//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: The Legacy of Luna 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Clearer Skies 
// by TicTac 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 3: The Legacy of Luna

I groaned as the sun hit my face, rolling over and swinging my leg at where my alarm clock would normally be, only to have my hoof collide with the floor.  I opened my eyes in surprise, suddenly remembering where I was.  All the memories of the past two days raged through my mind as I slammed my eyes back closed.

Don’t think about it!  I told myself, shoving them into a pit at the back of my mind.  I opened my eyes again and got up. “Mornin’ Scopes.” I said, pulling my barding and helmet on, and attaching my battle saddle.  I looked over at the black pegasus as she did the same, pulling her fedora on.

“Mornin’ Desert.” She replied. “I’m thinking that today we should explore this place a little, since it seems like we could be calling it home for a while.” She said.

“Great idea Scopes.” I said, realizing that we would, in fact, be calling the Needle home for a while. “And I think that we should start with finding the controls for the security system.  I would love to be able to open the front door without being electrocuted.”

Scopes nodded and trotted over to the reception desk.  I followed her and watched as she hacked into the terminal on it, pulling up a map file of the Luna Needle.  The building was staggering in both size and complexity.

“Where do we start?” I asked as Scopes copied the file into both our PipBucks.

“There.” Scopes replied, indicating a room labeled ‘Security’.

“Oh, of course.” I said.  The room was on the tenth floor, at the top of the atrium. “Let’s go.”

We flew up to the security station, landing in front of the door.  I bucked it open, sending the door crashing to the floor with a crash.  We stepped inside, almost falling from the enormous amount of empty bullet casings littering the floor.

“The hell?” I muttered as I looked around the room.  Bullet casings covered nearly every surface, and bullet holes covered the walls.  All but one of the terminals, which Scopes had already hacked into and disabled the door with, were shot to pieces, and several skeletons lay next to beat up machine guns.

“What happened here?” Scopes said.  She picked up one of the machine guns that still seemed mostly intact. “Hmmm, I wonder if we could mount these somewhere.” She said, looking over it.

I turned my attention to the bones that had been lying next to it.  What’s this?  I wondered, picking a plastic key-card out of the bones.  I looked over it, the front of it reading Cmdr. Silent Sway, NLR Head of Security.  Clearance level 10.  There was a picture of a black unicorn mare below the text.

“Hey Scopes, I think I found something.” I said, turning to her.  She had already opened up four machine guns and had started combining all their parts together to make one working model.

“What’s that?” She asked, staring at the card.

“It’s a card with level 10 security clearance or something.” I replied.

Scopes nodded. “Alright, help me with this stuff then.” She said, hefting the half-built machine gun onto her back.

I nodded and grabbed the other parts that were scattered on the table.  I stepped out into the hallway, noticing that the bullet holes and casings littered not just the security station, but this entire floor as well.  I followed Scopes back down to the atrium floor, giving her the parts. “I’m gonna go back up there, see if I can find anything.” I said.  Scopes nodded.

I flew back up to the tenth floor, looking at the staggering amount of spent ammunition strewn across the floor.  A piece of cloth caught my eye, sticking up from beneath a large machine gun.  I landed next to it, kicking shell casings out of the way, as I shoved the machine gun to the side.  The piece of cloth turned out to be a black flag, white letters spelling out NLR on it.  Oversetting them was a red wing-crest emblem and a blue star.

Those same letters are on the card.  I thought, as I looked the flag over once more before placing it into my saddlebags.  I looked at the map of the Luna Needle on my PipBuck, scrolling through the floors, looking for something interesting.  Two rooms caught my eye.  One, marked OFC R&D Center, spanned all five levels of sub-basements.  The other was marked NLR Operations Center, and was on the fifteenth floor.  I had no real desire to venture into the sub-basements again, so I decided to check out the Ops Center.


***


Identification Required.  The sign on the door leading into the fifteenth floor read.  I eyed the slot next to the door, and pulled Silent Sway’s key-card out.  I slid it into the slot.  A green light flashed and there was a buzz and a click as the door unlocked.

Shnifty.  I thought, pulling the door open.  The hallway beyond was long, barren, and dark, the only other door being at the opposite end of the hallway.

I made my way towards it, eyeing the two turrets mounted in the ceiling in front of the door.  Their EFS bars remained yellow as I reached the door, a gold plate on it reading Level 10 NLR Clearance Only.  I slid the key-card into the slot next to the door, this time a large bolt thudding back and the door swung open with a hiss.

The hallway I stepped into was lined with the same black metal that the exterior had.  A larger version of the flag I had in my saddlebags was hanging across the top of the hallway.  Ammo boxes were scattered around, and a few weapons were leaning up against the wall.  All the rooms in this hallway were unlabeled on my map, with the exception of the NLR Operations Center at the end of the hall.  I made my way towards it.

When I reached the door to the Ops Center, I noticed that there wasn’t any lock on it.  Surprised, I pushed the door open and stepped into the room.  It was not what I expected.

The room was huge, rows of lights flickering to life for fifty feet to my left and right, and a huge bank of screens lined the far wall behind a control board.  The room itself was lined with rows of desks and terminals, most of them still operating after 200 years of neglect.  A banner hanging from the ceiling read The New Lunar Republic: Ob Bonus de Omnis.

So that’s what NLR means.  I thought, making my way over to the bank of viewscreens.  The screens showed views of nearly every area of the building.  Several screens showed static though, including the ones marked as Stable 198 and OFC R&D.  I found the screen marked Atrium and saw Scopes had finished putting together the machine gun.

I turned away from the screens and towards the desks that lined the rest of the room.  I made my way over to the first one on my left, wondering what was on the terminal that sat atop it.  I hit a key with my hoof and the screen jumped to life.

P:\>Session paused for 207y, 54d, 4h. Resume? Y/N

I pressed the ‘Y’ key.

P:\>Welcome back Mr. Oppenhoofer.

A list of files appeared, and I scrolled through them. I selected one called OFC Entries.

P:\OFC_Entries>Entry #1, Day 1
Received a new assignment from the Princess yesterday.  She wants some sort of orbital cannon that fires a tungsten carbonate slug.  I did some research into this today and discovered that for the slug to breach the atmosphere it will have to have a lining of this concentrated rainbow mixture that Rainbow Dash is developing.  This means the slug will have a rainbow contrail, so I’m going to call it the Orbital Friendship Cannon for the hell of it.

P:\OFC_Entries>Entry #2, Day 30
Got a letter from Twilight today.  Apparently, the O.I.A. is developing a new megaspell called the Gardens of Equestria.  It’s supposed to be like a fail-safe, to clean up Equestria if there’s a megaspell detonation or something.  But anyway, she wants to use the OFC to amplify the spell, using pure rainbow concentrate. I can’t exactly turn down her request, so I guess the OFC will have a new firing mode.

I skimmed through several entries, stopping on one that had a picture of a tan unicorn buck standing next to a rainbow-maned cyan pegasus mare in front of a huge rocket.

P:\OFC_Entries>Entry #87, Day 365
We launched the OFC into orbit today.  Commander Rainbow Dash was there to do the honors.  We’ll be doing the first test of the firing system next week.

P:\OFC_Entries>Entry #88, Day 372
The first test of the Orbital Friendship Cannon was a success.  The tungsten carbonate slug worked exactly as designed, obliterating the target.  The downside is that the slug first caused a massive sonic rainboom when it reentered the atmosphere, and when it hit it caused a large rainbow-colored mushroom cloud.  So much for it being discreet.  Gardens was also commissioned yesterday by the O.I.A. and we’ll be testing that part of the OFC in two more weeks.

P:\OFC_Entries>Entry #89, Day 380
It’s happening.  Canterlot, Manehattan, Cloudsdale, and Hoofington have all been confirmed as hit by zebra megaspells.  Hoofington managed to launch their megaspells though, so we’ll have at least some retaliation.  The OFC has been put on standby, and I’m putting in the coordinates for the zebra capitol of Roam now.

P:\OFC_Fire_Ctrl>Acquiring target... Target acquired.
P:\OFC_Fire_Ctrl>Target: Roam.  Fire OFC? Y/N
P:\OFC_Fire_Ctrl>Y
P:\OFC_Fire_Ctrl>Confirm security passcode: ********
P:\OFC_Fire_Ctrl>Passcode confirmed.  Firing OFC.

I never imagined the second time firing this weapon would be in retaliation, but what’s done is done.  They’re evacuating everypony to Stable 198 now, but I can’t imagine Seaddle will be a target.  I don’t think the zebras even know it -.
P:\>Session interrupted, pausing.

I took a step back from the terminal, my mind racing.  This Dr. Oppenhoofer buck had said the OFC had a link with something called the ‘Gardens of Equestria’ that could supposedly clean up the Wasteland.  If we can activate both of them somehow, then Equestria might be able to recover.  I thought, my eyes falling onto a pair of mirrored Aviator sunglasses with gold frames.  I carefully picked them up and slipped them on, so distracted by them that I failed to notice the single red bar coming up behind me until it was too late.

Crack!

A sharp pain tore up through my leg as warnings flashed in my vision.  I dove to the left, drawing my Deagle as another round dug into my barding and a third ricocheted off my helmet.  I turned to face my attacker from behind a filing cabinet, only to see nothing where the red bar was.

They’re fucking invisible!  I ducked back behind the cabinet as another round grazed my helmet.  I rolled out from my cover, hitting SATS.  I targeted the area where my EFS said my attacker should be, a No target found warning flashing on my HUD display.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

I fired three shots and deactivated SATS, diving behind cover again.  I heard two thumps and a cry of pain as two of my rounds struck home.  I leapt into the air, being careful to not slam into the ceiling.  Below me, I saw a zebra?  I stared down in surprise as the zebra threw off a cloak, noting the interesting design of his rifle.

Without another though I dove at him, putting the rest of the Deagle’s clip into his head, splattering blood and guts onto the terminals beyond.  I quickly scooped up his rifle, slinging it over my back.  I looked over at the bank of viewscreens, seeing Scopes firing away with the newly built machine gun at what I presumed to be more zebras.  I took off, heading back towards the atrium.  Hang on Scopes! I’m coming!


***


I burst into the atrium, my new Aviator sunglasses still seated over my eyes as I flung myself over the tenth floor railing.  The sound of machine gun fire reached my ears as I pulled out of my dive at around the fifth floor, coming to a hover.  Scopes had the machine gun mounted on top of the desk, surrounded by spent casings and open ammo boxes.  Five zebras were crouched behind cover, sporadically returning fire when Scopes stopped firing.  They didn’t notice me until I had turned the first one’s head into a spray of blood and brains with The Undoer.

One of them broke cover, getting two shots off at me before being cut in half by Scopes’s machine gun fire.  Both shots streaked past me, one of them grazing my ear.  The other three zebras began to beat a hasty retreat towards the door.  I dove, firing twice with The Undoer, taking down two of the zebras.  The last zebra was lunging towards the door when I tackled him, wrestling him to the ground.

“Scopes!  A little help please!” I shouted, adrenaline pumping as I jumped back to avoid the blade of the knife the zebra had pulled.

A moment later Scopes slammed into him, her fedora flying off her head.  The zebra was slammed into the ground, where he remained.

“Thanks.” I said.  Once the adrenaline had worn off I collapsed.  My leg was forming a small pool of blood around me.  I looked up at Scopes’s horrified expression, and then down at my leg.  It had a large gash in it that ran from the top of my hoof to my knee, and I could see bone.  “Ow.” I said, and then blacked out.


***


~~~


I walked down the hallway leading to the maintenance section of Stable 199.  I carried only my Deagle, and my Aviators were over my eyes.  I reached the stairs leading down into maintenance right as my PipBuck chimed to indicate the start of my shift.  I sighed and began trudging down into the dimly lit bowels of the stable.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard a scream.  I began running towards it, only to come up short at the sight of a zombified Scopes.  Behind her was Melody, Banked Curve, Tailgate, Swept Wing, and the three raider prisoners.

I couldn’t move as the entire group of zombie ponies in front of me let out another scream, and leapt towards me. “DESERT!”

~~~


I jerked awake.  “Desert!  You’re awake!  Thank Luna!”

“Yeah.” I mumbled.  I was lying on the floor behind the reception desk, all the ammo boxes having been pushed to the side.  I raised my head and looked down at my leg.  It was healed, no trace of the wound remaining on it.

“I used up all of our medical supplies, so we’ll have to find more soon.” Scopes said, helping me to my hooves.

“That’s alright, there’s got to be more in here somewhere.” I replied.

She nodded. “I tied up that zebra.  He’s in that room we were held in the other day.”

“I want to talk to him.  Why the fuck are they even concerned about a 200 year old war, when there’s zombie ponies, raiders, radiation, and Luna knows what else out there to worry about?” I said, walking over to the door of the room.

“No idea.” Scopes replied. She hoofed me my Deagle. “I’ll wait out here while you find out.”

I grinned, strapping the holster to my left leg above my PipBuck. “Got it.” I opened the door and stepped inside, letting it swing closed behind me.

The zebra was sitting calmly in the corner, his shackles lying in a heap next to him.

I raised an eyebrow, but gestured to a chair on the opposite side of the table from me. “Sit, please.” I said.

The zebra rose, and moved silently over to the chair, as I took a seat across from him.

“So, first off, who are you?” I asked.

“Qindeo.” He replied.

I nodded. “Hello Qindeo.  I’m Desert Eagle, and my friend outside is Quick Scope, or Scopes.” I said.  When he didn’t say anything back, I continued. “Now, the first question I must ask, is why you and your squad were attacking us, and why were you here in the first place?”

The zebra remained silent for a minute before answering. “First off, that was two questions.  Secondly, it was because you were in our way.  Thirdly, I’m not going to disclose that information.” He paused for a moment, and what seemed like a smirk flashed over his face. “Especially to an armed pony.”

I glared at him. “Alright Qindeo, I see what you’re getting at here.” I said. “But don’t try anything.” I placed my Deagle on the table between us, the huge pistol hitting the table with a loud thud. “Alright, now will you talk?  Or am I gonna have to get Scopes in here to force it out of you?”

Qindeo nodded. “I guess. If I was to return empty-hoofed to the ponies who hired to us as the sole survivor, they’ll kill me.” He said. “But I won’t tell you everything.”

“Fair enough.” I said.

“Now, as for why we were here, we had received word that an Enclave surface team had been dispatched to recover plans to a pre-war super weapon before the squad of Steel Rangers north of here found out about them.  They sent me and my team to recover them before any of them, but we were slowed down by a group of slavers.” Qindeo said. “And before you ask, I’m not telling you who I was working for.”

Wait!  Plans to a super weapon?  They must be after the OFC plans too!  I thought.  And that explains why the Steel Rangers took our Stable.  They needed a base to conduct their search out of!

“The Steel Rangers.  They took our old Stable, killed everypony inside.  Only me and Scopes managed to escape.” I said. “And this means that they will be coming here eventually too, correct?”

“Not necessarily.  They are currently occupied with trying to get out to the HMS Rainbow Dash, a battleship that’s currently moored to a cloud dock in the middle of Seaddle Bay.” Qindeo replied.

I nodded slowly. “Well, that’s certainly good news.” I said.  We both remained silent for a good while before I spoke up again. “So, what am I going to do with you?  You and your zebras tried to kill me and Scopes and were trying to get the plans to the Orbital Friendship Cannon.  But you also cooperated, and provided information on the activities of the Steel Rangers.  I don’t want to kill you, but I don’t trust you either.” I said.  I stood and opened the door to the room, letting Scopes in.  I had Qindeo tell her everything he had told me.  Once he had finished, I grabbed my Deagle and stepped out with Scopes.

“I think we should keep him with us, for now at least.” Scopes said. “I don’t think he’ll run back to whoever he was working for, based off the fact he claims that they’ll kill him, but I’m not taking his word on it either.”

I nodded. “I agree, but this goes against our ‘no more companions’ deal.” I said.

“I know, but we don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Scopes replied.

“Alright, just this once.”

Scopes and I reentered the room. “Qindeo, we have decided that you are to remain with us, but until we can trust you, you don’t get any weapons.” I told the zebra.

He shrugged. “Thanks, I guess.” He said.

I nodded. “Scopes, I’m gonna go take a look at this rifle I got from the zebra that tried to kill me.  See if there’s any way to rig it up to my battle saddle.” I said.

“Alright, I’ll take care of Qindeo.” She replied.

I exited the room, retrieving the rifle and my battle saddle from behind the reception desk.  I set them on the desk, and took a closer look at the rifle.  I was instantly intrigued by the design.  The rifle didn’t have a traditional chambered design, but instead had a 10 shot revolver cylinder and hammer.  Slightly behind the hammer was the bit trigger, and the cylinder release was next to the cylinder.  Mounted on the top was a medium range scope, as well a standard iron sights.  The stock was solid, glossy wood, and the metal parts had a beautiful sheen to them.  The shoulder strap was black leather, somehow still in pristine condition.

I let out a low whistle.  Whoever’s rifle this had been had definitely taken good care of this weapon.  I looked at the name plate on the stock.  It read Colt Firearms Hyperion .45 caliber rifle.  Serial # CFHR4525-25.

I knew Colt Firearms.  They were the only weapons manufacturer that Ironshod Firearms hadn’t bought out when the war broke out.  All the smaller gun manufacturers, like Barrett, who were the original producers of the IF-107 and IF-82 .50 caliber sniper rifles, and Magnum, who originally made the Desert Eagle series of pistols had been.  Colt was a lot smaller than Ironshod, but made extremely high quality weapons, which is the only reason they weren’t bough out.  This was evident in the 200 year old rifle before me that was still in mint condition after 200 years.

Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any way to effectively attach the Hyperion to my battle saddle, so I decided to keep it slung over the back of it.  Moving back behind the desk, I flipped the cylinder of the Hyperion open, dropping the ten empty shell casings out.  I dug out several cases of .45 caliber ammo, and loaded ten rounds into the Hyperion.  I slung  the rifle over my shoulder, rearing up on my back hooves and bringing it up into a firing position.  I took aim down the scope at a metal filing cabinet on the other side of the atrium.  I cocked the hammer back, and bit down on the trigger.

CRACK! Ping!

I grinned as the round thumped solidly through the metal filing cabinet and slung the rifle over my back.  With a sigh, I turned on the radio as I trotted out from behind the desk again, hoping to catch some DJ Pon3.

This is DJ Pon3, and that was Sweetie Belle, singing about that one great truth of the Wasteland, everypony has done something they regret.  And now, my little ponies, it’s time for the news!  Now you ponies remember when I told you about those two ponies who crawled themselves out of Stable Two?  Well, I’ve been getting reports that one of those little ponies took out the raider nest in the heart of Ponyville, and saved several pony captives, including the beloved author of The Wasteland Survival Guide, Ditzy Doo!  Hey kid, thanks!  From all of us!  And now for the weather: cloudy everywhere, with a chance of rain, gunfire, and bloody dismemberment.  Also, The Duo, those two pegasi from yesterday, have apparently taken out the zombie infested Stable below the Luna Needle up in Seaddle.  Thanks for that too!  And one last thing, the other Stable Dweller was last seen out near Appleoosa.  My prayers go out to that one.

I shut the radio off, looking out at the darkening sky.  Well at least somepony out there can actually save prisoners.  I thought to myself.  I looked over as Qindeo and Scopes trotted over to me.

“You two are on the radio.  Lovely.” Qindeo said.

I shrugged. “I’m gonna get some shut eye.  Scopes, make sure he doesn’t run off or anything.” I said, flopping down on a bed Scopes had made earlier. “G’night.”





Colt Hyperion