//------------------------------// // The Wraith ch.4 Pre-wasteland memories. // Story: The Wraith. Pre-Wasteland memories (Fallout Equestria prequel) // by The Old Plug //------------------------------// The road to Tartarus is paved with good intentions. The research into the crystal matrix began to bear fruit. One of the gem scientists laid out the matrix on paper as a spell matrix. How did we miss this? How did the original designer work this out as a crystal power matrix? It was very clear that there were major breaks in the spell matrix and with my adjustments it closed or stabilized several breaks that allowed the matrix to run as designed even, dare I say it, 20 percent better? We sent this data to the Ministry of Arcane Science. We asked their scientists to replace crystals with more stable gems. By taking the spell matrix apart in different sequences, we also discovered what happened to Reid. Break the matrix in just a few areas and you create a feedback loop that turned the power pack into a bomb. It made a really big bomb, many times greater in magnitude than anything else we were currently dropping. That got the Ministry of Wartime Technology involved, too. Sitting in my office with a projection of the spell matrix on the far wall, I scribbled notes on a pad. I was trying to make sure that simple errors in the daily maintenance would not produce the feedback loop that caused the matrix to go boom! A light tapping sounded at my door. Standing in my doorway was a pink-maned yellow Pegasus. I had only seen her in pictures and the term "cute" does her a disservice. Even with a powdering of grey in her mane, Fluttershy could turn your heart into a puddle of goo with a single look. "Uh, Chief Fixer, may I come in, if you don't mind?" her small voice was barely audible. I stood to attention," Miss Fluttershy, Ma'am. Please, by all means come in." I didn't mean to startle her, but she cringed anyway emitting a tiny squeak! I thought my heart had turned inside out hearing this. I sat down lowered my voice and said again, "Please Miss Fluttershy, come in." As she entered the room she looked at the matrix displayed on the far wall. She gasped and her voice was strong and clear. "OH my! Chief Fixer this is wonderful!" I looked at her and was a bit confused."What do you mean, Miss Shy?" She smiled at me and began. "These interceding flow vortices are not aligned properly, though with several minor adjustments the final matrix could amplify almost any spell if it were to laid out in a more linear fashion, taking out several of the incorrect power feeds and slightly truncating the overall spell it could lens spell effects by many orders of magnitude....Could I have a copy of this? If you don't mind...?" The "Jaw hitting the floor" thing is so overdone! Though I do believe it's time to have my office carpet cleaned. It tastes foul! Collecting myself, I pulled a blank data tab from my desk and copied the requested data. Offering her the tab, I asked. "So, Miss Shy, why are you here?" She blushed! "Well...." Her voice quieted, "Rainbow called me the other day and asked if I could help you with your "Stamina" issues?" Now the whole Bucking carpet is going be ripped out of my office and burned! My turn to blush."OH dear Goddesses! We were dunk! Had not slept .....GAAAAH!" Was she giggling? A smile that would light your way through darkest Tartarus shown on her face as she produced a bottle of pink fluid. "You poor dear. Time is not being kind to any of us. Now just before you wish to be intimate, you take this bottle, shake it lightly, pull the stopper and touch it to your tongue. It will put the canter right back into your love life." I was blushing. No pony could blush this hard. Was my mane smoldering? I took the bottle. "There now, Chief Fixer, you'll be all better. Thank you for the matrix data. I know my way out. See you!" And with a swish of her mane and tail, out the door she went. Did I hear a little giggle as she went down the hall? With a shaking hoof I managed to press the intercom button to my secretary. I calmly asked her to locate and make an appointment with Commander Dash. We needed to "Talk". Time marches on. The M.A.S. scientists were quick to work on our issue and with the help of the M.W.T. the new evolution suits went into production. They were a cross between the older E.A.V. suits and the existing Stryker Pegasus body armor with a pressurized heated body suit and a new gem based power pack. Twenty new units eventually arrived at the hanger. We stored the original E.A.V. suits with the exception of numbers 1, 5, 24 and 25. The high speed, high altitude, Recon missions would not go away. The new suits couldn't handle those, but filled all other rolls. Not as high altitude. Not as fast, but, fast enough. They included a stable gem matrix that would not go boom if broken, with a far stronger power system that needed no recharge for the next millennium! The first ten suits were in standard Equestrian forces colors. The last ten came in one by one. The first suit hung at station 14. Station 13 would forever remain empty. Suit 13 was the only suit we lost entirely. We still had our wounded. We even suffered deaths in the field and O'Grady's is still in business....I think Rainbow owns the Bucking place! A bronze plaque bolted to the floor down the center of Thirteen's bay holds the list of our fallen. Dedicated first and foremost to "Yardstick" Reid Longquill. May you rest at Celestia's right hoof, holding Luna's spear and sword to avenge us all!" I still have trouble walking by that bay. Suit 14 came to us by way of the Ministry of Image. Rainbow witnessed the unpacking of the new suit. Zippy and Buzzy were like foals at a Hearths' Warming Eve celebration. Nickering and kicking at any other maintenance Tech that even looked at the case the wrong way. They released the locks and slowly hoisted a black helmet with sinister looking purple rimmed fixed goggles from the case. The suit itself was dark purple trimmed in gold lightening bolts running to black at the chest plate and armored shoes. A white winged pony skull rode the armor flank. Rainbow positively pranced and squeed. The Shadowbolts, to my mind, was an old mares' tale, but Rainbow had a simple flight suit of the same pattern. On several missions, when she wore this suit, her flight recorder showed the Zebras practically killing themselves to get away from her attacks. On several of those data reviews, she had a much higher body count than the strafing run could account for....Go figure....It's Rainbow. Ground troops captured several Zebras after these runs who were screaming incoherently in their own tongue something to do with "Star Devil" or "Cursed Devil from the Stars". "MINE! MINE!MINE!MINE!MINE!" Rainbow practically vibrated in place. I pulled the long curtain around bay 14. In a loud voice I said,"SHOWS OVER FOALS! Get back to your stations if you're not helping Zippy or Buzzy!" I poked my head back into the curtain not realizing Buzzy had been ejected from the bay. Standing there was Rainbow being assisted by Zippy installing the suit's rather sensitive bodily function connections. The "EEP" was epic! I stated,"Oh come on it's not like I haven't....." Rainbow's voice rang out,"AND IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE THEM AGAIN, I SUGGEST YOU GET BUZZY TO SUIT YOU UP TOO!" I felt teeth on my tail. Buzzy pulled me out of the curtain and began to haul me to bay 2. "BUZZY! LET GO! I CAN GET THERE ON MY OWN" I squalled! Buzzy chuckled "The bottle in your desk says you can't. Should I go get that for you too?" "BUCK YOU, BUZZY!" I howled. "DO I EVEN HAVE A PRIVATE LIFE AROUND HERE!?!" Buzzy grinned."No, Fix. Come to think of it, none of us do. We're just one big happy family! Now get your CHIEFEE flank into bay 2!" Standing on the trim pad Rainbow, Zippy, Buzzy and I went through the functional checks with both suits set to mirror the other. A hard cable connected the suits to a hoof-held data relay and trim package. The goggles scrolled the the various function checks and settings. Both suits were equipped with the user's weapons choice. Rainbow chose her favorite quad linked heavy machine guns. I prefered the dual automatic cannons with heavy explosive tipped rounds. This suit could also hover under power. You could flap your wings at a point five power setting and simply float above the ground effortlessly even carrying heavy weapons. Zippy gave us the command to power up to point two and flap our wings. Wings beating in time Zippy tapped at a few trim functions and signaled us to power down and standby. With the new suit synced and functioning properly Zippy signaled Buzzy to pull the hard cable. No longer connected to the ground comms Zippy gave hoof signals to power up and hover. We hovered for just a bit when Zippy gave the hoof signal to touch down remain powered and be prepared for manual weapons check and charge. Buzzy quickly checked chambers and manually charged all weapons. The suits registered weapons hot, we hoof signaled Zippy. She signaled us to weapon safe, and we signaled back our compliance. Zippy grinned and gave us the release to launch hoof signal, saluted Rainbow, and ran to the back of the trim pad slapping my flank armor hard as she passed. My yelp went though the comms as Rainbow piped up,"Home Plate This is AWESOME ONE. Need to register a new call sign." Static. "AWESOME ONE this is Home Plate. Ready to copy." Static. "Home Plate register SHADOW ONE. Copy?" Static. "Rodger SHADOW ONE. You have been cleared to pad 4. All traffic shows clear. You may take off at your discretion. Will give you over to Bravo 1 once you're in the Manehattan control region. Good Hunting SHADOW ONE Home Plate out." The comms static died and I just had to ask,"So.... This isn't a check flight is it." More statement of fact than question. I saw Rainbow smile as she lifted into a hover. "I cleared you to full combat status this morning, Fix. What? Didn't you see the orders this morning? OH..Right! She just said sign here, here and here didn't she? I like your secretary. She is so efficient. Maybe she should come to O'Grady's with us tonight." My "HARRUMPH" was audible. Rainbow's laughter was, too."Oh come on Fix! You only live once!" She hovered over to pad 4. No sooner had I joined her when she shot away with me in hot pursuit. She circled, allowed me to catch her in a slow arc we began the run to the Manehatten control region at full speed. Two pink rings flared and vanished just south of Cloudsdale in our wake.