Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 11: Mr. Roboto

It’s official, the fucking Wasteland just outright hates me, it has to. Why else would I be stuck out here alone, sick as fuck, and stuck in a rain storm. My head was swimming, my stomach was churning, oh yeah, I almost forgot, my body wouldn’t stop tingling. It’s like tiny little bugs were crawling right under my skin. According to my Pip-Buck, I was suffering from Acute Radiation Poisoning. No surprise I guess after that damn Stable exploding and basking me in radiation. That would be something you’d think should be easy to fix with some rad-away, but I remember giving them to Aura when we were still in the Stable, and the one I found in Gator’s office wasn’t much help either. I had her stuff with me, but somepony stole them out of her bags before I got them back. Luckily her energy spear was still there, it unscrewed into three parts making it fit into the bags nicely. I was surprised the Fiends hadn’t stolen that too.

Now I get to slowly walk back toward Hidden Sands feeling like shit. Oh, and to top it off, the rain was getting worse. It was like the Wasteland was yelling at me to take a shower. Oh yeah? Well fuck you Wasteland, I don’t give a shit, I’ll show you. At least the rain was slowly cleaning the dried blood from the Stable off of my duster.

I felt horrible. Every so often I had to stop and dry heave. The churning in my stomach was gradually getting worse as I tried not to soil myself. Eventually however, nature took its course. Thank the Goddesses it was raining. I didn’t know how much longer I could go on. Every muscle in my body ached like they’d been taken and hit repeatedly with a meat tenderizer. Even worse is that even though the rain was cool, I still felt hot. Every breath felt like hot steam as it escaped my muzzle.

I stopped walking and sat down wiping my wet mane out of my eyes so I could look down at my Pip-Buck map. I still had a way to go it seemed and the night was still young. I looked around at the dilapidated buildings, most were just shells and didn’t look like a good place to rest. One however was a large building right at the edge of the cluster of buildings that looked like it had held up nicely. Getting back to my hooves I walked closer to it. There was a sign over the door that read ‘F&F Tool Company Headquarters and Museum’

Pulling my shotgun out, I walked up to the door and turned the knob, pushing the door open. So far so good, nopony was shooting at me as I walked in. I shut the door behind me, making it so dark that I couldn’t see my own hoof in front of my face. I checked my E.F.S., there were a couple red bars, but from the skittering noise coming from that direction, I was sure it was just a couple radroaches. I turned my Pip-Light on, illuminating the room with a soft glow.

I saw a white line on my E.F.S., keeping my shotgun raised. I said loudly, “Is anypony there!?”

The white line started to move and a metallic voice echoed out from the other room, “Be right with you madam, I do apologize for the inconvenience.”

Something flashed by the open door then vanished on the other side. A moment later I heard something buzzing, followed by a high-pitched squeak, then the red marks vanished. The white mark on my E.F.S. started moving again, a moment later a robot floated through the door, it had three spider like appendages, three eye…things coming out of its round body, and a glowing talisman under its body keeping it afloat.

“Terribly sorry about the wait madam, we have a small insect problem, and with so little help now days, they tend to slip by me from time to time. I take it you’re here for the tour,” it said with an accent I hadn’t ever heard before.

I lowered my shotgun. “Um…no, it was storming outside, I was just looking for shelter.”

The floating robot’s…legs? Or arms? Whatever they are, drooped as if it was sad. “I see, seems like no one ever comes for the tours anymore.”

“I’m…sorry?” I responded.

“It’s okay madam, it’s been two hundred years and not a single pony has stopped by to tour the museum here,” he said.

I didn’t think a robot could sound sad, but this thing really did sound like it was. “Nopony’s been in here since the megaspells went off?”

“Well madam, not anypony of notice, there have been ruffians now and again, but this Mister Handy still has a little spunk left in its old bolts. I’ve kept this place safe for many years now, in case somepony wanted to come in and take the tour,” he replied.

I looked at its metal arms, one had what looked like claws, the other had what looked like the end to a magical energy pistol, and the last had a large buzz saw. I could see a couple holes in its metal body, and some scorch marks on its finish. “It seems like you did a good job, my name’s Shadow Star. I hope you don’t mind me staying here until the storm passes.”

The robot looked like its mood brightened up as it floated a little higher, saying, “Not at all madam, that is as long as you do put that shotgun away. F&F tools doesn’t allow firearms past the main entryway.” I didn’t see a reason to worry, so I did. “Thank you Ms. Shadow Star. If you’d like, the old master’s office has a cot in it that you may find rather comfortable.”

I gave the robot a smile and said, “I’d like that, and something to eat if you have it. I doubt I’ll be able to keep it down, but I should still try to get something in my stomach.”

He hovered over to one of the counters and picked up a pre-war box of cereal with the words ‘Sugar Apple Bombs’ on it. He brought it over to me. “This is all I have around I’m afraid, the rest of the food in the kitchen spoiled over the years I’m afraid.”

I grabbed it, pulled open the box and took a bite, then another, and another. This had to be the best thing I’ve ever eaten in The Wasteland. Not like it was hard to do, but still this was just awesome. It also made me feel a lot better than when I first walked in. And for some reason I didn’t feel like I was going to barf it back up a few minutes later.

After a moment went by I looked up at the robot, belched and smiled. “Hehe… sorry about that, it’s just been a while since I’ve had anything this good to eat.”

“It’s no trouble to me madam, it’s just nice to see somepony here that isn’t trying to attack me, or destroy the building. Master Falafel used to love those Sugar Apple Bombs too. He used to make sure there was always a box under the counter in the front and in his office for when he would come and visit,” he said proudly.

I yawned and smiled up at him. “He had good taste then.”

“That he did. You look tired, follow me I’ll show you to master’s office,” he said as he started to float off toward a staircase behind the counter. I followed close behind, the room he took me to was just down the hall on the second floor where there was to a set of double doors. The robot floated over and pulled on the handle. “Bollocks, the door’s locked.”

“When’s the last time you were up here?” I asked walking close to the door.

“Not since I last saw the masters,” he answered.

“And when was that?” I asked, figuring the answer would be sometime before the war.

“Two hundred years ago, the day before the megaspells went off,” he said, confirming my guess.

“I take it you don’t have a key either. Do you?” I said.

His center camera eye drooped. “Unfortunately, no madam, I guess we’ll have to find you a new place to sleep.”

“Nah, it’s okay I have my own key,” I said pulling out my trusty screwdriver and bobby pin, and going to work. My magic might still be crap, but I could handle this. In a matter of minutes, the lock gave and clicked open. I pulled on the handle and opened the door.

“Haha. That’s a nifty trick, now isn’t it?” the robot said bobbing up and down. “Well I’ll let you get settled in, I’m going to go back down to the lobby and keep guard.”

“Thank you…um, I didn’t catch if you had a name,” I said.

He perked up as if in panic. “My apologies madam, my ID number is 85967, but master Falafel and Flapjack, called me Watts.”

I nodded. “Thanks again Watts, I really appreciate the kindness, it’s rare in The Wasteland.”

Watts bobbed up and down again. “Your welcome Ms. Shadow Star, rest well.” With that he left, shutting the doors behind him.

I looked around the office, it was well preserved. There was at least an inch of dust on just about everything, the walls were cracked, the paint peeling, and a musty smell lingered. Apart from that, it looked good compared to other places I’ve seen so far. I walked over to the large desk, sat down and looked at the terminal. A soft green glow was coming from under the dust. I wiped off the screen as best I could and checked it.

Of course, it was locked, with a loud sigh, I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes. After a moment went by I looked back at the terminal and tried hacking it. After ten minutes and several tries, the terminal finally beeped and I was in, the password was Sweetlilly. I smiled at my accomplishment as the little filly in my head bounced up and down with excitement. I started to look through the files. A good amount of them were about the business, numbers of income, overhead, employee payouts, spreadsheets, profit margins, and test projects.

Toward the bottom, one caught my eye, so I clicked on it and started to read.

Dear Flapjack,

Brother, I’m sorry to send you this message with everything else going on. I hope your time in Manehattan starts to get better, I know working with the Ministry Mares can be hard. Just give it more time, and I’m sure Applejack will come around.

In response to your last message about my meeting with Captain Night Stalker, I’ve already told you, there isn’t anything you need to worry about. This new project that I’m working on has nothing to do with my meeting with him. The Ministry of Awesome, just wanted to see about adding a Hub to the upper floors. I know you think this project is a waste of money, but just think about how much we can make when it’s completed next week.

Just have faith in everything, I haven’t let you down yet brother and you know I never will. As for your concern about the M.O.M. I’ve heard Lemon Zest, she was able to tell me that there will be somepony will be stopping by to talk with us. Don’t worry though, the memory of my meeting with Night Stalker was already removed, they won’t be able to find anything out from me. So, you have no need to worry.

I hope you’re doing well, and I hope everything goes well with The Ministry of Wartime Technology.

Sincerely,

Falafel

P.S. I look forward to your visit next week, I do hope you and Lilly are doing well. Can’t wait to see you both.

That was a really stupid thing to do. If you wanted to hide something from the Ministry of Morale, why would you send a message like that and not get rid of it? Maybe he just wasn’t a smart pony. The rest of the files on the terminal didn’t look important, I skipped by them and went to the last thing on the terminal.

[Safe Control]

I looked behind me and saw a safe, going back to the terminal, I clicked the safe control and unlocked it. The safe clicked and I walked over and opened it. Inside was a few bags of pre-war bits, .44 cal. ammo, paper documents, 8 caps (why the fuck are there bottle caps in a safe?) and a slender box. I put the useful items into my saddle bags then picked up the box to look it over.

It wasn’t very unique, only a small black box with a silver latch. Curiosity taking over, I flipped the latch and opened it. Inside were two memory orbs, one looked normal, giving off a light silvery gleam. The other however had a black glow with a light silver glow in the outer edge. Now I know I’m not an expert on memory orbs, but I wasn’t sure it was safe to go into that one.

Holding the box in my magic, I walked over to the cot that was set up against the wall. Dusting it off quickly, I laid myself down on it and looked at the box. I wanted so badly to know what was in that orb, I mean it’s safe here right now. Right? I should be okay. I closed the box and set it down on the floor next to my saddle bags. “No, I don’t need to do that right now,” I said to myself.

I reached over and dug through my own saddle bags taking out the other recording I found in Stable 9. I popped it into my Pip-Buck hoping whatever was on it would distract me from the tempting memory orbs. So, I hit play.

“Hello Overmare of Stable 9, I’m Scootaloo, Vice President of Stable-Tec, and President of Red Racer. I’d like to welcome you to Stable 9. As you should know from the Overmare’s manual you were given when you first entered, you’ll know that your Stable was made with one thing in mind, keeping animals that are crucial to the ecosystem safe in the event of a megaspell detonation. If your listening to this…I guess that happened, and that probably means…Fuck, I don’t wanna think about that,” her voice was plagued with melancholy as she spoke, “Anyway, Stable 9 was set up to be a refuge for ponies and animals alike. That’s what it’ll look like at least for most of the Stable. This next part is for only the ears of the Overmare and the heads of your two other departments, Stable 9 has another purpose. You should have a list of every animal that’s been transported to the Stable. It should be sorted in alphabetical order by species. All of them have traits that are essential to the ecosystem, from the small Vampire Fruit Bat to the large and ferocious Manticore. The mission for you and the other two leaders of Stable 9 is to experiment with the animals and find a new way to use their traits for the betterment of Equinity. Do to the nature of your work, you’ll have to communicate regularly with the head of security, and head of bio research. All three of you will be given a new model of Pip-Buck that Stable-Tec will hopefully have finished by the time you need it. The Pip-buck 3000 Mark II will look a lot like your standard Pip-Buck, but with a few extra goodies,” Scootaloo’s voice stopped for a moment then she spoke again sounding as if she was talking away from the recorder. “Do I really have to call them ‘goodies’ Applebloom?” she asked somepony in the background.

Another voice echoed on the recording, it was distant, but I could hear a slight accent when she spoke, “Course ya do. I put a lotta hard work into those.”

“But it sounds stupid. Who cares anyway?” Scootaloo said again. “You know what? Fine whatever, and no I’m not redoing the recording, I have over a hundred more to do and I don’t wanna keep redoing them.” She cleared her throat then spoke in her professional voice again, “So yeah, a few extra things that the rest of the Pip-Bucks won’t have. Also, once put on, you can’t get them off, not without the help of a Specialized Pip-Buck Technician, or well… uh… death. Just look at the manual. Anyway, so yeah that’s the mission you have for your stable. Good luck, and just do better than we did. Applebloom, I’m taking a break, make Sweetie Belle do the next one!” With that the recording ended.

“So, it wasn’t just Cell who was fucked up in that place, it was the whole damn stable,” I said to myself as I laid back on the cot looking up at the cracked ceiling. Ugh, now what do I do? I was hoping the recording would keep my mind off the memory orbs, but all it did was depress me.

Looking back down at the box, I started to wonder again. What could be in them? I lifted the box with my magic again and pulled the silver one out. I looked back toward the door, then back at the orb. “Okay I can’t take it anymore,” I said, getting up and walking over to the door to lock it, then returned to the cot. “That door stayed locked for two hundred years, I’m sure it can last for a few minutes while I dive into an orb.”

Laying back down, I took the orb and touched it to my glowing horn. The world melted away…

Okay, so thankfully this time I was in a mare, I really didn’t like the feeling of being a stallion. My host was a unicorn, she fit me rather well. She was walking through what looked like the front office of F&F Tools (Only a lot nicer), she had a little sway to her hips and she was humming a little tune as she put things away behind the desk.

The door opened behind my host, she turned and in walked an earth pony stallion. The green coated stallion shook his head, droplets of water flying off his straw-colored mane. He looked over at my host and smiled. “Oh good morning Sweetlilly, I didn’t expect you to be here so early.”

My host smiled wide and spoke in a sweet voice, “Good morning Falafel, I thought you were coming in around noon.”

A smile lit up his face, he made his way over to the counter setting down the hat he was wearing. “I have a meeting later, I wanted to get in early today and get some work done so I don’t get too backed up after the meeting. Why are you here so early, is my brother in?”

She giggled cutely, saying, “No silly, you should know he’s still in Manehatten helping with the transition of the new research center.”

“He should’ve been back by now, I thought he’d be joining me for the meeting with Captain Night Stalker,” Falafel said giving her a quizzical look.

My host gasped. “Oh yeah, he sent you a message on your terminal, I almost forgot. He said he won’t be back till next week, something about Ministry Mare Applejack stopping by for an inspection.”

He sighed, putting a hoof to his head. “I should’ve figured he’d leave me to deal with this alone.”

“You could always reschedule,” my host said. “I can get in contact with somepony and say you came down with something, or that you can’t make the meeting today,” she continued, walking over to a terminal and starting to type out a letter.

“No need Lily, I can’t put this off. Plus, getting ahold of the Captain isn’t so easy. I’ll just have to do this on my own and hope for the best,” he said, giving her a smile.

She blushed. “Well… maybe I could help you prepare for the meeting. You said you have a couple hours, right?” Wow she really likes him, either that or something else in the room was doing things to her back there. I highly doubted it was the latter.

He was blushing as well, running a hoof over his mane as he spoke sheepishly, “Well, I did have some paperwork to finish, but… I guess I could put that off for now.”

She walked around the counter and kissed his nose. “It’s not good to go into a meeting too stressed out sir.”

“Are…you sure?” he asked.

“I’m always sure,” my host said, taking him by the hoof and leading him away up toward the office I was in now. As she walked in I saw the office looked just like it did now, only cleaner. My host led the stallion over to the desk and pushed him against it. Her lips met his and the two kissed passionately.

The next hour or so was extremely uncomfortable for me. The two of them used the desk and floor like it was a bed, and went to town on each other. This was something I hadn’t ever done before, and even though I was in another mare, I could feel… EVERYTHING. Honestly it felt pretty good, but I also felt a little violated. It was almost like it was my own first time, even if I wasn’t really the one who was doing any of this.

Oh, I had no idea a mare could flex like that, wow. Okay so I’m going to do my best to ignore the rest of the playing around they were doing. Finally, they finished, laying on the floor both breathing hard, sweat rolling off their bodies. They held each other as they both looked up at the celling of Falafel’s office.

Falafel finally spoke after a little while, “Do you ever worry about what would happen if we got caught Lily?”

My host’s eyes wandered over to meet his, the small smile on her face slowly fading away. She nuzzled into him speaking slowly, “I don’t wanna think about it, I just want to enjoy you while I can.”

He let out a deep sigh. “If Flapjack found out, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“He’d be pissed, you two would fight, we would fight…he’d leave me. I don’t think you two could handle something like that,” Lily said.

He sighed again. “I wish I would’ve met you before Flapjack did, maybe things would be different.”

She smiled. “Daddy wouldn’t have allowed it though, he always liked Flapjack, and you know how he feels about you.”

“I don’t care what your father thinks, all I know is that I love you. All my brother wanted out of marrying you was the money your father could invest into this business,” Falafel said.

“You know there was more to it than that, and you love this business just as much as he does,” she said.

Falafel sighed softly, “That was true once, but now days I’m not so sure. We hardly even make tools anymore. Since we partnered with the Ministry of Wartime Technology, we’re focusing more on making armor and new parts for firearms. And don’t get me started on what we have to help Robronco with.”

“Everypony has to do their part to help with the war effort,” she responded.

He looked over at my host with a sad look in his eyes. “I know, and I still hate it. Sometimes I just wish I could go back to using my company to make tools to help farmers, or carpenters, or even just the everyday stallion who builds things in his free time. I just want my old life back.”

She pulled him close and kissed him for a long moment. When she pulled away she said softly, “We all do, but unfortunately, we can’t, so we have to work hard to make sure Equestria makes it through this. F&F Tool, has it’s part to play, and with your leadership I know we’ll do great things.”

“You’re right, but you can’t blame a guy for dreaming,” he said as he looked up toward a clock on the wall, his face went pale and he jumped to his hooves. “Fuck, the Captain is going to be here any minute. Quick, we have to get the office cleaned up before he shows up…”

The memory faded after that just as the two started rushing around trying to clean up…

I moaned, lifting my head looking around the office. I could still hear the storm raging outside. The thunder cracking and rain falling, it was soothing for some reason. I looked over at the memory orb, slowly picking it up with a hoof. “I wonder why you made a memory orb over that, it didn’t seem like much happened apart from the affair.”

Then it hit me, those two had fallen in love, but for some reason they couldn’t be together. Maybe this memory was just something special to Falafel. I wonder what happened to them after this. I probably wouldn’t ever find out, life was just unfair like that. A memory orb was like reading a book somewhere in the middle and never getting to see the beginning or the end.

I sighed and went to roll off the cot when I noticed something wet in my nethers. I looked down and saw a wet stain between my legs. I groaned and rolled away, I really didn’t think I’d enjoyed the memory THAT much. Trying to get my mind off of everything I decided to see what was on the radio, lifting my Pip-Buck I went to turn on Dj-Pon3. When I brought up the radio tab of my Pip-Buck, I saw two more stations had shown up.

One was listed as Emergency Broadcast 6109, the other as Radio New Pegasus. I thought it was interesting how my Pip-Buck knew what things were called, but by this point I was getting used to the Pip-Buck’s features. I moved down the list and selected the third channel for Dj-Pon3. It was just finishing a song, then the DJ came on.

“Hello my faithful listeners, that was the beautiful voice of Sweetie Belle,” came the stallion’s voice over the air waves, he started talking about some of the local news from back east near Manehatten, then further away in Hoofington. “And if you’re traveling anywhere near Ponyville, be sure to steer clear of the old ghost town. I’ve been getting reports of slavers traveling near there, those mixed with the raiders who’ve taken up there is more than a good reason to stay away.”

I listened for a bit longer and was about to change it when the DJ said something that caught my ear, “Now listeners, for those of you all the way out west. Now I know I don’t bring you much news, but earlier tonight, something happened that caught my attention. For the past, few years a town of fiends has been under the mountain where the abandoned Stable 9 was. Well as of a few hours ago, the town has been destroyed, buried by the same mountain that held Stable 9. Now I know what you’re all thinking, Dj-Pon3 how could an entire mountain just fall onto a town like that?” The DJ went on after a moment’s pause. “Well, I don’t have all the information yet, but from what I know so far, there were sightings of a strange creature flying away from the mouth of the cave where the entrance of the Stable was. That however wasn’t the strangest thing, no not at all. Right after the creature flew off from the Stable none other than the Courier Mare I spoke of before was seen trying to escape the Stable with a little help. Reports I have so far don’t say much about what happened, but I know that she was captured by the leader of the fiends. A while later though she was spotted running away from the town right before a huge explosion took out the mountain and the town.”

My jaw dropped open. “What the hell? How does he know all that?”

DJ continued, “Stable 9 and the fiends that lived around it are all gone now, and if you ask me faithful listeners, I say good riddance. The fiends in that area have been causing a lot of problems for the settlements around there. So, if you’re out there somewhere little Courier Mare, thank you from me and the rest of the ponies around that area. Keep up the good work. Well that’s it for now, this is DJ-Pon3 bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts, next up is Sapphire Shores…”

I clicked off the radio and just looked at my Pip-Buck in astonishment. It hadn’t been that long since I left that damned town buried under fire and rock. How did a pony all the way back in Manehatten find out so much already? And why didn’t he mention my friends, if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have even made it out alive. I mean yeah, I was the one who blew up the Stable, but Aura helped… kind of. So, what if I was the one who’d blown up that Goddesses forsaken place and took out the Fiends who were left in the town. I didn’t do it to help anypony. I only did it to kill the monsters living in the stable, so they couldn’t get out.

I fell onto my back on the cot and groaned covering my eyes with my hooves. “Why! I just don’t understand why?”

Uncovering my eyes, I looked up at the ceiling. I did my best to forget about the DJ and his talk about me saving ponies, even if I didn’t. Taking down the raiders back in Cartwheel was mostly luck, and really the same thing with Stable 9. Right now, I just needed to get back to the Rangers and check on my friends. That was the first priority, second was treating my radiation sickness.

Even with the storm still raging outside, I started to wonder if I should just leave and try to get back to Hidden Sands. I couldn’t seem to rest, my mind was wandering, and I had no idea what else to do. I didn’t wanna go back out into the storm either. I thought maybe I should at least still try and get some sleep, maybe I’d feel better. Maybe if I could get some sleep my body wouldn’t feel so horrible, that blast from Stable 9 was still making my body feel off.

I closed my eyes to go to sleep, when out of nowhere a loud boom came from downstairs. My eye’s snapped open and I jumped to my hooves grabbing my shotgun from beside the cot. Quietly I made my way over to the door and pressed an ear to it. Right as my ear touched the door, I heard Watts on the other side of it.

“Ms. Shadow Star, are you okay in there?” he asked, from the other side of the door.

“Yeah I’m fine. What was that sound?” I whispered, keeping my voice down just in case.

“Oh, it seems like some ponies broke through the front door. Stay in there and I’ll take care of them,” Watts said.

“Wait, no. Don’t go down there Watts,” I tried to say, but I heard him floating away.

“Damn, he’s gonna get himself killed or destroyed, or whatever it is for a robot.” I loaded my shotgun, then listened at the door again, waiting to hear what would happen. If whoever they were attacked Watts, I’d be down there in seconds.

“Good evening and welcome to F&F Tools. I’m sorry, but we are closed for the evening,” I could hear Watts say from downstairs.

A deep voice echoed up, “Shut it robot, we’re looking for somepony. We have a feeling she came this way.”

Watts apologized, “Sorry sir, but nopony has been in for quite a long time. I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“Listen here you deformed hunk of metal, we don’t have time to be messing around,” another voice said, followed by a loud bang.

I heard something metallic hit the ground. Unlocking the door, I opened it slowly and started to sneak to the stairway. I went part-way down, then peeked over the railing to see who’d broken into the lobby. I wasn’t expecting what I saw. Three Pegasi were standing in the lobby. The one who was close to the fallen robot had a shiny red coat and black mane, black combat armor covering his back and chest. The one next to him, was a white mare with a short cut pink mane, she was dressed just like the Red Stallion. The third was uh… well I couldn’t tell if it was a stallion or a mare considering the fact that the pony was wearing black power armor. It was nothing like I’d ever seen before, it had a buggy look to it, it also looked lighter than what the Steel Rangers wore. The visor over the eyes reminded me of a bug, the armor itself was like a carapace, and it’s tail ended in a sharp glowing stinger. Oh yeah, and all three were pegasi.

“Take a look around, we need to find her. If she’s been traveling with him she might know where he’s gone. Remember not to shoot her, even if she shoots at you. If she’s dead she can’t tell us where he is, try to be as peaceful as possible, even if she IS a savage,” the pony in the power armor said.

“Got it, don’t shoot the savage,” the other stallion said co-operatively.

I guess the pony in the power armor is a stallion too, at least it sounded like it. Who is this mysterious ‘He’ they’re looking for? Could they mean Stardust? It could be, but I had no way of knowing. As far as I knew, I had no way out of here, so I’d either have to try and shoot my way past them, or hope I could hide in the office.

Neither option sounded good to me. On my E.F.S. they showed up white, so for the moment they weren’t hostile. If I was lucky, maybe I could talk my way out of this, Auntie always said I had a way with words. I kept my head down and praying to Celestia for this to work, I said loudly, “Hey, that robot you shot was a friend of mine, didn’t anypony ever teach you that it’s rude to barge in and break somepony’s stuff.”

I heard two of the ponies jump, and a hum started coming from their direction. It must’ve been their weapons warming up to fire. The pony in the power armor replied, looking around the room for the source of my voice. “Don’t fire, it looks like our prey found us.”

“Yes sir!” both said quickly, so I guess he WAS a stallion. Good to know.

Still searching for my position, he asked, “Are you the mare who took down the town near that Stable just north of here?”

“I might be. Who’s asking?” I asked, slowly moving down toward the bottom of the stairs.

“Sergeant Winter Frost, the two with me are Windstorm, and Nimbus. We’re looking for an escaped prisoner, reports say he was in the company of a pony known as the Courier Mare,” he answered.

I peeked around the corner checking on their positions, the two in combat armor were still looking toward where I was, the one in armor Winter Frost was looking around toward the ceiling with his head moving around slowly. I wonder what he’s looking for?

I turned my head to project my voice upward toward the top of the stairs. “I’ve been called that by DJ-Pon3, but I don’t know anything about a prisoner.”

“His name is Stardust, he escaped from our facility and we’re here to bring him back,” Winter Frost said, his voice calm and steady.

They were looking for Stardust? What was this about him escaping from a facility? I wondered if they meant the Stable he was from, or maybe it was a kind of prison. I still didn’t know much about him, but I couldn’t see him being an escaped prisoner.

“What facility are you talking about, and why should I tell you if I did know this Stardust?” I asked.

“He’s a deranged pony who’s a wanted fugitive, that’s all you need to know,” he replied, sounding as if he was getting more annoyed with me by the second.

“Well I don’t know a pony by that name, so I can’t help you,” I said. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll fall for the lie and leave me be.

I heard their guns starting to hum again as Winter Frost spoke, “Listen here Courier, you were spotted with a Pegasus just a few hours ago, don’t lie to us. We need to find him and take him back to where he belongs.”

Okay this was getting annoying. “I’ll say it again, I don’t know who you’re talking about. Whose authority do you have to just come and take somepony away anyway?”

“The authority of the Grand Pegasus Enclave that’s who, all Pegasi in Equestria are under our directive. This Pegasus is a criminal and he has to pay for his crimes. If you don’t tell us where he is, you’ll be taken prisoner and interrogated until you disclose his location,” Winter Frost said with a hint of annoyance.

“Yeah…that’s not happening, try again next week. Maybe I’ll have a clue who you’re talking about then,” I said peeking around the corner once again. The stallion Windstorm moved closer to the stairs, the ends of his guns glowing pink.

“You want to do this the hard way? Fine with me. Go get her,” Winter Frost said.

“Yes sir!” they both said again. As they did Windstorm moved closer and was about to go up the stairs.

I chose then to whip around the corner at the bottom of the stairway pointing my shotgun right at his head. He had a momentary look of surprise as I pulled the trigger. To my surprise, he twisted around quickly as the shot went off, the buckshot only grazing the side of his cheek and helmet. As he turned Nimbus bit down on the bit that was attached to both of her guns, it fired two jets of pink light toward me. I managed to dodge one, but the second beam hit my side, burning right through my duster and singeing my side.

I screamed in pain as I fell back to the stairway. Wincing, I started to go back up the stairs. Windstorm and Nimbus ran toward me, but I fired off two rounds making them take cover around the corner. My side was burning in pain as I made it to the top and ducked around the corner as two more beams of light hit the wall. I fired again back down the stairs, but didn’t look to see if I’d hit anything.

“Madam…head to the roof…there’s a way out up there,” came the voice of Watts from downstairs. I guess he was still kicking.

I looked back down the hall toward the office and noticed another door that was opened to another stairway. I ran for it and just got around the doorway when more bursts of light flew past me, blasting the door to the office. It exploded into bits of wood and light. I chanced a look down the hall again and saw Winter Frost slowly walking toward me, his two minions close behind. I looked back toward the office and saw my saddle bags. I had to get out of here, but I still needed those. The whole reason for doing this mission was sitting in my saddle bags.

“There’s no way out of here Courier, it would be best if you just surrender now, before you get hurt,” Winter Frost said.

“No way, I’d rather die than go anywhere with you!” I yelled back at him, franticly looking around for anything that could help me get out of this. Then I saw it, there was a box next to the stairs that lead up to the roof with the words ‘Danger, Explosives’ stamped on it. Now that looked fun, I do like a good bang.

Using my weak magic, I pulled out a couple metal apples with a dark red band around them. As I pulled one of them out, a nail sticking out of the box caught the stem and pulled it out. The handle on the side popped up and off, followed by a slight clicking sound. “Oh Shit!” I said and threw the metal apple down the hallway.

“Fuck, get down!” yelled Winter Frost followed by a loud explosion. Flames flew down the hallway followed by a loud rumble. When it passed, I chanced another look down the hall. The ceiling had fallen down blocking the path, blood was pooling from under one of the large pieces of concrete.

I wasn’t sure what happened, but I could still see two red bars on my E.F.S. Looks like I got one of them, but two were still left alive. At the moment nopony was shooting at me through the gaps in the concrete, so I turned and grabbed my saddle bags and shot back toward the stairs that lead up to the roof. I made sure to put the rest of the explosives crate’s contents in my saddle bags as I passed by it. As I made my way up toward the roof I saw more red bars and said, “How many of those motherfuckers are there?”

I pushed the door open. Keeping to the shadows coming off the ventilation shafts on the roof, I snuck toward the side of the building. Looking up I saw six more Pegasi flying around in the rain. Thankfully none of them noticed me coming out of the doorway. There was a loud bang from the street followed by the voice of Winter Frost.

“She’s escaped, check the roof! The bitch killed Windstorm, I want her taken alive. Hurt her as much as you want, but keep her alive, she’s mine,” his voice echoed up.

All six ponies fell toward the roof, magical energy weapons glowing as they started to search for me. I was like a sitting duck up here, there wasn’t any possible way to leave without getting seen. I had a couple more of those grenades, but I wasn’t sure how well they’d work in the wide-open space. I wanted to scream with frustration as I looked for a way out of the situation. My magic was still weak, so teleporting was out of the question, I still felt sick from the massive amount of radiation I took from the exploding Stable, so I wasn’t sure how fast I could run either.

One of the Pegasi came around the corner where I was hiding, he started to yell a warning, but my shotgun came up first and blasted him in the face. He fell back, blood flying in the air. Shots started to ring out as the other Pegasi turned my direction. Two flew up into the air firing down at me, I jumped out of the way, but I was still stuck up here with nowhere to go. I fired at another pegasus that came running toward me, he dodged my shot and ducked behind a chunk of concrete that was sticking up out of the roof.

I ran back to the door that lead into the building and used it as my own cover, hopping that it would keep the flying enemies from firing down at me. Now I was really trapped, the hall was blocked and ponies were blocking the roof.

I heard a humming sound from behind me, I turned around quickly and saw Watts floating there. “Watts, you’re okay. How did you get over here, the hall is blocked by rubble?”

“They only shot me with an energy rifle, did a number on my internal circuits. Nothing I can’t handle, it just took a bit to get myself up and going again. As to how I got up here, there’s another way up here from down below, through the factory,” he replied.

I looked back at the open door, then back at the robot. “Is there a way out through there?”

He pointed his claw arm toward another door across the hall. “Yes ma’am, that way leads down to the factory, there’s a back door on the other end.”

“Why didn’t you tell me to go that way then instead of toward the roof?” I said irritated watching the door to the roof.

“The factory isn’t really a safe way to go, I didn’t know they would have friends up on the roof,” he warned.

A pegasus landed at the threshold of the door ready to fire his energy rifles. I brought up my shotgun ready to fire, but Watts floated past me firing bolts of energy of his own. The Pegasus wasn’t fast enough to avoid the shot, two of the bolts hit, and the pony started to glow. In an instant, his body turned to ash. Two more ponies landed by the door firing toward us, using my magic I slammed the door shut.

“I don’t care how dangerous the factory is, it can’t be much worse than up there,” I said going back into the hall.

“Ms. Shadow Star the factory is full of radiation, it was repurposed a few years before the war ended to make bombs, after all the years, some of the bombs left over started to leak,” Watts said sounding genuinely concerned. “I can tell that you have been exposed to a lot of radiation recently, I’m not sure you could handle more exposure. Pardon my brashness considering the situation but, you’re positively glowing.”

Great, now I’m being compared to a glow stick. I looked back toward the door to the roof, it was starting to glow red as shots of energy hit it from the other side. “I’ll risk it,” I said making my way toward the door. I was starting to regret coming to this place.

I just made it through the door, shutting it when the door to the roof blew open. Looking around franticly I saw a large filing cabinet laying on its side. Using my magic, I tried lifting it. It lifted a little, but I didn’t have enough power yet to make it flip over. Reading my mind, Watts floated over and pushed on the filling cabinet. Slowly it floated in front of the door. I let it fall to the ground with a bang against the door.

“Okay, which way do we take to get out of here?” I asked Watts looking around the factory floor.

I could see tall windows over most of the walls letting in dim light from the lightning still flashing outside. Conveyers ran up and down the large open room with places for ponies to either run the machines or inspect the work as it made its way down the line. I could see a few skeletons along the small walkways, and cracked metal shells leaking rainbow fluid. As I stood looking over the factory I noticed my Pip-Buck was slowly clicking.

“If you hurry down the main walkway Miss Shadow Star, you’ll find a rear exit. I’m sure you’ll be able to go out through there,” he said starting to head toward the stairs.

“If you say so,” I said following the robot. We made our way down to the factory floor just past another door that I figured lead back into the front office. Walking down the aisle I did my best not to step on the twisted skeletons. My Pip-Buck clicked faster and faster as I got closer to the middle of the factory. Something in my gut was starting to wiggle and my vison started going red around the edges. My Pip-Buck kept sending flashes across my vision saying I was experiencing Severe Radiation Sickness.

“Miss Shadow Star, are you feeling okay?” Watts asked as we grew closer to the double doors leading to freedom.

“No, I’m not, but I can keep going, we’re almost there,” I said weakly. I took a couple more steps toward him when a few red bars showed up on my E.F.S. “Watts we need to hide,” I said quickly ducking under one of the conveyer belts just in time. The doors blasted open, followed by four Pegasi, leading them was Winter Frost. Watts let his body fall to the ground looking like just a broken robot.

“This is the only other way she could’ve come. Find her,” Winter Frost said.

“Sir can’t you locate her on your E.F.S.?” one of them asked.

“Something in this place is interfering with it. Start looking, she’s here, I know it,” he said starting to walk down the main aisle.

So, he did have an E.F.S. in that helmet, I was wondering about that. I wonder why it didn’t work though, my own was working just fine. Maybe it had something to do with my Pip-Buck, or maybe it was just made better than his power armor.

Keeping to the shadows, I slowly holstered my shotgun then pulled out Aura’s energy spear. If I shot anything in here, they’d hear it right away and I’d be screwed. Stealth is what I needed right now. I slowly made my way over to Watts and whispered, “Stay here and don’t move unless you have to, I have a plan,” In response, he moved one of his camera eyes up and down.

Winter Frost was the biggest threat to me right now, but his power armor looked like it could block an attack from the spear, so I kept close to the ground and continued on toward a blue pegasus a couple aisles down from me. Holding the energy spear in my magic, I moved behind him as he looked under one of the other conveyer belts. I hit the switch near the bottom of the spear and it lit up like a light.

He must’ve noticed the glow because as I came up, he turned to look. When he saw me, he started to yell out in alarm. I stepped forward sending the tip of the energy spear through his left eye. His body convulsed violently, his cry coming out as a hissing moan before his body fell to the ground sliding off the end of the spear. I flipped off the blood and ducked under another conveyer belt checking to see if anypony noticed. All I saw was the face of the dead pegasus, his eye smoking where I stabbed him.

Moving quickly, I got behind another one, and using the spear I thrust it through the back of his head. He gave off a small scream before he died. I dropped back down to the ground as Winter Frost and the other pegasi turned. I started to creep away from the body.

“What the fuck was that?” Winter Frost asked making his way toward me and the pony I just killed. “Where did Quick Silver and Monsoon go?”

“I found Monsoon Boss, he’s dead,” the mare said. “Somepony got him with an Energy spear or lance, there’s a smoking hole in his eye.”

Winter Frost started looking around. “Looks like I was right, our friend is still in here,” he said as he put a hoof up to his helmet. “Send more ponies down to the factory, cover the entrances, I don’t want her to escape.”

“Okay, well now I’m fucked,” I whispered to myself trying my best to make my way around the mare who was walking toward where I killed the last pony.

“Boss looks like she got Quick Silver too,” she said moving closer to the body and putting her back toward me.

“That bitch. He was a good soldier, she’ll pay for this,” Winter Frost said as three more Pegasi made their way into the factory. I couldn’t stay here too much longer; my rad meter was deep in the yellow inching closer to the red. My stomach was doing loops, and I wasn’t sure how long I could handle my magic.

I moved closer to Watts and whispered, “Just stay down. I’m going to see if I can sneak past them,” he shook one of his eyes, but I just ignored it and moved past him. The robot started to move, so I gave him a long look until he stopped.

“There’s no way out of here kid, I have plenty of sentries around the perimeter. If you come out, I’ll go easy on you, even though you killed my soldiers,” Winter Frost said, slowly walking down each aisle.

Moving in the other direction I said, “I thought you would’ve given up on that tactic by now. If you wanna catch me, you’re gonna have to do it the hard way.”

He turned toward the direction my voice came from, the beam rifles on his sides glowing. “So, you’re still in here? How long do you think you can hide from us?”

“Not too much longer, but I plan on getting out of here before I have to worry about it,” I said making sure to keep moving, staying low.

“I will admit, you do have determination for such a small pony. If you’d have grown up in The Enclave, you would’ve made a good soldier, even for a unicorn,” Winter Frost said.

“I’m flattered, but I think the lack of wings would’ve been a problem,” I said getting closer to the mare who was still moving slowly down another aisle.

“You should be, it’s not often I complement a dirt pony like yourself.” As he spoke I jumped up and went to stab the mare. As I went for her Winter Frost yelled, “Tuck and roll Feather Duster.”

The mare reacted quickly ducking under my thrust then rolling around and batting the spear away. She threw her other hoof up cracking me under the chin throwing me back. Dazed, I rolled away from her next kick, doing my best to grab hold of the spear again. Jumping to my hooves I activated S.A.T.S. and aimed three hits toward her head. As time slowed I struck, but do to the radiation sickness my aim was off. The first two missed as she threw her head to the side. My last strike nicked her cheek and clipped her ear.

Blood landed on the floor as she yelled from the deep cut. Flipping the spear around I attacked again, but she wasn’t having it, she flipped around and bucked me in the chest throwing me back. I heard and felt a snap in my chest. Pain racked my body and I screamed as I fell onto a skeleton.

She walked over toward me aiming her rifle at me. “Don’t move!”

Winter Frost walked over next to her chuckling a little as he spoke, “Times up Courier. Are you ready to tell me what I want to know?”

I smiled up at him doing my best to ignore the pain in my chest. It felt like I broke a couple ribs, or at least cracked them. It’s hard to breath that’s for sure. “Nah, I’m good.”

“You’re finished Courier, you’re sick, and out of options. Now tell me where I can find Stardust,” Winter Frost said angrily.

I tasted blood in my mouth from the kick to my jaw, and I spit it right in his face. I smiled again and gasped out, “The answer’s still no, so why don’t you just kill me and get it over with.”

“You won’t hurt her again you ruffian,” Watts yelled from across the room firing his built-in energy pistol toward the two.

Winter Frost just let the beam hit his armor. When it bounced off, he turned and fired his own weapon at the robot. The beams hit Watts, two of his eyes exploded and his floating talisman went out as he fell to the ground, sparks flying everywhere. He turned back toward me moving an armored hoof up to wipe the blood off his visor. “That’s a lot better, looks like that damned robot was the center of the interference in here. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get back to our conversation.”

Tears rolled down my face as I looked over at the destroyed robot. I know he was just a machine, but he helped me. It was my fault this happened to him. I looked back at Winter Frost glaring at him as I spoke, “Fuck you and your damned Enclave.”

A sigh came from his muzzle. “I can see you’re determined to the end. Fine have it your way, you’re no more use to me. I’ll have to find another way to find him.” His beam guns started to glow again as he pointed them toward me.

I was going to die, there’s no way around it, but I wasn’t gonna go down without one last fight. Using what little magic I had left, I took hold of the energy spear, activated S.A.T.S. and aimed two hits toward Winter Frost’s head. Both attacks missed, but as I sat there in the peaceful world of S.A.T.S. something moved in my peripheral vision, moving faster than anypony should be able too when the spell matrix was active.

A pony in a long trenchcoat and a desperado cowpony hat, landed among the ponies who were starting to come in from the exit to the factory. I couldn’t tell what color his coat was because he was wrapped in bandages keeping his face hidden, his eyes shadowed by the hat’s brim. He pulled out a long-barreled revolver and in quick secession he fired off six rounds, killing all the ponies who had slowly been coming through. As the spell matrix started to fade, he jumped over the falling bodies, reloading his revolver as he moved. He landed next to the Mare just as the spell finished and time went back to normal.

“What the fuck?” was all the she got out before the mysterious pony apple-bucked her in the jaw, sending her flying through the air. As she flew backward, he lifted his revolver and fired. The bullet punched a hole in her chest. She was dead before she hit the ground.

Winter Frost flipped around and fired at the mysterious pony. He however dodged to one side, the beams missing him by inches. The mysterious pony rolled on the ground stopping next to me, his revolver trained on Winter Frost’s head.

Winter Frost glared at him from inside his power armor. “Who the fuck are you, do you realize who you just attacked?”

The pony spoke, his voice tinny and deep like he himself was in power armor, “No pony really, just a wanderer. Tell me. Why is The Enclave trying to kill a small mare like this? Did she do something to earn the wrath of the Enclave?”

“She has information we need and it is none of your concern,” Winter Frost replied.

The mysterious pony looked around at the dead pegasi. “Looks like it is now. I’d suggest you leave Sargent Winter Frost, before you find yourself in the same situation as your friends.”

In response Winter Frost only laughed then fired his weapons once again. The mysterious pony grabbed hold of me jumping high, landing on the other side of a pile of inactive bomb shells. As he landed I saw bandaged wings folding under his coat. Setting me down carefully, he picked up the energy spear and placed it next to me as he turned back toward Winter Frost.

“You’re fast for a dirt pony I’ll give you that, I’m also surprised you know who I am. Too bad I don’t have time to find out how you know so much, unfortunately I’m running out of time. For your crime of killing soldiers of the Enclave, I sentence you to death,” Winter Frost said firing another blast of magical energy toward the pony.

Like before he dodged it then fired back at the armored stallion. The bullet bit through the leg of Winter Frost’s armor and he howled in pain as the leg gave out. The Mysterious pony fired twice more, disconnecting the wires that ran from the sides of the Power Armor to the twin energy rifles.

“I’ll say it again Sargent, leave here now before it’s too late. I really don’t want to kill another Enclave soldier if I don’t have to, but I will if you try and attack this young mare or me again,” The Mysterious pony said.

Winter Frost lifted himself back up, his right foreleg shaking violently, as he, “You bastard, I’ll make sure you pay for this, but I know when I’m beat.” He looked over at me. “We’ll meet again Courier, count on it, and when we do, Stardust won’t be the only one I’m after.”

I wanted to say something witty and sarcastic back to him like Stardust probably would’ve, but all could do was cough and give a weak bloody smile. Winter Frost flapped his wings and flew out the open door vanishing into the storm that still raged outside. “I hope you get stuck by lightning you son of a bitch,” I said to myself, hoping my wish would come true. When that was done, the mysterious pony turned around again holstering his revolver and walked back toward me.

“Who…are you?” I asked as he knelt down pulling a healing potion and a couple of Rad-aways out from his pockets.

He looked down at me, his eyes still covered by the shadow of his Desperado Hat, and he spoke still with his voice tinny and deep, “No pony, just a Stranger who saw a pony in need. Now drink this, your radiation levels are dangerously high and you have a couple broken ribs. The potions will help, but you’ll still need to see a doctor.”

I drank the potions, feeling their effect almost instantly. “Thanks for the help.”

“You should call your Steel Ranger friends for help. They have a patrol not far from here, you should be able to reach them with your broadcaster,” he said turning to leave.

“Wait a minute.” He stopped and looked back at me as I continued, “At least tell me your name and why a pegasus would kill his own kind.”

The bandages around his lips rose as if he were smiling. “Not yet Shadow. Stay safe, and watch who you make friends with. It could get you killed.”

Before I could ask him what he meant, there was a flash of light and he was gone. I looked around for a moment, confused at what he said. “What the fuck was that all about?”

“Ms….Shadow,” the mechanical voice of Watts echoed from behind me.

I turned and saw his remaining eye was lifted and he was looking over at me. “Watts, you’re still alive?”

“In a small sense, I suppose. The more important question is… Are you okay?” he said moving one of his spidery limbs dragging himself toward me.

I walked over to him slowly, my body still hurting. When I reached him I knelt down. “Don’t waste any more of your energy.”

His eye looked up at me and he said with a crackle in his voice, “Do you think…master Falafel would be proud of me?”

Holding back a tear I said, “Very proud Watts, just rest for now, I’ll see if we can get you fixed.”

“Good idea Ms. Shadow Star…I’ll…do that.” His eye fell forward, the body going limp. I wasn’t sure if he was gone or just powered down. Not caring, I lifted the robot in my weak magic and Aura’s energy spear, then started making my way out of the factory. When I made it out I checked the sky quickly for any sign of The Enclave. Apart from the rain still falling, I couldn’t see any sign of them.

Remembering what that pony told me, I lifted my Pip-Buck and checked the broadcaster. I saw a couple channels showing up, one was just a jumble of letters, and the other was Military 6bt67j. Hoping I was right, I clicked the latter and ignored the former. I had no idea how this worked so I just started to speak.

“This is The Courier Shadow Star of Equestrian Express, I’m alone and in need of help, if any Steel Rangers are in the area of the old F&F Tool factory, please come help.” When I finished, I saw an icon that said ‘set to repeat’ I clicked it then dropped the menu hoping it would work.

Looking around I saw one of the dilapidated buildings still had a little bit of a roof left on it. I made my way over to it, I climbed through a hole in the side and sat under the roof against one of the walls, setting Watts next to me. I lifted the spear and looked it over again, I was amazed at how well it was crafted. Whoever Aura got this from they took time and put a lot of work into it. With a sigh, I folded the spear up and stuck it into the saddle bags.

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the pain that still ran through my body. The potions helped, but I still felt sick and my chest hurt with each breath I took. I really hoped I wouldn’t have to wait too long for somepony to come find me. As I waited there I started to think about that mysterious pony who came to help me.

Why would he hide who he was like that? Was he trying to keep his identity secret from the Enclave, or from me? I know I saw wings under the trenchcoat, but he also just vanished like a pony who teleported. He was definitely a good fighter and scary fast. I guess I’m lucky he was on my side, or at least he acted like he was. If he hadn’t been, there was no way I could’ve taken him on.

A little bit of time went by, the rain started to slow down giving the sound of silence to the dark night. As I sat there just looking out toward the cloudy sky a light glistened on the road. I tucked my head back behind the wall listening for whoever was out there. I could see four white bars on my E.F.S. but that didn’t mean they were friendly, only not hostile at the moment.

“Paladin Stalk, that looks like the place,” a voice said from across the road.

“The transmission said she would be here, Scribe Hazel and Knight Jasper go check it out,” another voice said, followed by two voices saying, “YES SIR!”

I peeked around the corner and saw three ponies in power armor and a unicorn mare in a uniform. Picking up Watts and the saddle bags I limped out of the building across from F&F Tools shouting, “I’m right here!”

The three in power armor turned quickly, two aiming rocket launchers at me. The one who wasn’t, was a huge pony in dark grey armor. With a strict firmness, he said, “Identify yourself.”

“I’m Shadow Star, I sent the distress call, I assume you’re the patrol from the Steel Rangers,” I said.

“Sir, she matches the description given by the Elder,” the mare in the uniform said.

The larger pony looked at the other two in power armor. “Lower your weapons, she’s the one were looking for,” he said, then started walking toward me. “Shadow Star, I’m Paladin Celery Stalk, we received your transmission. We were out here looking for you anyway, your friends made it back to the bunker safe and sound. Elder Appleslice asked us to go look for you.”

I slumped as exhaustion overtook me, Watts and the saddle bags falling to the ground. The mare ran over to me and started looking me over. “You don’t look well Ms. Star, tell me what’s wrong and where it hurts.”

“You’ll have to wait to look her over Scribe Hazel. That Talon Company we saw can’t be far behind, I’m sure they picked up on the transmission too,” Paladin Stalk said looking back at his two knights. “You two keep your eyes to the sky, Scribe Hazel, you’ll have to look her over while we travel. Shadow, are you okay to walk?”

I looked over at him and tried to stand, but my legs wouldn’t move. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can go on, my body’s taken too much, and I’ve been suffering from radiation poisoning.”

“Then you’ll have to ride on my back,” he said turning again. “Scribe Hazel follow along side of me and try to look her over while we move.”

“Yes sir,” she said with a weird salute to her chest.

“Wait! Ride on your what now!?” I tried to say, but the large pony lifted me with his hoof and placed me on his back. One of the Knights grabbed my saddle bags and they all formed up. I looked over toward Watts. “Wait, we can’t leave him behind.”

Paladin Stalk looked over at the broken robot. “You mean that hunk of metal? We don’t have time to be carrying around broken junk.”

I wiggled and tried to slide off the large pony. “He helped me back in the factory, and I’m not leaving him behind. Can’t you at least bring him with and try and fix him?”

Scribe Hazel looked over the Robot quickly. “The robot is a gen three Mr. Handy, its memory and most of its internal parts are still intact.”

“We don’t have time to discuss this, Knight Coconut Cream grab the robot and let’s get going,” Paladin Celery Stalk said.

I stopped my wiggling and looked back at him, “Thank you, Paladin.”

“No thanks are needed, it’s simple, if I fight you on this it will take longer to get out of here,” he said then exclaimed, “Hurry it up and let’s move out!”

With that, the other three formed up on him. Then we were off, the armored ponies running down the road toward the dark hills. As they ran, Scribe Hazel started casting a spell over me and mumbling under her breath. My body started to tingle as she worked whatever magic she was using.

She stopped her mumbling then looked at me. “That can’t be right.”

“What’s wrong? Did I take more radiation than I thought?” I asked.

“It’s true that you took a lot of radiation, you also took some rad-away. That I know for sure, and it helped. You also have three cracked ribs and a couple torn muscles and other minor injuries that will need to be looked at by the doctor. That’s not what worries me,” she said still giving me that strange look.

“Then what’s wrong?” I asked again.

“Something inside you…it feels…” Before she could finish what she was saying a loud scream filled the air.

The Knight carrying the saddle bags yelled, “Griffons Paladin, at least two wings.”

Looking up I saw six griffons diving at us from the sky. Three of them coming from the north, the others from the northeast. Paladin Stalk cursed under his breath. “Shadow hang on to me tight.”

I did as he said, wrapping my hooves around his metal neck. He flipped around skidding to a halt, two massive guns folded out from the side of his power armor. With a loud bang, he fired at the descending griffons. The wing he fired at all banked sharply to one side. The other wing dove for the Knights, one pulling out a long rusty looking tube.

“Missile!” Scribe Hazel yelled.

The large stallion I was on, whipped around again and fired his massive guns. The griffon exploded into red mist and chunks of meat, the metal tube he was holding fell toward the ground. The others opened fire with oddly shaped rifles. I felt magic envelop me pulling me away from Paladin Stalk. I looked over to see Scribe Hazel using her magic to levitate me toward her.

We were behind a rock keeping us safe from the small battle going on. I looked over at her and asked, “What’s going on?”

“They look like the Red Talons, they have a contract to get ahold of you from what we know. They must’ve heard your transmission. They sent two wings to retrieve you,” she said ducking her head as an explosion went off on the other side of the boulder.

“Why though? Aura stole their contract so she could fulfill the bounty. When she heard my side of the story I thought she would’ve told them after I left,” I asked.

“We aren’t sure why yet, normally we use The Talons for bounties, or receiving high end tech we can’t get ourselves. They usually keep quiet about their clients unless they’re informing the pony with the bounty of the situation. I think your friend might’ve forgot to tell them your side of the story," he said.

“Well let’s shoot now and ask questions later,” I responded.

“I’m gonna stop you right there, you’re sick and injured, there’s no way I’m gonna let you fight. Just stay here and wait until we get control of the situation,” Hazel said putting a hoof on my shoulder.

“So, you expect me to sit back and hide while you protect me?" I asked. "I can still fight. If you guys didn’t show up I probably would’ve had to fight just to get back to the bunker.”

“You probably feel like you can fight, but you’ll just end up making your injuries worse or you’d die. Just stay here and let us do our job, you need to stay safe,” she said sternly.

“If you want to fight, just kill her. All she is to you is an obstacle between you and your true power,” a malicious, but familiar voice said in my head.

“I’m not going to kill her, she’s an ally, not an obstacle. What do you mean by true power anyway, and who the fuck are you?” I asked the voice in my head.

“That’s a stupid question. It’s simple really, I’m you, the real you. Your true potential,” the voice said again.

“Me? How can you be me? I’m me, not you," I responded. "You’re just the overly tired crazy bitch in my head. A delusion created by my subconscious from what I’ve seen in The Wasteland.”

The voice snickered, “Believe what you will. My power or should I say your true power can turn all those griffons and rangers into dust.”

“Are you okay Shadow?” Hazel asked sounding worried.

“Yeah I’m fine. Sorry about that. I think all the radiation scrambled my brain a little,” I said thumping the side of my head with a hoof.

“Like I said, you should stay here. You’re in no shape to fight," she said.

“Alright. I’ll stay here. I have my guns in case anything happens,” I responded.

“Alright. Just remember, bullets can ricochet so if you hear a shot hit near you check your surroundings before you run,” she said as she walked away.

I could hear bullets flying in every direction, explosions from missiles and grenades rattling the air. What was that voice in my head? Could I really be an evil monster? Is that why I don’t remember anything from when I was younger? Sweet Celestia, I can’t even figure myself out anymore.

“You should’ve listened to me. I could’ve helped you,” the voice came again.

“Just go away. I’ll never listen to you, you’re a figment of my imagination. You aren’t real,” I said.

“Fine then. I’ll just bide my time until the day you let your guard down. I’ll take over myself, without you having to let me in. When that day comes, I’ll show you what it’s like being locked in your own mind like a caged animal. And I’ll make you watch from that cage as I slowly kill everypony you love. See you soon Morning Star,” the voice threatened angrily.

A chill ran down my spine at the thought of whatever that voice was, taking me over and trapping me away. I can’t let that happen. I’d just have to make sure to keep my guard up…if I could.

“Quite a show, isn’t it? Griffons and ponies fighting to the death,” a voice said behind me.

I quickly turned around and pulled out my pistol, only to have it knocked away by the very large griffon standing before me. Before I knew it, I was on the ground, the griffon standing on top of me with an energy spear similar to Aura’s at the ready.

“G-get off!” I yelled.

“Do you really think it’s that easy? Just say get off and I’ll let you go,” he replied arrogantly.

“I-it was… worth… a shot,” I struggled to get out as he pressed down harder on my chest, his talons piercing my skin.

“Unfortunately for you, we don’t need you alive anymore. The one who put out the bounty on you said all she needs is that Pip-Buck off of your foreleg. So now I get to enjoy the pleasure of killing you,” he said clenching harder on his spear, readying himself.

I could feel a stirring in the pit of my stomach when he said that, I don’t know if it was my organs mutating from the radiation or the fact that I was about to die. It was even getting harder to breath, then I remembered that he was practically crushing me with his talons.

Right as he started to come down with his spear I blacked out.

I was suddenly in an endless white void, surrounded by nothingness. It felt cold but hot at the same time, breathing felt more like something I could chose to do rather than something I needed to do. Even though I could feel the sensation of hot or cold, I couldn’t feel my body, it was like I was just a spirit wandering in the endless expanse of nothingness.

'Am I dead?' I thought to myself.

“Not yet, but you will be soon,” the voice from before said.

I turned, at least I think I did, and saw the same Red eyes from my dream the night before. “Who are you?” I asked, my voice coming out in a whisper instead of the scream I’d intended.

Before my eyes, a pony appeared in front of me, she had a silvery white coat, dark red eyes, a sharpened horn, and a black mane styled a lot like my own. Instead of a normal cutie mark on her flanks, she had a dark sky with moving stars inside. She grinned at me and said in that same voice, “It’s nice to finally meet you face to face Morning Star.”

“That’s not my name, I’m Shadow Star,” I said, trying to look away from her, but failing.

Her grin only widened. “That may be true now, but not always.”

“Who are you anyway, and where are we?” I asked.

She looked around the white nothingness. “I’m not sure, your mind is the one making this. If you wanted you could be anywhere, think of this place like a dream, only you can control more of what’s going on around you. As for who I am, well that is a tricky question to answer. Let’s just say for now that I am another part of you Shadow Star.”

“So, what do I call you then?” I asked thinking about what she just said. Taking a moment, I imagined my body and a second later, it was there, and I felt more like myself again. The nothingness around us changed and now we were in the atrium of Stable 28.

“Ah… there you go, you’re starting to understand how this world works. As for my name, that’s also something I can’t explain to you. Since you chose not to call yourself by your true name, then I’ll take it. Call ME Morning Star,” she said slowly walking around the atrium looking around. “I never much liked it here, why did you pick this dull place.”

“I’m not sure, I guess because it reminds me of better times,” I said making sure to keep my eyes on her. “Why take the name Morning Star if that was my name?”

“That isn’t important right now Shadow. What really matters is that you are about to die. You’re weak right now, and your magic is…well cute, but not strong. You’re going to need my help if you want to survive,” she said turning and walking toward me again.

“I think I’d rather die than take your help,” I said, anger bubbling to the front of my mind, the scene changed around us, putting us in the raider camp.

She sighed and moved getting face to face with me. “Listen to me, forget what I said before, I’ve been trapped in your head for a long time and only recently have been able to break free and experience more than just a dark cage. I was angry, and I still am. But right now, my own survival rests on you, you can’t tell me you want to die just to keep me from taking over your mind.”

“I don’t even know who you are or what you want. For all I know you’re just some crazy part of me, my mind breaking from lack of sleep or over exposure to radiation,” I said.

“If it makes you feel better then, I’ll just give you a bit of my power. I’m not strong enough yet to do much more than that anyway. Take my deal and I’ll help you survive and leave your mind intact,” she said her eyes inches from mine. I could see a slight glow in them, like embers from a dying flame lived behind them.

She was right, I didn’t want to die, I had so much I had to find out and make up for. I also had promises to keep, and I couldn’t let my fear of this creature keep me from doing that. With a sigh of my own I said, “Fine, but only for a moment, and don’t kill anypony from the Rangers, or next time I WILL let myself die, taking you with me.”

A smile came to her lips and she said sweetly, “Deal, oh and I should warn you, this might hurt…A LOT.”

The world I was in vanished, and I was back, watching as the griffon thrusted his spear down toward me. Without thinking my body moved and the spear buried itself into my already damaged shoulder, only hitting the meat. The pain however was only a small thing compared to the screaming pain in my head and horn.

I screamed as the pain in my head intensified as if magic was building up behind my horn and the back of my mind. The griffon on top of me smiled as I screamed, then his face went from glee to confusion as he looked down at my wound. Following his gaze, I saw that I was no longer bleeding, instead a bright white light was blaring out from it. The light moved and surrounded my body, then it blasted outward throwing the griffon off me.

“What the fuck, what was that?” he said, holding his spear up ready to attack me again.

I felt a presence in the back of my mind come forward and take me over. I felt my hoof rise and it pointed at the griffon, only it wasn’t my hoof, at least it didn’t look like it was. It was white not black, and then I spoke, only it wasn’t me doing the talking. “If you put down your spear, I might let you live as a cripple out of mercy.”

“Why should I? You’re nothing but a shit faced shrimp waiting to die,” he said and jumped toward me.

In a flash of red light, I teleported behind him. “I’ll say it again. Put down the spear. This is my last warning.”

“Fuck you bitch,” he said twisting around bringing his long spear around in an arch. The spear stopped an inch away from my eye, the blade being held in my magical field.

He pulled on it, but it wouldn’t budge, his eye grew big as he asked, “What the fuck are you?”

“I’m your worst nightmare come to life,” I said pulling the spear out of his talons, turning it around in my magic and slicing through the air. It connected with his chest, he was jumping back, but the spear was able to leave a deep gash. I slashed again jumping forward, slicing into the muscle near the base of his wings. He screamed and fell, one of his wings falling useless next to him. Blood was pooling under him from the deep cuts.

I flipped the spear back around then stabbed it through his gut pinning him to the ground. He yelled again in pain as I used my magic to slowly twist the blade around inside him. At least it felt like me doing it, but I wasn’t controlling the actions themselves. Whatever Morning Star had done to me, she had some sort of control over my magic and movements, even my speech.

There was an ear-splitting scream from overhead as two griffons came diving down from one of the cliffs, one yelling, “Father NO!”

“Stay Back Syn,” the griffon on the ground yelled. The smaller female griffon slowed her dive, but the other, a large male like the one who attacked me kept going.

“Insulant worm,” I heard myself say, a surge of magic blasted out from my horn, enveloping the descending griffon. A scream filled the air as the light of whatever spell I just used surrounded the griffon. A moment later a blackened husk fell to the ground, landing dead at my hooves. I looked up at the other flying griffon. “Stay out of this unless you want to be next.”

The one on the ground let out a choked sob. “My son, I’ll kill you for that I swear it.”

I looked back to him and grinned. “No you won’t, what you will do is tell the others to leave, then you’ll die. And if you don’t before you die from your injuries, then I’ll get the other flyer up there to do it.”

“YOU BITCH!” screamed the female griffon diving toward us now. Another spell flew from my horn only this time instead of killing this one, it froze her in place.

I looked deep into the eyes of the dying griffon on the ground. “Last chance little kittybird, do it or the other one dies too.”

Tears fell from his eyes as he cursed, then finally spoke, “Fine. Fall back!”

“That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” I asked.

He just looked up at me and closed his eyes. “I did what you told me to do, now let my daughter go and kill me like you said you would do.”

A grin pulled at my lips as I looked up at the griffon still being held in the air by the spell. “No, I think I’ll kill her too.”

“NOOO!” I yelled inside my own head, I could feel the spell ready to release and I was doing all I could to stop it.

“Don’t interfere, you wanted to live, this is what has to be done!” the voice of Morning Star exclaimed.

“I won’t let you do this, we’re safe now,” I said. “The deal is over, now go back and give me control.”

“NEVER!” she yelled using my own lips to speak still, the griffon looked up at me like I was crazy, and at the moment I kinda was.

“I won’t let you kill another, there is a better way,” I said using all my strength to take control of my magic. I could feel her holding onto three spells, one holding the spear in the griffon, another holding the griffon in place, the last holding the spell that she used before to kill the other griffon.

With all my will, I took over the one holding the spear in place, I pulled it from the griffon’s gut, turned it around, and stabbed myself. The monster that called herself Morning Star and I both screamed in pain and rage. She lost control of my body, and I took over turning my head as the spell went off. It shot high into the sky blasting a hole in the clouds.

My body fell to the ground and I could feel pain everywhere. I lifted one hoof and saw that it was black again, the presence of Morning Star was no longer there. I sighed then looked over at the griffon on the ground. Using a hoof I lifted a healing potion out of my saddle bag then tossed it over to him. It landed next to his head. The other griffon landed next to him and took it lifting it to his beak.

He looked over to me ignoring his daughter and said weakly, “Why?”

“Whatever that was that attacked you and killed your son there, wasn’t me. Seeing though how you were trying to kill me yourself, I figure we’re even. Drink the potion or don’t, I don’t care anymore,” I said my voice only a whisper. I was so damned tired, all I wanted to do was sleep.

He drank the potion and said, “No, what I meant was. Why save me?”

“Because, it’s the right thing to do, just don’t try and kill me please,” I said as my vision started to fade.

There was the sound of the Steel Rangers walking up behind me and Paladin Stalk said in his deep voice, “Your friends just took off, two of your comrades are dead. I suggest you leave here before you join them.”

The griffon stood weakly. “Our fight here is done, I can see that. Before I go, answer me one thing if you would.”

“She won’t be doing anything like that, she’s badly hurt and in need of medical attention,” Scribe Hazel said walking up over and looking down at me.

Ignoring her I said, “Only if you tell me something.”

“Agreed,” he replied. “What do you want to know?”

“Why did you take the contract from the Overmare?” I asked.

A smile came to his face as he said, “We have a code in the Talons. The Red Talons will only take a contact for a bounty if the pony the bounty is on is deserving of it. You broke into her Stable, stole that Pip-Buck from her safe, then left with files that could put her Stable in danger. My question is to you, why are you surprised that we came after you? If you stole something from a Stable, you should’ve known there would be repercussions.”

I could only laugh then moan in pain, Scribe Hazel put a hoof on my side and said, “Don’t move, it’s okay.” Then she looked back at the griffon. “The information you have on Shadow Star is wrong. I’d give you a better account of what really happened, but there isn’t time. Send an emissary to the bunker tomorrow, and we’ll have a full report of the truth ready for you. For now, we need to get her out of here and make sure she doesn’t die. Can you put off your contract till then?”

The griffon looked over at the dead body of his son then back at us and nodded. “I can for now, but I’ll be expecting payment for the loss of my griffons and my son. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” The Paladin said as he walked up to the griffon.

I was lost at this point, or maybe it was the loss of blood. I could see a lot of it on the ground next to me. What I did to myself was stupid, but it seemed like the only thing I could do at the time. I looked up at Hazel and smiled. “Thanks for helping me…but I think I’m going to sleep now. I’m so… tired.”

“Shadow, you can’t go to sleep, you’ve lost a lot of blood, if you do you might not wake up,” she said looking worried and fishing in her saddle bags for a healing potion.

In response, I just let out a weak laugh and closed my eyes, the sounds around me slowly fading away…

Lone Trotter Rank 1: Who needs friends anyway? When adventuring without a companion, you take 10% less damage and carry weight increases by 50.

Mysterious Pony: A Mysterious Pony has shown up to save the day. Who is he? Why does he help? Who cares! The Mysterious Pony will appear occasionally in S.A.T.S. to lend a hoof, with Deadly efficiency.