//------------------------------// // Old Bones, New Math // Story: Fallout: Equestria - Occupational Hazards // by thefurryrailfan //------------------------------// I awoke to the sound of Twintails’ sleep mumbling... again. I rolled over, grumbling a little, fiddling with the clock at the side of our bed - eight o’clock. Well at least it’s a decent hour now. I threw back the covers, flopping out of bed, my mechanical hoof clunking to the floor. Guess that rubber sole isn’t going to keep things that quiet. I tiredly trotted over to the pile of our stuff, cricking my sore joints and hitching up my saddlebags, figuring I’d better head down to Razorwing’s to load up on some supplies and sell off all the junk we'd collected. I looked over at Twintails, half tempted to wake him with a nice hot cup of plasma to the rump. Funny as it might've been, Something in the way he seemed to sleep compelled me to restrain, instead writing up a quick note and placing it on my armor and his saddlebags. I shut the door behind me heading down the hall a little ways. As I passed the front desk, the receptionist stopped me. “Excuse me, but if you’re checking out, might I take your keycard?” I nodded, rummaging around in my bag before slapping my forehead. Gah, of course I left the card in the room... Oh well, I guess that’s what bobby pins were made for. I explained the story, telling her my roommate would have it when he came down (or at least I hoped he would), before heading out into the frigid air. The city seemed much more alive than during our first visit, despite the obvious dilapidation. Those trotting around shielded themselves from the cold with cloaks, though they seemed to be a lot more talkative, probably because it wasn’t flank-falling off cold today - according to the one screen on my Pip-bu- er, Pip-Leg, it was just a little above freezing. I walked down the street, a young filly shouting to passers-by to visit Razorwing’s shop. You’d think as the only seller of goods around here, he wouldn’t need a ton of advertisement. I turned the corner, recognizing the front of the shop a few blocks down. Turning into the shop, the bell ringed lightly above the door as it swung open. “Ah, hey, Bloodbeak said you guys made it back alright. Not to offend, but my hopes weren’t exactly that high for you two - she said you guys were practically glowing ones by the time you got back here. Hope those Radaways helped you out.” Razorwing said happily, placing a coffee mug back on the shelf he’d been dusting, moving on to polishing a pile of scrap metal. I suppose even in the wasteland things were more appealable when they were presentable. “Like you wouldn’t believe, we could probably've powered a small reactor. Turns out the raiders had been hired by some ponies trying to fix up the facility.” I chuckled a little, scanning the shelves for a few broken down electronics. Razorwing raised an eyebrow, turning towards myself and resting against the counter. “Huh, you’d think someone trying to fix up that old place wouldn’t try to steal from caravans. I know I wouldn’t want to piss off a company that large.” He looked over, finally getting a good look at me. “Woah, yikes, what happened to your hoof? Decide to get that improved too?” He chuckled a little, motioning to my horn. “Um... let’s just say, fragmentation mines and snowstorms aren’t a good combination. I’m just lucky we stumbled upo-” I cut myself short. Perhaps telling the whole world about that facility probably wasn’t the best idea. Most ponies weren’t that accepting towards Ghouls from the look of it, let alone those that are be rebuilding a giant Megaspell-slinging artillery mechanism. “...ah, Anyway, about your payment.” Razorwing said, realizing it was best not to ask. He placed the bits of metal back on the shelf, walking behind the counter, digging around beneath it before unlocking a safe. He pulled out a bulging bag of caps, tossing them to me. “As promised, 500 caps.” “Er, um, thanks,” I said, catching the bag in a magical field and lowering it into my saddlebags. “But, I thought the hotel stay was at least part of the pay. Ah, not that I’m complaining, of course.” “That was actually Bloodbeak's little gift, she said it looked like you guys hadn’t had a good night sleep since you left. You ought to say your thanks - she might shrug it off, but if you don’t, I’ll never hear the end of it.” He chuckled, relocking the safe. “Alright, we’ll be sure to. Hey, what do you have for sale? Picked up plenty of weapons and other stuff when we cleared out the camp, 'sides, wouldn’t hurt to have some more Radaways on standby. ” I asked. Razorwing only waved his claw at all the merchandise around the store, smiling widely as I unloaded a saddlebag full of rather damaged and honestly disgusting weapons on the counter. I levitated over some packs of the orange medical goop and the last two healing potions I could find. Razorwing rung up the order, sorting through all of the junk and taking it off the final sale. I counted out the remaining caps it'd cost, surprised at how profitable the 'take anything not nailed down that nopony's using' business was. Ahead 120 caps after all that? Score! “You guys come back soon, I’ll probably have more work once merchants start stopping in again!” Razorwing said as I turned to leave, waving a hoof to show I heard as I made my way back to the hotel. As I trotted along, my stomach growled. I guess having nothing to eat for a few days does have the tendency to take its toll on somepony. As I looked around the street, hoping to spot some sandwich shop, I just barely spotted a greenish-yellow blur darting over the crowd - yeesh, somepony light your tails on fire, ya nutty pegasus? Chuckling, and pretending to not hear the quips about myself and Johnson from the other colts on the street, I found myself getting rather lost in just watching the hustle and bustle of the city square... and the sound of my stomach growling. Right, there a sweet shop anywhere around here? I found myself drawn into a small bakery at the corner, recognizing the smell of cooking sugar and warm bread, letting my nose do most of the leading. Stepping up to the counter and ringing the bell, a mare with a mane that I could best describe as looking like a curled blueberry muffin stepped out behind the counter, carrying a few boxes. "Ah, Sugar Rush, glad to see you're back girl. Have luck with the caravans out of... huh?" I blinked at her idly, watching as she turned back to face me in surprise, sputtering silently. She shook her head, smiling and trotting up to the counter. "Uh, welcome to the Mooscow Bakery. I'm Muffin-Top, there anything I can get you?" Well, that was a rather unfortunate name... but who was this 'Sugar Rush', anyways? And, more importantly, why did she mistake me for her... nope, wait a minute, stomach has the floor currently. "Mm, have a baker's dozen of muffins or cupcakes ready? Smells like... oooh, carrot-y." I smiled at her, watching as she stepped through the bakery door. My stomach rumbled again - yeesh, it was like a manticore was trying to get through my barding. Muffin-Top returned, chuckling lightly. "Funny, we had that made up and sent out two days ago. Could make another if you didn't mind waiting, shouldn't take too long if everything actually decides to work again." I opened my mouth to respond, though my stomach did it for the both of us. I blushed rather brightly, the earth pony mare heading back into the bakery, laughing. I found a cushioned bench to wait on, chuckling a little myself - I suppose it -was- kind of funny. A few hours later, I found myself snorting awake, glancing around the bakery - the small box of muffins was placed beside me, along with the receipt. 30 caps? Well... I guess she -did- let me nap for a while, and it was a fair enough price to begin with. Setting a neat stack of 35 of the silvery Sunrise Sarsaparilla and Sparkle-Swilla bottlecaps on the counter - what's wrong with leaving a tip? - I stepped out into the cold night, making my way back to the hotel with around four of the muffins intact on arrival. Breakfast for tomorrow, I suppose. --- “Ready to head out?” Twintails asked as we neared the entrance to Mooscow proper. I nodded, though thought it was a bit late to be asking. As we passed through the heavy wooden doors, Bloodbeak popped out of seemingly nowhere, a smile on her face. Jeez, you need to stop doing that! “Hey, you guys are alive! I was worried your flesh was going to fall off, you already lost a leg, by the looks of it.” I rolled my eyes. Yes, I get it. I’m a hoof short. May we move on? “Where are you guys headed?” She asked. I looked at my Pip-Buck-leg, fiddling with the buttons on it. Wow, that seriously felt weird. “Uh... some place called Quebuck, looks like it’s just down the highway.” I said, showing her the screen. She studied it for a moment before shrugging. “Eh, can’t be too bad compared to what you just went through. It’s about twice as far as that RobronCo factory though, and a bit more irradiated from the near-missed missile. Here.” She tossed us a couple M.R.E.s, smiling. “My treat, unless it turns out raiders are going to keep killing our merchants. Then it’ll cost you.” She narrowed her eyes. “Dearly.” She just stared at us for a moment, sternly, before smiling again. “Alright, hope you guys stop back in. I haven’t heard such good jokes in a long time.” She chuckled. I grunted, levitating another clump of snow into the air. “Your face looks a little dirty, Beaky. You sure you don’t need another wash?” She put her claws up, still chuckling a little. “Alright, alright, I’ll lay off the wisecracks for a bit... At least while you guys are in town, anyways~” I let the snow fall to the ground, chuckling and rolling my eyes. Fair enough, I suppose. We headed back down the road again, Twintails waving back to her. I flipped to the familiar radio station, 640-1240 it was called according to my Pip-Leg, catching the end of a song. "So-o-o, hold me close my darling, 'cause I know what you've got. My Geiger counter dear, tells me that you're hot! Haha, You're my radiation filly, you're my teenage, fallout, Quee-hee-hee-he Hee-hee-hee-hee-een." --- We continued along the road like we’d done for the past few days - nothing seemed out of the ordinary so far. Cold air, slippery patches of ice, the odd raider here and there. As the wind picked up a bit, tossing dirt and snow into the air, a figure appeared ahead on the road. It was quite large compared to all the ponies we’d seen so far, and had some ponies walking alongside it. It looked like it was heading towards us, but didn’t appear hostile - one look at the compass on my Pip-Buck confirmed this, showing only a group of green ticks. As the group approached, a quiet, low jangling of a bell could be heard. The forms became a little more visible as we got closer, suddenly revealing themselves to be a couple ponies walking beside some kind of two headed cow. Um... what? I looked over at Twintails, seeing him wear the same confused face. I know radiation did some weird stuff but... ok then. One of the ponies spotted us, waving us over. “Hey, need any supplies? We just got done prospecting some from Quebuck!” We headed over - if we were lucky, they’d have picked up at least a couple of those targeting talismans. The vendor smiled as we got closer, turning to the cow. “Alrighty, Betsy, take a break.” The cow stopped, allowing the pony to flip open one of the large packs on its back. “What do you have?” I asked. “I’m looking for any kind of old world tech, if you’ve got any.” She dug around in the saddlebags some more, pulling out a few electrical boards and talismans. Twintails walked over to the bag, digging around a little. The sales pony didn’t object, though she did glare a little for him not at least asking. “Here’s a couple, if any peak your fancy they’re seven caps apiece.” I studied the boards, pulling up an image of the tracking chips on my Pip-Buck. Many looked like they were beyond repair, so I handed them back, spreading out the rest in the air. Many I recognized as simple vending chips, but a couple stuck out as much more intricately made. I looked a little more closely, and at least a couple looked like the guidance ones we needed. They’d need a little repair, but should work for Megaspell Mary. I pulled out the correct amount of caps, handing them to the pony as Twintails dug out some odd, black gem. “How much is this?” He asked. As I looked at the egg, my eyes strained a bit - there was something... off about it. For lack of a better description, it didn’t really look like the egg belonged in it's place in space. Twintails was having a hard time keeping a straight face as he delicately held it in his hooves. Whatever that thing is, he wanted it badly. The salespony looked it over. “I’m not even really sure what that is. Just looked kinda pretty.” She said. “75 caps sound good?” She was a little taken aback when Twintails instantly agreed to the price. I guess she expected him to haggle a bit. They exchanged the money, and Twintails carefully slipped the gem into his saddlebags, giggling a bit. “Thanks for the business, guys.” The vendor said, patting the cow on the shoulder, causing it to trudge forward along the path. After we were a fair distance from the merchant, Twintails turned to me, grinning widely. “Do you have any idea how much we lucked out?!” He was almost shouting, practically giddy. I raised an eyebrow. A couple talismans for only 20 or so caps was nice, but not that good. “That gem she had... it’s a Balefire Egg!” My eyes widened, jaw dropping in disbelief. The videos back in the Stable talked about those things; made by those filly-eating stripes, if I remembered correctly. “Wait, WHAT?! Get rid of it before you kill us both, you lunatic!” I took several steps away from Twintails. According to the old films, the only thing that rivaled a Balefire Egg was a Megaspell... or was that a Balefire Bomb? Balefire-something. Granted, the ones they described were a lot bigger, but I still wouldn’t want one anywhere near me. Twintails chuckled. “Relax, it takes a fair deal of force, or the right kind of launcher to set this thing off.” I slowed my running away, but relaxing was still low on my list of priorities. Something suddenly clicked in my head. “Wait just a second, how do you know so much about these things?” I glared over at Twintails, narrowing my eyes. If I found out I was helping out a covert striped skin, that egg’s getting shoved where the sun doesn’t shine. Twintails shook his head, realizing what I was thinking. “Calm down, my Stable just happened to have a ton of test films of these things. Equestria captured a lot of them from destroyed Zebra forces before everything went to hell, set 'em off in test ranges to see what they would do to buildings. Besides, if I’d wanted you dead, I would’ve left you out in that snowstorm, ya three-legged pony.” He chuckled a little. I looked away, not fully convinced - ponies who found out about Zebra magic were usually brainwashed or killed. At least, according to the Overmare. We trotted along the road a while longer, the sun slowly rising higher into the sky. I fiddled with my Pip-Buck a little, before Twintails nudged me. “Hey, what d'ya make of that?...” He pointed off to a ditch at the side of the road; it looked like there was some kind of wreck at the bottom. We looked over the edge and, oh my sweet Celestia! There was an entire covered skywagon full of Sunrise Sarsaparilla and... bleh, I could live without the Sparkle Cola skywagon laying next to it. I slid down the side of the ditch towards the Sarsaparilla, Twintails following behind me. I leapt into the back of the wagon, stuffing my bag full of the sweet, sweet drink. Hehe, the climate probably kept these things at the perfect temperature, icy cold~ I was about to pop open one of the hundred of bottles when I noticed Twintails wasn’t behind me anymore. I turned to see if he was digging around the truck, when I thought I heard some more clinking of bottles. I trotted out of the back, looking around the corner, greeted with Twintails looking around the corner of the back of the Sparkle Cola wagon. Oh you son of a- We both jumped out, pulling out our weapons. I levitated my Plasma Pistol up to eye level, aiming it between his eyes. We stood there for a moment, both glaring at each other, guns at the ready. To think I thought he was a decent pony, until now, that stripe-skin sympathizing son of a changeling. That gem had his flanks’ name written all over it. “Well... I suppose we’ve reached an impasse.” I said, trying to figure out a way to fry him without getting a new hole in my head. “Sho ee hae.” Twintails muttered around his Luger. We simply glared at each other, calculating. “Sho... why don we jush pre-end zhizh ne-er ha-ened.” I paused for a moment, wondering if Twintails was scheming something. We slowly lowered our pistols, trotting backwards. Twintails slipped his gun back into the holster on his leg, turning up to face me. “Alright... let’s just stock up on as much as we can carry, and agree to never speak of this again. Fair enough?” He asked. I nodded, levitating a few more bottles into my pack. I glanced around the edge of the wagon, seeing Twintails hiking up out of the ditch. Secretly, I drew my pistol, aiming it towards the opposing Sparkle-cola skywagon. Hehe, a soda bonfire might be nice, see how well that swill actually sparkled. Before I had a chance to pull the trigger, though, Twintails jutted in from back on the road. “You fry my coke and this Balefire Egg is going straight down your throat!” I rolled my eyes, stowing my pistol. This was going to be a long walk... ----- "So this is Quebuck, huh? Very... uh..." My gaze rose to the tall buildings, some seen down streets collapsed and bowed against one another. Pockets of radiation clicked everywhere in the main avenues, the snow having melted into a muddy slush from the heat still being emitted by arcane generators beneath the roads, steam billowing lazily into the air from sewage grates. Every now and again, you could see the skeleton of somepony from before the war, a pile of bones laying in front of a building, not yet buried by the snowstorms. We walked carefully, staying silent most of the time, almost afraid to talk over the sounds of the wind whipping through the canyon-like structures that were the city streets. The place as a whole just really felt eerily more dead than the rest of the wasteland, even colder than the ice and snow that covered the place. As we passed beneath an elevated railway T-junction where one avenue connected to another, I glanced up at the building opposite, stopping in my tracks. Minty took a few steps ahead before noticing, my gaze fixated upon the facade. He turned around, following to where I was looking. "Twintails? What is-... oh..." We stood there, looking up at the faded blue, modern-looking structure that was once a city building, and focusing on the strange shapes that were burned into the facade; the girders of the elevated T-junction were imprinted in stark, prominent shadows across the face of the structure, and even the glass on the windows. Blurred forms, but unmistakably pony in shape, were seared into the brick at varying heights. Some were standing on the upper platform, some were at street level, and some - without the shadows of wings - were high up on the wall, frozen in time as they were falling, jumping I suppose, wanting some sort of death before the bomb hit them. Poor bastards. The shadows seemed to be offset, pointed more to the southwest of the city, and high up. Air burst... I guess the missile was off course, a zebra-made Balefire warhead could no doubt have turned an entire city into ash if it were aimed right. It was so eerie to see these things still around after two centuries, ghosts from the war, immortalized as negatives on the hard walls and piles of ash. We didn't linger around long. Following and winding through the streets inside the city, faded billboards and posters that were facing away from the detonation or protected in the shadows of the skyscrapers advertized a concert at a music hall. Glancing at the local map, it wasn't too far from where we were - this seemed to be the entertainment district. 'One Week Only, the famous Tom Neighrer live in concert!'... wait a tick. Tom Neighrer? -The- Tom Neighrer?! Okay, yeah, I think we might have to take a detour - the late, great Tom Neighrer's remains deserve better than rotting behind some stage curtain somewhere. He was a brilliant performer from before the war, I so dearly loved his satire and humorous teaching methods... boy, of all the songs I knew, why did this one pop in my head? I found myself faintly humming a song as we began to walk along, Minty looking over at me curiously. "...we will all bake together when we bake, there'll be nopony present at the wake! With complete participation in that grand incineration, nearly three billion hunks of well-done steak! Oh, we, will, all char together when we char..." "What in the name of the goddesses are you singing?" Minty stared at me, a quizzical and concerned look on his face. Granted, based on the current world situation it was quite macabre, but that didn't take away from the fact it was catchy as hell and darkly satirical... or, was darkly satirical, at least. It's a Tom Neighrer classic, deal with it! "Notice the posters 'round here? Tom Neighrer - THE Tom Neighrer - was in concert when the bombs dropped! The least we can do is give what's left of him some kind of burial, right? We can afford to take a detour, not on a time limit, are we?" The unicorn beside me blinked a few times, eyerolling and turning his gaze back to the buildings, looking back down the road, thinking. After a few moments, he let off a sigh, dropping his head. "Ah, fine. We could use more salvage anyways, pick up whatever we can from the city before we reach the missile base, or whatever it is. Funny how profitable scrap and junk really is." I smiled rather widely, giggling like a filly - off to a Tom Neighrer concert we go! I wonder if there'll be any prerecorded tracks I could put on my Pip-buck there, not that that Civil Defense station didn't have great music, but... c'mon, this is Tom Neighrer we're talking about! I was just about to dart down the road when Minty stuck out his augmented hoof in front of me, knocking the wind out of my chest. Metal is hard... "Oof, wha- what was that for?" Minty glanced back at me, nodding down the road. I peered ahead, looking down below the grand, damaged neon sign on the front of the grand theater. Figures lingered outside of the entrance, wandering aimlessly, dressed in various rags of what looked like pre-war evening wear. Tails and manes seemed practically nonexistent on the figures, their errant stumbling on hooves only adding to how very inequine they seemed to be, yet... Minty drew out his plasma pistol, levitating it so he was able to sight down at the group, myself following lead. We carefully moved closer, getting a better sight of the, well, creatures that wandered aimlessly outside of the theater front. I blinked in surprise, finally getting a better look at the details. "What... the... fuck?" The ponies, figures, whatever they were, they all had their skin just completely sheared off. Nightmare Night midnight science-fiction/horror double features came to mind - goddesses, I didn't think radiation actually made zombies. That was a new one for me, but... wait a second. Were... were these ghouls? It was my turn to stop Minty, who turned to look at myself with his pistol still levitated where he was aiming a moment ago. I set Gamma's Luger in my free hoof, while Minty relaxed a bit in levitating the plasma pistol. "What is it now? You don't think one of those... those zombie-things is your famed Neighrer, do you?" Minty huffed, myself shaking my head and looking back at the group for a moment, peering over the snowbank and overturned wagon we were taking cover behind. "No, no, but... aren't those ghouls? Like, like the Doc, and White Thunder. Should we really shoot? I mean, my EFS ain't red yet." Minty looked up this time, studying the small group of the five figures wandering aimlessly. I didn't exactly want to be the one to shoot first, if I could help it. He turned back, letting off a sigh. We sat there for a moment, Minty contemplating, his eyes popping open a moment later. "Check again... I think we're spott-" He was cut short by a completely in-equine scream, the cluster of blue bars in my vision suddenly turning a nice shade of red. Welp, that was all the motivation I needed - the warm sensation in the front of my pants notwithstanding. Gimmie a break, that scream was just... goddesses. C'mon, we can worry about your pants glowing later on, get that gun in your mouth and start getting in that theater already! Fumbling slightly, Minty had already begun to open fire, filling one of the ghoul ponies' faces full of plasma, then bringing his metallic hoof in a swiping blow across the horribly-screaming body in what I suppose was at one point a fancy evening gown. I swung about, coming face to face with another live-skinned pony screaming that unearthly scream and sending me flailing backwards as we collided, his worn-to-the-bone hooves scraping and smashing against my barding for the few moments he'd still had a head. Owie, owie owie owie, why did the wasteland hate everything? And why in the name of Luna did I think decapitating somepony who was on top of me was a smart idea?! "M-Minty! Little help!?" After wrestling with the decapitated cadaver for a few moments, much to my relief Minty finally got ahold of it with his magic and flung it at a pair of zombie-ghoul ponies. They stumbled, and gave me just enough time to get up to my hooves to turn and face them, firing wildly. Entire chunks that would've easily killed any normal pony just stumbled the ghouls as round after round blasted through their heads, myself practically inhaling the grip of the semiautomatic pistol as the last few shots rang out. Seven shots, three dead bodies, this is not going well. Turning just in time to watch Minty taking care of the last ghoul with a rubber-clad hoof to the face - ooh, ewewewewew, that was a nasty squelch - we both slowly regained ourselves, the sound of the wind echoing through the canyons of the city returning to our ears. Wait, was that... faintly, from inside the theater, a piano could be heard ringing out a rather upbeat ragtime theme, drawing our attention. We began to trot forwards to the doors, sipping on healing potions, drawn by the music. "Wait, hold up. Laser turrets." A hoof already rested on the push bar of the door, I looked back, seeing my augmented friend nodding up at a pair of black beetle-like metal fixtures under the awning of the entryway. His horn glowed brightly, a pair of bluish electric-like bolts bursting from it and enveloping the turrets, which responded in turn by descending from their containers and beginning to slowly sweep back and forth over the area. He smirked, casually blowing some smoke off of his horn and trotting forwards, turning to look at my dumbfounded face. Well, that's certainly going to be useful. "Classic RobronCo Mark 3 civilian security turrets. Targeting talismans just needed a zap and recalibration." With a smug look on his face, he trotted through the doors, myself glancing back at the turrets as I followed him. Show-off. Oh, how well those MREs were living up to their name - Meals Refusing to Exit. Even though the bodies were no doubt long dead, just the sight of all those mutilated ponies in their theater attire... goddesses, I couldn't even breathe past my gagging. I tried to keep my gaze above the floor littered with equine bodies, turning attention to the decaying film posters that covered the walls. Hah, really, 'Dr. Strangemare' in theater 4? Boy, bet THAT movie was a controversial one... wonder if the ending was playing when the bombs fell? Obviously some ponies didn't hear the sirens until it was too late, least they went off with Vera in their ears. Rear Window, Mr. Smith goes to Canterlot, The Great Dic... ah, Dictator, right. Boy, must have been classic week, or something. At the end of the entrance hall, and after ransacking the concessions stands and soda machines (more Sparkle-Cola? Yum!), we both came to stand infront of the large playlistings. Theater 1 - Tom Neighrer, 'That Was The Tour That Was'. Well... maybe I could convince Minty to also stop by theater 4 to nab a recording of Dr Strangemare, Pip-Bucks can play movies, right? "Theater one then. Unless you want to spend any more time here waiting for those Mostly Reconstituted Equines to come out in force, oh one-with-weak-stomach~" Minty snickered, drinking down a bottle of his soda idly and glancing around. What a smartflank... he knew that that stuff was just flavored plastics, anyways. With a roll of the eyes, I stepped around behind the desk, prodding around at the carpet and sliding back the doors underneath the counter. A-ha, there it was... locked. Of course. Fiddling around in my bags for a bobby pin, Minty turned his attention to one of the receptionist computers, his magic beginning to work in tapping on the keys - rather loudly, I might add. I tossed him a glare, leaning in to try and hear the tumblers better while fiddling with the screwdriver. Alright, alright, I admit magic can be useful in some places where delicacy is preferred, though... was that a click? Well, how about that, it worked! I pulled the bobby pin out, trying the handle... and finally noticing that the bobby pin was about half as long on the end that was in the lock. So that -wasn't- a good click. Slumping back, I stared at the busted bobby pin with a small frown, Minty's magic encircling the handle and turning it. I looked up in surprise as the bolts slid into the door for him, the safe opening widely. "Ah, buh, wha...?" He levitated out the small piles of old bits, splitting it evenly and giving half the pile to my dumbfounded self, a smirk on his face as he glanced back to me. "But... I broke... but... but... what?" The augmented unicorn chuckled, tapping the side of the small terminal. "Electronic lock, duh. You work in maintenance long enough, you learn a good bit about how to bypass all those silly RobronCo password checks. Wasn't even a hard one - 'Daisy', I mean, seriously, are you kidding me?" He let off a laugh, trotting over to the set of doors that led to Theaters 1-3. I let off a huff, following behind. "Not all locks are electronic, yanno... and don't call me Daisy." We stopped in front of the double doors, Minty pushing against them, greeted with the both of them refusing to budge. Another lock? My time to shine~ I chuckled, moving him aside and pulling out another bobby pin, turning to face the door. As I leaned down to push into the lock, however, problems. Goddess-damnit, why were so many ponies so clumsy with their lockpicking? This was just ugly! I'd have to blast the whole thing out to even have a chance of getting the door open... wait a minute. I snickered, dropping the bobby pin back in my saddlebags and turning to the pistol holstered on my leg. "What are you-" The barrel of the pistol stuck to the tumbler of the lock, keeping the shot lined up. Granted, it wasn't too hard when it was at point-blank range, but still! One healthy tug on the trigger and a small hole was punched in the door where the tumblers and lock once was, and our ears were ringing. Or, at least mine were... okay, ballistic lockpicking only for situations that require it, lest I go deaf. Minty looked over at me as I dropped the pistol back in the holster, shaking his head. "Well, I guess that's -one- way to get through a door..." I let off a muted laugh, turning back to the door and trying it again. They seemed to budge a little more, dragging on the floor, I think - they were caught on something. I threw myself at the doors, the both of them flying open and stopping with dull thuds at an angle suspiciously larger than what would be expected of a doorstop. Pondering that for a moment, I turned back down the hallway, and... "Oh, goddesses... this was a massacre." Skeletons and bodies littered the floor all around, a pair of laser turrets on the ceiling in the middle of the hallway scanning back and forth, seeming to ignore us for the moment. I felt a bit of my stomach coming up into my mouth, accompanied with the tasty fizzy soda and less-than-tasty Might Return Edibles, immediately throwing my gaze roofwards. Minty didn't seem to want to look at it all that much either, gritting his teeth and using his magic to spread a small path in the carnage. We took a few steps forwards, moving slowly, before both receiving some nice laser corrective surgery courtesy of RobronCo Security Turrets. RobronCo! For when you just -need- to have your flesh cooked by concentrated light now! Minty jumped back, myself stumbling over a corpse and instantly feeling like I backed up to the reactor's heat dispersion vents. Stupid pre-war technology that still works! Flailing about, a leg caught underneath the corpse I'd tripped on and sent it up into the stream of lasers, myself turning around just in time to see it vaporize into a pile of ash. The lasers stopped firing shortly afterwards, myself flopping beside Minty and regaining my breath, looking up at him. He was concentrating on the turrets, his horn slowly starting to glow. "Mark 4, industrial application security turrets... I think the targeting talismans are borked. Which means..." A smirk grew on his face, a single bolt of magical energy leaping from his horn and encasing one of the turrets. It sparked for a few moments, beginning to fire haphazardly in every direction, stinging my ears and vaporizing a few more corpses in the hallway before turning on the other turret, the barrage of lasers making it explode before it even turned to return fire, the out-of-control laser following suit soon afterwards. Minty was casually beating out the fire in his mane, myself looking at him wide-eyed. "What? Overclocked it and fried the combat inhibitor, easy stuff." He chuckled, moving through the thinned crowd of corpses, myself opening up my wings and hovering alongside. Dead ponies were one thing - vaporized ash that was formerly dead ponies, yeah, not going to risk stirring and inhaling it. Cannibalism, goddesses, why do I feel I wouldn't be surprised if some ponies were actually like that? Ah, rules of the wasteland, I guess... somepony really ought to start writing these things down. We stopped in front of the doorway that led into Theater 1, Minty pushing some bodies out of the way of the laser-blasted doors and watching myself land beside him. A lone piano played notes idly from behind the set of doors, us both sharing a sort of disbelieving glance before pulling them open, stepping carefully inside the dark, dilapidated theater. A series of spotlights all aimed down at the decaying stage, several rows of seats left vacant or destroyed, some skeletons and corpses scattered and laying on the floor. Trampled in the panic, I suppose. Stepping past the unfortunate - or fortunate - ones who died under the hooves of those who were ponies just like them, the distinct ragtime tune of an old piano drew louder, a voice lightly humming over it, tossing in a few words now and then. Naturally curious, and apprehensive, we both eased up onto the old, creaky stage, freezing up as the music suddenly stopped. The room was silent for a few moments, before I took to hovering again - man, wings were useful. I hovered around to the edge of the curtain, carefully peeking behind it at a height just above Minty's head when my legs were swiftly struck with a heavy metal post, levitated in a field of blue magic. Can I get an OW!? I let off a scream of pain, gritting my teeth and tumbling backwards, wings still flapping. Minty had drawn his plasma pistol as I recovered, charging right through the curtain and into the -very- surprised face of a -very- old colt, his tattered white mane and broken glasses filling my vision as the curtain moved out of the way, my forelegs striking against squishy, torn skin as momentum carried us both to the floor behind the stage. I screamed again - yep, my non-pipbuck-clad foreleg was definitely broken - scrambling up onto my hooves as I turned to face the unicorn who'd struck me, pulling Gamma's pistol out of the holster and aiming at... Oh. My. Goddesses. "Gah, I've heard the phrase showbiz is killer, but, ow..." My jaw went slack, Gamma's pistol dropping to the floor and landing with a thud as I watched one of the greatest satirical lyricists of before the war rise to his now-ghoulified hooves. He adjusted his glasses and bowtie idly, looking through the fragile, broken lenses for a moment with a small frown. "Oh nuts... just a moment, I'd like to be able to actually see whoever it was that despises the classics so much." I stayed speechless, not even able to stammer as he enveloped his glasses in is magic, the lenses repairing within moments. He blinked a few times, looking over myself - Tom Neighrer was looking over me! - taking a step back when he saw the Luger laying on the floor. Minty had trotted in behind me, his plasma pistol still levitated at the ready, looking over at the similarly-bespectacled unicorn with surprise etched on his face. "T-t-t... T-Tom Neighrer... THE Tom Neighrer!... I had a leg broken by -THE- Tom Neighrer!!" I let off quite a loud squee, which subsequently turned into quite a loud exclamation of pain as I remembered that excited hoofstamping with a broken bone is not a thing smart ponies ought to do. The elder unicorn was taken aback, looking at myself with a bit of surprise, not entirely sure how to respond to the sight. Minty trotted up between us, finally deciding to stow his plasma pistol away as I picked up Gamma's pistol and bit hard on the mouth grip, working through the extremely agonizing pain of making a bad injury worse. As I regained myself, Minty looked over at the great Dr. Neighrer, extending his augmented hoof. "Er, yeah, don't mind him, he's just a bit over-excited. We were expecting to find your corpse..." He chuckled weakly, Tom Neighrer - again, THE Tom Neighrer! - looking over and shaking his hoof rather gently and passing a small smile on, glancing between myself and Minty. "Ah, well, I could understand that. Regrettable to say, but it seems that not all of us actually went together when we went... ah, gave time to write some new songs. Only been a few, what, decades since everything went to hell?" Finally prying Gamma's pistol out of my mouth so I could swallow down a healing potion - oh, broken bones were NOT fun - I turned to face Tom Neighrer, unable to wipe that stupid grin off of my face as he looked at myself again. I chuckled nervously, his eyes turning to my broken leg, himself gnawing on his lower lip and glancing around. "Oh dear... I-I'm sorry about that, can never be too careful. Thought another former member of the audience had climbed in through the ducts again, wanted a personal show... or to attack my piano." It was his turn to chuckle nervously, moving over to a large cabinet on the wall painted in faded pink and yellow colors and pulling out a medical bag. I knew he was a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that he wasn't -that- kind of doctor. Owie, needle prick. "You know how to fix his leg?" Minty asked, stepping forwards and looking over me. Oooh, why was everything starting to get a bit blurry all of a sudden? Ah, nuts, it was that cutecinera all over again - except sans the taste of helium. Or, well, actually the taste of rubber combined with compressed gas, anyways. I felt myself slipping over the border between awake and asleep, vision clouding into a mish-mash of whites and teals and blacks and reds and browns, the Dr Neighrer laying my leg out flat gently and looking at my face, replying to Minty. "Well... hopefully." How disconcerting. --- My hooves clacked against the metal floor of the Stable hallways, the two Sparkle-Colas in my Reactor Maintenance jumper's pockets clinking together loudly as I walked along. Gamma stepped out of the reactor bulkhead door, stretching and cricking her back, looking over to me with a soft smile and tired, faintly glowing eyes. I grinned back at her, pulling one of the sodas out of my pocket with a wing and offering it to her, which she picked up in her magic and sipped from softly as we reached each other in the hallway. "Nice to see you're still with us, after that fall you had, Twinnie. Climbing in the atrium rafters, what made you think that was a smart move, you silly little pegasus?" She snickered, rubbing a hoof in my mane as I pulled out the second bottle, pulling off the bottlecap with my teeth and spitting it aside. I grinned at her widely, taking a sip of the soda. "What, can't have a little fun every now and again? I was perfectly fine!... at least until my wing got caught under that steam pipe. Lonelyheart said it ought to recover from the burns in a few days." Letting off a weak chuckle, Gamma wrapped a hoof around my neck, bringing me in closely and gently nuzzling against my cheek, humming softly. "What am I going to do with you, Twintails? You're such a goof..." She giggled, gently giving me a kiss on the cheek, hugging myself closely, motherly. With a wide grin, I returned it, taking a whiff of her mane. Vanilla and coolant fluid, just what it should be. "But... you're my goof~" --- When I finally returned to the land of the awake, I found myself watching muddy snow passing by beneath me, my stomach sprawled over the back of Minty Candy, and Tom Neighrer trotting beside us adorned in sweater-vest and large coat. I flapped my wings idly, hovering off of Minty's back and looking down at the splint my right foreleg was in - it'd do for now. They both glanced up at me, smiling as I flew slowly alongside them. "Glad to see you're awake again. I really want to apologize for, um, well... yeah..." Tom chuckled nervously, myself chuckling a little in response, shaking my head a bit - woo, still a touch dizzy. I waved my set leg a bit, beaming. "Oh, pff, don't worry about it Mr. Neighrer. It's really an honor to've met you, regardless of how, eheh... sorry, just kind of a huge fan of your work. Sucker for satire." I chuckled, and he laughed along, grinning and watching me, us all trotting into the outer reaches of the city, passing by piles of rubble that were once warehouses and factories. To the northwest, that was where the Ballistic Defense Base and Silo Complex was, according to our pip-bucks. I giggled at the big trefoil that marked where it exactly layed behind the square icon on the digital map - getting to see megaspell missiles and Tom Neighrer in the same day? Was I in heaven, did Princess Luna come down and bless me while I was sleeping back in Mooscow? Is this real? The jolting shock of pain that sparked up my broken leg and to my head determined that a yes. I must be on a good luck streak, or something! Minty was looking around, his plasma pistol levitated at his side in wait, his gaze jumping between piles of rubble every now and again. "I don't like the look of this, guys... we got out of the city -way- too easy. Not a zombie in sight." I joined in his apprehensive glances, flying backwards and watching the plumes of steam rising up from the city, checking my EFS. No red bars, just blue ones beside me. For the wasteland, yeah, it was kind of sketchy to not have seen any baddies so far out in uncharted territory... I hovered low, taking to the other side of Neighrer and drawing Gamma's pistol. Never trust an easy streak, rules of the wasteland. The road led off to a series of low buildings, housing and maintenance sheds for the Medium-range missiles being the first sight as we stepped onto the ground above the silo complex - decaying and collapsed. Of course. Well, underground storage it is, let's go see the missiles already! I could feel my grin widening as we passed by the large concrete doors in the ground, holding in a squee as we finally came across an opened one. I bolted for it, diving straight down the hole and immediately realizing how bloody dark it was in these things... and how deep! Whimpering slightly, I bolted to the side of the silo, setting myself down on the topmost catwalk and gulping down a Sparkle-Cola, my eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. Huh, curious, the whole structure was built around the missile pits, and it seemed like the doors at either end connected to the other three silos. Minty and Neighrer both looked down into the darkness, and myself, from up above at the silo door. Neighrer blinked, asking Minty something before my augmented friend shouted down into the silo. "See anything, Twintails? There an electrical box anywhere up there?" I blinked, the interior of the silo seeming a bit clearer now, glancing around at the fixtures on the walls. There was a weird thing that hung on the wall and had a slot for bits, or bottlecaps, maybe - couldn't really tell. A security turret sat unpowered in the corner, door with a sign reading guidance control above it - that'd be useful to explore later, and a-ha! There's the electrical box. I looked up at Minty, who was peering down at myself, following my eyes, it seemed. I smiled through the blackness, trotting over to the box and standing next to it, shouting back up at them. "Right to the right of me, if you can see my eyes!" Minty nodded once, lowering his head and concentrating, sending a jolting zap right at the metal box. The silo seemed to hum for a moment, lights turning on in the lower levels and working it's way up, illuminating the entire structure in a few moments' time. Minty slid down from the silo's hatch, landing just in time to notice the security turret spinning around to point at the both of us. Another healthy zap from his horn, and... it exploded. Well, I suppose that works. Minty gasped, stumbling a bit as he stepped into the silo, breathing heavily as Tom joined us, looking around the interior of the silo command. He trotted alongside Minty as he caught his breath. "Buh... just... need a moment. Jolting the generators and disabling that turret... whoof..." He slumped back against the wall, looking around before rummaging through his saddlebags, pulling out a spark battery. He brushed his mane aside, rubbing off the connections for the battery and... connecting them to his temple. Well, that was certainly, um... Neighrer and myself both watched as he discharged the battery entirely, tossing it aside and getting back to his hooves with a smile. He shrugged, grinning at the both of us. "What? Augmentations need electricity, duh~" Great, a unicorn that runs off of batteries. It's like Hearth's Warming Eve all over again. We trotted through the doorway that led us to the guidance control room, getting to dissecting the computers and consoles for the juicy talismans inside - hey, it isn't like they'll need them again anytime soon, right? Neighrer stood by, a little apprehensive about what we were doing. Really, scavenging pre-war technology just seemed to come naturally now, Rule of the wasteland number one. If nopony else is using or owns it, and you can reasonably carry it, by all means, take it! Hell, it wasn't like these talismans were doing any good sitting around in old missile guidance computers after the missiles had already launched off. Saddlebags weighed down with an entire guidance maneframe's worth of functioning talismans, we both soon took to exploring what else the silo had to offer. It was rather unfortunate to find that the hallways that connected the missile silos together had apparently been long collapsed, though upon exploring the second level of the silo complex, a sign above a door distinctly caught my attention - 'armory'. With all due respect to Gamma's pistol, I certainly wouldn't mind something that didn't cause my teeth to drive themselves into my gums every time I fired it. Automatic would be nice, too. Oooh, and longer range! Hell, if it could fire balefire eggs, even better. I had a wide grin imagining what an automatic Balefire Egg Launcher would look like, one which subsided when I noticed the terminal that sat next to the door. Guh, perfect. "Hey, Minty? Think you could help here?" "Yeah? With what?... oooohohoho, nice find. I'll have it cracked open in a jiffy~" He snickered, his mane seeming to tingle with the charge off of the spark battery still, sparks jumping from his hooves to the terminal keys. Within moments, the hydraulic door lifted open with a resounding hiss, revealing a mother lode. Shelves of ammunition crates lined the walls of the small armory, and along the back wall, hanging on hooks, were four - yes, four! - one-thirtieth inch caliber Automatic Rifles! I felt like a foal in a candy shop, just dumping the contents of all the ammunition boxes in my bags and jumping up on a crate beneath the rifles to examine them more closely, hardly able to contain my excitement. Minty had gotten in on the act too, handling the other wall of ammo and glancing down at the crate. I was gingerly lifting up the four rifles - aw, poo, make that two. The bolt's completely rusted on one and the connecting strap was entirely degraded on the other. Still, two whole Automatic Rifles! I was so giddy with excitement I barely noticed when Minty tossed my dancing self off of the crate, flipping it open with eyes the size of dinner plates. I pulled up alongside him, fiddling with fitting into a saddle that seemed to be capable of carrying the rifles, and looking into the crate with him. 'Mark 15 plasma-firing ground troop rifle' - well, no wonder he was undressing it mentally like that! Giddy as a school filly, I trotted out the door with the saddle's firing bit in my mouth, the barrels of both rifles swaying side to side as I pranced and giggled, drawing a very, well, disturbed look from Neighrer as he sat on the side and watched. Minty trotted out with his own plasma rifle on his back, as Tom cleared his throat. "Um, not to be the bearer of bad news, but how are we going to get out of here?" The gleeful smile on my face fell as I looked over at Minty with a blank face, the augmented unicorn returning the stare for a moment, soon replacing it with a smirk. He tapped his horn, trotting down to the bottom level of the silo - he wasn't planning what I think he was planning, was he? --- "Hold on, boys. This ride may get a bit bumpy..." Boy, we must have been a sight, cuddling together like that in the generator room of a decrepit ballistic megaspell missile silo, Minty just about to stick his horn upon a pair of exposed wires that were already arcing while the large generators hummed in the background... why was I going along with this again? Myself and Tom seemed to share a look that did neither of us any good in staying calm, the air around us beginning to smell of ozone as Minty leaned forwards. Oh, would you look at that, those May Remain Entrencheds decided to come out finally. Oh joy. There was a brilliant flash as my augmented friend made the connection, followed by a sudden feeling of weightlessness as we seemed to transverse time and space itself like on an old episode of Doctor Whooves. No, I never watched the show and know nothing about his dashing bowtie and Blue Barn that was bigger on the inside, why do you ask. That sensation of floating was soon replaced by a very painful sensation of burning, which was -then- followed by a very distinct sensation of gravity being a heartless bitch. I let off a VERY loud scream of pain as my broken leg was caught beneath two unicorns, the sound of a record scratching hardly being the most prominent thing on my mind right now as my friends scrambled off of it. A red-coated mare with an electric-blue mane and set of headphones looked down at me, eyes wide, before loudly making the proclamation that any rational pony whose house was just invaded by three who appeared out of thin air would. "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!?" Yep, we were still in the wasteland. ----- I groaned, getting to my hooves. Long distance teleportation was hard enough, without needed to carry along two others. I fished out another spark battery, plugging it into my temple. Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. The energy flowed through the various wires in my skull and horn, a few sparks flying from my horn as it hummed lightly back to life. I tossed the dead battery into my saddle-bag. Never know when I might find a workbench. I turned to face the mare, who simply stood, aghast. “WHAT THE FUCK-” She stopped suddenly, her pupils going small. “Oh crap.” She muttered, rushing over to a microphone lying on the table. “And, heh, ah, that was… uh… You know what; let’s listen to that one again!” She placed the needle back on the record, flipping a switch. The light on the microphone flipped from green to red. She turned back to us, Twintails shakily getting up, making sure not to put any weight on his splinted leg. “What the heck are you doing here?” We looked back and forth between ourselves. “Uh… eheh, I guess my calculations were wrong.” I blushed. “I was trying to get us back to Mooscow.” I pulled up the map on my Pip-Buck. A small gear icon popped up, the words “Stable 92” beneath it. Well, we were at least half way to Mooscow. I guess I just needed more power for the jump. Ooh, and we’re right next to the Sunset Sarsaparilla- no wait, better ignore that. I don’t need a refresher to why I should shoot Twintails in the face. “You’re still a ways away from there.” The DJ said, then taking notice of Twintails’ injured leg. “Ah, hey, are you alright?” She stepped towards Twintails. “There are still a bunch of healing potions in the medical bays, if you need one.” “If you really don’t mind sparing a couple, I don’t think two ponies crashing on top of it really helped.” He winced as he shifted his weight a little onto his broken leg. “I can still walk, at least.” He slowly walked over to us, shaking his head a little. “Ugh… I don’t think pegasi were meant to teleport like that.” “Alright, let me just set up the next song.” The mare said, levitating another record onto the player as the current song died down. “There we are. Name’s Hi-Fi by the way... or, 'Bert the Turtle', depending on who's asking.” She trotted over to the door, it opening automatically as she approached. We followed behind her, Tom and I walking behind Twintails. “Honestly, you’re lucky this Stable even has a medical bay. I heard there were some that didn’t even have bathrooms.” Oooookay, didn’t need that idea planted in my head. Hi-Fi headed downstairs, another door sliding up and leading into a small room with several cots and various medical equipment. She rummaged around in one of the lockers, pulling out a healing potion and a large syringe. She screwed the potion onto the end of the syringe as Tom and I helped Twintails onto one of the cots. “Now hold still, I’m not exactly a trained physician.” She placed the needle gently on Twintails leg, paused for a moment, then shoved the needle in. Didn't know you could just directly inject healing potions like that... She forced the potion into Twintails, who grunted a little as the magic knitted together his bones and muscles. She pulled out the syringe, popping out the empty bottle. Twintails removed the splint from around his leg, bending it a little. He hopped off of the bed, letting off a sigh. “Oooh, that's -much- better. Thanks, Hi-Fi, right?” She nodded, sticking a Ministry of Peace bandage over where she stuck in the needle. He perked up a moment, smiling. “Hey, would you guys happen to have a Neutron Dampening Coil here? My Stable’s broke, and we’re going to need one soon before the reactor overheats... hopefully without Gamma near it...” He turned his head away, gnawing on his lower lip. Gamma... was she more than just his boss-whatever? Hi-Fi thought for a moment. “I don’t think this so, the reactor was pretty small here. From the sound of it, this Stable was actually built to specifications, it just shut up and opened years later. In fact, this one opened a long time ago, and nearly everyone evacuated.” She sighed a little. “I guess… I just can’t leave this place. But, hey, I do have pretty much an unlimited supply of food and medicine. And somepony has to keep all those wanderers entertained.” We passed the radio room, Hi-Fi switching over another record. “I’ll show you to the door, the password’s kind of complicated anyway.” Tom’s ears perked up as we trotted through the hall. Huh, I guess I never really thought of how tendons worked. “How far away can this station be heard?” I thought for a moment, the Stable looked like it had held up really well, it could probably be heard by anyone who had a Pip-Buck within a good 50 kilometers. Hi-Fi confirmed this and Tom’s grin widened a little more. “Say… you wouldn’t be looking for some new… heh, or old, talent, would you? I’m Tom Neighrer.” Hi-Fi stopped. “Wait, hold up just a bucking second here… Tom Neighrer? You've got to-” She turned to look at him, staring for a few moments. “Wha- I- yeah!” She said, a wide grin sprawling across her face. “I’ve heard some of your stuff, I really like it. I-If you really don’t mind…” Tom chuckled. “If my other option is heading back to Quebuck and playing for the brain-dead Ghouls, this sounds much more appealing.” He chuckled. We came to the entrance room, the lights a little dimmer than the rest of the Stable. Hi-Fi trotted over to the control panels, starting to punch in the password. Twintails turned to Tom. “Wait… you’re not coming with us?” His ears flopped down, looking disappointed. “But, I haven’t even told you my favorite song of yours! Or showed you my own songs, or-” He stopped, thinking about what he was saying. “Wow, I sound really creepy, don’t I?” I nodded, cringing slightly. Tom was matching my expression, though he quickly regained his composure. “Well, there’ll be a lot more songs coming out soon, don’t you worry. You won’t have to hear the same four songs over and over.” Hi-Fi glared at him. He shrugged, laughing a little. “Sorry, Hi-Fi, but I’m pretty sure I have your entire library memorized. Granted living for a couple hundred years may have played into that a little, but who knows, really?” Hi-Fi finished plugging in the password, the red light above the door starting to flash, alarms blaring. The huge metal beam lowered from the ceiling and connected itself to the gear. There was a painfully loud scraping sound as the gear was pulled from the door, then rolled aside, revealing a small tunnel leading to a wooden door. I thought back to Stable 76, sighing a little. …I shouldn’t have just run out. I should’ve at least said goodbye. I trotted into the cool cave, before I noticed Twintails wasn’t following me. I turned, before a smile found its way onto his mouth. I put my hoof up, trying to cover my snickering as Twintails had practically leaped onto Tom, pulling him into a hug. “Alright, but I’m holding you to that. We know where you live now.” He chuckled, heading out of the door. I smiled back and waved at Hi-Fi and Tom, the door starting to noisily roll back into its place. “Well, I guess we’d better head back to N.E.A.M.O., Megaspell Mary isn’t going to fix herself. I just wished we could’ve found that coil.” “We’ll find it soon enough. Besides, wouldn’t your Stable try contacting you if it really started to fail?” I asked, opening the door. The bright light blinded us for a moment, the cold air biting at our exposed flesh. Twintails shrugged, though I could tell he was still a little worried. “Don’t worry. If you’d like, we could head there as soon as we deliver the chips.” He smiled a little, flipping on the radio on his Pip-Buck. There was some silence before Hi-Fi/Bert came on. “Hey there, all you wasteland wanderers, we just got some new classics at the Station. Tom Neighrer crashed in just a while ago, and he’s here to dig up some of his old tunes and share them with all you raiders hopped up on Jet.” A bit of static, then a slightly garbled ragtime piano tune started up. First you’ll bow down on all fours To those mighty Alicorns Hang out with the highest class. And Kiss some ass Kiss some ass Kiss some ass Do whatever that would please ya’ If you don’t mind brown nos-ing ‘Tia Everypony say their own Kyrie Eleison Doing the Canterlot Rag! I bit back a laugh, lowering and shaking my head. “Twintails, did I just help a revolutionist?” Twintails just laughed along with me as we climbed down the side of the mountain towards the road to Mooscow. We arrived again in Mooscow late in the day, trotting up to the barricade, the talismans jangling a little in our saddlebags. We looked around, expecting Bloodbeak to pop out of the rubble. “Maybe security loosened up now that trade’s open again.” Twintails guessed. I tilted my head a little, I suppose it is a possibility. We opened the large oak doors into Mooscow proper, some ponies heading back and forth between stores. We headed back to the same hotel we’d stayed at the night before, waving hello to Old Colt Johnson as we passed him. A couple ponies behind him pointed and snickered, but he only laughed and ignored them. As we approached the hotel, my stomach grumbled loudly. I blushed, Twinatils’ stomach growling a little too. “Minty, how about you go on in and drop off the talismans. I’m going to go grab us some dinner.” Twintails said, heading off in another direction. I entered the hotel, wondering what Twintails was going to grab. Maybe we could get some daffodil subs. I walked up to the receptionist, a few fillies playing checkers as their parents chatted, drinking some coffee. I pulled out my bag of caps, but the mare waved it away. “Oh, no, don’t worry. Bloodbeak’s still paying for your stay. Trade’s been much better after you and your friend’s help.” She slid the key across the desk. “Room 206, the same one as before.” I took the key, thanking her and headed to the stairs. I rubbed my eyes, realizing how tired I actually was. I hope Twintails got back soon, I was ready to just flop down into bed right now. I unlocked the door to the room after climbing up four flights of stairs… jeez my legs were sore. I lifted my saddlebags off, making sure not to damage the chips inside or annoy the residents below us. I proceeded to slide the metal plating of my armor off, rolling my head around, and cracking my joints. Ooooh, that felt good. I flopped down onto the bed, noticing a copy of “Rusty’s Electronics: Volume III” on the nightstand. There was a third edition? I’d practically memorized the first two back in the Stable. I flipped it open, scanning the contents. Miniguns, Tesla Cannons, Balefire Egg Launchers, Gauss Rifles… looks like I just found the complete guide to big gun repair! I doubt they’d mind if this book went missing, I’ll just leave a generous tip on the table. There was a knock at the door just I’d turned to the schematics of a Flamer. I opened the door, Twintails walking in with a few chunks of… something wrapped up in cloth. “Hey, you lucked out; they just cooked up some bear meat when I got there! Heh... they were just surprised to've seen me eat a whole steak so fast the first time..." He handed me one of the wrapped hunk, unraveling the cloth around his own. I tentatively sniffed the bear meat - it actually smelled strangely enticing. I unwrapped the meat, my stomach growling again. I bit into it, my eyes widening a little as juice flowed over my tongue. I quickly devoured the meat, feeling the meat sit a little heavily in my gut. “Where did you get that, it was amazing!” I asked, Twintails having already eaten his chunk. “There’s this small restaurant halfway between here and Razorwing’s shop, maybe we can stop there before we head out in the morning.” I nodded, tossing the cloth in the garbage as Twintails took off his saddlebags and placed them next to mine. I flopped down in bed, Twintails climbing in on the other side. The arcane lamp beside the bed flicked off easily enough, leaving the room in darkness. --- I trotted through the maintenance areas of the Stable, the lights flickering slightly. Honestly, I swear I looked at the generator more often than I did a mirror. I opened the door, revealing the large beast - magnets spun wheels, arcs of lightning jumped between large coils, just the same as always. I quickly trotted up to the terminal, plugging my horn into a jack near the board. Achh… how does this generator create so much power and not send it to where it needs to go? My eyes filled with code, an organized chaos of numbers and letters rushing through my mind. Sparks flew as I attempted to rewrite the code, before the rumbling died down, the lights failing. I removed my horn from the terminal, doing my best to find my way around in the dark. I found my way to the back of the generator, pulling off an access panel, revealing a large collection of wires. I pulled at a couple, looking for any damage. “Minty?” A familiar voice asked from the darkness. I tried to look around the generator. Twintails… or, Cross Stitch must have found his way down. I fiddled with the wires, trying to power it back on before they reached the room. I yanked on a cord - suddenly a powerful rush of electricity coursed through my body, causing myself to violently shake, my horn taking a blow as the augmentations were overloaded. I yelled, my field of view filled with a bright light. --- I sat up in bed, breathing heavily and staring into that bright light again, my eyes adjusting. Bloodbeak was standing over us, holding a large electrical lamp in her claw. “Guys, guys, get up, there’s something you need to hear!” She dragged me away from Twintails, pulling me out of bed. She fiddled with my Pip-Leg, pulling up the radio. A new station had appeared, “Stable 34 EBS”. A robotic voice crackled on as Bloodbeak shook Twintails awake. “This is an automated distress message from Stable-Tec, Stable 34. Message begins.” The voice disappeared, replaced by an older, more feminine voice. Twintails’ pupils shrank as he recognized the voice. "This is Gamma Ray of Stable 34, reactor maintenance. We're not sure exactly what happened... dirty bomb, probably... but our Stable atrium is flooded with near-lethal radiation, and half of the Stable is dead or dying..." The mare drew in a labored breath, coughing. It sounded wet. "...somepony, anypony, please come and get us out of here. Twintails... if you're hearing this, I want to say... I'm sorry. There's no such thing as a Neutron-Dam-" She burst into a fit of coughing, spitting up a wet something and grunting. "...Coil. Mayflower thought that you were using the missing fuel rods to make a bomb... Twintails... I'm so sorry..." The mare on the radio began to silently start weeping. The robotic voice returned. “Message repeats.” I flipped off the radio, looking over at Twintails, who was struck dumb. He seemed to shudder, tuning his own pip-buck radio to the signal, Bloodbeak standing in the doorway, watching. I rubbed my eyes, fitting my armor back on and looking back to him, the pair of rifles madly swinging about on his saddle as he emptied his saddlebags, grabbing everything he needed from the pile. It was going to be one of those kind of days...