//------------------------------// // (Interlude) You Probably Think I am a Silly, Gullable Fool // Story: Fallout Equestria: Taking Life By The Horns // by Pokonic //------------------------------// I kept walking, as we had nothing to say to each other. I was mildly afraid of the little pony resting behind me, but who would not? Steel Rangers are brutal creatures, and for all I knew she could have been too crazy for them to handle, her words about “wiping her slate clean” be dammed. She knew spells, for Discord’s sake! Spells! That blasted sidearm of hers, Self Defense, could cook me in seconds! I was the seven foot tall minotaur, and she was the most dangerous thing in miles! The biggest threat to my life was nearly wider than she was tall and was currently sleeping in an oversized blue-grey robe she brought with her! But, I needed her. I knew that. Even if she was the reason I was in this situation, I needed to tolerate her. She knew the area, or at least she claimed too, and if anything, she was hardly a liability. Even if she would fit in with a raider clan, she was the closest thing to a ally out here. A ally that killed innocents for the sake of the sum of there parts. I can still hear Seas screaming. I could still feel it when her neck cracked. Blueberry Cream, ex-Steel Ranger Senior Scribe, was going to pay for her actions one day. Not sure when, but eventually. To my surprise, we maked good time. Braymont was closer than Blueberry thought, and we quickly make it within city limits within a few good hours on the road. I hardly even noticed the change, considering I was half-asleep myself. Braymont was...brown. Brown walls, brown streets, brown ground. I half-heartedly wanted to see another color again. Heck, even the sky looked like dirt. Nothing so far was over one story, and all the buildings looked smashed-in and well used. Nothing like the store was passed hours ago, that was for sure. No ponies in sight, either. I could only hope that we could make it to the tower by the next day so Blueberry could work her Scriby magic’s. By now, the mare was half-awake, head just peaking out under the hood of her robe. “Didn’t expect you to keep walking....you should rest.” I kept walking. Blueberry presumably waited for me to stop. I kept walking. She probably made a little frown. I kept walking. She probably pouted slightly. I kept walking, until I felt my legs freeze up. She probably had a glowing horn. I craned my neck. Yep. I was a puppet in her...hooves. Horn, possibly. “We should rest. Swap stories. We have a good few hours before nightfall, anyway, and we both have things we want to say to each other.” Ah, yes, the plan. Sneak in under the cover of darkness and sneak out. Of course, I needed to pass on the message to somepony, which was currently hidden in my stuff. Then again, despite what I had against stopping in any way, it’s not like we were in danger and I suppose she was right on one account. When I felt my legs un-seize up, I began walking over near one of the more in-tact buildings to lean on. “Sure.” She giggled slightly as she hopped off the cart, her little robe dragging along as she did so. “You could talk a bit more. Sometimes you make me feel like I am leading you around.” “You are.” I replied. She made a little frown. “Why’s that?” I sighed. “You have more magic than all the ponies I have seen put together and have used it on me more times than I care to think about.” She gave me a blank look, and under her little robe-blanket she looked like a blue horned turtle peaking out of its shell. To my surprise, she spoke three words I would have never expected to hear out of her. “I am sorry.” I must have shown my surprise, because she let out a little bitter laugh. “What do you want me to say? You must think this is my fault.” I looked away from her and let out a little snort. She just laughed. “You do! You do! Oh, Goddesses, you must...I am your bane of existence right now, right?” I looked back at her and gave a little half-hearted nod. She was...crying? Oh, come on. How am I supposed to hate something that was a quarter of my size and was bawling in front of me? She brutalized another one of her kind and was half the reason I was in the middle of a ruined city possibly filled with ponies wanting to kill me on principle! So, I did something that I hoped I would not regret. I picked up the surprisingly light pony and gave the closest thing to a hug I could give without making look like a sexual assault. Blueberry squeaked slightly, but continued to sniffle. Oh, the wasteland will end me, one way or another. And so, after that little moment of weakness, we eventually settled down and talked. She talked about the Rangers, I talked about my home. We both thought it was funny that we both had bosses that were called Elders, but apparently her mother, Blueberry Saber, was her's. Neither of us liked our fathers, and we very quickly decided not to talk about that. She joked on me about my “relationship” with Brass and laughed at my stories about Copper, and I in turn chuckled at her stories about self-entitled albino Paladins and how everyone’s name related to food, which also spurned on a conversation about how the Steel Rangers worked. I was fascinated, frankly, at how the Unicorn members were seen as less useful than the Earth Ponies, but then she mentioned that most of the original Rangers proper came from hard-working members of Equestrias breadbasket and that they kept naming there foals. I nodded in respect, for I could understand such a thing, as minotaurs tended to choose abstract concepts for names, even if they didn't have real meaning. I found out that Caladonia was another country like Equestria, and she was very surprised I did not know what it was, considering that, to my own surprise, we were actually in it. I talked about life in the commune, and she talked about life in her bunker, and as it turned out they were shockingly similar. She was confused about how the separation of bulls and cows worked, but then I noted the similarity to how unicorns and earth ponies worked in her home and she nodded in realization. She showed me Self Defense and said that she got it on her thirteenth birthday, and said it was one of a kind, modified for her own personal use to fire faster and carry more energy cells than a normal pistol. I asked about her cutie-mark, and showed me it: it was a few blueberries that, for whatever reason, were on fire, and said that she got it when she was ten. I just said that the only thing I got when I was ten was a spear and an assigned guard post, while she just laughed and said that the robe she was snuggling in was given to her around the same time, but she never quite grew into it like she was supposed too. We both laughed, and it was only a little forced at that point. And so, we spent an hour talking about life, carefully taking about ourselves while avoiding all the really important things, like her actions or my future. And we rested, ate some food, and prepared for the long night ahead of ourselves. At least we could trust each other, in the long run. I think.