Fallout Equestria : Pariahs

by SkyDreams

FOE: Pariahs Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Chemicals

“Is it so hard to believe that even a Changeling can Change?” ~Spike

*Click*

“There” Growled the Hellhound as she pulled off my Bomb Collar. The cool air hitting my neck felt good, it had only been a couple days since it got put back on but that was enough. “Zebra free from dumb ponies.” Before I could thank her she crumpled up the collar and chucked it with short lived roar. There was a loud crack and the ball of steel and electronics was left embedded within the cave wall. “Zebra free, to stay with Dog.” She grabbed the handle on my bumper blade and shoved me down to the ground before dragging me out into her little makeshift home. After dragging my legs across the stone floor she lifted me up into the air and set me down as gently as possible. “Hated stays with Hated. Ponies dumb, old pack dumb, Precious dumb.” She waved her claw behind her in a dismissive manner as sh meandered back to where she had been sitting before. She picked up the toy she had been using, which I could see now was an oversized novelty toy from prewar equestria, they just didn’t make them like that nowadays.

She looked at her ‘toy’ then back to me. She gave the strangest look, like a dog having found their new favorite chew toy. Maybe that description was a tad too literal. She set the giant rubber pong bits off to one side and opened up her legs, inviting me in as she leaned back. She obviously saw that nothing had changed for me down there and I was still aching to relieve myself. I hesitated but started walking towards her.

This was so confusing, wasn’t I supposed to kill this creature? I had brief flashbacks to a similar encounter with Flash Fire, The Phoenix. I snapped out of it quickly, no this was different. She had set me free. My eyes darted over to the collar embedded into the wall. Also she could speak! Maybe I could just solve this by talking to her?

At this point I was close enough to smell her, her everything. It wasn’t like the smell of a pony who had been living in the wasteland, typically pretty bad but only just enough to be ignored. She smelled like her fluffy fur had been cleaned, kind of like she had briefly walked through a cloud of perfume. The most powerful smell though, I could only describe as… ready.

Going in felt similar to The Phoenix except for one thing, there was a totally different emotion behind it. This creature was just as deadly, if not more, and I was sent to kill her as well. For some reason, I didn’t hate the idea though. I wanted this and as everything around my Stallion bits began to get soaked in her mess I found I was wanting it more. I liked this, unlike my encounter with the mare. Was I… Was I into monsters?

Those growling moans began to come back out of her, soon joined by my own as we spent the whole night go into and out of various positions that could only have been possible because of our difference in species. I don’t recall being picked up and used like that before, but I liked it.

oooOOOooo

I slammed my hooves into the cage shouting at the stallion within. “WHY WON’T YOU BREAK!?” I chucked a bottle at him which shattered on impact, sprinklike glass shards into his open wounds. “I’ve broken your bones! I’ve cut your flesh! I’ve burned you, beat you, starved you! What the fuck is wrong with you!” I beat relentlessly on the cage in rage, bending the bars under my incredible strength.

“You can’t break him like that…” It was the other initiate that had joined this gang at the same time I did. His name was Shrapnel. Of course he had been a raider in another gang before this one so he knew a lot more than me. “Just look at him.” Shrapnel pointed a hoof at the damaged unicorn in the cage. “He wants you to hurt him.” He hoofed over a small package to me. “Use this. If you want to hurt somepony, you got to make sure it’s something they don’t want. Doesn’t matter how nice it feels, if it’s forced on them it will hurt more than any knife or hammer.”

I unfolded the little leather package to reveal a small music box and a teddy bear. The expression on the prisoner’s face told me everything I needed to know. Whatever he had done, he wanted to hurt but not like this. I began winding up the little music box and finally got a reaction out of him. He rose to his broken legs, holding on to the cage bars, shouting for me to stop. “No! Anything but that! I didn’t do it! I didn’t DO IT!!!”

Disgusting.

oooOOOooo

I awoke suddenly, jerking but not moving far. As I started to catch my breath, dwelling on the returning memory, I took stock of my surroundings. I was being held. No, I was being cuddled by the hellhound from last night. She was still fast asleep. Did we really? I sniffed the air. Yes we did.

I was able to wiggle my fore legs but wasn’t able to do much else. My armor and weapons had been shucked off and set to the far side of the cave where a trashcan was containing a slowly dying fire. The Pip-buck was still attached to my hoof though. It was showing me a picture of a happy pony and notified me that I was well rested. Thanks I guess? I switched it over to my current objectives.

‘DUST UP IN DUSTOFF’

• Meet with Winks [Complete]
• Deal with Hellhound

Nope, Still need to ‘deal’ with the hellhound. I looked up slightly, pushing my head into the fur of her neck as I looked up to her face. She actually looked rather peaceful. Ugh! I didn’t want to kill her. Of course Star Tumbler’s words were burning in my ears. ‘...You’re collared. Of course this time you won’t have saint with you so if you run off I have to chase you down.’ I had to do it right? They’d track me down anyway and slap another collar on me.

I hugged onto the large forelegs that were holding me to this warm fluffy killing machine. She made me feel some sort of safety. It was enough for me to close my eyes and smile a bit. I was certain she wasn’t planning on killing me now, especially after what happened last night. All the fear I’d had of being eaten had melted away in a tangle of heated bodies and late night moans.

I found myself rolling over and snuggling back into her fluff, drifting back to sleep in this wonderfully comfortable ultra deadly beast of a creature.

A few hours later I was roused by the sound of metal scraping metal and the smell of wonderfully rich seasonings. I blinked my eyes open and lifted myself off of the cave floor. “Oh good, Zebra is awake. Come eat with Boots.”

I shook my head a little bit, processing that information. “I’m sorry what? I don’t eat boots.” I looked over to see that the hellhound had removed the trash can from the fire pit and placed a large pot overtop of grill made from steel rods. The large cast iron pot seemed large enough to comfortably fit two ponies in it. She was stirring was smelled like a vegetable soup of some sort.

“HAHAHAHA!” Laughed the hellhound, as she patted a blanket on the ground. “Silly zebra acting like dumb pony. Come sit. Boots feed you.” She set down a bowl and poured me some soup from a makeshift ladle.I was pretty sure the ladle was just a regular sized pot attached to a hockey stick.

One could only assume that the hellound was named Boots. I gave out a half hearted laugh, hoping not to insult my host. “Haha, you got me Boots. I’m just acting like a dumb pony.” I sat down and lifted the bowl to my muzzle for a good sniff of the soup. It smelled better up close! It had a soupy green broth with an oily looking substance mixed in. It shimmered with every color imaginable. Outside of that the soup seemed to be made out of some mutated carrots, razer grains, and a medley of roots and mushrooms I couldn’t Identify. “Hey Boots? Did I tell you my name last night? I’m having a hard time remembering?”

Boots looked down at me, filling a much larger bowl for herself. “No, Boots didn’t ask. Having too much fun.” She let out a sound that I could only describe as ‘snork’ and smiled at me. She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Only Zebra Boots has met.”

My soup was calling to me, I sipped from the broth before speaking again. The heated mixture went down quickly and smoothly at first but changed drastically after I began feeling a strange tingle in my mouth and throat. I tasted it just before the tingling, she had poisoned the soup!?

Chemical compounds began rushing through my head as I began to choke, my body trying to make sure no more of this substance entered my body. It took a few agonizing moments of choking but it clicked after I remembered the oily substance. Black liquid with all the colors of the rainbow… There was only one chemical that fit that description and caused a tingling sensation on contact. It only had one name, Flux. A powerful mutagen used in prewar technologies. It was so powerful it could horribly mutate a pony or zebra within seconds into a massive tumor struggling to live with your insides laying on the ground as your new limbs. It was considered a kindness to kill the exposed on sight rather than let them continue living… and I just swallowed it.

I looked up to Boots in horror, she had betrayed me! How could I have ever trusted a monster like this? All because I what, had a little bit of fun with her last night? What was I thinking?! I closed my eyes as she raised her massive claw up to make the killing blow. I couldn’t stand the shame of looking her in the eye, didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing the fear in my eyes before I was forever killed and mutated into some strange new meat for her to devour.

Her paw landed squarely between my shoulders, causing my entire body to shudder and wretch. I let out a hoarse cough as my throat opened back up. Something wet and rough was ejected from my mouth and landed in an inky mess on the cave floor in front of me. I watched it, enthralled as it bubbled and swelled in size, slowly becoming recognizable. Before me was the freshly half created remains of a dying bloat sprite!

The sound of Boots’ laughter echoed through the cave again. “Fly in Zebra’s soup. Unlucky! She motioned for me to eat some more, as she began slurping her own soup down. I would have complied if I wasn’t in such disbelief.

The mutating bloatsprite was proof that there was Flux in the soup, so why wasn’t I dying? I stared into the soup bowl, looking at the chromatic liquid mingling with the rest of the food. It shouldn’t be possible, but it was. I held a hoof over the liquid, wondering what would happen. Maybe I had gotten lucky and the fly had absorbed all of the flux and what I was about to do was stupid.

Boots wouldn’t have tried to save me if she meant to kill me… maybe it’s safe. A pang of guilt went through my chest. I had been so quick to judge her, just like the ponies had judged me. She was just trying to feed me. Maybe she had found a way to make it safe? Diluted Flux?

I dipped my hoof into the soup, just to see. If I was wrong in trusting Boots I would only have a small mutation… right? The tingling began almost instantly, causing me to withdraw my hoof quickly. To my delight and amazement The tingling stopped immediately and my hoof appeared to be fine. No extra clefts or tiny eyeballs. It was safe!

“Zebra? There’s no more flies. Flies not always in soup.” Boots commented, some concern showing through her deep growling voice.

I couldn’t help but smile at how innocent a hellhound could sound. She genuinely had no idea what had scared me. “It’s not that Boots.” I scooped the bowl back up, assured that it wouldn’t kill me. “I’ve just never had Flux before.” With that I let the wonderfully flavorful, if weirdly tingly, soup pour down my throat. It was very filling, and the Flux tasted like everything wonderful and awful all at the same time. It was strangely intriguing and I wanted more of it.

Boots set her bowl down with a metallic clunk. “Never? Zebra smells like Dogs.” She said, giving me a confused look. I wasn’t exactly sure how to take that, considering that phrase means something kind of bad to ponies.

The soup was finished off rather quickly and I set my bowl off to the side, patting my full belly. I let out a burp before answering her. “Nope never. What do you mean I smell like dogs? Shouldn’t I smell like a Zebra? Or maybe ponies since I’ve been living with them?”

My new hellhound friend just waved her paw in the air dismissively at my questions. “Eh. Zebra too dumb to understand smells, just like pony. Don’t worry, Boots not hold it against Zebra.”

“Ah, um. Thanks. You can call me… “ I hesitated a moment. I had three names that I knew of at the moment. Did I want her to call me by the name Nocturne gave me? My raider name, no definitely not that one. Or maybe I wanted her to call me by the same name that Hilde had called me? “You can call me Pemandu. That’s my name.” With that I saw my first ever Hellhound smile and possibly the cutest thing in all the wasteland, her big fluffy tail flopping back and forth.

You haven’t lived until you seen a happy hellhound. They are like big deadly puppies! Buck the mission! I can’t kill this sweetheart! “Hey Boots, do you know why I was down here to begin with?” I asked her after sitting about with my new friend for awhile, she was warm and cuddly.

Boots shook her head before letting out a bored yawn that exposed all of her razor like teeth. “No. Boots can guess since Pem-du wearing collar though.” She reached out and grabbed a large stick, she used to stoke the fire, and made a stabbing motion with it. “Ponies don’t like Dogs.” She stoked the cooking fire some to keep what remained of her strange soup warm.

“Yeah, that about sums it up. They were getting frustrated with you attacking their livestock.” I watched the fire, laying my head on one of her fore-legs.

A very confused Boots put her face in front of mine. “Boots not hunting pony things. More food to dig up than hunt. Plus keeps Boots safe.” She pointed to the soup pot to illustrate her point. Come to think of it, she only had vegetables and fruits in there and there was not meat or gore anywhere in the cave. “Boots has no pack to hunt with. Hunting pony things is dumb.” She had a point.

Reluctantly, I pulled myself up and out of the hellhound cuddle. “Wait really? So you didn’t attack me and a caravaner two nights ago?” I looked into her eyes for any signs of deception. Boots just shook her head, looking even more confused than before. Of course, it all made sense to me now though. She should have seen me as just an enemy if it was her that I had hit with my bumper blade. Plus their fur coats were a different color if I remembered correctly. The one that had attacked us was an albino, pure white with red eyes. Boots, now that I was paying attention, was a dark grey with white underbelly and a small patch of white around her eyes which were a gem-like blue. Boots looked like a grey domestic husky bread for winter conditions, which made sense this far north. “You know, that’s right. Now that I think about it, the Dog that attacked me last night an albino.”

With that statement Boots looked panicked. “Albino? White fur?! Red eyes?” I nodded in response to her question. “Oh no! Precious finds Boots!” She hurried onto her hind legs and started stomping about her cave, gathering up odds and ends. “Pem-Du in danger with Boots. Has Boots smell.” She pointed to her nose to illustrate the point. “Dogs good at smelling. Precious kills Pem-Du if found. Come with Boots, we run.”

I almost answered yes, remembering having regretted not running last time I had the chance. And this time I had a whole hellhound to backup my decision! But that Nasally mare’s voice came back. ‘Creatures will get hurt if you run away.’ it said to me. Was that my conscience? Why was it a mare? I sighed, shaking my head reluctantly. “I’m sorry Boots. I can’t run. I have to go fight Precious.”

Boots looked back at me like I was absolutely bonkers. “Whaat? Boots likes new friend Pem-Du. Don’t go die! Why can’t run!?” Bless the stars, she seemed genuinely concerned about my safety.

“Boots, she’s going around hurting creatures that want nothing to do with her and they’re scared. On top of that…” I paused to make sure that I wasn’t about to lie. “She’s scaring Boots. I think that’s enough reason to for me to fight.”

For a moment, Boots just looked at me with a thoughtful expression. “Pem-Du… is dumb Zebra. Boots biggest, overruling dumbness.” She grabbed my gear and threw it into a large satchel which contained the rest of her meager things. Before I could protest the cooped me up in one paw and threw me over her shoulder along with her satchel. She also grabbed what looked like a heavily modified pirate-ship gun from behind a large stone and made for the cave entrance. She bashed through the small entrance in a swingle swing of her one free claw and simply began running in the dark. “Pem-Du listen. Precious is Alpha dog of Boots’ old pack. Means she’s biggest of all dogs. Precious eat Zebra like breakfast!” She turned the corner so that we could see the faint light from the cave entrance.

I was bouncing up and down on her shoulder, unable to really grip anything due to the motion. “Boots, I’m stronger than I look. I’ve already fought her off once. What did she do to make you so scared anyway?” She ducked real quick to get past an over hang, which slammed the pirate-ship gun into my snout. “Oof!”

“No, Zebra thinking dumb. Precious hunt pony things alone because is strong dog. Precious hunt Boots with whole Pack!” She cleared the cave and stepped out into the filtered daylight, sniffing the air carefully. After choosing a direction she began running again. “Precious kick Boots from pack. Say that Boots stealing from whole pack! But not true.Boots takes nothing from pack. Boots is told to run away from pack territory. Boots stays at edge of territory. Worried for pack. Precious finds out, now wants to kill Boots for breaking promise to leave.” She shrugged now beginning to pant lightly as she jogged at a steady pace. “Short story for Pem-Du. Story is much larger.”

So she was framed? I could relate to her predicament, except I actually did the things ponies hated me for. Sure I don’t remember it, but I’m fairly certain of who I was with the memories returning. I couldn’t blame her for running now, she was technically a criminal to her pack. But I still couldn’t let them continue hunting along the roads and hurting innocent ponies and creatures. “Okay okay, So we can’t fight them all I get that but I still need to stop them from hurting innocent lives. Plus I’m sure you care about the rest of the pack. Am I right?”

Boots nodded. “Don’t say Boots talks to Pack. That only work for ponies.”

I laughed a little. “Yeah I’ll bet. No I had something else in mind. I need chemicals. Do you know where I can find some?”

Boots made a sharp turn towards the north and began to pick up her pace. “Boots knows one place. Boots finds flux there. Need to hurry.”

We ran north for a solid hour, I was honestly surprised by her endurance. We eventually came within sight of a small shack set up alongside a large pool of what appeared to be flux. The pool was resting below an overhang that had a rusted sewage pipe sticking out of it. The pipe seemed to originate from the west back in the direction hoof print. The Shack didn’t appear to be built of the same materials used before the war. Instead this shack was more akin to the pony homes I’d seen in Dustoff and Hoofprint, a combination of scraped together wood and sheet metals. Even the door was just a repurposed plastic outhouse door.

I wasn’t actually set down until Boots had busted into the building at breakneck speed and barricaded the door with a few heavy metal crates. She collapsed up against the wall and weakly motioned to the rest of the shack. It was obvious she needed to catch her breath. A quick look around revealed a stockpile of chemicals and mint-al tins that bordered on the absurd. There was also a chemistry station that sent something in the back of my head buzzing with excitement. My body seemed to begin moving on it’s own, taking stock. It was second nature to go through every vial and spout out a large complicated name and general purpose before moving on to the next one. There were enough chemical compounds here to fill a dream laboratory and then some.

The thing that made me stop auto-cataloging was a strange machine that I noticed out of the corner of my eye. It looked like some kind of pre-war soda fountain with a blender and a few extra bits and bobs attached to it. Somepony had labeled it the ‘Chraft-em 2000’ It was connected to a working terminal and another machine that looked like you could deposit chemicals in it. I moved over to the terminal, anxious to learn about this cool new thing. “Boots, how much time do we have?”

A quick glance back at Boots and I could see her shaking her head. She was still out of breath and trying to rest up incase she needed to run again. I bit my lip and looked back to the chemistry table. I would have to whip something up to keep us safe before satisfying my curiosity.

Okay weird brain stuff, let’s do this! With how I reacted to the chemicals earlier this should be a breeze. I stepped over to the table and looked over the available components. “Okay, chemistry time… I need something to hide our scent.” I stared intently at the beakers and vials. “CHEMICALS ACTIVATE!” A few tense seconds passed as I felt the buzzing in my brain but my body continued to do nothing. “Okay maybe not that… Brain, combine-this-stuff-together GO!” I began waving my hooves around to coax out motion from my body.

A few more seconds passed.

“What is Pem-Du doing?” Asked Boots, who seemed to have caught her breath for the most part but was still panting lightly. “Boots is trusting Pem-Du. Please do things to help.”

I looked down at my hooves, which were waving about uselessly in front of me. “Yes… I’m uh. Just warming up?” My new hellhound friend didn’t seem immediately convinced. I resolved to try harder. “Okay. I’m starting….. NOW!” I flung my hooves forward a little bit to get them going.

“Pem-Du doesn’t know chemistry.” Boots sounded more exhausted than ever before.

“No no no. I know chemistry. I labeled all those chemicals earlier remember? It’s just. It all seemed to work automatically. I don’t know what’s wrong!” Everything felt like it was in it’s right place but how to actually combine everything simply wasn’t coming to mind.

Suddenly there was a piercing howl in the distance, shortly followed by several more. In a panic, Boots grabbed me from behind and shook me. “ZEBRA HURRY!”

I was thrown into a panic, bending myself over the stockpile of chemicals. “Okay okay! Maybe it’ll work if I start picking things up!” I grabbed the first chemical I could and read the label. ‘Cognazine Substrate A’ I put the jar aside and kept looking through the shelves and crates. ‘Isosterodioxypyrovalerone’ It had a picture of an angry rabbit on it. ‘Cidaraphine + prophenhol failed compound’ A big red X was on the label. ‘Iocus-fatalis’ there was a picture of a blue flower on it. Finally I picked up and inky black jar with rainbow colored magic fluttering about erratically inside. ‘Flux Waste sample specimen-T32 purity 32%’ It looked different from the flux outside. This one glowed faintly with the colors dancing about inside. I glanced back over to the chemicals I had already pulled out and then over to Boots and something clicked. It was like instructions for this one particular thing was beaten into my head with a particularly sturdy stick. “Boots! I need your spit!”

Boots had made herself busy, readying her cannon-like weapon, which I could now see had ‘Plasma-Zooka’ spray painted onto it. “What?” She was about as confused I was at having asked for her spit.

“No questions, just spitting.” I pulled out a vial and collected a loogie she spat out. I ignored whatever else she had to say about the situation and turned back to the table. Finally everything began to work. I started lighting the bunsen, making measurements mixing fluids. Everything about this one mixture made perfect sense!

I began mumbling to myself as I worked. As the thunderous sound of clawed death machines in full sprint became louder and louder so too did my mumbling. Eventually it grew into coherent words and finally a chant as Boots began to growl and the rising whine of magical energy could be heard coming from her Plasma-Zooka. “A joke on you, a joke on me. Chaos changes what I’ll be.”

The sound of tearing plastic was shortly followed by a loud THUMP and the clapping of displaced air as the Plasma-Zooka Discharged into an unsuspecting hellhound. Once again the world began to move at a crawl, my S.A.T.S. activating at the last second. “A JOKE ON ME, A JOKE ON YOU! CHAOS CHANGES WHAT YOU’LL DO!” I grabbed the bubbling glowing mixture right off of the bunsen burner and chucked it at the doorway. From my perspective, it appeared as though I had thrown liquid starlight. The mixture pulled out a cerulean blue light from the flux and put it into a state of high energy. It shined like blue star submerged in dark waters, dancing watery patterns across the walls.

In less than moments, the magical liquid burst up against the door frame. The brilliant blue substance quickly congealed and then stretched out in all directions searching for lifesigns within its reach. Sticky blue tendrils of light latched on to the hellhounds, Boots, and me. A sharp pain indicated that it began digging into the bodies and afflicting all of us with a fundamental change.

With a fundamental joke.

The world sped back up, my S.A.T.S. system stating that I had drained all of my available ‘AP’. Even with time returning to it’s normal speed everyone was at a halt, the air still as the sticky blue substance held everyone in place with a net of tendrils that were piercing every creature to their heart. It was only seconds later that the changes began to occur.

The first was a black and white hellhound who was at the door. Their body misshaped into boxes and tubes, antennae, lights and switches. Every inch turning to metal as the joke became real. We all understood the joke, because we were all connected. ‘If only he were loved like the machines his pack collected.’ well now he was.

Next was another dog whose skin became a collection of gems, then another who simple roasted alive.

Boots was looking over to me in abject horror. I had killed all of us, and she was forced to watch the whole pack that she had grown up with die before her.

The last hellhound to go was the Albino that had attacked me only a few nights before, Precious. She growled and barked and howled and roared as she became weak, shriveling up and become so old that she couldn’t stand.

Next it was our turn, Boots knew it and she could only whimper. I just smiled at her to show that everything would be alright.

My Hellhound companion began to writhe seemingly with pain as the Killing Joke Bomb searched for her joke. Finding nothing, the tendril connecting to her fell limp and flopped onto the ground releasing her from the spell. Having donated my own spit to the mixture as well, I was released from the effects just after boots.

As soon as the blue goop let go I was released from the spell and could see the truth. In front of Boots and me were a pile of perfectly healthy hellhounds curled up on the ground with my joke bomb gently wrapping around them, keeping them within their illusion of terrible changes.

“Boots is...Confused.” My fluffy companion said through what sounded like shock.

I couldn’t help but beam with pride. “I call it Iocus-Cognazine. I used Flux to bind Killing Joke and Mint-als together then mixed our spit with Isosterodioxy- er Stampede to give the magical effects of the Killing Joke plant the impression that we were already under the effects of it’s spell causing it to release us from the collective illusion. When you mix Killing Joke and Mint-als you get a very powerful hallucinogen that will force your body to react as though it was actually undergoing the perceived effect BUT when mixed properly with flux this hallucinogenic substance gains an ameboid like body and feeds off of the pain caused by the illusion forcing it to keep the victims alive. Due to the weak bond the life-span of this ameboid is very short, only persisting for a few hours or so, at which point the subjects will awaken relatively unharmed.” I stopped for a breath and also to absorb the fact that I had just said all of it. Even I didn’t fully understand what I had just said but I had a general grasp. I was more excited that I was right, I did know something about chemistry!

Shaking her head, Boots strolled over to me looking exhausted. “Zebra talks a lot. Are dogs safe?” She motioned to them weakly.

I nodded. “Yeah, they should be. They should also be knocked out long enough for me to come up with a solution to them finding either of us. I certainly can’t go home with pack of dogs trying to kill me.” I trotted over to the terminal and started to boot it up. It was just a little red on button so all I really had to do was wait.

“Home? Pem-Du is going with Boots.” She sounded concerned. “Right?” It hadn’t occurred to me until just now, I must be the first creature to treat her like a friend for a while.

On top of the fact that Boots actually liked me, she could easily fight off little ol’ Star Tumbler. I didn’t want to go back. Then again, I didn’t want to hurt anypony anymore. I wanted to remove myself from being The Hydra as much as possible. “Sorry Boots I… I need to go back. They may treat me like a slave but-” I struggled to find the words for a moment, until that raspy mare’s voice came crawling back in to fill in the blanks. “They’re only bad right now because they lost something close to them.”

There was a moment of silence as Boots turned her gaze to the hellhounds piled at the door. “Still Pem-Du’s pack.” she said wistfully. I imagined she was thinking of her own recent actions, running away but staying close because she still cared.

“Yeah, something like that.” I said, turning my attention to the terminal and letting that somber note hang in the air.

ROBRONCO

Welcome to RobRonco Industries (™) TermLink
Clearance: Blah Blah Blah Nopony is reading this like ever.

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[Research Log 1]
[Research Log 2]
[Deleted]
[Research Log 4]
[Blend Settings]
[Blend]

Flux Conversion and Stabilization Research Center
Research Log 1
Prof. Atom Bombs
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It’s taken me 10 years to work up the caps for this little shack and to hire all of the mercs and scavs to go find me all of these beautiful vials, chemicals, and bio samples! It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of!

Of course I owe it all to the stallion who agreed to help me out! He’s a engineer from Stable 72. He had originally left the stable to find somepony else who had left the stable to find Band Filters but never returned. Apparently they came up with a different solution and they wanted her to come home. But anyway he’s here now with me. Spanner is a wonderful lab assistant and had the technical know how to set up my testing equipment!

Fantastic!

Even better news, he has agreed to stay with me until my research is complete. He’s so useful and nice! Cute to boot!

Any way! This is a log to document my research thus far. The flux waste from the Sparkle Cola plant a couple of miles away empties out here. Those raider keep using it to produce new sparkle colas which produces more flux waste. They have no idea the pile of caps they’re sitting on. The Flux produced from this plant has an incredibly high purity for waste. According to my studies this is due to the fact that near the end of the war Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle was searching for a way to reduce the impact the war was having on the local environment. This plant was a test facility for a new machine that would purify the waste and leave a much small impact.

Of course the machine failed in its purpose but now provides me with new opportunity! This Flux, being as pure as it is, still retains the malleability that its original form had allowing me to alter its magical properties! At least in theory.

Success means a cure for mutations! A Flux-Serum one might say.

Flux Conversion and Stabilization Research Center
Research Log 2
Prof. Atom Bombs
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Failure after failure! It’s so frustrating. No matter how I mix and blend this darn substance it never produces the intended effect. The nature of Flux is chaotic to the extreme! How pre-war ponies handled this stuff is beyond me. Still I should continue trying.

I spoke with Spanner about an idea I had. A machine that would make the whole process go much faster. Basically it would operate on a few adjustable variables to automatically mix substances together. I gave him a recipe for Mint-als to use as he tests out his various prototypes. With any luck I will be able to blow through failures so fast that I will eventually find compounds that work!

On a good note, I have succeeded in one area surprisingly well. Stable Ponies are really weird, Spanner said I was beautiful even though I wore glasses and can’t hold a gun to save my life. He makes me feel so warm and happy!

Spanner and I have been getting very close. I expect copulation soon! It’ll be my first time so I’m super excited but also very nervous. Apparently, Stable ponies do it a lot out of sheer boredom. Could you imagine?!

Oh jeez this is becoming less of a research log and more of a diary. How unprofessional of me.

Flux Conversion and Stabilization Research Center
Research Log 4
Prof. Atom Bombs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The mixing machine ‘Chraft-Em 2000’ has been completed! The name is short for Chemical Crafter with 2000 automatically adjusted variables. The name was my idea. I am now able to process chems and experimental substances in seconds! This has sped up my research by over 60x my normal rate!

I’ve deleted Log 3 due to personal reasons. I got a little too personal that time. The research found there in has been moved to a holotape labeled ‘Known Flux Mixtures’. This way I can update it and carry it with me as needed. Still no cure for mutations, but what I have can be used to solve many problems plaguing the average wastelander.

We plan to make forays to local towns to try and sell of of these minor alchemical creations. There is a relatively new town call Hoofprint that is popping up around some pre war ruins. They have a whole intact medical center!

It would be most beneficial to maintain friendly relations with this new town so that we can have access to the medical center. When our new bundle of joy is born, I want it to be with the assistance of pre-war medical tech. We don’t know if it’s a Colt or Filly yet, but we’re going to love them no matter what!

Oh that’s right! Official note! I’m pregnant! Spanner is going to be one happy daddy. He keeps coming up with names and ideas for a new home for us once the foal is born. I admit… I’m rather excited myself!

Logging off….

I checked the mixing machine Settings. I felt like I could use it, but I would definitely need the recipes on that holotape to do anything interesting with the flux. I couldn’t find it anywhere. I settled for picking up chemicals I could identify automatically and setting them near the machine until something came to mind as a solution to Boot’s pack hunting her down. I figured if I could stop the hunt they would go back to their territory and leave the good ponies alone.

It took almost an hour to figure it out, and I required more samples from Boots and myself. I threw them into the machine along with a few other chems like Buck and Dash. I used a little more Killing joke and blended it together all while spouting another chant that came from somewhere in my memory. “You are me, I am You. We will be, something New. Our bodies remain, there are no tricks. We stay the same, but twisted Helix.”

After a few seconds of churning the machine blurpped and rang a bell. A chunky purple liquid poured out of the soda fountain part and into a few prepared vials that the machine decided were the proper dosage. I looked at it feeling kind of sick. Whatever it was that I made bubbled inside the little vials. “Ugh… Boots, I think it’s done.”

Boots plodded up next to me, still somber from the idea that I wanted to go back to the ponies. “This will save Boots and Pem-Du from Pack?” I nodded, but before I could explain what is was she picked up a vial and just ate it, glass and all.

“Uhh.. Boots, I don’t think you were supposed to eat the vial, just drink what was inside.” I was a mix between amused and concerned. I found the fact that she could just do that without thinking to be hilarious.

She Just shrugged at me. “Tastes fine to Boots.”

The simplicity of her statement broke the tension, destroying the mood our recent conversation had put me in. I honestly don’t remember having having laughed this hard before. It took me some minutes and a few times of being called ‘dumb zebra’ to calm down enough to drink my own vial.

The liquid itself wasn’t too bad to the taste, something like stale grass, what was making it hard to swallow was the texture. It was like swallowing a small family of slugs!

Honestly, I felt sick almost instantly. Boots laughed, throwing me over her shoulder again. “Come on Pem-Du. Best leave before Pack wakes up.” I just nodded, trying my best to hold my stomach in.

Whatever I did was bound to work, I was sure of it. I just didn’t know why I was so sure. I wanted my memories to come back to me faster. This forced over time shit was getting old real fast. While we waited for the effects to kick in it would be best to make tracks though.

After about 30 minutes I began feeling lightheaded and was happy to be carried about. Though I began to grow concerned when Boots started swaying as she walked. “He-eh Boooooots… Are youuuu. Okaayeh?” I mumbled out, every word coming out in what felt like slow motion.

Boots’ ears flickered and she blinked wildly. “Dummmnn Zeberrrrr…. Uhh. Booss iss fine. Bootses bigges.” I felt the whole world turn upside down as she stumbled a little and then fell onto her face.

I panicked, but was helpless to do anything. I was pinned beneath of her and my muscles were way more relaxed than I wanted them to be. “Oh NO! Buse! I killt Buse! I’m Die too! NOOOO!” Suddenly the whole world went dark.

In the darkness I saw a bright light beckoning me up into the sky. It was so friendly and warm. I reached out my fore hooves trying to reach that warm friendly light. I felt myself lifting up, floating towards my new friend. I wanted to hug it! “Adstrum!” It called out from way up in the sky. “Adstrum! How did you get here?” It asked, it’s voice so close, even though it was so far away.

“We needed to throw them off so I drank something I mixed together. My friend and I died trying to save the ponies!” I told the friendly star in the sky.

The warmness died a little bit, giving way to slightly cooler air. “Died? The hellhound is your friend?”

Well obviously Boots was my friend. Was this the afterlife or not? Shouldn’t spirits already know this stuff? “Yes. She helped me stop the hellhound attacks. Isn’t she coming with me to the after-life oh wise spirit?” I was getting closer, the light growing bright with each passing second.

The star light seemed insulted? “Spirit!? Buck, open yer dang eyes! Or I’ll drop you”

With just that small amount of coaxing, the light flared and my eyes shot open to reveal the ground several hundred feet below me. “AAAAHH!!” I shouted in sheer terror, I was not prepared to come back to life just to fall a few hundred feet to my possible death. Can I flatten to death? Does that count with the whole coming back to life thing I do?

“Woah there! Calm down partner!” Came the voice, which I now recognized as Star Tumbler. She began descending, but not nearly fast enough for my liking. After slipping a little I realized I could fall if I moved too much and decided on holding as tightly as possible to the flustered pegasus. “Haha, look at that. The mighty Hydra is scared of a little altitude.” She landed as softly as possible. Due to my size, I was laying on the ground before she could fully touch down. “You can open yer eyes now.”

I hadn’t realized I closed them again, but peeked around to make sure I wasn’t dying again. Everything seemed safe, everything except the dual shotgun wielding pegasus standing over top of me. “Heh. Please don’t tell anypony?”

The authority mare just nodded towards her flank where a bomb collar hung from a small hook attached to her battle saddle. “I won’t tell nopony so long as you come along quite like.”

Whatever relief I had felt about being alive drained out of me like water down a drain. I knew this would be the only way to not have the ponies hunting me down for the rest of my life. And something told me that I really didn’t want to revive my old raider life, even though I couldn’t remember all of it. Resigned to my fate, I just nodded. Happy with this result, Star tumbler got off of to allow me to stand.

As the cowgirl pegasus fitted the new collar back onto my armor and around my neck, I watched Boots shift about in her sleep. No doubt she thought she was dead too. “Don’t hurt Boots, okay?”

“Boots?” Star clicked something into place and stepped back. “You named the hellhound?” She snorted out a chuckle. I had to admit, Star’s laugh was kind of cute.

I tugged on the collar a bit to make it was secured and went over to Boots’ sleeping form. “No, Dogs have names. She told me her name when I met her.”

Star plopped down on the ground, stretching out her wings one at a time. “Right, and ‘she’s’ your friend? If I remember correctly. While y’all was out of your mind there, you said you two were trying to save the ponies? What were you doing out here?”

I checked my Pip-Buck, hoping the star would give me a break on this one.

‘DUST UP IN DUSTOFF’

• Meet with Winks [Complete]
• Deal with Hellhound [Complete]
• (Optional) Save Boots [Complete]
• (Optional) Don’t kill anyone [Complete]
• Return to Winks
• (Optional) Travel with Boots

A visible sigh of relief left me as I showed the updated mission status to the Authority Pegasus. “This thing automatically updates whenever I complete tasks. It says, Deal with Hellhound [Complete]. That means I did what I was supposed to. We just finished.”

My Pip-Buck was lifted closer to Star Tumbler’s with the assistance of one of her wings. “Ah’m Familiar. This used to be Gadette’s after all. Did a lot of traveling with her. She swore by this damned thing. Hmm.” She inspected the text and glanced at the scene in front of her. “So Boots, huh? And you didn’t kill anyone… not even the Hellhounds?” She looked down at me with a great deal of confusion.

There wasn’t any way I could think to answer in short so I just shook my head, giving her my best honesty eyes. Luckily I didn’t need to say much more. She just shrugged and released my hoof. “So, you believe me?” I was surprised at how easy it had been. This mare kept giving me mixed signals. Does she trust me or not? In town she sounded like she couldn’t be bothered to trust me to breathe on my own. Now she was trusting me that this creature she knew only as a monster was friendly and that I was just completing my job?!?

Star took a few steps back and sat back down to watch me. “Yeah I reckon so. Traveling with Gadgette taught me some valuable lessons and one of them was to just ‘roll with the wasteland or it’ll roll over you.’ This seems like one of those weird-o moments she kept coming across. Like the time she got stuck in those mines with you.” My ears perked up, I think I remembered that earlier. “Somehow or other she walked out with you at her side smiling like those Pinkie posters you see everywhere. She had the craziest contraption digging for her and then she just let you walk away, even though we had you surrounded. This? This would have just been a tuesday for her.” She smiled, laughing a little to herself. “That Filly was crazy, but just the right kind y’know?”

She seemed to expect an answer, but honestly I didn’t have the answer. I also felt warmth in my cheeks and a smile spread across my face. I was blushing, feeling embarrassed. Maybe it was because she had compared me to some pony that everypony seemed to love? I wasn’t sure.

I turned to wake up Boots, also to hide my blushing. Boots woke up with only a few nudges and some verbal coaxing. She seemed nervous about Star Tumbler at first but all I had to do was ask her to trust me that she wouldn’t be hurt and she agreed to come with us. She mentioned something about her new pack sticking together? There was only two of us and we had only just met the other day but it felt right to be considered family by this fluffy dog. Together we headed for Winks’ home, albeit with me as the safety buffer between Boots and Star Tumbler. Regardless of her claims, I thought Star was still scared of Boots.

The little collection of shacks known as Dustoff started to come into view and so did Winks. “Ah’ Saaayed, keel em dern’ hell-ind! Here yer brigin it back ‘ere lahk sum sert of-”

Winks was cut off by Star Tumbler, who clearly didn’t have time for the short incestual pony. “Go on and shut it winks!” Star began to take the lead and approached Winks in a casual hover. “This here ain’t your hellhound. This here is Boots. Now go sign the darned thing so I can take the prisoner home and slack off again.” wait, did she understand that crazy pony?

“What!?” Winks shook like he was about to explode. “NT G’N LET DERN HLLNDS NERIN MA HOME!!!” Okay he definitely said the word ‘home’ I was sure of that.

Star, unshaken by the smaller than average pony’s rage, started prodding his chest. “Well you’re going to and you’re going to like it! You asked for aide and we provided!” Winks continued shouting with Star over the semantics of the deal and what had happened. Slowly more and more of Star’s southern drawl came out and soon I couldn’t understand either of them.

Boots seemed to be about as confused at what was being said as I was. Her ears were flopped down and she had this expression as though she were listening to nails on a chalkboard. I honestly couldn’t blame her. “Hey Boots, are you sure about coming with me? There is some stuff about me that you don’t know, and nopony is going to like you. You’ll be like me, a pariah.”

The fluffy monster considered me for a moment before answering. “Pem-Du, Understand. Boots not going anywhere. Zebra and Boots smells the same. Different from Boots’ old pack, different from pony, different from Zebra. Boots doesn’t know all of Pem-Du. Pem-Du doesn’t know all of Boots.” She shrugged. “That is how Packs are.” She seemed to think that was a sufficient explanation and gave me a pat on the head, followed by a toothy grin.

I smiled back at my new ‘pack-mate’ and turned back to the shouting match between Star and Winks. I had to take a moment to figure out what Boots meant by all of that. Sadly, I was ripped from my thoughts long before I could fully decipher her meaning. “Adstrum! Get over here and buck this idiot right in the face!”

Was I being called on like hired muscle? “What?” I started trotting forward to hear better incase I had misheard. “You want me to buck him? Are you sure? I’m not exactly sure if he would survive.”

Star glanced at Winks, who looked about ready to pop as it was, and rolled her eyes. “Fine, just use one leg or somethin. Just buck the bastard. That’s an order.”

To be honest, I wasn’t very fond of Winks to begin with due to how he laughed me earlier. Being 100% allowed to kick him was an exciting prospect. I faced away from the conversation and cocked one rear leg forward. Just as Winks was getting ready to go back onto his indecipherable tirade, I felt the muscles in my leg flex and jolt like a gun. My hoof impacted his skull like a sledgehammer to a melon, something in his face cracking under the sudden pressure. I looked back just in time to see the short inbred pony lift off the ground, face first, and fly over the fence and into a trough filled with slop.

A sudden silence and tension filled the air for a brief moment, everyone waiting to see if Winks had actually died or not. The silence wasn’t long lived however, broken by Star’s pitched laughter. “Holy shit!” She gasped, wheezing mid laugh. “That was awesome!” Star dropped onto her back, kicking her hind legs into the air.

As satisfying as it was, I didn’t find it all that funny. I trotted over to see if the bastard was alive, peaking over the fence for any sign of breathing. I let out a sigh I didn’t know I was holding when I noticed his chesst moving up and down. “Sorry Winks, I had to.” There was no response. He clearly needed medical help.

I started looking around instinctually, the chemical knowledge from earlier still milling about in my brain. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for but started pulling up small mushrooms and plants as I went along until I was satisfied. Using a bucket I had found nearby I started mashing the ingredients into a simple paste. At this point Star had gotten a hold of her laughter and began to observe out of interest. Boots was picking her nose.

Another rhyme from long ago found its way to my lips. This time it was different though, as I spoke I felt the energy of the plants flow in and out of my hoof and an ancient set of eyes watching over me. It was a new sensation, but familiar enough that it didn’t bother me immediately. “A strange brew for healing wrought, must be drunk for all or for not”. In a moment of electric sensations the paste liquified into a sparkly green fluid. The process left me suddenly drained. It was as though I had poured a portion of my own life into the potion. I hoofed the bucket over to Star. “Here, Have him drink this. It’ll fix whatever I did to him.”

Star picked up the bucket and lifted back into the air to carry it. “Ya’ll can make potions?” She took a sniff. “UGH! Bleck! Well, maybe not a potion. Still!” She made her way over to the knocked out earthpony and began dribbling some of the potion into his mouth.

It took a few seconds but Winks shot up and fell out of the trough, shouting about the pain going on in his head. At least I think that’s what he was shouting about. Clearly the potion I made worked, just not enough to heal him all the way. I had to remember that one. The unused ingredients quickly found their way into my pack. My Pip-Buck notified me that I had added ‘Zebra Ingredients’ of varying rarity to my pack.

After having royally embarrassed Winks, he begrudgingly complied and hoofed over a signed piece of paper stating that the job was done. On our way out, we were stopped by Thin Line who was occupying the ticket booth. “Oh hey Mister Zebray! Hold on dere’ will ya?”

“Zebra.” I corrected. “And what’s up Thin Line?” This is the one pony from this town I was able to stand, even though I couldn’t understand half of what he was saying.

The well dressed buck scrambled to hop out of his cluttered booth, kicking a bucket that got caught on his hoof back in through the door with a crash. “Them there Pouders sayed you don’ gone an left wichout yer- Oh Sweet spicy friters! Run! It’s dem hellonds behindya!” He began scrambling for the collection of shacks at the first sign of my new companion and friend.

I chased after him. “No thin Line wait!” I was able to catch up to him rather easily, having more powerful legs than he did but I’ll be damned if he was hard as hell to keep a hold of. He wiggled out of my grasp about 3 times before I could calm him down and explain the situation. He ended up giving me a cloth pouch filled with caps before shying away from Boots as quickly as possible. Due to recent events I had totally forgotten that Gun Powder had intended to pay me for helping him out. He had given me 25 caps! Combined with the caps I had been given to pay for food, which I just now remembered I had never went to purchase, I now had a total of 40 caps. what I could get for that!? It seemed like an awful lot. I made a mental note to try out shopping when I got back to Hoofprint.

“Wow, 25 whole caps! So Mr. Entrepreneur, what do you plan on doing with all of that money? Pretty smart of you to pick up extra work while you were out.” Asked Star, who was still keeping her distance from Boots and by extension me. She decided flying above the road as we walked would be the safest option for her.

I was beaming, I had been dangling the pouch in my mouth the whole way just to hear it jingle. I found the sound oddly pleasing and felt that this money I had earned on my own was proof of my own value. This money was something the town couldn’t say they gave me. I didn’t owe it to anyone, pony or otherwise. “I’m going to go buy some food for me and Boots!”

“Ponies have meat?” Boots asked, sounding more curious than surprised that ponies might have some meat to eat.

Star answered for me, chiming in since she actually knew what Hoofprint had for sale. “Yeah got a bit on the hook. Some traders passin through have Gryphons and such with em. Since we’re a trading town and all, we gotta accommodate ‘em. S’all preserved though since visitors like that are rare.” She gave the matter a some before continuing. “Yall are gonna need to start working up caps. Meat ain’t cheap and Hoofprint won’t be willing to feed a hellhound for free. Only reason we’re feeding Adstrum is cause he’s a prisoner.”

Boots’ ears flopped down in confusion, I had seen this twice already and thought I had a good idea of what it meant. “Dogs can Hunt for food if need to. Who is Adisterum?”

Oh shit! I hadn’t told her that ponies called me by a different name. “Adstrum is the name of your friend.” Answered Star with a confused look on her face.

I was about to speak up but Boots started acting a tad strange and spoke over me. “OH! Boots didn’t ask Zebra name. Just called Zebra, Zebra.” She looked over towards me and gave me a very quick wink. I was a little confused but decided to go with the flow.

Winking back to her to let her know I understood what she was doing, I finally chimed in. “Yeah, there wasn’t much time for pleasantries. I um, only got Boots’ name because she told me.” I gave Star an innocent smile.

The Authority Pegasus gave me a weird look and nodded. “Sure okay, why didn’t ya introduce yourself at that time? Were you explodin?” She made a gesture to my neckline. Honestly I felt my skin crawl at the idea of my head having to reform. I didn’t want to go through that ever again.

I hesitated, there was nothing I could think of that could stop someone from quickly answering back with their own name. “Uuuuuhh.”

Luckily Boots was there to save the day. She clearly had a better idea of communication than I did. “Boots and Adstrum running from Boots’ old pack at time. Not really much time for talk.” She shrugged, looking wholey honest and relaxed. Dang she was way better than me at talking. I remembered back to trying to convince The Phoenix that I was on her side. With the benefit of hindsight, I was now sure that I was only successful because she was super high on dash at the time. Things could have gone much differently back then.

We got a shrug out of Star. “Okay, makes sense I guess.” Sweet, she bought it. I was going to have to figure out why Boots lied like that for me. There was no way she could have known that I didn’t want them knowing about my other name is there? I only wanted my real friends to know of Pemandu. Of course, I still needed to figure out who Pemandu was myself. Hilde knew more about him than I did. I didn’t really want to see her though. Come to think of it, I still hadn’t read her letter. I resolved to do that tonight if I wasn’t taking watch.

Before we continued to talk about things that may get me in trouble, I decided to change the subject. “Hey Star, earlier you mentioned that you traveled with Gadgette. Are you one of the ponies she helped out?” I got a nod out of her, she seemed interested in this line of questioning so I continued. “Somepony mentioned that most of the ponies in Hoofprint are ponies that she saved, how did you two meet? I want to learn more about her since… Well, since whatever I am now is because of her.”

Star took a sharp breath in and let it out a few seconds later. “Well, when it comes to that mare I could tell ya stories for days.” She tapped her forehooves together nervously before continuing. “But as for when we met? Well that’s a whole thing. Ya’ll really wanna know?” Boots and I both nodded. “I’ll try to keep it short for ya. Before it all and everything that happened, my Pa, Ma, sister and me used to live out west, along the coast on the other side of the Unicorn Range Mountains. I was the only pegasus in the family so I did most of the runnin around. :Long story short, my wings got me in a whole heaping mess of trouble when I flew my way into helpin out Ol’ Ursa, the Warlord that rules them parts. Taught me to lock pick and threatened my family if I didn’t bring ‘im stuff he couldn’t get to. Said it was ‘for the cause’ and what not.” Star had to land on the ground, too focused on the memory to fly backwards and talk. “He had me chasin after pieces of somthin he called the Necralight. Some pre-war techno junk. He was payin real nice too. I was able to put food and water on the family table every night all by myself. Course, any good thing with raiders goes bad eventually. Specially with Big Ursa. I failed to get a particular piece for him and…” She sat down, bringing our travelling to a stop, and sighed. “One failed attempt and he set his bucks on my family. He told me if I failed the next one it’d be me next. Gadgette found me in one of them fancy M.A.S. buildings out in the dead center of Van Hoover. She helped me get the piece I needed and steal back the Necralight pieces so that Ursa couldn’t have ‘em. A lot happened, real quick like, about that time. We cleared the Railway that leads through the Unicorn Range. There was so many explosions!” She mad explosion motions with her hooves to illustrate each explosion going off, making sound effects as she went. “Then one really big one as we rode a fixed up push cart as fast as we could go! PSSSHHHH!!!!” He made one really big explosion motion. “Just like that all the ghouls and rubble and wrecked up train bits flew on out, opening up the path between here an there for good.” With the harsher memories over, she began flying up into the air again. “Been hanging around her ever since, helped her start up Hoofprint.”

“Oh wow, you two were close. Did you ever do anything with the Necralight pieces?” I asked, mostly to keep her talking.

She shook her head. “Yeah, Gadgette and I were close enough to call sisters. We were drinkin buddies you know. As for the techno thingies, I don’t think so. I ain’t seen em since we knocked over the Galloping Hills Mine. Gadgette said she figured out something to do with it but I don’t think she ever finished whatever project she was workin on.”

The Galloping Hills Mine? It sounded familiar but I didn’t recall hearing the name before. I made a mental note to myself to check it out if I had a chance. This Necralight thing seemed important and that little voice in the back of my head agreed. My PipBuck updated.

‘WHISPERS IN THE DARK’

• Find clues about the Necralight device
• Visit Galloping Hills Mine (Optional)

Well that looked ominous!

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Quest Perk Added: Trained by a Medicine Mare - Somewhere along the line you spent several years learning from a medicine mare. You can now learn Zebra recipes and rituals. You may also take the Hind Leg Stance perk for free.

Footnote: Level Up!

Footnote: Level 7

Recipe Learned: Minor Healing Potion (Zebra) - Using natural ingredients you can sacrifice a small portion of your health to provide healing for minor ailments and wounds. Larger Quantities will require additional health. “A strange brew for healing wrought, must be drunk for all or for not”

Recipe Learned: Grimace Grenade (Iocus-Cognazine) - Using chems, Flux, and Killing Joke you can craft an explosive substance that traps enemies in a delusion for 1d4 hours. Grimace Grenades expire after 1 day from creation. “A joke on you, a joke on me. Chaos changes what I’ll be. A joke on me, a joke on you. Chaos changes what you’ll do”

Recipe Learned: Binding Brew - Utilizing Killing Joke and DNA samples you can craft a brew that magically alters the genetic makeup of the imbiber to resemble another. This effect does not wear off and causes birth defects in offspring if pregnancy occurs within 1 month of imbibing. “You are me, I am You. We will be, something New. Our bodies remain, there are no tricks. We stay the same, but twisted Helix.”

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[Starlight Nova]

What's a hub page?

[SkyDreams]

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A hub page is a full collection of a particular story. This particular one links to the google doc version of my story which is updated in real time if I ever make changes or corrections.