1 - International Shipping
The door creaked as I walked into the library for the first time in a week.
“Mom! I’m home!” I called as I kicked the snow off my boots.
The rubber soles squeaked against the well-trodden floorboards. I loved that sound. Nowhere else in Lith had a wooden floor worn this smooth. The sharp squeak is how I knew I was really home. Being a courier is a job that makes most everypony homesick. Even if you happen to have the fastest trot in the whole kingdom.
I turned my ears this way and that as I took off my radhare fur-lined cloak, listening for mom’s reply. I remembered how ponies protested against raising animals for their fur years ago. Then the arcane winter blanketed Pomare and Rainbow’s Fall in negative sixty degree, radioactive blizzards. Those animal rights ponies suddenly got real quiet.
Personally, I still would prefer a nice pre-war cloak. Fur is nothing compared to something like Her Majesty's robe.
No sign of mom. Maybe she was sleeping?
I unbuckled my battle saddle and hefted it up onto its hook. My saddle didn’t have any weapons attached to it. My normal run wasn’t dangerous enough for me to be issued a rifle. Instead I used my dad’s old pistol.
He claimed it was a Hyperbreeder, but I knew better. It was a normal Recharger pistol he tweaked until he made it into an auto-pistol. He’d given it to me for my thirteenth birthday. It never left my flank.
I’d debated attaching it to my battle saddle a few times, but I didn’t want to pay for a custom attachment mount. Besides, adding weapons would mean I couldn’t use my saddle’s stilt strider and shoot at the same time. Being able to move through deep snow is more important than packing firepower.
The short barrel would probably also not protrude past my couriers’ bags, which presented a pretty obvious problem.
Couriers’ bags are pre-war relics. They are densely enchanted, with space increasing, weight reducing, weather proofing, and anti-theft enchantments. If I damaged one, it would mean years in jail and a fine my family could not afford. The Courier's Office does not mess around with our most important and least replaceable resource.
More importantly, it would mean I failed at my job. Unacceptable.
I paused for a moment to make sure the slender spider-like stilt strider wasn’t going to pull my saddle off the wall. The strider was the reason I had a battle saddle to begin with. They wouldn’t attach to anything else and if you need to cross an extra deep snow drift, a shallow river, or a patch of sticky mud. There’s nothing better than a good stilt strider.
Satisfied that this hook would hold the robotic stilt’s weight, I cleared my throat and called out again.
“Mom? I’m home!”
Nothing replied. Other than my echo from deep within the archives.
I trotted out of the small arctic entry into the Library’s foyer. The smell of old spruce trees and lemon crystal polish assaulted my nose like sub-zero frost on a humid day. The small room held nothing more than Little Pew (our security turret), and the counter where books could be checked out. I hadn’t expected mom to be there, but there had been a small chance.
I poked my head into the Assistant’s Room. Copper wasn’t there. Her bed was still made. She must have spent the night with her coltfriend… And probably got lucky, otherwise she would have opened the library by now.
I sighed, rolled my eyes and muttered under my breath. “I’m older than you… How come everypony I watch grow up finds somepony and I’m just here watching from the sidelines?”
I turned and walked into the archives. The crystal shelves glimmered in the faint light coming through the windows, but the lights were off, casting an air of gloom over the stacks. I shivered, imagining for a moment that Pomare had at last succumbed to the windigo and I’d come home to a ghost town.
That feeling died as I noticed a new shelf of books had been added since I left. It was always nice to see the transcription project make progress. The ancient storage crystals mom brought north with her way back when wouldn’t last forever. We would need to copy the data over to new crystals one day.
If the crystals degraded before we could manufacture new holotapes or crystals… Mom’s condition would either get worse, or she’d die from a nerd rage aneurysm.
“Mom? Are you here?” I called loudly as I walked through the rows of crystal shelves.
The shelves were nice. I got to watch one of the geomages grow one once. It’s amazing, the things crystal ponies can do. If only they could grow crystals with the right density and thaumaturgic capacitance for data crystals.
I looked up to see if mom was up in the reading loft. If she was deep into a technical manual she would be essentially deaf. I squinted through the shadows at the loft. No sign of a reading light, but mom didn’t need one.
I closed my eyes and listened. No rustle of paper. No quiet murmurs. She wasn’t reading.
She must be in our quarters.
I turned and walked through the archives into the house-portion of the library. The faint click of a well-oiled ratchet echoed through the narrow hallway from Mom’s workshop. I smiled and walked up to the slat-timber door and knocked quietly.
No response.
I smiled. Of course. She’s too invested. There's only one thing to do now.
I closed my eyes and waited for the sound of clicking to change. I had to time things just right and reach her between tasks.
The clicking stopped. I heard a mechanical hum and the sound of metal scraping against plastic. Mom’s half-way-normal synthesized voice murmured something in a loving tone. I strained my ears to listen.
“There we are. All better! Now don’t you let yourself get rusted up again, little mister,” Mom cooed.
I smiled and shook my head. The odds of mom working on anything with a spirit in it which could understand her were so low… She always talked to everything she fixed. I knew for a fact her mentor had trained her in the basics of shamanism, and she should know which items held spirits and which didn’t, as well as which spirits were powerful enough to talk with and which certainly weren’t.
She saw them in everything. Heard them, too. The few Shamen we had up here had tried and failed for years to determine if she was hearing something they couldn’t, or if it was another of her symptoms. Spoiler, it was a symptom.
I pushed the door to mom’s workshop open and stepped inside. She looked the same as she always did. Her old oil-stained red robe with faded gold trim concealed most of her body, allowing only her chrome plated biomechanical wings and six spindly cybernetic arms to be seen.
It’s amazing how many people mistake her for a robot on first sight.
“Hi, mom! I’m home,” I called loudly.
Mom looked up form her workbench where she had been replacing a rusted out leaf spring on a wheelbarrow which my own shamanistic senses showed me was completely spirit-free. As she turned towards me I could see the last bits of her original cyan fur around her mouth and jaw as she smiled. She had been so pretty once… A shame she couldn’t handle being made of something as easily damaged as meat.
“Gears! How are you, honey?” Mom’s unusually thin lips turned down slowly as she tried to understand that which was beyond her now. “Wait, you left? When? You were here a minute ago… Weren't you?”
I shook my head. “No mom. It’s been a week. Can you remember how many things you’ve done today?”
Mom nodded. “Of course I can. I left work with you, met your father, then we fled Fillydelphia when the sirens started and—”
I set a hoof on mom’s shoulder, grimacing slightly as I noticed I was covered in so much silt you couldn’t see my stripes. I must look like a gray earth pony mare right now… Note to self, take a bath after saying hi to dad.
“Mom, do you really think all of that can happen in one day?”
Mom’s frown deepened as she raised a silver hoof to her lips and thought hard for a long moment. “I— I don’t think so, no… No. They couldn’t have. But, they must have! I feel… It’s an anomaly. I know it’s an anomaly…. Perhaps I should check on— No. No that’s classified… Let’s move on.”
I looked into the distance for a moment. Mom’s condition was only slightly better than it had been years ago. Without medicine she wasn’t going to ever get much better than she was now. Unfortunately, we didn’t have anything that would help her.
Pre-war pharmaceutical manufacturing. Or greenhouses with seeds for potions. Two more things our Kingdom could really use.
“They didn’t mom. It’s been years. But that’s okay. You’ll remember one day.”
Mom nodded slowly. She was aware of her condition. Some of the time. Well, partially. Thank Celestia she could remain functional other than not understanding what time is and obsessing over every little machine.
If only her brain was a machine. Then she could fix herself. She’d planned on finding a way to replace that part of herself too, but then I happened.
Mom turned back to the wheelbarrow. “I need to deliver this to Dapper. He needs it before tomorrow and… Tomorrow has to be any minute now, right?”
I nodded. “Yep. It will be tomorrow soon.”
“Good. Days are too long,” Mom said quietly as she picked the wheelbarrow up with her spine-mounted arms.
“I’m going to see dad now. Do you need anything, mom?” I said as I stepped into her workshop so she could use the hallway.
Mom paused for a moment then nodded. “Yes. We are out of food.”
She reached into her robe’s pocket with a free mechanical arm and handed me our home’s ration card and her coinpurse. “Please get groceries.”
I took the card and tucked it behind my left ear while subtly sliding her coinpurse back into her pocket. I covered groceries. Not her. “Sure thing mom. Right after I talk to dad.”
“You’re such a good girl, Gears. I’m glad you’re always here for me… Your father could learn a thing or two from you! I haven't seen him since… This morning?” Mom asked as she looked off into the distance with a frown.
Oh, mom…
I pulled her close in a hug, squeezing a little tight before letting go. “He’ll be here soon.”
“Good.” Mom gave me a kiss on my cheek then sputtered. “Bleh! What on earth are you covered in?”
An embarrassed glow spread across my cheeks as I bit my tongue, thinking of a reply. “Silt. I fell in a river.”
That was true. Mom didn’t need to know why or how I fell in. Nor did I want to remember that myself. Suffice to say, I did a dumb for stupid reasons. At least now I knew that Feature could have fallen into the river by accident.
Mom’s head tilted as she inspected my face. The shadows beneath her deep hood bent away from her face, offering the slightest glimpse of the single glass visor slit which had replaced her eyes.
I shivered. The thought of wanting to cut out your own eyes simply because they were not something you could repair… I’ll never understand how she did this to herself. Emotionally, or physically. Thank Celestia MAS issued her a personal surgeon after she installed her own ocular replacements.
“This silt layer is unusually thick,” Mom said with an observant nod. “It may interfere with your body’s ability to cool itself properly. You should wash immediately.”
One of her mechanical arms produced a shop towel from Celestia knows where and began to dab at the silt covering my left side.
I smiled to prevent myself from rolling my eyes. “I already said I’d take a bath, mom.”
“Oh. Yes. That’s what that phrase means,” Mom’s lips pursed, the only remaining way to tell she was blushing. “Well, do that. Before you hurt something.”
She set the shop towel down on her workbench. Good. As much as I appreciate her care, being washed is just a little embarrassing.
I wanted to be snarky, but the odds were pretty good she simply didn’t remember that colloquialism anymore. I nodded and pointed to the wheelbarrow mom was still holding. “Don’t forget to deliver that.”
“Of course I wont forget to deliver it! I was simply making certain you were alright, as a good mother should,” Mom leaned forward to give me another kiss on the cheek, but stopped halfway through.
I frowned slightly and stepped backward. “What is it?”
Mom reached over to her oil-stained workbench with one of her mechanical arms and plucked a fresh shop towel from an open drawer, and gently wiped the silt from my check. Then she delivered her kiss.
I smiled. “Have a nice day mom.”
“Oh gosh…” Mom slowly frowned. “It’s been so long and so much has happened… I don’t think I can, sweetie. But I promise I’ll try.”
Mom turned and walked out of the room. I closed my eyes tightly and debated punching myself.
Damnit, Gears! She can’t tell time is passing anymore. Don’t tell her to have a nice day!
Thoroughly disappointed in myself, I walked down the hall and turned left, existing the library through the back door. I flinched, instinctively expecting a blast of frigid air, much to my embarrassment. After running a route, it’s hard to remember that Pomare’s Climate Shield is a thing.
I looked up and watched the pink and green energy bubble crackle as the wind threw ice and snow at the magical barrier. Our Kingdom was super lucky the Zebras hadn’t known about Site-11. Before the war, the MoT and MAS teams working in the Crystal City Facility set up a remote laboratory here.
Pomare’s main project had been the shield, an attempt to replicate the Crystal Heart’s enchantments, not only in case the Heart were sabotaged by a Zebrican Balefire Bomber, but also to make the Empire as a whole more habitable.
It worked! Well, it mostly worked. Well… It sort of worked. Mom often helped maintain the shield’s projectors and generator. The engineers and mages building it never got to finish it. The only parts ever built for it were the climate controls, and weather resistant shield.
Upside, it kept the town warm, and all of Lith’s farmable soil came from inside this radiation-free bubble! Downside, it ran on unicorn magic, because nopony had yet worked out a way to power it on anything else. Thank Celestia that shape-changed changelings are a functional substitute.
We really don’t have that many unicorns living here. Or kirin, for that matter. Anypony who can provide magic for the shield, does. Eventually.
They have too. If the donor pool is too small, the strain can kill you. There’s a name wall to honor everyone lost to the generator in the town square. If we’re careful, a fifteenth name will never be added to it.
Other downside, all of the topsoil had been exported from Pomare for farming purposes, or moved to the farm-sized areas on the outskirts of town. At least the gravel we used for the yard was worn mostly smooth. Still, it would have been nice to have a few trees in the yard.
I like trees. I don’t like having to walk out into the infested blizzards to look at them.
I took a few steps into the backyard, doing my best to ignore the crunch of hoof on gravel, and sat down next to the rock garden where dad was laying. “Hey dad. How’s it been?”
No response. I hadn’t expected one, but it would have been nice, if a little scary, to get one.
“I just got back from another run. Seventeen packages this time. I almost lost half of them taking a nasty spill into Wolverine Creek. The ice gave out right under me. It was weirdly warm up there… I think it’s from those soldiers that moved into the Relay. Every time they activate it you get that massive rainbow beam, right? I think its heating up anything they point it at… I know it’s not a weapon, but somepony needs to tell them not to use it to move things to Cliffside. It’s probably not a good idea to use that on a town built on a glacier.”
I sighed and stared at the storm through the shield. The ice blowing across the bubble glowed slightly. Flecks of radioactive material trapped inside the particles, becoming re-energized as they slid across the shield. Pretty. Threatening, but pretty.
I turned to look at the limestone boulder which served as dad’s headstone.
Sergeant Hydraulic “Jack” Lift
A hero and a father.
2038-2089
It wasn’t an actual grave. Queen Katydid had the real body in an elaborate diamond sarcophagus, in the Royal Garden. The surviving members of the expedition had recovered his body. Or at least, a big pile of charred meat they thought was his body.
I didn’t like going to his actual grave. Too many older ponies telling kids about everything dad did for us. Too many memories from before he tried to stop the Crystal Heart from exploding.
He succeeded, and we’re all thankful we’re alive, but I missed him. Caring for mom was hard without anypony else to help, and she honestly couldn’t understand he’d been dead for years. She’d never find another lover. She never knew he left. In her mind, he’s just not home.
I tried paying a changeling to imitate dad for her once. The problem with that idea was she had the same sense as any zebra and knew something was wrong. Turns out changelings can’t mimic auras, only bodies. Poor Feature hadn’t deserved the verbal beatdown she’d gotten from mom for that.
I sighed and looked back up at the dome. “You know dad… I’m glad to know that ponies survived in the south, but… If you saw those soldiers, I think you’d be worried about them too. Sure, they have Shadowbolt armor and stuff, but something seems... Off. I don’t know what it is. Maybe I’m just not used to other cultures? Maybe putting scorpion tails on power armor is inherently intimidating? I don’t know. I don’t like them.
“I wish you were still around. You’d know what to do.”
Dad’s voice popped into my head from deep within my imagination. “Stop thinking you’re stupid, kid! When the time comes to do something, you’ll know what needs doing. I raised you, didn’t I?”
I felt my cheeks flush as I turned to cough into my hoof. “Yeah. Sure, that’s why I told mom to have a nice day.”
“Oh, no! You did something appropriate for literally anyone else. How dare you be polite by default!”
I sighed to myself. Imaginary dad was not a good substitute for real dad.
I turned my head, making the ration card I’d stuck behind my ear rustle, reminding me of its presence.
Right. Groceries. As heavily modified as Mom was, she still needed to eat at least once a day. Preferably more, but nopony had the ration stamps for that. Not even her majesty ate twice these days.
I’d know if she did. I worked for her in official capacities often enough to have seen her use the same card as everypony else. Hay, I’ve gotten Her Majesty groceries several times.
I reached up and pulled the card out from behind my ear with a hoof. A week of groceries would be two thirds of my pay. That left me with fifty eight bits form this check, and the two-sixty I’d saved up over the last five months. If I was remembering correctly I’d finally have enough to buy that scarf with hidden pockets from Sassy’s shop. Having something with pockets would make carrying my things around way easier.
“Or, you could use those huge buck-off magic bags you’ve got.”
I smirked. That one was exactly how dad had been. “Yeah, I’m going to use work issued items for personal use. That sounds like a great plan.”
I turned back to Dad’s headstone and gave him a sad smile. “Well, I need to get cleaned up and make sure mom’s okay for the next week. I’ll see you soon dad.”
“You’d better not! I’ll tan your hide if you turn up dead.”
“You know what I meant, dad,” I grumbled as I trotted away, wincing as I realized I’d did it again.
I really need to stop pretending he’s alive. Uh… Well, not alive. Capable of conversation. Yeah, that would do.
As I walked back inside and headed to the bathroom I remembered just how much that one pegasus soldier went nuts over our running water. Every town in Lith had running water. My heart went out to anypony surviving in the Heartlands.
I’d happily kill for a hot shower and warm house at the end of the day.
☢★★◯★★☢
After a long shower I went straight for the market. Very few people in Lith got permission to purchase what they need to leave their village. There’s simply not enough survival equipment to go around.
I was one of the few people who could appreciate just how much of a difference Pomare’s shield bubble made. Here ponies, changelings, and kirin could be outdoors without being bundled up and miserable. So they did.
Foals played in the streets. Older ponies hung out in their gravel yards, talking or working on mutual projects together. Heck, I could hear street musicians playing in the square down the road.
The only other towns in all of Lith with street musicians was Stable Town, and Sunny Pastures. Stable Town didn’t count. It was a Stable. Everything was inside, with heaters. Sunny Pastures was a ghoul town, one deep in the bloodice. The ghouls living up there weren't bothered by the cold anymore.
I loved sunny days like today. They bathed the town’s crystal buildings in prismatic rainbows.
The sunlight streaming through the Climate Shield came down in shafts of light which made the whole town shine and sparkle. Every building in Pomare was at least half made from crystals. Partly because we had a ton of crystal ponies who could provide us with nearly endless “bricks”, and partly because paint was way more expensive than having your friend make a few crystals green in exchange for a hot meal and a drink.
Still, as pretty as crystal buildings were, most everything in town was built for practicality. I understood that time was money and we had precious little to spend on any one thing, but wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to look at bland stodgy buildings all the time? We’ve had power, water, and communications for… Well, forever now.
It’s not like we can get more food by making architects farm in their gravel covered gardens.
We could at the very least have some crystal ponies replace the slate flagstone streets with crystal cobbles. Anything that doesn't make the town look like a bunch of gems a giant pony dropped haphazardly around a big concrete fort.
I turned my head to look at Site-11. The fort clearly didn’t belong here. It was a big square box with a decidedly Late Classical Equestrian look to it. Towers. Battlements. All those old and obsolete fortification flourishes, like spiked parapets and murder holes. It’s not something the Crystal Empire would have built.
Well, I mean, they didn’t build it. Equestrian ponies did. But they could have had it match the local architecture. At the very least we’d made it our own over the years. The old fort had a distinctly Lithin look to it now.
We hadn't painted it or anything, though Her Majesty could probably afford to. No, we just built several additions onto it and then parked a few airships overhead, when we ran out of horizontal space to expand the fortress.
I could see just a little bit of the changeling formicary from where I was. The fort’s northern wall and main bulk now mostly obscured the greenish edifice of wood pulp, rock, and dross cement structure behind it. Especially thanks to the extra four floors crystal ponies had grown over the old fort’s walls and towers.
The Zebras were the ones whose magic allowed the fort to stay together in spite of the massive weight of crystal pressing down on it. Shamanism, hay yeah! We’d also done most of the security enchantments. The fort wasn’t where Her Majesty lived, but it was still our capitol building. It had to be secure. Just in case.
There were also the warehouses. I couldn't see them over the rooflines of the homes and businesses in the way, but I knew that the southern wall had a ton of the classic pony style timber and rock structures built next to them, close enough to be considered a part of the fort itself. That was the unicorn and earth pony contribution.
Her Majesty's contribution was in the air. The CIS Meganeuropsis, an airship so massive that other airships dreamed of growing up to be half its size.
They said it was three times the size of a Thunderhead, but, well, I’d never seen one to make the comparison. All I know is it was huge, easily an eighth of Pomare’s size. Which made sense. It was an airship carrier, after all.
The Meganeuropsis had a ton of hangars, and even a shipyard in it to repair or construct other airships, up to and including battlecruisers.
Well, not so much in it as under it. The Meganeuropsis was shaped like a dragonfly and a crab had a bloated flying foal together. The six legs bristled with weapons blisters, but the insides were lined with tools and access hatches. When curled up they formed a shipyard, that was pretty much the only part of the old ship which was in full working order these days.
The Meganeuropsis had been the pride of the Changeling Empire back before the war. Towards the end of the Great War, Queen Chrysalis had given in and allied with Equestria to prevent her changelings from starving. They became a target for the Zebras over that, naturally.
When the megaspells fell, it was the only splinter of their empire to survive. Every bug alive today was descended from someone who had been on board.
Queen Katydid used it as her residence. As Chrysalis's direct descendant, it was rightfully hers.
It would be nice if the other airships in our fleet could be used for transporting mail. Maybe in a decade or two our fleet will be big enough for that. Right now our fleet was tied up with bulk shipping of raw materials and basic goods, as well as keeping the towns as monster free as possible.
I wasn’t about to complain about that.
One day, when we had enough spare metal in the warehouse to make another dozen airships or so, we could start sending letters and small packages by air instead of by hoof. I certainly wouldn't complain about that, either.
I resumed my walk up the street and giggled as a memory came back to me. When those soldiers had been staying in Pomare, I’d overheard one of them talking about the Meganeuropsis. She had been genuinely terrified at the idea of having to fight that thing if we turned out to be hostile.
Silly pegasus. Lith doesn’t give a buck about what you are, so long as you’re not a windigo. Or starvation. Or bandits. Or starvation.
I winced and stopped mid-stride. I really hoped they were not bandits. Sure, only twelve of the platoon they sent up to scout the North had made it through the windigos alive, but they spoke like they had a whole army. A whole army of ponies rich enough to equip their scouts in power armor.
Scouts. In power armor.
What would their shock troopers have? War golems? War Striders? Tanks?
“Gears!”
The excited mare’s voice snapped me out of my worried woolgathering. I frowned as I turned to search for the voice. I didn’t recognize it. It wasn’t unusual for ponies I didn’t know to know my name. After all, I was their postmare.
My eyes landed on a voluptuous gray earth pony mare waving at me from outside The Granary.
Great. I’d been so lost in thought I’d almost walked right past the grocery store. The only grocery store. I’d have to thank… Whoever this was.
I waved back and trotted up to her. She had a long flowing mane of lush silky black hair that instantly made me jealous. My mane did the normal zebra thing, and stuck straight up to form a short mohawk which I tried to keep well groomed.
I gave the mare a friendly smile. “Hello. I’m sorry, do I know you?”
The mare grinned ear to ear in an eerily familiar way and—
She turned to show me the symbol on her flank, a simple pair of 1/8th musical notes crossed over a cello’s bow.
It was Odonata. She’d found a new pony form she liked.
I swear if it was legal for changelings to use a cutiemark other than the one on their ID I’d never know who was themselves and who was Odonata.
I facehooved. “Dang it! I didn’t see your cutiemark.”
Odonata giggled. “I’m surprised you heard me at all! You looked like a real space cadet. When did you get back?”
“Just now,” I said with a weary smile. “I can hang out later. Right now I need to get groceries. Thanks for reminding me where the store is…”
Odonata bit her lip to hold back a joke. She failed. “Well, with how often you leave town it’s no wonder you forget where things are.”
I felt my face scrunch up as I worried about whether or not to tell her what was really bothering me. Odonata’s eyes softened as she noticed my expression. She put a hoof on my shoulder.
“It’s something serious, isn’t it? Is… Is Her Majesty angry enough with the Enclave to declare war?”
My ears stood straight up at that remark. “What?! Celestia above! What did I miss?”
“You didn’t hear?! How—” Odonata closed her eyes for a long moment to compose herself. “You were delivering the mail. Of course you didn’t hear. ”
“What happened?” I begged, my eyes looking into hers as pleadingly as I could make them.
“Well, remember how they promised us a ton of new seeds and farm things if we helped them fix the Relay?”
I nodded. “And if we gave it to them. Yes, I remember.”
“Right, well… They aren't paying up. They have some lame excuse like ‘Oh, it’s all locked in a vault and we don't have the codes yet.’ You know, that kind of horseapples,” Odonata summarized with a bitter sneer.
“You’re kidding me,” I groaned and shook my head. “I don’t have any idea what Her Majesty is going to do about this… She’ll probably give them a little more time before anything, to be honest…”
I paused for a moment then looked around to make sure nopony would overhear. The street wasn’t clear in both directions, but everyone was busy with their own conversations.
I leaned closer to Odonata. “To be completely honest, even if they are in real Shadowbolt power armor, I don’t trust them. Never did. Something about them really unnerves me and I can’t put a hoof on it.”
Odonata blinked in surprise. “You? They unnerve, you?”
“Yes.” I said with a sigh. “I’m not indestructible. I’m afraid of plenty of things.”
“You, who once stared down a Windigo just to get a package you dropped back?” Odonata asked incredulously.
That wasn’t a fair comparison. Windigo couldn’t actually see me. Well, they could. They just didn’t think of me as food. Windigo ignore anything that’s not food.
“You do know they don’t want to eat me, right?” I asked suspiciously.
Odonata waved a hoof in dismissal. “It could still freeze you solid in an instant if you upset it by taking away its new toy.”
“That’s why I waited for it to get bored with the package and leave,” I explained. “But, yes. They unnerve me. Uh, the soldiers. Not Windigos.”
Odonata nodded slowly. “I… I’ll keep that between us. Nopony I know would be comforted to know a Courier was afraid of something.”
I smiled. “Come on, Odonata, we’re not that badflank. We’re just postal ponies.”
“Postal ponies who walk the wastes every week and almost always come back alive…” Odonata replied with a blank look on her face.
Don’t bring up her sister’s disappearance. Don’t bring up her sister’s disappearance. Don’t bring up—
“N— Not always…” I said quietly, giving the back of my head a slow scratch of awkwardness.
Odonata nodded and flinched as she began to taste the sudden negative turn in my emotions. “I know. It’s okay, Gears. You don’t need to feel awkward… In fact, please don’t. That tastes terrible.”
Darn changelings and their empathic sense! I’m trying to avoid being awkward over here!
“I still feel really bad that Feature didn’t make it back,” I sighed and looked down at the granite cobbled sidewalk. “I’ve searched all around her old route. There’s nothing. It’s like she vanished into thin air!”
Odonata nodded. “I know. It’s okay. It’s been five years. You don’t have to blame yourself.”
“But I—”
“You helped her get the job, yes. It’s not your fault she’s gone. It’s okay,” Odonata said as she set a hoof on my shoulder again. “Sometimes the wasteland just takes ponies.”
I looked into her eyes. “I promise I’ll never stop looking for her… Or her body.”
“I appreciate that,” Odonata said as she let go of my shoulder and looked up the street. “I have to get going. I promised the gang we’d practice some of those new songs we got off the pipbuck.”
My jaw dropped at the word pipbuck. “Woah! Stable Town is finally trading those?!”
I want one!
Odonata shook her head. “No. Qin traded for it with one of the Enclave soldiers. It has a ton of old songs on it! Some of them aren't even in your mom’s collection.”
Darn… Ah well.
I smiled. “Well, that’s good news! At least we got something from them th—”
I froze mid sentence as the enormity of what Odonata was saying finally dawned on me. “Wait, what the hay did you trade to them that’s worth a pipbuck?!”
Odonata smirked. “Wellll… If I tell you you’ll get mad.”
I felt my lips pull downwards. “Odonata…”
She sighed. “Oh, alright… Quin, Truffle, and I did something for him that only changelings can.”
I groaned and held my head in my hooves. “Please tell me you kept things tasteful.”
She nodded eagerly. “Oh we did! His love was just the best! Remember that time we had smoked salmon? It was like that with a bit of—”
“Who did you imitate for it?” I asked, knowing already exactly what she did. There was only so many forms they all knew which a foreigner would want to have an evening with.
“We let him have a romantic evening with Equestria’s three Princesses,” Odonata admitted with a shy blush. “S--Sorry. I know you feel we should not use their shapes for fun, but—”
I sighed and shook my head, groaning as I did my best to rationalize what she'd done. “No… No I get it… It was for a pipbuck. Just.. Please don’t have a fourway as the Princesses again! If the legends are true, and they really were goddesses, if they ever reincarnate they’ll buck your plot into orbit! I don’t want to lose a friend to angry gods.”
Odonata sighed. “Don’t worry, we really did only take him on a dinner date… It was supposed to end in sex, but he chickened out. Still gave us the pipbuck though. For the record, I am completely certain that Princess Cadence wouldn’t have minded if we had taken him to bed in her body.”
“Well, obviously not. But the other two would have!”
“If that’s how they felt, they shouldn’t have been so pretty and left so many glamor shots everywhere for changelings to study their forms from,” Odonata joked as she turned to leave, waving a hoof goodbye. “I’ll see you either later today or tomorrow, okay?”
“It’s a date,” I replied.
Odonata turned around excitedly. “Is it?!”
My ears lay back as I gave her my best deadpan stare. “After all these years, that joke isn’t funny anymore.”
Odonata smirked. “Oh come, on! I don’t have to be a mare while we go out. You know I just fill out mare forms better. I can do both. Even both at once if you’re feeling fun!”
“Yeah, but you’re definitely a mare in your head,” I said while doing my best to not mention that I nearly went out with her sister.
By nearly, I mean I almost got the courage up to ask her out. Then she vanished. It’s like I’m cursed or something.
I don’t like mares that way. Feature was an exception, because, well, she acted like a stallion. She preferred transforming into stallions because stallions like to do stallion stuff with other stallions and that’s what she liked to do.
Changelings and gender is a situation so full of asterisks that I’ve decided that having a crush on one doesn't make me gay. Yes, even though all changeling drones are female. That’s just how bugs are, and they can be anything they like. So for them it’s what’s in their heads that matter and—
Odonata gently booped my nose to snap me back to reality where she was nose to nose and staring at me with a smirk on her face. “You were internally justifying having a crush on Feature again, weren't you?”
“Shush,” I grumbled as I looked away from her eyes.
“It’s alright. I’m well aware that romantic relationships are different for ponies… Though it would be nice if you’d take me to lunch sometime. Because we’re friends.”
“You just said you know that would be sexual for me…” I muttered, pawing at the ground with one hoof.
“A pony lunch, silly,” Odonata said with a laugh. “Bye for real this time. Good luck with your shopping, the store’s almost out.”
I swore under my breath and bolted inside the store. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier! And sure, we can have lunch tomorrow, bye!”
I ducked into the store and took a minute to adjust to the much dimmer light inside. Once I was able to see properly, I looked around The Granary’s interior. The wooden shelves and bins which often contained at least a few pre-portioned bags of carrots, potatoes, grasses, a few of the more more tasty types of fungi and algae, and if we were lucky some salmon, were by and large, woefully empty.
The store was almost completely cleaned out.
My ears fell as I walked through the shelves. My hooves clicked on the crystal floor, and without produce to dampen the sound, each hooffall echoed maddeningly across the store.
It took five minutes of walking to find a shelf with anything on it. Unfortunately for mom, it was the trail ration shelf. Pemmican. Nothing but last year’s pemmican.
A literal brick of dried radhare meat mixed with fat and a bunch of cloudberries. Very very few ponies like to eat that, even those who enjoy meat. I’ve seen plenty of other Couriers go hungry instead of eating it.
On the other hoof, I’ve seen what mom does to raw ingredients when she’s hungry.
I picked up six bags of the stuff. Anymore and my ration card would be stamped twice, and they only give you one every three months.
With just a little difficulty, and a lot of wishing I had off-duty-saddlebags, I carried the bags over to the counter. Mister Till was waiting for me when I arrived. The older unicorn stallion leaned against the countertop, his brown fur almost perfectly blending into the wood.
I sighed and nodded at the pemmican. “Just this in stock. What happened?”
Mister Till’s gray aura plucked my ration card from behind my ear and set it on the countertop in front of him. “We lost an airship four days ago. It was carrying food from Chilltop. Her Majesty has sent a team to investigate and recover anything they find. They have not returned yet.”
I nodded slowly. “Well… Any idea when you’ll have anything else in stock?”
“An emergency shipment is scheduled for the day after tomorrow,” Mister Till said as he stamped my ration card and floated it back into place behind my ear for me. “Unfortunately, I’ve pre-stamped people for the entire expected supply already. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait at least two weeks.”
I glanced at the bags of pemmican and then set my coin purse on the counter with a sigh. “How much do I owe you?”
“Seventy eight bits.”
I blinked. Seventy eight? It should be fifty eight bits for premium groceries. Six bags of pemmican should be around forty bits at the most!
A surge of anger flared up in my heart at the price hike. I quickly buried it. “Mister Till, you and I both know this stuff has been sitting there for a year.”
“Pemmican is good for up to thirty years. It’s not a problem.” Mister Till said with a huff. “I’ve stamped the card. You have to pay… Or go without groceries for a week.”
I closed my eyes for a long moment, doing my best to control my emotions. It wasn’t the first time I’d wanted to draw my pistol and put a bolt in the greedy old unicorn’s brain. I never would, but this living embodiment of everything wrong with capitalism would deserve it if I did.
Honestly! Raising prices when we already have strict food rationing just because of an airship accident…
I waited as Mister Till counted out the coins. I didn’t like the new bits. We’d run out of gold, so Her Majesty ordered all gold bits rounded up, and had them melted into little beads which they grew crystals around. Different color crystal, different denominations.
Most ponies thought they looked pretty. I, and many other zebras, didn’t like them. Gold and crystal together can attract some very nasty spirits if you’re unlucky. It makes the perfect home for certain... Things.
Mister Till counted each coin out one at a time, annoyingly taking the single bit coins first, so I wouldn’t be able to easily pay for things and need to get change, if they even had change, the next time I shopped.
“Well, everything is in order,” he said as he pushed my coin purse back over the counter. “See you next week.”
I nodded gruffly, took my money, shouldered my mother’s food, and left without a word. Unfortunately, getting angry at the one guy legally permitted to sell bulk food is a bad idea.
I smiled as I left the shop. He was a jerk, but he was getting to be a very old unicorn. I wouldn’t have to put up with him for much longer.
Besides, as tough and poor tasting as pemmican was, mom would be able to eat this week. At least, she could if I didn’t have any. That was more than acceptable to me.
☢★★◯★★☢
The library door creaked as I walked inside. The pleasant creek made me smile, just like it did every time.
This time the library was lit. Somepony had gone to each lantern and given it just enough magic to glow a pale yellow. Copper was here. Good, I wouldn’t have to open the library for her.
I closed the door behind me and began trotting through the entry into the foyer, intending to put the food in the refrigerator. I’d made it no further than three steps when a familiar snow white kirin stumbled awkwardly out of the assistant’s room, her copper colored mane more than a little disheveled.
Yep. She’d gone to see her special somepony and stayed the night. Lucky…
“Gears!” She called with a smile. “Hold on, your mom left you something.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Left me something?” I said as I trotted up to the book checkout counter.
“Yeah! She got called away about twenty minutes ago. The Bubble needs some tee-el-cee and the usual guy’s out looking at some crashed airship.” Copper babbled, her horn glowing as she sifted through her room’s clutter with her magic, searching for whatever mom had left behind without going back into her room.
I was just about to offer to go in and get it for her when she pulled a small bundle wrapped in brown paper from the depths of her room and floated it out in front of my face. “Tadah!”
I plucked the package from the air with my hoof and gave the knotted string a quick tug with my teeth to untie it. The paper fell away revealing a letter, and a small bundle of deep red cloth.
My eyes widened. My heart skipped a beat.
No. No way she had remembered!
I gave the bundle of cloth a flick. It unrolled into a long scarf, complete with small hidden pockets all along the inside. This was a Sassy Saddles’ Secret Scarf, in the exact color I wanted! I could tell by the impossibly fine stitching on the hem. Only Sassy herself was capable of work that detailed.
She’d been nearly a hundred years old when the Pink Cloud turned her into a ghoul. A century of experience and being melded with a sewing machine produced a ghoul who didn’t make clothes, she made art!
The note! I pulled my eyes away from the scarf and looked down at it.
Whirling Gears,
My Little Girl
My LibraryI’m not sure, but I think you said you wanted this. So I bought it for you. I know you bought lunch all 13,018 times we’ve had it today. You deserve nice things too.
Mom, PhD
Chief Researcher
MAS Fillydelphia Laboratory,
Cybernetics and Robotics Dpt.P.S.
Something is wrong with the clocks. Could you look into it? It’s mystifying to me.
I smiled, my heart soaring. She remembered something other than work! She’s still signing letters to me with her credentials and doodling MAS stationary shapes on her notes, but she remembered something!
“I love you mom,” I said softly as I folded up the note and put it into one of the scarf’s pockets.
Copper smiled happily. “I’m glad she did something for you! Uh, I don’t mean to pry, but is that the second time?”
“Fifth,” I corrected proudly as I wound the scarf around my neck.
A little extra warmth was well worth pockets, and having a little non-white, non-black color on my body.
The library’s radio chose that moment to chirp three times, indicating that someone official was calling. I gestured to Copper, and then to the radio beneath the library’s counter, and went to pick up my bags. Copper cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and quickly murmured a few vocal warm ups under her breath.
I had just stepped into the archives when I heard her pick up the hoofset. “Black Swan’s Library, how may I help you?”
A stallion’s voice murmured something I didn’t quite catch due to trying to avoid knocking a bag into a bookshelf.
I managed to make six more steps before Copper inevitably called me. “Gears? It’s for you!”
I sighed. Of course it was. Nopony called for me before my departure shift unless there was work to be done right away… And I hadn’t even gotten five minutes to relax yet! Hopefully someone just needed a book delivered across town.
I set down the bags and put our ration card atop them. “Can you take these bags to the pantry for me then?”
“Of course,” Copper said, trotting into view quickly.
A few quick steps brought me to the radio. It was a nice one. Hoof made by our local artisans. After all, the library often had to transmit digital information to remote terminals. We needed a powerful and well built radio for that.
I picked up the hoofset and cleared my throat. “Whirling Gears, speaking.”
“Courier Gears,” a stallion said in that special tone ponies reserve for delivering orders. “Her Majesty Queen Katydid requires the services of her Courier for a special assignment. Do you consent to immediate teleportation?”
I nearly dropped the hoofset in shock. While teleporting a pony from across town to her side is something Her Majesty can do, she only did so if she didn’t want anypony knowing she was meeting with someone.
Since that someone was me, or at least, a royal Courier, it meant she had sensitive information to send. If the Enclave had really given us the shaft on our trade deal, I might just be delivering instructions to the Lord Mayors to prepare for war!
“Y— Yes! Go ahead.”
“Do you have your bags and strider on you?” the stallion asked.
“No. Should I fetch them?” If I would definitely need a strider, that meant a trip into deep snow. The routes between towns were mostly clear this time of year. It couldn’t be wartime orders.
“Please do.”
I gulped and put down the hoof set. This was bad. Very bad. Whatever had to be delivered, it needed to leave Pomare now. It must be about the missing airship.
I sprinted over to the wall hook and yanked my saddle down from it's hook. It took me longer than normal to buckle it on thanks to my hooves shaking. I’d really been looking forward to a well deserved week off. I’d have to push that anger aside for now. This was important.
I raced back to the radio and picked up the hoofset once more. “I’m ready now, sir.”
“Excellent. Please let go of your radio. Your Majesty? Miss Gears is ready for transport.”
I closed my eyes. Teleporting and I don’t mix. At all.
I saw the bright flash even with my eyes closed. An even blend of bright blue and radiation green light burned its odd dappled pattern into my eyes. A loud snap deafened me for a split second, but my nose… The things I smelled. The smell of old wood, crystal, and books, mixed with the scent of oiled metal, roses, and wine.
The way the odors mingled spoiled them, like brahmin milk left in the sun.
The light dimmed enough for my eyelids to shield my eyes from it. I had arrived.
I immediately bowed, knowing I would be at Her Majesty’s hooves on the bridge of the Meganeuropsis. Right at the base of the Queen’s Throne, in the exact center of the room full of terminals and consoles that made up the cornerstone of Lith’s entire civilization.
Everything onboard was earth-tone painted metal, curved archways, and organic-inspired furniture and features. I knew the Meganeuropsis’ interior well. After all, I had been Her Majesty's personal Courier on more runs than I could remember.
I bowed as low as I could. “My Queen, what do you need my services for today?”
“Gears, please. There is no need to be so formal with us,” Her Majesty said in her natural, creepy, half-motherly, half-lover voices.
I shivered involuntarily, just like I did every time. I was hearing both of her voices at once. Her Majesty wasn’t shapeshifted. Either she had just woken up or she felt the need to be intimidating very soon.
I opened my eyes and looked up. Her Majesty was dressed in her usual glossy black robe with the metallic pink trim, but she had the hood up. I could see the green glow of her eyes under the hood’s shadows, which was only slightly less unnerving than the ends of her legs as they protruded from her robe.
In her natural form, Her Majesty looked like an alicorn had put on a Changeling’s molested shell, or a disturbingly realistic costume. One meant for traumatizing others, rather than accurately portraying a changeling.
Tufts of bright pink fur stuck out like rashes from the large gaps in her glossy black chitin. The chitin's edges melded with the fur and skin around the circumference of each gap, almost like somepony had melted the seams closed. Her left foreleg was more thoroughly blended, growing more melded the further down your gaze traveled. Rather than changeling gaps exposing pale pink pony fur, it looked as if both sides had been merged directly together. Her left hoof in particular was a perfect merging of pony's solid hoof and a changeling's rubbery chitin.
She also had her wings out. That was unusual. Normally she kept them under her cloak for warmth, as well as some private embarrassment due to their truly massive size. Her wings were also an amalgamation of Changeling features, their bright pink feathers webbed with oil-slick gossamer. They would be pretty, if they didn’t look like a foal had melted plastic toys together with their father's old lighter.
I gulped, not wanting to remind Her Majesty that I was terrified of her true form. “I— Is there any reason you’re… Your natural self? I know you do not enjoy—”
“We are about to make a video call to our friends at the Relay,” Her Majesty informed with a nod of her head towards the ship’s video broadcast console. “They only know our more harmonious form. We believe it prudent to show these Enclave soldiers exactly where our authority comes from. We are the heir to two Empires by blood. It is time they were made aware of this.”
I gulped and stood up straight, doing my best to stand at attention like dad had taught me to. “So… Um… I’m going to be carrying marching orders, aren't I?”
Her Majesty smiled and shook her head. “No. At least, not yet. We are confident we can resolve this dispute diplomatically, with just a little saber rattling for flavor. We expected our new friends to attempt to deliver less than they promised. It is in every general's nature to over promise and under deliver.”
“No, Gears. We have a far more important mission for you than delivering wartime orders to our holdings.”
I frowned slightly. “More important?”
“Oh, very much yes,” Her Majesty stood up slowly and walked over to a large metal chest and undid the lock with a quick spell. “We did not leave the Enclave alone at the Relay. We have several changeling agents keeping an eye on them. Recent reports have informed us that we have been deceived. The Hartlands are not a place where barbaric tribes of raiders fight for dominance while the last vestiges of Equestria’s military hold out in isolated forts.
“No, indeed it is quite the opposite. There is at least one organized polity in the Heartlands. Our friends at the Relay have taken it as a base not just for the sake of finding resources lost to time to improve their armory, but also because they required a new headquarters. This nation, which they did not mention by name, defeated them in a battle during which their prior headquarters was lost.”
“So… These are more like Enclave Remnants than a true Enclave?” I asked curiously.
Her Majesty nodded and took a large sealed metal hard case out of the chest and set it down in front of me. A moment later a large pile of scrolls joined the box as she placed them atop it.
“Their forces have been greatly reduced, yes.”
That took a lot of my fear away. They had power armor, probably because only the power armored troops had survived. There would be no war machines. Maybe we would stand a chance in a fight against them… If it came to that.
“Thank Celestia,” I sighed in relief, feeling my body relax as the stress was lifted.
Her majesty shook her head slowly and smiled. “Need we remind you that our aunt was not a goddess?”
I blushed slightly and scuffed the deck with my left hoof. “She looked like one. And moved the sun like a foal with a toy wagon. That’s more than enough by most standards.”
Her Majesty chuckled. “We cannot disagree… To continue your briefing, the Enclave seems intent upon using the Rainbow Relay as their new primary headquarters. That isn’t something you need to concern yourself with. We’re certain we can’t trust these new neighbors anymore, and while we did give them the benefit of the doubt before, we shall not do so a second time without due cause.
“Especially as they have hidden the existence of another nation from us. This isn’t to say we suspect them of treachery. It is merely good practice to learn every side to a story before casting judgment. Which is why we wish to speak to whomever is in charge of this nation. Especially as the Heartlands can doubtlessly grow more food than our poor frozen Lith.”
Note to self, never tell mom Her Majesty said ‘poor frozen Lith’. She will attempt to construct a nation-wide network of space heaters…
Her Majesty shut the chest with a pulse of her magic, making it boom angrily and echo off of the dull glass panels of the bridge. She returned to her throne, settled herself comfortably, then resumed speaking.
“If we felt our neighbors were entirely trustworthy, we would send a small exploration fleet south to make contact. However, they are not. No matter how unlikely true armed conflict may be, we wish to keep our dagger along our fetlock for the time being.
“Therefore, we are sending you, a single RAT rig, comms officer—”
Rat rig? I’ve never heard that phrase before? What is it like a rat powered generator?
I hated to interrupt Her Majesty, but I had no choice. I cleared my throat, and she stopped speaking.
“You have a question?”
“Yes. My apologies for interrupting, but what is a rat rig?”
“Ah yes. You've never participated in the militia… We may have to require couriers undertake basic training if only to up the survival rates,” Her Majesty shifted slightly her throne. “It is an acronym. It means ‘Radio Access Tower’ the term ‘rig’ has been used by our pilots to describe the small airships used to deploy them. Our militia uses them to stay in contact in the field. Does that answer your question?”
“Completely.”
She nodded, satisfied I understood, and resumed giving me her briefing. “We are sending you, a single RAT rig, comms officer, and a pilot south. They will wait at the border and the officer will set the RAT up as a relay, allowing you and eventually others to speak with us from the Heartlands. Weather permitting, of course. Additionally, it will be available to extract you, should you require such intervention.”
I nodded slowly, filing all of that away under ‘important information, do not forget!’ “Thank you, Your Majesty. What am I delivering, and to whom?”
“We want you to take this case,” her Majesty pointed with her left hoof to the hardcase on the floor to be absolutely certain I knew which case she was talking about, “of radios and the letters to each community leader you can find in the Heartlands. The letters will provide them with instructions on how to make contact with the RAT rig. We wish for you to deliver a verbal message as well, inviting them to contact us for trade deals. Emphasize our technological might and manufacturing base, but always do so in a way which makes our message seem subservient, as if we were craftsponies looking for a community to serve. Make it clear we need food most of all.
“Furthermore, you are not to mention the Enclave. We do not want their opinions of us colored in any way, as we do not know if this other faction, or factions, are hostile to our new friends. Don't worry about getting them to agree to provide military aid if we require such assistance. We have done that many times in the past. That will be our job.”
I spent a minute processing everything involved with Her Majesty's request. It was fairly simple on the surface, but with many obvious difficulties involved with it the more you thought about it. Most importantly, how I might be gone for months.
Her Majesty frowned as I remained silent. “Will you accept this mission, Miss Gears?"
“Of course, your Majesty,” I decided to add the Courier’s oath to my answer to make my position absolutely clear. “Be there acid rain, bloodice, Windigo, or ghoul, we will deliver the mail.”
“Excellent,” I caught a flash of Her Magesty’s two rows of teeth as she smiled. It made me shiver. “You will be paid double the usual rate for this mission. The RAT is waiting in hangar three, bay fifteen.”
I sighed internally to brace myself for the mother of all deliveries. “May I ask a question?”
She dipped her head in a polite nod. “Of course.”
“Why me?” I felt like I was being singled out for a few obvious reasons. But I knew I wasn't the best postal pony for the job. Bluegrass was a much better fighter than I, and would have a better chance of surviving down there.
Her Majesty laughed. “We’ve known each other since this kingdom was young, Gears. There isn’t any other Courier we trust will be able to make the trip. Especially if you must return on hoof for any reason. Who else can walk past a Windigo unnoticed and unharmed?”
I blushed, my tail swishing as I tried to not squee from her praise. “Thank you, Your Majesty. But… While my family immigrated from the Heartlands, it’s been a very long time. Nothing will be how I remembered it. Especially not if a new nation has been built down there! What if they don’t speak Equish or Zebrican?”
Her Majesty tilted her head. “We thought you spoke Germane as well.”
“I can speak very little Germane,” I answered. “However, Equestria employed many griffon mercenaries in the war. There’s bound to be a lot of them still in Equestria. Griffons can survive anywhere! I can’t speak Griffon. What if they are who has founded a nation?”
Her Majesty crossed her forelegs over her barrel. “Gears, we distinctly remember you saying a phrase in Griffon at a party a few years ago in an attempt to impress a fine young stallion.”
I felt my cheeks flush. Oh, Celestia… She remembered that! Uhhh, deflect conversation!
I sputtered and took a step back. “W— Well, I… I only know that one phrase.”
“What is it?”
I sighed and looked at my hooves. Her Majesty was about to laugh at me.
“Ya mashina.” I said dejectedly.
I saw the shadowed features of her face draw up into a smirk. “I am the machine? Are you kidding us?”
I hung my head. “No…”
Her Majesty stifled a giggle. I knew darn well she was realizing I’d walked up to a hot stallion and derped so hard I said something stupid… In the wrong language.
Fortunately, the changeling half of her majesty could sense my distress. She shifted in her throne and gave me a compassionate, yet still horrifying, smile. “Is there anything we can provide to help you in your mission?”
Oh thank, Celestia! A distraction. I jumped on it like a holotape full of new music. “Yes! If I’m going to be gone for months, I would like a better weapon than my pistol. Can I please be issued something with a good amount of firepower? Preferably something that can stop a war robot in a pinch?”
Her Majesty nodded. “We had a new set of traveling clothes and a pair of LAERs loaded onto the RAT for you already. Will that be sufficient?”
I felt my jaw drop. I got to play with— Uh, I mean, responsibly use a pair of battle saddle mounted Laser Assisted Electrical Rifles?! Oh buck the hay yes!
Her majesty laughed once then put a hoof to her mouth. “The way you feel about those weapons is answer enough.”
I cleared my throat awkwardly. “Uh, well… mom never let me shoot one. Not even the prototype to help her test… They shoot lightning! It’s cool!”
LAERs were based on laser rifles, but used a special spell matrix that emulated pegasus magic to hurl actual bolts of lightning wherever the laser happened to go. I’d always wanted to get to use one, but military grade weapons are issue only, and now I got to use two!
The first pony sized rock I saw while unsupervised was doomed. After all, I had to sight things in and learn how the weapon worked… And also explode things like a happy hyperactive school filly in a chemistry lab. In a responsible and safe way. Not at all like a maniac. Nope!
“It is indeed cool, Gears,” Her Majesty agreed with the most reserved of two-tone giggles. “If that is all, it’s very important we make contact with the Enclave’s enemy as soon as possible.”
I bowed low, realizing I did in fact need to get going immediately. “Sorry, Your Majesty. I’ll leave immediately… Um, please tell my mother goodbye for me? I know she wont notice I am gone, but—”
“We will ensure she is cared for in your absence, Gears,” Her Majesty promised. “Good luck. We look forward to hearing how Equestria has fared in the last two hundred years.”
“I promise I will learn everything I can and tell you everything later, Your Majesty,” I said as I secured the letters and hardcase in my Courier's bag.
Without anymore words, I turned towards the bridge’s door and began to make my way to hangar three. I had a package to deliver… And nearly fourteen hundred bits coming my way per month!
As I left the bridge, a single thought filled my mind. I was going to be gone at least a month, maybe two. There would be thousands of kilometers to trot, and an entirely unknown land to explore and rediscover. I had no idea where to deliver the radios.
Thank goodness Her Majesty hadn’t asked for Overnight Delivery!
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‘Yet to be featured’ ‘Published: 1 minute ago’
I love the ambition there.
9405844 Thanks XD It's part of my template for Full descriptions. I like to record if it gets featured, and there's always a chance sooo...
Pop pls
Everything after this is centered
omg yes
Fallout:Equestria by Meep
This's gonna be a
Cool Story, Bro
Will all the chapters be as long as the first?
I randomly decided to reread one of your older stories, and found a surprise waiting for me! I can’t wait to read this :)
/cheering
9405972 No. Some will be, some will be shorter. If it's a major problem, I can split outlined segments into Chapters :3
9405936 Whoops! Fixed! Silly gdocs import.
Humm, before even reading I was quite confused, mostly by Project Starfall being a major part of FoE: Project Horizons which immediately made me think of Project Horizons instead of post-war FoE. Just something to note, will update after reading. ^~^
9406359 Crap! And I even asked people if anyone had used the word "starfall" for anything important! They told me no >.< Well, I may or may not change it later one. Howeaver, it is "operation" Starfall...
I guess I could call it Fallout Equestria: Van Buren?
9405936
Not my fault! I had to work and she impatiently posted it without me editing!
9406398
Well it isn't the "main" project in Project Horizons (which is why it isn't called that in the first place, I suppose) but it is an important one in that story. Just letting ya know!
Might look into this when I can.
This isn't any relation to Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons, is it? Because in that story there were six top secret projects that are the focus of it. Project Horizons was the big one (obviously), but there was also a Project Starfall too.
9406436 Nope, No relation. I had no idea that Starfall was used by PH, I only read to chapter... 20 or so. It wasn't my cup of tea. I asked around and seem to have been told wrong when they said nothing used Starfall. I will be changing the title as soon as I can get the cover art edited (like 30 min or so tops).
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Looks like it didn't take long at all.
9406501 It hasn't taken long since I published Dinner at Ravenloft.
whoo lovin this story!
Well, in gonna need a smoke after this because it was so good!
This place feels like it's modeled after the "Old world blues" DLC from NV, and I love that, also changelings and krin of FOE in a way that makes sense, yes please.
So we just have to make contact with all the major settlement/factions in the heart land, anyone wanna take bets on who gets shot first, where we end up first, and what shenanigans Gear gets up to?
Over night delivery, classic.
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This is intentional. I've based the Empire on the same concept. It's a Crown Colony of Equestria, which durring the war did its best to provide homes for displaced Equestrian Zebras, and served as a place where Equestria's more exotic wartime tech was tested, built, and developed. Pomare itself is meant to be a combo of Big MT and Arroyo.
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Old world was my favorite of the DLC locations.... now I need to pick up NV again, and I just got back into Skyrim, there are not enough hours in the day
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I don’t follow Fallout Equestria fanfics closely, but isn’t there already a NV adaption sequel?
9408091 No idea, but it's not important to this story if there is. I'm not telling the story of New Vegas.
I'm taking influence and ideas from several Fallout games (2, Tactics, and 4) as well as the development notes for the original Fallout 3 that was canceled due to Black isle having problems. It was code named Van Berun, and New Vegas took but the smallest part of it. Gears being a Courier is a nod to NV, yes, but this isn't an adaptation of NV. She's also a Courier so we can avoid two big cliches the "my home is one fire! REVENGE!" motivation and the "I'm bored... ADVENTURE TIME!" motivation. This way our protagonist's motivation is "It's me job."
It's its own thing that slenderizes ideas from Fallout games with original storytelling, just like FO:E. Trust me, New Vegas didn't even scratch the surface of VB, and left out all the good bits of it. ESPECIALLY the location of the final battle. A dam? Realy. Lel! All that conflict over a little power generation... That was just the main quest for one location in the source material. A little side plot along the way to something bigger. Much bigger.
I'm finding myself liking this more and more....here, have a track!
That was an entertaining first chapter. I think it sets up what will follow quite nicely, while also fleshing out the characters, and giving a nice amount of development to Pomare (I think I have that right). It set the tones, too. As of yet, the tones don't overstep each other, which is pleasant -- I hope it doesn't break from that; though, giving space when needed. More on tones later.
I'll be mint if Katydid isn't the best bugpone! I mean, she is pink! And pink is involved with best pone (my favorite pone, rather)! And my mind keeps wanting to change Odonata to Nobunaga.
I have a few (two) predictions on how I think characters will be involved. I think that Gears' father (I will remember it later...) will have ultimately survived, and, later on, will appear as either a minor or major antagonist. Otherwise, he may very well be out there, surviving the cold. But, for some reason, I just keep coming back to him being the villain. I'm not sure why, either. My second prediction is that Feature will have survived as well, and will join Gears as her first companion.
I found several things I really liked. Those time skips are really cute, in some strange way. Unique, too. I haven't seen them in any other story. I also liked the tidbits on changeling laws -- the one about 'ID's. It seems practical to have a more defining trait among all citizens. Then there was the teleportation: upon landing, Gears began to describe the room, and I found it to be really picturesque.
I also have a few (one and a half) nitpicks, sadly. For starters, I think it would be wise to wait for pop to finish editing. It really shows that he wasn't able to do too much, if any. Next, the name of the large ship is rather long. People are lazy (ponies, changebugs, and others, too), a nickname would go a long way. Something like 'Megan' could even be used for a joke.
All in all, I enjoyed reading about the different characters, the 'town', and the different things that characters did -- as well as Gears' thoughts on everything. I have two last things I wanted to cover, the first was a line I adored -- it was the line about Sassy Saddles making art. It was goofy, but well placed. With an exquisite delivery, too~!
Lastly, I wanted to talk about my favorite scene so far. The moment by Jack's headstone (though not his official grave). One can tell that Hydraulic has been... gone for some time now. There was an ever-present somber tone, yet there was also this light-hearted air about. Her jokes never lessened the somber tone, yet the somber tone never clashed with the light-hearted atmosphere in a negative light. You could tell her ease with talking with her father (sort of), yet the tragic feelings of having lost him were never pushed away or becoming unwarranted. I think it encapsulates what will be the tones moving forward; able to hold an air of somber disbelief (kinda) while still being presented with that nice, fun light-heartedness.
Until the next chapter, Desh.
9408465 Thanks for the review-type comment! I am glad I got the tones to resonate with you :3 Let me address thso enitpicks for you.
1. I promised a friend I would post this as a birthday gift and Pop couldn't do it in time. Future chapters will wait for him, but a promise is a promise.
2. Gears using a ship's full name, even if long, is a character trait. She respects ships of all kinds for... personal reasons. Rest assured others refer to it as "The Meg". (It's named for the biggest flying bugs ever, BTW)
Good start to this. Katydid is particularly interesting to me, I'm guessing either Cadance or Flurry somehow merged with a changeling when the megaspells dropped, maybe even with Chrysalis herself. Probably Flurry given the comment about giant wings.
Alright. Finally got some more reading time in!
Hm. Interesting start. I like "Flurry"did, she's silly. I think I'm going to enjoy this one... and poor Gears, I know exactly how you feel.
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Just wait...
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You don't have a romance tag, though. Which means... poor Gears...
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I already have a theory on who the princess is. Either Cadance or Flurry fused by, most likely Thorax.
Ah, so you did go with the tech-priest idea. I wonder if she's the only one of her kind? Alas, senility in a cyborg can get very strange, they remember events clearly, but they lose all track of time. As she said, it all blends together into one impossibly long day.
All in all, a fascinating start. I'm sure that this little trek will be great fun for all involved!
9464635 Not a bad guess :3
9464690 "How many times have I had lunch today? Why haven't I popped form over eating? WHAT IS HAPPENING?!
"
Poor robomom :c
Daaang, that's a long chapter. Not a bad thing, but certainly a surprise.
I can't say the ghoul/sewing machine is the weirdest thing I've ever heard of, but it's close. That's just odd.
As for who her mother is, or who Katydid's parents were, I suspect I don't want to ask. It's probably sad and depressing.
The cyborg thing is interesting, though I have to ask why she hasn't just cobbled together a RTC and stuck it somewhere in her spinal cord. Can't keep time? Make a device that tells you what day it is. :D
I guess that's kinda another example of how (or why) she's broken, though. Like I said, a bit sad...
They have to.
from this check
Heartlands
won't
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Outlining the story in advance kind of means longer chapters... I hope it's not that big a turn off. We have a bookmark feature to mark a paragraph for a reason :P
Well, the Pink Cloud melts stuff together, and The Last Day occurred with no warning. I Imagine lots of ponies were just at work, doing their work tasks. There'd be Canterlot ghouls with a boom stuck in their mouth forever, or with a bottle of cleaner fuzed to their hoof, or stuck to a bank terminal. Honestly, ponies like Steelhooves (stuck to a weapon or armor) would be much more rare than being stuck to a piece of work equipment, office items, or industrial machinery. (There's got to be a forklift/ghoul in a wearehouse someplace, for example.)
Who, Swan's mother? If so, yes. That's a very depressing story.
She dosn't understand that the problem is her. She thinks it's something the war did, or that Mister Silver drugged her so she'd agree to make weapons again, or that the mandatory memory wipes that MAS scientists got after projects went wonky again and any minute now her caretaker will be there to take her to the infirmary and make it all better... Poor thing :c
Ohhh good start! It took me a moment to get that the main character was a zebra but you have me absolutely hooked as to how their town works.
I like how you started this meep. You've shown us the main character in a way that doesn't directly tell us how they look. Like how you led us to infer that she's a zebra when you describe her liking her changebug friend's hair style compared to here own or when you described how the gift from her mother added some color to break up the monotony of her normal black and white colors. You did that for a lot of the descriptions and expositiony like tidbits of info. I feel like I really got to know Gear. Besides that, the idea that this group has lived up in the frozen waste, the ration system, and the Couriers all seem really interesting to me. Getting that glimpse of new things being added to the lore in a tactful manner is really neat. I really want to see where the next chapter goes, so I'm going to end this by saying thanks for the entertainment.
9491231 Thank you very much for the long and thoughtful comment! I know she's leaving this place seemingly right away but you'll get more of the north in the second story arc later on :3 I'm glad my skill has improved to the point where I can properly lead the audience to the correct conclusion without stating something directly.
Wait, that's normal ?
Indeed
This chapter has been giving me the impression that Gears is not a normal zebra
9505284 It is, yes.
Zeebs are pretty much identical IRL (Not racist, it's evolved camouflage, the patterns very so little between individuals it realy is almost impossible to tell them apart, especially when standing in groups. That's the point!). This includes the mohawk mane that just sticks up and is realy short.
animals.sandiegozoo.org/sites/default/files/2016-08/hero_zebra_animals.jpg
IRL horses (and ponies, since a pony is literally just a horse that's shorter than 4.6 feet (or like 1.35 m)), have long manes which floop over and can be styled easily.
derpicdn.net/img/2013/1/31/229556/full.jpg
This would imply that any zebra with a long mane has pony ancestors. Which is a thing that's possible IRL! They are called Zebroids. That said, like every other cross species hybrid, Zebroids cannot have kids with each other (males can't breed at all, and females have a very very very tiny chance of being fertile, but the offspring are just normal horses.)
They are cute tho :3
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Z%C3%A9brulecouch%C3%A9.jpg
Typo: "I’m trying to avoid thing being awkward over here!"
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They are these, but read and write.
Yay! This story is still alive! Just beginning to read though I did see one writing error. (But I can’t find it again!)
Oh well, keep up the great work!
9755032 I would be delighted to keep up the great work. Unfortunately, I am very ill. I am on day 16 of anti-biotics, with no real sign of improvment. I can't sleep, not from insomnia, rather I physically cannot sleep no matter how tired I am. Likewise, I cannot write, no matter how hard I try and no matter how much I know of what I want to do. I am terrified this will last forever since it's been a month since I was okay.
I hope I can continue this story soon. I need to finish it for people like you.
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Geez Meep, I didn’t know how things were going for you. Don’t worry about the story (excellent as it is), focus on recovering and if you feel the antibiotics aren’t working don’t delay looking up better alternatives for your condition.
Depending on a variety of factors, even if the medicine you’re on works, there could be an even better option. Doctors aren’t perfect, they have there own lives and struggles to deal with same as us. If you find anything that may help bring it up when you next talk to them. Even if they say no to the first 5 options, at worst it may remind them of an even better treatment plan for you.
Well, I hope you get better soon. That’s all I can really do, and when you beat it, be sure to bring us more amazing pony words.
9755517 I'm glad you, and others, care about me like this. I was able to write a little today. Between your comment cheering me up and dayquil FINALLY managing to do something to dull the pain I was able to get a little done.
If you don't mind, may I ask what your favorite moment in this story is so far?
Welp, time to see if I can keep up with this story or not, 300K+ words since the start of the year is quite a feat after all.
Shamanism, geomagic, and a pony suffering from "The Flesh is Weak"... I am digging this story already! And your mention of golems and magical energy weapons that are something different than your laser and plasma just made this an instant fav!
All in all is it a good start, not often that one see a story sat after Sunshine and Rainbows, or a FoE story with a zebra on the cover without yelling the fact that they are a zebra in every other sentance. I am looking forward to see where this is going.
Nitcpicks:
"Mom’s frown deepened she raised a silver hoof to her lips and thought hard for a long moment. " Feels like it is missing a comma or something.
" It is in every general's nature to over promise and under deliver.” " Delete that ” thingy
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I'm on track to finish before the year's out... I think XD
Thanks! If you'd like me to go into detail on my worldbuilding in the comments I can. I've got about 48 pages of just world building notes to keep things consistent, but TLDR: Fallout has had more energy weapons than laser and plasma, and since ponies have spellcraft, there's things on both sides that should exist but didn't in Fallout Equestria, so, I added them. (Hell, we should have seen "Gauss weapons" that fire bullets via a simple TK spell, no propellant at all, no magnets, just TK and like, any old rock.)
Thanks! I'll fix those. I changed editors about 8 chapters in. Hopefully at that point you'll see some improvement.
"Mom’s frown deepened she raised a silver hoof to her lips and thought hard for a long moment. " Feels like it is missing a comma or something.
" It is in every general's nature to over promise and under deliver.” " Delete that ” thingy
Tech priest?
9783588 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gIMZ0WyY88
Ha ha! Finally! It only took an embellished eternity, but I finally made it through my Read Later to here. I've been looking forward to this since I saw the first chapter get posted and after reading it I very much regret not bypassing my Read Later entirely and sending it directly to Tracking!
We've got Changelings, Zebras, an Adeptus Mechanicus analogue, crystal geomancy, a future-state Wasteland, and what seems to be one badflank mailmare! I've missed getting to read a Meep fic, but now I get to binge one!