//------------------------------//
// Chapter Five: Promise 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Space Captain Andromeda 
// by Weavers of Dreams 
//------------------------------//

The forest was thick, dark and gloomy. She was pretty sure it was midday by now, but it was hard to tell. The canopy overhead was so thick, as if the coniferous branches had been woven together in a sheet. There was barely enough light to see the ground under her hooves. But she plodded forward, both for her family and to put as much distance between her and that prison of solitude as she could. She might have felt afraid, if not for the fact that the only sound she even heard was the wind whistling overhead and a distant bird every so often.

It was almost as if the animals of the forest were avoiding her. But she wasn't that deep a thinker; she tended to see the surface of things to make her judgments. Then she would stubbornly defend her position even after being proven wrong, just because she could. So this trek through the forest was more like a walk in the park to her, unafraid, and still relishing the firm ground beneath her. Besides, she had a few Ministry weapons nestled close to boost her confidence.

She completely ignored the fact that she wasn't fatigued, reasoning that it was all the talismans, and general trying to distract her mind with better thoughts. Like Hearth's Warming. Her daughter would be in the school's annual pageant on the Eve, and when they got home they would let her open one present early. She was very fond of the pageant, even though it was fairly flawed. It was pretty obvious the pegasi and the unicorns were taking the earth ponies to the cleaners, even if they toned that down to make it look like everypony was getting jilted. There also the theory that it was the earth ponies that saved everypony that winter. She liked that one, even if she was a unicorn.

One thing she would always like to point out was that the entire pageant, though enjoyable, was all a centuries-old, equality-stuffed, propaganda farce. Commander Hurricane, Chancellor Puddinghead (theoretically: Levelhead), and Smart Cookie were all stallions, opposite to Princess Platinum, Clover the Clever, and Private Pansy all being mares. But they could all be played by either gender, Princess Platinum being the obvious exception, in the play to force equality and harmony down the throats of ponies for centuries. There had been talk of revising it, but the real records of what happened that day were long gone, and Princess Celestia had admitted it was before her time.

Andromeda paused for a second. Maybe she was a deeper thinker than she thought. "Naw," she shook her head to dispel the thought, "couldn't be."

Looking about, she found that she had managed to get a little off course during her mental rant. She couldn't get lost thanks to Peppy's infallible map-tracking matrix. Admittedly, she was following the directions of a device that kept insisting she was dead. But what else could she do? After all, a stopped watch was right twice a day. Or was that a bad thing?

She turned left to center the directional-triangle and picked up her pace a bit. Never could she have realized that her sudden shift in direction caused a large stirring amongst the local wildlife. They knew this mare was more than she seemed, or what she thought she was. She didn't even smell like a pony anymore. The beasts of the field smelled the creature she was now, and it drove them away. Anywhere out of this new creature's path.

The totally not-dead mare jogged across the landscape, leaping rocks, small creeks and old rotting logs. A couple of times she had to leap across a small ravine. Another time she was over confident and wound up missing the other side by a few feet. Fortunately it wasn't very deep. But it did inconvenience her to have to trot along between the cliffs until she came to a slope she could climb.

With some disgruntled muttering, and a few kicks of dirt with her back legs, she was on her way again. "Why are there so many ravines? Or perhaps a path. I'm tired of walking through brambles, mud puddles, and..."

At that moment she burst out of the tree line and came face-to-face with civilization. But that wasn't what really drew her attention. Not twenty yards to her left, wide and clean for all to see, was a well-worn dirt road with a bridge, she had somehow missed, over the ravine. "Oh, come on."


*	*	*


WELCOME TO PROMISE, NO GHOULS OR MARAUDERS said the big, arched sign that hung over the great wooden gates of the walled-off town. The wall around Promise was made up of hundreds of logs driven deep into the ground, with the tops sharpened to wicked points. About the base of the wall were stacked stones, held firmly in place with a clay and straw mixture, and in front of that was a deep ditch full of sharpened wood stakes, some of which glistened bright red. But the most distinguishing feature of the wall were the large scorch marks around the gates and the saw-blade axe stuck in its timbers.

"Oookaay," Andromeda said to herself as she drew closer to the gates at a leisurely saunter, trying to take it all in, and doing her best not to just freak out and hug the gates of civilization. "It's either one of those apocalypse cults, or a heavy-duty LARPing center. Remain calm, Mercy, don't hug the natives."

Just as she came within a few yards of the gate, the road beneath her front right hoof suddenly gave way and she was left teetering at the edge of rather long drop with sharp spikes at the bottom. With much effort, she managed to rock herself backwards and onto better ground, where she promptly began screaming up at the gates like a banshee.

"What in the actual bucking, flogged-plot, tartarus-bum-licking buck, was that? You trying to get somepony killed? Well, buck you. Buck you all. It was such a nice day. Just... just... buuuuck."

An earth pony wearing a blue stetson with a metal band of scrap metal peered over the edge of the wall down at her, a scowl on his face. "State your business, unicorn."

Andromeda managed to reign in the flurry of curses she was about ready to blast in his face. "Yep, apocalypse cult," she muttered. She cleared her throat and spoke out forcefully, "My name is Mercy Andromeda, a Captain of Equestria, I seek lodging and directions."

Another earth pony appeared, this one carrying a rifle in his mouth. He narrowed his eyes at her as first one spoke again. "Are you with the Harlequin Mask Marauders?"

A slightly confused Andromeda glared back. "Of course not. I'm a loyal citizen of Equestria, and will not go joining some rogue political group."

The two earth ponies looked at each other and shrugged. The first tilted his head to her and asked, "Do you have anything to trade?"

Her glare gave way when she realized that was one thing she didn't have. "No, I'm sorry, I don't have any bits. But..."

"What about those guns?" the second one asked after setting his rifle to the side.

Andromeda dropped into a defensive posture. She had taken an oath to protect the Ministries' equipment. Hope was safe enough with all it's background radiation. In fact, she was fairly surprised that it didn't start a forest fire upon arrival. That was curious. "You can try and take them. If you think that little pea-shooter of yours can do anything against Ministry technology."

Her eyes went wide when a dozen or so more heads popped up over the wall, all wielding rifles either in their mouths or on battle saddles. Mercy noted that they were all earth ponies, and then the name Promise began to sound familiar to her. She thought for a minute what her best course of action might be. After moment of staring down the guns, a smile spread across her features and drew herself up nonchalantly.

Using her magic, she pulled out one of the pistols. It was a slender, piece of work, a magical energy weapons of sorts, almost like an elongated hoofball with two rods sticking out the end, and an energy meter in on the very back. It had the standard mouth-grip most weapons had, and was battle-saddle compatible. "So, you want one of these do you?"

The earth ponies on the wall were taken slightly aback by her calm attitude, but still kept their guns trained on the unicorn mare. The first earth pony cleared his throat and nodded. "If you want to get inside of Promise, then yes. We will gladly accommodate you for one night for just one of those."

"Hmmm," Andromeda thought to herself, tapping her helmet thoughtfully, "how about... no."

Still looking at the earth ponies on the wall, she aimed the pistol behind her and fired. A brilliant flash of blue energy shot from the two rods and blasted off. She had intended to hit a tree, but without SATS, or any kind of aiming at all, she instead hit the bridge over the ravine. It was reduced to fiery splinters and ashes. A large chunk glanced off the top of her helmet, but she didn't flinch.

She quickly realized that she had probably just destroyed an important part of the town's income by destroying that bridge. But she couldn't show the slightest bit of panic, or they might feel that they had an advantage over her. She returned the pistol to it's former place by were side and winked at the ponies up on the wall.

"Well?" she asked with a confident little chuckle, even though she was sweating on the inside. "How about a new deal? You let me spend one night, and I don't reduce your little town to ashes." She generated a bright aura around all of her pistols for emphasis. "Sound good to you?"


*	*	*


Unique: that's the word Andromeda would use to describe the town. Amongst the wooden houses were concrete-and-metal bunkers with heavy square doors, like safes, or P.O. boxes. It took her a moment to recognize them. Stable-Tech mini-stables, for the more out of the way, less populated areas, where megaspells would not be wasted. Despite being cheaper, though, these ponies did not look like they could have afforded them. She thought it might be a testing area for Stable-Tech, but then realized that the multi-million bit company would in no way build such a cheap wall, even if they were pretty spectacular. It would have had to have been built some time after the mini-stables. Andromeda chuckled with the thought that maybe they spent all their money on the stables that they could only afford to make the wooden walls.

Mercy walked through a marketplace of tent canopies, wooden display tables, produce carts, and covered wagons. It was like some sort of post-apocalyptic smorgasbord. There were even watchtowers and lookout points on the roofs, each with one or two armed earth ponies. All non-earth ponies, like Andromeda, were forced to wear red arm-badges to make them more easily identifiable... and easier targets. Meanwhile, all out of town earth ponies were wearing blue armbands.

This was blatant racism. Never had she seen anything like this. Usually it was unicorns and pegasi lording over the 'mud ponies'. Andromeda didn't care for this way of thinking. She was a centered mare, not very refined, but at least hospitable and kind. Besides, her husband was a large mass of earth-shifting goodness. Bedroom thoughts aside, she did her best not to antagonize the natives.

She stopped at one of the booths and peered it over. Racks of meat were suspended over hot rocks by pine sticks. Now, ponies weren't strictly vegetarian; every once in a while meat was acceptable, especially in hard times when fruits and veggies just didn't have enough nutrients. She had dabbled a little in her younger days, enough to know the different cuts of meat at a glance. Most of this seemed to be wild fowl, dark meat with a honey glaze. She leaned forward to give it a sniff.

"Raspberries?" she asked, perplexed at this. Then she remembered the luster spell in the helmet. She rolled her eyes and sat down to take off the fishbowl helmet. "Silly filly. As if you could smell anything with this on anyway."

At first, she pressed a hoof on the little latch on the side, twisting it. Nothing happened. She got both her hooves at it and tried to get it off. "Oh... come on. I'm hungry."

---NEGATIVE---STARVATION IMPOSSIBLE---SUBJECT STATUS: DECEASED---

"I'm not dead," Andromeda shouted as she began pound at the latch with her forehooves and kicking at the glass with her hind legs. She was quickly drawing a crowd to view the spectacle of a mare in a spacesuit rolling around and kicking up dirt.

Laughter erupted out at full volume from the gathered crowd. Some of the rougher looking stallions made some rather lewd comments at the pretty lady's predicament, while some of the mares began making obscene gestures. Even the foals were getting in on it, which would have floored Andromeda had she been paying attention to anything other than her uncooperative helmet. She thrashed about and beat it against the ground, but to no avail.

A shot rang out and everypony suddenly stopped laughing and backed away from the still-struggling mare. The shot had been fired into the air by the Stetson-wearing earth pony, who was now accompanied by a rather pudgy blue earth pony in a derby and gray vest. This new pony also sported the most exquisite of mustaches, almost a like a set of longhorn horns.

The two ponies approached the mare and stood over her as she was still trying to remove the helmet. The first pony looked at the second, who nodded, and then gave a swift kick to Andromeda's side.

Mercy let out a yelp of pain and leapt up, racing around in circles until it subsided. Never let an earth pony kick you. Finally she slowed to a mere dance. "Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow. What was that for? Oh, it's you."

The pudgy pony stepped forward and gave her a look that might have stopped a charging buffalo. "I am Mayor Mundane, and I have come to understand that you are the mare responsible for the destruction of town property. Is this so?" he inquired a rich baritone voice.

Andromeda felt slightly intimidated. She looked down at the scuff marks on the ground. "Oh? I didn't realize you kept your dirt manicured."

There was a collective gasp from the residents of the town. They didn't realize how sincere she was, and thought that she had just zinged their mayor. He apparently had no sense of humor.

"The audacity," Mayor Mundane growled, putting a hoof to his chest. "Who do you think you are to dare talk to your betters like that?"

Andromeda wondered if he was really serious. Nevertheless, she was going to be perfectly cooperative. "Space Captain Andromeda, and I would be more than happy to smooth back out your dirt, Mayor Mundane."

She promptly set to work amongst the ensuing laughter, sweeping the ground her tail and humming a little tune. There were a few chuckles amongst the locals, but these were quickly silenced by a glare from the mayor's crony. Mayor Mundane looked as though he had just been slapped in the face. He regarded this mare with a look of shock and rage.

Mercy gave the patch of ground one final sweep of her tail and nodded. "There, all done. And, I must say, it looks a whole lot better than the rest of the dirt around it. Have a nice day."

BLAM! PING!

Andromeda looked at powder marks on the front of her helmet, feeling a mix of terror and awe. There wasn't even a scratch. But that didn't change the fact that the mayor had taken his crony's gun and shot at her. She lifted a hoof and wiped away the powder marks to glare daggers at the two earth ponies. "Hey. This is an expensive piece of equipment. Be a little bit more careful, for buck's sake. I mean, what if it wasn't made out of super-condensed transparent iron? You could have killed me."

The gun dropped from the mayor's mouth and his eyes had grown quite large. Andromeda mistook the expression's meaning.

"Yeah, that's right," she went on, "you almost killed somepony. How would that have looked on your resume? 'Small Town Mayor Kills Mare, says he was just testing her helmet after make her sweep dirt'. Is this town just full of idiots?"

"Well, they did elect him," a pony said from somewhere in the crowd.

Mayor Mundane began to seethe as a chorus of laughs rose up into the sky. "You insolent unicorn," he shrieked. "I'll teach you to laugh at me."

Andromeda felt shocked. It was all confusing. Why was everypony laughing? The mayor was certainly angry though. "I'm not laughing. There's absolutely nothing funny about you."

Maybe it was the sincerity in her voice, or the calm way she said it. But, either way, the mayor plopped down on his plot and just stared at her with his mouth wide open. Even the locals were giving her shocked looks. The traders were speechless as well, for at a least a couple minutes, before bursting out laughing.

"What's going on?" Andromeda asked, sitting down herself and looking about at all the mixed expressions. "I fixed your dirt, I mean, that's not even half as bad as what I did to your bridge, I mean, it's nothing but splinters now and..." the light suddenly clicked on. "Ooooh. Yeah. You weren't talking about the dirt, were you?"

The traders suddenly stopped laughing and stared in horror at her. The laughter quickly disappeared and was replaced by anger and frustration. The bridge was apparently the only way in and out of the town. Angry shouts began issuing forth, forcing Andromeda to back up until her back came in contact with the grill. Fortunately, anything less than friction created during a freefall from space didn't get through the suit's asbestos polymers. She looked out at the crowd in growing fear. Her helmet might protect her head, but the rest of the suit was soft enough for a bad beating.

"I-I can make it up to you all," she tried to reason, but they weren't listening. They kept on getting closer and their faces getting angrier. The mayor and his crony sure didn't appear like they were going to help her out of this one. So she panicked. All four pistols were whipped out and fired into the ground, creating rather large craters at the hooves of the advancing ponies.

She took several deep breathes to calm herself, as the testosterone Peppy was administering wasn't really helping her. She looked at the crowd, pistols still at the ready, but the energy meter on the back were quite low. Everypony who had a weapon now had it drawn and directed at her, from behind the cover of various booths and wagons.

"Okay," she shouted so they could all hear her. "Everypony just calm the buck down and listen to me. I'm sorry about the bridge. I was aiming for the trees. I'll fix it, alright? Sound good to everypony?"

There were some sounds of consent, and with that, she turned aside and headed for the gates. Her weapons were still at the ready. She passed the booths and bunkers, and unwittingly stomping on the mayor's hat that had fallen off when he bolted for cover. He narrowed his eyes as he watched her, then whispered something his crony. She got to the gates and promptly leapt over the drawbridge as she had done when she entered, not trusting it in the slightest. Then stepped over the debris and ashes to the ravine, unaware that as soon as she was outside, Promise would be closed to her forever.