Chapter 4: Steel
“In the fires of Tartarus, the flesh of the weak becomes steel.”
===~+~===
The first thing that I am aware of is the bumpiness of what i’m laying on. The next thing is the clopping of hooves against dirt. I soon realize that I’m moving and not actually laying on something bumpy, but rather on the back of a moving pony. A hard pony, at that.
I lift up my head and see the telltale armor of the Steel Rangers on a few ponies in my sight. As I look at the pony carrying me, I notice that they are also wearing it. “Um, uh, hey?” I stammer out in shock and disbelief. They all stop moving and look at me, including the one carrying me. “Would you mind, putting me down?” I ask tentatively.
“Of course miss,” the buck carrying me says as he lets me off his back. “Can you walk on your own?” He asks as I wobble a bit after getting down. I quickly notice my sides and face have been bandaged up and that I’m wearing my saddle bags. They must have collected them and picked up my things.
“Yea, I’m just a bit,” I pause for a moment, “confused?” I make a guess at what i’m feeling. “You’re all Steel Rangers, right?” I ask, a bit a hope rising up inside me. There are four of them in total, all armed properly and clad in ranger armor.
“Indeed,” the earth pony buck who carried me answers. “We were running a scouting expedition when we saw you in trouble. Or, more precisely our sniper here, Arrow, saw you.” One of them with a mounted sniper waves at me slightly. Judging by the armor, she was a unicorn mare. “She doesn’t talk much, don’t mind her. Anyway, she saw you fighting off those raiders, did fairly well for yourself till the end, or so she says.”
“Anyway, we should keep moving. There is only a few hours left of light and we need to make it back to base before nightfall. You’re welcome to come with us, if you have no other obligations,” he offers.
“Of course!” I reply right away. “My name is Ratchet, by the way,” I inform them, “it is nice to meet you all. You have no idea how much I wanted to find you. Well, not you exactly, but the rangers in general.” I realize that i’ve gotten really excited, like when one meets a celebrity. The four of them begin to laugh, causing me blush.
“We know, Ratchet. Your friend informed us all about you. CORA, I think her name was. Says you created her and what not. She filled us in on what you’ve been through lately. Though, she didn’t say much about where you came from,” the buck who carried me informs me. “By the way, since we’ll be traveling together, I’m Crusader Iron, leader of Lynx Squad, and these are my Knights.”
The mare known as Arrow waves at me again while the other two step closer. “I’m Thunder,” the earth pony stallion on the right says and then gestures towards the ranger next to him, “and this is my twin brother Lightning. Before you ask, its because we have a lightning bolt pattern in our fur.” Iron lets out a chuckle.
“Thunder, you know no one ever asks. I don’t know why you always say that,” Iron says shaking his head while smirking slightly. “But that aside, let’s get moving. We’ve got ground to cover.” Saying that Iron begins to walk away as the others follow suit.
I’m left standing there thinking for a moment before CORA speaks up, “Ratchet, let’s get going! We don’t want to be left behind.” I clear my thoughts as I trot to catch up to them.
“By the way,” I ask as we walk, “Where are we now? How long was I out?” It looks like it is slightly darker out and I don’t really recognize this area. Although, granted that I’m used to lush green fields and hills it isn’t all that surprising.
“We just passed through the mountains west of Canterlot and are now in the Unicorn Range. You were out for a few hours. And to answer your next inevitable question, our base is roughly halfway between Canterlot and the Cloudsdale ruins,” Iron answers me.
“I see. Oh! Where are my manners, I was so caught up in everything, I forgot to thank you all for helping me. Thank you, I don’t know what would have happened if you all didn’t show up,” I thank them.
This rouses some light chuckles from Thunder and Lightning as Iron waves my apology away, “Don’t mention it Ratchet. It is our duty as Steel Rangers to protect the citizens of Equestria. Even if it seems like the world has changed, we are still in Equestria.”
I nod at his words. He’s right, this is still Equestria no matter how it looks now. Those gangsters were probably even once citizens. Thinking this, another question rises into my mind. “By the way,” I ask, “Were you all around before the Megaspells fell or were you born after?”
Answering for everyone again Iron replies, “Arrow, Thunder, and Lightning were all born about 10 years after. I, however, was around twenty at the time. I was just an Initiate at the time. Things have changed, but us Steel Rangers have to stay strong. After surviving the fires of Tartarus, we’ve been prepared for this world.”
His words hold a hint of sadness in them. Memories of the old world, I’m sure. I contemplate telling him I’m from the past as well, but CORA didn’t when I was unconscious and that fact holds me back. My research was a secret, after all. But does that really matter now that the Megaspells already fell?
I decide to just keep it to myself for now and pass the time with small talk. Asking more questions about the wasteland, I determine that Bottle Caps are the new form of currency and that quite a few new settlements have sprung up. Mostly around scavengable places. I learn that most of the larger cities are completely destroyed, but most of the radiation has returned to safe levels recently.
One of the most interesting things I discover is a large settlement has been created inside the Statue of Friendship that they call Friendship City. While it is far from perfect at the moment, it is a bastion for some to rest their hooves while traveling. It has been constructed using scrap materials from the ruins of Manehatten.
The more I talk with the rangers, the more I can feel my hope returning. And after little over two hours, and after crossing the tracks that run west from Canterlot, the sun has begun to set and we arrive at the Steel Rangers’ base. However, I must say I’m surprised by what I see. It is a small two story farmhouse.
I want to ask them if this is really their base, but I also don’t want to offend them, so I just follow as they lead me around the back of it and into the cellar. The cellar is a bit more what I expected, as piles of sandbags make barriers which two more Steel Rangers stand behind with their weapons focused on us.
“Remove your helmets. State your names and ranks,” One of them says in a flat tone. Behind them is a steel door with the Steel Ranger emblem painted on it. There also appears to be a camera just above the door and an intercom to the left of it.
The rangers I came in with slowly remove their helmets and state their names and ranks. “Crusader Iron, returning from a scouting mission. We’ve brought a survivor called Ratchet as well for debriefing,” Iron says. I now see that he has a brown coat with a gray mane and blue eyes.
“Knight Arrow,” Arrow says in an adorable, yet cold voice. I notice she has cream colored coat, a brown mane that is short like mine, and blue eyes. Her appearance matches her voice, cute but expressionless.
“Knight Thunder, and this here’s-” Thunder begins, but is cut off by his brother. Thunder has a dark blue coat, a buzzed blonde mane, and golden eyes.
“Knight Lightning,” Lightning says, shaking his head at his brother’s effort to try and talk for him. Similar to his brother, Lightning has a dark blue coat, golden eyes, and has a short, well kept blonde mane.
The two guards lower their weapons and the one who spoke says, “Welcome home. Report to Elder Archimedes for your debriefing.” Putting their helmets back on, Iron and his group start walking towards the door as the guard on the left hoofs the intercom and says, “Five coming in.” A moment later the door suddenly opens and the five of us pass through into a surprisingly bright hallway.
The hallway is almost like the halls of my lab, before the Megaspells, that is. It looks like it gets cleaned often. As I look past the rangers, I see that the hallway turns to the right at the end, and in the corner, hanging from the ceiling, is a turret. It follows us as we approach and turn the corner.
However, after turning in the hallway, I no longer care about it’s strange cleanness or am curious why the rangers chose this place as their base. At the end of this hallway is larger room with two more turrets on the ceiling and between them in the back wall is a large gear shaped door with the number 36 on it.
Upon approaching it, the loud scraping of steel began and the door opens. I stand there staring like a foal for a few moments before Iron chuckles and says, “Welcome to Stable 36, our home.” With that he, and the others, walk inside of the Stable.
Standing there in shock, CORA once again snaps me out of my daze, “Ratchet! Go in!” Shaking my head to regain my senses, I follow them into the Stable.
As each of them enter a computerized voice welcomes them back, “Welcome, Crusader Iron. Welcome, Knight Arrow. Welcome, Knight Thunder. Welcome, Knight Lightning.” I hesitate as I approach the threshold of the doorway, thinking that it can somehow analyze DNA or something. However, I finally enter and the voice says nothing as I do so.
“Don’t worry, it just uses recognition software and the Steel Ranger personnel database to identify those who enter. It won’t have any information on you, Ratchet,” Iron says with a slight smirk on his muzzle. “You don’t have to-” but he is cut off as the computerized voice speaks up suddenly.
“Welcome, Scribe Crusader Ratchet,” it says. The four Steel Rangers around me all turn to look at me with...well with their helmets on, let’s go with surprise since that is also the emotion I’m feeling right now.
“CORA, what in tartarus was that? Do you know anything about this? Why did it call me Scribe Crusader Ratchet?” I ask her in shock as her face seems to be unsurprised by this event at all. In fact, she appears to be laughing quite a bit.
“Surprise!” She says to my questions. “You were bestowed this rank by Miss Applejack herself while you were...sleeping,” she tells everyone. “You know how you were always tinkering with the Steel Ranger armor and helping them with their maintenance? Well, they apparently told her and she was quite impressed with the tweaks you made to them. So, she decided to make you an honorary member of the Steel Rangers.”
After a moment of silence from both the Rangers and myself I shout at her, “Really? Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Geez. Is there anything else that happened while I was asleep? Did I become a princess too?” I ask her sarcastically.
She puts on a straight face and says, “That would ruin the surprises. I think it would be more fun to inform you of things when you need to know them. Besides, this is a nice surprise after wandering through the wasteland, right?” She asks me.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I’ve never even heard of the rank Scribe Crusader before. What am I supposed to do now? Am I a member of the Steel Rangers or am I a scientist?” I begin getting anxious and start prancing around on my hooves.
Iron clears his throat and says, “Why don’t we go talk with Elder Archimedes? We have to get debriefed anyway, might as well determine what your rank is exactly. Follow us.” He motions for me to follow him as he turns and begins walking away. The others keep looking at me for a moment before following after Iron.
I hesitate, but follow along. Not wanting to get into any trouble after having finally found the Steel Rangers. I follow them through the entryway of the Stable and the door closes behind us shortly after we move away from it.
We pass through a few hallways with large windows in them and I can see some of the rooms. There is an extremely large room that appears to have a track inside it. Some Rangers are running around it both with and without armor. The room across from it is another large room filled with weights and exercise equipment.
We continue through a few more hallways and I begin to hear gunfire. We soon pass through another hallway and I see the source of the gunfire. An enormous two story target range is filled with ponies shooting various weapons at targets. Across the hall there are various ponies in another room fighting each other with their bare hooves or using melee weapons like knives.
“Our training facilities are fairly top notch,” Iron says suddenly. “Each ranger undergoes monthly fitness and combat tests to ensure their combat readiness. Those who fail are punished with grueling fitness and combat schedules until they can pass the tests,” he explains as we continue walking.
As we continue, we pass medical areas, barracks, and finally arrive in a large circular room with various large screens on the walls. One unicorn buck is sitting on a raised platform in the middle surrounded by a circular desk with a terminal on it. Around the room, in front of the large screens and set into the floor are similar desks with ponies working at them.
“Welcome to the command center,” Iron says as we approach the center. “Elder Archimedes, Crusader Iron here for debriefing,” he addresses the pony in the center. The pony, cloaked in a dark blue robe looks up from the terminal and smiles. He is an older buck, probably in his sixties, with a gray coat and a white mane and beard.
“Ah, Iron, how’s my favorite scout and his team doing?” Elder Archimedes says with a playful tone. His tone surprises me since I felt most elders were usually serious and uptight. But this one seems, a bit lax.
“Really sir, you’ve been at this for thirty years and you are still way too relaxed about it,” Iron replies back to him. “The Ponyville area is still crawling with raiders, the ones that call themselves the Track Gang. We engaged with four of them today, killing them all after they refused to surrender or acted threateningly. This mare, Ratchet, killed a fifth before we rescued her from the rest of her attackers, bringing their casualties to eight.”
He pauses for a moment as Elder Archimedes pouts, but nods for him to continue. “We brought her along for debriefing and to question her about anything she might have discovered about them. Our scouting yielding no other significant details about their numbers or defences,” Iron finishes up.
The elder nods again before he says, “Good work as always. So then, Miss Ratchet, is it? Did you learn anything about their defences or numbers?” He addresses me, causing me to freeze up for a moment before responding.
“Nothing that would be too important,” I say, but think for a moment and continue, “However, judging by the fact only two of the ones I encountered were armed with guns while the other two had planks of wood, I would guess that they aren’t very well equipped. They also captured a mare while I was there. I...I couldn’t help her though,” I trail off with guilt in my voice.
“Well of course not,” The elder says abruptly. “You are just one mare against...four of them, i’m assuming?” I look at him with surprise. How did he know there were four of them? “Don’t look so surprised. We’ve been scouting them frequently and they always seem to travel in groups of four. And it is as you said, they appear to be poorly equipped. Anything we have scavenged from them has been in poor condition.”
“Well then, assuming there is nothing else, you can send her on her way after she rests up for the night. Give her some food and tend to any wounds she has as well,” Elder Archimedes says dismissively. However Iron speaks up before the elder goes back to his original task.
“There is another matter that requires your attention. Upon entering the base, the automated greeting recognized Ratchet. It identified her as Scribe Crusader Ratchet. According to Ratchet’s AI companion, this rank was granted to her by Miss Applejack herself,” Iron explains.
The elder seems to perk up at this news and addresses me, “Is this true Miss Ratchet? Miss Applejack herself? You do not look over thirty, so you must have encountered her recently, correct? Does she still live? Where is she? We must return to her side immediately.” Elder Archimedes’ relaxed tone changes into a serious one. Even Iron appears to be confused by this sudden change.
I hesitate before answering his questions, thinking of what exactly to say. “I never actually met her. However I heard that she was in Stable 2, and went there to find her and other Steel Rangers. But when I got there, they refused to open the door and said she had died,” I say apologetically.
The elder’s face twists into an odd expression as he says, “That’s it then. We are the last functioning Steel Rangers in the wasteland. Without her authority, we can’t rally the others. To think that our group would be the only rangers capable of helping Equestria.”
Confusion rises up in me as i’m forced to ask, “What do you mean the last? Surely there are others in other Stables or elsewhere in the wasteland?” He couldn’t mean that they were literally the last ones left, could he? “How many of there are you here anyway?” I ask.
His voice turns grave as he replies, “We number around sixty. Twelve are children and fifteen are scribes who are poor at combat. Our current fighting strength is thirty-three. However, I rarely venture out anymore, as my leadership is needed here. We barely have a full platoon, so our offensive capabilities are limited since we must defend our home as well.”
He then shakes his head and puts on a sour expression. “As for the other rangers,” he pauses for a moment, “There are other contingents. However the most of them have kept themselves sealed in their Stables and apparently aren’t going to open up any time soon. There are a few that exist in the wasteland, however they can barely be called Steel Rangers.”
I’m about to ask what he means but he elaborates before I can. “Apparently they have tossed aside the oaths of the Steel Rangers and attack anyone who possesses technology. Even civilians. We have never made contact with them, but travelers have told us tales of being attacked unprovoked.”
I think on his words for a moment before asking, “Couldn’t you go to the other Stables, open them up and regroup with the others?” They could also open Stable 2 and see if a new Ministry Mare for the Ministry of Wartime Technology has been decided. However he shakes his head.
“We received orders that we are not to open any Stables. Only the inhabitants can do that,” he explains. “Unlike our twisted clones on the surface, we follow our orders and oaths. And if Stable 2 refused to open its doors to you, we cannot make them.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense!” I yell at him. “What if they need help, or something bad happened inside of them?” I ask as anger wells up inside of me. I can understand following orders, but the surface is safe now, to an extent. If all the Steel Rangers worked together, they could remake Equestria what it once was.
Elder Archimedes lets out a sigh before addressing Iron, “Iron, you and your squad can go. I’ll speak to miss Ratchet in private. Ratchet, follow me to my private quarters.” He then looks towards one of the others in the room and says, “Bishop, you’re in charge while i’m gone.” He then starts walking towards a door opposite the one we came in.
Iron and the others head back the way we came. Arrow waves to me as she walks by and the twins give me a nod. Iron tells me something as he walks away, “I’ll see you when you’re done.” I hesitate but quickly follow the elder.
He leads me through a few hallways and soon enters through a door labeled as Elder’s Quarters. As we enter, I see the room is similar in style to the rest of the Stable. It has a desk with a terminal on it against one wall and a coffee table sits between two couches in the middle of the room.
Various shelves filled with books and equipment line the walls and an open door seemingly leads to a bedroom. Elder Archimedes sits on one of the couches and gestures for me to sit across from him. I do so and welcome the softness of the couch compared to the dirt I’ve been sleeping on. As I get comfortable, the elder begins to speak.
“I hope you are comfortable, because this might take some time to explain. About this Stable and about you. Since you previously asked why we wouldn’t open Stables, I’ll start with our history. It begins before the Megaspells fell,” he begins.
“There are twenty-six of us in Stable 36, including Iron and myself, who were Initiates in the Steel Rangers. We came from different locations and backgrounds, both mares and stallions, earth ponies and unicorns, future Scribes and future Knights. A random assortment of Initiates who knew absolutely nothing about each other, let alone what it meant to be a Steel Ranger. We were all around twenty years old, I was one of the oldest at twenty-five,” he explains.
“The twenty-six of us were gathered here shortly before the Megaspells fell and we were sealed inside this Stable. We were told nothing and no leadership or guidance was given to us. A few hours after we entered a pre-recorded message was played over the system. Here, i will play it for you,” he says as he gets up.
He walks from the couch to the terminal and presses a few buttons on it with his magic before he returns to the couch and a voice starts to play.
===~+~===
Attention Steel Ranger Initiates of Stable 36. You have been selected as part of a Stable-Tec experiment. You are all Initiates of equal standing within the Steel Rangers. Some of you were training to be Scribes and some of you Knights. However, starting today you will begin determining which of you will be a Steel Ranger Elder.
Around this Elder a command structure must be erected like any normal Steel Ranger chapter. You may use any means necessary to decide which among you will be Elder. You may determine your Elder using democracy, tests, combat, or any other methods. While in this Stable, you will not be held responsible for any actions you commit.
Once an Elder has been determined, they can enter the Elder’s Chambers and register their DNA with the system. This system will monitor your vitals. In the event of an Elder’s death, a new one must be selected. This Stable will remain locked until a single Elder remains in their position for thirty years.
Additionally, various hidden parameters have been put in place to ensure the system is not cheated. The only rule is that the Elder must be alive and have free will for thirty years. Good luck, and enjoy your new top of the line Stable by Stable-Tec! Message will repeat.
===~+~===
Elder Archimedes switches the recording off before it plays again. “As you can see, we were pit against each other. However, while the others were arguing amongst themselves for the first few weeks, I explored the facility and began maintaining it. I honestly had no interest in becoming the Elder back then,” he tells me.
“As time continued, I began to get recognized around the Stable as the one who wasn’t fighting to be Elder and was instead maintaining our weapons, armor, and facilities. They would let me work around them instead of treating me with suspicion. Up to this point, we had managed to stay relatively civilized and avoided throwing any punches,” his tone gets bitter.
“About two months had passed and I had begun to pass the time when I wasn’t cleaning or maintaining the facility by reading the Steel Ranger Charter that details all of our rules and regulations. However the others continued to bicker among themselves. Some were getting especially heated in their arguments,” he explains as his face twists into a look of disgust.
“Shortly after, while I was cleaning in the armory, I heard a few gunshots and some screams. Almost without thinking I put on a suit of our armor the way our books instructed and grabbed a rifle, loading it before heading to the source of the gunshots,” at this moment, his face has a look of sorrow on it.
“When I arrived in the mess hall, I saw every other Initiate gathered near the middle. Somepony was shouting threats as the others looked on, but I couldn’t see who it was past the crowd. I began walking towards them, as I neared a few towards the back of the crowd turned and saw me,” he shakes his head.
“It was like one of those moments you hear about. The crowd slowly parted to let me through and into the center. Some gasped, others simply stood aside. When I reached the center, I saw one of us standing over the bodies of two more, a snarl on his muzzle. I looked at my dead comrades and back at the one with the gun,” Elder Archimedes let out a sigh.
“I asked him if he killed them, and he said that he did. He then demanded my loyalty and that he be made Elder. Instead, I repeated the words in our charter regarding the killing of fellow Steel Rangers. If any shall kill a comrade, the punishment is execution,” he pauses for a moment before continuing.
“I raised my rifle and shot him in the head. There was no hesitation in my actions, it was as though I was on autopilot. I turned around from his body and walked through the crowd. Before leaving the mess hall I gave my first command. Incinerate the two he killed, and leave his body to rot somewhere,” he shakes his head.
“I don’t know why, but a few days later they elected me Elder unanimously. I don’t know if it was because of the brutal display I put on, my knowledge of our charter, or the fact I saved them. However, I was granted full access to the Elder’s Chambers on that day,” his expression softens a bit.
“From that day everyone grew closer, however. There was no more bickering and everyone began working together. Some even formed romantic relationships. We began training in and learning the ways of the Steel Rangers. In my spare time, I read the logs on the Elder’s terminal. Stable-Tec had included information for after an Elder had been elected,” he gestures towards the terminal on the desk.
“It had a roster of everyone in the Stable, as well as information regarding Steel Ranger tactics and how Elders normally operated things. It was like an Elder training manual. It also had a countdown that started from thirty years for when the Stable would unlock,” the elder shrugs.
“Things went on for thirty years peacefully. When the time ran out, a single word was played over the PA system: Congratulations. Some sounds like confetti and firecrackers went off as it said this. Then, a single command appeared on my terminal: Allow Stable entry/exit.”
“However, a few other documents appeared on my terminal. The first was a command to never open another Stable. The other documents that appeared were the rosters of the other Steel Ranger chapters and the statuses of their facilities,” the elder let out another sigh.
“As I said previously, most have the status of Lockdown. I don’t know their locations anyway. However, I told you this story to explain why we will not open the Stables and disregard that order. Our Stable experienced what it is like to have no orders, to have no one in charge. Once I become Elder, we decided to follow our leaders and our orders, regardless of our feelings of them. We do not want to repeat the chaos we once lived in,” Elder Archimedes explains.
After having listened to his story, I can sort of understand his thoughts. I don’t necessarily agree with them, but I can understand. However, if these are the only Steel Rangers I can meet who won’t kill me outright, I have no choice but to seek their help. “Thank you for telling me,” I say to him.
“Not at all. Remembering our history helps us to keep from repeating it,” he says. “Without keeping to our oaths we are nothing more than the raiders we try to wipe out. However, enough about us for now. I’m sure you are curious about your rank and what happens next.”
I nod while saying, “Yes Elder. I had no idea until today that I was given an honorary rank in the Steel Rangers. But, now that I know about it, I’m not sure what I should do, or have to do.”
Elder Archimedes gets up from the couch again and goes to his terminal, sitting in the chair at the desk. “In the command center, I searched for your name after hearing this news. Our database has access to every Steel Ranger rosters. If you are a member, it would have you listed, and I did in fact find you listed. However, I didn’t have the time to look at it there in too much depth,” he says as he types in some commands to the terminal.
I get up from the couch and go stand beside him so I can see the terminal screen. “So I am actually a member? Does it give any more details?” I ask, suddenly filled with curiosity.
After punching in a few more commands, the Elder brings up an information screen that has my picture in the upper right of it. “Here is your dossier. It will have all the information regarding your current status. Let’s take a look, shall we?” He looks at me as if asking permission and I give him a nod.
“Let’s see. It says here that you are...sixty-two years old?” He says as his eyes go wide and he turns to look at me. “You don’t look a day over thirty. Interesting. Well, you can explain that later. Let’s keep reading.”
We both look at the screen and read the information that has been collected about me. It has some slight background information, where I was born, the schools I attended, and when I began to work for the Ministry of Magic. It also starts to talk about my time working for the Ministry of Magic, however most of the information has been censored out with a message saying, “Ministry Mare Access Only” in various places.
Some of the last information is related to the Steel Rangers. It mentions the fact that I would work on the armor that belonged to the rangers assigned to me and that quite a few of the upgrades were interesting. It mentioned a few of them and also that the rangers’ assigned to me recommended me for honorary status.
The last bit of information is in regards to my specific function within the Steel Rangers and is as follows, “The mare known as Ratchet is to be given the special rank of Scribe Crusader, coming with the combined privileges of both Scribes and Crusaders, including the ability to lead a squad of up to eight Knights.”
It goes on to say, “In addition, Scribe Crusader Ratchet is granted the ability to work autonomously and is not bound to any specific Steel Ranger contingent. With the exception that an Elder must first approve her command of any rangers assigned to her as well as equipment acquisition. As such, she has the same freedom of a Star Paladin, however none of the authority or access privileges.”
Elder Archimedes puts a hoof to his chin, scratching his beard. “Interesting,” he says. “A special rank combining the privileges of two. Unoriginal name, just combining them together, but if Miss Applejack came up with it…” he trails off for a moment.
“Very well,” he says suddenly. “As it says, you are free to do as you want. I’ll grant you access to any equipment you want, assuming you can buy or trade for it. However, I suppose I should give you some basic gear to help you survive free of charge…” he trails off again as he scratches his beard.
I interject abruptly, “I couldn’t sir! I’ll buy or trade for anything I need. Given the state of the wasteland, i’m assuming there is no way to create new equipment, right? I would feel bad taking them for free.” A thought strikes me suddenly. “Actually, instead of giving me equipment, would you mind letting me stay here for a while and train with it? If today was an indication, I need more training with weapons.”
Elder Archimedes takes his hoof from his chin and says, “If you’re certain you don’t want anything and would rather train, I won’t be opposed to that. In fact, I can have Iron and his squad help you with your training. He can also teach you how to command those under you, should you ever want to command a squad.”
I nod. “That would be great. I would also like to help you fight the Track Gang in Ponyville. That mare they captured...I want to save her,” I explain to him. “I’ll also work while i’m here to earn my keep. I can maintain your armor and weapons, clean, or anything else you need done.”
The Elder waves his hoof. “I appreciate your enthusiasm and your determination to save that mare. You certainly are a good fit for the Steel Rangers,” he lets out a chuckle. However his expression quickly turns serious. “I have just met you today. I cannot say if I completely trust you yet, but time will tell. Stable 36 is fitted with security cameras covering most of the public space. Know that we will be watching you.”
I nod, acknowledging his concern. “I don’t mean for this to come off as rude, but for the same reason I can’t yet tell you why I look so young. I hope that we can earn each other’s trust and in time I can tell you.”
Elder Archimedes narrows his eyes for a moment before a smile appears on his muzzle. “I’m glad we have an understanding. I shall make the necessary arrangements for you to live here for a while. You should go find Iron, he will show you around. Despite his rank, he is one of my most trusted friends. He just cannot lead large numbers.”
I let out a slight chuckle at his remark about Iron before I thank him for his time and exit his chambers. Now then, my next issue is where in this facility is Iron going to be?
===~+~===
No Levels Gained.
New Quest Acquired: “Prisoner Rescue”