//------------------------------// // Honest Apple Pt, 4 // Story: Fallout: Equestria - Lovely New Pegasus // by No one is home //------------------------------// The stallion in question is a weasly little colt.  Like he’d be more at home pushing a pencil in stable administration and torturing his ant farm.  But he’s not here because imposing.  He’s here because he can manage things.  This red and blonde pony is a mid level manager. “Does he know he’s talking out loud?”  The images blur with the all to familiar smells of the carnal flames.  I fight back the images of another fire… deep in the earth.  “I actually have serious courier business…” “Your message will be recorded and delivered.”  I don’t know if the voice or the thought behind it is mine or Sweet’s.  That horrible smell and the memories behind it drive my perception. “We gathered our prisoners and we held a lottery.”  I already know the story, and I want it to stop.  “They were free to fight.  Free to resist.  But we gave them a promise of mercy, at the cost of their fellow ponies.  So one by one they marched their own families and loved ones to their fate in the hope that they would be spared.” “You’re a monster!”  I’m not listening to Jackie.  I’m not still in that burning tomb. “You say that, robot!” His sneering is saved for future viewing because I can do that?  Still kinda with Jackie on this. “Look at our results.  We have brought rule of law.  This is Pax Roamona.” “You killed every mare stallion and foal!”  Jackie’s got her dander up and Sweet’s has targeting on standby if the flank-hat turns hostile. “Okay, I have a hard time believing he’s not doing that on purpose.”  Legate Lego Lass, or whatever his stupid name is, drifts wildly off topic.  “Fine, whatever!  The point is, no, we didn’t just kill everypony!” “We separated out all the foals… obviously!   We’re not raiders!  Caesar cares for the foals of The Legion.” Flank Hat is red.  He has a stupid red face.  “I can hear you!  Lunna dammit!  I can hear you!  You are just talking to fill literally ALL the space!”  Legatious Lego-Lass, Who-ever Deserves This Honor… I’m gonna settle you later.  And I know you can hear me. I ain’t gonna call you out in front of your little ponies, though. “Calm down, sugercube.”  Jackie rolls in between the conversation. “Target remains friendly.”  Sometimes the truth ain’t what I wanna hear, Sweets. We are going to have a conversation.  “Okay, so message taking… my job thing.  You didn’t just horribly murder the whole town on a whim?” “Yes!  The Legion of New Roam is an actual Luna Damned nation-state!”  Sweets is still filming and honestly, it sounds much better this way.  Honestly the legate should just pay me to follow him around and piss him off.  “We have laws.  No chems, no prostitution, and no dealing with raiders.  What few innocents were to be found in this den of inequity were given the choice to join Caesar's banner as legionaries, or as slaves.  Either presenting a brighter future than they had in this pit.  Only the guilty were subjected to the lottery.” “You crucified ponies alive and there is a pile of burning bodies right there.”  And Jackie amazes me once again at just how flat she can draw her own face on that screen. “They were raiders and raider accomplices, robot.”  I’m totally taking this guy seriously, because he has a squad of soldiers.  And Sweets is feeding my brain a steady stream of ballistics solutions.  Our chances are better than I would have figured… like 58% odds without Jackie getting shot.  I really like Jackie though.  And he’s sighing and rolling his eyes again.  “The point is I heard about what you and your ‘special needs’ friend did in Goodsprings.  Is this any different?” “Of course it’s different!  We were just stopping the Powder Gangers from taking over innocent trader settlements!”  A lot of things Jackie done said to me start to settle in real uncomfortable-like. “And we liberated a settlement that had already been taken over.”  I hate that the bastard is right.  I wanna agree with Jackie.  I wanna say that we… no, not we, that I’m better than that.  ‘Cause Jackie is better.  “Word is you ruthlessly murdered a local merchant for siding with the Powder Gangers.  And that you made the last three survivors execute each other for the right to escape.  I honestly don’t know what to say about the massacre at Primm and Proper.  Even my spies in the NCR have heard about that little episode of butchery for sheer sport.  So look at the company you keep before you lecture me on morality, robot!” “To whom am I gonna deliver this message?”  The voice and the thought is cold, mechanical, and fake, just like me.  Everypony deserves a friend. “Deliver my message to the commanding officer at Fort Friendship.”  It’s not even my second deal with Tirek in Tartarus, and far from the worst.