//------------------------------// // The Old City, Part Two // Story: Fallout Equestria: Enslaved // by Peewee the Dragon //------------------------------// -Location: Grand Central Terminal Viaduct- The Diamond Dog was finding the same situation nearly everywhere they went. Sentries, Spider-bots, all in manageable numbers, but he was getting concerned. It had to be because of the ship, bots' first instincts were to destroy or surround disturbances in their sensor fields. With the magnitude of the crash, it must have wakened every bot within a 100 or so mile radius. The Diamond Dog was deciding that it might be too risky to bring the mare along and contemplated on forcing her to hide herself somewhere until he got to the ship and brought back his aircraft. However, she held all the cards and he couldn't force her. The Diamond Dog helped her past the last few bots, destroying them after she got to the security door, and sighed with relief. Finally! They had caught a break when they found an ancient tree that towered nearly as high as the stone buildings. "Look at this tree," the mare remarked, "It must be hundreds of years old." She stared at it in wonder, again, like a filly. The Diamond Dog shook his head and looked up with her, mechanical Spite-bots whizzing around in the air and the branches. His blue eyes scanned the tree's curves and growths, calling him back to a time when things were much, much simpler. When he didn't have to deal with having to protect some Pony who was holding him against his will. She proceeded on to a path around the tree, advancing towards a colorful field of flowers. However, he dashed towards her and held out his arm, preventing her from taking one more step. "Wait!" he told her quietly. Something wasn't right; he could feel it in the air. There were several sparking bots that laid in ruin around the flowers, but they couldn't have been defeated in combat, the damage was too severe. "The road ahead's mined," he deduced, watching as the flowers swayed gently, belaying the awaiting death that came with disturbing it, "We need to find another way." "I think I might be able to do something," the mare replied after a few seconds of thinking, "Follow me." The mare was excited, smiling, and touched his arm to get him to follow as she turned around and headed back towards the tree. "Hey!" he called after her, shaking his head again at the recklessness she showed. This wasn't some game, he thought, it was a dangerous world, with dangerous bots and dangerous Ponies. However, he still had to follow her as the collar wouldn't allow him to wander far from her or her objectives. He came up next to her and saw her pointing at the mechanical bugs. "See the Sprite-bots? I need you to catch one," she told him, and he looked at her incredulously as she wandered away to stare at them. "What in Tartarus are you talking about?" he asked. She was asking him to catch bugs…seriously? "I'm not commanding you, I'm asking you," she had come back to him and was looking him straight in the eye, something she wasn't able to do until now. The Diamond Dog stared back at her for a second, then closed his mouth and looked up at the tree, watching the dazzling greens, reds, and blues of the robotic bugs. He knew he was going to regret this, but since she finally decided to ease up on the parole measures… "The branches are up pretty high," he responded, the mare smiling with delight that he agreed. He honestly couldn't believe he was doing this. She walked over to a side of the building where an iron bar outcropping caught her eye. "What about that ladder? If you lift me up, maybe I could drop it down for you," she offered, and he came over, throwing her up to the top. "So, you want me to catch one of these Sprite-bots?" he asked, just making sure since it seemed like such a random and meaningless thing to do. He didn't hear an answer from her until she figured out how to get the ladder to go down, grunting out her answer. "It might be difficult…" she told him as he climbed up, "They frighten easily and they're quick." The Diamond Dog decided not to tell her that he already had experiences with Sprite-bots, seeing as how he just wanted to get this over with. Trying to catch one had frustrated him before, he was sure it would do so again. "There's one! Right there!" she began fiddling with the digital readout, "I'll put it up on your display." He saw the Sprite-bot light up and nodded, beginning his ascent towards it. However, just as he predicted, it was tricky and frustrating just getting near it. "It's just…it's-it's right over there! It's just-" he knew that she was trying to help, but this was getting him even more pissed off if anything and wanted her to shut up. "I know, I can see it. I'm not blind," he grumbled, using his expert climbing skills, "Will you stay still?" He remembered the last time he had to catch a Sprite-bot, and it was just as ridiculous now as it was back then. Not being told why was another similar factor. The Diamond Dog just hoped that the mare had a good explanation other than that they were 'pretty'. He saw another opportunity to grab the darn thing and latched onto a pipe, scurrying up it to reach the robotic nuisance. "Come on…" he swung his large paw at it, trying to snatch it out of the air when he shook the pipe too much and it fell down, almost slamming him into the grates had he not let go of at the last second, "Oh, God damn it!" "Be careful!" he heard the mare say and he grimaced again, glancing down at her position. However, with her hooves cupped around her mouth and her eyes wide again, he couldn't bring himself to snap at her despite her authoritative tone. What was wrong with him? "Thank you," he replied, somewhat sincerely and mildly. He didn't catch the surprised look the mare gave him and a slight blush as she watched him run across to the other side of the stone building. Again, she couldn't help but admire the Diamond Dog's form, even though they were on a mission. He was just so…honed, something she had never really seen before in her community. Sure, there were strong Stallions, but they were burly, slow moving, and kind of on the heavy side. This Diamond Dog was lithe, flexible, even the stronger Stallions in her community didn't have the strength and stamina to beat off the bots like he had and certainly not the skill. She couldn't help but gloat over her decision to enslave him, but a large piece of her heart sunk every time she thought about the fact that she had enslaved him. It was one thing for Slavers to do it, but for a Pony to a Diamond Dog who wasn't involved in her struggles…she'd keep her promise, she swore it. Even if it meant he'd bite her head off. "You worthless ! I'm bug gonna kill ya!" his words snapped her out of her reverie and she saw him finally sprinting across the tree and his long and agile figure caught her eye again. Did she mention that his height, tall, was another factor she liked about him? The mare knew she was drawn to him physically at this point, even though they had only known each other for several hours. She didn't know his name, age, where he was born, or even if he had killed a Pony, although that might have gone without explanation. However, to her, it didn't matter. As dramatic and somewhat overly-romanticized as it sounds, she was a young filly at heart, and what little filly doesn't wish for a handsome and buff prince to whisk her away from this world only filled with bots and death? "Oh, what a day…" he remarked, and the mare looked back up at him, but then noticed he was showing her his backside. 'Wow, that is…really nice,' she thought, instantly blushing when she thought of it. "Hey…you okay? This thing is beeping like crazy in my head," the Diamond Dog looked down at her, eyes cringing as he touched his collar. She shook her head and told him she was fine. He continued on his epic quest to get the Sprite-bot and she stayed there, watching him. She'd have to reprogram the collar to only recognize dire stress, but for now, she was content to watch him. It was also nice to know that he worried about her like that. A smaller, darker thought was lurking in her mind. Once they reached the community, she knew that once the initial appearance was over-looked, he'd be swarmed by the other young mares that were there. Her delicate eyebrows knitted together in a small jealous twinge. The mare knew she wasn't a bad catch either, but in the presence of this Diamond Dog, was she good enough? Then, she remembered what they were doing and she looked up, wanting to distract herself from the 'what ifs'. "Did you catch it yet?" "No, no, not yet!" he yelled back to her, the frustration entering his tone of voice once again. She backed off and let the Diamond Dog do his thing, deciding that it was unwise to make him any angrier than he probably already was. Sprite-bots were hard to catch if one were to rely on athletic ability alone. Strategy and a calm mind were needed to get one, and even then it was hard. "Got it!" her eyes widened when he shouted it. "That's great! Bring it back down here!" she was glad that he had caught it, but again her mind wandered and whirled out of control as she wondered if he had ever lain with anyone, seeing as he was an exemplar example of a Diamond Dog. She was sure that his category of Diamond Dog: chivalrous (when he wanted/needed to be), handsome, strong, flexible, and even somewhat of strategist, was dying out or perhaps that he was the only one left. Yes, when she examined and weighed his negatives and positives, he was certainly someone with a ton of benefits. Sure, he could be uncouth and his manners were somewhat below expectations, but it was tempered with an ability to be reasonable and a willingness to learn. A flicker of movement caught her eye and saw the Diamond Dog slide down a pipe to her. She met him with a smile and bright eyes, but all he did was give her tired glare and throw her the Sprite-bot. Her face fell and the childlike and wide eyes looked at him again, the mare's mind focusing on the task at hoof now. "I used to play with Sprite-bots all the time as a filly," she squatted down to set the delicate machinery on a stone in front of her, "My father said that somepony he knew from a long time ago helped him catch Sprite-bots too. He said that they built character and made you think, so he encouraged me to figure out how to catch them on my own. I always used to admire them because they could fly and had such beautiful wings. Didn't you?" "No, I used to squash them," he replied, pacing and irritated, "Was too busy figuring out how to catch them and their color is made by those lights on the inside of its body, so when I squished 'em…" He looked to her and saw her eyes wide again, causing him to shut up. The Diamond Dog didn't want to scare her into incompetence. He turned away and waited until she had started working again to observe what she was doing. "They evolved some simple sensors to help them sniff out energy sources," he continued to watch her as she fiddled with the damn thing that took him so long to catch, "Hmm…they're pretty basic, but…for our purposes, they'll do the trick…" Again, she was lost in her ramblings and he took the opportunity to just assess her. The mare was a pretty enough thing, but the environment wasn't doing anything good for her. Although it probably contributed to her slimness, seeing as how the out-of-shape were the first to die in this bot-filled jungle, but besides that, it had somewhat greased her mane so that when it fell out of her bun, it fell in ropy groups. Her face and entire body was dirty too, although he supposed it was similar to the pot calling the kettle black when he hadn't washed in a while either. However, her body was pretty nice, long legs, thin waist, and a nice- "Done!" she exclaimed, and she opened her hooves to let the Sprite-bot have some room to flit around. It rose and shook its robotic head before flying toward the Diamond Dog, observing him for a second before squeaking in terror and flying towards the mare. It settled on her head much like an accessory and walked up to him. "Keep still," she told him, and he did, watching the digital readout on her leg appear in front of him. The mare was sifting through data, pictures of things like his collar and the Sprite-bot whizzing by his eyes before he focused on the mare through it. He looked at her eyes which were darting here and there, trying to do…whatever it is she was doing, and found that they were indeed a nice shade of jade. They were…pretty. He almost smacked himself when he thought that and was glad that the collar only received and didn't send any wanton information back to her. "There," the wall of data and symbols disappeared between them and they both stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds, the atmosphere becoming tense. The word she uttered was ended with a catch in her breath and she suddenly seemed shifty, nervous, and uncomfortable. However, the Diamond Dog continued to look her in the eyes, as was his custom when dealing with Ponies. He was taught that whenever dealing with a Pony, their eyes would be telling the truth, not their mouths. "It's now set up to send a live relay to your collar," she spoke again after the small awkward moment, "It has a camera setting, and a sensor setting." "So?" he replied in a soft grunting voice, eyebrows lifting. Her mouth opened, but she still seemed uncomfortable. It closed for another second before opening. "Try it out," she told him, then turned away, "Here, follow me." They traveled back to the minefield of flowers and she took the Sprite-bot off her head, sending it up to fly and hover over the area in front of them. "You should be able to see the mines on your headband display," she informed him, the Diamond Dog's eyes widening as small orange circles with blue spheres in the center began appearing in his vision everywhere the Sprite-bot went, "What do you think? It's pretty cool, huh?" He had his paws on his hips and was continuing to look at the mines before turning to her, seeing that she was watching him intently to observe his reaction. Needless to say, he was mildly impressed. "Yeah…" he replied and she gave a smile, one that caught his eye, "Yeah, it's pretty cool." She continued to smile, her heart soaring as she realized that she wasn't just a burden to him anymore. Not that she considered herself to be one, but she certainly couldn't fight the bots and maneuver around the terrain like the Diamond Dog could. "Can you take me through the mines?" she asked, the Diamond Dog turning to her again, "I can't see where they are…" She was planning on him holding her hoof or something, but he nodded and then turned his back to her, crouching slightly. The mare looked at him in confusion and the Diamond Dog looked over his shoulder at her impatiently. "C'mon, haven't got all day," he grumbled at her. She understood what he was going to do now and she was surprised, yet happy. Being carried around by him was even better than she expected, although she knew the gravity of the situation would be dire if he happened to fall right into a mine. So, she tried to be professional about it and just clung to him. He didn't even have to support her legs, his hips and butt easy resting points for them, which made her somewhat blush as she felt them shift and the muscles in his back brushing against her chest and stomach. Goddesses, was he just made of muscles or what? "You all right?" he asked her, and she nodded as they began walking through the mines, "You need to fix this then, 'cuz your icon is going nuts in my display." The blush on her face increased tenfold as they moved along the minefield. Once they had reached a more open area, she tapped his shoulder and he looked at her, nodding as he put her down. She put her hands on her hips and breathed a sigh of relief. "That was easy," she remarked, the Diamond Dog's eyebrow lifting in turn, "Well, for me anyway." She wanted to groan, she didn't mean to say that! The mare was about to walk off to cool her head, but the Diamond Dog outstretched an arm again. "Wait a minute," his eyes scrutinized the area once more, "Something's not right here…maybe you should do another scan." She complied and flung her Sprite-bot up again, watching the Diamond Dog's face grimace as even more mines appeared in his vision. "We've got a problem. There are mines everywhere," he told her, his eyes closed to see through the Sprite-bot's own, "Let's head for that building!" The mare looked at where he pointed and put a marker there for him, the small blue diamond clear in his eyes. He swung her on his back again and began to make the ascension, traversing broken down vehicles and stone outcroppings before realizing that he wasn't going to be able to carry her the entire way. He looked around for another route when she pointed at a ledge. "Throw me up to that ledge, I'll look for a way through," she assured him, and when he had gotten to where she wanted him, "Up there!" He obediently threw her, giving her a rather large heave so that she could reach it. Once on top of the ledge, she waved at him. "I can get across up here!" she shouted down to him and he nodded. "Okay, I'll find another way," he told her, going back, but once he crossed under the bridge of stone outcroppings, a Spider-bot, cleverly hidden, attacked him. It surprised him as it sprung from its spot, lunging at him. "Watch out! Slave: duck!" she yelled at him, unfortunately using the power of the collar to make him fall to his knees in pain. However, it worked as the bot accidentally flew onto a mine, blowing it up and causing the pieces to rain down around him. "I could've handled it myself!" he angrily retorted at her, grabbing his throbbing neck. "Sorry, but if it had tackled you …" he glanced back and saw the awaiting mine nearly half a paw behind him, "You would've ended up like the bot." He looked back at her, his paw still holding the back of neck. He jerked his head up in a rushed thank-you, dropping the paw rather grumpily. She then made a cough and he turned back. "Are you okay?" she asked in a more concerned tone. "I'm fine," he assured her curtly, and she sighed. "Good…because I can't get across. Can you help me?" she asked, and he rolled his eyes a little before he jumped on a rusted and broken down vehicle, the name of the contraption finally surfacing from his memories. When he reached her and threw her to it, she almost fell down and he had to jump back to help her, grabbing her front legs and dragging her to her hooves, which wasn't all that hard to do. "Thanks. That was too close," he nodded to him in thanks and they both continued on the connecting stone pillars and rusted vehicles to a small island with a barrier. "There's a sentry turret over there," he observed and pulled her down with him, "We won't be able to get past." She put a hoof on her Sprite-bot. "I'm gonna scan," she threw it up in the air and he watched it fly off, the small recon unit becoming a routine occurrence now. He closed his eyes and watched through the Sprite-bot's own optic as it surveyed the area, spying the giant metal sign it was looking at. "I'm detecting a structural weakness," she told him, putting small crosshairs on the areas where the metal was rusting, "If you could get close, you might be able to knock that down and crush it." He nodded and immediately set off, using his shields and the mare's own decoy to reach a building where he'd be able to cross above the turret without begin shot at. He surveyed the ground and he frowned once more, several Spider-bots resting there and obscuring his way. "I need another scan," he told her through his link, and he closed his eyes and watched through the Sprite-bot. "Looks like you might be able to sneak past them," she told him, and he nodded as she showed him the way. The Diamond Dog wasn't one to complain, but he was growing weaker by the minute. And every time he moved made it worse, but he wasn't going to reveal that to the mare. Once they had made it to a safer point in the city, they would take a break and then he would treat himself, but for now, healing potions were his only hope besides rest. Speaking of which, he was in need of one because they hadn't had time to search for anymore due to the constant interference of the bots and the wound he got across his stomach wasn't exactly getting any better. He spied one behind the field of bots and their sensors, but he couldn't afford it. It would only work against him, so he took the path that led him above and across the bots, reaching the other side with little difficulty. "Okay, I got past," he told her quietly, and grinned when he saw a healing potion just waiting for him as if it were a reward for deciding to go stealthy. He stepped on it and he felt the gash on his stomach disappear without a trace, although replacing his blood wasn't as easy. Rest and time were the only things that would restore it, so he hoped to get through this as quickly as possible. He clambered up the building with the metal billboard and finally reached the top. He stared at the metal beams and groaned slightly, he certainly didn't want to have to manually knock the supports down. "Okay, made it," he told her tiredly, preparing to jump when he found some plasma cells, the ammo he needed to power his staff, "Plasma cells! Now we're in business! I hope this thing still works…" Using the staff blast mode, he shot down the supports with ease and it fell on the turret, actually creating a safe bridge to his position from hers, conveniently enough. However, as usual, sound and tremors alerted the mechs to their location and he saw her running for her life once more. "Ahh! Help me! They're coming! Quick, do something!" she sprinted towards him, sliding and ducking when she saw an arm come down and one Spider-bot barreled past her into a mine. He quickly jumped down the building and preceded to just swat them towards the nearby mines, figuring it'd be easier to blow them up instead of fighting them directly head on. As soon as the last one had stumbled into an explosive, he put leaned against a pillar while she ran towards him, having hid in the shadows as usual. "Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling down as soon as she was near him to look at his face. He was breathing hard and he desperately needed rest, having fought nearly a whole armada of bots, ranged and melee. The mare seemed to take notice of his tired and irritated demeanor, his face now pressed against the cool stone column in an effort to regain some composure and calm. She honestly did feel bad about his current state, and she would have offered to stay somewhere to rest had he not claimed that the crash must have alerted nearly every bot in the city. So resting was not an option at this point. She looked between him and a downed bot at his dewclaws before pulling up the scanner, the green-blue wall of data again rising from her arm. "Every time you kill a bot I can download its schematics," she told him, hurriedly flicking through the data, "Figure out what makes it tick." She slowly rose from her position, all the while her hoof working in a flurry of motion while her eyes kept darting between the data and the Diamond Dog. The mare knew that he was having a rough time protecting her, so she was trying to share the burden as best she could: technology and data. "It will make life a lot easier for you," she told him after she was done, approaching him carefully. He looked up as she came closer and continued to breathe somewhat heavily. He had his eyes closed, which made it less intimidating, but once he opened them fully to show her the pent-up rage, anger, and frustration that swirled within its debts, she halted. In the shadows, they almost glowed with a surreal quality. "If you wanna make life…easier for me," he breathed, he pointed to his collar, "Why don't you go ahead and take this thing off." The Diamond Dog walked away from her, a disappointed look souring her face. She had tried…as best she could, but even then, it wasn't good enough. She didn't put the blame on him, however, most of everything she did was made possible only by his doings, and his doings alone. He had caught the Spritebot that had become a major contributing factor to their group and she couldn't even dream to download the schematics if he hadn't been there to beat them. Most bots she had found in the field were old, their data cores completely rusted or melted by their comrades in an effort to keep Ponies like her from building a defense against them. And the Diamond Dog was giving her the very thing she had craved most when she was still with her community: the inner workings of a bot. The mare felt a darker side awaken in her heart, something she didn't want to admit. She was using him, in every way possible, and she was beginning to get used to it. "Hey, we going or what?" the Diamond Dog called from the building where they were going through next. She shook the thoughts from her head and focused on getting back to her community as fast as possible. No more thinking, not right now. She could sort through them when they had a chance to sleep and regain their strength, but in the corner of her heart, she knew that what she was taking from this Diamond Dog wasn't something to laugh about or forget. She was taking his freedom, his life, his strength, and his tactical knowledge. Everything that he was, everything that he fought for, could be torn asunder with a word if she wished… -Location: Slaver Ship Crash-Landing Site (The Bridge)- "A hundred fifty years of ravaging and death," Priority One looked from their perch atop the slaver ship, the bots below still holding their position, "And yet so beautiful…" The sun had risen to almost the center of the sky and Priority was fanning their face gently. It was hot, making the metal under Priority's hooves scorching, but with a little help from the plastic containment cell and clever placing of strewn scraps of metal, they had fashioned a roof and a small chair to sit in. "Balance is being restored to the land we had once taken for granted…" Priority looked up to the sky, "Whitefang…you must hurry my boy, the sun is almost at its peak. Be wary if you wish to continue on walking during the dark, for bots are not your only concern when the sun falls…"