Fallout: Equestria - Resistance

by tom117z

9 - A Watcher's Fate

Chapter Nine: A Watcher’s Fate

“You’ll always be my Number One Assistant…”

---

We walked in complete silence as we headed towards the coordinates I’d found in the data of that holotape. As it turned out, wherever they are keeping ‘maybe’ Watcher was a few days off course, which only seemed to make Coffin’s mood grow worse by the second. I just don’t get why he- No, I do get it. We’re several days behind our trip to meet the Rangers, and also seeing my friends…

But this was Watcher on the line! Why wouldn’t he-

But he had no idea about Watcher being a purple dragon named Spike who was also Twilight Sparkle’s assistant guarding the Elements of Harmony. And if I told him, he might figure out who I am...

Ugh! Thanks, brain!

At least Watcher might know something about what happened to the Elements. Maybe he hid them before the Enclave got their hooves on probably our last hope in Tartarus’ fiery rape hole to heal the world?

I really hope he did.

Not that any of these endless fucking questions and inner freakouts were helping Coffin’s mood at all, or my own, really. Ugh, why is the world weird and complicated?

The eternal cloud-ridden greyscale sky is just perfect for this sort of thing, isn’t it?

But it was only going to be a short while until I’d find out if it was him, one way or the other. My PegWing was leading us straight to this secretive little lair the Enclave had built for themselves, maybe a couple of hours or so at most. This also meant we had to be very careful where we stepped from here on, we could run muzzle first into an Enclave patrol on a moment’s notice.

I’m figuring they’ll be wanting to keep Spike out of our hooves. I know I wouldn’t want my worst enemies having a gigantic angry dragon on their side.

If I hadn’t been made all white and stuff by Life Bloom, I bet I’d still have singed hair from our run-in with Mr Topaz. Still one of the craziest things I’ve done, and I’ve done a lot of crazy things.

The misadventures of a not-so-smart pony…

“Why are you looking so grumpy all of a sudden?”

Hey, you’re one to talk, buster!

“We’re almost at this Enclave site, just as you wanted,” he continued. “Or is my own annoyance just that infectious?”

“Yes. That.”

He shrugged. “Well, not much either of us can do about it now. We’ve come too far to change course. So… saving a dragon. Never thought I’d say that sentence.”

“It is a little weird, right?”

“I guess so. For all my misgivings, honestly, a small part of me is glad we’re doing this. But I hope our detour doesn’t have any consequences down the road.”

“You really think it will?”

“Hard to say. A lot can happen with a few days difference,” he mused. “But maybe I’m just paranoid. Or maybe I’m not. Let’s just try to make this quick, whatever it is we’re meant to be doing.”

I guess we’re going to find out.

With that in mind, we returned to silence for the rest of the trip. I was constantly shifting between keeping a close eye on my E.F.S. and thinking back on what Coffin said. Consequences… Yeah, I knew that too fucking well. Hay, I was living in the consequences of me screwing it all up.

I’m a dumb pony, I don’t need reminding. But what else am I meant to do? Not try to save my friend? Leave him to be tortured and Celestia knows what else by the Enclave? Nah, that isn’t happening.

I’m really fucking scared of messing it up again. I failed everypony and let the Enclave do this, I don’t want it to happen all over again. If it did…

I can only keep going, trying to do the right thing. What can anypony else do but that? Homage would want that. Velvet. Calamity. Even Coffin here, even if it makes him uneasy, just admitted he wants to help. That’s the point of the Resistance, right? Helping ponies? Helping all creatures?

I can’t stop. Maybe that’s my biggest issue, I don’t shitting know. But I can’t. Ever.

It’ll probably kill me. Again.

But I have to try.

Eventually, as the light poking through the cloud cover started to dim a little, we were coming close to where my PegWing’s map marker was leading us to. We were on an incline, heading up a hillside with her hooves crunching against the dirt and rocks. My Geiger counter made a brief bleep as we moved, passing by a pocket of radiation clinging to a collection of wood scraps. Fortunately, it was alone as we quickly approached the top of the hill.

And then Coffin stopped me.

“Alright, I take it this is the place,” he noted.

“The coordinates would agree,” I replied. “Any last doubts or brooding?”

He stared at me through his helmet. “I don’t brood.”

“Not what you should be focusing on,” I deadpanned in turn. “We taking a look?”

“We’ll need to be careful, but yeah. Let’s just hope we’re not about to run into one of those remaining Hades Tanks…”

Oh, wouldn’t that just be supremely typical?

We both crouched low, crawling out way along the final few metres until the ground levelled out beneath us and afforded us a view of the other side of the hill.

Yup. That’s a base.

Beyond the hill was a small and largely enclosed valley, surrounded on all sides by hilltops that greatly concealed the building. Like the factory near Fillydelphia, it was surrounded by a large fence that had several visible Enclave patrols roving around it. I could also see one or two Chimera tanks, stationary within the fenced-in area, but thankfully none of their larger cousins were waiting to step on us.

And then the sound of chopping blades met our ears, both of us practically trying to sink into the ground as our eyes turned upwards in time to see a vertibuck go flying by overhead. It headed straight for the building, a large landing pad on the roof containing a few more light vertibucks and what looked like a larger gunship with four helicopter blades. It stopped over the building, coming down to a gentle stop before the rotors cut out.

And then the door opened up, an unfortunately familiar pegasus stallion departing with two guards at his back. Both guards were in full power armour, though said armour looked a fair bit different from what most Enclave power armour looked like nowadays…

“Storm Guard,” Coffin muttered with a whistle. “Full X-03 Hellfire gear, an all-round upgrade to the normal power armour you see the Enclave using. Only SG and some big wigs make use of it. For the moment.”

“Never mind that,” I whispered, though the super power armour was kinda a big ‘oh shit’. “What’s Grim Gallop doing here!?”

“No idea,” Coffin replied. “Nothing good… But now we have another reason to stay.”

I blinked. “Wha…?

“If you really want us to spring this dragon of yours,” he continued with a dark frown. “Then there’s no reason why we can’t pay that particular pony a visit as well.”

Oh.

“Well well, what do we have here, boys?”

OH!

We both shot up immediately, Coffin drawing his rifle while I pulled my revolver. We both faltered, however, when we came face-to-face with a very raidery unicorn and a piss load of her grinning gang members.

How the absolutely shit on Celestia’s toast did they sneak up on us!?

“You shouldn’t be here,” Rope Gallows said with a low chuckle. “And you’re a pain in the ass to track, you know that? Nice of you to leave those ponies back there for us to peel off of the pavement.”

“They didn’t exactly leave us much choice…” I muttered, ready to jump into S.A.T.S. as I examined our odds.

Not great…

The raider boss/SG soldier shrugged. “True. Morons were only meant to report back to me about where you were, but I guess they decided they could take two simple Resistance ponies easy enough. You are stubborn for rebels, but I guess you have to be to have blown up that factory.”

“So why the fuck are you talking to us now?” Coffin growled. “You really should have just jumped us while you had the chance.”

“Probably,” she admitted. “But I wanted to see exactly who you were. I don’t recognise either of you from anywhere, but whatever. You know who I am, I suppose?”

“Rope Gallows, the Enclave resident raider for hire.”

“Guilty,” she said gleefully. “It was a nice arrangement, it really was. We get to fuck up the day of random dirt ponies and such, plus a nice bonus of equipment and training, while they get a new force for whenever they don’t have any usual tin cans up and about. Great, right?”

“Just stop with the monologuing,” I deadpanned. Why do they always do that? “You’re a raider, that’s enough for me. Gonna shoot us or what?”

I readied myself to target all of my first bullets right at her smug little face…

She, meanwhile, just rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, don’t be like that. And here I thought we could be friends.”

“You’re deranged.”

“Very,” she agreed with a grin. “But maybe you could use that around now, that really is a nice base I have over there, right?”

Huh? Now what is she talking about? Gah, I had half a mind just to cut to the fiery chase.

But, because I’m a not smart pony, I kinda wanted to hear where this was going.

“Uh… Boss?” one of the raiders asked, seemingly confused themselves.

“Quiet,” she commanded sharply, before then turning back to us. “Now, where was I? Oh, right. Violence, mayhem and profit. Now… Here’s my problem. You’re making a mess, right? I’ve been asked to track you down and make you a mess. Still following?”

Coffin just gave me a perplexed side glance, even the other raiders seemed to get more bewildered by Rope’s rant by the second. What the hay was happening?

“And here you are, given to me on a platter. And yet…”

Click.

“...You’re more useful to me than these dead idiots.”

A series of panicked and heavily surprised shouts echoed around us before they were violently followed by a quick succession of booms that I simply couldn’t process. The looks of surprise on the faces of those raiders as, in one moment, Rope Gallows had lit her horn and pulled the pins on the grenades they were all carrying!

And she just kept looking at us as her whole gang went up in smoke, completely unphased as we just… well…

“What. The. FUCK!?”

“Surprise!” she said with mock joy. Or was it real joy…? “So, now how about we-”

“What is your problem!?” Coffin shouted as his gun’s muzzle found itself almost forcing its way into Rope Gallows’ mouth. “You’ve been chasing us since we left Appleoosa, and now you just… KILL you own guys!? Why? What are you doing?”

She rolled her eyes again, calmly batting his rifle aside.

And I thought I was the crazy one!

“I’m switching side, dipshit,” she explained calmly. “I’m not going to say it’s out of any sort of ‘kindness’, you wouldn’t believe it anyway. I think the Enclave is going to lose this war, as bloated and overconfident as they are. I’ve gotten the gear and training I need from them, and now I am jumping ship. Your ‘Resistance’ could use somepony like me, assuming the pay is right.”

“Pay!?”

I was getting a headache.

“You just murdered your own gang for caps?” I asked her incredulously. I don’t care if she’s switching sides, she’s a mega-bitch. “Seriously, you are nuts.”

“Fucking insane more like,” Coffin agreed. “No. We don’t need you, Gallows. So how about you run away before things get ugly.”

“So dramatic…” she purred. “But you do need me. You want into that building, right? I’m still part of the Storm Guard. You want in or not?”

...Ah.

Okay, so… What was I to do now? She wants to help. She’s doing it for profit. She clearly uses everypony around her until she gets what she wants and then bails. No reason she won’t do the same to the Resistance, right?

But…

“She… might be helpful?” I suggested sheepishly.

Coffin gave me a deadpan look. “You have gotta be kidding me, Spark.”

Never mind, I’m still the crazy one. “Hear me out. If we want to sneak into that place, I guess she might actually be able to get us in. And…”

Goddesses, what was I doing? But… Maybe she could change? Maybe time with the Resistance could do some good for this mare? I don’t know, maybe I’m grasping. She’s a raider. Ruthless. Selfish. But I know ponies can change. Shattered Hoof Ridge had been a raider stronghold before Gawd turned it into a friendly town.

I don’t know. I was getting a second, or third, chance myself. Granted, I’ve never been a raider. But I’ve fucked up to far worse consequences.

Part of me was wanting to give this pony a chance. Maybe I could actually do what the Ministry Mares used to before the war? Heck, maybe this was all stemming from the remnants of the spirits inside those statuettes whispering into my head. Friendship and shit…

This was still stupid.

But just maybe…

“Can we really choose to be picky right now?” I asked Coffin. “Better with us than the Enclave, right? And maybe we could teach her a better way?”

Rope Gallows glanced at me. “What?”

“Come on, Gallows. You want to join us for profit? That’s the only reason.”

“Uh… pretty much, yeah. Need a chart for it?”

“You never wanted more than that?”

“Look, I don’t know what you think I am, but I’m a killer. A fucking murderer. I’m offering something you need, and you might have things I want in turn. Take it or leave it, little pony.”

“You’re wasting your breath, Sparkplug,” Coffin said distastefully. “She’s a born and raised psycho.”

“Nice of you to notice.”

I guess we’ll see…

“We still need her,” I reluctantly pointed out. “She wants to help, let her help. Let’s just… wait and see. And watch. Closely. With a zoom function.”

Coffin gritted his teeth, but he nevertheless seemed to hesitantly relent as he looked back at the heavily fortified facility. As uncertain as I was about this whole bout of weirdness, Celestia knows how he was feeling inside.

Calamity would be having a fit over working with a raider like this. Velvet… she would support the redemption idea. Not sure what Steel Hooves and Xenith would have thought, probably something intimidating.

But… well, here we are.

“The places you are taking me to, Sparkplug…”

I am the worst, I know.

“So, it’s a deal!” Rope Gallows declared. “So, names are in order. The plucky little one there is Sparkplug, then. And the gloomy one in the helmet is…?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Hard to get, eh? I can work with that. I’ll call you Bob.”

Coffin groaned.

Now that all that was more or less decided, for better or most likely for worse, I tried to ignore the mess of exploded raider corpses and turned to face the base again. We seemed to have gone unnoticed during all the commotion, thankfully, and the patrols continued on their way just as they had the last time I looked.

“So then, Gallows, what’s your big game plan?” Coffin asked with absolutely no faith. Deservedly.

Rope Gallows hummed, the turncoat Storm Guard officer rubbing her chin as she ran through some crap or another in her mind.

“We walk in.”

What?”

“They don’t know about this lot, yet,” she explained. “And nopony really know your faces, helps that Bob is wearing a helmet. Since this is my base, I have clearance to walk right in. You pose as a couple of my gang members and they won’t look twice.”

“That’s your big plan?” Coffin questioned. “That easy?”

“Getting in. Getting out? Well, that’s another matter, depending on why you’re in there. I would gather it's the dragon.”

I’ll give it to her, she’s good.

“That thing is in rough shape too, I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” she continued. “But that’s your problem. For now, let’s get this show on the road. Unless you want to talk about it in circles some more?”

I hate stealth missions.

...Does it count as one if you are seen but posing as something else?

I still hate whatever this is.

“Fine,” I decided. “Get inside, and then we’ll see what happens. Just so long as this works…”

“Oh, it’ll work,” she assured. “Try to keep up, Resistance.”

And then she was off, leisurely trotting down the hill and towards the base as Coffin and I watched her go.

“...Please tell me you realise how absurd all this is?” Coffin asked me.

I didn’t answer, I just felt conflicted about the whole thing. But at this point, we were a bit deep down this weird-ass rabbit hole to escape again. What else were we to do? Watcher still needs me, and Rope Gallows just gave us a ticket in.

But it was a gamble, a big one. And as I thought about it, I swore I could hear a deck of cards shuffling from inside my own head.

I’ve never even played poker.

Ugh, whatever. Just one more suicide mission to do. And so I found myself following Rope Gallows, Coffin lagging a short distance behind.

I really hoped I wasn’t going to regret trusting her.

---

It had been a short walk over to the base, though the Enclave clearly had us in their sights long before we reached the front gates. The only reason we weren’t immediately blown up by one of those tanks, I gather, is because they immediately recognised the dubious mare leading the way.

So far so good…

Yet I still started to feel a little bit shooty, or maybe like I was about to get shot, as the gate guards came out to greet us. Their faceless visors glared out in a very hittable way, glancing between us as if looking for the smallest reason to turn us into bullet-ridden bodies. Fortunately, they seemed to settle their eyes on Rope Gallows and immediately let their guards down.

“Colonel,” one of them greeted coolly. “We haven't received word of your arrival, not since you and yours were called to NA. And I don’t recognise the two with you.”

“Like you take the time to get to know every member of my little gang,” Rope Gallows dismissed tauntingly. “These losers are with me, that’s all you need to know. Now, are you going to grant me clearance to enter my own base or am I going to need to blow one of you?”

“That… won’t be necessary…” the guard replied with an uncomfortable cough. “But I do need your identification. You know it’s procedure, Ma’am.”

“Right, Enclave and their rules…” she said with a roll of her eyes, pulling up her sleeve to reveal a PegWing of her own and, like in the diner, it produced a hologram of the necessary documents. “I also see that Grimmy has been making himself at home when I was gone.”

“Also standard procedure Ma’am, General Grim Gallop wants to make sure everything was secured for his arrival.” The pegasus soldier was glancing over the hologram only briefly. I really doubt he even read the words, pretty eager to get us in I’d guess. I don’t really blame him.

“It’s all in order,” he said after a few passing moments, with Rope Gallows closing the hologram document. “Open the gate! The Colonel has the necessary clearance.”

“Much appreciated. I’ll follow up on my offer later…”

“Please don’t… Ma’am…”

Coffin gave a noise of disgust as we passed them by, the gates opening for us and allowing us through into the grounds of the base.

That went a lot smoother than I would have made it, I’ll admit.

We ignored the various patrols, tanks and all the other random crap they had lying around here and proceeded towards the central building where Grim Gallop’s vertibuck had landed. We stayed as close to Rope Gallow as we could, and I tried to keep my eyes glued to the ground to sell the story.

I didn’t mean to glance up that one time at her ass, I swear…!

Um, anyhow, the lack of alarms or soldiers coming in to question us seemed to say that our plan was working for the moment. Pretty soon Rope Gallows was casually throwing aside the doors leading into the building and taking us into a metallic corridor similar to what I’d seen in the factory back near Fillydelphia.

“In here,” Rope Gallows indicated, nodding towards a side door.

We followed her direction, finding ourselves in a small locker room that was empty for a moment. Some Enclave jumpsuits not unlike mine were scattered about, there were also some towels and other random discarded garments. Nothing really important, though.

“Kay, we’re in!” the raider then announced. “Ta-da! You’re welcome! Save your applause, please.”

“Gladly,” Coffin deadpanned. “But you did get us in, so that’s one point in your favour. Now, where’s the dragon?”

“We keep him in the subterranean part of the base,” she explained. “He’s fucked up, but the last thing these guys want is Twilight Sparkle’s little assistant getting loose and starting fires.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh? You didn’t know?” she asked curiously. “I thought that was why you were here.”

“Spark got the idea after listening to a recording of one of your dead gang members,” he explained. “She just wanted to rescue him because she’s a saint or something.”

Okay, one, I really am not a saint. Two… I knew what he was already, but damn it all I can't tell him that!

“Huh… that’s dumb,” Rope commented. “But alrighty then. Yeah, he’s Spike, or Watcher if you prefer. He killed a few Enclave squads via lots of fire, destroyed a raptor when they finally captured him, and also helped the Stable Dweller back in the day. A lot of generals wanted him executed via entrail hanging, but Death Scythe has had him here for years, even before I entered the frame, trying to get information out of him based on some old ministry pre-war secrets.”

The Gardens of Equestria…? Or something else?

“He helped the Lightbringer?” Coffin asked, his eyes wide with surprise. “He was one of her friends?”

“A guide, more like. You get why the Enclave find a lot of fun in tearing his scales off every other day.”

“They’ve really been torturing him…” This is all my fault. Dammit, he’d believed in me! I did this… “H-has he told them anything…?”

Rope Gallows shrugged. “Nah, fucker’s tough. But then, he is a dragon. Decades of pain and he hasn’t said shit.”

Of course not. He’d die before telling them any of Twilight’s secrets.

“Anyway, this is your show!” the unicorn then suddenly announced in an overly chirpy cheerfulness. “I’ve got business of my own to tie up. I’ll meet you back up here when you’ve gotten the dragon on a rampage. If he lives.”

“Wait, no,” Coffin shot back. “You’re not going anywhere! Why would you even split with us at this point!?”

That really does seem not so good…

“There’s a lot more here than just that Watcher guy,” she retorted. “I wanna make sure your boss knows just how valuable I am. So I’m going to steal all their shit while you do your thing. And no, you don’t have a choice, we’re in the middle of the base already. Fucking. Deal. With. It.”

Coffin growled, but he seemed to relent. We really didn’t have much of a choice.

Ohhh this could go so horribly wrong and explodey.

“Please try not to bring the base down on us…” I asked of her. “And try not to die. You’re good in a fight.”

“Glad you realise that,” she replied with a blush-inducing wink, promptly taking the moment to dramatically leap from the room and out into the rest of the base.

And that left… us. In here. Alone. And I had so many questions.

Would Spike be able to leave with us?

What is Death Scythe after?

How fucked are we?

That last one is the story of my existence.

“I still don’t trust her,” Coffin said, and I kinda had to agree. “She’s apparently doing this for money, but the Resistance isn’t exactly able to hold a bank account! We absolutely cannot pay her whatever the Enclave is.”

“So long as she thinks we’re the winning side, she might stick around…” I suggested hopefully. “She has to know, she doesn’t seem as retarded as other raiders I’ve seen.”

“That’s what makes her dangerous. And unpredictable. Never mind her garbage motivations, she’s fucking evil. I’m not sure being with us will change what she is. Or that it will do the Resistance any good to make use of her.”

“Maybe…” Ugh, my head hurts! “But we should try, maybe…? Though I’m going to keep my revolver ready, I think.”

“Yeah, same. I suppose, if she pulls through here, it will be up to Silver Bell and Life Bloom anyhow…” he noted. “I know what I’ll tell them. Unless she really surprises me. That mare is bad news.”

I want to hope he’s wrong, but a huge part of me also knew he was right.

Please let us just be paranoid about this…

Still, we’re here now. Not much else to see in this locker room aside from lots of old dirty clothing and the smell of pony sweat. Reminds me of hoofball practice they made us do in the atrium back in school, that and whenever they got us to try out apple bucking. Never really was one for all that crap back in the day, computers and mischievous lockpicking was more my speed.

Probably not a good thing, the latter, but hey, I got my cutie mark between both.

I peered out into the hallway, banishing those stupid old thoughts. They’re all long dead, anyway…

Fuck.

There was no sign of Rope Gallows, she’d made good on her retreat. Luckily, there weren't any other real sign of other ponies wandering about, so we were clear for the moment. I didn’t want to see if our raider guises would hold up without Rope there to vouch for us.

So… where exactly do we go now?

“Not getting any maps on my PegWing,” Coffin remarked as we stepped into the corridor. “Makes sense the Enclave wouldn’t allow unauthorised taps into their computer systems.”

I miss the days when my old PipBuck would just take whatever it wanted from wherever the fuck it got half its information from.

“I say this way.” I pointed a hoof down the only real other direction to go, just to illustrate the point. “You’d think the entrance to a big dragon torture cage would be obvious.”

“One way to find out…” he grumbled, following on behind me.

We started our way through the base, peering down side corridors and into the odd room as we went. There wasn’t too much to see, a few currently green bars appeared here and there indicating guards and whoever else was currently working here. There were also banners of the Enclave Flag in a corridor with busts and portraits of a snowy white mare with a black mane with a yellow lock of it in the middle, the mare was also wearing an officer's uniform. I can guess who that might be. We used the E.F.S. to avoid most of them, only seeing a couple of Enclave soldiers in passing.

I suppose the dirt, grime and cobbled together barding makes us look the part…

I have mixed feelings about that, since the last time I was dressed event remotely like a raider…

Oh, I miss you, Calamity. You crazy shooting-your-future-friend pegasus…

Finally, however, the corridor seemed to open up into some kind of huge chamber at the end. And, still hearing these shuffling cards for some annoying reason, we stepped out into the chamber to see a rather large atrium-like thing. The chamber was rectangular, several metallic catwalks hanging overhead with more of the Enclave’s fancy doors with their blinky lights leading off to Celestia knows where. There also seemed to be a maintenance pony working on some busted up computer terminal, and then there was-

“Spark!”

I was immediately yanked back after Coffin’s hiss, the wind briefly taken out of me as I suddenly found myself back in the corridor. Yet, before I could even give the guy a dirty look, I saw the reason.

Grim Gallop, well-armed escort in tow, walking across one of the above catwalks while talking to another pegasus in a white hazmat suit with an orange fishbowl helmet kinda thing.

“-don’t suppose the creature’s talked?” he finished asking the pony.

“I’m afraid not,” the other one responded. “He is as right lipped as ever. It’s honestly amazing he’s continuing to take the punishment he has. Though our own medical science has assuredly helped the matter.”

“How long can you keep that up? The High General has already cut considerable funding to your task, despite the high-level intel the beast contains in that putrid little mind of its. I would hate for it to have all been for nothing, you and your team more so.”

“W-we won’t let that happen. We are exploring alternative options, new methods of extracting information from the brain for instance. But the beast is strong, there’s a reason progress through the years has been so slow. But I’m confident that, as he nears his end, so do we.”

“Let us hope you’re right. Now, I wish to inspect the more fruitful of your endeavours here.”

“Of course, General Grim Gallop. I think you’ll find our studies on the weaknesses of draconic specimens most-”

Whatever else was to be said was lost as Grim Gallop and his entourage vanished through and doorway and further into the base.

“Extraction from the brain? How has this guy survived and stayed quiet for all these years?”

“Dragon?” I suggested simply.

“Well, whatever the case, let’s spring him before they can actually make good on this decades-long project of theirs. I didn’t like the sound of this other research neither.”

I didn’t even want to know how they’d been using Spike to discover the weaknesses of huge fire breathing lizards…

We stepped back into the chamber, the maintenance pony paying us little mind. Getting a good look around, I could see several currently idle turrets dotted around the room alongside some more computer terminals and other bits of tech I had no clue about.

But what really caught my eye was the big door at the end of it all marked as ‘Containment Elevator’.

Now that I looked, the roof also looked like it could open up. How they got him down here, I guess. I never wanted to say anything to his face, but holy shit Watcher is huge.

“Think I’ve found how we get underground.”

Coffin hummed to himself. “I think you’re right…”

Nice to know we’re on the same page!

Trying to look like we were actually supposed to be anywhere near this creepy place, we started to move towards the giant door while the maintenance pony continued their work. I tried not to look at him at all, but I could just about see the guy out of the corner of my eye. Fortunately, he seemed either oblivious and uncaring to our presence and continued to work, swearing to himself as he tripped something in the terminal and elicited a few sparks.

Come on, dude! Do you even know your way around one of those things! Of course it would trip!

Uh, down there, part of my brain that is the stable PipBuck technician… Ahem.

Annnnyway…

The door seemed to be sealed up tight, irritatingly, a computer console sitting just off to the side not unlike the kind used to open up a stable door. Which, even more annoyingly, probably also meant…

“Uh, you might wanna hang on a moment…” I told Coffin as he started to trot towards the console. “It’s probably password protected. You know, like all important shit.”

“Hm, you’re probably right…” he admitted. “But you know I’m good at getting into things the Enclave don’t want me to, and you know your way around terminals and such. Between the two of us, I’m sure we find out whose birthday makes up the code.”

My caps are on the base commander.

“Yeah, but…” I quietly trailed off, nodding towards the maintenance pony. “Kinda not alone here, Coffin.”

He hummed. “Maybe we can-”

One of the other doors opened, two Enclave soldiers in power armour trotting in.

Celestia fuck me with a sun mallet!

“Hey! What are you two di- Er, gentleponies doing here?” one of the soldiers asked in a not so friendly way.

“Uh…”

“We want in,” Coffin said truthfully and confidently. “We want to see the dragon.”

It really hurts when my own hoof smacks into my muzzle, but I needed it anyway.

“What the- You can’t just…!”

“Relax, their boss probably wants them on torture duty,” the second soldier suggested.

“Uh, yes! That! Slit and… stab and… raider things…” Fucking hell, Pip! Lie better!

The first grumbled. “I wish that Rope Gallows would actually give us more of a heads up any time her goons want to have some fun with the VIP.”

The second shrugged. “You know how it is, but the powers that be says we play nice, so we play nice.”

Rope Gallows… I recall the recording we found about this place did mention the raiders helping ‘gather’ information from Spike. Thinking back, she was rather careful to say it was the Enclave responsible earlier. Fair enough, since the thought she hurt my friend makes me want to break her face. But still…

Feeling uneasy…

“Alright, clearing the door for guard rotation!” one of them announced, heading over to the panel and tapping against the keyboard rather clumsily with his armoured hooves. “Thirteen… seven… Bet the head egghead is real smug that we never forget his birthday…”

Eh, close enough.

There was a loud CRUNK as the doors gave a small jolt and then started to part. Lights came on inside, revealing a sizable chamber, big enough to allow a dragon through I guess, that was entirely empty save for a giant circular platform I assumed to be the elevator. Two more Enclave soldiers appeared atop of it, the two wordlessly exiting and allowing for the guard exchange.

“Cargo lift to dragon hell, going down,” one of the soldiers mockingly said to us, barely even giving a glance as they both started to enter the chamber.

I moved to follow, as did Coffin, the both of us keeping a nice distance between us. We stood a little behind them, the two nonchalantly setting the doors to close up again behind us and for the elevator to begin descending.

This was it. Once we reached the bottom, we could rescue Watcher and then… blow up everything in our path, I suppose. I hope he can muster up enough energy to breathe all that fire of his…

Of course, there was one more issue to deal with.

“So, uh… I take one, you the other?” I whispered at Coffin, preparing to use S.A.T.S. to take them out.

“Nah, I got just the thing.”

I gave the stallion a frown as he walked forward, just barely seeing his horn light from the drilled out hole between the cold eyes of his old Enclave power armour helmet. He swiftly walked between the two of them, a small object fabricating from his PegWing’s inventory system.

“Howdy!”

Bzzt! Bzzt!

In two loud buzzes, the helmets of both advanced suits of armour just crumpled like tissue paper, crushing the heads within! As the bodies hit the floor, Coffin turned back to regard me with his stolen pulse pistol twirling in his magic.

“You know, that thing is scary.”

“That’s why I kept it, Spark. Now let’s get your dragon friend and scamper on outta here before they notice what’s gone on.”

Hard to argue with that.

The elevator groaned as it reached the bottom of the pit, which was actually quite a good way down into the dirt. Before us was another set of doors identical to the ones up above, each giving the same noise as they began to open up in a painfully slow manner.

Oh…

Fuck…

The chamber beyond was massive and domed shaped, more inert turrets decidedly larger than the ones upstairs scattered about the room alongside two guard towers either side of the doorway the soldiers had presumably meant to stand at. Giant glowing emitters fitted with weird magical crystals were littered around the room, encased in metal and covered in wires and tech. Each one gave off a spread of magic that coalesced around the centre, blocking all but a small pony-sized entryway at the front off with blue shimmering shields.

And there, entrapped by all that and great chains that were fused into his scales, was Watcher.

Spike…

He looked… Fuck, it was bad. Even as we first walked in I could see just how much damage the shithead Enclave had done to him. There were huge patches where his purple scales should have been but just… weren’t. His wings were entirely absent, leaving only jagged stumps that looked like they were never allowed to properly heal. His colours looked faded in this light… or maybe they really were.

But he stirred, his head barely moving an inch as an eye opened to weakly stare at us. One eye, the second was missing. As he briefly opened his mouth to gasp for breath I could see that many of his once terrifyingly sharp fangs were broken and blunted, few remaining remotely intact.

But that single remaining eye still glared with the primal fury that, coming from a dragon, would make you want to brown your barding.

All these decades and he still held on… All for his loyalty to protecting the secrets of the Ministry. The Elements of Harmony. The Gardens of Equestria…

His loyalty to Twilight Sparkle.

“Well…” Coffin shuffled uncomfortably. “He’s big…”

“Astute…” Spike croaked, his voice as damaged as his body. “Raiders… Do what you will, I’m beyond used to it. Admit it, it got stale a long time ago. Or maybe it didn’t. It no longer matters.”

“Watcher…” I muttered sadly. Enclave cunts…

His remaining draconic eye narrowed. “Now, that name hasn’t been used in a while. Not much to watch inside an overcomplicated cell. And certainly not by one of Gallows’ goons. Then who…?”

My eyes met his, green on green, and I almost felt a… understanding. I don’t really know how to describe it, but…

I think… he recognised me.

“You…” he muttered in hopeful disbelief, almost like he hadn’t been able to speak that way for a long time…

I suppose he couldn’t have.

“I know those eyes. You are different, but… How…?”

Uh, Coffin is glaring at me again!

“I…” I gave a nervous chuckle, glancing between the two. “I mean, a lot of ponies have green eyes. And I’d remember meeting a… uh… big guy. Right…?”

He looked at me curiously. And yet…

“I see. My mistake. But I assume you are Resistance nevertheless. I would advise one of you to watch the other’s back. Perhaps the tough-looking one in the helmet…?”

Right. Getting rid of Coffin. Nice to see he is catching on.

“You good to do your thing?” Coffin asked me.

“I can try,” I replied. “Just give us a minute or three.”

He hummed, glancing up at Spike and then back to me. I could tell the eyes behind the helmet remained suspicious of his slip, but he nevertheless retreated back to the elevator and left me with my friend.

Though, him finding out is inevitable, isn’t it?

Problems for later.

“Spike…?” I gently called up to the dragon, keeping my voice down.

“Littlepip,” he correctly recalled. “Heh… new mane?”

“And everything else…” I replied sheepishly. “Got a glamoured cutie mark, kinda sucks. But…”

“You don’t wish the Enclave to know the truth. Smart. How did you find me?”

“Killed some raiders…”

“The usual, then. Oh, Littlepip. I am very glad you are alive, it’s… Maybe Equestria has a chance.”

“I fucked it all up, Watcher…” Dammit, now my eyes are getting wet for some reason… “Luna’s fucking- Gah, I failed my friends. The Wasteland. I… I…”

“I couldn’t protect the Gardens, Pip,” he said sternly. “After you ‘died’, the Enclave came for me in force. I really tried, and I like to think I gave them hell. But there were too many. I only lived thanks to Death Scythe’s lust for the information I hold.”

“Didn’t work out so well, huh…?”

“It… was tempting at times. Just to make the pain stop…” He sighed, closing his eye as he rested his head back onto the floor. “But now I’m just tired, but Twilight’s secrets are safe. Go figure they can’t make the Gardens work for them, so I don’t think they’ve corrupted its usage yet. I hope not.”

“Corrupted?”

“It’s a megaspell, Pip. Perhaps the strongest ever devised. You think it couldn’t be used to kill if nudged so?” he stated sharply. “For Twilight’s work to become… that! No, I couldn’t speak. Not about anything. I can’t guide anypony anymore, but I could do that at least.”

“But you’re still here…”

“I think Scythe knows I’ll never talk. But… the information is too valuable to stop trying, I guess. Ministry secrets, the Elements… They could take what I know and use it to try and devise a way into the Single Pegasus Project. Could you imagine them with total control of the weather everywhere at once!? No, I chose to die first.”

“But… you’re still alive!” Bright spots! Focus on them! “We can get you out, back to the Resistance! We need Watcher back. I need you back! Please, Watcher. Come on.”

Get these shields off will be no biggie I think. The chains can be broken, and then-

Why is he shaking his head?

No.

Nonononononono!

“Spike, you’re a fucking dragon!” I protested. “Big, lots a fire for melting faces! Work with me here!”

“Littlepip,” he replied with stupid dumb seriousness! FUCK! “Look at me. Seriously, look at me. I have drugs and tech inside me, mixed with the magic all around us, keeping my heart beating. Decades, Stable Dweller. I have been in their ‘care’ for decades. I’m not leaving this place.”

“No. I’m not leaving you! You’re my friend, Spike! You started me on all this crazy bullshit the day I left the stable! You owe me this!”

“Sorry, Pip. But I don’t owe anypony shit anymore,” he denied. “Well, except maybe my Ponyville friends. Especially Twilight. But she died getting close to three hundred years ago. When I die, if the Everafter exists, I intend to see her again.”

Twilight…

Guilt started to rip at my heart. He never learned the truth. He still believes that stupid lie from…

Dammit. I can’t let him down now. He needs to know…

“No, she didn’t…” I muttered.

He frowned. “What?”

“She didn’t die that day,” I finally told him. “The Goddess… Twilight was the start of all the purple alicorns.”

His frown deepened, a small snarl escaping his lips. “What…? You… lied to me…?”

“I… I just wanted you to be happy! Happier, anyway…” I tried to defend, but I couldn’t even meet his glare. “But then she saved me! After the Goddess died, it was like she hijacked one of the surviving alicorns. A purple one, it had her cutie mark. She and Derpy found me in the rubble, worked Goddesses knows how long to dig me out. I even got to show her a message from Pinkie Pie she never received the day all the shit happened before she… passed.”

He blinked. “She saved you? You met her? Twilight was… alive?”

“Until I blew up Maripony, yeah. She gave me a chance to keep going. Another pony I failed to live up to…”

Spike was silent. Staring. Judging. I wouldn’t blame him for incinerating me right then and there. It was all I deserved…

And then he laughed.

“So what you said was not entirely a lie, then.”

“Huh?”

“You told me she died saving ponies,” he responded. “And so she did. I bet she gave Lulamoon hell inside that Unity of her’s. Always trying, until the bitter end…”

Yeah. I suppose she always did try. Despite what happened, she never just sat and surrendered…

“Do you remember one of the first pieces of advice I ever gave you? When we met?” he asked me.

“That’s vague,” I deadpanned back. “But, uh… Make friends?”

“Bingo.”

“Not that we lived up to your expectations. We couldn’t wield the Elements of Harmony.”

“No. You couldn’t,” he agreed. “Not then. But… who knows? Find your friends. Make new ones, which you seem to be on top of. I can’t tell you how things will work out, Littlepip. But so few heroes left, you might be the one spot of hope we have for this place.”

“Look how well that worked for us last time around.”

“Then don’t let it be like last time,” he shot back. “Keep fighting. Keep the ponies you love close to you. Maybe, just maybe, the Elements of Harmony will find you worthy after all. Not like they can be picky at this point.”

“You didn’t need to add that last part!”

He gave a pained chuckle. “Perhaps. But still, I believe in you.”

“And all those secrets you’ve been keeping to yourself?”

“Can die with me,” he answered. “You won’t need them, let them be buried. There isn’t time to pass them over, more to the point. You need to leave here, and I want you to turn these damned machines off. Let me pass.”

“Spike…”

“You need to do this. Promise me. Promise!”

Dammit. He wants me to… kill him? I can’t! Can I?

But he wants this. He’s asking. Begging. I…

I hate this world.

“I promise,” I choked back at him. I can’t believe it all has gone so… GAH! “I’ll do it.”

“Thank you… There is, also, one last thing.”

The dragon then began to wretch, almost like something was lodged into his throat. I saw Coffin glance with worry in our direction as he did so, it almost looked like he was going to choke to death right then and there!

But then, instead, he coughed up a small spherical object.

He had swallowed a memory orb!?

“A researcher here got sympathetic some years ago,” he explained. “He passed me this before he was caught and disintegrated. I don't know what’s on it, but I know you have a killer curiosity.”

I do like to jump into things just to see what’ll happen…

“Thank you. I… Damn you, Watcher. For all of this… But I’ll do it. I’ll kick their asses. I won’t stop. Ever. I can’t…”

“And that’s why you’re a good pony, Littlepip,” he said softly. “What you’ll do. Your sacrifices. Just to help those you can, because you can. You are like her in a lot of ways, yet different in so many more.”

“I guess it’s the Applejack in me, maybe…” I tried to joke.

“You do have her eyes,” he agreed. “She would be proud of you. You’re an Apple through and through, among other things. I know you’ll be worthy, you have to be. But now…”

“I know…” Dammit. I want to talk more. To do more. But… “We’re out of time.”

“You know what to do,” Watcher said, looking up at me sadly. I can’t help but recall when we would only talk with a Spritebot between us. And now… “Goodbye, Littlepip. Do them all proud. Do us all proud.”

“I will…” Watcher… “Goodbye… Spike…”

I started to look around. There had to be a quick way to turn off all this Enclave machinery. A terminal to hack? A switch to press? Something.

And then I saw it.

It was none of those things. Rather, it was just a big important looking cable as thick as a car leading into the wall. That had to be providing power to a lot of the things down here, I could only imagine how much electricity was running through that thing. Enough to keep a dragon trapped for years on end, apparently. Which meant only one thing.

I lit my horn and tore it free of the wall, its bindings no match for my special brand of telekinesis.

And then, like a bursting bulb, all the generators went dead.

“What did you just do!?” Coffin asked in alarm, sprinting back over. “Did you free him?”

He…

I glanced back over at Watcher, the great dragon resting down his head and letting his eye close gently. His breathing was steady, his breaths low and few.

“Hiya, Twilight…” he muttered. “Your Number One Assistant stands ready, whatever you need…”

And then his breathing ceased, his bar on my Eyes Forward Sparkle blinking out.

Dammit…

“What happened?” Coffin asked in shock.

“He gave us all he could,” I answered, showing him the memory orb. “But yeah, I freed him.”

Coffin was silent, staring at Spike’s body for the longest time. I just wanted to cry. To scream. I’d watched another friend die. Another I couldn’t do anything to save.

I had to win.

I just had to.

“Dammit, I hope there’s something good on there,” Coffin said. “Poor guy. Gah, come on. Let’s get out of here before we’re found out.”

And now we just had to leave him here?

But what choice did I have?

I hate the Wasteland.

I silently followed Coffin back to the elevator, stashing the memory orb away for use when we got out of this place. I kept my eyes on the first friend I made after I left Stable 2 for as long as I could, but the dragon finally vanished as the doors shut and the elevator began to rise.

Watcher was dead.

That fact rang around in my head over and over, and each time it just didn’t sink in. All this way…

I had to find my friends. Bring them back to my new ones and… Well, if I couldn’t wield and Element of Harmony then maybe some of them could. If we could get the Gardens back before they ever find a way to use it, we could restore Equestria. More than that, with the Elements we’d stand more of a chance against the Enclave than ever.

A goal to strive for.

At least, after I’d helped Silver Bell take New Appleoosa back.

“Alright, top floor,” Coffin spoke. “Come on, out the way we came in.”

Of course, why would it ever be that easy?

“Dammit!”

Coffin’s shout was mixed with him attempting to pull his pulse pistol up as we saw what awaited us on the other side of the giant doors leading back into the base. He barely got it free before a green bolt of magic shot it out of his grip and sent the singed weapon hurtling across the floor.

“And there’s the culprit. Or ‘culprits’, as it were,” General Grim Gallop proclaimed, flanked by four other Enclave soldiers and all the now very much activated turrets in the chamber! “Big mistake killing the drake, of course this base has monitors for if his heart ever flatlined. Not that you savages could ever think beyond what’s in front of your muzzles, of course.”

I entered S.A.T.S. in order to survey the situation between his monologuing. He had his two guards in that nasty X-03 Hellfire gear with him, alongside two much more mundane guards in standard combat barding.

But we were caught in the open, no cover to speak of and our only exit blocked by these guys. And those turrets looked mean.

This was bad.

“Permission to execute the mutants, Sir!” one of his personal guards asked after time restarted. “For all those these two killed when they lit up our Hades tanks!”

“Patience,” Grim Gallop retorted. “This base has lost its primary asset and is now in need of a replacement. These two will almost certainly have knowledge our foes in the ‘Resistance’ do not wish us to. Take them, alive, and strip them of all their worth. You do not need to be delicate.”

“You really think we’re going to let you take us? Huh? You Enclave fucks!” I shouted, rage bubbling through my blood at my friend’s murderers!

“I expect nothing of you, except to tell us all we require before your disposal!” he snapped back. “Your surrender isn’t necessary, take them!”

“Yeah, imma take a rain check on that?” a voice said from the catwalk above.

All eyes turned up just in time to see a perky unicorn giving a rather psychotic smile while leaning over the railing and staring madly down at the Enclave.

Rope Gallows seemed to be looking pleased with herself.

“Colonel Gallows!” Grim Galloped barked. “You seem to have failed in the mission I assigned. Expected of your ilk, for all your SG training you’re still a failure of a raider!”

“Love you too, Grimmy!”

Death Scythe’s second-in-command seemed to bristle at her reply. “My point stands firm. And now you have let them infiltrate this base on your watch, for which the High General shall be informed. Be grateful I don’t have you hauled off with them as an incompetent traitor!”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, I misspoke. What I meant to say was ‘go fuck yourself you feathered cocksleeve’.”

There was silence for a moment, the General seemingly lost for words at such a brazen response. But hey! Maybe this means that she’s going to come through for us after all!

“You…” Grim Gallop said in a low and dangerous tone, brimming with anger. “Loyal soldiers of our glorious Enclave, the Colonel is charged with treason! Execute her!”

“Nah!”

And then she dropped something from the catwalk.

“Get down!” Coffin bellowed as he suddenly tackled me to the ground, followed by a giant PBZZZT that accompanied a blue static-y flash.

I rolled up the moment it had passed, looking up to see Grim Gallop glancing around in alarm as his two bodyguards froze up, their armour locked by an EMP!

I summoned my assault rifle as Coffin retrieved his pulse pistol, a quick hop into S.A.T.S. making quick work of the bewildered soldiers in combat armour while they were disoriented from the shock as my friend gunned down the disabled soldiers in the Hellfire.

Good thing, too. Wasn’t keen and going hoof-to-hoof with those things!

And this left, of course, Grim Gallop.

The turrets also seemed oddly silent. Weird.

“Damn you…” Grim Gallop muttered. “You muties think you can best us? You tried and failed, your heroes died for it. You won’t leave this base.”

“We’re rather tenacious,” Coffin retorted. “So, who is who’s prisoner now? Wanna fess up now or what? Honesty is rather fulfilling, trust me.”

“Don’t count on it,” Rope Gallows deadpanned from above, accessing her PegWing. “Target the general, eliminate.”

“What-”

In but a moment, General Grim Gallop was cut down in a hail of bullets from the surrounding turrets, each reacting to Rope Gallows’ command without question. He was torn apart, blood and viscera flying and painting the floor and walls and the bullets cascaded through his body.

Just like that.

“What did you just do!?” Coffin shouted indignantly. “He could have told us things!”

Rope just shrugged. “I didn’t like him.”

“How did you even do that?” I asked her, admittedly slightly taken aback by the display of power.

“SG access has boons. What do you think I was doing while we were apart?” she stated. “Uploaded my command codes, took control of the interior defences. Handy.”

That… is quite useful. Maybe she is-

Wait a second.

“What happened to finding something valuable to prove yourself to the Resistance? You know, a science thing?”

“Ah… yes, well there is an issue…” she said, bringing up her PegWing once more. “Colonel Rope Gallows to all base personnel, two intruders have just murdered General Grim Gallop and are now making their escape! Shoot on sight, full alert status!”

Oh, you sneaky little bitch!

Alarms started to blare all around us, the turrets starting to move in our direction though holding fire for the moment. I could only imagine an army was on its way to deal with us.

“Why!?” What the actual fuck!? “Why help us then!?”

“The dragon was pointless, and I needed a scapegoat. Luckily for me that Gallop decided to confront you himself,” she said with a little asshole laugh. “I wanted his job, now I will probably get it. Death Scythe gets a new second, I get your heads, winning for all! Oh, except for you.”

Fuck.

Nothing even needed to be said as Coffin and I immediately started to sprint towards the exit as the turrets opened up around us!

The bullet cascade behind us was insane! I didn’t even need to look back to know the floor behind us, and the bodies strewn around it, were all torn up and ripped to shreds! My E.F.S. was filled with red from both the turrets and who knows how many Enclave incoming, shrapnel flying all around us with more than a few pieces sticking into my barding.

At least I hope that was all shrapnel.

“Come on!” Coffin called out as we barrelled through an open doorway, barely making it ahead of the hail of bullets. “Crap, if we started running a second later we’d be goners.”

“Good thing we didn’t wait until after they started shooting, then,” I said back.

“Looks like you got a few bullets in your barding with the debris.”

Damn it, I’d hoped not. My PegWing was looking a little annoyed at me, but it didn’t seem any of them had gotten through the armour. I suppose I should count my Luna fucking lucky stars that those guns didn’t have higher calibre bullets or they’d probably have ripped through a lot easier. Or that I didn’t get shot with a lot more of them, as with Grim Gallop.

As if to punctuate on that thought, another bullet came through the doorway and hit Coffin’s power armour helmet. If that had been me, my brains would have redecorated this hallway!

“Alright, we’re leaving!”

I used my magic to grab the door’s control panel on their side, pressing the button for it to close before telekinetically tearing it from the wall! With a few moments hopefully bought, we started to move again as quickly as our hooves pleased through this stupid Enclave base! We bobbed and weaved through the corridors, heading through unknown parts of this place, though hopefully in the general direction of the outside.

Another turret came down ahead of us, S.A.T.S. slowing us down on pure instinct.

Thankful for my wasteland honed reflexes, I targeted an array of shots up at the thing and let loose! My assault rifle moved and unleashed a fully automatic barrage of bullets at the bastard thing, reducing it to sparks and metal shards before it could retaliate.

We dived around another corner, finding ourselves at an intersection with-

Well, we found an exit. But also a large group of what I presume to be the outside guards all storming in with what looked like a Cerberus Tank outside the door just waiting for us.

Not that way!

Coffin had the same idea, hitting the controls for the door ahead and taking aim with his pulse pistol, firing it at the frame and watching as it contorted and twisted.

Nice, hopefully that has broken the gears. Maybe it’ll delay them longer than my telekinesis trick!

It had better, I was seeing a lot more red heading out way.

“Up here!” the stallion the shouted, gesturing towards a stairway leading to an upper level.

I followed his lead, move up the metal stairway with the blinky blue lights and quickly finding us back in another identical-looking corridor leading to fuck knows where!

“Halt!”

Dammit.

I turned to face the three new red lights on my Eyes Forward Sparkle, finding three more Enclave troops skidding to a stop down the hallway behind us. Only these guys looked a little different, like in their armour detailing and such. The lead one was in power armour, Hellfire a lot like the former General’s equally dead goons. The two behind him were in Enclave combat gear, each one sporting a battle saddle with nasty glowing energy weapons. Their barding also contained various lightning decals, so what…?

Right. Storm Guard.

Crap.

“In the name of the Enclave, the SG and the High General herself, sit your asses down and prepare for swift execution!”

Convincing.

S.A.T.S. was engaged, and something told me both Coffin and they themselves were thinking the same thing. Here’s hoping I was quicker on the uptake than the latter!

I targeted the guys around the big one for a couple of bursts each, hoping to get rid of the support so tackling that fucker would be a little easier. When time resumed, I opened up with everything I had in my clip!

The head soldier stepped forward, deliberately placing himself between my bullets and one of his buddies! He absorbed the lot, the second that I did actually hit barely grunting as his combat armour absorbed most of the damage.

Not good!

Then, in what was one hundred percent a S.A.T.S. shot of their own, the third protected Enclave asshole appeared back from behind his boss and fired a snapshot at Coffin before he could react. One bolt of superheated red magic hit his helmet, which seemed to take the impact, while the second hit him straight in the chest and sent him sprawling.

His bar was still active on my HUD, but I really needed to keep it that way!

Drastic times calling for stupid methods, I lit my horn and took a hold on the injured and now heavily protesting SG guy I’d hit a moment ago. I yanked him forward at speed, turning him around and using him as an unwilling shield in an attempt to stop them from firing at us for the moment.

It seemed to give them pause, so I followed up by also taking ahold of Coffin and dragging the unicorn into an open room a short distance away. It was… an office! And it had a window! Showing all the lovely death outside! Blow me!

“You… scum…!” the captured pony said as he kept struggling.

“Coffin…!” I hissed urgently. “Take a potion and back at it!”

“Ugh…” he groaned, retrieving one and lifting his helmet to chug it down as quickly as possible.

And just in time for the one in power armour to storm around the doorframe and barge straight into us!

My magic fizzled out, my ass hitting the metal floor as my hostage came sadly free of his restraint. Nothing else for it, I made a quick access of my inventory and brought out my revolver and my shotgun ready to go!

With the new duo peering over at Coffin as he scrambled back and ducked behind the desk as fire came his way, I put my own sights on the guy I dropped and pulled the trigger for all the barrels of my shotgun!

His armour didn’t absorb that at close range, splattering as his red bar blinked away.

The other Storm Guard in combat gear stopped his firing, turning back to me. I fired my revolver at the guy, his barding taking the hit as his friend also stopped and started to move around the smouldering desk. That thing was sturdy!

I wasn’t so sure I could say the same about myself though as, at the very moment I noticed all of this go down, I found myself staring down the barrel of that other soldier’s energy rifle.

Fzzt!

The soldier gave a scream of pain as his back right hind leg just crumpled after receiving a dose of Coffin’s pulse pistol! Limbs should not distort that way!

Coffin followed this up by giving a battle cry and leaping at the guy. But, to be honest, it’s about as bad a plan as we usually come up with. The power armoured pony didn’t even budge at the physical assault, picking Coffin up in his hooves and slamming him painfully to the ground! His cannons started to glow, his stinger tale likewise rising into the air with a readiness to impale its victim!

He was going to die.

Knowing I had to do something, anything, I grabbed the second soldier that had just been crippled. Continuing with our string of terrible plans, I brought the pegasus around and aimed his guns in the general direction of the other Enclave pony.

Hope this works!

I tugged at the trigger with my magic, feeling quite happy with myself as I forced Enclave to shoot Enclave! The magic bolts stumbled him and caused his shots to go wide. Unfortunately, they came in this direction and hit his own friend, knocking the soldier from my grasp and depriving me of my cool new toy!

That actually sounds really bad now that I think about it. He’s still a pony, after all.

Moral questions later, the big one is looking at me now!

Still, with the soldier distracted, Coffin got the chance to make another clean shot with his pistol! Like a ripper on a radroach, the pony’s torso twisted as he gave a shout of pain. I took a moment to reload my shotgun while simultaneously firing a couple of shots from my revolver. The latter seemed to do little, but as he began to stand up again I shoved my shotgun forward and pressed the barrel against his visor.

I don’t care how good your gear is, that amount of force at point-blank was always going to break through and spread the inside of your brain throughout your helmet.

No rest, though, as something sharp and horrific burned into my side! Only a moment later did I realise it was a knife from the last remaining soldier, having crawled his way over and dug it into my hind between a gap in my barding!

I bucked out, catching him in the jaw and sending the Storm Guard back to the floor.

“Gah, fucker!” He better not have disfigured my cutie mark!

“You good?” Coffin called out to me, shakily getting to his hooves.

“You won’t be…” the soldier muttered in defiance.

Ting.

Oh shit!

I grabbed Coffin with my magic and charged the window, hoping to dear Celestia and back that it wasn’t strong enough to withstand the impact! It wasn’t fortunately, us clearing it and sailing through the air just as an explosion of green plasma went off behind us from the grenades that SG soldier just pulled in some kind of fucked-up suicide run!

And it was then I noticed the flaw of this flight, below us standing the Cerberus tank that was coming closer very fast!

The next thing I knew, I was groaning in pain in the dirt with a throbbing headache. I could only guess I’d been knocked out for a few brief moments when I’d face-planted the tank…

The tank!

I jumped to my hooves, looking upwards despite my head’s protest as the tank finished its turn towards me. There was a crack and a crumble as it accidentally kicked the doorway we’d seen the Enclave soldiers enter through earlier, causing it to collapse a little and hopefully seal them inside for a while.

Little comfort as this big robot thing’s big green glowing minigun started to rev up!

“Watch out!”

Coffin’s shout was a prelude to another buzz of his pulse pistol, a small explosion of green magic going off as the minigun exploded. I raised a hoof to protect my eyes from the detonation, but once it was gone I looked to see that the gun was no longer functional.

“I… like that thing…” I muttered, the blood dripping down my forehead convincing me to neck a healing potion and some Med-X while I was at it.

“So do I! It’s a keeper!”

But it wasn’t done, the tank looming over us like the Enclave cloud cover!

“Stay close so it can’t shoot us with the big guns!” he shouted. “And dodge!”

Dodge?

Dodge!

I rolled to one side as one of its four legs came crashing towards me, looking to turn me into a stain beneath its mass! Coffin did the same, but it followed up on him with another attempt!

How could we deal with this thing? We run and it blows us up. We stay close and it turns us into pancakes. How do I…?

Butcher, time to continue your legacy once again.

I dived forward as another leg tried to spell my doom, landing on my side and rolling onto my back. Little Gilda materialised around me as I put away my other weapons, putting the stupidly big AA gun at the tanks soft underbelly.

Turns out being this close was the solution when you are armed with overcompensation!

Little Gilda opened up, the sound almost deafening my ears and the metal above me was torn and shredded by the barrage of rounds! I must have hit something important because there was a huge bang as the tank started to sag.

Time to move!

Half propelling myself magically, I turned to leap out from under the tank as it keeled over with the AA gun dragged behind me. The machine crashed down, silent aside from the new fire ongoing within.

And then there was silence. The base seemed to go eerily silent, even the bars on my E.F.S. seeming to be out of sight and out of mind. I used this time to reload my assault rifle and revolver, putting them and Gilda away as I brought my shotgun forth ready for reload itself.

“I knew this was a bad idea…” Coffin said between breaths. “We go, now. And don’t divert until we reach the Steel Rangers.”

That had been a little hectic. And then some.

But for Watcher, it had been worth it.

“Target sighted.”

“Oh! What now!?”

I turned, looking around to see which red bar had managed to get out of the building and catch up to us. But… I could see…

I looked up at the window that we’d barged out from and the office very much on fire. And yet I could see a silhouette standing amidst the flames completely unphased, watching us silently.

And then it jumped down, a suit of completely red and definitely modified X-03 power armour crashing down and advancing towards us. Whoever this pony in the sprayed up Hellfire was, he clearly meant business!

“Hello,” he spoke eerily casually as he came closer at a slow pace. “This is your stop, I’m afraid.”

“And what are you?” Coffin asked incredulously as he looked that armour up and down.

“SG Tartarus Unit,” he replied. “You won’t have heard of us. You won’t live to.”

And then he charged.

Coffin brought up his pulse pistol as I likewise brought back my shotgun and loaded in some more slugs, my friend firing first.

The soldier ducked under the blast with more agility than he had any right to hold, some kind of rockets or something emerging from the sides of his armour that then sped forth his charge by a stupidly large degree.

And was that a ripper coming out of his hoof? What the fuck is with this one!?

I tried to fire a shot, but he swatted me aside with an insulted backhoof as he skidded to a stop, my shells going wide as I stumbled to the side. As I did, I heard the sound of his ripper coming to life and embedding itself in Coffin’s helmet, starting to cut through the metal as he gave a shout of alarm.

Not having time to reload, I fell back on pulling out another weapon held inside my always useful PegWing’s inventory space, selecting the assault rifle this time. I brought it up and fired a barrage of bullets at this strange Enclave soldier!

All it did was create sparks and get him to tilt his head towards me.

It was enough.

Coffin used his distraction to yank the pony’s hoof free of his helmet and duck to one side. A nasty gash was left in his helmet, but now he was free to dive for his pulse pistol and twist this cunt a new asshole!

Or the Tartarus guy could just stamp down on the weapon and crush it.

Farewell, awesome pulse gun…

He then looked back towards me, his orange visor glaring menacingly as he took a step forward with what I could only assume was a hateful glare.

“You don’t know what true loyalty is,” he boasted. “We SG are the best of the Enclave. And those of Tartarus are among the best of the SG. We give our lives and our bodies for the cause, you could never understand.”

Fanatics, more like.

Wait, their bodies?

“Anyway. Playtime is over.”

He lifted his hoof, his ripper glinting as he… It just ignited. His ripper just set on fire and was now glowing and hot! And I think he has another undrawn one on his other hoof…

What Cadance ball licking pre-war comic strip did they get this guy from!?

My internal debate as to how he rated in the strangest things I’ve seen in the Equestrian Wasteland was interrupted as he struck forwards again, this time under the power of his own hooves over the rocket pack that was hopefully recharging, me deciding that it might be time again for ol’ Gilda!

First, dodging!

I ducked, the heat passing by my cheek as I scrambled myself away. Bullet seemed to ping off of him from what I assumed to be Coffin’s newly recovered rifle, but the asshole seemed dead set on coming for me!

I gave a burst of my telekinetic to get some distance, trying to use the moment to retrieve Little Gilda as quickly as I could!

But I was struggling to get the chance as, despite my hopes, out came the rocket boosters!

Still in the process of getting my biggest weapon out to play while that guy was bearing down on me with red hot death, I kept my horn alright and moved the nearest thing I could get my hooves on between myself and him!

As it turned out, that was the Cerberus’ leg.

As I dragged the stray limb of the downed tankbot out, the Tartarus Trooper’s blade slamming into the metal and went through it with devastating each. Fearing what it would do to me, I finished extracting Gilda and prepared for his next attack.

Did I mention he was fast?

He pounced over the limb with unnatural grace so that I was too late on even S.A.T.S., the soldier in my face by the time things slow to a halt. Still, my use of the spell was still a good opportunity to not die! Rather than line up some shots, I decided to instead look at the angle the blade was coming from and not be there when it did!

Time restarted and I dropped down low, the blade again just missing me by the barest inch.

“Stay. Still!”

He batted Little Gilda aside with ease, the weapon sliding away before he turned and delivered a mighty buck straight to my barrel!

My ribcage screamed and protested against the power armour enhanced blow, several definitely splintering as my PegWing screamed for me to take a healing potion. Even through the shearing pain spreading throughout my body, or maybe because of it, I knew that if I took another hit like that I’d be needing some serious surgery. Surgery I wouldn’t get out here.

Another hit and I was simply fucked.

“That’s better.”

“Fuck you, you Discord whoring shit stain!”

“Quite the mouth on you…” he noted. “Let’s fix that.”

He didn’t get the chance, a cascade of bullets striking the stallion and sending him flying as Little Gilda opened up! She certainly did the trick, blood flying free from the stallion as he went sprawling to the ground.

“Coffin!”

“Spark…” he said, rushing to feed me a glorious health potion that fixed my ribs before they ended up in a position they couldn’t help. “We gotta get outta here, this place is all kinds of messed up!”

Ugh, that Med-X was no longer doing the trick for the pain. But… I’d bear it for the moment.

And then I heard a pained laugh from the Tartarus Trooper, despite his hellfire being little more than a hole-ridden mess. Despite all odds, he seemed to get back to his hooves and wobble over towards us.

“Not done yet, Missy…”

“Oh come on! What is with you!?”

“Death Scythe’s finest. Terrorists like you cannot win.”

“There are several things wrong with that statement.”

“Tell me about it.”

Oh no.

That new voice belonged to Rope Gallows, there was no mistaking it! A quick look around revealed her to be standing high above us on the roof of the base, peering down with a gleeful expression.

“I see you met the Enclave’s latest freaks of nature. Aren’t they great?”

“Colonel,” the trooper coldly addressed.

“You don’t look so good,” she said with mock sympathy. “Was a couple of wastelanders too much for such a great example of the SG?”

“I will finish my mission…”

“Yes, dear, you will…” she remarked cheerfully, pulling out… Oh crap, that’s a balefire egg launcher! “You’re in the line of fire, but you die for the cause, oh well.”

And then she fired.

Everything went white.

I was so sure we had died. I saw the egg coming down at us, nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from a weapon that powerful. I couldn’t deflect, S.A.T.S. hadn’t recharged yet… I couldn’t do anything. All the while, the trooper didn’t even seem to flinch, almost like he was happy to accept what Rope Gallows had done.

I’d failed again.

But then, inexplicably, I wasn’t there anymore. I was suddenly elsewhere, in the Wasteland… Back on the hill where we’d first spied the base!

My ears registered an explosion, and I turned my head to see a green mushroom cloud rising from within the confines of the Enclave compound.

How did we…?”

“Oh, crap…”

Coffin?

The stallion ripped his damaged power armour helmet from his head, revealing a charred horn and dazed over eyes. Did he do that? A teleport? I didn’t realise he could do that!

“Not doing that again…” he muttered. “Argh, that stings. Never done that before.”

“What!?”

“You heard me!” he shouted back. “I… I just tried very hard and… I did it! I actually… Owch…”

“Alright, just… d-don’t use magic.” Magic burnout, it was clear as day. As somepony who has suffered it, I know how much it sucks. “We need to go.”

I replaced his helmet back onto his head for him, gathering our helpfully also teleported weaponry and ensuring they were all back in storage. Coffin didn’t argue or offer any other words of anything, he just nodded along and shakily started to plod along with me as we moved away from the base.

Goddesses, my head was a mess. Watcher’s death. Rope Gallows murdering Grim Gallop and… that trooper. He’d been vicious, unnaturally so for somepony in power armour. And how he’d happily accepted what Rope did…

At least maybe she would think she killed us…?

I don’t know. All I knew was that I wanted to be as far from this place as possible, we had to move for as long as our battered and bruised bodies could manage.

All the while, I could feel the weight of the memory orb I carried. And so too could I hear the shuffling of cards from some distant place.

---

It was some time before we were far away enough from the base that we even remotely felt safe enough to slow down to a crawl before finally stopping to make camp. All light had faded, leaving the Equestrian Wasteland in pitch darkness beyond the crackling of our campfire and the lamps on our PegWings.

There was still hope that they would believe us dead after Rope Gallows’ little light show. But I wasn’t just going to sit around and wait to prove her wrong in the worst way possible.

Rope Gallows…

Coffin had told me, but I wanted to… I wanted to believe that maybe we could actually turn her! You know, spread the Magic of Friendship or some shit like that. There was a time that Twilight Sparkle and her friends could have! Velvet probably could have. Maybe Homage too.

But no, I fucked that one didn’t I? Again. Not only did I fail to convince her but I didn’t even realise I had until bullets were flying at us a million miles a minute!

And now my friend is dead, and all I have to show for it is…

Is a memory orb.

I glanced over at Coffin, the unicorn completely passed out by the campfire, his helmet held close in his hooves almost like a teddy bear. It was… cute? Oddly so. But yeah, cute, why the fuck not?

Still, he needs the rest. That burnout of his is bad. I was a little afraid he’d just drop dead before now. Still, he seems okay. His PegWing has stopped complaining so much and he took one last health potion before bed. He’ll probably be okay in the morning. A hell of a headache, but okay.

I was supposed to wake him in a couple of hours for second watch. But I need time to think while he needs as much sleep as he can get. I’ve had worse injuries anyway, and stayed up for longer, so I will make do tonight.

But that brings me back to the memory orb. The area seems clear enough, I couldn’t see any red bars on my Eyes Forward Sparkle, and just thinking of it was filling me with that familiar feeling of burning curiosity…

What had that pony wanted Watcher to know?

I retrieved the orb out of my saddlebag and examined it. It would probably be safer inside my inventory spell, but… I don’t know. I’ll probably stick it in there afterwards, less chance of it breaking than jostling around with the spare ammo magazines and meds I’ve got in my bags for quick access. But first…

I can’t wait anymore. I need to know!

I lit my horn, feeling the familiar connection begin to form as-

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

-I ended up now looking up at a completely cloudless blue sky!

I could only hear a slight gust of wind as whatever pony I was in stared up at the sky, seemingly as enamoured with its emptiness as I was. I’ve only seen it a few times, like whenever I’m in New Appleoosa, but it still manages to catch me off guard sometimes.

“Guardspony!”

My host jumped at the indignant shout, jumping to attention as their hoof flew up and into a salute.

“My apologies, Major Harbinger!”

Harbinger!?

“You would do well to keep your wits about you, soldier,” Harbinger growled in annoyance. “How do you expect my rise to General, and even to High Councillor from there, when those under my wing daydream on duty. I catch you distracted again and the consequences will be severe, understood!?”

My host gulped. “Yes Sir, Major Harbinger!

“Outstanding. Now get moving. The Council will not wait for our report much longer.”

Yeah, it was definitely Harbinger. He was younger and in different barding, but the voice was familiar as his dusk coloured fur. This was the same future Councillor killed when I blew up Maripony, the Enclave General and head of their military who wanted to use the Goddess in the first place. But he was only a Major here, so this had to be years before I left the stable. Probably, anyway.

My host started to follow on behind Harbinger, a standard Enclave stinger tale briefly drifting into my view before swaying back again. It looked like the owner of this memory was wearing the old set of Enclave combat barding from before their takeover, minus a helmet. Harbinger, meanwhile, was adorned in a pre-Death Scythe Enclave Officer’s garb.

All of this was pre-Death Scythe, the Enclave I fought before it all went to hell. I suppose back in this time the Enclave Council was actually still in charge, long before Death Scythe wrapped her hoof around them.

Not that this Harbinger had any idea of what would happen one day…

Three ponies in Enclave Armor stood blocking the doorway. In front of them, a stately dusk-coloured pegasus flew forward, dressed in sophisticated grey barding with a sleek military elegance.

“Greetings, Goddess,” the pegasus called out, staring up at Trixie’s light show, seeming unfazed. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Harbinger, and I am here on behalf of the Enclave.”

It’s an Enclave experiment all right, Calamity had said about the science project we had found in Old Olneigh. Under orders of Harbinger, one of the Enclave High Council.

The Goddess had more important things on her mind…

I shook that memory from my head, or as close as I could without actually being able to shake the head of my host, trying to focus on what the memory orb was actually trying to tell me over the day I signed Equestria over to the Enclave by accident.

They were walking across a cloud city I could only assume to be Neighvarro, the streets being eerily empty aside from the two Enclave ponies walking down it. The buildings were blue and largely also made of cloud, though I could spy a few rather lavish-looking houses made of what looked like marble or something. The building I would guess to be the location of the Enclave’s council was up ahead on a higher piece of cloud, a large circular building made out of the same marble-ly stuff covered in pillars and looking fancy as all shit.

Looks like they’d have to take a small flight to get up there. Pegasus cities are weird.

And then something strange happened.

Up ahead, careening out of an alleyway as fast as her little wings could carry her, was a pegasus filly. Her white coat was as dirty and unkempt as my own, as was her brown mane, even the gold stripe going through it seemed discoloured. Her green eyes seemed to dart about frantically, locking on to the two soldiers with great fear as they stopped and studied the foal curiously.

And then another pegasus mare, this one a plump grey pony a mane that was also messy albeit in a strangely more deliberate way. But what do I know about mane styles?

Still, whoever this older mare was, the filly gave a shriek as she bolted towards Harbinger and my host.

“HALT!”

The fierce nature of Harbinger’s command alone caused the child to screech to a halt, her eyes locked into the stallion as she quivered beneath his searching gaze. It was only now she was closer that I could see… bruises? Cuts? This kid was hurt, badly. Her body was littered with them, some looking older than others.

My stomach churned. I think I know why she was running…

The other mare stopped, catching her breath. “Pardon me, Sirs. A little runaway situation from the orphanage. Thank you for cutting it short.”

Harbinger frowned. “This is quite the disturbance. We are supposed to be at the council building at this very moment!”

She took a step back. “I’m very sorry! It won’t happen again, the little bastard will get what’s coming to her I promise you that!”

“I can see that. The bruises are your handiwork?”

“Just a little discipline, this one is quite the rebel.”

“They starve us and lock us in our rooms most days!” the filly protested. “T-then they use us. Not all the adults are wanting to adopt but they… I don’t want to go back! They’re horrible! Mean! Don’t make me!”

“That’s enough!” the mare shouted, taking a step towards the filly. “You’ll come with me and- GAH!”

She recoiled back as the child lashed out with a buck and struck the mare right across the muzzle!

“No! You can’t hurt me! Fuck off!”

“Ma’am, I recall my ponies have already had reports of disturbing activities within your establishment,” Harbinger said cooly. “Does this filly speak the truth?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” she shouted back, raising her hoof as if to strike the trembling filly. “A little discipline and this one will be back in line!”

“Children are a resource too few in number and vital to the Enclave’s survival,” the Major retorted. “If you are lying and endangering that future…”

“Nothing of the sort,” she growled. “Now excuse me, Sirs. But this one needs a time out.”

Her hoof struck down.

Only for her eyes to open wide with shock as Harbinger stepped between them, her hoof striking across his chest instead, barely even causing him to stumble.

“Wha…?”

“Guardspony, you saw her attack an officer, correct?”

My host nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“Then act on it.”

My host spring forward, his wings flaring as the hapless mare gave her own shriek of fear. The soldier’s stinger tail struck! The barb pierced straight through the mare’s neck, the force of the strike half embedding her into the cloud layer as her lifeless eyes continued to stare out in horror.

The stinger was extracted, blood seeming to drop straight through the cloud layer as my host turned to look back at the Major and the filly, the latter of which now held a blank expression.

I have many mixed feelings about what they just did. I mean, Goddesses know that I have killed a lot of horrible ponies like her, but… Aren’t there might be better ways of dealing with things like that in ‘civilised’ places?

But he did probably just save that kid.

But this was Harbinger, the power-hungry genocidal maniac who paved the way for all of this.

Many. Many mixed feelings.

Still, probably basking in this one good deed he did actually do, Harbinger turned to look down at the filly with a raised eyebrow.

“Now that that unpleasantness is dealt with, who are you?”

“I… I’m Death Scythe.”

What.

This was Death Scythe? The current head of the Enclave’s military and ‘unofficial’ head of state who controls all the Enclave council and all of Equestria through fear alone? This scrawny and terrified filly? What the fuck happened between point A and point B?

It also occurs to me that this… this is the first time I’ve ever laid eyes on the pony I’m supposed to be taking down. I’ve heard all about her, sure. But I’ve never seen or heard her in pony before now. And for it to be like this… I had no idea the former General of the Enclave and the current High General were even acquainted, for one. Maybe this leads into why she got the position during Operation: Cauterize over Calamity’s brother?

Still, I feel like I’m missing a lot here.

“Death Scythe? That’s dramatic,” Harbinger noted with humour in his tone. “I imagine your parents were officers?”

“They died on a trip to the surface when I was very little,” Death Scythe replied sadly. “I grew up with that horrible mare! I’m glad she’s dead.”

“You’re a tough one, aren’t you?”

“None of the other fillies and colts were brave enough to try to escape!” she claimed proudly. “I promised to find an adult with a gun and come back for them.”

“Well, Death Scythe, you found one. Guardspony, she’ll come with us to the meeting. Look after her in the lobby until I return, then we shall take her back to my estate.”

The filly blinked “Huh?”

“I’ve been looking for a promising protege, though I thought they would be older,” Harbinger stated. “I have great plans for the Enclave, Death Scythe. I need capable ponies, especially promising ones who, with a little training, could prove quite valuable.”

“Are… are you adopting me?”

“In a sense. Though I suppose there will be official paperwork for your custody…” he mused. “But I expect the best from you in turn. A true patriot of the Enclave, and a capable soldier.”

“Yes! Yes! I promise!” she said excitedly, beaming joyfully. “I won’t let you down! Ever!”

“A good start. Now come, there is much to be done.”

He started to walk again, Death Scythe falling into step beside him with the corpse already forgotten about. My host started to dutifully follow on, the scene beginning to blur and fade.

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

I felt more than a little groggy as I came to, my mind swimming with what I’d just seen from the eyes of that guard and-

Death Scythe.

Harbinger.

I’d barely met the latter, only when he’d been annihilated at Maripony. I had no idea he was her father. Well, sort of. Adoption isn’t really a thing that happened in the stable, but there were sometimes accidents and other family had to look after a filly or colt. That’s life, I guess.

Still, to think what that orphanage was doing… Children have it hard in the wastes, but in a place that was supposed to be civilised and safe?

I suppose even boogymen have soft spots, for Harbinger to do what he did. A redeemable side, maybe, had he lived. Not unlike what I tried to do with Rope Gallows, but maybe it would have worked better with someone like him…

Or maybe it wouldn’t. Who can say?

Still, I can’t help but think that I’m missing a large part of a bigger picture. How do you go from being that sweet and innocent filly to a dictatorial maniac far outshining even Harbinger himself?

“That is the question, but like so many things its answers lie within ourselves, Lightbringer.”

That old, gnarled and dead voice might have made me pee myself a little! Well, nearly! But I settled for a yelp and grabbing my gun, whipping around to find a… Was that a ghoul?

There was a pony sitting by the campfire, Coffin blissfully unaware and sound asleep while said pony shuffled a deck of playing cards. How long had he been there? Ugh! This is why you don’t go into orbs when on watch, Pip!

“Quite the fascinating player you are, perhaps I should have attended to you long ago, especially since my previous patron has… tapped out.”

The pony turned to look at me, his milky eyes staring out from beneath a large hat that complimented his tattered brown duster. He almost looked like a skeleton, he was desiccated even for a ghoul!

And… why was nothing appearing on my Eyes Forward Sparkle?

“Who and what are you?” I asked.

“Ah, something many have asked even when the realisation stands before them,” he cryptically answered. “I suppose you might call me the Dealer, that seems popular. I handle the cards, even if the responsibility of playing our little game falls to those such as you.”

“Okay, are you a ghoul? Because if so I get that you might be confused…”

My blood ran cold when that... thing grinned. It was an unnatural smile, one that seemed to make the air itself feel lifeless.

And then he took some of his cards and glanced at them.

“An interesting hand for an interesting play. Though you failed to call the bluff of your opponent…” He held out a card, a Queen, the picture being that of an abstract raider standing atop a pile of corpses. “And in doing so, lost a card valuable to many for so long.”

Another card, this one a joker. It showed a purple baby dragon crouched in fear as a skeletal unicorn embraced him from behind, rotting books threatening to claim them both.

I watched, dumbstruck as he tossed it into the fire.

“You… You’re crazy.”

“And yet you entertain me still,” he replied with a chuckle. “Shall we see our remaining players, hm?”

In a flourish he sent a flurry of cards to the ground, each one face up and clear to see.

What the fuck!?

That card had my friends on it! All were separated, standing apart, looking almost spiteful. Homage had one of her own, a weeping skeletal version of her that sent me nearly into a panic!

Then there was Life Bloom and Silver Bell, facing a horde of shadows looking to overwhelm them. Coffin was there, standing with some other ponies I didn’t recognise. Except for… Erdnussbutter? Why does he matter? Another was an alicorn, and there was one looking oddly like Morning Glory, but not quite. The final one was a pegasus mare, and she was quite the looker at that.

And then there was my card. Only… it was shared. I stood one side, in my original body, battered and weary. The other held a white mare with a black and red mane, she just looked angry about everything.

“Yes, still an array. Though not what it once was,” Dealer stated. “But as it is always, more players will drop out as the game progresses. And with your playstyle, I don’t think it will be long now.”

“Shut up!” I snapped, throwing the cards aside and striding up to this crazy asshole! “Fuck off! Now! Really, you’re nuts! Just go! I don’t want to hurt you, you can’t help being all ghoul-like and fucked up by rads, but this is crazy!”

“Then I am perfect for what you have become. You could just lie down and let the inevitable pass, but you choose to keep going until all around you have died for your decisions. So, as long as you keep making these choices, I will keep presenting them.”

Three more cards, each one flipped up and revealed to me.

The first was a balefire cloud, pretty clear and simple. The second contained Homage once again, only this time she laid prone on a bed looking… Was she ill? The third, meanwhile, showed what I think was Death Scythe surrounded by green flame.

“And so you shall choose.”

“Choose what!?”

“You walk blindly down your path, hoping to make some difference. So choose, Stable Dweller. Choose and be damned.”

My everything screamed to wake Coffin and chase this crazy pony off! To tell him no! That this was insane! But…

I felt drawn to Homage. Why was she like that? My heart ached just wondering. And before I could even stop myself, I felt my hoof touch the card as I brought it up for a closer look.

“Ah, most curious. An interesting choice. So it shall be.”

I dropped the card, shaking my head and pinching my eyes shut. Why had I even selected!? This is dumb, and it needs to stop.

“Listen, you fucking-”

He was gone.

I looked around, but there was no sign of this pony anywhere. Even the cards had vanished.

All but for the lone card of Homage sitting alone, a grimace held tightly across her face.

---

Footnote: Level 7

New Perk: Inherited Devil - You’ve attracted the attention of a Zebrican spirit, congratulations! Do be careful which cards you pick...

Author's Note:

Big chapter this time around! Between what happens with Watcher and, finally, Littlepip's meeting with Death Scythe... (Sort of)

Oh, and Dealer. Thanks to Somber again for permission to bring that whole bag of worms into this.

Ah, Death Scythe... Dead parents, abused as a kid, raised by a would-be dictator after that. You would assume that it is quite defined how she ended up as she is. But as Pip's gut is telling her, more of the story has yet to be told...

Comments

[NCR Brony 256]

New chapter on my b-day? Yes!!!

[tom117z]

9900266
Good timing. Happy birthday!

[Marker]

Ah poor Spike, I had a sinking feeling something like that would happen... Losing a dear friend but at the same time bumping off your enemy's second-in-command. A tough but fair trade, I reckon.

Also surprising was the appearance of Dealer. Did Littlepip somehow came into possession of EC-1101?

[tom117z]

9901048

Also surprising was the appearance of Dealer. Did Littlepip somehow came into possession of EC-1101?

No. This isn't Echo's version of the Dealer. This is that other guy.

[Marker]

9901071
I never actually managed to finish Project Horizon, think Imma need a little more help here...

[tom117z]

9901076
Okay, but spoilers.

There were two Dealers all along as a major plot twist. One was Echo, the comms expert for Macintosh's Marauders who was magically sealed inside EC-1101 to ensure whoever used it was worthy by Princess Luna. He was the more encouraging one, trying to advise and help Blackjack. The second Dealer was the one who appeared, unknown to Echo, whenever the Dealer appeared more malevolent and antagonising towards Blackjack. This one is a zebrican spirit, a magical entity that has decided to represent the wasteland and its decay. And since its the wasteland, it wants the heroes to fail, so taunts them and tries to nudge them towards either failing or giving up and going home.

Also, in the sequel Homelands, the Dealer starts to haunt Scotch Tape. When Maripony exploded she was still in possession of Blackjack's PipBuck with EC-1101 and was seeing Echo. However, in the flash of the nuke, she saw the second Dealer behind Echo. And the second Dealer saw her, acting all creepy and shit about it. He also taunts Thernody in the side-quel 'Speak'.

[Marker]

9901082
Thanks for the explanation! So I take it there's a little more leeway as to who this Dealer can choose to pester?

[tom117z]

9901090
Anyone who catches his interest is fair game.

[GhoulDash97]

Not a bad first impression. BUT GODDAMN, DOES THAT COVER ART FALL INTO UNCANNY VALLEY TERRITORY!!!

[tom117z]

9909141
It is definitely terrifying.

[GhoulDash97]

9909608
Damned right, it is.

[Dashie04]

This chapter’s really good.

Heck, if this is a side project, I want to know what your average story looks like, because this is amazing!

[tom117z]

9921618
You could always check out my other FOE fic, War Does Change. It gives some insight into Stripe, since she's a main character in that one.

Aside from that there's a couple of other adventure fics, namely Change, and some more fluffy stories. None of them quite match the chapter lengths of this project, though. War Does Change comes close at time, but this one is a unique case given the extra people working on it and the more flexible release schedule.

[Alchemik]

Oh great. Hello again, Dealer. Long time, no see. Don't ruin this, alright? Littlepip doesn't need the same problems you may or may not have given Blackjack.

Seriously though, this is an amazing take on what could've happened if just one thing went wrong. Can't wait to find out how the Enclave pulled off all this tech though.