Okay, let me tell you this straight up.
I hate liars.
They are the worst of the worst in the wasteland. You will find raiders raping foals, slavers murdering families, Enclave units burning down towns, Legion soldiers crucifying fillies, but nothing comes close to the smooth words of a liar, because unlike raiders, and slavers, their words affect everyone. Like Napalm.
That asshole said he was going to help me, and find a way for the ponies to get home, but instead, he ends up trying to rip the Steel Rangers a new one, and back stabs in the back with his words. He was going to pay.
I walked through the winding hallways of the bunker, the red lights and steam running through the pipes distracting me. Multiple bodies of the Steel Rangers lay in the hallways, scorched. Somehow, Napalm had gotten his incinerators back, and was wreaking havoc around the bunker. I heard the screams of the Ponies being murdered from above, and I sighed. I needed to find Napalm soon, or the Steel Rangers were bucked. I smelled freshly used Gasoline, and I followed the smell. I turned the corner, and I saw Napalm running out of the bunker, into the flames that were engulfing the compound. I ran up after him, but he had already flown up to meet his Enclave friends. There were Pegasi, and Griffons flying around, dodging Mini-gun rounds, all the while firing rockets and bullets at the ground defenses. It seemed that the Rangers needed a crack shot. I pulled my rifle out, and kneeled down, putting the rifle in my hooves. I made sure that my heart rate was low enough so I could make some free shots, but I could always use S.A.T.S to take out the hard shots. I would have to go for neck shots, seeing as how those were the only area of the armor that was a vital that wasn’t covered.
I raised the rifle scope up to my face, and looked at my heart beat. 60 BPM. Good.
I looked at a nasty looking Pegasi in the Enclave armor, and I fired a single round, blowing off its head. I immediately recovered from the recoil, and I saw a griffon flying towards me. I activated S.A.T.S, and aimed at the eyeholes in her helmet. I fired a single shot, and I tore through her body, and she crashed at my feet.
“Pathetic.” I muttered, and aimed again.
It was 15 minutes of that. Aim, shoot, aim, shoot, aim, shoot, aim, shoot, aim, shoot, reload. Wash, rinse, repeat. Then, my rifle ran out of ammunition, and there were still dozens of the Enclave in the sky. I looked around, and I spotted an unmanned mini-gun, the gunner lay dead in a pool of blood at the foot of it. It was mounted of a swivel and chair, giving me fast reaction, 360 degrees shooting. I ran up to it, jumped in, and turned on all the weaponry systems. It had anti-air rockets, mini-guns, and even an anti-material rifle. I looked around in the air, and I saw that there were only about 12 left, 5 were bunched up, launching rockets at a unfortunate group of Rangers. I aimed the Anti-air missile, locking onto the middle one, and I fired.
They never knew what hit ‘em.
The rocket flew through the air, and hit the middle of the group, and exploded, sending the bodies of the Enclave sprawling. I used my Mini-gun to finish off what was left in the sky, seeing as how I was a better shot then most of the steel rangers. But then there was one left.
Napalm.
I was all out of mini-gun ammo, and there was only a single rocket in the chamber, and I had used that. I switched to the Anti-material rifle, and aimed in on him. He was too quick, and launched a number of exploding fire grenades at me. Most of them impacted the gun, destroying it, but some also impacted the ground beside me. It tore open my side, and I fell off the gun, bleeding out. I looked to the sky, as I saw Napalm cackling in happiness, firing incinerator rounds at the Rangers. He was gonna go for the Ministry Mares next, so he could take them back to cloudsdale, and then use them to make weapons. I groaned, and looked over to my torn flank. I sighed, and used all my magic up to heal myself. The wound was completely gone when I was barren of magic, and I was struggling to stand up. I grabbed my revolver from my holster with my teeth, and focused on Napalm. It was an impossible shot. My heart rate was 108, rising, and I only had a small bit of S.A.T.S left. He then banked left and flew straight towards me.
Good.
I aimed down my sights, looking straight into his eyes, and I fired.
Hit.
His wings tore off as the bullet snapped his neck, traveling through his spinal corn in an almost straight line. He flew down towards me, and splattered directly in front of me.
“Cousin, d-d-don’t do this.” Said Napalm, gargling in pain.
“Screw you.” I said, delivering the final bullet into his head. Blood spattered everywhere, and I sighed. At this point, the Steel rangers were surrounding me, their magic energy weapons lighting up, aiming at me. I maintained my cool, looking around.
“Stop this! It isn’t his fault! He was deceived!” I heard Sandstorm shout from behind me. She was with another mare, an aqua blue unicorn, with a candy pink mane, and an aqua stripe on her tail. She was wearing a scholars cape and a Pip-buck, but she was obviously more of an assistant, as she was carrying all the books and such. The Steel rangers lowered their weapons, and Sandstorm walked through the crowd. The assistant shied away from the rangers, and stopped next to Sandstorm.
“Thank goodness you saved us. We would have never survived if you hadn’t showed up.” Said Sandstorm looking around. She motioned for the rangers to start cleaning up, and they all disbanded. I took off my gasmask, and I sighed. It was beginning to feel like hell storms followed me.
“Let me introduce my assistant, Blue Blossom. Don’t mind her eyes; they’ve been changed by pink cloud.” Said Sandstorm, gesturing to blue blossom.
“She’s that old?” I asked, my jaw dropped. Pink cloud had been long eradicated, for over 50 years now. Blue Blossom looked only about 20, or 21, which would make it seem near impossible for her to be corrupted by pink cloud.
“Ah, no. We found her in a cryo cell in stable 77. It was filled with pink cloud, still. We sent in the Haz-squad, and they pulled her out. Originally, she had blue eyes, but now they’re red.” Said Sandstorm and Blue Blossom nodded, smiling. She had the same look as Fluttershy. She was small and seemed to be extremely shy. Her eyes were curved in the same way, like she spent too much time looking down, trying not to make eye contact.
I looked across the sandy plains, and saw Canterlot in the distance. It was a tiny speck, but I remember when it was filled with ghouls, who helped us rebuild the city, and the rest of the land. Canterlot at one point was filled with pink cloud, but it got eradicated at some point. In fact, it killed Luna at some point as well, but somehow, the Steel Rangers found her remains, and revived her. While she is half robot and such, she is still a pure Alicorn.
“Okay, so, I suggest we go down to the library to find a book on time travel devices. We need to find the location of them. Since I know the Mega spells immediate effect area’s by heart at this point, I will know which ones have chances of working, and which ones won’t.” said Sandstorm, turning around. Blue Blossom followed, and I walked alongside her.
“So, how old were you when you were found?” I asked, trying to get friendly with her. I didn’t want to make her feel like she was helping a stranger.
“Oh, I was 13. In actual time, I’m about 422 years old. I’ve been around since 13 years before the mega-spells dropped. Our family was lucky enough to be getting a tour, and we all crawled into cryo cells. They died of freezer burn, but I was lucky enough to be found by Sandstorm.” Said Blue Blossom, who was smiling at me. She was pretty enough, but she was kinda secluded.
“Are you from a stable too?” She asked, looking at my combat Pipbuck.
“Oh, no. I got this from a very good friend. She was from a stable, but I forgot which one.” I said, looking at my Pipbuck. I was about at half gauge for my health, and to reinforce that fact, it showed that my heart, which was beating at about 75 BPM, was covered in blood, and was spurting it in every beat. Man, the animations on this thing were disgusting.
“Ah, here we are. The library. Make sure you’re quiet, and put all the books back into place.” Said Sandstorm, and we walking in. It was a brightly lit room, with rows of thousands of books. I walked in, and looked to my immediate right. I saw a book about something called “The Rainbow Factory” and other things. I lifted the book with my magic, but Sandstorm awkwardly pushed it down.
“Hehe, I don’t think you’re ready for that book. It kinda shows the true colors of the Pegasi.” She said, half smiling, half grimacing. I heard Blue Blossom face hoof, and I kinda got the idea.
“Anyway, the technology from the Ministry of Awesome is in the back.” Said Sandstorm, and we all walked that way. At the end of the row, I saw a massive blue book, with the words “Teleporter locations” printed on the spine of the book.
“I think that might be our ticket.” I said, and I lowered it down to a wooden table. Oh, how Twilight would love this place. It was 20 times bigger than her library, and with so much more information.
I opened the book, and flipped to the Equestria map. There were 10 locations on the map, one in every major town or city. That meant Paradise Foals, Fillydelphia, Manehatten, Canterlot, Appleoosa, Ponyville, and Maripony all had them. Sadly, they were probably all destroyed by Mega spells. There was also one out by the End land memorial, and one at the portal junction, the one where the ponies came through. But that wouldn’t take outgoing trips. I sighed, and looked at the last one.
The Moon Cathedral.
Well, I was crap out of luck.
The Moon Cathedral was the failsafe bunker for the six Ministry Mares, but none of them saw the Mega-spells coming. It is guarded by monsters, robots, and Chrysalis’ legion alike. It was in fact, the HEADQUARTERS for Chrysalis’ legion. It was a suicide mission to go in for the kill there. It would take an army and a half to take them out.
Blue Blossom saw the look on my face, and she put a hoof on my shoulder.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to send them home.” She said. How did she know about the ponies? Sandstorm must have filled her in.
“Well, it seems like there’s one portal out of the immediate effect of the Mega spells, and that actually works.” Said Sandstorm, pointing towards the moon cathedral.
“Yeah, about that. Uh, the Moon Cathedral was the failsafe bunker for the ministry mares. It’s uh, well, a fortress. Completely surrounded by monsters on the outer layer, robots in the frontal area, and filled with elite legionnaires, not to mention the enclave. After they find that it’s the last working portal, they’ll swarm it. Hopefully they will kill of the Legionnaires, but that’s where Chrysalis is staying, so I’m not exactly sure on how we’re gonna get in.” I said, and the other two unicorn heads drooped.
“Well, that gives us nothing to be eccentric about.” Said Sandstorm, who was now flipping through the book.
“Well, I need to get back to New Canterlot. If you would like to come, and assess the situation yourself, then you may. But I might need you if we need to get into Moon Cathedral.” I said, and stood up.
“I’ll come. I’ve always wanted to see New Canterlot.” Said Blue Blossom, who stood up. I realized she had tiny freckles next to her eyes, and I kinda found that cute.
Wait, what?
Ahh, buck. I was becoming attracted to Blue Blossom.
“Alright, get ready. I need to get some ammo, if that’s okay.” I said, turning towards Sandstorm, and she nodded.
“I will not be accompanying you. But I will be here when you need me. Here is the card that gives you permission to buy from the store. Just give it to Blue Blossom when you’re done.” Said Sandstorm, levitating a card into my saddle bag. I nodded gratefully, and I walked out of the library.
The tunnels were dully lit now, as the day drew to a close. It had been about 3:00 in the afternoon when we left for the brotherhood, which was about an hour’s journey, plus the 30 minute battle, and our little talk. They probably used the same technology that Sophia described in the Stables. I walked down the hall for what seemed like a long time, and the lights got darker. Soon, the only thing that was casting a harsh light was the shops little opening. I walked over to the window, and put the card down.
“100 .308 rounds, and 50 .454 rounds, plus an infrared scope and silencer for a .308 semi auto sniper rifle.” I said, putting my rifle on the table to give him an example. The shop keeper pulled out the items, plus a couple rad-away packets, some healing potions, and a box of stimpacks.
“I never asked for that.” I said, and the shopkeeper just shook his head.
“On the house. You saved us all, so this is just a token of our gratitude.” Said the shopkeeper, and I nodded gratefully once again. I grabbed the weapons and the other items, and walked back to the entrance. Blue Blossom was waiting there, wearing small pink shoes, and a silver protective barding. I didn’t think they matched, but hey, I’m a pony who wears a duster and armor to work every day, so what do I know about fashion.
“C’mon, let’s go. We’ll use one of our armored cars.” Said Blue Blossom quietly, and we walked out into the darkness. She led me over to the garage, and pointed to an armored car that looked like what they used pre-war to transport the ministry mares. I walked over, and opened the door, and hopped in. It was rather the same controls as a Humvee, but I could control the canon from the driver’s seat. It was rather comfy, with nice cushioned seats. Blue Blossom jumped in the passenger seat, and put on her seat belt.
“Ready?” I asked, and she nodded, happily. I pulled out of the garage, and drove straight for the glowing city of New Canterlot.
“You might as well get some sleep. It’s going to be a long ride.” I said, and she nodded, and put her chair back, so it was like a bed. I turned on the radio, and turned to DJ Pon-3’s channel.
“Looks like the Enclave are back, Mares and colts! They attacked the Steel Ranger’s base at around 4 pm today. They were fought off, but we’ve been getting more and more reports of enclave patrols flying around, destroying caravans. It seems like they like to prey on NCR soldiers, is it because they have something that the enclave doesn’t have? Well, all you NCR folk out there, keeping us safe when we sleep at night, I ask you to be careful, and have a good night! Here’s a song from Johnny Pony, “God’s gonna cut you down.” Good night everypony, and have sweet dreams!” DJ Pon-3’s mike cut off, and the song came on.
“You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God'll cut you down
Sooner or later God'll cut you down
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down”
The song faded into background noise as I pondered on how I had been betrayed by Napalm. I guess god did cut him down, just with two bullets from the barrel of my .454. I rubbed my hoof across my face, and I kept on driving into the night.
Footnotes: Level up! you are now Level 9
Perks: RAGE! You've been backstabbed enough! When fighting an Enemy after dialogue with them, you will have 40% more damage!
Thanks to Kkat, Somber, and No-one