Prologue

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I guess if I'm gonna tell you about The Big Empty, and all about why your auntie Cloudchaser is the best goddamned pegasus ever, I have to tell you more about me. I probably should start with a little history lesson about us Chaser's.

You see, long ago, on the day the bombs fell, Cloudsdayle, the capitol of the pegasi, was nuked off the damn map, and I guess all the pegasi decided "Fuck it." and sealed themselves up in the clouds.
I hope I don't have to explain all that history crap behind the whole mess, because, honestly, I don't know shit about it.
All I know is that ponies and zebras decided that killing everypony was a good idea. I'm getting off track again, sorry, mind's not as good as it used to be, or ever was.

Anyway, as I was saying, they sealed it up, and luckily enough, they survived the apocalypse. Now, they said they would come back one day and help the ponies below, but as you can see, they were talking out of their collective asses.
But some ponies weren't so happy with the cowardly bastards. Some ponies tried to argue, some tried to escape. But in the end, they all had one name. Dashite. And that name was as good as being marked by the devil to the Enclave. Two of the first Dashites to leave were a couple of pegasi named Cloudchaser and Flitter.

You see, Cloudchaser was one of Rainbow Dash's friends from long before the war, and Flitter was her marefriend. Now, the Enclave wasn’t much interested in ponies who wouldn’t make babies for the Grand Pegasus Enclave.
That was the tipping point for them. Of course, they thought what they did was pretty damn cowardly, but they were happy enough, but when the enclave came and told them that they had to stop being fillyfoolers, of course, they told them they could shove their offer into their Grand Enclave ass, and like that, they were off, Dash's cutie mark burned on their ass.

Flitter was pretty upset, seeing as all their family and friends were there, and they thought that they were the last ponies on earth, because, well, even 10 years after the war, not many ponies were left in the Marejave. But, you know all about the stables, right?
Well, one of them was set to open up right about then, Stable 74. So the vault ponies came out just as scheduled and met Flitter and Cloudchaser. They got welcomed into the hellhole that was their world, and decided that they were going to build a huge city.

Long story slightly shorter, they soon had a city up and running, called Stability. Flitter and Cloudchaser were considered one of the most important ponies in the city, as nopony else could fly, and they had helped design the cities halls.
Now, one of the downsides of fillyfooling is that putting slot A and slot B together doesn’t end up in a foal. I guess that could be considered an upside if you’re not the kid type, but Cloudchaser and Flitter were.
So, the solution was either adoption, which wasn’t exactly optimal, as orphans aren’t usually up for adoption in Stable society, or asking for “donations”.
Luckily enough, most stallions are willing to make a deposit, if you get my drift.

And so, skipping a year, two healthy foals were born, Cloudchaser the second, and Flutter. They weren’t exactly the most original of ponies, obviously.
So, when Cloudchaser Jr. and Flutter had kids, Cloudchaser decided to name her kid Cloudchaser too. And so, a legacy was made, and every first filly of their descendants was named that.
And eventually, it became more than that. They had become a gang.

So, right then and there, they became the Chaser’s, I guess you could call them a group of organized Dashites.
Only pegasi can join, and the only way you’ll ever get in otherwise is if you’re related to Cloudchaser.
I guess I’m next in line to the throne, so to speak, once mom kick’s the bucket, I’ll be the leader here. I suppose most ponies would consider it a lot of work to be a leader, but I don’t.
We’re the most badass clan in the Marejave, and nopony ever messes with us. I’ve blown off a couple dozen heads of the ponies that haven’t obeyed that rule.
Me. It’s probably a little important to talk about the sexy beast that’s narrating our little tale. I’m Cloudchaser the 13th, and I’m in general, the most awesome pegasus in existence. I’m more of a power hoof kind of gal, and I’m not exactly too bad with a riot shotgun, but I prefer my trusty bludgeoning tool. That’s really all that’s important to know, and I’ve rambled on long enough about history and shit, and you guys want action, am I right? Hold tight, I have a little more to tell, and then I promise we’re getting into the actual story.

Have any of you heard of the Big Empty? No? Figures I get stuck talking to the stupid class.
Imagine a big mountain. Now make it fucking huge. That’s what used to be there, before The Great War. The ministries (and Stable Tec) got together and decided that they would build a new Equestria from the mountain up, a world built on the back of magic and science, a place that could make a better future than one built on the back of balefire.
They made better auto-docs, better power armour, and even better guns.
They were there to solve the world’s problems, and make the solutions.
But as the war grew more and more violent, their problems began to outnumber the solutions, and soon, the final bomb fell on Equestria, the mountain became a crater. That is the Big Empty.
They say the mountain has untold treasures, just waiting to be discovered by the rest of the Marejave. Many had tried to find them, but none had ever returned, and this is the story of the mare who uncovered them.

Chapter 1-Lucky Day

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“Cloudchaser, get up you lazy bitch!” Waking up sucks, especially when your mother is trigger happy, uptight bitch. A loud shot rang out, and I looked up to see my mother staring me in the eye, carrying a riot shotgun, she loaded another shell into it and smiled. I’ve always wondered why she had to do that in the morning, my best guess that wasn’t ‘She’s fucking nuts’ was that it was loud and got the attention of everyone in the barracks quicker than yelling at everyone. “Better get up, junior, or I’m going to feed your breakfast to the radscorpions.”
“I’m up, I’m up…” I moaned as I got off my hammock, groggily slipping into my makeshift armour.
I started down the hall of the stable’s living quarters, looking around at all the poster’s on the wall, one in particular depicting the original Cloudchaser and the crew of the Stable building committee.
I glanced inside the rooms as I trotted by, watching the stable ponies scuttle about, doing stable things.
I saw some little foals playing with blocks, and building a pretty damn impressive model of Stability, which would have been odd if I didn’t know Stable 74,but I guess you don’t know, but that’s because I forgot to tell you guys a little more about this place, but I didn’t want to bore you, because it's kind of an egghead thing;
Stable 74 was made to house only engineers and architects, interestingly enough, and so when they grow up, their brains are made for smarty buildy…things.... Or something, honestly, I don’t know.

Stability is definitely an okay place to live, as long as you don’t mind radscorpions in the vents, and getting up at the ass crack of dawn for stew made out of xander roots and gecko meat.
I mean, I do mind that, but, that’s the price to pay for crops and safety, and it’s better than getting food from the enclave, which everypony is saying is poisoned with raider diseases, or getting them from the strip.
I finally walked into the common area, which was bustling with all the stable ponies messing around with their stupid little Pipbucks, scanning their food and complaining when their Geiger counter started ticking.
Gecko steaks aren't the healthiest food, and sure, they are full of radiation, but that's just trying to save a sinking ship with a bucket.
You're going down that path either way, and all you're really doing is stalling the inevitable.
Why does it have to be my fault because I'm "In charge of hunting”? I didn't cover the geckos in radiation, I just kill them.
But nooooo, I hunt them, it's my job to fix the problem that isn't fixable!
I can't just pump them full of rad away, last time I did that, mom got on my ass about "Chemical poisoning" and "Allergic reactions", but nopony told me rad away reacts negatively to xander root powder, and it didn’t mention that on the packet, so it isn’t really my fault.
I lost track of what I was talking about, but, I guess learning about my history will give you insight in to why I did all the shit I did, which boils down to the simple fact that I do not make good decisions.
If you give me two buttons to press, and tell me one is going to blow up the world, but not which one, I’m going to press the shiny one. I am not exactly a clever pony. I guess you could call me blond, but if you did, I’d punch a hole clean through your skull

I picked up my gecko steak, and trotted over the Chasers table. We got our own section of stability, specifically the security level underground, which is full of weapons and armour, so that’s probably why we got it.
I hated how cracked and dirty the dishes always were, it made the steak taste like dirt, and I wish we had some kind of dish cleaner robot, but the stable woefully lacked one, and water was too precious to waste on dishes.
So, I ate my steak on dirt encrusted plates, as I did every day since I was born.
Everything I owned was old; everything came from this two hundred year old shithole,
already coated in dust, already worn by time.
Even the things ponies built were built from two hundred year old metal. Sometimes I wish something new and not covered in any filth would come in to my life.

“Um… I need to speak with your leader, its, uh… very important… I have caps…”I looked over my shoulder to see an odd cream colored unicorn in a brown cloak trying to talk to the guards, Shack and Shovel, two bulky pegasi bucks, who were blocking her path with their energy lances.
Speak of the devil, and he shall come.
“Sorry missy, but no entry for non residents or Chasers.” The larger of the two, Shovel, was looking down at her. “If you wish to speak with Cloudchaser, you need to pay a fee.”
“I have 100 caps on me…I swear, it’s really important, and I’m with Applejack’s Rangers… They’ll back me up, if my communicator isn’t wrecked...” She fumbled with a pocket in her cloak, pulling out an odd metal chip with a red apple painted on.
I finally noticed what was off about her; she was bald. In retrospect it should have been what I noticed first, but again, blond.
“You’re with Applejack’s Rangers? I thought that they only operated farther east. But, if you’re with official..,” Shack began speaking, before Shovel silenced him with a hoof.
“Now wait a second, miss, I see that scrap of metal there, but that proves exactly jack shit. You could have just painted on a piece of scrap metal!” Shovel looked at her with a disapproving glare.
“Umm… Do any of you have a holotape player?” The mare looked around at everypony in the room, looking pleadingly at me in particular, having singled me out as I was staring at her.
“I do…” I raised my hoof, pulling a small holotape player out of my bag, trotting up to the mare, she put in the metal chip, which began to display a colt in power armour.

“This is Elder Steelhooves, and I have a special mission for you, Canary Belle, and you too, Sunny Scribbles, so please listen.” The colt had a rough voice, but powerful. He pulled up a picture of an elderly old stallion, and pointed to it.
“I want you two to journey to Friendship City, and keep an eye on this buck. You should know him well,” I sighed, wishing he had thought of non smart ponies like me when recording that. I don’t know damnit,
“He may be old, but we all know what happened when we underestimated him.” Again, no, I don’t. I get that this was made for her, but he couldn’t just give a rundown for completions sake?
“We have belief that the next chance he has, he’ll be in the Marejave. If he does manage to escape, contact the local gang, the Chasers, and ask about him.”

“So, Canary Belle, it seems that you’re legitimate, so we can let you see Cloudchaser. But, if I may ask, who is Sunny Scribbles?” Shovel signaled for his brother to lower her lance.
Canary Belle suddenly froze up, her eyes wide, she suddenly collapsed on to the floor, wailing in sadness. I jumped to her side, as everypony who wasn’t already listening in on this debacle suddenly paid more attention to the crying mare huddled on the floor.
“Canary, what happened to Sunny Scribbles?” I guess it wasn’t the most tactful words for the situation, but I was panicking, and I really wasn’t thinking straight.
“It…It…It’s my fault!” Canary wailed. “I should have waited for her… Now she’s dead, or… or captured by the Enclave!” She started blubbering, eyes red with tears.
“I’m sorry…” I gave her a soft hug, hoping that the stiffness I felt in my wings wasn’t an awkward wingboner. “It must be hard to lose a sister… I never had one.” I didn’t know how hard it would be to lose my mom, even if she is a bitch, she’s family. This poor mare just lost her sister… My sympathies went out to her, even if she was bringing too much attention
“She…She wasn’t my sister…I…she…was my special somepony…” She whimpered softly, covering her head with her hooves.
I gave her an even tighter hug, folding my no longer erect wings around her in a tight embrace. I wasn’t sure what else I could do to help her. I just had the power of a comforting hug behind me, and I hoped that would be enough.
“Thank you, thank you so much… I don’t even know you, and you were willing to help…” She smiled warmly, eyes still watery, she clearly wasn’t ok, but she wasn’t wailing anymore. “It’s just… I miss her.” She kept crying, but it was a quiet sob. I stroked her back with my wings. “Thank you so much, miss… I at least need to know your name, so I can thank you..”
“I’m Cloudchaser, I’m glad I could meet you, Canary Belle.” I let go of her and held out my hoof.
“You’re the leader here? I need to talk to you in your office, or wherever you can find privacy, its important!” She gasped, wiping the tears off her eyes, whispering the last part. I was confused for a second, as to why she stopped crying, but I think she was trying to keep a professional air on, despite the situation.
I wasn’t the leader here, my mom was. I suppose that I should have realized she thought I was my mom, but I think we’ve established that I am not a smart pony.
“I’m not the leader here, I’m sorry… I’m Cloudchaser the 13th, you need my mother, Cloudchaser the 12th. She’s the leader here. I can lead you to her if you want.” I smiled, and she looked dejected, going back to the miserable stage of whatever was going on. “Now now, it’s ok, everything will be fine, just come with me.” I felt like I was comforting a child, but I wasn’t mad at her for being so weak, I probably would act the same if I was in her situation.
“It’s not ok, Cloudchaser!” She stomped her hoof, sobbing. By the goddesses, she was a waterworks factory! “It’s my fault my marefriend’s dead, I should have waited for her!”
“No it isn’t, I don’t know enough about what happened to you, but whatever happened, you couldn’t have known.” Frankly, I wasn’t sure that was true, but she needed all the comfort she could get, even if it was false. “Let’s get you up and going to see the leader here, kid.” I helped her up on her hooves, and she leaned on me for support, still crying, but it was getting quieter. I wished I knew what really happened, but asking her probably would have sent her into more crying.

“I would really appreciate it, Cloudchaser.” She smiled, wiping the tears off her face. I motioned for her to follow me. The stable ponies watched us leave, then began whispering to each other fervently.
“I just wanted to ask you something, if you don’t mind,” She spoke up quietly once we were out of the room, and I gave her a small nod. “Why are you and your mom both named Cloudchaser?”

“I was wondering when you’d ask that. Every leader here is named after our founder, Cloudchaser the first, and our leaders are the first filly born to a descendant of Cloudchaser. I’m the 13th in line, so, I’m Cloudchaser the 13th.” I smiled, even though I had said it like a bazillion times before. At this point, I had the speech ingrained into my memory.
We soon arrived at the stables old security center, which had a helpful note taped to it, which read “This is Cloudchaser’s office, trespassers will be shot, and survivors will be shot again.” Ah, my mom is certainly the most poetic of ponies, is she not? “Is she serious about that?” Canary Belle looked frightened by the sign.
That was a rhetorical question, in case you didn’t notice, though if you didn’t, you need to go get the dunce cap out of the storage room and put it on.
I didn’t bother knocking, because she always knew when I was coming, so I just walked in, only to be staring down the barrel of my mom’s trusted shotgun.

“Now look here, retard, I have that sign for a… Cloudy!” She lowered the gun, welcoming me in.
“Don’t surprise me like that, or I might blow your head off accidentally.” She noticed Canary Belle behind me, who had a shocked look on her face.
“You seriously would have shot her if she was trespassing!?” She yelled at my mother, who had a calm look on her face despite Canary Belle. “Do you just kill everypony who comes in here?” I guess I never thought about it like that, it had always seemed like a fact of life; Mom’s trigger happy, the clouds are grey, the rain is wet. It wasn’t something I considered, but it was weird, threatening people like that.
“No, I don’t. I have that sign because I’m sick of people barging in without my permission. It encourages them to make an appointment.” She seemed smug, but at the incredulous look Canary was giving her, she elaborated. “Usually the only ponies who ignore it are out to kill me because they have the crazy notion that it would make them leaders, or assassins from Caesar’s legion out to get me for the boss.”
“But…But… What if they don’t want to kill you? It’s just reckless!” Canary Belle stomped her hoof and snorted.
“Then I don’t shoot them. It’s simple, easy, and effective.” She smiled, as Canary shook her head. “Look, here in the Marejave, you have to assume everypony has a gun behind your back, so you keep one behind yours.”
“That just perpetuates the problem! If you all assume that, it becomes true!” She didn’t seem to get the joke, but she did have a good point.
“Then it’s not a problem.” My mother smiled smugly, while Canary groaned, muttering something about “Idiots” and “Trigger happy”.
“Moving on, you haven’t introduced me to your marefriend? She’s a looker, aint she.” I blushed a deep red color, stammering. “Took you pretty long to find one, I’m glad you’re finally gonna get laid. All my poker buddies were betting you liked stallions, and I have some money to collect.” She ruffled my mane, and I blushed even more, my purple coat now a deep magenta, and Canary Belle looked to be on the verge of tears.

“Um… She’s not my marefriend… I… I’m…. with somepony else… if she’s still alive...” She said, eyes watering as she whispered the last part. I patted her with my wing sympathetically.
“I’m here on official business, ma’am, with Applejacks rangers. My name is Canary Belle, and I am looking for this stallion.”Wiping the tears off her eyes, she took on a more professional demeanor, holding up a bounty poster of that old stallion from the holotape. “His name is Cottage Cheese, and we have reason to believe he has come through this town. He is considered a dangerous outcast." She lost all of the fear that had been in her voice earlier, an angry glint in her eyes. I got the feeling that she was thinking about hurting him badly.
"That old buck?" My mother looked confusedly at Canary.
"He hobbled in covered in bandages and medical braces a couple days ago. Barely looked like he could stand without them, said he came from Friendship City." She explained calmly, pulling some papers out of her desk and filing them as she talked, not even looking up.
Sometimes my mom is cool, and not a giant bitch, and today was one of those days.
"Asked about some mountain down to the southwest, and then just left when we told him that there weren’t any mountains like that around these parts. Then we got word that the skies over by where he came were cloudless, and that Friendship City was blown up, but by that time, the guy was gone."
She sighed. "I wish we could see the sun, but the explosion didn't reach far enough. All we've got is dust over here, kid."
Mom looked at Canary Belle. "Sorry I couldn't help you that much, but I just didn't think much of the buck, just seemed like one of the run of the mill nutjobs we get here."
"It's ok ma'am, you did give me a clue where he went. Thank you for the info, even if it's just a little bit." She gave a smile that made me feel like the room was full of warmth and not damp and cold like the office was before.
I could see why Sunny chose a mare like her.
She trotted out of the office, taking the warm feeling with her, closing the door behind her.
I felt sad watching her leave, and I had the inexplicable urge to chase after her, but before I could go, my mother tapped me on the back, and I turned to face her.
"You like her, don't you, Cloudy?" Mom looked at me with a knowing smirk, and I lowered my ears in embarassment, face warm.
"She seems like a nice gal." She gave me a motherly smile. "You want to go with her, I can tell."
I stammered, and she chuckled. How the fuck does she always know what I'm thinking? I swear, sometimes I think she can see into my damn soul.
"It's ok, Cloudy, you're old enough to leave Stability, see the world, do shit with your life.” She sighed. “I know I left here a while before you did.” She looked back up at me, smiling.
“Wait, why are you so ok with this? Aren’t you supposed to not want me to leave?” I stammered, confused by the matter of fact tone she was using. “I mean, I’m your daughter, and you want me gone?”
“You don’t remember?” She looked at me, annoyed. “I’ve talked to you before about the responsibility of a leader, or did you just tune me out?”
“Uh… Which answer wont piss you off?” Truth be told, I never really paid attention to her lectures, they were always “You’re gonna be leader one day, and you have to pick up your shit if you’re going to be leader, blah blah responsibility, blah blah boring shit.” Whatever it was, it was probably boring and stupid.
“Damnit, Cloudchaser, this is important!” She groaned, giving me a hard look. “Before they can take over, every Cloudchaser has to go out and see the world, so we don’t end up being led by some greenhorn with no clue about what goes on in the Marejave. I explained this at least two times!” She gave me a reprimanding look.
“I’m sorry, mom…” I folded my ears back sheepishly, and kicked my hoof. “I’ll listen better now…” I was lying through my teeth, and from her look I could tell she wasn’t buying it.
“The other part of the leadership ritual is getting your cutie mark branded off.” She grinned as I covered my cutie mark with my tail in defense. "Relax; I'm just fucking with you, kid. Not that your cutie mark’s that great anyway.” I glared at her and snorted defensively. My cutie mark was perfectly fine! There’s nothing wrong with a power hoof anyway. “I do have something to give you though," She looked into her desk and pulled out a dirty pink bow, handing it to me carefully.
"Gee, thank you mother, a filthy pink bow, what a wonderful gift. I will cherish it forever" I looked down at the ragged thing I held in my hoof.
It had scratches and dust all over it, it looked like it had been chewed on by a radigator, and the colors on it were faded to the point that it was almost gray.
"That was the original Cloudchasers, so treat it with respect, for fucks sake, it's been here for generations, so it’s older than you are. I'm supposed to give it to you when you go out into the world, and guess what?" She stuck it on my armour. "Today's your lucky day, kid."
I felt suspiciously unlucky.

Footnote:
Level 1: No level up
Quest Perk added: Lucky Bow- You now feel your ancestors spirit watching over you, and now you gain an additional bonus to luck when it is equipped, as well as the normal boosts.
SPECIAL:
Strength: 7
Perception: 4

Chapter 2-Wild Wasteland

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Standing here, looking at my mother, I realized how much had changed in an hour and a half of time. Actually, thinking about it, a ridiculous amount had changed. In the past hour, I had met, and then comforted a beautiful, albeit bald mare when she burst out into tears, become involved in a chase to find an old buck from Applejack’s Rangers, and somehow gotten a crush on the mare I comforted, and the two hundred old cherry on top, been given a dirty old bow as a gift from my mother, with permission to leave Stability. Today has been an interesting day.
After sitting in stunned silence for a moment, I was shaken out of my stupor by my mother, who pushed me out of her office and slammed the door. I looked down the hall, spotting Canary Belles robe turn a corner, and I gave chase, cursing my armour for slowing me down. “Wait up, Canary!” I shouted, speeding up my pace, I saw her turn around.
“What are you doing?” She stared at me with a puzzled look on her face, stepping out of the way, as I was unable to stop running, and I crashed into the door, dizzy. Canary couldn’t help but giggle at my epic fail and helped me get back up. “I’m guessing you’re coming with me, right?” She looked into my eyes and I blushed. Does everypony read minds but me? Has everything I knew been a lie? Am I just that easy to read? “Well spit it out, Cloudchaser.” Canary smiled weakly, trotting away, motioning for me to follow.
“I’m supposed to help you get to wherever you need to go." I grinned. “Mom figured you weren’t strong enough to do it on your own, and she…” I faltered, she was giving me a disbelieving look, and I found myself unable to finish my lie. “Ok, I wanted to go with you and she said yes.” Damn her judging eyes that looked deep into my soul.
“Feel better now you got that off your chest?” She smirked, patting me on the back. Despite her smirk, I couldn’t stay mad at her. “Come on, perk up, we’ve got to get going, we have a long way to go.” We trotted down the hallway in awkward silence; I stole some glances at her every couple minutes, trying to get a good look at the symbol on her robe. Sometime she would look back and give me a disapproving glare if she caught me staring.
“So, um, whats with the bird stitched in your robe?” Awkwardly changing the subject, I pointed to her robe, and she stopped, letting me take a better look. The symbol was a blue songbird with three music notes next to it. They seemed to be stitched into the robe with yarn of some sort.
“It’s my cutie mark, actually.” She explained, pointing at the bird. “I think it represents that I’m good at gathering information.” I gave her what I hoped was my “I am not a clever pony, please explain” look, and she sighed. “The expression, you know; A little bird told me.” I nodded, looking at the notes, she recognized the look, evidently, and continued. “The music notes are information.”
“That’s kind of abstract. Mine is a power hoof. I think it’s pretty easy to guess what it means.” I turned so she could see my flank better, blushing. “It seems a little unnecessarily vague.”
“I used to think that, but now, I think it’s kind of poetic.” She was blushing as well, but quickly calmed down. “I do have some questions about the Marejave, so I don’t end up doing something utterly stupid.” I gave her a nod, and she continued. “What are the major cities here, and where will we need to avoid?”
“Well, there’s Primm, which is a little town down south, which unfortunately has a problem with Powder Gangers, but normally is the best place to gamble besides New Pegas, there’s also Nippon, which the radio says has been silent for a while, which usually means that they’re all dead, so we should stay away from there, and the only other place of note close by is Goodsprings, which is a really nice town, nothing much else there. The Marejave isn’t really that populated.” I began explaining all the towns near here, hoping that she wasn’t headed any farther away than that. I really, really hoped she didn’t have to go anywhere near Nippon, because I didn’t mention the real reason they were dead. She wouldn’t need to go near Caesar’s legion… Please, Goddesses, let that be true. I wouldn’t trust my luck.
“I have one last thing to ask, Cloudchaser.” She turned back around, looking at me. “Is your mom always that… weird?” She looked confused, and a little scared.
“Oh, today has been one of her good days, actually.” I grinned, but stopped when I noticed the shock on her face.
“So aiming a shotgun at anypony that comes in with the full intention to shoot them before asking questions is a good day?!” She looked angry and scared at the thought of that.
“Well, I guess it’s odd, but at least she only shot at me once this morning.” Canary’s jaw dropped, and I looked sheepish.
“And you find nothing wrong with that?” Canary Belle stopped completely in her tracks, and was yelling at the top of her lungs.
“I guess I just never thought about it, it just seemed really normal to me, she’s always been like this.” She looked at me with pity in her eyes, and I felt embarrassed, I didn’t need her pity, I was strong.
We heading into the Stability Market Center, which was the main trading hub for the Marejave, besides the Strip of course, but this was the one for the ponies who don’t have caps or connections. All the stands had to be approved by the stable’s security team, but it was really more of the Chasers jurisdiction that mattered here. From shady ponies chewing some freakish mix of tobacco chew and Mint-als, to clearly batshit dash addicts, the crowd of ponies that were disallowed entrance was pretty damn big, and Canary Belle was clearly very scared of them, edging away from any buck that walked by.
“Well, I do have to stop at several places before we can pinpoint Cottage Cheese’s location, as it’s very likely he’s tried to find more old world tech before heading to wherever that mountain is.” Canary Belle was whispering to me while I was trying to argue with Shack and Shovel again, who were working their next shift. I groaned, couldn’t she tell I was busy? I mean, I’m only talking our way out of the crowd. She got the hint and piped down.
“Come the hell on, Shovel! You fucking let her in not less than an hour and a half ago!” I was yelling at him so angrily that his ears had folded back as far as they could go, and frankly I was happy about that. I mean, they were just fucking with me at this point. “You know that there aren’t any rules about these kinds of things. You know damn fucking well!” I stomped my hoof, making the power hoof crackle with electricity. I guess it’s a good way to set up a hoof based weapon, but it makes it hard to just stomp for emphasis, even if it does help enforce my point. Shack was mumbling apologies for his brother under his breath, before Shovel gave him a glare.
“She isn’t allowed until she has an I.D. tag, as of the new rule enstated by the head of Stability off of an anonymous tip off from the Steel Rangers that a spy is here from a dangerous group of outcasts. As you are the only pony here with any prior affiliation with the Steel Rangers, we need official I.D so our pipbucks can have a tag on you.” Shovel pointed to a small new notice stuck on the side of the wall, with the Stable logo on it. Canary Belle gasped, then sighed in defeat, turning so he could scan her cutie mark, giving me a nice shot at her…Damnit, I am not a pervert, even if it did look nice. “You’re free to pass.” He smiled happily.
“You realize that he probably made that up to get a look at your ass, right?” I looked back at them, who were giggling like little colts who found their first playcolt magazine, and Canary Belle nodded. “So, ignoring that debacle, do you have any weapon specialties, and do you have one with you?” I tried to make it sound professional as shit, but I was pretty sure my voice cracked for the first time in years.
“Of course I know that, but they wouldn’t let us in.” She sighed, looking back at them. “ And I specialize in energy weapons mostly, but as a scribe, I was not issued a weapon.” Canary Belle glanced at a weapons cart run by a bright pink unicorn with an equally obnoxious neon green mane, who smiled charismatically, waving us over to the makeshift shop. She looked closely at a small laser pistol, picking it up with her magic and turning it over.
“Be careful with the merchandise, lady, you break it, you buy it.” The bright pink buck glared at her suspiciously. “That thing’s 75 caps, so it’s a pretty good deal.” He pointed at the gem jammed in the power slot. “Powered by that thing there, all you need is to feed magic into it, and boom, laser goes out there!” He motioned towards a target, smiling. “Go on, free trial.” I honestly didn’t buy the “free” part, but it seemed to be fine, and Canary Belle fired a shot at the target, leaving a scorch mark on it. She forked over the caps, and he handed it to her, smiling even wider, false kindness oozing from every pore. “Try not to get killed!”
Most of the other purchases went over well, and by the time we were done, we had everything we needed for travel; food, ammo, a radio, all that was needed was something to carry it (and us), which was luckily covered by my mother, who was waiting by the gates with a dilapidated old train cart that was clearly made to be hauled by pegasi, the wheels and harness being made of clouds. She smirked at us, and I glared back, my mother was up to something, and she wanted me to know it. “Hey squirt, guess what I’ve got for yah!” She kicked the back of the cart with her back hoof, and it opened up, revealing a cabin. “Courtesy of Cloudchaser the 7th, and it’s all yours now, goddess know I have no use for it anymore.” She trotted away faster than I could get over to her, avoiding my gaze. Canary Belle shrugged and unloaded her saddlebags into the cart, and quickly began organizing it into a small little hovel.
“I don’t like how eager she was to get away from the cart; maybe we should search it for bombs.” I put down my stuff, and started searching under the floor boards, pulling out a dusty towel and plates, tossing them out.
“Well, let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth, but if it makes you more comfortable, I can search with you, but I doubt your mother is that crazy. She is crazy, but not that crazy… yet.” I glared at her, but went back to my diligent search of the cart, but so far all we had found was a dead radroach and dust. Lots of dust, actually, but nothing dangerous.
“Wait, so an hour ago you call my mom a loony, and now she’s not “that” crazy. Make up your mind damnit!” I groaned, letting go of the floorboard I was pulling up, sending a cloud of dust out into my face.
“Don’t get me wrong, she’s gonna crack someday, but booby trapping a present for her daughter?” She wiped the dust off my face. “She probably just put some water squirter in the cart somewhere, not anything to worry about.” I didn’t want to bring up the fact that water was way too precious to waste on a stupid gag. “She’s still crazy though.”
“My mom isn’t crazy…” I mumbled under my breath, then sighed, and pulled up the last floorboard, which caused a loud explosion to ring out, and I heard laughter from outside the cart. The explosion hadn’t done any damage, but it had covered my face in soot. Looking down at the floorspace, I saw a note that had the words “PUNKED” scribbled on it in ink. I crumpled it up and tossed it angrily at the wall. Damnit mom, you’re basically a five year old with gunpowder!
“Gotcha, kid!” My mother poked her head in, spotting the soot on my face; she burst into peals of laughter. “Gunpowder is the best thing ever!” She saw the look I was giving her and started trotting away slowly, before breaking into a gallop.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” I looked back to see Canary Belle pulling my mother back to the cart with her magic. My mother looked like a little filly with her hoof caught in the mint-als tin (I should know the look), ears pulled back, blue tail tucked between her legs. “If you had put more gunpowder in the charge, you could have blown her head off!” Her eyes were a fiery hot pink as she stared at my mother, with an amount of rage I never thought I’d see her express.
“Oh, come on, it didn’t kill her, so everything is perfectly fine!” She pulled herself away from Canary’s grip, grinning half in mirth, half in embarrassment. Canary looked like she was about to deck my mom, which was not unnoticed by my mother, who backed up in fear. “You aren’t seriously upset, are you? It was just a joke!”
“OF COURSE I’M UPSET, YOU BITCH!” The cart rattled as Canary Belle yelled at my mother, so loud I swear my eardrums still haven’t recovered. She snorted and stomped, and in general became a cream colored ball of rage. “You seriously thought that putting a miniature bomb in a gift for your daughter is ok? I’m surprised Cloudchaser wasn’t killed by your neglect years ago!” My mother recoiled, backing into a wall.
“Canary, please calm down…” I grabbed her cloak, pulling gently on it. She turned around to face me, still steaming. “She didn’t mean any harm…” She kept a skeptical look on her face, but she stepped away from my mother, though she kept one eye on her to keep her from leaving. “I mean, if she really is as fucked up as you seem to think she is, she couldn’t have meant to kill me!” I pointed a hoof at my mom, who was glaring at Canary, who was returning the look in full. “And even if she did, you can’t just be a bitch back, I mean… I just... UGH.” I pounded my hooves in frustration. “Just… Mom, leave.” She opened her mouth to protest, but gave an annoyed groan and left, muttering about “Spoilsports.”

“She just shot gunpowder in your face and you’re defending her?” She wasn’t really mad anymore, but she still had an angry gleam in her eyes, mostly, she just seemed frustrated with me. “Is everypony in the Marejave goddamn insane?” I was feeling kind of insulted, but I knew where she was coming from. I guess it might be the heat, but strange things happened here that didn’t happen anywhere else, and mirages were common, so I guess the land itself was a little nuts.
“You can’t just act all high and mighty when you were the one blowing up in my mom’s face!” She recoiled as if I had slapped her across the face, and stammered. “I get that you just lost a marefriend, but you can’t do that here or you’re just gonna end up shot, or worse!” I felt bad that I had yelled at her, but at the same time, her attitude needed adjusting, even if I chose probably the worst way possible to break it to her.
“I’m sorry, Cloudchaser, I just…” She sighed sadly. “It’s just hard for me seeing somepony get away with things that they should be punished!” She smiled slightly and poked me with her hoof. “I mean, you seem like a nice, if rather impulsive mare, and you’re letting your mother get away with murder.” I tilted my head in confusion, my mother hadn’t killed anypony; at least nopony I knew. I wasn’t the sharpest knife in the toolbox. “Figuratively.” She looked at me and smiled as I gave a sheepish grin.
“Now that mom’s gift is finished blowing up, we actually get something done about ... whatever you actually got sent here to do.” She gave an annoyed glare. “I wasn’t paying that close attention to your guy in power armour, ok?”
“It’s ok, his speech really was just meant for me and Sunny…”Her voice caught a little on the name, but she recovered, I waited patiently for her to continue, intent on hearing about why she was here. “So it’s understandable why you couldn’t grasp what we need to do.” Pulling out the poster that seemed to be her only reference guide, she pointed at him. I finally got to get a good look at the old buck, who, as my mother had described, looked like he couldn’t walk a step without reinforcements. His eyes were misted over, and he looked half blind, yet they still had a cold look in them, golden and harsh. He looked older than most of the Marejave, to the point where his wrinkles almost seemed to have wrinkles. “This, as I’ve already explained, is Elder Cottage Cheese, and, again, as explained, he is a refugee from the Friendship city attack, and an enemy of Applejack’s Rangers.” Her gaze hardened when she mentioned Friendship city, but it didn’t seem like she was sad anymore. “J was sent to Friendship City in anticipation of his arrival, and I was to watch for any signs of a repeat of Stable 29, or anything similar.” I raised my hoof to interrupt, but she silenced me. “Stable 29 was a stable run by a computer, called a Crusader Mainframe, which he intended to use to preserve his mind inside of it. Luckily, the Stable Dweller was able to keep him from achieving his goal.” I tried once more to raise a hoof, but she seemed to read my mind, continuing. “He intended to rule over the Steel Rangers indefinitely, to lead the ponies of the future, after, of course, all the “tribals” here had killed each other.”
“What the fuck?” I mouthed out, groaning. “And minutes ago you called us the crazy ones! We aren’t going around becoming cyborgs and blowing up cities!” I seriously doubted the world needed anyone who calls other ponies “tribals” leading them.
“Ok, there are so many reasons what you said is wrong, starting with the fact that he didn’t blow up Friendship City, the Enclave did, so please keep your facts straight, and don’t combine them.” I pouted as she gave me a condescending look. “Not only that, he wanted to transfer his mind to a computer, not become part machine! I’m not sure that’s even possible outside of comic books!” She seemed amused at the grumpy look on my face, and I frowned even more, before my eyes brightened.
“But what about that, what’s her face, Security Mare? I heard that she became a robot pony, but then again, I heard that she was traveling around with Rainbow Dash, so take it with a grain of salt.” I felt proud of myself for winning this battle of logic and wits, even if it was just a discussion on the existence of cyborgs, it felt good to be right.
“I think we need to get back to the whole, mission thing, Cloudchaser.” She looked at me disapproving as I began acting out being a cyborg, growling and stomping in a mock rage. She clearly didn’t appreciate my unique brand of awesome, so I stopped, and she nodded her approval, and continued. “As he has escaped Friendship City, it would seem that he has fled here, for unknown reasons.”
“Wouldn’t the crazy bastard keep looking for stuff that could make him immortal?” I posited, trying to make up for the little puppet show I was doing. Nopony ever appreciates a good joke anymore, anyway.
“I’m operating under that assumption, yes.” Canary Belle smiled and nodded. “As such, he probably would have come here to find something. I don’t know what, but it’s imperative that we know. I think you know why having him as an immortal leader would be a bad thing.” I nodded, and sat there pondering the future of the Wasteland under his rule. It wasn’t pretty, though there was tech everywhere, and that was kind of cool. “So we need to find sources of tech here that he might have visited, but it’s probably better if we wait till tomorrow to begin.”
“I guess you’re right, I’ll go search the upper cabinet for bedding.” I flew up to the ceiling, which had a small latch on it, pulling down a ladder to a small attic, barely big enough to even put my head in. I tried to look around inside, but it was too dark and musty to see, so I stepped down, looking pleadingly at my companion. “I can’t see in there, could you light up your horn and see if there are any bedrolls or something?” She nodded and climbed up the ladder, and I saw the light coming from her horn, she was silent for a minute, before coming out of the attic with two sleeping bags, covered in dust.
“I can’t guarantee that it won’t be uncomfortable, but it’ll do for the night.” She put them on the floor, and spread them out on opposite sides of the cabin. “I’ll go check the door to see if we have a lock on it, we can never be too careful, you know?” I nodded, and she trotted to the door, and pulled it open, inspecting the handles, she gave a small “Ahah!” and closed the door with a click, smiling.
“I know this is an odd time to bring it up, but I’ve been wondering since you walked in; why are you bald?” I was sitting on the sleeping bag, trying to avert my gaze as she took off her cloak, revealing that she wasn’t completely bald, her red and lavender tail was fully intact, raising even more questions in my mind.
“Oh, that,” She was curling up on her bag when she turned around to face me. “All scribes in Applejack’s rangers have to shave their mane. I don’t even know why it is, but it’s just a rule.” She seemed annoyed at that, rubbing her head and sighing, blowing out the lantern that was lighting the small cabin.
“Well, you look pretty either way.” I blushed slightly as I said it, grateful for the lack of light, before getting under the covers. “Goodnight.”

Footnote:
Level 1: No level up
Companion Perk: Canary’s Song- As long as Canary Belle is in your party, all transmitters (Such as radio’s and sonic guns) function better, as well as sonic attacks dealing 10% less damage.
Companion’s SPECIAL:
Strength: 4
Perception: 7
Endurance: 5
Charisma: 7
Intelligence: 6
Agility: 7
Luck: 4

Fallout Equestria: Old World Blues

by Combinatory

Prologue

Chapter 1-Lucky Day

Chapter 2-Wild Wasteland