what Celestia gave us --- good strong teeth to grip with and tongues strong enough to pull triggers all the livelong day. But aside from battle saddles, nopony had yet invented a gun you could hold in your mouth upright.
It wasn’t like you could just saw off most of the stock and carve the rest to fit your mouth, either. Somepony tried that, and found that they couldn’t see the back sights at that point because their nose was in the way. Elevating the sights or mounting an offset scope would give you parallax issues out the ass, and raising the barrel itself made trigger assemblies a nightmare to rework properly, since it had to extend to where your tongue could reach. And all of this made recoil a complete bitch and a half. Totally useless, and so extensive a set of modifications that you might as well just make your own battle saddle or turret helmet anyways.
I couldn’t afford a battle saddle, and I hated turret helmets because they look stupid and provide no protection from the sun. So I did my gunnery the old-fashioned way: squinting down the sights with my left eye. Wait for a good sight picture, squeeze, and POP goes the gecko. Like any good hunter, I didn’t take the time to stop and skin it just then. I quickly tied its tail to my saddlebag and kept moving.
They got thicker as I crept along, pockets of two and three scrabbling around in the weeds that hugged the rock formations. I would set up at range behind a cluster of boulders, slowly raise up to sight in on the closest, and POP. Duck down. Peek out. POP. POP. Six, seven, eight... I still hadn’t seen any sign of the missing filly. But I was making good progress in a short time, so I didn’t care.
I reached the end of the little box canyon I’d been wending through before an hour had passed, a dozen dead geckos weighing me down and... were those snaptraps? Big rusty iron teeth, stretched open with a pressure plate in the middle, three of them arranged on the side of an upwards-sloping rock. They could take a pony’s leg off if he wasn’t careful, but I was exactly that... a few simple sticks cadged from the brush plus some prodding cleared the way up.
SNAP. SNAP. SNAP.
Somepony’d made a little camp here atop a bluff. Pretty cozy too, all things considered: a mattress only starting to lose the fight with mold, a stump chair with a side table, even an old fridge they’d managed to ponyhandle up the slope. A quick look over the side of the bluff told what had happened to the camper himself, now just a pile of bones wearing a few scraps of armor. I mentally noted the location in hopes I could scout back around and...
...crackle went the weeds near the bottom of the rock slope. “Thanks for clearing out all those geckos. Now I -”
He might as well have been a Coltifornia train on a schedule. I didn’t care what the colt with the nonexistent fillyfriend wanted to say as I turned and sighted his head in at nearly point-blank range. Startled that I hadn’t let him finish his monologue, he almost dropped the dinky little pistol --- one problem of trying to talk with your mouth full.
POP.
* * * * *
After that bit of unpleasantness, I thought I’d get in a bit of bathtime at Goodsprings’ renowned clean-water sources --- the raison d’etre for its name. But small gecko packs had staked each of them out with frustrating tenacity. I was so weighed down with their little bodies, by the time I stopped shooting their little noggins, that I just figured to hell with it, refilled my water bottles, and sweatily lumbered the rest of the way into town.
Goodsprings had at least three things going for it: a genuine doctor, a decent saloon, and a general store with a good selection. Not being the kind of stallion with any real skill in skinning or butchering meat, I sold the buck behind the counter the entire mess of geckos on the cheap. I didn’t even need the meat right now, given the relative bounty of canned and boxed goods I’d found in the blufftop fridge. Too bad the barding I’d recovered from the bodies of the camper and the colt wasn’t good for much other than patching up my own old kit... but their battered sidearms still fetched a fair number of caps.
With moneypouch a-jingle I headed into the Prospector Saloon, looking for info from the locals and something to loosen the trail dust caking the back of my throat. But as it turned out, somepony was already there doing the former.
“--- Listen up, you stupid old nag. We know you’re hiding Rango around somewhere. You can turn ‘im over nice and quiet, or I can come back with my friends and rip this town apart until we find ‘im. Your call.”
The speaker was a wiry-looking roan stallion wearing black barding marked “NCRCF” --- ah, yes. This’d be one of the “Mite-y Gang”, so-called because they still had large stores of the dynamite they’d seized and used it profligately. I’m sure somepony, somewhere, thought it was an awe-inspiring moniker.
The middle-aged mare he was speaking to scowled at him, said a few sharp words, and he left with one of those standard parting snarks that’s never really worth remembering. I don’t even recall if he slammed the door, not that I would have cared if he had. The mare, a pastel green with dark blond mane and a cash-register cutie mark, gave me a look just a notch more polite than she’d been giving the outlaw. “What’ll it be, Mister...?”
“Shot. Whiskey.”
She cocked her head at me. “That’s your name, or your order?”
I scowled back. “Both. First part name, last part order.” She frowned, which actually softened her look, and trotted briskly behind the bar to tip the proper bottle into a clean(!) shotglass.
“Just being sociable, Mr. Shot. Don’t hurt nopony to be friendly now and again.” I forced a more pleasant mien and a lighter tone for the sake of not offending her overmuch.
“Sometimes it does, Miss...?” That brought her up to the level of a smile.
“True Delight, but everyone calls me Trudy. Welcome to Goodsprings.”
I nodded. “It’s a nice town you folks have here, Miss Trudy. But I have to admit I’m here on business, following up on a murdered Pony Express courier...” Now her scowl returned, though it clearly wasn’t meant for me.
“Horrible business. Personally I thought he was just here to pick up the weekly parcels from the box out in front of Chip’s store, but that night he was dug out of a shallow grave up on Cemetery Hill. Funny thing, how it was that weird robot that helped him, but Doc Hitchup wasn’t able to save the poor fellow. He’s been broken up about that ever since... very proud of his work, you know.”
“A robot dug him up?” My brahminshit detector was up and waving a red flag in the form of my arching left eyebrow. Robots didn’t go out of their way to help anyone unless they were programmed to. But True Delight nodded firmly.
“That thing rolled into town about ten years ago or so, all smiley cowpoke face and idle banter, but aside from wandering here and there it’s done nothing useful. Until that night. I just don’t buy its happy-go-lucky act.” I found myself nodding agreement, but I still made the mental note that the ‘bot was essentially a witness. If it was programmed to be garrulous, all the better.
I downed my shot, swallowed hard on the burn, and tipped my broad-brim hat politely enough to Miss Trudy as I took my leave.
* * * * *
The robot identified itself as VIC-20. Something about that sounded familiar, but I just shrugged at the stylized image of a cowpony grinning stupidly at me from its big-screen-TV face. I didn’t get much useful information from it that I didn’t already have, either. It hadn’t seen the courier’s killers, it knew nothing about what the courier had been carrying, and other than being “pleased as pie” to see me, just pointed me to the same Doc Hitchup that I’d been planning to visit next anyways. I told the ‘bot to get out of my way and moved along... but something about the exchange didn’t sit well with me.
Everyone knew these particular type of ‘bots --- one fat wheel, two long arms with gripper claws, dark blue chassis and all --- were normally only found on the Pegas Strip, under the direct (although remote) control of the Strip’s biggest power-player, Mr. Horse. No one had ever met the stud in person, but his Victory-class Integrated Computrons were positively ubiquitous... on the Strip. Not way out here in the sticks, most of the way to the New Coltifornia border.
A robot like this, out here, acting in any fashion other than malfunctioning, smacked of deliberate action. And this particular ‘bot had gone straight after Mr. Horse’s courier.
I couldn’t see any reason it would do that, except to try and retrieve that expensive little trinket. It sure didn’t have the guns or armor, let alone the smarts, to take down a whole gang by itself. So I wouldn’t have been surprised to discover that saving the courier’s life had been way, way down on the bottom of its assigned “to-do” list.
As I trotted up the little hillock where sat the surprisingly well-maintained ranch house which also served as Doctor Hitchup’s office --- complete with the unnecessary pomp of a proudly-waving Neighvada State flag --- I put those thoughts behind me. I needed to see a doctor about a pony.
* * * * *
Old Doc Hitchup was interesting for a number of reasons. The first was that he was starkers bald up top. He had a greyed-out tail, but not a scrap of mane, which was a little bit disconcerting. This was only accentuated by the long unicorn horn sticking out of his forehead.
“Y’know, son, you can stop starin’ anytime now.” I hadn’t realized I had been, but managed to keep a straight face.
“Sorry about that. I’m here about that courier you worked on.” His dark bay expression went darker for a moment, and then drew down into a sad sort of semi-introspection.
“Couldn’t save ‘im. Thought I could --- I’m real proud of my precision with scalpel and sutures.” His rump rash testified to that much: a golden medical cross with a surgeon’s mask draped across its center. “But the bullet shattered and pieces went all over... even if I’d gotten all the bits out, he’d’ve been vegetative.” I nodded along as though I cared; I needed more.
“Did you get a look at whoever shot him?” He shook his wrinkled head.
“Nope. But word around town is that it was a pack of Cossacks down from Red Rock Canyon, with a city type in a checkered suit in charge. They tried to stiff Trudy on her service, she gave ‘em an earful over it, and they smashed up her radio as payback on their way outta town. For some reason, they moved on south towards Slimm... if you’d been here a few days ago, you’d probably’ve passed them on the road, if you came from that way.”
Nice. If I’d known the right questions to ask Miss Trudy, I could’ve been back on the road to payday that much quicker. But I stifled my impatience and bobbed my head in polite farewell, if for no other reason than you never piss off a doctor if you can help it. Someday you might be under that pony’s knife. “Okay, well, thanks for your time ---”
Doc stopped me with an outstretched hoof. “Wait a moment there, son.” His horn glowed with a soft beige aura, pulling a battered saddle bag off of a nearby shelf. “This was what that courier was carryin’. If you’re after the fellas what killed ‘im, might’s well be you as anypony what takes his gear. You can pass it on to his next of kin, should ya run across ‘em...”
I’m positive I blinked, assuming my jaw didn’t actually drop as well. This was --- well, really unusual generosity, from anypony. Even though the missing poker chip turned out not to be in the hodgepodge of junk and equipment, at least he’d've made some caps selling the mess off at the general store --- oh. It was then I saw the PipBuck, as he levitated it out of his own saddle bag. If he was a former Stable dweller, then he’d likely be one of those sappy types who --- wait, why wasn’t HE wearing it?
“This might also help in your travels. Celestia knows I don’t need it anymore... and maybe if it helps you track these bastards down, it might make up a bit for my losin’ that poor colt.” I found myself stifling a snicker at the sheer - OW! He’d taken out a set of tools and clamped the thing onto my left foreleg, and it had pricked me. A series of tiny needles, unseen, buried themselves in my leg as the device booted up.
I gave the old pony a dirty look and growled, “I didn’t say I wanted this thing before you plugged it into me -” He waved away my concern with a diffident hoof. “You’ll hardly notice it by the end of the day. But by then, you’ll find it absolutely indispensable as well. Let me show you how it actually works...”
* * * * *
Wow. Just... wow.
There seemed no end to the amazing things this "PipBuck" could do. I'd once seen one of those legendary "all-in-one hoofpicks", you know, the kind that also has folded into it a little knife and spoon? Embedded compass and such? Oh, this thing beat that little trinket all hollow.
From what I understood of what Doc Hitchup told me, its needle-pricks linked the gadget up with my body's nervous system, an extensive array of spells providing everything from targeting assistance to inventory management, triggered by thought impulses. It even gave price estimates for anything you picked up --- something about a "global spirit gestalt" the spell tapped into, in order to get a baseline relative to what people in general actually cared to buy and then adjusting downward to the lowest common denominator, or some such malarkey. I admit I began to fuzz out while the Doc was trying to explain how all these functions worked. What was important was that they did... and how!
So I found myself wandering around Goodsprings, testing my "gently pre-owned" PipBuck. Red compass blip? There goes a wandering scorpion, off in the blue distance. Touch a button, up comes a detailed little map in glowing green hues. As I neared a local tribute to fallen heroes and heroines of the War, its medical-cross-on-star motif sending long shadows eastward, a little icon popped up marking it as "Yank Zeeb Memorial"... which made no sense to me at all. Centuries of windblown sand had made its explanatory plaque virtually illegible, though the leeward side still showed many actual names in stark basalt relief as though they'd been carved there yesterday.
Interesting, but not important. I circled back towards town and up the road to the cemetery; inspecting the murder site was definitely on my agenda (which now actually appeared on its own list, under "Quests"... huh). Another red dot skittered across my "Eyes-Forward Sparkle", as Doc called it. Looking up, I spotted another scorpion, one of the smaller types with the nastier poison. Hey, no time like the present to try out S.A.T.S. --- the PipBuck's Spell-Assisted Targeting System.
Hm. I was pretty sure that I could one-shot that critter on my own from this range, even though I hadn't taken any time to familiarize myself with the dead courier's hard-weathered 10mm pistol. But I went ahead and loaded up a shot in the program, let go, and... felt the spell actually take control of my neck, head and tongue. Before I could blink, PAM went the pistol, its spring-loaded slide releasing the expended shell and rebounding forward to automatically chamber the next round.
Miss. The shot spacked off the hard road dirt, doing nothing other than alerting the arachnid to my presence. It immediately turned, clacking its claws angrily, and charged with its poisonous barb held high enough to sting me in the chest --- if I let it. I brought S.A.T.S. up again and... oh, I hadn't noticed you could queue up multiple attacks. To different body parts, too! And it gave estimated percentage odds to hit each spot on top of all that.
Just to see what would happen, I placed three shots into the program, one each for the left and right set of legs plus the tail, and cut it loose. This time I relaxed, letting the spell do its work, and two of the bullets struck home, crippling the bug's legs to either side.
Now it struggled to reach me, wriggling forward on its belly and claws, hatefully stabbing at the air in a paroxysm of desperate violence. I stepped to one side and off-hoofedly shot the little bastard in what passed for its head, trotting past on my way up the hill.
On first blush, I couldn't see the appeal. It took me five rounds to kill one bug. That just wasn't efficient. But I'd noticed that time seemed to slow down to a near-stop while I was in S.A.T.S.... that could be a definite tactical benefit, especially in a confused firefight.
All in all, this little ankle-pricker made me happier than I'd been in a long time.
* * * * *
Several gold-tipped cigarette butts were littered around the open grave atop the hill, where the courier had been briefly buried and then dug out. Huh... some stud thought he was pretty swank, to smoke these things. I mean, tobacco products were all over the Wasteland --- they were probably the cheapest and most-accessible narcotic around, with packs and cartons and even crates of the things turning up from time to time. The fact that one of the major pre-War cigarette producers in Equestria had been located near New Pegas might have had something to do with that.
But few drug-users of any kind really cared enough to indulge their habits with any kind of style. This guy, most likely the one in the checkered suit Doc'd mentioned, obviously thought of himself as a high-roller. They were unique enough that I carefully gathered and stuffed the bunch of them into a saddlebag pocket; their look and smell might help identify my marks in some way.
I looked around the hilltop itself, a chopped-off prominence with a water tower perched atop. Standing in its late-afternoon shade made it easier to get a good long view, and now I could see why the courier's bid for New Pegas had failed... immediately north was a festival of giant radscorpions, also known as "armored poison-delivery vehicles". I wouldn't've given the colt two bits for his survival in there with his light barding and ten-mil sidearm. Slightly further east the way was blocked by the sheer walls of a quarry pit, marked prominently with hastily-scrawled warnings about Diamond Dog infestations.
But to the west, sandwiched between the quarry and a series of rock walls, wandered a sunken road that would have worked perfectly for skirting the murder zones --- except that now it was littered with a string of widely-spaced bodies infested with paradore colonies. They looked fresh enough that I was willing to bet anything the killers had come down that road in a running battle with what looked like Friends.
"Friends" were bad enough --- a close-knit bunch of fun-loving folks who lived to inject, snort, inhale or swallow anything they could get a buzz off of. Their parties were orgies of excess and violence, each Friend trying to earn points with the others by being more extreme and crazier.
But paradores were some of the scariest damn things in the Wasteland. With cute little round bodies and cute little smiling mouths that were capable of opening half-again as wide as they themselves were, to take impossibly large bites of anypony they got close to, they also had speed and poison going for them. Worst, though, was that their poison only worked as an anesthetic. Once having downed a pony, they would stab an egg injector into the poor bastard's belly, then start building a nest around the immobile body. Eventually the baby paradores would eat the still-conscious victim from the inside out, as their first meal.
If there was a worse way to die, nopony'd ever mentioned it to me.
And everypony already knew that Imperial Highway 15 had been cut off by the Diamond Dog infestation spilling out of the quarry. So the killers hadn't had any choice, really: having effectively cut off their own avenue of approach, they had to go "around the horn" to the south, following the I-15 down to the Nipton Highway and then back up to New Pegas via the I-95. And that was assuming the ponies who'd killed Mr. Horse's personal courier, to swipe his personal property, were going to stick around a city he more or less personally owned. Odds were good they'd be running for the NCR border, less likely the Herd --- someone used to the high life wasn't likely interested in their social network.
Meanwhile, the sun was already going down behind the western ranges. Time to find someplace to crash for the night.
* * * * *
What I found was a tiny Hippocampus Energy station with a little baby dragon and a huge .357 Magnum leveled at my face. I took it back; being a complete and trusting idiot might just possibly be a worse way to die. Assuming I didn't kick it in the next few seconds, I was going to have words in the morning with Miss Trudy regarding her recommendation in lodgings.
"If yer gonna shoot, might's well get it over with," I drawled lazily. It might've been a front I was putting on, but if I looked relaxed and non-hostile --- yep, the dragon relaxed in turn, his flaring red head ridges settling back down and the flush in his orange scales subsiding as he holstered the oversized hogleg.
"Sorry about that, mister. I've got some bad ponies after me, and it's been making me twitchy. If you're not with them, you're welcome to a piece of floor for the night." He went back to what he'd been doing before I unlocked the door with Miss Trudy's key and walked in; cooking up some gecko stew. I could smell horseradish, sage, maybe even a carrot thrown in, and my belly rumbled to remind me I'd had nothing but a shot of whiskey all day.
"My apologies for barging in like this... I was of the understanding this place was abandoned." I tossed my key onto the little gas station's counter with a practiced eye, letting him see I hadn't picked the lock. He took an identical key from one of the pouches on his belt, then put it back.
"Stew's about ready, if you like trail-lizard. And before you make a joke about cannibalism, don't." He chuckled at his own presumed wit. "They call me Rango. I'm a drover with Red-Carriage Caravans."
His offer of food to a hungry pony, no caps attached, let me know why he wasn't one of their merchants. But you never look a gift dragon in the mouth --- for obvious reasons, the old saying went. I nodded thanks and took a bowl of steaming gumbo. "Much appreciated."
We spent the next while trading stories of the road, bits of news, the usual. And then, presumably because I was a former caravaneer (a detail I'd let slip somewhere along the way), he told me his sob story about how his group had been hit hard by a bunch of Mite-ys. Apparently the fact that he had actually defended himself, and had the temerity to survive the experience to boot, had offended the gang's tender sensibilities and instilled in them a desire for payback, preferably of an excessive nature.
I chewed and swallowed and nodded and made appropriate noises at the appropriate points, until he finally came out and asked for my help in taking on the bandits when they came for him. I dutifully licked my bowl clean, swallowed the last morsel, and asked:
"What's in it for me?"
In retrospect, I probably should have asked for seconds first.
* * * * *
"HEY MISS TRUDY! WE'ALL'S COME TO PAR-LAY!"
Rango'd said the roan who led this specific batch of Mite-ys was named Cob. Any number of jokes concerning corn came to mind, none of which I dwelt much upon as the gang moseyed --- actually moseyed --- up the road into town.
Squinting, I could make out that half of them didn't have longarms, or even sidearms. Just old baseball bats held together with duct tape, and tire irons rusty enough that their wielders were probably rotted up with tetanus by now. A few, including Cob, had NCRCF armor stolen from dead prison guards and the majority of the actual guns.
That's not to say they didn't use some sort of tactical sense. At a whinny from Cob, the unarmored close-in fighters let out a whoop and charged the few locals who'd gathered near the saloon. As they scattered with cries of fear, their assailants broke up and pursued in all directions. Cob and his gunslingers started picking out targets and opening fire from range.
Rango'd also said he had no way out of town if he couldn't get past the gangers.
I'll give him credit: he tried. When it became obvious that no one in Goodsprings seemed much interested in doing anything but hiding or running, and most of the Mite-ys were busy chasing after their entertainment, the little dragon cracked open the door of his fuel-station hideaway and tried to slip out of town. I don't know if he was too dumb or proud to throw a dirty blanket over his bright orange scales, but he never made it to cover --- a Stampede-fueled buck with a sledgehammer broke off from chasing a local filly to run him down instead.
Four thundering shots from a three-fifty-seven magnum revolver would've taken down most ponies, but a body on Stampede doesn't feel a hell of a lot of pain. Even as he bled and staggered on a crippled leg, the blood-red buck locked fury-reddened eyes on Rango and slammed the big iron hammer down.
The cracking noise heralded a shattered collarbone; Rango went over with a groan. The hammer fell again, pulping one of the little dragon's tiny arms, this time bringing his scream out. Somehow he found the strength to roll over, shove the revolver into the buck's chest, and pull the trigger once more. Powder flash burned a wide ring around the deep, fresh wound.
It barely seemed to slow the buck down. Third time was the charm; Rango's head stove in like an old rubber ball with half its air gone. Lost in rage, the pony began smashing the dragon's body with a strange work-like rhythm, as though he were back hammering spikes on the railroad gang. Cob, watching from down the street, screamed triumphantly and yelled something about burning the whole town to ashes.
That was his first major tactical mistake: giving Goodsprings a damned good reason to fight back.
Every window facing the street, mostly being those of the general store and saloon, sprouted one or more rifles apiece. In the ensuing fusillade several Mite-ys found themselves dancing the final rites, while the rest skittered for cover in the culvert bordering the ruined houses and vacant lots on the opposite side of the street. As soon as they had some cover, they began lighting and throwing sticks of dynamite at the wood-planked buildings opposite.
I'd never seen a duck, but I'd heard rows of them were easy to shoot. From my perch laying atop Doc's roof I had perfect line-of-sight straight down on the length of the culvert. Cob's second big mistake had been not checking his flanks.
POP. POP. No S.A.T.S., not for this. Rango shouldn't've been out here. He should've stayed in the old station and waited for a better opportunity, like I had. Pick your time. Bide and breathe.
POP. POP. Now they noticed me, after four of their nearest bucks had sprouted new holes. Two of those had been their only actual rifles. So as their buddies scrambled to pick up the weapons themselves, all the Mite-ys had to throw at me was a few pistol rounds. No one was close enough for dynamite, though a couple tried and fell well short.
That was when a spray of fully-automatic nine-millimeter fire began lighting into the remnants of the bandit line from behind. VIC-20, smiling-cowpoke pony face replaced with a grim "them's fightin' words" look, stood there chewing through Mite-y after Mite-y with the machinelike efficiency of his kind.
I lined up on Cob's screaming, panicking face. It had all gone to hell on him. He was pinned down, he didn't know what to do, the townspeople should have been the ones panicking and running. His third and last mistake was not remembering to start running, himself. A smile creased my muzzle as I pulled the trigger on my rifle magazine's last round.
Cob's head exploded in a satisfying spray of red and grey.
When the rest of the Mite-ys ran, six remained alive. The only two that made it out of the line of fire from Miss Trudy's saloon, didn't make it out of VIC's. By that time, I'd already climbed back down the ladder from the roof and begun looting bodies in earnest, starting with Rango's. It wasn't like he had family (that I knew of) anyway. And he did have a spiffy set of Caravan gambling cards.
* * * * *
"How COULD yoooouu?!" Miss Trudy was yelling at me, in front of most of the town's survivors, as I stood there trying to talk business with Chip. He, a white unicorn stallion with a rather lanky build and a drab-brown mane, looked like he would rather be doing business someplace else far away... in Coltifornia's cutthroat "Hub", perhaps.
"How could I what?" I responded in perfectly reasonable tones. I'd seen lynch mobs. This wasn't one --- yet. But if it came down to being one, I was already identifying those who needed to be taken down first. S.A.T.S. might come in handy after all...
"How could you SIT THERE and just LET them start killing everypony?!" she screamed at me, even louder, as though to make up for my own lack of volume and emotion. "Good ponies died today because of you!" I blinked, keeping my expression as bland as possible.
"I seem to recall that none of you lifted a hoof to save an outsider named Rango. Not until Cob threatened all of you locals did you open up on him. So a good dragon died today because you wanted an outsider to bleed first."
Miss Trudy --- True Delight --- looked like I'd shot her right there on the spot.
What I'd said might have been unkind, brutal, but none the less accurate for that. The good ponies of Goodsprings hadn't wanted a fight, had wanted Rango to be a problem that would just go away and die somewhere else. They didn't care at all.
Neither did I. I nodded to Chip, closing our deal, swept the pile of caps off the counter and into my saddlebags, and pushed my way through the sullen mob. My step was light as I started down the shattered and newly-bloodied asphalt back towards Slimm; I'd sold Chip everything I didn't need to catch up to that city-colt with. I'd also had him repair my firearms and old barding as best as could be managed, and I had a mission that even my PipBuck understood:
"Benny and the Jet-Heads: track down the Courier's killers".
Huh. So the thing knew the city-colt's name. Somehow. And it flubbed grammar by capitalizing "courier" for no apparent reason. But it did point me in a southerly direction, confirming my suspicions as I cantered past the springs and headed down the beckoning stretch of I-15 towards Slimm.
Still, one thing bugged me as I pulled down the goggles of my storm-chaser hat and broke into a measured gallop... when I'd passed VIC-20 not a minute ago, the robot was all smiles and waves once again, directed at me.
Only at me. It hadn't opened fire on the Mite-ys until I'd been attacked. But it had been standing there the whole time, entirely unnoticed, having supposedly never attacked another soul in the Goodsprings area for good or bad in the decade and more it had been there.
If this was Celestia's way of looking over my shoulder, I silently prayed, would she please piss off.
Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Friend of Nightmare Moon -- your vision at night and in low-light conditions is improved.
Skill Note: Sneak (50)
INSPIRATION
KKatman's "Fallout: Equestria"
Somber's "Project Horizons"
Miracle of Sound’s “Wasteland Soul”
And these Amazingly Fabulous bits of Artliness. |
Calbeck | 679 | 2 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-05-22T08:16:56+00:00 | 2012-05-22T08:16:56+00:00 | 7,058 | CHAPTER TWO: Slimm Pickings
"I hired you people t'try to get a little track laid, not jump around like a buncha Appaloosian faggots!"
The curious connections between Mr. Horse, VIC-20, and the Courier (was I capitalizing the job title of a pony I'd never met, now?) were interesting, but you couldn't just let your mind wander when traveling across the Great Western Wasteland --- what some ponies called "riding the Moohave". Successful caravaneers develop the habit of keeping alert for anything out of the ordinary while on the move. Those that don't become dead caravaneers.
Yet the thing that caught my eye while retracing my hoofprints back to Slimm, even as my measured gallop of a gait made the miles drawl past, was what was missing: the little gang outposts I'd seen the Mite-ys maintaining on my way up to Goodsprings. Though I didn't detour to take a closer look, it was evident even at a distance that each site's hastily-established shacks had been entirely abandoned. I craned my neck around to better scan the horizon as I hit a downward bend in the road.
Where did they -
What sounded like a fast-moving insect zipped past my right ear. Crap! For all my supposed habits of staying aware, I'd been looking at and thinking about what was to my left and rear instead of what I was galloping straight into. I hadn't even noticed when a small red blip appeared in my right-peripheral field of vision, the entire reason for having the PipBuck's "Eyes-Forward-Sparkle" spell active in the first place.
Luck was with me on three counts: one, the first shot hadn't ventilated my face before I even knew to duck. Two, the ganger's levitating rustbucket of a varmint rifle had jammed. And three, I was almost upon the half-finished wall of sandbags when that one shot got my attention. Instead of trying to stop and draw a weapon, which would likely end with my plowing into the barrier, I bunched my haunches and leapt right over the short wall at the riflepony.
Only in mid-leap did I notice Varmint Rifle had two earth-pony buddies who'd been taking a bit of a siesta in the limited shade provided by their low wall, both of whom blinked up at me in surprise as I sailed overhead. I realized belatedly that I'd committed myself to win this fracas or die trying.
Then again, I may have mentioned already that I'm not exactly a slouch when it comes to a brawl. I wasn't big, but speed and inertia were on my side, my forehooves punching into Varmint's unarmored chest with the satisfyingly distinct sound of cracking ribs. The puke-green unicorn and I went over in a tumble of kicking and flailing legs, but I managed to get a mouthful of his throat latch and locked my jaws down hard. He screamed like a filly who'd been knifed.
Shotgun Pony was the first to regain his hooves, fumbling his sawed-off weapon from its chest holster. Varmint screamed again as I managed to get my hooves beneath me, pivoting backwards to drag his body across the line of fire: "No! NO!"
Twin buckshot blasts took the unicorn in the side, dozens of lead pellets smashing through flesh and shattering bone on their way to perforating heart and lungs. Shotgun's mouth dropped open in momentary shock, his empty weapon clattering to the pavement.
I let Varmint slump to the ground, spinning about to kick both hindhooves in the direction of the big black colt, who seemed to have had a harder time waking up. An empty bottle of tequila, lying on the ground where he'd been resting, might have had something to do with that. Another sharp crack rewarded my efforts, sending him back to slumberland with a noticeable contusion across the side of his skull.
With luck like this, I should be on the Strip with a pair of dice in my hot little hooves!
By this time Shotgun had recovered enough to get his weapon back and try hurriedly shoving fresh shells into its chamber. At this range, he couldn't miss... then again, neither could I. And I didn't have to reload. I only had to draw the Courier's old ten-millimeter semi-auto from its leather shoulder-holster and, since I cared more for speed and survival right now than saving a few caps on ammo, to call up the PipBuck's Spell-Assisted Targeting System.
Time froze. Shotgun's golden-brown face, chest and forelegs, even his sawed-off shotty, all outlined themselves in numbered green borders, the same way as I'd seen with the scorpion in Goodsprings. I could see the fear in his eyes; good. It wasn't just that it would make him more prone to mistakes when it came to the finer details of manipulating complex machinery --- like a shotgun --- but this pissant little shit was in my way. I targeted two shots to the foreleg that was desperately trying to ram the reloads home, and a third to his noggin.
Release. PAM PAM PAM, went the pistol, a trio of ejected shells arcing up and behind me. Shotgun's foreleg shuddered under dual point-blank impacts that whirled him about, coincidentally causing my head shot to go wide. The shotgun skittered several yards down the highway, well out of reach. He stared after it for a long moment, reflexively clasping his wounded leg while straining short, sharp breaths through brown-stained teeth. After a moment, he clenched his eyes shut to await the final shot.
It was about a minute before he realized that he wasn't dead. I was busily looting the respectively dead and unconscious bodies of Varmint and Pistol, whose feckless hairstyles and vulgar cutie marks interested me far less than what was in their battered saddlebags. Some clean water, pain pills of the famed Med-X variety, a healing potion, scraps of food and junk and trinkets, and of course their guns and ammo. It really wasn't much.
Shotgun was trying to crawl away, behind the sandbags and into the roadside bushes, when I firmly planted a hoof on his wounded shoulder. He cried out, so I withdrew the hoof and kicked him in the belly just hard enough to hurt. It had the desired effect of getting his attention --- though I wasn't sure the blubbering which ensued was an improvement.
"Mister, I dunno, we didn't mean nothin', don't kill me, I'll go away, just please..."
I kicked him harder, before the sobbing audible at the back of his throat started up in earnest, and bent down to rifle his pouches while keeping the ten-mil trained on his head. When I had taken what few caps, ammo, and chems he had that were worth the trouble, I stood back up and holstered the pistol.
"All I care about, is that your moron friend there shot at me. If you hadn't pulled your piece out, stayed the hell outta my business, I'd've left you alone. He might even be alive, if he'd been smart enough to stay down once I stove in his ribcage. With any luck, your other idiot pal's gonna get off easy with a concussion." I turned and started walking down the road towards Slimm, casually saddlebagging his shotgun along the way.
"In all honesty, you bucks aren't worth my bullets. Tell your friends they better keep it that way."
I managed to put a good quarter-mile between us before I let my legs do the shaking they were so insistent upon.
* * * * *
It wasn't long after my run-in with the Mite-ys' attempt at setting up a roadblock that I found out where the rest of them had gone.
Slimm.
One of the few things I'd picked up in Goodsprings was a decent if battered set of binoculars, which I was able to make good use of from a low ridge overlooking the little tourist-trap town. Small groups of escaped convicts roamed the streets, smashing their way into what few houses and businesses there were, stealing anything they could get their hooves on. I didn't see many civilians aside from a few dead in the streets, but if the dozen or so Mite-ys surrounding the Derpy & Dinky Casino were any indication, they were mostly holed up in there. I didn't think it was because they wanted to see any of the relics on display at the Pony Express Museum ("See the Mailmare Mania of Yesteryear, Today!").
It was a siege --- and not one I had any interest in involving myself with, regardless of the insistent "quest" marker on my PipBuck's little green map. The proposition was made all the nastier by several snipers who'd perched along the half-collapsed tracks of an ancient roller-coaster, which had once been the premiere attraction of Slimm's only other entertainment venue: Pinkie's Dance Hall. Somehow its slow-turning sign, a dancing pink filly in red fishnet stockings and bustle, looked even more garish with the morning light washing out its dim neon glare.
Scanning further south, I could make out that the New Coltifornia outpost on the western side of I-15 hadn't been attacked. For that matter, it looked like the NCR troops and Mite-ys were more or less content to just keep an eye on one another, not even trading the occasional pot-shot. I stowed the binoculars and made my way down the ridge.
* * * * *
Lieutenant Hays struck me as a curiosity: a pony with so little on the ball, being nonetheless able to earn a commission in the New Coltifornia military. Perhaps I'd missed my calling...
"Let me get this straight. You're here to contain the gang that's currently in total control of the town you're immediately adjacent to. You need more support to roust them out, but you don't have a functional radio to call for that support, and it would take you sending one pony for a few hours to the border outpost to get some backup --- but you want me to do it for you." Hays nodded as though the concept of sarcasm had never been invented.
"Correct. Our situation here is too tenuous to risk losing any more troops, even for a few hours, so - "
I brushed off his response with a hoofwave. "If your situation's that bad, you should've pulled out by now."
Now he scowled. "My orders aren't for civilians to interpret. If you aren't going to help, then I've got better things to be doing."
I fought to prevent my eyes from rolling towards the ceiling of Hays' dingy little command tent. "All I want to know is, did you see anypony in a checkered suit with a few rough-looking bodyguards pass through here a few days ago? That's the only reason I'm bothering you in the first place."
He shook his head and went back to poring over the paperwork he'd been going through when I was shown inside. "The Mite-ys only moved into Slimm yesterday, which is the only reason my troops and I are here at all. Whatever problem you may have with this suit and his friends, it isn't a Coltifornia issue, or mine. Now get out."
I waited until I was back outside to let loose a primal snort of frustration.
Two days, and the trail was already starting to go cold. The PipBuck still pointed to the besieged casino; it made sense that Benny and his goons might actually be there, too. A New Pegas high-roller, having one last gambling spree before leaving Neighvada? It was almost cliche. If they were holed up in there, then getting the lieutenant his support would be the best way to eliminate the Mite-ys surrounding the place so I could finish up this job.
Of course, there was also the distinct possibility that the PipBuck was malfunctioning, or that I was misinterpreting its marker somehow. Benny's group might already be across the Coltifornia border, if they hadn't stopped for anything but catching a few winks. In that case, it was highly likely that somepony in the NCR's border outpost would've noticed Benny's unusual choice in attire. Confirming or refuting that he'd left Neighvada was my next logical step.
Looking back across the highway towards Slimm told me what I already knew; that if Benny was still stuck in the Derpy & Dinky, the Mite-ys would keep him penned up for at least the few hours I'd be going out of my way. I stepped back into the tent, holding up a forehoof to stave off Hays' immediate glare.
"You've convinced me of my civic duty, Lieutenant. I'll go get the colts you need --- to finish both your job and mine."
* * * * *
The run south to the NCR's border station was more of an easy trot, and a rather picturesque one at that. Immediately south of Slimm was Ivannapony Dry Lake, home to occasional clumps of honey mesquite trees, barrel cacti, and oversized bugs like dragon ants and scorpions, but the view went on unimpeded for miles into the hazy blue distance.
Never seen a dragon ant? The bastards get as big as a pony sometimes, and most of them breathe fire. I skirted around the few bandits hanging out around the old "Neighvada Highway Patrol Station" --- really, just a pre-War Pony Joe's with a bunch of police-marked skywagons parked out front --- but I ended up having to clear a good half-dozen dragon ants out of the underpass a ways further south of that. Of course, the second you shoot one of the little bastards, all their buddies nearby try to swarm you.
It turned into a bit of a running battle before I was done, but it was less of a risk than going across the bug-infested Ivannapony, or even worse, through the abandoned Hippocampus Energy station adjacent to the underpass. That place had several of the aforementioned "armored poison-delivery vehicle" variety of giant radscorpion, wandering around its rusty old skywagon rechargers in search of smaller critters to eat, or perhaps just enjoying the shade of its half-collapsed overhang.
Besides, dragon ants are a good source of protein, and their carapaces sometimes have a thin coating of the jelly they make in their mounds. Tastes foul, but it's one hell of a rejuvenator and sells pretty well on the open market. If I hadn't been in a hurry, I'd've stopped to do some chopping and scraping.
Since I was, I put on a bit of extra speed, weaving through a dense pack of wrecked and abandoned wagons as the highway turned onto a long uphill grade. At the crest, a sign bearing the image of a two-headed Ursa Minor read, "NCR Ranger Outpost - Moohave".
Puffing and lathered with sweat, I finally passed beyond the guards at the chain-link fence and wended my way through the packed crowds of caravaneers awaiting clearance to continue their travels. It didn't matter which direction they were going: every caravan into and out of Neighvada got the twice-over for security, and usually a once-over for graft. The paperwork and hassle were another reminder of why I'd made such a permanent shift in occupations.
Still and all, the place looked more cramped for some reason than it reasonably should have been. For me, that was both a good and a bad thing --- good, because it meant more folks who might've seen Benny. Bad, because when I managed to squirm into the station's combination trading post and bar, it was crammed full of ponies just as road-filthy as I was, with a single slow-turning fan uselessly stirring the stifled atmosphere. My hopes of getting something to cool off with were effectively smashed.
By the time I finally made it to the bar and got the attention of the beleaguered-looking mare behind it, I was in no mood for anything that didn't contain alcohol.
"Whiskey!" For a second, in the chaos of drinking and talking and mumbling and shouting ponies, it sounded like my voice had an echo. The bartender clunked a full bottle of watery-looking hooch on the counter, I tossed a hoofful of caps over to pay for it, and blinked as a roughly equal amount simultaneously clinked into contact with mine. A hoof swept the commingled pile into the bartender's pouch, immediately after which she made herself busy with another customer at the opposite end of the bar.
Before I could yell something after her, another hoof grabbed my bottle and tipped a shotglass' worth out of it. I rounded on the thief with a snarl.
"You'd better be planning on paying for that little snort of booze, you little - " I think I'd intended to say something else, but it took a moment to realize what I was looking at. There on a dilapidated barstool, likely salvaged from the Pony Joe's I'd passed on the way here, sat a gray-coated molly with a bright red fringe of close-cropped mane. It wasn't the red mane that caught me up short (though that was unusual enough on a mule), nor the worn leather jacket and flannel shirt which, along with straw hat and holstered repeater rifle, made up her wardrobe.
It was the look in her jaded green eyes, as she glared right back at me. "Ya snooze, ya lose... and it's my booze, seein' as how I paid for it." She tossed the shot back and grimaced. Not the grimace of somepony who's never had whiskey before, but of somepony who knows they've just been sold a pig in a poke.
"Not that you're missin' anything here, mister. Go on, have a shot of this horse piss if ya want, Luna knows I'm not gonna finish the bottle off." Belying the words, she poured herself another shot before scooting the bottle my way. I gave the molly a sidelong look, shrugged, and decided it wasn't worth getting into a gunfight over. Five seconds later, I found myself trying not to spit the stuff out and nodding in agreement.
"If that isn't actual piss, it's water out of somepony's rusty-ass tap --- no offense." Her only reaction was to pour another shot, this time for each of us. At some point when I was still working up the nerve to swallow my second, she'd already polished off her fourth.
"None taken. It's prolly because everypony's trapped here like me, an' there ain't enough booze to go around so they're cuttin' it t'make it last longer. But they're short on clean water, too, so..."
We commiserated for a while about the sorry state of liquor supplies in the Moohave Wasteland, the weather, the troubles and travails of caravan life --- it was actually refreshing to meet somepony who wasn't trying to scam you somehow, who knew what a ration of brahminshit was before they were told to eat it. She was patriotic about the NCR without blindly buying into its hype as "the future of Equestria's children", she didn't hold it against me for dropping out of the trading business, and Celestia but she could hold her whiskey --- watered down or not --- judging by the two empty bottles already sitting next to her.
In exchange for listening to the story of how her entire business had literally gone up in smoke thanks to raiders carrying around some high-tech firepower (which sounded to me like Steel Rangers, and I said so), I managed to get in a few questions about Mr. Checkered Suit. She hadn't seen him, but pointed me in the direction of some of the other traders hanging around the station who I might ask. Finally I tipped my hat and took to my hooves, leaving the rest of the bottle in her care.
"Thanks for taking time to gab with me, ma'am, but I've got to be running along." She gave a jackass grin and returned the gesture.
"I ain't nopony's 'madam'. Call me Whiskey Rose."
* * * * *
As I galloped back towards Slimm, I noted the position of the sun and cursed myself for spending more time flapping my lips than I should have. Not that I hadn't accomplished anything; from having worked through the network of caravaneers which started with Rose, I was definitely sure that Benny hadn't crossed the border.
Still, I could have been back on the trail and doing my job hours ago. At a minimum, such a lapse was unprofessional of me. At worst, it meant letting the gap between myself and my prey widen, if he wasn't where the PipBuck marker suggested.
It hadn't been hard to convince the bucks in charge of the outpost to send out troops to relieve the siege at Slimm, especially when I let Ranger Jacks know that I'd already cleared the Ivannapony underpass of dragon ants. Apparently that'd been the main reason the outpost was so crammed with caravans, waiting for somepony to get around to clearing the road. Which didn't make any sense at all to me, as the Imperial 15 still had big problems with the siege of Slimm, the Mite-ys having taken over their prison north of that, and the Diamond Dog infestation north of Goodsprings. The dragon ants were the least of the problems involved with going up that road! Trade with New Pegas currently relied on going east through Nipton, ignoring that underpass altogether.
Yet despite Major Knight's promise of reinforcements, it was going to take him the rest of the day to organize a large force, and he had no interest in doing a night march. He wasn't going to move on the Mite-ys until morning.
I'd already wasted enough time doing my "civic duty". I trotted into Lieutenant Hays' tent just after sundown, letting him know what was up, before doing what I should have done in the first place --- heading into town to follow up the PipBuck's lead on my own.
* * * * *
If there was one thing that going to the Outpost had done for me (besides allowing for a nice, relaxing conversation with an interesting molly), it was in providing the opportunity to improve my ordnance. As much as I loved my (t)rusty old rifle, in its standard configuration it had never really been intended for anything more demanding than picking off lesser forms of vermin --- whether insect or pony in nature. The only reason I still had it was because it was cheap, and I was still relatively poor. It didn't help that, at the prices being gouged by the NCR's trading post, I couldn't even afford a beat-up version of Rose's rather archaic repeater rifle.
Fortunately, they'd also had a wide variety of upgrade kits in stock. One prolonged haggling session later, my "varmint rifle" sported a silencer, magazine extension, and scope, though the purchase still virtually annihalated the contents of my cap pouch even after adding most of what I'd taken off the Mite-y bucks into the bargain.
Now, as I knelt and carefully mouthed the rifle's grip, I gazed through its scope at the nearest of the Mite-ys patrolling the streets of Slimm.
They really weren't very good at this game. From the distant sound of their arguments with one another, I could tell that they considered guard duty to be punishment and took it about as seriously as staring at wall cracks. They shiftlessly wandered around sucking on bottles of cheap beer with their weapons holstered, or snuck off into corners for a quick snort of Scorpio and babbled about the pretty colors brought on by the hallucinogen.
Breathe out. Squeeze.
pyewt
Walk alone, die alone. He took it right in the skull, one more dead body mingling with the already-decaying corpses of murdered locals. Here on the largely unlit streets, he wouldn't be noticed unless and until somepony tripped over him.
This was why I felt some of my best work as a bounty hunter was done at night --- get in, get the job done, and get out when everypony tended to be less aware, if not just plain sleeping. Over the years I'd gradually learned the tricks of seeing almost as well at night as during the day, like silhouette recognition and light discipline... I kept low as I moved further up the street, staying within the shadows cast by ruined buildings that stood against the cloud-dimmed moonlight.
Checking around a doorway, seeing nopony, no tripwires, no telltale arming lights that might warn of a landmine. Across the deserted room and up the stairwell, touching each step only with the edges of unshod hooves, minimizing the sound of my tread, the shoes themselves individually wrapped in thick cloth and stowed in my saddlebags.
At the top of the stairs the building's upward rise ended in a nonexistent roof. Jagged brick walls threw convoluted shades of darkness this way and that, but the only other pony up here who might have seen didn't care for anything except what might be beyond his sniper's vantage point. Because he was looking out instead of in, it became my vantage point.
pyewt
I moved to the window, peered out, spent a minute seeing who was moving where, and picked targets.
pyewt pyewt... pyewt...
Now there were three dead Mite-ys lying in view of Slimm's one major cross-street, where each of the casino, dance hall and Pony Express office held corners. Rusted-out barrels filled with burning trash provided the main source of illumination, accompanied by the glaring red-and-pink neon of Pinkie's rotating sign and the stark white flashing of the casino's external lighting, but for the time being it seemed that nopony else had taken notice.
More importantly, the gap I'd just created between patrols gave me the chance to dart down the stairs, scurry across the street, and slip through the curiously unlocked and unbarred double doors of the Derpy & Dinky Casino (Home of the Historically-Authentic Museum of the Pony Express). I closed the door quietly behind me, turned around, and...
It's amazing what interesting effects the sound of cocking guns can have on the bowels, especially when there are a lot of the aforementioned guns and they are all very clearly pointed at you.
* * * * *
"Whoa whoa whoa, there, folks --- I c'n vouch for this feller."
I hadn't known Nash Rambler all that well, personally --- more a friend of my father than mine --- but I'd never been quite so happy to see him as he stepped out from the crowd of heavily-armed locals. The looseness in my gut firmed back up in direct proportion to the speed with which the various rifles, pistols, clubs and other implements of destruction were put away by their grumbling owners. Nash walked forward with a look on his face that declared his firm belief in my presumed idiocy, stopped, and pointed with one hoof to the mess directly behind me.
"Welcome t'Hell, young'in. Plannin' on cleanin' up after yerself, there?" I glowered at him, suppressing with difficulty the desire to grind my teeth.
DON'T punch the buck who co-signed your contract... don't do it...
I managed a deep breath and moment of relaxation instead. "Y'know, there's a reason they call it 'scaring the shit out of somepony'. I'll deal with it --- and also with anypony giving me grief about it." Rambler snorted.
"Sure, kid. In any case, I'd ask why ya came back here so soon, but I think we both know the reason. Get that taken care of first, then come see me over at that slot machine yonder," he nodded in the appropriate direction, "and I'll tell ya what ya need to know." I didn't bother to nod back as I headed towards the nearest door marked 'Janitorial'.
I didn't make it three lengths before somepony sitting at a table with a few friends (and not a few empty beers) made a poorly-timed remark about my intestinal fortitude. Even unshod, my hoof shoving sideways simultaneously taught the buck one lesson about tact and another about maintaining one's balance, toppling him from his chair with a squawk of surprise. To my good fortune, his buddies laughed at him instead of bristling in his defense. Though his glass-eyed glare followed me, he had at least the common sense to recall that drunks --- without backup, at any rate --- make for poor odds in combat. By the time I trotted back past his table with a bucket of soapy water and mop clenched in my mouth, he'd managed to regain interest in the bottle he'd been nursing beforehoof.
It was the work of a few very long and embarrassing minutes during which I avoided meeting the looks tossed my way, while everypony else studiously avoided repeating the drunkard's mistake. By the time I finally put the cleaning supplies back and headed for Rambler's spot by the slots, he'd managed to work up a wry smile that, for him, was probably the equivalent of busting a gut. That was as far as he let mirth take him before the dour old look returned.
"If yer on the tail of that courier-killer, nopony's in this casino that wasn't in town when ya left. So I figure yer after somepony what came through here, or ya wouldn't've even stopped by. Am I right?"
"Dead right." I lifted my PipBuck so he could get a better look, prompting a short whistle of appreciation.
"Haven't seen one of those in more'n a decade. If it actually works, I'd say ya got yer 'bonus' early. Lemme guess, it toldja that the killers came to Slimm, huh?"
"Only bonus I'm looking for is measured in caps... gadgets like this won't feed the radhog." I brought up the device's map screen and gestured to the marker outlining the casino. "But yeah, it did, so - " Rambler nonchalantly leaned forward and double-tapped the 'Data' button next to the screen, which instantly switched first to the entry on 'Benny and the Jet-Heads', and then to a text description that was a bit more informative:
"Find out who in Slimm has seen Benny and his Cossack bodyguards."
Rambler chuckled. "Yep. Been more'n a decade, but I still remember that doctor fella showin' it off when he was askin' directions to Goodsprings. Poor cuss acted like if it wasn't on that little map there, a place might as well not exist."
I blinked. Then I scowled at the PipBuck and its traitorous failure to give me critical information which I'd never thought to ask it for. Then I felt my facial and throat muscles knotting up against the sound trying to claw its way out of my larynx.
"...nnnnnnngggghhhhffffffffFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF..."
So this wasn't even a pointer to Benny, only to somepony who'd seen him, and what, was I supposed to ask the entire goddess-damned town about it? Maybe I should get their names and occupations down on a little notepad while I was at it, set up a right proper fucking census or maybe -
"So, yeah, I seen them Cossack fellers. Buck in a checkered suit with 'em. That was this 'Benny'?"
The anger rushed out of me in a long gusty sigh, deflating my mood like an airship losing gas. Well, it was an improvement over bodily detonation, I suppose. "Yeah. By 'was', I take it you mean they're not still around?"
"Nope. They came into Slimm right behind the gangsters, not long before we all holed up in here. After the Mite-ys murdered Sheriff McBay and his wife in their sleep, Deputy Deagle got it into his head to try his hoof at bein' all snoopy. Got himself caught while listenin' in on a conversation between the Mite-y bosses and yer 'Benny' fella, and it wasn't long after that him and his Cossacks left town. Deagle might'a heard somethin' useful... which'd be about the only useful thing that yellow-tailed dude-rancher ever did, what I heard of."
As though in Deagle's defense, the PipBuck gave a slight beep and a message in muted green light flashed before my eyes:
"QUEST UPDATE: Find out from Deputy Deagle which way Benny went."
Punching the map back up revealed that the marker had moved across the street to Pinkie's Dance Hall. I stood there staring at it, trying to remember what Doc Hitchup'd said about how the hell it knew this stuff.
"Huh," Rambler muttered, peering at the little blip on the screen. "That'll be a right pain. Mite-ys made Pinkie's their headquarters after we corralled ourselves in here. Well, guess we'll be needin' both a new sheriff and a new deputy." I flicked the Pip-Buck's map off and rubbed my chin in thought for a moment.
"Don't suppose anypony's up for forming a rescue party...?" The old buck snorted a harsh laugh.
"Are you kiddin' me, kid? Look around. Everypony here's so scared out of their wits that they're ready to blast anypony what comes through those doors. If they had any sense, they'd be rippin' up some of these slot machines and card tables for barricades, but as it is, they're not gonna poke their heads outside for one of those snipers to pop without a lawpony to rally behind. No, they're gonna sit tight right here, until them Mite-ys realize all they need is to start chuckin' dynamite in and finish us off."
Great. Juuuuust great. A town of cowards in need of a badge to hide behind before it could grow a spine of its own. My gaze swept across the casino's main room, full of ponies getting drunk, or huddling in small muttering groups, or trying to comfort their crying brats, or meandering aimlessly past the figure of a Robronco Protectron in a cowpoke hat just standing there...
...wait, what?
I couldn't stop myself from giving dour old Nash Rambler a sly look. "Any law'll do, will it...?"
* * * * *
"Welcome, podner, to the Derpy and Dinky Casino, home of the Historically-Authentic Museum of the Pony Express! Let me give you the five-bit tour, absolutely free of charge, courtesy of your kind hosts here at the Derpy and Dinky!"
The Protectron line had been Robronco's all-in-one security and protocol model, ponderous but dependable. I looked the robot up one side and down the other, noting the pony-like conformation of its metallic withers, forelegs, and flanks. Besides its glued-on hat, it sported a faded paint job in the casino's grey-on-white colors, as well as enough synthetic nylon hair-plugs to almost outnumber those which had fallen out over the centuries. Its "cutie mark" seemed to resemble a pair of pony heads, tucked against one another and looking at the viewer, though the years had worn away all but the barest of outlines.
Yet for all of its obvious age, it seemed to be in top internal condition. Somepony had clearly been keeping up with at least its basic maintenance. I was reaching out to flip up its blue-resin faceplate and try my hoof at reconfiguring its mission-parameter settings, when it turned and started walking away with an automated "follow-me" tail-flick that managed to smack me right in the cheek.
"Speechless at such an offer, eh, friend? Well, I'm Slimm Two-None, your happy guide for today's tour! Prepare to be doubly amazed at the rich historical legacy of the first mailmares to service the Moohave Desert region!"
Luna blast me! I should have said something to hold the thing's electronic attention for at least another few moments... instead, I scrambled to catch up, only to collide with its rump a few paces later. What the hell - ?
The robot's head turned and flashed a soft blue light, indicating a short podium displaying a small bronze model of a pegasus pony pulling an archaic delivery cart. As best I could tell, the main two reasons it had never been stolen were that it was essentially useless and had been bolted to the floor. It was so beneath notice, no one had ever seen fit to even vandalize the little monument to a long-dead (and undoubtedly boring) civil servant.
"This here is an absolutely accurate rendition of the very first mailmare to deliver the post to Slimm, which itself raised the first post office for the Moohave region KZZZT POST-REBOOT ERROR: TIME AND DATE ENTRIES MISSING years ago!" I started for a moment at the sudden shift in pitch from 'jovial tour guide' to 'soulless machine' and back again, though of course the soulless machine took no notice whatsoever of its slip.
It was pretty obvious that I was going to have to endure the entire tour, unless I wanted to risk crashing the robot's operating system by interrupting its just-as-obvious primary function. Hoping this new delay wouldn't last too long, I gave the model and then the robot equally annoyed glances, then did a double-take... the little bronze pegasus actually was quite well-detailed, to the point you could see the bubbles that made up her flank-brand. But her eyes? I stifled a laugh before remembering the robot didn't care, and then cut loose with an honest-to-Celestia guffaw. Somepony'd gotten away with robbing the casino's owners, unless they'd intentionally paid good money to have those eyes pointed in completely opposite directions!
"We hasten to point out that she is only known hereabouts by the loving and respectful nickname of 'Derpy Hooves', since she was so diligent in her duties that she always left with the outgoing mail immediately after dropping her load, and never left her real name on the record! Rumors of lawsuits concerning the use of her real name or likeness without her permission are utterly without basis."
I had my own notions for the nickname's origin, but as nopony nearby was going to care one way or the other, much less the robot, I kept them to myself.
A few more paces, and Two-None turned to gesture towards a little diorama where a wooden scale model of Pinkie's Dance Hall sat perfectly preserved in a thick glass case beneath a dim red lamp. I was more impressed by the fact that the case's preservation spell hadn't failed after more than two centuries of continuous operation. A full quarter of the model's roof had been staved in by a huge load of pianos, anvils and hay bales which had clearly fallen from a red wagon directly above. Both the wagon and its harnessed owner, who looked terribly embarrassed, hung from thin wires to present the cheap illusion that they were hovering.
"There are also no records to confirm that her first load was dropped directly through the roof of the, ahem - establishment - across the street from our fair casino. But we here at the Derpy and Dinky assure you that such slanderous rumors regarding our beloved historical heroines only serve to demonstrate why your time is better served enjoying our excellent selection of games and diversions!"
I followed my mechanical tour guide, feeling a little better despite my desire to be back on Benny's trail. He couldn't go north along the blocked-off Imperial 15, and he hadn't gone west to New Coltifornia --- so he'd either gone south around the mountains towards the Coltorado River and the fringes of Herd territory, or cut directly east across Slimm Pass into No-Pony and then north along the I-95 to New Pegas. There was nowhere else to run but the unforgiving desert wastes.
"To my left you can see a painstakingly-recreated full-size replica of Derpy Hooves' very own delivery cart! Powered by genuine Robronco SuperSpark batteries (rechargeable for a full millennium of regular use when given proper routine maintenance by certified Robronco technicians), her little red wagon is probably still flying today --- so the next time you think of getting your little red wagon fixed, think Robronco SuperSparks!"
I was still betting that a buck smart enough to rip off Mr. Horse wasn't stupid enough to go back to the city he ruled with a robot police force, but if I guessed wrong I was only going to fall further behind in my pursuit. A few minutes lost here shouldn't be that much of an issue...
...I looked up from my musings to realize that the robot's tour had moved out of the main hall and into a large side wing of the casino. A wing entirely devoted to mailmares and the history of Equestrian postal delivery, of which we'd only progressed through a tenth so far. Slimm Two-None continued to expound upon the purported relevance of a collection of non-functional vehicles, every one of which would have needed a pegasus to pull them even if they were operational. Not even somepony from the so-called 'Grand Pegasus Enclave' could possibly have found this interesting!
A few moments, spent pounding my face against the faux-marble surface of the nearest vehicular display dais, helped immensely with centering myself and surely contributed to the continued longevity of a stupid, stupid, stupid tourist-trap robot.
"Although regular mail and parcel deliveries were eventually collectivized under the Equestrian Postal Service, it was through the efforts of Derpy Hooves that the gallant mailmares of her day collaborated to create its fore-runner --- the vaunted Pony Express. Throughout the frontiers of Equestria, relay stations were established to ensure fresh spark batteries, water and hay would be available to these doughty delivery-pioneers. Those stations in turn eventually became the basis for our modern Imperial Highway systems, along which you can today find more extensive and luxurious services provided by the smiling attendants of such companies as Hippocampus Energy and Solstice Solar!"
Okay, now I was gnashing my teeth.
"And of course, the Pony Express continues to thrive even today as a private parcel-delivery corporation whose local offices are right across the street. Stop in and receive a one-time five-percent discount on any single delivery, just for mentioning that Derpy and Dinky sent you!"
While technically that might actually be of some small value to somepony, it was based on the assumption that Nash Rambler gave enough of a damn to honor the promises of pre-War tourbots. Come to think of it, he probably would. Did this thing have ANYTHING to say that wasn't wrapped up in an advertisement?!
Two-None stopped again, this time at a full-size statue of a little unicorn filly sitting on her haunches with a vapid smile carved into her slate-gray face.
"But how could we tell the tale of the Pony Express without mentioning the other darling of our tour, Dinky? You probably already know how that plucky little filly earned her cutie mark right here in Slimm, and how she'd already endeared herself to Slimm's residents through her playful antics and happy nature. But did you know that it was her attempt to fly alongside her famous mom which inspired the founding of Rep'corn Aerospace? If you ask nicely at the front desk, somepony will be happy to provide a map showing where you can find the legendary launch, ejection, and impact sites, for just a token fee..."
No. No it didn't. My right eye began to twitch.
At long last (easily a full hour by the Pip-Buck's built-in clock), Slimm Two-None completed its circuit and came to a halt back where it began in the main casino room. My brain was so dulled by the experience that I smacked face-first into the robot's metal rump. As I shook my head to clear it of stars and fuzz, it began to repeat:
"Welcome, podner, to the Derpy and Dinky Casino..."
I leapt for the faceplate. "No! NOT AGAIN!" My fumbling hooves managed to lift the cover and punch the override before Two-None's programming switched modes from 'Greeting' back to 'Tour'.
"Let meeee giiiiiiii - " was all it managed, to my eternal relief. "Awaiting protocol affirmation."
I grunted, mouthing a screwdriver from my saddlebag and poking with it under the faceplate until I found the detent button. A gentle press, and the left-side casing of Two-None's skull popped open, revealing its internal workings. Gears, servos, power conduits, all embedded with tiny gems whose magical runeworkings ensured mutual mechanical and electronic cooperation. They also made it relatively easy to re-route power from one programming block to another. I didn't want to think about what kind of a nightmare the schematics for something like this would look like, if it ran purely on the physical laws of nature!
Flipping one cranial core this way, and another one that, achieved the seating I wanted --- one which would force the cerebral power supply directly into that part of Two-None's program block marked "Security". It was the work of moments to snap the skull casing back into its slots, press the master reset button, and flip the robot's faceplate back down. The rest would have to wait on...
"REBOOT COMPLETE. DIAGNOSTIC LOG FILED. SECURITY MODE: ACTIVE. Good day, sir or madam. Security Line 'Integral Millennium', Model Two-point-Zero, reporting all systems online and functional."
A grin stretched across my muzzle. "Nice to hear, 'podner'. Turns out we need a little law in this town..."
* * * * *
The good ponies of Slimm hadn't reacted with what I would have called overwhelming enthusiasm to Two-None's change in behavior, but Rambler'd been right: all they really needed was an authority figure of some kind to get behind.
Literally. When the casino's internal lights were doused and its doors opened, it was only just wide enough for the robot to ponderously but dependably make its way into the open street. To what little credit they deserved, the townsfolk didn't immediately slam the doors closed again, but instead watched through the gap to see what would happen.
What happened was that after about a minute, a 'patrol' of three carousing Mite-ys staggered down the street and into range of Two-None's engagement sensors. The robot turned, shining strangely in the flickering firelight from the trash barrels about the intersection, and almost seemed to nod its equinelike head towards the hoodlums before speaking.
"Stop right there, criminal scum!" For a moment, they actually did. A beer bottle dropped, smashing on the pavement; somepony cursed the loss of alcohol.
I slipped out the door and into the shadows as two of the three Mite-ys, still a quarter-block away, drew pistols and opened fire on Two-None. The third, a unicorn, began lighting and flinging sticks of dynamite, each one briefly glowing with snot-green magic as it was telekinetically hurled. Two-None's security-red eyebeams blazed magical streams of sizzling energy back, not terribly accurately, but much more so than the Mite-ys were managing.
As it turned out, drunken unicorns don't tend to throw very accurately either. Dumbass Dynamite managed to detonate his first two sticks harmlessly in the plant-less concrete planters fringing the exterior of Pinkie's Dance Hall. The third smacked one of the pistolponies right in the backside of his noggin, causing him to stop and turn with a yell at Dumbass --- only to notice the sputtering stick now resting on his withers. He tried to spin away -
BOOM went the dynamite, drowning out the sound of a pony being blasted in half by explosive force as gibbets of red flesh spattered in all directions. The look on Dumbass' face was so hilarious that I only managed to half-stifle a belly laugh before getting my concentration back on edging around the firefight.
It was close to midnight, but the few snipers up on what was left of Pinkie's old roller coaster were wakeful enough. Their single-shot rifles began adding lead to the fracas, impacts smacking the asphalt around Two-None. Occasionally one would manage a hit, but so did Two-None, burning down the second pistolero with unrelenting incarnadine fire before turning on Dumbass.
Meanwhile, every Mite-y within earshot came running towards the sound of explosions and gunfire, while the general citizenry of Slimm came boiling out of the casino in a furious mob-herd at the sight of Two-None's so-far-successful foray. At the sight of charging ponies, Dumbass tried something that would've been smart thirty seconds ago --- running like hell. But Two-None had already ranged him in and took the fleeing Mite-y in the right hindleg, shearing it cleanly away in a burst of ruby light. He hit the pavement screaming, which I'd have said was mercifully cut short by two axe-wielding Earth ponies that caught up to him thereafter, if I'd thought he deserved any mercy to start with.
Now the battle developed into a pair of what a tactically-minded pony might have called 'meeting engagements'; small groups of Mite-ys colliding here and there with similarly-sized groups of townsponies. Each end of the street became consumed with the staccato of gunfire, explosions from thrown (and sometimes re-thrown) dynamite, and clatterings of both sharp and blunt objects against lightly-barded or unprotected flesh. Meanwhile, up above, the Mite-y snipers fired almost randomly into the swirling chaos.
Which meant that they weren't paying any attention to anypony who might've somehow snuck across the street and clambered up onto the coaster's tracks.
pyewt
My rifle's scope focus was excellent and I had no problems seeing well even at this hour of night, but my estimate for bullet spread at this range was off; the round whicked wide of my intended target. I worked my tongue against the bolt lever, ejecting the spent cartridge and ramming another home. Sniper One looked around wildly, his position and those of his buddies still marked via the red bars provided by my Pip-Buck's Eyes-Forward-Sparkle spell.
He had no such blessings. Had the moon been in a better position, or had I been standing instead of laying down on the coaster's half-rotten planks, or he had thought to keep one eye closed in order to keep it acclimated to the darkness while firing into the better-lit area battle zone below, he might have been able to spot me. He was still trying, instead of shouting a warning to his pals, when my second bullet took him in the neck.
His --- her --- gurgling scream was what alerted the others. A few moments later, clutching both forehooves to her throat in a panicked attempt to somehow breathe through an airway full of blood, she pitched over the railing and hit the ground with a headfirst crunch. By that time, two of the three other snipers were filling my general vicinity with whizzing bits of lead, and I was trying to minimize the number of splinters gouging my shins while scooting backwards along the aging wooden track.
They kept plinking at the spot where I'd been for a minute, but eventually turned their attentions back to the bigger battle on the ground. Either they thought they'd nailed me, or that I'd been driven off --- it was clear that they couldn't see a thing at this distance. I shifted further backwards, until I reached a curve in the track with a slight rise obscuring me from direct view of at least one of the snipers, then took my time lining up on another. The side of his head centered itself in the scope's reticle, a crisp dark shade of cool green against the backlighting of a moon-filled sky.
Breathe and bide...
pyewt
Footnote: Level Up.
Skill Note: Guns (50)
Author's Note:
I hereby dedicate this chapter to legendary cowboy actor Slim Pickens, who would probably punch me dead in the face if he were alive to read this. |
Calbeck | 679 | 3 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-05-22T09:52:03+00:00 | 2016-01-21T23:05:54+00:00 | 6,987 | CHAPTER THREE: Dance Hall Daze
"That was the worst performance we've ever seen."
As Rambler had affirmed, it hadn't been all that hard to scramble up one of the broken sections of coaster track nearest to the ground, and that section did indeed eventually lead to the coaster's old passenger platform. I hadn't even had to waste rounds on the other snipers, after downing the first two, before reaching it.
Weather-faded posters of a fishnet-clad pony smilingly demonstrated the need for safety belts, admonished expectant mothers (as well as those ponies under the influence of a variety of listed intoxicants) that they might have more fun on the Dance Hall's ground floor, and declared no liability for injuries to ponies who did not keep their hooves inside the coaster cars at all times. I caught myself wondering why anypony would bother whizzing around on a rickety wooden framework in a vehicle they had no control over, just to end up where they started a minute later.
Then I growled at myself for being distracted when there was a lock to pick. I'd already broken two bobby pins, though once I managed to focus myself again the lock clicked open readily enough. Something about that pink pony just annoyed the hell out of me.
Nopony met me inside the door, or showed themselves as I crept quietly along the dimly-lit hallway beyond, keeping an eye on the red bars appearing in my Eyes-Forward-Sparkle. It made sense that Deputy Deagle would be up here somewhere, since if he managed to break free he'd either have to jump two floors onto solid concrete or fight his way to the front doors. Going out onto the coaster would have exposed him to sniper fire, and every other exit had either been piled up with dumpsters or boarded over by previous generations of squatters and owners.
Though the original interior design had been well-lit and done up in bright cheerful colors with a distinctly archaic "western" motif, only perhaps one in five lights still functioned in some fashion, and the walls were now covered in crude graffiti and smashed picture frames. Formerly-plush carpet had been reduced to frayed coatings of discolored fuzz where ponies who couldn't be bothered to use a bucket had unloaded their various bodily exhumations. There was nothing here that somepony hadn't wantonly defaced in the decades between historical hellfire and modern damnation.
What mattered right now was that Pinkie's was an entertainment venue. No two places had identical floorplans, but they did share common concepts --- like traffic flow. The flow my immediate vicinity had been designed for had revolved around hundreds of roller-coaster enthusiasts boarding and debarking from the platform I'd just left. Thus the hall leading to that doorway was exceptionally wide and long, with alcoves for water fountains and restrooms, in order to serve the needs of ponies standing on line for the ride.
It didn't hurt that the smashed-in model back at the Mailmare Museum had revealed a goodly portion of the actual floorplan... well, that part which hadn't been completely buried under an unlikely collection of exceptionally heavy delivery items.
I crept along the left-side wall in as much shadow as the intermittent flickery light would allow for, keeping a close mouth on my rifle and one eye on the red bars in my EFS. As I moved along, I used some fancy mathematics --- really, just guesstimating at some triangulation --- to determine that there were a lot of them piled into one area and perhaps a half-dozen actually roaming around. The further down the hall I went, the more apparent it became that the large group wasn't even on this floor. Worse, neither was there a green or amber bar to indicate somepony who meant me no harm.
That meant one of two things: either Deputy Deagle's indicator was masked by the mob of reds, or he'd been convinced to join the Mite-ys. I stopped for a moment to rub my forehead with a hoof; I couldn't damned well interview every Mite-y I ran across to see if they were Deagle. Or maybe the EFS was on the blink and it just wasn't picking up non-hostiles with so many red bars on display.
This hallway dead-ended amidst some collapsed walls further down, but it intersected another hall first, and as I peeked around the corner with one eye my first Mite-y came into view.
It was a lone earth pony, drinking whiskey straight from the bottle, and his weapon --- a fire axe swathed in duct tape--- leaned against the wall while he took his swig. I grinned the smile of a devil around my silenced rifle, sighting in on a particular part of Whiskey's exposed anatomy...
* * * * *
Whiskey and I occupied a room that hadn't been cleaned since balefire.
The glossy-black buck sat there, still clutching himself, hissing through his teeth and cursing under his breath. They were the only sounds I'd allowed him, and that much only because I'd've had to kill him to stop that much. Getting shot in the groin wasn't something you "toughed out". He'd have started screaming once the shock wore off, if I hadn't shoved a healing potion down his throat, but it was still working through the damage done.
"You fucker. You fuck. You fuckin' fucker of a fuckwad..."
Ah, now he was getting coherent. Good. I brought the rifle up, sighted between his eyes so Whiskey got a good look right down the barrel, and said nothing. Something flinty burned, way back in those hazel corneas.
"A deal, huh. I'd be dead already if you didn't want a deal. Well yeah, I can be a smart pony when I gotta. Whaddya want from me? And if you say my ass, you better shoot me first." I kept my voice low and slow, my tongue close to the trigger.
"Where's the town deputy? I've got business with him."
Whiskey grinned wide. "Hell, buck, I'll give you a demon-blessed escort. Can't say my friends'll be big on your visitation, but that ain't for me to say..."
I clicked the hammer back, slowly. Didn't want to slip doing it. It had the desired effect; he swallowed visibly.
"Fuck, buck, just a joke. He's in the ground-floor kitchen. You still got my buddies on this floor, three of 'em, plus five downstairs, then everypony else's in the big hall downstairs partying. Fuckers kicked my ass up here for putting moves on the boss' filly, fuck 'em all for all I care. Stupid robot show anyways."
I smiled around the rifle grip. "Thanks."
pyewt
* * * * *
The top floor hadn't been hard. Like Whiskey said, there were only a few other Mite-ys and all of them were social rejects quietly mourning their temporary exile in one way or another. I was a bit quieter, though.
The flight down was when the trouble really started, with another Mite-y walking through the lower-landing door just as I arrived. Rotten timing on my part, plus it took three rounds to down him, yelling the whole time. Past his collapsing body I saw his backup galloping hard down the hallway, so I fled upstairs, barely making it off the upper landing when a pair of nine-millimeter rounds grazed my retreating hindquarters.
I'd emptied the rifle's magazine, cursing myself for forgetting to reload when I had the chance, and the last thing I wanted was to add more gunfire noise to the battle by resorting to the ten-mil. The odds were already two-to-one and could become twice as bad in no time if Whiskey's info was still good. I darted into the nearest room, still occupied by the cooling body of the half-toothless mare who'd lived there just a minute ago, and activated my PipBuck's inventory system.
The damn thing could even dress you in a hurry, for Luna's sake!
When I made my selection and let it go, the Clothier spell pulled the horseshoe set from my saddlebags, removed and stored their silencing rags, lifted my entire body just enough to slide the shoes under, and dropped me into them perfectly. I was almost ready to buck.
They already were. The first slid into the doorway with a practiced skid, stopping herself with a hoof against the jamb, and giggled, taking a moment to limber up with the baseball bat slung over her shoulder. She was easily twice my height, with a left foreleg covered in dozens of needle-marks, one of which was exceptionally fresh. The air stank of Stampede.
In another time and place, she might even have been gorgeous --- a silvery-gray with tousled orange forelocks and a tail down to the floor. Only the hellish drug-fueled glow in her dark blue eyes, and the pockmarked foreleg, ruined the view. Well, that, and the pre-War baseball uniform she had on, theoretically white at some point but now sporting a collection of red splotches. Some of which were very fresh.
Her friend slid in behind, a catcher's mask over his royal-blue face, beneath which showed the edges of a knowing smile. He smacked the power-puncher he wore on one hoof into the catcher's mitt he wore on the other.
"Batter up."
She started sashaying towards me, gripping the bat high on its choke, sidling a bit to my left... oooh, she was planning to enjoy this, taking her time to set up that first swing, knowing that if I tried to dash past her Catcher was waiting to power-punch me right back into the room.
I'd have been in much worse trouble if she'd been more about business than pleasure. The delay gave me the chance to bring up the PipBuck's inventory sorter again. Buck, Dash, healing potion, go. The device's needle-array flushed the intoxicants directly into my bloodstream; I felt an immediate surge of strength and pent-up speed ripple through my body.
Batter saw the change-up start, stepped in, and swung for the bleachers. I saw the bat's length coming for my head as though in slow-motion, ducked under it, and kept going. I squirmed right under the big mare's belly, saw Catcher get ready for me to try and run for home... but I was just fine right here at second base.
Being small, I wasn't all that strong, but even a foal could punch your teeth out if you fed it Buck. I braced all four hooves and shoved straight up into Batter's cream-colored belly, my head seated in her crotch. As she lifted off the floor with an indignant squawk I arched my neck, neatly flipping the amazon onto her face. Her tail and rump lashed angrily at the air as the rest of her body started to overcome inertia and return earthwards.
Now, the great thing about Dash? It's named for Rainbow Dash, the legendary super-speedster. You'd never win a mare-a-thon with the stuff, but anypony trying to beat you in a sprint would have to be on the same stuff to have a chance. So I still had the initiative when I gave Batter's momentarily-exposed belly a double-kick of Buck-fueled awesome that sent her flying, upside-down and backwards, into the bathroom. She smashed into the lavatory, pulverizing the rotted linoleum and particle board.
They say a wise pony once said, "Don't get cocky, kid." I'd never met that pony. I turned on Catcher, thinking Batter was down for the count and not wanting to get hit from behind while trying to finish her off. My first indicator that I'd been exactly and precisely wrong in that assessment was the burst of stars in my vision, and the feeling that my spinal column had decided to shut down for summer vacation. Only my leather barding, its reinforcement padding having been replaced back in Goodsprings, prevented my entry into a new and undoubtedly short career as a paraplegic.
I went over with a thud and a groan that welled up from some inner core of being I never knew I'd had and didn't want to remember having in the future. Batter stood over me, covered in plaster dust like some kind of evil clown --- come to think of it, were there any that weren't? --- and snorted hard, twice, before the bat came down again and again and again.
There's a birthday game colts and fillies play in some parts of Coltifornia, picked up from mules, who call themselves burros in those parts. You fill a paper pony full of candy, lift it on a rope so that it hangs in the air, and then the birthday foal gets to beat it with a stick until the candy comes out.
Viva piñata.
There were four reasons I didn't die in those few minutes:
One: Batter still wanted to enjoy herself. One or two whacks to my unprotected head would've done the job, but she wanted me to suffer for that embarrassing flip. Instead of a clean kill, she tried turning my torso into pony jam.
Two: Stampede, Dash and Buck all last the same amount of time --- for ponies of the same size. The bigger you are, the more it takes to keep you fueled. When Batter's Stampede ran out, my Buck and Dash were still going. So was my healing potion, for that matter --- I didn't heal up much between each new bruise, but it kept me going.
Three: coming down is a stone-cold bitch, no matter what you take. Batter was having too much fun pounding the fuck out of me through my reinforced leather barding, so much so that when the 'Pede wore off she actually staggered and fell over.
Four: Catcher was too stunned, as I got up despite my battering and literally stomped Batter to death, to do more than gawp. When I turned to face him, blowing hard and covered with her gore, he tucked tail and disappeared around the corner in a blue-rumped blaze of cowardice. If he'd stuck around another five seconds, he'd have seen me stagger to what was once a mattress and collapse onto it.
* * * * *
With each step back down the stairs, my brain said, You should have just shot the fuckers. Ow. You should have just shot the fuckers. Ow. You should have just shot the fuckers. Ow.
Then again, I wasn't sure I could have done any better with bullets, not in such close quarters. My barding was now officially just as beaten to shit as it had been when I'd arrived in Goodsprings, and the rest of me looked about as bad even after the healing potion had done its job.
Slowly and more carefully this time, I made my way through the second floor hallways with silenced rifle at the ready. But a bit more triangulation with EFS made me realize none of its red bars were up here anymore. My bet was that during the fifteen minutes of fun-games-recuperation I'd just been through, everypony else had decided to join the party downstairs.
One final stairwell, and I started getting that feeling in my bowels again. Nopony saw me coming down, which was good. There were only a couple of red bars near the front doors, the work of a few minutes slipping through the shadows of the poorly-lit concourse, and a few silenced five-point-fifty-six rounds thereafter. Everypony else was clearly having a high old time in the Party Hall at the concourse's opposite end.
I knew it was a Party Hall because every few yards was an ancient sign with a dancing Pinkie in a different pose, extolling a variety of shows for an equally diverse variety of clienteles. Birthday parties, going-away parties, community craft parties, executive-staff seminar parties...
It took a couple of precious minutes, but I finally found the servants' corridor to the back of the kitchen. Still no bar indicating a non-hostile Deagle. So many red bars that I couldn't tell if some might be in the kitchen instead of the Party Hall. Well... at this point, the way out the front doors were clear. If he wasn't amenable to reason or threats, or things otherwise went sour, running was a definite option.
Stealth, however, had nearly reached the end of its uses. Away went the rifle, out came the hardy solidity of the ten-millimeter pistol. I slowly twisted the doorknob lever, edged it open, and thrust myself inside, sliding towards the opposite wall with my pistol cocked and ready...
...and right into Deputy "Dude" Deagle's pulverized corpse, if the dented badge was a clue.
Batter had scored before I even got into the game.
* * * * *
"Hey! Hey! Does this thing work? Yeah, okay. Look, it's spinnin'. Back the fuck off, it's mine, I offed the little bitch, I get to say it.
"So yeah! Deputy Dumb-Fuck Deagle is dead. There's a poem in that, like I give a shit. Only reason we didn't blow his head off when we caught 'im is 'cause Benny didn't wanna watch. Citified pussy thinks everythin's about 'style', or some shit. Said he couldn't shoot this one courier fucker up in Goodsprings unless he did it to his face. If the Cossacks weren't backin' 'im up, I'd say he couldn'ta done it even then.
"But Benny ain't here no more. Bosses didn't want his deal, either. We got Slimm, we got the NCR's fuckin' prison and dynamite bunkers, we even got fuckin' Stable Nineteen. Fuck all y'all."
Well... shit. I sat back on my haunches in the back of the deserted kitchen, and blew out a long sigh. Deagle's blood, unnoticed in my sudden funk, began to pool around my flanks.
All that, just to find a dead body that couldn't tell me a damn thing about where Benny'd gone. That plus a recorded gloat-fest worth not a godsdamn -
*klik*
"Wish I could figger out how to record over this 'testing testing testing' bit. Hate waiting like... oh, that's the green light? Okay, ahem. Deputy Deagle Goldentail here... yeah, that sounds pretty good.
"Anyways, I'm watching that city colt right now, the one in the checkered outfit. Him and his big-gang buddies're talking to the Mite-ys about some kinda deal. Say they're gonna head back up to New Pegas after this, by way of Nipton and then Big Rock City, in case they wanna reconsider, so I guess the Mite-ys said no. Talk about your long way back around. I'm gonna stay hunkered in these bushes here 'til they leave and then - oh crap, they're coming this way!"
*klik*
I sat there with the holotape in my hooves, staring at it, literally unable to believe my luck. If Deagle hadn't been so incapable, if I hadn't been so disgusted with the situation that I just sat down instead of trashing the recorder in frustration, this one crucial clue would have slipped past me. The time I'd thought wasted had actually paid off.
If I got out of here now --- and nopony now stood between me and the exit --- I could leave this town to its own issues, make the hop-skip-and-jump across the Slimm Pass to Nopony, and just keep my eyes peeled for a black-and-white-checkered payoff to trot my way.
I leaped to my hooves, promptly slipped on a still-congealing puddle of Deagle's blood, flailed about for purchase in a way I'm sure would have been comedy gold if anypony had been watching, and fell backwards into a bank of switches with a yelp. I was still tender in that spot.
Instantly the doors leading out to the Party Hall, as well as the one to the servants' corridor, blew outwards. A smattering of yells sounded from the raucous celebration already ongoing as the flying debris hit somepony out there. Slats in the kitchen ceiling above each doorway opened up, from which blast doors slammed down to cut off my escape in either direction.
I was trapped!
So, apparently, were the Mite-ys. There were a few more yells I could barely hear, then definitely some cursing, and finally hammering and clanking noises. I was almost too busy frantically looking over the door which blocked my way back to the corridor to notice, when a panel in the other, bigger blast door slid open to reveal... a window.
Wait, what?
My curiosity got the better of me. Why would you put a blast door in and then add a --- oh, the bulletproof kind, thick as hell and multilayered to boot. Still, why would you need or want to look out of a kitchen into...
...into that.
* * * * *
Mite-ys yelled, Mite-ys screamed, Mite-ys bludgeoned the blast doors with sledgehammers and axes. After a few minutes of that, some of them remembered there were a lot of Mite-ys in that room, which meant they also had a lot of dynamite. Some ponies started rounding up sticks and fuse line, while others began checking the walls to find the best point for setting the charges.
They may not have had a heckuva lot on the ball in general, but they'd been the blasting teams for the NCR's railroad-reclamation project. Mite-ys knew how to blow large holes through inanimate objects... given some time and no distractions.
That's when the room lights went down, prompting another round of screaming, and the stage lights went up. So did the once-lush-and-now-threadbare curtains, revealing an old-style dressing screen marked in fleur-de-lis matched to an overstuffed sofa chair and baroque moodlamps. Crimson wallpaper marked in fading silhouettes of overinflated balloons on strings dominated the scene, out into which cantered a happy-go-lucky cowpoke pony in a smart little suit and a tall ten-gallon hat.
He creaked audibly as he ran, even from behind the blast doors. Everypony in the Party Hall turned to stare, their explosive endeavors momentarily forgotten.
Stupid robot show anyways, Whiskey had said.
The Mite-ys had been using this hall for entertainment. I looked back at the bank of switches I'd bumped into, the one prominently marked 'Master Party Control Panel'. I'd flipped, entirely by accident, the levers for "Bachelor Party", 'Five Minute Delay', and 'Emergency Protocols'. My destiny was now in the hooves of a Luna-fuck-me-with-a-barber-pole animatronic show. Meanwhile, the happy-cowpoke robot was speaking to the nervous crowd.
"And now, folks! That gal y'all been waitin' for! The Ponyville Prom-Queen herself! Let's hear it for: PINKIUS von PINK!" Tossing its hat into the air and catching it in its mouth for an introductory wave, the announcer pony galloped off the stage to the right just as a familiar pink one entered slowly from the left.
'Pinkius von Pink' was the pony from all the posters, from the neon sign outside, but instead of those ridiculous fishnet stockings she was now garbed primly in a businesspony's outfit.
TOO primly. The polka-dotted bowtie and purple bowler hat, combined with a lipstick too red even for the likes of her, made the attire an unnatural mockery, which she played upon with burlesque flair as she swung her hips in behind her and addressed the crowd.
"Thank you, fillies and gentlecolts. And now, I would like to favor you, with my world-famous rendition of 'I'm Tired'. The song that closed Hoofington!"
Despite their predicament, some of the Mite-ys actually began cheering the show on, others sitting down to relax with the drinks they'd been chugging beforehoof. Blast doors or not, it was just a show, and they acted like they'd never seen this one. When some tried yelling about getting the blasting taken care of first, they were shouted down and not a few beer bottles got thrown their way. Suddenly nopony was in a big hurry to leave.
"But right before I do, I would like to slip into something a little more... comfortable. With your kind permission...?"
The Party Hall exploded with a ragged chorus of "PERMISSION GRANTED!".
Pinkius von Pink gave a little bow from the neck. "You're too kind." She walked behind the screen, a slightly melancholy melody began to play from somewhere, and much too quickly for a real pony to actually have changed that many clothes, she reappeared... and I facehoofed.
It was the exact outfit from the sign. Feathers, lace, fishnet stockings, bustle --- everything a lusty cowpoke from the oldest days of Appleloosa might have gone for, a complete dance-hall-floozy caricature. The Mite-ys ate it up, hooting and hollering appreciatively. At a robot in lipstick, strutting and gesturing melodramatically across the stage.
[APPROPRIATE MUSIC:] I'm Tired!
Here I stand, the goddess of Desire
Set colts on fire... I have this power.
Morning, noon and night, it's drink and dancing
Some quick romancing... and then a shower.
Here it stood on its hindlegs, affecting a too-severe look of reproach with forehooves on hips:
Stage door johnnies always surround me,
They always hound me, with one request...
Who can satisfy their lustful habits? I'm not a rabbit! I need some rest...
To which line a little bot-bunny responded, dutifully hopping across the stage until Pinkius gave it a boot offstage, prompting gales of laughter. I wasn't quite sure if it was ironic that this audience wouldn't have thought twice about doing the same thing to a real rabbit, so long as they got to shoot and cook it afterwards. Feigning sloth as only a robot --- well, really shouldn't be able to do --- Pinkius flopped backwards into the sofa chair and moaned out her tune.
I'm tired...
Sick and tired of love...
I've had my fill of love...
From below and above!
She rose to begin the stage-strut anew, albeit in a slightly lower key, as though annoyed with the crowd's scattered tittering over the previous line. What a bunch of little colts...
Tired, tired of being admired,
Tired of love uninspired...!
Let's face it, I'm tired!
The tempo picked up slightly, the key a half-octave, the strut not at all. Mouths were openly drooling onto the floor. I began to worry --- this was a lot weirder than it really should be, even given the circumstances. I shouldn't even be able to see this, except somepony had provided a window! If not for this very purpose, of watching this reaction to this show, then why?
I've been with thousands of colts
And all of them dolts!
They sing the same tune.
Now Pinkius became quite a bit more animated, gesticulating at the audience, then to herself, and finally the ceiling...
They start with choccies and jellies
Then jump on your belly
And bust your balloon!
Half of the ceiling panels slid open, forming an overhead checkerboard pattern. From each open panel, a little bouquet of three bright balloons, one yellow and two blue, floated downwards. The stage lighting, suddenly shifting, speared the dimness to pick these out for the benefit of this audience, criminals and murderers all. Each of whom, to a pony, followed upward with their eyes.
Just in time to watch each bouquet drop the grenades tied beneath.
* * * * *
I picked myself up off the floor and shook myself out, checking for damage. Aside from a slight ringing in my ears which was already beginning to fade out, I hadn't seemed to pick up any new bruises despite having just been thrown into a wall by a concussion wave. I'd be dead now if not for the Party Hall's blast door...
...which, of its own accord, slid open.
Ooookaaay, getting a little creepy here. Especially since, whether by malfunction or design, the way back remained a silent and impregnable barrier. It made a certain amount of sense that the kitchen's blast doors were probably intended to protect anypony within from the destruction without, but why would you want the cooks and waiters to exit their safe refuge through a room that had just turned into a killing zone? Had this room doubled as a security redoubt? If so, why wasn't there at least an override terminal for one or both of the doors? Why the window?
It didn't make any sense...
And then a clapping rhythm started up, followed by the start of a bouncy little tune: the mechanical dance troupe was launching into another song. What, had somepony planned to kill off the Hall's own service staff? Was that why the door had opened only in that direction? Who the hell designed this crazy death-trap of a family entertainment venue!?
I hit the floor again, pressing close against the interior wall and squeezing my eyes shut, hoping against hope that I might survive whatever new destruction was about to be unleashed in my direction and hating myself for helplessly cowering there...
...wait.
The verses began to register. My eyes widened, a creeping shiver working itself up and down my mane.
This is your singing birthday-gram, we think you're really swell!
You have our greatest sympathy, your life's a living hell!
So many years have come and gone, we waited for this date,
Because we think you have the chance for doing something great!
Burning curiosity seized my brain. Crawling on my belly to the edge of the doorway, I peeked into the Party Hall and was met by one image I expected and one I didn't. The one I did, was of a room scattered with the sort of charnel mess you'd expect to see if a squad of Steel Rangers had surrounded a camp of bandits and then cut loose with rapid-fire grenade launchers. Torn and dismembered bodies, blood spattered everywhere, random scatterings of blast-amputated limbs and personal belongings.
What I didn't expect --- who could have? --- was the cheerful array of a dozen animatronic performers all looking at, and singing to, me. Not to the room in general. Just me, gawping at them from the kitchen doorway.
We're sorry that there is no cake, we kept some presents, though!
Come out and join the party, 'cause you've got nowhere to go!
We're not about to hurt you, seeing you will be enough!
And since this is your party, we'll refrain from getting rough!
So please come out and say hello, we won't blow you away!
'Cause Pinkie wants to talk to you on this, your special day!
In perfectly choreographed unison, they all cheered and applauded and smiled, none more so than "Pinkie" herself --- itself. After a few moments the chorus line all stepped back into the shadows of the stage, leaving the single bright-pink robopony standing there in feathers, frilled dress, and fishnets. She --- it --- cocked its head at me with a slight whirring noise.
"C'mon out, Cherry! Honest, nopony's going to hurt you!"
Cherry. The damn thing knew my name... That gave me confidence, strangely enough. If somepony'd gone to the trouble of figuring out I was coming here and setting this whole thing up just to talk to me via hijacking these old 'bots --- well, it might be peculiar as all hell, sure, but at least it meant negotiations were on the table. Gift dragons, mouths, and so on. I slowly stood back up and stepped fully into the Party Hall, keeping my head up high and away from my weapons.
The kitchen door slammed shut. I reflexively spun about, only to notice belatedly that the main doors hadn't even re-opened. Now I was trapped in a much larger coffin --- assuming that my gracious host, whoever they were, decided to terminate our interview in hostile fashion. I hoped that anypony willing to go to this much effort had less sanguinary thoughts in mind.
The robopony, or whomever was controlling it, took no apparent notice of my discomfort. Its voicebox giggled annoyingly and then the thing leaped straight up into the air, flung its forehooves out in a mechanized mockery of joy it certainly wasn't capable of feeling, and shouted,
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
Wait, what?
Bright lights and explosions flashed all around. If I hadn't already vacated my bowels at the Derpy & Dinky, I'd've done so on the spot. As it was, I was too stunned to move as streamers and confetti in brilliant primary colors fluttered down all around me. The ponybot was bouncing around me in a circle, cheering like a complete idiot over and over again. It was just way too much to deal with.
"It's not my damned birthday!" I yelled, rearing my head back. "I don't even know when that is! You sure as hell don't, and even if you did, why the fuck should you care about it any more than I do?!"
The pink automaton stopped, spun to face me, and oooooooohed disapprovingly. "Such language! Well, if you don't know when your birthday is, any day is fine, right?" Its head twisted almost entirely upside down and, from that weird angle, gave me an expectant look which threw me for a bit of a loop.
"Ummm... I guess that makes some kind of sense... to somepony..."
She somehow managed to beam, despite having a rubber face covering muscles of metal and plastic. "See? Just listen to your Auntie Pinkie and you'll do just fine." I snorted disgustedly.
"If you knew my parents, let alone were related to them, you wouldn't be bragging about it, whoever the hell you are. Enough of these games, all right? You obviously have some sort of business with me, so let's get down to it."
It rolled its sapphire-blue eyes --- probably actually inset with real sapphire, which made me wonder briefly how much they might be worth to a trader --- exaggeratedly. "Well, I'm not really your Auntie Pinkie, I guess. I'm more like your Great-Great-Auntie Pinkie, on your mother's side, which is really kind of sad because she didn't have a nice life, and neither did her mother, and even my own sister Inkie ended kind of badly... but it still all ended up with you, so maybe it wasn't so bad for everypony after all!"
Now I was getting angry, despite the bad tactical situation, but bringing my rotten lousy family into this and trying to claim kinship? Whoever was behind this whole setup had miscalculated, badly.
"Not so bad, huh. Sold for a pack of nose-dust, not so bad? Why don't you come out from wherever you're hiding and say that to my face." It wasn't a question, so much as an invitation. But the robot just sighed, visibly drooping.
"I suppose I shouldn't have hoped you might relax a bit. There aren't many places on the Tree where you do, so... I guess I have to show you what's really going on first."
A hole in the ceiling opened up, something dropping down out of it and startling me before I realized it was a mirror. Without even thinking, I looked to see myself, with the Pinkie-bot standing behind and gazing into my reflected eyes.
My sapphire-blue eyes, so closely matched that hers could have been modeled on mine. My rosy-pink hide, several shades redder than her bubble-gum hues. Our manes were the least similar, hers a puffy mass like wrinkled old posters I'd occasionally seen around the wasteland advertising "cotton candy", while mine fell straight down in a wavy waterfall of golden-brown. Dad had called it 'Cherry pie crust'.
Why were my eyes tearing up all of a sudden? Why did I have to think about that memory, right now? I stared back at myself with the eyes of a stranger.
"What - " I started.
"- is wrong with me?" she finished. I snapped around, transferring my stare to her. She grinned wide and giggled. "Go ahead, say anything. It's on the Tree."
"Explosi-" I began.
"-ve decompression is a rotten way to go!" she interrupted, her grin if anything getting even wider. Scarily so. "See? Can I explain it now? Please please please?" The robot bounced in place with a disturbingly endearing expression. My haunches, still bloody with Deagle juice, found the floor of their own volition.
She bounced in place once more and cheered, apparently for my submission to this insanity. "Yay! Okay, it's like this, see? I've always had these little twitches, and shakes, and shivers, that predicted things were going to happen! Nopony could ever figure out why, least of all me, but I called it my Pinkie Sense! As I got older, found some friends, and started having fun wacky adventures with them, it got stronger until there was the whole war and then they made me a Ministry Mare and I threw parties to make everypony happy all over Equestria and then there was this ONE party where a friend of Rarity's sister Sweetie Belle --- you won't have met them --- introduced me to this special imported kind of peppermint stuff the zebras make!"
Half-breathless (could a robot BE breathless?), she stopped in her tracks for a moment and rubbed her chin with a hoof. "Well, made. I dunno if they still do." Then she fixed me with a disturbingly eye-bulging stare. "Which reminds me, Cherry. Promise me right now that you'll NEVER use anything addictive from here forward, never ever FOREVER."
"Um... okay?" If anything, I was more confused than ever. None of this made any sense, not at all, and on top of it I was getting the weirdest feeling that I was talking to the robot instead of whomever was in control. I was losing control of my own grip on reality instead... the filly stomped a hoof.
"Not just 'okie dokie lokie'! That won't do! This calls for a Pinkie Swear!" She sat on her rump opposite to me and began making a series of gestures in time with a rhyming cadence.
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" She pointed to me. "Now you do it!"
I felt like a complete idiot. Well, maybe I'd get out of this fix by giving somepony in a room full of camera monitors a laugh? The motions were unfamiliar and I fumbled through them until Pinkie actually reached across and guided my hooves, surprisingly gently. "Cross my heart... hope to fly... stick a cupcake... in my eye - OW!"
The robot eeped and withdrew her hoof. "Um, sorry about that. That happened to Twilight once too, but she did it without my help. Anyway, that's good enough." She got back to her hooves, while I still had trouble finding mine.
"So anyways," she began again, relaunching the madness, "I'd always been really really aware of things without even trying and had this weird Pinkie Sense thing going on, but WOW SISTER! did that minty stuff really open things up! I could see --- everypony. And what they'd been doing, and what they were going to do, and why, and at first it really scared the heck out of me, until Prince Goldenblood told me I needed to harness that power for the good of all Equestria! So I did!... or, at least, I thought I did. And that's why I don't want you doing the same kind of thing, because in the end I just made everything that much worse instead of stopping the things I should have."
Could mechanical eyes implore? "I looked for the bad ponies and zebras and mules and griffons and everything, but I couldn't stop myself from becoming a bad pony. The more I used, the more of the Tree I saw and the more I tried to prune the branches, but - "
I couldn't stop myself. "Tree? Branches? I don't get it --- or what any of that has to do with me." She shook her head firmly.
"You need to listen right now, this is really really important. It's --- it's maybe the last time I'll have my head together enough to do something like this. You see, everypony --- which isn't inclusive enough, but nevermind that --- everypony moves through time, and everypony makes decisions. Not only that, but everypony WILL make decisions. When you start looking ahead from where you are at any point in reality, you see that these decisions form branches. Like a tree.
"If I focus on any one pony, I can see where those branches go and trace them forward in time as well as back. I can see every decision they have made, and might make, but I can't tell which ones they actually will. So right now, for me, it's closing in on the end of the Zebra War and I have to stop myself from thinking about what's going to happen from day to day, or I'll just make everything worse than it already has to be. This Dance Hall was going to be the local hub for my Ministry of Morale, as close as I could get it to Las Pegasus without getting that Mr. Horse guy all in a snit, but there isn't going to be time now to finish it, so I'm re-purposing this animatronic show for you."
There went my third double-take of the night. "Mr. Horse? Not the - "
"Oh yeah, Mr. Horse! You'll find all that out from him, but I need to tell you about other stuff right now while I still can. So anyways, I looked down my sister Inkie's decision tree and found one where she had a filly, and that filly had a filly, and that filly had you, and then you came here --- which was a REALLY straight part of the Tree that really stood out from everything else nearby! And then I set things up so when you bumped into the Party Panel it would all be set to protect you, take care of all these bad ponies, and have this robot talk to you with every possible response on your part of the Tree accounted for! And that's been a lot of work, believe me! Whew!"
I rubbed my chin thoughtfully, giving the robot a long look, before replying. "And you did all this... why?"
Apparently, a robot can even look authentically wistful if its programmer is willing to take the necessary trouble. "Because you're the only family left to me, Cherry. I can't see much beyond your part of the Tree. It's just too... big. Too much happening, or that could happen. I'm not even really sure you'll ever hear or see this. But it's something I have to do.
"I couldn't save the Cakes, who practically adopted me. I couldn't save or even warn my own parents, or my sisters Inkie and Blinkie. I was so wrapped up in parties and adventures and more parties and spying on other ponies that I never had time for any of them or the old rock farm where I grew up."
I was not about to interrupt to ask how or why somepony would farm rocks, so Pinkie's recorded confession continued unabated.
"They all died, or will die, and it's so unfair that I can see it all but I can't do anything about it. Twilight --- my best friend Twilight --- she won't see me again until I stop taking those Party Mint-als, but I can't because I still need to be able to see what's out there, to do what I still can for everypony, save the few I can. I'm going to lose myself. I'm going to die alone. I don't want to see that, but right now I can't help it. It won't be long now before I slip back into the funk I've been living in for the last few years, and then I won't come out of it until just before the end of it all.
"But I wanted to have one final party, even just for a little bit, even if I can't really be there, with the one pony in my family who might be able to make things a little better again. I want to give you a birthday gift, Cherry. A very special gift that only your Auntie Pinkie Pie can give."
The robot stood and backed away to the stage, a single spotlight resting upon the frilly pink pony whose soul seemed to try and stretch across the years towards me in her gaze.
"I'm so, so sorry for helping to make the world you have to live in. But for today, at least, let me wish you a happy birthday," and here, her face lit up with a distinct glow of playful glee, "I'm sure you'll agree it's been a gasser!"
To my front, right rear, and left rear, three floor tiles dropped slightly and then slid beneath their neighbor, revealing holes that began to sputter with hissing noises. Before I thought to move, each hole disgorged a balloon which quickly swelled outward under the mounting pressure of whatever was being pumped into them --- I was positive it couldn't be good. In just a few seconds they were already too high to leap, and too wide to shove my way between without risk of bursting one.
My mind raced. There had to be some way out of here! Waiting for whatever doom had been planned for me by a centuries-gone lunatic of a Ministry Mare wasn't the way I wanted to leave this plane of existence! Maybe the colors represented a puzzle; the balloon to my front was yellow, while the two forming the base of the triangle-shaped trap were blue. If it was a puzzle then it was a timed one, the hissing gas blowing each one bigger and more translucent, filling them with swirling... dust? That was definitely not good!
The shiny rubber spheres pressed inward on all sides, each growing sheer with internal stress and easily twice my height now. Was it a color-wheel problem? Blue and yellow make green, don't they? The yellow one had to be the key somehow! Maybe if I -
BANG
All three detonated simultaneously. I slumped sideways to the floor, overcome less by the sudden sharp concussion than by the sudden release of pent-up knockout gas. Tiny motes of pink dust floated down, swirling to settle thickly on my coat as though attracted to it, swaddling my motionless form as I drifted into warm, soothing darkness.
* * * * *
Waking up hurt... in a strangely good way. Like my body was reminding me that being alive was substantially preferable to the converse option. It felt as though each cell had somehow been replaced with an brand-new version, or at least had the bumps and dings hammered out of the chassis. And I could still feel the fading whacks from each tiny hammer. Ow ow ow yay.
A slow and careful glance around showed the room to be absolutely clean, not a spot of blood anywhere to be seen. The floor tiles were back in their customary places, the stage doors were closed and its curtains drawn. If not for the neatly-stacked piles of armor, weapons and personal belongings sitting by the wide-open main doors, I might have thought I'd hallucinated the whole surreal battle and the lunacy of its aftermath.
Realizing that I hadn't was much harder to take. I sat up -
bonk
Pinkie's hovering robot head, jostled by the collision, drifted a bit forward and then spun about to face me with a smile.
"Hi! I'm Pink-E! And you must be Cherry! Pinkie Pie told me a lot about you...!"
Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Pinkie Sense (1)(of 5) -- from time to time, strange things seem to happen around you. Each level of this perk escalates the weirdness.
Skill Note: Unarmed (50) |
Calbeck | 679 | 4 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-08-26T06:38:44+00:00 | 2021-03-03T22:11:46+00:00 | 7,015 | CHAPTER FOUR: Pink-Eye, Exposition, and Terrible Creatures from the Stars
"Know Enough to be Afraid." --- motto, Lunar Polygnostic University
Pink-E bounced along through the early morning air, as though its robot-head were still connected to a robot-body (and apparently one with spring-loaded hooves), humming a sprightly little tune.
I ground my teeth and kept my pistol holstered. Not only was the damn thing done up in bright pink and bobbing around the wastes like the world's most obvious target lure, but it was noisy, too. The best I'd been able to do was order it to keep a bit of distance between us, so that when it got shot up by the first bunch of raiders to get the drop on us, I wouldn't be too close to the kill-zone.
"Would you PLEASE shut the fuck up?!" I hissed, for what had to be the seventh time on our brief sojourn. It had bobbed there, humming away while I relayed the news about Deputy Deagle to the townsfolk, and kept at it while I traded the dead Mite-ys' gear to old Nash Rambler for caps and repairs. It had actually scolded me for trying to hang onto a few doses of Buck and Stampede --- gah! The little robot seemed determined to hold me to the promise I'd made to the Pinkie Pie animatronic it'd formerly been part of, which was another reason to part ways as soon as possible.
The only reason I hadn't blasted it to pieces myself, out of sheer self-preservation, was --- well, I was curious. Stupid of me, I know. But, for maybe the first time since Dad died, I wanted answers. Answers locked up in that little 'bot's noggin, answers I hadn't yet been able to coax it into giving up ("That would ruin the surprise!").
Who was Pinkie Pie, beyond being one of these "Ministry Mares" I'd never heard of, and some kind of great-great-grand-aunt? What was all this business about a "tree" of events so accurate that she could predict I'd stumble into that panel, in that old dance hall, hundreds of years after she died, let alone map out our conversation beforehoof? What was all this about my supposedly being "destined for greatness", the kind of sales pitch I'd have expected from a two-cap roadside mystic?
And how did Mr. Horse, the pony whose contract I was currently working and easily one of the most powerful players in the whole of the Great Western Wasteland, figure into Pinkie's pre-ordained shenanigans? Lack of information could get you killed just as easily as being followed around by a pink floating/bouncing/humming pony head.
As we walked along towards Slimm Pass, my mind worked at fitting all of this into my existing worldview.
Pinkie's Dance Hall had once been a family vacation resort benefiting, like the rest of Slimm and New Pegas itself, from regular traffic along the Imperial Fifteen between Equestria and the strategically-valuable goldfields of Coltifornia. The boomtowns there had just been picking up steam when the War went balefire, but those small and scattered settlements hadn't been nearly as tempting a target as Canterlot and the great cities of the eastern seaboard. While the rest of what once had been a mighty nation was still struggling to rise beyond the level of city-states, surrounded by tribal savagery and hunter/gatherer communes, the surviving Coltifornians had unified to form a new and distinct nation all their own.
The same was largely true of New Pegas. Early in the war, it had been convenient and sensible to have Equestria's industry centralized far from zebra lands, but with zebra development of balefire megaspells there was a sudden hurry to spread things out.
The sleepy little town of Las Pegasus, fed by the nearby Coltorado River but otherwise separated by hundreds of miles of trackless desert from the nearest zebra outposts, was championed by legendary industrial tycoon Edwin Robert Horse to become Equestria's model for industrial relocation. Hoofer Dam was built to harness the mighty Coltorado for drinking and farming, and then for power. McMaren Skyport expanded to meet the needs of thousands of pegasi with their wagonloads and passenger coaches, the only easy way in and out of town until rail lines and the "Long 15" finally linked the rest of Equestria to Coltifornia by way of "New" Pegasus. Tens of thousands of ponies made their living in the newly-booming industrial sector, and hundreds of thousands more came to provide those workers with goods and services.
At some point, Horse successfully lobbied to have the last two letters removed from the name, which everypony who counted agreed just seemed... right. "New Pegas" had arrived. Besides, it eliminated the problem of Eastern tourists confusing it with the coastal city of Los Pegasus. Not that there was a big problem with that these days: after being hit with so many missile strikes in the last hours of the War, everyone just called it "the Boneyard".
The bustle of building a new city atop a small town, naturally, also produced a need for entertainment. Mr. Horse didn't much care what went on in "his" town, so long as industry thrived, and despite its rapid growth New Pegas was too small and far away to incur imperial attention unless something went terribly awry. So first came the dancers and singers and artists, and then the whiskey and drugs, and then the bordellos, the saddle-tease joints... and the casinos.
The casinos. Horse's "Lucky Chance" was the first, serving as a small skyport in its own right until McMaren was built. Its revolving top floor had been designed to let flyers approach from whichever direction avoided the worst crosswinds, while the central column was almost entirely taken up with a huge freight elevator which, at the ground floor, opened into a correspondingly huge warehouse. The rest of the surface complex, surrounded by lush garden walks interspersed with hedges, columns and statuary, was dedicated to the casino itself, which turned out to be surprisingly popular with pegasi. Or perhaps not; species that thrive on risky acrobatic stunts for fun might also be expected to gamble in other ways.
The flyaway success of the Lucky Chance inspired a variety of similar efforts, some nothing more than a box with slot machines inside and others sporting themes and layouts every bit as elaborate as those employed by Horse. Before the bombs fell, the city had become a legend of style and sin, where you could get rich overnight or more likely lose a fortune just as fast... and enjoy the hell out of the process, no matter how the dice rolled.
Still, folks figure the reason so few bombs hit the area --- maybe half a dozen --- was because the zebras didn't much know or care about it. What balefire didn't destroy, however, the panicking general public did. Most of the ruins throughout the Moohave were created by burn-outs, vandalism, and simple neglect, multiplied by the passage of many years. It was as though the loss of Celestia and Luna was enough for everypony to just give up on civilization and start rioting, even though the princesses hadn't done a thing to build or run New Pegas to begin with.
So, now I knew that Pinkie had been a real pony, a blood ancestor of mine, and in charge of the Ministry of Morale. Which had, I guess, been about throwing parties during the War to make ponies happier? I suppose that made some sort of sense; by all indications left to history, it had been a huge conflagration with thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, dying on both sides even before anypony pushed The Button.
Didn't think I cared much for history, did you? Sure, it can be boring at times, but there's a goddess-awful lot of it lying around, and a lot of it can and will kill the willfully ignorant. Being aware of the original function of your surrounding terrain can keep you alive for the price of reading a book --- and when you're done with a few pages, there's no better kindling for your evening cookfire.
Thinking about food reminded my stomach I hadn't stuck around to get anything substantial to eat before leaving Slimm, eliciting a rumble as we crossed a set of old railroad tracks just shy of the pass which shared its name. Distracted from my train of thought, I looked up and opened my mouth to tell Pink-E we were going to stop for lunch before heading up... only to notice that it'd already decided to go zooming ahead and was already halfway up the winding trail.
I facehoofed.
Well, maybe the 'bot was about to do me the favor of absorbing a few shots from whomever might be waiting up there for us, if anypony. Slimm Pass was a narrow defile between two large rock formations, not quite wide enough in various places for a caravan brahmin to make it through, but it made a decent short-cut for anypony wanting to get from Slimm to No-Pony in a hurry. If there were raiders up there looking for the odd wanderer to prey upon, it wouldn't be the first time. I drew the ten-mil and followed in Pink-E's wake.
When no shots immediately rang out from above, a feeling of encouragement began seeping into my bones. My Eyes-Forward-Sparkle spell wasn't picking up any red bars, either... wait. Immediately next to Pink-E's green bar, where the bouncing ponyless head had darted behind some boulders, was a light yellow one that I'd almost missed against the beige background of the hill itself. I could hear Pink-E saying something in rapid-fire tones as I rounded the boulders, pistol grip tight in my mouth.
Then a clanking sound, of the ten-mil hitting the ground, let me know my jaw had dropped.
"Yes, mistress," said the Diamond Dog as he stood there, staggering slightly. "I am, of course, naturally at your disposal."
It wasn't so much that there was a Diamond Dog here, or that he spoke. Everypony knew about Diamond Dogs --- big canine louts who ran around in ratty old cast-off rags passing for clothing, always in search of precious stones, and usually encountered in small tribes of a few "alphas" riding herd over a bunch of groveling goons. Mostly, folks in the Moohave thought of them as a Coltifornia problem.
That was until a couple of unusually big tribes moved in, seized the quarry north of Goodsprings, and spread out to start attacking caravans along the Imperial Fifteen. Nopony knew why, especially since the quarry wasn't known for its gem deposits. All attempts to talk things over with the Dogs had ended in violence. Twice, the NCR had moved in with troops only for the Dogs to burrow underground, and then reappear as soon as the army had moved on. It would take posting a permanent guard to keep the I-15 open, but with so many other irons in the Moohave fire, that was just another problem the NCR had decided to "deal with later".
So now here was the virtual antithesis of a Diamond Dog, speaking with erudite tones and snappily dressed in khaki hunting jacket, white scarf, pith helmet, monocle and... something down around his ankles. To one side a peculiar-looking rifle leaned against one of the boulders he'd been hiding behind, and to another... oh, whoof. I belatedly waved a hoof at the pong wafting off the pile of fresh dung.
Pink-E beamed proudly. "I caught 'im! Can I keep 'im, huh huh? I'm gonna name him Mister Pips!"
I circled a bit upwind and peered dubiously at the befuddled Dog. "Why's he even acting like that?" Pink-E gave a great suffering-sounding sigh.
"Well DUH, I mesmerized him! I told you last night I could do that, remember? My left eye's a Mesmetron Mark Three, for non-lethal subjugation and interrogation in fun swirly-green patterns! Good thing I caught him with his pants down!"
Oh. So that's what those were down there. Pants. I'd read about them, somewhere, but never understood why anypony --- or anyone else --- would actually wear them. The few Diamond Dogs I'd seen before certainly hadn't worn any. Maybe it was a fashion thing. "So what's he doing here by himself? Dogs almost never run alone."
"Mister Pips" looked straight at me with unfocusing, obedient eyes. "I, sir, am standing watch on this Pass in accordance with my orders from Master Duke, in conjunction with the honouring of our treaty obligations. The bulk of Her Majesty's forces remain on-station below, as standard operating procedures require." Had I just heard an "oh" sound in "honoring"? That was weird...
A sudden hissing noise from the mouth of the Pass made me whirl about, but nothing appeared there in the dim shadows. By the time I turned back, the Dog had clenched clawlike hands about his head and was groaning, his yellow EFS bar flickering with reddish tints.
"What... where am I..." His eyes lit with sudden realization. "Oh no, no..."
"He's coming out of it," Pink-E explained unnecessarily. "That's okay, I'll just mezz him again!" Before I could say or do anything, the little 'bot had hovered over to stare right in the Dog's face, strange coils of green light swirling through the short space between their eyes. His hands redoubled their grip, claws gouging flesh in twitching contractions. The flickery EFS bar went solid red.
"I said NO," he snarled, "I shan't submit! Damn your heathen robot lack of a soul, nooooo-OOOH!"
Mister Pips' head exploded with a disgustingly wet POP, blood and gore flying in all directions. I managed to dodge most of the messy spray by rolling out to my left, barely pulling up short of a landing in the still-steaming pile of dog crap. With a wince and an effort at breathing through my mouth for a moment, I edged away and turned to check on Pink-E.
I hadn't imagined a robot could look shocked, any more than I'd thought it could look sad or wistful or happy. Stringy bits of grey, peppered with crimson, drooped across Pink-E's wide-eyed face like party decorations of the damned, slowly sliding off and dropping to the ground one by one. An instant later, she was bouncing around in mid-air, screaming while shaking away the remaining chunks.
"BRAINS! BRAINS ON MY FACE! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
I was still checking my own hide and mane for macabre bits of our former prisoner, when the entire Pass collapsed.
The entire Pass. At one go, without a moment's warning, both facing hillsides simply toppled into the gap between. Dust and dirt exploded from its mouth with the force of a raging dust-storm, so quickly that if I hadn't been facing away I'd probably have been blinded before I could cover my eyes. As it was, I found myself tumbling rump-for-hocks back down the trail in the middle of a dirtslide that didn't end until I was practically back to the railroad tracks. In a daze, I looked up.
Slimm Pass had been completely eradicated, as neatly as any demolition team could have done for. Or perhaps, just as neatly as a pack of Diamond Dogs avenging their mate.
"FfffffffffffffffffffFFFFFFFFFFFF..."
I was still working on getting the rest of the word out, when Mister Pips' weirdly-overbuilt rifle finished bouncing its way down the wrecked hillside and smacked me butt-stock-first right in the face. Momentarily at a loss for even that one word, I stared at the thing for a moment, took a deep breath, carefully stowed it in my saddlebag... and then started on a blue streak of profanity that lasted most of the way to Nipton.
* * * * *
All right. No more of this fucking around. Losing the Pass meant I had to follow the rail line south until it met the old east-west Nipton Highway through the craggy hills; only then could I double back northward. Meanwhile, Benny and his little retinue already had at least two days' lead on me. No way in hell I was going to catch them short of Big Rock City now, and that meant I was going to have to put on some speed.
Railroad ties flew past beneath my galloping hooves, shoes sparking against the roadbed, lungs and legs slowly starting in with their inevitable protests. I HATED running flat-out like this, hated the Dogs that'd forced my detour, hated Pink-E's stupid backfiring hypno-ray, and hated that she wouldn't stop fucking apologizing.
"I said I was sorry! It was horrible! That never happened to test subjects --- well, okay, it did, that once, but further clinical testing proved it was - "
Nothing the little pink 'bot-head had to say, with its annoyingly floofy pink mane and whiny electronic voicebox, made me want to listen. I didn't even want to take the breath or concentration to yell at it again. All I had was needed to keep my lungs pumping, to avoid stumbling over a tie, and to keep checking for EFS blips. I wasn't about to blindly run into another roadblock again!
Then again, the long run south did give me time to think about that Diamond Dog with the fine clothes and cultured accent and custom rifle. And didn't I want to have a good long look at THAT when I had the chance!
But he didn't fit. Not at all. Diamond Dogs were tribals. This one'd said something about an alliance, and about royalty, but he couldn't mean ponies. Coltifornia was a republic, priding itself on eschewing titles of nobility altogether. New Pegas was run by Mr. Horse and the former gangs he'd rebuilt into semi-respectable "families". The only other major power in the area was the Herd, which had modeled itself entirely on ancient zebra culture. "Master Duke" would be a name in line with their practice of slavery, but with mares relegated to entirely subservient roles nopony in the Herd would use a moniker like "Her Majesty" for anyone --- not even if Celestia returned from the grave.
Now here I'd thought I was being smart, keeping my EFS up this time while I galloped along. It hadn't occurred to me that some critters might not even show up on it. So when Pink-E's non-stop apologizing ended with a "yipe!", it was only then I realized the funny shimmerings in the air ahead weren't the heat mirage I'd taken them for.
My dad had once said, in regards to wildlife indigenous to the Great Western Wasteland: "Whatever isn't poisonous or eats the dead, hides from the sun." For the most part, Rattle-tails did all three. A nasty combination of canine and snake, their venomous fangs and inherent ability to turn almost completely invisible made them one of the most successful predators in the wastes. Fortunately, they generally wouldn't bother you unless you got too close, as they preferred scavenging over hunting.
Unfortunately, I was already too close. WAY too close!
I plowed straight into the pack of about half a dozen, all of which instantly shifted into the visible spectrum and went hostile-red in my EFS. From a nearby hole in the ground came a howl.
Oh, crap, they're defending their den...! It was all I could do to keep on my hooves and keep moving, bowling over the first and caroming off another in those first few moments of mutual surprise. Then I was galloping hell for leather down the railway, the entire pack baying at my tail.
Gee, and here I'd thought I was getting a little tired already! Adrenaline is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Well, my pursuers would soon realize I was no longer a threat to their den and give up the chase before it wore off. Pink-E sure didn't have any trouble keeping up, though occasionally she would "eep!" and bounce high into the air to dodge an attempted leap-and-snap.
A mile later, my adrenaline was wearing off and my pursuers apparently didn't give a radroach's ass (do they even technically have one?) about how close I was to the den. They'd straggled out a bit, but odds were still really good that if I turned to take a shot, I wouldn't get more than one or two before the pack piled on. All I could do was keep on running and hope that at some point most of them would go after Pink-E instead.
Three things happened at about the same time: we cleared the final shallow rise before the rail line descended down towards Nipton, the small herd of armed-and-armored ponies which appeared on the other side of the rise produced a leader in a feathered hat shouting "Halt! You there - ", and then our pack slammed into theirs.
By the time I found my way out of the resulting dustcloud, the herd and pack were industriously murdering one another. The ponies were outnumbered, but good fighters, constantly blocking attacks with a variety of melee weapons until an opening would present itself, and then smashing in a single sharp counterattack before going defensive again. The Rattle-tails snapped and bayed and snarled.
Somehow Pink-E'd come through that fracas unscathed as well. The two of us looked at one another, shrugged --- how does a decapitated robot head do that, anyways? --- and headed down the tracks into Nipton.
Even from this far out, I could see smoke and smell the distant aroma of roasting meat. Mmmm... somepony had a full-on barbeque going! Which reminded my rumbling belly just how empty it was, again...
* * * * *
As I left the rails and approached the main street leading west into town, my stomach forgot it was hungry and decided it would do better as a clutch of knots.
Nipton had been burned to the ground. Every single home and shop was now a pile of charred beams perched atop slabs of soot-blackened concrete, slathered in blankets of ash. Occasionally, an errant breeze would flare stubborn embers into bright orange life, seeking new fuel to restart the conflagration and then returning to sullen obscurity when none presented itself.
That barbeque smell? That'd been ponies. Ponies whose bodies had been jumbled into huge piles here and there around the town, soaked in tar, and then torched. I didn't look closely enough to tell whether or not they'd been alive or dead when they'd been lit up, because I was too busy staring at the only upright constructions left in town.
Crucifixes, one long row for each side of the street. Each one held a still form, nailed to the rough planks through their hooves and posed in an upright spread-eagle style utterly unnatural to equine physiology. Those that hadn't died of trauma or blood loss had expired after days in the sun without shade or water.
The Herd. They'd left markings of their passage everywhere, stenciled on the sidewalks and on bits of paper hanging from the crosses below their victims: a stylized zebra Centurion's helmet. They wanted everypony to know they'd done this. Murdered everypony and left their bodies to rot in the sun -
"...water... for Luna's sake... please..."
Not quite everypony. I could barely make out the shuddering whisper, drawing me despite my best instincts towards the two most easterly crosses --- which also seemed to be the newest, if not by much. I looked up into the pleading eyes of the pony I'd only ever thought of as "Shotgun". I turned to look across the street, and sure enough, there was "Pistol", a headwrap bandage sagging beneath his limp mane.
"Please..." came the whispering cry once more. I snorted with disgust.
"I recognize you. Same pony as tried to kill me a couple days ago." His eyes lit with a strange mix: fear, hope... maybe a touch of madness.
"Mister, please, mister, I didn't..."
"Yes, yes you did. You hooked up with the Mite-ys, killed a bunch of cops, broke outta prison and started acting like you all had a right to set up on the freeway and shoot at passersby, didn'cha?"
He tried shaking his head with what little energy he had left. "Nossir, please, you gotta believe me, I know how it looked... but if we didn't go along, me an' Pen over there... they were gonna kill us... us an' everyone who didn't... go along oh Luna please water..." His voice, cracking dry throughout, seemed almost to dissolve into dust on the last word. I could swear he'd be crying if his tear ducts had anything left to them. I shook my head right back at him.
"Coulda gotten away, turned yourself in, done your time."
Now he laughed, or tried. It came more as a hissing of valves than anything else, face contorting into a grimace. "My time... was up last week, mister... me an' Pen's both. We're just... *kaff*... petty thieves. Three days short... before the fuckers broke out... and messed us all up. I'm sorry I shot at ya -"
Pink-E chimed in. "I've got a water-coolant reservoir port right here, Cherry, I can -"
I cut her off with a hoofwave. "No you won't."
The little 'bot looked aghast. "But he'll -"
"I said no. We've got his word, and only his word, that he isn't a murderer or rapist or worse." Shotgun's eyes goggled madly; he tried to work up the spit necessary to say something in his defense and failed. I kept on. "What I do know is that he's an escaped convict that took a shot at me. I owe him not a damned thing --- and neither do you."
Somehow, Shotgun discovered a way to rasp out a few more words, a sound like sand shifting across the asphalt. "Ya... won't know... what... happened here... if I die..." He coughed hard, thick blood beginning to drool from the side of his mouth. He'd bitten the inside of his cheek for the necessary lubrication.
The spectacle didn't move any part of my spirit that one might have considered charitable. Charity, after all, had no place in the Wasteland. Shotgun's widening eyes showed well enough that he could read that fact in mine. It was like looking into a window upon which someone had painted a soul, and then shattered it with a hammer. He collapsed into himself, slumping upon the cross.
"Then... at least finish it... 'm begging you..."
I turned my back on Shotgun, Pistol, the whole town, and started walking.
"Toldja before. You ain't worth my bullets."
The sun was still high, I had a good chance of making No-Pony and the old motel there by dark, and there was nothing here to keep me. As soon as the last of the lingering smoke of Nipton was out of my lungs, I could get back up to a good galloping gait once more...
Slowly, pace by pace, Shotgun's blood-flecked screams faded into the distance.
* * * * *
"You know what'd be great to take our minds off all of this for a bit? A MOVIE!" Pink-E bounced excitedly up and down in mid-air, in that unnerving I-might-as-well-have-a-body-you-can't-see way.
For my own part, I'd been getting more and more frustrated as we circled south from Nipton looking for another way through or around the hills. The eastward highway hairpinned its way through well enough, but red bars appearing on my EFS showed that somepony had set up an ambush using the higher terrain. There had to be some way of getting up there to hit them from the side or behind... I wasn't just going to trot nicely into a crossfire.
But it was starting to look like whatever path they'd used to take the high ground, it didn't start from this side of the hills. Yet another goddess-damned delay! I gave the 'bot a dirty look and kept walking, my eyes peeled for --- I turned back in a classic double-take to see Pink-E positively beaming, framed by the vista of an ancient drive-in movie theater. To one side, a dilapidated ruin had once been a hut housing the facility's projector and refreshment stand. To the other, several rusted-out wagons littered its parking area, in the middle of which sat a pile of curiously gleaming wreckage.
It was this last which had caught my attention. Very little in the Great Western Wastes was shiny-new, even in the NCR where the factories mostly just refurbished pre-War stuff as best they could. But this thing looked as though it could have been poured from a casting just last week.
Whatever it was, it wasn't producing a hostility indicator on my Eyes-Forward-Sparkle, was made of shiny metal, and seemed to be twitching a panel of some kind. Tech? NEW tech, and functioning at some level to boot? Forget chasing idiots around the Moohave, this was a real jackpot!
As my hooves changed course to home in on this newfound treasure, I mentally sorted through the wide variety of entities who'd pay top cap for something like this. Not that I didn't check for tripwires, mines, and the potential likelihood of the sun suddenly exploding... this was literally too good to be true. Somepony had to have found this before me. There had to be a catch somewhere.
Ever-exuberant and bent on destroying whatever frame of thought I had at any given moment, Pink-E bounced along beside, squealing with glee. "Oooh, oh! Can we watch Terrible Creatures from the Stars? That was a GREAT movie, even without popcorn it'll be great! Or The Return of Tambelon? Can we can we huh please?"
The closer I got to the wreck, the more cautious I became. There appeared to be no booby-traps, but I carefully scuffed at the dirt as I went, just in case some sort of triggering device might be concealed beneath. I triple-checked EFS, as well as making several old-fashioned three-sixty-degree scans with both binoculars and the naked eye. There was no one and nothing in any direction, but this theater and its road leading back north to Nipton. Where screaming Shotgun and comatose Pistol had hopefully had the decency to die on their own conveniences by now.
I found myself momentarily distracted by the question of why I should even care about that, then quashed the thought effortlessly by turning my attention at last to the impact site itself.
It was definitely that, if nothing else: a wide, shallow crater bearing scorch marks here and there, half-full of much older scrap metal, suggesting that whatever had fallen from above had smacked into one of the derelict wagons. It looked for all the world like one of the innumerable artillery impacts peppering the area around Nellie Base, up northeast of New Pegas.
Except, of course, for the object of my immediate desire. This close up, it was clearly too big for any one pony to move, and my heart sank somewhat. If I couldn't secure it myself, the best I'd be able to do was collect a finder's fee, if somepony else hadn't already done that in the last day or so --- it clearly hadn't been here for much longer than that. Sadly, nothing looked like I could easily remove it to take with me, either as proof of the find or as insurance against getting the fee. I didn't want to risk breaking anything by trying to crack it open with main force, so I began to circle around in search of an access panel.
It was about the size of a pony, cylindrical, with several protuberances appearing to be mostly sensor arrays, small rocket nozzles (its means of flight, I mentally wagered with the greedy little pony grinning and rubbing its hooves together in my head), and two large solar panels. It was one of these that had caught my eye with its twitching motions, as though it were trying, but unable, to track the sun.
One side of the contraption bore a large colorful symbol, a rolling sunburst, dominated by a stern white alicorn wearing a crown... thingy. Her flowing mane, out-flung wings and extensive horn all swept out from the center of the ring comprising the "sun", upon which appeared the words Te Equus Habeo Vitae. I had no idea what that meant, but below the symbol itself was one more word in a language I did understand: GENEROSITY.
I kicked aside some of the older wreckage and waved a hoof at what looked like it might be a camera sensor. Hopefully it had an audio receptor... "Generosity? Is that your name? ...hello?"
The gigglefit erupting from behind me confirmed that I looked like an idiot. "Gee, Cherry, it's just a satellite! It's not going to say anything back!" My ears pinned against my skull as I turned to glare.
"If you knew what the fu- what the hell it was, why didn't you say so?" Did I just cut off one of my more beloved swear words to avoid getting a "language" lecture?
"SURPRISE!"
...of course. Why didn't I think of that, especially given that I supposedly am a smart pony? A surprise. One of these days, I was sure, Pink-E was going to withhold information once too often and get me killed --- unless of course I managed to pry what I wanted out of it first, and then put an armor-piercing slug through its grinning servos. The thought brought a smile to my face despite my mood.
Naturally, Pink-E took it the wrong way. "See? You just need to have a little fun! You're so gloomy-doomy all the time, a movie should cheer you right up!"
Dragging the lopsided joke out, I looked towards the projector hut, which had long ago been scavenged of anything useful. "Sorry, 'bot, but I don't think we're gonna be watching anything here..." It was then I noticed that she wasn't heading for the ruined hut, but the satellite instead. "Pink-E..."
"This model's got a holocam on it for projecting illusions from space to ground!"
I let a dangerous tone creep into my voice. "Pink-E..."
"They fooled a lot of zebras with these things, they sure did! So anyway, I'll just upload Terrible Creatures, you'll love it! It'd be better at night, but -"
My tone blasted into a frustrated shout. "PINK-E!" The bouncy little 'bot stopped just short of the satellite, a jointed mechanical arm having sprouted from a tiny side port, its gem-like data terminus hovering just before a matching jack seated flush with the wreck's hull. She batted her eyelashes and smiled teasingly.
"...yes, Cherry?" Another joke. Of course.
I fought to avoid facehoofing. She'd only enjoy that response... I settled for what I hoped was a stern glare. "Don't fool around with that. Anything you upload'll destroy data already in there, data I hope to get paid good caps for. We can watch your movie somewhere else, some other time."
Her pink snout and blue eyes scrunched up in a pout. "Money isn't everything, y'know."
I sighed, noted the satellite's location was already showing up on my Pip-Buck under the otherwise unassuming label of "Moohave Drive-In Theater", and started moving towards the hills once more. From here, I could see what looked like a wide and relatively easy way around the south end of the would-be ambush I'd been trying to avoid, and we still needed to make up for lost time. A lot of it.
"Ain't it? You get money, you can buy food. Healing potions, bandages, bullets, stuff that'll keep you alive. Get some extra, you can afford a few nice things that make living a little more bearable, like a good stiff belt of scotch." I made a point of giving Pink-E, who'd hurried to catch up and was now bobbing along beside, an extra-vicious glare, which she seemed to take no more notice of than the passing breeze. My eyes frustratedly rolled of their own accord, but I had my teeth in this particular bit and wasn't done yet.
"Enough money, you can buy yourself a little sanctuary --- fort up some abandoned shack with sandbags and a few furnishings from a trader, call it home 'til you can afford better. Maybe eventually buy your way into a fortress city like New Pegas. Robots like you ain't programmed to think about it, but most of us living in this wasteland just want to get to the point where we don't have to spend every third waking moment looking over our shoulders for a bullet out of nowhere."
Strangely enough, Pink-E seemed to actually go sober for a minute, pondering that. And then she was right back to her bouncy-annoying-and-overly-loud self, grinning proudly over her new-found comprehension.
"I get it! Everypony is murdering everypony else so they don't have to worry about anypony murdering them!"
Or maybe she was just mocking me. I growled and shut my mouth. There's no reasoning with some ponies...
Footnote: Level Up. |
Calbeck | 679 | 5 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-02-28T14:34:52+00:00 | 2013-03-12T09:20:45+00:00 | 6,128 | CHAPTER FIVE: No-Pony Knows the Trouble I'll See
"Magic is as magic does... s'jes' funny thet way."
If you've never felt what it is to be utterly and completely bone-tired, try galloping and cantering and skulking and trudging your way across a few dozen miles of hostile wasteland in a single long day. It didn't help when Pink-E spontaneously discovered how to pull in and broadcast (at maximum volume, naturally) radio signals. With her long-range sensor suite feeding automatic updates to my Pip-Buck, I usually spotted ambushes as much as a mile away, but her one-pony block-party also let every damn thing for at least twice that distance know we were coming in the first place.
By the time the flickering lights of my destination hove into view, I was barely able to keep my hooves moving towards the hope of warm shelter, having battled through a good half-dozen or so firefights with gang-banger scum, local wildlife, and the odd wandering idiot with a death-wish messiah complex.
I was also ready to find and kill beloved radio personality "Mr. New Pegas", purely in the interest of self-defense.
My weariness was somewhat compounded by the double set of blood-soaked saddlebags I'd draped atop my own, stuffed to bursting with firearms, ammo and the odd valuables seized from the aforementioned gang-bangers and idiot. A true scavver would've spent hours checking their bodies for anything worth a few caps and then stripping down their guns and armor for the choicer parts, but I remained ever-mindful of the need to narrow Benny's lead on me. So it was nearly ten in the evening (according to the ever-useful Pip-Buck) when I slogged my bedraggled ass up the Imperial 95 and into the little town of No-Pony.
The joke went: "we call it No-Pony 'cause nopony really lives here!"
That was a double-barb, actually. The town existed mainly as a rest stop for caravans servicing the several other settlements south and east of New Pegas proper, so its population was small and mostly transient. But it was also home to a local loon who went by the moniker of "No-Pony". Whenever asked about his past, he'd just shrug and say "I'm nopony special" --- and then tell you about the lice on his underbelly and their plans to start up a racetrack sponsored by insurance-selling geckos, all of it a zebra plot to put the casinos on Mr. Horse's Pegas Strip out of business through unfair competition. Or something equally insane. At least he gave the place some local color.
But the main reason I was lugging around these otherwise useless, beat-to-hell weapons and assorted trinkets of dubious worth was No-Pony's biggest claim to fame: Doofy Draco, an ancient tourist attraction slowly mouldering away under the desert's blistering sunshine and battering windstorms, and now rising up before me as a stark silhouette against the star-lit sky. With one arm raised in a too-cheerful salute to the I-95's much-reduced postwar traffic, and a smarmy grin literally plastered across its cheeks, the gargantuan eyesore also housed a "scenic" lookout and gift-shop-turned-trading-post in its thirty-foot-tall dragon body.
I was going to be damned if I didn't at least try to rake in a few caps for the trouble I'd been through today.
Still, first things first: I wasn't about to stand around and haggle with a shopkeep while I was half-comatose. Doofy Draco and its internal workings were one part of a larger relic of the old world --- a "motel", where highway travelers in vehicles of both the pulled and motorized variety could find a soft bed and secure walls against the chills of the night for a reasonable fee.
I considered myself fortunate to be gouged a mere hundred caps for the use of a suspiciously-lumpy mattress in a drafty room, and not have to battle a radroach colony for it. Piling up the overpacked saddlebags made for a reasonably comfortable sort of nest, despite the coppery scent of still-drying blood spatters, into which I promptly collapsed. All that really mattered to me was that it was warm, didn't hurt, and quickly swept me away into a world of psychological resolution to the day's indignities...
>>>oOo<<<
Trapped.
I was suffocating, my hooves floating slowly across the ground as though I were underwater. All around, swirling snowflakes blocked my view of the horizon. I fought through the sludgy atmosphere, wordlessly screaming with lungs that seemed never to have known the blessings of oxygen. Could you drown, if you'd never breathed air to begin with?
Kicking at the hard-packed ground did little but push me half a length into the --- air? Water? --- after which I languidly floated back down, until I could finally scrabble with my hooves for purchase again.
So this was what it was like to die. Perhaps I'd shifted in my sleep so that a poorly-perched saddlebag had fallen over my face, or a midnight thief had decided to smother me before helping himself to my goods.
Like HELL!
Not only was I not going to let myself die today, I was fucking-well-not going to die just because some skeevy bastard was after my own hard-won loot! If I couldn't get my head above --- whatever this was, and I couldn't dig through the ground, then I was damned well going to bash my way through the blizzard itself, putting one hoof in front of the other, my brain screaming out its red death-song, one hoof ahead, and one more, and then one more -
I stopped suddenly with a muffled BONK.
"Bonk"? The snowfall suddenly parted and fell away, as though striking against... striking against a glass -
<<< oOo >>>
It's a cliche to hear about somepony waking up by "sitting bolt upright". That's unnatural. Our spines really don't work that way.
Didn't stop mine from doing so, just for a moment, before I collapsed painfully back onto the saddlebag-nest in a slather of rank, cold sweat. I couldn't remember the last time my heart had thundered away like it was now, my breath coming as hard and fast as that of any newborn foal fresh from the watery womb.
Scalding sunlight speared through gaps in the boarded-up window, forcing me to shield my eyes with a sudden hiss of pain. Which was of course when Pink-E bounced in from the bathroom with a sweet, syrupy, happy-go-lucky song-of-the-dawn on her robot lips. I couldn't hear the lyrics, though, over the din of battle between the parts of my brain that still wanted the information locked in the bot's memory cores, and those that wanted to take Batter's old piece of sports equipment and invent the game of Pinkieball on the spot.
Luna save me from Morning People.
* * * * *
A tiny bell thunked, more than dinged, as I shoved my way through the door to the Doofy Draco Gift Shoppe and Resupply Emporium (Skinflint Oatflanks, Prop.). The memories of my first time here, when I'd asked after Mr. Oatflanks, brought out a tired chuckle that helped to chase off the last cobwebs of my nightmare. I wondered if they still showed newcomers the resting place of his skeleton, out by the highway where he'd been lynched for trying to hoard army supplies right after the bombs fell.
A real skinflint, right to the end.
I didn't recognize the nondescript gentlecolt behind the service counter, a middle-aged unicorn of beige hide and dusty black mane. I couldn't even tell what his rump rash, only a few shades lighter than the flank it rode upon, was supposed to be. Not that it was any big concern of mine, as I was much more interested in his expression when I dumped the contents of my saddlebags on the broad oak countertop. I noted with satisfaction the height to which his brows rose as a dozen or so pistols, shotguns and rifles of varying types tumbled into view, along with several cans of ammo in calibers for which I had no use.
And that was just the first set of bags. From the second I poured a collection of pharmaceuticals and alcohol, both medicinal and recreational. It'd taken some arguing, but Pink-E had to admit I'd only promised not to use the stuff myself. No way was I was going to leave behind a gold-mine built on somepony else's choice in addictions!
From my own bags, I produced an array of small valuables on the same premise: I might have no use for these bits and baubles, but I knew somepony else would. A small pile of pre-War bits, a few books in legible condition on esoteric subjects like Breast-Feeding and the Modern Businessmare and How to Train Your Dragon (Toothless Edition), some powertools in need of fresh spark batteries, and...
...I froze, my hoof resting on the last item.
A snowglobe.
I couldn't recall that I'd ever seen or even heard of one, yet I didn't need the Pip-Buck's inventory to tell me what it was. A half-globe of duraglass, set atop a solid resin base, filled with water and tiny white particles. You could shake it up, and the little flecks would drift around the miniature diorama mounted within. This one had a tiny little stylized version of a pony, like those in the old Stable-Tec posters, posing with an overly-merry grin in front of a saloon that looked very much like the one in Goodsprings.
Where the hell had I gotten this? I couldn't remember ever picking it up. Tipping it over revealed an inscription etched into the resin: "Bottoms up, pardner!"
A sudden, inexplicable sensation flushed up from where my hoof touched the snowglobe, warmth shooting up my foreleg to wash through the rest of my... soul, I suppose. It swept in, bone-deep, strong and pure, with a tinge of whiskey I swear I could taste in my marrow.
[BONUS PERK - Hay Tripper: The effects of addictive Chems last 33% longer.]
The brief moment of spiritual alcoholism ended with a similarly brief flash of light streaked with soft amber rays, while both the shopkeeper and Pink-E stared at me like they'd seen a zombie pony. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, it was matched by the unbidden mental image of a nattily-dressed pony with a monocle, haggling politely over a top hat while trying to hold its lower jaw in place.
I couldn't help myself; I busted out laughing. Pink-E joined in a moment later, regardless of having no possible idea what I was even laughing about, while the unicorn just stared until we finally got ourselves under control.
"Oooooookay...you wanna do some business today, mister?"
For some reason I just didn't care right then, not about anything I should have been focused on. Not the caps, not the loot, not even Benny. I just felt really, really good, like a three-day bender on the Strip without the hangover.
"Go ahead," I offered through a happy smirk, slipping the snowglobe back into my saddlebags, "make me an offer on the lot. I'm feeling generous today."
I really should've included the damned thing in the deal too.
* * * * *
We weren't even out of what passed for No-Pony's city limits when Pink-E started complaining about not having had the chance to stick her head (well, essentially, all of her) into a giant plaster dragon mouth. I sighed and gave her a sideways glare.
"We're not tourists, we don't need the benefit of the view from up there, and on top of it, it's the town's sniper nest. Don't ever be a bother to anypony who can put a three-oh-eight round through the back of your noggin, especially not when he's got a clear line of fire for a good thousand yards."
Pink-E just rolled her eyes. "Boooooo-ring! You never want to do anything fun, Cherry!"
"Stop calling me that, 'bot," I growled. "My name's Dead-Shot."
"That's a nickname, not your real name, silly! You're Cherry!"
" 'Cherry Pie' ain't a name, it's a snack food!" Now I was getting riled. It didn't help when Pink-E started bouncing around me, chanting my real, very stupid name in singsong tones.
Thirty seconds later, she and I were a whirling ball of --- well, half fury, that being my half. Hers was all gleeful rambunctiousness, like she hadn't noticed I was actively trying to pummel her speaker grille to scrap with my bare hooves. Forty seconds later, the ball was a threesome, having somehow included the person of an old coot who'd been passing by.
When it all wound down, I had my teeth around the old guy's ankle, my rump was all up in Pink-E's grille, she'd managed to entangle herself in my tail, and the cooter was sitting on my withers while smacking my saddlebags with a rat-flail.
Never heard of a rat-flail? It's simple: tie a rat, by its tail, to a stick. Hold stick in mouth. Flail vigorously. It's okay, I never heard of one either, before I met No-Pony.
* * * * *
Looking through the door of No-Pony's shack, where he'd insisted on "making up for the impropriety" of piling in on our ruckus, was a bit like looking into a junkyard where the garbage had decided to create its own representative form of government. Not only did he seem to be the type that never threw anything away, but No-Pony also managed to find a use for whatever he probably should have tossed out. No matter how completely useless the use.
Dusty old bottles of Sparkle-Cola and Sunrise Sarsaparilla sat on the floor in rows meant to trip up intruders... or was it as guidance past other booby-traps? What use did the bowling ball, precariously perched on several creatively-positioned pins, serve (for that matter, what are the little holes in those balls for, anyway)? Was the model flying machine hanging from the ceiling a decoration, or were its tiny wing-mounted rocket launchers functional weapons? Everywhere you looked, something distracted the wandering eye, promising slight gains in personal wealth at the likely cost of substantial personal injury.
No-Pony freely (and happily) admitted that he could never remember what he'd meant to do when he first set a given bunch of items up. And since he couldn't remember, he just avoided them all, performing an intricate dance that probably would have netted him a spot on a ballet team --- provided the last Equestrian Ballet Company performance hadn't ended with a standing mob panic and balefire pyrotechnics over two hundred years ago. Following in his hoofsteps was an adventure in itself.
Thankfully, the dance of potentially-ridiculous death ended only a few yards into the mess when No-Pony sat down at a rickety card table covered with... cards.
Huh. Well, at least that much made sense. The cooter gestured me to sit down, but I shook my head.
"Thanks, but before I make myself comfortable, I'd like to know what this's all about."
Now that he wasn't smiting me with dead animals, or walking away in a flurry of invitational gestures, or pirouetting through the Imperial Landfill Obstacle Course From Hell, I finally got a good look at the pony that lent the town his name, or maybe vice-versa. No-Pony was the sort that, if someone were to tell you that he spoke "Genuine Frontier Gibberish", you knew exactly what he looked like already.
Squinty blue eyes, missing nothing and everything in equal measure, were set into a face composed of so many crags and crevasses that there wasn't much else of a face to compare them to for reference. I'd seen rotten dried-out apples with smoother complexions. His mane was a greasy grey bush forming something of a halo about the back and top of his head, with a tail that might've been identical except that he sat on it from time to time. The rest of him was a darker grey, but what really stood out was his big red question-mark tail-tattoo.
Not even the natural laws of magic knew what to make of this pony, who shrugged diffidently at my reluctance to be comfortable in his house of traps and began to collect and shuffle the cards laying on the table. In moments he'd expertly assembled a functioning deck and thrown out a hand for a game of Caravan. I narrowed my eyes.
"You invited me in for the privilege of gambling with you? Sorry old fella, but I've gotta -"
"Siddown, sonny-buck, and get what's comin' to ya. Played with the trolls yet? No? Didn't think ya had th' sand fer that anyways." Those might've been fighting words given a different tone --- and maybe a little more comprehensibility --- but the cooter delivered them with a quiet aplomb that could have just as easily been used to request another salt lick from an ornery bartender.
Well... okay. Why not.
I took my own deck out, the cards I'd gotten off of Rango's cold, dead reptile body. My hooves deftly shuffled the colorful rectangles against the table, offering No-Pony the cut. He just looked at me funny until I shrugged and did it myself, then dealt up my own hand.
We took turns tossing the starter cards for each "caravan" onto the marks notched and named on the table for that purpose: Hub, Boneyard, New Braynan, Phoenix, Manehattan, Hoofington. Each pairing represented caravans in competition for the trade in that area, not that it really affected the styles or methods of play at all. It was really just a game of numbers where...
...I did a double-take, finally noticing No-Pony's cards didn't actually HAVE any numbers.
He was dealing tarot! I glared at him. "What kinda damnfool business -"
He cut off my snarl with a hoofwave of the no-nonsense variety; a distinctly uncharacteristic gesture in his case. "Pipe down while I read this mess. Good dragon died so ya could get these, did he? Not a good death, either, I see. Not that any've 'em are, so th' geckos say. Keep tryin' ta sell me life insurance. What good's life insurance, if it only pays off when ye're dead?" Then he proceeded to toss an extra card onto each of my three "caravans".
Angrily, I kicked back the chair and got to my hooves, figuring his game for a huckster's fortune-telling scam. He didn't seem to notice, working hard to look the part of concerned seer with his beetled, furrowed brows. At this point I didn't even give a damn about getting my cards back; it wasn't as though I were a big Caravan player to start with.
As I turned away, two things drew my immediate attention: one, Pink-E looked distinctly freaked out. Her eyes were huge, with pupils dilated to pinpricks, and she was visibly shivering. Two, all the garbage in the shack had somehow rearranged itself when I wasn't looking. Not only were all the traps completely reconfigured, but now they looked a lot more lethal... and they also completely blocked any view of the door. I felt sweat prickle my scalp.
"Might's well siddown, young'un. Fates don't like it when ya walk out on 'em."
His blue eyes were open, honest, and maybe a little pitying. Trying not to let the shaking that had started up in my legs seem too obvious, I carefully retook my seat and examined the state of play.
Like I said, Caravan's about competing for cargo contracts between towns. The idea was that you played cards from your deck to outbid your opponent for each of three separate contracts (Hub-to-Boneyard, New Braynan-to-Phoenix, and Hoofington-to-Manehattan), without spending too much or too little. A contract value less than twenty-one wouldn't cinch the deal; more than twenty-six meant you were saddled with a job that couldn't make a profit.
No-Pony's towns were the Hub, New Braynan and Hoofington, while mine were their opposites --- the Boneyard, Phoenix and Manehattan. Matching that order, he'd thrown the Emperor, Tower, Star, Foal, Wheel of Fortune, and... Hanged Pony. Of course. Not suggestive at all...
I looked up at the cooter. "Stakes...?"
There was that hoofwave again. "Pshaw, stakes're already in. This's about fate, ya durn foal! Now draw!"
I was halfway to my gun when I realized he meant "draw from your deck". Sheepishly, I pulled seven cards off the top of my deck and bent to examine what I'd just dealt myself.
It was a pile of shit. A couple of sixes, a three, two aces, a jack and a king. I'd never bothered to flip through the deck, much less bother to optimize it for any particular strategy of play... like I said, I wasn't big on Caravan anyways. So Rango's deck was just a mess of all the cards he'd owned at the time, and my hoof sure showed it.
On the plus side, I'd been putting up actual cards as my starters while No-Pony'd laid down nothing of value. He didn't seem to notice, or care, that I effectively had a three-card headstart on him. He pulled seven more cards from his tarot deck, then laid down the King of Swords beneath Hoofington's Star. Opposite, on Manehattan, I played my own King of Hearts to match.
Down came a second King (of Wands) on Hoofington, doubling the first King's value to twenty. Any small card would now win that route for No-Pony, but I was in no rush. The game couldn't end until all three routes had winning bids, so I still had some time to work with. I drew my replacement card, the Queen of Hearts, and laid down my seven (of Diamonds) on Phoenix. No-Pony flipped a six over on the two Kings of Hoofington, locking in that route... or he would have, if I hadn't had that Jack. With a "screw-you" smile, I tossed it down on Hoofington, removing it and both Kings from play.
No-Pony just chuckled. As he swept the cards aside, I could swear I saw the faces of each transmogrify. I caught brief glimpses of three unicorns: a grinning mare with red-and-black mane, a dapper-looking ghoul exhaling a stream of pink smoke, and a white stallion who looked like he was suffering from every disease known to ponykind. "One-eyed jacks'll take th' piss, every time..."
Oooooookay...
Play advanced haphazardly; No-Pony would drive towards victory on one route or another, I'd pull a lucky draw to head him off, or not, and I'd counterattack when I could by building up my own caravans. One thing that irritated me was that his tarot deck had Pages and Knights, but no Jacks, so as face-cards without special rules attached they were all worth ten points each. No-Pony just shrugged. "Means I can't remove any of yer cards like ya did mine, an' they can't double up on each other like Kings. Them's jus' th' rules, friend."
Anytime I threw a Jack --- and I had a lot of them, as it turned out --- they, and the cards they removed, would resolve themselves into faces I'd never met. My Jacks always came across as a little heroic somehow, even when that seemed ridiculous. A little pink filly in an environmental suit, for example, or a toaster-repairpony with a Pip-Buck symbol on her flank.
Really? A Pip-Buck? What was that even supposed to mean? That she was good at sorting inventory?
Still, they each had a look on their face and a pose which suggested they were meant for greater things --- you know, like those junky pre-War propaganda posters you run into here and there across the wastelands. The important thing was that they were doing a good job of knocking down No-Pony's villainous-looking Kings and Knights and Pages: a severe-looking pegasus in bug-like power armor here, a mechanical abomination there, sometimes even whole groups, like raiders, crammed into the small white rectangles.
It was like some kind of massive war. Bit by bit I built up haphazard arrays with the junk cards I pulled, but if not for the Jacks, this mess would have been over and done with long ago. It wasn't like there was really anything of value to be had in the end, but at this point just kicking No-Pony's raggedy old ass for wasting my time like this would be immensely satisfying. Pink-E was (blessedly) silent and still, watching each play with the rapt attention of a scavenger kid waiting for her parents to toss their dinner scraps her way.
After what seemed to be hours of hoof-chewing tension, No-Pony gave a sage nod. "That's it then," he said, stretching out in his chair with a crackling of bones that sounded like the distant pop-pop-pop of an assault rifle, "Done an' done."
I blinked, looking at the table. My Foal was narrowly victorious over No-Pony's Emperor, his Tower had defeated my Wheel by a similar margin, and we'd deadlocked at twenty-six points apiece over the Manehattan-Hoofington route. All I needed was to pull one more Jack to yank one of his cards from there and it would be a clean win. But No-Pony was pointing to my deck, which had run out. I snorted.
"You and I both know that's a load of brahmin-shit. When a Caravan player runs the deck, they just shuffle and keep playing!"
No-Pony barked a laugh. "Can't re-shuffle th' universe, young buck! But heck, you've been a pretty good sport about it, so I s'pose ya deserve a consolation prize." He bent over to one side, grabbed a ratty-looking old toy, and threw it at me. I caught it entirely by reflex, then found myself staring at what I'd caught: a lifeless, completely grey rag-doll wearing a set of suspenders a few shades darker.
"That's a genu-wine Smartypants cutie-doll, fella! Lost th' quill-pen an' notepad years ago, but she'll do well enough fer ya I s'pose. With a game like that one, you'll need all th' help ya can get."
My stare shifted to No-Pony, who'd gotten up and started walking to the door. The shackful of junk had once again re-arranged itself to reveal a single broad aisle to the door, without so much as a creak or clink, sometime during our game. I didn't need an invitation to hastily get up and follow on the cooter's fetlocks, nor did Pink-E, who actually jostled with me getting out the door.
He seemed a little younger in the early morning sun, as he stopped a moment to yawn and stretch out a bit --- wait, early morning? I checked the Pip-Buck's clock: we'd left the motel room exactly six minutes ago. Enough time to walk here, get in a fight, go inside the shack and come back out. And that was it. In disbelief, I looked back up into No-Pony's grin.
"There's more in th' heavens an' dirtside than dreamt of in yer filly-o-sophies, bucky --- now, ya want th' straight scoop or not?" I nodded dumbly, and he lit straight into his spiel like a professor of economics holding forth on the value of a gold standard for post-apocalyptic societies.
"Th' Moohave Desert's smack in th' middle of an X formed by th' Boneyard, th' Hub, New Braynan an' Phoenix. So th' Wheel, Foal, Tower an' Emperor all overlap here, a close match either way. It ain't a sure thing that'cha actually win or lose either one, but I does guar-an-tee it'll be a rough patch, no matter which-way.
"Th' Tower's chaos an' ruin, matched against th' Wheel of Fortune --- that's yer luck seein' ya through bad times, straight up. Way th' game ran, with all those Jacks? I'd say ya got a good run of that stuff, so use it anytime ya can. Trust fate t'seeya through, young'un."
My eyes rolled skyward, almost of their own accord. "Fate, fate, fate, my fat flank - ow!"
He'd kicked me in the shin. "I ain't done yet, foal! Which, by th' way, that's you --- th' Foal card, against th' Emperor. Ya got three guesses who that is, since there's only three folks what could be an emperor 'round these parts."
That'd be the Herd's Caesar, NCR's President Thimble... and, of course, Mr. Edwin Robert Horse, my employer.
"Star? That's hope, discovery, Foal's enlightenment --- but not yours, fer that route. That's where most've yer Jacks came in when we were goin' at it... they're th' Foals, that's their journey ta make, around Manehattan an' Hoofington way out east. But what happens t'them is still gonna end up contributin' ta yer own path... after a fashion."
He seemed to have finally wound down, taking out a corncob pipe and proceeding to stuff it with something I was pretty sure was plant-based and definitely sure wasn't tobacco. While he struck a match and puffed it to life, I mentally rolled the bits of craziness around. I didn't exactly need to right now, since escaping the shack, but given the surreality of the whole episode...
"So what about the Hanged Pony over Manehattan?"
Shaking his head slowly, No-Pony turned away. As he disappeared back into the insanity of his shack, he muttered, "That's all of us, young'un... that's all of us."
Pink-E and I just looked at each other for a moment, shrugged (her lack of a body not seeming to matter at the time), and started down the road towards Big Rock City. As the town of No-Pony faded away behind us, so did the sound of No-Pony's yelling:
"Naw, I dun want no motto-sickle insurance! What th' heck is a motto-sickle, anyways?!"
* * * * *
Anypony who says "the trip to Insert Destination Here was uneventful" is a liar.
Even if you never run into a single bandit, and even should you keep to what's left of the old roads, there's still the native fauna trying to take a bite out of your flank from time to time. To a lesser extent, so does the flora. The smarter caravaneers, mindful that ammo costs caps, tend to judge the best and worst routes by "bullets-per-mile"; I've never heard of a run that had a BPM of zero.
But by any standard, the trip up to Big Rock City was about as uneventful as a body could hope for. With the Imperial 15 effectively blockaded by the Diamond Dogs, I-95 became the only good road up to Pegas, so armed caravans making their way up and down the highway effectively plowed aside anything not capable of stopping them altogether. So far, none of the local gangs had tried anything more than picking off the occasional straggler.
So with a nice clear road before me and a full night of sleep behind, I adopted a relaxed, long-legged gait to chew away the miles. Pink-E, bobbing and humming happily alongside, managed to find a radio station that wasn't half-static and didn't have "Mr. New Pegas" running his overly-perky morning-DJ routine. Traveling music was a novelty to me --- most radios were heavy, clunky pre-War boxes that tended to shift around and break if they fell any significant distance.
Like, say, off the back of my dad's old caravan wagon.
As some newfoal calling himself "Radio Mike" introduced the next song, a sad-but-strangely-jaunty piece, I began to wonder about Whiskey Rose and how she was holding up back at the border post. That mule gal'd sure make some caravaneer a decent partner someday... smart, capable, quick on the draw... and at least the memory of our meeting gave me a little something to think about while the day, and the horizon, advanced.
Troubles by the numbers,
Heartaches by the score...
* * * * *
One thing about Big Rock City: it sure wasn't boring.
Nope. It was one big combination of quarry-working miners and bivouacked NCR troops, all crammed into a sprawling tent-city in addition to the remnants of what had once been the original city itself. When the Herd had swarmed Hoofer Dam, a major pre-War hydroelectric and irrigation project, the NCR couldn't stop them from crossing over and seizing most of Big Rock's old buildings. Vicious house-to-house fighting reduced the place almost entirely to ruins before the zebra-wanna-bes were finally shoved back across the river.
Both before and after the fight, the town's quarries had been the major source of new stone and gems for the repair and renovation of the dam itself, so the workers simply moved from crappy, leaky, run-down apartments to crappy, leaky, drafty tents. As you moved through the disorganized mess of miners, their tents eventually gave way to the more orderly chaos of the army's support area: supply dumps, medical pavillions, mess halls and officers' quarters clustered around the few real buildings still standing (which naturally included its one remaining saloon). Beyond that, it was all
soldiers until you hit the Dam itself.
Threading my way through the miners' camp, I tried to figure out why Benny and his Cossack goons had planned to come here in the first place.
It sure wasn't for the purpose of crossing the Dam into Herd territory. They could have gone cross-country from Nipton to any of several black-market trading ferries across the Coltorado --- the NCR and Herd might be at war with one another, but that didn't stop entreprenurial bucks from making illicit caps in both directions. Anypony wanting to keep a low profile would have slipped quietly across downriver, instead of having to announce themselves by begging the NCR for permission to cross at the Dam.
It made even less sense for the Cossacks to still be accompanying Benny this far. The NCR habitually shot any gangbangers on sight, and no Cossack ever hid their colors for any reason... not unless he wanted to be brutally murdered by the rest for being a coward. Cossacks got by as much on their reputation for sheer machismo as by their numbers; they didn't much mind thinning out the latter, if it meant preserving the former.
So whatever business my marks had, it was here on the miners' side of Big Rock City --- somewhere.
Not many ponies outside of the big NCR farms out west had ever really seen a "haystack", since usually the hay would be eaten or stolen before there was enough of it to stack up. But the idea of finding a needle in one seemed like it might be easier than finding anypony in the camp's packed-together maelstrom.
You couldn't see over any of the tents, or any further than a few rows deep, before your line of sight would be blocked. Nopony seemed to know or care where anything was unless it involved people or services they needed. Paths were cramped with ponies pushing and shoving to get where they wanted to go, scavengers set up one-pony salesrooms on tattered blankets in every open spot, camp followers and hustlers wandered around shouting where to go for anything from laundering to liquor to "legwarming"... now there was a euphemism I hadn't heard before. Well, at least the experience had been educational, so far.
With no real rhyme or reason to the camp's layout, my only real option was to make discreet inquiries to the sort of folks who might know...
"Candy and cookies and cake, oh my!" Pink-E yelled, plowing into a food vendor's stall.
"You gonna eat that?!" Aaaaand another one, two seconds later. Both stall owners, the moment their shock wore off, started brandishing shotguns and yelling for payment or death. Pink-E stopped, beamed, went "Okie-dokie-loki!", and licked the cream from a box of Fancy Buck snack cakes off her face with a single broad tongue-swipe.
Then she looked at me expectantly. As did the stall owners. As did the gaping barrels of their sawed-off smokewagons.
...right. Discreet inquiries, I noted mentally, as I paid out enough in caps to wipe out everything I'd made from my sales in No-Pony. Yes. Discretion would be good.
Having concluded the transactions, I grabbed Pink-E between my forehooves and dragged her down to earth, giving my best growling glare. In retrospect, I can't say why I thought this display of emotion might affect the programming of a machine in any way. I had simply gotten into the bad habit of treating a floating pony-head-robot like a real person, which was probably also why it didn't faze me that it was eating organic material instead of, say, spark batteries.
"Pink-E, I'm trying to keep a low profile here!"
I received a look of uncomprehending innocence for my trouble. "You ARE?"
"Yes! You're gonna blow my cover!"
That look shifted to nigh-cherubic levels. "I AM?"
"You are! And if you keep this up, we're gonna get..."
...I stopped and looked around. Aside from a few stares from passersby, who clearly thought my argument with a disembodied robot head was either a bad street performance or a sign of insanity, nopony seemed to care. I had no idea why I'd expected to find myself confronted with some sort of angry mob. For her part, Pink-E seemed to be disappointed that none such had materialized.
I shook my head free of surrealistic cobweb, tossing Pink-E aside to resume my search for the Cossacks. At least now she seemed somewhat subdued, hanging back slightly and humming to herself while I asked around about ponies in gang livery and checkered suits.
Fortunately, colorful types like the Cossacks made that easy. It was early afternoon when I found an ad-hoc tavern, cobbled together from several battered old pavilions, where four burly earth ponies sat around an old picnic bench busily drinking and laughing and occasionally punching or kicking one another.
When I say they were "colorful", I don't mean in terms of personality.
Each wore a longcoat of brilliant crimson, embroidered with wildly varying threadwork of green, gold, blue and silver. The intricate patterns could supposedly tell you anything about them, from tragedies of childhood to personal victories in battle. Broad yellow sashes tied across their barrel chests carried marks denoting their loyalties, clan affiliations, and lots of other information which for the most part I really didn't care about.
But what let you know that they were not ponies to be messed about with, were the HATS.
Nopony else in the wasteland, neither the Moohave nor anywhere else, would be caught dead wearing the sort of hats Cossack warriors favored. Literally. No qualified sniper could possible fail to notice the towering red stovepipes, with their squared-off tops and golden galloping-pony insignia. Broad black brims kept the sun out of the wearer's eyes, as well as lending the thing the air of a train's brahmin-catcher. In fact, looking right at a Cossack, you sort of got the impression that a steam engine was bearing down on you.
Perhaps that had been the idea from the beginning, because that was definitely the feeling my gut developed when one of the carousers elbowed his friend and suddenly all four of them turned to stare at me. The burliest buck of the lot, sporting a glossy-black beard and handlebar mustache to match his hide, grinned like he'd just spotted an unguarded sack of caps.
"Hoy! Can ve help you vit somet'ing, coltchik?" His friends laughed as though he were doing stand-up comedy at the Trots. I let a smile curl across my lip until the mirth died down.
"Why, as a matter of fact," I drawled out in a bit of dramatic license, "you can. Me and my friends're looking for a gentlecolt by name of Benny --- checkered outfit, New Pegas type. Traveling with a set of Cossacks, word is..."
By this time, they'd all risen from their benches and drawn down, grins and stares turning to frowns and glares. But Cossacks weren't known for wasting ammo at the drop of a mane, either... a fact I'd been counting on. Beard-O kept talking while the rest made quick scans of the area, obviously looking for my nonexistent "friends".
"Col'chik, you ask dangerous kvestions. Dangerous enough, mebbe, that you either very schmot guy mit lotsa backup, or chust really schtupid ballsy type. Keep talkink, mebbe ve find out vich, hah?"
Time to drop names.
"One of my friends is a Mr. E. R. Horse. His business is with Benny, which makes it my business. Were you interested in making it yours...?" The glares subsided into grumbles as the four sat back down and made an effort to regain interest in their drinks, Beard-O still scowling.
"Fine, vhatever. Benny drag us all over hell, ve keep his sorry city-soft flank in vun piece, ve all come here for divvying up. Undt zhen he bolts for Pegas de second ve ain't vatchin' him." He turned his head and spat. "You catch up mit Benny, you tell him turncoats ain't velcome in Kazhakh territory. Undt dot's a nize beeg territory, you betcha."
A dismissive hoof waved at me as he turned back to his own drink. "Ve done mit Horse, den."
Maybe if they hadn't already been drinking for a while, they might not've leapt to the assumption that Horse's concerns were solely with Benny. But the stud didn't just want his souvenir back, or Benny's head alone --- he wanted payback in full for the theft of his property. And he was paying good caps for dead ponies.
This situation didn't call for finesse. It called for point-blank murder. And after a few days of on-and-off fiddling with the Pip-Buck, I felt confident enough to give its Spell-Assisted-Targeting System another whirl. Mentally triggering the command slid me neatly between two unmoving instants in time, allowing a leisurely assessment of how I might most efficiently manage the job. Four shots to queue up, four hatted Cossack heads: no fancy mathematics here.
I almost felt sorry for the poor bastards; the first indication they could have had of my hostility was when I let go of S.A.T.S. and it began to move me through the paces. A flick of the neck, a firm nip, and my mouth was wrapped around the courier's old hard-worn ten-millimeter pistol, bringing it up on line with my first target: Beard-O. I'll never know if he noticed the look of surprise on his friend across the table. What I do know is that the hollowpoint round blew clear through the back of his skull, out his left eyeball, and into the chest of the pony opposite, knocking him over like a bowling pin.
PAM
Everypony around the tavern began reacting to the sound of the first shot, though to me they were barely more than flies trapped in amber. I was already unloading my second round into the stud who'd caught the blow-through from the first, finishing him off before he hit the ground.
PAM
My body simultaneously shifted right and spun left, forming an axis in perfect sync with the ten-mil's smoking barrel and the side of the third Cossack's noggin. Blood sprayed in an arc across the table.
PAM
The fourth, a lanky grey colt barely out of his foal teeth, might've been considered a fast draw... but against magical augmentation, he had no real chance. His oversized pistol never cleared the holster.
PAM
Just like that, it was over. Or at least, it was once I flashed my bounty marker at the tavern-keep, whose shotgun was out and propped on the counter in my direction moments after S.A.T.S. had run its course. It was the work of a minute to check the bodies for valuables and take the yellow sashes fluttering in the breeze as confirmation for the job done. On my way out, I tossed a shiny pre-War bit to the scowling proprietor.
"Sorry about the mess."
To the west, the high-rising casinos of New Pegas beckoned, none more clearly than the legendary Lucky Chance itself. With any luck, I'd catch "city-soft" Benny still on the road and give him the Cossacks' message --- as well as that of my employer. Ratcheting up to a full gallop as soon as I cleared the edge of the tent-city, I gave Pink-E a grin.
"Y'know what, 'bot? I think I feel like a little travelin' music. Let's have it."
I wasn't disappointed in her choice, either, though I wondered why I'd never heard anything like the hard-charging beat of this particular tune before:
When I get high, I get high on speed
Top fuel funny car's a drug for me
My heart, my heart!
Kickstart my heart!
Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Pinkie Sense (2)(of 5) -- from time to time, strange things seem to happen around you. Each level of this perk escalates the weirdness.
Aligned Perk: Twitchy Tail -- at the second level of Pinkie Sense, you start to have physical reactions to dangerous or unusual phenomena about to happen in your immediate vicinity, or to persons closely affiliated to you. While the meanings of these reactions are not immediately evident, they are consistent from event to event. The more unusual the event, the more severe the physical reactions, to the point where they can slow, immobilize, or even cripple you.
Aligned Companion Perk Radio a-Go-Go -- if Pink-E is a companion and you have Pinkie Sense, her symbiotic affinity with you increases. She is now able to pick up and broadcast strangely-appropriate radio signals from beyond the mythical "Fourth Wall", strictly for entertainment purposes. |
Calbeck | 679 | 6 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-02-28T14:38:44+00:00 | 2015-03-22T04:06:24+00:00 | 4,032 | CHAPTER SIX: "Why Don't You Do Right?"
"Like some other bucks dooooo..."
The highway from Big Rock to New Pegas was the single most-traveled road in the entire Moohave Wasteland, what with all the military traffic staging to Hoofer Dam from the NCR's central base at McMaren Airfield. At least twice a week a huge airship would disgorge another load of troops or supplies, take aboard any casualties and mail bound for parts west, and then putter away, while the newfoals marched off to their assigned duty stations throughout the Moohave --- most of which required starting out along that one road.
Add to this Big Rock's quarry workers heading the other way every weekend to blow their pay on a stab at high living, as well as the trade caravans piling in and out of New Pegas on a regular basis, and most predators of both the sapient and critter variety got smart enough to seek easier prey elsewhere. Plus, the road's strategic value meant the NCR routinely put some effort into filling in the bigger potholes.
So just a few hours of breezing along at the hard gallop brought us to the end of the traffic queue wending its way through New Pegas' eastern gate . We continued to breeze right through said traffic, ignoring the yells of "hey!", "dammit!" and "piss on ya!".
There's polite, and then there's five thousand bottlecaps worth of polite.
As we barreled through the gate and into the New Pegas suburb of "Freemane", me blowing flecks of overheated lather and Pink-E lip-miming the trumpet solo of a popular jazz number she'd found on the usual channels, my eyes were already peeled and scanning for welchers in checkered suits.
Our somewhat dramatic entrance collected only a few turned heads and raised eyebrows, before everypony went right back to whatever they were doing.
Like most other wasteland slums, Freemane was populated with the sort of people who really didn't care much about anything unless it was trying to kill them, or they thought they could make a few caps off of it. The difference was that here, there were a lot more of them, all packed together into pre-War office and tenement buildings that hadn't yet had the decency to collapse under their own weight and age. Freemane provided and served the cheap labor which New Pegas needed, but didn't want messing up the aesthetics by actually living there.
Access in and out of the actual Strip was controlled by a single heavily-fortified gate swarming with armed robots, which you weren't allowed to pass unless you either were an employee going to or from work, or had some serious cash to spend. Freemane's denizens obtained few benefits from Horse's benign overlordship beyond employment (which for the Moohave in general was a pretty good step up), but since Horse's 'bots only intervened when predatory gangs tried moving in on a permanent basis, the place proved the ancient adage: freedom's just another word for "nothing left to lose". Total freedom from government meant nopony had to do the dirty jobs of cleaning anything up or keeping order, so nopony did. Poverty, drug abuse, and a thriving black market were the common themes in a town whose inhabitants were too hooked on their weekly pay chits (or plain stubbornness) to pack up and leave.
It still beat what passed for a standard of living most elsewhere.
I finally slowed up enough to let my lungs catch up with the rest of me, which also helped me better deal with Freemane's incredible pong of rotting garbage, rotting buildings and rotting people. Ponies and mules alike walked the streets looking for work, or lounged on corners and in doorways looking for an easy score. Some, with half their teeth gone and breath foul enough to set a ghoul's hoof waving in disgust, staggered around pestering passersby to help with their starving children and medical expenses. None of the money they cadged ever seemed to make it beyond the saddlebags of the nearest dope peddler, though.
As if to punctuate the stench and sense of hopeless decay, a filth-caked griffin suddenly stuck most of her upper body out of a second-story window overhead and loudly expended the contents of her stomach straight down. The stream of chunky gray-green forced me to skip aside to avoid being spattered in one moment; in the next, I skidded up short to avoid a stampeding mob of blue-collar workers on their way either to the punchclock or the punchbowl.
Somewhere along the way, Pink-E had dropped the musical accompaniment to hover quietly along in my wake, a small mercy I didn't fail to briefly thank Celestia for.
Before long, we began encountering the next best thing to the pony I was looking for: street vendors hawking their trash and services. My first choice, a slatternly old mare who wouldn't shut up about the tricks she was sure she could do me, finally let me slip Benny's name and style in apparel in edgewise, then pointed out the direction he'd gone for the bargain price of twenty caps --- and just a few minutes ago, too.
He really was heading back to the Pegas Strip, whose absolute lord and master had a bounty out on his head! I couldn't believe either that I was that lucky or he was that stupid. There had to be some kind of angle, some elaborate play in the works. Maybe he'd dropped off or hidden Horse's poker chip somewhere as insurance, which would be a smart move, given that Horse was willing to pay five grand for its return. Benny and his Cossack goons put together were only worth five hundred, a pittance by comparison.
And I intended to earn every cap. I'd bust all four of Benny's knees with brass hoof-knuckles to find out where the chip was, if I had to. Having gotten most of my wind back, I put hoof to pavement and broke to gallop, dodging everypony and everything in my way. Pink-E zipped along above, high enough to avoid it all.
Whipping around two mules pulling a dilapidated cart, I spotted a glimpse of black-on-white, the back of a slick, well-coiffed mane perched atop a fine nice suit jacket. A jacket which, as I rapidly closed, resolved into a lovely black-and-white checkerboard pattern. Just as lovely as the clinking of five thousand caps in my saddlebags. The bastard was mine!
This, apparently, was too much for Pink-E's sense of excitement; she let out a high squeal of nervous glee that made me wince reflexively in mid-stride.
Benny looked over his shoulder at the bright pink pony head floating above --- and then at me, bearing down on him at speed. His casual, honey-brown eyes suddenly grew very round and tiny.
And he bolted.
GODS-DAMNIT!
Less than fifty yards separated us when he started running. We were down to ten by the time he got up to speed. He had the fear of a prey animal lending him adrenaline, I had the hunger of a bottlecap-fed predator tapping my inner reserves.
He broke right, down an alley; I stayed with him. He bounced off a garbage bin and over a wall; I followed. He threw garbage in my path; I dodged, leapt, smashed through.
The hairs of his tail were almost in snapping distance when a chicken ran in front of Benny. He jumped it easily.
I would have too, if it hadn't been for the pack of three little fillies chasing the chicken. Them, I slammed into at full bore.
My forelegs were clipped out from under as neatly as if I'd hit a tripwire, sending me into a flying, flailing, wailing half-somersault. The impromptu acrobatics ended with my rump in the air, and my chin scraping asphalt, until I hit the hulk of a rusted-out airwagon. I barely had time to pick myself up and shake the stars out of my vision, before Benny made it to the Strip checkpoint. He flashed something at the 'bots and started inside, but not before taking a moment to look back over his shoulder and flick his glossy black tail in a teasing motion.
"Sorry, kid. For you, it just wasn't in the cards."
And then he and Horse's five-thousand-bottlecap poker chip were gone.
"Oooooh," clucked Pink-E, bobbing innocently overhead. "Too bad. B-GAWK!"
* * * * *
The Atomic Bronco could have defined the word "seedy" for any dictionary, even one written by a schoolfilly or perhaps a chicken.
The proprietors of the combination casino-and-flophouse put only enough caps into its maintenance to keep the slot machines running, the booze and drugs flowing, and the walls from falling in. The latter looked like they might have been painted over, in a fit of misplaced optimism, when the place was first opened fifty years ago. Now, it was just another place for locals foalish enough to gamble what little they had, as well as the low-rent tourists too poor to get into the Pegas Strip proper.
Like me.
Then again, I wasn't here for the decor, the blackjack tables, or the slots. I was here to get completely shitfaced on whatever I still had left to spend or barter with, then go find a new contract on somepony that somepony else needed dead. With any luck --- and I wasn't counting on it --- I could at least turn in my markers on the dead Cossacks and make a few hundred caps for the kills.
But I'd missed the big score, the five thousand for getting that godsdamned poker chip from Benny. That would've been enough for me to fort up somewhere relatively safe, stockpile some food and ammo, maybe even live out the rest of my life in what passed for a peaceful (if frugal) existence in the Moohave. So close... I'd been so close... best not to think about it. Best to get something in between my brain and remembering what I didn't want to think about. I signaled the bartender, a mule in a cheap suit and red tie with what looked like a permanent scowl.
He signaled back, in no uncertain or polite gestures, that he already had his hooves full with a group of five of the aforementioned cheap tourists, who nonetheless almost certainly had more money to spend than I did. As I waited my turn, I began stewing over all the people and events that had delayed me time and again, that had given Benny those critical few seconds to escape my hooves.
Fucking Mite-ys and their grandiose shoot-'em-up takeover plans. Fucking Deputy Deagle, getting himself caught spying on Benny so I had to go find his dead-and-battered carcass. Fucking dead relatives and their lame-ass tourist traps, gassing me and sticking me with a loudmouth of a fucking robot head. Fucking Diamond Dogs, blowing the pass, forcing me to go all the way the hell around Nipton --- hell, fuck that one Mite-y hanging on the cross, and fuck me for bothering to talk to him! Even that one conversation blew time I knew I couldn't afford to waste!
The stew in my skull-cauldron was quickly boiling over. Fucking gangs and their fucking ambushes, why couldn't they have slowed up Benny half as badly as they did me?! At least the Cossacks were straight-up with their info. If I hadn't been so fucking greedy, I might've remembered my contract requires me to nail ALL of the thieves to get that five hundred caps, which INCLUDES Benny, so without Benny dead I might not even get... aw FUCK...
By the time the bartender clopped his way down the bar to me, I was ready to chew glass.
"Ya want somethin', it's caps up front. We ain't a charity -" I dug into my saddlebag, took out a small pouch of about a hundred caps and slammed it down with a chink.
"Do yourself a favor. Shut the fuck up, gimme the best bottle of hooch you've got on that wall behind you, and if you don't smart-ass me again, you can keeping the fucking change. Got it?" He bit back what was probably an habitual snark, pulled a fifth of tequila in a silver label down from the wall, and scooted it across to me with a shotglass. A clean one, even. Guess he wanted that tip.
He even managed a polite tone. "That's Tres Generaciones, last of our pre-War stuff. Enjoy your stay at the Atomic Bronco, sir." I shrugged as he pocketed the pouch and left me the hell alone, which was what I really wanted anyways.
Of course, I wasn't actually going to get that, was I?
Pink-E's face took on a warning frown. "Cherry... you promised..."
I grabbed the cork in my teeth and popped it out, then poured a shot. Time enough, later, to lose all sense of classiness and just swig from the bottle. For now, I needed the bracing sense of civilization that only a clean and measured shot of hard booze could give. "Fuck you, 'bot, and fuck your Pinkie-Pie-Swear brahmin-crap. Right now, I need this like you wouldn't believe."
The robot head of Pinkie Pie floated across the bar, dipped her muzzle, and knocked over my drink.
I... in that moment, there were simply no words. There was nothing except a deep-red rage rooting me to the spot like a statue, my very mane feeling like it might explode into balefire at any moment. The part of my brain which first recovered some level of cognizance reminded me that, if I lost it now, it wouldn't end with Pink-E. Casino security would be all over me, with the aim of making an example out of anypony that dared to disturb their other paying customers. Especially if I did what I really wanted to, and stuffed my hold-out pistol into the pink pony-head's mouth before pulling the trigger...
But I just had to kill her! NOW! Somehow! It needed to happen!
While I stood there in full-body seizure, making inarticulate noises, Pink-E calmly nosed the cork back into the bottle and stowed it in my saddlebags. After all, it was still an item of value for potential resale, which my Pip-Buck immediately assessed as being worth fifty caps. Now I wanted to kill the bartender, too.
Perhaps it was because I wanted so many ponies dead, but couldn't put my hooves on them right just then, that I suddenly deflated. Slumping forward and flopping my head onto the bar in surrender, I moaned, "I give up. I just give the fuck up. Somepony shoot me. What else do I have to live for at this point? My contract is blown, most of my caps are blown, the entire last week has been a total waste, and now I can't even get a Luna-damned drink in peace."
Pink-E made a disapproving face at me. "You're looking at this all wrong. You need money, to get into the Strip, to find that guy you're after, and get that thingy you want from him, right?"
I turned my eyes, not bothering with the rest of my head, to stare at her. "Yeah. FIVE THOUSAND CAPS. I'm sure I can find that kind of cash lying around just anywhere, huh 'bot? If I even had that kinda money, I wouldn't've taken this job in the first place!"
She snorted and rolled her eyes dramatically. "It's like that crazy old pony said, Cherry! You just have to trust to fate!"
I snorted back, harder. "Fate's a load of horseapples. We all make our own way in the world, and Luna takes the hindmost."
Now Pink-E looked thoroughly offended.
"Hmph! That's just an old mare's tale, Princess Luna never gobbled anypony's hindmost! How would she even do that when most ponies were almost as big as she was, anyways?! I mean, duuuh! Besides that, she was one of the nicest ponies your great-great-grandaunt ever met!"
My stare intensified for a moment until I remembered that talking about my dead relations chumming around with a hindmost-gobbling goddess was standard Pink-E insanity. For another moment I wondered if a robot really could be insane, if robots didn't have minds to be sane to start with. "Whatever. Point is, I don't gamble. That's a sucker's road."
Pink-E began bouncing up and down excitedly in a complete reversal of attitude. "Well, you did pretty well in No-Pony, didn't you? I was watching the whoooooole time! That guy was a master at Caravan, and you almost beat him!" She nodded rapidly, encouraging me to agree with her.
Not happening. "Pfeh. 'Almost' only works with horseshoes, grenades, and balefire bombs. The only reason I even came close was because I kept drawing all those jacks. Pure dumb random luck..." I stopped and facehoofed, realizing too late what my mouth had just trotted itself into.
Sure enough, Pink-E cocked her head slightly and her blue eyes went sly. "Pure luck, huh...? I'll bet you a whole day of silence that you can win that five thousand caps right here, in just three big-bet spins. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
I stopped short of reminding her that she didn't have a body to house a heart in, that she flew around as her standard means of mobility, and that if I had a cupcake, I'd eat it instead of wasting it on obscuring her optics. Was it really worth three maximum-bet slot spins, at two hundred caps each, for a single day of Pink-E not nagging me? Not squealing in my ear? Not blasting her radio all over town? A whole day of peace and quiet, plus my getting to be smug about proving to a stupid robot that it was just plain wrong?
A week ago I'd have laughed at the idea of wasting my money on something so pointless. Now...?
"Oh, it. Is. ON."
* * * * *
If I was going to do this, I was going to do it right. I picked out a machine at random, planted my haunches on the rickety short stool in front of it (wondering what weird tradition demanded the stool be there in the first place), plunked a pair of one-hundred-cap casino chips into the slot, rubbed my hooves together for luck, and yanked the lever like I was cocking the bolt on the world's biggest hunting rifle. The wheels spun through their hypnotic, routine-inducing pattern...
whizzzzzzz-clunk A cherry. I supposed that was appropriate for me, but it was hardly promising. I may not have been a gambler, but I knew as well as anypony that the one-cherry payoff was the way casinos kept you playing for the long haul. Frequent little rewards, but not too frequent, as you fed chip after chip into the machine...
whizzzzzzz-clunk Another cherry. Huh. That was uncommon, but not overly so, a somewhat bigger payoff than a single. It just meant I wouldn't be out quite as many caps for the promised silent day...
whizzzzzzz-clunk Another cherry. Wait, all three?
DINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDING!
Dozens of chips rattled down the chute into the reward box in a measured series of clink-clink-clinks.
I won?
A big blond-on-white draft pony with a natty grey suit and a bedraggled cigarette hanging from his lip trotted up, pounding out applause on the floorboards with every step. "Winner, winner, winner, we gots a big winner here! Everyone's a winner when they play at the Atomic Bronco, folks!" His rump rash was hidden under flank-pouches carrying the casino symbol and colors, a black pony in rodeo gear bucking a red Diamond Dog off its back. From one pouch, a deft nip pulled forth a voucher, which he presented to me with all the flourish of somepony trying to let nearby patrons know that they should keep blowing their cash here if they wanted a chance at similar respect.
"There you are, sir, one free ticket to our fabulous theatre venue, tonight showing the classically-comedic talents of Madame LeFlour and Sir Lints-A-Lot! Courtesy of the Atomic Bronco, our thanks to you for your patronage today!"
I won!
My hoof reached out numbly to take the proffered slip of paper, an aged and stained thing that obviously had been the object of hundreds of similar presentations. "Er...thanks." The floor boss had already turned and walked away, trailing a cloud of nicotine, his job having been finished the second he let go of the ticket.
I blinked, then counted up my winnings while Pink-E beamed like a wasteland mother proud of her foal's first kill. It couldn't have been that easy, I thought... and I was right. A check of the payout chart plastered to the side of the machine showed that three cherries was actually the smallest jackpot you could win, short of the single- and double-cherry payouts. Still, that was ten times my bet... two thousand caps!
A huge grin crept across my face to replace the knock-me-over-with-a-tin-can look. Even if I completely busted on the other two spins, this was enough right here to make the entire trip profitable by a fair margin! The greedy little pony in my head was turning cartwheels and backflips, tempting me to join in.
I WON!
"Gee, Cherry," came Pink-E's syrupy i-told-you-so, "that's not bad for your first spin!"
Oooooh, I was so going to enjoy my Day of Silent Robot-Head. I wasn't even in the mood to argue; so what? It's called 'Beginner's Luck' for a reason. I plunked in two more hundred-cap chips and pulled the handle again.
Whizzzzzzz-clunk, cherry, whizzzzzzz-clunk, bell, whizzzzzzz-clunk, orange. DINGDING!, out clinked the two-for-one payoff for a single cherry. Nothing to sneeze at, but my smile stayed in place.
Peace and quiet, here I come! In went my two chips. This time, I grabbed the handle of the one-armed bandit with both hooves and an air of authority before yanking it back.
whizzzzzzz-clunk Orange. Hah! That was that. Three oranges were the top jackpot, a hundred-to-one payoff. The best I was going to do was another cherry or two. Dead-Shot rules, Pink-E drools!
whizzzzzzz-clunk Another orange. Now that was the standard sucker-bait: promise a big payoff on the second wheel, get the player dreaming about a third-wheel match so that they blow all their previous winnings chasing that particular myth. There was no way in Discord's Hell or Celestia's Heaven that...
whizzzzzzz-clunk Another orange.
Everything seemed to happen at once. Pink-E started cheering and bouncing around like crazy, the machine's dinging went mad, chips started pouring out of the slot and wouldn't stop, lights began flashing all over the place, and everypony turned to stare with their jaws hanging open. The floor boss, who'd just gotten comfy against a doorjamb, at first looked annoyed that he was actually being called upon to do his routine again, and then more annoyed that it was me instead of another player he was having to do it for, and finally shocked that somepony had actually hit The Big One. He jolted into a trot towards me.
"WINNAH WINNAH WINNAH, BIG WINNAH HERE! Nopony wins like everypony wins at the Atomic Bronco, yessir, you bet! Looks like we have our Player of the Day, don't we folks?" Several of the casino's security types began carefully moving into the periphery, making me a little nervous. "Now back up, folks, back up, give the stud some room, big day, big winner!" I hadn't noticed anypony getting any closer, aside from the floor boss and his troops...
The big draft grinned hugely, presented another voucher --- this one almost perfectly pristine --- and hoofed it over to me. "There you are, sir, yet another big reward for your victorious display at the Atomic Bronco! All drinks for you and your friends, this night only, are on the house."
NOW there was a sudden swarm of gamblers leaving their machines and trying to converge on me, which the security types held off with some effort. The floor boss just turned his smile on them: "Easy, easy, everypony! Give the stud his space! Enough time to make some friends at the bar!" That seemed to be cue enough for most of them, at least those who didn't want to keep watching the show. The room began to empty as everypony began piling up at the bar, yelling their orders and pointing their hooves at me.
Unbidden, something in my head went: Dear Princess Celestia, today I discovered something new about friendship...
Then the big draft was posing with me, a foreleg wrapped across my shoulders, while somepony with a camera appeared out of nowhere to snap a quick picture for the casino's inevitable "wall of winners". As soon as the bulb popped, a whisper sounded in my ear. "Get'cher chips off the floor, cash out, and don't come back in here. You're good for your drinks and entertainment, but you're done taking our money."
Pink-E harrumphed as the floor boss and casino security melted away, somehow taking the rest of the crowd with them, while I hastily grabbed up the slot-spilled wealth.
"Well, that's just rude of them! How do they expect ponies to come back if they don't like when they win?"
I shrugged and started for the cashier's booth with my saddlebags a-clinking. "They only want folks to win big enough, often enough to tempt others to keep losing, Pink-E. They hope that even the big winners will have been long-time players who spent more money previously than they won in the end. Somepony like me, walking in here and winning huge like this? They want the publicity they can milk out of it to draw other players in, but in the end it's still a business and losing money isn't how they make a profit."
The stonefaced cashier took my chips, gave me my winnings in a big leather valise that I stuffed into one of my saddlebags, and nodded a good-bye. Leaning slightly to one side under the weight of my newfound fortune, I walked into the bar lounge towards the exit with Pink-E in tow...
* * * * *
...and didn't make it out of the casino until well after midnight.
How could I have left any earlier? Should I have left all my new friends to drink alone? I was suddenly the toast of Freemane, the source of free booze for any pony, mule, griffin, or even buffalo whom I was willing to point a hoof at and call "friend". Ponies would have a few drinks, then go run and get their friends, and my "authority hoof" would get a workout, smiles and grins beaming all around while the looks on the bartenders and casino staff got stonier and stonier. It was diplomatically pointed out that as soon as I left the casino, the deal was off, which was repeated somewhat less and less diplomatically as the evening wore on.
I responded to the pressure by digging in my hooves and staying put. Ban me, will they? Then try to welch out on the free booze for all my friends? Fuck 'em!
By the time the sun set, it was a full-blown block party with radios propped in tenement windows blasting whatever anypony could get reception for, and happy drunkards cheering and dancing and swaying in the streets (except for when they were puking in the alleys). I couldn't leave the casino, but they could, and they had to, as the place itself was completely packed. Some of the partiers gambled while they were there, but it was obvious that the Atomic Bronco was hemorrhaging cash at a prodigious rate.
And, well, I started drinking too. What else was I going to do in a casino where I couldn't gamble?
At first, Pink-E tried knocking over my drink again, which worked exactly once. The mule bartender's eyes lit up like he'd just been given a cattle prod and carte blanche, and he wasted no time in warning me that if I couldn't keep my robot under control I'd be ejected. The party would be over.
The crowd practically ponypiled on Pink-E at that point, with two big beefy buffaloes volunteering to take turns sitting on her. That was enough to get a promise out of her not to spill anything else, which she was not happy with. Which made me that much happier, of course.
With her interference out of the way, I ordered my first whiskey double and motioned to keep 'em coming. I'd come in with getting shitfaced on my itinerary, after all. Tonight I was surrounded by friends, the booze was free, and I had the perfect opportunity to mark that box off my checklist. So why not?
I almost had that first shot down the hatch before Pink-E completely lost her cheese.
oooOOOooo
"I had heard about conniption fits," said the exotic zebra comedian, during the one time my dad had taken me to a real New Pegas show, "but I had never seen one. My wife's eyes receded into their sockets, to be replaced with pits of hell-fire. The skin, on her face, pulled so far back that I was able to trace the lines of her skull. Her voice reached a pitch reserved only for the demon-foals of the Ninth Abyss, and in that voice, she pointed at me and said: 'WHERE. IS. MY. CHOCOLATE CAKE?!' "
oooOOOooo
That's what went through my head as the basic idea of a conniption fit. The reality of a Pink-E scorned was worse.
Blue eyes became brands of orange flame. Pink rubbery skin drew so taut over her cheeks and muzzle that rivets and armatures beneath drew into sharp relief. She actually vented steam through not only her ears and nostrils, but also the top of her head where no pony would ever properly have a hole for anything to escape. Her mane flared straight up to form a mohawk from Hell, coruscating with electric-blue arcs that writhed and snapped. And she screamed, in proper demon-foal pitch:
"NOPONY BREAKS A PINK-E PROMISE!"
She was promptly buried under both of the buffalo, five ponies, and a griffin.
If anything, the screeching got louder, despite being muffled by layers of bodies, but I didn't give a damn. So long as she wasn't exploding anyone's head with her stupid hypno-eye routine, and it kept her out of my way, I was happy enough to sit there and grin at the futile fracas.
Pink-E's yelling and struggling soon became lost amid the clapping and back-patting and cheering from all my other new friends, so at last I got to have my drink... and another one, and then another... ooh, what's a Horsey Wallbanger? Let me try that! I drank and grinned and yelled and danced and I could do no wrong with the lovely, beautiful citizens of glorious Freemane...
Late in the evening there was a brief argument with management, where it was suggested very strongly that I depart, to which I protested that I hadn't seen my free theatre show yet. Faster than you could say "let's get outta Creepytown", the little side-theatre room was crammed with an audience easily four times its normal capacity, to the point that it's hard to imagine anypony else who could have wedged in there.
Pink-E sure couldn't. Each time she tried, she was grabbed and ejected forcibly by the crowd. At some point, somepony called her a "party-pooper", after which she puttered off somewhere to fume and sulk while the show went on.
And what to say about the show...? It was hilarious! I can't remember much of it except that it was funny... things were already a bit blurry by that time. Okay, a LOT blurry. Which might have helped explain why it was funny that a pony-sized bag of flour and an equally giant wad of lint were throwing pies and one-liners at one another across a stage. Pink-E probably would have loved it, if she could have just loosened up enough to be a little more sociable. At least, that's what I thought at the time...
Everyone laughed, everyone drank, everyone threw coins and chips and occasionally bottles when things got a little too out of hand, and when the show was over, and Madame LaFlour took a bow alongside Sirs Lints-A-Lot, the crowd cheered and piled out of the theatre and I went right along with them.
Right along with the tide of partiers, flowing out of the theatre under the more or less gentle guidance of casino security, right out the door which slammed behind me.
Oh. The OTHER door. To the alley outside...
Whoops.
Fortunately, nopony seemed to hold it much against me. There was a lot more back-clapping and a last cheer, some raucous shouts at one another as we parted ways (and some less-salutory phrases at the doors of the Atomic Bronco, which had locked down), and then everypony just sort of meandered off down the streets.
Leaving me to stagger on along, alone, happily singing every stupid song that came to mind, higher than a pegasus on rocket fuel and feeling better than I could remember ever feeling before. After a few minutes I noticed the familiar hum of a levitation talisman and looked behind me to find Pink-E floating along. Her silent, sullen look accused me of every crime the world had ever suffered.
Well, fuck her, if she couldn't be happy for me. I was rich now!
Fuck Mr. Horse's contract too, I had more than four times what he would've paid me for his stupid little poker chip! Twenty-two thousand bottlecaps in my bag, hundreds of wonderful friends who loved me, and as soon as I found a place to crash for the night...
Suddenly the night crashed in on me, from out of the dark alley I only just noticed I was passing. WHACK, went an old police-issue baton against my head.
Oooh, stars! The stars at night, are big and bright...
WHACK WHACK WHACK
Way deep down iiiiiin my brainpan...!
>>>oOo<<<
Dark, cold, underwater. Not drowning this time, exactly, mainly because it seemed that I didn't really have to breathe at all. It was just that I really really wanted to. But since I wasn't drowning, I relaxed as best I could and drifted, legs hanging loose on my body, letting the water carry me where it would.
All around swirled flakes of simulated snow, some of which would alight on my withers and rump as I floated bonelessly along and alone, inches above the brown plastic ground.
Alone.
Where were my friends? I couldn't see anything beyond the little circle of light I drifted within, spotlighting my course from somewhere far above, blinding me to whatever might lie ahead. Only muffled noises reached my ears through the thick weight of surrounding liquid, making no sense to me at all, just a jumble of broken consonants and vowels slurred through wavelengths carved in graphite.
This time, it didn't terrify me that I was in a giant snowglobe. Somehow I knew, and I also knew I deserved this. Wanted this. Wanted to be left to unyielding isolation, but still protected by the glass bubble surrounding. The glass held in the water, keeping me cold and uncomfortable, but wasn't that the price for what I wanted? I couldn't have the bubble if I didn't have the water. What else would go inside a snowglobe?
The snowflakes kept piling up, their slight weight pushing me slowly downwards. My hooves touched the plastic vacu-formed pebble-patterns that made mockery of the earth from which my ancestors drew their vaunted strength. I didn't care enough to support myself, letting the snow push me to my knees and then my belly, where I drew my legs up beneath me and settled into a mounting hillock of white. The flakes came pouring down, slow but sure, coating my body and the ground in a thick cold blanket that stirred only by the sluggish currents of all-engulfing water.
I laid down my head upon a drift of white falsehoods and let myself be buried alive...
<<< oOo >>>
Oh gods. Oh gods.
For long minutes, I thought I'd simply shifted into a new nightmare where the only parts of my body I could feel were the eyes and brain, both of which were lit from end to end with white-hot branding irons.
Luna drill my ass, it hurts! AUGH!
The evil, hateful, horrible sun was trying to burn my eyes from their sockets; attempting even the slightest squint made me hiss and wince like a stabbed bloatsprite. Cursing Celestia's name with a tongue that wouldn't obey, I tried shielding my face, but found the rest of my body to be in a state of insurrection as well. Hell, I could barely feel my extremities, let alone move them!
A shrill, disapproving voice hammered on my eardrums from above. "Well, I hope you're happy!"
Oh gods and goddesses of faith and mercy, murder me now. Driven by the need to put something between myself and that noise, I somehow managed to drag my forehooves up to cover my face. The shade soothed my eyes a little... just enough that I began to notice the headache that had been pounding behind my sinuses all along.
Pink-E had me completely at her mercy, and, being a robot, she didn't have any. "You broke a Pink-E promise! You got drunk! Alcohol is addictive, and you promised you'd never use anything addictive ever again! And that's why those ponies were able to beat you up and steal your money, and there aren't any other big casinos outside the Strip and now you won't get to see Mister Horse and everypony is going to die all over again and IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"
I wailed something inarticulate and tried to roll over in hopes of digging my way to some sort of safety, away from crazy robots and their pain-inducing volume. The results were less than stellar, ending with my head in a musty old wooden crate full of grungy oil cans and a stinging pain in my rump, but I was heartened slightly in that both were distinct improvements over my previous state.
The respite from sunlight afforded by the crate, plus the muffling effect all those oilcans had on Pink-E's voice, gave me a better chance to assess the situation. Peering carefully outside my dubious shelter revealed the inside of the dumpster I apparently had spent the night in, half-full of everything that even a town full of impoverished bums didn't want. I'd probably caught three new diseases in the last eight hours, judging by the smell alone.
My headache had two sources: internal, from my brain exacting its vengeance for the abuse heaped upon it last night, and external, from a series of lumps on the back of my head. They seemed to throb in time with each other, producing bursts of pain in metronome-like stereo.
That sharp pain in my flank wasn't going away, either. I reached down a hoof to smack away what I thought must have been a radroach, only to feel the fluttering of paper.
What the hell...?
My hoof came back smeared with blood, obviously drawn by the steel tack somepony had used to fasten a note to my butt: "Thanx 4 a grate nite, was fun, thanx for caps 2 ~ schmuck!"
I'd been rolled by a bunch of illiterates who thought swapping numbers for words made them witty. My aches and pains began to slowly subside into the background of a rising, simmering rage. Twenty-two thousand caps... twenty-two thousand caps! A fortune I hadn't had to kill anypony for (not that there was anything wrong with that), had gotten by honest means, and which I wouldn't have lost except I'd wanted to be nice to other ponies! Well, that, and if I were honest with myself, because I'd also wanted to give the casino a little payback for being winner-banning jerks.
Now that I knew what all was wrong with me, I slowly heaved myself towards the lip of the dumpster, a movement which my internal workings immediately decided was a red-line manuever. Okay, so I hadn't discovered everything that was wrong --- something awful blasted up my throat so fast that I couldn't open my mouth in time. Instead, acidic bile blew out my nostrils in long burning streams.
Oh GODS!
My next few minutes were spent as a miserable pile of coughing, puking, hacking, gasping equine refuse. How could I have gotten this drunk?! How could anypony?! My gut clenched up hard, puking up gallon after gallon of the alcohol poisoning it hadn't yet been able to filter through, almost as fast as I could inhale what passed for air in the vicinity. The dumpster began to get dangerously sloshy as I ran out of niches to deposit my latest exhumations. Finally I ran out of liquids to hurl, which didn't stop my stomach from trying to produce more with dry-heave after dry-heave. Every time I thought it was over, I'd breathe a sigh, catch a whiff of myself, and start in all over again.
When at last I was able to drag myself from the dumpster and fall bonelessly to the blessed asphalt paving the alleyway, I had absolutely no will to live. I was a pony-shaped slug, smeared with the slime of my own barfing and only needing a nice coating of salt to finish the job.
No... wait. I couldn't. I couldn't just lay here.
Twenty-two thousand bottlecaps in a leather valise.
It wasn't the promise of a better life that moved me. It was the need to end someone else's.
I lifted one hoof, braced it against the ground. Shoved. Got a hindleg under me, pushed up, caught myself on the other leg, stood up... and stumbled left until I hit the wall of the nearest building. Slightly less slug-like than I felt, I slid along the wall until I reached the corner... I was missing something, here. What was it? I looked over my shoulder.
Pink-E.
She hovered there, silently crying. She'd been crying for some time, by the look of it. Huge drops of water welled up in those blue eyes to slide down the tear-shiny rubber of her face before plopping quietly upon the ground. How long had I been in that can, spewing my guts, while she wept? The little 'bot sniffled and scrunched up her muzzle.
"Cherry...? What are we going to do? How can we fix this...?"
I was done wondering how the hell anyone had programmed a robot to have such complex emotions. I wasn't even in condition to think on that level at the moment, in any case. I took a moment to collect my thoughts and concentrate on working my tongue.
"Not we, Pink-E. Me. I'm going after them."
She blinked with surprise. "How? I mean, I couldn't follow them, I had to stay here and make sure you were okay, so all I have is the telemetry I tracked before the ground clutter got too thick and I don't know -"
I managed to lift a hoof and still stay balanced long enough to weakly wave her down. "If that's not already on my PipBuck, get it there. Don't have a lotta time to debate this, right now..." She looked ready to argue until I shot her my best try at a glare, though my heart wasn't in it. I hacked up a last chunk of something I should never have put in my body in the first place, found a little more strength somewhere inside, and pushed off the corner to stand more or less solid on my own four hooves.
"There's one sort of pony you never want to cross and leave alive, Pink-E --- a professional bounty hunter. I took a contract. And..."
I blew out in a long sigh, snuffing the last of my resistance to this madness.
"I made a promise. I did. I broke it. So I'll fix it." I told her where to wait and watch for me, checked my PipBuck, and headed back towards the Atomic Bronco. They'd taken my guns when I trotted in yesterday, and I was going to need those back...
Footnote: Level Up.
Skill Note: Survival (25) |
Calbeck | 679 | 7 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-08-19T18:16:57+00:00 | 2021-03-07T21:03:20+00:00 | 3,915 | CHAPTER SEVEN: Viva, New Pegas
"Hail to the King, baby."
It wasn't that I felt particularly dashing or altruistic in heading out alone. It wasn't even that I felt this was something I had to do myself, though it kind of was.
It was just that finding the future geldings who stole my bottlecaps called for a little subtlety, which Pink-E was pretty much the antithesis of. If I'd been acting like the clever pony I'm supposed to be, I'd have had her stay outside Freemane while I searched for Benny to begin with. Instead, I'd gotten sloppy in my haste to make the collar, and gone running around with what amounted to a giant pink bobble-head strapped to my tail.
That was unprofessional of me. Which was not the way a bounty hunter earns his pay.
According to the tracking telemetry downloaded to my PipBuck, the sons-of-bitches had run a couple of blocks into the old warehouse district, paused for a while just inside one of the buildings, and then split off in three directions. Since there'd originally been four muggers according to Pink-E's data, I had a good idea of what I'd find at the warehouse itself...
The hangover was still roaring along when I reached the streetside loading dock of a wreckage pile that didn't look like it could house a rat, let alone a quartet of conspirators. Which was, of course, what made it perfect for just that purpose. I ducked under a large sign, propped up too-casually against a ruined wall with weathered letters too far gone to read. Sure enough, there was a scrabble-hole behind, barely large enough for a pony to squirm through.
I did just that, the ten-mil held in my mouth, praying I wouldn't have to actually fire the damned thing. My head was already trying to hammer itself apart, and I didn't need the recoil and loud noise helping it.
Once out of the sunlight, my eyes quickly adjusted to the much more comforting gloom. Somepony had hollowed out the rubble, shoring it up with chunks of concrete and rusty rebar, a cozy enough hideaway that had clearly seen a wide variety of tenants and visitors over the years if the litter and graffiti was anything to go by. Enough sunlight filtered through patches of debris to dimly illuminate the room in a patchwork fashion, revealing the form of a pony laying against the far wall in a wide pool of congealing blood, his breathing fast and shallow.
"Wh-who's there...?"
He was in a bad way. First they'd pounded him down, his red hide still showing numerous purple baton-shaped bruises from that go-around, and then stabbed him repeatedly once he was defenseless. He'd been lying in his own blood long enough that it was impossible to tell what color his mane had started out as.
"A friend. Or, at least, I was last night." I could see the whites of his eyes go wider.
"I'm... I'm sorry..." The apology trailed off in the face of the obvious: he was sorry he hadn't gotten away with it. Sorry his friends had turned on him. Sorry he wasn't getting high or drunk or laid in the swankiest spots on the Strip right now, at my expense.
"I know. Now tell me where the others went. "
He seemed to deflate. "I'm gonna die, aren't I?" As though to punctuate the observation, he coughed.
It was a bit of work to keep my voice even and deliver the lie convincingly. "Depends. I just want my money back. Good info's worth a little assistance."
He swallowed so hard I could hear it. "They... we hit ya to pay off debts. Tag-End owes a guy called Espresso on the west side, deals heavy weapons under the table at his place. Ess-Mart, can't miss it, right there on the main drag.
"Jerky Buck got caught running an insurance shakedown in Lords turf. He'll be meeting up with their coolio this afternoon about a block from here at Fourth and Mane... heh. Good luck on that one. Dunno where ya'd find Jerky before the meet, and Lords don't share." The buck coughed again, harder, spitting up blood. When he got his breath back, he gave me his best imploring look. "If ya got a healing potion or something, now's the time..."
I kept the ten-mil trained on him and hoofed a vial out of my saddlebags, shoving it across the floor in his direction. When he moved for it, I made a show of re-aiming the pistol. "You know the drill. Payment before delivery."
His brown eyes went to the vial and he licked his lips, one hoof pressed to a wad of dirty shirt he was using to try and stanch the worst of his wounds. He wasn't doing very well at it. "Word of honor, right...?" I nodded.
"...okay. The last buck ya want is a bastard named Riposte Gallant. New Coltifornia hotshot, likes to pretend he's high-life, wants in with the Silver Slipper Society. Buying his way in tonight... the whack on you was his idea. Fucker's the one put all these holes in me, swiped my share to pay his way, while the other guys just laughed... fuckin' laughed..."
I motioned to the vial, holstered the ten-mil, and pulled the combat knife right next to it as he fumbled across the floor for his salvation.
It took a while longer than I'd hoped to give it to him.
* * * * *
Ess-Mart was one of those weird anomalies where some buck had got it into his head that the War never really happened --- or at least wanted to act that way. Maybe the schtick was to play on somepony's nostalgia for a life they'd never lived, a safer time when all the violence and death happened on a conveniently faraway battlefield. To my view, letting your guard down in favor of a fantasy world was a bad idea all around.
But I had to hoof it to them: the place was clean. Espresso had picked out the least-damaged storefront on the block, patched up most of the cracks, whitewashed the outside and scrubbed the scum off the windows. A bright red-on-white sign over the double doors proclaimed, "Ess-Mart - for Especially Smart Shoppers!".
The place even had a bell that dinged, more than thunked, when I walked in.
"Hello, sir, and welcome to Ess-Mart, where especially smart shoppers always find the best prices!" The combination security staff and door greeter was a tall, thin unicorn buck with the most --- intense --- smile I'd ever seen. Even Pink-E would have been impressed with that expanse of flawless white enamel, set off by a light grey coat and slicked-back black mane.
Not even shit-eaters had a grin that high and wide.
Which he maintained perfectly as he kept the biggest, nastiest-looking shotgun I'd ever seen trained on me, gleaming with the sort of polish only possible through maintenance borne of true love. A large red nametag on his crisp white work-shirt read "ASH - Housewares".
"All weapons into the collection bin, sir, for your safety and our security. Ess-Mart apologizes in advance for any inconvenience, concerns, or mental anguish our policy may cause." The firmness of that unyielding smile told me just how apologetic Ash ever felt towards anyone, let alone me. I nodded my assent, unloading my obvious kit into the indicated bin and tossing in most of what I had in my saddlebags as well, leaving those open for his inspection. After a quick look-over and a nod, Ash gestured me past his checkpoint.
"Thank you for your cooperation, sir. Enjoy your time here at Ess-Mart!" I made it a point to remember how to mimic the musical tones rolling off his tongue... not that I felt particularly insulted, but quality sarcasm is a learned skill. Besides, he'd missed the slip-pouch I'd mounted on the backside of my left saddlebag. Sneaky beat sarcastic any day.
Ess-Mart might have been nice-looking on the outside, but inside it was sparkling. No lie: the linoleum checkerboard-pattern floor carried not a single visible scuff and shone with layers of fresh wax. The walls and ceiling were spotlessly pristine. Orderly aisles stocked with a wide variety of goods, ranging from practical firearms to mostly-useless home appliances, were marked out with hanging signs that helpfully directed the shopper to their goals. Along the left wall was a long counter with several registers, behind which stood a racked array of two-hundred-year-old snack foods and a dark tan unicorn with a creamy-white mane, big paunch and even bigger smile. Bold red embroidery spelled out his name across an immaculately clean apron : Espresso.
It was like somepony had ripped a chunk of pre-War Equestria out of time and space to plunk it down in this sewer pit of a town. Even the prices seemed to be reasonable, if a bit steeper than the norm... just enough to run off the bit-pinchers, I supposed. Which, at the moment, seemed to be everypony given the lack of other customers. Ash kept his smile, and one eye, on me as I sauntered over to the counter.
Espresso took the initiative. "Good morning, sir! How can I serve you?"
"Phased plasma rifle in the forty-centimac range."
His face went stony. "Just what you see, pal."
I adjusted mine to match. "I see you're out of Tag-Ends."
Espresso snorted and glanced behind me. "Never in stock. Last shipment went out this morning, as soon as we opened."
That was my first cue, though I kept my expression straight. There'd been nopony else in the store, and the bell at the door hadn't sounded. "Figured as much. Not that I expect you'll care, but my caps paid the freight on that shipment. Just let me know where I can find it, and I'll make sure accounts're properly settled." I shuffled slightly to my right, keeping Ash in my peripheral vision as the lanky unicorn began to move in what he apparently thought was a casual fashion.
"Ah, well," huffed the pudgy Espresso, "I'm afraid that as much of a punk as Tag-End may be..." His horn began glowing a soft white.
As a rule? Once it's apparent they're trying to pull a fast one, never let anypony finish their monologue. I snapped my head left and mouthed the ten-mil pistol from its hold-out pouch, managing to bring it back around just in time to see Espresso's assault carbine levitating up from behind the counter.
What he'd intended to be his last words to me trailed off: "...he's still... family. Well, crap. Back off, Ash. Looks like you missed a spot when he came in."
My eyes glanced left. As fast as I'd been, the door-pony had covered the distance in a moment, his shotgun now close enough to tap my left temple with a cold-barreled nudge. Odds were good that he'd've been able to put me down before my brain could have told my tongue to trigger down on Espresso. But Ash backed up, smile gone and a world of grim satisfaction in his face. The shotgun's yawning twin barrels dropped back with him.
"Just as well. I hate cleanin' brains off this floor."
My eyes went back to his boss. "That's a bad wrinkle, family owing family so much that they have to jump somepony to pay it off." Espresso lowered his carbine back behind the counter, and I reciprocated by turning my pistol away. Not that I let it slip from my jaws for even a moment, just in case things went south again...
"Yeah, it is. Thought putting the colt on notice for all the loans I've made him would get his flank in gear to start being productive, but..." He turned his head and shouted at the back. "TAG! GET OUT HERE!"
There was a smash, some scrabbling noises, a yelp, and then a lime-green unicorn buck came stumbling up with Ash right behind, helpfully tapping his head with the shotgun's butt-stock now and then to keep him moving in the right direction.
Tag-End was barely older than a colt, dressed just like Espresso had described him: a punk. Everything about his clothing (shiny leather), choice of accoutrements (dozens of studs and buttons), and weaponry (inscribed brass hoof-knucks hanging from a ring) shouted how rebellious and street-wise he wanted to look. He'd probably paid somepony good caps to create his individualism for him. Hell, he didn't even have a cutie-mark yet.
He turned to snarl at Ash's last tap, putting his best face on it. "Fuck you, Ash, you wanna kill me? You fuckin' do it, you pussy!" There was all the bravado in him of a pony who knew he was addressing an underling.
Ash just smiled that wide, tall smile, curving one lip just enough to make it a sneer. "Listen, cupcake, I'd love to drill you a new set of buckshot dentures, but we're a little busy at the moment. Let me get you a rain check on that... unless you'd like to try running again?" Tag-End visibly quailed, turned to Espresso, and saw the proprietor's cold stare. The punk with the tough-guy image suddenly looked ready to wet himself.
Espresso coughed into one hoof. "When your pop dumped you here, I told you outright that you cover your debts and pay your own way. You've paid what you owe me, but this gent says now that you owe him. That true?"
The punk's sneer reasserted itself. "This fucker? I don't owe him shit. Ain't even never seen him before."
I grinned. Nothing better than an opponent already on the ropes when your tussle starts. "There's a friend of yours in a warehouse hidey-hole that might say different, colt. Red coat, lots of holes, axe to grind?" Tag-End couldn't know I'd finished the job he and his other buddies had started, but without any sympathetic faces to lean on, he didn't have the brass to brazen it out.
He turned to plead with his foster father. "C'mon, 'Spresso, just waste this bitch! You -"
Espresso's assault rifle came floating back up over the counter --- pointed at Tag-End. "I what, Tag? Tell me again what you think I should be doing here."
It was rare that I ever got to see a pony actually blanch, so I took a moment to savor the punk's response. He even sputtered a little before his brain re-engaged --- priceless. Simply priceless! "O-okay! Yeah! I got what I owed you from this guy... I couldn't think of anything else! But that's ALL, Espresso! I only took that much, the others got the rest! Jerky and that prick, Rip! They've got it!"
Espresso and I exchanged glances. In my eyes, he read that Tag hadn't said much of anything I didn't already know. In his, I saw the balancing of books. He turned and nodded to Ash.
With a grin that outshone any he'd had on display before, the unicorn levitated something heavy, round and shiny out of a saddlebag and effortlessly snapped it around Tag's neck. The slave collar whined briefly, energizing its "deadswitch". If anypony but the collar's owner tried to take it off now...
With a mocking bow, Ash floated the collar's talisman key over to me. I stared as its tiny gem gave a little flash of green, binding its power to my will.
"...what?"
As Tag-End stood there in shock, and Ash practically danced with glee, Espresso completed the expression trifecta by being absolutely deadpan.
"I've done my familial duty trying to cover your ass, nephew. As a Mocha, you're owed that much by blood, but that's all you were owed." He sighed out and shifted that dead-eyed look to me. "His property and his life are just about enough to cover what he paid me, which is what I was going to take if he hadn't. So those are yours now. I don't care if you sell, kill or fuck the little bastard until his legs bow out. But nopony's going to say Espresso Mocha ever tried to cover up for a deadbeat, not even when they're family."
Tag-End discovered the only possible way to make the moment more uncomfortable and awkward: he dropped to the floor and started bawling. He probably would have worked himself into a nice little drama act, if Ash hadn't started kicking him in the belly until the colt subsided into a snifflefit. The memory of my doing the same to Shotgun surfaced in the back of my brain, poking what little conscience I could admit to having, but Ash finished administering his beating before the conflict in my mind even started. I'd never seen a sneer like the one he turned on Tag-End now:
"Oooooh, how I have dreamed of this day. Always pushing, always fucking around and fucking with me when you thought nopony was looking. I kept this place spotless just to spite you! And now you get to go live the life you thought everypony should be living under your hooves." He jerked his head around with a mad grin. "Hey boss, can I rent that camera over there for just a minute?"
Espresso's expression didn't budge. "No." He turned back to me. "Now, sir, my apologies, but Ess-Mart will be closing early today in order to take stock. Thank you for your patronage, our Customer Service Representative of the Month will see you to the door."
To Ash, the only "customer service representative" the place likely had, this was as good an excuse for a parade as any. He snapped to attention, saluted, barked out a "Yes, SIR!", and took up a cheery whistling tune on the way back to the store's lockbox. He returned every single item to me, one at a time, with perfect military precision and that unstoppable grin. When all was back in its place, he opened and held the door with all the respect an NCR embassy guard might dole out to President Thimble. I was thoroughly impressed at his ability to be sarcastic without even opening his mouth.
"Remember to shop smart --- shop Ess-Mart!" Then the door slammed shut, a "CLOSED" sign was flipped up in the window, and I was left out in the streets of Freemane with my sniffling, whimpering unicorn slave.
What... has just happened?
* * * * *
The sniveling began the minute after we'd left Ess-Mart and hadn't let up since.
"...c'mon, buck, just lemme go, I'll pay you back, I swear I'm good for it -" It was at this point, nearly back to the warehouse, that I rounded on Tag-End and pointed a hoof at the ruins.
"If you don't knock off the pity party, I'm going to drag you in there and leave you with your friend. You forget that I've seen what you're good for." I gave him a kick in the shin as a form of punctuation and turned away, pulling my beaten old stormchaser hat down another notch.
Well, at least his whining dropped away to another round of sobbing and sniffling. Not that I expected he'd come to grips with his new situation anytime soon, but I was still on the hunt and I didn't need another noisy attention-getter tagging along in Pink-E's absence.
A quick sideline down an alley, blow the collar, and this is done with. Easy-peasy.
So why didn't I? We passed one likely alley after another, a few with mayhem already underway. It wasn't like anyone in Freemane would care. It wasn't like I cared, especially not about this punk-ass thief whose lack of a work ethic had gotten him into the slave trade from the wrong direction.
After a bit of introspection, I decided it was because he represented a big investment of my stolen caps. Killing him would just be a write-off without benefits; I needed to find a slave dealer and pawn him off. Kind of obviously, Espresso wouldn't buy him back, and I wasn't entirely sure that he was actually a slave trader himself. He just as obviously knew where to find one, but until he was open for business again, it was no use going back to ask...
No. No, that rationale wouldn't seat in my brain, no matter how I worked it over. I'd never dealt in slaves. Dad had hated the slave trade to his core, though after his death I ended up tolerating its existence for the sake of chasing down the occasional slave bounty. It put food in the saddlebag, after all. But it had never sat well with me.
I looked back at the lime-green unicorn following me, his head hung so low that his muzzle occasionally scraped the street, looking as though he bore the weight of the world. There was no swagger, bravado or lustre left in him --- not on the road to a fate he no longer had a choice in. At his core, he was a useless coward who'd never have had the courage to strike out on his own unless somepony kicked him in the balls to get him moving.
So I guess, in the end, I did the only thing I really could do.
* * * * *
"Ha ha ha! Oh, this is too rich! Hey everypony, come get a load of this shit!" The minute we rolled into Lords territory, that being Freemane's main drag and most of the streets crossing same, the catcalls and jeers began. Not for me, oh no... I actually got some "atta-bucks" and even a few stomps of approval.
They trotted alongside and behind, dressed to the nines in glossy black leather jackets over white shirts and wearing their manes in identical dyed-black pompadours, every bit of their scorn reserved for Tag-End as we moved down the street.
"Always knew you'd end up on somepony's chain, Tag-Ass!" yelled somepony in the back, prompting a round of laughter.
"Here comes a new mule!" shouted another.
"HEY!" brayed a protest.
"Er, no offense meant, Hefty... wait, put that down, be cool!" Aaaaaand one brawl, right on cue.
We kept on walking, collecting more Lords and locals that didn't have anything better to do on a late Freemane afternoon. Before long, Tag's sobbing had dissolved into helpless tears of anger and shame, pouring down his cheeks to sizzle on the hot asphalt. But he said, and did, nothing else to draw attention to himself, aside from existing.
So, he does still have some pride... and he can be taught, too...
As far as I could tell --- and that much, from various of the crowd's shouts and insults --- the whole reason for this little road-show was that Tag had tried to weasel his way into the Lords at one point. Not only did he not make the cut, but he'd tried to undermine several of the more popular members of the gang in order to make himself look better. They'd never forgotten that, nor had any of their admirers, of which there were many in Freemane.
After all, the Lords were just cool. They kept what little order there was in the suburb, as long as you paid respects to "The King", and they didn't go out of their way to mess with anypony. If ever there was a gang that could make a claim to having collectively good karma, the Lords were it.
When we finally arrived at Fourth and Mane, there was a good-sized pack still behind us, though the locals had lost interest after a few blocks and the Lords were starting to tire of their sport. The only reason Tag hadn't already been lynched was probably because they liked him better as a slave than dead... so far.
But my concern, at the moment, was not for Tag's welfare. It was for the wrinkled-looking unicorn ghoul with the stringy white mane and --- was that a set of bacon strips he had for a rump-rash? --- talking animatedly with one of the Lords' lieutenants. The "coolio" looked up at the approach of our rather noisy mob, cutting off the conversation with a grin.
"My, oh my, oh my, if it isn't little ol' Tag-End, wearin' a nice fancy leash. I always knew ---"
Here, the slickster paused to put on some shades.
"You ain't nothin' but a hound dog." As if on cue, every Lord within earshot yelled:
"Eee-yyeaaaaAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
I blinked for a couple of seconds, the joke (at least, I think it was a joke) flying so far over my head I would've needed my binoculars to see it. Well, whatever. I gave the ghoulicorn a look.
"You're the buck they call 'Jerky', I take it?"
Perhaps it had been the late afternoon sun heading for the skyline behind me, or maybe he hadn't gotten a good look when his baton had been doing a number on my noggin last night, but a furtive glance at Tag-End and his new style in technomagical necklaces brought recognition to his face. In short order, it was replaced by a cunning leer.
"Yeah, I am." He turned his withered face back to the coolio. "Tag there's the reason I can't pay you in full, Pacer."
Pacer arched an eyebrow. "Really."
Tag-End seemed ready to blurt something out, before I shushed him with a side-kick to the hindleg. It was Jerky's ball, and I needed to see where he would run with it.
"Soon as we met to divvy up, him and Riposte killed Red and chased me off, takin' all the caps for themselves. I'll bet Tag's uncle took his caps and then sold him off... serves the little bitch right to end up as a newfoal's trick pony, dunnit?"
I gave Tag a pre-emptive shush and stepped forward a pace. "It was all secrets and lies with you four, wasn't it, Jerky? The first of you I found was a red pony full of stab wounds --- and covered with big baton-shaped bruises to boot. So how about we head over to where he's starting to rot, and you can measure the size of your whacky-stick against his hide?"
Ghouls might not be able to flush real well, but they sure can look angry when they need to. "How about fuck you and the scirocco you blew in on? Red was a friend of mine, motherfucker." Now he stared at Tag. "And friends don't fuck over friends."
When I looked back, Tag's head was hanging down again, but his eyes were staring fire back at Jerky. Still, he managed to keep his silence. I nodded and turned back to the coolio.
"At least one friend fucked over another here. What's important is that you aren't getting what you're owed. And I'm not getting my money back from this little fuck," I added with a hoofwave at Tag, "because he wasn't worth a third, let alone half, of what I got mugged for. Look at him. Would you pay eleven large?"
Pacer's eyes widened and his ears perked up. "Yeah, I thought I recognized you from that lollapalooza at the Bronco last night. Word was you broke 'em outta more than twenty grand..." His gaze shifted to Jerky, who realized where this mathematical train was heading and tried to derail it.
"Brahminshit! We don't even know Tag hoofed it all over to his uncle anyways... he could've hidden the rest anywhere!"
I took out the slave-collar trigger. "Think I wouldn't've gotten it out of him by now if he had? You were right, his uncle did sell him to me, but if he'd squirreled that much away beforehoof, he could've just bought his way out of the mess he's in right now. With that collar on, he's got no reason not to offer it to me to let him go." Leaving Tag behind, I began to advance on the ghoulicorn, who took a step back.
"Now, I think you're just holding out on Pacer, there. Or maybe this Riposte Gallant cut you out of the deal, like you and him cut out Red. Maybe we should all go pay him a visit. Hm?"
For the second time today, a pony I was after bolted for it. But in this case, the collar wasn't mine.
"TAG! YOU'RE IT!"
Tag-End hadn't been hanging his head in shame. He'd been readying himself, like a racer in the starting blocks, for the inevitable chase scene. Now he blew out of those imaginary blocks, custom brass hoof-knucks cutting divots in the street, in hot pursuit of the pony I'd set him upon.
I don't know where the song came from. Maybe it was something Pink-E'd been playing on the run in from Big Rock. It just seemed --- I don't know. Appropriate. The words came naturally, even in front of Pacer and the crowd of Lords:
Twenty years of crawlin'
Was bottled up inside him...
The ghoulicorn wasn't in what you'd call top physical condition. Then again, ghouls are irradiated abominations of necromancy, whether from being doused in it by the balefire bombs that fell centuries ago, or from the various pockets where evil still lingered from the past sins of the old world. Tag-End, by comparison, was a young buck still coming into his prime. The fire in his eyes could still transfer speed to his hooves, and did.
He wasn't holdin' nothin' back,
He let 'em have it all...
Jerky tried levitating a dumpster into Tag's path, but his dark brown aura was ripped apart by an opposing bright green glow. Tag took over, shoving the empty bin in the opposite direction, forcing Jerky to dodge.
When Tommy left the barroom,
Not a Gatlin boy was standin'...
That was enough to let Tag close the gap, as Jerky hadn't had much of a lead to begin with. He leaped, snarling something feral, the ghoul fumbling at the last moment for his police baton. Tag took his mark straight to the pavement, the impact sending Jerky's weapon skittering away across the street. The ghoul cried out for mercy...
He said, "This one's for Becky,"
As he watched the last one fall.
Tag was a slave now. Slaves couldn't afford mercy. Not when they'd been ordered, on pain of explosive death, not to show any. And especially not when they'd been given one last chance at redemption, right in front of just about everypony who hated them.
Redemption's an important ideal to me. One of the few I have, really. If you don't give a pony the chance to redeem themselves, whatever you do as payback isn't justice. It's just vengeance. I killed Red because I saw in him only sorrow for himself and what he'd lost, not for anypony else he'd wronged, not even the one who could have saved him. I didn't owe him anything at that point but the consequences for assaulting me. With Shotgun, I left him on the crucifix because he'd joined up with raiders and done nothing I knew of to deserve anypony's help.
Tag, on the other hoof, owed me money which I'd never see if I just killed him or sold him off, so I made him my apprentice instead. He'd learn a real trade, I'd have a little extra fire support, and I'd kill him in a heartbeat if he ever made me regret the choice. But he still owed a debt to his old friend, Red... a debt for helping Jerky and Riposte murder him.
And I heard 'im say,
'I promised you, Dad, not to do the things you've done
I walk away from trouble, when I can.
Now please don't think I'm weak, I didn't turn the other cheek
And Papa, I sure hope you understand...
Sometimes you gotta fight, when you're a man.'
One body-lacerating smash at a time, Tag paid Jerky his due.
Ev'ryone considered him
The Coward of the County...
As the song on my lips died away, so did the half-pulped ghoulicorn, with one final, shuddering wheeze. Pacer gave with a surprisingly approving look, considering that my slave had just killed off a buck who owed him money.
"Not bad, not bad... your choice of musical accompaniment's off, but hey, looks like you got Tag-Ass to finally grow a pair. That's gotta count for somethin'. Nice to see Jerky got what was comin' to him, too. But I'd sure like to see the rest of those caps he owed for pulling his little insurance-scam stunt on my turf."
He turned to face me directly, lowered his shades, and smiled.
"So howzabout this: you just rented yourself a whole lotta Lords for the night, and you pay us outta what we-all drag off this 'Gallant' sucker."
Looking around at the dozens of grinning Lords, I realized that it might have been more financially advantageous to have had Tag-End --- as a newly-indentured apprentice bounty hunter --- leave his first mark alive.
* * * * *
At first, I was worried that Pacer and his bunch would be following me around like a small army, completely negating the entire point for leaving Pink-E behind. It was already bad enough that I'd let myself get saddled with Tag-End, who even after his "attitude adjustment" cut a flashy figure with his customized street look. His profile wasn't reduced any further by the fact that his hooves were now stained with red gore up to the fetlocks.
Fortunately, the Lords weren't stupid. They ruled Freemane by knowing its back-alleys and its denizens, by knowing everypony anypony should know. I'd been planning to find out where and when Riposte Gallant was going to meet with the Silver Slippers by carefully asking around, testing the waters and making the right bribes to the right ponies --- but the Lords took care of that in spades. They scattered like radroaches into the town's cracks and crevices, ferreting out leads one by one without my having to lift a hoof.
Handy help to have... if damned expensive.
Pacer made a point of noting the obvious: that sticking my own muzzle into things, especially with Tag along, would just raise the risk of tipping off Riposte without adding appreciably to the search effort. He also wasn't planning to just stand there in the street while waiting for word to come back.
I had to admit I'd never seen a nicer gang hideout.
As with everything else about the Lords, style came first, from the roccoco style of the old theatre they'd taken over to its refurbished sign composed of sequential flashing red-white-and-blue bulbs: "Kingdom of Canterlot Musical Revue". Not a lick of graffiti marred the building anywhere, not even on the well-preserved poster marquees outside (which anywhere else in the Moohave would at least have those little inked-on mustaches nopony seemed to be able to resist adding). Almost all of those were variations on a single particular pop-artist of the pre-War era "singing and swinging his way into the hearts of Equestria", usually with a big backup song-and-dance ensemble and always referred to as "The King".
I'd also never met a more polite gang leader, even when he was looking askance at my personal property.
"Can't say Ah cotton t'slavereh, Mister Shot. We call it Free-mane fer a reason." He wasn't that big of a stallion, but boy-howdy, could he project. Just sitting at his front-and-center theatre table, doing nothing but relaxing, he dominated the room effortlessly. The gloss-black pompadour that everypony else in the Lords tried so hard to mimic was completely natural on him. Instead of leather jacket and linen shirt, he wore a leisure suit of cool-blue suede embroidered with black-and-silver musical notes, right down to the hoof-covers on his horseshoes. Even his expression remained cool and aloof, yet he had no problem getting across his clear displeasure at Tag's situation.
It wasn't like I was all that happy about it, either. "Well, Mister King, you'd have to talk to his uncle at Ess-Mart about that. He's the one who ordered the collar, had it put on, and stuck me with the controller instead of paying the cash this kid stole from me in the first place. Me, I'm letting him work it off and then he can go his own way."
That look of his didn't change a bit. "I'm bettin' there's no setcha thing in yer vocabulary as 'compassion'?"
"Oh, I've got compassion, Mister King. For ponies that don't beat me to the ground and steal twenty-two thousand caps out of my saddlebags. In place of that, I've got enough honor not to just blow his head off, and enough sense of right to let him earn back what he owes." Neither he nor I budged until Pacer made a show of coughing into one hoof. He thumped his chest a few times to boot.
"Damn this lung infection! Anyways, you tell us what to do and we'll do it... want us to break contract, we can do that. Want us to follow through on it? We can do that too. You're the King."
There weren't enough lemons in the NCR to make a face like the King's just then. "No, I s'pose we can't break our word've honor. That's what it's all about, y'know, all that sets us above bein' jus' another buncha wasteland thugs." He stood up to face me, his dark green eyes boring into mine. "But'chu do raht by that colt, an' let 'im go when he's paid up square. Savvy?"
"Like I said." I knew better than to openly take umbrage at having my own honor called into question. The King didn't know me from any other roamer. From his point of view, I could just as easily be lying through my teeth. It cost me nothing to bear in mind a little respect for his concerns.
That seemed to at least nominally satisfy him. "Then alla you go ahead, take a seat, enjoy th' show. Pacer, go ahead an' take a load off, yerself. Get that chest looked at, whydon'cha." The soft-spoken suggestion might as well have been an order barked out by a drill sergeant, the way Pacer trotted out of there. I nodded to Tag and we each took up one of the low-slung stools near the table while a bunch of Lords spilled out onto the polished wooden stage to do their thing.
We gonna throw a party for the Overmare!
We gonna get drunk until we just don't care!
We got the Stable door wired up, ready to blow!
An' when it goes off we're gonna go, buck, go!
Now let's rock! Ev'rypony, let's rock!
Ev'rypony in the Resident Block!
Is dancin' to the Stable Nine Rock!
If I never see another production of "Stable Studs" again, I'll die a happy pony.
* * * * *
It wasn't really a problem for the Lords to find out who exactly Riposte Gallant was, or where he would be meeting with the Silver Slipper Society. In fact, he'd been bragging about his "inevitable and immediate induction" to his workmates, his drinking buddies, and just about anypony in earshot, for most of the day. The real problems were where he worked, and where the meeting was going down.
Lowering my binoculars with a hissed curse, I scuttled backwards from the upper-story window on my belly until I was positive that sitting up wouldn't put me in some watchful sniper's line of sight.
The sonovabitch wasn't just a "New Coltifornia hotshot".
Situated in a cul-de-sac just outside the Strip, the NCR's New Pegas embassy normally didn't get a lot of attention. Today, however, that cul-de-sac had been completely taken over to create extra space for a large open-air gathering. Ribbons, bunting, and balloons in New Coltifornia colors festooned portable fences and armed checkpoints, beyond which several hors d'oeuvre tables were arrayed around hordes of well-dressed minglers. Beyond that was yet another checkpoint into the embassy grounds proper, where the real hobnob was already well underway.
And why all the commotion? Because, according to the huge white-on-blue banner hung across the entry to this little hoe-down, Captain Celestia-Blow-Me Gallant was to be honored at a ceremony dedicated to his entry into the Silver Slipper Society, an event expected to signal more cordial relations between the secretive casino magnates and the NCR.
Intellectually, I understood just how big of a political coup this could be for New Coltifornia: they hoped to tease one of the powerful Casino Families, upon which so much of New Pegas power rested, out from under the iron hoof of their patron saint Mr. Horse. Internally, I felt my guts corroding at the notion that Gallant might actually prove to be untouchable, simply because of the number of warm bodies doting upon him with the pride and merriment he didn't fucking-well deserve.
Oh, but it got better than that! An event program filched by an embassy worker sympathetic to the Lords revealed the very capstone to this high-society affair: Gallant would be hoofing over "token proof of personal well-being" --- my caps --- to the Slippers' bigwigs. Even Ambassador Cropper was expected to be in attendance. The only way security could be tighter would be if President Thimble himself showed up to crash the party.
Hmm... now, who do I know that's good for crashing parties...?
* * * * *
This was a horrible idea. I'd said so. It wasn't even my idea. How did I get roped into this?
The steel-gray unicorn with the dappled back, spiraled horn half again as long as his head, and suede blonde mane cropped to the exact edge of military tolerances turned and executed a courteous half-bow towards our meal ticket. I swear that he managed it without even creasing his perfectly-tailored khaki officer's uniform. The clashing silver sabers forming his cutie mark practically flashed in the light, as did the fancy fencing rapier at his side.
"My dear lady, allow me to say I am delighted to see you once again. Wherever were you afflicted with such a frightful injury?"
I could have told Captain Cock-Biter where, but that would have required dropping my "roadie" disguise and leaving the gang of workers setting up the orchestra pit to do it. Besides, our dear lady knew what would happen if she didn't deliver the con-job convincingly enough.
Her hoof went to the wrappings about her throat. "Oh, this little thing?" squeaked the lithe young lily-white mare, all polite innocence wrapped in a perfectly winning smile and baby-blue eyes, framed by the droop of a seafoam-streaked mane. "Why, just yesterday I did the most foalish thing I've ever done! Mountain climbing, darling. A terrible fall, but the doctors say my neck and shoulder should be right as rubies within the month... if I refrain from over-straining myself, of course."
A lovely little lie, from the just-as-lovely Miss Butter Tart, starlet of New Coltifornia's newly-burgeoning film industry. The truth hidden beneath her bandages and brace was of the steely and explosive sort, on "loan" from Tag-End while he stayed back at the theater as a strangely-honored guest of the Lords (who just yesterday had hated his guts). It seemed that starlets aren't above being wooed by other charming entertainers, especially those with "delightfully rustic" accents, into a few harmless minutes of chatting over a sociable drink or two in a cozy local setting.
Extra sedatives were, of course, provided free of charge. As was the wake-up, and a bit of the usual screaming. Hence the shoulder padding covering several otherwise telling bruises.
The good captain gave Miss Tart's bandages a critical eye. "Mountain climbing? Near New Pegas? Why, the only hill around here worth the name is Mount Morgan, more of a ski resort... unless you were speaking of the more treacherous inclines of Black Mountain...?"
Butter Tart's laugh sounded forced, even from across the way. "Yes, yes of course! Silly me, I allowed myself to be coaxed by The King's siren song of adventure --- wasn't it simply ludicrous of you to bring me along on your little escapade, darling?" She didn't need to add the hindleg kick to The King's back hoof, though he didn't show any indication of noticing.
"Yes, ma'am, it surely was, you betcha."
I fought not to facehoof. This was his plan, not mine, and he, the well-known leader of a local street gang entirely outside of NCR authority, hadn't even bothered wearing a disguise to a party at the NCR embassy. There was no way...
Captain Bust-My-Balls gave The King a long sidelong look with pale green eyes whose lids hung just short of half-mast, then broke into a winning smile. "But here I am holding you both up, when the lady is clearly not at her best. Please, please, show yourselves around --- but may I first thank you again, Miss Tart, for using your connections to provide a replacement orchestra and crew. It would have been a shame to have to cancel this evening's entertainment." He bent low and slid a forehoof behind her foreleg, lifting it to gracefully plant a respectful kiss as a true gentlecolt might. She blushed, as a true lady might be expected to do in response, and then the two actors parted.
I was willing to bet she was blushing more over the memory of seeing her personal orchestra and their handful of bodyguards hustled into the theater by the Lords at gunpoint, than at any wanton display of courtly manners.
Meanwhile, various of those same Lords now pulled and tugged at their ill-fitting orchestra tuxedos while trying to look like they knew what they were doing. Most of them had absolutely no experience with the instruments they were ostensibly warming up and tuning, a scene made more ridiculous by the fact that, to a buck, they had refused to get rid of their signature pompadours. A number of admirers had amassed about the edges of the pit, convinced the musicians were a comedy troupe performing an avante-garde opening act for the real orchestra. Several pre-War bits sailed through the air from time to time, along with the sound of polite applause and laughter.
The whole mess reminded me of everything I hated about people.
Everypony had their fake faces, false words, forced smiles and faux mannerisms, all designed to fool their fellow pony into thinking they would make a good friend or ally... or, at least, to allay suspicions of enmity, which were probably justified to begin with. This was especially true of the Silver Slipper Society, each and every one of whom stood out in their ultramodern fashions, decorative masks of crystal and filigree, and utterly impeccable grace. Not one step was taken without consideration for the audiovisual impact it would have upon any potential viewers; not one word was uttered without consideration and measured tones. They looked and acted like creatures invented by the brilliance only possible beneath a mad sculptor's chisel.
Secrets and lies. If all of these ponies actually knew what the others were thinking at any given moment, this place would be a war-zone. At least if it were, they'd just kill each other and be done with it. A nice, cathartic baptism of fire and blood...
Mental images of merry little equine bonfires (far too personalized to have any similarity to those I'd seen in Nipton, I assured myself) helped me get through the evening. And that was with me avoiding everypony else by skulking around backstage, occasionally watching Captain Thunder-Bollocks from the cover of curtains through my dismounted sniper scope. I might not have had a chance of smuggling in the whole rifle, but that didn't mean parts of it couldn't be useful!
My quarry spent most of his time in brief conversations with as many Very Important Ponies as he could manage without seeming rude. A few comments, a joke, some laughter, and he'd use the break to trot right over to the next gaggle of overdressed goofballs and chat them up. Clearly, he believed he was a pony everypony should know... and from the responses he got, most of the gala crowd was in agreement.
This was a buck whose star was on the rise, from whose saddle everypony wanted their stirrups hanging.
The sun went down as the embassy's courtyard lights went up, their positions strategically illuminating every sequin and medal in attendance. Up on stage behind the orchestra pit, notable after notable took the podium to give short speeches in honor of the Buck of the Hour --- each one followed immediately by rather longer speeches about whatever pet projects or issues they could jam in sideways. It was as though they believed their points and beliefs could only be accepted by others through constant repetition, the act of talking at ponies instead of to them.
Politicking. Politicking never changes...
When it seemed like the crowd could finally take no more, somepony graciously suggested that it was time to hear from Captain Enter-Vile-Reference-Here before folks began retiring for the evening. The mild joke unleashed a torrent of relieved laughter, not the least of which came from all of us backstage. It seemed no one had thought to reserve so much as a port-a-potty bucket for the working stiffs...
The "orchestra" streamed out into their seats for Phase Two of the grand plan, probably trying like me not to think of streams, waterfalls, rainstorms, oceans... dammit. I found a moment to make use of a cast-off milk bottle while everypony was still settling in. Meanwhile, they were all readying the instruments they couldn't even play for "The Big Number", whatever the hell The King had in mind for that. I reminded myself to haggle Pacer for a lower price tag on mercenaries who didn't bother letting their supposed employer know what shenanigans they were about.
To either side of the podium, the brass section arranged itself with trumpets, cornets and trombones, while the woodwinds and percussionists sat in the orchestra pit arrayed around the front of the stage. For all intents and purposes, the podium was surrounded by tux-clad Lords, with The King and Miss Tart standing just off to the side, and me still behind the curtain with the other "roadies" --- in theory, our reserve muscle.
It occurred to me that, just perhaps, I'd been talked into taking a position that kept me conveniently on the sidelines.
Too late now. To the cheers of the posh, Captain Riposte leapt nimbly to the stage, landing with a horn-swept flourish despite his formal attire. His display of panache having spiked the applause to new heights, he strolled to the podium, donned a pair of dark glasses, and quickly brought silence across the assembly with a single raised hoof.
At which point, every flood-lamp in sight focused directly on the stage and orchestra pit, blinding everypony caught in their glare but him. Even behind the curtains, enough raw actinic light got through that I reflexively raised a hoof to protect my night-sensitive eyes, biting back a curse.
"GO GO GO!"
NCR troopers poured in through the back of the stage, charging past us "roadies" like we weren't even there, shoving the barrels of rifles and pistols into the Lords and yelling at them to get down. From every surrounding rooftop sprang the night-combat targeting beams of numerous snipers' rifles, focusing in on the Lords still struggling to recover their wits down in the orchestra pit. Only once the situation was completely under his control did Gallant signal for the lights to return to their original positions, pocketing his protective eyewear with a smile.
We'd surrounded Gallant, and then he'd surrounded us. Cool as a lake-pony, he adopted the same casual stroll towards the opposite side of the stage where Miss Tart stood, looking dumbstruck. She was leaning against The King for support; he had a foreleg around her good shoulder, looking more concerned for her immediate well-being than his own.
Gallant gave with a deep, happy laugh that might as well have been off a script. "Fillies and gentlecolts! This has got to be the evening's kicker. I present to you none other than 'The King' and what looks like most of his band of gangsters, the so-called Lords of Freemane!" He waited a moment for the expected boos and hisses before motioning for quiet once more.
Butter Tart looked up and grimaced. "You're Special Service, aren't you, Riposte? You need to know -" Simultaneously, The King kicked her shin and Gallant turned up his nose at the filly's protests.
"There is nothing an obvious traitor can tell me that I do not already know, Miss Tart. Yes, you are now in the hooves of the S.S... my hooves, to be exact." Stepping down from the stage, secure in the presence of the several rifles trained on his two captives, Gallant took the time to gloat, milking the moment for all he could get.
"Seriously, 'The King'? Waylaying the hired help and wearing their uniforms? That old chestnut? When none of you can even hold a double-bass right, or wear formal attire correctly? And with those arrogant punk hairstyles?" Now he seemed to laugh genuinely, taking a few moments to get it out of his system while The King just watched with dispassionate aloofness. He finished up his act by rounding on Butter Tart with an accusing hoof, she having no better defense at the moment than to glare right back.
"And you. You waltz in here with him at your fetlocks, expecting me to believe you injured yourself climbing up a mountain which our intelligence shows is covered with Diamond Dog tribals? You don't carry half the injuries our armored troops have sustained just trying to get close to that damned hillock!" His mane tossed with theatrical contempt. "What did you think you were going to do, walk in here and just kill everyone, like the herd of madponies you are?"
Ignoring the rifles aimed at him, The King leapt behind Gallant and up onto the stage before turning back to face him, Tart, the rifles and the enthralled crowd.
"Aw naw, buck. Like we said... we're th' entertainment. A-ONE! A-TWO! A-one-two-three!"
Another problem with monologuing just to showboat: it gives your presumably-defeated opponent time to get their act together. And the Lords had one hell of an act to put on.
They didn't pull cleverly-hidden grenades out of lead-lined pockets designed to defeat magical detection. They didn't produce several heavy weapons which they'd smuggled in as disassembled parts and then reassembled during furtive moments backstage. They didn't produce a platoon of unicorn mage-prodigies which they'd been secretly training for decades in expectation of the opportunity for just such an occasion.
Nope. From a number of instrument cases which they'd quietly paid no attention to until now, about a quarter of the Lords pulled forth harmonicas, guitars, tambourines and bongo drums. Those which already had trumpets and trombones from their "orchestra days" just grinned and puckered up as the soldiers covering them stared.
In their eyes, I could see the collective: Wait, what...? When The King opened up his throat to belt out his signature ballad, their confusion was nowhere more clearly displayed than in the eyes of Guard-Captain Derp-in-the-Headlights Gallant.
[SPECIAL MUSICAL INSERT!]: A Strangely Appropriate Tune
The King kicked off by leaping to his hind hooves, shaking his pelvis in a gyrating motion. In seconds, he'd dropped a full dozen of the more matronly mares in the audience with fits of sheer apoplexy.
Old World city, gonna set my soul,
Gonna set my soul on fire!
Got a whole lotta bottlecaps a-ready t' burn,
So get those stakes up higher!
The Lords leaped into action, ripping off their tuxedos to reveal their usual leather jackets beneath and forming ad-hoc chorus lines. Their swaying hips and smoldering looks, both on stage and in the pit, started a round of spontaneous squeals from the less-decorous fillies who'd been dragged along to this previously-boring-as-hell shindig. All right! Somepony brought the real party!
Gallant shook his head with an audible wogga-wogga-wogga, fighting to absorb the concept of a hugely-successful-bust-turned-impromptu-rock-and-roll-concert. Meanwhile, The King turned his own soulful gaze on his nearest insta-fans, teasingly puckering his lips as he crooned:
There's a thousand willin' fillies, a-waitin' out there,
They're all livin' for that savoir-faire,
An' I'm a fallen savior, with love t' spare!
So viva, New Pegas!
Viva, New Pegas!
All three fillies fainted dead away, clutching their chests with another round of squeals and causing their theoretical escorts and paramours no small amount of immediate concern for their sanity.
Now I might wish that there were more
Than twenny-four hours in th' day!
A little bit of cash, an' I'll pop some Dash,
I won't sleep a minute of it away!
Recovering his military bearing at last, Gallant grabbed one of the troopers and pointed at The King. "Shoot him! Shoot, you idiot!" The soldier just stared at him. "At an unarmed civilian?! For what, sir? Trespassing?"
Oh, there's Black-Jack an' Poker,
An' th' Roulette wheel
A fortune won or lost on ev'ry deal,
So make sure your back is covered
With a length of steel!
Viva, New Pegas!
Viva, New Pegas!
By now, the more libertine of attendees were tapping hooves and bobbing heads in time to the wild combination of rhythm and melody, some of them even trying to dance to it in the middle of the packed crowd with mixed success.
Viva, New Pegas, with your
Neon flashin'
An' yer one-armed bandits crashin'
Gallant's face, looking across the assembly, carried the horrified look of a fame-hungry buck whose spotlight was being suddenly and thoroughly hijacked.
All those hopes, down th' drain!
I'll give him this, though: he was sure capable of turning that look into one that could scare small foals in two seconds flat.
Viva, New Pegas, bring the day into night-time
An' Celestia to my bed-time
If she shows up a-once...
You'll never go home again!
"Blasphemy!" shouted an old general, the fruit-salad of decorations on his uniform jiggling with fury beneath a huge white broom of mustache.
His wife, resplendent in black evening gown with a tastefully minimal number of well-placed diamonds, let him have it in the rump with a bump from the hip, nearly knocking the war hero over. "Get with the times, you old gray mare!" With that said, she dragged the poor bastard out into the growing maelstrom of dancing ponies.
I might be on the run,
But I'll have me some fun,
'Cause my liberty is in its prime!
If I wind-up broke-up, well I'll
Always remember that I
Had me a hell of a time!
With the officers joining in, why shouldn't the troops? At least, that seemed to be what was going through their heads. the Lords weren't fighting, weren't resisting arrest, weren't doing anything except what they'd been announced as --- the replacement entertainment for the evening. The tension in the air simply popped like a soap bubble, everypony joining in with the festivities.
I wouldn't really have been able to tell what happened next if I hadn't picked up some rudimentary ability to read lips in my years of stalking raider bounties. Gallant tried dragging the general off the dance floor, shouting at him to get the troops under control and arrest the Lords for --- for something! Anything! The general barked right back that if the Guard-Captain were smart, he'd play along like the whole thing had been staged and otherwise keep his big mouth shut, to which most of those immediately in the vicinity laughed.
Shamed, embarrassed and angry, Guard-Captain Riposte Gallant stormed off what had become the dance floor.
Well, I'm gonna give it ev'rything I've got,
Lady Luna please, let the dice stay hot,
Let me shoot a seven, with ev'ry shot!
Shame, embarrassment and anger are dangerous emotions in a soldier, especially one with a rather high opinion of himself; Gallant's green eyes blazed with the promise of revenge. He set course straight for Butter Tart, who stood by the stage gazing up at The King. Her rapturous smile was mirrored by the half-dozen other fillies crowding in for a chance to get closer to their new musical idol.
For their own part, The King and every Lord on stage were locked in the throes of the final thundering chorus:
Ah, viva, New Pegas!
Viva, New Pegas!
Viva, New Pegas!
Vivaaa!
Vivaaaaa!
NEW PEGAAAAAAAAS!
The crowd, with a number of notable exceptions, exploded into wild cheering, throwing hats into the air and coins at the stage, yelling for more. Those notable exceptions, composed almost wholly of the entire Silver Slipper entourage, collectively lifted their noses into the air with a "hmph!" and departed, displaying all the grace and disdain of a sous-chef discovering a line of scum in a proffered saucepan.
So much for the hoped-for-alliance. Not that many of the NCR folks seemed to care; most of them, deep down, came from working-class roots. Farmers, miners, veteran soldiers, the sorts who understood the value of a good-old hoe-down... even if they might otherwise have pretensions to snootier lifestyles, someday.
I briefly lost sight of Riposte as the crowd surged forward to swarm the Lords, and their King, with requests and adoration. But I didn't lose sight of Butter Tart as she slowly got shoved back by the sheer press of ponies jostling her injured shoulder. Her, I watched, waiting in the wings...
From the back of the crowd a steel-grey glow emerged, wrapped tightly around the hilt of a rapier whose point flicked out to nestle beneath the bandaged neck of the hunted prey. With a start, Miss Tart backed up, trying to get away from the razor-sharp edge which nicked her throat, pursuing her pace-by-pace retreat with effortless ease. Riposte, drifting out of the crowd in a maddened dance all his own, followed in its wake.
And the harmless little Earth-pony roadie followed, at a distance, in his.
* * * * *
Barely a block away, Riposte decided, was far enough to serve. This far from the lit-up embassy grounds, yet not so close to the garish neon flaring out from the Strip itself, might perhaps provide a sufficiency of darkness for the deed. Which he might have been right about, if my profession hadn't long ago taught me how to be a sneaky little bastard. While I kept my silhouette to the shadows, he reversed the sword in his magical grip to bash at Butter with the hilt, driving her into the alley between a pair of office buildings. Their tenants, long gone for the night, were presumably expected to find her body in the morning.
If he had a lick of sense operating in his skull, Riposte probably had some idea for pinning the murder on the Lords, too. In his horseshoes, I sure would. But he was still taking his frustration out on Butter's face with his hooves when I sidled around the corner, my lips warm upon the grip of my favorite hold-out pistol. The courier's ten-mil was definitely a cut above its brethren, solid and unyielding and steady and easier to hide than you'd think to look at it.
Unfortunately, it was also a bit too shiny, and the alley a bit too well-lit.
Riposte surprised me; I'd thought him more of a grasping fop than a real soldier. He leaped backwards from Butter, magically thrusting his rapier down the alley at me, simultaneously throwing off my aim and forcing me to dodge aside.
I slipped into S.A.T.S. --- the odds displayed weren't good, nothing better than thirty-percent odds of a hit and that only for center-mass shots. I piled on as many as I could, four rounds, and let go. Three zipped harmlessly past him, leaving only one to strike home with the distinct spang of metal on metal.
Chestplate cuirass! Damn!
Something flashed in the periphery of my vision as I came out of the slow-motion trance, and then the vision in my right eye disappeared. In the next instant, I was clutching at my face, screaming like a --- like a --- there's nothing to compare it to. My throat simply opened and released a howl of primal anguish which I had no power to stop. The pistol fell from my nerveless, gaping mouth, my traitorous tongue too busy vocalizing the essence of sheared nerve endings to keep its grip on the trigger.
My eye. He slashed open my EYE.
One small problem of being a careful, intelligent and methodical bounty hunter: because I avoided putting myself into wildly dangerous situations, I didn't get shot very often. I didn't let my opponents, whom I usually outranged by as much as a quarter-mile, get close enough to stab or pummel me. And while I'd gotten somewhat used to blunt trauma from a long childhood of hoof-fights with bullies --- I'd never had the pleasure of being slashed open with a knife. And I'd never been wounded in such a horrible way as this.
Ever stub the inside of your hoof on a sharp rock? Okay. Imagine that the rock is a nail and that it just drove up the middle of your hoof. Now imagine your hoof is actually your fucking eyeball. I think that maybe gets it across.
In the barest instant after being initiated into a realm of such pain that the simple four-letter word didn't really begin to express it, I knew I was going into shock. I also knew I could do nothing about it. When the next moment finally ticked over, I realized I was going to die, right here, helplessly paralyzed by the reality of my very first crippling stab wound. Part of me screamed that I was a coward for not fighting back, regardless of debilitating injury, that I was a weakling for not plowing through the hurt, that I deserved this for being stupid enough not to try for the long shot instead of getting close enough to be stabbed in the first place.
I slumped as strength fled my legs, collapsing to my belly, still expelling that one long scream like --- projectile-vomiting agony! That was it! Heh... how could I laugh, even just inside, as that cruel blade-tip lined up with my remaining eye? As I looked up its length into the triumphant grin of a sonovabitch named Riposte Gallant, feeling bisected ruin grinding through my right eye-socket as what was left there habitually tried to track what the left eye was focusing on... a sudden wash of blinding tears, brought on by the motion, flooded the raw red meat with saline solution.
My throat locked up, unable to bring forth the sound my lungs wanted to force through it. A vast roaring noise filled my eardrums. Why couldn't he finish it? End it! One quick thrust to the brain, COME ON! I couldn't stand it anymore! My left hoof flailed madly, seeking the lost pistol; if Riposte wouldn't put me out of my misery, I'd do it myself! I...
...I felt the ground shudder with the thump of a pony's body landing next to me.
A moment later, a bottle was shoved into my still-gaping mouth. Someone's hoof clamped over my muzzle, forcing me to drink its contents out of sheer reflex. Sweet... it was sweet, and wholesome, and tasted --- purple?
"Ahh, shaddap, ya godsdamned pansy. All that screamin', I had to flip a coin. Potion, buckshot? Potion, buckshot? Consider this your favor for the day." I felt the prick of a needle against the right side of my face, saw the expended vial of Hydra cast aside to my left. "This too. Don't think I'm goin' all sentimental on ya, either. This barn door don't swing that way."
My vision slowly returned, the pain fading away until I found myself sucking an empty bottle and looking up...
...at Ash. Of Housewares. He was still wearing the nametag.
He was also floating that gargantuan shotgun of his, its double-barrel still smoking. I realized that I was partly covered with Gallant bits, fought not to retch as I hastily pushed the bottle away.
"Ee-yep," drawled Ash, taking a moment to inspect the firearm, "she's a beaut, all right. Ironshod Firearms' IF-88 Ironpony, made in good-ol' Hoofington. Ten-gauge, double-action twin-barrel autoloader, walnut stock, cobalt-blued steel assembly, ten-round internal magazine with an external port that's expandable to a full twenty. Ess-Mart's top of the line --- or it would be, if any damned son of a bitch but me ever found another one like it."
The light grey unicorn, his black mane shook out and wide grin gleaming, stood up and reached back to toss me Tag's disconnected slave collar. Its key followed shortly thereafter, with a clink.
"Need more firepower'n that, you shoulda brought your own damned army-of-darkness to do all the fightin' for ya. Speakin' of which, I've got some business back on the other side of town. But I thought I'd drop in, save your sorry ass and the dollface, and leave you with some parting words of wisdom for the next time some primitive screw-head stabs you in the face." He bent down close, close enough to whisper in my ear.
"Run."
I'd just been whipsawed between the trauma of losing an important and sensitive body part for the first time, having it regenerate back to being as good as new in a matter of seconds, and having no choice but to be thankful to the most naturally-sarcastic prick I'd ever met. And I wasn't quite sure if I'd just been threatened by that selfsame savior into the bargain.
What could I do, other than lay there on my belly in a growing puddle of the NCR's finest, watching him trot off into the night with a brutalized and unconscious starlet slung over his shoulder like a sack of beans? Watching the mists of midnight slowly close around his shadow like seeking tendrils from another plane of existence? Watching that incredible, amazing shotgun (I want it! I need it!) levitate upwards in a final parting salute, hearing his words drift back across millennia and light-years...
..."hail to the King, baby."
And in the cold silence that followed, even this far from the embassy, I could hear The King shouting to his still-raving audience, as though calling to a pony he probably never even met:
"Thank ya! Thankyaverramush."
Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Commando -- While using a rifle or similar weapon, your accuracy in S.A.T.S. is increased by 25%. In addition, you can channel your innate desire to charge headlong into battle into a controlled burst of speed (Turbo +4, useable once per day), and your Poison Resistance drops to 10% anytime you are within three yards of a rusty tin can.
Skill Note: Barter (25) |
Calbeck | 679 | 8 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-06-27T11:54:58+00:00 | 2016-10-26T06:02:03+00:00 | 3,796 | CHAPTER EIGHT: A Horse of Wealth and Taste
"Pleased to meet you. Hope you guessed my name."
"I don't get it. Don't these ponies hate you?"
Pink-E bobbed overhead as I slipped from the lukewarm muck of one bathtub into the nice, hot, clean water of its neighbor, leaving the day's blood and mud behind me. In one corner of the relatively spacious bathroom were piled my filthy clothes and saddlebags, looking more like a radroach nest than anything else --- and if I left them there too long, they would be. The Atomic Bronco's "Imperial Suite" was only marginally better than the rest of its flophouse rooms.
I relaxed and closed my eyes, letting the heat soak into my hide for a moment, before answering the little robot. "They're mad because I abused their hospitality on the drink deal, Pink-E. But nopony likes a poor sport, either. It'd be bad business for them to hold a grudge against somepony just because they got lucky and won big. Besides, they're at least getting some of their money back on this room and bath."
"But aren't you worried about being robbed again? I mean, I can keep a Hypno-Eye on the door but -" My lazy hoofwave brushed her concerns aside.
"This room's probably the most secure place in the whole Moohave for me right now. Nopony'll blame the Bronco for my getting mugged outside, but if it happened inside --- well, they'd all think the owners were in on it."
Pink-E rotated slightly and rolled her eyes up, the way a real pony with an actual body might cock her head to ponder something. "Sooooo - " The rest of her words dissolved into "blblblblblblbl" as I ducked below the surface to soak my head and mane.
Ahhhh...
Oh yeah, this definitely beat out the cold-shower-from-a-rusty-bucket that usually passed for wasteland hygiene! Honestly, the only reason I'd shelled out the extra caps for the Imperial Suite, to start with, was the "Double Bubble" bath service that went with it. It started with a long warm-water soak in the first of two side-by-side tubs, good for breaking off the grime anypony tends to accrue just walking and sweating over miles of dusty desert landscape --- the sort of bath you can buy at almost any trading post in the wasteland.
What made it special was the second tub, for which the Bronco's kitchen stoves heated up purified water while you got most of your gunk off in the first. They even threw in a halfway-decent bar of soap. I surfaced with a splash, grabbed the little white lozenge of aloe-scented bliss off its dish, and began scrubbing furiously.
An hour later, the soap was gone and I was happily sprawled in what was left of the suds as the water started to go cold. On top of it, I was pretty sure that the bottom of the tub had developed its own sedimentary layer despite my pre-soak --- I didn't even want to think about what the other tub would look like once it was drained! They could probably stick a couple of dead bloatsprites in it and pass it off to tourists as an Authentic Moohave Wetland Preserve.
It had been a long day of waking up hungover in a dumpster, followed by a lot of hunting, running, shooting and getting maimed. That sort of thing tends to take it out of a buck. If it weren't for the fact that the tub wasn't getting any warmer (and the distinct possibility of drowning), I'd have just gone to sleep right there. Instead, I managed to slide over the side of the tub, squirm in slug-like fashion across the floor, and drag myself up onto the mattress of my overpriced bed before oblivion seized me.
>>> oOo <<<
Adrift in amber. Soothing velvety warmth, so deep and golden that light itself seemed to liquefy and drift along with me. Another drowning dream.
Except that I could breathe just fine. In... out. Lungs full of liquid heat, like being back in the womb. Throat and sinuses burning with pure, cleansing fire on each inhalation. A familiar taste rolled along my tongue...
Whiskey. I was drowning in sweet, golden whiskey. With a tinge of honey?
And no Pink-E to bug me about it! ...is this heaven?
I concentrated on the taste, letting my eyelids droop to half-mast. So sharp, so sweet, so relaxing...
...too relaxing. Something was wrong. Something was always wrong.
I craned my neck in all directions, trying to find the threat I knew had to be out there, but saw nothing in the amber depths. Which made the feeling worse; what could be out there, coiled and waiting amidst the drifts of thick, hazy film? The hackles of my mane started to prickle, sweat trickling up individual hairs and into the whiskey, intermingling fear and alcohol. Motes of sweat-fed salt began to swirl around me, a miniature snowstorm further obscuring my vision.
Horsepaddling now, turning in place, trying to see behind me. Nothing there --- there! What was that?! A shadow darted. Didn't it? The swirling salt eddies accelerated in time with my desperate attempts to see in every direction at once. More shadows. Quick, irregular movements.
I tried to think. Salt stung my eyes, whiskey was on my tongue, in my breath, in my blood... focus? What's focus? Focus, hocus, pocus, locus, okie, dokie, Loki! Movement! Where?!
More and more shadows began to take form, zipping back and forth across my vision, coalescing, advancing... I started paddling backwards. My only chance now was to escape the notice of whatever monsters were home to this honey-flavored hell. But the salt from my sweat left a telling trail, like white snowflakes, glistening and floating in ever-widening whorls. It let anything and everything know there was a frightened, unarmed, unarmored, could-be-eaten-in-one-bite little pony right here...
My tail bumped into something with a soft tump. I whirled, saw the thick glass barrier, the giant black label on its other side, the light shining through its reversed white lettering:
PARADE
~~~
made with Genuine Paradore Honey
~~~
imported by Red Carriage Bottling, Ltd., Boneyard, NCR
Up, down, left, right, the expanse of impenetrable glass swept away in all directions, outlining the humongous bottle imprisoning me. Suddenly my point of view shifted outside to look in on the horrified little pony still trapped behind, pounding uselessly on, the glass. Thousands of shadows shifted behind him, ink blots from a doctor's test, resolving into one and then dozens and then hundreds of paradores. Buzzing, surging, grinning, rapidly filling the bottle, while he flailed and screamed until no hope or whiskey remained...
<<< oOo >>>
My eyes slowly creaked open on their own accord. GODSDAMNIT. I didn't used to have fucked-up dreams like this --- hell, this time I wasn't even drunk! How unfair is that?!
Pink-E hovered overhead, her ever-present smile every bit as annoying as I remembered it. It expanded to a grin as her visual receptors verified that I was, in fact, not as dead as my body was convinced I should be.
"Morning, Cherry! Time to get up and at 'em!"
At WHO? My brain rustily engaged first gear, then ground its way into second. Oh, right...
* * * * *
First order of business was picking up Tag-End at the Kingdom Theatre, where to my surprise he still was. With his slave collar having been used to keep Bitter Tart in line for the party-crash last night at the Embassy, he could have slipped out and away anytime. The King looked at least as disgusted with Tag for not taking the chance, as with me for coming back to collect him.
Or maybe it was because, having hastily washed my shirt and saddlebags in last night's bathwater, I was dripping all over his nice polished floor.
"Told 'im I wasn't gonna keep 'im here. That he could go whenever he wanted, if he wanted. But he just sets there, like a dog'r somethin', waitin' fer ya." He briefly, needlessly, ran a steel comb through his forelock, as though to demonstrate that his hair was a more important subject of concern. "G'wan. Take 'im an' get gone."
Tag opened his mouth to say something, prompting The King to turn his glare back on him. "Little less conversation, a little more action." I tossed the lime-green buck his collar, waiting while he clicked it into place without another word.
Pacer was waiting for me on the way out, hoof presented for payment of yesterday's services rendered and a grin plastered across his muzzle. It faded into a grimace as I reminded him, point by point, just who'd had what working relationship with whom and when. We started arguing back and forth, until The King stepped in and cut Pacer's exorbitant price in half just to get rid of us.
For that kind of money, I'd never been happier to be kicked out of anywhere!
* * * * *
Five minutes later, our little group approached the barbed-wire and steel gates of the Strip's sole checkpoint into the Strip, its complement of big blue box-like guards industriously checking over the only other pony trying to get in.
The well-dressed unicorn seemed greatly offended at having his worth put into question, irritatedly lashing his purple tail back and forth. "I say! Do I look like some manner of street urchin? Why, this suit alone cost more than you're demanding I prove!"
The 'bot overseeing the process was unmoved. "REQUIREMENT FOR ENTRY EQUALS A CASH VALUE OF FIVE THOUSAND BOTTLE CAPS. PERSONAL PROPERTY DOES NOT COUNT TOWARDS THIS AMOUNT. PLEASE CO-OPERATE FULLY WITH -"
"I heard you the first fifty times!" shouted the unicorn. "And I've told you fifty times, I left my cash in my hotel room just a few blocks past this very gate! If you simply let me go get it -"
"YOU ARE NOW BLOCKING TRAFFIC. REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THE LINE."
"What?!" The unicorn turned to glare at us. "To make way for this ruffian? Why, that slave of his isn't even worth -"
The robot shifted forward on its big single wheel, placed its claw-hands against the unicorn's snappily-attired chest, and shoved, sending the surprised fop stumbling backwards. "FURTHER IMPEDIMENT OF TRAFFIC WILL RESULT IN THE USE OF DEADLY FORCE. HAVE A NICE DAY."
I stepped forward, opened my saddlebags, and let the 'bot's sensors scan the bundle of neatly-stacked bottlecaps I'd recovered from Captain Gallant's body last night. All five thousand, six hundred and forty-seven that were left from my original fortune, which I tried very hard not to think about.
The unicorn, still brushing off his expensive suit, goggled as the robots opened the gate and stood aside.
"GOOD DAY SIR. WELCOME TO THE NEW PEGAS STRIP. ENJOY YOUR STAY."
As we started through the gate, he leapt forward and grabbed my shoulder. "Please, sir! I'm in Room Eighty-Seven at the Velvet Stocking --- I implore you, if you'd be so kind as to bring my satchel to me, I'll happily grant you half of the funds therein! I simply cannot miss tonight's banquet!"
I stared at his restraining hoof until, sheepishly, he withdrew it. "And how'm I supposed to get into your room? Ask nicely?" He hastily pressed a golden key, set with a small ruby, into my saddlebag.
"Of course, of course, silly of me! Now run along!" Even half-begging, he couldn't avoid being condescending. I supposed that maybe it was just his upbringing, which was probably the most charitable thought I'd had about anypony in a good month or so. He stepped back and waved. "And do gallop back soonest!"
Once through the gate, the fop gazing worriedly after my departing flank, I let a smile steal across my face and a bounce slip into my step. Pink-E positively beamed. "Gee, Cherry, it's nice to see you finally starting to help other ponies out!"
I couldn't help but laugh. "Are you kidding?! We just got a satchel full of that buck's money AND a free room at the poshest joint on the whole Strip! Did you really think I was just going to go fetch the thing for half that and NO room? I can not believe my luck this week!"
Pink-E's face shifted directly from "pleased" to "crestfallen", signifying that I'd successfully popped her precious little bubble... but for some reason, I didn't feel so good about getting the barb in. Something about her expression, the way the light seemed to drain away --- and why am I feeling sorry for a robot? I turned away, distracting myself with my first good look at the Strip itself.
It was just one street, stretching away into the distance, but it was the most glorious street in the world.
No cracks marred the shimmering black asphalt, no wrecked vehicles loomed along its length. Every fifty yards, there was a trash receptacle, as well as an alert police 'bot ready to remove anypony who publically acted like trash. Its adjoining blocks were a checkerboard pattern of theme-park fiefdoms, each casino packed with bright neon and flashing lights to match its individual style, surrounded by tasteful kiosk-courtesans and street-performance jesters.
All except one --- Lucky Chance, the veritable original sin of New Pegas.
It literally towered over the strip, casting its shadow long and far, a sharp white spire whose tip neatly speared a red disk rotating half-a-hundred lengths above, just as it had for the hundreds of years since it was built. All around its grounds were neatly kept, but nopony lingered near to enjoy the walkways or gardens, and no shouting vendors disturbed its solemn serenity. A huge marquee, just outside the main doors, touted a science symposium hosted by some egghead whose name had dropped so many letters that it read "Doc... Who". Who, indeed, would remember anything about him now?
They say poisonous insects and whores alike pretty themselves up to attract their prey. But at least New Pegas left it up to you to pick your poison, and to choose how you got fucked. Yep... definitely my kinda town... I took my first step past the famous "Welcome" sign.
Before I could take another, we were surrounded by a swarm of police 'bots, each monitor screen bearing the face of a mirthless guard-pony. Even Pink-E seemed stunned:
"Um... this is a surprise party... right...?"
* * * * *
Word was, nopony had ever been inside the Lucky Chance Casino in the centuries since the bombs fell.
"Well, howdy again, friend! Haven't seen you since Goodsprings!"
I was pretty sure VIC-20 didn't count. Its permanently-smarmy cowpony face could probably be installed as a program on any of Horse's pet 'bots, but this one still had the trail dust on its wheel hubs and bullet dings in its chassis which told of a long-haul journey. Not only did that pretty well narrow down which specific 'bot this was, but it also lent a little authenticity to its friendly western-frontier façade... sort of.
Its guard-faced buddies, on the other hoof, had bodily herded the lot of us to the casino's front entryway, waited just long enough for its doors to slide open, and thrown us in. It all happened so fast that only about a half-dozen passersby had to pick their jaws off the ground before the doors slammed shut once more.
Now here we were, Tag and I still getting back on our hooves while Pink-E spun in place oohing and ahhing at the casino's silent, dusty splendor. Ignoring the decor for the moment, I gave her a dirty look and then turned my attention to VIC.
"So. What's this all about, 'bot?"
It flipped one arm up, gesturing to the bank of elevators set into the huge red column dominating the center of the floor. "Boss wants t'seeya, amigo. Sez he's sorry an' all 'bout the rawhide treatment, but the buck's powerful antsy about gettin' business done with ya."
"Yeah?" I arched an eyebrow, more on the likelihood that Horse --- or whoever he really was --- was watching through a camera. The 'bot wouldn't care if I stood there and made silly faces all day. "Well, we were on his business outside when he had us dragged in. Does he want his chip back or not?"
The 'bot shrugged, still playing the cowpony role to the hilt. "Ain't my business what his business is, friend. But I'll mindja t'get a move-on, pronto. Time's a-wastin'!"
Having had my fill of faux frontier friendliness, I gestured for Tag and Pink-E to follow in the direction we'd been pointed.
It must've been one hell of a place in its time, and it still was. Everything was well-maintained --- no peeling wallpaper, no cracks in the walls. Even the carpet seemed like it had been replaced sometime in the last thirty years or so. Still, nopony but us had walked here in at least that long, if the trail left by our hoofprints in the dust was any indication.
Echoing through the emptiness from the casino's public-address system came a groaning, mournful dirge --- which, after a few moments, became recognizable as an extremely slow play of what would normally have been a rather bouncy tune. The great edifice's power reactors must finally have been running dry, which might also have explained the exceptionally dim lighting throughout. So while we stood there in the gloom waiting for the elevator to arrive, the melody ground interminably along:
A horse is a horse, of course of course...
And no-one can talk to a horse, of course...
That is, of course, unless the horse...
Is the famous Mister Ed...
*ding* The doors slid open to admit us.
I didn't feel at all nervous as we piled into an elevator with an unknown maintenance history that would take us up dozens of floors, possibly suffer a critical structural failure, and plummet right back down, not a bit! Nevermind that Mr. Edwin R. Horse might just cut the power off and suffocate us in here for petty spite on the pony who'd failed to get his "sentimental" poker chip...
The doors closed quietly behind.
Go right to the source, and ask the horse...
He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse...
He's always on a steady course...
Talk to Mister Ed...
With a soft whir, as opposed to the horrific grinding of neglected machinery I'd expected, the car smoothly accelerated upward, the funereal song now playing from a little speaker hidden somewhere behind the velvety red paneling.
People yakkity-yak a streak...
And waste your time of day...
But Mister Ed will never speak...
Unless he has something to say...
For all I knew, we were going to meet the real Horse, still alive as a ghoul whose brain was slowly deteriorating over the centuries. It would certainly explain how he'd been able to put his robot army together: he'd built it to start with. Wielding that kind of hammer must have made it easy to forge his little oasis of civilization between the lands held by the NCR and Herd... and what the hell was Pink-E humming now?!
"The girl, named Pink-a-mena, goes walkin'..." I did my best to ignore her and try to make sense of the slow-dragging elevator music. Why was Horse playing this for us? Frankly, it sounded kind of stupid.
A horse is a horse, of course of course...
The elevator stopped and slid open just as smoothly as it had started, revealing four more of the humorless guard 'bots. "THIS WAY, SIRS." Herded again. Well, whatever was going on here, it didn't seem like the prelude to an execution --- unless Horse liked things personal and up-front. I supposed I had to respect him for at least that much.
And this one will talk 'til his voice is hoarse...
I sure hoped so. I had a lot of questions whirling through my brain as our little group was hustled along a curving corridor, down a short flight of stairs, and up to a huge monitor screen easily a pony-length across. It had so many controls and instrument panels attached that it probably took a three-week training course to figure it out. Pretty impressive, though. So were the eight other guard 'bots boxing us in to either side, with the first four blocking off any retreat. I could hardly see any of the rest of Horse's opulent room past the wall of blue metal.
You never heard of a talking horse...?
Now that was dumb enough to make me snort in irritation. Who never heard of a talking horse? HELLO! Maybe the original songwriter had been trying for irony or... something.
Then listen to this...!
The monitor flickered to life right on cue, providing the surprisingly sharp and colorful image of a well-groomed yellow earth pony, looking darned good for his age. The music cut out as quick and sharp as if it had been excised by a scalpel.
"I am Mister Ed. Edwin Robert Horse, Chief Executive Officer of Robronco Robotics and Industrial Services, Incorporated, to be precise."
His black mane, cut short and styled back with a part to one side, glistened with just enough hair creme to maintain its form and sparkle without ostentation. A pencil-thin mustache graced (as such mustaches rarely did on anypony) his upper lip, which curled beneath dark brown eyes to create a playful yet --- dangerous --- smile. Perhaps the "madness" option wasn't entirely unlikely.
The image waved a nonchalant hoof. "No need to introduce yourself. You are, of course, Mister Dead Shot, formerly of Vagabond Van Lines, a small but reliable service which various of my associates have, in the past, made use of when your father was still alive. My belated condolences, by the way, on your loss."
I kept my mouth closed, waiting with a raised eyebrow and exaggerated patience. His concern over my father's death was much less interesting than hearing that he only knew me by my preferred nickname. That would look much better on a letter of recommendation, if I could cadge one out of him...
"Directly to business, then. I like that." Horse's image smiled, and then disappeared, to be instantly replaced by a detailed map of most of the Moohave Wasteland with New Pegas smack in the middle.
"This, Mister Shot, is my domain. You may have noticed in your extensive travels, however, that my domain is being encroached upon by a variety of rogue elements --- chiefly, but far from only, the New Coltifornia Republic and the so-called Herd." I nodded, not without some sense of relief. As long as he was monologuing about something other than his chip... and then, of course, he started talking about exactly that.
"While you may not realize the why of it, your failure to retrieve a single poker chip has made my position rather more difficult to maintain. Nor did the news of your little massacre in Big Rock City, however effective it may have been in demonstrating your simplistic brutality, bring me any solace in that regard. May I trust that, at a minimum, you determined the identity of the thief employing the Cossacks, prior to their liquidation?"
It was probably not the brightest idea I've ever had to snark off at the most powerful buck in three hundred miles, but...
"All you wanted was his name? Luna's balls, I knew that a day or so after I took your contract." That got his image back up on the screen, with one slim eyebrow arching upward and his smile dissolved away, but I was on a roll. "Got a working description the day after that. And the only reason his head isn't on the floor in front of me is because the entire Slimm Pass was blown to hell right in front of me by a bunch of Diamond Dogs - "
He cut me off, sharply. "I'm not interested in hearing your barbaric yawping, Mister Shot, or about whom you wish to blame for your failures. As you clearly don't have the chip or know where it is, I simply want to know WHO took it. I can pay you for the primary portion of your contract on that basis, although of course no bonuses shall be forthcoming."
A sudden cold shiver down my mane prompted me to steal a look at Tag, who was fidgeting like crazy. Something was wrong. Something was always wrong, but that shiver --- this was bigger than normal. What was it? None of the guard 'bots seemed to have moved. Horse's face on the big screen grew loomingly impatient. "Mister Shot, time is of the essence here. I would like to re-acquire my chip, you would like to get paid; what is the delay?"
Out of habit by this point, I checked to see what new disaster Pink-E was -
Gone. She was gone. I blinked in surprise, a move not unnoticed. "Is there a problem, Mister Shot?"
Now I felt a lot more nervous, as I turned back to address my electronic (g?)host. Maaaybe it would be a bad idea to mention the hyperactive floating robot head I was responsible for, possibly wreaking havoc somewhere in the very sanctum sanctorum of the most powerful pony in the wasteland?
"No... no, sorry, just..." I gave Tag a side-kick to the barrel, raising a surprised squawk as he stumbled sideways and barely avoided collision with a guard 'bot. "...stop fidgeting, Tag, you're distracting me!"
Horse actually seemed to buy it, though that did nothing to improve his mood. "The name, Mister Shot...?"
"Benny!" I blurted. "Black hair, brown eyes, white hide, checkered leisure suit - "
The computerized apparition actually went visibly pale for a moment. Then again, given what I'd seen with Pink-E's emotion-laden, pony-like programming... "Benny. Of course it would be Benny. I - well. It seems I may owe you something of an apology, Mister Shot."
There was a long pause while the visage of Edwin R. Horse visibly mused over my information. "I don't like this, but the factors have not substantially changed. The board requires rearranging, but forcing Benny's hand just now would risk - " He stopped, narrowing his eyes, and gave me a shrewd look.
"Allow me to --- incentivize this matter for you. As promised, I shall pay you the reward allotted for the termination of Benny and his hoodlums, but as the final thief you remain contracted to terminate still has my poker chip, I do not consider the matter concluded. Retrieve the chip Benny stole from me, Mister Shot, and I shall pay you double the bonus fee, whether or not Benny meets the end he deserves. I can always have my robots take care of that particular errand myself, should circumstances later warrant."
Ten thousand caps? My greedy little pony danced through piles of bottlecaps, laughing and singing like an idiot. Five thousand in my pouches, ten thousand for finishing the job, and at least another five waiting in the gate-fop's satchel at the Velvet Stocking? I could live like a brahmin baron on that kind of dosh!
So I answered like an idiot: "Sure. I'll get right on that."
Horse waggled a hoof at me from his monitor. "Ah-ah-ah, Mister Shot. Not just yet. Benny can wait for now. He has esconced himself within the casino I granted him charge of, wallowing in --- whatever ponies of his ilk tend to wallow in. I take it you've heard of the Trots?" I nodded. Who in the wasteland hadn't?
"Give him a little time to relax, to let down his guard, before beginning inquiries into the chip. In the meantime..." Here he paused, putting his hooves together under his chin in what struck me as a peculiar fashion. "I should like you to add another contract or two to your portfolio, regarding matters which require a stallion of your, shall we say, tenacity. After all, many other ponies would have simply given up chasing Benny the moment he entered the Strip."
I gave my best attempt at a businesslike look. "Please, do go on. I find myself... enthralled."
He chuckled, closing his eyes for a moment. "Very well. I'd like to assess the possibility of extending our mutual relationship into the long term. You will receive top value for your services, appropriate bonuses for performance above and beyond reasonable expectation, and I'll even grant you the use of the Lucky Chance's 'Celestial' suite for the duration of your employment. Or... we can terminate our relationship here, and you can be on your way."
I thought about that for a minute. Actually, more like a second. The little pony in my brain had coated all those bottlecaps in a fetlock-deep layer of pink cake frosting and was trying to swim around in it. "Sounds good."
"As you may recall, I mentioned certain minor factions around the Moohave which I consider to be troublesome to my personal objectives. I would like you to act as my agent in assessing their true intents and capabilities."
My ears flicked back, though I didn't really find the offer offensive. Maybe there was a fly in the room. "You want me to be your spy?"
Another chuckle, this time combining the hoof-wave. Maybe there was a program at work here? Horse sure looked healthy for a ghoul... "No no, Mister Shot. 'Spying' is much too strong a word... and 'observer' would be too light. 'Envoy' would more suit your intended role. Sound out these factions and, if they turn out to be amenable, offer them an alliance on my behalf. When the NCR and Herd finally decide to start shoving one another, everypony else will be caught in the middle --- either as cannon fodder, or latent threats to be destroyed along the way. Allied, we shall find our situation far more resilient than if we each stand alone."
I rubbed my chin. "And... what if they prove not to be amenable?"
That imposing frown returned. "Then I'm afraid that would constitute a 'loose end', Mister Shot. You seem like the sort of pony who excels at dealing with... loose ends."
The screen flickered twice, flashing the large Moohave map and then zooming in to the northeast before resolving into a highly-detailed overhead view of hangars, barracks, runways, control tower...
"Nellie Base. The Zoomers, then?" I felt a frown of my own coming on.
"I employ couriers for simple fetch-me-this errands, my good pony. Do we have a deal, or do we not?"
That took some thought. Nopony in their right mind went near Nellie Air Force Base, and with good reason: every pegasus in the Moohave was clustered up behind its fences and had a habit of strafing anypony who presented themselves. If you trotted a little too close, you found yourself on a gunnery range as the Moving Target of the Day. Not being a talkative bunch, the Zoomers wouldn't even have a name except for the 'zoom' they made during attack runs.
But I did consider myself a pretty darned sneaky pony. The approach to the old base was so full of blast craters that, during a moonless or cloudy night... hm. Plus I was pretty sure that if I walked now, that ten-thousand-cap carrot was going to be yanked away. I could spend a decade hunting down bounties and never get that far ahead. It might be longer if I gave Horse a reason to hold a grudge. If I wanted to retire earlier rather than much, much later...
I Iooked up at the screen. "Mister Ed --- if I can call you that --- I believe we have a deal."
* * * * *
Whoa.
I just stood there, blinking in disbelief for a good ten minutes after leaving the elevator, while Tag-End ran around the floor squealing like a filly with a rolling series of orgasms.
"Eeeeee! Omigoshomigoshomigoshomigoshlookit this! It's got its own water purifier that makes ICE! And this game room! Lookit all these old video games --- Pac-Mare, Discordians, P*Bert, wow! --- they even WORK! Is that a dishwasher?! Omigoshomigoshomigosh...!"
The 'Celestial Suite' wasn't just a couple of rooms on a particular floor. It WAS the floor.
From the outside, anypony could see that the Lucky Chance was built as a tall spire that narrowed in the middle before flaring back out again as you got closer to the rotating disk near the very top. Set just below the disk mounting, this floor was the biggest the hotel had to offer and practically re-defined the word "spacious". It was one huge open area, bounded by curving windows that canted outwards at alarming angles. A few strategically-positioned support beams here and there, gussied up as planters for a variety of healthy, well-maintained ferns, were the only things belying the notion that the hotel above balanced solely on the elevator housing we'd just exited.
Here the dim lighting didn't matter: with nothing to stand in its way, warm daylight flooded the entire floor. Tag was already playing with the window cover controls, automated bulkheads rising from the floor to block off individual sections and then dropping away again. "This is AWESOME!"
A familiar humming broke me out of my stupor in a way that Tag's enthusiasm couldn't. I slowly turned, fixing Pink-E with a stare while she carefully nosed the air-duct cover back into place. "I love that trick! It never fails!"
"What are you doing?!" I hissed. "This is the last buck in the world we want pissed off at us, and you just go running --- floating --- whatever! Around?!"
She tossed her head with a smile that I'm sure would have been winning to somepony else. "I've been spying! It's kind of what Pinkie built her whole Ministry on, that and parties, but parties are SO much more fun! There's candy and cake and croquet and kumquats, well not usually kumquats really but - "
"PINK-E!"
There was that innocent eyelash-batting again. "Yes, Cherry?"
And just as before, it only annoyed me further. "Knock that off. I want to know where you went and why."
Her eyes de-focused, the pupils contracting to dots as the rest of her face went slack. A series of beeps sounded, followed by one word: "CLASSIFIED." Well... that was new. A moment later, she was right back to her hyperactive self. " - but who likes kumquats anyway? That's just a great word, I love to use it! Just like 'picklebarrel'! Picklebarrel-kumquat, picklebarrel-kumquat...!"
I sighed, shook my head, and decided it would be less a waste of my time to do a round of our new digs, see what was what. Tag had already discovered how to use the joystick and buttons on one of the gaming cabinets, and was industriously forcing a tiny animated pony with a giant rubber spring for a torso to jump off a surreal mountain of colored blocks to its cursing death. Every time it did, he laughed like a colt and did it again.
Well, at least it keeps him out of trouble...
It didn't take long to do the rest of the survey: it was one huge floor with no walls.
That didn't mean there weren't divisions, after a sort. The floor's layout was wedge-like, each wedge serving a different purpose and delineated by different carpet patterns, the furnishings low-slung and designed to look organic to the floor itself. The bed, for example, was a single large mattress bordered with teak, sunk into its wedge like a jewel in a setting. Fresh linen and a comforter completed the vision of pre-War modernism.
The kitchen's sink, water-purifier, dishwasher and oven were all nestled into the side of the elevator housing, with a low-set table and fluffy red pillows nearby where you could eat like civilized folk. One side of the tabletop was hinged to flip open, revealing plates, bowls, glasses, and a decadent range of silverware.
Just how many kinds of salad fork do you need, when you can just eat right out of the bowl anyways?
The final wedge took up almost half the floor for entertainment and leisure. Here the elevator housing held a deep-set monitor screen with command panel and keypad, between which and the kitchen appliances rested a well-stocked liquor cabinet. A huge sprawling white couch, surrounded by pillows, faced the monitor as though several ponies might sit there watching it for hours on end. Beyond that was another low-slung table identical to that in the kitchen, but this one held a variety of simple boardgames and similar diversions. One box stuck out in particular, the artwork on the front showing a pretty pink filly shouting "Cloud-Seven!" while her opponent, a blue colt, held his hooves to his head in feigned shock and yelled back "You rained on my Cumulus!".
I couldn't see the appeal.
Just before getting back around to the elevator door, a smaller door in the housing wall revealed both toilet and shower as well as emergency stairwell access. And that concluded the tour.
Back along the far windows, though --- that's where the real entertainment was. A little safety rail reminded oneself that, unless one was a pegasus, one would be a dumb sonovabitch to try leaning against the glass even if it WAS an inch thick and set firmly into steel and concrete brackets. Beyond that glass...
...beyond that glass, the sun illuminated all of New Pegas in a shroud of breathtaking glory.
Straight down, flowing away beneath my hooves towards the south, was the Strip and all its casinos, looking like somepony had brought back every cheesy Hearth's Warming Eve tree decoration from two hundred years ago and smashed them up to make a river of flash and glitter. At the river's headwaters just to the north sat sprawling grey-brown Freemane, with the Atomic Bronco's neon clashing at a distance against the Kingdom Theatre's bright white bulbs.
On the west bank of that river sat McMaren Airfield, an NCR passenger dirigible slowly drifting in to moor up at its tall static-discharge antenna. To the east, shacks and shanties of drifters and the truly destitute scattered like leaves along the cracked-asphalt flow of the old Imperial 93. I could barely make out the shadows of the little trading post where the 93 met the 95 and, off to its left, the cratered landscape which marked the borders of Zoomer territory.
For as long as I worked with Mr. Horse, this place and its glorious view were all mine. Maybe I'd have to give it up, someday, but for right then and the foreseeable future...
I'm finally home.
As it would later turn out, having a foreseeable future kind of sucks.
* * * * *
When you've lived all your life traveling the wastelands, you may see a lot of strange things and meet stranger people, but you never really feel under-dressed. Under-prepared, under-armed, under-fed, sure --- but nopony really cared much about whether you wore your stormchaser just so, or whether the color of your leathers clashed with your tribal rite-of-passage tattoos.
From the moment I walked into the Velvet Stocking, renowned even in the NCR as the Silver Slipper Society's self-proclaimed "last bastion of high culture", I felt like the rancid-burrito fart somepony'd left floating around a flower bouquet.
I might've had a bath last night and (more or less) washed my kit this morning, but for all the difference that made I could just as easily have spit on my hoof. Not only did I feel like scum, but everypony walking past gave me the briefest look saying so, each glance communicating an encyclopedia's worth of disdain. I could only imagine what the reaction might have been, had I brought along a pink rubber-skinned bot with a penchant for overly-loud cheeriness, or perhaps a surly teenage gangbanger wearing explosives on his neck.
All right, I decided firmly, narrowing my focus to the concierge's desk on the opposite side of the lobby, let's get this shit over and done with.
Not that I cared overmuch, but I had to admit the lobby was gorgeous. With a floor alternating between white marble and black basalt, light-grey walls absorbing the glare from the crowd's finery, and alabaster carvings depicting --- whatever the hell modern art was trying to depict --- it was a refined setting for refined ponies to look and act refined within. Mares in colorful satin gowns and stallions in sharp tuxedos gracefully glided through careful social rotations, each couple and coterie talking in bright, animated patterns that spoke of everything unimportant, without committing to anything of value.
If I'd cared about the historical impact the newest spring fashions were having on the redaction of haute couture au moderne or similar nonsense, I might have felt something other than mutual disgust.
All that money, all that power, and what do they do with it? Spend it all impressing each other with how much money and power they have to blow on frivolous crap. I may just have been a wee bit jealous --- would I behave any differently in their horseshoes? Probably not. But, I assured myself (and not at all smugly), at least I would have to earn it first.
My hooves clopped loudly across the slick marble flooring, their noise surrounded by an island of silent, non-directed disapproval. With each step, another pony managed to avoid me without looking like they'd meant to. Why, to do so would be to give offense, and to do that, you'd first have to consider a pony to be worth offending! Fortunately the only thing I really cared about was getting that satchel of caps --- and whatever else might be loose about the gate-fop's room.
I wasn't here to impress, or be impressed.
As I bellied up to his desk, the cyan-maned concierge turned his head the bare minimum necessary to make eye contact, nose firmly upturned to make his own point about who was supposed to impress whom. His alabaster mask, with its whorls of silver inlay and bordering filigree, could have qualified as an objet d'art in its own right.
"A-hrm... yaz. May I --- direct you somewhere...?" He didn't have to add perhaps a distant bog? for me to hear it.
"Yeah. Room Eighty-Seven."
His half-closed-with-disinterest eyelid never wavered. "I'm afraid access to our guests' quarters is strictly relegated to - " I tossed the fop's golden key onto the desk with a clink.
"Guests and their authorized acquaintances, presumably." It might have been impolitic of me to grin while his muzzle puckered like he'd bitten a fresh brahmin turd, but it was pretty damn satisfying.
* * * * *
The seventh room on the eighth floor of the most expensive casino in New Pegas was actually something of a letdown, after the Celestial Suite. Oh, it was clean and well-kept and luxuriously-appointed, sure. It even had intact paintings on the walls, though nothing pre-War of course. Everything was polished and shiny. All in all, it was... nice.
It might have been unfair to compare an average room at the Stocking to the best the Chance had to offer, but I wasn't exactly an impartial critic, either. What I was, at the moment, was a damned thief taking advantage of the desperation of a rich buck.
The promised satchel was lying right there on the bed. Flipping it open and doing a very quick count produced an inner squee from my little greedpony: there had to be at LEAST ten thousand caps' worth of NCR bills! Even accounting for local exchange rates!
MINE!
It was the work of a moment to stuff the satchel into a saddlebag and start for the door. With a room like the Celestial to crash at, there was no reason to stick around the Stocking any longer than I had to.
Mmm... but, so long as I was here, what harm in seeing what else the buck'd brought to Pegas? I muzzled up on my screwdriver and had the room's wardrobe open two bobby pins later. Oooooh, we've got a patron of the arts, here! A variety of rococco statuettes occupied the lower shelf, bright and gaudy ponies in innocently cavorting poses, with eyes and cutie marks outlined in dozens of tiny diamonds...
Wa-ha-ha-hah!
* * * * *
Giddy as a filly on her first hit of Dash, I left the elevators behind and trotted happily across the lobby toward the doors and my new life as a Very Important Pony. Like they say, money makes the buck --- not that any of these society-minglers knew me to be any different yet. They kept up their delicate dance of denied existence, smiling and nodding to one another knowingly. I'll be needing a nice suit, to start, maybe a professional grooming, and in no time I'll be snobbing most of these bastards right back at their own game...
Being lost in idle daydreams never seemed to work out well for me. Just as I reached the entrance a pair of tuxedoed unicorns arrived, gabbing at one another and not bothering to look where they were going. Granted, I hadn't been either, but with all the avoidance behavior, I'd gotten somewhat used to everypony else getting out of my way.
WHAM!
All three of us ended up in a pile of squawking indignation --- "Oof!" "Here now!" "I say!" --- at which collision a number of the less-politic socialites began chuckling and tittering. I was just about to try barging my way past when I recognized Gate Fop. Unfortunately, in the same instant, he also recognized me. Both of his hooves grabbed my left foreleg and began pumping it up and down vigorously.
"Ah, my good pony, I'm ever so glad I was able to catch up with you! By the by, I don't believe I've introduced myself! Good Fortune, of the Del Arroyo Fortunes, and this gentlecolt with me is Fair Weather, an excellent friend of mine in long standing!" The other stallion, pale blue with white mane, nodded politely enough. "By a stroke of great luck, Fair stumbled upon me waiting at the gate for you and vouchsafed my entry! Isn't that grand?" I nodded at him, trying to edge around and make for the doors. All I needed was to get back to the Chance before he got to his rooms...
"And here you are, dear fellow, returning at last with my satchel, no doubt! Never fear, I'm a buck of my word! I promised you half the contents for your little errand and though I've no longer need of it, I won't hear of giving you one bit less..." He stepped forward, flipped open my right-side saddlebag, looked inside, and his joyful exuberance died on the spot.
My other saddlebag held his satchel. This side held his statuettes.
"...ah. I see you decided to bring everything else of value from my room as well."
Fair Weather said nothing, fixing me with a stare which said much more.
The words were out of my mouth before they crossed through my brain: "I didn't put those in my bag!"
Fortune snapped out of his momentary shock, rounding on me with an accusing hoof outstretched and a glow starting to form along his horn: "THIEF!"
That line NEVER works...
I bolted into the crowd, weaving my way through and tossing the heavy statuettes behind to lighten my load as I went. Fortune galloped after, screaming in horror and diving to catch each bit of artwork in turn before they could shatter to powder on the marble floor. In short order he was juggling two of them in his hooves, and another with his horn's telekinetic powers, while Fair Weather stood back looking amused.
And now, with Fortune and his Fair Weather friend suitably distracted, I can get out of - ACK!
Casino security was one step ahead of me. The front doors slammed shut and five gilt-masked ponies, two of them unicorns, advanced with stylish white batons at the ready. I skidded to a halt as the crowd scattered.
Oooookay, not getting out that way... Looking back behind me, Good Fortune had caught the last statue with his tail, and was somehow managing to balance all four at once while glaring indignantly at me from under his burden.
"This crime against fabulosity cannot go unpunished! GET HIM!"
"Get him"? Really? Yes, really. The five guards began spreading out into flanking positions. I could hear shouting, and the clattering of hooves on marble, as reinforcements began to arrive from the casino's adjoining ground-floor wings. I took the only way out I could: right back past Fortune and Fair. The former spun in place as I fled past, protectively hugging his plaster ponies; the latter didn't so much as lift a hoof to stop me, for which I was inordinately thankful.
Once past, though, I realized there was no way I'd make it to any other ground-floor exit before they, too, could be blocked off. If I tried the elevators, odds were good I wouldn't even make it up to the second floor before security could shut off the power, trapping me inside.
Stairs it is! A flip of the handle and a good hard kick, and I was flying --- Luna's flying felch-fests, it only went DOWN! --- the stairwell. The sign I passed on the way down the first flight read "KITCHEN - MAINTENANCE - SERVANTS". Just my luck to pick a service entry by mistake!
I barely rounded the landing before I heard that clattering of hooves starting down behind. I'd managed to get my usual holdout gear past the Stocking's door-ponies, but I didn't have any illusions about being able to standoff their entire security force. At best, I'd run out of ammo for the ten-mil before they ran out of bodies. Not to mention the fact that Horse probably wouldn't appreciate my having a shootout with one of the New Pegas organizations that nominally pled fealty to him. Come to think of it, I hadn't exactly killed anypony yet --- I could just surrender...
...and ten thousand bottlecaps says they'll have to catch me first!
The bottom of the stairs opened directly into a room filled with sinks, clothing lockers, and a small horde of ponies washing up. I poured on the speed straight down the middle, aiming for the single open doorway, yelling the only thing I could think of to stir things up:
"FIRE! Everypony out!"
Oh, that got them moving, all right! Shouts and scuffling broke out in my wake as black-tuxedoed security came galloping down the stairs, right into the white-aproned kitchen staff just starting to make their way up. I'm sure that if I'd had the time to stand there and watch, I would have made some sort of comment about zebras. Instead (not being entirely a moron), I tore down the far hallway at speed, taking the first turnoff corridor I could find and then the next before I began to slow down and look where I was going.
This whole level seemed to be something of a labyrinth, mingling all the service needs for the casino and its hotel functions. That would force the Silver Slippers to spread out and take their time going over everything with a fine-toothed currycomb --- but that was time they had. I didn't. They knew the passages. I didn't. They...
...well, they'd also left an open air-conditioning duct, with several filthy rags and towels hanging out.
If I hadn't seen Pink-E coming out of one, it would never have occurred to me that going into one might be anything other than a really bad idea. It took me about ten seconds of squirming my little butt down that duct, said butt blocking most of the light and plunging my progress forward into blindness, before the rest of my brain came to the consensus that this really WAS a really bad idea.
It was just as I held up, and was considering backing the hell out of there, that the shouting and running noises went from faint and distant to a lot louder and closer than I was comfortable with. Moving slowly and carefully to minimize any noise, I crawled deeper into the ducts while my night-sensitive eyes acclimated to the darkness. I took the next left and then a right, hoping that nopony on the casino staff was as small and stupid as I was. Getting shot in the ass was never a happy occasion.
* * * * *
"Fire, huh? When we catch that little pink bitch, I'm gonna skin and cook 'im alive! That'll show 'im 'fire'!"
A pair of unicorn fillies in kitchen uniforms, sharpy-sharp kitchen knives hovering before them, trotted down the hallway below. Not for the first time in the last hour or so, I held my breath and thanked Celestia most ponies didn't have a habit of randomly glancing up.
"Pipe down, Puffycake. First we gotta find him."
"You keep calling me that, I'm gonna find a pipe and shove it right up..." The voices trailed away down the hall.
There had to be some way around these Luna-bucking patrols. The longer their search went on, the more security they dragged in from upstairs. I'd already given up on trying to hang around the washing-room vent waiting for a break; they were definitely not stupid enough to leave that exit unguarded.
One thing was starting to nag at the back of my brain, though. Even down here, away from the general public, nopony ever took off or even fiddled with their masks. They didn't even seem to be bothered by them --- no tugging, scratching, adjusting, nothing. The fancy face-covers were the very hallmark of the Silver Slipper Society, but you'd figure that behind closed doors, at least, they'd let their forelocks down. The implication that they never did was kinda creepy.
I mean, did they crap and fuck with the things still on? Bleah!
* * * * *
Thirty minutes later, I had my answer. While his filly laid passed out on a pile of flour sacks in a storage area, an empty bottle of pilfered wine curled up under one foreleg, he entered the stall directly below me whistling a happy "I-just-had-seeeeex-and-it-felt-so-gooood" song. Both still had their godsdamned masks on.
I was merciful enough to let him flush before I crashed in on his head. Or maybe I could just be honest and admit I wanted the extra noise to help cover the ensuing kerfuffle. Which efforts almost came to nothing, when I removed his mask...
* * * * *
Wearing a face of blood-red rubies and ivory cloisonne with a slightly-soiled tuxedo, the tails of which only barely covered my saddlebags, did not in my opinion make for a very convincing disguise.
My luck, however, seemed to hold out. Anytime I heard voices or hoofsteps, I busied myself with looking like I was industriously inspecting something in the other direction. Even those Slippers who got a direct look at me simply glanced away, as though peering too closely might be considered rude.
Unfortunately, my luck did not extend to magically producing a way out. I tried pushing the boundaries of the labyrinth, but every corridor either dead-ended or wheeled back around to join up with another. Those doors which didn't lead to storage and maintenance closets, led instead to arrays of furnaces and boilers surrounded by more storage and maintenance closets. There were no convenient garbage disposal chutes to outside dumpsters --- the furnaces burned it all. Nor were there any unattended dumb-waiter shafts big enough to squeeze into, even for a pony of my size.
I was going to have to brazen it out and try for the stairway back up. With the patrols around the edges where I'd been roaming getting thicker by the minute, I figured it was probably better to try cutting back through the middle of the maze. So I lifted my chin, straightened my back, adjusted my mask, and walked right through the first set of doors.
Into a blazing abbotoir.
Carcasses hung everywhere, hooves shanked through by cruel hooks that stretched the bodies wide open above grease-slick drains. Each one was attended by a Silver Slipper with a flamethrower, lovingly puffing tongues of flame across the searing corpses and, most incongruously of all, still dressed to the nines despite their gruesome task. Only those brief, horrific blasts provided any light at all beyond the single small bulb hanging from the ceiling; shadows crawled and rippled across the room in response to every brilliant-orange flare.
Don't throw up, oh dear Celestia please cork my belly shut and don't let me throw up...
Several of them noticed my entrance and looked in my direction expectantly. Suddenly remembering what Good Fortune had mentioned at the Strip gate, I fought to produce a smile and raised one hoof in what I desperately hoped was a condescending manner.
"Good show, pip pip, all! Just a walk-through before tonight's banquet!" It was a lot hotter under my collar than a few flamethrowers in an enclosed space could reasonably account for.
One hoof in front, then the next, keep walking, don't look any of them in the eye, it's not far to the opposite door...
"I say, that one looks a little dry. Just a bit. Careful there, that's a good buck...er, filly! My apologies, madam."
Aaaaaand through the door...
"Carry on, all! Carry on!"
I let the door close behind and inhaled deeply for a sigh of relief. Thank you Celestia, thank you thankyouthank -
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU MOUTH-BREATHING LITTLE SCRAP OF SHIT?!"
He was big. He was blue. He stood on two legs, had a dual set of head-luggage that would give any unicorn in the world instant horn-envy, and wore a jacket so white and severe that at first I mistook him for a mad scientist. When he just barely missed nailing my face with a thrown bag of cutlery, I realized he was a far more dangerous creature indeed: a gourmet chef de cuisine. The bag smashed into the wall instead, scattering pristine tableware in all directions.
"Do I look like I have time to waste on you?! Do I look like I'm sitting around on my ass?! NO! Because Chef Ramsey does not FUCK AROUND, unlike you cretinous little bastards crawling around in the aura of my personal grandeur! Does this soufflé look ready to you?"
The sudden shift from screaming shit-fit to reasonable tones put me off-guard. "Um, well, I -"
" 'UM, WELL' FUCKING RIGHT IT ISN'T! And then you come stomping and yelling in here like you own the place, AND MY SOUFFLÉ FALLS RIGHT THE FUCK DOWN! How about I replace it on tonight's Grand Banquet menu with Shank de la Your FUCKING ASS?!"
Now I was side-stepping and backpedaling as fast as I could, trying to edge around for the double-doors, but the giant minotaur --- a Luna-snap-my-nads MINOTAUR --- lunged forward and grabbed me by the lapels. A twist and yank of one great hairy fist and I found myself dangling in mid-air, gasping for breath and flailing with all four hooves for some kind of purchase against that immensely powerful grip. He pulled me in close to his glaring, snarling bull-face, turned my head until his lips brushed my ear, and whispered:
"Get your stupid ass, into the wine room, where you belong, and do your job. And if you do not pick the perfect wine to go with my steak à cheval, if you do anything to fuck up tonight's premiere of my culinary glory, I will show you my very personal method of making horse d'oeurves. Savvy?"
I nodded dumbly. What the hell else was I going to do, shoot him? I didn't want this guy any angrier at me than he already was! Apparently satisfied with my subservience, Chef Ramsey tossed me through the nearest swinging door towards my new job.
* * * * *
Well, FUCK THAT NOISE.
I was not about to waste a single minute trying to fake my way through a selection of wines, for several reasons, not the least of which was that I knew nothing about wine beyond the general idea that white went with white meat and red with red... what on Celestia's blasted earth were you supposed to serve with steak à cheval --- my brain couldn't stop from translating that as "horse steak".
All the talk of killing and eating ponies might have just been hot air, but what I'd seen hanging in the roasting room and when I pulled the mask from Mr. Porn Star --- I couldn't get that out of my head. It made far too much sense, in the most disturbing way possible.
Cannibal ghouls. The Silver Slipper Society were all cannibal ghouls.
The mask had been enchanted to project the illusion of a healthy, normal pony. Without it, he looked worse than Jerky Buck had, multiple layers of skin and hide having rotted so deep you could see bone. With his mask on, a check in a mirror showed that I looked almost exactly like he had --- except for the eyes. Perhaps that explained why they never wanted to look me in the eyes; they were afraid they would see a reflection of themselves.
There was only one other door out, with a lock on it, but time and a few more bobby pins brought forth a satisfying click. Even if I ended up back in the maintenance tunnels, at least I'd made some... progress...
...it was an empty closet, or would have been if not for the young earth-pony filly with the ropes around her legs and a gag in her mouth. Flowing locks of amber almost managed to hide the huge pools of liquid fire that were her eyes, opals set against soft, incarnadine features. I was suddenly reminded, in that fashion peculiar to the male of the species, that I could not remember the last time I had gotten laid.
Down, boy... I said DOWN! Luna's cratered twat, this was NOT the time!
Her pleading eyes turned quizzical... looked down... looked back up... and rolled to the side as her eyebrows arched upward. My shame was now complete and all-encompassing. After a few more moments, it turned to anger.
Here I am, ready to rescue this stupid bitch, and she has the gall to roll her eyes at me? Fine! I turned to leave.
She whimpered. And Celestia damn me, she whimpered adorably.
I lifted my mask for a moment to rub my face with a hoof. I simply could not do this. I could not leave a pony this hot to be cut up, roasted, sprinkled with garlic and fed to a bunch of half-feral ghouls. I grabbed my old combat knife from its hiding spot under an inside flap of my saddlebags, made short work of her bonds, and only then noticed that she was staring at me.
Really staring. "You're... not one of them, are you?" she whispered.
Oh right, the mask... I still had it flipped up. The enchantment wasn't active. "What I am, is the pony who's gonna get you out of here, ma'am."
This hot-pink, golden-maned bombshell, actually batted her eyelashes at me. "I would be..." She paused, rising up on her long smooth legs and just so happening to rub up against my chest in the process, "...very thankful for that, handsome."
It took a bit of effort to concentrate on pulling my mask back --- DOWN!
We skulked back out of the wine room as soon as Chef Ramsey turned his attention back to recreating his soufflé, me high on the tips of my hooves and waving at her to follow my lead until we slipped through the big double doors into the preparation area. Though it held several goats acting as sous-chefs, all were busy at their stations, the frenzy of activity hinting at their desire to avoid replacing me --- us --- as options for gustatory experimentation. It took no real effort at all to hustle the filly on through, straight out the only other doors available, and into -
Well, fuck. I just could not catch a break today.
What had been a babble of idle chit-chat and the casual atmosphere of nibbling at appetizers died away completely as every enameled face at the very long table turned to look at us. There were easily thirty Slippers here, every one of them a cannibal-ghoul madpony behind their oh-so-civilized masks, the head of the table being taken up by two of the prettiest, most fashionable, and biggest liars of them all, undoubtedly the ringleaders. Secrets and lies...
"It's all secrets and lies!" I belted out, gesturing accusingly at all and sundry. "You've been exposed for what you really are! If you know what's good for you, you'll start running before Mister Horse's 'bots get here!"
Truth was, I hadn't even thought about trying to call anypony until just now. Maybe my PipBuck could broadcast a radio signal just like it picked signals up, but I hadn't the foggiest as to how I would go about doing that. But the Slippers couldn't know that I hadn't gotten a message out somehow, could they? Just a little luck was all I needed now. Let them scatter like radroaches, and once we were out of here I could drag my newfound marefriend up to the Lucky Chance for a night of impressive city-views with all the booze she could drink and all the amazing sex I could get afterwards...
The matronly mare who seemed to be in charge, in whose direction my hoof still shouted j'accuse!, stood up to stare down her muzzle at me. "What are you talking about, Salvatore?"
Salvatore? Who's... oh, right. I tore the mask away, eliciting gasps from all around the room as my dark-pink and perfectly normal body replaced that of the ghoul they thought they knew. The mare was unfazed. Not so much, the two masked unicorn stallions flanking her, who seemed literally speechless with their jaws on the table. Don't I know them from somewhere...?
"Very well then --- young sir --- just what exactly are you talking about?" That lofty gaze had turned cold, counterpointed by the glare of every other Slipper in the room. So they wanted to play dumb? Fine! I drew myself up, puffed my chest out, and let my voice drop half an octave --- all the best flair I'd ever been able to pick up from reading dramatic fiction. Let them scoff at this...
"I've seen the pits you've been roasting ponies in, seen their corpses split open! I've met your 'Chef Ramsey', and been threatened with being made into fancy snacks, while he bragged on about the steak à cheval he's providing for your main course tonight! I've seen you for the cannibal ghouls you really are, and I've rescued the very filly you were going to devour! You're all nothing but MONSTERS!"
The sudden clattering of a lot of silver platters, hitting the floor all at once directly behind me, made me nearly leap out of my skin. Aside from that, the room had grown deadly silent. I stole a look over my shoulder.
There was Chef Ramsey, curled up into a giant blue-and-white ball of fetal-position misery, bawling his eyes out, the four sous-chefs patting and trying to console the minotaur who just minutes ago had been scaring the living crap out of me. All around were shattered plates and spilled trays full of fragrant, roasted food. If I hadn't known better, the smell would have driven my taste buds into my brainpan.
Or, at least... I'd thought that I'd known better...
"Young SIR. I don't know who you are, but THAT person by your side is Ranseur, a well-known thief. She was captured just an hour ago, when she attempted the theft of Chef Ramsey's secret recipe for this 'steak à cheval' which seems to have you in such a tizzy. We had been holding her to turn over to the police once our banquet --- which I dare say, you have quite ruined at this juncture --- was concluded."
While everypony's attention was on me, the tall pink filly of my dreams --- Ranseur --- began sidling towards the door. I snarled at the matron's obvious attempt to cover all this up with a few easy words.
"Brahminshit! I saw those bodies back there -"
"Had you looked more closely, you might have noticed those are actual brahmin. None of which had the power of speech during their lifetimes." More easy talk. But the mare brought off the act with conviction.
"I know enough fancy-talk to know that 'steak à cheval' means 'horse steak'!"
She sniffed. "Such ignorance. It literally means 'steak in the style of a horse'. More to the point, in the current context, it means 'steak for a horse'."
I blinked, getting the distinct impression that we were talking past, rather than to, one other. "So... it's horse steak made for cannibal ghoul ponies. That's what I said."
Now she seemed genuinely angry, stamping a hoof on the table and shaking her head. "No, no, NO! It's a vegetarian dish, you lout! That's the entire point!"
Ramsey's bawling suddenly escalated into full-fledged wailing. He rose to his knees and began tearing his perfect white ensemble away, piece by piece. "I don't deserve to be called a chef! I've failed! So close, my life's work! So close...!" Lost in his dwindling world of culinary angst, the big blue minotaur's flailing sent the goats still trying to calm him flying off the walls and, in one instance, right across the table.
The matron, and her immediate companions, ducked as the goat bounced once and then sailed over their heads, landing somewhere beyond with a mighty crash. When they stood back up, she removed her own mask with a flourish. Yes! She'd finally snapped and revealed herself! ...Ew.
"The one thing you are accurate about, sir, is that the Silver Slipper Society is indeed formed primarily of what barbarians like yourself deign to call 'ghouls'. It has allowed us, heretofore, to function without the biases and horrors inflicted upon our fellows. And it is we, who were once renowned as the masters and mistresses of glorious Canterlot, that still remember what it means to bear oneself with class and dignity."
"And cannibalism. Seriously, a vegetarian meat dish? Who were you expecting to buy that one?" Really, who would?
"Cannibalism?! You --- you come into our midst, levy such heinous charges, and presume we would stoop to being so incredibly gauche as to consume another pony's flesh? How DARE you, sir!"
Right up to that point, I'd thought that the Slippers were just trying to play off getting caught in the act. I'd thought that Ranseur was an innocent victim who was at least smart enough to make tracks while I was making a distraction. I'd thought that my "baring it all" speech and the threat of Horse's intervention might let me bluff my way out of here.
Then I turned and saw the sheer hate in Ramsey's red eyes, pinpricked and ablaze with fury.
That wasn't the look of anypony --- or even a monster --- who thought he'd been caught in the act. It was the look of a person who was completely pissed off and believed they had every right to be.
I had insulted a chef de cuisine by calling his meat dish a meat dish.
Which meant... it wasn't...
"Oh. Shit." With nowhere else to go, I began backing up.
Did anyone ever mention to you that pink is a shade of red? That the darker a pink is, the closer to actual red it is? And that when you move something red-colored around in an angry bull's field of vision, he does something predictable?
Well, no one'd ever told me any of that.
A quarter-ton of angry blue beef-cake, shrouded in tattered white like the burial linens draping a ghost, came straight on, focused by two glowing red dots which could have burned me to ash with a few minor cybernetic augmentations. No power cores necessary!
Nothing but sheer reflexes saved my life; without even thinking, I dodged to the right, expecting to catch one of those giant bull-horns in the side of my gut. Instead he kept straight on, plowing right into the table and knocking it, and everypony sitting at it, clean over.
While Ramsey was busy tearing the table apart to get his horns free again --- sweet Celestia, what were those things made of, tungsten steel?! --- my brain finally caught up with events. Ranseur had already bolted out the door, and nopony needed to tell me to make tracks while someone else was making a distraction, either!
The main atrium was nearly empty, except for that lovely filly with her gorgeous mane and tail flouncing in the air as she made for the doors. After all, virtually everypony who could be spared was still running around down below looking for me. Well, at least I got to save the damsel in distress, right?
"That's her! Get that damn thief!" The only two guards who'd been left to hold the fort promptly chased after Ranseur. They didn't have a chance --- she was nimble and quick, literally running circles and figure-eights around them while they uselessly flailed their pretty batons in her general direction. She giggled and flirted and ducked away and I wanted nothing more right then but to tie her back up and...
...and forget it. All my pretension to righteous indignation might have been a ruse to start with --- but I thought I'd been so right to start with.
The angry unicorns from the kitchen? Exactly that, just venting over having to chase some jerk around.
The roasting spits? Thinking back on it, those hanging bodies had been far too large to be ponies. The shadows and glare thrown up by the flames had played tricks on my mind, helped along by the unicorns' commentary.
Ramsey's cannibalistic-sounding threats? Just a lot of angry blustering from a guy used to haranguing his subordinates.
Then I went and freed a thief, because I thought they were going to eat her, and because I wanted to fuck her brains out before anypony got a chance to snack on them.
And the pièce de résistance: having a shouting match with the top ponies in the Silver Slipper Society. So much for ever making it as a high-society snob in my own right... I'd be lucky if I didn't get my ass chewed by Horse over ruffling the wrong feathers. I'd even been stupid enough to drop his name in a bluff that had completely backfired.
I walked right through the front doors and out of the Velvet Stocking, leaving it behind with a heartfelt snort of disgust --- at the Silver Slippers, at Ranseur, at myself, and probably at everypony else in the world while I was at it.
Heading back up the Strip towards the Lucky Chance, I reflected on the one bit of good fortune I'd been able to hold onto all day --- Good Fortune's satchel, still there in my saddlebag, a nice solid lump of mostly NCR greenbacks. The smile slowly began to return to my face.
Who knows? If things work out tonight, I might even get a chance to spend it all tomorrow...
Footnote: Level Up. |
Calbeck | 679 | 9 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-08-19T18:16:17+00:00 | 2013-08-10T09:00:58+00:00 | 4,112 | CHAPTER NINE: Boom-and-Zoom
"Junior Speedsters are our lives! Sky-bound soars and daring dives...!"
Zoom! Pink-E blew past as I exited the elevator. "Come back here! I'm responsible for you!"
Zoom! Three seconds later, a blur resembling Tag-End went by. "Y'want bucked inna face? Try grabbin' my hooch again!"
Zoom! Aaaand there went Pink-E. "Look me in the eye and say that!"
Zoom! And Tag. "Aw, hell naw! M'not fallin' for that one after las' time!"
In the few hours I'd been away, the Lucky Chance's Celestial Suite had become Bedlam.
There was no free-standing furniture that hadn't been knocked over. Puddles of exotic liquor, decorated liberally with broken glass, were everywhere. The kitchen's toaster oozed something black and smoking which had probably never been bread-related to start with. Ferns and soil from half of the pillar-planters were scattered all over the carpets. Through this mess galloped Tag-End, a bottle of something bile-green held telekinetically aloft as he charged past a third time, Pink-E still hot on his fetlocks. From the look of it, the chase had been going on long enough to start wearing a circular track in the carpet.
This situation clearly called for just a teensy bit of tact and diplomacy.
Given the day I'd had so far? My head reared back:
"What in the wide, wide, world of Equestria is a-goin' on here?!"
Both up them pulled up short, Tag staggering to a halt with some effort while Pink-E's hover servos made the highly unlikely noise of rubber screeching against pavement. She peered at me dubiously.
"Equestria isn't a world, it's a country! That'd be like, I dunno, calling the planet Germaney or Fancee - "
I cut the little 'bot off before she could get started. "Like I give a shit what the planet's called! What do - "
Now Tag cut ME off, giving Pink-E a bleary-eyed gaze. "I tho' it was Equestria, too. Whassit called if s'not Equestria?"
I glared at him. "That's not important - "
Pink-E happily indulged Tag's sudden attack of drunken curiosity. "Earth!"
Which, naturally, made him even more confused. "Whaddya mean, like... dirt?"
"Yeah! Because it's mostly dirt! Like in this one pageant they used to have, where -"
A few moments of rummaging around in my saddlebags produced the collar's control key, which I held up in my teeth while giving Tag-End a look promising raw murder. Pink-E yammered on for a few moments until she realized that the unicorn had, appropriately, shut the fuck up. I spat the control back into the bag and rubbed my face, grimacing. Yup. That's definitely a migraine coming on.
"Okay now... I only came back to grab my kit and head back out to see about the Zoomers, and here you two've been ripping the place apart. If it takes me until morning to get back, should I be expecting, oh, something on the order of spray-painted graffiti and torn-up corpses? Because this is about as close to a raider's playground as I even want to think about living in!"
Tag managed to look abashed. Pink-E didn't have to try very hard; she was already quite experienced in configuring her programming to look miserable when I was around.
"I'm sorry, Cherry..." squeaked the little 'bot. My headache spiked.
"And stop calling me Cherry! I hate that name, always have! My name is Dead-Shot! Because I'm a damned good sniper --- not a snack food!" Her starting in with the Weepy Face wasn't helping my headache one bit, either. "And stop looking at me like that. It's..." I squeezed my eyes closed in a vain effort to dull the throbbing pain behind my sinuses. "It's just been a long day already."
Pink-E obediently ceased and desisted from venting her robot tear ducts, switching to a look of what I supposed was meant to be motherly concern. "Do you want to talk about it?"
I shook my head. "No time. It's a fair trot out to Zoomer-land as it is, and I can't take either of you along."
Tag shrugged, a motion which caused the still-inebriated unicorn to stagger in place for a moment. "No... ssskin off my nose. Plenny t' do right here." Levitating the bottle to his lips, he took a unhealthy swig of whatever the hell that green stuff was. Pink-E gave him the stink-eye and opened her mouth.
"Don't even start with him, 'bot. He didn't make you any promises, did he?" Her muzzle went contrite.
Tag's, conversely, adopted a smirk. "Thass right, you ain't the bossa me..."
A moment later I had the collar key back out of my bags and was flipping it up to Pink-E, who caught it deftly in her mouth. "Now she is." The lime-green buck's expression drooped. "Don't give me that look, either. This is your mess. Clean it up before I get back or I'll be looking for a new apprentice --- and you'll be finding a new owner, somewhere a lot less cushy."
Tag's look of sudden comprehension couldn't have been improved unless you installed a light-bulb over his head. You could almost hear the alcohol-sodden gears clicking into place: Shitting where I sleep is a bad thing!
My mood and migraine both lifted a bit. "I don't mind if you hit the bottle now and again, Tag. But keep it easy. If this stuff runs out, I won't be buying any more --- you will, out of what you earn while working with me. Otherwise, just keep this place straightened out, and we won't have any problems."
The unicorn looked around despondently at all the smashed bottles and sopping puddles slowly soaking into the carpet. The only way he was going to enjoy that alcohol now was if he got down on his knees and started sucking. "Ssssure thing, boss."
Pink-E beamed, Tag's key poking from the side of her mouth. " 'M rshpns'ble!"
* * * * *
It never seemed to fail: anytime I started feeling better about the world and its inhabitants, somepony did something to piss me off. Or in this case, to piss on me.
The Zoomers were doing thunderstorm practice.
Most folks considered Zoomer storms the one decent thing pegasi ever did for anypony in the Moohave Wasteland. Every month or so, a mess of 'em would fly up and start shuffling clouds around, seeding and packing them into full-fledged thunderstorms before letting them drift off their little reservation. Otherwise, the desert would have been a lot drier and less hospitable than it was even now.
That knowledge didn't make wading through a downpour any happier of an occasion. Water hammered down from the sky in near-solid sheets, turning the Imperial 93 slick where it was still asphalt and muddy where the NCR had patched it up with dirt. Behind me, the fortified junction of the I-93 and I-95 had already faded into the rain, along with its little trading post. Not even the shot of whiskey I'd taken at its pole-and-tarpaulin excuse for a bar (strictly for medicinal purposes, I silently promised the little Pink-E in my head) had done much to warm me up.
It was cold, it was almost dark even before the storm rolled in, and rain was soaking through the brim of my stormchaser hat. I was also reminded, by the cold dripping across my withers, that I'd once again forgotten to patch the holes in my threadworn poncho. Or, you know, actually just buy a new one on the way out of town. With more than fifteen thousand caps to my name, it wasn't like I couldn't afford nice things anymore.
Well, nothing for it now. I was already coming up on the first craters pockmarking what was left of the Imperial 93. Not that the NCR had ever maintained much of it north of "Firebase 188", since they had no interest in sending troops in that direction --- yet. If anything was true about the NCR, it's that if they saw something of value, they went after it sooner or later. If the Herd hadn't presented a far larger threat, Nellie AFB would probably have been overrun by Republican commandos by now.
A look to the sky showed nothing. It's hard to see anything with water slamming into your face, but even if that hadn't been true, the cloud cover completely blocked out the moon and stars. A pegasus could be flying six lengths overhead, and I wouldn't see a thing even with my uncanny night vision.
What worried me was that I had no idea how well the pegasi could see in these conditions.
Nellie AFB was an old-world military complex, one of the farthest outposts of the original Equestrian armed forces, and from anything anypony could tell, it had completely escaped the destruction of Booms-Day. Horse's top-down images (from a pegasus on the inside?) had confirmed that much, if nothing else. Two centuries later, nopony even knew if Nellie's pegasi were somehow affiliated with the so-called "Grand Enclave". Traders from the ruins of Manehattan and Hoofington often spoke of the Enclave as a major power, but as far as anypony this far west was concerned, they weren't much more than rumor material.
The Zoomers were definitely not a rumor, and I was in no mood to take chances on whether or not they had scavenged any infrared or low-light gear --- or even just had a pony or two on the perimeter who counted themselves friends of Nightmare Moon.
Slithering into the first substantial crater, I made my way carefully along the inside rim to maximize what concealment the shallow, muddy pit could offer. Its puddles were brackish, frigid and filthy, but did a great job covering my pink hide with harder-to-discern earth tones that nearly matched my mane and tail. When I'd gone the crater's length, I belly-crawled to the next closest of its kin.
One of my ears twitched, wrapping around to slap me in the eye. I growled with annoyance and pushed it back into place, only to have my knees start shaking. I glared at the offending appendages, blinking hard against a fresh eye-twitch.
Okay, okay, I get it. I'm nervous. Here I am, trying to sneak through no-pony's-land at night in terrible weather. I have every right to be nervous. But this is the worst time and place to let myself go to pieces!
Fortunately, that seemed to be the end of it. Before long I was nowhere near the road, slinking from crater to crater, angling towards the base's perimeter chain-link fence and ignoring the persistent twitch developing in the base of my tail. My fervent hope was that anypony watching for intruders would have their eyes on the road and front gate. No sane pegasus would be trying to fly through this drench-party, that's for sure...
A sharp whistling noise was my first reminder that pegasi were not known for being terribly rational.
S.A.T.S.! Now! The world stopped cold.
I could see individual raindrops hanging in the air --- and, as I looked up, my heart damn near joined the rest of the universe in stillness. A goggled face glared down, framed by outstretched wings and forehooves. The rest was clad in a solid-black bodysuit, blending almost perfectly against the storm-choked sky, the only spots of color being silver lightning-bolts sewn to its cuffs. The beginning of a rainboom ring was already forming in the pegasus' wake --- and he was still moving, albeit slowly.
Still too fast for my taste! I had zero chance of getting out of the rainboom's blast radius, but the pegasus had made one small mistake by coming in from almost directly above. He'd been expecting to take me completely by surprise, or that I would try to run for it, or maybe he was just a little too green for his own good. Whichever it was didn't really matter at the moment... I needed to get directly beneath him!
Inventory, inventory --- I still had those chems I'd promised I was going to sell instead of use, what were they? If it was a choice of a crying Pink-E or a dead Cherry (Dead-Shot!), the decision was a no-brainer, but what did I... ah! Scrolling through the list showed some Buck (nope), Stampede (nope), did I have any Dash? Nope! ...wait.
What was "Turbo"? Was that even a chem...? *click*
Suddenly every nerve in my body sang out a need... a need for speed.
Mud under my hooves? No problem. Rain slashing my face? No problem. Goggle-eyed pegasus bringing multicolored death from the sky? No problem! I shot out of the crater like I had rockets strapped to my flanks, reaching the eye of the rainboom just as the pegasus broke away at a perfect right angle back into the storm.
Every color of the spectrum blasted outward with blinding vibrance, shattering the ground below my hooves into a fine spray of mud trailing after its circular wake. Behind that thick brown wave, I galloped like mad, stretching my legs over ground stripped level and dry by the expanding ring of rainbow destruction. Even the rain was smashed back, by the sheer vehemence of destruction, into a brief-lived bubble which I sailed right on through.
In those long, glorious seconds, I could outrace the wind. Every muscle sang with joy, glad to be called upon for the test, reaching towards breaking-strain; my mane and tail flapped behind like personal battle flags, my nostrils snorted hot breath. A strange sensation descended, of ghostly ancestors from down the ages matching my strides in a great communal outswelling of pure motion --- a sudden epiphany that, somehow, this was everything a pony was meant to be.
Then that brief burst of turbo-speed departed, leaving me stumbling headlong for a bare second before a second rainboom's blast front smacked me dead in the ass. Two pegasi had bracketed me; I'd charged into the eye of the 'boom to my front. It had just taken a bit for the one in back to catch up, and when it did, the ground lit up and blew away from me.
* * * * *
The filly's voice came as a tiny, distant whisper. "Is he dead?"
Her friend's reply was only slightly less so. Sounded like a colt. "I don't think so. Breathing doesn't count as 'dead', does it?"
"Well, maybe he's mostly dead?"
Survival instinct demanded that I at least open my eyes to assess the tactical situation. The rest of me demanded to know what my instinct planned to do with that information, given the widespread damage reports arriving at my brainstem every other nanosecond. There was, however, a general consensus between the two parties that my PipBuck should shut the hell up with its reminders that I'd suffered crippling injuries in a variety of places. WE KNOW!
"You kids back away from that dirt-pounder! Now!" Definitely an adult. Female, probably armed, and most definitely not happy to see me.
"Awww!" Deprived of their curio of the moment, the two audibly scampered away. A hoof prodded me in the side, creating a sharp lancing pain, which at least reassured me that particular rib was merely broken instead of shattered. Even if I'd thought playing dead might have been a good idea --- and I didn't --- my body's decision to release an anguished groan would have betrayed me.
"Good. You're alive and in pain. Mother Matrix would be disappointed if you were dead, and I'd be disappointed if you weren't suffering for what you've done."
Ignoring Bitchy-Bitch for the moment, I brought up S.A.T.S. and went to work on myself. It was too bad that I had no real remedy at the moment for my broken bones, but I'd be damned if I wasn't at least going to load up on some Med-X to dull the pain. Two syringes fed my PipBuck's internal needles, bleeding sweet relief through my bloodstream. Queuing a pair of healing potions up after that started me on the road back to where I'd been prior to discovering the wonders of involuntary flight.
Another prod, this one more a kick, but all I did was grunt with annoyance now. The Med-X had done an admirable job of silencing the new howls echoing through my nervous system. "Fuck off, Mom. I wanna sleep in."
The following punt drove the air from my lungs and rolled me onto my side. Robbed of the ability to grunt now, I settled for glaring up at a teal pegasus wearing --- oh. The black uniform and its lightning-bolts were unmistakably those of my airborne assailant. Her night-vision goggles were slid up onto her forehead, under-lighting a forelock with dim shades of green set against the imposed greys of moonlight.
Moonlight? The storm had already moved along to the south, clearing the sky for Lady Luna to cross overhead with her stellar consorts. The poetry inherent to the vision might have had more impact on my brain, if it hadn't been starving for air at the moment. I gasped hard, producing a giggle from my tormentor --- with a vicious edge to it.
"Not so tough as all that, are you? You're just lucky you landed on the foal pads."
Foal whatnow? My neck being one of the few unbroken things left in my body, I hazarded a look around. I'd landed smack on top of a pile of old mattresses, one of many spread across a wide section of tarmac in rather specific-looking patterns. Two lengths in any given direction and I'd be a pony pancake. Lucky for sure...
Three other pegasi came running up out of the darkness, one dressed in doctor's whites, the other two wearing battle saddles with an assortment of implements of destruction --- all pointed at me, naturally. Something struck me as really peculiar about the scene, but I couldn't put my hoof on it at the moment.
"This'll hurt for just a moment. Hang in there," muttered the doc, shoving a syringe into my flank.
Soothing heaviness fell over me like a blanket. "Oooh, thanks --- that's even better than the Med-X..."
There was a pause. "...Med-X? Who here gave him Med-X?" A muttering of denials filtered through the cottony sensations filling my ears. "Well he can't bloody well dose himself with his legs bent like that --- oh, crap. He's got a PipBuck?!" My vision went dark. Something was wrong. But then, something was always wrong... "Get over here! Grab this! Now stand back --- CLEAR!"
THUMP
* * * * *
"...picked 'im up and chucked 'im like a foal's feedin' dish!" Laughter.
"That's enough out of you lot. Don't you all have patrols to fly?" Grumbling, a shuffling of hooves, door slamming.
I could barely feel anything, inside or out. My eyes blinked open, but everything remained dark. "Whuth'ell'joodoo't'mee..." And apparently my tongue was half-dead, to boot.
"Dammit, what are you doing awake? Close your eyes, you'll burn them out staring into the lamps."
"Can'see'thng..." I struggled to move my head, or anything, but came up against firm restraints. I'd've started panicking, but that seemed like more trouble than it was worth at the moment. My thoughts squirmed through a muzzy backfield of internal noise.
"Of course you can't see." A moist towel was laid over my eyes. "Mixing Cloudpack and a double-dose of Med-X could have killed you outright. Instead, you've gotten off light with heart palpitations followed by a mild stroke, which would still have killed you if I hadn't been there to stabilize your would-be corpse."
More shuffling, this time from a single set of hooves. Clinks and plinks, doctor's tools being dropped into bowls and onto trays. I held my tongue, since it wasn't behaving anyway.
"Pulse: normal... heart rate: acceptable... ganglion response: nominal conductivity... I'll have you know this is no matter of pure-hearted charity, by the by. Were it up to me, I'd have had you thrown right back over the perimeter fence. But orders are orders..."
A needle pricked my right foreleg. I hissed sharply, more out of surprise than at the slight infliction of pain.
"Ah, good, the return of nerve synchronization. You should be just fine by the time you wake up." A sigh from the darkness. "If only I could say the same for everypony else..."
* * * * *
Waking up to shouting is rarely a good thing. Especially when there's a lot of it.
"Back up! Back up! Make a hole!" Ah, Bitchy-Bitch again.
"You back up! No dirt-pounders in the sanctuary!" Dozens of voices took up the chant. "NO! DIRT! POUNDERS! IN THE SANC-TU-ARY! NO! DIRT! POUNDERS! IN THE SANC-TU-ARY!"
"Orders of Mother Matrix! Back the hell up!"
"Rule Thirty-Four stands! He cheated!"
Now came the sound of several battle saddles being cocked and locked. "Enough! That's for Mother Matrix to say, not you!"
As the shouting and chanting died down into grumbling and vague threats, somepony rolled me forward. I was still strapped into the gurney, but the towel over my eyes had been replaced with a too-tight blindfold that was working a number on my returning migraine. Crawling around in puddles at night during a thunderstorm had done my head no favors, nor had being blasted however far the rainboom had "chucked" me. On the plus side, feeling had returned to my extremities, and it didn't feel like anything was still broken. Whatever Cloudpack was, it sure worked!
A door opened, and I was hustled through as some ponies made a sudden attempt to surge forward. Scuffling and renewed shouting broke out, then was cut off by the slamming door. A click, a sigh, and my gurney started moving again.
I might've been curious as all hell, but I wasn't going to say so. Wherever we were going, we'd get there soon enough, and whoever was wheeling me along, it wasn't likely that they were empowered to negotiate my release. All I could do was relax, listen, and wait.
The gurney's creaky wheels rolled along a very smooth floor, echoing their racket from distant walls. I was no expert at gauging distance by sound, but I was pretty sure this was one of the Zoomers' airfield hangars. We eventually slowed to a halt, orderlies to either side adjusting the gurney. Three sharp jerks later I found myself lifted up, rotated into a half-upright position, and slid sidewise into --- something that made me feel just a little bit claustrophobic.
Coffin-style claustrophobic, in fact.
"Is he stable? Please say 'no'... I'd hate to waste this on a wastelander," grumbled Bitchy-Bitch.
Doctor Feel-Good was all business: "Healthy as a buffalo. For what that's worth. Now let's check his PipBuck..." I could feel somepony's hoof picking at the device's buttons but, still being strapped down, I couldn't do much about it.
Except bitch, that is. "Whaddya think you're doing with that?"
"I'm making sure you haven't 'accidentally' dosed yourself with something again before putting you under. Last thing anypony needs, including you, is a lot of flailing around while you're inside." He didn't even pause in his button-pecking.
I could try stalling, too. Weren't mad doctors supposed to take moments like these to explain whatever they had in mind to their curious victim? "Inside? Inside what? What are you plotting at here, doctor?"
"Shush. It''ll be over before you know it."
Or complaining! There was always complaining! "Could you at least take off this blindfold? It's too tight! It's chafing my temples; why do I have to wear it if I'm going inside something?" I threw in a little creative wiggling, which was all I could manage against my restraints anyways.
The master of passive-aggressive warfare, I was not. "You're fine." He clicked one more button, and a newly-familiar sensation flooded into my system from the PipBuck on my foreleg. "Bon voyage...!"
Something softly clicked into place over my head...
>>> oOo <<<
Everything was white and blue. Relentlessly so.
But then, that was probably to be expected of an environment completely made up of cloud-stuff hanging in an endless sky.
The giant stadium was laid out as an oval surrounded by high-stacked seating for an audience that could have numbered in the thousands, if there'd been any audience at all. Decorative pillars and arches, a bit reminiscent of the Velvet Stocking's interior, lent a feeling of style and grandeur to the place --- like big things were meant to happen here. Colorful pennants flapped from tall colonnades, providing the only sound other than the wind whistling by. All in all, it was pretty damned impressive...
And then I made the mistake of looking down.
Vertigo nearly pitched me over the edge into azure infinity for several very long moments, until I finally managed to coax my shaking legs into a hasty retreat. Immediately after which harrowing experience with near-death, I was treated to the most annoying laugh I'd heard since Pink-E.
"BWAAA-hahahahahaha! Oh, you should see your face right now!" I flushed with heat, spinning about to angrily confront...
...possibly the goofiest-looking pegasus my drug-addled brain could come up with at the moment.
For a start, she was a bright cyan, of the shade only seen at the very top of the welkin on the hottest, clearest days of summer. Her eyes were a stunningly unlikely shade of violet, bordering on amethyst, with thick lashes crinkled up in laughter, and her mane --- was dyed up like a goddamn rainbow. At the moment, I wanted to rip that stupid mane off and feed it to her.
Laugh at me? I wrath at you! I didn't know where I'd heard that, but the advice seemed sound enough...
The arrogant pegasus grinned down from her seat on a cloud-throne set atop a raised dais of clouds, itself perched on an island of --- okay, yes, everything here was made of clouds, all right already --- in the middle of the coliseum's so-called floor. "So you think you're tough? So you think you've got what it takes?"
I glared back up at her. "How about -"
In an instant, she'd shot down off the dais to hover with her muzzle damn-near pressed into mine. "Well, listen up, buck, because this mission's vital to the security of Equestria, and you've been drafted!"
Reflexively in part, and partly because I really wanted to anyway, I swung on her --- and connected with air, stumbling off-balance into the bargain. She was already "marching" away from me in mid-air on her hind legs, forelegs behind her back and similarly-prismatic-tail held high like she was addressing troops. Odds were, she hadn't even noticed my horrible failure of an assault.
"It will be dangerous! It will be deadly! It will test you to your absolute limits! But I know you have it in you..."
Monologuing with her back to me? GOOD. A brief charge to build up speed, a flying tackle --- and I hit open air again, shortly before my face hit the first steps up the all-too-solid dais. Pain and stars exploded inside my migraine-afflicted skull. AUGH! I thought clouds were supposed to be SOFT! I barely managed to get back on my hooves and wave the stars away by the time she sat back down on her throne to face me again.
"...because only the finest master ninja could possibly have snuck past my loyal legions onto Nellie Air Force Base!" She leaned forward and grinned expansively, those amethyst eyes glittering with excitement. "Now tell me all about how you did it!"
I looked down at the clouds I was standing on as though I could see the ground through them, far far below. "First, why don't you tell me why a non-pegasus isn't plummeting to whatever doom this place has in store for ponies that aren't supposed to be able to fly?"
She flipped her mane and snorted, like she was talking to an idiot. "You're not falling through, because nopony programmed the pod for anything but a pegasus. Computers don't know that you're not just a pegasus who was somehow born without wings. Guess you're not one of those egg-head types --- which is fine, 'cause obviously you're sneaky. And we need sneaky, not smart. Just... don't do anything really stupid, like step off into the wild blue yonder, okay?"
I'd figured as much. Nellie's pegasi had strapped me into one of those virtual-reality pods, of the kind the NCR was rumored to use for training its most elite troops. I'd always kind of thought the idea was a load of brahminshit --- magical orbs were used to capture the memories various ponies had of a given environment, then placed in an array from which a computer would develop a consensus view. A senses-deadening pod was then built around the array, with a reclining couch for the viewer to rest in while a magical headband fed the computer's data directly into their brain.
Using such pods, soldiers could be taught tactics and strategy "the hard way" --- by giving them experience on a battlefield which wouldn't actually kill them. While I had to admit all of that sounded really cool, what sounded even better was my own memory of a standing NCR bounty for recovery of VR pods, intact or otherwise. A grin crept across my face.
As with Pink-E, Whoever-This-Cunt-Was thought I was grinning at something she'd said.
"Awww, yeah, I see that smile! Thinking about doing it anyway, huh? You've got guts, I'll say that. And maybe guts is enough. That and being sneaky, of course! So, like I said --- tell me how you got here." Now her chin was propped up on a forehoof whose elbow was resting on an arm of the throne, a bored tyrant looking for amusement from a would-be jester.
Not today. "Two of your night flyers came at me with tactical rainbooms. I made it into the eye of one, but not the other. I'm told it kicked my ass clean over your perimeter fence, far enough that I landed on a bunch of old mattresses. Stuck the landing with nothing more than a lot of broken bones and a shitload of pain, so I doped myself up to kill it, and then your doctor shoved a needle in my flank that damn near polished me off. That's the story."
The mare produced an expression that fell neatly onto the border between Surprise and Letdown. "Well... I guess... that's kind of awesome..." She looked around, as though hoping another candidate for her "vital mission" would materialize from thin air.
When none did after a minute or so, she hung her head and gave a low sigh. "Okay, okay, if you're all I get to work with, fine." Suddenly, she perked up and smiled. "Then again, it's not like I haven't had competitions turn out weird before... maybe you'll turn out to be a turtle! Heh... a ninja turtle. That'd be all kinds of awesome right there."
I peered dubiously at the overly-colorful mare. "A what?"
"Turtle. You know, short li'l guys, stubby legs, thick protective shells, cute little beady eyes..."
"I think you mean tortoises."
"Whatever..." She rolled her eyes and sighed again, more heartfelt this time. "I miss Tank."
I cocked my head to the side. "I take it that's a 'who', as opposed to a 'what'?"
She nodded; red, orange and yellow forelocks bounced in sympathy. "Yeah. He was a feisty li'l guy. Never quit, even when I ordered him to. He stuck it out to the end. Kinda like an earth pony, I guess, who doesn't give up after he gets blasted a good quarter-mile or so. That's how far it is from the fence-line to the nearest foal pads. So I'm declaring you the new Tank."
I rolled my eyes. "Name's Dead-Shot."
A grin. "Sure thing... Tank."
My eyes narrowed. "And you'd be Mother Matrix?"
She shrugged and settled back on her throne, making a show of wing-preening. "That's what they call me."
"Did your parents seriously stick you with that name, or did you just make it up all by yourself?"
"It's more of a title ---" She did an impressive double-take, snapping her head back around to re-focus on me. "Wait. You don't know my real name?"
"Should I?"
She leaned forward. "You don't know who I am?"
I took a step back, suddenly self-conscious about the potential tactical error of offending what might well be some wanna-be goddess with delusions of grandeur, or maybe an artificial intelligence bent on proving it was a real pony, in a virtual universe that it probably had direct control over. "Ah... this is where you tell me you're a pony everypony should know, right?"
The pegasus leapt straight up out of her throne into the air with a wild cheer. "Woo-hoo! Finally, somepony who doesn't know who I am! YyyyyyyyyyYYYYES! This. Is. AWESOME!"
The stands suddenly populated with throngs of cheering, happy, healthy pegasi, the tops of the colonnades exploded with fireworks that seemed to threaten their pennants with incineration; patriotic music blared from hidden speakers all around. And then for the next thirty seconds, I was treated to the most amazing acrobatic airshow I'd ever seen. Well, actually, the only airshow I'd ever seen, but still...!
She was wild energy, tethered by pure ebullience and joy, bound up only by wings with which to cut the sky. All of this might have been a simulation, a computer's networked dream, but she? She was not. Speed, gravity, inertia, acceleration, shearing planes of force intersecting and opposed to one another --- these were the paints she applied to the canvas of her virtual world. I can tell you she looped into a barrel-roll, pulled out of it with a snap turn followed by a wingover, and then swooped to shoot straight past me with what she loudly proclaimed to be "The Buccaneer Blaze" --- but that would be like describing a desert sunset to a blind foal.
When the actinic explosion of the "Blaze" finally stopped dancing in my eyes, the cyan-blue pegasus with the unlikely mane stood so close that I could feel her post-exertion breathing.
"So yeah. I'm 'Mother Matrix'. And when you get back, the code phrase is 'Bet Big'. Seeya around, Tank."
I blinked again, this time with shock, as she leaned in and playfully kissed me on the nose.
<<< oOo >>>
"Aaaaand he's out. Pop the top." A soft hiss of escaping air; apparently these things were airtight? The blindfold came off, and I found myself blinking hard with my real eyes against the floodlamps lighting the inside of a hangar.
So I guessed right, for once...
Doctor Feel-Good leaned in, shone a smaller light directly and briefly into each of my eyes, and prompted a round of cursing from me which he entirely ignored. "Dilation's a little off, but it looks like the dosage was spot-on otherwise. He's lucid."
"Good." Bitchy-Bitch didn't sound like she meant it one little bit. "You two, stand by." Then her face replaced Feel-Good's, those goggles still underlighting a mane which --- oh, hey, it was actually gray-on-white. It hadn't just been a trick of the moonlight. "Code phrase. What did she tell you?"
A snarky response would have felt very nice right now. The expression on her face, though, made it seem like she was actually hoping for one. Not the time for fun and mind-games... "She said to bet big. Whatever the hell that means."
Bitchy facehoofed. I couldn't see, but could actually hear, both of her guards doing the same.
Feel-Good stopped whatever he was doing with the pod out of my sight and rushed back to stare at me. "You're positive that was it?"
Bitchy wasn't having any of it. "He didn't stutter, Doctor. But I'm pretty sure I misheard him." He shifted that glare back down to me. "Or maybe HE misheard HER. I'm SURE she told him the phrase was 'CASH OUT'. Wasn't it, you little earthworm?"
The good Doctor actually shoved her back from me. "Shut up and get out of here! And take your goon squad with you! You know the rules!"
"We can't risk the Mother on this wad of Flim-Flam Flux! Look at him! It has to have been a glitch in the system!"
A warning growl was Bitchy's reward for that line. "IF that is true, then the Mother's matrix is further gone than we can afford. Unless you have another Rule Thirty-Four candidate in mind...?"
"There's no reason we can't just storm the casino and take what we need - "
"You mean, aside from Rules One, Two, Three, Fifteen and Forty-Seven? We've had this debate before!"
I cleared my throat.
Both pegasi instantly turned on me and shouted, in perfect chorus: "WHAT?!"
"The restraints are kinky and all, but lying here like this is killing my ass. Plus I'm starving. Can we fight this out over breakfast or something, like civilized raiders?"
* * * * *
The nearest mess-hall, it turned out, was directly attached to the hangar itself, which served mainly as shelter for two dozen pods identical to the one I'd been crammed into. A sign over the back of the doorway read, in faded black lettering: Avionics / Tactical Assessment Bay - Epsilon Clearance Required.
Before Bitchy's guards had a chance to shoo out the kitchen staff and cover up the few windows (obscuring what looked like a really beautiful post-storm rainbow in the sky beyond), I was already into what was left of the morning buffet, slapping spatula-loads of scrambled eggs and wheat toast as high as I could onto a clean plate. Bitchy and Feel-Good actually got into line behind me, patiently waiting their turn until I'd taken what I wanted, but "hunger" won out over "opportunity to screw with these guys".
A minute later we were all seated around a small round table, me swallowing only slightly faster than I could shovel it in and the others pecking dispassionately at the few scraps they'd taken for themselves.
"So," said Bitchy, pushing her plate aside and folding her forelegs atop the table. "She said to 'Bet Big'."
"Mm-hmph!" I managed around a mouthful of the best eggs I'd had in months. The cooks apparently used pepper sauce in their mix, giving the otherwise bland fare a nice sharp -
"Well, have fun with that. I hear the Casino Royale is particularly deadly this time of year."
- kick in the balls. I spewed what was in my mouth all over Feel-Good, who was still nibbling at some toast. Bitchy looked satisfied with my reaction, reaching across the table to tip my lower jaw shut with an evil grin, while the doctor scrubbed egg off his face with an air of disgust.
"Thaaaat's right, hot shot --- your webelos just went from frying-pan to fire. How d'ya like them apples?"
Feel-Good brushed the last bits of mess off his lab coat. "No need to taunt the help, Commander. I believe, while we're at it, introductions are finally in order." He gestured to Bitchy. "This here is Base Commander Loop DeLoup - "
"That's Air Wolf," growled Bitchy, "and you goddess-damned-well know it."
"I do not introduce ponies by their battle monikers, Commander," came the prim retort. "As for myself, I am Doctor Fly Right, Chief Medical Officer for Nellie Air Force Base. We serve Mother Matrix on behalf of her flock. And you are...?"
I worked for a moment at swallowing the last bits of egg still in my mouth before answering. "Dead-Shot. Bounty hunter and, at the moment, a messenger to you people."
"Pfft," snorted DeLoup. "Scavvers like you try to hit our fenceline at least three times a month, looking to sneak in and get out with whatever pre-War gear you can steal. You'll have to come up with a better story than that if you want to try yanking our wings."
I shook my head, tapped a sequence of buttons on my PipBuck, and let Mr. Horse's recorded voice speak his piece.
"Good day to you, residents of Nellie Air Force Base, and salutations. I would have spoken with you sooner, but you never pick up the phone, nor do you accept mail delivery. Forgive the small effort at humor; my name is Edwin Robert Horse, and I essentially own New Pegas. I would like to keep it that way."
Both DeLoup and Fly Right stared, eyes wide as dinner plates with surprise, as the recording went on.
"I have no designs on you or yours, but as you likely know, others do. The NCR considers your airbase a military asset to be seized when they can, and the Herd considers you a latent threat to be eliminated when conveniences allow. I therefore proffer an alliance of mutual defense, if not actual cooperation, presenting a stronger combined deterrence to any moves against the independence of either party. If this be amenable to your group, simply inform my messenger and release him with any instructions you may wish to include for further communications. We can work out the details at your convenience and leisure, but remember --- while I am a patient stallion, neither President Thimble nor the Herd's so-called 'Caesar' can be counted upon to wait forever."
The recording clicked over, starting to repeat itself, before I could kill it. Then I gave the two my best deadpan look. "Well?" They looked at each other, looked at me, and then at each other again.
Fly Right finally broke the silence. "Um... this has actually been a matter of some recent debate, actually..."
DeLoup smacked the table. "It has not been a matter of debate; Rule Six explicitly forbids taking sides in any external conflicts!"
The doctor facehoofed. "Self-defense is not a matter of taking sides - "
"It is if it means an alliance! Nellie flies alone, and if necessary, dies alone!"
"The Rules are meant to protect us, not lead us into blind suicide!"
"And you think Horse and his robot popguns won't throw us against one side or the other as cannon fodder?"
"This is not the time to argue, Commander! Mother Matrix has already made a decision about..." Fly Right stopped to look at me. "...the messenger..."
DeLoup sighed. "Fine. I suppose that'll settle the argument one way or the other."
I was getting a really creepy vibe here. "Maybe you two should fill me in on exactly what's going on."
Fly Right leaned in and folded his forelegs over, gazing intently at me. "The situation is this: when the world went balefire, Nellie AFB survived intact --- but with most of its systems blown. From what we've been able to tell through our own research over the centuries, it was deliberate sabotage, triggered by remote access from a linked network. When the 'Grand Pegasus Enclave' seceded from Equestria and ordered the recall of all 'loyal' pegasi, the military personnel here took what they could easily transport and left the crippled base behind --- but most of the civilians had grown up in and around New Pegas and refused to leave with them."
I nodded along, which seemed to satisfy him.
"The mare we call 'Mother Matrix' arrived shortly after that, gravely wounded. She slipped into one of the VR pods and activated its emergency stasis function, hoping to get well enough to eventually leave on her own. But the pods don't actually heal anything --- so she's been stuck in stasis like that, on the edge of death, for centuries. When the first few pegasi scavvers ventured onto the base and found her in there..."
DeLoup chipped in. "We couldn't just leave her. We all migrated to Nellie, formed a citizens' militia, and swore to protect her until we could find some way to get her out of there. She set up the Rules which keep us safe from outsiders, in turn." Her face went hard. "And since we can't move her pod without turning it off, we're not about to put her in danger for your damned alliance."
I rolled my eyes. "Then why didn't you just SAY 'no'? I'll go tell Horse the deal is off."
Fly Right shook his head emphatically. "We can't say 'no', or 'yes' for that matter. That's Mother Matrix's sphere of authority under Rule Ten. But her health is deteriorating. If you want any kind of deal, we have to save her life first --- and no regular Auto-Doc will do. We've already tried that, which is what triggered the deterioration in the first place." He gave DeLoup, who looked away and whistled for a moment, a dirty look.
Was that my migraine coming back already? I rubbed my face. "Soooo... let's see if I have this straight. You need a special Auto-Doc, from no less a place than the Casino Royale, so your 'Mother Matrix' doesn't drop dead in her pod, so she can agree or not agree to this alliance. You want me to volunteer for a suicide mission, just for a 'maybe'?"
The good doctor sighed, stood up from the table, and walked back towards the buffet, despite not having even finished what he'd taken. I was about to get back to work on my own now-cold stack of scrambled yellow heaven, but Commander Bitchy wasn't about to allow that without a good haranguing first.
"Maybe you didn't understand when Mother Matrix mentioned, as she does to anypony who qualifies as a Rule Thirty Four candidate, that you were drafted into her service. We're not asking you to do anything. You don't have a goddess-damned choice in the matter!"
I swallowed and glowered back. "Fuck your Mother, and fuck you. You can drop me off at the Royale, and then I can turn right the hell around and leave. That's my choice, if you really wanna push things, and you can bet your flank Horse won't be happy about - "
An injector into my shoulder, from behind. Of course. Why would the good doctor be going for any more food? I'd just fallen like a lead balloon for one of the cheapest distractions in the book. Which was also the way to describe how I hit the floor a moment after.
As the world faded out to black for the fourth time in one day --- frankly, I was getting kind of tired of it --- I felt something snick into place around my neck. Bitchy's voice was low, vicious, and altogether too satisfied-sounding.
"For once in your miserable little existence, earthworm, you're going to buck up and obey somepony's orders. My orders. And if not?... boom."
Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Mysterious Stranger - Somepony's decided you need a little help every now and again, usually with a head-shot to whomever you're having trouble with at the moment. Who is this mysterious bell-ringer? Who? What is his purpose? What? How can he even DO that to a Behemoth? How? *WHACK* Ow! Hush, and Cloppin shall tell you...
Skill Note: Speech (25) |
Calbeck | 679 | 10 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-06-17T10:00:39+00:00 | 2013-05-17T03:37:43+00:00 | 3,672 | CHAPTER TEN: Derp Money
"I just don't know what went wrong!"
My ears heard, before my eyes saw.
"Welcome to muffins. I mean, the casino. I mean, muffins are great with butter, especially if you're eating them at a casino! While gambling. Oh... do I have to begin again? Okay! Welcome to muffins."
Slowly my vision advanced from black, to fuzzy greys, to a more solid grey surrounded by browns and blacks, as the message repeated. Sensation returned in the form of something cold and hard under my chin and hooves, contrasted with an almost-suffocating warmth everywhere else. I took a deep breath to center myself --- and was suddenly reminded of an unaccustomed tightness around my neck.
With the chill of that realization, I was as completely awake as if I'd been doused with a bucket of water. A chuckling sounded below my right ear, drowning out the more distant talk of casino muffins.
"Awake at last, are we, earthworm?" DeLoup was too busy gloating to let me answer. "Good. We took advantage of your little nap to get you fully outfitted and positioned for your mission, whether or not you choose to accept it. Your saddlebags are to your left, the casino is to your front, and you're not getting back over the gates to your rear until you have an Auto-Doc Mark Seven for us to pick up along with you."
I stood up on the cold hard pavement, still a little groggy, and tried to shake the cobwebs out of my head with a soft squeak.
...squeak?
The speaker on my collar emitted a sharp laugh. "By now I'm sure you've noticed your new 'choice' of apparel? That's the Fun Suit Mark Two, another fine Aegis Security product for the Ministry of Morale. The Suits replaced their initial line of explosive collars, when those turned out not to be as effective as desired for restraining prisoners and malcontents. It seems that interrogating someone who's lost their head can be somewhat difficult."
Looking down revealed a shiny light-blue surface curving away from the collar, a one-piece rubber skin stretching to cover my barrel, belly, rump and legs. Only my head, tail, hooves and PipBuck escaped the overly-snug get-up. Every motion pulled against the thing one way or another, drawing it taut and resulting in that quiet squeaking noise.
I snorted my disgust. "Not only is this a lot kinkier than I had you pegasi figured for - ", which statement prompted a harrumph from the speaker, " - but do you really expect me to sneak around the Casino Royale in this stupid thing?"
"No, my little earthworm - " came DeLoup's sneering reply, "I expect you to obey orders."
Suddenly, a loud hissing erupted from just below the collar.
An air talisman?! What the -
In the moment it took to form the thought, the hidden gemstone's enchantment blew enough gas between the suit's double layers to transform it into a blue globe, made imperfect only by the indentations occupied by my hooves, head and tail. These six anchor-points neatly stretched me spread-eagle within the imprisoning ball, its expansion so rapid that it rebounded from the unyielding tarmac into the air.
For those few seconds, I was too surprised to react --- then as the ball fell back to earth, only to bounce me helplessly back up with an audible boing, embarrassment flushed my muzzle a darker pink than usual.
If anypony saw me like this, I'd either die of shame or have to kill the witnesses!
Commander Bitchy, on the other hoof, was having a high old time. "Every time you decide to give me some lip instead of listen, you're going to find yourself bobbling around like that, hoping nothing comes along to kill you before I get tired of laughing. The Pink Cloud? It'll melt your face off while you're stuck there trying not to breathe it in. The so-called 'Ghost Herd'? They'll cut you apart without a word, like they do to anypony they catch. I'm sure you've heard the stories."
I had, but I was having trouble focusing on the details while bouncing around in a giant rubber ball. Especially since, having an offset center of gravity in the form of yours truly, it had a propensity for sudden spins and turns. I fought to keep what little breakfast I'd had down in my stomach, where it belonged. So this is 'motion sickness', huh? I want a refund...!
"But hey, if we're really lucky," my tormentor added with an audible smirk, "the holo-guards will zap you, and I'll get to hear you scream while the hydrogen in that suit burns you alive."
Just as I rebounded off a nearby wall, there was a sudden loud sucking noise. The suit instantly returned to its skin-tight norm, sending me flailing until I hit the pavement with a smack that nearly knocked my wind away. I found myself wishing Bitchy was watching me on a camera, so I could glare at it. Instead, I took my time getting back on my hooves, collecting what little dignity I might still lay claim to before continuing the conversation.
"Hydrogen? What idiot would design one of these things to use hydrogen?!"
Bitchy's sniff of indifference was needlessly theatrical. Which, thinking about it, made the gesture kind of pointless, but it would probably have been a bad idea just then to needle her about it. "Apparently, Ministry Mare Pinkie Pie said something about balloons not really being balloons without helium, which also made prisoners lighter and easier to manage when their suits were inflated. Those were the Mark Ones."
Sarcasm began slipping back into her voice as she warmed to the subject. "Somepony afterward got the bright idea that hydrogen, being much lighter than helium, would make the job even easier. Hence the Mark Two. Which, in all honesty, made flapping your fat earth-pony butt over to the casino courtyard a lot less work for us. Isn't progress a wonderful thing?"
Doctor Fly Right, to my relief, stepped into the conversation. "That's quite enough, Commander, you've had your fun. Now let's get on with saving Mother, shall we?"
Finally having the opportunity to take a good look, I swept my gaze around the courtyard. It was fairly simple on first glance: a circular roundabout with a central fountain, age-rotted villas lining streets leading away in three directions, and a massive pair of tall, ornate steel gates rusting away behind me.
No way in Luna's Hell am I getting over those without an airlift or grappling hook...
The glazed terracotta fountain, a wide squat stack of three progressively-larger bowls spilling water down to a shallow pool, was surrounded by weirdly-flickering spotlights. These focused on a point just above the waterspout, creating the illusion of a grey pegasus mare slowly flapping her wings to hover in place. Her ditzy, unfocused speech kept repeating over and over from speakers set around the courtyard, strangely appropriate to the misaligned yellow eyes and fizzy-themed flank that nature had afflicted her with.
Where've I seen that bubble-head before?
There came a tapping from my collar speaker. "Ahem. Let's get on with it, Mister Pie...?"
I grimaced at Fly Right's impatience, not caring that he couldn't see it over the radio. "Just getting a feel for the lay of the land, Doc. I understand you pegasi probably wouldn't get that --- hell, do you even know where I'm supposed to be going?"
A frustrated snort sounded from the other end. "All the time in the world to gawk, but none to look at your PipBuck?"
Oh. Right. This thing on my leg had that "mapping-and-questing" function Nash Rambler'd shown me back in Slimm and --- whoa, Nellie! Look at all that junk! Apparently, I'd finished up four "quests" and most of the listed "objectives" for each one over the course of the last few days. They were all greyed out on the PipBuck's little display, but three more were shining brightly green:
Derp Money: Retrieve an Auto-Doc Mk VII from Doctor Stable's Clinic. Pretty straightforward...
Terrible Creatures from the Stars: Watch a movie with Pink-E. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. But it did remind me to drop by an NCR outpost soonish and report on that satellite Pink-E'd wanted to play her stupid movie on. Assuming somepony else hadn't already reported it (and assuming I got out of here alive to start with), that might help smooth over any rankled withers from the recent brouhaha at the Embassy. Though with Riposte dead, nopony might even know about my involvement --- feh, enough ruminating on maybes!
Benedict Barn-old: Find out what Benny's really up to. Another back-burner job list. And what was that about a barn? I hadn't seen anything in or around New Pegas that even looked like a barn from my Celestial perch yesterday...
Under each listing were several related objectives, making me wonder again how the hell this thing knew all this stuff before I even knew to ask it. Of the three active quests, "Derp Money" was set as the "primary", directing my attention to a little square on the small-scale map of the --- wait.
Except for where I was standing, there wasn't any map at all! The highlighting square was positioned in the middle of a black, empty space --- so this PipBuck knows I need to go there, but doesn't know what's there, so it shouldn't even know I need to go...ow! Damn migraine! Something bright and sickly-green flashed before my eyes, making me blink with surprise.
"As you can see," Fly Right's voice continued, disrupting any thoughts I might have entertained about piercing headaches and their effects on optical nerves, "we've pre-loaded the coordinates for the casino's clinic, although we couldn't get your Pipbuck to accept the map data. Apparently you've got an older model that doesn't like color graphics." Oh. Well, that explained that.
"One last note: we're transmitting through a relay placed atop the tallest building we could reach without triggering the casino's defenses --- which isn't very far in. There's a lot of radio interference from various sources we've never been able to pin down. So, we won't be able to maintain consistent voice transmission, but the signal for the collar's punitive functions doesn't require such fine-tuning."
The good doctor's voice dropped half an octave, to where he apparently thought it sounded menacing. "Stray too far from your objective, or try and remove the collar, and it will lose the relay's 'deadpony switch' signal. Without it, your suit will automatically start inflating, albeit slower than what you've just experienced, so you'll have a few moments to correct your error. If you DO get yourself well and truly stuck, you'll have about thirty seconds before that suit explodes --- shorting out your collar right in the middle of a high-pressure cloud of hydrogen. Now get moving!"
Sheesh, what a sore-head... But I picked up my saddlebags, slung them across my back, and got moving nonetheless. Standing there wasn't going to get the job done, and not getting the job done wasn't going to get me out of here. And with the collar's radio no longer crackling in my ear, the only other voice in the area became impossible to ignore:
"Oh... do I have to begin again? Okay! Welcome to muffins."
And who knew? Perhaps I'd run across something that'd give me a new quest. Something like Detonate the Ditz: blow up the stupid fountain and its smarmy hologram would be a nice reward for my troubles...
* * * * *
Anything in the Moohave with ears and the ability to understand speech knew about the Casino Royale: a towering edifice, located on a bluff overlooking the Coltorado, about ten miles upriver from Lake Cider. Scenic, luxurious, fitted with all the most modern pre-War security systems, it had been slated for a Gala Opening --- for the day after the missiles flew. Its gates had never opened to the public, and no one knew if anypony inside at the time had ever come out.
The place wasn't hard to find. Although surrounded by a thick forest of conifers, you couldn't miss that ten-story building jutting up from its sprawling entourage of guest villas and supporting service centers. Hundreds of ponies, if not thousands, could have lived relatively comfortable lives within its security-gated confines.
Nor was it hard to get in. The driveway outside the front gate was known to be littered with everything from ladders to box-steps to homemade trampolines, all left behind by bands of would-be looters and plucky adventurers. Once or twice, enough wall-scaling junk had accumulated that somepony or another dragged it into town and bragged how they'd "struck it rich at the Royale".
Not that nopony'd ever done well for themselves scavenging the grounds. The courtyard I'd woken up in was known to be safe, as were a few areas discovered more by error than trial over the centuries. Those had all been thoroughly looted long ago, though tales of recovered tech and luxury goods had kept up interest for decades afterwards. No surprise there: the Royale'd been set up by an ultra-wealthy financier to be a showcase for the fanciest cutting-edge gadgetry of the day.
It had also been meant to serve as his personal little kingdom-away-from-Canterlot. Rumors of lost golden wealth, surrounded by every decadence a pony's heart could yearn for and protected by guardians of light, still drew the occasional sucker into trying for what had become known as "the Derp Money".
Because you'd have to be a complete herp-a-derp, to believe that you alone were the special snowflake capable of getting in and out where none of the hundreds who'd tried before had managed it. Beyond a certain point, no one --- unicorn, griffin, earth-pony, mule or buffalo, whether single or in teams, no one --- ever made it back. Only the screams of the dying, begging for rescue over the occasional radio transmission, told of the ways they'd lost their lives. There'd also been some colorful displays from hidden batteries of magic-fed weapons, the few times someone had tried flapping their way into or out of the casino's innards.
These days, only fools and the ignorant tried their hoof at cracking the Casino Royale.
Well... "fools", the "ignorant", and now the "shanghaied-by-pegasi", I guess.
For all those stories of riches to be had, I couldn't see it. Literally. I picked my way along the casino's outermost ring, a litter-strewn street whose bordering villas weren't bearing up terribly well under the weight of two centuries. Each time I found one that didn't look quite ready to collapse on my head, I peeked inside for a quick look around.
A pattern quickly emerged: the closer to the courtyard, the more likely a given place had been picked clean of anything not requiring heavy machinery to haul away. Frustrated greed had then coaxed scavengers to push the boundaries of the "safe zone" further along, testing their luck against whatever hidden dangers might lie in wait.
Graffiti dappled the walls here and there, some of it faded and flaked enough to belong to the original residents, but most being substantially fresher and saltier in tone.
WE CAN'T GET OUT was painted, in wide white letters, on a rooftop whose red tiles had weathered the years better than those of most of its neighbors.
The classically-dismissive line of like I give a shit appeared in marker ink here and there, often in response to somepony else's unanswered plea. Assuming the jokers had tried their own luck further inside the Royale's compound, I was pretty sure they'd given a shit or two before they died.
I snorted at fuck the NCR and fuck YOU, spray-painted with the stenciling of a dead Desert Ranger next to it. Stuck in this deathtrap, somepony had to spend their precious time blathering about grudges that nopony --- rather, no thing --- in the Royale gave a damn about? Really?
Rust-red smears formed the single word HELP along one wall. No other sign of the author was anywhere to be seen.
If you can read this, gather in 24b and help make a stand was my personal favorite. At least that pony'd had a plan, instead of just wailing about how unfair life was or waiting for somepony else to bail them out. As I made my way from house to house down the street, I worked on developing a plan of my own.
Bitchy and Fly Right could probably tell that I was moving, but not which way I was actually going, since they hadn't been bugging me since I started walking. I wasn't planning on blindly charging into the casino's uncharted depths, either, being as that I wasn't suicidal. The odds might be against finding anything worthwhile in the abandoned guest-homes, but it didn't hurt to exhaust the safe options before dipping my hooves into deeper waters.
It wasn't long after the courtyard disappeared from view, obscured by gently-curving rows of rotting stucco walls and dilapidated tile roofs, that both the litter and indications of exploration began to taper off. No political commentary or witty remarks marred the walls here, where the oppressive silence of an empty street began to lean in on the mind, and where one's thoughts began to turn more towards just how far away the relative safety of the courtyard now was.
It was also where I found the first body.
I initially mistook the charred mass for another pile of garbage, heaped by the stairs leading up to a larger villa whose door seemed invitingly untried. The illusion was helped along by swaths of clinging trash, empty cigarette packs and Fancy Buck wrappers obscuring features until I got close enough for reality to assert itself.
The gender wasn't clear, but the short, stubby horn protruding from its blackened, hairless skull was unmistakable. The rest of the corpse was impossible to examine more closely, being almost uniformly coated with a hardened orange sludge which terminated at the neck in...
...a broken collar, otherwise identical to the one binding my own throat.
The Zoomers had been at their little reclamation game for some time.
Not so long, fortunately, that somepony else had wandered through and looted the poor bastard's saddlebags. Those had ended up on the far side of the stairs, upside-down beneath several large scraps of orange rubber. The rest of the Mark Two suit had likely been scattered across the street by its explosion and eventually blown away by the wind --- the corpse was perhaps a few months old, by the dessicated look of it.
On a hunch, I took out my combat knife and poked at the scraps. They sliced up easily enough, so I tried the same with the orange shell still clinging to the body --- no dice. I had to stab repeatedly even to make a slight cut, which didn't go all the way through before it sealed right back up again. I'd figured as much; it would be too easy to just cut the rubber suit away if the collar it was attached to wasn't enchanted to repair such damage. It would take something extreme, like a laser cutter or industrial drill, or, well, the suit over-inflating until it exploded, to overcome the spell's limits.
And in every one of those scenarios, or anything similar I could think of, the pony wearing the suit would be horribly maimed at the very least. Nooo, thank you.
Dumping out the dead unicorn's bags and sorting through the resulting pile of junk yielded a pack of bobby pins, an Ironshod Firearms Model 44 Angel Bunny submachinegun with several magazines of assorted specialty ammunition, and some sort of small round electronic device which my PipBuck immediately labeled a "StealthBuck". Beyond that, there was a mass of rotted food, some books that had become fouled by the rot, and a few bottles of nasty-looking water.
"What's the holdup?" Bitchy's voice snapped from the collar.
Just as I thought... "Found a body. One of your earlier recruits, looks like."
The pegasus commandant let a telling note of anticipation slip into her voice, as though she already had a hoof hovering over a button. "You heard the doctor. We're on a tight schedule..."
"Can't bring you back your miracle machine if I don't survive, can I?"
Now she sounded a little irritated. "Is that supposed to excuse your lollygagging?"
"Taking a minute or two to maximize my chances for survival, means improving your chance for getting that Autodoc. I'm no use to you dead."
A dismissive snort. "You're hardly the first - "
"I can see that. But if you are on as tight a schedule as can't tolerate a little circumspection, then you've got no time to find a replacement. Do you?"
A pause, then Fly Right was on the horn. I could almost hear Bitchy simmering away in the background static. "No, Mister Pie, we don't. But it's also in your best interest to watch the clock. If Mother Matrix doesn't make it because you were off sightseeing..."
"Don't think I'm not keeping that in mind, Doc. Mind if I get back to it now?"
An audible huff, followed by a click, was the only answer I needed.
* * * * *
Nothing but wind and the odd wisp of fog wafting across the street, pinkish in the fading sunlight, inhabited the outer arc of guest housing.
It struck me as strange, for a minute, that night was coming on so fast. Then I remembered how many times I'd been rendered unconscious today. So did my belly, which reminded me with a few harsh growls that I hadn't had anything but a few mouthfuls of interrupted breakfast in most of the last forty-eight hours. My fault for thinking I'd be able to sneak my way into Nellie Air Force Base and get back to the Celestial Suite in time for dinner.
Stupid, stupid, stupid...
Well, at least my rummaging around the old villas hadn't been for nothing. A couple of first-aid lockboxes had given up their bandages and potions, I'd found a couple of minor ammunition caches, and most importantly of all, there'd been untouched cupboards in the far villas that'd been practically loaded with packaged and preserved pre-War noshables!
As the last of the day shimmered through twilight into moonlit dusk, I holed up in one of the apartments closest to the courtyard and proceeded to gorge myself on boxes of Sugar Apple Bombs and Fancy Buck cakes, with several lukewarm bottles of Sunrise Sarsaparilla to wash it all down. Reflexively, I bagged the bottlecaps: saving is earning, after all. Having loaded up my digestive system with sugar and carbohydrates, I made a final check of my gear by PipBucklight, and out the door I finally went.
The hologram-pegasus still hovered in the mists thrown up by the fountain, casting a muted grey light across the courtyard as she repeatedly recited her idiotic lines.
"...do I have to begin again? Okay...!"
Beyond the babbling waters (and image), past the skyline of long-abandoned housing, the Royale's exaggerated art-deco ziggurat rose up against the moonlight. Its face, lit with ambient orange from hundreds of ancient light fixtures glowing across the complex, suggested a soft, dim moodiness contrasting with the white squares of its checkerboard window-patterns.
Not that I was terribly surprised, given the various tales that spoke of the Royale still having a reactor or two going. But there's knowing something as a distant, dispassionate set of facts, and then there's seeing it firsthoof, rearing up like an image out of the Feudal Ages of Unicornia.
All it needs is a moat, some lightning, and maybe a few inbred royals hanging around.
I'd done all I could in the way of preliminary scavenging and getting my belly full. Being honest with myself, I could also admit that a lot of that had been rationalized stalling: this place was a well-known deathtrap. But it was either get my flank in gear, or sit on it until I met the same disturbing fate as my predecessor.
The mental image of some other pony finding my dried-out carcass, wrapped in an impermeable rubber burial shroud, finally got to be too much. Steeling myself against the inevitable, I stood and faced the flickering lamps that lit the last of the three ways out of the courtyard.
"If I'm gonna die," I growled to nopony in particular, "it's gonna be with my horseshoes on."
"THAT'S THE SPIRIT!"
If I'd actually been wearing any horseshoes at the time, I'd've jumped out of them right then and there! As it was, I somehow managed to land facing that voice...
Pink-E cocked her head to one side and grinned wide, those big blue-on-white electronic eyes shining luminously in a bright pink face. Amid the courtyard's grey-lit evening gloom, the effect was like somepony lighting off a firework that wouldn't die out.
"Hi, Cherry! Miss me?"
"Wha - hahn...?!" My traitor mouth, instead of the full sentences I was sure were forming in the back of my brain somewhere, decided to make those noises instead. Pink-E hardly noticed.
"You didn't come home by morning, so as soon as I could, I zoomed right over to where your PipBuck signal said you were! And boy was that a crazy trip, wowie-zowie!" Without letting up for a moment, the pink robot-head spun about to take in the view. "The Casino Royale, huh? Boy, you sure are brave! My records show this place had enough firepower and internal defenses when it was built to fight off an entire combined-arms Zebra legion!"
She began to bounce up and down excitedly. "Ooh, ooh! Did you find a super-secret codeword to shut down the hologram police? What about the pressure-detection grid? I'll bet you've got this heist planned to the Nth degree, don'cha Cherry?!"
If I hadn't known better, I'd've thought that was sarcasm. I gave her my best This-Is-Me-Not-Kidding look, hoping it might get through to whatever passed for a mind in the little 'bot's noggin. "I have what amounts to a bomb collar on my neck, and the pegasi who put it there want an Autodoc from the clinic. That's all."
Pink-E blinked and stared at my chest as though noticing my overly-tight garb for the first time.
"Oooooh, a Fun Suit! I thought you looked kinda blue, but at first I thought it was just because you're depressed all the time." She stopped, swiveled to one side, and grinned widely, waiting for me to laugh.
I turned and started walking down the darkened street towards the casino proper.
"Hey! Wait up!" Although I didn't, Pink-E had no problem pulling up next to me with her needlessly-bouncy gait.
Why does she even do that? It's gotta play hell with her servos... That was the first thought which occurred to me. The second made me arch an eyebrow at the bodiless robot head:
"So, if you're here... where's Tag-End?"
"Back at the Lucky Chance, of course! It took me a whole day flying to make it here. It would've taken poor Tag most of a week, even if he galloped non-stop! It's okay, though. He promised to behave himself while I was gone!" She didn't even bat an eye.
I stopped, turned, and fixed her with a stare. "You left the unicorn slave with entitlement issues alone. With the key to his collar. And with the run of top-shelf accommodations, that I'm probably responsible for if anything gets damaged. Like the last time I left you two alone up there?"
She bobbed her head agreeably. "Yep! That's about the size of it!"
Shaking my head, I sighed and brought up my PipBuck's Eyes-Forward-Sparkle spell. Concentrating on dangers looming in the shadows ahead at least meant a respite from trying to deal with Pink-E Logic. Then again, if she was going to get here in timely fashion, it meant either leaving Tag's key behind or letting his collar detonate once they got too far apart. I supposed that whatever priority matrix Pink-E's programming might have, it probably concerned my well-being first, followed by keeping my property intact, and somewhere along the line after that must have been a routine for blowing up my property just to hold onto a thereafter-useless key.
If I was honest with myself --- and I had to admit I didn't really want to be, as it made it more difficult to be angry or annoyed with her --- she was just trying to help.
The ubiquitous run-down villas quickly gave way to what had once been kitschy little curio shops and sidewalk cafes. Here, too, the looting of centuries showed its mark, though nopony had evidently cared much for the scattered "Genuine Native Buffalo" trinkets most of the shops had specialized in. The buffalo tribals I'd met in my travels would have been insulted at being associated with the dust-catchers, faux tent rugs, polished rocks and "noble savage" carvings still lining the shelves. Some especially graphic graffiti and a bit of extra-gratuitous property damage suggested that at least one such tribal had weighed in on the subject.
At the tail end of of all this tourist-trap entrepreneurialism stood two little toy stores on opposite sides of the street, displaying competing advertisements:
"Foals with SMARTY-PANTS do 67% More Homework!"
"Real Engineers Say BUTTERCUP's Their Buddy!"
"Today's Teaching Begins with SMARTY-PANTS DELUXE!"
"BUILD-ME-UP BUTTERCUP is for Tomorrow's Technologists!"
On closer examination, I pulled up short. Unlike the common vandalism characterizing the rest of the district, these two stores looked like a miniature war zone.
The one selling "Buttercup" toys looked like it had had the worst of it, its street-facing picture window completely blasted in and its walls pockmarked by numerous bullet holes and scorch marks. It looked like somepony --- a lot of someponies --- had lined up and used the storefront as a casual shooting gallery.
If that'd been the case, they weren't very good, because none of the toys in the window seemed to have taken any hits. All of them were the same: robotic-looking equinoid things, with a look of cheap plastic and a couple of cartoonishly useless clip-on tools. A shot-up neon sign still hung by one hinge over the door, proclaiming the establishment's name to be "Starlight Dreams".
Across the thoroughfare, the competition had hardly been damaged... by comparison, at least. The display window of "Magical Treasures" had been similarly smashed, but from a distance its unique polka-dot paint job seemed to be almost wholly unmarred. A few "Smarty-Pants" dolls could be seen hanging forlornly from sales stands, drab-looking bags of stuffing with paper pads and pencils crammed into pocketed overalls.
There was a wrongness about all this that I could practically smell. I'd seen a lot of random vandalism in my time, but who in their right minds would expend so much ammunition for no better reason than not hitting a bunch of harmless-looking toys?
I did a quick check for threats on the EFS, finding nothing. Pink-E perked her mechanical ears in my direction.
"What's up, Cherry?"
"It feels like we're walking into an ambush. And I said to stop calling me that."
The little 'bot-head swiveled, making a show of looking in all directions. "Nope! No hostiles detected! Not even horse tiles!"
I looked up from my PipBuck, feeling my left eye start to twitch. "At least stop making up nonsensical names for things..."
My plea was answered with an uncharacteristically serious gaze. "Oh, I didn't make that one up myself. Anyways, let's see what's got you so spooked!" With that, Pink-E buzzed straight ahead, looking back and forth between the two stores.
Had it not meant pitching face-first into the tarmac, I would have double-facehoofed. As it was, I almost hurt myself with the single-digit version of the gesture. "Pink-E, get the HELL back over ---"
Two ponies flashed into existence, flanking either side of the "Buttercup" display. I reflexively backed up several paces, my eyes growing wide. I can't be so unlucky as to run into holo-guards this soon!
As it turned out, I wasn't. Both were off-white unicorns, dressed in casual shirts of vertical red-and-white stripes and wearing straw boaters --- attire of the type that'd get a pony shot in most areas of the wasteland, just for being too chipper. One had a big red mustache, the other not, and both immediately launched into a pre-programmed pattern of sales patter.
"My dear Flim," said the mustachioed image, "it seems we have visitors to our fine filial franchise!"
"We do indeed, Brother Flam!" replied his near-twin. "Could it be that they've come to see the most amazing new toy line available to Equestrians anywhere?"
"I can't see why else they'd be gracing us with their presence! Now you, miss," Faux-Flam exclaimed with a tip of his photonic hat to Pink-E, "I see by your contraption-like configuration that you are a robot, presumably in honorable servitude to this gentlecolt over here, is that correct?"
Pink-E giggled, nodded, and, I swear, actually seemed to blush slightly. "I am!"
Both of the holo-ponies turned their attention directly to me with wide, earnest smiles. I groaned and rolled my eyes. Okay, maybe THESE guys were the reason for all the shooting, whether due to spooking or annoyance...
"Sir!" said Faux-Flim, stepping into the street and towards me with that unwavering smile gleaming in the night. "You're clearly a buck of action, a pony who takes no guff, so I won't give you the usual spiel. You don't have a special somepony or little one waiting at home to give one of these precious, useful, educational Build-Me-Up Buttercup toys, now do you?"
I double-checked my EFS. Still no bars in my vision, except for Pink-E's friendly green. Not even amber... Oh, GREAT. Holoponies don't show up on this thing at all!
The sales pitch didn't stop as Faux-Flam joined in, trotting a quick circle around me as I stood there. "Of course you don't! You're a busy one, out to make some good honest money from good, honest work! Now, what if I were to offer you a ground-level investment opportunity in something that every little colt and filly will be dying to get their hooves on this upcoming -"
A sudden staticky glitch caused Faux-Flam to nearly fade out, briefly becoming a mere outline of a pony filled with grey noise and flashing alphanumeric sequences casting horrific shadows. The instantaneous contrast to the otherwise silent casino grounds succeeded in creeping me right the hell out; I began to back away down the street. Just as suddenly, Faux-Flam was back as though nothing had happened.
"- Hearth's Warming Eve!"
"Absolutely, sir!" Faux-Flim chimed in. "For a mere five thousand bits, you could have your very own Build-Me-Up Buttercup franchise just like this one (choice of location and market fluctuations may incur extra charges), with fully HALF of the profits remaining in your soon-to-be-bulging saddlebags! Why, there's no easier way to get incredibly rich, obscenely quick!"
The two looked at one another, grinned precisely on cue, and... launched into an actual song-and-dance number, pirouetting on their hindlegs and waving their straw boaters in the air.
"Yes, it's an opportunity! In this very community!"
"He's Flim!"
"He's Flam!"
"We're the world-famous Flim-Flam Brothers...!"
That, I figured, was enough of my time wasted. This whole setup was obviously harmless, which the lack of dead bodies should have clued me into, and I had an Autodoc to retrieve. I started walking, waving at Pink-E to join me. "C'mon, let's get moving."
Pink-E didn't turn towards me. She was backing away from the window. "Cherry..."
"I said stop calling me that -" In mid-reprimand, my attention was caught by what was following Pink-E out of the window.
The Buttercups were on the move, hopping out of the window by ones and twos and then tens, forming an arc that crossed the entirety of the street and blocking our way through. Their little plastic eyes glowed red, their little silvery legs bowing out and then back in, as they chanted a low, electronic chorus:
"Buttercup, Buttercup, Buttercup, Buttercup..."
Red is never a good color.
A hoof made entirely of off-white light, with no weight to speak of, draped itself across my shoulder.
"So, what'll it be, friend?" asked Faux-Flam, nonexistent mustache a-quiver. "Yea or neigh to the opportunity of a lifetime?"
"You don't want to pass this one up, believe you me!" Faux-Flim chipped in with an affirming hoof-swing.
The battalion of expectant little robots just kept chanting, "Buttercup, Buttercup, Buttercup, Buttercup..." They raised their right hooves, in perfect synch, as though in salute. Each wielded a clip-on tool resembling a little drill, the tips of which began glowing a bright green. And suddenly, my EFS lit up with a forest of amber lights.
Oh, THANK YOU very fucking much! The realization struck me: nopony would paint a store in black polka-dots.
"Ahhh... I left my money in my hotel suite. I can just go get it, and we can work out some sort of -"
Both Faux-Brothers flickered with static this time, a purely electronic voice buzzing from each: "REJECTION SUBROUTINE 1A: HOME-SECURITY DEMONSTRATION AND RE-PITCH."
I didn't need to be told what was going to happen next. It was going to be the same thing as had happened to previous passers-by.
All of those amber bars went red, just as I turned and bolted for the vandalized curio store with Pink-E hot on my fetlocks. Green flashes of magical death crackled through the air, two of them grazing my barding with pencil-thin streaks of black before I leapt through the window's jagged-glass border to safety.
Momentary safety. The store was just a big single room of smashed-up display cases with a long counter at the back, the colorful beads it had once sold to tourists now scattered across the floor, while a few remaining rugs hung and rotted on the walls. Outside, the clacking on pavement of hundreds of tiny metallic hooves let me know me that the "security demonstration" included a pursuit mode.
After two centuries without maintenance, why was it that the crazy-shooty part of a robot's programming was never the bit that went offline?!
With no time to ponder the perversity of the inanimate, I ran to the back wall to scrabble at one rug and then another. The third swept aside, revealing the service door I'd been counting on --- no front-door deliveries for businesses at a high-end place like the Royale, no matter how cheesy the trinkets! Fortunately the lock was a simple twist-bolt, which opened readily enough after a little jiggling against the rust of ages.
Unfortunately, I discovered as Pink-E and I dodged out the back, the first salvo of little green power-blasts erupting from behind us, there was no way to re-lock the door without the key. Cursing, I left it and charged up the alley, exiting onto another street just around the corner from the store with the deadly sales-pitch. I turned right and kept running, looking for someplace we could hide from our pursuers. Besides, the navigational arrow on my PipBuck pointed in this general direction anyways.
We were out of the commercial district and into a more utilitarian one, passing the column-fronted facade of the "First Equestrian Royal Bank" to one side and a "Visitor's Center" to the other. The doors to both had been smashed in; if we tried hiding there and weren't fortunate enough to find a way to barricade the openings, we'd just get trapped. Galloping on down the block, I was thankful for the small mercy of Pink-E's uncustomary silence as we finally found an intact set of double doors and ducked inside.
My brain hadn't quite registered the shield symbols, both over and upon the doors, as I closed and bolted them behind us. Nor had it properly assessed the two amber bars which appeared in my Eyes-Forward-Sparkle upon our entry. As long as it wasn't red, I didn't really care at the moment!
Only after I'd locked us inside did I notice that just past the dusty desks and file cabinets one might find in any pre-War police station, there was a single big jail cell dominating the room. Just outside the cell, half-turning to stare at us, stood a Diamond Dog in exceptionally fancy clothing --- burgundy velvet smoking jacket over white shirt, beige trousers and a yellow ascot, all impeccably tailored. I was sharply reminded of the last Diamond Dog I'd seen, also unusually well-dressed, before his brains had splattered all over creation and Slimm Pass had come tumbling down.
In his right claw was a tin penny-whistle, the kind you sometimes saw caravaneers carving and bending out of old cans as giveaways for the children of their regular customers. In his left was the key to the jail cell, already turning in its associated lock.
My brain finally caught up to what my eyes were seeing IN the cell as the lock clicked open.
It would have been easy to describe it as simply "the biggest, darkest, most dangerous-looking pony I've ever seen", which would have been a distinct injustice. It was MASSIVE, nearly filling the cell with its --- HIS --- muscular bulk. He wouldn't have fit in there at all, if he hadn't been lying down and curled up with his head on the floor. The coat, mane and tail were all of a glossy black, overgrown fetlocks nearly hiding silver-colored hooves. A long, spiral horn of matching silver jutted upward from a broad, thoughtful brow.
I'd have thought he was a unicorn, albeit an oversized freak of nature, if it hadn't been for the huge set of bat-wings growing out of his shoulders.
The alicorn turned subdued red eyes on me, ruffled out his mane within that confined space, and asked: "Food or friend?"
Pink-E, taking this monster completely in stride, piped up with, "Friend? I love making new friends! We're definitely friends, you betcha!"
He didn't so much as blink. "I hear only noises from machine." His gaze locked on me. "What about this one?"
"He's food," barked the Dog, backing away from the opened cell door. "Kill him and let us be on our way!"
"You carry atonement and voice," admonished the alicorn, "but you do not speak for whole world." There was a momentary flare of red along his horn, expanding into a flash which enveloped his imprisoned body... and suddenly he wasn't imprisoned anymore, having teleported straight through the bars of the cage. The gargantuan beast heaved itself up onto its hooves and walked slowly towards me, baring sharp white fangs; even though he was crouching slightly, his mane brushed the ceiling. "Food or friend?"
Having finally decided to join the party at this late date, my mind went into overdrive. Saying or doing the wrong thing right now, I was positive, would get me killed. I had to think!
Atonement... he means the cell key? Then that means... Seized by inspiration, I frantically brought up my PipBuck, scanned the command list, and punched a button. A brief burst of static blared out, and then...
...Ev'rypony in the Resident Block!
Is dancin' to the Stable Nine Rock!
Inwardly, I groaned. Of all the tunes that Radio New Pegas could've chosen out of the King's repertoire, why that one?!
The huge alicorn bent down, sniffed at my PipBuck, and then fixed me with an expectant look.
Oh, he doesn't really want me to...
Pink-E's voice took on a worried tinge. "Cherry? I think he wants you to..."
I closed my eyes, breathed in deep, and started belting it out.
"Reactor Boss plays the tenor saxophone,
Pony Joe's blowin' on the slide trombone.
The PipBuck Technician goes crash, boom, bang,
The whole rhythm section is the Maintenance Gang!
Let's rock! Ev'rypony, let's rock!
Ev'rypony in the Resident Block!
Is dancin' to th -!"
A massive hoof pressed on my muzzle. "Friend, then." My eyes opened onto a kindly smile --- which was something of a trick to pull off, what with the protruding fangs, incarnadine irises, and sheer mass behind it. I carefully reached for the radio button and silenced the overly-bouncy melody. Pink-E, meanwhile, kept on happily bouncing around both me and the giant, bat-winged, sharp-toothed monster.
"Yay! A new friend, after all!" She finished up with an excited squee, drawing a glare from the Dog. That glare was quickly redirected back to the alicorn, redoubled.
"Do you not obey orders? I told you to kill them and be done with it!"
The aforementioned monster gave his theoretical master a disapproving look. "I will not feed on him, for same reason I will not feed on you. He has soul."
I think I may have goggled at that. I know my voice sounded like I had. "Seriously? Because I can sing...?"
He snorted. "One with soul is not food. For making music, one must have soul."
Given that I was not acting the part of a mutant alicorn's snack at the moment, I declined to argue the point further. The Dog, on the other hoof, didn't quite want to let it go.
"I have come to liberate you, at great personal price and peril, because the needs of my people demand it," he growled. "Have you already chosen to violate your redemption?"
The great beast lifted, and then smashed, a single huge hoof into the floor with a resounding CRUNCH, his face twisting into a dark grimace. Stepping closer to the Dog --- and leaving a hoofmark the size of my head behind him --- he intoned, "I have collected sins, Redeemer. I will not collect more."
Ooookay, there's a lot more going on here than I either know or probably want to...
I coughed into one hoof. "Ahem. Name's Ch --- I mean, Dead-Shot. Bounty hunter by trade. This's my robot, Pink-E. You two are...?"
The hanging invitation was answered with a low, polite bow of the alicorn's neck, his mane draping like black silk across the floor. "I am God."
Now I knew what it felt like to be completely nonplussed. How do you respond to something like that?
The Dog stepped around God and executed a prim half-bow from the waist. "You may call me 'Dog'."
Pink-E said it before I could. "But...you are a Dog."
He smiled thinly. "Then the appellation is both accurate and sufficient, would you not agree?"
I gave Dog a dead-eyed look. "I don't know about that. With the exception of one other Diamond Dog, I've never seen or heard of any of you folks wearing anything other than cast-off rags or rawhide. You're being pretty damn secretive for someone dressed to the nines in a place like this."
Dog returned my gaze without batting an eye. "A fashion critique, from this month's model for deviant leisure-wear? How droll."
He rubbed his hands together and nodded as though that had settled the issue. "I believe we are done here. I would like to say it has been a pleasure to meet a bounty-hunting pony who wears four-fifths of a 'gimp suit', and who is accompanied by the most eye-searing excuse for a land-mobile fishing lure it has ever been my discomfort to witness, but I consider myself a canine of honesty. Come along, 'God'... we have work." With that, he stalked off towards the exit, the giant alicorn following with the disturbingly meek look of a repentant child expecting to be punished.
Something in that look made me lift a hoof in warning. "Um, I wouldn't go out there just yet, if I were you..."
Dog waved it off. "We are in quite the hurry, sir." He opened the door, turned around, lifted a single claw, said "I bid you -"
- and disappeared amid a barrage of tiny green power-bolts, his silhouette wavering for an instant before collapsing into a cloud of fine grey powder with a piff.
There was a long moment where God simply stared at the pile of settling ash, his jaw nearly on the floor --- and then the behemoth charged, roaring with deafening volume, through a door half his girth and three-quarters his height. In the next moment, I caught myself staring at the God-sized hole and cloud of debris resulting from that impact. The moment after that a scream of pure, bestial rage sounded from outside as God tore into the miniature robot army that had finally caught up with us, the purple twilight beyond the hole lighting up with the Buttercups' magical green fury.
Pink-E turned, giving me a quizzical look. "Gee, Cherry... d'ya think he's angry?"
Footnote: Level Up.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Shoutout to Baldumborat, my eternal inspiration for all things Derpy. I just couldn't type those first lines without thinking about how it would sound in her voice...! |
Calbeck | 679 | 11 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-07-08T11:21:54+00:00 | 2016-10-31T13:55:04+00:00 | 3,154 | CHAPTER ELEVEN: Red Derp Redemption
"The magic's in the music, and the music's in me..."
I decided to hazard a peek through the giant hole in the front of the police station, said hole having been created just moments before by an enraged (and equally giant) black alicorn. With bat wings.
Yeah, that's nothing like anything they're gonna believe back in the Hub...
Just as I reached the hole, my hoof clinked against something in the dust that had once been the second-best-dressed Diamond Dog I'd ever seen. Even with a magical firefight blazing away outside, I stopped long enough to shove his few surviving possessions into my saddlebag: penny-whistle, jail key, and an ornate-looking sidearm similar to the rifle I'd picked up back at Slimm Pass. If "picked up" could substitute for "gotten smacked in the face with", that is.
Huh. Guess I have a matching set now. Whee.
Pink-E seemed content to hang back as I leaned just far enough through the gap to peer outside.
Brilliant-green bolts of magic, like horizontal rain from Tartarus, sleeted across the street from the tiny guns of dozens of identical toy ponies. In perfect formation-square from sidewalk to sidewalk, they hammered the alicorn --- "God", he'd called himself --- with that rapid-fire barrage. Tiny and inaccurate though they were, those same bolts had just disintegrated "Dog" through sheer volume of fire. The combined racket from all those pew pew pews was almost an assault in itself!
To God, it was no more than throwing a bucket of water on a lakepony. The magical destruction peppering his gloss-black hide and mane did nothing but make him glow briefly at each point of impact, while those shots which missed carved bowl-shaped divots from anything else they struck.
Nor was he content to stand there like a target-practice dummy. It had taken a bit to reorient that massive bulk of his after having broken down part of the station's wall, but now the stallion rounded on the little robots, snorting and blowing like a wild thing. One, two, three great strides, and then he leaped towards the packed ranks of Build-Me-Up Buttercups as they uselessly tracked their shots upwards. Their point-blank blasting made God glisten with coruscating emerald energy, for just an instant.
Then he came back down.
Once, as a colt, I'd fed a few old egg timers into a wood chipper just to see what would happen. Some years after that, Dad and I delivered equipment to a vineyard in Coltifornia's Nipper Valley, where we had to wait on a bunch of talky brahmin to finish crushing grapes in a vat before concluding our business there.
What God did effectively combined those two disparate, and otherwise-entirely-unrelated, events.
His initial impact sent shreds of silvery molded plastic exploding in all directions, splashes of dark fluid erupting from newly-minted metal corpses. He reared up only to bring those huge silver hooves back down, the asphalt shuddering noticeably with each impact, crushing Buttercups like grapes.
God tread out the wine of his wrath, the robots' futile fire slowly tapering off. At length, the night remained lit only by the few surviving streetlamps and the alicorn's flaming vermillion aura. Shards of plastic, reminiscent of gnawed bones, were everywhere; warped aluminum lined each hoof-crater pockmarking the street, reflecting God's light like shallow pools of blood.
Then, still snorting hellfire and dripping with machine oil, the giant beast turned his glare on ME. Me, standing there like an idiot, still trying to process what I'd just witnessed. I tried forcing a smile so wide it hurt; apparently I didn't use those particular muscles very often.
"Um... you said 'friend'... right?"
His look didn't soften or falter. "My Redeemer is dead. YOU brought them HERE..."
The alicorn took one, very deliberate, step in my direction.
I took many, not-altogether-coordinated, steps in roughly the opposite direction.
Pink-E gave a puzzled expression as I barreled past, hooves clattering on the wood flooring. "Where ya going?"
I didn't even slow down to look over my shoulder: "Anywhere but here!"
There was a smashing noise, a yelp from Pink-E, a snuffling sound, and then that same high-pitched scream I'd heard just a minute before.
Ooooh, that can't be good...
The hallway past the jail cell dead-ended more quickly than I would have liked. To the left was a stairwell leading down, while a door on the right opened onto a janitorial closet. It held an empty bucket that I would probably fit into nicely, once God got finished dancing on my face. I skidded into the turn, gave a little hop, twisted in midair and took a stride along the wall before gravity began to reassert itself.
Just in time, too: God slammed into the wall I'd just vacated. Had I stopped, he'd have pancaked me.
Mind you, falling down a stairwell wasn't all that much better. But at least when I hit the concrete floor below, it was only my mass and inertia causing the damage. I managed to stick the landing on three of four hooves, or I'm sure I would have snapped something. As it was, I still ended up in a sprawling skid down the lower hallway, making a good four lengths or so before I could get my hoofing and start beating fetlocks again.
From behind came the sound of a steam locomotive chuffing smoke from a very angry stack.
"COME BACK HERE!"
Oh, sure! Mind if I take the long way around the planet? My lungs and brain both decided not to waste air on verbalizing that.
Fitfully lit by the flickering of overhead strip-tubes, the hall was lined with discarded and broken office equipment. There were boxes, desks, filing cabinets, stacks of ancient paperwork bound up in rotting string... none of which I bothered with trying to kick into God's path. His own mass made that completely superfluous; while I galloped down the rough corridor between all that junk, he just plowed a path of ruin right on through. A shattered telephone rebounded from that wave of annihilation, forcing me to duck as it flew past my head.
The further in, the darker it got, with more and more of the strip-tubes having gone completely dead. Hello, darkness, my old friend! I've come to hide in you again! Unfortunately, the stored-up junk began to clear as several doors to either side hove up out of the deepening gloom. God had been slowed somewhat by his snowplow act, but if I kept running down the now-uncluttered corridor, I was as good as dead.
Only enough time to try one of the four doors, but four-to-one odds aren't terrible in Pegas. I gave the first door on the left a try: yay! Unlocked! I darted inside, ignoring the blare of static from the busted-up radio in the corner, and quickly scanned the room for my only chance at survival, a side door out...
...wait. When had my "Fun Suit" gotten tighter than usual? I looked down, hoping I hadn't gotten caught up on some unseen garbage, before I noticed my chest had gotten deeper and wider than I remembered. Then I finally noticed the hissing, almost drowned out by the radio's atonal screeching: the collar's talisman had started pumping hydrogen again!
Oh, fuck! The radio! I like to think I'm a smart pony. So why didn't I remember DeLoup's warning about radio interference blocking the collar from receiving the Zoomers' deadpony signal?! Oh, sure, maybe I was a little distracted just now, but still...!
Not only was there not another way out of the room, but the aforementioned distraction had already arrived in the doorway. Instinctively, I tried backing up into a corner, only to find that the ballooning suit was already pushing my legs apart. I could only waddle slowly backwards, in what I'm sure was a comical fashion.
God sure thought so; his eyes slowly shifted from anger, to bemusement, to a certain devilish glee --- the latter made all the more so by those blood-red eyes, bat-wings and glowing horn. Instead of smashing his way in, he blinked on through in the same way he'd cleared the cell bars upstairs. Slowly he approached, head lowered and wickedly-sharp horn gleaming a dusky crimson.
Was he... grinning? Ooooh, THAT can't be good, either!
"I have seen this before. Watched. Always funny to watch. Perhaps Redeemer's spirit will find it funny as well."
The suit's outer envelope brushed and then pushed against the walls, pressing me forward as it ran out of room behind. Below, my hooves skidded, slipped, and finally left the floor as blue rubber expanded beneath under ever-increasing pressure. I flailed, trying to find purchase, even tried to get the suit-ball rolling away, anything to avoid God's magical noggin-needle pricking it. Of course, that might only buy me a few more seconds before the suit burst and ignited the gas within anyways --- but any time NOT spent on fire is a good time, in my book!
The radio crackled with static. The suit was pulling at my head, hooves and tail as it inflated, stretching me into that helpless spread-eagle position again. God's grin got wider, his horn-tip got closer, and I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to watch myself burn in the reflection of his hateful glare.
The next sound I heard wasn't the resounding BANG I was expecting.
God was snuffling at my face, warm snorts of breath ruffling the forelocks of my mane. The unwelcome familiarity lasted for just a moment, then began traveling back along the rounded horizon of my suit until he was almost sniffing up my tail.
Oh Celestia above, he's not...
Suddenly a pink blob of synthetic mane completely cut off my field of vision. "Hi, God! I'm Pink-E! We haven't really been introduced, but look what I've got in my eye!"
I couldn't see, but I could hear just fine as God turned and then stopped dead in his tracks.
"Now, isn't it just so much fun to watch that swirly pattern go round and round?"
God's response seemed unsure. "Yyyess...?"
Pink-E squeed. "Yay! So, I need you to do me an itsy-bitsy, teensy-weensy favor..."
I coughed, still squirming against the restraining suit, which was getting pretty damn big and very damn tight about now. Because it couldn't expand in a rearward direction, it instead pushed my face into the 'bot's faux-cotton-candy mane. "Pink-E..."
"Just a moment, I'll be right with you! So, anyway, see that broken old radio over there? I'd really appreciate it if you could go be all stompy on it for just a moment... 'kay?"
Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop. Pause. STOMP.
With a final blast of electrical violence, the radio went dead. A moment later my suit made that loud sucking noise again, deflating almost instantly and dropping me to the floor. In a moment, I was back up and tensing to bolt for the door, eyeing God warily, looking to see which way he might go to try and block...
...he was just sitting there, on his rump, looking at me with his head cocked to one side.
Pink-E spun around with a wide grin. "It's okay, Cherry, he won't hurt you! My Mesm-O-Tron worked just great, and this time without undue cerebral expulsion! I fixed it, so he's completely under my control!"
Not as far as God was concerned. "That is incorrect."
The floating pink pony-head giggled at his denial. "Don't be silly. I told you to stomp that radio, and you did it!"
God nodded amiably enough, with no sign of the rage that had consumed him a scant twenty seconds ago. "True. But I had already determined to do so. I have seen ponies wearing such things before, stumbling into boxes making noise, like this. Always ends with pony on fire, unless noise ends first."
The alicorn knelt on the floor. Bowed his head. Bowed to me.
"My atonement is brass and clean. It cleaves a puzzle, opening a solution I cannot find for myself."
As he stood back up, the walking damnation engine returned my incredulous stare with a level gaze.
"And it is in your bag. You are therefore my Redeemer. I do not wish to lose another in a single night."
*****
Pink-E was bobbing up and down excitedly as we walked along shadowy streets towards the casino clinic, trying to tell me all about wavelengths and frequencies and triangulation and a load of related mathematics for what she called "electronic counter-measures". I'd stopped listening past the point where she said she could tell the radio's static-blasting was blocking the deadpony signal, hoping she would get the picture. Finally, I testily interrupted:
"Look, what I want to know is how you even knew which signal my collar was picking up in the first place. Seems like it'd be stupid to design the thing to just re-broadcast what it picks up."
"Nopie-dopie!" The bot seemed to brighten. Literally: its sapphire eyes grew more luminescent at my sudden re-involvement in the conversation. "Don't forget, I was built and programmed by Pinkie Pie and the Ministry of Morale! I know ALL the standard suppression frequencies, so when I picked up a broadcast source in a band that covered one or more of those frequencies I just put apple and orange together and BAMMO!"
She stopped and thought about that for a moment, eyes rolling up and to the side as though losing herself in thought.
I bet that wasn't terribly difficult for the pony she was based on, either...
"Well, okay, kind of the opposite of 'bammo', because your suit didn't explode, which by the way wouldn't happen except the failsafe module's been removed, and that's really silly of someone to do because what kind of pony would want to go around popping balloons? Except Pokey Pierce, of course, but that turned out to be his special talent, so nopony complained when he went around busting 'em at Apple Bloom's cuteceñeara, and he was lucky enough to die just before the bombs dropped, so it couldn't be him anyway..."
Aaaand back to tuning all of this random horseshit out. There's better things to concentrate on.
Like, for instance, how we kept running into dead-ends and increasingly-thick drifts of pinkish fog. The first time we encountered the latter, God trotted out in front and physically blocked me from approaching it, shaking his head. "Bad."
Oooookay, that pretty much clinches it. That's got to be the "Pink Cloud" they talk about. Suppose it was too much to hope it was just a trick of the light, or something.
If anypony knew any reason to stay the hell away from the Casino Royale, this stuff was it. Every Nightmare Night, the freaks on Pirate Friends Radio loved to play recordings of radio-chatter from the few salvage teams who'd run into the Cloud over the years. It was so bad, colts and fillies would dare each other to sit alone in an unlit ruin for the whole night's broadcast with the radio cranked up.
So to avoid those wisps of flesh-melting nasty, we kept to the more open streets and out of the service alleys where the stuff seemed to gather more readily.
Which made it even more frustrating that those "open streets" kept coming up with dead-end after dead-end. According to my still-mostly-blacked-out PipBuck map, the clinic wasn't terribly far off, but the whole area seemed to be cul-de-sac after cul-de-sac of boarded-up or burned-out townhouses. In case it hadn't been made obvious by the mini-malls, the dead garden plots, or the wending design to the streets, a couple of brass plaques actually pointed out that this area was supposed to have been long-term housing for management types, high-rollers and the idle rich.
Luna's bitch-tits, did rich folk just NOT need fast access to medical services back then? Did they react to, say, a broken leg or severed artery by putting on their monocles and top hats and leisurely strolling a couple miles around the neighborhood to wherever the hell this place IS?!
The time-sensitive nature of my mission only added to the frustration. My inner scavenger wanted desperately to start breaking in doors and seeing what was in all those little shops and homes, but I knew if I started, I wouldn't stop until I'd gone over every square inch and stuffed my bags to bursting. And if the Zoomers' "Mother Matrix" died while I was futzing around... still, this was literally the chance of a lifetime. Here I was, deep inside the Casino Royale, with the wealth of centuries past within easy reach!
Especially since it didn't look like many others had gotten this far. Some few doors already hung open off the hinges, a couple of windows were smashed open, and there were occasional bits of old graffiti. But no bodies, no skeletons, no litter in the streets...
My wandering gaze lit upon the form of a pony half a block further along, industriously stabbing at the gutter with a long stick. He would stab, lift, and stuff whatever he'd just picked up into a large canvas bag slung over his shoulder, then move a few steps further down the street and do it again.
If not for my night-sensitive vision, I wouldn't even have noticed, until I'd stumbled into him in the darkness. As it was, not many details were evident from behind, except that he was wearing some kind of faded yellow barding under the sack and what looked like a round helmet over the head. Likely a hazmat suit --- smart, really, what with all that pink fog drifting around.
As I moved forward a few steps to get a better look, God hissed at me from behind. Looking over my shoulder revealed that he'd stepped back into the deeper shadows and was hugging a nearby wall, clearly trying not to be seen --- like a boulder tries not to be noticed by staying close to a hillside.
Not that he looked at all scared. The impression was more of a predator, stalking prey. I backed up and sidled closer, the better to whisper, "What's eating you?" He gave the slightest of chuckles.
"Nothing." Then he nodded his head, just as slightly, in Hazmat's direction. "I plan to eat that."
Welcome to Creepytown, population us!
A feeling of deep disgust swept through my gut: was I "redeemer" to a cannibal? What would happen if the scavenger pony up ahead couldn't whistle a tune? What should I do if -
My internal dilemma was rendered moot as God crouched down, bunched up, and then leaped high into the air. His bat-wings snapped out, then curled inward, serving less to keep him aloft than to more perfectly direct and accelerate his downward plunge.
Hazmat whipped around at the noise of the alicorn's leathery folds catching the wind...
Oh gods!
I only caught a glimpse before God slammed into the thing, but that was plenty long enough for what was behind the faceplate of its bubble-helmet to etch itself into my brainpan.
It didn't have a face.
There was only the ghostly image of a pony's skull, hellish orange light blazing from the eye-sockets, and then it was mercifully obscured by a black mass of ripping, tearing, chewing alicorn. For all the struggle involved, God might as well have been opening a Fancy Buck snack cake and gobbling it down. The yellow "wrapper" only made the comparison more apt than it really should have been.
By the time I could get my legs working again, edging my way out of the shadows, he was already licking the last bits of pink something-or-other from his lips with an air of distinct satisfaction. Those lambent red eyes turned my way, taking on a curious aspect.
"I have not allowed prey to threaten my Redeemer. Yet I see and smell fear. Why?"
I shook out my mane in an effort to throw off my lingering unease. "I dunno, maybe because I'm surrounded by monsters?" I made a mental note to leave God off of any specific verbal inclusions to that category. "What the hell WAS that thing, anyway?"
God shrugged his expansive shoulders. "I have never heard them speak, so have no name for them. They are many, they move through the opened and closed places, they come from below where the pink suffocates all."
"Aaaand you eat them," I pointed out needlessly.
He looked genuinely puzzled as his hooves balled up and tossed the mangled hazmat suit into a nearby trash receptacle. "Live pony, dead pony, structurally are no different. Dead pony carries no soul. Why should I be concerned?"
Well, at least he cleans up after himself... I self-consciously scratched the back of my mane with a hoof, unsure where exactly I was going with this. Was it cannibalism to eat a ghoul gone feral? Could --- whatever that thing was --- even qualify as a ghoul? And more importantly:
"Just do me a favor and try to open up the next few more carefully. I could use one of those suits myself, even if I have to patch it up."
"No."
No?! I scowled, opened my mouth --- and then shut it again. Dog had tried to push him, like I'd been about to, and lost. God's subservience worked by its own set of rules, with clear limits, at least to his own mind.
What was the mind of an alicorn like, to start with?
Mostly, folks thought of alicorns as historical figures, pseudo-deific Princesses who'd at least nominally ruled Equestria's various provinces from a continent's worth of distance to the east. Far away, long ago, and nothing much to rate versus the modern pony's list of daily survival concerns.
Then there was word of this new breed cropping up in the ruins of the eastern seaboard. Not long ago, but still far away, and therefore only slightly more interesting. That changed a couple years back, when a trio of them showed up outside one of the NCR's forward outposts. All females, one purple and two green, demanding the NCR send out its unicorn contingent "for the glory of unity".
Nopony'd bothered to ask what that meant; our bucks-in-boots answered with all the firepower they had. In the end, it cost a couple of balefire eggs and the loss of the outpost's main barracks to finish the job.
Now, here was one of their males. Far as I knew, nopony else'd seen or even heard of a male alicorn, not even from the surviving historical records, though in retrospect it was kind of obvious they'd have at least some. It's not like alicorns were expected to bud off from a giant tree or grow out of some factory vat's chemical sludge...
...none of which really told me anything about how far one of them could reasonably be pushed.
So, diplomacy and tact it is. Can't hurt, being polite to the giant hellbeast that could probably swallow you in one bite.
"All right," I agreed with a nod. "Sounds like you have a reason why not to. Mind telling me what it is?"
God pointed to the trash can with his horn, my gaze following.
The steel receptacle was in the process of melting into bubbling pink sludge.
"Death magic," he said matter-of-factly. "Very specific scent."
"Right," I said, cringing inwardly at the thought of what would have happened if I'd slipped into that suit...
The glowing ooze began meandering its way towards the gutter where the thing's saddlebags had fallen off the suit mid-flight. Thinking quickly, I dashed over and pulled the bags away into the street --- whatever had destroyed the suit and its occupant hadn't done anything to the bags. Easy loot!
Practically ripping off the corroded latches, I pulled the flaps away, revealing... trash and body parts.
My brain did not want to compute that. Part said "dig in! there's got to be something under that, that -" and the other part said "yeah, that skull, that foreleg, that hoof... dig under THAT, right?". Cigarette boxes, tissue paper, rags, bits of old clothing. Plus bits and pieces of ponies and buffalo and griffons and... and that smell of rotting decay...
I turned my head and spewed. Dropping the bags, I staggered away from that carrion stench, my gut clenching on and expelling acidic bile with every step. By the time I made it far enough to avoid catching another whiff of the graveyard-in-a-sack, my barrel was sore from spasming and my throat felt raw.
God just watched, dispassionately, doing nothing but swishing his tail occasionally. I glared at him and spat a last bit of vileness at the ground, disgusted with myself for my sudden bout of weakness and ashamed I'd lost in in front of an audience.
"So long as you're finally in the mood to answer a few questions," I snarked, "how about you tell me what the fuck that thing was, and what the fuck it was doing before you decided to get peckish on it?"
He shrugged again, then shook his mane out as though shooing a fly. "I have no idea why any of the prey here does as they do. It does not concern me."
Peering back through the gloom, even from a distance, confirmed a sudden suspicion: the saddlebags carried the words C.R. Sanitation Dept., just below a now-unrecognizable emblem. I thought back to how it used the stick, its stabbing at junk in the gutter. A ghost, going through the motions of what it did when it was alive. So we just killed an undead janitor? Lovely. Which brought up another question, so I gave God the stink-eye in asking it:
"Just exactly how do you eat a ghost made of death magic, in the first place?"
His eyes brightened for a moment as he smacked his lips. "Tastes like strawberry pudding."
REALLY.
"Ooh! OOH! Over here!"
The too-familiar, too-loud squealing pitch came from a doorway back down the last cul-de-sac. There hovered Pink-E, grinning and blinking her eyes on and off to catch our attention. So that's where she got off to. I THOUGHT it was too quiet.
"C'mon! You gotta see this!" The little 'bot zipped back into the dark townhouse, the boarded-up lower window of which took on a warm yellowish glow a moment later. God and I exchanged glances, then trotted over, the big guy standing back while I peered dubiously within.
Not even ancient Pegasopolans had lived this spartanly!
A single overhead lamp illuminated the room's couch-and-coffee-table arrangement, set in front of a wall-mounted display screen with a single thin crack down the middle. Thick but dusty shag carpet ran from wall to wall. The whole place was a collection of opposing white and black with blocky angles... very minimalist. To one side of the couch sat a squat red machine with a coin-slot and dispensing tray, the only bright spot of color in the room.
Besides Pink-E, of course.
"Isn't this incredible? Just look!"
I did, again, just to make sure I'd missed nothing. I hadn't. Even God, peeking in overhead, looked nonplussed.
"Pink-E, this place doesn't even have a bedroom or kitchen. There's nothing here."
She stopped and turned, looking surprised. "Ooooh, right! I forget you can't see in infrared frequencies. Hang on..." The little 'bot spun towards the busted monitor, extended the gem-studded probe I'd seen her use back in Nipton, and jacked into a small port just below the screen.
The monitor practically exploded with sparks, static and hissing noise, before settling into a flickering semblance of functionality:
<<< >>>
RENTALS
LOUNGE - COMPLIMENTARY WITH ANY STAY
BEDROOM - Two days & One Night (50 Bits) / One Week (300 Bits)
DINING - Optional Surcharge per Day (20 Bits)
SERVICES
CASINO ACCOUNT (Payouts/Payments/Reservations)
SHOPPING (Deliveries Gratis, Tips Not Included)
COMMUNICATIONS (Telephone/ZipMail) - ACTIVE, PENDING
MEDICAL ACCESS (Emergency Only) - COMPLIMENTARY WITH ANY STAY
* for further assistance, please speak to a Concierge or Service Hostess.
<<< >>>
That next-to-last line made my teeth grind together of their own volition for a moment. "Medical... oh, for fuck's sake! THAT'S how you get to the stupid clinic?!"
Pink-E beamed. "Yep! Isn't modern technology fantastic?"
I looked at her incredulously. "My ASS it is! It's not like I went off expecting to make any big purchases from the Zoomers, is it?!" I threw my hooves into the air, my voice rising as frustration had its way. "Don't tell me! I'm going to have to break into that bank back down by the police station, aren't I? Blast through a few dozen weapons turrets, huh? Smash up a battalion of sentry 'bots?! Personally kick in the vault door?! Well I guess I'll have to, since all my cash is back at the - "
*ping*
"Your access has been renewed. Thank you for your patronage!"
I blinked at the voice sounding from the monitor, then facehoofed. "Of course you hacked it, didn't you."
The floating pink robot head looked surprised. "Geez, no! I mean, I could, if I had the right activation codes for those subroutines, but I don't, so I just let it know I've got fifty bits in my bucket." She withdrew her probe from the monitor and hovered across to the red machine --- which was now displaying a flashing blue indicator. Pink-E settled her neck-stump over its coin slot, made the kind of face a pony will when doing their "business", and...
...yyyeeeah. That's just not right.
For the brief eternity that my great-great-grand-aunt's neck-hole spat out a literal "money shot", God and I found other things in the nondescript room to look at. When it was over, the stand's light was green and --- was Pink-E's rubber face somehow pinker than usual? I couldn't really tell in the dimness of the ancient overhead lamp.
She just gave me a flat look and, with uncharacteristic seriousness, said, "Let us never speak of this again."
I shook my head for a moment, trying to dislodge the lingering image. "Not that I'm complaining --- much --- but why did you even think to bring the money along?"
She rolled her eyes, blowing a wisp of pink mane out of the left one. "Duh, Casino Royale? I knew where you were before I left the Lucky Chance! So I stored up all the bits you had lying around 'cause I knew this place wouldn't accept those silly bottlecaps or New Coltifornia money for anything. It really wasn't much, but you can check it out by telling the monitor to show you the accounts."
I looked up at the big screen and, a bit self-consciously, cleared my throat. "Casino accounts, please."
Immediately, the image flashed to a spreadsheet of credits and expenses. I'd been charged fifty bits out of a hundred and thirty-seven, payment taking place at precisely 12:25am, meaning that my first day started now. Well, at least I was getting my money's worth.
"Okay, let's cut to the chase... Medical - "
"WAIT!" shouted Pink-E.
I winced, pinning my ears back against the noise, and turned to glare at her. "For the love of Pete, WHAT?!"
Now I got the pleading look. "Don'cha wanna see what's in the mailbox? It's probably full of secrets and history and tragedy!"
This time the flat look was mine. "I don't care about that. I'm here to get a stupid machine for a bunch of stupid pegasi so they'll take a stupid message from Mister Stupid Fucking Horse. And so I won't go to my grave looking like a melted pencil eraser. As opposed to getting caught up in the drama or details of some pony who died before my dad was born."
"But what if it's about Mister Stupid F - um, Mister Horse? It could be!" Those pleading eyes just wouldn't let up.
Now God chimed in. "I, also, do not care. Why do you argue with your property?"
Pink-E whirled on him with an expression that made even the god-alicorn take a step back. "I am NOT Cherry's property! I am his COMPANION!" With a snort, she turned and faced away. I'd've sworn she was sitting on her rump with forelegs folded across one another, if it weren't for the fact she had neither to work with.
God looked at me askance. I frowned, shrugged, and nodded.
Now HE looked away, sat down, and folded his forelegs over each other! And snorted!
I stared back and forth at the two of them. "Seriously?!" Neither responded. I blew out a sigh.
"All fucking right," I growled, "let's get this moronitude over with. Computer, gimme communications."
Pink-E squee'd, her attitude flipping a perfect one-eighty, and zipped back across the room to hover at my shoulder, eagerly looking up at the screen. God still sat where he was, visibly fuming. I shrugged to myself as the data came up:
<<< >>>
TELEPHONE - 2 messages (Mr. Uptown Eclair, Mr. Domino Mask)
ZIPMAIL - 1 message (FW: Ms. Derpy Hooves - file attachment)
<<< >>>
My disbelief must have been evident even to Pink-E. "Um... you have to open something and read it before you get a look like that, Cherry..."
I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. "Miss 'Derpy Hooves'? Really? The goofball mailmare from the casino in Slimm? That was her real name?"
Pink-E stopped and audibly whirred for a moment before responding: "Oh, nononono! 'Derpy' was a nickname Dashie gave Ditzy back when she accidentally destroyed most of Ponyville's town hall with her butt. Actually, I think she might have been called that beforehoof, on account of her vision problems."
Now I caught myself staring at the pink 'bot-head. "Come again...?"
"Oh, none of that's important right now!" she said, bobbling impatiently in mid-air. "Let's see the mail!"
I had to admit at this point that my own curiosity was piqued. Here I'd thought "Derpy the Mailmare" was just an old legend... I cued the mail, not sure what to expect.
Hey, Uppie-Baby!
Dean here, swingin' in on the grapevine from my last Buckingham gig! Thought I'd slum around your new joint, see how she creaks, grab a little of this fantastic desert-west sunshine you and Horse glommed up for yourselves! Heh heh!
Plus I picked up a little tid-bit for ya while I was out there. Too bad you missed this year's Three-Gee, it was a BLAST, baby! That "Pinkie" gal outdoes herself every year. But it ain't HER I had a friend snap for ya, Uppie... just dig them gams, willya! She sends her regrets, still tied up trying to nail down that singing contract I told you about before, but she SWEARS she'll be here for your own G!
So hey, if you wanna dish or deal, I'll be up in the 'house with bells on.
- Dean [SHOW ATTACHED FILE? Y/N]
"Yeah, sure." Being around Pink-E this last few days had gotten me pretty blasé about "helpful" machines. More normally, they just tried to blow you up for being an intruder of some sort. Alternately, they inconvenienced you by falling apart when you tried to use tech that'd been sitting around for centuries without a tune-up.
And then there were the machines that did THIS to you.
I couldn't tell if the attached graphic file was supposed to be some kind of joke or a serious attempt to sell a product. Not to mention something about it was just... off. I stood there staring at it long enough, trying to figure it out, that the system timed out. "Two telephone messages. First call."
"Uppie! Dean here! Ain't heard from ya since I blew in, what's eatin' ya? I KNOW you've reserved this room all 'incognito' and such. Honest, yer not very good at the sneaky-game. Check yer zipmail and get back to me." *click*
The computer's monotone semblance of pleasantry continued apace: "Second call."
"Miss Hooves, thank you for graciously accepting my invitation at last. I'm sure somepony of your natural brilliance can readily see through this room's facade of simplicity, so let me assure you that I have sought to provide every reasonable comfort and consideration.
Room service has, of course, been placed at your beck and call on my own account; think nothing of indulging in whatever fashion you might wish. I am at your complete disposal and, if you would consider the offer, quite available to discuss your career options either here at the Royale or elsewhere in Equestria... perhaps over a fine wine and a daffodil duchesse?
Ring me at your convenience and please... do enjoy your stay."
As the monitor flicked back to the main menu, I paused and gave Pink-E a look. "You happy now?"
She bobbed her pink curls. "Oh, yes, thank you! I just love seeing new information."
God was still facing the opposite corner in full-blown pouting mode. Now it was my turn to snort irritably. "Y'know, I do not know what to make of you. You were about to murder me, then decided I'm your 'Redeemer' just because I have the key to a cell --- a cell you can zap into and out of anytime you like. You soak up blaster-fire like a solar panel does sunshine. You freaking well eat death magic. And you get into a snit because I have a robot sidekick?"
He turned his head just far enough to glare at me with one of those big red eyes.
"Machines have no souls. This one says, 'do this', and you do. What should I think of that?"
I blinked. "You're angry because I let her pester me into doing something I didn't want to?"
God harrumphed, nodding firmly. "It is not the proper order, that the living should obey the dead."
My hoof found its way up to scratch the back of my mane. "I'm not sure I'd exactly call Pink-E 'dead'..."
"Oh?" With one fluid motion, the bat-winged alicorn surged up, fixing that blood-eyed look directly on me. "Machines can have souls?"
I could already tell that I did not like where this was going. "We are not going to have this discussion now."
"Oh yes! Yes we are!" said he, moving closer with a flash of fang. "Look at me, Redeemer. You are smaller than other ponies I have seen, but I? I am much larger. My body hungers incessantly; I must feed it."
He began pacing back and forth, a slice of night against the stark white walls, tail lashing back and forth as he built up a head of emotional steam. I stole a look towards the exit and started calculating my chances if I had to run. The odds weren't real great.
"I was born far from here, starving and insensate and battered by a thousand minds not my own. I knew nothing except that I must eat, and so I did. One of the minds perished. The rest cast me out."
God was snarling now, remembering and dwelling on a traumatic past that I'd had nothing to do with, but which was probably going to get me killed anyway. That's the Wasteland for you in a nutshell. Fortunately, he had a literally captive audience, and seemed more interested in playing out his dialogue first.
Yay for talky crazies!
"I wandered, hungered, hunted, and hated myself when they screamed for mercy. My mind, though parted from unity, still carried memories of how they screamed for mercy, or pity, or hate's sake, when they went into the vats, when they entered unity with the rest. What I had done to them, it was... sinful. When they cast me out, they locked that sin within me."
The pacing and lashing began to slow. Oh, good. He's going introspective and depressed. That'll make him a bit slower if I have to break for it.
"With many passings of the moon, I learned my way in the world. Learned to eat that which carries no soul, so that I would collect no more sin. That which I have already collected calls out for atonement, but --- but I must be redeemed by another, because..."
God came to a halt, head and tail drooping down towards the floor, booming voice reduced to a husky whisper. "Because I was improperly... built."
...okay, whatnow?
And just like that the most dangerous monster I'd ever seen, in all my years of roaming the wastes, slumped down into a pile of glossy-black self-loathing and began to cry.
Pink-E made an "awwww" sound and started to drift towards God. I immediately tackled the little 'bot; her blue eyes went wide with surprise. "Oof! Cherry, what are you -"
"Just shut up, for once, okay?" I pointed a hoof at the snuffling, weeping alicorn. "The giant cannibal pony is having an existential crisis, and as far as he's concerned you don't even have a soul! Do you really think he wants your sympathy right now?"
Pink-E blinked innocently up at me. "You mean you think I have a soul...?"
I groaned and let her up, mainly because I needed my hoof free to cover my face. "Let's just say, for right now, that I don't know and I don't care. Good enough?"
Her beaming smile stretched those rubber cheeks dangerously wide. "Okie dokie loki!"
I rolled my eyes, sighed to myself, and walked across the room. This is what I get for letting myself get sidetracked in the first place. Might as well go with the blunt approach...
"So. Whaddya mean, 'built'?"
God lifted his head slightly, snorking hard for a moment to clear the snot running from his nose. "I was meant to be a solution," he whined. "The alicorns of the Unity are all mares." Ah, I heard a capitalization in there. So this was a group of some kind.
He seemed to get a better handle on himself as he went on, slowly quashing the whining tone in favor of his more usual bombast. "Without males, they cannot breed, can only maintain numbers by taking others into them. This earned many enemies, which made it --- difficult --- to convince others of Unity's benefits."
I nodded as though I cared. I'd seen drunks like this before. The only way to get it out of his system, so we could get a move on, was to let him tell his whole godsdamned sob-story. At least we weren't under fire or anything. "Go on."
He wiped at his nose with an unshorn fetlock. Ew. "After many, many years of experiments, the Goddess of the Unity created what she said was the greatest, most powerful attempt at a male counterpart --- a God to be her consort. My first memory was that initial moment of wonder, of triumph, of pride. But then, even before I allowed my hunger to best me, there was a wave of disgust, and then shame, and then anger. The Goddess' design had failed, somehow, I... I..." He covered his face and mumbled something.
I leaned in slightly. "Sorry, didn't catch that."
God rose to his haunches, flared his wings, turned his forehooves upwards in supplication, and bawled:
"I AM STERILE!"
The force of his scream blew my mane back and sent me flying, ass-for-teakettle, into the far corner. By the time I picked myself up and shook myself out, he was in worse shape than before, a sobbing, heaving pile of emotional wreckage draped across the couch. Hell, I could hardly SEE the couch beneath his sorry bulk; it had a matching color scheme.
What a drama queen! My disgust was difficult to contain, but for the sake of survival I managed it. The last thing I needed was for the alicorn's self-absorbing sorrow to swap out for self-righteous rage.
"Well, okay," I said in my best approximation of sympathy. "You just sit there and let it all out. I'll be back after checking out the clinic and we can talk again if you want. Okay?" I thought I saw his horn bob up and down in what might've been a nod.
Good enough!
I turned my attention back to the monitor and got down to business. "Computer, medical access."
With a soft hiss, a large round section of wall pushed out into the room. Following behind came a slightly-smaller yellow cylinder marked with pink butterflies, the side of which opened with a similar hiss of exchanged air pressure. Inside was a cushioned table with molded depressions suitable for a pony resting on his belly. Grooves along the side ended at the floor level in faux-boots. The whole thing looked like it could be used either to ride, or strap an unconscious pony into.
Either way, it was pretty obvious this was why I couldn't find the clinic from the outside; you rode a pneumatic tube right from your room to the doctor's office. If it was only meant to be accessible from these townhouses, it probably didn't even have a door to the outside at all!
I straddled the table and settled onto my belly, hooves clicking into the "boots" as Pink-E wedged herself in behind. The tube's door came down, its interior lights came up, and with a whoosh my stomach gave me a perfect reason to be thankful that I'd already thrown up everything I had available earlier in the evening.
So THIS is what a 'roller-coaster' --- urgh! --- was like? Still not --- ulp! --- seeing the attraction...!
* * * * *
One minute and far too many dry-heaves later, the tube opened up to let in an oppressively wet and musty atmosphere. As soon as its "boots" let go my hooves, I slipped off the couch --- and into the inch-deep muck coating the floor of what had once been an antiseptic emergency ward.
Now, its walls were covered in mold and fungus, rivulets of water dripping from cracks in unseen piping. The whole place was dim, not because there was no power to the lights, but because of the layers of scum covering their panels. In addition the air was both humid and borderline anoxic, making it really hard to breathe.
A quick check of the transit cylinder revealed an emergency breathing mask and oxygen tank, the latter of which I stuffed into my saddlebag while I clamped the former over my muzzle. Shortly, I was getting a smooth flow of life-giving gas and not worrying so much about how fast I could cram myself back into the pukey-tube.
Meanwhile, Pink-E popped out of the tube and hovered, swiveling about, while my Eyes-Forward-Sparkle began picking up the data relayed from her readings.
"Wheeee! That was fun! Can we do it again?"
I wasn't looking forward to it, but odds were high that I wouldn't have a choice. "If we live to do it? Sure."
Fortunately, the bars which showed up were a solid neutral amber without even a hint of red. That was good, because there were so many bars that it was hard to tell one from another. All I needed to worry about now was how many varieties of mushroom were going to try growing in the frog of my hoof before I could get the hell out of here.
Well, that, and finding the stupid Auto-Doc, so I could radio in my "mission accomplished" and get the hell out of Dodge Junction. The watery slurry beneath my hooves sloshed as I moved into the room.
Immediately to the left and right of the tube's exit point were, respectively, a terminal and the framework of what had to be an Auto-Doc. I'd never actually seen one, but it made sense that if an unconscious patient arrived needing critical treatment, you'd want to have the top gear right on hoof. Slime-coated boxes to either side yielded to my scraping and prodding easily enough, popping open to reveal --- nothing. They'd been looted long ago.
Well, crap. I suppose it made sense; anypony who'd been in the townhouses, when things went to Tartarus, could have gotten in here and used or taken whatever hadn't been locked down. Not to mention the folks who'd actually worked here and had proper access to everything. My inner greedpony went all sad-faced.
Speaking of taking away stuff that'd been bolted down, what was I going to do with this Auto-Doc? It was way too big to cram into the medical tube, at least not without disassembling it. I spent a few minutes examining the thing before determining that my basic "toolset" of hammer, adjustable wrench and screwdriver weren't going to cut it --- not if I needed to take the whole damn thing.
Pink-E suddenly gave with a couple of low-pitched beeps and turned to look at me. "Incoming transmission from the Zoomers. Wanna hear what they've got to say?"
"I was wondering why I hadn't heard from them..." I mused aloud.
She tilted her head and took on a more casual tone. "Oh, that's because I've been suppressing the signal anytime you've been talking to anyone. You know, privacy and all that."
I chuckled, despite myself. So she could be useful from time to time... "Thanks, Pink-E. Put 'em on."
My collar radio spat a sudden burst of static, and then: "Dead-Shot! Respond!... I swear, I'm going to start mashing this button here in a minute... DEAD-SHOT...!" Commander Bitchy sounded ready to spit fire.
My ears flicked back in annoyance. "Keep your saddle cinched, I'm right here. Whaddya need?"
"About damn time! We show you as being right on top of the clinic. Are you in?"
"Yeah, and the place is a cesspool. Got an Auto-Doc right here, but it's huge, underground, and you didn't give me a toolbox to take it apart. So now what?"
Bitchy gave a long-suffering sigh. "We've got our own Auto-Docs on base, you moron. All we need is the control module. You'll see that as a green square with the model number, just below the diagnostic screen."
Ignoring the jibe, I looked and sure enough, there was the panel --- reading "Mk VI".
Luna's crusty twat!
Relaying that info set Bitchy off into a series of even more colorful phrases, several of which I wished I had notepaper and a pencil to jot down for future reference. After a minute she calmed down enough to get back on message. "Alright, alright, fine... you'll just have to look around for an actual Mark Seven. If a Six would do it, we wouldn't have needed you in the first place. Get on it. Air Wolf out."
Bitch, bitch, bitch...
On the wall opposite the tube-access was a wire-reinforced receptionist's window and a doorway deeper into the clinic, while to either side corridors curved away in what I assumed was probably a circular ring leading to more triage rooms like this one. Probably four, all told, if the rate of curvature remained constant, with a few rooms deeper in for administration and such.
Normally I'd have just done a sweep of the whole place, but my looting inclinations were already dampened by the logical likelihood that the place had already been picked over. The rest of me was dampened, uncomfortably so, just by standing there. The Zoomers had said they'd tracked a Mark Seven here by discovering records, so it stood to reason that the terminal right here would have that information... and if it hadn't been a waterlogged, fungus-coated mess, it might have. Flicking the power button would probably just get me electrocuted.
Administration it is, then. Pink-E followed close behind, hovering quietly, as I pulled the Courier's old hard-weathered ten-millimeter pistol from its holster and approached the door.
Thankfully, it didn't seem to have a lock. But before just barging on through, I figured it was a good idea to scrape a little of the gunk off the window and take a peek inside.
Turned out that was a very good idea.
The window opened onto an expansive room with several desks, a coffee station, numerous filing and storage cabinets, and an extra sickbay with another Auto-Doc. Plus a horde of crawling, slurping, burbling things covering every visible surface other than the window itself. Beside being fungoids, they had no uniformity whatsoever. Some were as big as my head, others so tiny I was glad to be wearing a respirator. Most looked like pictures I'd seen in books of microscopic amoebas, but others had a fern-like appearance or even flitted around on complicated gossamer wingspans.
And half of them were busily engaged in hunting, killing, and eating each other, while the other half was just as busy reproducing a new generation of abominations. It was a self-replicating massacre.
For the time being, they all remained amber on my EFS, but I'd bet my last NCR sawbuck that every single one would go carnivore on my equine flank the instant I stepped through that door. It was time to weigh my options.
On one hoof, that Auto-Doc in there was almost certainly the Mark Seven. On the second hoof, the sheer number of little bastards also in there meant trying to battle my way through with the pistol would likely amount to suicide. On the third, I had a couple of old frag grenades (never leave a trading post without 'em!), but tossing one inside would risk damaging the Auto-Doc. On the fourth...
I turned and gave Pink-E a smile. "...do me a favor?"
* * * * *
Gasping for air and sick to my stomach all over again, I tumbled out of the medical tube and onto the dusty white carpets of Miss Derpy Hooves' townhouse-away-from-home. Pink-E popped out right behind, grinning with such obvious glee that I would have punched her, if I could have gotten to my hooves without foundering just then.
"That was amazing, Cherry! Just brilliant! Wow! If I hadn't seen it with my own receptors, I'd've never believed it!"
And if I didn't know the damned robot was incapable of sarcasm, I'd have another reason to shoot her...
God was sitting up on the couch on his haunches, working through the last of his sniffles and now blinking at the two of us. "Redeemer...? Are you well?"
Pink-E zipped right up to him, bouncing around like a filly on an Apple Bombs high. "Is he 'well'? He's GREAT! You should've seen how he distracted all those mushroom monsters down there so they all went after him instead of me so I could look for the thingy from the Auto-Doc but it wasn't there, so while Cherry ran round and round and round the clinic, and more and more and more mushroom monsters took off after him, I was able to download all the non-secure clinic files, and then he -"
God stuffed a hoof into Pink-E's muzzle, giving me an expectant look as my blue face slowly shifted back to its normal pink. Still breathing hard, I reached into my saddlebag, pulled out the long-expended airtank, and tossed it away. He nodded, settling down to wait patiently for me to catch my breath.
When I'd finally done so, and gotten the energy back to sit up, and plucked a couple of the larger grenade fragments out of my flank armor besides, I glared at Pink-E. "You were supposed to go in there quietly and get the damn module --- not try to make 'first contact with an unknown species'!"
The little pink 'bot was taken aback. "All I did was ask where the module went! It's not my fault they didn't know!"
"Of course they didn't know!" I exploded, throwing my hooves in the air and gesticulating wildly as though the sheer kinetic motion would get my point through to her tiny silicon brain. "They're MUSHROOMS!" Groaning, I flopped onto my side with a sinking feeling of complete defeat in my guts. "So this whole thing was a fucking changeling hunt... no Mark Seven, no loot, no deal with the Zoomers and probably no more job with Horse... and that's assuming I can even get out of this place."
Pink-E brightened up. "Oh, I know where the Mark Seven Auto-Doc module is! There was a message on Doctor Stable's personal terminal about it!" She turned, plugged her little probe into the screen again, and made several beeping noises.
<<< >>>
ZIPMAIL - 2 messages (Mr. Uptown Eclair - file attachment, Mr. Slag Bolt)
<<< >>>
My frustration with Pink-E slowly simmered down to an even boil as she brought each letter up in turn:
Dr. Oontz Stable:
Be advised that Ms. Derpy Hooves will be arriving some time this week. It is expected that she will inquire after the Mark Seven Auto-Doc, regarding its advanced functions in the area of optical practice. At that time, and that time only, conduct the removal of the Auto-Doc's module as previously directed and forward the attached file to her in-house zipmail directory.
Though it should go without saying, I trust to your highest professional confidences in this regard.
- Uptown Eclair [SHOW ATTACHED FILE? Y/N]
Pink-E practically cheered: "Of course!"
My Dear Ms. Hooves,
Kindly pardon the forwardness of an up-to-now somewhat-secret admirer.
Ever since catching a glimpse of your exotic, entrancing golden eyes at the Grand Galloping Gala some years ago, I have found myself undeniably fascinated with you. Discreet inquiries, however, came up empty - you lived a mysterious, unknowable life, which I found unfathomable. I pride myself upon knowing anypony that anypony should know, and yet... I could discover nothing about yourself, making you all the more intriguing to me. Nopony at any of my garden parties, or in my social circles, or even at the Canterlot Jockeying Club, recalled seeing anypony by your unique description.
After much fruitless endeavor in this regard, our mutual acquaintance Domino Mask informed me that he knew you on both a personal and professional level. It is through his good graces and knowledge of the entertainment industry that, truly, I know anything of you at all - your talents as a "torch singer", for example, or your legal entanglements with that Slimm-based hub of scurrilous slander calling itself a "museum". Hummepfeh!
So I beg your forgiveness for my bald-faced manipulations at this late date. The time, it seems to me, is short for us all, while you of all persons remain foremost in my mind. I know you came here at Mr. Mask's insistence, with intent to make use of the new Automated Doctor Mk. VII. As the least of its abilities, it most certainly can correct the misfortune of your visual issues, something which Mr. Mask informs me is your chiefmost concern.
In point of fact, I had the Mk. VII designed and built at the "Big M/T" (as with many of the facilities and functions of the Casino Royale) expressly to make survival of what is to come a greater likelihood. For you, even if not for anypony else.
Yet with the clock so fleeting, I could not make this gift without also presenting the remainder of my tokens of affection. You will find these, as well as the "Auto-Doc", in my personal sanctuary beneath the Royale itself. Any of my casino staff will be able to direct you there: the access code is "champagne".
Please hurry. I shan't allow the "Gala Royale" to start without you.
- Your Ardent Admirer, Uptown Eclair
I could feel the urge to kill --- somepony, anypony! --- rising again. Hit the casino proper? The casino, with its legendary killer-holograms spitting pure magic to kill anypony that came close? Before I could do all that much mulling over the subject, the third message popped up:
Report 97-A (Corporate, Medical): Construction Forepony Slag Bolt. The fumigation talismans are working like a charm. We're conducting a final spray in the sewers to polish off the last of the roach colonies down there, after which we'll be doing a double-rinse this time before sending anypony down.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: that pink stuff may do wonders killing bugs, but whoever said its residue has "minimal effects on the equipment and workforce" is a lying snotrag. It takes days for it to seep out of whatever it's soaked into, especially concrete, and that after only a few minutes' exposure. I'll allow no more workers into treated areas without the new hazmat suits, as the old ones do jack-diddly against the pink. Doc Stable can tell you what happened to THOSE guys; I get the willies just thinking about it.
That said, we've got good and bad news: plenty of the new suits just arrived today, but they've got fitting issues. We haven't been able to get the guys and gals who've gone in, back out! The programming suite keeps insisting the wearers are 'endangered' and won't unseal, and the damn things only re-seal if you try to cut 'em open. So far, nopony's been hurt, and we're getting a tech crew in from M/T stat, but tonight's the Big Event. We ain't got time for this crap.
Bottom line: there's enough crew in the suits to do the job, but I'm putting them all in for double-overtime. On your bill. Next time, don't send us untested equipment.
Well, wasn't that special. Get special suits to survive "the pink", then get killed by the suits... somehow. Who'd use necromancy to make a protective suit, anyways? I was probably missing some details, but it seemed that I'd managed to solve the Mystery of the Ghost Herd.
Yay. That and twenty bottlecaps would get me a cup of coffee at any "Pony Joe's" in the NCR.
I sat down, reached up, took off my hat, and rubbed my forehead. "Lemme see if I've got this straight. Auto-Doc module's below the casino. Can't get out of here alive without it. Probably can't get IN there alive to start with. Okay... this's going to take some figuring out."
"From the look of you, that means we could all be here a few days. No offense."
As one our collective heads snapped around, finding the owner of that gravel-paved voice leaning casually against the doorframe, lighting up a cigarette. I'd never seen a slicker-looking ghoul in my life --- in fact, if he hadn't exhaled the smoke through the holes in his neck, I'd've hardly noticed at first that he was one.
His mane was combed back into a puffed-up ducktail of shimmering golden blonde. The shade of his coat, an early-evening sky blue, did a good job at hiding the few missing patches of skin that went with any ghoul's territory. The rattiest thing about him was the purple-pinstriped tuxedo, an old silk affair haphazardly patched up with what looked like surgical sutures. Probably his own work, as I didn't think there were many tailors about, and he didn't strike me as the sort who got out much.
A smile smoothly curved across his muzzle, failing to quite match the emotions couched in a set of dead-green eyes.
"I'll save ya the trouble, kid. The name's Domino Mask. Yeah, you've prolly heard of me. And the two of us? Seems like it's time to do a little... horse-trading, so to speak."
Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Pinkie Sense (3)(of 5) -- from time to time, strange things seem to happen around you. Each level of this perk escalates the weirdness.
Aligned Perk: Border Jumper -- the federales will never catch you! That's mainly because you've developed a strange knack for slipping between cracks in the universe. Maybe all that balefire had a bigger effect on the fabric of reality than anypony thought...
Skill Note: Lockpick (50) |
Calbeck | 679 | 12 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-08-19T18:19:47+00:00 | 2012-08-19T18:19:47+00:00 | 2,886 | CHAPTER TWELVE: For a Hoof-Full of Derps
I don't think it's nice, you laughin'.
The interloper took another drag on his cigarette. Another exhalation sent smoke puffing from between gaps in the decayed muscles of his neck.
After about a minute of the three of us just staring at him, his too-easy smile began to look a little forced.
"Eh, kid... this's the part where you act all surprised to see a genuine pre-War celebrity. Y'know, go a little nuts, maybe ask for my autograph, that whole bit...?"
I gave him a flat look from under the brim of my mushroom-smeared stormchaser. "Never heard of you."
His expression went from "smugly expectant" to "shot by best friend" in zero-point-one second flat. I'd've sworn I could hear the crack of his jaw breaking the sound barrier on its way to the floor. Then again, as a ghoul, various of his body parts might well make similar noises on a regular basis.
"You've never heard of Domino Mask?! Original founding member of the 'Hat Pack'? The headliner, five years running, Kaiser's Castle?"
Somehow, his cigarette managed to stay in his mouth, but its ember was rapidly being eclipsed by the fire boiling those dead-green eyes down to little chips of malachite. The ghoul stepped forward, angrily pressing his face into mine, reeking of a cologne my brain immediately dubbed "Tanning Solution #5".
"Unless New Pegas burned to the ground --- and I think I'd've noticed, even from here --- there's no way in Celestia's heaven or Luna's hell you haven't seen my posters plastered from one end of town to the other. I paid good goddess-damned money to make sure of that!"
I pressed right back, harnessing my building annoyance to shove the pinstripe-clad ghoul halfway out the door. "That'd assume I gave a buck about anypony's two-century-old posters, mister. Books and magazines have practical value, but promotional crap for dead acts? Doesn't."
Head-to-head, we were now shoving in equal measure back and forth across the townhouse's threshold, my poor abused hat getting squished in the middle. Domino growled, "Do I look dead to you, you ignorant fucking tourist?"
God cleared his throat, calm and collected and bass-toned once more, like he hadn't just had the world's shortest mental breakdown. "Let us confirm or deny that. Food or friend?"
Oooh, I've seen THIS number before! I backed away, watching as God stood up and approached Domino with a broad smile that sported both fangs, and looked forward to seeing this slick-talking ghoul try to worm his way out of -
Dust-whirls, on the plain
Making patterns, as we trot down Lover's Lane
Seems that each new step is somehow, preordained
I've not traveled this way... before...
"Worm", nothing. He just loosened up and slid right into the number, like it was the most natural thing to croon bluesy baritone for a cannibal demon-alicorn.
Those clouds up in the sky
Go on forever, but we know, by-and-by
They'll fade out like the sunshine of our lives
Love seemed that way, before...
Slowly he traversed the room, swaying in rhythm , leaving pungent grey contrails of cigarette smoke in his wake. Every now and again he'd pause for a sweeping gesture or gentle nod to punctuate his song, then resume that practiced stride, as though he were performing for a crowd of thousands.
Now that I've found you, no doubt's left in my heart
I've blown the changelings all away
It comes clearly as we each play our own part
Balefire won't burn away
Our coming, dawning day...
I stole a glance at my erstwhile "companions".
Pink-E was slowly bobbing and turning, following the singer's moves with polite interest. But God? He was completely enraptured by the honey in that voice. The demon-alicorn had flopped onto his belly and propped his head on his hooves, ears perked forward while those ruby-red irises threatened to transmogrify into little heart shapes.
Ew, gay... ooooor maybe he just really really REALLY appreciated music. I shivered for a moment, hoping God's allegiances weren't overly prone to swapping. I hadn't a prayer of matching this guy's pipes!
New Pegas, in the night
Like love of Cadence for Armor, Shining... bright!
And maybe with a little passing luck
We might have again, what we've had... before...!
Yet, slowly...
Like dust-whirls and high clouds
History just fades... away... because
It can never be exactly like...
Befooooooorrrreee...!
By the time the last notes trailed off into the night air, I wasn't just feeling a bit nervous. I was feeling good and ready to kick myself. Here I'd gone and given this buck a ration of shit for claiming to be exactly what he was, and the fact that he was actually damn good made it worse. Every stomp of giddy applause God doled out was like a hammer nailing what little conscience I had to the floor.
Okay, so I AM an ignorant tourist. But Celestia fuck a buck! How did he know...?!
Domino noticed my discomfort and turned a professional screw-you-sir smile my way.
"I've been around here long enough to see at least three other tourists try to enlist this guy's services since he showed up. From a respectable distance, of course. Having seen how he goes after the Ghost Herd like a hog in slops, I was considering paying his little 'Casa de Hobo' a visit myself. Looks like you beat me to it."
He stopped, rolled his eyes, and made a show of rubbing his chin. "Which reminds me," he drawled out, "I still gotta deal for ya. Interested?"
Unbidden, Pink-E bounced her way into the conversation. "What kinda deal?"
That prompted the raise of an entirely-too-intact-for-a-ghoul eyebrow. "Kid --- if this 'bot don't answer to you, personally, ya mind if I just shoot it? 'Mom's the word', ya might say."
I bodily shoved Pink-E back with both forehooves. "Let's just say it's a very personal relationship, and I'd take it really badly if you managed to damage any of h --- its --- memory cores."
If Domino noticed the brief slip, he didn't let on. The well-groomed ghoul just shrugged. "Your funeral, kid. Speaking of which, you're planning on heading into the main casino soonish, ain't'cha?"
I put my best blankface on, but before I said a word he annoyedly waved me off.
"Don't even try to feed me any brahminshit. From here on in, there ain't nothing but Ghosts, the Pink, and the casino. And I've been watching... you've made a zippy little bee-line past a dozen prime spots any real looter would be drooling over. Not to mention that anypony going after this guy," he added, poking a hoof in God's direction, "has made it pretty obvious that he was just there to get them through the Ghosts."
He gave the alicorn a polite nod. "No offense, big fella."
God returned the gesture with a graciously regal air. "None taken."
I snorted disgustedly and rolled my eyes. "Okay, fine, yes. Not that this was the plan anyways. I'm -"
"After the Auto-Doc Seven," Domino casually interrupted, making a show of inspecting his hoof for chipping. "Same as the other tourists who've been bouncing around the place in those goofy rubber 'Fun Suits'." He stole another glance at Pink-E, who just smiled at him. He shivered. "Ah, again, no offense meant."
"None taken!" squeaked the floating head of Great-Great-Grand-Aunt Pinkie Pie.
Sometimes I needed to focus on such details to remind myself that, at some point, my life had turned into one long slide down a rabbit hole. My dream of amassing enough wealth to hunker down somewhere safe and private, while the rest of the world went off and fucked itself without involving me in the process anymore, seemed to get more remote with each passing day.
I fixed Domino with a sidewise look. "So you're gonna tell me you know where it is, right?"
He preened, striking a pose with a hoof in his jacket pocket. "Of course."
My look didn't waver. "And there's a catch to getting your help recovering it, right?"
Neither did his pose. "Naturally."
"So...?"
He took a last long drag on his cigarette, dropped it, and crushed the butt into the carpet. Smoke seeped out from his neck and jacket, wrapping around his head in a toxic wreath before he spoke again.
"You can have the Auto-Doc. But you'll never get through the Pink without somepony who's hung around this place long enough to figure its drifts, its patterns. Somepony who knows where and when it puffs up from below, how to avoid the thick parts, and where it gets thin enough to dodge through before your hide turns to slime."
He brought up those dead-green eyes, staring into mine.
I don't care what God thinks. There's nothing behind those windows.
"You and your new friend, meanwhile, are what I need to get through the Ghost Herd and into the casino myself. All the way to Eclair's little Stable. Even then, I guarantee you'll still need me to get it open. So you get what you want, and I get what I've been hanging around here to grab for two centuries."
My head finally got around to clicking that piece into place. "You're after the Derp Money."
A half-crazy grin threatened to split the creaking flesh of Domino's muzzle; he visibly fought the impulse down before continuing. Despite his well-preserved appearance, the old crooner still bore the leathery skin of any ghoul... he'd just taken obvious pains to not let himself fall apart under the weight of years. But that didn't say anything about the condition of his brainmeats.
Domino's voice slipped down half an octave, smoothly exchanging the brush with insanity for caustic, tightly-controlled mockery. "Yeah. Eclair's fabled golden treasure. Smug bastard spent weeks bragging about how he was going to win the heart of that stupid pega-floozy with a personal palace of riches. Riches that'll make it worth living the rest of whatever eternity I've got left to me. Riches I'm fuckin' owed."
He pranced a quick circle around me, creaking slightly with each step. "And from how the radio tells it, New Pegas is still in the market for quality talent. Place might be a little run-down by now, but money and fame never change, baby." The ghoul paused to pull a fresh pack of cigarettes from a pocket, draw one out, and fire it up with an old burnished-silver lighter. "It'll be just like..."
He raised his head and swept up a hoof, a snippet of his showpony refrain returning:
"...Befooooooooorrreee...!"
A sudden growl from my belly decided me that since I'd gotten a floor show, now was probably a good time for dinner too. It was already well after midnight, I hadn't had anything since sundown, and the odds were high that there'd be little chance for a break once we left Ms. Hooves' old digs.
Normally I might've decided to push on. Pink-E didn't need anything, God'd just eaten, and Domino didn't look hungry... not for food, anyways. But screw them. Being chased around the medical clinic and damn near dying of asphyxiation in the process had taken a lot out of me. I started rummaging through my packs, putting together the fixings for a light meal: some canned pre-War meat ("Cram THIS in your face!" demanded the label blurb), half a loaf of old trail-bread, a Sparkle-Cola...
I looked up, suddenly conscious of the fact that nopony was saying or doing anything.
Domino was staring at me like I was an idiot. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and tapped ashes onto the floor. "Kid... you've got a paid-up suite at the Casino Royale, and you're going sack-lunch?" The ghoul reached into the pocket of his jacket, produced a small pile of golden coins, dumped them into the little red machine, and turned to select Dining from the room's screen menu. "I swear, this is the first and last time I take pity on a tourist."
Everything in the room moved at once. The couch and coffee-table flipped over (so did my heart!), while other parts of the floor opened up and disgorged new furniture. But before my wasteland-honed preservation instincts had a chance to reach full panic mode, it was already over and the entire room seemed to have changed.
Where the couch had been was now a low round table, laid with white linen and surrounded by plush blue pillows in silver frames. Clean white plates, matching bowls, silverware, and glasses for wine and water sat atop blue mats of woven straw. From the center of the table rose a metal dome with a little green light on top.
Domino took a seat on one of the pillows, cleared his throat, and spoke towards the dome. "Lemme get a summer Vivaldi to start, with a baked and julienned red onion for the appetizer. Ranch on the side." The ghoul nodded towards me and God. "C'mon, siddown and order up. It's paid for."
Not without a bit of trepidation I settled onto a pillow, half-expecting the thing to be an ancient mess of mildew and bugs. Instead, it turned out to be surprisingly soft and comfortable. I felt my eyebrows go up.
It was brand-new! Nothing in the wasteland is brand-new!
God followed my lead, neatly crushing his pillow and its frame almost flat. His muzzle twisted into a frown and he pinned his ears back. "I do not see the benefit in this. Where is the food?"
Domino just laughed. "Ya gotta order something, big guy. Just tell the dome there what you want."
God leaned in, looking a little self-conscious, and eyed just about everywhere but the dome. "Meat."
The light on top switched to red and there was a brief buzz. Domino face-hoofed --- very lightly, I noticed, almost as if he was miming the reaction. "Little more specific?"
While the ghoul and demon had a brief back-and-forth about getting a meal from machinery, I shot Pink-E a sour look. "You knew about this, didn't you?"
She bobbed her head in the affirmative, smiling like she'd just taught a pet radroach how to fetch. "Yepper-pepper! My files indicate that no fewer than thirteen attempts by Ministry of Morale agents to acquire nanosprite technology from the Casino Royale failed right here in this very room!" She rotated slightly, in that cocking my head without a body attached way she had, and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Then again, my files might be cross-referencing the Marzipan Incident."
I'd caught about half that. "Wait, there's supposed to be something here actually worth stealing?" I looked around, but didn't see anything that particularly stood out. She couldn't mean the monitor, and, as nifty as it might be, I couldn't see how or why a pony would steal a furniture-replacement system.
Pink-E giggled. "Oh, you bet! But you can't see nanosprites --- they're teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy, eensy-weensy -"
That old familiar feeling of wanting to shoot annoying robots began to slide back up on me. "I get it..."
"- little machines that kind of look like bloatsprites, before bloatsprites got all tainted and bloated, when they used to be called parasprites, and they'd eat all your food but then Twilight Sparkle, who later became a Ministry Mare but that's a whole other story, hit 'em with a spell and they stopped eating food and started eating everything else, so when the War broke out Robronco started studying how to adapt parasprite magic to industrial manufacturing, 'cause see, the idea was that you could feed a mechanical version of a parasprite just about anything and then it could spit that out as something else, like turning scrap metal into bullets, but then there was this horrible accident, and a city almost got eaten, and then..."
If she had been a living pony, or even a ghoul, Pink-E would have had to pause for at least one deep breath at some point. Since that wasn't going to happen, I tried ignoring her so I could order that promised meal.
"Let me get a -"
*BZZZZZZT!* Red light.
"How about -"
*BZZZZZZT!* Red light... and this time, my ears caught the faint sound of feedback. Pink-E's blathering was screwing up my order! Just about ready to turn and yell at the little 'bot, I suddenly noticed that Domino was glancing in her direction --- and trying to look like he was still fully engaged in explaining a "menu" to God.
What was she going on about that he thought was so important...? I cocked an ear back, trying to refocus on her unfocused rambling.
"...so then the Ministry of Morale found out that the Casino Royale bought a license to continue Robronco's development of 'nano' technology, which just means really small anyways, through [INFORMATION REDACTED] at... huh?"
The little pink robot stopped and blinked with what I could swear was genuine surprise. "Through [INFORMATION REDACTED]... no, wait, um, [CLASSIFIED]..." Her rubbery expression shifted to a very convincing version of annoyance. For some reason, the idea that she could be annoyed by herself made me feel a little better inside.
"That's not right... I've got clearance! Pinkie Pie installed my clearance, honest-buffalo she did! Let me try... [FILES LOCKED BY ORDER OF THE OFFICE OF INTER-MINISTRY AFFAIRS, DIRECTOR E. R. HORSE PRESIDING]... what?!"
That brief sense of schadenfreude began to slip away, replaced by a growing sense of wrongness. "Pink-E..."
Domino wasn't pretending not to watch anymore. Now, he looked like he was staring at a balefire bomb ticking off a two-minute countdown. "O.I.A.? Your 'bot's carrying around classified info from the fucking O.I.A.?"
Pink-E started wobbling in mid-air, her eyes corkscrewing in their sockets. "This isn't right! Plotting data references against timetable Alpha Gamma Six, cross-referencing against 'Big M/T': [TERMINAL ACCESS DENIED]." I could smell smoke as her voice rose to a pitched squeal. "Oooooh! This is so frustrating! Let me IN THERE! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"
"PINK-E!"
Suddenly everypony was staring at me, upright on my hind legs with my forelegs and face raised to the ceiling. I could hear my shout beginning to echo faintly back from the streets beyond the doorway. Aside from that, everything and everypony had gone dead quiet --- even Pink-E.
Her eyes blinked, once, accompanied by an unusual whir-and-click. "Command-line authority recognized. Resuming normal subroutines. So anyways, yeah, the Ministry of Morale wanted to find some schematics to help figure out how they finally got the whole ‘nanosprite’ thing working." She bit her lower lip for a moment, as though worried that saying even this much would set off something in her programming again.
God, looking completely nonplussed, leaned forward and cleared his throat to say something. Domino, Pink-E and I turned to give the crimson-eyed alicorn a collectively expectant look... what could he, the god-pony with the technology issues, be thinking about all of this? About a machine, like Pink-E, that could be surprised by unknown quirks in its own programming? About the implications in making something new, just by feeding another machine something old? Or about ponies long dead, whose ancient machinations yet lingered like a plague upon the living?
“Roast brahmin. Rare. Twenty kilograms. Now.”
The dome in the middle of the table went ding, slid open on one side, and instantly spat out an overloaded platter of steaming red meat. Except for the sounds God made, supper went quietly after that.
* * * * *
The alicorn and the ex-lounge singer seemed to get along like kernels on the same cob as we made our way out of the posh district. The one would toss off occasional verses of song for his newfound audience, while the other answered questions about his origin and abilities in return. God didn't appear to mind the polite interrogation, but I can't say it didn't bother me that the ghoul was having such an easy time pumping him for information. I resolved to keep a close watch on the key that God had decided made me his "Redeemer".
"You can eat magic?!" Domino's gait and attitude were practiced-smooth, but the tone gave away his incredulity.
God placidly clopped along to one side, rumbling his response. "All alicorns can absorb magical radiation, even subsist upon it to an extent. A spell is a magical construction, much as bread is a construction of grain. Though I knew them scantly before my expulsion from Unity, I doubt it is different for my former sister siblings."
Domino took a moment to absorb that before following it up: "So, a big buck like you must really need a lot of fuel to get by, huh? I've seen ya out hunting. Watched ya tear up and chow down an entire Ghost pack, once."
God shook out his mane indifferently. "That which I do not immediately use is stored for emergencies, or for what you would call 'lean times'. And while magic may sustain, it does not... satisfy."
I eyed the alicorn sidelong at that sudden shift towards a darker tone, but said nothing. Normally I'd've also had a major issue about all the gabbing and casual attitude --- this was the Casino Royale, and I would have preferred to keep as low a profile as possible.
But Domino didn't seem a bit worried. Being as that he was as close to 'friendly and knowledgeable local guide' as Celestia could have provided, I figured that if he wasn't concerned, I shouldn't be. Didn't mean I didn't keep my eyes and ears open, regardless...
And a good thing, too. I heard the faint crackling of radio static, just before crossing beneath a terracotta arch leading into a four-way intersection. Stopping to look up, I spotted an old public-address speaker hanging by a pair of twisted wires, which sparked where their protective sheaths had been worn through by decades of rubbing against one another.
The minor and remote threat of potential electrocution wasn't the problem, though. The problem was the radio box the PA speaker's wires led to; whoever had designed this place had apparently decided not to bother with ground-wire connections. What were the odds that this was one of those "radio interference zones" I'd been warned about?
Any odds, I figured, were too high to risk the embarrassment of having my nominal allies watch me blow up like a party balloon. Again. Pulling my gussied-up old varmint rifle from its pack holster, I could feel my ears burning pinker than normal from the memory of having that happen in front of God. I sure didn't need any hassling from smart-mouthed ghouls thrown into the mix!
One nearly-silent pyewt produced a louder squawk from the radio as it went dead.
Glancing to either side as we passed through the intersection, I could see the streets curved away until line-of-sight was blocked by villas and offices and shops that all looked the same: un-looted. Domino caught my attention with a cough, followed by a grim headshake and forward-pointing hoof. My greedy little inner pony grumbled as we moved along.
The air slowly came to resemble a tinted veil, casting everything in bubblegum hues and leaving a sickly-sweet taste on the tongue. Wisps like cotton candy would drift past at fetlock level, Domino hopping idly over them as they passed. God and I followed suit, and even Pink-E gave a pointless little bounce each time, despite already floating half-a-length above it all.
Every now and again, one of us would hear another burst of static from somewhere, and we'd hold up until I could find and pop the squawker. At first, the delays annoyed Domino --- until God whispered something in his ear. The next time I caught his smirking look, I felt my ears start burning until I flicked them beneath my stormchaser.
The streets here were a bit narrower, but the buildings had gotten taller by an extra story. Still following the same terracotta-and-tile motif from the outlying villas back near the main gate, the idea had probably been to foster the atmosphere of an old-time-Mexicolt fiesta town. It even had place- and street-names mostly in bastardized Asspañol, such as the "Rio del Loco" we followed now.
Absent any party-goers or decorations --- or, for that matter, much to indicate that living ponies had set hoof here before us --- the "River of Crazy" was nothing more or less than silently claustrophobic. There wasn't even any graffiti, though a few patches of brown paint suggested there had been at one point.
Domino caught my wandering gaze. "Ghost Herd cleans up everything out here, same as when they were alive. Don't ask where they get the paint from."
I smirked at him, despite the tense atmosphere. "Yeah? How about that plasma-blasted toy store back there?"
He chuckled, then stopped and held up a hoof. Several lengths ahead, a sewer grate suddenly ejected a pony-sized puff of pink, which the ghoul watched carefully as it drifted away into an adjoining alleyway. Once the danger had passed, he picked up the pace and the conversation as though nothing had happened.
"Sure. You could set your watch, or in your case, that PipBuck, by it. You don't see more than one of them try it at a time, though, 'cause the further they go from the center, the more they disperse. Dunno why, so don't ask that either."
The ghoul gave me a serious look with those dead-greens. "What I do know is that they'll stand there and do their thing while ignoring anything thrown at 'em. Eventually they get disintegrated like anything else," and here he gave a significant nod towards God, "but even then, I've seen the ash itself fucking-well regenerate. Only thing that ever puts one down permanently seems to be a solid headshot. Or, well..." Another nod at the alicorn.
This time God was looking right back at him. "I am that which I am." He shrugged those broad shoulders, as if the short sentence had explained everything.
But it was something the ancient show-pony had said that really didn't sit well with me. I gave him a dubious look. "So what you're saying is that, over multiple centuries, the Ghost Herd's been getting its numbers zapped one by one, like bugs in a high-power lamp. Just how damned many of 'em are there?"
Domino suddenly waved a follow-me hoof and bolted a good dozen lengths. We followed suit --- just in time for another alleyway to disgorge a roof-high avalanche of pink fumes behind us. A few seconds slower on our part, and... I didn't want to think about that just now. My brain, on the other hoof, decided to replay some of the choicer recordings from Pirate Friends Radio, sending an involuntary shudder up the length of my spine.
The stuccoed porticos, little blue-tiled fountains and random drifts of pink death impressed upon me the sense of being blocked in, a feeling which only got stronger with every few lengths we moved deeper into the Royale.
It was God who, breaking the awkward silence, finally provided an answer to my question. Or rather, opened up a few new questions: "No matter how many are consumed, always more come from below. It is a worthwhile relationship."
It was Pink-E who, in her inappropriately-upbeat way, made the new questions moot: "Hey! Listen! A bunch of mean old meanie-pants are coming this way!"
Red bars flickered into existence ahead, my PipBuck updating its Eyes-Forward-Sparkle spell with Pink-E's telemetry. From further down the street, whorls of pink mist began to gather, accompanied by muffled clopping noises. Behind us, the wall of Cloud had slowly begun dissipating towards something we might be able to duck through... eventually. The timing was way too convenient to be a coincidence.
Galloping to the nearest villa on our left, I tried the door. Naturally, it was locked. I fumbled with my screwdriver and bobby pins for a moment before Domino bodily shoved me out of the way.
"Step aside, kid," the old ghoul muttered, producing a set of professional pre-War lockpicks from his tuxedo jacket, "Let a pro handle this. You just keep 'em off my flank, willya?"
That, I could do. "God, start in on 'em as soon as you can. Pink-E, get up there on the roof and out of the way --- we'll meet you up there once that door's open. As for me..." I still had my good old varmint rifle slung around my neck. Dropping to a crouch, I braced it more for stability than against any recoil, and sighted through its night scope.
Indistinct shadows appeared against the lighter backdrop of mist. Good enough for government work...
I carefully aimed for center-mass, then elevated slightly to get a good sight picture on the sphere-like blob that could only be the thing's head. Holding my breath, I gave a gentle squeeze of the tongue and pyewt went the silenced rifle.
Thwap! came the sound of a solid hit. I grinned with satisfaction, worked the rifle's bolt to eject the spent round and load another, and then my scalp tried to crawl off my head at the scream --- not of pain, but fury --- that warbled back down the street.
Ohhhhh... horseapples.
A horde of yellow-clad figures came charging out of the pre-dawn gloom. Their bubble helmets held nothing but the pink glow of equally transparent skull-faces, their voices joining into a single scream like a hideous choir. One of those helmets, and the face behind it, was already re-sealing the little hole my beloved varmint rifle had punched.
God threw me a curious look over his shoulder: "You appear to have angered them, Redeemer..."
The only reason the rest of us didn't die right there was because the black, bat-winged alicorn presented the Ghosts with an irresistable target, plowing headlong into their first wave like some dark avenger of the night.
But that wouldn't last. More red bars were appearing on my EFS, though they seemed further off. Domino was still working on that door and my rifle was useless here. I stuffed it back into its pack-holster, mouthed the ten-millimeter pistol that had once belonged to another of Mr. Horse's poor damned errand-bucks, and triggered the PipBuck's Spell-Assisted Targeting function.
The world halted in freeze-frame. God was simultaneously rearing up to kick a Ghost at his front, while turning his head to bite at another which had leaped and was trying to grab his neck with its forelegs. I decided that one needed to die first, in large part because if I missed it I'd also likely miss God. I preferred to minimize the odds of making yet another hell-beast angry at me.
I queued four shots, all targeted to its head, groaned at the low projected odds for a hit, then let fly.
The heavy pistol bucked against my jaws, once, twice, thrice... what's the term for four times? "Quice"? It didn't matter. Only one shot struck home, the other three gouging holes in the stucco wall beyond. Still, that one hit was clean: the creature's ghostly head exploded, coating the inside of its helmet with dark pink viscera like a giant gum bubble had popped. The stricken Ghost tumbled to the asphalt like a rag doll and lay still, venting a jet of pink gas from the hole.
Knowing SATS would need some time to recharge, I lined up the pistol's iron-sights on a second Ghost trying to get around God's flank. Now this was my normal bread-and-butter style --- PAM PAM PAM went the gun, and the Ghost's helmet shattered under the triple-strike lead barrage. So did its head.
But this time, the pent-up pink within exploded from its now-helmet-less neck. I scrabbled backwards as the poison spread out into the street, nearly bumping into Domino. I hoped the rising worry in my voice wasn't too obvious: "How's that coming along, old-timer?!"
On the ground next to him were two small bits of a broken bobby pin, and he was wiggling a third free with his picks. "Some moron tried forcing it," he growled. "I gotta get this crap outta there first, and bugging me about it ain't helping!"
God had already eviscerated two of his assailants, but while he was engaged with trying to consume one, the other resealed its suit and rejoined its brethren. While he ate the one, like a bilge-pump sucking sludge, the others were able to get a few solid strikes in, though the big alicorn seemed almost to take them in stride. For now.
"The others are almost here!" Pink-E shouted down at us. I counted another five bars incoming, in addition to the three --- crunch, munch, slurp, make that two --- still on God. There was no time left to let this play out.
I thrust a hoof at the door Domino was working on. "God! Make a hole! Domino, MOVE!"
The ghoul's self-preservation instincts were definitely firing on all chambers. As the big alicorn turned and charged for the door, he scrambled to one side, pulling out a sizable revolver from his jacket and turning to unload it on one of the pursuing Ghosts. I took the other.
By the time God hit the door, we were already spreading a hail of lead into his wake. Both Ghosts went down, their helmets exploding with a wash of pink that joined the rest in surging towards us. An instant later the air filled with splinters and powdered stucco, our cue to turn and gallop through the alicorn's breach.
As though making up for the jammed lock, fortune presented us with a flight of stairs just a few paces within. The ground floor otherwise was just a clumped-up ruin of rotted furniture and pre-War bric-a-brac. God was stomping his way up the stairwell, all flanks and fetlocks; we followed after as the cotton-candy Cloud began pressing through the smashed doorway behind us.
The alicorn pulled a hard right turn at the top, kicked in the door, and squeezed his way through with a grunt. We wasted no time in joining him, but before I could slam the door shut and start looking for something to barricade it with, Domino stopped me. "Hang on," muttered the ghoul, "I got this." He took a moment to reload his gun.
I'd heard the sharp report from that pistol down below, but there hadn't exactly been much time for thoughtful analysis. Now as he cracked open the cylinder, removing the spent shells and replacing them with fresh ones, I could see that I was in the presence of a true legend. An Ironshod Firearms IF-69, known by aficionados of bullet-fu simply as "That Gun".
The reason for its fame was equally simple: some lunatic at Ironshod had chambered a pistol to use assault-rifle rounds. That's it. A pistol which fired .223 cartridges, including associated types of specialty ammo from tracer to armor-piercing, so long as you had the teeth and the stones to keep it on target.
It seemed that, for all his advanced years and ghoulification, Domino still did on both counts. He stuck That Gun, and his head, back out into the stairwell and started firing without another word. His head kicked back with each shot, but the buck held his ground until the cylinder went dry.
I took his place with the ten-mil while he reloaded again... but I needn't have bothered. There was a pile of yellow-clad corpses on the stairs and floor below, rapidly becoming obscured by the fog billowing out from their shattered helmets and drifting back down towards the ground floor. Not one red bar remained in my EFS.
"Well," I muttered, "No going downstairs for a while."
"That a complaint?" Domino retorted with a grin full of bullets as he worked the Gun's cylinder, spitting fresh rounds into it one by one.
I bit back the pointless snark which came to mind and turned to take a look around, then found myself side-stepping to get out of God's way as the alicorn shoved his way back into the stairwell. The chomping and slurping noises which ensued made asking him why a moot point.
The upstairs room had three attributes which stood out: a single large bed, a rusty old desk with a functional if weathered terminal sitting on it, and half of its walls missing. Like a giant balcony, it opened up onto the rooftop of the neighboring villas, revealing a network of common-access courtyards and service alleys hidden away from public view. To the east stood the Casino itself, dispassionately waiting for new guests as it always had, the faintest hints of dawn beginning to compete with the dusky orange ambience that surrounded and lit its tombstone silhouette.
That wasn't nearly bright enough to get the view I wanted, so I pulled my rifle back out and put its scope to good use once more. Scanning across the tile-roofed horizon, I could see that Domino hadn't been kidding around. The closer to the casino proper, the thicker the Pink Cloud and Ghost Herd got, like sediment murking up a glass of bad well-water.
Even Pink-E seemed at a loss. "That's a lot of bad ponies, Cherry..." A sharp guffaw snapped my head around.
"Bwa-hahahah! CHERRY?! Your name's Cherry?" A wheezing parody of laughter burst from the gaps in Domino's throat for a moment before he opened up his muzzle to let it out, clutching That Gun to his belly with both hooves. If he'd tried to hold it in his mouth, he'd've shot everypony in the room with the way his jaw and tongue were going.
It's amazing how little it can take for every hateful moment of your colthood to come rushing back at you. Every new place my Dad would take us on his trading rounds, I'd try to keep my name from getting out. Because once it did --- and it always did --- I'd hear the same words, in the same tone. Then there would be a fight. Every time our rounds brought us back to that place, there would be a new round of teasing, from new bullies, and a new string of scores to settle.
And now the cycle was beginning all over again. I felt my blue eyes narrow down to "burn-your-soul" mode, my nose snorting twin blasts of hot anger in the ghoul's direction.
Not that I'd lost it, not yet. That was just me giving fair warning. It was understandable that someone might find the name funny. It was funny. So I let them know just how funny I thought it was, to give them a fair chance to back off and apologize. If they kept on going, or thought the warning itself was funny, then they had no excuse. And I had what the Zebras called casus belli --- a cause for war.
Look at me, I said in the strongest non-verbal terms short of conflict. Notice that I'm about to get violent.
Domino showed no signs of reining it in. He just pointed a hoof at me and then, wiping his eyes with the fetlock, fell over backwards with redoubled laughter. The world began to turn a familiar shade of red and my jaw grew tight.
Somewhere just outside my narrowing field of vision, God squeezed his bulk back through the doorway. In a more lucid moment, I might have wondered how the big stallion had managed to turn himself around within the narrow space of the stairwell. Or why he didn't just teleport back. His booming voice, against the heat thumping through my ears, seemed to come from a long way off. "...Redeemer?"
I took one step towards the ghoul, another, and then a black wall was suddenly in the way. Which was to say, God's barrel chest. Just beyond the impermeable barrier of horseflesh, the hilarity continued apace. Words carved their way up from my throat. "Get outta my way, God..."
"Redeemer, no. You need him..."
I moved left, so did God. Back to the right, and there he was again. Not even a double-fakeout worked, though from the sound of things, Domino must have thought the sight of a little pink pony trying to get at him around a giant black alicorn was even funnier than my name.
Now I was rising up to pound God's chest with my forehooves, snarling and yelling something so incoherent I didn't even understand it. But what I meant was: Get out of my way! I'll fucking kill anypony in my way! MOVE!
He just stood there and took it all. It wasn't that I was doing him no damage, either. It was hard to tell except up this close, but his gloss-black hide was marred with hoof-shaped bruises and even a few indentations from his fight with the Ghosts. He might even have had something broken... and I was doing my best to make it worse. All I cared about at that moment was exacting justified retribution from the laughing ghoul, and this Goddess-damned alicorn was denying me that right! I slammed my hooves into him, as hard as I could, again and again, cutting his hide, drawing his blood, and when I glared up at him, and saw his sad red eyes, I tried wiping that face away...
...Domino was on my back, his forelegs wrapped around me in a headlock, pulling me off of God.
"Kid...! KID! Snap out of it! HEY!"
What? How did he get around behind me?! I snarled and turned my head to snap at him, squirming to get loose, but he already had the advantage and pressed it. My face hit the wooden floor, my hooves scrabbling painfully to either side in a vain attempt to get them back under me.
"Whaddya think you're doing, you idiot?! You could've killed him! Look, damn you!"
Unable to do much else at the moment, I looked.
God's face and chest were a mass of distorted, bloody bruises. He lay slumped before me in a silent black pile, nostrils clogged with dark streams, blowing red bubbles whenever he exhaled. I realized that somehow I was wearing my brass horseshoes, newly-slick with his blood. I didn't even remember how or when I put them on.
Those sad incarnadine eyes lingered on me, for just a moment, from above cheeks lacerated by the punches I'd thrown. Then they dropped to the floor, and he bowed his horned head. Blood dribbled down, creating dual puddles below.
"Thank you, Redeemer. My penance remains yours to afflict, my redemption yours to determine. Thank you."
I stared back down at my red-soaked hooves, at the weighty metal glinting beneath the gore, as Domino slowly let go of me and backed away. He's not stupid. He's probably got That Gun on me right now. I would, in his place.
They were right. They were both right --- we needed God to get us through the Ghost Herd, Domino to get us through the Pink Cloud. God was right to stop me. And hadn't I admitted, even to myself, that my name was funny? All I wanted was a little respect... and I had been ready to kill those who'd thrown in their lot with me, whatever their reasons for doing so, to get it.
Would I have? No. I'd sometimes gotten respect by beating bullies in fights, but I'd always been pulled off them by others, usually adults or the other colts and fillies watching, before it came to a death. What reason would anypony have to respect me, just for killing somepony else in a fit of raw anger? They'd either fear or hate, but never respect. That was the way of it.
I squinted hard against a flood of heat from behind my eyes, unwilling to let it go, to let anypony else see this moment of weakness.
"Hey... look. I'm... I'm sorry I laughed at your name."
I didn't move. If I did, I'd've looked at him through a wash of tears, and I wasn't about to do that. Anything but that.
Awkward, motionless silence dominated the room, broken only by God's quiet breathing and an even quieter beeping from Pink-E. She had busied herself with the old terminal and seemed to be paying no attention to anything else, another in the day's few and small mercies. Domino finally spoke up again.
"Didn't know it was that big a deal to ya." I felt his hoof on my shoulder, and now I looked up at him, my waterworks more or less under control. He forced a smile, but his tone sounded genuine enough. "A buck's name is really all he's got in the end, right? I guess I should know that better than most."
I slowly stood up, nodded silently, not trusting my voice to behave. Then I made the mistake of trying to take a deep breath through my nose, kicking off a snifflefit and a few rounds of my repeatedly trying to wipe it away with a hoof. Domino at least had the good grace to look away and pretend it never happened. God, for his part, was still looking at the floor.
There was really only one thing to do after all of that. The least I could and should do... I walked slowly over to God, pulled a healing potion out of my saddlebags, popped the cork, and upended it over the alicorn's bowed head. He gasped and recoiled, pulling away with eyes gone wide, scooting backwards until he bumped into the wall.
"Redeemer! No...! I... I must suffer the consequences of my actions!" He tried shaking the wetness out of his mane, but the cuts and bruises on his face were already fading back into the realm of normalcy.
I shook my head and pointed to the floor. "You just suffered the consequences of MY actions. Now I'M repenting. Get back down here... or do I have to chase you around with this bottle?"
He shook his head back at me. "You do not understand. My sins are too many, too great, to repent of by myself. That is the purpose of the key. It grants another the right to dole out my penance. How can I achieve a final balance if you are... what is the word...?" The big black alicorn sat there on his rump, suddenly lost in thought with a hoof to his chin.
Pink-E chimed in. "You mean nice?"
God nodded at her. "Yes. 'Nice'. As the penitent, I cannot set my own penance. For there to be penance, I must be penalized for my crimes through the judgments and acts of others."
Now those big red eyes pleaded with me. "Redeemer, if you are 'nice' to me, how can I gain absolution?"
A demonpony with fangs and bat-wings, pleading with me to punish him. How is this my life?
This was probably the best of all possible times for a distraction, and for once Pink-E's timing on that score was perfect. I turned, trying my best imitation of her grin and lilting, squeaky voice. "So... what did you find in the computer?"
She gave me a critical look, peering intently with one sapphire eye and then the other, then seemed to shrug. "Meh... I've seen better. But the files are open right over there, if you want to see for yourself!"
I most certainly did. Anything other than continuing discussions about either a personal hissy-fit or self-imposed flagellation, thank you please! Quickly trotting over to the terminal, I scanned through the documents Pink-E'd been able to salvage from its memory. Three remained, and I read through each in turn:
PRIVATE - PRIVATE - PRIVATE
Unauthorized employees reading this, or other executive materials, are subject to immediate termination.
My Dear Rapid,
I have said before, and shall say again, that your concerns are the unfounded foalishness of mere superstition. There is no such thing as "necromancy", not even amongst Zebras.
It is irrefutable that the shamans of Roam have mastered the arts of rune-craft and talisman development, but our own adoption of these arcane sciences - and that is precisely what they are - has gone without incident, to date. I see no reason to refrain from development of related channels, especially if it can help our war effort in the region of targeted pesticides.
Think of the benefits to be had! Croplands planted with a few properly-engraved talismans, completely immune to infestations! Industrial sites, free from bugs gumming up the works and distracting workers from their tasks! And those are just the little toe-claw on the proverbial Ursa Major!
My department will not be held back any further by your complaints or your baseless, primitive fears. You may think you're a lucky Zebra to be working here, but I have it on excellent authority that these days of government-enforced tolerance are coming to an end.
It may behoove you to seek employment elsewhere before things develop further. Consider this a warning from a mare who was once counted amongst the best of your friends.
Sincerely,
Wind Walker
Regional Manager (Neighvada)
Development Branch
Eclair Entertainments, Ltd.
Wow. What a bitch. Even if only to a zebra.
PRIVATE - PRIVATE - PRIVATE
Unauthorized employees reading this, or other executive materials, are subject to immediate termination.
Ms. Walker,
I was pleased to make your personal acquaintance at supper last week. As you requested of me then, I have investigated the idea of supportive funding for your talisman-based pesticide development with my superiors.
I believe I told you I would be surprised if they agreed... but they did! There were two catches, however. You will be required to forward copies of all current technical information on your project, in furtherance of a related issue which was already under consideration further up the chain. It seems that your goals happened to be serendipitously in line with what was already sought.
The other catch? Well, as I understand it, you were already considering termination of a Zebra by the name of Rapid River. Simply give him the files for transport, and my superiors will ensure that he is gainfully employed in highly-strategic matters sure to benefit all ponykind.
- Mr. C. D.
Uh-huh. "Gainfully employed." That didn't sound even slightly ominous, considering the previous note.
***CLASSIFIED/RED OM#$% #ERG@Y%Gfgvft4T@#%G
***RED OMEGA CLASSIFICATION LIFTED*** ***ZERO INFORMATION REDACTED***
REMOTE ACCESS GRANTED. Good morning, Minister Pie.
Collation Entry: "Project Pink"
Primary Site: "Big M/T", Section B-17
Subsection: BioChemical Warfare
TEST SUBJECT: Zebra, "Rapid River"
LEGAL STATUS: Insurgent (Convicted - Espionage)
SPECIAL: 5758742
TIME ON TEST: 15 days, 12 hours, 52 minutes, 17 seconds
RESULT: Total molecular dissolution.
*INITIAL NOTES*
(DR. J. BLUE): I consider this test an abject failure. Subject's expiration did not occur until well over a week past initial exposure. Although ultimately the condition incurred was incurable and resulted in dissolution, meeting two of three primary objectives, the debilitation objective was not met for more than forty-eight hours. It can be expected that, after initial battlefield introduction, Zebra forces struck with Agent Pink will choose to launch suicide waves before they are rendered combat-incapable. This will severely limit Pink's strategic and tactical utility.
(DR. Q. OCHO): A simple concern, readily addressed by quark acceleration of the active particle chains. Induction of fire elements through these chains will speed up the dissolution process, theoretically producing a meltdown similar to that seen in the final state of the current subject, within minutes instead of weeks. However, I must point out that this approach is likely to render the desired infection vector improbable, as the chains will not have time to complete the adherence process...
There was more along those lines, but my eyes were starting to feel like bleeding from the technical jargon. I skimmed ahead until I found something more legible:
*ADDENDUM*
(DR. TRUEBLOOD [VISITING]): This final process is acceptable. It's just too bad you idiots couldn't have thought to provide your initial subject with a PROPER escort to your vaunted 'M/T' complex. Your bungling forced the expenditure of a special forces unit getting him and his papers back. I'm still unconvinced that he didn't manage to sneak an extra set of copies to Caesar's goons.
So you want my stamp of approval for full militarization of this colossal cock-up? Fine. You still require a 'mass-bombardment' test phase. It just so happens that I know of the perfect site, well away from anywhere that anypony cares about, operated by somepony that NOpony should care about. Specifically, the employer of the same stupid cunt that let the zebra "move to his new job" on his own. It seems that they have a sewer roach problem...
I turned my head to look outside, out across the quarter-mile of alleys and twisting streets between us and the Casino Royale. The sun was just beginning to poke above the treeline-horizon beyond, casting its first rays across the murky fog permeating those streets and alleys. All that murky pink fog.
Celestia's sweaty ballsack.
For all that I liked to think I prized knowledge, sometimes I hated learning new things.
Footnote: Level Up.
Skill Note: Science (25) |
Calbeck | 679 | 13 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2012-10-07T10:26:00+00:00 | 2021-03-10T12:20:03+00:00 | 2,747 | CHAPTER THIRTEEN: For a Few Derps More
If you're going to shoot, shoot. Don't talk.
Domino stepped up alongside me, casting a casual gaze across the same pink-filled alleys and streets I was doing my best not to grimace at. The immediate reality laid out before me was made worse by the discovery of how it came to be there in the first place.
Bug spray. It's an overpowered-death-magic bug spray, repurposed to kill zebras. It works just fine on us ponies too. On everything that lives. It even worked on our Princesses.
Everypony, down to the village idiots of the most backwater burgs in Coltifornia, knew what had ultimately destroyed Equestria. It wasn't a lack of coal, or a war, or even the hellish rain of balefire bombs.
It was losing the Princesses.
Celestia and Luna were loved and respected by all --- at least publically, if not in some folks' honest hearts. While our ruling deities lived, directing the paths of sun and moon for the benefit of all and stepping in to settle our occasional squabbles even-hoofedly, rebellion and feuding had been undesirable things.
So the zebras bombarded Canterlot. They forced our Sun and Moon to put all their powers into maintaining the city's defensive shield. Then, from within the city itself, they triggered a massive Pink Cloud release. When the shield-bubble filled up, the Princesses and nobles and people inside all just... melted away.
And so did the heart of Equestria.
All because we wanted a better way to protect crops. And then somepony decided it would be even better for killing zebras. And then the zebras got their hooves on it, too.
The end of everything began right here.
The pegasi were first out of the gate, citing the dual loss of Cloudsdale and Canterlot as justification to leave the ancient Triple-Crown Accord. They founded their "Grand Pegasus Enclave", sewed up the skies over most of the continent --- probably would have done it everywhere, if they'd had the horsepower to pull it off --- and declared any pegasus who didn't retreat with them a race-traitor. I briefly wondered what the Zoomers thought of that.
For most of everypony else, surviving Balefire Day didn't mean surviving the Wasteland it left behind.
Even with so many dead, there wasn't enough left to go around. It didn't help that the Enclave's perpetual cloud cover blocked out sunlight and over-watered the land, making it hard for even the best earth-pony farmers to till the soil productively. Here in the Desert Southwest it was the reverse: without dedicated pegasus weather teams to bring rain (not counting the occasional random "assists" from Nellie AFB), our high plains yielded little. We'd've starved out a long time ago, if not for the crops from central Coltifornia's few untainted river valleys.
Scavenging made up the difference for a while, but as pickings grew scarce, fighting began over what remained. Even before that, many had turned to raiding as an easier way to get by than hard, honest labor. What was left of Equestria --- if anything of it really could be said to have made it past B-Day --- broke into hundreds of armed camps, squabbling over the bones left behind.
Who can laugh, in a world of desolation? Who can be generous, when sharing means suffering? Who can be kind, when it invites attack? Who can be honest, when survival demands deception? Who can you be loyal to, when everypony is a cynical, greedy, paranoid liar?
And come to think of it, didn't that last bit describe ME just about perfectly?
I'd taken a dragon's hospitality for the night, then the playing cards off his warm corpse in the morning. I'd left a petty thief nailed to a crucifix, without so much as a drop of water or a mercy bullet. I'd promised to help a buck, just to get the key to his room and rob him blind. I'd gotten so angry at Pink-E's incessant artificial cheeriness, that I said and did things just to twist her programming into a miserable knot.
So much for generosity, kindness, honesty, even laughter. And loyalty? A bounty hunter's loyalty began and ended with a sack of bottle-caps. I felt a smothering blanket of depression settling onto my shoulders.
Celestia help me. I'm just another part of the fucking problem.
Domino bobbed his head, satisfied with his idle survey. "Yeah, that's about what I figured. Time to take the high road, kid."
My self-deprecating reverie popped like a soap bubble, leaving me blinking at the ghoul. "What?"
He turned a smirk born of the ages on me. "The 'high road'. You think I've stayed this good-looking, this long, by hiking around in that crap when I didn't have to?" He pointed a hoof across the rooftops, porticoes and archways, their tops for the most part standing above the Cloud's cresting undulations. "The only drawback's that it wasn't meant as a road. Lotsa scrabbling, climbing, jumping and backtracking to get where ya need to be... or it would be, if I hadn't been doing all that for longer than I really care to think about."
It was like seeing one of those trick paintings, you know, where somepony shows you a black vase but it turns out to be two white Earth ponies looking at one another? Maybe it was because most of the sleep I'd gotten in the last week had been drug-induced, but now that it was pointed out to me...
Uugghh... if only I had some Mint-als right now to help pick myself up. And if only it wouldn't set off a load of whining from the robot-skull of my great-whatever-grand-aunt if I did.
I turned back to see Pink-E and God waiting expectantly. Domino was already, carefully, stepping out of the ruined upstairs bedroom and onto the glazed-clay tiles of the adjoining roof. "Don't slip," he cautioned needlessly. "If the Ghosts hear you hit the ground, they'll come running. And if they don't getcha first, you'll still only have maybe a minute to get outta the Pink."
With that on our collective minds, we moved out on the last leg of this little odyssey.
* * * * *
Well, Domino and I moved out with it on our minds. Pink-E bobbed along on her levitation field, as usual, while God spread out those huge bat wings of his and flapped idly behind us just a pace or so above the tiles. Any higher, and the casino's defensive batteries would probably start picking him up and taking potshots.
It was kind of unnerving how quiet he was, even this close. By all rights, displacing that much air should be sending resounding booms to echo through the streets instead of his fwuf-fwuf-fwuf. Then I remembered:
Freaky alicorn magic. Right.
At least the Asspanic architectural style meant the roof slopes weren't bad, though we still moved slowly and carefully enough to avoid taking chances. Remembering to take my bloodied brass shoes off and stow them away also helped; I stole a look at God as I did so, to see how he was bearing up after my assault. The healing potion had fixed up his face right enough, but the wounds on his chest were slower to heal. Most likely, he was doing that himself, working off some of the magic he'd recently consumed in the form of disintegration bolts and Ghost-pudding.
Thinking about his dietary habits still made me shiver. Despite considering myself a discerning omnivore, I pretty much drew the line at things like sucking the souls of the undead through a juice-box straw. I took a moment to pat the top of my beaten-up old stormchaser hat, sighing with relief at feeling the lump of metal tucked into its interior sweatband. Last thing I wanted was to lose that, and with it God's loyalties.
The second-to-last thing I wanted was Domino behind me instead of ahead. I was pretty sure he'd tried to rifle my kit when pulling me off of God, from the way my stuff had been subtly shifted around without anything actually missing. There was one obvious reason for him to do that... if he had God's jail key, he wouldn't need the idiot tourist or his Ministry-of-Morale 'bot tagging along to cramp his style.
Sure enough, from time to time the ghoul would stop and point something out down below, waving at me to move a little ahead so I could "see better". I would just smile and say that we should keep moving if there wasn't any immediate danger, and that I put my trust in his expertise. He never seemed to take those compliments with better than a sickly smile.
The Ghosts left us alone, so long as we passed their ever-more-numerous clusters slowly and quietly. Once or twice, an inadvertent noise like a sneeze or cracking roof tile drew grunts and inquisitive howls, but they never seemed to look up. Eventually they would move along, and then we would do likewise.
On several occasions, the gaps between "road" segments were too far for me or Domino to leap. Pink-E could just hover across, and God could fly of course, even teleport. Domino explained that he'd always managed before by heading downstairs, crossing the street, and darting back up again, using routes he'd painstakingly cleared of debris over the decades. Why go to all that trouble, though, when God could just ferry us across? I saw no reason to expose ourselves to the Cloud any more than we had to.
But the big alicorn's head shook when I asked if he could take us both at once to speed things along. "My teleportation skills are good only for a few lengths, Redeemer, and I have never used them in conjunction with another being. Neither have I carried another in flight --- one of you might ride aback, but both at once would incur great risk."
Well, it was still faster and safer than running through necromantic bug spray, which was getting ever-thicker the closer we got to our goal. With Domino guiding us and God hopping us over the rough bits, our only real problem was the damned P.A. system.
And the deeper we went, the more literal that seemed to get.
The pops and squawks of the speakers we'd encountered so far slowly came to be replaced by never-ending static, hissing and growling like it had a mind of its own. The moment you heard its first faint whispers, you started developing a headache. The closer you got, the worse the pain, until you realized your nose was bleeding. That was also usually the point where my collar would begin to hiss, whereupon I'd start backing the hell up before I blew up.
I was never happier to have a silenced weapon. If I'd had to take those broadcasters out with the usual bang bang bang, we'd've been swarmed with Ghosts every time. As it was, I sometimes had to wait until one or two wandered away from a speaker, just in case the impact might get their attention.
"Try not to stumble into those close-up, kid," the ghoul said as I popped one at range. "The Pink's soaked into 'em for so long, even the static they put out's necromantic. And no -"
"- you don't know, so I shouldn't ask, got it," I finished for him, another smile on my muzzle to take the sharp off.
"Yeah," he half-muttered, taking a look down the street to make sure I'd hit what I was aiming for, ignoring the lack of static telling him I had. "I've seen a griffin gal try going after one with a sledgehammer. Halfway to it, her eyes started bleeding. She missed, then kept bumping off the walls trying to get outta there. They might say there's no good way to die? Well, that's one've the real bad ones."
* * * * *
Then there's the times you just wish you were dead.
It began with me asking: "How the hell are we going to get past that mess?"
Despite having worked our way up, down, around and across easily a mile's worth of the labyrinthine rooftop route, we'd finally hit a dead end barely halfway to our objective.
Centuries of magical-pesticide saturation had taken its toll on the stucco-and-gypsum-board construction. It had grown increasingly rickety as concentrations of Cloud got thicker, to the point where the last couple of office buildings had rumbled and swayed threateningly when Domino and I jumped from one to the other. A broken stub of archway jutted out halfway across the street, beyond which...
Beyond which was a roiling expanse of pink, lapping against the unyielding monstrosity that was the Casino Royale proper. Built of seamlessly-fitted granite and marble blocks, rising up to tower against the sky, it gave off the inescapable impression of a great tombstone marking the death of an entire civilization.
What buildings had once stood between hither and yon had since fallen beneath the mists, barely visible save for the tips of the tallest ruins. Not even a zebra-circus acrobat could hopscotch across that, and even if she could, it was unlikely that any of the protrusions would hold much weight.
The Pink burbled and hissed with a regular rhythm, setting my teeth on edge.
Domino pointed to our left. "Somewhere down that way, if you're feeling particularly suicidal, are the ponyholes down to the talismans. I spent a year or so triangulating the Cloud's flow, mostly just out of sheer boredom." His hoof swept further left, into a wide arc that took in most of the complex. "From there, the stuff filters through the whole sewer system until it gushes into the Coltorado. Can't've managed to poison Lake Cider yet, or everypony'd be dead and you wouldn't be here. But hey, if you wanna be a big-damn hero? You might even make it down there and shut this crap off before you're slimed."
I shot him a grin. "What? And take God's key with me? You wouldn't mind holding onto it 'til I get back, wouldja?"
For the barest of instants his eyes flashed, and then he caught himself with a not-altogether-forced laugh. "Can't blame a buck for hoping, mister." Then his eyes grew serious. "Just remember, though --- you'll still need me to guide you out, same as I'm getting you in. Don't even think about double-crossing me."
A toss of my head and a dirty look indicated the expanse of Pink between us and the Royale. "Before I double-cross you, I'm pretty sure we've gotta single-cross that."
Pots and kettles... and did he just call me 'mister'? I must be moving up in the world.
Idle banter and one-ups weren't going to solve this problem, though. We were still about an eighth of a mile from where a broad half-moon of marble stairs spilled down from the courtyard patio into the Cloud. Just past that I could glimpse the doors themselves, big and solid and logo-stamped like a letter with unbroken sealing wax. Down below roamed the shadows of Ghosts, moving slowly through the corrosive currents.
A mountainous island awash in pink seafoam, the Royale awaited our decision with monolithic patience.
A sudden thought struck me upside the brain. "Even if we get across, how do we know the doors'll open?"
Domino smirked. "I said I was 'getting' you in. There's probably other ways, somewhere around the place, but I had the penthouse reserved before everything went to Tartarus. Never even got to activate my key... so as far as the casino knows, I'm still paid up with V.I.P. come-and-go privileges."
The smirk shifted into a mocking bow. "And you guys? My valued guests. Just have the big guy fly me over, and I'll get the red carpet rolling."
Oh, like FUN you will. I lifted a hoof to my muzzle and pondered the factors.
We needed the ghoul in first, to get those doors open as quickly as possible, and he at least theoretically still needed us to get him back out past the Ghost Herd. But who knew what really lay inside the Casino itself? He might. For all I knew, he could pull out a passkey, laugh maniacally, activate an army of robots hidden away centuries ago expressly for the purpose of taking over what was left of Equestria, and lord it over everypony like a colt with a toy snowglobe.
Sure, that sounded kind of stupid once I'd had a moment to reflect on it. But in the end, I still didn't know jack from molly about the two-hundred-and-whatever-year-old schemer, much less what he was capable of.
Pink-E, for all that I'd been thinking of her in terms of being a live pony, was an unliving machine. The Cloud's necromantic effects wouldn't likely do much to her, and she should be able to stay above the Ghosts' notice, but her servos weren't powerful enough to carry much more than a set of saddlebags.
And God couldn't teleport that far, or carry more than one of us at a time. If he was still fwuffing his way back to me after dropping Domino off, the ghoul might duck inside and slam the door behind. Maybe Pink-E should go over with him --- and do what, her Mesm-O-Tron thing? Would it even work on a ghoul, and if it did, what was the risk of our doorpony's head spontaneously exploding? There were so many ways this could go pear-shaped on a moment's notice.
"Somehow," I muttered to myself, "we need a way for all of us to get over there at once..."
Pink-E giggled. "Oh, I think I know a way!"
Before I even looked up at her, I knew I was going to regret asking. "You do, huh...?"
Her smile spread from one rubber cheek to the other. "It's really no stretch of the imagination! Don't you always do your best work under pressure? If you just think inside the ball, you'll expand your horizons...!"
I was still working through the pun barrage when an unwanted hissing started up from below my chin.
Luna's coagulated afterbirth, NO!
* * * * *
Squirming and flailing to no effect against the constraints of my godsdamned suit, I wanted nothing more just then but to travel five minutes back in time --- just five fucking minutes! --- so I could warn myself to shoot Pink-E before she did this to me!
How could I have been so stupid?! Built by the Ministry of Morale, programmed by its Ministry Mare, dropping hints all the time about having classified information in her memory blocks... of COURSE she'd have the fucking control codes for the MoM's "Fun Suits"!
Deep down I still thought of Pink-E as a robot, and robots shouldn't be able to make their own decisions. Even so, I should have noticed that she would often do things that seemed random, but were usually meant to benefit me --- from the robot's point of view. Now, she'd figured out a way to get all of us across, and it did have a certain elegant mathematical model to it... the appreciation of which I verbalized as:
"When I get out of this thing, YOU'RE ALL FUCKING DEAD!"
It came out somewhat muffled, given that everything in our collective inventory which could be wrapped protectively around my head, hooves and tail had been. Every other part of me was already covered by the suit itself, which had been inflated to the point that it bulged out around my extremities. At least my stormchaser was still on underneath all the bandages, its ratty old goggles slid down over my eyes for whatever protection that might still be worth.
Great. I'm a rubber-ball mummy. I bet somepony somewhere would pay good caps to see this if they perched me on an Asstec sarcophagus, maybe threw in a stupid ghost story to boot...
Pink-E giggled, Domino barked a laugh, and God called out, "REDEEMER! PREPARE YOURSELF!"
The three of them lifted me up, balancing the oversized spheroid and its unwilling occupant atop the ruined half-archway. Faced with the threat of unbalancing, looking down into the depths of imminent dissolution, I ceased my pointless struggles. It'd become tougher to do, anyways, what with the pit of my stomach having suddenly decided to go on vacation. I wished that I could join it. Maybe on some sunny southern Coltifornia beach, sharing a cold beer together -
God bucked the big blue balloon-suit, and my ass with it, into next week.
Aw, shit...
For two-point-seven seconds, I prayed to every angelic being I could think of that my slightly-upward trajectory might cross the entire hundred lengths, depositing me neatly and safely on that distant patio of white marble. Once the inevitable drop began I closed my eyes tight, tugged my head as far back into the suit as I could, and silently cursed everypony I'd ever known, starting with Pink-E.
Even through the wrappings, I felt the Cloud caress my scrunched-up face, tickle my hooves, and tease at my tail as the balloon-suit and I plunged into its depths. It wasn't the least bit comforting.
*BWOM*
In the space of half a length and one instant, I came to a complete stop, the shock of impact spreading throughout the ball's horizontal axis. The sphere distorted, yanking my neck, dock and ankles apart for that same instant before rebounding up and forwards. I wanted to be thankful that the suit hadn't simply burst on impact, but I felt a cold dread instead as my wrappings loosened just slightly. A renewed set of prayers, this time for the duct tape holding it all in place...
My upward progress began to slow, and then something slammed into the suit below my rump --- Pink-E, doing her job of keeping the momentum going. With her ability to track the suit's collar, as well as any threats and potential terrain problems invisible to the rest of us under all that Cloud, she was acting as both booster and guidance system.
And here comes GOD!
*BOMF*
The big black alicorn had his own job. Flapping his way across the swirls of candy-colored necromancy, with Domino and my saddlebags draped over his back, he applied some raw horsepower whenever my ball bounced back into the clear. Pink-E'd called it "dribbling", saying she'd gotten the idea from an ancient game about trotting around with a globe or some other inane drivel. And was God whistling while he did it?
With the Cloud almost three lengths deep, the casino's defenses likely to trigger above five, and the suit itself being a bit less than one-and-a-half wide when pumped this big, the math was clear-cut. Pink-E calculated that after God's kick-off, it would take ten bounces to get me to the patio... assuming nothing went wrong. In theory, it could be done in three, if all caution was thrown to the wind, and I didn't mind a high likelihood of rebounding off the Casino and back into the Pink...
Steady and careful it was, then.
My first trip down had been in utter blackness, being as that I'd had my eyed squeezed tightly shut. This time I couldn't help myself: if death was coming at me, I wanted to see it in time to scream first.
It wasn't the worst idea, and it wasn't the best. I nearly hit a pair of Ghosts walking along below, who startled and reared with surprise.
*BWOM*
I bounced over their heads and away, hoping they would forget what they just saw... and then the screaming began. No, not mine! I was saving that for later, when holding my breath might be less important than cursing the planet.
A vaguely sprawling shadow ahead resolved into a giant pile of rubble, and then Pink-E was shoving me up and to the left, sending the suit over a gap and into clean air once more. I chanced a quick gasp, regretting it as the slightest taste of Cloud settled on my tongue, then spat into the wrappings. It was nothing so bad as what we'd been through earlier, but I wanted as little of this stuff in me as possible...
*BOMF*
Back down, and now it seemed that we were over a wide, clear space. The screaming of the damned got louder. This time I didn't land anywhere near the Ghosts, but I could see them around the periphery, trotting around and clearly agitated.
*BWOM*
The bounce, the rebound, the wrappings were definitely a little looser. Cold sweat prickled in the roots of my mane as I was bumped up to meet God's hooves once more. I thought about trying to shout a warning, though not about the Ghosts... I was sure they could all hear the noise better than I could, at the moment.
But if the duct tape came loose --- well, it didn't really matter anyway. I could figure the odds of reversing course in my head, and they weren't better than just muddling through. Fourth bounce, coming up...
*BOMF*
A half-dozen yellow suits with bubble helmets were already converging on where they apparently expected I'd land, much quicker on the uptake than we'd been hoping. Domino had better be able to get those doors open the second we get there! Pink-E bumped me to the right.
*BWOM*
I struck just short of a long planter full of slime-encrusted dirt, missing the unwelcoming committee entirely, bouncing away once more as they charged after. A bump from below... and then shortly after, another? Pink-E was extending the bounce for some reason.
The sudden secondary impact popped the tape free from my tail-wrap. I almost let that reserve scream loose as the previous teasing instantly shifted to the sensation of hungry clawing, strands of death-magic plucking at the longer strands of hair trailing behind. Fortunately the suit itself acted as a Cloud-plow of sorts, pushing it briefly aside as I sailed through, but not well enough that it couldn't still grab a nibble.
I mentally revised my list of things I never wanted to happen, moving "Necromancy Eating My Dock" to the top. I could hear Domino shouting something as I reached the apex of this longer arc, but I couldn't quite catch it...
*BOMF* Five. Halfway now...
My goggles were fogging over with Cloud residue. The suit seemed to be holding up well enough, but I couldn't tell how the wraps were doing. I also couldn't tell what the Ghosts were doing. Whatever it was, Pink-E gave me two course corrections on the way down...
*BWOM*
...and another pair of boosts going back up. I was definitely going faster, and that was not according to plan. Domino's yelling was louder now, but higher-pitched and rather panicky-sounding. If not for these damned wraps --- which, I reflected, kept my face and other bits from melting off, that being kind of more important than hearing whatever the ghoul had to contribute at the moment.
*BOMF* Faster yet. Now God was accelerating me.
So, are we into 'oh fuck' territory yet?
Other than that, I had no time to think about anything before the next impact.
*BWOM*
It knocked my breath out. It popped every shred of failing duct tape free. It shocked my wrappings loose and they fell away. It was all I could do just to keep my mouth and eyes closed as Pink Cloud covered me.
And then somepony was smearing pepper juice into an open wound covering every exposed surface of my body, burrowing deep into hide and flesh. Oh wait, that was just the start of my body melting down into sludge. I found that my lungs still had enough air left for me to scream, all the way back up to open sky.
My upward momentum slowed. I started back down. No God-smack this time? No Pink-E boost or nudge? Had the Ghosts gotten them somehow?
I couldn't take the suspense of passively waiting for my doom. My eyes snapped open behind the rotting goggles, just in time to watch the marble-faced tiles of the Royale's front patio arcing towards me, three bounces too early.
Too fast, too fast, oh fffff -
A sudden bump from behind, I heard Pink-E... scream? and I was spinning backward. The whole of the Royale filled my pink-tinted vision as it spun past. And then I bounced.
The ball's deformation threatened to quarter me then and there. My ass smacked tile right through the rubber, my head felt like it was about to be ripped off my spinal column, and then I was airborne again, with a huge pink puff of Cloud residue and the remnants of my long-abused hat trailing behind. Then I bumped into, and off of, the solidity of the Royale itself.
Oh hey! We made it! said one of the little versions of me that staggered around my head as I spun backwards, out of control. Sure, said one the of the less-concussed-looking ones, And since we hit too hard, we're all gonna bounce back into the Cloud and die now.
Y'know, sometimes there's such a thing as being a little too frank with oneself.
"Hey! HEY, DON'T...!" Then a loud curse. That was Domino.
Fwuf-fwuf-fwuf-THOOMP! That wasn't. Both spin and backwards motion stopped. A moment later, big red eyes and sharp white fangs were smiling upside-down at me. Wait, no, that was a frown. "Are you well, Redeemer? I heard you shout."
"Fuck HIM, you dropped ME!" shouted Domino from somewhere below. "Nevermind, I'm on the door! Get him down here before those dead fuckers crash the party!"
Where was Pink-E? God had clamped onto the still-inflated Fun Suit with all four legs and was trying to set me down as gently as he could. I felt pressure beneath my belly as we touched down... and then more pressure from above. A lot more pressure. "Um... God?"
An irritated snort sounded from above. "I am... stuck." A fwuf-fwuf, and we both lifted slightly into the air before he set back down. "Damnation! I did not have difficulty gripping this ball, why can I not let go of it?"
The collective wails of the luminescent undead drew closer. The only plus-side right now was that my face and hooves were no longer in the process of melting off. That last big impact had knocked all the Pink off --- and also my hat with its attached goggles. I was going to miss that old thing; we'd been through so much together...
Domino sounded less than amused. "Stop playin' around and help me with these doors, dammit!"
Help HIM with the doors? Fuck! And why wasn't Pinkie just deflating the suit by now?!
Sweat rolled down my cheek. "Try rocking to get your hind hooves on the ground, then walk backwards!"
"Ah, yes, of course, that should work..." The balloon shifted forward, back, I heard a pair of solid clops, and then God walked the Fun Suit off of his belly until he held its still-spherical form --- and me --- steady in his forehooves. "Thank you, Redeemer. But now we must get you inside, once the doors are open. Perhaps if I rolled you to your objective..."
"That isn't funny!" At first, I thought it was Domino again --- the ghoul's voice had been pitching anxiously upward on his last couple of comments. Then the suit made its giant sucking sound, I landed on the cool, sweet, not-burning-my-face marble, and Pink-E was all up in my grill.
She looked like nine kinds of hell.
Her face was squashed, half-melted, burnt black in places. The bouncy pink mane had gone flat, singed and tattered. Her antennae sparked erratically, and even her blue-sapphire eyes were surrounded by whites gone --- bloodshot?
"GET. IN. SIDE."
That wasn't a request, it wasn't a suggestion, and it wasn't a robot trying to be helpful.
I got my hooves up under me and moved.
When God had dumped Domino in order to catch me, he'd also dumped my saddlebags. Their flaps were open and several tchotchkes had spilled out across the patio, such as that saloon snowglobe I'd picked up in Goodsprings. If the buckles had burst, that'd be one thing, but it wasn't. The ghoul'd been looking for God's key again...
The key!
I looked around for a few half-panicked moments before spotting it, lying amid the disintegrating remnants of my poor old stormchaser. I ran over, mouthed it up, and galloped to my bags, hastily shoving everything back in and fumbling with the buckles.
"Domino?" I yelled, trying to keep my voice at the level of concern instead of panic, "How're we doing back there?"
"Took my ID, but the fuckin' things're heavy! They're supposeta open automatically, dammit!"
Down where the half-moon stairs dropped into surging pink fumes, the first shadows had arrived. Hazmat-suited hell-ponies, howling in their bubble helmets, charged upwards out of the mist. I reflexively went for the holster of my ten-mil pistol... and it wasn't there. Because I'd packed it into my bags, along with everything else but my hat, since when the suit inflated it would knock everything else I was wearing right off. ARGH!
God came flying out of nowhere, sideswiping the entire first wave with a colossal body tackle. As he bucked and kicked and bit at the first few Ghosts, more came running up out of the Pink, converging on him. Using the moments purchased with alicorn heroism, I threw my pack onto my back, secured it, and grabbed my pistol out --- then blinked down at the ornate piece of brasswork in my mouth. That wasn't my pistol --- it was Dog's, and it tasted funny. Was that hickory?
Well, it's mine now, and to hell with how it tastes. Wastelanders can't be choosers!
The broad, curved staircase was not terribly defensible, not against sheer numbers. A third wave was already coming up from another direction, ignoring the mob still trying to drag God down. The alicorn didn't have to be told that we were fighting for time; he would let them pile on, then back up a step while punting a Ghost or two back down with main force. I snapped into S.A.T.S. and started queuing the newcomers.
Celestia bless whoever came up with this PipBuck thing. I love it! There's not much better, in a pitched battle, as being able to take your time with decision-making. In this case, I figured I'd best double-tap the first two of the four charging me, even though the --- wait, what the fuck?
My pistol wouldn't let me queue more than three shots. Then I noticed each was taking up segments of an indicator bar marked "Action", something I'd paid no real attention to previously. More than that, each shot had its own sliding bar... I could allocate extra "Action" if I wanted. When I tried jiggling that, a notice popped up:
DAMAGE x1.25
Oh really?
The Ghosts were nothing so speedy as a Zoomer launching a rainboom. They were still locked into the same frame of motion they'd been when I kicked S.A.T.S. on. So I could afford to mess with this a bit... whoa! Apparently I could allocate the ENTIRE "Action" bar to a single shot, or even carry it over to another "Action Phase", whatever that was. It probably just meant that it would take longer than firing four normal ten-mil shots to fire one overpowered round from Dog's gun.
Nah. I didn't have that kind of time to experiment. Maybe once we weren't all about to be killed by ravening janitorial-minded demons. Besides, even just using up the one bar for a single shot brought up a new indicator, suggesting possible damage to the gun. No thank you!
I finally decided on one shot apiece for the two closest, powered up to half-again the projected firepower, let S.A.T.S. loose, and damn near lost the pistol as it kicked me in the tonsils. If it'd been small enough, I'd've swallowed it! Each of my targets fell back with explosions of pink mist, their suits blasted down the stairs like headless rag dolls. What the hell was this pistol packing?!
No time to worry about that, here come the others! I scrambled backwards, lining up Mouthkicker's brass sights on the closer of the two remaining. Eh... not a terribly creative name, I guess, but it works. Weird as all hell, though: the grip tasted of sweat and grime (Dog's for sure), and my tonguetip was still stuck up in between the trigger and something else from when S.A.T.S had taken me over to do its thing. When I squeezed down to fire, a little green light flickered on just below the rear sights, but no joy... frustrated and with that third Ghost almost on top of me, I yanked the trigger with a desperate prayer.
Sometimes, apparently, religion pays off. Mouthkicker bucked again, this time nowhere near as hard but just as effectively. The Ghost's head and helmet popped with a sound of shattering glass.
Then his buddy tackled me. Rubber-booted hooves clamped onto both sides of my head.
Back to S.A.T.S., please!
Time froze once more, but it didn't look good. My action bar hadn't had much time to rebuild itself. I regretted never having taken the time to learn a few take-down manuevers, something like a Zebra Flip or whatever it was called. I regretted promising Pink-E to lay off the Buck and Dash, both of which'd been so useful for close combat back in Slimm, and further chastised myself for not keeping a dose in my packs "just in case".
Eventually I'd have to come out of the spell, and then this thing would probably crush my head or break my neck. I scanned through every menu my PipBuck had, searching for anything that looked like it might... no, not Turbo again. That helped me run, and I didn't see that as being helpful while flat on my back.
But right below "Turbo" was something new... "Wallbuster"? Worth a shot. What's the worst that could... now I was looking at Domino. What?
He yelped with surprise and blinked at me through the barely-open doorway. "How the fuck... nevermind! Grab here and PULL!" I did, putting everything I had into it. The door slowly opened, accompanied by a harsh grinding noise.
The ghoul finally managed to push his way in, followed immediately by Pink-E. Back on the patio, God was in furious melee with a full dozen Ghosts, snapping and whirling and bucking as they tried to swarm him under. I cupped my hooves together and yelled at him.
"GOD! WE'RE CLEAR, LET'S GO!"
He didn't need a second invitation. The big alicorn popped open his wingspan, sending several Ghosts flying in all directions, then spun and galloped for the door. Domino and I pulled, grinding it open as far and fast as we could, and then God was through, trampling the plush carpets of the Casino Royale. The patio outside was almost invisible beneath the lines of emergency-yellow and howling pink murder coming straight for us.
We let the door go.
SLAM!
* * * * *
"Slap me with a trout and call me Sally," breathed Domino. “I’d forgotten what nice things look like."
It was like being transported through time, to the hay-days of Equestrian society.
Where the Lucky Chance had been dim, dusty, and faded, the Royale was bright and sparkling-clean throughout. No cracks marred the glossy-beige walls, no water stains spoiled the parquet floor. Broad carpets, sporting exotic patterns of white-on-blue, contrasted with the interweavings of mahogany and teak beneath. No trace of dust suggested the passage of even a day... let alone centuries.
And this was just the entry foyer. An oaken service desk dominated the center, effectively demarcating the casino’s threshold by its massive presence. Pristine information terminals sat in an orderly row, each one flanked by four-color brochures and event schedules that didn’t seem to have aged any more than their surroundings despite their supremely disposable nature.
Even Pink-E, despite her singed edges and warped features, seemed impressed. "Ooooooh," she sighed, "Look at those data ports! I bet the transfer rate is through the roof!" The little robot darted towards the desk, eagerly extending her probe.
Even on my best days, she was much faster than me. Today wasn’t one of my best; between sleep-deprivation and gawking at our impossibly-well-preserved surroundings, my mouth was still opening to bark a warning when each service station flashed with soft orange light.
Instantly, a row of smiling ponies appeared behind the desk terminals. Blue and green and yellow and red, with pure-white manes and teeth to match, they nodded in polite unison. If not for the lines of muted orange flickering up and down their bodies, they could almost have passed for real.
"Welcome!" the holo-greeters cheerily intoned. "Thank you for choosing the Casino Royale to meet your entertainment, gaming, and relaxation needs.” The yellow one --- nearest to Pink-E, and thus probably the trigger for this automated welcome --- focused on the 'bot as the others went silent.
"You are registered as property, of a guest, of Mister Domino Mask. Informational access is restricted to Guest Level. VIP access may be obtained with the vocal permission of Mister Mask, plus affirmation of such authentication from our concierge.”
There were a few long moments. Then the holo-pony blinked, as though remembering something important. “I am afraid all management personnel, including our concierge, are on extended sick leave. VIP authorization cannot be granted at this time. Our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause."
Pink-E turned back with a pouty “hmph!”.
I gave Domino an incredulous look. "The place looks like it just opened yesterday."
The ghoul flashed a grin and took a moment to adjust his frayed old pinstripe tuxedo. "Still a tourist. This place never did open, kid, not officially. Day before it was gonna, bombs fell, everypony died. Hell, I only got my access and penthouse a day early because Uptown Eclair owed me big-time.”
He took a long look around the foyer, a glint in his stone-green eyes. “And it’s long past payday.”
A little pink pony in my head yelled brahminshit. I shook my head. “Even places that’ve been kept up since the bombs dropped are run-down. Everything ages, but not this place...”
Domino was already edging towards the casino proper, focused on two centuries’ worth of pent-up greed while blithely ignoring the obvious. I blew out a sigh of frustration.
Something is just not right here...
The only one who didn’t seem at all impressed was God, still busily licking bits of Ghost from his hide and hooves. The dull-black areas where he’d been bludgeoned were slowly regaining their glossy sheen as the alicorn swapped magical energy for physical rejuvenation.
I couldn’t help but smile at the big lug. “Nothing really fazes you, does it?”
He turned, focusing calm crimson eyes on me. “Shock and awe are paralytic. Indulging in them could hinder service to a Redeemer, delaying my redemption for no useful purpose.”
Well, damn, son. Talk about stoic as all Tartarus...
Flash. Flash. Flash. Flash. Flash.
Five balls of orange light resolved into two white ponies in crisp-looking bellhop outfits, flanked by three more in the business-before-pleasure attire of security guards.
The bellhops smiled, gesturing towards small cubicles adjoining the casino entrances. “For the convenience and comfort of our guests, the Service Desk manages all luggage. Please place your luggage in one of these containers for transport. Penthouse residents, and their guests, will find their bags awaiting them in their suites. All others will be stored safely in the casino vault until your departure.”
The security guards did not smile at all. “For the safety and security of our guests, no weapons of any lethality are allowed beyond this point. Please move to either side of the Service Desk, and place all such items in one of the Security Transport Lockers you will find there. They will be placed in the casino vault, to be returned upon your departure.”
Son of a BITCH!
For a moment, I was paralyzed with indecision. Eclair’s Stable was somewhere under the casino, while Domino’s penthouse was all-too-obviously in exactly the opposite direction. And where was this vault located? Domino had said there might be other ways out of the Royale, but if we couldn’t get our weapons back without returning to the foyer, we’d end up having to fight our way out the front door, through an already-aroused mob of Ghosts...
The guards were turning yellow. All three intoned, intimidatingly, “You have ten seconds to comply.”
Screw it, we can figure this out later!
I quickly dashed to the right-side locker and started tossing in everything I had on me that might be considered “lethal”. Domino, on the left, was already done and setting his saddlebags into the luggage cubicle by the time I finished. Purple flashes of teleportation magic signaled the departure of his gear.
But the important thing was that the hologram-guards were settling down to normal colors, instead of riddling me with laser beams. I had a sudden mental image of my legs shot so full of holes they looked like Swish cheese, just as I dropped my saddlebags into the bin and everything I wasn’t wearing disappeared with a purple flash.
Pink-E bobbed on through the left-side checkpoint, followed by God and Domino. Apparently the ‘bot’s brain-exploding eyepiece still counted as “non-lethal” to the casino, while the alicorn depended on no artificial augmentation to be a natural engine of destruction. And me? I still had my trusty ten-millimeter pistol, tucked safely into the hair of my tail -
“You have FIVE SECONDS to comply.”
The klunk of my last gun hitting the bottom of the locker, just before it flashed away, left me feeling more naked than if I’d stripped down and done the hula for a bunch of zebras.
Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Somepony (+1 CHA) - You've become less self-centered, more considerate of the needs and well-being of others. Pinkie Pie would be proud of you!
Skill Note: Speech (50) |
Calbeck | 679 | 14 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2013-01-18T04:32:28+00:00 | 2021-03-11T05:28:50+00:00 | 2,858 | CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The Good, the Bad, and the Derpy
“When that rope starts to pull tight, you can feel a Windigo bite your ass.”
Domino chortled as he led the way into the main hall, throat-gaps flapping like the world’s most disturbing set of gills. His grin was so wide, I could see blackened gums. It occurred to me then that if Domino had been here since B-Day, but the Casino Royale had never been hit with balefire bombs... then how did he become a ghoul in the first place?
From what little I knew on the subject, ghouls had been normal ponies once, but exposure to the necromantic radiation of balefire had transformed them into ever-rotting, never-dying shades of the past. Some said that ghoulification happened all at once, like if you were right there when the bombs hit, or were unlucky enough to stumble into an old bombardment zone where high levels of radiation continued to linger. Others opined that you could become a ghoul over time by gradual exposure.
If it didn’t kill you first, of course.
I had to wonder if the same was possible for this Pink Cloud stuff. It too was necromantic, yet it was clear the Ghosts lived and maybe even thrived in the stuff. But Domino wasn’t anything like them... was he?
“Heh, heh, heh... good old Uptown Eclair.” The too-smooth ghoul stopped for a moment to sweep an unchipped hoof about. “Lookit this place he built. All that money, all that power, what did it get him? The best mausoleum in Equestria, with me trotting around inside as easy as you please.”
I couldn’t very well fault his assessment. The cavernous atrium, sprawling beneath a frescoed ceiling three stories high, presented a tomb-like atmosphere of silent ostentation. I could easily imagine the Kingdom of Canterlot having once had similar places in which to inter their deceased royals --- all but the last of them, of course. Tombs and graveyards had largely gone out of style since then, being that while one death might have been worth reflecting upon, millions meant too many corpses to fuss over like this.
Our hoof-steps across the carpet-on-parquet flooring, identical to that in the foyer, produced a lag between step and echo which faintly suggested ghosts trailing in our wake. To distract myself from that creepy train of thought, I busied myself with looking up at the frescoes overhead.
There, in romanticized relief, still-brilliant colors told the history of ponykind’s exploration and settlement of the great southwestern deserts collectively known as the San Palomino.
Courageous bucks wore denim work overalls and straw hats, faithful fillies in pretty gingham dresses at their sides, all smiling and looking towards a brighter future in the untamed West. Along the south side, long strings of canvas-topped Connemara wagons crossed the Moohave, while others braved the Ponave to the north. Each encountered adversities ranging from savage buffalo herds to dangerous monsters to thirst and disease as they went, the hardy pioneers triumphing over each through determination and yadda-yadda-yadda, boooooooor-ing! I wondered how many of them had ever thought of their routes in terms of “bullets-per-mile”.
Did they even have guns in those days? Squinting closely, I spotted an instance of ponies behind barricades throwing pies at an opposing line of charging buffalo. Part of me hoped the genes carrying that peculiar brand of stupidity had been annihilated shortly thereafter.
All in all, it was an appropriate enough epitaph for a bygone era, its freshly-remembered spirit seeming to mingle with the conjured ghosts of our hoof-falls. Beyond the oppressive sense of lost history, there was nothing else at all for a visitor to see.
...which didn’t really make much sense.
If the bombs fell the day before this place held its grand opening, wouldn’t there have been something here for the expected guests? Maybe the rotten remnants of a planned banquet, or a concert orchestra’s abandoned instruments, or... well, something!
The closest we came to that was at the midway point, when we passed a bandstand shaped to look like a giant white seashell upon a shallow dais. In the center, a single music stand had been set up, accommodating a performer who had never played for an audience which had never arrived.
Sadly, the only respite from the melancholy was Domino’s continual gloating over a dead guy.
“He was a buck used to getting what he wanted, no bones about it. Grew up rich, made friends easy, got to be a pretty big society name. Nopony told him no, not if they wanted to peddle influence in his circles. With so many high-rollers dying to make him happy, he barely had to ask for anything. The dumb sonovabitch...”
Though his mocking tones went unabated, a glance in his direction revealed a tightly-drawn scowl of jealousy. If you could really consider this place a tomb, he was busy making sure the spirits of the dead --- or, at least, one particular spirit --- knew he was stamping on the grave.
“All these years later, I still can’t believe it. He goes to the Grand Galloping Gala this one time, right? Sees some blonde pegasus floozy with messed-up vision issues and bubbles on her butt. He doesn’t know a damned thing about the mare, but bam, he’s head over hocks at first sight. Totally infatuated.”
He snorted disgustedly, sending up a long plume of gray cigarette smoke. “But does he go over and say ‘hi’? Oh, nooooo, that’s ‘crass’. Bucks like you and me, we’d just break the ice and be done with it, but not Uptown Eclair." Domino stopped briefly to press a hoof to his chest and flutter his eyelashes, dragging the words out into a singsong sneer. "He was a Canterlot pony.”
The ghoul took another puff on the cancer-stick before resuming his swaggering saunter. “Uptight Asshole, more like,” he said. "He has to make with the whole ritual courtship protocol, see? So he waits a couple of hours and then sends some flunkie to ‘inquire after the lady’. But she was already done and gone.”
He chuckled at the memory. “None of his high-rolling friends knew anything about her --- why would they? A total nopony, hanging with some doctor who nopony knew either, him all chestnut hide and drab-brown mane that’d never seen the inside of a salon. I dunno how they even got tickets.”
The hall seemed to get longer the more Domino carried on about Eclair. I kept looking behind me, a twitchy feeling in my hooves, but he was too mired in the past to notice. Still, God seemed not the least bit perturbed as he brought up the rear, and my Eyes-Forward-Sparkle showed no bars on the compass except our own green. Pink-E, for her part, still looked singed, warped, and uncharacteristically uncomfortable.
I wanted to ask her how she was holding up, but Domino’s monologue continued apace and I was loathe to interrupt. Maybe if he rambled on long enough, he’d actually say something useful.
“For anypony daring enough to play off his ego, Eclair was a sucker’s sucker. Even if nopony knew who Little Miss Bubble-Flanks was, they all acted like they knew something because he was interested. Vague tidbits, rumors, speculation, a real gossip mill. Hah! By the time I got myself invited to one of his soirees, Eclair was half-convinced she was the Queen of Sheepa!”
Now that smooth, insouciant smile returned. “Me? I already knew who she was. Stupid bitch dropped a piano through the roof at a gig I was working the year before." He waved a dismissive hoof. “Just a delivery grunt, the kind other pegasi usta call hoi polloi. The kind none of Eclair’s fashionable pals could stoop low enough to notice.”
“So when conversation turned to the ‘Mare of Mystery’, I acted all shocked at her description. Might as well have been trolling a lure through a trout pond, they way they all came nibbling for morsels. And Uptown Eclair was the biggest fish of all.”
For a while there, it almost seemed like the hall might never end, that the rest of my existence would be reduced to enduring Domino’s self-absorbed babble until my eardrums fell out. As it was, between listening to him brag and looking up at the frescoes now and again, I nearly walked into the far wall.
In front of us, and to either side of the hall, were big double-doorways framed by beveled panes of thick, frosted glass, each tall rectangle admitting a soft glow of white light from beyond. At the apex of each was mounted a big brass plaque, the one before us reading “Casino” in broad curlique lettering. Southwards I could make out “Administration”, while going north led to “Elevators”.
My EFS still showed a complete lack of danger. My twitching hooves said differently. Domino looked up at the Casino doors, then turned towards me.
"All right, here's the deal. The Royale's bank vault also doubled as Eclair's personal, miniature Stable. Told me so himself, said he had it all set up so he could live the rest of his natural life down there in perfect comfort, if he had to. And he knew how to be comfortable, that's for sure... the lousy prick."
I stared at him. "You waited this long to tell us we're trying to break into a Stable?!" Something inside me marveled at the sheer stupidity of the idea. "What, did you smuggle in a few tons of plastic explosive up your plot? Or were you planning to lick your way through the blast door?"
He gave me a flat look, then reached into his tuxedo and pulled out two red lozenges of plastic marked with the casino logo. From each dangled a long brass key.
"Got wax in yer ears? I just said that Stable also doubles as the casino vault! Means the flesh-and-blood security types had to be able to get into it, didn't they? I haven't exactly been sitting on my flank all this time, watching the Pink roll by. What I went through to get these, I wouldn't wish on anypony... not even Eclair."
I bobbed my head in a brief apology. "Sorry. You were saying...?"
He blew out of the side of his mouth in annoyance, making a little show out of setting my outburst aside. "I was saying, we head down there and round up everything worth taking. Security won't bug us as long as we have these keys, so however many trips it takes, we drag it all upstairs to my penthouse and stuff our bags full."
I did my best to copy that look he'd just given me. "You haven't been waiting two centuries just for one saddlebag of loot. And that horde of death outside the front door isn't likely to be conveniently gone when we get back, either. You plan on God and me wiping out the whole Ghost Herd on the way out?"
That low chuffing of mirth sounded from his neck once more. "Fuck no, buddy. We are gonna leave here in style." He put the keys back into his jacket. When his hoof came back out, it held a card of blue plastic, embossed and rimmed with what had to be platinum.
"V.I.P. privileges include the airship garage built into the roof. My jumped-up old jalopy's right where I parked it --- next to Eclair's yacht.” He swept that hoof around again, taking in the spotlessly-maintained surroundings. “Whaddya wanna bet that both are in the same condition as the day the bombs fell?"
Naturally enough, our route to the vault below went through “Administration”, which door opened directly onto a large and tastefully-appointed office with a single receptionist’s desk. Behind it, an orange bar of light flickering up and down her body, sat a smiling brown unicorn mare in a smart business suit with reading glasses perched halfway down her nose. Green, too-bright eyes looked up at us as though we had interrupted something involving paperwork on her desk, though there wasn’t any at all.
She produced a professional smile and a singsong voice. “Chief Biscuit, Captain Slew, how pleasant to see you this afternoon. Please attend to your personal zipmail at your earliest convenience, as there are two thousand, six hundred, and forty-seven messages awaiting resolution.”
There was a brief pause as she looked towards God and Pink-E. “I see you are escorting the guest of a Very Important Pony, and are in possession of the robotic property of another such guest. At this time, neither the V.I.P. nor the owner of the robot are detected as being on casino grounds. As a reminder, Security Protocol B-5 is now in effect, pending resolution, via your respective terminals. Your offices are now unlocked.”
Behind her and to either side, two unmarked metal doors shimmered into existence --- more accurately, the holograms disguising them shimmered out of existence --- with the distinct clicking noises of deadbolts being pulled. Her horn lighting up to grasp a nonexistent pen, the hologrammatic pony’s eyes dropped back to her nonexistent paperwork, whereupon she proceeded with the most industriously pointless pantomime I had ever seen.
Domino and I looked at each other. I shrugged. “After you.”
* * * * *
What turned out to be the office of “Captain S. Slew” ended up being pretty cramped with the four of us (especially God) packed in there. Nonetheless, we agreed a little discomfort was better than taking a risk on splitting up, even briefly. Fortunately the only things inside were a terminal, the desk it sat atop, and a locker to one side.
It also turned out that the key Domino held identified him as Slew. Popping the Captain’s locker open revealed a shotglass, a half-empty bottle of Wild Pegasus whiskey, and a set of white-on-dark-blue riot barding, minus helmet. Domino stuffed the bottle into his jacket, but turned up his nose at the barding.
“Ain’t gonna catch me gadding about in copper-plate. Looks like it’d be more your style, kid.”
It was, too. Slew must’ve been a little on the small side, because it only took a few adjustments to fit the pieces into place. Out of habit, I checked my PipBuck for the assessed value and protective rating, then gave a low whistle at both. If I’d been doing nothing here but scavving, this outfit would’ve set me up for a few months of high living all by itself!
It wasn’t terribly comfortable, though; I found myself fidgeting with fastenings and nibbling where plates of bulletproof ceramic bulged beneath kevlar weave. It took a little time to get used to the way it shifted my center of gravity. On the plus side it had integrated tactical webbing, a set of small saddlebags, and holsters for both pistol and longarm.
The ghoul looked me up and down, then chuckled. “Like I said. Not that it’ll do ya any good, if this place decides to open up on us.” While I continued to fiddle with the armor, he impatiently slogged through “his” share of the accumulated messages the receptionist had mentioned. Apparently, leaving those unanswered blocked him from doing anything else on the system.
The first couple of pages were actually somewhat interesting, dating to the day before all Tartarus broke loose in Equestria. All routine stuff, no indications of any problems, with one exception: threats made by a worker who refused to enter the sewers wearing hazmat gear. He’d gotten violent, in the end, and was thrown into a detention cell somewhere in the main complex. Probably the same one I’d originally found God in, or one just like it.
Early guests had been arriving once the outer villas opened, a month before the formal opening Gala was planned. But after that, the Gala itself kept getting put off week after week. Captain Slew’s side notes suggested building frustration, as much due to disruptions in his schedule as any complaints from impatient customers. There was only one report dating to Balefire Day:
CRSEC2.378: ***EVAC EVAC EVAC***
The place is a madhouse.
I guess I’ve lost it, too, since after I finish this last shot, I’m heading back out there. To die.
I’ve got no illusions. Automated lockdown is in full effect. Our keys are useless to shut it down. I can still hear the perimeter batteries, firing on civilians trying to go over the wall because the front gates won’t open. The service portages are locked down tight, too. For fuck’s sake, even the fumigation talismans are blowing full-force in the sewers, so we can’t get out through the drainage pipes. The workers were right about those Celestia-damned suits, I lost Herald’s entire squad down there. They couldn’t even get to the manual shutoff.
Like any of it really matters anymore. I could see bombs falling around New Pegas. Something was shooting green shit back at them, but there were so many streaks in the sky, so many explosions... I couldn’t watch for long. I didn’t want to watch to begin with. Mandolin... it’s trite to say I hope you read this someday, and that I love you, but...
Fuck this. I’m leaving the armor, and the rest of this bottle. They’ll only slow me down.
Slew out. Celestia help us all.
After that, it was all automated system reports. Breakdowns, repairs, security breaches, energy expenditures and so on --- and it could only be deleted one page at a time. Domino hammered away at the keyboard peck by peck, griping about cramps and “carpal tunnel”, whatever that was.
After about an hour of this, God flopped down onto the floor from sheer boredom, and I draped myself over his barrel for lack of anywhere better to go. He pretty much took up the entire room at that point, unless I developed an ability to hover in mid-air like Pink-E.
Now that I thought on it, she’d been utterly silent since leaving the foyer. Once, I’d’ve thanked Celestia for the reprieve from her chattering, but now I kind of missed the background noise. And she still looked pretty messed up from her various dips in the Pink outside. I was just about to ask her how she was doing, when Domino sat back on his haunches and cracked his hocks with a satisfied “Hah!”
The main security menu finally came up:
SELECT ACTION:
* Personnel Files [2 ACTIVE, 47 AWOL, 10 KIA]
* Vault Elevator [ACTIVE, READY]
* Armory [OPEN, ***DEPLETED, PLEASE FILE RESUPPLY FORM 15-A2***]
*Emergency Lockdown [ACTIVE, ***MALFUNCTION - OVERRIDE DISABLED***]
I never heard a keyboard click so triumphantly as when Domino, grinning wide, hit the “elevator” option.
And then the floor fell out from under us.
* * * * *
I suppose you could say we were lucky...
We’d only dropped a couple of floors, the plummet so brief we’d barely had time to react before we hit. God suffered nothing worse than having the wind knocked out, and that mainly because I was still lying on his barrel when we fell. Pink-E’s hover servos were easily able to handle the drop, though she squawked with surprise when the ceiling slapped her down.
That’s where our luck ran out.
Domino hit pretty hard, landing with a whuff, and suddenly the room was full of Pink Cloud.
Earlier, I’d dismissed the idea that Pink-E had screamed out on the patio. Who would program a robot to produce a noise like that? Like the high, ululating wail tearing out a piece of my soul right now?
I didn’t have much time to wonder about my dead Great-Aunt’s programming skills or motives; in the next moment, pink death was washing over me. I clamped down on my eyes, lungs, and the pain. Squalling about it was not really an option until I got clear!
Somewhere ahead, a deadbolt clicked open. I sprang towards the sound, hit metal and fumbled around in a blind half-panic until I hit the switch. The instant the door slid aside, I stumbled and coughed my way free of the cotton-candy fumes, shouting hoarsely for the others to follow.
As I looked back there came a weird sucking noise, and the Cloud --- still in process of billowing out from the doorway --- un-billowed its way right back in.
Pink-E sputtered and sparked her way out of the room-slash-elevator, trailing a faint grey ozone reek. Her hair seemed ready to fall out and the highlights on her cheeks were almost black with scorching. God trotted after, utterly unharmed; why should a little Pink bother him? He literally ate Ghosts for breakfast. I pointed a questioning look at him, but he silently shook his head just as Domino exited behind him.
The ghoul didn’t look like the fall or Cloud had hurt him at all. If anything, he looked healthier. His ratty tux might have been a bit worse off, but there was a fresh sheen to his hide. Even the gaps in his throat seemed like they were scabbing over. And he seemed... embarrassed?
He pushed past to start leading the way again, mumbling something that might’ve been, “ ‘Scuse me.”
I stared after him. “That was you.” Hurrah for Captain ObviousPie!
He kept right on going. “Should be down a couple corridors, then a left...” It took a dozen lengths of security-grey corridor for him to notice that none of us were following. When he looked around, eyes that had been flinty chips of malachite began to burn an angry pink.
Glaring those fiery daggers, he stalked back towards us. “Don’t any of you fucking-well look at me like that. What, you thought I was the same as those rot-faced tourist types? Is that it?”
Spitting frustration and tiny wisps of pink, Domino advanced, prompting God to shift his protective bulk and block the angry ghoul. Stymied by the immovable wall, he backed up a few paces, snarled, and stomped a hoof.
“Okay then, go ahead! Take a good, hard, fucking LOOK AT ME! I’ve spent centuries here, zipping in and out of that pink shit! Figured if I just kept my exposure low, kept stocked up on healing potions, I’d be okay. Hell, after a decade or so, I actually thought I was getting used to the burn.”
He shook his head, his eyes trailing tracks of neon fire. “The Pink was getting used to ME. My skin sucked it up like a sponge, laminating my stupid ass layer by layer. My lungs’re packed with it. I might as well be a caramel apple with a cotton-fucking-candy center!”
That baleful gaze turned to settle on God and Pink-E. “I’ve waited two hundred years for this chance, with nothing but Ghosts and the odd tourist for entertainment. Two hundred years, you bastards! Nopony --- not you, not Eclair, not an alicorn, not even the Ministry of fucking Morale, is gonna keep me outta that vault. Even if I AM a goddess-damned abomination of Equestrian science. Got it?”
Pink-E stared back at him listlessly. God just shrugged and briefly ruffled his bat-wings. Me, I kept my big mouth shut.
See? I can learn!
Domino snorted, spun away, and started back down the corridor, tail snapping at the air. “And to top it off, this is the last of my good tuxedoes!”
* * * * *
With the rest of us clamming up so as not to offend the death-cloud-spewing abomination of Equestrian science, Domino took to gabbing about his old relationships again. If I'd been reluctant to interrupt him before, I sure as Tartarus is empty wasn't going to push him now!
"So I gave Eclair his fantasy gal's nickname, 'Derpy', told him she and I'd been an item some years back, that I'd put in a good word for him next time I saw her. Never did, of course. Just had a bar bimbo who owed me some favors fake a letter anytime he pressed for a meet-up. Built a lovely little tale about an aspiring torch singer working the circuit, beautiful singing voice and all, enough to string Eclair's imagination along."
He walked along without much enthusiasm, most of the swagger gone now. Being found out for what he'd been turned into seemed to have sapped a lot of his natural sociability away, but he kept his patter going gamely enough. "That was my meal ticket for more than a year, nothing but swanky hotels, room service and top-end gigs at the best places."
His eyes, having returned to their normal dead-green, seemed to flicker with a stronger semblance of life as he recalled the good times. "Ah, yeah, my star was on the rise, baby. Got to flaunt my pipes for the masses and the hot-to-trot alike, had fillies stalking me for autographs, posed with royalty for pictures. Those were the days, all right."
The life flickered out, like a candle, as we rounded a corner . "About a month before everything went to hell, Eclair finally called my bluff. Said he'd cut off the gravy train if I couldn't provide anything concrete on his floozy."
A friend would say something supportive, or at least indicative of continued interest, at this point. What I actually said was: "Don't tell me you didn't see that coming?"
Domino snorted and rolled his eyes at me. At least now they weren't glowing... "Nothing lasts forever, kid. I didn't expect it to, either; I spent my time casing the joint and working up a plan to swipe Eclair's gold. His little Gala for the Royale would've been the perfect distraction, but he kept putting it off until I could guarantee his 'Derpy' would show."
The corridor ended at a door, which opened onto a catwalk stretching across a wide maintenance bay. On the other side, it joined with a second, perpendicular catwalk giving access to three doors and a stairwell down to the floor. Below us, six widely-spaced reactors thrummed as smoothly as the day they were built, providing free and abundant power to a self-contained city where nopony lived. Such a waste...
God stepped forward to test the catwalk and, finding it took his weight easily, led the way across. Meanwhile, Domino continued his grousing.
"Eclair's ultimatum meant I had to give him a carrot. So me and my bimbo set up a fake talent-show audition in Ponyville, got the bubble-head's voice on holotape, and had one of the engineers rig the fountain out by the main gate to use it once the Gala started. Told Eclair that it meant his floozy'd accepted the invite, figuring I'd be halfway to Neighpon with the gold before he got tired of waiting for her."
He snorted again, the exhalation laced with derision. "She had one of the most butch voices I've ever heard on a mare, like she was trying to pass for a colt or something. Fifteen takes to get one half-assed, feminine-sounding read of her rambling about snacks! It was either give up at that point, or start tearing my mane out."
Starting from the stairwell to our left, the three doors were marked "Break Room", "Admin" and "Security Access". Domino's mention of snacks had started my stomach rumbling; when had I last eaten? I trotted over to the break-room door and pressed a hoof to its keyplate.
The door slid open with a nearly-silent hydraulic hiss. "C'mon, let's see what's to be had in -"
My throat locked up on the words.
In front of me stood a wall-to-wall rank of bright yellow hazmat suits. Behind them, another rank, and another... the break room was completely packed with orderly rows of Ghosts.
With not a single bar, green or red, obscuring my view.
To my immense fortune, all of them were facing a video screen on the far wall, where a cheery pair of sales-ponies were extolling the virtues of something called Flux. The commercial had been repeating itself for so long the screen had burned in, turning their images to barely-discernible blobs of color, but I recognized those voices...
My curiosity said I should leave the door open so I could hear what those con-manes had to say about this Flux stuff, but only for a moment. After that, the rest of my brain beat the unholy snot out of my curiosity, stuffed it into a bag, and threw it into a fire, thereupon arriving at the consensus that I should shut the fucking door already!
My hoof reached in that direction... but Domino's was already there, sliding the door shut as quietly as it had opened. As soon as it sealed, he silently gestured at the "Security Access" door, which opened at a press of Captain Slew's key to reveal yet another long, grey hallway.
We were a good thirty lengths along before the ghoul started in.
"What part of 'I will guide you there' did you not get?"
My mane prickled with annoyance. "Oh, so you knew there were Ghosts inside the casino? Ghosts that don't show up on my PipBuck? Just how many of those things are there in here?!"
There was a moment of audible tooth-grinding before he got control of himself. With exaggerated patience, he shook his head and favored me with the kind of smile folks give a retarded child. "I have no goddess-damned idea, you moron. This is the first time I've been inside; a valet parked my jalopy when I arrived. Maybe there's an underground access tunnel, and they come in here to grab a little mindless entertainment from the boob-tube. How the fuck should I know? And do I look like a Stable-Tec technician to you?"
He shoved a tannery-smelling hoof in my face, the sharp-stinging stench bringing me up short. "Here's what I do know: the way to Eclair's Stable. Everything else is a time-wasting distraction and a needless risk, compared to what we're gonna haul outta there, so don't go fucking well wandering off again!"
I grumbled assent, dropped back a few paces behind God so the ghoul couldn't hear, and muttered under my breath:
"Beedee beedee bee, beedee beedee..."
So what if it was childish? I was being treated like a child, and I was still hungry. I supposed I could have called a halt and noshed on something from my saddlebags, but at this point I wasn't about to give the smug bastard the satisfaction of seeing weakness on my part. I could hold my stomach rumblings for a while yet.
Fortunately, the hallway finally opened onto a small room. One big door, a half-scale version of the giant "toothed gear" style so beloved of Stable-Tec, dominated the far wall with its silver-embossed "CR" logo. To either side stood a pedestal, closer inspection of which revealed imprints exactly the size and shape of our keycards.
Neither Domino nor I had to say anything. We just exchanged looks, nodded at one another, and simultaneously plugged our purloined identification into place. A sharp hissing of long-dormant hydraulics filled the room, until with a pop-phsssssht the door broke its hermetic seal and began drawing inwards. It retreated a full length, then slowly, quietly, rolled aside.
Wow.
Instead of the functional-yet-spare greyness of a Stable-Tec dormitory, Eclair had opted for digs that made even the Lucky Chances' Celestial Suite look a bit grungy by comparison. Here sprawled a palatial lounge, everything within so perfectly fitted that it gave the impression of being carved from a single piece of ivory. From lush shag-pile carpet to furnishings, everything bore a different shade of white or grey, while what would be brasswork anywhere else here consisted of gloriously polished silver and gold. Tasteful little gemstone arrays, serving as functional control surfaces for this gadget or that, accentuated the whole with patterns of red, green and blue.
One wall was dominated by a large, black, rectangular screen, surrounded by smaller monitors showing different angles of the casino's perimeter. Facing it, and taking up the center of the room, lay an eggshell-white couch-and-pillow arrangement strewn casually about a matching half-moon coffee table. I supposed the big screen performed the same functions as the one in our luxury suite half a mile away; communications, service menu, and entertainment.
Bet Eclair's got a holotape of every movie put out by Applewood in here, somewhere...
For those peckish-pony moments, a dinette took up one corner, composed of a carved marble block surrounded by several sturdy chairs of silver-inlaid ash. From the block's center rose a dome, identical to the one that had fed us the night before, with no sign of cupboards or oven --- not even a disposal. Only a small refrigerator suggested what Eclair had planned to do with any leftovers.
To the rear, a wide spiral staircase led up and down to other floors. Before it stood a table of lustrous white-oak on carved marble pilings, bearing what looked to be a brand-new data terminal. On its screen, the lettering at this distance indistinct, was taped a note. Next to the terminal sat a small silver case with yellow butterflies on its side.
Scanning back and forth across all of this, I could feel the bit-signs light up in my eyes. If Eclair'd blown this much just on ostentation, what was his real treasure like?
Domino trotted on in while I stood there gawping, a distinct bounce to his step. Right. On to business... I shook the visions from my head and went inside, God following behind as usual.
"I think I'll stay out here for a bit, if you don't mind." There was no mistaking the nervous tinge as Pink-E finally broke her silence.
We stopped and turned, to see the burnt, sagging mockery of a pony head hovering in the doorway. That head was all I had left of my family --- a strange birthright I'd never expected or, in all honesty, wanted. But she was still mine. And I'd been neglecting her horribly.
Something equally horrible twinged in my chest.
All my life, I'd dealt with the wasteland's harsh realities by refusing to care. Taking on the career of a bounty-hunting loner meant I could avoid letting anypony get too close, always fearful of the sudden yet inevitable betrayal buried in the depths of every soul I'd never cared to meet. Every decision I made had been aimed at shutting out the rest of the world, in pursuit of my own survival and comfort.
Now, despite that careful life of isolation, I had somepony to care about. Pink-E had grown on me. And seeing her like this suddenly drove home the reality: I could lose her, lose the last connection to my heritage, lose the last --- person --- who gave a damn about me. The guilt was a distinct shock, so unexpected and unfamiliar that I caught myself gasping only after the fact.
God's eyes, full of the usual disdain for anything the robot could say, silently drifted in my direction as Domino's smile turned into an open sneer.
"Oh, shucky-darn," the abomination snarked, a tone of gleeful malice creeping in. "It's been so long since the Ministry Mares stared over everypony's shoulders, I'd forgotten what it was like having some pink Ponyville cunt pulling all the strings."
With a dismissive flick of his tail, he made a bee-line for the terminal and started reading the taped note aloud.
"To my dear friend Domino Mask... ha ha! Now that's rich!" He cleared his throat and then, in a mockingly high-pitched voice, continued. "If you are reading this, dear friend, then I am thankful my little Stable has provided somepony with some measure of safety from the apocalypse now upon us. Whether or not I, or my beloved Derpy Hooves, have accompanied you here, the comfort I have provided herein shall see us through to the day that the surface is habitable once more."
Domino gave a deprecating snort. "Quite the optimist, our 'dear' Uptown Eclair was... ahem! 'Upon that day, we shall emerge into a world whose economy values not the extinct Equestrian Bit, but certainly the lasting worth of golden wealth... that which I still possess being sequestered below.' Well, wasn't that nice of him!"
With a bark of half-mad laughter, the ghoul turned and charged straight down the staircase.
That nervous tic I'd experienced outside Nellie Air Force Base suddenly returned with a vengeance: ear-flop, eye-flutter, knee-twitch. It was just a second or two, but I found myself staggering to stay upright, blinking my eyelids like mad to get them back in line, and forcibly pinning my ears back with the power of sheer annoyance.
Godsdammit! Am I sick or something? It's just a good thing we're not in a gunfight or something...
When the fit finally passed, I found myself facing Pink-E, still hovering there in the doorway. I shook my head again and neighed at her. "C'mon in... it seems safe enough."
Her eyes were wide, panicky. "Nonononono, no! Cherry, come out of there! Don't you know what those twitches mean?!"
God gave me a reproachful look. "Do you still take orders from one without a soul, Redeemer?"
Pink-E turned on him, but remained firmly outside. "It's not an order, it's advice! Good advice! And if you know what's good for you, you'll get out of there too!" I rolled my eyes at both of them and trotted over to the terminal as they began to argue.
A quick look inside the nearby butterfly case revealed my ticket out of here: the Auto-Doc control module I'd been shanghaied to retrieve in the first place. At this point, stowing the case in my saddlebag was almost a let-down. No explosions? No sudden deluge of Ghosts charging in? No maniacal voice on a record-loop, telling me I'd just sprung their ancient and diabolical trap?
As long as I was there, I decided to flip the note up and see if there was anything interesting beneath:
FROM: Mr. Uptown Eclair
TO: Ms. 'Derpy Hooves' [ENCRYPTED]
An entire terminal rigged up, just for one more note? That seemed fishier than Celestia's nethers.
Hm. Eclair had had a crush on this "Derpy" girl --- I didn't miss the quote-marks, there. So he'd found out her real name? If Eclair knew "Derpy" was a fake, he had to have done his own research... but he still called Domino a 'friend'...
A shout came from below. "Oh, come ON! I didn't wait this long just to be stopped by a password jumble!"
Hastily, I brought up the second zipmail. If I could possibly crack the encryption known only to a long-dead mare...
ROBRONCO INC. (TM) TERMLINK PROTOCOL
ENTER PASSWORD NOW... 1 ATTEMPT LEFT
0xF4F0 MUFFIN..^[&()
0xF4FC @#%$]MUFFI
0xF508 N%&>#^"MUF
0xF514 FIN...MUFFIN
0xF520 [(%%^]]MUFF
0xF52C IN^%$^@#%[*
0xF538 ]{#!}MUFFIN\
0xF544 \?[MUFFIN]...
0xF550 ;?&"<$!+$}>>
0xF55C <;}MUFFIN*&
0xF568 %@^^!/\,[..]\*!
0xF574 #&!{}?/*++MU
0xF580 FFIN*&%%{]].
0xF58C ]{#!}MUFFIN?
0xF598 "%;<[;^._,&@
0xF5A4 (MUFFIN)_{?
0xF5B0 *$%&*{}!@$!
0xF5BC @#%$MUFFI
0xF5C8 N%!>MUFFIN
Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me.
A hoofwave in God's direction brought the demon-alicorn over at an easy amble. "Yes, Redeemer?" Behind him, Pink-E looked like she was going to say something else before biting her lower lip.
I pointed at the word. "Type that in, while I take cover behind the couch." If the terminal had been trapped to explode and kill 'Derpy' in a fit of spurned-lover's rage, God could take it a lot easier than I could!
As I dropped into a protective posture, Pink-E hissed at me. "I know that twitchy-combo you just had! A door's going to open! Or shut! Probably shut! You need to get everypony out of there, now!"
I shook my head. "I don't think we want to see what happens If I try to pull Domino away from that vault, without something better than a nervous tic and a couple quote-marks on a terminal. We need to find out what Eclair was planning, show Domino, get out of this place, find somepony who's good with robot repairs, get you fixed up..."
Her eyes grew wide. "We don't have time for super-sleuthing! Any second now -"
God cleared his throat, signifying a lack of imminent explosion. I hustled back over, nodding my thanks to him. "Sorry about that. Wasn't sure if it was safe."
He stepped aside, shrugging in his usual off-hoofed way. "Do not concern yourself overmuch with my well-being, Redeemer. If I am not prepared to sacrifice, the chains of sin cannot be lifted."
That's what I'd figured. Peering at the screen, I read:
To my Beloved, Innocent Ditzy Doo,
May I tender my most heartfelt apologies. It seems we have both been victimized by lies and fraud.
Many years ago, at Canterlot's Grand Galloping Gala, I espied you from afar and was immediately struck by your --- shall we say exotic? --- eyes. I feared you might think me rude or presumptive to introduce myself so early in the evening; by the time I sent you and your companion an invitation to attend late supper, both were gone.
I sought you for decades afterward, if for nothing else than to reconcile the lasting visions in my head against the reality of your person. Because I allowed myself to believe you a member of high society, I instead pursued a ghost. Such folly led me to the acquaintance of one Domino Mask, an entertainer claiming to know you on a personal level. He fed upon the lies already told me by my closest friends, played upon my innermost desire to find you, shamelessly baited me with hope, in exchange for my ever-so-grateful largesse.
Have you already seen the nightclub which Domino helped me design? I meant it to springboard your nonexistent career, as the torch-singer he convinced me you were. I could not very well build you an entire recording company --- even my means had hard limits which, I found, I could not surpass. But at the least, the Royale might attract the high-society brand of gambler who might chance investing in an upcoming young starlet. I dreamed that, while you plied your stagecraft, I could watch and listen and quietly adore from the back rows, building towards a proper courtship befitting a proper gentleman and his prospective lady.
So, yes, in hopes that I might impress with an expression of devotion, I built the Casino Royale for you.
At the fountain, tonight, I heard your voice for the first time. I only wish I could hear your laughter right now...
But no. Though I failed to find you, my searches stumbled into webs of intrigue far darker than mere obsession. The puppet-spiders see me as just another wealthy fool, like the others attending their garden-party fundraisers, with no less a fool than Prince Blueblood in their vanguard. When it comes to my misplaced affections, they may be right.
Yet this fool is no idiot, to be gulled into supporting Blueblood's 'Project Redoubt'. So many of the rich and powerful in one convenient place --- what use will they be when their money, their industries, their lovely chateaux, all burn alike beneath suns of balefire? Hostages, at best. More likely, inconvenient luggage to be discarded when it shall suit.
Such fates are neither for you nor I, my wayward lady.
I give you, instead, this bastion against the climax to these past decades of unrelentingly brutal warfare. You are not who I believed you were, but my attention was never caught by your presumed position or fortune. You are a tousled yellow mane across golden eyes, eyes wandering in a way that I hoped might see into the spirit of a lonely stallion.
I... could go on at great length, but there is no time. Tonight, they tell me, I must go to Blueblood's manor for evacuation. Somehow, they know the end approaches, but they tell nopony else. I am sure they only told me because they now demand this little Stable of mine for 'unanticipated overflow'. I can only believe they discovered its existence from Domino, as I have taken great pains to keep it secret from everypony else. I told them it was not ready, that I would be joining them instead, and so I shall. No need for their 'preparatory teams' to come and seize an unfinished hulk.
And if they do, they'll meet the trap I've laid for Domino, that heartless, cruel, bastard...
Ha. Still a fool, I. I don't even know if the courier I've sent has reached Ponyville, or if you can make it here in time, or if you'll ever read this. But if you did and could and have, all that remains of my once-vaunted wealth is in the refrigerator to your right. Upstairs, you will find a comfortable bedroom and state-of-the-art medical clinic. Follow the instructions on it, using the module in the case to your left, to activate its Auto-Doc whenever you may have need of it.
Do not go into the vault below. That 'reward' was reserved for the possibility that Mr. Mask made it in here without you... may Celestia forgive me if, somehow, you both arrived together.
Your Secret, Sorrowful Admirer,
Uptown Eclair
I felt my eyes widen, opened my mouth. A yell of triumph filtered up from the stairwell first.
"YEAH! Damn right, the word was 'uncouth'! Oh, baby, look at all that gold... come to papa! Wait... what? WHAT?! It's... no, no! This shit is plastic! Where's the fucking gold?!"
Whipping around, I saw the Stable door slowly and quietly rolling closed. "IT'S A TRAP! The door's closing!"
"...all that remains of my once-vaunted wealth is in the refrigerator..."
I dashed across, threw it open, and stuffed the single paper-wrapped packet resting within into my barding's built-in saddlebags. Kind of a light haul, for the remaining worldly assets of one of Equestria's richest pre-War ponies --- not that I had any time to wonder about it. The door was already more than a quarter of the way shut.
God casually teleported out in a flash of red, reappearing a moment later with a matching flash in the outer foyer. He turned to watch as I galloped towards freedom, Pink-E biting her lip next to him, the door rolling ponderously along its track... when I was still halfway across the lounge, I could tell I wasn't going to make it.
Not without a little extra speed! I triggered S.A.T.S., found the entry for "Turbo", and hit fourth gear. Even with the siren song of adrenaline blasting through my system, I had to leap to avoid clipping my legs on the round, gear-shaped doorjamb.
Moments later, Domino slammed into the door with a curse. He yelled through the hoof-width left to him, "You can't get out of here without me! Here!" He shoved his security keycard through the narrowing slit, one baleful green eye glaring at me as I grabbed it in my hooves. "Don't you fucking leave me!"
The giant gear slotted into place with a loud click and began sliding back into its seating, pushing us inexorably out towards the foyer until it locked with an hydraulic hiss of finality. As if on cue, a small section of wall slid back to reveal an intercom, which crackled to life with a weary-sounding voice.
It wasn't Domino's.
"I suppose it was just another example of my fading luck, to learn the truth only the night before Equestria dies." Though slightly scratchy, the pre-recorded tenor conveyed a sense of ingrained culture... it could only be Uptown Eclair himself. An echo of the same speech faintly drifted in from down the corridor, likely being piped through every speaker the casino had.
Not a good sign, that... I tossed Domino's security keycard to God, pointed to the far console, and dashed to its opposite twin, fumbling through my packs for the matching card I'd stuffed in there minutes before.
"Yet learn it I did, my dear Domino Mask. Before I finally arrived to take over the Royale, I spent weeks traveling throughout the Neighvada Province to see how my competition operates. Simply good business sense, after all."
By the time I got my teeth on the embossed plastic rectangle, God was already set, a levitation field of bright red holding his card just above the recess. I nodded, and we slid our cards into place...
Eclair chuckled darkly, the sound of a buck resigning himself to the gallows. "Oh my, yes. I visited with Edwin Horse in his Lucky Chance. Was wined and dined, most sumptuously, at the Velvet Stocking. I took in a bout at the Double Down, slummed it up a bit with the Atomic Bronco. Yet the most interesting casino was not even in New Pegas."
There was a harsh beep, accompanied by a red light flashing on each console: the keys weren't working. Why should they? It hardly made sense for Eclair to have set up such an elaborate trap, if anyone Domino might have been working with could get him out of it that easily...
The dead buck's hint of dire mirth deepened, gathering steam. "You've never been to the quaint little town once known as 'Slim Pickings', have you? An old mining operation from the earliest days of the Neighvada Territory, a way-station from Equestria to Coltifornia even before Las Pegasus was founded. What pony of your inclinations would ever set hoof in a tourist-trap like Slimm? No, I'm quite positive you have never set eyes on the 'Derpy and Dinky Casino and Mailmare Museum'."
There was such a twist on that last sentence, I caught myself wondering why I was still there listening instead of running for my life. Not that the dead guy cared what I thought. While my mind scrambled for a way to get Domino out, Eclair took a sharp right turn into affected foppishness.
"Dear boy, you never mentioned Ms. Hooves' history as a postal pioneer! Nor does the Museum make mention of her musical background, where she --- how did you put it? 'Rose up from the decadent lounges of star-studded Applewood by the sheer beauty of her voice'? Lovely holo-sculpture, by the way. At least you gave me the small gift of hearing that voice before I die."
Eclair's feigned attitude began to slip away. "Her name, however? Once with the bit in my teeth, it didn't take long to discover. Her name, my good Domino Mask, is Ditzy Doo. 'Derpy' is naught but a sobriquet, referencing an affliction known in the medical profession as strabismus. Despite this handicap, Ms. Doo has always been a hard-working delivery mare, achieving sufficient success in her chosen field to launch her own business. For that alone, I would respect her --- as you know, my own fortune similarly came by raw neckscruff and my own peculiar way of seeing the world."
And now the darkness returned, redoubled. "For her, I would have given all that I have and am. But YOU opened my vault, Domino Mask. So now that I am dead, please kindly join me, in what poets once regarded as the last supper of night."
A soft click signified the end of Uptown Eclair's last will and testament, clearing the intercom for Domino's screaming and pounding, already in progress. I shot Pink-E a look. "Please tell me you've picked something up along the way you can hack this system with...?"
She sadly shook back and forth in the negative.
Thirty seconds later, the most amazing run of profanity I've ever heard was capped off with this simple, heartfelt entreaty:
"GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"
Not like we hadn't been trying. "The badges're locked out! If you've got a better idea..."
Even without the intercom, the grinding of Domino's teeth could almost have been audible from behind the Stable door. "Get that Luna-fucked Morale robot of yours to open this thing! Or, how about this, have the fucking alicorn teleport in here and carry me out!"
I tried to keep my voice level and reasonable. "Pink-E hasn't been able to hack these systems so far, and you already know God can't 'port through solids -"
Domino's voice, already pitching high, began edging into panic territory. "Then what fucking good are you people?!"
Exasperation began to throb at my temples. "Just calm down for a minute. You've got one of those food dispenser things, a place to sleep, even an entertainment console. You'll be fine until we can figure out how to override -"
A loud, sharp buzz blared from the loudspeaker down the hall.
"WARNING. Reactors One, Three and Five now set to one hundred and seventy-five percent capacity. WARNING. Mana levels will exceed critical storage thresholds in twenty-four minutes, forty-seven seconds. WARNING. Reactors Two, Four and Six now set to one hundred and thirty percent capacity. WARNING. Mana levels will exceed..."
Well, so much for that. Time to get running! said the rational part of my brain.
The newly-irrational part, the part that didn't want to abandon somepony to their self-inflicted fate, kept racing in search of a solution while I stood there like an idiot. How about that "Wallbuster" thing on my PipBuck menu? I had no idea what the hell it was or how it worked (I was still trying to figure out "Turbo"), but it had effectively worked a lot like God's teleportation power back at the Royale's front door. Maybe, if the trick didn't have God's limitations, I could 'port back inside. But even if so, would I be able to get back out again, with or without Domino?
The ghoul's festering paranoia finally snapped my paralysis. "You cunt-thrashing globule of coagulated afterbirth."
I'd previously thought I'd heard Domino when he was angry. But that hissing fury, ratcheting its way through the intercom now, was like nothing I'd heard from any living creature. "I just tried the terminal. I looked under the note. Did you think I wouldn't look under there, you little pink fuck-wad?"
He took the time to scan through the love-note? Okay, what did... oh. Right.
If it could have, the hate smashing through that speaker would've made a thin red paste of me. "The treasure was in the fridge, the open fridge, the fridge that wasn't open when I went downstairs, huh? All of you are out there, with that dead fucker's treasure, and I'm in here, huh? That was your big play? You think maybe you're safe from me now, or something?! HANH?! DO YOU?!"
Even the irrational side of my brain had its limits for lost causes. With twenty-some-odd minutes to a rainbow holocaust, we turned and ran for it. Behind us, Domino's blasts of incoherent rage started melting the intercom to slag. With all that going on, why did the word "champagne" suddenly, belatedly, come to mind?
By the time we were far enough away to pick out the casino's repetitive comments about overloads and safety margins, we were nearly back to the reactor room itself. Nearing the ominous-sounding HUMMMMMMM of overworked turbines, distant blobs of yellow quickly resolved into a clear message: break time for the Ghosties was over. Almost a half-dozen were milling about on the catwalks as though looking for something to do.
God didn't need to be told. The big, black, bat-winged, goddess-damned bastard accelerated to attack speed, trampling four yellow-clad abominations with his charge. Bubble helmets burst like eggs, spilling pink sludge and mist across the catwalks, the fifth and last Ghost simply knocked over the railing. I ducked and dodged through the deadly mess, my little hooves syncopating with God's thundering cloppers to beat an impromptu rhythm on the steel gratings.
Reaching the far end I slewed about, hoping that those few had been the only ones about as Pink-E buzzed past. If we could get down to the reactors, we might be able to - a look downwards crushed that unfinished thought.
I knew there was a reason I don't hope for anything anymore...
Even if there'd been a way to override the self-destructs in the next twenty minutes, the floor below was packed with an innumerable mass of yellow suits and pink-filled bubble helmets. More came crowding in by the second, from where I couldn't see, but it was likely Domino's earlier guess about service passageways had been right.
Most appeared to be trying to work the reactors, going through the motions of pulling levers and twisting wheels, though none of it looked to have any effect whatsoever. It was just what they remembered doing in their past lives... what little of them remained to remember with. Meanwhile, those without anything better to do were meandering up the stairwells under the increasing pressure of bodies behind and below them. It only took a few seconds of assessment to realize that short of a tactical balefire warhead (which would have been a really bad idea anyways) we'd never clear a path to the reactors.
This time, we didn't stop running until the elevators.
For once, luck was with us. Captain Slew's ride up might have been shot, but Chief Biscuit's still worked, and so did his ID. After a short wait, during which I kept looking over my shoulder in expectation that a wave of yellow would swarm us under at any second, the door opened up and we dove inside.
...where we found virtually the same locker, desk and terminal arrangement Slew'd had, as well as the same massive backload of zipmails. The same ones that had taken Domino over an hour to wade through before. In addition, there was a large bin stenciled with the word "Restraints".
Why didn't places like this ever put in emergency stairs?!
Probe extended, Pink-E dove straight at the terminal, squealing "GOT IT!"
I stared past her at the screen, where she was already beyond the initial termlink code and flashing dizzily through page after page of data. First a few, then dozens, then hundreds... "If you could do this before, why didn't you?"
The little 'bot-head didn't even look at me. "Domino's a big fat grumpy-pants. I didn't feel like helping him." Her eyes flicked back and forth at surreal speeds, as though she were actually reading each screen in the nanoseconds before each was consigned to electronic oblivion. There wasn't likely anything worthwhile anyways, from what I remembered Slew's system having.
God gave a disgusted snort, but said nothing. I guessed that he, like me, was disinclined to complain about not being immolated in magical radiation thanks to ancient bureaucratic inertia. I checked the locker and desk drawers, but Chief Biscuit proved to have been depressingly thorough in his evacuation plans. Not so much as a dirty shotglass to lick. Just a shady-looking fedora hanging on the locker's inside hook... well, come to think of it, I did need a replacement for my poor old stormchaser.
It was in surprisingly decent condition for a pre-War piece of clothing, especially since it appeared to have seen regular use to start with. Dark brown like aged underbrush, its wide brim promising good shade from the desert sun, the hat fit my noggin as snugly as if it was always meant to rest there.
Sure. That'll do.
Finally I turned to the restraint bin, which opened to Biscuit's card readily enough. Inside was exactly what was printed on the tin: a dozen vacuum-packed Fun Suits, just like mine, each plastic packet bulging with an attached collar. There didn't seem to be any release controls, though, suggesting they worked off a universal device that was likely on Biscuit's rotting corpse --- wherever that might be. Domino hadn't mentioned.
Underneath all the Suits lay several sets of rusty leg chains, the keys for which were likewise missing, though the cuffs were still open. The beginnings of an idea flitted through my head, accompanied by an inexplicable shiver. Without really thinking about it, I stuffed it all into my barding's saddlebags, rationalizing that even if I found no use for the stuff it would fetch a nice mess of caps when I got back to New Pegas.
At least searching and looting the place gave me something to do, while Pink-E worked and God silently fidgeted.
I imagined the black alicorn wasn't taking being trapped in a small room, with nowhere to teleport while six giant bombs ticked away below, very well. I'd seen him absorb a barrage of magical energy without a scratch, but it seemed unlikely he'd survive if the reactor capacitors breached all at once. So here he was, reliant for his life on the soulless robot he philosophically despised. Perhaps he was wondering what would happen if he died without expunging his sins... would he face an angry Luna in a never-ending afterlife of torment, like street-corner preachers sometimes liked to threaten their drunken congregations with?
Fortunately, we had less than a minute to brood on it before the elevator started moving. Then we were piling back out of Biscuit's office, into the main administration room, God first. Hell, it was all I could do to get out of his way!
The brown faux-unicorn was waiting for us, having dispensed with its paperwork pantomime to take an unmistakeable battle-stance in front of the exit. Its roving light-bar, constantly updating a disapproving frown that stared over pointless glasses, was now shifting from neutral orange towards a worrisome shade of red.
"Protocol Forty-Seven-Point-Three-Alpha. Chief of Security Sea Biscuit, Captain Seaddle Slew, you are relieved of duty for breach of vault security during a lock-down. Should you attempt to leave this room before authorities arrive to effect arrest, you will be considered trespassers..."
God wasn't having any. "We are leaving," he growled, flaring his demonic wings and trotting towards the double doors.
The apparition flashed bright red from hoof to horn, took aim, and immediately began blasting the alicorn with bolts of sizzling orange light. Each impacted with perfect precision, center-mass, but it didn't even muss that gloss-black coat --- the magical energy simply flowed and dissipated across his barrel, soaked up like warm sunshine.
I'd made the mistake of not galloping immediately after God to keep him between the holo-corn and me. As soon as it figured out God wasn't taking any damage, it switched fire to me. Instantly, a blinding orange glare reminded me what Domino and Seaddle Slew had said about armor protection:
The barding! It does nothing!
Pain exploded under both breastplate and the rubber suit beneath, my hide scalded by searing heat. For a good approximation of the agony, try punching a hole in a steam transfer pipe and standing in front of it. Fucking OW!
It's a damn good thing I could multi-task, being that I could scream while still diving for cover behind the receptionist's desk. Correction: the desk wasn't going to provide any cover at all. Orange bolts blasted past on either side as though it weren't there. Trying not to let the stench of my own burning flesh lock up my throat, I fumbled in my barding's saddlebags in the vain hope that Chief Biscuit might've left a healing potion or two behind.
At least it bought me a few seconds of concealment... hey, what's this?
"This" was a bulbous, glittery gem, set in a circular mounting attached to the desk's underside. It pulsed from moment to moment with a beautiful vermillion light, trapped within smooth crystal perfection.
I smashed it with a hoof.
Sure enough, the barrage of bolts stopped instantly. The repeating countdown did not.
"WARNING. Reactors One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six now set to two hundred and fifteen percent capacity. Maximum mana generation levels achieved. WARNING. Mana levels will exceed critical storage thresholds in twenty-one minutes, twelve seconds."
Pink-E bobbed over the desk and looked down at me expectantly --- at least, I thought that's what she meant to express. Her half-slagged face wasn't making it easy to tell. "C'mon, Mister Pokey Slowpoke!"
I scowled back through a haze of pain, still rummaging through the bags and not coming up with anything but Fun Suits, chains, and Eclair's package. "Gimme a second for my chest to stop frying..." Even muttering the words hurt.
Pink-E rolled her eyes, turned about, dropped a hatch, and phoonted out a healing potion. I was so surprised, the vial bobbled around in my hooves for precious seconds before I got a grip on it and popped the lid. The bitter purple liquid made my burning sensation fade away, but knowing that Pink-E had been holding out her --- um --- holdout capability on me, that was annoying.
"This whole time, you've been able to carry cargo like that?!"
She spun back around, beaming through the ruination of her facial features. "Surprise!" From somewhere sounded a party-horn, a loud pop!, and suddenly there was an explosion of multicolored confetti with streamers. I tried, and failed, to avoid thinking of it as a robot fart, a chuckle forcing its way out of my still-tender chest.
Shaking my head, I hurried to rejoin God, who was impatiently scraping a hoof across the parquet. His gaze flicked towards the atrium and back with uncharacteristic nervousness.
He'd essentially ditched me in the vault when the door started closing. If I hadn't been able to put on that burst of speed, I'd still be stuck in there with an angry Domino... now that was a chilling thought! When it came right down to it, the alicorn needed to live long enough to earn his spiritual freedom. Anything, including his Redeemer, might be considered expendable to that end --- he could always find a new one, couldn't he? How many had he gone through before me and the Diamond Dog, I wondered?
Those disturbingly red slit-eyes focused directly on me. "We have little time to make our escape, Redeemer. The front doors are..."
I cut him off with a slash of my hoof. "...they're not going to open for us, God. Domino's VIP pass is back in the vault with him. And as built as you are, I don't see you smashing through those thick damned behemoths anytime soon." Cracking the door to the atrium open, I could see a half-dozen security holoponies roaming its length, their glowing emitters embedded along the ceiling murals. That nascent idea in my head continued to burble along.
Looking at God, I jerked my head towards the atrium. "I've got an idea, but we need to cross that hall one way or the other. Can you take out those glowing bits on the ceiling? That's what powers the holo -"
The words were still leaving my mouth when God moved, bursting out the door and flapping his way airborne with a furious energy. While crystal emitters shattered above, and falling shards tinkled to the floor below, I mused out loud on my plan.
"We can't get through the front door, and we MIGHT find a service exit somewhere in the casino proper, but there's no guarantee of that. But if we can get up to the garage, and open sky..."
Pink-E bobbed over, smiling even wider than before. I worried, for a moment, that she might crack her cheeks.
"I can help with that! Mister Biscuit had the codes for garage maintenance! They were zipmailed to him from another account the day before... well, you know."
It made sense. Domino'd never been inside the Royale proper, but he'd found the keycards for Biscuit and Slew, so both of them must have made it out to the main complex. I'd also say it raised questions as to why Biscuit would need the codes, but that was obvious: he'd been one of Domino's inside bucks. Maybe Slew, too, since both their cards were needed to get into the vault. If Biscuit'd had warning of the coming attacks, either from Eclair or the plotters he'd mentioned, he wouldn't've needed any codes --- he could have just resigned and left without any fuss at all.
God stuck his head inside, nodding to me. "The way is clear, Redeemer. Let us hasten."
As soon as I started hustling towards him, his head disappeared again, and I heard another smash... wait, wasn't it already supposed to be clear out there?
Sort of. The furthest emitters were ruined, blackened pits --- but the closer ones were sparking with renewed vigor, and the closest looked like they were actually growing back into a functioning unit. My hooves were smarter than my brain, refusing to stop and let me gawk. A half-stumble was all it would allow before I was accelerating for the elevators, while God flew above and behind to re-smash an emitter that looked close to projecting holographic death again.
"That's just not fucking fair!" I whined, a little louder than intended.
Pink-E flitted easily at my side, still managing to keep up a semblance of her original chipper self. "Nopey-dope! That's just nanosprites!"
I stared at her as I ran. "What?"
"Nanosprites! I told you about those, the super-teeny machines that make and repair things? So teeny you can't even see, but this place is flooded with millions of 'em! It's been making my sensors all loopy trying to track them all, ever since we got in!"
Which explained why there wasn't any mess, everything looked pristine, and hostiles didn't show on my Eyes-Forward Sparkle. The red bars were blotted out by hordes of harmless amber ones... and here I'd thought that long amber "bar" meant it was on the blink!... wait, how many of the damn things have I inhaled by now?!
Pink-E buzzed along, peering up at God as he obliterated another should-already-be-dead emitter. "I don't think I like that alicorn..."
I laughed, thankful for being distracted from mental images of super-teeny machines floating around in my lungs. "His name's God, you know."
The little pink robot humphed, her antennae bobbing. "His name's Rudy McRudeypants, as far as I'm concerned."
Stairs might have been passé for the security types, but no casino was going to strand its customers on different floors in event of a fire. There were four stairwells here, one pair flanking each bank of elevators. I knew better than to hope that the easy way up or down would be working during a lockdown, or to hit a button and wait while those emitters were busily regenerating themselves behind me. I threw open the first door I came to and began galloping up the stairs, Pink-E right on my fetlocks.
By the time God caught up, we were already to the next landing and a door marked "Storage". We didn't bother stopping, though God shouldered past to take point (not gonna argue with that!). The next floor was for "Maintenance" (no thank you!), and on the fourth... the stairwell ended (wat).
Okay now, what the unholy fuck? This place had to be ten stories high! Why would its emergency stairs just stop less than halfway up?!
The door, in plain stenciling, read "Holodeck". I didn't need to guess what awaited on the other side.
Celestia prang my rectum with a brass tuba...
Pink-E floated up to a little grate in the wall, her probe already extending to wedge its little gem into the first screw. "The 'sprites aren't very thick up here, so I mapped the way to the roof. I can get there through the ducts, but with only baaaaarely enough space for a pony's head..." The probe whirred, spinning the screw out and going on to the next, the next, and the next, that fast.
I cleared my throat. "A head like yours?"
She did her bobbing-nod. "I should have an exit open by the time you get there." My PipBuck pinged with the sound of incoming data as the grating cover clanged to the floor. "Seeya!" And with that, the little pink 'bot zipped into the darkness.
With a resigned shrug, I brought up the PipBuck's mapping functions and took a good look.
Now everything became a bit clearer. The first three floors of the Royale were dominated by the vaulted ceilings of the main hall and gaming areas. Sandwiched into that were demi-floors for Storage and Maintenance. The Holodeck was two whole floors to itself with twin rows of supporting columns down the middle, a bank of elevators at each end, and nothing else. Anypony coming from (or going to) the penthouses or airships would have to pass through it.
Eclair's high-roller showcase for hologram tech, pretty much guaranteed to be packed with emitters. Lovely.
The luxury of stairs also ended at the Holodeck level. The only way to the upper levels was by elevator --- first the "penthouses", technically a misnomer as four more floors' worth of Royale sat atop them. Domino's suite was marked in bright green; how Pink-E'd known that one was his completely escaped me for the moment. The next floor, Security, was blank except for a small dashed-in section around the elevators marked "Checkpoint". The lack of data suggested shielding from prying scans like, say, Pink-E's. Finally, the "Transport Deck" had a roof that could open to the sky... assuming I was reading the map right, and that the ancient machinery it outlined still worked.
Why not? Something big, bulky, and possibly explosive had to work for me at some point, right?
First, though, we had to cross a giant room full of murderous photons.
God might have worked as a protective wall, but only on one side. Every other direction would be open, with the only other possible cover being support pillars. Plus, God was tall while I was short, so shots passing between his legs might hit me anyways. This was going to take something special.
I flipped through my PipBuck's menus again. That "Turbo" thing would get me across the gallery faster, but could I outrun highly-accurate light beams? Not likely any better, or longer, than I'd outrun a sonic rainboom. Nix that! Right under it, though, was "Wallbuster" again, with a bar-marker next to it indicating it had recharged.
A reusable teleport spell? Great! I wasn't about to turn down cheater-unicorn magic if I had the choice!
Smiling, for once, I looked up at God.
* * * * *
The elevator doors finally closed with a ding, cutting off the holoponies' line-of-sight to us. As the car started moving upward, I blinked my eyes furiously, willing my sight to return and my heart to stop hammering in its ribcage. My legs didn't really want to stop clinging to the sides of God's parked rump, either --- it was the only thing that'd kept me from burning to ash.
The plan had been: I open the door, God runs across the room, he hits the call button for the elevator, I teleport over and hide behind him once he gets in.
It was the first and last parts which nearly got me killed.
Instead of ten, twenty, or even a hundred hologuards, the entire room flashed to life with layer on layer of glaring red figures the moment God stepped in. They were wall to wall, floor to ceiling, their transparent forms packed in so tightly that they began to overlap one another, with the first rank being right there at point-blank range.
I didn't need the advice of my twitching tail to skitter backwards down the stairs! An instant later brought an incredible fusillade of concentrated light, thousands of beams all targeted on God, outlining his bulk with a perfect sheet of blindingly-orange energy. Apparently, they wouldn't target me unless I set hoof inside, but the dozens of stray shots hissing just overhead would just as easily have vaporized my little pink carcass.
Once God was gone (and the barrage with him), I peeked around the open door, but his black hide was already lost amid the crimson mass of light-ponies. Though they had no real substance with which to block his way, it was possible to track my ally's progress by the sheer volume of fire being laid on him. A distant, blazing shadow, the alicorn looked like a phoenix rising from the dead.
When he shouted his readiness, I almost couldn't hear it over the cacophony of sizzling air, but that really didn't matter; the PipBuck's map showed where I needed to go. I hit "Wallbuster", snapping back into existence inside the elevator itself. It turned out I'd jumped the gun a bit, actually. The doors opened to reveal God, and that reminds me: did you ever try staring right into the sun during an eclipse?
>>>oOo<<<
My dad's voice was more playfully mocking than serious. "Now, son, don't touch that cactus!"
Of course I wasn't going to fucking touch it, it was covered in needles!
I continued to stare at the ancient saguaro, so huge you could probably see New Pegas from its top. Ever since Dad wheedled a passing wasteland "medical practitioner" into giving my first vaccinations, I'd hated anything with a needle-y look to it. But now that he'd made a point of teasing me about it, I imagined myself taking a back flip right onto the damned thing. What would he say then, huh?
But I wasn't stupid. I was a six-year-old colt, and in all the time of wandering with my dad and his wagon from town to town, I'd learned a lot about not being stupid. Don't get off the wagon. Don't let the ammo get wet. Don't eat that, that, or that. Don't lick the beepy-round-orange thing. Dad might act goofy sometimes, but he knew how to stay alive, and I always took his advice to heart. Staying alive was good.
Being bored out of my tiny skull, though, was not.
Pa-Rump was a boring little seed-town, in the middle of a boring stretch of Wasteland, with the most boring small-town festival I'd ever seen... "Luna's Day". Everyone, even a couple of visiting buffalo with their calves, were busily making boxes out of scrap paper and then punching tiny holes in them with cactus needles. That seemed to be their major industry, cleaning and sharpening cactus needles for sewing and medical use elsewhere.
Who names a town after their dad's backside, anyways? Was he the first local to sit on a cactus, or something?
There was a terrible papier-mâché sculpture outside the town gate, a black mess supposedly representing Luna which stood tall above an otherwise identical white mess meant to be Celestia. Once inside, you couldn't miss the huge black star-spangled banners strung everywhere with white letters proclaiming "Luna Victoria!" and "The Night Comes!" and "Welcome Princess Lu" (that one had been planned rather badly).
It made the monstrously-tall saguaro in the middle of the town square seem that much more interesting. If this thing fell over, it'd squash half the town flat, and wouldn't that be something to see?
Dad just laughed at my misplaced fascination, then went back to bellowing about his "Spectacular Special on Luna-Day Spectacles" to passing townsfolk. He was doing a brisk trade, too. Every few minutes he sold another pair of pre-War eyewear, which the night before we'd smoked over a campfire until they were completely fucking useless. But they sold... which just annoyed me further by demonstrating how stupid everypony (and buffalo) here seemed to be.
I did my best to ignore them all, focusing my attention exclusively on the saguaro. Taller than any tree, wide as four barrels lashed together, ridges and spines and right-angled arms rising up into the darkening sky.
Wait. Darkening? It's barely noon! Lowering my gaze to street level, I saw the massive shadow of the cactus slowly disappearing into the sudden arrival of a far, far larger shadow... a cloud? No, it was much too big, smothering every shadow everywhere as the whole world seemed to descend into an unnatural twilight. What could possibly be so huge as to cast a shadow that big?!
My spine wanted to curl up with fear, my heart thundered panic in my chest, my shaking legs wanted to run to whatever safety I might find somewhere else. Anywhere but here! But my brain took over, forcing my eyes back up to the cloudless sky. I had to see this new threat and assess it properly before I...
Part of the sun was missing.
A black wedge had appeared, like an immense ghost was taking a bite from the world's largest cookie. As I watched, transfixed with horror, the wedge slid inexorably from right to left, growing to encompass and obliterate the very source of light and life for all ponykind.
My eyes hurt. Hurt really bad. But I couldn't look away! If I looked away, I wouldn't be able to see it when the ghost came after me! I squinted against the glare, tears pouring down my face.
I didn't even dare to raise a hoof to shield myself. I didn't see the other ponies and buffalo holding up their pin-pricked boxes, or staring upward through smoked glasses. I imagined the ooohs and ahhhs were the terrified murmurings of people who, like me, expected to die in short order. When the destruction was complete, nothing was left but a flaming necklace cast about a circle of darkness. The crowd behind me erupted into psychotic cheers:
"PRAISE LUNA! LUNA FTAGHN!"
"ALL HAIL THE TRUE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!"
"LUNA FTAGHN! PRAISE LUNA!"
In years to come, I would find I'd become extra-sensitive to light, better able to see in the dark --- "a friend of Nightmare Moon", folks would say (when they thought I couldn't hear). But in those moments before the sun began to eke its way back from annihalation, I could not blink my scorched eyes. In my terrified state, I couldn't move at all.
And against that blazing corona, I thought I could see the shadow of an approaching alicorn...
<<<oOo>>>
God's mass blocked my immediate incineration, but that's all it did. Hundreds of brilliant-orange bolts flashed past the borders of his shadow, a hellish reminder of colt-hood trauma. The collective glare was just as excruciating as I remembered, forcing me to cover my face and fight back another scream while tears flooded across my face again.
The alicorn pressed in close, protectively planting his butt on the elevator floor, to which I instantly latched myself as the only shelter in that incandescent storm. At some point the demon-pony must have hit the "up" button, because only a brief eternity later the doors slid closed on that blinding brilliance.
By the time they opened again, I still had multicolored dots swirling in my view, but at least the pain had faded to tolerable levels. Either that, or I was learning to deal with it better. The big alicorn looked back over his shoulder at me with concern.
"Are you well enough to move, Redeemer? Time does not halt for our inconveniences..."
I waved a hoof at him, using the other to keep wiping at my waterworks. "Fine, I... I'm fine. Bet Domino's VIP card would have let us through there without a hitch, huh?"
"You can't get out of here without me!" If not for that Wallbanger thing, he'd've been right... when and how did I pick up magical teleportation powers, anyways? Did every PipBuck have that socked away somewhere? Or had I finally sucked up enough random radiation to mutate, and its matrix had detected and activated it? It was almost enough to make me wonder why Stable ponies hadn't taken over the world by now.
Because Stable ponies are stupid, that's why, ran the proverb. Okay, fine, that's not really important... but why won't these damn tears stop?! Something in my chest felt heavy, even leaden, like I was carrying a giant bullet around inside. I hadn't really given a shit about my childhood, or my dad, for a long time --- so why did a little flashback hurt so bad, all of a sudden?
God shrugged those wide shoulders of his. "We are through, nonetheless. If you are not ready..."
I took a deep breath and blinked back hard, refusing to give him an excuse to bolt on me. "I'm as ready as you are." Propping the elevator door open, I poked my head outside to take a look around at the elevator lobby. Done up in the same white-on-blue motif as the ground floor, the spacious room also contained several tasteful marble benches, tall terracotta pots full of dirt and grey remnants of rotted plants.
Whatever these "nanosprites" Pink-E had mentioned might do for inanimate objects, they did nothing to keep living things intact. It also seemed like there weren't quite so many of them up here, as everything looked just a little bit ragged, the tiniest bit off-color. But the important thing was: no holoponies waiting to kill me!
Long corridors led off in three directions, small signs showing the way to given sets of room numbers. Taking a bearing on the PipBuck, I noticed Domino's suite was (of course) at the completely-opposite end of the floor. But I wasn't about to leave my saddlebags behind... having seen neither hide nor hair of my weapons while in Eclair's vault-slash-Stable, I figured they'd all been bounced up here instead. Made sense if you didn't want to annoy your wealthiest, most prominent guests, who'd still have been unable to get any weapons past the holodeck regardless...
Suddenly, God's horned head was sweeping beneath my legs, tossing me onto his back, and in a flash we were AT the completely-opposite end of the floor. He carefully dropped me back down where the hallway ended in a T-intersection, giving an apologetic nod. "Forgive, Redeemer, but we are trying to make haste." Again, not complaining!
Right in front of us was the Greywing Suite... with its door already wide open. Now that was a surprise: had the ghoul somehow escaped the vault and beat us to his room? He'd had the key from before the bombs fell, so who else could have opened the door? Room service?
Then I noticed: every doorway, down all three corridors as far as I could see, was open. Putting the mystery away for the moment, I hurried inside... only to have the mystery immediately solved.
From a gorgeously decadent chandelier of silver and crystal drooped a noose made from knotted blankets. There was no sign of the pony who'd fashioned it; over the years, the nanosprites which were programmed to clean up every mess had undoubtedly torn down and cleared that one away too. But they'd seen to preserving the blankets, and the suicide note with the pin-holes through it, because those had always been on the casino's inventory, right?
Damn me damn me damn me I am the last,
Kill me kill me kill me I killed them all,
Not all but those who stood against,
Who tried for my life and money
Tried and died, as did I.
Damn them damn them damn them who can last?
Machine won't feed won't feed, not free, got fee
MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY WHERE?
Food is money, no food left but hunger
I take I take, no more and now I starve.
No more to take, I take my life, good-bye.
Well, that was completely awful. At least the Wasteland hadn't lost a poet.
But yeah, this made it kind of obvious what'd happened. When the Royale went into lockdown, only the VIPs might have gotten through the Holodeck. Above us was Security, probably also a deathtrap. Out a window, the defense turrets would have shot at anyone trying to fly away, so it was either drop to ground level... or stay here, in comfort, for as long as you had money. I remembered Domino buying us all dinner from the machine in Ditzy Doo's room.
When the money ran out, starvation would rear its ugly head. Desperation would set in, doors would be smashed open, 'sprites would repair them... and God snorted impatiently. Why did I always feel compelled to read everything I ever ran across? It did nopony any good to know any of this, and we were on a tight schedule.
The saddlebags were resting neatly side-by-side by the bed. Galloping over, I started rifling through Domino's, before remembering I had a better and faster way of doing this: fire up that PipBuck inventory spell!
Time froze once again. Now I could afford to be picky... no thanks on the ratty old clothes, most of which looked like the ghoul had been cannibalizing them to keep his last tuxedo intact. Heh... cannibal ghoul. Funny. He had no barding, there were a bunch of vials full of nasty whatnot, and his only weapon was that impressive 5.56mm pistol which the sorting spell dubbed "That Gun".
Did it pick that name up from me? Did Domino call it that? I supposed it was irrelevant now. Besides the gun and its ammo, I yoinked a beat-up old journal with some photos sticking out of it, purely for the sake of future bathroom reading.
The moment I came out of the spell, everything rearranged itself in a flash of soft amber magic (not unlike the color I'd set on the PipBuck screen), my bags strapping themselves back on just forward of my barding's croup. I was still turning towards God when his head slid between my forelegs, cupped my belly, and flipped me onto his back again. The mental image of turning into a pony-pancake zipped through my noggin just as a flash of red took us back to the elevators.
This time God unceremoniously dumped me inside, leaped in, and nosed the up button. "I doubt much time remains, Redeemer..." His nervousness was understandable; as soon as we left the ground floor, the countdown had gone silent. I supposed Eclair hadn't wanted to worry any of the high-society types he might have killed in passing with his anti-Domino trap. Checking the PipBuck, I found the countdown had been picked up and was running under "Quests"... go figure.
"We've got a bit more than fifteen minutes, God..." I nestled myself as close to the right side of the car as I could.
*Ding* went the elevator, opening its doors as it ground to a halt.
ZAP! FZZT! PEW! went the holoponies waiting in the Security anteroom. That's when God lost it.
"ENOUGH!"
The oversized alicorn reared up, speared the roof of the elevator car with his horn, and ripped it open like a hatchet through tinfoil. With magical beams of light peppering his flanks to zero effect, he worked his head up into the gap, widened it a bit, and spread his wings.
Well, half-spread them. There just wasn't room... not that it mattered. Clutching me to his barrel, he shot straight up with a floomph of displaced air, and a split-second later we hit the top of the shaft.
The split-second after that, we were through the top of the shaft, concrete dust and shards were flying in all directions, and we were in Hell. But I thought you had to go down to get there!
The garage, three stories high if it was a length, was filled with flaming airship wreckage. Its segmented brass roof showed no signs of opening any time soon, the huge gears and engines tasked for that job having been disabled with surgical, magical malice. As if that wasn't bad enough, gouts of fire spewed from a dozen splintered pipes, jacking up the heat moment by moment. Angry red-orange flames hungrily devoured anything flammable, licked at anything that was not, and roared its elemental hatred into the air.
We'd erupted into a gas-fired brick oven, to which God had just unwittingly introduced a new source of fuel.
The inferno sucked the oxygen out of the elevator shaft like a filly with a Rad-Away juice box, blasting us both towards the ceiling on a column of frigid air. God, surprised, let go a squawk reminiscent of a gelded griffon --- which was almost as shocking as how he lost his grip on me during the ascent.
For a few heart-stopping seconds, the alicorn bobbled me from hoof to hoof like a juggler's ball. He even short-kicked me once just to keep me airborne for another try, and BOY was I glad to be wearing armor just then! The whole time, my brain screamed Don't drop me, don't drop me, don't fucking drop me! Augh! When he finally managed to clutch me to his chest again we were both breathing heavily, his pupils having contracted to pinpricks.
"Th-thanks," I managed to get out.
"I do not wish to die as a result of my own clumsiness, Redeemer." Was it the atmosphere in here, or had the pitch of his voice risen half an octave? Maybe it was our proximity to the hot brass roof, its arched surface dancing with reflections of the flames below.
Looking down, I saw several holoponies striding purposefully through the maelstrom, busily torching anything not already on fire. Too busy to notice us... at least for now. They'd done such a thorough job on the ships already, I couldn't tell which one had been the jalopy and which the luxury yacht. Both had been reduced to roaring piles of matchsticks, liberally covered with the flaming shreds of gasbag canvas. It figures Eclair would have the 'airship escape' angle covered too! Son of a BITCH!
Not that we would have had much chance to escape with one, absent Domino, but that hadn't been my plan to begin with. What we needed to do now was find Pink-E and...
"HI!"
God, still flustered, squeaked and nearly dropped me again. One flurry of bat-wings later, we were both glaring at Pink-E, who was smiling at us from a gap in the wall. Just below the gap, a series of rungs had been embedded in the brickwork, leading all the way down to the ruined elevator shaft and what had once been a maintenance hatch. Its metal door, deformed by the imprint of an alicorn's cheekbone, now hung limply from one hinge.
"Well, what're you sillies waiting for?! C'mon already!" The little pink 'bot zipped out of sight, revealing a patch of blue sky beyond, which was cue enough for God. Before I could even open my mouth, there was another red flash, and then he was setting me down on a wide catwalk with a thick brass railing in the blessedly cool, blessedly open air.
Pink-E tapped on a security panel, closing the access hatch just as a surge of flames roared up behind us, then turned around and smiled again through scorched and blackened rubber lips. "Isn't it great up here?" I glanced at the numbers ticking down on my PipBuck, then shook my head and removed my saddlebags, letting them slide to the catwalk before I started digging things out.
"No time to gawk, old girl. We've gotta move. You're a Morale robot, right?"
She seemed ready to retort at being called "old", but stopped and nodded. "Uh-huh..."
Out came the mess of leg manacles, which I quickly threaded through the straps of my bags. "So you've got access to Ministry radio codes, like when you blew up my Fun Suit so we could cross the Pink --- right?"
Her eyes opened so wide, I thought she might rip her half-vulcanized eyelids. "Uh-huh..."
I laid the Fun Suits from Biscuit's box out on the catwalk, hurriedly working at getting my riot barding off and into the bags in their place. "So then you can control the inflation on these too...?"
She nodded rapidly and gave a squee. "Right! Oooh, I just knew you could think outside the box!"
In the middle of unwrapping the Suits, stretching the rubber section out, and snapping the manacles closed around the neck of each Suit just below the collar, I stopped and blinked, looking from the pink robot-head to the hatchway and back again.
"Considering what we just left behind, I'm happy we're not thinking inside the chimney." I shook myself out, stretched out a bit, and knelt down to secure the bags again. "All right, I'm going to grab this strap here with my teeth. When I whip my tail back and forth, you blow up all the Suits, including mine, then tow me out of here..."
God cleared his throat. "...once you're up above where the turrets will stop shooting at you, Redeemer?"
I shook my head. "That's where you come in. You fly along, just below us, and block any incoming fire. Then all three of us - "
Now it was God's turn to shake his head. "I have already been thoroughly saturated, Redeemer. The barrage would quickly overwhelm my remaining capacity. I could purge myself, but have never done so when so much power was involved. I imagine the immediate effect would be much like a large bomb."
I could feel myself deflating. "Seriously? You pick NOW to mention this?!"
He shrugged and turned away, taking in our rooftop surroundings. "You never asked." As much as it hurt at the time, I could not possibly have facehoofed hard enough.
Pink-E just looked puzzled. "Why can't you just hop on Mister McRudeypants and fly away, Cherry?"
God turned back to give her a flat look. "I believe I have already mentioned that it was difficult enough carrying the ghoul across the Cloud. I would not be able to safely fly my Redeemer a sufficient distance to ensure his safety." He looked over the edge of the railing. "Nor would I be able to teleport far enough, from here, to avoid his immolation by turret weaponry before my power was ready to use again."
The big black alicorn ruffled his wings with a snort. "I am afraid that I must ask you to return my Key, Redeemer. I cannot save you, but I must save myself... or die with my sins uncleansed."
Pink-E sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oooooor you could try doing something with this..."
A *ping* sounded from my PipBuck, which was just now counting down past the ten-minute mark. The maps had just updated, this time with the complete details for the Security level five floors below. "What's this?"
She did that bodiless-robot-head-shrug thing again. "Mapped it out while I was zooming through the vents. No big."
I peered at the layout dubiously. There was a room marked "Armory", another labeled "Central Control", and a big block in the middle... "Auxiliary Reactor Alpha".
When I looked back up, God was advancing with horn down and wings spread, a look of murder in his eyes.
My smile brought him up short.
* * * * *
A minute later, we were just about ready.
God had already lifted off and was circling around just below rooftop level, every air-defense battery within range taking pot-shots at him. He would round a corner, the turrets covering that angle would start tracking him, shots would be taken whenever they had a line-of-sight that didn't include the building, and then he would dart around the next corner before the shots arrived.
Every now and again, one lucky bolt out of dozens would hit or graze him anyway. He began glowing a sullen red, the color of barely-contained magic trying to escape his body's grip. Each hit drove his luminescence higher, in the most dangerous game of Tag I'd ever seen. But it got the Royale's guns following a predicable pattern.
And the timing, here, had to be perfect. While God flew laps, Pink-E beamed directives to the lashed-together Fun Suits. Their gas talismans began to blow them full of hydrogen at a careful, measured pace. When the multicolored bouquet began to lift my saddlebags, I worked myself in between the chains, my forelegs on the bag to weigh it down again. Soon enough it started lifting me too, until I was barely able to keep one hind hoof in contact with the catwalk.
"NOW!"
God's aura blazed up to create a bright vermillion streak as he flew past one more time, furling his wings and dropping from sight. The turrets, trying to correct for his sudden downward spiral, dropped their barrels.
That was Pink-E's cue to set all of the Suit collars on full-blast, including my own. Instantly, I was lifted up and squished from all sides, the skin-tight rubber ballooning out with a deafening HISS of injected gas, while from above I could hear the squeaking and stretching of magically-reinforced latex expanding to contain more hydrogen than they were really meant to. But my little pony-bot knew their limits; they held firm, and she made sure that my own didn't inflate so large as to rupture itself against the constraining network of chains. She snagged a pack-strap with a short cable, towing for all her servos were worth as we shot into the sky.
Less than five seconds had elapsed. The guns would already be elevating again, tracking us, still well within their range and arc of fire. I couldn't move my neck to look down, could barely even turn my head given the rubber swelling against my cheeks. All I could see was Pink-E's backside.
So I missed it when God smashed into the side of the Royale.
Central Control.
I missed seeing him plow through granite, concrete, reinforcing steel columns, and reactor shielding.
Reactor.
But it was impossible to miss the result of his purge.
"Large bomb."
That... was actually kind of a huge understatement. There was a rainbow-hued pulse of light from below, so intense that it reflected back from every other building in the casino complex. The same light, flashing through my suit from below, washed the rest of my visible spectrum out to a soft blue.
A moment later, dual blasts of sound and force arrived, only slightly muffled and buffered by my rubber-sheathed ball of hydrogen. My PipBuck started clicking like crazy, but at the moment I was much too happy that the balloon hadn't burst to worry about my mane falling out three days from now! As we rocketed upwards on the pressure wave, my stomach having departed without leaving a forwarding address, Pink-E's continued pulling pitched the bouquet on its side.
Now I had no choice but to look straight down.
Right at the brass-work rooftop, coming straight up!
Panic packed my throat for a moment, until I realized it was slowing down. Stopping. Falling away, half-turning onto its side. And smashing into the rest of the Royale, sending clouds of ruin billowing out in a halo that quickly mingled with the Pink Cloud Sea surrounding it. It was almost like watching a bloodshot grey eye dilating, an image which became more apparent the higher we rose above the casino's destruction.
God was gone. I was sure that I could have spotted him, if he'd made it out somehow. But there was nothing, no flapping black shadow against the clouds, no glow of red, nothing at all. Just gone.
He'd stopped and stared at me when I suggested the sacrifice play. Then... he'd smiled. A huge, wide grin full of incisors. I'd thought the cannibal alicorn was going to kill me right there. But it made an insane sense to him: I was his Redeemer, the whole point of which was to purge him of sins. Murder, cannibalism, failing to be the genetic savior of his kind. His Goddess could never forgive him the one. He couldn't forgive himself the others.
But I could. Maybe, I mused as the balloons finally righted themselves, he just wanted permission to die.
My stomach finally caught up as our ascent slowed and leveled off at last. I didn't really want to think about how high up we were. Pink-E kept tugging us higher and further away from the ruins at her best speed, but it probably wasn't high and far enough yet. If one small reactor had leveled the casino, what would six big ones do?
I squeezed my eyes shut and waited.
And waited... and waited...
And... with my eyes still scrunched tight, I asked the question: "What happened to the earth-shattering kaboom?"
"Oh, the countdown for that was up two minutes ago! No boom."
I blinked and stared at her. "WHAT?!"
Still looking like an burnt apple that'd fallen down a well fifty years ago, she stopped towing long enough to turn and smile at me. "It's all over. No boom! Nothing down there's even peeping an energy reading! So yay us! We win, right?"
A matching smile crept upon me, killing my natural desire to worry about something bad not happening. We might've lost God and Domino, and Pink-E might look like Tartarus warmed over, but we'd finally made it out! Now we could just float lazily back to town, I could suck down a crate of Rad-Away, I could get Pink-E fixed up, we could deliver the stupid Autodoc module to the stupid Zoomers, Horse would have his stupid alliance, and this whole mess would be -
Whoosh!
BANG!
Zoooooooooooooom!
Fuck my ass, straight to the moon!
One of the balloons had exploded in an orange fireball, a black-clad pegasus streaking away from the point of impact. In its wake, contrails of gray-on-white flowed from mane and tail. I thought the rest of balloons would catch fire and explode in turn, but their magical reinforcements held. Then anger began to set in.
That's Bitchy! What the fuck is her problem?!
While my brain was still coming to terms with this sudden but probably inevitable betrayal, Pink-E was taking evasive maneuvers. Well, whatever maneuvers you can really pull off as a little robot-head tugging a bunch of giant balloons. I wouldn't have given her odds against a crippled manticore.
"Nopony, but nopony, is going to pop my CHERRY!" she squealed indignantly.
Then again, I might be convinced to take 50:1...
Commander DeLoup had already circled around and was coming back. Her first attack had been at speed, but now she slowed in order to make a tighter turn. I wasn't sure why she hadn't just hit us with a sonic rainboom to begin with, but right now I needed mobility more than answers.
"Pink-E, deflate my suit!"
"You bet!" The Fun Suit's gas talisman once again sucked the hydrogen away, leaving me clutching the nearest chains while perched on the saddlebags. Then I dove into the PipBuck inventory spell once more.
That Gun would do quite nicely. Last thing I needed was Mouthkicker going wide on the recoil and taking out one of my own balloons! Shit, with my luck, it'd knock me right off my makeshift gondola for a nice long plummet. The spell kept everything else in my upside-down bags while it plucked the pistol, stuck it in my mouth, and re-latched everything securely.
The pegabitch didn't quite come straight in, adjusting for Pink-E's minor changes in direction with a somewhat leisurely banking approach. Not quite trusting S.A.T.S. to keep my hoofing, I sighted in along the heavy pistol's barrel and tongued off a double-tap. She instantly rolled away, avoiding the rounds easily, but missed her target in the process.
Then she shot straight up and out of view. I got a good look as she passed; no guns, no barding, no packs --- but completely shod in arc-sparking powerhooves. Which explained how she'd breached the collar's protections on that one balloon, as well as why its gas had ignited. Which was a bigger danger now, literally, because Pink-E was overinflating the remaining balloons to make up for losing the one. Thinner rubber and more gas would make Bitchy's job that much easier.
Which meant she might not have to expose herself to my fire in order to kill me. She could just attack from above to bust each balloon with a well-timed strike, though she'd have to do a fast pass each time to avoid the resulting fireball. Since she could choose a different angle of departure each time, and I wouldn't see her until she struck, my odds of getting off an accurate shot would be limited --- maybe even with S.A.T.S. on.
Well, shit. I spat That Gun into my pack's side holster, leaned out into the wind, and yelled:
"Hey, before I die, I wanna know: is it true pegasi suck the wet farts out of dead radhogs?"
There followed a rather pregnant pause. Suddenly, the bouquet rustled and an angry teal face glared down from between two red balloon-suits. Snugly enough, I noticed, that if I went for That Gun and took a potshot, a miss would definitely pop one. She might be angry, but she wasn't entirely stupid.
"You are a disgusting lump of excrement, even for an earthworm," she snarled. "Where did you even hear - "
"I also heard," I said in my driest tone, "that Zoomer mares have breeding issues because you're too busy clopping with Mother Matrix. That not true either?"
"Of course it isn't!" She seemed genuinely aghast. "That's... you don't even..."
I examined a hoof, feigning nonchalance. "Well, she is kind of athletic, at least in the pod. Dumb-looking dye-job on the mane, but I'd still have to give four stars. Would tap again."
Wow. Who knew teal could shift to indigo so fast? From annoyed, to flustered, to screaming mad in ten seconds flat. "You?! And... her?! She... GAH! That race-traitor! Both of you deserve what's coming!" She blasted back into the air, bursting the suit she'd been standing on with a quadruple discharge of electricity. The explosion set my ears ringing and singed the side of my face before I could duck. As if an afterthought, the separated collar bonked me on the head before falling away.
Well, that could have gone worse... ow...
I rubbed my poor abused noggin, squinting worriedly up at the bouquet, but the red's neighbors had weathered its demise with only a few slightly-melty blemishes. I wouldn't want to risk another, though --- and I noticed that Pink-E wasn't blowing the remaining suits any bigger, even though we were starting to slowly lose altitude. Instead, she was putting everything she had into towing, helped along somewhat by the prevailing wind current. A look down showed us passing above the mouth of the Coltorado, where it emptied into Lake Cider.
No time for enjoying the view, though. Bitchy-Bitch had pulled a tight loop and was coming right at me with eyes full of firey hate. At the next-to-last moment she flattened out, flared her wings, and brought all four powerhooves up with the clear intention of plowing straight through my chest.
Perfect.
At the very last moment I leaned sideways, thrust laterally with my hindlegs, and pulled on the manacle chains I'd been hanging from. She pranged right into them belly-first, stopping her cold with a painful-sounding "Whoomph!" --- right after which, all four power hooves discharged at once.
I'd never been in the middle of a cloud during a lightning storm before. Four separate lightning bolts arced across eight lengths of chain, each of which terminated with rubber at one end and canvas at the other. Smack in the middle, two ponies in direct contact with the conductive surfaces. SCIENCE!
Maybe I was starting to get used to pain in my everyday life. I sure can't imagine having taken that kind of charge a couple of weeks before, and getting up anytime soon! But by the time I could feel my lips again, Commander Bitchy was still draped across my saddlebags, moaning and trying to get a hoof under her. That was made a little more difficult by the fact that I was draped over her, a tactical advantage I took in both hooves. Literally; when she tried shaking her head clear, she found it in a leg-lock I'd picked up in my childhood brawling days.
The teal pegasus tried, and failed, to bite me, then attempted to get her hindlegs up to try for a buck. I slid slightly to one side and back-kicked the inside of her knee. She screamed, flailing madly in my grip as her leg buckled.
"Killing you will be a favor to the entire Wasteland!"
I think I may've mentioned I'm a bit small for an earth pony. Endurance, I've got, but not reach or main strength. The enraged pegasus militia commander also had two extra limbs. Tilting her wings this way and that, she managed to wobble onto her back, rolling me under. I still had the headlock, but now she started bucking the air, slamming herself back down onto my stomach. If I lost my grip now...
"Hi! I'm Pink-E! What's your name?!" I could hear the sound of her hypnotic green eye activating.
"FUCK!" DeLoup tried to twist out, using her forelegs to cover her face. It was a stone-cold pain in the tail to hang on, but at least my little 'bot had bought me a chance with her gambit. I hooked my hindlegs around a pair of chains: one still hooked to a balloon, and the other a spare I hadn't had an extra suit for. A couple of kicks, even with Bitchy squirming around, and I was able to whup whup WHOA!
Her wings flapped feathers in my face as Bitchy rolled off the saddlebag and took me with her... or as far as my body, leg, and chain would let her. She laughed, driving backward, pulling one of my forelegs from around her neck.
"Gravity's a real mother, isn't it you little pink shit?! I bet you'll make a pretty smear in about, oh, thirty seconds!"
I grunted at her, kicking the loose chain from hindleg to foreleg. "Did I mention I picked up a few pointers while I was down there --- from a cannibal?" I wrapped my teeth around her right thigh and CHOMPED.
Most folks underestimate just how nasty an earth pony bite can be. All us equines are herbivores by preference to start, even if we've picked up the omnivore habit out of necessity. But even setting that aside, earth ponies haven't got unicorn levitation or pegasus "wing-fingers" to get a job done. We have mouth, teeth, and tongue.
And even without incisors, we know how to use 'em.
The scream came at a pitch I might have credited to a high-class opera singer.
It wasn't that I was hoping to tear her apart with my bare teeth, though. I just wanted her distracted for long enough to get the manacle cuff around her leg. Clink! That done, I let her go and swung back up onto the gondola.
She stared at her chained ankle, then narrowed her eyes at me as she hovered to massage the bitten appendage. "You're wasting my time, worm. I could bust every last suit, work the chains loose, and just fly away from this mess, you know."
"Sure you could," I growled, taking a moment to spit her blood off to one side. "If you could avoid my tangling you up in the process. I'll drag you right out of the sky with me."
She cocked her head at me. "Negotiations, then. Fine. Give me the Autodoc module, cut me loose, and we'll go our separate ways. And if you make sure the Zoomers never hear from you again, I won't have to kill you." Her eyes lit with a cunning gleam --- she'd never been very good at concealing her motives.
"Don't think so," I said, pointing a hoof towards the now-distant dust clouds still roiling up from the Royale. "The whole point of this little vacation was that I give you bunch the module --- but here you are, trying to kill me for it. And your Mother Matrix dies if the Zoomers don't get it. Which would put you in charge."
Her mouth curled in a tight smile. "Not entirely stupid, for a mudpony. Yes. I'll lead the Zoomers out of here, back to our Enclave sisters. We'll all be welcomed as heroes, Loopy 'Air Wolf' DeLoup will be remembered as the pony that brought Rainbow Dash's head to Neighvarro on a pike... and we'll be no part of Horse's machinations."
"And Doctor Feel-Good? He's gonna be your new Prince or whatever?" I needed to play this up, get my breath back. Letting her talk a little longer wasn't going to hurt anypony... not me, anyways.
"Doctor Fly Right would have been literally branded as a traitor long ago, had he been born and raised in the Grand Pegasus Enclave. I couldn't stop him from tagging along when we got the ping showing your suit had left the Royale, but he thinks I just flew on ahead to retrieve you." Now it was her turn to study a hoof. "Leaving an egghead like him in the clouds was no problem. Killing him off, after I destroy the module, won't be either."
I shrugged, turning slightly towards the bags. "I really don't give a flying fuck about pegasus politics." Keeping my eyes on her, I leaned down towards the holstered Gun. "But I never break contract."
She flipped in midair, flapped twice, and came straight on. Good. I'd been counting on her not to wait.
With a short leap, I piled right into her, earth pony density winning out in the ensuing collision. The knockback put us both in the gondola once more, I managed to get her back in the headlock while she was still stunned, and this time she wasn't going to be going anywhere. "Pink-E! Deflate one suit!"
"But we won't have enough lift - " she protested.
"NOW, GODSDAMMIT!"
One burst of artificial flatulence later, a collar dropped from above. I managed to grab it with one hoof, keeping the other foreleg snug around her throat, and flipped it over.
"Turnabout's a bigger mother than gravity, Bitchy-Bitch."
Her eyes went wide. She opened her mouth to say something, but I'll never know what it was, because dragging the rubber suit over her head made for a great muffler. She panicked, bucked, smacked me with her wings, but that collar still made a very satisfying snick when I locked it into place.
"Blow her, Pink-E."
DeLoup tried to paw at the collar, but I pinned her forelegs to her sides with everything I had. While she struggled, hydrogen rushed from the collar's talisman to inflate the rubber suit encasing her head. Bigger... bigger... she squirmed, kicked, and probably would have yelled if she could've opened her mouth. Without a pony's body inside, the lining was pressing inward, suffocating as it swelled. I just needed that to go on for a little longer...
One interesting thing about pegasi? That density difference I mentioned wasn't a joke.
When I felt her start to lift, I let go all at once, watching her limbs and tail flail uselessly as she was hauled upward by the neck. Helpfully, I tugged on each chain in turn, shifting the balloons in the bouquet so the newcomer could take her rightful place in the center. The whole time, its unwilling cargo kicked and strained for all she was worth, moored by the ankle to her fate.
Of course, now that her hooves were free, DeLoup was desperately trying to work them under and around the collar. I figured I had maybe a minute, before she realized the kind of choice I'd just given her. I used two loose chains to lash the rest together, then knelt on the saddlebags. Two straps, normally cinched under a pony's belly, tied them to the bouquet.
I looked up at Pink-E for what might be the last time.
"When I say the word, I want all the gas talismans set to maximum. Then grab these bags and get the Autodoc module to Horse. If I don't make it, the rest is for Tag. Tell him to earn it, and if he doesn't, kill him."
My great-great-grand-aunt's legacy stared back at me. "What are you - ?"
I yanked the straps loose, turning as I fell away. The last thing I wanted to see was Lake Cider coming on.
Above, the bouquet shot into the sky, a teal form feebly beating at her collar with one useless shock after another. DeLoup knew what she had to do. She was just coming to terms with how she wanted to die.
Pink-E screamed something incoherent, dropping down to pursue me. Probably to try and tow me to safety. I knew she wouldn't have the power. Yelling back, I shoved the bags at her.
"THE WORD!"
My suit blew up once more and began overinflating immediately, which slowed my descent somewhat. Not nearly fast enough, naturally. We earth ponies are kind of dense, after all.
My butt was apparently the densest part of all, being that the suit rotated until I was looking straight up. DeLoup's bouquet was already a set of colorful pinpricks against the blue sky, but I could see little sparking arcs now and again. She'd made her decision. One... two... a sudden blossom of flame, followed instantly by nine more. The single pinprick remaining fell like a stone --- that is, if you ever saw a stone burning like a Roaman candle.
The suit kept blowing bigger, stretching me out like a torturer's rack. I slowed a little more, enough so that Bitchy fell past me, maybe a hundred lengths off. She was still screaming, covered in melted, burning rubber in a variety of colors. I might have smiled, I'm not sure.
I couldn't see Pink-E anymore. I'd lost track of her, right after seeing her tow-line make its catch. By now she was on her way to Horse. There was no real way out of this, old girl. But I never break a contract. Be good, Tag...
The suit's blue skin started going sheer, then transparent. Breathing got difficult, the rising pressure around my chest and belly making it hard to inhale. My legs, neck and tail were all at their limit; I could feel and hear vertebrae start to pop. My field of vision rapidly narrowed to a tightening tunnel of shiny, rubbery blue.
Then my muzzle was clamped shut. My eyes were blinded. My nostrils filled with the scent of latex, then with the real thing. I couldn't breathe at all. I couldn't move.
I exploded.
Footnote: Level Up. |
Calbeck | 679 | 15 | Original Character,Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash,Alternate Universe,Crossover,Adventure,Dark,My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,Gore | Fallout Equestria: New Pegas | Courier Six didn't survive the head shot...so Mr. Horse hired a bounty hunter to finish the job. | complete | 242 | 38 | <p>Mr. Horse's pet courier has been murdered and his property stolen. And while the price on the killers' heads is good enough to get any bounty hunter's attention, it's the bonus for returning a silly little poker chip that draws Dead-Shot in.</p><p>A pony could retire on that kind of jackpot...</p> | teen | 2013-05-02T12:11:47+00:00 | 2021-03-11T05:52:11+00:00 | 2,869 | Chapter 15: Bubble Trouble
Ye can search the world for fillies fine
'Til your eyes are weak and dim,
But don't go searchin' for a mer-mare, buck
If ye don't know how to swim!
I'd only been out for a few moments before my eyes blinked open again.
I knew that much, because if I'd been under for more than a minute, I'd've already drowned. I was already deep enough that the lake's surface had become a rippling, glass-like ceiling, looking out on an endless blue expanse that grew narrower in my vision as it receded from me. Earth ponies are known for solidity, not buoyancy; I was sinking like the proverbial stone.
Yes. You may insert another joke here about how dense we are. Ha-ha. You're welcome.
A bubble of air escaped my left nostril, floating away towards the ever-more-distant sky above.
I wasn't entirely sure why I was bothering to hold my breath at this point. The remaining tatters of the burst Fun Suit dragged in the water, slowing my movements. Its collar had popped off and fallen away, likely when the suit exploded, but I'd still have to wriggle out of the remnants before I had the remotest chance of flailing my way to the surface. That would take time I didn't have. Everything just seemed so completely futile...
At least I hadn't burned alive like Commander Bitchy; I must not have fallen very far before I hit the surface. So there was at least that small comfort before I died. And right now, I was bone-tired. Aside from being knocked unconscious and/or drugged on a few occasions, I hadn't had any real sleep since leaving my warm bed at the Lucky Chance.
That'd been --- at least two days ago. Three? Time and details were blurring together, likely a side-effect of my incipient asphyxiation. Sleep would be so much nicer than the alternative...
I felt weightless, the water growing colder as I dropped ever deeper. I wasn't unfamiliar with these sensations. It was like one of my drowning-dreams, where even though I'd been cold and alone I was at least... safe. Safe from worry, safe from fear, safe from attack, safe from the world.
Well, except for that one time in the whiskey bottle, sure, but there was no hint of amber here. Only a clear blue ceiling far above, framed by a gathering darkness, the sun's light finding it increasingly difficult to smash through so much water.
The weight of that water put more and more pressure on my barrel. Trying to squeeze out and steal away my precious last lungful of air. All my efforts now went into keeping that inside, but why was I still fighting? In dreams, letting my lungs have their fill was how I found peace. There would be no waking up this time, but the end was inevitable now. I closed my eyes against the fading of light from above.
Pink-E... I'm sorry...
Even as I forcefully blew out a cloud of bubbles, I felt angry with myself.
Why should I be sorry?! To anyone, about anything?
My parents were junkies who'd sold me off for a hit of second-rate chem. My adoptive dad had dragged me across half the wasteland until he got killed. Everything I ever got in life, after that, I took from some bastard's dead body.
And Pink-E? Pink-E had been nothing but an annoyance from the moment I met her! I could've caught Benny five times over, without her interference! Well, sure, maybe I'd've been killed by the Diamond Dogs hiding up in Slimm Pass, but I might've shot or snuck my way through too. And If she hadn't managed to alert Benny when I finally caught up to him, I'd've got paid, gone onto another job, not been caught by the Zoomers and shoved into this stupid fucking balloon-suit and dropped into the Casino Fucking Royale and dumped into this lake and drowned...
Enough stalling; my lungs desperately wanted something inside them. As I opened my mouth, something warm and smooth bumped my belly. I gasped, spooked by the unexpected contact into taking a long, deep breath.
Of air.
That surprise was immediately followed by another; my hooves struck a springy, concave surface. Which, as I immediately discovered, had a definite tendency to roll. All four of my hooves went right, the rest of me went left, and I bounced twice when I hit the floor.
What the fuck?! No, seriously, what the -
A soft giggling broke through my confusion. I shook my head and focused on its source.
Just a length away, a lakepony held a fin over her mouth and blushed, still smiling behind it. The scales of her hide were the color of pale coral, fading below into the sweeping emerald-green flukes of a fish-tail. Her deep red mane floated, nimbus-like, about a face which could have been sculpted in the days of ancient Pegasopolis.
Four shocks, in as many seconds, had my heart struggling to remember what rhythm was.
Lakeponies are not supposed to be beautiful! They were grotesquely malformed mutants, a merging of equine and piscean life into a single horrific organism. They were also the reason there were few permanent fishing villages along Lake Cider, due to their habit of dragging anypony they could catch down into the depths. Every year, there would be at least one report of a fishing expedition losing one or more of its less-than-careful members, a reminder to others of the occupation's hazards (and as good an excuse as any for why fish was more expensive than steak).
Despite my natural caution, I reached out towards this unexpected picture of loveliness... and my hoof bumped into more of that smooth, flexible surface, prompting another giggle from my presumable savior.
She darted below and to my right, looking up at me. Then up and over, back to the side, around and around --- I got dizzy trying to follow her movements, lost my hoofing on the rolling floor, and fell over again with another bounce.
Now she broke out laughing, a soft-squeaking merriment that --- well, I couldn't get angry at. I guess it was pretty funny, me falling all over myself, entirely out of my element inside this giant... um... bubble.
Yes, okay, I said it was a joke before about earth ponies being dense. I'd just had a quadruple-kick to the brainpan, above and beyond having just fallen out of the sky, added to which was the surreality of rescue by a not-ugly-as-fuck-all lakepony who didn't seem interested in killing me outright. Given another moment she needn't have bothered, so...
I waved a hoof at her. She giggled again, waving a fin back.
"Hello..." I doubted she could understand me. Lakeponies supposedly spat gibberish at each other in what might amount to some kind of language, but that hardly meant one would just happen to speak Equestrian. Still, what else was I supposed to do, play charades? "Er... can you talk?"
Surprising me yet again, she immediately nodded and seemed to take a moment to compose herself.
"You funny pony. Funny color. Pretty."
I... wasn't sure how to take that. At least it meant she wasn't hostile... at which realization I finally noticed there were no color bars in my vision; my Eyes-Forward-Sparkle spell had been knocked offline when I hit the water. Or maybe the PipBuck'd gotten waterlogged and shorted out? Nope, a quick set of mental commands brought the EFS back up, marking the lakepony with a green bar of friendliness.
A lot of other bars also appeared, in amber, scattered across a wide range. But I couldn't make out much beyond the little red-haired lakepony; everything just faded off into blackness in every direction but up or down. Upwards, the distant surface was visible only as a broad circle of blue light, framed in deepening greys which eventually turned black at the edges. Below (and not far below) was a brown expanse of lakebed where ribbons of green weeds drifted to and fro with the currents.
It was actually kind of... nice. Especially since I was no longer drowning in it.
She flitted back around into my view once more, then swam in close, pressing her fins and chest against the bubble's skin. I pressed back with my hooves, gingerly, feeling the pressure of her pushing.
Pushing? I blinked and looked down. Sure enough, the bubble was moving, carrying me past ferns and weeds at a ponderous gait. Lifting my eyes again, I found myself gazing into hers --- how had I not noticed those before? They were as normal as any pony's, but for irises the color of strawberry milk.
How do I even know what the hell strawberry milk looks like? But the comparison stayed in my head.
I had so many questions. Why had she saved me --- just because she thought I was "pretty"? Why didn't she look like any lakeponies I'd ever heard of? Where did this bubble come from, and what kept it from popping or floating to the surface? What was her name?
But after those first few words, I could get nothing more from her. She just smiled and swished her tail, slowly pushing her captured cargo of pretty pink pony along.
Where were we even going? It sure wasn't the surface. In fact, we seemed to be taking a slightly downward angle, the lake-bed mud getting closer as we passed the occasional reef. Sometimes, the hulk of an old boat would appear in the distance, the only lasting impact surface ponies had ever made on this strange domain.
Without warning, a single huge reef loomed up out of the dimness. Actually, that did it one hell of a disservice. I should say that a castle loomed up out of the dimness, composed entirely of a single huge reef.
There were no battlements or palisades, none of the classic means by which ancient ponies once defended their holdings. Why would there be, given that any invader could just swim right over them? But there were towers and high domes and a gate-house, all built from layers of luminescent coral. Even in the wan light available at this depth, every length of the place carried a soft glow, different colors of algae providing a coat of lustrous, living paint. Around the whole thing grew a moat-like band of green weeds, like somepony's unkempt lawn.
Scattered around its perimeter stood carefully-arranged frameworks of reclaimed junk, covered with beds of coral polyps that turned land-pony garbage into undulating gardens. Seeing ruin made into something beautiful brought a smile crawling onto my muzzle; it would have made for a gorgeous snowglobe design.
An old crooner's solo blared from my PipBuck, which had decided to let me know it had relocated Radio New Pegas:
Some-where, beyond the sea
Some-where, waiting for meeee...
My lover staaands, up-on golden saa-aaaands...
Hastily I fumbled through the menu system until finally I flipped the damned thing off. That's enough of that!
"Da*kssht*Robert. 'Beyond the Sea'. D-R-B-T-S, One-Nine-Four-Six*kssht*." Um, well... I'd THOUGHT I'd flipped the damn thing off! For a moment I wished I was a unicorn so I could better control it, particularly given the scratchy and generic mechanical voice on this old recording. But no matter how hard I smacked its buttons, it wouldn't shut up.
"*kssht*ERNATE AUDIO ENCRYPTION SATIS*kssht*: Case file Magical Amethyst, One-Five-B." Without warning, the machine-voice was replaced by a normal one. Although, given Mr. Horse's reputation, most folks would have said that was from a machine, too. Luna pump my ass with an hydraulic ram! How'd that motherfucker get into my PipBuck?!
"Prin*kssht*una formed her 'Ministries' today. That was amu*kssht* to watch. They keep underestimating Sparkle, don't they? Luna acted like her acceptance of the Prime Minister role was a given. Alicorns, noblesse oblige, and all. Can't have a Princess in charge of one Ministry, without putting her in charge of all of them. The look on Sparkle's face... I don't think she's psychologically capable of exerting lordly authority over her best friends. Not even for Goddess and Country." The capitalizing was audible.
He gave one of those laughs, the kind where you can't really tell if it's genuine or not. "So of course, she abdicates! Right there on the spot, no protest, no shouting, boom, and she's a unicorn again. I would have thought it impossible, after all this time and research... but then again, she was made an alicorn via magical transformation, wasn't she? With Magic itself being both her special talent and acknowledged realm of royal power, who could possibly neigh-say her decision?"
A snort of definitely genuine derision. "Certainly not Luna, that hidebound beast of protocol... she blanched so hard, I thought she might turn pink! I am so very glad my camera was rolling. That scene alone was worth the price of admission to this --- this Ministerial farce."
There was a pause of several moments, long enough that I thought maybe the recording had ended in a glitch. Then it resumed, Horse's voice more somber now. "Interministr*kssht*airs is playing a far deeper game than *kshht*ought. Sparkle's unpredictable decision must have them second-guessing their next move. I think it might be time to find a seat at this table. A few technical demonstrations should provide a reasonable ante, get Goldenblood's attention..."
Now what the hell was that all about? Did Pink-E pick this up when she was flitting around in the Lucky Chance? When did she upload it to my PipBuck?
The recording ended with the usual double-beep, bringing my attention back to more immediate concerns; the bubble had drifted to a stop just above another low-lying reef short of the weed lawn. I looked around in time to see Red-Head flitting past.
"HEY!" I shouted after her, but she disappeared into the yawning gate-house without so much as looking back. Most of the amber bars in my vision were concentrated in that direction, so I supposed she'd scampered off to tell her friends about me.
Guess as long as nothing goes red, I shouldn't be too worried... though the air in this thing can't last forever, can it...? To take my mind off that particular reminder of my mortality, I looked down between my hooves at the reef just below the bubble.
Now that was weird. It obviously wasn't part of the castle complex, and didn't seem to be part of any garden, either, but it had a lot of very definite right angles. Not something often found in nature. From my inveterate book-reading, I knew coral would happily grow on just about any underwater surface, but normally it would just clump up at random. Natural reefs were just blobby collections of dead polyps layered on one another.
So why did this one look like a giant "T" with a perfectly round end?
A sudden swell of exuberant music caused my ears to prick up, then go flat.
Oh, what fresh new hell is this?!
When I turned to look, my interest in the minor mystery of the reef went up in a puff of mental smoke. Hundreds of lakeponies were bursting out of the castle gate in wave upon wave, not an ugly among 'em, and every one with a green bar!
Shoo be doo! Shoo shoo be doo! Aaaaand now they were going to sing me the song of their people.
They swung into color-matched chorus lines, weaving around and through one another like a basketful of hopped-up water snakes, their exuberant melody turning the whole thing into a psychedelic cacophony. It was hard to focus on any one detail from one moment to the next. For example, which of them was playing saxophone, and which was on clarinet?
Hi there, we're the Lake-Ponies, gee, you're really in a mess!
Maybe, for your sake, pony, we should send a little S-O-S?
I planted my hooves up on the bubble-wall and nodded rapidly, hoping to catch the attention of whoever was in charge. "Yes, that would be very nice, thank -"
Well now, if you catch our drift, you'll never see the shore,
A dozen or so suddenly lunged in close, leering at me with smiles full of needle-y teeth: WHORE!
You won't be around for long, but at least you won't be bored! Shoo be doo! Shoo shoo be doo!
Just like that, their E.F.S. markers flashed to red. Aw, FUCK. I knew it was too much to hope for!
And here I was, stuck at the bottom of Lake Cider. Even if I could bust out of this bubble, I'd only drop right to the bottom. I couldn't think of anything in my PipBuck's bag of tricks that would be useful, either. With Wallbuster I could teleport, but where? A quick look at the PipBuck's short-range map showed nothing but lakebed in all directions, and it didn't even come up as an option on bigger scales. It might get me back to the surface, but then what? Use Turbo to flail around for a few seconds before drowning again?
Three of the gorgeous, smiling monsters began pushing the bubble towards the open gateway, not even missing a beat. They each had their own lines, too:
Are you sinking fast? asked the smirking purple blonde.
Had some nasty shocks? inquired the white-maned green, mockingly fluttering her lashes.
Feeling like all hope is gone, and washed up on the rocks? sarcasted the bay brunette. Yes, I used "sarcast" as a verb. Sue me.
The rest all picked up on the chorus: Washed up on the rocks! Shoo be doo! Shoo shoo be doo!
I'd thought of the castle as, well, a castle. Like in the old stories, you know, with hallways and throne rooms and Imperious Twats and all. But as my escorts shoved me inside, my first impression was of a single dark cavern, a wide shaft of golden light spearing down from a huge gap at the top of the domed ceiling. In the center of the glow stood two tall pillars of carved basalt, with some knobbly bits on the facing sides. That was it.
Well, until my Luna-cursed eyes adjusted to the gloom. Shit. The floor was littered with bits and baubles, thickly enough to qualify as a formal carpet. But it was the bones that drew the breath from me. Most of them were old, pitted and grey, but there were plenty of clean white ones. And then there were those to which shreds of cartilage, and pale red meat, still clung. Some of the wrack had been arranged into piles, nestling egg clusters that shimmered with mottled shades of green and blue.
The Lake-pony Musical Revue wasn't satisfied to stay outside, nearly blotting out the sunbeam as they swooped by dozens through the dome's aperture.
My three escorts pressed in, bursting the bubble between them and sending the freed air fleeing towards the surface. As the cold water slammed in I clamped my muzzle down and kicked at my captors, but for all my underwater agility I might as well have been wearing a lead suit. I just didn't want to die without trying to get a shot in.
White-Mane darted around, leaned in, and pursed her lips to blow another, smaller, bubble around my head. My relief at being able to breathe again was cut short as her sisters puffed at my hooves, snaring them in identical spheres. Each grabbing a bubble, they dragged my flailing carcass to the black stone pillars as easy as a raider gang with a sackful of colts.
Need rescue from the Lake-Ponies? Better not hold your breath!
Blond and Brunette pulled my forelegs apart, mooring each bubble to one of the pillars' knobby bits, then did the same for my hindlegs. Spread-eagled again? This was getting repetitive. Not to mention that, with the number of near-death experiences I'd been through in just the last hour or so, I was really starting to feel the effects of adrenaline burnout.
We need to breed with you ponies, and now we'll pump you to death!
Needless to say, none of my squirming, kicking or punching had any useful effect. The bubbles would give a little, stretch a bit, but never let go. Didn't stop me from trying... wait. What was that last bit?
White-Mane swished up over my head, then dove back down and between my hindlegs, brushing through the cloud of my tail before pulling up in front again with a teasing smile. My heart was too busy trying to hammer through its ribcage for me to appreciate it on a less panicky level. Her sisters zipped away to join the chorus lines swirling beneath the dome ever more energetically as the inappropriately-bouncy tune reached its climax:
While our bubbles hold you here, as strong as any silk (Silk!)
Count upon the Lake Ponies!
We'll... see... you... get... milked!
Looking down, I watched helplessly as White-Mane cupped her fins, blowing one more sheer, delicate bubble between them. Right down at 'little buckaroo' level. Oh, you have GOT to be fucking kidding...
Lake Ponies, Lake Ponies
Then we'll eat him while he's fresh (Eat him while he's fresh!)
Lake Ponies, Lake Ponies
Then we'll eat him while he's fresh (Eat him while he's fresh!)
Oh, yes!
Eeyep... from something out of the setup for a New Reino porno flick, down to implied cannibal luau, in ten seconds flat. My head drooped with the weight of defeat, the prospect of a less-than-quick end sending a deeper chill up my back than the water could.
"WAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIT!"
The festivities pulled to a screeching halt. All eyes but mine turned a glare on Red-Head, swimming out from the shadows into the light with one fin upraised in protest... and a green, glowing EFS bar above her head.
Her milky eyes looked around at the others imploringly. "Why hurt pretty pony? Not like so many we catch, so small! Not feed many Lake-Ponies, not seed many eggs..." She reached down into a well-gnawed pile of ribs, pulling forth a little --- snowglobe? --- and held it up for the others to see. "We not have many pretty things?"
She whirled in place with it, her long red mane billowing, the globe's glass glinting in the sunlight... while another swell of music arose. Oh, I get it: fish-pony magic includes the spell "Spontaneous Musical Number". I didn't realize how wrong I was at the time... but hey, who knew?
Look at all this, isn't it neat?
Wouldn't you think our collection's complete?
Would you think we're the girls...
The girls who've got everything?
Along the curving walls, the other lakeponies stared questioningly at one another. Some shrugged, others pointed and whispered, but all paid attention to Red's song like they hadn't just done one of their own.
Look at this grotto, with treasure galore
How many Land-Ponies would gawp and adore?
If they knew what we have here, they'd say
'Sure... they have everything!'
Quite a few in the crowd started nodding at that. The whispering rose in pitch, joined by gesticulations as several of bystanders began arguing in hushed voices. Red-Head didn't pay the slightest bit of attention, caught up in her own song, zipping between heaps and piles to pick up and display one thing after another.
We've got Equestrian Bits, somewhat dirty,
There's bottlecaps and books on our floor
Up came a load of rusty, rotting rifles, whose gemstones still gleamed with the promise of malice.
Want magical weapons? We've got thirty!
She dumped them with an exaggerated sigh and turned her face upward, letting the sun's rays illuminate her features like some sort of sublime and Celestial being.
But who cares?
No big deal...
She shrugged, then raised her fins in supplication to her audience:
I want moooooorrre...
The rest of the lakeponies began to crowd in towards the light, jostling for proximity to the angelic vision and dulcet voice.It was clear that'd only been her preamble. The music swelled anew, and so did her chest, just before belting out:
Oh, I want to be where those ponies are,
I wanna see...
They tore her apart.
One moment they seemed placid enough, and the next, there was a giant ball of frenzied motion filling the dome, from which rapidly exuded a spreading cloud of red. Tiny bits of my would-be savior drifted momentarily out of the fracas, and then one or another lakepony would greedily snap them up.
Burning bile choked its way up my throat. Fighting it down, I retched several times rather than just let go... drowning in a bubble-ful of puke still didn't seem a preferable end. Some exploded into my sinuses, setting off a fit of coughing and sniffling that nearly forced it up anyway.
I'd seen violence, sure. I'd seen ponies and other creatures die horribly, sometimes even made the arrangements myself. In my job as a bounty hunter, I'd pulled the trigger on plenty more. I'd even seen bloodwing packs tear into a crippled manticore. But I'd never seen something so purely visceral, married to such intense, furious hatred.
They hadn't just eaten her. They'd performed an execution.
When the frenzied lakeponies broke up, most of them darted up out of the castle dome and away, leaving a fresh set of gleaming white bones to form their own little pile on the floor. Only White-Mane, picking a long red hair out of her needle-thin teeth, remained. Her other fin still held the bubble clamped to her side, and once she'd composed herself she resumed her sultry approach as though nothing had happened at all.
"I Sea Swish. My honor to collect seed. You like, much fun, be happy."
I blinked. "What's with the bad lingo? When you lakeponies sing, you talk just fine."
She shrugged dismissively. "Not know words, not care. Not job. You like now." She pressed closer...
*** EXCERPTED ***
>>>SECTION "15.2: Bubble Trouble Blow-Out"
>>>PER ORDER OF REPUBLIC CENTRAL SECURITY
>>>PER AUTHORITY OF CRIMINAL CODE 16.2a (Indecent Publications)
*** EXCERPTED ***
Three days.
THREE...
FUCKING...
DAYS.
Sea Swish was still there. Still patiently squeezing, twisting, and oh Luna Celestia please if you have any mercy in your damned souls take me to Tartarus with you!
There was a place beyond "numb". If I only felt numbness, it wouldn't have been so bad.
Most of my exposed muscles, stretched out and deep-chilled for literally days on end, had locked up in a rictus that was likely just shy of rigor mortis. Every now and again a few lakeponies would swim past with their fins cupped, as though guiding something along, and I'd be briefly inundated with a rush of warmer water. They needed to keep me going at least long enough to finish the job... and who knows, maybe they were basting me with something for their after-coitus snack.
By contrast, fish-pony magic kept everything inside the bubbles warm and dry, kept the air fresh, kept me from dying. Dead ponies can't fill bubbles. Maybe it even kept the fedora on my head; I hadn't a clue otherwise as to how it had remained on my head through all this.
But infrequent warm-water baths only go so far, and the equine body only has so much heat to surrender. My bouts of shivering had overlapped into a perpetual shudder at some point, matched by the incessant vibrations of chattering teeth. I fought to keep my head tipped back towards the sky... mostly because if I didn't, my tongue would flop out, and I'd bite it repeatedly until I worked it back in. The only time I intentionally dropped my muzzle was to suck moisture from the collected puddle of sweat and condensation that pooled around my neck at the bubble's bottom. Otherwise, my eyes were locked on the castle-dome's open gap, watching the distant ball of sun dragging itself across the disc of mirrored sky once again.
I'd be remiss if I forgot to mention how much it literally fucking hurts to be pumped to orgasm every quarter-hour for three days solid, without any food or sleep, regardless of whether or not your cojones have produced anything worth milking in between. Not the sharp jolt like you'd get from a hoof in the groin, but the lingering, debilitating pain that keeps you on the ground clutching yourself in a fetal ball afterwards.
Occasionally, a few lakeponies would flit in just to stare at the proceedings. I had nothing left for rage, or begging, or even meeting their eyes. I definitely did not want to look around the castle, either, not at the junk and eggs and... bones scattered across the floor. Everything I had left went to waiting, just waiting for it all to end.
For three days, that damned bubble had been squeezed straight up my urethra, pumping and draining me in ways that should have been equinishly impossible. Then, without preamble or warning, Sea Swish finally pulled it free with a soft pop of releasing suction; it almost felt like my prostate was being yanked out with it.
The sensation triggered a final, pathetic, listless twitching down below, producing nothing more than extra strain on already-overworked muscles. My entire lower torso, entirely apart from my groin, throbbed with the sort of red pain that you'd normally associate with a septic gut wound. I couldn't hold back a groan, couldn't keep my head up now that I was no longer being tormented from moment to moment. Unbidden, my haggard gaze drooped down to stare at what my days and nights of suffering had created.
She was already turning away, swimming towards the first clutch of lakepony eggs with a taut, shiny ball of whitish fluid clutched to her chest. Three days' worth of small talk (mainly me, trying to distract her, without a bit of success) had already told me why. Every blue egg seeded by a land pony's gunk would hatch another lovely pony-eating monster, and every green egg would produce a hideous mutant moron. The latter would serve the former as hunters, laborers and raiders. I was going to father dozens --- if not hundreds --- of new abominations.
At least I wouldn't live to see it. And there was nothing left in me to care about what would co - happen, next.
The rest of the lakeponies were already filtering in a few at a time, a few humming the refrain to their song. Now we'll eat him while he's fresh... Oh, just get it the fuck over already! Looked like that's what they had in mind, too, but as the crowd got bigger Sea Swish kept getting impatient glares. Apparently, dinner couldn't start until she'd finished her job -- nice to see that even aquatic barbarisms bowed to table manners.
Far, far above, the sun's disk hung in the sky's blue circle. With so much water between me and it, there was hardly any glare at all. Just a beautiful yellow orb, perfect in its simplicity, a wedge of black slowly moving from right to left across its face...
...I knew, now, what an eclipse was. When the Princesses had been around, they'd occasionally arranged one to honor Luna, but in their absence the phenonemon occurred with predictable regularity, all on its own. After half-blinding myself as a colt, I'd had something of a passion in learning the cycles.
And there was NOT supposed to be an eclipse today!
Gasps sounded from all around; I wasn't the only one struck by the dome's sudden darkening as the sunbeam was blotted out. The lakeponies began squealing, arguing, jostling... all that, I got from the noises they made, because I sure wasn't looking at them. My widening eyes were rooted to the shadow obscuring the disappearing sun.
Something was off about this eclipse... it was going much faster than I remembered. That, and the wedge was more an oblong, not circular at all. As it passed, a second, smaller oblong became evident, following in its wake. This newcomer quickly grew larger, bigger than the first, filling a sizable chunk of the sky-circle visible through the dome's hole.
Whatever it was, it was coming right at me!
That fact didn't escape the lakeponies' notice. They began swirling around the dome agitatedly, squealing challenges at the intruder. Heedless, it dropped straight through the hole and struck the floor, raising a cloud of displaced muck and bone-shards before rebounding on a course right for my right leg.
Mentally and physically, I was completely exhausted. I couldn't comprehend what exactly was happening, or what I was seeing. All I knew what that this thing burst straight through the bubble snaring my leg, latched onto the rubber cuff left behind by the Fun Suit's detonation, and bodily yanked. The bubbles mooring my remaining legs to the pillars stretched, drew taut, and then burst as well. Helpless as a rag doll, I was dragged up out of the dome, the lakepony mob in hot pursuit.
Not content to share, they drove upward to attack the counter-abductor. Whatever it was, it was going for the surface at speed, dragging me upside-down by the leg. Even if I hadn't been almost dead of fatigue, I'd have had a hard time fighting the acceleration long enough to look anywhere but down. Instead, I helplessly watched the castle, its weed-moat, and the weird reef all recede until the depths finally obscured my view.
Now it was just a matter of who would get to finish me off. It might have been a bit more exciting than I'd expected, but it was still me getting eaten by a godsdamned fish-monster of one kind or another. If I'd had the energy to curse, I would have spent the chase yelling at the whirling, colorful, idiotic mass of lakeponies trying to kill the newcomer instead of just biting my cuff loose. At least on the pillars, there'd been some sense of ceremony, a slightly more dignified end than being dragged backwards by the ankle.
From somewhere up above came the sound of shouting, splashing. It got louder, fast, and then a green-haired lakepony brushed past me, fleeing back into the depths with dark red blood trailing from a gash above the fluke. Three others, screaming with raw animal hunger, tore after her.
There were several thunk noises, with the scene repeating for each thunk --- a bleeder and several pursuers, ending as often as not in frenzy of bloody chunks. Whatever had a hold on me pulled relentlessly through the carnage, as though paying it no attention at all.
Suddenly, I was ripped bodily from the water altogether. The last bubble burst from around my head, releasing a spray of droplets that rained back down on the shining, shimmering surface of the lake --- and also my hat!
Not my new hat! With a quick stretch I shouldn't really have been capable of, I was barely able to snap it up with my teeth, before being hauled up into the air.
Two lengths above the water, I blinked as a lakepony leapt up, was stabbed by a long spear from somewhere off to my side, and fell back with a splash. After half a dozen such tries, the remainder of the school fled beneath the rippling red riot with hateful cries and a final chorus of shoo be doo!.
I coughed out something green and vile, caught my breath, and yelled:
"Someday I'll be back with a load of balefire grenades, and then we'll see who gets shoo be doo'd!"
A familiar giggle caught my ear. With not a little effort, I managed to raise my head.
Pink-E was frowning --- no, grinning, at me. Even upside-down, she still looked like a dog's breakfast. Next to her, beneath a red-and-white-striped sail, sat the biggest earth pony I'd ever seen. Bigger than a buffalo, with a stupid-looking helmet made small by the sheer size of his cranium. He had a pale-gold coat, a brown mane done up in braids, and forelegs damn near big around as I was. Clasped between those legs, and braced against his belly, was his fishing rod: a godsdamned tow-truck gantry. Its reel, wound with what had to be at least fifty lengths of spliced cable, was mounted just behind the prow.
And I hung in the air from its hook, slowly twisting in the wind. As I did, I counted three other longships of modular design, all crewed by grinning, burly ponies --- though none nearly so overbuilt as the fisher-king. All of them carried weapons, mostly spears and rifles, and all wore the same stupid-looking helmets. The reason they looked stupid, of course, were the dual horns made from screwdrivers and hex keys.
Vikeans, I groaned internally. Somepony just kill me right now.
Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Adrenaline Rush - Your repeated near-death experiences have shown you how to harness fear. When you drop below 75% of maximum health, you gain +2 Strength. |
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