Fallout: Equestria. We're no Heroes

by otherunicorn

Chapter 30: Ruby

Chapter 30: Ruby
"It is amazing how much the all-knowing don't know."

Rain.

It was persistent stuff. Gloom, rain, mist, fog, drizzle. It was all pretty much a part of living under the pegasus cloud curtain. Not only had those bastards abandoned those of us who lived on the ground, they had the absolute gall to steal the sun from us as well. The only chance we had to see the sun itself was at sunrise or sunset, when the sun was below the permanent cloud cover, which did not stretch beyond the bounds of Equestria. Even then, sometimes that wasn't possible because other clouds blocked our view. I felt today would be one of those days. Everything had taken on a grey cast, and I simply could not imagine the day putting enough effort in to change it.

We had been traveling for a few hours, dodging difficult terrain, selecting the gentlest slopes and so on, so the wheelchairs and trailers would not get stuck. We had tried following our previous route exactly, as Lana had managed to traverse it in her wheelchair without problems. That idea failed. We now had twice as many ponies per wheel, so we had half the power per pony and double the weight per wheel. Sometimes we simply got bogged in the slush. Sometimes the wheels spun, trying to bite into slippery surfaces. When that happened, there would be a lot of ponies squealing as we suddenly slid sideways. Levitation magic was occasionally sufficient to overcome these problems. I would help the other vehicle, while Shadow would help mine, as I totally failed at trying to levitate myself or anything I was on. Clearly there had to be more than one type of levitation magic, or more than one way of applying it, if there wasn't!

"Incoming Alicorn." Demi announced. Of course.

I stopped, scanning the sky, flicking my wet mane from my eyes for a better view. Unlike the trailers, the towing wheelchairs were not fitted with roofs, so I was getting the full benefit of the inclement weather. I wasn't complaining though. Had I been walking, it would have been no different. If I really wanted to, I could use my cleaning spell to instantly dry myself, but it wouldn't take that long for me to get wet again, so I just put up with it. The stable mares, on the other hoof, had lived under cover their entire lives. They were not used to being wet. I soon spotted the flying creature Demi had mentioned.

"That's the wrong color, I think," I said. "I've never seen a dark red alicorn before. Usually they are dark purple, blue or green."

"A pegasus then?" Demi suggested. "I would have thought that even less likely. I've only seen a couple of them in my entire life."

"Oh, pegasi are about. The Enclave occasionally banishes one or two to the surface. There are also some born down here, and they have no way to get up there, politically speaking. Any that try usually come straight back down again, stone dead," I said.

"Where did you hear that?" Demi gasped.

"Unfortunately I saw it with my own eyes, well, with these cybernetic eyes anyway," I replied. "Those Enclave bastards weren't happy with just driving the offender away, they pursued them, and shot them out of the sky with magical beam weapons. I don't know if the pony died instantly, or if the impact with the ground killed it, but it was certainly very dead by the time I reached it to try help." I looked up at the approaching winged pony again. "You know, this one looks too big to be a pegasus, but too small to be an alicorn." Within moments it was upon us.

With a flutter of feathers, the dark red pony landed in our path, folding her wings. Wings: already observed, so Check. Horn: Check. Female: Hmm, Check. Bigger than us: Check. Definitely an alicorn despite the smaller than usual size. Cutie mark? Check. A symbolic representation of a 10mm submachine gun. Hang on, wasn't that Ruby's Cutie mark? I drew to a stop in front of the alicorn.

"Ruby?" I questioned.

"I am the Goddess," she responded.

"Pardon?"

"This body is that of the pony you requested I save," she answered, "but until the terms of our agreement have been met, I will use her as my vessel, as my ambassador to you."

"So Ruby's personality is still in there?" I asked hopefully.

"She sleeps. When I release her, she will awaken."

"Thank you," I said. This was more than I could have hoped for. Ruby was alive. Ruby was still Ruby, even if her body had been transformed. Considering what I had feared, this was a wonderful outcome. Ruby may even be happy about the transformation at that! No more holding machine guns with her mouth!

"You will now listen to the Goddess," Ruby-Goddess said, no, stated. She was making it clear that I had no choice but to listen. I had no objection. It had been our agreement.

"May I continue to travel as I listen?" I asked, noticing the other wheelchair and trailer were leaving us behind.

"You may," she agreed.

I thanked her as she stepped aside, then fell in beside me.

"As you know, Unity is vast. All are one. One is all," Ruby-Goddess began. Okay, I had some sort of idea about that. I knew they were telepathically connected. I hadn't realized they were a form of gestalt. "The Goddess was surprised to discover there is another being of a similar form and power to herself. This other being woke recently and has been screaming in agony ever since. It pains the Goddess. It makes it hard to think when the Goddess is in the area. The Goddess cannot approach the creature, because the screaming hurts the Goddess too much."

"And somehow I am meant to go to this creature when you cannot?" I asked, incredulous.

"Yes. I know you can approach unaffected because you came from the creature. You are part of this creature in the same way that Ruby is now part of the Goddess." Ruby-Goddess stated.

"Say what?" I spluttered. I wasn't aware of any Goddess-like creature controlling or even communicating with me.

"I saw you come from the source of the pain within days of it starting. I followed you as you traveled to the stable in which you live. That is where I first spoke to you." Okay, so even if their bodies were different, the purple alicorn and the Ruby alicorn were both the same Goddess in mind, as was the alicorn we had hidden from when returning to the stable.

"So how does that make me part of this entity?" I prompted.

"I can hear your mechanical body. It is expressing similar pain to that of the being in the ground, although at a greatly reduced level," Ruby-Goddess said.

"Wait, what? You are saying the being is under Stable Lab Four, and that I am part of it?" I asked, starting to see where this was going.

"That is correct."

"And this being is mechanical too?"

"Perhaps. That is something the Goddess cannot ascertain."

"And you cannot do anything about this being yourself?" She had already stated that, but maybe she could offer more information on the matter.

"I cannot approach it. Its screaming becomes too much for the Goddess to bear, so the Goddess is forced to turn away."

"So you cannot go near it even in Ruby's body?"

"That is correct," Ruby-Goddess assured me. "There is also another reason. Another machine has come forth from within the being, and is shooting at all that approach. I have tried to reason with the machine as it travels outside the area which the Goddess cannot approach, but each time, the machine attacks."

I groaned. Great. So now I had to get past some sort of crazy robot or something, as well as all the other problems associated with getting into Stable Lab Four. "Thank you for the warning," I said.

"You will do as the Goddess asked," the Goddess requested. No, again it was a statement. I had agreed to listen. Clearly she thought the deal included me acting on what she said. Well, I was going down there anyway, and I wasn't too keen on the idea of yet another megalomaniacal power vying for control of the wasteland. Red Eye and the Goddess were more than enough. How this particular entity would be capable of it I didn't know. Had the pod pony still been alive, I may have suspected he, and his associated systems may somehow be responsible, but I couldn't imagine how he could wield much power. That really left only one other significant system down in the Lab.

"Yes, I will do what I can. I do not know how much that will be, because I believe I do know what the entity is," I said, wondering if giving the Goddess the information would be a bad idea.

"You will tell the Goddess now. What is this being?"

"Starmetal. It's a dirty great lump of starmetal," I said. "That's right. I'm made of fucking starmetal."

---

After a couple of days of struggling up and down hills, through slush and mud, and the occasional choking cloud of smoke blown across from the burning Everfree Forest, we were all getting tired of traveling. I thanked providence that we had abandoned any ideas of taking the crippled to Friendship City. That would have been impossible. Physical difficulties aside, there was too much unfamiliar territory between Stable Four and there. The most likely outcome would be territorial attacks resulting in multiple fatalities.

Of course this route wasn't totally free of wasteland scum and general annoyance. There had been the usual low level encounters along the way - the odd angry bloatsprite, its robotic equivalent pumping out that awful music, and a couple of raiders that were too stupid to know when they were beaten. I had needed to resort to using my sniper rifle, Victory, to explain to them that approaching us was fatal. They learned that lesson well, their corpses left to advertise their folly. Twice a trailer had cracked its frame, so we had to stop, unload all of the mares, then twist the thing back into shape while I welded the metal with my horn. Some salvaged scrap metal gave me the extra material I needed to reinforce the weak points.

That was all Past-Anne's problem now. Present-Anne was nearly there, nearly at Stable Lab Four. All of us were. There had been no fatalities in our party. There hadn't even been any significant injuries. Bumps and bruises from travel really didn't count.

From behind me Helvetica asked, "What are those? More alicorns?"

I glanced back at her, and she indicated she was looking at the sky up ahead. I'd been too busy watching the ground for the best path to take to notice what she had seen. Ahead of us a number of flying creatures were circling in the general vicinity of where I knew the Lab to be. Their behavior was a little odd, with them actively avoiding a particular area, while also dodging and weaving a little. That reminded me of the odd path I had seen one flying in the area last time I was here. I also noticed there was a moderate amount of lightning activity. At first I thought it was in the clouds behind them, but I realized as we got closer, the lightning was a lot smaller than natural, and the creatures themselves seemed to be throwing it. Helvetica was right, they were the Goddess' alicorns. They were bombarding Stable Lab Four, or something close by; it had to be something close by and not the Lab itself, or why would the Goddess have asked me to assist her in the first place? Their odd dodging made a little more sense; they were so close to the stable they would occasionally fly in beyond their pain threshold, promptly adjusting their flight path to get them out of the immediate area as fast as they could. Why they were even in an area that caused them so much pain puzzled me. Every so often a bubble would flash into existence around one of the alicorns. Shields! Something was shooting at them.

"The Goddess is trying to clear your way," Ruby-Goddess stated, "but the machine I warned you about is exceedingly agile and resilient. It has survived several direct hits and continues as if unaffected."

I contemplated stopping, and waiting here until the bombardment was over, but decided to push on so I could get a view of the battle and the worrying machine. I hoped the thing hadn't harmed my father or sister, or Lee for that matter, even if she was just a robot. Just ahead, up a gentle slope was a ridge that would let me get a better view of what was going on down on the ground ahead. Stopping, I activated the release that decoupled my trike from the trailer. With a wave of my hoof I indicated Chicory should also park her trailer on this side of the ridge, out of the line of fire of the machine. Extracting Victory from my battle saddle, I carefully rolled up the rise until I could just peer over it. I quickly spotted the fast moving machine, and raised Victory to my eye, peering through the scope for a better view.

The streamlined silver contraption that was causing the Goddess so much grief was balancing on two narrow wheels, each with a diameter close to my height and tyres about a hoof wide. Between the wheels was the bulk of the machine, which at its widest wasn't much wider than a pony. The thing made a whirring sound as it darted about, leaning to one side or the other as it dodged and wove, avoiding the lightning bolts the angry alicorns were casting at it. Atop it was a turret that swiveled around rapidly, hunting for a target. With a metallic thud it spat a projectile. A scream from above drew my eyes to the alicorn it had hit, or more accurately, to the expanding ball of feathers, blood and chunks of meat. The bulk of the alicorn was already plummeting to what could only be a merciful death.

"Shit, that bloody thing has a gauss gun!" I exclaimed quietly to Demi and Ruby-Goddess, both of whom were waiting a couple of paces behind me.

"What can we do?" Demi asked.

"I'm going to take a shot at it with Victory," I responded, "but not with this standard ammo. I want to be damn sure my first shot does as much damage as it can because there may not be chance for a second shot."

"How can we help?" Demi asked.

"Hmm. Perhaps the moment I fire my shot, you could pull my wheelchair backwards to get me out of its line of fire. That will save me having to concentrate on remembering to do it myself. Goddess? Could you pull your alicorns back, and have them move away from us? If the machine follows them, that will give me a shot at its rear."

"You plan to shoot it in the back? The Goddess approves. Frontal attacks are proving costly. The Goddess will do as you ask."

"Thank you. Now hang on for a few minutes while I craft myself some new bullets," I requested.

I spent the next few minutes with my horn poked into the ammo compartment of my battle saddle (uncomfortable because I was still wearing it!) while I took a dozen of the shells for the sniper rifle, and broke them down, reforming them into eight new shells, each with increased mass and charge. I filled the rifle's magazine, and slotted it home. Okay, I was ready. I could still hear the machine zipping around over the rise, the noise level suggesting it was well within range.

"Okay girls, I'm ready," I announced.

"The Goddess is drawing the machine away from this position," Ruby-Goddess announced. "You may proceed."

"Ready, Demi?" I asked as I rolled up the rise. She nodded.

Once I was high enough for a clear shot, I quietly raised Victory, brought her sight to my eye, braced her with extra magic so that when I fired her, I wouldn't end up with an eye full of scope. The alicorns were doing well, drawing the machine away at an angle that gave me the option of shooting the rear, or even the side. I could even tag the front wheel with a little luck. Moving my aim ahead of the machine, I squeezed off my first round. Even with the bracing I felt the kick. I saw the machine wobble slightly, so I knew I had struck it, but it hadn't slowed down at all. It leaned over as it steered into an arc, abandoning the alicorns in favor of the greater threat: me. Damn! I chambered the next round as Demi and Ruby-Goddess dragged me back down the rise.

I moved along the embankment a little, then buzzed up the rise again. I took a calming breath and aimed for my second shot. The machine was heading towards my last position. It instantly realigned itself towards me. I figured I had a split second before it fired its gauss rifle. Aiming directly at the front tyre, I squeezed off my second shot. Bits of rubber flying off marked my hit, but the damn thing didn't slow. Double damn! Before the others could pull me back down, I sped forward as fast as the spark motors in my wheels would allow me to travel. I didn't have the speed of the silver machine, but I was certainly going faster than I had ever before in my life! The machine did not shoot. I guess it knew when its shot would be wasted. I chambered my next round as I raced to stay out of its arc of fire. I wasn't fast enough. I thought I was done for as the gauss rifle targeted me. In desperation I called up S.A.T.S using the spell to give my mind some time to aim. Activating the spell, I was committed to the shot, hoping it would be enough, and that I would get it off before the machine shot me. Even as S.A.T.S. was squeezing Victory's trigger, I saw that the battle was over, that the machine wasn't going to fire. It was slowing, moving its gauss rifle away from me.

BLAM!

My shot was good, smashing through the hub of the machine's front wheel, locking the wheel with a screech, causing the machine to cartwheel. After several jarring bounces, it slid along the ground throwing up mud and dirt before it came to rest on its side. Having returned to the area, several of the alicorn's were zeroing in on the fallen machine.

"Goddess," I called loudly. "Please hold back from shooting at the machine until I investigate it!"

"As you wish," I heard Ruby's voice reply from the distance. The alicorns above slowed, hovering, or gently settling to the ground, keeping me, and the machine fixed in the gaze. I imagined they were relaying what they saw to Ruby, then realized that Ruby was just another remote, just like all of these alicorns. That she had replied through Ruby instead of any of these other alicorns was only for my benefit.

I wheeled up to the fallen silver vehicle, circling it as I surveyed the damage to it. The gauss rifle was broken, no doubt crushed when the machine had cartwheeled, and the front wheel was wedged in at a non-functional angle, but otherwise, the machine still appeared sound. With a click, a large panel covering most of its uppermost side lifted a little. I aimed my saddle mounted combat shotgun at, and waited.

From within came a female voice I almost recognized. "Anne, please don't shoot." Huh? The machine knew my name? No, it wasn't embroidered on my barding. That just said "Stable Four Security".

With that, the panel swung open, revealing the pale pink unicorn mare encapsulated within. Her mane and tail were violet, with dyed purple highlights. Her eyes were pinkish-red, even the pupils. She had no cutie mark. An adult Blank Flank! And she knew who I was?

"Who are you?" I asked. "I think I would remember meeting somepony that looked like you."

"That is exactly it. I didn't look like this last time you saw me," she responded.

Oh, hell. She couldn't be! She had to be. "Don't tell me, you are... Lee?"

The pink pony nodded. "This is my new skin! I've been out of the auto-clinic for a couple of days now."

That was unexpected. I had known that when selecting her new genetics, no effort had been made to determine coloring, but that hadn't meant my mind was ready for the change. She didn't even sound the same as my mother anymore.

"Your voice; you sound different."

"You didn't want me to be your mother anymore, did you? I was able to adjust the my voice a little," she explained. That was good. It would save me being haunted by her in the future.

"Thank you. And what about this mobile weapon? Where did you find it?" I asked.

"My bike? I built it. I used to ride this sort of thing in my human life. I used salvage from my spaceship to build it while I was waiting for my new organic parts to grow," she explained. When had her metal sculpting skills become that good? Perhaps she could command starmetal in other ways.

"Why are you shooting at the alicorns?" I asked stretching out a hoof to help the new Lee out of her metallic cocoon.

"We've never heard anything good about them, and their behavior has been suggesting they plan to attack the lab," she replied.

"Do us all a favor and stop. They have their reasons for being here, and attack isn't one of them. They have a unique issue with the area, and I am going to try to resolve their problem," I said.

"Oh, you are?" Lee asked, shaking out her crumpled coat.

"Yes, and you are going to help me," I added.

"I am?" Lee responded.

"You are," I asserted. I seemed to be learning new manners from the Goddess! "And I suggest you leave the machine-bike thingie here."

I turned towards the ridge and yelled, "Goddess, the fight is over. The machine has been disabled." Derp. I could have just as easily informed one of the closer alicorns.

I looked back at Lee. "A blank flank at your age," I chuckled, as relief at surviving the battle suddenly washed over me.

"So what? Half the adult earth ponies at Stable Four are blank flanks," Lee responded, closing her vehicle. I heard locks snap into place. She thought the stable Four ponies were blank flanks?

"What? No they aren't," I refuted, wondering when she would have seen half of their flanks, considering their cladding usually covered them.

"Even Lana is blank flank," Lee insisted.

I laughed, "No she isn't. Like most of the mares down there, she has the 'one of the team' cutie mark, a circle with three or four spots in it - inclusion in the set, as it were. For some reason, that cutie mark usually takes on the color of their eyes, and in Lana's case...."

"Her eyes are nearly the same color as her coat," Lee finished for me. Then she grinned. "As are mine! Maybe you just can't see my cutie mark!"

"Bah. So what is it then? Anyway, come on. Let's get back to the group. I have a trailer load of mares to tow to the Lab," I explained.

"I did wonder why you were strapped into a wheelchair," Lee responded. "So you are their tractor?"

"Yeah, I am, but that's not the only reason I'm in it. I need another stint in the auto-clinic. I broke myself again," I admitted.

Lee laughed.

Leaving Lee's damaged machine lying on its side, I led Lee back over the small ridge to our caravan. I didn't know if the alicorns would bombard it out of spite now that we were away from it, but seeing how successful their previous attacks had been on the fully enclosed vehicle, I doubted their lightning would have any effect even if they did. They would have to resort to levitating it to a great height and letting it fall.

We rejoined the others, Lee glancing about to see who was in the group, greeting them by name. She paused when she spotted Ruby. "You have your own alicorn?"

"I had the Goddess save Ruby from certain death. That alicorn is what the Goddess did to save her. Usually she would have turned her into one of the regular alicorns, but that would have been contrary to the spirit of our agreement," I replied. "At the moment the Goddess is communicating to us through Ruby's body."

"Another mechanical pony?" Ruby-Goddess observed as we approached her. "Who is she?" Unusual. I would have expected the Goddess to directly address Lee.

"Her name is Lee," I answered, "and she is from Stable Lab Four."

Ruby-Goddess stared at Lee intently for a while, then addressed me again. "Unlike you, this mechanical pony has no mind, no soul."

Lee just shrugged. "Such is life... or whatever the fuck it is I have."

"Why do you entertain its presence?" Ruby-Goddess asked me.

"She used to have a brain and a soul like me, and we traveled together for many years. You see, she was my mother before she died," I explained. "What stands before you now is all that remains of her. While her brain is gone, she does have a mind, though not that of a pony. This being is utterly alien, from the stars. Her mind is made of starmetal."

The expression on Ruby-Goddess was not one I had expected to see - surprise.

"It is you," the Goddess finally said. "You are the core of the screaming. While you are mostly quiet yourself, I can feel the link between you and the great pain."

"What's she on about?" Lee asked me.

"Something down below the ground in the area of Stable Lab Four is causing the Goddess a great deal of pain. The alicorns communicate by telepathy. Apparently the underground entity uses something similar, and the communications of the latter are causing the former a great deal of grief," I summed up.

"Oh," Lee said. "That's interesting."

"I assume you know what I am referring to," I said.

"The spaceship, I presume," Lee responded, totally failing to notice I had not referred to it directly. Either that, or she simply didn't care if others found out about it.

"Space ship? You have a ship that can fly through space hidden underground?" Ruby-Goddess asked.

"She has a large chunk of twisted starmetal underground, I responded. "It used to be a ship, many centuries ago."

"The Goddess wishes to see this ship," Ruby-Goddess stated.

"You have a real problem there, don't you?" I asked. "You can't see it because you can't approach it, can you?"

"You will silence it, appease it, quench its pain and then I will see it," Ruby Goddess insisted.

"You'd damn well better release Ruby before you see it then," I muttered under my breath. "Lee, help me couple up to the trailer again."

I reversed back into my towing position, and was quickly coupled up. The sooner we worked out how to silence the starmetal, if it was indeed possible, the better. The Goddess was getting on my nerves.

"Goddess, I trust you will remain here," I said, as I edged the trailer into motion, and started up the slope.

"The Goddess will wait here," Ruby-Goddess confirmed.

"Until I return, then," I bade her, and powered up the slope, kicking up a lot of dirt as I did. I glanced back once at the alicorn, then returned my attention to getting the mares to the lab.

---

The ramshackle settlement, if such a term could be used for a mostly deserted former town, came into view. For all the barricades and walls I was proposing for Stable Four, this place was comparatively open, yet surviving. Luck? A lack of raiders in the area? Maybe Red Tape simply knew how to deal with them. As we approached his little wasteland shop, a little filly with dusky pink coat and brown mane and tail emerged, and came bouncing towards us. She called out to me enthusiastically.

"Hey there, Little Sis," I said as she bounced up to me, and began trotting alongside my wheelchair.

"Hello Anne! Hello Demi!" she responded. "Ooh look, somepony my age!" she enthused, upon spotting Bubbles riding Cherry Sundae.

"That's Bubbles," I said. "Bubbles, meet my little sister, Duct Tape!"

The two exchanged enthusiastic greetings, Duct Tape falling in alongside Cherry Sundae so they could keep talking. I'd never thought about how lonely Duct Tape must feel, living out here, with no other foals to play with. She was already leading a very adult life, helping father run his business.

Ahead, in the shadows of the stall in his salvage yard, I could make out Red Tape himself. He lifted a hoof and gave a wave. I waved back. One advantage of rolling about on wheels was it freed up my hooves for inconsequential things like waving. Red Tape walked out to meet us, directing us to drive our vehicles into a sheltered area he had prepared during our absence. New shelters, new motorcycles, hell, even new skins: these ponies had been busy while I had been away! Not that I had given it much thought, but I guess I was expecting things to be as they were when we had left. I had expected the same at Stable Four too, and on returning always found significant changes. One time they had found their own way out of their underground prison. Another they had been taken over by raiders. Was it really only two times I'd been away? Whatever. For a mare that traveled a lot, I sure could be pretty dense sometimes. Maybe I was just getting old. Maybe I wasn't far off going the way my mother had, except I didn't expect I would keep talking and walking when my brain died. Chances were somepony would kill me before then anyway.

After I parked, I secured the wheelchair and trailer brakes then released myself from the wheel chair. Getting out of it was a little awkward, until some casually offered levitation helped me out. I thanked Shadow, then shuffled around to the rear of my trailer to help unload the mares. Shadow went to help Chicory and her trailer load of passengers. I introduced each to my father and sister as they disembarked, then did the same for the ponies from the other trailer, and those that had walked.

Red Tape, with the assistance of Duct Tape, then began guiding the ponies to where they would be sleeping for the next few days or weeks, while they waited their turn in the auto-clinic. There wasn't a lot of space left down in the collapsed stable, so they were going to be staying in some of the huts and sheds that had been erected around the crater. I went to tag along, but was stopped by Lee.

"Come on, Anne, you're first. We've set the machine up for you," she said. "We may as well start right now."

"Umm. Okay," I responded. "Why me first?" Despite having survived it once, I really didn't want to go through it again, but what I wanted was irrelevant. I needed repairs, and if I was willing to put the Stable Four mares through the machine, shouldn't I be willing to go through it myself?

"Because we had already done the preliminaries, so setting it up ready for you was the obvious thing to do," Lee explained.

"Would you like me to mind the abort button for you?" Demi offered, noticing my nervousness.

"Yes please, honey," I replied, giving her a nuzzle. "That would make me feel a lot better."

"Then let's get going. We have a lot of ponies to put through the thing, and I suspect some of them will need to go through at least twice: once for evaluation, and again after we make or grow the necessary replacement parts," Lee commented.

"You have made a replacement 'bone' for my leg then?" I asked. Obviously they had.

"Yes, we managed to machine one up using some of the systems of my ship," Lee responded.

"I thought the ship was pretty well stripped, and dead," I responded, thinking off the bare rooms and corridors I had seen, and the lamps linked to the Stable power supply.

"There's a lot more to it than that," Lee said. "You saw the jump drive up the front of the ship, didn't you? The ponies were only dismantling minor systems, and then only as they could study them. Mostly they were concentrating on the equipment from the med-bay, and the cybernetic systems of my body, weren't they?"

"Oh," I said. Perhaps there was enough down here to interest the Goddess after all. "Oh, what about the Goddess, and what she wants me to do?"

"Surely that can wait until you can walk properly?" Lee asked, observing my shuffling gait.

"Um, yeah."

I thought about the trip down to the lower levels, and the canted floors of the ship itself. Lee was right. It could wait until I could walk properly. At the moment I was a three legged pony with two crippled legs - not the most maneuverable. I looked down at the piece of Steel Ranger power armor I was using as a prosthetic. It had served me well, and I was growing attached to it, psychologically speaking. I figured I could still use it and its pair for their original purpose - armor, if I really wished. Hey, I could put the Goddess' problem to Lee now, and see if she could figure something out.

"Lee, is your ship alive?" I asked.

"In the sense that you are, no," she answered, "however, in the sense that I am alive, yes, yes it is. Why?"

"It is? How? The Goddess insists there is a powerful entity under the Lab that is in agony. She can feel that pain. It interferes with her telepathic connection with her alicorns."

"Really?" Lee asked, incredulous. "She thinks the ship interferes with her telepathy?"

"Well... if it's not the ship, then something else down here is," I shuddered "or worse still, under here."

---

Footnote: Progress to next level: Divide by zero error. Perk:

Special thanks to the team of proof readers.

Comments

[Arcane Scroll]

Ruby was an awesome surprise, I loved it! Also loving the continuing involvement in the ship. Great job on the chapter, looking forward to the next one!

[Nyerguds]

Huh... I thought the Goddess could only convert unicorns to alicorns? Or was it just the original makeup of the Goddess that was unbalanced towards unicorns?

"Shit, that bloody thing has a gauss gun!"
...and you still don't realize who it is? Tssk. I had my suspicions from the very first mention. The gauss gun just confirmed it

btw, sorry I was late with the corrections. I've put them in the prereading doc.

By the way, I just noticed this in chapter 28:
> Fuck these raider!
Should be "raiders".

[otherunicorn]

2152445

At some point it is explained that she preferred unicorns, and that she could use other pony types as well.

[Turtledude]

So, like, I JUST finished this yesterday, then BAM! new update.

[mimezinga]

moar alien minds! yush! puppeh wants be friends with the aliens too!

[Deathpony]

oh this is good

[erictheblue]

"Starmetal. It's a dirty great lump of starmetal," I said. "That's right. I'm made of fucking starmetal."

oh, in Project Horizons, if i remember correctly, if Starmetal touched Moonstone, they would explosively react, like Matter and Antimatter!

[Nyerguds]

"Yes. I know you can approach unaffected because you came from the creature. You are part of this creature in the same way that Ruby is now part of the Goddess." Ruby-Goddess stated.

Wait, the ship?! The goddess has issues with Lee's spaceship? Oh, that's hilarious!

But... there was nothing alive or active in there, and they didn't activate anything, either. Certainly nothing that is screaming...

Unless Lee did that after they left...?

I groaned. Great. So now I had to get past some sort of crazy robot or something, as well as all the other problems associated with getting into Stable Lab Four.

She means Lee, you silly pony

"Your voice; you sound different."

"You didn't want me to be your mother anymore, did you? I was able to adjust the my voice a little," she explained. That was good. It would save me being haunted by her in the future.

Ah. very thoughtful

"Her name is Lee," I answered, "and she is from Stable Lab Four."

Or, more precisely, she owns half of it. The bottom half

"The spaceship, I presume," Lee responded, totally failing to notice I had not referred to it directly. Either that, or she simply didn't care if others found out about it.

Sooo... some forgotten system is constantly spitting out error reports into the Goddess's mindspace? That's actually hilarious.