"so where in Equestria are we?" i asked Brightspark, who looked a bit exhausted after that little spell of his how the hay did he do that anyway? can he shoot lightning aswell? that would be awesome!
"i'm not quite sure, why don't you look at your pipbuck map, that should tell you" he replied, alright smartass i was going to do that anyway... i brought up my pipbuck and mashed the map button.
"why don't you just look at you..." hold on, he isn't wearing a pipbuck, now how the bloody hell did he get that off? well pipbuck technician should ring a few bells, are they even removable?
"as you have probably just noticed I'm not exactly wearing one, i broke it" he said sadly, broke it? how can you break a pipbuck, aren't they supposed to be industrible, indi, unbreakable (that's the one) or something?
"what happened?" i asked whilst looking at the map, turns out we aren't even in Equestria...
"i'd rather not talk about it, too many painful memories" he said glumly, wow bit of a spoil sport isn't he? any-who let's get back on track here then shall we...
"well we aren't in equestria, it's some place called Caledonia, also it appears there is some sort of village a few miles west of here, we should go there and get some supplies, maybe some weapons too" i stated, a blue arrow appeared on my EFS under the W on my hostile bar thingy, and some text scrolled across my vision in the top left corner saying "New quest: Re-supply at Hoofsville" Hoofsville? what sort of a name for a town is that?
"good idea as any i guess, let's get moving before somepony down there spots us" Brightspark said, oh shit i forgot about those bastards! we started moving down the hill side to join up on a broken road, i looked back at the doorway to the stable for the last time knowing that I'll never see that place again... i hope.
"so... how did you learn that magic anyway? can you shoot lightning aswell?" i asked him a little bit excitedly... what? lightning is cool...
"no i can't shoot lightning, so far it's only the fire. i learnt it from a book in the library called mancers of the ages, it had a rather large section on pyromancy so i decided that would be a good place as any to start..." he replied, wait, we had a library? how did i never see it?
"what's a mancer?" i asked him a little confusedly, a couple of red blips appeared on my EFS but there was nothing in front of us so i ignored it.
"a mancer is a unicorn who studies in the art of elemental magic like ice, fire, water, air and earth. those are the basic types of mancer magic, then there is the more complex kind like spectramancy, umbramancy, electromancy and some others i can't remember" he said factually, he's a bit of a dictionary... maybe he can confuse his enemies with facts whilst i go in for the kill!
"i like the sound of that last one, mainly because it has electro in the name, what is it?" i asked whilst avoiding a rather large hole in the road, i also checked my EFS to see how far away the village is it said 76 above the marker so i guess that meant 76 miles? this could be a long journey...
"electromancy? i think that was to do with electricity, i didn't read that section or much of the others, i didn't fancy them as much as pyromancy" dammit, i really want that book now so i can see if i can learn electromancy... just because, come on shooting lightning would be so awesome!!
there was a slight rumbling in the ground beneath us as we walked past another hole in the road, "hold up, is anything showing up on your EFS? or is that just your stomach?" Brightspark said worriedly, my stomach isn't that loud... is it?
"umm well there were a few hostiles showing up earlier but i couldn't see any... oh" i looked down at the ground as realisation kicked in, "RUN!" i shouted.
we ran in the direction of a shack off the road just as something burst out of the ground where we were standing not two seconds before, i sneaked a look behind me and saw what looked like a dog but it was glowing green and had huge sharp looking claws.
"oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! don't turn around!" i screamed, Brightspark tripped over a skull as we got to the shack, which looked like no-one was home for a while.
"crap!" he shouted with a mouthful of dirt, i ran over to him and helped him up as the beast dog thing got within breathing distance of us, the door was kicked open from the inside by the green earth pony standing there.
"fuck off you hound!" he shouted, there was a loud thump as he fired something from a battle saddle which hit the dog squarely in the chest knocking it to the floor, turns out its a male...
the earth pony walked up to us probably to shoot us too, "get in, I'll take care of this puppy" he said in a rough voice, i glanced a look at his rump and saw a burn mark where his cutie mark should be.
"ok you do that" i said quickly and ran inside still supporting Brightspark on my back, i heard a loud *Crack* from outside along with a howl from the dog thing (i hate those things, they creep up on you).
"what was that thing?" Brightspark asked a little out of breath, i was about to answer but the earth pony buck walked in with the dog things head in his mouth dripping blood and Luna knows what else on the floor, he spat the head onto a chair with a resounding *Splat!* and shut the door behind him. "now i suppose i best start by asking y'all what you're doing out 'ere, don't y'all know this 'eres hellhound territory?" he said roughly in a weird accent.
"umm.. well we escaped from our stable which was invaded by some buck in a daisy suit..." i said meekly, there's something not quite right about this buck, i just can't quite put my hoof on it...
"daisy suit ya' say? tha'll be Royal Flush, he runs a casino in the Concrete City, don' know wha' he's doin' out 'ere tho' he never leaves tha' damn place" he growled, damn is it me or is his accent getting thicker?
"and where is this Concrete City?" Brightspark asked, well i could look to see if my pipbuck knows but i don't even know what the place looks like...
"you mean ta tell me you ain't 'erd o' the Concrete City?" he asked in an unbelieving tone.
"stable ponies here..." i said annoyingly, i guess this one has a short memory then...
"sorry, if you look on that there hoof terminal you got there just look for the biggest city on the map, you'll find it..." he said, losing his accent for once (could he be faking it?) i looked at the map and spotted a large area surrounded by what looked like either a road or a very thick wall.
"erm is that it there?" i asked the buck showing him the map, i should really ask him his name so i don't get confused. "eeyup, that's the biscuit! and yes that there is a wall of concrete about 4 hooves thick, good luck getting past that" he said, dammit! i glanced around the shack to try and figure out what sort of a pony he is, there are alot of heads mounted on the walls, most of them appeared to be insect-like whilst some were of that dog creature (what was it called? hell dog or something) whilst some were cow-like at a quick glance but they had two heads...
"so what do you know of the town Hoofsville? we are heading over there to get some supplies and possible weapons if we can afford it" Brightspark said, oh yeah i almost forgot where we were going.
"huh what? that old town, nah place is a shit-stack and that damned shopkeep will barter all your caps away, too expensive that buck!" he shouted, my eardrums can't take much more of him, has he never heard of an inside voice?
"did you say caps? what happened to bits as currency?" Brightspark questioned, good question buddy!
"what?! hah! that's a joke the only thing pre-war bits is good for is to be sold for caps, damned stable ponies don't know nuffink!" he guffawed, this buck is starting to annoy me, can't he take us seriously?
"great, so it turns out we have no money then... now what do we do?" i said slightly annoyed, stupid above ground ponies and their currency scheme change... Brightspark nudged me on the shoulder trying to get my attention.
"what?" i whispered to him, whilst the green buck grabbed the helldog head.
"you do know your horn was glowing then right?" he asked, wait what? my horn was glowing? did i just cast a spell? please oh please tell me i casted a spell!
"no i didn't, did i cast a spell by any chance?" i asked him excitedly, is it me or is it dusty in here?
"it didn't seem like it, try casting one again, see if something happens" allright, here goes nothing.
i lit up my horn in a pale blue glow and started thinking angry thoughts again, well that's what happened before right? "hey your horn! it's sparking!" Brightspark exclaimed, wait sparking? what the hay is it sparking for?
"what do yo... nyeh" i said whilst wrinkling my muzzle, celestia damned dust, I'm gonna... "Choo!" *boom* i sneezed and flew into the wall behind me whilst the wall in front of me exploded in a flash of blue static and an explosion. the green buck pointed his battle saddle at me as i picked myself up.
"what in blue blazes was that for?" he shouted at me, holy shit! did i do that? whoops...
"whoa calm down, it was an accident! i don't even know what i did..." i said meekly, the dust started to clear from the hole in the wall where behind was another room filled with guns and ammo.
"sweet celestia fuck me with a wooden spoon on Tuesdays! that's alot of weapons!" Brightspark shouted, damn that buck's picked up my colourful vocabulary!
"yeah and they're all mine, i use them for hunting... and stuff" he said in a huff, holy shit is that a lasergun? and how the hell would he find a bloody minigun, let alone a bazooka! "yeah well... dibs on the lasergun!" i shouted with my hoof in the air, I'm gonna need a battle saddle aswell, seeing as how i can't lift a damned thing up with magic... even so i blew a wall up, with magic! woo, best day ever!
"no, like i said earlier... wait a minute, i suppose i could give you some weapons... for a price." he said with a hint of amusement, oh great why is there always a catch?
"what do you mean a price? we have no caps like we said before, if you didn't notice already!" Brightspark retorted, he's gonna make us do a job or something isn't he, like tell us to go kill a dragon or something stupid...
"no not money, i want you to take me with you to the Concrete City... i got a score to settle" the green buck said factually, is that it? i suppose we could do that...
"allright you can come, now gimme that lasergun!" i shouted and bolted through the wall in all it's glory.
"is he always that excited?" the green buck asked, i am not! i just like electrical things is all...
"occasionally when he's around stuff he likes, oh how rude of us we didn't introduce ourselves, my name is Brightspark and that excited buck through there is Short Circuit, what's your name?" Brightspark asked, i was gonna ask that... sooner or later..
"the name's flowerbed" he said quietly, but i heard him! so what would his cutie mark have been i wonder? perhaps a bright pink flower lying in bed?
"HAH!" i laughed a little too loudly at that thought... whoops. Brightspark shot daggers at me whilst flowerbed slowly turned to stare at me angrily.
"and what in blue blazes are you laughing at? think my name's funny do yah?" he shouted, oh shit... what do i do now? pick up a gun and shoot him? beat the hay outta him?
"erm... no of course not, i don't even know your name..." i lied please believe me... i kicked a grenade along the floor which bounced off of something purple hidden underneath a tarp...
"oh well my name is flowerbed, and your friend over there already told me who you two are..." he said calmly, phew that was a close one... now what was that purple thing? i pulled the tarp off to reveal a beautiful piece of weaponry... "oh that's mine now..." i quickly said, i think i might have gotten a little too excited here...
"dammit, why do you claim the best weapon?" Brightspark complained... heh he's gonna have a little tantrum isn't he, does the little foal want his bottle?
"because i saw it first!" i replied as i picked up the gun, it's damned light for something so big! what is it?
"ah i see you found Starscream, my pride and joy that was... until i broke it" flowerbed said, probably reminiscing on old times, wait broken? dammit!
"well what's wrong with it?" i asked, i need it to work! Brightspark entered the gun room and started poking around for his choice of weapons.
"i dunno, it just suddenly stopped shooting so i threw it at the wall and left it there to gather dust" flowerbed replied, he did what? why would he throw it at the wall? that can't do it any good...
I picked up a battle saddle and started securing it to my back "ahah! now this is mine!" Brightspark shouted with glee, oh dear, what's he found? he turned to look at me with a big grin on his face and showed me what he found. it was a big silver flamethrower... great, just fucking brilliant... more fire, i hate the smell of burning flesh... "ah the flammenwerfer! those germanes know how to use fire!" flowerbed said factually. i turned away back to Starscream grumbling about fire...
"can i go try this sucker out?" Brightspark said excitedly, oh fuck no! no more fire, please Luna i beg of you don't let him use that flamethrower near me!
"nah it's got no juice at the moment, it's just a nice hearth piece now..." flowerbed said with a smirk, i love you Luna!
"well let's see what i can do with this then" i said fiddling with Starscream, i pressed a green button above the grip and some text scrolled along my vision: "welcome to the Enhanced Starscream Targeting System, now Scanning magical abilities.... Electromancy found, setting Starscream to Electro bolts, please wait.......... Starscream is now ready for use please link your pipbuck to verify usage" it said in a mares voice, it was slightly motherly in tone...
"umm i don't suppose either of you have a pipbuck link cable?" i asked hopefully, Brightspark started searching through his bag as flowerbed looked at me funnily.
"now why would you need one of those?" he asked, Brightspark pulled out the cable and brought it over to me.
"thanks, um just a feeling is all... trying something to make it work" i said meekly, flowerbed shook his head and sat down on a sofa in the corner watching us, while Brightspark went back to searching for a weapon. i plugged the cable into my pipbuck and Starscream. some text came up on my pipbuck asking for permission to link, i mashed the "Y" button and waited, Starscream beeped loudly and started humming much to flowerbed's surprise.
"how the bloody hell did you get that working?" he shouted, he walked over to me to get a better look as did Brightspark.
"i just did what it told me to do, that's all..." i replied smugly, now lets take this girl for a test drive! we all walked out front of the shack as i attached Starscream to my battle saddle.
"allright then, shoot that sarsaparilla bottle on the fence then, if you even know how to shoot that damned thing..." flowerbed said with a light chuckle, I'll show you how to shoot! i looked at the bottle and bit down on the mouthpiece of the battle saddle and with a whine Starscream did exactly as her name depicts, a blue light emitted from the barrel and screamed towards the bottle surrounding it in an electric field making it explode.
"holy shit buddy! how the hell did you get so good at shooting?" Brightspark asked whilst jumping about, flowerbed just stared at me in shock, heh he should see the lock on his face... priceless...
"dunno i just looked at it and bit down on the mouthpiece" i said truthfully this time, flowerbed shook his head and walked over to me inspecting Starscream.
"so how did you change the beam matrix?" he asked me, the beam what now? what the bloomin hell is one of them?
"umm i sort of un-screwed it and flipped the dial around and smacked it on the table, then put it back together?" i squeaked, he glared at me and laughed "you don't even know what I'm talking about do you, so how did you change it? cause originally that thing disintegrated my enemies in a red beam not blue electric!" he retorted loudly, again with the loud voice!
"ok so i lied, it sort of scanned me and set itself to electro beams or something, i wasn't really paying attention, it also called itself the E.S.A.T.S. and it had a lovely mare's voice" i said slightly dreamily, flowerbed knocked my on my rump and walked back inside his shack "what the hay was that for?" i shouted, that buck has a real attitude problem... he walked back out with a bag on his back, which looked rather heavily laden with supplies and what not.
"just felt like it, now then we going or what? cause i can't stand this place anymore!" he shouted, well i suppose we can go now that we or rather i have a weapon...
"wait, i didn't get a weapon though!" Brightspark panicked, hmm tough luck buddy, i guess that's the wasteland for you...
"oh well take this then, I'm sure you can handle her" flowerbed said, he threw the mother of all sniper rifle's at Brightspark who caught it on his back and fell on his butt with a *Thump!*
"damn... this bitch is heavy!" he groaned, that is a big rifle! i wonder how big the bullets are?
"yeah that's her name, The Bitch! she's an Anti-Machine rifle that fires .50 calibre explosive rounds of pure death, and she also kicks like a mule so be careful how you hold her..." he said chuckling away, damn... that is a fucking big bullet... that'll make a mess of a ponies head... i shuddered at the thought.
"right well let's get moving then!" i said quickly and started walking in the direction of Hoofsville. Brightspark picked up The Bitch in his magical field and trotted up beside me with a grin.
"so why the bag flowerbed?" i voiced the question on our minds, well at least my mind, i don't know what Brightspark is thinking, probably wishing he had a battle saddle to mount the bitch on.
"oh this? just some supplies and ammo, you won't need ammo for that anyway, it uses a special starmetal reactor so that you'll never deplete the battery it'll just keep re-charging itself, you've probably realised how light it is aswell, that's a spell matrix modifying the weight of it, i tell you those pre-war ponies knew their stuff..." flowerbed replied, so I've got some sort of supergun? cool! but what is starmetal?
"starmetal? what is that?" Brightspark asked, can he read my mind or something... i like pie, apple pie. nope not even looking at me, dammit! hoofbeat monthly? nope...
"erm, it's a strange metal that comes from meteorites, it was said that the stars were the gods and when they fell that meant the gods were real fuckin' pissed, and killed a bunch of zebra villages, bunch o' fuckin hooee if you ask me, starmetal is just what we find in the meteorites and zebras just go all mystical voodoo shit on it, damned stripes!" he said angrily, i guess he hates zebras then... their logic is crazy, i remember one of my teachers in the stable was a zebra, couldn't understand a bloody word, always talking in rhymes...
i quickly glanced at my EFS just to be sure that there was nothing around us, don't want to make the same mistake as last time... luckily there was nothing around, also the arrow said "32" so we should be able to see the village on the other side of that hill then. "Hoofsville should be just over yonder, just gotta get round... hold on do you two smell that?" flowerbed asked, yeah now that he said that i can smell... smoke?
"yeah it smells like smoke, is your butt on fire Brightspark?" i asked cheekily.
"no! hold on..." he replied, we ran up to the top of the hill to see a pillar of smoke coming from Hoofsville, oh that can't be good...
"damn, looks like raiders got there first..." flowerbed grunted, raiders? that doesn't sound good, lemme guess it's some sort of giant fire breathing robot? a mare's voice in the back of my mind told me to take a closer look.
"either of you got some zoom glasses?" i asked, i gotta see this place for myself, see what happened down there.
"you mean binoculars? and yeah sure" flowerbed replied handing me the binocuthingies, hmm nothing there apart from a few ponies wearing tyres and other random bits of clothing.
"nothing, just a bunch of crazy junk wearing ponies" i said handing him back the binoglasses, flowerbed chucked them in his bag and stood up.
"damn raiders, always killing townsfolk and burning stuff!" he said angrily. we slowly made our way down the hill and made the distance to Hoofsville. the smell is even worse up close.
"sheesh what is that awful smell?" i retched through my hoof, flowerbed was wearing a mask whilst Brightspark and i just covered our muzzles with our hoofs.
"burning bodies, mixed with sex and rotting bodies" flowerbed replied, i did a double-take on what he said.
"sex? what? do raiders just fuck then kill or burn?" i asked almost throwing up from the smell, Brightspark did throw up with that comment, "well yes and no, sometimes they kill then fuck the corpse whilst other times they fuck then kill them, and other times they fuck then keep them as a slave, and maybe eat them too..." he said with a grimace, ok now i threw up all over my hoof aswell dammit! these raiders are disgusting, I'll kill them all! bastards..
"that's disgusting!" Brightspark said shakily.
"that's the wasteland for you" flowerbed replied quickly, i checked my EFS which was a wall of red in all directions.
"oh shit..." *click* i heard several guns point in our directions and ponies walk towards us.
"now lookee what we got here! some new playthings boys! and looks like they brought us some new guns too! it's like hearth's warming eve!" a brown raider buck with a spiky mane said gleefully, the raiders around him started giggling amongst themselves and moving towards us, backing us up into a wall.
"now what?" i asked.
* * *
Short Circuit: LEVEL UP!
+1 Luck
+2 Energy Weapons
Perk Added: Electromancy (Rank 1): - You have discovered that you can in fact use magic now, you are no longer an earth pony with a horn, but you can only shock people at the moment so unlucky.
New Companion: Flowerbed
Flowerbed's Special:
Strength: 8
Perception: 7
Endurance: 5
Charisma: 1
Intelligence: 4
Agility: 4
Luck: 2
Brightspark: LEVEL UP!
+2 Intelligence
+1 Big Guns
+4 Science
Perk added: Specs - whilst wearing any kind of glasses, you gain a +2 to your perception but when they have been removed you loose this plus an extra -1 to your base perception.
Unlockable added: Soundtrack - Theme of Knowledge (Brightspark)