//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Taking Back What's Ours // Story: Fallout Equestria: The Wilderness // by Lusaminia //------------------------------// “I love those dear hearts and gentle people, Who live in my home town. Because those dear hearts and gentle people Will never ever let you down.” The walk to Ponville was a long and uneventful one, barely anyone talked during the entire thing and according to Leaf Peeper that was good. She told Broken Record that it is best to just keep quiet around Cheddar in order to not tick him off. While Broken Record wished she had a say in things, she honestly did not. The law out here wasn’t hers, and in a way she was bothered by it. She would have immediately sent ponies to resist the raiders, take them down silently before it devolved to this point. She kept her thoughts to herself, Cheddar would probably say something about it if she tried to speak up. She wanted to feel in charge, that was why she did this in the first place. Instead she felt like she was being pushed around, Cheddar didn’t want her in his sight at all. The only reason she even listened to him was because of the mini gun battle saddle he had on. That thing would rip her apart in an instant, and she would rather not die as soon as she got out here. Besides, she made a promise to Carrot Cake to stay alive and she didn’t intend to break it. Those were the only two things that was keeping Broken Record shooting out. As they approached the town the first thing Broken Record noticed was the wooden barrier and tower that surrounded the town. These weren’t made by the civilians, she knew it there was two spears with the skulls of ponies on them. The raiders had built a small wall in order to keep ponies who tried to enter out. The watch tower that had been built housed a single pony who has calmly drinking a bottle of Sparkle-cola. It was he had a gun that house a scope and long barrel, obviously meant for much longer range fighting then Broken Record revolver. “Looks like they set up shop pretty well,” Leaf Peeper said as she and Broken Record peered out from behind a tree. They had taken cover to avoid immediate detection. “Can’t see if there is anypony by the opening in the barrier though,” “Allow me,” Broken Record said, as she stepped fully out of cover and looked down at the opening. “Two ponies with rather rusty pistols by the looks of it. Both seem to be well armored, nothing I can do from this range,” “Ok, get back behind the cover,” Cheddar said pissed for one reason or another. None of them noticed as the pony in the tower put down the now empty Sparkle-Cola and grabbed his gun. Immediately he spotted Broken Records grey coat as she turned around to head back behind the tree. Without a single second after spotting her he pulled the trigger, the bullet going right into her leg as she stumbled forward and out of his side. Instead of turning away, he kept an eye in case Broken Record came out of cover again. It burned, she stumbled backward in pain at just how badly it hurt. As far as Broken Record knew, nopony had seen here. Small slowly started making its way towards the wound as Leaf Peeper came up to her with a small bandage the pony had. Luckily, the bullet had gone straight through meaning that she didn’t have to worry a lot about infection. It was still an injury though, and that wasn’t going to changed instantly. “For buck sake,” Cheddar mumbled to himself as he saw the scene before him play out. “This is why you should have never come, we didn’t need the help of a stupid stable dweller like you around here,” “Lighten up Cheddar,” Leaf Peeper said standing up and looking at the metallic eyes of the armored pony. “She isn’t like the Lightbringer, she wants to help us not ruin our freedom,” “And you think I care,” Cheddar said pushing Leaf Peeper to the ground. “Not that I would expect any different from a wastelander like you. Stable Dwellers, no matter what they look like are, can not be trust,” He made his way past them with hidden expression of disgust. “It’s no wonder you haven’t gotten a promotion in two years, your criminals like the rest of those Wastelanders,” He stormed off down into the forest towards Ponville, Leaf Peeper staying behind to care for Broken Records wounds. The overmare held in her anger at the pony, not able to believe what he had said about her and the stables. Why should he care, they had a much better life than she imagined most ponies out here did. “What the hell is his problem?” Broken Record asked Leaf Peeper once she was sure he couldn’t hear them. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” “It’s not you who had done something wrong,” Leaf Peeper reassured her. “You are an Overmare, you wouldn’t know what we think about most ponies. You must have heard the story of the Lightbringer though, how she stopped the alicorns and Enclave. In the Wasteland ponies see her as a symbol of hope. Saddly, with good action a bad one is made as well, ponies here see the New Canterlot Republic as that,” “I thought the Wilderness had no ties to the NCR?” Broken Record said with confusion. “That’s the problem,” Leaf Peeper responded, as she finally finished bandaging. “The NCR was created to bring Equestria back, and because of all the flora and fauna around here that isn’t radiated ponies think they’ll take over. As much as I hate to admit it, they’re spreading across Equestria is as much evidence as ponies need to call them imperialistic. The ponies here don’t want to be taken over, they want to be a separate country,” Broken Record knew that feeling, losing your freedom due to a higher power. It was what put her into the role of Overmare, the overseer lotery. When a new Overmare or Overstallion was needed, every pony over the age of fifteen was given a raffle numbers. Like a game of bingo, a number would be call between one and one hundred. If one of the ponies holding a number was called, they were put as the new Overseer whether they wanted to or not. Her number that year had been 7, and what luck it brought her. While no pony doubted her ability to be a leader, she felt under pressure because of how what it cut off from her. It took her loving job, her ability to go out the stable (something she had always wanted), but most importantly it took her away her status as a citizen. Even out here ponies called her Overmare. “I guess that clears up most of it but there is still one thing I don’t understand,” Broken Record said curious. “Why did Cheddar call you a wastelander, aren’t you a citizen of the Wilderness?” “Technically yes,” Leaf Peeper answered. “However I wasn’t born here like most ponies. Like Pine Needles I was born in the wasteland, however my family came here to escape the horrors of the world around us. At the time, the NCR hadn’t been founded and ponies were mostly okay with Wastelanders like myself living here. I’m more accepted than more recent ponies that have come here seeking shelter from the dangerous world outside the trees, but that’s because most ponies don’t know about me being a wastelander. Saddly, when you join the Green Mountain Colts everypony else in our little ‘army’ here learns who you are, that didn’t do me favors,” Broken Records ears dropped at the sound of this, then perked up at the distant sound of gunfire. “Should we go help him?” The Overmare asked. “It would just make him angrier than he already is,” Leaf Peeper said. “Besides with luck he’ll make a good dent in their numbers for us,” “And we are going to just let him die?” Broken Record exclaimed with shock. “That doesn’t seem like the right thing to do,” “Look at it this way,” Leaf Peeper said. “If we go help do you think he would listen to us considering his views on our origins?” Broken Record was left silent, unable to disagree with Leaf Peepers argument. “Exactly, he won’t care if we help him or not, and the number of raiders in Ponville at the moment are more then we can deal with when he is drawing all the attention to us. Our best chance I say is to lay low and wait for the gunfire to die down, then take them by surprise in someway,” “Okay,” Broken Record said, not really caring about Cheddar anyways. “Lets just wait here until the gunfire dies down,” ------ They didn’t keep long of how much time had past since the gunfire had started, but Broken Record and Leaf Peeper assumed that it had been about a half an hour. During that time they took the opportunity to make sure Broken Record could still walk okay, and thankfully her limp wasn’t to bad. It stung a little, but it wasn’t nothing she hadn’t been through before, in fact it she barely even noticed she limped. During that time Leaf Peeper had told Broken Record about what the Lightbringer had done, from stopping the alicorns to having a part in the Enclave disbandment. However, she also mentioned that small remnant of the Enclave still remain, hidden somewhere. When Leaf Peeper asked Broken Record about life in Stable 17, she had been quite. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer, she simply didn’t know how to respond. Leaf Peeper said to think about it and the two simply past the time. When the gunfire had stopped Broken Record heard the slight sound of something ringing, including one of the raiders saying to “hold down the fort”. She didn’t exactly get it but this was their only opportunity to strike, while the raiders were still getting back into position. “We can’t exactly go in like Cheddar did huh?” Broken Record asked looking to see two new guards had replaced the old one. “We don’t have the firepower to do a full on assault, especially with Cheddar dead,” “Hmmm,” Leaf Peeper eyed the surrounding before looking at the tall wooden barricade. “Follow me,” Broken Record followed Leaf Peeper as she headed a bit deeper into the nearby woods in order to keep themselves unnoticed. They came up to the wooden barricade that separated them from Ponville, blocking their entry. It was rather stable, each log stuck out of the ground and stayed there with ease. Leaf Peeper tested how well it was dug and found that she couldn’t move it at all. She walked back and forth for a while looking up, it was too high to climb over. Suddenly, an idea came to the unicorn. “The entire town has to be like this,” Broken Record spoke as the idea came to Leaf Peeper. “Any roaded entrances are probably well guarded and it would put the forest in danger to set it on fire,” “Overmare,” Leaf Peeper looked to Broken Record, who looked back curious. “I’m going to ask you to please not freak out,” “Why wou-” Broken Record was cut off as she was enveloped in a green aura and lifted off the ground. She flailed her hooves searching for the ground that wasn’t under her hooves. Leaf Peeper gently floated the former stable pony over to the wall and raised her over it, keeping Broken Records body as low as possible to avoid being spotted. As Broken Record realized this, she relaxed a little, but still didn’t like the feeling of being off the ground. Thankfully, she was gently lowered until all her hooves were placed firmly on the grass on the other side of the barricade. Looking back she saw a flash of light next to her as Leaf Peeper suddenly appeared with her. “Please don’t do that again?” Broken Record asked her companion. “I’m not a pegasus, I would prefer not leaving the ground,” “If there's another way next time something like this happens I will take it,” Leaf Peeper said with her usual smile, which Broken Record had now seen as normal. “But no promises,” Broken Record nodded and looked at the building that now stood in front of them. It was built with what looked like cement and had a plain white color to it. The roof was flat and a long window took up half of the outer wall. Inside she saw many pre-war commodities such as drinks, food, and a broken slurpee machine with what was probably filled with two hundred years of disgusting goo. It seemed to have been slightly ransacked, but most of the stuff in the shop remained untouched. “I’ll take the lead,” Leaf Peeper said as she pulled out her rifle. “Just stay behind me and try to make as little noise as possible. The quieter we do this, the less we put the captives at risk,” Broken Record didn’t need to argue to know Leaf Peeper was right. She never really shot a gun before, and considering how she almost missed most of those targets back at the pub she hoped that she would not have to fight with the revolver. Nonetheless she pulled the Woodchuck Revolver out and followed Leaf Peeper as she walked her way behind another building. They were both rather surprised at the minimal contact with raiders so far. Both ponies thought they would have been swarming this town. “Do you even know how to use that thing?” Leaf Peeper held out her hoof as she heard a raider speaking, looking around the corner to see what exactly was going on. Two ponies, one in the same power armor that Cheddar had been wearing, were arguing. The one that wasn’t in the armor was dressed up in selfmade armor that included a helmet with spikes on it as well as some pads you would expect to see on a football or hockey player. He carried a rather unconventional weapon, a lead pipe, on his left side and some sort of small gun on the other which Leaf Peeper barely made out. When she saw the other pony, she had almost believed Cheddar was a double agent (which she would have actually believed in any other case) but the pony inside the power armor stumbled around as if he had never used it. “Oh sure dude, I remember having this stuff when I worked with the Steel Ranger,” The second raider replied sarcastically. “Do you think I know how to work this stuff? How many raiders do you know can kill a pony in power armor?” “Got a point,” The raider with the helmet said “Still, I’m going to miss having V around, it may have been scary as shit but you can’t doubt how powerful he was,” Leaf Peeper held back a gasp at the name the raider had mentioned. She recognized the name, or rather the way they had described this V pony. The raider sighed “It’s going to be strange not having him around, I wonder if he’s found a body by now,” “I hope so,” The armored one replied. “He’s the only reason we even managed to capture this town,” The two ponies started walking away from Leaf Peeper and Broken Record. Leaf Peeper was gritting her teeth, trying her best to look distressed even though her smile didn’t allow it. Broken Record on the other hand was wonder exactly who this pony they mentioned was. The name V was definitely unusual, but it actually sounded somewhat familiar. Maybe it was a pony who left the stable that she didn’t remember, maybe when she was young. If that was the case then V was most likely just an alias for this pony, it sure sounded like one. “We need to grab that armor,” Leaf Peeper said as she watched the armored pony head into a nearby repair shop. “I have a little experience with Power Armor from my training when I joined the Green Mountain Colts, that mingun could easily rip anypony apart without effort. The only problem is going to be actually getting it off of him without causing any attention,” “Is there anything I should about Power Armor other than it turns ponies into killing machines?” Broken Record asked. “Most of the power armor here was fixed up by ponies,” Leaf Peeper explained. “That being said, we had trouble for the longest time actually getting one to properly work. So we had to make significant changes, it’s now charged through electricity since it’s more accessible than it’s old power sources. Think like a windup car, in order to get it to move you need to pull it back until it has enough power to go forward. Our power armor works in the same way, we got a charging station back up at the mountain village. We changed a lot of things in order to make sure that it could work off electricity. It’s may be lighter and less durable than Steel Ranger armor, but it makes up for that in maneuverability and still being able to use heavy weapons,” “So we only have so long then before the charge on the power armor runs out,” Leaf Peeper nodded in response to Broken Record question. “Well, if it runs off of electricity, is it possible to maybe overcharge the suit. If we can get him near a lose wire, we could fry the pony on the inside while keeping the suit intact,” “That… might actually work,” Leaf Peeper said impressed at Broken Records thinking. “I don’t know if the Power Armor would be in good shape but the minigun is simply just strapped onto it with a battle saddle. We detach it, and since earth ponies like you are much stronger than us unicorns we could always strap the minigun to you,” “If it helps then I’m in,” Broken Record nodded her head. With the decision made, the two ponies made their way out of cover and over to a nearby brick building. Looking out she saw the raider in the watch tower sitting back again with another bottle of Sparkle-cola. Getting herself back into cover, she took her rifle in her hooves and attached quickly attached a silencer to the end of it. After the silencer was completely twisted on, she leaned back out of cover and looked down the guns sights. She took a long breath in and out to make her shot a bit steadier, and finally caught another glimpse of the raiders head. She pulled the trigger, and the bullet went straight into the raiders head without a single sound. The raider simply collapsed on the floor, none of the nearby raiders noticing. “I think we’re clear,” Leaf Peeper whispered as she put her rifle away darted across the street as fast as she could. Broken Record followed behind her, looking to the middle of the street to see a splatter of blood on the ground. She saw what looked like a shotgun shell laying next to it, but there was no body. For all Broken Record could guess, anypony could have died there, and considering that there was no raider bodies in sight either, they seemed to have already disposed of the dead. The streets of the small little town were completely barren save for a few raiders. It seemed eerily quite, a sensation that Broken Record remembered when she left the stable. Not a single hostage in sight, yet she was sure the towns ponies were still alive somewhere. Where exactly were they, not a single door was guarded inside the town. These raiders had claimed the town and they acted like it was always theres. That was probably the thought that scared Broken Record the most, they hadn’t even seen anypony escape. Leaf Peeper stopped in front of the main door to the machine shop, Broken Record right behind her. Very quietly the two went inside to the main shop, where they saw lines of tools for building stacked on shelves and behind the checkout counter. Things such as nails and screws laid in a rack in the back of the shop. It seemed rather normal, but they heard the soft sound of somepony knocking on a door. The sound was coming from a locked door behind the counter, and Broken Record almost instinctively jumped the counter and charged head first into the door. She hit the door, but didn’t manage to bust it open. She feel down on her back groaning. “I don’t think that’s going to work,” Leaf Peeper said as she made her way to Broken Record. She looked at the terminal that Broken Record had failed to notice next to it. “I’ll have this door open in a second,” Broken Record got up and rubbed her head, watching as Leaf Peeper desperately tried to unlock the terminal on the wall. It didn’t take long to tell that she wasn’t haven’t an easy time, her smile shrinking until it was almost invisible. A sound rang from the terminal and Leaf Peeper grit her teeth as she was met with failure. She sighed in dissapoint, and Broken Record immediately stepped forward and moved Leaf Peeper over a little bit. “Allow me to try,” She studied it for a second, looking on the side to see if it had a PipBuck port like the ones in the stable. Sure enough it did. “Time for the Overmare to work her magic,” She took the cord from her PipBuck and put it into the port on the side like she had back in the stable. “Give it a second,” Leaf Peeper was leaning over her shoulder with interest, and watched as a override option suddenly appeared. “Here goes nothing,” She pressed it and watched as the lines of code passed through the PipBuck. It moved down the lines as quickly as they appeared, searching through various different passwords that had been put into the system. It took much longer to find it here then back in the secret lab in Stable 17, meaning that the password had been reset multiple times before this. That didn’t stop the PipBuck in succeeding however, as it finally rested on the word “Remnants” as the password. Finally into the terminal, Broken Record unlocked the door that had kept on banging as they did. As the door opened, a mare burst through the door and hit her head on the counter in a similar vein to Broken Record. “Ow,” She held her head as she fell backwards. Leaf Peeper let out a gasp as she recognized the earth pony in front of her. Her coat was a teal color. A small, chocolate colored, messy mane with a small line of mint colored hair was on top of her head with a similarly colored tail. She was shorter then Broken Record, but she was twenty year old. Her cutie mark was a that of a mint chocolate. Leaf Peeper couldn’t believe her eyes, she had her this mare had died. “Minty!” She said, making sure her voice wasn’t to loud. The mare looked at Leaf Peeper, still rubbing her head in pain. “Is that really you?” Anywhere else this question wouldn’t have been necessary, but Leaf Peeper knew this mare. She was her sister, adopted of course but still her sister nonetheless. Having heard the name V spoken by those two raiders earlier she was being cautious. Even if the pony said her name she would have to check once they got back to the village. “Leafy?” The mare Leaf Peeper called Minty replied, her sister getting a sigh. A sudden realization came to Minty as she realized where they were at the moment. “Sis what are you doing here? How did you get past the-” A hug from Leaf Peeper stopped Minty’s questions. Her sister was crying, she could hear her sniffling from behind her. Tears filled Leaf Peepers eyes as she hugged her sister, and Minty hugged her back. Broken Record stood there as the scene played out before her, she didn’t know what it was like to have a sister. She could see how much it meant to Leaf Peeper of course, and she could tell how close the two were. “I… I’m not sure how to feel,” Leaf Peeper said with tears swelling her eyes. “It’s just, I heard you're dead and I’m not sure if I’m really talking to you or a Spark,” “I know,” Minty said looking at her sister. “I would have died when these raiders took over town if it wasn’t for this room. I think even they thought I was dead, but somepony locked the door behind me. They told me that I would be safe in here,” “Wait,” Leaf Peeper looked at her confused. “Are you saying that one of the raiders locked you in here to keep you alive,” “I didn’t see who it was, I only know that they saved my flank,” Minty sounded more desperate there, making Leaf Peeper uncomfortable. “Is it possible to keep this till later,” Both ponies looked back at Broken Record, who had gone from happy to impatient in a matter of seconds. “We are still in a raider infested town with a job to do,” Leaf Peeper couldn’t argue with Broken Records statement, it was true after all. They were still in enemy territory with the objective of taking the raiders down and freeing the captives. Leaf Peeper looked back at her sister, who was waiting for her response. She had her reasons to be questioning her sister, it wouldn’t be the first time she had seen a pony come back from the dead. Of course, that could wait till later. “Mint,” Leaf Peeper turned back to her sister. “Stay here until me and Broken Record finish our job. I’ll be back I promise,” Mint gave a nod to her sister, one that made Leaf Peeper believe that her sister may be telling the truth. She was torn, not able to tell if she was really speaking to the pony she had known all her life. She didn’t let the thought overwhelm her however. She turned to Broken Record and the two trotted out of the building, leaving Mint for the time being. ------ The two left the main store and headed to the left were a workshop full of all different mechanical parts. The floor was cluttered with different kinds of broken machines, long since overdue to be fixed. At the far end of it, Broken Record and Leaf Peeper spotted the raider who now inhabited Cheddar’s power armor. He was tinkering with something at a workstation, and was too busy to notice anything going on around him. That being said, there was nothing that wasn’t anything in the workshop that could shock and fry the power armor. “So, you have a plan B?” Broken Record asked Leaf Peeper. “Looks like shocking him is not an option,” Leaf Peeper looked back Broken Record and her smile turned smug to the Overmare. She raised her hoof to show that it was glowing with the same orange glow that her horn did when she had levitated her earlier. Broken Record saw sparks emitting from the bottom of her hoof, realizing that the unicorn was somehow breaking everything she knew about magic. The magic unicorns used usually came out of horns, but Leaf Peeper was somehow able to do it through her hoof. “How are you-” “Doing magic through my hoof instead of my horn?” Leaf Peeper finished Broken Records question. “It’s complicated, but I will try to explain it as quickly and efficiently as possible. You see, everypony has magic including earth ponies, the main problem is that with you and pegasi you don’t have any extra magic to spare in your body. Unicorns are born with a lack of magic, but as we grow older it becomes more and more, storing itself in the horn. All that magic is literally just extra energy that the body needs to expel in some matter. Our bodies make it so much faster than pegasi or earth ponies do that it’s even possible for magic outburst to happen,” “What does that have to do with using magic through your hooves?” Broken Record asked, not getting what Leaf Peeper said. “It’s not trained by many ponies because of how dangerous but it is possible to transfer that extra magic into parts of a unicorn's body naturally,” Leaf Peeper finally explained. “Being able to control the magic in our body is rather difficult and dangerous, as I mentioned earlier. Doing so could mess up organs and blood flow, as well as cause mental damage as well. My family is one of only a few to perfect the methods of inner magic control. I can explain more when we get back to the mountain village,” Broken Record nodded, the entire thing had interested her greatly, but Leaf Peeper was right. They had a job to do and even she was getting off task now. Broken Record followed Leaf Peeper into the workshop trying to be as quiet as possible. Broken Record watched what was under her feet to make sure she didn’t step on anything that could possibly grab his attention. As they came within an inch of the raider, he finally turned around to be met with the Leaf Peepers face. “Who-” He was cut off as Leaf Peeper put her electrical hoof on a softer part of his body, hitting what must have been the circuit for the Power Armor. Sparks flew out of the suit and the raider screamed in pain as Leaf Peeper electrocuted him. After a couple of seconds the Power Armor fell to the ground, the pony inside it dead. Shots started firing outside the workshop as the other raiders heard the scream of their comrade. Broken Record backed up as she heard the shots get closer and closer to them. She felt something heavy hit her back and she looked back to see Leaf Peeper had taken the miniguns off of the power armor and had put it on her. “Ready to show these raiders we mean business?” Leaf Peeper asked as she took out her rifle. Broken Record gave a nod in reply, “I can shield us from bullets from a short time but you are doing most of the work. Remember, only shoot when a raider is in sight and not to use up what ammo is left in that thing,” Both ponies looked forward to see bullets start flying past them, Leaf Peeper quickly putting up a orange colored shield. As two raiders appeared from the corner of the workshop Leaf Peeper dropped the shield and fired two bullets, both hitting the first raider as he collapsed to the ground. Broken Record aimed at the second one who got back into cover as soon as he saw the gun she was carrying. With no ponies in front of them the two ran forward out of the shop, Leaf Peeper looking to the second raider as the exited and knocking him unconscious with the back of her rifle. Only seconds later did bullets come flying at them again from both sides, Leaf Peeper barely having time to put the shield back up. “How many or on your side?” Leaf Peeper asked Broken Record as they went back to back. She counted the raiders that were in her field of view. “I count six,” “Same over here,” Broken Record replied as she kept the miniguns running just under firing speed. “What’s the plan Leaf?” “I can take three or so on this side, but I need to drop the shield in order for my bullets to hit them. You take down as many as you can on your side before the fire gets too heavy, got it?” Broken Record nodded in response, her attention now completely on the raiders firing at her. “Wait for it,” The gunfire slowly died down, and most of the raiders were caught reloading. “Now!” The shield dropped and Broken Record fired at the raiders in front of her. It quickly teared through the two raiders in the middle, sending the others scrambling for cover. A bullet hit Broken Record in the shoulder and she stopped firing as she moved to the side, holding in the pain. Leaf Peeper did the same, having taken down only two of the raiders that had fired at her. The two took cover on the other side of a building across from the machine shop, raiders closing in on their location. “Well, that didn’t work,” Broken Record said, hiding the fear that she was feeling. “Four are down, which means we only have eight more to deal with,” Leaf Peeper replied, holding her rifle at the ready. “We can still take them as long as we don’t get cornered,” “So we just take down the rest remaining?” Broken Record asked, “No big plan of any kind,” She was answered as a bullet flew inches away from her face, almost hitting her in the head. She went back through the alleyway while Leaf Peeper shot the raider that had targeted them. Not long after did more raiders appear firing from behind her, and she found herself retreating into the alleyway as well. They came back out onto the street and found themselves once again running to the machine shop. The two took cover behind the walls of the repair area, and Broken Record found herself closing her eyes, believing they weren’t going to make it out. Then both ponies heard the sound of a gun, one not like rifles and pistols the raiders had been using. It was louder, making it seem more powerful than anything else. Broken Record opened her eyes at the sound of the shot and looked outside. She didn’t see anypony new, but she did see the sight of a raider now dead in the streets. It was then she saw the glimmer of something off in the distance, and she narrowed her eyes to try and make out what it was. As soon as the glimmer came another raider fell dead in the streets, meaning that whoever this was is not on there side. Leaf Peeper simply watched as Broken Record once again revved up the miniguns. She looked down the streets as the raiders were now shooting at whatever was killing them. Taking the chance she stepped out of cover and looked down the streets and fired the miniguns. They easily ripped through the raiders, and with all of them distraction none of them had time to change targets. After a minute the miniguns clicked, showing they were all out of ammo. She turned around to see a raider rushing towards her, only for it to drop dead on the ground. Leaf Peeper finally looked out from her hiding place, looking down the road in shock. They were dead, not a single raider was still alive. She didn’t quite understand it, but she didn’t fully care. No more raiders showed up, meaning that they had managed to eliminate them. Her eyes looked off in the direction she had heard the loud shot come from. She didn’t see anything or anyone, not even the glimmer of the barrel of a gun like Broken Record had. “Do you know who that was?” Broken Record asked, just as curious as Leaf Peeper was. “No,” She replied, looking away from the empty street and back to her ally. “But it seems they are on our side, whoever they are. At least the raiders seem to be gone,” “Right,” Broken Record said with a smile. “Come on, let’s find everypony and set up communication with the mountain village,” Leaf Peeper nodded and the two ponies got back to work, glad for the fighting to be over. ------ Not far in the distance, a pony watched the two as they made their way into a nearby shop. He had been watching the entire thing with curiosity, only taking action in order to continue observing Broken Record. She looked so familiar, or in this case she looked to familiar for his liking. Yet, her actions spoke against his thoughts of her, despite the only difference between her and the pony he was thinking of physically was gender. It didn’t help considering the name she heard Leaf Peeper using for the pony. “Broken Record,” He said to himself in a southern accent, “What is a dead enclave scientist doing out here,” He lower the scope of his gun, thinking about what he had just seen. “It’s probably nothing, but I should continue watching just in case. No doubt if that is her then the sparks will show up,” ------ “Are you sure about this miss Fluttershy? I can’t think about what those ponies will do if you go,” “Well… It’s not like we could, you know, leave them there. They need our help Feline, and I would prefer if you get there to start helping. Sorry if this is asking too much at the moment,” “No, it’s okay. I’m just not so sure if you should be heading over, we know how they think about us, stable dwelllers, and even just Littlepip in general. I’m just concerned,” “I understand, but it’s important that I show up or else I don’t think this would work out so well. Please Feline, just promise me you will help them,” “Of course Fluttershy, and Please be careful on your journey over,” Click