//------------------------------// // Ch 17: The Single Step // Story: Fallout Equestria: Do Robot Ponies Dream of Electronic Bunnies // by ScottWolf //------------------------------// FoE: Do Robot Ponies Dream of Electronic Bunnies Chapter XVII: The Single Step "One crossed wire, one whiff of potassium sulfate, one errant twitch, and KABLEWY!" - Demoman System Report: 0000000017 Unit Status: Active Location: Nchi Kavu (Zebranese for Dry Land) Satellite Signal Status: Receiver offline. GPS active. Begin data dump to external off-site memory back-up: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Done. Preparing visual report: Done. Date: --/--/2212, 200PA (+50 days activation) Time: 0430 Local "Heya, all you out there in the Equestrian Wasteland and beyond! This is DJ-Pon3, wrappin your pretty head in some honest to goodness truth! That's right, it's NEWS TIME!!! "If you head east of the Everfree forest, chances are you'll run into a town called Borderlands. The zebras there are a nice enough bunch if you're not gonna cause trouble, but even if you're there to help, watch your back! They may want you to stick around for longer than you planned. Just a word to the wise, children! "And now, a special bulletin from the Celestial Canyon! For those of you who aren't in the know, there are two tribes of zebra there that have been duking it out for as long as even they can remember. Well, guess who decided to settle things down there? That's right! It's our favorite wasteland bot, Verse! Within a day of him makin the scene, one of the tribes decided to high-tail it on out of there! Just another bit of clean-up done by our boy, Verse. Sing the praises children!" Wet. For a place that translated into Dry Land, Nchi Kavu was pretty damn wet. Or at least the area around it was. One big wet moat surrounding a town. My Equestrian map was useless long ago, so I'd switched to a GPS-based mapping system. I was fortunate that the satellite I'd caught last week to call DJ-Pon3 was a surveillance sat, and still had an active uplink to an old MoA data hub. I'd also decided to play this one smart. I locked the satellite out of any other signal than what I deemed usable. Furthermore, I'd installed the same alarms I'd used back in Canterlot into the sat. If anyone came poking, I'd know about it. The town had some decently thick walls, and looked to be manned by zebras and buffalo. The moat, however, seemed to be more dangerous. As we approached, several radigators made themselves known, crawling out of the water and growling menacingly. The caravan halted about fifty yards from the town entrance. Everypony and a zebra had their eyes on the radigators as Apple Cider called out to the town. "Hello!! Anyone about? Caravan approaching for trade!" This call had worked in the past, when we approached a town. Normally, zebras didn't attach traders, and we'd received quite a few warm welcomes over the last seven days. We didn't have to wait long. After a minute, a group of zebra and one very large and ornately decorated buffalo galloped towards us. All were sufficiently armed. "Greetings," the buffalo said as they came to a halt. The radigators, seeing the buffalo, slowly returned to the moat, hissing at us. "I am Chief Fluffy Doom. Do not laugh. I will shoot you." Night Rose, luckily back with me at the end, suppressed a giggle, as did Deep Scratch. I wanted to laugh too, but I didn't want to start a fight. "What have you for trade, pony?" "Much and little, and information as well," AC replied. Apparently he'd been here before and knew the right words, for the buffalo nodded and led the caravan inside. The town was little more than a collection of small brick and mud huts with dry sticks tied together to form a roof. The layout was more or less in the shape of a circle, with the town center literally in the center. There was green grass for about ninety-six yards outside the village, with large lush trees. Several zebra could be seen there, lounging or grazing. This town either didn't fear attack too greatly, or was confident in its defense. As we walked into town, a glint of yellow caught my eye. I turned and thought I saw a bright yellow and very lanky Pegasus walking down another path. I blinked and looked again, but it had disappeared. I looked around, craning my neck and using my enhanced optics to see better, but it didn't reappear. If we had time, I would have to find that pony. Might learn a bit about their side from the Pegasus. After telling the chief about Celestial Canyon and watching him trot away, AC stopped us near a large tipi-styled tent that looked like a vendor of a sort. The zebra look up and smiled. "Welcome! Welcome, pony friends! Trade at my hut never ends! If there is something specific you seek, then your friend, Wairu, will be off with a streak! Gentle-ponies, how do you do? What can my humble shop do for you?" "Wairu," AC said happily! "Remember me?" "Ah! My good friend AC! You've finally returned to visit me!" The zebra came out of the hut and gave the red pony a hug, which AC happily returned. "What can I do for you, my friend? Tell me; are your old troubles at an end?" "Very nearly," AC replied. "We're on our way to Zebrion to solve the last of them. Then, it's just a matter of getting rid of a certain yellow cook." The last was said with a chuckle. "I heard that," Chef Sandy yelled as everyone dismounted, drawing a laugh from AC and Wairu. Frieda immediately stretched her wings and took to the air. She'd been doing daily aerial reconnaissance out past my radar range, but hadn't had the chance to today. Part of me thought she'd missed it, even if it was only for a few hours. "Not much to this place," Night Rose grumbled as she and Scratch got out. Chef and AC went inside the tent with their zebra friend, while the five of us were left to guard the wagons. "Whole place looks like a good wind would knock it over." "It is typical of towns we've seen," Zirconium said, gazing around. "I do hope you weren't being mean. My people suffered as greatly as yours for a long time after the end of their wars." "Yeah, nuke wars are like that, Zirc," she replied. I was glad our zebra friend hadn't minded everypony shortening his name. He, too, had taken to introducing himself by the abbreviated title when we found a town. Even he had admitted it was a mouthful to say over and over. "Neither side looks pretty in the aftermath." "So, what're we doin here," Scratch asked, looking toward the large Tipi. "It's not like they can't tell us what's up, right?" "I dunno," I replied. "There's something deeper than they're tellin us about this trip. Lemme find out more." I didn't move closer to the vendor's place; I didn't need to. I enhanced my hearing and focused it on the store, filtering out zebras and buffalo conversations until I heard Chef's voice. I locked on to that and listened. "...not sure this is a good idea." "Of course it's a good idea," AC said. "I've waited ten years for this chance, and I'm not going to waste it." A thump. He'd stomped his hoof. "That bastard's cornered himself. It's time to move in for the kill." "A vendetta that so long has been kept must not be something quickly leapt. If going to kill the ghouls are you, great care should you take, or be labeled a fool." "I've already planned out how it's going to happen. The only thing I don't know is the layout." "You can't plan a revenge kill without the layout. Otherwise, you're just daydreaming. And even you have to admit, you daydream a lot, AC." "I do not. At least not anymore. Come on, let's get some supplies and get moving. The others are waiting." The conversation turned into shopping after that, and I stopped listening. I turned to my companions and replayed what I'd heard for them. "A vendetta," Scratch said thoughtfully. "I was wondering why two earth ponies would just up'n decide to head out this way. I didn't think it was that personal though." "In keeping vengeance in his heart," Zirc said, "AC has failed from the start." "Yeah. Going in without a real plan?" Night rose shook her head. "He's blind to any danger," I nodded. "Only cares about his target. I wonder what could have happened to put him in that sort of mindset." AC and Chef emerged a few minutes later, carrying a box of supplies each; ammunition, food, Med-X's, and even a few stimulants. I looked at those in disgust. "Drugs," I asked, not even trying to hide the contempt. "Never know," AC replied noncommittally. "Everyone ready?" A chorus of yeses, and AC got us rolling again with a wave goodbye to his friend. The buffalo all waved as we left the northern exit of town. I stopped and looked back, wondering what had happened to that one Pegasus I'd seen. Suddenly, I heard a distant roar. I turned toward the sound, only to be knocked on my side by a large creature. It had the body and head of a lioness, but the wings of a bat and a tail that would put any radscorpion to shame. Instinctively, my zebra rifle was out and in the creature's face, but before I could fire, another zebra came flying in and knocked the monster off of me. It landed against Frieda's wagon and nearly knocked it over, but for some reason it caught the wagon with her mouth and set it down on its wheels. As I got to my feet and brought my weapon to bear, the strange zebra leapt onto the creature's back, brandishing a long lance weapon that crackled with energy. He aimed it at Night Rose, who had drawn weapon half a minute ago and was ready to take the thing down. Before I could put a burst into him (despite knocking the creature off of me, no one points a weapon at my mare-friend), I heard a cry from behind me. "Don't shoot at her, please! Or the stupid zebra!" I turned and saw the yellow Pegasus I'd noticed earlier touching down behind me. He had a scared look in his eye, as if I was threatening his family and he could do nothing but watch. "MEY," the zebra shouted, word muffled by the lance in his mouth. He spit it out and pointed an angry hoof at the Pegasus. "I resent that!" His rebuttal finished, he hopped off of the creature's back and retrieved his weapon. Seeing no further threat coming from the monster, I stowed my rifle and looked down at the Pegasus. He was tall, much taller than Ditzy Doo had been. Somehow he reminded me of someone, but I couldn't place who. His flank bore the head of (his?) creature, with wings and tail coming off of it, but but in it's mouth was something that looked like a roll of... was that toilet paper? The Pegasus looked up at me, seeming in awe. I'd gotten used to strange looks, but I was uncomfortable somehow with the way he looked at me. "Are you alright,sir," he asked, suddenly looking all over my body. "I'm sorry about her. Did she hurt you?" His eyes came to rest on my front left leg. "Oh, she did! Here. I'll bandage that for you." Before I could protest he pulled a bandage roll (ok, not toilet paper) out of his tail and began wrapping my leg. "Thanks," I said, trying to politely pull my leg away. "But that's not necessary." Ignoring me, he finished wrapping my leg. It was probably healed already, but he'd put so much effort into it, I didn't have it in me to tell him he didn't need to. I sighed and nodded thanks to him. I'm sure he would have smiled back but Chef Sandy decided that was a good time to make himself known. "Is anyone else aware that this is a freaking manticore??" "Her name's Celly," the Pegasus replied, trotting over to the manticore (new word for the day! Yay.) "After Princess Celestia. She's my adoptive sister. Her dad took care of us when I was a colt. I'm Sunshy Rays and this is my friend Zen." He nodded toward the zebra, who looked around somewhat nervously. Though I couldn't blame him; everyone who was armed still had their weapons trained on him and Celly. I introduced myself and my friends one by one, and noticed that AC had, at some point, dove off his wagon and was hiding behind Wairu. "Sorry for the spear thing," Zen the zebra said to Night Rose. He'd put his weapon down for the moment, but not away. "Not accepted," she spat back at him. "Weapons away, everyone," I said. "No reason to get upset over... why did she attack me again?" "Celly said she attacked you because she felt you're... unnatural." Sunshy explained as weapons reluctantly went away. Frieda looked like she didn't buy it, but she put up her rifle anyway. Night Rose stowed hers as well, but kept her glare on Zen. I would not leave those two alone together; it would end badly for the zebra. Zen trotted over to me, and without warning, kicked a hoof hard against my leg. I winced in pain, but also heard a clang. I'd never been hit THAT hard before. "Yep," the zebra announced, drawing yet another death-glare from my friends. "He's a robot. Explains how your gun vanished into your side." He nodded up at me and returned to his friend's side. "And he's taller than you!" Zen shouted at Sunshy, as if that was super important. "Stop being crazy, Zen," the pegasus replied with a frown. "It's part of my charm." Zen boasted. "it doesn't seem to be working on them," Sunshy said, noticing the angry looks on my friends. "Just tone it back a bit." "Fine," the zebra grumbled. "You're no fun." "If you and your colt-friend are done assaulting us," Night Rose said, "can we leave now?" Sunshy sputtered, his cheeks going red. "He's not... we're not... I'm not..." Zen, for his own part, looked at her blankly. I shook my head. Clearly, there were mixed signals going around with these two. "Where are you guys headed?" "East to the dragon lands," Sunshy replied, grateful for the topic change. "How about you?" "Northward to Zebrion," I answered. My companions were all re-mounting their wagons, AC reluctantly and with his eyes glued to the manticore. "We have... business, with a few folks there." "Zebrion," Zen asked, somewhat awed. "Do you guys have a deathwish???" I looked at him in surprise, as did everyone else. Even Celly seemed unnerved by his sudden outburst. "Ok, maybe you don't, but you can't go there! You'll all be killed! That place is the biggest hotbed of radiation in the wilds! You'll die of radiation sickness before you're a mile in, and that's if you're lucky!" He was almost hysterical now, and Sunshy had to put a hoof on his shoulder to calm him down. "What's so dangerous that we'd be lucky to die of radiation," Scratch asked. Zen opened his mouth to reply, but Zirc beat him to it. "In the land of Zebrion," he began, as if reciting a nursery rhyme, "there lives a danger long thought gone. A pestilence we zebra fear that someday may bring itself here. A miniature bug so small in size, even Vers won't see with his advanced eyes. Called the Invisible Death, it waits for someone to pass that they can infiltrate. In clouds of millions it travels about, devouring the unaware from inside out. The only warning you will get is when your heart and their teeth have met. After that it is too late. A tidy meal is now your fate." Stunned silence met the end of his poem-like speech. Night Rose broke the silence. "You were gonna tell us about this WHEN?" Zirc smiled sheepishly and shrugged in apology. "So, we can't go to Zebrion," AC asked with a cracked voice. "We've come all this way for nothing?" "Looks like," Frieda replied. "What if we had protective armor," Night Rose asked. "I have my replacement helmet..." "It won't matter," Zen said, cutting her off. "The bugs are microbial. Even in an air-tight suit, they'd still get in and eat you." He looked at me as he continued. "And you'd probably be shorted out. They chew on wires as well as flesh." "Great," Scratch said with a sigh. "So now what do we do?" "The only thing that the Invisible Death," Zirc said, "cannot take to its last breath, are dragons of the days of old, their scales are strong enough to hold. Upon assaulting this hated foe, they bounce back as if from Gel-o. It is then that they are able to be seen, sparkling with the dragon's sheen. By fire now can they be destroyed and sent beyond into the void." "We need a dragon now," Chef practically screamed, prompting AC to yell back, "Calm down!" "A dragon," I repeated. I searched my bestiary (look! Manticores under M!) and found what was known about dragons. "Generally lazy," I said aloud, "with a partialness to gems and gold, territorial and dangerous when roused. Not many are known to be friendly to ponies if they've been born in the wild. When meeting a wild dragon, it is recommended you remain polite and offer great riches. NEVER attempt to steal a dragon's own hoard." Sunshy gazed up at me, a confused look in his blue eyes. "That's word for word from the textbook! How did..." "Robot," Zen said, nudging the Pegasus. "Remember?" Sunshy looked away, embarrassed. The manticore reached into its own pouches (I didn't even notice them before) and pulled out some armor. It looked like dragon scale. "No, Celly," Sunshy told her. "You don't need to go." "So, basically," Scratch said, tapping a hoof on her chin, "we need to be polite and rich enough to sweet-talk a dragon into helping us out. Anyone else think we're so screwed on this?" We were oh-so screwed on this. Footnote: Level-Up! New Perk: Heroic - Your stature and your fame precede you wherever you go. This gives you +15% to speech and unlocks new conversation options. This bonus stacks with other speech enhancements. Bonus Perk: Knowledgeable of Nature - You know exactly what something is as soon as you see it, as well as its weaknesses. You receive a +20% hit bonus versus wild creatures when using S.A.T.S.