Making Friends
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"A mare could really get used to this gig..." I giggled lightly, a soft tingle in my nethers as I ran a hoof over the detonator, one of my wingtips held in my mouth in anticipation for the mother of all blasts. The radio had faded over to a years-old song, myself gently swaying with the gentle melody as the clock spun down, ticking, timing, building the excitement. The boards began lighting up as all of the old circuitry came online, basking the bunker in an amber glow as the song neared it's end. I found myself gently humming along with it between breaths, my face already in a hot blush as my loins tingled ever more and more, barley able to contain myself as I finally pressed down upon the button as the last cords began to play. In exasperated gasps, I choked along with the last few words of the song as the signal reached the device.
"...and I know we'll meet a-gain, some sun-ny, daaay!" Through the window, everything was suddenly bleached a brilliant white as I exploded with pleasure, hunched over the controls and moaning ridiculously as wave after shocking wave of pleasure ran over me like a flood. Just when I thought I couldn't possibly get anything more out of myself, the entire bunker shook as a great torrent of heavenly stimulus smashed into me, sending myself writhing and moaning on the floor, a red-hot blush permanently fused onto my face. Blood was roaring in my ears, my heartbeat heard perfectly clear; 'tun-tah, tun-tah, twun-tahs, twin-tals, twin-tails'... why did my heart sound like Minty Candy?
"Gwah! Wha-wh... what?..." I bolted upright on the floor of the bell-turned-home, my heart racing and pants... well, I'm sure there's somewhere I can clean them... looking around sporadically. My gaze settled on a -very- surprised augmented unicorn being spooned and nibbled on by an elder stallion under the blankets, a sight almost far too surreal to actually be happening... which is exactly why the next moment I was laughing like a madcolt, laying on my back and barely able to get a breath in between hysterics. Minty obviously couldn't see the humor in the situation, though I guess I don't blame him all that much. Then again, if he could slam me into the brass wall face-first with little more than a nod of his head, why'd he have to wake me up to help him get out of that predicament anyways!? I groaned, hearing a ringing in my head... or it could've been the bell... as Old Colt Johnson finally woke up to the white ear he was nibbling on, and the buck between his legs.
"Mmmyah! Ah... uh... hoo boy... yeah, this is pretty bad, inn't it?..." He jumped to his hooves in surprise, trotting backwards to the wall of the bell as Minty lifted himself up, shivering either from cold or disgust - how was he still wearing that Stable jacket in this cold weather? Johnson plopped his hindquarters down, gnawing on his wrinkly lower lip and looking over at us both, legs spread apart. Minty seemed just about ready to give the stallion a piece of his mind before noticing something quite peculiar for a colt who just woke up from what could be guessed was a -very- stimulating dream. He stammered, myself finally getting up and rubbing my head, looking at the pair; Johnson had a -really- vibrant blush.
"Uh, Mr. Johnson... where's your, um, 'johnson'?..."
---
We stepped out through the recently repaired door of Mooscow, minds full of knowledge of how a 40mm grenade launcher works great as a fleshlight-turned-contraceptive and saddlebags packed with the surplus ammunition and few healing supplies we had left between us. Out of gratuity - and, I suspect, to keep our mouths shut about the little incident between him and Minty - my bespectacled, surprised friend came trotting out of the massive bell adorned in an old set of combat armor, something I suspect proved far more resilient against the chill than that old Stable shirt he wore beneath it. Bloodbeak stifled a snicker as we retrieved our guns, Minty starting to blush.
"No way, you goofs bunked with Long-Dick Johnson? Man, you come out of one old hole and go right in another, don't you? Hah!" She let loose a laugh while I opened up the case, drawing out the pistol and gingerly sliding it into a holster on my foreleg, looking eastwardly down the highway. Minty was fuming... something made evident by the large chunk of broken rebar floating over in a blue haze. And I thought I used to overreact to things...
"Ah, eheh, hey, Minty, how about we get walking, right? This place is miles away, I think..." I forced a grin, patting the unicorn on the shoulder while Bloodbeak recovered herself. Through clenched teeth, I added, "put the rebar down before you make an entire town want to kill us..." Minty flinched, letting off a sigh, the relieving sound of concrete and metal hitting permafrost behind us. We turned around, trotting down the road with the snow crunching underhoof and the sun hiding itself behind the clouds once more. We were about fifty feet from the gate when Bloodbeak worked free one last retort, both of us tensing at hearing it over the light wind.
"Have fun being the talk of the town if you get back!" She broke out in another volley of high pitched laughter, the snow melting almost as fast as it blew against Minty's face. I stepped backwards from him, watching his horn light up, worry beginning to overtake myself. A lump formed in the pit of my stomach as he levitated a large clump up from the ground, forming it... into a snowball. With a rather resounding smack of packed snow against beak behind us, Minty smirked, beginning to move along once more. At least it wasn't concrete this time.
"Well, feeling better now?" We were trotting along at a smooth pace now, the sun in our eyes, as the wintery wasteland churned and blew about us. It was actually somewhat easy to stick to the road, even if the snow blew over and covered it there were plenty of the remnants of cart tracks to follow from merchants and caravans that made it through. It looked much like a straight shot until a turnoff up ahead, hooked to a smaller road leading north. Minty let loose a small huff, the air condensing the water in his breath into a small cloud.
"Yeah, sorry... just kind of a sensitive topic, y'know?" He turned his head off to the side, looking out across the wasteland mountains and hills. "Ah... anyways. We do know where we're going, right? Map marked?" I nodded, tapping against the side of my Pip-buck's case confidently.
"Spotted a local map in Razorwing's store, only has some rough locations but it was enough for me to have a general idea. Don't think we'll have a hard time missing it... how many huge factories would be out here, anyways? Turn left at the road headed north and keep to it, we'll find it easy. I hope." I chuckled weakly, Minty glancing skywards for a moment before returning his gaze back to the ground. The wind nipped at our faces as we pushed onwards, every now and again our pip-bucks crackling with the pickup of some radio transmissions. The turnoff came into view when we were about halfway down the road, a few figures crawling about on it, between makeshift shacks. The snow around was littered with overturned carts and dead bodies, turned a horrid reddish-brown with blood. Aw, drat, I only wanted to taste that stew Old Colt Johnson made up without having it accompanied by stomach acid...
"Well, ain't this a buck in the head. Think they moved up, or is this just an advance team or something?" We kept low, moving along between the snowbanks carefully, trying to not be spotted as we approached the small camp. Intimidating as a duster and bulletproof vest are, I bet when these were made they were -not- intended to be used in a setting where the whole ground was fifty shades of white. Minty, at least, matched the snow with his coat... how'd ponies evolve to be every combination of color under the rainbow again?
The sound of a bullet kicking up a plume of snow from the small snowbank we were just behind alerted us both that you'd have to practically be invisible to be able to sneak around in these parts. Minty peered up, looking down at the camp while I pulled out Gamma's pistol, keeping it held firm in my mouth. He ducked and turned back as a few more plumes erupted around us, smaller in size than the first but more frequent, and levitated out his goop gun, or plasma pistol, or whatever it was called. The firefight was on and we hadn't even reached the road for the RobronCo facility yet. Brilliant.
Another few plumes of snow as the shouts and yells grew louder, myself looking over the situation with pistol readied, clip loaded with the surplus rounds. Some of the bullets in the pack had weird-colored tips on them, not entirely sure what they were; probably something like a guide round, lets you know where you're aiming if you have them in a machine gun, I guess. Long as they could hit the same, I'd be happy... alright, relax yourself now, be calm and focus. Thank Celestia for that crosshair, too. Now, line it up, liiine it- duck you moron! Stupid raiders with their stupid automatics and stupid rifles. After a breath, I popped my head back up, taking aim again - boy, they were close now... far enough away that those little machine guns weren't accurate enough, but getting into 'Emerald Ridge shootout' close range. Aim, squeeze with your tongue, and... bang! Oofh, right, this thing kicks like hell. One down, seven to go...
Minty had begun to open up with his goop gun, several of the shots he managed to fire off singing or rebounding off of the pack of barely-clothed ponies - seriously, how did they live in this cold!? - before he began to land them, turning two of the raiders into piles of warm goo. Between the gunfire and shouting, the ever-growing sound of an unearthly scream became ever more prominent, the fight beginning to slow off as heads turned to the sky to try and spot whatever hellspawn was coming in to clean house. Minty and myself both hit the deck, getting a faceful of snow as the scream reached a fever pitch. Suddenly, the world around began exploding, shockwaves, heat, and shrapnel raining down on us both in successive order, ears left ringing and bodies stinging from the burning flakes of metal embedded in. Everything grew dark.
When consciousness once again graced myself with it's cold embrace, I found myself staring into the sleeping eyes of a certain augmented unicorn, half-buried in a small crater. With a moment's hesitation - who knew ponies gave off so much body heat? - I uncurled myself from Minty's legs, jumping backwards as I felt blood rushing to my face. Sheesh, that pony winds up cuddling more colts than a mare does with her plushie. A small metal box glinted the sun in my eyes as I trotted around, surveying the immediate area - goddesses, what in the name of Luna -was- that thing that managed to do all this? A neat line of small craters led straight down from where we were, the snow around where the small group of raiders was now stained with red and dismembered pony limbs. From the looks of things, we got off lucky...
"Huh... 'Sorry for bombing you'? What?" I prodded at the note on the small metal tin, unlatching it and flicking the lid up, the note pushed off to the side. Inside was a pair of healing potions, a few pieces of scrap metal, and, strangely enough, a small satchel of old Sparkle-Cola bottlecaps... oooh, I hope that we can find some Sparkle-Cola around here somewhere! I bet it's at the perfect temperature, even if it was left out in the open for two whole centuries - this whole wasteland seemed like an icebox! Mmmm, that perfect sweet taste of fruits and carbonation, tickling down your throat and resting in your stomach~
"Uhm... are you drooling?" I blinked a few times, coming out of a phantom taste-induced daze, wiping my lips dry and turning to face the now-awake unicorn trotting up from behind. I chuckled idly, setting the bag back in the small container and picking it up along with the note. Minty looked down at it curiously, levitating it out of my grasp and reading it over. "Huh... this is a foal's hoofprint... what's in the box?"
"Bottlecaps and Healing potions. Wonder why somepony would do something like this, after something like... like THAT." I waved a hoof out across the line of carnage and craters in the snow, Minty dropping the note - and his jaw - as he saw what had happened. Emptying the contents of the tin into my saddlebags - 75 bottle caps, quite a generous amount, I think - I tossed the metal box aside, Minty having begun trotting down towards the remains of the raiders. Rules of the wasteland, if somepony else isn't going to be using it anymore, probably should see if you can take it, I guess.
"Empty... empty... empty... somepony already cleaned house!" The unicorn stomped a hoof into the ground, rather angry due to the lack of supplies on the... DOWN, STEW, down. Okay, don't look at the mutilated remains, just keep walking along. There's probably more stuff that hasn't been blown up or taken in the camp on the turnoff, yeah, it's probably cleaner too, not any... yeah, there's probably stuff to scavenge at the turnoff. Follow the crater-filled road, follow the crater-filled road...
Saddlebags filled with small firearms that looked like they were a fast way to get some kind of oral disease if used, and several rounds of ammunition and small sums of bottle caps along with them, it wasn't too long before we finally were able to set off to the RobronCo factory properly. While Minty was fiddling with a few locked boxes around, my Pip-buck finally decided to start picking up a radio station properly, a fact I jumped on rather readily as sweet Celestia walking with no music was almost as boring as reactor maintenance. A stallion, calling himself 'DJ Pon-3', crackled over the speaker with a warning of raiders around a town called Ponyville... Ponyville, Ponyville, where have I heard that name before? Oh, right, it was just south of Canterlot on the old maps! But, Canterlot was -hundreds- of miles to the south... can radio waves really bounce like that? Oh, sod it, I'm getting music and talk now and I don't care! Minty trotted up, levitating the screwdriver back into his weighted saddlebags and smirking, listening in.
"Well cover me in feathers and call me a pegasus, didn't think there were any radio stations around here! Crank it up, getting sick of the wind..." We shared a small laugh, myself getting to my hooves and trotting ahead down the road. After a short instrumental, the music finally chimed in, along with the both of our voices, causing a rather off-kilter harmony as we trotted down the road once more, smiling and filling the cold wasteland air with old, classic music.
"How stupid could one colt be?
I turned and then she kissed me,
Like my pappy once said,
Ain't that a buck in the head!..."
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“Bwuuuuuh, turn it ooooffff! I swear this is the fifth time we’ve heard that song.” I said as I threw my head back as we continued to crunch through the snow. Twintails fiddled with his Pip-Buck radio a bit, the static-filled sound fizzling out.
“I don’t want to set the wooor~~” A brief flash of static filled the air before it fell silent, aside from the occasional gust of wind. We continued along the broken street, climbing on the side of a small hill which led down to a deep valley.
“Sheesh, you’d think that DJ’d have more than just three songs lined up.” I said, looking across the hill, doing my best not to lose my footing on the icy ground. He chuckled a little as he trotted beside me, shaking his head and balancing with his wings outstretched.
“Can’t really blame him, it’s not like records were kept in huge underground vaults like ponies were. 'sides, his PSAs and news are at least entertaining.” He replied, snarkily. I grunted a little, not really having a good enough excuse to argue with him. We climbed in awkward silence for a bit before we reached a turn in the hill, the road leading off like a winding snake underneath the darkening sky, and hoho boy, and there it was!
Standing at the side of the basin was the RobronCo factory, some of the steel framework still glistening in the clouded sunlight. The letters above its door were rusted in patches, the O of Co having fallen off and laying like a doughnut stuck in a mound of powdered sugar... or at least that's what the caption under the pictures in the books read, anyways. It towered higher than any of the other buildings we’d seen thus far, even with the deterioration of age and various holes blasted into it by scavengers before us. Twintails was about head towards the facility as I grabbed him by his tails with my magic, much to his surprise and otherwise dismay.
“Hold on... I think I see something moving.” Squinting my eyes, I spotted some figures patrolling the large opening that probably used to hold glass doors. Ugh, I suppose we should’ve expected some kind of armed guards. Arguably, I was impressed; it took a lot of patience or a lot of wrenches to hack into those old things, let alone to the point of having them as guards for yourself. “It looks like those raiders managed to hack into the security system... I'm not even mad, that's impressive considering how many drugs must be in their bloodstream.”
“Wew, a lesh ish not bwoody...” Twintails groaned a little, pulling out his Luger again, having it at the ready. I wasn't sure if he just wasn't looking for another fight, or he didn't want to damage that pistol any more with those cheap rounds. We started to slowly head towards the doors, my heart speeding up a little; from the look of things, the make of those Securi-Mares were equipped with small laser emitters on their shoulders. Twintails closed one eye, spotting down the awkward sights of the pistol before firing off a shot - how anypony fired those things with the mouth grip, I'll never know. It dented one of the robots' armor before it turned towards us and started to open fire, garnering the attention of the residents inside of the building from all the shouting going on. I fired at the robots as well, plasma shots starting to center and the clip beginning to heat up from the energy draw, managing to cut one of their laser emitters off. Disarmed, it charged at us with it's full weight, barreling down like a freight train in the snow. Goddeses, those things were fast... but Twintails fired faster. A lucky shot at one of the exposed pressure tubes sent it flailing about as hydraulic fluid sprayed into the snow, the robot losing control of its front legs and toppling rather humorously into a road barrier just outside the building. We fired more at it before managing to puncture its metallic hide, frying its processor with a mix of lead and plasma. My clip basically empty at that point, I rushed over to it, flipping open the laser gun on its shoulder and grinning at the inner-workings. Thank Celestia, some energy cells! Only a hoof-full, but- Eep! Owowowow, I didn't want my flanks THAT hot! Oh, right, that -other- guard bot... give me a break, I was mentally undressing a disabled robotic security pony! Er, uh, wait, that came out wrong...
Opening fire once again, the second security robot seemed to shrug off the shots at first - a hardier model, maybe? I fitted in one of the power cells, letting the spent cartridge melt into the snow, finally being able to fire at the charging robot once again as- did it just EXPLODE!? I looked over at Twintails as he stared at the stumbling carcass of a robot, then down at his own gun, in pure surprise. Damaged far beyond repair and dangerously close to a cliff, it tumbled down the hill towards the valley. “Eheh, well, I see you’ve managed to keep your lunch this time.” I joked, chuckling weakly, still reeling from the sight of that de-skinned robot. Twintails smiled a little, ejecting the clip from his gun and slamming another one home. No immediate danger in the area and wanting to not have breathing holes punched in us right away, we holstered our weapons, once again headed towards the door of the facility in hopes of a possibly diplomatic approach.
“Eh, just don’t expect the same when we actually come across those raide-” As we entered the factory, we were graciously met by the twin barrels of a shortened shotgun. The raider that had it levitated to his side and aimed cleanly at us both flicked the safety off - I’m honestly surprised it was on in the first place.
“Well, lookie who wandered in here.” The raider snickered, a couple others flanking us. “Alright, what’re a couple'a little colts doing out here? Lookin' for a quick brain surgery? Heh heh...” The other raiders raised their weapons, one clamping a magnum between its teeth, the other levitating up a small lead pipe, all of them with their flanks bare and with relatively minimal armor - goddesses, how the heck did THEY manage to keep themselves together in the cold!? As I raced to find an excuse that wouldn’t get our heads blown off, a security robot that didn't want to turn our insides into warm piles of goo just yet trotted in, rushing over to us with it's machine-laser rifle in the storage position.
“Please present your RobronCo Factory I.D. or security will be call-*ssht*” It asked in an electronic voice, cutting out at the end. The raiders all collectively groaned, one fishing out a laminated, blood-stained card, showing it to the robot. The robot scanned it before turning away - and once again, focus was on us.
“Ugh, I swear that happens every ten minutes. I thought the boss said she was going to shut those down when we got here.” The unicorn said, clipping the card to the pile of cloth scraps one could call a jacket he wore around his shoulders.
Twintails raised an eyebrow. “Wait, so you -don’t- know how to operate the robots? How did those security bots out front start working then?” He asked skeptically, myself beginning to reach around in my saddlebags for my plasma pistol. The scantily clad ponies only raised their guards again, us both taking a small step back, out the doors, wind and snow beginning to whip in at an accelerated rate. Geez, these guys were too on edge...
The lead raider looked us over, figuring we didn’t stand much against them in the situation anyways... and, I pray, they wanted to get out of the cold as much as we wanted to... so they may as well answer some questions. We followed the three inside, the unicorn levitating a shotgun and with a cutie mark of what appeared to be a headless horse laying in blood splatter - don't look, Twintails - leading, with the other two watching us from behind. “There’s a small group of ponies heading this place, they got the things up and running. At least, most stuff. They’re still having… problems with a couple bots, said they'd pay us for protecting them while they worked. Whoever decided it was a good idea for us to be paid after the fact is beyond me...”
“I could help.” I said, eyes lighting up. A chance to examine these robots up close without getting a flankful of lasers? Count me in! The lead pony thought it over, and by the look of things, it took a lot of mental effort on his part. Don’t do drugs kids, this is what happens.
“You get the bots fixed for those twats and we could finally get paid and leave this place. C'mon.” We turned and started heading through towards the executive offices. The sounds of frustrated banging and sparks filled the air, along with the acrid smell of fried circuitry and broken talismans - a moment of silence for all the good robots who were lost to water damage and shorted circuits. We rounded a corner, stopping at a door surrounded by some piles of scrap metal and broken electronics, and a pair of heavily armed laser turrets.
“Hey, boss? We got somepony here who says he could help out with the bots.” The head raider opened the door, revealing a couple ponies fiddling on an old Mk IV Mr. Handy assistance robot. One adorned in a mechanic's jumpsuit turned to meet us, looking clearly annoyed at being interrupted, and otherwise just plain irritable. Sheesh, it's like the Overmare all over again...
“Alright, alright, go back to the lobby.” She said, grumbling. The raiders nodded and left the room, grumbling themselves and slamming the door hard. The red-coated mare with an electric-blue mane sighed, stepping up to myself and looking me over with baggy eyes. “So what makes you think you’re able to help out?” She asked, skeptical. Brushing my mane aside, I tapped at my metallic horn, herself grunting in response. “Unicorn, huh? Gah, fine, I’m getting sick of working on this goddess-damned thing and none of these raiders are any help. Name's Jumper, by the way. Jumper Cables.” As I went to fiddling with the Mr. Handy, the mare in the mechanic's jacket turned to face Twintails, fwhumping against the wall of the room, exhausted.
“So, why are there raiders guarding this place, anyways? Isn't the robot security force enough?” He asked. Jumper sighed, rubbing her temples and digging sleepers out of her sleepless eyes.
“We’ve been trying to fix up this facility for a couple weeks now, but things have been slow going. We thought we’d finally found a faster way with this Mr. Handy so we could program it to repair some of the other machinery, but it’s missing some parts-” A few sparks went flying as I pulled on one of the wires, a puff of acrid smoke coming from the cooling vents. “...a lot of parts, and these raiders offered to find them, for a price, of course. Lucky we were able to convince them to wait until we earned some money after getting the factory finally fixed up to working order, but they’ve been seriously losing patience with us, I think...”
“Hey, I think I’ve got this.” I connected some of the wires inside, slipping a belt and fan into place and giving a few talismans in the main body a quick energizing spark. Shutting the back of the Mr. Handy and flipping a switch on the back, the fan and talismans inside whirred and hummed to life, the light on the one functioning eye flickering on. The robot levitated itself into the air, its eye focusing itself onto Jumper.
“How may I help?” It said in a garbled voice. Jumper let off a relaxed sigh, walking over to it with a holotape at the ready and fitting it into the back of it. After a few seconds of the holotape’s information being downloaded, the robot floated over to the door and likely was heading towards the main construction room to start repairs.
“Thank the goddesses, I thought we’d never fix that thing... I don’t know how we can repay you, we don’t have any caps left.” She said, looking a little embarrassed as she hoofed at the floor. The other ponies had moved onto another security robot, piecing it together while I was mentally taking it apart... oh my, such a complicated piece of technology~ Twintails cleared his throat, myself snapping back to the land of not-technology.
“Could you spare some energy cells? We’ve been running a little low as of late.” Twintails asked, nodding towards myself as I tried to clear a blush on my face. She nodded, opening the desk drawers nearby and tossing a bag full of them to me. With a wide grin, I took to simply pouring the contents into my saddlebags.
“Well... uhm... I guess we’ll go...” I muttered, chuckling weakly as Jumper trotted behind the desk and firmly took to concussing herself on it as she passed out. With a shared cringe, I followed Twintails as we stepped out of the room and made our way back to the front lobby of the factory. I couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling in my gut as we passed through the cubicles and offices again.
“I hope they’re able to deal with those raiders, they aren’t going to be happy when they don’t get paid...” As we approached the lobby, it didn’t seem like any of the raiders were still hanging around. A slip of white paper flapping in the breeze, however, caught his attention. “Hey, it looks like they left a note... yeesh, I can barely read this.” He squinted, reading off the note with some difficulty. Cognitive damage -and- mouth-eye coordination mess-ups? Christ, were they huffing ground parasprites or something?... actually, I'd rather not know. “‘We’re sick of waiting for our pay... have fun with all the landmines outside, fuckers.’ Well,” Twintails said, tossing the note aside. “I suppose we should be thankful they’re at least passive-aggressive raiders.”
I shrugged in agreement. “I suppose we ought to be heading back to Mooscow, tell them the raiders should be cleared out.” Twintails nodded, and we headed out the door. The day had gone to night, though the lights illuminating the outside of the factory were cutting through a dense fog of snow. “Ach, where did this storm come from?” I said, bringing a hoof up to block my face. My gratitude for the metal armor immediately doubled, I don’t even want to think what being out in this would be like with only my jumpsuit... I tapped on my Pip-Buck, the map fizzling a bit. “My map isn’t working. Do you think it’s a good idea to go out in this?”
Twintails checked his. “It's just a straight shot that way with a turn at the highway, I think we can make it... I thought you were supposed to be a master with these things, can’t you fix it?” He looked out into the frozen wasteland, the snow and storm clouding our view.
“I’m going to need time to do that, and besides, it’s probably a problem with the wireless pickup instead of the Pip-Bucks themselves.” I hesitated. “I think I remember the way back, it shouldn’t be too bad. I doubt those mines are too hard to see, and you could probably disarm them.”
Twintails smiled smugly. “That’s what a life of working in a nuclear reactor gets you, a lot of free time and an expertise on all things explosive... Wait, I think I might have mine working...” He tapped his Pip-Buck again. “It’s fuzzy, but I can see locations. There’s one to the north, has to be Mooscow. There’s nothing else out here.” He stared out into the storm, covering his face with a feathery wing. I nodded, my horn beginning to glow with a bright blue light.
“Alright... let’s head out then, before this gets worse.” I said, walking out into the storm, the area immediately around me lit up brightly. Twintails followed, shivering as the icy wind blasted against us both, digging at our exposed skin and making concentrating very difficult... at least the light spell was magic kindergarten 101. We walked down the road, making sure to watch our steps. We were some distance from the facility, far enough away to not be able to see the lights of it, running off of our fuzzy Pip-buck screens and sheer prayer to keep from enjoying a nice forty-foot plummet to jagged rocks and ice below. “I think those raiders might’ve been bluffing, I haven’t seen a single mine, and if we stay out here much longer we’re going to freeze to death.”
“I don’t know, if we don’t be care-“ There was an ear splitting explosion before my ears began ringing with a high-pitched scream. Oh shit... aggh, shit, shit, shit. I cracked open my eyes, feeling cold snow on my cheeks and leg, seeing flecks of red all around the snow. Shit, is... is that blood?... -my- blood? Oh, Celestia make it stop. I looked down at my left leg... wait... there’s no leg there, that’s bone. Huh, I didn’t think bones were that bright white. Oh, shit, not now. I vomited into the snow, hearing Twintails cursing with pain and meeting up with Old Colt Johnson’s stew once again too. Oh crap, where’s my Pip-Buck, where’s my leg?! I let loose a silent scream of pain as Twintails rushed over. He’s covered in blood, too - his one wing’s crippled. So much for flying above the storm, not that that was even an option. He took one look at my leg, or lack thereof, turned away and vomited again. Thanks, Twintails, now help me damn it!!
“Minty?! Are you alright. Oh, nope, ignore the bone, ignoring the bone...” He mouthed to himself, doing his best to lower down beside myself. Sounds were muffled, but I think my hearing was coming back... I'm sure my eyes would be lit up with warnings right now if my pip-buck weren't buried in a snowbank. Damn, they built those things to last. I could just make out Twintails' voice as he regained himself, his good wing and forehoof working under my body. “Can you get on?” With a good deal of effort, I managed to flip myself over onto his back, grunting in pain, feeling bits of shrapnel dig their way deeper into my skin. I held onto his back with my free hoof and every bit of strength I could muster, groaning as he stood up, cradling myself in his good wing. Opening my eyes a bit, I spotted my still-intact Pip-Buck laying in the snow, the shiny casing and screen stained with blood. My blood. I grunted softly, lifting my non-unarmed hoof and pointing towards it, trying to get Twintails’ attention. He looked over to where I was motioning, then, with a grimace and swallow, scooped up my Pip-Buck and dropped it into his saddlebags. “Shit, I... I’m sorry. W-which way is Mooscow?” He turned frantically, trying to find the road, making my head spin. Oooh, I hate exploding... I let off a soft moan, pointing towards a small, greenish-reddish glow I saw in the distance. It was light; I didn’t care if it was Mooscow or a raider camp at this point. Twintails turned and started to run towards it. I shut my eyes in pain, feeling a sensation of lifting and weightlessness overtake me.
Hurry, Twintails... please...
-----
Cold is funny. It can freeze, it can burn, it's one of the few things that draws energy from everywhere else. Lacking gunpowder, stick some dry ice in a cut and it'll cauterize a wound... or, at the very least keep the pain down. For once, I was especially thankful for how very goddess-damned freezing it was tonight, I could barely feel my wings... even though the metallic shrapnel connecting with free nerve endings was a different story. It was so, well peaceful, actually - I didn't feel like it was reality, even as each running step dug into deeper and deeper show, the warm breath from the unicorn laying unconscious on my back blowing against my neck and condensing into water, then ice, causing a thin film to develop on my mane. The hazy greenish glow slowly but surely drew larger as we approached towards it through the thick snowstorm, myself hardly able to really watch it from the wind and ice blasting in my face. Minty let off a soft moan - he'd been doing that for a while now. Come on you augmented bastard, don't die on me...
"Just... a few... more... yards..." Grunting in pain, the road began to turn downhill, leading slowly towards the glowing spot of hope in the storm. My sight was still illuminated with warnings of broken bones and crippled limbs, warnings flashing every now and again telling me that I should find a doctor sooner than later. Well, no shit, you 200-year-old leg-computer. I'm surprised things like you even still work. I mean, glass screens and talismans aren't exactly the strongest materials, let alone expected to survive an all-out war with bombs of megaspell scale... I'm talking to my Pip-buck. Before I had much time to question my slipping sanity, a new warning - meter, actually - came up in my view. Well, radiation, just fucking brilliant. One-half a rad per second... if this glow wasn't Mooscow, then we were both pretty doomed to go the way of Mr Skritters. I stalled for a moment, listening to the faint clicking.
"Arrrgh, I forgot to ask about the coil!" Hoof met head met unicorn head, and we both shared a soft grunt of pain, continuing on towards the glow down the road. I blinked a few times - is it getting brighter out? Dwah, I'm not going to question it, we need to keep moving. The little pointer on my display kept slowly creeping upwards, some patches along the road getting to as high as two rads per second - not dizzy yet, no sense in wasting a radaway just because I'm starting to get a bit hot as far as my Geiger counter was concerned. It wasn't long before shapes in the glow began to make themselves out; there was a barbed-wire fence on either side of the road here, small wrecks of carts and pony skeletons littering the roadside. I might have stopped to investigate if it wasn't for the actual facility soon coming into view - behind a destroyed gate was what appeared to be a massive dome-like structure, surrounded by large concrete and steel circles. The whole area was illuminated in strange arcane lights, emitting enough heat to keep the snow from piling up around them. A fairly official-looking sign showed the name of this very strange pre-war facility, something that I took to reading, still feeling Minty's warm breath on my neck and the heat from the lights around.
"N.E.A.M.O.: North Equestrian Artillery Megaspell Outpost? Huh?" I rubbed the back of my head, gnawing at my lower lip as Minty shifted, a quick spread of the wings... wing... keeping him from falling off. Barely. Artillery Megaspell... you mean, a cannon that fired Megaspell warheads? Or, some kind of crazy gun that used a megaspell to fire regular shells? Gah, pre-war technology can make no sense sometimes. While I wondered how big a breech it would take to hold in a megaspell detonation, a figure apparently had been trotting up from behind me, grunting in a gravelly voice that made both myself and Minty jump slightly. We turned to face the figure; his face and body was covered in an old piece of Equestrian Armed Forces combat armor, a long-barreled magnum levitated in a weak bluish field of magic, aimed at us. We stood there for a few moments, looking at each other, not wanting to flinch. I wasn't just about to get myself killed - who would help Minty like this? The snow and wind whipped about us as we stood in the greenish glow, the ticking of the Geiger counter down to it's usual once-every-so-often click, the heat having allowed one of Minty's wounds to open again. Blood began to drip onto the snow, something the masked figure seemed to notice. He lowered his gun, nodding towards both myself and my wounded friend, then began to turn.
"Follow me. We have a doctor." His gravelly response was all the persuasion I needed to follow right behind him, Minty letting off a sigh of relief... and he's breathing again, good, good. We came up to a heavy bunker door in the side of a small hill, the masked unicorn spinning it open and following us both inside the red-lit stairwell, slowly descending into the depths of this pre-war facility. I looked, wide-eyed, at the state it was in; it was like walking into the past, if the past had cracks here and there and the pipes were a lot more rusty. But the fact that the corridors were in such a stunning state after two centuries of unuse still boggled the mind - surely nopony here could've been around to see the bombs fall. Right?
"So, uhm, didn't think I caught your name..." We had entered a flat hallway and rounded a corner, stepping into a room lit in the strange heated lights, except these were of a more vibrant white color. A mare was rummaging in some of the cabinets as I gently rolled Minty onto an empty cot - from the way he shivered as he layed on it, I imagine it was too cold to have to worry about being sanitized. Keeping my lunch down, I also left Minty's pip-buck... and leg... beside him, turning to face the unicorn as he pulled off his helmoh MY GODDESSES WHAT THE HELL PONIES SHOULD NOT HAVE EXPOSED FACIAL MUSCLE! He seemed to take notice of my completely rational reaction of changing colors like a stoplight and scooting backwards into the nearest corner at the sight of somepony that for all rights should be dead and rotting in the ground.
"What's the matter smoothcoat, never seen a ghoulpony before? Lieutenant White Thunder of the 23rd Equestrian Armed Forces Battalion, NEAMO protection mission." He grunted, saluting, looking my hyperventilating, woozy self over. The mare who was dressed in a nurse's outfit and had a mane like a frayed blanket trotted over, looking at myself as well, a roll of bandages held in her mouth. In a combination of the heat and the fact that I slammed it directly into a hard steel wall, I suddenly remembered that one of my wings was completely crippled and had enough shrapnel in it to constitute a healthy lunch for something that ate metal, and the only reason I hadn't passed out from the agonizing pain of a thousand nerve endings screaming at my brain all at once was because of the freezing temperatures outside in the storm. What's that? Urgent telegram for Mr. Twintails' brain? Yes, I'll accept it. Now, let's see here... 'fall unconscious now'. Ah, well, fair enough.
When I finally awoke, again - seriously, can the next time I fall asleep -not- be caused by something exploding? - I was greeted by the sight of Minty sleeping calmly in the cot next to me, and a very distinct lack of intense searing pain in my wing. I let off a breath, sitting myself upright and looking over at my damaged wing, it almost entirely mummified in healing bandages. Well, guess I won't be doing much flying for a while... not that I was doing much before, anyways. The second thing I took note of was a distinct lack of radiation poisoning, and most personal effects, at least according to my pip-buck - look on the bright side, not being irradiated was good, I liked not being irradiated. So much for seeing where I was going to the bathroom at night now, though...
"Ah, you're awake. Feeling better now?" A distinctly non-gravelly voice spoke up opposite myself, giving me a little startle. I turned to look at the side of the cot opposite of where Minty layed, being greeted by the only-slightly-decomposed face of a Colt in a labcoat and armored vest, sitting casually on the third cot in front of one of the lights. He got to his hooves, clearing his throat and trotting to the doorway. "If you would feel so inclined, I would like for your assistance in a matter. Seeing how we were gracious enough to extend a hoof of goodwill in bringing both you and your friend to better health, surely you wouldn't mind repaying us the favor. Follow me when you're feeling it... oh, and your things are in the case at the foot of the bed, if you were wondering." The earth pony colt gave a smile, myself mentally shrugging and hopping off of the cot, carefully folding my damaged wing back up against my bare body and trotting forwards, pausing to look at Minty. He seemed to be breathing, at least, and it did look like he was resting with four hooves instead of just three now. Letting off a held sigh, I turned back to the whitish-blue-coat pony, following him out the door and down the hallway.
"Er, pardon my asking, but why exactly -did- you take us in, mister..." I let myself trail off, the labcoat-pony chuckling lightly, the muscles exposed in his face twitching and moving with his expressions. Oh, I so did NOT need a biology lesson like this...
"You can call me the Doc, and put simply, you two seemed like you were in far over your heads, and I wanted to see to that you didn't freeze to death on my facility's grounds. More importantly, however, you boys seem capable of assisting us with... well..." He chuckled softly again, stopping at a large door and hitting a few keys on the keypad. With a hiss of hydraulic pressure, the heavy blast door lifted up, revealing a cavernous, dark room. I blinked a bit, trying to peer out into the darkness as the Doc facehoofed, grumbling softly. With a few more button presses, suddenly large lights upon the sides of the room turned on, one after the other, leading downwards to illuminate... sweet mother of Celestia. I fell to my haunches, jaw slack and eyes wide, the Doc chuckling at my reaction and lifting a forehoof to point at the absolutely massive piece of artillery in the center of the room. "I'd like to introduce you to Megaspell Mary."
"M-M-Megaspell... Mary..." I repeated as I regained myself, following him inside of the artillery piece's chamber. It was positively HUGE - the barrel's bore alone seemed large enough for somepony to climb into comfortably, and the computer bank and monitors on the sides was vastly more impressive than the one that Bruce was run off of back in the Stable. It could've been it's own independent maneframe, enough to house the processors needed to contain the information and function almost exactly like, well, a pony's brain! At the breech end was one of the absolute biggest shells I'd ever seen, easily five feet in diameter and ten feet long, shaped to precisely accommodate the dimensions of a medium-range yield megaspell warhead... somepony slap me, I think I'm dreaming. Of course the very first thing that crossed my mind at seeing it - well, second, but I'm embarrassed to admit what the first one was - was fairly obvious, enough so for the Doc to have essentially no trouble whatsoever in guessing it.
"I'm afraid to admit that she has never been capable of firing. You see, prior to the day that the bombs fell and Equestria with them, many of the necessary components for her operation were still being stockpiled in their places of manufacture. Sadly enough as well, several of the talismans that were vital to her targeting matrices were rendered inert and unoperational from being left on for so long..." He let off a sigh, myself also being rather overwhelmed with disappointment. I kinda wanted to see the fireworks when one of this baby's shells went off. The Doc looked over at me and smiled widely, however, resting a hoof upon my shoulder. "However, my boy, this is where you and your friend come in. Myself and my crew here at NEAMO aren't all that capable of going out into the wastes anymore - not many ponies take too kindly to ghouls, yo-" He was cut off by a scream from down the hallway we had just come from, a scream which I recognized rather readily. Thanks for hammering his point in, Minty.
We were soon both back down in the infirmary, seeing it in a bit of a mess as my bespectacled friend was magically restrained in his cot, desperately trying to wrench himself free with his... uh... hooves shouldn't be rubber-soled. And legs shouldn't have Pip-bucks coming out of them. And I'm pretty sure Minty's coat color wasn't so metallic grey and rubber black. I rushed over to him, picking up his fallen glasses with a wing and fitting them back over his eyes, holding his head steady so he wouldn't be thrashing around so much. "Minty! Twintails to Minty, stop the tantrum you four-eyed git!" Well, that was a few friendship points lost, but at least it got his attention, and him calmed down enough that White Thunder didn't have to keep him held down any longer. The military stallion grunted, turning and stepping out of the room, as Minty sat himself up, his new leg whirring slightly as it moved. Goddesses, that was going to take some getting used to...
"W-what the hell are these... these undead ponies!? AND WHERE'S MY HOOF!?" The nurse rolled her eyes as the Doc stepped forwards on the other side of Minty, smiling that soft, reassuring smile.
"I do believe the correct term you're looking for is 'ghoul pony', my bespectacled friend. You seem to have gotten a good grasp on operating your new leg already, isn't arcane medical and robotic science a simply wonderful innovation?" The Doc grinned, tapping on the metallic leg and watching as it flinched, almost biologically. Minty let out a breath, rubbing his temples lightly and laying back in the bed. Better a prosthetic hoof than no hoof at all, right?
"Alright... so, will somepony fill me in on what's going on here, or am I just going to be left in the dark with this thing now?" He waved his new robotic leg around, the Doc ducking from it as it's momentum carried it farther than Minty had expected. Definitely some getting used to... the Doc looked up and smiled again, glancing over at me and then back to Minty.
"Funny you should ask, I was just about to explain to your friend here what I was hoping you two could help me with..."
---
Minty's reaction to Megaspell Mary was just about the same as mine, if a little less enthusiastic and, well, stimulated... take that as you will. I suppose not everypony wanted to see these bombs in live, testing-level action. He did seem to be far more intrigued in the massive maneframe than the gun itself - based on how he was ogling those security bots back at the RobronCo factory, shouldn't be surprised. What d'ya say, Minty, you get the computer and I get the gun? Eheh...
"You... you want our help with -this-?!" The augmented unicorn rose to his hooves, finally trotting inside the chamber alongside myself and the Doc. The ghoul earth pony smiled, nodding once, walking up to Megaspell Mary with us both following behind. He pressed a few buttons on the console, the massive maneframe beginning to whine and hum as the talismans and spell matrices within hummed to life, the massive panel's buttons and screens lighting up in an array of colors that brought back fond memories back in the Stable Reactor. The screens remained stuck on various warnings and errors, displaying them in a very strange red text - didn't know screens could be that color. The Doc let out a sigh, pointing at a line of code and warning underneath a screen marked 'Targeting Control', turning back to face us.
"This is where we need the help, to start off. We've tried every back door and combination of code, but the maneframe's matrix keeps getting hung up on the fried targeting talismans - we can't even manually move the gun without them. What I get for outsourcing this between Solaris designs and RobronCo parts..." Myself and Minty shared a confused look, the Doc smacking a hoof against the maneframe board and letting off a light chuckle, putting a smile upon his face again. "Anyways! We need your help to have any chance of getting Megaspell Mary functioning again - will you be so kind?" A gun that fires megaspell warheads that has some chance of firing once again? Goddesses man, I was sold at the front gate! Just as I was about to probably unnecessarily loudly proclaim my acceptance, Minty stuck his new leg up and stopped me, a skeptical look on his face. The Doc blinked, smirking lightly.
"So, hang on, if... when, when we get this gun working again, what in the name of Princess Luna are you going to use it on, anyways? Isn't a Megaspell warhead so big that it'll practically make an entire city explode twice? What in the wide, wild wasteland needs that kind of overkill!?" Well, gee, party pooper much? These bombs were pretty... though I guess it -was- a little sketchy for somepony to have so many of them at their disposal. The Doc hoofed at the ground, glancing around nervously as his smile began to waver, Minty stepping forwards. The ghoulish earth pony began chuckling, adjusting his bulletproof armor on his hide and standing up strongly.
"Minty, my friend, did you ever consider that perhaps even though the war was 'over', there were still places that harbored enemies of Equestria? I'm merely a pony who wishes to ensure that Equestria can come to prosper once more, if it means a use of possibly excessive force, then why would you have reservations?" The Doc smiled, stepping right up to Minty's face and looking at him with those wide, calculating eyes. "You're not a Zebra sympathizer, are you?" Based on his reaction, you'd think he'd just called Minty a filly-fooling son of a parasprite... was he really -that- anti-zebra? He stared straight back at the Doc, a small scowl on his face, glancing up at Megaspell Mary once more before looking over at me.
"Where should we start?" Minty turned, trotting over to myself and standing beside me, the Doc grinning widely, shutting down the maneframe. I shared his smile - surely Stable 34 could wait another day or so while I help restore this amazing, beautiful piece of pre-war Megaspell-slinging technology. I was almost ready to bolt out the door in excitement as the Doc lifted up a pre-war map, Minty levitating it over and opening it up. I groaned, face hoofing as we both looked it over; that storm turned us both directly around, we were heading -north- last night. Or, was it the night before... what day was it? Explosions that caused unconsciousness really screwed with the passage of time.
"There should be an old ballistic defense base to the west of what remains of Mooscow, in what was before the war the city of Quebuck. For the intercontinental missiles, they would keep on hand several replacement targeting talismans in order to ensure that they were kept in functioning condition when everything went up in smoke - land on their targets, and such. All I require for the maneframe is a small box of them, twenty or so. Do you think you may be able to retrieve them for me?" He smiled that eerie smile of his, the muscles under his skin stretching and relaxing in full view of both of us. Said it before, say it again, I -really- didn't need the biology lesson. I chuckled weakly, prodding my pip-buck and looking at the map; there were a slew of new places to explore that popped up on it, along with, finally, a proper map scale. Goddesses, did we really walk THAT far in just a few days.
"We'll do it. If it means we can clear Equestria of whatever low-life stripes still live in it, I'm all in." Minty smirked widely, the Doc turning to face the gun once more. Man, in retrospect, this has been a weird few days... alright, insane few days, but it's overall far more exciting than sitting behind a control panel. With a wide smile, I nodded in agreement.
"Doc, you had me at 'Megaspell'. We'll have those talismans back to you before you can say radioactive fallout!" With an enthusiastic flap of the wings, I was positively giddy to get going off. The ghoul pony raised his hoof, pointing to the doorway and down the hall with the smile on his face.
"The door's open, and your things are all safely in the crates in the infirmary. Set off when you feel ready for it, nobody here should stop you. And please, do come again - one can only spend so many decades conversing with the same ponies over pre-war politics and planning, you know!" He chuckled as we stepped down the metal hallway and retrieved our things, sliding into our bardings and reorganizing our weapons. It was quite pleasing to find that they had some kind of functioning wash facilities, as well as, apparently, pre-war barding repair - this duster and vest looked and felt better than new! The modifications made for Minty allowed his Pip-buck to snugly fit inside of his own combat armor legging - goddesses, I felt downright obligated to help get Megaspell Mary back up and running, and whatever the hell else they wanted! This was just unprecedented hospitality.
Items gathered, we stood on the inside of the exterior door to NEAMO, the sunlight streaming in through the windows and illuminating the dusty air. I let off a sigh, smiling warmly, looking out into the snowy wasteland refreshed and with all limbs properly accounted for, Minty looking down and playing around a bit with his new robotic leg. It was actually rather nice to know that there was still some form of hope for Equestria returning back to the way that I was... whatever that may be. Since it involve the live detonation of megaspells as well, I sure as sugar wasn't complaining! The radio crackled and picked up another station mid-song, the lines of which making myself only chuckle more - I think I found my favorite station.
"She's a red-coated megaspell baby,
A super-charged arcane science gal.
When she strikes her objective, and turns on the juice,
ten will get'cha fifty if you ever get loose!
She's used her TNT tactics
to bring a colt down to her size,
it would take a secret weapon or a su-per-mare,
to harness her energy,
You know that you'd do well
t' stay clear of that megaspell,
cos' she be-longs to me!"
-----
We headed out into the sunny (or at least as sunny as the wasteland got) air, the wind nipping a little at my ears, but compared to last night, I may as well be in swimming trunks. I looked around at the debris surrounding the facility as we marched on, cringing a little at the sight of the decomposed and... glowing... corpses littering the ground. One such formerly pony-shaped mass of goo was lying in a pool of radioactive waste, an eye dangling out of it's socket in the nipping wasteland air. Gross. I looked down at my Pip-Buck as it clicked, tapping it a bit before the EFS kicked back on. Five rads per second?! Jeez, how does Twintails stand this? “Let’s get out of here before my skin starts to match The Doc’s.” I said, picking up my pace.
“Ah, come on, this ain’t that bad. Just a little healthy glow, is all~” Twintails simply matched my speed, still humming along to the song. He went back to bobbing his head along to the tune, myself rolling my eyes at him; I didn’t spend all my time in the same room as an experimental reactor, thank you very much. I quite enjoy life without being a walking nightlight... or at least without having a nightlight whenever I go to the bathroom. We quickly made our way out of the radioactive swamp, climbing out of the small valley between a few mountains the facility lay in.
We headed down the road, now able to see beyond two feet in front of our faces. The valley that led into the N.E.A.M.O. basin continued along the road, some radioactive waste from the facility flowing into the frozen river. The song soon died down, quickly replaced by the voice of the DJ, garbled a bit by static. “Hey all of you out there in this Winter Waste-erland, hope you’re all having a wonderful... whatever season it is! A little breaking news, and it’s good this time. From the sound of it, two fresh-out-of-the-Stable-ees have just restored trading to Mooscow, drove a bunch of raiders out of the RobronCo factory up the street. Forget to set your alarm boys?” The DJ chuckled. “And you better watch out Short Fuses, these colts mean business. Alright, I’ll stop jabbering, back to your favorite tunes.” His voice died out before another song crackled to life. The tune was rather ridiculously upbeat for a song about some poor colt whose marefriend was caught outside when the bombs fell.
I thought a little about what the DJ had said - it sounded like there hadn’t been a Stable opening in a long, looong time. “Hey, Twintails, what was your life like in the Stable?” I asked as we headed past a crushed wagon. He spun a dial on his Pip-Buck, turning the volume down.
"Mmm, well, It wasn't terrible, but... working in reactor maintenance, you don't really run into a whole lot of other ponies down there. Mostly I just watched old test films of captured Balefire Bombs and megaspell detonations, read all I could about them. Heh... could tell you exactly how big a boom that shell back behind Megaspell Mary had, if I could've seen behind the casing. Eheh... How about you?” He asked, turning away for a moment and then facing back, curiosity in his eyes.
“Eh...” I shrugged “Aside from the Overmare, I guess there really wasn’t all that much wrong about it. I went to class, failed the G.O.A.T., became a technician and left. That’s how it goes for most ponies, right?” I said, chuckling a little.
Twintails raised an eyebrow. “Wait a minute... you failed the G.O.A.T.? How in the name of Princess Luna did you manage that?! I thought it was supposed to just be an occupational test, or is that all mixed up too in your crazy augmented life?”
“That’s just it; it’s a job assignment test.” I tilted my head back towards my flank. “Don’t you think it’s a little odd I’m probably, not to brag, one of the most plasma-knowledgeable ponies and I have a peppermint cutie-mark?” Twintails seemed to think it over for a moment, before nodding and shrugging simultaneously. “Well, according to that test I was best suited to be run a sweet shop. I was apprenticing for a good month or so, catering birthday parties and Nightmare Nights alike. I suppose I wasn’t too bad at it, since my cutie-mark popped up... though I bet it’s probably more likely because of my obsession with the actual mixing machines than the stuff in them.” I looked down at the ground, a suddenly feeling of nostalgia washing over me. I sighed a little as we walked along, the soft hum of the radio scarcely heard over the icy wind.
We walked in silence a little until the RobronCo facility came into view over the hill. Twintails perked up, remembering something as we drew near the front gates, which had apparently had their doors finally replaced, thankfully. The multitude of craters and destroyed robots diminished fears that the minefield was still around it. “Hey, we ought to stop back in here, I need to ask Jumper about the Neutron-Dampening Radiothermic Coil. Still out here to save my stable, no matter how many megaspells Doc has..." My ears perked up as we approached the building. An excuse for more Old World tech tampering? I’m interested! We trotted into the factory, immediately greeted by a Mr. Handy.
“Ah, good day, masters. May I help you?” It said, hovering in front of us, the eye scanning between us both. Huh, sounds like they improved the program’s manners a bit. As I scanned the lobby, noticing a few more Mr. Handys floating about, picking up debris and connecting wires, Jumper Cables trotted down the stairs leading to the offices. Her eyes still had heavy bags beneath them, and each step seemed wavery - some ponies really have to learn that caffeine is not a substitute for a good bed.
“Hey, E.C. Kid, I never caught your name.” She walked over to us, waving away the robot. “Thanks again for helping us out. Once we got that repair-bot up and running, this place has just come to life overnight! And through the morning... and the next night, too!” She chuckled weakly, catching herself on a receptionist's desk and rubbing her eyes again.
I smiled at her, itching to have a look at the guts of the factory. “I’m happy to help. I’m Minty Candy, by the way, and he’s Twintails.” I nodded towards Twintails, who was shooing away a robot that was attempting to remove his coat. Well, they are receptionist bots...
“Well, hey, if you guys need anything, I’d be happy to help. Once this place is fully operational, I could probably bury you in energy cells.” She chuckled. I was ready to request a tour, but Twintails cut in.
“I’m actually looking for this bit of tech. Do you guys happen to have a Neutron-Dampening Radiothermic Coil, or at least the parts for one? My Stable’s old reactor’s is broken, and it's been running on ice bags lobbed around the exhaust vents. We’re hoping to find another to fix it up, or replace it if necessary.” He asked, producing a photograph from between his pip-buck and foreleg. Jumper screwed up her face in concentration, gnawing at her lower lip and tapping a free hoof against her chin. I hope they did, whatever this thing was, it sounded pretty powerful and important...
“Neutron Coil... I can’t say that we do. Actually, I'm not even sure if one of those things exists... Your stable was one of -those- ones, wasn't it? One made with some minor detail changed from the status quo?" Twintails shrugged and nodded, a confused look on his face as Jumper Cables chuckled. "Call that a lucky break, just a fancy-schmancy reactor. instead of something like, like, fusing robots with pony brains. Some bots are still running inventory, if we ever find anything along those lines, I’ll be sure to let you know.” I was a little disappointed, and miffed at that robot pony comment, though I suppose I should’ve guessed RobronCo wouldn’t have something like that just sitting around in a factory collecting dust. No sensible factory would.
Twintails turned away, but I grabbed his tails. “Where’re you going? We have a whole factory of robots to tour!” I grin widely, thinking off all the machinery begging to be fixed. Unfortunately, Jumper stopped me as I tried to walk to the door to the workplace.
“Sorry, but I don’t think it’s wise to be running around in there with all those loose parts. One of my own employees already almost lost a hoof.” She looked down, noticing my metallic leg. She winced a little. “And I doubt you’d want to lose another one... guessing it wasn't a bloatsprite that set off one of those mines two nights ago after all, huh?” My ears flopped down a little, my grin falling away. Nothing short of a, I dunno, hospital with some limb regeneration spell could bring my hoof back. Jumper cables yawned, lifting my head up so we saw each other face-to-face. “Hey, cheer up. When this place is all fixed up, you two will be the first for a tour... I may even give you a discount.” She winked a little as my grin came back, even if it was a bit smaller than before. I suppose all good things come to those who wait... Ech, yeesh, who am I, my Overmare?
We turned away, leaving the facility to Jumper and her small army of robots. We got back on the road, Twintails flipping onto his back, starting to flap through the air. He hovered beside me, singing to the music as I crossed a small bridge across the valley leading to Mooscow. “Say, did you know a lot of people in your Stable?” Twintails asked as he flapped again. I noticed he did his best to not look down. What was he, afraid of heights? “Aside from Gamma, I didn’t know a lot of other ponies; they don’t frequent the reactor maintenance areas. There was Tablet, fantastic artist, did a huge mural of all of the old reactor maintenance ponies in the hallway to Bruce... and a mural for me...” He smiled a small, little smile, as I kicked a small rock along the path. The song died down and static filled the air before another quickly took its place.
“Well, once I was assigned to be a mechanic, I spent all my time in the restricted sections... even the ones I wasn’t supposed to be in.” I chuckled a little. “I remember there was one colt in school... uh... Cross Stitch! We used to be really good friends. I tried to convince him to let me tamper with his Pip-Buck when he turned 10, though he was a little more protective of his. ‘You’ll get one soon’ He always said. Believe me, four months was waaaaay to long to wait for mine when your best friend had one. He managed to pass the G.O.A.T. though, became a seamster. I remember we used to try to see each other after we got our jobs, but we never could spend a lot of time together...” I smiled a little as my mind drifted back to him. “Heh... when I got my cutie mark, I remember he gave me this little plush toy of myself... though it had the Talisman mark I should’ve gotten from that stupid test. You should’ve seen him smile when I opened it...” I looked back up at the road ahead, the cloudy sky growing a little darker as time passed.
“Sounds like he cared a lot.” Twintails said, flapping along next to myself lazily as we trotted along. I nodded, smiling a little. “You... you think he liked you? I mean, hell, he really seemed like a nice guy, to do stuff like that for you.” Twintails asked, flipping over to his stomach as he flew along. I thought for a moment, pondering the implications. Well... he obviously liked me enough to be my friend.
“I guess I never really thought about it...” I sighed, and crunched through the snow in silence for a bit. “You know, first thing after we fix this gun, and remove the last of those filly-eating striped skins, I’m going back to get him. Maybe I can convince him to strike up a seamstress shop in Mooscow.” I chuckled a little, smiling softly. Yeah, that'd be nice... we'd be able to be together, safe. Gotta remember to get some thermal clothes for his cute flank first, though.
Twintails smiled a bit as the shadow of Mooscow started to appear over the horizon. “Assuming the Overmare doesn’t find you first.” He giggled, smirking softly and winking at myself. “Let’s just hope I don’t get jealous of him, I mean - I could see why he'd want a piece of your cute flanks, haha~” I chuckled and rolled my eyes, turning the music back up as we moved along the final stretch.
"Ol' hard-headed Caesar will be feelin' mighty blue
when he finds out he's bitten off more'n he can chew,
For his 'ggression will be ended and the job will be well-done
if Princess Luna drops a Megaspell bomb!
Princess Luna has the power to stop those murderin' thieves
An' she'll make 'em sorry for their underhoofed schemes.
Just leave it to the princess for she's really got the nerve
T' give those no-good striped nationalists jus' what they deserve
There'll be fire, dust 'n' metal flyin' all around,
and the radioactivity will burn their playhouse down
if there's any Zebras left, they'll be all on the run,
If Princess Luna drops a Megaspell Bomb!"
-----
"Well I'll be damned, you're back? Sheesh, did you two decide to go and build a snow fort or someth-..." The particularly snarky mouth of Bloodbeak stalled, looking over our tired, weary selves. Enjoyable as coming across a massive pre-war megaspell warhead stockpile and it's delivery system, and finally settling on a reliable radio station that had a damn wide selection of songs great for traveling to, the severely long walk back served to kill most of the fun. The sun was casting long shadows of the cathedral's spires and the exterior walls now, myself and Minty trudging along and sitting down with a fwhump in the snowy road. Bloodbeak swooped down off of the wall, looking us both over. "Goddesses, you go out for two nights and come back with one less leg and reeking of... Jeez! How in the hell are your eyes glowing!?" She jumped back, staring into my face as I blinked lazily, rubbing one of my eyes.
"Mmm, wha? Uh, news to me... would explain why things started getting brighter in that storm, though, I guess..." I picked myself up, Minty fiddling with his robotic hoof some, lifting it up and watching as it impacted the ground with a heavy thud. Eyes glowing or not, there's no escaping the fact that we were just plain exhausted. I let my wings fall to my sides, blinking tightly to try and keep myself awake. "We got the raiders cleared out... can we just have somewhere to stay instead of the caps? I feel like I just walked a marathon on the Stable treadmills..." I grunted out, watching as Bloodbeak opened up the doors and helped lead us inside. Was... was that actual concern on her face? Jeez, she's not going to tuck us in now, is she? It's just exhaustion and mild radiation poisoning, nothing to worry about. I'm sure I've exposed myself to worse before back in the Stable.
"Uh, um, yeah, sure. There's an old hotel inside the inner walls, I'll call ahead with my brother and get things situated. Practically owe you a room at this point, eheh... j-just go and get some rest, you two. And some rad-away." The sun had vanished behind a distant mountain range, the clouds still a bright orange that was quickly beginning to fade away with the time passing, arcane generators kicking in and illuminating the streets. A light snowfall had started, as we both wearily made our way through the large brick arch into the grand fortress inside. Old signs glowed in different vibrant shades of red, blue, and green, one hanging above a doorway reading clearly the word 'hotel', suspended in a makeshift mishmash of cables and welded steel plates. Minty trotted ahead, breath condensing over his glasses before he had to stop and rub them off. Man, the outside sucked at night...
"Well, at least we'll finally get some actual sleep now, right? I'm getting sick of just falling unconscious because of explosions... or blood loss." Minty grunted softly, as we both stood in the doorway of the hotel. A cold breeze was picking up, blowing the wisps of light snow at us, the glow of the sign overhead casting its reddish-blue lights on the ground and casting strange shadows, supplemented by the road lamps and lights from behind the door. After a short while of knocking, a young mare opened up the door, looking up at the both of us timidly for a moment, before letting us inside and trotting off. A colt trotted in behind the counter, smiling warmly and looking over at the both of us, levitating up a pen from out of his coat pocket.
"Ah, you two must be Bloodbeak and Razorwing's special guests. Must say, I'm impressed for a pair of wasteland newbies to be that capable - so, that's one room for both of you, then?" He chuckled, myself leaning against the reception desk, taking a breath in of the lightly heated air inside the room. The building was actually fairly impressive in it's decor and status, the paint showed little signs of chipping and the carpet only slightly frayed. The shelves behind the older unicorn were in some disrepair, and the 'plants' certainly had seen better days, though the structure overall seemed to have weathered the years quite well. I glanced up at the faded photographs on the wall - heh, wasn't that a foreboding picture, a Mushroom cloud over the mountain behind us. What kind of fancy camera could take pictures of the future? A dark-green hoof waved in the corner of my vision, the pony it was attached to giving me a look of combined confusion and concern. "Uh, kid? Hello, earth to pegasus, you with us?" I blinked again, giving my head a shake and looking back.
"Mmh, right, yeah, sorry. It's been a long... busy... what day is it?" He took a light step back, levitating out a laminated card and passing it over to us. Minty picked it up, beginning to trot down the hallway to the stairwell.
"Room 206, third one on your right at the second floor." I nodded once, beginning to trot behind Minty slowly - man, these saddlebags were heavy. How the hell was I carrying them for so long? Or, how much crap did I have loaded in them, anyways? We only killed one raider camp, right?... right? I shook my head clear, right now just focusing on sliding into a bed and getting some non-explosion-induced sleep. Letting off an exhaustive yawn, I finally brought myself to conquer the stairs, looking up and watching as Minty fumbled with the lock on the door. It clicked, the door swinging open, my unicorn friend stalling for a moment and then dropping his head to the floor.
"There's only one bed... guh, nope, too exhausted to care. Come on, we're both mature colts here." I pulled up alongside him, stepping into the quaint room and promptly jettisoning my heavy saddlebags with a resounding thud against the floor. Sorry whoever's downstairs... Minty did the same, hardly bothering to take off anything more than just the bulkiest parts of his barding, hefting himself into the covers and burying his face in the old pillows. I had to say, whoever does fabric repair around here does a really good job at it, the blankets hardly look torn at all. I tossed off the duster and leggings, keeping the vest on and examining the covers for a minute, gently sliding in beside Minty, laying my head on my own pillow. Mmm, so soft, so warm, so inviting... just like my Stable...
---
The next day's dawn had me waking to an empty bed and a numb leg, the latter of which being what finally actually egged myself awake when it promptly smacked me across the face. Stupid hooves losing bloodflow due to all-night cuddling... once the pins and needles had passed, I flopped myself out of the bed, glancing around the room. A large hooflocker rested next to Minty's armoring, a second one beside it having my mostly emptied saddlebags draped over it's top, along with a paper note. Giving my wings a good stretch, I hovered myself over, looking down at the rather decently neat handwriting - unicorn magic, pff. Rubbing some leftover sleepers clear and idly perusing what remained in my saddlebags, I placed the note in view, reading it over in my head. 'TT - went to the shops, will be back later. Also, you talk in your sleep. A -lot-. -Minty'. Well, jeez, it's not like I mean to...
Sliding back into my barding, I took a pause to look over myself in the mirror behind the dresser, blinking and examining the colt that stared back at me. Man that was some mad bed-head he had going on, and... huh, so healing potions worked with teeth, too? Cool, guess Gamma's pistol isn't going to be such a pain to use after all. Damn that addictive enamel-destroying cool radioactive soda. I lifted a hoof to the side of my face and scratched it idly, blinking a few more times and licking at my lips. Buh, cold air was not friendly with me at this point. I blinked a few more times, looking back up in the mirror and then jumping back at the pair of glowing green eyes in it. Was... were those -my- eyes? But, but what... I glanced down at my pip-buck, flipping through the screens and tapping the display a bit, glancing down at the readout, my ears finally picking up a faint clicking sound as I leaned forwards. Huh, I guess radiation really -does- do freaky stuff like that. Right, Radaway on the shopping list!
Still ticking like a slow clock even after finishing off what packs of Radaway we had - man that orange tang was addicting - a quick glance out of the frosty window showed the city was alive, the hustle and bustle of ponies trotting around in the fresh layer of snow in the streets that had been so for so many years. A smile pulled across my face, the excitement of exploration renewed, ready to step out and greet the day with fresh, faintly glowing eyes. Lucky Minty left the keycard, too.
"Morning!" I grinned widely as I passed the front desk, spotting a foal and what I assumed was her father resting in some of the chairs, playing a game of checkers with Sunrise Sarsaparilla and Sparkle-Cola bottlecaps. They looked up from their game, giving me a surprised look as I trotted through and out the door. Suppose they don't get many happy faces around here - they seemed a bit taken aback, a passing contemplation as the frigid air nipped at my wings, my gaze moving to the rich red bricks of the inner walls, a true testament to old Equestrian construction, standing firmly against the grinding force of the weather. The blinds in the hotel's front shut behind me - don't blame them, it definitely was nippy out. Must be like this year-round, between the war having kicked up all that fallout and how far north we were it's not surprising if there just isn't any grass anywhere. Caravans must make a killing on food products...
Trotting through the decorated arches, the bustle of the square was rather homely, reminiscent of lunchtime back in the Stable, and how very busy the atrium was. The cacophony of smells, too; tasty apples, fresh daisies, the soft crunch of pressed granola and the sweet taste of bottle after bottle of that rich fruity soda... Goddesses, I was starving. Right, what can be bought for a few bottlecaps 'round here, then, I think it was around lunchtime. Eh, it's lunchtime somewhere, anyways. The growl from beneath my barding reaffirmed the notion, and so began Daring Tails' quest for the Nourishing Food of Somewhere!
Snow crunching underhoof as I let my nose do the leading, I barely noticed the way that everypony seemed to follow me with their eyes, not wanting to look away for some reason. Sheesh, did I grow a third wing on my forehead or something? I just wanted to find somewhere I could get something to eat, wasn't meaning anything by it. Taking another whiff of the air, a sweet, juicy scent met my nostrils and made my mouth water. My my, what -was- that scent? Salty, sweet, juicy, tantalizing in it's flavor that I just couldn't pin down. Must be a wasteland food, I suppose. Giving a flap of the wings and kicking up off of the road, it was a relatively quick jaunt from the center of the square to where that aroma was coming from. Along the way, more mixed glances and glares of concern - it's like they'd never seen a friendly Pegasus before.
A storefront glowed with yellow lights, illuminating a rebuilt interior with a few ponies enjoying themselves and eating at scrap-metal tables, a sight that I couldn't help but find faintly nostalgic. Making my way through the door, the chatter seemed to quiet down, and the uneasy feeling of several pairs of eyes staring at me welled up in my stomach. Save for the errant whisper, there wasn't much noise beyond the trotting of my hooves against the floor, a mare behind the counter showing the first few gray hairs of age leaning forwards, resting a hoof on the register. Needless to say, by the time I reached the counter I was downright uncomfortable. The mare at the register looked at me with wary eyes, moving to cover the drawer more. Sheesh, I know the duster was kind of intimidating, but it didn't make me a thief!
"So, what brings you here, feathers?" She sneered the last word, as if meant as an insult. I took a small step back, glancing around nervously and keeping my wings folded to my body. All eyes were glued to me, a bead of sweat running down my forehead as I swallowed down my dry throat. This was just unsettling.
"Uh... I-I smelled whatever you had cooking, and... uh... eep..." If I hadn't already emptied my stomach with having to see Minty, um, dis-armed, I'm pretty sure my pants would be turning a lovely shade of brown right about now. My wings fumbled with my saddlebags, myself finally grabbing and pulling out the small satchel of bottlecaps as I received errant looks of disgust and fear from the patrons, taking the bag from the grasp of my wing and holding it in my hoof. "J-Just want something to, er, eat, is all... I don't want any trouble." The mare running the register snorted, the scowl cutting into me as I stepped forwards. She looked over myself; gee, talk about setting myself up as a wimp. Trembling and shaking in my clothes all because everypony seemed to hate me. Her eyes showed a glint of surprise as she glanced over my foreleg, her stance relaxing some.
"Hmh. Enclave don't have Pip-bucks. Cool your jets erry'un... it's jus' a Stable pony who wants lunch." She grunted, and the deathly silence of the restaurant was filled again with the various chatter of several ponies going about their business once more. Letting free a sigh of relief, I again went up to the counter, the mare behind it smirking softly as the satchel of bottlecaps jingled. "Welcome t' the Balefire Diner, just cooked up a few fresh racks of bear meat that came in on th' Quebuck caravans. Guessin' that's what you 'er smelling." I eased myself onto a seat at the counter, looking around warily. Enclave... why would they think I was part of whatever this 'Enclave' thing was? Was it the barding? My eyes, were my eyes still glowing? Great... good going Twintails, you alienated yourself in your Stable and now you're public enemy number one on the surface, for whatever reason. It's not like I meant to, I mean, c'mon, how many other pegasi were there to play with back home? For that matter, where were all the pegasi up here?...
"Er, ah... pardon my asking, miss, but, er, what're the Enclave?" The mare behind the counter looked up from her notepad, spitting the pencil aside and passing the slip through the small window behind her. She sniffed in, trotting over and picking up a glass and rag left over from an earlier patron. She watched me for a moment, dry-cleaning the glass idly, balancing on her rear hooves - how does somepony do that?
"Name's Shotty. You haven't been out long, have ya, kid?" I shook my head, watching as she scrubbed the glass to a shine. She let off a sigh, setting the glass down and leaning on the counter in front of me. "The Enclave are the sort of folk who'll sooner fry us surface dwellers than stop to take a shit. Basically all pegasi and love lasers. Keep on getting reports from down south about how they attack towns built on old military bases, my guess is we're too far north for 'em to care about us much. 'course, anypony who waltzes through Mooscow sporting a pair'a wings like that, don't blame 'em for being paranoid. Lucky to get signals from Tenpony when we do, and the news is always grim at best." A bell dinged at the window, the room filling with the familiar aroma once more as a plate was slid through it. Shotty stepped towards it, picking it up with her front hoof and setting it down in front of myself, letting me look at the slab of softly steaming brown-reddish wasteland food. "My advice to you, let ponies see your pip-buck before them feathers if you can, and keep grounded. Oh, that's 30 caps, by the way." I nodded, slowly, pulling out the small pile of bottlecaps that constituted about a third of what I had on me at the time - it seemed like a fair enough price.
"So, bear 'meat'?" I looked at the recently cooked hunk, idly prodding it with a hoof before lifting it up and taking a bite from it. It was, admittedly, a little hard to entirely chew, but... oh goddesses, that -taste-! That salty, soft, warm sensation sliding down my throat as I took bite after bite, gleefully letting my wings flap absent-mindedly as the plate went from full to half at a rate comparable to how fast I drained bottles of Sparkle-Cola back in the Stable. As the chunk grew smaller and smaller, I slowly began to notice the number of eyes that were turned towards me once more, the restaurant having gone quiet again save for the sound of my chewing. Swallowing the last piece blissfully, I opened my eyes once again ,glancing around and smiling weakly at the patrons. Even Shotty seemed a little taken aback at my enthusiasm for this delectable new dish.
"How in the... kid, do you have any idea what you just did? I mean, goddesses..." I chuckled weakly, sliding off of the stool and taking a few steps towards the door, eyes still upon myself. Was it my wings, or something? I was hungry!
"Eheh, I think I have to go, uh, nuke my refrigerator... kaythanksbye!" Wasting not much more time standing around with a restaurant full of ponies staring at me in bewilderment, and a stomach distended for the first time in, what, three days or something, I decided it was probably best if I made my exit right about then. The unnerving silence persisted as I rushed out the door, the bell on it ringing softly as I distanced myself from the restaurant, finding myself rushing along the large square. I thought I might've heard Shotty screaming after me for some reason, but it could've been anything, between the wind blasting in my ears and the pedestrians that whizzed by in technicolor blurs. Huh, flapping your wings while sprinting really -does- make you go faster.
When I had distanced myself far enough away from the restaurant full of ponies who probably would not particularly enjoy seeing myself again, I finally took the time to catch my breath, resting against the nearest sturdy structure. Looking over my surroundings, I noticed that I'd actually managed to sprint almost half the entire length of Mooscow, leaning against the strange, faded structure myself and Minty had gone past on our way just a few days ago, the curious onion-shaped domes atop the spires, ornate decorations, and colored carvings of the Princesses now viewed in greater detail. It was truly something that set itself apart when compared to the decaying buildings and otherwise bleak facades surrounding it. Stomach satisfied and feelings of persecution passed with the absence of the crowds that populated the other end of the square, I allowed my curiosity to overtake me, trotting around the snow-covered marble base of the massive structure. A small beep emanated from my Pip-buck, the text coming into focus on my EFS responding that I'd apparently just discovered the Princess' Cathedral & History Museum. Always was a sucker for learning about the past...
Stepping through the large doors, the light gust of warm air that greeted me was surprising to say the least, the grandeur of the interior drawing in my wide-eyed attention, gazing up at the grand vaulted arches and stone carvings. Glancing around, a set of signs in front of a set of equally ornate wooden doors caught my attention; Church straight ahead, Equestrian History Museum downstairs. Museum hours; 10 AM to... bedtime. Eh, it was open now, at least. A pair of stairwells descended on either side, arcane lights illuminating fine stained glass at the landings, depicting the Princesses leaping- no, hovering over the church. Some sections had fallen out and shattered, yet it otherwise remained quite intact as a mural of a time long gone by. Heh... wonder how Tablet's been getting along with the mural back home...
Stepping through the more homely archway at the base of the stairwell, I was rather astonished to find just how many glass cases had managed to survive the war, each and every one of them storing small trinkets behind their protective clear sides. Dust lightly caked upon a few of them here and there, causing the forms inside to come across as softly blurred and opaque, though the transparency of the cases and lack of decay as found upon the surface still served to awe - and I wasn't even paying attention to the contents yet! I began to absent-mindedly stroll down the aisles, the only sound coming from my hooves clopping against the hardwood floor and the hum of the arcane heaters, slowly examining each of the various artifacts. There were some quite strange items, as well; old talismans, single-shot pistols that loaded and fired crystals of all things, a scale-model of an external combustion steam engine, and an odd collection of rocks of various shades, colors, and hues. The tags were faded on several, but some of them were easily identifiable. Anypony who had to sit through Stable geology classes week after week could've picked them out; Phoenix coal, from it's vibrant hues of orange and red; Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, a smorgasboard of gems, really; Zebra anthracite, the odd streaks of white in the pitch black carbon giving that one away; samples of Bauxite, granite, iron pyrite next to the gold (or was it gold next to the iron pyrite?), and a last strange grayish stone held within it's own small case. The tag inside the inner case labeled it as 'moon stone'... wait, is that just a name, or did we actually go to the moon of all places? Sheesh, how much equipment did Celestia have to banish to be able to get it back within a millenium? I lingered by the stone for a long while, examining it, hardly noticing as the patter of smaller hooves approached from beside me.
"May I help you, sir?" I jumped lightly at the voice, lost in my own thoughts at the moment, turning to see where it came from. A young unicorn mare, her duo-tone mane hanging in threads off of her head and soft deep-blue coat peeling away in places, looked at myself, her eyes wide and curious. I cleared my throat idly, moving my hooves off of the display case and back to the floor.
"Ah, well, I was just taking a look around, really. Are you the owner of this place?" Her eyes seemed to light up for a moment, a smile faintly growing across her muzzle, then turning into a light frown as she turned her head away, gently hoofing at the hardwood boards that supported us both.
"I g-guess I am, tech-nilly. The original bosspony walked upstairs one day for more exhibits, an' he hasn't come back yet... guess'n he isn't. I'm Min'it, er, Minuette, junior curator here." She turned back to face me, smiling lightly. "Would you like a.... ah, a tour? S-sorry, not many ponies really come down anymore nowadays. As usual..." I blinked a few times, smiling back at her as she started to turn down the aisle. Ghoul pony museum curator? Well, I was here to learn about pre-war history, doubt I'll be able to get a chance much better than this!
"Certianly, miss! Do lead the way, would love to learn what I can." I chuckled lightly, watching as her face lit up in a wide smile, galloping off to the entrance and throwing a lever on the wall, the whole room beginning to hum as lights began to illuminate it fully. Grand murals on the walls encircled the room, whole corners and sections devoted to pieces of technology that were otherwise shapless forms in the darkness earlier. She waved a hoof at myself, waiting by the start of the mural as I trotted to greet her, eyes drinking in all of this newly revealed pre-war artifacts. Goddesses, were all the amazing connections to the past hidden under the ground? Now I see why Daring Do was an adventuring archeologist...
"You're lucky, this's the first thing I had t' learn when I took this job. The whole story of the war't turned Equestria into what it is t'day begins back over two and a half centuries ago..." Minuette began her speech, giving the essential crash-course of everything, from the advent of coal electricity plants and integrated magical talismans to the treaties and trade between Equestria and the Zebra lands' resources, their supplies of coal for our vast riches of emeralds and other gems. Though Equestria as a whole did not wish to admit it, the start of the war could go as far as the breaking of the trade treaties and siezing of loads of fuel coal from Zebra depots. She admitted that the details weren't all there; they only knew what they had to go by through these things called memory orbs. As she explained, it required a unicorn to be able to access them, and the more you used, the more jumbled your thoughts could become. The old curator had painted the mural with help from memory orbs and the books and copies of archives they had kept down here, and while they were a vast supply of knowledge for building the basics of the story, there were still details that were left out, or missing. Even the Ministry of Image had some reach, in this goddess-forsaken icebox.
The story only became more and more grim as the years seemed to pass by within it, the buildup of mechanized arms upon both sides and the creation of exceedingly more dangerous - and effective - means of harming Zebras and ponies alike culminating in a terrible, bloody conflict, claiming the lives of thousands each day, regardless of status. Civilians were subject to Zebra aerial strikes, Ponies developed larger and larger anti-armor shells and explosives, Zebras produced their own heavily armored tanks and Ponies advanced in cloud and powered armor technology, even up to the inevitable logical next step. Megaspells, and the Zebra counterpart, Balefire bombs. As Minuette explained, however, the devastating final step in Equestrian wartime technology actually grew from the mind of the head of the Ministry of Peace; the first megaspells weren't meant to harm, not at all. They were built to -heal-. Entire battlefields, entire cities, no matter how grievous and mortal the physical injuries sustained, the activation of the initially designed megaspells would heal all that were in the area back to full, complete health, pony and zebra alike. However, against the wishes of the Ministry Mare and her hopes for a peaceful conclusion to the conflict that had caused so much suffering already, the powers that be were more intent upon winning with sheer force. The details are not clear, though it's often accepted that the creation of weaponized Megaspells almost exactly paralleled the invention of Balefire Bombs, only turning the war hotter as both sides began to prepare for the absolute worst, final solution to the end of the war. The Stables entered construction, wartime production industries entered a fever pitch up until one fateful day - the day the bombs fell.
Apparently, reports suggest that Cloudsdayle was the first Equestrian city to be struck with a true Balefire missile, vaporizing and maiming residents up to several miles away from the center of detonation. Pegasi closed the sky soon thereafter, though the barrage was still coming in full force, each explosion sending up the same massive mushrooms that I'd seen time and time again on the old film reels, except... I found it difficult to try and comprehend what the explosive force of a Balefire Bomb really did to so many ponies at once. Equestria retaliated in full with all her megaspell-armed missiles, and the world was plunged into a firey darkness as the explosions kicked up ton after ton of soot and ash from the ground, cities being reduced to specks and clouds of radioactive particles that eventually found their way back to earth in the form of snow, blizzards that blanketed the lands and reduced most all plant life not protected to wide fields of death and emptiness, a time the former curator regaled as akin to the pre-equestria period. Few things survived on the surface, though with the passage of time the Stables reopened and pony life began again upon the harsh, unforgiving wastelands that were left behind in the war's wake. Equestria, however, would never be the same...
"...and that's how Equestria as we now know it was made!" She ended with cheerfully, myself left in a contemplative silence as I tried to retain the slew of knowledge that she'd graced me with in that short time. I found myself slowly nodding as she smiled and trotted off, humming happily. Eventually I managed to regain myself, shaking my head lightly and looking at the surroundings, and then down at my Pip-Buck. What time was it when- oh. Very goddess-damned late. Well, mental note, come back here sometime, because good greif that was a lot of information to take in all at once. I made a dash for the exit, slowing down to a trot as I noticed something that hadn't been there when I'd come in; a tip jar. Ah, bless her ghoul heart, I suppose a small donation wouldn't hurt us much. Minty surely had plenty of caps traded off for all those guns we nabbed from the raiders' camp so long ago. With the satchel of bottlecaps in my saddlebags about twenty lighter now, I made my way up and out into the snowy night of Mooscow.
The cool night air nipped at my coat, a feeling I was starting to get used to as the time went on, the fresh, light snowfall crunching beneath my hooves as I trotted back to the hotel. A section of the clouds shone brighter than the rest - I'm guessing that's where the moon might've been, if the pegasi above didn't have those clouds in the way. Maybe I could convince the Doc to fire one straight up, detonate early, just to see what the night sky really did look like... pegasi. Why were pegasi the bad guys?
And why, oh why, why was I starting to hate them, too?
---
I unlocked the door with the keycard, Minty not yet home, finding today's excitement quite plentiful in it's entirety. Enjoying the warm air from the vents, I took off my barding entirely, yawning softly and sliding beneath the warm cloth covers, idly flicking on the radio on a low volume. Shutting my eyes, a smile crept upon my face, listening to the sweet, somber melody from the beautiful voice of that mare I'd listened to for so very long. I was slowly lulled to sleep, feeling my mind slipping over just as the last fee chords were strung out in their light tones.
"We'll meet again, Don't know where,
Don't know when...
But I know we'll meet again, some sun-ny, day!"
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Ok, I liked this chapter, though one thong that was a little surprising was Minty's hate for Zebras. I guess his Stable had some probably over exaggerated history?
Also,
Crawl Out Through The Fallout?