//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 // Story: Fallout Equestria: Black Cat // by Rixizu //------------------------------// Break rubbed her head very confused. What happened in the last few minutes was so crazy it couldn’t be possible. But she could see the green figure above her clear as day. The thing stood there unmoving. Break tried and failed not to freak out. What the hay was this thing? Why did it protect her? Or would it attack her next? “Uh, hi?” Break said with some hesitation. Might as well get this over with. “Who are you? I’m Break Point.” Much to Break’s surprise. It said nothing or even move. It didn’t even look at her. “Hello.” She waved her hoof in front of the figure. Still nothing. “I don’t believe this.” She recoiled in shock when she saw the hoof she waved. It was white. She looked down and saw her whole left leg was white. So that really happened after all. Break hoped that was just a fevered dream. She looked down at the white stallion creature thing. He was missing his left leg alright… This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. Break muttered to herself. She was at a loss for words. She looked back at the green figure again. “Please tell me you have an answer to this craziness?” Break pleaded. Still no response. "Just go away then!" Break said frustrated. With that, the green figure just vanished. Break searched the entire room. It was just gone. Just… whatever. Break thought with a sigh. Break looked around the room again. She saw that all the ponies that white creature took control of had collapsed motionless on the ground. Break gingerly touched the neck of the nearest pony and sighed in relief. They were fine, just out cold for the moment. The rest of the ponies were fine too. At least something good was happening today. The white creature’s victims started to stir so Break decided to make herself scarce to avoid awkward questions she couldn't answer, but first, she checked the white creature's body. It was dead alright. Break tried to avoid looking at its wounds directly. She wasn’t sure why she was doing this, but the logical part of her brain told her that he might have a clue to where Green Mile was. There wasn’t much on him. A few odds and ends, some caps, and a matchbook. Break looked it over and found something written on it. It said, “Zinnia. Lost Lake. 30th 2:30.” Break thought about this message. Zinnia was a town to the east not too far away from here. She checked her PipBuck and it confirmed her suspicions. She wasn’t sure what Lost Lake was. A bar? A building? Something she would have to check out. The 30th meant the 30th of this month. That’s in 14 days. It seemed enough time to get to Zinnia with plenty of time to spare. Break had to admit that this wasn’t much, but it was still a lead she could work with. Her new leg felt so weird walking on it. It wasn’t quite the same length as her old one. It seemed an inch or two off. Something she would have to get used to. How the hay would she explain this to Scavenger? She wondered if she was going insane and all that was just a delusion. Won’t it be nice if that was the case? But it was all real, Break was sure of that. Terrific. Like her life wasn’t crazy enough. Break froze as she saw two of the Stones guards and one she recognized from before. She ducked behind an alley her heart racing. “Hey, wait a minute!” One of the guards cried out. “Wasn’t that the mare from before?” "What?" One of the other guards said in surprise. “Hurry, I think she went that way!” It sounded like he pulled out a gun from his holster. Break panicked. She was in deep trouble. The alley she was in turned out to be a dead end. There was nowhere for her to go. The only escape she could see was a fire escape, but the ladder was up and too far for her to reach. This was really bad. What could she do? The Stones would kill her on the spot. They won’t play around this time. Break looked up at the fire escape and cursed. It only she could fly or climb walls that would be nice. Much to Break’s shock, she flew towards the wall and found herself stuck to it. What the hay was going on? She looked down and found that a can had also flown against the wall. Wait, no. She wasn’t stuck, it was more like the gravity had now changed so that the wall was now the floor. Tentatively, she picked herself up and in bewilderment found that she was standing on the wall facing up. She saw the ground under her. Break shock her head. This had to be a dream. She tensed when she heard the guards approaching. Deciding to go with the insanity for now, Break walked up the wall. She pretended not to notice how far she was up from the ground and made her way towards the fire escape. Oddly, the can that flew towards the wall with her fell back down to the ground when she moved about two hooves away from it. She froze when she saw the guards enter the alley. “What? I was sure that the Hero of Foalsom prison entered here.” The guard said perplexed. “Oh, you were just seeing things.” The other guard said with a shrug. The guard Break recognized looked around the alley uncertain and a little bewildered. He eventually sighed and gave up. “I guess you’re right.” The two guards left the alley. Break let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She walked over to the fire escape and soon looked down at it from above. Okay, so how the hay do I get down? Break wondered. With a shock, she fell down onto the fire escape with a thud and winced in pain. “What the hay was that?” One guard said. He reentered the alley and looked up and saw Break who froze in horror. “You were right!” The guard said. “There she is!” Break froze in terror as she saw the right guard pointing at her. She searched around for any way of escape and found a door to her right. Break ran at the door with abandon as she heard the guards call for reinforcement. She tried the door and found it locked and cursed. Break saw that a guard was approaching the alley gun in hoof. She tugged at the door harder. Still nothing. The guard pointed his gun at her and fired. Break sidestepped just in time to avoid a bullet in the leg. She screamed as the guard unloaded more bullets at her. She looked up for an escape. The fire escape she was on went up several more floors, but the stairs to the next floor were broken and there was no way she could get up there. Especially not with somepony shooting at her. Break realized she was trapped with no way out. If only she could get this door open. She screamed as a bullet ricocheted near her. Her mind raced for any options. If only she could punch the door down. She ideally thought back to when that green ghost thing punched that white stallion freeing her for good from his control. Could there be a way for it to help her again? She thought about the green ghost punching the door down and to her astonishment that is exactly what happened. It appeared behind her and hit the door so hard it flew off its hinges and smashed against the wall across the room. Break wasted no time clamoring inside. The room was a worn-down apartment. It had spare accommodations, but it looked cozy enough. Unlike the last apartment she was in, this one looked like it was lived in until the bombs went off. Break hurried towards the front door but froze before she reached it. She realized that she might not have a better opportunity to test her powers or whatever they were. She didn't want to face any more thugs until she had a firm understanding what they did. Break still did not understand where they came from, but she could not deny things were different now. "Okay, so I think and that green thing appears?" Break guessed. Sure enough, it loomed above her when she thought that. It was so bizarre looking at the thing, but it didn’t scare her somehow. It felt familiar, and that made no sense to her. She gave it simple mental commands, and it did everything she said without question. Moving it seemed natural not unlike moving a leg. Are you a part of me? Break wondered. No matter what she commanded it, it did as instructed. She made it grab a nearby book, and it passed it from hoof to hoof at her thought. It didn’t seem intelligent. It seemed more like a limb than a person. Glad to figure that out at least. Break wasn’t sure what to make of this. She had powers now and somehow getting that thing’s leg did it. Now she had to investigate that address. It might give her some answers about this green ghost. Now all she had to do is figure out if she had the ability to control gravity too like she suspected. She walked near to a wall and thought about gravity changing to facing the wall's direction instead. In an instant, it changed like she commanded. It stopped when she ordered it to stop. Experimenting, Break jumped in the air and made herself fly towards the wall and landed on the wall standing on it like it was the floor. She wondered if she could make herself walk on the ceiling. So, she nervously walked towards the ceiling. When she approached the ceiling, she thought about gravity facing the ceiling and walked onto it. Break laughed in wonder. She looked down and saw the floor under her everything else as it should be. She walked towards the light and kicked it. This was far beyond anything she imagined. She jumped towards the wall and changed gravity that way and she was walking on the wall again. Break broke out in a grin. It was like being a foal again. She always wanted to walk on the ceiling. As a little one, she wondered what it would be like to walk on the ceiling and now she was doing it! She laughed again. This power was amazing. Her joy broke when she heard a door from a floor below break open causing her to fall with a painful thump on the floor. She needed to learn stronger concentration so things like that won’t happen. The sound of the thugs rushing up the stairs reverberated through the floor. She figured she had only a few moments before they would be here. Break tapped her hoof in thought wondering if she should just use her powers to jump to the next building. It would be easy enough to jump to the wall of the building next to this one, walk up, and climb to the roof. Break went for it. Break walked back to the fire escape and jumped to the next building using her power to attach herself to the side of the building and with little effort climbed up to the roof. She ducked and watched the room she came from keeping low. Some goon broke into the room and searched around. They looked everywhere but found nothing. The thugs didn't even attempt to look towards the roof she was hiding from. Break had to stop herself from laughing. She could not believe how easy this was. With her power, hiding and running would be a snap, after all, she could hide in place ponies won't even think to look. She supposed she could have hidden on the roof of the room, and they would have never found her there either. Break snuck away from the edge. She made a run for it while they were distracted. There was nopony on the other side of the building when she looked. She used her high vantage point to find Scavenger. He was nowhere to be seen and Break sighed. Finding him would be a pain and she didn’t like the fact that the Stones were on to her. They would shoot her on sight and not bother with the whole Colosseum thing again. Her mind wandered to her time being forced to fight that hellhound. She still couldn’t believe ponies would force other ponies to fight to the death for their amusement. Her heart went out to the ponies she saw in those cells. A thought struck her. No, that was crazy. Powers or not, there was no way she could get away with doing that. She was no hero. But she had power now, and it should be used to help ponies. She could do it though. She could put an end to that monstrosity. Sure, they would just start it up again and she had no illusions about that, but saving even one pony would be worth it. After a moment, Break decided for sure. She would free the Stone’s slaves. Somehow, she would use her new powers to do it. The building next to the one Break resided in wasn’t far from where she was and did an experiment. She became less encouraged when she looked down and closed her eyes and tried to imagine the frightening heights below didn’t exist. You can do this. Break told herself. This will be easy. You are just doing the thing you did before, just a little further. She did her best to work up the courage to do this. Break jumped with her eyes still closed. Her heart pounded like crazy as she fell. She changed the direction of the gravity so it was facing the direction of the building she wanted to go towards. Sure enough, she felt herself change direction mid air and landed on the side of the building with a slightly painful crash. She opened her eyes and laughed when she saw that she did it. This is so hard to get used to. Break thought. Still, it was fun, in a crazy dangerous way. Break walked down towards the ground and landed on the ground on her hooves. She wasn’t sure if she would ever get used to this sort of thing. It was hard to ignore the natural impulse that gravity would right itself and she would fall despite her powers. She would have to train hard with her powers to overcome this. Break thought about jumping from the rooftops to her destination using her powers to change the gravity so the jumps would be foal's play, but that would draw too much attention. That and she thought she did enough gravity manipulation for one day. Walking there would be fine. She walked amongst the crowd head down and had the hood of her cloak up to not draw any attention. She jumped with a start when she realized that her green ghost thing was still behind her. Break panicked worried about what ponies would do once they saw it. Much to her amazement, ponies ignored it. It was like the green ghost didn’t even exist to them. She made it wave its hoof in front of ponies, but there was no reaction. Nopony could see it but her, but how was that possible? If she didn’t have powers and the thing couldn’t interact with the real world, Break would probably think she was going crazy. Still, it was good to know. It didn’t take Break long to walk to the casino. So far, nopony seemed to notice her and Break kept her hood up. She eyed the building from a few blocks away and considered her next move. Reviewing her mental map of the inside of the casino, Break needed a plan on how she could get the slaves out. There were plenty of ways of exit the building through fire escapes, and nopony ever guarded them since they could only be open from the inside. They might have an alarm or traps Break guessed, but she could deal with that with little issue. Once she got the slaves out of the casino, it won’t be too hard to hide the crowds and slip them out. The guards were more interested in keeping ponies in than out. Break eyed the guards watching the front entrance. No way she could enter that way. There were plenty of doors into the building, but they were either guarded or only opened from the inside. Breaking a door open was an option, but that would make too much noise. Break wondered if there might be a way to enter from the roof though like a maintenance hatch or something. Somepony had to make sure all the lights on the roof work and do other various cleaning duties. There had to be a way to enter from the roof. Would it be guarded or just an alarm? She decided the roof seemed to be her best option and snuck towards the side of the building that seemed the least watched. Using her powers, Break climbed up the side of the casino with as much swiftness as she could without making much noise. She was on the roof in a few minutes. There was a door just as Break thought and it led into the building. It wasn’t guarded, but it had a terminal locking the door. Not surprising. Most Pegasi were gone after the war leaving for the cloud cover in the sky abandoning the rest of ponykind to their fate, but they didn’t mean that they were all gone. It made sense to still have some guard against them. Break connected her PipBuck to it and hacked it. The password was difficult, but she guessed it after a few tries. It was “solitude”. Past the door was a stairwell, and it seemed it went all the way down to the basement. Break made her way down the stairs trying to not make much noise. Soon she found herself in the basement of the casino again, but it was a part she had never been in. She was in the kitchen and she could hear ponies working on various dishes. Break’s stomach growled, and she realized that she hadn’t really eaten anything all day. Break’s stomach growled again, and she was torn. It seemed like such a stupid risk to sneak in and steal some food. Stealth was the most important thing at the moment and it wasn’t like she couldn’t get something to eat later. Still, maybe she could sneak into a storeroom and grab something? It would only take a few minutes. It didn’t take long for her to find a storage area filled with canned foods. Break gapped and tried not to drool. It was more food than Break had ever seen in her life and she worked at a restaurant once. They were packed neatly on the shelves. Her eyes scanned them looking for some canned apples. It would be simple to eat and she didn’t have time to cook anything. Break froze as she heard ponies approach her direction. Using her powers, she changed the direction of gravity and made herself fly towards the ceiling. In a quick motion, she was lying on the ceiling. She prayed that the gravity field would be small enough that the passing ponies won’t be able to feel or notice it. Two mares passed talking to each other. They seemed oblivious to her presence, and they picked food off the shelves without any hint on their face that something was amiss. Break tried to calm herself down. It seemed like an eternity, but the two mares went on their way with the item they entered the room to receive. Break waited a few moments and dropped herself back the ground. This time Break wasted no time. She found what she was looking for and grabbed five canned apples from the shelves and put them in the pocket of her cloak and left the room. She crept through hallways and went back towards the stairwell since ponies didn’t seem to visit there all that often. She pulled out some of her plunder and dug in. It surprised her just how ravenous she was. She took no time at all to get through three of the canned fruit. Happy and fed, Break turned back to the task she came her for. Break decided it would be for the best if she walked on the ceiling for now like she did before. It wasn't as weird as she had expected and it made moving around easier. Nopony even seemed to notice her as she passed them. Break found the entrance she used before to get to the slaves’ cells and waited for the all clear before dropping to the ground. It didn’t seem like there would be any matches today which would make this easier. Much to Break’s surprise, they hadn’t changed the password. She tisked. Somepony had been lazy. Nopony was in sight as she peered through the door. She snuck out into the corridor and sighed in relief. Even with her powers, she really didn’t want to meet any of the Stones. They had guns after all. Shaking her fears away, she made her way to the slave cells. The doors used a simple key lock. Annoying, but she could deal with it. She would just have to find the keys. Break crept towards the guard’s room keeping her ears open and powers ready. In the guard’s room, three guards were chatting to each other and not watching the door at all. Break made quick work of the guards and rendered them unconscious with a swift blow with her ghost. When she found keys, they were a thick metal thing on a large hoop and grabbed them. She rushed outside to the first occupied cell and opened it. The pony inside eyes widened in surprise. “I’m here to rescue you.” Break explained. “Hurry.” The slave gave her a nod and scrambled out of her cell. It didn't take too long for her to open all the cells. They eyed her wary but hopeful. The accented pony approached her rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry love for breaking your cover earlier.” He said. “That was dumb of me.” Break shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. We don’t have time to talk about this. Follow me.” “Shouldn’t we arm ourselves?” The stallion gestured towards the guard’s room. “Good idea.” Break nodded. The stallion stared at her. “Did you even have a plan when you came here?” “Um, don’t worry about that now.” Break said trying to change the subject. “We need to focus on escape!” The stallion stared at her again to the point of it becoming uncomfortable then nodded. Soon, almost all the slaves were armed with a weapon. The slaves looked eager, eager for retribution, and Break was questioning if this was such a good idea. This could easily get out of hoof. They could get themselves killed in a desire to get back at the ponies that made them fight and kill for sport. "Don't fight if you don't have to." Break found herself saying. "Remember that we are terribly outnumbered. It would be better if we just sneak out quietly." This seemed to cull the former slaves a little reminding them of the danger. Still, many looked a little too eager for a fight and more than eager to get back at the ones that made them fight to the death. Dear Celestia almighty. Break thought. I hope I made the right choice by doing this.