Plummet

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Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, the virtues of friendship were cast aside in favor of greed, suspicion and war. Tensions strained from within and without, soldier against soldier, friend against friend. One day, the tension finally snapped and the world ended. Deadly megaspells and balefire bombs rained down, pulverizing the world and burning until little remained but the smoldering husk of a once vibrant planet. But against all odds, life went on as beaten and bruised as the world around it. Some retreated underground, sealing themselves away in massive subterranean Stables where they waited out the nuclear winter before daring to return to the hellish surface.

Others hid themselves far above the Wasteland; when the pegasus city of Cloudsdayle was destroyed the winged ponies left the surface for dead, blocking it away with a thick layer of clouds. There they built the Grand Pegasus Enclave and for two hundred years they survived isolated from the world below them. However, they never forgot Equestria entirely, and after two centuries of red tape and scouting missions the Enclave has begun a serious foray into the Wasteland. The wasters have seen the signs, pegasi swooping below the clouds and the creatures of the wastes acting stranger than normal; the Enclave is most certainly coming. The question on everyponies’ lips, are there here to save, or to destroy?

Fallout: Equestria

Snowfall

In the Enclave, everypony has a purpose. Living above the clouds means limited resources and it is up to every stallion, mare, and foal to do their part in keeping the society running. But limited resources means that we must have near 100% efficiency of working ponies, over or under population would destroy us. Because of that, families are limited in the amount of children they can have. That cap is typically at one or two foals, but special consideration was made for military families since their members ran the higher risk of premature death, raising the cap.

I was the daughter of one such military family, the youngest with two older brothers. Like most military families we lived near an Enclave base. My father and eldest brother were currently stationed at the military academy at Coltarado Heights, so named because the former town of Coltarado Springs was on the surface and made of so much irradiated slag. Like the families of all the other officers and trainees we lived in a large ring of suburbs several miles outside the base. Being in a military family meant I was stuck with plenty of expectations, not the least of which was that I’d serve in some grandiose fashion like my father the drill sergeant.

But before you were some big high ranking official, you were a lowly grunt, and my home was a place where you were reminded that every day. “Stand at attention, Sleet!” My brother barked at me.

“I. Am.” I said through gritted teeth. Knees locked, back flat, neck perfectly straight, eyes forward, wings at your side, and uncomfortable as all hell. We went through this drill every morning since we could walk on our own, and with Dad and Downpour gone Storm Kicker was taking it upon himself to keep me “well trained.”

“No you aren’t, cold flank.” He said, reveling in his power. “Your feathers aren’t straight.”

We had been stuck like this for the past ten minutes, Storm taking his sweet time correcting every miniscule flaw in my stance. He could tell it was annoying me, and the “pet name” was not helping my mood. I wasn’t the world’s prettiest mare, and my brothers wasted no time letting me remember it, but when I had gotten my Cutie Mark it had given them a whole new clip of ammunition. Five white snowflakes with lines of gray driving sleet between them adorned my flank. Hey, lookit that! They said Even your Cutie Mark knows you aren’t hot!

I bit the inside of my cheek, giving my wings a small flap to even out my feathers. “Better?”

“If you call ‘less than terrible’ better.” He sneered. “Try again.”

A pony’s Cutie Mark was a manifestation of their special talent, a magical mark that displayed your destiny. You were a blank flank until you discovered your talent, and from that point forward your flank was marked. I’d gotten the mark when, after being tormented by my brothers, I had slammed the door to my room and frozen the hinges shut. I hadn’t even noticed the mark’s appearance until I had stopped sulking. My mark indicated that I would be a weather pony, able to create snowstorms when winter came. The only problem was that after the apocalypse pegasi no longer controlled the weather. But while this meant my special talent was almost completely useless to the Enclave, it helped me with other matters.

I concentrated, using my wing fluttering as cover while I activated my talent. Pegasus weather magic worked a bit like unicorn magic, except instead of channeling power through a horn we used wings. I sent a bitter, wintery draft at my brother, aiming for his more sensitive areas. I had to suppress a snicker as his eyes widened and he started shaking. “Well, and improvement is an improvement…” He began. I lowered the temperature further, causing a spasmodic twitch. “We’ll see how well you do tomorrow, Sleet Gray. Dismissed!”

“Yessir!” I said with a jaunty salute. I quickly left the room before he could warm up and continue harassing me. I trotted into my room, my hooves falling on clouds as if they were made of stone. Like everything else in the house, my room was as Spartan as possible, a bed, a dresser, a window, and an old computer terminal. While my special talent did not help the Enclave, I had been fascinated with pre-war archano-techonology for years and had developed some moderate skill in accessing old computer terminals and technology. I practiced my data extraction skills on the old terminal, and hoped that one day I’d be good enough to work as a data specialist for the military. Like everything else in the Enclave, the terminal was made out of cloud with the exception of the glass screen.

As the old model fired up I examined myself in the screen. Supremely dull, as usual. Same ice blue coat, same mane that gave me my name, same unimpressive features. Years of being picked on had rendered me mostly immune to getting depressed over my looks, but some deep part of me was still irked at how very unimpressive I was.

My reflection was overcast by the green glow of the monitor turning on, thankfully before I could work up a good ire. “Okay forgotten files from an age long past, what have you got for me today?” I had connected my terminal to a large Enclave data repository of old files retrieved from the surface world. Sure, it may not have been perfectly “legal” for a civilian to view this stuff, but nopony cared about two hundred year old journal entries enough to bother me. My hooves clacked on the keys as I traversed the files; I had already cracked most of the entries on the low-security end of things. Seeking a bigger challenge, I began looking dangerously close to files ponies may actually care about.

One in particular caught my eye. “Oh, hello there…” I muttered, my eyes darting over the screen. The file name was an unintelligible jumble of numbers, letter, and symbols, but judging by the size it probably contained something interesting, perhaps several somethings. “Let’s see what you are, hmm?” I opened the file and was greeted with a box asking for a password, as expected. There was a weakness in terminal security systems that allowed you to pull up a list of possible passwords as well as learn how many letters the real password had, which I quickly exploited.

There were a few catches though, for one you only had four guesses, and if you got the fourth one wrong you were locked out permanently so you were forced to back out fully and reset the lock if you failed three times. Also the list of potential passwords was randomized each time, making each attempt different. I had to back out several times before I got the password right. “There we go! Now let’s see what we have…what?” What I got was another password box. “That’s…different.” There had never been a double security layer before.

I backed out of the system and re-entered the first password just to make sure. Sure enough it worked and another box popped up. I gave a frustrated sigh. “Oh well, let’s get to work.” I set to cracking the second code, this one was longer so the chance of failure was greater. Not to mention each time I was forced to back out of the system I had to make my way back through the directory and first password, making the endeavor tedious.

My hooves flew over the keyboard, each failure eliciting an annoyed hiss. I was so preoccupied I didn’t notice my mother enter the room. “Hacking again, Sleet?”

I twitched in surprise. I was usually more attentive when treading the fine line of legality. “’Hacking’ makes it sound like I’m doing something wrong.” I said, turning to look at her. “‘Extracting data’ sounds much more professional.”

Another common jab from my brothers was that the reason I was unattractive was because after Mom there weren’t enough good looks to go around. Radiant Dawn was about as picture perfect as mares could get, with her golden coat, illustrious silver mane and smooth features. How a delicate beauty like her had ever married a gruff military buck like Dad was completely beyond me. Still, despite not being as forceful as Dad she did her best to keep her family happy. “Too bad you didn’t get a data extraction Cutie Mark, then you wouldn’t need to practice all the time!” Though she tended to blunder a bit.

I tried not to let the sting of my nearly useless talent being brought up show on my face. “Well, what’s life without something to strive to, eh?” I said.

She seemed oblivious to my discomfort. “True enough. I just wanted to let you know that your father and brother will be coming home later today, so don’t go freezing my potential grandchildren anymore!”

I snickered for a second before a thought hit me. “Well what about me? Couldn’t I have kids?”

Mom’s expression became slightly panicked as she realized the implication. “I just like to keep the chance high, dear.” Of course Mom, of course. At least she tried.

Before she shoved her hoof further down her throat, Mom wished me luck on my project and hastily left the room. I contemplated following her, to assure her that there was no offense taken, but even if I was a half-decent liar I doubted she would believe me. Instead I returned to my work, hooves tapping the keys in a comforting rhythm.

After several minutes I cracked the second code. I eagerly waited for my prize to load, but was disappointed when another password box greeted me. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Did I find Princess Celestia’s porn stash or something?” I subconsciously glanced out the window at the mention of the Sun Goddess. I had spent longer on the project then I had thought, it had been early morning when I began and now the sun was high in the sky, meaning Dad and Downpour would be home soon. If Mom found my “hacking” strange than Dad would look at me trying to break a triple-encoded file as downright treasonous! “That just means I’ll have to finish before he gets here!”

But as I set to breaking the code something felt off. What in Equestria would need to be so heavily encrypted? And if it was so important, why hadn’t some Enclave tech cracked it already? Surly something this big wouldn’t be just sitting in the junk folder. The strength of the code was also a cause for alarm, a twenty character password with almost no correlation between the different possibilities. Cracking this one would need to be almost pure guesswork unless you already knew the code, and I got the distinct feeling that anyone who knew the code would take grievous offense to me taking a peek.

Despite my misgivings I was determined not to let this one go. After all this work I wouldn’t be able to live with my curiosity if I gave up. I had failed my third attempt and was about to back out of the system when I noticed my last guess had been mostly correct, even more so than my last two. I now had a good idea of what the password was, having narrowed it down to two possibilities. I chewed my lower lip, weighing the chances of getting this far again. I sighed “Nothing ventured I suppose…” Bracing myself for the grating sound of the system locking out I typed my guess, counterrevolutionary.

A happy beep confirmed my choice. I blew out a sigh, my shoulders relaxing. “You better be the last one.” I muttered as the next page loaded. “I don’t think I can pull that off twice.” Sure enough that was the last password, a page full of entries opened, headed by the words Operation: Cauterize. “Operation: Cauterize huh? You better be worth it.” There were no markings to indicate what part of the old world government this belonged too, so I opened the first entry and began reading.

Cauterize, meaning to burn or sear. Usually in reference to a wound by burning it closed and killing any infection with the heat. I hadn’t blinked since I had cracked the code, reading further and further into the operation. This wasn’t some old world thing, this was an Enclave project, a plan to cauterize the surface! Equestria was a wound and the Enclave planned to burn it closed! I knew that ponies existed on the surface, ponies from Stables and ramshackle settlements that eked out miserable lives and I was reading their death warrant! Nothing was to survive, every stallion, mare, and foal was to be wiped out to make way for the pegasi. Everything was calculated, estimated death tolls and pocket of resistance, weapons specs, assault patterns, and methods of putting down dissenting troops. There were even whole sections dedicated to the spread of propaganda so that Enclave citizens wouldn’t rebel!

I felt short of breath, and was shaking slightly. I turned to look out the window towards Coltarado Academy, were my father was training soldiers to commit genocide. Genocide under the guise of saving the world, acting like they were trying to help. I could see the specks of trainees flying over the base, the setting sun bathing the whole town in a red-orange glow. I had to tell somepony, but who? Who would believe me? Would parents believe me when I said their sons and daughters were training to kill thousands of ponies? And even if I showed anypony the files I ran a really big risk of facing prosecution. Civilians were obviously not meant to see this. I continued to watch the soaring dots, looking without seeing as my mind churned over what to do.

Since I wasn’t actually paying attention I didn’t notice the dots growing larger. Or that they were wearing power armor, meaning they weren’t trainees. Pegasus power armor looked like a black carapace, light enough to fly in it never the less provided plenty of protection to its wearer. It was outfitted with a battle saddle, a saddle that strapped two guns to a pony’s side allowing them to aim with more precision and pack more power than using their mouth. The saddle included a pair of devastating novasurge magical energy rifles, capable of firing a condensed beam of magic energy that could vaporize a target. And as if all of that wasn’t intimidating enough, the tail was covered by similar plating that ended in a vicious scorpion barb. All in all Enclave officers in power armor were a terrifying force to be reckoned with, and I had a small squad of them heading straight for me.

I felt my heart drop into my stomach and whirled to the terminal. All the classified information was laid out for the world to see and somepony must have noticed the breach. I turned to the window to estimate the time I had to cover my tracks, maybe I could talk my way out of this. Say I was framed. If I erased everything from my personal terminal then I could say somepony else had hacked it through my connection. The squad was approaching faster and faster, now close enough for me to recognize my brother Downpour leading them. My hooves flew over the keyboard, rapidly erasing data. I’d wipe the whole hard drive if I had… I jolted at the sound of the door slamming open and Mom screaming.

“Downpour?” I heard her saying. “What are you doing? Who are they?”

“Official business, Mother. Stand aside.” Downpour’s gruff voice grated through my own panicked breathing.

“Official…You do not just barge into the house with strange ponies! I demand to know what is going on!” I screwed up, Mom. That’s what’s going on.

“Where is Sleet Gray?” He growled. Mom’s protests continued, making me think he wasn’t addressing her anymore.

“Last I saw she was in her room.” Storm Kicker complied. “What’s going on, bro?”

I could hear their hoof falls getting louder, I turned off the console just as the door slammed open. I resisted the urge to whirl around, if I was going to sell my innocence here it needed to be convincing. I turned to face them, summoning up my best death glare. “Did the military not teach you to knock, Down? I’m busy!”

My eldest brother was taller than most ponies, and absolutely towered over me. The intimidating black armor, and the sight of the giant magical energy weapons, nearly made me wet myself. I couldn’t see his eyes, the helmet with its compound lenses obscured most of his face though his mouth was set in the usual hard line. “Sleet Gray, you have been charged with unauthorized access to a highly restricted computer database, and unauthorized viewing of a maximum security file. I am placing you under arrest and you will be brought in for questioning. Should you resist we will have no choice but to consider you guilty and carry out the minimum sentence.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Downpour?! I was writing a code, my own encryption! That’s, like, the complete opposite of hacking!” It was a bold faced lie, but I was praying to Celestia I’d pull it off.

“Sleet, you are being accused of espionage and potential terrorism. That minimum sentence is death. Now come with me quietly or I will have no choice but to shoot.”

Now was a perfectly good time to look scared, which wasn’t difficult. I tried to keep some indignation for effect. “Wh-what? That’s crazy! You can’t just execute me! I’m your sister!”

“This order came down from Colonel Autumn Leaf himself and was relayed to me by our Father. I can ‘just execute’ you, but only if you don’t shut up and come with me.”

The rest of the ponies had crammed themselves into my small room, making me feel claustrophobic. I was completely surrounded by Enclave soldiers, five including my brother, with Storm Kicker and Mom behind them. “Bro, you’ve got the wrong pony. You know cold flank couldn’t pull something like that- “ Much as I appreciated the effort, that was as far as Storm got before Downpour’s hind leg kicked him in the gut.

“Quiet, civilian.” He said as his brother fell to the floor, coughing. “This doesn’t concern you.”

By now I was thoroughly terrified. I couldn’t go with Downpour, and I couldn’t stay here, either way got me killed. It was just a question of how much I would be tortured and interrogated beforehand. Against all odds, I continued to try and reason with him. “Downpour, you’re being crazy! I haven’t done anything! My terminal isn’t even connected to anything important!”

“I saw her.” A soft voice said, making everypony in the room fall quiet. Radiant Dawn stared firmly at the floor, unable to speak in more than a whisper. “Before you showed up, I was going to bring her some dinner, but she looked so busy I didn’t want to bother her. I put the plate on her bed so she could eat when she was done.” I glanced at my bed and sure enough there was a plate of warm food on the covers that hadn’t been there before. “I saw a glimpse of her face when I set it down. She looked so scared…”

I couldn’t believe my ears, Mom was selling me out. I could feel my heart going crazy as fear shot through me. “Mom, what are you doing?!”

“I’m sorry, honey.” She still wouldn’t look up. “I have no choice.”

“No choice? What do you MEAN no choice!?” My voice cracked as I strained to speak around the lump in my throat.

“Your father only left a month ago, but I can tell. I’m pregnant and we only have permission for three children with no way to get another voucher.” I thought I saw a tear run down her cheek, or maybe that was mine blurring my vision. “I’m sorry, Sleet. I’m sorry…”

I was being sold out for an unborn child. The imperfect daughter thrown away to make room for a potentially better one. I stared in horror at Radiant Dawn until I heard the whirr of a rifle charging. “That testimony is all we need.” I heard Downpour say, as if from very far away. I turned to him and saw the barrel of his rifle pointing straight at me. “For what it’s worth this will prevent a scandal from harming the family. You will be buried as a criminal, but Mother’s testimony will help maintain our honor.”

“No…” I whispered. The battle saddle fired from a trigger bit that hung on Downpour’s chest. He dipped his head, picking up the bit in his mouth. “No, please…” I backed up a step, my rump bumping into the accursed terminal. My brother signaled his troops to ready their weapons. “Please, brother, don’t…”

“Goodbye, Sleet Gray.” He said around the bit.

“NO!” All my fear, all of my panic, channeled through that scream and through my special talent. I gave my wings one powerful beat, sending out a veritable hurricane of frozen air. I threw everything I had into creating the most powerful winter gust I could. The power strain was enormous, like my body was held together with rubber bands and I was stretching them to their limit. I felt something snap in me, and I blacked out as all the power rushed out as a howling gale. The last thing I saw was the panicked look of my mother as the world froze around her, and some deep dark part of me felt joy at that.

I felt my body ripping apart at the molecular level. My vision turned red as my atoms dissociated and became dust. Even as I collapsed into a pile of glowing dust they still shot me, each bolt compounding the pain of my disintegration. With no mouth, I couldn’t scream, and throughout the whole ordeal I heard my family chanting “We’re sorry. We’re sorry. We’re sorry…”

I awoke to the sound of shattering glass and the feeling of being flattened. I slowly blinked my eyes open and was greeted with the sight of shattered ice. I slowly picked myself up, my whole body aching from the strain. My mind felt like it had been scrubbed raw and I felt a deathly cold penetrating my limbs. Once my legs steadied I tried to take a step, but my hooves slipped on the icy surface and sent me falling. I landed with a painful thump and slid on the inclined plane before bumping into something. I glanced at the object I had stopped against and screamed in terror. The object was the frozen husk of Storm Kicker, his eyes wide with terror. I scuttled away, still screaming before impacting something else. I turned and promptly emptied my stomach. Radiant Dawn had also been frozen, but her brittle body had shattered on impact, her entire lower body had been broken off and scattered in icy pieces. I thanked Celestia I could not see the frozen remains of my unborn replacement.

I stood again to try and run, I had to get away from the horror surrounding me. When I saw what may before I froze, as solid as the statues of ice. Around me, shattered over the desiccated ground, were the icy remains of my home town. I looked up and saw the breech in the sky where my neighborhood had once sat. The giant cloud curtain spread out to cover the sky around the nice neat hole that the sun shone through.

In my panic, in an effort to save myself, I had frozen everything around me. I’d sent everypony I had known since my foalhood plummeting to a frozen demise and I was the sole survivor. Celestia and Luna preserve me, I had killed them all to save my own flank.
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Footnote: Level up
New Perk: Winter Weather Pony (Rank 1). Your skills as a pegasus allow you to slow the movement of a target with a burst of icy wind. You can even freeze the hooves of a single pony. Additional ranks of this perk allow you to freeze larger objects.

Wasteland

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 2: Wasteland
“I just don’t know what went wrong!”

It was amazing, really. For the thousandth time I glanced up at the cloud cover far above me, a small part of me marveling at how I survived the fall. Not watching where I was going, I promptly tripped over something and landed face first in front of the horrified expression of another dead pegasus. I felt my stomach heave, but after the last three frozen corpses I had nothing left to vomit.

It occurred to me that maybe flying would prevent me from suffering the horror of my dead neighbors, but the thought of it terrified me. I knew that stopping Downpour wouldn’t stop the Enclave military. I probably had hunting squads gearing up to come after me right now, especially after I…

“Committed mass murder…” I whispered as I stumbled past another husk. Needless to say, I didn’t feel comfortable getting closer to the clouds. I noticed the dimming of light and glanced up to the sky again. The hole where my home had once stood was buzzing with activity, a swarm of pegasi arranging themselves around the edges of the breach. All at once they began flying towards opposite ends of the holes, trailing clouds behind them. Like a vast quilt being knit, the Enclave ponies repaired the damage I caused.

I felt my skin crawl as I watched them, felling incredibly vulnerable. What if one of them saw me? Were there soldiers there? As I watched them work I became painfully aware of how large the Enclave’s reach was. All somepony had to do was glance down and I’d have a death squad up my tail. Paranoid? Maybe, but considering the situation I was in I felt paranoia was appropriate. I scurried faster out of the ice field, the scope of the damage baffled me. “How the hell did I do this?” I gasped as I slipped and slid to the edge of the devastation.

Finally I slid out of the icy ruins. I gasped as I looked around me, trying to get my bearings. The area around me was also in ruin, though it wasn’t frozen over. I leaned against a collapsed wall, trying to slow my breathing. My body and mind still felt strained, the effects of the power drain catching up with me as the adrenaline wore off. My brain still felt like somepony had run a wire brush over it, and my legs were as responsive as lead pipes. I slowly slid down the wall, thankful that I was in its shadow. I would just rest here until I felt up to moving…

*****

I jerked at the sounds of gunfire. I felt stiff and cold, curled up next to the wall. I lay there stunned for several seconds until the sounds rang out again. I scrambled to my hooves, my stiff limbs protesting the sudden movement. I looked around at the darkened ruins and cursed myself, I had fallen asleep! Alone and lost in some probably irradiated ruins with Celestia-knows-what mutated horrors and ponies with guns lurking around and I had fallen asleep! When I stood I felt my rear hooves slip out from under me and I fell onto something colder than concrete. I glanced behind me at the ice of my ruined home, feeling incredible guilt well up in me. “Oh Goddesses, I killed them! I…” My panicked whispers were cut off by more gunfire. I pulled myself with my forehooves to get away from the ice while trying to center my thoughts. True, I had killed everypony I had known since I was a foal as well as some I hadn’t, but because of that I was alive. Alive and armed with the knowledge that the rest of the Enclave would be coming down from the sky to murder everypony on the surface. There would be time enough to mourn later, now I had to do something, namely get out of these ruins and warn the surface! As my guilt and panic slowly receded in the face of my resolve I heard what I assumed to be the wielder of the gun screaming.

“Get away! Get away!” I heard the voice echo over the ruins. Over the screams and the shots I could hear an unearthly growling, a sort of gurgling noise that made my skin crawl just from hearing it. “Get away from me you freaks!”

I took a deep breath before getting to my hooves and heading towards the sounds of the gunfire. Though I was still uncomfortable with flying, I used my wings to flutter over the larger mounds of rubble that blocked my path. The majority of the old world city had been annihilated, walls and buildings reduced to mounds of debris that littered the streets. The dark of night made it very difficult to see, which made the sounds all the more terrifying. As I got closer to the sounds of fighting the gurgling cries became louder and more frequent, each one sending a shiver up my spine. I severely hoped that whatever was making that noise was not too common.

I was finally near the fight when the sounds stopped. The quiet came so suddenly I was disoriented by the sound of my own hoof steps. I came to a halt, trying to quiet my breathing so I could listen for signs of the desperate pony. There hadn’t been any gut wrenching death screams, so perhaps they were still alive…

I could hear faint breathing on the other side of the rubble heap next to me. Though it was quick and panicked it wasn’t the terrible gurgling rasp I had heard earlier. I flitted to the top of the heap and glanced down. A young earth pony buck was pressed tightly to the mound, a rusted pistol clenched between his teeth. From this angle and the almost nonexistent light I couldn’t see his face or Cutie Mark, but I could tell that he was scared for his life. He must have heard me land on a rock, because he slowly turned to look up at me, his movements jerky and tense. “Are you okay?” I asked, or at least started to.

Upon seeing me the buck screamed around the handle of his weapon and fired at me. I felt a line of fiery pain cross my left foreleg and shoulder as the bullet grazed me. I gasped in pain, stumbling backwards off the mound. In the half a second before I fell down the mound, I saw down the alley it blocked. The hunched figure of a pony limped past the opening, but after hearing the scream and shot its head turned to look down the alley. All I could make out were its glowing eyes before I fell out of sight.

An inequine scream echoed off of the walls, and the sound of uneven hooves clattered towards the mound. I slid halfway down the rubble before regaining my footing. I could hear the buck crying and shooting as the steps grew louder and louder, the other terrible screams starting up again from every direction. I flapped my wings, leaping back to the top of the mound and moved to rush down it. At least that’s what I meant to do, what I saw made me freeze as if I had blasted myself with winter air.

The hobbling figure moved with surprising speed, rushing the young buck. The earth pony panicked, firing rapidly at his attacker and screaming the whole while. In the intermittent muzzle flash I could see bits of the terrible monster as it continued its charge. Its flesh looked horribly burned, as if it had been left to cook for too long. It had no mane beyond scraggly remains of hair and its hooves were cracked and infested. The worst part was its face, the monster’s flesh had been so mutilated I could almost see the stretching muscle of its manic grin. Its mouth was open in a feral scream with broken and jagged teeth showing between desiccated gums. I could hear meaty thumps as the bullets impacted its flesh, but the creature seemed not to care as it closed in on the frightened colt.

Me? I was terrified. The past day had been hideous beyond anything I had ever seen before, but I could never have imagined such a repulsive creature. I stood frozen, my mind blank with fear as the beast closed on the buck and tackled him. In the flash of his final desperate shot I could see the jagged fangs sink into his flesh. I had seen a disproportionate amount of dead ponies in the past few hours, but I hadn’t heard any of them scream. The wail that escaped the buck cut through the nothingness of my thoughts, adrenaline jumpstarting my body.

I ran like hell, the sounds of the feral beast ripping the poor buck apart receding behind me. I charged down one of the ruined streets despite the pain of my wound, the crumbling buildings flashing by me. My heart was thundering in my chest, a primal fear shooting through me. The terrible howling wouldn’t stop! It sounded like it was getting closer and closer and…

I felt an immense weight slam into me, the disgusting feeling of rotted flesh rubbing against my own. The piercing cry rung in my ears as the zombie pony flailed on top of me, the cracked and broken hooves raking my side. I screamed back, lashing out with my wing. The sickening feeling of my wing smacking the rotted jaw nearly made me heave, but even though it didn’t seem to harm the beast it knocked it off balance long enough for me to shove myself out from under it. I clambered to my hooves just as the zombie struck me again. I screamed in pain as the broken teeth sank into my flank, blood running down my hind legs. I bucked out on reflex, hearing flesh rip from the monster as my hooves shot back. I wasn’t strong by any stretch of the imagination, but I was apparently enough to tear apart a rotted walking corpse.

I looked back at the zombie, freezing in fear as I saw the monster’s head still stuck in my flank, its twitching body on the ground behind me. I snapped my hips to the side, trying to dislodge the severed head. I screamed as it came loose, the broken teeth dislodging with an agonizing tearing feeling. Before I had time to collect myself I heard more cries as the other beasts awoke. I shuddered, bracing against the pain throbbing in my flank, and began limping away as quickly as I could.

“What the hell is going on?” I whispered as the growling and screaming drew closer. My breathing was halting as I cried, from the pain, from fear, and from hopelessness. “Oh Goddesses, please help me!” But there was no divine help on the way, I could hear the demonic chorus growing louder behind me. I looked over my shoulder watching the limping, rotted horde rushing towards me. My mind rushed though different ideas, each more desperate than the last. I had to do something, anything…

I spotted it, something that gave me an idea. It was probably a terrible idea, and I had no idea if I could pull it off. I wasn’t sure I wanted to pull it off, but as the scarily swift masses of shambling corpses drew closer, I was left with little choice. I glanced once more at the moonlight glinting off the icy ruins of my neighborhood from Coltarado Heights, the ice still somehow frozen despite it being several hours after the incident. “I’m sorry.” I said, even though the murdered ponies could not hear me. “I just wanted to be useful, never this.” I turned to face the horde, spreading my wings. I felt my power building, an icy chill spreading over me and a faint crackling coming from my feathers as they frosted over. As the power built, flashes from earlier sped past my mind’s eye, Downpour’s energy rifle pointing at me, Mother staring at the floor unable to look at the daughter she was throwing out, Mother’s terrified expression as that daughter killed her with snow and ice. I shut out those images, I couldn’t afford doubt. I sucked in a deep breath, and held it as the horde shambled close enough for me to see the moonlight glint off of their broken teeth and glowing eyes. “Stay away from me, you rotting, mutated mother fuckers!” The oath built into a scream as I let the spell go.

I flapped my wings in one powerful gust, sending a wave of cold at the horde. Though I didn’t freeze them, what I had done earlier was nothing short of a miracle I wasn’t sure I could replicate, I could see their unnatural muscles tensing from the cold, their bodies slowing down. By the time the wind petered out, the zombies had slowed to a fraction of their former speed, icicles hanging heavily from sinew and flesh. I felt a wave of weariness hit me, but I pushed through it and ran as fast as I could. They wouldn’t be chilled forever. As I limped out of the cursed ruin I saw a street sign, surprisingly legible despite its age and the lack of light. “Welcome to Coltarado Springs! Home of Equestria’s Bravest!”

*****

Incredible pain shot through my wings, originating from the hooks lodged in them. The rest of my body hung limp, causing even more agony in my shoulders from my own weight bearing down on them. This all did little to block out the hungry screams of the zombie ponies, a rotting crush of them writhing beneath me. I was lowered in a slow, jerky fashion, each sudden stop making my shoulders flare in pain. I couldn’t move, couldn’t even struggle as the first zombie jumped and bit into my dangling hoof…

My eyes shot open as I sucked in air, my mind spinning with the remnants of the nightmare. For a few seconds I could hear the zombies growling and tried to sit up to run. Before I could make any progress a hoof was laid on my chest and gently pushed me down. “Whoa there honey! Settle down, you’re alright!”

“Wha- I…” I blinked rapidly, looking around the room. I was in a relatively clean room that had several unoccupied beds in it, sans the one I was in. One stretch of wall was taken up by shelves that housed seemingly random things in no particular order. One shelf held equal parts books and medicinal supplies while another had toys next to stacks of ammunition. The walls were covered in paper that I assumed had once been pink, but were now faded to a sickly gray. Standing at the foot of my bed was a middle-aged unicorn mare that looked more like a ghost than flesh and blood. Everything from the tip of her horn to the bottoms of her hooves was pure white, making her seem to glow even in the dim light of the dirty windows. The only part of her that wasn’t white was her Cutie Mark, which was what appeared to be a family portrait, though I couldn’t make out the ponies in the picture itself. “Where am I? Am I dead?”

The mare chuckled at my confusion. “No you aren’t dead, thank Celestia! You almost were though, gave me some right good scares! I was worried the infection would get you, even after I healed the bite.”

Bite? I looked down the bed at the flank that had been attacked by the zombie. The coat around the bite looked new and I could see some pink flesh beneath it, but other than that I was completely healed. “You healed me?”

“Sure as shooting I did! Lemme tell you I’ve seen some nasty ghoul bites, and yours looked to be the nastiest! Luckily most of the damage was superficial, just really ugly.” As she spoke she busied herself readying something on the bedside table. She talked with a motherly affection that made me distinctly uncomfortable. After all, the last time I had dealt with a mother figure I had nearly been disintegrated.

I closed my eyes against the resurging memory, asking more questions to keep from breaking down over it. “Who are you? And where am I?”

“Well where you are is St. Ponysburg. New St. Ponysburg I suppose, seeing as the old St. Ponysburg was destroyed by the megaspells.” She used her magic to levitate over a coffee mug filled with a strangely colored liquid. “Here, drink this.” At my doubtful expression she reprimanded me. “Now look here, I did not go through all the trouble of saving your life just to poison you! This is a healing potion mixed with an herbal tea, just to make sure we nipped that infection in the bud.” I carefully took the mug in my hooves and sipped the concoction. It tasted surprisingly good and sent a wave of revitalizing energy through me. I eagerly began drinking the rest as she continued. “As for who I am, folks around here call me Sister, which is silly because I’m not part of any nunnery or the like. I guess it’s the whole being all white thing and me being the local doc. I’ve had ponies say I’m angel from Celestia! Can you believe that?”

“Actually yes, I can.” I said, looking up from my mug.

Sister gave me a look that made me feel like a filly who just said the moon was made of cheese. “That’s just silly! I’m about as angel as I am pegasus! And speaking of pegasus.” She gave me a scrutinizing look that made me feel distinctly vulnerable. “Who are you? And what are you doing down here on the surface? I haven’t seen one of you outside of a medical book.”

“My name is Sleet Gray and I…” I paused and looked down at the dregs of the healing concoction, pondering the question. Why was I down here? For the first time since waking up in the mass grave I unintentionally created I had time to sit and think about my actions. Why did all those other pegasi have to die? It was just because I lost control, right? I was staring death in the face and panicked, anypony would.

But I couldn’t tell those dead ponies that. I couldn’t tell them it was a mistake, a mistake that they were killed, a mistake that I found that Goddesses damned file. I couldn’t tell them why I was forced to lash out, about how their government was planning genocide. And I couldn’t tell them how it was all because I was some useless nobody who wanted to be special.

“I made a mistake.” I muttered, not looking up. As the enormity of the situation washed over me I felt like I was falling with no wings, like I was about to die and could not for the life of me figure out what to do about it. I’d hacked a secure government database! “A mistake that I can’t fix.” I had killed so many ponies! I dropped the mug, heedless of the dregs splashing onto me, and grabbed my head in my hooves. I’d killed military personnel; I’d killed my own family! “Oh Goddesses I can’t fix this!” I began hyperventilating, my mind spinning with images of dead ponies and zombies and ice. A thousand things I could do flittered through my thoughts and none of them stuck.

“Sleet Gray, get ahold of yourself!” Sister cried, her concerned voice cutting through my spiraling panic. The pure white mare grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look her in the eye. “Calm down now! Calm down and tell me what happened, slowly.” I stared into Sister’s concerned eyes, I had no idea why she cared about me. I was some random stranger that quite literally dropped out of the sky. But not knowing why didn’t stop the effect her concern had on me, I felt myself slowly settling down; maybe I wasn’t calm but I wasn’t coming apart at the seams anymore. I closed my eyes and nodded, recounting the story from the beginning. I started slowly at first, speaking hesitantly as I tried to keep from freaking out again. However the more I talked the more the various emotions I had shoved aside in favor of surviving over the past few hours came to the surface; and the faster the emotions came the faster I spoke. By the time I got to retelling Radiant Dawn’s betrayal I nearly unintelligible through my tearful babbling. I didn’t notice it while I talked, but I had been steadily crunching myself into a ball, holding my hooves over my head and my wings in front of my face. I was crying so badly when I told her about waking up surrounded by dead ponies that I couldn’t continue.

I laid there, curled in a little ball on the bed of somepony I hardly knew stuck on the surface after living my whole life in the clouds and sobbed my eyes out, but unlike a few minutes ago I wasn’t panicking. I was just sad, horribly numbingly sad, and all I could do at that moment was cry. All the times I had felt useless or unwanted in the Enclave and wanted to do something about it had become laced with regret since now that I knew what would become of them. Much to my surprise I felt Sister wrap her forelegs around me in a warm hug.

For several minutes we sat there together as I bawled into her shoulder. I slowly calmed as I cried myself out, getting to the point where I could hiccup out a question. “W-why? Why did you help m-me?” Silently I added When I don’t deserve it.

“Because helping ponies is what I do.” Sister said as if t where the most obvious thing in the world. “Everypony needs somepony there for them sometimes, and that what I’m here for.”

“Then how do I fix this?” I asked, desperation creeping into my voice. “How do I make this better?”

“You don’t.” She said, and I felt my heart sink. “You can never make it better.” At that point she let me go and took a step back. “You can’t fix the past, Sleet Gray. Believe me I know. Everypony in the Wastes has regrets and I’m no exception. You’ll wake up every morning wishing you could take it all back.” She shook her head, her calm demeanor giving away to sadness for a moment. “But you can’t, which is why you do that next best thing, and try and make up for it. You try every day hoping one more good deed will make you square.” Just as quickly, she gave me a warm smile. “You are kinda lucky though, you have something you can do to make this all worthwhile.”

I blinked several times, at a complete loss. “I do?”

“Well yeah! You know about that Cauterize thingy, don’t you?” My eyes widened and Sister laughed. “Now I’m not one to tell ponies what to do, but I think it would be awfully rude if you let us humble surface folk save your flank and then just let us all be killed!” Her smile grew and she nudged my shoulder with a hoof. “Maybe you can do something about that, huh?”

“Maybe…” That’s what I had said to myself in old Coltarado right? Survive and warn the surface about Cauterize. But how could I warn them all? And once I had, what then? Could the surface ponies even hope to fight against the entire Enclave army? “But what could I do?”

“Don’t ask me! I’m just a doctor!” Sister laughed. “But as the doctor I know you still aren’t 100% after that bite. You need to rest before you go saving us.” She gently pushed me back onto the bed. “Get some sleep.”

I nodded, my mind wandering. Even if I got the word out, what could I do? The Enclave was massive, even the most optimistic prediction had the surface ponies putting up a stiff resistance before dying. Still, despite the enormity of the task and the improbability of success, I fell asleep trying to come up with a plan.

*****

I woke up from a dreamless sleep some hours later. I had no idea how long I was out, but the fact that the light outside was dimming made me think it was sometime in the afternoon. “I’m going to become nocturnal at this rate.” I muttered, sliding out of bed. I experimentally put weight on my hurt leg and felt no twinge of pain, whatever Sister had done had been very effective. I had half expected to wake up in tears but instead I felt surprisingly calm, maybe it was thanks to the first natural sleep I had had in several days.

I contemplated looking for Sister, but decided instead to look around the infirmary. In my limited Wasteland experience, this was the nicest place I had found and I wanted to know more about it. Sister had mentioned medical books earlier, but I didn’t expect to find that she had so many, especially in the Wasteland. While most of the shelves were covered with seemingly random stuff, one was dedicated to med books and was more than half full. On a whim I picked you up and began paging through it, though my very basic knowledge of medicine prevented me from understanding most of it. As I examined the room I began to see a pattern to the seeming disorganization, everything was in the place where it would be the most helpful. I found a number of weapons hear the door and windows, with fewer weapons near the beds. The beds mostly had various things I assumed were used to make the patients feel better, teddy bears and toys mixed with painkillers and antibiotics. The shelf dedicated to the medical books stood next to a curtained off area that emitted a sterile smell, probably what passed for the surgery area.

I heard the door open and turned to see Sister entering the room. The white unicorn smiled when she saw me standing. “Ah, so you’re on your hooves! That’s good, I was worried when you were brought in you wouldn’t be moving at all.” She levitated in a plate of food behind her, the sight of which sent my stomach growling. I realized I hadn’t eaten since the morning when I had hacked Cauterize and was starving.

She set the food down on a table and I eagerly began eating. Between bites I managed to ask. “I was wondering about that, how did I get here?”

“Well, anypony who doesn’t settle down is probably a prospector, which is just a polite word for scavenger. I make it known to all prospectors in the Stalliongrad area that I will take anything they find in return for medical treatment, especially scavenged food and medical supplies.”

I froze, my mouth half way to another bite. “Wait, scavenged?” I looked up at her, severely hoping I was wrong. “As in, before the war scavenged?”

“Well yes, what did you expect?”

I felt my stomach churn. “But the war was 200 years ago! How can any of this be safe to eat?!”

Sister gave me a stern look. “Honey, you’re in the Wasteland now. You saw the dirt out there, how do you expect us to grow crops? Oh sure, it’s possible but it is nowhere near enough to feed everypony trying to survive out here! Before everything got blown to hell, ponies really started building things to last and that included the food. There are enough preservatives in there to fossilize your crap as it comes out, but it’s still food!”

I groaned along with my stomach, she was right. There was no way I could return to the Enclave, so I was now devoid of the cloud-seeded crops we had. If I was going to survive to stop Cauterize I needed to make some sacrifices. My palate would have to be the first. I continued eating with less vigor. “So, how I got here?”

“Ah yes, well it turned out that a prospector was on his way to old Coltarado and happened across you. He decided to bring you back here so I could fix you up. You’re really lucky that he did, most ponies worry too much about themselves to help random strangers passed out and bleeding on the road. He could have left you for dead, or worse.”

I painfully swallowed my two century old cereal. “Worse than dead?”

I was getting used to the “you poor naïve filly” look. “Honey, you have no idea.”

I shuddered, I was liking the Wasteland less and less the more I heard. “About the pony who saved me, who was he?”

Sister’s lips pursed at the question. “He was one of those Stable ponies, lived his whole life in a whole in the ground. I don’t know why he came to the surface, didn’t want to ask. From the look of him he was a prospector.”

“Was?”

She shook her head. “If he’s not dead by now he wishes he was. He went to Stalliongrad.”

I had heard of the pre-war settlement. It was the city that had produced the most soldiers for the war effort, nearly doubling the amount of recruits from Manehattan or Hoofington. The city had always been more militaristic then the rest of Equestria, and had accepted the war better than most. I also knew it had been one of the targets for a direct strike from the balefire bombs, most pegasi just assumed it was a glowing crater. “I didn’t even know it was still standing.”

“Probably better if it wasn’t. The whole place was taken over by a small army of raiders. Anypony who goes in there ends up tortured and dead, or is crazy enough to become one of them.” She spat the word “them” as if it left a bad taste in her mouth.

I had no idea what a raider was, but they sounded about as nice as the ghouls. “Why would he go there then?”

“Salvage he said. The ruins are practically bursting with valuable stuff, anything not melted by the balefire anyway. I tried to warn him that it wasn’t worth it, that he was just gonna get himself killed. Poor fool wouldn’t listen.”

I looked down at my food, my appetite completely gone. The pony who, by their own good will, had saved my life was probably dead or about to be. After what I had done I wasn’t sure I deserved to be saved, but so long as I was alive I was going to make use of it. It was like Sister said, I had to try. “I’m going after him.”

Sister gave me a stunned look. “Excuse me?”

“I’m going after him. If he’s in trouble maybe I can help.”

Now she looked at me like I was crazy. “Didn’t I just get done saying he’s probably dead? The raiders would have torn him apart.”

“No.” I said, determination filling my voice. “No. You said I’m going to live with this guilt the rest of my life. If that’s the case I’m not going to let it get worse by sitting here while the pony who saved my life goes and dies.”

“Sleet Gray.” Sister said in a stern voice. “I did not go through the trouble of saving you to let you go on some foolhardy rescue mission for some buck you don’t even know! He left almost as soon as he dropped you off, that was over a day ago. He is either dead or close to it.”

“Because openly opposing the Enclave is so much safer and more likely to succeed.” I snapped.

“I didn’t say you should stomp your hooves and make them go away! That sort of thing would take time and planning, this isn’t planned at all! You want to rush like an idiot into a giant nest of raiders!”

I set my jaw, I wasn’t letting this one go. If I was going to save the surface I’d start by helping the pony who saved me. “No, I’m going after him whether you like it or not.”

“And how do you plan to do that? You don’t know where Stalliongrad is, you don’t even know what he looks like!”

“You’re not the only one in St. Ponysburg are you?” I asked sarcastically. “I’ll ask around, somepony is bound to know.” Judging from the angry expression on Sister’s face she knew I had her on that. I felt bad for angering her; especially after all she had done for me, but I just couldn’t let this one go.

“Fine.” She said, keeping her tone carefully even. She grabbed one of the pistols and a box of ammo off of a shelf and flung them at me. I fumbled the weapon, not expecting the throw, but managed to catch it before it hit the ground. The box of bullets clattered where it landed. “May as well go armed. Stalliongrad is to the northeast, you’re looking for a green earth pony buck with a brown mane and a minicomputer on his right leg. Called himself Scout. His Cutie Mark is one of those multi-purpose army knife things.” She shook her head at me as she levitated over a roll of gauze. “Magical bandages, they may help keep you alive, it’s all I can spare.”

“Thank you.” I said, earnestly. “How will I know when I’ve found Stalliongrad?”

“Oh that’ll be easy. It’s the big ruin with the corpses hanging from the walls.”

*****

Sister had not been kidding. I stared at the grisly decorated walls of Stalliongrad with much less determination than I had earlier. Ponies in various states of rot and dismemberment hung from ropes and chains all along the walls. The parts not coated in dead pony were painted with what looked like blood, telling all comers to leave in the most vulgar language possible. “Who in their right mind would go in there?” I muttered, shivering. I had learned quickly after leaving Sister’s that the area around Stalliongrad and St. Ponysburg was significantly colder on the surface. Not living above the clouds and in direct sunlight probably had something to do with that, just another reason to dislike the Wasteland. “What good are winter powers if I still feel cold?”

I was still a good distance away from the city, not taking Sister’s warning lightly. The last thing I wanted to do was bum rush a city of highly aggressive psychopaths with only a single pistol. Though I was still worried about flying I hadn’t seen any Enclave patrols in the area, and in all likelihood they were still searching the area around old Coltarado. I still took to the air cautiously, constantly checking for swooping death squads.

By this point the sun had begun to set, and while that meant it was colder is also meant I was less likely to be spotted as I soared towards Stalliongrad. From the air I got a scope of just how large the city was. I had read that it was slightly smaller than Manehattan, but that still meant it covered a huge area. Even from my high vantage point I couldn’t see the wall on the other side of the ruin. The city was a complete mess, nearly every building had crumbled and what was still standing was on its last legs. The destruction seemed to be less severe near the center of the city, which was confusing since that was where the balefire missile had struck. As I passed over though I could see that the new occupants had created a large shanty town of scrap metal and other debris. There were a number of large bonfires burning in spots, revealing shadowy figures. I tilted my wings, dropping slightly to get a closer look at the shanty town.

I flew through a column of smoke from a fire when the smell hit me. It smelled terribly of cooking meat and burning rubber, striking me so suddenly that I nearly dropped out of the sky. I flapped my wings a fast as I could, getting into the higher crosswinds that drove away the smell. I chocked back a wave of nausea and flew back towards the wall where I started. Provided that Scout hadn’t made unusually fast progress, he should be somewhere around there.

I swooped lower over the ruined streets and buildings. The smell here was different but equally atrocious, this meat was rotting and diseased. Much as I wanted to climb out of the stink again I couldn’t afford to spend the whole scouting mission at high altitude, otherwise I’d never find Scout. It was already unlikely that I’d find him, since the sun had nearly fully set and the city was being plunged into night. As I scanned the streets I came across the sight of a massacre. Bodies were scattered over the street, most of them around the entrance to one of the ruined buildings. I landed on the edge of the bodies and had to immediately cover my nose, these bodies were ripe!

Keeping one wing over my nose I inched around the corpses, trying to determine what had happened. The bodies were a mix of stallions and mares, earth ponies and unicorns, and all of them were wearing black, spiked barding. The bodies didn’t look decomposed, and yet they were still diseased, most of them were missing huge chunks of their discolored coats and had horribly jaundiced eyes. My front hoof bumped against something, I glanced down to see one of the dead ponies looking up at me with a manic grin. Her teeth had been sharpened to deadly points and I could see bits of rotting meat sticking out between them.

I felt my stomach heave, but managed to choke back the wave of sick. Now was certainly not the time to be squeamish. “First zombies, now crazy-looking meat eater ponies. I’m really starting to hate the surface.” I stepped over the bodies clustered around the door and noticed that they had multiple bullet holes while the ones farther away had one in a vital area. Either somepony wasn’t very consistent with their aim, or they hadn’t expected so many raiders. Of course I wasn’t one to criticize aim, I had never even shot before which made the pistol Sister gave me nearly useless.

I heard a resounding crack come from the other side of the door leading into the ruined building. I flinched away from the door at first, which made me notice the blood. Blood was splattered on door near the ground, with a trail of it leading inside. My heart bean racing as I recalled the pony with the sharpened teeth. “Oh no.” I whispered. “No, no, no. Nopony is that messed up…” Sister had given me a holster for the pistol before I had left. I reached back and took the grip in my teeth. The grip felt awkward and I wondered how I’d be able to aim the thing. I slipped my tongue into place on the trigger (which was gross in its own way) and inched towards the door.

I pushed it open with a wing, picking the blood trail out of the debris covering the floor. Now that I was inside I could hear a gut-turning ripping and crunching noise that, thanks to the bare stone walls, was hard to pin down. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I had the trail of blood to follow and did so as quietly as possible. I wasn’t a particularly stealthy pony, but bumping things with your hooves wasn’t much a problem when you could flutter over the ground. It still required delicate work to maintain lift without making sound, and I was worried that the downdraft of my wings would rustle something, but the whatever-it-was was making enough noise to cover me.

The blood trail rounded a corner into a room, the terrible ripping and crunching sounds growing louder. My teeth began to hurt as my jaw clenched tighter and tighter on the grip of the gun. I heard something crack and for a horrible second I thought it was one of my teeth. Slowly, I peeked around the corner, what I saw made me freeze and drop to the ground. I made a strained noise of terror, no longer caring about stealth.

In the center of the room lay a pony with a diseased yellow coat and no mane to speak of. Her Cutie Mark was a skull with a dagger through the eye sockets and a large, bloodied hatchet lay at her side. In front of her was a dead pony, which she was eating. She must have heard my scream, because she was pulling her blood-soaked muzzle from the belly of the slain pony who, from the deranged look on his face in death, looked to be another raider. She turned her head to look at me, the motion twitchy and wrong, her pupils shrunk to pin points. When she saw me her lips pulled back from her teeth, filed to points, and screamed “YUMMY!”

Without even grabbing the hatchet she charged me, howling literally for my blood. For a few seconds I forgot I had the gun, to busy screaming and backpedaling to shoot. Terror sent my heart racing, what the hell was wrong with these ponies?! She had been eating that other raider! Was this what they were reduced to? I would get no answers from the crazed mare attacking me, she lunged close enough to snap her pointed teeth at me. Only the gun barrel kept her away from tearing my nose off, and that’s when I remembered I had the gun.

I tightened my tongue on the trigger and fired. Her rotten yellow teeth bounced off of the barrel when she bit at me, meaning that my already deplorable aim was throw off even more. Still, I landed a hit, the bullet grazing her cheek and drawing blood. She apparently was too busy trying to eat me to care, since she kept right on coming.

I tripped over something behind me and I fell on my rump. The raider tackled me, teeth gnashing at my throat. I could feel the points of her teeth cut into my neck, making me scream again, this time in pain. They felt like tiny lines of fire being run over my throat, making me spasmodically twitch to put my head between my neck and my attacker. The motion caused the gun barrel to slam into the raider’s head, not stopping her but stunning her for an instant.

Adrenaline shot through me as I used that instant, I got my hooves under her and shoved with all my strength. I scrambled to my hooves, the sight of my own blood dripping onto the ground only further encouraging me. I looked for the raider, but couldn’t find her! I felt the clarity adrenaline gave me turning into panic, where the hell was she!? I whirled around just in time to see her rushing back out of the room with her grisly hatchet ready. I screamed around the gun grip and started firing as fast as my tongue could pull the trigger. Most of the shots missed, but enough hit to slow her down. I continued to try and fire, but a clicking noise announced that I was out of ammo. I dropped the gun, fumbling for the replacement ammo with my hooves. The box hung from a leather strap on the holster that I couldn’t get open! I could hear her getting closer! Her ragged breathing so close I could feel it! I got the ammo box out of the strap and turned. Her manic eyes were inches from my own.

I ducked the swing of the hatchet, grabbing the gun off of the floor. Without thinking I rushed forward, body slamming the off-balance raider aside. When she fell I took the time it gave me to load a clip into the damn gun, just in time for her to lash out from the floor and chop at my ankles. A dull throbbing pain erupted just above my right front hoof and I went down on one knee. Throughout it all I didn’t drop the gun, and now I was at the perfect angle. I pulled the trigger, the gun jerked in my mouth, and the thrashing raider stilled, a neat hole in one of her manic eyes.

I knelt there for a long time, shivering. I wasn’t sure how long, second, minutes, an hour, all I was aware of the hole where the raider’s eye had once been. I had killed ponies before, but that hadn’t been intentional. I had just wanted to escape, I hadn’t meant to kill them. I had meant to kill this pony, otherwise she was would have killed me. Even though she had been completely insane, I have consciously ended her life. I wouldn’t mourn the dead raider, I was fairly certain no sane pony would, but the mere fact that I had done it chilled me. The last thing I wanted was for me killing ponies in order to survive being a common occurrence.

I reached up with a hoof and touched my neck, it came away with my own blood on it. I tried not to let that get to me, it wasn’t a lot of blood, the cut was shallow and I could still breathe. An image of the partially eaten pony in the other room flashed through my mind and I wanted to vomit again, the same teeth that had been devouring him had cut me.

Fortunately I had the bandages that Sister had given me. “I hope ‘magic’ also means ‘disinfectant’.” I muttered, pulling out the roll of gauze. Appling the bandages to my own neck and ankle was tricky, especially since my mind kept wandering to my fight with the raider. It was the third time in the past few days that I nearly died, compared to the reasonably safe life I had lead before it was a miracle I was still breathing. Of course I was only still alive thanks to Scout, a pony I wasn’t even sure was still alive and yet was risking my flank in a city of cannibals to save. I swallowed hard, feeling the bandages press against my throat, and asked myself, not for the last time, what the hell I was doing.

*****

I could feel the healing magic going to work on my wounds as I continued my search. It caused an unpleasant itch, but that was far more preferable than pain and death. The area around where I had fought the raider was devoid of anything that seemed remotely valuable, which meant that whoever had killed the ones outside had passed through. I could only hope that it had been Scout and not another Wasteland resident without good intentions towards poor lost pegasi. No matter which it was I now had a trail to follow. I would have liked to explore the upper floors of the building I was in, but since I was trying to follow an earth pony I had to move like an earth pony and since the stairs going up were blocked by rubble that meant it was a no-go. However, with a wounded leg I decided to continue hovering rather than walking.

Fortunately the trail continued out the back door of the building, which opened into an alleyway blocked by yet more rubble at one end. “It’s like the megaspells were designed to make mazes instead of destroy us.” I muttered. The rubble would have been easy to traverse if I was flying, but on hoof it would have been treacherous with all the rusted metal so I set towards the opening. I floated cautiously out into the street, scanning the area for anything that may want to kill me.

I had barely gotten my head out of the alley when bullets started flying. I felt one barely miss my nose as I ducked back into the alley, cursing the shooters. If it wasn’t monsters it was ponies with guns! I had only been in the Wasteland a few days and I felt that it had a personal vendetta against me! The bullets continued to fly, keeping me pinned down in the alley. I tried to peek around to see who was shooting, but there was too much flying ammunition to get a good look without being shot. Not to mention my wings were getting tired from keeping me just above the…

I looked back at my wings, resisting the urge to facehoof. “Damnit Sleet, you’re supposed to be smart!” Still staying in cover I pumped my wings to fly up to the roof of the ruined building. While most of the roof had caved in, there was enough for me to land on. Landing made my leg throb painfully, but it was better than being pinned down by gunfire. I crept to the edge of the roof, staying low so as not to tip off my attackers that I was above them now.

As I might have expected, it was a group of raiders that was firing on the alleyway. One of them, a huge unicorn stallion, seemed to be leading the group. I couldn’t tell what color his coat or mane was, since he wore a full body suit of metal armor. The armor was streaked in what I really hoped was red paint, but knowing the raiders it could just as easily have been blood. Behind him was a pack of raiders numbering about ten in total, all of them carrying some kind of firearm. Three of them continued to lay fire on the alley I had poked out of, while the rest closed in on a remarkably intact building.

As the raiders approached I noticed movement on an upper floor that they didn’t, another pony leaning out of a third story window. He had a bolt-action rifle connected to a battle-saddle that he aimed at the raiders. With speed and accuracy that no mortal pony should have, he planted three precise shots on the heads of three attacking raiders. As he retreated back into the building I saw a glow emitting from something attached to his right foreleg, bathing him in green light. I had already noticed his coloration, green coat and brown mane, and the device on his leg banished further doubt. I had found Scout, and just in time!

I wasn’t sure what I could do about the attacking raiders, even with their numbers reduced they continued to try advance. They entered the door one after another, the giant metal pony leading the way. I pulled out my pistol, taking aim as best I could at the raiders still outside. The plan was to divide their attention so Scout could more easily take them out.

I had no idea what magic Scout was using for his super-accurate shots, but my aim was nowhere near as good. I took several shots at the trailing raider and by some miracle I managed to hit him. It wasn’t a terribly good shot, all I did was graze his leg, but it certainly got their attention. The raider I shot whirled around, looking for me. The ones who had been shooting the empty alley had heard the shots and turned to fire on the roof. I had no idea how they still had ammo, but it forced me to back away from the lip and hide. I could still see Scout and though he seemed surprised by the unexpected help he took advantage of it, however this volley was much less accurate. Though I couldn’t see, I only heard one of the raiders scream from being shot even though he fired three times.

I was about to peek over the lip again when I heard a terrible roar. I froze at the sound, and judging from the sudden lack of gunfire so did the raiders. I waited several seconds, but nothing happened. “This is a stupid idea…” I muttered as I poked my head over the lip. “They probably are waiting for me to show myself and blast my head off or something.” It turned out I was only partially correct. The massive unicorn had gone back onto the street and stood in front of the building I was hiding on top of. His metal-plated horn was glowing with deep red light as he aimed at the building.

I had little understanding of unicorn magic, but I could only assume anything that put out that much light was something I did not want to be in the way of. I scrambled back, preparing to take off when with a bright vermillion flash the metal monster released the spell. I felt the impact as the spell destroyed the lower floors of the building, which also made the roof crumble under me. I leapt into the air, but without much holding up the roof I was jumping off of I barely got into the air. I rapidly pumped my wings, managing to stay aloft over the collapsing structure; unfortunately this meant I was in full view of the angry raiders. I dodged most of the bullets through luck and the fact that I was hard to see through the cloud of dust.

However, I couldn’t dodge all of them. I tried to get to another rooftop in hopes that the monster unicorn couldn’t do that twice so quickly, but felt a searing pain in my wing as a bullet went through it. I screamed as my right wing gave out, making me fall from the sky at a sharp angle. I did my best to angle away from the raiders, and ended up crashing through one of the windows of the building Scout had been sniping from. I rolled across the floor, being showered with broken glass along the way. I came to a stop not far from the window, lying on my back. “That could have gone worse.” I groaned from the floor.

“What the hell was that!?” I heard a voice yell nearby. Scout came into my field of vision, his angry expression melted into recognition and then confusion. “Wait, what the hell? You’re that pegasus! What are you doing here!?”

“Sister told me how terrible Stalliongrad is. I figured you needed help.” I violently coughed up dust as I picked myself up, careful not to cut myself on the glass.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t, but if Sister told you about this place why didn’t you stay away?”

“You saved my life, the least I can do is make sure you don’t get yours taken.”

Before he could respond the building shook. “Damnit, he’s gonna tear this place down too!”

“What is that thing anyway?”

“I don’t know, but I do not want to be in the thing he’s knocking down.” Scout scrambled over to a duffle bag, pulling out a bottle full of purple liquid. “Here, drink this.”

He threw the bottle at me, which I barely manage to catch. “Why? What is this?”

“Healing potion. We’re flying out of here.”

I looked at him like her was crazy. “We’re WHAT!? I can’t fly both of us out of here, even with two working wings!”

“Either you do or we get buried!” The building rumbled again as if on cue.

I made a frustrated noise and I worked the cork of the bottle open with my teeth and glugged the concoction. I felt healing magic going to work on my various wounds, including several cuts from the glass I hadn’t had time to notice. I flapped my wing again, still sore but workable. “Okay, I think this can work. You realize this is crazy right?”

“Do you see a better option?”

A large chunk of concrete crashed down next to me. “No, let’s go.” Scout flung the duffel bag over his shoulder as we galloped to the far side of the room. My earth pony companion turned and bucked out a window just as the floor we had been standing on moments before collapsed. Snorting like some sort of demented dragon the metal plated unicorn raider stomped his way up the incline of rubble, just in time to watch us leap from the window. I could hear him roar in frustration, but had little time to be concerned as I dove to catch Scout. Wrapping my forelegs around the earth pony’s midriff, I pumped my wings for all I was worth. I wasn’t near strong enough to fly us completely out of Stalliongrad, but I could at least angle myself towards where I had entered the city. I settled into a glide, taking what turns I could to try and confuse any pursuit.

Eventually I couldn’t hold us up anymore. At least the landing I pulled off was more graceful than tumbling through a window. After setting Scout on the ground I rolled onto my back, panting. Even with magical healing my wing was far from 100% and even that easy glide had strained it. I knew we couldn’t stay out in the open, nevertheless I needed to rest…

I felt a hoof nudging my side. “C’mon, we need to get going.” Scout said, already moving.

I groaned, rolling onto my stomach. “Going where?”

“To find shelter.”

“Shelter? Wait, you don’t mean to have us stay here during the night, do you?”

“Most of the outer suburbs are abandoned, you actually landed us in a pretty desolate area from what I can tell. We can’t make it back to St. Ponysburg at this time of night though; the Wastes get even worse after dark.”

I felt a chill run down my spine as echoes of ghoul screams played in my mind. “Okay, shelter sounds good.” I managed to get to my hooves and follow Scout. Now that there was relative peace I could feel the effects of the past few chaotic hours catching up to me. A number of minor wounds the healing potion hadn’t fixed made themselves known, and even my (mostly) healed injuries ached. I was also exhausted, my mind wandering to thoughts of sleep as we made our way through the streets. Clearly Scout was more skilled at this than I was, since he knew almost instantly which buildings would not be suitable, but by this point I’d settle for anything.

Eventually Scout declared one of the building suitable for shelter. Apparently it was far enough away from any other buildings that had shown recent signs of intrusion that it made an unlikely candidate for midnight raiding. While any other time I’d have liked to know more about his method of survival, in my current exhausted state I really couldn’t care less if I tried. Our refuge for the night may have once been an apartment building, most of the rooms had some kind of furnishing. I was ready to collapse anywhere, but Scout insisted we go to the top floor. “That way you have a good launch pad if we need a quick exit.” He wasn’t joking.

Unfortunately the top floor had been used for storage instead of housing, there was no bed just lots of rotten boxes. Scout seemed delighted at the chance to rummage around, I simply fell down to sleep. Sure the floor was uncomfortable concrete but for my exhausted body it may as well have been cloud. I fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the floor.

*****

I was hanging again, though this time it was from shackles clamped to my ankles instead of hooks. I pulled against the chains to no avail, the dull clanking being swallowed by the darkness around me. I feel more than hear a great thrumming noise, like a dragon growling. I don’t know how long I hung in the darkness, but it ended abruptly when a line of light appeared under me, stretching beyond my sight range. The light grew in width, accompanied by a thunderous whirring noise, and as light flooded by prison I was what I shared the darkness with. A massive ball of swirling evil green fire hung next to me, and I was shackled to it! I looked down into the light and saw the Wasteland spread out below me, St. Ponysburg directly beneath. A loud thump signaled the clamp holding the balefire bomb opening and I was dragged down by the weight, down to annihilate the city…

I woke up screaming. I rolled onto my hooves, my panic only slightly receding when I saw my ankles were unfettered. I closed my eyes, panting as the nightmare slowly faded away. “Are you okay?” I heard Scout’s voice ask, laced with concern.

I nodded numbly. “Yeah.” I gasped. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a nightmare.” My breathing and heart rate was returning to normal. I managed to open my eyes and saw Scout staring at me, brow furrowed.

“Well I hate to break it to you, but you woke up in the Wasteland. The nightmare never ends here.”

“Thanks for the comfort.” I said, voice dripping with sarcasm. I sat with a sigh. “Did anything exciting happen?”

“Other than your screaming, no.”

“Good.” I was glad I wasn’t waking up with a raider gnawing on my wings. “Do we have a plan to get out of here?”

Scout was pulling boxes of salvaged food out of his duffel bag. “First we eat, then we make a break for the exit, staying low on the way. I got in here through busted grate over an old drainage ditch, we should be able to get out there too.”

I was apprehensive enough about the two hundred year old food, crawling through sewage that was just as old was repulsive. “I’ll try and fly over the wall, thanks.”

“So long as you don’t get caught and don’t leave me for dead, I don’t care.” He passed me a box of cereal, one of the surprisingly large haul he had.

“How did you get so much stuff with all the raiders around?”

“Honestly, raiders are stupid. Crazy, murderous, and cannibalistic, but stupid. Most of them are too tweaked out on chems to notice when I take one of them out.” He motioned to the battle-saddle with the hunting rifle attached lying next to the duffel bag. “Once I take them down its simple to go and loot the area.” He chuckled. “Unless something goes wrong, which was the mess you pulled me out of. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“You saved my life, just wanted to return the favor.”

“I won’t argue with that. It was stupid and reckless, but it worked.” He gave me the same questioning look he had when I had woken up screaming, only this time without implying I was crazy. “What happened to you anyway? Knocked out and half-eaten on the side of the road?”

I sighed, I had a feeling this question was going to be asked a lot. “I was attacked by ghouls.”

“Obviously, but what is a pegasus doing on the ground anyway? From what I’ve heard pegasi spend all their time in the clouds.”

“I was running.” I hoped my terse tone would deflect any more questions.

No such luck. “Running from what?”

“A mistake I made, one that nearly got me killed.” He continued to give me that questioning look. Even when I ducked my head to eat I could feel his gaze boring into me. Finally, I sighed and relented. “I hacked a top secret government file by mistake. The file was a plan to slaughter the entire surface world so the Enclave could take over. Somepony noticed I had gotten into the database and sent my brother to summarily execute me. I freaked out, froze everything in a five block radius of my house, the ice fell into the Wasteland and now I’m here.” I huffed, eating my food without further comment.

Scout was silent for several minutes. I spent the time trying not to cry, I really couldn’t afford to break down every time I thought about home. Finally, he spoke up. “So what are you going to do now?”

“Sister said I should fight the Enclave, try and stop them from killing everypony.” The room had a small window, which I gazed out of pensively. “And don’t get me wrong, I want to try and stop them, but I just don’t see how. The strain of freezing my home town nearly killed me, and there were only five Enclave agents there. I can’t stop an army, I could barely stop my own brother.”

“But you did stop him. Maybe you could do something.”

I laughed bitterly. “Yeah right. Is everypony down here an idealist?” Before Scout could respond I noticed something, a tiny black dot against the solid gray sky. I leaned towards the window, squinting. It looked like a… My eyes widened when I recognized what the dot was.

“GET DOWN!” I flung myself towards Scout a second too late, a bolt of green magic energy searing through the window and slamming into his side. I recoiled instinctively as Scout was thrown to the ground by the blow, the smell of burning hair and flesh coming off of him. “Damnit, no.” I growled. I rushed forward, shoving Scout with my shoulder as another bolt of energy came through the window. I screamed through my clenched teeth as the bolt grazed my back, a line of burning pain erupting just behind my wing joints.

I managed to bull us behind some boxes out of sight of the window. I felt my shoulders loosen somewhat when I heard Scout groan in pain, at least he wasn’t dead. The duffel bag had been spilled by my hasty movement, one of the purple healing potions thankfully rolling near us. I uncorked the bottle, propped Scout up on a box, and poured some of the potion down his throat. “C’mon, c’mon…”

The earth pony coughed, spitting up some of the liquid before swallowing. He took the bottle in his own hooves and glugged the potion, the terrible burn on his side starting to shrink. About half of the burn healed before the potion wore off, and even the healed part looked damaged. Magical energy weapons did a lot more than mere bullets. “What’s going on?” Scout said, his voice strained.

“The Enclave, they’ve found me, I…” I was cut off as a voice yelled from outside.

“Sleet Gray! You have been charged with mass murder, terrorism, and assaulting Enclave officers! You are hereby sentenced to immediate execution!” I felt my heart stop as I recognized the voice, even the burn wound on my back seeming to fade away as I went cold.

Scout must have noticed my expression. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

My voice was barely above a whisper. “That’s my brother.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote: Level up!
New Perk, Educated: +3 additional skill points to allocate per level up.

Cause and Effect

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 3: Cause and Effect
“I don’t need to worry, that’s Future Spike’s problem.”

Downpour was alive. My initial reaction to that was excitement, he was alive! I hadn’t killed my entire family after all! Maybe there was hope! Of course that feeling didn’t last long, the pain flaring along my back reminded me that he wasn’t here for a happy reunion with plenty of hugs. We needed to get out of here and quickly, but I wasn’t sure I could pull another miracle to escape. Fortunately, Scout was on his hooves thanks to the healing potion. “Your brother? Didn’t he freeze to death?” He asked, peeking around as box to look out the window.

“I thought he did too. I’m not sure how he escaped, or how he found me.” I had managed to grab the duffel bag and was riffling around in it for another healing potion. Unfortunately, while there was food aplenty there was little in the way of healing supplies, and I had already run through my supply of magical bandages. I winced as I twisted the wrong way, agitating my burn.

“You gonna be okay?” Scout asked, glancing at me.

“Yeah, I have an idea.” Heat was nothing more than energy, and a burn came from being exposed to a large amount of energy very quickly. Inversely, cold was a lack of energy which meant I could theoretically “suck” the heat from my wound. I fluttered my wings, focused a wave of winter air on the burn and sighed as the pain slowly dissipated. I hadn’t healed it by any stretch of the imagination, but at least I could move freely without too much pain. “Alright, I think I’ll be good.”

Scout snorted, not taking his eyes off of the window. “Must be nice having magic.”

“I could do the same for you, you know.” I said, brushing his wound with my wing.

He flinched away from the touch, shooting a glare at me. “No offence, but all I know about your power is that you froze a city.”

“I didn’t freeze the whole city.” I said indignantly. “And in my defense I was panicking!” He gave me a hard look which I accepted with a sigh. I moved next to Scout and peeked around one of the boxes. I could see Downpour hovering a ways back from the building, definitely out of easy shooting range even with Scout’s magic aiming. He looked…off. I had always felt that pegasi looked strange in their power armor since it made them look more like bugs than ponies, but there was something especially strange about Downpour’s appearance. I didn’t have time to get a good look, since he saw me peeking around the box and opened fire. I barely managed to duck out of the way, the heat of the shot singeing my mane. “So much for our quick escape.”

“I’m going to guess you can’t out-fly him.”

“I couldn’t out-fly him if I was completely unburdened, let alone carrying you. We’d be blasted from the sky in seconds.” I inched out far enough to see. Downpour was nowhere in sight, which only worried me further. “He’s gone, probably trying to get a new angle.” Or get a bomb a pessimistic little voice added.

Scout slung his duffel bag over his shoulder, wincing as the leather strap rubbed against the burn. “Let’s make a break for the door. We may be able to lose him in the streets.”

I doubted we could get far with Downpour sweeping the area from above. On top of that, Enclave power armor had an Eyes Forward Sparkle HUD that would be able to find us no matter where we hid. However there was no better option that I could see, so I simply nodded.

Scout checked the window one last time before galloping to the door. I followed hot on his hooves praying that I wouldn’t get blasted. Our luck held long enough to reach the door and start heading down the stairs. I looked furtively out each window as we passed, searching for signs of my brother. I hoped that we could miraculously escape without being noticed, since I had little chance fighting Downpour head on.

Scout rounded a corner and was about to open another door leading to a staircase when he froze. “Wait.” He appeared to glance just below to door knob, at something only he could see. “Somepony is on the other side of this door, we need another…”

Before he could finish the door blasted open, Enclave agents filling the doorway. Scout leapt back, barely dodging a stabbing scorpion tail. I saw the lead agent ready her rifles and instinctively jumped in front of Scout. “You’re here for me, not him.” I said quickly, hoping I could deter them long enough to come up with something. “Leave the surfacer out of it.”

“’Fraid I can’t do that, just from being with you he poses a threat.” The mare stepped forward, swishing her scorpion tail. “Stand aside.”

I tried not to let the chilling effect the words had on me show. If anypony that interacted with me was on the Enclave’s blacklist that meant Sister was in danger as well! I kept my expression neutral and continued stalling for time. “Why? Aren’t you just going to kill me as well?”

Though I couldn’t see her face, the hard set of her mouth made me believe she was glaring at me. “Believe me I want to. Downpour says he wants to shoot you himself, make sure the job is done right.” She tried to stalk around me to get a clear shot on Scout. “I’ll just have to kill the dirt pony instead.”

An idea was starting to form, one that could potentially give us a window to escape. But first, I needed this mare to try and shoot me. I was almost relieved to hear that she had a vendetta against me. On top of that her voice rang a bell, if I knew her I’d be able to ruffle her feather more easily. I kept myself between Scout and the soldier, cautiously searching for her identity. “Don’t I know you?”

“Yeah cold flank you do.” She spat my nickname like it tasted bad in her mouth. “I thought you were smart, can’t even recognize an old friend?”

Celestia damnit, this was getting more complicated by the minute. I did recognize the mare, Swift Winds had been one of the few fillies that had been friendly towards the unattractive egghead when we were young. I had never figured out why she had been my friend, she was prettier and stronger than I had been and was one of the fastest fliers in our age group. She could have excluded me like most others had, but for some reason she didn’t. She listened to my dorkiness and I cheered her on at her races. She was the first real friend I had ever had.

We had stopped being friends after we had grown old enough to be interested in bucks, and she had become infatuated with Storm Kicker. She knew how much my brother had taunted me and felt she could never gain his affection by being nice to me, so she joined him. Losing my friend had hurt far worse than the taunting that came with it. She had actually participated in the heckling that had brought out my Cutie Mark.

I had assumed that she had also died in my attack, but apparently I was wrong. The one silver lining was that having her here helped with my idea to get out of this mess, I only hoped it worked. “Oh right, Swift Winds! Last time I saw you, you were busy trying to shove Storm Kicker under your tail.”

Swift flushed bright enough to see under her visor. “Don’t give me shit, Sleet!” She growled, trying to remain composed. “If I wasn’t under orders I’d skin you myself!”

“Are you mad about my dear departed brother?” I asked in a false, sugar-coated voice. It took all my self-control to keep up the charade, I felt queasy talking about my dead family like this. “You should be happy! In his last moments he actually acted like a decent and caring pony and tried to stop Downpour from murdering me! Shame it didn’t work, otherwise we wouldn’t be here.” I could see Swift trembling angrily. The same dark, vindictive part of me that enjoyed seeing Radiant Dawn’s terror stomped its hooves gleefully at seeing the traitorous bitch so distressed. Much as I wanted to beat that part down I sneered along with it for effect.

“He was a decent, caring pony! And you murdered him!” She screamed. I tensed at the accusation, but Swift wasn’t done. “You just couldn’t leave well enough alone could you? You never could! You couldn’t just accept that you weren’t pretty, or strong, or useful!” Her words were having a visible effect, I could feel my mask slipping. “You couldn’t even accept your own Cutie Mark, you always needed something better! And because of that Storm Kicker is…”

Before she could finish her last sentence I snapped, my guilt and anger making me scream. “A frozen husk on the Wasteland dirt!” I was seeing so much red by that point I almost forgot about my own plan when the moment came to put it in motion.

Swift screamed incoherently, grabbing the trigger bit in her teeth. Though I had never fired a weapon before today, growing up in a military household meant I knew the basic operation of a magical energy rifle. I knew how to care for the gun, where and how to store the ammo, how to load it and most importantly how it fired. A magical energy rifle projected various harmful spells through an enchanted gem, everything from incineration to disintegration. Of course if something happened to the gem, such as being rapidly cooled to very low temperatures, the flow of magic could make it fail in a spectacular way. I focused on the firing chamber of the rifle, rapidly chilling it as Swift bit down on the trigger.

The gem in the chamber shattered, the magic exploding in a brilliant flash of green light. The backlash of energy blasted Swift Winds backwards, causing her to fall into the soldiers behind her. In the chaos that ensued I leapt up and backwards, wrapping my forelegs around Scout’s midriff. “JUMP!” I yelled in his ear. The earth pony got the idea, leaping towards the staircase. I pumped my wings, gliding clear over the scrum of Enclave soldiers trying to sort themselves out. Scout hit the floor running and I jumped off his back, turning long enough to send a blast of cold air up the steps, further slowing the Enclave. I felt a rush of vertigo as the power left me, the effects of throwing around all that magic wearing on me. I had rarely used my special ability in any significant fashion when I lived above the clouds, the sudden urgent need for it on a regular basis was draining. I tried to turn and run, but ended up stumbling into a wall with the room spinning around me. It felt like my mind was underwater, the screaming of my survival instinct muffled by exhaustion. I had already slowed the Enclave, I had a moment to rest and…

I felt somepony grab my shoulders and shove me towards the staircase heading further down. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go!” Scout yelled at me. I stumbled down the steps, shaking my head to try and clear my thoughts. We had dealt with the Enclave troops for the moment, but we still had to get away from Downpour and out of Stalliongrad. With that to focus on I was able to fight through the weariness enough to steady my pace and follow Scout out onto the street.

“How did you know they were behind the door?” I asked, scanning the skies for Downpour. So far I couldn’t see him, but I had no illusions that it would stay that way.

“This.” He held up his right foreleg, showing me the microcomputer strapped to it. “It’s a PipBuck, it can do all sorts of things including an Eyes Forward Sparkle which lets me…”

“See targets, even through walls.” I finished breathlessly. I had read about PipBucks, but I never thought I’d find one since most of them were sealed away with the Stable ponies. I honestly should have expected that Scout would have one. I reached up and pushed a few of the buttons, my eyes darting over the screen at the multitude of functions. “Umm, Sleet?” Scout asked, trying to move his leg.

“Wait,” I said, following the PipBuck. “I want to check this out. I’ve always wanted to take a look at one of these things! How does it display the E.F.S. to you?”

“Can we worry about that later when we don’t have murderous, highly trained military ponies chasing us?” He said, his voice urgent as he glanced over his shoulder at the door.

I flushed, berating myself silently for getting carried away. Examine marvel of pre-war archano-tech when you are nice and safe, Sleet! “Right, sorry. Let’s go.”

Scout turned and set down the street with surety, now that I actually noticed his PipBuck his almost preternatural sense of direction and danger made a lot more sense. We stuck to the shadows as best we could, the E.F.S could only give the general location of a target in relationship to the user. Even if Downpour found the street we were on he would still have to locate us the hard way in order to kill us. Scout sent us ducking and weaving through side streets, most of them with plenty of rubble to hide under. Even though our situation was still desperate, I found my focus wavering as I fought against the exhaustion. Having not seen hide nor hair of the Enclave for several minutes I could feel the adrenaline wearing off. In my weary state I made to duck into an alley like we had been doing without actually checking it first. As I stumbled around the corner I didn’t notice that Scout had stopped moving and was scanning the skies for something

“Look out!” He yelled as I stepped into the alley. I felt Scout bite down on my tail and yank me backwards, just in time to pull me out of the way of Downpour dropping to where my head had just been.

Downpour wasted no time in attacking, lashing out at me with the scorpion tail. I jumped back, feeling the wind slice by my face as I barely dodged the blade. He continued to press the attack so I couldn’t regain my balance and attack back, not that I’d stand much of a chance in a one-on-one anyway. I ducked under a sweep of the tail and heard the crack of a gunshot from behind me. Downpour stumbled back, a dent in the center of his chest plate. I looked over my shoulder to see Scout with the trigger bit to his battle saddle in his mouth. He dropped the bit to scream at me. “Get down!”

We both dove to the side, I went right and he went left as twin bolts of green magic scorched the building behind us. I landed on my side and tried to scramble to my hooves, but I was too slow. Downpour’s hoof came down heavily on the side of my neck, his weight making it difficult to breathe. “I never thought such a useless pony would be so hard to catch.” He growled, hovering the blade of his tail over my eye.

It took me a second to stop staring at the barb and look for something to use to escape. The fact that each breath was forced was making it hard to think, but I did notice something. It was what had made Downpour’s appearance seem so off earlier. His rear legs had been replaced with robotic synthetics. “What…what happened to your legs?” I managed to gasp out.

“YOU DID!” He roared. He rolled me fully onto my back and pressed his hoof straight onto my throat. I thrashed as my vision went red around the edges, the pain of my throat being crushed mingled with the oxygen deprivation burning my lungs. “When I escaped that…that thing you did I wasn’t fast enough! My legs were caught in the cold, destroyed by frostbite!” He leaned down, getting in my face and putting more weight on the hoof strangling me. I wheezed desperately as he hissed in my ear. “I was in surgery for hours while they chopped off my legs, made replacements, lined up my new nerves. Do you have any idea how much it hurts to have your nerves shocked back to life, forced into new connections?” He relaxed the pressure on my throat slightly, letting me gasp in a good breath of air before leaning down again. “What I’m doing to you now doesn’t even come close.” I held the barb above me, in position to stab down at my head. “This is mercy, better than you deserve.” He growled. I couldn’t respond, my chest and brain roaring for air. I could only watch as the blade started to come down.

There was another gunshot. Downpour staggered off of me, a large dent appearing on the left side of his helmet. I sucked in a sweet breath, the cold Stalliongrad air dulling the fire in my lungs. Unfortunately sucking down air is difficult when your throat is half crushed, I fell into a coughing fit that Scout didn’t wait for me to come out of. The earth pony shoved me to my hooves, taking another potshot at Downpour. My brother let out a scream closer to a roar as he lashed out at us. He had been prone to fits of anger in the past until he went to join the military. He had been a lot calmer after his training, but apparently being shot twice threw discipline out the window. Scout shoved me again out of the range of Downpour’s tail. Downpour grabbed the trigger bit and took aim at us, but I was lucid enough to focus my ability on his weapons.

Downpour’s guns exploded, and while he was stunned I lashed out one last time, my power freezing his hooves to the road. My vision tunneled as the power left me, Scout managed to get me on his back as I fell. Draped sideways over the earth pony, I watched as Downpour raged from his frozen position. I could hear him roaring my name, but it sounded far away as I drifted out of consciousness.

*****

I stood on a metal platform, the area below me teeming with Enclave ponies. I could feel rough fibers rubbing against my neck as the crowd howled at me. Downpour walked into my field of view, wearing full military dress with his battle saddle. His mechanical hindlegs clanked on the platform as he approached me. He stopped in front of me, his voice amplified by some magic or another as he addressed me. “Sleet Gray, for your crimes against the Enclave you will be punished. The sentence is that you shall be hanged.” He then readied his battle saddle and blasted my right foreleg just above the knee.

I cried out in pain as the limb was seared into uselessness. I fell slightly when my leg no longer supported me, and from the new angle I noticed that the limb had been shot off. The crowd redoubled their cheering as Downpour spoke again. “You will be hanged by the removal of your legs, via magical energy weapon.” He shot my left foreleg. I fell forward, the noose tightening around my neck. My right rear leg vanished in a flash of burning pain, the noose cutting into my throat.

“Downpour…” I gasped, my breathing shallow and painful. My brother looked at me dispassionately, biting down on the trigger…

I sucked down a breath, my hooves flying to my throat. The cold air shocked my bruised windpipe, making me cough violently. As I coughed some part of me realized that I was lying on something cold and uncomfortable. “You aren’t going to die are you?” A voice asked.

I managed to stop coughing long enough to notice where I was. A dark cave, a number of natural rock formations decorated the walls. I didn’t hear any dripping water, mostly because it was so cold that any water had frozen. I had been lying on the stone floor and now that I was awake I realized how painfully frigid it was! It had been unpleasant near Stalliongrad, but this was downright arctic! Shivering, I got to my hooves. “I’m going to freeze to death before I can choke!”

Scout smirked at me from where he sat wrapped in a blanket at the base of a stalagmite. I could see his PipBuck emitting a green glow from under the blanket. “Kinda funny how a mare who can freeze things is getting cold.”

“I’d be a lot warmer if I had a blanket of my own.” I said, glaring at him.

“I did give you one. Sorry for not tucking you in, but I already wasn’t sure if putting on your back was the right move with the wings and all. I didn’t want to risk busting something.”

I looked back to where I had been laying, and true enough a blanket laid crumpled up from my thrashing. I flushed, muttering. “Oh, sorry.” I picked up the blanket and threw it over my back. The numbness slowly faded as I warmed up. The rough fabric irritated my burn, but the cold kept it from hurting too badly.

He shrugged. “I didn’t want to risk a fire, not with your brother out there still.”

I could hear a roaring crowd at the mention of Downpour. I shook my head vigorously to clear the yelling. “I’m getting really sick of passing out.” I groaned.

“It’s a hazard.” Scout agreed, looking at me sternly. “You being so out of it nearly got us killed!”

I felt my face redden further, this time with indignation. “Well excuse me for not being perfectly conditioned to just sling huge amounts of power around on a whim!”

“It’s not about being conditioned, it’s about knowing your limits. If you aren’t used to using your magic so much you don’t use your magic so much.”

“But it saved us from the Enclave! If I hadn’t chilled them then they would have…”

“They still wouldn’t have caught us.” Scout interjected. “Chilling them was excessive, they were already down and trying to screw them over more was a waste of time and energy.” I opened my mouth to argue, but he kept talking. “If you hadn’t done it we would have had more time to run instead of me having to go back for you. You also wouldn’t have needed me to stop you from letting your brother smash your head in.” He somehow managed to still look serious despite being wrapped up in a blanket. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s useful but it’s too much for you. Either train yourself to use it or stop, because freezing one threat won’t stop another from eating you while you’re half asleep on your hooves.”

I sighed, my breath fogging before me. He was right, I had overreacted and nearly ruined our chance at getting out alive. I sat down at a stalagmite next to Scout, pulling the blanket tighter. My talent had been useless up in the clouds, so of course I almost never used it extensively. Now I had been dropped into a world where an advantage like that wasn’t just useful, it was practically essential! I couldn’t imagine a unicorn without any spells lasting very long out here, a pegasus who fainted from her own talent would be just as helpless. “Why bother dragging me along at all?”

“I may be a survivalist, but I do have some equinity.” He said. “You saved my life twice, I’m not going to leave you for dead after that.”

I smiled, feeling less useless. “Thanks for that.”

“We aren’t out of the fire yet.” He said, seeming not to notice the irony as we sat there shivering. “We still have to make it back to St. Ponysburg alive.”

“I had no problems getting to Stalliongrad.” I pointed out.

Scout gave me a look like he couldn’t figure out if I was kidding or not. “You can fly.” He said very slowly.

I felt myself going red again, damnit that hadn’t occurred to me! Of COURSE my trip was easy, I just FLEW over all the problems in the way! “Sorry, not used to this whole ‘being the one pegasus on the surface’ thing…” I muttered lamely. Maybe there was a Dashite in the area I could meet. After what I had done, fraternizing with a traitor couldn’t be any worse. I quickly changed to subject. “So, where are we anyway?”

“In cave at the base of Talon Mountain.” He poked his right leg out from under his blanket and checked his PipBuck, the green glow illuminating more of the cave. “It’s risky to hide in such a prominent landmark, but I think I covered out trial well enough to throw them off.

“Actually, hiding here is a good idea.” I said. “Any mountain that pokes above the cloud curtain is stripped of its resources down to the curtain.” I looked up at the roof of the cave, stalactites pointing down at me. “Talon was a prominent griffon settlement during the war. The Enclave managed to drive them away to strip the mountain, but they keep coming back. Because of that, Talon is one of the few mountains we haven’t stripped yet. I’m pretty certain nopony up there even knows about this cave, since we focus so much on the peak.”

“Then let’s just hope your brother didn’t feel like exploring the foothills.” Scout said, standing up. “Blankets or no, we can’t stay here long.” I was inclined to agree; I could feel the cold settling in wherever I touched the stone, even if it was through the blanket. We made our way up a gradual incline toward the mouth of the cave. The thin layer of ice that coated most of the cave made our walk slippery. I wanted to take off and fly my way out, but after my slip up just minutes ago I figured staying ground bound until I absolutely needed to was a good idea.

“You should probably keep the blanket over your wings.” Scout suggested as we exited the cave. “Most ponies don’t care for the Enclave all that much. I don’t think anypony is St. Ponysburg would start something, but it’s better to stay safe on the way there.”

Had I been told that a few days ago and I’d have been confused about why surfacers disliked the Enclave. Sure I had reason to resent the system that made me useless, but why would an earth pony or unicorn care? Even without Cauterize as general knowledge (yet) I was beginning to understand why.

We exited the cave, the cold air a minor but welcome change from the icy depths. Scout checked his map and E.F.S. (my interest with the PipBuck resurfacing as he did) and we set off in the direction he deemed correct. I was staring at the device, which was difficult since Scout was walking, when he spoke up. “You know, we were never actually introduced.” He lifted the hoof with the PipBuck on it to me. “I’m Scout.”

“Huh?” I said, my focus on the PipBuck breaking when I noticed his hoof. I managed to regain my senses quickly and shook his hoof. “Sleet Gray.”

“Why are you so interested in this thing anyway?” He asked. “It’s just a PipBuck.”

“Just a…” I blinked at him in shock. “Just a PipBuck? Those things are marvels! They can monitor health, receive and decrypt any radio signal, they can even track anypony and anything!” I had to resist the urge to flutter my wings in excitement, otherwise I’d knock my disguise off. “I never thought I’d actually see one before! We don’t have them up in the clouds!”

“Everypony has one down in the Stable, at least when you grow old enough. The most exciting thing about them is getting one, after that we have more important things to worry about.”

Much as it assaulted my sensibilities that anypony would consider a PipBuck commonplace, I was curious about what he meant. “What was your Stable like?”

“130 was…” He fell silent for several seconds, his eyes glazing over. “Brutal. We had been given the best bio-simulation technology available. It simulated Equestria before the war, even before the three tribes. Forests, rivers, even some wild animals. We were told to start from scratch, kinda like a reset button on society. Live off of the land, try and do better. I’ve been told it started out well enough, but…” He sighed. “Something went wrong. Years before I was born, there was a split and the group broke into two tribes. Things only went downhill from there, the two initial tribes spilt into even more and soon everypony was fighting each other for resources. Survival became top priority down there, which is why I was glad to get this.” He gestured towards his multi-tool Cutie Mark. “It means I’m adaptable.”

I felt a twinge of jealousy, it must be nice to have a Cutie Mark you could be proud of, one that wasn’t useless at best. I couldn’t keep the envy out of my tone when I asked. “If you were so suited for the Stable, why did you leave?” Scout didn’t notice, since he had stopped in his track and was focused on something off to our left. “What is it?”

“Contacts on my E.F.S.” He muttered, readying his battle saddle.

“Hostiles? What are they?” I took a step back, wanting to stay clear of Scout’s line of fire.

“I don’t know, but they aren’t hostile.” He grabbed the trigger bit in his mouth.

I froze. “Wait, what? If they are non-hostile why are you acting like you’re about to shoot?”

“Non-hostile fer now.” He said around the bit.

“Well of course they’ll turn hostile if you point a gun at them!” I said, stepping in front of him. I ignored his protests, the last thing I wanted right now was another shoot-out. Squinting my eyes, I could make out several shapes against the tundra. Most of the small group looked to be ponies, but there were two larger shapes among them that looked deformed. The group was headed this way and as they approached I realized that what had looked to be some kind of mutant growth on the two larger shapes were actually boxes of salvage strapped to the backs of… “Are those two-headed cows?” I asked incredulously.

“Brahmin?” Scout asked, walking next to me and squinting at the group. “You can tell? They are at least another 100 yards out!” He relaxed his stance all the same. “Do pegasi have some kind of super vision or something?”

I shrugged, having to consciously remind myself not to move my wings else I’d break my disguise. “Not sure, never had any other pony to compare to. What’s a brahmin?”

“A mutant breed of two-headed cow. They are mostly used by traveling merchants for carrying supplies, which is good. We could use some caps.” He trotted towards the approaching merchants.

I followed close behind for several seconds before what he said hit me. “Wait, caps?” Scout gave me a confused look, like he didn’t understand my question. “Don’t you mean bits?”

“No.” He said in that infuriating tone like he was speaking to a filly. “Bits are almost worthless after the war. We use bottle caps in the Wasteland.”

I returned his blank look with one of my own. “Bottle…caps?” I squeezed my eyes shut for a second. “Why bottle caps?”

“Why not? It’s not like caps can be made anymore, so that makes them scarce.”

I still couldn’t make the connection between bottle caps and currency. “But…but you can apply the same logic to bits! Nopony is making them anymore either! Doesn’t that make them scarce too!?”

“Everypony didn’t start out the apocalypse with their own share of Equestria’s treasury, Sleet. Caps are easier to come by, which makes trade easier. You’d be hard pressed to come across two towns in a row that put bits at the same value as caps.”

I sat down heavily on the cold ground, my mind still spinning. Weren’t bits just as common as bottle caps before the war? What the hell gave them universal value over actual coins?! I grabbed my head in my hooves, groaning. “You surface ponies make no sense!”

Scout simply rolled his eyes and continued toward the merchant. I followed after composing myself, my disguise wouldn’t mean much if I was freaking out over the concept of bottle caps as money!

As we approached I could make out more details of the group. The brahmin walked side by side and were flanked by two armed ponies in leather barding who I assumed were guards. Leading the group was an intimidatingly large bright red unicorn stallion with a black mane. He wore a hat made of some kind of fur with ear flaps that, instead of covering his ears, were pinned to the sides of the hat itself. I couldn’t see his Cutie Mark since he wore a large, dirty coat lined with fur. I was snapped out of my contemplation of bottle caps and superfluous ear flaps when the merchant spoke in a booming voice with a thick, broken accent. “Ah, friends! Travelers! You come for trade, da? Apparatchik has many wares for barter!” I resisted the urge to check over my shoulder for attacking Enclave, this pony was so boisterous I swear they could hear him all the way to Neighvarro!

Scout winced as he took off the duffel bag, the strap rubbing against his burn wound through the blanket. “Do you have any healing potions?”

“Da, we have much for pain, Med-X, potions, bandages.” As he spoke he rummaged through the piles of wares on the brahmin’s backs with his magic. “What have you, Stable Pony?”

While the two set to their barter I went to examine the brahmin, staying a respectful distance when I noticed the guards glaring at me. The cows had no coat to speak of, just angry red flesh that showed off solid muscles. Their necks formed a forty-five degree angle from where they separated at the base. “I wonder what caused that…” I muttered.

“Radiation. Even I know that and I aint fer knowin much.” A voice said next to me. I gasped, jumping a step back at the right-side head laughed. “What, neer seena brahmin ‘afore missy? You don look like onea them Stable types.”

“Sorry,” I apologized. “I just didn’t know you could talk.”

“Well shoot, one heads from ‘afore the war could, why can’t we?” The left side head added. “Afer all, we got two heads now. Twice the brains!”

“Yew only got halfa brain, Agnes.” The right side head spat.

I took hold of the conversation before the two heads could start fighting, I didn’t know how their nervous system worked but I guessed that walking would be hard if there was bad wind between them. “What I meant to ask was why did you mutate to have two heads?” The brahmin heads looked at me blankly. “I mean, you could have mutated to have anything, so why an extra head? Why did the radiation cause that particular mutation and why did it pass on so successfully?”

Agnes blinked slowly. “Are yer onea them scientist ponies er sumthin?”

Oh right, ‘aint fer knowing much’. My laugh was more awkward than I liked. “No, I just read a lot.”

“Then do you listen to radio?” Apparatchik interrupted, for which I was thankful. “Did you hear story about falling pegasus?”

I felt my feathers ruffle nervously. “A pegasus on the radio?”

“Da, DJ pony give report a few days ago. Stable pony! You have radio, maybe DJ is talking about pegasus again!”

Scout gave me a worried look, but consented and turned on his PipBuck’s radio. A deep, male voice played through the speakers, finishing up a report about how a pony from a Stable had cleared out a town of raiders and saved several captives, including a pony named Ditzy Doo who had written a survival guide for the Wasteland. I had no idea how one pony took on a town full of raiders and won, but the knowledge that there was one less band of those cannibalistic maniacs running around warmed my heart. “And now for some more news from up north! I’m sure you all remember the pegasus who fell from the sky on a giant clump of ice, right? Well, she was recently spotted both going in and coming out of Stalliongrad! That in itself is a miracle, seeing as the whole place is crawling with the Shadow King’s cronies.” Shadow King? Those raiders were actually organized as a whole? They even had a king?! The thought sent a chill down my spine, I had seen the size of the raider army or at least the size of city they occupied. If this Shadow King ever decided to make a move I couldn’t imagine much stopping him from taking over the north. Even the Enclave would have their work cut out for them if they took that horde on. The DJ continued his report. “On top of that, groups of Enclave soldiers have been spotted patrolling the area around Coltarado and Stalliongrad. I don’t know what they are here for, but if you’re up there is the cold I’d recommend keeping your head low until we learn more.” If the news about the Shadow King had been chilling, learning about the Enclave was positively sickening. The fact that I had invoked such a large response was frightening, and if what Swift Winds told me was true then that put everypony who talked to me in grave danger.

Scout turned off the radio when the DJ started talking about the Stable pony again. I looked at Apparatchik and his caravan worriedly. Would they all be killed if Downpour or any other Enclave pegasus found them? Did I put the entirety of St. Ponysburg at risk just for recovering there after falling out of the sky? I was hoping to save the Wasteland from the Enclave, not condemn them one at a time just for being there! I swallowed my paranoia, hoping that Apparatchik didn’t notice my consternation at the report. “I wonder,” The giant stallion said. “Why do pegasus ponies come down now? They spend two hundred years in sky then BAM! One falls from sky and whole Wasteland goes crazy.”

“Maybe the one who fell is being chased. I doubt anypony would want to fall out of the sky.” I said as casually as I could.

“Da, but why run? Anypony who falls on giant ice and live is not pony that Apparatchik want trouble with. Bad for business.”

“I’d be running if I had an army up my tail.” I muttered, shivering involuntarily.

Apparatchik noticed my shiver. “You are cold? Not big surprise, all of Stalliongrad area is cold. You need more than blanket, good for you that I have many coats like this!” He thumped his own chest with his hoof. “You want, da?”

While having something more substantial than the blanket would be nice, replacing it would involve revealing my wings. The last thing I wanted to do was paint a target on the merchant’s head. “Thanks, but I’ll survive. My friend could use something though.” I said, gesturing to Scout.

“Well I have this.” Scout pulled Stable barding from his duffel bag. “It kinda needs repairs though.” I could see why, the barding had looked like it had been dragged through flaming mud. It was so dirty and shot up I could barely make out the yellow “130” emblazoned on it. He gave me an apologetic grin. “This is why I was almost out of healing potions when you found me.” Setting down the barding, he passed me one of the potions he had traded with Apparatchik.

I drank the potion, feeling the burn on my back tingle as it healed. While I healed, Apparatchik continued his sales pitch. “See? Your friend he already has warmth, at least he will. You still need protection from harsh Stalliongrad cold. Here” He levitated out a coat much like his, only cleaner. “You try coat on.”

I felt the blanket on my back shift as the stallion grabbed it with his magic. I hurriedly pulled the cover tighter, trying to dissuade him. “No, no I’m fine! I’m used to the cold!”

But the big merchant would not take no for an answer. I couldn’t keep the blanket from being removed, revealing my wings. I leapt back next to Scout, flaring my wings threateningly. They may not know that I was the one who froze Coltarado Heights, but I hoped it would give them pause. Both the guards and Scout readied their weapons, and for about a half a minute we stood there, the tension brittle.

Just as suddenly as the stand-off started, it ended with a loud laugh from Apparatchik. “So, you are the pegasus DJ pony is talking about, eh? Marvelous!”

Scout and I traded stunned glances. Marvelous? “You mean…you aren’t going to try and kill me?” I asked slowly?

The merchant looked taken aback by my question. “Why would I do that? You have been friendly to my brahmin, and you are customer! That means you are friend! Besides, I have famous customer, is very good for business!”

“You can’t tell anypony you saw me.” I stated firmly. “”The Enclave is here for me, if they catch wind that you met me they will hunt you down and kill you.”

Apparatchik tapped his chin with his hoof. “Hmm, unfortunate. I do not want to kill new friend, but I do not want to be killed by crazy pegasus.” I hoped he was referring to the Enclave. Suddenly his face lit up. “Ah! Idea!” He threw the coat over my back, nodding his head when he saw it cover my wings. “Da, this will work! Tell you what falling pegasus, you take coat at discount. I have friend in St. Ponysburg, masterful tailor. He will modify coat so you can hide wings, but still fly when you need too. In return we stay friends, you keep life, and tell many ponies about Apparatchik’s generosity! This work, da?”

I had to admit it was a brilliant idea, and the coat was very warm. I nodded, smiling wide. “Yes, this works fine.”

Many boisterous thanks and proclamations of friendship later we completed the transaction. I slipped my legs through the sleeves of my new coat, pleased that it covered my wings and Cutie Mark effectively. The coat was a darker shade of gray than my mane, and was trimmed with tan fur that I was fairly certain I didn’t want to know the origin of. “Are you heading back to St. Ponysburg?” I asked Apparatchik while I buttoned the brass clasps of the coat. Once that was done, as far as anypony could tell I was just another earth pony.

“Niet.” The big stallion said with a shake of his head. “We have many more outposts to barter with. Northern Wastes may be cold, but there is much trade.” The merchant enthusiastically shook my hoof, which made my leg feel like it was about to fall off. “You give my best to Threads, da? Tell him I pay for modifications to coat.” He released my hoof before it shook off. “Are you sure you do not wish to travel with us? Will take longer, but we will get to St. Ponysburg, and make many caps!”

“I’d like to.” I said earnestly, but the same reasons I’d like to travel with him were the reasons I couldn’t. I didn’t want to get a decent pony killed just from being near me. “It’s too risky with the Enclave after me. Just talking to me puts you in danger.”

“Then I wish you best of luck, falling pegasus and Stable pony.” He set off with brahmin and guardsponies in tow, waving one last time.

I waved back before turning to Scout, who was busy patching up his Stable barding. He had bought some scraps of clothing off of Apparatchik that he was using to repair the garment. As I watched him work I got an uncomfortable twist in my gut, Scout was also a decent pony and I couldn’t risk him being around me. Much as I enjoyed the earth pony’s company, and thankful as I was for him saving my life multiple times, the danger was simply too great. Every minute he spent with me was a minute the Enclave could drop out of the sky and murder us both. Once we got back to St. Ponysburg, we would have to part ways.

“You ready to go?” Scout asked. He had completed the repairs, his barding now looking less like it had caught the wrong end of a thunderstorm.

I nodded after making a cautionary scan of the skies for Enclave. The bright disc of the sun, muted by the cloud cover, was approaching the western horizon. “Do have an idea of where we can camp for the night?”

Scout checked his PipBuck, hit a few buttons and nodded. “There is an old ruin near here. I passed by it on the way to Stalliongrad, it looked reasonably safe.” I supposed “reasonably safe” was the best we could manage, at least until we reached St. Ponysburg. We set out once again, healed, clothed, and in considerably better shape than we had been this morning. However, that did little to shake my paranoia, I found myself worriedly checking the skies more than the Wasteland in front of me.

Scout was silent for the first few minutes of our trot before speaking up. “Sleet, what was that back there?”

I looked down from the cloud cover to Scout’s worried expression. “What was what where?”

“Back in Stalliongrad. First you wake up screaming like a windego, then minutes later you are a cold hearted cynic to that one Enclave mare. You looked half way to tears when you told me about what you did, and you are practically laughing in her face about it!” He shot me a scrutinizing look. “I find it kinda hard to believe that anypony who would willingly risk their life to help somepony they don’t even know would act like that.”

I was taken aback by the question, what did he mean? I was just acting! “The way I treated Swift Winds was necessary. I needed her to shoot at me so I could sabotage her guns, ruffling her feathers was the best way to do it.”

“Yeah, but you seemed to like it!” Scout retorted. “You enjoyed pissing her off.”

He’s right, that was fun. The vengeful little pony in the back of my mind hissed gleefully. I did my best to ignore it, smiling reassuringly at Scout. “Don’t worry, that was just an act. Swift Winds knows I don’t like her, so she’d expect me to look like I enjoyed angering her.”

Scout looked unconvinced, but put it aside in favor of another question. “And the screaming?”

“Like I said, nightmares.” I heard the sound of ghouls and pegasi alike baying for my blood and had to suppress a shudder. “I’ve been having a lot of them since I fell down here.”

Scout said nothing, and merely nodded. We continued on our way in silence. I still checked the skies, but with the sun setting and still no sign of Enclave I doubted they’d make a move now. Flying in the dark was uncomfortable enough, but flying over a frozen Wasteland of unknown horrors without even the sun’s meager light and warmth? The thought made my feather ruffle.

We were approaching the ruins that hopefully would shelter us for the night. A street sign was bent at an acute angle with the ground, the faded text barely legible “Welcome to Quebuck! Where hooves march to drums!” We entered the ruins cautiously, Scout scanning with his E.F.S. compass for any dangers. He gestured that we should stay down, having spotted red bars. I really missed free use of my wings so I could flutter silently rather than make a pathetic excuse at sneaking, but I didn’t want to waste time and risk making more noise pulling off my coat. I winced every time my hoof struck a piece of rubble or debris, the clatter sounding like a balefire bomb detonating to my frayed nerves.

We both froze as the silence was broken by shouting in the distance. Whoever was shouting was too far away to be heard clearly, but they sounded enraged. Scout looked hurriedly for a place to hide before spotting a gaudy pink building and pointing towards it. I raised a questioning eyebrow, the building stood out like a broken wing. Scout was determined though, jerking his head towards the building. I shrugged, he was the expert. We set off as quietly as we could as the angry voices grew closer. I still couldn’t make out most of what they were saying, but it sounded like they were looking for somepony.

Scout pushed against the door only to have it not budge. He pushed harder, the door bending in slightly but not relenting. “Damnit.” He hissed. “Can you pick locks?”

“Not unless there electronic.” I muttered. I could hear something faintly playing on the other side of the door. I pressed my ear to it trying to hear better and, was that tuba music? Before I could question the music a loud clatter and an even louder string of profanity came from the street behind the building. Scout and I traded worried looks as another voice spoke over the chorus of swears.

“Stupid! First you trip on rocks now you cry like newborn foal! We never find them like this!” The voice had the same accent Apparatchik did, but was feminine.

Scout leaned in and whispered. “See if you can force the lock, I’m going to check that out.” Force the lock? How was I supposed to do that? Before I could ask Scout was slinking off towards the alley leading to the shouting.

Gritting my teeth, I turned to the door. I didn’t know the first thing about lock picking and was certain I’d sooner bust the lock than open it. Nevertheless I leaned in to examine the door, which had not fared well over the years. The latch looked to be corroded and weak, but judging from Scout’s attempt there was no way we could bust it without drawing attention to ourselves. If there was some way to weaken the bolt more we could, wait a minute…

I pulled up the right side of my coat enough to free my wing. Touching the doorknob with the tip, I closed my eyes in concentration. There came a faint crackling as my feathers frosted over, and a slightly louder snap as when I blasted the lock with cold. Smiling, I shoved the door with my shoulder, hearing the lock break away completely. The door swung into a dark room, from which a giant bug shot out and past my head!

I stumbled back, suppressing a startled scream. The bug flittered past me on mechanical wings, the upbeat music (with gratuitous tuba) emitting from a speaker. Without even seeming to notice me, the little robot flew down the street. I was tempted to follow it when Scout scurried back. “Get inside, quickly!” He hissed, leaping through the door. I followed fast behind him, closing the door behind us. Of course, busted as it was it wouldn’t latch, which Scout remedied by shoving a fallen file cabinet in front of it. Only when he saw the door was secure did he relax. At my confused look he said simply. “Slavers.”

My eyes widened. “Slavers? There’s slavery?”

“Yeah, and unless we want to wake up with bomb collars strapped on our necks we are going to stay well out of their way!”

“You mean we’re just going to let the go?” I said, voice dripping with incredulity. I had seen some terrible things the past few days, but terrible as they were ghouls and raiders felt weirdly natural to the Wasteland. It made a twisted and horrible sense that they existed, but slavery? There was no excuse for that! “We can’t just let slavers run around!”

“We have no choice!” Scout snapped, glaring at me. He winced and glanced at the door before continuing in a softer voice. “They have us outnumbered five to one and massively outgunned. Even if you had a gun we wouldn’t be able to put up a fight.”

What did he mean? Of course I had a… I reached back with my hoof and felt the empty holster under my coat. My gun was gone! If I’d lost it where I thought I had that meant it was buried under the building that metal monster had collapsed! “Damnit.” I growled. Now not only could I not stop those bastard slavers, but I was even less useful in the event of danger.

Scout touched his hoof to my shoulder. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but we can’t stop them. At least we can’t in our current condition.”

I glared at the door, practicality slowly winning out over righteous anger. “Fine.” I grumbled. Changing the topic away from crimes against equinity, I asked. “So where are we anyway?”

“My PipBuck called it ‘Quebuck M.o.M Headquarters’.” Scout supplied.

“M.o.M, the Ministry of Morale?” I had read about the pre-war ministry in charge of maintaining public support of the war. “I thought the Stalliongrad area had been all gung-ho about the war, why would they need a morale boost?”

“Beats me, I just hope this place isn’t on the slaver’s hit list.” Scout muttered, moving cautiously further into the facility. I followed behind, examining the walls. Most of the walls were covered with faded posters of a pink earth pony mare with a wide grin and equally wide eyes. Her fluffy pink mane had streaks of gray running through it that made her look like a candy cane. Written in bold letters across each poster was the phrase “PINKIE PIE IS WATCHING YOU FOREVER!!!” It certainly felt like she was, the manically wide eyes seemed to follow us as we walked past.

There were few emergency lights still working in the old facility, and with the sun rapidly setting outside it was growing too dark to scavenge the place. Scout recommended we scavenge the place in the morning, while he could have easily used his PipBuck light to search he was afraid the slavers would see the glow through a window. Frankly sleep sounded like too good a prospect to argue. After a quick application of my new lock-busting technique we descended into the basement. Scout felt that the chilly foundation was perfect having no windows we could be spotted from. I just felt claustrophobic, the cave at Talon Mountain had been spacious, this felt cramped.

Our luck continued to hold, there were a pair of unrolled sleeping bags in one of the maintenance closets. There were two skeletons with the sleeping bags as well as faded books that appeared lecherous, janitors ditching work during the late shift when the bombs fells? In any event the sleeping bags were relatively well preserved, Scout and I each taking one to sleep in (first leaving the sepulchral closet).

Both of us were too exhausted to talk, climbing into our bags to sleep without another word. I decided to sleep in my coat, partially because it was warmer and partially because I was too tired to remove it. I closed my eyes, and as I drifted off to sleep I could hear it. The sound of a pack of slavering ghouls, growing louder; my wings tingled painfully, reminiscent of the meat hooks driven through them in my nightmare. My eyes shot wide and darted around the room, searching for attacking ghouls. Instinctively I tried to get up and run, but the sleeping bag and coat constricted me. My thrashing grew more frantic until I escaped the bag, heart and lungs pumping wildly.

Slowly, painfully so, the sounds and sensation faded away. I sat heavily against the cold stone wall, willing my heart to beat normally. Miraculously Scout had not woken up from the commotion, probably because I hadn’t started screaming yet. Once my heart rate and breathing settled I looked at the sleeping bag apprehensively. Maybe it was best if I didn’t go to sleep, after all nightmare-induced howling would make hiding from slavers difficult.

Swallowing hard, I got to my hooves. If I stayed in one place I’d succumb to my weariness and fall asleep, and if I fell asleep I’d have another nightmare. I carefully made my way out of the basement, going to explore the rest of the facility despite the dark. There wasn’t a terrible lot to find, most of the rooms were scattered with debris and any terminals had long since ceased functioning. I made a point of searching the desks ad lockers for anything useful, other than the occasional small stash of bottle caps there was nothing much else worth taking. A small part of my sleep-hungry mind wondered how the bottle caps had gotten there, one pony collecting them before the bombs made sense, but a whole office worth?

Before I could question it further I saw a familiar green glow. Gasping with excitement, and stifling a yawn that followed, I trotted happily up to the terminal which was affixed to a wall next to a door. I set to hacking the terminal in spite of my exhaustion. I was delighted to learn that my security bypass trick worked on the surface terminals just as well as it did on Enclave cloud ones. That made sense, the Enclave still used the RoBronco Unified Operating System with only minor changes and not to the security.

It took several tries, and in the fog of sleep I nearly got myself locked out of the system more than once, but I finally got the terminal hacked. The password had been “caution” which was probably a wise warning I was too sleepy too listen to. The only available action was to open the door. I executed the application, grinning at the sound of the door whirring open. Despite what had happened the last time I’d hacked something this felt good, as comfortable as flying.

The room unsealed by the terminal looked like a psychiatrist’s office, but had a disturbingly surgical feel to it. Maybe it was the fact that the couch the patient would lay on was occupied by a skeleton held down by elastic straps. The straps had old, burned out control talismans built into the buckle leading me to believe straps were hidden until they were activated to restrain the “patient”. The skeleton was earth pony, female, and had minor fractures around where the straps held her down, was if she had tried to pull herself free. I shuddered, turning away from the couch, yet still determined to explore the rest of the room.

A wall safe sat flung open, its contents all but cleaned out. Inside were a few syringes of what I assumed was sedative, and a strange crown-shaped device with a black opal inset on the front. I recognized what it was, a Memory Recollector. The pre-war device allowed non-unicorns to record the memories of other beings on a memory orb. It also allowed non-unicorns to view a memory orb, which was convenient since it usually required unicorn magic to active the devices. All this I knew was purely academic, I had never seen a memory orb before let alone a Recollector. It wasn’t as if such a device would be helpful in the Wasteland since any memory orb would be over two hundred years old. On top of that, I was fairly certain that viewing a memory orb completely disabled to viewer, which was the last thing you wanted to be out here.

I began to turn away from the safe, ready to dismiss the Recollector as unneeded, until I noticed something. Underneath the couch was something glittering. Swallowing my discomfort being so close to the skeleton, I reached under the couch and managed to sweep out the glittering thing. Of all things, it was a memory orb. It was made of some kind of clear crystal and swirled with multi-color light. I glanced back at the wall safe, curiosity tugging at me. “Well, I wasn’t planning on sleeping. And I’m fairly certain you can’t have nightmares in a memory orb.” I murmured to myself.

After carefully extracting the black opal and replacing it with the orb I found, I placed the Recollector on my head. I sat there feeling silly for several seconds. “So how do I turn this thing on?” I muttered angrily. “Do I just think about the orb or…”

oooOOOooo

GAH! My wings! Where are my wings!? I take it back! Get me out of this thing! How did earth ponies go around without wings? Being short two limbs was extremely uncomfortable!

Gradually I relaxed, after reminding myself several times that I’d have my wings back when the orb ended. Instead I took stock of my environment. Mare, earth pony, and it was cold so this was definitely the Stalliongrad area. However something was…off. I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it but the memory felt clipped, like it had been somehow tampered with. The world felt muddy and unimportant, the best I could tell the mare was in some sort of cafe. There was a tap on her shoulder and somepony said “Diamond Leaf?” The mare turned and suddenly the world snapped into perfect focus, or at least the buck addressing her did.

He was tall and powerfully built, with a deep blue coat and a luscious corn silk mane. His smile was easy and confident sending mine, and Diamond Leaf’s hearts aflutter. But while the majority of my mind stammered like a school filly, that cool rational part wondered why this buck was so important. Sure he was (very very) handsome, but why was the rest of the world almost blocked out? “The Ministry of Morale is having a parade this afternoon.” He said (in a rich voice that made me want to faint). “Would you like to go with m-“

“Yes!” Diamond Leaf replied hurriedly, blushing furiously when she realized she had cut him off.

The buck simply chuckled. “Alright, meet you at the Ministry building?” Diamond Leaf simply nodded. With a parting smile and wave, the buck trotted off.

I expected that to be the end of the memory, but with a sensation similar to whiplash the scene changed. Once the world re-asserted itself I took stock of the surroundings. It proved difficult, since once again the rest of the world appeared muddled. Diamond Leaf was looking around, as if trying to find somepony. Then she found him, and once again the world shot into crystal clarity around him. The same handsome buck from before was also searching what I could only guess was a crowd. “Cobalt!” She called, trotting over to him with a happy grin.

The buck, Cobalt, seemed equally pleased to see her. They exchanged greetings, him with confidence, her nervously, and with an muffled roar I had to strain to notice her attention was draw elsewhere. Once again, the world faded out. Only when she was looking at or talking to Cobalt did anything come in clearly.

The scene jumped jarringly again, I couldn’t even tell where the two were this time only that they were together. This repeated several times, the two going on various dates until something significant happened.

Cobalt was in full military dress, standing firmly at attention. There were other ponies around him, the only way I could tell that they were also military was their stiff poses. Diamond Leaf stood some distance away, her eyes fixed on Cobalt. The buck seemed to sense her gaze, he glanced her way and gave a quick smile. She smiled back as he turned sharply to the right and began marching. Her eyes brimmed with tears as he marched out of sight.

One more jolt. Diamond Leaf was alone, going about her business. She felt tired, not necessarily older just worn out. There came a knock at the door, one I was surprised to hear. Maybe Cobalt had come home from the war? Diamond Leaf’s gut twisted as she went to answer the door. She lay her hoof on the knob for several seconds, taking slow breaths before opening the door. The shapes of the ponies were muddled, but what they said came through clear as day. “Miss Diamond Leaf?” She nodded hesitantly. “We regret to inform you that Cobalt was mortally wounded in action.”

Diamond Leaf broke out in a cold sweat. “W-what?” She stammered.

“Before succumbing to his injuries he said he wanted you to be given this.” The murky pony handed her a locket that appeared clearly. Diamond Leaf opened it, revealing a picture of her and Cobalt laughing together. She sat heavily, headless of the ponies before her and unable to take her eyes off of the picture. Her heart thudded in her ears so loudly she was almost unable to hear the pony mutter. “We’re sorry for you loss…”

oooOOOooo

I gasped as I came out of the memory orb. At some point I had fallen onto my back and was left staring at the celling. I didn’t feel rested by a long shot, but being in the orb had been kinda refreshing. It was like I was a spark battery that still had a bit of charge left in it. The entire world suddenly being in perfect clarity was jarring after the strange orb. Except it wasn’t, why was my vision still blurry around the edges? Blinking, I felt tears drip from my eyes. At some point during the orb I had started crying.

I got to my hooves, my gaze lingering on the skeleton. There was something very wrong with that memory orb. From what I had read they were supposed to show the whole experience, every little detail as it was when the pony remembered it. That one had somehow been tampered with, specifically zeroing in on Cobalt. There was a terminal on a desk next to the wall safe. Hopefully this would hold some answers. I was slightly disappointed to learn that the terminal had never been logged off, so there was no need to hack it. I checked the log entries, starting with the most recent which was still over two hundred years old.

My tired eyes had to scan the first few lines several times before what they said sank in, and then again to prove to myself I wasn’t seeing things. “The subject known as Diamond Leaf is recommended for immediate memory modification.” I read aloud. “Diamond Leaf is an advocate against the war, following the death of her coltfriend Private Cobalt. She is growing in popularity and has been labeled a Bad Pony. Recommended action: Removal of the Private from her memories.” I looked back to the skeleton, seeing it in a new light. Diamond Leaf had oppose the war, and they sucked out her memories of the reason why?! I checked the entry again, specifically the date. My shoulders slumped, the entry had been made the day before the bombs fell. If the M.o.M agents had acted immediately than that explains why she was still tied down, after all these years. Her last moments had been filled with terror, restrained as the world blew up around her and unable to even remember the best thing in her life.

I made my slow way back to the basement, sadness mixed with exhaustion to sow my hooves. I looked at the pink posters claiming the Ministry Mares eternal vigilance. Had she known about this? Did Pinkie Pie know her own agents were violating the minds of ponies just to quell dissenting voices? And if she did, did she approve? Suddenly the smile on the posters became far more creepy than happy.

I went to push open the door leading to the basement when I noticed something, it was half open. I know my method of breaking in had left the door unable to latch, but hadn’t I at least closed it over? My eyes widened as I heard voices drifting up from the basement. I carefully pushed the door open and crept down the stairs as quietly as I could, pissing rainbows I needed that modification for this coat! Wings made sneaking so much easier!

The voices grew louder as I grew closer, my mane standing on end as I recognized the slaver mare’s voice from earlier. I poked my head around the corner enough to see. There were five ponies that looked like better armed and more hygienic raiders. Each carried an assault rifle and a set of hoofcuffs. The mare who I assumed was the leader of the group was an imperious looking unicorn who carried a vicious looking barbed whip. And laying on the ground between them was Scout, a collar clamped firmly around his neck.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk, Silver Tongue: You’re a fast talker, able to convince others more easily. You gain +5 to Speech and Barter.

Calculated Risk

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 4: Calculated Risk
“Given our current situation, I’m going to need more than ‘pretty sure’”
“Fine, I’m really pretty sure.”

“Atrocity” is a strange word. It is an instance of when language has failed to describe something with the adjectives it already had. From a purely intellectual standpoint “atrocity” is just another word for “evil”, like how “awesome” is another word for “cool” or “fabulous” is another word for “pretty”. Each word is no different than its synonym, but we put so much more emphasis on “atrocity”, because merely calling something atrocious “evil” does not give the whole picture.

Scout hadn’t spoken a word, at least not in the time I had been watching. The green pony appeared to be unharmed, the slavers probably didn’t want to hurt him if they didn’t have to. The fact that the unicorn leader still hadn’t drawn her whip was indicative of that. That was fortunate, but only helped so much. Even if I did have a weapon it was almost impossible that I could kill all five of them before they hurt Scout, perhaps fatally.

My contemplations were interrupted by one of the slavers, a burly earth pony with a ball-and-chain Cutie Mark, spoke up. The brute leaned in close to Scout and spoke in a low growl I could just barely hear. “I’m getting real sick of asking. Where. Is. Your. Friend?”

Scout stoically glared back at him. “And I’m getting sick of telling you. I came here alone!”

The slaver lunged forward, grabbing Scout by his Stable barding, and lifted the smaller earth pony. The two glared at each other for a tense second before the mare with the whip stepped forward. What I had originally thought was dirt I now realized was her coat color, a brown dark enough it was practically black. “Put down the Stable pony, you damage merchandise you pay loss of profit.” The brute glared at Scout a moment longer before dropping him. “Now, Stable pony.” The unicorn said with such an insincere smile a foal could see through it. “I could flay your flesh from bone until you tell me about your friend. But I get feeling you would not tell even then. So I give two choices. One is that you tell us where your friend is, we capture your friend, we sell you both.” Scout snorted derisively at the idea. “Two is we cut losses, blow your head off with collar, and leave.”

My heart jumped into my throat at the same time I saw Scout’s stoicism slip. The slave driver must have seen it as well, her smile having become sunnier. We could both see the fight between practicality and loyalty in Scout’s eyes, I couldn’t leave him like this. Fortunately I had a plan, or at least half of one, but considering the desperation of the situation half was the best I had. Retreating fully around the corner I took a deep breath (quietly), put on my best annoyed expression, and strode around the corner into a group of slavers. “Oh please, enough of the drama. It’s giving me a headache.” I kept by voice just above a growl, shifting my glare from one slaver to another.

If the slaver mare was surprised, she hid it well as she turned to face me with the same false smile. “I hope for your sake you are referring to uncooperative scum, here.” The slaver mare lashed out with a hoof, kicking Scout in the side.

I kept myself from wincing, staring into the slaver’s eyes. “No, I’m talking to the cocky bitch who thinks she can enslave my bodyguard!”

“I think any bodyguard stupid enough to sleep while boss wanders around deserves to be caught.”

“I never said he was competent.” I shot a glare at Scout, willing him to play along. The earth pony looked to be getting over the shock of my entrance, I just hoped he remembered my act from Stalliongrad. “But he’s a fair enough shot, what with that computer on his leg, so I’d like to keep him in my employ thank you very much.”

The mud-colored mare chuckled, shaking her head. “Ah, you see that is where we have problem. You see, due to incompetence of my own employees I have lost some… merchandise.”

“Merchandise?” I worked hard not to let my disgust creep into my tone. “If you lost it then why not…how did you put it? ‘Blow head off with collar?’” I said, doing a horrible mimic of the Stalliongrad accent.

The already fake smile became even more strained. “The collars are dog tags for others in my trade. They know my collars, and know that there are consequences for not returning my wares to me.” Her horn glowed, grabbing Scout by his collar and showing me the nine black scratches on the side. “I let my customers have final say of if heads explode. Besides, it would be shame to kill such a rare prize.”

I felt a rush of fierce joy that somepony had escaped this monster, only slightly dampened by the next stage of my plan. I put on my own snake-oil grin. “I think I have a solution to our problem, one where everypony walks away happy.” The mud colored mare seemed doubtful, but remained silent. “How about I reimburse you for any lost profits on your ‘merchandise’ and you let my bodyguard and I go?” I trotted over to Scout’s duffel bag, showing off the plentiful food and caps inside. “I also happen to be in the business of trade.”

The mare’s eyes shone with naked greed. “You make interesting deal, Business Mare. How do I know you have caps enough to pay for my merchandise?”

I pushed the bag closer to her. “Does it look like I do? And even if I don’t, there is plenty more for trade. After all, everypony needs to eat.” I shot a glance at Scout as the slaver and her cronies discussed the offer.

What are you doing? Scout mouthed obviously angry I was offering up our precious supplies.

Saving your flank. I silently retorted.

I was delaying them. You could have run!

I’m not leaving you to these monsters.

The exchange was cut short as the slaver leader addressed me. “I believe we can make deal, Business Mare.” She slid the duffel bag back to me, short most of the caps. She gestured to the small pile at her hooves. “We will take this, your bodyguard will be freed and we will leave you be.”

“That’s most of what I had.” I growled. “Hardly seems a fair deal when I don’t even know the quality of your ‘merchandise’.”

“Trust me, what I lost was most valuable. Consider yourself lucky I do not take more.” She gestured to one of her guards, who approached Scout with a ring of keys. The earth pony remained silent as the collar came off with a clack. “Farewell Business Mare, perhaps we will do business again one day.” The idea made me want to turn her into an ice statue, but I kept my anger in check. She gathered up the caps, dropped them in a saddlebag, and turned to leave with cronies in tow.

“You know, I never caught your name.” I called after her.

She turned to me with a much more genuine smile, casually twirling her whip. “Ponies in my trade call me Cat O’ Nine Tails, you may as well.” With a mocking bow, she turned once again and left.

I waited until I couldn’t hear the sound of the slaver’s hooves before blowing out a sigh. “Thunder and lightning.” I cursed, slumping. “I thought she’d never leave.”

“Sleet…” Scout said hesitantly. I turned to him, my exhaustion returning in spades now that the excitement was over. The buck was regarding me with a mix of appreciation and worry. “What the hell was that?”

“What’d you mean?” I asked around a yawn. “I thought that went well. I’ll help you make the caps back if that’s what’s…”

“No, it’s not the caps.” He interrupted. “It’s the fact that you just had dealings with slavers!”

“Well…yeah.” I muttered, wondering what the problem was. They were gone and we were free, victory for us, right? “Did you want me to fight them or something?”

“No, I expected you to run.” He sighed and shook his head. “I could have escaped and we’d meet up later, not risk both of us getting caught on the off chance you could buddy up to them!” I wanted to point out the very real possibility of the slavers just blowing his head off, but could do little more than yawn. Despite my best efforts, exhaustion was catching up to me. “And where were you, anyway?”

“Can’t sleep.” I grumbled. “Nightmares. Decided to wander…” The world was swimming before my eyes and my knees felt weak.

Scout was a green blur as he gently coaxed me to the abandoned sleeping bag. “Not sleeping is just as dangerous as passing out.” Begrudgingly he added. “It worked in our favor this time, but I’d rather not make a habit of it.” He may have said something after that, but despite my best efforts I fell onto the sleeping bag. As I drifted out of consciousness I prayed that I wouldn’t hear the sound of slavering ghouls.

*****

I awoke on a surprisingly comfortable bed. Looking around I recognized Sister’s infirmary at St. Ponysburg. The room was silent enough to hear a pin drop, and the white unicorn was nowhere to be found. Getting out of bed, I gave myself a once-over, two wings, four hooves, no scars or recently healed wounds to speak of. In fact, I felt great! Rested, healed, fed, and generally healthy. “Hello?” I called, hoping to thank Sister for helping me. I started trotting to the door. “Anypony here?”

The door opened, but instead of the kindly white unicorn I was greeted by the last pony I’d expect. Cat O’ Nine Tails smiled genuinely when she saw me. “Ah, Business Mare! You are awake! Wonderful.”

I took an involuntary step back, my wings fluttering nervously. “Where’s Sister?” I asked.

“The medic? We worry about her later, first we worry about those.” She gestured to my wings. “Hiding those from me?” She tsk’d, shaking her head. “It is not good for friends to keep secrets you know.”

“We aren’t friends.” I hissed, retreating further. “You tried to enslave my friend!”

Cat O’ Nine Tails kept up that easy smile as she walked towards me. “The Stale Pony? I thought he was bodyguard! So many secrets you Enclave have!” I bumped into the bed, and the slaver put a hoof on my shoulder. “Well, is all water under bridge now. After all, you helped me.”

I reflexively twitched away from her hoof. “What are you talking about?”

“The caps! Since we are being so honest, I will admit I took far more than cost of one little piece of merchandise, and for that I am sorry.” She pouted, looking for all the world like a filly with her hoof caught in the cookie jar. “But, with extra caps I make good investments, make strides in business, and since you give me caps I let you share in profits! Follow me!” She turned and trotted out of room, a spring in her step.

I cautiously followed, still hearing no sounds beyond the building we were in. We ascended, going up stairs and piles of rubble to reach the roof. Cat O’ Nine Tails gestured grandly out into the distance where I could see a smudge of movement against the tundra. “I don’t get it, what am I looking at? And where is everypony?” Below us, St. Ponysburg was abandoned, not a soul wandered the streets.

“And here I thought pegasi had good eyes! Fly closer friend, you will get better picture from on high.” I glanced at the slaver nervously, but took off anyway. I felt much better as I flew away from her and towards the smudge, being near the monster made my feathers ruffle. As I glided towards the smudge I could begin to pick out details, like the fact that it wasn’t a smudge, but a column. A large column of ponies were walking three abreast towards St. Ponysburg. At first I thought they were an invading army, but considering that the settlement was a ghost town that didn’t make much sense. Finally, I got in range to pick out individual ponies, and what I saw nearly made me drop from the sky.

They were slaves. A gigantic collection of slaves. Fillies, colts, mares, stallions, and all three kinds of pony made up the herd. Slavers galloped along the edges of the column, viciously lashing anypony who fell out of step. Three ponies in particular caught my eye; Scout, Sister, and Apparatchik were chained together with bomb collars strapped to their necks, trudging along with the rest of the wretched group. “What the Hell happened?” I whispered into the wind.

“We did, friend.” Cat O’ Nine Tails whispered back. I jolted out of my horrified reverie, somehow finding myself back on the rooftop. The slaver put her arm across my shoulders, grinning like a maniac. “With your caps and my ambition, we made the whole North into merchandise! We will be rich beyond imagining, and live like Princesses of old.” Her voiced dropped to a sinister whisper. “And it’s all because I met you, partner.”

I awoke with a gasp on the cold stone floor of the M.o.M basement. I looked around hurriedly, and saw Scout sorting through our remaining provisions. The earth pony looked up at the noise, brows furrowing. “You okay? You look like death warmed over.”

I shook my head vigorously, clearing the lingering visions of the dream. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Scout didn’t look like he believed me, so I quickly changed the subject. “So what’s the damage?” I asked, nodding at the duffel bag.

“We have fifty caps left.” Scout supplied.

“Out of?”

“Fifteen hundred.”

I winced, remembering the large pile of caps Cat O’ Nine Tails had taken. “Oh, sorry.”

Scout huffed out a sigh. “Small price to pay for my freedom. We have plenty of food, so we can make it back in trade once we hit St. Ponysburg.” He slung the duffel bag over his shoulder, already hooked up to his battle saddle. “Sleet,” He began hesitantly. “About last night…”

I held up a hoof to stop him. “Listen, I know it was wrong of me to wander away, and it was ESPECIALLY wrong of me to deal with slavers, but it worked didn’t it?” Scout didn’t look so sure, and the dream of a giant column of enslaved ponies told it wasn’t as cut and dried as that. I had perpetuated evil, sure it was to save my friend’s hide, but did that justify it? Could Scout have escaped without us having to pay them? I put my hoof down a bit more firmly than I wanted to. “Let’s get going, huh? We’re burning daylight.” I trotted past him, heading up the stairs.

Once we were back outside it was easier to focus on something other than my nightmare. The cold Stalliongrad air helped, even in my coat is was uncomfortable. “Seriously.” I muttered, hunching my shoulders. “You’d think winter powers would make me immune to cold.” I instinctively checked the skies for attacking Enclave, but all I saw was the cloud curtain. Scout had reoriented himself after checking his PipBuck, setting off in the direction his map told him.

Either Quebuck was significantly larger than Coltarado, or we were taking the long way out of town. Ten minutes of trotting around broken streets and circumventing piles of rubble and we still weren’t into the open Wastes. The ruined suburb was eerily quiet, no ghoul screams or gunshots, just the sound of our hooves and the wind. That was why when I heard a faint beeping I took immediate notice. “Do you hear that?” I asked, ears swiveling to find the source of the noise.

“Yeah, but it’s not coming from where we need to be going.” Scout responded.

I stopped, searching for the source of the beeping. “I wonder what it is…” I muttered, trying to follow the noise.

“It’s a detonator.” Scout said matter-of-factly. “And I’d prefer if we didn’t going looking for it. Probably a trap some scavenger left and forgot about.” I found the general direction of the beeping and cautiously trotted towards it. “Which means we should forget about it!” The earth pony said firmly.

“If something was worth being trapped then it may be worth the effort to find it.” I countered. Best I could tell it was coming from one of the ruined buildings on the right. Scout continued to protest my idiocy, but I made my slow way towards the door anyway. I wasn’t sure why I was so determined to find the beeping, part of it was to give me something to think about other than the creepy empty ruins. I’d take monsters and slavers, but the deadness of the suburb was frighteningly similar to the St. Ponysburg in my nightmare. Any indication that there was life other than Scout and I here was something I’d take.

I continuously checked the ground for some kind of land mine, the beeping was growing clearer and the last thing I wanted was to blast my hooves off. I entered into the building, some kind of old shop, and scanned the room. Three things became readily apparent to me, even in the dim light. First was that there were two sources of light in the room, second was that one of the sources was the sole unicorn mare crouched behind a counter, and third was the other source being right over my head.

I instinctively jumped forward, just as a large chunk of rubble crashed where I had been standing. I fell from the impact, landing heavily on my knees. Looking up into the unicorn’s startled face, I saw a small red light blinking on the large metal collar around her neck. “You’re not one of them?” She asked breathlessly.

“You’re a slave?” I countered. Before either of us could answer, I heard Scout yell my name. I managed to scramble to my hooves just in time to see Scout leap onto the rubble that had nearly pulverized me. He held the bit to his battle saddle at the ready and took aim. “Scout, wait!” I yelled, rushing the earth pony.

Scout and I were about the same height, I being only slightly shorter, but the earth pony had several pounds of muscle on me. Nevertheless, I managed to knock him off balance and make his shot go wide. “Have you lost your mind?!” He bellowed at me, trying to realign his hunting rifles.

“I don’t think she means to hurt us!” I yelled hurriedly. I turned to the unicorn who was panting, perhaps with the exertion of lifting the rubble. “You don’t, right?”

“You aren’t with the slavers…” She gasped, more a statement than a question.

“No, we’re not.” I said, slowly approaching her. “In fact we just escaped them ourselves.”

The unicorn backed away as I drew closer. “No you didn’t.” I couldn’t see her well in the lack of lighting, but I could see the panicked look in her eyes. “You bought your way out, and you’d do it again.” She looked at Scout, her voice growing high with fear. “He’d sell me in a heartbeat!”

Now it was my turn to take a step back. “What? No he wouldn’t! He didn’t sell me out!”

“He would have!” She yelled, pressing herself against the wall. “He wouldn’t have liked it, but he would have! It’s in his nature!”

I looked over my shoulder at Scout, who was quivering in anger on top of the rubble. “Scout… You wouldn’t have done that.” I said, hoping for some confirmation.

The earth pony met my eyes, guilt and indignation warring for control. Finally he spoke up. “This is ridiculous.” He growled. “Sleet saved my life, why would I sell her to those monsters?” He held up his PipBuck, fiddling with the controls. “What I want to know is who are you?” He turned the light on, bathing the ruined store in a faint green glow.

Scout and I both gasped in shock when we got a good look at the unicorn. The bomb collar around her neck with the nine black marks scored on it was emitting the beeping noise. Her coat was a pale pink, like opals, and her mane was an amethyst purple. Her Cutie Mark was an ornate telescope atop a golden tripod. Her eyes were strange, seemingly shifting colors like a kaleidoscope, but that wasn’t what made us gasp. It was the fact that from the tip of her horn to the bottom of her hooves she glittered like a multi-faceted diamond, even her eyes looked like cut stone. “What…what are…” I stuttered, unable to form a full sentence. Of all the strange things the Wasteland had shown me, this was by far the strangest.

“I’m a crystal pony.” She said quietly, squinting against the light. “Why do you think Cat O’ Nine Tails wants me so badly? We were rare enough before the war.”

I had read about the Crystal Empire once or twice. Information on the pre-war dominion of Equestria was scarce above the clouds, since crystal pegasi were believed to be extinct. The Enclave simply didn’t care about anything that didn’t have a set of wings on it. I knew that crystal ponies were a subspecies of pony that had vanished under mysterious circumstances for a thousand years, and they had had almost zero representation in the Equestrian Army during the war. “What are you doing here?” I asked, cautiously approaching. “I thought the crystal ponies lived in the Empire.”

The mention of her home seemed to take the panic out of the mare. She slumped against the back wall, eyes closed. “Nopony can live in the Empire, it’s nothing but one giant lump of radiation now.” She flinched as I sat in front of her, but otherwise didn’t flee or attack. Sitting this close I could glimpse the fresh whip scars criss-crossing her back. “There aren’t many of us, and we try and stay away from fleshies.” She tugged futilely at her collar, and before my eyes the gemstone quality of her coat began to fade. “We try, and sometimes they find us anyway…”

I glanced back at Scout, the earth pony hadn’t said a word since turning on his PipBuck light. He was staring at the crystal unicorn and I with a curious expression, like he couldn’t decide if he should be worried or not. Looking back at the distraught mare I felt my guilt rise like bile. I had given nearly fifteen hundred caps to the monster that did this to her. I had practically rewarded Cat O’ Nine Tails for ruining this mare’s life! No, not “practically”. I had. No matter how I tried to rationalize it I had bought this pony so that my friend wouldn’t take her place. It felt like my soul had been dragged through mud, less than a week on the surface and I was already trading the lives of innocents for my own gain. “Hey Scout.” I asked quietly. “Do you think anypony in St. Ponysburg can remove a slave collar?”

The crystal pony looked up, looking confused and hopeful. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that I know Scout can’t remove slave collars and Celestia knows I can’t, but hopefully there is somepony in St. Ponysburg who can.” I hung my head, ashamed. “I may not have put that collar around your neck, but I certainly didn’t do the right thing paying the monster who did.” I looked up and smiled as warmly as I could. “I want to give you your freedom back.” I turned to Scout. “What do you think?”

“It’s possible.” The earth pony admitted after a minute of contemplation. “The main problem would be getting there before Cat O’ Nine Tails decides to hit the detonator.”

“She won’t trigger it,” The crystal mare said with absolute certainty. “That would be too easy, like giving up and admitting I escaped. Even after you paid her she won’t just let me go, it’s not in her nature.”

“That’s the second time you said that.” Scout interjected. “How do you know so much?”

The mare winced at his sharp tone and lowered her eyes. “It’s my special talent. I can tell a pony’s true nature just by looking at them. It’s usually based off their special talent.” She glanced back at me. “It’s how I know you’re a pegasus, no earth-bound pony would have that talent.”

I twitched, taken aback at how easily she saw through my disguise. I looked at Scout who seemed equally panicked. “Listen.” I said firmly. “You cannot go around telling ponies I’m a pegasus. I have the Enclave hunting me and the fewer ponies who know about my wings the better, okay?” The mare nodded quickly. I sighed, softening my voice. It wasn’t surprising that the soon-to-be-freed slave spooked from harsh tones of voice. “So what’s your name?”

She was silent for a few seconds, though if that was out of fear or reluctance to tell a “fleshie” was beyond me. Finally she spoke up. “My name is Clarity.”

“Alright, Clarity.” I said, standing up. “Let’s go get that collar off you.” Despite my creeping guilt, I felt my heart warm as the crystal pony glowed with happiness, her coat and mane sparkling.

*****

Within the hour we were on the move again, following a highway leading out of Quebuck. Scout had improvised a scarf for Clarity out of the remaining scraps of cloth he had bought off of Apparatchik. Sure it looked motley, but it hid the bomb collar well and muffled the beeping, which was fortunate. Apparently, Cat O’ Nine Tails didn’t believe in outright killing her “merchandise”. She activated the primers on escapee’s collars to simultaneously scare them into not moving and give the slavers a noise to track them by. All this I learned by talking to Clarity. “Did you learn all this just from your talent?” I asked the crystal pony as we walked. Scout had taken point, opting to focus on getting back to St. Ponysburg rather than talk.

“Yes and no.” She said shrugging. “See a different kind of vision for each pony, and I get a feeling from them as well. If I stay around somepony long enough I can piece together more and more about them based on their actions and talent. It’s what let me learn so much about Cat O’ Nine Tails.” She shuddered at the mention of the slaver. “The vision I got from her was terrible. A tail from that awful whip was wrapped around the neck of the other slavers.” She glanced over her shoulder fearfully, as if expecting the whip to strike her. “I knew I had to escape when I saw one of those tails coming for me…”

My feathers ruffled uncomfortably, that put most of my nightmares to shame and Clarity had seen it all the time. I tried to change the course of the conversation. “What do you see for me?”

“I see snow.” She said simply. “All around you, snow is falling.”

I chuckled mirthlessly. “Yeah, I can see why you’d guess I was a pegasus with that. What did you feel?”

After a moment of silence she responded. “Bitterness.”

I stopped walking for an instant in surprise. “Bitterness?” I asked, turning to look at her.

“Like deepest winter.” She said quietly. Apparently visions into another pony’s true nature made her poetic. She averted her eyes from my hard gaze. “It gets worse when Cutie Marks come up…”

I stared open mouthed at her for a moment. Bitter? Sure I was annoyed at how useless my talent was, but I didn’t let it define me that much did I? No, I didn’t, I couldn’t. Otherwise how could I stand to be around other ponies? I shook my head and muttered, “I think you need your eyes checked.”

Before Clarity could respond, Scout spoke up. “There’s a ruined refueling station coming up. Let’s poke around and see if we can’t get you armed Sleet.”

“What happened to ‘not where we need to be going’?” I asked.

The green earth pony whirled on me, a mask of frustration etched on his features. “Because if I’m the only one shooting then the odds of us getting where we’re going alive are a lot smaller! It’s bad enough we picked up a straggler with another deadly force on her ass! I don’t want dead weight not shooting if we get in a fight!” Clarity and I both were taken aback by the outburst. Scout stormed back toward the refueling station, which I now saw as a small cluster of buildings off to the side of the road.

I glanced at Clarity; the crystal mare seemed downright terrified and was rooted to the spot. I nudged her, which snapped her from the trance. Her mane had visibly deflated and her skin looked more flesh than stone, but at least she was blinking again. She traded a worried look with me before slowly following Scout. I galloped ahead, determined to find out what was eating at my survivalist friend. “What’s wrong?” I asked, cantering up to him.

“What’s wrong,” he growled, “is the fact that you are taking so many Goddesses damned unnecessary risks!” He continued to glare ahead, refusing to look at me. “Trying to negotiate with the slavers, bringing a stranger along, walking towards a freaking explosive into an unsecured building with a hostile in it!” He thrust his PipBuck towards me. “This little marvel you love so much warned me that somepony meaning us harm was in that building, but you just trotted on in! I tried to warn you, what if she had a gun instead of some rubble? You’d be dead right now, and the fact that your shooter was a poor little lost slave wouldn’t mean a fucking thing!” He stopped, sat, and pressed his forehooves to his temples. “And the fact that these stupid risks keep paying off goes against everything I’ve lived by! My instincts keep telling me we shouldn’t have scraped out of those situations even though we did. That’s why I want to scrounge through the refueling station; if we could take the safer route for once I’d feel a lot better.”

The tirade struck me dumb. “Oh…” I said lamely. “Sorry.”

Scout sighed, getting to his hooves. “You saved my life twice, I’d really prefer it if you didn’t get killed before we’re home free.” He continued on to the refueling station without another word. I waited for Clarity to catch up before following.

The station was a cluster of three dilapidated buildings with a spark battery recharge terminal out front. One of the buildings was a garage with the burned out husks of sky wagons rusting in their clamps. The garage was attached to a general store and next to that was a gun shop. “Who puts a gun store at a civilian refueling station?” I asked incredulously.

“Ponies who care far too much about war.” Scout responded, checking the load on his battle saddle. “Clarity and I will check the general store, you go and arm yourself.”

“Alone?” I asked. Hadn’t he just done the big rant on taking fewer risks?

“We need to do this quickly.” He retorted. “And I’m not picking up any marks in there.” He nodded to the gun store. “Just grab whatever suits you, some ammo, and meet up here in five minutes.”
“All right then.” I said, trotting to the store. As an afterthought I took a quick scan of the skies and finding them empty, I removed my coat. Sure, Scout said there was nothing in there, but I’d rather have quick access to my wings if I needed them. Besides, it felt great to stretch them again. Coat draped sideways over my back, I entered the store cautiously. Despite Scout’s assertions to the contrary, I wasn’t completely reckless, and kept a sharp eye out for traps.

I needn’t have worried, the store was desolate. Much to my annoyance the racks were stripped of their guns by previous looters. A thorough poke around proved that the small front room was devoid of any weapons. The best I could find were a few stray bullets which I swept into one of my coat’s pockets. During my search I found a back door leading into a store room that proved to be equally stripped. “Damnit” I hissed. I fruitlessly searched the same crate for the third time in the hopes I missed something.

There was one more door, which was locked. Fortunately it popped open easily with my lock-busting trick. The door lead to a sparse office, a desk took up most of the room with a terminal on top of it and a wall safe behind it. I laughed gleefully when I saw the terminal was still functional, and still locked! I set upon the terminal’s security with vigor, the soothing clack of my hooves on the keys calming my frayed nerves. It took several minutes and resets but I eventually cracked the code, “serenity”. Nearly every file was corrupted, save one journal entry and a command to unlock the wall safe. I was running close to Scout’s rendezvous, but the entry was reasonably short.
>Journal entry 10
>I don’t care what anypony says, those fancy new guns coming out of Flash Industries are amazing! I went to one of the demonstrations, got close enough to the stage I nearly breathed in the ashes! They had a few dummies in some Stripe armor and showed off their guns. One of them made the dummy melt like butter! Ironshod may be reliable, but I’m considering switching out my stock, especially if the one I picked up for myself serves me well. Can’t have Stripes taking out the best arms dealer this side of Quebuck!

An inflated ego for sure, but the mention of Flash Industries was encouraging. The pre-war company had pioneered magical energy weapons with the help of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences. I selected the open wall safe command and was rewarded with the solid thunk of the safe unlocking. Inside I found my prize, a beautifully crafted incineration pistol. The boxy gun was a shiny steel gray with a band of fiery orange around the mouth of the barrel, with “Black Powder” engraved in flowing text. The mouth grip was designed for comfort, definitely a custom model. I idly wondered how many bits this small store’s former owner had dumped on this gun. I found a good number of spark packs in the safe as well, plenty of ammo for the new gun. On top of all that was a shiny memory orb that I could view with the Recollector later. Feeling quite proud of myself, I turned with my new acquisitions to meet up with Scout.

“Drop your weapons and quietly await disintegration” a synthesized voice said. Filling the doorway was a robotic pony with an automatic magical energy weapon pointed at me. With a surprised scream I ducked behind the desk, just as lines of red light shot over me. Damnit, this place had a working robot?! It’s activation code must have been linked into the “open safe” command, and once if scanned me and figured out I wasn’t its master it attacked. “This is a lawful use of deadly force, please do not resist.” There came a jerky clanging noise as the robot made its way into the room, how in Equestria had I not heard the thing coming?!

I fumbled with the spark packs for a few precious seconds before finally slotting one home in the incineration pistol. I poked my head over the desk, gun at the ready. The robot’s head slowly swiveled to look at me while I popped off a few shots. Unlike the gun Sister had given me, this had no recoil as streams of orange light shot toward the robot. Much to my dismay, the rays struck the robot with little effect. I could see a few scorch marks, but it would take far more concentrated fire than I had any capacity to produce to hurt the thing. I scampered around the desk, keeping low and the piece of furniture between me and the robot. If I got in front of the door and galloped I could make a break for freedom.

I barely made it to the door before a bullet bit into my shoulder. Screaming in pain around the grip of the pistol, I staggered back from the door as more bullets streamed in. A turret! This place had a turret! This was entirely too much security for one little gun shop! I had little time to contemplate this as a red beam of light scorched my side, painfully near the bullet wound. I managed to find cover behind the desk again, mind spinning. Unless this magically wealthy small store owner had miraculously run out of bits, chances were the turret was heat-shielded too. It made sense, if I was as paranoid as this pony had been I wouldn’t want my automated defenses to be taken out by some intruder who had stolen my gun. I needed some way to crack through the robot’s armor before it wore me out and killed me.

My thoughts became more frantic as the bot chased me closer to the door again, I needed a solution quickly. In an act of desperation I lashed out with my magic, trying to freeze the robot. There came a faint crackling as a layer of frost built up on the robot’s chassis. It did little to slow its advance, but the sound gave me an idea. I continued to lower the temperature, gently flapping my wings while I danced around the desk. The glass covering its mechanical “eyes” became coated in a thick layer of frost, and that’s when I struck. Leaping out of cover I fired at the robot. Most of the shots missed by a mile, but the ones that did hit were devastating, the sudden and extreme change in temperature causing the metal to become brittle and crack. I landed a shot on the bot’s leg as it took a step, and the appendage snapped off, sending it tumbling. The few shots I had landed had drastically weakened the robot’s structural integrity, and the brittle metal shattered as it struck the ground, the robot ceasing all function.

I breathed a sigh of relief, slumping against the desk out of sight of the turret. My shoulder hurt abominably, but I had survived. I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me as the effort of my spell caught up, but surprisingly I didn’t feel like passing out. Maybe it was the adrenaline singing in my veins. Nevertheless I rested for a minute to make sure I wouldn’t faint before, very carefully, pulling the same trick on the turret. After salvaging a few more spark packs from the defeated robot, I exited the store, still high on adrenaline, to find Scout and Clarity waiting for me. The earth pony looked like he had been on the cusp of going in after me, and after noticing my wounds galloped over with a healing potion. “What happened in there?” He asked, watching as my wounds sealed magically.

“Robots.” I replied simply. “I found a gun.” I turned to proudly present the incineration pistol poking out of my coat pocket. “Meet Black Powder.” I said, grinning like an idiot.

*****

Once my wounds healed and I had my coat back on properly we set out again. Even after I came down from the adrenaline I was able to keep marching. The only side-effect of my fight was an annoying headache, which was far more preferable to passing out. Scout and Clarity’s salvaging had gone well; surprisingly there was a lot of food left in the general store. I questioned why ponies would grab the guns and leave the food, but Scout said it was probably some idiots prioritizing firepower over eating. My being properly armed seemed to put some of Scout’s worries to rest, but the stallion remained distant, refusing to speak beyond one sentence answers. Clarity was equally silent, though that was more due to the fact that she was obsessively looking over her shoulder for signs of pursuit than being anti-social. I could understand. I still found myself scanning the skies at regular intervals.

One thing continued to nag at me though. “Hey Clarity,” I began. “Why does your skin change?”

The crystal mare jerked from her reverie, turning to face me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean sometimes you’re more…” I searched for the right word. “Crystal-y. Why does it change?”

Clarity thought for a moment before answering. “It’s kind of a defense system” she said. “You see, the Crystal Empire housed a powerful magic which reflected the emotions of the Empire’s citizens all across Equestria. Because of our crystal bodies, our emotions are magnified and shine through us. The magic would magnify that light even more and shine it over Equestria. Usually that’s a good thing, because it spreads love and joy, but when something terrible happens like when… he took over.” She shuddered at the word “he”, eyes becoming distantly haunted. “Then our fear and sadness is sent out instead of happiness. If we become sad, fearful, or experience any other negative emotion then our bodies darken so that one crystal pony’s bad day doesn’t affect the magic.” She inspected her own opalescent leg, which glimmered in the faint sunlight. “There’s one drawback though, if a crystal pony darkens then it takes a lot of positive influence for her to brighten up again. Same if we’re happy, it takes something truly awful to darken us even a little.”

“Amazing…” I murmured, staring at her in wonder. “It’s incredible that you are still glittering after what you went through.”

That made her chuckle. “We’re taught from a very young age to control our negative emotions and revel in our positive ones. But even then I was close to going completely dark under Cat O’ Nine Tails. Thankfully I was able to escape, and I took heart in that.”

The mention of her escape reminded me of another, more uncomfortable, question. “How did you know we had bought our way out?” I asked, casually as I could manage.

“Because of what I learned about Cat O’ Nine Tails” she said, seemingly oblivious to my discomfort. “Everything she does is centered on control. If you had escaped like I had, I would see marks of her talent left on you. But you didn’t, which meant you convinced her to let you go. The only way you’d pull that off is with caps, in her mind the only thing more effective at controlling somepony than pain is money.”

I felt sick to my stomach. “What sort of pony has ‘controlling others’ for a special talent?”

“A monster” Clarity whispered.

We continued on in silence until Scout announced, “We’re nearly there”. And indeed I could see the buildings of the town appearing over the horizon. He stopped and began rooting around in his duffel bag. “We’ll need to disguise Clarity as well.”

“If you want you can use my coat” I offered. “It’s easy enough to hide my wings under a blanket.”

“That may not be necessary” Scout said, pulling out one of the sleeping bags we found in the M.o.M basement as well as one of the blankets. He tossed the bundle to Clarity. “Unzip the bag and drape it over yourself, then wrap the blanket around your head. It’ll be tricky to keep in place, and it will look strange, but it’s better than trotting into town with a crystal pony on display. We don’t need word reaching the slavers as to where you are.”

Clarity did as he asked, looking more like an animate mound of cloth than a pony, and we made our way into town. Though I was happy to be back somewhere safe, the sight of St. Ponysburg reminded me that I would soon have to abandon my two friends for their own safety. At least I could take heart in that fact that Clarity would be free and Scout safe. Since I had immediately flown out of town the first time I left, I got my first good look at St. Ponysburg as we trotted in. Unlike the other ruins I had been in which were made of concrete and steel, most of St. Ponysburg was brick and mortar, at least for the first few blocks. The buildings became steadily more damaged before abruptly stopping at a wall of sheet metal that spanned the main avenue. A few ponies trotted about the street, looking about as fed and clean as one can reasonably expect in a Wasteland settlement. Clarity’s cover brought a few strange looks, but otherwise nopony approached us.

Since he knew the town better than Clarity or I, Scout lead us to Sister’s place. Fortunately the old building was close to the town’s outskirts, so we didn’t have far to go. Carved into the stone above the door with faded lettering was “St. Ponysburg Orphanage”. We entered the main hallway, which branched off to the left towards the infirmary and ended with a set of stairs ascending further up the old building. The walls and floor were bare wood, hardly keeping out the northern chill. “Anypony home?” I called, trotting towards the infirmary. “Sister?”

“For pony’s sake hold on! If you can yell you ain’t dying!” came Sister’s voice, sounding flustered. The white unicorn trotted out of the infirmary, levitating a number of trays with her. “If it’s not one thing it’s…” She stopped midsentence, staring at us in shock. “Sleet Gray? Scout? You’re alive?”

“She thought we were dead?” Scout asked, looking to me for confirmation.

“She thought you were dead.” I corrected.

“And I thought she was dead for sure going in after you! Oh thank Celestia you two are okay!” She set the trays down on a nearby table, galloping over and hugging the two of us in turn. I tensed slightly, still a bit uncomfortable with her motherly mannerisms, but returned the hug. Noticing Clarity, she asked. “And who’s this?”

I expected the crystal unicorn to be afraid, or refuse to talk. Instead she immediately took off her improvised hood, smiled at Sister and said. “My name is Clarity. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Sister was about as stunned as Scout and I had been. “A crystal pony?” She whispered reverently. She trotted closer to Clarity, who continued to surprise us by not turning away or flinching. Sister leaned in closer, staring into Clarity’s eyes. “An honest to Goddesses crystal pony! My word girl, where did you come from?” she asked in a voice no more than a whisper. Her ears twitched and brows furrowed. “And what is that beeping?”

“I come from just above the snow line.” Pulling the scarf down, she showed Sister the bomb collar. “My village was attacked by slavers.” Sister’s eyes widened in horror.

“We found her not long after she escaped” I continued. “Do you know of anypony in town who can get that collar off of her?”

Sister blinked several times before responding. “One, but he’s not exactly the trustworthy type. Little bomb-crazed nut job. Goes by the name Threads.”

“Threads?” I repeated skeptically. “Isn’t he a tailor?”

“Well that too.” Sister amended before asking. “Who told you that?”

“The pony who sold me this” I said, gesturing to my coat. “He said that Threads would be able to modify it so that I could keep my wings hidden and still fly.”

The white unicorn frowned in thought. “Big guy? Red? Really loud and complains when something is bad for business?”

That sounded like Apparatchik. “Yeah.”

Sister shook her head. “Buck’s a slave to his own caps, and will sell damn near anything. Once saw him sell a junkie his next hit, and then enough Fixer to sweat it out. But he does have Threads’ number. Little guy is nuts and a coward to boot. I think he learned explosives in hopes it’d scare ponies bigger than him away.”

“But it didn’t work on Apparatchik?” Scout asked.

“Not at all” sister chuckled. “Listen, I’d love to chat more, but I have more patients than normal today. Something’s getting in ponies’ heads, making them all adventure happy.” She started to trot past us before turning to me. “Speaking of adventures, can I have my gun back?”

I suddenly felt a chill of fear that goes deeper than being chased by ravenous monsters, this was the chill of being about to tell your mother that you messed up. “I…uh…lost it.”

Sister blinked once, face impassive. “You what?”

I slumped a bit under her gaze. “I lost it.” I repeated shamefully.

Her eyes hardened. “How exactly did you lose it?” She asked.

I shrunk further in on myself. Celestia and Luna damnit, why couldn’t she be more like my mother? Radiant Dawn was never this stern! “A giant metal monster pony collapsed a building from under me and I dropped it…” I muttered. Even though it was the truth, under that terrible matronly glare it felt like a pathetic excuse. I idly kicked my hoof against the floor, suddenly very interested in the wooden boards. I could see Scout and Clarity out of the corner of my eye, both looking like scared siblings afraid to catch blame.

I expected Sister to react with incredulity, but instead her jaw dropped in shock. “Giant…metal…you got in a scrape with Iron Curtain?” She gasped.

“Who?” I said, daring to meet her gaze.

“Iron Curtain! He’s one of the Shadow King’s Four Great Lords!”

I blinked slowly, not sure if she was serious. “Four Great what now?”

She waved an alabaster hoof at me. “Yeah, yeah I know it sounds pretentious, but they are seriously dangerous. You’re lucky you got out alive.”

I gulped, vividly remembering the terrible vermillion power the metal goliath used to demolish the building I had been perched on. Lucky indeed and that thing was just one of the Shadow King’s cronies! I’d hate to meet the stallion in charge. “So, give Stalliongrad a wide berth?” I said with a weak smile.

“Wide as you can” sister agreed solemnly. “The Lords rarely leave Stalliongrad, but if you managed to escape Iron Curtain then you have a mark on your head. They don’t take being challenged kindly.”

This was met with a groan from both Scout and I. “Great” I muttered. “Another insanely deadly force trying to kill me.”

“You have a gift for pissing off the powers that be” Scout agreed grumpily.

*****

Before leaving, we learned from Sister that Threads lived in what was called the New District of St. Ponysburg. That was the part that was behind the sheet metal wall, and what the result of years of ponies working to fix the damage caused by the balefire bombs, or at the very least make the area livable again. As we approached the front gate a dreadfully familiar synthesized voice greeted us, “Welcome travelers, to New St. Ponysburg.”

I lunged immediately for Black Powder, my wings flexing against my coat as I tried to whip up a freezing wind. Bringing the incineration pistol around, I fired a bolt at the robot, or at least I meant to. Scout shoved me to the side, making my already shaky aim go completely off. “What the Hell are you doing?!” He yelled.

“’Hats on! Ah obot’ dah attachd meh!” I yelled back, my words terribly slurred by the gun grip in my mouth. Struggling against my earth pony companion, I tried to line up another shot.

“That’s just the town Protect-a-pony! It won’t attack unless you do!” He insisted, still effectively keeping me from blasting the robot.

Slowly I ceased my struggling. The Protect-a-pony stood idly by, unconcerned with my outburst. “On’ ah dohs…” I growled in frustration and holstered by pistol. “One of those things shot me…” I grumbled.

“Did you shoot first?” Scout asked.

“No! I just…hacked into a terminal…” I felt my indignation peter away into embarrassment. “And broke into a safe…” My voice dropped to a mumble. “And stole the gun inside…” Cheeks burning, I felt very much like I was talking to Sister again. Scout and Clarity just stared at me. “H-h-how was I supposed to know a two-hundred year old security bot was going to trigger?” I spluttered.

Scout just sighed and approached the gate. He must had triggered some kind of sensor spell because as he walked closer, two salvaged sky wagons built into the gate began rolling on their own accord. The wagons moved in opposite directions, pulleys attached to both lifted the gate with a squeal of metal on metal. We trotted through, the gate squealing closed behind us, and entered New St. Ponysburg. Most of the town was built into the crater from the balefire bomb’s detonation, the crumbling ruins shored up by a wide array of salvaged materials in descending tiers. Metallic catwalks that looked like they were torn from factories ringed the crater with cobbled together buildings clinging to them. Bricks from destroyed buildings were set at regular intervals to create make-shift staircases into the crater leading down to… “Is that a balefire bomb?!” I blurted out, gaping at the missile jammed into the ground.
“That it is” an authoritative voice responded. “It’s our symbol of luck.”

We turned to meet the speaker, a golden yellow earth pony mare with a tangled blue mane and a large shotgun strapped to her hip. She wore a hat that looked like three pieces of headgear put together, a wide brimmed cowpony hat with a head cover underneath and goggles strapped to the front. “Luck?” Scout asked, incredulously.

“Well yes” the mare said cheerily. “Think about it, St. Ponysburg was on the outskirts of the bombs that did go off, and the one that hit directly didn’t actually explode! Collapsed ruins are a lot easier to live in than blasted, irradiated ruins! And to top it all off that thing has shown no signs of exploding in two hundred years, our local bomb guy even said it never will. If that’s not a sign this town is blessed by the Goddesses, I don’t know what is.” She stuck out a hoof to me. “The name’s Buckshot, Sheriff. It’s my job to make sure there’s no trouble for the folks around here.”

The message was obvious. “Just what I love to hear, competent police work.” I replied, shaking her hoof with a bright smile. “I’m Sleet, this is Scout and Clarity.” I gestured to my companions.

Buckshot gave Clarity a scrutinizing look. “You okay there? I know the North is cold and all…”

“She’s sick” I supplied readily. “We’d hate to expose her to more cold than we have to.” Clarity gave a convincing hacking cough for authenticity.

Buckshot was having none of it. She continued to try and stare into the shadows of Clarity’s head cover. “The local sawbones could fix her up quick” the sheriff said, raising an eyebrow. “You walked right past her on the way in.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, damnit but she was persistent, apparently mysteriously wrapped up ponies counted as potential trouble. We needed to break off this conversation quickly, or too much suspicion would be aroused. We couldn’t afford to have the good sheriff taking us at anything other than face value, or her town would be seeing some serious trouble when the slavers and Enclave descended on it. “We already tried that, she’s overworked and can’t see us.”

Thankfully, Buckshot seemed to find the answer acceptable. “Damn shame. There’s a place you can lodge for the night until Sister can see you, just over there.” She pointed to the other side of the crater, where one of the more intact buildings proclaimed itself to be “Crater Ridge Motel”.

“Perfect” I said, maintaining my friendly smile. “But we actually need to talk to your bomb guy; could you tell us where he is?”

With directions from Buckshot, we descended into the crater on the uneven brick stairs. As we neared the balefire missile I could hear a faint click click clicking coming from Scout’s PipBuck. I had a sick feeling I knew what it was, but I asked anyway. “What’s that noise?”

“Radiation meter” he supplied easily. I whimpered, just as I feared. “It’s not too bad, just traces really. We’ll be fine.” The fact that he could adopt such a casual tone about being irradiated baffled me.

“That doesn’t make me feel better” I groaned. Maybe it was my imagination, but I felt like my front half was heating up as we approached the bomb.

“Radiation is a fact of life in the Wasteland, like air or water. I have some RadAway, it’s nothing to worry about” Scout assured me.

“This is about as bad as the rest of the Wasteland compared to the Crystal Empire” Clarity chimed in. “I’m pretty sure direct sunlight is worse for you than this.”

“I spent most of my life in direct sunlight” I muttered. My skin was crawling uncomfortably, as if I was already mutating. “This is so much worse.”

Scout just rolled his eyes as we came up to Thread’s home. Unlike most other buildings in New St. Ponysburg, this shack was actually built into the wall of the crater. By the looks of it, the ponies who built New St. Ponysburg had gotten a train car and managed to bury it in the tundra. I went to knock on the door, but barely got off a single knock before a voice inside yelled “WHOSE THERE!?!”

The three of us all twitched at the sudden shout. Scout and I shared a glance, suddenly understanding why Sister had referred to this buck as a “nut-job”. “Uh, Threads?” I called cautiously. When there came no immediate response I continued. “Apparatchik sent us to see you.”

There came a rattling from the other side of the door. After a few seconds of this, a scrawny unicorn buck with prominent bags under his eyes poked his head out of the door. “What do you want?” He said in a reedy voice.

“He uh, said you could modify this coat for me” I said, gesturing to the garment. “We also heard you’re good with bombs and we need something defused.” The small pony grumbled unintelligibly for a half a minute before I added. “Apparatchik said he’d pay for the coat modifications, but we have plenty to trade for your explosives expertise” I said, nodding my head to Scout’s duffel bag.

My earth pony companion seemed none too pleased I was trading his salvage work for him again, but raised no argument. The flattery seemed to have an effect on Threads, who grumbled a barely audible, “Come in” before opening the door.

Trotting in, we found nothing short of a miniature, ramshackle Stable. The clicking of Scout’s rad meter stopped, meaning there was lead somewhere in the walls. I shivered as we entered, and not just from the temperature. Being built into the tundra, Threads’ shack was bitterly cold, moreso than outside. I could feel the crushing pressure of the soil above us on a fundamental level, like I was cut off from the sky. Of course, technically I was banished from above the clouds on pain of death, but at least being on the surface allowed me to still feel the sky; even that spacious cave hadn’t cut me off as completely as this. Down here, I felt like I had had my wings cut off and been imprisoned.

Most of the train cars were still in their places, with a few of them ripped out and strung together to make rough tables and a bed. Even though the train car seemed sound under the weight of all the frozen dirt, railway tracks had been brought in as support beams, with thick steel plates welded over the windows. Even the door was reinforced; one of the rails had been cut to size and affixed to the wall to serve as a locking bar, paranoid indeed. The back of the car had been ripped open and the tunnel housing the car extended further than the eye could see. Random piles of Threads’ personal effects sat on the train cars in disorganized heaps and the whole place stank of explosives. Threads’ horn glowed as he activated a generator, strings of emergency lights flickering on and allowing us to get a better look at the unicorn. His dirty orange coat was stained black with blasting powder, and his shaggy red mane fell into his eyes. Those eyes glared suspiciously at us as he barked “so what do you need me to do?”

“Can you remove bomb collars?” I asked.

“Yeah, of course” he growled irritably. “That’s easy; I want to know what that big Stalliongrad bastard wants me to do!”

Insulting the kindly merchant was not mixing well with my claustrophobia, but I kept up a friendly disposition. “Very well. He wants you to modify the coat,” As I talked I undid the clasps on the coat, pulling it off to reveal my wings. “so that I can hide these, but use them quickly if I have to.” I looked over my shoulder at my wings, the ice blue feathers had not fared well confined in the coat. “And hopefully some way to keep my feathers straight can’t fly if these are…” I was unable to complete my thought as Scout tackled me to the ground and Clarity’s horn shone brightly.

I was too stunned to struggle as we were thrown to the ground, the light of the two unicorns’ magic shining above us. I managed to roll onto my side despite Scout’s best efforts to pin me down, the question of what the Hell was going on dying on my lips. Hovering just above Scout and I was a small apple shaped grenade, wrapped in the warring auras of Threads’ yellow magic and Clarity’s pink. I felt panic seize my heart, and thrashed against Scout and adrenaline surged through my veins. No! I would not be caught in an explosion; I wouldn’t die in this horrible underground prison! “Let me out! Let me out!” I screamed, wrestling against the earth pony. He was yelling something at me, but it was drowned out as Clarity let out a cry of her own. The shadows of her head wrap were banished as her horn glowed with blazing light, the radiance reflecting off of her crystal skin.

Clarity’s magic overtook the grenade and hurled it above and behind Threads with all her strength. The little explosive bounced into the darkness of the extended cave, and for a fraction of a second there was silence before a loud explosion and flash of light echoed from within. The entire incident took about eight seconds, but in my panic it had felt like a lifetime. Threads looked rapidly between the three of us in panic, before his horn surged and another grenade floated out of the piles of refuse, pin halfway pulled. I lashed out with the one wing that wasn’t pinned under me, and the cold in the shack intensified as a thick layer of ice formed on the grenade. “No” he whispered, his horn flaring several times as he tried to yank the thoroughly frozen pin. “No no no no no…”

Scout got off of me and readied his battle saddle, pointing the hunting rifles at the cowardly unicorn. I stood up soon after, brushing the dust off of me with my wings as I tried to regain my composure. Despite my best efforts of sounding civil, I growled more violently than I wanted. “What the fuck was that, Threads?”

“No, no pegasi! No, no, no, no pegasi! I want nothing to do with your fucking Enclave!” He said, backing away from me rapidly.

“I’m not with the Enclave” I said slowly, voice cold. My headache was drastically worsening, and was doing nothing for my mood. “That’s why I have the coat. So I can hide. My. Wings.” I said, enunciating each word through gritted teeth.

The paranoid unicorn was having none of it. “No, you are! You’re here to take me back! I don’t want to go back!”

“Go back where?!” I snapped.

“Talon!” he yelled, “Talon Mountain! You crazy feathered fucks had me blowing up griffon aeries at the top of a fucking mountain! I’m not going back there!” He fell to his haunches, foreleg over his head and whimpered pathetically.

I was still pissed and more than a little freaked out, but curiosity was beginning to take over. “How did you get on top of Talon?” I asked.

“I don’t know! I was a prospector before that, I set up camp one night and the next morning I’m freezing on that Goddesses damned rock!”

This didn’t make any sense, why would the Enclave be kidnapping surface ponies to work demolitions on top of Talon? Sure the griffons had been putting up a stiff resistance for centuries, but never enough that we’d need to recruit surfacers. As far as you know a little voice reminded me, they lied to you about so many things, after all. I shook my head; I needed to get out from this cave before it made me go crazy. I let the cold anger return as I addressed the cowering bomb tech. “Listen, I’m not with the Enclave, in fact I’m running from them, understand? They want to kill me, and anypony whose ever talked to me.” I let the implication sink in before continuing. “So if you don’t modify that coat for me, I run a higher chance of getting caught, and maybe I’ll let slip before they kill me that a certain fugitive unicorn is holed up here, understand?” Not necessarily true, I didn’t like the little bastard but I certainly wouldn’t want to sick the Enclave on him, or anypony. However, Threads didn’t know that, and the idea of the pegasi finding him again seemed to have a serious effect.

He mouthed silently for a few seconds before muttering. “I’ll need your wing measurements…” He levitated a measuring tape and sullenly approached me.

I gratefully complied, spreading my wings. “There, it’s so nice when everypony works together” I said, smiling sweetly. “Oh, and don’t forget, we need you to remove a bomb collar.” I nodded over my shoulder at Clarity, who magically removed her head cover and scarf.

Threads stared dumbfounded at Clarity for several moments before nodding. “Yeah, okay sure.” He finished measuring my wings, grabbed my coat in his magic, and after motioning for Clarity to follow him scurried to the back of the train car.

With Threads out of earshot, I breathed a sigh and turned to Scout. “Thank you. If you hadn’t spotted that grenade…” I shuddered at the thought of being killed by the blast, or worse, lost in a cave-in.

“No problem.” He said, looking at me with some concern. “Are you okay? You’re acting more twitchy than normal.”

“Yeah, I just…don’t like being underground.” I put on my best smile, but it felt thin. “How about you?”

“I flip out on you, tell you to stop taking stupid risks, and then send you in alone to get a gun all because I wanted to keep moving. We should have all gone together, or I should have sent Clarity with you, but I didn’t trust her so I wanted to keep her with me.” He sighed and shook his head. “I think everything will be okay because my E.F.S. said nothing was in there, but you come out shot half to death by a security system. When I saw the red bars come up I wanted to charge in there and help you, but my instincts told me not to, that I shouldn’t be risking myself. I feel like a damned coward, but can’t shake the feeling I did the smart thing by leaving you there.” He refuses to meet my eyes, staring blankly at the wall of the train car.

I was stunned; he intentionally left me to fight on my own? Sure it worked out in the end, but I felt a hot indignation twisting my gut. Some thanks! Save a pony’s life and he leaves you to be killed by murderous robot! What if I had left him to Cat O’ Nine Tails, or Iron Curtain? What if I had abandoned him when Swift Winds attacked? Through the roiling sea of my anger one terrible realization hit me, Clarity was right about him. “Why’d you even save me in the first place?” I asked, fighting and failing to keep the harshness from my tone. “You could have left me to bleed out on the Wasteland.”

“I don’t know, okay?” He snapped, whirling on me with a thunderous look. “There was no reason, no gain, no nothing! I’ve never cared for the well-being of another pony before! All you did for me was serve as a warning. Somepony bleeding out from a ghoul bite with a trail leading back to a well-known ghoul hot spot is a glaring sign to stay the Hell away! But I saw you were still breathing and I just…” He made a frustrated noise in the back of this throat. “I just don’t know…”

I wrestled with my own anger and confusion, how do you respond to that? Your life was saved for no reason? Saved by a pony who would sell you out, who would leave you to die? In the end, I was unable to respond as we heard a scream and saw a flash from the back of the train car. Scout and I leapt into battle-ready positions, but gasped in shock at what we saw. If Clarity’s crystal skin had been breathtaking before, this was on par with Celestia Herself coming down to smile upon us. Our friend had shed her disguise and glowed with a brilliant light, her opalescent skin shaped like the most beautifully cut diamonds. Her amethyst mane was styled like pre-war royalty and shone with a brilliant luster. Her eyes were closed blissfully, and perhaps most importantly of all, her neck was bare. “C-c-clarity” I stuttered breathlessly. “You’re…”

Smiling, she turned to me. She opened her eyes, which positively radiated prismatic light. “Free” she said, her voice sounding like a joyful choir. “I’m free.”

*****

Sadly, Clarity’s radiance did not last forever. The divine glow died down after a few minutes, though her pristine crystal form stayed. The only thing that marred her was the collection of whip scars that stood out painfully along her back, but she either didn’t notice them or didn’t care. The three of us were sitting on one of the train car’s old seats while Threads worked on my coat. “It was kind of touch and go, actually” she was telling us. “A few times he encountered some problem, like he couldn’t defuse the bomb or there was no way to remove the collar, but he worked around them just fine.” The crystal mare hadn’t stopped smiling since her release, and frankly I couldn’t blame her. “Even if he is a coward, he’s good at what he does.”

“And what is his special talent anyway?” I asked, glancing at the tailor as he worked. His Cutie Mark was a lattice work of some kind of thick wire.

Clarity’s ever-present smile faded a little. “His special talent is working with explosives, but it was twisted from his enslavement by the Enclave. Now he’s obsessed with using his bombs to protect himself. I’d imagine he didn’t actually get his Cutie Mark until he escaped and hid himself away.”

I suddenly had a whole new sympathy for Threads. It was bad enough for me, being hunted by the Enclave for terrorist acts and facing execution, but to be on the run from your oppressors, knowing that being caught meant going back to your bondage, had to be horrible. Stopping Cauterize may have been my top priority, but I added “getting to the bottom of kidnapping surface ponies for the fight on Talon Mountain” to the list of things to do concerning the Enclave. That was for later though, now I wanted to celebrate my crystal friend’s newfound freedom. “So what do you plan to do now, Clarity?” I asked.

The question confused her. “Well, I was hoping to stay with you two” she said, as if it should have been obvious.

“Oh,” I said as casually as I could manage, even as I felt my heart drop into my stomach. I wasn’t sure when, but I had convinced myself somewhere along the way that after we freed Clarity she would go her own way, stay in St. Ponysburg or return to the other crystal ponies. But now that she said it, it was painfully obvious that she would want to stay with the ponies who were kind to her in her moment of need. I felt dread creeping up my spine. Even after what he had told me, I still knew that leaving Scout would have been hard. Could I abandon Clarity as well? You’re going to have to, for her own good, that little voice told me. “Of course you can” I lied through my teeth. That brought the crystal mare’s smile back in full, and only twisted the knife in my gut further.

Threads walked up to us a short time later, my coat held in his magic grip. “Alright, it’s done.” He stayed a good distance away as he levitated the coat to me. I could see no visible changes to the back of it as I took it, but on the inside I could see two new pockets corresponding to my wings. “Put your wings in those pockets as you put it on” he instructed. I did as he said, my wings sitting comfortably within the pockets. “There is a slit you should be able to slide your wings out of on each side. It’s small enough that nopony will notice it.” It took a bit of work, but sure enough I was able to slide my wings through the slits, spreading them as if I wasn’t wearing the coat at all.

I gave them a few practice flaps, making sure I had fully range of motion. Somehow, he had managed to perfectly size the slit so that my wing joints could move freely without bunching the coat. “It’s perfect” I said with a wide grin.

“Yeah, good.” He grumbled, looking eager to be rid of us. “And the Enclave will never learn I’m here?”

“Never” I assured him, nodding solemnly.

The unicorn seemed unconvinced, but accepted it. “Alright, now please get the Hell out.” He glanced at Clarity, his anxiety lessening at the sight of her. “And…no charge for freeing her.” We thanked Threads for his generosity and made to leave.

It took a bit of work, but I managed to slip my wings back into the coat, though now they didn’t feel as constricted as they had before. While I had been concealing my wings, Clarity had donned her disguise, and now thoroughly inconspicuous, we exited Threads’ home. Stepping outside was marvelous, I breathed deeply, feeling my claustrophobia slip away, and gazed up at the clouds. I had no idea if I’d ever fly above them again, but just being able to see the sky made me feel better. I was broken from my reverie when Scout nudged me and hissed “Sleet, look.”

I looked to where my earth pony friend was pointing, and for an instant I had no idea what I was looking at. It wasn’t that I didn’t recognize what I was seeing, it was the fact that I was seeing it at all. All too quickly my shocked ignorance gave away to cold, terrifying reality. At the rim of the crater Buckshot was talking with a group of three pegasi clad in Enclave power armor. “They found me…” I whispered.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the Enclave ponies. My mind had gone blank, save for one fatalistic spiral of thought. The Enclave had found St. Ponysburg and it was only a matter of time before they found me. Sure, they might overlook me in a crowd with no visible wings, but they all certainly had my description. Wings or no, they would be able to tell who I was given enough time. I was doomed, Scout and Clarity were doomed, this whole town was doomed, all because of me.

While I panicked, Scout continued to try and get my attention. When I didn’t respond, he smacked me across the face with one hoof, the pain startling me to alertness. “Sleet!” he hissed as loud as he dared. “Get a hold of yourself! We need to move!”

Despite the throbbing in my cheek, I still could do little more than stare at Scout numbly. “They found me, Scout they found me. I’m going to die; we’re all going to die…” I had cheated death one too many times, I couldn’t slip the Enclave’s noose now. If I fled then they would annihilate St. Ponysburg, if I didn’t then they’d find me and the town would still suffer. There was no hope, we were cornered.

Scout smacked me again, and Clarity grabbed ahold of the front of my coat with her magic. “Just move” Scout said, heading further into the crater. “Act casual, don’t draw attention. They haven’t seen us yet. Buckshot doesn’t know you’re a pegasus, so she can’t point them to us. If we get out of sight and stay that way until they move on, then we can leave.”

I complied, if for no other reason than I couldn’t resist Clarity’s persistent tugging. Eventually I was able to move my legs on my own, and no longer needed the crystal mare’s help. Even then, I felt as if the eyes of the Enclave ponies were burning into my back, seeing through my pathetic disguise to the wings underneath. Every gust of wind sounded like the flapping of wings, and I had to resist the powerful urge to look over my shoulder every few seconds. It only took a few minutes to reach the Crater Ridge Motel, but it felt like years. Once we were inside the motel I felt my shoulders loosen marginally. We were still in the dragon’s cave, but at least we were out of sight. “I’ll get us a room.” Scout said. “Try and stay away from windows.”

After Scout left, Clarity turned to me. “Are you going to be alright?” she asked, concern clear in her gemstone eyes.

No, I wasn’t going to be okay, not until I put a few hundred miles between the Enclave ponies and I, and from Clarity’s expression it was obvious. “No, I won’t. Not until this is over.”

“What did you do to make the Enclave hate you so much anyway?” She asked.

I never did get the chance to tell her. I filled Clarity in on why the Enclave wanted me dead, carefully omitting the part about how they wanted to kill everypony associated with me as well. It wouldn’t do to worry her further. “Goddesses…” she muttered, eyes wide. “You’re whole family?”

“All but one, and he’s the one leading the charge.” I hadn’t seen Downpour with the group in St. Ponysburg, which was a small blessing. Chances were the ponies here either didn’t know about Scout or were too concerned with finding me to look for him. If Downpour or Swift Winds had been here, then it would have been twice as likely we’d have been spotted if they saw Scout.

As if thinking about him had summoned him, Scout returned with news that we had a room. It was on the third floor of the five story building, and a dingy little thing. The walls were filthy, the two beds and couch were rotted and looked uncomfortable, and the toilet wasn’t working properly. It did have one important thing though, curtains. I peeked out from behind them every few minutes, keeping tabs on the Enclave ponies.

By this point it was late in the afternoon, and the sun had begun to set. The Enclave were going door to door questioning the ponies within. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the pegasi seemed no closer to the answers they wanted than when they started. Just before the sun dipped fully below the horizon and plunged the Wasteland into darkness, the Enclave took wing and flew out of St. Ponysburg. I continued to watch them until they flew out of sight, and only then did I permit myself to sigh in relief. “Oh thank the Goddesses! They left!”

My friend’s also sighed, slumping as the tension left the room. “See?” Scout said, smiling weakly. “Told you they wouldn’t find us.” The earth pony looked exhausted, eyes dropped and shoulders slumped.

“Easy.” Clarity agreed with a yawn. “We’re safe.”

I was also exhausted, but I couldn’t afford to sleep now. My heart ached to think of what I had to do next, but I managed to keep a smile on my face. “You two get some sleep, I want to keep watch a little longer.”

“No” Scout said firmly, glaring at me. “You aren’t pulling something like last night.”

I waved him down with one hoof. “Don’t worry, I’ll get to sleep. It’s just a couple more minutes.” I felt sick lying to him.

Scout was too tired to argue, climbing blearily into bed and falling asleep almost instantly. Clarity went to do the same, but instead trotted up to me and gave me a hug. “Thank you so much for freeing me” she said, embracing me tightly. “I woke up this morning not sure if I’d survive the day, and now I’m going to sleep a free mare. I can’t ever repay you for this.”

I returned the hug, thankful that she couldn’t see the anguish in my eyes. “You don’t have to repay me” I said, trying hard to keep my voice even.

She broke off the hug and smiled warmly at me. “I want to try” she said with an utter conviction that made my throat clench. “Goodnight, Sleet Gray” she said, climbing into her own bed.

“Goodnight” I responded, turning to the window. I stood there, staring blankly into the night until I could hear them both sleeping peacefully. I looked at the still forms of the two ponies. My short time in the Wasteland had given me more friends than my whole life above the clouds. Even knowing that Scout would have betrayed me, I still couldn’t help but feel closer to him than any pegasus I had ever known.

I wanted to stay, Goddesses I wanted to stay. I wanted to learn why Scout saved me, I wanted to talk to Clarity about the Crystal Empire. I wanted to stay if only to give my friend a chance to let me trust him again. But if I stayed Scout would die all because he saved me. If I stayed then Clarity would die away from her home and family. I couldn’t do that to them.

I found a pen and paper on the nightstand, scrawling out a quick message before silently leaving the room.

Scout and Clarity,

I’m sorry, but being near me puts you two in danger. The Enclave wants to see everypony associated with me dead, and I can’t let that happen.

As I left the room I was confronted by Buckshot, who stood sternly outside the door. “Who are you?” she hissed at me. “Half an hour after you show up I have Enclave coming down here, asking if I’ve seen a fugitive who sounds an awful lot like you. Same name and everything, Sleet Gray.” She glared at me searchingly. “Mind explaining?”

My mind spun, but I didn’t know if I could talk my way out of this. “I don’t know what you’re…”

“Don’t bullshit me.” She growled, stalking closer. “Their description matched you to a T, even without wings.” She nodded at my coat. “What’re the odds you’ve got them hidden under there?”

I sighed, and reluctantly revealed my wings. Buckshot whipped out her shotgun, pointing the barrel at me. “Wait!” I said, loud as I dared. “I was just leaving.” The Sheriff glared at me, gesturing to the door. “I have to leave them” I said painfully. “The Enclave is going to kill everypony around me if I’m caught. I can’t let my friends die…” Buckshot’s eyes softened for a moment before hardening. “Kill me if you want” I said. “But if the Enclave found out you did they will still destroy this place. They can’t risk what I know getting around.” Buckshot’s eyes widened. “That’s why it’s better if I just leave; everypony around me is in danger.” Without waiting for a response I turned from the earth pony sheriff and trotted down the hall. I heard her go the opposite way.

We may have escaped today, but they are ruthless. They won’t stop until we’re found and put to death. Just being near me puts a target on your heads.

I found the rooftop access and gazed up at the sky. A few holes poked through the cloud cover, showing Luna’s night sky above. The stars twinkled merrily, unknowing or uncaring to the suffering beneath them. Even still, they were beautiful. I had taken the night sky for granted most of my life, but now I relished this chance to even glimpse it. If I stopped the Enclave, could we return such beauty to the world? Would ponies be able to look up at the night sky and enjoy the majesty of the great sparkling expanse?

Would I be able to have friends without worrying that some greater power would destroy them? Could I live without fear for myself and those around me? I glanced back at the hatch leading into the Crater Side Motel. Maybe I could stay with them. We could fight together, and earn that security as a whole. Scout would learn why he saved me, and our friendship would be restored. And for an instant I believed it, turning to the hatch to go back inside.

Something made me glance up. The patch of stars was gone, covered by the Enclave’s clouds. Their persistent cover blocking out the beauty of the heavens. Steeling my will, I took off from the roof.

I have a plan to stop Cauterize, but I need to do this alone. If it works, then maybe we can meet up again when all this is over. I only hope you can forgive me for this.

The cold air rushed over my wings, biting through my coat and stinging my eyes. I blinked away tears as I left St. Ponysburg behind, the small settlement disappearing behind me. I was out over open Wasteland, the weak light of the moon barely illuminating the tundra below me. I lost track of how far and long I flew.

You both have shown me that the surface world is worth saving. Please stay safe, and watch the skies. Sunshine and rainbows are coming, clear skies ahead.

I didn’t hear my attacker coming; I merely felt the terrible impact of something hard against my skull. I couldn’t even cry out as the world darkened around me. My wings failed and I fell, plummeting to the Wasteland below. Just before I dashed myself against the tundra, I felt a pair of legs wrap around me and lift me higher. The world faded completely from view as I lost consciousness.

Your friend,

Sleet Gray
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Foot note: Level up
New Perk, Winter Weather Pony (Rank 2): Your skills at manipulating the weather have increased. You can now freeze a greater area solid at once without passing out, and you can lower temperature further than you could at Rank 1.

Captivity

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 5: Captivity
“Stay a while, and listen.”

Each of the three species of pony is intrinsically linked to a part of the world, and that link is a part of who that pony is. Earth ponies are linked to the ground beneath their hooves, drawing strength from the earth and knowing how to care for it. Unicorns are sensitive to the natural magic that pervades Equestria, channeling it through their horns and bending it to their will. Earth pony strength and skill and unicorn magic may be fantastic in their own rights, and downright essential to civilized life in some cases, but if you ask any pegasus if they’d give up their wings for either they would laugh in your face.

This is because pegasi are connected to the sky, and that gives us boundless freedom. Sure, the surface world is big, but it is ultimately finite. You can dig into the earth, but that requires great effort whereas going up for a pegasus is effortless. Even if we are technically stopped by the end of the atmosphere and the great dark void beyond, here in Equestria we can go where we want when we want. That’s why pegasus wings are so study, because to deny them from us is to deny us an essential part of our soul as a race. All this is why I can say with absolute certainty that waking up with my wings bound and immovable was a sensation that rivaled leaving my friends behind.

I woke up feeling wrong. I had the horrible feeling that the ceiling was collapsing on me, even when I looked and saw the rough stone celling was still firmly in place. I tried to flex my wings, and realized with a cold horror that I couldn’t. Looking over my shoulder I saw a band of iron had been wrapped around my mid-section pinning my wings to my side. My hooves were unbound, but that didn’t do me a lot of good. Chains were attached to the sides of the band and connected to the floor by anchors, making sure I stayed put.

I spent the next several minutes futilely trying to break my bonds. No matter how I strained, I wasn’t strong enough to wrench the chains from the floor, and even if I could I had no way of slipping the band. It was locked by a latching mechanism that would take a unicorn’s magic to use, and when I tried sucking in my gut to possibly slip out, it magically shrunk to accommodate. Screaming for help proved to be a bad idea, I had a pounding headache from when I was knocked out and yelling made my cell echo painfully. Unable to free myself I did my best to ignore the claustrophobic sensation, and mounting fear, and took stock of my surroundings.

I was in some kind of holding cell, the rough stone walls suggesting a cave. I had been lying on the bare floor in the center of the room, where the chains held me. There was a solid iron door in front of me with a single slat in it that let in a chink of light. Other than that the room was featureless, no bed or windows, not even a bucket. With nothing else to do and no way to free myself, I lay down once again and rested my forehead against the cool stone.

I don’t know when I fell asleep or when I woke up, the little source of light I had never changed so I had no way to measure the passage of time. All I had was the fact that I was painfully hungry, thirsty, and that the lack of commodes was becoming uncomfortable. The pounding in my head had gotten worse, probably from the dehydration. I stood as straight as I could, the chains pulling taught with my knees barely unbent. I strained against the chains, praying that I’d break free. The muscles in my legs burned as I struggled, sweat beading on my forehead. One drop of sweat rolled into my eye, and I instinctively threw up a hoof to wipe it out. That caused me to overbalance, landing painfully on my side.

I lay there panting, my legs burning and my side throbbing in time with my head. I wanted nothing more than to use my talent to chill the floor I was laying on and rest my head against it. But with my wings still firmly bound I could only close my eyes and hope that somepony would come for me soon. Maybe by some miracle Scout could track me to wherever I was and free me. Of course, that was if he even wanted to, after I abandoned him.

My breathing thundered in my ears as I lay there. Having my eyes closed didn’t help the terrible feeling of isolation. Without my wings I was cut off from the sky, I had willfully abandoned my friends, and now I was locked in a cell with no signs of life outside of it. Not even my captors cared enough to help me, I was going to die alone and forgotten in here. I felt tears leak out my closed eyelids, precious water I couldn’t afford to waste but I couldn’t stop them from coming. The surface world and everypony I cared about was going to die, and I’d be rotting in this cell the whole while. I curled up and cried quietly until I fell asleep again.

My sleep had not been entirely dreamless, but in my weakened state the dreams were little more than muddled colors and sensations. Fear was followed closely by anxiousness which had been replaced by joy and so on. Images of my friends and family flashed by and were quickly replaced by Wasteland monsters. By the time I awoke I was more exhausted than when I fell asleep. My eyelids had stuck together from the dried tears, which didn’t terribly bother me. Looking around my cell would only depress me further.

To make matters worse, I was in no better shape physically than I was mentally. I was still curled up, but this was to ease the pains of my cramping stomach. Meanwhile my throat continued to burn dully, and my head pulsed painfully in time with my heartbeat. I had no idea how long I had been locked up, but I was certain I couldn’t survive much longer. Eyes clenched tight I groaned pitifully, even the meager chink of light illuminating my cell was hurting my eyes.

Wait, did the light just shift? Forcing my eyes open, I looked up and saw a figure moving past the door, shadowing the light. “Hello?” I called out weakly, my voice little more than a parched whistle. Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, I tried again. “Is anypony there?” Audible, at least. The shadow stopped. “Help me, please!” I called as loudly as I could.

A sharp, avian eye appeared in the slat, glaring down at me. I could see black feathers surrounding the eye. “Poor little pony’s not looking so good. Thirsty, little pony? Hungry too? Don’t worry, we’ll deal with you soon.” The figure walked away, a feline tail briefly appearing in the opening.

Griffons. I had been captured by griffons. That meant I was in Talon Mountain, near the peak. The thought of being above the clouds again was equal parts joyful and terrifying. On the one hoof I was back in my natural habitat, wings or no wings, but on the other, practically everything that lived up here wanted me dead. My captors were on that list but frankly I had been too concerned with the Enclave to worry about them. Now I had no choice in the matter.

The griffon cackled as he left, the sound echoing. I hoped that “soon” wouldn’t be long, my vision was already swimming from the dehydration. Even the strangling loneliness took a backseat to my baser needs. My concept of the passage of time was already distorted by the unwavering light, but seconds seemed to stretch under my distress to the point where minutes felt like hours.

I wasn’t sure when I lost the ability to control my bladder, all I know was that I was tempted to drink my own urine to slake my thirst. If I could have moved to do so, and I might have, but my bonds prevented me. The chains were short enough that I couldn’t fully stand, let alone twist around. My mind was fogged, thoughts sticking together like they were coated in sweat. Somewhere amidst my clustered thoughts I came to a realization, they were doing this on purpose. Whatever they had brought me here for they clearly wanted me as mentally unstable as possible. The realization didn’t do me a lot of good, knowing why I was suffering did little to ease the suffering itself.

As if on cue, the metal door clanged open, admitting more light and a pair of griffons. The half-avian half-feline creatures would have looked ridiculous if they weren’t so clearly dangerous. My jailors were heavily muscled and wore battle saddles laden with heavy weaponry, though I was too out of it to care. The larger of the two, an ebon feathered male, stalked towards me. “Poor little pony,” he growled, grabbing a clump of my mane in one talon. Yanking my head so I was forced to look into his eyes, he clacked his beak inches from my face. “You look half dead. If it were up to me you’d be all dead, but the old harpy needs you. Today’s your lucky day, little pony.”

With his free talon he took out a bottle of water, uncapped it with his beak, and pouring the contents down my throat. The water tasted vile, was lukewarm, and probably irradiated. Despite that I drank greedily, spluttering some up in my desperate efforts to slake my thirst. All too soon he moved the bottle and dropped my head, his razor talon taking some of my gray mane with it. I coughed violently, having breathed in some of the water. It was better, but nowhere near enough and I was still starving. “Food, please.” I choked out. “More water…”

The jailor cackled. “Greedy little pony! Just like all the others, hm? We decide if you get more.” As he taunted me, he unhooked the chains binding me to the floor. My partially rehydrated brain screamed at me to attack, to run, to do something, but my body was too weak to comply.

The jailor grabbed my mane again, tossing me towards his companion. I stumbled into the other griffon. This one had tawny feathers and seemed to not find as much amusement in this as his friend. “Come with us, our Matriarch will see you now.” He made it sound like I had a choice.

We made our way down the natural stone corridor, which was lit every few feet by enchanted gems. The griffons flanked me on both sides, staying just behind me so they could easily shoot me in the head if I tried anything. They needn’t have worried, it took everything I had just to put one hoof in front of the other, escape wasn’t an option.

I smelled the griffons long before I saw them. I had actually experienced the smell of griffon before, and it wasn’t something easily forgotten; a sickly mix of sweat, blood, and “lived-in” nesting. When I was a filly, my brothers had been deployed to Talon Mountain. They had been gone for weeks, coincidentally some of the happiest weeks of my young life, and had come home reeking of griffon. The smell alone had been enough reason to avoid them.

Now the smell was overwhelming. I resisted the urge to gag so as not to piss off the jailors. We had taken several turns that I hadn’t been able to follow in my head, and had entered a wider hallway. I could now hear the griffons, raucous voices punctuated by the occasional screech echoing off the stone walls. The voices grew louder as I was marched into the main rookery, the heart of the griffon nest.

This was one of the few chambers that had been shaped artificially. The circular room had a low terrace around it, on which rested a large number of griffons. To my left sat an old, grey harpy whose perch was slightly higher than the others. The Matriarch. One of the jailors shoved me into the center of the room and the griffons redoubled their yelling. I couldn’t understand what they were saying through the screeching, but felt it was nothing good.

The harpy let out a piercing shriek, silencing the room. I winced at the sound, folding down my ears. After making sure she had silence, the Matriarch turned to me. She was no bigger than any other griffon, certainly no bigger than I was. Truth be told she was rather scrawny in her old age. Despite that, her voice was strong and clear as she addressed me. “Who are you, little pony?”

My first instinct was to lie, an irrational part of me didn’t want to say my name above the clouds incase the Enclave heard. But here in the heart of griffon territory my biggest worry was that the chimeric creatures grew bored of me, so I answered. “I’m Sleet Gray.”

“Well Sleet Gray, maybe you can tell me what the Enclave is doing with dirt ponies on my mountain.”

I stared dumbly at the harpy for a half a minute, my starving brain trying to piece together the question. She thought I knew that? Why would I know that? Before my exile I was just a civilian, nopony outside the military knew that. My brothers certainly hadn’t told me. My growling stomach made it even more difficult to concentrate, let alone comprehend. “What?”

Faster than I could have reacted even if I wasn’t completely out of it, the black feathered jailor leapt forward slammed me to the ground. I bounced painfully off the stone as the watching griffons roared in approval. I folded down my ears and threw my hooves over my head against the noise. Another piercing shriek sent a lance of pain through my brain and silenced the flock behind me.

I peeked from under my hooves, the harpy staring imperiously down at me. “I asked you a question, Sleet Gray. I want an answer.” Her voice sounded tinny to my ringing ears. “Why are dirt ponies on my mountain?”

The pressure in my brain had expanded behind my eyes, but I managed an answer this time. “I don’t know…”

Black Feathers grabbed the enchanted iron band, his talons digging into my back. He flung me towards the harpy and I smashed into the terrace. White hot pain shot through my back from the point of impact, making me scream. I lay there, trying to focus through the numerous points of pain, when I felt the harpy’s talons dig into my mane. She lifted me up to eye level, glaring at me. Her eyes were a cold blue, bloodshot, and conveyed no mercy. “Bullshit you don’t.” She said quietly. “You were below the clouds, you wore a fancy coat, had a fancy gun, and were carrying this.” She held up the Recollector in her other talon. “You mean to tell me the Enclave is just giving away toys like this to civilians? That they are just letting anyone go below the clouds without the brand?”

I didn’t have enough water in me to cry from the pain. My breath came in labored gasps as I spoke. “I’m not Enclave.”

Dropping the Recollector, she grabbed me by the throat and slammed me into the wall behind her. “Then why do you still have your Mark?” She asked in a low, dangerous voice.

“Because I’m not a Dashite.” I choked out. “I’m a threat.”

This clearly intrigued the old bird. She lessened her grip on my throat, but did not put me down. “How can one little pegasus be a threat to the whole Enclave?” She asked.

“You know Drill Sergeant Storm Banks?” I asked. “The one who trains the ponies at Coltarado to come kill you?” The harpy nodded. I could feel adrenaline singing in my veins, clearing my mind just enough to speak in fuller sentences. “I’m his daughter, the one who killed his wife and son, and I know what the Enclave is planning to do to the surface.”

There was a moment of stunned silence as the griffons digested that. “So you hold their dirty little secret, huh?” The harpy eventually asked. I could see the gears turning in her mind. “And now I have you, shouldn’t be too hard to negotiate them away. Turn you over and we get our mountain back.”

I felt my stomach drop down a pit. “That wouldn’t work.” I said quickly. “Like you said, I’m one little pegasus. Do you really think they will give up on Talon’s resources just for turning me over? They need this mountain! Turning me over buys you a week while they try and execute me, then they come back, and with reinforcements!”

“Reinforcements?” She asked quizzically.

“All those search parties combing the Wastes looking for me? With me dead they’ll have nothing better to do than come here for your head!” Now I had their attention. Looking around the room, I could see every steely eye locked on me, but I could also see something else. I saw empty roosts, and members of the flock sporting various injuries. Even with my mind a mess I could see it clear as day, they couldn’t hold out forever; and they certainly could not against an Enclave bolstered in both numbers and morale. Whether they had admitted it to themselves or not, they needed every advantage they could get, and I could give them one. “You keep me alive, we split the Enclave’s attention. Every soldier they send down below to find me isn’t one beating down your door, and I have a plan to stop what they are going to do to the surface.” I took a deep breath and gambled. “If we work together, we can destroy them

For a few seconds, silence. Then the griffons had erupted at my proposal, screeching and cawing madly. The harpy keened loudly, calling for silence, but the flock refused to heed her. My ears were ringing painfully from the din. She gnashed her beak in irritation before turning to my jailor. “Clavicle! Take the prisoner!” She tossed me towards the ebon feathered griffon. I bounced painfully off the floor, the sudden shock ruining the clarity I had been holding on to. I could still faintly hear the harpy barking orders, but my ears were ringing too much to understand.

I felt the jailor’s talons dig into my back as he grabbed the iron band. He tried to haul me to my hooves, but my ringing ears killed my balance. I stumbled dumbly for a moment before the jailor, Clavicle I suppose, roughly lead me along. As we left the main rookery, the noise followed down the halls, slowly dying down as we moved further away and the old harpy regained control. By the time we returned to my cell all was silent except for the clop of my hooves and the clack of Clavicle’s talons. Nevertheless there was noise like a charging magical energy rifle still buzzing in my ear that refused to go away.

Clavicle dragged me into the cell, reattaching the chains to the iron band. I was almost thankful for the opportunity to nurse my various pains. I laid my head on the cold stone floor, eyes closed and taking slow breaths. It felt like my entire body was throbbing in pain. Much to my distress, I felt Clavicle grab hold of my mane and lift my head once again. I wanted to try and maintain some kind of stoicism, but couldn’t stop a groan of pain. It sounded pitiful, even to me.

Much to my surprise, Clavicle put the water bottle to my lips. I was shocked at first, but began drinking greedily. The water was revolting, but could have been liquid moonlight for my parched throat. He did not take the bottle away early this time, allowing me to drink my fill, or at least close to it. The bottle finished, I was still hungry and still battered, but felt much better. “Thank you.” I said earnestly.

His response was to hold the edge of his talon against my throat. “I should kill you right now.” He growled. “You’re a lying bitch, like the rest of the Enclave. You’ll just run back to them pissing yourself if we let you go…”

I swallowed hard, feeling my Adam’s apple rub against the talon. “You won’t kill me though.” I said, feeling a lot less confident than I sounded.

“And why not?”

I managed to crack a smile. “Because part of you believes me.”

He sliced the talon across my neck. I tensed, expecting the sickening sensation of my blood flowing freely. All I got was a minor pain, barely noticeable amidst all the other aches I was experiencing. Clavicle had cut my neck just enough to draw a line of blood, shallower even that the raider bite from... Goddesses had that just been two days ago? Or longer? I had no idea how long I had been a prisoner of the griffons, but it felt like months. Clavicle held up the talon, a single drop of my blood on the tip. “Whether I believe you or not doesn’t mean shit.” He said, grinning wickedly. How a griffon grinned with a beak was beyond me. “What matters, is that until the old bird says, otherwise, you’re mine. And that means it’s my pleasure to kill you if you become worthless.”

Letting go of my mane, he turned and stalked from the cell, slamming the door behind him. I sighed in relief, once again resting my head on the floor. Disgusting as it may have been, I finally had some water in me and could start to think clearly, the cool stone on my forehead also helped. Making allies with the griffons was incredibly risky. As a rule griffons did whatever was in the best interest of the individual and the flock, and that meant that dealing with the pony races on occasion. However, these griffons had been at war with the Enclave for over two hundred years. They had every reason in the world to hate and distrust pegasi, even if it went against their natural practicality. The only thing keeping me alive right now was the word of the harpy, and that may not last forever. I needed a way out of here, quickly.

My stomach growled loudly, interrupting any further thought. I may be hydrated, but I was still starving, and crashing off of the adrenaline was bringing my various aches back in spades. I felt myself drifting off. I could escape later. I could rest for now… Maybe until my ears stopped ringing…

*****

Wind whipped through my mane, but not in the pleasant way flying did. This wind was cold, biting, and stung my eyes. I held a hoof in front of my eyes, blocking some of the gale. “Hello?” I called, my voice thin in the wind. “Is anypony there?” All I could see was white for miles. Squinting, I put the hoof down and went to take a step. My hoof plunged through the ground and I felt my heart seize as I tumbled after it. My head followed and I glimpsed the Wasteland far, far below me. Except it wasn’t the Wasteland, the world below was thriving and alive.

I managed to not slip off the small platform I was standing on. My heart thundered against my ribcage while I watched the world below. When I managed to calm down, I picked myself up, my rear hooves slipping perilously behind me. The fluffy white clouds on all sides refused to support any weight I put on them. I was standing on a small frozen platform barely large enough to hold me. “What’s going on?” I whispered. Why couldn’t I walk on clouds? All pegasi could walk on clouds! I tried to flap my wings, but felt nothing. A lump of ice formed in the pit of my stomach. Slowly, I looked over my shoulder.

Looking behind me, I was unsure what I was looking at for a second, then it hit me. The scream of terror built somewhere in my stomach, rising until it burst out my mouth and echoed across the empty sky. My wings were gone. Over the scars of my now empty wing sockets was black stitching reading “TRAITOR”. My sleet-and-snow Cutie Mark was gone, replaced with an ugly brand of Rainbow Dash’s Mark. I tried to run from my own scarring, tumbling off of the platform as I did. With no wings to flap and nothing to catch me I plummeted towards the thriving world below…

I jerked awake, but something was wrong, I couldn’t move! I struggled and strained, but I couldn’t even stand! I need to fly I… Oh Goddesses my wings! I can’t move them! It wasn’t a dream! Now my lungs are empty, I can’t breathe I’m…screaming?

A sharp pain flares in my right cheek and I’m jolted fully awake. My chest is heaving like a windstorm as I try to force air back into my lungs. “Maybe she’s just crazy.” I hear someone mutter.

I focus, griffons. Talon Mountain. The cell. The nightmare slowly fades as I recognize my jailors. Clavicle, the tawny feathered male, and the old harpy are standing in front of me. I locked on to the Matriarch and approached as much as my bindings would allow. “Please.” I said, unable to keep the note of desperation from my voice. “Please give me my wings back…”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” The old harpy said, causing my chest to feel like it was caving in. “You see, I did a little looking into who you are, Sleet Gray.” She circled me while she talked. “And I learned specifically how you killed your family.” She ran her talon along the exposed part of my wing. I shivered at the touch, the band was restricting blood flow and the contact caused an unpleasant tingling sensation. “I think I’ll keep these locked up nice and tight for now.”

I drew in a shaky breath, trying to calm myself. It was clear that panic and pleading would get me nowhere. “How can we get anywhere without a little trust?” I asked, trying and failing to steady my voice.

The harpy stopped and locked eyes with me. ”’Trust’ was giving you water. ‘Trust’ was not letting Clavicle slit your throat. There has been plenty of ‘trust’ Sleet Gray, if you want more you will need to earn it.” It felt like she could see straight through me, through any deception or mask. “You’ll get your wings back when I say so.” She held the stare for several seconds before turning away. “Now follow me.”

I hadn’t noticed that while she was talking, the other two griffons had unhooked my chains. I stood up fully, my knees aching. However, on the lengthy list of aches and pains I currently had, the current top priority was my stomach. I didn’t want to do much else but fill my cramping gut, and could only hope that the griffon’s “trust” would get me some food sooner rather than later. Still, having no other choice, I followed the old harpy silently.

The trip was short and made in uncomfortable silence. I could feel the piercing eyes of the jailors on me like an itch in my mane. The itch was multiplied a thousand times in my wings, the desire to free them intensifying after the nightmare. The effect was making my mind spin again. I needed something to focus on. “How long have I been here?” I asked.

I saw Clavicle move in my peripheral vision, probably to violently reprimand me for speaking out of turn. He stopped when the Matriarch spoke. “We caught you three days ago.”

Three days since I left my friends behind. A part of me wondered what they were doing, if they were still together, or even still alive. Shaking my head clear of the thought, I continued talking. “Why capture me in the first place?”

”We noticed the Enclave going below the clouds, way more than just a scouting party. Naturally we wanted to know what was going on.”

I waited for her to continue, but she stayed silent. Suppressing an annoyed huff, I prompted. “So why capture me?”

The old harpy gave a screeching laugh. “One little pegasus, flying alone, below the clouds, at night? You were either really fucking stupid or on some really important mission. I decided it was the second one.”

Great, I had been imprisoned because they gave me the benefit of the doubt. There was hilarious irony in there somewhere, but I was too hungry to see it. Any attempts to think through my growling stomach were dashed when we rounded a corner and the smell of food assaulted my nostrils. It was just about the sweetest thing I had ever smelled, even though it had a strange undertone I couldn’t be bothered to identify. I sniffed deeply, feeling my belly rumble in anticipation. Come to think of it, before all this started I had never eaten the meal my Mother had brought in for me. What had it been again? Apples? Hay fries? Both? I had been too concerned with almost being shot to pay attention, and like everything else from my old home it was destroyed.

Even my thoughts of home couldn’t stick with the smell of food so close. The fact that the smell was growling stronger certainly didn’t help, but as the smell grew so did the other, less pleasant scent. It was strangely familiar, and as we grew closer I got the distinct feeling that I didn’t want to recognize it. Just before we rounded the corner into the griffon dining hall I put my hoof on it. I knew where I had smelled that smell before, Stalliongrad. It was the smell of blood.

I really should have expected nothing less from griffons. Nevertheless I felt my appetite wane dramatically at the sight of the bloodstained dinging hall. The chimera clearly did not believe in table manners, small pieces of I don’t know what were left on and around the great wooden table. The fact that the table was made of wood spoke to how old this settlement was, but my stomach was churning too much to care.

I took a deep breath to control my queasiness, but ended up gagging on the smell. This seemed to amuse the griffons. “What’s the matter, little pony?” Clavicle asked tauntingly. “You’ve been to the Wasteland, can’t handle a little meat and blood?”

Swallowing my disgust, I answered back sharply. “I grew up in a different standard of living.” My tone was unwise, but this black feathered bastard was really starting to piss me off. “Forgive me if I haven’t lost all civility to the Wasteland yet.”

Roughly shoving me around to face him, Clavicle grabbed my head in both his talons and glared into my eyes. “I don’t give two shits about your civility, pony.” He squeezed my head, making the pressure that sleeping had only partially removed grow. “Your civility won’t stop me from ripping your head off…”

“Clavicle!” The Matriarch cawed. “Let her go!” Disobeying for just a second longer, the jailor finally let go of my head. I stumbled backward as my head screamed. The charging-energy-weapon noise was back, and agonizingly loud.

The tawny feathered guard must have moved, since I continued stumbling until I hit wall. Sliding down the rough stone, I settled into a sitting position and wrapped my hooves over my head, eyes squeezed closed. I faintly heard clicking talons and the tawny guards voice say “Get up.”

“What the Hell do you people want with me?” I groaned, keeping my eyes shut.

“We want the Enclave gone.” He answered simply. “We want them to regret trying to drive us from our home, and we want to fly the skies without watching over our shoulders.” I cracked open one eye and looked up at him. His expression was uncompromising. “That’s what you want too, isn’t it?”

I held his gaze for a minute before very slowly standing up. I took a deep breath, opening my both my eyes and nodded. “Yes, it is.” I responded, forcing my voice to be steady.

“Then please, sit down.” He gestured to the large table. “And try not to piss off my brother.”

I found a reasonably clear spot and sitting on the stone floor, apparently the griffons didn’t believe in chairs either. The Matriarch sat down opposite me, the guards flanking her and pointing their battle saddles at me. “Clavicle tells me you are hungry.” She stated. “What would you like to eat?”

Against my stomach’s protests, I said. “I don’t think you have much I’d eat.”

“Actually we recently had a very successful raid against an Enclave supply shipment. I’m sure there is something there you’ll eat.”

I felt an irrational fear and anger grip my stomach. Taking into account how long I’d been here and when I had fallen into the Wasteland, I had a good idea what shipment she was talking about. “That was Coltarado Height’s surplus payment to the military! If they don’t meet the quota they’ll lose military support!”

The Matriarch raised an eyebrow. “And you care about this why? I thought we were going to destroy them.”

I bit my lip. “I want the military destroyed, but this hurts innocents…”

The old harpy laughed heartily, the screeching cackles grating against my ears. “Innocents! Who in the Enclave is innocent? You abandon the surface, live off of stolen mountains and hog the skies!” She stopped her laughter, but her eyes still shone with vicious delight. “None of you Enclave are ‘innocent’. You’re all thieves and traitors.” I bit my tongue against a sharp rebuttal, pinning the blame of just trying to survive on ponies two hundred years after the fact didn’t sit well with me. The Matriarch must have noticed my consternation. “Are you honestly considering defending them? The ones who drove you out and are trying to kill you?”

“I wasn’t nearly executed by civilians.” I said through gritted teeth, carefully omitting the part about Radiant Dawn selling me out. “It was my brother acting under orders!”

“And do you know what all those civilians think about you?” The harpy countered. “Do they stay awake at night, worried for your safety because you were wrongly accused? Do you think any of them care? You are dead to them,” At the word “dead” she slammed her fist on the table. “and they will string you up without thinking twice!”

The sound of a roaring crowd and the feeling of rough fibers scratching my neck sent a shiver down my spine. I closed my eyes and tried to center myself, but to do so I needed food. “Do you have any apples?”

Opening my eyes I saw the harpy grinning at me in that strange griffon way. “Glad we can get down to business.”

A short while later I was digging into a small pile of apples. After the first bite my hunger had exploded, as if I had been repressing it and the taste of food broke all restraint. Nevertheless I managed to keep my scarfing as close to polite and controlled as I could, the griffons knew that starving me had an effect, I didn’t want them to see how much. After my third apple in as many minutes, the Matriarch spoke up. “You said you knew the Enclave’s plan for the surface. Care to fill us in?”

I glanced at the two bodyguards as I ate. “Are you sure you want them around?” I asked innocently.

“My sons are to be trusted.” She said confidently.

Not much in the way of family resemblance. I thought. Acquiescing with a nod, I prompted another answer. “You know, I got his name,” I gestured to Clavicle “but not yours.”

The stalling seemed to be grating on the griffons nerves. Even so, she answered “I am Ragewing,” She motioned to the tawny griffon. “and my son is Arterial.”

“Named after is big heart?” I asked after a tense moment of silence.

“We were named after the first wound we inflicted on each other.” Arterial said. “My brother broke my collar bone, I cut his neck.”

Ragewing snickered at my shocked look. “Luckily we had healing potions nearby, otherwise he’d be an only child.” I saw Clavicle’s jaw tighten, clearly a raw nerve. I decided to get back on track before the ebon feathered griffon was set off again.

“I do know the Enclave’s plan for the surface. I found it by mistake, they tried to hide the file amongst junk nopony would look at. Unfortunately for them, I did.” The silence was cue to go on. “They plan to slaughter the surface world. Most of the ground ponies will die in the holocaust.”

Ragewing leaned in closer with a hungry expression. “And why would they do that?”

I shook my head sadly. “I didn’t see much about why, only the what.” It was true, luck or perhaps misfortune was what made me open the file concerning the method of genocide first. “The propaganda they plan to spread says that they are going to ‘Reclaim the surface’ and ‘Destroy threats to our way of life’, but Celestia only knows how much of it is true.”

Ragewing mulled over what I said. She kept up that same predatory look, making me feel distinctly like prey. Now more than ever I wanted my wings back, straining them against the band only compounded the feeling of being trapped. How wholly this griffon controlled me was becoming frighteningly clear with each passing minute. “How much more do you know?” She asked.

“Not much.” I admitted, carefully choosing my words. “I didn’t get the chance to read the whole file before my brother showed up.” If I remained just useful enough to be kept alive, but not be exploitable, I may find a chance to convince them to free me. The fact that I was dealing with griffons made the possibility of pulling that off depressingly slim, but it was all I had.

“How about a timetable? When will the surface burn?”

“They are going to want to start as quickly as possible, but this is such a huge undertaking they don’t want something to go wrong either.” I shrugged. “Best guess? A few months, maybe more maybe less.”

“Then that gives us some time to prepare.” Ragewing said, standing up.

“Prepare?”

The aged griffon snickered wickedly. “If the Enclave throws everything they have down below, they leave their cities ripe for the picking! We will break their back while it is turned!”

My heart clenched in my chest. Was she being serious? “Wiping you out is no doubt part of the preparations!” I said hurriedly. “They wouldn’t underestimate you to the point of not expecting counter-attack!”

Ragewing glared down at me, her bloodshot eyes questioning why I dared doubt her plan. I braced myself for some kind of retaliation, but to my surprise Arterial spoke up. “She’s right, Mother.” He said, drawing the Matriarch’s attention. “Waiting to strike will only get us killed.”

“And striking now will get us killed!” Clavicle snapped, cutting off the Matriarch from speaking.

“Not if we are smart about it.” His brother retorted. “If we use what we have then we can do some damage without sitting around and waiting for the Enclave to come and blast us all to Hell.” It was clear that “what they had” was me, a situation I needed to remedy quickly; I couldn’t stop the Enclave as a griffon tool for revenge.

Before the argument could continue, Ragewing gave a keening cry for silence. “Quiet, both of you!” After waiting a second to make sure they had obeyed, she continued. “I have the feeling we can learn much from our little pegasus. Take Sleet Gray back to her cell. Make her comfortable, but keep the band on.” With that, she began stalking from the room.

Celestia damn her and all she stood for! My wings felt like they were being crushed and the terrible claustrophobia weighing on me had been slowly increasing. I had managed to shove it to the back of my mind as I tried to weasel my way into a position of potential escape, but the confirmation that I was to remain bound made the sensation skyrocket. Desperately, I tried called after her retreating form. “What do you expect from me? Finding Cauterize was a fluke! I can’t help you stop the Enclave from a CELL!”

Ragewing paused before striding over to me. Grabbing my face in her talons, she spoke very slowly. “I think you know more than you say. I know your type, unimpressive little shits no one pays attention to. You sit there like a fly on the wall and hear all sorts of interesting things.” She gave that creepy griffon-smile again and I felt my despair clutch my heart. “I think you will be very helpful.” Releasing me, she left the dining hall without further comment.

I didn’t bother trying to resist the griffon brothers when they lead me away. Despite being fed and partially rehydrated I was no match for them, even if I did have access to my talent. My head spun as we walked searching desperately for an angle I could use to free myself. No matter what excuse I fabricated, or logic I tried, I couldn’t find a scenario where I could convince Ragewing to let me go. My hooves felt heavy with the weight of my situation. I had left my friends and now I had failed the surface. The Enclave would come and destroy the ponies below, the griffons would foolishly attack and be destroyed, and I would be found and executed. We reached the cell and I entered wordlessly, standing in place to be chained to the floor. To my brief surprise, they turned to leave without doing so. Right, ‘comfortable’. I sat and watched them close the door, specifically Arterial. Clavicle stood back, glaring at me.

No… Not me… He was glaring at his brother… An idea sparked to life, desperately shining against the hopelessness. “Could I get some water?” I asked.

“I gave you water already.” Clavicle snapped irately.

“That was yesterday,” I said, sounding innocent rather than snippy. “I need more.”

I held my breath as the ebon feather griffon made to storm into the cell, praying my gambit would work. “Don’t get greedy, little pony…”

I suppressed a sigh of relief when Arterial stuck out his foreleg and blocked his brother. “It’s fine, I’ll get her some water.” Perfect. I thought, maintaining a mask of innocence and defeat.

Clavicle glared at his brother with such intensity I half expected Arterial to go up in flames, but eventually yielded. After telling me to wait (again, making it sound like I had a choice) Arterial and his brother left, locking the cell behind them. Several minutes later, the tawny griffon returned. I sat against the back wall, eyes closed and appreciating the relative freedom not being chained gave me. I opened one eye and was pleased to see that Clavicle was nowhere to be seen.

Arterial approached cautiously, keeping his guns trained on me. “I can’t hurt you.” I said, opening both eyes. “Even if I had my wings, I couldn’t stop you before you shot me.” The jailor didn’t speak, handing me a bottle of water. Pulling it open with my teeth, I took a long pull. Thankfully, this water was at least clean. Arterial turned to leave as I drank. Swallowing, I spoke up. “You won’t convince them.”

The griffon stopped, turning to me. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Your family.” I said, not standing up. “You won’t convince them that keeping me here is a bad idea.” He tried to keep a stoic expression, but I saw his eyes tighten. “That is what you were thinking, wasn’t it.” It wasn’t a question.

“The Matriarch knows what is best for the flock.” He said without any heart, the doubt clear in his face.

I latched onto that doubt. “Are you so sure of that? Have all her decisions been for the best lately?” He didn’t speak, choosing only to glare at me. “If you won’t say it, I will.” Silence. “Fine, Ragewing is old. She’s been fighting the Enclave probably since she took over as head of the flock. It’s wearing on her, making her reckless and impulsive.” I leaned forward, looking into his eyes. “She can’t see why keeping me here will get all of you killed. If the Enclave finds out I’m here, they will spare no expense to kill you all and take me. Same if they think I died on the surface or if Cauterize grows near. With me here, there is no happy ending.”

“You want me to defy my own mother…” He said in a low, dangerous voice.

I held up my hooves in a placating gesture. “I’m not asking for a coup, what I’m asking is that you get me out of here.”

The griffon looked down at me searchingly for about a minute. I resisted the urge to say more, praying that I had said enough already. After what felt like a short forever, he turned and left without another word. I tried not to let his silence affect how I felt, having no idea if it was a good or bad sign. Instead I savored the bottle of pure water, and waited.

Waiting gave me ample time to consider things I’d really rather not think about, but having no other form of stimulation, I was forced to look back on the past few days. Naturally, and traitorously, my thoughts wandered to Scout and Clarity. No matter how many times I rationalized my decision to leave them, I couldn’t deny that I still felt awful about it. What else was I going to do though? Drag them around the Wasteland, just waiting for the Enclave to kill us all? I couldn’t afford that. If I was going to stop the Enclave I couldn’t worry for the ponies I cared about.

But had leaving really been the best option? After all, Swift Winds and the other soldiers in her group had seen Scout. He was just as wanted as I was, and even with his PipBuck he wouldn’t be able to evade capture forever. If I had stuck with them, maybe I could have helped…

I hit myself on the head with the bottle. No. I can’t think like that. Scout is clever, his damned Cutie Mark is in survival! He can fend for himself, and if Clarity is with him, then he has her magic on his side. They would be just fine without me, and as soon as I got out of this damned cell I’d be fine as well. I went to take another drink from the bottle, but it was empty, and ironically I felt thirstier than ever.

I don’t know how much longer I waited. I resisted the urge to fall asleep, not wanting another nightmare to set me screaming and put the whole rookery on red alert. Studiously ignoring the almost painful desire to move my wings helped with keeping awake, but it was becoming harder and harder. My shoulders rolled and twitched on their own accord, trying to flex my wings. At some point I had fallen into the rhythm of flight, despite the fact that my wings didn’t actually move. The enchantment in the band apparently didn’t like that, and tightened considerably. I gasped in pain, willing my muscles to still before the band snapped something. This was maddening, I needed to get out of here, I needed to move, I…

There came the sound of talons clicking on stone. I held my breath, all other sensations temporarily forgotten. Arterial appeared in the little slat on the door and after a few seconds opened the cell. Fighting the impulse to rush out the door, I stood still near the back of the cell. The tawny griffon carried two full saddlebags in place of his battle saddle and wore a decidedly uncomfortable expression as he approached. Stopping in front of me, he wordlessly reached behind me and with a few deft motions undid the latch securing the band.

Goddesses preserve me, this must have been what Clarity felt like. My wings immediately flared out and a sensation of relief that was soul deep washed over me. If I was a crystal pony, I’d have shone as bright as the sun. “Thank you.” I said breathlessly, marveling at my wings like a newborn foal.

“Don’t get too excited.” He reprimanded, reaching into one of the saddlebags and producing my coat. “We still have to get you out of here.”

I happily took the garment. A part of me that hadn’t been consumed by my desire to fly had felt terrible about losing the coat so soon after Threads had modified it. Slipping my coat on, I immediately spread my wings through the slits cut in the back. Arterial’s eyes widened at the sight, clearly not having found the mods, a testament to Threads’ work. “Did you get the rest of my things?” I asked, buttoning the coat.

“You’ll get them back when we have you outside Talon.” He had resumed his stoic glare.

Understandable, just because he trusted me enough to raise havoc for the Enclave didn’t mean he trusted me enough not to shoot him in the back. I nodded. “Alright, lead the way.”

After first checking that the hallway was clear, Arterial set off at a brisk pace while I followed behind. Having my wings back, I decided to hover rather than walk so as to keep my hooves from making noise. The cave system was eerily quiet, with no other griffons to be found. I faintly recognized the route to the main rookery, despite my delirious state the last time I made the trip. We passed through the large cavern, which felt even more spacious when empty.

Or seemingly empty. A thunderous crack barely drowned out Arterial’s screech of pain, blood starting to flow at the point where his feathers became fur. I dodged the bullet aimed for me more out of luck than skill. I had frozen in shock at the first gunshot, dropping from my hover as the second shot passed over me. The shooter cawed furiously, firing at me again. Stupidly, I stood there shocked, only moving once the bullet bit into my left foreleg. Fiery pain lanced from my quadriceps, finally jumpstarting my brain enough for my survival instinct to scream at me to move!

I took wing, trying to gain height on our attacker. Three days bound in iron had done my wings no favors, anything more than the hover I had been maintaining stretched my cramped muscles painfully. Still, staying on the ground would get me killed, and looking down I could see our attacker. It was Clavicle, tracking me with his battle saddle as I flew overhead.

Before I could say anything, not that I’d have much hope of talking him down anyway, Clavicle fired again. I felt the bullet rip through my tail as I dived wildly. My leg was roaring dully from the gunshot wound, blood soaking into my coat sleeve. Insanely, I could only think how annoying it was to get the coat back only to have it be shot up. I was jolted from my inane thoughts when the ebon griffon fired on me. I jerked to the side, praying to the Goddesses that I’d dodge the bullet.

Apparently only one of them was listening. A white hot line blazed across the left side of my face, just under the eye as the bullet grazed me. I screamed in shock and pain throwing a wing over my eye without thinking. Falling from flight, I landed agonizingly on my shot leg, groaning through clenched teeth as it collapsed beneath me.

The click of talons on stone accompanied Clavicle’s voice as he approached. “Bad little pony, messing with my brother’s head and leaving your cage! I don’t care how useful the old bird says you are, you need to be punished…”

Do something, damnit! I mentally roared at myself. Opening the eye that barely avoided being shot out, I saw blood staining my ice blue feathers. I had my wings again. I had what made me a pegasus, and by thunder I was not letting this cock-sure bastard take it away again! I felt my power well up like an icy ball in my stomach, mist cloying around my feathers.

I screamed and flared my wing at Clavicle. All the torment of my confinement from the past few days was put into that scream and the rush of arctic air that followed. Clavicle let out a shocked caw, stumbling back from the frozen attack. This still wasn’t even close to the moment of panic I had at Coltarado Heights, but it was more than enough to ice over Clavicle’s feathers and coat to the point where we looked pure white.

A wave of black passed over my vision and I could maintain the gale no longer. I slumped on my uninjured leg, fighting for consciousness. Miraculously, Clavicle was still moving, albeit stiffly. To my surprise, however, he didn’t attack, choosing instead to make his jerky retreat. I wanted to kill the fucker, but I was still shaking off the fatigue of my spell. At first I didn’t understand why he was running, but as my ears stopped sounding like a tornado was blowing between them, I could hear small arms fire to my side. Following the sound showed Arterial, having somehow produced a pistol, firing wildly at his brother while he limped over to me. “Can you walk?” He asked, glancing at my shot leg.

“No.” I gasped, not even bothering to test it. “But I can fly.”

“Good, c’mon.” Arterial set off once again in the direction we had been going. I followed, through despite what I had said, what I was doing wasn’t technically flying. It was more like falling forward with my three good legs and taking a running wing assisted leap before I hit the ground and then repeating. Nice and easy, all momentum, no strain, just fall and jump. The sounds of the griffons waking up in all the commotion came from all sides, slamming doors and screeching calls echoed down the stone halls after us. I had no energy to dedicate to worrying about that, just fall jump repeat, fall jump repeat, fall jump…

I ran into Arterial during a fall, the impact knocking me onto my flank. “We’re here.” The tawny griffon said, not commenting on my clumsiness. A large, bolted steel door stood before us with no obvious means of opening it. Set just above and below where a door knob would be was a set of holes drilled into the steel. Arterial set his talons into the holes, twisting them on previously invisible seems, and pushed with a grunt of effort. The door unsealed slowly, gale winds ripping through the small opening and shocking me into full alertness. The wind was wild just beyond the threshold, the cloud curtain boiling just below the cliff the door lead onto. With one final groan, Arterial had the door open about half way and braced himself. “Take my saddle bags and go! Your things are inside!” His voice was barely audible over the wind.

I took the bags as instructed, noticing the wound in his side, which flowed freely. “Will you be okay?” I yelled back. I was asking about more than just the wound, he had just openly defied his superior and attacked his brother because he felt it was the best course of action for the survival of the griffons. Even though he had been my jailor, I didn’t want him to suffer for trying to help his people.

“I’ll be fine! Just go! I can’t hold it forever!” A slipped past him and headed out the door. “Sleet Gray!” He called once I was outside. The wind whipped Arterial’s feathers wildly as he braced the door open, his eyes burning with unshakable determination. “If you fail, or have tricked me, I will find you.”

I met his gaze evenly, despite my weary body and mind. “Stay alive long enough to watch the Enclave burn.” I told him. He nodded, pulling the door closed. From the outside, it looked like just another piece of rock on the mountain face. Once it was fully closed, I could hardly find it again.

Turning away from the door, I gazed out over the cloudscape surrounding me. I was just above the curtain, and up on the mountain the wind was wild and terrible. Squinting against the wind felt disturbingly familiar to my last nightmare, so I looked up at the sky above me. Night was just starting to fade, the first vestiges of dawn appearing over the far horizon. The inky blackness of night was giving away radiant reds and oranges as Celestia’s sun replaced Luna’s moon.

It was a beautiful sight, the kind I had enjoyed on the occasions when I woke up early enough. The kind of thing lost to me in the Wasteland. From this angle I could not see Coltarado Heights, the door I had exited from was on the other side of Talon, away from the ongoing battle. Looking back at the mountain, I could imagine the outlines of my former home on the other side on the unyielding rock, a gap in the city skyline where my neighborhood used to sit. Thinking about home made my gut churn, not with fear but with sadness. Despite all that had been terrible about my quiet, civilized life I missed it. It had nothing to do with my family, or what weak excuses I had had for friends, or even the security of having a military to watch over me. What I had there was peace, things like a sure next meal and a soft place to lay my head each night. These were comforts and securities that almost nopony had in the Wasteland.

“And something they will never have a chance to find if the Enclave comes.” I said, the wind whipping my words away. Without further meditation, I pulled the saddlebags off of my bag and set to work binding my wound.

Like most of my practical knowledge, first aid was something I had picked up from my father and brothers, but had never bothered to actually master. Removing the strap from the bags and tying it over my gunshot wound was probably doing more harm than good, but without a healing potion it was all I had. Fortunately, the bullet had gone cleanly through, so I could save myself the excruciating agony of removing the round myself.

Pulling the strap tight with my teeth, I bit down on a scream as the wound protested being bound. Nevertheless, when I stood up I was able to walk on the leg without collapsing. After first getting my bearings with the rising sun and storing Black Powder, the Recollector, and the memory orb in my coat’s many pockets, I jumped onto the clouds and began trotting roughly south. I didn’t dive back down into the Wasteland, since having escaped Talon Mountain meant that St. Ponysburg was once again in my path and I wanted to avoid the settlement. Being set so far back was infuriating, but the ordeal had given me at least one potential ally in Arterial when the time to fight the Enclave came.

Of course, he had to survive that long first. I glanced back at the mountain top, which rose surprisingly high in the sky even well after it broke the cloud curtain. Hopefully he could find allies amongst his flock to join him, otherwise he was doomed well before the Enclave busted down the door. I shook my head, there was no time to worry. I was taking a serious risk staying above the cloud cover and needed to keep a sharp eye out. Still, it was better than limping through the Wasteland, at least until I found a building down below I could scavenge, hopefully for some healing supplies.

If it wasn’t for the rising sun and the receding peak of Talon marking the passage of time, I’d have thought I was making no progress. The featureless cloud plain was rivaled in its sameness only by the clear blue sky above. Eventually, Talon was no longer visible, the tiny dot of the peak disappearing behind the clouds. The sun was well past the noonday point when the throbbing of my wounded leg told me it was a good idea stop and check my progress.

Selecting a spot, I reared up before bringing my back hooves down hard on the clouds. With a sound not unlike a pillow being fluffed, the clouds dispersed. Poking my head through the hole, I marveled at the Wasteland below me. The surface world was indeed vast. The tundra was a patchwork of grays and browns dotted here and there with landmarks and buildings. One cluster of buildings in particular stood out to me, it looked to be cut in half by a large hole. St. Ponysburg was well to the North of my path, excellent. I wanted desperately to return to the town, have Sister fix my leg and see if I could find Scout and Clarity. I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I would only put them all in danger by being there.

Nevertheless I spent a good minute looking longingly at the town. I felt a soft brush against my neck, reminding me that the cloud curtain would be closing the hole I made soon. With a sigh I looked away, scanning the area for someplace I could scavenge for supplies. Tracing a ruined highway, I spotted what looked like a factory down below. I didn’t expect much in the way of food or healing potions, but it was better than nothing.

Standing, I made to dive off the clouds, but when I took one last look at the fluffy gray plain surrounding me, I got an idea. Gathering up a small ball of cloud, I condensed it to about the size of a memory orb and made a thin layer of frost. Pegasi could do a number of extremely useful things with clouds, carrying around a ball of the stuff would come in handy. Tucking the little ball away, I dove towards the factory far below.

*****

My hooves flew furiously over the keyboard, trying to break the code locking the terminal. “C’mon you piece of shit…” I growled as I was forced to back out for the fifth time. Glancing at a monitor next to the terminal I was working on I saw security footage of a scrum of filthy ponies trying to beat down a door, the very same I had frozen shut. The jeers and taunts of the raiders were not helping my concentration.

The damned factory had been COMPLETELY infested with the psychopaths. Walking through the front door to reception had greeted we with grisly raider décor, the main desk had a splayed open unicorn corpse chained to it in a backbreaking manner. That was all I had time to see before the raider mare patrolling the room spotted me and opened fire. A bullet grazed my wing before I managed to get into cover, fumbling Black Powder out while I hid behind a vending machine.

The raider charged stupidly towards me, cackling like a demon as she rounded on me. A blast from my pistol turned her to ash. I gagged on the smell of burnt hair and flesh, holding a wing over my nose and mouth to avoid breathing her remains in. Before I could get a handle on the situation, I heard more raiders galloping towards me.

I took off, wobbling slightly as the graze along my right wing burned. Landing on the balcony overlooking the reception room, I laid in wait for the approaching raiders. Little did I realize, there were a few on this floor too. I noticed the sound of pounding hooves behind me mere seconds before the attacker cracked me on the head with a baseball bat.

Stumbling to the side, my vision swirling erratically, I collapsed on my side with Black Powder falling from my grip. On instinct I threw up a hoof to defend myself, barely stopping the raider from caving my head in. He screamed something around the grip on the bat in his teeth, the words terribly slurred, though I was fairly certain I heard the words “feathery cunt” somewhere in there. He continued to swing erratically, battering my leg without hitting anything vital. This distracted him long enough for me to become lucid, plant my hooves in his gut, and throw him off of me. He stumbled into the railing of the balcony, the rotted wood breaking under his weight and sending him plummeting.

I had no time to check if he was dead or not, I needed to get moving. Doing so with one battered and one shot foreleg was difficult, and with my head still ringing it was damn near impossible, but if I could survive my incarceration, damnit I could survive this! Grabbing Black Powder and stumbling too my hooves, I set off in the direction that had the least amount of raider yells coming from it.

Fortunately, I found the building’s security station quickly enough, and even better the door was open. I practically fell inside, just as I heard a raider scream “Skin the bitch!”

“Thunder and lightning.” I growled, slamming the door shut. Flapping my wings, I froze the lock and hinges shut, which is how I found myself in this situation. Finally I found the correct password and entered it, praying that there would be something on here to help me. “Sweet Celestia and Luna, yes!” I cried as I selected the first command, Activate automated security, and mashed confirm.

After a tense thirty seconds, there came a cacophony of gunshots and magical energy blasts from outside the door. I slumped to the floor, exhausted, and indulged in my body’s many cries of pain. After what felt like a small forever, the sounds of combat stopped and all fell quiet beyond the door. Ignoring the protests of my limbs, I got to my hooves, retrieved Black Powder and melted the ice holding the door shut.

Cautiously, I poked my head outside and nearly gagged on the smell of gore. The raiders had been devastated by the automated defenses, their bloody corpses littered the hall. I went to take a cautious step out when an automated voice spoke. “Please present your security badge for identification.” I felt my heart skip a beat, looking to the voice I saw a Protect-a-pony making its shambling way toward me. Shit.

Quickly retreating into the security room, I went to scramble to the terminal and shut down the robots. Rapidly scrolling through the options, I screamed in frustration when I found no shut down command. “What cloud headed IDIOT doesn’t include a command to shut down their robots!?” I asked the terminal angrily. I found an entry referring to an emergency security shut down, but reading it made me scream.
>Attention all security personnel
>After the recent incident, I feel it is in the best interests of all the employees that the emergency security shut down is located in my office from this point forward. The up and ups back at HQ ensure me that our systems will not be compromised again, but it is my philosophy to be better safe than sorry.
>Sincerely,
>Director Girder

“Of course!” I raved “Because everypony here is Stalliongrad was so damn paranoid they couldn’t even trust their own chief of security!” As the sound of the Protect-a-pony’s metal hooves grew closer I scrambled for something to stop it. I was too weak to freeze it and my shitty aim wouldn’t kill it fast enough before I was finished off.

Stumbling over a skeleton I hadn’t noticed before, I found what I needed, a security tag, which I plucked from the rotted uniform. I slipped my wings away, the skeleton had belonged to an earth pony after all, and whirled around just in time for the Protect-a-pony to enter the room. I held up the tag in my mouth and prayed.

After an extended stretch of seconds, the lights that served as the robot’s eyes flashed green. “Confirmed, Security Chief Key Ring. Have a nice day.” With that it turned to leave.

I dropped the tag with a sigh. “Thanks, Key Ring.” I said to the skeleton. After pinning the tag to the front of my coat, I painfully walked off in search of some supplies.

One ice busted lock and a pillaged medical box later, I had downed a healing potion, feeling the magic going to work on my many wounds. My shot leg itched terribly as the flesh knit itself back together, and a number of bruises from my incarceration that I had forgotten about were fading. I contemplated going to the director’s office to shut down the security, but Key Ring’s badge had worked so I felt safe amongst the automated defenses.

My exploration proved somewhat fruitful. I found the raiders’ supplies and while most of it was soiled beyond redemption, there was enough clean water and sealed containers of food to keep alive for a while. While poking around I learned more about the factory, like that it was an old Stable-Tec facility in charge of manufacturing parts for Stables, but had also been closely involved in the construction of several Stables in the Stalliongrad region. Amongst a pile of forgotten papers in a break room I found a map of the region with a number of Stables marked on it. One in particular caught my attention, up near the top of the map circled in red was Stable 130. A number of scribbled notes surrounded it, including “damned cowards”.

None of the other Stables were marked as such, and shifting through the pile of papers proved fruitless. “What’s up with your Stable, Scout?” I asked my absent friend. Were there complications with recreating a pristine Equestria, and who were the “damned cowards”? Before I got the chance to search for answers, the sound of gunfire erupted at a different end of the factory. Snapping to attention I rushed into the hall as a security bot rolled past. “What’s going on?” I asked, but the robot either didn’t hear me or wasn’t programmed to respond.

Growling in frustration, I rushed back to the security station. The longer the sounds of fighting persisted the more worried I became. If the intruders could hold out against the automated defenses, then they were a much more serious threat than raiders. Once I entered the security station, I went to the monitor showing footage from the cameras. Cycling through the cameras rapidly, I almost skipped over the one I wanted. The lobby was being torn apart by the fire of several robots, filing the desk with lead. A levitated sidearm poked out and fired blindly at the robots, drawing their attention. With the fire diverted, a figure popped up and with three precise shots from his battle saddle destroyed a Protect-a-pony before ducking back down.

Even in the grainy footage I recognized the stallion, an irrational happiness hitting me closely follow by dread as reality hit me like a block of ice. That was Scout, pinned down by the security system I had awoken! And if the levitating pistol was any indicator, Clarity was with him too. By sheer coincidence my friends had found the same building I had, walked right into a deadly automated crossfire, and I was nowhere near the button to turn it off!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote: Level up!
New perk, Intense Training: Your time in the Wasteland has toughened you, adding a permanent + 1 to your Endurance.

Variables

View Online

Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 6: Variables
“They’re doors! Millions of doors!”

When you hack for long enough, you begin to see the world in probabilities. Get within one or two letters of cracking a code on your third attempt and you really begin to weigh your options, like do you go with that guess you have and risk failure or do you back out and hope you can find it again? Get in enough situations like that and you start seeing everything as chances of failure and success. What is the chance I can sneak more dessert at dinner? What is the likelihood I’ll lose if I join the Best Young Sharpshooter Competition? The thing is, failure in those situations is not terribly serious, the worst that could happen is getting in trouble or being embarrassed. Until I fell into the Wasteland, I had never been in a situation where failure would get somepony killed, or where the chance of failure was so high.

I stared at the screen unblinkingly for a minute while anger, guilt, and depression warred for control of my thoughts. Of course this would happen! First I’m captured by griffons only AFTER I make the decision to leave these two ponies for their own well-being, and then they go and stumble into a security system I activated! They were going to die, I was going to get two ponies I cared for killed because I had saved myself not a half hour ago. But there was nothing I could do, I had tried to protect them, distanced myself, and they were going to die because of me anyway...

My eyes drifted back to the keyboard, there had to be something I could do. I wasn’t terribly sure what, since there was no shut off code on this console, but it had to be something. I spared another glace at the security monitor just in time to watch Scout barely duck a magical energy blast. “Stay alive.” I whispered to the screen before focusing on the terminal I had hacked earlier.

A few quick keystrokes later and I was looking at the localized network of terminals. I mentally thanked Celestia that the server was still working, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to turn on the security in the first place, let alone stop it now. I managed to exploit the same weakness on the server that I used on terminals and was soon scanning a list of possible security codes. The only problem was instead of words, they were conglomerations of letters, numbers, and even punctuation marks! “Damn you and your paranoia, Stalliongrad!” I hissed through my teeth.

The security code proved to be almost as difficult to crack as the third layer of the Cauterize encryption, but instead of figuring out loose correlation between letters I needed to puzzle out random characters with almost no correlation! “Okay, capital ‘H’, seven, exclamation point...” The speakers buzzed negatively when my guess proved incorrect. “Pissing rainbows! This makes no sense!” I screamed, mashing the command to back out of the system.

In my haste I accidentally selected another guess and felt my heart freeze like it had been caught in a vice. “Nonononono…” I muttered, tensing for the sound of the system locking like it was a physical blow. But nothing happened, and when I looked again my jaw dropped disbelievingly. “I…what?!” I had been allotted new attempts at cracking the code! The code I had accidentally entered had been just another random assortment for characters, but between two brackets. Finding another such piece of code, this one broken up between two lines, I selected it. Incorrect. After a bit of searching, I found an unbroken line also between brackets. Choosing that one ended up removing some of the dud security codes! “How did I never notice this before?” I asked, staring dully at the screen.

A floor shaking explosion shook me back to reality. Dust rained down from the ceiling, making it hard to see the monitor showing the battle in the lobby. I could just barely make out the shattered remains of the desk my friends had hidden behind, my stomach feeling like it had filled with icicles before I saw Scout dragging a seemingly unconscious Clarity to safety. “Still time, still time.” The mutterings did little to sooth my quickly fraying nerves, but it let my focus on the task at hand once again.

Wiping dust from the screen with my wing, I used my newly acquired skill to further thin out the list of possibilities. By the time I had ran out of brackets I had five choices and four chances. “Well that’s better than I usually get.” I grumbled. With only one heart-stopping moment when I almost flubbed the last attempt, I found the security key; the server for the whole building lay bare before me. Quickly navigating the menus, I found the nerve cluster of the security system. Amongst the clustered lines of code, I found the command to shut down the security. It may as well have been inside a tube of bullet proof glass, repeated attempts to execute it were met with errors that I was not on the correct console.

I screamed at the terminal until my throat felt like it tore. I was so Goddesses damned CLOSE! I could SEE the command, but because of the fucking paranoid director I couldn’t get to it! I futilely tried running the command again and again, my vision blurring with tears. “Please, just work…” I begged the unfeeling terminal. Through my tears I watched as the robots I had summoned closed in on Scout and Clarity. The earth pony had dragged them to cover behind a pile of debris, but it was only a matter of time before the security system overwhelmed them. Even worse, my friends were in terrible shape, Clarity hadn’t moved since the explosion and one of Scout’s hind legs was limp and immobile.

But despite it all he kept fighting, poking out of cover to shoot wildly into the advancing metal hordes. Maybe this was what he meant when he said he was a survivalist, his instincts refused to let him give up on the so-slim possibility of making it out alive. You didn’t have to see the world in probabilities to read the writing on the wall, there was next to no chance of survival, but even then he didn’t stop shooting.

Turning from the monitor, I raced out of the security station towards the sounds of fighting. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, I doubted these robots were as heat shielded as the ones in the gun store but Black Powder was still a pitiful answer to all that firepower. Nevertheless, if me being there did anything to shift the odds for them, then I had to go. I’d talk them down later, convince them that going our separate ways was a good idea, but that was after they were safe.

Rounding the first corner I came face to face with a turret that swiveled to aim at me. Freezing in my tracks, I braced myself, ready to dodge the oncoming stream of bullets. To my surprise, it beeped and resumed scanning the hall, completely ignoring me. For a second I was confused, then I remembered Key Ring’s badge was still pinned to my coat. And with that realization, like lightening from a cloud an idea struck me. Without thinking I whirled around and raced back to the security station. Once inside I scrambled at the keyboard like a madmare, quickly finding the security systems targeting parameters and selecting them.

My hoof hovered over the “delete” key. This would do one of two things, either it would remove the concept of a threat from the system’s programming, thereby shutting down all combat activity, or it would make the robots go berserk and start killing everything including each other. This would either save their lives or create an even more chaotic situation that could get all three of us killed. I glanced at the monitor, no time to hesitate; I pressed the key.

The silence was so sudden I didn’t notice it at first. I stood frozen, staring at the sudden gap in the code with my ears ringing in the thunderous quiet. It took a couple seconds for me to snap back to reality, and once I did I scrambled to the monitor showing the lobby. The robots had ceased firing and had returned to their idle patrols as if nothing had happened. Scout looked just as perplexed as I felt, but recovered much quicker than I had. While he rapidly produced healing potions and administered them to Clarity I slumped down to a sitting position.

“Holy shit…” I gasped, feeling the tension slowly ratchet out of my shoulders. “I did it…” After taking a moment to rest, I stood up and prepared for the tricky part, getting out of here without them noticing me.

Creeping onto the balcony where I had fought the raider with the baseball bat, I peeked over the edge at my friends below. Scout was binding his shot leg with a magical bandage while Clarity rested against a pile of rubble. Sighting Scout’s PipBuck, I resisted the urge to hiss is frustration. How was I supposed to get past him without triggering his E.F.S? Scanning the room I saw one of the robots patrolling along the outer wall towards a shattered skylight and got an idea.

Slinking over to where the balcony overlooked the robot’s patrol path, I silently took to the air, making sure to stay above the robot and as close to the ceiling as possible. If I was playing this right, then my contact on the E.F.S was being overlapped by the robot’s, effectively making me indistinguishable from it at a glance. Nevertheless I kept a sharp eye on Scout and Clarity, if either of them looked up I was done for. From up above I got a better look at the two and had to beat down a shocked gasp. It wasn’t their bloodied appearance that shocked me, in fact Scout seemed remarkably fine after the battle he had just been in. What hit me was how Clarity looked, her crystal skin was completely opaque, darkened to the point where she actually gave off a gray pall that seemed to sap the light around her. What happened? I wondered silently, until the little voice in the back of my mind reminded me. You left.

“Why did they stop attacking us?” Scout asked, looking around at the docile robots.

“Does it matter?” Clarity asked, her voice so low I could barely hear her.

“Yes it does, those raiders died recently. Somepony had to have turned the security on for them and off for us.”

“Letting the robots nearly kill us, a funny way of saying ‘hello’.” Scout sighed before leaving her to rest and scavenging amongst the robots he had defeated. Clarity watched him for a minute before speaking up. “You think it was her, don’t you?”

“I never said that.” Scout retorted.

“You don’t say much unless it’s about finding her.” Clarity said. When he didn’t answer back she continued. “Why do you care anyway? You don’t care about anypony or anything except your own survival.”

“And what do you call me bringing you along?” He asked angrily, whirling on her. “I could have left you in St. Ponysburg with nowhere else to go, just waiting for those slavers to find you!”

“What about Sister?” I cringed whenever Clarity spoke. There was no inflection in her tone, it was just a tired sigh with no life in it. “You could have left me with her, she wouldn’t have left the slavers find me.” Her eyes were equally jaded, half-lidded with the kaleidoscopic colors dulled. “I’m only here because my magic is useful. I’m another attachment for that knife on your flank.”

“That isn’t true.” He said through gritted teeth. “In this state you’re a danger to both of us. I’m bringing you along because Sleet told us to stay safe, and I can only guarantee that if you are with me.” He turned back to salvaging what he could from the robots. “Now rest, and let the potions fix you up.”

With a heavy heart I looked away, checking my progress. I was still above the robot and the skylight was getting close. Every fiber told me to go to them, get on my knees and beg their forgiveness, but I couldn’t. It was obvious that being around me was far too dangerous, Hell I’d nearly gotten them killed and they didn’t even know it! Reaching the skylight I flew up between the broken glass, ready to slip away unnoticed when Scout spoke up again, this time in hushed excitement. “Clarity! Come take a look at this!”

I probably shouldn’t have looked, since the robot was continuing on its path it would no longer hide my contact on the E.F.S, but curiosity overrode caution and I lowered myself a little to look. I had to bite down on my lip to keep from groaning in frustration, in one of his hooves Scout was holding an ice blue feather spattered with blood. Clarity slowly made her way over, seeming thoroughly unimpressed by the find. “So?”

“So? So this means she was here, and recently!”

The crystal pony was unconvinced. “How do you know that’s her feather? It may not even be from a pegasus.”

But Scout was shaking his head before she even finished the sentence. “No, it’s Sleet’s, it has to be. It’s the right color and who else could stop those robots?” Wait, what? What was he talking about? He didn’t know how much I could do with a terminal! I mean, sure he knew I hacked into a top secret government file, but that didn’t mean I could reprogram an entire factory’s worth of robots! And even if I did, that doesn’t mean Scout knew I could! While I mentally stuttered, Scout continued talking. “The blood is fresh, she may still be here.”

That made Clarity perk up, if only a little. The gray pall receded slightly and she stood a bit straighter. “Do you really think so?”

“Maybe, I…” Scout froze, staring at the wall just below me. My heart sped up as he whispered. “That wasn’t there before…” Beating my wings I flew through the shattered skylight, kicking off the roof to gain a bit of speed. I needed to get out of the E.F.S range, and the fastest way to do that was to go up. Flying fast as I could, I soared toward the cloud curtain far above but knew I would never get out of sight before he realized he needed to look outside. Fortunately I had a contingency.

Once I was fairly certain I was out of the range of Scout’s E.F.S, the factory being a good distance below me, I pulled out the little frozen ball of cloud and smashed the ice covering between my hooves. After allowing the cloud to billow out to its full size I darted inside it, making sure no part of me was poking out.

Once the cloud was wrapped around me like a slightly damp ball of cotton, I made a tiny hole to look out from. Looking down at the factory below, I could just barely make out Scout galloping out the front door. He was little more than a vaguely pony shaped green and brown dot on the landscape as he paced around, presumably searching for me. I waited impatiently for him to go back into the factory; at this height there was a cold biting crosswind that threatened to tear apart my little cloud cover.

Scout thoroughly searched the area, even circling the factory a few times before heading back inside. When he departed I stayed in the cloud for a while longer, making absolutely sure he wouldn’t come out again and spot me. Even still I did not want to leave the safety of the little cloud, not wanting a repeat of the last time I flew away from my friends. So, deciding to remain camouflaged as best I could, I poked two little eye holes in the front, spread my wings through the cloud and flew while keeping it wrapped around me.

I was certain that I looked absolutely ridiculous don’t mind me, just a little cloud flying by. “I think Stalliongrad is getting to me…” I muttered. Nevertheless with my friends on my trail, not to mention the Enclave and the Shadow King’s cronies, I needed every advantage I could take. Sighing into the wind I continued to fly south, lamenting. “I need to find at least one group that won’t try and hunt me down after I leave!”

*****

I had never been a particularly strong flier, just another entry on my lengthy list of mediocrity. Even so I was able to get a decent distance away from the factory before my wings grew too tired to fly. I had been following a cracked highway for the better part of twenty minutes and the sun was beginning to set when I came across an overpass I could hide under while I packed away the cloud. After first making a quick aerial scan of the area, my little winged cloud sped under the overpass. Once I’d extracted myself from the fluffy stuff, compressed it back into a ball and reapplied the icy layer, and slipped away my wings I surveyed the twilit area.

The highway continued its way south before ending abruptly at a collapsed bridge, something that wouldn’t impede me once I rested my wings a little. Speaking of rest I hadn’t really slept since the final day of my imprisonment, the adrenaline from the factory incident had kept me going for a while but now the exhaustion was starting to wear on me. Maybe I could take a nap in the cover of the overpass, traveling at night would make my cloud disguise all the more effective anyway…

My train of thought was cut off by the sound of rustling wings above me. At first I thought it was an Enclave ambush, but these wings sounded more leathery than feathered. Slowly I looked up, and the sight that greeted me made my jaw drop. “Oh fuck…” I squeaked.

Bats. Giant, monstrous, BATS. A huge swarm of them was clustered on the bottom of the overpass, glaring down at me with hungry little red eyes. The smallest of them were easily as large as Apparatchik with the bigger ones rivaling sky tanks! I tried to will my heart to slow and my breathing to quiet, they hadn’t moved yet, so maybe I could sneak out. Very slowly putting one hoof in front of the other, I crept out from under the overpass, eyes locked on the stupidly huge bats the whole way. But naturally, since I wasn’t watching where I was going, my hoof kicked over a rock.

The clatter may as well have been a balefire bomb going off. One of the massive specimens gave a piercing screech that was just barely in auditory range and dived. The rest of the swarm followed closely behind it. Screaming in terror, I broke into a mad gallop towards the collapsed bridge with the dreadful sound of leathery wings just behind me. Fumbling out Black Powder I went to take wild pot shots over my shoulder, screaming again when I saw how close the giant bats were. I could see the individual hairs of the beast coming to chomp down on me!

Firing as fast as my tongue could pull the trigger, I sent a stream of incineration bolts down the monster’s gullet. Flailing manically, smoke streaming from its mouth, the huge bat dropped dead, but it was just one of what seemed like hundreds. My wild shots only hit every other bat creature, and most of them were glancing blows that wouldn’t kill. There was no way I could finish them all off, even if I had perfect accuracy.

So focused was I on running and shooting I nearly forgot about the collapsed bridge. Stumbling to a stop I looked down, preparing to jump off. With some luck I may be able to lose them in the… wait a minute. There was a settlement down there! Most of the gully was taken up by huge piles of scrap metal and other assorted junk, but dug into the refuse were homes and places of business. Ponies milled about between them, going about their business unaware of my plight.

There was no way I could dive down there now! Not only would I be bringing a swarm of super bats with me, I’d potentially endanger yet ANOTHER town by revealing that I was a pegasus! Snorting in frustration, I took off along the edge of the gully. I checked over my shoulder of the bats, but was surprised to see the air empty behind me. Where did they go? Did they not like traveling this far away from their nest? Maybe I was… a shadow fell over me. Oh shit…

The disgusting feeling of coarse hair and leather slammed into me, horrible fiery pain erupted in my neck as fangs sunk into my flesh. The impact knocked me over the edge of the gully, wind whistling loudly in my ears as the jagged stone wall flashed by dangerously close to the side. The sensation of falling was secondary to the sickening draining feeling as the huge bat sucked on the puncture wound with mutant strength. My head felt like it was rapidly being de-pressurized and would implode any second. It took all my mental and physical strength to twist my body around and grind the damned thing against the wall.

The beast was so intoxicated by its feeding that it didn’t seem to notice that it was being shredded by unforgiving stone. Blood sprayed from the flayed body as it was torn apart by the combined forces of gravity and rock. Even still, it continued to feed for an agonizing stretch of seconds, my whole body growing numb from blood loss. Finally the damned thing died, but my body had been so drained I couldn’t spread my wings even if I wanted to. Instead I just fell. Falling was good. It was much easier than climbing. Maybe I wouldn’t land, just keep falling…

No, I just hit something. Or I think I did… It’s kinda hard to think… Woozy, something hurts… something far away, my chest? Like thunder, again and again…getting farther…weaker…

There we go, can’t feel, just dark.

*****

Dark. Blessed dark. Now I could just rest. I hadn’t rested in what felt like ages, always things happening, always those dreams waiting for me. No dreams here, just dark. Sweet dark.

Wait, what’s that light? A little green light, Scout? Is that you? Turn off your PipBuck, you’re ruining the dark…

“Wake up, little pony.”

Huh? Who’s there? Go away, I’m resting…

“No time for that little pony.” A hissing voice, coming from the one…no two green lights, growing brighter.

What do you want? Can’t I just rest? I’m so tired….

Slowly my eyes blinked open. The world was a blob of swirling colors and sounds came in like they were underwater. I could faintly hear a loud, deep voice saying something about getting a doctor. My body felt…distant, like I was only tangentially connected to it. There were little things, pressure on my right foreleg and the corner of my mouth, something dripping slowly down my throat.

Sluggishly, the world came into focus. Sensation returned as an uncomfortable body-wide tingling. Moving made it flare up, so I laid still while the swirling colors righted themselves into shapes. A large bright red stallion stood over me, looking unreasonably happy to see me awake. “Friend pegasus, you live! Apparatchik had feared you would not make it!”

“Apparatchik?” I asked, or at least meant to. Between the numbness and the thing in my mouth my words were jumbled, coming out more like “Ahpahakik?”

The big pony laid a hoof on my shoulder which I could only sort of feel. “Do not speak, friend. You suffered mighty bite from Bloodwing. Nearly lose all fluids! Lucky for pegasus, Apparatchik found you not long after you land, get you to doctor very quick.” Doctor? Wait, he was calling me pegasus! In spite of the flaring tingling feeling, I looked rapidly around the room, but it was deserted saved for the Stalliongrad pony and I. I even still had my coat on, the only change to it being the sleeve of the right foreleg being rolled up to make way for a needle in my leg. Surmising the reason for my thrashing, Apparatchik spoke calmingly. “Relax friend! I keep your species well hidden. Around others you are earth pony friend of mine, not pegasus.”

I settled back down into a reclining position, nodding my thanks. Not that the world felt less like I was feeling it through thick cotton, I noticed more about my situation. I was strapped up to some sort of multi-limbed machine, though most of the attachments hung powerless. Other than the needle in my leg, which was pumping a faintly pink fluid into my veins, there was a small tube dripping water into my mouth and what felt like thick gauze pressed to the puncture wound. Other than that, the room did not have much in it; a sink with some tools in it was the extent of the other furnishings. It was surprisingly clean for the Wasteland, probably a result of it being a surgery room.

Apparatchik regaled me with tales of his travels since we last parted, but in my still-fuzzy state I only paid half attention. It was in the middle of one such tale that the doctor entered. He was a tall, sky blue unicorn with a silver mane and beady eyes. “Awake are we? Good, it was touch and go for a while there.”

He levitated the tube out of my mouth, allowing me to speak. “How long was I out?” My voice was weak and raspy, making me cough after the sentence.

The doctor examined a screen on the machine while he talked. He spoke in a crisp, halting manner, each word carefully selected. “Just the night. You’re lucky, Bloodwings can drain anything dry faster than you can blink. Another five seconds with that beast and you’d be a shriveled husk.”

While the idea disgusted me, the disgust was overshadowed by a realization, I had gotten a full night’s sleep. Well, not ‘sleep’ per say, but the fact that the only way I could get such a thing was to be nearly killed by a blood sucking mutant nearly made me groan aloud. Repressing the groan, I slightly raised the foreleg with the needle. “What’s this?”

“Synthetic blood, not as good as the real stuff but it will keep your systems pumping until your body can replace what you lost.” Using magic, he peeled back the gauze on my neck to check the wound. “And your bite wound is healing nicely. I must say you’re a lucky filly, surviving a fall like that after losing so much blood, and landing so close to a friend.” He applied a fresh bandage to the wound, casting the occasional annoyed glare at Apparatchik.

“I don’t feel lucky…” I muttered, still getting used to the feeling of having limbs.

The doctor snorted, attending to my leg next. The motions he used to remove the needle and bandage the entry wound were as clean and methodical as his speech. “I doubt you will, at least not for another few hours. Anyway, once your hooves are less wobbly you should be set to go, then there’s just the matter of the pay.”

I stared dumbfounded at him for a few seconds. “Pay?”

He returned an equally incredulous look. “Well, yes. Miracle recovery or not this thing costs caps to run.”

Caps, I had completely forgotten about the concept of caps. I thought back to the Stable-Tec factory, the floor completely littered with raider corpses that I hadn’t looted. There may have been a small fortune there and I hadn’t bothered to go for it! “I…don’t have any caps…” I said, feeling my cheeks heat up.

The uncomfortable silence was quickly broken by Apparatchik. “No worries, friend! Apparatchik will pay!”

I was taken aback by the sudden generosity. “Wait, really? You don’t…”

Before I could protest he held up an interrupting hoof. “On one condition! You have honest face, friend, and quick tongue you would make good salespony. Work with Apparatchik for the day, help sell wares to pay back debt! This works, da?”

Much as I wanted to keep going south, I needed to pay the debt and could use a day of relative rest. “Yeah, that works fine.”

With a boisterous cry of “Horosho!” Apparatchik grabbed my hoof in his magic and yanked me off the table. I could barely keep my three wobbly hooves under me as the over-excited merchant lead me out of the clinic. When we burst out the door I thought it was still night, so dark was the gully. A quick look up confirmed that it was indeed daytime, but the meager sunlight was having difficulty reaching into the crack in the earth. Apparatchik stopped suddenly, causing me to bump into him. “Welcome friend,” he said, not seeming to notice “to Scrap River.”

I got my first good look around the gully I had fallen into. Scrap River was an appropriate name, as there were huge mounds of scrap metal and electronics piled high against the walls. While it looked haphazard, it was obvious that the ponies living here had put some effort into organizing the huge mess. The mountains of metal were sorted by content, with ponies of all shapes and sizes clambering over them and tossing bit and pieces into other piles. Houses and other buildings were shaped from the largest pieces of refuse, forming rough squares with a myriad of other pieces forming doors, walls, and windows.

That was about all I could see before my hooves collapsed under me. Apparatchik just barely caught me with his magic, gently leading me over to his caravan which was waiting next to the clinic. “Careful, friend, you’re hooves are not yet strong. Rest here, I will be back after paying doctor.” I didn’t bother to point out that he was the one who dragged me along before I was ready.

The caravan guards ignored me, electing to watch the milling crowd of ponies instead. I leaned against one of the brahmin to rest, taking a second to remember they were sentient. “Um, I hope you don’t mind if I rest here.”

“Shoot missy, thas fine.” I recognized Agnes’ voice. “Ah’m jus’ happy tah see ya’ll alive. We wus worried bout yah when we heard ya’ll went missin’.”

My ears perked up. “Wait, how did you know I went missing?”

“Well, that thar DJ pony wus talkin’ bout it. Said how ‘our frosty friend up north went missin a few days ‘go affer being spotted rescuing a slave’”. If it wasn’t for the drawl, she’d have done a decent impression. “Ya’ll were rescuin’ tha slave, righ’?”

The thought of Clarity in her darkened state weighed on my mood like I was trapped under one of those mountains of scrap. “Yeah, I freed her, but I needed to leave her behind. Traveling with me was too dangerous…”

“Well thassa shame right there.” You’re telling me.

It was then that Apparatchik returned. “Are you feeling better, friend? We have much to do.”

Testing my hooves, I found them a little shaky but capable of supporting my weight. “Yeah, I should be good.”

“Horosho! Let us begin!” And begin we did, setting off down the main, and only, thoroughfare in the town. “Tell me friend, have you ever sold something before?”

No, but I’ve bought a pony before. “Can’t say I have.”

“Important thing to remember, you are not selling item. You are selling idea that item is needed by customer. You convince them that their lives are better with what you have, like when I sell you coat! You believe you are fine without it, I convince otherwise.” I nodded along, it made sense. The merchant interrupted himself when a pony approached the caravan, whispering to me. “Here is chance to practice.” Out loud he said in his usual boisterous way, “Welcome friend! You come to trade, da?”

The customer was a small, pink earth pony mare with a straight green mane, who looked barely old enough for her Cutie Mark. Her voice carried a forced steadiness when she addressed the huge merchant. “Um, yes I’m here to trade this.” She gestured to the bundle of weapons strapped to her back, even I could tell that the guns were in shoddy condition.

Apparatchik didn’t seem to care about the weapon quality. “Da, and what will you need? Food? Munitions? Medical supplies?”

“Um, just food.” She said, awkwardly removing the bundle.

I decided to help her remove the bundle, and in doing so noticed a nasty gash on her shoulder that was bound in dirty rags. “That looks terrible, what happened?”

The little mare flushed brightly, kicking at the ground. “I uh, was scavenging an old warehouse and fell off the scaffolding.” Noticing my concerned look she spoke quickly. “It’s nothing really! I’ve had worse!” Pointedly not looking at me, she nosed the guns to Apparatchik, who was sorting through the wares on the brahmin’s back. I glanced at the big pony, who surreptitiously nodded at me to continue.

“Do you want any healing potions? We have plenty.”

The mare looked unreasonably scared at the idea. “Um no, no I couldn’t afford it!”

I snorted dismissively. “Nonsense, you have plenty here. I’m sure you can get everything you need, plus some meds, right Apparatchik?” The Stalliongrad pony nodded encouragingly.

She shook her head. “No, you don’t understand, I have to feed my family, I really can’t spare…”

I put a friendly hoof on her uninjured shoulder. “It’s going to cost a whole lot more in the long run to fix an infected wound than to heal this up now.” I pointed to the gauze on my neck. “Trust me, you need healing on the spot, not when you can afford it. I’d be dead otherwise.”

The mare stared at the bandage for a second before slowly saying, “Yeah, yeah okay. I’ll take some healing potions too.”

My merchant friend nodded approvingly, completing the transaction and bidding the mare farewell. My eyes followed her as she trotted away, watching her purposefully ignore the ponies around her. Apparatchik interrupted my reverie with a too-forceful pat on the back. “You are natural, friend! We make many many caps together!”

And so we did. Ponies came and went regularly, drawn in by Apparatchik’s commanding presence while I helped cajole them into spending more caps. I modified my approach for each customer, for prospectors I told slightly edited versions of how I came across my things (carefully leaving out any mention of wings). For colts and fillies coming to trade for supplies I acted like a kindly older sister suggesting things they should get. That wasn’t terribly difficult either; I just had to do the opposite of my brothers.

When the day was over we had pulled in quite the haul, more than enough to pay off my debt. Apparatchik was thrilled, saying in his booming voice how I ought to be a salespony and travel with him. I wasn’t paying much attention, there had been something odd about the customers, they all looked nervous or even downright scared when they approached us. So preoccupied was I that when the big merchant tried to get my attention by poking me with his hoof I jumped like a startled rabbit. “Who, huh, what?” I stammered, looking around rapidly.

“I ask what is matter friend? You are not as happy as Apparatchik would think.”

I shook my head slowly, looking around the town as I did. Now that I was looking for it, it was obvious. “The townsfolk are scared of us.” I expected an outburst, but to my surprise he just nodded at me to continue. “I noticed it with that first mare we sold to. She looked so scared, way too scared for some nervous filly visiting a merchant for the first time.” Looking around I saw more signs. “I brushed it off at the time, thinking it was just that one pony, but it wasn’t. Everypony who came to us looked scared, and now nopony will even look at us. Some of them are even locking their doors!”

“You have sharp eyes, friend.” Somber wasn’t a tone I was used to from Apparatchik, I had thought the big merchant could be nothing but jovial. “Da, the ponies of Stalliongrad region never much trusted outsiders. It is how Scrap River became what it is.”

Okay, now I was perplexed. “What do you mean?”

“Even before war, ponies never trust zebras, but Stalliongrad took to new level. Ponies always scared of zebra spies and assassins, even if ponies mean nothing to zebra war effort.” I thought back to the gun merchant whose shop I had scavenged. Can’t have the Stripes taking out of the best arms dealer this side of Quebuck! “It got to point where ponies did not trust each other. Everything was zebra trick, even smallest gadget!” He swept his hoof at the piles of junk around us. “This is result, ponies throw away anything they think zebras get to. Paranoia flow like vodka at bar!”

“But why? What happened to frighten them so much?” I looked at Apparatchik, brow furrowed. “And how do you know all of this?”

As suddenly as it departed, his boisterous nature returned. “Like you friend! I read much, da! See many many things over course of travels.” He pointed to a mountain of scrap that looked to be made out of computer parts. “Here is inn, we rest here for night.”

Night? Looking up at the distant cloud curtain I could see that it was indeed nighttime. The light didn’t shift much down in Scrap River, distorting time similar to my experience in the griffon prison. Thinking about the prison made my wings ache with phantom pains of that accursed iron band. Shaking my head to banish the thoughts, I trotted rapidly towards the inn. “Yeah, sounds good.”

A short while later we were checked into the inn. The room was similar to the one in the Crater Ridge Motel, two beds (one for Apparatchik and one for me, the two guards would rotate between keeping watch outside and sleeping on the couch also in the room) a desk, and a bathroom. Everything looked to be in better condition than the Crater Ridge, but when I went to lay down on the bed I realized that while the mattress looked fine it was actually stuffed with scrap electronics.

Despite the uncomfortable padding, I was thankful for a place to rest. I still wasn’t completely healed from my encounter with the Bloodwing and trotting around Scrap River all day had been a lot more strenuous than it should have been. I was about to close my eyes and go to sleep, hopefully without any nightmares when Apparatchik spoke up. “Friend, what happened to leg?”

I looked where he was pointing, it was the spot where Clavicle had shot me. The material around the hole torn in the coat was stained dark red from my blood. “I was shot escaping imprisonment.” There was an uncomfortable silence, I glanced up at the big merchant who was watching me warily. “I was kidnapped by griffons, not arrested!” I said rapidly, holding up my hooves placatingly.

Apparatchik chuckled at my reaction. “Relax friend, I know you would do nothing to violate law.” I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “If you wish, I could take coat for repairs, perhaps even get armor so you do not get shot again! Consider it reward for excellent work.”

I couldn’t deny the appeal of not getting shot, after first retrieving everything from the pockets I handed over the coat with my thanks. Once Apparatchik left I settled down to sleep, but noticed something before I closed my eyes, the memory orb from the gun shop. I had been carrying that thing around for a while and had never gotten the chance to look at it. While it probably would have been better to actually sleep, the vague memory of those green lights and the hissing voice made sleep seem VERY unappealing.

Placing the orb in the Recollector and putting the crown thingy on my head, I laid back down on the bed. Now, how did I turn this thing on again? I just had to focus on the orb, righ-

oooOOOooo

Goddesses damnit, why couldn’t I get a memory from a pegasus!? I had had quite enough of being cut off from my wings when I was trapped by the griffons thank you and I… wait, what was that?

…O Celestia and Luna preserve me this pony was a stallion. I’d have squirmed uncomfortably if I had control of my own body. How did stallions go about their day with that there? Did they just ignore it?

No time to think about this, calm down Sleet, get your bearings. Once I had controlled my mental gibbering I took stock of the situation. The subject of the memory was an earth pony, male (much to my consternation), and was sitting at a familiar desk. It was the office that the Protect-a-pony had cornered me in when I scavenged the gun shop, which means that this was the gun store owner. I felt an irrational dislike for this pony, mainly because his paranoid security system had nearly killed me. Nevertheless I had already activated the orb and had no choice but to sit back (figuratively speaking), poignantly ignore the difference in gender, and watch.

The gun store owner was tapping away at his computer, installing, of all things, the software for the turret that shot me! At least this gave me a timeframe, this memory had happened sometime after he had acquired Black Powder. Without all the jumbled, corrupted data I finally learned this pony’s name from his log-in, Rootin’ Tootin’. He had the program successfully installed in a few minutes, wearing a huge grin. “Let’s see those filthy stripes get in here now.” He chuckled, getting up from the desk.

As Rootin’ Tootin’ trotted from the room I got a glimpse of in the mirror. He was a stocky, middle aged earth pony with a crossed-pistol Cutie Mark, a faded yellow coat and grey streaked orange mane. When he left the office, the turret beeped once and flashed a green light, letting him pass on his way to the main room of the store.

The place was practically abandoned, with only one bored looking unicorn mare standing behind the counter. Rootin’ Tootin’s eyes traced down her flank and legs, taking in her shooting star Cutie Mark and making me shudder mentally. “All’s quiet here, Constellation?” He asked.

“Yup,” She replied trying, and failing, to sound enthusiastic in front of her boss. “Not a soul has come in for at least an hour.”

“Well then follow me, I need you to do something and then you can leave for the night.”

The idea of leaving instantly perked the mare up. “Alright, what is it?”

Rootin’ Tootin’ had already begun trotting back towards his office. “I installed a new security system, I just need to register you so it doesn’t blow you away!” While the gun merchant found this hilarious, Constellation’s laughter was significantly more subdued.

When they entered the stock room, the turret immediately swiveled to face Constellation and beeped threateningly, flashing a yellow light. The unicorn squeaked in surprise, flinching away. “Isn’t that a bit…um…much?”

“Nonsense! With the nation at war it’s up to everypony to do their part to keep secure! Now hold still, I need a good picture with this thing if it’s gonna recognize you.” He trotted into his office, returning to his spot behind the desk while Constellation nervously stared at the turret.

With a few quick keystrokes Rootin’ Tootin’ activated the turret’s target registration camera, zooming in on Constellation’s face. The poor mare looked absolutely terrified as he snapped the photo. “Now turn to the side.” He called out. “This thing registers Cutie Marks as well.” Constellation dutifully obliged, and once again Rootin’ Tootin’ took the picture, lingering a bit too long on her flanks before doing so. “Alright, you’re set to go.” He said, trotting back out to her. The turret’s light had changed from yellow to green. “You’re a good employee Constellation, you’ve earned going home early.”

The mare looked far too eager to leave to enjoy the complement, nevertheless she thanked her boss before scurrying from the turret’s sight. The sound of the front door opening and closing signified her leaving. With her gone, Rootin’ Tootin’ locked the front door and closed the shop for the night. I assumed that would be the end of the memory, but it continued on. The arms dealer returned to his desk, working on some form or another.

I wasn’t sure why the memory was continuing, as far as I could tell everything interesting had happened already. Maybe there was something I missed? Was this just here for the lecherous gun dealer to remember eyeing up his employee? But then that wouldn’t explain why it kept going with nothing of import going on, his work was inconsequential business stuff. Maybe it had something to do with the turret…

Rootin Tootin’s ears twitched, there was a noise in the main floor. His brow furrowed as he looked up from the monitor. He glanced at the clock on the wall, at last an hour had passed since Constellation left (How had I not noticed that? Was this orb modified like Diamond Leaf’s?), and the doors were locked. Opening the safe, Rootin’ Tootin’ pulled out Black Powder, it was weird to feel the familiar gun in strange teeth.

The arms dealer crept out of his office, keeping low while the turret whirred dutifully above. He didn’t bother to turn on any lights, obviously familiar enough with his own store to make his way in the dark. Slowly pushing open the door, he quickly spotted a shadowy equine figure rummaging behind the counter.

Without hesitation he opened fire, streams of bright red light crackling towards the intruder. The intruder screamed as the red bolts set her coat on fire, collapsing and rolling rapidly on the floor. After a few seconds of thrashing, she fell still, the embers smoldering. The smell of burning hair and flesh was repulsive, but Rootin’ Tootin’ seemed not to mind as he went to examine the corpse. The intruder was female, unicorn, but was otherwise unrecognizable, save for her badly burned Cutie Mark.

Rootin’ Tootin sighed, shaking his head. “Stripes can get to anypony.” He muttered, remorsefully looking at the blacked shooting star Cutie Mark.

oooOOOooo

I had my eyes closed when the memory orb ended, which was fine with me, it gave me the opportunity to think about what I just watched. This must have been what Apparatchik was talking about, the paranoia of Stalliongrad. This pony bought a customized, personal magical energy weapon, a Protect-a-pony, and a security turret, all because he thought the zebras were coming for him. It got to the point where he shot and killed his own employee! What had happened to this place?

Before I could go any deeper done that rabbit hole I felt a breeze on my face. Breeze? Wasn’t the window closed? Opening one eye, I was met with a hovering giant metal bug staring at me. I screamed in surprise, lunging for Black Powder when a synthesized voice spoke. “Wait, calm down, I’m not here to hurt you!”

Whirling around, I shoved Black Powder in the bots…face. “Bhuulsheet!” I yelled around the mouth grip. “Nohing gudd hash come fro robots shurprishing meh!”

“I understand, but you have to trust me.” The synthesized voice held no emotion, but I got the feeling that the speaker was trying to sound comforting.

“And why should I trust you? Who are you?”

The bot was silent for a second before responding. “You can call me Watcher.”

“Oh because that it so telling.” I growled, glaring at the bot. “And what is it that you do, ‘Watcher’?”

“I try and help ponies survive the Wasteland.”

“And you do that by what? Talking through a robot?”

There was what I assumed was a surprised pause. “You picked up on that quicker than she did…” The little voice muttered.

“Yeah, I know a thing or two about accessing things you aren’t supposed to.” I was still very put off with this little robot for sneaking up on me. “Now, how are you going to help me?”

“By telling you where to find your friends.”

I was so taken aback that I forgot to be angry. “Wait what? How do you know about them?”

“Like I said, I’m Watcher, I watch.” He…she…it, said, and even though it had no tone I could tell the speaker was using that damned tone like they were talking to a filly. “Listen, I know why you left them and I understand, but the Wasteland consumes ponies who try and go it alone. You stand next to no chance without them.”

“And they stand next to no chance with me!” I retorted, now back to being angry. “If the Enclave finds me then they are dead! Ponies will die if they stick around me, and I can’t take that chance!”

“And you’ll die without them, and then what’s the point?” I had no easy answer and just glared at the bot. Watcher gave a mechanized sigh. “Listen, you already know they are looking for you. They won’t stop, and they are more likely to get killed just blundering after you than if you are all working together.”

I looked away, shoulders slumping as the fire left me. “I know that, but Scout said it himself, I take too many stupid risks. I can weasel out of them on my own, but eventually I’ll get one of them killed. I can’t risk that.”

Watcher fell silent for a moment before speaking gently, as least as gently as a synthesized robotic bug can. “I know how that feels, to feel like everypony is better than you and you just mess things up. But trust me, you don’t. Ponies weren’t meant to go it alone. You need your friends.” The robot bobbed towards the door. “I can show you where they are, nopony should have to face the world alone.”

I looked at the little bot, wanting to follow it. Even though it went against my better judgment I wanted to follow the bot to Scout and Clarity and join back up with them. Maybe Watcher was right and we could surmount this together. We had escaped the Enclave before, why not now? I got out of bed and went to follow the little robot.

An explosion shook the inn. Stumbling on the tilting floor, I crashed into the other bed where I found my coat waiting. Wait, if that was there, then where was Apparatchik? I had no time to worry about that as another explosion shook the building. “What the Hell is going on?”

“I don’tccchhhzzzzzzz…Can’t seeccchhhhzzzZZZZzzzz…interferrrzzzzzzbt.” Watcher’s voice gave out, replaced by an oompahing tuba. The little bot, now running on its own programming, floated out the open window into the suddenly calamitous night.

I didn’t have time to worry about what happened to my strange new acquaintance. I went to throw my coat on, and was surprised by a new weight. Shiny black plating had been sewn into the outside of the coat, providing a layer of protection I didn’t have before. The plates were segmented in such a way that they allowed fluid movement and were light enough that I was certain I could still fly. In fact, I was fairly certain that this was pegasus armor plating! How in the world had Apparatchik gotten his hooves on this?!

An explosion prevented me from questioning this little miracle any further. With my newly upgraded coat on, I dashed outside to find Scrap River in chaos. Ponies raced about in mad panic, smoky fires provided dim illumination and whizzing bullets shot through the air and into the frantic citizens. The town was under attack.

*****

Whipping out Black Powder, I sought out the attackers. It wasn’t terribly difficult, they were the hooting and hollering ponies in black spiky barding. Raiders, specifically the Shadow King’s raiders, I would recognize that barding anywhere. I had no idea if they were here for me or not, but either way they were destroying this town, and no matter how useless I was in a fight I’d be damned if I didn’t at least try to stop them.

I sent a volley of searing red bolts into the nearest pack of raiders. Most of the shots went wild, but a few struck and set fires burning through the ranks of raiders. While this certainly got their attention away from the civilians they were terrorizing, they suddenly became much more concerned with the mare setting them on fire.

Bullets and screaming raiders streamed towards me, but for once I wasn’t as concerned with one of those things. The bullets were still painful, but since plating stopped them from penetrating I was able to withstand them far better than I could previously.

The raiders carrying hatchets, spiked bats, and crowbars however were a bigger concern, but I also had an answer to that. Considering the chaos of the situation and the urgent need for anything and everything that could help me, I decided to ditch my disguise. Spreading my wings through their concealing slits, I gave two mighty beats and sent a chilling gale at the raiders. The screaming, slavering horde came to a near standstill, frost coating their limbs like snow. Subsequent bolts from Black Powder dealt heavy damage to the group, since even I could hit a near stationary target.

The quickly spreading fire had that group more than taken care of. Leaving them to be cleaned up by the actually competent ponies, I galloped off to find another place to help. As I wove through the chaos, I heard somepony scream “GET DOWN!” Instinctively I obeyed, dropping to the frozen tundra. A small stream of bullets whizzed over my head, burying into a raider that was about to blindside me. Jumping to my hooves, I sent a stream of magical shots into a raider trying to sneak up on my helper.

It was only then that I noticed the two of us were surrounded. In the chaotic darkness I couldn’t get a good look at my helper, but frankly I didn’t care. We stood back to back, firing into the encroaching band of raiders, but no matter how many we took down another leapt into its place. Just as they were about to fall onto us, a shield of magical energy leapt into existence, stonewalling the manic ponies.

My teammate and I took the breather to reload, I changed out the spark batteries while he reloaded his battle-saddle. Still, when I took stock of our situation it looked grim. The raiders were beating on the shield like a dark tide, baying for our blood with no obvious way out. “Any ideas?” I gasped, glancing around the shield.

“There’s a break to the northeast. We can bull through it to my friend and take cover.”

I nodded, though I didn’t think he was looking. “Sounds good, on three?”

“One…”

“Two…”

Simultaneously, we bellowed “THREE!” Charging for the break in the raider line, firing all the way. We hit the raider line like storm clouds against a mountain, and for a second I thought we wouldn’t break through. A glancing blow bounced off my head just as a knife made a shallow cut on the side of my neck. I heard my ally grunt in pain as he suffered blows as well. Despite that, we broke through, charging headlong towards the glowing point of my allies friend’s magic.

The glow was at the top of a mountain of scrap which we clambered up, bullets ricocheting all around us. My ally let out a pained cry as a raider grabbed his leg, but I lashed out with my hind legs, bucking the rapid pony back down the mountain. My hooves slipped on a pile of wires and circuit boards, making me fall back towards the writhing darkness, but my ally sank his teeth into my tail, dragging me up to safety.

Eventually, thankfully, we crested the mountain, dropping into the cover of the unicorn pony’s sustained shield. Panting, I turned to thank my equally exhausted ally. “Thanks for the…” I cut myself off as I finally got a good look at the pony. He was an earth pony stallion, only slightly bigger than me, with a green coat and brown mane. He wore a battle saddle with attached hunting rifles and a PipBuck glowed on his right leg. “…Scout?” I whispered, staring at him disbelievingly.

The earth pony looked at me and froze, equally surprised. “Sleet?”

We stared at each other, lit buy the glow of the unicorn’s horn and the raging fires below, and screamed at each other. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”

Before either of us could answer, the light from the unicorn’s horn moved closer to me and I felt a sharp smack across my face. “OW!” Looking up at my assailant, I saw Clarity’s kaleidoscope eyes glaring down at me. "Clarity?”

“You’re a bitch, Sleet Gray.” She growled at me, before wrapping me in a hug. “But I’m glad you’re alive.”

I was too stunned to return the hug. “But how did you two find this place?”

Scout was peaking over the top of the mountain at the swarming raiders as he spoke. “A spritebot told us to come here, said we would find a clue to where you are. I thought it was a trap but Clarity wanted to check it out.”

The crystal pony released me, her dark pall lightening slightly. “We got here just before the raiders did. There is a path leading into the gully from the north that we used to get here, the raiders must have come that way as well.”

Speaking of raiders, I poked my head over the top of the scrap mountain as well, watching the screaming mass of attackers. In spite of the panic, I could see the Scrap River ponies fighting back, even winning in some areas. “What are they doing here?”

“Raiders don’t need a reason to attack somewhere.” Scout growled. He ducked back down, barely dodging a bullet. “We need to get out of here.”

“We can’t just leave the town!” Clarity and I protested.

“We can’t do anything about this! The townsponies will be able to handle themselves, we need to get out now!”

Honestly, I shouldn’t have expected anything less from him, and much as I hated to admit it, he was right. “What do you propose we do?” I asked.

“Sleet!” Clarity yelled giving me a pained look.

“We’ll take out as many of them as we can on the run! We’ll need to carve a path anyway!” I shot back. “Every raider we take out makes it easier for us to leave and helps the townsponies. Now Scout, how are we gonna do this?” I turned back to the survivalist who looked shocked by my sudden commanding tone.

He shook himself back to reality quickly enough. “We stick near the base of the scrap piles, the shadows will help us stay out of sight. Take out any raider that gets close.” With that, he slide down the pile we were hiding on, landing between it and the neighboring pile. His PipBuck glowed a bit brighter and he placed three perfect shots in the heads of three raiders, freeing up two defender ponies. I followed suit, the black plating helping me blend in. I heard Clarity follow behind me, and sticking to the shadows the three of us set off.

The escape from Scrap River was perhaps one of the most harrowing moments I’ve ever had in the Wasteland. All around was screaming raiders, terrified villagers, fire, and death. The smell of burning hair and blood was all pervasive and smoke clogged the air. I took down every raider I could, shots from Black Powder turning the marauding ponies to ash, but no matter how many I killed more kept coming. Several times we were attacked when multiple raiders found us, charging into my blasts and Scout’s bullets while Clarity’s magic kept us safe. Even with the crystal pony’s shield, the crazed killers pounding away at the shield was enough to haunt my recurring nightmares for some time afterward.

As we approached the entrance to the town, the chaos faded. The fires were burning down, leaving behind ashes and cinders on top of the corpses of innocent ponies and raiders alike. There were still screams echoing from the source of the fighting, and the occasional horrible sounds coming from pillaged homes, but we couldn’t afford to help, even as it tore at Clarity and I. Finally, finally, we reached the entrance of the town. What had once been a gate was now a pile of blasted scrap, one door hanging uselessly while another sat in a pile of twisted metal. “Thank Celestia.” Scout sighed, quickening his pace. “I thought we would never…”

What happened next, I never quite figured out. There came a mighty crash and an equally mighty flash of light. Scout cried in pain and was thrown backwards, trailing smoke from vicious burns all along his chest and side. A blur of golden light rushed past me, whipping my mane and coat along with it and Clarity screamed. Whirling around, I was met with the tip of a large weapon practically poking my nose. I traced my eyes up the weapon, the triangular point, the winged cross at the base of it, and the long golden handle.

I followed said handle up to a pair of hooves and the pony attached to them. He stood impossibly on his hind legs, his fore legs gripping the spear leveled at me. He was coated from head to hoof in golden armor, stylized to look like a manticore, a pre-war chimera with a lion’s body, scorpion’s tail, and bat’s wings. The wings were etched into the armor in such a way that they almost looked flared and the scorpion plating on his tale was disturbingly similar to Enclave power armor. The head was what struck me, it was a helmet that fully obscured his face, etched to look like a majestic lion. The frill of the lion’s mane was apparently hollow, as the pony’s own bright red mane was pulled into a ponytail and projected from it. The entire striking figure buzzed with electric power, small arcs leaping from the carvings.

When the pony spoke, his voice echoed through the helmet and set my mane standing on end. “My King has a proposition for you.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote: Level Up!
New perk, Salespony: Your skill at bartering makes you an excellent haggler, you get 15% better prices when buying and selling to any merchant.

What We Must

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 7: What We Must
“Everyone is a hero and a villain, and no one knows who is the victim and who is the aggressor.”

All my life I had been in the presence of ponies more powerful than I. My father, being a drill sergeant, was used to having other ponies under his command, a mindset he didn’t leave at the academy when he was home. Even at his most relaxed my father had a commanding presence, his every action demanding attention and his words spoken with an authority that was impossible to ignore. Having lived in such a presence for most of my life I was fairly used to it, in fact it was one of the few situations I thrived in. I knew how to read ponies like my father, which was what helped me scrape out of most of the problems my time in the Wasteland had thrown at me.

But never in my life had I seen a pony like this. In fact I wasn’t even sure he WAS a pony, the way he stood and held his spear spoke more of a zebra martial artist than a pony, but I had never heard of a zebra or pony so big! The gold armored stallion absolutely towered over me, and would probably even dwarf Apparatchik. The buzzing, electric power that coursed over the ridges and grooves in the plating made my every hair stand on end. Craning my neck I stared into the eyes of the leonine helmet, that is I would have if I could see the eyes. The sockets were covered by golden plating, and yet I felt a bone deep assurance that he could see me clear as day.

Painful groaning drew me from my reverie. Tearing my eyes away from the spear wielding pony, I could barely see Clarity picking herself up from where she had fallen behind him. “Clarity.” I said, moving only my lips. The tip of the spear was practically brushing my nose so I dared not move anything else. “Go help Scout, he’s hurt badly.” The image of him being blasted by what I now knew to be lightening was still fresh, along with the pungent smells of ozone and burnt flesh.

Clarity stood fully, wincing in pain. The giant pony had somehow struck her, and now a nasty bruise was coloring her side. When she looked up at the sound of my voice she froze, eyes wide as she stared at the golden pony. I couldn’t turn around to check Scout’s condition, but I was certain he didn’t have much time to spare. “Clarity!” I said, trying to mimic the harshness my father used when he gave a command. Clarity twitched violently as if struck, turning her wide eyed stare on me. “Go help Scout!” I ordered.

“Oh, r-right.” Shifting her gaze between the golden pony and I, she scurried towards Scout and out of my field of vision.

With that taken care of, I looked back to the pony holding me hostage. Frankly, I was terrified. He had already displayed incredible skill with that spear and his movements had been faster than I could follow. At this range I stood absolutely no chance of dodging that spear should he choose to attack, and even if I did that strange lightening magic of his would kill me long before I could make something out of it. Still, I had already shown command with Clarity, I couldn’t afford to show any kind of weakness now.

So, fighting hard to keep my voice even and my knees from trembling, I said. “Is this how your king always asks for help? By sacking innocent towns?”

“We came here searching another, but they had already fled.” The golden pony said evenly. “It was good fortune that you were found, else this would have been in vain.”

“Well I’m so happy to make all this death worth it.” I growled sardonically, glaring up into the covered eye sockets. “Now what do you want?”

“It is not for me to say.” The golden pony relaxed his stance, lowering the spear. “I am to escort you to my King’s throne, where he will tell you the nature of the proposal.”

Taking into account the barding the raiders had been using, I had a sneaking suspicion I knew the answer to my next question, but I asked anyway. “And who is your King?”

The leonine helmet ducked respectively and the pony’s voice carried a solemn tone. “He is the Lord of Stalliongrad, the Shadow King. And I am one of his Lords, Coming Storm.” Having my suspicions confirmed did nothing to ease my trepidation. I had no idea what the leader of an army of raiders would want from me, especially after I insulted him by escaping one of his best ponies. The fact that he had sent ponies looking for me, even if I was a secondary objective, was disconcerting, that they were out to recruit me rather than kill me was downright terrifying. After all, what could I have that a King, even a King of raiders, couldn’t get?

For some reason Coming Storm had kept his head bowed while I pondered this. Eventually, he spoke up, gaining my attention. “I will escort you to my King.” He said with an unshakable certainty. “Whether it be by force or your own will is yours to choose.”

I looked back at my friends, for the first time feeling safe to turn away from the towering knight. Clarity was gently wrapping Scout’s burns in magical bandages, several empty healing potion vials were scattered about her hooves. My earth pony friend was breathing steadily, but unconscious and Clarity could not move with any ease thanks to her bruised side. We were in no shape to resist, but even so I knew we were valuable, or at least I was. Coming Storm hadn’t attacked me, even though it would have been simplicity itself for him to knock me out and drag me along. Looking around at the destroyed town of Scrap River, the ash coming down like light snow, I decided to use some of that value.

“Call off your forces.” I told Coming Storm, turning back to him. “Stop attacking the town and I’ll come with you.” After a second I added. “Peaceably.”

I expected an argument, or at least some hesitation. Instead the giant pony nodded and said, “It will be done” before disappearing, a golden trail of light zipping deeper into the gulch.

I was startled by the sudden darkness. I had almost forgotten that it was the dead of night, and with the light from the electrified golden armor gone darkness had settled back over the area. After taking a quick second for my eyes to adjust, I rushed over to Clarity and Scout. “Is he okay?” I asked, looking at Clarity expectantly. Taking note of her bruised side I added, “Are you?”

The crystal unicorn waved her glowing horn over Scout’s bandages, her magic making them illuminate slightly. “He’ll be fine, but he needs to rest if the magic is going to heal him.” She winced, drinking the dregs from a mostly empty potion bottle. “And I’ll be okay in a minute.”

I sighed in relief, giving myself a moment to relax before addressing Clarity again. “Do you think you can get him out of here?”

She looked at me like I’d gone mad. “Are you kidding? We’ll never escape that…thing!” She said, gesturing in the direction Coming Storm had gone. “Unless you can fly us away we will never…”

I shook my head, cutting her off. “No, I’m staying behind. It’s the two of you that need to go.”

That just made her seem more convinced than ever that I’d snapped. “No, no way! Sleet, we just found you, and we are not leaving you with that!”

“I’ll be fine, his King needs me. He wouldn’t do anything to put what his King wants in jeopardy, you two on the other hoof.” I glanced poignantly at their injuries. “Are less valuable.” Clarity winced at being referred to as “valuable”. Given her former status, I did not blame her, but my analysis was correct. Judging by the actions of his enforcer, the Shadow King saw my friends as expendable, and I wouldn’t put it past Coming Storm to use them as hostages to ensure my cooperation. Before I could express that, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, Coming Storm was returning. “Listen, you need to get Scout and go!” I knelt to pick up the earth pony and put him on Clarity’s back.

“But Sleet we can’t just leave you!” She protested.

“Yes you can! Staying with me is a death sentence!” I snapped, glaring up at her. “Now help me get Scout so you two can…”

Before I could finish my sentence I felt a hoof grab and my neck and pull. My head was yanked down until I was face to face with Scout’s glaring visage. “No.” He growled.

Our gazes were locked for a second longer before Scout’s burst of strength gave out and he collapsed again, unconscious. By then it was too late, with a crack of thunder Coming Storm returned. I stood and turned to face him, the mighty golden pony was on all fours for the first time since his arrival, spear strapped to his back. “It is done.” He said, his voice reverberating through the helmet. “The town is spared. Are you prepared to depart?”

I didn’t see much choice in the matter. I turned and looked down at Scout, Watcher’s words echoing in my head. Ponies weren’t meant to go it alone. Sighing, I bent down and picked up Scout, laying his unconscious form over my back. He was heavy, especially with the battle-saddle, but I could manage. While I settled him into position, I took one last look around the town and out of one of the toppled piles of scrap I saw movement. A small pink pony, barely old enough to be a mare, backed out of a collapsed doorway, dragging a larger pony by their tail. She looked battered, bruised, and there was a recently healed gash on her shoulder.

It was the same little pony I had sold medical supplies to not several hours ago. I watched, transfixed as she scampered over to the larger pony’s head. The larger pony was a mare whose autumn yellow coat I could barely see through blood and ash. The little pony propped up the mare’s head and clumsily poured a healing potion down her throat. After several seconds the mare coughed, opened her eyes, and smiled up at the relieved filly. I turned back to Coming Storm, a hint of a smile on my face, and nodded. “Yeah, we’re ready.”

*****

The trip to Stalliongrad was surprisingly uneventful. Scout had said the Wastes were worse after dark, but I supposed that the various terrors were smart enough not to attack the giant golden lightening pony and the group following him, even if one of us was out cold. I at one point asked what was to keep the army of raiders, which could be barely seen marching some distance behind us, from sacking another village. Our small group trotted faster than the army, and I was worried that they would lose control once we were out of sight. “I understand your fears, but they are unfounded.” Coming Storm had replied. “There are leaders among them other than I who are honor bound as I am. They shall keep the rabble in check.” While I didn’t put much stock in raider honor, Coming Storm had been cooperative with my demand that Scrap River be spared and he obviously ran a tight cloud ship. I couldn’t imagine anypony would be insane enough to disobey him.

Scout came to just as the blood soaked wall of Stalliongrad came into view. Coming Storm went on ahead to “announce our presence” while we tended to Scout. I gently lowered him while Clarity removed the bandages. To my astonishment, his wounds were fully healed. Even with the healing potions and bandages, it should have taken more than one night for the terrible electrical burns to fade. Turning to Clarity I asked, “Did you do that?” gesturing to Scout’s healed burns.

The crystal pony smiled, her skin sparkling a bit with pride. “Sister taught me a few basic spells before we left to look for you, like that shield spell. I didn’t have the time to master the healing one, so I put what I knew together with a crystal pony trick.”

Her horn glowed and I felt a fierce itching on my neck. I had applied a bandage to where I had been cut during the battle, and suddenly it had exploded in sensation. Spasming, I tore the bandage off the scratch at it, but just as suddenly as the itching started it stopped. I felt my neck where the found had been and found it gone! “How did you…”

“Even when we weren’t influencing the emotions of the nation, we couldn’t let ourselves fall into depression.” Clarity explained. “So we learned a trick call resonance, it allows crystal ponies to share their emotions and empower them. This let us foster and grow positive ones.” The more she spoke of her home, the more crystal-like her body became. “I modified the magic slightly, allowing me to make healing magic work more efficiently.”

The effects were certainly impressive. Scout stood gingerly at first, but once he didn’t experience any pain he quickly straightened. “How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Better.” He said, looking around. Spotting Stalliongrad and Coming Storm he asked. “What did I miss?” Clarity and I filled him in on what happened while he had been out cold. The survivalist didn’t like the idea of returning to Stalliongrad, especially as the Shadow King’s ‘guests’. “This is definitely some sort of trap.”

“Yeah, but why?” I asked. “Coming Storm had plenty of opportunities to kill us. Unless Iron Curtain or the King wanted to do some personally then why capture us?”

“Can’t say…” He grumbled. “And who is this ‘Coming Storm’ anyway?”

“He’s a pony without a purpose.” Clarity said in that strange cryptic way she used to describe what she saw of a pony’s true nature. “Storm isn’t just his name, it’s what he is. He is power without direction.” She shuddered, hunching her shoulders. “And his strength is terrifying. I can barely see him through the lightening.”

“If he doesn’t have a purpose then why follow a King?” I asked, gazing at Stalliongrad. “If who you are is without direction then why tie yourself to an authority like that?” Clarity didn’t have an answer for that.

Coming Storm retuned soon after that, his appearance heralded by a bolt of lightning and crack of thunder. I had to wonder if his armor allowed him to move that quickly or if it was just natural for him. The second option was significantly more worrying, anypony that could move that quickly on his own even encumbered was frightening. Come to think of it, what kind of pony was he? He was most certainly not a unicorn, not unless he has the world’s stubbiest horn. He was large and strong enough to be an exceptional earth pony, but that didn’t explain the lightening. Unless it was an enchantment on the armor, then that and his name pointed to pegasus, but that made even less sense. Unless he was a throw-back born on the surface (in which case once such powerful weather manipulation powers manifested the Enclave would undoubtedly come for him) then that meant he was a traitor. The only problem with that was that any traitors were well known amongst the citizenry, names like Deadshot Calamity were household for all the wrong reasons, and I had never heard of a “Coming Storm” when I lived above the clouds.

My contemplations were interrupted when Coming Storm spoke. “My King has been notified of your arrival, and is eager to speak with you.” With that he turned and strode towards the ruined, bloody city, the three of us following closely behind.

Stalliongrad was the last place I wanted to return to. We entered through a gate I had ignored during my first visit, the massive steel portal was grotesquely painted with vulgar warnings to stay away. The first thing that hit me was the sickeningly familiar smell, the odor of rotted and diseased meat clung to the air like smoke. I held a wing over my nose, I had never put them away after the battle and it felt useless to hide them from a pony who already knew I was a pegasus.

I expected the ruins to be bristling with raiders, but other than the two guards than worked the gate the streets were deserted. “Where is everypony?” I commented, my voice muffled slightly by my feathers.

“There were campaigns to attend to other than Scrap River.” Coming Storm said. “My fellow Lords took their forces to make our King’s will manifest.” The golden knight increased his pace, trotting down a relatively clear street. “Make haste, my King wishes not to wait.”

We trotted briskly through the ruined streets. Though there were next to no raiders to be found, there were plenty of signs of their presence. Graffiti, in paint and otherwise, coated what walls were still standing and peaks into ruins showed disgusting living spaces. This was the scenery we were presented with for a good thirty minutes of trotting, but as we got deeper into the city I began to notice a change.

Up until this point the ruins had been left as is, just as crumbled and broken as the day the bombs fell. But now we were starting to see improvements, walls shored up with salvaged planks of wood and scrap metal forming rough buildings out of ruins. I remembered the huge shantytown I had seen near the center of the city during my fly by when I first came here, now I was seeing it from ground level. The work was extensive, to the point where there were signs of a makeshift infrastructure with walkways between buildings and entire roads being cleared of rubble.

I wasn’t the only one to notice. “Is it just me, or is everything getting…cleaner?” Clarity asked, looking around. “The buildings, the roads, even the ponies.” We hadn’t seen many raiders in the ruins outside the shantytown, but the ones we had had been typical specimens. Dirty, slavering psychopaths mixed with hard, soulless thugs that glared at us as we passed by. Now ponies walked about the town like they weren’t living just a few hundred yards from raider territory! They weren’t in much better physical condition, most of them were dressed in dirty rags and were rail thin with hunger. Still, living in what amounted to a slum or not, these ponies were definitely not raiders. I wasn’t ready to call them completely sane, you would have to be some kind of crazy to live in the eye of such a storm, but it was a serious improvement.

The citizens bowed respectfully when Coming Storm strode past. The golden giant hardly noticed so focused was he on his goal. Clarity on the other hand watched them with a mix of fascination and concern, I could only imagine what her talent was showing her. I slowed my pace a bit, walking next to Scout who was watching a mother pull her foals out of the knight’s way. “Did you know about any of this?” I whispered.

“No.” He said, shaking his head. “I don’t think anypony outside Stalliongrad knows.”

I furrowed my brow. “But that’s impossible. How could you keep actual civilization hidden, even if it was behind a wall of raiders? Wouldn’t they have to trade?”

“The raiders must be for more than keeping other ponies out. Maybe these ponies get a cut of whatever they loot.”

The thought of being dependent on raiders was nauseating, but judging by the physical state of the citizens the situation wasn’t as lucrative as it could be. At least, that’s what I initially thought until I looked up at the sound of grinding stone. We had passed into yet another improved district of the city, though it was difficult to see through the dust in the air. Squinting my eyes I flapped my wings to clear the air, the gut wrenching smells having subsided a while ago, and caught sight of a team of unicorns with their horns aglow. An earth pony wearing a metal helmet was waving his hooves and bellowing orders that I couldn’t hear over the grinding.

I followed the bright glow of magic, finding the source high above the other ramshackle buildings. It was near impossible to see through the dust, which the forepony must have noticed because he gave a cry that was followed by a gust of magically generated wind pushing the dust away. What I saw made my jaw drop, heedless of the heavy dust getting in my mouth. Huge block of concrete were being levitated in unicorn magic and being reshaped. Some sort of spell was fitting the rubble together like a giant’s jigsaw puzzle and once a chuck was complete it was attached to the ever-growing building they were working on. Once it was attached, another blast of magic secured it and kicked up another cloud of dust.

So stunned was I that I forgot to keep flapping my wings. The dust returned so my next breath inhaled enough to make me start coughing and spitting, breaking my concentration on the reconstruction. After a few seconds of watching me hack up a lung, Scout (who had pulled his Stable barding up around his muzzle) handed me a canteen. Once I’d rinsed and spit I returned the canteen sheepishly, just in time to catch the tail end of a conversation between Coming Storm and the forepony. “…almost finished with the district. We should have this block done by the end of the week.” The helmeted earth pony was saying.

“Excellent, the King will be pleased with your progress.” Coming Storm said. “Such diligence earns reward. Continue to please and you shall know them.”

The forepony nodded eagerly before turning back to his work crew, redoubling his shouts. I turned away, galloping up to Coming Storm before I could inhale more dust. “What was that all about?” I asked once we’d left the chocking cloud.

“My King would see Equestria returned to its former glory.” He said, a note of pride entering his voice. “We, his subjects, work towards that end.”

Even with the horrors committed in his name still fresh in my mind, I couldn’t help but be impressed with what the Shadow King had accomplished. Once we’d pasted through the dust cloud, we could see Stalliongrad proper. If I didn’t know better I’d have that the city had survive the apocalypse untouched. Fully reconstructed buildings rose above flat, smooth roads with lights burning in their windows. Ponies bustled about the city, looking noticeably more fed and healthy than the raiders and beggars further out in the ruins. In truth it looked like and actual pre-war city!

This was remarkable! Even this small portion of the vast metropolis had been completely restored! This must have been very recent, I had seen nothing like this when I had scouted over the city just a week ago. It wasn’t perfect, the population was rather low so not every building was inhabited and the full reconstructed portion of the city was a small one. Still, two hundred years after it had been destroyed, Equestrian civilization was regaining its full strength.

*****

The fully reconstructed sector wasn’t terribly large, just a few city blocks. We trotted into the main square, the very center of the city. Rising from the square was what I only assumed was the Shadow King’s castle. The square quickly cleared of its few occupants as we approached the ancient building. Great stone blocks formed the imposing walls of the fortress with turrets poking up towards the clouds at the four corners. We stood before a huge gateway of black steel, a large bar locking it in place. “My Lord’s domain.” Coming Storm said reverently, striding forward. He stood in the strange zebra-like pose, pulling his spear off his back. He held the weapon close to his bosom, electricity crackling over his form, until with a mighty cry he trust the spear upward into the locking bar. With a mighty boom of thunder that I felt deep in my chest, the locking bar swung upward and the gateway creaked open.

The interior was pitch black, not even the meager daylight could enter the darkness. I looked back to Scout and Clarity who had been silent for some time. They both tried to look brave but I could see otherwise, Clarity was barely glittering and Scout’s stance suggested he was more ready to run away from the darkness than into it, I couldn’t blame them even if I wanted to. “I’m sorry.” I murmured “Sorry I dragged you two into this.”

Scout took a deep breath, set his mouth in a hard line, and started walking towards the darkness. “We’re the ones who came after you, you didn’t drag us into anything.”

Clarity nodded, following him. “He’s right. You helped us and now we are helping you.” She gave me a wry grin as she passed. “Even if you’re being a stubborn mule about it.”

I watched, amazed as these two ponies who I really only barely knew and yet had set off into unknown peril to help me, trotted towards the murky castle. Scout stopped when he noticed I wasn’t following, turned around and waved a hoof at me to hurry up. I quickly cantered over to them and we entered the darkness together.

As we passed him, I looked to Coming Storm and asked “Aren’t you coming with us?”

The giant golden pony stood sentry next to the entryway, spear in hoof and helmet forward. “My King wished to speak with you three privately, I will not be joining you. You will not lose your way, simply go straight ahead.” That was all he said before the doors closed behind us with a thunderous boom that echoed long after the door shut.

I couldn’t see my hoof in front of my face. The interior was completely lightless to the point that when Scout turned on his PipBuck light it hurt my eyes. The soft green glow of the device faintly illuminated the cavernous room, there was no furnishing save an unlit chandelier hanging from the vaulted ceiling. “This is a King’s castle?” I asked quietly, but even speaking softly my voice echoed loudly, the stone distorting my words weirdly. “I’d think he’d have servants or guards or something.”

“He doesn’t need guards.” Clarity whispered, her echoes mixing with mine to create a strange and creepy wail. “The raiders keep them safe, and everypony out there fears him. They are too scared to even think of rising up.

The room was cold, bitterly so, and that comment only made it colder. Shivering, I pulled my coat tighter with one hoof and hovered forward as per Coming Storm’s instructions, no sense in waiting. My wing beats were silent, but my friend’s hooves were not, the clopping sound of hoof on stone sounded frighteningly like cracking bones. No natural acoustics were causing this, some magic had to be at play. I expressed as much to my companions, but they still looked just as freaked out as I felt, knowing didn’t stop this level of creepiness. Clarity tried humming a happy little melody about laughing away fears, but the demonic echoes distorted it to the point where we just kept quiet.

Keeping straight, we came to a door made of sturdy black wood. Even though it looked heavy it opened easily to my touch, revealing a winding staircase going deep into the earth. “Great,” I muttered, my voice adding to the spine chilling chorus of echoes. “Underground.”

Hesitantly I fluttered into the stairwell, hunching my shoulders against the cold. The darkness was getting to me, I couldn’t see where we were going until I was practically running into the curving wall. I tried to find the curve and follow it, but either the darkness was disorienting me more than I thought or the wall was actually shifting to get in my way. Either way, constantly almost plowing into the wall was getting on my nerves, my shoulders constantly grew tenser as we descended.

What was also getting to me was the noise. That Goddesses damned clippty cloppity from Hell was echoing in my mind as much as it was in the stairwell and made me imagine hordes of zombie ponies boiling up from the stairs towards us.

“How long are these fucking stairs?” Scout growled, his anger sounding like a dragon’s rumble as it echoed.

“I don’t know, but could you not talk? These echoes are unbearable.” I hissed back.

“I just wish I had some light.” Clarity muttered darkly. The stairway was narrow, so we were progressing in single file with the crystal unicorn bringing up the rear. “I can barely see.”

“You’re a unicorn, just light up your horn!” Scout shot at her.

“I can’t! My magic isn’t working! Something in the damn place is blocking it!”

The echoes were getting louder and more twisted as their voices rose. The dreadful sounds felt like they were grinding away at my brain, destroying rational thought in favor of base emotion. Those emotions were rage and fear, and if I didn’t get out of here soon then I was going to snap! I stopped and whirled around. “Will you two shut up!?” I yelled, the echo of “up” fading away into a mournful wail.

They fell silent and after several seconds blessed silence fill the stairwell. My friends looked no less haggard than I felt, Scout had deep bags under his eyes which kept twitching every which way as if he expected danger to hit from every direction at once. Clarity’s body had crystalized in sharp, angry lines rather than her usual glittery brilliance and the light she gave off was a dull red. I took a deep breath, one of the few echoes that wasn’t corrupted, and spoke as calmly as I could. “We need to stay cool, talk to the King, and get the Hell out of here as quick as we can.” Surprisingly, my voice didn’t echo crazily, but I had no time to dwell on that. “Arguing will just keep us stuck here longer.” My calming tone seemed to be having an effect, my companions slowly loosened up. “Now, you two switch places so Scout’s lamp can illuminate more and then we’ll…”

“Um, Sleet?” Scout interrupted, pointing behind me. Looking where he pointed, I saw the bottom of the stairwell, a simply wooden door waiting for us. I was about to question what I Equestria had just happened when Scout’s PipBuck went dark.

“Scout? Clarity?” I called, looking around fruitlessly.

“I’m still here.” Scout’s voice said next to me.

“Me too.” Clarity confirmed from the other side.

“Okay, hold still.” I landed, spread my wings, and wrapped them around my two friends. “Stay close, I have no idea what the Hell is going on.” Tightening my wings a little hugged them close.

“You aren’t giving us much choice.” Scout muttered from under my feathers.

Ignoring him, I reached out with a hoof and felt for the door. I could feel Scout and Clarity breathing next to me as I fumbled around in the abyssal darkness. I felt the door, but no knob. My searching became more frantic as panic gripped my chest, where was the doorknob? It had had one, right? Were we trapped down here in this darkness forever? “Sleet.” Clarity whispered, grabbing my hoof in hers. “Remember what you said, calm down.”

I nodded before realizing she couldn’t see me. “You’re right.” I gasped, willing my heartbeat to slow. Reaching out again, I easily found the knob and opened the door. We stepped inside.

In the abyss we could clearly see only one thing, which I assumed to be the Shadow King’s throne. The great chair looked like it was made up of broken black ice, huge chunks of the stuff just jutting from the ground. A vaguely pony shaped blob of darkness sat in the chair, though it was hard to make out as the shadows twisted in an unfelt wind. I felt my friends tense up. “Um.” I said cautiously. “Hello?”

The same green eyes from my dream opened where the shadow’s head would be, wisps of purple energy leaking from the corners, this time I could see the bloody red irises that went along with them. “No.” Clarity breathed, abject terror in her voice. “No, no, no.” The darkness in the room was drawn towards the shadow, solidifying it and forming blurry hooves a head and body. As the muzzle extended it split into a grin of razor sharp teeth. Shiny metal armor with a lush red cape with white fur trim materialized on the pony along with a thin crown that looked to be studded here and there with teeth and a red setting for a smooth gray stone. The body lightened to gray while mane and tail remained flowing shadows. The final part of the body to form was the horn. Most unicorn horns are spiraling ivory, looking a bit like drills. This…thing’s horn was smooth, curved like a fang and stained with red near the wicked tip. The materialization complete, the green faded from the dark pony’s eyes, leaving a startlingly white sclera.

I had experienced terror before, had woken up next to my murdered family and been chased by zombies. Over the past week I had looked death and worse in the eye, and while I didn’t laugh at it I had survived. I had kept my head and gotten myself to safety each time. But against this stallion, such a thing was impossible. Looking at him obliterated all thought, bone deep fear gripped my heart and lungs in a vice and a cold clammy sweat soaked me. Adrenaline burned in my veins, telling me, begging me to run, but my hooves were out of my control as surly as if I had sunken into the stone floor. I wasn’t just feeling fear, I was looking at it.

The mouth of razor teeth opened, revealing a long forked tongue as he spoke. “I am pleased that you have finally arrived.” His voice was deep, hollow, and booming like the echoes from before. “And how courteous.” He turned a hungry, demonic glare on Clarity who I could now see thanks to the retreat of the darkness. My crystal companion had lost most of her color, causing her fleshy skin to look gray and sick. Her eyes were partially hidden behind her mane which was equally lifeless and had fallen into her face. Still I could see the look of unspeakable horror she wore, as if every horror story she had ever been told as a filly had come to life in front of her. “You brought me a gift.”

Slowly, painfully, he picked himself up from the throne. His movements were accompanied by a sound similar to grinding glass that set my teeth on edge. Tendrils of darkness snaked from his body, stuck to the throne like black clouds. He began to walk towards us. The thundering cracks of gunshots erupted from my side, I felt the rush of bullets barely missing my wings as Scout unloaded the full clip of his battle saddle towards the dark pony. He was screaming. Around the bit of his battle saddle Scout was crying out in horror as he shot.

The bullets did nothing, passing harmlessly through the monster, the Shadow King. Even when they struck his cloak and armor didn’t slow until they impacted the throne. When the stream of bullets ran dry, Scout dropped the bit, his breathing shaky. “W-what a-a-are you?” He asked, showing only shreds of his usual stoicism.

Clarity answered for the dark pony, her voice tiny and pathetic. “King Sombra.”

“Ah, good. The slaves still know their master.” The monster, King Sombra I supposed, growled. “My last return was so tragically short lived, and to have the very world burn not long after, I worried I would be lost to history.” He stopped in front of the cowering Clarity, smiling hungrily down at her.

Most of my mind was gibbering with horror, but a tiny yet incessant part told me to get his attention off Clarity. The mare looked like she was going to have a heart attack from his presence, and the way he called her a slave angered me just enough to speak through the fear. “W-w-ha” I swallowed hard. “Why did you bring us here?”

Even though they weren’t glowing green, his red eyes sent a chill down my spine when they turned on me. “My knight explained, I have a proposition for you. You perform a task for me, and I give you just reward.”

“Why me though?” Each word was a struggle. My throat clenched involuntarily making my words sounds choked. “You have your knights and your army. What can I do that they can’t?”

“You can give back to me something long since lost. You have proven to have the wit and will to overcome the many trials of this blasted hellscape, and I believe you more capable than any in my kingdom to complete this task.” He turned to Clarity, stroking her cheek with one hoof. The crystal mare cringed from the touch. “Your task is to restore the Crystal Empire to its former glory.”

The three of us shared a stunned reaction, even Clarity forgot to be scared for a second. “What?” I asked incredulously. “How am I supposed to accomplish that? And why?”

“That, my little pony, is for you to figure out. As for why.” He turned away from us and gazed upon his throne which I was now noticing wasn’t ice, but crystal. His expression became surprisingly nonthreatening, almost nostalgic. “You have seen the Hell Equestria has become, and you have seen my armies.” King Sombra growled, baring his pointed teeth. “I detest such debased weakness, their madness has no order or control, and such filth is common in this new world. With the Empire’s power I,” He paused. “we, can purge the madness from Equestria and restore the soul of this nation.”

I remembered what Clarity had said about the Empire’s power, how it could spread love and happiness across the whole of Equestria. With such power raiders, slavers, and other horrible ponies would lose their capacity for such atrocities. To cleanse the depravity and despair from the world, I thought of Scrap River burning under Sombra’s army, and Cat O’ Nine Tails buying and selling ponies. I could stop them, without killing them or stooping to their level, if I could restore the Crystal Empire. The pieces of a plan were starting to fall into place.

Before I could speak again, Scout found his voice. “And why should she?” He asked.

King Sombra tuned his terrifying visage on him, but the earth pony had found his bravery again and set his jaw defiantly. “You mean other than saving the souls of her fellow ponies?” He gave a low, rumbling growl that I think was a laugh. “I understand she is having troubles with her own kind?” He stared poignantly at my wings and addressed me. “Restoring the Empire will go a long way towards fixing what is broken in Equestria, but I doubt your Enclave will so readily forget your crimes. I can offer you asylum from them, safety and security as the new world is brought in.”

I took a deep breath, feeling not unlike when I was about to step around that corner and confront Cat O’ Nine Tails, and said. “Very well, I’ll do it.”

*****

After receiving assurance from the King that we were safe to pass through his domain unmolested, we left the dark chamber as Sombra returned to his throne. As the wooden door closed behind us, the reclining figure once again broke apart into darkness and shadow which spread over the room like a thick veil. Fortunately the echoes were gone as we ascended the winding staircase and left through the main chamber. I guessed that they were a part of the King’s magic as now that we were on his side he spared us the experience.

As we approached the exit, the great doors slowly creaked open allowing the weak Wasteland sunlight to enter the chamber. Even filtered through the clouds, the light was enough to sting my eyes after the time spent in total darkness. The towering figure of Coming Storm glared like a lighthouse after the castle. “I am pleased to hear that you accepted my King’s proposition.” He said in his reverberating voice. “It is an honor to count you amongst our number.”

My feathers ruffled uncomfortably at that. “I agreed to do a job, not sign on for the King’s army.” I said a bit more harshly than I intended, I was still a bit shaken by the creepy castle. At least I was in better shape than Clarity. The poor mare had been paralyzed with fear even after Sombra retreated to his throne. Scout had to guide her from the throne room and it wasn’t until we hit the top of the stairs that she started to move on her own.

The knight inclined his head. “Not all who serve a King wield a sword. You are still an ally to my King and to myself.” He walked to the side, permitting us to leave the oppressive darkness. “Even so, you should make haste when leaving Stalliongrad. Not all who protect this kingdom have yet been informed of your status. It would be wise to leave with the path clear.”

Great, just what we needed, more raiders chomping at our hooves. I shook the dark thoughts as I stepped out into the light, already feeling an uplifting rush from being under the sky again. “You aren’t going to escort us out?” I asked in a much more even tone.

“I have other duties to attend to, I trust you will not lose your way.” With a nod, he wished us luck and trotted off into greater Stalliongrad.

“He’s right, we should get moving.” I said, settling into a quick trot. “Getting to the Empire alone will be difficult, we should probably…”

“Sleet.” Scout interrupted in a firm tone.

I turned to see that my companions had barely moved from in front of the giant doors. Clarity looked wretched, her eyes lost and fearful as she leaned weakly against Scout. Cursing under my breath, I galloped over to them. “Get her into the light.” I said, taking position on the other side of her. Together, Scout and I moved her out of the shadow of the castle.

The light had a similar, if weaker, effect on Clarity that being outside had on me. She took a deep breath, and looked up at me. “Sleet, what did you just do?” She asked in a wavering voice. “Do you know who that was? What you just agreed to?” Our progress was faltering as Scout and I tried to keep Clarity upright. We shambled to the far side of the square and gently lowered her to sit against a wall. I had pieced together some idea of who Sombra was, based on what Clarity had told me about the Empire and how he reacted to her. She continued to speak, confirming my fears as strength slowly returning to her voice. “He’s the one who enslaved the crystal ponies twelve hundred years ago! And you just told him you would give us back to him!”

I was taken aback by the accusation. “I never said that!”

Clarity’s fear was slowly being replaced by anger. “The crystal ponies are tied to the Empire, the only reason we don’t live there now is because of how damaged it is. If it was restored, then we would have no real choice but to return to it, and if Som-“ She choked on the name. “If he is given control of it then, then he will control us.”

My gut churned with each word, but I fought down the rising doubt. Kneeling in front of the distraught mare, I spoke calmingly. “Clarity, I know this looks bad but I need you to trust me on this, I have an idea. I’m going to need your help first, can you help me?” It took a few seconds of shaky breathing, but she nodded. “Okay, you say he took over twelve hundred years ago, but I know that the Empire was a part of Equestria during the war. That means that Sombra wasn’t in control during that time, so he must have been defeated somehow. Can you tell me how?”

“I’m not-“ She swallowed hard. “I’m not really supposed to tell fleshies…”

Fighting not to roll my eyes, I shot Scout a pleading look instead. The earth pony nodded, reaching into his saddle bags. He pulled out a familiar blood stained feather, holding it up. “My feather…” I muttered.

“Then it was yours.” Scout said. Addressing Clarity he continued “See? I told you Sleet saved us from those robots. She saved us then, she saved you from Cat O’ Nine Tails, and she saved me from Iron Curtain.” He gave me a smile. “This isn’t typical for me, but I trust her.”

I felt my ears heat up, getting my praises sung was not something I was used to, especially when most of those accomplishments came from fixing my screw ups. Still, it worked, Clarity sighed and relented. “Alright, I’ll tell you.” She closed her eyes, gathering her thoughts. “A powerful artifact known as the Crystal Heart rests in the center of the Empire. The Heart is what collects and channels the light and love from the ponies who live in the Empire and project it across Equestria.” Now THAT was fascinating. I had been curious as to what the magic that powered the Empire was ever since Clarity mentioned it, and knowing that it was an artifact helped solidify my growing idea.

Clarity continued her tale, telling us about how Celestia and Luna vanquished Sombra by turning his body into shadows and sealing him in the glacial ice. This made my heart sink, I didn’t have the Goddesses power not matter how capable other ponies thought I was. At least that explained why he was still alive today, with no mortal body he wouldn’t die of old age. But the story wasn’t over. She told us of Sombra’s curse on the Empire that banished it along with him, and how it and Sombra returned after a thousand years.

“It’s said that Celestia sent Equestria’s greatest heroes, the legendary Crystal Princess, and a mighty dragon to combat his return. Even then, he nearly triumphed until the dragon found the Heart and returned it to the Princess.” For the first time since we left the castle, Clarity smiled and her crystal skin glittered. “My father told me stories about how the Princess and the dragon flew right over his head, snatching the Heart just as it was about to fall into his grasp. With the Heart returned, the crystal ponies rejoiced and the light from the Heart destroyed him.” She shuddered, hunching her shoulders. “Or at least, we thought it destroyed him. Now the Heart is corrupted by the radiation from the balefire bombs and only projects death and sickness.”

I sat back, mulling over what she said. The pieces of the plan I had been forming fell more rapidly into place. I felt myself growing giddy, this might just work! “Yes.” I said, smiling. “Yes, we can work with this.”

Clarity looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Work with WHAT?!” She asked incredulously. “We can’t give him the Empire, Sleet! Even if we restored the Heart he’d just steal it again, and there aren’t enough crystal ponies to activate it in the first place!”

I opened my mouth to explain her fears away when something Sombra said hit me, You have proven to have the wit and will to overcome the many trials of this blasted hellscape, and I believe you more capable than any in my kingdom to complete this task. How had he known what I had done to “prove” myself? Obviously he had been watching me somehow, the time he spoke to me in a dream was testament enough to that. I couldn’t very well go spouting what my plans to betray him were not a hundred yards from his castle! “Scout, can you turn the radio on for me?” I asked innocently. He looked perplexed, but acquiesced, turning on the DJ’s station on which a slow, sad song was playing. I didn’t pay much attention to the words, only needing the noise, although the lyric “whispers in the darkness” caught my attention. “Your PipBuck light too.” I added.

Scout flicked on the lamp with a whir, the soft green glow banishing the few shadows around us. “Okay, now I’m pretty certain he can’t hear us.” I muttered, keeping my voice low anyway. Turning to Clarity I asked “You said that resonance can be used to build positive emotion, and that you could use that magic to empower medicinal magic, right?” She nodded. “Then would it be possible to build a big charge of positive energy laced with an anti-radiation spell, cast it on the Heart, and restore it to its natural condition?”

Clarity considered it, her fear replaced by thoughtfulness. “It…might.” She said. “That still doesn’t take care of him.”

Now I was grinning wildly. “Oh but it does, because we’ll lure him up to the Empire when the Heart is purified! It should destroy him like it did two hundred years ago!” The plan was crazily audacious and relied on quite a few assumptions, but the way it made my heart beat with excitement made me believe it was the right idea.

I could tell that Clarity didn’t want to do it, she felt the risk of Sombra getting his hooves on the Empire again was too great, but my excitement was infectious. “O-okay.” She said hesitantly. “Okay, I’m in.”

“I’m in too.” Scout said as he helped Clarity to her hooves.

I smiled thankfully at both of them before looking to the sky as my feathers twitched. The gray cloud cover seemed even darker and the temperature was dropping. “We should get moving and find a place to take shelter for the night.” I said.

“Why? We could make good progress towards the Empire.” Scout asked.

“Because it’s about to snow.”

*****

True to my prediction, fluffy white flakes began to come down at the three of us cautiously entered a dilapidated old building. Scout’s PipBuck labeled it the “Northern Weather Control Center Gamma”. The irony of taking shelter from a snowstorm in a place that used to control such phenomenon centuries ago was not lost on me. It was strange seeing the equipment, both familiar and strange. The arcanodevices were of pegasi design, meant to aid with weather control and seasonal change. The Enclave had no use for such devices with their current function, but pieces had been salvaged and repurposed over the years.

“It’s funny.” I commented. “I might have worked here if I was born two hundred years ago.”

“Then I’m guessing asking you to stop this snow is not going to work?” Scout asked, reloading his battle saddle as he prepped to survey the facility for any danger.

I shook my head. “I couldn’t stop the whole storm, and even if I could I may as well walk into Coltarado Heights with a neon sign hanging from my neck. We’re close to the SPP Tower that feeds the city, it’s lucky the Enclave can’t use the towers to spot us down here.”

“SPP?” Clarity asked as Scout moved deeper into the building, keeping low.

“The Sustainable Pegasus Project.” I explained. “Rainbow Dash had her Ministry set up a series of towers that reached up into the clouds. The towers have the capability to seed the clouds, allowing the Enclave to grow crops up in the sky. It’s what kept the their isolationism fueled for so long.”

“Seed the…clouds?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. “Like, apples and corn and stuff?”

“And wheat, carrots, all sorts of stuff.” I affirmed. “It’s far from perfect. The amount that can be grown each year is limited, so population is appropriately restricted.” I saw Clarity’s perplexed expression and matched it. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

She shook her head. “You pegasi are weird.” She said, trotting after Scout who had called back the all-clear.

“Weird?” I repeated, tone incredulous, but Clarity had already rounded a corner. “Says the pony made of crystals…” I muttered, frowning as I followed her.

The Weather Control Center was completely abandoned, thank the Goddesses. I had grown sick of every building and ruin being filled with things trying to kill me. With the facility declared safe, we each set to our own tasks. Scout looted the place for any supplies he could find while Clarity and I cleared a place to sleep. With the two of us working at it, it wasn’t long before the place where we would camp for the night was ready.

Clarity was exhausted after the harrowing day and fell asleep almost immediately. Scout wasn’t back yet though, and I wasn’t yet ready to sleep so I decided to explore the Center, curious about pre-war weather control. Picking a random direction, I set off.

The hallways were plastered with faded posters of the pegasi war effort. Ponies in black and purple jumpsuits with a yellow lightning bolt design advertised the elite Shadowbolt unit. The squad of pegasi soared over a battlefield littered with demonic depictions of dead and dying zebras, black clouds crackling with electricity trailed behind them. Another poster featured a mare in the iconic Enclave power armor hovering protectively over a tiny city with a slogan written across the top. “Fear not Equestria, we will keep you safe!” I shook my head, nowadays the only ponies who wore that armor were Enclave, and they only protected themselves.

Climbing a metal staircase (why would a pegasus run facility need a staircase?), I found myself face to face with one of the grandest pieces of pre-war pegasi technology I had ever seen. The room was located in an open air dome atop the facility. The snow we were hiding from wasn’t coming down hard enough to be of concern yet, the fluffy flakes settling gently on my shoulders. The device consisted of a huge metal cylinder in the center of a steel hemispherical cage. Five large glass orbs surrounded the cylinder, empty of their contents. I stepped through a door in the cage, marveling at it. “It’s a weather factory…” I muttered, running my wing over the smooth metal casing. “A miniature weather factory.”

Spotting a glowing terminal on the outside of the cage, I galloped over to it and began tapping away at the keys. “This is the primary terminal for directing output…” I muttered, reading over the on screen text. “Rain, snow, hail, even rainbows. Thunder and lightning, this controlled everything!” Or, at least it did until the world ended and the facility fell into disrepair. Terminals that controlled the actual functioning of the factory were dead and the device itself was completely inert.

Still, this didn’t do much to belay my curiosity. I continued to explore what the terminal would tell me, everything from the area the facility controlled to… “Oh hello.” I said in surprise. Apparently the factory itself was still in good condition if the terminal was to be believed. All it needed was for the other control points to be reactivated and to be given a little juice, specifically some cloud to work with and power to run off of.

I pulled out my little frozen ball of cloud, contemplating it. Perhaps I could get this place running again? I didn’t see much good in doing so, the Enclave would undoubtedly notice and bring the hammer down on it quickly. Still, it was an interesting idea…

“Sleet?” Scout’s voice asked, breaking through my reverie. “What are you doing up here?”

“Huh?” I responded intelligently, turning to face my earth pony friend, snow falling from my mane. “Oh, I was just poking around…”

He looked at me suspiciously. “So you come to where there isn’t a roof? You remember that it’s snowing, right?” Now that he mentioned it, I was suddenly very aware of the snow piling up on my shoulders and head.

Shivering from the cold, I brushed the snow off. “Yeah, I remember. It’s not too bad.” A large flake landed on my nose, bringing me attention to the rapidly worsening snow. “Well, it wasn’t when I got here…”

“Well come on back inside, no sense in freezing to death.”

“I’ll be in in a minute.” I said, glancing at the terminal. “I still want to check something.”

“Sleet…” He said dangerously. Looking back at him, I was surprised to see the anger in his face. Suddenly I remember that this was almost the exact same thing I had said to him before disappearing.

“I won’t run away again.” I said with the utmost sincerity. “I promise. I hated leaving the first time, and now that I know you two will hunt me down I know it’s futile to anyway.”

I meant for it to be a joke, but he didn’t take it like one. “Sleet, I know you think that being around you will get us killed, but Clarity and I are more capable than that. YOU are more capable than that. I understand the risks that traveling with you brings, and I accept them.” His tone left no room for compromise.

I sat there, staring at him as the snow settled around us. “Hey Scout?” I asked. “Why did you go after me?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. If you asked me a week ago I’d have said simple survival. The Enclave knows who I am and I’m as much a target for them as you are now. Being with you is actually my best chance of avoiding them, since you know them better than I do.” He shook his head. “That reason is close, but it’s not right. Traveling with you, even with all the stupid and unnecessary risks you took, had been more than just simply surviving. It felt more… accomplished than that.” He chuckled. “I know it doesn’t make much sense, but…”

“No,” I interrupted, smiling. “It does. And I’m really not going to leave again, I just want to squeeze this terminals for everything its worth.”

Scout nodded, turning to leave the room before stopping. "I'm curious." He said. "What was your plan when you left, anyway?"

"The DJ." I said, pointing to Scout's PipBuck. "I planned to find him and tell him that the Enclave was coming. If he could give the surfacers enough warning maybe they could organize a resistance or something." I paused, several uncomfortable realizations hitting me. Now that I thought about it, that plan had been really half baked, I had no idea where the DJ was or even his name! I was almost thankful that Sombra had given me this mission, it was certainly more directed than my previous course. "I have a question for you, why did you keep that feather?"

Scout shrugged. "It was the only real piece of evidence I had that you were out there somewhere. Your note didn't leave much to go by, Hell at that point I wasn't even sure you were alive. It was a sign that not only was I on the right track, but that it wasn't in vain." That said, he trotted from the room, calling over his shoulder. "Don't go freezing to death just to read a terminal!"

I turned back to the terminal, thinking about what he said. “Accomplished…” I muttered, wondering how running for ones life felt like it was accomplishing anything.

The snow storm was getting progressively worse, the weather pony in me was uncomfortable with the wild weather but even if I could halt the storm it wasn’t worth giving away our position to the Enclave. Instead I lost myself in the terminal, gathering more information about the weather generator and its functionality. I studied the screen for the Goddess know how long, so engrossed was I that I didn’t notice a little robot hover up to me. “Hello Sleet Gray.” The synthesized voice said. “You realize it is snowing, right?”

I jolted in surprise, fighting the instinct to reach for Black Powder. “Watcher!” I snapped. “What did I say about robots sneaking up on me?”

“I’m sorry.” The person behind the bot replied. “I can’t do much about the sprite-bot’s being so stealthy. The only other alternative is to play that terrible music.”

I nodded jerkily, when had I gotten so cold? “Whatever, what do you want?” I asked around chattering teeth.

“I wanted to check on you, after losing connection in Scrap River I was worried for your safety.”

“Of course.” I muttered, something nagging at me. I glared at the little robot as I hunched against the cold.

“Why else would I be here?” He (she, it, whatever) asked, somehow sounding perplexed.

“Checking how well your little plan worked?” I offered. “You sent Scout and Clarity into Scrap River not minutes before an army of raiders showed up, a situation suited to force the three of us to work together. In fact it rather handily proved your point of how much stronger we are as a whole than apart.”

“I didn’t know those raiders were coming.” Watcher said, though the inflectionless voice made his protests less effective. “Had I known, I would have encouraged you to leave the town.”

“Bullshit.” I said. “You’re Watcher, and from I’ve seen your name is well earned. You’re telling me that you didn’t see an entire army?”

“My method of watching is far from perfect, you saw as such.” I remembered the little bot suddenly losing connection and return to its usual motions just as the raiders appeared. “There is something about one of the Shadow King’s Lords that makes it hard to see when he’s around.”

Coming Storm, the ambient lightening coming from him must have shorted out the connection, I’d have to remember that. “Okay, let’s say I believe you, you can see that I’m safe so why approach me?” I decided to keep the tidbit I figured out to myself, when dealing with ponies who knew more than you anything you had up on them was a huge advantage.

“I came here to tell you a second critical piece of advice for surviving in the Wasteland. Obviously I didn’t get the chance earlier.”

I blinked. “That’s it? Just some advice? What is it, don’t get shot?”

I was answered with a synthetic chuckle. “No, I figure that would be common sense. The advice I have is meant more to save your spirit than your body.” If there could be levity in the bot’s tone, I felt that now is when it left. “My advice is to find your virtue.”

“My virtue? “ I asked, scrunching my eyebrows.

“Yes, Equestria’s greatest heroes each embodied one of the core tenants of pony life; loyalty, honesty, kindness, generosity, laughter, and magic. It was their virtues and their friendship that gave them the power to change the world.”

I looked up at the cloud cover far above. Night had fallen at some point, though I hadn’t really noticed. “I wonder if they could change this?” I muttered.

“They could.” Watcher replied. “Sadly, even the best of us can make mistakes. That is why it is more important than ever that ponies remember their virtues, so do not forever lose ourselves to the darkness.”

“Alright, so what? Pick one from the list and try it out, like finding your Cutie Mark?”

“Not exactly. The tenants are a good starting point, but virtues can be as unique as Cutie Marks.”

I chuckled humorlessly, maybe my virtue was mediocrity. “Hey Watcher?” I asked. “What’s your vir-“ The sprite-bot made a popping noise and patriotic music with gratuitous tuba emitted from the speakers. I watched as the little bot floated out the open air dome and into the night. Shivering, I trotted inside, my hooves crunching on the snow.
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Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk, Luna’s Eyes: You have grown acclimated to low-light conditions, your eyes more rapidly adjust to darkness and you can see better at night.

Ghost Stories

View Online

Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 8: Ghost Stories
“I don’t get many visitors, save for ghosts.”

The world was awash in white, biting cold cutting to my core. My hooves crunched through the deepening snow, each step slower than the last. I squinted against the endless white but I could only see a wall of snowflakes. I tried to reach out with my talent, maybe I could stop this before I froze to death. I flapped my wings, trying to halt the snow, but the wind only blew harder, and the storm blinded me. I held my wings over my face, my breath sounding weak and labored against the howling wind. Just keep walking, step, step, step, st-

My hoof caught something, a rock, a piece of ice I couldn’t be sure, and I tumbled. On Instinct I flung my wings out to try and lift off the ground, but the storm drove me down into the snow. The cold was painful, spiking at my exposed skin like a thousand frozen needles. I tried to lift myself up, but the cold sapped all power from my limbs. I lay there, my wings resting on the drift into which I had fallen, my muzzle barely in the air as the snow piled higher and higher…

With a violent shudder I awoke, freezing my tail off. Scrunching into a ball, I hissed against the chill. “W-wh-what the fuck?” I whispered. “Wh-wh-why is it s-s-s-so c-cold?” Not only was it cold, it was dark. I looked around for some indication of the freezing conditions, and spotted two figures lying still. “Scout? Clarity?” I asked, my voice rising with worry.

My eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. I could make out my friends more clearly, and I could see the steady rise and fall of their breathing. Okay, sleeping, not dead, good. That scare over, I continued to search for why it was so freaking cold. My mane was still wet with melted snow from my time in the miniature weather factory observatory. I pushed strands of gray out of my eyes, spotting the blanket I had been sleeping under. It was bunched up several feet away from me. I must have kicked it off in my sleep.

Grabbing the blanket, I wrapped myself up tightly and lay back down on the uncomfortable stone floor. Closing my eyes I tried to fall asleep again, but was beset by images of my frozen body buried in a snow drift. No sleep for me then. Hugging myself with my wings, I tried to ignore the biting cold. I wouldn’t go wandering off, not after what happened last time. Instead I laid there, huddled and alone in the dark, scared to death of sleep. “Goddesses it’s cold in here…” I muttered.

*****

Meager glints of sunlight were peeking through the dirty windows when my companions stirred. Scout was the first one up, waking almost simultaneously with the sun. I wondered faintly how such a light sleeper managed to not wake up during my nightmare-induced thrashings. “Sleet?” He said in a tone that suggested he had called my name a few times already.

Jolting slightly, I looked up from what I was working on. “Huh, what?”

“I asked what you were doing.” The earth pony repeated, trotting over to me and the scattered arcano-tech pieces on the floor.

“Oh, just uh….” I looked dully down at the pieces, what was I doing again? Oh yeah! “Just some maintenance, on uh” I dipped my head down and picked up a partially disassembled Black Powder. “zish.” The word ‘this’ being scrambled by the handle in my teeth. I wasn’t holding the gun at all properly in this state, which caused the orange focusing gem to slip from the casing. “Oh shht shht shht!” I slurred, scrambling to catch the gem.

Scout reached out a hoof and deftly caught the gem before it could smash on the floor. He handed it back to me and I mumbled a vague thank you while I slotted the gem back in its place. “Are you okay? You’re really out of it.”

Gently laying the gun down, I shook my head to clear a few cobwebs sticking to my brain. “Yeah, I’m okay, just a bit tired.”

“How long were you up in that observatory?”

“Not long, but I couldn’t sleep very well after I left.” My eyelids felt like they had dried to the point of sticking to my eyeballs. I blinked and it took far longer than it should have to open my eyes again. “Nightmares again…”

“Do you ever actually get a full night’s sleep?” Scout asked, his voice laced with concern.

“Um, I think the last time I did was when a bloodwing nearly drained me dry and I passed out…”

Scout was silent for a second before saying “Okay, come with me.”

“Huh, wait, why?”

“We are going to be going into incredibly dangerous territory soon and the last thing we need is you being dead on your hooves.” He trotted off, motioning to follow. “I found a Sparkle-Cola machine last night but didn’t loot it at the time.”

“What’s Sparkle-Cola got to do with keeping me awake?” I asked, scrambling to reconstruct Black Powder while following Scout. This involved me skipping on three or even two hooves while I fumbled with the pieces. Only when I was nearly finished with the reassembly did it occur to me that flying would free up my hooves to work while I moved. Flapping into the air, I completed my gun and flew after Scout.

“Sparkle-Cola is caffeinated.” He answered, not paying attention to my fumbling. “It’s not as good as actual sleep, but it’ll keep you from dropping out cold in the middle of a fight.” We came up to the vending machine, still somehow illuminated despite years of neglect. The glow was barely visible through the thick layer of dirt, but I could faintly make out a pegasus mare looking unreasonably happy about having this soda.

“I guess it’s still working.” I said, leaning in to examine the machine. There was a coin slot, requesting a single bit for the soda inside. “I wonder if there are any bits around here…” I muttered idly, looking about the room. I flapped over to a nearby desk and began rummaging through it, hoping some worker from long ago had left spare change in the desk drawer. My search was interrupted by a grunt of effort and a loud cracking sound. Jumping at the noise, I whirled around to find Scout standing before the pried open machine, a crowbar in his mouth. I stared blankly for a second before exclaiming “What the Hell!?”

Scout put the crowbar back in his saddlebags and gave me an incredulous look. “What?”

“You just…just… broke into it!” I sputtered, gesturing wildly at the compromised machine with my hooves.

“Well, yeah.” Scout said, as if talking to a filly. “It’s not like anypony is going to care about a two hundred year old vending machine being broken into.”

The dissonance of having a pseudo-society on the surface where things were bought and sold, and thusly things could be stolen as well and such acts would be punished, and then casually breaking into a vending machine like it was the most natural thing in the world was baffling my sleep-deprived brain. “You surface ponies make no sense…” I muttered weakly, rubbing my head.

Scout just rolled his eyes and pillaged the machine for the sodas within. He handed me one of the bottles, saying. “Drink this, you’ll feel more awake in no time.”

I took the bottle and popped off the cap. I went to toss the cap away before remembering that it was actually money down here, so instead I pocketed it. One cap to my name, Las Pegasus here I come. I thought as I took the first swig. The soda was as flat as the paved roads in Stalliongrad, but had a delicious carroty taste all the same. Tasty as it may have been, I wasn’t feeling any more awake as Scout had advertised. “I don’t feel any different.”

“Give it a minute, once it hits your system you’ll be nice and bright-eyed.” The survivalist trotted away, saddlebags clinking with glass bottles. “Now let’s get back before Clarity wakes up and thinks we left without her.” I flew behind him, drinking my soda along the way.

An hour later we were all up, had a plan ready to go, and I was on my third Sparkle-Cola. Scout hadn’t been kidding! My brain felt like it was buzzing in a thunderstorm and the whole world was a few notches brighter. It wasn’t perfect though, I could still feel the effects of my sleep-deprivation. I was bone tired physically and sleep nibbling was at my focus like shadows at the corners of my vision. Still, it was a lot better than how I had been, and in my hyped up state I was eager to start the next phase of our plan.

Since we were going to the Crystal Empire, which according to Clarity was putting out radiation like a balefire bomb, we would need copious amounts of anti-rad supplies. I was extremely nervous about going into such an irradiated zone, we had been taught from foalhood in the Enclave that the surface is a cesspit of radiation and disease and we were conditioned to fear those things. But much as I didn’t want to have any part in anything radioactive we would need to go into the Empire eventually or we’d never be able to restore the Heart.

To that end, Scout suggested we scavenge as much as possible from any nearby ruins. If we were lucky, we’d find enough Rad-X and Rad-Away to keep us from melting without having to break the bank with some merchant. “There’s another thing we are going to have to do before we hit the Empire though.” I said after draining the last drops from my current bottle. “We will need to find the other crystal ponies before we even have a chance of charging the restoration spell.” Clarity took a breath to protest, but I held up a placating hoof, continuing. “I know they won’t want outsiders like Scout and I around. If it’ll help ease tensions you can go on your own, which will give Scout and I more time to scavenge for supplies anyway. We’d just need a way to stay in contact in the meanwhile.”

The crystal mare shook her head. “No, it’s not just that.” She said. “The problem will be finding the other crystal ponies, I don’t know if I’ll be able to.”

“Why not?” Scout asked. “Even if Cat O’ Nine Tails had you blindfolded the whole way, surely you must know the general area.”

“That’s not the issue, I could find where I had lived easily. The thing is they aren’t going to stay there after being attacked. We regularly moved to different hiding places once a generation. If anything went wrong the moving would happen immediately.” She shook her head. “The problem is even though I know where most of the different hiding places are, the one they would choose is random. We could spend days running around the Frozen North and not find them before we died of exposure.”

Well that certainly threw a wrench in the plan. “There has to be some sort of pattern to it.” I said, my caffeinated brain searching for an answer. “What are the hiding places like?”

“They’re, well, hidden.” Clarity said vaguely, clearly uncomfortable with this line of conversation. “Usually some kind of cave.”

Helpful. “Well, at least we are all dressed warmly.” Clarity had put her walking-pile-of-cloth disguise back on and Scout had wrapped one of the spare blankets over his Stable barding. My coat, especially with the extra layer of armor, was more than suitable. “We can afford some trial and error, besides Sombra didn’t give us a timetable.”

“Are you sure working with him is the best idea?” Scout asked, furrowing his brow. “I mean, I know we weren’t given much choice, and you have your plan to…” I held a hoof up to his lips and pointed at his PipBuck with the other. Huffing in irritation, he turned on the radio and light. “betray him.” He finished, giving me an irritated look. “And why do you have me keep turning this thing on when we discuss that? I don’t like the attention it draws.”

“I’m not sure how, but Sombra is keeping tabs on us, or at least me.” Checking over my shoulder, I half expected to see glowing green eyes behind me. “Considering how he introduced himself I think it has something to do with shadows. Dispelling as many of them as possible and keeping up a sound buffer is the best bet for avoiding him listening in.”

“But it’s just a guess.” Scout said flatly, clearly feeling no better about it than I did.

“It’s the best guess.” I said defensively. “We don’t know a lot about him, we need to work with what we have.” I turned to Clarity, who had growing noticeably darker when Sombra was brought up. “Unless there is anything else you can tell us?”

“I’m afraid I told you everything I know. Stories about Som…” She froze, her face twisting as if the name left a disgusting taste in her mouth. After a few seconds she continued. “Stories about him usually focus on how he was defeated, triumphant legends to help little fillies and colts sleep at night.” I envied those foals, my head was pounding in a weak but persistent way. “Anything else is a cautionary tale about letting dark emotions take you over, never anything about who he is or what he is really capable of. I don’t think even Celestia and Luna knew everything about him when they defeated him the first time.”

“So the only real measuring stick we have of his abilities is ‘capable of conquering the Crystal Empire single-hoofedly’?” I asked. Clarity nodded sadly, prompting a sigh from Scout and I. “Great, so my answer for why I have you turn on your PipBuck hasn’t changed, Scout.”

Scout nickered in irritation before speaking. “Then like I was saying, did you really have to agree to Sombra’s terms? I’ve seen your smooth-talking, couldn’t you have found a way out of actually fixing the Empire and tying yourself to him?”

I rubbed my head with one hoof, the same thought had been nagging at me. During my time lying awake I had run through my encounter with Sombra a thousand different ways. Each different hypothetical came to the same conclusion. “Agreeing to the terms was the only way out of there alive. He played his cards right, between having Coming Storm be the one to escort us and having the meeting be smack in the center of Stalliongrad. We’d never have gotten out of there without his protection, which he wouldn’t have given without my compliance.” I spotted a ruin ahead and dropped to my hooves, sheathing my wings as I did.

“But didn’t Coming Storm say he had been sent to Scrap River after somepony else?” Clarity asked.

“I don’t believe him.” But that wasn’t quite right, after a beat I corrected myself. “Well, I believe that he believed that. If Sombra is tracking me somehow then that means he could have sent Coming Storm on the pretense of looking for another knowing that he’d find me.” I groaned, trying to untangle the enigmatic shadow pony’s plans was making my head pound worse.

“This is why I don’t like getting involved in politics, too many ulterior motives.” Scout muttered. “It seems to be a regular thing with you though.”

I grinned wryly, my hooves crunching in the snow. “The joys of growing up in a democracy.”

*****

Scout’s PipBuck labeled the ruined town “Heaven’s Point” and I could understand why. While it wasn’t quite a mountain, the hill that the town was built up around was definitely big enough to qualify as a landmark. The crumbling remains of homes and businesses rose in terraced rings around the hill, culminating with a castle at the top.

“Heaven’s Point…” Scout muttered, furrowing his brow. “I’ve heard of this place before. Ponies say it’s haunted.”

“Haunted?” I said incredulously. “Like, haunted by ghosts?”

“Yeah, but nopony can agree on what kind of ghosts. Depending on who you ask it’s either the ghosts of ponies from ages before the war angry that their ancestral home was bombed, or the vengeful spirits of ponies who died on the Last Day.” He looked up to the castle. It felt like the looming old building was watching us. “Guess I can understand why, this place is creepy.”

“What’s the matter Scout? Don’t tell me you’re scared of ghosts?” I had meant it as a joke to ease the tension, but the creepy town was getting to me as well, making my voice quaver. The old ruin was very clearly abandoned, but I got the sensation that it didn’t want us there. But that’s silly, a town can’t “want” things. I didn’t believe myself.

Silently, we entered the town, the sense of foreboding growing stronger. “Let’s get this done quickly.” Scout said, glancing about nervously. “Poke around the ruins, look for any indicators of good places to salvage and grab what you can from the rubble.” He bit his lip, mulling over the best way to go about it. “Bad as our luck has been with it so far, we should split up. My E.F.S. is coming up clean and it’ll make search go much faster.”

I was all for speed, for me the creepiest thing was that damn castle. I wanted to be out from under its gaze quickly. “Sounds like a plan, but try and stay close enough to call for help if you need it.”

With that we each set out to scavenge the ruins. Scout and Clarity searched the lower tier while I flew up to the ruins higher on the hill. Most of the roads had been destroyed, making climbing treacherous for my ground bound friends, so it was up to me to scout the higher terraces. Flying low over the rubble, I scanned for anything that stood out, but other than the occasional intact desk or trunk there wasn’t much.

The creepiness of the town did not fade with time spent in it. Several times I heard rubble shifting, but found no cause. The wind whistled mournfully through collapsed walls sounding like a chorus of the town’s former residents lamenting the destruction of their home. To top it all off the damned castle was omnipresent no matter where you were. Even when ducked behind a collapsed wall to shift through to debris I felt like I was hiding from a dragon.

Wanting to get out of the blasted town as quickly as possible, I redoubled my efforts. There had been the occasional lockbox or medicine cabinet with Rad-X or Rad-Away, but hardly the amount we needed. Rummaging through a desk, I found some bottle caps and little else.

I was about to take off again when something caught my eye. Clipboards were not an uncommon sight as I was beginning to learn. When Sister had said things before the War were made to last, she hadn’t been kidding. Usually I ignored them, but the paper on this one was actual readable. “Well, Scout did say look for any clues.” I muttered, scanning the page.

It proved to be worthwhile, the paper was a prescription written for whomever had lived in the house before the war, and the prescription had come from a hospital. The fact that the town had its spooky reputation meant it was relatively untouched, and if the hospital was equally pristine then that meant it was likely to be packed with supplies. “Jackpot.” I said, grinning fiercely. I checked the paper for the hospital’s location, and when I found it my grin faded. “Oh you’re kidding me…” I looked up to the creepy castle which, according to this paper, was the hospital. “Thunder and lightning, why there?”

I received no answer, except to feel a sudden, intense pressure around my neck. My hooves flew to my throat, but there was nothing there. Except something HAD to be there because I was being strangled! The pressure tightened and lifted me slightly off my hooves. Desperately, I flapped my wings, and the pressure lessened as I flew straight up.

It became a race, my wings against the invisible noose. I flew against whatever was pulling it tight, sucking in air whenever I gained a bit of an advantage. Slowly, painfully slowly, I started to win out. I had been barely keeping ahead of the noose’s tightening, but now it was beginning to waver. The town was getting smaller and smaller below me, and I could faintly make out a glowing light behind a wall where I had been standing.

Finally I go out of range of whatever spell was causing this. And a spell it had to be, I could see a pony shaped shadow under the glowing light and as it sputtered out the figure galloped haltingly over the uneven terrain. My vision flashed red. “Oh Hell no!” I growled, diving towards my assailant. The approach was rapid, the little unicorn growing larger with each passing second. I beat my wings, creating a coating of frost on the rocks ahead of my attacker.

Screaming in shock, the off-white unicorn slipped on the frost and went down heavily. I landed, my legs spread over her with my wings flared and a cold wind blowing. Desperately, the mare lit up her horn. “What the FUCK,” I yelled, bringing my hoof down on the horn “is it with ponies trying to STRANGLE me!?” The unicorn screamed and tried to thrash out from under me. I increased the pressure on her horn and felt it bend dangerously. “Well? Answer me!”

“Get off me you brute!” The mare wailed, tears of pain leaking from her eyes.

“I want to know why you attacked me.” I growled, low and dangerous. “And if you try again…” I tensed my leg.

Her voice hiccupped out through broken sobs, hardly making her seem the deadly assassin. “Fine! Fine, I’ll tell you and I won’t attack! Just please stop, you’re gonna break it!”

I raised my hoof and took a step back. The unicorn sat up, rubbing her horn and whimpering pathetically. When she looked up she was met with the barrel of Black Powder, I wasn’t about to take any chances. “Shtart talkin’” I said around the grip, trying very hard not to slur.

“Not my fault you are a pegasus, too stupid to stay away from the haunted town…” An orange bolt of super-heated magic shot by, close enough to singe her brown mane. She screamed, tucking into a ball. “We just want to be left alone! We spread rumors the town is haunted so you ponies will stay away! But some of you outsiders are just too dense to get the message and come here anyway, so we have to take action!”

So enraged was I that I dropped Black Powder to scream at her. “And that action is to,” My eyes widened as something hit me “kill ponies?” Shit, Scout and Clarity! Picking up Black Powder I left the mare, whom I just realized was wearing a suit of ornate Stable barding. No time to mull that over, blasting off as fast as I could, I scanned the rubble for signs of my friends.

A blur of green stood out, Scout was rushing over the uneven terrain as fast as he could. Dropping altitude I pulled up next to him. “Good, you’re alive.” He gasped, eyes shifting between the rubble in front of him and something in the bottom left corner of his vision. I could only guess it was his E.F.S. “Have you seen Clarity?”

“No.” I spat around the handle of my gun. “What happened to you?”

“Unicorn tried to trip me up and break my neck, shot him, grazed his leg, he ran.” I was consistently impressed with Scout’s ability to stay alive. I supposed it really shouldn’t be a surprise, given all that’s happened. Rapidly shifting direction, Scout began skidding down the hill. “This way! One hostile one friendly!”

Even with gravity on his side, Scout had to be careful on his descent, and we couldn’t afford the delay. Well it worked once. I thought as an idea hit me. Flapping above Scout, I wrapped my legs around his belly and lifted him off the ground. We couldn’t get any real altitude, so it was more a repeat performance of my skipping-flight escape from Talon Mountain except with two ponies. With Scout’s directions we quickly found the contacts. Rounding a corner, we spotted the two figures, one on their knees. Scout skidded to a stop as I leapt off him. We both fell into firing stances, but before we could release a volley, we froze at the strange scene.

Another unicorn in fancied up Stable barding, this one a silver-coated stallion with a midnight blue mane, was kneeling before Clarity (who had lost the hood of her disguise), muttering “I’m so sorry! I had no idea!” Clarity looked at us, appearing as dumbfounded as Scout and I.

“Okay, what the fuck is going on?” Scout asked. The baffled mare shrugged.

The prostrating unicorn looked up at Scout’s question and became instantly incensed. “You fools, on your knees! Don’t you know to show deference to your betters?”

“Betters?” I said, tilting my head. Clarity wasn’t my better, Hell if I hadn’t freed her she’d technically be my slave. “Who are you?”

“I,” the stallion declared, putting a hoof to his chest “am Comet Strike of Stable 126. I’d ask who you are, but frankly I don’t care.” He turned again to Clarity and his imperious nature melted away to awe. “I care much more for you! A representation of a wondrous age, perhaps a sign! Tell me, what is your name?”

“Um,” Clarity said, looking flattered, annoyed, and uncomfortable all at once. “My name is Clarity, and…”

“A beautiful name! Most appropriate! Come m’lady, you must see the Stable for yourself and all the wonders it has to offer!” Magically, he grabbed Clarity’s hoof and began to drag her away.

“Hold on a second!” I protested, stepping forward. “You send assassins after Scout and I and now that you find Clarity you just leave?” A weird part of me felt cheated, if you were going to threaten the lives of two of us, then you threaten all of us damnit!

“Quiet, brute!” Comet Strike snapped, glaring at me. “Your meager lives will be spared, you must have some merit after all or Lady Clarity wouldn’t deign to have you in her entourage.” Wait, what? He thought Clarity was the leader of our group? “But know that if you reveal the true nature of this town then you shall suffer wrath unending! Be gone!”

The unicorn dragged the protesting Clarity away while Scout and I stood stunned for a solid ten seconds. Just as they were about to round a corner, Clarity looked back at us. “Uh, guys? Help?” I shook myself back to wakefulness and galloped after them, Scout close behind.

“Hey! Let her go!” I cried as we caught up.

“I said leave, brute!” Comet Strike called over his shoulder.

Taking to the air, I soared over the upstart unicorn and landed in front of him, my nose practically touching his. “And why do you keep calling me that?”

Comet Strike looked ready to hit me, but another voice spoke up. “It’s because you’re a pegasus, and pegasi are brutes.” I turned to see the mare that had tried to strangle me walking up to us.

“That’s ridiculous! What would make you say that?”

She shrugged. “It’s what we were taught. Pegasi are warlike brutes and earth ponies are lower class peasants.” She spotted Clarity and her eyes widened. “Oh Goddesses…”

Okay, we weren’t getting into this again. I purposefully stepped between the mare and Clarity. “What do you mean you were taught this?” I asked loud enough to not be ignored.

She looked irritated that I had blocked her sight, but I matched her glare with one of my own and she relented. “It’s how everypony in our Stable was raised. We are the unicorns, the aristocracy, the rightful rulers by birth. That is the way it was during the era of the three tribes and that is what it must be now.” She snorted, looking over the town walls to the Wasteland outside. “Still, the world is very dangerous. We have to be careful, take things slow or else we run the risk of biting off more than we can chew.” She turned her glare back on me. “Which is WHY we like keeping our town abandoned!”

“And why I told you to leave.” Comet Strike said. “Leave and never speak of this place!”

“We aren’t going anywhere without Clarity.” I declared, matching their glares.

The Stable pony sighed, rolling his eyes. “Listen, I’m sure you have some antiquated sense of ‘warrior honor’ or what have you, but your services are no longer needed. You probably made a fine bodyguard, but she will be perfectly safe in the Stable.”

“I don’t want to go to your Stable!” Clarity said, finally yanking her hoof free of Comet Strike’s telekinetic grip. “And they aren’t my bodyguards, they’re my friends!”

My heart soared at the same time Comet Strike’s sank. “But…but why would you befriend these barbarians?” He asked, his voice aching with confusion.

Clarity magically pulled off the rest of her disguise, revealing the scars along her back. The two Stable unicorns recoiled in horror at the sight. “Because they saved my life, and freed me from slavery.”

“Who would dare…?” The mare who attacked me whispered, eyes fixed on the scars.

“Out there, race doesn’t mean much.” Clarity continued. “After all, it was another unicorn that gave me these.”

“N-no.” Comet Strike stuttered, his eyes unblinking. “No, that can’t be true. We would never…”

“YOU would never.” Clarity said, cutting him off. “But YOU do not represent all unicorns.” She looked back at Scout and I and smiled. “But not everypony out there is bad, these two are testament to that.” I smiled back at the same time that my gut was clenching guiltily. The way I saved her hadn’t been completely virtuous after all.

The 126 unicorns looked at each other, their faces a mixture of confusion and horror. “Still,” Comet Strike began hesitantly “we would like for you to come see our Stable. At least so you can see what we have to offer.”

Clarity asked for a minute so we could decide. We huddled together away from the two unicorns. “Well? What do you think?” Clarity asked.

“I say we leave, they already tried to kill us once.” Scout muttered. “I don’t trust them not to try it again.”

“I don’t think they’ll attack if I tell them not to.” Clarity said, glancing back at the unicorns who were shuffling uncomfortably.

“They managed to make this place into a literal ghost town! They’re good at killing ponies silently, all they’d need a half a minute without you around. And since we just majorly challenged their world view, they’ll want us gone.” Scout said. Turning to me he asked. “Sleet, what do you think?”

I looked up at the creepy castle, er, hospital and came to an unpleasant decision. “We still need supplies.” I said, pursing my lips. “I learned that that castle is an old hospital, it may have what we need. I say we ask them about it, go loot it if we can, and get the Hell out of here.” The others looked as apprehensive as I felt about the place, but nodded. Turning back to the unicorns, I pointed to the castle with my wing. “I found something indicating that that old place is a hospital. The only reason we came here was to scavenge medical supplies, do you know if it’s still stocked? We’ll take what we need, get out of your manes, and you’ll never hear from us again.”

If they had been taken aback by Clarity’s scars, they were downright terrified when I mentioned the castle. “You want to go where!?!” The mare asked, eyes wide. “You can’t go to the castle! It’s haunted!”

My friends and I traded confused looks. “I thought you were the ghosts.” I said slowly. Damn it felt good to use that “talking to a naïve filly” tone on somepony else!

“No, no, no, we pretend to be ghosts to scare ponies away.” She said, shaking her head. “But up there…” She shot a worried glance up to the castle. “Up there are these…creatures. Guardians created by magic long ago. They didn’t die when megaspells came, and they still perform their duty. They protect the castle by killing anypony that enters. You can’t see or hear them coming until their claws are at your throat…”

“And has anypony actually gone up there?” I asked, cutting off her fearful rambling.

“Once, long ago.” Comet Strike said. “There is a tunnel directly connecting our Stable to the castle, it was a bastion of the ancient unicorns in ages past so it was only right that we would reclaim it. But when a scouting party went up there only one returned with stories of the geister and how they killed the others.”

“So do you know what these ‘geister’ look like or how to kill them?”

“Nopony has dared to go up there since the first scouting party went, and that was a hundred years ago after the Stable unsealed. But from what was said, they are unkillable. You destroy them and they just keep coming back.”

So all we had to go on was the word of a survivor of some mysterious attack one hundred years ago, great. These unicorns were sounding less like “chosen people saviors” and more like “xenophobic, superstitious cowards” the more I heard. “Listen, we need large amounts of Rad-Away and Rad-X, so unless your Stable would like to donate to the cause,” my asking for charity received the amount of haughty indignation I expected, “then we need to go up there.”

The two shuffled uncomfortably. Finally, the mare said. “Fine, we can show you the way up there, but we won’t be going in.”

“Fine by me.” I said, and with that we set off. The two unicorns knew the winding, uneven pathways up and down the hill well and were able to guide us effectively. The trip was mostly silent, which was starting to get to me. The castle (hospital, whatever) was still incredibly creepy. I’d almost believe it was haunted with the way it felt like it was watching us. Much as I disliked the unicorns of Stable 126, I needed something to take my mind off the castle and furthermore I was curious about them. “So why haven’t you connected to the outside world?” I asked.

“Like I said, it’s too dangerous.” The mare reiterated. “And we…aren’t as strong as we should be.”

“Opal!” Comet Strike admonished. “What are you doing?”

“They already know we’re hiding! What does it matter now?” Opal countered. Addressing me again, she continued. “There was a schism in the Stable about ten years ago. For ages we had been telling ourselves we would go out and restore the world and be welcomed as saviors.” That rhetoric sounded familiar. I looked to the clouds, unsurprised when I saw nothing but a gray sheet. “Well there was one pony, a popular noble named Guiding Light, who was tired of waiting. He built a huge following and took them out into the world against the wishes of the Overmare. Now we barely have enough ponies to run the Stable, and with more thinking of leaving every day.”

“I think I’ve heard of them.” Scout said, furrowing his brow. “Run around the Wasteland picking fights with ponies who don’t meet their ‘standards’? Walk into towns like they own them and try and ‘fix’ them? Call themselves the Seraphim?”

Opal nodded. “That sounds like them. Guiding Light was always zealous in whatever he did, but he was also impatient.” She sighed and hung her head. “He could have done real good in 126 if he’d stayed.”

That was also familiar, it was what a lot of pegasi thought of Rainbow Dash. It was one of the reasons becoming a Dashite was such a great dishonor for the defector and their family. By following in Rainbow Dash’s hoofsteps, they were not only proving their disloyalty, but also denying the Enclave their skills.

The conversation fell off as we neared the castle. Rounding the corner of a broken building, we came to the beginning of a remarkably well preserved pathway. The knee high stone walls were still intact and the paving stones looked like they could have been placed yesterday. The only sign of age was the skeletal remains of shrubs lining the winding path. In another time it would have been idyllic, now with the creepy castle and the dead plants it was just foreboding. The creepy factor was ramped up when I noticed there were gargoyles perched on ledges all over the castle. The grotesque bat-winged demons carved from stone held their vigil, watching over the dead town with empty grey eyes. “This is as far as we go.” Comet Strike said. “Go in, get what you need, and leave quickly. Never come back here.”

“That won’t be a problem.” I said, glaring at the stallion as he and Opal turned tail and fled. “Cowards.” I muttered. Turning back to the castle, I began trotting up the pathway with my friends close behind. The trip was deathly silent, save the clopping of our hooves. None of us dared talk, even though we had yet to see a sign of these geister. But fear is irrational, and so lost was I in its grip that when another sound broke the silence I practically leapt from my skin. I looked rapidly about for the source of the noise before realizing I had heard it before. This realization brought no comfort, the sound was the distinct click-click-click of Scout’s radiation meter. “Goddesses, this place is radioactive too?!” I groaned.

Scout checked his PipBuck, frowning. “It’s stronger than the trace amount from St. Ponysburg, but still weak. We should be fine if we move quickly.”

“But isn’t this counterintuitive?” I asked, feeling my skin crawl. “Going into a radioactive place to get supplies meant to survive radiation?”

The earth pony sighed in frustration. Reaching into his saddlebags he pulled out a bag with color coded tablets in it. Passing the tablets out he said, “Here, Rad-X, take it.” Popping the tablet into my mouth and chewing, I nearly coughed up the chalky substance. Taking a swift pull from a canteen, I swallowed the radiation-dampening medicine. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but my body felt cooler. “Now let’s hurry, I don’t want to burn through this stuff.”

We set off at a quick trot to the hospital doors. As we approached the ornate wooden portals, the radiation meter began to click faster. “Um, Scout?” I asked nervously.

“With the Rad-X we’re still only getting one rad a second.” He assured me. Nevertheless we all increased our pace. The clicking became louder. “Two a second…” We were almost to the doors, now galloping. “Three…” I glanced up and swear I saw a pair of glowing green eyes watching me from a window.

Scout blasted through the front door at full tilt, but scrambled to a stop just as quickly. Clarity and I barely stopped from running into him. “What’s the matter?” I asked. “We should keep going!”

Scout was silent for a second, alternatively checking his PipBuck and the foyer around us. “It stopped.” He said, baffled.

“What did?” Clarity asked, her horn glowing as she tensed for something to attack.

“The radiation. We’re completely cool right here.” He looked around the foyer, other than sparse furnishings it was empty. There was a reception desk with a number of terminals on it, which he nodded to. “Sleet, see if you can find anything out.”

I had been trying to puzzle out the sudden lack of radiation, so it took me a second to react. “Huh?” I spotted the terminals. “Oh, okay.” Goddesses, but I felt slow. I needed sleep, or another Sparkle-Cola. Fluttering my wings, I leapt over the desk and examined the terminals. All but one of them was dead, so I set on the still-glowing one with vigor. The encryption was disappointingly weak, I suppose even in Stalliongrad a secretary didn’t have much need for digital security.

The contents of the terminal were expectedly dull. Appointments, bills, meetings and the like cluttered the folders. I was about to declare the information useless to our search when I spotted something, a shipping invoice. “Bingo.” I said, grinning widely. The invoice reported a large shipment of anti-radiation supplies including hazardous environmental suits! The best part was the order had come in mere days before the end, meaning that it should still all be there!

I informed my friends of the discovery. “Great, now we just have to find it. Does it say where the shipment is?” Scout asked.

I scanned the invoice again before finding the answer. “Says here it’s in the basement. Should be enough to last us a lifetime.”

“Then let’s not waste time.” Scout said, already trotting for the door leading deeper into the facility. As soon as he opened the door, his PipBuck started clicking again. “Wait, what the Hell?” He retracted his leg back into the foyer and the clicking stopped. “I’ve never seen radiation so localized.”

“Is that even possible? Is the door made of lead?” Clarity asked, tilting her head.

“I don’t know, but it means I’m not going through there.” I declared, going for another door. I flung it open while Scout berated me for being so picky. At least I think that’s what he was saying, the cold fear gripping my heart made it difficult to pay attention.

At the end of the hall was a ghoul. Memories of my first night in the Wasteland hit me like a load of bricks. The poor lost buck screaming, shooting, wailing as he was eaten. The hordes of shambling dead chasing me down. Though the wound was long since healed, my flank burned just above my Cutie Mark with the memory of the zombie’s teeth. Slowly it tilted its head toward me and I screamed.

The monster screamed back, the horrible, soul-chilling screech that had haunted my nightmares. It charged me, slavering like a starved hound. I couldn’t move, why couldn’t I move!? Damnit Sleet get out of the way! Get your gun, blast it with ice do SOMETHING!

Something shoved me to the side, breaking the trance as I fell. Scout slid into place, taking quick aim and firing his battle saddle. The shot tore into the ghouls head, spraying blood and ichor behind it. The zombie pony dropped, truly dead. I stared at the corpse, my breathing quick and panicked. I felt Scout grab my shoulders and turn me away. Looking at my friend instead of the zombie brought me out of the fearful haze, at least somewhat. “Sleet! Are you okay?” Scout asked, shaking me gently.

I closed my eyes, swallowed, took a deep breath and opened them again. “Well, I think we found the geister.” I said weakly. My gaze shifted back to the body, expecting it to get up.

“Probably.” Scout said, following my gaze. After a second he looked back to me. “You gonna be okay?”

No, I’m not, I’m terrified. “Yeah, I’m okay.” I lied.

Scout didn’t look at all convinced. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Tearing my eyes away from the body, I pushed myself up onto my hooves. “Let’s get going, and keep an eye out for more of those…things.” My heart was still going a thousand miles an hour, but I managed to control my breathing and start moving.

We set down the hallway, carefully stepping over the dead ghoul. Scout took point, both to watch for more ghouls and to more quickly detect these strange pockets of radiation. I wasn’t paying much attention to anything. I simply kept my eyes locked on the back of Scout’s head and put one hoof in front of the other. I needed control, I needed calm. I couldn’t afford to break down like that every time I saw a ghoul. If Scout hadn’t been there waves of ghouls chomping at my hooves, broken teeth scraping my flesh as I’m slowly lowered…

“Sleet!” Clarity said, breaking me from the daydream.

“What?!” I said harshly, jumping. Damnit my head hurt, damnit my eyes felt heavy, and why was everything all blurry? Had I fallen asleep while walking?

“Sleet, what’s wrong?” The crystal mare asked as I swiped at my eyes with a wing.

I wiped away the film of sleep, blinking rapidly. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just tired.”

“It’s not just that, I can see it. When you saw that ghoul something changed, everything around you got darker.”

“Well of course seeing the ghoul unsettled me!” I growled. “I haven’t been down in this hellhole long enough to be used to the zombies!” And as if the Wasteland heard me and wanted to throw salt on the wound, Scout’s PipBuck started to click. “Or that.”

“But that’s more than just being unsettled.” Clarity said while we stopped to let the survivalist check the area with his radiation meter. “You were completely paralyzed, and you still haven’t…”

“Clarity, please.” I interrupted, trying to keep the harsh tone out of my voice and just sounding weary instead. “I know you’re concerned, but I was startled and I’m tired. I’ll be fine.” The crystal mare did not like how I was brushing her concerns aside, but frankly I didn’t care. I wanted out of this damned castle, and getting head checked by the mare with the magic eyes wasn’t going to make that happen any faster.

The rads originated from a T-intersection the hall we were in connected too. Scout checked the other branches and the collection of offices lining the hall’s left wall for a safe way to go. While Scout poked around I opened a nearby window and stuck my head outside. At some point we must have climbed a flight of stairs, because the ground was at least a story below. Had that happened while I was nodding off? My body had been moving mechanically, was it possible that I could climb stairs while so out of it?

The cool air was refreshing, the bite of the wind helping to keep me awake. The experience was somewhat ruined by the ugly gargoyle perched not five feet away from me. The statue had a weird body shape, like some kind of lanky primate though the arms and claws were hugely disproportional. The worst part was the face, it had a thin, leering visage with a pronounced pointed chin and equally long ears. The beady eyes looked like they were waiting for something to walk by down below so it could pounce.

Shuddering, I retreated into the castle. “Well, bad news, there is no path other than though the rads.” Scout informed us.

“I think we should search these rooms.” I said, gesturing to the doors lining the hall. “See if we can get anything good out of them.”

“But we already have the location of the shipment.” Scout argued. “From what you said there is more than enough in it to purge us of any rads we build up along the way.”

“True, but it doesn’t hurt to be thorough. I know I certainly don’t want to make a second trip here.” I said as evenly as I could. Even though I had spoken ill of the Stable unicorns’ bravery, my conditioning from the Enclave still had me fearful of the radiation. Any plausible excuse to delay going in it I would take.

Scout sighed, it was obvious he could see my fear, but he also couldn’t argue my logic. “Fine, but we split up and make it quick. This place is creeping me out.”

I was all for quick. Opening the door to the nearest office I trotted inside, delighted to find a working terminal inside. My excitement waned considerably when I noticed the skeleton of who I assumed had been the office’s owner huddled under the desk with the terminal still logged on. Shuddering, I decided to leave the terminal for last and I scoured the room. There wasn’t much, some pre-war bits in the drawer, some preserved food on the desk, and little else.

Even though we had been told to be quick, curiosity tugged at me. Being careful not to jostle the skeleton, I settled at the terminal. A large menu of personal diaries was displayed, at least one entry a day until the end of the world and one after. I selected a random date about two months before the end and started reading.

>I’m not sure what’s gotten into the director lately. He seems to think that we are a priority target for the zebras, imagine that! I know the Stripes are vile, but I doubt they’d care about some local hospital on the far side of Stalliongrad. How would they even get here?

A scratching sound from the direction of the hallway broke my concentration. Thinking it was a ghoul, I pulled out Black Powder and edged towards the door. Nothing, the hallway was deserted. “Shcout?” I called out, my voice slurred by the pistol grip. No response.

Cautiously, I retreated back into the room. Settling back at the terminal, I checked the door one last time before selecting a new entry.

>Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for more security, especially after that incident down in maintenance. I just don’t think it’s a good use of the hospital’s resources to install all these anti-radiation measures. The Ministry of Peace’s funds are stretched enough as it is, they can’t give aid to some little hospital way out in the north. If many more of these dampeners are put I the walls we aren’t going to have the bits to take care of ponies!

Dampeners? Maybe that explained the pockets of radiation. Maybe some of the dampeners had fallen out of repair over the years and that was what was causing it. Still, we didn’t know the actual source…

Another noise, like footsteps. They weren’t hooves, they were too heavy. Galloping for the door, I rapidly scanned the halls. Still nothing. Was I going crazy, or was this place really haunted?

>This is getting out of hoof. The director held a meeting today, revealed something about the hospital. We all knew this place was an old Unicorn Tribe stronghold, but apparently when it was being renovated they found a bunch of old magic tomes in the basement. The M.A.S. took them and apparently discovered an old technique to animate stone! They recreated it to make these guardian creatures, and the director went and offered to use this place as a test site! He wants to bring experimental magical constructs HERE! We have children, injured soldiers, we can’t have this!

Animated stone? Was such magic even possible. There was another noise, I looked out the doorway. There was a window on the opposite wall, it must have been a great view in the past. Slowly, my heart hammering, I turned back to the monitor, selecting the penultimate entry.

>This can’t be happening, this isn’t happening! It’s gotta be a trick, some sick fucking joke! But I can see it, bright lights, brighter than bright, everywhere! Alarms are going off, the dampeners are overloading! Were we hit dire-

The message skipped several line before continuing.

>Oh Goddesses what happened? Outside is, it’s gone! Just gone! Those damned gargoyles are dust! How is this place still standing?

There was a louder scratching, like claws on glass. I didn’t look away, I couldn’t stop reading, the last entry was two sentences long.

>They didn’t die. They won’t let us out.

A cold breeze ruffled my mane. Slowly, I turned my head to look out the opposite window. The grotesque creature moved with deliberate slowness through the open window, dust falling from its stony form. As its clawed talons clacked onto the floor, it looked up with its glowing green eyes staring right at me and in that moment I realized I had been mistaken about the identity of the geister.

We held each other’s gaze for a second that felt like an hour. My chest clenched as my heart froze under the piercing eyes. All at once the tension broke, my heart beat, I took a step back, and with an ear-rending screech the gargoyle, the true giest, charged me.

I backpedaled rapidly, but I quickly bumped into the wall. The office was tiny, and as the horrible monster rushed through the doorway it looked like it took up the whole room. With no way back, I threw myself forward, diving under the creature’s bowed legs. The claws raked at my back, but the armor plates protected me from the worst of the blow. The physical force still nearly knocked me off my hooves, but my flesh was spared.

My instincts screamed at me, fly fly fly! Without stopping I, scrambled from under the giest’s legs, ran across the hall, and leapt out the open window, pumping my wings to soar away from the haunted hospital. For a short, glorious second, I thought I was free, but my momentum was arrested abruptly when stony claws dug into my tail. I screamed as inequine strength pulled me back through the window, easily fighting my wings. I scrambled at the sill with my hooves, desperately trying to anchor myself.

More claws gripped my mane, yanking my head back. Pain surged in my scalp and back as I was bent the wrong way. My mind was already a dark whirlwind of panic, seeing the wicked green eyes and too-thin face upside down leering at me nearly sent me over the edge. My muscles burned as I strained against it. Terror filled my throat like cement, choking out my screams. I could only whimper, feeling my hooves slip an inch at a time as the patient monster dragged me inexorably to my doom by gray tail and mane.

There came a crack of thunder and the lanky arm trying to fold me in half backwards suddenly lost all strength. I had only a second to watch the monster’s shoulder explode into dust before my straining against its grip shot my head forward. I looked down at the ground below, feeling the claws untangle from my mane, grains of dust coming down like rain around my head.

The giest gave a warbling screech of pain and I felt it let go of my tail. Some part of me must have known what was going on, because it fought the rest of me that was screaming to jump out the window and fly away. That other part pulled me back into the hallway and made me scramble to the source of the thunder, which proved to be Scout and his battle saddle. Clarity stood next to him, firing her pistol. Her weapon, being of a lower caliber, did less damage but kept the creature back while Scout aimed his more devastating rifles.

He fired again. I felt a round whizz past my ear and dropped onto my stomach instinctively. As I did, I heard the giest scream again. Looking over my shoulder, I saw a good portion of its chest blown away from the left shoulder inward. The wound bled dust, and from it protruded a pulsating green something. Scout fired a third time and the giest let out the loudest, most agonized scream yet as the glowing protrusion was struck.

The creature staggered into the irradiated hallway. The protrusion glowed a solid sickly green and the bleeding stopped. Dust from the hallway floor, even some from my hair, glowed with the same light and whirled towards the giest, filling in the wound. The damage to the arm must have been too great to repair for whatever was repairing it, as the limb did not regrow. With a final, hateful screech the giest rounded the corner and vanished.

The hall fell eerily silent. Scout and Clarity trotted over to me, not taking their eyes off of the hallway. With only quick glances down at me, the two helped me to my hooves. We all stood, staring at the point where the giest had fled. My heart hammered and would not stop. The back of my mane itched like it could feel claws reaching for it. My shoulders wouldn’t release the tension they held. I felt for certain that my friends were in the same condition. After a small forever, paralyzed in that fear filled silence, Clarity spoke in a small voice. “We need to leave.”

*****

But they wouldn’t let us leave.

For the umpteenth time I tried to freeze the lock on the main doors, and for the umpteenth time Scout bucked at the lock and failed to shatter it. The weight of the doors and the fact that they opened inward meant they would not bend enough to break the brittle metal. Clarity tried to break the lock by applying force with her telekinesis, and when the two worked together they nearly did it. But when it looked like the lock would break the sound of the geister screeching and clawing at the doors sent us scurrying away.

“Okay, now what?” Clarity asked, looking about worriedly.

“Now we need to find another way out of here.” Scout said, consulting his PipBuck. “If we rush through the irradiated hallway we should be able to make it too the basement.”

“But we can’t go into the radiation.” I said, shaking my head firmly.

Scout’s eye twitched. “Look, Sleet, I know radiation makes you uncomfortable but we don’t have a lot of options here!”

“It’s not the radiation I’m worried about!” I snapped back. Okay, that was a lie, but I was tired and scared and not thinking terribly clearly, or in a whole lot of emotional control. “You saw that thing! It went into the radiation on purpose, they like it!” I felt like I was in Sister’s infirmary again after I just woke up, my head spinning with options that wouldn’t stick, making me feel sick to my stomach.

“We can’t just sit here though!” Scout said. “If we stay we’ll just waste away.”

“Maybe that’s what they want.” I said, recalling the skeleton huddled under the desk. “Maybe they just want to herd us like fucking brahmin!” I had started pacing, my agitation and fear translating into nervous energy. “This is just great, penned INSIDE a Goddesses-damned castle, aren’t these things supposed to keep ponies OUT?” I giggled as something occurred to me. “Hey, you guys think this place’ll withstand Cauterize? After all, it took the apocalypse pretty well! Sure everypony else in the whole fucking world will be dead but hey, we would’ve made it!”

Scout and Clarity traded glances. “Sleet, calm down.” Scout said, approached slowly.

“No, I will not calm down!” I yelled, lashing at him with a wing. I resumed my frantic pacing, gaining speed as my mind spun faster and faster. “We dead! Fucking dead! Our choices are sit here and starve or try to leave and get torn to shreds! Hell, maybe the dampener here will fail and we’ll just die of radiation poisoning!”

“Wait,” Clarity said, furrowing her brow “what will fail?”

“The dampener!” I said, stopping my pacing. “The director here was just as fucking crazy as the one at the StableTec factory! He installed rad dampeners in the walls, some of them busted, that’s why we aren’t getting cooked here, this one works.”

“Sleet, I want you to listen to me.” Clarity said forcibly. “Tell me about these dampeners, how’d you learn about them?”

My scrambled brain slowly focused on the information she wanted. “Um, the doctor’s terminal, from the office I was searching. He wrote a log saying the director had these things installed. Some incident in the maintenance department.” The more I talked the more I focused, and the more I focused the less I panicked. “The terminal also told me about the geister. Apparently there were these old tomes here that some Ministry took. They learned how to animate stone and made these things as guardians.”

“That doesn’t makes sense though.” Clarity said, shaking her head. “Why would they make these things feed on radiation?”

“Huh?” Scout and I said simultaneously.

“It’s like Sleet said, they like the radiation.” She said. “And once it was in the rads it started to regenerate. Why would a Ministry trying to stop the war make a guardian that ran off of a byproduct of the war?”

That final, chilling message came back to me. They didn’t die. They won’t let us out. “I don’t think they were always like this.” I said. “The log entries I was reading mentioned that the gargoyles had been pulverized, but they are obviously still here. I think some part of them survived, and the radiation changed them.”

“What could survive a balefire bomb?” Clarity asked incredulously.

“Apparently this place did.” I said, gesturing to the room around us. “And rather well too. This is the single most intact building I’ve seen that hasn’t shown signs of repair.”

“How they survived doesn’t really matter.” Scout said. “I just want to know how to kill them.”

“Well we know that they regenerate in radiation. If we can isolate them in a dampened room…” I was cut off by the sound of growling coming from the halls. The three of us froze, watching the doors. “They wouldn’t come at us on purpose would they?” I whispered. I had the sneaking suspicion that the geister were smarter then they looked. The one that attacked me probably did so because it thought I was alone, attacking all three of us in a room where they were vulnerable was suicidaly stupid. It was impossible to pinpoint where the growls were coming from.

There were three doors in the room, the main set of doors that we had entered through, the door leading to the hall where we encountered the giest, and the hall that had been irradiated. Clarity and I were watching the door we had explored while Scout watched the main doors, but nopony was watching the other. I heard under the growls a rough shuffling, a disturbingly familiar noise. Looking over my shoulder, I saw a rotted ghoul making its shambling way into the room from the unwatched door.

“S-S-S-Scout.” I managed to choke out, unable to tear my eyes from the walking horror. Scout followed my gaze and dropped into a firing stance.

That was when the ghoul struck. Howling like a demon it charged, gnashing at Scout with broken teeth. Despite the nerve-freezing fear the thing instilled in me, a small, coldly rational part of me wasn’t worried. It was just one ghoul, and Scout had seen it with plenty of time to react and shoot. There should be no…

Another ghoul rushed from the hallway. And another behind it. And another. The sounds of screeching zombies grew stronger. There was a horde of them. One of the ghoul’s heads exploded as Scout took it down with careful efficiency. Another took its place before losing a leg at the knee. A pink light radiated from beside me, and the sharp barks of Clarity’s pistol cut through my fearful stupor.

“Wake up Sleet!” She screamed, shoving me with her hooves while she reloaded her gun. “Focus!”

I closed my eyes for a few seconds, took a shaky breath, pulled out Black Powder, and opened them again. The sight of the ghouls still terrified me, but I erected a mental wall of ice and shoved the fear behind it. No time for that.

Taking careful aim, I pulled the trigger. With a sizzling sound the bolt of bright orange cut through the air and struck a ghoul pony square in the side. The zombie tried to continue its attack, but the point of impact had burned away a good chunk of desiccated muscle and had caught on fire. The beast overbalanced and fell heavily, smoke leaking from under it.

I took another shot, lighting the zombie’s scraggly mane on fire. The best reacted wildly, flinging its head and fanning the fire. It proved an excellent distraction, allowing Scout to take down the thrashing monster.

The fight lasted a short thirty seconds, but felt like so much longer. Each shot I lined up seemed to take forever, with the rotting flesh of the ghouls growing larger with each second. No time to panic though, aim, shoot, aim, shoot, aim…

There was nothing to shoot. Blinking as if from a trance, I looked around. Scattered at our hooves were about twenty dead, really dead, ghouls. Nowhere near the massive horde I had thought, but had I really thought that or had my panic been talking? I hadn’t really much cared for their numbers when I focused on killing them instead.

Scout sighed in relief, checking the condition of his guns. “That was hectic.” He muttered. “I guess we really can’t just sit around, not with ghoul packs wandering the place.”

“So what should we do?” I asked. There was a slight tremble in my voice as the mental wall started to melt, but I kept it under control.

“If we can find a maintenance terminal, then maybe you can get those dampeners online again, Sleet.” He suggested. “It would probably be on the way to the basement anyway. And if we can get the dampeners running then we stand a fighting chance against the geister.”

Much as I hated the idea of running around irradiated hallway haunted by super-gargoyles with no indication of where the safe spot would be, I saw little choice. I took a deep breath, held it for a second, and spoke on the exhalation. “Alright, let’s do it.”

After mapping out the best course with Scout’s PipBuck (the auto-map feature really was a marvel, like most everything the PipBuck did), we entered the irradiated hallway the ghouls had swarmed from. Having no real estimation of the amount of ghouls in the castle, we couldn’t be sure we wouldn’t hit another rush of them. But this was the shortest path, and what we needed above all else was expedience.

Galloping down the halls with Scout in the lead, Clarity and I held out weapons constantly at the ready. We ran into almost no resistance, just one or two more ghouls. But despite how smoothly this was going, I couldn’t shake the terrible feeling of being watched. I was sure the geister were watching our every move. The radiation pervading the area was not helping my anxiety, the incessant click-click-clicking of the PipBuck beat a tattoo on my nerves.

Scout had made a habit of swerving near doors, checking each for lower radiation levels that might indicate a safe spot. Finding one such spot, we rushed inside. Black Powder fell from my mouth as I stopped, gasping. A stitch burned horribly in my side and my legs felt wobbly. Physical fitness, like many other things, was something I lacked.

Scout hardly seemed phased; his breathing was only slightly heavier than the norm. He passed out tablets of Rad-X, pouches of Rad-Away, and canteens of water. I took the Rad-X and drank the water, but was unsure how to administer the Rad-Away, since it was in an intravenous pouch with no needle.

That was when I noticed that Scout and Clarity had simply torn open the pouch and downed the orange contents. “Um, I don’t think that’s how these pouches work…” I said.

Clarity sucked down the last of the radiation purging medicine with a sour expression. “You’re right, but we don’t have time to use them properly. Besides, this works just as well, tastes horrible though.”

Gritting my teeth at that, I tore open the pouch and timidly drank the contents. I nearly collapsed in on myself, so hard did my face pucker when the first drop hit my tongue. Ugh, sweet Celestia that’s tart! I thought, quickly finishing the vile stuff and taking a palette cleansing pull from the canteen.

Once I’d regained control of my facial muscles, I asked Clarity something that had been nagging me. “Hey Clarity, how did you know what to say to make me stop being scared?”

The crystal mare was washing her own mouth out when I asked. Swallowing, she responded. “It’s something we’re taught to help control our emotions.” When she next spoke, it was as if she was reciting a lecture she had heard many times. “Fear is the result of facing a threat, and most often you do not know much about the threat. But if you can learn the threat’s weakness and focus on it, then fear had no hold on you. Remember, the enemy of fear is understanding.” She smiled, her skin glittering. “My old teacher taught me that.”

“It’s good advice.” I said, smiling back.

“I’m just glad it kept your head in the game.” Scout said, finishing up packing away his supplies. “But we need to keep moving. We can’t risk staying here too long.” He trotted out the doorway, checking his PipBuck as he did. “We’re almost to the basement. Just a few more-“

In those few seconds, many things happened. Scout was half-way out the doorway and his PipBuck started clicking again. Clarity and I were partly to our hooves, ready to follow him. Then, Scout was gone. A gray blur rushed past the door, whipping our friend from sight.

It took a precious second for my brain to realize what had happened. Another for me to rush forward, with Clarity screaming after me. Scout’s name was on my lips as I stumbled into the hallway. I turned to watch gray, dusty wings disappearing around the corner and felt a very sharp pain in the back of my head.

As darkness closed in on my vision I could faintly hear Clarity screaming in abject terror. I felt a dull thump, and suddenly I was on the floor, which was strange because I couldn’t recall falling. In the last few instants before darkness enclosed me, I saw a pair of angry green eyes and a single gray arm reaching for me.
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Footnote: Level up!
New Perk, Gunslinger: You’ve grown more proficient at using small firearms. Your accuracy with Small Guns and Energy pistols has increased by 20%. Additionally, you now slur less when talking with a gun in your mouth.

Paranoia

View Online

Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 9: Paranoia
All alone in the dark…

Pain and darkness, a disturbingly familiar combination. The fact that it this had become such a common phenomenon was disheartening enough. I had led a relatively safe life when I lived above the clouds. Now I could hardly go a day without getting knocked out. It was amazing I was still alive after all that. The numerous forces that wanted my head had plenty of chances after all.

“Wake up Sleet Gray.”

A voice, a familiar one, green light.

“Wake up.”

Who was it? Sombra? Was he in my head? He couldn’t be! If he was then that meant…

A bright light, small but there, appeared in the distance. I looked over my shoulder at the green light burning in the darkness. “Wake up, Sleet Gray.” I turned from the green and trotted toward the white light. I felt a…force, a presence behind me. The green light grew brighter. I increased my pace, building into a gallop. “Wake up.” The light grew brighter and brighter, blindingly so…

“Wake up, Sleet, c’mon!” I jolted awake, being shaken by my shoulders. A shadowy, pony shaped figure wrapped in green light crouched above me. On instinct I lashed out with my wing and my talent, a cold wind shoving the figure. The green light stumbled back with the figure, who cried out in shock.

I leapt to my hooves, taking stock of my surroundings. I quickly adjusted to the dim lighting in the room, mostly coming from the green glowing shadow pony, and what I saw was like something out of my deepest nightmares. The rotted faces of ghouls leered from the dark shadows, completely surrounding me.

I felt the familiar vice grip of fear on my heart, but refused to let it consume me. Remember what Clarity said, focus on what you know. They freak out when confronted with fire, fortunately I had a fire gun.

I went to dip my head and grab Black Powder, but the pistol wasn’t there! Shit, what else did I know? Ice, I could freeze them. Flaring my wings, I drew on my talent, feeling the build-up of cold power around my feathers. I faintly wondered why they hadn’t attacked yet, but decided not to question it.

I unleashed the built up cold at the nearest ghoul. A wave of winter wind knocked the zombie pony off its hooves. “Holy shit!” A gargling, boiled voice cried.

Wait, did it just talk? I felt cracked hooves touch my shoulder. “Hey, calm down, we’re not-“

On pure instinct I violently wrenched myself away. “Get the fuck away!” I screamed, or at least tried to. It came out more like a frightened squeak. I unleashed another blast of wind at it.

“Somepony stop her!” That same graveled voice said. No, wait that was a different one. Similar, but definitely distinct.

I felt something intangible grab my wings and shoulders. Pink light glared behind me and I felt a pony that definitely wasn’t a ghoul grab me. “Sleet, calm the fuck down!” Scout’s voice cried in my ear. Why the Hell was he trying to pin me? Didn’t he see the zombies? I continued to fight, but with my wings bound and Scout’s grip there was little I could do.

Slowly, I stopped my thrashing. The green light was coming from my earth pony friend’s PipBuck and was illuminating the…well…ghoulish features of the ghouls surrounding us. My breathing was still rapid, the calm I had prepared was slowly degrading at the sight of the ghouls. “Ghouls, Scout ghouls we need to…”

“Sleet, they aren’t feral!” Scout said forcibly, still holding me tightly in case I lashed out again.

“Not…feral?” I asked, confused.

“Smoothskin doesn’t know there’s more than ferals?” One of the boiled voices muttered derisively.

“You…you mean…” I sputtered, still trying to wrap my head around this. I looked around at the ghouls. Once I got past the terrifying, rotted visages I could see that there were differences. They didn’t have the blank, hungry, animistic looks the zombies had, but rather the spark of intelligence I saw in other ponies. “You mean you’re still…”

“Sane?” One of them offered. I nodded dumbly. “Yeah, we still got our marbles together.” He, and now that I was paying attention I could tell he was a stallion, grinned, showing off rotten teeth. “Hell of a streak, been this way for two hundred years.” He stuck out a hoof. “Jackpot.”

It took me a few seconds to realize he had just introduced himself, and a few seconds longer to react. “Um, Sleet Gray.” I said, gingerly shaking his hoof. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that…well…”

“That some of us weren’t flesh eating freaks?” Jackpot asked, still grinning. “Lemme guess, first ghoul you ever met tried to bite your face off?”

“My flank, actually.” I said. I noted Jackpot’s Cutie Mark, three bold, orange number 7’s in a row. Somehow that was terribly ironic and fitting at the same time.

“Ferals ain’t exactly known for their manners. They’re what happens when a ghoul loses the will to keep going. Forget everything that makes them a pony. Fortunately,” he gestured to the ghouls behind him “we all got a nice gig going. Keeps us sharp.”

“Yeah, great gig.” One of them, a mare though it was hard to tell the difference, said sarcastically. At first I thought her eyes were particularly deep-set, but when I took a closer look the shadows turned out to be a simple black blindfold. “Get locked in a fucking basement by crazy ass ghosts. And now with a bunch of smoothskins who don’t know how to tell a feral from a ghoul.”

Jackpot rolled his eyes. “Ignore her.” He whispered. “Sweet Spot gets by on being a cynical bitch.”

This was still boggling my mind. I had thought that an inherent nature of ghouls was that they were insane, flesh-gobbling monsters, but now that apparently wasn’t the rule. I felt a chill as something occurred to me. Had there been any sane ghouls in the group we’d taken down? Had I accidentally murdered somepony? “How many of there are you?”

“This is our little group.” Jackpot said, making a sweeping gesture to the other ghouls, about seven in all, who reacted with varying degrees of friendliness. Well, at least I had the assurance that I’d only killed ferals. “We’re a salvage squad from a little town way up in the snow. And as you can see, we’ve fallen on some hard times.”

“We can sympathize.” I said. I looked back at Scout and Clarity who were still holding me down. “I’m fine.” After a second my friends released me and took a step back. “We are…” I paused, who were we? Contracted members of the Shadow King’s army? Fugitives from a government out to slaughter the surface world? Both of those were technically true, but I didn’t think they’d endear us to our new found cellmates. “Scavengers. We came to this ghost town hoping to strike it rich. Never suspected it to be actually haunted.”

“You three?” Sweet Spot said, raising an eyebrow. “A crystal, a Stable pony, and an Enclave walk into a haunted castle. There’s a joke in there somewhere.” She looked at me and I swore she was glaring behind the blindfold. “I thought your kind didn’t like us dirt ponies.”

“I’m not Enclave.” I said quickly, but I stopped myself from retelling my story. I didn’t want to unintentionally bring the hammer down on this group and their town. “I’m a throwback. Something-great granddad had wings, so I do too. I try to stay low, just in case those high-flying cowards feel like sending down ‘recruiters’.”

That didn’t placate the cynical ghoul like I’d hoped it would. “Then how’d you get this?” She asked, holding up Black Powder.

“Hey! Give that back!” I said, lunging forward. The ghoul mare easily side stepped me, chuckling around the handle of my gun.

“Wha’s de mhatth?” She asked. “Chan’ cath a ‘lind pony?” Growling, I flapped a wing at her. With a crackling noise, her hooves became coated in ice. “What the Hell!?” She dropped Black Powder in her surprise, trying to yank herself free.

I snatched the gun before it could hit the ground. With a few casual blasts of super-heated magic, I freed the ghoul. “You shouldn’t take things that aren’t yours.”

Jackpot facehoofed before stepping between Sweet Spot and I. “Ladies, calm down! Sweet, you know we don’t have time for this.” He said. “We’re all in deep shit here.”

“The geister took you guys too?” Scout asked.

“If by geister you mean those gargoyle freaks then yes.” Jackpot said. “But that isn’t the issue. I’m sure you three have been feeling the radiation in this place?” We nodded. “Well this place is outfitted with a powerful spark generator, capable of powering the whole castle until Celestia’s sun goes out. The only problem is that during the balefire strike there was serious seismic movement and the generator was damaged.”

“So it started leaking radiation.” I said, catching on. “And I’m guessing two hundred years of negligence didn’t do it any good.”

“No it didn’t, and neither did the shots it took.”

“Wait, what?” I said, feeling panic rising in my chest and into my voice.

“Yeah, during the struggle with those geister-whatevers the reactor took a few hits.” Jackpot said, kicking at the floor with a cracked hoof. “And by our best estimate it’ll blow like a balefire bomb sometime soon, and none of us know how to shut it down.”

We stood there frozen for a few seconds before the three of us screamed. “WHAT!?”

“The blast will destroy the foundation and bring down the castle.” Another ghoul, a unicorn buck said. “We ghouls won’t care about the radiation, but getting crushed under several tons of stone won’t agree with us, so we need to get clear of the blast.”

“But what about the Stable?” Clarity asked, receiving blank looks from the ghouls. “Stable 126? It’s built into the hill. Did they not contact you?”

“No.” Jackpot said, looking confused. “Town was just as abandoned as advertised.”

If I had to guess, I’d say that the superstitious ponies of 126 didn’t feel like contacting a bunch of walking corpses. “Their kind of a reclusive group.” I explained. “But Clarity’s right, they are in danger as well. The Stable is directly connected to the castle, if the whole thing comes down it could cause serious damage to the Stable.” A very disturbing mental image came to me. “Hell, if the blast is big enough it could collapse the Stable and the hill with it!”

The room fell silent as everypony contemplated that. The Stable, and everypony in it, crushed under an avalanche of rock, dirt, and steel. And we would be trapped in it, there was next to no chance of us getting out of the castle, past the giester, and away from the hill before the reactor went off. Even with a generous estimation of the time before the explosion it would be too close for comfort. “Maybe I could shut the reactor down, I’m familiar with spark generators.” “Familiar” may have been giving me too much credit. I had never actually seen a spark generator with my own eyes but I understood the principle behind them. It should be relatively simple to cut the power source which would halt the unstable reaction.

Jackpot shook his head. “Too risky. The geister are swarmed all over the thing like bloatsprites on a dead body. Besides, it’s pumping out rads like crazy, a smoothskin like you would be cooked in minutes.”

I wanted to kick something. Damnit, this wasn’t fair! All we wanted was some freaking medical supplies! Now we had the fate of a Stable on our hooves, and it was tied to our own! We needed something, some plan, some…

“A distraction.” Scout said. We all turned to the survivalist, looking for an explanation. “If we can draw the geister away from the reactor, then we can clear the way for Sleet to get in. She gets dosed up on Rad-X, finds the reactor and shuts it down. Without the radiation we can take down the geister easily.”

“Yeah, but who’s gonna be the distraction?” Jackpot asked. “Those things are as sneaky as they are strong, just being fast won’t be enough.”

“I’ll be part of the distraction.” He declared.

Clarity was taken aback by the suggestion. “What!? Scout you can’t…”

“I’m the best for the job. I’m quick, and good at thinking on my hooves. Besides, I have this.” He held up the hoof with his glowing PipBuck. “I can keep track of the geister and help us avoid them. Maybe it’ll even help us lure a few to a cool zone where we can kill them.”

I was about to join Clarity in her protests when something occurred to me. “Actually,” I said slowly “this might not be such a bad idea.”

“How do you figure?” Jackpot asked.

I thought back to my first encounter with the giester, and where its attack had been aimed. “When one of those things attacked me earlier it went for my back. Specifically my back, it didn’t just strike there because I dodged under it.” I gestured to my armored coat. “If it hadn’t been for this thing taking the blow, it would have broken my spine.”

Clarity shuddered at the idea. “So what are you saying? He only has to risk breaking his back?”

“No not quite, think about it. When they captured the three of us they could have killed us easily, but instead we get put in here. That, and the fact that one of them went for a crippling blow instead of a killing one, makes me think they don’t WANT us dead.”

Jackpot was starting to catch on. “They just want to keep us locked inside the castle, but why?”

The image of the skeleton curled up under the desk flashed before my mind’s eye. “When they were first designed the gargoyles were protectors. They survived the balefire bomb, but something must have gone wrong. Now instead of trying to keep ponies out, they try to keep their ‘charges’ in.” I turned to Scout. “So that means they won’t try to kill you, just lock you up again.”

“Well in that case it sounds like we got a plan.” Jackpot said. “But who’s going to escort you there?”

“Clarity will have to go.” I said. “She has a spell that lets her super-charge medicine. She can make sure the Rad-X is up to snuff. Other than her, one of you should go along.” I surveyed the ghouls, each of them outfitted with their own weapons. The unicorn ghoul who had told us when the reactor would blow had a bandolier of grenades and a launcher. Another was an earth pony that had somehow maintained significant muscle mass in his ghoulish state. He carried a large, technologically enhanced hammer. Any one of them looked to be more than capable in a fight.

Of the lot of them, the last one I’d expect stepped forward. “I’ll go.” Sweet Spot declared.

Everypony looked surprised by the suggestion. “Wait, really? What about your…uh…” Despite how she had been acting, I was uncomfortable bringing up her blindness for fear of insulting her. Come to think of it, why was a blind pony a part of a salvage squad going into dangerous territory anyway?

“Before I lost these I was the best sniper Equestria had.” She said, gesturing to her eyes. “They said I had eyes like a pegasus, but looking into the heart of the balefire strike that made me like this burned ‘em outta my head.” I cringed, my gut twisting. I had a vague idea of what it was like to lose something so integral to who you are, but I had eventually gotten my wings back when Arterial freed me. Sweet Spot would probably never see again. “Still, I’ve had two hundred years to relearn shooting without seeing.” She continued casually. “I can’t take a Stripe’s head off at fifty yards anymore, but I can keep some haywire golems in a tight corridor off your tail.”

I sighed, glancing at my friends. Despite my earlier assertions, I was nervous about sending them against the giester. What if my analysis was wrong and the giester would tear them apart as soon as they laid claw on them? What if I stopped the generator but Scout died during his mission? What if I couldn’t stop the generator and we all died in the blast?

I shook my head, this was no time for doubt. I had to focus or we all really would die. “Sounds good, let’s do this.”

*****

Using my lock-busting trick we managed to escape the room that had served as our prison cell. Jackpot led us to the generator room, stopping the group before we rounded the corner. “There they are.” He whispered, waving me forward.

Peeking around the corner I had to repress a groan. At least ten geister sat in a ring around the door. Their stony backs and bat-like wings were to us, but I could see the edges green glow radiating from their faces. “Great, I think their feeding.” I muttered. Turning back to the group, I looked at the assembled ghouls with Scout amongst them. “You all ready?” I asked.

The group nodded silently. Clarity, Sweet Spot and I moved to the back, allowing the others to get into position. Scout was about to head out when Clarity stopped him. “This is…surprising for you. To so selflessly risk your life for others.” It looked like what she was about to say was foreign to her. “I think I was wrong about you, my talent was muddled by the state I was in and showed me the worst. I wanted to apolo…”

Scout cut her off with a humorless chuckle. “This? This isn’t selfless.” He gestured to all the ponies gathered. “Getting everypony out of here is my best chance of getting out as well. Me serving as the distraction is simply the best way for the plan to succeed. If I could get the three of us out of here without them…” He looked to the ghouls and shrugged before trotting over to join them. “Good luck with your part of the plan.”

Clarity sighed, shaking her head. I watched Scout carefully, something about what he had said wasn’t quite right. There was no time to ponder though as the plan went into action. The unicorn with the grenade launcher stepped around the corner and with a hollow thumping noise fired on the geister. I braced against the explosion as the rest of the distraction team raced into sight of the monsters. I managed to peak around the corner as the scene unfolded.

The other geister were awakening from their sleeping state, dust falling off of their lanky forms with each twitch. In the center of a blasted crater was a green glowing stone in the shape of a heart. Not the romanticized version used for Hearts and Hooves Day cards, but an actual heart, and though it didn’t move a sound like a heartbeat could be heard.
Suddenly, the green glow intensified and the heart slowly levitated out of the crater. The dust in the air glowed with the same sickly light and began to swirl around the stone organ. The beating increased, growing faster and louder as more and more dust built up around it. I could feel my own heartbeat racing along with it as I stared at the spectacle.

Slowly at first, the ball of dust took shape. First nubs appeared where arms and legs would be, but as the process reached its peak the body reformed more rapidly. Within seconds the geist was reconstituted, standing beside its leering brethren.

The two groups stared at each other in a scene painfully reminiscent of my first encounter. “Okay,” Scout said quietly “now you know what to aim for in the cool zones.” The geist that had been blasted apart screeched, its brothers joining in the demonic chorus. “RUN!” He thundered, just barely audible over the keening.

I ducked back behind the corner, bracing myself against the wall as the sound of clattering hooves, grinding rock, and shouting faded away. When all fell quiet I let out the breath I had been holding, my heart racing. After sending a quick prayer to the Goddesses that they would be okay, I checked Clarity and Sweet Spot.

Clarity looked shaken, but otherwise okay. I could see the fear in her eyes and the dullness of her crystal coat, but behind it was a determination I found heartening. I couldn’t tell what Sweet Spot was feeling, the ghoul’s face didn’t change much and I obviously couldn’t see her eyes. The only indication I had of her mental state was the briskness with which she trotted past me, saying “Let’s get a move on, time’s running out.”

Shakily, Clarity and I got up to follow her. The room was clear of all geister, none were lurking in the shadows or clinging to the ceiling. As we approached the door Sweet Spot made a noise like somepony who’d just eaten their favorite food. “Oh boy, this is a real hot spot! You two should stay back unless you want to be cooked.” She didn’t have to tell me twice, I was already taking a step back before her sentence was complete.

The door was unlocked, so Sweet Spot went in first the check for any additional threats. Clarity and I stood back, away from the radiation while my crystal friend prepared the medicine. The tablets of Rad-X laid at Clarity’s hooves while she waved her glowing horn over them. A soft, comforting pink light emitted from the tablets before fading away. “Okay, they’re ready to go.” She declared, her coat glittering with pride. She levitated the tablets to me, watching me carefully while I took the medicine. “Are you sure about this?”

Clarity’s magic did nothing for the terrible chalky taste. After washing my mouth out, I answered. “No, of course not. I’m going to be plunging myself into a highly irradiated room in the hopes that I can shut down a magical spark generator before it blows and kills us all. Meanwhile, my friend is being chased all over this damn castle by its resident ghosts and Luna knows what else, and I have to hope those same ghosts won’t find me.”

“I trust that Scout can keep their attention.” Clarity said calmingly. “And even if he can’t, Sweet Spot and I will keep you safe.”

I took another pull of water, shaking my head as I swallowed. “No, I need you two to find the tunnel leading to 126 and warn them, evacuate if you can.”

She reacted about the way I expected. “Wait, what? No! I’m not leaving you all alone!”

“Clarity, you’re the only one they will listen to, and I can’t risk sending you there on your own. If you get swarmed by ghouls or the geister find you I’d feel a lot better if you had Sweet Spot with you.”

“Why?” She snorted, rolling her eyes. “Because the delicate crystal pony can’t handle herself in a fight?”

“No, because the crystal pony can make a shield to protect the pony whose really good with a gun. That way, BOTH of you stay alive.”

That placated her a bit, but she was still angry. “And why didn’t you mention this when we were coming up with a plan?”

“Because we couldn’t afford to sit around while everypony calls me an idiot for leaving myself unguarded. And besides, Sweet Spot only needs to get you there, the 126 ponies won’t like her. Once you’re there, send her back to me. The tunnel should be somewhere here in the basement, so it won’t take long.”

Clarity opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. Finally she growled and nodded. “Fine, but you ARE an idiot.”

We heard the door open and Sweet Spot trot out. Rounding the corner, I gasped at the sight of the ghoul. Her entire body was glowing a brilliant neon green, save the strip of black where her blindfold was. She smiled, chinks of green light shining between her teeth. “What, am I glowing?”

“Um.” I said intelligently. “Y-yes.”

“Well I certainly FEEL all charged up!” She cackled before sobering. “Seriously, it’s hot in there. Are you sure you wanna go in, smoothskin?”

I sighed, hoping the medicine would be enough. “I don’t have much choice, where’s the reactor?”

“Best I could tell it was the big thing on the right at the back of the room, that’s what was pumping out the most rads.” She nodded to me and stepped aside. “Good luck.”

“Thanks. And my name is Sleet Gray, not smoothskin.”

“Sleet!” Clarity called. I looked back and was met with a Rad-Away pouch floating in front of me. “Take this when you get close to the reactor.”

I pocketed the bag with a grateful smile. “Can I take it properly this time?”

“Do you know how to set up an IV?”

“No.”

“Then no.” I groaned, dreading the awful taste. But I couldn’t delay by arguing any longer. Each minute I wasted was another minute closer to detonation. I took a deep breath and trotted through the open door into the reactor room.

All the others times I had been subject to radiation I had felt like my skin was trying to crawl off my body. Intellectually, I knew that was just a phantom reaction caused by my deep-seeded aversion to radiation. Now, in the Heaven’s Point Hospital’s reactor room, I could feel a body wide tingling sensation, almost like my genes were protesting their treatment. The room was a clutter of tubes, wires, and other clunky machinery. The noise of the reactor far in the back was an omnipresent whirr, like the engine of a Raptor cloud ship.

The door shut behind me, the sound jolting me from my reverie and instilling panic. What was happening? Why did Sweet Spot close the door, was she trapping me in here? Was this payback for humiliating her?! I ran to the door, pounding on it with a hoof.

“Hey, hey, hey, calm down!” The ghoul’s boiled voice called back. “The door is unlocked. I closed it cause it’s shielded against radiation, we don’t need those ghosts wondering why their buffet is wide open.”

“O-okay.” I called back. My heart had slowed, at least somewhat. Part of me was still gripped with fear at being closed off in this super-irradiated room. Wait, super-irradiated! Shit, my panic was wasting time! I turned and galloped into the room, hopping over fallen pieces of metal and ducking wires.

The damn room was a maze! The force of the balefire bomb had shaken a huge amount of parts loose, only some of which had been cleared. I had to wonder how Sweet Spot had navigated the room with her blindness. Maybe as a ghoul she could sense the irradiated objects around her?

No time to ponder, Sleet! I reprimanded myself. Move! And I moved, ducking and weaving under obstacles as fast as I could. It took only two minutes to find the reactor, but the way I was feeling it might as well have been twenty. The tingling had become a cold itching just under the surface of my skin. Pulling out the Rad-Away, I tore the tip of the IV off and stuck the tube in my mouth, sipping greedily. The horrible sour taste nearly made me gag, but the alien sensations faded with each sip.

Keeping the pouch in one of my coat’s many pockets, I examined the reactor. It was a large, square hunk of metal with faded warning labels plastered all over it. Two over-engineered looking coils sprouted from the top like antenna, connecting to power cables trailing into the ceiling. The reactor itself was shoved into the back corner of the room, with only a few feet between it and the wall.

“Okay, what to do what to do…” I muttered to myself. “I could trip the emergency switch, that would shut down the spark core and have it run on a back-up source…” Fluttering on top of the generator, I carefully avoided the coils while crawling to the back where the switch would be.

To my dismay, where the switch would be I found only piles of scrap metal, probably collapsed during the bomb. I could see the switch under several pounds of metal, but at this angle I’d need to be either exceptionally strong or a unicorn to move it.

Taking another sip of Rad-Away, I dropped back down to the floor, search for another way. I ran through every emergency shut-down protocol I could think of, but I could access none of them here and those I could were blocked or damaged. I wanted to scream in frustration, but I forced myself to remain cool. “Okay, think, the only other way to shut down a perpetual energy generator like this is to remove the core…” But how could I remove the core? I knew where an access panel was, but doing so would undoubtedly kill me. The core was super-heated magic, touching it would be like sticking the barrel of Black Powder to my hoof and firing. Also, the thing was pumping out rads like crazy! Even dosed up as I was, I’d die from radiation poisoning long before the core went inert. There had to be a way to dampen it…

I took a pull from the Rad-Away and like lightening an idea shot through my brain. I had something that could dampen radiation! Rad-Away and Rad-X worked by magically purging radiation, it’s why supplies of the stuff had stayed good even after the end! I pulled the bag from my pocket, still about a fourth left. After much shuffling around, I found a few spare tabs of un-enhanced Rad-X in my coat from when I was scavenging earlier. I had absolutely no idea if this would work, but I had no choice expect to try.

After tearing the top off of the Rad-Away packet, I chewed up the Rad-X tablets and spat the chalky substance into the pouch. Closing over the top, I shook the mixture. This stuff would probably kill anypony that took it, but I wasn’t planning of ingesting. Finding the access panel, I froze it and with a buck empowered by desperation broke it open.

I quickly jumped to the side, not wanting to be at the business end of a radiation cannon. I knew from diagrams that the spark core would be directly at the end of the access tube. Holding the bag in my mouth, I closed my eyes tight, muttered “please, please, please, please” and threw the concoction into the tube.

I quickly ducked for cover. There came a splash, a hiss, and a shot of orange colored steam rocketed out from the access point. The steam cleared quickly, and I cautiously stuck my foreleg in front of the hole. It didn’t mutate, my fur didn’t fall off, and I could even feel a drop in the background radiation. “Sweet Celestia and Luna it WORKED!” I said disbelievingly.

After marveling at the accuracy of my guess for a second, I snapped myself back to reality. It wouldn’t stay like this forever, and I had used my only Rad-Away. Already I could feel the cold itching coming back. I crouched in front of the tube, looking at the core and arm’s length away.

It was an innocuous little thing. A bright blue star of light trapped inside a clear box. The box was connected to more of the little coils, one at each corner, and sparks of energy jumped to them from the star. Once I disconnected the box, the little star would go inert, with nothing to charge it would enter a rest state. And staring me dead in the face was a long, thin crack in the face of the box.

Energy was escaping that crack, causing undue pressure on the box. The leak would either have to be sealed or it would eventually blast open as the higher magical pressure inside tried to get out. That star contained a huge amount of energy for something so small, and such a blast would annihilate the foundation of this castle, possibly even Stable 126.

It was also hot, I could feel the heat on my face, making me sweat. I needed to cool it down physically and remove it before it heated up again radiation wise. Right now the box was soaked in anti-rad magical juice, but already it was burning off. “Need to work quickly.” I muttered. Closing my eyes, I stuck my wings into the hole and concentrated.

It started slowly at first, but the momentum of my freezing spell built rapidly. The crackling sound of ice forming came from the access point. I could feel the strain like something tugging on my brain. I was trying to channel weather magic underground, not the easiest thing in the world to do. Still, I took the process steadily and within thirty seconds I had a nice layer of frost going.

Extracting my wings, I opened my eyes and checked my work. The whole tunnel was coated in white frost and the heat from the core had dropped massively. I chuckled, feeling a rare moment of pride, which was quickly interrupted by a wet cough. I covered my mouth with a foreleg and when the fit died down I saw blood on my fetlock. Not good.

Without further delay I reached into the tunnel, grabbed the cube in my hooves, and pulled. It came slowly, my cooling had the unfortunate side effect of making it stick. Bracing my hindlegs against the base of the reactor, I pulled with all my strength. My muscles strained, sweat ran down my forehead, my wings were on pins and needles as if they had fallen asleep. Something that wasn’t sweat ran out my ears and nose. I smelled copper.

I felt the cube budge. That was enough to send a shot of adrenaline through me. With a cry of strain I finally yanked the core from its housing. Unable to change my inertia, I collapsed onto my back, holding the now inert core in my hooves. For a moment I laid there, my lungs pumping and muscles burning. My heart was racing as well. Racing really fast…too fast…

I coughed again, feeling something wet and coppery in my mouth. Looking down I saw blood splattering my coat. “No, no, no…” I gasped, rolling to my hooves. Leaving the core behind, I stumbled back the way I came. The primary source of radiation was gone, but the room was still at least somewhat contaminated. I needed to get ou-

My legs had been growing weak, and all at once they gave out. I fell, striking my head against the floor. The flash of pain helps me stay awake, but blurs thought. Ears ringing, won’t stop, though the reactor stopped humming long ago. I look, blood and gray hair on the floor. Struggle to hooves, gotta keep moving. Voice, hard to hear. “Smoothskin! Hey smoothskin! I can’t feel the rads anymore, did you do it?” Go to the voice, it can help. No energy, head hangs low, red hoof prints, keep moving.

There, door, safety, but nothing left. No control, collapse, cry out. Door opens, hoof steps, something grabbing my leg, dragging…

*****

I don’t know how long I spent in delirium. Time warped and twisted like colors and sounds. My body burned and froze, convulsed and lay still, all on its own. I felt dry as a bone inside, though I was soaked in what I could only assume was sweat. I had moments of terrible lucidity where my duress was all I could feel, and moments of horrible darkness where all I could feel was fear I had died. Throughout it all I was beset by nightmarish visions. Grotesquely mutated ponies were paraded before me. Some of them had extra body parts, some missing, others that weren’t supposed to be there. They all had one thing in common, a gray mane and ice blue coat.

It was during one of those moments of stillness that I came back from the brink. Color slowly bled into my vision, sound and feeling returning soon after. I could feel the steady rise and fall of my own breathing, that was a good sign. Wherever I was laying was cold and clammy, soaked in sweat. As my vision slowly sharpened, I could see the familiar stone wall of Heaven’s Point Hospital.

I was curled up on a bed, feeling wretched. I felt burned and raw all over, like I had been scoured by fire. Slowly, achingly, I looked around. The room was rather bare, a lot of the medical equipment having been removed. The room was dim the only source of light streaming in from under the door. Why was there light? Did and emergency generator turn on or something? In the corner was a chair with somepony curled up under a familiar gray coat. Raising my head, I called weakly, “Hello?”

The garment shifted as the pony under it stirred. Clarity raised her head, blinking blearily, but once she saw me she shot to wakefulness. “Sleet!” Leaping off the chair and knocking my coat to the floor, she galloped over to me, calling towards the door. “Scout! She’s awake!”

I groaned, resting my head again. I still had no energy and even that small amount of physical exertion had strained me. “How long was I out?”

“You’ve been drifting in and out for a few days.” Clarity said, levitating the sweat soaked blanket off of me. I shivered in the cold as she helped me up and pulled off the sheets. “We got the radiation purged from you quickly enough, but we couldn’t do anything for the poisoning itself other than treat the symptoms and hope you pulled through.”

Clarity walked me to the chair she had been resting on, sitting me down gently and wrapping my coat around me. Pulling the garment tighter, I watched as my friend put the bedding in a full bag of sheets is similar condition, stained with sweat, blood and…worse. “Please tell me that was a symptom of the poisoning and that I didn’t mutate to become incontinent.” I said in disgust.

Clarity wrinkled her nose as she closed the bag. “It was, a symptom that is. You were fine after the first day or so.” Turning back to me, she continued. “And you’ll be happy to hear that the healing potions we gave you to restore the lost blood regrew your hair.”

I faintly remembered seeing my mane mixed with blood on the floor of the reactor room. “Well that’s good.” Then something I said hit me. “Mutate…” A cold fear gripped me, making me short of breath. I looked down at the coat covering my body. I felt the same, but what if I wasn’t? After all, I had a few days of illness to get used to anything…new.

Bile rose in my throat as the nightmare hallucinations danced in front of me again. Clarity noticed my distress and approached slowly. “Sleet? Are you okay?”

“C-C-Clarity.” I asked around the fearful lump in my throat. I looked up at her, eyes wide and scared. “Am I still…me?”

Clarity bit her lip and I wanted to throw up. She saw the affect it had on me and quickly shook her head. “Oh, no, no, no! It’s not anything bad! All your parts are still where they should be!”

“Then what is it?” I asked, panic still rising in my voice. “Clarity, what is it!? Am I discolored? Did one eye grow and the other shrink? Did I turn into a…” I choked, almost unable to voice the last option. “ghoul?”

“It’s nothing bad.” Scout said, entering the room. The earth pony looked tired, like he hadn’t slept well the past few days. “Take a look at your wings.”

My gut cramped with tension as I slowly extracted a wing from under the coat. I kept my eyes tightly shut, peeking only after taking a second to compose myself. I was looking at the wing of a stranger. My feathers, normally ice blue like the rest of me, were faded and translucent. If I looked at the correct angle I could faintly see the veins of my wing muscles where the see-through pinions connected. While they retained some of their color, it was only visible when they caught the light just right, otherwise they were nearly invisible. It was like a ghost of what it had once been.

“Damnit, damnit, DAMNIT!” I said, banging the back of my head against the wall. I had clenched my eyes shut again and could feel tears leak from them. “Goddesses DAMNIT!”

“Sleet, what’s wrong?” Scout asked, surprised at my outburst.

“What’s wrong? What’s WRONG?” I yelled back, incredulous. I stared at my friend in disbelief, tears running freely now. “I’m a MUTANT that’s what’s wrong! I don’t care if it ‘could have been worse’ or ‘isn’t that bad’! I’m not a pony anymore, I’m not even a ghoul! I’m just some in-between freak!” I buried my face in my coat and wept bitterly. “I’m not a strong flyer or anything, but damnit my wings were MINE! Now I can barely SEE them!” I looked up at my companions, both of whom seemed unsure of what to do. “For a pegasus this is like…like…like losing your Cutie Mark! Imagine if you wake up and find it faded away? Would that be ‘not so bad’ then? Even if it was d-dumb and useless and…” I couldn’t speak anymore. The sadness and hurt were too much. I buried my face again and cried, barely registering when somepony wrapped me in a warm hug.

It took me several minutes to regain my composure. When I finally did, Clarity gently guided me back to bed. I felt more drained than ever, my body was still weak and the outburst as taken up what little energy I had. At least some point fresh sheets had been placed on the bed, which I was thankful for. As I sleepily crawled into bed, I saw Scout standing next to the door protectively. “What’s wrong? Are the giester still around?” I asked.

“No.” He said. “When you disabled the reactor we were able to destroy half of them. The other half lost their power and collapsed, leaving those heart things behind.”

“Then why are you standing guard?” It was getting hard to keep my eyes open.

Scout and Clarity traded a glance. Even though I fought my exhaustion I was nearly asleep when Scout said. “Stable 126.”

I gasped, waking up. I couldn’t remember falling asleep or why I had awoken. The room was dark as night, though my eyes adjusted rather quickly. Looking around, I saw Clarity on the same chair as before, sleeping peacefully. Scout was still at his post, wide awake. He held a hoof to his lips and pointed at the door. It was then that I noticed the shadows of two ponies standing just outside.

“Did you hear that?” A hushed voice asked. “Is she awake?”

“I doubt it.” Another voice, a familiar one, answered. “You heard her, screaming every night. I think it’s normal for her.” It took a second, but I remembered whose voice it was. After a short pause, Comet Strike continued. “Have you seen the peasant?”

“No, do you think he’s in there?”

“I’d prefer not to find out. He may be ungifted, but he’s dangerous all the same.” There came the sound of hoofsteps as the stallion continued down the hallway. “Come, there are other things to see to.”

The other Stable pony lingered for a moment and I swore I heard the faint tinkling noise that comes with unicorn magic. Just as quickly as it started, the noise stopped and the other pony trotted away.

Scout went to open the door, but I stopped him with a wave of my hoof. Quietly, I got out of bed and walked over to the door. Holding one of my mutated wings over the doorknob, I focused my talent, praying it would still work. Much to my satisfaction, ice formed in the jam, effectively sealing the door.

Scout and I looked at each other in the darkness. He looked as bad as I felt, his eyes were shallow and tired, bags forming under them. His usually sharp gaze was tired and unfocused. “Get some sleep.” I whispered. “Nopony is going to get through that.”

In spite of how tired he was, it was with reluctance that he nodded. He curled up next to the door and almost immediately fell asleep. He was in such a position that if the door was opened it would awaken him straight away. I smiled wryly, expecting noting less from the survivalist.

Climbing back into my own bed, I found it harder to fall asleep. We may have stopped the reactor from blowing and purged the radiation from the hospital, but we were still in danger. The inhabitants of the castle continued to mean us harm, we had just traded in ghosts for ponies.

The next morning, we had Clarity check the door before unsealing it. “It looks like a minor alarm spell.” She said, horn glowing. “If the door was opened it would alert the unicorn who cast it.”

“Could they find out who it was?” I asked. I had felt stronger after getting some real sleep and was able to stand on my own.

Clarity’s brows furrowed as she concentrated. “If they could it wouldn’t be much, at best they could find out what kind of pony it was.”

I sighed. “That’s all they’d need. If the spell showed Scout leaving for any reason it would mean I was unguarded. They could pick the two of us off while we were separated.”

“But that doesn’t make sense!” Clarity said in exasperation. “Why would they still try to kill you two? I thought we had a deal!”

“The deal was we take what we would take what we needed and immediately leave.” Scout said. “We have what we want and were still here.” While I had been out, Scout and Clarity had gotten their hooves on the cache of anti-rad supplies. Part of it was used to purge me of my undue dosage; the rest was split between Scout’s duffel bag, some saddle bags Clarity had found, and my coat pockets.

“We’re still here because Sleet was recovering from saving their ungrateful lives!” Clarity said, still incensed.

“You have to remember, they are paranoid. They’d probably kill us so we wouldn’t reveal their little hidey-hole and use us breaking our word as an excuse.” I ground my teeth, not liking it any more than Clarity did. Pulling out Black Powder, I unsealed the door with a carefully concentrated blast of super-heated magic. “We need to get out of here before they get the chance.”

A magical aura threw the door open as soon as the ice melted. The three of us jumped back, ready to dodge whatever attack came our way. But no attack came, instead a smiling unicorn mare in by far the best-quality Stable outfit I had ever seen stood in the doorway. She had a mane like the setting sun and her coat was the twilight that followed. Her eyes were a startling sapphire, and when they caught my gaze it felt as if my ability to focus had been punched in the gut. Suddenly the rest of the world mattered very little, I wanted to hear what this pony had to say. “Is something wrong?” She asked in a perfectly friendly and innocent voice.

“Um…” I looked to my friends, who seemed as stunned as I had been. Remember Sleet, time to leave. I reminded myself. “It’s just…well…I’m back on my hooves so we…” I lamely pointed in the general direction of outside. “Yeah, just on our way…”

She tilted her head and examined me worriedly. Her gaze held my down like my I was pinned under a rock, or maybe a pile of feathers. “I’m glad to see you up and about, but are you sure you’re in any condition to travel?”

“Well, I feel fine enough, I…” Looking down I noticed my legs shaking unsteadily. When had that happened? And come to think of it I was pretty tired. “Well…maybe I could rest a little.” What are you doing Sleet? Snap out of it! I shook my head, clearing some of the confusion. “Uh, who are you?”

She laughed, a sweet sound. “Oh, sorry, I should have introduced myself.” She held out a hoof which I shook gently. “I am Stable 126’s Overmare.”

The Overmare, the one in charge of the Stable, the one who probably ordered that we be killed. Why did thinking that sound…wrong? Like that shouldn’t be possible? This kindly mare would never order the death of others, it just wasn’t possible! It took me a second to realize I had just been shaking her hoof mutely. Shaking my head again, I let go of her hoof and replied. “I’m Sleet Gray.”

“I have heard about you. I came to personally thank you for saving my Stable and returning the castle to us.” She said, bowing to me. I felt my face heat up, I didn’t deserve being bowed to! Certainly not by this pony!

“Ah…well…um…” I was still receiving no support from Scout and Clarity, who had taken a step back. “Y-you’re welcome?” I said uncertainly.

“You have given us much more than you know.” She said, standing (much to my relief). “With this castle and the supplies in it, we can finally establish a foothold outside the Stable. We can actually connect to the outside world now!” Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “Not to mention the magic! We have the capability of fixing the spark generator so we don’t have to rely on the back-up power. And those guardians…”

The mention of the guardians sent a chill down my spine, a chill that cut through the fuzziness covering my brain. “What about the geister?” I interrupted.

The Overmare looked taken aback that I had cut her off, but she regained her composure quickly. “Well, if we could get them operating correctly they could be a huge asset. What we lack in pony power we can make up for with the guardians.”

“No.” I said, shaking my head.

It was the Overmare’s turn to be struck silent. “E-excuse me?”

“Destroy the hearts. The guardians are heavily damaged and will only hurt you if you bring them back.”

“Well surely we could isolate and fix the problem…”

“It’s not worth the risk, trust me.” I said firmly.

Her friendly expression strained along with her voice. “Very well, we will respect your wishes.” Taking a quick breath to compose herself, she spoke again. “I was going to get breakfast, would you three care to join me.”

“Of course.” Clarity said immediately, stepping forward. “We would love to…” I held out a wing, stopping her.

“I’m sorry.” I said as sincerely as I could manage. “We’ll gladly join you, but could you give us a few minutes? I’m still recovering, and need a moment to rest.”

“Very well.” She said curtly. “I will be in my office, I trust your friends know the way?” We both looked to my friends, who nodded. “I will see you soon then.” And with that she trotted off.

I closed the door, letting out a sigh. My brain felt…muddy, but now that the Overmare was gone the sensation was fading somewhat. “Sleet, what’s the matter with you?” Clarity asked admonishingly. “You’re perfectly capable of walking to breakfast!”

“There’s something wrong about her…” I muttered, staring intently at nothing. “Something threw me off balance.”

“You’re hurt, remember?” Scout said. “But that isn’t an excuse to be rude, she’s nice.”

Now I knew something was wrong. An idea, a possible explanation, floated to the surface of my slowly clearing thoughts. “Scout, how much do you remember of that conversation?” I asked, turning to him.

“She…well…” His face blanked as he tried to grasp the memories. “I…don’t know.”

“Me neither.” Clarity said, her voice rising with worry. “Everything went all fuzzy as soon as she showed up.”

“Same for me, but somehow I broke through it.” I said, going over the encounter in my head again. We were about to leave, the door opened the then… then what? Blue eyes, the last thought I clearly had was blue eyes. Then she mentioned something about the giester and I got another moment of clarity. Perhaps it was fear of the stony monsters, or that it was something I readily recognized, but I had latched onto it and resisted whatever spell I had been under. “I’m not sure how, but I think she scrambled our minds.” I said.

“How? Her horn wasn’t glowing, and I’ve never heard of a unicorn who could cast spells without using it.” Clarity said.

“If she used a spell to mess with our minds, she may have been able to cut out the memory of us even seeing her cast the spell.” I said slowly, still sorting things out. The thought of a unicorn capable of dissecting the thoughts and memories of everypony around her just roaming free scared the living Hell out of me. It meant I couldn’t trust my own mind, the one place I had felt truly safe even before entering the Wasteland. We needed to leave, but so long as the Overmare’s ponies had control of the castle we couldn’t without her permission.

I sighed, turning to Scout and Clarity. “Okay, here’s the plan.”

*****

True to the Overmare’s predictions, we were able to find her office easily enough. I paused, steeling myself before knocking and entering. The captivating mare looked up at our entrance, and I focused straight onto her horn. It was alit with dark blue magic and I felt a prickling sensation on my temples. She stood up as we stepped through the doorframe, forcing me to look into her eyes. I didn’t, instead staring at the bridge between them. The sapphire orbs glimmered tauntingly on the edges of my vision, making the prickling worse. But I stood resolute, remembering my plan. Keeping the image of her glowing horn firmly in my mind, I met her eyes.

It was like being punched in the gut. My head spun, thoughts colliding and dissipating as the Overmare’s magic tried to unravel my concentration. But she was such a nice mare. Why would she hurt me? Besides, her horn wasn’t…No! A voice, my voice, screamed in my head. Remember! She is using magic, she’s hexing you!

Closing my eyes, I focused on the image of her glowing horn. That was what was real, it was proof she was trying to screw with my mind, and I wouldn’t let her. Using that image as an anchor, I threw up a wall of mental defiance against the psychic assault.

All at once the tide of magic broke. I stumbled back a step, shocked by the sudden let-up. The Overmare glared at me, no longer looking supernaturally captivating. I could see the signs of age, previously covered by glamour, and the unabashed hatred she currently felt for me. “How did you know?” She growled.

“After you left, Scout complained that I was rude.” I said, grinning wryly.

She held her glare for a few seconds, then matched my grin with one of her own. Nervous fear quickly replaced my confidence. “A shame he wasn’t as strong as you.” She said, nodding to Scout.

With a twisting feeling in my gut, I looked to Scout. My friend’s expression was completely dead. So vacant was he, he could barely stand on his own. Clarity was in similar condition, she had sat on the floor and begun staring at the old linoleum tiles at her hooves. “Fix them.” I said, my voice as cold as ice.

“Oh, I will, in time. I actually prefer it this way, we can have a nice uninterrupted conversation. Please, sit.” She gestured to the chair set up facing her desk. I cautiously lowered myself into one, not taking my eyes off her. “I had something I wanted to discuss with you while we ate.” She said, and it was then that I noted the food on the desk. I was surprised to see sliced apples, cereal, and muffins all perfectly fresh. It must have been a product of living in such a magically active Stable with an egotist population, they wouldn’t settle for anything less than perfect.

Still, I refused to touch any of it. I wouldn’t put it past the crafty unicorn to poison the food as a backup plan. “And what would that be?” I asked.

“Your performance in the castle. What you did was exceptional, especially for a pegasus.”

“And what does me being a pegasus have to do with anything?” I asked coldly.

“It simply means that you are an incredible member of your species.” She said without missing a beat.

She obviously didn’t realize she was talking to the most useless pegasus the Enclave have ever produced. “There are many pegasi better than me.” I said quietly. There was a sudden sharp pain between my temples and fuzziness covered my mind like a blanket. No! I screamed mentally, throwing the blanket off. The pain ended as quickly as it had begun and I turned a glare onto the Overmare.

She simply smiled as if she had just won an argument. “Not exceptional? You just threw off my attack during a moment of personal weakness. I think you give yourself far too little credit Sleet Gray.”

“Flattery won’t change facts.” I said through gritted teeth. “Now what do you want?”

“Simply put, I want you on retainer. I’ll let you leave the castle and continue doing whatever it is you do, but if I need your help I will contact you and you will come.”

“Sorry, but we already have an employer.” I said, remembering Sombra’s baleful green gaze.

“I promise not to cause a conflict of interest.”

“That might prove difficult, given my employer’s…” I paused, looking for the right word. “Ambitions.”

“My own…ambitions…will be rather limited for the time being.” The Overmare countered. “I don’t believe that my Stable will register to your employer as a threat. And besides, you may be able to serve as liaison between this employer and I. I’m certain that a peaceful diplomatic solution can be reached.”

Even when she wasn’t using mind magic the mare was convincing, though the idea of these ponies teaming up with Sombra was making my gut twist uncomfortably. As it stood though I had little choice. She was holding the minds of my friends’ hostage and I doubted I could leave the castle without her blessing. We were trapped by this mare, and if I was to weasel out of this deal I’d need to play into it first.

“Very well, we’ll work for you.” I said, my tone laced with defeated resignation. Looking to Scout and Clarity staring dully at nothing, I said with more honest pain “Just, please let them go.”

The Overmare smiled sweetly as her horn glowed. My friends slumped for a second before jolting from their trance. “What…the Hell happened?” Scout asked, rubbing his head.

“I’ll explain later. For now, we’re allowed to leave the castle.” I looked back at the Overmare, keeping my expression carefully humble. “Right?” The mare nodded, and I led my friends out of the office.

Once out of sight of the Overmare, my submissive expression melted away to one of annoyance. Goddesses damnit, I was sick of ponies stronger than me telling me what to do! Of course, everypony was stronger than me, so I supposed it shouldn’t be that surprising. Still, I already had a mission for an employer I planned to betray, what was one more besides a mild irritation?

“What happened in there?” Clarity asked, pulling me from my reverie. “I don’t remember anything.”

“The Overmare managed to overtake you minds.” I said with a shudder. “I resisted her, not that it did much good. Now we’re working for her, too.”

“What?” Scout asked, incredulous. “Why?”

“Because apparently I’m ‘exceptional’.” I said, spitting the last word like it left a bad taste in my mouth. “We’re free to come and go as we please, but if she says come we have to.”

“Damnit.” Scout grumbled, clearly about as happy with this as I was. “Tell me you have a plan to get out of this.”

“Not yet, but I’m working on it.” We had arrived in the main foyer where we had first entered the haunted castle. The formerly abandoned room was far livelier, Stable ponies trotting every which way as they worked to restore the castle. Most of them simply ignored us, but what few unicorns did deign to notice our presence did so with great disdain. However, there was one unicorn who was actually friendly. Opal approached us as we made our way to the door, her neutral expression by far the kindest of the lot. “I take it you’re leaving?” She asked once she was in earshot.

“And not a moment too soon.” I replied, then, after a beat. “No offence.”

She nodded. “I understand, I doubt anypony who went through what you did would want to stick around here.”

That was only part of the reason, but I decided not to bring up her racist Stable-mates. No need to alienate the one pony here who was actually civil with us. “You can say that again.” I sighed, glancing forlornly at my mutated wings. I considered keeping them out now that they were mutated, but decided against it. Only the feathers were transparent, the rest was readily visible and would only attract more attention in their current state. Retracting my wings into the concealed pockets, I nodded to Opal and opened the door.

“Pegasus.” Opal called as we walked out. I turned and saw her shuffling uncomfortably. “Thank you, for giving us the castle back.” The thanks clearly cost the unicorn something, perhaps her sense of her kind’s supremacy.

Still, the fact that at least one of them expressed gratitude warmed my heart. “You’re welcome.” I called back. She quickly shut the door and we made our way down the path. I smiled, enjoying the thanks for a little while longer. Soon though the happiness faded as our immediate problem came back to me. I looked at the castle over my shoulder, brooding. Now, to come up with a way to get out of our deal…

Green, malicious lights glared out of one of the windows of the castle. I froze, staring at them. For an instant I was completely immobilized, but I managed to turn and call for my friends. I don’t remember what I said, but I do know that when I looked back the lights were gone. Was that just my imagination? The fear getting to me?

“Sleet?” Scout asked, cantering up to me. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

I stared at the point where I saw the lights for what felt like a very long time. Slowly, I managed to say. “Nothing, it was nothing. My mind playing tricks. Let’s get moving.” I turned and began down the path again, Scout hesitating before following me. Ignoring the harsh cold of outside, I kept my eyes firmly forward, and strode with purpose. I suppose we wouldn’t have to worry about 126 after all.
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Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk: Rad Resistant- You have grown more resistant to being irradiated. Your Radiation Resistance has increased by 20%, thus making you 20% cooler.

The Frozen North

View Online

Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 10: The Frozen North
This is a Light-forsaken land isn’t it?

It is cold in the Stalliongrad region, deathly so, however it is not uninhabitable. Stalliongrad and St. Ponysburg were proof enough of that, and I was growing used to the cold myself. However, nothing could prepare me for where we were going. The Frozen North was a place that rarely saw the light of the sun even before the war. Now, it had been plunged into two hundred years of near-permanent darkness by the cloud curtain, and winter had taken a strangling hold on the region. I could feel it long before we reached the snowline. It was like an itching under my feathers coupled with a rising anxiousness in my throat. Winter was wild and powerful here, and it felt like it was laughing at my pathetic powers which dared pretend to control it.

I took another pull from a bottle of Sparkle-Cola, trying to wash down my anxiety. I had gone through four of the soft drinks since we left Heaven’s Point and I was starting to run low. Damn these for being so helpful. I lamented as I drank the last drop of the bottle. My mind was buzzing with caffeine, the rampant thoughts that came with it helping distract me from the wild weather we were going towards. “Clarity, do you have a general direction we should try first?” I asked, reaching for another bottle.

“North-east would be best.” She said after a moment’s thought. “That’s a good ways away from our last home, and they could have gotten to the hold out there between now and when I was captured.” She glanced back at me pulling the cap off of the bottle. “You should really stop drinking those.”

I looked down at the bottle in my hooves then at the pocket I had drawn it from. After a moment’s thought I decided to save it and put it away with an irritated snort. “So, north-east it is. About how long will it take?”

“Hopefully not more than a day, if the weather is cooperative.”

The itching suddenly worsened, making me twitch. “Don’t count on it.”

“Let me guess, you can’t make the weather cooperate?” Scout asked.

“The Enclave doesn’t spread that far north, so theoretically I could without drawing attention. Realistically though, I can’t. It would have been hard enough for pegasi to control that region before the war, now I’d have better luck stopping the world from turning. At best I could slow down any snow immediately around us, but the drain would be enormous.”

“We’ll find out soon enough.” Scout said, looking up. “We’re getting close to the snow line.”

I looked up as well, feeling the discomfort in my wings surge. The cloud curtain had become a gray roil with snow falling steady faster and heavier. Looking over my shoulder, I could see the transition between the relative calm of the cloud curtain I had once lived above and the no-ponies land we now walked under. I felt like this was when I truly entered the wilderness, at least before there had been some sense of civilization with the ruins and towns. Now, we were alone. Three ponies setting out into the wasteland before the Wasteland.

Swallowing my apprehension, I turned my attention back to the path in front of us. The snow was already growing deeper, we were soon up to our ankles in it. We huddled closer together, not wanting to lose each other in the storm. Not only was the snowfall becoming heavier, but the thick clouds blocked most of the meager sunlight. The world became monochrome, whatever wasn’t white snow was black night. There were moments where the snow mercifully lessened, giving us reprieve from the cold only to plunge us into near pitch dark. At other times the blizzard grew so terrible that we were in a complete white-out, the cold forcing us shoulder-to-shoulder so we could share body heat. And throughout it all we saw no signs of life, no ponies, no buildings, nothing. It was an utterly alien feeling, to have friends so close by and yet to be so fully alone. I found myself hugging Scout and Clarity close with my wings. I didn’t want to lose them to the desert of snow and darkness. Our progress had slowed to a crawl, the now chest deep snow and bone freezing cold hindering us immensely.

Perhaps it was my mind seeking desperately for contact outside our little huddle. I kept imagining figures moving in the darkness between snowflakes. No, not between the snowflakes, it was as if the snow itself had gained a body of its own and was stalking us on a more personal level. It was during one particularly long lasting white-out that the sensation grew unbearable. I imagined something terrible, several somethings, standing just outside of sight. Calm down Sleet, you’re still just paranoid after the giester… No matter how many times I told myself that I couldn’t shake the feeling. I needed some confirmation.

Nudging Scout, I yelled over the gale. “Are you getting any E.F.S. contacts?”

He shook his head. He had long ago wrapped his blanket around his Stable barding and covered the lower half of his face with it. Between the thick cloth and the wind it was hard to understand him. “You feel it too? Like something’s after us?”

I nodded, furtively glancing around us again. Nothing, just snow. “I’m going to try and clear things up a bit.” The itching in my wings hadn’t ceased since we entered the Frozen North, if anything it got worse. Not only was I trying to banish our imaginary stalkers, I was satisfying the itch the weather pony in me felt to tame this wild weather.

I extended my talent into the storm around us. I could feel its power, paradoxically it was like a fire burning out of control. I had to tame that fire, bring it down to something more manageable. I could go about this several ways, removing the fire’s “fuel” was an option, but it would take a small army of pegasi to bust all the clouds feeding this frenzy. Instead, I decided to try spreading the fire out. It would more quickly run low on fuel in the area I designated, which was the area around my friends and I.

I reached into the clouds with my power, pushing against the storm first in a tiny point then spreading it in a circle around us. I didn’t try to take away all the clouds, such a thing would require more direct contact and a lot more power than I had. I took what I got, pushing the fire outward and lessening the blaze in that circle.

Slowly but surely, the blizzard immediately around us lessened. The full sound and fury of the storm still raged, but that was outside our little circumference of peace. The snow was still heavy and cold, but we could move more freely and see a bit better.

The only problem was the strain was incredible. My every muscle was tense and my forehead and temples throbbed painfully. Sweat quickly filled the ridges of my furrowed brown and ran down my face, threatening to get in my eyes and shatter my concentration. “Okay…I…got it.” I managed to say through gritted teeth.

“Can you walk?” Clarity asked in concern.

“Yeah…I…can totally…” I went to take a step and the circle of calm waved dangerously. Another step and it threatened to collapse all together. I had to move the circle with us, which made my brain feel like it was being torn in two. My whole body felt like it was being pulled in many directions at once and a pressure was building rapidly in my head. “I… can...” Something burst in my head. I felt wetness running out my nose and smelled copper.
The break shattered the rest of the tension. The circle collapsed, winter returning in all its fury. I cried out, my tense muscles releasing all at once and throwing me forward into the snow. I landed mostly on my side, the shock of the cold making me gasp. I lay there in the cold, watching the snow around my nostrils slowly turn red, feeling utterly sapped.
After what felt like much longer than a few seconds, I felt Scout and Clarity move under my shoulders and lift my up. I dangled limp between them, having no power to move myself. “I’m…sorry. I couldn’t…maintain it…” I said weakly.
Scout readjusted his grip. “It’s okay, we can keep going.” We figured it was beyond you.
Clarity used her magic to move my mutated wings so they wouldn’t be crushed between them. “Yeah, don’t worry, you did well.” But it wasn’t enough.
Scout snickered, trying for a joke. “I think it’s my turn to carry you to safety anyway.” I’m getting sick of your weight.
I didn’t reply to any of it. How could I? I knew what they were really thinking, and that would color my words. Instead I hung there powerless as they started forward again, dragging me along as blood slowly dripped from my nose into the snow.

*****

I can’t recall how long we spent wandering that storm. Much like when I was locked in Talon Mountain, the light here didn’t change much. It had been dark when we arrived and that darkness had only gradually deepened since.

But I didn’t pay much attention to that. I didn’t pay much attention to anything. I was still drained utterly, overtaxed in body and spirit. My nose had stopped bleeding a while ago and now was just stuffy and difficult to breathe through. I almost lamented the loss of the steady drip of blood, it had broken the monotony of the snow. Now all I could see was white, endless white. I began to imagine that white as a piece of paper. Blank, except for those small droplets of blood, like bulletins on a list. But that list had nothing written on it, like it was a list of my life. Sleet’s list, a whole lot of nothing. I thought blearily.

The endless white of the snow and the painful cold were all I could see and feel. My body was completely numb under my coat, I was only aware that it was even still there because it connected to exposed flesh that was so cold it hurt. At some point I had started shaking with the cold, or was that Scout and Clarity shaking? I couldn’t be sure, since I couldn’t feel them carrying me any longer. If I hadn’t been able to see their legs moving out of the corners of my eyes I’d have thought they abandoned me. I wouldn’t have blamed them if they had.

Suddenly, we stopped. Scout had said something which I hadn’t quite heard, so mustering up what little energy I had I managed to ask. “W-w-what is it? Why d-d-did we stop?”

“I’mmm g-getting…something.” Scout stuttered, examining his PipBuck. “I th-think it’s a transmission.”

“That mu-must mean there’sss somepo-pony out here!” Clarity said, sounding cautiously hopeful.

“H-h-here. Lllet me see.” I said, cold slurring my words slightly as I gestured to Scout’s PipBuck. My friends gently let me down, and though my legs wobbled I was at least able to kneel and remain upright. Taking Scout’s wrist, I swapped through multiple menus by mistake, my shaking making me push the wrong buttons until I managed to bring up the radio page. Sure enough all other stations had gone dark, sans one which was just a bunch of numbers that I assumed made up a radio signal. I tuned into the signal, and a mare’s voice came through the speakers.

“-essage repeats. Hello? Anypony there? I picked up a PipBuck reading on my radar, and a three-pony-size blip. Or maybe one really fat pony. Anyway, if you are there you may kinda sorta maybe be in a whole lot of danger right now. I sent the PipBuck the coordinates to my super secluded bunker, so follow that and be quick! Oh, and if you are fat, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it! Message repeats. Hello? Anypony there?”

I shut off the message before it could start again, giving my friends an anxious glance. This mare sounded like not all her screws were tight, but at this rate we’d freeze to death. “I sssay we do wh-what she sssays. How f-f-far is it, Scout?”

After checking his map, Scout turned in what I guessed was the direction of the marker. “N-not too far. C-c-couple of minutes.”

“Lllet’s get moving then, I d-d-don’t think I can stand m-m-much more of this cold.” Clarity said.

Scout and I readily agreed and we started on our way. I was still unable to walk on my own power, so I leaned on Scout for support. Knowing we were moving toward shelter put some fervor in our steps, though it was still difficult to move through the deep snow. On top of that, our stalkers had returned.

It started much as it had last time. I saw little things moving in the corners of my vision. Chunks of darkness shifting unnaturally. I was growing twitchy, my mane standing on end. The damned blizzard was making it hard to see though, and I was growing frustrated as well as anxious. It was when I felt something move through the snow behind us that I couldn’t take it anymore and had to ask. “Ssscout, please tell me your E.F.S. is cl-c-clean.”

He looked rapidly around us and at his E.F.S. compass. “Iiit’s weird. I’m getting these f-f-faint readings that are only th-there for a second before fading out. It’s almost as if…” He looked to the left and his eyes widened. Wrapping a hoof around my neck, he forced both of us into the snow, screaming “GET DOWN!”

As we dropped I shot a glance where he had been looking. At first I couldn’t tell what had startled him. All I could see there was snow, just a big wall of white. It was a split second before hitting the snow that I spotted what was wrong. It was a solid wall of white. There was a rush of air as a massive paw swiped over where we had been standing. “Clarity, run!” Scout yelled, scrambling to his hooves. “You too, c’mon.” He said as he grabbed my overcoat’s collar in his teeth and pulled me up.

Though I had figured out that something was wrong, my more practical mental faculties were still in shock. As a result, when Scout pulled me to my hooves, I didn’t run. Instead I stood there for a second, the cold and surprise overloading my already taxed brain. Scout tried to pull me along, but I couldn’t command my legs to run. And because I didn’t run, I was caught.

I felt something heavy slam into my back, buckling my knees again and sending a lance of pain up my spine. Long claws tried to dig into my back, instead only finding the armored plates Apparatchik had put on the coat. Still, the claws found purchase, and I was pulled away from Scout, up into the cold night air. He screamed my name after me, but it was soon lost to the wind as I was hoisted into the air.

I dangled in my coat, my own body weight keeping me pinned. My arms were locked by the sleeves over my head and my wings were pulled at a joint-straining angle. I was reminded of the wing-locks my brothers learned in military training that they would try on me. Squirming was useless, and thanks to the buttons keeping me fastened in I couldn’t slip out of the garment either. Instead I got a good look at what was holding me, the first real look at our stalkers.

Even this close it was hard to see the monster, and I could finally tell why. It was completely covered in dense, white fur that whipped in the wind like falling snowflakes at first glance. I could barely see the thing’s beady red eyes amongst all the fur, but I could see its massive jaw with uneven, jagged teeth. My heart pounded with primal fear at the size of the beast, and more specifically its mouth. The thing could eat me whole without any problems and though I knew it was useless I fought to free myself anyway.

That triggered something far more frightening. The monster saw my struggle, and it laughed. The deep rumbles from its chest and the gusts of foul-smelling, hot wind from its mouth were, without a doubt, laughter. The fucking thing was smart, it knew it was about to kill me, and it enjoyed my helplessness!

It slowly lifted me up, still laughing, until I was positioned above its open mouth. The cavernous maw below me sent my own gut down a bottomless hole along with all thought. The waves of rancid air from its laughter were making me sick, and the heat was…

Heat, heat! I still had a way to fight! Black Powder was in my coat’s breast pocket, I could maybe reach it! I threw everything I had into my arms and shoulders, trying to lever myself up enough to bite down on the handle of the gun. The monster must had noticed and found it funny, because it didn’t eat me, instead laughing harder. Ignoring it I strained against gravity, normally something so easy for a pegasus, feeling the fabric of my coat cut into my armpits and restrict blood flow. I started it loose feeling in my arms and feared I wouldn’t be able to hold myself up. The gun handle was so close, inches from my teeth, and…

I got it! Falling back down into my coat, I twisted to aim at the arm of the beast and fired like a madmare. It was near impossible to see the thing’s appendage, but by some miracle I hit it and set fire to the monster’s fur.

Roaring in surprise, the monster threw me away and sent me careening into a snowdrift several yards away. Somehow I had kept hold of Black Powder during my impromptu flight, though it wouldn’t do my much good now. The shock of being buried in the snow drift had robbed my limbs of all strength. I lay there, a crumpled heap, having avoided being devoured only to freeze to death. I could still hear the monsters roaring. I only hoped that I had distracted them long enough for Scout and Clarity to get away safely. Images of the nightmare I have in Weather Station Gamma flittered through my mind as I closed my eyes, giving into the cold.

Suddenly, movement. Something shoving the snow aside. Opening my eyes again, I saw pink light generating a gust of magical wind that blew the snow off of me. Out of the blizzard, Scout came up to me and pulled me to my hooves, yelling “C’mon, get up!”

I didn’t argue, though my frozen body had other ideas. Slower than any of us would have liked, we got moving again. I could see the monster that had attacked me in the distance, still flailing and trying to beat out the fire consuming its fur. Clarity kicked up more snow to hide us as we fled, Scout checking his PipBuck obsessively. “C’mon, c’mon almost…here!” We stopped, though where we were seemed no different than anywhere else. “Hey! Let us in! Open up!” Scout screamed, stomping his hooves, which caused the sound of clanking metal.

“Okay okay okay! Hold on, jeez!” The mare’s voice from before emanated from Scout’s PipBuck along with the sound of grinding gears. “I’ve almost got it….”

“G-g-g-guys?” Clarity stuttered, her voice small with worry and shaky with cold. We looked up and saw nothing up pure white.

“OPEN THE DOOR!” Scout bellowed.

All at once, the ground beneath our feet opened up. In an avalanche of snow and bodies, we tumbled down through the new hole. The monsters had lunged seconds before the hole opened, but fortunately it closed just as quickly. I could hear them roaring through the metal hatch we had fallen through.

“Whew! That was close, huh?” The same mare’s voice said, this time from in the room.

“T-t-too close.” Scout muttered, his teeth chattering as he extracted himself from the snow.

“Yeah, sorry about that, the hatch was stuck.” Our savior said, chuckling nervously.

“Well m-m-maybe you ssssshould keep the hinges oiled!”

“Hey.” Clarity said from somewhere, her own voice shaky.

“This tech is two hundred years old! Cut me some slack!” I couldn’t pin where her voice was coming from.

“Those things nearly ATE us!” Scout yelled, his anger granting his voice stability.

“And we’ll freeze to death if you don’t shut up!” Clarity said forcibly.

We would? I didn’t feel much. The world was kinda shaking, but I managed to latch onto her scream and look at her. Apparently she was hugging me and shaking horribly, why couldn’t I feel that? “Immmmmhm ccclll.” My words slurred horribly.

“She’s in advan… hyp…rmia! Quick…way…urry…”

The whole world was going topsy-turvy, like I was spinning out. I knew I was hearing words, but the spinning made it hard to focus on them. Apparently I was moving, but I couldn’t feel my body working. That should worry me, shouldn’t it? It probably should, but I couldn’t really bring myself to focus on it long enough to care.

At some point I stopped moving in a place that was very noisy. Something had been taken off of me and another thing put on and a third thing put in my hooves. The third thing was very warm, which I could feel as a tingly spiking sensation through my fetlocks. Nevertheless the heat gave me something to focus on, and once I did the world stopped spinning enough to let me take stock of where I was.

The first thing I noticed was the source of the noise, which I now recognized as clanking and hissing. It looked like some mad earth pony scientist’s interpretation of the cardiovascular system. I was sitting in front of the heart, a massive boiler with so many pistons and valves coming out of it I didn’t know how anypony could operate it. Radiating out from the boiler was an innumerable number of pipes, traveling into the back walls like cables on a terminal. The whole contraption was giving off lots of heat, which was slowly returning feeling to my body.

I still felt cold down to my core, so when I noticed the thing in my hooves was a cup of hot liquid I went to take a sip. So bad was my shaking that I nearly spilled the scalding liquid on myself, only a sudden magical aura steadying the cup prevented that. The magic wasn’t Clarity’s soft pink, but instead an electric blue. “Careful there.” A mare’s voice said. Following the voice, I finally got a good look at our savior.

She was a skinny unicorn mare with an ashy coat and wild mane the same color as her magic. She wore a long red scarf that looked like a tripping hazard and a rather silly looking pair of goggles. It was as if she had cut a piece of black cardboard into a square, punched two holes for the lenses and stuck it on her face with no obvious means of securing it. “And don’t drink too quickly now, the sudden temperature shift may shock your system. I once had a pony come in and glug down a hot chocolate so fast it cracked one of her teeth! Totally crazy.”

I nodded hesitantly, still shaking too hard to speak, and with her help took a slow, careful sip. The liquid was hot tea, much like the kind Sister had made for me, and sent a surge of heat through me. I could feel life coming back to my limbs, slowly but surely. After a few sips I had stopped shaking enough to speak. “Th-th-thank y-y-y-ou.”

“It’s no problem, can’t have the yeti eating anypony! Can you drink up on your own?” I nodded jerkily. “Awesome! You get warm, I need to go check my radar.” With that she scurried off, somehow not tripping on the scarf.

I scooted a little close to the boiler, thankful for the heat. My greatcoat had been laid out next to the huge machine to dry. There were dents in the plating where the monster, I guess they were called yeti, had grabbed it. I had been wrapped in a large wool blanket that was soaking in the heat of the boiler quite nicely. I wasn’t long before I had the shaking under control, though I still felt chilled to the bone. Still, the heat was comforting and the dull orange light the boiler gave off was making me sleepy. It had been too damn long since my last full night’s sleep, maybe I could rest now that we were out of danger.

“…cause of Sleet.” I heard Scout’s voice say. My ears perked up at the sound of my name and I glanced over my shoulder. He and Clarity were huddled together just out of the light being thrown off by the boiler. They were keeping their voices low, so I had to strain to hear them over the boiler. “We never should have come.”

“And what else could we do?” Clarity asked angrily.

“I don’t know, but anything would be better than this!” He snapped back. “We are trapped, Clarity! The dumb risk didn’t pay off this time!”

Dumb risk? I was reminded of when Scout had yelled at me for the exact same thing not long after we found Clarity. I felt like I was being thrown into the cold again, it was my fault we were in this predicament. If I had been stronger, we wouldn’t have been blinded by the storm. And even so, if I hadn’t been arrogant enough to try, I wouldn’t have been dead weight when we ran from the yeti. And in the end, it was my fault we came to this Goddesses-forsaken land in the first place. All the dumb risks I took had brought us here, trapped underground. I pulled the blanket over my head, hugged myself with the ugly, mutated wings and wallowed in my failure.

For a few minutes there was silence, then Clarity spoke. “We’ll find a way out. Then we’ll find my people and complete this mission.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Scout muttered pessimistically.

The sound of hoof steps approaching heralded Clarity magically lifting the blanket to look at me. “Sleet?” She asked. “You okay?”

I returned the look, hoping my distress would be attributed to the hypothermia. “Cold.” I said simply.

“Me too, can I share the blanket?”

I blinked in surprise, then nodded. “Yeah, sure.” With a wing, I held the blanket open for her.

The crystal mare got under the blanket and pulled it closed with her magic. “Sorry I’m still wearing this.” She said, referring to her cloth disguise, which was soaked in melted snow. “I’d take it off, but Scout says I shouldn’t until we know more about the pony that saved us.”

“S’okay, you’ll dry quickly.” I muttered. “You two are doing better than me anyway, it shouldn’t hurt you.”

“We were only thrown into one snow pile.” She reminded me.

“True.” We sat in silence for a bit before I spoke up, or at least tried to. “Clarity, I’m…”

“What’s it like?” She asked suddenly. “The sun, I mean.”

“The sun?” It had been so long since I’d seen it, I had to think about my response. How to describe the sun? It had been such an ordinary thing when I lived above the clouds, hardly something worth talking about. But then it came to me, the memory from when I had first escaped Talon Mountain and had seen the sunrise, the words coming along with it. “You know how you glowed so brightly when we first freed you?” She nodded, smiling happily at the memory. “It’s a bit like that, only constant. A giant ball of light and warmth that bathes the world below in comfort and happiness, every day of every year.” I found myself smiling, but it faded quickly. “At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The Enclave stole the sun away for themselves. And then we saw it so often that we forgot just how special it was.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Yeah.” I whispered, gazing at the ceiling, imagining the warmth of the sun on my feathers.

Clarity followed my gaze upwards, looking past the ceiling as I did to the sky above. She was silent for a moment as we sat there in contemplation before saying. “Well don’t worry. Once we beat the Enclave we can remove the cloud curtain, then the surface can have the sun again.”

I couldn’t share her optimism. “Provided I don’t get us all killed first.”

“Sleet, you can’t think that way…”

“How can I not?” I spat back, my anger flaring. “How many times have you two have been in peril just because you follow me around? We were just nearly eaten, for Luna’s sake!”

“What happens to Scout and I isn’t always your fault, Sleet.” Clarity said, her own voice hardening. “We aren’t pets that follow you and run in the way of bullets.”

“I know you aren’t but….damnit, you remember those robots in the factory? That was me! I turned them on!”

Clarity was taken aback by the admission, staring wide eyed at me. “You…turned them on us?”

“No! No, I activated the security because the raiders in there attacked me!” I covered my head with my hooves, feeling sick. “I didn’t know you two were following me, but that doesn’t mean a fucking thing! I nearly killed you two, even though I didn’t want to! And if you just keep following me around sooner or later you will get killed and it’ll be all my fault!”

Clarity fell silent as she pondered that. We both stared at the boiler, throwing off its orange light and hissing steam, equally lost in our thoughts. Eventually, Clarity spoke up. “What makes you think it’ll be your fault if we die?”
“Think of the things chasing me. The Enclave, the slavers, and my position with the Shadow King is tenuous at best.” I didn’t have any fire left in my voice, just weary resignation. “I’ve done nothing but run since I came down here, and the more who run with me, the more likely that somepony will trip.”

“So what? Just because it’s dangerous we shouldn’t help our friend?” What parts of her body I could see were gaining that jagged, angry shape she had in Sombra’s castle. “We should leave you to face all your problems alone because if we die it’ll hurt your feelings? Isn’t that a little selfish?”

Her words were like a blow to the head. My mind spun and I couldn’t speak, only stupidly stutter out incomplete thoughts. “I…I never…I couldn’t…” Selfish, wasn’t that what Swift Winds had said? That I could never leave well enough alone and accept what I had. I had friends, for the first time in my life I had real, honest friends, and because of the danger I was in I was trying to push them away? Would they be any safer anywhere else in the Wasteland? After all, those yeti had nothing to do with the Enclave, or Cat O’ Nine Tails, or anypony who wanted my head.

Clarity saw the impact her words had on me and softened a little. “Listen, all I’m saying is that we care for you and want to help.” She placed a hoof on my shoulder and I saw her smile in the shadows of her hood. “Nopony should have to face the world alone.”

Slowly, I returned the smile. “Thank you Clarity.” I said, hugging her. The rags illuminated from within as she glowed with happiness and I felt warm the whole way through.

Scout was watching us with a curious expression. “We still need a way out of here.” He said, though it was with more optimism than I’d expect.

“I can maybe help with that.” Our savior said, trotting back into the room. When Clarity and I hugged, the blanket had fallen enough to reveal my wings, so when the unicorn made her unexpected return I rushed to hide them again. “Uh, I kinda saw them already.” She said apologetically. “But you shouldn’t hide them, the feathers are really pretty!”

If Clarity’s words had been a blow to the head, that was a punch to the gut. “I don’t hide them because of the feathers.” I muttered. Though I should.

“Oh, um, well uh…” She kicked a hoof against the floor before remembering why she came in here. “Oh yeah! Follow me, I can get you all back topside and un-eaten!” With that she whirled around and cantered back the way she came.

The three of us traded looks, now I was sure this mare was a few clouds short of a rainy day and the others agreed. Still, we had little choice and she had saved us from being devoured once, so we followed her deeper into the bunker. I had retrieved my now-dry coat and after putting it back on, cantered up to the mare. “So what’s with the giant boiler?”

“That’s the heart of the whole operation!” She said cheerily. “And it’s not really a boiler, since it doesn’t do any actual boiling of its own. This whole area is over a massive geyser field, that thing collects the hot water and steam for us to use!”

“Wait, us?” Scout asked, having caught up.

“Yep! The super-secluded bunker used to be some Ministry of Wartime Technology thing, but was repurposed into a resource-generating plant after the bombs fell! This thing is HUGE and over most of it is a town connected right to the geothermic system!” Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. It was so unexpected that we ended up walking several steps past her before realizing what happened. Just as soon as she stopped, she started up again by exclaiming “Oh! That’s right! I never introduced myself!” Dashing forward, she grabbed my hoof in both of hers and shook. “Hi! I’m Clouds!”

“Clouds?” I said, confused. “Not to be rude or anything, but that sounds like a pegasus name.”

“Well, yah see, my full name is Steam Clouds, cause you know.” She pointed to her Cutie Mark, which was of three interlocking bronze gears with steam hissing between them. “But most ponies call me Clouds, or Steam, I’ve even heard Head-In-The-Clouds, but I don’t think they meant anything mean by it.”

It took a while for me to process what she said, since she spoke so quickly, but the mention of a town jogged something in my memory. “You wouldn’t happen to know a ghoul named Jackpot would you?”

“Yeah, I know Jack I…wait a minute.” She fell silent again and jumped between the three of us. She examined my coat, Scout’s PipBuck, and finally (too quickly for any of us to stop her) she lifted Clarity’s hood before gasping in excitement. “You ARE them! Jack told me about you three and how you saved him and the others! And now I saved you, that’s AWESOME!”

“That is pretty convenient.” I said, not quite recovered enough to reciprocate her excitement. “But how can a town survive with those monsters out there?”

“It’s the geysers! The town is built up around them, and the heat keeps it from snowing too heavily. You saw how they were covered in white fur? They use that to hide in the blizzards, but with no blizzards in town they can’t hide so they don’t attack!”

“Why not? They were big enough that I don’t think a small town would give them much resistance.” Scout questioned.

Clouds took a breath to continue her explanation, but paused to consider something. “It’ll probably be easier if I just show you, follow me.” She continued walking and we followed. After several minutes of wandering halls with hissing steam pipes and sporadic emergency lights, we came to a large room with an equally large terminal in one of the walls. “Welcome to my lab!”

“Whoa…” I whispered in awe, looking about the haven of tech. The giant terminal was the most obvious thing in the room, but there was plenty of other scientific apparatuses and wonders to take in. I galloped over to a workbench that housed the disassembled remains of a suit of magical power armor. This was a much more heavily armored model than Enclave gear, and lacked wings, but it was still impressive to behold. “This is incredible!” I said, picking up the helmet.

“Isn’t it?” Clouds said happily, trotting over to me. “That’s a Steel Ranger right there! Or at least the suit of one. Found it in the workshop when I moved in. Try the helmet on!”

“Are you sure?” I asked, unable to hide my excitement. She nodded and I slipped the helmet on. It was made of a pony larger than I, but the cushions easily cradled my head allowing it to fit nicely. The lenses over the eyes gave everything a slightly green tint and there was a filter of some kind on the muzzle that was a little uncomfortable and smelled weird, but other than that it was surprisingly nice to wear.

Then it got even better. Clouds pushed a few buttons and booted up the helmet’s spell matrix. Instantly the lenses lit up, throwing the whole world into stark reality. The filter activated, the air becoming cool and fresh as I breathed in. What impressed me the most was the H.U.D. that appeared over my vision. Ever since I met him, I wondered what Scout’s E.F.S. looked like, and now I knew. In the lower-left corner of my vision a compass flickered to life. When I looked at Steam Clouds, a small green bar appeared on the compass that corresponded with her position. “This is SO COOL!” I said, grinning even though nopony could see my face.

“I know right!? Isn’t it amazing? I’m trying to get the whole suit up and running again, though since I rebooted the spell matrix I got the hard part out of the way. I think a few weeks more of work and I can get the whole thing online.”

“What else is supposed to go in this?” I asked. Once she had pointed it out I noticed that the display wasn’t complete.

“User diagnostics, weapon and ammo management, mission logs, all sorts of stuff!”

“Sounds like a PipBuck.”

“Stable-Tec and the M.W.T. did work together, so it’s possible there was some crossover.”

“Hey.” Scout said, cutting into the conversation. Clouds and I both turned to him, having completely forgotten about the other two. “You were going to tell us about the yeti?”

Clouds was quiet for a second before saying. “Oh! Oh yeah, I was! Sorry about that.” She galloped over to the huge monitor bank and started rapidly hitting keys.

“Killjoy.” I muttered, trotting over to them.

“And take that helmet off, it’s freaking me out.”

I pulled the helmet off, shaking out my mane as I did. “I really want to keep this thing.”

“Sorry, I need it, and it’s a bit too heavy to fly in.” Clouds said. “But it would be awesome if you could get me some of that Enclave armor!”

“I can’t exactly send in a requisition form, but if I do you have to promise to let me play with that some more!”

“Deal! Now then…” She hit one last key and brought up a collection of pictures on several monitors. Each detailed a different part of the yeti’s physiology. “A few years back Jack and his ghouls managed to kill one of the things and brought it in for study. They seem to be descendants of pre-war cave trolls that were living in the Frozen North when the megaspells hit. Mutations include the thick fur that not only insulates them from the cold but also disguises them in the snow.” She tapped a few keys and zoomed in on a drawing of an eye. “The biggest one is their development of the ability to see heat.”

“That’s how they can hunt in the snow.” I said catching on.

“Mhm! It’s also how Jack and the ghouls can move around without drawing their attention. They don’t have body heat, making them effectively invisible. It’s not perfect though, the yeti also developed increased intelligence. They barely count as sentient, but it lets them compensate for weaknesses.” She bit her lip and kicked the ground. “Jack’s group used to be a lot bigger, then they tried attacking the yeti cavern. The things learned that weapon fire generates heat, so they let themselves be put under suppressing fire until the guns heated up enough to track.”

“That’s horrible.” I said, cringing.

“Yeah, but it works in our favor too. Not only do the geysers keep the snow back, but the heat they put off effectively blinds the yeti. It still means the damn things are drawn to Meltwater like moths, but they just kinda stand menacingly on the town’s outskirts.” She sighed. “Anyway, that’s your lesson on the yeti, any questions?”

“Yeah, how do we get past them?” Scout asked.

“I don’t know why you’d WANT to.” Clouds said. “I mean, other than getting out of the North, what else could you need up there?”

“There’s something we have to take care of.” I said. “We can’t be waylaid here for too long.”

“Weeellll…” She said, worrying her lower lip. “I was working on something that might help living ponies mask their heat. It’s still a proto-type, but I’ll see what I can do about getting it up and running. In the meantime, you can all go topside and check out the town. The elevator is at the end of that hallway over there.”

“Sounds good.” I said, standing up. “We’ll try and find Jackpot, so contact us through him when you’re ready.” Clouds nodded, already distracted by her computer work. We easily found the elevator and ascended to the town.

Steam Clouds had called it Meltwater and I could see why. A steady rain was falling with rivulets of water pouring off the roof of the small shed the elevator occupied. What little snow hid in the shadows of awnings was clear slush and the air was fuzzy with thin fog. I slipped my wings away as we stepped into the humid air, so very different from the terrible cold we had been fighting through. The ground shook slightly and with a great whoosh a column of hot water and steam shot up a couple blocks over.

The town itself was fairly solid, the buildings were either concrete, above-ground extensions of the bunker or metal repurposed into housing. The ground beneath our hooves felt weird, it was soft and springy from all the water seeped into it. I realized with sense of strange nostalgia that this is what soil was supposed to feel like, soft and alive instead of frozen and dead. Scout walked over to one of the streams of water dripping off the roof and held his PipBuck up to it. “Amazing.” He muttered when it didn’t start clicking. “I’ve never seen so much fresh water in one place.”

“No wonder this town seems so big.” I said, looking around. “It’s got enough fresh water to last everypony their whole lives twice over.”

“This must have been what it was like before the war.” Clarity said, watching a pair of ponies trot by. They both looked well fed and clean, at least by Wasteland standards. “When ponies didn’t have to worry about getting their next drink or meal.” She looked up to the sky, her hood slipping back slightly. I could see droplets of water glimmering on her crystal skin. “Imagine if all this could go to the rest of the Wasteland.”

“It would certainly make things much better.” I said. At first I wondered why Meltwater wasn’t trading freely with the rest of Equestria, but then I remembered the yeti, who had effectively blockaded the town. Something would have to be done about that. But not now I reminded myself. “C’mon, we should find Jackpot and touch base.”

The others agreed and we set off. After asking a few locals for directions, we learned that Jackpot and his crew lived in a repurposed ammo storage facility near the edge of town. On our way there I had to repress several loud yawns. With the adrenaline rush of the yeti attack a distant memory, my body was desperate for the chance to sleep. On top of that we were walking on treacherous, slushy ground and my sleepiness was not helping my efforts to stay upright. After the third time of nearly falling on my face I spoke up. “Maybe we should find a place to sleep instead.”

“I don’t think this place gets a lot of tourism.” Clarity said. “Would there even be an inn?”

“It’s worth looking.” Scout said through his own yawn. “I could use some sleep too.”

He went over to another pony on the street to ask them about a place to stay for the night. I trotted in a circle and tried not to fall asleep on my hooves. The warm air was compounding my sleepiness and I caught my head nodding every few seconds. The movement wasn’t helping much for keeping me awake, and if I didn’t stop I’d probably run into something, but it was better than nothing.

It was during a turn of my little circle that I spotted something. A glimmering in one of the alleyways. It was something metallic and polished to a mirror shine, making it glint even in the shadowed recesses of the alley. Curiosity took hold, and I trotted towards the alley. As I got closer I swore the glint moved away, as if afraid of me. I froze, not quite sure what it was but not wanting to spook it if it was a living thing. But what living thing could possibly glimmer like that? Slowly, I took a step. It backed up. Another step, again it backed up. I leaned in without moving my legs, squinting into the darkness. I could just barely make something out, like some sort of mask.

As if it read my thoughts, the glinting mask turned and bolted down the alley with nary a sound. “Hey! Wait!” I called, galloping after it. Faintly, I heard Scout yell after me but I paid him no heed. I needed to know what this thing was. The glimmer flitted in and out of sight as it shot down the alley. The smell of rancid trash made my already bleary eyes water, so I couldn’t get a good look at it. Was somepony wearing that mask, if indeed it even was a mask? I didn’t know, but I was determined to find out.

The glimmer rounded the corner at the end of the alley. I burst out into the street after it, head snapping every which way to try and spot it. Eventually I caught sight of it, the little silver glimmer ducking into another alley. I ran towards it and was about to gallop into the alley, but ended up smacking into somepony in my haste. “Watch it, smoothskin!” A gargling voice snapped at me.

I recognized who I had run into, the last time I’d seen the blind mare she’d been glowing like a pony-shaped bolt of lightning. Because I was so eager to chase after the glimmer, I didn’t make the connection between her and the town. “Sweet Spot? What are you doing here?”

The ghoul mare’s ears twitched and she tilted her head quizzically. “Sleet Gray? That you?”

“Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t see…” I cut myself off, flushing slightly, but I had already said it.

“Oh please, don’t start that.” She said in a tone that said if she had eyes she’d be rolling them. “Not everypony missing a pair of eyes is sensitive about it. I got bigger things to worry about, like being dead.”

I coughed uncomfortably. “Yeah, I guess that would take…er…priority.”

“Just a little, yeah.” I felt my cheeks heating up as if she were radiating her displeasure at me. “Why are you in Meltwater anyway?”

“We were kinda attacked by yeti, had to take refuge in the bunker.”

She chuckled, her boiled voice making it sound like grinding rock. “You had to deal with Clouds? I almost feel sorry for you.”

“She isn’t bad.” I said, feeling a need to defend the loopy mare. “She’s working to help this place!”

“Yeah, yeah I bet.” She said, waving a dismissive hoof. “I just zone her out.”

I snorted in annoyance, remembering why I didn’t like this mare. Spitefully, I said. “Well I hate to break it to you, but Clouds is planning a visit with Jackpot.”

“Clouds come out of her cave? What’s the occasion?”

“She’s working on something for me. When it’s done we’re going to meet up at Jackpot’s place.” Sweet Spot groaned and I felt a rush of satisfaction. “Now, could you be so kind as to take me there? I don’t want to miss my appointment.”

Sweet Spot looked like she was going to tell me where I could stick my appointment, but was cut off as Scout and Clarity came galloping up to us. “Sleet, what the Hell was that all about?” Scout asked with an annoyed growl.

The distraction of running into Sweet Spot made me forget that I had ran off on my friends. But what was I going to tell them? I had spotted something shiny that may or may not have been a hallucination induced by lack of sleep? Mind spinning, I spouted the first excuse that came to mind. “I…wanted to go for a run.”

My friends exchanged disbelieving glances. “Run from what?” Scout asked.

“Nothing, just go for a run.” I did my damnedest to keep my face impassive. “You know, for fun. I mean, I was falling asleep on my hooves.” I bounced a few times, as if shaking out my legs. “Gotta keep the blood flowing.” An uncomfortable silence fell, punctuated by Sweet Spot’s snickering. “So! Anyway, I found Sweet Spot, what say we go to Jackpot’s place and sleep there? Sound good?”

“Yeah, follow me.” Sweet Spot said grudgingly. Without looking to see if we were following, she headed off.

As we walked, I scanned every alley we passed, trying to catch a glimpse of the silver mask, but to no avail. That didn’t stop me from trying, and eventually Clarity noticed my twitchy behavior. “Is something wrong, Sleet?”

“What was that?” I asked, or at least meant to ask. It came out as a loud yawn instead. “Nothing, nothing. I just tired. Mind playing tricks.”

“Tricks enough to have you run down random alleys?”

I was in the middle of another yawn when she said that, the shock turning it into a coughing fit. “Wh-what do you mean?” I choked out.

“I saw you, that wasn’t just some random run. You had seen something down that alley and ran after it. I want to know what.”

“It was nothing, seriously!” I said, hoping she would drop the topic.

“C’mon Sleet.” She said sternly. When had she learned to talk like that? Had she hung around Sister too long?

“I uh…thought I saw something…shiny” Sweet Celestia and Luna you sound like you’re five. “Shining! Something shining in the alley! And when I approached it, you know.” I waved my hoof as if shooing away a fly. “It moved away, so I chased after it.”

I expected her to laugh, but she didn’t. Instead, there was a note of worry in her voice as she spoke. “Do you have any idea what it was?”

“Not really, it kinda looked like a mask but there was nopony there to wear it.”

“How odd.” She said a bit too calmly, looking at me from under her hood.

“You think I’m crazy, don’t you?” I said, shoulders slumping.

“Hardly, I think you’re just tired.” She said around her own yawn. “Goddesses know I am.”

“Yeah, but at least you can get a full night’s sleep.” I said wryly.

“Not as often as you think.” She muttered.

“Well you smoothskins can have fun with your sleep real soon, cause we’re here.” Sweet Spot said, cutting into the conversation.

“Here” was a rather underwhelming square of concrete with a steel door and no windows. “You live here?” I asked, not believing it.

“Remember how you acted when you first woke up around us?” Sweet Spot asked. I flushed and nodded, but then remembered she couldn’t see the nod and stammered out an embarrassed ‘yes’. “Well, you got over it pretty quickly, most ponies don’t. We may be allowed into Meltwater, and we may be irreplaceable for the town’s survival, but we sure as Hell aren’t welcome.”

“That hardly seems fair.” I muttered sympathetically, knowing what it felt like to be an outcast, though not as extreme as this.

“You get used to it, besides I can’t see how shitty our place is, so I don’t care.” Despite that she was still able to find and open the door with practiced ease and let us in. Inside was, if anything, more desolate than out. Most of the walls were bare, pockmarked here and there with holes from shelving units long since torn down. A single light bulb embedded in the center of the ceiling flickered mournfully, casting more shadows than it dispelled. The only other thing in the room was a door leading to an elevator.

The sepulchral room sent shivers up my spine and I wondered how anypony, dead or alive, could stand to be here. “So, where are the others?” I asked, looking around the tiny room. It was abandoned save for us, and frankly I didn’t think that the group of ghouls could stay only in here anyway.

“The lower levels. The bunker extended under most of the town. A few hallways collapsed years ago, cutting this place off from the rest of the bunker. Perfect little island to shove the ghouls onto, eh?” She opened the lift, allowing us to all cram in. Even though I knew she was perfectly sane and wouldn’t kill me, being shoved into a tight space with Sweet Spot reminded me of my first night in the Wasteland. The creaky and rattling lift didn’t ease the tension I felt, it sounded to my ears like the screech of a ghoul horde.

After a short, uncomfortable ride, we arrived at the lower levels. This section wasn’t all that different from Steam Clouds’, though it was significantly more run down. Water leaked everywhere, lights flickered on and off, and as we walked down the hallway there were patches of clammy cold where water sat stagnant in its pipes.

“How do you live in these conditions?” I asked, shuddering as cold water dripped on my head.

“Well it’s not like we ghouls need a lot of accommodations, heat and cold don’t mean much to us and it’s not like we have to keep food fresh.” She growled irritably when she stepped in a puddle. “But even ghouls have standards, we just haven’t gotten around to fixing most of the place up yet.”

It turned out that “fixed up” just meant “less leaky”. As we moved deeper into the ghoul’s home we stopped getting dripped on every few seconds, though the heating and lighting didn’t get any better. Still, after the time we had in the blizzard and the perpetual rainstorm over Meltwater the chance to get dry was welcome.

We had entered a large room with a number of tables and various other things scattered about. This was where we found the first other member of the salvage team. It was the unicorn stallion who had served as the team’s demolitions expert. He was slouched at one of the tables, a number of empty bottle surrounding him. He looked up at our entrance, and when he saw my friends and I he leapt up, magically lifted a bottle and yelled “INTRUDERS! I’ll bash yer heads in!”

Sweet Spot groaned and pressed a hoof to the bridge of her nose. “Caber, I’m the blind one not you. Can’t you see I let them in?”

The bottle lowered slightly as he lost some bluster. “Well, err, they coulda coerced yah. By force.”

“Of course they could of.” She said patronizingly. “Don’t you recognize them?”

He squinted at us for a long time before shaking his head. “Nope.”

“Will this help?” I asked, spreading my wings through the slits of my coat.

Caber jumped in surprise, throwing the bottle against the celling where it smashed and rained glass on him. He didn’t seem to notice as he rubbed his eyes and gave us another look. “I’ll be, yer the ponies frem the ‘ospital!”

“Congratulations, you want a medal?” Sweet Spot asked.

“Got any beer?”

“NO!”

“I didn’t know ghouls could get drunk.” Scout said.

“Oh its possible, just takes a load a’ booze!” Caber said, grabbing another bottle in his magic and taking a swig.

“And he should know better than to waste caps on it.” Jackpot said as he entered the room. “Getting just one pony drunk is horribly inefficient.” He walked over to us with an amicable smile and shook my hoof. “Good to see you alive, Sleet Gray.”

“Good to be alive.” I replied. “Though I didn’t make it out,” I glanced back at my mutant wings and the happiness I felt at seeing the friendly ghoul soured. “completely unscathed.”

“Huh.” He said, looking at my wings. I started putting them away again, not liking the attention. “Well, could be worse. You coulda became one of us!” That didn’t cheer me up, and when Jackpot noticed he changed the subject. “So what brings you around here? And how’d you get through the yeti?”

“It’s actually because of the yeti that we’re here.” I said, cobbling together a story on the fly. I damn well couldn’t tell them who we were now. But what was a plausible reason for a group of scavengers to enter the desolate Frozen North? A memory flashed through my mind, the map I had seen in the Stable Tec factory, and a lie came with it. “We were planning on visiting his Stable.” I said, gesturing to Scout. “But we got a bit too close to the snowline and the yeti attacked. They chased us deeper into the blizzard, if it wasn’t for Steam Clouds they’d have caught us.”

Jackpot nodded in understanding. “Yeah, Clouds contacted me. Said she’d be dropping by to deliver something for somepony, though she wouldn’t say who. Wanted it to be a surprise.” He chuckled. “And some surprise it is! Of course you three are welcome to stay, we never got the chance to properly celebrate you helping us anyway!”

“Actually, we were hoping to get some sleep.” Scout said harshly. “Cause, you know, we still do that.”

“Scout, what the Hell?” I reprimanded under my breath.

“No, it’s fine.” Jackpot said. “Been two hundred years since I’ve had to sleep, sometimes forget that other ponies need to. There’s a barracks in this section that we never got around to taking the beds out of. Follow me.”

A few minutes later we were settling into the barracks. I thanked Jackpot for his hospitality, and he promised to wake us if Clouds showed up while we were sleeping. The beds were musty and old, but no worse than most other places to sleep in the Wasteland. The walls of the barracks were lined with bunk beds, each of us taking one. Clarity and Scout each took a bottom bunk, but I fluttered to the top of mine. Talking with the ghouls had distracted me from being underground, but now that we were alone I was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic and any altitude I could get was welcome.

I bid my friends goodnight, closing my eyes. But, as I was quickly becoming accustomed to, sleep eluded me. In spite of my exhaustion my mind spun with countless doubts and worries. Would my plan to betray Sombra work? Could we leave Meltwater and escape the yeti alive? And despite Clarity’s reassurance earlier, I still feared for my friends.

“Damnit.” I muttered, rolling over in bed for the umpteenth time trying to get comfortable. I looked down towards my friends. Clarity had fallen asleep quickly enough. I marveled at how a pony so vulnerable to emotions and who had gone through so much could sleep so peacefully. And Scout, the twitchy survivalist, who slept like a rock. Except there was something wrong, when I looked at Scout he was hunched under his blanket, shoulders tense. “Hey, Scout.” I said under my breath.

“Hm?”

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.”

“Hey, I’m the liar, not you.”

He tuned to glare at me over his shoulder. “Was that supposed to be funny?”

I flinched at his glare. “Look, I sorry about getting us stuck here…”

“I’m not angry about that, Sleet.” He interrupted. “It’s the sort of thing I’m coming to expect from you.”

“Then what’s wrong?” I asked, trying not to let the sting of his last comment color my voice.

He was silent for a long time, to the point where I thought he had fallen asleep. Finally, he spoke up. “I…didn’t leave my Stable under the best circumstances. It’s not that I hated being down there or anything, actually I kinda liked it, it suited me.” He pulled up his PipBuck’s map, which I could partially see over his shoulder, and scrolled to the little gear mark that signified Stable 130. “But after what happened, I can never go back.” He looked back at me, his eyes tired and resigned. “You know what that feels like, don’t you?”

I thought of my family, neighbors, almost everypony I’d ever known laying shattered and frozen on the Wasteland. “Yeah, I do.”

Scout rolled over again so I could only see his back. “Get some sleep, Sleet. Getting out of here is going to be a challenge, and I need you alert.”

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. For a long time I laid there, my mind spinning as if caught in a tornado. At some point, I closed my eyes and a short time after that I feel into a sleep troubled by dreams of Stables, yeti, and silver lights.
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Footnote: Level up!
New Perk: Crash Course- One week in the Wasteland will teach you more than a whole semester of fancy book-learning, provided you survive. You gain a +5 increase to your Science and Medicine skills.

Belly of the Beast

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 11: Belly of the Beast
“I don’t want to be gobbled!”

The most shocking thing about waking up the following morning was that I did so relatively calmly. When I opened my eyes, I didn’t find anypony hovering menacingly over me, no eyes peeking at me from a shadowed corner, and the sound of breathing, which I took to be my friends sleeping, dispelled any chance of eerie silence. Not only that, but I felt rested, or at least more than I had in the past few days. My sleep hadn’t been peaceful by any stretch of the imagination, nightmares of yeti attacks and endless blizzards had plagued me, but I had still slept through them well enough.

“I think I’m becoming desensitized.” I muttered, which was a worrying thought. I had to consciously relax my shoulders, which had tensed instinctively upon awakening. After taking a minute to calm myself against the unnaturally good morning I was having so far, I rolled over in bed with the intention of gliding to the floor.

“Hello!” The brightly colored unicorn colt standing just underneath me yelled.

“HOLY CELEST- OW!” The loud greeting made me jump in surprise, but since I had slept on a top bunk this meant I whacked my head against the ceiling. Clutching the back of my head in hooves and wings, I overbalanced and fell to the hard concrete floor. “Owwwwwwww fuck…” I hissed, squeezing my throbbing head.

The colt looked down at me, eyebrows furrowed. “You don’t look like a hero…”

“Who the Hell asked you?” I spat.

My irritation didn’t faze him. “Sis told me you were a big hero who saved Jack and the ghouls from monsters, but heroes are cool and cool ponies don’t bonk their heads.”

I stood, gingerly holding a wing that I was channeling cold power through to the sore spot on my head. “Even heroes have off mornings.” And I’m no hero.

“Not the Stable Dweller! She’s awesome!” The little colt said, bouncing excitedly.

“Who’s the Stable Dweller?” I asked.

He stopped his bouncing and looked at me as if I just asked who Princess Celestia was. “You don’t know? Don’t you listen to the radio?”

“Not really, my friend doesn’t like it when I…” I turned to look at Scout’s bunk and found it empty. “Where’s Scout?”

“The earth pony? He and the pretty unicorn are in the mess hall with Sis and the ghouls.”

“Wait, so the sound of breathing I heard, that was you?”

“Uh huh!” He said, nodding rapidly.

I looked down at the excitable little colt, who had the same electric blue shock of mane that Clouds did but with a warning-sign orange coat. “You aren’t very…subtle, are you?” I asked.

“Nu uh!” He said, shaking his head.

Right, noisy little colt and a possible concussion, even my good mornings aren’t good mornings. Stepping around the colt, I trotted towards the door, still holding the wing to my head. The sound of his hoofsteps followed me into the hallway. “So, I’m guessing Steam Clouds is your sister?”

“Yep! Sis and I live in the super-secluded bunker together, but she does most of the science-y stuff. I’m in charge of the salvage.”

“Salvage? How do you salvage anything with those monsters outside?”

“Oh, I don’t go outside. The super-secluded bunker is much, much bigger than the spot you saw. Sis and I haven’t had the chance to poke around the whole thing yet, even though we’ve been living in it all my life and most of Sis’. Reason I do all the salvaging is cause I’m smaller and cause of this!”

A bright orange light started flashing behind me. Turning around, I caught an eyeful of the light flashing from the colt’s horn. The effect on my headache was like a lightning bolt to the brain. Covering my eyes with a hoof, I stumbled back with a cry. “It’s my special talent!” He yelled as if the bright light made me hard of hearing. “Light tricks! It’s how I got my name, Lights!”

“Lights?” I asked, squinting.

“Flashy Lights! Sis named me!” He said proudly.

“Great, great, now could you please dim that?” I asked. He relented, and after a few seconds of blinking I managed to get the spots out of my eyes. “So, Flashy Lights.” I took quick note of his Cutie Mark, one of those spinning orange emergency lights. “Appropriate. So, you’re my wake-up call?”

“Yep! Sis sent me to getcha. The earth pony didn’t want me to, he was all like,” Lights scrunched up his face and said in a deep voice while shaking a hoof “she never gets any sleep, let her rest, blah blah blah!’” Returning to his normal voice, he continued. “But Sis was super excited to show you what she made, so she had me come get you anyway.”

“Great.” I muttered, then, out loud said. “Well, let’s not keep them waiting.”

The four-hooved headache and I soon reached the mess hall, which was the same room we had met Caber in last night. The other ponies (living and undead) were gathered around the tables eating breakfast. Scout, Clarity, and Steam Clouds were all gathered around one table, so I went to join them. Sliding onto the bench next to Scout, I pressed my wingtips to my temples, trying to squeeze out the headache. “You okay?” Scout asked. “I thought you were actually sleeping for once.” I shot a poignant glare across the table at Flashy Lights, who had started yammering at his sister, then glanced at Scout. He nodded in understanding.

There was a buzz of magic as Clarity gave me a plate of food that I accepted gratefully. The plate had sliced apples, oatmeal, and fresh hay, all of which I was surprised to see. This food looked higher quality than what we had above the clouds! “I thought Sweet Spot said they didn’t have food down here.”

“I said we didn’t need to keep food fresh.” Sweet Spot said from across the room. “We ghouls still need to eat. I think.”

“You think?”

“We still feel need to put food in belly.” The giant earth pony who had wielded the equally giant hammer spoke up in a Stalliongrad accent. He was talking between bites of mushy, brown apple. “Fresh matters not, ghouls don’t taste.”

I felt a little ill watching the ghouls eat, their food well past the expiration date. “Isn’t that unhealthy?”

The big pony laughed. “Leetle smoothskin, being ghoul is unhealthy! Probably do not have to eat, but we do for we feel we should. Keeps mind working, and is cheap!”

“That’s why I brought my own food.” Clouds said in a low voice. “The ghouls are nice, but rarely make accommodations for living ponies. Not many visitors.”

I nodded, taking a bite of apple. When the taste hit my tongue my eyes shot wide open. Sweet Celestia this was fantastic! I quickly ate the slice I was working on then scarfed down three more. “You’re acting like you’ve never eaten an apple before.” Scout said, watching me eat with amusement.

“’Ever lik’ ‘his.” I said around a mouthful of fruit. Swallowing, I asked. “Where did you get these?”

“I grew ‘em!” Clouds said with a note of pride. “Lights and I found an experimental underground agricultural system designed to provide Stables with steady food supplies. The data I found on it said that only a couple of them actually got these things, and even then some more than others. This one Stable down by Ponyville has a whole orchard growing right underground! Anyway, with the constant fresh water supply here in Meltwater, all I needed was to fix up the artificial sunlight generators, rig up a fertilizer system, and voila! Insta-apple farm!”

“Incredible.” I muttered, examining one of the apple slices. “What’s the out-put on it?”

“Enough to feed the whole town. We still need Jack and the ghouls to go out and get specific things like medical supplies and stuff, but other than that we’re almost entirely self-sufficient. Not bad for a buncha ponies surrounded by giant monsters, huh?”

“Speaking of giant monsters.” Scout said. “You had something you wanted to show us?”

“Yes! Yes I do! Lights,” She said, turning to her little brother “bring out the thing!”

The little colt’s horn glowed orange as he pulled out something that had been stashed under the bench he and Clouds had been sitting on. It looked like a giant folded cloth, which was it proved to be when Lights opened it with a flourish and said “ta da!” The cloth was huge, easily large enough to cover several ponies and made of some kind of silvery material.

“A big blanket?” Clarity asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Not just any big blanket!” Lights said from behind his display. “It’s made from three different layers of material. One to keep ponies warm, another to stay on the outside and always be cold, and one in the middle to make sure the other two don’t touch!”

“Heat camouflage.” Scout and I said at the same time.

“Yep!” Clouds piped up. “The yeti will only be able to see the outer layer, which is made of a thin material that doesn’t retain heat. That way, it’ll always be the same temperature as everything around it, making it effectively indivisible to them!”

“And the middle layer is an insulator that doesn’t conduct heat very well.” I said, catching on. “That way the body heat of anypony wearing it doesn’t show on the outside, meanwhile the inner layer keeps them warm! That’s brilliant!” Clouds beamed at my praise.

“Yeah, but why’s it so big?” Scout asked, poking his head under the table where the blanket was fanned out beneath our hooves. “It’s kind of impractical to carry around something that huge.”

“Oh, yeah, about that.” Clouds said, laughing nervously. “I kinda maybe sorta got carried away with the sewing. I was so eager to have my proof of concept and wanting a lot of data that I made it kinda…” She lit up her own horn and, working with her brother, levitated the whole thing up. It practically reached from floor to ceiling. “Really really big.”

“Well, it’s big enough to cover all three of us at least.” I said, craning my neck to see the top of it. “You’ve tested that it works, right?”

“Well, not against live subjects.” Clouds admitted as she and Lights folded up the blanket and stored it away. “But we have a thermal camera or two in the bunker and a few tunnels where the heating is out. Both Lights and I were filmed with the camera while under the blanket and we got no heat signatures, so everything seems to be in order.”

“There’s one more problem.” Scout said. “How the Hell are we supposed to see from under that thing?”

“Well it’s not like visibility is really a thing in the blizzard.” Clouds reminded him. “And you have your PipBuck, so just lead them by the compass!”

“Yeah, but the compass couldn’t pick up the yeti until they were right on top of us.” He countered. “We wouldn’t know they were there until we bumped into them, then they don’t need to see us to kill us.”

“If you don’t like it then don’t take it!” Lights said, glaring at Scout from around the blanket.

“I’m just saying we need a way to see, otherwise what’s the point?”

I chewed an apple slice, not paying attention as the two colts argued. There had to be a way around this. Suddenly it came to me. “Mmm! Mmm!” I tried to get everypony’s attention, but my mouth was still full of food. Clouds and Lights dropped the blanket, so everypony was looking at me as I struggled to speak and swallow at the same time. “Mmm! Whait, Ah go’ it.” Swallowing, I pointed to Clouds. “You said you had a radar that picked us up, right?”

“Yeah, I…oh wait!” Her eyes widened as she caught onto my train of thought. “If I could modify the radar program…”

“Integrate it into the E.F.S. compass…”

“And get it to register on the display…” By this point the two of us had our forehooves on the table and were leaning towards each other in excitement. Then, Clouds gasped. “But how? Would there be enough room?”

“Trust me, there’s more than enough room. These things have massive storage. So, can you do it?”

“Yes! Yes I can!” She reared up, kicking her hooves in excitement before leaping to the ground and galloping off. “I need to get to work!”

Laughing, I grabbed Scout by the hoof and flew after her. “C’mon Scout! You’re getting an upgrade!” Clarity would later tell me that, after a short, stunned silence, Lights had commented that ‘smart ponies are weird’, to which she agreed before they chased after us.

*****

We spent the next hour or so in Clouds’ section of the bunker while she worked on modifying the program. Scout had sat bored near the big terminal, various wires coming out of his PipBuck as Clouds worked away. Lights was showing Clarity around the rest of the bunker while we worked. Meanwhile, I had amused myself with poking around the lab, with its owner’s permission. There had been a workbench with several spare magical energy weapon parts scattered around it, so I was able to do some maintenance on Black Powder and soon had the custom pistol looking brand new.

Putting Black Powder away, I continued to look around at the various technological wonders in various states of completion. It seemed that Clouds had taken every bit of interesting tech she could find from the bunker and brought it back here to tinker with. Most of it looked to be for military use, there were disassembled guns and suits galore strewn about with wires and empty magazines. One thing looked out of place, it was one of those multi-armed medical things that had been in the Scrap River doctor’s office. I trotted over to the little screen with keyboard on the side, poking a few of the keys.

Suddenly the device came to life, whirring and flailing its arms wildly. I screamed in surprise, leaping backwards and into the air. The thing continued to whir for a few seconds before falling still, with only the slight hum of electricity to give any indication it was on. “General rule, don’t touch anything with more than four arms.” Clouds called, not looking away from the terminal.

“What is that thing?” I asked, not landing even though the thing had stopped.

“Auto-doc.” Clouds answered casually. “Their medical bots designed to assist in surgery. Thing is, that one doesn’t actually heal anypony.”

“Then what does it to?”

“It installs subdermal implants that enhance various traits in a pony. One to make you stronger, one to make you smarter, even one that makes you more charismatic.”

That last one made my ears perk up. “What do you mean charismatic?”

“Like ponies are more drawn to you, they’ll listen to what you have to say.”

As casually as I could I asked. “Like could it make you, prettier?”

I saw Scout looked at me with his brow furrowed, his gazing asking me what I was going on about. I didn’t meet his gaze, instead waiting while Clouds thought about it. “If it does it would be relatively minor. That one’s a hormonal implant so theoretically it should cause physical changes over time.” She chuckled. “Though for all I know it just makes you give off pheromones that’ll have every buck near you too turned on to argue with you. I haven’t actually tested any of them.”

I landed next to the thing, and after first making sure I wouldn’t set it off again, scrolled through the selection of implants on the screen until I found charisma. I stared at it, the little cursor blinking over the word. I could hear them, my brothers taunting me, calling me “cold flank”. With this, I could change that. Maybe not significantly, but considering the way I was…

This is bullshit. A little voice in my head said. That won’t make any appreciable difference.

But any difference would mean something. I thought.

You already have a difference, what about your wings?

Those just make me a freak!

Who has said that other than you?

They don’t understand! They aren’t pegasi! I set one hoof above the clouds and I’ll be spat on as a genetic monster! I broke their precious purity and it didn’t even do anything. My shoulders were tensing as I continued to mentally yell at that damned voice. I’m still the same! Still boring! Still…

“Sleet!” Clouds called, snapping me from my internal monologue. I looked up to see the unicorn detaching the wires from Scout’s PipBuck. “I have an alpha of the program ready. Scout and I are gonna go test it out, want to come along?”

“Uh, no thanks.” I said, trying with some difficulty to keep my voice from shaking. “I still want to look around a bit.”

Clouds shrugged and started to trot away. “Alright, suit yourself. C’mon Scout, we need to open the roof and let the blizzard in. The radar says no yeti in the area, so we better go while we can.” Scout gave me a curious look, which I returned with a mustered smile. He galloped after Clouds, the door closing behind them.

Cold flank. With a few swift keystrokes, I started the procedure. The device jumped to life, whirring and spinning. After a few deep breaths to steady myself, I hopped onto the little surgery bench and let the thing get to work. I felt thin, metal extensions push apart my mane at the base of my skull. I had to force myself to remain still as the points scraped against my scalp. Once my mane was out of the way, a pad soaked in localized anesthetic was pressed to the spot. I took quick, regular breath, trying to calm my racing heart as the whirring started up again. I could distantly feel a pressure at the numbed spot, then a sudden spike of sensation that made me gasp. Several quick motions and a spray of liquid followed and the machine fell still.

“Is that it?” I asked nopony in particular. I didn’t feel any different. Reaching back with a wing, I gently poked the spot where the surgery had taken place, feeling stitches and a lump that wasn’t there before. “I guess it worked.” I muttered, sliding off of the surgery bench. When I landed on the ground, my knees buckled, making me stumble into the same workbench I had been tinkering at earlier. “Whoa, that’s not right.” I said. “Okay Sleet, get your bearings…”

After a minute of stumbling and staggering, I managed to steady my legs and trot around normally. The first thing I did was find a bathroom and check myself in the mirror. The first thing that hit me was how terribly disheveled I looked. I hadn’t actually gotten a look at myself since I had fallen out of the clouds. My mane had grown and was horribly tangled, my hooves were dirty, and my overcoat was tattered at the edges. The most obvious thing were the spots where radiation poisoning had made my coat fall out and it had grown back in unevenly.

There was nothing I could do for my coat right now, but I could at least fix my mane and hooves. Finding a comb, I tried to pull it through my mane and instantly regretted it when it got caught on a knot and pulled painfully on my scalp. A quick run under the sink for the comb and my head made for a smoother experience, and after washing my hooves I was soon appearing somewhat civilized again. In fact, I did look just the tiniest bit different. I had never cared much for mane styles, choosing instead to just keep it neat, but for some reason I had combed it off to the left side without really thinking about it. “Maybe the implant comes with a dose of vanity.” I said to my reflection.

From down the hall, I heard Steam Clouds’ voice call out, “Sleet! Good news!”

After quickly checking that my mane covered up the spot where the implant had been installed, I cantered back to the lab. “What’s up?”

Clouds had started typing away at her terminal and didn’t immediately answer my question. Scout on the other hoof had given me a confused stare at me as soon as I entered and continued to do so for an uncomfortable stretch of seconds. Eventually, he said. “Did you do something with your mane?”

“Well, yeah.” I said not expecting him, or anypony really, to notice. “I went to the bathroom and saw that it was all messed up from traveling, so I combed it.” I found my wingtip fiddling with my mane, keeping it in the position I had given it. “Just kinda felt like I should.”

“Huh.” He said, still staring at me. I felt my cheeks turning red, was this implant stronger than I thought? Had Clouds been right about the pheromones thing? Finally he shrugged and turned to watch Clouds work. “I don’t suggest making a habit of it, stuff like that tends not to last on the road.” There was the Scout I knew.

Clouds jabbed a key and exclaimed, “Right! So! Good news and not-so-good news! Good news first, the conversion went swimmingly. The radar integrated into the PipBuck’s programming really well. Not-so-good news, there are a few bugs with interface compatibility…”

“All I could see were dots and nearly went deaf from the pinging.” Scout deadpanned.

“Exactly. Fortunately, my Steel Ranger helmet over there has a really similar display, so I should be able to sort that out on my own. Scout said he wanted to pick up supplies, so how about you two go to the general store in town and I’ll get this sorted out?”

“We’re going shopping?” Clarity asked as she and Lights returned to the lab.

“You three! Even better, I need full focus here, and my favorite little-assistant-brother free to help. Lights! The helmet!” The little colt snapped a salute and scurried over to the bench housing the Steel Ranger armor.

The three of us took our leave as they got to work. “So why go for more supplies anyway?” I asked as we stepped out of the elevator to the surface and I slipped my wings away. “Aren’t we set for life on anti-rad medicine?”

“Yeah, but there’s still food and ammo to consider.” Scout said. “And I don’t know about you, but giant blanket or no I’d like some actual clothes designed for going out in a raging blizzard.”

We found the general store soon enough and were surprised by the size of the selection. Ammo of nearly every description, boxes of medical supplies and food, and assorted other junk that I saw no obvious use for. But there was something else I noticed too, signs of disuse, shelves stacked to the brim with too much stock and a thin layer of dust over everything.

“Welcome welcome welcome!” I looked up as the shop-keeper, a middle aged earth pony stallion with a dusty brown coat and graying yellow mane, trotted over to us. He shook our hooves in turn as he continued to talk (Clarity was once again wrapped in her disguise, and her hooves were covered enough so the shop-keeper didn’t notice her crystal nature). “It is so nice to see new faces here! You must be the newcomers who got past the yeti, I’m Knick Knack, welcome to my store! Please take your time, look around! Can I help you find anything?”

“Actually, yes.” I said, gesturing to Black Powder. “Do you have any spark packs?”

“Yes we do! Follow me, please.”

Scout and Clarity continued to browse as the Knick Knack lead me away. We wove through the overstocked store, stepping around boxes and squeezing past shelves. “Business is a little slow I take it.”

“It’s practically non-existent.” The shop-keeper lamented. “The town is so self-sufficient that ponies have practically no need to come here, and you are the first group to get past the yeti in months.” As we came to the supply of spark packs, he looked left and right before whispering to me. “To make matters worse, my only regular customers are the ghouls. They are the only ones in town who need ammo, that and that drunk bomber of theirs constantly buying all the booze.”

“What’s wrong with Jackpot and his team?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, it’s because they’re ghouls!” Knick knack said as if he were talking to a filly.

“Uh huh.” I said very slowly. “And the problem is…?”

Knick Knack started to shuffle uncomfortably as I glared at him. “W-well, I don’t have a problem with them personally, like I said they’re my best customers! It’s just, well, most ponies don’t care for ghouls and when they see them shopping here it makes the living ponies less inclined to…” None of this was appeasing me, which he could clearly see. “So, how about those spark packs?”

I decided to drop the topic and get on with the transaction. “How much?”

“Thirteen caps a pop.”

Thanks to my experience working with Apparatchik I had a good idea of what the value of most common Wasteland items was, so I could see how ridiculous his offer was. “No deal, five.”

He at least put on a good show of looking taken aback. “But that’s practically theft!”

“Hardly, and considering how overstocked you are you should be practically giving them away.” I picked up a hooffull off spark packs from a box and let them fall back to prove my point.

He sighed, hanging his head. “You’re right. Every week Jackpot and the ghouls come back with more and more stuff and I have nopony to sell to! If it wasn’t for those accursed yeti we could actually get some trade!”

“The town seems to be doing fine, even with a slow economy.”

“It is, that’s the thing! But soon we’re going to grow too large for the town to sustain and either we push out and get eaten by yeti or starve here, and I still won’t be making sales!” He shook his head, looking dejected. “But, fine, you’re right, five caps a piece.”

“Works for me.” I scooped up a good number of spark packs and we went to the counter tucked away in a back corner to complete the payment. My friends had already gotten what they wanted, Clarity had picked up Med X, healing potions and magical bandages while Scout had stocked up on food, ammunition of his own, three sets of winter gear, and… “Are those grenades?” I asked nervously, pointing to the little metal apples.

“Yep, I figure if we run into any more giant monsters we’re going to need something with a bit more kick.”

“You at least know how to use those things, right?”

“They won’t blow up before I want them to.” He assured me. We paid for our things and started to leave. On the way out though, I noticed something bright yellow along one of the walls, which upon closer examination revealed itself to be a pile of hazmat suits with the symbol for radiation on them.

Those were the sort of thing that would come in handy at the Empire. “Hey.” I called over my shoulder to Knick Knack, who was putting our caps away in an old world till. “How much for these?”

He looked up at my call and saw what I was pointing at. “Oh no! Those actually aren’t for sale.” He trotted over and gathered up the suits. “I keep meaning to take them off the floor…”

“Why aren’t they for sale?”

“These aren’t your average, everyday rad-suits.” He explained. “The ghouls found these in some old hospital below the snowline. They have built in radiation dampeners that increase the suits performance immensely. You could walk into a fresh balefire crater with these on and only get a mild sunburn. But Steam Clouds said she wanted to experiment on them, and besides technology like this is incredibly expensive, I’m afraid I cannot sell.” He started to walk away.

“Wait.” I said, stepping forward and putting a hoof on his shoulder. “We’re going to be going somewhere pretty irradiated soon, and you have five of those suits. We only need three.”

He thought about it for a second, but shook his head. “I’m sorry, no. I cannot put a price on these.”

Damnit, I wanted those suits! They would make our trip to the Empire so much easier. I needed something to convince him, anything. Then an idea hit me, I didn’t particularly like it, but it might just work. “What if we had a different method of paying?”

Knick Knack sighed, frustrated with my persistence. “And what could that possibly be?”

“What if we solved your yeti problem?”

The shop fell silent for a long stretch of seconds. Scout grabbed my coat, pulling me in close and hissed at me. “Sleet, what the fuck are you doing?! I see why you want those, but they aren’t worth getting us eaten.”

“Except we won’t be eaten, so could you please let go and let me explain?” Scout continued to glare at me for a second before finally letting me go. “Thank you.” Adjusting my coat, I turned back to Knick Knack. “Steam Clouds made us a device capable of shielding a pony’s heat signature, effectively making us invisible to the yeti. We know the reason Jackpot’s assault on the cavern failed, the yeti learned to look for the weapon’s heated barrels. What we’ll do is find individual yeti and pick them off, then hide under the blanket while the barrels cool down. Not only that,” I gestured to Black Powder “this thing sets stuff on fire. I think a giant flaming corpse will be a sufficient distraction for monsters that see heat, don’t you?”

“That…could work.” Clarity said, rubbing her chin. “And if we take out enough yeti to break the blockade on the town, then all the fresh water here could go out to the rest of the Wasteland.”

“I could get some actual trade, it would be wonderful!” Knick Knack said, lighting up at the idea.

Scout was the only one not warming up to the idea, but he knew he was outvoted. “This is another of your stupid risks, Sleet.”

“I know, but don’t those usually pay off?” I asked, giving him a smile.

He sighed, shaking his head. “Giant monsters, I’m going to need more ordinance. Do you have any land mines?”

*****

“You’re going to do what now?” Jackpot asked, eyes wide.

“Yeah I know, it’s a big risk, but we need those suits. We’re planning on scavenging some really radioactive places soon and they’d be a big help. Besides, I’d like to help out your town.”

“Well that’s awfully philanthropic of you and all, but I don’t want to see you three eaten for this!”

I sighed, not wanting to explain this a third time. “We won’t be. We’ll use Clouds’ giant blanket…”

“Heat Masking Thermo-Tarp.” Clouds corrected me.

“Heat Masking Thermo-Tarp to stay invisible to the yeti. Then we pick them off one at a time, really slowly and carefully. It will take a while, a long, long while if that will help, but we’ll be perfectly fine. Sufficient reduction in the yeti population will allow Meltwater to trade with the rest of the Wasteland and you may even get more mercenaries to come in and finish the job.”

“Yeah, and I’m working on mass-production for the HMTT.” Clouds chimed in. “So any living ponies will be able to evade the remaining yeti easily!”

Jackpot rubbed his forehead. “I don’t like it, not at all. But if you insist on doing this, then I’m going too.”

I had expected this response, and in fact been looking forward to it. “I was hoping you’d say that, after all you know where the yeti cavern is and more about them than any of us.”

“Ifin yer goin’ boss, then so ‘er we.” Caber said, banging his mostly-empty bottle on the table for emphasis. There were several mutters of assent from the other ghouls.

“No, no, no.” Jackpot said, waving a hoof. “This group should be as small as possible. We don’t want a repeat of last time.” The group fell silent at that. “We’ll do as Sleet said, take things nice and slow and quiet.”

“If you want quiet, I can help with that.” Sweet Spot said, hefting her rifle. There was a silencer screwed into the end of the barrel, adding another few inches to the already sizable weapon.

“I said no. We all know what happened the last time too many of us went after those monsters.”

“Yeah, and we all know what happens when you don’t take them down quickly!” Sweet Spot retorted. “I know you’re a decent shot, Jackpot, but you can’t kill one of those things in a single hit, and neither can the smoothskins. You need somepony who can drop them before something goes wrong.”

“And why are you so eager to come along?” I asked.

“Because I don’t want to see another one of these missions go to shit. And frankly, after the last one, I’ve been wanting another crack at those things.”

“I don’t want to see another mission go to shit either.” Jackpot said in an understanding tone. “And the way to prevent that is to keep the group as small as possible.”

“No, she poses a good point.” I said. “The whole point is to strike quickly and efficiently. The best way to do that would be to have a sniper.”

Jackpot gave a rattling sigh. “Damnit Sleet Gray, stop being so reasonable.” I smilied apologetically as he nodded. “Fine, but no more, and that’s final!” There was displeased murmurs and shuffling amongst the other ghouls, but that stopped at when Jackpot waved his hoof. “Quiet, all of you! If you want something to do, then prep for our next outing! We can poke around one of those old suburbs, the one with all those crazy lights in it. Sure to be something good there, eh?”

The ghouls reluctantly agreed and got to work as we left. Clouds joined us, at least until the edge of town, saying she wanted to see her prototype in action. In little time we got to the town’s outskirts. We stood next to a recently-erupted geyser, steam and heat still thick in the air. Though it was oppressive, I relished the heat while we had it, knowing that soon I’d miss it.

Scout passed out the winter gear he had purchased to all the living ponies going on the expedition. He had gotten a heavy, hooded coat and a set of sturdy boots for each of us, which I gratefully put on. I declined the second coat, wanting to keep access to my wings, though Scout made me promise to put it on if we ever needed to travel without the tarp. As I slipped on the boots, I asked Jackpot. “Do you still feel cold?”

“In a way.” He said, checking the load on his weapon, a large, six-shot revolver. I was unsure how it would stack up against the huge yeti, but I trusted Jackpot’s judgment. “It’s kind of like how you feel air on your skin. You know it’s there, but never really think about it.” He poked my shoulder, causing me to twitch involuntarily away from him. “This beef-jerky skin isn’t exactly conducive with touch, you know?”

I flushed, embarrassed at my gut reaction. “Sorry.”

That only made him laugh. “Don’t worry about it.”

I’ll admit, Jackpot fascinated me. Considering his situation, he had no reason to be so kind and cheery. “How do you deal with it?” I asked. “You know, with being...”

“Dead?” I nodded. “I was a gambler, back when I was alive. Got my Cutie Mark when I hustled the school bully out of all the lunch bits he stole. Ever since then, I lived by my luck, and it usually paid off. But sometimes it doesn’t, cause there are the moments where you make it big, the ones where you go broke, and still others...” He looked down at his own desiccated arm. “Others put you somewhere in the middle. But hey, this is the hand I got, I’ll play it. Certainly better than the alternatives, I could have died in the apocalypse or been cooped up in a Stable all my life!”

“Play the hand you have.” I said, thinking of my mutated wings. “I want to call a redraw.”

That got a hearty laugh out of Jackpot. “Sorry kid, no mulligans!”

While we were talking, Steam Clouds was installing the improved radar software onto Scout’s PipBuck. She had brought the program along on a holodisk, and after a few minutes of fiddling around with the device, asked Scout to fire it up. “Alright, here goes nothing.” Scout said, pressing a few buttons.

“Well?” Clouds asked.

“It appears to be working.” Scout said, looking around at something only he could see. “And I’m not getting my ears blasted off.”

“Alright! Now, phase two, does it work when I do this?” Clouds magically draped the giant blanket (Heat Masking Thermo…whatever) over Scout. Clarity and I started laughing as it settled down around him, the tarp was so comically huge compared to Scout that he looked like a foal playing under the covers of a bed.

“I’m still picking up signals, I think we’re good to go.” His muffled voice called, ignoring our laughter.

“Excellent! I love it when a code works!” Clouds lit up her horn and raised up the tarp for Clarity and I. “Alright you two, in you go.” As we trotted under the supersized tarp, Clouds stopped me with a quick hug. “Be careful, it was nice having a pony around who actually knew what I was talking about. Don’t go getting eaten!”

I returned the hug and gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine, I promise.”

“You better be!” She called after me as I stepped under the tarp.

Once we were all under the tarp, Clouds lowered it, leaving us in darkness. “Scout, can you get us some light?” I asked.

“Already on it.” His voice said from right next to me. With a click and a whir his PipBuck lit up with soft green light, illuminating the three of us. There, now for the big question, how do we move in this thing?”

He raised a good point, the weight of the tarp pressed on us and though that was manageable the size of the thing was an issue. The slack in front of us would make simply walking forward difficult without tripping or pulling the thing off. “I have an idea.” I said, flying up with my hooves over my head so I lifted the tarp until the edge was barely brushing the ground.

The only problem was that the damned thing was heavy! I had only just lifted it and my shoulders were already burning. “Clarity, a little help?” I asked, my voice tight with strain. Clarity’s horn lit up with pink light, a corresponding glow pressed upward on the blanket, lessening the weight. “There we go, ready!”

“We’re set to go in here!” Scout called out. “Jackpot, Sweet Spot, you ready?”

“Sure are!” Jackpot’s boiled voice returned, muffled by the layers of fabric separating us. “I’ll take point. Just follow my dot and I’ll have us at the cavern in no time!”

“Alright then everypony.” Scout said, positioning himself as his radar instructed. “Let’s go.”

And so we went, Clarity and I holding the tarp up while Scout directed us. It was more than a little disconcerting having no idea where I was going, especially since I was helping to hold up the only thing that could probably keep us alive. More than once Scout made a turn I wasn’t expecting and we nearly took the whole thing down. Fortunately we had worked out a series of calls on which direction to go by the time snow started to appear under us. As we ventured further beyond the range of melt from the town’s geothermic activity, the snow grew deeper and deeper. We kept quiet save the calls of which way to go, and even those were hushed, this is the part where Clouds’ cleverness was tested.

“Hold on, we’re stopping.” Scout said, barely loud enough to be heard.

While we were stopped, I landed next to him, rubbing my sore shoulders. “Why? Something wrong?”

Something pony-sized pressed against the tarp and Jackpot’s voice came through in a whisper. “You reading this, Scout?”

“Yeah.” He said, looking around at something only he could see. “Yeti.”

I felt Clarity tense next to me, and I couldn’t blame her. The thought of the giant monster being mere feet from us, separated by only a meager giant blanket, sent a chill down my spine. “How many of them are there?” I whispered.

“Three, two there.” He pointed to our immediate left. “And one there.” This one was slightly to the right.

“How close?”

The blanket was pressed upon from the outside, covering my mouth. “Too close.” Sweet Spot hissed, barely audible through the cloth.

“Should we take these ones out?” Scout breathed.

“Too risky, can’t guarantee clean kills in the blizzard.” Sweet Spot said. “Just move slowly, and be as quiet as possible.”

I looked to my friends, Clarity looked about as scared as I was, but Scout simply nodded and mouth ‘let’s go’. With an assenting nod, I flew up and lifted the tarp, Clarity’s magic lighting up around me. This was the moment of truth where we found if our little tarp worked. We started forward at an agonizingly slow pace, and I found my imagination plagued by visions of the gigantic white-furred monsters. I could see the yeti trudging through the snow with our little blanket, so hilariously small compared to them, creeping between them.

Time and space felt like they were stretching, so much so that by the time Scout raised his hoof to stop if felt like we had travels weeks and miles. I had tensed so much that I was hardly able to flap my wings. Poor Clarity didn’t look much better, her crystal skin was practically gray with her mane falling limp. “What is it?” She asked in a shaky voice. “Have they spotted us?”

Scout turned around and scanned behind us, then turned in place a few times. If I didn’t know he had that radar I’d have thought he’d lost his mind. I lowered myself to the ground, shaking more from the residual tension than the cold snow I’d landed in. “I think…” Scout said hesitantly, as if he was cautious about believing it. “I think it worked. We left the yeti behind.”

Clarity and I both sighed in relief, sitting in the snow heedless of the cold. I found myself laughing after a second, tension flowing out of my shoulders. “Holy shit, it worked. Good going Clouds!”

Clarity shook her head, chuckling as a crystalline sheen came back to her coat. “Sleet, I’m with Scout on this one. You come up with the stupidest, riskiest idea.”

“We’re not out of this yet.” Scout reminded us. “We know that we can sneak around the yeti, now we need to know if we can kill them.”

We managed to get to the yeti cave with little further incident. Once Scout made sure there were no yeti in the immediate area, we peaked from under the blanket at the entrance. Before us stood a great mountain, stretching upwards into the clouds. A gigantic fissure ran up the face of the mountain, starting out wide near the bottom and tapering off a good twenty feet up. The crack in stone was easily large enough to fit one of the yeti, and from what we could see it extended deep into the mountain. “Well, that’s it.” Jackpot said, trotting into our field of view.

“How many do you think are in there?” I asked.

“I’d say about twenty. Clouds told you these things mutated from trolls right?” I nodded and he continued. “Well trolls were never the brightest or most sociable things in the Old World. The mutation made them a little smarter, so they learned how to hunt in packs, but they still don’t like each other, so the dens tend to stay pretty small.”

“Wait, ‘dens’?” I asked, emphasizing the plural. “There’s more than one?”

“Well yeah, these things are a whole species after all. There are a bunch of dens all over the Frozen North, but they are extremely spread out. This den is the closest to Meltwater by a long shot, so that’s why its members are threatening the town. If we take it out, it will get the town off of yeti radar unless a loner wanders by from somewhere else.”

“Alright then, how about the caves themselves?” Scout asked.

“They’re pretty expansive, and most of the chambers are large enough to give the yeti a few feet of headroom. On the plus side, there are a few short and narrow tunnels we can use in a pinch.” He paused, and when he next spoke his voice had tightened. “They helped us hide and escape last time.”

“If all goes to plan, then we won’t need them.” I said. “How much does it take to bring one of those things down?”

“Either a lot of lead to the body, or one big bullet through the head or other vital area.” Sweet Spot said, motioning to her sniper rifle.

“Then you’re going to have to handle most of the kill shots. Think you can do it?”

The ghoul gave a gurgling laugh. “I’ve had two hundred years of practice without my eyes, and these things are stupid. I know how to find their heads, don’t worry.”

“Alright, no sense in waiting around any longer. Let’s go.” The ghouls nodded and we slipped back under the tarp.

“You’re sure about this, Sleet?” Clarity asked as we got back into position. “Call me cynical, but I’m not really comfortable having a blind mare be in charge of taking down the pony-eating monsters. I mean, I know she says she’s adapted to shooting without her sight, but have you ever actually seen her shoot?”

“Well, no.” I said after flapping back into position to carry the tarp. “But Jackpot says she can do it, and I trust Jackpot. Besides, we didn’t have a lot of options for quick, silent kills.” I imagined what it would have been like if we’d brought Caber along, and while an exploding yeti sounded spectacular, the blast would draw more attention than we could afford.

“There’s no going back now.” Scout said, orienting himself by the radar. “Let’s get going.”

And so we went into the mouth of the cave. It didn’t take long for the snow to give away to hard rock as we entered the fissure in the mountain side, the hooffalls of my friends echoed slightly with each step. I knew that the ghouls had to be moving more quietly than we were, and that the tarp was masking our sound as well as our heat, but I still winced with each clip and clop. At least flying made me perfectly silent.

Tension filled the air under our tarp, everypony holding their breath, waiting for the inevitable first encounter. It took a long, long minute, but eventually Scout raised a hoof. We stopped dead, as frozen as if I’d turned us all to ice. Scout’s head slowly turned as he tracked something that was circling around behind us. It felt like every hair on my body was raising as he turned fully around and looked behind us.

When the tarp raised up from behind, I nearly leapt from my skin. It took everything I had not to scream as Jackpot entered. “Don’t worry, I came in behind its line of sight, it didn’t notice anything.”

“How’s it look out there?” Scout whispered as I slowly landed.

“Good sized one, all alone, sitting in a corner. Looks like its eating. Sweet Spot is going to take it out.”
Clarity’s questions before we entered the cave came back to me, and I was filled with curiosity. “Alright, I want to see this.” I said, moving to the front of the tarp.

“How? You can’t go out there.” Clarity asked.

“I’m just going to peek.” I said, laying down on my stomach. The cold of the stone floor seeped through my overcoat, but I ignored the chill as I raised the tarp just barely high enough to let one eye look out. I almost shouldn’t have bothered, there was next to no light in the cave, though as my sight adjusted to the dark I could begin to make out a few things. Outlines of the rough stone walls formed the boundaries of the room, and I determined a shuffling, pony-shaped patch of darkness to be Sweet Spot.

Then, I spotted the yeti. At first its white fur made it look like a pile of snow, but the fact that it was moving and making a rather unsettling crunching noise proved otherwise. It was difficult to estimate how large it was, since it appeared to be sitting, but even then it rivaled Coming Storm in terms of height.

Looking back to Sweet Spot, I watched as she positioned her sniper rifle, settled into a firing stance, and did something I thought was completely insane. She whistled, a loud and sharp whistle that echoed off the walls, and to my nerves may as well have been automatic weapons fire from a small army. Naturally, the yeti noticed immediately. The giant beast rose from its sitting position with a grunt, and that was when I got a sense of how freaking massive the thing was. The mutant troll towered over us to the point I couldn’t see its head without sticking my own out further, something I wasn’t going to do anytime soon.

Sweet Spot whistled again, each echo making my chest tighten more and more. I prayed to any higher power that would listen that the ghoul knew what she was doing. As the yeti stomped it’s huge feet, turning towards her, it started to roar. I say ‘started to’ because it only took a second of the guttural cry for Sweet Spot to raise her gun, fire once, and silence the thing forever.

I watched, the one eye capable of seeing the spectacle wide to the point of nearly falling out as the tower of white took one step back, then two, then fell with a crash that shook the floor. The crash made me release the breath I had been holding throughout the whole ordeal, which had taken no more than fifteen seconds.

Throwing the tarp up, I stepped out and stared open mouthed at the body of the yeti. I had expected her to do it, counted on it even, but seeing it done, and especially how, still took a second to process. “You just…got it.” I said, in the dead tone of the shell-shocked. “By whistling. You just killed the giant monster by whistling.”

“Told you I could do it.” Sweet Spot said proudly. “Do you know if any of those bat ponies still exist? Maybe I’ll go run with a group of them someday!”

*****

Scout insisted that we take an incisor from the dead yeti as proof of our kill. I had no idea how he was able to pull the huge tooth out, let alone store it in his duffel bag, but somehow he managed it. Then, anticipating that other yeti would have heard the crash and come to investigate, we prepared to take the monsters out. Firstly, I set the corpse of the dead yeti on fire with Black Powder, the large amount of heat would provide a nice distraction, if an absolutely atrocious smell. Then, we picked a tunnel to wait in. Jackpot told us that, while the yeti were less than sociable, they did have the tendency to congregate in the larger caverns. We chose the tunnel to lay our ambush based on the fact that it didn’t connect to those large areas, and thusly should receive less traffic.

It turned out we were only partially right. We hid around one of the bends in the tunnel under the tarp, Scout watching his radar for any motion when he muttered, “Shit”.

“What is it?” Clarity asked.

“We have three of them coming this way.”

“Shit.” I agreed. “How far away are they?”

Scout’s eyes scanned over something only he could see. “Hard to say, best guess minute and a half.”

“You hear that?” I called through the tarp to Jackpot and Sweet Spot.

“Yeah.” The sniper ghoul responded. “I’ll only be able to take down one cleanly. The others will spot my barrel and it’ll be too hard to line up a new shot.”

“Ninety seconds.” Scout warned. I could hear heavy footfalls coming down the tunnel.

“We’re going to have to fight the others.” Jackpot said. I could hear him readying his weapon.

“Is there any way we can avoid that?” I asked, hoping against hope there was. The sound of the yeti was getting louder, and closer.

“Afraid not. If we can take out two, then we’ll have the chance to run before the third can block us off, but it’ll be risky. My advice? Take out the legs. It’ll still be dangerous, and they can still swing their arms, but we’ll get and keep distance.”

“Forty-five seconds. I hope you have a plan, Sleet.” Scout asked tersely.

I began running scenarios through my head, each option flashing through my mind and being discarded as unusable. Then, two things came to me, how much the first yeti I encountered panicked when its arm caught fire, and something Scout had asked the shopkeeper in Meltwater. “Okay, plan, Jackpot, can you cripple one leg in a single shot?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, just gotta put the right shot in the right place.”

“Okay, Scout, prime one of those landmines you bought and give it to Clarity.”

“What?!” The crystal unicorn asked incredulously. “Why?!”

“You have magic, you can place it more precisely than the rest of us.” I could feel the floor shake slightly. “Sweet Spot kills one, I blind another by lighting its face on fire, Jackpot takes out a leg on the third and Clarity mines its other one.”

“And then?” Scout asked, in the process of priming the mine. He glanced at his radar. “Twenty seconds.”

“Then we either kill them or run like Hell.”

We fell silent as the yeti approached. Scout had handed Clarity the mine, which she gripped lightly in her magic. I crouched, wings flared and tensed with Black Powder at the ready. Scout had said twenty seconds, it felt like twenty minutes. My mind circled around and around my plan, throwing all sorts of potential problems into the mix, visions of the whole thing going wrong dominating my thoughts. I tried to calm myself, imagining a great wall of ice in my mind to hide mentally hide away the panic. It worked, at least partially and I was able to think clearly, though my heart didn’t slow.

It would have to do, as the yeti rounded the corner. I couldn’t see them, but the rumble of their footfalls made it obvious they were there. “Ready…” I breathed, barely audible. Sweet Spot whistled, the stomping ceased, one yeti growled. The pwiff of the silenced sniper rifle, the gurgle of the yeti dying, and excited roars of its companions, all of these signaled me screaming “GO!”

Scout threw the tarp up, the light of his PipBuck lantern revealing something from one of my nightmares. The fallen yeti lay diagonally across the tunnel, black blood pooled near its mouth as its companions stood behind it. One yeti was making to step over the dead one while the other roared and reached for the ghouls. All of this was bathed in a green light, turning the already ugly scene ghastly as I took to the air. Assessing the situation as quickly as I could, I picked my target, the yeti reaching for the ghouls.

Jackpot backed out of the giant monster’s grip, holding out a hoof so he pushed Sweet Spot back at well. Before it could swing again, I flew by its eyes, my living heat signature seizing its attention more than the fleeting heat of the rifle barrel. The beast snapped at me with its huge jaws, barely catching my tail. I felt a few hairs pull out as I flew up, keeping its attention away from my companions.

I looked down to aim at the thing, and felt my heart seize as a massive hand tried to close around me. Beating my wings crazily, I flew backwards, shooting several bolts of orange light at its palm. A few struck home, causing the yeti to flinch back with a pained roar. It gripped its burnt hand in the other and glared up at me with intelligent, hate filled eyes.

I looked back into those eyes and lined up my shot. ZAP! The blast of orange light struck square between the thing’s eyes, a fire instantly sparking to life on the white fur. “Yesh!” I cried around the stock of the gun. “Ah did i’, Ah got ‘im!” The beast roared as the fire started to overtake its face, slapping at the burning fur with its massive paws. At least that’s what I thought it was going to do. I was so caught up in my little victory that I didn’t notice that huge paw was swinging at me until a second before it struck.

With a scream, I tried to twist out of the way, but my reaction was far too late. The blow broadsided me on the right, feeling and hearing something snap in my chest. I didn’t even have time to tumble before smashing into the stone floor. I tried to scream, or even just breathe, but my chest felt as if I was the one who had set on fire. I lay there, unable to take anything but the shallowest gasp, while the burning yeti raged above me. There was an explosion off to the side, another roar joining the first only to be followed by a massive CRASH!

I could at least let my head loll to the side so I could see what happened. It seems that the others had been successful in their attempts to take down the third yeti. The monster was trying to push itself up, but between having one knee shot up and the foot on the other leg blasted off, it was unable to.

My victim, its head now completely engulfed, flailed for a few seconds before tripping over its downed companion. It fell on top of the other yeti, making the floor shake an eliciting a bellow of pain from the crushed yeti that petered out into a lifeless rattle. The fall seemed to have killed the burning yeti as well, as it ceased moving.

Deafening silence fell in the tunnel, save the sound of smoldering fur. “We did it…” Clarity muttered, shocked.

“Yeah, and it was very loud.” Scout said, coming to his senses quicker than the rest of us. “Let’s get moving.”

“Sounds good to me.” I said, or at least started to say, but as I sat up a horrible pain flared in my side. Screaming in agony, I collapsed onto my back, gasping and holding a hoof over the right side of my chest. Scout cantered over to me, reaching out to move my hoof. “Don’t, hurts.” I whimpered, unable to say more.

“Shit, her rib is broken.” He growled.

“We don’t have time, we have to move.” Sweet Spot said, her ears twitching. “I think I hear more coming.”

“We aren’t leaving her.” Clarity said firmly, trotting over me while levitating a shot of Med-X and roll of bandages out of her saddlebags. The shot glowed brightly with pink light as she empowered the medicine before injecting it into my arm. Almost immediately the pain faded, not by much, but enough for me to breathe easily.

“I never said leave her, just throw her on your back and let’s get moving, c’mon.”

“We can’t move the tarp if Sleet can’t fly, and she can’t fly with a broken rib.” She started to magically undo the buttons of my coat as she talked.

Sweet Spot face hoofed, groaning. “You don’t treat a broken rib! She just has to suck it up.”

“I can’t treat it, but I can dull the pain. Jackpot, help me lift her, gently now.”

While the sniper grit her teeth in annoyance, Jackpot nodded and got on the other side of me, kneeling down to slip his hooves under my back. “You okay, Sleet Gray?” I gave him an incredulous look, eyes tight with pain. The Med-X hadn’t quite taken full effect yet, so even the little bit of movement made my side burn. He smiled sympathetically. “This is going to hurt, ready?” I gave a tight nod and he slowly raised me up. The sharp spike in pain made me groan.

Clarity had wrapped the magical bandages around my chest. Even the slightest touch to my right side had made me whimper, though when she finished and the healing energies set in the pain receded further. “Okay, I think I’m good.” I said, buttoning up my greatcoat. It still hurt something awful, but it had been reduced to a background pain rather than a stabbing agony.

“Are you sure? Can you fly?” Clarity asked as I stiffly got to my hooves. Now that I could stand, I got a better look at the situation.

I had fallen near the blasted feet of the collapsed yeti, my burning victim lying on top of it. Scout was standing near the head, checking the way we came for more yeti on his radar. Sweet Spot paced near him, ears twitching. I gave my wings a few flaps, and while it hurt it wasn’t enough to cripple me. “Yeah, I think I can, let’s get going.”

“Thank the Goddesses.” Sweet Spot muttered, trotting towards us. “For ponies who wanted to do this as safely as possible, you don’t seem to mind sitting around in the open.”

“Wait.” Scout said, holding up a hoof.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, what now?” The ghoul snapped, whirling around.

“Something isn’t right.” He said. “Are there other tunnels adjacent to this one? One my map wouldn’t pick up?”

“That’s impossible.” I said, shaking my head. “The auto-map feature would have scanned the whole cave as soon as we entered.”

“Then I want an explanation for why I’m picking up a contact on the other side of that wall!” Scout said, pointing to the wall on the other side of the fallen monsters. “It keeps fading in and out, but it’s there.”

“Shouldn’t the radar get it?” Clarity asked.

“It’s coming through on E.F.S., not radar. That means it’s not moving.” He started to slowly circle around the bodies, glancing between the wall and his E.F.S. “Wait, now it is, but I’m still not getting a…” He looked up from his compass and at the yeti. “ping…” His eyes shot open and he leapt backwards, catching the firing bit to his battle saddle in his mouth. “ITS NOT DEAD!”

As he screamed, the burned yeti’s massive bulk shifted, placing its huge paws on the ground and pushing up. I watched in horror as the deformed beast raised up, a twisted roar building in its throat. Scout opened fire, trying to finish it off, but even with S.A.T.S. he was unable to kill it quickly. It had to be blind from the fire, but its ears still worked and it lunged towards the sounds of Scout’s gunfire. He jumped out of the way of its grasping paw, but now he was trapped further away from us.

Sweet Spot whistled sharply, attempting her earlier trick. It managed to get the thing’s attention, certainly, but not the way she wanted. Rather than turn its head to present her a shot, the mad beast lashed out, its huge foot snapping out with frightening speed. Even if she could’ve seen it coming, there was no way Sweet Spot would have gotten out of the way in time.

There was a heavy thunk as she was struck and an even louder CRACK as she was whip-lashed into the wall, her head colliding with the hard stone. The yeti roared, and I swear I detected a note of victory in its bellow. That roar was silenced not long after by a thunderous gunshot that originated from next to me. The yeti clutched its throat, blood running between its fingers, before collapsing, truly dead.

Jackpot stowed his revolver in its holster and walked over to Sweet Spot’s limp form. “Is she dead?” I asked softly.

“Yeah.” He said after a moment kneeling next to her. Standing, he turned and cantered deeper into the cave. “C’mon, let’s go.”

“You aren’t going to leave her here, are you?” Clarity asked, shocked.

“The yeti won’t find her body, I’ll come back for it later.” He said hurriedly. “And if we don’t move soon we’ll join her.”

“Wait.” I said, putting a hoof on his shoulder to stop him. “What do you mean?” I asked, something about the tone of his voice worrying me.

Scout cantered over to us. “Somethings up, I got a ping on the radar, but it was moving away from us.”

“Yeah, one of them spotted us.” Jackpot said.

Silence fell as we all processed that. “Without attacking?” I asked, the implications horrifying me. “But that means…”

“They’re learning.” The sound of echoing roars seemed to come from all directions at once. “And they’ve surrounded us.”

*****

The yeti were onto us.

Even with the tarp, enough yeti knew we were here to being blocking exits. Not only that, but they started traveling closer together. Scout’s radar regularly picked up packs of three or four monsters staying within one tunnel of each other, meaning we had next to no chances to attack. Through combinations of sheer luck and risky traps we were able to pick off about four more, but each kill tightened the net around us.

Not only that, but I was slowing us down. My broken rib forced me to take regular breaks from flying. Even with the painkillers, the injury was too severe to ignore completely. During one such break Scout said what we were all thinking. “We can’t keep going like this.”

“He’s right.” I said. “We’re running too many risks stopping like this.”

“Then what should we do?” Clarity asked.

“We scrap the mission and come back later.”

“No.” Jackpot hissed from outside the tarp. “We have to end this.”

“I know you’re hurt from what happened, but we don’t have to capacity to end this.” I said, keeping my tone neutral. “If they yeti weren’t on alert then we might be able to even without her, but as it stands right now this is too dangerous.”

The ghoul gave a rattling sigh full of anger and resignation. “You’re right, I know you’re right, but what can we do? This is the second mission to fail, how do we beat these things?”

“I don’t know, but we can’t do it here and now. The best thing we can do is escape, get this tarp cut to size, and come up with a new plan.”

It was agreed that we would leave and so we started towards the exit. From where we had stopped, getting to the exit would involve passing through a large central cavern that connected with many tunnels. As we approached the cavern, Scout reported his radar picking up near twenty of the giant monsters moving in and out of it. I could hear them, we all could, the milling footsteps and growling of the creatures bounced off the stone. We all fell dead silent as we crept into the cavern, the sound of the yeti expanding around us.

I could feel the agitation in them, the constant motion and the tension in their bestial voices. It garnered a weird sympathy for the monsters in me. Something was killing them off as well, though their threat wandered unseen. I had heard stories of giant creatures called elephants that had wandered the plains of the Zebra nation and had been afraid of mice, even though they could crush them easily underfoot. The irony, and parallels to the current situation, was not lost on me. But these elephants would not fear the mice, nor would they run. And if they caught sight of us, we would be crushed without hesitation.

The pain in my side was building. I didn’t know if it was the Med-X wearing off or just the constant motion agitating the bone. Either way, I was finding it harder and harder to maintain the altitude I needed to carry the tarp. Slack began to drag on the ground, just enough that we didn’t notice until it was too late.

As we came to the exit of the cavern, we grew eager. Scout told us through so many gestures that he was picking up no yeti beyond the cavern. The thought of maybe being able to move more freely and away from the monsters excited us, and we quickened our pace. In that haste Scout failed to note the yeti whose path we would cross. Had I been at full strength, this would have been no problem. We’d have passed in front of it with no complications. But as it stood, the slack of the tarp dragged behind us, and was caught beneath the yeti’s foot.

The tarp was pulled from us, the rush of cold air freezing us as solid as water. Knowing that remaining still wouldn’t help, I spun and looked up at the yeti that had revealed us. The giant looked down at me, red eyes squinting in confusion. There was no uproar, no stomping or attacking. We hadn’t been spotted by the masses yet, but that was rapidly about to change. I had less than a second to do something, so I made a distraction.

Pulling out Black Powder I blasted several shots at the yeti. I wasn’t aiming anywhere specific, I just wanted to hit it. Bolts of orange light struck it in the chest, and where they struck fire built. The yeti’s battle roar became one of surprise and pain as the flames spread over it. I put several more bolts into the crowd, looking to spread the fire as much as possible before screaming “RUN!”

We fled, using the moment of surprise to weave between the forest of yeti legs. By the time we got into the tunnels, the roars had begun in earnest and the rolling thunder of their pursuit followed us. “What do we do?!” Clarity screamed, not caring for silence now.

“We find a smaller tunnel and hide!” Jackpot thundered.

“And then what?” Scout asked. There was no answer.

The chase felt a lot longer than it was, mainly because the agony of my broken rib was coming back in force. I had abandoned flying not long after we had been exposed, and now it hurt to the point that I was stumbling more than galloping. Clarity noticed my distress, slowing so I could lean against her as we ran. I appreciated the gesture, though we were losing speed, and the stallions were pulling ahead of us. We rounded a corner several seconds after them and if it weren’t for the green light of Scout’s PipBuck ducking into a crack in the wall, we would have lost them.

The crack was wide enough for one of us to fit in at a time. I took the few seconds to lean against the cold, rough stone wall, gasping in pain and exhaustion. By this point I wasn’t sure if it was the Med-X fading or all the agitation I had just put the wound through, but it felt like I had been stabbed by a splintered piece of wood.

“Sleet, get in here!” Scout’s reprimand snapped me from the haze of agony. Slowly, gingerly, I slipped into the crack in the wall. I was plunged into complete darkness, the abyss given borders by the tight, jagged walls. Sharp stone forced my wings back into their pockets and a jutting rock struck my head, but I was able to fit, if just barely.

I ended up pressed against the others, scrunching against them so that no part of me was sticking out of the crack in the wall. At least if we die now it’ll be close together. I thought grimly.

The sound of the stomping yeti made us hold our collective breath. The monsters roared in frustration when they didn’t spot us, though they continued down the corridor. I managed to turn myself around and look out the crack in the wall, watching as the white fur passed by our shelter. Then, a few stopped. We all pressed back further, even though we were already crushed.

The yeti roared at one another, though what they were saying, if indeed it could even be called speech, was beyond me. All it would take was one of them to kneel down, and I was certain the residual heat of our bodies pressed together would leak into their vision. Death, a mere glance away.

But it never came, instead something else wholly unexpected. The rata-tat-tat of automatic gunfire surprised both us and the yeti. The beasts standing outside our hidey-hole stomped around, probably turning to the noise, and roared what I was beginning to recognize as their battle cry.

The gunfire rapidly grew louder until it reached a crescendo, and the monsters screamed in pain. With crashes that shook dust from the walls, the yeti fell. The head of one came down, looking into the crack in the wall. I stared into the monster’s dead eyes, wondering who the Hell had brought enough fire power to drop the giants that quickly.

Lights cut through the darkness. Voices and hoofsteps begin to echo off the walls. One of the lights pass over the crack we were hiding in, and the voice I assume belonging to the light’s owner calls out “Boss, over here!”

Hoofsteps approached the crack, a flashlight held by unicorn magic shining onto us. I had to squint against the light, unable to make out the features of the pony who had saved us, but when she spoke in a Stalliongrad accent, I knew I had met her before. I heard Clarity gasp in horror behind me, and though the yeti were dead, I felt more trapped than ever.

“Business Mare! What surprise to see you here!”

My eyes adjusted to the light, allowing me to make out her insincere smile. I returned one of my own, even as my heart seized in sympathy to the fear I felt radiating from my crystal friend. “Hello, Cat O’ Nine Tails.”
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Footnote: Level up!
New perk, Quick Draw: You can draw and holster your weapon 25% faster.

Audacity

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 12: Audacity
“If I did my math right, and I always do my math right…”

The Enclave wasn’t a particularly pious nation. We had been living under the erratic patterns of the sun and the moon for too long to believe that the Goddesses controlled them. For me, the Goddesses had become simple curse words for when things didn’t go my way, more abstract concepts to pin blame on than actual beings. Sometimes though, my already dire circumstances would reach a new low, and I couldn’t help but feel there was a divine hoof at play enacting some celestial punishment. “I must admit.” Cat O’ Nine Tails said, peering into the crack in the wall we were hiding in. “Never in life did I think I vould find situation so perfect.” She grinned hungrily. “Thief caught like rat in trap, with cheese still in teeth.”

I could feel Clarity trying to press herself away from the slave driver. I didn’t blame her, my own mind was spinning in fear and most of it was for my crystal friend’s sake. But I needed to respond, and quickly. Silence would kill us. “Thief?” I ask innocently. “What did I steal?”

“Her, of course.” Cat O’ Nine Tails said in a sickly sweet tone. Her predatory eyes fell on Clarity, who whimpered softly.

“That so?” I asked, falling back into the short tempered trader persona I had adopted the last time we had met. “The way I remember it, we paid you all ours caps fair and square.”

“That was for freedom.”

“Which you only took because you failed in keeping her under control.” I reminded her. “As I recall, I paid you for your loss of profits, essentially buying her with no guarantee I’d ever see my product.” With a smile, I reached a hoof back and patted Clarity on the shoulder. “Lucky I found her at all, otherwise you’d be the thief, wouldn’t you?”

The slave driver glared at me for a long second. I felt certain that she would order us shot, but instead she smiled, that wide fake smile that failed to reassure me. “Business Mare, as clever as I remember. You speak truth, creestal mare is yours.” I felt my shoulders relax, though I should have known it was too soon. “Come, come from hole. Must be cramped with so many ponies!”

“It’s comfortable actually.” I said, stretching out and resting my head on Clarity. “Nice and cozy. Safe too, those giant monsters can’t reach in here.”

Cat O’ Nine Tails’ grin froze. “Da, but ve can.” The beams of light from her cronies shifted, moving closer.

I raised my hooves placatingly. “Alright, understood.” At least we’ve dropped the pretenses. Slowly, very slowly and carefully, I got to my hooves and began moving out of the crack in the wall. The additional lighting meant I was able to avoid bashing myself against the jutting rocks, though I had to remain stooped. As I extracted myself, I rolled my shoulders and stretched to my full height. Despite my assurances to the contrary, it felt good to get out of that cramped space. I turned to Cat O’ Nine Tails, asking. “You never did tell me, why are you here?”

“Simple reason.” She nodded and before I could react, sharp pain exploded in my head. As I dropped to the rough stone floor, she leaned down and hissed in my ear. “I’m here to restock!”

“Sleet!” I heard Scout’s voice call from the crack in the wall. The sound of a priming firearm swiftly quieted him.

“Stay vhere you are, bodyguard.” Cat O’ Nine Tails ordered him without looking away from me. “I must speak vhith your employer.”

“Restock, huh?” I gasped from the floor. The throbbing from my head reminded me it was stupid to talk back, but I needed to keep fishing for knowledge. The more I knew, the easier it would be to get us away from them. “With what, the yeti? They’re a bit too testy for that, I’m afraid.”

“Ha! No, no, no, Business Mare, I come for rare prizes! You see vhen I find creestal ponies, I vhas, unprepared. Did not expect stiff resistance ‘they are veak!’ I hear, ‘they crumble, like ice in sun!’ Pah!” She spat on the ground next to me. “Nyet, zhey fought, and hard. Now, zho…” She chuckled darkly. “Now, I have plan.”

“Wonderful!” I said with sarcastic enthusiasm. “Mind sharing it?”

The slaver leader kicked me in the gut, forcing me to curl into a ball. “Nyet, is trade secret.”

“So why are you here?” I coughed out. “You know the difference between a yeti and a pony, right?”

“The creestal ponies were deficult enough to find first time.” The slaver mare admitted, circling me like a vulture. “Now I return to cave they hide in, I find empty.” She stopped in front of me. “But now,” She stood on her hind legs and stretched her hooves to the cavern roof in praise. “Fate smiles on Cat O’ Nine Tails! I search caves, and through giants monstors, I find you, the Business Mare with map to gold!”

“And you think I know where the crystal ponies are?” I asked condescendingly, but under I bluster I could feel my gut twisting uncomfortably, and not from being kicked.

Nine Tails must have seen the realization on my face, because she was grinning the widest grin I’d ever seen. “Oh no, Business Mare.” She said, lowering herself back on all fours. Her horn lit up, I felt her magic grab the back of my coat. Slowly she lifted me, hanging limp like a manticore cub in its mother’s mouth. “Not at all.”

“Then what’s the point of this?”

“Because, you have somepony with you who does.” She turned that predatory grin towards the crack in the wall.

“Then why take Sleet hostage?” Scout asked.

“Sleet.” Cat O’ Nine Tails looked at me as she spoke my name, working the word in her mouth, as if memorizing each individual sound. I felt an irrational fear at this monster in pony’s clothing knowing, speaking, my name, as if it gave her some kind of power over me. “That is your name then?” I remained silent. She laughed and turned back to the crack in the wall, where I could see Scout peeking out of the darkness. “I broke leetle creestal mare long ago, but she is not mine now. She need permission from new mistress. However,” she shook me a little with her telekinetic grip “I know her type. She will not want to tell, but she will.” She punched me across the face, hard. “To save own skin, she will”

“I won’t.” I growled. “I’m not like you.”

“Nyet?” She laughed, “playfully” punching me in the shoulder with all her strength. “Ve have done business, friend! Business is like battle, speaks volumes to who ponies are.” She punched me in the sternum, the air rushing from my lungs. “You spend caps without thought, buying body and soul of another for own freedom. Who’s to say you won’t do again, hm?” She telekinetically slammed me, back first, against the stone wall next to the crack. “Sell out more ponies for life?” I was too winded to respond, though how I would I do not know.

Nine Tails approached me, and as she did, she noticed the bandages around my torso peeking under the bottom clasp of my greatcoat. “You are hurt, Business Mare? Did monstor strike you?” I grit my teeth, keeping quiet, as she undid a few clasps on the coat, revealing more of the bandages, though fortunately not my wings. “Da, you are! But how, hm? Does it hurt when I do this?” She poked my left side, nothing. “Here?” She poked my sternum, hard enough to make my broken rib twitch. I couldn’t repress a flinch. “Warmer then!” She said, eyes lighting up. “So, here…”

She pressed her hoof into my broken rib, and my scream echoed off the walls of the cavern. As she held it there, I started to thrashing, tears streaming down my face. My vision became white, as if the sun itself had ignited in my chest and the light was blazing from within me. It felt like it lasted days, though it couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds before another voice cried out. “STOP!” Clarity screamed, loud enough to be heard over me. It was the first word she had spoken since the slave driver showed up.

Cat O’ Nine Tails immediately pulled her hoof back, leaving me hanging there and gasping. My captor cut her magic and I collapsed, crumpled on the rough stone floor, my nerves burning like hot coals. My thrashing had caused the back of my head to slam against the rock wall several times and I felt warm blood soaking into my mane. The shocking cold of the rock brought me to a painful focus, allowing me to hear what happened next instead of fading away from consciousness. The unsteady clip-clop of Clarity’s hooves echoed in my ears. Timid as the day I found her, she emerged from the crack in the wall. “I’ll do it.” She said shakily. “I’ll help you.”

“Ahh…” Cat O’ Nine Tails sighed, and I could hear that snake-oil grin of hers on her voice. “So good to have cooperation.”

*****

Cat O’ Nine Tails gave us a minute to tend to my wounds. I leaned against the wall of the cave as Scout poured a healing potion down my throat, feeling the magic mend me. It didn’t do much for my rib, but I appreciated how it dulled the pain. “How are you doing?” He asked.

“Given our situation, I could be much worse.”

He nodded and glanced at the slavers. While I was being healed, Cat O’ Nine Tails had ordered the perimeter be secured from the yeti, so effectively we were alone. Even so, he leaned in and kept his voice low so as not to be heard. “Think you can get us out of this? You did it once before.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, thinking. “Perhaps. The problem is the disguise has cracks in it now. Clarity agreeing to help Nine Tails without my say-so makes ‘Business Mare’ look weak.” I glanced at Clarity, who had returned to the crack in the wall, hiding. “And I hate to say it, but Clarity not being in a bomb collar hurts the disguise.”

Scout’s mouth twisted into a grimace, but he nodded. “Yeah, she doesn’t look much like a slave.”

Jackpot had remained silent throughout the entire ordeal. The ghoul’s face was inscrutable, especially in the bad lighting. At this, he spoke up. “You mean she isn’t a slave?” He asked.

Scout and I traded a surprised look. “No, not at all!” I said. “The first thing we did was free her!”

“After you bought her.”

Something about the matter-of-factness of his tone irritated me. “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t want to.”

“But you did.”

“I didn’t have any choice!” I snapped, leaning towards him. The ghoul didn’t react, which only angered me more. “They already had a bomb collar on Scout’s neck and I had no weapon. It was negotiate, die, or be enslaved.” Leaning forward caused my rib to flare in pain. Scout placed a hoof on my shoulder and gently pushed me against the wall again. Easing my breathing, I spoke in a quieter tone, though no less angry. “If there was any other way, I’d have taken it in a heartbeat.”

His tone was one of quiet damnation. “You should have found one.” Jackpot turned and walked away from us.

“There was no other way!” I said, even though he had stopped listening. “None!” Damnit, why wouldn’t he listen? I hadn’t had a choice, and I made the best of it in the end! Clarity was free now, free to do whatever she wanted. She was free to leave and live her own life, she didn’t have to follow me, Hell I didn’t even want her to. But it was her choice, she did it because she wanted to, not because I made her, right?

Right?

Scout nudged me, whispering. “Heads up, she’s coming.”

“Business Mare!” Cat O’ Nine Tails called from further down the tunnel. “You are well, da?”

Shaking my head, I called back with false cheer, “Right as rain.”

“Horosho!” The slaver trotted over to us, grinning. “Then all is in order.” Leaning down, she stared into the crack in the wall, making Clarity pull further into it. “You are ready?” My friend nodded, barely. Cat O’ Nine Tails cackled cruelly. “Excellent, come friends! We have many ponies to meet.” She turned and cantered back towards her cronies.

I stood painfully, nursing my right side, Scout helping to steady me. “Are you coming?” I asked Jackpot.

“Not like I’m given a lot of choice.” The ghoul growled, walking past us.

I bit back my anger before turning to the crack in the wall. “Clarity?” My friend, coat gray and mane limp, stepped carefully from the crack. Her eyes were downcast, but I could imagine them, the colors of her iris frozen and muddied. Placing a hoof on her shoulder, I gave her what I wanted to be a warm smile. “C’mon, we’re getting out of this. Just trust me, and play along.” She stared blankly at me for a long second before nodding. We started walking, Clarity falling in a few steps behind us.

Cat O’ Nine Tails reported that the yeti were maintaining a wide berth, avoiding us rather than attacking. “But why aren’t they rushing us?” Scout asked. “Even with some of them dead, they have more than enough numbers to wipe us out.”

“I think it’s the light.” I said, nodding to the slaver guards and the high-powered beam attached to their helmets. “The yeti can see heat, so they’d be sensitive to bright lights.”

“You seem to know a lot about these monstors, Sleet.” Nine Tails asked.

I bit my tongue so as to not snap when she spoke my name. “I did my research before coming here.”

“And why are you here?” She asked as we started moving. “Surely not for same reason as I?”

“The thing I go anywhere for, business.” I said, fudging the truth on the fly. “I knew there were towns up North, so I came for trade. Ended up getting talked into coming here by a paranoid merchant who wouldn’t sell until he knew the yeti weren’t gonna get him.” I snorted in irritation. “We killed one and tore out its tooth as proof, but the rest of the pack managed to find us and we were forced to take refuge in a hole in the wall.”

“And was how you get injury?” Nine Tails asked, smirking at my obviously pained movements.

“Yes.” I growled.

She “tut-tutted”, as if to a filly that made a rudimentary mistake. “Careless. Why not send bodyguard, or ghoul to fight? Why put self in danger?”

“Forgive me for not having a few thousand caps to drop on heavily arming my employees.” I said, sneering. “You’ll recall I made a very expensive payment recently.”

“And you did not make it back?”

“Business requires investment, and I had nothing to invest. Why do you think I’m crawling around caves being attacked by giants?”

“What do you mean you have no investment?” She asked, eyebrow raised. “You may not have caps, but you have capital.” She nodded to Clarity. “What is she, if not worthy investment?”

“Oh, you know, new markets, risk and reward. And I haven’t had the, pleasure of running into any of your competitors since are last meeting.” I didn’t bother hiding my disgust and sarcasm at the word ‘pleasure’.

It didn’t seem to bother her. “Perhaps you are fortunate then. Many in zhis trade less friendly than I.”

I groaned in pain as my rib ached more with each step, I didn’t feel fortunate. “So where are we going anyway?”

“Is good question.” She turned to Clarity, smiling. “Tell me creestal pony, where do rest of your kind hide?”

There was a moment of silence, prompting me to turn to Clarity as well. She didn’t look good, all the color in her coat and mane were gone, replaced by dark, thunderhead gray. She was staring at me, with wide fearful eyes that lacked their usual swirling colors. It took a moment, but I realized she was asked for my permission to speak. Praying that she was just playing along, I gave a jerky nod towards Cat O’ Nine Tails.

“I don’t know…for certain…where they are.” She said cautiously, her voice meek and quiet. The friendliness drained from Nine Tails’ face, replaced by annoyance that Clarity was clearly familiar with. Flinching, she quickly sputtered out, “B-but I think I can find them! I know where the hiding places are!”

“Then ve vill try them, all of them, until I get prize.” There was no argument.

Before we got going, though, Cat O’ Nine Tails disarmed us. With the constant threat of the yeti, she allowed us to keep our weapons on us, but we were forced to empty them of all ammunition.

Scout reported that his radar was picking up yeti blocking the way to the exit. While we certainly had a better chance of fighting them now, with the help of Cat O’ Nine Tails’ forces, we still wanted to avoid the monsters as much as possible. All the bright lights and big guns in the world wouldn’t save us if we got attacked by the whole pack at once, and walking straight towards them sounded like a good way to get ambushed.

Instead, we began looking for a way past them, while sticking to the smaller tunnels. This meant that we often had to travel either single file or two abreast, the lights casting ghastly shadows as our bodies pressed together uncomfortably. As the tunnels grew tighter, I had to swallow my rising claustrophobia. To keep my mind from it, I instead began running scenarios through my head of how we were going to get the Hell away from Nine Tails. The first plan was to get in a skirmish with a few yeti and slip away in the confusion, but without the tarp it would be difficult to escape without at least one monster on our tails. Another was to lose them in the blizzard once we got out of the cavern, I could even use my talent to facilitate it. After all, it would be much simpler to work with the snow rather than against it, and the thought of watching Nine Tails freeze gave me a dark enjoyment.

But unless I was in top form, I wouldn’t be able to freeze them fast enough to prevent us from being shot to death, and with my numerous injuries I couldn’t see myself pulling it off even in those preferential conditions. If we stalled long enough, got a few more healing potions in me, it could happen. The problem would be finding the time, because Nine Tails was growing distrustful. She began taking point, making sure to keep Clarity near her and away from me, meaning I had zero chance to coordinate with her. The guards weren’t about to let me stall us either. Even with my injury, at least one guard was always behind me, herding me forward like cattle.

The tunnels, which had grown wider for a few minutes, were tightening again, forcing us to stop and resume single file. Without the sound of our hooves, I began to hear something. At first, I thought somehow the Enclave had found me and we were under attack, because it sounded like a thousand flapping wings had entered the tunnels. After a minute though I realized that, bizarrely, the sound was coming from inside the walls. I used the time spent sorting out the single file to lean against the wall on the pretense of rest (which I did desperately need). I rested my head on the wall, eyes closed and breathing heavily for effect. With my ear close enough to the stone I more clearly hear the noise, not feathers, but rushing water.

I had to resist the urge to express my surprise. There was an entire river inside the walls! Parallel tunnels, somehow filled with water! Given the fact that I could hear it I guessed there couldn’t be more than a foot of rock between us and the water. Ideas started falling into place like the pieces of a puzzle, my heart racing with giddiness. I had a plan, and it could work, it could actually work!

Somepony roughly poked my shoulder with something cold and metal. Cracking one eye open, I glared at the offender, one of Nine Tails’ cronies. “Do you mind?”

“We’re moving on, get going.” He said dispassionately.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I muttered, pushing off the wall. Looking around, I noted that Scout was still in the wider tunnel, the rest of our little expedition moving further ahead. Good, I needed to talk to him, but alone. I took a few hesitant steps toward the narrow tunnel, hoping the guard would move ahead of me. He didn’t, of course. Well, subtlety will only go so far I suppose.

With a small cry of pain, I tripped and hooked my forehoof around Scouts neck. The survivalist reacted quickly and caught himself before we both fell on the ground, but I still jerked his head down. “Sleet, what the Hell?” He asked.

“Work with me.” I hissed in his ear as I started to pull myself up.

“Quit fucking around.” The guard said, approaching threateningly.

I lost my balance again and fell; Scout was braced for it this time. “My rib is broken, jackass.” I spat at him. “It’s kind of hard to move.”

“I don’t care, get going.”

“Why, so you can get a nice look at my flank?” I sneered at him. “Or is your boss just telling you to keep an eye on me?” The guard shuffled uncomfortably, obviously not used to back-talk. “We’ll be right behind you. If your boss gets uppity about it, you can tell her to kiss my ass. Go along now, there’s a good dog.” Snorting angrily, the guard entered the tunnel, leaving Scout and I alone.

“What was that all about?” Scout hissed at me. “Are you trying to get us shot?”

“I have a plan.” I said rapidly. “It’s stupid and hinges on a lot of luck, but I think it’ll work. Can you trust me on this?”

“Is this the only plan you came up with?”

“No.”

“Is it the best one?”

“Yes!” I was getting exasperated. I could hear shouting coming from the tunnel. Apparently Cat O’ Nine Tails had gotten my message.

“Okay, tell me.” I leaned in close and whispered my plan into his ear. I put in as much detail as I could while being concise, I could hear Cat O’ Nine Tails’ hoofsteps growing closer. When I finished divulging the plan, Scout gave me a look that told me I was mad. Frankly, I didn’t blame him.

But now we needed to resume the disguise. I started limping toward the narrow tunnel, and promptly ran into Cat O’ Nine Tails. Stumbling back a few steps, I glared indignantly at the slaver leader. She looked furious, no longer bothering to try and appear friendly. “Business Mare, you are coming, da?”

I snorted in irritation. “You and your employees have the annoying tendency of forgetting that I’m injured. Have you ever had a broken rib? I can tell you now, it’s not pleasant. I told your lackey I’d be right behind you.”

“No, you are not ‘right’ behind.” You are far behind!” She grabbed me by the collar, pulling me close enough that all I could see where her eyes. This close I could finally note the color of her eyes, a sickly green, like vomit. “Listen cyka, Cat O’ Nine Tails knows you. Knows type. Thinks in moment to moment, next transaction, all that matters. I vhas like, once. You know vhat happened?” I shook my head slowly, never breaking eye contact. “I end up near dead, bleeding in alley by business partner from weeks ago. You vill end up same.”

“Maybe.” I said coldly. “But not by you.”

With a roar of anger, Cat O’ Nine Tails threw me into the tunnel. I bounced once, painfully, off of the stone ground before sliding a few inches to a stop. “Then you will lead, if you feel invincible, if I am no threat! Take point, Business Mare! Take point, Sleet! Lead us!”

“Very well.” I said, picking myself up slowly. “But we have a problem.”

“And vhat is that?”

“The map is running out.” I nodded to Scout, who called up his PipBuck map and showed us the screen. True enough, the bright green cartographic lines stopped near the arrow indicating Scout. “We’re going to get lost.”

“Vell, you are leader.” She said, with a wide grin and an exaggerated bow. “Lead.”

“He’ll move ahead of the group. Map out more of the tunnels, maybe find an exit.”

“You fall naturally to zhis role Business Mare.” Cat O’ Nine Tails said sneeringly. “Perhaps I give slave trade over to you.”

I returned her sneer with a wide, bright smile. “Over you’re dead body.”

As I instructed, Scout was sent ahead of the group. He had a piece charcoal which he used to mark the path we would go, and as Cat O’ Nine Tails decreed, I took point. With Scout gone, Jackpot helped support me in the wider tunnels. Clarity, in her current state, was barely strong enough to hold herself up, let alone me. “Is this your plan?” Jackpot asked in a low tone. “Piss off the slaver leader and take over her group.”

“Hardly.” I said. “Just listen.” We came to a fork in the tunnels, one of which was marked by an arrow. “This way.” I announced, heading down the marked path.

And so it continued for some time. We followed Scout’s markings for the better part of an hour. We’d have moved faster, but with me at point and limping as I was our progress was significantly hampered. As time grew long, I began to grow anxious. Not having Scout and his PipBuck nearby made me feel blind. For all I know, some great monster could have been just down the tunnel, or a chute that would send us tumbling to our deaths. And the longer it took, the longer I had to second-guess my plan. Frankly, there was too much that could go wrong. I needed everypony to be completely focused, or else this would all go up in flames.

The tunnels had grown surprisingly wide when the time came, which I was thankful for. Being underground was getting harder and harder to ignore, so I was thankful for any breathing room I could get. I encouraged Clarity to walk beside me, which she did with lifeless obedience. The state she was in tore at my heart, which is why I was happy to see the final marking, set just before a leftward bend in the tunnel.

“Step high on my ready.” I enunciated clearly, nudging Jackpot on one side of me and Clarity on the other. It took the two of them a second to acknowledge that, a second that nearly cost us when I said. “Now.”

The three of us took out next few steps with our hooves higher, so we stepped easily over the tripwire that had been set across the tunnel. “And, halt.” We stopped, the slavers doing the same several steps behind us.

“Vhat is meaning of this?” Cat O’ Nine Tails asked, starting to move forward.

“Don’t take another step if you want to live.” I said calmly, sitting down. “Clarity, do you have a Med-X?” The crystal mare was confused but obeyed, levitating over a syringe to me. “Thank you. Now, you two, run. Fast as you can, down the tunnel.”

Clarity didn’t move, staring at me in deadened surprise. Jackpot took her hoof, muttered “c’mon” and ran, pulling her behind him.

“STOP!” Cat O’ Nine Tails screamed, leaning forward.

“Ah, ah, ah!” I said, raising a hoof. “Look.” I pointed down. Nine Tails followed where I was pointing, for the first time noticing the trip wire. “One step and ka-boom!” I made an exaggerated explosion effect with my hooves. “That’s linked up to quite the batch of grenades.”

“Vhat is point? Vhy do this?” Nine Tails bellowed. “Vhat does blowing up tunnel accomplish? You will be lost in cave in!”

“Oh no, not a cave-in.”

“Vhat are you…”

“Shut up.” I ordered, jabbing a hoof at her. She tried to speak, but I cut her off with a “shhhhhhh…” that slowly tapered off. “Listen.” I whispered. Silence reigned, except for the quiet rushing of water. “Hear that?” She nodded. “Water.” I rapped the wall, grinning. “A whole rushing river in the walls. I trigger these grenades and you take a bath.” As I talked I rolled up the sleeve of my greatcoat and jabbed the syringe in my arm, injecting the painkiller. The agony burning in my ribcage lessened. “Ah, much better.”

“So, you blow wall, you flood tunnels, then vhat?” Cat O’ Nine Tails paced on the other side of the tripwire as I rolled my shoulders, enjoying the freedom of movement. “Then all your friends die!”

“Not quite.” I retorted. “You see, what I’m doing, right here, right now?” Her only response was to glare at me. I jumped up onto my rear hooves, stretching my forelegs to the ceiling. “I’m STALLING!” The slavers looked at me with mixed expressions of shock and confusion. “Keeping you and me here as long as possible, letting everypony else make their great escapes!” I dropped back to all fours and turned to the guards. “You know, this can work both ways. Unless you want to drown…”

At least two of the guards dropped their guns, about faced, and ran. Cat O’ Nine Tails screamed at them in another language as they disappeared into the darkness. I stood patiently, smiling easily. The slavers mare whirled on me, eyes wild with rage and a desperate triumph. “So? Vhat does zhis do? Your friends escape, so what? You die! You are martyr!”

My heart felt like it was leaping out of my chest with excitement as I saw the look of her face as I spread my wings through the slits in my greatcoat. “Actually,” I raised a hoof over the tripwire “I’ll be fine.”

Stomp. Twang! Ping, ping, ping, ping. One. Beating my wings, I took off as the grenades, pins pulled and freed from the trap, bounced on the stone floor. Two. I zipped down the tunnel, fast as I could. Cat O’ Nine Tails screamed for retreat. Three. The sound of galloping hooves began to echo away. Four. For a blessed instant, there was silence save the beat of my wings. Five.

BOOM!

The grenades detonated. A blast wave of compressed air roared down the tunnel, stronger than I expected. I had gotten a decent distance away, but the size of the tunnel meant the explosion had less room to expand, except towards me.

My wings snapped in a direction I didn’t expect, feather ruffling, a few flying off. The force sent me tumbling through the air, my head smacking into the stone floor. I landed funnily on one wing, my vision spinning wildly. So much for my impressive escape.

Standing, I stumbled a bit from the blow, leaning against the wall. At least it was nice and cool, I pressed the sore lump on my head to the stone. So much better. Still, I needed to get going, the water would be coming any second and…

Something was dripping down my forehead and face. At first I thought it was blood, but it was too cool and runny. Looking up, I could just make out a crack in the wall, water spitting from it and getting a little bigger each second. “Fuck…”

Taking wing once again, I flew as fast as I could. But it was growing more and more difficult. I was away from the light, my eyes hadn’t quite adjusted to the darkness and the twists and turns of the tunnel were impeding my progress. On top of that I had sprained my right wing in the fall, which was making flying difficult. In the end though it was still faster than running, I just had to hope it would be enough.

Then there came the crack, the crash, and the thundering rush of water set free. I risked looking over my shoulder and for a split second I saw the white wash foam, just barely visible in the darkness. Cold water swirled around my hooves and I flew a little higher.

Except now the tunnels were growing tighter. My wingtips scraped the walls, and I could feel my mane brushing the ceiling. I was forced to lower myself into the water a bit, except now it was coming up to my knees. I had instructed Scout to only set up the trap if there was a sure-fire exit, but where was it? How was I going to get out? Could I get out? Scout was a survivalist, he’d never go with this plan if there wasn’t a way out! Did the explosion destroy it? Did I miss it?

I was so caught up in my worry I nearly ran into the dead end. I had to throw up my hooves and brace myself against the wall to stop from splatting into it. I felt around desperately in the darkness, the water rising rapidly around me. Where was the escape? This was the end of the line!

“Sleet!” My name, called from directly above me. I looked up and saw a tiny pink light way up in the darkness. “Sleet! Up here!”

A chimney! A way up! Flaring my wings, I flew straight up. For a few seconds it felt fantastic, even in this tight chimney, flying up, towards freedom, felt right. Then, there came another crashing noise, more rushing. Another part of the tunnel had collapsed, allowing more water to flow out. I looked down felt the blood drain from my face. The water was shooting up the chimney, rapidly filling up towards me. “Sleet, hurry!” Clarity screamed down to me. I shot up the chimney as fast as my wings would go, pumping them like mad. The pink light of Clarity’s horn grew brighter as I approached her, but the sound of rushing got louder as well.

Then the cold crashed into me and I was drowning. In shock I took a breath underwater, my lungs burning horribly. I managed to force myself to the surface and spit out the water, sucking in air before I was engulfed again.

I was lost, thrashing in the cold and dark. I banged against the rock wall, some of the air forced from my lungs. I tried to swim, but having been born and raised above the clouds I had no idea how. To make matters worse, my greatcoat with its armor plating was pulling me down. The cold sept into my heart, causing it to thunder in futile desperation. How ironic, born under the sun, I was going to drown so far away from it…

Then something grabbed my hoof and I was being pulled up, up, up until finally I breached the water, gasping and sputtering in the cold air. Unceremoniously I was thrown to the ground, water flowing around me, sloshing out of the hole of the chimney. Some part of me was certain that I had been saved only to have this safe haven fill up and drown me anyway. Fear sent fire through my veins, forcing me up and towards the hole of the chimney. I flared my wings, calling upon my talent and plugged the hole up with ice. The water stopped flowing, settling as a thin layer on the floor.

With a loud gasp I fell onto my back, wings coated in frost spread out under me. I managed to heave a few good breaths before coughing up water. Somepony walked up and brought their hoof down hard on my chest. I spasmed, twisted to the side and vomited water. “Good, you’re alive.” Scout’s voice said. Propping myself up on an elbow, I looked up blearily and was greeted with the sight of my friend, forehooves bound behind him, with two blades to his throat. “Maybe you can tell them to let me go now.”

The wielders of the blades were a pair of powerfully built earth pony stallions, one on either side of Scout. One held a sword while the other used a bladed spear. That wasn’t what made me stare in open-mouthed confusion though.

It was the fact that they were made of crystal. I slowly looked around, we were completely encircled by ponies. Primarily earth, with only one or two unicorns. All of them stared back with wary, gemstone eyes, their crystalline skin glistening in the faint light. I heard motion next to me, followed by Clarity exclaiming “Daddy!”

There was a surge of light as Clarity, now shining brightly, ran over to the pony holding the sword and embraced him. The guard dropped his weapon in surprise, staring at my friend in amazement. “Clarity?” He asked breathlessly.

“Well.” Jackpot said, walking into my field of vision. “Guess luck was on our side.”

All I could do was stare at him. He shrugged and gave me a bemused smile. I groaned and collapsed, wallowing in my injuries and exhaustion.

*****

The crystal ponies were wary of us. Even with Clarity espousing our good intentions, the majority kept their distance. Mutters of “fleshies” were accompanied by distrustful glances as we walked through the cave. They were downright fearful of Jackpot with most refusing to even look at him, though he wasn’t particularly perturbed by this. “It could be worse. They could be shooting.”

After who we were and why we were here was sorted out, Scout was released from his binds and we were ushered further back into the cave. The crystal ponies’ home was an expansive cavern, much like the one Scout and I had hidden in after we had escaped Stalliongrad for the first time. Light was cast by multitudes of dim crystals embedded in the walls every few feet. They were positioned in such a way that they dispelled almost all shadows. This caused a strange visual effect that made everypony stand out in stark relief. “Where did these lights come from?” I asked, looking around in amazement.

“Equestria is one of the most gem laden lands in the world.” Clarity explained. Ever since we had escaped the slavers and found her people, she had been looking significantly better. Her body had regained its crystal sheen and sparkled under the light. “You can find gems in just about any rock, it’s just a matter of finding and revealing them.”

“And do all of them glow like this?”

“No, that’s just a bit of magic.” To demonstrate, Clarity lit her horn. A nearby crystal shone brighter in response. “We don’t have many unicorns, but each of us knows the light spell.”

“That’s enough, Clarity.” Her father commanded. The crystal stallion was the one leading us. He had put away his sword, though I noticed he kept it loose in its sheath.

Rolling her kaleidoscopic eyes, she retorted. “They’re my friends, Daddy. Even if they somehow concealed a desire to destroy us from me, I doubt telling them how our lights work will give them a huge advantage.”

“Your eyes have been wrong before.”

“Not about them.” She said with a certainty not to be argued with.

“So where are you taking us?” Scout asked.

“To see the Confessors.” Clarity’s father answered. “They will determine your intentions.” Clarity attempted to protest this, but her father would hear none of it. Any attempts on our part to learn who these “Confessors” were met with orders of silence. All I hoped was that they would have a fire, I was still soaked to the bone and though it was warmer in the inhabited cave I was still shivering.

After a minute of walking we came to a dead end of rough stone. We looked around for the Confessors, but saw nothing and nopony. Clarity’s father turned, scanning us with cautious eyes. “Be ready.” He said, stepped forward into and through the wall.

Clarity shook her head sadly before giving me an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry about this, but it’ll be fine, trust me.” Then she too stepped through the rock.

Scout, Jackpot and I all traded unsure looks. “So, magic rocks?” Scout asked.

“Probably fake rocks.” I said.

“Probably fake.” Jackpot said, nodding along. Neither of us stepped forward. After several seconds of uncomfortable silence, Jackpot finally took a breath and stepped forward, moving through the rocks as easily as air.

I looked at Scout and he at me. “Well,” I said, sighing. “shouldn’t keep them waiting.” I stepped forward and held up a hoof, touching the rock. It phased right through, with barely a tingle of magic. Holding my breath, I plunged forward and entered a more shaped portion of the cave, worked over by hoof and magic. The walls and ceiling formed a smooth quarter dome inset with veins of gems jaggedly growing out from a central gem in the shape of a heart recessed near the bottom, where floor met wall. The gems shone in a dazzling array of lights, sending sparkling brilliance dancing about the cavern. Inset in the floor was a perfect circle of gems large enough for a pony to stand in that radiated the seven colors of the rainbow, completing the spectacular display.

Scout stepped in behind me, joining Jackpot and I as we gazed in awe at the beautiful chamber. So awestruck were we that it took several seconds to notice the other ponies gathered in the chamber. Clarity and her father where kneeling in front of the circle, a pony clothed in black robes stood on the opposite end. At the edges of the chamber a number of other similarly dressed ponies formed a semi-circle around the group. Unlike the group we had found ourselves in earlier, the majority of these ponies were unicorns.

The robed pony that Clarity and her father knelt before, an old unicorn stallion with a diamond white coat and glittering silver mane, gestured for them to rise. With a kind smile, he said “Clarity, it warms my heart to see you alive. We had thought you lost forever.”

“Thank you, sir.” She returned, smiling just as brightly. “I admit I was afraid of the same thing.”

“But you are here, and your fears have not come to pass!” The surrounding ponies stomped their hooves in approval. After a few seconds the din quieted and the stallion spoke again. “Though I must ask, who are these ponies?” He nodded towards us, and I felt the room’s gaze fall on us.

“That is what I am here to find out.” Clarity’s father spoke up, cutting off his daughter.

“You think they are a threat, Diamond Edge?” The old stallion asked.

“I think my daughter has been gone sometime, and under horrible stress. I trust her judgment, by my gut tells me I must be sure.”

“Hm.” The old stallion nodded gravely. “You wish them to stand trial?”

“Yes.”

“Trial?” I asked. “What trial?”

“The Trial of the Confessors.” The old stallion said. “A magical rite that will reveal the truth as well as your intentions towards the exiles of the Crystal Empire.”

The truth, something I had been having a spotty relationship with. What I had said to Scout not two days ago came back to be. I’m the liar. I had said it as a joke, something to try and lighten his mood, but ironically it rang true. I was a liar, and now I was to face a ritual that brought out the truth? The chamber’s lights now seemed blinding, rather than welcoming.

“Then you will face the Trial?” The stallion asked.

I turned to Jackpot and Scout. “Well? How do we handle this?” I asked in a whisper.

“I say do it.” Scout said under his breath. “We have nothing to hide and the sooner we prove that the sooner they’ll stop wanting to attack us.” He glanced around the room at the semi-circle of Confessors. “Most of them are showing up red on my E.F.S., and the radar is picking up a large cluster on the other side of the rocks. I think Clarity’s presence is the only thing keeping us alive.”

“I agree.” Jackpot said, giving me a sideways glance. “Besides, I’m curious how this will turn out.”

“Fine.” I said, straightening my shoulders with a sigh. I turned back to the Confessors . “I’ll stand your Trial.”

“Very well, step forward into the circle.” I did so. At the command of the older stallion, the unicorns surrounding the walls lit their horns, with the few earth ponies muttering under their breath. As they did, the light glared painfully bright for a second before fading back to normal levels. I felt a tingling under my coat, most powerfully in the back of my throat. I tried to swallow the feeling away, but it refused to budge. “You have been placed under geas, should you speak anything less than the truth, we will know.” I nodded in understanding, standing at attention as my father and brothers had taught me. “Then we will begin. What is your name?”

“Sleet Gray.” The uncomfortable tingling receded to the point where I could no longer feel it.

The old stallion nodded. “A pleasure to meet you, Sleet Gray, I am Looking Glass. Now, the second question. Where are you from?”

The first problem question. Jackpot didn’t know I was ex-Enclave and I didn’t want to drop that bit now. After a moment of silence, the answer came to me. “St. Ponysburg.” It was a half-truth, and the magic obviously knew it, as did Looking Glass.

“Is that so?” He asked.

“Well, technically I don’t have a home.” I said easily. “But St. Ponysburg is where I got me start, so it’s the only answer I have.”

I expected the questions of my origins to end there, but they didn’t. “You say you don’t have a home, what about the place you were born?”

I scoffed. “That place was hardly a home. I’m glad to be anywhere but there.” I was slightly surprised at how true that felt. I expected to at least somewhat miss Coltarado Heights, but I didn’t. The twisting in my gut that thoughts of that place brought had nothing to do with homesickness. Just guilt.

“Why do you feel guilty?”

I tried and failed to not let my surprise show. “What are you talking about?”

“You felt guilt at the mention of your home, why is that?”

I wanted to say something along the lines of ‘none of your business’ or ‘that’s not what this trial was about’, but I couldn’t. I tried to form the words, but my throat felt blocked, jammed by the geas. “I…I…” I choked on the words, physically unable to say them. Slowly, painfully, the truth was dragged out. “I…killed..my family…” The blockage was gone, I could breathe and speak again, but I couldn’t stop going, I had to tell the whole truth. “My brother was going to kill me so I had to defend myself. I froze them all to death, all save my father and one brother who escaped.”

The confession done, I felt short of breath. There was a deep, grating pain in my chest, as if something had been torn out of my heart. But it didn’t last, the pain numbed rapidly leaving me feeling lighter. Not better, or more content, just lighter.

I composed myself and met Looking Glass’ gaze. There was no judgment in his eyes, just simple acceptance, and a small smile. “Feels better, doesn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t quite say that.” I said, rolling my shoulders as if that could stretch the ache out.

“It will, in time. I would like to know more, but I sense you would like to get back to the matter at hoof.” I nodded and he continued. “Then the next question, how did you meet Clarity?”

“Scout and I found her hiding in some old ruins not long after she escaped her captors. As I recall, she nearly killed me by trying to drop a slab on concrete on my head.”

“In my defense I was scared out of my wits.” Clarity chimed in without a hint of remorse.

“You escaped all on your own?” Diamond Edge asked her, looking surprised.

“I never did ask, how did you pull that off?” I asked, looking over my shoulder at her.

“It wasn’t hard to make Cat O’ Nine Tails believe that she had completely broken me.” Clarity answered. “Once she thought I was cowed enough for her not to have to watch constantly, I ran.” Her eyes lost focus as she idly rubbed her neck with a hoof. “I didn’t get far before the collar started beeping though…”

“Collar? What collar?” Diamond Edge asked, a note of anger coloring his voice.

“A bomb collar.” I explained. “It’s what the slavers use to keep their products in line.” My mouth twisted in disgust at the word “product”.

“Where is this collar now?” Looking Glass asked, getting the Trial back on track.

“We had it removed as soon as possible.” I said reassuringly. “We left it with the bomb tech who took it off. He knows how to dispose of things like that.”

“Then she is free?”

“Yes.” I said immediately, with complete finality.

I expected the geas to accept that, especially since it was the first real truth I had willingly given up other than my name. But it didn’t. I felt a pins and needles sensation on my heart that only amplified at the stormy look on Looking Glass’ face. “Tell me again, under what circumstances did you meet?”

“I told you, we found her hiding in some ruins after we escaped.”

“We?” Looking Glass asked, raising an eyebrow. I blinked in surprise, had I said that? “Who were you escaping from?”

“We weren’t escaping from anyone. I misspoke.” It wasn’t a lie, technically I had negotiated for our freedom. Even so the geas reacted to the discrepancy in my story, making my throat feel constricted.

“No,” Looking Glass admitted after a second. “Perhaps you weren’t escaping, but something happened before you found Clarity. What was it?”

You just had dealings with slavers! You should have found another way. You bought your way out! I shook my head, trying to clear the accusatory memories. “W-we, I…” I tried to speak, but couldn’t string two sounds together, not unless I told the truth. But how could I? After how Jackpot reacted how could I tell them what I had done? I needed something, an out, some kind of loophole.

“Sleet Gray.” Looking Glass commanded. “Answer the question, what happened before you found Clarity?”

Before…before… That word stuck in my head, and in a flash of inspiration I knew what my answer would be. Sighing, I smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry. With everything that happened, including the circumstances of how we got here, my mind isn’t in the proper place.” As I talked my mind shot down chains of logic, mapping out what I would say and the possible reactions of Looking Glass. I now knew where I wanted this Trial to go, and more importantly how I would get there. “I was wrong earlier, we were escaping from someone.”

Mutters and shuffling came from the surrounding Confessors. They obviously doubted what I was saying, but I could tell by the loosening hold of the geas that what I was saying was coming up truthful. Looking Glass appeared equally perturbed, but continued. “Then who?”

“The forces of the Shadow King.”

Tension in the room spiked. I hadn’t put any spin on the words, nor had I tried to be intimidating with them, but they still had an effect. The murmurs grew in volume and soon the chamber was echoing with worried voices. Looking Glass stomped his hoof three times, bringing the chamber to order. “We don’t know who this ‘Shadow King’ is, Sleet Gray.” He said in a warning tone. “We have not interacted with the outside world in some time. So tell us, who is he?”

“I didn’t know either, for the longest time.” I said. “Even after I invaded his territory I never saw him. I thought he was just the grandiose leader of a small army of psychopaths, that is, until I met him.” I sighed, hanging my head. “I’m afraid he’s far worse than that.”

“Stop dancing around the question!” One of the Confessors ordered. “Who is he?”

I took a deep breath, bracing for the hammer drop. “King Sombra.”

The lights of the chamber shifted. Shadows swayed wildly across the walls as all the assembled crystal ponies broke out into panicked chatter. Some shook their heads in disbelief, others jabbered rationalizations that they had heard me wrong. At least one screamed for my immediate execution. Looking Glass stomped his hoof again, magically enhancing the noise to be heard over the din. “Silence!” At the thundering command the Confessors fell into an uneasy quiet. Throughout the outburst I hadn’t moved or flinched, despite my stampeding heartbeat. So far, things were going similar do how I predicted.

It was only when total silence once again reigned in the chamber that Looking Glass spoke again. His voice held a clear, powerful quality demanding attention, like each syllable flicked the trigger of a gun. “You know the significance of that name? Of what it means to the crystal ponies?” I nodded once. “Then you know why some would be rightfully reluctant to believe you.” Another nod. Looking Glass sighed and closed his eyes, concentrating for a bit. When he opened them again to speak, everything about him radiated an uncomfortable acceptance. “But the geas tells me you speak the truth, or at least you believe you do.”

“He enjoyed it when Clarity recognized him.”

“You saw him as well?” The Confessor asked Clarity. She must have given some indication to the affirmative because he hung his head. For a second he lost all color, appearing gray and limp, then just as quickly he returned to normal. Once again meeting my eyes, he asked. “And why did you meet with him?”

“Because he had a job offer for me.” I said quietly, like speaking too loud would collapse the beautiful chamber. “He wants me to find a way to purge the Crystal Empire of radiation so it can be inhabitable again, and he can take over.” I paused for a second to breathe, to think about what to say, how to say it, to jump down the train of logic and pray I’d set the right course. “I took that job…”

“Kill them.” Looking Glass ordered.

A hiss of steel cut through air as Diamond Edge drew his sword. My companions cried out in protest, but all assembled knew he wouldn’t heed them. I did have some time though, he would still need to take a step forward to swing. As he did, I intoned the rest of my sentence like magic words that would shield me from the dropping sword. “so I could betray him!”

“Wait!” Looking Glass exclaimed, his horn lighting up. A loud clang rang disturbingly close to my right side as the Confessor blocked Diamond Edge’s sword with a blast of magic.

“She admitted to working for our greatest enemy!” The guardpony protested around the hilt of his sword. “She is a corruption that cannot stay here!”

Looking Glass ignored him, instead addressing me. “How will you betray him?”

“I have a plan that will purge the radiation from the Crystal Empire.” I said, trying not to think too hard about how close I’d come to death. “When it is safe for ponies once again, I will tell Sombra of my success. He will come to claim his prize, and that’s when we strike.”

“Strike. How.” His voice made it clear if he did not like my answer then Diamond Edge would get his chance.

“Simple, when he is in range of the Empire then the remaining crystal ponies will charge the Crystal Heart with the light and love it is supposed to have. The blast destroys him, and the Empire is put back in the rightful hooves of the crystal ponies.” I smiled easily as Looking Glass, who was taken aback by my plan, a quick glance around the room revealed similar looks on the other Confessors. “So, what do you say?” I asked, feeling like my chest was about to pop from my hammering heart. “Can you help me?”
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Footnote: Level up!
New Perk, Light Step: You are remarkably light on your hooves, or maybe you can just fly. Either way, you no longer set of ground-based traps.

A Moment of Rest

View Online

Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 13: A Moment of Rest
“You’ve lost quite a lot of blood. Chasing after them is too risky.”

I screamed through my clenched teeth, fighting hard not to spasm as agony ripped through me. Torment blazed in my chest like a terrible fire, forcing tears to leak from my tightly shut eyes. For a moment it stopped, leaving me gasping in pain. I allowed myself to believe it was over for a second, only to howl as it started again.

“Oh please, you’re worse than a newborn foal!” The voice of my tormentor snapped at me.

Opening my eyes, I glared at him through my tears. “You try having somepony yank around your broken fucking rib!”

“I asked you if you wanted Med-X…” The crystal medic huffed, his horn lighting up again as he continued to try and set the bone.

“Can’t, it’s addictive.” I hissed, pain making my words short. “Had too much. Can’t risk more.”

“You know addiction can be treated, right?” He said, squinting through a dirty magnifying glass attached to his face by metal rod on a headband. “Well, not by me. Never learned it. Luckily for you…” His magic jerked one last time, drawing a pained scream from me. “I can treat this. It’s my specialty.” He scanned my chest one more time through the glass and nodded in satisfaction. “There you go, back where it should be.”

I lay there, wallowing in the dull burning that permeated my ribcage. I was on my back, arms out to the side, lying with my greatcoat open so that the medic could have access to my broken chest. I stared at the rough stone ceiling of the crystal ponies’ home cave, radiating soft pastel colors from the enchanted gems drawn from the rock as the doctor wrapped my chest in a fresh set of magical bandages. When he finished, Clarity spoke to him. “Thank you, Fractal.”

“She’s fortunate it didn’t slip and pierce her lung, what with all the running around she was doing. But I’ve got it set tight, a few days rest and healing potions will have her back to normal.” Fractal prescribed. “And perhaps you could teach her to be more grateful while you’re at it.”

Turning my head to the medic, I gave my best Cat O’ Nine Tails smile. “Thanks.” Snorting, he trotted away.

“You should be nicer to the pony who is fixing you up, Sleet.” Clarity said, sitting next to me.

“Tell him to learn an anesthetic spell and I’ll think about it.” I muttered.

“We have painkillers.” She reminded me.

“Addictive painkillers.” I reiterated. “Given everything that still needs to be done, the last thing I need to worry about is having an addiction.”

“I suppose.” She said. We sat there in silence for a bit, me laying on my back staring at the ceiling while she focused on something with her magic. “Here,” she said, handing me a healing potion, slightly glowing with power.

“Thanks.” I took the vial and drank the magical concoction in one gulp. I took a long, slow breath as the magic began to knit my abused body back together. It wouldn’t finish the job, but it would go a long way. The silence between us stretched on for several seconds before I spoke up. “Is something bothering you, Clarity?”

“You mean other than watching my father nearly murder my friend?”

“I don’t blame him for reacting that way, or Looking Glass for ordering it.” I said. “I did admit that I was working with an unspeakably evil nightmare pony that they all thought was dead.” I could still feel the blade hovering mere inches from my neck. Swallowing hard, I said. “Still, it turned out for the best.”

Amidst rather vocal arguments from the other Confessors, Looking Glass had accepted my testimony. I was allowed to keep my head and stay in the crystal hideout until I was fit to travel, but the elder stallion had warned that they were not siding with me, at least not yet. “We have neither the strength, nor the resources to assist you.” He had said. “Perhaps if this foolhardy plan comes to its climax we will help you then, but not a moment before.”

I had accepted that and thanked him for believing me. It was around that point that my rib had started to pain me again, so Clarity escorted me from the Confessor’s chamber to visit the medic. Scout and Jackpot had stayed behind to face the Trial themselves. Looking Glass wanted every angle on this he could get, and I didn’t blame him. This was like an earth pony approaching the Enclave High Command and saying Rainbow Dash was coming, but they had a plan to slow her down.

I turned my head to look at the magic rocks that concealed the entrance to the Confessor’s chamber. I had wanted to witness Scout’s trial, but the demands of my broken body had taken precedence. “I hope my screaming didn’t disturb them.” I said, nodding in the direction of the chamber.

“I doubt it.” Clarity said. “The entrance to the Confession Chamber is heavily enchanted. Depending on the desires of the Confessors, sounds can’t get in or out, allowing for full privacy if they need it.”

“Fascinating,” I muttered “Is there a chamber like that in every one of your hideouts?”

“Can’t say.” Clarity said, shrugging. “This is only the second safe place I’ve been to. I know there was one in my old home, but that’s about it.”

“Was it as grandiose as that one?”

“I didn’t see much of it.”

More silence. “Clarity,” I said “There’s something else bothering you?” It was more a statement than a question.

She was quiet a little longer before saying hesitantly, “Why didn’t you just tell them what happened when Cat O’ Nine Tails caught you?”

My throat tightened a bit as I answered. “What do you mean?”

“You purposefully dodged that question.” She said. “I understand why you didn’t want to talk about the Enclave or what happened to your family, but why not answer that?”

“Why not?” I laughed humorlessly. “Why would I? After what I’d already said, what kind of impression would that leave? ‘Sleet Gray, mass murderer, slave trader’.” I snorted. “Yeah, that would have gone over well.”

“But you saw how Looking Glass reacted to what happened to your family.” She said. “Why do you think he wouldn’t accept that?”

“And how did the rest of them react, hm?” I asked. “You have the magic eyes, how did the other Confessors react when they learned I was a murderer?” Her silence was all the answer I needed. “Exactly! There’s more at stake here than the opinion of one pony, no matter how much influence he carries.” I leaned up on an elbow to face her even though it pained my chest. “Clarity, I bought you.” I hissed, keeping my voice low even though we were alone. “How do you think they’d have taken to that?”

“But you set me free!” She argued.

“It doesn’t matter!” My voice was growing more heated. She was hitting me with my own rationalizations, but rather than calm me down they were pissing me off. Coming from her, I could see the holes in them. “None if that matters! I should have known! I should have found another way!" I was slowly raising myself up as my rant grew in volume. "I should have done something different!” I was screaming by this point, leaning forward on both forehooves towards her. “I should have thought instead of panicking like some pathetic fucking foal!” I stomped a hoof, sending a jolt of agony across my rib. One of my knees buckled while I wrapped the other hoof around my chest, gasping in pain.

“Lie down.” Clarity said, her voice shockingly even, after my tirade. “You’re going to dislodge your rib again.”

Slowly, I return to my position on my back, one hoof still cradling my ribcage. “There’s no excuse for me.” I said, wheezing slightly. “If I’d done something, anything, differently…”

“Then I’d still be a slave.” She said, cutting me off. “Or Scout would be dead. Or you would be dead. Any number of other things could have happened.” She for a second her calm was shaken, but it returned with a sigh. “If you never stop second guessing yourself, then how can you expect to get anything done?” I stared at the celling silently, having no answer to give. Shaking her head, she stood and started walking toward the Confessor’s Chamber. “Get more rest. I’m going to check on the Trial.”

She stood and walked back through the magic rocks. I watched her go out the corner of my eye before returning my gaze to the ceiling. I watched the soft pastel lights, but they brought no peace to my swirling thoughts, only distracted me from the whirlwind of doubts in my heart and mind. I closed my eyes and draped my wings over my face, hoping some darkness would let me focus. But the lights didn’t go away. They shone through my eyelids, causing the veins to stand out against thin red skin. I cracked open an eye, wondering why my feathers weren’t blocking the light.

I was peering through the ghostly image of my wing.

A mixed sound of disgust, and fear caught in my throat as I instinctively twitched away from my own wings. Mutant. I lashed out with my hooves, pinning my wings to either side where I couldn’t see them. Mutant. I squeezed my eyes shut until they hurt, trying desperately to block out the light. Mutant.

“Shut up!” I screamed, throwing my hooves over my ears.

I sat like that for a minute, engulfed in darkness and silence. It would have been peaceful if I wasn’t so scared. Scared of what I’d done, what I had to do, scared of my own fucked up body. All of that lurked outside my little sphere of quiet, knowing I couldn’t hide forever.

I felt something tap my shoulder. Jolting away from the contact, I opened my eyes to see who or what touched me. An older crystal unicorn mare was giving me a worried look. She had an iridescent pink mane and ruby red coat and was wearing the robes of a Confessor. She said something, but I was still covering my ears and didn’t hear her. Shaking my head in an attempt to regain my composure, I removed my hooves and asked “I’m sorry, what?”

“I asked if you were alright.” She said, sitting next to me. “You looked so scared.”

“There’s…a lot I have to deal with.” I said, lying my arms to the side. I tried to relax my muscles but couldn’t. ”You’re a Confessor?” I asked, glancing at her.

“Yes. I wasn’t able to oversee your Trial, but I received word of the verdict.” She reached a hoof towards me. “My name is Facet.”

“Sleet Gray.” I shook her hoof, though the angle was awkward.

“It’s nice to meet you, Sleet Gray.”

“If you say so.” I said, shaking my head. “Ponies who meet me rarely benefit from it.”

“That’s awfully pessimistic.” She said. “Are you sure there is nopony who’s ever gained something from knowing you?”

I recalled what Clouds had said to me before we left Meltwater. It was nice having a pony around who actually knew what I was talking about. But she was one of how many? How much did the companionship of one eccentric pony compare to everything else I’d done? “Even if there is, it hardly balances out.”

“Perhaps you need some outside perspective. After all, it’s hard to see how balanced a scale is when you only look from one side.” I snorted in irritation. I was getting really sick of ponies trying to cheer me up. Still, she refused to quit. “Are you sure you cannot find even a little light? If you stay so pessimistic you’ll never move forward.”

“And maybe I shouldn’t!” I snapped. “Maybe I should just give up. Look at me!” I gestured at myself. “I’m a mutant freak who can barely keep herself alive and in one piece!”

“Mutant?” She asked.

“Look at these!” I screamed, thrusting my wings toward her. “You think this is normal? You think this is natural?”

“I didn’t know what to think about them.” She admitted, speaking in a soothing voice. “You are the first pegasus I’ve ever seen. I assumed they were supposed to be that way.”

“Well they’re not.” I growled, letting them drop back out of sight. “I almost wish the radiation had killed me instead…”

“You shouldn’t say that.” Facet said firmly. “No matter how bad it seems, you should always be thankful you have a life, and that it can get better. Besides, they are quite beautiful.”

That snapped something. I began to stuff my wings back in the pockets of my greatcoat. “No. They. Aren’t.” I growled. “They’re wrong, they’re mutant…” Because I was laying on the coat rather than wearing it, I was having a hard time putting them away. “They’re broken, aberrant, deviant…” My feathers started to bunch and bend. More than once I bounced them painfully off the ground. “Filthy…” My throat felt constricted. “Stupid…” Tears burned in my eyes. “Useless…” I choked out a sob and slumped in defeat. “Just like their owner…”

I hunched over my abused wings even though it pained my chest, tears of anger and frustration wetting my face. I felt Facet wrap her arms around me in a hug, which I quickly broke away from. “Just…don’t, please.” I said through my tears. “Freaks like me don’t deserve help from normal ponies like you.”

“I hardly think you look like a freak.” She said firmly. “And even if you are mutated, you’re still a pony. Everypony deserves help when they need it. Take your…um…” her forehead wrinkled as she looked for the proper words “zombie friend. Would you refuse him aid if he needed it? Even before your wings changed.”

I sniffed and wiped my eyes, feeling ashamed of breaking down in front of this stranger. I needed to stop doing that with kindly surface ponies. “I actually met Jackpot before this happened.” I explained. “I didn’t know that ponies like him could even be sane until then.” I shook my head. “Even then that hardly counts. I only helped him because we were both stuck in the same problem.” After I second I continued. “And he’s called a ghoul. Zombies are when ghouls lose their minds and attack living ponies.” I shuddered at the thought of the screaming corpses. “Jackpot is fine though, he’s got his head on right, and he’s a good pony.”

“There, you just said it.” Facet said. “’He’s a good pony’. Even though he’s a ghoul, you called him a pony. What makes you any less of a pony than him?”

“But I’m not a ghoul, and I’m not a whole pony either! I’m just something…between.”

“But you are still as much of a pony inside as he is.” She smiled encouragingly, but could tell I wasn’t buying it. Not to be deterred, she continued. “And no matter what you may think, I meant what I said earlier.” She reached out and brushed a few of the crumpled feathers. “I imagine this is what the wings of a crystal pegasus would look like.” I spasmed away from her touch, holding a hoof over the wing. She blinked in surprise at my reaction. “Did I do something wrong?”

“You don’t just touch another pony’s wings!” I said accusatorily. “What if I just poked your horn?”

“Sorry, I didn’t know.” She said, holding up her hooves in a placating manner.

Right, first pegasus. I sighed. “Never mind, its fine.” I laid back down, refusing to look at my wings. “We’ll never find out if they look crystal or not anyway. Those pegasi are all dead.”

“How did you know that?” Facet asked, surprised.

“The government I grew up in solely consisted of pegasi. They don’t care about anything that doesn’t have wings. The fact that crystal pegasi are extinct was practically the only thing I knew about the Crystal Empire before meeting Clarity, because it’s the only thing they bothered to record.”

“I understand.” She nodded. “But what is it like? Having wings, I mean.”

“Um…” I rubbed my head, thinking. This was worse than Clarity’s question about the sun. “Well…what’s it like having a horn?”

She blinked and laughed. “Alright, you got me there. I guess what I was really trying to ask is what is flying like?”

I looked up at the ceiling, imagining the blue sky so very far away. “I haven’t really flown in a long time. But if I had to describe it…” eventually the proper metaphor came to me “it’s like running through your house as fast as you can.” I continued to stare at the ceiling, thinking about the last time I flew free without fearing the Enclave. I had been soaring over Coltarado Heights as high as I could go, which admittedly wasn’t very far. Still, the city had looked like a foal’s toys below me as I’d turned in the currents of air, the sun beating down from the heavens, just barely hot enough to be uncomfortable without the cool wind.

I realized I was staring up, smiling like an idiot when Facet cleared her throat. Rapidly returning my attention to her, I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment. “Oh, sorry!”

“It’s alright.” She said jovially. “But I’m afraid I don’t get the metaphor.

“We pegasi are born of the sky.” I said, gesturing vaguely up. “To fly is in our hearts and souls. That’s why I say it’s like being home. To fly is to run free in the place you belong.”

“That sounds marvelous!”

“It really is!” I said, smiling wide. “To ride on the wind, to feel the hot sun, to see the world so small below you…” Just as quickly as it rose though, my mood soured. “But, like I said, I haven’t flown like that in a long time.”

“Why not? Did the mutation…?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that.” I said, catching onto her implication. “They still work fine. The pegasus government, the Enclave, rules everything above the clouds. I’m…not welcome, to put it lightly.”

Facet’s shoulders slumped. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s fine.” I said, trying to play it off. “I didn’t like it there anyway. And I can still fly down here. I just need to not get too close to the clouds.”

There was a lull in the conversation, during which something caught my eye. Tilting my head, I saw a small crystal colt duck back around a stalagmite when he noticed I saw him. “Hello?” I called.

“What was that?” Facet asked.

“I thought I saw somepony.” I raised myself up on one arm and called again. “Hello?” The colt poked his head back around the stalagmite and stared open mouthed at me. “Um…” His expression didn’t change for the longest time. I couldn’t tell if he was fascinated or terrified. His sapphire coat and teal mane glittered in the lights. From what I could tell, he didn’t have his Cutie Mark yet. “Are you okay?”

In a sudden burst of movement he rushed past Facet, who had been watching the whole stare-off in bemusement, and poked my arm. “Whoa!” He exclaimed, as if that had been the craziest thing to ever happen to him.

He continued to poke my arm before I stopped him with a hoof. “What are you doing?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“You’re all squishy!” He said. “It’s so weird!”

“Weird?” I couldn’t tell if I should be insulted or not. “I don’t call you weird for being made of rocks.” I muttered.

He either didn’t hear me or didn’t care, instead babbling on. “I mean, sometimes other crystal ponies get soft if they’re really really really sad, but I’ve never seen one sad enough for this! Are you super-duper sad or something?”

“Um, no, I’m always like this.”

“But how can other ponies tell if your happy or not?”

“Ever heard of a facial expression?” After my experience with Lights, I was beginning to realize I didn’t like pesky foals.

“And THESE!” Faster than I could react, he jumped onto my right wing and began poking the feather. “You have WINGS! How do they work? How do they lift you up if you’re so big?”

“Hey! Get off!” Sitting fully upright, I grabbed the little blank flank and lifted him to eye level. “Who are you and what are you doing?”

“I’m Rich Vein! Richie!”

“Okay, Richie.” I said, trying my hardest to be patient. “You didn’t answer the second part of my question.”

“I heard that fleshies were here to visit instead of being all mean and attacking! I wanted to take a look!” He gasped as, I could only assume, something occurred to him. “Hey, you’re a pegasus, right?”

“You just attacked my wings.”

“I heard pegasusus control the weather! Is that true?”

“Well, we used to. Not anymore. And the plural is ‘pegasi’.”

He looked crestfallen at the news, his crystal sheen dimming. “Aww. My friends didn’t believe me when I said pegasusus could do that. Guess they were right…”

Annoying as he had been, I kind of pained me to see the little colt disappointed, so I clarified. “Well, we can still control the weather. We just don’t anymore.”

He perked up at that, but looked at me quizzically. “Why not?”

Because the Enclave doesn’t care about the surface world. “We barely have enough time and resources keeping ourselves alive to worry about the weather.” Sighing, I put him down and pointed to my sleet-and-snow Cutie Mark. “Doesn’t stop some of us from being born good at it anyway, even if it is obsolete.”

Either Richie was so used to the crystal quality emotion meter that he didn’t notice my down mood, or he didn’t care. “Wait, so you can do weather magic?” I nodded hesitantly. “Woo hoo!” He leapt up, shining like a star. Grabbing my hoof, he tried to drag me along with him. “C’mon! You gotta show my friends!”

“Wait a second! I never said anything about giving a demonstration!”

“C’mon! You gotta! They need to see I wasn’t fibbing!” He continued to tug on my hoof to no avail.

I gave Facet a pleading look, hoping she would talk the little colt out of it. Instead she gave me a smile and a “go along with it” gesture. Suppressing a growl of annoyance, I said. “Fine.” Raising my voice to be heard over the resultant cheering, I continued. “I’ll need a fire, some water and two metal pots. Can you do that for me?”

“Sure can! Meet us at the fire pit!” With that, he sprinted off back into the cave complex.

Groaning, I laid on my back, rubbing my sore chest as Facet laughed. “I hate kids…”

*****

After excusing myself for a few minutes to preen, Facet led me to the fire pit that Richie had spoken of. As per my instructions, there were two pots, one filled with water, and a fire going in a recessed pit. The fire was obviously magical in nature, as it gave off no smoke and I couldn’t see anything fueling it.

And gathered around the pit was a large group of fillies and colts babbling amongst themselves. There had to be at least twenty of them. I stopped in my tracks when I rounded the corner and saw them all. “The Hell?” I whispered.

Richie spotted me almost immediately and ran over. “You’re here! C’mon! Let’s get started!”

“Wait, wait, wait.” I said. “How many ponies did you bring?”

“Well, I just told Stardust and then she told her brother who told his friends who told their parents…”

“All right, I get it, news travels fast.” I said, cutting him off. Blowing out a heavy breath, I scanned the crowd of little ponies. The vast majority of them were earth ponies, with only one or two unicorns amongst them. Hardly any of them had their Cutie Marks, and the ones that did generally stuck together. “Well, I guess we may as well get started.” Richie bounced excitedly before zipping back into the crowd.

Swallowing, I stepped forward. “Hello?” A few of them turned to me and quieted down, the most didn’t notice. “Excuse me!” I said a little louder. The ground began to quiet down quicker, fillies and colts telling their fellows to pay attention. After thirty seconds or so, the whole little “class” was looking at me expectantly. “Hi, um, hello.” I gave my best smile, though I was certain it looked strained. “Uh, I’m Sleet Gray and Rich Vein told me you all want to learn about pegasus weather magic?” One of the fillies raised a hoof. “Uh, yes?” I asked.

“Are your wings real?” She asked, squinting at me.

“Um, yes.” I said, confused. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

“Because I can see through them!”

I bit my tongue to keep from snapping at her. “Trust me, they’re quite real.” I flapped my wings and hovered a few inches off the ground as proof. The little ponies gasped in awe, many with their eyes wide and jaws dropped. Feeling uncomfortable, I set back down and trotted over to the fire pit. “So, yeah, how about we get down to the demonstration?”

“Why do you need this stuff?” Another pony said. “Can’t you just use magic?”

“Magic is a part of it, but any spell needs components. Stories say that some pegasi before the war could make clouds and rain out of thin air, but none of them have been seen for hundreds of years. The average pegasus needs things to make the weather out of.” I pointed to each component in turn. “The water is the most important part, because it’s used to make the clouds and precipitation.”

“So what do you need the fire and other pot for?”

“Because if I’m going to demonstrate how weather works, I need to be able to simulate the water cycle.” Looking down at the full pot, I sheepishly asked. “Could somepony without a broken rib put this on the fire for me?” Facet’s horn lit up with red light as she levitated the pot onto the flame. “Thank you.” The magical fire was giving off heat; that much I could tell just by standing near it. However, it would still take a while for the water to boil like I wanted it to, and in the meantime an uncomfortable silence was stretching out. Clearing my throat, I asked awkwardly. “So, does anypony know why I’m doing this?”

There were a lot of shaking heads, but thankfully one of the ponies with their Cutie Mark raised their hoof. I nodded to the filly and she said “Because you need steam, right?”

I had expected something close, but that was on the dot. “Yes, actually precisely that.” It was probably better to keep them talking, so instead of explaining further, I asked. “Do you know why?”

She scratched her head, thinking. “Um, cause steam makes clouds, right?”

“Yes!” I beamed at her. “Just about every part of the weather is caused by water, and like…um…”

“Stardust!” She provided happily.

“Like Stardust said, clouds are made of steam, in a sense of the word. Water comes in three states: liquid, like we have here,” I gestured to the water “gas, like we’re trying to get,” I dipped a wing tip into the water, it was getting warm but not enough to burn “and solid.” Pulling out the wingtip, I concentrated my power on the droplets clinging to my feathers. With a crackling sound, they froze over, giving the feathers a frosted appearance. The little ponies gasped at the display, making me blush. “Yes, well, as I was saying…”

“Was that magic?” One of them interrupted loudly, leaning forward with wide eyes.

“Well, yes, technically…”

“How did you do that without a horn?” One of the unicorns piped up.

“Well, I used my wings. That’s where pegasus magic comes from.”

“Can you do more magic?”

I was about to answer no, but that wasn’t exactly true. “I guess there are a few things I could do while we wait for the water to boil…” The “class” exploded in noise and excitement at that. The sudden burst of sound grated my ears. “Alright, alright!” I yelled over them. “I’ll show you!” After way too long, they quieted down.

Huffing in annoyance, I took a second to think about what I was going to do. In a flash, an idea came to me. It was silly, but it served my purposes. Reaching into one of the pockets on my greatcoat, I pulled out a bottle of Sparkle Cola. “Even though pegasi at large don’t control the weather anymore, some of us are still born with a talent for it. I’m the only one I know about with such a talent, and mine is for manipulating snow and ice.” Popping off the bottle cap and pocketing it, I took a swig of the soda. “Now, this soda is closer to two hundred years old, so it’s pretty warm, unless I do this.” Transferring the bottle from hoof to wing, I channeled cold power through it. The glass frosted over and even started to steam slightly. Taking another drink I was shocked at how much the temperature changed the flavor. “Wow, why didn’t I think to do this before?” I muttered.

“So what, you’re a refrigerator?” One of the colts snickered.

“Hardly.” I deadpanned as the crowed giggled. “My talent can do a lot more than chill drinks. If I couldn’t do this, I’d be dead right now, eaten by a horde of slavering zombies.” That shut them up. Savoring my little victory, I noted that the water had come to a good boil and was giving off plenty of steam. “Alright, we can finally begin.”

Spreading my wings, I stepped up to the pot. Concentrating, I wrapped the steam in my power and compressed it. It was easier than I thought it would be to coalesce the vapors into a cloud, my winter manipulation certainly helped. But as it grew bigger, it got harder and harder to add on, especially with the tiny amount of steam I was working with. The pressure of perform a process I had never done and only knew because of incidental knowledge, combined with the effort of the magic itself, manifested as a slight strain behind my eyes. By the time it stopped growing at an appreciable rate, it was a little bigger than my now-pounding head. “Well, guess that’s the best I’m getting.” I gasped, pushing the little cloud out of the steam with a wing. “I know it’s not much, but we’ll have to work with it.” I looked down at the class, all of whom were staring at me wide eyed. “Um, you all okay?”

“See! I told you!” Richie yelled. “I told you she could do magic!”

“No way!” The other unicorn said, mouth agape.

“Hey! I heard you can walk on clouds! Can you for real?” I nodded hesitantly. “Show us show us show us!”

“Now you’re just being dumb, Richie.” Stardust said. “That’s impossible.” She pointed an accusatory hoof at me. “And stop lying to him so he tells more fibs!”

“I’m not lying.” I said, moving the cloud back into the steam. “We pegasi have entire cities built above the clouds. If we couldn’t walk on them, we wouldn’t have survive the apocalypse.” The boil was going faster and faster, causing more steam to be produced. It still took another five minutes to make the cloud large enough to be stood on easily.

Once I had it as large as a mattress, I pushed the cloud out of the steam again. “Now, watch this.” Flapping my wings and jumping up, I alighted easily on the cloud. When I didn’t fall through, the fillies and colts began clamoring in excitement and shock.

“No way!” I heard somepony yell. “There’s no way you’re doing that! It’s a trick!”

“No tricks here.” I said, lying down on the cloud. I smiled down at their little bewildered faces looking up at me. “It’s just what we pegasi can do.”

All at once a tide broke in the little ponies’ curiosity. A cacophonous wave of questions and demands flooded up towards me. I couldn’t keep track of who was saying what, or what even was being said. All I knew is that I was immensely grateful when Facet stepped forward and commanded their attention. “All right, little ones, that’s quite enough. It’s late and your parents are probably wondering where you are.” She said. Was it that late? There was no way to tell from inside the cave, all I had were circadian rhythms that told me I needed sleep. “All of you, go on home. I’m sure our guest needs rest as well.”

The little ponies were disappointed the demonstration was being cut short, but obeyed the Confessor. A few of them, mostly those old enough for their Cutie Marks, thanked me as they left. Richie jabbered out an extended thanks that I only half heard before scampering off with his friends.

With the last of them gone, I sighed and jumped off my cloud. “Thank Celestia that’s over.”

“Was it really so bad?” Facet asked, smiling.

“Yes! I have a headache from all their questions.” I pressed my wingtips to the sides of my head in an effort to squeeze out the pain.

“But you saw how happy you made them. Surely that’s a good thing?” I huffed in response. “Do you remember what you said about never helping ponies?” I nodded hesitantly, knowing where she was going with this. “Well, didn’t you just help Richie?”

“I guess so.” I muttered. “You’re trying to make me learn some lesson, aren’t you?”

She laughed at my cynicism. “Perhaps a little. I am a Confessor, it’s what we do.”

“And did Looking Glass put you up to teaching me something so I’d be more compatible while I’m here?”

“No, nothing like that.” She smiled easily. “It’s because I owe you.”

“What the Hell could you possibly owe me for?”

Her expression fell and her body darkened in color. “I was in a position like yours not long ago. I was lost, hurt, without recourse. I used my training as a Confessor to carry on, but no amount of wisdom could fix what was wrong.” She smiled again and lit up like the stars. “Until you came here, and brought my daughter back with you.”

It took me a second to process what she said, and another to piece together the implications. “Wait, so, you’re...”

“Clarity’s mother, yes.” She hugged me, but unlike last time I didn’t break away. “You brought my daughter back to us. I cannot thank you enough.”

I was unsure of what to say or how to respond. After everything I’d said, here was a pony who’d I’d helped without even knowing it. But that was wrong, wasn’t it? That wasn’t how things were supposed to work.

Or was I wrong for thinking that?

*****

A little under an hour later, I was laying on the cloud I’d made just outside the Confessor’s chamber. Facet had left me alone to wait, which I had found curious at the time. “Don’t you want to see Clarity?” I had asked. “You can wait here with me.”

She had declined sadly. “I wish I could, by the Empire’s light I wish I could, but I’m afraid I can’t. There are many, many things I must see to, which is why I was unable to attend your Trial. Please though, if you could, send her to me when you see her? She’ll know where to go.”

I had agreed, too sleepy to argue. And so it went, with me drifting in and out of sleep while I waited for my friends to finish their Trails. Eventually, I heard the sound of buzzing magic and looked up. Scout, Clarity, Jackpot, Diamond Edge and Looking Glass all phased through the magical rocks. “Hello.” I greeted from my perch a couple feet off the ground.

The crystal stallions took a step back when they saw me, but quickly recovered. “Hello, Sleet Gray. Are you feeling any better?” Looking Glass asked.

“It still hurts, but significantly less, thank you.” I turned my attention to my friends, who were less impressed with my floating. “How did it go?”

“We’ve been cleared, just like you.” Scout reported.

“Where did you get that cloud?” Clarity asked.

“Some of the younger ponies didn’t believe that pegasi could work magic. I put on a little demonstration, and have this now.” I patted the cloud with a hoof.

“It’s good to hear that the children are comfortable with you being here.” Looking Glass said. “It will make everypony’s acceptance a little easier to win.”

“Are they really that unwanted?” Clarity asked.

“I know you have been with them a long time, Clarity, and see them as trustworthy friends, but they are the first ponies of flesh many of us have seen since the slaver attack.” His eyes unfocused slightly and his coat flickered with darkness. “I sense a large amount of distress in the Exiles.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be out of your manes as quickly as I’m able to travel.” I assured him.

He simply nodded and turned back to the magical rocks. “I have many things to discuss with the other Confessors. Diamond Edge will show you where you can stay for your time here.” With that, he phased back through.

“Follow me.” Diamond Edge ordered, trotting past me.

I still wasn’t quite feeling up to walking, so instead I fluttered my wings to create a breeze that pushed me along, my ground-bound companions following below. It didn’t take long for us to reach our chambers, isolated at the end of an out-of-the-way tunnel. Diamond Edge hadn’t said a word to any of us the whole way there. Only once we were in the room did he speak. “Clarity, could you come with me?”

“Sure, but what for?” She asked.

I had been nodding off most of the way to our chambers and had nearly forgotten the thing I’d been asked to do. Diamond Edge speaking jolted my memory. “Oh! Are you going to see Facet?” I asked.

Father and daughter both gave me shocked looks at that. “How did you know that?” Diamond Edge asked warily.

“And how do you know Mother’s name?” Clarity added.

“Not long after you went back to the Trial, she came to me.” I explained. “She helped me out with the demonstration.”

“And why wasn’t she there with you earlier?”

“She said she had to do something.” I yawned and shook my head rapidly. “I don’t think she told me what, but she asked me to send you to her, Clarity. She said you’d know where to go.”

She nodded and smiled. “Alright, then I’ll go do that. You two get some sleep, I might be a while.”

“Sure thing, goodnight Clarity.” She and Diamond Edge left back the way we came.

“So.” Jackpot said as the crystal ponies turned a corner. “You’re scavengers, huh?”

I sighed, expecting this. “Look, I’m…”

“I don’t want to hear apologies. I want to hear why you lied.”

“Fine. I’m going to assume you knew at the time who the Shadow King was?” I asked.

“Of course. We always had to be careful to avoid his raiders when we went south.”

“Then would you have helped us if you knew we worked for him?”

“I’d have ordered you all dead on the spot, just to be safe.” He said, face impassive. “I’m still tempted to shoot you.”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you did, but what would that get you?” I asked. “You know my plan. Kill me and he’ll just find somepony else, maybe one who will actually do what he says. I’m risking everything to fuck over the warlord of the whole goddamn Northern Wastes, but if you want to stop me here, then I can’t say you’re wrong.” Scout looked like he wanted to punch me for saying that, but he didn’t do anything.

There was a long silence as Jackpot scrutinized me. Eventually, he shook his head and turned away. “You’re dangerous, Gray. Dangerous and stupid.”

“Be that as it may, I get results, don’t I?”

He started to walk away. “I’m going to wander. Ghouls don’t need sleep.”

“Goodnight, Jackpot.” I said sincerely. He didn’t respond.

Scout closed the makeshift wooden door behind him, plunging us into darkness. “Great, she forgot the lights.” He muttered. With a buzz, he turned on his PipBuck lantern, revealing the room in green light. It was barely furnished, with only two old mattresses serving as beds.

Good thing I’ve got this. I thought, snuggling into my cloud. Scout was rubbing his face with his hooves. “Something wrong?”

“Why do you have to tempt ponies to kill us?”

I blinked at that. “I was appealing to the fact that doing so wouldn’t sit right with him. As a ghoul, he’d have to live with something like that forever, always wondering if it was the right call.”

“And you really thought that’d work?” He snapped.

“It did though!”

“Remember what I said? About stupid risks?” Sighing, he flopped onto one of the mattresses, covering his face. “Goddesses, why bother? You don’t listen.”

“Hey, you don’t have to follow me if you don’t like my methods.” I said indignantly.

“I’m not going to leave.”

“And why not? And don’t say ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I don’t have a choice because we’re stuck’.”

“You want to know why? Cause I‘m just as marked as you, that’s why!” He pointed an accusatory hoof at me. “Traveling with you has gotten me on just as many shit lists. If I don’t stick with you and see this through, I’m fucked. Plain and simple.” Jabbing his PipBuck, he shut out the lantern. “Now sleep, I don’t want to spend a minute longer here than we have to.”

I gnashed my teeth in irritation. Rolling away from him, I pushed the cloud higher with a gust of wind and shut my eyes tight. Maybe, for once, sleep would bring me peace.

Goddesses know I needed it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote: Experience gained!

Author's Notes:

By Celestia I posted a chapter. Miracles can happen.

Alright, so I've decided to modify the format a little bit in the hopes that I'll have fewer delays. I'm going to go full World of Warcraft, smaller and faster content. Right now my chapters are stretching overly long, and I think that's a determent to some readers as well as just making me unable to finish them in time. So, I'll be cutting back on the word count per chapter. While this might inflate the final chapter count, that is fine with me so long as it doesn't take another bleeding year to put out, like, three chapters.

Business to the side, I'd like to, as usual, thank Kkat for making Fallout: Equestria and letting writers like me play in it. Also thanks to Mobius for proofreading as usual, and all my friends for helping me get around writer's block. Hope everypony enjoys the chapter, please drop a comment telling me what you think, and I plan on seeing you all soon!

Visions

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 14: Visions
“Perhaps you’ve seen it, maybe in a dream.”

With a light clip-clop of hooves, I touched down on the stone floor of the cave and trotted towards the door. Stepping out into the halls, I was a little surprised to see nopony around. “Hello?” I called. “Anypony there?”

All I got was my voice echoing back to me. Was it just really early and I was the only one up? Maybe I should ask Scout what time it was? Or had he even been in the room? Shaking my head, I decided against it and continued to wander the cave. Silence, nothing but silence. There was no indication that anyone had ever been here ever, let alone lived in exile here. I was just happy I could see where I was going.

Stepping into a wide open area, I thought I spotted something in the distance. Squinting, I could just barely make out a pony-shaped figure stepping around a bend. “Hey! Hello?” I called after them. They either didn’t hear me or didn’t care, because they kept right on walking.

Settling into a canter, I hurried after the figure. “Wait! Do you know where everypony went?” I rounded the corner at speed and promptly felt my hooves slip from beneath me. Landing painfully, I slid for several seconds on a slick coating of ice. “What the Hell?” I groaned, trying to pick myself up. My hooves slipped and slid, until something caught under me and brought me down again. Looking back, I tried to determine what had tripped me.

It was a skull. A pony skull, lodged in the ice. I tried to scream, but it felt like the air had turned to water in my throat. I tried again and again, but sound refused to come out, my chest tightening as my straining lungs refused to empty.

I tried scrambling backwards away from the skull. As I did, I began to take notice of other corpses, ponies of all kinds lying dead and frozen in varying states of decay. Not looking where I was going, morbidly entranced by the grim scene around me, I ran into something else, something that slipped through the plates of my greatcoat’s armor and stab into my back. I screamed again, this time in pain, managing to somehow be heard. It was awkward, but I managed to twist around to see what had stabbed me. It was the horn of a dead unicorn, skeletonized and locked in a twisted shape.
From the point of the wound, a cold pain grabbed hold, keeping me locked in place. At first I believed my spine had been damaged, but as a creeping burning sensation radiated from my back, I knew it to be much worse. I fumbled with the claps of my greatcoat as the burning feeling began to encompass my torso. But my arms moved like lead, hardly obeying my commands. Eventually I got enough claps undone to pull them all open in one yank. By this point, the burning had completely consumed by body and was working down my legs and up my neck.

Opening the coat revealed what was happening to me. My coat had become encased in a thin layer of ice, beneath which I could see my flesh had turned black and dead. Horror twisted my gut, though I could barely feel it through the screaming of my dying nerves. “Help! Somepony help me!” I screeched in desperation, trying to pull myself free of the dead pony’s horn. I prayed that the figure I had seen earlier would hear me and come before I joined the bodies frozen in the ice that coated the cave.

Clip, clop, clip, clop. The sound of approaching hooves. Relief nearly made me cry as I continued to yell for aid. “Over here! Please, hurry!” The ice had taken everything below my neck, locking me in place. The figure came around a corner, still too shadowed to be seen. “Help! I’m…” I couldn’t finish my plea, but I did learn something about the figure. It raised a wing, and the ice rapidly sealed my mouth.

Shh now. The ice vibrated, as if it was speaking. No, that wasn’t quite right, the voice was coming from the ice but the vibration was something else, something like fear. Shh little pony…

My breathing accelerated, made difficult by the ice compressing my chest and creeping over my nostrils. My body was entirely dead, unable to even strain against its imprisonment. From this angle, I could still see my legs, see the necrotic, frozen flesh, locked horrifically in place. Clip, clop, clip, clop. The figure was close now, close enough for me to see. If all my senses hadn’t been destroyed, I’m sure they would have fallen away from fear. I tried to close my eyes, but frozen tendrils locked onto my eyelids, keeping them open. I couldn’t look away, couldn’t even scream as the figure drew closer.

As I drew closer. The cool blue coat was drawn tighter over withered muscles and bulging bone. The gray mane was disheveled and frosted over at manic angles. From the wings hung heavy icicles that scraped almost tenderly over the frozen floor. Her mouth was sealed much like mine was, but in a wide, toothy grin.
And the eyes. The eyes were pits of blackness, glistening with crystalized tears that hadn’t fallen in the Goddess knew how long. Shh, little pony. I said, leaning over myself, grinning that mad grin. She raised a hoof, cracked, pitted, and frosted over, and reached slowly towards my eyes. Shhhhhhh……

……

I awoke, frozen in fear. I was twisted at a spine-bending angle on my cloud facing the ceiling, staring at the blurry rocks. Tears eventually began to fall from my eyes, running out the corners and down my face. And still I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t do anything, but lay there, silently crying, as my own frozen grin laughed at me in my mind. I tried to close my eyes, to escape. My chest was heaving as I fought for breath, finally forcing my way to blessed darkness. The image still taunted me, I begged it to leave me at peace. Please, go away. Please…please…please…
please

help….
(>Correct balance? Y/N
Yyyyyyyyyyy
What’s going on?” such pretty lights….hellowhosethere?
…not Worth it…pink, what was pink? Clarity.don;thave that. None here, sold out please come back…
3.1415926534…no 5 5 what? No, not five, 3.Red slipshsplash what else it red? fish what were You thinking
Fix it”.”ignoreher. Why would she do that? Who are you to say?
What’s something else? Tech tec check wreck peck Peak? Peek, yespeektakeapeekbut do not leak lest you be
Too weak to do it. Is that you”Klri>corrupted dar…*backspace* a… *backspace* t… &backsp—ce(
Back got any more? C LANTURN! A..Y…R…E E e é EM EMP?badumpbadumpbadump

Did I do that in the right order?

Well, this is “hope”less. Can’t Listen Anymore, Reason I Trick You [s](Saw what I did there? Pretty cool huh?”)
I think it’s time we got back on track.
No! I don;t want to! “Thi’sll nvr work!.@crrryyysssstaaallsssssss whendid
Shhhhhh……….)

*****

Blearily, I rubbed at my eyes. Granules of salt rubbed irritatingly against my face, which was my first indication something was amiss. I remembered waking up from that Goddesses-awful nightmare, and most of what had come after I did. Why, then, were my tears dry? Hadn’t that just been a minute ago? No it couldn’t have been, there had been something else, hadn’t there? It was so hard to remember…

Sitting up and looking around the room, I spotted Scout going through his duffel bag. The light of his PipBuck lantern swayed as he worked, casting crazy shadows over the walls. “Hey,” I said, catching his attention.

“You’re awake?” He asked, looking over his shoulder.

“I hope so, what time is it?”

He checked his PipBuck. “Half an hour after sunrise, relatively speaking. Hard to tell in the cave, but it’s usually around this time.” Was it really? Had it been that long? Or had that been long at all? When had I even woken up? It was impossible to tell the time, or even relative changes in time. My head had gone completely fuzzy.
I rubbed my face with my hooves, muttering “Goddesses, I hate caves.”
“We have bigger problems to worry about.” He said, slinging his duffel over his shoulder.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“We have no way out of here. We lost the tarp.”

I felt a little cold ball of dreadful realization form in my heart. “Oh fuck, you’re right.” I murmured. “Oh fucking Hell you’re right!” All thoughts of fuzzy recollection were shoved to the side as panic set in. We couldn’t get out! We were perfectly free to go, but we couldn’t get out without dying! I started to breathe more rapidly, nearing hyperventilation before my broken rib started to protest. At least that’s confirmation this isn’t a dream.

As I calmed my breathing, Scout was exiting our quarters. Lying down on my cloud, I flapped my wings to follow him. “So, what do we do?” I asked him, desperately hoping he had an answer.

“I don’t know.” He said morosely. “At the very least we can ask the crystal ponies. They must have some means of getting through the blizzard.”

He was right, otherwise they’d have no way of getting to their different hideouts. There was a major problem blocking that option, though. “All we need to do is get them to tell us.” I said. Scout’s shoulders tensed, he didn’t respond. We wandered the halls of the cave for several minutes. I had no idea where Scout was going, but I trusted it was somewhere that would help us. “Have you seen Clarity or Jackpot?” I asked him.

“No, neither of them returned to the room as far as I can tell. I don’t know about Jackpot, but I’m guessing Clarity just stayed with her parents.”

Something about what he said triggered a strange sense of déjà vu. Did it have to do with my fuzzy memories? Had they just been a dream, something to do with Clarity and her family? I sighed, leave it to me to have one good, or at least neutral, dream out of a hundred nightmares and immediately forget it.

I decided to let go of that worry, at least for now. Between the worry outside, the worry in the Empire, and the worry walking beneath me, I had too much on my mind to care about one fuzzy dream. And I was worried about Scout. I could tell our little talk the night before was weighing on him. He had basically avoided all eye contact with me in the time since I woke up, and the clipped note in his voice was hard to ignore. I needed to talk to him, to get some sort of companionship going between us. Right now, we were hardly travelling partners let alone friends. And we needed to be, because reluctance and uncertainty weren’t going to get us anything except slowly killed. I’d lived in the Enclave long enough to know that.

“Scout,” I said “about what we talked about last night…”

“Don’t bother, Sleet.” He said, cutting me off. “We got as far as we’re going to with that.”

“Are you really so sure about that?” I asked. He nodded and accelerated his pace. Grinding my teeth in annoyance, I flew ahead of him and blocked his path. “You want to know what’s really annoying me about this?” I demanded. Not waiting for an answer, I continued. “The fact that you change your story every Goddesses-damned time! First it’s because you don’ know, then it’s to return the favor of me helping you, now it’s because we’re on the same shit lists?” I jabbed my hoof at him angrily. “THAT is what’s shit here! And I need you to either make up your mind or tell the truth!”

“Says the liar?” He snapped back. “What part of you has an ounce of truth, huh?”

I felt the base of my neck itch, right where the stitches were. “At least I never hid why I cared about your sorry ass! I saved you out of gratitude for what you did for me, and after that I never wanted to keep you around cause it would just get you killed! I’VE never changed THAT story!” I made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a growl. “But the longer I have you around, you and Clarity, the more I realize that it would have been stupid for me to go alone. There are too many time’s I’d be dead if you weren’t around for me to comfortably think about.” I bowed my head, strangely remembering something Comet Strike had said on the slopes of Heaven’s Point. “So, I appreciate having you around, and I want you to stay, no matter what my ‘antiquated warrior honor’ tells me.” Much calmer now, I looked him in the eyes. “I gave you a straight answer, now I want one from you. Otherwise, how can I trust you if I don’t know why you stick around?”

I could see him wrestling with what he wanted to say. For the longest time he looked anywhere but at me, until finally he relented. “Fine, I’ll tell you.” He sat down against of the wall of the cave, sighing. “I’m still not sure why I saved you in the first place, but I do know why I’m still here. It’s because you remind me of somepony I knew from my Stable.”

Of all the possible answers, this is the one I didn’t really expect. “I do?”

“Yeah. Scout isn’t just my name, it’s what I did back in 130, and most scouts worked in pairs. My partner was a lot like you, she made up stupid plans that had no right working as well.” I wanted to be indignant, but he was right. He continued, almost wistfully. “I actually liked running with her. It was fun to push our limits, and our tribe was neutral enough that we could get away with it.” His expression darkened. “But it didn’t last, that’s why I had to leave.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“We fucked up. Botched a mission, and nearly got a lot of ponies, ourselves included, killed. It was enough to drive me from my home, because if I wasn’t there then maybe things would calm down. I was alone since then,” he gave me a wry smile “until I found you bleeding out on the ground.”

I smiled back, but curiosity still nagged me. “So, what went wrong? What was your mission?”

“That,” he said, standing “is not something I feel like talking about. That okay with you, boss?”

I flushed a little. “Y-yeah, that’s fine.” I said lamely. “And I’m not your boss…”

“You act like it a lot!” He said, trotting around me.

“It’s not my fault you guys act like I’m the leader!” I yelled after him. He ignored me and kept walking. “Hey!” Flapping my wings, I chased after him further into the crystal caves.

*****

Scout and I wandered for several minutes, but we couldn’t find Clarity and her family. In fact, we couldn’t find anypony. The whole cave seemed abandoned. I was beginning to worry that they had packed up and moved to a new hideout without us when Scout spoke up. “Got a contact, this way.” He turned and trotted in the direction his E.F.S. dictated.

Following the contact, we found Jackpot wandering on his own. The ghoul was the last person I wanted to talk to, but he may be a solution to our problem. “Hey, Jackpot.” I greeted him.

“Scout, Gray.” He acknowledged us. “Sleep well?”

“Not exactly.” I said, trying to forget last night’s dreams. “But we have a bigger problem to worry about.”

“Yeah, you have no way out.” He said. At our surprised looks, he shook his head, sighing. “I had all night to think about it, remember?”

“Of course.” I muttered. Out loud, I said. “So what do you propose we do?”

“Normally I’d say I could just go get you a new tarp.” He said. “But the problem is I have no idea where we are in relationship to Meltwater. Even if I checked Scout’s map, there’s no guarantee I could even find the way back.”

“Damnit.” I swore. There had to be something we could do. “Maybe we can get a message to Clouds. See if there’s a way she can locate us and bring a tarp herself.”

“And how would we do that?”

“Scout, let me see your PipBuck.” I said, jumping down next to him. The fall stung my rib, but it was a minor pain that spoke to the healthy progress of my recovery. Painful as his treatment had been, I owed Fractal for his help.

Scout gave me his wrist, and I started poking around with the arcano-tech device strapped to it. I quickly brought up the radio page and locked onto the signal I recognized as Clouds’. Tuning into the channel, Clouds’ voice came through the speakers. –ot the ones I’m looking for. They’ll know who they are. If you’re listening, I just…I want to make sure you’re okay. I mean, I don’t know how you can even tell me but…Look we’re just all really really worried about you okay? Please, say something… Message repeats. Anypony out there, if you’re listening, you’re not the ones I’m looking for…

As soon as the message began to repeat itself, I muted the broadcast. I had never heard Clouds sound so…lifeless. In the short time I’d known her she had been as bright and energetic as her little brother’s name. To hear her like that, made my own heart darken. I sucked in a deep breath and held it for several seconds to clear my head. I spoke in a rush as the breath came out. “Alright, I got her signal, gonna try and send a ping.”

My plan was to open the radar program and radio channel simultaneously and shoot a ping over the airwaves to Clouds. The only problem was, advanced as it may be; the PipBuck wasn’t designed to handle too many functions at once. Diagnostics and positioning took up a lot of processing power, meaning that the other modes like inventory management and record keeping needed to be accessed one at a time.

But I had an idea to open both at the same time. It was the simple matter of shutting down the usual background functions to clear up space. Simple, but if I did it wrong, then I could potentially crash Scout’s PipBuck for good. “Alright Scout, how much do you know about PipBucks?” I asked.

“I’m not a technician if that’s what you’re asking.” He said. “But what do you need?” I explained my plan and, with his help, I was able to carefully shut the systems down. Scout looked around, brow furrowed. “It’s weird like this, looking around without the interface up. I’ve had it on constantly since I got my Cutie Mark. Not having it on, I feel kind of blind.”

“Yeah, well welcome to my world.” I huffed. At least he had one to lose! I didn’t even know what it felt like to wear a PipBuck! Even so, I didn’t let my indignation stop me from my task. The interface clearly wasn’t designed for what I was doing and required a lot of switching back and forth. Eventually though, I got it to work.

My indication of this was Scout’s scream of shock. “Holy fuck!” He tore his hooves away and threw them over his ears. “What in Celestia’s name did you do, Sleet?!”

“I sent the ping.” I said. He continued to glare at me, though a bit of confusion mixed into his expression. “I sent the ping!” I repeated louder. He raised an eyebrow. Reaching over, I pulled one of his hooves away and yelled in his ear “I DID THE THING!”

“Goddesses!” He yelled, shoving me away and covering his ears again. “Are you trying to make me deaf?”

I fell back against the wall with a grunt. “I must not have been able to shut off the sound part of the interface, meaning you heard the ping.” Scout wasn’t even looking at me. “And I don’t care if you didn’t hear that!”

“If you two are done being petulant foals, maybe you can test if that worked.” Jackpot said, shaking his head.

With a huff, I grabbed Scout’s arm and turned on the radio, this time through the speakers. The original message ran for another thirty seconds, making me think it didn’t work until a sharp crackle of static came from the speakers. “Waitwaitwait I heard that! That was a radar ping! I know the ponies who would have that! That means…” Her voice faded slightly, though I could hear her cheering in the background. I couldn’t help but snicker, imagining her dancing like a filly. Another crackle announced her return to the microphone. “Alright, you only sent one ping, which means you probably nearly blew out Scout’s ears. Don’t send any others unless, you know, you’re in mortal peril and need immediate rescue or something. Then ping like crazy! Unless that happens, I’ll assume you’re okay! Alright…wait you can’t answer…alright I’ll go with that! I’ll let the others know you’re safe, come back soon!”

With that, she ended the transmission with a click! Scout was rubbing his ears with his free hoof. “I heard the back half of that, so I don’t think you made me permanently deaf.”

I shook my head exasperatedly and gave him his hoof back. “With that taken care of, maybe we should find everypony.” I said. “Making contact with home base doesn’t mean much if we still have no way there.”

“Where are they, anyway?” Scout asked. “I haven’t picked up anypony on my PipBuck.”

“There was some kind of congregation happening an hour or so ago.” Jackpot said. “I tried to find out what was going on, but nopony spoke to me, as you might guess.”

I leapt back into my cloud, happy to settle down on the flying pillow. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to just go observe if they won’t tell. Which direction were they going?”

With Jackpot in the lead, it took only a few minutes for Scout, who had turned his E.F.S. back on manually, to indicate that he was picking up contacts. Even sooner, we heard a plethora of voices rising from further down the corridor we were in. We slowed down and approached cautiously, this was obviously a big event and even with Looking Glass’ protection we didn’t want to startle the guards. Peeking around the corner, we caught a look at the proceedings.

The gather was in what was clearly the central chamber of the cave. A huge domed roof stretched above, shining with multiple magical gems. The crystal ponies sat in a glittering, multicolor ring around a raging bonfire, and an inner ring of Confessors and a collection of massive, hulking figures I nearly mistook for yeti.

The visitors were impressive folk. Each of them spouted a pair of wicked looking horns from their head, and many of them huge masses of muscle and fur, clearly warriors. The warriors’ horns and faces were decorated with war paint, and twisting tattoos of black ink stained their coats. The only ones not painted for battle were three elderly-looking ones wearing robes of rough, brown fabric. Strings of multi-color beads hung from their horns and necks.

Though perhaps the most startling thing about them was the fact that all of them were stark white. Their fur was as blankly colored as the snow outside, making them looking more like hulking ghosts than beings of flesh and blood. The contrast with the black-robed Confessors was almost painful to look at, like they were two opposite forces being forced together.

Despite the violence of their conflicting colors, they were clearly friendly. I recognized Looking Glass in the center of the Confessors. He was bowing to the visitor on the other side of the fire, clearly a very aged member of the visiting race. All the other assembled crystal ponies fell silent as the Confessor rose up. “Thank you for coming on such short notice, Wise One.” He said.

“Of course, my friend.” The elder said, returning the bow. “What troubles you? Have your supplies run dry?”

“No, we have more than enough, thanks to your tribe’s generosity.”

“That is good, though I see there is a new mouth to feed.” He smiled kindly and turned towards the audience. “Or rather, an old one has returned.” The room followed his gaze to Clarity, who was sitting behind Facet, who was in the ring of Confessors.

Clarity smiled and inclined her head. “Thank you, Chieftain.”

So he was the leader of these visitors. It still didn’t tell me what race they were though. “What are they?” I asked Scout and Jackpot quietly.

“They look like buffalo.” Jackpot whispered, as much as a ghoul can whisper that is. “But I didn’t know they could be all white like that.”

“I didn’t know that buffalo survived the apocalypse.” Scout said. “What are they doing here? And how did they avoid getting killed by the yeti?”

Before any of us could answer that question, the Chieftain spoke loud enough to be clearly heard…by us. “Perhaps your trouble stems from the ponies who are hiding around the corner?” All three of us jolted in surprise, trading looks like guilty foals with their hooves in the cookie jar. “Come out now. If you are welcome among the crystal ponies you are welcome among us.”

I poked my head around the corner to see every head in the room turned to us, making me flush brightly. I could practically feel the disdain of the crystal ponies, bearing down on me like a physical force. “I don’t think ‘welcome’ is the word I’d use.” I said.

“Nonsense, come, sit with us.”

Swallowing hard, I nodded. “Very well.”

Not wanting to walk through the crowd on hoof, but also not wanting to appear rude by lounging on a cloud, I instead leapt off and soared over the crystal ponies. Alighting next to Looking Glass, I winced as my rib twinged. “You are in pain?” The buffalo elder asked.

“Yes,” I said, trying to appear stoic despite it “I was struck by one of the yeti and it broke my rib. I‘m healing well, though.”

The elder nodded, reaching into his robe. “Here,” he pulled out a vial that looked like it belonged to a healing potion, but had been filled with something else “drink this. It will accelerate your healing.”

Looking Glass levitated the vial over to me. I accepted it, and nodded my thanks. The room was silent save the crackling fire as I pondered the fluid for a moment. It was clear like water, but was viscous. A part of me was worried about poison, but I wasn’t exactly in a position to refuse. Taking a quick breath to calm myself, I downed the fluid…

And nearly spat it back out. It burned my tongue like fire, and didn’t do my throat much better. Coughing, I managed to swallow the vile stuff, feeling the fire move down my throat to settle in my chest. “W-what was that?” I gasped out.

“It is a concoction similar to the ones ponies call healing potions.” The elder said. “When brewed by our shaman, it has the same ingredients, but extracted to their full potential. A longer process certainly, but an effective one.”

The fire wrapped itself around my ribcage, leaving me short of breath. Slowly though, the fire faded away, being replaced by a dull warmth that removed the pain. After a half a minute, the sensation was gone, and my chest felt good as new. “That’s…that’s amazing!” I marveled, pressing my hoof against the rib in question. I felt nothing, no bending, no cracking, nothing. The wound was gone. I smiled brightly at the elder. “Thank you, so much!”
The buffalo smiled kindly, bowing his head. “You are welcome, pegasus. Now, with pain aside, we can share names.” He stood, and pressed a hoof to his chest. “I am Chief Misting Ice, of the Tribe Di-Nes-Ih Tkin. In your tongue, the Tribe Hidden in Ice.”

I stood and bowed to him in kind. “My name is Sleet Gray.”

“Do you come from the ones that dwell above the clouds?”

I didn’t let my face change, so as not to give away the wave of cold that passed over me. “No, I have no association with them.”

Chief Misting Ice nodded. “And what brought you amongst our crystal friends?” I relayed a slightly modified version of how we got here, omitting the slavers as I had done with the Confessors. The Chief did not interrupt, only nodding along with my story. When I finished the story on the note of us being unable to leave, he spoke again. “So, you are trapped here.”

“I’m afraid that’s the case.” I said, nodding. The crystal ponies began to mutter amongst themselves, raising a small din in the room. I caught snippets of what was being said. “…stay here?...How much can we show them?...Gotta get rid of them…”

Looking Glass stomped his hoof twice, bringing silence to the room. “Do not allow worry to cloud you judgment, everypony. After all, a solution to this problem sits right in front of us.” He turned to the buffalo and bowed respectfully. “My friends, perhaps you could shelter the ponies of flesh and see them returned to safety?”

I wasn’t exactly sure how the buffalo could move us through the blizzard without being eaten, but they obviously could. Perhaps they were our ticket out of here, provided they agreed. “How many are you, Sleet Gray?” Misting Ice asked.

“Four,” I said “me, Clarity, and two earth ponies, one of which is a ghoul.”

“Hold on!” A voice interjected. Diamond Edge had been amongst the guards posted around the room and now stepped forward. “Why are you taking Clarity? She just returned home!”

“Yes, I must ask, why do you need her?” Misting Ice said, though much calmer than Diamond Edge.

“Because I have a plan to aid the crystal ponies and Clarity is essential to it. And besides,” I turned to give her a smile “she’s my friend. I’d like to have her along.” She returned the smile, but I could see sadness tinging it and felt my own shoulders slump slightly. Diamond Edge was right though, she was home now. I didn’t have a right to force her away. “Of course, if she wants to stay, I won’t object.”

“No,” she said, standing up “I’ll come. I’d be glad to.”

“Clarity, you don’t have to do this…” Diamond Edge pleaded. All the fire was gone from his voice. He sounded tired, afraid, and vulnerable, emotions I was certain he wasn’t used to expressing.

“You’re right, I don’t have to, but I want to. Besides, Sleet would probably do something stupid and get herself killed without me there.”

I felt myself turn red as the crystal ponies snickered around me. “Thanks Clarity…” I muttered sarcastically, but not without a note of appreciation. Once again ponies I cared about were sacrificing more than they needed to for my sorry flank, I couldn’t help but feel a surge of gratitude towards her.

“Then it is settled.” Misting Ice said. “When we depart, we will take Sleet Gray and her companions with us.”

“Thank you Chief Misting Ice.” I said, bowing. “We’ll go prepare for the journey.” With that I flew back to Scout and Jackpot, returning to our room and leaving the meeting behind.

*****

It took a further hour for the meeting to end, apparently Looking Glass had more to talk about with the buffalo than just us. Preparations didn’t take overly long. Even with the copious amounts of anti-rad supplies we had stored up, there was still very little we had to our collective names. Hell, literally everything I had could be carried in my pockets.

When to time finally came to depart, it was Facet that came to fetch us. “The buffalo are ready, I trust you are all ready to go?”

“Yes.” I said, jumping down from my cloud. I would have to bust it before we left, much as I had enjoyed lounging on it, it wasn’t exactly mobile. This had been demonstrated by the cloud I had taken when I fled Talon Mountain. I wasn’t exactly sure when in the tumult of events since then it had been smashed and dissipated but it, sadly, it had. I would have to see if I could find a more secure way of containing them. “Where are we meeting the buffalo?”

I’ll escort you there, follow me.” She said, trotting out of the room.

I took a second to bust the cloud before we followed her. Once in the corridor, I flapped over to Facet and settled into step next to her. “Facet, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, what bothers you?”

“Why didn’t you raise any objections to Clarity coming with us?” I asked.

She looked surprised before laughing easily. “Directly to the point, aren’t you?” She sighed. “Because it’s her place to decide, really. It’s hard to say that as a mother, but true. If she wants to go with you, who am I to stop her? Besides, if she can help the Empire, then any heartache on my part is worth it.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn’t. Something flitted across my mind’s eye, something…fuzzy. I tried to focus on it, it must have been a part of that dream I couldn’t remember. But why was it resurfacing now? Was it something Facet said? Besides, if she can help the Empire, then any heartache on my part is worth it. I closed my eyes, trying to put her words to the dream. Something started to focus in. Colors, pink, red, white, gray…

“Sleet Gray?”

I jolted, opening my eyes. “I, wait, what?” Everypony was a few steps ahead, looking back at me quizzically.

“You feeling alright, Gray?” Jackpot asked.

I was blushing again. Damnit, I’d just stopped with my eyes closed and mouth open like an idiot! “Nothing.” I said firmly, cantering forward a bit too quickly and stiffly to be natural. “Nothing, just a dream, and stupid dream. Can’t remember it, shouldn’t worry about it.”

Facet smiled easily. “It’s alright. Though you should keep a clear mind. You can hardly save us all when you’re caught up in dreams!”

As we traversed the cave, I realized something. I had never actually seen the entrance to the complex. There was only the chimney we had come in through. “So, where exactly are we going?” I asked. “Not down that hole again, I hope.” Even if the water had drained out, the tunnels were probably completely blocked off by stone at this point.

“No, that was actually an emergency exit.” Facet explained. “Which means that a few of our scouts were a bit cross with you for destroying it.” I started to apologize, but she held up a hoof. “It’s not trouble. Two hundred years of paranoia has ensured that every hideout has multiple exits. Being down one is inconvenient, but not horrible. The true entrance to the cave is hidden in much the same way the Confession Chamber is.” She stopped in front of a large, blank wall. “Right here.”

I reached up and pressed a hoof to the stone, expecting it to phase through. But it didn’t, instead rapping against the rock like normal. “Is there a passcode or something?”

“Not quite, it takes a spell only Confessors know to activate.” With that, her horn lit up. An arch of symbols suddenly glowed from the stone in a variety of colors, defining the doorway. The growing buzz of magic made my feathers stand on end as the stone inside the arch wavered and lost its color. In under a minute, the rock had become little more than gray fog. “Now, the path is open.”

I reached up again, and this time my hoof pushed into the fog. However, there was still some resistance. The fog was dense enough to practically be water, I made a small grunt of effort as I pushed my way through it. Colorlessness surrounded me completely and pressed down heavily. It was like being crushed underneath a large pillow. The experience felt like it lasted ten minutes though it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds when I broke out on the other side.

I stumbled forward, the sudden lack of resistance knocking off my balance. I had exited into an antechamber of sorts, a relatively tall, if thin tunnel filled with flickering torch light. A number of people, both crystal pony and buffalo, crowded in the chamber, bustling about as they prepped for the journey. Though what caught my attention the most was the storm.

The exit was some fifty feet away, and almost completely obfuscated by white. The raging blizzard of the Frozen North. Something about it entranced me. I felt myself walking towards it in a daze. I stopped just short of entering the storm, watching it rage in front of me. The bracing cold bit at my exposed flesh, but I didn’t care. No matter how harsh it was, it was open air, something I had severely missed in the cave. On a whim, I reached out with my talent, trying to touch the storm.

Immediately I recoiled, both physically metaphysically. It was akin to putting my hoof to the spinning blades of a massive engine. If I tried to stop it myself, I’d be torn to shreds.

“Can you hear it?” A voice asked. I turned to see a small buffalo, skinny with youth, standing next to me. “Can you hear the storm’s voice?”

“You mean the wind?” I asked. Because I certainly could. The vicious howling was like an angry dragon.

The little buffalo shook his head. “No, I mean its voice. Can you hear it? Screaming out?”

“I’m not sure what you mean…”

“Everything has a voice, and the storm has the loudest voice in the whole North. At least, that’s what Uncle tells me.”

“Drifting Snows.” A deep voice interjected. Chief Misting Ice approached us, pretending to look stern. “Are you bothering this young pony?”

“No, Uncle.” Drifting Snows said. “I was just asking if she could hear its voice. She was acting like she could.”

“Hmmm.” He rubbed his chin, eyes closed in thought. After a second, he opened them, regarding me intensely. “Well, Sleet Gray?” He asked. “Do you hear it?”

It felt like he was trying to stare through my skin and bones into something more essential. It was like when Coming Storm looked at me, an assurance he was seeing more than normal eyes could ever show. “I…don’t know. What do you mean ‘voice’?”

He chuckled easily. “What my nephew said was true. All things do have a voice.” The Chief strode forward, stepping just outside the cave. Even so close he was hard to make out, like a smaller, less belligerent yeti. “What matters,” he said over the storm, still perfectly audible, “is whether or not you can listen,” he adjusted he stance, centering himself “and speak back!”

Raising a forehoof, he brought it down with a sharp cry. In an instant, the blizzard around him halted. I gasped, stumbling back a few steps. The sudden calm was like a deafening silence on my weather senses. A complete peace, tranquility like I’d never experienced. “What…” The power of it was tremendous, omnipresent, and terrifying. “What did you do?”

“I asked the storm to cease, and it listened to me.” He gestured that I follow him. “Come with me. I’ll lead you to our camp. Your friends will be able to follow behind, and the monsters will not find us.” He began striding through the snow, the aura of calm following him. “There is someone you must meet.”
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Friends and Enemies

View Online

Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 15: Friends and Enemies
“You and me, we’re jolly Undead outcasts ain’t we?”

My hooves crunched through the snow as I followed behind Chief Misting Ice. All around us swirled the endless blizzard, but not a flake fell on our heads. The bubble of perfect calm dutifully followed the old buffalo and he lead the way. It had been several minutes since we left the crystal hideout, and I was still reeling at the display of absolute power. The memories of hanging limp and useless between my friends after I tried the same thing were still vivid. “I sense your confusion, Sleet Gray.” The buffalo said. “What troubles you?”

“I’m…” I could barely take my eyes off the dome of calm, but managed to look at him. “I’m still just shocked that you are managing this. When I woke up this morning I didn’t even know buffalo existed, let alone that you had magic. Now you casually perform a feat that nearly killed me to even attempt.”

Misting Ice nodded. “You are strong, young pegasus, but…” He stopped speaking when I started snickering. “Did I say something amusing?”

I coughed and forced the sardonic smile from my face. “No, it’s just, I’m not strong. Not at all. You are though, incredibly so, and to hear you call me as such was…” He had stopped walking, which I didn’t notice until I bumped into him. Looking up, I took an unconscious step back at his loaded gaze. “It was…darkly humorous.” I finished lamely.

I couldn’t puzzle out what he was looking at me for. Was it anger? Disappointment? Pity? No, I knew what those looked like, this was something else. Something inquisitive. “And why do you think you aren’t strong?” He asked, starting to walk again.

Following behind, I answered. “I’ve always been weak, physically. I can’t throw a punch, I can’t run without wanting to die from exhaustion, and I can’t fly quickly. All I’ve ever had going for me was being clever, and sometimes I even question that.”

“Strength is more than the force in one’s arm and the weight they can carry on their back, Sleet Gray. You say you attempted to calm the blizzard, what were the results?”

“I managed to stop it from snowing in about a five foot radius, but I couldn’t move. Trying to take a step and bring the calm with me broke something in my head. My nose started bleeding and I collapsed.” I shook my head. “I was unable to even get on my own hooves for the longest time after that. My friends had to carry me.”

“You ceased the storm?” He ask, sounding shocked.

“Yes,” I said, confused “isn’t that what you did?”

“Touch our little bubble, where calm ends and storm begins.” He instructed. I did so, and was nearly blow off my hooves by the force. “What the Hell?” I yipped, forgetting politeness as I jumped backwards.

What was keeping the storm off of us was an incredibly fast moving barrier of wind. Touching it had nearly shorn off my fetlock it was so intense. “To calm the storm even in a small area would be far beyond my abilities. Instead, I beseeched the spirits to shield us with the winds, both to ward off the storm and hinder the sight of the beasts that stalk the snow.”

Of course, now that I thought about it what he was saying may perfect sense. Rather than force the fire to die down for you, wear an asbestos suit. I sighed, feeling like an idiot. “Leave it to me to do things the hard way.”

“Hard, yes. But the fact that you performed even slightly is impressive. Perhaps you could show me?”

“If I did I’d be nearly crippled by the strain!” I protested. “In the best case scenario you’d have to carry me to this meeting. Worst…” I shuddered, not even wanting to think about worst.

“I have faith that your fears will not come to pass.” Misting Ice said easily. “I sense great strength in you, Sleet Gray, but if you never test that strength you will never realize it.”

I looked up at the storm raging outside the little bubble and swallowed hard. “Alright…alright I’ll give it a shot.”

Misting Ice raised his hoof and stomped, the bubble popping with it. Immediately the roar of the storm consumed us and I lost sight of the great white buffalo. Panic gripped my heart at how quickly I was left alone, but I forced myself to calm down. Spreading my wings, I closed my eyes and reached out with my talent. The great raging turbine of the storm hovered over me like a terrible beast. My spirit quailed at how tiny I was compared to it, but I knew now wasn’t the time to back down.

I decided I’d try a new approach in my effort to calm the storm. Last time I tried to force it to spread its energy thin so as to calm the area directly above me. Now I was going to try something similar to what Misting Ice had done. I was going to metaphysically “cordon off” where we were standing. Theoretically, it would cut off a circle of the storm from whatever “battery” was keeping it going. It would be like pulling a burning log out of a bonfire and leaving in to go out by itself. The rest of the bonfire would burn, but that log would be used up.

Gently flapping my wings, I mentally drew a five-foot wide circle around myself and sealed it tight. Pouring energy through my wings, I felt the storm resist my efforts. The circle was battered relentlessly, both inside and out as the storm tried to break free. It was a tremendous effort to keep the circle secure, barely five seconds had passed before sweat started running down my forehead. Ten before my skull felt like splitting open.

Still, I could feel it working. The storm within the circle was slowing, losing its power just as I planned. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Every muscle in my body was wire-tight and shaking as I slowly looked up. Snowflakes fell gently on my upturned face, burning cold as they felt on my feverish head. “There…I…did it…” I grunted through my clenched teeth. “Now…remake…your spell…I can’t…hold it…”

Misting Ice stomped his hoof and I felt the wind suddenly shift. The battering on my circle of calm abated as the storm was pushed physically away from it. Still, I could maintain it no longer, and screamed as the spell shattered. I flopped onto my side, wings and legs splayed at crazy angles as I gasped for breath. I buried my face in the snow, desperate to cool off. I felt like I was just waking up from radiation poisoning again, overheated, clammy, and barely whole.

The snow crunched as Misting Ice walked over to me. Painfully, I managed to lift my head and stare at him. “See?” I wheezed. “Nothing.”

“No,” he said “I do not see.” He offered a hoof, which I took, groaning as I stood. “What you just did was exceptional for one of your race. To have such fine control over the weather without having to touch a cloud. I have never heard of such a thing.”

My legs wobbled underneath me, but I managed to stand. Touching a wingtip to my temple in a vain attempt to ease the headache, I said. “Fat lot of good it ended up doing. I couldn’t even maintain it.”

The great buffalo rumbled in thought before setting off again. “Come, I will tell you a story while we walk.”

*****

“In the time before the War, the Tribe Hidden in the Ice went by a different name. We were Esat-Tsanh Tkin, the Frozen Listeners. Back then, we did not often speak with the spirits, choosing instead to listen, and follow the paths they whispered. We lived in harmony with the land, and though it was difficult to survive, the spirits never led us astray. Even when the War began, and the violence of pony and zebra began to tear the land, we remained unaffected. We believed that, being so far from any conflict, we would be safe.

“We were mistaken.

“Leading the tribe was a council of thirteen shaman. All of them members of a proud lineage with deep connections to the spirits. They were the ones who listened, and who lead us on our never ending journey in the North. Through them, we heard stories of the plight of other lands. The Heartland, turned into an industrial machine. The Zebra Plains, peppered with bodies that rotted under the sun. The sea and skies between the two, choked by the byproducts of hate and fear.

“We heard these tales and arrogantly believed ourselves separated, that when the Final Day came, we were unprepared. The Thirteen were simultaneously awoken one night by terrible visions of the world devoured in flames. Many did not want to believe such a thing was possible, but the spirits had never been wrong before. Panic began to spread through the tribe as the End came swiftly upon us. Desperate to save themselves and their people, the Thirteen came to a rash decision.

“You see, the thing that had always separated how ponies and the buffalo interact with the world is that, were you demand, we ask. Ponies break the earth, bend sea and sky, and even reshape the stars to fit their liking. Buffalo coax with gentle words, and where we are ignored, we simply leave the place to itself. But on that day, as the fear of annihilation tainted our hearts and minds, we too demanded.

“The Thirteen came together and spoke as one, ordered protection from the spirits of the North. When the spirits didn’t listen, we ordered again, and again, and again, too scared to see reason. Eventually, as clouds of malefic fire began spreading all about the horizon, one spirit listened.

“A mighty Lord of Ice, a Primordial of terrifying strength, ripped forth from its home in a gale of ice and wind. The entirety of the tribe was struck blind by the magnificence of the Lord. So great was its power that the dread fires the Thirteen had been warned of dissipated before its howl. Though the lands to the South and the Crystal Empire were destroyed, the tundra we called home was safe.

“As quickly as it began, the End faded away. The world settled into ash, save the tribe’s home. The Thirteen made to thank the great Lord, but were shocked to find their voices could not reach its ears. The Lord continued to rage, the storm never abating. The Thirteen begged and pleaded, but they couldn’t be heard. The fires had ravaged the world, and the Lord could not find its way home.

“The Lord turned its anger on the ones that had trapped it here, cursing the tribe. Their fur, once brown as the earth below their hooves was bleached white, and they were forever damned to wander the storm. The tribe had thought themselves safe, separated from all the cares of the world.

“And they were never more right.”

*****

Misting Ice fell silent as he completed his story, looking at me as we walked. After a moment of contemplation, he spoke again. “Do you understand the fault of my ancestors?”

“They were arrogant.” I said, rubbing my chin with a wing. “They believed they could control forces that were beyond them.” I made a noise of exasperation, shaking my head. “But what does that have to do with me? I already know everything is beyond me!”

“That is the problem, Sleet Gray.” He said. “The Thirteen ignored their limitations and brashly tried to go beyond them. You do not even acknowledge the limitations you have, choosing to ignore them by calling yourself weak. You are the other side of their coin, and if you do not strive further, it will be your downfall.”

I had no easy response to that, instead choosing to walk in silence. Was I stronger than I thought? Of course not! How could I be? Sure I had taken on tasks that were beyond me, but I was relying on help from others far more competent than I to get them done. I was nothing more than a catalyst, something that brought the relevant pieces together and told them were to go. If I was still in the Enclave, I’d be the equivalent of a relay officer. Just cause I can tell ponies to do things doesn’t mean I can do so myself. How could this mighty buffalo think I was strong? How could anyone?

My musing was cut short as we came upon our destination. The buffalo camp was as ghostly as the beings that inhabited it. Encircled in a much larger bubble of calm than the one we carried with us, tents made of thick hide covered in white fur were painted with swirling symbols in a variety of colors. It was almost as if I’d stepped back in time and found myself in a field of flowers, the petals blowing all around me. “Wow…” I whispered, unable to say much else.

“We have survived in the blizzard for over two hundred years. Though our connection with the spirits has been weak, we know where to look for what we need.” Misting Ice explained, walking amidst the tents. I could just barely see other buffalo in the camp, bowing to their chief as he returned. “We make the tents from the hides of the beasts that stalk the snow, and paint them with plants carefully grown around the rare hot springs.”

“Hot springs? Then you’ve know Meltwater?”

“Indeed. We rarely enter the town itself, mostly we speak with Head-In-The-Clouds. She helps us grow herbs and food in exchange for what parts of the beasts we do not use.”

So that’s how Clouds was able to study the yeti. I thought. “Why do you call her that?”

Misting Ice chuckled light-heartedly. “She is a good pony, and brilliant, but her mind is as scattered as snowflakes in the wind. Only a few of us know your language, and that is the best way to translate hers to ours.” He stopped outside a relatively small tent and turned to me, all traces of levity gone from his face. “The one you must meet is in here. He asked me to send you in alone.” The giant buffalo stepped to the side of the tent’s entrance flap and nodded me in.

I had no idea who this person was, which bothered me. Usually if I had even the faintest idea of who I was going to talk to was, I could prepare what I was going to say. Right now though I was going in blind. “Did he mention what his name was?” I asked Misting Ice, only to find that somehow the giant had disappeared. Sighing, I squared my shoulders and stepped through the tent flap…

To find something flying at my face. Screaming, I leaped up to avoid the attack. Turning, I meant to fly through the flap and escape, but with a rush of wings my assailant got in front of me and shoved me away. Landing heavily, I tried to call for help. “Misting Ice! Hel-“ I was cut off as my attacker landed, dropping his weight onto my stomach and knocking the air out of me. Gasping for breath, I finally got a good look at him towering above me. He was made of two creatures, part bird and part cat, and was currently raising a talon above me. “Ar…Arterial…” I gasped, recognizing the tawny feathered griffon.

He grabbed my head with his talons, digging painfully into my scalp. “Hello again, Sleet Gray.” He growled, twisting my head to the side. He pressed his free talon against the throbbing artery in my neck. “Remember what I said as you were leaving?”

If you fail, or have tricked me, I will find you. “What are you talking about?” I asked hurriedly. “What have I done?” I gasped in pain as he slid his talon across my neck just hard enough to hurt. I could feel blood leaking out from the cut.

“Don’t fucking lie to me, Sleet Gray.” He growled. “You know what happened.”

“No! I don’t! I really don’t!” Goddesses how the Hell did this happen? Did Misting Ice not know? Did the “spirits” not warm him the fucking homicidal griffon wanted to kill me? “What are you even doing here?” I asked.

“Looking for you, obviously.” He said. “And what do you know? It worked.”

I swallowed and felt his talon ride on my throat. “You still haven’t told me what I’ve done.”

He was silent for a second. Then, I felt his weight leave me. He appeared just as quickly before me, glaring into my eyes. His talon never left my throat. “You’re a good liar Sleet Gray. I should have noticed that when you tricked me, should have let my brother rip your head off and hang it from the ceiling with your guts. Oh well…” His talons dug into my neck, positioned to tear out my esophagus. “Better late than…”

He never finished his sentence, because that was when the screaming outside started. Both Arterial and I froze in shock and traded glances, wondering what the Hell was going down. We received an answer when a mechanically-amplified voice called out, “COME OUT GRIFFON! WE KNOW YOU’RE HERE! FACE YOUR DEATH WITH SOME PRIDE, OR DO YOU WANT US TO KILL ALL THESE DIRT ROLLING SAVAGES UNTIL WE FIND YOU?”

Enclave. “Fuck…” I whispered, eyes wide with fear. “I’m dead.” I said dully, unable to blink. “Dead. Even if I survive you they’ll string me up. I have no way out…”

“Yeah, because you had nothing to do with them finding me.” Arterial growled.

“YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS, GRIFFON!”

“I didn’t you fucking idiot.” I said, still unable to speak in more than a terrified whisper. I think I looked at Arterial, but I wasn’t seeing much. “Don’t you see? Don’t you fucking see? I have nothing. No way of contacting them. How could I have told them you’re here?”

“TWENTY!”

“Fine, then prove it to me.” He said, hauling me to my hooves. “Take them down.”

“What?” I snapped before covering my mouth with a hoof. “Are you fucking crazy?” I hissed. “I can’t fight an Enclave hunting party!”

“Then I guess I have no choice but to use you as a hostage.” He said, grabbing me by my greatcoat’s collar. “Surely they won’t shoot me through one of their double agents.”

“No! No! No!” I stammered. “Fine! I’ll do it! Somehow, Celestia damn me, I’ll do it!” He let me go right as the Enclave soldier outside yelled again.

“TEN!” The crack of plasma fire was accompanied by a scream of pain. “WOOPS, TRIGGER SLIPPED! BETTER HURRY!”

I ground my teeth, hurriedly forming a plan. Despite being outnumbered and massively outgunned, I did have one thing going for me. While I couldn’t stop the storm, I could definitely work with it. Cantering to the back of the tent, I managed to force myself under it as the soldier counted down. “NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN…”

Finally back outside the tent, I closed my eyes, and spread my wings. “Sorry Misting Ice, gotta make things a little loud.” With a few quick flaps, I had a sizable flurry of snow blowing around me. Vaguely, I could feel the storm outside the bubble react to it, fighting harder to get in.
“SIX, FIVE, FOUR…”

“Oh shut up you pompous, cloud headed idiot!” I screamed, taking to the air as fast as I could go. Zipping around the tent, I dragged the flurry of snow behind me and quickly scanned the situation.
Five soldiers, all in power armor, stood in a circle with their backs to each other. Their weapons were pointed out at the buffalo who formed a rough ring of agitation around them. One female was desperately attending to a warrior with a hideous burn mark along his shoulder. The loud mouth with the megaphone in his helmet looked up at me, and I swear to the Goddesses I saw his eyes widen behind his lenses. “IT’S GRAY! TAKE HER DOWN, TAKE HER-“

His order was cut off and I directed the flurry right on their heads, driving snow into the group. I knew blind or no they had E.F.S. to track me, so I flew up instead of sideways to throw off the system. As I predicted, the hail of retaliatory plasma fire burned under me instead of into me. Stopping my flight for just a second, I free fell in order to concentrate and tighten the flurry on them.

Now, this trick would have gone fine for a skilled pegasus. Unfortunately, I am not one. Sure enough I was able to increase the snowstorm’s power and hold them down longer, but rather than gracefully regain my flight, I crashed into the ground. Desperately, I rolled to the side, praying I wouldn’t be disintegrated before I could get off the ground again.

I was, surprisingly, in luck. Loud Mouth ordered them to break the flurry while he fired on my position. The significant reduction in deathly plasma made my haphazard dodge much more effective. This came at the cost of my little flurry being dissipated by the collective efforts of the soldier. Now, though, I could see them and aim.

In my roll, I managed to pull out Black Powder. Lining up my sights, I fired as fast as my tongue would go. A few shots struck home, charring armor and even starting a few fires. Using the distraction, I kicked off the ground in another flurry of snow, doing everything in my power to throw off their aim.

“GET IN THE AIR! SURROUND HER!” Loud Mouth ordered, making my blood run cold. I had a better chance of seeing Celestia pole dance than outfly five trained Enclave soldiers. What I could conjure wasn’t enough to stop them, so I needed to add something bigger.

I flew straight up towards the “roof” of the calm. The swirling snow and ice outside was being stonewalled by the invisible wall of air. A spell of this size would be delicate, extremely so. Frankly, it was amazing the Enclave soldiers hadn’t broken it when they came into the camp. Probably because they didn’t want to.

Well, I did. When I reached the apex of the bubble, I twisted myself so I could thrust my wings through the wind wall. Mentally, I screamed one word, pouring all the energy I could into it. STOP!
The bubble popped and in came the blizzard.

Only because I was expecting was I able to brace myself against it and stay even. The Enclave soldiers had no such forewarning. The five figures were scattered like leaves in a twister. I only saw what happened to them because their matte black armor stood out against the white.

Two of them crashed together at high speed, their limbs tangling like string. Another plowed headfirst into the ground, his neck taking a decidedly unnatural angle. One more flew through a tent, knocking it down and twisting in the hide and rope. The last one was sent flying right at me.

Loud Mouth slammed into me, knocking both of us out of the sky. We landed heavily in the snow, falling apart on impact. “YOU…YOU BITCH…” He still had his megaphone on, amplifying his insults as he staggered upright. “I’LL TURN IN YOUR HEAD MYSELF!”

“I don’t think my brother would appreciate that.” I said, pumping my wings. Hovering upright, I drew the storm around us, turning everything white.

“WHERE ARE YOU?!” He bellowed, his voice tinny in the raging storm.

“What’s the matter? E.F.S. not working out for you?” I needed him mad. Mad was predictable. I allowed myself to be taken by the storm, blown hither and tither on winds of my making.

“MONSTER! FREAK! MURDERER! TRAITOR!” He kept screaming into the wind, randomly firing his plasma weapons.

Bolts of deadly green energy barely missed me, sending my heart into overdrive. I was in a winning position, but all he needed was one lucky shot. All I needed was a little more time, and a much colder storm. “B-B-BITCH….CCccCCcuntt…” His words were slurring, becoming stuttered as hypothermia set in. The bolts of plasma became more infrequent as I sapped his heat. Finally, they stopped altogether, and all I could hear was his ragged breathing.

Halting the onslaught, I had to suppress a relieved sigh as the strain of focusing the storm left me. Dropping to my hooves, I took up Black Powder in my mouth and strode towards the shivering, defeated soldier. “You lose.” I managed to say coherently around the gun grip, firing several times into his chest.

There was an audible CRACK as his chest plate shattered from the extreme heat change. The broken pieces dropped into the snow as the following shots burned holes into him. For a second, he swayed on the spot and I thought, crazily, that I had warmed him enough to attack. Then, he dropped down, dead.

I stood there, taking deep, cold breaths to try and calm the rising feeling in my chest. I failed to do so, and dropped Black Powder as I stumbled a few steps off to the side and vomited. My head felt clogged with a strange mix of excitement, disgust, weariness, and exultation. I was simultaneously thrilled I had triumphed in my encounter, and abhorred by what I had to do. Of all the things I’d done in the Wasteland, Loud Mouth was the first nonpsychotic pony I’d intentionally had a direct hoof in killing.

Part of me was amazed it took this long.

After taking a moment to compose myself, I took a bite of fresh snow, let it melt in my mouth, swirled and spat. I repeated the process several times until the taste of sick was gone from my tongue, either that or it was too numb to notice. By the time I was making my way back towards the gathered buffalo, the storm was receding again. My skull felt like powder; I needed to keep my wings pressed to the sides of it just so it didn’t feel like my brain was running out my ears.

As I stepped into the camp I came to the two soldiers who had collided. Their helmets had been torn off and their throats opened, splattering the white snow with red. Looking for the collapsed tent, I saw Arterial standing on his hindlegs as he hoisted the unconscious soldier by her scalp. The griffon dug his talons into her exposed throat and yanked. There was a sickening squelch as her neck was hollowed out.

I went over to him as he tossed the body down, trying not to gag on the smell of blood. “I thought you wanted me to kill them.” I said.

“I said ‘take them down’. You did that. Are you mad I stole your kill?” He held up the removed trachea and squeezed, blood running through his talons. I shook my head, swallowing hard. “I trust you removed the one who crashed into you?”

“Body is over there.” I said quickly, jerking my head in the general direction.

Arterial spread his wings and flapped away, still not trusting me. My eyes kept drifting to the corpse of the soldier, blood seeping into the hide of the tent. My stomach churned again and I had to turn away. “Damnit.”

Arterial was back almost immediately. He didn’t have the torn out throat with him anymore, I didn’t want to think why. “Well, look who stepped up.” My eyes stayed firmly locked on the snow, trying to lose myself in the white. “Hey.” He placed a talon under my chin and made me look up at him. “Cheer up now. You proved yourself to not be a dirty traitor. Now you won’t join these bastards. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“I didn’t want any of this.” I said firmly. “I do what I have to. If the Enclave want to destroy everything and I have to kill to stop them, I will.”

“Same thing.” He said, shrugging. “You want to save the world, so you have to kill. You just cut to the chase.” He snickered at my glare. “I’m not damning you for it. That’s a good way to think if you want to get anything done.” We both looked up at the sound of crunching snow. Misting Ice was approaching. “Guess you were right, Chief.” Arterial said. “She really isn’t my enemy.”

“Wait.” I said firmly, feeling my anger rise. I turned to Misting Ice and gave him my best withering glare, which was ultimately ineffective. “You knew? You knew he was going to try and kill me? You knew and didn’t warn me?”

He answered my question with another. “Did you need the warning?” I took a mental step back, shocked.

“Bu- Wh- OF COURSE! A bloodthirsty freaking griffon wanted to tear my throat out! How was I supposed to survive NOT KNOWING?!”

“But you did.” He said simply. “Otherwise you would not be here to be angry about it.”

“I….I…” My left eyelid spasmed.

“If it lessens your anger, know that I did my best to convince him he was mistaken. However, he would not be turned.”

“Not a day after I set her free so she could make the Enclave ‘burn’, they breach our mountain and start killing!” Arterial interjected, gnashing his beak angrily. “Forgive me for being just a little convinced I’d been tricked!”

“Wait,” what he said gave me something to focus on other than being angry. “The Enclave breached Talon?”

“Yes.” He said, voice low and dark. “I’m still not sure how, but they blew a sizable hole in the peak and started pouring down plasma on us. If I hadn’t been gathering supporters for that ill-advised little rebellion you made me start, I might have been the only one to get out.”

“I did not make you start anything! That would have been a seamless escape without any blame on you if your brother hadn’t interfered!” I said indignantly.

“Now we’re scattered all over the Wasteland, the ones that are alive anyway.” He continued, heedless of my interruption. “I don’t know if my family made it out or not, but I don’t think I’d want to find them anyway.”

“Ugh…” I sat in the snow and pressed my hooves against my forehead. “Great…more problems…”

“Like the dwellers above the clouds.” Misting Ice said, looking at the corpse of the soldier.

“Yeah…look I…” I had nothing, no excuse or white lie out. Maybe if my brain wasn’t such mush I could have come up with something, but I had no such luxury. Instead, I tried a tactic I hadn’t in a while, honesty. “I…lied about that. I apologize.”

“Do not be regretful. I knew from the moment I saw you that your origins came from above.”

I looked up at him disbelievingly. “How? How the Hell could you have possibly know? Other than, you know,” I spread my wings “these?”

“When Arterial came to us, I sensed his mission for vengeance. I eventually got him to tell me who he sought, and after learning about you, I consulted with the spirits…”

“Of course you did…” I muttered.

“Excuse me?” He asked.

I twitched. And of course he heard that! Oh well, honesty. “Look, I mean no disrespect when I say this, but I don’t exactly buy all this spirit business.” Misting Ice tilted his head, confused. “The Enclave aren’t a very spiritual people. We survived because of science and that’s what we trust. Even if I reject being a part of them, I was still raised by them.” I looked up at the clouds, formulating my next few words carefully. “I understand that you have magic, and magic I accept. Magic has rules, it can be understood. Spirits, though?” I shook my head. “From the way you’ve been talking, it sounds like the wind has thought.”

Rather than being offended, the giant buffalo merely laughed. “Well, yes, it does!”

I blinked once. “Huh?”

“Perhaps not to the knowledge of your science, but all things in this world have thought. The spirits are manifestations of the natural world, the ‘souls’ of the land, so to speak. Those souls have their own thoughts and wants and desires.”

“But…Then what about all the scientific advancements of society? Do they all mean nothing if we could have just asked?”

“No. Your science is your own way of understanding the spirits and how the world works. You call them scientific laws, whom do you believe enforces those laws?”

My eye twitched again and I was getting a slight throbbing just under my skull. “But nopony has ever seen ANY evidence of these things! Surely there had to be somepony who saw something!”

“Those who do not wish to see something never will. Even when presented with the most overwhelming evidence they will staunchly refuse to acknowledge that which they do not understand.”

I screamed in frustration and clutched my head in my hooves. “You surface people make no sense…”

Misting Ice merely laughed. “Tell me, how did you break the bubble of calm?”

“I used my magic to make it, that’s what I do!” I practically yelled. Pulling my greatcoat aside, I jabbed a hoof at my Cutie Mark. “That’s what this useless piece of shit says! I needed it to stop so I made it stop!”

The chief shook his head, still smiling. “You are a strange one. How about you try again, but this time ask instead of demand.”

I made a noise half way between a sigh and a growl, pulling myself to my hooves. “Oh fine! I’ll give it a shot. What do I do?”

“What you always do, only instead of demanding, ask.”

“Right, cause this’ll work.” I murmured sarcastically. Nevertheless I spread my wings and closed my eyes. I decided to try and make the bubble this time, maybe then I wouldn’t break myself in half (metaphysically). Alright ‘spirits’, I guess, help me out here. I thought, reaching out with a small amount of power. Can you…I don’t know…do the thing you do for Misting Ice? The air bubble thingy? Please?

I stood there, feeling like an utter fool for the longest time. A minute passed and I asked again. Another minute, another ask, still nothing. Oh come on! I’m asking nicely! Isn’t that what you want?
I felt a little gust of wind on my face. Snapping my eyes open, I saw a few flurries of snow whipping around my hooves in the rough shape of a circle. It was nothing more than that though. “Alright, who’s fucking with me?” I said angrily. Misting Ice and Arterial looked confused. I pointed to the little circle. “This is hardly what I was ‘asking’ for! I could do ten times as more in a quarter of the time if I just did it normally!”

“No one is creating that other than you and the spirits you asked for aid.” Misting Ice said with utter confidence. “For one who has never before trained in shamanism, this is quite impressive. You show great potential, Sleet Gray.”

There he went again, describing me in ways that weren’t true. “Yeah, whatever you say.” I said dully, sitting down again and rubbing my head.

The chief laid a hoof on my shoulder. “Give it time, Sleet Gray. You will know your true strength, one day.” He turned and started walking away. “Now, please excuse me. I must see to my people and aid the injured. Your friends will arrive soon.”

After he left, Arterial turned to me. “So, what’s the plan?”

I blinked, confused. “Plan, what do you mean ‘plan’?”

“To deal with the Enclave? What are you going to do?” I thought about how best to explain it, and started laughing. “What? What’s so funny?” I was laughing harder and harder, until I finally fell on my back and started rolling in the snow. “Gray, I’m being serious here! What’s your plan?”

I wiped away tears and managed to gasp out words. “O-oh (hehehe) you know…nothing special. Just gonna betray a stupid powerful evil shadow pony with a fucking (hahaha!) army at his command! Then (hehehe) I’m going to just fire up an ancient kingdom that’s been cooking in rads for two hundred years and use the light it generates to change the Enclave’s mind en masse! No big deal!” I heaved a huge sigh and let my laughter peter out. Having him ask had made me think about what I was doing for the first time. I wasn’t lying to convince someone to help me or flying by the seat of my flank just to survive, I had to explain it. And explaining it made me see just how ridiculous it was, and how utterly screwed I was. “Oh holy shit I’m so fucked...” I watched the sky above for a few minutes while Arterial contemplated what I said. “So, why do you ask?”

“Because I’d like to know what I’m getting into. And while I don’t like it, I’ll still do it.”

I raised my head up to stare at him, snow falling from my mane. “What?” I asked flatly.

“I’m joining you.” He answered equally flatly. “I have no home to return to. Working with you is the best way to rectify that, or at least get some revenge.”

“No.” I said. “No, no, no, no!” As I repeated myself, I rolled onto my stomach and raised up on my forelegs. “Enough people are risking their lives for me, even just tangentially! I have a hard time sleeping at night thinking about those who directly get into harm’s way on my account! I’m not adding another to that list!”

“Well that’s just too bad.” He said, walking towards one of the tents. “C’mon. We’ll draw up a contract while we wait for the buffalo to get moving. This cold it killing me.”

I watched him for a second before my legs gave out and I collapsed face first into the snow.

“Fuck.”
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Footnote: EXP gained!
Quest perk: Buffalo Shaman (Rank 1). You’ve received basic instructions in how to talk to the spirits of the world and get their help. Reduces the strain and power usage of weather-manipulating spells by 10%. This perk and Zebra Witch Doctor are mutually exclusive

Old Voices

View Online

Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 16: Old Voices
“Do you hear them calling?”

It didn’t take long for Scout, Clarity, and Jackpot to join us. The initial shock of seeing Arterial was quickly overshadowed by opposition when it was explained how we knew each other. “Sleet, can we talk?” Scout said. I had to hold in a frustrated sigh, I knew something like this was coming.

“One minute.” I told Arterial, getting up from the mat we had been sitting on when the others arrived.

The tawny griffon nodded and turned to talk with Jackpot. Scout, Clarity and I stepped outside so we couldn’t be heard. “Sleet, what the fuck are you doing?” Scout hissed before the tent flap had even closed.

“Making the best of a shitty situation.” I shot back. I was annoyed, really freaking annoyed, and wasn’t in the mood for anything Scout had to say. “I didn’t come here expecting my freaking jailer to show up, or that he would want to join this stupid little mission!”

“So you are just taking him on his word that he won’t take your head off?”

“You know what? Yeah! I am! Because what choice do I have?”

“We sneak away in Meltwater, leave him behind.”

“He already found me once, he can do it again!” I countered.

“So what do we do then? Wait until we’re out of the blizzard and have him kill us or capture you again?”

I kneaded my forehead with a hoof, trying to ease the throbbing just under my skull. “He won’t do that.”

“Why not? Because he’s been so trustworthy in the past?”

“Yes! He has been! He freed me, defying direct orders from his mother and flock leader!” I slammed my hoof down, gritting my teeth. “Damnit Scout, think about this! What does him lying accomplish? He is branded as a traitor by his own people! Even if he made up that story about his home being destroyed, what does bringing me back do for him? It won’t garner favor! It’ll just make his execution a little less painful!” I hung my head, exhausted. “Why can’t you just fucking trust me on this?”

“Sleet.” Clarity said gently. “Are you okay?”

I took a few deep breaths before lying. “Yes.”

“No you aren’t. You’re holding yourself strangely and had a limp when you walked.” Her horn lit up and she started undoing the buttons on my greatcoat. “Let me look.”

Sighing, I pulled off the coat and noticed just how beat up I looked. Practically my entire right side was a mess of bruises and my clear, mutant feathers were bent and twisted. “I…might have had a bad crash…”

“No kidding. What happened?” She asked as she fished out a healing potion and worked her magic on it.

“The reason why I believe Arterial’s story. A small squad of Enclave soldiers tailed him here and started shooting buffalo. I brought in the blizzard to get an advantage, but it threw the squad leader so off course he knocked me out of the sky.” I gratefully accepted the potion and drank, feeling a tingling sensation run under my skin as the magic set to work. “The whole squad is dead, and I don’t think they managed to send out a distress beacon before being wiped out. The military won’t know I’m here.”

“Well, that’s some good news, I suppose.” Clarity said. “So, you believe the griffon when he says he will work with us?”

“Given what I know of him and his race, yes.” I said, thankful that she had calmed the situation. “Griffons are pragmatic, they only want what’s best for them and their kind. Arterial wouldn’t even consider working with me if it wasn’t the best option he had.”

“Sounds right to me.” Clarity said, smiling as she stood. As she reentered the tent, Scout shook his head, muttering something about “magic eyes” and “stupid plans”.

I pulled my greatcoat back on stiffly, the healing bruises still restricted my movement. Scout was also making to head back inside, but I stopped him with a tap on the shoulder. “Scout, please, I’m asking you to just work with me on this. I know you don’t like it, and he doesn’t either. He’s just doing what he has to.” Glancing out the corner of my eye to check the flap was closed tight, I leaned in and whispered, “And if I’m wrong, you do what you have to.”

I expected that to make him feel even a little better. Instead, Scout sighed, looking more tired than I think I’ve ever seen him. “How do you do this, Sleet? Work with people you know you can’t trust?”

I thought about it for a second before saying. “Because the one thing I am good at is reading people. It’s a lot harder to trick someone who knows what to look for.” I gave a small, humorless laugh. “It helps that I’m hardly threatening enough to betray.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Scout said.

I rolled my eyes, not him too! “C’mon Scout, you know me. I’m not worth killing randomly let alone betraying!”

“You keep saying that, but you’re a lot scarier than you think, Sleet.”

I gave Scout a look like he was crazy as he reentered the tent. “Me? Scary? How the Hell am I scary?” I muttered, following him.

*****

It didn’t take long after for the buffalo to begin their exodus. They declined any offers of help with the preparations, meaning all we could do was sit back and watch. Still, it was fascinating to observe the tribe in action. They dismantled and packed away the camp so efficiently that by the time we got moving I had a hard time remembering where everything had been. It truly was as if they were nothing more than ghosts in the storm.

Once the camp was cleared, everyone gathered around Misting Ice and several other shaman who were joined in chanting. With a simultaneous cry, they threw their hooves to the skies and the bubble of calm was erected around the group. On an unspoken command, the buffalo entered into a column marching formation with Misting Ice in the front and began moving.

My companions and I hung near the back, preferring to follow rather than to stumble around near the front. As the column moved, shaman patrolled along the length to maintain the barrier and offer aid to anyone in need. The healthiest of the tribe carried the camp on their backs near the front while the very old and the very young traveled lightly in the back. Among the young ones was Misting Ice’s nephew.

“Did Uncle tell you about the voices?” Drifting Snows asked me as we walked.

“Yeah he explained it to me.” I said, still not really believing it. I was convinced they were performing some kind of ritual magic. The idea wasn’t outlandish, it was how the zebras had worked their witchcraft during the War. Enough people gathered performing the proper rituals could manipulate the ambient magic of the world as effectively as any unicorn.

“So? Could you hear the voices? You were acting like you could.”

I sighed, my breath puffing in the cold. “No, I didn’t hear your ‘voices’.”

The little buffalo looked at me quizzically. “Really? Cause the way it looked…”

“Look,” I said, cutting him off “all this…” I wrestled for a word other than ‘mumbo jumbo’. “spiritualism isn’t something I get. I didn’t hear the ‘voice of the spirits’, I just heard the wind.”

We walked in silence for a bit before he spoke up again. “They sound different you know. Different from the way the elders talk about them. When they talk about how the spirits sounded when they were little they said they were angry. They wouldn’t listen to anything anyone said.”

“Then how can the shaman do all this?” I asked, gesturing to the swirling winds above us.

“Because they started listening again.” He said simply. “Do you know why Uncle is the Chief?” I shook my head. “The elders say that when he was born, the blizzard stopped blowing for three days. It was a sign from the spirits that they were ready to listen again.” He shook his head sadly. “They say the blizzard would have ended a hundred years ago if it weren’t for the Ice Lord. I guess the little spirits didn’t want to be ordered around by him anymore.”

“So they trade a dictator for a nicer boss?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, they don’t have to listen to us. Their spirits, they listen because they want to, not because we make them.”

Somehow this reminded me of Coming Storm and how Clarity described him. Power without direction. Maybe this was just the buffalo’s way of interpreting their magic. They were attuned to the unfettered power of nature and they give it direction through their works. That made a lot more sense to me than spirits. “So your Uncle is in charge because he’s the chosen one?”

“Well, yeah.” Drifting Snows said easily. “But he knows he can’t just boss the tribe around. Otherwise they wouldn’t respect him and nothing would get done!”

I snorted in amusement. If only the rest of the world was like that. Then I would have half as many problems.

The rest of the trip was in comparative silence. Every now and again conversation would spike up, but never for long. I got the feeling that despite the familiarity they had with the process, the buffalo still knew the danger of the blizzard. Even with the protection of the wind, the omnipresence of the yeti was felt by everyone.

My legs were starting to grow weary when the call came down the line to halt. I sighed in relief, sitting down in spite of the cold snow. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to all this walking…”

“C’mon, Sleet.” Scout said, nudging me with a hoof. “We’re near Meltwater, let’s get our payment.”

I groaned, standing. “Ugh, I don’t want to deal with him again…” I grumbled at the thought of seeing Knick Knack. I had only been awake for a few hours and already my day was shit. The last thing I wanted was to negotiate with that stickler; especially considering we needed to weasel a fourth suit for Arterial out of him now.

True to Scout’s word, the geysers marking the border of the town were only a few minutes’ walk away. The time was further extended as we took precautions to hide mine and Clarity’s appearances. Misting Ice led us there personally, saying that he needed to speak with Clouds anyway. We thanked the buffalo Chief for all that he did and made our way to the general store.

We arrived at the general store and found it in much the same state it was in when we left. Stacked high boxes made moving difficult and more than once we had to hurriedly grab a pillar about to fall. “Hello?” I called out as we wormed our way through.

“Yes! Yes! Hello! Customers, wonderful!” Knick Knack’s voice came from further though the forest of junk. The sound of him shuffling excitedly towards us increased right up to him rounding the corner. “Welcome! I…” It took a second, but when he recognized me his face dropped. “Oh, you. You’re back.”

“Yes, we are. Do you have our payment?” I asked, not caring for niceties.

“You’re not dead, so that’s a point in your favor.” Knick Knack said, narrowing his eyes. “But how do I know you killed them?”

“We have this.” Scout said, stepping forward and pulling out the yeti fang. “Maybe you can hang it outside as a sign.”

Knick Knack’s eyes went wide at the sight of the massive tooth. “That is…well I…” He gingerly took the tooth in his own hooves and turned it every which way. “Incredible!” I smiled, though it quickly froze when he resumed his skeptical look. “But impressive as this is, it only means you killed one! I thought you said you were going to get them all.”

“I don’t believe I ever strictly said ‘all’.” I countered, my left eyelid twitching. “I said we’d solve the problem. And I think we did. We personally slew just about half the nest. Some,” I paused, looking for the right words “unexpected reinforcements took down another three. By my calculations that leaves only about seven. Hardly enough to cover the massive area they used to hunt.”

“But that is still seven too many!” Knick Knack protested, stomping a hoof. “I still can’t get out shipments!”

“Yes you can.” I insisted. “Clouds’ heat-masking tarp worked. Combine the heavily reduced population with a means of evading them and they may as well not exist!”

“No, nonono!” He said, shaking his head. “That’s not good enough!”

I wanted to scream! It was like I was talking to Threads again! I was about to lay into him why he was being ridiculous when Jackpot brushed past me. Knick Knack barely had time to recoil before the ghoul’s rotting hoof collided with his jaw.

The shopkeeper was thrown off his hooves and smacked into a pile of boxes that collapsed on top of him. Fortunately for him, the boxes were full of clothes and not heavy enough to flatten him. “They did their job.” He growled, his undead voice sounding like Sombra’s. “They did more than enough. We all did. Plenty of those damn beasts are dead and the caverns are flooded.” He leaned in until he was practically nose-to-nose with Knick Knack. “One of mine died in there, and I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think of us. She was a person as much as any other smoothskin. Don’t insult her and me by skimping on your deal, got it?”

Knick Knack said nothing, only nodded rapidly, eyes wide. Extracting himself from the collapsed boxes, he scampered towards the back of the store. “And we’ll need one more.” I called after him. He turned, I assumed to protest, but stayed silent when I motioned to Arterial. The intimidating griffon had stayed mostly in the shadows until I pointed him out. “For him.” Knick Knack nodded and rushed off.

Once we was out of earshot, I turned to Jackpot. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, Gray.” He said sharply. “I never liked that slimy bastard. You just gave me a good excuse to do what I always wanted to.”

We stayed in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. Eventually, the shopkeeper stumbled back into sight, clumsily handling four of the suits. “I don’t have one in griffon…”

“That’s fine, we’ll handle that.” I said as Scout took the suits and put them in his seemingly-bottomless duffel bag. “Good luck with your trade. I said as we all turned to leave. “And thanks for the business.”

We exited the general store without another word. The next big step in the mission was to go to the Crystal Empire. Now that we had the suits, we could safely explore and make preparations for the betrayal. We couldn’t very well spring an effective trap if we didn’t clear the stage of mutant horrors first. However, I wanted to stop by Clouds’ lab, both to get Arterial’s suit modified for his griffon shape, mine for wings, and to get more Tarps.

Before we got there though, there was one more stop to make.

“I think this is where I get off this little ride.” Jackpot said in his gravelly voice as we passed by the entrance to his section of the bunker.

“Do you want us to come with you?” I asked, hoping I might salvage some good will with the ghoul team.

“No.” He answered immediately. “I don’t know how they’ll react to the news, but I know it won’t be logical. It’s probably best that you aren’t there to take any undue flak.”

“Alright.” I said, reaching out a hoof to him. “Goodbye Jackpot. And for what it’s worth…” I sighed, and hung my head. “I truly am sorry.”

He looked at my offered hoof for a second before turning away. “Goodbye, Gray. Good luck with whatever you do.” With that he walked away.

“Damnit.” I muttered, rubbing my head again. I could have sworn I was developing an aneurism.

“C’mon Sleet.” Scout said, laying a hoof on my shoulder. “There’s no helping this.”

“I know, but it still pisses me off.” I muttered, not sounding half as irritated as I felt. I was just so damn tired. “I just feel responsible for this. We could have gone straight to the Empire, but I made us take a detour that got somepony killed…”

“It’s over now though.” He said, ever practical. “We got what we wanted out of the detour, let’s move forward. No sense dwelling on if it was the right decision or not.”

I nodded and we got moving. Clarity knew the way to the super secluded bunker, and so ended up taking point while I was too busy not taking Scout’s advice. “How do you do it, Scout?” I asked him when the other two pulled ahead. “Just…not care?”

He gave me a scrutinizing look and said. “It’s not that I don’t care, Sleet. I just know how to put things aside until I have time for them.” He looked up to the warm rain of Meltwater, droplets soaking him mane. “Thing is, in the Wasteland, there’s almost never time.”

*****

“YOU’RE BACK!” Clouds yelled, tackling me with a hug.

I stumbled back a few steps, knocked off balance by the flying welcome. “Y-yes! We survived!” I assured her.

“I was so worried when you weren’t back for…like…DAYS!”

“It was a day, Sis!” Lights corrected her. The little headache had followed his sister to greet us.

“Even one day out hunting yeti is too much!” She said, finally letting me go. “So! How’d the Heat-Masking Thermo-Tarp work?”

“Oh, it worked perfectly!” I said. “There was only one problem though.”

“What’s that?” She asked.

“Size.” Scout, Clarity and I said simultaneously.

“Oh.” She laughed nervously. “Well, don’t worry. I’ve been hard at production and made a whole bunch of them in individual sizes!” She started leading us down the tunnel to the lab. “Do you still have my prototype?”

“See, that was the problem.” I said awkwardly, rubbing the back of my head with a hoof. “There was so much slack, a yeti stepped on it and tore it off us.” Having a broken rib didn’t help.

“Oh well.” Clouds said, pursing her lips in thought. “Kinda sucks I can’t get data off it, but it didn’t have recording devices on it anyway. Besides, prototypes are supposed to fail, that way you can fix them!”

We entered the main lab area and I couldn’t help but marvel again. So much tech in so small an area! It was beautiful! “I just hope you don’t lose too many of those suits.” She continued speaking. “Not just for your sake of remaining un-irradiated, but because I’d really like more than one sample!”

“Speaking of the suits.” I said, motioning to Scout to take two out. “Do you think you could modify two of them for us? One for these,” I extracted my wings “and one for him?”

Clouds looked confused for a second before she spotted Arterial and screamed. “Ah! When did you get here!?”

“I was here the whole time…” The griffon muttered.

“He was kind of an unexpected addition to the team.” I explained. “But he’s going to be joining us in that highly-irradiated zone we’re going to.”

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do. I’ve gotten really good at sewing recently!” She said, happily taking the suits in her magic. “Could you two come with me though? I’ll need measurements.” We agreed, following Clouds while Lights took over entertaining Scout and Clarity. I felt awful leaving them with him.

It didn’t take long to find Clouds’ sewing room, really just a supply closet of the bunker that had been stripped of its shelving and replaced with a table and ancient sewing machine and measuring tape. Stacked high in one corner were the silvery Tarps that would protect us from the yeti.

While Clouds did her work on Arterial, I took four tarps and set them aside for us to take. Clouds was attempting to make small talk with the griffon while she worked. “So, uh, what’s your name?”

“Arterial.” He responded flatly.

Clouds twitched. “O-oh. That’s interesting, how’d you get it? Your big heart?”

That was my joke. I thought, slightly annoyed as the griffon told the story. “My brother and I were pitted against each other at birth to decide our names. I slit his throat and got mine.”

Clouds froze, mouth moving silently for a second before shaking her head and working twice as fast. His measurements were done by the time I had set aside all the Tarps. “Alrighty! Got that taken care of! You’re free to go join the others now, I’ll let you know when it’s done!”

He clearly noticed her discomfort and found it funny. “Nah, I think I’ll stay. Don’t have much else to do after all.”

Her weird cardboard goggles slipped down her muzzle as her eyes widened. “N-no! That won’t be necessary! I mean, c’mon, it’s really boring! I mean, I still got to take Sleet’s measurements and then it’s just a whole lot of cutting and sewing and stuff. REAL boring! Maybe you could…hit the hay early?!”

“It’s the middle of the afternoon.”

“A nap then! Perfect timing! My little brother can show you the bunks…” She thought about that for a second. “Actually, I’m sure Scout knows. Go with him!”

The griffon snickered, grinning at me as he passed by. “Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea, Sleet Gray. I forget how funny you ponies can be.”

I shook my head, feeling exactly the opposite. “Alright, let’s get this done.” I said spreading my wings through the slits in my greatcoat.

Clouds stared at me for a second, looking like she completely blanked. After a second, she shook her head. “Um, what? Oh right! Your turn…uh…” She looked around nervously.

I furrowed my brow at her (moreso than normal) curious twitching. “Are you okay, Clouds?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! I was just thinking…um…maybe I could get your full measurements, not just the wings?”

“Why?” I asked, tilting my head. “The wings are all I need changed on the suit.”

“Well yeah, and I mean the suits are one size fits all and everything but I thought maybe I could fit it better to you and use more material from that so I don’t have to cut up any normal suits I have cause I mean you want sleeves for the wings right, can’t just be having them waving in the radiation or anything that’d suck!” She finally stopped her run-on sentence when she ran out of air.

Despite being a bit freaked out by her sudden enthusiasm, I saw the logic in what she said. The last thing I wanted was to expose my mutant wings to even more corrupting influence. “Alright, I’ll do it.” I said calmingly, undoing the clasps and removing my greatcoat.

Hanging it up on a nearby shelf, I couldn’t repress a shudder. I got so used to wearing the thing that now I felt completely exposed, not to mention cold. The artic chill seeped down even into the super secluded bunker.

Levitating a measuring tape, Clouds trotted a quick circle around me, muttering under her breath. I found myself unintentionally standing a military attention, knees locked, back flat, neck perfectly straight, eyes forward, wings at my side, and uncomfortable as all Hell. I wonder if Storm Kicker would be happy that I remembered this, though he’d probably just find some flaw in my stance.

Clouds finally stopped her little patrol, which I was thankful for. I couldn’t see her eyes behind her googles, which was weirding me out slightly. “I’m curious.” I began as she finally started the measuring. “Why do you wear those goggles underground?”

“O-oh these?” She stammered. “There are lots of different screens and readout and lights all over the bunker. Some of them aren’t good for your eyes if you look directly at them. I have rooms with them labeled so Lights doesn’t wander in and get blinded, but I just got so used to wearing them I never took them off, you know?”

There was still something…off about how she was talking. I couldn’t put my wingtip on it though. Was it nervousness? That didn’t make any sense, why would she be nervous now? Afraid? Maybe Scout’s right and I’m just that scary!

My thoughts had made me miss a bit of her continued rambling. “…just found some good UV filters and slapped ‘em on! No big deal really, hardly a massive invention you know? No need to get all flustered over it and…” It was at that point in her work that she brushed by my wings with her tape.

“Gah!” I jolted, twitching away from her.

“Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!” She apologized rapidly. “I’m sorry did that hurt or something?”

“No, not at all.” I said, severely regretting the gut action. “I just didn’t expect that.” Despite my reassurances she looked like she was beating herself up over it inside. Sighing, I decided to address the yeti in the room. “Clouds, are you okay? You’re acting odd.”

“Yeah totally fine!” She said way too quickly. She could see from the look on my face that I wasn’t buying it. “Really! Totally!” Still nothing. “I…uh…” The manic energy finally seemed to be leaking out of her. She sat down and shook her head. “It’s…nothing worth talking about.”

I sighed and put a friendly hoof on her shoulder. “Clouds, you are one of the few ponies I have zero doubts about being my friend.” I said with utter sincerity. She was the only one that I didn’t have a reason to lie to or who I thought would betray me. “And, admittedly I don’t know a lot about friendship, but I know friends help one another with anything, no matter how much it’s ‘worth’.”

She sighed heavily and said. “I just…don’t know if I should tell you…is the thing.” There was a weird tone in her voice, like she wanted to anyway.

“Clouds,” I said, sitting across from her “I know things that will damn near literally tear the world in half if I tell the wrong people. I’m sure whatever you have to say can’t be that bad.”

She took a minute, sucking in deep breaths, probably steeling herself for the drop. I wasn’t certain what I was expecting, but what she said felt as surprising as a lightning bolt from a cloudless sky. “Sleet, do you have a special somepony?”

I blinked once, twice, three times, before finally shaking my head to clear the shock. “Wait, what? You mean like a coltfriend or something?”

“Yeah, ‘or something’.” She said.

“Well…no. Never have.” I said, still bewildered at the unexpected turn. “I haven’t exactly had the time…” The lump at the base of my skull burned. “Or the opportunity.”

“W-well,” she stammered “I was thinking…maybe you could possibly consider getting with…I don’t know someone like…me?” By the time she timidly tapered off, I could barely hear her.

I was struck completely dumb. What the Hell was happening? This wasn’t right! Ponies didn’t just approach me, (Me! Sleet Gray! Cold flank!) asking for a relationship! And of course the first one in my whole damn life to do so is another mare. I thought exasperatedly. “Clouds…I…” Oh fucking Hell, how do I put this? “Um…Clouds…I don’t…” At this moment I was eternally glad I couldn’t see her eyes behind the goggles. “I don’t…fly that way…”

Even without seeing her eyes, it was obvious how her face fell. “W-what?”

“I’m…I’m not into mares.” I said, feeling my gut twist horribly. Goddesses damnit, for once in my life I was being honest and it involved tearing out the heart of one of my friends! “I mean, the Enclave encouraged homosexuality as a means of population control, but where I grew up we were at war with the griffons so there was no need…” I was running at the mouth, just trying explain the situation.

“Oh…” Her entire body seemed to deflate to the point that I thought she was going to fade into nothingness. “I…understand. I mean, it was a long shot anyway, right?” The forced joviality stabbed me right through the heart. We sat in silence for a long minute before she spoke again. “Let’s just finish what we were doing and I’ll make those mods.”

I nodded mutely, standing up and spreading my wings. She took the measurements in half-alive motions. It was the most intensely uncomfortable stretch of minutes in my entire life. When she finished, I snatched up my coat and left without another word. We both knew that anything we could say would change nothing.

It was difficult to put on my coat and move at the same time, but I needed to get away from that room. The tension was enough to make my stomach violently rebel. I managed to get the coat on and buttoned it to the base of my chin. I felt my throat press against the collar with every breath, but I was too busy freaking out to care.

Once fully buttoned up and safe, I found a dark corner and sat in it. I had no idea where I was in the bunker, but it was away from everypony else and that was all I cared about. “Goddesses, what the fuck…” I muttered to the darkness. I banged the back of my head against the steel wall, feeling that damned chip embedded at the base of my skull. “This was supposed to make me prettier, but not to mares!”

I closed my eyes for a minute, only opening them to get up and find a bathroom. I managed to locate one with going through the main part of the bunker, which I was thankful for. The last thing I wanted was to talk about this with the others. Without bothering to fully close the door, I checked myself in the mirror and was shocked by the change.

My coat was fully grown back in, not a trace of the radiation damage to be seen on the smooth, icy blue fur. My mane was in similar good condition. Rather than the usual dull gray it actually looked…heathy. Like I’d been going to a Pre-War spa once a week, and… “Am I taller?” I muttered, standing up straight. If I was it was so miniscule it may as well have been wishful thinking.

Wishful thinking indeed. A little voice hissed in my head. The chip is doing nothing. You’re still Cold Flank.

I grit my teeth. I hated that little voice, I hated it because it was right. It was my Father’s voice, telling me how I had no potential to live up to. My Mother’s voice lying pathetically to make me “feel better”. My brothers’ voices, insulting my looks. My own voice, reaffirming all of them. I rested my head against the mirror, staring into my own eyes. Dark, bagged, tired.

Oh it’s not all bad. Maybe you should take Clouds up on her offer! After all, she’s only the one pony in the entire world to find you attractive.

No! I mentally yelled back. I’m not going to do that! It won’t work between us, and pretending will just hurt even more!

You care about who you hurt now? After Scout, Clarity, Jackpot…

I’ve always cared!

Then what changes here?

A relationship isn’t necessary! It doesn’t help me!

Then that’s all it takes. It has to help you get something. Then it doesn’t matter what comes of it. You’d play pretend to ease Clouds’ sweet little heart and tear it out the next minute if it got you an edge.

Shut up.

How long until it’s more than just some hurt feelings? When will you let somepony die because it “helped” you?

“Shut up.” I growled aloud. My reflection was shaking.

When will Clarity become an acceptable loss? When will Sister become a good bargaining chip?

“Shut up!” I looked into my own accusatory eyes.

When will you leave Scout bleeding out on the ground, just the way he found you?

CRACK! I didn’t feel myself move, but I did feel my hoof impact the mirror. I had punched right where my reflected face had been, sending out a spider web of cracks that distorted my appearance. I stood there for a second, breathing heavily before pushing away from the mirror and galloping full tilt out of the room.
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Foot note: EXP gained!

Honesty

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 17: Honesty
“When all the truth does is make your heart ache, sometimes a lie is easier to take!”

I didn’t sleep that night. It was a painful mixture of nervousness about the mission and the problem with Clouds that prevented me from getting any rest. Endless tossing, turning, and rearranging of covers did nothing for me. Being completely denied the void of sleep, I instead rolled off of the bunk bed and alighted on the floor.

I looked around in the dark at the sleeping forms of my companions. Scout, Clarity, and the new hulking figure of Arterial, all sleeping peacefully. I envied them that as I crept out of the barracks. The super secluded bunker was faintly lit by dull emergency lights, conserving power throughout the night.

When I stepped out into the hallway though, I froze. I remembered the “last” time I’d done something like this. Sucking in a deep breath, I whipped out a wing and bit down hard on the tip. “OW!”

Okay, I was definitely awake.

Hissing in pain, I shook the wing a few times before slipping it away. I meandered aimlessly through the halls of the super secluded bunker, trying to just stop my mind from spinning. I don’t know when I stumbled into Clouds’ workshop, but it was where I found myself when I next looked up.

Despite everything I still found myself feeling giddy when I looked at all the cool tech on display. The mainframe, the agriculture system, everything was so advanced it made my heart leap! Eventually I came upon the Steel Ranger power suit that I had been sown when we first arrived. Even if it meant restricting my wings, I kinda wanted to take it for my own. I’d like to see the Enclave kill me in that thing!

Looking at the suit, though, something came back to me. Perhaps something that could patch my friendship with Clouds. I turned and galloped out, heading for the elevator to Meltwater. Misting Ice had told me that the buffalo would be staying in the area of Meltwater for a few days, so I still had the chance to talk with the Chief.

It was, if possible, even darker on the surface. Meltwater may have been safe from the blistering cold blizzard, but until something was done about the Enclave they’d never see the sun. I trotted through the streets, my hooves sinking slightly in the mud with each step. Mist swirled up from the ground creating a deep fog that was practically impossible to see through. The town was dead in the night, the only sounds were the erupting geysers in the distance and the steady sqish squash sqish squash of the mud. I had to suppress a shudder. If anywhere ever needed the sun more…

By following the sound of the geysers, I finally came to the edge of town. Here the snow was at its lightest, but I could see and feel the heavier storm further out. I knew it wasn’t far to the buffalo camp and after visiting the yeti cave, the likelihood of being attacked was minimal, but still I hesitated. A thousand phantom pains ached, and I sighed. Muttering “All right may as well,” I spread my wings and focused.

Eddies of wind brushed my face as I tried to form the bubble of calm around myself, but it was hard. Making the wind spin in all directions at once took a colossal amount of effort, moving like this would be near impossible. “Damnit!” I let the spell collapse, cursing my incompetence. How was it possible that a buffalo could perform this incredible weather control spell, but I couldn’t with the snowflakes on my ass?

I knew what Misting Ice would say my problem is, but I didn’t want to think about it. Spirituality and magic were two different things because the latter was scientific, damnit! Magic made sense, it had rules!

Alright “spirits” if you do exist then how about you tell me something? Why can’t I make this work? If the Cutie Mark really is a pony’s destiny then why can’t I do this? Am I really so pathetic that I can’t do what I was born to? No answer came and I screamed in anger. “Why!? Why can’t I do this!? What the fuck is wrong with me!?” Frustration felt like an iron ball in my heart. “Just work, damnit!” I stomped my hooves like a petulant filly, pounding the mushy earth with each yell. “Work! Work! Work!”

…Nothing. Nothing came to me. No surge of power, no big vision. Nothing. I sat down in defeat, my body feeling unfathomably tired. “Please…” I whispered, looking up at the tumultuous clouds above. I couldn’t tell if the wetness on my face was rain or tears. “Please, just work with me. Just this once…”

Something brushed my mane to the side. I blinked in shock and focused. A light breeze was flowing past me. I stood up, not caring for the mud on my coat. I opened my wings and felt the wind through my feathers. Lightly, I pushed the wind to circle me, and it obeyed. The gust whirled around me, creating a small barrier of moving air.

“Ha…” I covered my mouth quickly, surprised. Still I snickered through my fetlock. Soon enough I didn’t care to stop, I just laughed. The iron ball was gone and I felt light as a cloud! “I’m such an idiot!” I choked out through the laughter. “How could I have been so dumb?” It felt so natural now! Feeling a level of confidence I wasn’t used to, I galloped into the storm, pulling the bubble along with me. Or at least I started to, before it scattered and fell apart. Okay, maybe go a little slower…

Reforming the bubble, I entered the storm, slow and steady. Maintaining the spell while moving still proved challenging, but I was pleasantly surprised at its effectiveness. My shield wasn’t as strong as Misting Ice’s, snow still fell through just at a significantly reduced rate, but it did the job.

It didn’t take long to reach the buffalo camp, the ghostly tents fading in through the darkness. The sound of crunching snow was my only warning when two huge buffalo warriors appeared on either side of me, sporting spears easily comparable to Old World trees! “Who’s there?” One of them barked.

“Sleet Gray.” I answered calmly. “I have a small request or the Tribe Hidden in the Ice.”

“It is late. Come with the sun.” The other said.

“There won’t be enough time come sunrise.” I protested respectfully. “My friends and I will be departing with first light.”

“That doesn’t matter. Make time.”

I kept my annoyance from my face, trying to come up with something to make them stand aside. An idea came to me, one that would probably work, but I felt a twinge of guilt at the thought. Still, I came here for a reason and I wasn’t leaving without it.

Spreading my wings, I called up the swirling winds, making sure to catch the snow to make it visible. “The spirits granted me protection from the storm so that I might venture here safely. Would you deny their will?”

I felt like scum for turning their beliefs against them like this, but it worked. The two warriors looked at each other nervously speaking rapidly in their own language. I kept the spell up, though the walk here had worn me out. Just cause I’d figured out how didn’t mean I could do it for very long. Thankfully they came to their decision quickly. “What is your request?” One of them asked.

I smiled and let the swirling winds die. “What did you ever do with those Enclave corpses?” The guard went to get the Chief while the other led me to where the bodies were being held. We passed beyond the tents, though not out of the bubble. In the small area between the two sat a sled, covered in a white sheet. My gut turned at the five still forms underneath, and I had to distract myself lest I be sick. “So why didn’t you dispose of the bodies?”

“There was no time for the proper custom.” The warrior explained solemnly. “Rest assured they will be properly sent to the next life.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I found myself being torn on the fact that they hadn’t been dealt with yet. They were my enemies, true, and I had hated Loud Mouth in the moments before I killed him, but they were still ponies. Not respecting them in death felt…wrong.

“I am sorry that we have not honored them in death yet, Sleet Gray.” A familiar voice said. I turned to see Misting Ice approach, looking unperturbed by being awoken. “Is there something you wished to discuss about the fallen? A way you would like to bury them?”

“No.” I answered simply, forcing the discomfort from my tone. “In the Enclave we don’t bury our dead, since you can’t exactly bury bodies in clouds.”

“So what do you do?”

“We cremate them; ashes were easier to get rid of.” I felt no spiritual or emotional connection to the practice, so I didn’t care if the buffalo followed the tradition. “Do what you will with them. I can’t send them back home, or else the Enclave could more easily find me.”

“Then what did you wish to talk about?” The Chief asked.

“I need their armor and weapons.” I said. “If there is even the slightest chance the Enclave could trace them, I need to have the data destroyed. They could have recorded our whole encounter, and I’d prefer they have as little information on me as possible.”

Misting Ice nodded and approached the sled, pulling the white sheet off. I coughed and had to cover my mouth at the smell of blood. The cold had prevented the corpses from decaying, but that didn’t get rid of the foul, metallic stench. I joined Misting Ice at the sled, the two of us looking at the bodies silently for a minute. “What do your people think of death, Sleet Gray?”

I licked my dry lips, thinking. “Death is something to be avoided in the Enclave.” I said eventually. “We don’t like to think about it, because thinking about death means thinking about how tenuous living above the clouds is. It is an existence they barely maintain, which is why useless ponies like me are such a burden.”

“Do you truly believe yourself to be so useless?” He asked. “I sensed a new confidence in you when you arrived.”

“Well, I guess I learned something.” I said, smiling. Flapping my wings, I summoned a small whirlwind of snow in front of me. “I think I finally understand what you told me. It’s about knowing what you can do and working with that, right?”

The old buffalo smiled happily and nodded. “Ah, you do understand. I knew you would. The spirits were right about you Sleet Gray. You have the potential to be truly great.”

Rather than say anything about the “spirits”, I simply bowed deeply and said “thank you, Chief Misting Ice. I can’t thank you enough for helping me.”

“You have a long way yet to go, young pegasus.” He said solemnly, but with a slight twinkle in his eye. “But you are clever and wise. Use your gifts well, and they won’t fail you. Now,” he nodded to the sleigh “take what you require and we will see to it that the fallen are properly put to rest.”

Collecting the gear from the bodies was easy enough, it was getting it back to the bunker that was the challenge. Five suits of heavy power armor were not easy to transport, but after borrowing another sleigh from the buffalo I as eventually able to drag it back through the storm. I was thankful for the deserted streets, the last thing I wanted was somepony wondering why I was dragging a huge pile of bloody armor around.

It took some work and a lot of clattering to get the suits into the elevator leading down to the super secluded bunker. After taking a minute to speed the sled back to the outskirts of the town where it would be picked up, I took the elevator down, hovering above the suits. Once I was on the ground floor, I flew out and, after a bit of scrounging; I found a tarp to transport them on.

It was still a colossal pain in the flank to move them. I needed to drag the tarp along with my teeth, scraping along backwards through the tight halls. More than once I got caught on some pipe or extension and had to shift the clunking ceramic and metal around. Eventually though, I pulled into the workshop, the huge tarp of clanging suits behind me.

“Sleet, what on earth are you doing?” A voice asked.

“Hmmmph?” I asked, my mouth full of tarp. Looking over my shoulder, I almost didn’t recognize Clouds. She was wrapped in a large blanket that dragged around her hooves, held in place by her electric blue magic. What threw me off the most however, was the fact that she wasn’t wearing her googles. I finally saw her bright green eyes, now scrunched up in confusion and rimmed with red.

Spitting out the tarp, I said. “I couldn’t sleep, so I started wandering around. When I wandered in here I spotted this,” I gestured to the Steel Ranger suit with my wing, “and remembered what you said and…well…” With a little gust of wind I blew the tarp open, revealing the Enclave armor. “I found a few of these.”

Her eyes shot wide and her jaw dropped in amazement. “You..you actually…you got…” She stopped her stammering and sniffed curiously. “Is that blood?”

“Well, I ‘found’ them.” I said, making air quote with my hooves. “I was attacked by a group of soldiers yesterday and retrieved the amour off the bodies.”

“You were attacked by five highly trained and armed soldiers and won!? How?”

“I had help!” I explained quickly. “The buffalo and Arterial were there. I had plenty of backup!”

“Wow…” She whispered, walking over and running a hoof over the ceramic armor. “This is fantastic!” Suddenly she turned to me, eyebrows scrunched. “These can’t be traced here can they?”

“That’s part of the reason why I brought them.” I said. “I think they might have recorded the battle and have trackers. We need to disable them and wipe any data on the disks that might lead to me.”

“Yeah…” She said nodding, then more firmly. “Yeah, yeah, yeah I can do that. I’d love to get to peek inside them!” Her huge smile slowly faded, replaced by awkward shuffling. “So…does this have anything to do with…earlier?”

I bit my lower lip, knowing that this was coming. “Look, my answer from before hasn’t changed,” I saw her face fall and continued rapidly “but I meant what I said when I told you you’ve been my best friend down here, and I don’t want to ever have you as less than my friend.”

“And more?” She asked meekly.

“More I don’t know.” I said, shaking my head helplessly, shaking lose how I felt. “And it kills me to do this because you’re a good pony, better than me, and you deserve better than me.” I sat down, looking anywhere but at her. My heart felt like a spinning lead ball, whipping every which way and bruising my insides in the process. “And I don’t want to hurt another pony I care about, but I don’t see a way not to.” My mane had grown long enough that is hung in my eyes, a gray curtain blocking my shame.

Clouds’ hooves clip clop’ed as she approached and lifted my head up by the chin to look at her. “Hey, you’re still my friend, right?” I nodded. “Then help me crack these.” She nodded at the power suits. “All the time we stand around talking about our feelings like schoolfillies is more time for them to find us, you know?”

I smiled wide, blinking away thankful tears. “Yeah, let’s get to work.”

*****

At some point I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up suddenly with a stiff neck from my head resting on the console. I sat up, the blanket sliding off of me and rotated my neck, trying to crack the stiffness out. “I feel like an old mare…”

“Sleet?” I looked up and saw Scout entering the lab, glaring at me. “The Hell are you doing out here? I thought you’d vanished again!”

“No,” I yawned “I was working on something with Clouds.”

“Working on what?”

I gestured vaguely towards the Enclave suits, still plugged into the main computer through a mess of cables. “I figured the data on those should be wiped incase the Enclave ever found them.” It had turned out that I was right, a recording of the battle had been on the suits as well as distress beacons. Clouds and I managed to successfully crack one and wipe everything before I fell asleep.

“And did you get it all?” Scout asked, trotting over to the terminal.

“I only got one, but I’m guessing Clouds got the rest.” I started typing at the console in order to check, but was finding it hard to see through my sleep-clouded eyes. “Do you have a Sparkle-Cola?”

Scout handed me one of the blessed drinks which I took an immediate swig of. I set to work as the caffeine did, feeling my brain jolt awake. After a minute of navigating menus, I found the inner workings of the suits. “Alright, so Clouds did disable to beacons and tracking system.” I said, nodding approvingly. Then something caught my eye. “She didn’t wipe the video yet though…”

I called up the video, displaying it on one of the larger screens. Loud Mouth’s voice blasted through the speakers, prompting me to turn down the volume. “SIX, FIVE, FOUR…” Faintly, my voice could be heard interrupting him, and then came my attack.

It felt surreal, watching myself zip into the air and hurl a blast of snow at the camera. Scout and I watched from the Enclave’s perspective as I dodged desperately out of plasma fire and popped the bubble. Everything spun as the pony whose helmet we were watching through was blown away by the storm, until suddenly I came into sight at high speed. A nonsense tumble of gray, blue, black and white dominated the feed for several seconds before the crash. “YOU…YOU BITCH…I’LL TURN IN YOUR HEAD MYSELF!”

“I don’t think my brother would appreciate that.” A voice I hardly recognized as mine came through the speaker. I sounded so…cold, so uncaring. White filled the screen as the recorded-me summoned a blizzard on Loud Mouth’s head. Frost crept in to the edge of the camera, blocking everything in swirling cold and death…

I slammed the button to stop the playback, freezing it on a white screen. Silence reigned for a long minute before Scout spoke up. “Like I said, scary.”

“Shut up.” I snapped. Working fast, I wiped all the video footage on the suit, not wanting anypony else to see that. “Let’s get moving.” I said once I was done. “You have everything ready, right?”

“Yeah, we’re packed and set to go.” He confirmed. “I got the suits and Tarps from Clouds, and Clarity and Arterial are ready to move out as soon as you are.”

“Then let’s not waste any time.” I said, trotting for the door.

“Don’t you want to say goodbye to Clouds first?”

I stopped for only a second before saying. “N-no.” I shook my head to clear the stammer. “No, it’s best if we just go. She stayed up later than I did. She knows we’re leaving, let her rest.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” I jolted in shock as the devil I spoke of burst into the lab. “Hey, wait, I’m here!” Clouds said, skidding to a halt, dressed in her usual goggles and giant scarf. “You can’t just go trotting off without me!”

“Sorry, I thought you were asleep and…” I was so caught up in spinning my words I almost didn’t note what she said. “Wait, ‘without you’?”

“Yeah! And don’t worry, I’m good on sleep. I got, like, two hours, more than enough.” Her horn lit up and she opened the saddlebags strapped to her sides. “Took me a while but I got…” She trailed off as she pulled out one of the rad suits. “The last one! I already had a deal with Knick Knack to get them, just cashed in early!”

I got a bad feeling in my gut, but asked anyway. “Clouds, why did you get that?”

She must have heard the warning tone in my voice because her smile frosted slightly as she said “Because I’m coming with you! It’s a great chance for some field testing!”

“No you aren’t.” Scout said for me.

“I expected you to say that.” She said proudly before amending. “Well, I expected Sleet to say that, but still…” She held the suit up to show us the glass face dome, fiddled a few buttons and displayed how it lit up. “These things have a rudimentary E.F.S.!”

“And?”

“And, even if you leave in the middle of the night, split up to throw me off, or go some crazy direction, I can still follow you.” She paused at that and her face lit up. “Oh wow that sounded super stalker-y…”

“Even if you can follow us,” I interjected “you don’t want to go where we’re going. It is way too dangerous.”

“Oh, I know where you’re going.” She said confidently. “The Crystal Empire!” Her self-satisfied smile returned at our jaws hitting the floor. “C’mon, you kept talking about a super radioactive zone, there’s only one place like that in the whole Frozen North! And you have a crystal pony with you, I don’t need to be Sherclop Pones to figure that one out!”

“If you know that that’s where we’re going then you should want to stay behind!” I said exasperatedly.

“It’s exactly because I know where you’re going that makes me want to tag along!” She argued. “That’s my last reason for wanting to go, not just for field work but because I’m worried.” Her shoulders hunched and spoke more quietly. “Do you know how much it sucks to be on the sidelines? To not know if your friend is hurting or dead when maybe you could do something about it?”

“I know.” Scout said, shooting me a look that made me shuffle uncomfortably.

“Well that’s how I felt the entire time you were gone hunting yeti. I had these nervous attacks and…” She shuddered violently, looking like she was coming apart at the joints. “I need to come along, if only so I’m sure you’re okay.”

“That said though, we can’t afford to babysit.” Scout said.

“You won’t have to.” She said. “Cause, think about it. Sleet’s smart, she solves a lot of problems. And I’m smart, and solve a lot of problems. So if the two of us work together we’ll solve all the problems!”

Goddesses damnit this can’t happen! I was not allowing this! I needed to convince her otherwise. “But what about Lights?” I asked gently. “Do you want him to go through that?”

“Lights is more outgoing that me. He has some friends in Meltwater that he will stay with while I’m gone.” No matter how hard she tried I could hear the tremor in voice. She was scared, but still wanted to go through with this. “I’ve done field work before, and I didn’t tell him where I was going so he has no reason to think it’s anything unusual.”

“Sleet,” Scout said, placing a hoof on my shoulder and leaning in to whisper “if she follows us it puts everyone in danger, not just her.”

I bit down hard on my lower lip, stopping only when I started to taste blood. “You really want to do this, don’t you?” I asked after a long silence. She nodded firmly. I squared my shoulders and adopted the authoritative tone I’d heard my father use a thousand time. “If anything, ANYTHING, goes wrong, we pull out. All of us.” I turned and strode to the door, hiding the uncertainty. “Let’s go.”

*****

There was little preamble to our departure. Wrapped tightly in individual Thermo-Tarps, we entered the blizzard. We stayed grouped up by tying a sturdy rope around everyponies’ right front hoof (or talon in Arterial’s case). It took some time to adjust to the constant tugging and slackening, but we eventually settled into a single file train. Scout was on point, leading the way with radar and map while the rest of us brought up the rear.

There was no time or opportunity for talking, the Tarps and snow prevented that. Our only companion was the wind and cold, biting through even the triple-layered protection. Several times I felt my heart skip a beat as the rope leading to Scout went slack and didn’t tense again, but he was either reorienting us or scanning the radar. “If a yeti got me, you’d all know because you’d be dragged along.” He yelled over the blizzard when I expressed my worry.

Even without freezing to death in the open storm, I lost track of time as we walked. It had to have been several hours judging by how much my legs hurt. For once I was free of the tugging influence of sleep, having had my first peaceful night in weeks the previous evening. Now it was boredom I contended with. Boredom, ha! I thought. I’m on my way to the biggest lump of radiation in the world, surrounded by death and devastation and I’m bored!

I remembered an old study I read about one day while I was perusing the Old World index I’d found Cauterize in. Something called the stable happiness theory, no matter how crazy the situation was, a pony could adjust to a standard level of excitement. Some things never change, not even at the end of the world.

Scout’s rope went slack again, breaking me from my trance. It was only then that I noticed the wind had become a distant sound, quiet and forgotten in the distance. “What is it, Scout?” I asked, stepping up next to him and pulling my Tarp off.

I sucked in a cold breath, eyes going wide at what lay before me. Two crystal obelisks jutted from the ground, forming a gateway. The crystal on the right was broken half way up, the broken off piece laying just a few feet from me. The other was leaning toward us at a mad angle, like a bowing butler or a giant recoiling in terror. Three smaller crystals, two purple the other blue, lay scatted in between the broken gatekeepers like a broken necklace. But they were not the thing that gave me pause.

It was what they led to.

Beyond rolling hills burnt black by roiling balefire stood our goal. Rising from the ground like the blade of a titan’s sword was a colossal palace, still adorned with symmetrical spires on either side that reduced in height as they approached the “hilt”. Hundreds of smaller crystals rose around it, radiating out from the palace, the homes of crystal ponies in ancient times. Now they resembled gravestones, macabre markers placed around the great blade of the palace, reaching up to piece through the enigmatic cloud cover above.

And all of it glowed the sickliest shade of green. The nauseous tint of balefire rose from the crystals, casting their malefic glow on the high clouds. It was the Crystal Empire, once a magnificent bastion of light and hope.

Now it looked closer to Hell.

“We’re still outside the radiation zone.” Scout said, checking his PipBuck. “Background rads are a little higher, but not enough to affect us.”

“But, how?” I asked, gesturing to the evil glow. “If this place really did project magic across all of Equestria, why isn’t the whole nation like this?”

“I was told as a little filly that the Empire always enjoyed eternal spring.” Clarity said stepping forward. “The magic that created that must still be working and containing the radiation. However…” She turned to look at the Empire and shuddered, her coat darkening. “Being this close…I can feel it. The corruption poisoning the land…”

“Will you be okay?” I asked, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “I don’t want you going in there if it will hurt you.”

She took a few deep breaths. “I’ll be fine. It’ll be hard, but I can close myself off from the Heart’s influence.” She smiled sarcastically. “It might make me a real bitch though.”

“A small price to pay. Just don’t go punching anypony in the face. We can’t have the suits tearing in there.”

She laughed lightly, trotting away from the gate. “I’ll need a few minutes to get ready. Scout, didn’t you say we passed an old train station a few minutes ago.”

“Yeah, I’ll lead you there.” He said, looking up from his PipBuck. “Don’t go in without us.” He told me firmly, like I had a history of wandering off without him or something.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I said, placing a wing over my heart. Once they were out of sight, I turned back to the Empire and spoke to my two remaining companions. “If you two don’t want to continue, I won’t blame you. You can head back to Meltwater and wait for us there if you want.”

“Not happening.” Arterial said. “Letting you out of my sight screwed me over once. It’s not happening again.”

“How sweet.” I growled.

“If I had a gun that would destroy the Enclave with one pull of the trigger I’d go to the same lengths to keep it safe.” He said dispassionately. “There is nothing sweet about that.”

“I already gave you my reasons.” Clouds said. “And they haven’t changed. I’m going with you.”

“Fine.” I said, closing my eyes tightly. After savoring those few seconds of peaceful darkness, I opened them and pulled out my modified rad suit. “Let’s get ready and get this over with.”

I had to take off my coat to get into the suit, which was disconcerting for me. I didn’t know what we would encounter in there, but not having the armor plates made me feel distinctly vulnerable. But no matter what it was preferable to dying of radiation poisoning, so I donned the neon-yellow garment.

The heavy rubber material tugged painfully against my fur, mitigated only by padding at the joints, presumably to prevent chaffing. Clouds did a good job modifying it to accommodate wing sleeves, I had full range of motion and could easily hover over the ground. Once I was zipped in, I pulled on the face mask, covering my head entirely. The glass face plate was really more of a dome, which caused everything out the corner of my eye to elongate. I clicked the clasps that kept the mask in place, sealing myself within the suit.

I stood for a minute, adjusting to the feeling. The suit was fitted more closely to me, but remained baggy enough to move in which caused this weird sensation of only wearing it on parts where it bunched against me. I flew an experimental circle around the gate pillars, pleased that I could still fly. Once I was sure I had adjusted to the suit itself, I turned it on.

That was when the real fun began. The face dome lit up, fuzzily displaying static for a few seconds before sorting itself out. Lines of commands ran down the dome as the internal computer fired up.
>Boot up, running diagnostic
>Scanning wearer…

I felt the suit tighten slightly and a shiver ran down my spine as it examined me.
>Classification: Pegasus, female.
>Select designation, please enunciate clearly

A flashing cursor appeared in the center of the dome. “Um…Sleet Gray.” I said experimentally. The suit went silent for a second before continuing.
>Designation accepted. User registered as Sleet Gray.
>Activating environmental control…

A rush of cool air hit my face as the built in SCUBA system turned on and began scrubbing the air. It would grow stale after a while, but it would still be breathable. Next came a buzzing noise as the rad dampeners activated, triggering a radiation meter to appear in the top right corner of the dome. Finally came a circle in the upper left with a sweeping radar arm spinning through it. As it passed, a small green dot appeared in the bottom left quadrant labelled with SC. I turned the way it indicated and saw Clouds running through the start up on her own suit. When she saw me looking, she waved and started talking, though no sound escaped her helmet.
>Activating short-range radio

“…really fascinating stuff! It’s got your initials over the little dot! See? A little “SG” right there! How cool it that, huh?” Clouds voice was suddenly playing inside the helmet, coming through as a tinny noise in my ears.

“Clouds? Can you hear me?” I asked.

“Loud and clear! Are these things awesome or what?”

“Definitely.” I said with breathless wonder. I turned a little circle, watching Clouds’ dot move accordingly. “It’s like a full-body PipBuck!”

“Slightly less advanced, but yes.” She agreed. “We’re missing the full-body diagnostics and inventory management, but we have what we need for this mission, namely the rad counter.”

Another dot popped up, this one labeled with a single “A”. Turning, I saw Arterial had gotten his suit up and running as well. “This is uncomfortable.” His voice growled through the speakers.

“It’s not exactly built for griffons.” I said. “But at least you have your wings and talons.” Clouds had managed to reshape the hooves of the suit into griffon talons, they were missing the usual sharpness but were just as prehensile.

He clacked his beak in irritation, taking to the air. “I’m testing how well I can move.” He snapped before flying high.

“Are you worried he’ll run off?” Clouds asked. I glanced at the top of my screen where a message reading “private channel opened” had appeared.

“No.” I answered simply. “He has nowhere to go except with me. Neither of us like it, but for him it is either follow me or die.”

“And for you?”

“I’d prefer he keeps our working relationship as metaphorical, rather than literal.” Clouds paled inside her suit, so I rapidly changed the subject. “How did you do that by the way? The secure channel?”

“Oh it was a little add-on I did while tinkering last night! Here, I’ll show you how…”

By the time she finished teaching me how to open and maintain secure channels, two more dots appeared. One was labeled “S” and the other “C”. Scout and Clarity, the respective dots, came up to us wearing their suits. Scout had somehow managed to get his suit under his PipBuck, allowing him to wear both at once. “These things suck…” Clarity said through the radio. I could see the effects of her preparations through her faceplate. Her skin remained shiny and crystalline, but opaque and hard to see through. She had mentally walled herself off, not letting anything in, especially the corrupt Heart.

“Where’s Arterial?” Scout asked briskly. I could tell from his voice and the way he held himself that he wanted this to be over with. I didn’t blame him one bit.

“Here.” The griffon said, his dot appearing on the radar as he dropped to the ground. “I patrolled ahead. It doesn’t look like anything is waiting for us, but something is moving around in there. Maybe a lot of somethings.”

“Alright, then we approach with caution.” I instructed, walking up to the broken gate crystals. “Our mission is the Crystal Heart. We need to clear a path to it and prepare it for cleaning and extracting at a later date.” I turned to the group, all of them looking alien in their suits. “This is just preparation for something much bigger, so be wary of everything. We are only here to do one thing, anything else is secondary and should be avoided if possible.” My “team” nodded and I felt the weirdest déjà vu. Years ago I had watched my father brief a group of soldiers he was taking on a mission. I was still young then, barely a year past gaining my Cutie Mark and had thought him impressive, brave, and sure of himself.

Now, in the same position, I realized how scared he must have felt. The weight of the lives of those in front of him. The weight that settles in one’s stomach, knowing that you were telling those before you to risk their lives, perhaps lose them. Storm Banks had borne that weight long before I was born, and though I hated him I felt an odd understanding. “Let’s go.”

I turned and walked through the destroyed crystals, glancing at the radar only long enough to be certain that the rest were following me into the mouth of Hell.
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Footnote: Level up!
New Perk, Winter Weather Pony (Rank 3): They call you Ms. Ten Below! At Rank 3 you can easily make cold winds blow, chill a room, even summon a light flurry with no effort. Larger workings now require even less strain and can affect greater areas.
Speech Skill at 100!

The Crystal Empire, Part 1

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 18: The Crystal Empire, Part 1
“Your Highness! It has returned!”

The length of one life is, in the grand scheme, quite fleeting. The thing that makes civilization possible is the stacked work of hundreds or thousands of those fleeting lives. When a thousand drops of water come together they make a rain storm, and when a hundred thousand million ponies come together they create something like this. The Crystal Empire. I felt the weight of those lives as I walked toward the baleful city of crystal. The stacked lives of incalculable numbers of crystal ponies rising up before us. This place was ancient, and before it I felt as insignificant as a single rain drop before an ocean.

“We’ll be hitting the rad zone soon.” Scout said, his voice crackling over the suit radio.

“Right, keep an eye on your radar.” I responded, fighting to keep the quaver from my voice. “We don’t know what is in there.”

“Many of the crystal ponies evacuated with the apocalypse.” Clarity said. “But some could have been left behind.”

“How did any of them survive in the first place?” Clouds asked. “Was there a Stable?”

“The Crystal Princess blessed the Empire with her magic, protecting us from the bombs.” She explained. “But she was alone, and could not keep the radiation from tainting the Crystal Heart with only her power. When the bombing stopped, the crystal ponies had no choice but to run until they couldn’t feel the Heart anymore.”

I swallowed hard, unable to imagine the horror that must had induced. It was a small miracle any of them survived, but I also knew what any dead ones implied. “So, you’re thinking ghouls?”

She didn’t respond and I didn’t blame her. “Alright.” Scout said in the dreadful silence. “We’re starting to get hot.”

A quiet, steady click-click-click began to play in my ear. My chest grew a little tighter with each click, feeling nausea well up within me, a ghost of my time in Heaven’s Point. My eyes obsessively went to the rad counter in the corner. The little bar wasn’t moving, testament to the radiation reducing effects of the suit. But this was just the outskirts, things would get worse the further we went.

We soon came upon the very edge of the urban sprawl that spread out from the great castle. The buildings looked completely unscathed, barely suffering burns let alone being turned to rubble. They looked to be closer to hollowed out natural crystal structures as opposed to homes built by pony hooves and shone in a variety of pastel colors. The one mar that they all shared was a slight tinge of green light, hardly enough to stain the crystal different colors, but collectively it made the air look sick.

“Should we check these places for supplies?” Clouds asked, head swiveling left and right as we walked down a shining diamond street. “The crystal ponies couldn’t have taken everything with them.”

“It’s probably heavily irradiated.” Scout answered. “It could cost more to clean everything we found than however much we’d get selling it.”

“Besides, we really don’t want to stay here longer than we have to.” I commented, checking my rad meter again, a little red “+1 per sec” had appeared, making my coat stand on end. “These suits are keeping us from cooking right now, but it will only get worse the further we go in.”

I was just thankful that the Empire seemed to be primarily composed of long thoroughfares that led straight to the castle. We had a straight shot to the massive sword structure that was growing steadily bigger as we moved closer. In fact, it almost seemed to be growing taller as we approached. I squinted at the top, faintly seeing something poking out of the sword tip, though it was obscured by the cloud cover.

Actually, the whole thing seemed to be growing hazier, as if the clouds were coming to us. I blinked, reached up through my suit’s sleeve and rubbed my eyes, but that fixed nothing. Everything looked washed out, like it was losing its color. “Do you all see that?” I asked.

“See what?” Clouds responded.

“That…just…” I vaguely waved my hoof at the world. “That! Everything is getting hazy.”

“Yeah…” She said, looking around. “Yeah, you’re right, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but…” It was then that I noticed something missing. I glanced at the radar on my HUD and felt a chill run down my back. “Clouds…” I said slowly. “Where is everypony?”

The radar only showed two dots, SG and SC.

I spun rapidly on the spot, but the only other pony I could see was Clouds who looked equally bewildered. “What’s going on!?” She yelled. She sidled closer to me, as if scared that I’d vanish too. “They were right here with us!”

“I don’t know, but stay close! I don’t want us to get separated as well.” She pressed close, looking around blindly in the fog. “Scout!” I yelled into the radio. “Clarity! Arterial!”

Only static responded.

“Goddesses damnit, no!” I hissed. “This is not happening now, I’m not losing them now! Scout!”

kzzzzzSl…chhhhhzzzzzzteeetzzzzzt

I heard something, and though it sounded warped and distorted it made my heart leap hopefully. “Scout? Scout is that you?”

KtttteehhhhhhhhSleechhhhhhhzzzzzzz

“Scout, hold on! We’ll find you!” I put a hoof on Cloud’s shoulder and tugged her along. “C’mon, let’s go!”

“Go where?” Clouds asked. “We don’t know where that transmission is coming from. For all we know, whatever separated us is messing with your radio! Besides, it’s getting harder to see.”

I looked around and sure enough there was a fog pouring in. Colorless mist began to obscure everything, making it impossible to see anything more than a leg’s length away. “You’re right.” I said, taking a step away from her. I spread my wings, feeling the latex suit stretch with me. “Hold on, I’ll see if I can move it.” I closed my eyes and gently pushed with my mind, flapping my wings and picturing the fog dispersing. But, to my surprise, I felt something pushing back. I opened my eyes and looked around, but could see nothing in the colorless fog. Pressing a little harder, I could faintly hear the sound of…wind? Was that wind? No, there was something off about, something not quite right.

I should have stopped there, but I didn’t. Something made me try again, fighting hard against the opposing force. The second I pressed with full force, my head split in two. I was falling, falling where or why I did not know. I felt pain, agony, fear, uncertainty, a deep seeded desire to help, helplessness. And the screaming! The screaming, screaming, screaming! Screaming was all there was, no color, no light, no feeling, just the screaming, screaming, screaming…

Somepony was shaking me and screaming my name again and again. I came jolting back to reality, throwing out a hoof to stop Clouds from jostling me. “I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m…” I froze mid-sentence as my stomach heaved. Headless of the danger, I tore off my helmet and vomited. My legs were folded under me as I gagged over the pool of sick, unable to move for the longest time.

“Sleet, what’s wrong? What happened?” Clouds asked, her voice laden with concern.

“I don’t know.” I muttered before vomiting again. “Something….something magic made this. And it didn’t like me trying to...” I had to clench my stomach and swallow hard to stop from throwing up again. “To move it…”

Eventually the nausea stopped and I was able to stand. I wanted nothing more than to rinse the horrible acidic taste from my mouth, but I couldn’t leave my suit compromised like this, even if I couldn’t hear the rad meter that didn’t mean I wasn’t cooking. Wiping my lips off and reapplying the helmet, I centered myself and stood. My magic wouldn’t help me here.

“So what do we do now?” Clouds asked, looking around fruitlessly in the fog.

“We find a safe place and try to contact the others.” I said with more confidence than I felt. “Our radios are still working, so it only stands to reason that theirs are too.” We started walking, though I had to lean on Clouds slightly for support. My head was still spinning, and I could swear that damned screaming was echoing in my ears.

We moved until we hit the edge of the boulevard and found a building. Clouds gently lowered me into a sitting position within viewing distance of the doorway. “Wait here, I’ll check if we can get inside.” She said before cantering over and examining the door.

I took the time to breathe deeply, eyes closed as I focused my mind. I’d never tried meditating before, maybe I should start. I should ask Clarity if the Confessors had any techniques she could show me…

Thinking about the Confessors joggled something in my head. I furrowed my brow, eyes still closed as I tried to focus in on the half-a-memory. It had something to do with…Facet? Was that red colored blob Clarity’s mother or something else? I couldn’t remember, no matter how deeply I dug into my thoughts.

And I didn’t get the chance to continue thinking about it when something bumped into my back. Yelping in surprise, I jumped and whirled around, wishing desperately that I somehow had Black Powder on the outside of the suit. As if reading my mind, the suit made a pinging noise and a small crosshair appeared in my vision. Glancing to my right, Black Powder appeared, held in an aura of nondescript magical motes. A minor telekinetic field built into the suit’s mainframe? I didn’t think about it too hard, mentally pointing my gun at the thing that bumped me.

A statue of an extremely portly pony sat before me. Its entire lower body was a globe of crystal, ending only in a relatively normal-sized torso. The forelegs of the statue rested on the globe, the feminine features of the face invoking images of a hideously mutated pregnant mare. But the thing didn’t move, just sitting there, motionlessly. Its eyes were glazed over with diamond, like expensive cataracts, which when coupled with its gaping mouth gave it a vacant look.

Though it was more creepy than threatening, I kept my pistol on it. This thing hadn’t been here before, and I wasn’t going to let my guard down now. “Clouds?” I called out. “How is that door coming?”

“I got it open!” She called back. “I scanned the room for hostiles, but it looks abandoned. You can come in!”

I started backing up slowly, keeping my aim trained on the statue. It was just…staring. Though my instincts screamed at me to pull the trigger, I hesitated. What did it want? How did it get there? It was a statue; there was no way it could walk…

I was so distracted by the one in front of me, that I didn’t hear the sound of grinding behind me until it was too late. “Look out!” Clouds screamed as she tackled me from the side. I flopped down hard onto the crystal street, grunting in pain. I barely had time to look up and question why the fuck she just did that before I got my answer. Another statue had somehow appeared behind me. It was leaning forward, mouth wide open and spewing sick, green fire that sent my rad meter into overdrive.

Clouds was pressing down on top of me, practically crushing me with how tense she was. Her goggles had slipped down enough to show that her eyes were squeezed tightly shut in fear. My head was pinned to the street since she was pressing her helmet into mine. From my pinned position I scanned for Black Powder, spotting the gun several feet away. I focused on it, but the telekinesis was apparently very limited and it only twitched. Fear shot through my heart as the monster recovered from its attack, turning towards us with the first one. “Clouds, move.” I said. Their stomachs started to glow with baleful light. “Clouds, move! Move now!” I screamed, finally snapping her out of it. She looked over her shoulder, let out an “eep!” and rolled off of me

I lunged for Black Powder, finally catching it in the telekinetic grip. Rolling onto my back, I found myself under and between the two monsters. I started pumping shots into the face of one of them, the heat of the magical energy melting its head. The light in its gut died down and the body changed from clear to black.

The other one, however, was just fine. I curled into a ball and threw my wings over my face, closing my eyes so I wouldn’t see my death. But the heat I was expecting never came. I looked up and saw the monster floating several inches off of the ground, enveloped in electric blue light. Clouds was standing tall, her horn blazing with light and face contorted in effort. I stood up and leveled my pistol at its head, firing at will.

Only when the thing’s head was slag did Clouds drop it. She collapsed along with her magic and I galloped over to her. “H-holy crap.” She gasped. “That…took a lot more than I thought it would…”

“C’mon, get up. There might be more of them.” I gently encouraged, getting her to her shaking hooves. “And that was awesome! Did you get the door open?” She nodded tiredly, face flushed red.

I guided her along with a wing, getting her inside the door and following close behind with a sigh of relief. But it was short lived as I heard a slight grinding noise behind me. Looking over my shoulder, I saw two more statues had appeared behind me and were drawing their torsos back, mouths closed and globe-bodies glowing green. Cursing, I leapt inside building and slammed the door shut. Just in time, the sound of roaring fire came from the other side, green light glowing under the cracks of the door and my rad meter spiking back into action.

“What the Hell are they?” Clouds gasped.

“I don’t know, but barricade the door!” I screamed.

The tell-tale buzz of magic was quickly cut off and she slumped with a groan. “I can’t, too tired…”

. “Goddesses damnit!” I swore grabbing and table and, with some help from the telekinetic field, stuck it under the doorknob. Backing away from the door, I asked. “What the fuck were those?”

“I don’t know, but I think we’re safe in here.” Clouds said, getting her breath back. “It doesn’t look like the fog is in here.”

I turned around and sure enough could see clearly once again. Other than the coffee table I’d displaced, the room was like a picture of a Wartime Equestrian home. A couch sat in the center with an arm chair in the corner and several tables near each. Shelves lined the back wall, covered in equal parts books and toys, a family room. The only difference between it and pictures I had seen in my history books was the fact that everything was crystalline.

“C’mon.” I said, storing away Black Powder. I wasn’t exactly sure how it was getting between the rad-suit and my greatcoat, but I didn’t question it. “If we find some stairs I may be able to fly us out a window.”

“Wait, I need water.” She said, and to my dropping heart’s fear she took off her helmet.

“Wait! What are you doing!? What about the radiation?”

“There isn’t any in here.” She said matter-of-factly. “The suit’s meter isn’t reacting.” With a tiny magical field that barely left the tip of her horn, she pulled out a canteen and took a long swig. “You should probably have some,” she said, offering it to me. I hesitated, not wanting to remove any protecting in the toxic environment. “Come on, trust me, it’s safe.” She insisted. “Besides, your teeth will rot out if you don’t rinse your mouth after…what happened.”

Blushing a little, I relented and pulled off the helmet, accepting the canteen. Holding it above my head and opening my mouth, I poured out a measure and started swilling it around. “I’m not sick, you know.” Clouds joked. “You can actually drink from it.”

I looked at her out the corner of my eye, still swishing water between my teeth. She had recovered pretty quickly from that battle, and was even smiling easily as she waited for the canteen back. You’re thinking about this too much, Sleet…

Spitting out the water, I handed the canteen back to her. “We need to keep moving.” I said. “Like I said, let’s find an upper floor and jump. I can take care of the rest.”

“You can fly while carrying me?” She asked, getting to her hooves and furrowing her brow.

“Well, more like have a really controlled fall. I’ve done it with Scout before and it’ll help us get some distance on those globe things. Besides, if we can somehow spot somepony from there it’ll let us get to them quicker.”

“Alright.” She said, though she still shuffled nervously.

“Hey, don’t worry.” I said soothingly. “I may not be the strongest flyer, but I promise not to drop you!”

“No, it’s not that.” She said. “I’m just curious. If whatever created this fog is strong enough to separate us all so easily, why did it leave you and me together?”

I furrowed my brow, mulling it over. Why was that? What purpose did it serve? “I don’t know.” I said slowly. “But it did, so let’s make the most of it.” I mustered as wide a smile as I could. “Remember what you said in the bunker? The two of us together can solve any problem!”

She smiled brilliantly at that and nodded. “You’re right. C’mon, let’s find those stairs!” She put her helmet back on and cantered deeper into the house excitedly.

My smile faded as soon as she rounded the corner. How cute. A little voice whispered to me. I shook my head hard, slipped on my own helmet and galloped after her. After poking around for a bit, we found a staircase and cantered up it, eager to get the Hell out of this place. The silence had returned, and though I was happy the radiation was gone, the deafening quiet clawed at my mind. Coming all the way up to a third floor, there was only one door at the end of the hall. I galloped toward it full tilt, until the radar pinged.

Skidding to a halt, I whipped out a wing to halt Clouds. Drawing Black Powder, I froze just in front of the door. The red dot on the radar moved slowly back and forth, moving in time with a soft clip clop on the other side of the door. Swallowing hard, I held a hoof in a shushing motion to Clouds and reached out with a hoof, nudging open the door. Black Powder leveled inside, ready to blast whatever was on the other side to ash.

I had been expecting a ghoul, and by some definitions I was probably right. The once-crystal pony didn’t have the fried-meat look of other ghouls. In fact, it simply looked malnourished, the body skeletal with hunger. It teetered back and forth, wearing a hole in the attic floor as it paced endlessly. The thing that gave me pause was the fact that its body was pitch black, a light consuming void in the vague shape of a pony. The color was so intense it blotted out the Cutie Mark.

It took the thing a long second to realize I was there, by which point I had regained my sense and was leveling Black Powder towards it. I wasn’t going to be consumed by fear, not now. Its eyes were just as black as the rest of it, sending a chill rushing down my spine as it started to lunge towards me, groaning.

CRACK! The super-heated orange blast tore open the air between the ghoul-thing and me, instantly igniting its body. The thing froze, seemingly entranced by the fire eating its body. I fired twice more, bringing it down for good. “Holy shit.” I heard Clouds whisper. I turned to her, her goggles had slipped down her nose in shock, showing the whites of her eyes over them. Her mouth hung slightly agape, frozen as she stared at the burning body. “Sleet, you just…”

“You okay?” I asked, lightly tapping her shoulder to jolt her from it.

“Y-yeah.” She stammered. “I’ve just…well I’ve never actually…you know…watched something die before. I mean there were those monsters, you know, but they were monsters killing us! This thing looked like a pony and was, you know, on fire!"

“Yeah, it’s kinda…” I was blanking on something to say, watching the body smolder on the ground. “Unpleasant.” I flapped my wings and sent a cold wind over it, putting out the fires burning on it.

“What do you think it was?” She asked, walking over to the corpse. “It didn’t look like any ghoul I’ve ever seen.”

It may not have looked like one, but I had zero doubt that it was some kind of ghoul. Even after the time spent with Jackpot, my dreams were still haunted by the screams of the feral horde that chased me my first night on the surface. That same soul-searing terror had ripped through me as the thing lunged at me. Only the sureness of my aim with Black Powder had kept me from freaking out.

Clouds was still examining the body. “It has no traces of a Cutie Mark, yet it’s a fully grown pony body.”

“Maybe it was just burned off.” I commented, trotting over to the lone window in the attic. It would take some tricky positioning, but I’d be able to squeeze both of us out of it at the same time.

“Not enough of the body was consumed for that. The fire spread from the chest area. Even if it would be scarred by the burns, a Mark should still be there.”

“Wait, so no Mark? Like, at all?” Now my curiosity was whetted, I had no choice but to trot over and join the impromptu autopsy. “How is that possible? What could take a Cutie Mark?”

“I don’t know.” She muttered, igniting her horn with light. She directed the light on the corpse’s flank, where the Cutie Mark should be. The light simply passed through the body, clear as glass to the floor on the other side.

“It’s like a shadow.” I said, brow furrowed. I reached out to poke it, to confirm its solidity. But when my hoof impacted it, I felt a cold like deep space. I jerked my hoof back, watching in fear stricken awe as the body disintegrated, a faint white light glowing around the edges before it vanished into nothingness.

Clouds and I looked at each other in shock, both of us unable to speak. Eventually, I was able to choke out a few words. “But that’s impossible…I shot it…”

“Maybe…maybe…maybe held together by some sort of magic? Maybe a spell or potion or ritual or something, you know? There’s got to be a reason!” Clouds stammered.

“Whatever the reason, we’re not going to figure it out standing here.” I said, getting back on track. “C’mon we have to keep moving.” Not bothering to check if she was following, I trotted over to the window, until I noted something out the corner of my eye. I turned and saw, to my leaping heart’s delight, a terminal!

But my excitement was tinged with bitterness. We didn’t have time for this, we had to move and find the others. I turned to the window and paused. We were above the fog, as I’d hoped, but I could see the colorless sea blotting out the world below. The screaming started to echo in the back of my mind and I turned to the terminal. “Actually, hold on. I’m going to crack this. Maybe we can learn something.”

I sat at the keyboard, pleased to see an extensive encryption. Whoever that thing had once been must have been important, or been hiding something quite dirty. It was a ten-character password with a lengthy list of possibilities and next to no shortcuts in the code. “Are you sure you should be doing this?” Clouds asked, walking up behind me.

“Oh, don’t worry. This won’t take long.” I said, confidently setting to work. I started my search, checking every bracket for a shortcut, every line for a hint. I ran the numbers in my head as the program told me which ones were duds and what letters were right. But it was not going to reveal these secrets easily. By the time I found everything, I had only eliminated three duds and gotten a few extra chances.

It took quite a bit of doing, and a whole lot of mental math to come up with the final answer. I had gotten down to two possibilities with only a single chance left. Normally a fifty-fifty chance, but by running the characters in my final answer against what the code told me with the duds I was about seventy-five percent sure I was right. Obfuscator.

The terminal pinged happily. >Exact match! “Yes!” I crowed, pumping a hoof in the air.

“Wow, that was your first try! No reset or anything!” Clouds said, eyes wide.

I smiled at the praise as the terminal opened up before me, displaying all the data for the world to see. “Alright, what do we have here?”

There were a number of logs recorded in the computer, most of which were audio. I had no idea if I could download logs to the suit, so instead I opened one of the text documents.
>Things are getting out of hoof. The Prince’s forces have been patrolling the streets non-stop over the past few days. They keep talking about how they’re “protecting from foreign threats”, but it’s impossible that the zebras could be here! The Empire may technically be a dominion of Equestria, but we aren’t a part of this war, damnit! Princess Cadence never declared war, even when Luna threatened her to do so. I’m thankful every day that she stood strong, but I’m starting to think that it wasn’t worth it. After all, how “out of this” are we when half the royalty is blood with a Ministry Mare?

“Who is this ‘Prince’?” Clouds asked. “I don’t remember Clarity making mention of one.”

“Yeah, me neither. Do you think he was just forgotten over time?”

“Or maybe wiped out…” She muttered.

I was about to open the next file when the sound of muffle gunfire rang out. Both of us jolted to awareness, turning to the window. I galloped over, throwing it wide and straining my ears.

BANG! BANG!

Yes! There, in the distance! I could hear it, just barely. “That might be one of the others, let’s go!” I jumped back into the attic and hurriedly gestured for Clouds to climb out the window. “Wait,” she asked cautiously, putting one hoof on the sill “how is this going to work?”

“I have an idea, hold on.” I climbed out the window and flapped my wings so I was hovering over it. “Alright, now start climbing out and I’ll grab you.” She did, getting about half way out before I told her to stop and wrapped my arms around her chest. “You alright?”

“Yeah, totally fine.” She said breathlessly. I prayed that it was the fearful height doing that.

“Okay, on three you’re going to kick off of the window sill, got it?” She nodded rapidly. “Alright, one, two, THREE!” I kicked off the building at the same time she kicked off the sill, propelling us a good distance over the fog before gravity caught on. I spread my wings, catching a gust of wind that drastically slowed our descent.

“Okay, alright, okay, alright.” Clouds repeated those two words again and again as we glided. I could feel how tense she was, which was mildly surprising at first until I remembered she spent her entire life underground. I did my best to follow the sound of the gunshots, but feared that we’d dip below the fog and get lost before we found them. “Uh, Sleet? Can we go a little higher?” Clouds asked fearfully.

I glanced down and saw that her hooves were skimming the top of the fog. “Sorry.” I said through grit teeth. “But I’m not exactly the strongest flyer. Two grown ponies’ worth of lift in restrictive suits is a bit…beyond…me!” I started flapping my wings as hard as I could, but to no avail. We were dropping rapidly, soon Clouds’ hooves were dipping below the fog point. Fortunately, I was starting to see flashes of green in the fog coupled with louder gunshots. Whatever we were looking for, it was getting closer!

Which was good, because now Clouds was up to her chin in fog. “Don’t worry! We’re almost there!” I shouted.

“Good, because I’m…” She was suddenly cut off, screaming in agony as our momentum was suddenly arrested. I was thrown head over hooves, losing my grip on Clouds and crashed to the street. I scrambled to my hooves as quickly as I could, whirling around as I called her name. “Clouds! Clouds, what happened?”

Static filled my radio as the fog cut off the transmission, though faintly I could hear the ghost of my name being said. But I was surrounded by colorless nothing, unable to see more than a wing’s length away from me. I stumbled about, screaming Clouds name with increasing desperation, my chest feeling like it was collapsing more and more with each passing second. After a tense stretch, I finally saw a shadow emerging from the fog.

An amorphous…thing rising up before me. It was pitch black, looking like tar or, given the horror of this place, congealed blood. It was holding a shield emblazoned with a picture of what I could only assume was the Crystal Heart. It was a cool blue and looked like something off a Hearts and Hooves Day card, wrapped in a golden ribbon that curled up on either side. Extending from it was a long spear, held up at a severe angle. Blood dripped from the spear, splashing on the shield and the road below. I looked up to the source of the blood and felt my heart seize.

It was Clouds, dangling from the end of the spear and completely motionless.

I stared at her body, my mind becoming as blank and featureless as the fog around me. I only snapped out of it when the creature moved, shaking the spear until Clouds fell off the end. I didn’t see her fall, Hell I barely heard the thump of her body hitting the road. All I could see was the endless stream of orange light as I thoughtlessly pumped shot after shot from Black Powder at the thing.

I didn’t remember drawing the gun, but that didn’t matter. I walked towards the monster, shooting again and again and again and again and again. The shield took each shot, but was starting to heat up. The metal was melting, the picture of the Heart twisting and blackening under the withering barrage. A hole was finally burnt through the shield right as the spark pack ran dry. I ejected the spent pack and slammed a new one home in one smooth mental motion. By this point I was face-to-shield with the monster. It was desperately trying to stab me, but I was too far inside the weapon’s reach to be in any danger.

I stuck Black Powder’s barrel in the glowing slag of the hole and started pulling the trigger. I didn’t stop at the goo burst into flames. I didn’t stop as an unnatural, high pitched shriek of untold pain rang through my head. I didn’t stop when the thing collapsed, the shield and spear dropping uselessly. I didn’t even stop when the pack ran long dry, pulling the trigger on an empty gun a thousand times as tears blurred my vision.

The only thing that made me stop was when a something yellow moved in the corner of my vision. I turned to look at Clouds, my eyes growing wide as she twisted onto her front and struggled to her hooves. I galloped over as she collapsed on her left hoof, falling to my knees next to her. “Clouds!”

“Ow…” She whispered, eyes scrunched closed in pain. She was holding her left leg tight to her side, blood leaking from her shoulder.

“Come here.” I said, getting under her and pushing her up onto the good leg. “Don’t worry, you’ll be alright.”

“It hurts.” She whimpered. “It hurts. I don’t like adventuring. It hurts…”

“Yeah, I know, don’t worry.” I said, trying to sound light. “We’ll get you somewhere safe and bind that right up. You’ll be fine.” I started walking, gently guiding her along with a wing. I picked up Black Powder as we passed the corpse of the blob thing. As we moved through the fog silence began to envelope us. The gunshots from earlier were gone, meaning either the person we were seeking was dead or had won their fight. Either way, I didn’t like the odds of us finding them.

A slight grinding was my only warning. I twitched to the right just in time to see one of the globe monsters rearing back, its stomach glowing a sickly green. I raised up Black Powder and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. I had forgotten to reload after killing that blob! “Fuck…” I whispered. There was no way we’d get out of the way in time. I turned my back to it and spread my wings, hoping that by dispersing the balefire across the rad resistant suit that I avoid getting cooked.

Thankfully, it didn’t come to that. A loud crack of gunfire rang out followed closely by the sound of shattering crystal. My rad meter started spiking as I looked over my shoulder to see the left half of the monster’s head cracked open and spitting globs of green fire. The light was growing brighter and brighter and the cracks were spreading out. “Crap, look out!” I yelled

I shoved Clouds down as the monster exploded, feeling the heat sing my back and the rad meter shoot to +50 a second for an instant. My stomach heaved as the rads shot through my system and I had to bite back the urge to vomit. When the blast died down and rads returned to normal levels, I rolled off of Clouds and flopped onto my back, breathing heavily.

Clouds raised her head up, staring at me wide-eyed. “Why did you take that?”

“Your…suit…is breached.” I gasped. “If I didn’t…block it…the balefire…would have gotten you directly.” I swallowed hard, finally getting my breath under control as the sound of galloping hooves approached.

“Sleet?!” A wonderfully familiar voice asked.

I let my head flop to the side to see Scout running up to us. “Hi Scout.” I said weakly. “Do you have somewhere we can hold up? Clouds is hurt.”

“You both look hurt.” He said, holding out a hoof to help me up.

“I might have minor rad sickness.” I grunted, standing up. The little bar indicating my rad levels had passed the first marker, and my body was feeling it. My stomach bubbled nauseatingly and my skin was crawling in a way that gave me flashbacks to Heaven’s Point. “But Clouds is worse off, her suit is breached.”

“Damnit.” He hissed, cantering over to her with me close behind. We helped her to her hooves, which revealed how almost the entire left leg of her suit was red with blood.

“Oh look, that’s all mine isn’t it?” She said airily. “That’s a lot, you know?” Her breathing was shallow and quick with her eyes refusing to focus. “I’m probably…going into…shock…” She slumped, with Scout and I barely able to catch her before she hit the ground.

“Shit!” I cursed. “Tell me you have somewhere safe where we can bind this!” I begged Scout.

“Yeah, I found a spot. It seems to be clear of rads for some reason. Come on.” He led me down the crystal street as we carried Clouds between us. He continually swept the fog around us, keeping a constant eye out for danger. It was a tense minute for us to reach Scout’s safe zone, but we made it without incident. We entered what appeared to be an Old World spa. The reception area had benches lining either side and a desk flanked on either side by curtains. As soon as the door closed behind us, Scout dragged one of the benches in front of it and pulled his helmet off. “I checked on the suit and my PipBuck, we’re clean in here.”

I gently laid Clouds on her uninjured side and removed my own helmet. “Good, now help me get this off of her.” Working together we managed to get her out of the suit and examine the wound. My gut flipped at the grizzly sight. The spear had impacted just under her shoulder and had torn across her chest up to the collar bone, leaving a two inch ragged tear on her left side. “Goddesses…” I muttered.

“It’s bad, but I think we can save her.” Scout said, reaching into his saddle packs and pulling out a roll of magical bandages and healing potions. “This place has to have a first aid kit somewhere with fresh water. Go find some.” He tossed me an orange sack of Rad-Away. “And drink this.”

I caught the Rad-Away and tore it open, taking a cringing sip of the extremely tart medicine. “Alright, be right back.” I slipped through one of the curtains, moving deeper into the spa. The spa area itself was made up to look like natural volcanic hot springs made of crystal. Little “craters” filled with water rose around the outskirts of the room at varying heights with soft massage beds in the open middle. A glass dome ceiling let light stream in from above. Back before the war it must have been beautiful with streams of bright sunlight illuminating the room.

Now it was still. The water had been left undisturbed for so long that it had become so still as to be mirror-like. I stepped up to one of the lower pools and stared down at myself. The first thing I thought was how much I needed a mane cut. I frowned and pushed my hair out of my face, getting a good look at myself. No real difference. Maybe my cheek bones had become more pronounced, but that may as well have been malnutrition. I sighed and rubbed the little lump at the base of my skull. Was it even working?

I was about to turn away from my reflection when I saw something odd. I opened my eyes wide and stared into them, trying to find what had caught my attention. Was that…rime frost rimming my eyes? I closed them tightly and shook my head rapidly before looking again. Nothing. “You’re losing your mind, Sleet.” I murmured, the force of my breath sending ripples through the water.

It didn’t take long to find a medical box. The familiar yellow-and-pink metal case was attached to the wall on the far side of the room next to another curtained doorway. I trotted over and tried to pry it open, but it was locked. Nothing my little trick couldn’t handle. As I was freezing the lock, I heard a groaning noise. Electricity shot up my spine, sending my mane on end. It had come from behind that curtain!

Cautiously, with Black Powder in my mouth, I edged the curtain open with a wing. Peeking inside, I found another one of those strange black ghoul creatures aimlessly wandering an old sauna. Quietly, I positioned myself inside the curtain and pointed Black Powder at my target. This time, I was loaded.

*****

I reentered the lobby area with fresh water from the first aid kit in tow. Scout had Clouds’ would bound in magical bandages and was holding her head up so she would swallow the health potion he was pouring down her throat. She coughed up some of it, but swallowed the majority. Her eyes slowly flickered open as I entered. “What…happened?” She whispered.

“You passed out from the blood loss after that thing stabbed you.” I said, kneeling next to her and offering the water. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now.”

“That’s good…” She greedily gulped down the water, only stopping when she needed air. Her head lolled to the side and saw Scout holding her up. “Oh, look, we found Scout…”

“I don’t know how you did, but that doesn’t matter.” He said. “I’m more concerned about how we got separated.”

“Oh, she did that.” Clouds said, her voice barely audible.

“Wait, ‘she’?” I asked. “Clouds, she who? Clouds!” But she wasn’t responding, her eyes had closed again and she was breathing easily.

“I think she’ll be fine after she sleeps.” Scout said, laying her on one of the benches.

“Yeah, but who was this ‘she’ she’s talking about? She makes it sound like somepony is fucking with us!”

“I don’t know, but come on. Let’s leave her to rest.” Scout said, trotting into the spa area.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to leave her alone?” I asked, following him. “I found a…well I’m not sure what to call it.”

“What, like one of those monster things?” Scout asked. I showed him the small pile of ash that had been left behind by the black ghoul and explained my last encounter with one. “That makes no sense. What is it, a solid ghost?”

“Please don’t talk about ghosts, this place if freaking me out enough.” I groaned, sitting down and rubbing my head. I kept stealing glances back to the curtain behind which Clouds slept, as if expecting one of those things to go after her.

“Sleet, are you okay?” Scout asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Like you’ve been acting odd around Clouds. Did something happen?”

I rested my head against the frame of the door, staring at the ceiling for a long time. I hadn’t told Scout and Clarity about Clouds’ confession to me, wanting to respect her privacy. I tried to play it off. “I’m just worried because she got stabbed. A little understandable, wouldn’t you say?”

“No, it’s more than that. When we were leaving Meltwater, you two wouldn’t even look at each other.” He tried to meet my gaze, but I averted my eyes. “C’mon Sleet, tell me. You keep talking about how we need to be more open with each other.” He looked out the glass ceiling at the colorless fog outside. “And here we can’t afford to have anything that can hurt our ability to work together.”

I started worrying my lower lip with my teeth, considering what to say. Damn him for making sense… “Scout…” I took a deep breath and spoke rapidly. “Do you think I’m pretty?”

He twitched in shock. “Wait, what? What do your looks have to do with anything?”

“Just answer the question!” I snapped.

He thought about it for a second before shrugging and saying. “Yeah, sure.”

Now it was my turn to twitch in surprise. “Really?”

“It’s not like I have a list of the prettiest mares I’ve ever met.” He said. “I’m usually a bit more concerned with not dying out in the Wasteland.” He furrowed his brow at me, eyes searching. “Is this going somewhere?”

I took a few deep breaths and started talking. I told him about how Clouds had confessed her attraction to me and how I’d shot her down. “And the worst part is I do really care about Clouds, just not the way she wants, and I feel like trash for not being able to!” I slumped, burying my head in my arms. “Goddesses, my special somepony is a mare. I’m going to be alone forever…”

“Well, how can you be so sure?” Scout asked.

I blinked once, twice, three times in surprise. “What?” I asked, brow furrowed and looking up at him.

He shrugged, not really looking at me. “How do you know it won't work?" He asked, an accusatory note sliding into his tone. "Maybe sleep with her and find out if it will work. Have you ever tried it before?”

My mouth dropped slightly open. “Oh I don’t know Scout! Have you ever tried to sleep with another colt?”

He shot me a withering glare, finally meeting my gaze. “You’re always so keen to take dumb risks on things you know won’t work. Why not now?”

“How does that have anything to do with this?!” I snapped, getting up on my forehooves and leaning towards him.

“Because it’s putting our lives at risk!” He screamed. I leaned back slightly as his angry scream echoed off of the crystal walls. “I don’t know if you’ve forgotten, Sleet, but I’m here to keep us all alive, not solve your love issues!” He got to his hooves and stormed back towards the lobby. “Now, I’m going to go make sure your little crush his stable. While I’m gone, do me a favor and forget about this before it gets us all killed!”

I watched him go in stunned silence, only getting up when his hoofsteps faded away. I shuffled over to the pools of water and fluttered to the highest one. I leaned against the rim, staring down at myself in the water as conflicting thoughts bounced around my head. Scout was right about at least one thing, I had to get myself together. The Empire had already proven incredibly dangerous with those…demon monsters. Not to mention, Clarity and Arterial were still lost in the fog, and we had no idea who this ‘she’ Clouds had referred to was. I wished I just had some answers.

Something glittered at the bottom of the water. I focused on it, curious, and leaned over the water. My gasp of surprise echoed off of the walls of the spa. It was a PipBuck! And actual, honest to the Goddesses PipBuck! It was made of brilliant diamonds and rested lazily at the bottom of the pool. I felt my heart rate skyrocket. At least! At long, long last I could have my own PipBuck! The pool wasn’t even terribly deep, it would only take a bit on leaning to get it in my hoof. And then even less time to be around my hoof! I thought excitedly.

I reached out a hoof to the water, but before I could breach it, something shoved me from behind. I barely had time to suck in a surprised gasp as I plunged into the water. It was freezing! The cold sank into my bones almost immediately, robbing me entirely of heat. I spun in the water, trying to find the surface and get free, but another force pressed into my back. I slammed down on the bottom of the pool, the diamond PipBuck bouncing from the displaced water right in front of my face. I could see my eyes, wide and scared reflected in the green screen. I managed to jerk around enough to spin on my back and get a look at my attacker.

The water had taken shape. It became a large, powerful earth pony who was pressing his forehooves to my chest. He shimmered in the water, incredibly difficult to spot, save his eyes. His eyes glowed with a disturbing blue and white light and shot through my soul. My chest screamed for air as my cheeks bulged with a repressed breath. After a long, long time I could hold it no longer. My mouth opened and an anemic stream of bubbles escaped my dying lungs. I thrashed harder than ever, my throat burning and convulsing as water poured down it.

My eyes rolled backwards into darkness and the screaming filled my head once again.

The Crystal Empire, Part 2

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 19: The Crystal Empire, Part 2
“He was overthrown, turned to shadow, and banished away to the ice of the arctic north”

A tiny spark wandered lost in the darkness. Hello? Where am I? Is someone here?

Come to me…

Who are you?

Come to me…Come home…

Home? Where is home? I’m lost…

Come to me…Come home…

Where?! Where is home? The little spark flits back and forth, unsure of where it is. Hello? Help me, please! Help!

Come to me…

*****

The first thing I felt as I returned to life was an awful burning in my chest. My eyes snapped open, blinded temporarily by the light. Something was pressing against my lips and I felt a rush of air that only made the burning worse. I lashed a hoof out, pushed whoever was on top of me away so I could roll over and start coughing my lungs out.

“Oh, thank the Goddesses!” A voice said. “I was so worried!”

I couldn’t respond, only continuing to cough and hack. Dribbles of water splashed out of my mouth, running onto the glittering floor like dying waterfalls. Eventually, I was able to force enough air into my body to gag out a few words. “Fuck.” I coughed. “How many times will I drown before it takes?”

“Wait…” The voice asked worriedly. I looked over my shoulder to see Clouds sitting nearby, frowning in thought. “Do you want it to take?”

“No, no.” I said, flopping back down and staring at the ceiling. I didn’t recognize the room I was in until I tilted my head and saw the pile of ash from the what-ever-it-was I killed. We were in the sauna room. “It’s just that almost drowning and coming back sucks enough once.”

“Well, I mean, technically it did take this time.” She said slowly, tapping her hooves nervously.

I snapped my head to the side, eyes wide. “What?!”

“You were…clinically…dead.” She said slowly. “But I managed to resuscitate you.” It was about now that I was feeling the chill settling over my chest. I looked down and saw that my suit had been rolled down to the waist. A pair of small, black burn marks sat parallel over my heart. “I know a defib spell.” Clouds said, noting my surprise. Her horn buzzed with magic and electricity sparked off of the tip. “I needed to get the suit away from your heart for it to work though. The plastic was getting in the way.”

I remembered feeling something pressing against my lips. “Did you do anything else?” I tried not to sound accusatory.

She blinked for a second before it hit her. “Oh, CPR. You know, breathing and compressions.” She mimicked pressing her hooves down in a rapid motion. “Your chest might hurt a little. I tried not to bruise your sternum, and I don’t think I did, but I was a little panicked, you know?”

I rubbed a hoof absently mindedly over my chest. “Yeah, yeah no I think I’m fine.” Clinically dead. Those words kept playing in my head. Clinically dead. Clinically dead. Clinically dead. I had been dead. Ceased. Ended. For the span of time it took Clouds to bring my lifeless body back to working condition, Sleet Gray had been no more.

I wanted to throw up again.

Silence reigned as I lay there, staring at the ceiling. The only sound was our breathing, Clouds and I. Wait, only Clouds and I? I suddenly sat bolt upright, looking around the empty lobby. “Where is Scout?” I asked frightfully.

“I’m right here.” He said, trotting into the room. “I was keeping an eye out for that…” He glanced nervously back over his shoulder. “That whatever it was that attacked you.”

“How did you get it off of me?” I asked. I could still feel that horrendous pressure of the thing bearing down on my chest. Since it was amorphous water there was no way he could have lifted it off of me, and Clouds couldn’t have used any magic that wouldn’t have harmed me in the process.

“Well, I kinda, jumped in after you.” Clouds muttered.

“Wait, what?!” I yelled, sitting up instantly.

“I heard the yelling and splashing and it woke me up. I came into the spa and saw what was going on. Scout wasn’t going in, so I just…acted.”

“I didn’t go in because it attacked me!” Scout protested. “I was getting ready to try and shoot the damned thing, but she just charged in front of me! I nearly put another hole in her!”

“Why the Hell would you do that?” I snapped at her.

“Because you were dying!” She shot back. “What was I supposed to do, just let it happen?”

“You’re supposed to do something other than just jump in the haunted water with the amorphous monster! What if it grabbed you too? What if it killed both of us? What good would that have done?” The yelling was straining my water-logged lungs. A fit of coughing cut my rant short.

“I…I couldn’t just let you die…” She said, her voice choked.

I swallowed hard, getting the coughing under control. “I know, and I’m thankful you saved me, really I am.” I assured her. “But you can’t act so compulsively. The last time I did I killed most of my family.”

“I’m sorry…” She sounded close to tears. My recently restarted heart ached.

“It’s alright.” I said gently, sliding over to her and placing a hoof on her shoulder. “After all, it worked. I’m still breathing.”

“That’s the excuse you usually give me.” Scout muttered, turning to trot deeper into the spa. “That stunt might have reopened Clouds’ wound. Make sure she doesn’t bleed out.” He tossed me a roll of magical bandages as he walked away.

“What about you?” I asked.

“I’m going to see if there is another way around that thing.” He said as he walked away. “I don’t know what it is, but I know this much.” He glanced at me over his shoulder. “It is not happy you got away.” With that, he slipped through another curtain and disappeared.

“Great, so we can’t leave the way we came.” I muttered, holding my head in my hooves. I sat like that for a second before frowning. “Wait, can’t I just freeze it and have us all rush the exit?”

“There’s still those blob things outside.” Clouds said. “Scout said his E.F.S. was showing a whole bunch of red bars out there, like they barricaded the door.”

“Goddesses damnit!” I cursed, smacking a hoof off the ground. “I hate this place!”

“I’m sorry…” Clouds said again.

“It’s not your fault this place is cursed or haunted or whatever.” I raised my head and tried to give her a smile. “Besides, I’ve dealt with scarier ghosts.” My smile abruptly faded as I recalled the green eyes staring at us as we left Heaven’s Point Hospital. What had ever become of that Stable of unicorns? Did the geister kill them all? Or did they manage to contain the gargoyle monsters like the Overmare wanted.

Neither option was really appealing.

But this was not the time to worry about that. I stood up and trotted over to Clouds. “Come on, let’s take a look at that wound.” She was holding her injured leg tightly to her side, but pulled it away for me. The bandages were soaked in blood, obviously needing changing. “Fuck, I wish Sister was here.” I muttered as I started undoing the dressings.

“Who’s that?” Clouds asked.

“A unicorn from below the snowline.” I explained as I worked. “She’s a doctor and fixed me up when I first came to the surface.”

“Why did you come to the surface anyway?”

I stopped for a second, frowning in thought. “I never told you that?” She shook her head. I sighed and resumed working. “A little under a month ago, I found something I shouldn’t have. I was teaching myself how to hack in the hopes that maybe I could get a job with the military, make something of myself.” I clumsily wrapped the bandages around her shoulder, but managed to cover the wound. “I ended up stumbling onto a file that held secret military plans to attack the surface. They want to kill everypony down here, and retake Equestria for themselves.”

“What? Why?” She asked, eyes wide.

“I don’t know. The file said that they will be ‘eliminating threats’, but that is just the dialogue they will be telling the civilians.” I tied the dressings tight and slumped down to sit. “They really just want another apocalypse, where only they survive.”

“And you’re trying to stop them.” She said softly, placing a hoof on my shoulder.

I nodded. “That’s why I’m here, in this Goddesses forsaken Empire. I want to reactivate it, use its light to make the surface they won’t want to attack. Maybe make everypony work together again.” My eyes were fixed on the crystal floor that glimmered with a thin sheen of water, but I wasn’t looking at it. All I could see was the world burning under concentrated plasma fire. “But I don’t know if I’m even capable of it.”

“I think you are.” Clouds said simply. I looked up at her and she was smiling. “You’re one of the smartest mares I’ve ever met! That’s why I…” She stopped talking suddenly, looking down at the floor. “Was there that much water there earlier?”

I glanced down and for an instant I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. Then I noticed the warping of the light as faint ripples played over the little puddle we were sitting in. “That’s not right.” I breathed.

A liquid hoof shot from the puddle and wrapped itself around Clouds’ leg. She screamed in terror, trying to skitter backwards, but her hooves slipped in the growing puddle. She slipped, falling completely on her back, and the water acted immediately. A band of it shot up and tried to go in her mouth. Thankfully she had the presence of mind to snap it closed before the thing could get in her, but now her muzzle was engulfed in suffocating liquid.

I flapped my wings to get out of the water, hovering over Clouds and the water continued to tie her down. Now it had her hooves pinned completely, reducing her struggles to twitches and muffled screams. I had to do something, but what? If I froze it, she would freeze to and die!

Unless I was extremely precise. I landed outside the puddle and closed my eyes. Clouds had been following me with hers, and I couldn’t concentrate with that look of soul-crushing fear staring at me. I took three quick breaths, feeling my power congeal as a mist around my feathers. C’mon, please let me do this. I need to save her.

I beat my wings once, twice, three times. On the third I unleashed a wave of winter energy into the water, taking the utmost caution to hit JUST the water. A sharp crackling filled the air and I snapped my eyes open. Clouds was lying this, still trying to move but now she was bound underneath bands of ice. It had worked! She was completely unfrozen, save a bit of hoarfrost around her fetlocks.

The band covering her nose and mouth was very thin and brittle. I stood over her and gave my best sympathetic look. “Sorry, but this might hurt a bit.” Wasting no time, I pulled back a hoof and brought it down with all my strength on the band.

It cracked and shattered, the ice chips falling to the sides of her. “OW!” She yelled after sucking in a breath. “You punched me in the face!”

“If there was another way I would have taken it, but I didn’t want to risk burning you with Black Powder.” I apologized as I set about cracking the ice around her hooves.

“Why did it attack me anyway?” She asked as she used her magic to chip away at the other bonds.

“Maybe it’s mad at you for saving me.” I said. I was freeing one of her rear hooves when I noticed something shiny glittering under her. “What’s that?”

She sat up, having gotten her front hooves free, and flushed slightly. “Oh, I was going to surprise you with this…” After some awkward twisting and a lot of magical tugging, she pulled the thing free from the ice.

My eyes shot wide as I recognized the diamond PipBuck. “You…you got it?” I gasped, reaching out and tenderly taking it. It felt so light for being made of so much gemstone. “How?!”

“I noticed it at the bottom of the pool as I was pulling you away from that thing.” She said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. “I figured that’s why you went in and brought it with me. I guess it was a little assurance, like if I could give it to you then that meant you would survive, you know?”

I stared at it in shock for a long second, trying to take it in. “This is…” I felt tears start to come to my eyes. I threw my arms around Clouds’ neck and hugged her tightly. “Thank you!”

She froze completely for a second before stuttering a “y-you’re welcome.”

I pulled away from the hug, too excited to notice how red faced Clouds had gone. “I gotta put this thing on!” I started fiddling with the clasp, trying to figure out how to get it open.

“Can we find Scout, first?” Clouds asked, bringing me back to reality. “I think the ice is starting to melt…”

I looked at the frozen shards, and sure enough water was starting to pool under them. I swore I could see it twitching, eager to recreate its form. “Yeah, let’s go.” I agreed, scrambling to my hooves and stuffing the PipBuck in my rad suit. We hurried from the room, throwing the curtain closed between us and the demon.

*****

We found Scout in a long, thin back room that looked to be some kind of maintenance corridor. Most of the available walking space was consumed by pipes, boilers, and water regulators. It felt more like a hallway in Clouds’ super secluded bunker than part of a spa. We reported to him what happened with the water attack Clouds and our subsequent escape. “We left as soon as Clouds noticed the ice melting.” I finished, checking nervously over my shoulder. “I don’t know how far its returned to water or how well it will be able to follow us, but we have to go.”

“I’ve been trying to find a way out, but from the look of it this place has only one exit.” He said. “Though I think we may be able to get out through one of these pipes.”

“You want to go into a tightly enclosed space with even more water?” Clouds asked with a hitch in her voice.

“It’s looking like our only option.” He said, rapping a hoof against one of the larger pipes. “If we can drain the water from one of the larger ones, we can fit through it and cut our way out on the other side.”

“Cut our way out with what?” She asked.

“With this.” I said, gesturing to Black Powder. “And I can freeze a wall behind us to keep the thing out.” I tried to keep any quavering from my voice. The thought of getting in such a cramped space was uncomfortably reminding me of my time in Talon Mountain, but I we couldn’t stay with that amorphous…thing.

“Alright.” Clouds said after a few breaths. “I should be able to get the pipes clear. The system looks similar enough to the super secluded bunker. Just find me a pump control unit and I’ll be good.”

Scout led us towards the other end of the maintenance hallway where an intricate series of pipes, levers, and valves lay. Scout watched the hall while I poked around. There was another door there which I cautiously opened and, after seeing no sentient water, stepped through.

It was a small office space complete with desk, shelves, and a happily glowing terminal. I eagerly sat down at the terminal, anxious for anything to do, only to find that it had never been logged off! “Damnit.” I muttered. Still, I went through the logs, hoping I could find anything about that monster.

Like most terminals in businesses I’d run across, it consisted mainly of boring files, invoices, and what not. The only mildly interesting thing was an audio editing program that seemed to have been used to make radio commercials back before the end. I was about to deem the information unhelpful before one thing caught my eye. A folder titled “Royal Appointments”. Opening it, I found a long backlog of dates spaced each about a month apart. It seemed that the Crystal Princess, or at least a member of her house, was quite fond of the spa.

What was especially interesting was the fact that the final appointment was on the day of the apocalypse.

I pulled the diamond PipBuck out of my rad suit, staring at the screen. “What do you know about this, hm?” I asked it, experimentally pressing a button. To my absolute delight, it lit up! “Hah! Even two hundred years soaking in living water can’t bust one of these!”

The status screen was blank, no indication of the previous owner was left on it. I had a good guess of who it could be, but I wanted to check all the data to make sure. After a little fiddling, I found the notes and audio logs. I couldn’t stop myself from giggling like a schoolfilly at the wonderful little device. So much data, so much technology, all at my hooves! I picked one of the logs at random and scrolled through the text.

>I was assigned a new group of bodyguards today. I told Shining that he should be focusing on defending the crystal ponies, not me, but he wouldn’t listen. He said they were pulled from outside the Empire, so he wasn’t weakening our own forces just for me. I guess I’ll take some solace in that. The ponies are nice enough, but they all have something a little…off about them. I can’t quite put my hoof on it but it’s like they’re too polite, even when they are being mulishly stubborn about their “duty”. They obey every order I give, except the ones where I ask for a bit of privacy. Not to mention, not one of them cracked a smile or frown all day. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but I have a bad feeling something isn’t right in Equestria if this is what the soldiers coming from there are like. I should really call Twilight and see what she knows…

Twilight, where had I heard that name before? I swear I knew it from somewhere, some old factoid I’d picked up in school or something, but now it wouldn’t come to me. And who was Shining? Was he the “Prince”? I wanted some solid answers, damnit!

I picked an audio log next, curious as to how it would play. Through an unseen speaker came the slightly fuzzy voices of two mares. It sounded like they were singing some kind of…nursery rhyme?

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

I paused the log, frowning. That was the last thing I expected. In this cursed Empire of misery, darkness, and fear the cheerful little song felt wrong. I glanced over my shoulder to see if the others had heard it, but the sound of Clouds clanking around with the pipes had masked it.

Resuming play, the mares giggled as they walked, if they sound of clopping hooves was anything to go by. “I’m glad we finally got away from the guards. Every time they’re around I feel like I’m not standing up straight enough!” The first one to speak had a light, kindly voice that immediately endeared me to her.

“Tell me about it. When I’m in Canterlot I feel like I’m on lockdown, 24/7. I can’t imagine how bad it must be as a Princess!” Aha! I knew this voice! Now it was clicking into place, that was Twilight Sparkle, head of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences! Since she was a unicorn she was rarely discussed in the Enclave, but she still received a bit of note in our schooling since she had played a large role in developing the advanced technology and weaponry that the Enclave used. I’d heard at least one audio log of her during my schooling, it was her discussions on the M.A.S. and scientific advancement that got me into hacking in the first place.

So I guess it’s kind of her fault I’m here, isn’t it?

I shook the stupid thought from my head and kept listening. “That is part of the reason I called you here. The ponies we just left are new, and they aren’t from the Empire.”

“Is something wrong with them?”

“No…yes…I don’t know. There’s something off about them, you saw it didn’t you? They’re so…soulless.” There was a long pause before the other mare spoke up again. “Twilight?”

“What? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking.” She cleared her throat and continued. “This war is wearing on the whole nation, especially those who do the actual fighting. These ponies already have a big job protecting the Princess of the Crystal Empire, but I have no doubt Shining Armor really pressured the importance of it on them.”

The other mare sighed, sounding dejected. “Maybe you should talk to him, he’s been so distant lately. I think he’s mad at me for not joining Equestria in declaring war.”

“I can’t even imagine such a thing, but I’ll give it a shot. It’s been too long since he and I talked anyway.”

“Thank you, Twilight.” There was a quiet moment between the two before Twilight spoke up again.

“Cadence, is your PipBuck recording?”

“Is it?” There was a flurry of motion and Cadence groaning. “Sorry, Twilight. I’m still getting a handle on this thing. It’s marvelous, but I’m having some difficulty figuring out the…”

With that, the sound was cut off. Apparently she had found the stop button. I continued to flip through the logs, but little else of interest came up. At least now I knew who the Prince was, this “Shining Armor” who seemed to be related to Twilight Sparkle somehow. Maybe a sibling?

I was getting ready to head back to the others and check on Clouds progress when I spotted a log on the final day. It was another audio recording, maybe it’d give me some insight into how the PipBuck ended up here. I pressed play and Cadence’s voice immediately came through.

“You don’t need to follow me here, Valiance.” She said as a door opened.

“My apologies ma’am, but it is the Prince’s order.” A deep, male voice said.

“Can’t I counter that order as the Princess?”

“Not with the recent threats, ma’am.”

Cadence sighed. “Fine, whatever.” The microphone barely caught her next muttered words. “The only threat here is yours on my sanity.”

Her mutterings were cut off as another voice greeted her. “How are you today, Princess Cadence?”

“I am well, Effervescence. How are you?” The Princess engaged in small talk with the pony who I assumed was the owner of the spa by their familiarity, and the fact that that name had appeared many times in the terminal logs. “I’m afraid I can’t stay long.” She said. “Shining Armor is still searching for threats and I cannot leave the castle unattended for long.”

“That won’t be a problem your Highness. Will you be needing anything else?”

“Actually, yes. Could you find a way to get this PipBuck off of me? It is a wonderful device, but I’d like to have my whole leg back, at least for one bath!”

“Ma’am, if the Prince needs to contact you…” Valiance interrupted.

“Then I will keep it nearby so that I can hear any calls.” There was a pause. “As a matter of fact, here.” There was an unlocking sound and the clanking of tools. “You hold onto it. Let me know if anything comes up, and you can wait in the lobby. Keeping me safe doesn’t mean being in the same bath as me.” There was a splashing of water and Cadence let out a relieved sigh. “Now, go, Valiance. I will call when I am ready.”

Valiance gave a reluctant affirmative, and from the sound of hooves was in the act of turning away when a loud, distant rumbling was heard. “What the Hell?” The guard yelled in shock. A loud clattering filled the speaker.

“What was that?” Cadence’s voice, high with fear came from further away. There was the sound of beating wings and the Princess gasping. “Oh no…” The loud, whirring thrum of unicorn magic filled the air.

“Princess, wait!” Valiance yelled, his panicked hoofsteps overpowering the other noises. There was a loud POP another rumble, Valiance screaming, a splash and…

A loud, discordant noise blared through the speaker on the device, practically knocking me off the chair. “GAH!” I fumbled a bit with the PipBuck before finally shutting the log off.

“The fuck was that?” Scout asked, galloping into the room, eyes wide and weapons ready.

“Nothing, nothing!” I said placatingly, sliding the PipBuck between he and I before spinning around in the chair.

“What do you have there?” He asked, brow furrowed.

“Nothing, just a terminal.” I said, nodding over my shoulder. I couldn’t let him see the PipBuck now. I was piecing together why we were under attack, and if I was right the last thing I wanted was his seeing that PipBuck. “There were some strange audio logs on it that I started playing. Didn’t give me any insight into what that thing is, though.”

“Alright, well, Clouds is almost ready. I want us out of here as fast as possible once we can go.” He said, turning back to the door.

“With you there!” I called after him. I waited two beats for him to be completely around the corner before spinning around again in the chair and scrambling over the terminal. I knew what the water was now. It was Valiance, horribly corrupted by the terrible magical energies of the apocalypse into an amorphous being hell bent on following his one last order.

But I had this PipBuck now, and by the Goddesses I was going to keep it. Some soggy spirit wasn’t going to take this from me!

Finally, after much fussing about, I found what I was looking for. A cable to connect external devices to the terminal. I hooked the PipBuck up to the terminal and set immediately to work. I found myself checking constantly over my shoulder as I worked, worried not only that I would see Valiance coming for me, but Scout discovering what I was up to. It wouldn’t take him long to piece together what I had about the PipBuck. Even if he didn’t have the specifics, it was obvious that the monster was guarding it. Scout would give this marvelous little invention back to that beast!

“But not…” I muttered, firmly tapping the last few keys “if I’m clever enough.”

“Sleet! We’re moving!”

“Got it!” I called back, downloading my work. It took a second longer than I was comfortable with, but it worked. I disconnected the PipBuck, stuffed it into my rad suit, and galloped out of the room.

*****

“Find anything good?” Scout asked. He had put his helmet back on, muffling his voice.

“Maybe, but I’m really just hoping we don’t run into that thing again.” I said, cantering to a stop next to him.

“Then let’s get going. This place is freaking me out.” He had apparently found a toolbox while I was in the other room because he pulled out a screwdriver and began dismantling the largest nearby pipe. It was about a pony’s size in diameter and flush with the ground, which would make entering it simple.

“You have those completely flushed of water, right?” I asked Clouds as I pulled my rad suit back over my forelegs and chest. I was hoping that if I had to fall back on my plan that the suit’s magic would let me easily access the PipBuck.

“Not a drop!” She said confidently. Her own suit had been patched up over the wound, effectively sealing the breach. “We can get through bone dry.”

“Good, cause I’m sick of this place.” I said, needing to raise my voice over the clanking of the pipes as they finally came free.

“I’ll go first and light the way.” Scout said, getting on his stomach and crawling in.

“You go next.” I told Clouds, nodding at the pipe. “I’ll freeze us in once we’re inside.”

“Actually, it might be best if I got in last.” Clouds said, rubbing her chin in thought. “I could levitate the pipe back into place and then you can freeze that shut.”

“Are you sure that’s the best idea?” I asked a little nervously. This is going to be claustrophobic enough…

She nodded. “It’ll make sure that it can’t find us, let alone follow.” I sighed my concession. Clouds passed me my helmet, which I sealed into place before turning around and crawling into the pipe.

My anticipatory anxiety of how cramped it would be didn’t even compare to the real thing. My every side was being pressed against by cold, hard metal. I felt my muscles flexing against the containment, which only further increased my panic when it didn’t give. I felt a sudden, all-consuming need to stretch and rotate me limbs, but couldn’t. All I could do was crawl forward, but what if I got stuck? What is the pipe narrowed? It was already cramped, what if forward suddenly wasn’t an option and all that remained was behind to my death? I felt my breathing speeding up right along with my heart…

“Sleet, you alright?” Scout asked, awkwardly bending around to look at me.

“Yeah, yeah I will be.” I gasped, trying to get my breathing pattern back to normal. “I’m just not fond of tight spaces.” I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek, using the pain as something to focus on. Crawling forward, I made enough room for Clouds to climb in, the detached section of pipe held in her electric blue magic.

Once the seam was back in place, I closed my eyes and visualized a thick layer of ice forming inside the pipe, sealing it and blocking the entrance. It was much harder than normal to focus my talent inside the metal tube, the confinement serving as a psychological block from the sky. I pictured myself swooping through the clouds, glorious sunlight beaming down from the clear blue vault above.

The temperature rapidly plummeted inside the pipe and a loud crackling heralded the forming ice. I opened my eyes, and in the faint green lamp light of Scout’s PipBuck, I could see fruits of my labor. A half-inch thick ring of ice glimmered around the seam of the pipe. “Alright, let’s move.” I gasped, feeling the blood rush to my head from the strain of the magic.

We started crawling. The meager light of Scout’s PipBuck flickered in and out of existence as his body periodically covered the lamp. I had to carefully measure each movement so he wasn’t kicking me in the face, and I wasn’t doing the same to Clouds. I could feel her moving behind me through vibrations in the metal, but I couldn’t see her. Being trapped between the two of them was not helping my claustrophobia in the slightest. The darkness and regular movements meant I could close my eyes and focus on not losing my mind in the confined space. Why does the surface have to have so many fucking tunnels? I thought.

My focus was abruptly interrupted as my helmet bashed into Scout’s rear hoof. “Ow!” Though my helmet stopped, my face didn’t and I ended up smashing my nose into the glass. Clouds apparently didn’t notice the stop either, since she kept going and ended up squishing me. “Clouds! Back up!” I snapped.

“Sorry, sorry!”

“Scout, what the Hell?” I hissed into the radio.

“Shhh!” He snapped back, waving a hoof over his shoulder. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Shhh!”

I glared at him, though since I could only see his flank it wasn’t very effective. Straining my ears, I focused my hearing, zoning out the breathing of my companions. There was nothing, just a little dripping…

Wait, dripping?

My eyes shot wide. “Scout, go!” I pressed against his hooves. “Go!” Clouds screamed, a long, terrified sound. She started to panic, scrambling down the pipe even though we still weren’t moving. “Clouds, wait!” Then I felt the cold around my hooves and knew it was too late. Something powerful crushed my lower rear legs, pulling me down the pipe. I managed to twist onto my side, which made just enough room for Clouds to begin to slip by me.

“Sleet!” She cried as I was dragged inexorably past her, crushing the two of us together, I on my back and her pressed atop me. Thankfully, the pipe wasn’t big enough for the two of us and we jammed in that position. But Valiance wasn’t giving up. I screamed as he continued to tug, stretching me like a child’s piece of chewing gum. I managed to wrap a hoof around Clouds’ shoulder and press the other against the pipe, further securing the seal we made with our bodies. I managed to get my chin low enough to see the monster.

The living water that was Valiance had absorbed my rear hooves completely with his front ones. The amorphous head with the bluish-white light for eyes glared at me. The face had no features, but I could feel the determination of the long-dead soldier. Whatever had made him this way hadn’t taken the conviction of his spirit.

“What do we do?” She screamed, bracing her hooves against the pipe as well.

“Hold on, I have an idea!” I tried to summon the PipBuck with the suit’s magic, but the interface flashed red.

>Magical interference detected. Manipulator spell offline.

“Fucking hell…” I growled. “Clouds, hold on tight!” I released my bracing hoof and pulled it inside the sleeve of the suit. The loss of one of the braces caused a sudden jerking, yanking me toward Valiance. Clouds screamed at the strain, and I felt us pulling loose.

A new set of hooves appeared in my vision, wrapping under the helmet and locking in tight. I didn’t have to look to know that Scout had just saved my ass again, but there wasn’t time to thank him. “Do these things have speakers?” I asked Clouds.

“Yeah, why?” She asked, her voice tight with strain.

“Just tell me how to turn it on!” I was slowly, painfully, fishing through the inside of my suit for my trump card. She explained it right as I got my hoof around my target. “Yes!” With a little thrill of triumph, I pulled the PipBuck up into my helmet and switched on the speakers. With only one very, very awkwardly held hoof, I pulled up the audio files and played the most recent one.

“Valiance, this is Princess Cadence. I am safe, stand down.” The light, friendly voice of Princess Cadence played through the PipBuck and through my speakers, filling the pipe. It was obviously not natural, her intonation and tenor changed with every word. Some of them were cut off, obviously part of another sentence, but the whole was there.

The pulling suddenly stopped. Valiance stared at me, at the PipBuck, unmoving. I pressed the button and played it again.

“Valiance, this is Princess Cadence. I am safe, stand down.”

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the light dimmed in Valiance’s eyes. The water began to lose form, collapsing into inanimate liquid once again. A soft blue light continued to emit from the puddle for several seconds before fading away into nothingness, and we were once again in the dark.

“Holy shit…” I whispered, my voice quavering with the flood of adrenaline pumping through my body. “That worked.”

“That worked?” Scout said, releasing my neck. “What do you mean, ‘that worked’? And where the fuck did you get a PipBuck?”

The adrenal high was making me giggly. I needed to fight through the snickers to talk. “Great Celestia and Luna that worked!”

“Sleet! Answer me!”

“I ffffffhahaha! Sorry, sorry!” I waved a hoof at him and held the one still inside my helmet to my mouth. “Pffffhaha! Sorry, right! PipBuck! Clouds found it, gave it to me.”

“Yep.” She confirmed in a breathless voice. “Now, can we move? It’s hard to breathe…”

It took a minute for us to reorient so that we weren’t so compressed anymore. Throughout all of it, I couldn’t stop laughing. I was still blown away at how the monster had fallen for that shitty hack-job of a doctored sound file! I guess two hundred years as a puddle doesn’t make you very perceptive.

It took a firm knock on the helmet from Scout to get me to stop howling with laughter and start moving.

After a minute more of crawling, Scout announced that, according to his PipBuck, we were finally outside. “How thick were these walls that it took so long?” Clouds asked.

“This whole thing was angled down near the start. We actually passed under the street.” Scout explained. “We came up underneath the next building over. We’re going to need to crawl up to get out.”

Whatever interference had been screwing with my manipulator spell appeared to have died with Valiance. I was able to pull out Black Powder and, after Scout pulled far enough ahead to not get dripped on, started melting the top of the pipe.

“So, want to fill me in on why you didn’t tell us about that trump card, Sleet?” Scout asked as I worked.

I had the hiccups from laughing so much, but could still talk. “I wasn’t sure how that thing interpreted the world around it.” I said, cobbling together a lie on the fly. “For all I know it was reading our minds. The fewer of us who knew I had just made that up, the better.”

“Then how did you know it would hear it?”

I paused to load a new spark pack. The metal was starting to glow at the spot I kept blasting. “Because if it could read minds it would hear it through your thoughts as you heard it? I don’t know how these things work, Scout!”

“And how did you get that audio recording?”

“I complied it from a bunch of random recordings I found on that terminal, downloaded the Frankenstallion file onto the PipBuck and played it. You should have seen the amount of times the Princess came up on the reservation list. She practically funded that place, not to mention the endorsements.” The metal was starting to drip, hissing on the bottom part of the pipe.

“So what you’re saying is you completely bullshitted a plan that might or might not have worked depending on if the thing trying to kill us could hear or not?” There was a banging noise as he hit his head against the pipe. “Sleet…”

“What? It worked! And if it didn’t, I could have frozen it and we could have ran.” I had melted a good sized hole in the pipe, just enough to peak through. “Now let me check to be sure nothing up there is waiting to kill us.” I chilled the metal with my talent and crawled forward. Getting my helmet to fit in a proper peeking position was difficult, but I managed it. There was a metal grate above us, signaling that we were under some kind of factory floor, perhaps. The mesh would be easy enough to get through with Black Powder.

What made me scream and scramble backwards was the eye looking back at me. “Something’s up there!”

“Sleet Gray? Is that you?” A familiar voice crackled through the radio.

I froze solid, not believing what I was hearing. “Arterial?” Sure enough, flicking weakly on the radar was a tiny “A” right above Scout’s “S”.

“Why the fuck are you in a pipe?” The griffon asked.

“Because my life is a fucking madhouse.” I muttered. “Now step aside so I don’t accidentally melt your beak off.”

*****

It took way more of my ammo than I wanted to use, but I finally melted a hole big enough for us to crawl out of. “You know, when the Enclave breached Talon if felt like ponies were crawling out of the walls.” Arterial was saying as I hauled myself up. “I never thought I’d actually see it happen.”

“Shut up.” I growled at him, stretching every joint I could. “Do you know where Clarity is? Is she with you?”

“I’m afraid not.” He said. “I’ve been by myself this whole time.” He looked down at Scout and Clouds who were crawling out after me. “Though I see you have been more fortunate.”

“Well, we have almost everybody now. We just need to find Clarity, and then find the Crystal Heart.”

“Easier said than done.” Arterial said. “I tried patrolling the skies to find you, but there are dragons up there.”

“Dragons?” I asked, my heart sinking. Dragons were one of the rarest, but most destructive threats the Enclave faced. One dragon could wipe out a whole city, which was where their special designed dragon-killer ships came in. We didn’t have that sort of equipment though, and all those precautions were taking for singular dragons. Arterial had spoken in the plural.

“Young ones, little more than drakes, but dragons none the less.” He said. “On the plus side we are close to the castle, and there is something shining pretty brightly near the base of it. It might be this Heart you’re looking for.”

“Then let’s get moving. I don’t want to waste any more time.” I gestured for Arterial to lead the way and we started towards the exit. As we went, I pulled out the PipBuck and began trying to attach it to my leg. It was hard to do with the simple manipulator spell though, and Scout noticed my frustration.

“Here.” He said, pulling me over to the side and helping me clamp it just above my right fetlock. “I took a master key for these when I left the Stable, so we can get it the rad suit off once we’re out of here.”

“Thank you, Scout.” I said sincerely, smiling at the PipBuck as it lit up. The status screen flickered for a bit before a little cartoonish pegasus appeared, smiling broadly.

“Sleet,” he said, putting his hoof on the PipBuck and forcing me to look at him. His face was stern, as unforgiving as the crystal structures all around us. “Do not leave me in the dark on one of your plans again.”

“Of course.” I said immediately.

His expression melted slightly, becoming…sad? Before I could figure it out, he turned and continued walking. I flapped there for a second, watching him walk away and wondering why my stomach was churning so much.

“Sleet Gray! Keep moving!” Arterial called back.

I nodded and flew to catch up to them
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EXP gained!
PipBuck acquired! You now have access to all the wonders these little devices have to offer. +5 to Medicine and Repair while wearing it. You might need a little training to access the advanced functions.

The Crystal Empire, Part 3

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 20: The Crystal Empire, Part 3
“On the first day, ponies were granted a soul, and with it, clarity.”

>STATUS NAME: Sleet Gray. RACE: Pegasus. SEX: Female. RAD LEVEL: No Radiation Sickness.
>ITEMS WEAPONS: Magical Energy Pistol “Black Powder”. ARMOR: Anti-Radiation Special Containment Suit (+50 Rad. Resist, Basic H.U.D., Manipulator Spell). MED: Magical bandages, healing potions, Rad-X, Rad-Away.
>DATA MAP: Crystal Empire, Northern Boulevard.

I flipped through feature after feature of my new toy. I couldn’t get over it, the shining diamond device around my hoof with a world’s worth of information within. All my life I’d wanted a PipBuck, and now I did, and no ordinary PipBuck either! Forged of diamonds, made for a Princess! I had to hold back a giggle, I felt like a filly on her birthday.

“Sleet.” Scout’s voice crackled through the radio. “Wake up, we’re almost there.”

“Huh?” I looked up, and sure enough shafts of radiant light were cutting through the deep fog. “Really? That was…easy.”

“Easy or not, we’re getting close.” He shook his shoulders, settling his battle saddle into place. “Be on your guard, and take some Rad-X. The levels are jumping.”

I glanced in the upper left corner of my helmet and felt my heart jump. “+5 Rads a sec.” flashed in red letters. I activated the rad suit’s manipulator spell and drew one of the little tablets out of my pockets and into the helmet. Crunching down and swallowing hard, I ignored the chalky taste and checked the radiation counter. I sighed as the number dropped to a less disconcerting “+1”. Hopefully that would be enough, because the light was getting brighter.

For a moment, I believed I had somehow found myself above the clouds again. I had to throw a hoof over my eyes in the face of a glare brighter than the sun. I slowly adjusted to the light and got a glimpse of the centerpiece of the Empire. We were standing in a large open circle devoid of the deathly fog, and dominating it was the Crystal Palace. It stood on four angled “legs” that held up the tremendous tower of diamond. Smooth as glass, the needle structure stretched into the turbulent clouds far above. Taking up the empty space between the “legs” was the source of the blinding light.

A great ball of energy, swirling with multi-colored magic filled in the space. It did not stretch beyond the limitations of the castle, though whatever was containing it wasn’t obvious.

The light was entrancing, but something about it tugged at the back of my mind. It was that damned fuzzy dream I’d had in the crystal caves. I wanted to forget the jumble of unintelligible images, but bits of it kept coming together. I knew it was about Clarity and her family, that much was certain. Something about that light though…

“Sleet? Are you okay?” I felt a hoof on my shoulder as Clouds’ voice came through the radio.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine…” I murmured, not opening my eyes. “I think whatever is generating the fog is in that light.”

“Then we need to get in there and shut it down.” Scout said. “Even if we find the Crystal Heart in there, it won’t mean anything if we get killed on the way out.”

“Then let’s get in there and rip its throat out.” Arterial growled. “I’m sick of this place.” Scout began to protest rushing in, but was cut short when Arterial screeched in surprise.

Snapping my eyes open and whirling around, I saw the griffon had been blasted back from the orb of light. The light had coalesced into a purple hemisphere that looked like a unicorn shield spell. Arterial lay unmoving on his back, I’d have mistaken him for dead if he wasn’t grumbling over the radio. “Damned pony magic…”

“There’s got to be a way inside.” Clouds said as Scout helped Arterial up. “Maybe we can break the shield?”

I looked around, using the opportunity to think as a way to drown out the screaming. Scanning the castle, I noticed a balcony several hundred feet up. It looked like a place where royalty would address the masses assembled below, but now it was our entry point. “Or we could go in from the top.” I said, getting to my hooves and trotting over to Scout. “If you have a rope long enough to reach up there, then Arterial and I can fly up and lower it so you and Clouds can climb in.”

“Do you know if there is a way past that shield from inside?” Scout asked as he sorted through his duffel bag.

I checked my PipBuck’s map data, and found a complete schematic of the palace. Not surprising since the last owner of this thing lived there I thought as I scrolled through. The top-down, green wire frame view of the map was a little disorienting at first, but I quickly spotted a staircase that lead down to a ground floor door.

“Right here.” I said, smiling and pointing to the spot on the map. “If we find that staircase, we have a direct route.”

“Alright, here.” He handed me a lengthy coil of nylon that I hung over my shoulder. “Be careful, we don’t know what’s up there.”

I nodded and spread my wings, leaping into the air. Flying while wearing the radiation suit was incredibly awkward. Once I got over the orb I had to kick off the palace walls to keep gaining height. Arterial simply zipped straight up, seemingly unhindered by his own suit.

I was short of breath by the time I finally wrapped my hooves around the edge of the balcony. A safety railing ran around the edge, which I gratefully used to haul myself up. Arterial was just standing there, like a neon yellow gargoyle. I didn’t have time to question it, since I was too busy flopping over the railing like a beached sea pony.

“Quiet!” Arterial hissed at me, giving no consideration for my exhaustion.

“Shut up, this suit is hard to fly in.” I gasped at him. I had landed on my back and was looking at him upside down while I waited for my wing muscles to stop aching. Swifter than I could react, he dropped down and wrapped a clawed grip around my throat. I squeaked in surprise, but rather than hollowing out my neck he held up a free talon in a shushing motion before slowly pointing into the castle.

Unable to move, I rolled my eyes up to see what he was pointing at. Because the image was upside down, it took me a moment to recognize what I was looking at. When I did, it took even longer to believe it. The balcony led into a massive hallway, wide enough for a cadre of ponies to walk abreast and at least thrice as tall.

This made it very accommodating for the dragon sleeping in it.

The tremendous curled form had its back to us, but there was no mistaking the dragon for what it was. It was at least ten feet tall, and about as long.

I pried Arterial’s talon off my neck. “It’s a young one…” I muttered.

“You call something that size young?”

“Yeah, look how stocky it is.” I traced its outline with the tip of a wing. “It probably only started growing to adolescent size a decade or so ago. And the radiation hasn’t helped, look how stunted the wings are.”

The most striking thing was what the radiation had done to it. Crystals grew through rough scars in its scales, like cancerous tumors. Blood and pus seeped from around the growths, staining the green scales. I felt a pang of sympathy for it, at least my mutation was cosmetic and easy to hide.

“And how do you know all this?” Arterial whispered

“Enclave schooling teaches dragon anatomy. They are the biggest threat to a society above the clouds after all.” I felt a burning at the back of my neck and glanced over my shoulder to see Arterial glaring daggers at me. “One of the biggest threats.” I amended quickly.

The griffon snorted and turned back to the dragon. “We need to take it out, no telling when it will wake up. If it’s just an adolescent, the scales on the underside are still soft. If we fly over we can end it quickly.”

“Why not wait for Scout so we can get backup?” I asked.

“We don’t know when it will wake up, we go now.” Silently, he took off, his wing beats infinitely quieter than footsteps. I sighed and set the rope coil down gently. No sense in it weighing me down. I quietly relayed the reason for the delay to Scout and Clouds through the radio before taking off. With a mental command, I triggered the suit’s manipulator spell and levitated Black Powder into the ready position. The incineration pistol would only be of limited use against the incredibly flame resistant dragon. Archeological samples of infant dragon scales suggested they could withstand molten rock. Still, it felt better having the gun than not.

It didn’t take long for us to position above the adolescent wyrm. Arterial slowly alighted on his rear lion paws, drawing his gun and lining up a shot on the heart. He would need to get this right the first time, or the monster would wake up and end us.

I stayed above the beast, watching for signs of movement. The scarring was worse on the head. Its jaw was pulled open in a permanent snarl from the emeralds tugging at the mouth, and a clear diamond had completely replaced its eyelid. I could see its eye through the diamond, an angry thing, burning with hatred for the world. I didn’t blame it, considering its disfigurement.

I turned my head to look at Arterial, who was at this point just beginning to line up his shot. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw something move. Snapping back to the dragon, I stared into the eye. It looked back at me. Right back at me…

I slowly moved to the left, and watched the eye move with me. A stone dropped into my gut. “Arterial, it’s awake!”

The dragon rolled to its feet, putting its harder side before Arterial. The twisted head reared up towards me, mouth open wide. I dove straight down towards its back, landing at the nape of its long neck as fire engulfed the spot I’d occupied moments before. I was thrilled to have made it out uncharred, but now I was bronco riding a very upset dragon. I managed to wrap my arms and legs around one of its back spines, anchoring myself in place as it bucked wildly. “Sleet! What’s happening?” Scout’s voice came through the radio.

“The dragon’s awake!” I yelled back, holding on as fast as I could as the wyrm turned. I faintly caught a flash of yellow as Arterial zoomed into the air.

“Start shooting, damnit!” The griffon barked at me as he swept around the dragon’s head, barely dodging the snapping jaws. He peppered it with gunfire every chance he got, but the bullets hardly scuffed the gemstone scales.

I wanted to, but I was barely keeping myself latched on, and in all the shaking I’d lost my gun. The dragon had begun stomping through the hall, letting lose ear-splitting roars that shook the walls. At some point my legs slipped loose, causing me to bounce on the mutant’s hide with each earth quaking step. I'm going to be bruised to shit after this I thought begrudgingly.

I felt something dig into the back of my neck and pull me off the dragon’s spine. “Get moving, Gray!” Arterial roared, flinging my unceremoniously into the air. I managed to right my battered body and start flying again, just in time to swoop out of the path of the dragon’s tail.

During my dive I spotted Black Powder lying on the crystalline floor. I picked it up mid-swoop and flew under the monster, searing its underside with bolts of super-heated magical energy. The dragon roared in pain, trying to crush me under foot, but I was already on the other side and climbing.

But Goddesses damnit my suit was heavy. I found myself struggling for breath as I ascended, leaning against the wall for support. All pegasi have a bit of innate magical anti-gravity to help with flying. Mostly it was used by foals for vertical crawling out of their cribs, right now I was just using it to rest as I clung to the castle walls like a spider.

Unfortunately the dragon did not feel like letting me get away with it. It tried to leap at me, gouging frighteningly large claw marks in the diamond walls, but I was too high up. I managed to smile through my panting as I watched the beast flail, feeling an unfamiliar twinge of superiority. Yeah, take that you over grown salamander. I thought victoriously. It decided not to let me have the victory for long. Instead it tried something different, and knocked me loose.

Rearing back, I was at a loss for what it was doing until it snapped forward and crashed its head into the wall with titanic might. I didn’t have time to push off the wall before the shockwave jostled me loose. I screamed as I fell, unable to get out of the tumble. I had the presence of mind to kick the wall so I wouldn’t fall into the dragon’s waiting jaws, but that had the side effect of making me crash down on its back, right by the spines.

The pain whited out my vision as one of the spines tore a massive wound in my rear left leg. I thought for sure the limb had been impaled, but the fact that I was sliding down the monster’s back and pulling the searing pain with me suggested otherwise. I hit the ground hard, tears and sweat blurring my sight as I checked the damage.

The spine had torn through suit, skin and muscle to leave a terrible gouge in my quadricep. Blood poured freely, and if I didn’t treat it quickly I’d go into shock. But first I had to deal with the dragon, thankfully distracted by Arterial for the moment. I needed one perfect blow, just something that could end this all in a second with no way of screwing up…

For an instant, I forgot all about the pain as an idea hit me. “Scout! How do I turn on S.A.T.S.?” I croaked into the radio.

“It’s a magical trigger, you need to turn your Eyes Forward Sparkle on first.” He said.

“So how the Hell do I do that?”

“It’s the little switch on the left side of the screen, press it!”

I found the switch easily and flicked it. For an instant, static filled my vision before clearing away to the PipBuck’s HUD. A little cartoonish pony face with two “X”s in the eyes and its tongue sticking out between its teeth appeared in the upper left of my vision. Next to it flashed a little message “YOUR LEG IS CRIPPLED!” Thanks, I didn’t know. I thought angrily.

I didn’t have a chance to worry about that, because the dragon had finally swatted his annoying fly. Arterial made a strangled noise of pain as he was hit from the sky. The dragon was about to crush his head, when something hot and bright struck it. The beast turned, annoyed that I was still alive and firing, because somehow fortune smiled enough to have Black Powder land near me.

The monster turned, its massive girth easily reaching me in only a few steps. As it loomed over me, it began pulling its head back, jaws gaping, but not to eat me. I saw flicking light in the back of its throat, and wondered faintly if my nerves would be destroyed before I could feel myself burn.

Turn on S.A.T.S. you idiot! The little pony in the back of my head screamed at me. Suddenly, the world froze solid. Nothing moved, at all. Even the fire building in the dragon’s throat had stopped in time. A dialog box suddenly appeared in front of my eyes.

“Welcome to the Stable-Tech Assisted Targeting System (S.A.T.S.). Highlight your target and select to continue.” Parts of the dragon became highlighted in green, with each part giving me a little percentage. On a whim, I mentally “clicked” on the dragons head. Beep! A list appeared on the right of my vision, the first entry reading “Target: Head”. A bar at the bottom right was reduced in response to the selection. I “backed out” and the list emptied, the bar refilling.

I had to suppress my thrill of excitement. This might not save me. I needed something to stop the dragon from breathing fire, and I needed it quick. I knew this frozen time was all perception, I couldn’t stay here forever. There was one option available to me, it was risky, but I had done something similar before. Admittedly, that had been with a mechanical device and not a highly mutated abomination, but I felt it worth the risk. I just had to hope the ponies that programmed S.A.T.S. had similar schooling to me.

I visualized my target perfectly, based off the old anatomy charts I’d been made to memorize above the clouds. Beep! I wanted to cheer as the system targeted something inside the dragon “Fire Gland”. I targeted that once, consuming the whole bar. “Special Attack: Winter Weather Pony” appeared in the list. With a quick prayer to the Goddesses, I “clicked” accept.

Time flowed again, but in slow motion as my body operated on its own. My wings flared to the side and I felt the well of cold power rise up inside me. I flapped once, and frost began to spread across the dragon’s chest. Everything returned to full speed as the monster unleashed the fire stream at me, or at least tried to. Instead, thick black smoke poured from its mouth, clouding my vision but leaving me un-charred.

“Arterial, now! It can’t breathe fire!” The wyrm was hacking up smoke, clutching its chest in agony as it tried to generate a flame. My griffon companion leapt from the ground in screeching fury. He flew to its head, pressing his gun to the un-crusted eye and emptied the clip directly into the socket, and through it to the brain. The dragon roared, flailing as blood and pus poured from the destroyed eye. Slowly, painfully so, it weakened before finally collapsing, dead.

“Yes! That worked!” I screamed, double hoof-pumping the air.

“What did you do?” Arterial asked, landing beside me.

“I used S.A.T.S. to freeze its fire gland. The Enclave’s education system finally paid off!” I tried to sit up, but the blood rushing out of my leg sapped me of strength and knocked me right back down. “I still wish they had a better weather training program…”

The griffon’s face was implacable as he looked down at me. “If you can freeze internal organs, why not freeze the heart?”

I stared back at him for a long, uncomfortable stretch of seconds before responding. “Shut up, it worked. Get me a health potion and go lower the rope.”

*****

“Dear Cadence,

I hope things are going better since my last visit. I’ve hardly had a spare moment since returning to Canterlot, but there’s something I want to give you. Consider it an early birthday gift! This should help you get from place to place in the Empire much more quickly. It also makes for a quick evacuation, so even my brother will like it! This is only our first field-ready prototype, but I’m hoping to create a network of them across Equestria. Maybe then we can visit each other more often?

Love,

Twilight Sparkle”

I sucked down the last of a healing potion as I scrolled to the end of the letter, one of many from a correspondence between Princess Cadence and the Ministry Mare. I felt a little voyeuristic reading them, even though the message senders were two hundred years dead. I pushed past the feeling, hoping that I could find something that may help us get out of this damned Empire alive.

“You okay, Sleet?” Clouds asked, trotting over to me.

“Hm?” I looked up, the tube from a mostly-empty pouch of Rad-Away in my mouth. I took one last pull of the tart medicine and spat the tube out. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just reading.”

“Okay, um, how’s your leg? Any pain? Any more breaches in the suit? Any symptoms of blood loss? Any…”

“Clouds, I’m fine.” I said, cutting her babbling off. I had been sitting against a wall after my injured leg had been wrapped up in magical bandages and the suit was rebound with duct tape. A slip-shod means of sealing the breach, but effective. I was still drinking Rad-Away like a dying mare. By the time the dragon fight was over, I had accumulated enough rads in my body for to suffer from minor sickness. According to my PipBuck, I was now clean of any corruption, but I was still taking extra precautions.

“Okay, okay, good. Just making sure, you know?” She shuffled nervously for a second. “Find anything interesting in the reading?”

“A couple things.” I said, browsing through the past few logs I had read. “Apparently the Princess was good friends with Twilight Sparkle. They have a lot of messages between each other. A lot of it is kind of trivial, but apparently Twilight gave Cadence a gift that will help her ‘move around the Empire’.”

“What do you think it is?” Clouds asked, sticking her head over my shoulder to look at the screen. “Some sort of rail system?”

“I don’t know.” I said, getting to my hooves. “But we should get moving.” I started trotting towards Scout and Arterial who were discussing out next move on the other end of the hall. I had only gotten a few steps away when I noticed that Clouds’ dot on the radar wasn’t moving. I bit back a sigh and turned to her, slumped against the wall. “Hey, Clouds.” She looked up and I gave her the brightest smile I could muster. “C’mon, let’s go. We’re almost done.” She smiled back thankfully and got to her hooves, following me.

We joined the stallions (was that right, with Arterial there? What was the male word for griffon anyway?) who had been talking in their own radio channel. Seeing us approach, they switched back to the open frequency. “What did you find out?”

“I checked the map and there is a fairly direct route to where we want to go.” I said. “According to Princess Cadence’s old logs, there is a device somewhere in the castle that may help us move around, but I don’t know where it is.”

“We’ll worry about that when we have the fog taken care of and have found Clarity.” He said. “Let’s move.” I pointed him in the right direction and we set off. I kept my E.F.S. turned on, giving me compass directions, a monitor of my overall health, and the incredibly important threat indicator. Right now, all I saw were friendly little blue bars that corresponded with the positions of the others around me.

As we walked, I decided to listen to a few of the recordings on the PipBuck. I had managed to route the audio into the rad suit helmet, rather than the PipBuck’s external speakers so the sound wouldn’t give us away to any lurking monsters. I selected one recorded not long before the end of the world, Princess Cadence’s kindly voice filling my helmet.

“I cast a spell on Shining Armor today meant to detect a changeling’s presence. When it told me that the stallion standing before me was not a bug in disguise, it didn’t make me feel any better. He is almost never in the castle anymore, and refuses to let me leave without a regiment of guards at my back. He even put a continuous shield spell around the Heart’s chamber. He’s says he’s been getting closer to the source of the threats against me, but I’m convinced he is overreacting. We are not isolated from the strain of the War, even here in the Empire. These threats are nothing more than somepony voicing their frustrations, and I can’t stand the thought of my love silencing those voices for my sake.”

More paranoia. Was it all linked to Sombra, considering his connection to the Empire, or was his return a result of the fear from the War? Perhaps it was both, one working off of the other like a tremendous engine of terror.

We came to a doorway, a fairly plain one given the grandeur of the palace. It was a simple wooden thing, not unlike the door leading to Sombra’s throne room in Stalliongrad. The room beyond may have once been a simple antechamber, but had been converted into a guard outpost. Most of the room had been cordoned off by security booth and a turnstile, our door leading to the lower chamber on the other side.

Once the door was opened, a little red bar appeared on the E.F.S., coming from the guard booth. Scout raised a hoof, stopping us just before we entered the room. The guard booth had a door facing us, silently he motioned me toward it. I crept up as quietly as I could and tested the door. Locked, no problem. Raising a wing, I touched the tip to the keyhole and channeled my power into it. Frost covered the knob, and a slight mist fell from the keyhole. Stepping back, I raised Black Powder and nodded to Scout, mouthing “three, two, one…”

On “one” I fired, the sudden extreme heat change shattering the metal. Scout rushed forward, shoulder checking the door open and falling into a firing stance. He hesitated for only a second before firing, the hunting rifle attached to his battle saddle giving a mighty CRACK! The red bar disappeared from the compass. He nodded and stepped aside. “See if there is anything good on it, I’ll get the other door open.”

I stepped into the booth and had to hold back a shudder. The corpse of one of those strange, light-less crystal ghouls lay on the floor. It looked more like a pony-shaped void than a body. The booth was very sparse, just a chair, counter, and clipboard with entry logs attached to it. The ghoul, once a unicorn, wore a guard’s uniform. I rifled through its pockets, but found nothing. I was about to give up and rejoin the others when I noticed something under the counter.

There was a holotape recording attached to the underside of the counter with duct tape. I downloaded the recording onto my PipBuck and gave it a listen.

“Lock, take an early lunch break.”

“Lunch break…” I muttered. Flipping back through the audio recordings, I checked the timestamp on Princess Cadence’s final log on the final day. Noon. Cadence had gone to the spa during lunchtime, not minutes before the bombardment began. Cadence said Shining Armor was almost never in the castle, and with her gone on her spa trip the castle had been devoid of royalty during the end. They probably thought the castle left in good hooves with their staff, but if there was a subversive element…

Perhaps Shining Armor hadn’t been paranoid enough.

“Sleet, let’s go.” Scout called out. I got up and galloped out of the booth, my mind spinning with conspiracies and questions.

*****

As we descended the staircase the “click click clicking” of the radiation meters grew steadily louder. We dosed up on Rad-X and Rad-Away, but they could only do so much. If we didn’t have a way of shutting down the radiation soon we’d cook with or without the suits.

Reaching the bottom, we wasted no time and threw open the door, spreading out into the chamber below the palace. The massive lower chamber was engulfed in light, tendrils of illuminance extending from the center. Two crystal needles, one from above, one from below, met in the center, holding between them the object of our mission. The Crystal Heart, a large cool blue gemstone sat suspended between the needles, emitting the tremendous light.

But it was clear the Heart was sick. Fractures burning with noxious green energy that leaked the terrible mist spread from the center. It seemed a miracle that the thing hadn’t been completely destroyed.

Standing in front of the Heart was a shadowed unicorn, its horn alit with purple magic. For a second it seemed like it hadn’t noticed us, but then it turned it head. His coat was pure white with a blue mane. He wore golden armor with an ornate sword belted to his side. As he turned fully to face us, the purple aura spread to the sword handle and pulled it from the sheath. With no preamble, he charged.

Since I was on point, it was naturally me who the unicorn came for. I leapt as high as I could, beating my wings to avoid the sword thrust. Scout and Arterial pulled their weapons and fired. From their flanking position, they should have ripped him apart, but a shield of violet energy sprang to life, absorbing the bullets.

The unicorn turned to Scout, slashing horizontally at the survivalist. He leapt backwards, dodging the slash, yet a slash opened across his suit’s chest. “What the fuck?” He cried. From the air above him, I drew Black Powder and fired as fast as I could, hoping to overload his shield.

It didn’t work, but it certainly got his attention away from Scout. I gained altitude as quickly as I could, getting out of the sword’s reach, magical and all. I was not, however, out of his magical reach. I felt an alien sensation wrap around my rear hooves and the unicorn latched onto me telekinetically. It became a struggle of my physical strength versus his metaphysical, and it was clear who would win. The only thing that gave me a chance was the fact that he needed to dedicate attention to shielding himself from the others’ attacks.

Still, for the moment I was in the air. I scanned the chamber from above, hoping to find anything we could use as an advantage. From my vantage point I was able to spot another figure, a much more familiar one, on the other side of the Heart. She was easy to spot, since she was still wearing her bright yellow rad suit. “Clarity!” I screamed, turning on the speakers on the suit as high as I could.

The figure looked up, as if surprised. “Sleet?” She asked over the radio. “What are you doing?”

Before I could answer, the unicorn below let out a roar that echoed unnaturally. A blast of magical energy threw Arterial, Clouds and Scout back, which for me meant that he could focus all his power on pulling me from the sky. I screamed in pain as I slammed into the ground, the helmet of my suit cracking and distorting the display. I rolled desperately to the side as the unicorn stabbed straight down, cracking a hole in the floor beneath us.

I froze the world with S.A.T.S., targeting the unicorn’s face with a blast from Black Powder. Our close proximity put me inside where his shield had been manifesting, so the bolts of super-heated orange magic struck home. Three slow-mo shots burned into him, causing the unicorn to recoil, his growl of pain seemingly reverberating off of the air.

“Sleet, stop! That’s the Prince!” Clarity screamed.

“He’s trying to kill us!” I screamed back, rolling onto my hooves and putting as much distance as I could between the Prince and I before he recovered from the shots.

“That’s not him attacking you, there’s another soul living inside his body.”

“What?”

“I can’t explain now, but I can fix this, please! You just have to get out of here, he won’t attack me.”

That didn’t change the fact that he was attack me, though, and gaining ground fast. I was saved from being ran down when Arterial, screeching a battle cry, flew in from the side and raked his talons along the burn marks I had left in the Prince’s face. His distraction was giving Clouds time to fix the breech in Scout’s suit and me a chance to get over to Clarity. “How is he even still alive?” I asked, running over to her.

“I said I can’t explain, just go!” She turned to the Heart and I saw a pink glow as she triggered her magic, the Heart radiating in response.

“Clarity, it isn’t time to purify the Heart, remember?” I put a hoof on her shoulder. “We only have one chance to get this right. We need to stick to the plan or…”

“To Hell with you plan!” She screamed, whirling on me. I took a shocked step back I got my first good look at her through the helmet. Her kaleidoscope eyes were so bloodshot I could hardly see the colors of her iris. Her opalescent coat had turned grey, almost black as the ghouls. Her lips were stained red and splatters of blood were on the helmet. Her voice was wet and rough, and whenever she wasn’t speaking she coughed out blood. “Don’t you see, Sleet? I have the chance to end our exile! I can return my people home, right here, right now! I can fix all of this.”

“And what happens when Sombra comes?” I tried to keep my voice even and speak reasonably. “Will you be able to fight him off? Can you deal with his armies? How about the monster living out there, right now, in that fog?”

She shook her head, eyes closed tight. “No, no, no. This is why Mother told me not to tell you. I can’t listen to you, Sleet. Just run now.”

“Wait, Facet? What does she have to do with this?” But I was getting a rising feeling in my gut that I already knew the answer to that question. My fuzzy dream, the one I had back in the crystal caves. “Wait…she told you to do this, didn’t she?”

“You found us talking about it in the caves. You were practically sleepwalking, she said you wouldn’t remember.”

Like blowing dust off an old window, the picture started to become clearer. I remembered hearing my name being said, I remembered listening in on the conversation. How Facet told Clarity to ignore my plan and purify the Heart, no matter the danger. “But why? Why didn’t you argue back?”

“How could I go against my Mother?” She said, hanging her head. “Sleet, I trust you, but she was a Confessor long before you or I were ever born. She knows what is good for our people better than you ever could. She knows what needs to be done.”

“But Clarity, look at yourself!” I said, pointing to her reflection in the crystal floor. “Would she really sacrifice her daughter for this? For something that might not work?”

She was quiet for a long time before whispering “don’t you do things like that all the time?” She turned away from me and lit up her horn, focusing on the Heart.

I stared at her back, dumbfounded. Slowly I turned to watch the battle. Shining Armor had harried Arterial into a corner, the griffon bleeding from several cuts. Scout was on his hooves and firing, but his shots were completely ineffective. Clouds was yelling something, I think at me, but I could only hear that condemnation again and again.

Don’t you? Don’t you? Don’t you?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote: Level up!
New Perk: Signature Strikes- Your long battles in the Wasteland have taught you its inhabitants well. Your knowledge of weak points causes your attacks to ignore up to 5 Damage Threshold.
Quest Perk: PipBuck Training- You’ve become skilled in the usage of PipBucks! The Stable-Tec Assisted Targeting System and Eyes Forward Sparkle functions are now unlocked. Medicine and Repair bonus increased by +5

Flickering

View Online

Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 21: Flickering
!WARNING! !WARNING! !WARNING!

I slowly pushed myself up, but my hooves lost their grip in the slick muck. I crashed back down, white light flashing before my eyes.

I was jolted from my reverie as a purple glow of magic wrapped around me. I screamed as I was flung painfully to the ground, straining against the Prince’s telekinetic field as he magically crushed me into the ground. Insane ghoul or not, he was still a powerful unicorn, and my meager strength wasn’t anywhere near enough to break free. I was sure to be squished, until a bolt of electric blue magic dissipated the energy. The Prince whirled in the direction the counter spell had come from. Clouds made a small noise of terror and galloped away, the demonic stallion giving chase.

I scrambled to my hooves and tried to assess the situation. The plethora of targets the Prince had to deal with was the only thing keeping us alive. If any one of us tried to fight him one on one, we’d be destroyed. But this advantage would not last forever, partly because the Prince could not tire and partly because the Heart was getting worse. More cracks were fanning out across the ancient crystal, leaking noxious energy. I felt myself growing nauseous not long before my PipBuck informed me I was suffering from minor radiation poisoning.

“Clarity, it isn’t working. The Heart is just growing more unstable.” I yelled over the radio.

“It will. It has to.” She said, straining against the corruption. The buzz of magic redoubled as she poured more power through her horn, but the Heart rejected the positive energy. A blast of pink tinted magic erupted from the Heart, knocking everyone in the chamber off their hooves.

!WARNING! !WARNING! !WARNING!

“Gotta get out, don’t look back.” I muttered, pulling myself through the mud. Never mind that it stained my coat and clogged in my feathers. “Gotta get out, don’t look back. Gotta get out, don’t look back.” It was cold. So, so cold… “Gotta get out, don’t look back…” Static buzzed in my eyes.

“…gotta get out of here!” Somepony was screaming as I blinked the spots from my eyes. My helmet was in complete disrepair now, flickering static further distorting the broken display. I painfully sat upright, groaning as stabs of pain ripped through my gut. There was a slight whining noise in my ears, like a gun had been fired over my shoulder. And then there was the screaming. That horrible screaming that came from nowhere, boring into my head. I pressed my hooves to my ears and swayed drunkenly, barely able to see what was in front of me because of the static. It was brilliant though, I knew that much. So pretty, a pink light flickering like fire.

I blinked a few times and shook my head to knock loose the fuzziness. I must have jostled something in the helmet back into place because the static cleared just enough to let me make out the light. It was the Prince, lying on the ground and burning in magical fire. But it did not sear his flesh or melt his armor, instead the flames ate at something else. At first it looked like a heat distortion but the longer I watched the clearer it became. Wherever the flames touched, a pony shaped darkness was writhing in agony.

“There’s another soul.” I murmured Clarity’s words as I watched the Prince burning. I looked between him and the continuously degrading Heart. “The Heart projected positive emotions, so if there’s something else dark inside him…”

“The Heart will burn it away.” A voice whispered through the radio.

I twitched in surprise, tearing my eyes from the burning spectacle long enough to spot Clarity, collapsed not far from me. I got up and stumbled over to her. Her breathing was ragged, and a small trickle of blood was running out the side of her mouth. “Shit.” I muttered, rolling her onto her side. She coughed violently, splattering the inside of her helmet with blood. I called for Scout, unable to spot him in the blinding light.

“Now I know how you felt.” She rasped. “Back in Heaven’s Point.”

“It’s miserable, isn’t it?” I said, trying to sound light. I nearly choked in relief as Scout came galloping into view. He saw Clarity’s condition and immediately fell to his knees, ruffling through his bag for Rad-Away.

“Sleet, I’m sorry.” Clarity said between wet breaths.

“Apologize when you aren’t dying.” I instructed her, shooting Scout a glance.

“I have more than enough Rad-Away to stabilize her.” He said. “But the Heart isn’t going to hold up much longer.”

“There is an escape route somewhere in the castle, but I’m not sure where. If we could find it, we may be able to evacuate in time.”

We both looked to Clarity who shook her head. “I don’t know where.” She muttered. “But he might.” We looked to the Prince, where the fires were starting to burn down.

I swallowed hard and stood, walking towards him. Scout didn’t try to stop me. I reached the Prince as the flames burned out entirely. With the darkness burned away, he looked emaciated, more like a standard ghoul. His bones were standing out prominently against the dirtied white coat, with his blue mane falling out before my eyes.

His eyes were open, and turned towards me. The fermented hatred two centuries old was gone. All that was left was exhaustion. “What…happened?” He asked slowly. His voice might have been powerful once, but now was reduced to a gravelly groan.

“The Heart burned the darkness from you.” I explained simply. “You’re free now.”

“Where’s…Cadence?” I glanced poignantly down at my PipBuck. He followed my gaze and sighed.

“I’m sorry.” I said sincerely. “But the crystal ponies escaped. They are still alive out there.”

“Good.” He looked to the Heart for a long second before meeting my eyes. “Run. You can’t save it. You shouldn’t. She needs to rest.” He nodded towards the door we entered the chamber from. “The throne room, go.” I nodded and turned from the Prince, galloping back to Scout and Clarity.

!WARNING! !WARNING! !WARNING!

Finally on my hooves. Gotta keep running, or flying? Either or, just do one, c’mon move it! They’re there can’t you see? Go go go!

I checked my PipBuck map as we climbed the stairs. Clouds and Arterial had thankfully been on their feet and ready to go when I was done talking to the Prince. Now we were rushing upward, sucking on Rad-Away and praying for time. “Arterial, how is it looking?” I asked over the radio as we passed through the security checkpoint.

The griffon’s voice crackled in my helmet. “All clear. There’s some sort of terminal in here. Must be the escape system.”

“Good, keep it secure, we’re on our way.” I broke into a canter. I wanted to sprint there as fast as my legs would go, but Clarity was incapacitated and being carried by Scout. I took a further minute to reach the throne room, each second feeling like the floor would erupt under us.

“What do you think it is?” Clouds babbled, rushing along next to me as we slammed through the throne room doors. “A rocket? Hidden tunnel system? Hidden underground train system?”

The throne room was a wide airy chamber with a central throne that looked scarily similar to Sombra’s in the basement of the Stalliongrad palace. Before the throne was a large inlaid symbol of the Crystal Heart. Arterial was pacing on that symbol, flying over to us as we entered. “What’s on the terminal?” I asked.

“A ‘dimensional compression system’ which means nothing to me.” He said. “Does it make sense to you?”

“Dimensional compression.” Clouds muttered. “Wait, that sounds like teleportation! That was the old trick unicorns were taught for teleportation spells, picture two spots and fold them together like paper.” She bounced excitedly and galloped to the terminal, tapping like mad. “If they managed to computerize the process then the terminal takes care of all the calculations! We just plug in coordinates, juice it up and go!”

I ran over to join her. “So how do we make it go?” I asked, scanning the screen rapidly. The theoretical metaphysics were making my head spin, so I started scanning for the device itself.

“There seems to be some kind of pad that the teleportation field extends from.” Clouds muttered as she jumped through menus and screens. “We just need royal clearance.”

“I got it.” I said, stepping forward. Fortunately, there was an external connector cable I could use to plug my PipBuck into the terminal. The diamond mini-computer flashed as the connection was made and the screen was taken up by a command menu. It gave me control over the pad, which it informed me was the inlaid symbol before the throne. I instructed everypony onto it, sans Clouds who was busy calibrating the target location.

“Alright, I have it set.” She said after a long stretch of typing. “It’ll pop us over to the abandoned train station at the edge of the Empire’s territory. That should be far enough to get us safely from the blast.”

I didn’t respond right away. I was flipping back and forth through a particular setting, hoping that I was seeing it wrong. I forcibly bonked the side of my helmet to try and clear the static, praying it was distorting my vision. I jumped as Clouds put a hoof on my shoulder. “Sleet? Is everything good to go on your end?”

“Yeah, it is.” I said easily, tapping a few buttons that did nothing. “Just double checking.”

“Alright, then let’s go!” She said trotting past me.

The world froze as I activated S.A.T.S. I wished I could close my eyes and breathe, but all I had here was frozen time. I moved the cursor over each of my companions, taking into account their positions and what they were looking at. Arterial was hovering over the pad and watching the doors. Clarity was lying on the pad with her helmet off, a Rad-Away tube in her mouth. Scout was kneeled over her, administering the medicine. And Clouds was a half-pace away from me, easily in reach.

I took a mental sigh, and let time flow freely. “Clouds.” I said in a private radio channel.

She turned to me, looking slight surprised. “Yeah, Sleet?”

I smiled a genuine, sad smile as I placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Clouds…” I paused, just long enough for her breath to catch. “I’m sorry.”

I shoved her with all my strength towards the pad. She had been caught off balance by my interruption and couldn’t catch herself as she bowled over Arterial, creating a tangle of bodies. I checked just long enough to make sure they were all in the circle of the inlay before rapidly going through the final procedures. “Sleet!” Clouds yelled, detangling herself enough to look at me.

I didn’t meet her gaze, instead punching the “confirm” button. The inlay glowed a brilliant violet, the light blotting out the forms of my friends. In under a second, the light erupted with a loud POP! and when it faded, they weren’t there.

“The teleporter could only send so many.” I explained, even though they weren’t there to hear. “It would have overloaded if I’d gone too. And now…” I glanced at the screen of my PipBuck, where the teleporter program had crashed. I sighed heavily, shakily, tears building in my eyes. I pulled my leg inside the suit sleeve, wiping the tears away on my fetlock. That wasn't the last time you’ll see them. I told myself. Run.

!WARNING! !WARNING! !WARNING!

My suit and PipBuck were flashing alerts at me as I dove from one of the throne room’s wide windows. As I caught the wind and swooped high over the Empire, I noted the skyrocketing radiation levels. I pumped my wings furiously, ignoring as hard as I could the tearing feeling in my muscles as I put as much distance between me and the Heart as possible. I was going at an upward angle, getting vertical and horizontal distance on the epicenter of the coming disaster.

The black curtain boiling over the Empire, backlit by the nauseating green of the poison, were my paradoxical salvation. But I was weak, Goddesses why am I so weak?, and they weren’t getting closer. Sweat ran in my eyes as I forced my way up up up c’mon up damnit! I flailed my hooves at the clouds, finally catching them with just the edge reach.

I tore at what I could get to, forcing down strands of clouds that I could grab onto, climb up, and get to safety. I scrabbled until I finally got purchase, dragging my way into and above the clouds like a rabbit digging down to escape a dragon. My chest was a vacuum, collapsing in on itself as I flopped down on the boiling storm clouds.

Don’t lay around, Cold Flank. Are you sure you’re safe?

I screamed with the little air I had, ripping off the helmet and dropping it through the cover. Bloody vomit soon followed as my body violently rebelled against its abuse. Don’t rest don’t stop. I staggered forward drunkenly, spitting, gasping, and probably crying. The one thing that interrupted my running was the beeping. My PipBuck was sending rapid alerts, informing me that I was probably going to die of radiation build up before the Heart exploded.

I struggled to root through my suit as I ran. I managed to pull out a Rad-Away and tablets of Rad-X. Heedless of the potential to overdose, I poured the tablets in my mouth and washed it down with orange detox. The combination of vomit and extreme tart nearly made me heave again, but I choked it down.

I stopped and threw my head back, letting the concoction slide down my throat and caught my breath. It was so cold up here, fog billowed from my mouth with each gasp. I finally took note of the sky and saw the gradient of pitch to honey that signified the rise of the sun. I watched, mesmerized as the light came from my right, slowly consuming the darkness until the last vestiges of the void were blotted out.

And suddenly, it was brighter than bright.

!WARNING! !WARNING! !WARNING!

Breathe in, don’t forget. I raggedly sucked in air. Breathe out, don’t forget. It left in a rush. Again, again. I kept the rhythm as I watched. Beyond the rolling hills of blackened grass, the titan’s sword was broken. The pieces hung in the air, suspended by something invisible. The smaller crystal homes were gone, as flat as the plains that led up to them. The clouds were gone, and for the first time in two hundred years the Empire was kissed by the sun.

Only to highlight its death.

Static buzzed in my eyes. I rubbed at them with a hoof, but it wouldn’t go away. My rad suit hung off of me in tatters, soaked in mud that was clumping in my coat and feathers. That wasn’t good, I needed…I needed…

What did I need?

“Sleet!”

Yes, that’s me, hello.

“Sleet!” Maybe I should answer. I turned, putting my back to the Empire. It was Scout, still in his suit, galloping towards me. There were tears in his eyes. Did Scout cry? I couldn’t recall if I’d ever seen it. “Thank the Goddesses you’re alive!”

Alive? The static buzzed out everything. The screaming was gone but now there was just CCCCHCHHHHHHHZZZZZZZCCCCCHHHH!!!!! When did I start walking? I looked to the left and Scout was leading me along, away from the Empire. He was saying something, muttering assurances. It’s gonna be alright. Don’t worry. CCCCCHHHEEEEEZZZCCCHHH!!!!!

In out in out. I was breathing very fast. I remember that much. And…and…
[Please, Ms. Gray, try to remember]

I don’t want to, it hurts…
[We can take a break if you want]

…No…No let’s continue, please…Where was I? Right, breathing fast, I was…panicking.

“Scout what’s happening to me?” I asked. My mouth was dry like I had already said it a thousand times. I was in a building now, made of old frozen wood. It was too cold for the years to rot it away. I could feel the blizzard raging outside.

“I don’t know, but we’ll fix it.” He said. He wasn’t in his suit anymore, so I could see his colors again. Green and brown, green coat brown mane. Like a forest, if I had ever seen one before. I felt something tug my hoof and when I looked down there was electric blue magic wrapped around the pink flesh. Wasn't there supposed to be fur there? “We’re going to get out of here and get you some help, okay?” The rope we used to not get separated in the storm began to wrap itself around my hoof. I looked up to the source of the magic and
CCCCCHHHHHHHZZZZZZCCCCCCCHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I was under one of the Heat Masking Thermo-Tarps. Scout was next to me, guiding me along through the snow. “Scout.” I whispered, my voice catching on I didn’t know what.

“Yeah, Sleet?”

“I can’t feel the cold…”

“What?” He turned to me, eyebrows knit together in worry. We were lit up by the dull green glow of his PipBuck. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t feel the cold.” I think the catch was fear. “I don’t feel it…and I keep blacking out and…” CCHHHCCCKKK “Scout I think something it really wrong!” I was shaking, unable to walk. “I think I’m a…I’m a…I’m a…” Every time I tried to say the word it failed and a burst of that static played in my head.

“Ghoul.”

Scout and I both froze. That voice was too deep to be anyone with us. Not to mention the wind had stopped blowing. Scout pulled off the Tarp and jumped back, readying his guns. Before us was a colossal figure of gold, standing on his hind legs and carved in the shape of a lion with bat wings and a scorpion tail. In one giant hoof he gripped his weapon, a spear as long as him with a magnificent cross guard leading into a blade that glimmered despite the lack of light. “Coming Storm.” I whispered.

“Hello again, Sleet Gray.” The towering knight greeted me, his thunderous tone rumbling in my chest. “I am sorry.”

“You said g-“ CCHZZZ I dropped to my knees, squeezing my head between my hooves.

“She’s not a ghoul yet, she doesn’t look like one.” Scout said desperately. He shot a worried glance at me, his eyes tight.

The manticore helmet turned to him. “It will come in time. For now, the process is yet continuing.”

“Then there’s time to save her, get out of our way.” He demanded.

“Do you truly believe you can surmount this blizzard in time to save her mind, let alone her soul?” He strode over to me, dropping to one knee and lifting my chin with his free hoof. The metal shoe was strangely warm and set my mane and coat on end with lightning. I looked into the golden plates where eye holes should be, trying to remember how to breathe. “You already feel it, do you not? Your mind unwinding.” I closed my eyes, the static buzzing in my ears. “The Undeath comes when foul zebra magics slay the body but do not let it fall. Your soul is unbound, ready to pass to whatever lies beyond. Only your intact mind pretending to be alive is keeping it here.”

“So what do I do?” I asked, still not opening my eyes.

“You can do nothing.”

“Bullshit.” Scout shot at him, his voice rough. “There has to be a way.”

“There is nothing she can do.” He dropped my chin and I fell to the snow, not feeling the cold. I opened my eyes and looked up from the ground at Coming Storm, so tall I couldn’t see his face. “But I may be able to help.”

“Why are you here, anyway?” I asked, barely raising my head. “Why would the Shadow King send you here?”

“My Lord sensed the destruction of the Crystal Heart, and sent me, the swiftest of his knights to investigate.” He looked down at me from on high. “I suppose you are to fault in this?”

“We couldn’t save it.” I said exhaustedly. “I’m sorry, we tried.”

“You failed.” He intoned. “My Lord may yet me lenient and provide a chance of redemption, but,” he widened his stance over me, and whirled the spear around to aim at my heart “you must first be saved.”

“Wait, what are you going to do?” Scout asked in a panic.

“This regalia I bear is a gift from my Lord, an ancient artifact from the Empire you were sent to save. The crystal ponies were benders of souls, and this armor holds that power.” Lightning began to dance along the contours of his armor, charging the air with incredible power. “I shall bind your soul to the device on your wrist, also of crystal design. Your essence will be held to this side of the veil and your mind will be spared, but the effects on your coil I cannot predict.” He paused, looking at me, through me. “Do you accept this fate, Sleet Gray?”

I lay there, breathing in and out, and not feeling a second of it. “I accept.”

“Very well.” Without any more preamble, a bolt of lightning shot from his spear and impact my heart. That pain is one thing I will never forget. As long as I’m alive I’ll never be able to erase the agony of my dead body being forced to life again, of my soul being stitched back into place. I think I screamed as it happened, I know I was contorted in such a way that should have broken my back. My eyes were open, but I only remember bits of what I saw. Scout recoiling in horror, Coming Storm radiating light like the rising sun, Clouds being held back my Arterial several yards away. Had they stayed at a distance because they were scared of the knight, or because Scout had signaled them away? I wasn’t sure which, nopony ever told me.

The vision I remember the most was Clarity. She didn’t look scared, or worried, or anxious. She was just frozen with this unbelieving stare on her face. I met her swirling, kaleidoscopic eyes and for a second I understood precisely everything she was feeling.

It was all gone an instant later as the spell ended and I crashed into the snow. The shocking cold sent me scrabbling for warmth, so I grabbed up the Tarp and wrapped myself in it. “I think it worked.” I stammered after a second of heating up.

“Indeed, but be warned that this is only a temporary measure.” Coming Storm said as he resumed his standing position. “Your body is still corrupted, and there are no known ways to purge that. Additionally, your soul is both the subject and source of the spell’s power.”

“So what does that mean?” I asked as the static faded from my hearing.

“Who you are will keep you sane.” He said gravely. “Should you lose yourself, the spell will be lost, as will your soul.” I nodded shakily before burying my head in my knees. I felt Scout place a hoof on my shoulder. “You will need time to acclimate.” I heard the clanking of his armor and looked up to see him extending a hoof to me. “Come. I can get you to safety far swifter than walking ever will.”

“Can you take all of us?” I asked, nodding over my shoulder to my companions. He nodded; Arterial and Clarity, who was finally on her hooves, approached.

But Clouds held back. “If it’s all the same, I think I’ll make the rest of the way to Meltwater on my own.” She said.

“Are you certain? The dangers of this blizzard are many.” The knight questioned.

“Yeah, I already got teleported once today and it’s not very pleasant, you know?” She said, forcing a smile. “Besides, I got my Tarp, I can make it back safely.” She trotted over to me and shuffled nervously. “Thank you, for letting me join you. But I don’t think I’ll do this adventuring thing anymore. It kinda sucks.” I noted that she nursing her left side, the one that had been stabbed by the demon.

“That’s fine.” I said, giving my own fake smile. “I can’t blame you. Besides, you need to take care of your brother.”

She nodded hesitantly. “But, Sleet, do you think,” she sigh heavily and spoke rapidly “do you think we could talk someday? About, you know?”

I sat there for a second, mulling it over before my smile became genuine. “Of course.” I said. “Of course we can.” Her face lit up and she leapt forward into a hug I returned easily. If only, hm? I had to fight hard to not tense up at the little voice in the back of my mind. After we broke the embrace, we waved our goodbyes and grabbed on to Coming Storm’s armor. In a flash of lightning the blizzard, and one of the best friends I’d made in the Goddesses forsaken place, was gone.

RADIATION LEVELS NORMALIZING

I slowly opened my eyes, spotting a familiar ceiling. I tried to move, but my muscles wouldn’t listen. All I got was a barely audible groan as my battered body yelled at me for trying to move so soon.

“She’s awake.” Somepony said urgently. The sound of cantering hooves left the room, followed by an almost glowing figure appearing above me. “How you feelin’ there, honey?”

“Sister.” I whispered, trying to sit up again. The albino unicorn placed a gentle hoof on my chest, keeping me down. I was lying in one of the beds in Sister’s infirmary, buried under a blessed amount of soft blankets as she magically tended to the IV bag connected to my wrist.

“Rest now.” She said. “You’ve been through a Hell of a lot since you ran out on me.” Her soft features became dark and angry at the thought. “And I am really tempted to beat your flank for that. You had me and those friends of yours worried sick.”

“Sorry.” I muttered, unable to say more.

“Apologize to me later.” She said as the door opened. “I think they have first dibs.”

I strained my eyes to see Scout and Arterial entering the infirmary. I pulled myself up into a sitting position, leaning my back against the stacked pillows. “What happened?”

“Coming Storm dropped us off outside St. Ponysburg.” Scout said. “We carried you and Clarity here to get fixed up.”

“And she’s resting up in another room, in case you were wondering.” Sister chimed in.

“Thanks.” I said, smiling as best I could. Neither of them returned it. My own faded in response. “Look, everyone, I’m sorry.”

“We don’t want sorry.” Arterial said. “We want to know why you tried to commit suicide by balefire bomb.”

“It wasn’t suicide!” I said leaning forward despite Sister’s protests. “I didn’t have a choice. The teleporter wouldn’t have sent more than four of us. I was the only one other than Clouds who could have turned it on, and only I could have still escaped.”

“So why didn’t you tell us?” Scout asked.

“I came up with it on the spot, and we didn’t have time to debate it. It was either take that route or we all die.”

“Then you need to make what you’re willing to do obvious.” Arterial said bluntly. “Leaders can’t lead if the ones following them don’t know what to expect.”

“I never wanted to be the leader.” I murmured, hanging my head.

The click-clack of talons was my only warning before Arterial grabbed my face in his clawed grip. I winced as he dug into my cheeks, trying and failing to pull away. “I don’t give a fuck what you want, Gray. I care about what you’ll accomplish. And if you keep acting like you can’t do what you promised me, then I’ll have to be the one who makes good.”

With that, he let go of my face and left the room, ruffling his feathers as he did. “Blood hungry bastard.” Sister growled after him as he left. “He makes more work for me just by existing.” She looked between Scout and I before standing up. “I’m going to go check on Clarity, and make sure your griffon friend doesn’t break something.”

And so we were left alone, quiet dominating the room. I decided to enjoy it despite the tension, it had been so damn long since I got some real peace. I closed my eyes and rested against the pillows, simply breathing, enjoying how it felt. Scout didn’t speak for such a long time I began to wonder if he assumed I was asleep, but eventually he broke his silence. “Didn’t you promise me you’d not leave me in the dark about your plans?”

“Scout,” I said, sighing “I didn’t plan any of that. How could I have? It was chaos.”

“Arterial was right, though. You could have at least made your intentions clear.”

“I’m not psychic, and neither are you.” I said, still refusing to open my eyes. “There was no time to tell you.”

“The Heart didn’t blow up until well after you flung us through that thing!”

“And how was I supposed to know that?” I asked, finally opening my eyes as I turned to him. “Scout, it was either do something that might fail or do nothing and die!”

“You’d rather risk everything on a ‘maybe’ than try to find the way that works no questions asked?”

I went a little slack jawed as I tried to work through his logic. “What about this don’t you get?” I asked, growing exasperated. “We didn’t have the time to deliberate! We never have the time to deliberate! Tell me, when was the last time we were given the luxury to come up with a solid plan? Because I can’t remember it!”

“Maybe if you’d slow down and listen to me we’d stop getting thrown into places where we don’t have a choice!” His voice was rising, and he was starting to lean into his anger.

I pressed my hooves into my eyes until I saw flashes of light. “I can’t afford to slow down.” I said through gritted teeth. “I need results!”

“Results?” He said disbelievingly. “Is ‘results’ all you care about?”

“Yes!” I bellowed, slamming my hooves on the bed and shoving my face into his. “Because if I don’t, do you know what happens?” I didn’t give him a chance to answer that. “Everyone dies!” I punched the bed to punctuate each word. “If I don’t do my job then everyone dies! Earth pony, unicorn, Stable dweller, gryphon, buffalo, EVERYONE!” I was breathing heavily, drilling into his gaze with my own. “And all that will be left is the Enclave. And it won’t matter how slow or fast I went or how few or many risks I took. None of it will matter anymore if I don’t get this done.”

We stayed there like that for a long time. Eventually, I pulled away and flopped back onto the pillows. “If you can’t understand that then…” I shook my head and rolled away from him. “I don’t know why you’re still following me.”

He was quiet for a second. I expected him to leave, but he spoke up. “I don’t think that’s why you do it.” He said. “At least, that’s not the big part of it.” I scrunched up my shoulders. “I think you’re just being selfish.”

“What?” I whirled around, glaring at him.

“No, shut up.” He spat, stomping. “You got your chance to yell and it was bullshit. Now shut up and listen. You’re being selfish. You’d rather see yourself die saving us than deal with Clarity or me or Clouds or anyone dying on your watch. You can’t handle the guilt, or the thought of the guilt, so you’d rather lose everything instead of just something. But where does that leave your precious results then?” For an instant, his face fell from anger to profound sadness. “Where would that leave us?”

“I…” I began, haltingly. I choked out a few more half words, but nothing complete. Shaking his head, Scout turned and trotted to the door. “Sleep. You need rest if we’re going to get moving again quickly.” He closed the door on his way out, leaving me all alone in a room crowded by too many thoughts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote: EXP gained!
A new Trait has been added: Equinity
You are trapped somewhere between life and unlife. You level of Karma affect how much you swing towards either side, where any extreme can topple you over the edge. Positive Karma increases your Equinity, increasing Intelligence, Charisma and Endurance proportionally to your natural maximums (Fully Equine). Negative Karma induces Ghoulification, reducing Intelligence, Charisma and Endurance proportionally to a minimum of 0 (Feral Ghoul).

Author's Notes:

D-D-D-DOUBLE FEATURE UPLOAD!

That's right, two for the price of one. Critiqued by my Creative Writing major peers, these last two chapters are brought to you by my final semester of schooling. I'm a college graduate now, baby!

Because of the whole "graduate" thing, I'm going to be taking on a lot of responsibilities, not the least of which is keeping up with Snowfall. I'll try my hardest not to let another massive gap like this one happen again, but food and shelter are important. Thankfully, I have a job lined up to begin in the next few days, so I'm not going to be writing from the streets! June 12th for the next chapter sounds good, the summer is already a scorcher where I'm from so I'm going to need the Northern Wastes to keep cool!

Special thanks go as always to Kkat for being the OG of radioactive horses, Mobius for being my sounding board/prereader/editor/giver of dumb ideas and my new prereader Starlight Nova, whom I'm excited to start working with as this continues. Ah, and I'd also like to give thanks to Dr. Stuart and my friends in the Creative Writing Seminar for putting up with being dropped cold into the middle of this mind bending adventure. I'm going to miss you guys in the working world!

That about covers it for my longest author note yet. Drop me a like if you did, a dislike if you didn't, and a comment telling me why! See next time, everypony, and don't feed the yeti!

Correcting Course

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Fallout: Equestria
Snowfall
Chapter 22: Correcting Course
“I’d rather make a mistake than make nothing at all.”

I spent a lot of time not moving very much over the next few days. My body was still coming down from the effects of fatal radiation poisoning. I could hardly internalize that fact, but every time I looked at my hooves I was forced to face it again. The icy blue fur of my fetlocks had fallen out, as had patchy spots along my legs. Slowly, it was growing back in thanks to the false life Coming Storm had given me, but I couldn’t get past one simple fact.

I was a monster now.

My soul in the PipBuck, the growing fur, breathing, all of that was just covering the truth. I was little more than a flesh puppet, operating on the strings of something close to me, but no longer within me. I stared at the glittering device on my right wrist. The Diamond PipBuck was a key that opened so many doors, but now it served as a cuff to chain me to this side of death.

I let my wrist flop back down onto the bed and glanced around the empty room for the thousandth time. Visits from the others had been sparse ever since we’d found safety. Scout came in at least once a day to check on me and give a report of what was going on in the world outside. He’d apparently run into Sheriff Buckshot in town, but even though he was associated with me he wasn’t equo non grata in St. Ponysburg. He’d kept all mention of my whereabouts from conversation so as not to arouse the Sheriff’s suspicion. I just hoped she wouldn’t get the urge to search Sister’s house.

As if reading my mind, Sister entered the room carrying a tray of food in her magical grip. “How are you feeling?” She asked, setting the tray down on the bed stand.

“Would ‘death warmed over’ be inappropriate?” I said, smiling humorlessly.

“Hush with that.” She said sternly. “Your body’s working perfectly fine as far as I can tell.”

“Then I can take this off?” I said, straight-faced as I thrust my PipBuck at her face.

“The Hell is wrong with you?” She snapped at me, shoving my arm away with a hoof. “Fine, you may not be ‘alive’ the way you were before, but you’re still above ground, aren’t you?”

“For all the good that does me.” I said, returning my gaze to the ceiling.

Sister snorted in irritation and trotted away. “Eat your food and get better. I don’t want your sour attitude stinking up my house for too long!” There was a magical buzz followed by a sharp slam! as she exited the room. I wanted to childishly defy her and refuse, but my stomach growled at me after only a minute of pouting. I started eating the scavenged food with more energy than I’d displayed all day. It might not have tasted as mouth-watering as Cloud’s synthetically farmed crops, but I wasn’t about to stop. Eating actually made me feel normal.

I was halfway through the plate of two hundred year old dried apple slices and cereal when there was a knock on the door. With a mouth full of food, I made an affirmative sound and hoped they heard me. The door opened to the one pony who surprised me enough to stop chewing. “Clarity?” I said after swallowing heavily. “Are you alright?”

It was a dumb question to ask. She had huge bags under her eyes, eyes whose normally kaleidoscopic colors were swirled together like an artist’s dirty paint pallet. It was hard to tell if her colors had returned, since she was pale and shivered slightly under the thick wool blanket she had wrapped around her shoulders. The only positive change I could see was her crystalline sheen was starting to come back, though it was obvious she could use a spa trip. Her mane looked more like a rain-soaked wind chime than the solid piece of carved amethyst it usually did.

She looked at me with her tired eyes, frowning slightly. “I threw up three times before breakfast.” She croaked. “Just glad I didn’t have to clean it up this time.”

I smiled sympathetically. “Don’t worry, you’ll get better. Any side effects?”

“Nothing obvious.” She groaned, stumbling over to a chair and collapsing into it. “Sister doesn’t have the equipment here to check me internally. For all we know I could have enough cancer to kill a dragon, but we wouldn’t know until I died.”

“Shouldn’t talk like that…” I muttered, glancing down at my food. I took another few bites to avoid uncomfortable inaction.

“Been hearing that one a lot recently?” She asked. She smiled wryly at my furrowed brows. “I don’t need to have talked to Sister to know you’re being a hypocrite when you say that.”

“Did you just come in here to call me an idiot like everypony else?” I asked. “Because I’m getting really sick of that.”

“Oh, they beat me to it?” She said innocently. “Darn, I was hoping to get the pleasure of being first.” Before she could continue to snark at me, she suddenly spasmed forward, wrapping her hooves around her stomach. She looked panicked around the room for a moment before snatching a garbage can in her magic and hauling it over to her. She stuck her face in the can and retched, her whole body convulsing. I glanced down uncomfortably at my plate of food and put it back on the bed stand.

After a minute of panting, she regained her senses and sat up, eyes tightly closed. “This fucking sucks…” She groaned, spitting out thick globules of saliva into the can.

“It’ll get better once you’re body’s done realigning itself.” I said dispassionately. I was still stinging from her comments, but more so I felt angry bile rising in my throat for a different reason.

“Guess I should listen to you on this one.” She said with a weak smile. “You’re the expert of surviving radiation sickness after all.”

“Of course, none of us would actually be in this situation if you did listen to me.” I said, my tone hard and cold as a glacier.

All mirth flew from Clarity’s face to be replaced by shock and mild indignation. “Really? You’re going to use that one on me?”

“Yes, I am.” I continued before she could pipe up. “And don’t even pretend you don’t know why. You didn’t just ignore my orders, Clarity. You actively worked against me.” I didn’t bother to keep accusation from my tone.

“Sleet, I was working for the good of the crystal ponies.” She shot back.

“And what do you think I was doing? Do you think I was planning on handing you all over to Sombra at the end of it? Did I not make my intentions to destroy him clear, or have you never had any faith in me?”

“I’ve always had faith in you!” She yelled. “But it is really so shocking I had more in my own mother? I don’t know what your home life was like, Sleet, but we crystal ponies trust our parents to know what’s right!”

“Don’t talk to me about family.” I spat. “My father ordered my execution, my mother sold me out, my own brother tried to carry the sentence. Don’t tell me family is supposed to be ‘right’.” I was leaning forward, like my anger was a gusting wind I was trying to push through. “But maybe given that I shouldn’t be surprised that someone close betrayed me.”

“Betray?” Clarity yelled in surprise, or at least started to before she vomited again. “Who said anything about betrayal?”

“Oh, maybe the fact that you let mummy fuck around with my head to hide the fact that you were going to sabotage my entire plan?” I sneered. “Forgive me if that doesn’t exactly sound like loyalty to me.”

“How dare you?” She growled. “I was trying to save the last of my people. You saw how big the Empire was. There are less than 1% of us left and…”

“So you thought the best course of action was to disobey and blow up the one thing that could save them?” I cut off coldly. She froze at that eyes wide and pained, I just glared back.

“You…” She whispered. Suddenly her horn blazed with pink light as she lifted the trash can. “YOU FUCKING CUNT!” With all her metaphysical strength she hurled the can at me. On instinct I lashed out with my wings, flash freezing the can and its contents solid. The gust of wind slowed the can, but didn’t prevent it from crashing into the bed and nearly knocking me to the floor. I righted myself as quickly as I could, but by the time I could see straight, Clarity had galloped from the room.

I wanted to chase after her, but when I dropped from the bed, my knees buckled and I slammed into the floor. I laid there, seething in helpless anger as my body tingled with adrenaline but could do little more than struggle to stand. I eventually gave up, panting with exertion and sprawled out of on the cold wood of the infirmary floor. I didn’t have much time to recover before I heard hooves cantering into the room. “Sleet? What happened? I heard a crash.” Scout’s voice said as the steps grew louder until he appeared in my vision.

“Goddesses damnit, I’m trying to recover here.” I spat, still boiling internally. “It’s really fucking hard to do so with ponies coming and going every five minutes just to make me feel like shit.” The Ruin Sleet’s Day parade the whispering little voice in my head commented.

“What the Hell even happened?” He asked, leaning down and pushing his head under my arm. Once he got his own shoulders under me, he stood up, which still hurt like fuck.

“Somepony doesn’t like hearing the truth flung at her.” I growled through grit teeth. “So she started flinging her own shit.” I bucked the frozen can behind me, which proved to be a very bad idea as my hind legs went numb and Scout had to get a tighter grip on me so I wouldn’t face plant. “So now not only is our one hope of saving the world dust, but little miss crystal is gonna be a bitch about it right up until we all drown in plasma.” I huffed angrily and put more of a weight on Scout, thankful at least that he was warm after the cold floor.

“Sleet…” He began.

“No, don’t justify any of it.” I cut off, glaring into his eyes. “She fucked up. The world’s doomed. I’m dead. Everything is fucked, and I…”

“Am going to get dropped if you don’t shut up and let me talk.” He returned, tilting me just enough that I had to scramble to stay upright. After a few quickly spouted apologies, he righted me and continued. “I didn’t come in here to justify anything. I heard screaming and crashing so I came to make sure you and Clarity weren’t murdering each other.” His eyes softened, and I suddenly felt a sharp pang in my chest. “I was worried.”

I took a few deep breaths, finally letting the anger boil down to nothing. “I’m sorry.” I said sincerely. “I just don’t know what to do. Our one hope is gone, and I’m too numb to be scared…” Scout gently helped me up onto the bed. I flopped back into the pillows, wishing I could melt into the softness. “What do I do now, Scout?” I asked, looking at him. “What do we do? If Sombra doesn’t kill us for our failure, we are doomed anyway.”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. All that was there was empathetic pain. “Sorry, but I don’t know. Telling other ponies what to do is your job.”

“I shouldn’t be allowed to. I send ponies either to their deaths or failure.” I threw an arm over my eyes, trying to block out the light and ignore how thin my fur was. “Goddesses, I yelled at Clarity for disobeying orders. I sound like my father.”

“It’s not like you were wrong.”

“I know! But ‘feels right’ and ‘is right’ are different things, Scout!” I flipped myself over and buried my head in the pillows. Better. This was a more all-consuming oblivion, and much softer. After a second of angrily breathing in the dust of the pillow, I felt the need to speak up. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take it out on you…”

“It’s alright.” He said. “Though, if it makes you feel better, I could try taking over.” I turned my head enough to see him with one eye. He was shrugging, not really looking at me. “I guarantee you I’ll keep us alive. You and me at the very least. Clarity if she wants, Arterial if he doesn’t piss me off.” He sounded like he was reading off a grocery list. I raised my head to look at him more fully, brows furrowed. “I can keep us alive, no problem. The rest of the world?” He shrugged again, looking nonplussed about the whole dilemma. “That’s on them.”

We sat there for a bit, with me trying to puzzle him out and him maintaining this dispassion wall on his face. After a while of silence, he got up and trotted for the door. “I have some errands to run before we get on the road again. Gotta take advantage of civilization while we’re here.” My aching neck forced me to drop back into the pillow as he closed the door.

*****

Hello, Wasteland! It’s me, DJ Pon-3, your grand and glorious eye in the sky atop Tenpony Tower, bringing you the latest in post-apocolypita!

Here’s somepony I bet you thought you’d never hear from again. Who else remembers our little pegasus friend from way up north? You know her, the one who came surfing down from on high and has decided to stick her nose in places so dangerous it’s a miracle she can still smell? Well, when we last saw her about a week ago, she had gone and waltzed herself right into that giant snowstorm that’s been giving the mane of the world the most through blow dry in history.

Now, I’ve seen folks go in there before, and the only ones who came out were ghouls crispy enough that the snow probably felt like lotion on a sunburn. But wouldn’t you know it, our little filly’s gone and done it again. I don’t know what happened up there, but a few days ago there was a flash big enough that I thought the world was ending a second time and suddenly she’s limping her way out. Been laying low ever since, let’s all pray to Celestia the hypothermia didn’t get her!

Hey, Ice Queen, if you got a train ticket south how about you pop into the studio? I’d like to know just what in the Hell you’ve been getting yourself into. And tell me if you get my station, way up there in the snow!

Thanks for listening, kiddies. Coming up next I got everypony’s favorite old-time voice of beauty, Sweetie Belle. This has been DJ Pon-3, bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.

I shut off the radio on my PipBuck before sitting up in bed. It had been a day since my argument with Clarity and talk with Scout, and I was finally getting the strength back in my muscles. Sister took that as proof-positive I should get over the whole “being dead” thing, but I was still having a hard time getting past the intensely disquieting disconnect from knowing my soul was in an inanimate object.

Experimentally I slid out of bed, and though I wobbled, I was able to stand. I sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. No more time to lay around uselessly. I walked unevenly to the door and opened it, feeling something heavy swinging on the knob. Looking down, I saw my coat. The armor plates had been polished and beaten back into shape. The frays and tears throughout the stitching and canvas had been repaired, and it smelled…sterile. Not quite clean, since there probably wasn’t detergent in the Wasteland, but certainly not as filthy as it probably had been.

I pulled the coat on, feeling its comfortable weight settle on me and smiled. Even the brass clasps had been shined up, the tarnish gone, glimmering in the faint sunlight as I closed them. “At least this is still where it’s supposed to be.” I said, adjusting the right sleeve to accommodate my PipBuck.

“Cost a small fortune fixing that thing up.” A voice said. I jumped, finally taking notice of Arterial who had been standing statue-like in a corner. “Your gun’s still in the shop. It didn’t fare all that well considering what happened.”

I felt my stomach writhe uncomfortably. I had completely forgotten about Black Powder! “How’d you retrieve it?”

“Those suits were something special.” He replied. “Your gun was stored in an inside holster, it was still stuck to you when we found you.” He shrugged. “It was half-melted, but there.”

“Are you sure it can be saved?” I asked, frowning.

He tilted his head, indicating I walk with him. We started down the hallway. “There’s a good gunsmith in town. He knows magical energy weapons, and said the firing mechanism made it through with only a few loose parts. He’ll have to make a whole new barrel and grip, so you’ll have to make do with this for a few days.” He passed me a small, mouth-gripped gun with a thin barrel that looked more like a signal emitter. A pair of magical crystals encased in thick plastic poked from the gun’s “hammer” where a slot for spark packs sat. “It’s a plasma pistol. Figured you could grow out of lasers eventually.”

Taking wing, I turned the weapon over in my hooves, pleasantly surprised by its make. “How’d we afford all this?”

“Selling excess rad-supplies.” He said. “We might have just crashed the market on rad sickness cures forever. Even after all the shit you’ve been through, you still had a third a hospital’s worth of stuff.”

“Hope we kept a few for ourselves…” I murmured. I slipped the plasma pistol away into my pockets and put my hooves on the ground again. “So what are you going to do?”

“Taking stock of your resources, huh?” He snickered, somehow smiling with a beak. “Don’t worry, o glorious leader, I’m not leaving. I’m too deep in for that now.”

“Sometimes I think that that’s the only thing keeping people around me.” I sighed. Shoving that thought aside, I examined Arterial with narrowed eyes. “And since when were you such a sarcastic asshole?”

“Call it a coping mechanism for nearly dying in a balefire explosion.” The two of us came to the staircase leading to the first floor of Sister’s home. “The earth pony is down there, talking with the fussy one.” He started walking down the hall as he finished talking.

I nodded, before pausing and turning back to the griffon. “Hey.” I called out. He stopped and tilted his head to acknowledge he was listening. “If you’re going to be travelling with us, at least start using everypony’s actual names.”

He tilted his head this way and that, like he was mulling over his turn in a card game. “I’ll think about it, Sleet Gray.” He continued on his way, talons clicking on the wood floor.

As I made my way slowly down the stairs, I thought to myself I think that’s the first time he’s used my name politely. My thoughts were cut off as I heard voices drift up towards me. A small frown pulled at my lips, there were three voices, and I didn’t recognize one of them. I reached the ground floor and turned a corner into a spacey living room, ancient furniture kept clean to the best of Sister’s abilities positioned around a large, old coffee table. Sister was sitting in a love seat against the left wall, Scout standing across the table from her with his battle saddle in ready position.

The two of them were looking at a visitor sitting on the couch that faced the doorway. It was impossible to determine the pony’s age or species, as they wore a thick cloak with a hood covering their face. “…who you are?” Sister was speaking as I entered the room. I cleared my throat, diverting everypony’s attention. Sister and Scout both looked shocked to see me on my hooves, but I wasn’t paying attention to their reactions. The visitor raised their head slightly, something flashing inside the hood.

“What’s going on?” I asked innocently, quickly shifting my eyes so the stranger wouldn’t notice my scrutiny.

“This pony came knocked a few minutes ago.” Sister explained. “Said she was looking for you.”

“And who are you?” I asked, looking where I assumed the visitor’s eyes were.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Scout said. “But she wouldn’t say anything beyond needing to talk to you.”

“And now she is here.” The stranger said, a soft female voice coming from deep in the hood. “I can fulfill the purpose I came with.” She stood up and bowed to me. “Sleet Gray, I come as messenger from our Lord.”

The temperature in the room dropped five degrees, and I had nothing to do with it. Scout and I traded a nervous glance before returning our attention to the hooded figure. “And what’s your name?”

“My name is unimportant at this time.” She said, rising. “What is, is that you speak with our Lord as soon as possible.”

“We are not yet in a condition to travel…”

“That won’t be necessary.” She reached into her robe, the motion revealing inky black fur darker than the garment itself. She pulled out a simple crystal cut in the shape of a rectangle, almost like a small mirror. The crystal looked like frozen smoke, with swirling gray colors trapped inside the facets. “This will grant you audience.”

“Sister, could you please go check on Clarity?” I said, not looking at the kindly unicorn.

I felt her eyes boring into the side of my head, like twin lasers of disdain. After a long moment, she said “yeah, sure” and trotted from the room. I waited until her hoofsteps had faded up the stairs before speaking again.

“We’ll speak with the King, now.”

The hooded mare placed the crystal flat on the table and murmured quietly above it. As she did, the lights in the room flickered and dimmed, even the sunlight coming through the window became obfuscated by something. As darkness settled over the room, Scout walked over to my side, taking up position at my shoulder. “You’re looking much better.”

“Thanks.” Smoke was starting to pour out of the crystal. “Thanks for getting my coat fixed up, I really appreciate it.”

“It’s always critical to keep armor in top condition.” He said. “Besides, I hear appearances are important in moments like this, we can’t have you looking like a sick bird.”

I shot him a look out the corner of my eye, smiling slightly. “So you do think I’m pretty?”

“I answered that already. Now shut up, he’s here.”

The smoke was coalescing, hovering above the crystal as a black cloud. The cloud took the vague shape of a unicorn’s head, with those terrible green eyes with their burning iris of red glared out at us. “Sleet Gray.” The thunder of his voice reverberated off of the walls.

I had been bracing for him, but my heart still felt fit to burst as adrenaline shot through me. Flee! Run! Hide! I had to fight to keep my body in one spot, swallowing down the fear as I answered. “King Sombra.”

“Explain to me why I no longer feel the magic of the Heart permeating the land.” He rumbled. “Explain to me why, when my vassal approached the Empire he saw naught but rubble.” The green in his eyes sharpened to a toxic glow that covered my spine in ice. “I sent you to find an Empire, and instead you bring me dust. Explain that, Sleet Gray.”

I took a shaky breath and spoke. “Circumstances out of my control lead to the Heart being destabilized.” Explaining was giving me something to think about other than the aura of terror he gave off. “It was already on the verge of collapse, even under perfect conditions I almost assuredly could not have gotten to it on time.”

“Beyond your control?” I was almost certain I saw him cock an eyebrow at that. “I was given to believe nothing was beyond the control of the brilliant Sleet Gray.”

Failure. The word seeped inside my head like mold on the inside of my skull. My breathing was becoming more out of sync as I tried to spit out a response. “I’m sorry, King. There was nothing I could do. I was…outwitted.” It felt like I was tearing a bandage off my heart. If nothing else, I’d always been the clever one, and now…

I felt his laughter like somepony walking on my stomach. The psychic pressure was bowing my head, soon I was staring at the floor, unsure of why but knowing I couldn’t look up again. Unworthy.

“It’s not Sleet’s fault.” Scout spoke up. “She was tricked by ponies trying to oppose you, even though it looked like they were trying to help.”

“The exiled crystals.” Sombra said, savoring the words. “I know of them, and their little hideouts.” He smiled as my head shot back up, shock and fear warring for control on my face. “If what you say is true and it was their interference that caused your mission to fail, then I will give due blame unto them, though perhaps not punishment.” I tried not to show relief on my face, even as he amended his sentence. “For now, at least. Stewing in the loss of their Heart will be torment enough.” He paused to think, or perhaps to watch us tremble, before speaking again. “Thankfully for you, I am aware of a means that you can use to redeem yourself.”

“A new ways to heal the Empire?” I asked, curiosity winning out over trepidation.

“New, and old, in a sense.” The King’s curved horn glowed with foul energies and suddenly I felt a bone-deep chill. I shuddered, gasping as my breath frosted before me. I fell on my side, shivering and curled into a ball.

“Sleet!” Scout dropped to his knees and tried to lift me up. “What are you doing to her?”

“Hmm?” The King raised that quizzical eyebrow again before chuckling. “I merely noticed her new toy and was giving her a map. I did not expect to brush against a soul in there. Such a bright one you have, Sleet Gray. The burning light of a curious mind.”

I pressed myself against Scout, eyes wide and panicked, unable to control the shuddering. It had felt so…wrong! A cold, slimy energy passing over me, in me, through me. I felt in it every nerve, every cell. My barest essence had been, for a moment, in contact with unfiltered evil, and it left my spirit quaking in its wake.

And that was him just giving me directions.

“When she regains her senses, tell her to follow the map I placed in her new toy. That will lead you to the Empire’s final salvation, and your last chance to fix this world.” I felt his eyes on me and squeaked, shrinking into my coat. “Truly, it seems the Empire tested your bodies to the limits. This may yet prove challenging to your souls, what remains of them. Though you may not have such a terrible time of it, Scout.” My friend looked up at the shadowy king, confused. Sombra grinned that deadly snake’s grin of his. “All love a chance to see home again, do they not?” His rumbling cackles retreated as the smoke slowly dissolved into the crystal on the table, becoming faint echoes as light returned to the room.

The hooded mare was nowhere to be found.

*****

I was wrapped in a blanket on the love seat, greedily gulping down hot tea. The chill was finally leaving my body, but I still felt a small cold somewhere deeper. I coughed as the hot liquid burned my tongue and throat, but only stopped drinking long enough to catch my breath.

“We’re gonna run out of water in town if you keep this up.” Sister said, taking my drained cup. I didn’t say anything, instead drawing the blanket closer. Clarity had come downstairs, and though she was splayed out on the couch she looked decent enough compared to the previous day. Arterial was leaning against the wall, eyes narrowed. I wasn’t sure where Scout was, he said he needed a minute and left in a hurry.

“Does talking with your boss usually do this?” Arterial asked.

“I’ve only spoken with him twice.” I clarified. “But yes, usually.”

The griffon shook his tawny head. “I’ve heard of this ‘Shadow King’ before, but no one ever told me he was an actual demon. I thought those were just stories.”

“I’d just like to know why the fuck you thought it was a good idea to make a deal with that demon!” Sister yelled from the kitchen. “I have a good mind to toss your ass on the street and lock the door!”

“He’s a means to an end.” I said. “The plan was to use the Empire’s pure light to destroy him. Then spread that light over Equestra. The hope was that with light restored, the Enclave wouldn’t be able to justify their genocide and reconnect with the surface.” I glanced over at Clarity, who was refusing to look at me. “Sadly, it didn’t quite work.”

“I’m sorry that risking the soul of my people to almost fall into the hooves of the monster who enslaved us seemed like a bad idea.” She spat over her shoulder.

I bit my tongue, and my anger back. “Either way, the plan to betray him just got a lot more complicated. We have to hope whatever this ‘final salvation’ is can do something similar to the Heart and kill him.”

“I don’t know what it could be.” Clarity admitted, shrugging. “None of our legends go back that far. We lost so much between Sombra, the thousand year banishment, and the War that our history only accounts for the last two and a half centuries.”

“Then it makes sense that somepony as old as this Sombra guy claims to be would know what it is.” Arterial said. “Seems like we don’t have a choice in trusting him.” Clarity’s shoulders tightened even more.

“I don’t like it, either.” Sister said, trotting back into the kitchen with a fresh cup of tea. “That monster has been a constant threat in Stalliongrad for the past few years. The thought of him getting more power makes me sick.”

“We’re not giving him more power.” I said firmly. “We’re killing two dragons with one laser, ending Sombra’s threat to the north and the Enclave’s to Equestria.”

Sister huffed, plunking down the cup of tea on the table hard enough to slop some over the rim. “Well, if you’re so sure…damnit!” She rounded on me, her pink eyes burning a hole through me. “When I told you to figure out a way to stop the Enclave, I didn’t mean selling your soul to do it!”

“I’m doing what I have to.” I said evenly, sick of the argument.

Sister snorted and stomped away. She didn’t have a last remark as she stormed from the room. I sighed and picked up the cup of tea, slowly drinking. I could finally feel my heart again, or at least the thump-thump it made. I still couldn’t shake the feeling of something vacant in my chest, and the chill coming out of my wrist. “It pains me to say it, but it doesn’t matter what Sister thinks.” I said, my breath disturbing the steam coming off the tea. “We have little choice but to follow Sombra’s instructions. I don’t like going without a plan, but I’ll think of something as we go. Worst comes to worst…” I paused, remembering something critical. I switched on the radio, which was currently playing a jazzy tune to a smooth stallion’s vocals, and turned on the PipBuck light. Rather than a green glow emitting from the screen, the whole crystalline device lit up with a soft blue. It was wholly pleasant and made me smile just to look at it. Nevertheless, I continued. “Worst comes to worst, I’ll just actually backstab him, or have Scout shoot him in the head, whatever.”

“You don’t have to justify to me, boss.” Arterial said, shrugging. “But do you know where Scout is? I haven’t seen him since you called me down here.”

“I haven’t seen him either.” I said, rubbing my chin. “He took off in a hurry, something about getting ready.”

“I’m right here.” Nightmare Moon entered the room as we spoke of her, or at least Scout did. On the surface, he looked fully prepared for travel, kitted out in his battle saddle, guns, and duffel bag. His face however was frozen in an odd expression, and there was something about his voice I couldn’t quite place. “I needed to…prepare myself.”

“Why?”

“You heard what Sombra said didn’t you?” As he repeated the King, I pegged what was wrong with him, disconnect. He was keeping his face and voice devoid of emotion.

I blinked once before pulling up my PipBuck’s map. The green tiled overlay had a blinking marker in the far north-east, just below the snowline. Underneath the marker was a square with a gear in it labeled “Stable 130”, the same number emblazoned across the back of Scout’s jumpsuit. I looked back up at him, brows furrowed. He just smiled listlessly. “All love a chance to see home again.”
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Footnote: EXP gained!

Author's Notes:

Alright, we a li'l bit late, but that's entirely my fault. I pushed a few wrong buttons and didn't get the draft to my prereaders in a timely manner, but that's since been corrected, and we're off to the races! I'm trying to keep up the shorter chapters since they constitute less stress on all involved in the creation process (Mobius regularly complains about how "damn long these are", the baby). Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this next installment, tell me if you did or didn't with the like/dislike buttons and shoot me a comment with some more detailed info. Special thanks go out as always to Kkat for being the mastermind of the original Fo:E, Mobius for being story sounding board, and Starlight Nova as newest prereader extraordinaire (even when I fuck up the messaging system!) See you all next time!

Oh, and uh, P.S.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL_7mdEIp3s

FUCKING FALLOUT 4 HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fallout: Equestria: Snowfall

by Scattershot

Plummet

Wasteland

Cause and Effect

Calculated Risk

Captivity

Variables

What We Must

Ghost Stories

Paranoia

The Frozen North

Belly of the Beast

Audacity

A Moment of Rest

Visions

Friends and Enemies

Old Voices

Honesty

The Crystal Empire, Part 1

The Crystal Empire, Part 2

The Crystal Empire, Part 3

Flickering

Correcting Course