Chapter 12:
“Wait, what?” Crackshot asked, looking very confused by the information I had just presented. Brutus and I had gotten Ruby and gone upstairs to talk as a team. “You said your brother's name was Star Venture. Who the hell is Coal?”
“Coal was his given name when he was born.” I sighed, sitting down at the table beside CB. The filly had been sitting quietly, lazily flipping through a book on the table in front of her, seemingly barely even noticing it was actually there, she had an odd scent about her but I wasn't sure what it was. It was familiar but I couldn't put a hoof on it. When I sat down she rested against my side, more gently than before, I wondered if one of them had mentioned my injuries. “He changed it to Star Venture when he moved out on his own. He HATED the name. I think he kind of resented my dad for it. When my mom was pregnant with my us, one of our dad's military buddy's wives was having a baby too. They made a bet that whomever had their child first got to pick the name of the others child. So when his child was born first he told my dad he had to name his son Coal, so my dad did. My mother was a simple soul, she didn't know where the name had come from and she just accepted it. When he changed it she never asked why and he never volunteered an answer. Though it took her a long time to get used to calling him by a new name, and if she got upset she'd usually revert to his original name.”
“Alright well that's fine, but why switch back to his old name? Why not stick with his new name, or even come up with yet another new name?” Ruby asked. “He had to know you'd know it was him as soon as you heard his name. I mean that's no way to hide from you.”
“I don't think he is hiding from me. The things I witnessed in this memory orb lead me to believe that he fully intends to meet me when the time is right, whatever that time may be.”
“So what do we do now?” Crackshot asked.
“I think, for now, there's nothing we can do.” I sighed, slumping in my chair, feeling completely drained despite the advances we'd made. “I don't know where to look, I don't know what to do. I mean if I confronted Venture right now? I'd have no clue what to say or think.”
“Well what was he working on before the end?” Crackshot asked.
“Same thing as everypony else, a way to end the war.” I said.
“Well you weren't working on ending the war.” CB said softly, looking up at me.
“That's true.” Ruby nodded.
“Alright, well MOST ponies were working on a way to end the war, I was trying to find a way to help the victims of the war. Venture worked on all kinds of projects, most of them theoretical...trying to strengthen the army through things like robotic or genetic augmentation, building robot soldiers, which we had some success with obviously. He studied cloning...”
“Maybe he's an evil clone!” CB said, sitting up quickly. “He was so sad that you were gone and he grew old so he cloned himself to continue his work searching for you but then one of the clones became EVIL and started doing evil things, and now after so many generations of clones his genetic material is breaking down and he needs you to get fresh compatible DNA to re-sequence to keep himself going!” She seemed to have brightened up a lot in just a few hours.
“Uhh, I suppose anything is possible.” I nodded. When I had been frozen the cloning project was all still theoretical so I doubted he and his team could have progressed all the way to full fledged pony cloning in the two months after I vanished. I floated the book CB was reading off the table and looked at the cover, 'Sci-Fi horror anthology volume 4', no wonder she had such crazy ideas about what might be happening. I set the book back down and she just smiled at me, putting her head down again, and again I caught that odd scent but still couldn't place it.“Venture did most of the administrative work for the company, he only got to spend small amounts of time working on projects he was passionate about. He had a huge team of scientists who worked on his projects for him, depending on how their work went after I was frozen there's any number of things he could be, or plans he might have.”
“So for now our plans should just stay unchanged and we'll head back to what's left of the base and look for clues?” Brutus asked.
“Exactly.” I nodded. “No point worrying about things beyond our control.”
“Alright well we'll leave first thing in the morning.” Brutus said. “I've already cleared it and we're good to go.”
“What about me?” CB asked, sitting up and swaying heavily side to side as she did. “I wanna go too.” I looked down at her, she looked sick, her eyes were glassy and she was swaying gently side to side despite the fact that she was sitting in place.
“CB are you okay?” I asked, reaching up to feel her forehead.
“I'm fine!” She snapped, pushing my foreleg away and lurching to the side and almost falling off the chair to the ground. She groaned and pushed herself up. “I feel funny...” She stumbled towards a trash can and I grabbed her in my magic field, keeping her upright instead of face planting into the can, just in time for her to throw up violently into it, a sickly blue release.
“What in the world?” Ruby hurried over to her side and held the filly carefully, allowing me to release my hold on her.
I moved to get up myself, my back leg coming into contact with something hard under the table and knocking it over. It clattered loudly as it hit the ground and I looked down to discover an empty liquor bottle. It had just the smallest amount of blue liquid still in the bottle. It was the smell I'd picked up coming from CB and I recognized it as the horrible lighter fluid scent of the weird green stuff Ruby and I had drunk my first night here.
“CB!” I demanded, floating the bottle up onto the table. “How much of this did you drink?”
“I dunno...” She muttered, retching into the can. “Maybe half?”
“HALF!?” Ruby cried. “Why on earth would you drink that stuff?”
“Because it's what grown ups always do!” She said, her speech pretty badly slurred. “Ponies die, other ponies get sad, they sit around and get drunk and be sad! My mom died, I'm sad, so I got drunk.”
“Sweetie you're too little for things like this.” I said, looking the bottle over again. “This stuff is too strong, nopony should really be drinking it at all anymore.”
“Well it's all I could find in there.” She pointed to a cabinet in the corner. I opened it and there were a bunch of liquor bottles, all of them either broken or empty.
“CB, I know it's hard.” Brutus said, coming over to sit beside her. “But you need to talk to us about it, you can't just squash it all down and pour booze on it, that makes it worse.”
“I don't wanna talk about it!” CB said, shoving Ruby away and moving away from the trash can and staring down the hallway, leaning against the wall for support.
“Hey now wait a minute.” Brutus said, grabbing her in his magic and starting to pull her back, but she twisted in his grip and her horn flashed green, his magic field shattering, freeing her and she was off again.
“She really is powerful.” Crackshot said softly, watching CB go into the room and slamming the door behind her, a magical energy wrapping around the frame.
“What do we do?” Ruby asked.
“I know this might not sound like the best answer,” Crackshot said, “but just leave her for now. The drinking thing is obviously a problem to be addressed, but right now she is mad and drunk and she's not going to listen to anypony about anything. She's going to wake up in the morning with a Wasteland sized hangover and she's going to answer for her actions then. In the morning you three go to the base, do what you need to do, I'll stay here and talk to CB.”
“Are you sure?” Brutus asked.
“Positive.” Crackshot nodded. “I've dealt with devastated children, I've dealt with kids thinking they're old enough and mature enough to start drinking...” She smirked at Brutus and Ruby, both of whom blushed and laughed nervously. “I'm sure I can talk to CB and help her through things.”
“Thanks Crackshot.” Ruby smiled softly. “I know we're going to take care of her, but it's going to be rough and I'm glad we have you to help.”
“Hey, it takes a village right?” Crackshot asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded, looking at my three friends, I realized I had another problem I needed to deal with.
“Ruby...we need to talk...” I said softly, putting a hoof on her shoulder.
She turned and looked at me curiously. “About CB?”
“No about what I saw in that memory orb...”
“Oh, alright, we'll be back.” She said to Crackshot and Brutus. We walked down the hall and into one of the empty room, closing the door.
“Is it bad?” Ruby asked, sitting down on the bed. I sat down beside her and sighed.
“It's not good...” I rubbed my eyes for a moment, not sure how best to start this conversation.
“Just tell me.” She said, the worry on her face leaking into her voice.
“We're related.” I said flatly, looking up at her. “You're my great great, however many times great, granddaughter, Venture intentionally guided our relationship so that when the time came he could use you as...I don't know, bait, or a hostage, or something to make sure I did something for him when the time came.
“Oh...well that's...weird.” She said softly, looking down at the floor.
“I know. To be fair it's been 200 years and the genetics would be very far apart...”
“But we should probably rethink our relationship all the same?”
“I was thinking that yeah.”
She sat quietly for a moment and I wasn't sure what to say or do, but after a moment my worst fear came to life. She broke down into tears and collapsed into my forelegs. I sighed deeply, hugging her close and just letting her cry. I rested my head against her mane and let my own tears fall. Twenty minutes passed while we just sat together and cried. I felt my mind go kind of numb and just held Ruby quietly as my tears stopped. When she finally stopped to she just sat against me and said nothing for a long time.
Finally she sat up and wiped her eyes. “What about CB?”
“I...I'm just not sure.” I said quietly. “We can still be there for her obviously...we just aren't going to be married while we do it.”
“Yeah...yeah you're right.” She nodded, sitting back slowly, breathing heavily, obviously trying to keep from starting to cry again. She looked so miserable it just broke my heart to know it was basically my fault she was so sad, and I know what you're thinking, it's not my fault, but really I could have said nothing and just gone on with life with her.
“I should go into town...tell my friends to stop planning.” She muttered.
“It's really late...well actually it's really early. I think we should try to get some sleep and you can go into town tomorrow after we get back from the base?”
“Dammit. I forgot about that.” She was clearly very frustrated with the whole situation. “No, no I have to go now, I don't want them wasting more time and money than is necessary.” She said firmly. “I'll sleep there and fly back in the morning for the mission.”
“Shouldn't you run that past Brutus?” I asked as she made her way over to the window and pulled it open.
“I...I can't face him right now...Or Crackshot. I just...tell them something.” Before I could protest she was gone, up into the dark sky and gone from my sight a moment later. I sat back for a time, thinking through my options. Probably best to just go to bed here in the room and nopony would question anything until morning...and that is exactly what I did...after half a bottle of wild pegasus.
////////////
“Hey! Wake up Moron!” A hoof smacked my face, jarring me awake and making me jump back and fall off the far side of the bed.
“The fuck?” I grumbled, pushing myself up, coming face to face with a very annoyed looking Lilith.
“What did you do?” She demanded. “Why did I just spend 3 hours with my Mom and friends comforting my grief stricken cousin?”
“It's not my fault!” I said quickly, moving back before she could try to hit me again. “I found out some bad news and we had to rethink our relationship.”
“So that's why the wedding is cancelled all the sudden?” She asked angrily, getting down off the bed and transforming into a muscular diamond dog. “I will rip you apart if you don't tell me what happened, because she wouldn't, and I won't FORCE her to talk about things she's not comfortable with. YOU on the other hoof I have no qualms about intimidating.”
I glared defiantly at her for a moment but sighed, slumping quietly. “I found out she's my great granddaughter.”
This took her by surprise because the menace left her face and she just looked at me curiously. “Really?”
“Yeah...” I filled her in on the capture and interrogation of Gauze and Feel Good and the information in the orb I had been given. “It's in my saddlebags there if you want to see it for yourself.” I said, gesturing to the bags beside the bed.
She had transformed back while I was telling her the story and now she looked really upset. “I'm sorry I flew off the handle at you. I should have been calmer about the whole thing.”
“It's okay. I'd be protective too.” I said, pushing myself up and getting back onto the bed.
“So it's not necessarily that your relationship is OVER, it's just, changed...delayed...different?” She looked at me curiously.
“I don't know what our relationship is right now. I still love her and I still want to be with her more than anything, but it's just not in the cards right now.” I shook my head sadly.
“Well I'm sorry.” She put a leg around me and hugged me gently. “I guess to make it up to you I'll fill in for Ruby today. She said you guys were going back to your base?”
“Yeah we are, but you can't just fill in for her. Our friends are going to ask too many questions.” I said seriously.
“I think you need to tell them what you saw, it's not fair to leave them in the dark about something so life changing. Besides, Ruby is passed out drunk in my room above the store, so she's not going anywhere today.”
“I think you're right...about telling them I mean.”
I walked out of the room and almost knocked Brutus over as he came down the hall, yawning so he didn't notice me either.
“Oh, morning.” He smiled tiredly. “You two got up early and everyth...” He trailed off when he saw Lilith behind me instead of Ruby. “Uhh...Lil?” He looked at me in confusion.
“Hey Brutus.” She smiled sheepishly.
“Is Crackshot up? We need to talk.” I said.
“Yeah she's in with CB.”
“I'll go get her, you head to the sky wagon and we'll talk there while we prep. Lilith is going to fill in for Ruby.”
“Alright.” Brutus said slowly, looking from me to the Changling and back. “Well come on then.” He said, starting off down the hall. Lilith followed him quickly while I headed over and got Crackshot.
We headed down to the hanger bay and Crackshot smiled when she saw Lilith. “Well hey there you evil black monstrosity.”
“Crackshot! You rotting pile of undead horror, how's it going?” Lilith countered without missing a beat, setting down the crates she had in her magical grasp and moving to hug the ghoul.
“What're you doing here?” She asked curiously, returning the embrace and stepping back as Brutus came up from inside the Wagon.
“Cane is going to tell us.” Brutus said, sitting on the ramp into the wagon. Lilith stepped back and went back to storing the boxes inside the wagon.
“Ruby and I are breaking up.” I said simply.
“What?!” Brutus and Crackshot echoed together. “Why?”
“It's complicated, just calm down and I'll explain.”
“You better have a damned good explanation.” Brutus growled. “I'm not above breaking your stupid face if you fucked up.”
“No, it's nothing either of us did.”
“Well then tell us!” Crackshot demanded.
“The orb that they brought me, with Gauze's memories? It turns out they guided my and Ruby's relationship from our first night here in order to make sure I cared about her enough when the time came for something to happen and I'd sacrifice myself or something to keep her safe, and not only that, she's also my great granddaughter.”
“Really?” Crackshot asked in amazement.
“It seems so yeah. Gauze and Venture were talking about how I'd met her and they were guiding us towards love...Ruby and I talked and we both decided that despite how bad it hurt we should slow things down indefinitely until we could sort it all out. She took off last night and I didn't want to wake you guys up just to worry about her with me when we have to worry about the recovery operations. She flew into town and got wasted and passed out at Firebird's store, so she's sleeping it off and Lilith is here to fill in as our pilot.”
“Well shit,” Brutus sighed, “but you two are 200 years removed from each other, it's not like there'd be a serious genetic issue with it.”
“Would you want to hook up with me just because we're 200 years removed?” Crackshot asked sarcastically, making Brutus grimace.
“No, I guess not.” He said softly, looking at the ground.
“We'll go on this mission, do what we planned on doing and we'll go check on Ruby tonight when we get back. She'll need you guys more than ever right now.” Lilith said, coming over and sitting down beside Brutus.
“Yeah, yeah you're right.” Brutus nods. “Lets get packed up and head out so we can get back as soon as possible. Cane do you know what you need from the base?”
“Yeah, I want to try and scavenge the computer systems and the servers if I can, and I want to try and find Ivory again.” I said, gesturing to the empty holster.
“Alright, Lilith, you and I are going to look for any clues we can find, if any of the bodies of attackers have pipbucks or files of any kind on them we take it all, strip em of weapons and any usable armour and try to see if there is anything else worth scavenging.”
“Sounds good.” Lilith nodded, heading back into the wagon and getting into the pilot's position. It was weird to see someone besides Ruby in that spot.
“I'm going to go back to CB for now.” Crackshot said. “Hurry back.” She sighed deeply. “She's going to be upset all over again when she finds out there's no wedding...I think it was one small thing she had to look forward to.”
“Well I'll talk to her about it when I get back.” I said. “It's not fair to ask you to deal with ALL the grown up problems she's gonna have...I mean who's gonna talk to her when she starts to take an interest in bucks?”
“Well that's a long way off.” Crackshot chuckled. “But yeah I'll leave that one to you. I've done it enough times over the years.”
“Alright well lets head out.” Brutus said, securing the last few crates as the magical engine underneath the wagon whined to life.
“Ready to go!” Lilith called.
“Hurry home.” Crackshot said, waving to us as I got in and the ramp slid shut behind me, the wagon rising into the air and soaring off back towards the remains of our base.
//////////
The base...sweet merciful Celestia the base...It was a smoldering hellhole...The ground around the base was scorched, pockmarked with craters and the bodies of the guards unlucky enough to be caught outside when the infiltrators had turned on them. We landed on what remained of the airstrip outside, none of us wanted to risk landing in the loading bay. When we flew over it the wreckage was even worse. Twisted destroyed platforms, the one we'd taken off from was the most obvious one, the blast from the missile had destroyed the walkway up to the platform, which had teetered and collapsed into the area beneath.
“Alright, we should start out here.” Brutus said as we unloaded. “Cane will you be alright getting to the computer rooms yourself?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I have my trusty Pipbuck to tell me if anything is hanging out in the ruins and it's so quiet out here I'm sure you'll hear it if I fire my gun.”
“Okay, just be careful.” He said, floating a crate over to me, a pile of magical glow sticks inside, which I took and started for the doors.
“I always am.”
Inside was worse than out. Though the meager daylight that made it though the clouds did little anymore to light the world, inside was black. The walls were burnt, none of the lights seemed to be working anymore and the halls were littered with bodies. I had to fight not to be violently ill at the sight of it all, a sight just barely illuminated by the light of my pipbuck. I moved through the halls, pulling out glow sticks and lighting them before setting them down in small alcoves or just tossing them to the floor.
When I finally got to the computer lab I was glad to see the computers were mostly in tact, they were designed to take a beating and take one they had. Some of them were slagged beyond hope but I stripped the hard drives out of the surviving ones, taking any parts I could salvage. I finally came to the counter that ran along the back wall of the room and was amazed to find some of the computers still functional, just the monitors burned out. I moved to the first and powered it down before removing the cables from it and taking the entire computer and adding it to the crate, along with the wires I'd just removed.
“Well well, finally came back I see.” A mechanical voice said, making me almost jump out of my barding. I drew Ebony and whipped around quickly, coming face to face with a computer. The monitor sprang to life and a robotic face appeared. “Hello little brother.”
“Venture?” I stared at the computer in amazement.
“Miss me?”
“Miss you? MISS YOU?! WHAT THE FUCK?! ARE YOU INSANE?!” I screamed at the computer, the pistol in my magical grip still, but forgotten. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You murdered all these ponies and tried to kill me too!” I was so blinded with anger but I had no idea what to do with it all.
“Oh Sugar relax.” He chuckled. “YOU were never in danger.”
“Oh well THAT makes me feel better.” I snapped. “You better tell me what the fuck all this is about.”
“Or what? You'll tell Dad?” He laughed outright this time. “Please Sugar, just trust me when I say you're safe.”
“I don't want SAFETY, I want answers!”
“Well...I suppose you've earned an answer or two...” He said thoughtfully. “Alright, I'll answer TWO questions.”
“What happened to me?” I asked flat out.
“You mean back then?” He asked and I just nodded. “You were frozen in case I needed you.” He said simply.
“So you knew two hundred years ago you might need me...”I said, a statement, not a question. “Which rules out the 'evil clone' theory. CB will be upset I'm sure.”
“Oh, your little filly.” He smirked. “How's she doing without her mommy?”
“None of your damned business.” I snapped. “I'm asking the questions here.”
“Oh yes sir, I'm so sorry sir, how rude of me. Alright, question number two, and make it important.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Well that's vague...Alright I can answer just as vaguely. I'm going to save Equestria.”
“Yeah you and everypony else. The Enclave, Red Eye, the Alicorns...everypony just wants to SAVE Equestria, Restore Equestria to a semblance of civilization. I swear Venture I'm gonna find you and I'm going to put you in your place.”
He burst out laughing again. “Put me in my place? Oh Cane, we're not children anymore. I have hundreds of Ponies and Griffons and Sand Dogs working for me, and do you know, I'd kill any of them for talking to me the way you are.”
“I'm not afraid of you Venture.”
“Nor should you be. As I said, you're safe.”
The burning curiosity got the better of me and I blurted out, “Why did you need to manipulate my relationship with Ruby? What the hell gives you the right to mess with our emotions like that? She's my fucking grand daughter and you wanted her as collateral to make sure I'd obey? You're fucking sick! I don't care how far removed our genetics might be, it's fucked up!”
“Oh Sugar, it's so nice to finally get to talk to you face to face, such as my face still is, I've missed having somepony willing to stand up to me, someone to argue with, to spar with mentally, though you're really not on my level anymore...You have so completely failed to grasp the information presented to you, yes I know about Gauze and Feel Good being captured and broken. Bravo with the fake threats to kill Gauze, that was a stroke of genius, but it's a good thing Feel Good didn't know you were bluffing, as I did or you'd not have even known about me yet, and this conversation wouldn't even be taking place. You'd still be blissfully ignorant, of course you still mostly are.” He laughed again and sighed. “I tell you what, I'll give you one more and answer your question. You're a goody four shoes, Sugar, giving you somepony to love and protect ensures you have something to risk losing when my plans all come together, and I am so very close to implementing those. As for Ruby...well maybe you shouldn't worry so much about cancelling your wedding and worry more about...Oops, almost spoiled the ending.” He laughed darkly as the monitor went blank again.
“NO! VENTURE COME BACK! I screamed at the monitor, my rage and unsatisfied curiosity welling up inside me again. “COME BACK!” Ebony floated back up and I unloaded the whole clip into the computer, pieces and sparks flying from it as I screamed madly at it, the gun clicking loudly as I ran out of ammo. The gun fell to the ground as I collapsed in a heap, suddenly so very exhausted...The computer was a smoking pile of slag now, glowing green from the plasma damage.
“Cane? CANE!?” I heard Lilith's voice from the doorway of the computer lab.
“CANE!” Brutus yelled, storming into the lab, shotgun drawn as he rounded the corner and stopped short at the sight of me. “Cane, what happened?” He asks, looking at Ebony on the ground beside me, a small curl of smoke still rising from the barrel, then to the obliterated computer and back to me.
“It...it was Venture.” I said quietly, pushing myself up slowly. “He had remotely tapped into the computer. We talked...I talked, he taunted...” I said bitterly, picking Ebony up and sliding a new clip into it, tossing the empty clip as hard as I could at the remains of the computer. It stuck fast in the piece of metal frame that remained, the metal of the computer softened from the plasma energy, and it stayed sticking out.
“So you trashed the computer? The one we could have used to try and trace him?”
“We couldn't have traced him.” I sighed, turning back to them. “He's too smart for that. I know exactly how he'd have covered his tracks 200 years ago, it's the same way I'd have covered mine, and I know I wouldn't have been able to trace him back then. Given 200 years of advances he has at his disposal there's no way we could find him.”
“Well what do we do now?” Lily asked, coming up behind us.
“We finish what we came for and head home. It's almost noon. If we could be back before dinner that'd be great.”
“I need to go find Ivory, my cargo box is full anyway.” I said quietly, pushing past them and heading back into the hallway.
“Cane...” Lily started but Brutus stopped her, I wasn't stopping for anything anyway and I vanished into the hallway. With all the markers burned away it was hard to navigate the base, but following the still damp ground I finally managed to find the hall we'd faced off against the pyro pony. I stopped short at EB's body and just stood quietly for a long time.
“I'm so sorry...” I said finally. “I should have done more to protect you, but I swear I'll do everything in my power to protect CB.” I had to blink back tears and struggled not to break down completely. I'd spent too much time crying the last two days and I felt like my spirit would crumble if I let it fall again. I lifted up a pair of glow sticks and lit them, tossing them down opposite sides of the hallway. As they soared down I caught a glint of light from a reflection on the ground. Moving over I pushed some debris out of the way and found Ivory laying on the ground, dirty but basically unharmed. “Hello little one.” I smiled softly, floating the gun up and cleaning it off. Sliding it back into the holster I turned to leave.
I paused and looked down at EB again. “Well...I can't just leave you here...” I said quietly, wrapping EB's body in my magic and carrying her through the base. I passed the computer labs again, now quiet and empty, probably forever. Making my way outside Brutus looked up from the wagon, his face falling at the sight of my grizzly cargo. In the light she looked all the worse, burned horribly, parts of her right side bloated and swollen from sitting in the water and dampness for days, the colouring of her coat faded and grey from the ash that had settled on her and caked in as the moisture on the part of her body out of the water had dried. I set her down gently and moved to the dirt just outside of the runway. I wrapped a section of dirt in my magic and lifted it away, creating a hole a few feet deep and setting the dirt down before lowering her gently into the hole, sliding the dirt back and covering it again.
Brutus came to stand beside me. He lifted a piece of rubble from a collapsed wall and set it at the top of the grave as a marker. Leaning close to it his horn lit up and he carved her name along it, then her cutie mark under that, then stood back and just looked at it sadly.
“She was the second pony to know I was gay.” He said softly after a few moments of silence. “She had the craziest crush on me when we were younger, and she was so insanely jealous of my and Ruby's relationship. I had to tell her almost the same day I told Ruby so that she wouldn't be upset.”
“So you're fully opening up about that now?” I asked, looking over at him curiously.
“Yeah, I'm gonna tell Crackshot tonight. I know she won't be surprised but at least it'll be official.”
“Well good for you buddy.” I smiled softly, looking back to the grave. “When we get a chance we should bring CB here to say goodbye properly.”
“We will.” He nodded.
“Hey, if you two are done, we should be getting out of here.” Lily said, landing beside us. “I saw some raiders coming this way and I would rather avoid em.”
“Yeah, lets get out of here.” Brutus said, heading quickly back to the Wagon. I followed all too happily and a few moments later we were in the air and heading back towards the medical center. The raiders took some potshots at us but Brutus kicked on the poison turret and let it rain down on them for a minute and quickly the raiders not only stopped firing but fell back quickly and started away from the base.
“We should go pick up Ruby before we land back at the medical center.” I said to Brutus while we was shutting down the turret again.
“I think you're right, we don't wanna leave her on a binge. Hey Lily...” Brutus called up to the cockpit.
“I heard you.” She interrupted. “You're five feet from me not on the far side of a big room, I can hear you just fine.”
When the medical center came into view she turned slightly and we continued on past it, heading towards the town in the distance.
“Tower, this is Dark Shifter, coming in from the South with a cargo wagon. Need permission to land, over.” She called through the radio as we got closer.
“Request received, please hold.” There was a long moment of silence. “Dark Shifter, how many sides does a circle have?”
Brutus and I looked at each other in confusion but Lily just rolled her eyes. “Two, the inside and the outside, now lemme land Power jack.”
“Roger that, you're clear to land.” I could hear the smile in the controller's voice.
“Thanks Tower.” Lily said, turning the radio off and starting down towards the edge of town. I hadn't realized it when we're approached on foot but there were a dozen or so landing stalls on the far side of the town, I recognized some of the other Sky wagons from our base.
“What was that?” Brutus asked.
“Well it's two things.” Lily said. “It's a safety code. If I had said 'none' he would have directed me to land on pad 12, which is rigged to electrify the a wagon that lands on it, shocking all the occupants unconcious. It's not a pleasant experience but usually you're being held hostage and it's the lesser of two evils.”
“Usually you're being held hostage? How many...” I started
“Three.” She interrupted. “It's also just a long running joke, he's always trying to stump me with questions like that.”
“But what if you don't know the answer?” Brutus asked in shock.
“I make something up if I'm in trouble, I tell him I don't know if I'm safe.”
“What if your guess is right?”
“I...I dunno.” She said, laughing a little. “I've never had that happen...I guess we should work that out.”
///////////
We made our way to the Phoenix store and Lily lead the way inside, she told me Firebird would be just as annoyed with me at first too if Ruby still hadn't sobered up so she went first to intercept her, and it was a good thing she did because Firebird was behind the counter and she looked none too pleased to see me, but Lily stepped towards her and blocked her from coming out to yell at me. “She's upstairs, through the door...” She pointed to the door at the top of the stairs. “Last door on the right.”
I nodded and headed towards the stairs.
“Hey wait.” Firebird said indignantly and I did for a moment but Lily gestured me on.
“Let me explain.” Lily said, launching into the details of what I had learned and what had happened between Ruby and I, but I didn't wait around to listen to it yet again.
I started up the stairs again, Brutus close behind. I paused outside the door and looked back at him. “Gimme a minute?” I asked and he nodded and stepped back.
I opened the door, the lights were out and the curtains were drawn but the light still filtered through. Lily's room was amazing clean and well kept, I figured she would be messier. Ruby lay quietly on the bed, back to the door, under a blanket, a pair of empty Wild Pegasus bottles on the bed side table, not to mention a dozen or so beer cans in a waste basket by the door.
“Ruby?” I asked softly. She grunted but didn't answer otherwise. I closed the door behind me and moved towards the bed. “We need to talk.”
“Don't wanna.” She muttered, pulling the blankets tighter around her.
“I don't want to break up our relationship.” I said, sitting on the bed beside her and putting a hoof on her side. “I love you and I don't think we should worry about our so distantly removed heritage.”
“But Cane, it's not so easy. It's really changed the whole dynamic of our relationship, just...give me time.”
I sighed and stepped back into the hallway and Brutus just looked at me in shock. “What are you doing?”
“I...I'm giving her the space she wanted?” I replied, unsure what the problem was.
“Are you kidding? Get back in there and win her over again. She still loves you, she wants you, you need to do something to sway her back.”
“Like what? I'm not exactly an expert at romance. I fell into my first relationship with Rosalea, if she hadn't made the first move there would have been no move made, and according to Venture my relationship with Ruby was manipulated to make sure it developed into what it is so he could use it to control me. I can't exactly say I'm a serious lady's buck. I'm a nerd, I'm nervous and shy most of the time.”
“Well you didn't seem very nervous or shy when you proposed, you got up and sang in front of dozens of strangers and made a whole spectical of yourself.” He paused and looked from me to the door to my pipbuck and back to me. “You should try singing to her again.”
“What no, I'm not good at that.”
“I hate to tell you this but you're a good singer, we've only told you that a dozen times.”
“No come...” I started but he cut me off.
“Just go and sing something romantic and sappy to her and I'm sure it'll help convince her to take you back.”
“Boy you're just a bundle of helpful advise aren't you?” I sighed. “How many ponies have you wooed again?”
“You might see me as just a brute with a better understanding of beating things than building them but I know you met Ratchet, and I wooed him just fine.” He smirked. He grabbed my leg and pulled it up, flipping through the pipbuck to the music and skimming through it. “Oh this one!” He said finally, pointing to the screen and tapping the song. It popped up and he paused it before it could start. “Now get in there and win her back.”
He shoved me back into the room with a magical shove and I had to put my hooves against the bed to keep from slamming right into it. I turned back and glared at Brutus but he just glared right back at me and pointed to his leg, where the pipbuck sat on mine, then pointed to Ruby.
“Ruby...I...” I stammered, not really sure how to segway a conversation like that.
“Cane please, just leave me alone?”
“Alright, I just want you to know...” I tapped the pipbuck and the music started playing. “On the day I walked away,” I started and she rolled over and looked at me with wide surprised eyes. “All the blue rolled into gray. Now in the dark, alone I lay. Should have stopped, But I could never ever stay.” I took her hooves in mine and lifted her into a sitting position facing me.
“Somewhere in the night, Inside my dreams you burn so bright. And I'm with you there and everything’s alright. Somewhere in the night, Before the darkness turns to light. Let me love you there, somewhere in the night.” I moved around the bed slowly so I stood at the end of it as I sang. Ruby shifted and sat back on the pillows to watch me as I moved. I saw Firebird and Lily appear in the doorway beside Brutus but he silenced them with a glance before they could interrupt and they just watched quietly.
“Second chances, I wont get. Wouldn’t dare to hope and yet. Everywhere I turn I see your silhouette
Been so long but I never will forget. Somewhere in the night, Inside my dreams you burn so bright.
And I'm with you there and everything’s alright. Somewhere in the night, Before the darkness turns to light. Let me love you there, somewhere in the night.” Ruby sat in stunned awe as I moved around the bed and I could see the tears starting to appear in her eyes though I just kept going. Didn't want to spoil the mood or anything...
“Time after time, I find that I'm thinking about you. Up on the hill I see you still but I just can’t reach.
Who would answer your prayers? Who would wait by the stairs? Not Me. Not Me.” I actually heard a quiet sob and was surprised to see Firebird crying, her head resting against Brutus's, a foreleg hugging Lily close, both of them seemed just as surprised as me that she was in tears.
“Somewhere in the night, Inside my dreams you burn so bright. And I'm with you there and everything’s alright. Somewhere in the night, Before the darkness turns to light.” As I came to the end of the song I pulled Ruby up off the bed, standing her in front of me. “Let me see your face.” I looked deep into her eyes...”Feel your warm embrace.” I wrapped my legs around her neck and her close. “Let me love you, somewhere in the night.” As I finished singing, and the music continued on for a few moments, I leaned in and kissed her deeply, holding it for a long moment before finally breaking the kiss and stepping back.
She had tears rolling down her cheeks and shook her head slowly. “Dammit Cane, how can I stay upset when you're so damned romantic?” She whispered.
I heard a sob and saw Firebird had melted into a puddle of tears, Brutus barely able to hold her up and Lily actually transformed into a snake for a moment so she could slide out of the death grip her mother had on her.
Ruby cleared her throat loudly, glaring at them.
“Oh sorry, don't mind us.” Brutus said sheepishly, quickly pulling the door closed with his magic.
“Cane, I love you, I really do.” She started, wiping away her own tears. “But I still don't know where my feelings are with our...history...” I felt my heart give a sickening lurch when she said it, but right now I just wanted her back with me, even if we weren't a couple.
“I know. I probably shouldn't have gone for such an over the top display of affection, but Brutus felt it was absolutely necessary to do so.”
“How bout we go back to how things were when we first met?” She asked.
“Binge drinking, then getting drugged and molested by my brother's toadies?” I smiled.
She chuckled and sighed. “I guess our relationship really hit the ground running didn't it? Lets go with friends.” She said. “Good friends, close friends who are going to raise a filly together.”
“What do we tell that filly about the fact that the wedding isn't happening?”
“We tell her we want to wait until everything is settled down again and life gets back to normal so that every pony possible can come to the wedding. She's a good kid, she'll understand our desire to hold off...I hope.” She sighed. “And who knows, maybe the day will come that we do get married.” She smiled, hugging me close and pressing her face to mine for a moment before stepping back. “For now you're okay with just friends?”
“Better than me being lonely and miserable and you being drunk and sad.” I nodded.
She smiled and moved for the door. “Good, then lets head home shall we? I want to see how Crackshot did with CB and her first hangover.”
“Did she really deal with it when you and Brutus got into booze too young?” I asked, opening the door for her, the three in the hallway had gone, headed back downstairs from the look of the trail of tears.
“Yeah, we were only a year or two older than CB, thought it was so cool when we found an old bottle of rum...it didn't end well at all.” She chuckled. “Good thing I've learned to hold my liquor better.”
Any more conversation was cut off as Firebird shot up from the ground floor and practically tackled the both of us in a huge hug. “You two are so beautiful together!” She cried, bawling into Ruby's neck. “I can't believe you just broke out and sang like that, it was so sweet and loving and uninhibited and it's the greatest display of love I have ever seen!”
A huge muscular pegasus followed her up and pulled her away from us. “Come on mom, let em go!” Lily said, her voice deep and manly.
“Geeze that's creepy.” I said, shaking my head and coughing a little.
“Yeah and it never stops being weird.” Ruby said as Lily carried her mother downstairs.
We moved downstairs and Brutus gestured to the door and started outside. We followed him and closed the door behind us. “Lily said we should just go for now. Seems Firebird is an insane romantic and you might have broken her brain with that display.”
“What? I knew she was a romantic but I wouldn't have said insane.” Ruby said.
“Well I dunno, but you saw how she reacted, that's hardly SANE behavior.”
“True enough, lets get out of here.” Ruby said, starting for the gate out of town.
“Actually we flew here.” Brutus said, heading towards the docks. “We did some scavenging at the base, gathered evidence and salvaged some equipment.”
“Oh right, of course.” Ruby said. “Did Lily fly for you?”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“She better not have grossed up my harness with her weirdness.”
“I think it's fine?” I said. “It was kind of dripping with green slime but that's nothing too bad right?”
Brutus just laughed.
“Yeah it's about par for the course with her.” Ruby shrugged.
Soon enough we were loaded back into the sky wagon and heading back to the medical center.
Footnote: 50% to next level.
(Sorry for the long break, I know I said I was going to slow down, I just didn't expect to slow down this much haha. I hit upon inspiration for how I want the story to end, All the details and information just sort of came together in a perfect storm of an ending, so I stopped writing this chapter for a week or so while I wrote the ending.)
This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.
You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily
The Fallout: Equestria logo used above was designed by DotRook, who, according to the original deviantArt page, allows usage in supplementary materials created for and associated with the series. Images really do make a difference, so he has our eternal gratitude and respect.
If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan
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