//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: FoE: War Never Changes: Brother From Another Mother // by jarmari //------------------------------// Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria... …there came an era when the ideals of friendship gave way to greed, selfishness, paranoia and a jealous reaping of dwindling space and natural resources. Lands took up arms against their neighbors. The end of the world occurred much as we had predicted -- the world was plunged into an abyss of balefire and dark magic. The details are trivial and pointless. The reasons, as always, purely our own. The world was nearly wiped clean of life. A great cleansing; a magical spark struck by pony hooves quickly raged out of control. Megaspells rained from the skies. Entire lands were swallowed in flames and fell beneath the boiling oceans. Pony-kind was almost extinguished, their spirits becoming part of the ambient radiation that blanketed the lands. A quiet darkness fell across the world... (This story is a continuation of Fallout Equestria: War Never Changes, please read that first as this story only gives a brief summary of the last story and it is spoiler heavy but lacking most of the context, so if you don 't want to be left confused go read War Never Changes first :P) The Road So Far Carry on my wayward Pon. There'll be peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more... My name is Sugarcane, I'm a unicorn buck, a beautiful shade of blue if I do say so myself, and sexier than I know what to do with. I'm also a scientist. I specialize in computer programming and robotics and I have a degree in theoretical computational nanoscience and at one time I, along with my brother, was tagged to be the greatest computer expert in all of Equestria. We, my brother and I, started a computer company, designed the Star-Cane computer operating system, sold computers to the whole of Equestria. Odds are if you're reading this on a computer, it's a computer I designed, on software my brother and I wrote together. I woke one day to find myself in a cryogenic suspension pod, something my company had been helping develop for the Ministry of Peace. 200 years had passed and, worse, my world was now in utter ruins. My office and warehouse destroyed, my family and friends dead, and the whole world having all but wiped itself out in a balefire Armageddon. Worse still, I woke to find a shotgun in my face, held by a very angry looking orange unicorn. That was my introduction to the wasteland. Not so much eased into it as hurled blind into the fray. It wasn't as bad as all that though. Turned out the unicorn was just erring on the side of caution in his approaching me, also because he thought I was cute...but that's another story. I met my closest friends that day though. Ruby Star, a beautiful beyond words, smart as a whip pegasus who I love more than life itself, and who is in NO WAY standing RIGHT behind me while I write this, that I was lucky enough to have fall in love with me as hard as I fell for her, and who is now my lovely bride. I met Brute Force, the unicorn with the shotgun, who now probably qualifies as my best male friend, his grandmother, great great great grandmother, Crackshot, a ghoul who has survived since the apocalypse, Concussive Blast, my now adopted daughter, and my actual great great grand daughter, and future wielder of the Element of Magic, Xem, a zebra colt we took in along the way, Lily, a Changeling and Ruby's adopted cousin, who fights slavers and raiders as the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, and finally Firebird, Lily's mother and Ruby's aunt, she fled the Enclave with Ruby's parents before they could be branded Dashites, a crime that Ruby would later be punished for, but we'll come back to that. It took a long time to adjust to the wasteland. The violence, the danger, the whole world, everything was so dark, so miserable and angry to me. Days turned into weeks turned into months as I adjusted to my new life, only to have my life thrown into chaos again a few short months later as a group called the Pyro Pony Collective marched on, and torched, the base our organization, simply called 'The Collective', operated out of, killing dozens of ponies, including Concussive Blast's mother, and destroying tens of thousands of caps worth of equipment and supplies. Shortly after this I came to learn that my brother Star Venture was their leader. He had always been something of a hard ass, easy to anger and with a hell of an ego some times. I was the only pony that could keep him in line, whether it was rescuing some poor staffer at our offices who had accidentally crossed him, or putting him in his place if he started to get too out of control about our companies exploits, over-hyping things far too often. He was the one who had me put into the cryo pod and left me frozen, 'just in case' he needed me for his master plan. At some point in time he had moved his mind into a protectapony body he had custom built, only his brain and his horn remaining from his body. He had decided that he was tired of trying to consolidate his power in the wasteland so he moved on to a far more extreme idea. With the help of a Crusader Computer he built and using CB as the processor, he created a megaspell that allowed him to cross dimensions in the hopes of finding a normal Equestria that he and his Pyro's could invade and seize control of with little effort. We stopped him, barely, pulling CB from the control pod and causing the megaspell to destabilize, which sucked him into some random dimension, alone. Here we catch up to the story, and where my tale continues... FoE: War Never Changes: Brother From Another Mother “Guys, you need to see this.” Crackshot called, standing on the edge of the crater where the portal had been only moments earlier. We walked over and looked down into the pit. In the middle lay the strangest creature I'd ever seen, pale white, mostly hairless skin, a short yellow mane that stopped well before what I was pretty sure was it's neck. It's four legs ended in strange appendages and it wore some kind of armour that had clearly been tailored for it's odd form, it appeared to be unconscious and was bleeding from it's mouth and nose. For a moment I thought maybe passing through the portal had mutated Venture but Ruby gasped softly and started down into the hole quickly. “Wait Ruby, we don't know if it's safe!” Brutus snapped. “We don't even know what it is!” “I do...” Ruby said, landing beside it and rolling the strange creature onto it's back. “It's a human...” “A WHAT?!” We all asked in unison. “A human...” She said again. “Brutus pull him out of the hole.” She flew back up and landed beside it. Brutus wrapped the creature...human...in his magic and lifted it up. It groaned loudly in pain as Brutus set it back down. “Hey it has a saddlebag.” CB said, floating a bag out of the pit. The bag had a number of guns looped through it and opening it revealed dozens of clips of ammo and random pieces of equipment and junk. “Hey Cane, this thing has a pipbuck...” Crackshot said, pointing to it's foreleg. “Wait wait wait!” Ruby yelled, flapping her wings around at us to keep us back. “This is a living creature, give her some breathing room.” “Her?” Crackshot asked. “Or...maybe him? I don't know how to tell.” Ruby sighed, looking more frustrated than I'd have expected. Of course if I had a computer problem I couldn't solve I'd get frustrated, so when it comes to something that is her area of expertise I wasn't surprised. “Well what do we do with it?” Brutus asked. “If the others outside come barging in this could cause a panic.” “There's a medical wing upstairs, maybe we could take it and stash it up there?” Crackshot suggested, gesturing to the doorway at the top of the ladder that she had come from earlier. “Yeah alright.” Brutus nodded. “Show me the way.” He floated the body into the air and followed Crackshot up the ladder and out of sight. CB, Ruby and I headed back out of the main room to make our way back to the entrance. The town outside was quiet now. The fighting looked to be all over. Collective ponies were rounding up pyros, tending to the wounded and explaining the situation to those that had been freed. It seemed that when we crashed Venture's Crusader computer it had shorted out the power grid and the cloaking field around the warehouse had come down. Lily came running over to us from a group I recognized from her town. Her helmet was closed and she was running in Mare-Do-Well mode. “The town is secure. We're sweeping the city to ensure all resistance has been removed and we'll make sure the town is fit for being resettled. What happened with Venture?” “He's not a threat anymore.” I said. “He's...gone.” Despite myself I still felt a twinge of sadness, my only living direct family member was dead, or at least lost to me forever. “What happened?” Lily asked quietly, leaning in to whisper to us. “Venture built a Crusader computer...it was going to power an inter-dimensional portal that he was going to use to invade an alternate Equestria that hadn't been destroyed by a war.” Ruby said. “He tried to use CB as the processor but Cane pulled her from the control pod. The portal destabilized and sucked Venture up. We don't know what happened to him but it spit out a human...” “What's that?” “It's a creature from ancient mythology. Like a hairless monkey thing...it's hard to explain.” Ruby sighed. “Brutus and Crackshot are stashing it away in the medical bay on the uppermost floor of the building until we can figure out what to do with it.” “Is it alive?” “Last I saw yeah.” “I gotta see this thing.” Lily started towards the building. “Coming pipsqueak?” She asked, looking back at CB. “You wanna check this thing out too right?” “Yeah I do.” CB nodded happily then paused and looked back at me. “Can I go Daddy?” “Of course.” I nodded, smiling, feeling an odd flutter in my chest when she said it. I could almost see Lily giggling and going 'awwwwww' inside her helmet. The two of them headed inside and Ruby laughed softly. “That's sweet.” She said. “I could almost see your eyes sparkle with excitement when she called you that.” “You're not going to ask her to call you mom are you?” I asked seriously. “What? Of course not! She has a mother. She never had a father.” Ruby said, almost horrified that I'd asked in the first place it seemed. A group of soldiers moved towards the entrance of the base and in an odd moment of panic I bolted to the entrance and blocked them. “You can't go in.” “What? Why not?” One of them asked. “This area is off limits until I can process everything inside.” “Are you kidding? Who knows what tech is in there.” “It doesn't matter.” “Get out of the way you hornless dolt .” He said, moving to push past me, but a stream of blasts from Ruby's Gatling laser halted them as she stepped up to stand beside me. “This is my building.” I said firmly. “Little as the law might mean any more, this is my building. It's contents are mine, it's walls, it's power grid, everything belongs to me. The computers, storage servers, everything needs to be catalogued so I can study it and put together everything Venture was doing, I'm not going to have any strangers wandering through my base taking my things to sell and potentially robbing me of valuable data.” “How do you plan on stopping us?” He asked. A hoof tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned to look the white power armoured hoof decked him and sent him tumbling to the ground. “I believe that task falls to me.” Firebird said, stepping in front of the doors. Her armour was scorched and pockmarked but it had fared the battle amazingly well, I should think about getting power armour. She stepped in front of the group and blocked the door. “This is the only way in?” She asked, looking over at me. “Yeah, kept these secret facilities more secure with only one entrance. Not very safe in the event of a fire or something but it worked.” I said. “Alright, on ya go then.” Firebird nodded. “Send CB and Xem up here to relay messages back to you guys if needed alright? I could use the company too.” “Yes ma'am.” I saluted and Ruby and I started into the building again. ////////// “So?” I asked, looking up at Brutus as we came up to the medical bay. He was sitting with the pack the human had been wearing when it appeared and he was going through the contents. The human lay on a bed behind him, still unconscious. “So what?” Ruby replied, walking into the room and walking around the bed slowly, marvelling at the creature before her. “We think it's a guy.” Lily said, holding up a magazine that showed a group of humans, modelling clothes for sale. “It's a...men?” Lily asked, pointing to the 'mens' at the top of the page. “Because the women looks softer and has long hair, and these weird lumps on them.” “It's actually MAN and WOMAN.” Ruby said. “MEN and WOMEN are plural.” She came over and looked at the magazine curiously, nodding a little, as if to confirm her own explanation. “So what do we do with it?” “I don't know.” Ruby said, looking back at the bed. “We just have to wait until it...he...wakes up and see what we can do with him.” “Uhh I don't know about you guys but if I woke up in another reality where I was the only member of my race and that my home was possibly gone forever, I'd freak the fuck out...much like I DID freak the fuck out when I woke up 200 years in the future.” I said. “I think I can help with that...” Lily muttered, flipping through another magazine and studying it intently. “Yeah I think I can...” She pressed some buttons on her pipbuck and the armour hissed open, freeing her and allowing her to step out. She stretched her wings and sighed. She looked at the magazine on the floor and closed her eyes, glowing brightly for a moment and when it cleared she stood in a fully human female form. Looking at the magazine you could tell she was kind of a combination of all the women on the page. She stood about 5'10, with waist length brown hair and blue eyes. “I think you're supposed to be clothed.” Crackshot said, looking up from the table she'd sat down at. “Really? That seems so constrictive.” Lily sighed, holding her hands out and looking at them in amazement. “Does he have any clothes in his bags?” “Uhh not that I've seen.” Brutus said. “Some armour, but no pants or anything.” “Well maybe give me the armour and we can find some other clothes around here to make pants?” “Gimme five minutes.” Ruby said, hurrying out of the room again. When she returned she had a number of dresses and sets of barding. Lily started grabbing up the dresses and going through them. She finally took three of the dresses that were all a simple black and, using her magic, which looked odd with her hands glowing instead of her horn, pulled the dresses apart and put them back together into a simple black dress that she could wear properly over her form. While it looked clearly stitched together, this human was from a wasteland too so we doubted he'd question it. “Uhh I need this...” I said from the side of the bed, holding up the human's arm and gesturing to computer. “His pipbuck could contain a lot of useful data to help us figure things out.” “You just wanna play with it.” Brutus laughed. “Come on, help a brother out.” I whined. “I don't have my magic to use the tools to remove it myself.” “Alright fine, but don't wander off and don't break it.” Brutus said seriously, taking the tools in his magical grip when I selected them from my saddlebags and brought them out with the inventory management spell. He removed the metal device and floated it over to the table, returning the tools to me. I just nodded and sat at the table with my new toy. It had shorted out...probably all the power of the teleportation mega-spell. I ran a cable out of my pipbuck and into his...pipboy...huh what an odd name. It booted up after a moment and came back to life, scrolling through a load process before springing up with a picture of a cartoon looking human. “No user detected.” It said on that screen, but it still let me scroll through the other screens. The inventory was empty, made sense since his stuff was all over the floor right now. Screens for notes, a radio tuner card, programming controls like mine, really really similar across the board. “This thing is amazing. It's almost exactly like mine, but it's got human pictures instead.” “Okay good, now just don't break it.” Brutus said again. “Yeah yeah, don't worry about it.” I said, waving a hoof at him and continuing to poke at the device. “Don't you wave me off.” Brutus growled, stepping over to the table. “Or what?” I retorted, but our argument was cut short when the human in the bed groaned loudly and started to stir. “Oh shit I think he's waking up, everypony out!” Lily snapped, straightening up the dress as best she could and moving to sit beside the bed. We all scrambled out of the room quickly, Brutus grabbed the pipboy and put it back into place quickly on the human's arm before following behind us, closing the door and moving to observe through the two way mirror that sat along one side. “Ow...the fuck happened?” He whispered, brown eyes slowly trying to focus on the roof. “Careful, you had a nasty fall.” Lily said, standing up and leaning over him slowly. “Aww shit I died didn't I?” He asked, studying her intently before closing his eyes again. “No way anyone as cute as you exists in the wasteland...no...no I can't be dead I hurt too much.” She blushed faintly but shook her head. “I'm just as real as you are. My name's Lilith, and you're in my hospital, you can call me Lily.” “Pollux.” He replied, looking back at her again. “But you can call me Paul...Thank you for not just leaving me for dead and taking my stuff. What happened?” “Bandits.” She lied. “You were jumped by some bandits, fell back, tumbled off a cliff. A passing caravan saw the whole thing, brought you here since I was so close by.” “Again lucky me...” He sighed. I recognized his voice some how, but it was too weak and strained for me to be sure. “When can I get out of here? I'm tracking someone and I don't want him to get away.” “Well...” Lily sighed, unable to come up with any good reason to be able to keep lying to him. “That might be a problem...” “Why?” He asked, sitting up slowly in the bed. “There were no bandits...” Lily said slowly. “You were caught in the collapsing passage of a multidimensional teleportation device and you were actually ripped out of your world and deposited into ours.” “What?” He asked flatly, clearly not believing her for a second. “I didn't want you to freak out. I was hoping to acclimatize you to the situation before laying the truth out there.” “Look I have seen a lot of shit in the last year...” He said. “I woke up in a cryogenic stasis chamber of my own design, only to find that 200 years had passed and my family and friends were all dead...I was scared, alone, miserable, and THEN I found out the whole fucking world had all but wiped itself out in nuclear Armageddon. I struggled, alone and confused, to find my way in the wasteland, only to find that my own brother was responsible for my cryo-imprisonment, and is still alive today, though I'll be damned if I know how, and I need to find him and put my fist through his teeth. I'm willing to come to terms with a lot of shit, but inter-dimensional teleportation is so far outside of the realm of believable that I'm still shocked I entertained your idea long enough for this rant to get me this upset...What?” Lily was looking at the mirrored side of the observation window, the ponies that sat around me were all looking at me in surprise, no wonder his voice sounded so familiar... “Y...You're Doctor Cane?” Lily finally asked slowly, looking back at the man in the bed. “Yes...you've heard of me?” “Kind of. Look...I'm being honest here. You were pulled in by accident when we closed the portal on our side. Humans are...well they don't exist in this world. They're the stuff of legend...Ancient mythology, not real.” “Really? What are you then?” He asked sarcastically. “I'm called a 'Changeling' I have the ability to shape shift into any form. I took human form so you wouldn't freak out.” “Fucksake...So I get rescued by a crazy person...perfect...” He grumbles. “Humans are just ancient myths? So who lives here? The ancient Greek gods? Maybe the Norse ones? Gorgons and frost giants and Stygian birds?” He snapped, getting angry. “What? N...No...” Lily stammered, take aback by his anger. “Oh I know maybe Wizards and swamp creatures?” He demanded, Lily getting more and more flustered. “No...” “NO!? Oh then it must be gryphons and hydras and unicorns with rainbows shooting out of their asses!” Lily was almost in tears by now. “AHEM!” Brutus cleared his throat, he and I standing in the doorway of the room now. The man in the bed screamed and with amazing speed pulled two pistols from inside his armour, but just as fast Brutus had a shotgun levelled in his face, wrapped in his magic field. This was looking amazingly familiar. “Dammit, why didn't I think to check INSIDE the armour...” Brutus muttered to himself, obviously annoyed. “W...what are you?” Paul stammered, dropping the pistols at the sight of the shotgun in his face. I looked at them in amazement. Ebony and Ivory lay on the bed, but with weird little triggers on the underside of the barrels, clearly designed to be held by a human hand. “We're unicorns. Sorry we don't have rainbows shooting out our asses.” Brutus growled, all too ready to end this, but I put a hoof on his shoulder. “Put the gun down.” I said softly, stepping forward. I flipped open one of my holsters and pulled my Ebony out, setting it next to the other one that lay on the bed. The guns were identical except for the triggers. I did the same with Ivory, this time there was also the crack on mine from when I'd lost it in the first pyro raid. The human was studying the guns in amazement. Brutus meanwhile was trying to comfort Lily, who had started crying when the guns had started popping up. It wasn't like her to get quite so emotional over something so simple but Brutus just walked out of the room with her. “My name's Sugar Cane.” I said and the human looked at me intently. “My fiancee was a custom weapons designer, she made these for me...I'm guessing it's the same for you?” He nodded slowly, though the shock in his eyes was still obvious. “Well hopefully this will make explaining easier.” I said, sitting down beside the bed. “I'm you...you're me...I'm sure you've figured that out?” He simply nodded again. “Everything that happened to you seems to have happened to me. Working on Cryogenic suspension, frozen by my brother, woke up 200 years in the future to find a wasteland. Here's where the stories differ though. I was thawed out by the unicorn with the shotgun and I've been working with him and his organization ever since. I'm guessing that didn't happen to you because you made no mention of it?” “N...no. I was woken up because there was a power failure in the grid and it thawed me out with the backups before they died.” “So you're alone? You don't have friends worrying about you back on the other side?” “What's it to you?” He asked seriously, looking worried again. “I'm not going to hurt you. Do you think we'd have moved you to a private medical facility and helped you recover if we were just going to rob and murder you?” “No. I don't have any friends waiting for me back home, just my vendetta against my brother.” “Again our paths line up there. My brother froze me too, thinking he might one day need me to power the machine that brought you here. In the end he didn't need me and my being thawed was an accident. Right now I want nothing more than to help you get home.” “Why would you want to do that?” “If I'm right, my brother is in YOUR dimension, probably preparing to wreck havoc, maybe even looking for YOUR brother...if he figures out what's happened and where he is.” “Why should I trust you? This might all be some weird Enclave experiment...or I'm in a coma or something.” “Well if you're in a coma you don't have anything to lose. If this is an Enclave experiment feel free to ask me ANYTHING and I'll answer it. I assume most of our lives are fairly parallel.” He sighed and picked up my Ebony and Ivory, looking at them curiously. “What did you do to Ivory?” He asked, gesturing to the crack along the barrel. “Our base was attacked and I lost her for a while. When I went back and found her she was cracked and I don't have the skills to repair it, so we bonded it with epoxy to make sure it didn't break under strain and left it at that, though I tend to favour Ebony still.” “How do you fire them?” He asked, looking the gun over curiously. I recognized his actions almost immediately. He was freaking out and trying to lose himself in scientific study because he could focus on that and let the rest of his brain work out the insanity while he ignored it. It's how I acclimatized to the wasteland, losing myself in my mind, thinking about things too hard...I still remembered that first day with the collective when I had to meet with them to prove I was an asset and Crackshot and Brutus kept making fun of me for getting lost in my mind. “Uhh you have to have magic.” I said. “The triggers are hidden in the hilts so they are useless to anypony who can't use magic and even useless to the ones who can, but don't know where the trigger is inside the gun.” “Oh...” He set them down and looked at me intently again. “So I assume the other two are out there watching us through the window?” He pointed to the mirror and I nodded. “Your angry orange friend is a unicorn? Really? With magic and all that? So what are you?” “Uhh...” I blushed and looked at the ground sadly. “I guess I'm an Earth Pony now...” “Now?” “I AM a unicorn.” I gestured to the flat bump on my forehead. “Until about two hours ago this was my horn...now it's just a useless bump, my horn is downstairs embedded in the neck of a dead Alicorn...” “A what now?” “An Alicorn...they're a mixture of unicorn and pegasus. Magic AND wings to fly.” “There's pegasi here too?” He laughed. “I have to be dreaming...or hooked up to some machine...” “You started a computer company with your brother right out of high school. You wrote and designed the OS for the computers now found all over the wasteland, a computer your brother designed. As time went on and the war started to worsen your company branched out into the war effort like a lot of other companies. Weapons R&D, the Cryo project, robotic soldiers, nanotechnology, which you got a Ph. D in just so people would have to call you 'Doctor', at the first Hearth's Warming party after the weapon designers set up shop you were sitting on that ugly green couch in the back of the room, playing with a data pad, pretending to work, but which you'd put old games onto so you could play around and no one would notice, a young mare...woman...?” He nodded. “A young woman came over and started talking to you about the party. She was really pretty, a lot like those girls in high school that were only nice to you when they needed help with a science project or their computers were acting up, except she didn't want anything from you but to chat. You talked about how she was settling in to the new facility, you apologized about the lack of proper testing space for guns...Before you knew it three hours had passed and your data pad sat forgotten on the table beside the couch while you were lost in conversation about your life and hers.” “That's how I met Rosalea.” He nodded slowly. “Except it was a Christmas party...not whatever you said.” “Christmas? Well I suppose it might be similar.” I shrugged. “Takes place in the winter, gives everypony a chance to come together with family and friends?” “Basically.” He replied. “So they're about the same then.” “That's...insane...” Paul sighed. “I just...are you kidding me? Really? A world of ponies? That has to be the craziest thing I've ever heard.” “Says the human being that isn't supposed to exist.” I smirked. “Yeah I suppose so...alright...tell me more...” He said finally. So I launched into an explanation of Equestrian history and the war with the zebras, which lead to more questions, but at the same time he taught me all about the 'America' he came from and the war with 'China' over dwindling resources, again all very similar to our own history. We ended up going off topic constantly as we compared technologies of the two worlds, Pipbuck vs Pipboy, which shared an amazing amount of comparability, our healing potions versus their 'stim-paks', our computer operating systems, our lives, soon we had dozens of items written in a notebook from his pack showing all the similarities. There was a knock at the door and without looking up from the two magazines we were comparing we answered 'come in!' in the same silly feminine voice, making us both burst out laughing. “Okay that's just spooky.” Ruby said, coming into the room. “I'm not sure I can deal with TWO Canes...” Paul studied her curiously. “You're actually a pegasus?” He asked, pushing himself up out of the bed and moving to study her. Our bodies reached just above his waist, the top of our heads were about level with the top of his chest. “That's amazing...” He walked around her slowly, studying her curiously. “C...Can I touch your wing?” He asked hesitantly. “Really?” She sighed, but held a wing up and he ran his hand along it, laughing like a child. “They're so soft.” “They're feathers, they're supposed to be soft.” She snorted. “And you can really fly?” She tugged her wing free of him and lifted herself up into the air, circling the ceiling slowly, which just made Paul laugh all the harder. “That's AMAZING.” Ruby landed again and looked at me. “It's getting late, there are ponies who desperately want to get back inside so they can get their things from the living quarters. Firebird is standing guard at the Armoury and Brutus found a way to lock the doors on all the server rooms through one of the computer systems.” “What? How late is it?” I looked at the clock on the wall and realized that almost nine hours had passed. “Oh wow we really got lost in conversation didn't we, yeah sorry go ahead and let em in, as long as no one can loot the computer rooms we're fine.” “Yeah we didn't want to interrupt you two, you were both so intent on your work we weren't sure we could get through to you anyway, and since we didn't need you for the security meetings or the debriefing we just left you two be.” “Who knows about Paul?” I asked. “Our team and the council.” She replied. “They want to meet him but they said they're willing to wait until he can adjust to the culture shock.” “That might take a few days still.” Paul said, still marvelling at Ruby. “If you don't stop staring at my flank you're gonna lose the use of one of your legs.” She said coldly. There it was again, another member of the group acting in an emotionally uncharacteristic way...I'd have thought Ruby would have a field day to have unlimited access to a real human. “Are you alright?” I asked softly. “I'm fine...” She said, giving me a look I knew better than to question. “Okay then...” I nodded simply. She looked over Paul again for a moment then turned and kissed me before leaving the room again. “Uhh, did I do something wrong?” “I'm not sure.” I sighed, rubbing my eyes and looking up at him again. “But I'm not well versed in the subtleties of personalities and emotions.” “You and me both.” He nodded. “Look why don't we go for a walk? I'll show you the Crusader Computer I was telling you about.” “Yeah okay.” He said, grabbing up the paperwork we'd put together on the bed and following me out of the room. I took him down to the control room and he marvelled at the computers. I saw that the body of the Alicorn had been removed, though blood still soaked the wall and ground where it had been. “These are amazing! I've never seen tech like this. It's beyond anything I've come across.” “Well if the rest of the world is any indication, your brother has a similar set up that he's spent 200 years putting together.” “And you're sure you can get me home with this?” “Could you get me home with this?” “Probably.” “Well then?” I smirked, moving to the keyboard on the master terminal and booting it up. We'd have a lot of work to go through the computers and get him home. He walked up behind me and looked curiously as I waited for the computer to start. “How do you use that?” He asked, pointing to the keyboard. “What do you mean? You don't have keyboards in your world?” “Well we do...but they have more than two buttons.” He said, reaching out and pressing the two buttons of the keyboard. “Really? I suppose that makes sense, but on a computer like this...” I shrugged. The computer beeped and came up to a log in page. “So how do you hack around this?” I pulled up a blank screen and started typing. “How do you input binary?” I asked as the 0s and 1s flew across the screen. “Uhh we have proper keyboards with a full set of buttons for each letter of the alphabet, buttons for each number, as well as a number of symbols, we program using words and command prompts instead of going through all the hassle of direct binary input.” “Oh, well once I log in...” The computer chirped and opened into the familiar sight of the Star-Cane OS. “I can input like this.” I pulled up a blank document and used one key to scroll through all the letters, then numbers, then symbols, and used the other to input it. “That must take forever!” He said, watching in amazement as I worked. “Well it's kinda slow but you adapt over time.” I shrugged. “I...Can you get me a bunch of keyboards? If you want me to help I need to make a keyboard I can work with.” “Uhh sure.” I turned and looked up to the exit, spying a certain green filly and zebra spying on us. “CB!” I called and the two jumped out of sight quickly. Paul looked up at the door curiously as the two slowly came back into view. “Oh, hi Daddy, Xem and I were just walking past, was there something we could help you with?” “Yeah can you two go to one of the computer supply rooms and round up all the keyboards you can manage? Brutus can show you where one of the rooms is.” “Yeah of course.” Xem nodded, grabbing CB and pulling her along before CB could argue. “Daddy?” Paul asked, looking at me again curiously. “I thought you'd only been here a year? Assuming you don't have some rapid ageing thing going on?” “She's adopted.” I said, turning back to the computer in front of me. “Her mom was killed in the attack on our base, I felt responsible and took her in.” “Oh...well that's good of you.” He nodded, standing quietly and watching me work in silence until the children returned with the pile of about 50 keyboards. “This was all that were in the one storage room, is that enough?” CB asked, floating them down to us and setting them on the floor. “Should be more than enough.” Paul nodded, smiling to CB. “A...Are you really a human?” Xem asked, studying him intently. “I am.” Paul said. “Are you really a zebra?” “Of course I am!” “Well then?” He laughed, taking the keyboards and starting to pile them up on a table. “Oh, we also brought tools just in case.” CB said, pulling a pack from Xem's back and floating it down to us too. “Oh perfect.” Paul nodded, taking the tools and setting them at his feet. He started taking apart the keyboards, piling up the inner workings of each and tossing the empty frames into a corner. “Anything else we can do to help?” CB asked eagerly. “I'm good.” Paul said, continuing with his work. “If you could find Crackshot or Brutus...or if Firebird is done standing guard over the armoury could you ask whomever you come across first to come see me if they're not busy?” I asked. “Sure thing.” CB nodded, looking disappointed but Xem again hurried her away from the door, closing it behind him. “I think he's going to be a very good influence on her.” I smiled. “He's smart, polite and well behaved, hopefully it'll rub off on her.” “You can hope.” Paul nodded, looking from the door to me and then back to his work. “What are you doing?” “I refuse to try and work on a computer that doesn't have a proper keyboard, so I'm making my own. It's going to be enough of a pain in the ass to have to program the ability to use the keyboard without a proper keyboard but at least I'll only have to do it the once. I'll carry the keyboard program in my Pip-Boy so I can input it into any computer I come across.” “So you're going to start carrying a keyboard everywhere you go?” “Until I can figure a better way? Yes.” He nodded. “Boy you two are really griffons of a feather.” Crackshot said, jumping down the ladder and landing hard on the floor. “Oh wow, a ghoul pony. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that.” Paul said. “Nope, not at all.” Crackshot nodded. “Name's Crackshot.” “Paul.” He replied simply, returning to his growing pile of components. “Xem said you needed me?” “Yeah, excuse us a moment.” I said to Paul and he nodded and resumed his disassembly of the keyboards. I stepped to the side of the platform with Crackshot before I turned back to her. “Do you know what's wrong with Ruby and Lily?” I asked softly. “Wrong?” She paused. “Oh, you mean Lily crying? She just entered a feeding cycle. It leaves her really emotionally vulnerable. She needs lots of love and kindness at these times to recharge her batteries, because of it she is a lot more receptive to emotions and it affects on a much deeper level, and I think Ruby was just angry that you guys upset Lily.” “Wait, Changelings feed on emotions?” Paul asked, looking at us. “That has to be the craziest thing I've ever heard...” “Do you mind? The ponies are talking.” I replied flatly. He opened his mouth to respond, blinked for a moment as his face went blank then turned back to his work finally. “So is she going to be okay?” “She should be fine in a few days.” Crackshot nodded. “Between Firebird, Ruby, and all her friends in town she's always gotten all the energy she needs to keep her magic in check.” “In check? I'm not going to lie, I don't know much about Changelings.” “If she doesn't get a proper infusion of energy from love and kindness and happiness it weakens her terribly, makes her powers unstable, her body slows down, if the energy is little enough she might even die.” “And in this desolate wasteland those aren't easy to come by.” “Exactly.” “So when things got tense she got upset because she was so open to the emotions in the room and it must have been like poison to her in her present state, which is why Ruby was so mad afterwards...I should go apologize.” “Brutus took her to one of the vacant living quarters earlier, I think he went back to check on her a while ago but I haven't seen him.” “That's okay, wonders of a pipbuck, I can find anyone, and she has a special marker, making it easier.” I grinned. “Hey Paul, are you going to be okay for a while?” “What? Yeah I should be fine. I won't mess with any of the computers themselves, just gonna work on the keyboard.” He nodded. “Alright, I'll be back soon.” I said, heading up the ladder and out into the hallway, making my way to the living area. I had to make my way through three of the living sections before I finally found her marker, and it looked like Brutus was still with her. I found the room and knocked quietly. “Hey guys?” I called when no one opened the door after a minute, but again no answer. I opened the door slowly, a green light shining out of the room as I did. “Lily? Brutus? ARGH!” I screamed and fell back into the hallway, Ruby rounding the corner quickly at the far end of the hall. “Sugar what happened?” She asked, flying down the hallway quickly and landing beside me. “I...I...It's...” I shuddered and turned from the doorway, dry heaving and trying to keep from throwing up. “It's what?” Ruby pushed past me and looked into the room. Brutus lay stretched out on the bed, a blanket half pulled over him, sound asleep, Lily lay beside him, nuzzled under his head, her horn gone, though her body still glowed with the green magical energy that lit the room, she wasn't lying under the blanket, and her body was distinctly...masculine. “WHAT THE BUCK IS THIS SHIT?!” Ruby screamed, storming into the room, the two slumbering lovers jolted awake by Ruby's shrill voice. “BRUTE FORCE! YOUR BALLS ARE VISIBLE TO THE WHOLE WORLD! AND LILLITH, YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN HAVE BALLS TO BE VISIBLE AND YET...” She gestures towards the Changeling's lower half. Lily blushed and pulled the blanket up over herself again quickly. “Now start explaining before I get the whole rest of the team in here to find out whats what!” Ruby demanded, tapping her hoof impatiently. I walked into the room slowly and just stood quietly behind Ruby, glad it was my turn to be on the other end of the whole 'getting caught' thing. “I...uhh...” Brutus stammered, pushing himself up in the bed slowly. “Oh come on Ruby, it's not as bad as all that.” Lily muttered, her voice deeper and very masculine. “Don't take that tone of voice with me young lady...seriously use your normal voice, that weirds me out.” Ruby said. “Now I want answers, when did this become a thing?” She asked, gesturing to the bed. Lily rolled her eyes and sat up slowly, the green magic field fading. “Brutus and I have been hanging out a lot since your bosses set up shop in the hospital outside of town. We ran into each other in the bar one night, had a few drinks, played darts, we had a good time so we decided to meet up again, have dinner...over time we found we kinda liked each other. After the Nightmare Night incident I realized I didn't have any life long plans when it came to a love life, or having children, or anything like that, and if Mare-Do-Well is an inherited title then I could hardly just give up on the organization...” She was obviously just making up excuses at this point, I could see the truth in Brutus's eyes and hear it in her voice, they were already madly in love by that point. Maybe I was getting better at reading body language? “...So I decided I wanted to take it to the next level with Brutus, I went to his room, told him how I felt, he told me he felt the same, and just like that our relationship had escalated to a whole new level. When I entered my feeding cycle this morning it opened my heart to Brutus's true, pure, unfiltered feelings for me, stronger and deeper than any love I've ever felt.” She smiled at him and kissed him lovingly. “So I took him as my mate.” She nodded, looking back at us. “He wanted to, I wanted to, we're both adults, and you're really in no position to judge.” “Your mother is going to KILL you two.” Ruby sighed, rubbing her eyes with a hoof. “And don't even TRY to compare my relationship with Sugar to you two, we never kept it a secret, we never snuck around, and neither of us relies on love to survive. If you two ever broke up for any reason it could actually kill you.” “The point isn't to hide from love when you need it just because you're afraid of it hurting you. You take a chance and go for it anyway. You need fire for heat, you don't keep away from it, you risk getting burned to keep it alive.” I wanted to gag on the sentimentality and poetic nature of her statement, it sounded like something out of bad poetry, but at the same time who knows what infusions of love do to a Changeling's mind? “Geeze...just...get your body back in order and get out of here before Firebird comes to check on you.” Ruby sighed, turning to me. “Well I guess you're off the hook for apologizing. Tell Paul I'm sorry I was so cold to him, I still want to poke and prod at him.” She smirked. “I'll do that...Brutus you coming?” “No, he's staying, Lily you go with Sugar.” Ruby said coldly, looking from her cousin to her friend and back. “I'll talk to you later.” The Changeling pushed herself up out of the bed, magic changing her back to her normal form. “Don't worry, it'll be okay.” She said, kissing Brutus as she crawled past him. “OUT!” Ruby snapped and the Changeling and I hurried out of the room, Ruby slamming the door behind us. “Dammit Ruby...” Lily sighed, looking from the door back to me and slumping in defeat. “She wasn't supposed to find out like this.” “I'm sorry Lily, but you know her...she's just worried about you and she knows Brutus better than anypony else in the world so she probably worries about him too. If you two did break up it would drive a wedge between you two and she would be stuck dealing with that.” “Yeah I guess so.” She sighed deeply and looked up at me. “Don't suppose I could leech a little love out of you while we walk?” “You don't have to touch me do you? You're sweaty and you reek of sex and I don't need to smell like sex with Brutus.” I smirked. “Aww you're all heart.” She said, her body glowing green again and wrapping around both of us. It was an odd sensation, like something tugging at my chest, but not in a strong way. She groaned softly and smiled. “Good to know you feel so strongly about me.” She muttered, walking quietly down the hall with me. “Yeah well what can I say? You're family, I can hardly turn you away.” I chuckled. “Hey, where are you two going?” CB called, coming around the corner behind us. “Uhh I'm going back to check on Paul, make sure he doesn't need any help.” “And I'm going to get cleaned up so I can go back to being Mare-Do-Well for the night watch.” “Why do you two smell so weird?” “What? I don't smell weird.” I said quickly, moving away from Lily. “She smells weird. She was working on a machine and it started to leak on her.” “Yeah I got lubricant everywhere.” Lily nodded, grinning stupidly at me and I just rolled my eyes. “Hey has anyone seen Lily?” Firebird came around the corner just ahead of us and starting over to us. “Oh there you...” She stopped short when the scent reached her nose, and the change in her face was obvious. “Lily broke a machine and it leaked lubricant on her.” CB explained. “Yes...CB...go get Ruby please dear?” Firebird asked, struggling to keep calm. “It's an emergency.” “Oh okay I'm on it.” She nodded, hurrying down the hall. “What...the...fuck?” Firebird demanded. “It's not what it looks like!” I said quickly, moving away from Lily again. “You two REEK of sex, and you're all wrapped up in her love spell.” “I don't reek of anything!” I whined. “I'm a good pony! Loyal to my pink pegasus.” “We'll just wait until she gets here and we'll see what she has to say about it.” Firebird said coldly. She was a terrifying presence at the best of times, and right now she was still dressed in her armour, which made her look like she would just crush my skull if the need arose. “But Mom just listen!” “Don't you 'But Mom' me young lady, I'm not some stupid naive foal, I know you have sex, I've known since your first time, but you're not supposed to do it with somepony taken.” “I didn't...” Lily tried to argue but Firebird just waived her off. “Don't bother, I don't want to hear it.” She said coldly. I just sat quietly, unable to think of an argument, and really Firebird wasn't in the mood to listen. I could hear Ruby and Brutus coming just moments before they rounded the corner, both looking beyond panicked. “Firebird don't kill him!” Ruby cried, rushing down the hall and sliding to a stop between me and her Aunt. “They were knocking hooves!” “No they weren't, Lily and I were.” Brutus said quickly, blurting it out as he came up behind Lily and stopped. “YOU and Lily? But you're into bucks.” “Mom...Changeling remember?” Lily sighed, burning with embarrassment. “Alright fine.” Firebird said coldly. “You two...” She looked to me and Ruby. “On you go, Cane go shower, you smell like sex, the magic field keeps things like that in and it has saturated you too.” She looked back to the others. “You two, come with me, we're gonna have a talk.” “Aww come on.” Brutus groaned. “I just finished getting chewed out by Ruby...” “Yeah well you get to be chewed out again.” Firebird replied. Ruby put a wing over my back and hurried me on away from the group before I could try to argue. “Geeze, I was worried about Brutus when it was just the two of you...” I said once we were safely away from the group. “Well I did give him an ear full...” She nodded. “But mostly I'm happy for them.” Ruby admitted. “Changelings can have a bad reputation sometimes, they tend to take on unsavoury jobs in the wasteland, it's a big part of the reason Lily only ever hung around town and worked in the store...kept her life small and no one wondered or worried.” “She also gallivants around the wasteland as a superhero.” “True, but she is in disguise so no one knows.” “So what does that have to do with them? The whole bad rep thing?” “I'm just worried about anyone seeing them and thinking the wrong things about a changeling being with a pony.” “Well it's not like there's an abundance of changelings for them to pair up with.” “Even still...” “I think you're over thinking this...” I smiled. “So long as you're happy for them that's all they want I'm sure.” She sighed and nodded. “You're right, and I am. It means they both have someone to love, and it means Brutus can have a child, which means Crackshot can continue her legacy of guardianship over her line.” “Oh she'll be excited to hear that.” I paused outside of the hatch that lead down to the Crusader Computer. “I should check in with Paul...” “Are you sure? You stink of sex...and not even your own sex.” Ruby said, sticking her tongue out. “He doesn't know what this smell means, maybe I'm just gassy. He doesn't know what a recently sexed pony smells like.” “How do you know that?” “Because I don't know what a recently sexed human smells like.” I grinned, opening the hatch. “Hey Paul?” The human looked up from the table. “Hey Cane, how's everything going?” “It's better now. It's a long story but Lily is sorry for freaking out earlier, and Ruby is sorry for being mad at you...aren't you Ruby?” I asked, looking at the pegasus expectantly. “Uhh, yes I am sorry I got mad at you, I thought you had upset Lily and I feel very bad...I'm also kind of untrusting of guys I don't know well.” Ruby said, looking out at Paul, and ignoring the look I was giving her. “Please forgive me because I desperately want to study you before you leave...” “I forgive you...I don't know about letting you study me though.” He smirked. “How's the keyboard thing coming?” I asked. “It's coming.” He gestured down to the table. He had pulled apart all the keyboards, stripped the wiring and contact membranes from them, now he had it all laid out across the table and was using a pair of box cutters to cut down the size. It looked like he had half a keyboard put together if I was right about approximately how many keys would be on it based on what he'd said earlier. “It's getting late, I know you're probably inclined to work through the night, but we should probably call it for now. I have some ideas about getting the computer up and running again that we can go over tomorrow.” “Yeah...probably not a bad idea.” He nodded, putting his tools down. “And I can just leave this stuff here for now?” “Of course, no one else is coming in here. It's a secured facility.” “Alright perfect.” He came over and climbed up the ladder, pulling the door closed behind him. “What happened to you? You stink.” “Uhh I was trying to fix a vending machine and it leaked coolant on me.” I said quickly. “Well go get cleaned up, you smell terrible.” He said. “I plan to. You gonna come help me get cleaned up?” I grinned at Ruby. “Well you don't have a horn anymore and I'm willing to bet you don't know how to wash yourself without your magic.” “Gross...I don't wanna know how that all works.” Paul said, sticking his tongue out at us. “I'm just gonna go back to the hospital room?” “I can show you to one of the living quarters if you want.” Ruby offered. “Sugar can still turn on water and stand under it, I also have a ton of questions I want to ask you.” “Sure.” Paul nodded. We all walked down the hall, Paul explaining how his keyboard would work and Ruby peppering him with questions about his life and his world. We reached the fork in the hall that lead towards the changing rooms and showers, it was a good thing that despite it's outwards build it still conformed to the standard building layout of our other facilities, I could walk it blindfolded. “Alright well I guess I'll talk to you in the morning.” I said to Paul. “Yeah, good night Dr. Cane.” He smirked. “And to you Dr. Cane.” I laughed, starting off down the hall. He and Ruby continued down the other hall, talking about something called hand cranks, which Ruby found fascinating. I wandered down the hall by myself, into the first changing room and wandering towards the showers at the back of the room, leaving the door that lead to the hallway propped open so Ruby would know where to find me. I stripped off my barding all too happily. I had been wearing it for almost 20 hours, my body was practically clean underneath the armour. I tossed it onto a bench and got into the first stall, turning on the hot water and just sinking down to sit underneath the stream of water. All the problems of the day, all the crazy things that had happened, none of it mattered right now. I just focused on the hot water and letting it wash the dirt from my body. I looked at the soap dispenser built into the wall and tried with all my heart to make my magic depress the button and give me soap, but nothing happened. I didn't feel the familiar swelling of magic, the light of my horn...nothing. It broke my heart. I felt so incomplete, so empty... They talked about Earth ponies having their own kind of magic, which was what made them so good at tending the land, developing our textiles and railway systems, most of the best weapons manufacturers had been Earth Pony companies, and of course a pegasus can fly and control the weather, that's where their magic lies, but not me...I had no magic. I felt like I was missing a part of my body...of course I was, my horn was gone, but never in my life had I ever felt so hollow. I just sat in the hot water and let it rain down on me. I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew I was getting kissed on the muzzle and looked up to see Ruby standing in front of me, the water of the shower still soaking her coat. “Hey there sleepy head.” She smiled. “How long have you been asleep in here?” “I dunno...how long ago did we split up?” “About an hour ago.” “Then probably about 55 minutes.” I laughed softly. “Geeze Sugar, I can't leave you alone for five minutes can I?” she sighed, nuzzling my cheek gently. I returned the gesture and looked at her curiously. "How did you end up in my bed so much when you didn't know me that well and were obviously worried about it?" "Booze, lots of booze." She said seriously. "Don't wanna talk about it?" "Not in the least." She said flatly. "How bout we talk about why you look so down in the dumps? “Just the pressure of the day catching up with me now that I've finally had a chance to slow down and think about it, I lost my brother, I lost my magic, I'm facing the almost impossible task of getting Paul home without somepony sacrificing themselves to power the Crusader Computer...” She silenced me with another kiss and sat down in front of me. “I think you're over thinking everything right now. Venture was a bad guy, we stopped him, we HAD to stop him.” “I know, but I'd hoped to stop him without killing him.” “You don't know that you killed him. He might still be alive in Paul's reality.” “Fat lot of good that does me.” I sighed dejectedly. “As for your magic, it might come back, I've read of ponies having their horns grow back.” “You heard what Xeha said about overpowering the talisman with energy, you can burn out your magic permanently.” “Well maybe we can find a solution.” She suggested and I just shrugged. I wasn't really in the mood for being pandered to. “You should empty your brain.” Ruby sighed, resting her head against my neck. “What do you mean?” “Round up some memory orbs and extract all your troubles and worries, not just copy, but take right out so you can't remember them for now. I tried it once, worked wonders for most of my worries.” “Most?” “Well it was a tricky process and not totally successful. I got most of the junk out of my brain, but not all of it. Made life easier to handle though.” “What happened in your life that you had to do that?” I asked, looking down at her face. “Don't worry about it, it was a long time ago, I don't like to think about it, maybe I'll tell you one day.” “Well...alright...” I nodded, remembering what Brutus had told me of her past and her less than successful trip to the Enclave. “But yeah, get some memory orbs, dump your worries in them for now and just leave it for a while.” “It's not that simple.” I sighed, smiling sadly. “Memory orbs and memory cubes are complex storage devices that mimic the brain in remarkable ways, they shouldn't be wasted on making myself feel better.” “Well maybe you should just put your whole brain into them and start fresh.” She chuckled. “Just keep your memories of me and I'll help you rebuild the rest of your life.” “Yeah...” I paused and looked quietly at the wall for a moment. “Wait...that's not a bad idea...” “What? Sugar I was kidding, I don't want you wiping your memory.” “No no, not that. I know how to get Paul home!” I grinned, pulling back from her. “I know what to do! Go get CB, Brutus and Lily!” I ran out of the shower. “MEET ME IN THE CRUSADER ROOM! BRING ALL THE MEMORY ORBS AND CUBES YOU CAN!” I yelled as I ran through the changing room. “AND GET LILY TO BRING THE MEMORY INTERFACE COMPUTER!” I tore out the door and down the hall, still soaking wet and leaving a trail of water behind me. “PAUL! PAUL!” I yelled, racing through the living area until I found the single indicator on my E.F.S. and ran to the door and pounded on it. “PAUL! GET YOUR ASS UP! I KNOW HOW TO GET YOU HOME!” He pulled the door open, still pulling his jumpsuit back into place. “What? How do you know what to do?” “Because Ruby is a bucking genius!” “Why are you naked and wet?” “Oh I was in the shower. Come on!” I took off down the hallway at full speed and he struggled to even keep me in sight. I hit the door, pausing to shake as much water from myself as I could, then yanked the door open and leapt down to the platform, running to the control pod. Paul finally appeared at the top of the ladder a minute later, panting and wheezing from the effort of running. “Geeze...Sugar...slow...down...” He panted, climbing down the ladder slowly. “Shouldn't you put some pants on or something?” “What? Why?” I looked up from the control pod at him. “Well do you normally run around naked?” “Well...no...but clothing is an optional thing...” I shrugged. “Come on, grow up and help me, grab the tools and come over here.” He sighed and just shook his head, grabbing the tools from the table and coming over. “So care to fill me in on the plan?” “Memory Orbs.” I said, pulling open a panel and starting to dig through the wires. It was a lot harder without my magic but I was determined. “Memory Orbs?” “They're magical orbs used to store memories and emotions. Like I could copy all my memories of my life before being frozen, it would fill dozens of orbs, but anyone could pick up one of the orbs and view it, and see and experience my life through me.” “So?” “So? SO!? So memory orbs work like magical brains, they retain the information forever, and we have memory Cubes that are interactive, they're even more complex. Grab that thick wire and strip the cover and insulation.” I said and he leaned in beside me to start doing just that. “So we should be able to create a bunch of memory orbs and cubes and use a computer interface to power the computer instead of having to use an actual live pony to run it.” “So that'll get me home?” “It's a safe bet.” I nodded. “Cut the red, purple and black wires and strip them to the base copper.” I said, pulling back and moving to a supply cabinet and pulling lengths of cable out, letting the spools of cable fall around my neck and coming back over. “Here.” I set them down beside him. “Strip these around the ends and attach them to each end of the cables you just cut, run the wires long enough that we could wrap them all the way around the table twice if we have to, then cut them in the middle so we have exposed pieces out here to work with.” “Yes sir.” He smirked, setting to work on the wiring. “What's all the commotion?” Brutus asked, coming down the ladder with Lily and Firebird, the two younger ones looking thoroughly chagrined, though they also looked relieved that they were away from Firebird's wrath. Lily had the memory computer in her magical grasp as she floated down to the ground beside us. “I know how to get Paul home.” I beamed. “Put the computer in the pod.” I said to Lily, then looked from her to Brutus. “I'm going to need to borrow both of your magic to record some memory orbs to power the machine.” “Memory orbs will act as a stand in for the Pony CPU?” “Temporarily yes. We're going to use a re-collector to have Paul create a memory cube of his world, then we're going to interface with it, learn of his world and imprint those memories into orbs, then we're going to use the last spacial settings of the Crusader Computer and the Megaspell to hopefully reactivate it with a steady link to Paul's universe, but the orbs will probably burn out in a matter of minutes at best.” “What's going on?” CB asked tiredly. She had three cases of memory orbs in her magical grasp, as well as a pair of re-collectors and she was leaning tiredly against Xem, who looked equally tired. “CB sweetie I'm glad you're here. I need your magic to help make memory orbs so Paul can go home.” “Couldn't this wait until morning?” She whined, floating herself and Xem down to the main floor. “Would you want to spend a whole night in a weird place with none of your friends or family?” She sighed and shook her head. “No...I wouldn't.” She yawned as she spoke, setting the boxes of memory orbs down. Lily took the re-collectors and started fiddling with the controls. “Well you two can crash out for a little longer anyway, I need Paul to do some other work before I'm ready for you.” “Good...” CB said, moving off the platform and flopping in a corner of the room. Xem lay down beside her and the two were asleep in a matter of moments. “Wow, they really get along well with each other.” Firebird said, watching them quietly for a moment. “Yeah it's how soul mates tend to work. Perfect harmonious compatibility.” “I've seen you and Ruby fight.” Firebird laughed. “Well nopony agrees with everything another says all the time.” I shrugged. “How do you know those two are soul mates?” Paul asked. “Long story, too long to try and explain.” I said. “I need you to do something else instead.” I walked over and pushed one of the re-collectors over to him once Lily was done with them. “Put this on, we're going to create a memory cube to create the other orbs from. “How does it work?” He asked, picking up the re-collector and looking at it curiously before slowly putting it on. It was a little big for him but it still fit, and the indicator light still came on. I took a memory cube and slid the rounded bottom into the base. “All you do is think about your world. The way the outside looks, sights, sounds smells. It'll record it all and create an interactive world for us to see to create our own memory orbs. Just don't think of sex and you'll be fine.” “What?! Why would you tell me that? Now I'm not gonna be able to stop thinking about it, you bastard...” He grumbled. I just smirked and hit the switch to start the recording process. He got quiet, sitting back on the floor and closing his eyes. “This is weird...” He said softly, opening his eyes and looking up at me. “It's like my memories are flowing through my brain, I can feel them leaving but they're still there when I go back to them.” “Yeah we're just copying them, the re-collector is able to just pull memories right out but it's not a pleasant process and I'd rather avoid it myself, I would never force it on someone else unless they deserved it.” He just nodded and closed his eyes again, his face scrunching thoughtfully from time to time as the memory cube slowly got brighter and brighter until he finally gasped sharply and opened his eyes again. “Geeze you didn't tell me the cut off was so abrupt.” He sighed, taking the re-collector off and putting it back on the table. He rubbed at the side of his head with his hands and sighed again. “That leaves you with a hell of a headache.” “Sorry, I don't know how to calibrate it for a human, it was kind of a shot in the dark.” Lily said. “S'okay. I think I got it all done anyway.” “So what is it of?” “Well for accuracies sake I tried to put together the area I was in before getting pulled through the portal.” “Good idea.” I nodded. “Alright I guess I'll go through it first.” I put the re-collector on and Lily reset it quickly for me, sliding a pair of memory orbs into it as well. “And away...we...go...” ~/~/~/o0o0o0o0o0o0o\~\~\~ The world I found myself in was...interesting...it looked so much like Equestria, but with a lot of subtle differences. The husks of some kind of enclosed carriages sat along the road, long ago abandoned. Giant faded billboards advertised Nuka-Cola and Sunset Sarsaparilla and had smiling humans on them. Huge mountains rose in the distance and a short walk away I could see the walled entrance of a town. “So yeah this is it.” Paul's voice, my voice, still creepy, made me jump and I turned to see him standing on the side of the road. “I don't know what to say or put into this...I was on my way to that town in the distance, it's called The Hub, it used to be a major drug den, but it's been pretty well cleaned up in the last few years, it's a nice town now. The memory should expand almost to the edge of town, but I dunno how this all works.” He shrugged and vanished. So I started down the road. There were empty houses, they looked so plain and simple compared to the homes I remembered back in my time, even the shells of homes I passed nowadays in the wasteland... “There's a series of caves up there.” He pointed to a cliff behind us. “Yao Guai live there, most everyone that passes this way tries to give it a wide berth.” He walked across the street as he talked, then stopped and pointed to the mountains to the south. “There's an Enclave base a week or so from here called Navarro, it's got helicopters called Vertibirds, they can cover most of the wasteland pretty fast. A few years ago some wasteland native marched in there and stole a bunch of tech and ended up killing the president.” He leaned against one of the enclosed carriages. “Sorry I didn't pick a more scenic location, this is just where I was so I figured it was the best location to go wi....” It cut off and I was dumped back into the real world abruptly. ~/~/~/o0o0o0o0o0o0o\~\~\~ “Ow, dammit...” I groaned, rubbing my head. “It does end abruptly.” “Yeah, dunno what's up with that.” Paul said. “Did I get enough?” “Yeah looks good.” Lily nodded, pulling the memory orbs from the re-collector and looking at them. “Alright Brutus, now you.” I said, tossing him the re-collector. He nodded and put it on, Lily loaded new memory orbs into it and he sat down then zoned out as it loaded. “How's the rewire work going?” I asked Paul. “It's about done.” He said, pulling the last spool of wire out and running out the extra lengths before cutting it off and splitting it. “Perfect.” I smiled and turned back to the others. “Lily can you get the computer set up and plugged in and when it's done pop the casing off so we can rewire it into the system?” “You got it boss.” She nodded, lifting the rest of the computer parts up and starting to work setting it up. I looked up at the others, realizing Ruby had joined us at some point, my barding and bags sat in the corner behind her. “Firebird, Ruby, can you two run interference with the council if we're not finished by morning?” “Yeah that'll be easy.” Firebird smirked. “Good. Lily, once Brutus rejoins us here in the real world reload the system and do yours?” “Eeyup.” She nodded, powering up the computer to make sure it loaded properly. “Ruby, can I talk to you alone?” “We gonna finish what we started in the shower?” She smirked. “Yeah I was thinking we would yeah.” I just nodded and her smirk faltered. “Sugar I don't think now is the time.” “Come on.” I laughed, climbing up the ladder and moving back into the hallway. “Lily, if I'm not back before you finish, reset the system and get CB going?” She nodded and I turned to Ruby. She came up behind me and we moved down the hall a short distance. “I...” “...Need to go with Paul.” Ruby finished and I just sort of looked at her curiously. “Yeah I'm not dumb. Paul made it through the portal with no problems, Venture probably survived going into the other world too and you need to go get him.” “Yeah...and you're okay with that?” “Not really, but I know anything I say will be met with arguments and long winded explanations, all I want to know is, how do you intend to get home? There's no magic in Paul's world, we don't even know if your magic will work. What if you get over there and you turn into the mindless creature that Paul told me ponies are in that world?” “They make up for a lack of magic with some amazing technology that works in very similar ways. I'm sure we can replicate the process on the other end. If our worlds continue to basically run parallel that means that his version of Venture will have made his own machine for crossing dimensions and we'll use that to get back.” “You're assuming you can stop him.” “Not just him, him AND Venture.” I smirked. “It's gonna be a hell of a party.” “If your magic fails or you turn into a mindless idiot?” “I don't have any magic anymore,” I rubbed the stump of my lost horn dejectedly, “and when we pass through the portal if something like that happens to me Paul will send me right back through, we'll keep it open as long as possible to make sure.” “Alright...” She sighed. “Just...come back to us safe right?” “Of course.” I nodded. “What if we have a baby? Someone has to help you raise him...or her.” “Damned straight...” She nodded. “I just don't like the thought of you doing this alone.” “Ahem.” A voice announced from beside us. We turned and saw Lily and Brutus standing together a short distance away. “I'm going with you too.” “What?!” Ruby and I demanded together. “I don't think so!” Ruby said, stepping forward. “You think you're Mom was mad when she found out you two were shacking up?” “It was her idea.” Lily said. “I'm Mare-Do-Well. I'm sworn to protect ponies who struggle to protect themselves. I have magic, I can fly, and most importantly,” She closed her eyes and turned into a human again, “I can blend in better than you could ever hope to.” She smirked. “Besides you need the extra help to carry the re-collector and extra orbs so we can rewire Castor's machine?” “Who's Castor?” “Paul's brother.” Brutus said. “His Venture.” “Of course.” I nodded. “Should have realized.” “So yeah, I'm coming.” Lily said again. “Well if your mom is okay with it I can hardly say no to help that can fly and use magic. It should very very much come in handy.” “Damned straight.” She smirked. “Now lets get back to the control room.” She turned and started back down the hall with Brutus beside her, the two of them talking quietly to each other. “You promise me you'll be careful right Sugar?” Ruby asked. “Of course I will. I'll do everything I can to make sure I come home in one piece.” “Alright.” She nodded and we followed the others back to the control room. I crawled back down the ladder just in time to hear Paul explode again. “COME ON! SERIOUSLY!” He was yelling a Lily and had buried his head in his hands. “I know you people...ponies...bug things...whatever you are...” He flailed an arm in the general direction of Lily. “Are comfortable going without clothing but it's a serious matter in my world. Clothes are essential unless you're a very young child or a prostitute. Please put that dress back on.” “Alright alright, don't get your mane in a bunch.” Lily sighed, pulling the dress from her pack and pulling it on quickly. “Better?” She asked, straightening it out and pulling on the ceramic armour over top of it. “Much.” He nodded, looking up again and sighing, going back to the computer. He had the big keyboard wired into the computer and seemed to have it working nicely. “When did you finish that?” I asked, coming over and looking at it. He had roughly carved each letter number and symbol into the keyboard, it was probably almost as big as him if it was stood on end. “It was almost finished earlier. Once I finished recording the memory cube for you and getting the computer wired up I put the finishing touches on it and here we are. I just modified the programming for the normal keyboard on here and now it works, it's about 4 times bigger than one I'm used to but it's more than usable.” “Alright well...Paul...We're going with you.” I said. “What do you mean?” He asked, looking up from the computer. “Lily and I are going with you to your world. I have to find Venture and bring him back to face justice if he's still alive.” “And Lily?” He asked, looking up at the Changeling curiously. “She's my guard.” I smirked. “I can fly and use magic, no matter what form I'm in.” She said, floating silently into the air and throwing balls of energy from her hands that exploded like green fireworks above our heads. “Well shit...that would be a world of help. You'd be like a superhero.” He said softly, which made the rest of the group burst out laughing, much to Paul's confusion. CB gasped loudly and shot to her hooves. I hadn't realized she was laying beside the pod, still loading her orbs for the system. “Owww...” She groaned, rubbing furiously at her head and pulling the re-collector off her head angrily, setting it down in the pod again. “Thank you CB.” I smiled, hugging her and kissing her horn. “Give it a few minutes, it fades pretty quickly.” She grumbled angrily but just returned the hug, shaking a little bit. “CB...I'm going with Paul...” “What!?” She looked up at me with big sad puppy dog eyes and suddenly I could see every abandonment issue she had welling up in her tears. “You can't go!” She sobbed, hugging me tightly. “CB wait, just listen. I'm only going for a little while.” I said, returning her hug. “I have to go and make sure that my brother can't hurt anypony else. If he's in Paul's world he could do all kinds of terrible things with his magic, hurt so many humans, and they'd never know or understand why. I need to go find him and make sure he is stopped once and for all. I swear I'm coming back as soon as I do that.” “But...but...” She whimpered, pressing into my side to hide the tears now. “I need you...Please daddy don't go away...I can't keep losing parents.” She whispered. “CB you aren't going to lose me, I'm still here, I'll come back. You have Ruby, you have Brutus, you have Crackshot and Firebird, they'll all be here for you and they'll all take care of you.” “But I want YOU to take care of me.” “And I intend to, but this something I have to do CB, I can't leave Venture out there free to do who knows what, he's my responsibility.” “I'M your responsibility too.” She looked up at me with pleading eyes and for a moment I could genuinely feel my heart breaking like it hadn't since EB had died and a huge part of me suddenly didn't care what happened to Venture off in the other world, I just wanted to stay here and protect CB, but before I could say anything Xem came over and put a hoof on CB's shoulder. “CB listen, for I speak true, even if everypony else leaves, I'll be here for you.” He said, hugging her lovingly. She shifted back a bit and moved into his embrace. “Day or night, night or day, my love for you shall never sway.” He kissed her horn and she sobbed softly, hugging him tighter. “I love you too Xem...” She whispered, holding him quietly for a minute before turning back to me. “Fine, you can go Daddy...just don't be gone long...and bring me back something nice.” She forced a smile and I laughed. “I'm sure I can manage something yes.” I nodded. “Well alright...I suppose you can go.” She finally said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I...am going to bed.” She said, yawning and stretching, clearly exaggerating the actions and moving to the ladder, floating herself up to the door and vanishing into the hallway before anyone could say anything. I turned and looked at Xem, who was clearly kind of embarrassed by the whole situation. “SO...do we need to talk about that?” I asked. “N...No of course not.” He said quickly, laughing nervously. “I'm a complete gentle-colt, she's my best friend and I would lay my life down to protect her from harm, I would never do anything to compromise that relationship.” “You sound very nervous about the whole thing.” I smirked. “Why'd you start talking in rhyme?” Lily asked. “It happens when I'm not focusing, I just slip back into my accent.” “So you intentionally don't speak in rhyme? I thought maybe that was a learned thing.” “No, it's how we're raised and taught and think. It's learned the same way any other language is learned.” He shrugged. “So I suppose yes it is a learned thing.” “Why don't you always talk in rhyme?” “Because nopony else does. I don't exactly have a lot of zebra friends and I find it easier to just communicate the same as everyone else.” “You sure you're not just embarrassed?” Ruby smirked. “Okay fine, it's just really hard to think up things that rhyme. You have to have a razor sharp mind, you need to be thinking all the time. Two steps ahead not two steps back, you need to keep your wits about you to not fall off track. So if we could just drop the subject that would be keen, I'm too tired for this bullshit, if you know what I mean.” “That middle big wasn't a very good rhyme.” Paul said. “Eat me.” Xem said, rolling his eyes and starting for the ladder. “Cute kid.” Paul smirked. “Good night!” Xem yelled, slamming the door behind him. “Sorry I said anything.” Paul sighed. “Don't worry about it, kids are weird.” Crackshot said. “So you're really coming with me?” “Absolutely. I have to find Venture and put him down.” “Well alright, so what do we do now?” “We can't do anything else for a few hours.” I said, taking all the memory orbs and sliding them into the slots on the computer. “The computer is going to need a while to recalibrate for these.” I moved to the keyboard and started it up again. “Why doesn't everyone go get some sleep while I get this going? There's nothing else anyone else can do for now. We should meet back here in...5 hours...Lily I assume you have to pack?” “Yeah I should get on that.” She nodded. The group talked a little about our upcoming trip but they wandered off pretty quickly until it was just me and Ruby. “How long are you going to be?” She asked, leaning over my shoulder and watching me curiously as I worked. “Just 15-20 minutes I think. Venture already wrote the software, I just need to run and modify it.” “Alright well hurry up.” She sighed. “I want another shot at making a baby with you before you leave.” She grinned, kissing my cheek. “Is that seriously all you ever think about? I have feelings you know. I need to feel loved. Taken for dinner, showered with affection, praised, maybe a hoofacure from time to time.” I smirked, looking over at her without pausing in my typing. “When you get back maybe.” She laughed, settling down on the floor and snuggling into my side, drifting off to sleep while I worked. An hour later I was finally actually finished and nudged her gently. “Hey, wake up, it's time to go to bed.” She yawned and pushed herself up. “You took too long...” “It's an imprecise science that requires precise calculations.” I sighed, climbing up the ladder. She flew up and opened the door, drifting into the hall and landing to wait for me. I reached the top and moved into the hall, closing the door behind me. Ruby cuddled back against me and we started off down the hall. We found an empty room and crashed out on the bed. Despite her flirtations Ruby was asleep in a matter of minutes and I just set an alarm and snuggled up with her and went to sleep. When we got back together I was glad to see the computer was finished, locked and loaded and ready to accept the new control core. Lily was in human form, dressed and ready to go, her saddlebags had been modified into a pack she could wear on her back and she had Brutus's shotgun slung to her back. CB and Xem were no shows but everyone else was there, though most still looked exhausted. “Alright, lets fire this up and get on our way shall we?” Paul asked, pulling his pack back on and moving to the middle of the room to stand where the portal had appeared the last time, Lily following suit. I made some final preparations and completed the system reset. I threw my saddlebags on and pulled my armoured barding straight and looked to Brutus. “Once we're in place, just hit the two keys and the program will load and the mega-spell will activate. I doubt it'll work for more than a minute before the orbs burn out, load up a new set of orbs when that happens, give us a week and reopen the portal. You can use the computer to send a data burst to my pipbuck through the radio network. My pipbuck will transmit back all my vital stats and I'll be able to include any other information I type out and send before the portal crashes again." “Alright.” He said, moving to the computer as I joined the other two in the middle of the room. "Just, be careful." “Ready for my world?” Paul asked, looking down at me. “As ready as I can be.” I nodded. “Lily?” “Scared out of my mind,” She shrugged, “but I've dealt with worse.” “Alright Brutus, hit it!” I called. The crusader computer powered up and the machines chugged to life, after a moment the floor lit up and the mega-spell portal appeared in the middle of the room, the area beyond clearly the same as the area I had seen in Paul's memories. We all walked forward together and passed through the gate, the light becoming overwhelmingly bright, and we left the Equestrian wasteland behind. Footnote: Level cap raised. Level up. Perk added: Hornless: Having been forced to adapt to circumstances you no longer have access to magic but you have worked out much better ways to work around those shortcomings resulting in increased intelligence and +5 to all skills. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.