I stood above it all, the Wasteland, the ruined world below me. With a thought, I could see anywhere across the Equestrian Wasteland, from Manehattan to Fillydelphia, from the ruins of Canterlot to the raider fortress of Vanhoover, watching it like an all-seeing goddess. But I could also see into the remaining functioning terminals from across the Wasteland and beyond, giving me a good view of the inhabitants both good and evil.
It was divine power, the power I don’t think any pony should have but I needed to perform my duties as The Wasteland's new weather manager and guardian. So I accepted my place as the Wasteland’s Watcher. “Spike probably hates that I’m stealing his job.” I joked to myself.
“I don’t think so, that Dragon has been stuck up in that cave for two centuries. He needs some time off.” The form of a pure white goddess trotted up beside me, her mane a mix of light blues, purples, greens, and sparkles flowed in the nothingness void we lived in. She was the goddess I was taught to worship since I was a filly, and if it wasn’t for the fact she told me otherwise I would still think she was one. “He should find a nice lady dragon. Share a treasure with her, lay some eggs.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “I don’t think there are that many dragons left in Equestria Celestia.”
“That just means the competition is lower and the need to mate is higher.” She said that with a hint of sauciness in her voice I still wasn’t used to hearing from a pony I worshipped. “And being a war hero with an eye patch, wounds surely will woo the ladies.”
“Yeah, I don’t think Spike’s getting a mate anytime soon.” Nor do I want to think about him getting one so I changed the subject fast. “Anyway, I was about to do some ‘Watching’, got anywhere specific I should start?”
She put her hoof to her chin deep in thought at the idea. “Let’s look over the less populated areas today. They're usually a hotbed for trouble and the big cities don’t need us now.”
I nodded to that, the Wasteland was putting itself together again after the biggest war not seen in two centuries struck it. The Enclave war left its marks but the land was healing with the efforts of good ponies, some of which were my friends.
A screen appeared in front of both of us, showing the brown and grey landscape of the dead world. It quickly changed to various views of different parts of Equestria’s more lonely areas. My eyes fell over small towns, little shakes in the woods, tribal villages, and wandering ponies in groups or alone. I was like a secret protector, looking down on them without them knowing.
One scene caught my eye. The scene of four stallions tying a mare to a rock next to a small lake as they looked at her with hungry eyes, the mare was fighting with all her might to escape, crying and pleading to Celestia to save her. It didn't take much thought to know what was happening, and it didn’t take much thought to know how to deal with it.
Dark clouds quickly formed in the sky, and without warning, lightning rained down like a goddess's wrath! The first stallion it struck fell to the ground a burning husk, his friends panicked with one of them galloping away in complete fear. He was the next victim, two bolts burning him alive. His friends looked to the sky with pleads of mercy, they knew who was watching and they knew the judgment coming their way. Their bodies were so burned by the end of it they were more ash than pony.
The mare set herself free, getting on her knees and thanking Celestia for her salvation.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding back. The rage inside of me lowered to a whisper. I looked at Celestia seeing a face of utter hate written on her, her expression changed when she looked down at me, she looked like a proud mother beaming at her filly. “Good job little one.”
I blushed a little. Having Celestia see me in my ‘enraged’ moments wasn’t how I usually wanted her to view me, but sometimes my job called for me to be judge, jury, and executioner. “Eh, thanks Godd- I mean Princess Celestia.”
She rolled her eyes in an annoyed fashion. “Pip we’ve been over this, just call me Tia. I’m not a Princess anymore, so Tia is just fine.”
Normally I’d call any pony calling Celestia Tia an insult, but when it’s Celestia saying it while giving me the stink eye I shut up and silently accepted it. “Okay...Tia.” That hurt to say. “Let’s keep Watching.”
The scene of the mare praising Celestia fell away as the screen flashed across scores of views. More valleys, dead forests, hillsides, until they came upon the sight of conflict. It wasn’t unusual in the Wasteland, especially after the Enclave war, but it was the combatants that caught my interest.
Battling each other in the ruins of an urban street, magical energy and rockets traded blows as the scenery was ripped apart. Both sides were former enemies I knew well, on one side of the streets was the steel clade power armor form of the Steel Rangers. Wielding weapons fit more for tanks than ponies, launched attacks against their long-time rivals, the false artificial Alicorns, the daughters of the Goddess. Alicorns of blues and greens fired Eldritch knives and arrows at their armored enemies while magical bubbles blocked incoming rockets like they were nothing.
Though there were few of them the battlefield bore scares as if a small army was fighting there. It was truly a showing of how formidable as enemies they were, a display I was all too familiar with from both groups.
“Should we do anything?” Celestia’s usual soft tone had a little bit of contempt in it. “Should we stop those things and the Steel Rangers from fighting?” She looked at me, she clearly had her own opinion on the situation and it clearly went along the lines of no.
I thought that too, I had no love for either of these ponies. But I caught that thought when the words of a certain Unicorn rattled in my head ‘We have to do better.’ She wouldn’t let even former enemies suffer if she could help it, and I would be disappointing her if I didn’t. “We’re going to stop them. There’s been enough bloodshed in Equestria for a lifetime.”
I could tell Celestia was somewhat put off by my answer, but she must have bottled it up because she gleefully shouted. “Well then let us play mother and discipline these ponies.” I stomped in approval of that, I knew the perfect way to scare them off.
Dark clouds began forming in the sky, their built-up barely noticed by the combatants. The Clouds bellowed, grew, and began to twist as the wind became violent. The combatants finally took note as rubble and dust kicked up in the violent wind around them, fighting stopped as all looked to the sky to see the horror being created in it. A tornado, the monstrous child of storms. Its spinning tip lowered to the ground like a snake to eat its prey. It touched down a mile away but moved towards them with murderous intent. Both parties saw the writing on the wall and fled the scene for their lives.
Keeping the storm active for half an hour to make sure the fighters wouldn't get any bright ideas of returning. I finally let the storm die down once I saw the combatants were a few miles away from each other. Sighing in annoyance I thought of how many times I would have to do this.
The fallout of my adventures and the Enclave war had been for lack of a better term game-changing. The entire landscape of the Equestrian Wasteland had almost completely changed into something else, on both a political, or what made for politics in the Wasteland, economic, social, environmental level. I only really understood the scope of my actions when I saw them from the universal view of the S.S.P system. And they were unmeasurable for me.
Factions I had never even heard of, places I had never been to, were affected by my choices. And I watched them all play out in real time. I watched towns die or rise up, I saw groups either killed off or grow stronger. I saw ponies become heroes following in my hoof steps or my enemies. Watched ponies struggle to rebuild what they had lost or moved on. And I needed to be the big mother that guides it all.
“Being a mother to the Wasteland is harder than it looks.” sighed, already tired at the thought.
“I think you mean Goddess.” Celestia cut in.
All my thoughts stopped at that, goddess? “I’m no god.” Nor do I want to be. I'm just a pony, not some divine goddess blessing the Wasteland. I barely accepted my title as the Lightbringer, the hero title I was rewarded, after much reluctance. I didn’t kill a false Goddess and stop another from being created to become the new one. “I’m just a pony who helps ponies okay Celestia.
I tried to put on my best ‘this joke makes me uncomfortable’ look but I saw her expression. There was no irony written on her face, no humor, just the look of a princess whose words carried weight behind them.
“Little Pip. You at this moment control the most powerful computer system in the entire world. under your command, you control the Single Pony Project, the weather of the entire wasteland bows to you. You control the Crusader Maneframe, the most advanced supercomputer in the world. You can view any camera across the Wasteland, hack into any system, and even take over the still functioning terminals or machines that are hooked up to a maneframe. At your back and call the Wasteland bows to you.”
Her gaze bore into me, she wanted this warning to be burned into my mind. “You are not a goddess my little pony, but you are the closest thing to it. The world bends to your will now, you can not wield power of this scale and think of yourself as just a simple hero saving ponies from raiders. You must view yourself as a ruler, every major decision you make can have consequences for all Equestria and beyond now, thousands live or die based on what you do. Do not underplay your role.” She let that last phrase hang in the air to get the point across.
I tried to debunk those claims but there was no right rebuttal to them. I thought of what I could do now, and she was right. I wasn’t a god but to the average Wastelander I might as well be. I didn’t want to be but what could I do? Not help ponies? Just manage the weather and leave everything else alone? No, I couldn’t just watch. But I could limit how much I helped.
“ I will think about it.” was the only response I could muster.
Celestia smiled with warmth that could melt any heart, placing a wing around me to bring me closer to her. “Don’t worry about it too much, it’s still okay to help ponies here or there. Just be careful, okay?” Celestia for her grandness sure knew how to talk to you on your level. “Now my little pony, let us take a break from the Wasteland, I will bake you a cake for saving lives today.”
“Apple favored?” I muttered weakly.
“You know it.”