//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Collateral // Story: Fallout Equestria: Clearer Skies // by TicTac //------------------------------// Chapter 7: Collateral I groaned as I came to, slowly opening my eyes. “Gah! Bright!” I exclaimed, blinking rapidly until my eyes adjusted to the brightness. Looking around I could tell I was in the clinic, in one of the beds. This was good, considering the beating that zebra had given me. It was pure luck that I was still alive at all. “Ah, you’re awake!” I heard the familiar voice of Scopes say somewhere nearby. She and Qindeo appeared at the foot of my bed a moment later. “Hey guys.” I said, giving them a half-grin as I pulled myself upright, wincing. “How the fuck you two sleep through that? I was getting my flank handed to me by that zebra!” “Well, that would be because they had placed a sound proofing charm on the room, so we couldn’t hear you getting the shit beaten out of you.” Qindeo replied. “Had I not woken up to use the bathroom, we likely wouldn’t have found you until this morning.” I nodded. “I see, well, I’m glad that you did find me when you did, otherwise I’m afraid I wouldn’t have made it.” I said. “Now, where’s the Doc? We’ve got a lot to accomplish today.” *** A couple of hours later we were all riding an elevator up to DJ Pon3’s suite at the top of Tenpony Tower. I rubbed my ribcage, the damn thing was still sore. I looked up as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. A grey unicorn mare stood in front of us, smiling. “Hello, DJ Pon3 will see you now.” She said. I nodded and stepped out of the elevator into the marble foyer. In the center was a large water fountain of an alicorn with her wings spread out. That was flanked by two sets of stairs leading up to a mezzanine, bronze letters inset into it reading: Ministry of Arcane Science – Manehattan. There were a set of double doors on each level as well, the upper set bearing a sign that read: M.A.S. Emergency Broadcast Station. The unicorn lead us up the stairs, past the double doors, and into another door nearby. Inside was a desk and some chairs. I figured that this was probably DJ Pon3’s office. I took a seat along with Qin and Scopes, as the mare sat down on the opposite side of the desk. “Greetings, I am Homage, better known as DJ Pon3.” She said. I stared at her, confused. Luckily, she seemed to sense this. “Yes, I know that this is not the voice you are used to hearing over the radio, but it is a simple voice charm, that is all. Now, what can I do for you three today?” “Well, Ms. Homage, my name is Desert Eagle, and these are my friends Qindeo, and Scopes.” I said, indicating each of them in turn. “And as for our business here, I was hoping you could help us find something.” Homage nodded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” She said. “And I certainly hope I can help you find what you’re looking for. What exactly is it?” “Well, we’re looking for the coordinates of an orbiting satellite.” I told her, not wanting to give anything away just yet. “You seemed like our best option, with access to all of those broadcast towers.” Homage nodded slowly. “An orbiting satellite eh? What’s so important about it? Why do you need to know where it is?” She asked. I hesitated, glancing over at Scopes, who gave me a small nod, before turning back to Homage. “Well, can you keep a secret?” She nodded. “I already keep many.” “Good, because the satellite is actually an orbital cannon with enough power to level an entire city, and we need the coordinates to unlock the fire control.” I said bluntly. Homage’s jaw, needless to say, hit the floor. She quickly recovered, however, and grew suspicious. “And why do you want to unlock its fire control? What do you plan on using it for?” She asked. I paused. I really hadn’t thought of that. Discovering it in the first place had been an act of preventing it from falling into the wrong hooves, but now that we had it, I had no idea what to do with it. “That is a very good question, which I don’t have an answer to. We haven’t actually thought of using it at all quite frankly.” I replied after a moment. Homage nodded. “Follow me.” *** An hour later I had the coordinates of the OFC safely stowed away in my PipBuck, and we were leaving Tenpony Tower. My ribcage still ached like a bitch, especially as I gained altitude, but it wasn’t unbearable. We set course back towards Seaddle, flying 50 feet above the cloud layer. Scopes pulled Qindeo along in the cart, while I flew cover slightly above and ahead of them. I kept an eye on my EFS as I flew, and it’s a good thing I did too, otherwise I’d never have noticed those six streaks of smoke and lightning hurtling towards us from above. “Drop and roll!” I yelled, folding my wings and quite literally dropping out of the sky, plunging below the clouds in a matter of seconds, Scopes appearing a split second later. Scopes went into a hard banking turn down and away to the left, Qindeo bracing himself against the cart and digging into his cloak for something. I shot off in a straight line at top speed, clicking on the TAC function on my PipBuck. It painted Scopes and Qindeo green, while our pursuers were painted red in my vision. Three of them broke off and came after me, gaining at an alarming rate. “Oh shit!” I said, pulling up sharply in an effort to have them shoot underneath me. It didn’t work, my pursuers sticking right with me as I shot back up above the clouds. They closed the gap to a mere 25 yards, close enough I could make out the inscription on their blue armor. They were the Wonderbolts. My eyes went wide. “Well, this ain’t good.” I rolled to the right, bolts of pink energy searing my wings as they missed by mere inches. I turned towards my pursuers, going nearly vertical and pouring on the speed, causing them to shoot past underneath me. As they tried to pull up and match my move, I reversed direction, dropping below them and right onto their tails. My targeting reticule flashed red, locking the nearest Wonderbolt in its crosshairs. I fired, The Undoer ripping one of the Novasurge rifles clean off its battle saddle, taking the piece of saddle it was attached to with it. The Wonderbolt whipped around, the useless saddle falling away as she did. She dove at me, scorpion tail lashing, and collided into my back, knocking us both tumbling below the cloud layer. A desperate struggle ensued, her whipping her scorpion tail around, trying to stab it into me, as I tried to get a grip on my Deagle. She won. I cried out as I felt the blade slice through my barding and straight into my right side, just behind my shoulder. A second later though, I had my Deagle in my mouth. I twisted around, putting all seven shots straight into her chest. At such a close ranger, her armor didn’t stand a chance. Blood sprayed out her back as the rounds exited, leaving a massive hole in her chest. She died instantly, her body falling away from me. As it did, the scorpion tail that was embedded into my side was yanked violently out, the tip grating across the back of my shoulder blade before exiting, eliciting another cry of pain. I recovered after tumbling for a few more seconds, my side in agonizing pain. The fucking tails were poisoned with something, I was sure of it, but I didn’t have time to worry about that now. I holstered my Deagle, looking around for the other five Wonderbolts, Scopes, and Qindeo. I spotted four of the Wonderbolts flying off into the distance, one of them clutching the body of their fallen comrade. I snorted, typical Enclave cowards. I next spotted Scopes flying a good distance below me, and Qindeo’s tag was off to the west. I started to breathe a sigh of relief, when I suddenly realized that one of the Wonderbolts still hadn’t been accounted for. I looked around frantically, searching for the remaining Wonderbolt. The only sign of him was a bright muzzle flash in the distance, the high-pitched crack of a sniper rifle reaching my ears at the same time I saw Scopes start to fall. “No!” I shouted. Adrenaline pumping, I ignored my own wounds and the poison seeping through my veins and dove after her, my wings a blur as I accelerated downwards. I saw the Mach cone start to form in front of me, the little airspeed indicator on my eyepiece reading Mach 3 and going up fast. The Mach cone started to bend around me, coming to a point before my outstretched hooves, before I punched through it in a sudden burst of near-instant acceleration. The spectrum of visible light shattered around me, sending a rainbow-colored shockwave rippling out over the wastes, and a rainbow trail streaked out behind me. I ignored the aerial display behind me, and the fact I had just executed the hardest aerial maneuver ever, of all time, as I caught Scopes about 100 feet above the ground. I began to level out, bleeding off speed as I approached the ground, heading towards Qindeo’s tag. With Scopes grasped firmly in my hooves, I flipped over onto my back, and crash landed into a large meadow-like area, dirt flying up around me as I slid to a halt. I groaned, letting Scopes roll out of my hooves off to the side as my vision began to darken. I thought I could hear the sound of hoofsteps approaching, sounding distant. I tried to turn my head to see who it was, catching a glimpse of a green coat before I blacked out. *** I didn’t know how long I was out for, and when I finally did come too, it was only for a brief second before somepony yelled “Knock him yeut agyen!” and I was unconscious once more. I drifted in and out of consciousness for a while, catching glimpses of Scopes, Qindeo, and several other ponies I didn’t know. When I was awake, my entire body burned, my vision was blurry, and the area where I had been stabbed was a constant sharp pain. Despite all of that though, I still managed to catch glimpses of my caretakers. There were two pegasi, one with a green coat and a purple mane that spoke in a funny accent, and the other had a red coat with a brown mane. There was also a small earth pony filly and what I thought was a griffon. *** I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly as they adjusted to the darkness around me. My fever had finally passed, though my side was still aching in pain. I sat up slowly, wincing as pain suddenly laced up my side when I moved my shoulder. I looked over at the wound, finding a nasty scar where the blade had entered and exited, the scar from the exit wound being wider and offset at an angle from the entrance wound scar. I looked up from it, taking a look around at my surroundings. I was inside a tent, the front flap open to the night air. I was sitting upon a cot raised slightly off of the ground, my gear piled neatly next to it. In the corner next to the entrance flap, a little terracotta colored filly with a vermillion mane slept peacefully on a bed roll. I smiled, wondering how long the filly had been sleeping here, before attempting to stand. I gently put my right foreleg down, slowly putting more weight onto it before the pain became too intense for me to bear and then backing off. I rose, keeping most of my weight on my other three hooves as I limped over to my pile of gear. I slowly pulled my barding on, making a mental note to repair it soon. It was getting pretty beat up. I strapped my Deagle to my leg, slipping my Aviators into a chest pocket and leaving the rest of my gear in the pile. I turned towards the entrance flap, only to see the little filly now wide awake and staring at me. I smiled at her. “Hello there.” I said. “What’s your name?” “Beep Beep!” She replied, breaking into a wide smile. “Stay right here, I need to tell the others you’ve woken up!” She jumped up, and raced out of the tent. I blinked. “Okay…?” I sat back down on the cot, rubbing my shoulder and waiting for the filly to return. I didn’t have to wait long, as she stuck her head into the tent and motioned for me to come outside. I got back up, and limped out of the tent and into the cool night air. In front of me were Scopes, Qindeo, the two pegasi, and a griffon, all gathered around a bright campfire. “Hey.” I said. They began to introduce themselves, starting with the green pegasus. “Name's Atom Bell. Glad tuh see yas awake, ah divvint think yee weor ganin tuh myek it the forst couple iv days.” She said, her accent so strong I barely understood her at first. “Uhm, nice to meet you Miss Bell.” I said, nodding politely to her and noting her cutie mark, a silver lamp. The red coated pegasus introduced herself next. “Hey, name’s Carnival!” She said. Her cutie mark was one of those sad theater masks. I nodded to her, and turned to the griffon, who spoke next. “Grim Whiptail, at your service.” The griffon said, tipping his desperado hat to me. I nodded back, turning my attention to Scopes and Qindeo, only to have Scopes tackle me into a hug as I did so. “What did I tell you about not scaring me like that again?” She demanded, tears in her eyes. “Do you even know what you did?” Before I could respond, she planted her lips directly onto mine. My eyes widened in surprise, but after a moment I returned her kiss. We broke apart a few moments later. I took a step back. “Uhh, I, uhh, umm…” I said, blinking rapidly. I heard Qindeo chuckle. He came up next to me, and whispered into my ear. “I think she likes you, just a little bit.” I shook my head. “Yeah, I’m, gonna go take a nap.” I retreated back into my tent, pulling the entrance flap closed. I clambered onto the cot, and fell asleep almost instantly. *** When I woke up, it was still dark out. I limped out of my tent, taking a look around the camp. There were five other tents set up around the now dying campfire, and there were two wagons parked around them in a perimeter, their brahmin sleeping nearby. I saw Grim perched on top of one of the wagons, keeping watch. Curious about the rest of our surroundings, I flew up to him. “Hey.” I said, landing gently next to him. He nodded to me, before turning his attention back to our surroundings. We were camped out inside of an old airfield, at the very end of the crumbling tarmac of one of the runways. A ways up it I could see what appeared to be the old control tower laying across the runway, and the main building next to it. I looked down at my PipBuck, which had labeled this as Shadow Field. “Huh, well, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go take a look around.” I said to Grim. He nodded. “Alright, just don’t nearly die again. Atom already used up nearly all her medical supplies on you.” “I won’t.” I replied and took off, flying down the runway towards the building. *** I landed in front of the building, which turned out to be a two story high command center. Letters across the top floor read Shadow Field, while smaller letters above the double doors read MoA. I tried pushing one of the doors open, resulting in it just falling over with a crash. “Well, that works too I guess.” I shrugged and stepped inside the building, gazing around at the interior. It seemed to have escaped the notice of looters, a terminal still glowing brightly behind what appeared to be the reception desk. The floor creaked dangerously as I trotted over towards the terminal, causing me to pause, and look down at the floor beneath me. That wasn’t a good idea. With a massive crash, the floor gave out beneath me, sending me tumbling down into the blackness below. I landed with heavy thud, pieces of rotted wood raining down around me. Groaning, I picked myself up. Luckily, I wasn’t hurt any worse than I already was from the fall. I clicked on my PipBuck light, and shined it around. I had fallen into some sort of tunnel, writing on the walls labeling it as ACCESS TUNNEL 1B. A little further down the wall, there was an arrow pointing down the tunnel accompanied by the words CRYO A. I also spotted a switch on the wall, so I went over and flipped it. It seemed like the logical thing to do. Dim red lights flickered to life along the length of the tunnel, giving everything an eerie red glow. I kept my light on and brought up my EFS display, and started down the tunnel. *** I had been walking for roughly five minutes before the first red bar appeared on my EFS, followed by another, and then three more. I drew my Deagle, advancing until five ghoul ponies were visible. I decided to have a little fun. “Hey! Bozos! I got a question for yah. You prefer to take your daily dose of lead with water or orange juice?” I yelled at them, before opening fire. I downed the ghouls with one shot each, the sound of the Deagle nearly deafening in the enclosed space. I reloaded and continued onward, stepping over the bodies carefully and trotting towards a sharp turn in the tunnel. I rounded it, and found myself standing in front of a metal door, my EFS displaying two red marks milling around behind it. Letters above the door labeled it as CRYO A. I readied my Deagle, and hit the door release, the door sliding down into the floor with a clang. A cold, low, thick fog rolled out, swirling around my hooves, followed a second later by two ghouls charging towards me. They each got a bullet to the head, dropping instantly. My EFS now devoid of marks, I holstered my Deagle and stepped into the room, taking a look around. The first thing I noticed was the temperature drop. It was probably about a nice 65°F out in the tunnel, while the temperature inside of the room was damn near freezing. I shivered, my barding not having the best of insulation. The floor was covered in a thick layer of rolling fog that swirled ominously around my hooves as I walked. Both walls were lined with big open metal pods, each accompanied by a terminal, none of which seemed to be working. In the center of the room was a control console with another terminal perched atop it, this one glowing. As I approached it, something else caught my eye at the opposite end of the room. I stepped around the terminal and trotted forward to investigate. Along the back wall of the room lay the body of a griffon, long dead, but the cold temperature of the room having kept it mostly preserved. There was a pre-war lance sticking out of it, like the ones the Royal Guards of old used to carry. “That’s odd.” I muttered, wondering what the body of a griffon was doing in the cryo chamber of an old military base. My gaze flicked over the wall, spotting a small outline of something towards the center. I moved closer to get a better look at it, my eyes widening in surprise as I saw what it was, a cloud and thunderbolt, better known as Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark. I thought for a moment, before placing my hoof on it and pressing down. To my delight, it slid into the wall with a solid thunk. I took a step back as a hermetic seal released with a hiss, steam blowing out along a previously unseen crack. The two halves of the wall slid apart smoothly, coming to a stop about five feet apart. I stepped through the opening into a small room, similar to the first, but with only one of the metal pods sitting in the center of it. This pod was closed, a little light above it glowing green, and was covered in a layer of frost. I walked slowly up to the pod, scraping off some of the frost with my hoof, revealing Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark underneath. I took a step back in surprise. How was this even possible? The history books back in Stable 199 said that all six Mares of the Ministry had perished. I turned towards the glowing terminal next to the pod. There was only one way to find out if they were wrong. I stepped up to the terminal, guessing the password, R4D1C4LNE55 on my fourth try. P:\>Shadow_Field\CRYO_A\RD >Access Granted >Open Cryo Pod? Y/N I hit enter.