//------------------------------// // 3 - The Enclave // Story: Fallout: Equestria - Resistance // by tom117z //------------------------------// Chapter Three: The Enclave “All hail the new Equestria! All hail the Enclave!” I could feel my senses getting overwhelmed with impressions as I stepped through the door. I don't know what I had been expecting to find on the other side of it. Part of me was expecting an Enclave base, of sorts. The realization that they had... won was still heavy on my mind, and a certain, especially pessimistic part of my mind was anticipating that they had already captured me; that I would be their prisoner and serve them for... whatever crazed ideas Enclave scientists had in mind. Part of me saw me standing in the battle-scarred ruins of New Appleloosa, simply because this was the last place I remembered myself in, and as odd as it may sound, it felt a little more soothing than expecting to wake up at the other end of Equestria. And a small... a very small, foalish part of my mind was hoping that, behind the door, I would find the familiar walls of Tenpony Tower; just go through the next best door, and find all my friends -Calamity, Velvet Remedy, SteelHooves, Xenith, and of course Homage- sitting together, just waiting for me to return. I'll admit, this wasn't particularly likely, but words couldn't express how much I wished for just that to happen. However, as I stepped through the door, I was met by something... rather sobering. A dark hallway; a cave of sorts, with thick, uneven stone walls. Partly relieved, partly disappointed, I let my head sink as I carefully stepped out the door. Walking had gotten noticeably easier since I had woken up. It still was a bit of a challenge, as my eye-hoof coordination wasn't back at its full power yet, but with a bit of effort, I carefully set one hoof in front of the other and stepped out into the dark cave. My look went to the PegWing around my ankle, my face turning into a frown. If this were a PipBuck, I could just push a button and- Suddenly, the device around my foreleg sprang to life, and from what I guessed was a hidden lamp, of sorts, came a beam of light that cut through the darkness with ease, lighting up the way ahead of me in a bright, light-blue light. Well... that worked. Eyeing the now brightly-gleaming device with a curious glance, I cocked an eyebrow, once again feeling the temptation to find myself a workbench and force this mysterious thing to tell me its secrets. But the sense of urgency prevailed… at least for now. Eager to find out just where I was, I cautiously turned my head to the left. The PegWing's bright light shone onto the rest of the cave-like corridor that went on for a few yards before it ended in a set of wooden stairs that led upward. So... I was in a bunker, of sorts? A subconscious shudder ran through my spine at the thought of being locked in a subterranean prison. However, I quickly stopped my mind from drifting too far off, and after casting another cautious glance at the set of stairs, started walking towards it, determined to finally get some clarity. The first couple of seconds that passed after I had pushed open the latch-like door at the top end of the stairs were… surreal. Deep down I might have expected some form of a flashback to when I had left Stable 2 for the first time, simply because the circumstances seemed almost similar. This, however, was nothing like my first venture into the Wasteland all those years ago. Back then I had been greeted by darkness, and a still, silent night. Now, all I felt was the sun mercilessly burning down on me. Even if the Enclave had won, I didn’t know if they had removed their cloud curtain, but at least in this moment, it felt like they had not only removed it entirely, but also cranked up the sun’s power output to eleven. Giving a groan and shielding my eyes with a hoof, I looked down. Getting my eyes to adjust to the sparse light in whatever cell I had been in had been hard, but this was an entirely new challenge altogether! Slowly, gradually, I could feel my heartbeat slow down. I didn’t know what I had been expecting upon leaving my underground hideout, but from what I could tell now, there was nothing and nopony around here. Other than the burning light still blinding me, all my ears picked up was the distant howl of a gentle wind that lightly ruffled through my coat. Despite all confusion and uncertainty, I could feel a weight fall off my back at that. At least from what it looked like now, I was indeed not in some form of Enclave hub. Slowly testing the waters, I cracked one of my eyes open. It still burned ever-so-slightly from being in the dark for so long, but I gave a sigh of relief as my vision slowly cleared, and I was looking at the dusty ground in front of me. Carefully, I raised my head, looking first to the right, then to the left, but never up so as to not overexert my eyes. Around me was… well, was nothing. Nothing save for the barren, dusty wasteland I had come to call my home throughout recent years, and… wait, what was that? I narrowed my eyes as I looked into the distance, blinking from the exhaustion. There, a couple miles away from where I was standing, was what looked like a silhouette of sorts. A silhouette of a city, no doubt. I couldn’t exactly tell due to the distance, but… it had an enormous wall right in its middle. ...Fillydelphia? Cocking an eyebrow, I looked around again, hoping to find any indications on where precisely I was, but coming up empty once again. Behind me lay nothing but even more empty wastes, along with what I now recognized as the hatch I had crawled out from, cleverly hidden between a bunch of unsuspecting dust-coloured rocks. Beyond that was nothing but the ever-grey sky, which -as I noticed now- was still covered in the all-too-familiar cloud curtain, the sun only visible by a single dull bright spot. So much for cranking it up to eleven. Shaking my head, I was about to begin walking towards the settlement to begin looking for clues there, as the memory of that video I had seen popped into my mind again. Remembering what they had said about that mysterious device on my foreleg, I raised a hoof, giving it an inspecting look. Well, if this thing really had at least roughly the same functions as a PipBuck, it should be easy enough finding my location, right? Sceptically, I raised a hoof, tapping it against the device’s invisible display. With a gentle sound, the heads-up-display appeared in front of me, and just like I had always done it with my PipBuck, I navigated myself towards the map-partition, and soon found myself looking at a… surprisingly high-resolution image of what I suspected were my surroundings. Really, it looked almost like a photo. Once again narrowing my eyes, I leaned my head forward to get a closer look at where I was. The PegWing, however, seemed to detect my intention, and as soon as my eyes had narrowed, the map zoomed in on a small red square that I suspected marked my current position. “Wow...” I mouthed silently as I looked in awe at the futuristic technology. Did that thing… sense that I wanted to zoom in or something? Hell, I really, really wanted to take this thing apart! However, my thoughts came to a halt as a notification popped up at the top end of the screen, informing me that a new location had been found, and I felt my eyes widen as the map revealed the city; well… that part of it visible on the picture, to be… I swallowed, flashback images rushing past my mind’s eye as I read the name. New Appleloosa. Slowly, my look went up again towards the enormous silhouette. This… this was New Appleloosa? The small trader’s town? This was it!? I swallowed. If I had had any doubts about whether or not I really had been out for forty years, they were cleared away now. But… but… The Enclave video I had seen replayed in my mind. If what had been said in there was true, I could only imagine what the once small town looked like, now that the Enclave had done… whatever it was they did with Wasteland cities. That thought caused an all-new wave of doubts to pop up in my head. The Enclave, and with them almost everpony in Equestria, it seemed, thought I was dead. Of course, I doubted that I was public enemy number one to the Enclave, but looking at our shared past, I doubted I’d be too welcome in an Enclave-ruled city. Then, however, my look went downward, falling onto the set of two white hooves in front of me, and I was reminded that… well, I didn’t look like the Littlepip they knew anymore. In fact, doing a quick measurement of myself I could see that I’m now the normal height of my age! If anypony were still searching for me, I doubted I’d stick out too much. I thought about that for a second, then felt a mischievous smile form on my face as I got an idea. I was wearing the… PipBuck-thing of a pony called Sparkplug. I didn’t look like Littlepip. So, who was to say that I couldn’t simply slip into the role of Sparkplug if anypony were to ask me about it? It seemed more reasonable than walking around shouting “Hey, look at me! I’m Littlepip and I’m still alive!” in any case, really. But I shook my head. Assuming that name was an option, but nothing I wanted to take for granted. Better to put that thought off for now. Instead, my look went back to the map still hovering in front of me, and I noticed something else. A small arrow of sorts, sitting at the far-left end of the map. I looked over to it, once again narrowing my eyes, and the futuristic device around my ankle, somehow seeming to detect the notion, zoomed in on it, and a small window popped up, reading ‘Meeting with Steampunk - Big Hoof Diner’ I cocked an eyebrow. How… How did that thing…? But again, I shook my head. Too many questions on mind, waaay too many questions. I needed to get some answers. And right now, as much as I wanted to just turn away and go anywhere, New Appleloosa seemed like the most dependable place to go to for answers. Keeping that in mind, I looked over my head again, before directing my attention back on the enormous city ahead of me, took one last deep breath, and began walking. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that I got closer to that massive city ahead of me. And really, the closer I got, the more impressive it seemed to me. I had been to Canterlot and even Manehatten, but this place overshadowed them all. In size, in sprawl, and… well, in decay as well. Surrounding me were buildings; buildings that looked like they had served as residential houses once, but similar to most buildings in the Equestrian Wasteland… well, that wasteland I knew, anyway... were largely decayed and all seemed at the verge of collapse. That normally wouldn’t have surprised me too much. Because really, decaying buildings were a more than common sight in the Wasteland. Besides, if this place really was New Appleloosa, it was obvious that these had been built after I had… disappeared. But why were they this rundown already? Had the Enclave already left these parts of the city behind? It was these thoughts that were on my mind as I stepped through the surprisingly intact, but all the more neglected streets of what must have been some sort of suburb of whatever New Appleloosa had turned into now. However, my thoughts came to a halt as my ears perked up, and I heard something. A voice. A mare’s voice, that sounded truly horrified. “Help!” the scream caused my ears to twitch as my head shot around, searching for its origin, “Somepony help me!” Feeling my heart rate quicken, I looked around again, my thoughts finally coming to rest on a dark, derelict alleyway that literally had ambush written all over it. “P-please! Someone! Anyone! Help me!” I bit my lip, nervously pacing on the spot. It took me a few seconds before my mind finally overrode my common sense, and I started running, dashing towards the shady-looking alley. As I came closer, I could roughly make out the shape of two ponies - a small, slender unicorn mare, and a buff, muscular earth pony stallion. The mare was lying on the ground, clinging to a small, rusty piece of pipe as a makeshift weapon of self-defence, her eyes wide in primal fear as the stallion loomed over her like a predator about to strike. The mare’s eyes widened even further as she saw me approaching. “You!” she shouted as I was about ten yards away, “Please! Please help me!” I opened my mouth, clenching my teeth in uncontrolled fury. “Step away from her!” I slid to a sudden halt, my ears perking up at the shout. That had been a voice I had never heard before. Which, in all seriousness, wouldn’t be such a big deal if I didn’t know exactly that I had just opened my mouth, intending to shout these very words at the attacker. Instantly, my head shot around, searching for any other ponies that might want to intervene, but finding nothing but the deserted streets behind me. “What the …” I muttered as I quickly turned my head back towards the attacker and his victim. In exactly that moment, two fundamentally important things became clear to me. First, the voice I had heard before was indeed my voice. I didn’t know what exactly had happened to me, but for some reason, my voice sounded nothing like I expected it to sound - a fact that would have almost thrown me off my hooves if it weren’t for what I saw in front of me at that moment. Because second, I now found myself staring into the barrels of a loaded shotgun and a rusty submachine gun; the shotgun was held by an aura of blue magic, and the submachine gun being attached to a battle saddle respectively. “Nice and slow now,” the once so distraught mare, now back on her four hooves, said with a wicked grin on her face, kicking the metal pipe she had clung to like a lifesaver moments ago behind herself. “Don’t want anyone to get hurt, right?” It was at this moment that I knew I had screwed up. I was defenceless. I had no armour, not even clothing, no weapons, no ammo, nothing at all. And I had run into that ambush like a naive little foal. Why did this feel familiar? “Yuh heard her,” the stallion grunted past the mouth trigger in his muzzle. “Empty those pockets.” “I… uh… what?” I stuttered, partly because shock still dominated my mind, partly because I couldn’t believe what he had just said. Seriously, couldn’t he see that I didn’t have any pockets!? “You heard me!” the petite mare snarled with a surprisingly strong voice, motioning with a hoof towards my neo-PipBuck. “That thing there! Empty it!” “...What!?” I asked again, legitimately confused now. Either they knew something about this device I didn’t, or the Enclave had managed to create even dumber raiders than those I knew. “Quit fucking around!” the mare hissed again, floating the shotgun towards me and pressing it against my head. “Do it! Now!” “I… I’m sorry, I-” I stuttered, my look now going down to my PegWing, my hoof frantically tapping the device’s interface, pretending that I knew what I was doing. My look went behind the raider mare for just a second, and a new idea struck my mind. “Just… just one second! Please… please don’t shoot!” I begged in that strange new voice of mine, my horn lighting up, an aura of magic forming around the device, “I’ll… I’ll just take it off! Okay? You can have it!” “Quit playing stupid you dumb cunt!” the stallion snarled at me, his submachine gun still pointed at my head. “Just empty your storage compartment and-” He fell silent abruptly as the mare’s lead pipe collided with the back of his head, knocking him out cold. The mare followed only split seconds after, her magic field around the shotgun vanished in an instant, and I was able to let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding onto as their unconscious bodies fell to the dirt. They were then shortly followed to the ground by their weapons. I looked at the two ponies for a few seconds, feeling my heart rate gently calm down again, then let out a long, relieved sigh. “Good to see old tricks still work in the future,” I quietly said to myself, but flinched ever so slightly at the still alien sound of my own voice. Hell, if I’d ever get my hooves on Life Bloom again he’s going to have a lot of explaining to do! But these thoughts aside, my curiosity was piqued by something else the raider had said. Slowly, my look went back to the device around my foreleg. From what they had said, it almost sounded like this thing had a storage compartment of its own. Of course, inventory sorting spells were nothing new for me, having worked with PipBucks all my life, but a PipBuck with an inventory of its own … that sounded surreal, even to me. Still, I couldn’t help it. Tapping the PegWing again, I accessed the device’s main menu, and indeed, after a few moments, I stumbled over a partition titled ‘Inventory’. I cocked an eyebrow as a new window opened, and two images appeared in front of me. One was what looked like an overall of sorts. The other one was -thank Celestia- something familiar I could easily recognize for once: a revolver-plain, basic and simple. But… if that was my inventory, where the hell were those things? I wasn’t wearing any equipment on me whatsoever, so the only possibility would be… Hesitantly, I reached forward, tapping the image of the pistol with a hoof. I flinched, barely holding back a squeak as, suddenly, a bright cone of light erupted from a partition of my PegWing. Similar to a flashlight, it focused on the ground in front of me for a few seconds, causing me to quickly turn my eyes away so as to not get blinded again. The glaring light lasted for a few seconds, before, with a confirming beep it suddenly faded again, causing me to carefully turn my head back and look at the spot where the light had lit up the ground. My eyes widened. There, lying right in front of me, was that very same revolver I had seen in my inventory mere seconds ago. Likewise, it was now no longer on the PegWing’s screen. Hesitantly, I picked the freshly produced weapon up with my magic, holding it in front of my face to examine it. Really, it seemed like any other revolver. A quick look into the barrel revealed that it was fully loaded as well. But… did it work? “Only one way to find out…” I muttered to myself in that still strange voice as my magic slowly turned the gun around, pointing it at the wall in front of me, and pulled the trigger. BANG! Well … that worked. Cringing, my ears folding back from the sudden noise, I stared at the almost hoof-sized hole gaping in the wall opposite to me. “Wow…” I mused, but I couldn’t contain the smallest of grins forming on my face. It sure felt good knowing that I wasn’t completely naked anymore. With that said… My look went back to the inventory-partition, now with only one item remaining. Less hesitant this time, I tapped a hoof against the image of the overall, expecting it to materialize in a similar fashion to the gun before. This time, however, I flinched again, as this time the bright light engulfed my own body, and I felt myself wanting to panic. But just as abruptly as it had started, it was over, and as the light faded, I found myself fully dressed in that very same overall I had just selected. “Mother of…” Again, I couldn’t contain my confusion. Confusion that increased even more as I spotted another button at the side of the screen reading ‘Add new item’. Confused, yet with my curiosity awoken, I tapped the button with a hoof and watched the mysterious light cone appear again at the same spot it had been before. Raising an eyebrow, I looked at the pump-action shotgun the raider had dropped. This felt… all kinds of stupid to my logic-loving mind, but… I swayed my leg to the side, so that the light cone was shining onto the shotgun, and I couldn’t contain a gasp of surprise as I watched it rest on the gun for a second before, right before my eyes, the weapon vanished in the bright light, and with a sound of confirmation, an image of that very same shotgun appeared in my inventory-menu less than a second later. I stood still for a few moments, my look resting on the weapon this mysterious device had just … assimilated. Seriously, I was gone for forty years? Because it felt like a thousand to me right now. Again, I shook my head, forcing my mind back on track. Standing here and being confused wouldn’t answer any of my questions. I had to get to that Big Hoof Diner-thing and see if I can find whoever this ‘Steampunk’ guy was. Anything else wouldn’t get me anywhere. With that in mind, I was just about ready to get underway again, but I hesitated as my eyes fell onto the two unconscious ponies’ remaining weapons and armour, and I gave a shrug. Better take what I can get, right? A few minutes later, slowly but steadily, I approached the great wall I had spotted in the distance before. Well, what I could see of it, anyway. The scenery around me hadn’t really changed. Decaying, derelict buildings surrounded me. Occasionally I would see ponies looking my way from the shadows and alleys, but I suspected the gun I was keeping with me did scare off most potential assaulters. Slowly, I let my gaze wander upwards, looking up at the enormous wall. How in Equestria was I going to get in there? Really, it felt like Fillydelphia all over again. However, concluding to delay the worrying until I had actually reached the wall, I shook my head and continued in my walk, but stopped abruptly as I was alerted from an alarm coming from my PegWing. ‘WARNING’ appeared in bright red letters on the holograph suddenly popping up and flashing menacingly. ‘APPROACHING OFF LIMITS AREA’ I cocked an eyebrow at that, raising my head and looking around. Just like before, I was surrounded by slowly decaying suburbs, with the giant wall looming ahead of me. Carefully, I took another step forward, then another one. The warning flashed a couple more times, then fell silent again, the projected screen vanishing in an instant. “What the…?” I muttered silently, wondering where precisely that had come from, but perked up as my ears picked up noises coming from somewhere to my right. I stopped dead in my tracks, my ears perking up. Were those… shouts? I could fear my heart pound as my ears picked up another wave of noise, this time definitely shouts. My head shot around, searching my surroundings. My eyes widened as I spotted a group of ponies standing in the distance, about fifteen meters away from where I was, in a smaller side road. My first thought had been that I was about to encounter another group of raiders looking to, well, raid me, but that thought was quickly overshadowed by a frightening realization as my still weary eyes spotted the uniforms, as well as a few sets of sleek power armour. I was looking at Enclave soldiers. These Enclave soldiers looked different. The soldiers that weren’t in power armour had black and grey combat uniform that covered them from the neck to hoof, their heads were also covered with a sleek combat helmet and a type of gas mask, with the eyelids glowing a yellow light. The power armoured soldiers shared a similar design as well, all with a white strap around each of their left shoulders. But something else I noticed. The Enclave soldiers… they weren’t all pegasi. Six were earth ponies, two of which were in power armour and the others in combat uniforms, which included five unicorns in the same combat uniforms as well. The remaining four soldiers were pegasi with their own type of power armour with the same design as the others. Despite wondering why other ponies are in the Enclave’s military, but for the moment I could feel my heart sink as they moved towards my direction, my instincts telling me to take to my hooves and make a run for it before they could see me. Sure, I might not look like the pony they’re looking for anymore, but Celestia knows I’d be doing good avoiding any contact with soldiers whatsoever at this point. Then, however, I noticed something. The soldiers stopped and were now standing in front of what seemed like the only somewhat inhabitable house in the area, weapons drawn and barking orders at something or someone I couldn’t quite make out. I cocked an eyebrow, hesitating for another moment, before I carefully took a step forward, sticking to the ruined buildings’ facades so as to not cause any attention as I carefully inched closer to the group of soldiers. It took only a few moments until I was close enough to be in earshot, and only a few seconds later, I saw just what was happening. A smaller group of ponies was led out of the house at gunpoint. They didn’t look like soldiers or even raiders though. Hell, they weren’t armed, and their torn clothes and malnourished bodies made them look like … well, like regular wastelanders, really. I kept my head low, eyeing what was happening with a sceptical glance. Why were they harassing simple scavengers? By all means, it didn’t seem like- That train of thought was derailed as I watched the group of three soldiers in armour raise their magical energy weapons at the civilians… and fire. My eyes widened as I watched their shapes engulfed in a bright red glow, and I could feel myself sink to the ground as they fell to the ground as a small heap of ashes. For what felt like an eternity, I just sat there, watching numbly as the remains of the ponies were blown away in the wind. It took me a bit to come to my senses again, and when I did, the desire to draw my newly acquired weapons and give those soldiers a piece of my mind was overwhelming, but thankfully, the reasonable parts of my mind prevailed for once, knowing that I wouldn’t last five seconds in an open battle. Instead, I decided to lay low for now; I needed to watch and wait for the right moment to pounce. Having limited possibilities really didn’t leave you with too much to choose from. A few, awfully tense seconds passed, and I could feel the temptation to just go out there and do something after all rise up within me but fall silent abruptly as I watched a new group of ponies being led out of the house. I gasped, my jaw dropping. Two of these ponies were awfully young! One was dark blue unicorn filly with her red mane in braids, and the other was a tiny green earth pony foal less than a year old who was in the other filly’s magic while fearfully crying. And just like that, I could feel a new wave of anger rise up within me. No, not just anger. Pure, unfiltered rage! However, just as I was about to access the inventory of my PegWing to pull out my shotgun, I froze in place as a loud, resounding voice came from behind me. “Hey!” somepony barked at me, their voice unmistakably aggressive. “What are you doing there!?” I spun around, my eyes widening as I saw three ponies in armour walking up to me, their weapons at the ready. I bit my lip, my mind kicking into combat mode. I had to think! I had to think fast! I had to act! Feeling my body tense up, I got ready to fight -or run, whichever would seem like the better alternative, expecting the soldiers to shoot me on sight any second now. However, what I didn’t expect was for one of them to walk up to me, plant himself in front of me and shout. “Let me see your ID.” “...What?” I asked, a little dumbfounded by the fact that he hadn’t fired at me yet. “ID?” "ID." I couldn’t help but to flinch with a barely contained shriek as, accompanied by a mechanic-sounding female voice, the device around my foreleg sprang to life yet again, presenting not me, but the pony in front of me with a small, holographic window where, gradually, text appeared, being read out aloud by that same voice. “Name: Sparkplug. Race: Unicorn. Occupation: Mechanic. City of Birth: Las Pegasus. Age: 21. Rank: Honorary Citizen of the Grand Equestrian Enclave.” That last part was, as I noticed, written in slightly bolder writing. He was still reading it, or at least I think with his eyes hidden away behind the glowing eyelids of his mask. He looked away from the PegWing’s impromptu screen and instead looked me in the eyes. The screen also showed a photo of me, or at least the pony I looked like. But apparently, he had nothing to complain about in this regard. “What are you doing here, citizen?” he barked at me bluntly. “This is a restricted military area. Off limits for honorary civilians.” “I, uh…” I stuttered cluelessly for a few seconds, then shrugged innocently. “I was just trying to get into the city. Must have gotten lost on the way.” I explained, giving him the most innocent, sheepish smile that I could muster. The soldier looked at me in silence for a few long moments. The longer the silence dragged out, the more worried I became that he wouldn’t buy it, but to my very relief, he merely shook his head. “You’re damn right you got lost on the way,” he replied snappishly. “City’s this way,” he said, tilting his head into the direction I had come from. “Now move along.” “Uh … alright.” I nodded hesitantly, pretending to turn around and be on my way, but then stopped. In a voice that I hoped sounded innocent and inauspicious, I asked: “Uhm, what are you doing here?” “None of your concern,” he replied, turning around and getting back to…that. Every inch of my body wanted me to kill them. Kill them all and make it painful. I had two guns, a couple bullets for each, no armour, no backup… no friends. I’m… I’m alone. Again. It hit me like a sledgehammer that I have no idea where my friends are. Velvet, Calamity, Xenith, Homage… My Celestia, if it has been forty years… Are they… still alive? As I was about to turn around, an explosion came near the Enclave. “Resistance! Formation!” One of them yelled. I quickly looked back, seeing one of the captives shoved the two foals to the side before picking up a… rather different looking magical energy rifle. I ran, grabbing the foals in my magic and ran with them some building down, taking cover around a corner. The foals clung to me while I squeezed them back. From the angle I sat at, I could see the battle. The Enclave was fighting a group of ponies who wore various pieces of clothing but, under them, I could see bits and pieces of armour. Combat armour like the Talons, one was wearing what I swear was stable guard armour under a rather baggy looking dirty shirt. Some had energy weapons, one had a grenade rifle, and the others had regular firearms. Strange, the sound of gunfire is… relaxing? Let’s not look into what that means for my psyche. “For the Resistance!” one of the attacking ponies yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts and back to the battle before me. They were losing. Badly. Already the ones with lesser armours were nothing more than ash piles, while the others were taking whatever cover they could. It was for nought, however, as what I can only call a mechanical monster arrived. It walked on four legs but was built to resemble some sort of crab, bearing two massive guns, if you can call them that, on each shoulder and what I recognized as a souped-up plasma weapon mounted in the center of its front hull. While its shoulder mounted weapons looked stationary, meaning the thing will most likely be looking at a target to fire, it’s magical energy weapon looked free to move around if needed though, and it did just that. It targeted a pony that was still shooting at Enclave soldiers and fired. As fast as my old zebra rifle could shoot, that’s how fast the green orbs of magical energy moved, the pony instantly turning into a pile of green goo that melted into the cracks and rubble they once stood on. I needed to get these foals out of here. Still levitating the foals, I ran deeper into the ally way. Desperately, I looked around while finding only a window open rather high above me. Looking around, I found a dumpster and managed to push its rusted wheels over under the window. Luna, being the size of a normal pony rocks! With that done, I carefully floated the foals into it and hopped the dumpster, before hopping again into the window. I made that in two jumps, thinking how at my old height I would have had to crawl my way up here! Being normal height is the best! Once in, the foals huddled near me with the area around us being a half rebuild factory of sorts. Bang. I'd recognize that sound anywhere. That was the sound of a weapon I had when I got out of the stable, got captured, survived a firefight and used it to avoid both death and being robbed of everything. A shotgun. I looked over the railings. There were other ponies there, dressed in ragged clothes, tied and blindfolded… Bang. And an Enclave soldier was shooting them each in the head one by one. Murderers. Forty years… and they’re still murdering innocent ponies! “Hey, you!” the soldier yelled, pointing the gun at me. “Move over, I can’t get a clear shot of those two!” “Oh, SCREW YOU!” I yelled, my magical aura appearing around his head… and quickly forcing it too far around, an audible crack echoing in the rather large and empty building. There was a stairway leading down, and the foals followed me down it. I quickly grabbed the soldier’s weapons, his shotgun was… different from what I was used to. It was a double barrel but looked… well, new. In my travels I never have seen a weapon like this, closest being a magical energy rifle or sniper rifle. It has a strange clip on it, I quickly took it out, seeing it was two clips acting as one. Each had four shots left in the- Huh. So, four shots either way. Weird gun. I searched his body still, finding a familiar sight, a combat knife, and smiled. I quickly unblinded everypony was wasn’t killed and cut them loose. There were five ponies in total, and when I looked... nine dead. Forty years, technology advanced, Celestia knows what else did also... and yet the world hasn't changed a bit. Not really. “Thank you.” I turned around, one of the ponies I freed said: “We were goners for sure.” “Oh… No problem,” I replied. “So, where are we?” “The outer Districts. Where death is daily.” He said, giving a half effort chuckle. “Outer Districts to…?” “New Appleoosa,” he said, my mind trying to process that the train scrap-built town I saw so long ago has... Districts. “Passage to the Upper Districts is a ways from here. You can only get in if you're a citizen of the Enclave.” “And these foals?” I asked. I then felt a nudge at my side, looking over, I saw the oldest one still clinging to the infant foal. “We can find our home miss,” she said. “But-” “It’s okay, here,” she insisted, motioning for me to give her my ‘PipBuck’, which I did. She then did some things and placed a marker on my map, it being set for a place a bit of a ways from here. “This is our home, my sis and I have an older brother there, we all live with our mom.” She looked at her sister. “I was just letting her get some fresh air when the Enclave saw us. If you stop by there, please, take a rest. I’ll try and have some goodies for you.” “Oh no, that’s not-” I started, before the little filly pecked me on my cheek, trotting off saying. “You’re my hero, Miss.” I stood there for a time. Hero… Forty years, at least that hasn't changed about me. I put the strange new shotgun into my PegWing and headed towards where it was leading me to. The map detail on this, I hated to admit, was better than the PipBuck ever was. I decided to help the time pass and check the radio. There were four stations. Enclave News, Enclave Radio DJ, Enclave Stock Market, and Enclave Sports News. “Let’s just stick with music for now,” I said to nopony, tuning in the music station. It was a familiar song, one I am glad is still on the air. Actually, I think this is the first song I ever heard after leaving the stable… Wow, the irony. The song quickly ended though, and what came up was… what the? "And now, my ponies, an Enclave original," the DJ announced. "From the sky they fell to protect all the land," "The Enclave! The Enclave!" What the hay? I thought- Wow. This song was just… bad. Not just in the fact it’s about the Enclave but the lyrics and tune of the music, in general, was just bad. I lifted my PegWing, ready to turn it off when… New Radio Station Found: Resistance Pirate Radio. Hot damn, so good music then. I tuned in. "Greetings ponies, griffons, and everything from here to the unreached Zebra lands, I am Caine Atch, and I am here to tell you to join the resistance. Forty years have passed since the Lightbringer Littlepip fell in battle and in those forty years the Enclave have hunted down every surviving participant of that was, executing them publicly, branding them terrorists, and for what?" "They treat the earth ponies like dirt, making them farm the soil without rest. They make the unicorns work day and night, developing new weapons, technology, and maintaining the city. And the pegasi, they sit fat and happy, up in the clouds, and the honorary citizens are treated like royalty in the first district. Foals born from Dashite parents marked at birth and are forced to do the gruelling work of ‘Maintaining Mutant Populations’ by being thrown into the pre-war train tunnels and are only given cheap armour with a single gun with just a single clip." The venom in the DJ's voice was almost infectious, he wholly meant every word he said. "They throw their own to die and those who obey their sadistic rule live in luxury palaces atop a foundation of blood and corpses. Well, we will not stand for it! We, the resistance, will carry the torch of the Lightbringer’s ideals, her legacy and we will tear down the district walls and slaughter the mindless soldiers of the Enclave’s army, and we will behead Death Scythe, and place it on a spike for all her so-called ‘glorious Enclave’ to view." He took a moment to collect himself, but then he continued. "If you see our mark, and you feel hope as you look at it, then join us, or give aid in any way you can. Aid, hiding places, ammo, guns, any little thing you can my friends, we will take and repay when the Enclave falls!" "And now, a personal favourite of mine, The Last Love, the final work of one Velvet Remedy, and co-sang by the Lightbringer’s lover, Homage." My ears perked up at that. "From deep underground, she walked out that stable with fear and regret." That was Velvet’s voice that sung... "Tricked and deceived she still searched for me, with love and concern, just wanting me." "With all of her strength and all of her weaponry she found me… and I said:" “Don’t want to be rescued, don’t want you to help. I just want to be free.” Right... at Old Appleoosa. She left the stable willingly, and she was willing to help slavers just so she can heal ponies. Medicine was her true passion, singing was more of a hobby to Velvet… "But she kept on and fought on, and from her bravery and trust, friendship grew. While I loved another, she was forced to move on, and found a one to love. A one, who loved her too." "Selfless and beaming with beauty she walked into my world, and all of the pains of the past just melted away." Homage… "Without question and with an unknown reward, she brought me a trinket and her reward was my heart." "I cared, and I worried and now… Now… My love is gone… but my heart says no." I turned off the song. Homage… You felt it, that I was still alive? “Homage, if you still feel this… I will find you. Heh, guess it’s a good thing I like older mares,” I joked, trying to make myself chuckle, but it half worked. Out of all of them, Homage… You must have hurt the worst. Life Bloom… you saved me. But why lie to my- our friends? Why let all this happen? Why do this to me? Why go through all this? Was I that bad? What was the end game here? My body healed, then altered. You change my body and name, all so I can pass as dead. Then I get frozen for forty years. Was it longer than you thought, or am I early? “Gah!” I huff, stomping my hoof on the metal walkway. “When I find you, Life Bloom, I will thank you, then I will hurt you,” I grumbled, all sorts of emotions stewing in me. I took a deep breath, calming myself before I did something stupid. After a few minutes I’m calm enough to think clearer than I just was. “Okay… First off, get to this First District and learn all I can about what happened and see if any of my friends. To see if they are alive or not…” I shook that thought out of my head. My friends are alive. If they kept onto anything from being around me, it would be to be too stubborn to die. Stubborn and lucky. Finally getting off my flank, I exited the building and saw markings along the sides of the surrounding structures that led me to what looked like an armoured and fortified version of the underground tram entrances. There were cameras watching and when I, despite every instinct in my body telling me otherwise, walked into their lines of sight. Then a voice spoke from...the camera? “Please present PegWing,” a robotic, lifeless voice spoke. I lifted up the leg I had the PegWing on, and then one of the tram entrance looking things made a ‘pop; sound, a hatch opening up on it. I walked over to it, and it had a slot in the exact outline of the Pegwing’s underside. I placed it in, and all sorts of lines of what I recognized as code were streaming across my Pegwing’s screen. Finally, after about a minute, the robotic voice spoke again. “Access granted. Residency verified, welcome to First District honorary Enclave citizen,” it said as a metal door opened in front of me. I walked in, a sudden cattle-like feeling washing over me for some reason as I entered. Once in the door closed behind me and I yelped at the slamming sound it made. Part of me expected something like that but I didn’t see how it made such a loud sound until I saw it from this angle. Heavy, thick metal sheets and concrete were stuck to the back part of it. Gonna take more than a grenade or two to break through that. Then… I saw myself looking at a clear, chain link fence with the other side being all green and sunny… Okay… the hell just happened? I looked up, then noticed the clouds further in were… open. Sunlight. Real sunlight. I made myself keep a brisk trot towards the inner city. As I looked at the walls I noticed they were all mostly made up of sheet metal or bricks that were kept together with concrete. And maybe some wonderglue for good measure. As I realized I was reaching another door, I stopped, turning to two posters that were resting on this particular spot of the wall. Before my eyes, were two ponies, I knew them both, one I want to hurt, one... Well, she grew up. Wanted: Life Bloom. Race: Unicorn. Age: 67. Wanted dead or alive for crimes against the Grand Equestrian Enclave. Rank: Terrorist. Reward: two million bits and honorary citizenship. Wanted: Silver Bell. Race: Unicorn. Age: 52. Wanted dead (preferable) or alive (optional) for leading, conspiring, and acting on illegal activities all targeted against the Grand Equestrian Enclave. Rank: Terrorist. Reward: fifty million bits, and honorary citizenship. Damn filly, what did you get yourself into. I found myself chuckling at this. I don’t know why, really. But looking at her in this wanted poster, is she… doing what I would have done? No, that’s not it. Well, half it. I guess I influenced her… Maybe a little. I remember when I first met her. She was painted pink and, though I didn’t know that at the time, obsessed with Pinkie Pie, and for all the wrong reasons. She sawed off her own horn, had an undetonated megaspell for fireworks and lost her family to raiders just because she couldn’t keep her magic under control. It’s not her fault. It never was. And there I was, half paying attention to all of that and trying to break into her safe where a recipe for special Mint-als was kept. I guess we both were pretty bad back then… Looking at her in this poster, I think I see how other ponies saw me. A symbol and act of hope and freedom. Forty years... Glad to see somepony is keeping the ideals and morals I unintentionally spread while ‘alive’. I took both posters down, carefully rolling them up and storing them in my PegWing. If anypony asks I can just say I might get lucky one day, but I am keeping them for just in case I find them. And as memoirs. Oh, wait! I took Life Bloom’s out, finding I had a pencil in my PegWing and graffitied his poster, giving him googly eyes and a dog-like tongue sticking out under a stupid looking moustache. With that out of my system, I stored it back into the PegWing and continued on with my trot. When I finally exited that hallway, of sorts, I found myself in a rather... odd machine, I think. “Radiation detected,” another robotic voice spoke, the door behind me that I entered closing as… I got wet, some kind of smelly water slashing me from everywhere. It stunk. Not as bad as some of the things I was forced to breath, but pretty bad, like… week old trash bad. Finally, when it was over, some nicer smelling water followed. It smelled like soap, no distinct smell, just plain soap. Then just plain water splashed me, then air blew at me from under and over really hard! That felt REALLY unwanted. There was then this… blue light for a moment. “Resident radiation free and dry, please enjoy the upper districts,” it said as a door opened in front of me and the light almost blinded me some. Letting my eyes quickly adjust, I trotted out of… whatever that was. Though, I felt… slower for some reason, like it was hard for me to move. I was in… well, a street. Ponies of all kinds were lined up in front of me, cheering and celebrating something that I couldn't see. Having to force my way through the crowd, I saw what was going on. A parade. Celebrating the Enclave… In the stable, we read all about pre-war parades and the big floats, bands marching and other amazing things they portrayed. Seeing one was amazing… even if it’s for the Enclave. Big moving stages… floats, right. The floats moved through the street, all carrying Enclave soldiers while in between each ponies of varying races walked through. Mares, mainly pegasi, were throwing batons and twirling them in all sorts of fashions. Earth ponies were carrying flag poles, the design of the flags being the same plain white with a black circle in the middle with two yellow lightning bolts over the circle forming an ‘X’. Huh, I guess they got bored of the 'E with stars' motif. Still, I'd be lying if I didn't say the parade was kinda nice to look at. There were those… things like what I saw earlier too, moving along in the parade, several of them. Then I heard this fast-moving wind sound. Everypony around me was looking up, and I did too. Pegasi in outfits that were the same colour as the flags waving were flying around, leaving trails of smoke and performing what seemed to be aerial stunts… and I gotta say, it looks awesome! They did twirls, loops, and finished with an explosion of colours followed by a loud explosion of the same white, yellow, and black colours. I have no idea what that is, but it was amazing. Looking back down I saw the floats, and more of those weird tanks… and rows of Enclave soldiers in what I think are power armours made to match those tanks and regular infantry troops in similar colours, all marching down the street. There was a mare with a megaphone on one of the tanks, and she was about to speak. “Hello everypony! As you all know, our Cerberus Tanks were HIGHLY improved remodels of the pre-war Ultra-Sentinels. They feature better mobility, extreme firepower with two 8.8cm cannons mounted at each side and a magic plasma minigun at its center. Best of all, it also has a special programmed AI that can tell enemies from allies, even if a pony can’t tell, it can. It's always updating its software via wireless terminal links to the Central Data Hub, this is also how it tells allies from enemies, as all Enclave personnel and civilian data, including facial data, are stored there.” Hot damn! It has all that!? No wonder Life Bloom or… whoever got me this PegWing and citizenship did that, these things are crazy! “And now everypony, it’s time for the main event!” As she said that… the ground shook. “It’s been in the making for over ten years, but here, finally, the pinnacle of the Enclave’s weapons and Technology divisions, Fillies and Gentlecolts.” The earth shook again. “The big, the bad, the Hades Tank!” We all turned our heads and… My jaw dropped. Walking down the street looked similar to a Cerberus Tank, except it was bigger… way bigger. It was eight stories high, had huge gatling cannons on its right and left sides, what I realized were modified balefire egg launchers in rows to shoot, what else?! BALEFIRE EGGS! And in the center some sort of larger weapon. “It features sixteen-inch gatling cannons on both sides, twelve modified, fully automatic balefire egg launchers for those pesky crowds of rebels, and a fifty-inch railgun turret in the center that is able to break apart buildings and even damage a stable’s door. Which reminds me, the armour of the tank is just as strong as a stable door! So, no worries there. Unlike the Cerberus Tank, the Hades Tank is pony operated, and it takes ten brave soldiers to operate and drive it effectively. But to be honest, I’d rather be in that than on the battleground. So far only two hundred have been made…” Two hundred!? Only!? “...but it is predicted that more than a thousand will be produced by the end of this year!” I gotta get out of here… take a break… I almost fell over when I finally moved. My legs were weak and my breathing hard. I just walked until I found myself in the nearest building. It was a tavern of sorts. It was all wood, the seats with stitched in cushions. It looked… classy. I took a seat in a booth and tried to calm myself. As if those Cerberus Tanks weren’t bad enough… those things… how in the heck are we gonna…? We… Right, alone right now. Got just a few weapons, no allies, no friends… and little to no idea other than what feels like a pipe dream goal of taking down a power than now seems to control most of the world. Celestia, Luna, if you two are watching, please help me… you probably watched me since I left the stable and did all that crazy stuff, cause, let’s be honest, I should have died long ago from all that crap I did… “Um, miss?” I looked up, my prayer halted by a stallion speaking to me. “Mind if I have a seat? I hate sitting alone.” “Oh, um, sure,” I said. He took a seat, though, with a stool between us, he seemed to be keeping to his own devices. I just sighed, crossing my hooves and just watching the ponies in the tavern. Some were colts, young mares just hanging out and enjoying milkshakes… those mares looked fine~ No! Bad Littlepip! Homage is alive, and despite the age difference physically, she is still your love, and it’s a love I am determined to rekindle! AGH! Why is my life always hard!? I just continued watching the ponies in the tavern until I saw an Enclave pony walk in. He was dressed in some sort of black trench coat uniform, a black peaked cap on top his head, and medals covering his chest area. He walked in, his eyes scanned the diner until he noticed the stallion and I. Gazing at us, he smiled and walked over to us. As he got close, I noticed on his upper left forehoof was a white hoofband with the same design as the flags I scene outside. I also notice his features, he looked like an above average fit stallion and his coat was a rather light brown and his mane was a darker brown. “Greetings zer, Fräulein, you look new to town.” He then looked at the stallion. “You both do, in fact.” “I just got my citizenship,” the stallion said. “Yeah, me too,” I said. “Well zen, zis is cause for celebration. Indeed, I'll go order us some milkshakes, vat would you like, Fräulein?” “Um...” Who is this guy, and what was with the broken Equestrian? Must be an officer, but he’s an earth pony? Guess they aren’t as racist as they used to be. “Chocolate please.” “What’s a milkshake?” the stallion asked. Wow, that level of un-education is still a thing. Well, I can imagine outside this place the wasteland is still the same as it was when I left it, well, maybe more hectic with the Enclave everywhere. The Enclave officer, meanwhile, just looked at him before shrugging. “I’ll take zat as vanilla.” He then called for a waitress who came over. He ordered one strawberry, one chocolate, and one vanilla milkshake. He then sat next to me… yay… “So, mind if I zee your identifications?” he asked. The stallion next to me brought out a PegWing and showed his... profile, for lack of a better word, and I did the same. He looked at them for a while before motioning for us to close them, and we did. “Wonderful,” he said, our milkshakes arriving. Then I heard a small mechanical sound, and he passed our shakes to us… His hoof! His right forehoof was no longer a hoof, now it was a metal claw, like a griffon’s almost. Moved like it too, but it’s metal and looks like it’s either part of, or hooked up, to the rest of his foreleg. “Ein toast! Jawohl!” he said, chugging his milkshake down. I just sipped mine from the straw and stared at his claw hoof thing. He stopped his chugging at half the glass then took a breath. “How is the Uber District? Oh! How rude of me! I didn't introduce myself. Well, mein name is First Lieutenant Erdnussbutter.” “...Sparkplug,” I say, using my cover name. Best get used to it until I can use my real name again. Pretty sure even saying mine or any of my friend's names would get you thrown in jail or executed in this nut house. “And, so far… it’s like nothing I have ever seen before.” “Glad to hear. Ja, zis place has been good to me, so I hope it's good to you,” he said, taking a sip from the straw of his glass this time. I looked at the stallion next to me, he was really enjoying that milkshake. I looked back at Erdnussbutter, sipping a bit until he finally finished his milkshake with him slurping up the rest. Noticing the sound, he stopped and looked at both of us. “Sorry about zat.” With his claw, he brought the empty glass up close as his eyes examined it. “I just love strawberry milkshakes…” He was still looking at his empty milkshake… he had this smile… it was this, joy, or enjoyment. It was kinda creepy… Does he like strawberry that much? I nearly did a spit take at what came next. He swung his glass and it smashed against the stallion’s head! It shattered, and his face got covered in a whole manner of cuts as he fell to the ground. “Now, I know vat you must be zinking miss, but zee here,” he said, grabbing the stallions PegWing… and crushing it. “It's ein fake. Been getting lots like him lately. Cheaply made copies. A most frustrating affair, I assure you! Most likely from tin cans and old computer parts. Sadly, the Resistance or some other group found ein copy of zee bucking software. But, spotting ein fake is rather easy. Resolution isn't as clear, and it can have ein dent and scratch. Arh! Something ein real PegWing can't have.” Erdnussbutter then dragged the stallion out of the stall, some more Enclave soldiers came in also as he cuffed the stallion. “Let zis be ein lesson to any false citizens zat may be in zis room. The Enclave does not tolerate acts like zis. It's why less and less of you are being approved for citizenship when you go about it the legal way.” He then grabbed the stallion by the muzzle, making him look him in the eyes. “Now, don't be so sad there, little parasite. At least you got to taste ein milkshake before being found out,” Erdnussbutter said, leading the others in escorting the stallion out of the bar and likely back into the Equestrian Wasteland. He then stopped and looked back at me. “Auf Wiedersehen Fräulein!” he said with a wave, finally leaving. I just sat in my booth, alone again with half a chocolate milkshake. Erdnussbutter’s smile… it didn’t leave his face throughout that whole event. I sighed, almost laying on the table now. “This is not gonna be easy.” “Ah! There you are!” I looked up, seeing a red-maned stallion with a leaf green coat. He was a unicorn, goggles on his head and his cutie mark was a gear with a wrench tightening it. “Um, sorry but who are you?” “I’m your instructor, Steampunk.” Steampunk… right, from the PegWing message. “Oh right… Wow, walked right into the right place without knowing.” I chuckled. “Heh, yeah. Well, glad to see you’re here. Come on, I got to show you your place of work, how to do your work, then where you’ll be living. Until you have enough money to pay the rent and utilities yourself it’s free.” “Heh, cool.” “Come on, I’ll show you your workplace first,” Steampunk said, leading the way through the Upper District. It was a long trot, and we took some rather odd shortcuts and paths. Then everything all went… grey? And it also smelled a lot like chemicals. Oh shit! I was freaking out, trying to get this bag, at least I think it was a bag, off of me. But no matter how hard I struggled, it wasn’t coming off! Somepony pulled it tight, and I felt myself being pulled violently to the ground. My horn sparked, but I couldn’t concentrate, neither could I grab for my guns. Oh, come the fuck on! I bucked out, trying to get the bastard off of me! Why was he… Ugh… Everything was… Every breath made me feel sleepy. It got to the point where I was now laying on the ground, my strength to struggle fading even while I still tried to pull the damned thing off before the chemical smell knocked me out cold entirely. And yet things began going dark, and I really felt quite tired. I… I think it was about time for a nap… I woke up with gasp. Looking around, I saw that Steampunk was sitting next to me. But that knocking-out-and-kidnapping-me bastard was only one of the reasons I was suddenly feeling very alarmed! I was on a bed, and there were two other ponies here holding guns up at me. Oh, great. My instincts screamed at me to draw any weapon in reach and defend myself. Can you blame me? They just kidnapped me and are now holding weapons to my face! Fuck. That. But immediately on seeing my alarm Steampunk waved his hooves and tried to give me a placating smile. Emphasis on the 'tried'. “Sorry, sorry, they are just here to make sure you don’t do anything rash,” Steampunk said. “Yeah, and knocking me out was logical?” I say sarcastically, refraining on getting up for the time being given, you know, the guns… Still, let's hear this guy out... “Well, Silver Bell and Life Bloom wanted me to bring you here.” Silver Bell! Life Bloom! Revenge! “Uh… and what do they want with me, exactly?” “I don’t know. They said that you would be invaluable to the resistance. Come on, promise to behave and not pull any tricks and we’ll let you up. I think we even have time to give you a quick tour along the way and then I’ll leave you at their office.” Revenge! “Lead the way.” He frowned. “Wow, just like that?” “Yeah... I’ve seen how bad it gets out there so if they think I can help at all I’d be happy to.” REVENGE! “Well… great. Oh, and the pony on my right holding the Tri-Beam Magic Laser rifle is, well, we call him Coffin. I looked at the pony in question. From the build it was a stallion, unicorn, levitating the energy weapon. He was adorned head to hoof in what looked like an armoured trench coat, his head was a power armour helmet, though. A red painted old Enclave helmet, to be exact. “Hi,” he said, taking his weapon off me. “And the pony to my left is Psycho. We know nothing about him, other than that Silver recruited him after supposedly taking out ten Enclave soldiers and a Cerberus Tank with just a ten-millimetre pistol, and knife. Don’t believe it personally, but he doesn’t talk and… his attire is, well, don’t ask.” The pony on the left was wearing a raider mask I had seen many raiders wear plenty of times, and he was wearing the lower half of what I think was a giant teddy bear, the stuffing was still in it with him. He nodded, putting his laser pistol away. He must be an earth pony or something because he was holding it in his mouth through the mask. “Nice to meet you…?” “Well, come on then, let’s show you the place. Well, Coffin and I will show you around, Psycho has to go and acquire supplies.” I looked and saw Psycho nodding, and then leaving. I got off the bed and the tour began. The room I woke up in was the barracks, no male or female barracks but just one large room full of beds and bunk beds. A locker or two around for personal items. “That bed you were on is yours, by the way, we’ll find you a locker or something to keep your personal items later, though most of us keep everything in our PegWings and only really put things like spare clothes or books in them,” Steampunk said as we left the barracks. The next room, understandably, was the Cafeteria. The smell of food was rather good. Better than all the canned food I ate. “How about we eat now, it’s lunchtime anyway,” Coffin suggested. Steampunk and I agreed and got in line. Coffin got some beans, small salad, and two cookies with a Sunrise Sarsaparilla. Steampunk got a large salad, a slice of apple pie and Sparkle-Cola. I wasn’t paying much attention, so I got a mystery sandwich, some jello and my own Sparkle-Cola. From there we just ate and talked. “So, where you from Sparkplug?” Coffin asked. “Um... Not really sure, travelled a lot.” Half lie. That’s a half lie. I saw Coffin take off his mask, he had a light brown coat and a dark red mane. “What about you?” “I was born here,” he replied simply. “Really?” “Yeah. Mum gained citizenship when she was young. My dad was a pegasus, so he was an officer. They were some of the few pegasus non-pegasus mixed couples back then. I came along four years after their marriage.” “So, how did you end up in the resistance? Being the son of an Enclave officer must have…” “Brainwashed, they tried.” He chuckled. “That’s actually where I started realizing they weren’t so grand as they are always saying. Growing up I heard the stories, read the history books, but then I looked closer… they didn’t quite add up. Everything I learned, what the Enclave taught us as foals was from their perspective. Then I learned about Littlepip.” Oh… this might be interesting. “She was portrayed as some savage, but that… that didn’t seem right. I wanted to know the whole story, so I began looking for things in terminals. Well, then I ended up hacking them.” He gave a wry laugh, leaning back in his chair with an almost… nostalgic look on his face. “I got my cutie mark hacking into the restricted files of the Enclave’s records, and I didn’t even get caught. Got away with it by also imputing a virus that created a distraction for me. First, to best hide my tracks, it opens a shit ton of IP addresses and rerouted the one I used to appear as one of them, and all those IP’s were from within the Enclave military. Then it messes with stuff. Makes terminals turn off and on, security items get activated… Heh, made any robots connected to their wireless routers ask for sex," he claimed, looking rather proud. "Anyway, I found what I was looking for and closed the operation. Officially they said it was a technical error, but when I went back in their firewalls were tripled. They knew they got hacked.” “What was in the files?” I asked. “Truth,” Coffin said, levitating a book out of the inside of his cloak. The title read as ‘Lightbringer’. “It’s her life… I guess before she died, Life Bloom had all her memories put into a memory orb and was working on making it into a book. Other files I found said during a resistance base raid they acquired it and shredded all written works but left the digital version and stored it in their secure files," he explained, not stopping in his tirade. "I read this thing and knew, then and there, that Littlepip was no savage. She was a hero fighting for a just cause. She got strong through friendships and by trotting through all her pain. She found meaning in what she did and through others’ responses towards her actions… Then it ended. Stopped at some point when she was in the old Canterlot ruins, hiding in a maintenance closet from the pink fog stuff. I was ten, and I wanted answers. I wanted to know what happened until the end… So, just a foal, I searched and searched… then found them.” “I was young, so they denied me entry,” he continued. “Wouldn’t even talk or admit they were resistance but I was a stubborn little shit. Managed to sneak in through garbage chutes. Snuck around and when I saw Life Bloom and Silver Bell I ran, got tackled by Steampunk here back when he was just a rookie. Knocked me so hard the pages that were written on the terminal I printed fell out. Life Bloom picked one up and looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Asked me where I got them while I just kept asking how it ended about, about what did before she died. Silver Bell just took one look at me and asked me how I got them.” “And what did you say? “I said I was the one that hacked the Enclave’s Records facility, at hearing that she said to find them again in five or six years when I was old enough join. Not sure what happened next, but I woke up back in my bedroom at home. Kinda spooky how they knew where to drop me off. But for a while, I went about normally until I came home a month later, and this book was on my bed. Read it all the way, front to back. Dad always said there’s honour in dying in battle for what you believe in… I’d say she was the one with the most honour that day.” “Kid’s always reading it, over and over again since he joined,” Steampunk said. “Treats it like his holy book and talks about Littlepip like she was Celestia and Luna’s mother.” “She did more in the few weeks she was out of her stable than the princesses did in their whole rule.” Well, I don’t know about that… Was I blushing? “Ponies shouldn't just get respect because of titles or privilege… The princesses were ignorant, thinking the war wouldn’t get as bad as it did, let six mares with no military experience manage Ministries without any real guidance. We got what should have been expected. A weapons and armour factory, a weapons and science lab, a surveillance agency, a poster factory, a medical decision that made the damn spells that ended everything, and a layabout that didn’t do anything with their ministry until the war was nearing its end." Not a fan of the Ministry Mares, then... "Heroes they were called, but when real violence came down, they all split up and everything went to hell,” he spat, his eyes squinting angrily but then softened with a grin. “Littlepip, Silver Bell, Life Bloom, they deserve respect. And respect I give them, along with a few extra gifts.” “Extra gifts?” I asked, taking a sip of my Sparkle-Cola. “Heheh, this punk is the one who copied the PegWing operating system,” Steampunk explained. “Was easy for him given he works for the Enclave’s Technology Division.” “Wait, seriously?” I asked, shocked. “Yeah. I’m technically just an intern, but I reprogrammed my access card to let me access to the more restricted files and areas of the workshop. Got a copy of the OS, and the blueprints to make them. Sadly, the metals and other hardware are hard to come by and are enchanted, so all the replicas we make can’t withstand much, but they get new recruits in and out of the city walls. Mostly in.” “Wow. You’ve done a lot huh?” He has such a... he almost worships me. I’m trying not to blush madly, rather diving into my sandwich, which turned out to be grilled cheese and tomatoes. “So, what rank is your dad?” “Second Lieutenant right under my uncle, Erdnussbutter, First Lieutenant.” I nearly did a spit take and ended up settling for just choking on what little soda I was sipping. “That crazy stallion is your uncle?!” “Oh… I guess you met him… Yeah, he’s my mother’s little brother, though not very little considering they were born nearly a year apart.” “But… the accent…” He shrugged. “Don’t ask me. Guy was always a nut.” “So… how did he get that metal hoof thing?” “Oh… I designed it, showed it to my boss a few years ago, got a small bonus, and uncle Erd got a new hoof. Been missing his since a couple of years after he joined the Enclave. Some battle for something or other when I was a foal.” “Is there anything you can’t do with machines?” “So far, nope.” We finished up and went on with the tour. Next room was the armoury and shooting range. Coffin hooked me up with some more ammo for my shotgun and a few special rounds. Incendiary, and EMP pulse slugs, for the soldiers in power armour and robots. He also gave me something… different. It was a revolver, like Little Macintosh, but the bullets were… glowing green. “Acid rounds, crap eats away at anything, power armor and flesh included. The bullet is enchanted not to break when fired but to break on impact when it hits something. Sadly, Cerberus Tanks don’t melt easily when shot with them. Damn things even can take hits from the EMP slugs cause of some lead lining their interior wires. Protects them well from EMP stuff, which sucks for us.” With that done Coffin also showed me the showers, which were separated for mares and stallions. They also had the restrooms, and some extra rooms that were used for close quarters combat training, storage, and then the med bay, which was fairly large. “And lastly is the factory slash main office of Silver Bell and Life Bloom,” Coffin announced as we entered a large room where ponies were all sitting at workbenches, repairing, building and designing weapons, ammo, and armour. “The manager of an Enclave weapons facility manages to sneak us parts and extra supplies to work with off the records, her supply line to us keeps up in stock of munitions, and up there is Life Bloom and Silver Bell's office.” Revenge! “So… why are you located here?” I asked. “I mean you get all this neat stuff, but don’t you think it's too risky?” Steampunk gave a huff. “Yeah, it is a bit risky… But...” With a smirk on his face, he continued. “It is the last place the Enclave would expect to find our Resistance HQ.” “Hm, I suppose that does make sense…” I said, then I finally looked up, seeing the office was some sort of metal square kept above the floor via metal supports on the ceiling. There was no ladder or stairway up there. “How do we get up there?” “I am glad you asked. Crainlift!” A massive gust a wind came from behind us, I turned around to see what had to be the largest griffon I have ever seen, he was easily three ponies tall; his wings created a large shadow over Coffin, Steampunk and me. His feathers were midnight black, his beak cracked, eyes… white… is he blind? “Crainlift is the grandson of the old merc leader Blackwing, after his mom and dad died, Silver Bell and Life Bloom raised him. The resistance is all he’s ever known.” This is Blackwing’s… grandson... “What happened to Blackwing herself?” “She fled the war after Littlepip was killed, lived a good amount of her life still fighting but died from cancer when Crainlift’s mom was barely ten. Supposedly, she then died laying his egg.” “How did he…” “Lost his sight in a fight seven years ago. Shame, he was a damn good sniper. Silver put him to work moving large cargo and bringing ponies up and down from her and Life Bloom’s office.” “...Does he talk?” “No, never spoke a word from what I’ve been told. Life Bloom said something about his vocal cords having not developed properly. Welp, anywhos-it, Crainlift, take her up please.” The large griffon nodded, somehow grabbing me and holding me like a newborn foal in his claws and, in just a few flaps, brought me up to the ceiling-mounted office, opened the door, and placed me inside. Rather carefully and gently I might add. Before me lay Life Bloom and Silver Bell. I did a double take, as the posters did not do them justice. Sitting next to a large round table was a much older Life Bloom, older than what the posters showed, and Silver Bell, who had some grey in her mane, which the posters did not show. Old pictures, or were they making them look young and imposing? “Ponies, leave Life Bloom and I to tend to this new recruit personally,” Silver said, all other ponies in the room heading to the door behind me, hopping on Crainlift. Once the last of them was gone and the door shut, Silver walked up to me… and hugged me. “It’s good to see you again, Littlepip.” I tad surprised, I hugged back. “Same, when did you grow into an old mare?” I chuckled. She broke the hug. “Hey, I am not that old!” “It’s so good to see you awake, Littlepip.” Life Bloom trotted up to me. Once he got close enough I grabbed him in my magic, quickly turning him around and delivering a swift buck between his legs. He gave off a rather loud whinny then laid on the ground gripping his smashed stallion bits. “I guess you’re pissed then…” he muttered weakly. “Yeah! Why did you tell my friends I died!? Why change the way I look, the height increase is nice, but the rest of me, come on! And why was I frozen for forty years!?” “I best explain this part as best I can,” Silver said, putting a hoof on my back and sitting next to me. “Pip, you got hit with some new kind of Magical Energy rifle the Enclave deployed last minute during the fight in New Appleoosa.” “That brings up another question,” I interrupted, looking at her. “How… did the Enclave win?” Silver let out a sigh. “Well… you see, before Operation: Cauterize was put into effect, the Enclave High Council was considering one of Calamity’s brothers, Colonel Autumn Leaf, to lead the operation as a new rank of Commander in Chief, but then another colonel named Death Scythe convinced the Enclave council otherwise. And so, she was instead appointed into that role instead of Autumn.” Silver looked to the ground. “With her leading the fight... That is where things took a wrong turn for us. She used one hell of a strategy to kick our flanks to the curb, using some experimental tech, the same kind that nearly killed you. It also didn’t help that they found out about Celestia One from the old documents found in Canterlot ruins, took Tenpony Tower and then used it on Red Eye’s army.” She then looked back to me. “After the Battle of New Appleoosa, your friends recovered you and that’s when Life Bloom decided to put a new plan into action.” “Yes,” Life Bloom said, getting up while still looking in some pain (Ha!), but he quickly composed himself. “I knew if you were alive the Enclave wouldn’t lighten up until you were found and killed, so I declare you dead, to even your friends, in case worst came to worst and they were captured and tortured into giving the Enclave answers. The only ponies in the room with me at the time were Silver and Ditzy, helping me tend to you as best I could.” “Wait, if Ditzy was there, where is she?” As I asked that, they looked down… no… “The Enclave caught Mum. And being a ghoul, they killed her then and there,” Silver said with venom in her voice. “It’s why our symbol is her cutie mark, and why I started this Rebellion and put it in full swing as best I could.” “Before Ditzy died, she was the one who managed to find us a location where we could heal you and hide you until the time was right. It was risky but with effort and luck, we acquired a pre-war cryogenics pod. It was to keep you alive by freezing you; not cold enough to kill you, but enough to slow your bodily functions to be like a lizard in hibernation.” “So that’s what happened…” I muttered, letting all this sink in. So much death… “Are there really no others left from before?” “Some of us are left,” Silver Bell responded. “Though the Enclave spread quickly. The Security Mare was supposedly spotted in the Hoofington Core, though the Enclave sent their entire fleet of raptors and thunderheads to level it. It’s an enervation filled junkyard now.” “She’s dead?” “Missing, officially. But who can say…” Life Bloom said sadly. “The other factions didn’t last long up there. Zodiacs, Reapers, Zebra Remnant, it didn’t matter. They even destroyed one of their own cities and several of their own ships when they refused to kill innocents.” “I… see.” I missed a lot… “But why forty years, and why and how did you change me so much?” “That’s where I step in,” Life Bloom spoke up. “You see, when we acquired the pod it was in need of repairs, we got it working but, there was an error. The timer on it was malfunctioned. When we put you in, it had only been a year after the war and the timer was set for a hundred years, but, thankfully, we managed to hack it. Sadly though, the digital timers were corrupted, and the least amount of time we could set it to was forty years. We were only supposed to have you in there for two, more than enough time for your body to heal fully.” “Okay, so wonky pre-war tech, nothing new there… But how did you do this to me? How did you change my coat, mane, eye colour and even my height!?” “I am rather proud of that actually. You see, while healing you I discovered that your DNA was heavily mutated from taint. But, by applying radiation in special amounts to specific genes, I could alter your entire body. Sadly, that new energy weapon’s damage wasn’t as easy to fix, but I did what I felt I had to hide you. I changed your mane colour, coat colour, made you the height of an average mare, I also made you faster than a normal pony, not by much, but enough to dodge what you should need to. I also made you strong, you’re no Xenith, but you can crack a rib or two if needed.” At least I still had my cutie mark... “Then how come your stallion bits aren’t in pieces?” I swear I saw a sweat bead drop from his mane. “Well, sadly those additions to you only occur when you are irradiated. At least three hundred rads to make them work at their fullest.” “Wait… is that why I felt funny after getting out of that weird machine when I entered the city?” “Yes, it removes any and all radiation from those entering the Upper District.” “Oh… but, when I blew up the alicorns…” “That’s actually something interesting I discovered about your DNA mutations,” Life Bloom cut in. “You see, a sample of your DNA, when compared to one of the alicorns, revealed a sixty-three percent match; meaning that if you were irradiated to the point of killing a normal pony, you’d survive grenades, bullet wounds, regrow limbs... I saw those marks, it’s quite fascinating.” “But, there’s a catch to being a freak, right?” “Well, yes. If you are that irradiated and not healing, the radiation will alter your brain and you will be more aggressive, dumber… primal.” “How’d you figure that out?” “Simulations. Ran them at least a hundred times, all results came back the same.” “Simulation… like in a computer?” “Yes.” “Oh… well, alright. So, where are my friends?” Life Bloom and Silver shared a look… I didn’t like it. “Well, we know Homage is helping run a pro-rebel radio station somewhere outside in the wastes. Calamity we last heard was in hiding, Xenith is also in hiding, though we think she’s been sighted along the Las Pegasus Ruins, and Velvet was last heard being a member of what was left of the Applejack’s Rangers,” Silver explained. “After the Steel Rangers joined the Enclave during Operation: Cauterize…” Those metal tin can fuckbots! “...the less douche of them defected to Applejack’s Rangers, and while they still follow Steelhooves’ ideals, they only take in newcomers if they have some value to the chapter as a whole.” “That explains why they took in Velvet, she must be a medical master by now,” I said, thinking about how they will react to seeing me again. “So, when will I see them?” “Sadly, not anytime soon… And for now, they can’t know you’re you, Littlepip.” “WHAT?! I didn’t get frozen for forty years and wake up in a world run by the goddesses damn Enclave to NOT find them and tell then I’m okay and ALIVE!” “Pip, calm down! We know, and in due time, but for right now the world still needs to think you’re dead. For now, you’re Sparkplug, age twenty-four, technician, and honorary Enclave citizen.” I growled. I came this far and to reach my friends I still have to go so much further. Damn it, I just want to see them again… Even after all this time… Nothing has changed. Not a damned thing. “Fine. But when the time is right I’m telling them myself, and I know I can prove it to them all.” I took a deep breath. “So… what is it I’m gonna be doing first?” “For now, rest, we got a lot of-” There was a flash on the table. “Huh, Enclave is broadcasting something over all channels.” Silver said, looking surprised. “Channels, like radio?” I asked. “No, Enclave figured out how to rebuild televisions and such so now there’s TV for all to see again.” “Seriously? Wow…” “Yeah, most is propaganda or pre-war movies though,” she said, pressing a button on the table as a projector on the ceiling, an image of a pony dressed in Enclave general attire stood on stage, Enclave banners of the same flag from the parade and soldiers lined up in rows to fill ten hoofball fields, all looking forward to the stage. “That’s General Grim Gallop, Scythe’s top subordinate.” And then the General spoke. “Citizens of the Grand Equestrian Enclave! I stand here before you to remind you all of how we brought Equestria back from a festering swamp of radiation, bloodshed, and violence, so peace, harmony, and most importantly... order would be re-established. At this very moment, in locations all over Equestria. Groups plot to destroy our very ideals! Our ways of life!" "The Resistance in all its factions will learn today that we do not tolerate any of those who wish upon the downfall and destruction of the Final Reich. Before us the Reichs of the Princesses fell, they failed to achieve supreme dominance and so were pushed back and exterminated! The First Reich of the princesses ended when Nightmare Moon rebelled! The Second Reich of Princess Celestia ended with the Great War! Then the Third Reich of Princess Luna ended with the Last Day! But unlike before, the Enclave will be the Final Reich, the last and true era of rule for Equestria!" "This day, the Resistance will learn that their days are numbered! They will not succeed in ending all that we have achieved. At this very moment, our war machines are already marching along the scorched and blood-soaked soils of the Wasteland eradicating any and all Resistance strongholds they come across. More and more are being built and soon nothing the Resistance does will matter, because... We! Have! WON! Their petty squabbling and fighting will be nothing more than hoofnotes in history!" "And when all the Resistance leaders are found, they will get a terrorist's death. Slow and painful. Then whatever remains of the Resistance will have no choice but to BOW before us!” He then pounded his right hoof on his chest. “LONG LIVE THE ENCLAVE!” At that, every Enclave soldier facing the stage also pounded their hoof to their chests causing a thunderous sound and repeated what he said in sync. “LONG LIVE THE ENCLAVE!” “LONG LIVE THE ENCLAVE!!” “LONG LIVE THE ENCLAVE!!!” The screen cut out, and we all shared a glance. “So… where do I start?” “Sleep?” Silver suggested, rubbing her head. “Wha…? Sleep, but they-” “We know Pip, and it’s nothing we weren’t already expecting,” Life Bloom cut in. “For now, you’ve been through a lot already. Head to sleep in the barracks and we’ll call for you when you’ve awoken.” “So… we’re just going to do nothing right now?!” “Not nothing… just, wait. We have a plan but, well, we know how you can get when things are getting bad, you pull yourself through hell, put your body through hell. It’s been a long enough day for you as is, so for now, just go to sleep. We’ll need you at full strength to give us some of that Lightbringer magic,” Silver said, chuckling a bit. “But…” “Pip, they’re already out hunting bases, probably killed several factions by now. There’s nothing we can do about that, but the majority of the better resistance factions are rather well hidden, and if the other less hidden factions get word they have evacuation protocols. We just gotta have faith they hold out till we launch the plan tomorrow. We need the Stable Dweller at her best.” “And that plan is?” “Taking out the Hades Tank factory.” “...That is a rather big mission… Alright, I’ll rest up then.” “Good, also, stop by the medical clinic in the morning, I wanna run a few tests, you’re forty years late for a check-up after all,” Life Bloom said with a chuckle. I laughed. “I guess I am. Alright then, I’ll stop by after breakfast,” I said, heading to the door and Crainlift taking me down. I then walked all the way back to the barracks and to the bed Coffin said was mine. It wasn’t too hard to find, it was the only one without any personal touches on it, though there was now a pillow and folded blanket on it. As I walked in, a bunch of other resistance members also seemed to be getting ready to hit the hay, padding out their covers and sliding into them for the night. And I was about ready to join them. I approached my assigned bed and studied it for a moment. It didn't exactly look like a Tenpony Tower quality bed, but it probably beat the hard ground. I placed the pillow by the headrest and was unfolding the blanket. A piece of paper fell out and I opened it. Welcome to the Resistance, try not to die, get found out, or set off a gun in the Workshop. -Coffin. P.S: You now have a hooflocker under your bed and I put something in there for you. Confused, I pulled the hooflocker out from under my bed and opened it. Inside was a copy of the book Coffin carries of my life, a Stable-Tec Stable Colt plushie, and a holotape. I uploaded the holotape, and saw that it was an audio recording… “Records show that this one mare, an Appletonic, according to the Stable 2 records, is that 'Lightbringer’s' mother. Yeesh, how did that filly survive growing up with her? Well, Colonel is scheduling her to be executed, her crime, birthing the Lightbringer.” I felt sick… they killed my mother… for having me… My PegWing beeped, and there was a new note. I wanted to share this with you cause it’s a reminder, she was innocent, and they killed her for being Littlepip’s mother. I found her grave, coordinates are marked in your PegWing now, I visit her often, whether she cares or not, and I tell her about all her daughter inspired. She’s the only link to my hero I have. If I see you there, bring hard cider, hear she loves it. I gulped, getting under the covers and thinking. My friends are alive, and my mum is dead… because of me. No, because the Enclave wanted all traces of me gone. Sour Malt Apple Cider was always her favourite. I’ll bring her one last bottle of it. Footnote: Level 1 Character Customisation Saved New Perk: Lightbringer Reborn - You have lost all your previous levels and perks, but gain +20% experience whenever new experience is earned, and an extra point to your SPECIAL.