//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Fallout Equestria - No More Tears // by Darkstarr48 //------------------------------//         The first thing I asked myself as the turrets began to turn to us was: I wonder what It feels like to die. But before I got the chance to find out, I was bowled over and dragged behind cover by a certain frenzied colt. He may be tiny, but he sure knows how to apply mass, even if he was never taught formally about physics. I seemed to be the only one paralyzed in fear because all of my comrades had been waiting for me behind the stack of crates that was already riddled with bullet holes from the turrets which had begun firing. I staggered to my hooves, not daring to peek over the crates for fear of losing my head, so I levitated out my rifle and brought it over the crates and attempted to fire blindly at the turrets. I telekinetically pulled the trigger but my gun had never went off. I dropped it down beside me and found out why. It had been chewed like a pencil by the hail of gunfire from the two security turrets. Any hope of the mechanism working was lost just by looking at the ruined weapon, so I cast it aside in frustration.         Times like these, I doubt that my ingenuity can save me, this is also the time Boomer grabbed me by the shoulders shaking me, trying to scare me into doing something and saying that I was the genius, and that I should solve this. I doubted myself, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try. I looked up and down the ceiling, searching for any kind of wires leading to the turrets. I found my way along a wire, leading to a wall terminal. That was all the way across the factory with no possible way to reach it without exposing myself to the turrets. I groaned and looked over at Boomer who was beginning to seem a little uneasy himself, probably wondering how long the crates would last until the bullets ate their way all the way through it.         “Over there is a terminal that might be able to shut off the turrets. I don’t think I would be able to..” He brought his grenade launcher to bear, cracked it open, and began loading shells into the massive grenade revolver. It was almost as big as he was but it didn’t seem to pose a problem. I observed that the shells he had loaded had a blue stripe around the case, and if memory served me right... “Right, I should get ready.”         “Ten seconds, can you make it?” He asked, angling his launcher for an ark at the turrets. I wasn’t too fast, but I’m sure I could make the run in that time. I nodded and dropped into a stance, briefly stretching out my muscles before the shell thumped of the launcher. I watched it ark towards the turrets and as they began to track the flying projectile, I darted off at fast as I could gallop, the other side of the factory seeming miles away. I turned my head and watched the shell erupt into a blue ball of crackling electricity. The turrets went limp and drooped, the red lights fading from their optics, and as quickly as they had gone out, they were back online. So close! I gave my sprint all that I could to make it behind a pristine shipping container, but the turrets weren’t going to cut me a break. As I dove for the safety of the container, I felt the bite of three bullets tear through my hind leg. I cried out as I quickly dragged myself behind the container. Not braving the look at my leg, I staggered up and limped my way to the terminal.         Each step was like being stabbed again and again as I took the walk to the terminal. My worry had turned to disdain when I realized that the password for the terminal was twenty digits long. I bashed my hoof over the top of the screen, I began to panic, if I didn’t get this down, we’re all good as dead. I remembered a small tin that I had picked out of a drawer at Boomer’s place. A tin with the lettering ‘Mint-als’ across it. It had been used before, because there was only one left in the tin. As it said, it advertized heightened senses, awareness, and enhanced clarity. If I was going to use these, now was the time.         I let myself fall down to my side as I levitated my bags beside me and started rooting through them in search of the tin which I eventually found nestled between a couple of books. I levitated it out and popped the lid, levitating the drug into my mouth and chewing it down. It tasted.. funny. Not necessarily unpleasant, almost like one of the chalky candies that one's grandmother would put on the table in a little dish for anyone and everyone to eat. Sort of minty, sort of marshmallowy, but definitely chalky. The flavor was forgotten as soon as the drug began to take effect. Sense of feel was already taking effect, as I could literally feel my pupils dilating. I could see in dark places and with no glare or pain, and most importantly, I could think clearly again.         I didn’t know how long the drug would last so I set right to work. I stumbled up to the terminal, bringing down the keyboard and planning out the hacking sequence. First I had to enter in the console command: secureset/inquire? From their, lists of words mixed into jumbled characters and punctuation came up and  began to remove the duds, selecting anything between parentheses or brackets. This cleared up five results, leaving eight more. I selected the first three, which were all incorrect, then found the <> within the characters and replenished my allowances. I selected three more, which all proved incorrect as well. I had no more resets, and I didn’t have time to reset the terminal, so I guessed. The terminal accepted the password which turned out to be ‘ironshodfirearmspass’ which made me facehoof inside and remember rule #1  of a hacker. Just because a password is long, doesnt mean its complicated. Now one command came up: Enable Security Y/N? Y. The clatter of gunfire from the turrets behind me did not stop. This struck me as odd however, because the security should all be linked at once unless.. fuck. I called over to my party “Guys! Get ready! You’re gonna have company!”         They barely had time to draw their weapons as three robotic ponies materialized from the shadows, the wear of their two hundred year inactivity being in no way apparent in their movements.         “Security breach detected. Remain stationary until the problem is resolved.” Yeah, that was definitely going to happen. Boomer was the first to fire a shell from his grenade launcher, shooting the blue EMP shells in between the two back securitrons, who temporarily fell limp. Lilly brought her AM rifle to bear and swiftly blew the first one’s head violently apart. They all struggled to remain safe behind cover.         While they were busy fighting those three, I had somehow let my concentration slip and failed to notice the fourth one rounding the corner on my side. Shit, a broken legged unarmed pony versus a functioning armed one made of metal? Now was the time to face it. I was royally, utterly, and completley fucked. Scratch what I had said about it being armed, It carried no weapons, maybe it intended to crush my skull, but I can assure myself that it wouldn't be quick nor painless.         As it turned out, I was right. As it loomed over me, it picked me up by the head and began to squeeze very slowly, making my head throb with an audible heartbeat which was beating much too fast to be considered healthy. As the Mint-al wore off, It left me one last idea. All robots had a combat inhibitor, regardless of what it was designed for, it was called a “combat” inhibitor. And since I was a unicorn, I could telekinetically dislodge their programming chip and send it into a frenzy, which is exactly what I did. Through my throbbing, crushed head, I channeled all of my magic I could muster into yanking the chip, which slid out with machine precision.         The effect had been what I had hoped for when Luck decided to side with me. Instead of continuing to crush my head, it flung me aside into a wall before charging at the nearest dot on it’s built in EFS which happened to be turret number one. It bowled all of its mass into the side of the structure, knocking it over and tearing it from its base. The other turret which had just realized the securitron was now hostile, began viciously chewing through it with a lead firestorm.         All of this was dark and hazy as I watched from the wall. I gave a little halfhearted ‘humph’ of pride in my handiwork. Then the combined head trauma caught up with me and I felt my world being swallowed in the blackness of unconsciousness. Damn.. again already? * * * I woke laying down on top of the shipping containers that had been the salvation of my party while I made a run for the terminal. I knew this not because I could see it, but I could feel the marred metal surface of the container. It felt like laying on a bed of nails, or more accurately a cheese grater. More feeling came back so I could feel that my jumpsuit had been taken off, and i could feel the tightness of a blindfold across my head. Throbbing pain from my hind legs and a couple more areas of pain up along my flanks made me groan. I brought my hoof up slowly to my face to remove the blindfold, but was stopped by a quick hoof. "Hey, hey, slow down, you're okay." It was Rusty's voice. I groaned again and asked, "Saved my ass again? Explain the blindfold please?" The words came out slurred and raspy, but the message got across. Rusty inhaled deeply and sighed. "That robot that was crushing your head caused... somewhat severe trauma and..." It was clear he was stalling for some reason. "The light in here would give you a severe headache." Not sure that this was the real reason for being blindfolded, I made another attempt to take it off, which was stopped again by Rusty. "Rusty... What do I look like? Am I whole?" As Rusty went to answer, a warmer hoof rested on my shoulder. This time it was Lilly, "Trust me when I say that you're all in one piece. You're okay, Rusty dug out the bullets and we've healed you up." I could almost feel Rusty glare at her. "Er.. Rusty healed you up. You did take quite a hit to the head." Okay, two reports of confirmation were enough. I struggled to sit up, and the colder set of hooves helped me into an upright position. "Okay, ill keep on the blindfold if it makes you feel any better. But I would definitely rather have it off." "Trust me, having it off would be.. agonizing." Lilly said passing me a cold drink in a bottle. I tried to take it my magic, but I couldn't grip it, so I picked it up in my hooves. It was Icy to the touch and oddly shaped, and when I took a sip, I was greeted with an unfamiliar carroty flavor. I heard my pip buck click, but it was weak, so I ignored it as I took another sip. "What is this? It doesn't taste like alcohol." I say smiling. The face movement sent a small jolt of pain through my head. Lilly gave an amused laugh. "Not everything in a glass bottle is alcohol you know? It's Sparkle Cola." Uh huh. That explains the flavor. I had read a bit about sparkle cola, and how due to shortage of glass they were going to start canning their product. I was small when I read that, so I didn't get the message of bottles by context. "So this is what it tastes like. Not bad." I say with a little shrug. I finished the bottle and blindly looked around. I tossed the empty bottle towards the left and to my disappointment, it didn't even shatter. Having a four strength was bad enough, but this was just embarrassing. I struggled up to my hooves, my reluctant muscles aching in protest, but I made it up and stretched each of my limbs. "Help me off of this?" "Yeah, follow me" Lilly said as I felt her drape a wing over me. I could feel myself blushing, but we walked along the container sluggishly, leading down a ramp of other shipping containers. "I'm still impressed that you managed to pick that lock. Spy style nonetheless." "Thanks, it just takes concentration, time and a couple thousand picks." She chuckled and I smiled. "So um, where's Wendy and Boomer?" "They're off looting around the factory. That terminal did disable all of the security that hadn't already spotted us." "How'd you deal with the other turret? "We did what you did, took out a securitron's combat inhibitor. You're very clever, especially when you're put on the spot like that." I chuckled and remembered the mint-als. "I had a bit of help." She led me around a corner, "I'm sure you did." "Where are we going? I'm all disoriented. Which way Is the door?" "Were headed away from the door. Wendy and Boomer are this way. Also, let me say that I've never seen so many guns. Ever. Not even in an Enclave armory." Okay, now I really wish I wasn't blindfolded. "Can't I just get shades? Please?" "No light or you'll be more blind than you are now." She teased. Ugh. Sooner I heal up, the better. Without my sight I feel so lost. After a few stumbles and changes in direction, I was greeted by an enthusiastic cuff on the shoulder, the height led me to believe it was my brother, which it was. I winced and grimaced at the hard hit, but he must have mistaken it for a smile and gave me a tight hug, and at that I voiced me complaints with a series of 'OW's. "Oops, sorry sis, glad to see you're okay. You did lose a lot of blood. That and the trauma, we almost lost you." Welp, this is the... I lost count of how many times I almost died out here already. I shot a look in what seemed like Lilly's direction. By her movements, I could tell she was shaking her head. Okay, they were definitely hiding something from me. "Right... Find anything worth taking?" Of course they did, I just didn't like talking about my injuries lest I find that somehow I'm just a head in a jar. "Isn't there anything not worth taking?" Boomer asked. He sounded ecstatic and I could hear him jumping around on top of a barrel with childish and slightly psychotic joy. "Grenades! Pipe bombs! Mines! Stickies! Dynamite! C4! Thermite! Satchel Charges! Warheads! *SQUEE*" Remind me never to stick around to let him use those. The way he was beating on the barrel suggested that he couldn't wait to kill with those. Wendy gave a nervous laugh and i heard him trot off to where he was working before, then electrical zapping. Lilly groaned and flinched. "What's wrong? What happened?" "He's using a cutting torch, its really hurting my eyes." She turned away and began leading me back to where Rusty was. This time, we used a much more efficient route and were there in no time. I was led back up top of the container where I would be able to overlook the factory. Last I remembered, it was almost pitch black in the factory though, they said the light was intense. Maybe they had found a way to turn on the lights. If that was the case, light would be bleeding through the blindfold. Ugh. I found my way down onto my stomach and laid there, blindly surveying the enormous factory. Lilly kneeled down and sat beside me. I smiled and closed my eyes under the fabric and rested my chin on my hooves. I didn't want to have to think about this any more. Steps behind me announced the arrival of a bunch of unknown ponies. I turned my head to them in a vain attempt to catch a glimpse. Rusty trotted over to them, so I assumed they were the group of pegasi from Appleoosa who had volunteered to pull one of the shipping crates back. After a brief chatter, they departed and they could be heard heading along the path that led straight to Wendy and Boomer. The chatter echoed from that location, and the screeching movement of containers announced the departure of the first group. I observed as the sound got dangerously, then deafeningly close. I even felt the edge of the container tap my nose as it passed and I flinched back. Damn, close. As it transitioned from the concrete floor of the factory to the dirt and dust of the outside, the screeching ceased and the team of pegasi took off with the container securely in tow. I turned my head when the next screeching started and heard the next container screeching past much faster than the other one had, given that this one also sounded much larger. As it came through the gap beside my container, I crushed against it, pulling the container slightly through friction. The container lurched forward and pulled me, smashing my face into the container. With a slight tearing of fabric and a few gasps from me friends, I realized that the corner had torn off my blindfold. I rubbed my nose where it had slammed the container and opened my eyes. I was greeted by nothing but blackness. I babbled in disbelief with the crushing realization. I screamed. "I'M BLIND!" I staggered up trotting around in a frenzy, frantically waving a hoof in front of my face, Hoping that this was just a dream, that none of this was real. I wasn't blind, I wasn't thrown out of my home, my parents weren't murdered. My mind gave no relief as my friends dove onto me, tackling me down, rejecting each of my attacks for freedom. Before I knew it I was bound together by all four hooves. I screamed out for help, but was silenced by a rag stuffed into my mouth. I was already scared and confused, couldn't I get a break. I flailed around to the best of my abilities before my head was grabbed and I could feel the hot breath of Rusty who was face to face with me, holding me by the shoulders. "You're okay! Calm down! The reason I kept you blindfolded is because I knew you would react like this." Fucking hell! Of course I'm going to react like this! I'm BLIND! I struggled more, but rust pinned my head down by the sides of the rag and Lilly held my legs. I continued screaming angrily into the rag. "LISTEN! If you promise to stop struggling, and stop screaming, I will explain everything, okay?" I pushed aside my boiling sense of anger and betrayal in exchange for logical thinking and gave the best nod I could. "Good, untie her." He removed the rag as Lilly began untying my hooves and as quick as it happened, I was free and upright with another sparkle cola in my hooves. I was hesitant to drink it, but decided that if it was drugged I could use the rest, so I drank it, but found no overwhelming urge to sleep, only the hyperactivity of the caffeine setting in. I sighed, calming down. "Let's hear it." I say leading my eyes up to where I presumed Rusty sat. It was a while before he began. "Sorry for the whole lying about the blindness thing." Gee. That helped considering it had all come to pass. "Your blindness is temporary. Or at least should be. It was caused by the severe head trauma you've been through since you left the stable." "How do you know?" I asked. He motioned to his Pip Buck with the small red plus under the rad meter. A medical Pip Buck, capable of doing medical scans as sophisticated as an auto doc. "Now, as I said, this should be temporary. I had planned to keep you in that blindfold until you had recovered, and then you would never have known about this. I did this for your own good." He was being unusually formal. "Can you forgive me?" And there it was, the request to forgive the unforgivable . I sighed and took a deep breath. "Rusty, you know this as much as I do, because you've been with me every step along the way, but I've been lied to too much, and this has been hard for me." "I see. Sorry Gears." He sounded hurt, but understanding. "I can still forgive you though." I heard him sigh in relief. "If you promise me something." "What?" "It stops here, you never keep any secrets from me anymore, and you tell may anything that you've lied to me about to date." I tried to imagine the look of uncertainty on his face, because his silence sure suggested it. "I can agree to that." He said letting out a deep breath. These go back to the stable, and they're personal." Lilly got up and trotted off. Once she was out of earshot, he went to say something, but faltered. "First off, parents." He drew a shaky breath and he moved closer, sitting upright in front of me. "I didn't kill mine, and mute your mother. It was a planned attack by the Overmare." Ugh, another reason to want that bitch dead. "Next, me spending time in the lower levels of the stable wasn't a myth. I needed psychotherapy after I killed the Overmare's sister." That explained why he was so level headed about the Overmare business, his appetite for revenge had already been sated to some degree. "And third and lastly." He stammered a bit trying to find the right words, he was clearly very troubled by this last one. "Third." His voice had turned to a shivering one that was barely intelligible. "Third?" I asked, sitting up straighter, waiting on his answer, beginning to grow impatient. "I-I..." He took a deep breath and let it out. I jumped in utter shock when he leaned in and brought is lips to mine in the deepest kiss I'd ever received from anyone. Ever. ================================================================================ Footnote: Level Up Perk Added: Heightened senses - Your blindness has already begun to pay off. Judging distances, locations, speeds and motion without eyesight has heightened your Perception to an unaided maximum of 10. Bonus: +10 Speech ================================================================================ I'd like to thank KKat for writing the original Fo:E for writing an unbelievably great story, and Somber, for writing Project Horizons, the story that pushed me over the edge and forced me to try my hand in writing.