Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 20: Game Over

The ghoul that was standing in the doorway looked at me, his head tilting to one side. Honestly for a ghoul he didn’t look or sound half bad, unlike most of the other ghouls I’d seen so far. Most of his brown coat was still visible, it hadn’t been burnt away from the radiation. His eyes did have the look that all ghouls had, they were milky and dead looking. He lost most of his mane, but I could still see light brown flecks of it on his head and tail. His cutie mark had been burned away, that was one part of his hide that looked more like what I expected a ghoul to look like. His voice didn’t even remind me of a ghoul, he only had a slight rasp with a nasally high-pitched sound to it. The odd thing though was he had a big black mustache on his face…it looked kinda fake.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Um…I’m Shadow Star, I’ve also been called the Courier Mare by DJ Pon3 and Mr. New Pegasus.”

“Boring, what does that matter? Big deal, you’re a pony that ponies on the radio talk about. So what?” he said looking at Laser Light, “You do realize you’re nude right now right? Everypony can see your wings now.”

Laser Light looked at her wings and blushed out of embarrassment, “Shit. Well…I was drunk last night and wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“No shit. Do you really wanna risk the Enclave finding out you’re alive. From what I remember you said that would be really bad.”

“Oh you worry too much. I doubt anypony up there even remembers who I am anymore,” she said getting to her hooves and walking over to her cloths she’d tossed in one corner slipping them back on, hiding her wings again, “Plus, I don’t think these two are gonna say anything.”

“Excuse me, but what’s going on here? Are you really Nexus?”

He looked at me again. I noticed Silver was just watching everything going on, “Yes I am. Who told you my name?”

Wow he’s a serious pony, “Somepony calling himself Watcher, he said I should find you to see if you could help me unlock some hidden files on my Pip-Buck.”

The ghoul snorted and shook his head, “Watcher? There’s someone I don’t hear from every day. Well if he sent you here to find me, then fuck off. I don’t do things for just anypony, I’m a busy stallion and I don’t have time to be messing around with Pip-Bucks.”

Laser Light walked over to the ghoul and moved her face very close to his, “Hey Button.”

“That’s not my name anymore you know that Laser Light,” The ghoul said trying to back away from her intense gaze, “Why are you so close to me?”

“Do you remember what I said I’d do if I caught you wearing that stupid thing again?”

“Back off, I can wear whatever I want, I am NEXUS!”

She moved her muzzle up to his mustache, and with a quick pull, she ripped it right off, “There you go, much better.”

The ghoul who only a moment ago had been acting all cool and collected, dropped to his belly and started to yell, “Moooooommmmm, why did you have to do that!? I can’t be the mysterious Nexus without it!”

Talk about a personality change, Laser Light just laughed and tossed the lip hair away, “Don’t call me mom, I told you I hate that. Now be a good ghoul and talk to this nice young mare about her Pip-Buck, trust me you’ll be glad you did.”

“But I can’t, I have so much to do. I still haven’t gotten past level 32 on Zap Apple Chronicles, and now you took my mustache. How can I ever be cool again?” he whined.

“Oh grow up and get over it, you’re over two hundred years old, stop acting like a child,” she looked at Silver and I, “I had fun last night you two. If Button gives you too much trouble just come find me and I’ll set him straight.”

I watched as she left the room ignoring the ghoul. When she was gone, Nexus err…Button got back to his hooves and looked at both of us, “Now that she’s gone, what were we talking about again?”

Silver laughed a little, “So is you’re name Nexus or Button? I’m getting a little lost here.”

He slumped with a sigh, “My real name’s Button Mash, formally one of the top technical engineers for Stable-Tec. Ever since I…well…died and became a ghoul, I started going by the name Nexus.”

“Why?” I had to ask.

“Because it’s a code name, code names are cool!”

“Um…if you say so. I don’t see what’s wrong with your real name though,” I said finally slipping off the bed.

“Let’s just say that I also had a pony out looking for me right after the bombs fell, Nexus made it easier to hide from him.”

“Oh, so it’s sort of like a disguise then?” Silver asked.

“In a way yeah. Anyway, you said Watcher sent you to find me? I guess I should see what all the fuss is about. He doesn’t just send anypony my way unless he can’t figure something out himself,” Nexus said.

“How do you know Watcher; do you know who he really is?”

“Of course I do, but I’m not telling you. He likes his secrets and I’m not one to go around telling ponies who he is. As for how I know him, that’s simple, he’s been around The Wasteland as long as I have. You tend to run into people when so much time goes by. Now didn’t you say something about having a Pip-Buck for me to look at?”

“Oh right,” I lifted my foreleg showing him the Mk. II, “My mother left it for me back in my Stable, I guess there are files hidden on it. Watcher said you might be able to help me get to them.”

Nexus was looking at my foreleg in awe, he reached a hoof out and ran it over the screen slowly, “Are you from Stable 9?”

“No, I’m from Stable 28. I don’t know how my mom got ahold of this, but I did find out where it was from. I was the one who blew up Stable 9.”

“You did what!?” he asked, “What did they ever do to you!?”

“The Stable was filled with bloodwings, and a crazed scientist.”

He took a minute to think about what I said and shrugged, “I heard that ponies from Stable 9 left a few years ago and founded Trotston. I never really found out what happened to the Stable itself, I figured whoever was left just kept doing whatever they were told to.”

“Do you pay attention to anything going on in The Wasteland?” I asked.

“Nah, I prefer to stick to my work and games. Tech is my life and I’d like to keep it that way. Sure I help out with some settlements now and then, but most of the time that’s because Laser makes me. So you have no idea how your mom got ahold of that?”

“She never told me about it and so far I haven’t found anything out on how she obtained it.”

“Maybe there’ll be something in there that can tell us more. Let’s head to my room and see what we can find. Besides, I don’t’ feel like talking for the next hour trying to figure out how you got Sweetie Belle’s Pip-Buck,” he said turning to leave the room.

Silver smiled at me, “Go with him, I still need to finish the project I’m working on.”

“What project is that?”

“I’m not telling you, it’s a surprise, now go,” she said shooing me out of the room.

“Okay, I’ll be back later then,” I said kissing her quickly before turning to follow the ghoul, then my mind caught up on what he said, “Wait a sec, this used to belong to Sweetie Belle, like THE Sweetie Belle!?”

He looked back at me as we walked down the hall, “Of course it did, each one of the founders of Stable-Tec had one. I wouldn’t call Sweetie Belle a founder, not really, but she was the face of the company for a long time. She was best friends with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.”

I looked down at the silver Pip-Buck, a little amazed at what was now stuck to my forehoof, “How did it end up in Stable 9 then?”

“When Apple Bloom first came up with the idea to make the Mark II she wanted to make a Pip-Buck that had more features to offer than the original 3000. She decided to make three to test out new features, later she used her ideas to come up with the Delta model, which sadly never made it into production on account that everything got blown up.”

“So Stable-Tec only made three of them?”

“Yep only three. Right before the war ended, Sweetie Belle came up with this crazy idea to give them to the heads of the three departments of Stable 9. She wouldn’t tell anypony why she wanted to do this, but in the end she convinced Apple Bloom to do it,” he moved down the main stairway and down another hall as he spoke.

“Then tell me, why would Apple Bloom make a Pip-Buck that you can’t get off?”

He laughed, “Think about it this way; Stable-Tec was one of the few companies that wasn’t under any Ministry control. There were a lot of ponies trying to get their hooves on the ideas that Stable-Tec was working on. When she made the Mk. II she wanted to make sure nopony could just get their hooves on the projects that Stable-Tec was working on. What better way than to keep all the important stuff on the Pip-Bucks of the ponies who ran the company.”

“Still seems stupid to make it impossible to get off.”

“It’s not impossible, you just have to know how to do it. Apart from death, the only way to get a Mk. II off is by knowing the password that is on the Pip-Buck for removal, also you have to be the pony who’s wearing it to get it to unlock, and you need a Pip-Buck master key. It’s the only way to get one off apart from death. Stable 9 had a manual that explained all of this, but it was only the Overmare who was supposed to know that knowledge,” he said as he finally reached a set of double doors. He pulled out a key and unlocked it then pushed one open.

I walked in and found myself in another world. The room was filled with monitors, terminals, robot parts, cables, and a lot of other things that made no sense to me. I looked around with my jaw open just a little bit, “This is your room?”

“Sure is, this is where I spend most of my time. Isn’t it Awesome?” he said happily, walking over to a chair and sitting down, “Sit over here so I can look at that thing.”

I went over and sat in the chair next to his. I lifted my Pip-Buck and showed it to him, “How do you know so much about all this?”

“I was good friends with Sweetie Belle. When Stable-Tec first started, she helped me get a job there. It didn’t take long for my skills to get recognized by Apple Bloom and I started helping her with a lot of the projects she was working on,” he said pulling the cord from my Pip-Buck and hooking it up to a port that went to three different terminals, “I helped with some of the things that went into the Mk. II, I’m sure that’s why Watcher sent you to find me.”

“Everypony that I meet who knows anything about them keeps telling me they’re special, but I don’t know why. What’s the big deal with a Mk. II over the normal 3000?” I mean come on throw me a bone or something here, I’m sick of not knowing why Ponies wanted my Pip-Buck.

He started to type things on one of the keyboards as he spoke, “Well one thing is that a Mk. II is almost like a master key for terminals, I’m not sure if you noticed this or not, but the hacking software in there is state of the art. It should be able to crack almost any program it comes into contact with. Another thing is, if you use the Mk. II to lock down a program only another Mk. II can unlock it, even then you can make it so that only that Mk. II can unlock the program.”

“So, if a pony used this Pip-Buck to seal a stable and another pony that had another Mk. II was inside, you could keep them from unsealing it?”

“Yeah you could do that I guess,” he said still typing.

That would explain why I was able to get into Stable 9 using my Pip-Buck and Dr. Cell couldn’t get out. The Survivors must’ve used my Pip-Buck to seal it, “What else can they do?”

“Unlike the 3000 models, the Mk. II has a built in Broadcaster. That technology just came out right after the 3000 was put into production, there was an attachment you could get for it to add a broadcaster, but it was never as strong as the built in one like the Mk. II and the Delta have. They also have an expanded memory, better radio range, and they can decrypt radio signals. One of my favorite features was the fact that you could hide data in one and set it up like a new Pip-Buck, much like this one as I’m sure you’ve realized.”

“I was wondering about that. I didn’t know you could set a Pip-Buck up to hide things in it and still set it up for a new user.”

“Technically you could do that with any Pip-Buck if you knew what you were doing, the Mk. II just made it a lot easier. It came in handy when The Ministry of Morale started snooping around Stable-Tec,” he hit one more key then looked at one of the monitors for a long moment, “Who set this up like this? I didn’t think anypony but a Stable-Tec technician like myself could set up software like this.”

I looked at his screen, but the jumble of words didn’t make any sense to me so I asked, “What’s wrong?”

He sighed, “The pony who set up the protection on this Pip-Buck may know almost as much as I do or maybe more about the Mk. II. Whoever did this, was able to set up layers of protection to hide away the files that’re still in the memory. The first layer was easy, Watcher was able to undo it with only a Sprite bot, this second layer requires a lot more technical ingenuity to get past it.”

“Technical what now?”

He gave me a flat look, “You can’t be that dull.”

“I never said I was a smart pony.”

He rolled his eyes, “Even a child could’ve figured that one out without help. What I don’t understand is why so much protection was put onto this Pip-Buck.”

“I couldn’t answer that one, also why did it fry the sprite bot that Watcher was using when he tried to unlock it?”

“The protection software is tough and a simple Sprite bot wouldn’t be able to break through all of the firewalls. Even a skilled hacker like Watcher would have a hard time with this, even if he had the Pip-Buck in the room with him.”

“What about you?”

He smiled, “I haven’t met a program that I couldn’t crack. I’ll admit that this one is hard, and I give the pony who set it up a lot of credit for such fine work. Still, it’s not good enough to keep me out, though I might lose a couple terminals while trying to crack it.”

“How long will it take?” I asked looking down at my Pip-Buck again.

“I’m not sure, from how this program is set up, it could take me a few minutes or a couple hours. If I knew the pony who did this, it would help a lot because I’d know their tricks and be able to figure a way around them. Since I don’t I’ll have to take each step carefully to make sure I don’t fry my terminals or the Pip-Buck,” he said typing quickly on the keyboard.

“Great, I love waiting…” I said sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes, “Go into a memory orb then, it’d be better that way. It’ll keep you from distracting me while I work.”

I thought about the memory orbs mom gave me, I wasn’t ready to watch those yet, besides mom said I had to listen to her recording before I did, “I’m not sure the ones I have will work.”

He reached up onto one of the shelves and pulled down a grey orb. He rolled it over to me, “This one will suffice.”

I looked at the simmering orb, “What’s on it?”

“Something important like most memory orbs, just watch it.”

“There’s nothing dirty in there is there?” I asked, the memory of Sweet Lily’s orb still fresh in my mind.

“No, now shut up and go into the orb, I want to get started.”

Deciding that it couldn’t hurt, I concentrated on the Orb, and the world melted away…

When the world came back into focus I saw I was once again in Canterlot, the sun was starting to rise in the distance, and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. Again, I was in the body of a Pegasus Stallion standing on a cliff overlooking the city. Next to my host stood a mare I’d only herd about. Rainbow Dash was also looking out at the capital of Equestria. She looked a little older than she did in the posters I’d seen her in scattered across The Wasteland, but she was still a good-looking mare.

“So, how are you liking your promotion Night Stalker?” she asked my host. Oh great, this was another memory of that mysterious Pegasus.

My host chuckled, “Like wouldn’t be the word I’d use, but I’m getting used to it.”

“You’ve had months to get used to leading the Children by now, I thought you’d love the chance to command your own team.”

“I didn’t join the military to become a leader, I wanted to protect my home. You should know that more than anypony, you were the one who pushed me into joining so many years ago.”

She laughed and hit him in the foreleg, “Yeah, and look how good you got. I remember when you first entered training at the academy, I thought you were gonna wet yourself.”

“He probably wouldn’t have even made it through training if I hadn’t been there,” a griffon said landing next to them.

He looked over at her, she reminded me a lot of Aura in a way. Their beaks were similar at least, same for the eyes. This griffon had brown fur, white feathers on her head mixed with light green markings around her eyes, and a little more on her chest and on the ends of her head feathers much like Aura’s red tips. Her wings were a darker reddish brown than her body was, and her talons were yellow matching her beak. She also wore a scarf that was clasped together with a crescent moon. She had dark combat armor on and two blades clasped to her back.

“Greta, I didn’t expect you back so soon, how did your meeting go in Griffonstone?” Night Stalker asked.

“Not as well as we hoped, Griffonstone is sticking to its new code by making contracts with Equestria. They want no part of the war unless they’re getting paid for it,” she said fluttering her wings a little before letting them settle to her side.

“Shit, I thought that Gilda would’ve at least listened to reason if you talked with her,” Rainbow Dash said with a sigh.

“You two aren’t as close as you used to be Rainbow, she’s part of the griffon council now, and you’re a Ministry Mare. Greta doesn’t have much standing with the council, it was a longshot that they’d ally with us,” Night Stalker said.

“Yeah I know, but I was hoping that a message from me being delivered by another griffon would help at the very least,” she said.

“I have more bad news Captain,” Greta said, “I’ve been exiled from Griffonstone for good. They said they don’t want a griffon like myself hanging around polluting the minds of other griffons with my love for ponykind. Their words, not mine.”

Night Stalker stomped, “Dammit, they really said that?”

“I’m afraid so. They’re serious with this new code. Any griffon that doesn’t want to live by this Contract is seen as not being a griffon, and they aren’t welcome in Griffonstone,” she said with a heavy sigh.

“I should’ve gone with you Greta, I grew up there just like you did. They may have listened if I was with you,” Night Stalker said.

“No, they wouldn’t. You’re part of the Ministry of Awesome, they don’t see you the same as they used to. You don’t even go by the same name anymore, they don’t know who Night Stalker even is. You’re not the same colt who first came to town all alone and in need of help,” Greta said.

My host sighed and shook his head, “That may be true, but I was hoping we could’ve gotten them to help more than they are, at least they didn’t say they wouldn’t contract with Equestria anymore over this. I’m sorry that you got banished from your home town.”

She shrugged, “I left there a long time ago, Equestria is my home now. Besides, I’d rather be by your side than living by this new code they all go by now. Call me old-school but I’m loyal to my friends, especially one I’ve known since I was little.”

Rainbow Dash laughed a little, “At least we have you Greta, but I dunno how you put up with his broody ass.”

“He grows on you,” she responded.

“Anyway…” Night Stalker said interrupting their teasing, “Didn’t you have a new mission for us?”

Rainbow Dash stopped her laugh, “Yeah, we got intel that the Zebras are setting up troops near Las Pegasus. We don’t know how they got so many this far into the country, but they’ve been spotted near Crimson Canyon. We think they’re holding up there, using the caves to hide their numbers. I need your team to go there and see what’s going on. I’ve also heard that one of the Caesar’s Legates is leading this new garrison of troops. If he’s there he needs to be taken out.”

“Doesn’t sound like a job for my team, how many Stripes are we talking about?”

“I’ve only heard of a couple dozen or so, but if they’re being led by the Legate I heard about, they could be dangerous. I can only trust YOUR team with this one Night Stalker. It needs to be done quickly and quietly. Do you have enough ponies yet to take on a task like this?” she asked.

A smile came to my hosts lips, “My old friend Lightning Dust just joined up the other day. With her, Greta, and the rest of the team we’ll be fine.”

“So, you did get Lightning Dust to join, I’m glad to hear that. She’s a good soldier and quite a flyer,” Rainbow Dash said with a smirk, “I’ll make sure the details are sent to you. I need you to leave tomorrow, so get your team ready.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Night Stalker said with a salute.

Rainbow Dash laughed again, “I hate it when you do that Night Stalker, now get outta here.”

The Rainbow maned mare flew away in a flash. Night Stalker watched her go, then looked at Greta who was just sitting there picking at her talons, “Now that she’s gone, what else did you learn while you were in Griffonstone?”

“I was able to meet up with some of my old contacts and it turns out that those rumors are true. The Stripes are planning an attack on Hoofington. I didn’t get any details on when the attack will take place, but they did recruit a powerful dragon to fight for them.”

“This wouldn’t be the first time they’ve gone after Hoofington, something about that city seems to draw the Zebras to it. They’ve been trying to take it down even before the war got as bad as it is.”

“I agree, this worries me even more than the zebra’s hiding out near Las Pegasus.”

"They’ve used dragons in battles before, what makes this one different from the others?”

“If the intel is correct, this one is ancient. Usually the older the dragon, the more powerful it is. We’ve never seen such an old and powerful dragon participate in a battle before,” Greta said.

“You’ve got a point. The Stripes must’ve paid him a lot to get him to fight for them. Old Dragons don’t like to get into conflicts like this unless there’s something to be gained. I’ll have to make sure Luna knows about this,” Night Stalker said.

“Why not just talk to Golden Blood, he has a lot of contacts in that area? He’d be better than bothering the Princess with this.”

My host frowned, “No way, you know how I feel about that snake. If I go to Golden Blood, he’ll figure out some way to fuck with me like one of his pawns.”

“He may be a snake, but he’s useful when it comes to this kind of thing, you know that.”

My host sighed, “Yeah I know, but still, Luna will want to know. She has her own ties to Hoofington and she’ll be pissed if she isn’t notified about this.”

“Whatever you say boss. Should we go now?”

“No, we have things to do before we leave for Las Pegasus. I’ll be sure to talk to her tonight before we head out,” he turned and I saw now that they were on the same overhang that overlooked the city, right where the entrance to the Children of the Night’s base was located. Right behind him was a set of power armor, the same one I’d seen him wearing when he went to talk to Falafel. He went over to it pressed a talisman on the back, it opened up and he stepped in. A moment later the armor covered his form, his wings locked in with the sharp blades on the edges. He reached back and pulled the helmet off his hip and placed it on his head.

I’ll admit that for body armor that covered most of his body, it wasn’t that bad. It fit him nicely and even the rebreather built into the helmet was barely noticeable. He swung his tail back and forth, checking that the stinger on the end of his tail was set right. He looked at the Griffon again, “Let’s head toward Everfree.”

“Why are we going there?” she asked, “And do you really have to wear that armor everywhere you go?”

My host chuckled, “I’m the Captain, I have to look the part. Plus you never know what you’ll run into in the forest, I’d like to be ready. We’ll be heading toward the Castle of the Two Sisters, Petal is overseeing the construction of Stable 101 and I need to speak with her before we head out.”

“I haven’t seen Prickly Petal in a long time, but do we really have time for this?” she asked.

“I always have time for my sister, just like I always have time for you my friend,” my host said with a laugh.

She smirked then shook her head, “You say that now, until Luna calls you away in the middle of the night, then we’ll see who you have time for.”

My host flapped his wings and took to the air, “Even then, I’ll always make time for you two.”

Greta followed as my host banked and headed toward the large forest that bumped up against the mountain that Canterlot was built on. As they flew down and over the large trees, Greta came close and asked, “Do you ever miss the old days Night Stalker?”

“Depends on which old days you’re referring to.”

“You know what I mean, back before the war, when we still lived in Griffonstone.”

My host took a few minutes to respond. His voice was distant as if he was lost in an old memory, “Somedays I wish I never left. Back then, life was so much easier. At the same time I’m glad I left, I was nothing back then.”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

“I’m not sure. I mean yeah, I’m not big on being a leader, but I am good at it. I was perfectly happy with being a normal grunt, all I had to do was take orders and protect my country and the ponies I care about. Now it’s meetings, missions, and every once in a while espionage. I have ponies calling me sir and/or captain all the time. They look up to me and most days it scares me. I feel like a fraud most of the time.”

One of her wings brushed against his, “What you are is a pony who’s brave and cares about others. You have a fire deep inside you to do the right thing, no matter what anyone tells you. You were born to lead, you just needed the right ponies to show you that.”

“The right ponies and griffon you mean,” He said with a chuckle. Wow I didn’t know Night Stalker could laugh so much, something about Greta seemed to bring a better pony out of him. It sounded like they’d been friends since they were young. I wonder why a pegasus was living in the land of griffons.

“I don’t like to brag, but all I did was push you in the right direction.”

“You followed me when I was brought back to Equestria.”

“Hey, I had to make sure you didn’t chicken out. You remember what you were like back then, if somepony said boo you jumped sky high. Hell you couldn’t even fly when I first met you.”

He smirked again, “I could fly, I just didn’t like to was all. I got over that and now I’m almost as fast as Rainbow Dash.”

She laughed again, “Fast maybe, but you’ll never be as good as she is.”

“If I keep training I will be.”

“When you can do a Sonic Rainboom, then we’ll talk,” she said brushing his wing again.

My host looked toward a break in the trees, I could see cranes and ponies in the distance working on something enormous. Night Stalker tilted his wings and dove for the ground, “Were here, let’s see what my sister’s up to.”

They both landed next to two stallions who were looking over paper work on clipboards, they both jumped as my host and Greta landed, “Damn, you scared the shit outta me buddy,” one said looking over my host and his griffon companion.

My host’s voice grew serious as he spoke, “I’m Captain Night Stalker of the Equestrian Royal Guard and a representative of the Ministry of Awesome. I’m looking for Prickly Petal, is she around?”

The other earth pony stallion spoke up, “Sorry Sir, but this site is off limits to anypony that isn’t part of Stable-Tec. If you wanna speak with Ms. Prickly Petal you’ll have to make an appointment with corporate.”

My host stared at the shorter pony. Well I guess most ponies were shorter than Night Stalker, “Did I ask you if I needed an appointment or not? I don’t believe I did. I believe I asked you if Prickly Petal is here right now. Don’t test my patience.”

“She’s in the middle of inspecting a part of the Stable at the moment, she can’t be bothered. I’m sorry sir, but I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Night Stalker removed his helmet and looked the pony right in the eye, “I have business with your boss, tell her that her brother is out here and wishes to speak with her. If you don’t, I’ll go find her myself. Don’t MAKE me ask again, I hate redundancy.”

Greta laughed, “Yeah, he really hates asking more than once.”

“Griffon’s aren’t allowed here,” the first stallion said, “Get out!”

“She’s enlisted in the Royal Guard as well, don’t pay her any mind. You’re talking to me right now, not her,” Night Stalker said rounding on the other pony.

“I think they’re too stupid to realize that you’re the personal guard of the princess and they shouldn’t be telling you to do anything,” Greta said with a laugh.

“You’d probably be right,” My host said lifting one of his wings and letting the sharp blades that ran along the edge come into view of both Stallions.

“Hey Buddy, no need for that. I’m just doing my job. Stable-Tec is a private company and we don’t answer to the government.”

Before anypony else could do or say anything a soft voice echoed toward them, “No need for that Moony, I dunno why you think you have to threaten every pony who gives you a little lip.”

A green pegasus mare with lighter green freckles on her face and a long yellow mane walked toward them. She had a pink flower on her flanks that matched her eyes perfectly. He smiled as she approached, “Ah there you are Petal.”

She walked up to them and looked at the two stallions, “Why are you two just standing around like idiots? They need help clearing out rocks from level three.”

“Sorry ma’am, these two just flew in here without permission,” the first stallion said.

“And you think it’s your job to tell them to go away?” the mare asked giving them both a stern look.

“But this is a Stable-Tec project and he’s with the Ministry of Awesome.”

“He’s also my brother, family takes precedence over anything else, or have you forgotten who Apple Bloom’s sister is?”

“No Ma’am.” They both responded.

“Good, now pull your heads out of your asses and get back to work.”

They both ran off. My Host walked over to the mare, giving her a hug, “I’m glad you showed up, I really didn’t want to have to threaten them more than I already did.”

She laughed, “I’m sure you worried SO much about their well-being,” She said then looked over at Greta. She hugged her and said, “Greta, it’s been ages since I’ve seen you last, how’ve you been?”

“As well as could be expected with everything going on.” Greta said with a smile.

“I’m surprised you stopped by. What brings you two out here?”

My host’s face grew serious again, “We need to talk. Is there a place around here we could speak privately?”

“Sure, I have a small hut that was set up for the supervisors while we’re on site. We could talk there if you want,” Prickly Petal said gesturing at a small hut toward the end of the work zone.

“That’ll work I guess,” Night Stalker said as he and Greta followed her to the hut.

When they entered, Night Stalker seemed to relax. He walked over to one of the chairs that were sitting in a corner and sat down, “Looks like the Stable’s coming along nicely.”

Prickly Petal sighed and sat next to him, “On paper, yes. It’s ahead of schedule, but we keeping having problems the farther we dig. This forest is so wild and it’s presenting a problem for our crew. A few of them have even accidentally exposed themselves to poison joke. One of them was turned to stone by a cockatrice. I have some ponies looking for it but if they don’t find it, at least we’ll have an interesting statue to decorate the stable with. Enough with the small talk, why are you here?”

Damn, she knew how to get to the point. Greta laughed a little from the other side of the room as Night Stalker spoke, “I need a little help from you with something.”

She smiled, “I figured it had something to do with me helping you with something, some things never change. What’s on your mind Moony?”

He chuckled, “You know I hate it when you call me that.”

“Well I’m not calling you Night Stalker, it’s a stupid name,” she laughed.

“I’ve told him the same thing for years, but he won’t listen,” Greta said laughing along with her. It was so strange to see him seeming to enjoy himself. In the other memory orbs of him he was so downtrodden, even with Big Mac. He did laugh, but it was forced. When he was alone with these two he was a different pony altogether.

“Anyway,” Night Stalker continued, “I’m going to be gone for a little while. While I’m gone I want you to see how close you can get with the leaders of Stable-Tec. I know that you’ve been getting close with Apple Bloom, but I need you to get close to all three of them.”

“That won’t be too hard, they’re always together when one of them isn’t busy. But why do you need me to do that?”

“I need Stable-Tec’s help with something down the line, having you around befriending them will help me with that. Right now, Stable-Tec doesn’t answer to any of the Ministries and I aim to change that, at least a little. I need to get one of them in my pocket so when I need them, they’ll do whatever I ask.”

She frowned a little, “That seems kinda low if you ask me. Why not just ask Apple Bloom, or the other two for their help?”

“Think about it. If you were the president of Stable-Tec, and for years the Ministries have been trying to get you to work with them, always saying “for the good of the country”. What would you do when somepony like me came to you asking for help?” he said.

“I see you’re point, but I’m still not sure it’s a good idea. You’re asking me to put my job on the line, all for a secret you won’t’ tell me.”

“I’d love to tell you, but it’s better if you don’t know Petal.”

She frowned again, “Are you in some kind of trouble Moony?”

He smiled sadly and looked away for a moment, “If I was I’d tell you. I just don’t want you getting hurt. It’s bad enough that I have to ask you to do this for me, but you’re my best way of getting Stable-Tec on board.”

She sighed again, “Fine, but no promises. I’ll try and see what I can do. I have a meeting later today with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, I’ll see if one of them wants to grab lunch or something after.”

“Thanks Sis, you’re a big help.”

“Just promise me that you’ll be safe, I couldn’t handle if anything bad happened to you.”

He got up and walked over to her and pulled her into an embrace, then he kissed the top of her head, “I’d never leave you alone Petal. I’ll always be here for you, just like you’ve always been here for me.”

“And remember he’s got me to keep him safe, I’ll keep an eye on him.” Greta said.

She laughed and pulled herself away, “I miss this, just the three of us sitting around talking.”

“Me too,” he reached back and put the helmet back on, “We should get going, I have another pony to meet before we head out.”

“Where will you be going?” she asked.

“Las Pegasus, I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone this time.”

“I understand. Make sure you get me something nice while you’re out there. A shot glass would be nice.”

“Got it,” he said as he and Greta walked out the door, “Love you Petal.”

She looked at him, “Love you too Moony.”

When they got outside, the two of them took to the air again. At first I thought the memory would end there, but it kept going…

“You doing okay Night Stalker?” Greta asked after a little bit of quiet flying.

“Am I ever Okay Greta?”

“Somedays,” she responded, “What I mean is you’re looking more down than usual.”

“It’s been a year now.”

“A year?” she asked.

“Since my life changed.”

She looked confused for a moment, “Oh yeah, it’s been a year since Big Mac died, I almost forgot. I’m surprised you’re not on your way to visit his grave, you always seem to go every month around this time.”

“I told myself that it wasn’t worth it. The thing that’s buried down there isn’t my friend, it’s just a pile of bones in the ground. I told myself that I’d give it a year then I’d stop going. I’d have to move on and start looking for his killer.”

“I’m surprised you two got along so well, you were so different.”

“He showed me how to be brave, how to fight, how to be a real Stallion. For him to go down the way he did was just…wrong. He had a special somepony out there, somepony who he loved so much that he was going to leave the army and his team just for her.”

She sighed “That’s the worst part of this war, ponies like Big Mac have to pay the price for something so stupid.”

“And his friends and loved ones are left behind, missing him.”

The two of them flew on in silence for a while, finally Greta asked, “Where are we going?”

“To complete a mission.”

She looked over at him confused again, “What mission? I thought we didn’t have any more missions apart from the one in Las Pegasus?”

“We got this the other day while you were still in Griffonstone,” he said then he put a hoof up to his helmet and clicked on a button, “Lightning do you read me?”

Lightning Dust’s voice echoed in the ear peace built into his helmet, “Loud and clear Boss.”

“Good, is everything ready?”

“Thunderlane and Cloudy Nights just reported in. The target is on site, Comet Tail and Phoenix Heart are both in place on each side of the compound. Babs is standing by, Amethyst Heart and Minuette are both awaiting your orders.” she replied.

“Good, I’ll be there in a minute. Have the team stand by until I give the order. I want this to be quick and clean.”

“Yes Sir. I’ll be just over the site waiting for you. Lightning Dust out.”

The radio went silent and Greta asked, “Are you sure having Lightning Dust join up was a good idea?”

My Host smiled, “She’s the perfect one for the job. She’s quick, quiet, and skilled, just like you. Give her a chance, I know she’ll prove herself to you.”

“As long as she doesn’t screw anything up. What I don’t understand is why you don’t have me join you on stealth missions. You didn’t need another member after you finally talked me into joining.”

“I didn’t, but I can’t always have a griffon with me on some of the stealth jobs. I need a pony like her. Plus, if you were always going on stealth jobs with me, who would keep the others in line while I’m gone?”

She laughed, “Point taken.”

“I’m glad you joined up with us Greta, it wouldn’t be the same without you.”

“We’ve been through a lot throughout the years Night Stalker. Yeah it may’ve taken awhile for you to talk me into becoming an actual member of the Children, but I’ve always been here by your side, nothing will ever change that.”

“Glad to hear it, now before we get there let me update you. The target is a high standing pony in the military, we have reason to believe that he’s been leaking military secrets to the Zebras.”

“A Zebra sympathizer huh? We’ve been seeing a lot of those lately.”

“We have, but none as high up in the military as this pony. Normally this would be something set aside for the M.O.M. but Luna wants him taken care of silently. We have to take care of this before Morale finds out about his dealings. Once they have him, everything’ll be too public for us to do anything.”

“I thought Image took care of that kind of thing.”

“They do, but there’s no guarantee. We can’t let it get out that a high ranking official is helping the stripes.”

“Okay, then what’s my role in this?”

“I need you for backup just incase things go south. Keep to the clouds and keep an eye out for trouble. I’ve heard he might have contracted griffon bodyguards.”

She rolled her eyes, “If he did, then I guess I’ll have a chance to work out my frustrations.”

“Yeah, I thought you might like that,” he said then flapped harder and took to the clouds. Once he was higher up, Lightning came into view.

She saw the two of them coming and flew closer, “There you are boss. What took so long? I thought you would’ve been here an hour ago.”

“Had business with my sister. What’s the situation?” Night Stalker asked.

“He’s been in his courtyard for a little while. I’m not sure what he’s up to, but he’s been doing something with his Pip-Buck,” Lightning said, then looked over at Greta, “Hey Greta, haven’t seen you in a while.”

“It’s been too long Lightning,” Greta said giving the mare a smile.

Night Stalker landed on one of the clouds and looked down at a large mansion on the top of a hill. Guards were posted by all the entrances, and even a couple of pegasi were flying around near the roof. Tapping the button on his helmet again he said, “Thunderlane, report.”

“I’ve counted six guards around the outside of the home, more inside, but I can’t get an accurate count from here.”

“That’ll be fine Thunderlane, keep an eye on the sky’s. I need to know if more pegasi are hiding around the clouds. Minuette can you make some kind of distraction?”

“No Problem Boss, I’m working on it now,” Minuette’s excited voice echoed over the radio.

“Captain, I’m picking up chatter over a decrypted signal. It seems the target is sending a message to somepony out near Hoofington.”

“Amethyst Star, can you block the signal somehow?” he asked.

“I’m working on it, I’m not sure how long I can keep it up though.”

“All we need is ten minutes, can you do that.”

“I’ll do my best Captain.”

My host looked back at Lightning Dust and Greta, “Lightning head toward the north side stay out of sight. I’ll signal you when it’s time to go in. Greta, stay here and watch our backs, if something looks like it’s gonna go wrong, I want you to be our backup.”

“Yes Sir,” they both said, Lightning Dust flying off to the north, and Greta flew higher scanning the landscape.

Night Stalker went back to the radio, “Minuette, if you’re going to do something, do it now. Comet Tail and Phoenix Heart, take out the guards in the courtyard as soon as Minuette starts. The rest of you stand by. I’ll be going in when the guards are down.”

“Yes Sir,” they all responded, with everything set up, my host was in the air again flying high over the large house.

At first I wasn’t sure what was gonna happen, then when Night Stalker looked toward the front of the house I could see a lone blue mare walking calmly up to the door. Two of the guards walked up to her and started to have a conversation. I wasn’t sure how she was going to distract anything by just talking to the guards, when all of a sudden Minuette started to scream holding her chest and falling to the ground thrashing.

The guards rushed to her and started to hold her down, they looked utterly confused on what was going on. A moment later more ponies came from the house to aid the others, even two of the pegasi. Night Stalker started to chuckle a little, “Always the drama queen aren’t you Minuette,” then he looked down at the courtyard where I could see another pegasus looking around confused and three more guards on the edges of the courtyard.

“Take down two, I’ll deal with the third. Lightning, follow me in,” Night Stalker said in his radio and then started to dive.

As he rushed toward the ponies in the courtyard, two of them fell, blood flying from their heads. My host landed a second later, his wings flipping around and slashing a deep gash along the neck of the third pony. A second later Lightning Dust landed next to him, and they both turned toward the last pony standing.

He had an orange coat and blue mane, his light blue eyes widened as his three guards died. He stammered, “What the hell’s going on here?”

Night Stalker flipped the blood of his wing blades then walked slowly toward him, “You tell me Captain Flash Sentry. Why am I here?”

“Night Stalker? What are you doing in my house?” he looked around, “You killed my guards, this is Treason you know.”

“No Captain, that’s what you’re doing. We’ve been watching you. You’ve been sending secret documents to the Stripes, sabotaging missions, giving away locations of bunkers and scouts. All I’m doing is taking care of a problem. It’s sad, a pony like you could’ve done so much good for this country, but instead you decided to help the enemy.”

Flash Sentry frowned, “All I’ve done is help a race that’s been taken advantage of by Equestria. Luna’s fucking insane, she shouldn’t have ever been put in charge of our country. The Princesses betrayed us when Celestia let a pawn of the stars lead us. Yes, it was cute when she let her take up her old role of rising the moon and watching over our dreams, but leading the country, that’s what Nightmare Moon wanted all along. Look where her leadership has gotten us, war is not the answer.”

My Host frowned, “You’ve got to be kidding me, how much bullshit did those Striped bastards fill your head with? Luna is looking out for us. It’s those bastards that want to kill all of ponykind. All over a stupid coal contract and the leadership of a particular mare.”

He smiled, “You think my head is full of bullshit, listen to yourself Night Stalker, you’re nothing but a tool. What do you think will happen to you when the ponies of Equestria find out you killed a Captain of the royal guard?”

“Funny you should ask, you see we were never here. It’ll look like you were killed by Zebras, some group of assassins that got into your home and took down you’re guards along with you. Too bad you’ll go down in history as the poor pony who showed the rest of us what they could do. The country will come together afterwards to help the war effort all because of your death,” Night Stalker said, his wings unfolding.

Before he could move, something materialized out of nowhere and attacked my host. A hoof kicked him in the side throwing him back a little. Night Stalker jumped aside barely dodging another hoof strike. I could see a zebra looking at Lightning and Night Stalker. He had a short cut mane that was mostly black with just small white stripes along it, he was also standing on his hind legs, his forehooves up and in an odd fighting stance.

“I am amazed that you were able to dodge my attack, there must be some truth to the stories about you Captain Night Stalker,” the Zebra said grinning at him. He looked at Flash Sentry, “Leave now, I’ll take care of them.”

“Thank you Zaphan,”

He flew off into the night sky as the Zebra smiled back at my host, “Now, where were we?”

“He won’t get far you striped bastard, my team won’t let him.”

“Normally yes, but my comrades are in the hills around here watching this place, as soon as you attacked they started moving. Your team will be too busy to deal with one lone pegasus,” Zaphan said.

My host snarled at him, “Then I’ll have to kill him myself, once I take care of you that is.”

“You can try, but you won’t win this one,”

“Let me take care of him Captain,” Lightning Dust said, walking up and putting a wing on my hosts shoulder.

“No, you can’t take on a Zebra like him,” Night Stalker said.

“Yes I can, now go after that traitor before he gets away.”

Zaphan laughed, “Like a mare could take me on. I am the son of the great Caesar, I have been trained my entire life to fight.”

A moment later Greta landed next to my host and Lightning Dust, “The two of us can take care of him, now go.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes go,” Greta said smiling toward the lone zebra.

“Fine, but make sure you keep him alive, we could use a prisoner like him. I’m sure his father would do a lot to get him back,” Night Stalker said.

“I won’t let you get away Follower of the Stars,” Zaphan said, moving to attack.

A gem glowed on Night Stalker’s armor and time seemed to slow as he jumped into the sky. It only lasted for a second, but it was enough for him to start flying away. He smiled then looked back as the griffon and other pegasus started to fight with the Zebra prince.

“You two be safe,” then hit the button on his helmet again, “Team, take down the Stripes that are moving in on the house, then go help Lightning and Greta. Make sure to keep the Zebra they’re fighting alive.”

He got a response from every member of his team before he flew off into the night sky. It didn’t take long for Night Stalker to catch up to the fleeing Flash Sentry as he made his way south, he kept looking over his shoulder as he flew low to the ground. Too bad he wasn’t smart enough to look up. Night Stalker moved quietly but quickly over his prey as he got into position. Then he dove for him and started to fire his disintegration rifle at him.

Two hit his wings and he went down hard, crash landing alongside a marsh. Night Stalker landed and walked toward the traitor, his magical energy rifles humming softly, “Any last words?”

“Fuck you Night Stalker, and your damned Princess.”

“I give you a chance to say something good before you die and you waste it on curses. How sad,” Night Stalker said.

He smiled at Night Stalker and pulled out a talisman, “Curse you Night Stalker, Curse you and all your family for all time. Equestria will lose this war, and even if you somehow survive it, you’ll never be happy. The same goes for anypony you love and your descendants.”

The talisman started to glow as he laughed. Night Stalker just yawned and fired his weapons. The pony screamed as he dropped the Talisman and his body turned into ash, “Good Riddance, Equestria doesn’t need scum like you polluting the minds of its citizens. Rot in hell.”

He walked over and looked at the slightly glowing Talisman. It flashed and went dark, cracking down the center. Night Stalker picked it up and looked at it closely, “What are you I wonder…guess I’ll have Minuette take a look at it. As for Curses, they’re just useless words. All I know is that you’re dead and I’m not.”

He pocketed the Talisman then spoke into his radio, “Report.”

Lightning Dust’s voice came back through the radio, “We were able to capture the Prince, but we have a problem.”

My host tensed up, “What’s wrong?”

“Greta’s injured, but not fatally. I can’t say the same for Phoenix Heart, she’s hurt pretty bad. She came to help us and took a nasty blow to the chest. Minuette’s trying to help, but I’m not sure how much good she can do at this point.”

“I’m on my way. See if Minuette can get her to a hospital…” Night Stalker took off again, flying back toward his team…something seemed to echo in the air back where the pile of ash was.

“And then there were nine…”

I jumped as I came out of the memory, “How long was I out?” the memory was still fresh in my head. What was the voice at the end?

“Three hours, maybe longer. I wasn’t watching the time, I’ve been too busy with THIS stupid thing,” Nexus said still typing on the keyboard.

“I thought you would’ve been done by now,” I said sitting up and looking at the monitors, streams of data were flying by on the screen as he worked.

“I’m done with breaking into the second layer of protection, now I’m trying to keep the program from destroying my terminals.”

I looked around the cluttered room and noticed it was getting a little smoky in the room, and hot, “If you got through the second layer of protection, then why is it still trying to destroy your terminals?”

“The second layer isn’t, there’s a third layer, maybe a fourth. The one who encrypted this is impressive, this program is twenty times stronger than the last one, and I thought THAT ONE was hard,” he stopped typing, “Oh shit.”

I didn’t like that sound of that, “What’s wrong?”

He went to unplug my Pip-Buck, but a voice I knew very well, echoed out of the terminal, “Authorization not recognized. Any further attempts to submit forms into this program will be met with software termination.”

“Was that Aunties voice?” I asked.

“I don’t know who that is, but I’ll show her. The great Nexus never loses…usually,” he said going back to the computer, “I’ll show this bitch who the REAL programing expert is around here.”

“Um, maybe you shouldn’t mess with it anymore. Your terminals look like they’re getting really hot.”

He typed in one more command prompt, “Success, I’m the master!”

For a moment, it looked like everything was gonna be okay, then a picture of Auntie popped up on the screen waving her hoof back and forth “Ah-ah-ah, you didn’t say the magic word,” over and over again.

Nexus unplugged my Pip-Buck quickly and pushed me to the ground as he yelled, “Fuck this!”

Right as we hit the ground an explosion went off over us. When it ended I got up and looked over at where Nexus’ terminals used to be. All that was left was a pile of scrap, “Damn, Auntie means business when it comes to programs.”

Nexus looked at the pile of scrap metal and electronics with his mouth slightly open. One eye twitched as he looked over the destruction, then tears welled up in his eyes, “My Terminals, MY GAMES! Why Celestia…why do you hate me so!?”

I watched for a moment as the Ghoul started to cry hugging pieces of his destroyed tech. I had no idea what to do at this point, so I just patted him on the back, “It’ll be okay Nexus, I’m sure you can replace it.”

“Do you know how long it took me to find the parts I needed to get Zap Apple Chronicles to work properly on a terminal instead of the console it was originally made to work with?”

I just shrugged, “I don’t even know what a Zap Apple Chronicles is.”

He slumped and started to cry again as he looked at his tech, “I knew I should’ve finished it before I did this.”

My Pip-Buck Dinged. Not wanting to deal with the crying ghoul I looked at it.

New Files Added…

Research Notes

Audio Files

Pip-Buck Tags

Research on the Mark II

Star’s Progress

I looked over at the one that said ‘Research Notes for the Mark II’ and clicked on it. A moment later, a file popped up…

I’ve been looking more into what makes this Pip-Buck so special, at first it seems to be a normal Pip-Buck. The pony I got it from back in Trotston told me how to remove it. I’m still not sure why anypony needs a Pip-Buck that you can’t take off. I’m finding it handy now though, since I’m keeping a lot of files on here that I don’t want to fall into the wrong hooves. After some tinkering I figured out that this thing has a lot of features that you don’t see on your standard Pip-Buck.

The Broadcaster itself is a gem, I’m able to use it to keep in contact with The Rangers. I can get into terminals a lot easier too, now that I don’t have to plug directly into them. There’s also built-in hacking software that seems to be able to push its way past anything I use it on. It’s making my job a lot easier while I look more into this old project from before the war. The last location I was at had a lot of data that came in handy. I’m still not sure it’ll help Star, but I have hope.

The funny thing is that, this Pip-Buck was already loaded with a lot of old Sweetie Belle songs. I’m finding those to be very nice to listen to when I’m alone out here in The Wasteland. When I get back to the bunker I’m gonna play them for Star. She loves this kind of music so much.

The last thing I found out was that this Pip-Buck was used to seal some kind of program or terminal right before the megaspell detonations. After talking with the Pony who gave me this, I found out that they can seal programs and terminals so that nothing else can get into them. I know that I’m on a mission to find a cure for Star, but I’m so tempted to go to the location where this Pip-Buck was last used to seal something before the war ended, and find out what it was. Who knows? It could help me in my mission, I’ll update later if I figure anything else out.

Nothing useful there, I already knew all of this from Nexus. I clicked on the Audio Files, most of the first things that came up were music files, all of them started with SB test 1 then 2 and so on. After clicking the first one and seeing it was just an early Sweetie Belle song, I turned it off and looked further down the list. Finally, I saw one that caught my eye. They were labeled ‘My Mistakes’ and mom’s voice echoed out of my Pip-Buck.

Entry Log 225,

I don’t know what to do anymore, it’s been hours and Star still hasn’t woken up. I can’t believe she did that. This is Senior Scribe Grimoire Spell and I’ve done something terrible. Vervain and I went to M.A.S.E.B.S. Tower-45, it’s located a few miles outside of Cartwheel. The tower itself works just like the rest of them, but I found information that there was a basement in it that held the secrets to Falling Shadows. It was the only thing left that I could think of to save her, I was wrong. At first everything was going so well, I even brought Star with me in case I could use the old project the way I figured I could. Then shit went south, there was something protecting the project and it attacked us.

I hid Star in a side room when it started to attack us, but she got out and got in the way. Something happened and she just started to scream and passed out. She doesn’t even look right anymore, her mane changed color, and so did her coat. I don’t know what’s going on, but after it attacked her it disappeared into thin air. I got us out of there as soon as I could and now we’re stuck near Green Mist Valley not far from the Stable Vervain found last year.

Stables have better medical facilities than anywhere else in The Wasteland don’t they? Maybe I could get myself into it and make them help us. I can’t lose my daughter, not after everything I’ve done to try and save her. I’ll talk with Vervain, she’s been working undercover in the Stable. Maybe she could think of a way that I could get in. I know she’s been having trouble getting ponies to trust her. I’m good with memory spells I’m sure I could do something.

Entry Log 286,

This is Senior Scribe Grimoire Spell. It’s been two months now since we entered Stable 28. Everything is going a lot better than I hoped, whatever happened back in the tower it seems to be helping Shadow Star. I still find it strange to call her Shadow, but it’s much more fitting now. At first I was worried about her when she woke up, she was having nightmares every night. I couldn’t get her to calm down most of the time, and every time she got too upset she would give off a blast of magic, it’s powerful too. Something’s messing with her horn, I’m just not sure what.

I had to go and wipe most of her memories just so she could sleep at night. I’m still working on them, it’s a long process to go through and takes so much out of somepony. I’m not really taking them away, if I did she wouldn’t be the same filly that I love. I’m blocking them, one day I’m sure she’ll remember what happened to her and what I did. I’m hoping that won’t happen until she’s older and can handle it. I had to tell her it was trauma from an accident, so far it’s working, but for how long I’m not sure. She’s not stupid by any means, and she’s way too curious for somepony her age. I have a feeling I’m going to regret this in the end.

Entry Log 321,

This is-fuck why do I have to say that every time? No matter, I really fucked up today. The Overmare wanted to see me in her office. When I got there, she started asking me things about where I came from. I tried giving her the normal lies I’ve been telling everypony ever since I came here last year. The problem is, she wasn’t buying it. I’m not sure how, but she knew things about me that nopony should know, especially anypony in the Stable. I got angry and started asking her questions.

No matter how much I tried she wouldn’t tell me, and she wanted to know more about why I was in her stable, she even threatened to kick Shadow and I out. I couldn’t have that happen, so…I used a spell on her that I learned from an old spell book, not a nice one either. I only meant it to be a warning not to threaten me, but I’ve never done a spell like that before. Now the Overmare is in medical and I don’t think she’s going to make it. If she doesn’t, her daughter will take control of the Stable and that little bitch has had it out for me ever since I first arrived here. If she ever finds out it was me who hurt her mother, I’m not sure what she’ll do. It’s possible that my days in Stable 28 are numbered, and if so I’ll have to learn as much as I can from the Research and Development department.

I’ll have to tell the Elder about all of this too I’m sure, but I’m hoping that she won’t have me leave just yet. I’m not ready, nether is Shadow. With the way things are going right now, it’ll take years for her to be ready to go back into The Wasteland.

Entry Log 492

Tonight’s the night, I’ve set everything up as best I can from here. I’ll be leaving this Pip-Buck down in the catacombs. A few months ago I found an old alcove that looked like a storage room when Stable-Tec was still building the stable. Nopony seems to know it’s there and with a little magic to help hide it, I think it’ll be a good place to keep it. I’ve also placed spells all over the lower levels of the Stable. It doesn’t matter what they do, let’s just say it’ll help cover my tracks, and when the time is right they’ll hopefully lead Shadow to the Pip-Buck.

No matter what happens to me, she has to get her hooves on it. Once it’s on her foreleg, nopony will be able to get it off. I just hope she can do what needs to be done. If I know my daughter she’ll go looking for me right away if she finds out I’m not dead. It all depends on what she’s told once I’m gone. I hate doing this to her, especially at such a young age, but she needs this place. It’s the first time she’s been healthy and happy in her whole life. I want her to grow up with friends and know what it’s like to be normal, at least while she can. Honestly if I didn’t need this Pip-Buck back in a few years, I’d just say fuck it and let her live her life in here. It may not be a perfect place, but it’s better than out there.

Tonight is my last night in Stable 28 and I’m sure the last time I’m going to see my daughter. Shadow, if you happen to find this file on the Pip-Buck, please know that everything I’ve done up to this point has been for you. I can’t explain everything with a simple message, but if I’m still alive when you find this and you happen to find me, I’ll explain everything. I don’t expect you to forgive me for leaving you behind, this decision is the hardest one I’ve ever had to make.

I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Mom if you wanted me to find you then why did you leave me a note saying to go to Manehattan?’ It’s because I do in a way, it’s a choice that I hope you made, even though I’m sure you didn’t. Tenpony is a stuck-up place to live, but it’s safe and beautiful. I wanted you to have a better option than seeing what has become of Equestria. Since I’m sure you didn’t listen to me, then I wish you luck. I don’t know what’ll happen to me once I’m gone, but I hope we see each other again. Stay strong, don’t doubt yourself, and find good friends. Friends can be the one thing that can save you from the dangers out in The Wasteland, and they can be there for you when you’re feeling low. Good luck my little star, shine brighter than everypony else.

Wow, that was a lot to take in. I can’t believe she made this before she even left 28. It was like she knew every step I’d take when I left. I wish I was as smart as she was, she saw things like no other pony I’d ever met, and she planned ahead to make sure her plans went off without a hitch. Also, I can’t believe she was the one who killed the former Overmare. All I remember from back then was that she took ill and passed away early the next morning. Her daughter had indeed become the new Overmare and she did force Mom to leave in a way. I’m sure the elder saw what was going to happen with the new Overmare and had Mom leave before her cover was blown. Only problem was that mom was supposed to take me along with her and the Mark II. She didn’t, she left it for me to find so I could get it back to her one day. From what I could tell, there still wasn’t much on here that seemed important. Maybe it was something to do with her research notes, but when I clicked on that file, everything that came up made no sense to me. It was all notes on some old project that Mom had been looking into, but with all the big technical words involved…I gave up halfway through. So I went into the Pip-Buck Tags, most of them had the names of different ponies in Stable 28, but the last two caught my eye.

Tag for Vervain

Tag for Grimoire Spell

I looked at the last one and cursed, “All this time I had the Pip-Buck tag for Mom’s Pip-Buck, if I would’ve known that before, it would’ve made finding her so much easier,” I sighed and clicked on Mom’s Tag and an odd message came up.

Tag location found. Retrieving data on location... data found. Last recorded coordinates marked on Pip-Buck navigation.

“What the fuck does this mean?” I asked.

Finally seeming to be able to pull himself away from his sorrow, Nexus replied, (Sniff) “What’re you talking about?”

“I found the Tag for my Mom’s Pip-Buck and it gave me this message,” I showed him my screen.

“The Mk. II can pull up data on a Pip-Buck’s Tag even at a great distance. If it doesn’t show you where that pony is and gives you a message like that, it means the Pip-Buck it’s trying to locate hasn’t moved in a long time. Either your Mom died in the past few months or she took her Pip-Buck off and tossed it.”

I went over to the map and looked at where it was showing the last location, “I’m sure she’s not dead, she must’ve taken her old one off like you said. I’m not sure why she’d do that though. Where’s this at?” That Tag was showing me a location northeast of New Pegasus, farther than I’d gone so far during my travels, it was even farther north than Stable 9.”

“Hmm, I haven’t gone up that way in a long ass time, but if I remember right, that location isn’t far from an old military base. Some ponies from a stable moved into it a long time ago and now they have their hooves on all the left over missiles and bombs left there when the place was abandoned, they call themselves ‘The Annihilators’ for good reason. They don’t let any outsider near their settlement. They blow up anypony that they see as an outsider.”

“Is that where Trotston is?”

“No, they aren’t the Stable 9 ponies. Trotston is a little more southeast of there. The tag looks like it’s between the two settlements,” Nexus said.

“I’ll have to look into that when I have time. If it hasn’t moved in a while, I’m sure waiting a few days won’t make a difference,” I said going back and looking at the other name on my Tags. Vervain, who was she and what did she have to do with Mom? She mentioned her a few times, but I know I’ve never met a pony in the Stable with that name. Was she hiding in the Stable and I didn’t even know it? Was it Auntie? No, mom said Vervain was a Steel Ranger. Auntie’s tough, but not Steel Ranger tough. It had to be one of the other ponies Mom was friends with in the Stable.

I clicked on the Tag and sure enough it came up right at Stable 28. So, Vervain was still in the stable. If only I could go back and find her, she’d be able to tell me more about Mom. Since I can’t go back, maybe I’ll visit the Steel Rangers and talk with Elder Appleslice about her. Maybe she had a way of getting into contact with this Mysterious Steel Ranger who was hiding in my old stable.

“I have a lot to think about Nexus. Thanks again for helping me get this much out of the Pip-Buck, and I’m sorry about what happened to your terminals.”

He sighed and shook his head, “Wasn’t your fault, you didn’t do anything to them. It was my own ego that did it. It’ll suck a plate of dicks, but I’ll be able to replace everything over time, even though it’ll put a hold on what I can do for this place. I’ll have to head back to New Pegasus and see if Match and Tariff have replacement parts.”

I gave him a smile and went to leave the room when I remembered something I meant to ask him before, “Hey Nexus, what was so important about Captain Night Stalker?”

A bit of anger came over his features as he spoke, “Night Stalker was a snake. During the war he was known to be one of Luna’s personal guards. In reality, he was running a stealth group of assassins for the government. He was hoof picked by Celestia and Luna for the job. Not much is known about him from before the war, apart from that he was orphaned when he was very young and he grew up in Griffonstone. When he was older he was forced to move back to Equestria and placed with a foster family. The weird thing though was that a young griffon named Greta went with him, those two were inseparable for most of their young lives. Greta moved back to Griffonstone when they were older but came back when the war broke out to fight alongside her best friend. Night Stalker fought for a few years making his way up the ranks slowly. He never really showed much promise until a large battle near Manehattan. He was working with the Shadow Bolts then, he lead a fight against a dragon and a few high ranked Zebras. He and Greta were the only two who survived the raid only because Night Stalker held back during the attack and used the night sky to hide his approach with Greta. It’s what got him his codename Night Stalker. Nopony remembers what his old name was. He was a no one until he became Night Stalker.”

“From what I could see in the orbs I’ve seen of him, he didn’t much care for being the leader of a team, but he was very good at it.”

“He was, it was a quality that Celestia saw in him, and so did Luna. They knew he was the perfect one for the job. They even left the recruitment of his team up to him. They were the only ponies in his life that he cared about too, only ones who meant more than his team to him was his sister, the Princesses, and Greta. He would’ve given his own life for them, and he almost did a couple times,” Nexus said.

“What I can’t figure out is why you got a dark look on your face when I asked about him. I mean sure he looked like he was a dick and dangerous, but what does that have to do with you, and how do you know so much about him?”

He sighed again, “He was the pony who was hunting me down when the war ended. He seemed to think that I knew some information about something he was looking for. When Night Stalker wants something, he always gets it, and the pony who knows said information always seems to turn up dead. I didn’t wanna end up like the others so I ran. I learned as much about him as I could over the years. Even after the war ended he did some things that are unforgivable.”

“Like what?”

“The cloud cover for one; that was his idea. I don’t know why he wanted the Pegasi to be cut off from the rest of us, but he did. Also he’s the one who started the Dashite program, if my intel is to be believed.”

“Why would he do something like that?”

“No idea, all I know is what I was told. I’ve never found much about him after the cloud cover went up. All I know is that he just up and vanished one day forty years after the end. No pony knows what happened to him after that,”

I sighed and facehoofed, “Why is everything a Goddesses damned mystery in The Wasteland?”

“Wish I could tell ya. Anyway, why don’t you head out. I have a lot of cleaning up to do.”

“Good idea, I should go check with Dr. Cottage to see how Wingnut is doing,” I said turning to leave again.

“Oh yeah, I forgot with everything that was going on. While you were in the orb, your griffon friend stopped by and told me that your friend is awake.”

“You mean you’re just NOW telling me that!?” I exclaimed.

“Hey, I was busy at the time, it slipped my mind.”

“You’re lucky you helped me or I’d slap you for forgetting to tell me something like that,” I said in a huff before running out the door.

“You’re Welcome!” he shouted after me as I ran down the hall.

It didn’t take long for me to reach the double doors to the medical wing of the resort. I pushed the door open and almost ran into Dr. Cottage, “What’s the big hurry?” he asked me, “If you’re trying to challenge me to a race I’m going to have to decline seeing how it’s a little unfair. You see I have this bum leg.”

“No, I heard Wingnut was awake and I wanted to check on him.”

He rolled his eyes, “Of course you want to check on the kid, nopony ever comes to see how I’M doing.”

“Well you’re kind of a dick, so I’m not surprised.”

“Dick or no, maybe I’d like some company now and then. A companion to enjoy drug fueled shenanigans with,” he said then smiled, then popped one of his pills into his mouth, “Just kidding, I hate ponies. Plus, these little guys are all mine.”

“So, can I check on Wingnut?”

“I dunno, can you?”

“I hate you.”

“Oh-no! An angry midget hates me, I’m SO sad now,” he said sarcastically.

I facehoofed then asked as nice as I could, “Can I please see my friend, if so I’ll let you…I don’t know, study why I’m so short I guess.”

He smiled, “Deal, now remember it’s a promise. Your friend is in the other room, he’s up and doing a lot better. Can’t fix his face though.”

I walked past him and into the large room. There was a lot of different things laying around the room, most of it medical equipment. 21 was sitting at a desk looking over some files. She smiled when I walked in and waved at me before going back to work. I saw a door behind her, walking over to it I found it lead to a smaller room with a couple of gurneys in it. The one farthest back had Wingnut in it, and next to him was a Zebra Stallion also wearing a lab coat like 21.

He looked up as I walked in. He was an odd looking Zebra, but I wasn’t one to judge. He looked more like the opposite of the Zebra colt I met before, his coat was more on the black side and his strips were white, kind of like the prince I saw in Night Stalkers memory. I couldn’t see if he had a…what was it called again on a Zebra…oh yeah, a Glyphmark. His lab coat was covering it.

“I take it you must be Shadow Star, Wingnut’s been talking about you a lot ever since he woke up. I’m Dr. Xamir, it’s nice to meet you,” he said in the same accent that the Zebra Colt had.

“Same here, how’s Wingnut doing?”

Wingnut spoke up in a cheery voice, “Xamir told me that I was a brave colt for jumping in to save my friends.”

Xamir turned to look at Wingnut and added, “I also told you how stupid and reckless it was.”

He rolled his eyes, “Yeah I know, I won’t do it again either. It’s not fun being stuck in a hospital bed.”

“He seems to be getting back to his normal self,” I said walking over to sit next to Wingnut.

“He’s been like this all morning, it’s nice to see a young pony like him with so much free spirit. He responded well to the antifungal we gave him, he’s also a strong colt.”

“I have to agree with you on that one. When can he leave?”

“He can go any time, I just finished his last checkup and he’s doing much better and there are no signs of the infection anymore,” Xamir said.

“Awesome, I can finally get out of this stupid bed. I feel like I’ve been sleeping for days,” Wingnut said jumping to his hooves.

I took hold of him and pulled him into a tight hug, “I’m just glad you’re better, you had me worried.”

He pulled away and jumped to the ground, “Ewww why are you always so girly Shadow?”

“Maybe because I’m a girl.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you have to act all girly. I’m fine now see, so stop worrying so much.”

“If you say so squirt. By the way have you seen Aura or Stardust yet?”

“You’re griffon friend said she was going to go look around and talk with some of the other ponies who live in the lodge. The Pegasus said he wanted to meet the new Dashite, he should be back any time now,” Xamir said.

“Oh yeah, I need to talk to him too. The Queen wanted to talk to him about something.”

“He should be back soon, he’ll be coming in the main gate.”

“Good to know, we should head that way to meet him,” I said heading back toward the door.

Dr. Cottage blocked my path, “You can’t go anywhere, you promised.”

“I did, but I never said when you could.”

He looked confused for a moment then smiled, “Good one, that’s what I get for making a deal so quickly. Fine be on your way, but remember you owe me one examination. If I don’t get it you won’t get a lollypop that may or may not be stepped on and/or irradiated.”

I chuckled and walked past him, “I know, and I’ll make sure you get it…another time.”

Wingnut and I went to leave as we did I heard Dr. Cottage say to Xamir, “My leg hurts, when are you going to give me more of those Zebra pills?”

“I just gave you twenty last night!”

“Duh, and now they’re gone, I need more.”

I walked faster and left the clinic behind before the two could break out into an argument, I dealt with enough of that crap from Stardust and Aura.

When we reached the courtyard, I saw a pegasus just coming through the front gate. He had a pail blue coat and a black mane with yellow eyes, and he was muscular.

I also noticed that Stardust was just outside the door, he watched as the other pegasus walked in. My friend’s eyes were open wide like he’d seen a ghost. He was trembling as he looked on at the other pegasus and a small whisper came out of him, “It can’t be.”

“Hey Stardust, you okay?” Wingnut asked walking over to the older buck.

The other pegasus saw my friend and started to walk over to us, he walked right up to Stardust and yelled, “Cadet, where is your power armorrrr!? To think I went through so much trouble to make sure you got a set before you got away, and here you are wandering around in the open buck-ass FUCKING NUDE!”

Wow he’s loud, and had the same kind of commanding voice that Night Stalker did. Stardust was taken aback for a moment, then he saluted the older Pegasus and responded, “I had to leave it behind Sir!”

“Leave it behind!? Do you know how much time and effort goes into one of those suites!?”

“Sir, No Sir,” Stardust responded then he put his hoof down and added, “Wait a second, why am I answering anything you have to say to me. You’re not my Drill Sergeant anymore. Why the fuck are you here?”

“Don’t talk back to me Cadet, I asked you a question and I expect you to answer me!”

Stardust’s eyes narrowed and he got that look he always got when he was ready to shoot something. Then slowly he said, “Why the fuck are you here Doorstop? Are you here because you want to bring me back to the Stable or are you here to kill me like every other Enclave slave I’ve run into since I escaped?”

The other Pegasus started to chuckle, then it turned into a deep laugh, “Kill you? Why the hell would I wanna kill you? Who do you think helped you get out?”

Stardust blinked, “Wait, I thought Shortcake did that?”

“Shortcake? That filly was still sleeping when you broke out, she had no idea you even left until the next morning. When I found out what happened I went in and killed the two guards, stole the power armor for you two, then opened the cell door. It’s too bad Hail Strom didn’t make it, he was a good solider.”

“Don’t talk about him, you don’t have the right…” Stardust started to say.

Doorstop interrupted him, “I can talk about him if I want to, you two meant the world to me while you were growing up. I wanted to make sure you both made it out, if I could’ve done more I would have.”

It always seemed like he was yelling. Stardust looked away then asked quietly, “Why are you here?”

Doorstop sighed and pulled off the armor he was wearing showing us his flanks, and the red enflamed mark of a Dashite, “They figured out I helped you get away. They wanted to kill me for what happened, but since I have so many years of faithful service to the Enclave this was my punishment. I heard about this place from an old pony down south and thought it would be a good place to hold up for a while.”

Stardust took a step back and looked at the angry red mark for a long moment, “How did they find out?”

“No idea, I tried to figure that out when they first accused me of it. Doesn’t matter now Cadet. What does matter is that you’re safe and sound, and better yet not insane.”

I walked closer to him and asked, “Are you the new Dashite around here?”

He looked over at me, “Who’s this little gal?”

“Oh, Sergeant Doorstop this is Shadow Star. She’s a friend of mine, she was sent here to find a new Dashite, which I assume is you,” Stardust said.

“Shadow Star huh, do you by chance know an old buck named Box Tape?” Doorstop asked.

My eyes widened, “Yes I do, he’s the buck I work for, how do you know him?”

The older buck laughed loudly, “I met him when I went through Cartwheel looking for this little pisshead. He told me he was traveling with a mare named Shadow Star. I’ve been hearing a lot about you on the radio, good to see that there’s a good fighter out here. I can’t believe you were able to kill a member of the Sins.”

“How’d you hear about that?”

“From that DJ pony,” he said lifting his foreleg and showing off a Pip-Buck, it was beaten up but it still seemed to work, “I like to record some of his stuff to listen to now and then, it’s always nice to listen to the music of Sweetie Belle.”

He fiddled with his Pip-Buck then the energetic voice of DJ Pony came out, “Hello Wasteland, you know what time it is…that’s right, it’s time for the news. Now if you haven’t heard yet about the huge bounty on Security out in the Hoof, you will soon. Now I told you all before that it may seem like a quick way to make more caps than you thought you’d ever see in your life, but remember, this is the Security Mare who cleared out the Manehattan highway. You shouldn’t be going after something like that, just remember if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Now I have more news from out west. To most of you who live here in the east, you may not have heard about the special ops unit of the Enclave known as The Seven Sins of Equinity. That’s because out here, the Enclave keep to themselves for the most part. Out near New Pegasus, they have a much bigger role in things going on in The Wasteland if that seems possible. I mean c’mon those guys are everywhere. The Seven Sins of Equinity or The Sins for short are a team of criminals that serve the Enclave and hunt down ponies that displease the Enclave in any way. Every member of The Sins is extremely deadly and extremely hard to kill. That is unless you’re the Courier Mare. You heard me right mares and gentlecolts, the Courier Mare herself was able to take down one of the Sins. A fat, hideous monster that went by the codename Gluttony. After he snagged her from The Strip and flew her out past the city limits, there was a small fight between the Courier Mare and her friends with him. In the end they were the ones left standing. Now I know what you’re all thinking ‘DJ Pon3 why should we care about what the Courier Mare did to one of the Sins when they’re all the way out there?’ Well you see children that’s easy, because she’s dealt a serious blow against the Enclave from Stratus. It’s good for us that she was able to show those ponies in the clouds that they can’t just do whatever the hell they want, but sadly this also may spell trouble for our Courier Mare. From what I’ve been hearing they’re now working with another pegasus settlement called Nimbus to hunt down our heroine of the west. There’s been sightings of power armored Pegasi around New Pegasus, and even more have showed up near Appleton and The Halo One powerplant. So if you’re listening to me Courier Mare, keep up the good fight, but stay safe…Western Equestria still needs a pony like you. That’s all for now my little kiddies so let’s get back to the music…”

“When did this air?” I asked.

“Couple hours ago. I was heading back listening to the radio when it came on, didn’t think I’d run into you here though. Why are you here?” he asked.

“The Queen who leads the gang that runs Freedom wanted me to find you to see if you’d be willing to go meet with her. She has a few questions for you. She wants to see if you had any info that could help her with keeping her town safe.”

“In the short time that I’ve been out here I’ve heard stories about the Queen’s Gang, most of them don’t put them in a good light. Why would I go to New Pegasus to help a gang of ponies like them?” he asked in his loud voice.

“Sergeant Doorstop, I’m friends with The Queen. She’s a good pony, she’s tough and a lot of things have been said about her. Most of them aren’t true and the ones that are have been exaggerated. She helped me when I first came to town and when I started getting hunted by The Sins. You can trust her,” Stardust Said.

He took a moment then finally answered, “If you trust her then I’ll at least think about it. I can’t leave here just yet, I’ve been helping Violet with things around here. I can’t just up and leave her high and dry.”

I looked around the Summit then back at him, “What’ve you been doing for the Alicorns?”

“I’ve been running patrols around here and keeping an eye on things. I’ve also been training some of the ponies around here on how to fight. That doctor is a bit of a wuss though. Keeps complaining about leg pain and complains even more when I tell him to quit being a wussy and walk it off,” Doorstop said with a smile much like Stardust’s.

Stardust got an ill look to his face, “Oh, those poor ponies.”

He looked over at my friend and yelled, “No one’s asking you Cadet! My tactics may be odd, but look how good you turned out!”

Stardust opened his muzzle like he was going to say something, then he closed it, looked thoughtful for a second and said, “You got a point there.”

“Of course I do, I’m the Sarge! Now let’s get back to what we were talking about.”

“All I was told to do was to ask you to meet with The Queen. I hope you will, she’s been a good pony to me and I think you should at least give her a chance,” I said.

Before I could say more Aura landed next to me, she looked a little winded and panicked, “Shadow it’s about time I found you, where’ve you been?”

“I was meeting with Nexus for the past couple hours, what’s wrong?”

Doorstop however looked over at the griffon and frowned, “What the fuck is that thing doing here?”

I looked at him and said, “Don’t start, I know what Stardust is like with griffons, I’m not going to let you start up with her. This is Aura Bloodtalon, she’s my bodyguard and friend.”

He growled and looked away, “I don’t care for griffon’s much, but you’re right, I can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Aura interrupted, “Yeah we get it, you don’t like Griffons whoever you are,” she turned back to me, “Listen Shadow, we have to leave NOW!”

I frowned, “Why?”

“I was flying around checking out the area and I saw a large team of Pegasi heading this way. They’re only a few minutes out. I’d guess that they’re after you or Stardust. Whichever it is, we can’t stay here,” She said quickly.

Wingnut broke into the conversation, “I’m doing better now, I’m okay to leave I think, at least that’s what the zebra doctor told me.”

“There’s no time to argue, you hired me to protect you Shadow, that’s what I’m gonna do. We need to get Silver and leave before they get here,” Aura said.

I looked back at Stardust and Wingnut, “Why are they coming here?”

“Between us being here, a team of Alicorns, and Dashites, I’m sure it’s nothing,” Stardust replied sarcastically.

I looked at Aura, “How long until they’re here?”

“I told you not long, they have a couple dozen pegasi and a few ground troops too.”

“We can’t just run away and leave this place unprotected. If they’re after us, then we have to stand our ground and face this. Plus, I don’t think there’s a way we could get out of here safely, you two can’t fly all of us out of here.”

Aura spoke up, “Wait a sec, are you telling me that you’re willing to fight this time instead of running away.”

I smiled, “I think I am, but we should warn Violet about what’s coming, and we need to make sure the ponies who can’t fight get out of here safely.”

“Normally I’d say that’s a stupid plan, but I like the idea of taking it to those Enclave assholes,” Aura said pulling out here spear, “I’ll go find Violet, the rest of you do what you can to warn ponies.”

There was a flash of light and Violet appeared, “I heard what happened already, the ponies here will be safe,” she looked down at me, “Shadow Star, will your friends and you be able to help me keep my home safe?”

“They’re after me not you, we should meet them outside of the Summit. That way nopony will get hurt,” I replied.

She smiled at me, “I made this place to be a safe haven for ponies all over The Wasteland to come to. What kind of host would I be if I made you leave when real danger is coming?”

“She has a point Shadow, and with the numbers I saw coming this way, we can use all the help we can get,” Aura said.

I lowered my head, “Fine, but what do you plan on doing when they’ll be here any moment?”

The Alicorn grinned, “They won’t be able to enter my home. Thanks to Nexus we will be safe.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“She means that I’ve been working my tail off to set up proper defenses for Frosty Summit,” Nexus said walking up from behind her, followed closely by Silver and Laser Light.

“Silver what are you doing out here?” I asked looking at my mare friend, she was carrying a large box in her magic.

She smiled at me and set the box down in front of me, “I told you I had a surprise for you, I only just finished it. I hope you like it.”

I looked down at the large box and opened it. Inside was a new set of armor. I pulled it out and looked at it, it started out much like my old duster, only this one looked newer and stronger than the one Box Tape had given me. On the back it had stitched into it ‘Equestrian Express’ like my old duster did. This new duster had armor on the shoulders to better protect my upper body from attacks like when I fought Wind Thrasher, on the right shoulder the number 28 was painted on it, on the other was my own Cutie Mark. Along with the Duster was a new set of barding, it had thin metal plates attached to the chest and leather straps running down the front and back, with armor to protect my hind-legs. A metal plate came up from the collar to help protect my neck, and there was a spot on one side to put Dream Walker. The last thing in the box was a helmet with a mask and goggles attached to it, it reminded me a lot of the one Night Stalker had worn in the first memory orb I’d even seen of him. Only this helmet had a place for my horn to poke through and didn’t look so bug-eyed.

I looked at it in awe, “You made this for me?”

She kissed me and said, “I want to make sure that you’re safe when you’re out there doing what you do best. I had to use pieces of your old Duster for the stitching, and most of it was made from the armor the NLR Veteran Rangers use. It took me a while to duplicate the design and I improved it a lot, it’s stronger and lighter. It is heavier than your duster was, but it’s not as bad as it could’ve been. That armor should protect you from anything shy of armor piercing rounds.”

I hugged her tight, “Thank you so much Silver, but I have to ask, why the helmet?”

“Trust me, when it stops a bullet you’ll thank me,” she said with a smile, “Also, the goggles will work with your Pip-Buck, it’ll interface perfectly with it so you can use it to activate a light filtering spell that’s built into them and the mask works both as a gas mask and a rebreather.”

Stardust walked over and looked at the new armor, “Damn Silver you thought of everything.”

“Like I said I wanted to make sure she stayed safe, this was the best way I could think of.”

“Cool, can you make me one?” Wingnut asked looking at the armor.

She smiled down at the colt, “Maybe one day, now should we do something about the ponies who are on their way?”

Violet nodded then looked at Nexus, “Nexus what do I need to do?”

“It’s simple, have your Greens go over to the two pylons I installed, then have them do their statue thing, and I’ll activate the system. If everything goes right we won’t even have to fight them.”

Violet’s eyes glowed for a moment then the two green Alicorns walked over to two metal rods connected to wires that spread out toward the walls. They both sat and their horns glowed. Nexus pulled out something and pressed a button. The rods glowed and the magic around the Green Alicorns horns wrapped around them. As they did this I took the time to change into my new barding and duster, finished with putting on my helmet and mask. It was a little snug and it felt weird to breathe through the mask, but it was still comfortable.

It was right as they were finishing I could see something coming down the road, a lot of somethings. Pegasi were flying toward us fast followed by ground troops. I looked back at the others and said, “Um, I think we should hurry up, they’re almost here,” my voice sounded a different, kind of like when the other ponies I knew who wear power armor.

Nexus smiled, “Don’t worry, they won’t get in,” then he looked back at Violet, “Have them activate the shield.”

Violet’s eyes glowed again, then magic erupted from their horns and shot out to the rods then along the wires toward the wall. A green light started to glow from different points at the wall where the wires met. A moment later a large Alicorn shield went up around the border. It flew up toward the sky and connected, trapping us inside a large green bubble. A couple of the Pegasi who were flying ahead of the rest crashed into the shield then fell to the ground hard.

The rest came to a halt right outside the gate, glaring at us from just outside the newly erected shield. Violet smiled, “That worked rather well Nexus.”

He laughed then whooped, “Ha, I knew I could do it. Take that you Enclave bastards.”

“Huh I guess we won’t have to worry about them after all. So this is what you were working on over here?”

“Yeah, it took a while to figure out how I could harness the green’s power to make it into a large enough shield to protect the Summit itself, I had a couple other ideas I wanted to try out, but they will have to wait.”

Laser Light chuckled, “Shit, so all the time fooling around with them wasn’t a waste.”

“Oh, shut up Laser,” he said glaring at her. She just laughed harder and holstered her laser rifle.

I noticed a pegasus in power armor standing right by the shield, it was none other than Sergeant Winter Frost. He projected his voice saying loudly, “Abominations known as Alicorns, give us the Courier Mare and her friends.”

Violet looked over at him and said in a booming voice, “This town is a safe haven for all ponies, we will not betray them to the likes of you.”

“Alicorn, her and her friends are enemies of The Grand Pegasus Enclave. Give them to us and we won’t destroy your little town,” Winter Frost said.

Violet started to laugh, “From where I’m standing Pegasus, I don’t think you’re in a good place to make threats. Nothing can get through an alicorns shield.”

“This is you’re last warning, we’ve left you’re settlement alone for years now, and we can keep doing so as long as you do what we ask.”

“I will do no such thing, now be gone before you anger me,” as she spoke magic enveloped her horn, and the Alicorn Amulet around her neck pulsed red.

“If that’s the way you want to do this then fine,” he turned and said to somepony behind him, “Take it down,”

Another pony I knew…kind of…stepped around him. It was the mare from The Bramble who kept her face hidden before, she looked at him and said, “You don’t give me orders Sergeant, remember you’re place.”

“Just take down the fucking thing. We don’t have time to argue about rank right now,” he said.

I walked closer and yelled, “Who the fuck are you!?”

She looked at me, “Oh look, if it isn’t the Courier Mare herself. I’m surprised you escaped The Bramble like you did, good idea using the Hellhound. This time you won’t escape me, or my friends. If you give me the Mark II though, I might be able to keep them from killing everypony here.”

“No way, I’m not giving this to you or anypony. Why do you want it so bad?”

“That is Enclave business,” Winter Frost said.

“Quiet Sergeant,” The Hooded Mare said then looked back at me, “I really wasn’t in the mood to do this, but you’ve left me no choice Courier Mare. Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance.”

As she spoke blue light glowed from under her hood and magical runes showed up in front of the barrier and on the ground. Then she started to chant in what sounded like Zebra just like Moose had when he called out Morning Star. Violet cursed then her own horn glowed, but before she could do much the two green Alicorns started to scream.

There was a loud pop followed by a boom as magic backfired and threw the greens away from the rods. The Shield around the town shattered with a sound like breaking glass. To my horror, the device Nexus had set up to protect the town went down, and it hadn’t taken more than one Unicorn to do it.

Violet screamed as she looked back at her Alicorns, “No, please no.”

The Hooded Unicorn started to laugh in her altered voice, “It was a smart idea to use the power of your Greens to protect this place. If it was any other pony you had to deal with, it would’ve worked. Sadly I’m not a normal unicorn.”

Nexus was looking over at his destroyed project, “I don’t understand, it should’ve worked. How would you have even known how I was using it?”

The Unicorn laughed again, “We’re The Enclave; we know everything.”

Violet screamed, “You killed my children, you’ll pay for that!”

I was shaking with rage as I looked at The Enclave soldiers who were about to take us on. They killed two of the Alicorns without even lifting a single weapon. I cursed and pulled Dream Walker out from its holster, “You’re going to pay for what you did here. I swear to the Goddesses that I’ll kill every last one of you.”

“Yeah, same goes for us,” Aura said pulling her spear off her back.

She started to laugh again, “Ahahaha…It’s cute how you think you can take us on. Most of the ponies here don’t know how to fight and the ones who do don’t stand a chance against us, but I’ll make you the offer one more time. Come with us and the rest will live.”

“No, I’m not doing anything you want. I’m so sick of this bullshit from you Enclave assholes,” I hit S.A.T.S. and fired one shot toward the mare, she teleported away before the round could hit her. Instead the bullet flew through a pony who was standing behind her, killing him instantly.

She reappeared a few feet away, “Fine, have it your way,” she turned toward another Pegasus. She was grey like Stardust, and even had the same odd coloring scheme on her wings, only instead of blue on the tips of the feathers hers were pink. Her mane matched them, and her eyes were dark blue, “Second Lieutenant Solstice. Kill every last pony in this shithole.”

“Yes Ma’am,” The pegasus said, the two laser rifles on her battle saddle glowing.

Laser Light said, “Shadow, I hope you’re ready for this, were in for a bad fight.”

“Oh, I’ve been ready for a long time now, let’s end this.”

The pegasus called Solstice smiled toward me, “I’ll take the Courier Mare, the rest of you kill everypony else. Don’t leave a single mare, colt or filly alive…”

Cherchez La Femme: You have become accustomed to conversating with Ponies of the same sex. You now do 10% more damage to Mares in battle, and have opened up unique dialogue as well, making it easier to persuade mares into doing your will.