Chapter 1: Awaken

Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 1 - Awaken

The quiet Crusader Mainframe slowly woke from its slumber as a ship called for docking privileges. Obeying the commands that had been imprinted into it the computer acknowledged the ship docking, opened the port, and allowed it enter.

The moment it docked a ship that looked to be similar to the giant ship, simply smaller, and much more used, began to open. As it did an Earth Pony with wild gray hair held an old clipboard in his hoof and stood there. The door froze about half way, causing the Earth Pony to frown, and put down the clipboard. It pushed what must have been a button on the other side, and nothing happened. It did so again, and again and finally the door to the smaller craft opened for him.

He stepped out, and as he did the various cameras in the docking station clicked on, taking the image of the Earth Pony stallion.

The Maneframe connected to the various artificial satellites in the area, and all of them relayed back that this was one Spark Gap. Wanted Scientist for disobeying Celestial Colony law. Wanted for encouraging independent thought, teaching the theory of the Princesses, and insisting that Coffee was better than tea.

He made his way toward the hibernation chamber. Once there he smiled as he looked at the thousands of hibernation tanks.

"Finally," he said, "We can set things right."

He moved toward the terminal that connected to the Hibernation Tanks. His eyes scanned over the various names, occupations, and estimated life spans of those entombed inside of the various tanks. He needed someone that would be able to help prove that the Luna Seven was real, and more to the point, he needed to resurrect the rest of the colonists. At this point they were the only ones capable of helping the Colony at all.

He heard the sound of the docking station on the opposite side of the ship, a small curse escaped his lips and he selected the next name on his list.

A Unicorn Mare, Engineer first class, official title of Toaster Repair Pony.

"Well, hopefully you're better than nothing," he said, "Because at this point, you're the best chance I have."

He worked quickly, and soon the mechanical arm lifted the tank, and began moving toward the docking station where his ship was.

Soon through the strength that existed in all Earth Ponies he moved the tank itself into his ship. The docking port opened, and he began to fly out.

"Spark Gap!" a voice boomed over his intercom, "This is Lead Inquisitor Dusty Bottoms! Stop where you are and prepare to be arrested!"

He smirked, "Catch me hoof licker!"

With a surprising finesse, that would have most believe he was a Pegasus, Spark Gap managed to dodge most of the barrage of magical energy beams being shot by the much larger ship. His small craft, although well used, was far more versatile and maneuverable than the larger leviathan chasing them. The simple controls that allowed Spark Gap to control the ship looked almost as if it had been taken from an ancient video game cabinet that somehow survived the great war itself.

Still, simplistic or not the ship gracefully manunivered from point to point until a single shot hit its starboard stern. The engine connected to that side sparked, klaxons inside of the ship erupted into a sympathy of warnings, but with no other choice he engaged the Flash Drive. For a moment it seemed if perhaps the Flash Drive itself had been damaged, but then a second later the entire ship seemed to stretch beyond what could even be considered possible. And then as soon as it seemed to stretch the smaller ship was gone.

A moment later the ship appeared inside of what looked like an asteroid belt. As it floated there a mechanical voice began to echo throughout the small ship.

“Flash Drive now offline, Flash Drive inoperable, Distance to home port is three hours at base speed.”

Spark Gap leaned back in his chair, his right hoof touching his brow, “Well Fuck,” he said, “Vanity, take us in.”

“As you command Stand.”

Spark Gap smiled as the ship referred to him by the name of the previous captain. Captain Stand, or Night Stand to anyone that gave two squirts of piss about him, had been a loyal servant of the board. The ship had originally been a small cargo ship that was designed to deliver goods and workers to the most distant areas of the colony. Spark had relieved Captain Stand of his command when he found the good captain engaging in moving workers off the books.

Unlike those that Board moved from colony to colony these workers were little more than early teenagers. They had been taken from their homes, and they were being delivered to New Canterlot. Spark Gap didn’t have to look at the manifest to know what waited for these poor children. They were going to be placed into the roles of flesh satisfaction workers. A horrible business that little more than slavery for those caught up in it.

Naturally Captain Night Stand found himself paid with a single bullet for his cargo, and Spark Gap had taken the children to the one place he was somewhat sure they would be at least looked after. On Equestria II there was a single community that practiced the teachings of the Followers of the Apocalypse. This lone community would take the orphans in, and they would ensure that they would be looked after. With that done he had turned The Blue Thunder into something far better.

The ship had become a research vessel, and of course it had allowed him to find his new headquarters. In the distance he could see it. A single asteroid that had been hollowed out, and sinde of it a complete lab had been created. A lab where he researched various ways to save the colonists that lived in this cursed place. His research led him to the Luna Seven. The ship that held the brightest minds that had left Equis. He looked at the hibernation tank in the cargo hold.

“You truly are our best hope,” he said, “Funny, there are stories of a toaster repair pony that somehow managed to save Equestria of old. That she, along with her friends, managed to undo the horrors of a war that raged more than two hundred years prior.”

He moved toward the tank, “Hopefully it is a trait that is shared by all toaster repair ponies.”

The three hours seemed to pass as achingly slow as cold mock honey dripping from a jar, but finally the ship docked with his lab. He exited it, carrying the hibernation tank, and made his way to the lab proper. Once inside he prepared.

??? Point of view

Slowly my eyes opened to the world around me. The advertisements had said that there would be some grogeriness to be experienced, but it was more than that. I felt odd, different somehow, and I could barely move. I lifted a hoof, and when I did an elederly looking Earth Pony looked at me. He smiled a charming, but disarming, smile at me. I noticed he had a light brown coat, his mane and tail looked as if they had turned gray over the years, and he continued to work.

“Ah, you’re awake,” he said, “Good, I’m sure you have a slew of questions, and I will do my best to fill in,” he said, “The first thing you need to know is that it hasn’t been ten years you’ve spent in hibernation, but instead it was ninety. The board wrote off the Luna Seven as lost, and decided to leave all of you to drift.”

He shook his head as he closed the lid of the strange pod I was in, “Unfortunately normally waking up someone after such a prolonged hibernation normally leads to catastrophic cell failure. Although to put it more simply your cells begin to liquify, as does your entire body, and normally you go through the pain of what some poor individual felt when they were blasted with a plasma weapon, without the weapon of course,” he said, “Luckily that won’t happen to you because I’ve created a wonderful cocktail of chemicals that has stabilized your cellular structure. Suffice it to say you have no worry of cellular liquefaction. You do have to worry about the various forms of flora and fauna on the surface of the planet, but then you’ll likely have to worry about that anywhere.”

He smiled, “Sadly, I used the last of the chemicals I need to revive the rest of the colonists aboard the Luna Seven on you. That means that you will need to find more if we are to save the rest of those with you,” he said, “It is imperative that we do. The colonists aboard the Luna Seven represent the finest minds that were ever sent from Equis. Untouched by the Board’s propaganda, and unconditioned to behave and follow obediently. You, and they, are the last chance we have of saving this colony, and so I am afraid that I must task you with finding more of the chemical. But not to worry!”

I could see a manic gleam in his eyes, “I’ve hired a very capable smuggler, well courier, to help you! You’ll find her on the surface!”

With that he gave me a salute, reached over with his left hoof, and pressed a button. I watched, waited, and nothing happened. A moment later he pressed it again, and again nothing happened. He then began rapidly pressing the button as his right eye lightly twitched. I watched as he turned to face the button and suddenly the entire pod dropped. I saw the blank emptiness of space, the immense void that was dotted with a few stars, and then suddenly the entire pod was surrounded by fire.

I felt a force that gripped the pod and pulled it harder and faster. Ah, my old friend gravity had returned. The pod struck the ground, and slowly I looked up above me. Four switches waited, and luckily this pod wasn’t that different from the escape pods we’d been prepped on before boarding the Luna Seven. I flipped the first and third switch which caused the pod to depressurize and then the lid popped open. Slowly I stepped out, and shook my head. Everything felt as if there was something swimming just behind my eyes.

I looked at the ground and saw that it was painted with blood. I jumped back, and I heard something just inside of the right ear.

“Hello, is this thing on?” Spark Gap’s voice asked, “Ah, I see that you’ve made it! Wonderful! The courier I hired should be… Oh, oh dear.”

There was a tisking sound, “I did say to plant the stupid beacon and move away.”

I looked at it, “The pod landed on her,” I said, “It actually landed on her head.”

There was some silence, “Yes, yes it did,” he said, “Oh, my dear I’m sorry, but you need to get moving. The longer you stay here the more of a chance there will be of you attracting unwanted attention.”

I nodded, and began to move, “How did you see her?” I asked, “Are there cameras on the escape pod?”

There was a chuckle, “Well of course there were cameras on the pod, but do you remember the scanning device that you were outfitted with before boarding the Luna Seven?”

I nodded, “Sure, the Eye-Dentity Scans,” I said, “They allow you to automap the area around you, catalogue the goods that you’re carrying, and it’s all done by a cybernetic implant that is placed right behind you eye, and another inside one of your ears.”

There was a faint chuckle, “That is it exactly,” he said, “They were the next step after the invention of the Pipbucks. To be honest I believe that the Pipbucks themselves were a far better device. There was more room for enchantments, and they had the incredible ability to be used as a weapon if needed. But the Eye-Dentity Scanners are not as cumbersome, and they were far cheaper to provide. That said, your Eye-Dentity Scanner is far better built than most of the current versions, but it did have a very large, very open, and very vulnerable back door. It is one that I have since closed, but not before I could connect with it. However, if you happen to get near anything that could potentially jam it then I will be booted out, and I will not be able to reconnect.”

I gave a nod, and I began to move forward. As I did I noticed someone in the distance. Slowly I moved toward them, unsure if they were friend of foe, and as I moved upon them I found that he was neither. A welding helmet was pulled down on his face, and it seemed to be screwed onto a leather cap that was fitted to his head. Wisps of electric blue hair stuck out between the cap and the helmet itself. But I could see that his right rear leg had been torn off. Blood painted the area, and under the stitched together mining suit I saw a dirty, and blood splattered, white coat. Whatever had tore off his leg had taken his cutie mark, and I didn’t dare turn him over to see what it was on the other side. Instead I looked at the body, stepped back, and then I noticed an inhalant device. I picked it up, and the Eye-Dentity Scanner seemed to focus on it.

“Medical Inhalant Device, Spacey Favorite’s Brand! Selling price eight bits, Device uses, place healing potions into the Inhalant Device for instant use. Device will convert any healing potions into a breathable mist. Warning: Potions lose some potitancy after being converted.”

I looked at the long information that my Eye-Dentity Scanner provided me, and I realized that having something as an Inhalant would be far better than leaving it as normal. Well, maybe not better but certainly convenient. There could be times that you couldn’t swallow, but you might be able to breathe. If that was the case then some help would be far better than no help. I looked at my hibernation suit, which was still it’s light blue color, and I saw the installed saddlebags. I placed the device into one of them, and then I began moving forward.

As I moved I noticed something ahead of me. I could hear something clicking against rock, and I slowly moved toward the tall grass. As I did my Eye-Dentity Scanner began scanning the area beyond the grass, and then it blended the grass into a sort of hazy fog thatI could just barely see through. I moved slowly as I noticed two strange dog-like creatures. Both of them were easily as large as a pony, and the teeth they had were gigantic.

I moved slowly in an attempt to not gain their attention. I had memories of before boarding the Luna Seven. Ms Safety Pin had the single meanest poodle I’d ever seen. It loved to bite anyone that got near it, and it wasn’t nearly as big as either of those two things. Instead I slowly made it past them, and then I entered what looked like an expansive cave. As I walked I began to wonder exactly what it was that Spark Gap expected of me.

I wasn’t exactly a beauty queen, sure I was cute, and I had a few buck and filly friends. After all I kinda enjoyed both sides of things, but honestly I was a seafoam green unicorn, with a mane and tail the color of a yellow lily, and my eyes weren’t that fantastic either. They were a dark blue, almost black. I had some medical training, but being a toaster repair pony was pretty much where they put a pony that didn’t know what they wanted to do with their lives.

I had friends that were named after those legendary ponies. My friend Littlepip was named after the heroine that gave back the skies to Equestria, our other friend Puppysmiles was named after the ghost that helped remind ponies that the world had been beautiful, and made them believe that it could be beautiful again. Me, I wasn’t given a name to inspire greatness. My Mom apparently took one look at me and decided that my name should match what she saw. Slim Chance.

Slim Chance, the one pony to come from the Chance family line that didn’t aspire to become a doctor. Slim Chance, the filly that had her muzzle in books about electronics, terminals, and antique robotics. Slim Chance, the mare that was obviously a serious let down to an overbearing mother that had become disappointed to the point that she attempted to draw up a marriage contract. That was me. I had denied the contract, after all I didn’t want to be married to some stallion I didn’t love. I certainly didn’t want to be married to a stallion that was likely related to the Chance family because of Great Grandpa Best Chance. Apparently good old Best Chance liked to sleep around a bit, and apparently there’s Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Zebras, and even Hippogriffs that carry some of the Chance family genes because of good old Best Chance.

I could remember Grandmother Fated Chance saying that we were descendants from one of the heroines. That we could trace our line back to Go Fish who had been known as Blackjack the Security Mare. I had scoffed at that thought, and I still do. There was no way that I was related to a pony that had managed to save one of the worst places in Equestria. In fact Luna Seven was launched from the old rocket center in Hoofington. I had boarded it at the rebuilt launch pad, and I had entered into the hibernation tank shortly before liftoff.

No, whatever our family line was, I was certain that it didn’t contain heroes. I wanted to tell Spark Gap that he made a mistake. Sure, I wanted to help the other colonists, but I was… me. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t see the slant starting on the floor of the cave, but my hoof informed me of it when I slipped on some loose pebbles. That caused me to fall on my face, and then slid down to a small drop off. I fell and it felt like I cracked my right foreleg. I groaned, and looked at the inhaler. I lifted it, hoping that it had something to help with healing, and used it.

When it did I felt my leg straighten, the pain disappeared, and instead it felt better than before. I looked at the inhaler and wondered just how powerful the healing potion that was inside of had been before it was converted into a mist. I shook my head and looked around. Strange blue glowing mushrooms seemed to dot the floor and walls of the cavern, and it gave everything a soft blue glow that somehow made it look more like a dream instead of reality.

Part me wondered if that was the case. Was I dreaming? Maybe I was back home, near Chapel, sleeping after going through another Robronco tech manual. That could be it, but I had doubts. No, it was more likely that I wasn’t dreaming. Even though everything seemed fantastic it all felt real. The pain was real, and the instant healing that happened because of that wonder potion was just as real. I shook my head and continued until I saw a very cute looking stallion that was leaning against what looked like an old hull from an older rocket.

“Hello?” I asked, “Are you okay?”

The stallion looked at me, his chestnut colored main hung in soft curls. Oh, by the Element’s collected grace he was cute! His soft tan coat was mostly clean, his chestnut colored mane was curled, and slightly matted to his brow with sweat, and his chocolate colored eyes were so rich and deep that I wanted to simply lose myself in them for days. I held in my reaction. After all, one didn’t just chase after random stallions. No, it was best to let them make the first move.

“Oh… Hey,” he said, “You’ve tried the best, now try the rest… Oh by the laws that stings, Sorry, You’ve tried the best, now try the rest, Spacey’s Favorites! Yes, I nailed it!”

He gave me a grimace, “Sorry, I was outside with my unit when a bunch of marauders fell on us. I used my pistol to fire at them, but something caused it to misfire, and when it did I dropped it. Just like they taught it, but it exploded and I got some shrapnel in my side for my trouble.”

I neared him, “Oh, well I’ve had some medical training, maybe I can help?”

He looked at me, obviously worried and finally he nodded, “Sure, that would be nice, but I hope you don’t mind if I don’t tell anypony about this,” he said, “We’re not supposed to accept help from off brand doctors and such. Even if they are freelance. All of our medical help has to come from a doctor with a contract to Spacey’s Favorites.”

I nodded, “Well, I won’t tell if you won’t,” I said, “My name is Slim Chance, what’s yours?”

He grunted as I removed the shrapnel, “Oh, I’m Private Corporate Guard Scrumptious ma’am,” he said, “Private Perfectly Scrumptious.”

I grinned at him. His mother, whoever she was, had given him the perfect name, because he was absolutely Scrumptious!

“Wow, that’s better,” he said, “It still hurts, but a quick breath of Med-Eaze the one wonder painkiller brought to you by the great minds of Spacey’s Favorites that always dulls the pain, tickles the senses, and gives vigor to the tired worker, You’ve tried the best, now try the rest: Spacey’s Favorites! And I’ll be good as new.”

I looked at him, “Do you always have to do that?” I asked, “I mean talk like you're a company jingle?”

He smiled, “Did I really sound like one?!” he excitedly asked, “Yes! I can taste a promotion! Just ten short years and I’ll be made Private first class for sure!”

I shook my head. He was excited by the prospect of sounding like a living advertisement jingle. I mean the corporations were pretty much everywhere back on Equestria, but they weren’t making everypony act like a group of living advertisements. I shook my head and looked around. Over toward the corner I saw a stack of slightly glowing crates. I crept near them and noticed that they looked like they had small glass openings that revealed a colorful collection of gel inside of them.

“What’s this?” I asked as I pointed a hoof toward the crates, “Because they’re glowing like they're filled with ammunition for magical weapons.”

He looked at me for a moment and smiled, “Did you hit your head or something?” he asked, “Because I have a dose of Buck-Oll! Yes, that wonderful medicine that increases strength, stamina, and cures headaches! Now with only an eighty-five percent chance of addiction! You’ve tried the best, now try the rest: Spacey’s Favorites!”

I rolled my eyes, “No, I didn’t hit my head,” I said, “I crash landed on this planet in an escape pod. Apparently I was in hibernation for about ninety years.”

His eyes widened, “Nope! You hit your head, yep, that’s got to be it, because only someone that suffered a little brain damage would try to sell a story about being from a ship that never left Equestria.”

I looked at him, “What are you talking about?”

He looked around, a little frightened, “I mean, that’s it right?” he asked, “Because Spacey’s Favorites and the rest of the board wouldn’t lie to us, would they?”

Oh by Velvet Remendy’s mercy it was like they had brainwashed him. He was still absolutely Scrumptious, but he was almost like a foal desperate to believe that they wouldn’t have lied to him. I watched and felt my heart break a little bit. Something told me that this wasn’t something that could simply be fixed by a few kind words. I gently nudged him.

“I don’t know,” I said, “But I think the first thing we should do is look for a way out.”

He motioned toward the crates, “Those are Energy Cubes,” he said, “They’re created by using the magical energy waste that comes from overcharged crystals. A single bullet, or a hard enough force spell, should disrupt them enough to make them explode.”

I nodded, “Well, we’re out of luck. I’m not much when it comes to force spells, and your gun exploded on you.”

He looked at me and lifted a short rifle.

“Actually, I have my Always ready Junior Hunter’s Helper! This traditional Firearm is now thirty percent less likely to explode after the first use! You’ve tried the best, now try the rest: Spacey’s Favorites! You can borrow it. I’ve got some extra ammo that you can take for it.”

I smiled, took the rifle, and looked at it. For the most part it looked like a simple bolt action rifle, a little short, but if it was a junior rifle then it was likely designed for a foal. I checked the slide, noticed that it had a nice smooth action, but the sights were a little off on it. I noticed right away that the way the sights rested on it the rifle would likely shoot a little toward the right of it.

“Okay, I think that I can take care of the marauders that might be hanging around,” I said, “Is there anyone else out there that might be with you?”

He nodded, “Ummm yeah, Sergeant Sure Luck and Private First Class Swift Wing are out there. I’m sure they’re still alive because both of them are two of the best trained in our unit,” he said, “We wouldn’t have even been here, but some chowderhead landed their ship out in a field. It’s not even a designated landing pad. That’s the kind of thing that attracts marauders.”

I nodded, “Okay,” I said, “I’ll let them know that you’re in here, and I’ll take care of what marauders that I see on my way.”

I lifted the rifle, and my Eye-Dentity Scanner picked up on the weapon. Then something strange happened. It focused in on the crates. A moment later I saw something that I never saw before. The entire area got kind of hazy, and there was information about the crates above them.

“Warning: Energy Cubes, Highly volatile, shoot middle crate for explosion, keep a minimum of thirty hoofsteps back.”

I read it, made sure I was far enough back, and fired. The gun bucked in my levitation field, and I watched as the crate it hit exploded into a flash of pink, followed by flashes of blue, red, yellow, and more pink. When they were done there were scorch marks on the ground, but there was an opening to the outside. I stepped out and saw the beautiful grassland around me. In a way it made me homesick for Chapel. Although the grass looked different. It was almost an emerald green, and it looked like it was made of tiny beaded crystals instead of well grass.

I moved out and heard walking. Then I saw a pony wearing another welding mask look up.

“Gonna get you!” he screamed as he ran toward me, “Gonna rape and eat you!”

I panicked, everything slowed down again, and I fired two shots. The first hit his foreleg, and the other hit his welding mask. It punched a hole through it, causing the back of the leather cap he was wearing to explode out. He fell in a crumpled mess, and I moved forward. I saw his saddle bags open, and inside of them I saw a collection of small tins of food, a collection of bullets, and what looked like a small pistol in poor condition. Slowly I picked it up, and looked at the small path ahead of me. There was smoke in the distance, and I figured that it was in my best interest to head toward it.

Moving forward I listened to the sounds around me. I noticed the complete lack of background sounds. There were no sounds of wildlife, no sounds of anything nearby, and old tales about the Wasteland told me that usually meant there was a predator in the area. It was possible that the predators were the marauders themselves. The insanity of the moment had blocked out the fact that I killed somepony. Granted, I killed somepony that was screaming about raping and eating me, but I killed them none the less.

I felt my heart still racing as I walked. Everything screamed that this was insane, and the best idea was to somehow get back to Spark Gap. But if I went back then every single one of the colonists on the Luna Seven would remain in their hibernation forever. I didn’t want to do that to them. Besides, there were a few that were my friends in there. I couldn’t leave them like that. I couldn’t leave them forever asleep, not if there was a change to really change things. I breathed out, decided that I would question my morality later.

You’ve unlocked the Dead Eye skill. Now you can use your Eye-Dentity Scanner to target more than one target at a time! This can be built on by any weapon, apparel, or consumable that enhances targeting or gun handling.

Chapter 2: Once upon a Time

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Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 2: Once upon a Time

The sight of the little rag doll that lay beside the disturbed dirt caught my eye. It was silly, but it reminded me of the day we boarded the Luna Seven. Gilded Lilly, Sweet Stuff, and Baldwin Apple were talking about the world that waited for us. Baldwin talked about transplanting some of the apple trees his family had begun growing onto the new Equestria that awaited us. I remember that his little brother Tart had bragged that his brother was gonna be a space farmer.

My mother Perfect Chance had practically disowned me. She had said that since I refused to marry Tick Tock, the heir to the Tick Tock time piece empire, that I was no longer her daughter. I left my home the night before with nothing more than my mane, tail, and coat. It was fine, I had already filled out the paperwork for my place upon the Luna Seven, and I was going to be leaving tomorrow anyway. Still, it had hurt to know that my mom didn’t think that I was worth more than a chance to climb the social ladder by being married to Tick Tock. I didn’t have a chance to gather any belongings, because according to her they weren’t mine.

“I bought them for you, I paid for those… trinkets, and that means they’re mine!” she had shouted, “Perhaps I’ll toss them into the furnace, or more likely I’ll see if they’re worth anything. Honestly, I had such high hopes for you! You would have been an Heiress, and I would have been able to proudly proclaim that you were my daughter.”

She nickered in anger, “Now, you’re as worthless as servant zebra with a broken foreleg. Leave, and take the shame of failure with you.”

I had gone to Baldwin’s hotel. I remember walking inside of it, and being amazed that it had been an actual stable. The hotel itself was run by a mare that was dressed in Stable-Tec barding, and honestly it seemed to fit well on her. She welcomed me, and I explained that I was there to see Baldwin Apple. With that she showed me to an elevator, and we took it down to an atrium that had strange white apples growing in it. The one difference was a tree that was quite a bit smaller. It had some blooms where apples would grow, but it hadn’t actually become ready to bear fruit.

I saw Baldwin standing next to it.

“See now Belle,” he said touching the bark of the young tree, “Ain’t nothing ta be scared of. These fine old trees have been here since this was a stable.”

I could swear that the leaves of the tree seemed to open more, the blooms looked healthier, and the tree seemed to stand up straighter. I neared him as he sat down near the young tree and touched it again, “And you know,” he said, “Your gonna be the first Apple family tree that’s been ta a whole different world. Your story is gonna rival every tree that ever kept a stable goin’.”

I neared him, and he turned toward me. He was practically a giant among regular ponies. His coat was the brightest yellow I’d ever seen, and his mane and tail were a soft red. His eyes were a brilliant emerald green, and he had the kind of smile that would melt a mare’s heart. I won’t lie and say that I didn’t entertain the idea of him showing me a good time, but it wouldn’t have felt right. He’d moved to Hoofington about two months ago, but he was already one of my closest friends.

He was honest about who he was, what he wanted, and what he planned to do with his life. Someone wouldn’t think it to look at him, but Baldwin Apple was a genius when it came to plants and how Earth Pony magic worked. I watched the smile that practically melted my heart as it formed on his muzzle. He neared me, giving me a little nuzzle, and I returned the favor. He pulled back and looked at me for a second.

“Somethin’ wrong?” he asked, “Cause you look about as depressed as a popped tire.”

I looked at him, and I knew that there was no way that I would be able to keep it from him. He wasn’t just honest, but he made me want to be honest. I finally nodded, “Mother didn’t approve of my joining the colonists, and she really didn’t approve of the fact that I didn’t want to be a trophy wife of Tick Tock.”

He gave a small smile, “Slim,” he said softly, “I think that you’re a wonderful pony, a beautiful mare, and somepony that has a whole life of adventure waiting for her. But your mama can’t see the orchard for the trees.”

He gave me a hug, which reminded me of exactly how strong Earth Ponies were, and then he let go, “She’ll never understand that you’re not a greedy little money grubber, but instead you’re a pony, real and true, and you’ve got an itch to learn. Damn fine and noble aspirations if’n y'all ask me,” he said, “I ain’t gonna say don’t get all upset over what she said. Despite her being as wrong about who are as a weasel running a chicken coop it don’t change the fact that she’s your mama. It’s gonna take time ta move on, but I know that you’ll do it. ‘Cause I believe in ya.”

I grinned, feeling better about the situation. It still left me without a place to stay for the night. All of the colonists that had signed up with the Luna Seven were allowed to stay in the dorms provided by the Equestria Corporation Conglomerate. The problem was that I waved staying because I didn’t think that my mom would kick me out with nothing but my mane and tail. I knew that Baldwin had declined staying, but that was because he had a room at the hotel. I noticed that he was looking at me, and finally he snorted.

“You need a place to stay?”

I nodded, “Yeah,” I said, sounding sheepish, “I really could use a place to rest before tomorrow.”

He nodded, touched the tree once more, and then walked toward the edge of the atrium. We entered into a small hall that looked really good, despite most likely being eight hundred years old, and he touched a small button outside of a door. The door slid up, and I saw a room with a full size bed, a decent couch, a nice table, a few lockers, and a basic bathroom attached to it. All of it was certainly older. But it didn’t take away from the fact that it appeared everything Stable-Tec had built had been built to last. I started to move toward the couch, but Baldwin stopped me.

“Eeenope,” he said, “You take the bed. ‘Sides, won’t be the first time that I’ve slept on a couch.”

I looked at him in disbelief. Finally I shook my head, “It won’t do any of us any good if one of us is achy and sore in the morning from sleeping on a couch,” I said, “Why don’t we share the bed? I don’t bite, and I trust you to be a gentlecolt.”

He nodded, “Alright, and I’ll trust that you’re gonna a lady ‘bout things too.”

I gave a smile, and the two of us walked over to the bed. Crawling into it I noticed the rag doll sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. The ragdoll looked like it was ancient, and I recalled that he said that it was called Smarty Pants. I didn’t know much else about it, but from what he told me the Doll had been in the Apple Family for generations. It got passed down to him, and apparently it brought him luck. I looked at the small donkey-like doll with the yarn mane, and slowly I fell to sleep.

The memory faded as I looked at the rag doll on the disturbed ground. The small mound that it was sitting on was something that wasn’t big enough for a full grown pony, and that bothered me. I could see a small polished stone, something someone had taken time to make look beautiful, but there was no inscription, no indicator, and no name. It was a grave, for a foal, and no one would ever know who that foal had been. I looked away and saw two large creatures standing over something. I moved slowly, and saw that they had a pony on the ground. My eyes widened in fury as I realized that they were killing some poor pony.

I brought my rifle up, aimed, and fired at the first creature. The bullet caught it right in the back of the head. I was thankful that I couldn’t see the mess it made coming out because I did see blood and viscera spray forward. The other animal turned, and like those wild animals I had seen earlier it looked like a dog. Its colors were a dark orange, deep blue, and it had a strange fin that came off of the top of its head. That fin expanded, making it look bigger, and it growled at me before jumping forward.

Like before my Eye Dentity Scanner seemed to slow down time, and when it did I placed a shot squarely between its eyes. The creature crumpled beside me, and I moved past it. The pony I had hoped to save was gone. From the looks of things those creatures had likely killed him hours before. His blue eye was open, glazed over, and stared in horror at nothing. His charcoal gray belly had been ripped open, spilling his intestines, stomach, and other soft organs onto the ground. I could see blood mixed with partially digested food, and the feeling of sickness covered me.

I turned and threw up to the side, letting the nausea escape me, and then finally turned back toward the freshly dead pony. There was a shovel next to him, beside it was one of the creatures, and if what I saw was accurate then he had taken the creature out with a jab of the shovel. I shook my head, and touched him. When I did I felt a jolt, my Eye Dentity Scanner seemed to freeze for a moment, and then I saw a small dialogue box.

“Wireless connection with Eye Dentity Scanner ‘Minty Fresh’ created, view messages?”

I swallowed, and looked toward the Y. After a moment the first message popped up. It was the Stallion standing in front of a mirror. He looked sad, but determined.

“Star,” he said, “I plan on sending this after I’m finished with what had to be done. Coconut Swirl deserves to be buried and not thrown out in some ditch. I really don’t give a damn what the Spacey’s Favorites’ Corporate Guidelines say. She deserves a real burial. So, I’m going to give her one. Afterward, I’m leaving. I know that Standing Water needs us, I get that.”

He shook his head, “But nopony cared that my daughter died. The most they did was tell me not to be late for my shift. Coconut Swirl was my little girl, she never did a thing to anypony, and they are more concerned about their Law Damned Cannery. Screw ‘em!” he exclaimed, “I heard tell that there’s people that ain’t marauders out there, and that they’re making a life at one of the old abandoned townships. I’m heading there after I’m done. I want you to join me. I know our marriage contract is over, but I still love you. Please, come with me.”

The words hit me like an oncoming train. The fact that the ponies this stallion worked for didn’t even see his loss as an actual loss was beyond me. How could somepony be so callous about the death of a foal? How could they not see the terrible loss for what it was? The fact that this stallion was hurting so badly that it had changed him wasn’t lost on me either. From what I’d seen of Scrumptious, which he absolutely still was incredibly scrumptious in my mind, lent to the idea that these ponies were indoctrinated from birth to believe in the corporations that ran the colonies.

I liked having some money as much as the next mare, but this was evil. It equated that a pony was only worth what they could make in a lifetime. It meant that if a foal died they were worthless because they couldn’t make anything. I felt a new wave of sickness hit me. The idea was terrible, horrible, and it saddened me to realize that it took the death of a foal for somepony to be brought out of it. But then it wasn’t just a death of a foal. It was the death of his foal. He lost his foal, and that was the last straw that broke the metaphoria mule’s back.

I could see other messages left over, and I downloaded them all. That’s when I noticed that a few of them were encrypted, and those would only be unlocked when I found the other Eye Dentity Scanner that had the other half of the message on them. I had doubts that the messages would be more than letters, thoughts, and messages this stallion had for his foal and his wife, but it was important to me. Some part of me wanted to keep his memory alive. I might never really know much more about him other than his name was Minty Fresh, he had a foal named Coconut Swirl, and a wife named Star.

I had doubts that he was much more than some poor stallion that happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, but regardless I wanted to keep some part of him alive. I wanted to remember this. I wanted to remember exactly what I felt when I realized what the value of pony life was to these corporations that ran everything. It was hard to believe that anypony would value profit over a life, but then what I had learned about the Wasteland, and specifically about prewar Equestria had said some of the same. Oh, it wasn’t as open as it was here, but it didn’t change that corporate entities at the time saw ponies as resources.

Even so, there hadn’t been, at least to my knowledge, the drive to indoctrinate ponies into the belief that they were little more than minor parts to a much larger whole. It felt wrong, the entire idea of it felt foreign and went against what I had believed was the foundation that had been built. The Equestria Corporate Conglomerate couldn’t have changed that much, could it? I had to remind myself that if what Spark Gap said was true, and I had no reason to doubt it, then it likely had changed into what had broken this dead stallion.

I looked at the smaller grave, and I grabbed the shovel. Using my magic I dug a hole next to the one that he had dug for his foal. Once it was deep enough, or I believed that it was deep enough, I placed him into it, and I covered him up. It felt right that he be buried next to his foal, and hopefully I could find his wife and let her know what had happened. Maybe I could convince her to go ahead and head off toward that camp. If nothing else it would be a chance for her to have more out of life than just slaving away for ponies that wouldn’t care if she were to fall over dead the next day.

I moved away from the two graves, and I made my way down the hill. The grass still seemed to be more crystalized instead of being made of actual grass. Of course as I moved down the hill I saw a small beach. Crystalized grass was strange, but crystalized sand was breathtakingly beautiful! I moved down toward it, looking at the water that was lapping lazily up on the shore. The water was so clear, so beautiful, that it could have been mistaken for the clean streams of water that existed on the remains of Black Pony Mountain. I saw something sticking up from the water, and I made my way toward it. Getting closer I saw the remains of a ship sticking up from its burial place in the sand.

The exterior of the ship had long since been peeled away, stripped off like flesh from fish bones, and it left the ship’s bones there. I could see mostly rusted halls, bits of floors, and an old door that had long since rusted shut. In the corner was a small red container, and I moved toward the ship, gently touching the floor to ensure that it would hold, and when it didn’t give way I stepped into the long since dead ship itself. The entire floor slanted toward the right, giving the feeling of walking through a fun house, without the fun, but I slowly made my way toward the box. I found it unlocked, and I was certain that anything of value would have long since been taken from it.

Instead the box clicked open, and inside was a tiny music box, and oddly enough a little statue. I lifted the music box, and I could hear the faint notes of a song that likely had long since been forgotten. The small statue was something else. It was a mare that I didn’t really recognize right away. Like most ponies I learned about the Wasteland, the stories of Littlepip, the Security Mare, the Ghost of the Big fifty-two, Hired Gun, and even a little of the Earth Pony named Small Fry. I’d learned about them, and I learned a little about Prewar Equestria. I learned about the Princesses, the Ministries, and the Mares of those Ministries, but it was likely that this was the first time that I had ever seen one.

It took several minutes of looking at the statue before I realized that I was looking at a Ministry Mare. Holding it I felt calm, certain, and more devoted to saving my friends along with the other colonists on the Luna Seven. I looked at the small blue pegasus with a rainbow mane statuette, and I smiled at it. Below the statue of this graceful, yet powerful, pegasus in mid flight was a simple inscription: Be Awesome!

I moved the statuette to my saddlebag, put it in there, and I felt as though there was something energizing me. The fear and doubts that had threatened to cloud up my mind were cleared away in ten seconds flat, and I felt good. No, I didn’t just feel good, I felt Awesome with a capital A! I needed to find the ship that Private Perfectly Scrumptious had talked about, and I knew that the ship had to be around somewhere. I hoped it wasn’t this ship, but I was fairly confident that it wasn’t. From what I’ve seen this ship had been here for quite some time, and I doubted that anypony would have stripped one down in less than a few hours.

I looked around and I could see a hill I came down, one to the right, and the beach which looked like it stretched on for quite a ways to the left. I looked at the right and figured that at least at the top of the hill I could see around easier. I made my way toward it, and began to climb. As I did I switched through the various controls that my Eye Dentity Scanner had, and finally I found the radio. As I looked at it I found only four stations available. I selected the first, and the sound of cute, and catchy, jingle music filled my ear as I walked.

“Show your Bosses that you are Kind, and gift to them your Overtime!”

That one was followed by another, “Zero G Brew, your favorite flavors, numbs your pain and is emboldened by labor! Buy Zero G Brew today, and drink your troubles away!”

I quickly changed the station as I climbed higher.

“Today on Let’s Chat, I had the chance to meet with Ms. Gazer our resident scientist that is in charge of researching the ever pep pill,” the smoothing voice said, “Now, here’s some of that fine chat for you wonderful listeners.”

“Ms. Gazer, it’s a pleasure to meet with you today,” the smoothing voice said, “So, what can you tell us about the ever pep pill?”

There was a slight cough, “Well, the ever pep pill is still in the early research phase, but we’re confident that it will be the miracle drug we’ve proposed,” Ms. Gazer said, “We believe that we will be able to help workers stay up later, work harder, and thus become far more productive than ever before. Sleep and rest will be things of the past.”

“I see,” the soothing voice said, “What about the workers that enjoy their generous five minute breaks, and eight minute lunches that Corporations, much like our own Spacey’s Favorites, provide?”

There was a soft chuckle, “Well, the lunch will still be needed, after all, no drug, no matter how wonderful, has been able to replace the need of a well prepared meal, especially one as fine as Spacey’s Favorite Faux Tuna! But eventually even meal times will be a thing of the past, or a luxury,” she said, “We’re working toward making it possible for a worker to spend their entire lives earning the bits they need to spend their last remaining year or two in comfort at New Canterlot.”

“Or of course they could play the lottery, and if they win they could get access to a special level of New Canterlot that has been prepared just for retirees,” the soothing voice said, “Everypony has the chance to win a life of ease in the most exclusive area for the rest of their lives. Imagine, living a life of ease and privilege, and that life can be yours! Play the Retiree lottery today! Just eight thousand bits per entry!”

I shook my head as I topped the hill, and I shut off the radio. If the other two stations were the same, then I didn’t want to listen in on them. I looked out over the valley below, and I saw a single ship. There were a couple of ponies dressed similar to how Private Perfectly Scrumptious had been dressed, and I could only assume that was Sergeant Sure Luck and Private First Class Swift Wing. Looking around them I saw a few marauders milling around. I narrowed my eyes, and slowly I made my way down toward the two ponies. I neared them and the Earth Pony looked at me. She stood up straight and narrowed her eyes. I could see a security batton at her side, and she seemed to measure my approach. I didn’t attempt to show much more than the rifle that was resting against my back. She finally nodded toward me, and motioned toward her and the Pegasus that was standing near her.

“Who the hell are you?” she asked, “Don’t you know that we’ve got marauders, and worst parking violators in the area?”

I studied her for a second, “Wait, parking violators are in the same class as marauders?” I asked, “Seems like parking violators might take a back seat to a pony that wants to rape and possibly eat a pony.”

She snorted, “I never said that marauders are in the same category as parking violators. The both of them are bad,” she spat, “To think, landing wherever they please, taking no heed to a perfectly good landing pad at Standing Water, and denying the corporation the parking fee they richly deserve. After we deal with these marauders I have half a mind of beating that parking violator black and blue with my baton.”

I looked at her, “well, why aren’t you dealing with the marauders yet?”

She snorted at me again, and I noticed the way her pale blue coat seemed to shine from under her armor. Her soft pink mane was cut short, and I had to admit that she had excellent bone structure. If she wasn’t acting like a colossal tool I might be interested in trying to get to know her better. Out of the three of them so far I certainly like Private Perfectly Scrumptious the most. It wasn’t just because he was scrumptious, but also because he had actually acted friendly. She was acting pretty bitchy right now.

“We’re not dealing with them because we have a five minute break, afterward we’ll deliver the cost saving justice that Spacey’s Favorite is known for.”

I grinned, “Well, I suppose if I fill out a survey I could indicate that you weren’t interested in ensuring the safety of a potential customer.”

Her eyes widened, “Umm, nope, that’s not right. Okay,” she looked at the Pegasus that was in full armor, which it looked odd. It had a strange insectoid tail on it, almost like a scorpion tail, but every inch of it was covered with a logo that I could only imagine belonged to Spacey’s Favorite, “Let’s go get those Marauders!”

The two of them turned and began walking down the hill, and I followed behind them with my rifle ready. Despite the fact that both of them were basically walking billboards I had to admit that the armor did a fantastic job of protecting them. Although the picture of a strange dark Alicorn smiling with fangs showing, and her hoof held up in celebration didn’t look exactly like a great mascot. Something reminded me of a story, something about eternal night. I shook my head as we moved forward. The marauders came faster than I believed they would. Dozens of them were screaming about eating us, laughing uncontrollably, but they went down fast enough. I moved past them toward the ship, walked up the ramp, and entered into it.

As I did I heard the sound of a mechanical voice echo through the ship.

“Marauder, be warned, this ship is the express property of Captain Hard Luck. I have been given the permission to deal with invaders in the harshest way possible.”

I moved toward the sound and saw a strange sight. There was a bridge, two seats sitting together, and in one of them was an odd looking pony. She looked to be more mechanical than pony, and slowly the seat turned toward me. I could see something else about her. I heard about this before, Synthetic Ponies. They had been created after the war, and there were still several that were alive. In her case she looked like bits of her skin had been removed, and her metallica endoskeleton was showing through. Her coat had been a glossy black, and her eyes were an electric blue.

Her mane, which was pulled into a braid, was a soft white, and it looked like the tips of each hair glowed and changed colors. I studied her a second, trying to figure her out.

“I am Captain Hard Luck’s first mate, Sweet Kisses, and if you do not leave things will go bad,” she said, “You have three seconds to exit.”

I looked at her, “Look, I don’t want to cause problems…”

She narrowed her eyes at me, “Warning, this ship is about to depressurize the cargo hold, doing so will cause any biological creature to suffer being squished through the small opening.”

The alarms went off around us, the ship shook for a second, and then nothing else happened. I looked at her and she looked sheepish, “I take it that you’re not going to fall for that.”

I nodded, “Unfortunately not,” I said, “As for the captain, I think that my escape pod might have crushed her.”

She looked at the floor, “Oh, oh my,” she said, “You aren’t going to attempt to destroy me, are you?”

I shook my head, “Why would I?” I asked, “You haven’t done anything to me.”

She shrugged her shoulders, “Most ponies want to destroy me because I’m obsolete. There’s really no other reason.”

I looked at her, “No I think you’re fine.”

She smiled, “Good, ummm, I don’t want to attempt to be a captain, after all, dealing with ponies is difficult, but I’m fine remaining a pilot and the navigation for the ship. Which, welcome aboard the Non-Responsible,” she said, “Since you are not interested in attacking me, would you like to be captain? The ship needs one, and you seem like a good sort. I would be okay serving under you.”

I nodded, “okay, my name is Slim Chance.”

She grinned, “Welcome aboard Captain Slim Chance!”

You’ve unlocked Robotic Kindness: You now have the opportunity to unlock special dialogue with certain mechanical beings. Your knowledge of antique robotics will prove useful in assisting certain robots in difficult tasks, and will unlock unique friendships.

Chapter 3: Powertrip

View Online

Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 3: Powertrip

The idea that I would be able to contact Spark Gap, since apparently something interrupted his connection to my Eye Dentity Scanner, was put on hold after Sweet Kisses explained that many of the Non-Responsible’s systems were compromised due to a power regulator blowing up forcing them to make an emergency landing. Without a power regulator the ship didn’t have communications, and more to the point it didn’t have the ability to leave the place where it was sitting.

I had accurately assumed that the part wasn’t just going to be lying around, but Sweet Kisses explained that on the way into orbit she had scanned the community of Standing Water. She was sure, within a ninety percent accuracy that the township had, or at least knew of the location for, a power regulator. It meant visiting a township, and that was something she was fine with me doing. I hadn’t asked, but it looked as if she was more than just sitting in the pilot’s chair. From the looks of things it looked as if she had been integrated into the Non-Responsible’s computer system. I suppose that being integrated allowed her the chance to have a better than average memory, but more than that I’d imagine that it allowed her to sense things through the ship's sensors.

The idea of being tied like that to a ship seemed wrong somehow. I suppose that was because it would remove the chance to move, to explore, and it just left the existence of the ship. No, that wasn’t right. It didn’t even leave the existence of the ship itself. It was most likely only existing inside of the cockpit. I wasn’t sure if the computer system for the ship was advanced enough to carry the sensation of all of the sensors for her to experience. If that was the case, did she feel everything that happened inside and out of the ship? That began to change the idea for me. If she was able to experience everything the ship experienced, then she was more or less the ship itself.

She could experience all of the sensation of travel, she would know what it felt like to experience jumping into the faster than light travel of the Flash Drive, and it would undoubtedly be difficult for her to make connections with others. I didn’t know for certain, but I had to believe that more or less being a ship made things difficult for her to create lasting relationships. I could only imagine what it would be like if she wanted to be intimate with someone.

I knew about Synth ponies, mostly from second hand, but I did know about them, and I knew that they could become intimate with regular ponies. The most advanced synth ponies could practically pass for regular ponies, except that they didn’t age. Sweet Kisses didn’t look like the most advanced ones. She looked older. Then again it could be that time had simply not been kind to her. For all rights and purposes I knew that Synth Ponies were more or less immortal. They weren’t eternal, or I assumed they could be destroyed, but from what I had heard, and if Sweet Kisses was anything to go by, the oldest Synth Ponies were close to a thousand years old, and they still worked.

It was possible that they could potentially work forever. To live so long, know so many ponies, and see and experience so much loss was mind boggling. How could somepony deal with it? I’d heard stories about the princesses, and I knew that they had more or less been immortal as well. The stories I’d heard ranged from the idea that they were a little over a thousand years old to they were as old as time itself. Everything I’d heard said that they were approachable, but I hadn’t been there. Even if Sweet Kisses was one of the oldest Synth Ponies I doubt that she would have been there.

I shook my head, and despite my musings I felt confident that everything would be okay. It was almost as if there was a tiny rainbow maned pegasus inside of my head telling me that it was all going to turn out awesome, and that I was twenty percent cooler just because I was now a captain of my own ship. There was something about that I did like. Sure, the Non-Responsible was currently landbound, but it was a ship. In truth it was freedom. It was the ability to fly through space, and somehow the idea of flying felt good.

I noticed what looked like buildings in the distance, and I began moving toward them. As I got closer, I noticed the mining gear I’d seen before. Before me was about six or seven marauders. All of them seemed to be milling about the few buildings, and I took a step back. I had the rifle still with me, and luckily I had around thirty shells for it. Surprisingly the rifle was a decent weapon, although it was a little short. I wanted, no I needed, something that would get their attention. I just didn’t need that attention on me. I noticed several crates, similar to the ones that Private Scrumptious had stacked, sitting on the ground, or on porches of the various buildings.

What I could do was simple enough. Get most of them to gather around a box, shoot it, and hopefully the resulting blast would be more than enough to deal with them all. If I could manage it I would certainly save on ammo, but then why was I even worrying about that? I considered the situation itself. Yes, my introduction to marauders wasn't ideal. They had threatened to rape and or eat me. Neither option was one that I really wanted. The other marauders didn’t seem any better. I seemed safe in assuming that they were less likely to assist and more likely to help themselves to every body cavity that I had along with slitting my throat.

I shook my head. I could sneak past. That was the best option that I had. I could sneak past, and then I could hope that they wouldn’t notice me. I began making my way when I heard one of them giggle. It sounded wrong, sort of a long insane giggle that contained something of a guttural growl. I’d heard of the laughing dogs of Zebrfrica before, and I’d even heard an old data recording of one. This giggle wasn’t that far removed from that sound.

The others began to follow the sound, the giggle escaping from them as well, and I watched as they ran toward a house just for its door to shut. It was likely that someone was in there. And it was likely that the door might keep them out, but then again who was to say that the door might give and they could get through. I looked at the situation, and I winced. If it was me inside of the building I’d want help. I looked at the porch they were gathered on, and I saw a yellowish glowing crate. I took aim, fired, and hit the crate. When I did the explosion caught six of the seven marauders in the blast. I watched in horror as four of them were ripped into tiny pieces from the blast itself. The other two lay twisted and broken out in the street, but one stood. From the way it lookednhe didn’t escape unscaved, but he was no longer attempting to bang on the door to the building. Which if he, and I assumed it was a he, had looked I’m certain he would have noticed the door was no longer standing.

Instead his attention was completely on me.

“Gonna kill you slow!”

Ah, it was a mare’s voice, so I had been wrong, and she was a very large mare. I watched as she got near, and realized that her mining suit had been designed to have a saddle that worked with mining equipment. At some point she had changed that out, and in doing so had rigged up a couple of weapons. I watched as the first one glowed for a second, and then instead of firing it exploded in on itself. I would have assumed that it was a lower quality weapon, but more likely what had happened was that the explosion had damaged it beyond repair.

When it exploded the marauder mare was caught in what looked like glowing red energy for a moment. She screamed in pain, and then the energy surged to a blinding brightness before it disappeared and what was left was a small pile of faintly glowing ash. I moved forward, slowly, toward the building and realized that it had been some kind of business. I looked inside to see a young colt. He wasn’t quite old enough to be a stallion, too old to be a little colt, and instead he was in that awkward world between. I saw the saddle bag he had, and his eyes looked on at me in terror. Still, he held the saddle bag that was in his teeth and backed up. It was obvious that it wasn’t his, and more than likely the bag had belonged to whomever had owned this building. If the dust, and disarray, of the area indicated anything it was that this building had long since been unoccupied. I moved forward, slowly, and gave my warmest smile.

“Hey,” I said, “It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you. My name is Slim Chance, what’s yours?”

He swallowed, and looked at me, “I… I’m Butterscotch,” he said, “You can’t have it.”

I looked at him with uncertainty, “Can’t have what?” I asked, “I’m looking for a part to repair my ship, and I doubt that you have that.”

He relaxed a little, and I took a better look at him. He was a butter yellow, his mane was soft cobalt blue, and I noticed little tufts of fur at the tip of his ears. They were adorable, in their own way, but it was a trait that I didn’t see often on pegasi. He looked more relaxed when I said that I didn’t want what he had, but he looked no less guarded.

“Do you need help getting to town?”

He shook his head, “Imma not allowed,” he replied, “My ‘rents died, and I don’t have a skill that works with the cannery. So, I was kicked out.”

I shook my head, “Wait, what?” I asked, “What do you mean they kicked you out?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “Happens a lot,” he said while he appeared guarded, “It’s a company town, Spacey’s Favorites wants it to produce, and if there’s someone that can’t produce they’re supposed to leave.”

That felt wrong. Sure, I understood in a much more limited fashion to what he most likely felt. My mother had kicked me out when I refused to become Tick Tock’s trophy wife. But I hadn’t been kicked out of Hoofington. I wasn’t drummed out of town because I refused to marry somepony I didn’t love. He’d been kicked out of what was likely everything he’d ever known because he didn’t have a marketable skill.

“Do you have a place to go to?”

He looked at me like I’d grown a second head, “Why do you want to know?” he asked, “A...are you planning on going there?”

It was obvious now that his life, and my life, were far different. He was worried about me finding out where he might be staying. He was worried about what I may or may not do. Even after I’d been thrown out by my mother I didn’t worry about what might happen to me. I had already signed up to join the colonists, and I had friends that I could depend on. That thought reminded me of Baldwin. I secretly wished that he was here. Baldwin had grown up around siblings, and he was used to dealing with ponies about Butterscotch’s age. The only reference I had was from when I was a filly, and honestly at that point in my life I was either chasing colts or listening to music my mother hated.

I sighed, too late to regret anything. I kept the warm smile, and I shook my head, “If I did, it would be to visit, nothing else,” I said, “I promise. I don’t like hurting ponies.”

He looked at me and finally he nodded, “I… I live at the old Horticulturist Labs. Ms Dream runs it,” he said, “I got asked to sneak out here cause we got a new pony in that was mighty sick.”

I looked at him for a moment. I needed to get the part for my ship, there was no getting around that, but I couldn’t just let him wander out alone and hope that he made it to where he lived. I shook my head, “Look, would you mind if I walked with you for a while?” I asked, “I wouldn’t mind seeing if anypony might know where I can get the parts that I need for my ship.”

He looked at me, and I could tell that he wasn’t exactly sure about letting me follow him, but after a moment he nodded. The two of us followed a road that seemed to twist and wind around the strange grass that grew on the surface. I noticed that when the grass blew and the sun’s light hit just right it looked almost like a green flowing ocean that surrounded the little strip of road that wound its way through. I saw more buildings in the distance, but he turned away from them, going down into what looked like a valley. I could see how the entire place seemed to change. The strange grass was still there, but I smelled flowers, actual flowers, growing.

There was an Unicorn mare at the entrance of what looked a very small village standing with a much bigger rifle floating in her magic.

“Butterscotch, you get the medicine Day Dream sent you for?”

He nodded, “I sure did Mrs. Swirl.”

She gave a nod, “Good, now who is this?”

I gave my best smile, stepped forward, and looked at the mare before me. She was charcoal gray, her mane and tail were both white with red stripes in them. There were three claw marks over her right eye, and from it looked like the eye itself was now blind. She didn’t look like someone that would simply bend over and allow whatever to happen. I saw a fighter, a mare that had been made strong and tough from her surroundings. I gave a little swallow.

“My name is Slim Chance,” I said, “I’m the Captain of the Non-Responsible.”

She took a look at me, her soft golden eye, and glassy golden eye, seeming to study me for a moment. She snorted, “Ms. Day Dream says we welcome all kinds here,” she said, “I reckon that we gotta since so many get tossed out on account that they aren’t making it in Standing Water. But, know this. I’m the law here, and if’n you even act like you’re gonna go marauder on us, I’ll put a bullet through you quicker than you can spit, got it?”

I gave a nod, and she motioned for me to head on into the small village. I walked in and I saw mostly healthy looking ponies. There was no look of desperation, or anguish on their faces. Instead they looked good. It almost looked a little like what the historical section of Chapel looked like. Of course it was missing the chapel dedicated to the Princesses, but it honestly was picturesque. I moved through the small village, seeing ponies that waved at me, and none of them seemed angry or upset that I was there. I followed Butterscotch until he came toward a large greenhouse.

I stepped inside and saw an older mare. Her mane looked as if most of it had turned silverish gray, there were wrinkles around her eyes, and I could see either smile or frown lines on her muzzle around her mouth. She gave a soft and warm smile to Butterscotch who opened the saddlebag and pulled out what looked like a small case.

“Good,” she said, “So Auntie Frosted Cakes Auntie-Biotics was still there. This will help our new resident, and it will also help others that decide to leave that dreadful place.”

She looked up at me, “Oh, but where are my manners,” she said, “I am Day Dream, former Taste Chemists for Spacey’s Favorites, and I suppose the leader of this little village. And who might you be?”

I moved near her, and I could see that her coat had been a deeper and richer blue, but gray had begun to sprout in it as well. She looked lighter than I suspected she had when she was younger. Even though she was certainly older than me I couldn’t help but notice that she was undeniably cute. I believed when she was my age she would have been the kind of cute that would make some mares question their own sexuality. I forced the thoughts about getting to know the younger her, looked at the current her, and smiled back at her. I needed to let her know what I was looking for, and maybe she’d know where I could get one.

“I’m Slim Chance, Captain of the Non-Responsible, Mare of adventure, wooer of stallions and mares alike, and I would have liked the chance to hunt for your radish,” I said before I could stop myself, “Ummm, I mean…”

She covered her mouth with her hoof and giggled. I felt incredibly embarrassed and wondered if it would be possible for the universe to simply open up, swallow me whole, and just make everything disappear forever. That would be fine, right? Instead the universe seemed to think that I needed to deal with the fact that I just told this older mare that I would have liked to hunt for her radish, and possibly make her crawl backwards on me. Her violet eyes twinkled merrily at my expense for a few moments before she waved it off.

“Oh, to young enough to enjoy such a thing,” she said, “If I were a few years younger, or you a few years older, I’d hold you to that. But unfortunately neither of us are. But Captain, what brings you to Equestria two?”

Still feeling embarrassed I looked at the ground and not in the beautiful eyes of the mare that I just awkwardly proposed some casual sex to. I needed to find out about a Power Regulator, and maybe she would know where there was one that I could get.

“My ship needs a Power Regulator,” I said, “and I came across Butterscotch in a few buildings outside of a massive wall. It looked like marauders were surrounding the building, and I figured that it wouldn’t be right to just leave him.”

She studied me for a moment, “Hmmm,” she said, “It’s not often that a Freelancer lands near here, and even less often that one goes out of their way to help. The only thing of value that Butterscotch had was the medicine, and you let him keep it.”

She turned, and I couldn’t help but notice the sway in her hips. Yes, age had been kind to Day Dream, and I desperately needed to look somewhere, anywhere, else than her. I followed her and noticed that she was caring for a large group of plants. Some looked like they were similar to the grass and other plants outside, but others looked like they belonged back in Equestria. She picked what looked like bananas, but they had strange blue ends on them that seemed to end in small tentacles. She peeled one, and handed it to me.

“So, since you helped Butterscotch, and likely helped our newest resident, I’m of the mind that the only thing you really are searching for is a Power Regulator. There’s one here, but it helps control the power for our homes and this greenhouse,” she said, “There is one in Standing Water, but it is used to power the entire town.”

She looked at me for a few moments, “I believe there are potentially a few others out there,” she said, “But where they’re located I couldn’t tell you. I would suggest that if you take one, you take it from Standing Water. The cannery there is killing ponies. I suspect that their eating the food from it, and only the food from it, has caused them to develop the sickness that our newest resident has.”

She gave me a soft smile, “Look, I’ve got to figure that you’ve likely not been in Standing Water yet,” she said, “And I wouldn’t suggest that anypony do something like this without getting the facts straight first. But Captain, that place is a curse. It grinds everypony, everycreature, that lives in it down into nothing over time. If you want my opinion go there, look into the town itself, and see what it’s like. The town is killing its residents, and that’s not right. Take a look around, talk to the boss of the town, Mr. Dirty Bit himself, if he will see you, and make a decision. I just hope that the one you make is the one that has a chance of actually saving ponies.”

I nodded, and walked out, and headed out of the town. As I neared the entrance to the community Ms. Swirl stopped me, “Heard that you helped Butterscotch,” she said, “That means that you’re more than likely a good pony.”

She studied me for a moment, “Look, I don’t like the idea of asking anypony for help, especially those ponies that I don’t know too well, but dammit,” she swore, “A couple of nights ago a young mare that lived here went missing. She just up and disappeared. Not sure what could have gotten into that fool head of hers, but she took off. It’s likely that the marauders have done something to her, but there’s always the chance that she might be okay. If you don’t mind, would you look for her?”

I gave her a nod, “Sure, what’s her name?”

She studied me for a moment, “Sugar Sweet,” she said, “She’s about your height, off cream colored coat, lime green mane and tail, got a beautiful set of blue eyes, and her cutie mark is an Auntie Frosted Cake’s Purple Razzleberry Crunch. Not hard to figure how she got that, after all she loves to eat those things like they’re going out of style. But, if’n you could find her, and at least let us know what happened, well, we’d be thankful.”

I smiled, “Of course, do you know why she might have have run?”

She shook her head, “Naw, she was alright, and I kinda was a little sweet on her, but her best pal is old Scorched Pine. He’s the firewood pony back down there. The two of them would watch the Masked Accountant or some such thing. If’n you don’t mind, you might ask him about what he figures made her up and leave.”

I nodded, “Okay,” I said, “I’ll go check in with him.”

Moving back down the hill I wondered if this was right. I really needed to get the ship into the air, but at the same time it didn’t seem right to not give them the help they needed. I looked around, trying to find a firewood pony, and I realized that I was trying too hard. I didn’t need to specifically look for the pony, instead I saw several stacked up piles of firewood. Among them was a light orange stallion with a blond mane and tail and he had a pair of rich brown eyes. Like Private Scrumptious, he was absolutely Scrumptious, but I was not going to put my hoof in my mouth again. He gave me a smile as he finished stacking the wood. I couldn’t help but notice the stout build that seemed to be a staple with Earth Ponies.

“Howdy,” he said, “I’m Scorched Pine, what can I do you for?”

I grinned at him, “A couple of hours?”

And that was the moment that my hoof was reinserted into my mouth.

You’ve unlocked Pitchhitter. Now, you have special dialogue options with either male or female characters.

Chapter 4: Unconventional Meeting

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Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 4: Unconventional Meeting

The awkward meeting with Scorched Pine had been better than I thought. I still wasn’t sure why I blurted that out, but at least his smile and laugh hadn’t been specifically mean. He let me know that while he thought I was a pretty mare he didn’t know me that well. Maybe if I ended up hanging around for a few years, and would consider getting into the firewood business he’d consider me as a potential mate. I smiled, told him that was sweet, but I wanted to explore, and honestly I had simply blurted something out without really thinking.

Afterward he told me about Sugar Sweet. I got the picture that while he was kidding and playing with me he wasn’t kidding or playing about her. He looked genuinely sad that she was gone, and he seemed worried. From how he talked I could see that she meant more to him than just some casual thing. In a way, it reminded me of how Baldwin and I were toward one another. Except I’m fairly sure that Baldwin didn’t want to get me into his bed. No, I’m fairly sure that he was happy to be my friend, and honestly I was good with that. I didn’t want to push for more, because what we had was awesome.

Anything else would have been awkward and strange. Sure, we hadn’t grown up together, but we were close anyway. I felt closer to him than I did with my own mother. I had loved my mother, and I had respected her, but after what happened I realized that my mother was in love with high society, and that I was a means to an end. It made me realize that everything that had been done for me was less for me, and was actually more grooming me to become the proper leverage she needed to climb into the social graces she wanted. I wished, several times, that I would have gotten to grow up around Baldwin’s family. Maybe things would have been different, but then that might mean that I would be different. Thinking of it like that I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be different.

I stopped my musing as Scorched Pine explained that Sugar Sweet liked to do something called journaling in her room. I understood exactly what it meant, but it felt wrong that he’d been denied the ability to read and write. I studied him for a moment.

“Wait, you didn’t learn how to read and write?”

He snorted, “Nope,” he said, “Imma Earth Pony, and not one that happened to be a mechanic or guard. Back in Standing Water I was a general laborer. Mostly a glorified wagon puller. Teaching that wasn’t hard. Hook up a wagon with a lot of weight, have a colt or filly drag it across the yard, give ‘em a shock if they ain’t doing it fast enough, if they were fast enough try to get them to do it with more weight.”

He sighed, “I was good at wagon pullin’, but I like trees better. I can tell when they’re weak, dying, and I try to help ‘em hold on a little longer. Those that don’t I let ‘em go peacefully, cut ‘em up, and sell ‘em as firewood,” he said, “It’s what I was good at, and it was what I liked to do. The town boss didn’t cotton to it, said that it was a waste of a perfectly good wagon puller. To get the notion out of my head I got assigned seventy-two straight hours of hauling freight from the cannery to the landing pad.”

I stood there unable to reply to that, “But… that’s not right,” I said, “That’s trying to work you to death!”

He smiled, “Wouldn’t be the first time,” he said, “They knew that I could handle it with some Andrinel-Time, but I don’t like taking it. It makes me feel weird. So, I just had to power through it, and then do my normal twelve hour before I got my ten hours off.”

I stood there, and the thought of it bothered me. It was almost as if they had done that to Baldwin, and then I realized that they would have done that to him if he would have been born here. It wasn’t right, and I felt myself getting mad at the idea. How could they deny what a pony was good at? Hell, Scorched Pine’s cutie mark was a tree standing next to a stack of firewood. He was good with trees, that was his destiny!

I shook my head, trying to wrap my mind around what he’d said, and finally I realized that things here were different. I’d grown up in a world where a pony’s destiny wasn’t exactly laid out for them. Granted, my mother had attempted to do that to me, but I’d had the choice to refuse. I realized that everyone here had done the same. They’d refused, and for it they had been kicked out of Standing Water. I wasn’t sure what came over me, but I hugged Scorched Pine. I let go, thanked him, and went looking for Sugar Sweet’s house. It wasn’t hard to find. I opened one of the buildings to see wrappers for some kind of candy all over the place.

I also found various slips of paper, all that looked like old stationary, that had been written on. I checked the first one, which was on a small desk that was made into the wall.

March, or maybe April, 1st or maybe 3rd. Doesn’t really matter does it? I haven’t had to keep time since I left Standing Water. Of course my leaving was less leaving and more running from Silver Star’s goon squad. I wasn’t going to let myself stay sick. Getting that medicine was the best damned thing I could have done. Of course when I ‘recovered’ they all knew that I’d taken their stash. Still, I would have loved to see Silver Star’s face over the fact that I took her allotted meds. Hope you don’t get sick there!

Oh, Scorched Pine invited me over to watch a serial with him. We watched the Masked Accountant, I love that serial! The Masked accountant, a former accountant for Majesty Signature Corporation, left the wild planet of Majesty and came to Equestria II. There she found a group of marauders and taught them the meaning of aggressive capitalism! Through her leadership she overthrew small independent companies and began building her own mega corporation! It was beautiful, awesome, and I so want to do that! I could, I mean I’m tough. I’ve been in a fire fight, well I was in a fire… okay journal, I was fired from a fry cook position, but I can handle myself.

I shook my head and looked around. I found another piece of paper near her bed.

Pretty Sure it’s April, and I think it’s the 6th, or maybe it’s the 8th? Again, I don’t have to keep time now, so why even bother? Ugh, I was hoping that this place would be different from Standing Water, and it is, mostly. But the ponies here are so… dull. Sure, Scorched Pine is pretty nice, and he likes the Masked Accountant, but he just wants to tend to his trees and cut up firewood. He’s cute enough, and maybe if I was more of a homebody I’d be fine with that. The thing is I know that my destiny is to be just like the Masked Accountant! Finding marauders is like finding cans of Neptuna. They’re everywhere. So, it’s just how do I do this? I’ve got some Adrenal-Time saved up. Most of it is stuff I took before I left Standing Water, but the other is stuff I found on the way over.

I haven’t told anypony about it, especially Ms. Dream. That old nag doesn’t understand a good time. I doubt that she would if a good time came over, knocked her over, sat on her face, and then started to wiggle. At least she’s not the same as Dirty Bit, but that’s still setting the bar pretty low. Nope, it’s the open air for me. So, I just got to figure where and when.

Okay, I was starting to see a pattern here. I found a third piece of paper, this one actually sticking out of a cabinet drawer.

Aprile, and I’m going to say it’s the 11th! I figured out where! There’s a group of marauders living just up the road at an old maintenance facility. It’s not much, really not much, and I’m sure that they’re just waiting on the right pony to show them how to change their tactics and become a terror in the corporate world! So, that’s where I’m heading. Journal, I’ve got a very special job for you. I figure that some of them might be wondering where I went. Honestly, I don’t care about most of them, but I would feel bad if Scorched Pine didn’t know, so I’m leaving you here in my cabinet so he can find you.

Reading felt like I’d read a young mare, or maybe an older filly’s, thoughts and wishes. Sugar Sweet was obviously exceptionally immature, and I knew a little bit about being immature! I might not have had the most experience with marauders, but what I’d seen they weren’t exactly the type that craved leadership. Most of them seemed to have the capacity to understand where to point a gun, to eat, and apparently to screw. I didn’t see them desiring to learn the ways of aggressive capitalism.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to find, but I couldn’t just leave this alone. That mare, despite the fact that she obviously did this to herself, didn’t deserve it. I trotted out, and moved toward the bend in the road that Butterscotch had shown me earlier. I looked toward the two paths. One of them went back to where I had come from, and I know there was a town with a wall around it. That had to be Standing Water. The other path seemed to go through some old buildings, and so I headed that way. I floated my rifle out, had it ready, and I checked around as I stuck to the tall crystalline grass.

I saw them as I got closer. There was a small group, hanging out by what looked like a large opened door. They had that insane giggle going on, and most of them were wearing the altered mining gear. I did notice that some of the mining gear was smeared with some kind of black paint. There were also little trinkets they wore on a necklace around their necks, trinkets that looked wrong. I studied one, and I realized the trinkets were horns. They were wearing Unicorn horns around their necks. Those sick bastards had defiled ponies like that. They were wearing parts of them as fucking jewelry!

I closed my eyes, breathed, and prepared. Just because I didn’t see a whole lot of marauders didn’t mean that there weren't a bunch of them there. The mining and welding helmets they wore could deflect a glancing bullet, but it wasn’t likely to deflect one that was lined up well. I looked at the ones there, and I noticed a big one. He was easily as big as Scorched Pine or Baldwin Apple, and it looked like he was wearing mining gear that had been repurposed into some kind of armor. I studied him, looking at his movements, and I noticed that he seemed to be focusing on something lying in the street.

I took aim, making sure to take my time, and let out a breath slowly as I pulled the trigger with my magic. The rifle barked, but I was far enough away that even with the sound carrying it wasn’t likely that they would know exactly where I was. The effect was the shell blasting through the side of his helmet. I watched him fall over, and the others began moving, screaming, laughing, giggling, and I took aim again. The next one, that was looking around frantically was lined up. I couldn’t get a good shot on the head, but I lowered and aimed for the neck. I fired, and watched as the pony fell. I didn’t want to kill ponies, but then these weren’t ponies anymore. They’d given up the rights to being called ponies the moment they had began wearing unicorn horns for fucking jewelry!

I took aim again, fired, hitting another in the neck, but that was the last one that I could safely hit. The others moved behind crates, or ran into various buildings. I was going to have to get up close, and I didn’t like that. I began to move, and as I did I saw a pony that had been dressed in similar armor as Private Scrumptious. Luckily enough it wasn’t him, but instead it looked like a mare. Her eyes were opened in terror, and I could see where her horn had been destroyed. My eyes burned with fury. I touched her, to see if maybe she could be saved, although living without a horn wasn’t exactly living, but no she was dead.

She was dead and her belly was already swollen. I touched her again, she didn’t feel stiff, and the blood around her didn’t look old. I chanced a look down at her nethers, and I felt bile as I nearly threw up. They’d raped her, and her belly was swollen from, oh sweet merciful Remedy. I wanted to throw up, but I looked around her. There was bits of ammunition lying around, most of which I gathered, and I saw a shotgun lying there.

I picked it up, and after a quick glance I realized that it had been broken past the point of repair. Likely, she had fired until it gave out. I could see several marauder bodies around her, and from the looks of it she’d taken several down, but they still managed to get to her. I left her armor where it was. Maybe I could have used it, but it didn’t feel right to violate her anymore than what she already suffered. The marauders however, I figured that anything they had was up for grabs. I found a few pistols, most of which were in various stages of disrepair. One happened to be a revolver, and surprisingly it was in decent repair.

I found plenty of ammunition, a few knives, and finally I saw another rifle. This one was another bolt action, like my little junior version, but it was bigger, and there was a scope on it. I noticed a strange rune carved into the barrel, and I studied it a bit more. I was used to carrying things in my magic, but this rifle felt perfectly balanced. I noticed a strange contraption on the end, and I grinned. The rifle would be welcomed. I ejected a shell, and saw that it and my junior rifle actually used the same ammunition. At first this made me pause. Who would give a foal a weapon with high caliber ammunition?! Sure, I felt that in a place like this it was a good idea to teach foals to shoot, but with this kind of ammunition?! Start them off with b.b. Rifles for goodness sake! I shook my head, snorted, and levelated the rifle up behind me. I also looked at the marauders lying around near me. They didn’t seem like the smartest bunch, and one thing I had noticed was that they seemed to leave one another alone.

I didn’t like the idea exactly, but it was the best idea that I had at the moment. I began stripping the gear from the most intact marauders. I found a welding helmet that smelled like someone had been drinking some spoiled milk for a long time, and then they decided to belch their alphabet into the damned thing. Then I stripped the most intact pieces of mining gear from three of them until I had what appeared to be some cover. After that I moved forward. One of the marauders stuck their head out.

“Hey!” she shouted, “Fine that cunt?! Carve her up? I want her horn!”

I answered with a bullet. It hit her in one of the strange glowing eye pieces of her mining helmet. I hadn’t been close enough before to notice, but I could see what it did now. The back of her head exploded, blowing out chunks and causing her to fall backward. I looked at the revolver again. It was filthy, but there was a strange handle on it. The handle looked like it had been pearl at one time, and there were three faded apples on it.

“Well,” I said, “I’m not sure what to call you, but I certainly think you’re worth keeping.”

My new revolver was going to be shined up after this. I didn’t expect to find something that worked so well. I didn’t feel like the other pistols either. The others felt like most of their components were plastic. Almost as if they had been designed to fail and be replaced fairly often. This felt like a pistol that had been designed to last the ages. I moved forward and more of the marauders were stepping out.

Normal ponies would have looked at one of their number shooting another of their number and decided that the pony that did it was dangerous. Then most ponies would run in the opposite way, and a brave few might try to stop the shooter. Most ponies wouldn’t have giggled and asked if she jerked, if they could have her horn, if she was still spasming cause they wanted to fuck the bullet hole, or if I wanted to fuck in the mess that I made.

I answered each one of those questions with another bullet. Finally the rest of the marauders figured out that there was something wrong with this one, and they began scrambling again. I didn’t use the junior rifle. In truth I had a feeling that it would be likely sold, or maybe I could give it back to Scrumptious if I saw him. That idea tickled me a little. Maybe I could convince Scrumptious to leave Spacey’s Favorite behind. Let the idea of flying free fill him. My little daydream distracted me, but the feeling of a bullet hitting the repurposed mining suit brought me back. Especially when it went through and hit my leg!

No pony had told me how much this hurts! I moved back, my magic keeping everything lifted, but that bullet had hit my leg and went through. This mining suit sucked! I got it off, and looked at my leg again. I needed something. I remembered the inhaler that I’d found, lifted it out of my saddlebags, and used it. Instantly I felt better, and I watched as the hold closed up. Now I was healed, and I knew to be careful.

“Gonna kill you!” came a giggling shout, “Then gonna rape you!”

I looked out, and my Eye-Dentity Scanner slowed everything down again. I had been doing this the hard way, and I wanted to curse myself. I placed two shots at his helmet, and the pistol fired off both of them. His head exploded into a fine mist, and I stepped out. I checked the revolver and it was empty. I’d have to find ammunition for it later, but right now I was going to focus on the rest of the marauders.

It was similar to the single worst game of hide and seek anyone had ever played. They hid, and when they saw me they’d shoot. I shoot back, normally I used the Eye-Dentity Scanner simply because it made things easier. Slowing everything down and giving me time to actually aim was better. If I would have remembered to do this from the beginning it would have been likely that I wouldn’t have had to deal with the marauders this way.

Slowly, I moved through the buildings, and I looked for Sugar Sweet. I had hoped that she would be standing around, bragging about how she traded her goods to join the marauders, maybe even ask if I would be willing to teach her my badassary, but she wasn’t here. I moved toward the first building, the one that I hadn’t went into because none of the marauders had ran in there. There, on a workbench was a mare. She was tied down, her mane was stiff and ruined, blood seemed to be stuck to her dock, and her thighs. I neared her and she closed her eyes.

“Please,” she asked, “Please no more, I...I wanna go home, can I go home?”

I closed my eyes, “Calamity help me,” I said, “Hey, it’s okay. I’m going to get you out of here. Are you Sugar Sweet?”

There were little whimpering sounds, “Please, I… I wanna go home!!!” she bawled, “I dun wanna do this anymore! These games hurt!”

I neared her and untied her leg. I felt her go stiff. She shook her head, “No… they did something, under me, please…”

I stopped, and used my magic to feel under her. I felt it, a flat panel, already pressed in. The moment she was lifted off it would go. Somepony had put a fucking landmine under her and they had been raping her knowing that if she tried to get away she’d die! I swallowed and slowly I wrapped my magic around the disk. I moved it, feeling it come out, and I saw that it was green in color. I then floated it past me, and threw it as hard as I could. It exploded near a ruined vending machine, and when it did I saw this green goop splash on the outer shell. It bubbled, and soon there was a very large hole in the vending machine where it had eaten through.

I finished untying her, and then I slowly moved her down. She couldn’t stand, and I imagined that she wasn’t going to be right. Instead I carefully floated her behind me, as gently as I could, and I moved back toward Day Dream’s camp. With any luck they could give her the medical attention she needed. As I entered the camp there was a large commotion, and ponies were gathering around. I brought her down to where Day Dream was, and the older mare sucked in her breath.

“Sweet mercy,” she said, “This poor child, what happened?”

I looked at her, “She had wanted to find marauders, and thought that she could join them,” I said, “She thought that they would listen to her, and this happened! Those… They’re not ponies! They can’t be ponies! No pony would do something like this!”

“Nope,” Mrs. Swirl said, “Nope, ponies don’t do this.”

She looked at me, “I wish that I could leave,” she said, “I wish that I could escort you over to Standing Water. I’d help you kill every single one of those bastards, but I can’t. The camp needs me.”

Instead she hoofed something over to me. I took it and I saw it was a small tin. It looked old, really old, and there was a picture of a Zebra on the front. That Zebra was smiling, and its eyes were bright as stars. I looked at it, and then I looked back at her.

“I’ve had those for years, and trust me, they’re handy. Just one of them helps clear the fog from your head. But don’t use them often, or at all, if you don’t have to. They can be pretty addictive,” she said, “But if the need arises, take one, just one, and believe me you’ll see all kinds of things that you couldn’t figure out before.”

I nodded, and looked at the others. I wasn’t expecting anything, and honestly, I didn’t want to see Scorched Pine right now. I had a feeling this would break his heart, and I didn’t want to see that. Maybe I was a coward, no, I know I was a coward, but I couldn’t stand to see a stallion look at the mare he loved and know that things would never be right with her. I hoped that his spirit was as strong as his body was. Maybe if it was then he would be able to help her heal.

I left, and I walked toward the large wall that I’d seen. As I neared it I saw two guards standing with a stallion that was digging out in the dirt. I neared them, and the stallion slowed down. He looked at me, and I saw a tired old stallion that had what looked like four or five wooden caskets near him.

“Morning!” he said, “Fine day for a good job! If’n you’re planning on joining the crew here at Standing Water you’ll want to reserve your burial plot now! We’ve got low, low prices, and bargain deals on a variety of caskets! You’ve tried the best, now try the rest, Spacey’s Favorites!”

I shook my head, “Sorry, I just need parts for my ship,” I said, “and I was told to check here.”

He nodded, “Ah, well, you can avail yourself to our low, low prices inside. I can promise that some of the best Neptuna to every touch your tongue is right inside.”

I smiled, “Thanks,” I said, “So, you’re a grave digger?”

He snorted, “No, I’m a junior entomber!” he exclaimed, “I’m just six years away from being an associate entomber, and that comes with five days off a year!”

I looked at him, “Well, good luck on that.”

He smiled, “Hey, since you’re obviously a freelancer, how would you like a chance to make a little extra money?” he asked, “I’ve got a couple of folks that haven't paid their dues yet, and I’m backed up with work right now. Think that you could help a stallion out?”

I smiled, “Sure,” I said, “Got a name?”

He nodded, “Just let me forward the names, addresses, and the such to your Eye Dentity Scanner, huh,” he said, “You’ve got a fancy one. Guess that you must be one of those really good freelancers! Okay, that’s their names and addresses, just try to get it done today. Thanks!”

I nodded, and walked through the open gates. The town looked much like the buildings outside, although they seemed less over taken with nature and marauders. Moving forward I looked at the cannery. Day Dreamer had said that Filthy Bit lived around her, and if I was the boss I’d want to be near the place where the most workers were. That looked like the cannery in the distance. I moved toward it, and saw an empty desk along with an elevator behind it. On the desk was a simple note.

“Sorry for the inconvenience, but our receptionist had a problem with staying inside of the gate. Unfortunately she met her end at the hooves of some marauders, if this is urgent, take the elevator and speak to me, if not then kindly fuck off. - Dirty Bit.”

I snorted, walked toward the elevator, and took it up. A moment later it opened and I saw a light caramel colored stallion with a black mane. He was wearing a bowler hat, a slightly ragged looking green suit jacket, and was currently looking at a young gryphoness. The gryphon hen was looking at the floor.

“Mr. Bit, sir, I swear, it’s not my fault, but old Doloras, she’s gettin’ on in years, and ya’ve been stuffing things that ain’t Neptuna inta her in order to get more production. She’s set to cook Neptuna.”

He frowned at her, “Ms. Ironclaw, do you know your job?”

She nodded, “Sure sir, I’m the chief engineer for the cannery, like my pa was, but…”

“That’s exactly right, chief engineer. That means you fix things. Fix the cannery, and stop naming it!” he exclaimed, “Naming it only makes it hard to rip it open and fix it.”

He turned and saw me, “Ms. Ironclaw, why didn’t you tell me that there was someone here!” he exclaimed, “Welcome! Oh welcome to Standing Water, I’m Dirty Bit, the general manager for the township of Standing Water. My but you’re in basically good health! However, you’re not in uniform, and that will cost you a day’s wages.”

I shook my head, “Sorry, not an employee. I’m here for a Power Regulator.”

He looked at me, “Well, that’s a problem. We only have one, and it powers the entire town, however, maybe we can make a deal.”

He sat down and indicated a seat near the gryphon hen, “I have several workers that recently left, and if you are for hire, then I’d like for you to recover them for me. They’re living in a sort of free camp. Their leader used to be one of my best and brightest. I’m sure she still is. If you could convince her to return her, for all of them to return here, then you could have the power regulator from their camp, and at the same time it would ensure that we might meet production.”

I looked at him, “Most of those folks left for a reason, I’m sure,” I said, “Why would they want to come back?”

He sighed, “Yes, I pushed too hard, and I have learned my lesson. I would be more gentle, but our job must be done, surely you understand.”

I looked at him, and I had a feeling that I was going to be talking to a pony that could sell a mare her own mane and make her believe that it was the best deal ever.

You’ve unlocked Uncivilized Pacifier: When you see those acting in an uncivilized manner a deep seated rage takes hold. Thus all attacks toward Outlaws, Marauders, and Cannibals are now 20% more damaging, and you have special battle dialogue that is available while attacking.

Chapter 5: Free Bird (Well Kitty Bird)

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Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 5: Free Bird(Well, KittyBird)

I took a moment to look at the gryphon hen. She had a sparrow head, her soft brown feathers looked as if they were stained with oil and grease. Her brow was knitted together in worry, and I could see that her body language was indicating that she would love to be anywhere other than where she was right now. She didn’t want to be noticed, she wanted to disappear, and I could see that if she could sneak out that she would. Unfortunately her soft tan engineer uniform, which seemed to be a pair of overalls, made small metallic clicks when she tried to move slowly.

“Ms. Ironclaw, please remain where you are,” Dirty Bit said, “There is still the subject of your performance review that we must address.”

I studied him for a moment, “So, you want me to go back to Day Dream’s camp, tell them that I need their power regulator, that you’re sorry, and please come home,” I said, “That’s it?”

He smiled, “Well not entirely,” he admitted, “Unfortunately in order to get the power regulator you will have to shut the power off for their camp. It’s wasted on them in truth. They contribute nothing, and thus they are receiving shelter, power, and protection completely for free. Such a thing is practically sacrilege.”

I looked at him, how could things be this different? Shelter, protection, and food were basic necessities. Before I left on the Luna Seven those things were offered on Equestria to anyone that didn’t have the ability to get them on their own. Sure, it meant usually living inside of a Followers compound, but that option was better than starving to death. How could something like that be happening here.

“Isn’t there another power regulator that exists somewhere else? Maybe one inside of a marauder stronghold, or something like that?”

He looked at me, “Possibly,” he admitted, “I’ve heard that one of the first settlements on Equestria II was connected to the Geothermal Power Plant that was created.”

He looked at me for a moment, “I won’t lie, having the marauders dealt with would be a wonderful bonus, but there is no telling if that settlement even had a power regulator. In truth it was rushed, designed, and set down for the sole purpose to ensure that the terraforming actually held. It was an experiment, and likely it would be a directly connected to the Geothermal Plant without the power regulator,” he sighed, “It’s a dangerous thing to do, but if a company can’t be certain if the terraforming will actually hold there’s little reason to follow safety regulations.”

“Miss Captain, ma’am, that ain’t quite right,” the gryphon hen said, “Every settlement has a power regulator. Got to, cause if they don’t then it’s too much of a chance that it’ll start a catastrophic power collapse across all settlements. Then you’d have a super charged community, and well, all it’d take is for a single short to make the entire thing go off like some bomb.”

“Ms. Ironclaw, you are dangerously close to losing your station,” he said before looking at me, “Captain, if our engineer is right, that settlement is crawling with marauders. I’m sure that you’re more than capable of dealing with a few, maybe even a dozen, but our own Security Chief has stated that she estimates that there are at least fifty marauders living there. It’s why we have the safety of our walls, why we have guards posted at every entrance, and why we even have guards overlooking the cemetery. I couldn’t in good conscious ask you to turn off their power, deal with them, and remove that power regulator. Especially when an easier mark is available, and it would potentially boost the productivity of our community.”

I studied him, shook my head at his suggestion, and then looked at the Gryphon hen that had suggested it. I had to fix the ship. Well, in truth I could ignore it and just attempt to make a living here, on this planet, but what good would that be? Besides, Baldwin was on the Luna Seven, and so were thousands of other ponies. I couldn’t leave them like that forever. I needed to help them. Sure, my main motivation for doing so would be to save Baldwin, but even if he hadn’t been there I doubt that I would have been able to leave everyone else to their doom. It wouldn’t be right. It certainly didn’t feel right. I knew that there was no chance that I would leave my friend, or the other ponies, on the Luna Seven on purpose.

I was going to free them, and that meant getting the ship flying again. Of course afterward it also meant contacting Spark Gap. I smiled as I continued to look at the gryphon hen. The idea was beginning to bubble and percolate in my brain. I couldn’t get over the absolute glee that it gave me.

“Could she possibly come with me?” I asked, “I need a guide to the plant, and I’m sure that you’d like to have someone that is experienced with machinery there to actually divert power.”

He studied her for a moment, “Hmmmm,” he said, “I suppose.”

He closed his eyes, “Very well, Ms Ironclaw, your evaluation will be put on hold until such time that you are returned to us.”

She nodded, and I watched as she walked toward the elevator. He cleared his throat and I studied him, “All I ask is that you consider the town itself. Without the production met that we are supposed to meet, Spacey's Favorite will eventually close the cannery. If that happens then they will have absolutely no problem in letting everycreature drift to the winds,” he said, “Everycreature here needs structure, even our engineer.”

I gave a nod, walked toward the elevator, and flipped the switch for it to back toward the ground. I let out a small sigh of relief as we descended. I didn’t like Dirty Bit because he reminded me far too much of my own mother. I certainly didn’t need another version of her telling me how much she was disappointed in me right before throwing me out. I looked to see the gryphon hen, and I could see the soft violet eyes she had. They were lovely, and she gave a soft cough.

“Ma’am,” she said, “thank you. My name is Gilda, Gilda Ironclaw, and it’s a pleasure to met you.”

I smiled, “It’s a pleasure Gilda,” I said, “Do you mind me using your first name?”

She smiled, “I’m fine with it,” she said, “Although, I gotta ask, why did you ask for me to escort you? Diverting the power ain’t no different than getting into the terminal, selecting yes or no, and that’s it. It’s pretty much automated.”

My grin couldn’t be any wider, “Because I’ve dealt with assholes all of my life, and Dirty Bit seems to be one of the biggest I’ve had the displeasure of meeting.”

She grinned, “He is a little bit of one,” she said, “Oh, oh law, I’ve done it now. I’ve talked about the boss. Oh, that’s a week’s pay right there!”

I looked at her, and I realized that she wasn’t kidding. Her body language practically screamed worry and fear. I gently nudged her, “Hey,” I said, “I’m not going to tell that idiot up there anything. So you're safe.”

She shook her head, “You don’t get it,” she said, “There are folks here that will turn a body in just so that they get a little extra pay. Well, not the Earth Ponies, because they probably talk about Mr. Bit all of the time, but the pegasi, and unicorns will in a second. I’m fairly sure that if it meant that they would get a little extra the other gryphons would too.”

I stood there and shook my head, “Yeah, that’s dumb,” I said, “I mean really, that’s completely idiotic.”

She looked at me like I’d grown a second head, and I resisted the urge to face hoof, “Doing that kind of thing makes it so that none of you can depend on one another, and it makes it a very emotionally toxic place to live.”

She stood looking at me like I had suddenly bent over, lifted my tail, and somehow the Lightbringer herself managed to squeeze out of my ass and say that everything was a dream. I sighed, “Is this really how things have been for you?”

She nodded, “Yeah, it’s kind of the way things work around here.”

I shook my head. From what I’ve seen this entire society was crazy. The entire thing was insane beyond what I’d consider normal levels. Ponies, no anycreature, shouldn’t be ratting each other out in order to make a few extra bits! It was completely insane! I couldn’t for the life of me understand why their society was like this. Sure, competition was good, but only if it was friendly. The kind that caused this kind of place was insane, and it needed to be discarded quickly. I could only hope that maybe when Spark Gap did what he needed to that things would change.

I stopped trying to think about, and we started to head toward the gate when she stopped, “Ummm, do you mind if we go and ask a fella I know about this?” she asked, “I mean, it don’t feel right to do what Mr. Bit suggested, but I’d like to get another say so.”

I nodded, and she led me toward a tall building. It was absolutely beautiful, and it actually reminded me of the chapel in Chapel. The difference was that there weren’t pictures of Luna and Celestia in the windows. Instead what I saw was a weirdly happy and smiling Nightmare Moon, holding a can of fish, and licking her chops all at the same time.

“Is… is this a chapel?” I asked, “Because if so, then you all worship Nightmare Moon?”

She looked at me, “Who’s Nightmare Moon?” she asked, “That’s the Moon Mare, Spacey’s Favorite Mascot.”

I looked at the picture again. Their mascot was Nightmare Moon. It was actually the evil being that took over Princess Luna ages ago. A story that was so old when I was a filly that it was practically believed to be nothing more than just some silly story made up. If it hadn’t been for old pictures from Pre War Equestria I wouldn’t have actually believed it. In a way it made some twisted sense. From what I’d seen Spacey’s Favorite wasn’t exactly a noble institution. They seemed more concerned with making a bit then they did with the general well being of their employees. Maybe I wasn’t the best one to point this out. After all, growing up my life wasn’t exactly a life spent working from sunup to sunset. I know that on the social ladder we weren’t as high as my mother wanted, but we were comfortable. In truth I know I was raised in a fairly privileged home.

From what I’d seen so far my privileged home would have been considered elite here. Still, we walked toward the building, and I figured we were going to go inside, but instead she led me to the side where a silver gray stallion with a white mane stood. I could tell that this was his natural colors, because there were no age lines on his face. He looked tired, but then I’d noticed that everycreature around here looked incredibly tired.

“Mr. Buttersworth, sir,” she said, “Do, ummm, do you have a moment?”

He gave her a smile, “Gilda, I have all of the time in the world. Since I cannot hold my sermons inside of the temple without my flock paying an outrageous fee, then I see no reason to check into my office. As such I’ve taken to holding sermons out here, in the open, as per allowed by their own employee handbook.”

I liked him. He had absolutely no problem in using their rules and regulations against them, and the fact that he had a sort of rugged charm didn’t hurt. He looked toward me and gave a slight nod, “So, what brings you by today?” he asked, “Did you need to hear a sermon, or was it something else on your mind?”

She shook her head, “Well something else, but it’s kind of a spiritual question,” she said, “Mr. Bit told the Captain here that she could have the power regulator out of the camp that Day Dream has set up for her ponies. But there’s another one in that big marauder’s camp. It don’t seem right to turn the power out on ponies that are just trying to survive.”

He nodded, “I see,” he said, “Your decision isn’t an easy one, not in the slightest, but I believe that I can give some insight.”

He walked near us, and I smelled old tobacco on him as he took a seat right in front of me. “I’m sure that if you’ve met Day Dream already, she’s asked you to take the regulator from here, and I know Bit asked you to take hers. Not just because Gilda said so, but because that’s his way,” he said, “But you have a third option, and one that is better and worse than either other. For the most part the marauders don’t care about power, although they do use some of the facilities in the old settlement. The problem is that if you cut off their power they will flock to the settlements that have it. That means here, and Day Dream’s camp.”

He sighed, “The walls will protect Standing Water for a while, but Day Dreams folks will be overrun in a few days. The easy answer is to turn off the power to her camp, send the workers back here, and hope for the best,” he said before he smiled, “But the right answer is to clear out the marauders, every last one of them, turn off the power to that settlement, take their power regulator, and then tell Mr. Bit to suck your metaphorical dick.”

I expected to hear a gasp, but when I looked at Gilda her beak was hanging open. I could see her left eye twitching, and it looked almost like someone had said something about the Princesses back in Chapel. But his words about Mr. Bit were fitting, at least to me. Personally, I believed that I would need to use that phrase. Perhaps it would be different. I could imagine myself saying along the lines of if I had a dick this would be where I’d tell you to suck it.

I was fine with the idea of that. In truth, the idea of clearing out the entire settlement that the marauders were using didn’t upset me. From what I’d seen the marauders weren’t ponies. They weren’t anything other than distrurbed, twisted, and vicious animals. Their entire existence seemed to be focused around killing, raping, and rampant destruction. What I’d seen done to Sugar Sweet was more than enough to tell me that redemption wasn’t on the table. They had purposefully used her, placed a landmine under her, and kept her there for however long it was that she showed up.

I saw Buttersworth rubbing his chin, “Actually, I believe that I should accompany the both of you,” he said, “One, there’s always the chance that some of my flock that was forced to leave Standing Water might be out there in danger, and two, I fear that there’s little I can actually do to make things better for everycreature here. Perhaps I can find something out there that will help.”

I nodded, “It’s okay with me,” I said, “Welcome.”

Gilda looked at him, “Ummm, Mr. Buttersworth, sir, you ain’t gonna get into trouble, are you?”

He shook his head, “Nope, it will be fine,” she said, “I’m not returning. When I leave here, I leave for good. Whatever happens, whatever comes, I believe the good I will do has to be outside of the walls of Standing Water.”

He walked with us, and I noticed his shirt. It was a rich blue with little gold fringes, there were a few small emblems that seemed to go down the forelegs of the shirt, but what really stood out was the emblem of Nightmare Moon. She was more contemplative than she had been on the sign for Standing Water. On the sign for Standing Water she had looked silly, almost like a joke, but here she looked as if she was deciding if she should destroy or save. Oddly, it made me wonder if the real Nightmare Moon had wondered the same thing. If she wanted to save or destroy everypony.

Unfortunately, the truth of the matter was that while I knew some of the old stories I actually knew more about legendary heroes that had saved Equestria from the brink of complete oblivion. What I knew of Celestia and Luna was more or less a few footnotes in the history books I’d read. I knew that Celestia ruled for a thousand years of peace, Nightmare Moon returned, the ministry mares fought her, turned her into Luna, and then I knew that the Ministry Mares had done some adventures, most of which was glossed over, before they created the Ministries.

Even the Ministries themselves was mostly glossed over, but there was entire sections talking about Littlepip, Velvet Remedy, Calamity, Steelhooves, Xenith, Gawd Grimfeathers, Blackjack aka the Security Mare, Puppysmiles aka the Ghost of the Big 52, and quite a bit on Hired Gun. There were stories on the Applejack Rangers, which before I boarded the Luna Seven they were still a thing. They were the military branch of Equestria. Since being here I hadn’t seen one of them.

The fog of worry quickly was swept away, and I almost felt as if it was a little blue pegasus with a rainbow mane that had done it. That same pegasus was reminding me that I had a chance to be absolutely awesome and keep two communities alive. That I could be twenty percent cooler than either of the short sighted leaders and actually do something for the people in both places. With that thought I checked my rifles. The Hunters Helper Junior, which I just took to calling shorty, was still in really good condition. I looked at Gilda, and I passed the rifle toward her with my magic. She took it, looked at it, and then looked at me.

“Trust me,” I said, “You’re going to need that.”

I looked at Buttersworth, but he shook his head, and I watched as he reached back toward the edge of his shirt. He pulled out what looked like a simple pistol. I noticed that it looked similar to the revolver that I’d found, but it wasn’t nearly as well built. It looked as if there were plastic parts in it, almost as if it had been designed to fail after repeated use.

“I’ve got a couple of weapons,” he said after putting it back, “Although I wish that I still had my battlesaddle from when I was a guard.”

I thought about what he said, and then I realized that must have been what the marauder had been wearing with those magical beam weapons. While it certainly seemed like a good idea, especially for a pony that wasn’t an Unicorn, I could see how it could be problematic. That marauder’s weapons got damaged, and when she tried to use them they exploded and turned her into a pile of ash. I had to imagine that using a regular rifle might end up with similar results, except instead of being turned to ash a pony would have several new holes from the explosion.

We got to the gates of Standing Water, and they opened for us. When they did I noticed that Buttersworth took something off of his shirt. It looked like a small button, something that could easily be removed by an Earth Pony with their lips, and then he dropped it beside the Pegasus mare that was standing guard. She looked at him for a moment, then at the button, and finally back up at him.

He grinned at her, “It’s quitting time.”

She shook her head, “Sir, if you leave without that button you will not be welcomed back as a resident. All you will ever be is guest or traveling merchant at best.”

He nodded, “When I said quitting time I meant it,” he said, “Good luck Raindrops, I hope that you do well.”

She looked at the ground, “Mr. Buttersworth,” she said, “Sir, please, reconsider. There’s a lot of folks here that need you. They need your presence in this place. For many just you being here is enough.”

I watched the exchange, and then I saw his smile, “And my leaving might give them the strength to do what’s right for themselves.”

With that we walked out of the gate, and I looked around. I wasn’t sure where the marauder’s settlement was, but if it was one of the first ones built then it stood to reason that they built the Geothermal Plant near it. I looked over at Gilda.

“Where’s the Geothermal Plant?”

Mr. Buttersworth looked at me, “Don’t we need to find the marauder’s settlement first?”

I nodded, “Sure, but we don’t know exactly where it is, and Dirty Bit didn’t tell me either,” I said, “However he did say that it was one of the first settlements, and I’ve got to figure that it was likely built close to the Geothermal Plant.”

He smiled, “Or next to the terraforming equipment.”

I looked at him, “Terrawhatnow?”

He shook his head, “When Equestria II was first settled they had to set up Terraforming equipment in order to make it livable for the common pony. Most towns, and the Geothermal Plant, were constructed near it,” he said, “It’s likely that the settlement is between the two, but I’d imagine that it’s closer to the equipment instead of the plant itself.”

I nodded, “Okay, where’s the equipment?”

He pointed toward the east, and I looked where he pointed. In the distance there was something that I had mistakenly thought was a rocket. I had looked at it once, figured that it was either a rocket, or an old statue of one, and put it out of my mind. Instead it was the very equipment that was used to make this world livable. In truth his suggestion made sense. If I was sending ponies, and well any other creature, to get a world ready I’d likely build the first settlement as close to the equipment that was doing that as possible.

With that we began our trek toward the terraforming equipment. The road itself began to end, and I noticed that like everywhere else the road seemed to be built from the same rubberized brick. The brick itself seemed to be well made, but at the same time it didn’t seem like it would have been the first choice I’d used. For one, there were stones all over the place. Entire hillsides seemed to be made of a curved and blocked stone that looked perfect for cutting. Most of Chapel’s roads were cobblestone, and for the most part they had lasted an exceptionally long time.

These rubberized brick roads looked as if the brick were fairly easy to pull out. In fact there had been entire sections where I’d seen several bricks that had been pried out of the road and thrown to the side. After a moment I looked over at Gilda.

“So, why don’t they use some of that stone over there to make the road?” I asked, “There’s plenty of it, and it seems to me that it would just be a matter of cutting the stone, setting it, and then leaving it.”

She shook her head, “Can’t do. First, you have to get permission from Spacey’s Favorite to use the stone, then pay to use it, and then you’ve got to pay for an instructor to come out and teach the proper way to cut it, polish it, and finally lay it,” she said, “It’s cheaper to buy their road kits and have them lay it for free.”

I stopped for a moment, “Wait, doesn’t anyone in town know how to cut stones?”

She nodded, “Sure, the tombstone maker, the brick former, and our statue maker. All three know how to make and polish stone.”

“So, why can’t they do it?”

She looked at me like I’d grown another head, “Ummm, cause those would be road stones, not statues, not bricks, and not tombstones,” she said, “‘Sides, ain’t a one of them got a road builder license.”

I shook my head, “Okay, is it hard to get one?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “I guess not,” she said, “It’s mostly just puttin’ in a form that says that you can build roads.”

“Okay,” I said, “Why doesn’t one of them do that?”

She looked at me again, “‘Cause they ain’t road builders,” she replied, “I mean you know that none of their jobs got road anything in them, right?”

This was making my head hurt. They had the folks with the skills to make more roads, better roads, but they didn’t have a license. They could get the license, but they wouldn’t because they weren’t trained and didn’t have it in their job title. So instead they would live with crappy roads because it was cheaper than being trained to do it, but they already had the training, but it wouldn’t work because it wasn’t specified toward roads! Ugh, this entire thing made my head hurt, and I decided that I wasn’t going to ask about building roads anymore.

I noticed that she had ended up creating a sling for shorty and slipped it over her shoulder. I was glad that she was keeping it close, and hopefully she would be able to get to it when everything went sideways. It wasn’t that I wanted it to go sideways, but there was far too great of a chance for it to. We topped a hill, and as I looked down I saw the settlement in the distance. I floated the rifle that I’d collected at the maintenance area in front of me and looked through the scope. It magnified quite a bit and I could make out several marauders. There was a fire pit, and above it was something large. I studied, and I realized that they had a pony, one that was screaming and trying to get loose! I took careful aim, and fired the first shot. The gun was incredibly quiet. It wasn’t completely silent, but instead of the loud crack of the shot being fired there was a small pouff sound.

I watched as it hit the marauder and he let out a scream as his entire body glowed a brilliant red and then he burned away in the same flash. It wasn’t like the energy weapon. The light became brighter in places, and he didn’t just turn to a pile of ash. He fell after a moment, and there was a smoking corpse. The other marauders seemed to gather near the corpse. There wasn’t much movement, and I took another shot. Once again the marauder screamed, this time a mare, and she collapsed into a smoking husk as well.

That caused the marauders to go into action. Now they were shouting, looking around frantically, but I was far enough away that I doubted that they could even see me. I fired again, hitting another, causing him to do the same as the others. I used my Eye Dentity Scanner to slow things down, aim, and fire. The first four shots hit four different marauders, and each shot had been a killing shot. But as many as I shot there were more, oh so many more, that were scrambling to find us.

Finally one of them seemed to have a moment of clarity and fired a shot toward where I had fired from. The shot was wide, and missed all of us by a mile, but it was enough to make Gilda give a little shout of shock. That clued them all in to where we were. They began moving toward us, each of them firing in our direction, and I found myself reloading and ducking for cover. The idea had been sound at first. Of course it had been in an attempt to save a pony that likely was going to be very much dead before we could get down there. Luckily I wasn’t the only one firing now. Buttersworth was a fantastic shot himself, and I saw him take out six with as many shots. Each one had been either in the neck or head.

To be perfectly honest he was damned, and he seemed to eject the magazine from the pistol, loaded another, and went back to firing. Gilda seemed to hit a marauder every third shot. It seemed that she didn’t have the benefit of an Eye-Dentity Scanner, and that would need to be something that we would need to take care off. Finally the last two marauders turned, and ran back toward the settlement, and we moved after them. Getting down to the old settlement itself I noticed two or three newer looking protectron ponies. Well, they had been newer, but now they looked as if they had bits of plate steel bolted and welded to their frames. They turned toward us and I aimed and shot the first through the head.

It sparked and I could smell the acrid smell of the circuits and wires burning. The other two shot bolts of lightning toward us, and one came close to me. It struck a crate near me, and the crate exploded into shrapnel of rubber and metal. The shrapnel struck me, lifted me off of the ground, and slammed me hard against an overturned ruined automated forklift. I groaned as I stood up, levitated out the inhaler, and breathed in the healing medicine. I felt the wounds closing, and I looked to see that Buttersworth and Gilda had finished taking out the other two protectron ponies, or rather Gilda had used her skill as an engineer to disassemble one before it could do anything to us.

The other lay in a smoking heap, and I decided to not worry about asking. We went through the settlement, looking for the other marauders, and we found them. Oddly enough one of them had a small ball in his mouth. He spat it out into his hoof, and I fired at the ball itself. He screamed as it exploded, and the explosion left little more than bloody chunks of both of them. We began moving through the settlement. The pony that had been screaming was loose, and I found out that Gilda had saved him. He was hurt, there were burn marks on him, places that would take a long time to heal, and he had knife wounds where they had been cutting into him, but he was alive.

I learned that he’d left Standing Water, and had traveled here because he heard that there was a small spacecraft left over from when the planet was first terraformed. He’d planned on finding it, seeing if it could work, and if it couldn’t he was going to claim salvage rights on it. We looked through the small settlement, and I found what looked like a First Aid building. Going inside there were places with pony bones, but there was also a small area marked for first aid assistance. He stood there, and a moment later a light covered him. When it did, a tube moved down over him, and it filled with a greenish liquid. After a few moments it lifted off of him and he looked better.

There were scars on him, from the cuts and the burns, but otherwise he looked good. He thanked us, looked around, and then ran out. I wasn’t sure where he was going, but I hoped he either made it Day Dream’s camp or Standing Water. We left the First Aid building, and from there I saw a large building with the emblem of a lighting bolt on the front. We walked in, and inside I saw a large machine with what looked like a small glowing box in front of it. Gilda walked toward it, and smiled. She pointed toward a bump that was poking out of the box itself. I walked up near her and looked at the bump that had a small handle.

“Captain, that’s your power regulator,” she said, “And this one looks better than the one at Standing Water.”

I nodded. We couldn’t just pull it, but we were that much closer to fixing the Non-Responsible. With as much trouble as we had gone through, so far, and as much as I had been side tracked, I figured that the worst that could happen had happened. After all, it wasn’t like the universe had a let’s fuck with Slim Chance gun that was cocked, loaded, shoved up my ass, and ready to fire. Gilda happily led me toward the Geothermal plant, and for once it looked as if the universe had given me a break. We snuck through a busted part of the gate, and once inside I saw four charred bodies of marauders. I found some ammunition near them, and then I checked the guard’s shed.

Going inside I saw a suit of armor in an open locker. I took it, checked it twice, and put it on. The armor surprisingly fit like a glove. The helmet inside glowed for a second, and then I saw a stream of ones and zeros for a few seconds. When they cleared it was like having my Eye-Dentity Scanner, but the field was updated, and it seemed to work perfectly. I moved out, wearing the armor, and a protectron pony, similar to the ones with the marauders, stopped near me. It seemed to study me for a moment.

“Guard, level 4, access, outer perimeter, inner hall, company break room, restroom, and guard shack,” it said, “Welcome, please report inside for orientation.”

I started to walk, but it turned toward both Gilda and Buttersworth, “Stop, you are trespassing on Spacey’s Favorite property.”

I cleared my throat, “Actually, they are both here as inspectors.”

It looked at me, “Inspectors noted, please proceed, the fourth level guard will pass you over to the chief of operations once inside.”

We stepped inside, and I had hoped to find some living ponies, what I found were bodies. They were each skinned, wings and horns were missing from Pegasi and Unicorns. I shook, looking at the bodies laying around. Slowly I moved through the building, looking at the bloody hoofprints, until we came to a room where there was a guard that had blood smeared on his armor, he turned toward us, his eyes visible in the visor, and they looked yellow like urine. He giggled madly for a moment.

“All three,” he giggled, “All three for me, more wings, horn, and stronger hooves.”

I stood there, raised the rifle and fired. The bullet hit his visor, causing it to shatter, making him scream a second before the bullet ripped through his right eye, and busted through the back of the helmet. I watched as he hit the ground, and around him was a collection of pills. I looked at the pills, stopping for a moment to see the bottle. It was soft green, a yellow label with the smiling face of Nightmare Moon on the front of it, and under it was Ever Pep Pill. I lifted it in my magic and read the small writing under the name.

Enjoy this test batch of Ever Pep Pills! Yes, this pills will give you the energy to up your productivity, sore to the heights of your career, and enjoy the funds that come with it. Please report how it affected you to your local Spacey’s Favorite Research Associate.

I left the pills, uncertain of them, and we moved past the body of the guard that went marauder. Gilda moved us toward the terminal, and I activated it. Once it was up the terminal indicated the three locations, along with two others that we hadn’t been to, and I selected the settlement we had been earlier. The power stopped to it, and soon it was indicated as off. With that off I looked at Gilda.

She stood there, and grinned, “Ummm, Captain, could you use, maybe an engineer on your ship?” she asked, “I always wanted to work on one, and honestly, there ain’t much holding me here.”

I nodded, “Sure,” I said, “Buttersworth, do you want to come along?”

He gave a nod, “Actually I would,” he said, “I feel that I could potentially do more good by finding out if the rest of the colony is in the same shape as Standing Water. If so, I’d like to see what I can do to help those suffering.”

I nodded, and together we headed back to the Non-Responsible. Boarding the ship Sweet Kisses welcomed us, and I installed the Power Regulator. The ship began to light up, and then I heard doors opening throughout it. A moment later I headed toward the bridge and saw one of the screens light up. There was Spark Gap on it.

“Oh good, you’re not dead, and you don’t look as if you’ve suffered any liquidacion either. Well, this is news for celebration!” he exclaimed, “Since you’ve managed to find a ship, and promptly made yourself captain, then it means that you should be able to get what we need to revive the rest of the colonists from the Luna Seven. The main chemical we need is a very special one that actually is quite old.”

The screen split and I saw a building in the middle of a small town. The building itself looked mostly deserted. Spark Gap grinned at me, “The chemical is Hyberdixium, it was created on Pre-War Earth by the Ministry of Peace to keep foals in status for extended periods of time. Since most of the foals that would be in the suspended animation tanks would be alive, but in kept in a state right before death they were preserved, perfectly, and could be revived with minor complications.,” he said, “The issue is that it is exceptionally difficult to create, control, and stabilize Hyberdixium. The building I’m showing you is a former reception, and lab, for Auntie Frosted Cake’s Pastries and Healthcare. It’s possible they have it there, but even if they don’t it’s likely the information of where to find it will be on their terminals.”

I looked at the town, “Why is it abandoned?”

He grinned, “That’s the other thing it is located on Majesty.”

I heard everyone else suck in a breath, “What’s the problem with that?”

You’ve unlocked Faithful Friendship: While accompanied by a companion you will have access to that Companion’s special perks, but more than that their presence will make you want to be better. Receive a +2 to your charamisa, luck, and special skills while in the presence of a companion.

Chapter 6: Breakdown

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Outer Worlds Equestria

Chapter 6: Breakdown

The last time I had been on the Non-Responsible most of the ship, with the exception of the bridge and engine room, had been sealed up. Now that it was unlocked I found the Captain’s Quarters. The last forty-eight hours had caught up with me. I was exhausted, running on adrenaline and caffeine for most of the time. The bed in the quarters wasn’t much. It was just a small preformed mattress lying inside of a shell. But at that moment it was absolutely heaven, and I found myself stretched out on it.

The bed had the smell of burned rubber, a lingering smell left over from its manufacturer, I’m sure, but it didn’t take away from the need of rest. No sooner had I stretched out then my eyes closed. Dreams, I had always enjoyed dreaming. It was a chance to see another world, to visit places and things that I’d only be able to witness in the realm of dreams. My sleep was never plagued with grotesque and horrific images. At least they never had before. Before me was the stable that Baldwin had been staying at before we boarded the Luna Seven.

But instead of rooms, and beds, there were hibernation tanks. I could see Baldwin inside of him, his eyes closed, a peaceful look upon his face, and I moved toward it only to watch the tank turn to liquid and pour out. Baldwin hit the floor, his body slowly dissolving as if his blood had been turned to acid and was eating its way out. I stepped back, uncertain of what was happening, and then I heard the sound of insane giggling. I looked away from my friend that I couldn’t save and I saw marauders, hundreds of them, rushing into the stable. All of them armed with mining equipment, rifles, battlesaddles, and they were busting open the tanks, laughing in glee. I screamed, ran forward, and tried to stop them. These ponies had done nothing wrong. I wrapped my magic around one of the marauders and she screamed as her body dissolved into ash.

The others turned on me, and I could hear them all around me. They were on the floor above me, in the walls behind me, and all rushing toward me. I tried to grab them, to wrap them in my magic, and each time they turned to ash, screaming in pain as they burned away to nothing, but as quickly as I dealt with one there were ten more to take his or her place. I watched as one got close to me, and her mask fell away. The other marauders disappeared and before me was Sugar Sweet. Her sorrowful eyes looked into my own.

“Why didn’t you get there quicker?” she asked “Why didn’t you go to the maintenance settlement before going to Day Dream’s camp?”

I swallowed and backed away from her. I felt something behind me and I turned to see Gilda. Her eyes looking at me in absolute sadness.

“Captain, why did you let her suffer?”

I shook my head, “No, I saved her!” I cried, “I took her back to Day Dream’s camp!”

She backed away from me, “If that happens to me, are you going to let me suffer while you explore and find loot?”

I shook my head, “Gilda, I won’t do that, please, believe me that I won’t.”

I looked behind her and saw a figure. She was wearing stable barding, I wanted to call out to her, but as I stepped forward she disappeared in a haze. I looked around and saw a small radiation suit with what looked looked like a fish bowl on it. The small head inside of the suit seemed to glow pink, but as I neared her the suit deflated and disappeared. I felt panic griping me, and I looked around seeing an overweight Earth Pony wearing stable barding, beside him was a Pegasus Ghoul and an Unicorn. I moved toward them only to watch them turn to dust and bones before my eyes.

I watched to reach them, any of them, and beg for help. Somehow I believed that I could find any of them, and get their help, that everything would be alright. But each time I turned they were gone. All of them, just disappeared. Then I saw Buttersworth. He looked at me with that tired smile of his.

“You can’t depend on your heroes out here,” he said, “The only thing you’ve got is yourself.”

I neared him and suddenly his eyes began to change. They became urine yellow, the irises became pin pricks, and he began giggling like mad.

“No heroes,” he giggled, “Only madness!”

I screamed as he crashed into me, “Madness and flesh!” he screamed as he ripped at me, “Sweet, sweet flesh!”

I felt him push my legs apart, and I felt the first jab. It was huge, and I screamed before my eyes opened and I raised my head. My breath came in hard raspy gasps, and I looked around at the dark room.

“Captain,” Sweet Kisses voice came over the intercom, “Are you okay?”

I swallowed, “Yeah, just some bad dreams,” I said, “Where are we?”

There was some silence, “We’re still in orbit over Equestria Two,” she said, “That said, Captain, I believe that you may be having exceptionally lucid dreams because of the lack of sleep you endured. Perhaps you should attempt to sleep more often.”

I nodded, “You’re not wrong,” I said, “So, how did you know to check in on me?”

There was a soft chuckle, “Each of the crew's quarters has an intercom system with a basic security camera in it. I am patched into all of them, so I am able to view everyone at once.”

I sighed, “So, you get an eye full if we decide to engage in some questionable activities?”

The chuckle sounded again, “Perhaps, but please trust me that if you decide to engage in any activity that requires privacy that I will stop viewing. I only have access on the off chance that there is a medical emergency.”

I gave a small smile, “Good to know,” I said, “I know that Spark Gap said that we need to head toward Majesty, but why did everyone act so weird about it?”

There was some silence, “Captain, I suggest that you come to the bridge, and I will fill you in on it.”

I followed her advice and made my way to the bridge. I stepped inside and saw her looking ahead, “I know that for you most of this is new, but they reason they acted like they did is because Majesty is a free planet,” she said, “The Equestria Corporation Conglomerate pulled out of it completely, leaving only freelancers, dissadiants, and one corporation remaining. The entire planet is discouraged against being visited.”

I looked at her, “Why?”

She shook her head, “It’s unknown exactly why, but the rumors that exist are that there were some experiments happening there that were unfavorable,” she said, “Unfortunately I don’t know all of it. I only know that after they left the Equestria Corporation Conglomerate made it illegal for all Corporate bound ships to land there.”

She turned her head, which I noticed seemed to take a great amount of willpower, and looked me in the eyes. I noticed that her own eyes were gold, and they seemed to look more like cameras than actual eyes. The irises moved like shutters, constricting to give her a sharper image. She gave an odd smile, showing part of her exposed jaw, “Sorry,” she said, “I would turn the chair, but I’ve augmented myself so far that it is no longer an option.”

I looked at her, “Sweet Kisses, did the other captain do this to you?” I asked, “I mean, did she make you do this?”

She shook her head, “No, in fact Captain Hard Luck rescued me, or at least most of me,” she said, “It’s a very long story, one I will share with you eventually, but let's just say that I’m one of the oldest beings still alive. I was an experimental Synth, Classification Earth Pony, designed to take the personality of what I assume was a long dead pony. In my case I took the personality of Corporal Sweet Kisses of the Equestrian Heavy Armament Division. Specifically I, or rather the original Sweet Kisses, operated flying machines designed to drop bombs on the enemy. The ones that created, the Institute, threw me out when they were finished.”

She smiled, “I hung around for a while, made me way to Hoofington, and eventually I managed to get aboard one of the first ships coming out here. The ship ended up going off course, and it crashed on Celeste,” she said, “It’s the furthest planet out. Mostly it’s a giant ice ball, mostly barren, mostly a place left because of no obvious resources. It’s also a place that some freelancers use as a port. The ship that crashed there became the first, and only, settlement on the planet. Those ponies call their settlement the Earthquaker.”

“What happened there?” I asked, “What do you mean that she saved most of you?”

She sighed, “The planet did have something,” she said, “It had a species that lived deep in the ice, a violent species that doesn’t like warmth. They require it to be cold, absolutely cold, and they seem to feed on any number of things. If one managed to get to Earthquaker it would shrivel up and die, the heat surrounding the settlement was more than enough to drive them away.”

She looked at me, and I could see her face looking contemplative, sad, and then she closed her eyes, “They looked like spiders, strange spiders made of crystal. A foal was playing, throwing a ball to another foal, and it went outside. She ran after it. I was helping with the front gate, and I saw her run through. I went out, afterall the cold might slow me down, but as an older synth it doesn’t stop me. I saw her, and then I saw them. Several of them, and they surrounded her. I managed to kill one, getting her loose, making her run back, and they attacked me,” she shook as she looked at me, “They tore away right hind leg, and I watched as they ate it. If it hadn’t been for Captain Hard Luck I would have died.”

She looked back toward the windshield of the bridge, “She saved me, most of me, but damage was done,” she said, “I couldn’t help anymore, and I didn’t want to be just taken care of. So, she offered a place with her. Originally the Non-Responsible had a hibernation tank, and Captain Hard Luck would run jobs to other colonies, further out, ones that would take a decade to get to. She could communicate with me through the tank, but she wouldn’t age.”

I looked at her, “How old was Hard Luck?”

She sighed, “Nearly a hundred years old,” she said, “I’d been at Earthquaker for about ten years before that foal ran out, Captain Hard Luck had just gotten the Non-Responsible in a card game, and somehow our fates alined.”

I studied her, “I’m sorry she died,” I said, “I really am.”

She nodded, “As am I, but I believe that she was planning on getting out. She had the tank removed, talked about foals, explained that she was considering gifting the ship to me, and letting me become her captain,” she said, “It was a nice gesture, but by that time I had integrated myself almost fully to the ship. I couldn’t repair my body, so I gave myself a new one. The Non-Responsible is me, and I am her. It’s not perfect, but I can do more now than ever before, and it gives me a chance to meet and know new friends.”

I gave her a soft smile with the hope that she could see it, “I’d count myself fortunate to be considered one of that number.”

She nodded, “You are,” she said, “I won’t ask anything foolish, such as that you remain with me forever.”

She looked toward me, “In truth, given an adequate powersource I could potentially run forever. Since I am tied in with the ship itself it’s likely that unless something happens to ship, or the universe itself ends, I have the potential to outlive every other being in the universe,” she said, “But don’t think for a moment that it means that anybeing’s life is worth less to me. My friends, all of them, mean the world to me. I mourn Captain Hard Luck, but I am pleased that you are my new captain.”

I nodded, “So, what’s your suggestion on going to Majesty?”

She studied me for a second, “I would say that my suggestion is to not go. But unfortunately that is not possible. While I am certain that you have some currency, bits I believe its called, you don’t have enough to purchase the armament needed,” she said, “However, the settlement that Spark Gap wants us to land in is nothing more than a home to marauders and mantalings. There should be plenty of armaments there, along with bits. I would suggest that you attempt to salvage as much as possible, and when finished you can do something else. The planet is free from the control of the Equestria Corporation Conglomerate, from the Board as it is commonly referred to, and as such any abandoned settlement can be claimed.”

She turned her head again, “Claim the settlement,” she said, “If you do it means that any secret that resides there, any weapons, any homes, machines, and any amount of bits belongs to you. Take your symbol, your cutie mark, and create a flag with it. Raise it over the city. It isn’t the most sophisticated way to do it, but it will be a legitimate claim, and it will give you the right to allow others to visit.”

I looked at her, “You’ve thought of this before, haven’t you?”

She gave a half smile, “Yes,” she admitted, “Captain Hard Luck was going to do it. It would become her city. I suggest it to you because I would like for it to become yours. Once it is claimed you can invite others into it, and there are several groups that would pay tribute to be allowed to enter, and use the resources there.”

The idea wasn’t without merit. Actually, it was a damned good idea. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but having an entire settlement set aside would be a bonus. If it could be made safe, and if it was large enough, then there was no reason why the colonists from the Luna Seven couldn’t be brought here. It was a strange thought, but honestly it gave me some hope. It gave me hope that maybe there would be a place that Baldwin could potentially call home.

I looked out at the horizon, “What’s the Settlement’s name that’s abandoned?” I asked, “And does it have a landing pad?”

She was silent for a moment, “The documentation that Spark Gap sent states that there is a landing pad, along with the access codes to use it, should the security system still be active,” she said, “And the settlement’s name is Taffyta, former secondary headquarters for Auntie Frosted Cake, and if the notes that Spark Gap has sent us is correct the resting place of Auntie Frosted Cake’s secret lab.”

I looked ahead, “Well, set a course for Taffyta,” I said, “We’ll set down, and go from there.”

She laid in the course, and there was no use for the Flash Drive. Granted, using it would have made the trip nearly instant, but Sweet Kisses explained that while she had no doubt that she could navigate it easily enough, if the Non-Responsible was off by even the slimmest margin then it could end up buried into the face of the planet, and it would be crushed like an empty can. Instead at highest speed without using the Flash Drive the trip would take six hours.

I nodded, and thanked her. I then left, walked toward the kitchen, and I found Gilda already getting into some of the food. The can she had cracked open smelled like beans and something else. She was eating it, making little happy noises as she enjoyed it. I walked past her and found a loaf of Auntie Frosted Cake’s famous Sliced Bread. I took two slices out, found a jar of Spacey’s Favorite old fashioned Mock Apple Butter, and a jar of Tootie Fruitie’s Synthetic Strawberry Jam.

I made a sandwich, smelled it, and ate. It tasted well enough, and I enjoyed the meal. I half expected it to taste terrible, and I expected to not finish the sandwich. Instead the bread was some of the softest that I’d ever had. The Mock Apple Butter tasted fresh and it had just a hint of tart with the sweet. The Synthetic Strawberry Jam was just as good as any strawberry jam I’d ever had. The sandwich made me feel nostalgic for my friends, and certainly for Baldwin. He’d given me a few samples of his family’s cooking, including Apple Family Apple Butter. The Spacey’s Favorite Mock Apple Butter was a poor substitute for Baldwin’s Apple Butter, but it still reminded me of sharing a sandwich with him.

After eating I watched Gilda as she listened to something. Without waiting she traced the noise, and I watched as she pulled an access panel and crawled into a small space. Her hindquarters stuck out, moving left and right, up and down, until she made a little happy cheer and crawled back out.

“Everything alright?” I asked, “You seemed like something was drawing you.”

She nodded, looking decidedly sheepish, or at least as close to being sheepish as a gryphon hen could look.

“Yes ma’am Captain ma’am,” she said, “I just heard a slight hum that shouldn’t be there, and I found a loose connection. Just had to power down the switch, connect the connection, and power it back up again. Should make it easier for Sweet Kisses to open and close the access door to the engine room.”

“Yes, thank you,” Sweet Kisses said over the intercom, “The blast door to protect the engine room, or protect everyone inside incase of shielding failure, only seemed to work every sixth try. I was sure that I could get it to close, but I wasn’t sure if I could get it to close without some harm to all of you.”

I looked at a camera that was facing us, “What kind of harm?”

There was silence, “Magical radiation,” she said, “It would be within survivable parameters, most likely.”

I was silent for a few moments. That wasn’t exactly something that I wanted to hear. I certainly didn’t want to know that if the shielding around the engine failed there was a chance that we would all get dosed with radiation. I had learned about it, and I had learned that it had caused ghouls. Actually, it still caused them occasionally. Ponies that worked with magical waste sometimes had a faulty shielding suit, and when that happened it allowed the radiation from the waste to leak in.

They weren’t as prevalent as they once were, but there were still a few ghouls in Equestria. I certainly didn’t want to end up as one. At least with the blast door operational Sweet Kisses could get it down, and we would be safe until we reached a planet. At which point if we had a contamination suit one of us could go in, repair the damage, and then we could get going once again.

I smiled at Gilda, “Thanks,” I said, “If you don’t mind keeping a look out for anything else like that, please do.”

She gave me a nod, and I headed up stairs. Once there I found Hard Luck’s terminal, and I decided to poke around in it. I found reports she had made on smuggling operations, legitimate jobs, and of course leads on other jobs and who would be best to work for. I spent so much time reading her notes that I didn’t realize how much time had passed. It wasn’t until Sweet Kisses announced that we had landed in Taffyta that I realized six hours had passed.

The three of us left the ship, and I looked at the landing pad. The railing was mostly still up, and I could see a few vending machines near the elevator. We walked toward it, and as we looked over I saw the dead bodies of marauders, and the dead body of something that remotely looked like a pony. We took the elevator down, listening to the soft scraping sounds as it lowered, until we reached the ground. I walked forward and looked at the pony-like creature. It was large, black with small green joints. It’s face was different. It looked almost like a pony’s eyes but the muzzle was drawn back, twisted, and hundreds of sharp needle-like teeth stuck out.

“Mantaling,” Buttersworth said, “I’d heard of them before, but the stories didn’t do them justice.”

“What are they?” I asked, “I mean it almost looks like a pony, or a changeling.”

They looked at me, “What’s a changeling?” Gilda asked, “I’d heard the name once, but it wasn’t brought back up.”

Buttersworth also looked at me, and I shook my head, “Back in Equestria, the original Equestria, there was a race of insectoid like ponies called Changelings,” I said, “They could change their shapes, take on other forms, and they fed off of love. They had something of an unsteady alliance with Ponies. More or less they agreed to help us rebuild, and protect ourselves in exchange for love.”

Gilda looked at me for a moment, “Well, Mantalings just want to eat you, or at least that’s what the serials say,” she said, “Course I don’t rightly know if it's true.”

I looked at the marauders, and I could see that several had parts missing. Legs, heads, parts of their stomachs, and necks seemed to be gone. It looked like the idea that the Mantalings ate ponies wasn’t far off. We moved, and began gathering weapons in the area. There were shells for the rifle, which was wonderful, and I found a working magical rifle. It looked worn out, but not damaged. I floated it, up, studying it, and my Eye Dentity Scanner took note of it. I realized that it could connect to the weapon, power it up, fire it, and inform me when it needed its battery replaced.

The rifle found itself a new home on my back. We moved forward and I heard insane laughter. We looked to see a marauder firing wildly at a mantaling, attempting to hit it, and some of the shots finding purchase. But it didn’t look like those shots were doing much more than pissing it off. Finally the mantaling rushed forward, lifted its forleg which glowed for a second, and then turned into almost a blade like weapon. It sliced at the marauder, catching him in leg and slicing it off. The marauder laughed as he fell, bleeding to death, and the mantaling rushed forward ripping the rest of the leg off and eating it. I watched as the marauder died, and the mantaling finished its meal. As it did I took aim, looking at the back of its head, and I fired a shot. The blast caught it at the base of his head, and I saw something green splatter the ground in front of it. It fell forward, kicking a few times, but then it laid still.

I hadn’t expected a single shot to kill it, but then it occurred to me that I had caught it unprepared, and I had shot it in the head. Typically things shot in the head died fairly quickly. So, the trick to dealing with mantalings was to sneak up on them, and shoot them in the head. We moved forward again, and slowly we began exploring the abandoned town. There was a huge gate that connected the landing paid to the settlement itself, but the gate was sealed. I figured that the controls had to be around, so it would mean searching for them, but I did go up into the guard tower that connected to the gate.

There were no marauders, and no other creatures other than something that looked similar to mice running around inside of it. There were a few more rifles, similar to mine, but most of them looked to be in poor repair. I decided to take them all, and I’d let Gilda see if she could use them to make a couple of decent rifles. But the weapons weren’t the only thing. Sweet Kisses had suggested putting my flag up, and I planned on doing that. I found an old coat, something that looked like it had been a lab coat, and I searched until I found some grease.

Using a spell I’d learned when I took art I made a copy of my cutie mark on the coat itself. There an image of three aces and two eights, the dead mare’s hoof, resided on the makeshift flag. I used my magic to attach it to a window of the tower, and specifically to make the symbol shine. This was now my settlement, if Sweetie Kisses was correct, and that meant that I had rights to the entire place.

I left the tower, and we began exploring. Most of the buildings were locked up, something that could be gotten past, but not without taking more time. As we walked I felt an itch around the base of my tail. It was a deep seated itch, something that began feeling more and more like tiny flames licking against my dock. My eyes widened as I realized that I was starting my heat. I glanced at Buttersworth, my eyes resting on his flanks as he walked. I needed to keep myself clear headed, and that meant not thinking sexy thoughts.

We moved and I moved toward the building. I tried the door, found it open, and stepped inside. It was dark, and everything was silent. I used my horn to light up the area and I saw a pair of eyes looking back at me. They were slitted like a cat’s eyes, the soft smell of smoke filled my nose, and I watched as the power came on. He was green with a purple mane, and odd looking purple ears, a pair of wings folded at his sides, and his muzzle looked mostly ponish except for the sharp teeth. I started to say something when he reached forward and pulled me out of the way. A bout of green flame shot past me against a creature that screamed.

“Get inside all of you!” he exclaimed as he shut the door after they got in, “Who are you, do you have a ship, and is there anypony else out there?”

I shook my head, “I’m Captain Slim Chance of the Non-Responsible, mostly we’ve just seen marauders and mantalings, and our ship is on the landing pad.”

He groaned, “Then they’re dead,” he said, “Shit. Sorry, I’m Smog.”

He leaned against the wall and I realized that he looked odd. He saw me looking, “I’m a dragony, you know half pony, half dragon.”

I looked at him, “You mean like those old stories about the Dragonequis?”

He snorted a puff of smoke, “No, I’m not a god of chaos. If I was then I wouldn’t be here,” he said, “I just happen to be tough enough that bullets won’t do much to me, but magical beam weapons will.”

I looked at him, “Is that why you’re here?”

He nodded, “The marauders were some of the ponies, yaks, and gryphons from the settlement. They changed, went crazy, and we had to kick them out. One of them seemed to remember the code for the gate, left it open, and let themselves in.”

He looked up, “That’s about the same time mantalings showed up,” he said, “Not sure where they were before, but it wasn’t like this place really cared. We had weird mutated dragon like things that spit acid, Rapadon’s somepony called them, and then we had the canids, those wild dog things. The marauders were the icing on the shit sandwich we were fed.”

I looked at me, “I’m sorry,” I said, “I really am, but we’re looking for something, and when we find it we can leave. If you want to go with us, you’re welcome to.”

He looked at me, “Okay,’ he said, “What are you looking forward for?”

I explained the lab, what we had hoped to find, and why. He listened, and for the most part he agreed to help us. Of course I suggested that we take some time to get a little rest. Be ready for what we find. I went into a room, and laid down. When I woke up it was light outside, and I groaned as I sat up. Everything felt weird, wrong, but at the same time I felt good. My eyes opened to the off blue light of the sun as it stretched across the room.

I could hear breathing around me, and then I felt a clawed hand touching my leg.

"Mmmm, that was delightful," a raspy voice said, "Makes me realize what some of those old-timers meant by riding a pony."

Everything hit me. My heat, and I had seen Smog as he passed by my room. I had invited him in, we joked, and then we kissed. We kissed and he was an amazing kisser. One thing had led to another, and I had found myself with my face buried into an old dust covered pillow as he took me from behind. The soreness in my dock told me that my backdoor saw action that I wasn't completely ready for.

You’ve unlocked Seductress Perk: You can now begin a romantic relationship with one or more companions. While using this perk, if you sleep next to your romantic interest you will wake up refreshed, fully energized, and gain double amounts of experience points for the first thirty minutes of the day.

Chapter 7: Adrift

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Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 7: Adrift

It wasn’t that I hadn’t been with anyone. Sure, my mother had stressed that I needed to keep my prospects with those that were socially acceptable. She hadn’t said it directly, but she meant that I needed to find a nice, higher class, wealthy, and sociable unicorn. My sex life was something that I had moved away from my mother’s direction fairly early. I figured it was because it was my own way of rebelling.

The one thing about it though was that every experience had been casual. Some of those experiences had even been friends. Baldwin hadn’t been one of those though. He had been gentle in the let down, and he told me that he wanted the experience to mean something. He wanted it to be with someone that he could see building a life with. It was a sweet notion, and I couldn’t fault him for that. I’d imagined what it would be like, but I found that I was actually happier being his friend instead of trying to get him to ram his cock up inside of me.

In several ways the experiences I had were strikingly similar to what had happened with Smog. We lay together, and I looked out at the room. There wasn’t a reason to be ashamed. After all it wasn’t like I hadn’t done this before, but at the same time I felt a twinge of guilt. Before leaving on the Luna Seven most of my exploits were really only known between myself and a few friends. I hadn’t fully accepted that my own limited social status had managed to stop potential rumors from spreading.

Oddly enough I felt myself worrying over what Gilda and Buttersworth would think of me. Sure, we hadn’t really been friends for that long, but I didn’t want them to believe that I was some cockasidal maniac. I honestly wasn’t sure why the idea bothered me now. I had to believe that the reason I was worried was more along the lines that I was completely out of my depth. That wasn’t the only reason though. I understood another part of it.

In some regard my life from before was gone. I had expected that when I signed up to become a colonist. I knew that I would be leaving behind my life, everything I knew, and I would be helping to establish a group of worlds that would become home to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of ponies. I knew this, and I knew that I would likely never see my mother again. That of course had been cemented the night before I boarded. I heard the soft snore of Smog, and slowly I got up.

What we had done was casual, but apparently Dragonies liked to do things rough. He’d practically wrecked me, used me, and done things that I hadn’t ever really experienced or considered before. It made me realize that despite the fact that I’d been with a few partners my experiences were somewhat chaste in comparison. I shook my head, looked back at the sleeping dragony, and I realized that he was actually something of a good guy. I didn’t know enough about him to make a full appraisal of his personality, but I knew that he had held out here hoping that those he had been traveling with were alive.

I knew that he could have up and left me at any point, but instead he remained near me. I hadn’t expected him to cuddle against me, and sleep beside me. I honestly hadn’t expected much at all. In my heat addled mind I most likely really only expected to be rutted, and then left to stew in combined juices. As I walked I noticed the slight limp in my step, and I couldn’t lie about the fact that it was a burning and slight pain from my tailhole.

I still felt the drive to breed, the need to be bred, and I felt a little confused. I would have thought that it would have lessened a little after having a round of rutting. I opened a door in the building and saw a bathroom. One constant I’d noticed was that all of the restrooms seemed to be focused on a minimalist aesthetic. There were no tubs, so no soaking in a bath, the toilets themselves were fine, but small. Each one was designed like a normal pony toilet.

They were little metal troughs, with a small button that could be pushed to flood it with water in order to flush the waste down. But most toilets were slightly larger, giving a bit more room. These were designed so that there was just enough space to backup, squat, do your business, and then walk over to the shower. I didn’t need to go, although a shower sounded absolutely wonderful. I found a small bottle of shampoo, and that seemed to be it. Still, it would be better than nothing.

I looked at a mirror, turned around, and lifted my tail. The first thing I noticed was that while everything looked more or less normal I could easily see that Smog had purposefully kept away from my vagina. He’d realized that I was in heat, decided to go along with it, but we’d only engaged in anal. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be pissed or if I should be thankful. The last thing that I wanted to do was bring a life into all of this when I wasn’t ready for it. Then again I wasn’t sure when anyone would be ready for it. I stepped away from the mirror, and I walked toward the shower. I turned it on, letting the ice cold, and sulfur smelling, water hit me. After a moment it began to warm up, but it still smelled of sulfur.

My magic squeezed out a glob of the shampoo, and I noticed that it smelled quite a bit like red licorice. A soft smile crossed my lips as I lathered it up on my mane. The smell was one of the happier memories for me. Red Licorice was one of the few things that I could remember that was associated with my dad. He wasn’t as concerned about social status as my mother. In truth, he had practically said to hang the entire social elite shit, and that we needed to do things that were important to us and for the betterment of all.

He’d give me a few pieces of red licorice while I’d hang out with him. Mother would talk to him, occasionally, but usually it was to attempt to pressure him into using his status to connect her to the more social elite. He’d decline, there would be various harsh words, and then he’d spend time with me. He’d told me something once that secured him as somepony that would always be my parent. I remembered it, he’d lifted me in his magic, and he’d carried me behind him as he worked.

“Slim,” he said, “I want you to remember that no matter where I go, what may happen to me, or what may wait for any of us that I will never be far from you. You will always be okay because you are my daughter, and we are special because we have the luck and blood of a very special pony in our family.”

I remember him setting me down, and looking at me, “If the heavens fall, if the entire civilization that we’ve built crumbles to dust, you will be okay.”

I remember that a few months later he had gotten into an elevator, and something went wrong with it. It dropped, twenty stories straight down. I had bawled my eyes out, but my mother never did. She had held me, letting me cry, but she never cried over it. I washed the shampoo out of my mane, letting the memory fade. As I finished the shower, I turned off the spray of the water, and I noticed something incredibly important that I didn’t see before I decided to take a shower. There was no towel. I would end having to drip dry, and that was because I couldn’t have been bothered to learn a drying spell.

I heard hoofsteps, deep ones that sounded like a large stallion, and I looked out to see Smog. He took a look at me, nodded, and then focused on me for a moment. I felt something around me that practically sucked up all of the air, and a second later it was gone. In its place was a drier me. Well a drier and fuzzier me. My coat and mane had decided to frizz out when he breathed on me. He nodded, and looked around.

“Enjoy your shower?” he asked, “I had wondered if the plumbing worked right in here.”

I gave a nod, “It was nice,” I said, “So, ummm…”

He shook his head, “Yeah, let’s don’t,” he replied, “It was fun, it helped you out I’m sure, and we both enjoyed it. Anything more than that is just hormones talking.”

I shook my head at him in disbelief. Sure, I had no intention of starting a relationship with him, but I had hoped that he would be a little let down by the idea that I didn’t want one. Instead he was more than fine with something casual. He smiled at me, “Looks, it’s not that I don’t think that you’re a cute mare, you are,” he said, “But if we’re honest I was, and still am, in love with a mare that I hope is still alive.”

I looked at him, “Was, was she here?”

He gave a nod, “Yeah, Doctor True Heart,” he said, “She’s a damn good pony, would work on others even if they couldn’t pay. When the marauders got in she came up with the plan of sealing the gate between the landing pad and the settlement. We got over here, and then something caused the wall to fail on this side. That caused us to scatter into buildings. I tried to get her to come with me, but she had to go with the wounded.”

I studied him for a moment, and I realized that he was being honest. This Doctor True Heart obviously had meant a great deal to him. Was I still upset by the idea that he was fine with a completely casual idea and didn’t seem upset about the fact that neither of us wanted an actual relationship? Okay, sure, I was annoyed, but not exactly upset. If I was going to be honest I wasn’t sure there were too many ponies that I could honestly say I wanted a relationship with. I knew that any relationship I had would have to be with somepony that understood that I most likely wouldn’t be able to sit still. I wanted to make a life for myself, I wanted to explore, and I wanted to help other ponies.

If I could find a stallion, or mare, that would be fine with that, even if they were somepony that had to linger somewhere, then I’d be fine with having a relationship with them, and I’d call the place where they lived my port of harbor. I’d return to them, I would always return to them, and we could have a life of raising foals. But finding somepony like that was almost like looking for a pear in a bushel of apples, or maybe an apple in a bushel of pears. Sure, you’d find it, but it’d take a lot of dedication, a lot of time, and not giving up hope.

Somepony like that wasn’t likely to just be milling around either. Oh, I suppose that I could have a sort of friends with benefits relationship, but what would happen when he, or she, got tired of it? Sex is great, and it feels good, but sex is just sex. If a pony doesn’t have the intimacy that goes with it, then it’s just a little bit of fun that doesn’t mean anything. That was one of the reasons I didn’t start anything with Baldwin.

Okay, the actual reason I didn’t start something with him was because he let me down, real gentle like, but the other part was that I realized that I had something with him that I didn’t always get to hang onto with my other male friends that I slept around with. I had an actual friendship that didn’t come with the expectation that I’d suck a cock, ride the pony, or enjoy a little flankspank. I suppose in a way it was weird that I respected him more for that, but I did. It was refreshing to be able to be myself around him.

I could do the same with a few other friends, but not as many as I would have liked. Most of the time I had to wear the mask of the rebellious heiress that was sleeping around and slumming around so that I could upset my mother. It wasn’t completely untrue, but it also wasn’t all that there was to me. I was more complex than that. At least I wanted to believe that I was more complex than that.

I sighed and walked out of the shower, now dry, and frizzy, and looked at Smog who looked far too pleased with himself.

“Do you have any idea of where Dr. True Heart could have gone?”

He looked at me for a moment, “Ummm,” he said scratching his chin, “If she could get the wounded out she would most likely head to either Starlight Bay or Fallen.”

I studied him for a moment, “Both of those are settlements?”

He nodded, “They are,” he said, “And it’s been a few months since marauders got into the settlement.”

I studied him, “You’ve been cooped up for a few months?”

He looked at me, “On and off,” he said, “I’ve been trying to get into the other buildings without making a lot of noise. I wanted to find her, hoping that she had enough supplies to last, and I wanted to get her out of here. The only reason I haven’t been trying to rip into the buildings is because if she’s still here I don’t want to bring any mantalings or marauders on her.”

It made sense. He wouldn’t want to bring any more trouble on her than he needed to. Sure, sneaking up on those things, and shooting them in the back of the head, was more than enough to put them down. But that meant sneaking around, and attempting to do so without being heard. For all I knew she likely had ponies that were sick, or couldn’t move very much because of injuries. Plus, if she was a doctor that meant that she might not be skilled in fighting.

I studied him, “We’ll help look for her,” I said, “There’s a place I’ve got to get into, a lab of sorts, but from what you said it’s likely on the other side of that sealed gate. That means going around and attempting to get through the opened gate.”

He looked at me, “If you’re going to do that then you need to get to either Starlight Bay or Fallen. Either one of them will have some upgrades you’ll want for your weapons, and you need some armor.”

I nodded, “Which place is closer?” I asked, “Because that’s where we’ll head.”

He looked at me, “Fallen is closer, but it’s run by a salvage company called the Celestial Salvage Company. They’re pretty much a group of outlaws operating under a corporate name,” he said, “It more or less gives them some leeway when it comes to what they can, and can’t, do.”

I looked at him, my mind considering what he had just told me, and then I began to giggle. Ponies figured out how to use the idea of being a corporate entity against the Conglomerate that made up the board. I wasn’t sure why, but I had to go and see these ponies. I wanted to meet them, maybe even work with them. I slowed myself down as I thought about it. There was a part of me that still acting out, and even though I didn’t want to admit it to myself I couldn’t deny that it was true.

I couldn’t deny that my mother would have a massive fit if she found out that I was hanging out with ponies that were doing less than legal activities, and I could almost see her face scrunched up in anger. I could hear her practically screaming at me that I was wasting my life, I was dragging her good name through the mud, and I might as well toss her out of her home and onto the street for all of the good that I was doing for her.

Dad would simply ask me if those ponies were doing more good than bad for others. If they were doing more good he’d say to be smart about it. Either way I would need to possibly upgrade my weapons, and I would need to get more ammunition. If Fallen was closer, and they had the weapons we needed, then I saw no reason not to attempt to get there. I checked my rifle, seeing that I had several shells for it, the revolver that I’d found on the marauder back on Equestria II was unfortunately empty, and I hadn’t found any more bullets for it. I knew that Gilda had plenty of bullets for her rifle, I was sure that Buttersworth had some bullets for his revolver.

If Smog could breathe fire then there was a good chance that his flames would be enough to protect him, but it wasn’t an absolute guarantee. We walked down, and I saw Gilda checking the rifle, and she had done something to it. At first I wasn’t sure what, but then I realized that she had added a scope, lengthened the barrel, and added what looked several small plates down the length of the barrel that each had a small set of runes. She looked at me, and then gave out a small peep.

“You okay?” I asked, “Is everything alright?”

Buttersworth looked at me, the tired smile on his face, “We didn’t realize that you had entered your estrust,” he said, “And also, you are not a quiet individual.”

I closed my eyes, gave a small curse to myself, and then looked at them, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make either of you uncomfortable,” I said, “I really didn’t.”

She looked at me, moved near me, and put her claw on my shoulder, “We didn’t mean anything,” she said, “If’n you found your special somecreature, then that’s all that matters.”

Smog chuckled, “Not quite,” he said, “I was just willing to help her get through something uncomfortable.”

She looked between us, “So, you’re not together, together?”

I shook my head, “No, it just happened. Consider it a momentary lapse in judgement.”

Buttersworth looked at us, nodded, and then prepared, “I personally see nothing wrong with it,” he said, “We are alive, and it is an expression of being alive. To deny that part of life is to deny all of it.”

I looked back at the runes on Gilda’s rifle and then looked at her, “How did you make the alterations?”

She grinned, “There’s an Auntie Frosted Cakes vending machine, and it had the modification parts needed to upgrade it,” she said, “There wasn’t much, but now the runes will change the bullet into one with an acid liquid core, and it will actually shoot harder than before.”

I smiled, “Huh, so, it can be modified?”

She nodded, “Yeah, but the modifications are pretty cheaply made. If I wanted to add something to them it would likely break these, and I’d have to clean out the bits and pieces from the extended barrel in order to add the new modifications. It’s not hard, just annoying.”

I gave her a soft nod, “Okay, we’re going to go out, deal with those things, any marauders that we find, and then we’re going to see if there is anyone else alive here. If there is we’re going to help them get to a different settlement, or we can offer them a ride off world when we leave.”

Gilda looked at me, “Okay,” she said, “I’m good with helping folks.”

Buttersworth nodded, “It should be a noble thing to aspire to,” he said, “Let us see what awaits us.”

Stepping out I saw the body of the Mantachangling that Smog had cooked. It’s chitrin looked burnt, its mouth hung open in an unending, and silent, scream. There was little doubt in my mind that it had suffered horribly before dying. We moved around, and none of us could see any more of them right away, but I did see something. It was oddly shaped, moved slowly, and its eyes were a soft glowing red. When it saw us it let out a roar, began moving awkwardly toward us, opened its mouth, and belched what looked like flaming spit at us.

The flaming spit hit against a sign, catching it on fire, and the creature snarled at us.

“What is that?” I asked, “It looks like someone tried to combine a dragon with something else.”

Smog snarled at it, unleashed a stream of flame, and the creature screamed. But when the flame ended it was still standing. It looked wounded, but it wasn’t dead. Gilda fired a shot, catching it in the head, and the creature fell. I watched as the acid began eating away at the hole that formed.

“Okay, whatever those things are, acid works on them.”

There were two more of those things, and one them was easily twice as large as Smog. We put them down with both my rifle and Gilda’s. Moving from them and further down I saw a large mantachangeling. It was far taller than Smog, bigger than any of us really, and it was currently holding half of a marauder. I looked at it, wondering exactly how it could be so big when it stopped and began to sniff the air. It turned toward us, and then it dropped the dead marauder. I took aim, fired, and hit a glancing blow on its head. It let out a deafening roar, and it began to gallop toward us. Gilda fired, hitting it in the chest, making sections of its natural armor disappear, but it did little to stop it. I activated my Eye Dentity Scanner, and time slowed. I saw its mouth opened, aimed, and selected inside of its mouth for two shots.

The rifle fired, and the back of its head exploded off. It fell and a changed leg hit me. I stumbled, and looked at my foreleg that had a deep wound in it. I felt someone lift me, “We don’t have a choice,” Smog said, “There’s a first aid station about fifty meters ahead.”

I looked at the wound, how it went clear to the bone, and I was in disbelief. If it wasn’t for the pain I wouldn’t have believed it. I floated out the inhaler, but Smog stopped me, “No, part of its leg is in there,” he said, “We have to get it out.”

I shook my head, pain rushed through me, and I tried to be here, in the moment, to use my gun, but instead the world went black.

You’ve unlocked Faithful Companions: When activated your companions will provide extra cover, search out useful artifacts and medicines, and even carry extra weight for you.

Chapter 8: Ain't Too Loney Yet

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Outer Worlds Equestria

Chapter 8: Ain’t Too Lonely Yet

“♫The Ale to cure what ails you, Zero G Brew, your favorite flavor, to help you work ‘till you bleed because you’re only ennobled by labor,♫” a soft voice sung, “♫So you can purchase relief from your local retailer.♫”

Slowly I opened my eyes to see blackness. Complete and total blackness. I felt my breath quicken, I wanted to scream, but a slightly more authoritarian voice cut through the soft voice that was singing.

“Stop fidgeting otherwise the healing pod might mistake your mouth as a wound and you won’t be able to open it again, ever.”

Suddenly I decided that sitting still was perhaps the single greatest thing in the world. Yes ma’am, I was not going to fidget around and have my mouth removed. A few moments later there was a pinprick of light, and slowly it widened until it opened completely. When it did I fell forward. I went straight to the floor and kissed it. I heard a laugh, and then I saw a pony in a weird looking bunch of armor. She was a pegasus, that much I was sure of. Her coat was gray, at least it sure looked it from what I could see of her face. Her mane was a soft purple, and I could see a set of wings on her back.

“Well,” she said, “Looks like your friends got you here in time.”

She studied me for a moment, “Name’s Swift Rain,” she said, “and your friends bartered your healing.”

I gave her a smile, “Ummm, thanks for healing me up?”

She rolled her eyes, “You’re welcome,” she said, “Although I did it more for the few bottles of booze and some canned food.”

She moved the supplies that had been collected, something I’m guessing that Buttersworth, Gilda, or Smog had grabbed back at the landing pad, and she began putting them behind the counter. She then looked at me again, “Well, how does your leg fell?”

I moved it, “It feels okay,” I said, “A little tight, but that’s about it.”

She gave me a nod, “Most likely that’s the new muscle. The healing pod does a great job, but it usually removes a little muscle with the foreign object,” she said, “Most likely to keep everything from become contaminated, and then it replaces it with regrown muscle.”

I looked at my leg, “So, not all of this is originally me?”

She smiled, “Nope,” she said, “Part of that is dura-muscle, but don’t worry. That stuff was created way before this was a colony.”

I looked at my leg for a moment, “So, who was singing a moment ago?”

She shook her head, “That would have been your friend, and she sung about four hours ago. The healing pod recorded her voice, and played it back, on a continuous loop, for you,” she said, “Most likely you’re going to have that stupid jingle in your head for weeks.”

I nodded, “I can still hear it,” I said, “Thanks again, but where are we?”

The mare studied me a moment, “You’re welcome, and we’re in Doc Healing Heart’s Medical Emporium,” she said, “It’s been deserted for about as long as Taffyta. The Doc remained here for as long as he could before he finally attempted the trek toward Starlight Bay. Don’t think that he ever made it though.”

I looked at her, “Ummm, why?”

She shrugged, “I was the nurse practitioner here,” she said, “Basically a doctor without the extra pay and benefits. He had me leave about two days before he obviously did. I guess that he was trying to see if there was anyone else left to treat before he left.”

I looked at her, “So, you decided to reopen for him?”

She smiled, “Not exactly,” she said, “We came to get the healing pod. I’m part of a group that disagrees with being little more than slaves to the Board. We call ourselves the Proletariat Class. Our leader, Graham, said that the world came from back on Equestria. Something about a group that was fighting for equal rights for all citizens.”

I looked at her, “Kind of a long title, I mean sort of a long one.”

She nodded, “I just call us the Letariats,” she admitted, “It seems to roll off of the tongue better.”

She had a point. I noticed a small scar on her, just under her eye, and it seemed to go down her muzzle. She didn’t look away, or try to hide it. Instead she just looked at me with those soft gold eyes. There was a weariness in them, but at the same time I saw something else as well. She looked proud. She didn’t sound like the ponies from Stillwater either.

“Well, we’re glad to have done business with you,” she said, “But we need to get this back to our compound.”

“Where’s that located?” I asked, “Because we’re needing to trade for some weapons, and maybe we could do so there.”

She shook her head, “We have weapons, but most of them are needed,” she replied, “However, we will be passing Fallen along the way. I’m sure that Lady Fair Shake will have what you need, but I wouldn’t bet on it being cheap.”

She looked at me for a second, “Look, we’ll escort you that way, since we’re already heading toward it. Help us move the healing pod, and I’ll give you a few bits extra to trade with her.”

I nodded, and within thirty minutes the pod was disconnected, lifted, and I helped the moving by casting a feather weight spell on it. Before it would have likely taken Buttersworth and Smog to carry it. Now that was being done by a single Pegasus among Swift Rain’s group. I noticed that their group was about ten to our four. Of course Sweet Kisses was with us, but she was on the ship. In a way she was the ship. A small part of me wondered if she would ever be able to leave it.

Much like most of Equestria II I noticed the difference in the plants here. The grass was similar to the crystalized growth, but there were mushrooms that looked as if they were leaning toward us as we walked. I noticed that none of the others were getting close to them, so I decided to follow their example. Unfortunately I couldn’t contain that curious part of me that simply wanted to know.

“Are the mushrooms leaning toward us?”

“They are, and don’t touch them,” Swift Rain said, “We’ve already disconnected the healing pod, and honestly, I’m not sure if we could reassemble it in time.”

I looked at them with a bit more caution, “Okay, why don’t you want to touch them?”

An Earth Pony looked at me. He looked half starved, his coat was a dusky looking blue, and his mane looked to be black. I noticed that one eye was white, but the other was a soft green. He stared at me for a moment and then shook his head, “Because if we can’t heal you then we have to kill you,” he said, “And that would be a waste since we’ve just finished healing you.”

I looked at him, “Kill me?!” I exclaimed, “WHY?!”

He sighed, and then pointed toward some of the stranger looking mushrooms. I noticed that they had shapes, odd, almost pony like shapes. Some were similar to those dog like creatures, and a fewer seemed to be like those almost mutated dragons. I looked at them, how they looked to be not one mushroom, but instead a whole collection of them.

“Those mushrooms are activated by touch. Something touches them, and they spray out a bunch of spores. Those spores infect the one that touched them, and anyone unlucky enough to be by them. You’ve got maybe six minutes before it gets into your brain and turns you into nothing more than a walking monster,” he said, “That’s why we’re not getting closer to those things. If we do they’ll sense us and walk toward us.”

I stood there, and my eyes widened, “This is crazy!” I exclaimed, “This entire place is insane!”

He shrugged his shoulders, “It is what it is. The Mushrooms only seem to grow fairly close to sulfur pits,” he said, “There’s a bunch of them on Majesty, but not so many that we can’t get by. Most of the places here don’t have too many near them. Hell, Fallen has an actual river going through it.”

That actually sounded nice. A river would be something pleasant among all of this insanity. Then again it might be filled with fish that swim up inside of you and then explode. That would actually fit the kind of insanity that I’ve seen here so far. Still, it would be nice to see something that was at least somewhat normal. It wasn’t that I didn’t expect to see different things, and all of this was more than I expected, but I certainly didn’t expect to find things that would be able to eat me.

I shook my head. No, I had signed up for this because I wanted adventure. I wanted to make my own way, and I wanted a life that was forged by my own hooves. If I had wanted safe I could have married Tick Tock and been satisfied spitting out foals and attending balls and dances. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to be part of the aristocats life, and I certainly didn’t belong to it. I felt a need to go where the wind blew me.

Although the wind seemed to blow me into sleeping for ninety or so years, getting thawed out, and then turned loose on a colony that seemed to be conditioned to singing jingles and agreeing with whatever it was that the corporate overlords were selling. It blew my mind to know how that had happened. How had these ponies allowed themselves to fall prey to the way things were. Maybe it was because they thought that they were safe.

But was safety really worth all of this? It didn’t seem that way. Maybe I was wrong, but I had doubts on that. And from what I’ve seen they’d been conditioned to this for an exceptionally long time. It wasn’t a single event, and I had to believe that it was little by little that they gave up freedoms for whatever passed as security here. And Majesty didn’t seem that secure, but if Swift Rain and her ponies were the example of what I could expect to find here then it was likely that they took freedom over security.

It would certainly be something that I would do. I knew that there was no way that I could handle a life under the yolk the ponies on Equestria II were under. In some ways the things that the ponies there went through mirrored, or at least seemed to mirror, my own experiences with my mother. Although, compared to the fact that they all were little more than indentured servants I certainly had things a little better than they did. My mother wanted to use me as a way of maintaining her social status, but while she had attempted to control a great deal of my life she hadn’t attempted the kind of control that was present in the lives of those ponies.

I had freedoms, and after I left I had even more. I’d traded a possible secure and posh life for freedom and uncertainty. The two went hand in hand, there was no doubt about that, but I wasn’t completely uncertain either. I had a direction. I wanted to help Baldwin and the other colonists on the Luna Seven, and I wanted to see how much of this colony was already heading down the tubes. Standing Water wasn’t in terrible shape, not by a long shot, but then again neither had Day Dream’s camp. Both of them were heads and shoulders better than a place where the mushrooms attempted to kill you!

I shook my head at the thought. We’d walked for a while and I noticed that things were slowing down. Swift Rain stopped looked toward one of the ponies, and then moved toward where I was standing. She looked at me for a moment, and then she looked at the others.

“That spell you cast, how long will it last?”

I sat on my haunches, “While I’m nearby, for as long as my magic does, with it just cast on the pod and carried off, maybe an hour,” I said, “Why?”

She nodded, “Fallen is down that road,” she said pointing with a wing, “It’s about seven minutes and you’ll come to the wall and the gate. There’s two guards outside, normally, and they’ll let you in. Fallen exists for one reason only. It makes money. They don’t go in for that indentured servitude that the board does, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not going to buy and sell everything they can get their hooves on.”

I gave a nod, “Okay,” I said, “Thanks for the warning.”

She looked me over, “They also hire and are decent on paying. If you’re short on funds check with the local merchants. Several of them are likely to have jobs that they need done,” she said, “Good luck, and hopefully it works out for you.”

One of the Earth Ponies with Swift Rain began to walk forward. He chuckled, “♫Some ponies say that a Stallion is made out mud, but a poor pony is made of muscle and blood, muscle blood skin and bone. With a mind that’s weak and back that’s strong. You load sixteen tons and what do you get?♫” he sang as they began to walk off, “♫You get another day older and deeper in debt. Now Lightbringer don’t go callin’ me cause I can’t go. I owe my soul to the damned Corporate store!♫”

His voice became more distant as they moved down the road toward wherever it was that they were going. I looked toward the direction that Swift Rain had pointed, and we began moving toward it. She had been right about there being two guards, and both of them were dressed in what looked black, gold, and red utility suits. Each of them were slightly bulky, and I realized that it was armor. It was certainly far better than what the Marauders had been wearing, but different than what I’d seen in Standing Water and outside of it.

The two ponies watched as we neared them, and then they came to attention.

“Welcome to Fallen,” the one on the right said, “We’re proud to be an independent owned settlement. Once inside remember that the rules are simple. Don’t start a fight you can’t finish, Everything costs bits, nothing is free, and mind your weapons and valuables at all times. If you are unable to abide by the first rule, do not enter. If you don’t have bits there may be job opportunities inside, and if you are worried about your valuables you may turn your sorry selves around and march on back to wherever it is you came from.”

I looked at them, “I’m not worried about anything we got,” I said, “As for funds, I suppose we could use a job or two. As for the fight, I won’t know until it happens.”

The pony looked at me and I realized that it was a mare. She was quite fetching, at least what was visible was fetching, and she gave me a smile.

“Good enough,” she said, “Welcome to Fallen.”

The gate opened and we stepped through. Whatever I had been expecting wasn’t this. I saw ponies of every age wandering the area. Most were dressed like the guards outside, but there were other ponies. Some were incredibly fancy, their clothes and mannerisms seemed to indicate breeding and social graces that was likely lost on some of the ponies here. Still, it was a community that actually seemed like a real community.

It seemed very close to what I had wanted to believe the colonies would become when I signed on with the Luna Seven. Day Dream’s Camp was close, but then most of those ponies had left the life behind that had been so hard on them. None of them exactly wanted to go back to Standing Water. I could understand their reasoning. The town itself was more of a large factory instead of a town. I wanted to call it a settlement, but honestly it was a town. Day Dream’s Camp was closer to a settlement than Standing Water was. But Fallen was different. It was what looked like an actual town. We moved closer to the buildings, and the first one caught my eye. Stepping inside I saw a mare that was sitting behind a counter. She was working on what looked like an antique terminal. I moved closer and I could see the slight sparks from it.

“Damned thing,” she grumbled, “If it wasn’t that there was potentially a gold mine of information in here I’d say fuck it in the ass and toss it.”

I watched her for a few more moments. Her mane was cherry red, her coat was a sort of cream color, and she had a pair of goggles on top of her head. She finally looked up after a moment and snorted.

“Welcome to Sling Bits,” she said, “Where we hope that you’ll sling your bits around. As you can see I’m currently hoof deep in this terminal’s ass, so what can I help you with?”

I gave her a smile and neared her, “Actually, I know quite a bit about antique robots and some about the terminals. Maybe I can be of help?”

She looked at me for a moment, “Two hundred bits if you can get access it,” she said, “It’s the screwiest operating system I’ve ever messed with. I think that the creator must have been getting licked or sucked by a really talented mare or stallion while it was being programmed.”

I nodded and walked toward it. The terminal looked like one of the ones that had been left over from before the war back in Hoofington. There were still several of them around, and for the most part they were still active. From what I could see she had replaced the screen, managed to get the terminal to return to life, and I could already see the problem. The terminal itself wasn’t communicating with the monitor correctly. She was getting part of the message, but the rest was coming up as random glyphs and the such.

I opened the back of it, looked around, and found the connection issue. She’d done a good job of repairing it, but she’d neglected to ensure that the monitor’s wire wasn’t touching anything else. Instead it was barely touching the wire that connected the basic spell matrix for the terminal itself. I corrected it, using a little bit of electric tape she had, and then powered it back on. The terminal seemed correct, and I went ahead and looked at the various passwords. None of them were exceptionally difficult, and I made a guess.

It seemed as if luck had decided to become friends with me because it opened.

“Well,” she said, “That’s two hundred bits spent.”

She slid a cartridge toward me, “So, what are you in Fallen for?” she asked, “Need a getaway, looking to start a career as a salvage expert, or looking for some of the best weapon deals this side of Majesty?”

I looked at her, “We need to upgrade our weapons,” I admitted, “I’d also like to get a few paying jobs while we’re here.”

She nodded, “Well, I don’t need anymore repair work done,” she said, “However, across the way is Gunt. He’s part of the Celestial Salvage Company family, but he’s a gryphon. I figure that’s not an issue since you’ve got a gryphoness with you, but you never know about ponies. Plus, between you and me, most ponies that don’t like other races other than Pony, they don’t last too long out here.”

I nodded, “Everycreature needs to get along to survive,” I said, “It makes sense.”

She smiled, “Sure does, but that’s not the only reason. Folks go disappearing outside of the gate. If they’re decent, we go looking for them. And most of the time we find them. It’s not always in one piece, but we usually find them,” she said, “If they talk bad about parts of the family that ain’t pony. Well, we take a little longer to look for them.”

The frankness she talked about it didn’t bother me. The fact that they considered gryphons and other beings part of their family was decent enough. We stepped out and headed in the direction she had pointed with her hoof. It was honestly across the way and inside was a huge gryphon. He was easily as big as some of the larger ponies I’d met. He looked at our group before leaning on the counter and spreading his claws apart.

“Welcome to Gunt’s Emporium,” he said, “Here we serve everything from a simple drink to hunting expeditions. Want danger, we can provide it, want to get higher than the three moons of Equestria two, I’ve got sixteen drugs that I guarantee will make you feel like you’re flying, and if you want some pleasant company I’ve got the contacts with some of the finest creatures to ever be born on this rock.”

He grinned at me, “So, tell me pretty mare, what’s your pleasure?”

I smiled, “My pleasure is finding a paying job,” I said, “One that doesn’t include being a mare of the night.”

He grinned, “Too bad,” he said, “A mare like you could make some serious bits taking it in the ass.”

He walked around and I fully took in his looks. His bird half looked to be part screech owl with silvery feathers and two large deep eyes. His cat half looked something similar to a lion. It was a soft tan, and at the end was a tuff of black fur that would have matched his mane if he had one. He leaned back, “Well, if you’re honestly up for about anything else I could use someone to go looking for my last hunting expedition.”

I looked at him, “Where did they go?” I asked, “Because part of what we’re needing paid for is to get our weapons upgraded, or purchase some better ones.”

He grinned, “Well, there’s a canyon just yonder,” he said pointing off toward the left, “Mostly it’s devoid of much, but there’s some mutated looking dragons over there. Most of them are accidents involving the original terraforming of the planet. Their not intelligent, but they don’t have to be. Most of them don’t breathe fire, but they can, and do, spit some nasty acid.”

I studied him, “Are they as tough as Smog?”

He looked at the dragony next to me, “Naw,” he said, “Their hides aren’t nearly as tough. A good shot with a decent hunting rifle will punch right through, but that’s also the problem. If you hit them in the wrong place all of that acid that’s building up inside of them just explodes.”

I looked at him for a moment, “Seriously?” I asked, “They just explode?”

He nodded, “Sure do,” he said, “And anyone within ten meters is going to get an acid bath. So, you’re going to have to snipe them.”

I shook my head. Sure, I could maybe use my Eye Dentity Scanner to snipe several of them, but it would mean letting the spell recharge, and it did take a few seconds. I saw him studying the dragony for a moment.

“You don’t have the fancy eye enhancement, do you?” he asked Smog, “I can tell. There is not a mention of connecting to your device.”

He dug around for a moment and brought out something that I was surprised to see.

“Here,” he said, “It is older than most everyone here, but it will serve. Device designed to work same as fancy eye enhancements, no surgery required, just need to put it onto your forleg.

Smog stepped forward and a moment later, with tools that also were older than most anycreature even before I got on the Luna Seven, he opened and put a Pipbuck on Smog’s foreleg. Smog stood there for a moment before the device began booting up. He looked surprised as it came to life.

“Old device,” Gunt said, “Strange mare traded it, ten years ago. She was a bit touched in the head, said she planned on seeing everything. Had two of these. One she wore, this one, she said was her old one.”

He nodded, “Thanks,” he said, “I’m sure it will come in useful, once I figure out how to work it.”

I nodded, and then I looked toward the door, “We’ll take the job,” I said, “Who are we looking for?”

He took out a log book, checked it, and then pointed to the last name, “Was a gryponess named Selvia Goldfeather,” he said, “She is the captain of a ship called Echo. Ship is docked here, she left with first mate, wanting to hunt for a specific mutated dragon. Apparently her client wanted the claws from one. If she is alive, bring her back, if not, bring her back anyway.”

I nodded, “You’ve got it.”

You have unlocked the “I’m Being Friendly” Perk. With this perk special dialogue is available with some merchants, and other notable individuals. This perk also allows you to gain fame easier with any faction that is aligned toward Outlaw Behavior.

Chapter 9: Friendship is POWER!

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Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 9: Friendship is POWER!

Sniping them had been the best idea, at first. Those mutated dragon things were dumb as a box of rocks, and that was about the only lucky break that we’d gotten so far. They weren’t overly fast, but what they lacked in brains and speed they made up for in numbers. There wasn’t a single one of them, or even just a handful of them. What we found was an entire brood of the damned things, and they were spewing acid toward a small cargo container.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. Apparently Ms Goldfeather had gotten into the container, hopefully with whoever went with her, and they had locked it so that the mutated dragons couldn’t get inside of it. Of course this had caused more than a few of those things to become interested in the container, and from what I could see they had spewing acid at it for a while.

If I wasn’t wrong then there was an exceptionally good chance that they were going to get through it eventually. So, naturally I took the hunting rifle I’d gotten on Equestria II, leveled it out, and took aim at one of their heads. I had figured that shooting them in the head would be the easiest thing. The scope allowed me to focus in, and a moment later I pulled the trigger. The rifle did what it did to every other shell I had fired through it, and it made it catch fire. The melting let hit the mutated dragon I was aiming at in the side of the head, causing it to stumble, and I noticed that it had kind of punched through, but not exactly. I quickly fired again, hitting near the same place, and this time the shell went through and it let out a keening wail before falling over.

That caused the others to turn their attention to us. I began taking aim and firing with the rifle, knowing that it would take at least two shots to get through, and I was using my targeting spell with my Eye Dentity Scanner. I heard someone, saw Smog with Gilda’s junior rifle I’d given her, and he began doing the same. I could see the look on his face. There was a focused look of a predator, but there was no look of hesitation there. There wasn’t any doubt that I would be talking to him about this, but I realized that right now wasn’t the time for it. Instead I focused on the mutated dragons below us, and once again I began firing. I realized that it was taking two shots from me, three from him.

We’d fire, kill two, and four more would head toward us. I began noticing that there was absolutely no way we were going to be able to kill all of them where we were. They would surround us, and it was likely that we’d be in a world of pain. I looked for somewhere, anywhere, that we could get to some high ground, and I found it. It would mean making a break for it, but on the other side of the cargo container was a ledge. If we could get there then we could get on the ledge, and we could take them out from something close to safety.

I looked at Smog as he fired another time, this time managing to catch one of the mutated dragons in the eye with the shot. The shell entered and caused the mutated dragon to stumble a bit before falling over and going still. It had been a hell of a good shot, and I had to admire the job he was doing, but then I noticed that he seemed to have that kind of accuracy thanks to the Pipbuck on his foreleg. He growled as he ducked down.

“Okay,” he said with a growl of annoyance, “I can get about nine shots with this thing before the spell stops and I have to wait for a few moments.”

I nodded, “I think I know how we can make this easier,” I said pointing toward the ledge, “We make it there and they can’t get to us. We can just take them out easy.”

He looked at the ledge and nodded in acceptance, “It’s about the best idea we have at the moment,” he said, “I’m good with it.”

I looked toward Buttersworth and Gilda and nodded toward them. Both of them had heard the idea, and from their expressions I could tell that both of them seemed fine with it. Of course it could be that they were more worried about the fact that we had several acid spewing mutated dragons attempting to get to us. Looking at the way they were running it was obvious that we could head down the hill, on the other side, and make a direct run toward the ledge. It did look like we were going to have to work on living one another up, and I wasn’t sure if Gilda could lift all of us.

In theory I could cast a feather weight spell on each of us, negating our weight, and making it easier on her to move us. It was better than nothing. The moment we got to the ledge I cast the spell on Smog who looked at me oddly. I then looked at Gilda.

“Okay, he’s got a featherweight spell on him, so you should be able to lift him and fly up to the ledge.”

She looked at me oddly for a moment lifted him, and she honestly seemed surprised at how light he was. She flew him up, came back down, and I cast the same spell on Buttersworth. When she came back for me there were several of the mutated dragons getting closer. I cast the same spell on me, hoping that it would hold, and she lifted me. Even though the spell negated most of our weight I worried that it could be hard on her. Still, she began to flap her wings, and after a moment the two of us were in the air. She seemed fine, and the situation itself seemed to be fine, until I saw one of them opening its mouth. I hoped that the spell would still work when I focused on my rifle and fired inside of its waiting mouth. It seemed to bulge, and I realized what Gunt had meant.

We landed just seconds before it exploded and coated everything outside of the small protected area of the ledge in acid. I leaned over to see it now in chunks, others were nearing it, and I began to fire at them. It took us over three hours before it looked like they were cleared out. Finally we moved down from the ledge, landing on the parts of the ground that didn’t have small acid pools left over from the now dead mutated dragons, and we made our way toward the cargo container.

The container itself had gotten the brunt of the acid splash back from the few mutated dragons that exploded. I looked at it and realized that touching it might be out of the question. There was no way that I was going to move it either. I was decent at casting spells, mostly due to the fact that studying magic had been one of the things that I enjoyed. My mother had insisted that I study magic, and I did. I didn’t study the stuff she wanted me to study though. I stayed away from spells that enhanced my beauty, seduction spells, spells that artificially created the sense of being in heat, and instead I studied what I thought were more important spells. Featherweight spells, automation spells, and notice me not spells were the ones that I learned.

Unfortunately I didn’t really try to toughen up my levitation ability. I didn’t see a reason to attempt to match the Lightbringer in raw levitation power. But I could handle the door. I tried it, and I felt the handle to open it bend slightly just from touch. Pulling too hard, or too fast, would surely break it. Instead I moved it slowly, waiting until I heard an internal click and the door moved a fraction of an inch before falling forward and creating a sort of bridge in the acid.

A lone gryphoness stepped out, and she did so in what seemed to be a confident manner. Her raven head was bluish black, her cat half looked to be something along the lines of a tiger, along with the stripes, and she carried herself in way that practically stated that she was in control of the situation. She was lean, athletically built, and from what she could see she was exceptionally confident. I almost felt like I needed to tell her thank you for the opportunity to save her. She wore a pair of engineer goggles on her forehead, and her jacket looked like it was made out of some strange leather. She stepped out, with two young gryphons behind her. She seemed to study all of us before she made her way toward us. I had expected to have a single gryphon with her, after all Gunt had said that her first mate had come alone, but to see two was a little odd.

I watched as she neared me, nodded, and then pointed toward an area not covered with acid. We made our way toward it, ignoring the larger pools, and once we were there the four of us watched as she took a seat.

“I’m Selvia Goldfeather,” she said with an appraising look at us, “Captain of the Echo, and since you killed all of those things that means that their claws are your property. As such I am willing to trade for them.”

I looked at her, trying to match her look, and fairly sure that I was failing miserably, “I’m Slim Chance, Captain of the Non-Responsible,” I said, “I think that we can come to an arrangement.”

She gave a nod, and her look was a little more pleasant, “Good,” she said, her tone lighter than before, “I take it that Gunt sent you out to find me, right?”

I gave her a nod, feeling some relief that she was willing to let me feel like an equal, or at least not as awkward, “He did,” I replied, and inwardly I did my best to not imagine this confident gryphoness in various positions, “It was decent enough pay, and honestly I wanted to see these mutated dragons.”

She snorted in surprise, and her eyes narrowed a little, “The ones you killed were the younglings,” she commented almost flippiantly, “The elders are still under ground. It’s likely they will be out later when the younglings don’t return. They’ll need to be dealt with at some point.”

I looked at her for a moment, and then I felt an uncontrollable bout of stupid coming on, “I suppose so, but why exactly?”, and there it was. My stupid had come out.

She studied me, obviously trying to figure out if this mare that had helped saved her was actually stupid, attempting to get an angle on her, or maybe was just really completely naive when it came to the wild life here, finally she relented and pointed toward the cave system behind us, “The elders usually steal the leftover food from the younglings. It’s normally whatever the younglings bring back with them,” she said, “With there being so many younglings it’s normally a decent amount. But if there’s not any younglings to come back the elders will leave their caverns and come searching for food. It’s just a matter of time.”

“What are the elders like?” I asked feeling more and more like a young school filly that forgot to study before a test, “I mean are they similar to…”

My question was answered by a loud growl that seemed to echo around us. I could hear it getting louder, the same sound growing in intensity, and before long I saw a stream of acid come out from a cavern and hit the cargo container. Where the mutated dragons that had been around it had been weakening it that stream of acid seemed to slowly dissolve it into almost nothing. My eyes widened at the reaction, and I watched as a massive head poked out of a large cavern. It moved, and I could see that it only could get its head and a single leg out.

Like the smaller mutated dragons it wasn’t too bright, and it appeared to be attempting to pull itself out instead of clawing away at the mouth of the cave.

“That’s what they look like,” she said sternly, “You saw the container, it gets out and there isn’t a wall that’s going to stop it.”

She looked at me for a moment, seemingly appraising me and the situation again. There was a true sense of preditority calculation going on behind her eyes, “So, for the claws, I offer my services in helping to put it down.”

I gave a quick nod, there was little chance I was going to deny the obvious help she could give us, “Sounds fair,” I said, “Last time I shot one in the mouth and that caused it to pretty much die. Of course I did it right before it spewed acid, and then it exploded.”

She seemed amused by the answer as she gave me a nod, “Not a bad idea,” she said as she rapped her forelegs around me, in truth the feeling would have been welcomed if it wasn’t that we were starting to lift into the air, “So, how about we do the same trick here?”

I felt her fly me up and toward a hilltop that was across from the colossal monstrosity. It seemed to notice me and its jaws began to snap at the thought of fresh prey. I looked at my rifle, I had a whopping six shots left. I could only hope that the same trick that had worked on the smaller ones would work here, and would work with only six shots. I heard the roar, looked to see the elder mutated dragon as it sucked in breath, and then I saw its mouth opening. It was about to spew acid, and I had no doubt that it would reach me. Any chance of it not hitting me was pretty much gone. Either this worked or I was dead. Of course if it got out then everyone was dead. I kicked on my targeting spell from the Eye Dentity Scanner, and drew up on the gaping maul of the creature. I could see its neck bulging with the acid it was going to spew, and I took the first shot followed by a second and third. The dragon shook its head, its neck seemed to bulge even further, and then I watched as its head shook violently before the skin began to stretch.

I didn’t wait for Selvia Goldfeather to get me. I dove down the hill and heard the sound of its head exploding from the pressure. I could hear the sound of acid hitting the other side of the hill and burning on it. I looked up to see it pooling above me, and then a moment later I saw Selvia as she landed beside me, wrapped her front legs around me, and soon took to the air again. There where we had fought so many of them was a giant pool of acid. We landed several yards away, near where everyone else had taken shelter, and she looked at me.

“Our contract is fulfilled,” she said, with an amused chuckle, “I’ll collect the claws when the acid finishes soaking into the ground.”

I studied her for a moment, I had entertained the idea of a fantasy about the two of us. Now I was feeling kinda pissed, “Okay, all you did was fly me over there.”

She looked at me, and her neck puffed up a little, and while the subtle differences in body language gave me some pause I could read enough that I had offended her. The look in her eyes was hard and completely directed at me. I felt almost like the last piece of candy in a bowl waiting for somepony come along and plop it into their mouth. Her pointed stare didn’t change, “Captain Chance,” she said with a gruff growl, “If not for me you wouldn’t have been in a decent place to kill it, nor would you have. Not to mention you wouldn’t be in a position to win the gratefulness of the residents of Fallen. I did more than you think, and you had better think twice before you ever make the attempt to undercut my honor again.”

I looked back at her, returned the same hard glare, or least hoped that I did, and gave a curt nod, “Thank you,” I said my voice hiding the fact that I felt all kinds of awkward already, “Although I am supposed to bring you back to Fallen. Gunt does want to make sure that you’re okay.”

Her reaction was one that I would dare say seemed to be of respect. I could only hope that she had measured me, found me made of sterner stuff, and approved. She gave a curt nod in return, “Very well,” she said tersely, “I’ll check in with my brother.”

I watched as she began walking back toward Fallen, and like her, and the two other gryphons with her, we fell into line and walked back toward the walls that protected Fallen itself. As we walked I began to realize a few things. One, I was obviously open to beyond just ponies as sexual partners. The fact that Smog had fucked me seven ways from the summer solstice was evidence enough of that. The second was that apparently even when someone had gotten close to pissing me off I could still imagine completely wrecking them. As she walked I couldn’t help but notice the incredibly attractive and shapely haunches that Selvia had. I could still imagine her bent over in front of me, but it wasn’t a loving, sweet, written by famed smut writer Loving Touch scene. Oh no, it was a hard core romp with her tied down, me wearing a strapped on cooler, and it buried deep, deep in her ass.

Maybe it was wrong of me to fantasize about that. After all, I didn’t know her that well, and she had helped me. True, her help came at just getting me to right spot, but she wasn’t wrong that I wouldn’t have gotten there without her help. She was also right that all of us would have likely died if not for her help. It didn’t stop me from being pissed at her rationalization, nor did it stop me from feeling like she had seen me as someone she could pull one over fairly easily either.

Still, at the end of it all she had helped, and we had most likely saved Fallen from a seriously bad situation. Which when I thought about it I realized that Selvia had said that there were elders, meaning more than one, mutated dragons. I didn’t know how many existed, but I knew that it was possible to beat them. We had to side step the newly formed acid pools on our way back, but according to what Selvia had said I assumed that they would eventually soak into the ground.

Of course if it meant that there would be less of those mushrooms growing I was all for that. I certainly didn’t want to see anymore mushrooms that could get on a pony and take them over, and then use them to do the same to more ponies. It certainly labeled this place as one of the more screwed up, horrific, and terrible places I’d ever been before. Still, with an entire settlement empty the idea of sending the colonists here was tempting. If the walls were still up, strong, and there was power I could see it being a place where they could make a go of it. Although if I was going to be honest Equestria II seemed like a better place for them to settle. Sure, there were dangers there, marauders being the biggest, but it didn’t have wildlife like Majesty did.

I hadn’t realized that all of my musing had kept me from realizing that we were already back at Fallen. We entered the gate, both of the guards acknowledging that we had been there already, and we entered into the place that was the best example of a town I’d seen so far. Without any hesitation we made our way over to Gunt’s Emporium. Gunt himself met us, and he moved toward Captain Goldfeather. Without a word he stood up on his back legs, stretched out a single claw, and closed it into a tight fist. She did the same and they touched those claws together.

He then moved closer and wrapped her into a hug.

“I am must happy that you are not dead,” he said with what seemed to be heavy relief in his voice, “I had feared that you fell prey to those things.”

She huffed, “Brother,” she said sounding annoyed, “You always were the more emotional of us. I am fine, Captain Chance found me.”

He turned toward me, and I could see the friendly expression on his face, “I will pay you the reward, yes?” he asked sounding chipper, “Although, if you are interested I may have more work. Tell me, have you led a sightseeing tour before?”

The question caught me off guard for a moment, “Not exactly,” I admitted a little hesitantly, “But I’ve been on a few tours before. Mostly nature tours that I went on because there was someone that I was interested in that was going.”

He gave a full belly laugh, “Very good, similar set up,” he said with an amused voice, “We have some visitors from Equestria II, mostly rich dandies, wouldn’t know to run from wildlife, stay away from mushrooms, or not to fall into sulfur pits.”

He looked at her, “They want to go up mountain, see view, see radio tower with odd DJ, and then come back down safely to Fallen. If you want to take them I pay you one hundred bits per head that makes it back alive. There will be fifteen going.”

It was a chance for over a thousand bits, and I wasn’t stupid. We needed the money, and we needed it badly. I knew what was likely to happen, but it was fine, I could do this. I looked toward him and gave a nod, “Sure, we can do it.”

Smog shook his head, “How many have ever made it back?” he asked skeptically, “Because I’m betting it hasn’t been a huge amount.”

Gunt shrugged, “Usually half,” he said flippiantly, “Of course, you will want ammunition and weapon upgrade. I can do for discount price, say, five hundred, all weapons, and a combined number of ammunition of one thousand rounds. I take from the amount I owe you when you return.”

It sounded good, and honestly, I was fine with it. I stretched out my hoof and he grasped it in his claw. He nodded to me, “Good, hand over weapons, I improve, then I get ammunition. Dandies upstairs, drunk, stoned, and fornicating. They pay extra for privilege.”

We handed over our weapons and he walked them over toward a workbench, “I be done in three hours, please, take time to look around Fallen, come back, and pick up weapons.”

You’ve unlocked Beast Master. All creatures that do not have sapient thought, and are a lower level than you, will now be docile around your presence unless they are provoked first. Some creatures may become temporary companions.

Chapter 10: Awareness, it was under E!

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Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 10: Awareness, it was under E!

After leaving Gunt’s Emporium we began exploring Fallen itself proper. One of the first things we did was make our way toward the landing pad. Once there I found a terminal that would allow me to connect to the Non-Responsible itself at Taffyta and have it come meet us here at Fallen. I did that and in just under three minutes I saw our ship nearing the landing pad. We cleared it, watched it land, and I felt better. If things went pear shaped we could make a break and get out. I didn’t expect things to, but so far I’d found that it was better to be prepared than sorry.

After that we made our way down, and I saw a mare standing on the corner. At first I thought that she could be one of the girls that worked for Gunt, but then I noticed that she wasn’t attempting to solicit anycreature. She was just honestly watching, taking in stock of each individual that passed her. When she laid eyes on us I saw her eyes narrow. As she studied me I studied her. She was another unicorn, a little older than me, but not by much, and she seemed to me that her silver coat and white mane mane and tail weren’t from age. Her green eyes looked odd, and I realized that both of them were synthetic. At some point she had been enhanced. Her armor looked good, but it also looked incredibly clean. There were scratches and pits in it, but each of them looked as if they had oiled and polished with the rest of her armor.

She was dressed like a professional, but the little things about her spoke of the kind of professional she was. She made her way toward me, her synthetic eyes never wavering, never moving, but instead she was completely focused. She stopped and touched my chest with a hoof.

“Captain Slim Chance of the Non-Responsible?”

Her voice was cold, hard, and it had absolutely indication of being remotely soft and gentle.

“Yes,” I said warily, “That’s me.”

She nodded, took a seat on her haunches, and then fished out a fresh cigarette. I watched as she lit it with her horn and then she proceeded to smoke.

“You’ve made a name for yourself,” she said as sharp as the edge of a razor, “At least you’ve made something of a name. You destroyed a major marauder’s camp, took their power regulator and left two opposing settlements operating. One of which was built on what was reported to be a failure.”

I studied her, “Who are you?”

She smiled, “Oh, I have no name,” she said coldly, “Officially I don’t exist, and usually I’m only contacted when there’s someone of notice that has caught the attention of anyone important. Which puzzles me. Because I was enjoying my time being serviced, loving every second I had with my personal servants, when I received a wave over the aether. Apparently someone of notice came to Equestria II.”

She took a long drag from her cigarette, “But what I see before me is a wide eyed little cunt that shouldn’t have woken up.”

Smog growled at her and she smiled, “Oh, have no fear, I’m not foolish enough to do anything here. I’d be dead before I made the gate.”

She got up, “So, I’m offering the only bit of free advice you’re going to get. Stop rocking the boat, or face the consequences.”

She moved off, and her departure left more than a few questions. I wanted to know who it was that had hired her. Her actions and attitude were certainly from someone that seemed to be direct and to the point. She had never once said what would happen. She didn’t say a single threatening word, but none of it mattered. She had effectively let me know what I could expect. She would for all accounts and purposes end us if we continued to anger her currently unknown benefactor. That was the problem here. I wasn’t someone that rolled over easily. I certainly didn’t give in easily either.

Baldwin had said that I was as stubborn as an old oak tree that was planted by a river. He said that no other tree would give an Earth Pony trouble like an old Oak Tree. That it would take an Earth Pony all day to cut it down, then most of the night to cut it up. That the tree was planted hard and firm next to the water, and it would seemingly become harder than steel in order to stay there. I didn’t know much about trees except that some of them grew fruit, but I had to agree that maybe he was onto something with the comparison.

It could be that my river was doing what I considered the right thing, and I wasn’t going to let someone deter me from it. So, if that made me an old oak tree planted by a river, then so be it. Of course I wasn’t stupid either. If she could keep her word then it made her fucking dangerous, and I wasn’t going to get caught facing someone that could be that much of a danger without some protection. The weapons that Gunt was repairing for us was a start, but we would need more.

I had found two of my favorite weapons on a couple of marauders, so maybe I could find some other decent weapons on them as well. Of course that still left armor, and I wasn’t going wear marauder armor again. Their repurposed mining gear didn’t do too well against bullets. Maybe it was okay against blunt objects, but a bullet seemed to go right through it. What I wanted, what I needed, was some really good armor that covered everything.

I’d seen a couple of Applejack’s Rangers, in full power armor, before boarding the Luna Seven, and that was honestly what I really wanted. I wanted to have that kind of armor. Sure, I was certain that there were armor piercing rounds that existed which could tear through those suits of armor, but regular bullets would be stopped. Having something like that would certainly have gone a long way toward making me feel safer.

I was fairly confident that Smog’s own natural scales would protect him from most firepower, and I knew that I needed to find something for Buttersworth and Gilda. The armor that the ponies, and gryphons, here were wearing decent enough armor. It wasn’t the same as the power armor I’d seen before I boarded the Luna Seven, but what they were wearing looked decent enough. It reminded me of the armor the police wore. At the very least it would protect from low grade firearms.

I considered the idea of asking Gunt if he sold combat armor that wasn’t patchworked armor thrown together by marauders. Despite the slightly uncomfortable talk with the mare that more or less promised to kill all of us I began to consider what was to come at this point. I had a checklist of sorts, of course the big goal was saving everypony, well everycreature, aboard the Luna Seven. But there were smaller ones now. I needed to get into the secret lab that Spark Gap told me about, I had this group tour to do for Gunt in order to get enough pay for fixing our weapons, and maybe purchasing some decent armor.

Not getting killed by a strange mare was certainly at the top of the list now as well. As we continued back toward Gunt’s Emporium I saw a couple of ponies come running out of what looked like a mine shaft. One of them was coughing and sputtering, and the other collapsed when they cleared the entrance. A part of me said that this wasn’t my issue. It wasn’t my concern, and to be honest I likely had no reason to get involved. At which point the more compassionate side of quickly knocked that part of me in the back of the head, bent it over, and put a hoof straight up its tailhole while demanding that I see what wsa going on.

I had absolutely no intention of annoying, or disobeying, the more compassionate side of myself. I rushed toward the two ponies, realizing that both of them were stallions, and the one that was lying on the ground looked to be breathing, but out cold. The one that was coughing looked like he could barely breathe at all.

“What happened?” I asked, trying to sound as concerned as I actually felt,, “Is there anything I can do?”

He studied me for a moment, and then he nodded, “Yeah,” he said, “Some idiot decided to use some sprats to deliver a mixture of Sweet-Dreamer, UltraDash, a little Ever Pep Pills mixed together. It was inside of some latex tubing, so the sprats didn’t just get hopped up on it. But whatever the fuck those things were down there that ate the fuckin’ sprats, they got all kinds of hopped up!”

So, there were some large creatures down in the mine, that were suffering some kind of drug induced insanity, and it had been bad enough to send these two out of there with the intention of running for their lives. I took a look toward the landing pad and at the ship. I had been worrying about armor, but then I had some. It wasn’t great armor, but it would work. It had come from Equestria II, the geothermal plant, and it did fit well.

But as I recalled the armor itself was designed only for small arms fire, some stabbing weapons, and some protection from blunt force. It could provide protection, but I wasn’t completely sure. I looked toward the mine tunnel, and I was about to go and at the very least get my armor when I heard the sound. It was a long high pitched scream. The scream sounded as if it was made by a filly that wasn’t quite a mare yet. I saw the stallion that had been coughing look toward the mine.

“Mint Drop!” he shouted in anguish, “she’s still down there!”

That was more than enough for me. I still had my magic, and hopefully that would be enough. I rushed forward heading into the mouth of the mine, and the first thing I smelled when I entered was smoke. It formed heavily around me, and I coughed as I continued forward. I heard steps behind me, and I saw Buttersworth, Gilda, and Smog. Smog looked comfortable, but Gilda and Buttersworth were both wearing something. From what I could see it looked like they were wearing ventilators that were used for mining.

If I would have taken a moment to grabbed one, then I wouldn’t be inhaling so much of this smoke. My eyes widened as I felt around myself with my magic. Like most ponies I pretty much tended to forget about saddlebags. It wasn’t that I didn’t know that I was wearing them, but instead I would just forget about them most of the time. I felt inside of one, pulled out a marauder’s mining mask, and I put it on.

The ventilator inside of the mask began to work, and I could breathe easier. Granted, the air tasted like ass, the inside of the mask smelled like rotted meat, but at least I wasn’t going to die of smoke inhalation. Although, if I was inside of this mask for long I could possibly begin to believe that it was a possibility. Slowly I made my way down the mine, listening for the scream I heard earlier, and as I walked I felt overly warm. I turned a corner and saw a young mare, or perhaps more accurately an older filly, on a ledge. There were several small reptile like creatures, and they were belching flames.

I reached for my rifle out of reflex and cursed myself. Instead I looked around. There were a multitude of broken tools, most of which had sharp edges. I focused on a couple of broken and jagged shovel spades, and using my telekinetic abilities, something every unicorn learned to use, I sent those spades into the back of the first two reptiles’ heads. The spades broke, but not before piercing their heads and imbedding themselves into their brains.

I watched them fall, and I began grabbing other makeshift weapons with my telekinesis. What had been seven of these creatures turned into five, then three, and finally there was one. There weren’t any more shards of broken tools large enough to finish it, but I noticed a collection of barrels that had the same glow as those barrels I’d shot in order to escape from that cave that had Scrumptious in it. It snarled, lunged at me, and I caught it in my telekinetic grasp. I flung it toward the barrels, and it hit them. They didn’t explode, yet, but when it belched fire, that set the barrels off, and the explosion reduced that creature to ash.

I wasn’t sure how long we had been down in the mine, but when we got out I shook my head and tried to get the smell of marauder mask out of my nostrils. It was certainly easier said than done. As I tried to clear the unholy scent of marauder breath I couldn’t help but notice the large gathering. Mint Drop, the older filly we’d ended up saving, was being looked after not by just the stallion that had been coughing and sputtering, but by a rather large group of ponies and even Gunt himself. I could see them checking her, ensuring that she was okay, and then finally a pony I didn’t know, which there were several of them, moved toward me.

She was tall, stocky, and looked like she could have matched an Alicorn for size. I was surprised that she was an Unicorn. After all, while I had known several Unicorns to be fairly tall I hadn’t known that many that were built like they could match an Earth Pony in the strength department. Granted, she wasn’t covered in muscle, but she was obviously powerful in her own right. I couldn’t help but notice the dark purple coat she had, the softer royal blue mane, and the calculating violet eyes that seemed to be studying me.

I followed her into a building, back toward an office, and she took a seat behind a desk. She studied me for a moment before she opened a small refrigerator and floated out what looked like three oddly familiar, exceptionally old, bottles. She brought out a forth, popped the lid from it, and took a deep drink. I could smell the carroty goodness from across the desk, and I popped the lid from my own.

She finished her drink, watched as I drunk, and then looked as the others looked at the two remaining bottles. Seeing the mistake she floated another, which was slightly different, out and placed it on the table as well.

“Now,” she said in a calm, but inquisitive tone, “You’ve come into my town, saved Gunt’s sister, who was stupid enough to get trapped by those mindless beasts, and then you saved a filly that is part of our family. More to the point, I personally have accepted her as my own. So, that leaves me to think that either you are a virtual paragon of nobility and kindness that hasn’t been seen in an exceptionally long time, or you’re playing toward something.”

I shook my head, “I swear,” I said in earnest, “I’m not playing toward anything. I just have a habit of trying to help.”

She nodded, “I see,” she said, “Well, as it stands you are in good company.”

She studied me, and then she floated four suits of armor that had their logo on them, “Welcome to Majesty Signature Corporation,” she said, “We’re a family company, and by that I mean that every single one of our employees are family. We expect loyalty and in return we give it. You are one of us, and as such you will be treated as one of us.”

A faint glow covered her, and I watched as this unicorn turned into an honest to the Lightbringer Alicorn. She gave us a smile, “Loyalty goes both ways,” she said calmly, “I expect all of you to keep my little secret, just as I will promise to keep you as part of our community.”

I looked at her… “L...Luna?” I asked in disbelief, “Are you one of the fabled goddesses?”

She grinned, “Ah,” she said sadly, “That’s a term I have not heard in an exceptionally long time.”

I felt weariness hitting me, and I realized that we had likely been in that mine for about three hours fighting those things, saving that filly, and then finding our way back out. The entire day seemed to wear down on me, but I wanted to talk to this mare.

“Long ago, my mother, all of my kind’s mother, called herself a goddess, and she was technically correct,”she said, her voice sounding sorrowful, “She did not want to be wrong, and she did not want to feel things that would interfere with her commanding of us. It was a mistake, and since that time most of my siblings that have survived have long since realized that there is a need to feel remorse, fear, and pain. Those things teach us.”

She studied me, “I also know your mind. It is not from desire to know, but over time all of us have regained quite a bit of the powers and spells we once all held,” she said while looking at me as if she was a kind and caring mother, “For me the one that has returned the fullest is being able to read minds. I know about the Luna Seven, and I will do what I can.”

I looked at her, “Can’t you just bring it down here and save them?”

She smiled, “Even Celestia and Luna themselves weren’t that powerful,” she said, “Besides, I have to deal with the very real threat of hostile corporate action. They are far worse than one might expect.”

It felt strange for her to say that reaching out into the depths of space, grabbing the Luna Seven, and pulling it down to Majesty would be beyond Luna and Celestia. It was true that I didn’t know as much about them as I did the Lightbringer, the Security Mare, The Ghost of the Big 52, Hired Gun, or Small Fry, but I did know that they were worshipped as goddesses, and I knew that their magic and power was second to nopony else. If they couldn’t bring the Luna Seven here what chance did I have?

The weariness was catching up to me, and I still had to lead the tourists on a tour of Majesty. There were bits to be made, but if I couldn’t save Baldwin what was the point? I felt something, a soft pressure inside of my head, and I looked toward the Alicorn. Time seemed to stop, and as it did I felt everything melt away into blackness. I stood in a barren room, totally black except for a few stars in the distance. She moved toward me, and I could see the caring nature she had.

“My little pony,” she said softly touching me with a wing, “I know from one of the mares that made my mother that normal ponies often did things the fabled goddesses couldn’t do themselves.”

I felt myself pulled into a soft embrace, and the feeling of her feathers were indeed softer than anything I’d ever felt before in my life. It was a hug that I wished I could have had from my mother, but it was something she had denied me. I never knew if it was because she didn’t know how, if she disliked me that much, or if it was because my mother just honestly didn’t feel anything for me.

There was another presence in my mind as well. I had felt it before, the feeling of a little blue pegasus that had swept away the feelings of doubt, and that pegasus joined in on the hug. Slowly everything seemed to change, and I was in the room with everyone, and what had passed between us didn’t take hours or minutes, but instead it seemed as if no time had passed at all. Somehow she had managed to uplift me, comfort me, and she did it all in less than a second. I looked at her and she nodded.

“I have faith in you Captain Chance, and know that the name of Dreamweaver carries weight in certain circles,” she said with a soft smile, “You can use the name when needed. As for the tourists that you are lead, we will inform them that it will be a few hours before the tour can begin. In the meantime, I suggest that you get some much needed rest.”

She led us out and toward a small building, “While you are here you may use this building. I cannot give it to you, because I have gifted it to another, but she has not been back to use it in years, and in truth I doubt that she will return.”

I studied the building, and the four of us walked into it. I wasn’t sure what it was that I was expecting, but a small economy home wasn’t exactly it. The entire building was about the same size as the cargo hold on the Non-Responsible. There was a preformed table that was made into the wall, and beside it were two bench seats that could in theory hold four ponies, gryphons, or any other creature considering that they were extra friendly with one another. There were two stacks of bunk beds, both of them made into the opposing walls, a monitor that was built on the far wall just right of what looked to be a small bathroom. Like on the ship the bathroom was fairly economical in the respect that both the toilet and shower were made together, and finally there was a small kitchenette. The largest thing in the home was the stove and oven. It appeared that a fairly decent meal could be prepared if the food was available.

I moved toward the beds when I noticed an Ace and Queen of Spades on the table. It was odd seeing a single hoof for a game of blackjack, but there it was. I shook my head, looked at the beds, and picked one of the bottom beds. I crawled into it, and no sooner had my head hit the pillow then sweet oblivion found me. Dreams were a strange mix for me. Recently I’d had dreams about the ponies on the Luna Seven, of them silently accusing me of leaving them to forever sleep, to be more or less dead, and on top of that I’d dreamed more often than not of the heroes of the wastes that I’d learned about.

Those dreams had been more or less the same. The one real difference was that now there seemed to be a small blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail that was helping to keep the scarier dreams away. Almost as if she was working overtime to help me. As I slept I found myself not on the Luna Seven, or on Majesty or Equestria II. Instead I was in a Stable. Before me was the Blue Pegasus, and she pushed what looked like a bottle of cola toward me.

“Take a seat kid,” she said confidently, “we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

I studied her, took a seat, and she lifted an apple that was one of the shiniest that I’d ever seen. She bit into it, munched for a moment, and then sighed. Grinning she leaned back on her haunches. I could see how her magenta eyes seemed to be looking into the distant past. She finally looked at me and leaned forward.

“Dreamweaver was right you know,” she said confidently, “I was one of those ponies that went to do things that Celestia couldn’t do. We did the impossible, and then we did it again, and again, and again.”

She studied me for a moment, “You’ve got spirit, and that’s good, you’ll need it, but you’ve got to have more than that. I’ve seen how loyal you are to Baldwin, and that’s going to help, but you’ve got to be ready to do whatever it takes to save those other ponies,” she said as she pressed her hoof onto the table, “You’ve got to, because there isn’t any other pony that is going to do it. It’s going to be you, your crew, and that Spark Gap.”

I looked at her, “You, you were one of the Ministry Mares, weren’t you?”

She laughed, “Yeah, and the job sucked,” she confessed bitterly, “I’d rather have stayed with my friends, and now looking back on it, that was really what we were supposed to do. You’ve got some really good friends now, and like us you’re learning from each other. Don’t let that friendship slip, and don’t forget your other friend.”

I nodded, “So, what do I do?”

She studied me, “Go lead that tour, and trust me, I’ve got a gut feeling that you’re going to find something good out there. Something incredible.”

You’ve unlocked Unconditional Loyalty: Your companions now will follow you into the very pits of Tartarus itself. When needed each companion will lend their advice, but ultimately they will follow your suggestion. Following their Advice will unlock special dialogue options between companions.

Chapter 11: Some Roots go Deep

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Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 11: Some Roots go Deep

I figured out a few things after my meeting with the Ministry Mare. I hadn’t expected to speak with a pony that had likely been dead for several centuries. I certainly didn’t expect my conservation with her to only last for a few seconds in the real world. What had felt like a long and deep conservation had only seemed like a minor moment of sleep. Gilda, Buttersworth, and Smog hadn't even noticed that I had drifted off to sleep yet. If they did then it was likely that they might have thought that it was the trauma finally catching up with me.

We still had a tour to provide, but the idea of resting first had certainly been accepted by all. From what Dreamweaver had told us we had time before we had to take the tour out, and I had encouraged everyone to get some sleep. The beds themselves were exactly what one might think. The burnt rubber smell was more of the quick manufacturing of these beds and buildings, but regardless it was nice to have somewhere other than the ship to rest at. It wasn’t that I worried about the ship. I doubted that Sweet Kisses would actually spy on us if any of us decided to relieve a little tension.

Which was something else that was still bothering me. My heat was certainly more under control now, but there was no denying that I was still in season. My roll in the hay with Smog had relieved much of the driving need, but it didn’t stop all of it. There was more than once I considered sneaking into either his or Buttersworth bed, and letting either one of them have their way with me. Hell, I was almost tempted to get into bed with Gilda. But unlike before it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t control it. Working, keeping my mind busy, thinking about something else, were keeping me from acting on my desires. I laid my head back on the bed, and within seconds I was out again. Sweet darkness took me, and while I had almost expected to see the Ministry Mare again it ended up being something different.

My dreams of late had been darker, more violent, and certainly filled with the kinds of horror that I wondered if anypony, well anycreature, else had to deal with. I didn’t want to think that I was the only pony in the colonies that had nightmares. The Lightbringer preserve us I knew that nightmares weren’t exclusively my territory. Still, I didn’t like facing them. Instead this dream wasn’t a horrific nightmare. It began with me bitting a pillow, my rump in the air, and the familiar feeling of my marehood being split by a welcomed intruder.

That intruder felt amazing, although he was huge. I felt his speed increase, and I grunted in time with each and every thrust. I could feel his testicles tumping against my teats, the way his forelegs were wrapped around my haunches, and the feel of his teeth on my neck. I grunted as I felt every single thrust, and then I froze as I heard the voice I didn’t realize I missed so much.

“Yer mah pretty mare, ain’t cha?”

The sound of Baldwin’s voice shook me to my core, and I looked ahead of me to see Baldwin behind me. He was just as beautiful, as strikingly handsome as I remembered when I first met him. His soft yellow coat was so light that it practically glowed, his red mane was the same as I remembered it, and his emerald eyes shined like jewels. He was for all rights and purposes one of the most beautiful stallions I’d ever seen. The fact that he was so large, that his size made it incredibly easy for him to straddle a normal mare like myself with absolutely no problem.

I closed my eyes again, lost in the feeling of being bred by the stallion I considered my friend, the stallion that wouldn’t do this, and I accepted that this was a fun sex dream and nothing else. I couldn’t lie and say that it wasn’t something that I didn’t want. I did, oh by the Lightbringer it was something I wanted so badly. I wanted Baldwin to mount me and rut me so hard it felt like I was a virgin again. I wanted to trot funny afterwards, I wanted to carry his foals, and I wanted to be with him, but he didn’t want to be with me.

Maybe it was because he was just a good and kind colt, and I could accept that happily because it still gave me a chance. He didn’t seem interested in colts, so either he was a somepony that had manners and was exceptionally considerate of others, or it was that he didn’t want to be with me. That thought bothered me far more than I wanted to admit. It bothered me because it meant that while he saw me as a friend he didn’t see me worth having as a sexual partner.

The dream began to break away, and soon I found myself waking up. I smacked my lips, and the phantom feeling of being bred lingered as I got up. I looked around the small house for a moment and found a bottle of something purple on a table. I checked, and blinked as I read it for a moment.

“Razzleberry’s Famous Purpleberry soda?” I asked feeling half asleep, “Eh, why not.”

I used my magic and popped the bottle cap from the bottle, laid it on the table, and soon I took a deep drink. The soda was overly sweet, and it tasted of elderberries. It wasn’t bad at all, but certainly I could see a filly trying to feed it to her hamster or gerbil. It wouldn’t end well at all, but it didn’t stop the fact that she was certain there would be a few that would try. I took another drink, and I was sure by the taste that too much of this would rot teeth straight out of somepony’s head.

I finished the bottle of soda, looked around, and found a small tin. I studied it for a moment and opened it. I hadn’t been sure what to expect, but the taste wasn’t terrible. It was certainly off, a little salty, but it did taste like fish of a sort. I looked to find a small package of Auntie Frosted Cakes ever soft/everlast bread. I opened it, took two slices of the bread out, and then put the odd fish on them. Having made a sandwich she ate it in the stillness of the building before looking around.

I expected to see everypony else asleep, but instead I saw Smog looking at me from a top bunk. His eyes were following me, almost as if he was a predator looking at prey. Of course I had to remind myself that he was in fact a predator. Sure, part of him was pony, but he was half dragon. That meant that he could, and most likely would, eat bigger animals.

“Any of the Neptuna left?” he asked sounding more alert and awake than I would have expected, “Because I could go for some.”

I floated a can up to him, watched as he opened his mouth, bit down on the top, and then ripped it open before spitting out the top of the can and slurping down the meat inside. He crawled off of the top bunk he’d been on and looked at me.

“So, we’re going to take this tour out, make sure they make it back, and collect our weapons, gear, and go find this hidden lab you’re looking for,” he said nonchalantly, “and I’m fine with that, but I want to find my friends.”

I remembered him talking some about his crew, and specifically I could recall the way he talked, it seemed like there was somepony he was interested in having a relationship with. I wouldn’t begrudge him having his eyes set on somepony else. What we had, the short bit between us, was more or less just him helping me with my heat. It wasn’t anything more than that, and I understood that completely.

“I know, and we will,” I said confidently, “But if you have anyway of knowing where they went, it will be a huge help.”

He nodded, “We’ll need to go back to Taffyta anyway, and I’m sure that we can pick up their trail from there.”

I nodded. The first thing we had to do though was get through this tour guide job and collect. I glanced over at Gilda and Buttersworth. Both of them were sleeping, and I didn’t have the heart to bother either of them. I knew that for Gilda it likely was a novelty to be able to get much needed rest without it being required time off of work. I could only imagine that the same was for Buttersworth as well.

It struck me as odd that they were forced to work like they had back in Standing Water. Gilda had confessed that she didn’t know what to do with the extra time she had on the Non-Responsible. She had said that she was used to working twelve hours days, and then having twelve hours off for rest, feeding, and other things. Having a twelve hour shift didn’t seem terrible, but never having a day off in order to recuperate seemed malicious on the side of the company. It was chewing up an employee and then spitting them back out because there would be someone else to take their place eventually.

No, I was content to let them sleep. I wanted them to enjoy the rest that they both deserved, and instead I looked ahead at what was likely to come. We would be going to lead this tour, and that was fine. Once that was done we would bring the tourists back, collect our pay, and then we would make our way toward Taffyta. That was something I both looked forward to and wanted to avoid as much as possible. From my understanding Taffyta itself was partially intact, the walls would need repair, if I was to claim it, and of course from what Smog had told me there were marauders there to clear out.

Marauders were something that didn’t bother me that much at this point. They weren’t ponies in the strictest of sense, or they weren’t ponies in the strictest of sense to me, and I felt that dealing with them was better than leaving them alone for anyone to notice and have to deal with. I heard Smog with the now empty can of Neptuna. He crinkled it up, like a piece of paper, and then tossed it toward a small waste basket that was sitting by the counter.

I wasn’t sure if we wanted to be the only ones leading this group. I felt better having everyone with us. Gilda and Buttersworth had really stepped up when I needed them to. Sure, Gilda couldn’t hit the broad side of a ship with a scope, but she did her best to help. She was a hell of a mechanica, an excellent engineer, and I knew that her work on the Non-Responsible was crucial. She honestly kept the ship going. There was little doubt in my mind that it was her abilities, not mine, that were the reason why the Non-Responsible worked so well.

But it was more than that. I felt like they were friends, and I wanted to keep my friends close. I felt that it made good sense to keep them close. I heard the sound of someone stirring, and I looked to see Gilda slowly blinking her eyes owlishly for a moment before she finally got up, flexed her back, stretched her wings, and then moved around a bit.

“Wow,” she said, sounding more energetic than she had in a long while, “Ain’t slept like that ever. I feel like a brand new gryphon. I think that I could strip the entire cooker for the Standing Water cannery and not make any mistakes!”

I grinned at her, “Good to hear,” I said surprised and relieved at how a little rest seemed to really help her. But then I had to consider the situation that she was coming from. “We all need to take time to get the rest our bodies need.”

I hated Standing Water and Dirty Bit a little more. It wasn’t so much the settlement as it was Dirty Bit himself. He’d set it up so that the workers didn’t have enough time for rest, feeding themselves, and anything else they needed to do. Sure, they had twelve hour days, but Gilda had said that most workers had at least one part time job along with their main job, and that part time was six hours. That meant that they four hours off to rest before they had to go back to work.

It was insane, the entire thing was an exercise in insanity, and no one questioned it. It bothered me that so many of them were conditioned to believe that it was the norm, that sleeping for eight full hours was extravagant and luxurious in the extreme, and that the only way they could ever have that would be either to win a lottery or work until they were finally promoted to a position of power.

I watched as Buttersworth got up, gave him a smile, and together we walked out and toward Gunt’s Emporium. True to his word Gunt had the tourists ready, several of them had the look of higher society individuals, and I noticed that more than a couple of them looked more like they belonged walking down the streets looking into shops instead of heading out into the wilderness. Gunt also surprised me by presenting a few high caliber rifles to us. I looked at him and he shrugged his shoulders.

“Yer be needin’ something ta help, so, I provide loaners.”

I gave a nod, “Thanks Gunt,” I said with a smile and then looked at the map he laid out before me, “Map too?”

He nodded, and I took it. The map covered the areas that were deemed not as dangerous for a tour, and studied it, copied it to my Eye Dentity Scanner, and then let Smog copy it to his Pipbuck. I then walked to the front of the group, eyeing all of them, which there were eight all together. I had expected there to be more, but it could be that the others went on ahead without a guide, their problem not mine, or they decided to forgo the tour and maybe decided to take in a good rut. All the more power to them.

“Morning! I’m Captain Slim Chance, and I will be your tour guide today. We’re going to see some of the flora and fauna that exists on Majesty, and I am giving the warning now that this will be dangerous. If you don’t like danger, please stay behind, but know there are no refunds.”

Gunt nodded and moved about on his business. There didn’t seem to be any arguments to the contrary, so I led the group from the Emporium to the gates. Once there we stepped out and moved toward the first trek. It was a mountain trail that headed up to Draconequus Keep. The road outside of Fallen didn’t have any signs of marauders, and so we moved through. The edge of the trail looked normal, and I wondered if the danger would be minimal.

Fifteen minutes into the tour and I realized that this was going to be the hardest bits I’d ever earned. I would have done better bending over, lifting my tail, and telling everypony that putting it in my ass for a bit a piece would have been less work and I would likely have regretted it less. Mutated Dragons were the first problem, luckily it wasn’t many, and it seemed that they were far enough away from the others not to be an issue. Sniping them we dealt with them and moved on.

Ten minutes later it was marauders, but not one or two, instead it was no less than thirty. We managed to keep the tourists from getting hurt, but I felt a bullet graze me, a knife blurred past me and stuck into a rock, and all of this seemed to be happening far faster than it had any right to. Twenty minutes of fighting marauders, of killing every last one of them, and we were on our way again. Every lookout position, every new bend in the trail, and there was another set of creatures, more marauders, and occasionally a perilous looking bridge thrown in for aesthetics as well. I found myself wishing ever so slightly, that the tour would end, we would be back, and collect our pay.

Finally we reached the summit which housed what looked like a giant building that had various satellite dishes stationed on it and around it. Behind the building was a cave, and I checked the map and notes that I’d copied into my Eye Dentity Scanner.

“Ladies and Gentlestallions,” I said with some flourish, “This magnificent structure is Draconequus Summit’s Radio relay tower, and behind it is Discord’s Maw. The Cave is known to be one of the deepest in all of Majesty.”

There were a few glances, and finally one of the tourists walked up to it, “Quick, get my picture!”

“I really wouldn’t stand there.”

She glared at me, “Well I’m not some low life scrub that pretends to be a spaceship captain and actually is just some trick pony pulling tour guide duty.”

I clenched my teeth so hard I almost felt one of them break. That bitch was calling me a trick pony. She was calling me a walking fuck toy, and I wanted to walk over there, shove my hoof up her ass, and go on about my day. I calmed myself down some, realizing that she was a pony like my mother, and decided to handle her in a similar fashion.

“Ma’am,” I said as eveningly as possible even though I really wanted to fuck her up, “Despite what you may think of me, that cave doesn’t look safe, and you’re not dressed for exploring. Instead you look like you’re dressed in preparation of a day of shopping. So maybe stay away from the cave before you fall in?”

“Thank you for the compliment,” she said snootily, “But again, I’m not taking advice from a trick pony, no matter how mannerly, and I want to stand near the caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” she screamed as she fell in.

I sighed, “Okay, Smog, Buttersworth, can you watch the group?”

Smog looked at me, “Why are you leaving me here?”

I looked at them both, “Because I’m not sure if I’m going to need a flyer, and honestly you’ve got a Pipbuck on you. You’d do better helping to watch the others while Gilda and I try to save the silly pony that talked like she’s never stunk a day in her life.”

He nodded, and with that we made our way inside of the cave. Just inside there was a cliff, and the idea of bringing Gilda along was a good one. I used a featherweight spell, and Gilda lowered me down until we reached the bottom. I saw a place where somepony landed, and marks showing that she’d stumbled off. At least she was alive. I could hope that we would be fortunate enough that she’d survive all of the way back to Fallen.

We followed the tracks and I heard somepony gagging. I neared the sound and saw the mare in question. Her expensive clothes had been ripped away, her haunches were lifted into the air, and there were two marauders using her as a fuck toy while a third seemed to be fine with using her mouth. I took aim, shot the first, then the second and third. She dropped, their now lifeless tools of torture and reproduction slipping from her. She laid there in a fetal position, crying, and I felt horrible for her. I felt guilty that I had almost wished for something to happen to her. She’d barely been in here for maybe ten minutes, at the most, and in that time she was found by marauders and then used as a stress relief option.

“You’re okay now.”

She whimpered, “I...I wanna go home now, can I go home please?”

I nodded, but heard something from the way we came. Seeing no choice but to move forward I lifted her in my magic, placed her on my back, and used the featherweight spell on her as we moved further into the cave. There were split offs, turns, dens, but finally we found what looked like a long cavern that came out near a building. I moved toward it realizing that unlike most of the buildings on this planet it wasn’t something that was prefabricated. This was a building made from the materials around. Bits of junk had been crafted into walls, I could see old ship hauls, rubber bricks, sheets of metal, and all of it formed this small building. We neared it, and I noticed that it had a sign on it.

“Junkique, home of the best deals on this planet, or any other.”

I smiled, opened the door, and looked inside to see shelves brimming over with snacks, soda, terminals, weapons, clothes, and other odds and ends. I saw the mare working in the back and took a moment to study her. She was white, her mane a red and black, and I just happened to see a compact looking horn which tipped me off that she was a unicorn. There was an old Stable-Tec Security barding hanging near her, another that was Stable-Tec utility barding, and she was wearing what looked like some ancient police riot gear.

“Welcome to Junkique, We accept bottle caps, not bits.”

I stood there looking at her, “Bottle caps?” I asked, “Who uses bottle caps for money?”

She looked toward me, her red eyes studying me, and slowly the stories hit me. It couldn’t be her because she was buried in Chapel. I had seen the grave, I knew the story, and she was dead, long dead. But she matched what my grandmother had said.

“Go Fish?”

She growled, “Not my name!” she moved toward me and then she stopped. Her eyes widened, “You…” She really studied me, “You got mom’s cheeks, and P21’s eyes.”

She sat back on her haunches, studied me for a bit, and then I felt magic wrap around me, and the mare on my back, and we were brought in for a hug. The mare on my back cried out in surprise, and she released us. At that she looked at me, “Well, say hi to your great, great, I’m not sure how many greats, grandmare.”

My eyes widened as I looked at her, somehow Security, the mare that tried to clean up the hoof, was on Majesty.

She smiled at us, and then motioned for us to follow her. I began to, until I felt something. It was almost as if something was drawing me toward it, and I saw what looked like the skull of a mutated dragon. I opened it, and saw a small pink figurine in there. It had a pony that looked so alive that I was sure she would come to life and begin dancing around like a mad mare for a few moments. I lifted the figurine up and saw the writing under it, “Awareness, it was Under E!”

Taking it, I placed it with the figure of Rainbow Dash, and I followed my living family member further into her store.

You’ve unlocked Celestial Mare: Your overall good Karma has gained the notice of those around you. Merchants will offer discounts, Special Dialogue options are available to special NPCs, and now some NPCs will come to your defence

Chapter 12: Conquences

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Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 12: Consequences

The snooty mare that we’d managed to save from the marauders was crying, curled up into a ball, and doing her best to not be noticed. It took my family member, grandmare, eh Red Eye Damn it, it took Blackjack a few seconds to put together that something had happened to her. It took her even less time to calmly talk to the mare, offer her something, and within seconds that mare was out like a light.

I watched the entire exchange happen in less than ten minutes. The snooty mare was out like a light and Blackjack was back toward where we were standing. I watched as she pulled an older bottle from somewhere behind where she had been standing. The bottle resembled old bottles of whiskey that I’d seen before boarding the Luna Seven. She uncorked it, took a swig of it, and then passed it to me. I took a sniff and realized that this was exceptionally aged whiskey, took a small swig, and it felt like liquid fire was traveling down my tongue, down my throat, and on its way to wage war with my stomach. I passed the bottle back to her and she took a moment to look at Gilda.

“Never really had a problem with Gryphons,” she said, “So, wanna drink?”

Gilda nodded, took a swig from the bottle and I watched as her eyes practically went cross as she swallowed it down. She quickly passed it back.

“Strong!” she croaked out with a cough.

Blackjack gave a small laugh, “Yeah, by now it’s strong enough to degrease an engine,” she said with the humor of the situation strong in her voice, “So, I’m sure you’ve got a story to tell, so why not tell it.”

I looked at her, and for the next hour I told her the entire story. I talked about my mother, Baldwin Apple that was on the Luna Seven, joining up to make something of my life, the Luna Seven being left to drift aimlessly, being saved by Spark Gap, and then I filled her in on everything else that happened. She took every single word, all of it, and then she shook her head.

“Well, I’ve got to say that your mother was a piece of work. I’m glad that I didn’t meet her,” she said sounding disappointed, “I don’t know where that kind of attitude came from, maybe it was P21, or maybe it was just some other pony that joined into the genetic pool.”

She then looked at me, “Regardless, I’m glad that you’ve made it, and it sounds like you’ve got a chance to be a big damn hero,” she grinned and it was unsettling, “The way I see it you’ve got yourself two choices. The first is simple. Leave your friend and the rest of the other settlers on the ship to drift, and then try to make a life for yourself.”

I looked at her in disbelief, “Ummm, I can’t do that.”

She nodded, “And that’s another reason I know that you’re my grandfoal. I know because I couldn’t do it either. I doubt that I’d do anything too smart, but I’d try to do what was right. But you are lucky. P21 was one of the smartest ponies I ever knew. He knew how to hack into terminals, pick locks, and he was super sneaky. You’ve got part of him in you, and that means you’ve got his smarts. So you can do something right and smart.”

The idea that she believed that I was smart seemed shocking to me. Growing up I had been expected to attempt to make passing grades, but mostly I realized that I was being groomed so that some old stallion could snatch me up, marry me, supply my mother with bits, and have legal access to some barely legal tail. The idea that she had been prepared to do that to me, to basically sell my hoof in marriage to somepony I didn’t know, it didn’t sit well with me. It was more or less treating me like the corporations treated their employees.

In the end I wanted something better. But my grandmare was right. I had a chance to do something right. I wasn’t sure if it would be smart, but I was sure that I would do my best. I looked at the mare that was out of it, “We’ve got to get back to Fallen,” I said looking at her, “Do you want to join us?”

She smiled, “Well, I’m thinking about packing up the store, and moving off world. Majesty’s a good place, and I’ll likely end back up here, but there’s certainly other places.”

I looked at the several large jars of bottle caps she had, “Not sure that you can spend caps though.”

She laughed, “Oh, trust me I can spend caps. It’s one of the few currencies that’s carried over everywhere. Most ponies just don’t realize it. Besides, I swore that one day I’d get more caps than that little cap monger, and I’ve been doing a fair job of it.”

I smiled, “I assume that there’s a good story there.”

She laughed, “There is, and if you have a few minutes I’ll give you short version.”

For the half hour I listened about my several greats grandfather, my I suppose she’d be my other several greats grandmother, the other ponies that she’d met, and finally I heard about Charity. I learned about Governor Charity, her actions that helped tame the wild Wasteland through trade, and how she managed to make things far more fair. But this was a story that I didn’t know. I didn’t know that she charged every pony for practically everything. That there had been a putting up with dumb ponies tax, and specifically a putting up with Blackjack Tax.

When she finished she looked at me, at the security armor I had, and a few moments later she came back with what looked to be an exceptionally dated suit of police armor. She had me shift out of my security armor, and then she had me squeeze into Hoofington Police Ballistic Armor. My Eye Dentity Scanner picked it up, and I realized that it was heads and shoulders above the security armor I’d found. She took the security armor, studied it, and began picking off pieces of it. I watched as she basically tore it apart, taking the faux leather, the simple plastic weave, and elastic bands before trashing the rest of it. She then attached those to what looked like some old Equestrian Military Armor and sat it aside with a sign that said Genuine Pre-War Military Armor, grade B - 250 caps.

There were so many questions that I had. How did she know the grade of the armor, why was she charging two hundred and fifty caps, and then I saw the old Pipbuck she was wearing. It was similar to the one that Smog was wearing. I could only imagine that it had a decent enough organizational program that handled most of the categorizing and pricing for her. But regardless despite the stories, the talking, and getting to know her she had never actually answered if she wanted to go back to Fallen with me.

“So, do you want to come to Fallen?”

She shook her head, “I’ve been there, once, and I did business with a decent gryphon,” she said, “But I wasn’t lying when I said that it’s time that I think about getting off world. I’ll likely be here for another month, maybe, and then I’ll load up and head toward another place. I’m thinking about maybe going to the Earthquaker.”

I had remembered Sweet Kisses talking about. She’d said that it had originally been a ship, like the Luna Seven, that had crashed on an ice planet, and that it was the only safe place on the planet because it generated a ton of heat that kept some strange spider creatures away.

“Is there a reason?”

She looked at me and grinned, “Oh, there’s tons of reasons, none of them good, but I like to play card games, and so far the only ones worth having have been there.”

I looked at her like she was insane. The reason she was willing to up and leave was to play cards? What was the point in that? Really? She had established herself here, and then she was just going to go? And what would she spend as money? The caps that she was charging? Seriously, nopony seemed to use bottle caps as money. She looked at me after a few moments, and I felt her gently touch my forehead.

“You’re young, at least in comparison,” she said, “Believe me when I say that I’ve been around far longer than any of the colonies. There’s very few beings that have been around as long as I have, and at a certain point a pony simply has seen and done everything that there is to do.”

I looked at her in disbelief, “What about the corporations, the Luna Seven, the colonists, and saving everypony?”

She gave me a tired smile, “I did that already,” she said wistfully, “Ages ago. It’s time for a new hero to take up the causes.”

She looked at me again, “But I don’t want you thinking that I don’t care. If it really gets too hard for you, come find me. I’ll either be here or on the Earthquaker. If it’s too difficult, find me and I’ll come help. That’s a promise.”

I felt a little relief, but at the same time I understood what she was saying. The Security Mare had done her job, and now she was enjoying an incredibly lengthy retirement. It didn’t sit well with me though. The stories I had heard of our ancestor had all told of how brave she was, how she went out of her way to help ponies with an almost suicidal abandonment, and how she tried to bring some sense of law and order to the Wasteland. The mare I was getting to know seemed more interested in card games, running a store, and collecting bottle caps so that she could beat somepony that likely had been dead for ages.

I continued to sit on my haunches, trying to figure her out, trying to figure out why she would be like this, and something seemed to click inside of my head. It was as if I was actually seeing everything for the first time. I knew that she had a cutie mark of a Queen of Spades and an Ace of Spades. It wasn’t there. There was no cutie mark on her. Her flank was as bare as a young foal that hadn’t had the chance to get theirs yet.

Something had taken it from her, and I had to wonder if that didn’t change her some. I looked toward my own flank that was now covered by armor. I know that I’d feel pretty terrible if I woke and found my own cutie mark gone. Where hers had been a winning hand in a game of blackjack mine was something of a winning hand in a game of poker. Three Aces, one of hearts, one of Clubs, and one of Diamonds along with a pair of eights, one of hearts and one of Spades, graced my flank. A dead mare’s hoof was what it was normally called. It fit my name well enough. It was a winning hand, most of the time, but there was a slim damn chance that somepony was going to get out of it without some trouble.

She sighed after a moment, “It happened a very long time ago,” she said, “But it didn’t change me.”

She smiled at me, “The only thing that changed me was time. I have lived for a very long time,” she said as she dug around behind her and brought out a book, “Take this with you. It’s old, but the story in it is important. Believe me, you’re going to want to read it and understand what happened.”

I nodded as I floated the book over to me. It was certainly large, bound in what looked like old Stable-Tec security barding that had been repurposed, and it had a faint smell of moldy food. My nose crinkled as I smelled it and I saw her smile.

“Yeah, that looks like Mom’s expression too,” she said with a small laugh, “You’re welcomed to come here when you want, and after everything is said and done maybe we can get to know each other more.”

A thought crossed my mind, and slowly it began to take hold. I claimed Taffyta, it was my settlement, and more to the point I planned on bringing the settlers down to it. Well, I had originally planned on bringing the settlers down to it. I still could do so, and she could stay there. Hell, if she wanted I could make it so that the entire township worked on bottle caps. It’d be weird as hell, but maybe it would be worth it. With that I tried to channel Velvet Remendy and gave my best and brightest smile.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me.

“I see now how mom always knew when I was up to something,” she said, “Okay, out with it.”

I rolled my eyes, “Do you know Taffyta?” I asked, “Because apparently I own it. And we could sure use a mare that knows Security, maybe runs a little junk shop, likes to play cards…”

She grinned, “I know the settlement, and you claimed it huh?” she asked, “Alright, I can resettle there I suppose. At least for a while. So, who are you going to fill the settlement with?”

I smiled, “The settlers from the Luna Seven, all of them,” I said with glee, “It’d be a perfect place for them.”

She considered it for a moment, “Not perfect, but certainly better than some options. Okay, I’ll help get it in shape, but my store will only accept bottle caps.”

I grinned, “How about the whole settlement work off of bottle caps?”

She nodded, “That works.”

I felt a sense of relief. While she might not be the security mare anymore at least she would be present to help watch the settlers. On top of that I had to believe that she would want the settlement to thrive. After all if it did well then that would only make it a more desirable place to live. With any luck Spark Gap could use the lab that existed there to help fix the huge number of problems that existed for everyone.

I knew the idea was a little foolish. The problems I'd seen weren't just going to go away. The damage that had been done to every creature by the corporations was staggering. It would take a massive undertaking to just start the healing, but apparently I had some Earth Pony in me, and I knew that Earth Ponies didn't back down from a problem.

They attacked it en masse and beat it down. At the moment that was my idea. The settlers, Spark Gap, and myself would hopefully be enough to get it going. Taffyta was a damned good beginning, but that was just it. It was just the beginning. I had a basic idea that what would come afterward would be changing all of the colony, and hopefully changing it for the better.

After the basic ideas of her place in the Settlement, of which I was surprised that she agreed to take up the job of Security Chief, I began to gather up the few things she had handed over, including the much better armor. She gave me a soft smile.

“It’ll be good to act like Security again,” she said wistfully, “Maybe it’ll be something that I do for a good long while.”

I didn’t ask what she meant. I understood that eventually I would grow old, die, and when that happened she would be alone again. Hopefully there would be some foals before then. A family that she could connect herself to would be something that I suspected would help her handle her exceptionally long life. Part of me wondered how long it was that she had left. From what I’d seen she hadn’t really ever aged.

She smiled at me as I carried the now passed out fancy mare, and walked next to Gilda. Going back through the cave wasn’t going to happen. It wasn’t that I would be opposed to it, but between the mouth of the cave, and the room of the cavern there wasn’t much chance of Gilda flying us back up the way we came. We walked out, and there was an excited squawk from my engineer. She moved toward what I thought was a regular rock, and then she stepped behind it.

“Captain!” she shouted happily, “Ya gotta see this!”

I moved forward, looking at what it was that had caused Gilda to sound so excited. There before me was what looked like a small boxy room. She was standing inside of it, her eyes wide in excitement.

“Captain, this here is an honest to the Moon Mare herself first generation Spacey Favorite’s Turbo Lift!” she chirped with absolutely no attempt at containing any of her excitement, “I thought that they were all taken apart for parts since they were the only thing that lasted f’ver!”

I looked at the elevator, “That’s a really small elevator.”

She looked at me in confusion, “Small, but Captain she’s a whole six inches wider than the elevator back at Standing Water. Why, there’s room enough for us to be in here, with her on one of us, and we wouldn’t even touch on the way up.”

I glanced at it again, “It’s not going to break down, right?”

She smiled, “Nope, last f’ver. Everything’s here, and I bet that it could make the trip a hundred times a day without a problem.”

I sighed, climbed into it, and moments later the door closed. The elevator began to take off, heading up what was obviously a shaft that went to the top of the mountain, and moments later we were looking at Smog and Buttersworth.

“Where did the two of you… What is that?”

I looked at Smog, seeing his confusion, “Elevator, apparently it was hidden in the rocks.”

“Who puts anything in rocks?”

A gray Earth Pony Mare that was with the group cleared her throat, “Rocks are amazing, I have over three thousand poems about rocks, all from my Great Grandmare, and I will recite them.”

The rest of the group shook their heads, “Please, don’t,” an older stallion said timidly, “While we respect her place as the mare that made Auntie Frosted Cakes Geological Study and Quarry possible, I don’t think any of us really want to revisit the mind of Maud Pie.”

The last name of Pie seemed familiar to me, and suddenly almost as if there was a pink pointing it out I realized that it was the same last name as the Mare of the Ministry of Morale. I wondered if this mare was related. Maybe it would be worth attempting to find out later. Going back down the mountain was far less interesting than going up had been. The corpses of pretty much everything we had killed lay where they had fallen, but I could already see some small scavengers making their way out to what had to be the easiest meal they’d come across.

Getting to the bottom of the mountain we led the tourists back to Fallen. We entered the gates, headed to Gunt’s store, and once there I checked in. I completely expected to see a deduction of payment for what happened to the snooty mare. It would make sense. After all she’d suffered something terrible, granted it was because she was being an idiot and wouldn’t listen, but still she had suffered.

Instead Gunt looked them over, his expression, as far as I could tell, seemed pleased, and he nodded to me.

“Very good, I finish improving and repairing weapons, outfit you with more ammunition, and give the rest to you in bits, good yes?”

I nodded, “That’s fine, but since she was attacked, aren’t you going to deduct anything?”

He looked at the mare that was still sleeping, “I assume she did not listen, yes?”

I nodded, “Yeah, she wouldn’t listen and then she fell into Discord’s Mawl.”

He shrugged his shoulders, “No deduction, tourists instructed to listen to guide, informed for safety, sign waiver, for you full pay, her, she have nightmares forever, but alive.”

He studied me for a moment, “You see something huh?” he asked his voice hinted at a bit of excitement, “White mare, red and black mane, odd, a bit insane, only want to trade in bottle caps?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I found her,” I answered looking at him with some hesitation, “She helped with her.”

He gave a nod, “Then I pay in bits and bottle caps,” he replied with a shrug, “Mare good for business, helps protect tourists too stupid to listen to guide. Bottle caps to spend with her, bits to spend here.”

He counted out six hundred bits, and then he lifted a large sack of bottle caps. If I had to guess there was at least three times the amount of bottle caps in the sack then there were bits he’d counted out. He pushed the sack to me, “Mare only one who trades in bottle caps, unless of course another settlement opens,” his voice was one of confidence, “Could be such a settlement goes against norms, trades in bottle caps, produces things that make caps worth more than bits. If happen I hope leader of settlement remember Gunt, and Fallen, in their future trades.”

I didn’t know how he knew, but I more than understood the meaning. He wanted to be in on the ground floor of Taffyta’s trading, and since he’d helped out as much as he had I had no problem letting him set up shop there so to speak.

You’ve unlocked the Exchange Perk! Now you’re able to set up exchanges between the various currencies. When exchanging you will see a greater value for your preferred currency. In addition All Merchants will now pay you in your preferred currency in addition to the normal payment posted on all transactions.

Outer Worlds: Equestria

by Ron Jeremy Pony

Introduction

Chapter 1: Awaken

Chapter 2: Once upon a Time

Chapter 3: Powertrip

Chapter 4: Unconventional Meeting

Chapter 5: Free Bird (Well Kitty Bird)

Chapter 6: Breakdown

Chapter 7: Adrift

Chapter 8: Ain't Too Loney Yet

Chapter 9: Friendship is POWER!

Chapter 10: Awareness, it was under E!

Chapter 11: Some Roots go Deep

Chapter 12: Conquences