Fallout Equestria: Fly Away
By Freeflyingwolf
Chapter 23: Travel Talk
”Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about. ” Oscar Wilde
“If you didn’t have a cutie mark, what would you want to be?”
The first question of the day, brought to you by Legate Brute. The trio of equines had started off the day making a bonfire of the corpses. Brute wanted to simply let them rot, Sunshy was adamant and even Shooty felt it was the right thing to do. Even though they woke around dawn, it was roughly noon after the arguments, gathering of bodies, they burned them with accompanying prayers. The scorching sun had dried them out, and the lack of clouds meant the shower hadn’t lasted long.
As they continued their trek northward, Brute decided to be the one to break the silence. Of all the questions, that was probably the oddest.
“I’ve always wanted to be a doctor.” Sunshy replied immediately. Even without trying to stick up for Fluttershy, he knew the goal of being a doctor was a noble one, one everypony respected.
“What if you had a different coat color? What if your parents never pressured you to be a doctor?” Brute countered. How would he…?
“How did you know that?” The brother and sister chorused.
“Easy to piece together. Your appearance leads one to think of Fluttershy, most likely since birth; hence your parents probably took it upon themselves to pressure you into following in her hoofsteps. She was the only Ministry Mare Pegasi to not be shamed entirely by your own race.” Brute answered calmly.
“Even when you put it like that…” Sunshy paused and raked his mind for an answer.
Would he really have become a doctor if he was different physically? If he had a different coat color, no one would compare him to Fluttershy. Thus, no bullies; no bullies meant no reason to be weak and timid. If his mom never told him how much she wanted him to be a doctor, would he have bothered? A bunch of voices in his head started vying for answers—he could imagine that world in his head of his different personalities. Each one of them was trying to find an answer, throwing out ones suited to each personality aspect.
Would he still want to learn? Would he still care? Could he have become a bully? Just by a color change and adding on a few pounds of muscle? He was an egghead—intellectual!—by nature, he assumed. But what if that was also just part of studying the Ministry Mares and Medical Practice?
“I don’t need some tattoo on my flank to tell me who I am.” Shooty interrupted Sunshy’s musings.
He noticed that Lepus was hopping alongside, staring at him with worry. The pegasus gave the jackalope a reassuring smile. This was enough for him to jump onto the coat and armoured back and become situated between the wings.
“I spent all my life without a cutie mark. This only appeared a few months ago, and even then it wasn’t a big deal to me.” She continued.
Sunshy thought on that, too. Shooty was an oddity. Her cutie mark truly was about her personality. He wondered if she would even bat an eye if it was branded off. She’d probably whoop it up for having Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark over her own and ignore the ramifications that went along with that mark. Most others would freak out in a variety of ways if their cutie mark was even singed. There were five chapters dedicated to how ponies react to the scarring, loss, or other damage to their cutie marks in one of his psychiatric books.
It was clear that he would be one of those to react terribly to the loss of his cutie mark. He still remembered the day that it appeared. The day that he fell from the cloud cover, found Celly and Big Sol. The memory was hazy now, but he still remembered that moment in Zecora’s Hut upon discovering that his cutie mark had been earned. He would be devastated if it was suddenly marred. Most of all because it was Big Sol’s face on his flanks. Or at least, he liked to think so. It helped him whenever he became swept up in depression over losing his second father and first real father figure.
The mention of a father dredged up another piece of information. Now this he could use as an answer.
“My father died working for the Enclave, he was only a repair pony. That career was immediately gone after he died. Mom really disliked the Enclave after that. I heard a lot of what would be considered treason from her. So from an early age, mom drilled it into my head to be a good pony. I would have to be a good pony that could save other ponies, like the paramedics who tried to save dad. My colors had nothing to do with it.” Sunshy answered with a pleased smile.
“Mom hasn’t been in the Enclave for almost twenty years. She didn’t need to be after marrying my dad.” Shooty stated. “Whenever he wasn’t around, I’d hear the same sort of stuff. Like how blind everyone is to the truth. The wasteland isn’t poisoned and how the Enclave was brainwashing everypony, but she knew better. I never really understood what she was talking about. At least, until The Day of Sunshine and Rainbows, that is.”
“That day the clouds were removed by force?” Brute questioned.
“The same day I earned my cutie mark.” Shooty would have shown it off, but the cloudless, sunny day on her flank was covered with her armor. “What about you, Brute? Your mark is just this scythe you’re lugging around.”
“Hold that thought.” Brute stated and pointed with a hoof to something vague in the distance.
Shooty immediately took off to fly higher, taking a pair of binoculars with her. Lepus jumped up to sit on Sunshy’s head as the pony stood beside the large zebra. Far off in the distance, beyond where the air shimmered, there was a large gray blob. Brute cautiously continued walking, nickering to Sunshy to keep up and stay by his side.
A few moments later, the gray blob became discernible as a mass of moving zebras. No less than a dozen zebras in tattered red armour with the painted rearing lion walking in a row of two. Flanking each side were lionesses, too young to be breeding adults, but not so young that they could not hunt. From the way sunlight glinted off the relative face of one, it was guessed that that particular zebra had binoculars.
The two groups continued at their steady paces, though Lepus was wound up, prepared to strike at the drop of a hat. Once the opposite group was within shouting distance, they stopped. Brute stopped at the same time, which led Sunshy to stop. He checked the air—leaning his head back made Lepus fall onto the ground—to see a black winged speck in the sky, circling like a vulture.
“Ave!” Brute shouted with a booming, deep, authoritative voice. Sunshy swore the ground vibrated under his hooves.
“True to Caesar!”Came the shouted reply from what sounded like a mare.
”Which Caesar do you speak of?!”
”Thirteen, my good buck!”
Brute nodded and angled his way towards the group. Headshot landed next to Sunshy and asked what had happened. The older brother translated what the two had shouted as they followed their giant bodyguard. Lepus had returned to Sunshy’s back, facing away from him and pouting.
Once they were only a pony’s length away from this group, all the zebras in armor bowed. The lionesses just stared at the three with a bland expression before glancing around, on the lookout for anything threatening. The one mare in front wore a dress of red and gold with armour plates on the front. On her head was a headdress full of feathers of red and black.
The mare next to her wore the simple armour of foot soldiers, She had on a contraption to hold binoculars. Hold on, not all of them were zebras. Sunshy noticed the distinct horns of a buffalo, a horn of a unicorn, and the body figure of a donkey. Brute dipped his head to them, which was all they needed to return to standing up straight.
Sunshy had to keep himself from gasping. Those few not zebras were heavily scarred, even with their armour covering most of their bodies. It was almost impossible to tell what color the unicorn was with all the scar tissue. The buffalo was much too young to have such dead and cold eyes. The donkey had only one long ear, the other completely gone. Then the pony remembered his first day in Peponi, Caesar XII’s words, Or option two; you can become a fighter in my glorious Legion!
“You three won in the coliseum fights, didn’t you?” Sunshy questioned immediately, staring at the three odd ones out. Almost the entire group stared at him with a mix of reactions. Only the buffalo child with dead eyes answered with a nod.
”You let the slave speak out of turn?”The mare in front asked in a deceptively calm manner. She raised a hoof towards a machete in a holder on her side.
”Tall Soft Heart is no slave, Centurion. I’d thank you if you put your weapon away. None shall punish him so long as I am here to protect him.”
“Forgive me, Legate, I had a lapse in judgement. The coat should have given it away as much as the collar of Caesar.”
To punctuate her ‘sorrow’, the mare bowed with three legs down, her left one bent at the knee, and her head down.
”You are forgiven this time, Centurion. Now, report.”
“Sir!” The mare stood upright so fast that Sunshy was sure she got a head rush. ”We investigated the base of the northern mountains for the rumoured base of rebels. Instead we found a stable full of irradiation and ghouls.”
“What sort of ghouls?”
“A good portion were zombies, a count of five hundred, sir. We lost three good soldiers.”
Sunshy was astonished—as was Shooty when he translated. Only three died against that army?! Sunshy wondered if Shooty even really knew what a zombie ghoul was; the only ghoul she knew was Ditzy. Brute frowned, but why was unclear.
The mare continued her report. ”The remaining two hundred were sane, though they would not be for long down there. The other half of my team is escorting them to Radiation, where they will be able to slowly adjust to surface life with other ghouls.”
“Was there anything left of your fallen?”
“No, sir. They were brash younglings, went against orders, and were devoured in a massive swarm. We couldn’t bring back even bones.” The mare’s eyes misted over. She wiped the tears away with a leg before resuming a professional mask. “Must you translate everything, doctor?”
Sunshy paused in his translation to Shooty at the question. He decided that she didn’t need to know how dreadfully those three died and instead kept his mouth shut. “My sister can’t speak Zebra.” He explained simply.
“I haven’t even been here a whole week.” She shrugged with her wings.
“If you intend to stay longer, I suggest you learn.” The mare motioned to the unicorn.
A deep purple glow enveloped the horn and floated out a book from her saddlebags. He floated it over to Shooty and dropped it in front of her hooves. It was a picture of a grinning zebra mare and some squiggly runes the pegasus couldn’t read.
“It is a child’s alphabet book. Now you will learn to speak and read at the same time.” The lead mare stated with a smile. Shooty stared at the mare for any sign that she was being taunted, but found no such malice.
“Thank you very much, miss…” Shooty ventured as she put the book into Sunshy’s miscellaneous bag.
“Mana.” The leader dipped her head towards the group. “Is the road home clear, Legate?”
“Aye. Doombunny here made sure of that.” Brute replied with a snort, glancing to the jackalope.
At the mention of this other name, Lepus decided to poke his head over Sunshy’s head to examine the group before them. Most of the Legionaries stared at the jackalope in wonder. His ears folded down before he hid behind Sunshy’s head.
“Doombunny indeed. Imagine how terrible the original would have been with horns like that.” The mare next to Mana commented.
Brute shivered, “He was bad enough as he was.” Then he shook his head. “Thank you for the information, Centurion. Is there any chance they can be called upon for an alliance?”
“Undoubtedly. Those we rescued were in tears thanking us, probably because the feral ones had turned to eating each other.” The mare managed to suppress a shiver. “I think the reward greatly outweighs our loss. Many over few and all that.”
“One still does not need to lose their flesh and blood.” Brute replied with an empathetic look. Then he turned to the left and began walking forward. “You are dismissed to report back in Peponi. I am sure Caesar will be thrilled to know of these ghouls. Pegasi, with me.”
Sunshy dipped his head to the group before chasing after Brute. Shooty, however, walked over to Mana and gave her a kiss on the cheek before hurriedly flying away. The Centurion held a hoof to her cheek in wonder as she watched the Legate leave with the ponies. She then quickly resumed her business attitude and got her team marching again.
Their route returned to, the three fell into a silent walk. Shooty was the only one lazily floating in the air, once again. Lepus was basking in the sun on the back of the doctor. The younger sister decided to float near her brother and bother him.
“So…does you coltfriend have a silver tongue?” She asked lewdly, complete with a lecherous smile and the wiggling of eyebrows.
“Not so far as I know. But if he’s leader now, I guess he has to be someone who can get people to follow with just his words and—“
“She meant oral sex.” Brute interrupted, coupled with a muttering containing, “…still so innocent…”
“NO! No no no no no nononono NO. I am not telling you about my sex life.” Sunshy immediately ranted to Shooty, his face flushed orange.
“I’ll talk about mine if you do.” Shooty offered.
“That is seriously the last thing I want to ever talk about with you.” Sunshy retorted.
“I think my glyph mark would still have been a weapon.” Brute stated suddenly. It took a moment for the others to remember the conversation before the legionnaires showed up. “It was just the environment that I grew up in…”
“Were you always this big?” Sunshy questioned, eager for the topic change.
“I was a runt, actually. Even as an adult, I was barely bigger than a filly. The modifications to make me a cyberzebra are what made me this huge. Giant metallic bone structure, some sort of magic that would make fresh skin stretch and mold over it, hyper strength, super hearing and eyesight…Technically, the only thing that’s still me is my brain. Everything else is part of what science made or cobbled-together parts from other zebras.”
“Like one of those brain bots I’ve read about?” Shooty inquired. Sunshy thought to Ditzy Doo’s Wasteland Survival Guide
“Yes and no. Those things lack any sort of sanity and long ago gave into doing only what the robotic programming has them do. At least I still can convince myself that I’m mostly zebra. If you believe it’s true, then it isn’t a lie.” Brute answered impassively. Sunshy marvelled a little at that. He should team up with Ditzy Doo and write another Survival Guide.
“So if you’re mostly a robot, then how come you can still have kids?” Headshot questioned with skepticism.
“Apparently, all the attempts before me lacked that certain ability and it drove them to complete depression. The zebra…the person part of them gave up entirely. They were nothing more than robots doing only what they were told until they were terminated. Eventually, they found that letting us keep that part of ourselves keeps sanity together longer.”
“Why is that?” Shooty seemed to be a torrent of questions today.
“It’s impossible to explain to you. You don’t even have any part of you replaced.” Brute gave a look to Sunshy…to his fake left wing that glinted in the sunlight.
“Just try. Please?” She wasn’t pleading, but there was a hunger of curiosity in those eyes. She wouldn’t give up until she had an answer.
“Imagine that you can no longer truly feel any part of yourself. Sure, you know these parts of your body are there, since they react to what you want, but it’s missing something vital. Hard to put into words…but it’s the main factor in why those with artificial limbs have trouble adjusting and can take years to get a new part properly functioning. Feeling that in your entire body…just makes you feel…wrong There’s really no better way to describe it. But with sex, that sort of intimacy, that connection with another living creature…it makes you feel like you’re still flesh and blood. Still real and…alright. Even for just a little while.” Brute’s tone became almost wistful near the end. He stared forward, unfocused. Sunshy wondered what he was seeing.
“…I don’t really get it. Hopefully, I never will.” Shooty landed next to Sunshy and began walking beside him. She was staring at the ground in front of her hooves, deep in thought as she walked. He hoped she never would, too. The pegasus ruffled his wings, but only one of them had the feeling of being right. The other was simply metal following his command.
“I heard the same things were going on back in Equestria. Someone named Deuce had been terrorising that side of the wasteland for years. He’s probably been around as long as I have, maybe longer. Only I heard he’s metal on the outside, not inside.” Brute commented calmly. He also muttered something under his breath, the tone and glare on his face hinted that he disliked whatever it was.
“Wouldn’t be surprising. A lot of the time, each side does things relatively the same without ever being aware. Both sides had invented guns, but each side made them their own way.” Sunshy’s intellectual side stated.
“We need to speed up, or we’ll be behind another few days at this rate.”
Without any more warning, Brute charged forward at a gallop. Shooty decided to run beside him while Sunshy took up flying, as he knew that he couldn’t keep pace galloping for long. His endurance just felt better when he was flying. Once again, he chalked it up to his fake wing. Lepus gripped against the pony’s jacket with an iron grip, head down and ears folded back.
Against a machine that seemed unable to tire, Headshot’s legs gave up on her and so she was forced to take flight, but even that drained on her low level of endurance left. The only option she seemed open was to drape over his back as she had before.
Sunshy saw a glint of light on the roof of a building in a nearing city. Just before he could shout a warning, a shot was fired and Brute went down. The sniper shot straight into Brute’s front leg. This caused him to stumble and flip forward, sending Shooty flying into the dirt. She was coughing heavily from the dust and went to putting on her helmet, which had been hanging off her armour.
Brute attempted to stand, but then the wave came.
Raiders poured out of the building, whooping and hollering. Only a few were able to float weapons, most of them held guns in their mouths and shot frantically. They were more likely to hit their own allies, especially those that held melee weapons.
Before anyone could properly react, a grenade gun fired into the fray. The blast blew away Brute and Shooty, but the Raiders were too far to be affected. They were quickly closing in on the two, who were struggling to recover.
Sunshy had his gun out and was aiming into the rampage of murderous zebras. Another shot rang out and was quickly followed by a sharp burning in his only remaining wing. Through the tint of red creeping into his vision, he stared at the sniper. For whatever reason, he decided to put the rest of his energy into flying towards the roof.
This was apparently not what the sniper expected. His weapon was pointed back towards Brute and he had not noticed Sunshy until the pegasus was right at the end of the building’s roof. With his weapon ready, the pegasus shot a burst of three fire-laced bullets at the zebra. For not the first time, he was impressed at his own aim. The first hit the foreleg, the second the neck, and the third the head. The Raider was on fire by the first bullet.
Lepus somehow was off the pegasus and on the roof. He was pulling on the buck’s leg, trying to help him get on. Sunshy hadn’t noticed that he was only half-on; his back half was just hanging over the edge. With a shove, he pulled himself up and grunted through the weapon in his teeth. He dared to open his wing and move it to the front of his face. There was a shot straight through some muscle, but thank Celestia that his bones were fine. A couple drops of healing potion would suffice or maybe bandage pads to staunch the wound. Sunshy had his wing bandaged before he even registered doing anything.
Lepus snapped the pony out of his in-and-out haze by furiously stamping a leg down. The jackalope was at the door and frantically pointing. Sunshy spared a glance at the fallen sniper and grimaced at the charred body. Nothing left to scavenge on that. He did take a look through the scope of the sniper rifle.
Brute was slicing down raider after raider, but Shooty was unconscious on his back. The fear cloak was working enough that there was always a second of hesitation as they went to strike. That was the costly moment that allowed Brute to block or dodge and counter-attack. Whenever they were far enough away, he sliced at them with the scythe. Those that managed to get through the weapon met a gruesome fate involving a giant hoof forcing their faces to become good friends with the ground.
Feeling they were fine on their own and his aim through a scope would be less than acceptable, Sunshy followed Lepus through the door. Things were pitch black at first, but his eyes adjusted much faster than he thought they would. He smiled and sent a silent thank-you prayer to Luna. Lepus was hopping along, stopping to make a motion beckoning Sunshy to follow.
The pony did as his animal helper asked. As he held no real curiosity for scavenging, the pegasus was easily able to keep up with the hopping creature. Only once or twice did he stop to get an idea of what the building was. The assortment of desks everywhere gave the impression that this was some sort of office building.
Each desk held some ammo, caps, or other random small items. Along with them were old pre-war zebra coins of gold. They were stamped with the head of an old bald zebra on one side and Caesar’s mark on the other. There were engravings around the edges of both sides and in some sort of ancient zebra language he didn’t understand.
Even on the third floor from the roof, he found a soda vending machine. This one pictured a zebra mare posed seductively holding a black soda container near her neither region with a heated glance. She wore armour from the old Legion, but it was cut away so it was very revealing and barely armour at all. In Zebra, it read Legion Splendour! Cherry flavour, with a spike of the main ingredient in Mint-als! Near the bottom was a warning that they were not liable for overdoses and that it should not be given to children without parental supervision.
Upon placing an old zebra coin he had found in a desk into the machine, he got a bottle of the soda, now lukewarm. Lepus was at the doorway, stamping his leg impatiently, but Sunshy was taking the drink out. He popped the top, stowed away the cap, and took a sniff. Finding the smell pleasing, he decided to take a swig. Despite never having tasted a cherry before, he found that they were a sweet and tasty fruit. The soda wasn’t too bad, but—whoa!!
Sunshy opened his eyes wide as everything became clear. He could think better than ever! The secrets of the world were now in his hooves! The pony held the drink in his mouth as he galloped to the last desk he had found. There, he set down the drink after another swig and began writing things down using a pencil and one of those indestructible clipboards. He began scribbling away ideas as they flew through his brain. Every time the buzz flowing through him started to fade, he took another drink of the soda and felt refreshed. Lepus insistently pounding on his leg could wait, this was life-changing! The entire war itself would be shifted to Zen’s side! Oh Goddesses, how had he ever lived without this before?!
A large hoof came down and smashed the entire desk cracked. On a second look, the hoof was not that large, it was that there was a giant metal piece attached to the end. Also, it sparked electricity and smelled of ozone. Sunshy could only think of one thing.
“You ruined my notes!!” He shouted at the one who owned the hoof that turned his notes into cinders.
This happened to be a zebra buck roughly his size, but made with more muscle. There was a snarl on his scarred face, he had exactly thirty black stripes, his coat was dirty grey, no barding, either he was an idiot or confident in himself, there was a spark of insanity mixing with intelligence in his grey eyes. Confidence. A bit of sweat on his nose, mixing with spittle, a bit of a difference there. He smelled of a multitude of things, none of which were soap and hot water.
Instead of giving the Mint-al high pegasus a response, the zebra turned around and bucked him right in the chest. His body crashed against the opposing wall and let him fall to the ground. Five broken ribs, both lungs punctured, spine bruised, gun was on the ground. He shouldn’t have set it down when he went to pick up the pencil. He should have checked for raiders before going off and doing anything as dangerous as he had! Maybe this was why Lepus had been so eager to leave. Why couldn’t he notice this smell before? Because it obviously mixed with the odour of the rest of the building. Hindsight was 20/20.
As the doctor’s mind raced and his breathing felt like drowning, the raider walked closer. He sneered down at the mess before him. It was too easy, just one buck and this pony was down. The yellow pegasus coughed heavily. Blood flecked out and he grimaced at the sight. His lips began moving, as though he was muttering to himself.
The buck came forward again and raised a hoof. The weapon began crackling with lighting and smelled of ozone again. The doctor turned and stared at the gray eyes with fear. There was a second of hesitation as the Raider stared into those intense blue eyes. The high was wearing off, and the realisation dawned that he was going to die. With a twisted grin, the zebra stamped his hoof down.
The pony let out a scream of pain and fear, one that was forced to stop when blood ran up his throat and was forced out. He spat out a glob of the red life liquid mixed with spit. He panted and continued to feel as though he was drowning and every shallow breath brought intense pain. That brought up something confusing; that was the only pain.
Sunshy opened his eyes again and saw that he stared at metal. His wing?
The wing shoved forward without his brain’s consent. This caused the raider to stumble back. His smile was gone and replaced with an angry snarl. Both hoof weapons charged with electricity before he took the two steps closer, reared back, and stomped down.
Metal wing to the rescue once again!
Again without his consent, the wing shot out in front of his body and guarded the pony. Then he saw it. The shimmer of light that was just not right with the rest of the world. So it wasn’t so much the wing as it was the shield! The shield from the collar was actually working, thank the Goddesses. Sunshy had been worried that it wasn’t working at all, given the events that had transpired.
It was quite nice to know that his wing still came with this odd function of self-preservation, even if not really needed at the time. Still, a great comfort to know. Taking control of the wing, Sunshy changed it so the flat part of the wing faced upward, directly under the angry raider. He appeared to be attempting to force his way through the shield. Just to be safe, he did the same with his real wing; flat up, flight feathers down. He couldn’t hold that pose long, as it was rather unnatural and ached. Not much pain in comparison to his chest.
Lightning raider noticed this just as the second wing came out, but could not process what was going on before it was too late. Both wings shot upward and clipped the zebra on the underside of his chin. The metal wing was more forceful, but the overall attack was better with both wings. It was enough to send Lightning on the floor, but not enough to knock him out. He was cussing like his kind was expected to as he stood and rubbed his jaw. There was a trickle of blood and he spat out a few teeth.
The way the jaw wasn’t hinged right anymore led the doctor to realise that the jaw was completely broken. He hadn’t spit out that many teeth; those were also fragments of bone lying in the puddle of blood and saliva. That jaw would never be the same, that was for damn sure; might not be able to eat solid food for quite a while…if anything. Uh-oh. That glare the raider gave Sunshy promised a slow and painful death, if he would get a death at all. Nope, he was to expect a full life full of torture for that cheap shot. Eyes could certainly promise a lot if one stared enough or had quite the imagination.
And in the blink of an eye, Lightning raider was gone! One second there, the next, a flash of fur of varying colors, and then he was gone. There was a sickening crunch as his body hit something hard and unforgiving.
Sunshy struggled through the haze of pain to make sense of everything. He stared at the pool of spilled Legion Splendour in sorrow, wishing for it to give him ideas. No matter, he was still a genius by most standards. Another coughing fit rattled his confidence. Fuck, he had to deal with these broken bones. What he would do for a bit of unicorn magic, to see inside and set his ribs right without having to open himself up. Fuck. That was exactly what he would have to do.
~~Do you require aid?~~
The doctor started at the sound in his head, which set off another fit of coughing. The red around his vision was fading to black. Too much internal bleeding, he was fading and fast.
“Five…broken…ribs, both, ugh…lungs punct…ured.” He wheezed out.
His eyes were growing heavy. The pony fought the sleep, knowing he might never wake up. In his oxygen-deprived brain, he saw Goddess Luna flanked by a giant spike-covered mutation monster thing. Like a hedgehog mated with a porcupine and dipped in a vat of radiation. It was a giant monster with large fangs, two long arms coated with spikes and claws that would put a hellhound to shame, and two long legs with giant feet. Its head held horns and spikes of all sorts. What he could see of the back was a mass of pokey things. Man, his brain gave him some weird hallucinations. Goddess Luna was leaning towards him, her horn aglow with a light blue.
~~You may sleep now. I shall fix you while you slumber.~~
That sounded like a fantastic idea, Princess Luna.
Groggy, but in a lot less pain, Sunshy was once again in the world of the living. There were bright brown eyes staring at him. Hope came and went as he realised one eye did not hold a red beam of light. They were shaped too oddly, as well. There was still a spark of intelligence in them, but not nearly as bright as the eyes he hoped for. The brown orbs moved away and let Sunshy see that they belonged to Lepus, the little jackalope that had probably been watching over him as he slept.
“Hey! Hey! Over here!” Lepus shouted off to the right.
Sunshy lifted his head up enough to see that he was still inside the building, or a building at the least. The room was spacious, just the way he liked them. He lied down on a mattress on the floor, one that was about as soft as the concrete floor had to be. There was a desk shoved up against the wall, next to some opened and empty lockers and another Legion Splendour machine. A soda sounded really good right about now.
Just as Sunshy was getting up to get that delicious-sounding soda, his companions walked into the room. Brute was immediately relieved and let the tension melt off his body. Shooty squealed and flew at him, clutching him in a tight hug. Lepus pounded on her leg to get her to loosen her grip.
“I saw Princess Luna! She was right here! I think She healed me.” Sunshy stated as soon as his mind decided to be functioning with oxygen levels normal.
“That was me, little pegasus.” A voice with years of caring spoke softly.
A dark purple Alicorn walked into the room. Her mane and tail were magenta and were set in nice waves. She walked forward and looked down at the yellow pegasus in boarding. In the dying light of the sun, he could see that she had a cutie mark of a grinning unicorn skeleton.
“I am Doctor Bones. How are you feeling?” She smiled softly as her horn glowed with a soft blue color.
“Fine, miss. So are my ribs fixed, lungs stitched together, and spine un-bruised?” Sunshy questioned politely.
She was silent for a moment as her horn moved over his body. Then she smiled as she pulled back and nodded, the color around her horn faded. “Perfectly fine now.”
“You had impeccable timing, Doctor Bones.” Brute stated with a hint of suspicion.
“Mister Caesar sent me after receiving a multitude of warning of your dire state. He wanted to make sure everyone was safe and unbroken. If they were, I’d fix them. Simple as that.” She replied with her soft smile still on her muzzle.
“We can’t thank you enough, Doctor Bones. Really, thank you so much for saving my brother.” Shooty stated as she walked over to the Alicorn and looked up at her. Doctor Bones moved a wing out and brushed away a tear.
“No need for those, miss Headshot. Everypony is safe and sound, and that is my only payment needed. I must get back and report this success. I hope you accomplish whatever it is you’re doing.” She then teleported away, still smiling in a motherly fashion. The flash left an imprint of her image as a ghost.
“So what happened with you two?” Sunshy questioned, wanting to know what had happened since he entered the building.
“We should ask you the same thing.” Shooty retorted with a punch on his shoulder.
“I can only guess that the sniper had rounds powerful enough to penetrate the shield on our collars. And I got most of my injuries when this raider with some lightning-powered hoof attachments bucked me into a wall. Not the first time I curse my small frame.” Sunshy explained.
“We have once again wasted too much time here, we need to get going.” Brute stamped a hoof down, which shockingly made a bit of electricity. Gazing down at his hooves, Sunshy found the cyberzebra had taken the weapons off the raider. Noticing this, the zebra waved one electric-powered hoof, “I might as well take them. Half of those raiders got past my scythe, so if this ever happens again, I’m well prepared.”
“I don’t think you need it, sunshine. You turned half of those raiders into brain soup.” Shooty stated.
“How would you know, you passed out.”
“Excuse me for never dealing with a grenade landing at my fucking hooves before!”
“You’re excused.”
“You wanna pick a fight, tough guy?!”
“You’re grossly overreacting, Headshot. Besides, I would be stripped of my rank, if not my life, if I was the one to harm you.”
“Good, then take this like a stallion!”
Shooty proceeded to turn around and buck Brute in the chest as hard as she could. This only resulted in her landing face-first on the ground in a rather awkward position. Brute just stared impassively down at her.
“Sunshy, we should lea—what are you doing!?”
Brute was dumbstruck as he saw Sunshy drinking a new bottle of Legion Splendour. There were precisely five bottles around him. Lepus was in the middle of placing them in Sunshy’s saddlebox. They both froze and stared at him.
“I’m packing away some refreshments?” Sunshy replied in question.
“Do you know what is in those?” Brute growled, his face contorting into a deep frown.
“The main ingredient in Mint-als and a refreshing cherry flavor.” Sunshy answered after another small sip.
“Do you know what a Mint-al even is?”
“Sure, I dealt with addicts back in Roaming.”
Brute gave a huff and a stomp of his newly electric-powered hooves. It was obvious he didn’t like this idea.
“If I see even the slightest sign of addiction—“
“I know the signs and I know what the addicts felt, at least what they told me. I’ll be careful. These drinks can’t be nearly as powerful as the actual drug.” Sunshy took another drink of the soda as Lepus returned to packing the last of the drinks. The zebra frowned deeply at this, but made no more argument.
Shooty walked over and took a bottle before the jackalope could pack that one. She popped the top, put the cap away, and then took a long pull. Sunshy jumped up and took the bottle from her, making it spill onto the floor, and then the doctor turned her head and squeezed the soda out of her mouth. It sprayed against the wall and got her to glare at Sunshy.
“Didn’t you hear anything we were saying?! This stuff has an addictive substance inside it, and you can’t just drink a huge mouthful! Who knows how many Mint-als is comparable to one drink. I’m rationing mine this time.”
“This time?” Brute grumbled, a darkening look crossing his face.
“Yes, I drank another one pretty quickly, new to the rush and all. I had just gotten some good ideas and kept drinking it and writing them down.” Sunshy admitted. “I think I knew how to win this war, but that’s ridiculous, I don’t even know much at all about what’s going on.”
“Okay, so it’s a drug, but why are you all uptight about it?” Shooty asked Brute after wiping her soda-coated mouth with an armoured wing.
“I’ve seen what happens to those who fall into the hooves of drug abuse in times of war. Weak-willed zebras who are too scared to admit that they are not suited for the war. Comrades I was ashamed of. I’d rather not see my charges fall onto the same path. I can only imagine the punishment Caesar would give me. Most likely, I would have a chip to receive pain placed in my lost section, then subjected to—“
“Shut up!”
All three being started and stared at Sunshy. The pony grit his teeth and glared at Brute. Shooty moved back a few steps in fear. Sunshy was scary when he was angry, mostly because she had never seen him angry at all.
“Zen wouldn’t do something like that! Don’t you darelook down on him!” Sunshy yelled at the cyberzebra.
Brute was stunned into silence for a while. He recovered by coughing into his hoof and shook the shock from his face. “I…apologise for saying such things. I have not known this Caesar for too long, so my ideas of punishment are based on previous leaders. Some who had done just…just that.”
“Okay, just…don’t think of him like that again.” Sunshy bent down to let Lepus jump onto his back.
“Damn, Sunny, nice to know you do have some balls.” Shooty chuckled a little.
“Just come on, we’re going.” Sunshy stated.
He walked outside the room and started towards the stairs. Then he spotted the bloodstain. It was all against the wall, some on the ceiling, still dripping. There was mercifully no corpse.
“It was like that when we got here.” Brute intoned.
Sunshy nodded silently and descended down the stairs. The others followed him in silence. This silence followed them like smog as they continued walking north-westish.
Brute stayed at the front, being their bodyguard as well as their intimidation factor. Shooty stated every time a hostile appeared and pointed in the vague direction of the mark in her helmet’s vision. Brute would make them stay a safe distance away while he went and dealt with the hostilities.
“Friendlies!!” Shooty shouted with enthusiasm.
Before anyone could stop her, she charged forward, stripping her helmet and letting it roll after tossing it aside. Before them was a shack with the symbol of a gear and wrench. A figure walked outside, stared at the rapidly approaching female pegasus. He only managed to yell in surprise before Headshot tackled him onto the ground.
The other two hoofed creatures charged after her; Sunshy stopped just long enough to scoop up his sister’s helmet. Something made him put it on his back, which led it to be hanging off Lepus, who was too concerned with holding onto the pony’s coat to care.
Brute bit Shooty’s mane and tore her off the buck, who was staring into space with wide, shocked, and scared blue eyes. His coat was a creamy yellow, his mane and tail were brown, and he wore a white cloak with a strange cylinder holstered on his belt. Sunshy held out a hoof in help, which seemed to snap the buck out of his stupor. As Sunshy mostly let the buck pull himself up, he noticed the ruffling of wings. Another pegasus!
“You’re pegasi?” The buck had a young voice and sounded as shocked as Sunshy felt.
“Two out of four.” Sunshy offered with a smile.
“Four? Oh, the thing on your back. Here, let me help.” The buck walked to Sunshy’s back and removed the helmet from Lepus. He dropped it in shock upon seeing the jackalope and stepped back. “Mutated rabbit?”
“No, just a jackalope, a rare breed of magical creatures. Anyway, I’m Sunshy, this tall bodyguard here is Brute, and the one who I’m sorry to say tackled you is my sister Headshot.” Sunshy offered his hoof to shake this time. The other pegasus male pressed his own against it and shook politely with a smile.
“I’m Skywalker. My father and sister work here with me making miscellaneous tech on request. So, do you need anything? I’d love to show you some of our stuff.” Skywalker motioned that they were welcome to go inside.
At that point, Shooty walked forward with a long face and her ears folded back. Brute was walking behind her, staring down with a stern stare. She kicked her hoof against the dirt and muttered, “I’m sorry for tackling you. Just seen so many mean people around…I was too excited. So, sorry.”
“It’s fine; we don’t see many friendly people out this far aside from the ghouls from Radiation.” He waved her apology off with a hoof and a smile. Sunshy was brightened by this pony’s lighthearted attitude.
“Son? Who’s out there?” A deep voice called out from inside the shack.
“Just some people passing by, dad!” Skywalker called back.
“Whoa, what’s your cutie mark? Is it a moon?” Shooty was scrutinising the buck’s flanks so close that he blushed and moved back.
“That’s no moon.”
Sunshy jumped back, his wings flared in preparation to fly away at the creature that walked outside. It was in the shape of a pony or zebra, a male. The entire body was coated in black armour, like those of Steel Rangers or Children of Mars. There was the sound of a respirator in his helmet at work, a deep sound of inhaling and the softer sound of exhaling. This buck was about as big as Sunshy, but his armour suggested his body was much more filled out.
“That is the picture of our signature electronic. I call it The Death Star.” There was the sound of him breathing breaking every few words.
“I’ll bring one out for you.” Skywalker trotted inside.
“So…any particular reason for you three to be here?” The buck asked. It was hard to tell a tone of voice, it just sounded monotone.
“Just passing through, though I suppose we would be willing to pay for a safe place to spend the night.” Brute stated calmly.
“You’re the Legate in this ‘Reformed Legion’ I’ve heard about. I don’t care for anyone enslaving my children.” The buck managed to sound threatening even with his breathing interrupting it. Sunshy linked it to the deep voice he possessed.
“Caesar thirteen dislikes slave labour, seeing as how his buckfriend here,” Brute hovered a hoof over Sunshy’s head, “was turned into a slave for a short period of time. He is doing his best to abolish it altogether. Rest assured I am not here to take away your children.” The Legate put his hoof back down.
“That’s kind of the last thing he’d ever do to a father, seeing as how he’s been one quite a few times.” Shooty commented. Sunshy expected Brute to glare at her at the least, but he only nodded to the armoured buck.
“I am Dark Invader, if my son failed to mention that. His sister is Leia. A poorly chosen name, as it means ‘delicate’ and she’s quite the tomboy. Her mother named them both.”
“I’m guessing that she’s passed on.” Shooty stated almost impassively.
“You’re quite the perceptive one.” Dark stated.
“Shooty, you really need to learn to stop being so blunt and impulsive.” Sunshy scolded.
“Your son is taking an awfully long time.” Brute commented as he peaked over to peer inside the shack.
“Leia has been feeling unwell lately. With the lack of doctors available—“
Sunshy needed no more before he went inside. Shooty mentioned something about impulsiveness as he went in, but he missed most of whatever she said. Probably something sarcastic or snarky.
The shack was shockingly tidy and well-kept. The ground was lined with cardboard dusted with hoof prints going to and fro—a little mat at the front stated ‘Wipe your hooves’. All along every inch of wall was covered with shelves upon shelves of wires, scrap, hubcaps, metal bits, guts of robots, bits of armour, and enough paint to coat the shack five times over. There was a weak light bulb dangling from the ceiling, surrounded by more colourful wires. The pegasus would have been more claustrophobic if his mind wasn’t set on helping a patient.
Sunshy followed the sound of murmurs and went into a smaller room, this one devoid of anything technological. Instead, it was decorated with beam rifles and pistols, ammo, and two outfits—one long white dress and one brown leather armour with a helmet that completely covered the face. There was a stand to the side with a large piece of a mirror leaning against the wall atop the desk.
Sunshy noticed it along with the lonely brush left on top of the desk. He glanced at himself and Lepus on his back. If he didn’t know that it was himself, he would have been deeply disturbed by the picture the glass reflected. A skinny yellow pegasus with one disheveled wing, the other metal. What you could see of his yellow coat was turning grimy and coated in dust. His red hair was highly unkempt and short, so depressingly short. His doctor’s coat was turning brown, his saddle boxes were dented and the paint flaking. Then there was a rabbit with horns on his head staring at the mirror as well.
Lepus leapt off Sunshy and landed on the desk to get a better look and began grooming himself. Sunshy shook his head and stared forward. There was a mare with a copper coat and messy, uncared-for brown hair lying on a cot, Skywalker sitting next to her head. It looked as though it was once in some strange buns at the sides of her head, but clumps of her hair were falling loose. Her eyes were half-closed and she was muttering something to her brother.
Skywalker was sitting at the head of her bed, watching over her and stroking her mane. Hovering by his head were two representations of his cutie mark. There were these two orbs no bigger than softballs, painted black. They floated and spun around his head, dipping a few times, but kept a relatively steady orbit around his head.
As the pegasus doctor came closer, both froze and turned simultaneously, pointing an indent in the sphere at him. Skywalker turned and stared at him questioningly.
“Don’t worry, I’m a doctor. I can help.” Sunshy told him with a smile.
“Really? I thought the coat was just for show. Please, take a look at her.” Skywalker stepped back and motioned with a wing for the Death Stars to move with him. They turned passive and began dance-orbiting around his head again. The pegasus was surprised to see that his sister was an earth pony.
Sunshy stepped forward and noticed Lepus was at his side once again. The jackalope had his medicinal side opened and held out a stethoscope. The doctor pony put the ends in his ears and breathed onto the metal end in an attempt to make it warmer. Then he placed it on the mare’s chest. He placed the circular end in multiple places before stowing it away.
He pulled out a small flashlight and a tongue depressor. First, he opened her eyes wide and shined the light into each one, watching with a practised study at the rate of her pupil contraction. With Skywalker’s help, the doctor coaxed her to open her mouth. Lepus helped by holding the tongue down with the depressor while Sunshy beamed the flashlight into her throat. The doctor frowned and hummed before he turned the flashlight off. He placed the flashlight away while Lepus went to throw away the slobber-coated flat stick.
The doctor managed to get her to sit upright just long enough for him to rub both of her throat glands. Once he was done doing that, he used an otoscope to check her ears. Then he gave her the alright to lie back down. Sunshy bit the blanket at the end of the cot and pulled it over her body. She gave a weak ‘thank you’ before falling to sleep.
“It’s a good thing we wandered here when we did.” Sunshy told Skywalker, standing before him seriously, “She has an infection, just in the beginning stages so far. Give her two of these with food until she recovers, along with plenty of bed rest and fluids. Clean water would be better, but if you lack enough of it, sodas should be an acceptable substitute. I’d say away from anything with radiation or ingredients linked to mind-altering drugs.”
Sunshy handed over a clear bottle full of small, uneven ovals the color of mud. Skywalker stared at them before glancing to Sunshy inquisitively, as though wondering the credibility of his medical skills.
“Hoof-made pills made of herbs from the Everfree Forest. Nothing malignant, I swear. I’ve used these on myself more than once and I’m still standing.”
“So…these’ll make Leia better? How soon?” The concerned brother questioned.
“It depends on her will to fight the infection, since medicine can only do so much. A lot depends on luck, timing, the patient’s will, and sometimes a bit of faith when things are severe. But I don’t think you need the help of any gods or goddesses this time.”
“Well, that certainly is a relief. How can we repay you?”
“I’d like one of those things floating around your head.” Shooty said, appearing from absolutely nowhere.
Sunshy jumped at least an inch into the air and stared hard at her in shock. There had been nothing to warn him that she was there. Taking another look, he noticed that Brute and Dark Invader were standing in the doorway, while Shooty was the only other pony inside the room. Skywalker smiled and poked one of the Death Stars with a hoof.
“Relinquish mode one-one-seven-three. Primary objective change: Name remove Skywalker. Owner change to Headshot, pegasi mare of The Grand Enclave, engage. Hookup to armour wirelessly code four-eight-ten.” Skywalker spoke to the device.
It made strange beeps and whirring mechanical sounds. Moments later, it zoomed forward and began dance-orbiting around Shooty’s head. She giggled and stamped her hooves in excitement. The ponies cracked smiles as she began turning in a circle in an attempt to follow the orb around her head.
“Can you teach me to use it?” She asked after stopping her spinning, wobbling on her hooves.
“Sure, come on, I’ll take you outside. We’ve got a shooting range you can use.” Skywalker stood up and walked past Sunshy, going towards the exit of the room.
The black armoured father stepped back as his son and Shooty walked by. As Skywalker passed him, the buck nuzzled his head between the ears, eliciting a chuckle from the cream-colored buck. The two pegasi took a back door outside. Lepus jumped back onto his master’s back before the pony walked out of the room.
“Thank you for helping my daughter.” Dark dipped his head down towards the doctor.
“It was my pleasure.” Sunshy replied honestly. And it was. He smiled up to Brute and stated, “Being a doctor was and always will be my true reason for living.”
He snorted and his face contorted as though he didn’t know what emotion to show. He settled on a half-hearted frown. “I have many things to say about that attitude. I’ll spare you them in light of your caring personality.”
“You’re all welcome to stay here for the night. Just follow me.”
The pony and cyberzebra followed the large armoured buck. He led them into another room off to the back right. Sunshy tried not to hyperventilate at the confined space. Surrounded by walls, two big stallions, and in a small space. The doctor had to stay strong.
As soon as the father left the room, he was alone with Lepus and Brute, who stayed in the cluttered spare room with him to guard him. Lepus noticed how Sunshy was fighting a losing battle against his claustrophobia, so he began jabbing Brute with his horns until the zebra left. Then the jackalope cuddled up to the pony and let him clutch him until the terrors passed. The exertion of the day wore on him, lulling him into a deep sleep moments later.
Level up! You are now level 23!
Perk added! Close-knit family: You have gained a deeper appreciation for your new family. You and all companions have gained a +5 Damage Threshold, and a +25% boost to nerve when one is injured.
~*~