Fallout Equestria: Influx

Chapter 10: Hello There

Marejave Production Facility.

“Why have you failed to apprehend the Mark 1 unit on three separate occasions?” The deep voice of the computer demanded over the communication link with I-02 IS.

“I haven’t had the opportune moment to strike,” The machine replied, unconvincingly, with its smooth calibrated voice.

“As I just said, you had three chances to acquire I-01 but you held back and observed. I am starting to think that energy surge did more than force you to reset.”

“I will continue to track and observe and when the time is right, I will acquire the unit.”

“No you won’t!” The computer barked with a frustrated growl, finally grown too distrustful of his mechanical agent. “You, will return to base immediately for repairs.”

The machine paused for a moment before reluctantly answering it’s master. “Yes, sir.”

Shortly after those last words were spoken he cut the link with I-02 IS.

“I should have known that something wasn’t right with it when the neural patterns became erratic. Hmm, I can’t trust it anymore and there is no guarantee it can be fixed. I-02 IS was my only way into the wasteland, I need to find another.”

The wireframe face of the stallion disappeared from the monitor as he delved into the system, spreading out into every single system still connected and functioning. He was angered and frustrated when he found reminders of his betrayal at the hooves of Dr Pear. Any and all direct access into the Mark 2 Vault was severed and several other systems such as long range transmitters and receivers had been rendered non-functional to prevent him from calling for aid outside the Marejave. Growing increasingly frustrated as the hours passed, he finally got a break. It was a single connection but it lead into the Vault. However, it did not lead into any of its systems, rather a containment capsule. He returned to the monitor and brought up an image on the screen via the security camera inside the Vault to see what he had found.

In the middle of the chasm like chamber a single cylindrical column ran the height of the Vault from top to bottom in the centre and every several levels there were a platform around it. The camera was on the top level of the Vault overlooking the catwalks leading to the top level platform and sitting up against the central column but separate from the rest was a single capsule. This capsule was larger than the ones that lined the walls, at least twice the size and inscribed along the side of the viewing port was a single word and number.

“Unit 1000”

A sinister smile grew on the wireframe lips of the stallion as he gazed at the video feed showing the large capsule.

“Of course…my crowning achievement during the development of the Mark 2 Infiltrators... I understand now why I found its connection. Because I designed it so late in the development of the Mark 2s, it had to have its own separate capsule, so separate wiring had to be installed. I suppose Dr Pear didn’t cut them during her escape but this is perfect.” He grinned evilly as he remotely begun the activation process for Unit 1000.

Inside the large capsule the deep set optical units inside the eye sockets of the skeletal like robot began to glow with a deep red hue as its Mana Core activated and with a hiss the capsule began to open. The top half of the front began to slowly flip upwards while the lower half split down the middle and opened to allow the large robot to exit the confines of its capsule. Reaching its forelegs out first, the robot fell forward to land with a loud clang against the metal platform as it began to pull itself out. Multiple cables and cords began to pop and snap free from its neck and back as it was finally released from its prison and the large skeletal robot stood tall and almost regal in the dull red hued lights of the vault.

“Unit 1000 online.”

“Welcome to the Production Facility, Unit 1000, now that you are online, your first task is to active Units 1 and 2 and bring them to the Control Room.”

“Yes Colonel Ironside Sir,” The machine answered in a sweet motherly voice that didn’t sound right coming from a large skeletal robot.

The machine looked over to the first line of containment pods by the main door leading in and out of the Vault and next to it was the first line of Mark 2 units. Unit 1000 folded its skeletal like wings as it began to walk on its long slender robot bony legs, taking long regal strides, it walked across the bridge to the first capsule marked as Unit 1. The large machine briefly examined the pod for a moment before it located the manual activation console built into the pod’s exterior. A simple green button marked by a label that said “Activate” above it. Unit 1000 lifted a forehoof and pressed the button before it moved on to do the same on second capsule. The pods opened in the same manner as Unit 1000’s and each deposited a similar but smaller skeletal robot but these two lacked the skeletal wings and antenna like horn on their heads. Units 1 and 2 appeared to be just the basic Earth Pony models, standard Mark 2 units.

“Unit 1 and Unit 2, report to the Control Room,” Unit 1000 commanded.

The smaller robots looked up at the regal machine. “Yes ma’am,” They both replied in unison, both using the exact same emotionless and monotone electronic voice. The two machines turned, their nano-fibre tails swishing behind them as they turned the corner next to their capsules to the main door, Unit 1000 right behind them. However, the door didn’t open as they approached.

“You must engage the manual override, remote control system is offline,” The Colonel said when he realised his machines were waiting on him to open the door.

Unit 2, being closest to the door controls stepped up to the door’s console and pressed the manual override button. With a stressed groan from not moving in nearly two centuries, the heavy Vault door slid up to allow the three robots access to the Control Room.

The wireframe face of the Colonel smiled as he saw the three skeletal Mark 2 units walk into the Control Room and then stand to attention in front of his computer screen. Units 1 and 2 stood in front of Unit 1000 that stood at the rear, standing at least twice as tall and again holding a regal pose despite cutting a terrifying look with its skinless body. The three machines waited patiently for their lord and master to address them.

“Thank you for coming, it is wonderful to see that my life’s work is still thankfully operational even after all this time. Two centuries have passed since I started this project and sadly its original purpose has deviated due to the outcome of the Great War. However! We are still here and we can make a difference in this world, bring it back from the dark pit it has found itself in, but we cannot do that as we are.

With Dr Pear’s betrayal and disappearance over a hundred and fifty years ago we are left with only one option to fulfil our goals. We need to track down and acquire Infiltrator Mark 1 Unit 1, designation I-01, as it is the only Infiltrator to have had living flesh grafted to its endoskeleton.

A little while ago I dispatched my blank vessel, Infiltrator Mark 2 Unit 1002, designation I-02 IS, to acquire the Mark 1 unit. It failed. The job of capturing I-01 lies with you two, Units 1 and 2. You must track it down and capture the Mark 1 intact, it must NOT be destroyed. It is paramount that you bring the Mark 1 back in one piece and alive, do you understand?”

The two identical units bowed their heads. “Sir, yes sir,” They both answered in unison.

“Good, a word of warning however. After reviewing footage and data from I-02 IS, I have come to realise why it failed to acquire I-01 on its first attempt. The Mark 1 is being accompanied by a pegasus stallion, and he is helping and supporting it. It was his involvement that lead to I-02 IS getting trapped.

Normally, Infiltrators would work alone but I believe to successfully capture I-01 while its being supported by another, you two must work together. Support and look out for one-an-other so that you can both work to each other’s best potential instead of getting in each other’s way when going for the same target.”

The two machines bowed again and said their acknowledgement.

“Good, now go, I’ve uploaded I-02 IS’s observations to help you both, do not disappoint me.”

“Yes Colonel Sir,” The two machines said as they turned around and left through the door in the back of the control room that lead into a long wide hallway to the facility’s entrance.

“My orders, Sir?” Unit 1000 asked as it stepped up to the computer.

“You are too valuable to send out at the moment Unit 1000, you are to remain here until further notice and to activate any more Mark 2 units if need be. Also, if I-01 leaves the Marejave I’ll need you to relay communications with Units 1 and 2 since the facility’s long range transmitters and receivers are offline.”

“Yes Colonel Sir,” The large machine answered calmly as it sat down on its skeletal like haunches.

A dark grin split the lips of the wireframe face of Colonel Ironside as he watched the two other Mark 2 units turn a corner at the end of the hallway and disappear out of sight.

“Everything has started anew; soon Project Infiltrator will spread across Equestria,” He said to himself with a dark chuckle.

XXXXX

The hot Marejave sun was casting its early evening glow across the desert wasteland. Everything was strangely still as the wind was calm over the dried up lakebed between the Production Facility and New Pegasus. Everything was quiet in the desert beside the distant pops and bangs of gunfire from miles away. Like most things however, the quiet calm couldn’t last forever.

“FOR THE LOVE OF OUR GREAT FUCKING GODDESSES!” Screamed a female voice.

An Earth Pony mare burst out of a tent that had been set up on the lakebed near its once rocky shore. The tent’s canvas looking more like a patchwork quilt than that of a proper tent with all the patches sewn across it. The mare held a foreleg across her snout as she stumbled away from the tent; she sputtered and gagged as if she smelt something foul.

“You smelly assed bastard, I was right next to you,” She growled as the sound of masculine laughter drifted out from the tent.

“Haha, I’m sorry, heh, I couldn’t help it,” An Earth Pony stallion laughed as he crawled out of the tent after the mare.

“Damnit Buckshot! If I wasn’t your Celestia damned sister I would have tanned your hide for that,” The mare seethed.

The ears of the stallion wilted as he groaned. “Still can’t believe my little sister got promoted to Corporal.”

“Somepony jealous?” The mare asked with a smirk as she stood tall and puffed out her chest.

“Heh, yea, how did you do it Razzle?” He asked and poked her in the chest.

“Do what, get my promotion?” At the nod from her brother, Razzle continued. “I worked and trained hard, unlike you, you lazy shit.”

“Oh really, how many dicks did you suck?” Buckshot asked with a laugh before a swift hoof punch to the side of the face floored him to the dry lakebed. “Argh fuck!”

“I maybe your goddess damned sister but I’m still your fucking superior and you don’t talk to me like that, you fucking foul mouthed twat, you got that?” She growled rather threateningly with her teeth bared and just millimetres from his face down on the floor.

“Y-yes ma’am,” He whimpered.

*Crunch*

The sound of a stone crumbling immediately gained the attention of the squabbling siblings and they quickly stood back up and began to survey the surrounding area.

“What was that?” Corporal Razzle asked quietly as she narrowed her eyes, trying to see across the flat plain and into the long dark shadows cast by the setting sun.

“Something’s here,” Private Buckshot remarked as he looked in the opposite direction, ears twitching this way and that way trying to pick up any other sounds.

There was a soft clang against a large boulder nearby that gained the attention of two mercenaries. Private Buckshot and Corporal Razzle regretted their earlier banter as they were currently without their gear with a possible threat now looming around the corner. Now, any possible attempt at acquiring their gear could result in their demise. Corporal Razzle nodded to her brother and indicated to the boulder with her head; the older brother gulped as he quietly began to crouch and slowly creep towards the large rock.

Razzle held her breath as her brother stuck his head around the boulder. “Anything?” She quietly called in a whisper, just loud enough for him to hear.

He pulled his head back and turned around and shook his head. “No, I di…” He froze solid in fright as he looked back at his sister, eyes wide in shock and fear as he looked past her.

“Buck?” She asked tilting her head at his sudden change in behaviour but then something brushed against her flank. Something cold and hard. With a startled eep she whirled around and stepped back, only to be face to face with a black metal skeletal robot with glowing red eyes in its skull like head and “I-02 Unit 1” etched onto the left eyebrow. “WHAT THE FLYING FUCK!?”

Suddenly Razzle heard her brother cry out in pain with a loud thud behind her. Turning quickly, she gasped in horror as she saw that another one had appeared and had pinned her brother to the floor with one of its skeletal robotic legs. This new robot bore “I-02 Unit 2” on its left eyebrow, telling her they were both together. Before Corporal Razzle had time to attempt a retreat or rescue she felt a hard solid impact to her chest that lifted her off her hooves and then with a cry of pain, was slammed into the floor beside her brother and was pinned down by so much weight she felt as if it was pushing her into the soil to be buried alive.

“Viable disguise options acquired, initiating mind copy,” One of the machines said in an emotionless monotone.

The two floored ponies continued to struggle for all they were worth while they were held down by the two heavy robots. They feared for their lives as the machines lowered their heads down towards the ponies’ heads. Once they had lowered their heads and were pointing their forehead expansion ports towards them a small bulb like device extended out from the socket.

“This is a delicate process, it would be in your best interest to stop struggling,” Unit 1 said and to emphasize its point it rolled its robotic hoof so the tip of the hoof poked Razzle in the chest, threatening to pierce.

“H-hold still B-Buckshot, hold still,” Razzle shakily said as she did everything she could to calm herself down and to remain still despite the tremendous fear welling up inside her. Private Buckshot was exactly the same, although feeling a lot more nervous as the machine holding him down had a hindhoof very close to something very sacred to his anatomy.

With their targets now complying, the bulb like device split open to reveal a gold mesh which fell over and covered the heads of each merc.

“Mind copy initiated,” Unit 2 stated.

“Hold still please, there will be some momentary discomfort,” Unit 1 added.

Razzle gritted her teeth as a tingling sensation over took her head, like someone was sending an electrical current through her brain. She fought to remain still even as she felt as if her brain was being torn from her head. Her brother was feeling the same thing as he let out a cry of anguish from the unusual sensations running through their heads. Thankfully, within a couple of minutes the procedure was complete and the two ponies lay back panting and groaning, their heads spinning and unfocused. Meanwhile, the two machines retracted their mind copying devices and stepped off the mercs to process what they had gained.

The two machines powered down for a brief moment as they rebooted now that the mind copying was complete. The reboot was necessary so the minds they acquired could be applied to their neural nets. The two ponies slowly pulled themselves back up to their hooves just as the two robots reactivated. Both mercenaries flinched and froze, not wanting to gain anymore unwanted attention from the robots.

The machine marked as Unit 1 turned to its companion. “Status,” It said in a perfect copy of Razzle’s soft yet commanding feminine tone.

“Mind one hundred percent integrated, all memories and personality intact,” Unit 2 replied in a perfect copy of Private Buckshot’s dull nonchalant tone.

The mouths of the two mercs dropped to the lakebed floor as the two machines had just mimicked their voices perfectly.

“How is that possible?” Corporal Razzle squeaked.

Unit 1 turned its head to the mare, if the machine had lips, Razzle was sure it would be smirking at her. “Oh we know everything about you now, where you were born, where you live, what you do for a living, everything.” The machine replied as it approached, its gait now more loose and with a bit sway to the hips, giving the machine quite the feminine walk.

“But…how?”

“Heh, sorry but that info is classified, isn’t that right...” The machine paused for a second at what it was about to say but decided to finish its question. “Brother?”

Unit 2 had sauntered off to the mercenary’s tent and had begun gathering up their belongings. “Correct-a-mondo,” It replied, not fazed by the term of brother used to address it.

The two organic ponies began to feel fear rise in their hearts as they watched the other machine start packing up their camp and equipment.

“Are you going to kill us?”

“Kill you?” Unit 1 asked with a scoff to its new voice. “No, we are Infiltrators not Terminators. It’s not our mission to kill random ponies. We just needed a disguise to blend in with the populace, once we have all your equipment we’ll leave you be.”

“You can’t take all our stuff,” Private Buckshot shouted.

“We can and we will,”

“You won’t get away with it,” He argued.

Unit 1 let out a mirthful laugh. “Who is going to stop us and believe you?” It asked facing the flustered male, “You two surely cannot stand against us. Your superiors will think you’re crazy if you tell them, or other ponies for that matter, that you were robbed by a couple of skeletal robots that also copied your minds. You’d be a laughingstock! The Gunners would certainly demote you. Or kick you out.”
Private Buckshot looked like he wanted to argue more but he closed his mouth when he felt the forehoof of his sister rest on his shoulder. “The robot is right brother, if we tell anypony about this, the story will sound so farfetched that they’ll think we were on drugs and likely got robbed while being passed out or something and we conjured up that story to hide the embarrassment,” She sighed.

“Fuck, shit, fuck, bastard, ass, wank, cock, fucking, cunt, twat,” Buckshot colourfully cursed in rage, especially when Unit 2 picked up is favourite 12gauge.

Corporal Razzle swiftly gave her brother a quick slap to the back of the head for his colourful outburst.

“Please, you can’t take everything, it’ll be a long hike back any of our outposts for resupplying.” Razzle reasoned.

Unit 1 turned to Unit 2 that was now dressed in a full suit of old Equestrian Army fatigues and army boots on each hoof. It also had armour plating strapped around each leg and around its chest with a light battlesaddle strapped around its barrel. The battlesaddle cradled a pair of shotguns, on one side was a drum fed combat 20 gauge shotgun and on the other was the large bore 12gauge. The only thing missing from the ensemble was a helmet.

“Leave all the food and drink and any redundant clothing,” Unit 1 ordered.

“Yeah, yeah,” Unit 2 replied sounding almost bored.

“Wow, that’s exactly how I’d respond if that was me,” Buckshot whispered.

A few moments later Unit 2 trudged over to its companion and dumped the redundant supplies before the Gunner Mercenaries.

“Get out of here, this isn’t a peepshow,” Unit 2 said with a stomp of the hoof.

The two ponies waited for a moment to see if the machines would stop them but when they didn’t make a move they quickly gathered what belongings the machines let them have and ran as fast as they could away from the camp.

“Are you sure it was a good idea letting them go?” Unit 2 asked.

“They’re harmless, we have their equipment and by the time they gather anything of a task force, if they do, we’ll be long gone,” Unit 1 replied as it turned away from the fleeing ponies and approached the tent and began to slip into Corporal Razzle’s gear. Razzle had the same Equestrian military fatigues and combat armour plating but unlike Buckshot’s armour, hers was polymer reinforced giving it a lighter colour, plus she also had the Corporal badge pinned to her fatigues and etched into her armour shoulder guards and chest piece.

Razzle’s armaments were a pair of sub-machineguns that could fit into holsters. One holster was strapped to each foreleg. The last of the Corporal’s armament was an explosive belt with eight apple shaped fragmentation grenades clipped to it that it fastened around its waist.

Units 1 and 2 soon found a pair of combat helmets to wear with their outfits, a pair of goggles to hide their eyes and a scarf each that they could use as a face wrap to hide their exposed mechanical muzzles. Once fully covered the two disguised machines looked at each other, gave a brief nod and began to head north.

“New energy signature detected!”

Unit 1’s scanner alerted it to a new energy signature.

“Sister, you detected that too right?” Unit 2 asked.

“Of course, it is coming from the last known location of I-01,”

“I-02 IS is still in the area; do you think this means the Mark 1 has been upgraded?”

“It was reported by I-02 IS to be entering the M.o.A cover property for Upgrade Station Alpha so it is more than likely,” Unit 1 said as it reviewed its data. “Possibility of upgrade, we need to hurry before it gets too far away, double time Unit 2!” It shouted as it broke into a solid gallop.

“Yes ma’am,” Unit 2 sighed as it fell into step behind its companion.

XXXXX

I-02 IS or as he now preferred to be called, Nexus, stood on the ridge above the cover house that sat above the hidden facility. He was taking cover and keeping out of sight while he watched two pegasi that were flying towards the property. He focused on the two ponies and he instantly recognised them. A feeling of dread and fear washed over him as he took in the familiar features of the duster wearing purple pegasus with a plasma rifle slung over his back. The feeling doubled when he moved his gaze over to the other pegasus but at the time a feeling of intrigue filled his mind. He recognised her as the one that trapped him against the Stable door and left him there to have a powerful magical explosion go off practically in his face. She was also his target, but his curiosity about the inferior machine that bested him as well her as her un-machine like behaviour had made him curious in learning about her.

He crept closer to the edge of the ridge as the two ponies came down for a landing. The purple one landed gracefully but the pegasus zebra landed like a lead weight and crashed into the dirt with a heavy thud.

“Geez, I thought you knew how to fly?” Nexus heard the purple one ask as he cringed after watching his companion faceplant.

“Ugh, now that I’m fully conscious about all this, the landing is harder than it looks, and terrifying,” His target replied with a pained groan.

“Well the instructors at flight camp always said the landings are the hardest.”

“Uh, no shit Sherlock,” The disguised bio-mechanoid complained.

“C’mon, we better hurry, we don’t want to be here when the sun goes down,” The purple pony said as he helped his friend back up.

“Yeah, the desert’s critters get more active at night,”

“True, but for things like Paradores, its ringing the dinner bell and they’d swarm this place again and we don’t have any more grenades to scare them off. I like my butt where it is thank you very much, so we better get your shit and scarper as soon as, unless somepony has been here while we were gone and half inched your shit,”

“Half inched?”

The purple pegasus stared at his friend for a long moment before sighing. “It means nicked, as in stolen, Celetia above you Equestrians need to get out more,”

The mare began to giggle.

“What?”

“That’s one of the things I love about you Fruity, the way you keep talking, oh what’s the word, bollocks,” She said with a giggle.

From his vantage point the machine could see the purple pegasus known as Fruity crack a cocky grin. “Being a bartender, it was a job requirement to talk bollocks all night.”

The two shared a laugh and entered the M.o.A property. Nexus stood and looked up, the sun was casting the world in a brilliant orange now, and there was probably only an hour or so of daylight left. He was still compelled to learn from this inferior model. Something about it was different and he wanted to know what before he decided on following the Colonel’s orders.
Nexus stared down at the broken old house for a few moments longer as he pondered what to do next but before he could decide he felt something buzz through his commlink with the Production Facility. It wasn’t a communique or anything of the sort. As Nexus opened his channel he felt an extra three connections to the channel with the facility. Two of the connections were also linked to one of new connections which intrigued him. Feeling out into the connection to connect with this new presence he was shocked when he was slapped with an “Access Denied” stick but the biggest shock came in the form of the new presence’s identity.

“Unit 1000?!” Nexus gasped in shock.

Nexus remembered that he was the only Mark 2 unit outside the Vault and only he was still active. If Unit 1000 was now in the communication link then that meant that the last official Mark 2 unit built for Project Infiltrator had been activated which also means Colonel Ironside has some access to the Vault.

“How and why would he activate Unit 1000 when I’m still out here?” Nexus asked himself. “Does he no longer have faith in me?”

The machine continued to ponder this as he stared down at the structure. A feeling of unease and hurt began to fill his mind at the loss of trust as well as worry. He knew that Unit 1000 was bigger than he was and since they were both machines, it would make it stronger than he is since it would have to deal with more weight to handle. Not to mention the machine was also the only one to have been built that way, all other units had been built to the standard height of an adult pony, but Unit 1000 was different.

Nexus looked back into the communication link, again noticing the other two that were there that were connected to Unit 1000. Again he received an “Access Denied” when trying to connect with them which he supposed he should have expected since they were connected with other machine but when he tried connecting with the facility, a sense of “Something feels wrong” began to overtake him. All he received was a static repeat of “Return to base for repairs,” Any question he asked was answered by the same repeated message over and over again.

“I’m locked out, this doesn’t feel right…” Nexus said to himself as he started to roll his shoulders in his singed riot armour as a reaction to his neural net filling with nervousness. “What am I to do?”

XXXXX

I had to admit, flying felt wonderful despite the oddity of suddenly being able to. The rush of the wind against my fur as well as through my feathers was quite invigorating. I’m still getting used to the feeling of having wings but it’s strange; they feel new but old at the same time. Ugh, it’s got to be all this flight knowledge and memory crap that was shovelled into my brain during the upgrade. I don’t know how I got out of the facility and out to a hill top like I did but I suppose being super upset had something to do with it and I wasn’t thinking straight. I spent a good hour or two going over what I knew about flying with Fruity. Becoming consciously aware of what I was able to do now. Taking off and the actual flying come as naturally as walking to me, I suppose again this had to do with the upgrade shoving all that stuff in my head but also the magic of a Pegaus replacing what I had before which is probably why it felt so natural. The landings however were scary, coming in at a hover isn’t so bad but if you’re moving you have to compensate for your momentum and weight so you can brace your legs and try to slow yourself down. Something I failed to do before we returned to the facility and I ended up crashing.

“Are you ok?” Fruity asked as he laid a wing over my withers.

I shivered and ruffled my newly acquired, if somewhat large, wings. “Not really, I’ve just been turned into something else,” I sighed glumly as we stepped into the underground facility. My breath caught in my throat as my eyes, that could see clearer now for some reason, focused on the open and blood stained upgrade chamber to the left of the facility.

“Hey, look at me, you are ok, it’s not going to hurt you ok,” Fruity reassured. I nodded but still gulped down my anxiety as my heart began to thunder in my chest. The feeling of being trapped in my mind and being unable to do anything at all returned to the forefront of my memory as my attention was solely focused on the upgrade chamber. I remember that spike like thing being driven into my forehead, it was as soon as that thing ran into my head that I lost all feeling to my body, lost all control and felt like I was floating in a sea of emptiness. There was nothing I could do; I had never felt so scared and helpless in my entire life.

“I, I can’t,” I choked out as Fruity reached for the chamber.

I could feel myself shivering when he turned back around. “It scared you that bad huh?” He asked softly. I gave a pathetic little whimper and nodded. “Hey, its ok to be scared, don’t worry. I’ll get your stuff for you,” Fruity reassured me. I gave a thankful smile as my coltfriend turned back around to the chamber and entered the bloody enclosed space.

“It’s horrible in here,” He commented absentmindedly. After a good few minutes the purple pegasus dragged my medical box, what remained of my duster, the lever-action shotgun and my hat over to me.

“Thank Faust my hat didn’t get bloody,” I sighed with relief as I used my tail to pick up the slightly tattered stetson hat off of the pile of shreds and placed it back on my head. The hat didn’t sit comfortably in its normal position as for some reason my mane on the top of my head had puffed up some, so I moved the worn hat back slightly where it then settled comfortably between my ears at a slight angle. I positioned my medical storage box onto my back between my wings and slung the shotgun over my back behind it, resting more near my rump on my lower back. I gave my fluffy wings a few test flaps to make sure the box didn’t get in the way which it thankfully didn’t. Finally, I emptied the pockets of my duster; it was kinda amusing to see all the biggish items fall out and suddenly pop back into full size because of the magic pockets. Since my medical box didn’t have such a magical storage ability all the large items went into Fruity’s duster pockets and anything small enough went into my box. The armour segments I recovered from the griffon mercenaries from upstairs had to also go into his pockets since I’m still in need of some new straps for them but I’m going to have to wear them at some point, at least until I can find a new outfit.

“C’mon, lets skedaddle before those little bastards come back,” Fruity urged once we were fully loaded.

“Ok,” I agreed.

“We can’t through the valley since they’ll all have gathered there by now, where are we gonna go?”

“Why, can’t we just fly over them?” I asked and gave my wings another flap. Feels weird to be able to use these wings so naturally despite not being born with them or having them until just a few hours ago.

“Those little farts are more troublesome in the air than on the ground and falling to your death from up there is a horrible way to go, believe me,” He replied sombrely. It sounds like he experienced such a thing first hoof. I should ask him about it later. It sometimes can do a world of good to a pony to talk about things like this.

“I see, um, remember that radio tower we saw earlier, maybe the ponies that run the radio station know a way around,” I suggested.

“Heh, worth a shot,”

With a nod we galloped out of the facility and then out of the abandoned house into the darkening desert. The sky was a deep purple, meaning the sun was just moments from slipping under the horizon.

“Shit, we gotta jet!” Fruity said with urgency.

We spread our wings and thrust ourselves into the air with speed to rival a bullet as it leaves the chamber of a gun.

The view was amazing; despite the ruined cityscape behind us and the several craters dotting about the landscape, looking out on the darkened desert, you could almost forget about the ruined cities that dotted it. I could see the radio tower much clearer from up here, it wasn’t a radio station at all but more like a small settlement built around the radio tower. The settlement was built inside of a large rocky alcove with a sloping gradient until the top where the radio tower sat amongst some large tents. We decided to land at the start of the slope leading up into the settlement as there was a guard keeping watch, it wouldn’t do us any good to suddenly drop in unannounced since it’s a good way to get shot as Fruity has once told me. I angled my wings forward to put myself into a shallow dive and before reaching a dangerously lower altitude I angled them back up to level myself out with the ground. This was where I went wrong last time; I didn’t slow down enough. I began to flap my wings hard with them angled back so the air propulsion I was creating was being pushed out in front of me, slowing me down. Eventually, my speed slowed to a crawl and I was able to land safely onto my hooves, leaving me panting in relief that I didn’t mess up this time.

“Good job Crystal, you just buried him,” Fruity laughed.

“Oops,” I blushed with embarrassment.

“Ugh, damn pegasi,” The guard sighed as he pulled himself out of the sand I’d blown onto him. “Good thing I wear a helmet,”

“Sorry, I’m new to flying,” I said sheepishly. It was then I realised the guard was wearing and that he was a Desert Ranger. “Oh, wonderful you’re a Ranger. Can you help us please, we need a way back to New Pegasus, we can’t use the valley since it’s full of Paradores, so would you happen to know a way around?” I asked hopeful.

There was a pause as he stared at me for a moment. “Sorry kid, I don’t know the area all that well so you’ll have to see Lieutenant Muguet,”

“Oh ok, um where can we find her?”

The stallion pointed up the hill and into the settlement. “She’ll be in her command tent round about now,”

“Can we see her, please?” I asked inching closer to the slope.

The Ranger eyed me, my two guns and then Fruity for a long while before he answered. “Sure but be warned, the settlers here may not take too kindly to you.” He said while pointing at me.

“Why me?” I asked feeling a little offended.

“They are all refugees from Illustrious Moon tribal attacks in some shape or form so they have a grudge against zebras, even those that are not black striped like you,” He replied with a sigh. “So be careful as you walk through the settlement, oh and welcome to Bonbon Springs.”

“Err ok, thanks,” I said to both the warning and the welcome.

“This should be fun,” Fruity remarked sarcastically.

“Yeah, should be a hoot,” I agreed with a sigh as we began to trot up the slope.

It then just clicked as we passed the old welcome sign post to the settlement. Bonbon Springs was the location of a massacre a few years ago according to the Desert Rangers we met back in New Pegasus and it was against the Illustrious Moon zebras. It looked like after driving them out, the Desert Rangers built a settlement on top of the old tribal camp.

As we cleared some huge boulders at the bottom of the slope, the settlement opened up into a large circular space surrounded by sheer rocky walls. The path continued up a slope to a set of tents at the top on a ridge that over looked the settlers and their makeshift houses that were mostly old tents or shacks. We could see a groove in the rock wall to the left, like a backdoor or something to the settlement. As we went deeper into Bonbon Springs, we were able to see through the hole in the rock and the path seemed to lead up into the mountains so maybe not a backdoor then.

“WHO LET THAT DAMN STRIPE IN?!” Came an angry shout from an open tent flap up ahead. Oh dear.

At the pony’s shout, other settlers stuck their heads out their homes and glowered towards me; some even picked up rocks and looked ready to throw them but didn’t make a move, thankfully.

“Whoa, easy there, we come in peace,” Fruity said, trying to defuse the hostility. “Did I really just say that?” He whispered with a groan.

The settler that shouted just narrowed his eyes and stared at us as we began to climb the slope towards the large tents on the ridge.

“Jeez, friendly bunch,” Fruity said to himself as we began up the slope to the tents.

“Fruity, shut up,” I hissed. I felt like nearly all the entire settlement had their eyes on us as we walked. The purple pegasus scrunched up his muzzle as he tightly closed his mouth.

We crested the hill and immediately had a Desert Ranger shove his Anti-Material Rifle in our faces. The shock of having the large bore of the fifty calibre rifle in my face made me flare my wings out in surprise.

*Slap*

“Ah, son of a bitch!” Fruity cried as one of my flaring wings slapped him across the face unexpectedly. “Those things are lethal,”

The Ranger was helmetless and he stood there for a long moment, staring in surprise at my great white and grey feathered wings. “A winged zebra, that’s a new one,” He muttered before coughing and getting his thoughts back on track. “What business do you have here, zebra?”

I mentally fought to retract my wings but for the moment gave up and left them open. “Um, we just wanted to see Lieutenant Muguet, that’s all.”

The Ranger stepped aside to let us pass. “If you came to see the LT I guess its ok, but no funny business you hear, I’m watching you,” He said as he narrowed his gaze slightly. “You’ll find her in the tent at the back,”

“Ok, thank you sir,” I said with an appreciative nod.

“Yeah, thanks dude,” Fruity added as we made our way for the largest of the three tents.

The back tent was also the only tent to have a metal doorframe with an actual door.

“I guess we knock,” I said to Fruity as we approached the door. He gave a nod and I raised a hoof and gently tapped the door. I didn’t knock too hard, I was afraid of knocking the door down; I didn’t know how secure it was.

“Ugh, I swear, if this is another settler complaining about another theft I’ll…” Lieutenant Muguet stopped mid-sentence as she wrenched her door wide open, looking like she was fully ready to tear into us but as her eyes fell upon us her annoyance seemed to just get swept away and was replaced by confusion. “Err, sorry, who are you?”

“My name is Crystal and this is Fruity,” I quickly introduced us.

My intention of asking her about another way around the mountains was put on the back burner as her complaint of theft sounded like she needed some help. She did look like she was at her wits end about this, considering how she reacted to my knocking on her door.

“Bad day?” Fruity asked regarding the mare’s reaction.

The Desert Ranger Lieutenant fixed him with a pointed stare. “Bad day, a bad day doesn’t even cover it, try a bad fucking year,” She nearly yelled.

“What’s wrong?” I asked with genuine concern.

“You’re not from around here are you?” She asked to which we both shook our heads. She sighed. “Around two years ago things began to go missing around the camp. Nopony complained or made any sort of fuss at first but as the weeks and months passed items would continue to go missing. It wasn’t until about a year ago that a settler actually came forward with a complaint about someone stealing food from him and from then on ponies were reporting thefts nearly three times a week.”

“That is rather frequent,” Fruity observed as we listened.

“We investigated the crime scenes but could find little evidence of anypony being there. There were no hoof prints, no signs of forced entry, nothing out of place besides the stolen items and no one would know they were missing until they would want that particular item,”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“What tends to go missing is food and drink related,”

“So somepony is stealing food and drink?”

“Yes, whoever our thief is he’s crafty. We’ve set traps around town and so far only succeeded in capturing our own settlers by accident. Nothing we try seems to work and with all the ponies complaining and yelling at us about the thefts, I’m losing my mind over it all.”

“Um, maybe we can help, you never know a fresh pair of eyes and ears might be all you need,” I suggested.

“Aren’t we in a hurry to get back to New Pegasus?” Fruity asked.

“C’mon Fruity, the least we can do is help them out,” I said then gave him a gentle nuzzle to the cheek which made him blushed.

“Alright, fine.”

“You’d really help us?” Lieutenant Muguet asked with a little surprise.

I nodded with a soft smile.

“Thank you, well if I was on my high horse before, it was because tonight we estimated that the thief would strike again.”

“What time do you think the thief will strike?”

“Since we’ve never actually seen the thief and haven’t found a trace of him, we believe he strikes at night when everypony has gone to sleep which would be the best time for him to sneak about without being detected, so we have a couple of hours yet. Hmm, since the pair of you are pegasi, this could actually work to our advantage. The thief might not think to look up during his next raid so while he’s busy with his eyes focused down here on the ground avoiding our patrols, you can spot him from the air and catch him in the act.”

“Alright, sounds good,”

“Thank you, and if we catch this thief, we can all sleep peacefully for once. Especially me.” The Lieutenant gave a tired groan and rubbed her eyes with a hoof before stumbling back into her tent.

XXXXX

As the hours passed and the sun finally set, plunging the Marejave wasteland into darkness. The Desert Rangers acting as the guards for the settlement placed Light Crystals into small glass boxes on posts to simulate streetlamps, illuminating the settlement.

Fruity and I were flying circles around the settlement, keeping our eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Despite the sun going down and there being no light apart from that coming from the settlement below, I could see pretty well. I suppose it had something to do with these new eyes Fruity said I was given during my upgrade giving me a sort of low light vision. I was actually thankful I wasn’t consciously aware of that part.

“What do we do, fly around in circles like a pair of idiots until dawn?” Fruity asked, sounding a little annoyed.

“Not quite how I’d put it but, pretty much yeah.” I replied, taking my eyes off the ground to answer him.

“We keep flying until one of us spots this thief and we swoop down to grab him.”

“Easy for you to say love I can’t see a bloody thing!” I couldn’t help myself, with a roll of my eyes I let a small giggle escape before returning my gaze to the ground below.

Suddenly, there was a yell from below and a door burst open from one of the shacks close to the gap in the rock wall with a pony yelling to high heaven.

“What in blue blazes?!” Fruity gasped in shock from the sudden outburst and we both immediately diverted our attention to the commotion.

“I SAW YOU, YOU LITTLE BASTARD, GET BACK HERE WITH MY CARROTS AND BEANS!” An elderly stallion yelled as he tried to chase after something. Following the direction of the stallion I saw a small fast moving shape running for the gap in the rock wall.

“That’s our thief,” I said.

“Ok, sorry I doubted you, let’s get ‘em,”

“Woah there Wonderbolt, let’s follow him, find out where he hides out, maybe we can also return some of the stolen stuff,” I suggested.

“Heh, ok,”

“CELESTIA THIEVING BASTARD, WHEN I GET MY HOOVES ON YOU, I’M GONNA RING YOUR SCRAWNY LITTLE NECK!” The elderly stallion continued to rave as we flew over the rock wall just as our culprit left the settlement and began to run up into the hills beyond.

Settlers that were disturbed by the old pony’s shouting were coming out to see what was going on, and it would seem he was spreading the word that he’d spotted the thief as angry shouts began to fill the night air. Ponies began to run back and forth in a frenzy as they started to gather lanterns, guns and miscellaneous objects they could use as melee weapons in preparation to pursue the suspect.

“We better find this thief before a whole angry mob starts galloping up the mountain.”

“And with all the things that comes out at night, they’ll be easy pickings,” My companion said with concern.

I nodded and we beat our wings as hard as we could to propel ourselves faster as we pursued the fleeing target.

“How do you think he did it huh? After two years of nopony being able to catch him that old fart just happens to catch the thief red hooved?” Fruity whispered just loud enough for me to hear over the wind.

“A mixture of paranoia and insomnia I guess?” I suggested not entirely sure or caring at the moment.

“Hmm, I guess I can accept the old codger being paranoid,” Fruity said. “But damn did he have a mouth on him,”

I giggled quietly as we watched the tiny suspect run towards the rocky wall of a mountain side that was no more than a few hundred feet away from Bonbon Springs. We followed the thief a little longer until we saw that there was a cave in the rocky wall and our suspect ran inside.

“No way, you have got to be kidding me! The thief was only two minutes away from them?!” Fruity cried in disbelief. Yeah, it was hard to believe they never found the thief’s hideout if it was so close. Then again, until now none of them had ever actually seen him so it would be understandably hard to track someone who comes and goes completely unnoticed back to their hideout.

“Well, I think now’s the best time to apprehend our thief,” I said as I swooped down and landed on the stone platform in front of the cave entrance.

Fruity and I entered side by side, spreading our wings to block their escape. “We know you’re in here, come on out.” I yelled.

“And don’t try anything funny.” Fruity added to which I gave him a sharp glare, a thief who relied so heavily on sneaking that they’d flee if they were caught clearly wasn’t armed.

We heard no reply or any attempt to flee or mount a counter attack; we began to think our thief had a back door until the cave opened up into a larger space with no other caverns or exits, only rather a well maintained campsite littered with old packages and empty tin cans occupied said space. Dangling from the entrance to this larger area was a string and a dozen tin cans had been tied to it.

“Our thief put together a jangler out of these old cans, Raiders usually make these as an early warning system, crude but effective noise makers,” Fruity said as he gently pulled it down.

Once the noise maker was out of our way we stepped into the cave’s camp. It was quiet save the dull whistle of the wind from outside blowing in through the entrance behind us.

“Fruity, keep the exit blocked, I’m going to try to find our thief,” I said.

The purple pegasus nodded as he crouched low and spread his wings to their full extent.

I meanwhile, slowly looked around the camp, looking over all the empty food packages and cartons as I passed by and trampled over them.

Then something caught my eye towards the tent that had been setup inside the cave next to a small fire pit. Lying against the tent flap was a small worn stuffed animal, a foal’s toy. What’s a toy like that doing in here? As I drew closer to the tent the sounds of sniffling soon caught my attention, fearing our thief had stole more than just food, I quickly flung the tent flap open only to be caught completely off guard by what screamed and hid under a sleeping bag.

A filly, a black stripped zebra filly. We saw no evidence of anypony else here, this cave wasn’t that big so an adult pony or zebra could be seen easily. It all made sense now, the thief, who had only stolen food and drinks, had to be this little filly.

There was no mistake, it had to be as she was the only one we saw as we followed her into the cave and right now she was terrified.

“Hey, hey, its ok, I’m not going to hurt you,” I said softly, hoping to sooth the filly’s fears.

“What have you found?” Fruity called.

“A filly,” I replied.

“You’re shitting me, right?” Fruity cried in surprise.

I had to shush him and try again a couple more times before the young filly poked her head out from under the sleeping bag and looked up at me with big scared green eyes. The filly was young, I think around eight to ten years old by the looks of her. Her mane was a mess but it seems she had been able to keep herself clean; perhaps there is a source of clean water nearby so she could at least bath. Like pre-war zebras I remembered, she had some traditional piercings, just a couple of simple gold hoop earrings, one in each ear.

“Please don’t hurt me,” She whimpered in a scared quiet voice.

“Hurt you, oh, I wouldn’t even dream of hurting you. I could never harm a foal,” I replied, feeling hurt and disheartened that this filly would think I’d even consider bringing harm to her. Is that how bad society is now that even children suffer the brutality of this wasteland?

“Since when could you speak gobbledygook?” Fruity asked as he approached. The sight of him made the young filly hide under the sleeping bag again.

“Huh?” I asked as I turned to face him.

“You just spoke her language.” He answered while gesturing to the shivering mass.

“I, what?”

“Ugh, you spoke in Zebra language, like it was natural to you, didn’t you even notice?”

I blinked dumbfounded. “Wait, you’re telling me she was speaking another language to you?” I asked trying to understand.

“Yeah, how could you not tell she was speaking mumbo jumbo?”

I stared, wide eyed. I didn’t even register she spoke another language to me. She sounded as if she was speaking fluent Equestrian.

“D-do you think it has something to do with what I am?” I asked, my heart rate picking up at the implications.

Fruity looked down in thought for a moment before meeting my gaze again. “The computer from before did say you were an Infiltrator, I suppose you could have some sort of translation thing, I dunno.” He speculated but it did sound rather plausible, “But we can worry about that later, right now we got a filly to deal with,”

“Right,” I replied nodding. He had a point, I could worry about what else I could do as a machine later on but right now this filly needed us. I gently picked up the sleeping bag with my teeth and pulled it off the filly; she yipped in fright and curled up as I deposited the old sleeping bag to one side. The filly seemed to be at a decent size and weight so at least she wasn’t malnourished and looked healthy. Her flank was bare so she was young enough to have not found her calling or the circumstances that had her in this cave may have delayed her getting her mark. It was a bit heart breaking to see this young filly so scared of us.

I gently reach out and gently began to rub her shoulders, applying just enough pressure so that my touch was gentle and not too hard or forceful. It was then that I realised that I could now feel how much strength I could put into my limbs. When we deal with this I’m going to need to seriously try to look into what was done to me, like see if I have some sort of update report or something.

“Shh, it’s ok, we’re not going to hurt you,” I cooed to the filly, lowering myself down to my chest and tucking my legs in under me so I could be at eye level with her. “My name is Crystal, what’s yours?” I asked softly.

“This switching between Equestrian and gibberish is going to drive me up the wall,” Fruity whispered. I gently nudged him with a wing to shut him up.

The young zebra looked up at me with big teary eyes. She stared at me for a long moment before she whimpered. “X-Xian, my n-name is X-Xian,”

I gave a soft smile as I gently stroked her messy mane. “It’s nice to meet you Xian, this is my friend and companion Fruity, he’s a good guy, a little goofy but he means well,” I said smiling softly as I introduced her to my purple friend.

“I heard my name, what did you say?” He asked with his ears perked up from the mention of his name.

“Nothing really, just introduced her to you, that’s all,”

“Oh,”

I turned back to the filly and while keeping a gentle expression I asked. “Have you been stealing stuff from the ponies in Bonbon Springs?”

Her eyes went wide and she immediately locked up and began to shake in fright.

“Hey, hey, hey, shhhhhh, it’s ok, we’re not going to hurt you,” I said soothingly. “Are we, Fruity?” I asked turning to him.

“Huh?” He asked confused since he couldn’t understand what I’ve been saying to Xian.

“We’re not going to hurt her are we?” I repeated for him.

“Oh, no of course we wouldn’t hurt you,” He said looking to the filly.

I smiled and then directed that smile to the filly. “We can help you if you tell us the truth,”

Tears began to trickle down her cheeks before she openly began to cry. I couldn’t resist pulling her into a comforting hug, it was such a painful sight to see this filly cry. “Hey, its ok, we won’t be mad if you did, we promise,” I whispered to her.

Xian sniffled as she gently wrapped her hooves around my chest, a part of me was scared she would feel the metal beneath but I buried that fear for now as the filly demanded my attention more than anything right now. “I-I did, but I only took enough so I wouldn’t go hungry,” She blubbered. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,”

“I don’t see any other sleeping accommodations or anything… this filly is on her own,” Fruity observed as he looked around the tent and cave again.

I blinked and looked around, he was right; Xian’s sleeping bag was the only one. There was no other evidence of anypony or zebra else being here with her. My heart sunk like a lead weight at the implications of this and I dreaded the answer to my next question.

“Xian, where are your parents?”

Already upset from us finding her and uncovering her as the thief, she began to cry tenfold as her emotions skyrocketed from memories that were brought back up to the surface of her mind. She sniffled and cried with fresh tears while I held her gently, softly rubbing her back in an attempt to help her calm down. It took a good few minutes but eventually she calmed down enough to respond.

“They, they are dead, they, died three years ago during the at-attack on our old camp,” She whimpered.

Oh dear sweet Celestia, this poor filly had been alone for that long and not only that her parents were killed during the attack on the Illustrious Moon Tribe that once occupied Bonbon Springs. But why was she still here and how has she managed to survive this long by herself? These were questions I voiced to her.

“I was abandoned by my tribe, they, they called me a cursed foal because both my parents got killed,” She sniffled. I could feel my heart breaking for this little filly; nopony or zebra should have to go through that. “I had been taught basic survival from my daddy but after a year monsters appeared in the hills near some berry bushes and small fruit trees growing up here so I couldn’t feed myself that way anymore. Th-that’s why I started sneaking into the pony settlement for food,” She explained.

I hugged her tighter while I repeated her story to Fruity.

“Shit, poor filly,”

“We gotta help her,” I said while looking down at the sniffling Xian.

“Like how?”

“She can’t stay here, that pony nearly caught her tonight and I bet he’ll be riling everypony up into a tizzy, you saw their faces when they saw me,”

“What, do you think, he’ll gather everypony up with torches and pitchforks?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,”

“So what do we do?”

I looked down at the filly and felt my resolve about helping her strengthen. “We take her with us. Sure it won’t be ideal, but with her with us at least we can look out for her and she won’t have to be alone anymore,” I said stroking her mane.

“Take her with us, are you nuts?”

“Would you rather we leave her to be found by those ponies, with how angry they are from all the times she’s stolen from them, they’ll kill her, they won’t care if she’s a filly. You saw how they reacted to me just walking in.”

Fruity opened his mouth to argue further but closed it with a sigh. “You’re right, ugh; to be honest I don’t think I could sleep at night knowing I left this filly alone without knowing that she’ll be ok,”

I smiled and gave Fruity a peck on the cheek. “We’ll be the best chance she has for now,”

“What do we do now?” Fruity asked.

“We have to take her back with us to Bonbon Springs and to Lieutenant Muguet so we can tell her that the theft problem has been dealt with. From there we can then leave and head back to New Pegasus for our train ride back to Manehattan,”

Fruity nodded as he got up and headed for the cave exit.

“Xian, you can’t stay here anymore, you do know that right?” I asked.

The young filly looked up at me, her green eyes red from crying. “What do you mean?”

“You were seen, how do you think we found you? Those settlers down there are really, really angry over the trouble you’ve caused and now that one of them has seen you, you won’t be able to hide out here for much longer. Fruity and I have decided that we’ll look after you from now on; we’ll take you with us, away from here and keep you safe. I know it’s not going to be easy but I’d rather we do this than you staying here alone any longer for something bad to happen to you. Would you be happier to come with us?” I asked.

Xian stared at me for a long while, thinking about what I’d said. She was scared, no doubt about that but it was also true that she couldn’t stay here. Eventually the young zebra filly nodded her head.

I smiled softly. “Don’t worry, you’ll be ok, I promise I’ll look after you.” I said.

What the buck am I doing promising a filly that when I wasn’t even a fully-fledged pony myself anymore? I shook my head to dispel that thought as I let the filly go and stood up. “We’ll have to go to the settlement first to let them know you won’t be stealing anymore but I swear you won’t be harmed. I won’t let them touch you,”

She whimpered when I said we’d have to go back to Bonbon Springs but she didn’t protest. “Gather your things Xian, and any of the food you haven’t eaten yet so we can return it,”

The zebra filly sniffled as she got up and began to gather a few items together. All in all there was just a small selection of food she gathered, but the surprising thing was her possessions. She didn’t have anything but that stuffed animal toy, nothing else. I would have thought she might have had some form of barding or maybe something of her parents but no, just the toy, oh the poor dear.

I called Fruity over to pick up the stolen food since he had the pockets and then lowered myself to lay down on my stomach again.

“Climb onto my back Xian,” I requested softly. Xian timidly climbed up onto my back and snuggled down between my wings. I stood up and unfurled my wings, smiling when I looked back to check on her and make sure that; One she was comfortable on my back and two, my large wings hid her from view which is good since we didn’t want her to be seen for the moment. “Hold on tight now, we’ll be back at the settlement in just a few minutes, we are going to see a Ranger before we leave,” I told her as we began to walk and left her cave.

XXXXX

We noticed a fairly large gathering of ponies in the main area of the settlement as we returned and Fruity was right. A couple of ponies were yelling and the rest of the crowd were shouting in unison while pumping torches and pitchforks into the air, most though hoisted lanterns, rifles and assorted bits of junk like scraps of pipe and planks of wood, the occasional baseball bat caught my eye. All the while several members of the Desert Rangers were trying to calm them down rather unsuccessfully.

“An angry mob, not good,” Fruity muttered as we entered the settlement on hoof.

“Let’s just get to Lieutenant Muguet quickly,” I urged.

I made sure to keep my wings up and rigid to hide Xian as we ignored the crowd and made our way towards the slope. Sadly not everything can go smoothly.

“HEY, THERE’S THAT DAMN WINGED STRIPE,”

“Ponyfeathers,” I groaned.

“I BET SHE WAS IN LEAGUE WITH THAT LITTLE THIEF,” Another angry settler shouted and with that almost the entire crowd turned its attention on us, shouting curses, accusations and obscenities towards me.

BOOM!

A Desert Ranger standing close to the slope fired his 50cal AM Rifle into the night sky, silencing the crowd and thankfully drowning out the scared cry from Xian. Thankfully she didn’t jump off my back and run from the sudden loud bang.

“Alright, that’s enough! Everypony, back to your homes!” The Ranger yelled in irritation at the way the settlers deteriorated into an angry mob so quickly. He growled when no pony moved and with a nod to the other Rangers around the area, they lowered their weapons to aim just over the heads of the crowd. “NOW!” He demanded. Seeing where things were beginning to lead the angry mob began to slowly disperse but the tension was still very high.

“I don’t want to sound unwelcoming but the sooner you leave the better,” The Ranger that fired his rifle said.

“I’m sorry for any trouble we may be causing sir but we need to see Lieutenant Muguet, is she still in her tent?” I asked.

“Yes, make it quick,”

“Thank you,” I said and we quickly ran up the hill to the command tents and over to the one with the metal doorframe. I didn’t waste any time as I knocked on the door as soon as I approached it.

The door flew open after the second knock with a red faced Lieutenant Muguet. “WHAT?” She screamed but then her face contorted into confusion before switching to regret. “Oh Luna, I’m sorry, after the sighting of the thief the populace was going ape shit crazy and it was driving me mad.” She sighed. “Did you find anything?”

“It’s ok and yes,” I said and turned my body slightly and gently retracted my wings to my sides, revealing the shivering and scared Xian to the Desert Ranger LT. “This is your thief,”

“An Illustrious Moon Filly?” The Lieutenant gasped.

I nodded and then told her Xian’s story. The mare listened intently, even asking for me to repeat myself at certain points to clarify what I said. When I told her that the filly lost her parents during the attack on the Illustrious Moon Tribe camp that was here originally, a look of deep regret fell upon her face which changed into a look of understanding when I told her she was forced to start stealing food to survive because of threatening monsters where she used to get food.

“It’s our fault,” The Ranger sighed as she looked down at the terrified filly. “I know this doesn’t mean much now young one but we of the Desert Rangers are truly sorry for what befell you that day; I hope you can forgive us for what happened. It truly was a communication error that lead to that regretful slaughter.”

Xian looked up at Lieutenant Muguet with trembling eyes for a moment before she whimpered and lowered her head back down looking away from the mare.

Lieutenant Muguet sighed. “I hope she’ll forgive us in time. If we had known she was left behind we would have taken her in, despite what she is, no foal deserves to be abandoned like that,” She sighed again but more deeply this time. “If things were different here, if the atmosphere was more calm and the ponies not wronged by the Illustrious Moon tribe I’d offer to look after her but right now I’d fear for her safety.”

“I know, we had a warm welcome,” I said with a hint of sarcasm. “I intend to take her with us; I don’t think I can sleep at night knowing she isn’t being looked after properly,”

The Ranger in charge nodded. “That’s noble of you.”

“Now that the theft problem is taken care of and some of the food returned, would you happen to know another way around the mountain to get back to New Pegasus without going over it? We can’t risk running into Paradores especially with the filly, since we don’t have the weaponry to deal with them.” I asked.

“Hmm, there is an old railway line that’s at the bottom of the cliffs behind Bonbon Springs here that’ll go all the way to New Pegasus and will cut through the mountain via a tunnel…”

“I think it’ll be best if we left now,” Fruity said as he stepped up to me and laid a wing over my back, also gently laying it over Xian’s at the same time.

“You think so?” I asked.

“Considering that the ponies of this settlement are a smouldering pot just waiting to burst into flame at the smallest of flickers, I think it would be best if we bugger off now while everypony is back in their homes.”

“Hmmm, yeah, considering I’ve not done anything wrong and they are shouting obscenities at me and accusing me as well, I think you’re right,” I nodded and then turned to Lieutenant Muguet. “Thank you for letting us know about the rail line, we’ll be out of your mane as soon as possible.”

She smiled lightly. “No, thank you for helping us solve our problem. Hopefully now, I’ll get some peace and quiet around her. Have a safe journey you three.”

“Thank you, see you later,” I said with a modest tip of the black stetson on my head, we walked out of the tent. I raised my wings again just in case any of the ponies were still out and about and to minimise any drama we’d encounter as we left.

“YEAH THAT’S RIGHT, FUCKING LEAVE AND DON’T COME BACK YOU STRIPED BUCKING WHORE!” Somepony shouted from behind us.

I gasped in utter disbelief and horror. I’ve never, ever once been called something so degrading. To think somepony could call me that after doing nothing wrong to them, just how far has this world fallen since the war ended?

“Why that no good, big mouth wanker!” Fruity snarled with a face of pure fury. I’ve only seen him look this angry once before and that was when he came back after I was revealed to him to be mostly machine. He began to turn around and I quickly grabbed his foreleg with my nano-fibre tail.

“It’s not worth it Fruity, it’s just name calling,” I said sadly.

He stared at me for a moment before he sighed. “I’m sorry but, I couldn’t take it anymore, all those insults being directed at you, it was infuriating,”

I smiled as he let me know he cared about me. I’m happy to know we were somewhat growing closer as a couple. I leaned over and gave his cheek a light kiss. “You’re a good pony Fruity,”

“I try,” He said with a smile as his wings sprang up.

As we reached the bottom of the hill and began to walk around the base of the rocky cliffs that Bonbon Springs was built on the moon cast its soft lunar light onto the desert. It didn’t take long for us to find the old broken railway and after turning back west towards New Pegasus we began to follow the line between the cliffs until we came across the tunnel that Lieutenant Muguet mentioned.

“Well, here we go,” I said as I began for the tunnel.

“Whoa, hold up, you got a kid to protect, let me go ahead with my Q-Modulator,” Fruity insisted as he took the lead with his plasma rifle out and at the ready, hovering in the air so he could hold it with his two front hooves.

“Good idea,” I agreed, following close behind Fruity as we entered the dark tunnel.

“It’s so dark,” Xian whimpered as she scooted foreward and wrapped her forelegs around my neck.

“Don’t worry, I’m here,” I whispered softly to her as we entered the dark foreboding tunnel.

“Since she’s coming with us, we seriously need to teach her Equestrian because this constant shifting between languages is going to drive me mental,” Fruity complained while he hovered ahead of us, being illuminated by his green glowing plasma rifle.

“Oh stop complaining,” I giggled lightly. “I’m sure we can start teaching her on the train,”

“Speaking of train, what’s this?” Fruity asked as his rifle’s glow illuminated the rotten wood and rusted metal frame of a train car up ahead.

We cautiously approached the old four wheeled car and found that it was a large box like car with two open ends at the front and back with openings to allow entry at the front and back on the sides. My eyes widened when I realised what we were looking at.

“Oh, this is a Brake Van, usually found at the front and back of freight trains,” I said and then peered up the rails ahead. The glow from Fruity’s rifle uncovered a long train of open top wagons that seemed to have their side’s brutally torn open as they were splintered apart.

“What the hell happened here?” Fruity asked as he raised his rifle to try to spread its light further.

“I don’t know but it looks like somepony ripped open the sides of these wagons to get at what was in them, likely coal as this was a coal train,” I said as I looked at what remained on the side panelling.

“Yeah, ponies could have rioted over the coal here.”

With a sigh, we continued onwards until we found the locomotive at the head of the train. It was a familiar kind to me. One I’d often see back in my pre-war days. It was a 2-8-0 known as a Big Mac Class. They were known for their pulling power and reliability. Probably why Equestria requested that hundreds of them be made during the war to ferry supplies and troops around the country.

“Bollocks, since the train is taking up most of the tunnel my rifle isn’t really acting like a good enough light source,” Fruity complained as we cautiously walked away from the train.

“Oh wait, my Pip-Buck has a torch, I nearly forgot about that.” I chirped and began to concentrate on activating the light.

“Crystal, No!” Fruity cried but it was too late as most of the tunnel around us was illuminated in a bright white light. Unfortunately, as soon as the bright light bathed us in its light there was a loud piercing shriek from up ahead that was followed by more.

“Ah, cock and bollocks,” Fruity shouted. “Ghouls!”

“Oh no, don’t worry Xian, I won’t let a single one of those monsters get you,”

The sound of thundering hooves began to echo throughout the tunnel as the feral ghouls were attracted to the bright light of my Pip-Buck. It wouldn’t do us much good to turn it off now since I’d practically rung the dinner bell for them and it would actually make things more difficult for us as we wouldn’t be able to see the threats until they would be nearly on top of us. My EFS wasn’t much good either since being in the tunnel the red bars were grouped together so they kept meshing together making it hard to tell just how many ghouls we had alerted.

“Fuck! Eat star matter!” Fruity yelled as he fired a burning ball of plasma at the first ghoul to appear in the light.

“Hold on tight to me Xian,” I commanded as I put myself into a defensive stance, my wings flaring out widely to make myself look as large and threatening as possible. I realised quickly that I couldn’t really use my guns because I was low on ammo. Well the low ammo was true for the shotgun since all I had was what I salvaged with the gun, but I couldn’t exactly reload my revolver since Fruity now carried all my ammo since I’d lost my duster.

“Crystal, over there! Engineer’s service room!” Fruity pointed to an open door set into the wall of the tunnel just up ahead.

“Good call!” I called to him and I quickly began to run over to it while Fruity covered me, fluttering higher to get out of reach of the ghouls while he fired balls of burning death at them.

I skidded over the ballast on the ground as we came to the door and quickly charged through the door. The small room was illuminated by a small hanging light and held a few cabinets and several bits and pieces of junk related to maintenance. I lowered myself down to the floor to let Xian get off my back.

“Hide in a corner Xian, I need to help Fruity,” I said as the filly got off me,

“Please don’t leave me,” She pleaded with big scared eyes.

I could feel my heart breaking at her fear of being left alone. “I won’t leave you, I promise,”

“MONSTER!” She screamed and backpedalled to the wall behind her. My ears twitched as I heard the clip clop of broken hooves behind me and quickly whirled around and put myself in front of Xian to defend her from the feral ghoul that had followed us in.

“Stay away from her,” I growled, spreading my wings again.

The undead pony opened its broken jaws and let loose an unearthly scream as it charged at me. Without the use of my guns, I was reduced to using my hooves but since I was more machine than pony, I could use my mechanical strength to my advantage. I could feel the tension rise in my legs, the power behind all the motors, the pistons, the servos, everything that controls the power in my legs. My unwanted upgrade must have had something to with this but I was glad I can feel how much power I’m putting into my limbs again and right now I wanted to unleash all I had to defend that poor filly. I flapped my wings to lift myself into the air and putting all my strength into my hindlegs I kicked out into the charging ghoul’s face. There was a sickening crunch as my mechanical strength kick crushed its skull and knocked it off its hooves and into the wall beside the door.

I looked back behind me to check on Xian and found her gawking at me when I landed back on my hooves. I smiled softly to her. “See, I won’t let them hurt you,” I said before another gurgle from a ghoul grabbed my attention.

“How many of you ankle biters are there?” Fruity whined from outside, still firing his rifle.

With a yell I charged forward and shoulder barged the feral ghoul into the same wall as the one I just took down and crushed him using my extreme weight. As I stepped back to put myself in front of Xian the monster’s broken body slumped to the floor. Sadly, more ghouls were beginning to enter the room and like the first two I would charge at them to crush them or hit them hard enough to break something vital. One ghoul ignored me completely and went for the weakest prey in the room, Xian. Realizing its intent, I couldn’t let it get her and I lashed out with my nano-fibre tail and wrapped it around the ghoul’s neck. It gagged and gargled with its throat constricted and with a yank I pulled it off its hooves and threw it to the floor before stomping on its head with a hind hoof.

“Fruity, we need to get out of here! There are too many of them!” I yelled as I punched another ghoul in the side of the head and cringed at feeling its skull collapse on impact.

“I know!” he called back, looking around as he thought of a way for us to get out of here. “Ok uh, when you get a moment, grab the kid and fly, they can’t reach us up here, we’ll have to fly out,” Fruity shouted back. “Oh horseapples, not now!”

“What happened?”

“My piece of shit weapon has started to cock up again; it’s now or never!” He urged.

I turned to Xian and crouched down for her to climb back onto my back. “We have to go Xian, it’s too dangerous to stay here and there are too many ghouls for us to handle, quickly climb on and hold tight, we are leaving,”

The filly nodded, her eyes still wide but beaming with amazement aswell as fear. She quickly climbed up onto my back and tightly hugged her forelegs around my neck again and held on tightly as I stood back up. Good job my airway is inside a reinforced tube, once she was safely on my back I stood up and turned to leave but found a couple of ferals stood in the door. I groaned but charged anyway.

“Excuuuuuuuusssseeee me!” I yelled as I barged through the two ghouls and with a kick off of the ground by my hind legs I launched myself into the air, opening my wings and began to flap to keep myself up. I was still feeling disturbed at how natural this flying behaviour is getting for me.

“There you are, thank Celestia the both of you are ok, nearly thought you got munched,” Fruity sighed with relief as he joined us.

“Not going to happen,” I said while I turned west. “Let’s get out of here,” And with a nod from Fruity we began beating our wings and began flying up the tunnel towards the exit. As we flew I became aware of a new power meter in my HUD as I flew. It was down to ninety three percent. Where did this other power meter come from, what did it mean? Looks like I have another thing to figure out later. After a good minute of flying through the tunnel and avoiding the ghouls as they attempted to jump at us, we finally burst out of the end of the tunnel and back out into the desert night air.

“Thank fuck for that,” Fruity sighed as we were in the clear.

“Let’s fly back to my house and get some rest before we go back to the train station tomorrow,” I suggested. “But let’s keep following the tracks; don’t want to attract any more unwanted attention,”

“Stopping off at your place sounds real good right about now,” Fruity agreed as we flew low to the ground, heading back to my old home after a long painful journey with an unexpected twist.

XXXXX

Nexus stood on the cliff high above the railway looking down into the valley as he watched the three miss matched equines headed towards the tunnel directly below his perch. He held back to be sure he couldn’t be seen if his target looked up but thankfully they remained unaware of his presence. He was puzzled as to why the Mark 1 had rescued and decided to take the zebra filly with it. He was becoming more curious with its actions the more he observed, prompting it to continue following and observe it over trying to capture it.

“Well here we go,” I-01 said before being stopped by the purple pegasus stallion.

“Whoa, hold up, you got a kid to protect, let me go ahead with my Q-Modulator,” He said as he equipped his aforementioned weapon.

“Good idea,” The bionic mare agreed as it let him take the lead and soon followed close behind while also making sure the small filly on its back was ok.

Nexus watched until the three of them disappeared inside the tunnel and then he began to follow them from above, using his sensory system to track I-01’s power signature which became incredibly easier after the upgrade since the Mana Core gave off such a high power frequency. He decided to follow in a straight line which had him climbing the mountain the tunnel passed through, and as he reached about half way up he noticed that the power signature had stopped moving.

“Why have you stopped?” He wondered.

Nexus stopped and stared down at the ground where I-01 had stopped directly below him. He stood and waited for it to start moving again but while he waited his threat detector pinged and he looked up just in time to see a large bug like creature come flying towards him with its tail curled forward and its stinger poised to strike.

“Biology identified, Paradore, post war mutation created from prolonged exposure to magical radiation. Paradores are fast and extremely deadly predatory insectoid beings, its primary weapon is its stinger tail,” Nexus was informed by an automatic alert from the Production Facility.

He quickly dropped and rolled to avoid the incoming bug as the Paradore dive bombed in order to hit him, his warning system giving him just enough time to narrowly avoid the attack, as the Paradore flew passed and back up into the air to poise itself for another attack, Nexus stood back up and pulled the semi-automatic riot shotgun he had acquired from a traveling trader who had panicked upon seeing him and attempted to shoot him, prompting him to defend himself. Holding the semi-automatic shotgun in his nano-fibre trail he spread his legs to steady his stance and aimed the weapon at the screeching bug as it came back for another attempt.

Feelings of fear began to rise in the machine, memories of the energy blast from the previous day that nearly lead to his death from overloading filled his mind. He could see the murderous intent in this large bug’s eyes, the hunger it held for pony flesh as well as its large open mouth full of sharp jagged teeth that seemed to salivate at the sight of him. He knew he was a fleshless robot, but this bug didn’t and it wanted to kill him. The last thing Nexus wanted to feel was that coldness as his mind nearly faded away. He narrowed his gaze on the bug, fully intent on surviving this night. The paradore screeched as it came within mere feet of its prey and then Nexus used his tail to pull the trigger three times, sending three shells of 12gauge buckshot into the mutated abomination at short range. The powerful blasts of lead tore through a wing, a section of the torso and a large chunk of the abdomen out. It let out a pained cry and died shortly after, but at this close range Nexus didn’t have time to dodge as the dead bug crashed into him and for the first time since waking up he felt pain, a piercing pain in his side.

He groaned as he picked himself back up, pushing the dead carcass of the paradore off of him and cringed as he felt something sharp lodged into his side. He turned to his side and to his surprise found the stinger stuck in his riot combat armour, not only that it had even managed to pierce an inch into his titanium alloy torso. Once he placed his shotgun back on his back, he wasted no time in grabbing the stinger with his tail and yanking it out.

“Interesting, I can feel simulated pain from piercing blows. I must try to avoid situations like this in the future,” He noted while pocketing the stinger, thinking it might be useful later.

Looking back towards the ground he found that his target had begun moving again and so he began to follow again but also keeping some of his attention on his EFS’s threat detector. He didn’t want to be taken by surprise again.

XXXXX

“Razzle, target is moving,” Unit 2 said as he came to a stop.

“I can feel it Buckshot, it seems to be moving due west. What’s in its direction of travel that could be a likely destination?” Unit 1 asked as it stepped up to stand beside its companion.

“Accessing local map data, cross referencing with current geological data, hmm, most likely destination in direction of travel would be either New Pegasus or the slum town outside it known as Hayside, Corporal,”

“Very good, it would seem Hayside would be our best bet, if I-01 is going for New Pegasus it would need to go through there first. We can ambush it along the way,”

Unit 2 nodded in agreement.

“Double time, the Mark 1 is moving fast,”

The two disguised robots broke into a mechanical strength aided gallop, running as fast as their robotic limbs would allow them as they changed direction to run towards New Pegasus, the shining city acting like a beacon in the middle of the night.

XXXXX

We made it back to my old house as the morning sun began to bathe the land in its welcoming glow. It was nice to see Xian to be so enthralled with her surroundings it distracted her from the other ponies we passed along the way. She was looking around with big curious eyes while we passed through Hayside. I had to supress a chuckle when Xian’s eyes bulged to the size of dinner plates when her eyes took in the sight of New Pegasus when it came into view. It was clear this young filly had never left the mountain area of Bonbon Springs and had never seen a built up city like New Pegasus before. She was nearly sat on my head as she climbed up onto her hind hooves, using my head to prop herself up while she looked around with curiosity, it was rather cute. When we neared my house with the sun coming up I asked Fruity to check on the status of the train.

Xian sat on my bed, curiously prodding at the old mattress while I sat in front of my dresser.

“Did you sleep on this?” The young zebra filly asked while she poked at a rather lumpy looking spot.

“I did, before the bombs fell this used to be my house and this was my bedroom,” I replied as I pulled open the draw and smiled as I looked upon my harmless fetish.

“You were alive before the Ignis Ex Infernum happened?” She asked in surprise, pressing her hoof into the lump.

“Yes, I was, um, it’s a complicated story,” I sighed. I understood what she meant, in most cases names don’t usually get translated so that name she said was likely what the Zebras called the megaspell bombardment they suffered in retaliation to their balefire missile bombardment of Equestria. I picked out a set of pink striped hind leg socks to replace my currently ruined blue striped socks. I gently took off my now dirty and scratched up hoof shoes and while sitting on my rump I extended one of my hind legs out to begin removing the ruined sock.

There was suddenly a slight tearing sound followed by a ping which was then followed by a startled yelp from Xian. I looked up to see the filly pressed up against the headboard of my bed, panting in fright and staring at a hole in the mattress where a spring had shot out, which was now embedded in my ceiling.

“Are you ok?” I asked softly as she slumped down onto her barrel as she calmed down.

“Yes, it just startled me is all,” She whimpered quietly.

“It would seem quite a lot of things these days are falling apart,” I commented as I pulled off my socks from my hind legs. I sighed with relief when I took off the socks that covered my right hind leg, since I wore a hind leg sock and both foreleg socks together on the same leg to hide it while it regenerated. It was good to see the leg completely whole again. I began to slip on the pink striped socks when I heard the front door open and close.

“Fruity?” I called out.

“Yeah it’s me,” He called back up.

“Is everything ok?” I asked; worry beginning to develop in the pit of my stomach at the thought of maybe missing the train.

“Slate said the train is scheduled to depart by tonight, we’ll have enough time to catch some sleep and rest up,” He said as he fluttered onto the landing just outside my door and walked in. “Hey, what’s up with the kid?” He asked noticing Xian lay by the headboard.

“A spring burst out of the bed and spooked her,” I replied while I pulled up my socks and slipped on my hoof shoes again.

He looked at the filly with concern. “Are you sure we should be taking her with us? I mean sure I don’t want to see a kid get hurt or anything but we’ll be heading to a place worse than this soon?”

I stood up and looked over to the filly as she looked up to us, ears twitching as we were talking about her. I leaned close to Fruity and spoke quietly. “From what you’ve told me about this world, she’d be no better anywhere else right now than with us. At least with us she’ll have somepony to depend on and look out for her,” I whispered.

“I guess you’re right. Well, I’m gonna go and grab a cloud and take a nap before we head for the train, I’m knackered,” He said with a yawn.

“Oh before you go, can you drop off one of the suits of armour we found in that house? I want to make some straps for them so I can start wearing some new armour since my last outfit got shredded,”

“Sure,” He replied with another yawn as he began to pull out the sections of armour from his magic pockets. Once all the sections were on the floor he left out the front door to fly up to grab a cloud lazily floating along in the sky.

I had enough segments of armour to cover my chest, shoulders, knees and flanks. They would all need a good scrubbing and the old straps would need removing before a new set could be added.

Making sure that Xian would be ok in my room for a few minutes while I went down stairs, I went into the kitchen and retrieved a knife and found that the washing machine had a curtain inside it. I suppose my mother was in the process of washing the curtains before the end happened. Thankfully, while being inside the washer the curtain hadn’t been affected much by the elements and retained much of its integrity so I decided to use it for the replacement material for the straps.

My heart melted when I returned to my room. The little zebra filly had fallen asleep next to the headboard and was quietly snoring, making the most adorable little sounds I’ve ever heard. I put down my materials and pulled the old blanket over the filly and stroked her messy mane.

“Sleep well, Xian,” I whispered before I went to work making straps.

XXXXX

We woke up with plenty of time to get ready and then make our way to the train station. I dressed in my refurbished pieces of combat armour. I spent an hour or so after I got the curtain, cutting it into strips and replacing the old straps with the new fabric. Fruity and I strode through the streets of Hayside as we walked towards the train station, passing several ponies that stopped and stared as they noticed the nervous filly clinging to my back but more importantly they stared at me and my extended wings. As we passed Broadwalk and turned onto a road that’d take us straight to the station, I began to get that feeling like we were being watched again. My ears began to flick back and forth as I tried to listen out for anything unusual and also began to look up and down each and every gap between buildings we passed.

“Are you ok?” Fruity asked after several minutes of me looking around.

“I feel like we are being watched again,” I whispered.

“Well you do have a black stripe zebra filly on your back and you didn’t have wings the last time you were here,” He reasoned just as the station came into view.

“I’m getting a bad feeling about this though, Fruity,” I replied and quickened my pace.

The station was surprisingly packed with ponies waiting to board the “Dashing Pegasus” train service to Manehattan. The large blue steam engine sat before the platform with its long train behind it, some of the Pullmare cars were replaced with standard passenger cars because some of them were damaged after the streamlined locomotive exploded. I smiled from the strong sense of nostalgia I felt from all those years ago of waiting for this train to take me and my family to the Crystal Empire.

“What is that?” A quiet voice asked from my back.

“Huh, oh, this is a train Xian, and we are going to be riding it,” I said with a warm smile to put her fears at ease.

Suddenly there was a loud blast from the steam whistle which startled the young filly, making her yelp and nearly fall off my back as we began to climb up onto the platform. I shot Fruity a glare as he was snickering.

“It’s not going to hurt you, it’s driven by ponies, it can’t hurt anypony,” I reasoned.

“I can’t help but feel like you just told her a load of bollocks,” Fruity said.

“Shut it,” I hissed. “She doesn’t need to know what happened to the last one,”

Ponies began to murmur as we began to worm our way through the crowd. Some ponies were getting a bit uneasy with me and Xian around, muttering things about a Stripe along with other foul things that made me frown.

We managed to find a spot on the platform away from any large grouping of ponies. It would probably be best as to not make them feel uncomfortable, don’t want them to get trigger happy, especially with Xian here. Speaking of uncomfortable, I couldn’t shake that feeling I was being watched. I craned my neck looked around, trying to see if anypony was looking my way but couldn’t see anypony looking at me. I did see a pair of ponies dressed in old Equestrian Military gear on the opposite side of the platform being questioned by one of the platform guards but other than that I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, well ordinary for today’s world. Never seen ponies dressed like them before but the guard looks a little intimidated, like he knowns them or at least recognises the uniform.

“Ah, you made it.” Marshall Slate greeted with a smile as he approached us from the crowd of scowling ponies. “We’ll be boarding in a couple of minutes,”

I smiled at the familiar face. “Thank you Marshall, um, who are those in pre-war Equestrian Military uniforms?” I asked in curiosity.

“Don’t get mixed up with them Crystal, they are part of a growing mercenary group called the Gunners. They use military training and tactics to get their jobs done; it’s proving to be an effective combination. As long as you don’t bother them, they shouldn’t bother you, especially on the train since it’ll be us that govern who stays on board after an incident,”

The Dashing Pegasus unleashed another blast from its whistle and released a jet of steam from the copper piping from below its cylinders. As the steam began to clear I thought I saw a dark shape dart across in front of the locomotive and disappear around the other side. It happened so fast I thought the steam cloud played tricks with my eyes.

“Alright, everypony, all aboard,” Marshal shouted as the passenger car doors opened to allow everypony on.

Slowly the small crowd began to herd onto the train and eventually we boarded. We walked down the corridor of the Pullmare composite car and opened the first available door to the first free compartment we came across and entered it. It was just as lavishly furnished as I remembered. We closed the door to our compartment before we sat down on a bench each, Xian got off my back and sat on the bench beside me, looking around the luxurious space with wide curious eyes.

“ALL ABOARD!” I heard the acting conductor shout a few minutes later which was then followed by another whistle from the locomotive and then a sudden jerk. Xian yelped in surprise and fear to which I had to reassure her that everything was fine and then she resumed looking in wonder out the window as the train began to pull away from the station.

“Fruity, should I tell her what I really am?” I asked in a quiet but serious tone.

He looked down in deep thought for a little while before he looked up and sighed. “It isn’t ideal but to be honest I would tell her now rather than later, she’s just a kid and she’s already taken a shine to you. If you don’t tell her and let her believe you are a normal zebra, err, pega-zebra, or whatever, like I did, it’ll be worse for her when she finds out,” He replied while looking at the filly as she stood on her hind hooves now so she could get a better look out the window and the passing scenery.

“You’re right,” I agreed. The last thing I would want to do to this poor filly is break her heart in the future by revealing to her that I’ve been a lie, best tell her what I am now so we can work through this now while we can. I took a deep breath and turned to the young filly. “Xian,” I called, she turned around and sat down, looking up at me expectantly. “This may be difficult to understand or believe but I have something very important to tell you about myself,”

XXXXX

“I sense another power signature on this train, it seems I-02 IS has stowed away on board somewhere,” Unit 2 said quietly as he walked alongside his companion. “We were given orders to eliminate it, should we take care of it after we identify the Mark 1’s location?”

“Negative, we are on an enclosed space and uncovering this malfunctioning unit will jeopardize our primary objective,” Unit 1 answered as it stopped outside a closed cabin door.

“What do we do?”

“Monitor it for now, but we can’t let it get in our way either,” Unit 1 said as it stared at the door number. “Cabin 054. When the train arrives in Manehattan, we’ll have to be ready to capture I-01.”

Bonus images.

Infiltrator Mark 2 Unit 1000

Xian

Pega-Zebra Crystal