//------------------------------// // Fragments // Story: Fallout Equestria: Fragments // by Dawn Flower //------------------------------// The Wall in Fillydelphia rose high above the buildings and factories in the city below. The Wall ran all the way around the perimeter of the inner city, splitting the city in two. Behind The Wall, the sky was perpetually shrouded in dark clouds from all of the factories, which completely blocked out the sky. There was also an ominous, red glow in between the clouds that gave the sky a dark and eerie feel, befitting the worst city in the Equestrian Wasteland. Inside The Wall, the slave areas were all behind chain-link fences. Inside the fences, the slaves were forced to work with auto-axes mining the area. Several griffins hovered over these areas, clutching guns in their talons to keep the slaves in line and working hard. In one of these areas, there was one pony in particular: a mare with a dark pink coat, covered in dirt and scars from her time in the Wasteland. Her cutie mark was of a dark storm cloud with three thunderbolts on it; two to each side, behind it, and one down the centre, in front of it. She had a very long, flowing, lime green mane that draped over her shoulders and trailed down her back, reaching a large set of white bandages draped over her midsection. She had a blank, stoic expression on her face and an auto-axe clenched in her teeth. She casually moved her head back and forth and brought the auto-axe colliding with the rock again and again. She was caught in the same endless cycle that she had been stuck in for the past two weeks since she had arrived here. Suddenly, she stopped in her endless cycle and looked up, with the auto-axe still clutched between her teeth. She glanced around the area, looking at the other ponies; all of them doing the same repetitive, mind numbing task as her. There was also a blood-red mare and a big, beige stallion that seemed to be avoiding doing as much work as possible. She still had an empty expression on her face that betrayed any emotion. After about ten seconds of just staring ahead blankly, she suddenly spat out the auto-axe in her mouth and the heavy tool fell to the ground with a loud crash. One of the griffins hovering overhead noticed this and he turned to look at what was going on. When he saw that she had stopped working, he quickly pointed his gun at her and said, “Pick it up and get back to work.” Upon hearing this, the mare casually turned her head up to look at him. She still wore the same blank expression as before and she didn’t falter. After about five seconds of just staring at him, the griffin was starting to become annoyed and he cocked his gun at her threateningly. “This is your last warning. Pick up the auto-axe and continue working or I’ll put a bullet through your head.” This didn’t seem to faze the mare at all. She then turned her whole body completely around to face him and she simply said, “I volunteer for The Pit.” Her facial expression never changed as she said this. The griffin was taken aback by this and he lowered his gun a bit in surprise. After about two seconds, he smiled sarcastically. “Sorry, could you repeat that? I must have misheard you. It sounded like you just volunteered for The Pit. Literally.” The mare just continued staring back at him. Her expression never changed and it was beginning to make the griffin feel uneasy. “Was that supposed to be a joke; or are you actually hard of hearing?” She spoke sarcastically, but her stoic expression never slipped. She didn’t even smile as she spoke. Not even sarcastically. The griffin sneered at her in annoyance, but then he smiled back at her devilishly. He then flew down behind her and poked his gun into her back. “Alright then, start moving.” He then forced her to walk forward while he flew behind her with a gun pressed against her back; her expression unchanging. The griffin then shouted out, “We’ve got ourselves a volunteer for The Pit over here if you can believe it!” All of the slave ponies working in the area and the griffins flying overhead suddenly lifted their heads up from what they were doing, and looked over at her in confusion. Nopony ever volunteers for The Pit, so this came as a big surprise to everyone. The griffin hovering behind her then drew in close to her and whispered in her ear, “I’m going to enjoy watching you die”. She didn’t react to this at all and she just kept walking forward. --- The pink mare now stood in the small, dark, cramped room connecting to The Pit, which served as a holding pen for the contestants. There were five other contestants in with her for today. Each of the contestants had a number on their flank indicating the order in which they would be fighting. She was number one, so she would be fighting first. The blood-red mare and beige stallion from before were also there. They were numbers two and three respectively. Numbers four, five and six were all earth pony stallions, however, unlike the other three, who looked relatively calm, they all looked really nervous. They most likely believed that with the two mares fighting first and second and the big stallion fighting third, they would all most likely have to fight as well. Suddenly, the door to The Pit opened up, being levitated by an unseen unicorn somewhere. The pink mare didn’t hesitate and she simply walked out into the arena as soon as the door had opened. She wasn’t nervous at all like numbers four, five and six were; and she still wore her usual stoic expression to show it. She had volunteered for this after all so she had nothing to be worried about. She had nothing back in the slave area and she had nothing to go back to. At least if she won in The Pit, she would gain something worthwhile. She had nothing to lose and everything to gain. She stepped out into The Pit and took a look around at her new surroundings. The Pit was a big, long arena, shaped like a rectangle with two semi-circles on each end, surrounded on all sides by an audience area filled with slavers; all stomping and cheering to see some fighting. To the death. There were several barrels hanging from the ceiling; all of them filled with weapons, radioactive goop, tainted ooze and other foulness you can’t even identify. There were pressure plates all over the floor of the arena for releasing the barrels, for the combatants to use to their advantage. There were several armed griffins flying around the top of the arena looking down. There was a big hole at the top of the arena for the griffins to fly in and out of. There was also a platform that stretched out from the centre of the audience area, overlooking the arena. Directly beneath this platform, there was another entrance into the arena, but it was locked down at the moment. Her opponent walked out from the room on the opposite side of the arena at the same time as she did. Her opponent was a unicorn mare, with a pinkish-white coat that had been darkened and battered by the Wasteland. She had a long, red and white striped mane tied back in a ponytail to show case her horn. Her cutie mark was of a long, red whip, tied up. She wore an intimidating expression on her face, but it was obviously forced. It was really just a display of bravado to try to unnerve her opponent. It didn’t work. Both mares stopped about half way from the doors they had entered from, to the centre of the arena, and just stood there staring each other down from across the arena. Up on the platform that overlooked the arena, stood a large, black griffin with a white, feathered head; bound in dark Talon barding. She had a big anti-machine rifle draped over her wing that she could draw at a moment’s notice, faster than anypony or griffin could react. Stern. She then stepped forward to address the crowd. “Alright people, let’s get today’s arena combat underway! Round one!” Stern then raised her claw to her right to show everyone who she was addressing. “From the Red Gate: from the recently destroyed town of Appleloosa; we have Red Whip! This is her second Event so you know she won’t be going down easy!” Sterns eyes then drifted to the pink mare at the other end of the arena. She then motioned to her left; “And from the Black Gate: we have a newcomer!” Stern then gave a smug grin. “Believe it or not, she actually volunteered for this! The way I see it, she’s either very confident or very stupid! How about we watch and find out which one it is, shall we?!” The pink mare didn’t react to this in any way. She just stood there, staring down her opponent, whose bluff was beginning to slip a bit. Trying to regain some confidence, the unicorn sneered back at her and said, “You’re going down,” in a gruff tone of voice. The pink mare didn’t even blink at this. Stern gave the signal for the fight to begin and Red Whip immediately charged at her; her horn glowing in a red aura, with intent to kill. The pink mare just stood there. As Red Whip was closing in on her, the pink mare suddenly dropped her usual stoic expression and smiled devilishly. She then reached behind her, grabbed her bandages in her mouth and ripped them off of her. There was a collective gasp from the crowd as everyone saw that the pink mare was actually a pegasus. Red Whip was completely taken by surprise as well. She still kept charging towards her, but she slowed down a bit in shock. Just before they collided, the pegasus mare whipped out her wings and quickly dashed passed her, into the air. Stern was taken by surprise by this as much as everyone else. “Well, I don’t think any of us were expecting this! Turns out the mysterious volunteer is a pegasus!” She then dropped her surprised look and smiled smugly. “Let’s just hope she’s not stupid enough to try and escape!” She then motioned to several of the armed griffins flying around the open top of the arena. They all cocked the guns in anticipation and kept them locked on the pegasus. Stern then returned her attention to the fight. “Although, it would finally answer our question about whether this pegasus is extremely confident or stupid! Let’s see what she does next and find out!” The pink pegasus mare stopped in the air and turned back around to look down at her opponent. Red Whip looked up at her. She was legitimately surprised at this turn of events, and her facial expression showed it. She quickly looked around the arena and then turned back to face her. She put on another forced look of intimidation to try and save some face. “I must say, I certainly wasn’t expecting this. But those wings aren’t going to be much of an advantage against me.” She then bore down and started charging at her again. As Red Whip charged at her, the pegasus just stared down at her. She closed her eyes briefly and let out a short sigh. She then opened her eyes again and smiled devilishly. “Well then, I guess that answers that question.” She then raised her hoof in the air. “You’re the stupid one.” She then slammed her hoof against the barrel that was hanging right next to her. The force of the blow caused the barrel to open and spill everything inside of it on to the unicorn who was passing underneath it. The poor unicorn was hit full force by an entire barrel of radioactive goop, yet her head remained surprisingly unaffected. Regardless, she died almost instantly. She probably wished it was instant. The pegasus mare floated down to inspect the body, while still keeping a safe distance from the radioactive substance. After a quick stare at her head, she reached out and took the bobby pin from her mane. She then affixed it to her own mane, tying it back in a clean ponytail. Stern looked down at this and smiled a genuine smile of respect. She then announced, “We have a winner!” The crowd of Slavers began cheering and stomping loudly as the pegasus mare lifted her head up, now sporting a stylish ponytail, similar to, but shorter than the mare she had just killed. “Alright, bring out the next contestant!” The next challenger came out on to the arena floor. The pegasus mare defeated them too and went on to defeat the other four as well. When the pegasus mare had defeated all of the remaining ponies on the other team, and the crowd had stopped cheering, Stern flew down from her platform to talk to her. She hovered in the air, a few inches from the pegasus, ready to draw her rifle at a moment’s notice if she had to. The pegasus mare just stood there looking at her with her usual stoic expression. Stern then folded her claws in front of her and she moved to speak. “Well, congratulations on your first victory in The Pit. Stay focused and in good shape, and maybe you’ll make it out of here.” As she spoke, she put special emphasis on the word ‘maybe’. The smile on her face then changed to a more serious expression. “Now then, before you head on back to whatever crap pile you slaves sleep in, how about you answer a few questions.” She phrased that in the form of a statement, not a question. Stern then raised her claw and lifted up one talon. “First question: what’s your name?” The pegasus mare turned her head away to the side and simply said, “Lightning.” Stern suddenly got an annoyed look on her face. She quickly drew her gun with her wing and struck Lightning in the face with the butt of her rifle. Lightning fell down a bit but remained standing on four hooves. Stern then pointed a claw at her angrily. “You look at me when I’m talking to you. If anyone is gonna look away like that while we’re speaking, it’s gonna be me. Got it?” Lightning stood back up again, rubbing her cheek with her hoof. The only emotion on her face was a mixture of frustration and annoyance. She then nodded her head slightly. Stern waited until she looked at her again before continuing. “Good. Now, second question: what’s a pegasus like you doing below the clouds? Judging from your cutie mark, you’re not a ‘Dashite’. So what’s your story?” Lightning responded, this time, keeping her eyes locked on Stern. “My parents were unicorns and I was born in the Wasteland. I’m no more connected to the rest of the pegasi than Red Eye.” Her words, like her face, were hollow and betrayed all emotion. Stern harrumphed. “That explains what you’re doing down here in the first place, but it doesn’t explain why you’re still down here now. So, why didn’t you just fly back up there when you had the chance and be done with the Wasteland?” Lightning hesitated, but then turned away again. Stern drew her rifle again and struck her across the face with it. She fell down completely this time; however, she did not get back up. She just laid there on the ground. Stern growled at her, but then pulled away. “Don’t wanna talk, huh? Fine.” She then turned her head to the side and signalled to several of the griffins overhead to come over. “Take our friend here back ‘home’.” She spoke the last word as sarcastically as possible. Two griffins then flew over to Lightning, picked her up and forced her to walk forward, with two guns pressed against her back. --- Lightning was led back to the slave area. She was feeling tired after fighting in The Pit, so she walked over to her heap of hay, laid down and fell asleep. Lightning was woken up a few hours later by a rock being thrown at her head. It didn’t hurt that much, but her eyes shot open immediately. She still stayed lying down, with her head lying on her crossed hooves in front of her. She then lifted her head up and looked over to see who had thrown that rock at her. Her eyes immediately fell on a unicorn colt on the other side of the chain-link fence, glaring daggers back at her. When she saw him, she laid her head back down on her crossed hooves. Her eyes dropped down a little more, half wanting to go back to sleep. She then rolled her eyes to look at the colt and she simply said, “What?” The colt glared back at her with an expression of pure anger etched into his face. He then moved to speak to her, however, despite the angry look on his face, his words sounded as hollow as Lightning’s. “You killed my mom today.” Lightning didn’t move at all or react in any way to this. She simply said, “So?” The colt was visibly shaken by this. He didn’t expect this pegasus to be so heartless. “So? You don’t even feel anything about the fact that I lost my family because of you?” His voice now sounded as angry as his face looked. Lightning turned her gaze away from the colt but continued speaking to him. “Everypony has a family; and out here ponies die every day.” She then lifted up her head turned to face him. “If everypony whined every time somepony close to them died then nothing would ever get done. What gives you the right to be upset about your family’s death? What makes you so special?” The colt’s angry expression began to fade a bit. He was still angry at this pegasus for killing his mom, but he was also confused and thinking about what she had just said. Lightning began to speak again; her voice never rising more than her normal level of volume. “I’m not a raider. I don’t kill for no reason or at the slightest discretion. I always try to find another way to resolve things. Only when I absolutely need to survive; when I have lowered my weapon and pose no threat to them, when I walk towards them and try to talk to them and try to find another way to resolve things, only to be shot at anyway and put in real danger of losing my life, when there is no other way; only then do I kill. It’s always wise to recognise when you only have one choice.” Lightning’s eyes then drifted back to her cutie mark. “My cutie mark represents how I strike; hard and fast like thunder, but just as thunder follows lightning, never first.” Lightning then closed her eyes briefly and let out a short sigh. “You’re probably wondering if it’s right; with all of the times when I have done this, and taken possibly hundreds of lives just to save my own; is it right to take that many lives just to save one life? If you ask anyone else then the answer will always be ‘No’. No one life is worth that many lives. But if you ask yourself, then the answer will always be ‘Yes’. People will never choose to die simply because they don’t want to kill someone else. They will always put their lives before an enemy’s and not even think about it. Your mom knew that two. She knew that she would have to kill, simply to give you and her a better life, and she knew that there was a chance that she would be killed. Do you really think that she would want you to be angry at them for simply choosing their lives over hers?” The colt’s angry expression faded away, being replaced by a look of disappointment; not in her, but in him. He looked away briefly and then looked back at her. He then asked softly, “Why did you take her bobby pin?” Lightning turned her head back around and glanced up at her mane. She then lowered her eyes again and said, “I really like her mane.” She then closed her eyes and went back to sleep. --- As the next few weeks passed, Lightning was summoned to The Pit again and again to fight for her freedom. In every battle, she won by using a combination of her wings and the environment; and in all of those fights, she never struck first. Eventually she won six times and won her freedom. After she had won and had made her way out onto the streets of Fillydelphia, but still behind The Wall, she was approached by Stern. Stern flew down and touched down on the ground behind her, so that they were both on the ground. Lightning noticed her coming and turned around to face the griffin, with her normal expressionless face. Stern scratched at the back of her head for a moment and then moved to speak. “I just wanted to congratulate you on your victories and subsequent freedom. You did good, Rookie.” Lightning looked away from her, but only with her eyes this time. She still kept her head facing Stern, hoping that this would be enough not to get struck in the face by her rifle. Stern suddenly looked away too. “Alright, enough of this crap; I know you’re not buying it.” She then turned her head back around to face her, now looking more serious. “And it’s because of that and your skills in fighting that Red Eye has become impressed with you.” Stern then gave Lightning a grin. “He would like to personally extend you an invitation to become a member of his army. What do you say?” Lightning quickly threw her gaze back to Stern and then away again. She then said, “It’s not personally if he doesn’t come here himself.” She said this in her usual sombre and emotionless tone of voice. It would have sounded sarcastic if she had put the feeling into those words, but there is no doubt that that is how she intended it to sound. Stern threw her an annoyed look and almost struck her with her rifle again, but she restrained herself. “Yeah, yeah; but seriously, what do you say? Interested?” Lightning turned her head back around to face Stern. “So, you want me to stay here as your slave, even though I already won my freedom?” Stern smiled and crossed her claws. “Of course not. You’d be soldier now. You’d get better food, a proper place to sleep, actually be paid for your work and get treated like a real pony.” Lightning just rolled her eyes and faced down to look at the ground. Stern continued talking. “Plus, you’d be a higher up and have access to our secrets.” Lightning raised her eye brow at this. Stern noticed this and changed her expression slightly. “So; what do you say?” Lightning just stood there looking at the ground for several seconds, deep in thought. She then raised her head up to look Stern in the eye and said, “I will… on one condition.” Stern looked back at her quizzically, with her own eye brow raised now. “Oh; and what would that be?” Lightning responded immediately in her usual tone of voice. “There’s something in the Ministry of Arcane Science Hub here in Fillydelphia, in the vice president’s office wall safe; and I want it.” Stern was now intrigued. “And what would that be?” Lightning again responded immediately. “A memory orb.” Stern went from intrigued to confused. “You’re a pegasus. You wouldn’t even be able to use it.” “I’m aware of that.” “Then why do you want it?” Lightning hesitated for a moment. She then closed her eyes briefly and opened them again. She then said, “My great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was the vice president of the Ministry of Arcane Science. That memory orb holds his last moments. That’s why I came here.” Stern took a step backwards after hearing this. She then turned her head to the side and raised her claw to her mouth in thought. She stayed that way for several seconds before she turned back around again. Just before she did, it looked like she smiled. She then said, “Alright then, you stay here and we’ll get you the memory orb you want. Of course, for obvious reasons, you can’t come with us to get it. We have to make sure you’re not trying to pull something, you know?” She then held out a claw with a smile on her face. “Do we have a deal?” Lightning looked down at her claw. She then looked up to look Stern in the eye. “One more condition.” Stern’s smile dropped a bit. “When you do go to retrieve the orb, you don’t bring any unicorns with you.” Stern now dropped her smile completely and looked surprised. “Huh, why not? Don’t you need a unicorn to tell you what’s on it?” “No thank you,” Lightning responded immediately. Stern quickly regained her composure. “Alright, no unicorns. Do we have a deal?” She suddenly became irritated again. “I’m not going to ask again.” She then held out her claw. Lightning held out her hoof and smiled. “Deal.” --- Lightning walked into a bar behind The Wall. It was a small, dark room, thinly illuminated by a small gem hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room, giving off light. There were several other soldier ponies and griffins sitting together at small tables talking, drinking and gambling. Lightning walked over to the bar and spilled several of her newly acquired caps on the counter. “Apple whiskey, please.” The pony behind the bar was a large earth pony stallion, with a grey coat, a short brown mane, short grey stubble and had a tankard of cider for a cutie mark. He scooped up the caps and then poured some apple whiskey into a shot glass and slid both the glass and the bottle over to her. He then turned around and walked down the bar to serve some other ponies. Lightning took the shot glass in her hooves and downed the whole shot at once. She then took the bottle and refilled her glass. Lightning sat at the bar for several hours in silence, with her head resting on the counter, occasionally refilling her shot glass. After a few hours, she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. She casually turned her head around and saw an earth pony stallion, with a brown coat and a white mane standing behind her. He wore a set of light barding, which barely covered his cutie mark, which was a stick of lit dynamite. She just stared at him for about five seconds, expecting him to say something. Then he finally spoke up. “Stern said that this belonged to you,” he said as he reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a memory orb. Her eyes opened wide as soon as she saw it, and she dropped her persistent stoic expression. She then turned around completely and reached out and took it in her hooves. She then turned back around and just looked at it. Lightning continued staring deeply at the memory orb, almost like she was trying to look into it without unicorn magic; although she knew that that was impossible. Nevertheless, she didn’t look away from it for a moment. Then… she smiled; an honest to good, happy smile. The earth pony behind her hesitated for a moment and then he said, “Stern also wanted me to give you this.” He then reached into his saddlebag again and pulled out a recollector. Lightning slowly drew her gaze away from the memory orb and turned around to look at him. When she saw the recollector in his open hooves, she paused for a moment and said, “What is it?” The stallion looked at her confused for a moment. He then said, “It’s a recollector. It allows people to look into memory orbs, without the need of unicorn magic.” Lightning’s eyes suddenly shot open in surprise as she heard this. She then turned around completely to look at him. She smiled at him with real happiness in her eyes and said, “Thank you very much.” She then reached out and took it. The stallion suddenly looked a bit embarrassed. “You’re welcome.” He then turned around and walked away. Lightning quickly strapped the recollector to her head and slid the memory orb into place. She raised her eyes up to look at the memory orb attached to her head and… she beamed. She then flipped the switch and activated the recollector. <-=======ooO Ooo=======-> • • • I opened my eyes and I was sitting in a chair behind a desk. The room that I was in looked like some sort of office. The building that I was in was made of a strong stone, but not quite as strong and elegant as the buildings in Canterlot. There was a big window behind me, and I could tell from the lighting in the room that it was late at night. The door to the hallway was open, on my right, at the other end of the room. There was no sound coming from outside the office (and none coming from inside the office either). Over to my left, there was a large bookcase; each shelf lined with books. I couldn’t tell what it was exactly from this angle, but there was something shiny on top of the bookcase. The host that I was riding was a male unicorn; I could tell that much. He wrapped a memory orb on the desk in front of me, in the same yellow magical aura as his horn. He seemed to be using a spell to record this memory. He continued floating the memory orb in front of him. I already knew that he wasn’t going to drop it. My host turned to the left and floated a cigarette into our mouth. He took an inhale and then breathed out a puff of smoke shortly after. I could taste it in my mouth. I wanted to wretch, but I couldn’t. Suddenly, my host started to speak. “(Sigh) Well, I just received the word. Manehatten is gone. I… I… (Sigh) Goddesses, I don’t even have any words. But then, what words are there? An entire city is gone; not just destroyed, but gone. In the blink of an eye; (Sigh) and it’s all my fault. “I was the one who first suggested the idea to Twilight that we study the magic in gems to create energy weapons. (Sigh) We were in a war; the zebras possessed technology and weapons the likes of which ponies had never even seen before. I didn’t like the idea of fighting and killing, but I knew that we only had one choice. We had to be prepared for when the fighting started, and we had to use every resource we had to our advantage. Zebras had coal, but we had magical gems. I spent my entire life studying magic; under Princess Luna herself, and I knew that the magic in gems could be channelled and used as weapons. Twilight was hesitant at first, thinking that it was a bit excessive and possibly dangerous, but I was convinced that this was the right thing to do; for Equestria. She finally gave us her permission; she gave us access to her labs and all of her resources. Research began and yielded results quickly. The weapons we made were much more powerful than the pistols and rifles we already had. I must admit that I took a little too much pride in the fact that we had just created tools of death, but I knew that we needed them right now, and only we had the ammo that they ran on, so there was no risk of zebras using them against us. I was sure that everything was going to turn out fine in the end; (Sigh) but I never imagined that my research would end up creating something as terrifying as a megaspell; or that they would be used in such a gruesome way as this. I don’t even know how the zebras even got their hooves on the megaspells; but I cannot deny that all of this is my fault. “Reports say that the megaspell in Manehatten wiped out everything and everypony instantly. (Sigh) Pinkie Pie. I knew that the war would be bad; but I never imagined that it would get this bad. (Sigh) I am evil. Sure I didn’t intend to wipe out entire cities, but I did intend to create deadly weapons designed to kill. There is no justifying what I have helped to set in motion. I was the catalyst that would bring about the end of ponykind. “(Sigh) I’ve been sitting here for the past four hours now, just thinking about how everything went wrong; and my eyes keep drifting towards the fire ruby on the top of the bookcase. When we first decided to start using magical gems to create energy weapons, Rarity immediately wanted to help us out. Element of Generosity indeed; and she sent us that huge fire ruby, thinking that any gem that big could create an immensely powerful weapon. Of course, she had already sent it to me before I could tell her that the gem’s size made it too unstable. If we tried melting that thing down it would produce enough magical radiation to take out an entire lab full of ponies. I was fully aware of the danger it carries, and yet, I didn’t return it to her; I kept it here all this time; and now I can’t stop looking at it. (Sigh) I just can’t take it anymore. Cloudsdayle and Manehatten have already been hit, and the zebras aren’t going to stop there. Soon all of Equestria will suffer the same fate. I know it. It’s just a matter of time. “I’m all alone now. It’s late and I’ve sent everypony home. (Sigh) I’ve already gone through two packs of these things; and the glow from the fire ruby seems to be getting brighter; or maybe it’s just me. (Sigh) I just can’t take it anymore. I think, maybe I’ll take a walk down to the labs; find out once and for all what happens when you magically melt a fire ruby. (Sigh) I won’t wait to be judged. I hope that one day you can all forgive me.” My host then stood up and dumped his cigarette into an ashtray on the desk. He then looked over at the fire ruby resting on top of the bookcase. He then wrapped it in his yellow, magical aura and levitated it over to him and placed it on the desk in front of him. He then turned around and faced an open wall safe right behind him. Inside the safe, there was a statuette of a purple unicorn, with a purple and pink striped mane and tail. There was an inscription on the base that said, ‘Be Smart!’ He then levitated the memory orb into the safe and placed it down next to the statuette, on top of a few files. Then, just as he was about to let go of it, he suddenly spoke up again. “Oh, one last thing to whoever is watching this: Don’t mention this to my wife. Let her last memories of me be happy ones.” He then let go of the memory orb and the memory started to dissipate. <-=======ooO Ooo=======-> • • • When the memory orb was finished and she came back to reality, Lightning simply took the recollector off her head, removed the memory orb and placed both of them safely into her saddlebag. She didn’t say anything. She then turned back around to the counter and poured herself another shot of apple whiskey. All the while, the happy smile on her face never faded. For the first time in a long while, out in the Equestrian Wasteland, she was really happy. She then downed another shot. To be continued... Footnote: Level Up. New Perk: Pit Fighter -- Your time in The Pit has toughened you up. +1 to your Endurance and your RAD Resistance is increased by 5%.