Fallout Equestria: Friends in High Places

by Twilight_Sparkler

Chapter 3: Damnum innocentiae. (KT)

Chapter 3

Kiwi Tart

Remastered Edition

"Are you ready?"

"I think, why do ya think she needs us?"

"Only time will tell." Heh, Sapphire had a point there.

I frowned and looked at the clock.

9:59

Hey, I wasn't late!

When the hand turned to the 10, we knocked.

"Come in!"

We pushed the door in and walked in. "Why do you need us for Overmare?"

She gave us a bit of a sad look, but she smiled as well. "Take a seat, boys, and don't call me Overmare, we're equals right now."

Hmm. The Overmare was being nice? This was different. She looked... Happy?

"Why are you so happy? and uh, what are we supposed to call you?"

She gave us a small smile, and laughed. She laughed. Was the Overmare really a living, breathing, feeling... Pony?
Woah. Getting ahead of myself here.

"You have to promise to not laugh, okay?" Me and Sapphire just nodded.

"Wish Granter." She even had a real name? How stressful of a position did you have to have to even be stripped of your name?

"Alright, Wish, what do you need us for?"

Her face instantly transformed. "I have recently been contacted by a pony named Red-eye. He wishes to open trade routes with us, in exchange for one thing... Well, Three things. He wants our trust and well... you two."

"What!"

"How could you!"

Me and Sapphire responded at the same time. This was outrageous!

"We aren't some bargaining chip for your game, Overmare!" Sapphire sounded outraged, but I couldn't agree with him more.

"You couldn't at least ask us first?"

"You have to do this, okay? I'm at the mercy of my Stable here, everypony's un-happy with my work! Opening a new trade route with a wastelander is a big step for us. I'll go down in the textbooks for this, don't you realize!"

I was surprised. I knew her worries were real ones, it was evident in the Stable that we were downhill. Lot of talk of overthrowing the Overmare. Her fears were validated. I'm pretty sure I would be worried if everypony hated me.

Oh wait...

I guess me and Ove- Wish Granter related on different levels. I felt really sorry for her. If we didn't do this, she would be overthrown, no question about it. She could possible even be killed, and it would be all out fault.

I didn't want that. I couldn't do that to another pony.

"I'll do it." Sapphire just looked at me.

"Why are you doing this? She's just an Overmare, she'll die and go down in history as the worst Overmare ever, no sweat of your back. Why do you care?"

"You answered your own question."

He just gave me a cold look. "I'll go."

I heard Wish breath a sigh of relief. "You have 'till tomorrow morning to pack up."

Sapphire stomped out of the room, obviously furious with me. He's just mad, he'll get over it... Won't he?

-x-x-x-

I rolled over to receive a dose of synthetic sunlight, courtesy of my best friend's mom. Scratch that, my only friend. I layed in bed for a bit longer, not wanting to function. Only the promise of getting to read some more books later got me out of bed.

I grappled with the toothbrush, looking at the mirror red and puffy-eye'd. I hated not having magic, it was so hard to write with my mouth and pick things up with a hoof.

After finally rinsing I glanced over at the clock.

Late. Again.

I groaned and tip-hoofed my way through our living space. Better known as a cubicle. It wasn't hard, mom and dad were heavy sleepers.

When I finally reached our homeroom class, I took the empty seat next to Sapphire Tamlisman. Unfazed by how late I was he leaned over and whispered, "I hope you're proud of what you doomed us to."

"Mind telling me what it is?" I asked

"You're getting us killed, we know nothing about surviving!"

"Kiwi Tart and Sapphire Talisman! Something you wish to share with the rest of us?" At first I had thought it was my subconscious mocking me, but it was just the teacher.

I would've preferred to have my subconscious berate myself.

"Just asking what the announcement was." I replied.

"I want you two at my desk after class."

The class gave a general snigger at this, it was no secret we were disliked due to our blank flanks.

*DING* *DING*

That was the class bell. Most ponies filed out in to the hallway. Not us though. Me and Sapphire made our way up to her desk, awaiting our judgment.

"Look, it wasn't Kiwi's fault, I was the one ta--" Sapphire started before being interuppted.

"You two are needed at the Overmare's office." Huh? Where was the death penalty for our horrid crimes?

"Is that it? No punishment for talking or being late?" I asked

She smiled sadly at us. "There will be no need to assign you any punishment, what the Overmare will say will be enough. I don't envy you two." She waved us out the door, her eyes starting to get a bit shiny.

"That was really foreboding and cryptic, what she said." I couldn't agree with Sapphire more. We were walking down the hallway, taking in all the posters that read "Knowledge is power!" Or "Brain over brawn!" Our stable was built heavily on an education system. The day was usually split into two parts, the first half depended on your cutie mark. If you had a security cutie mark, you would learn how to be the best stable security there was, etc etc... Unfortunately, since me and Sapphire were Blank flanks we were just shoved into Security classes. Sapphire, because he was going to be the next Head of Security when he reached the age, and me becuase I was an Earth pony. The second half was just basic reading, math and language.

"Hey, Equestria to Kiwi Tart, hellooooo?" Sapphire was waving a hoof in my face, trying to get my attention.

"What is it?"

"We're here."

In front of us stood a large stone door. I did the logical thing when faced with a menacing door.

I politely knocked.

A muffled "Come in!" Could barely be heard.

I pushed open the door, revealing the Overmare's room. It was considerably bigger than any of ours, and I saw it as a kind of waste to have all this space to one pony.

"Please, sit, sit." She asked.

I was scared, the Overmare was usually the pony to deal out punishments for troublemakers. Me and Ms. Overmare knew each other quite well. The Overmare was to never be questioned, doubted or lied to.

Above all, you never disobeyed the Overmare.

Needless to say, we took our seats.

"You two know very well why you're here. There's going to be a small team picking you two up. Meet me at the front gate when you're ready."

We nodded. I had been steeling my nerves the night before, waiting to be told to get out.

I still died a bit on the inside.

-x-x-x-

After a tearful goodbye, my father telling me I 'was doing goof for the stable' or 'I'm mighty proud, m'colt!' 'You're gonna be a stallion yet!' My mom had been crying to hard to say much. I could still feel the damp streaks on my shoulder. I wasn't heartless, I cried a few manly tears.

Okay maybe a lot.

Okay, I curled into a ball and bawled on the floor, but that's besides the point.

I noticed that Sapphire and the Overmare standing there,waiting. Late. Again. Sapphire had his Stable Security vest on, and he looked pretty good in it.

The Overmare was using the most ideal way to fix any electronic that wasn't working. I heard another crack as she slammed the Pip-buck down onto the concrete. I threw a questioning look over at Sapphire.

He simply shrugged "She can't get a signal."

"Damn things are supposed to be the newest age of technology!"

Suddenly there was a loud noise indicating a signal.

"--rmare of Stable 100, relay the password into your Pip-buck. If you're the Overmare of Stable 100, relay the--"

She nearly screamed the word "Insurance" into the Pip-buck. She then coughed into her hoof and lowered her voice. "I have the Insurance here."

"Great! The Farmpony and the Talisman repairer?"

"Yes." She grumbled into the Pip-buck.

"Sorry, but I will also need auditory confirmation from the two subjects."

The Overmare waved the Pip-buck over to us.

We both nearly said "Here" at the same time, we were that nervous.

"Wonderful! Everything is going as planned! Now, if you could open up the door for us we would like to introduce ourselves to our new trading partners!"

The Overmare, giddy with excitement, ran over to the control panel, quickly typing up the code. It was weird, seeing the Overmare smile. It was pretty, the same way an extinct fossil would be. It may be pretty revolting, but it's rareness was what made it pretty. I would've been happy too, if I was going to be credited with a new age of peace. Sapphire was standing between me and her, but still stared at her anyway. In the back of my head, I hear a click that sounded strange. Not like a door opening.

Then, Wish Granter, the Overmare of Stable 100 had her head shot off. It was a gruesome sight, her whole head lying in a bloody, boney heap. The body stayed upright for a bit longer, then collapsed on Sapphire. By this point he had blacked out and the most mare-like scream I've ever heard was echoing in my ears.

Wait...

That was me.

A silky smooth voice came from my right, from the direction of the door. "Heh. I'd say this was the best trade I've ever made."I looked over at the voice, and I nearly fainted right then and there by what I saw.

She was Pegasus with Dark, stormy gray eyes that probably had more stories to tell than my dad. Her mane was a lighter gray, with brown accents running through it. Her coat itself was charcoal black, nearly blending with the wasteland sky.

"Hey, Earth pony, what are you looking at?" She menacingly held up her Shotgun between my eyes.

It was hard to tell a mare that you had been oogiling her when she had a shotgun pointed at your head.

"Heh...heh... Enjoying the view?"

In the blink of an eye, she had the Shotgun right on my temple. I could feel the coldness of the metal and smell gunpowder coming off it.

Guess that had been a bad move.

"Shadow, we can't kill him, Red-eye asked for them, by name even!" I almost jumped in surprise as a bright pink unicorn with yellow and blue-striped mane pop up.

"It's a shame, isn't it? I was really hoping I could kill this green one right here. Not like Red's going to punish me." I could feel her drive the barrel deeper in my head. "Where's your big, strong, inginuety you Earth ponies are known for, huh?"

I gulped. I really wish the unicorn would stop antagonizing her. "Uhmm, just a thought, but, I would prefer not to die." It was worth a shot to throw my hat into the ring about whether or not I died.

She gave such a cold look my hooves nearly froze to the ground. "Worthless, boneless, pathetic waste of space." She spat on the ground and slowly started pulling back on the trigger.

My life flashed before my eyes, all the happy and sad moments. Then the sound of a shotgun being fired. I felt myself fall, the world starting to fade to black.

Then there was no more.

At least, that's what would've happened if I hadn't realized I could hear my two tormentors laughing at me. I opened my eyes to smell of gunpowder. My eyes fell upon the pistol the Pegasus had been using earlier. It had a thin trail of smoke coming out of it, and was in the magic grip of the bubbly unicorn.

I quickly put two and two together. I had been tricked. The Unicorn had levitated it up and fired it around the time the Pegasus would've fired hers.

The Unicorn quickly got up apologized."Sorry, we don't get to prank much anymore. All of Red-eye's troops are so serious."

The Pegasus, who I remebered the Unicorn calling her Shadow, still hadn't recovered.

The firing of a pistol was enough to wake Sapphire. He rubbed his eyes and said: "What did I miss?" He turned his gaze to Shadow, and by his expression, his internal answer had been 'some of that.'

Ugh. It was love at first sight, for him.

No one answered poor Sapphire.

Shadow then quickly turned to me. "We do need to get moving soon, Red-eye might get a bit anxious. Me and Burst here will answer all your questions."

We had quickly divided into groups of two, with Burst leading us. Shadow and Sapphire were back there asking 'questions', and more often than once I wanted to tell them to get a room.

I focused on asking Burst questions that mattered. "What are your guys's full names?

"I'm Bubble Burst and she's Shadow Flash, but most call us Shadow and Burst."

"Do you two have a connection?"

"Yeah, me and Shadow are filly-foolers!" She watched my face curiously for a reaction, she giggled into her hoof as I stopped in shock. "Just kidding, we're considered an elite team, Red-eye sends us out on the really important missions."

"What is Red-eye planning with us?" It was a question that had been bothering me, not even more so that we had elite members of an army go out and get us.

She bit her lip, not as excited to answer this question. "You really know how to pick and choose those questions." I nodded sagely. That was me, Kiwi the questioner. "Red-eye had caught wind of another stable at the edge of the forest. He had never heard of this stable so learned as much as he could about it." She looked away. "As soon as he found out that there were two young stallions, one a farmer and one a Talisman repairist, he said he would stop at nothing to get you two alive. His whole plan kind of rests on you two, being some of the last to have that talent." She looked back at my flank. Slowly her eyes shrunk into print picks of horror.

"You're a blank flank? Shadow, check Sapphire for his cutie mark!" Shadow replied with a breathless "What?! He's blank!"

"Oh no... Shitshitshit. Red-eye'll have our heads, their talent isn't even known yet!" She looked back down at me.

"I'm sorry to say this, but I think I'm leading you all to your death. Sorry."

I couldn't but stare blankly. Great. We were going to die literally because we were useless. Great.

Sweet Celestia I hate Mondays.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Level Up!

New Perk - Overlooked; Being a blank flank has it's advantages. Well, if everypony considers you useless and won't give you the time... Yeah.

+10 In Stealth for each member in your party that is a blank flank.