Chapter 26: Zero Point
Zero Point
"Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
“How long can we sit here, huddled in darkness, dying of radiation and starving for food, before we must rise up? How long can we let the aptly named 'gangs' hoard the food, water, and medicine we need to survive? When the balefire erupted over the city, their first thought was to shoo us to the unprotected tunnels, while they hide in their towers, drinking rad-away like water. They do not share their wealth, or their food, or their medicine, but leave our children to die of sickness and disease. If ever there was a time to rise up and take our city back, it is now!” I had to admit, the speech hit enough emotional aspects that it almost made me sympathize with her.
Almost. Not only were there a few inconsistencies (underground was not radiation-proof, but most certainly more radiation-proof then buildings on the surface), I was also suspicious of the rant because I knew the pony speaking: one Righteous Song of Celestia's Vision. Unless there was another white pony with a rising sun as a cutie-mark. She was standing on a soapbox in a crowded tunnel while followers gathered to listen to her. Not many stayed, I noticed, and most of the ‘crowd’ just paused in front of her for a moment before moving on.
“We have fed Dise, and these gang leaders, with our caps, with our livelihoods, and with our blood. Is this how we should be repaid?” Though, I did have a feeling her following would grow as things got worse.
Flare and I moved away from the commotion down a smaller tunnel, but it too was crowded. It seemed all of Dise flooded the tunnels (although Flare said only the top levels of tunnels were crowded, and everything below was still empty.). Once the megaspell had gone off and the streets were awash with radiation, the gangs of Dise threw out all but the most vital employees, and left the rest of the citizens to retreat underground.
There were whispers of the riots that took place. How, when some citizens had been denied access to the gang-controlled entrances to the tunnels (the entrance I’d used to get underground was actually secret, so most did not look there, and instead to the entrances held by the various gangs), they had fought back in short but bloody battles. Rumor was that, when fires broke out, Ponitrons came to quell the fighting, but were beaten down and stripped for parts.
Of course the madness hadn’t lasted long, as the threat of radiation drove everypony quickly off the streets. Not that the tunnels were the best place to go. I could still hear my pipbuck ticking slowly as I walked the tunnels, proof of the ever-present threat. Overnight, rad-away and rad-x became worth their weight in gold.
Surprisingly, the first thing Flare did after rescuing me was feed me two rad-aways. Apparently, by the time he arrived for his dramatic rescue, Serenity was already very ill, and getting worse (despite fending off a few scorpions as I was unconscious), but I was doing much better because my larger body type was more resilient to the radiation. Still, it was a testimony to how badly rad-away was going to be needed in the coming days.
At least the journey through the scorpion tunnels to the part where ponies actually lived was mostly uneventful. On his way in, Flare’d had to fight his way through, and since he’d blown up everything in his path, it left us with a mostly safe (and easy to follow) way out. Which was good because my makeshift hind leg was both incredibly painful and very awkward to walk on.
Of course, considering the circumstance in which Serenity made the leg, it was basically a work of art. My mind couldn't even really comprehend the work she must have done on my leg to make it even able to be used with the prosthetic, never mind the fact it was all done while in a hostile area, being irradiated and attacked by scorpions. Once she woke up I was going to buy her as much candy as I could find.
“Watch it!” Somepony growled when I bumped into them, which broke me out of my contemplative stupor.
“Huh, I...” I wasn't sure who’d said it because the tunnel was a mess of ponies, and when I looked back the pony was gone. The tunnels may have been made for the entire city, but they were only utilizing one one hundredth of the tunnels’ actual size.
“Don't bump into ponies.” Flare looked back at me. Not that he had much of a problem running into ponies; everypony saw his Enclave attire and gave him a wide berth, though this was accompanied with a lot of dirty looks.
“I have a new leg. Not my fault...” I lifted up my makeshift hind leg and looked back at it. It... wasn't pretty, but it worked enough to walk. If you considered awkwardly limping around walking.
“At least you lost it for a noble cause. Like a true hero,” Flare said as he turned his head back forward. I groaned at the word and tried to put it out of my mind. The last thing I needed was more over-thinking about what it meant to be a hero. “That's only partially sarcasm: those rad-scorpions were a menace. Have been for year; with so many ponies migrating into the 'safety' of the tunnels you probably saved a lot of lives by removing the source. I had a friend who tried the same thing a long time ago...” His voice was... strange, almost sad, but it was hard to tell through the voice filter. “He never did come back...”
Flare stopped to lower his head for a second before suddenly walking again at an increased pace that I could hardly keep up with. That is to say I couldn't keep up with him at all, especially not with the other ponies walking the other direction and blocking him from view. I thought I was able to see him far ahead of me in the crowded corridor until I found myself in a large room that was apparently set up as a miniature market and he was completely gone.
With Serenity... normally the filly would be riding on my back, but after the fighting I was too worried about falling and dropping her, so I had let him carry her. Lovely.
With a grunt of annoyance (and pain, even with med-x my body stung), I tried to stand up taller and stretch my neck out to see better. It didn't really work, and made me look something like a fool, which I found appropriate. With that attempt a failure, I tried to push my way through the crowd. Hopefully he would notice I was gone and listen for the yells of 'watch where you're going', and find me again. Normally I could navigate the tunnels myself, but it looked different filled with ponies.
As I was looking over at one of the many stands set up (it was actually selling rad-away, and was guarded by five fully armoured and armed earth ponies), I noticed something bump into me. At first I thought it was just another pony attracted to my clumsiness until they said something other than 'excuse you' or 'watch it'.
“Um, excuse me. Are you a Hizai?” The words made my heart jump for a second. Because I was a Hizai, and apparently Mr. House, my employer, kicked ponies out of his hotel to fend for themselves, as he hogged rad-away for himself (well, he was a ghoul, so he would have been hogging it for his employees. Though the effect was the same.)
“Uh.” I managed to turn slightly to the speaker, a diminutive purple mare with a short cropped yellow mane. “I'm, uh.”
“Cause, um, if you are,” she started, looking nervous, “I was just wondering... you see. My daughter’s really sick... and I don't have any rad-away. And I heard the gangs, that they had a lot. And if you could spare some.” She gulped and looked at the ground.
“Of course she's not a Hizai, stupid mare,” an older mare said from the crowd nearby. “No Hizai would have that shabby of a leg.” The older mare waved in the direction of my new hind leg. With a huff, she vanished into the crowd, her grumpiness apparently spent.
“Oh, right.” The purple mare nodded her head in realization. “Yes. I'm sorry. I'll just... I didn't mean to bother you... please forgive me.” She gulped nervously and took a step back. “It’s just... my daughter... and... I... I need to go, I'm so sorry for bothering you.” She quickly backed up, running rump-first into a confused stallion. This led to more apologizing and running off into the crowd -- where she no doubt ran into and apologized at more confused strangers.
I watched her leave for a few seconds before she was lost in the sea of ponies, then let out a sigh. Maybe I could convince Mr. House to use some of his rations to help the ponies down here. Radiation was seeping in, and it was only time before ponies started dying, and when that happened they'd get even more desperate.
“Hired.” Flare was beside me so suddenly that I nearly jumped. “You're really easy to find in a crowd, you know that? In battle, you must be the equivalent of shooting the broad side of a barn.” That'd explain how I kept getting shot... in the face. Of course if I was a barn, it'd have to be a high durability barn made by Stable Tec or something.
“Sorry.” I looked over to him to find his rather creepy bug eyes staring at me. “You started walking too fast.”
“Sorry, I forgot about your pegleg.” He snorted. “Now let’s get a move-on before somepony recognizes you and starts to wonder if Hizai keep rad-away in their blood.” Ponies would have a harder time recognizing me if he didn't say stuff like that out loud.
So I didn't bother answering him and tried to pretend that I didn't know him. Of course, this was a mite difficult as I was still following him through the throngs of tired and sick ponies. I knew Dise had a lot of ponies in it, but it was very different seeing them all packed together.
Over on the wall of the tunnel we were walking down, I noticed that someone had painted the words 'We're dying' and 'We don't have to' in red paint, followed by the word 'Unite' in green below it. It was an eerie green, the last word, almost sickly. More than anything though, it reminded me of the jade explosion that erupted over the city. I could still see it when I closed my eyes, still feel the shock wave thudding against my chest. The colour, I was sure, was no accident.
Not that it was the only thing written on the walls, it was simply the brightest and most coherent. It seemed the public airing of grievances had been taken to the walls of the tunnels. Perhaps as a way to pass the time, or maybe because they were afraid of saying certain things out loud for fear of who might be listening. Or maybe I was just thinking way too much about graffiti.
It wasn't long before we pushed past the thickest concentration of ponies, and managed our way to what was apparently the exit. It wasn't the one I was used to, and it was heavily guarded by a trio of battle-saddle-wearing ponies. Of course, I still had that flamethrower so I could have wiped the floor with them if I wanted.
“Stop right there,” one of the three said. “What's your business on the surface? I mean, other than the fact you're clearly retarded and want to die.”
Flare took a step toward the mare and used a hoof to point at his black enclave armour. He replied dryly, “Take a wild guess.”
“Fashion parade?” was the guard mare's answer.
“Enclave, I have business with my commander.”
“Oh yes, how could I forgot what you tossers look like. Pardon me.” She seemed agitated. To put it lightly. “Celestia forbid I deny any of you anything, you'd shoot me down with one of your laser guns or something.” She looked over at me. “What's the big bitch for, target practice?”
“Yes,” Flare replied.
“Good enough.” She turned her head to the guard closest to the door. “Let them through.” She looked back at us, “Don't blame me if you stay up too long and come back all ghoulified.”
“What was that all about?” I asked Flare as we went through the door into the dark corridor beyond. On the other side of the hallway I could see a set of stairs, and light peeking through. I tried to ignore the fact my pipbuck seemed to tick faster the closer we got to the door. “That 'Enclave laser gun thing',” I clarified.
“Oh, that.” He kept walking, but I saw his head lowered. “Well, I've mentioned that things have been changing rapidly.” Yes, he had mentioned that... “Well, ever since that whole 'sunshine and rainbows' thing, ponies got all excited about the Enclave. Not the Dise Enclave, but the one that's still in the sky, started something of a civil war.”
“I assume this is going somewhere,” I said as we started up the stairs, my pipbuck clicking faster by the second.
“Yes, yes. Just listen. So there was a civil war,” Flare explained as he opened the door to reveal a small dirty room with only one exit on the far side. “The Enclave use clouds to grow food, you know, and with only so much saved up and less farmable land there were food riots, and factions breaking off, and other lovely things like that. Apparently the pony who cleared the skies thought it was better that ponies on the ground could see the sun than it was for pegasi to eat.”
“Right.” I wasn't really smart enough to question that logic, but it did seem a little bit strange.
“High General Steel Wing, the current ruler of the Enclave Remnants, the ponies that I work for,” I was a little bit insulted that he felt he needed to remind me of that, “has been in touch with one of these factions for a while.” Flare walked over to the door on the other side of the room and pushed it open. “Now we're aligned with them and we've acquired... well, see for yourself.” He seemed to be looking at something off in the distance and when I stepped out to see what he was looking at I gasped. “Welcome to Dise.”
Off in the distance, floating over the apartment structure to the south-west was, well it was, er, it was something. It was a large structure that looked like a cross between a boat and a thundercloud, only many times the size of a vertibuck, and loaded with what had to be giant cannons. Flying around it were many black-armoured pegasi illuminated by the setting sun, as well as more vertibucks than the Remnants had had before, and a few other flying machines I didn't really understand.
“That, is a Raptor Nacreous. It was partially knocked to the ground when the rainbooms that cleared the sky went off, but it was flying low and the damage was able to repaired.” He sounded a little bit proud of the giant thing. It scared me though. If the Remnants had completely dominated the skies about Dise before, now their hold was unshakeable. How long would it take for them to decide to just take the city, and when that happened who could possibly stop them.
Not that there was much of a city left to conquer. As I stepped onto the Dise streets, I heard... nothing. There were no sounds of ponies talking and laughing amongst each other. There was not even any of the ever-present music drifting from the casinos onto the street. All there was to hear was a harsh wind whipping through the tall buildings, and the loud clicking of my pipbuck.
There were so few lights. Normally there would be bright lights shining from every window and sign. Great beacons that proudly proclaimed that this wasn't a mere wasteland settlement. It was a city like those of old: proud of its accomplishments and more than willing to shove them in your face. Now it seemed dead... or deader. Without the noise and the lights, I could really get a good look at the city.
Its tall buildings were in disrepair, many close to falling over, and even the well-maintained ones looked skeletal. The paved road was cracked and shattered in places in ways I hadn't noticed before, and the great neon signs seemed cracked and half-hanging on. Overall it was lonely. A great expanse of buildings and roads and walkways, now all empty but for us. Well, there were some lights peeking out from the four major casinos, but they seemed paltry compared to what it had been.
Between the raptor flying menacingly overhead and the deserted streets, I barely felt like I knew the city at all. Everything was changing too quickly for me to keep up, and it was my fault.
Well, not really. It was true that I had failed to stop what had happened (and that my failure was impressive), but I hadn’t caused it, had I? Dragonslayer, and whoever he was working for, had done it. Maybe I failed to stop him, but it was still his plans, his hooves. This wasn't another Karkhoof, where I was the pony who set the town on fire; I had only failed to stop him. This was his doing, not mine. All of this. And if I ever met him again, I'd tear off his leg and beat him with it.
When I met him again. I was positive that once I told Mr. House what I had learned, he'd fit me up with a new leg and send me out after him. It was a long time coming, and that bastard deserved it.
“Silver.” Flare was a few feet ahead of me. “Hurry up. You're unprotected like that, and so is Serenity.” That was all I needed to get me going at a really quick pace. Despite the fact she was still wearing that black fireproof sheet (though she’d taken off the gas mask), she wasn't protected much from radiation.
“How will The B.S... er, Black Salamander.” Flare probably wouldn't know of my internal shortened version of the Hotel's name. “How will it be, you know, safe.”
“Well,” Flare said as he quickened his pace, “ever hear of a Spell In a Box?”
“A... what?” My knowledge of magic was... paltry at best. The most I knew was that when my shoulder burned magic was around. “Is it like... when you enchant a box?”
“Sort of.” He said as we neared the hotel. “I'm not a unicorn, so I'm no expert on magical whatists, but from my understanding it's a spell you put into a box that goes off either when triggered, or when certain conditions are met. Really advanced stuff, or so I'm told. The point is that after that whole apocalypse thing, Mr. House put a lot of work into thinking about how to use a box'o'spell to help if something like that were to happen again.”
“Mr. House is an earth pony,” I said. Given he was an earth pony, all the thoughts in the world wouldn't cast a spell.
“Doesn't mean he's dumb. He happened to know quite a few unicorns, and some of them turn all ghoulified with him. Blah blah blah. He used anti-radiation magic, which exists but in too small an area to normally be useful, put it into a box, put the box in the wall of his hotel and BAM. It sucks up radiation before it gets in. Takes a lot of them I hear, and he sold the idea to the other hotels, it's how he got a lot of his post-war wealth. I think. I may be making some of this up, but generally that’s how it works.”
“If there's a spell that cleans radiation. Why is it still around?” I had to ask, because that part made no sense to me at all.
“There's less then there was. Anyway, it takes a lot of energy to clear a small space, and it seeps in from infected areas eventually. The spell-o-boxes won’t last for more than a few weeks at most.” Then everypony above would have to retreat, too. At least it was a little bit of hope.
With my pipbuck still ticking, I decided I had spent far too much time in deadly radiation and increased my hobbling speed to The BS’s door. Flare reached it first and was already knocking by the time I walked up to it. “Open up,” he said loudly. “I said open. O-P-E-N.”
There was a long, worrying pause when there was no answer from the beyond the door, but eventually a voice spoke over the intercom beside the entrance. “Who is it?”
“It's Flare. Captain Flare of the Enclave Remnants. I'm under orders to bring back one of your Hizai who got caught outside after the blast,” Flare said through the door. “So you really should open. We have a civilian out here without protection.”
“Designation?” The voice replied, irritatingly calm.
“Star-Mare!” I yelled through the door. “My designation is Star-Mare.”
There was an even longer pause before the voice before the voice spoke up again. “Ah, you. Mr. House had been waiting for you...” Well that sounded ominous. “One second, disengaging emergency door.” There was a loud clangour from the other side of the wooden door for what seemed like hours (though probably only a minute) before the door finally opened. “Well, come in,” the voice said.
I shoved Flare through the door and followed quickly, and before the door could even fully close behind me, something suddenly hugged me around the neck. “Star Mare!”
“What! What!” I took a step back, dragging along the mare who hugged me. “Oh.” I realized it was the strangely perky and affectionate Tight Lips.
“Hah! And here I was betting that you were dead. Serves me right, I made the same bet last time you vanished off the face of the wasteland you know.” She winked at me. “You'll simply have to share your stories over a drink.” That was not going to happen. “But you have things to do first no doubt, and I'm simply positive that Mr. House will want to see you. Because he told me he wanted to see you. I'm intuitive like that.” She chuckled to herself and took a few steps back. “So, welcome back to The Black Salamander.”
She waved a hoof to the casino floor, and to my surprise it was different. The slot machines were pushed together with poker tables on top to make makeshift shacks, and the pit in the centre of the floor was filled with supplies of all sorts. And ponies, the entire place was completely crowded with ponies, even more than it was when all the NCA ponies were getting cybernetics.
“I thought the gang leaders didn't take in any city ponies...” That's what I heard in the tunnels anyway.
“Oh, Mr. House didn't.” Tight Lips seemed amused with my mistake. “Most of these ponies work for Mr. House, or are family to ponies who did. He kept most of his employees in rooms upstairs, but when the bomb went off he moved them down here. That way the spells that keep the place radiation free are more contained and will last longer. The first few floors of hospital and research are protected too, but anything above isn't. Mr. House is still in his room because ghouls love that radiation stuff!”
That all actually made a lot of sense. And while Tight Lips said all these ponies worked for Mr. House, I wasn't sure. Maybe Mr. House had a heart under that decomposing flesh after all.
“Doctor!” My mind snapped back. “Serenity, my daughter.” Tight Lips looked over my back and looked over the sleeping filly with an almost grim look. As grim as Tight Lips ever looked.
“You sure have her dolled up, but that wouldn't protect against radiation. I'll get her into a cleansing right away.” She gave out a sharp whistle and a pony came running up from somewhere in the casino shanty town. He quickly helped Serenity Flare’s back, and carried her off to the doctors floor. I didn't look away from my filly until she passed out of view from between a set of double doors.
“She'll be fine.” Flare put a hoof gently on my back. “She's a tough filly. Always has been.”
“I know,” I said quietly. She was a tough little filly because I dragged her through the mud. Even though she wanted to come with me -- I still wished she didn't have to be so tough. “I know.” I repeated to myself to make sure I believed it before turning back to Tight Lips. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem. We're colleagues, compadres, sisters, in a way.” She perked up. “Speaking of friends, you're super lucky, did I ever tell you that?” No, and probably for a reason. “Because your friend, Pearls, or, whatever. She got here just in the nick of time to be allowed to stay, and she's been a great help. You sure know how to pick'em.” She winked at me, and it took me a second to get what she was implying.
“Er. She's just... I mean.” I fought the blush away, and just shook my head.
“Oh good! Because I was thinking of picking me off some of that.” She paused to laugh. “Just kidding, I'm straight. She will want to see you though, but you have things to do first, and fraternizing will have to wait. Things like seeing Mr. House about that ugly-ass leg of yours. That simply won't do. So off you go.” She shoved me lightly. “I'll even let you bring that cute buck-friend of yours. Even if he is a filthy Enclave vulture.” She turned to him. “No offence.”
Even Flare seemed a bit confused. “Uh, none taken.” She nodded at this and trotted off towards one of the security ponies guarding the door. “She's weird,” Flare said when she was out of earshot.
“Yup...” I sighed and looked towards the elevator. “Let’s go see what Mr. House wants.” Probably for me to run off into another suicide mission to lose more body parts. I was starting to wonder if I was the only agent he had, because it was either that or I was the most expendable.
Without waiting for Flare to reply, I started off on slow walk towards the elevator, and did my best to ignore the stares of ponies milling around. It was clear as I navigated the mess of ponies that these were Mr. House's ponies, because nearly all of them had some sort of noticeable implant or another, and all were staring at my 'ugly' back leg in mild disgust. It infuriated me. Sure, they couldn't know that it was built by a filly in a hostile tunnel after saving me from bleeding out, but it didn't mean they had the right to judge my daughter’s work. It was better than anything any of them could make at that age, or ever.
Shaming a mob wasn't on my to do list, however, so I kept walking until I reached the elevator. Flare hit the button to Mr. House's floor, and the doors finally closed behind me; I let out a sigh.
“She did a great job,” Flare said as he put his helmet back on. “Your leg, and Serenity, that is.” He apparently saw the looks, too. “Considering she's a filly, she should get a damn medal.” What she should get was a mother who didn't drag her into situations like that, or at least one with a brain. Instead she had me. “Hey...” Flare tilted his masked head and stared at my... collar.
“What.” I looked down at myself and wasn't sure what he was looking at. I was still wearing the modified black fireproof barding that was made for me. He seemed to be staring at the collar pockets built in for easy access (having no magic sucked sometimes), but there wasn't much in them: emergency ammo, emergency grenade, spark pulse emitter, Med-X, and note. Wait.
“Was that there before?” Flare pointed at the same note I saw. Apparently, he was very perceptive.
“Uh, no.” I carefully pulled it out of my pocket and laid it on the ground to read. “Room 829. What?” How the heck did that note even get in there...
“That's your room.” It was a good thing he said that, because I wouldn't have noticed. Really, I forgot what number it was. Maybe the note was something I put in my pocket to remind me what my room number was. It didn't look like Serenity's writing though (and if it were mine, it would be completely illegible), so I doubted that.
“Might as well check it out.” I hit the number eight button on the elevator pad. “It's on the way.”
“And a little extra radiation never hurt anypony.” You know what I never got enough of? Sarcasm.
“That reminds me,” I said as our ride rocked to a stop on the eighth floor. “Do you know what happened to my BEL?” I walked into the hall and heard my pipbuck ticking warily at me. “It was in my room before.”
“What, oh.” Flare followed after me, clanking in his heavy armour. “Starscream came in to check on you, saw it lying around, lectured me, and took it into private storage. Apparently having such a weapon lying around was just asking for trouble.” Well fuck him, too. “I didn't touch it at all, but damn was it tempting.”
“I wouldn't trust you with it,” I said as we walked into the hall. Immediately I could hear my pipbuck starting to click slowly. “Not that I trust myself with it either...” Really there should be a law barring me from getting close to mega-spells. Or explosives.
“Why not? I carry enough ordinance with me to double the size of a BEL launcher explosion, and you haven't said anything about that.” I was a bit suspicious of that number, but having never seen a BEL explosion I really couldn't doubt it. More likely than not he was just trying to trick me into letting him use it.
“I... maybe.” It sort of worked, his argument that is. On the one hoof, I didn't trust a drug addict with a weapon like that, but on the other, having that sort of power on my side could be crucial. I just wasn't sure the risk was worth the potential reward. Maybe if we had a super dangerous job fighting a dragon or something. “One thing at a time.”
I really needed a list of things I needed to get done. Step one: see what's waiting for me in my room. Step two: talk to Mr. house, get a bullshit job and some new body parts. Step three: find out who is behind the attack in the Train Station. Step four: kill them a lot. Step Five: take a long nap.
Yeah, that would do. I guess at some point I should add 'help Mr. House take over Dise' but I really wasn't sure I wanted to do that anymore. Still, the last help put my brain in order, so on to step one. I opened the door to my old room.
And there was nothing in there. Well, there was stuff in there. A few empty beer bottles I hadn't gotten around to cleaning up and a bed I’d left unmade. A few odds and ends, but nothing out of order. “Huh.” I guess it was just something someone wrote down for me so I could remember where my room was. With a sigh I walked in. I guess I could pick up some of the things I’d left, now that I was here.
“Ooooh, dramatic.” Flare had a way with words. He flew past me and looked out the window on the far side of the room. “It's a nice view, you know.” I didn't know, I tended to avoid that window and just shut the curtain. I didn’t like thinking about how high up it was. “It's just... empty down there. You know, I've lived in this city all my life. I've seen the city grow and shape, I've been witness to gang wars and threats from the outside. One year there was a drought that nearly brought the city to its knees. But I've never seen it so empty before. So quiet.” He paused and turned away from the window. “I don't think I like it.”
Me either. Against my better judgement I walked over to the window and looked out from it... it was a good view wasn't it? Everything down below looked so small, and I could see so much. Was this what pegasi saw every time they flew? I could almost see the allure. That was, until my stomach twisted and for a second I felt like I was falling again.
I had to step back quickly and take a deep breath to calm myself down. I really wanted to use one of my Med-Xs but I had to ration them. It wasn't that I was lacking for them, but with Dise dying, I wasn't sure where I could get more.
“If you are afraid of heights it would be advisable not to stand next to someplace high,” a familiar voice said from behind me. When I turned I saw nothing, but soon that nothing faded and Platinum Haze stood there with a smile on her face. I had known something was in the room, from the burning sensation, though I wasn’t positive it was her. “We are sorry. Did we surprise you? That was not our intention.”
“Oh! Hey Haze!” Flare waved a wing at her, which was strangely familiar.
“Of course not...” I said softly and walked over to her. I had intended to nuzzle the beautiful alicorn, as I had before, but something was different. I couldn't reach... and for some reason my pipbuck was clicking more.
“Oh!” She said quickly and backed up. “I-it would be best you do not get too close.”
“What? Are you taller?” With her further backed up I could she see was taller, by a fair bit too. So, I was fairly lost as to what the heck was going on.
“S-sorry. Tight Lips delivered the message to you then, right?” Message? Oh! The note in my pocket. And Tight Lips giving me a hug. Damn, she was good at that. Don't know why she made it so secret. “She said that she 'had to let young love bloom' but couldn't risk House finding out.” That was interesting, but it didn't explain the size difference. “We are sorry about our size. My kind reacts this way to high concentrations of radiation, it is one of the reasons why Mother believed we would be the ideal race to rebuild equestria...”
That was different. “I'm just glad you're okay... but, why are you here?”
The alicorn looked over at Flare with a bit of confusion, “Did you not inform her of the situation? We thought we had requested such.”
“Sorry, Haze,” Flare said half-heartedly, “there was a lot to tell her, I guess I forgot.”
The alicorn cast a sharp glare at Flare that, along with her increased size, made her almost terrifying. But it faded quickly into a resigned smile. “Okay.” She turned back to me. “We... not long after the explosion, as crowds began storming into the tunnels, a group approached the orphanage. Celestia's Vision, they came back with what we could only describe as a mob. Somehow they knew where we were hidden, and attempted to take the children back by force.”
“What.” I felt myself panicking at the thought, but her calmness lead me to believe it wasn't as bad as it could be.
“It is... well, we cannot lie, we were worried. Our shield was fading, and rounding up foals in a panic was difficult for Diamond Sky and the others. We were convinced we would have to sacrifice ourselves to protect them.” Part of me wanted to ask why she didn't just kill them back, but I already knew the answer. “Your friend, Flare, he was able to save us. He used a flashbang to blind the crowd, then engineered a tunnel collapse. It did not stop the mob, but slowed them down enough for Diamond Sky to teleport the foals to safety.”
“Spitshine too right?” I had to make sure. “And, er, to where?”
“Yes.” The alicorn nodded. “Of course. The foal, was that her name? We did not have a chance to question her, given the circumstances.” She looked to Flare for confirmation on that and didn't continue until he nodded. “As for where they were taken, we are not allowed to disclose that information, but it is a safe place. Far away. We had set it up, first, in the event of an emergency, though we can say we did not expect to need to use it so soon. We are to wait here until the time is right to return.” She seemed upset by that. “We hope that the children are okay, we will miss them,”
“What will you do until then?” Who knew how long it would take the radiation to fade.
“We... we do not know. We are unsure of what to do with free time. We imagine we can help you, but we can't think that our particular help would be of much use.” Right, the pacifist thing.
“I'd always appreciate your help.” I gave her my best smile. Which was just big enough that I looked sincere, but not enough to stretch my facial scars that much. “I guess you can stay in my room for now... I won't be getting much use out of it.”
She gave a heavy sigh and nodded. “Thank you.” She seemed to stare at the floor with a sad look on her face.
“I'm sure you'll see the foals soon enough.” I did my best to sound reassuring, but really I didn't know for sure.
She looked up from the floor to stare at me with her strange yellow eyes. She looked like she was about to say something, but stopped herself and scrunched up her muzzle in confusion. “Where is your foal? We would very much like to see her...” She frowned for a second and looked over at my back where Serenity often sat... then gasped. “Your leg!”
“Oh.” I felt like an idiot for not telling her. “It's.. a long story.”
By the time I told her what happened I realized that either the story really wasn't that long, or that I sucked at details. Possibly both. Either way, I ended with telling her that Serenity was being looked at by doctors, probably for radiation sickness that they could easily cure. At least, I hoped.
“I'm sorry.” She gave a heavy sigh. “We wish we could have assisted you at that time. But, we are curious. You stated that your leg was cut off, but where did you acquire that replacement?”
Somehow in my short story-telling I completely forgot the most important part. “Serenity made it. Or rather, modified it from the old one she built... after saving my life. I think she killed a few bugs too...” I gave a long pause to think about that. “She's pretty amazing, isn't she?” How could a filly like that not have her cutie-mark yet?
“Yes... she is.” Platinum Haze smiled at me and moved forward and kissed me on the cheek, before quickly retreating to her spot across the room again “We are sorry for taking time away from your day; we are certain you have things to do. We will remain here for now, but we may go down to check on Serenity for you. We worry about her.”
My cheeks started to burn up at the kiss (or maybe the radiation she was emitting), but I had more important things to worry about. I closed my eyes and nodded. “Yeah. Need to see Mr. House... thanks, for caring. I... I'm going to find out who did this. The radiation. I'll find out why, and stop them.” Someone had to, and I was the only one with any clue at all. “And then the orphanage can move back. That'll be great, right?”
I waited until she nodded before I turned and left the room. No part of me really wanted to leave Platinum Haze, but I had a job to do and blah blah blah. I was Hired Gun, so off I went to my employer. Some things never change.
---
“It's not right...” Were the words we heard Mr. House speak to himself as we closed in on his room. As a ghoul, radiation actually healed him, so he never moved from his old room, or even bothered to close his door it seemed. “It's not the same...” Flare and I entered his room to find him staring at one of the screens on his giant computer terminal.
“Do you know,” he said to us when we entered the room, “that I stood in this exact same place when it happened.” In this context the 'it' didn't need to be explained. “My aids were telling me I should leave, yelling at me about a vertibuck and a stable, and how we should go. Reports were flooding in they said. Manehatten, Flankyard, Cloudsdale, Canterlot, Hoofington, even Trotonto... all gone. Yet Dise stood, for the longest time it stood still, halfway between panic and eerie calm. I thought perhaps we dodged the bullet, that we would survive.” He looked out his window, which I now realized was shattered. “Then everything was fire. Thousands died in the flash, and I was thrown back. When I awoke, my skin was peeling, and the world was dead. I could feel the radiation, feel it keeping me alive. At the time it was strange, but by now it's... normal.” He turned back to look at me with glowing green eyes, “Something is wrong. The radiation, there's not enough... in two hundred and fifty years I have made a lot of memories, but that one. Those early moments. I'll never forget.”
“So maybe the combination of all the megaspells going off made it feel different than the one that went off this time.” Flare said.
“Maybe. But... no. It's still too weak. If whatever went off was a megaspell, it was a weak one... bigger than a balefire egg, but it wasn't the same as the ones I've seen.” He stopped and looked directly at me, his eyes reminding me of how The Laughing Stallion looked right before he exploded. “You were there; you need to tell me. Is it true? The rumours. That the Minotaurs rigged a mega-spell to that freak who fought the Batmare?” He seemed tired and frustrated. Though I admit I wasn't the best at reading faces, especially ghoul faces.
“Maybe,” was my reply. “Sort of. Do you remember what I told you of the Facility, and Simple Heart?” He nodded slowly. “It was like that. He was the megaspell. It was like Simple Heart. Only it worked.” I then added quickly. “I don't think it was the minotaurs though... they seemed confused, and denied it.”
“And yet,” he added sharply, “I'm sure you have no theories of your own.” He turned back to his computer. “But I believe you. This was not minotaur work, if only for that megaspell technology would be beyond them. Even during the Great War, they borrowed weapons from zebras. And...” He tapped something at his computer. “Those files you sent me indicated that the pony-megaspell research data was sent to Trotonto, well beyond Minotaur reach even now.”
“Where?” I moved slightly closer so I could see he had a map on his terminal.
“Oh...” His voice broke from cocky to confused for a split second. “Eye Glow. That's the name now, I always forget...” He quickly composed himself. “It was the capital of Caledonia before the war, and now it's the largest city in the NCA.” If I remembered correctly it was also the city Serenity came from before she was with the Watchers in Dise. “I'm not sure where in Eye Glow, but it hardly matters. Never has a single Minotaur set foot into that city, everypony agrees, and while it doesn't completely rule them out, it's enough to shine doubt. Thank you for giving me this information, Hired... but now we need to get to another matter.” He closed what he was looking at in the terminal. “Where were you? My only operative close to the scene vanished for a day and a half; do you have any idea the disadvantage it put me in?”
“Uh...” I really should have thought of a decent lie before hoof, so I just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I was taken prisoner by the minotaurs... They thought I had something to do with the explosion, and didn't believe me when I denied it. I managed to escape but.” I turned around slowly and showed off my new amputation. “Not unscathed.”
Mr. House visibly grimaced at the leg, but then... stopped. He leaned in and inspected the leg curiously. “Isn't this the same one your filly built?” I was a bit amazed at his memory, considering. “Yes... yes I can see it. She modified it to work as a hind leg, that's... impressive.”
“Yeah... she built it after stopping my blood loss... and while fighting rad-scorpions. And there was the radiation...” I said slowly, as if not really believing it myself.
“I see...” He turned away, “We'll need to get you a better one... and once this radiation thing is over I'd like to set your filly up in an apprenticeship position.” Wait. What. “If she's this skilled so young, I want her trained right, and I want her working for me.”
“I... I'm sure she'd be ecstatic...” To put it lightly. I couldn't wait to tell her. “But... just all of a sudden.”
“I wasn't aware just how talented she was. Does she have her cutie-mark yet?” I shook my head which prompted him to continue. “Good. Maybe she'll get a cybernetic cutie-mark if we nurture her gift. I've never seen a pony with that as a special talent... it'd be amazing.” If he said so. I didn't really get the importance of cutie-marks anyway. I mean my special talent was being as dumb as a rock, or something.
“Okay...” I shuffled awkwardly.
“We'll still need to get you a new leg, and there are a few things I need to get done concerning the documents you brought me the other day, but those can wait until you're fitted with a new leg. I won't bother asking you what model you want; I’m sure you won't understand.” He looked at my foreleg for a second and hummed. “We really should add a sword to that. You fight hoof-to-hoof right?” I nodded. “Right, I'll have my technicians add a blade.” Apparently, I didn't get a choice.
“Okay...” I said and Flare just snickered at me.
“I'll send a message, unless you have something better to do.” His tone suggested I didn't have anything better to do. He turned back to give Flare a strange look. “I suggest going down there soon. I need you fixed up as soon as possible. There are precarious times; Dise is changing, whether we like it or not, and the winner will be he who acts first.” he let out a sigh and looked out the window, only this time he looked up at the raptor looming over the entire city. “What are you waiting for,” he snapped when he noticed me pause. “Go.”
Flare and I shared a look when we turned to leave his room, but neither of us said anything. There was nothing left to be said. I had my orders (and I'm sure Flare had his), so all we could do was our jobs...
As we walked together towards the elevator, I brought up the courage to ask Flare a question. “If there was ever a time... if the Enclave told you to kill me, would you?”
Flare snorted through his iron mask, and said, “Who’s to say they haven't already?”
Was that supposed to be a joke? I really didn't know, and I suppose I didn't want to know because I never asked. Though I'm not sure why the Enclave would even want me dead. I was also not sure why somepony would think detonating a megaspell around Dise would be a good idea either, so clearly we couldn't go by my understanding of how the world works. I just had to be confident that Flare would never actually try to kill me, and if -- Celestia forbid -- he did try, that I could stop him and kick some sense into him. For all I liked to complain about the pegasus, I'd rather see him alive than dead.
It was then, when we were walking into the elevator and I was fully confident that Flare wouldn't try to kill me, that a little voice in the back of my head asked.
What if you were ordered to kill him?
Then I would kill him...
I turned my head to look over at the armour clad pegasus. He was flapping his wings impatiently and tapping his hooves against the floor with his head down. He looked up suddenly and towards the digital sign above the door that said what floor we were on. I could hear a subtle sigh emitting from his mask and he looked back at the floor.
Actually. I don't think I would kill Flare. Instead I would simply quit the job, and refuse to accept it. My personal 'code' or whatever you wanted to call it forbade me from breaking a job I agreed to, so all I would have to do is not agree. The way I saw it was that any boss that wanted me to kill Flare wasn't somepony worth working for.
“There's smoke coming from your ears,” Flare said, breaking the silence quite suddenly. I was about to ask what he meant, but he added, “You had that look on your face like you're thinking hard. Or trying to take a shit.” Just because I resolved never to kill the pegasus didn't mean he didn't deserve a smack from time to time.
So I reached out and kicked one of his forelegs out from under him. He apparently wasn't expecting it because he started to fall. Unfortunately, he managed to catch himself with a wing and push himself back to a standing position, but I think I got my point across.
Eventually we reached the medical floor, and just like Mr. House had said, the doctors there were waiting for us. Or, rather, they were waiting for me, because they chased Flare away as soon as we entered. Apparently they thought he was a distraction or something with that heavy armour clanking around.
It was the same process as the last time I got cybernetic work done. I was taken into a small white room, stripped down, and placed on a soft bed. They put a mask over my face and made me count down from five.
---
Marigold asked me hurriedly, “What are you planning?” as I stormed out of her house with blood still on my hooves. Despite saving her from the raiders that were invading Marefort she was surprisingly unhelpful. She kept babbling about The Crimson Hoof and Smooth Tongue and such things, but she didn't understand. None of that mattered. Wildfire and Foundation were still alive, so I would have to save them. What else would I do?
“I’m a guard, right?” I stopped near a ramp to a lower level. To an outside Marefort would seem like a mess, but if you lived there long enough you got a feel for its oddities.
“Y-yes.” Marigold would know. She was always my boss. Even if she was a bit of a coward.
“Then I have to protect them, all of them.” Wildfire and Foundation in particular. “It's my job. Right? So that's what I'm going to do.” I turned back to look at her. She was a pitiful sight, with her eyes bloodshot red, and her golden mane a frizzled mess. “You're going to help. Until we can rescue others. First, I need to know more.” She seemed confused as she tried to dry her eyes. “How many? Where did they take ponies? Any escaped?” I doubted she knew anything... and I wasn't sure what I'd do with the information once I got it. But it seemed the important sort of thing to have.
“I-I-I'm not sure. I saw... a lot. Two dozen. Maybe more.” Okay... that was a lot. “We can't fight that many.”
“I can.” Though I wasn't so sure of my words. I had never really been in an actual fight to the death before that night. So far I was doing good, though, and I was strong. I would need help for sure, but I was confident. “Did you see where they took the others?”
“I... I didn't really... I just saw them from my window, and heard them outside my door. Some ponies might not have been grabbed yet.” She was right, I realized then. I could still hear a few cries from below. Ponies being corralled no doubt. There might be time to save others though.
“S-silver!” Marigold was pointing, and my eyes snapped to the sight. In the gloom I could see a unicorn with a rifle leading another by a length of chain.
“The fuck are you two doing?” The stallion snorted walking closer. The glow from his horn was enough to illuminate his ugly face. He had some sort of hideous scar that made it look like something had tried to tear his face off and eat it, but he had it hastily sewn back on. “If you want your fucking knee caps I suggest you drop the weapon, freak.” I think he was addressing me.
“No.” If he seriously though that was an option he must have been as stupid as he was ugly.
“Bitch, that wasn't an option. If you come quietly you won't be hurt... much. But if you resist things will go bad.” He gave a sickly smile, as if that would convince me. Not that it was his smile that caught my attention, rather my eyes were drawn to the faint glowing to my side. Didn't look at what I saw, save for a parting glance, because I knew he'd see me.
He had floated his rifle off the side of the walkway we were on, to bring it around on me, unseen. Except I did see, and that gave me that advantage.
“Okay,” I said through the rifle in my mouth. “Okay...” I tried my best to make my voice deflate. It had to convince him, or I was as good as dead. I leaned down in an apparent attempt to drop the rifle on the ground.
At the last second I bucked. My hind leg slammed into the floating rifle just as the stallion pulled the trigger. The bullet flew wide and rang against the metal walkway, and thankfully not into me. As he desperately positioned his wobbling gun for another shot, I pulled the trigger of my gun. Unlike him, I hit my target and his knee shattered in bits of bone and gore. Instantly his magic faded from his horn and he collapsed.
Marigold was sobbing in shock as I walked over to the whimpering stallion and finished him off. “Marigold, please.” I had to hope the rest of raiders would think the shot was from them executing an unruly citizen. The sobbing might help that effect, but it was still hard to move around unseen like that.
Marigold reluctantly stopped at my command, so I was free to speak to the pony the stallion had chained. “Are you alright?” I recognized the mare right away as Star Belle. She was always a fiery little thing, so seeing her tied up was... it was wrong. She gave me a small confident nod and spat in the direction of the corpse. “Good. Uh, Marigold, could you search the body for any keys.” If he did have some they might just work on any other captive we found.
Marigold was most unhelpful, and refused to touch a dead body, so I had to go searching. Thankfully I found the key ring on a string around his neck rather quickly, and I unlocked the collar around Star Belle's neck, and fetlocks.
“Thanks, Silver. I should’ve known they'd never take you. Not without a whole army backing them up.” She gave me a weak smile. “So, what's the plan?” She walked over and grabbed the dead pony's rifle. “We can't take them all on.”
“We can try. First, we need to free the others.” I slid the string with the keys around my neck. “They caught us by surprise. But if we arm, we can drive them out.”
“That's a plan...” She looked over to Marigold. “Is she okay?”
“I-I-I'm fine.” Marigold said. “If we g-get out of here. Alive. We should run to Stable 42. S-smooth Tongue, he can...” Star Belle looked confused at this statement. “It's the only way.”
“Well, I'm not willing to risk lives by running there and back,” Star Belle replied. “We need to fight.”
“B-but. If we had Smooth Tongue a-and the Crimson Hoof. If they p-protected us again.”
“Who’s up there?” A voice called from a lower floor. From the distance I could see a silhouette staring right at us. “Stay there! Ponies escaped up there!” The mare yelled at the top of her lungs, and all of Marefort became aware. I could hear the pattering of hooves starting to run.
“Run now. Talk later.” I started off in a gallop. I could hear my two comrades behind me, but behind them I could start to hear the rest of the raider gang converging on us. We had to move fast, but luckily I knew Marefort better than anypony. Which also meant I knew how to escape. “This way!” I said just loud enough for the two behind me to hear.
Instead of turning for one of the ramps down to a lower floor, I just kept running until I found the shack I was looking for. It was was flush against the wall of the warehouse Marefort was built in, and at the time unoccupied. When Star Belle and Marigold entered, I slammed the door behind them. We had to be quick, and they had to not chicken out, or we'd all end up dead.
“There's nothing here! We're trapped!” Marigold cried out. It took a lot of reserve not to smack her.
“Here.” I moved quickly across the room to where the bed was. I pushed it out of the way to reveal a hole large enough for a pony to crawl through. On the other side was a small lip on the outside of the structure barely large enough for somepony to stand on, but it was a escape. “Quickly!”
Marigold balked for a second when she realized what she would have to stand on, but her resolve steeled when she looked back at the door and realized her other option. After she was through Star Belle quickly followed. When it was my turn, I crawled out backwards, dragging the bed with me to partially cover up the hole. It wasn't perfect; the raiders might find the hole, but not quickly.
The wind whipped violently at us and nearly shook me off the small ledge. When I looked down at the dark abyss below me, though, I wasn't scared, just more secure in my decision. This plan was going to work. It had to.
“There.” Not far from the back wall of Marefort was the cliff face that rose above the town, and provided a great lookout spot. More importantly was that said cliff had many grooves and ledges large enough to fit ponies. I had snuck out of Marefort many times in the past when I was a child, or when I wanted to meet Wildfire at the guard house without being noticed. “Jump,” I commanded.
“B-but...” As Marigold tried to protest Star Belle jumped. It was easy enough for the small mare and she made it onto the cliff without issue. Marigold gave a short sniff and wiped her eyes before jumping also. She almost didn't make it when part of the rocks she landed on crumpled beneath her, but Star caught her and helped her back up. The golden-maned mare was shaken, but unhurt.
“Okay,” I said when I landed beside them. “Marigold. That way.” I pointed the opposite direction from where we were facing, where the cliff path snaked upwards. “Leads towards the top. You can go to Stable 42 from there. Me and Star will go rescue the others. Okay?”
She gave a tentative nod. “Yes... good plan... I... Silver. Thank you.” She suddenly wrapped her legs around me in a tight hug. Now, I was awkward at the best of times, so right then I must have looked ridiculous patting her on the back. Eventually, she let go and started up the cliff on her journey leaving me and Star Belle.
“Yeah, what she said. But don't feel too bad, I'm just not the huggy sort.” Star smirked at me.
“Yeah, me either.” I started to walk down the sloped path towards the ground. It was so dark out I could barely see my hooves, but I knew the way well enough that I didn't need to. It was a strange path, and for some reason there were a few spots on it where rusted metal poles jutted out from the ground, blocking me from the edge. Whatever they were for, when I saw them it let me know how close to the ground we were, as otherwise the darkness was so impenetrable I couldn't tell.
When we reached the bottom I took a deep breath of cold night air. Wildfire and Foundation were still out there, and I had to find them. Or die trying.
---
I couldn't have been more glad that I finish that dream. I knew where it led, and it was not a place I wanted to go ever again.
My eyes opened, and I was immediately blinded by bright hospital lights. After a few seconds of whining groggily, I sat up. My new hind leg stung like a bitch, and when I looked to the table beside me I could see an empty Med-X syringe. Only one though, which wasn't nearly enough. Still, I didn't want them to think I was trying to OD, so I would have to wait before I went searching through my bags for another. At least until they inspected me and let me leave.
In the meantime, I inspected my new hind leg. It was the same colour as my foreleg, but the style was very different. Instead of skeletal, it was full, and looked rather like a metal cylinder in shape. All along it were various ports for devices I was unfamiliar with, probably more spying equipment.
“Oh, you're awake.” My eyes darted to the door where one of my doctors stood. “How do you like it? It's a relatively new design: completely quiet, and it comes with a shotgun that goes off on impact.” That wasn't going to backfire at all... “And your foreleg has been modified with a retractable blade. There was some concern about, er, accidents.” Mr. House didn't trust me with built in weaponry, and really I didn't blame him. “So I implemented a safety feature. The sword is controlled via your mind, and simply thinking will allow you to use it, but only if a physical safety switch is hit.” He walked over and pointed to the small button on the side of my hoof-cuff. “Try it out.”
Cue me accidentally stabbing out my remaining eyeball. Actually, when I hit the switch, nothing happened, and it wasn't until I pointed my hoof away and actually thought about it that the thin blade shot out. It was about a third of a meter long, and really thin.
“It's a special alloy. It should be hard to break and easy to maintain.” Carefully I mentally retracted the blade and turned the safety back on. I made a mental note not to forget to turn the safety on. “I had wanted to perform an update to your eye, but there were concerns about the odd intelligence chip you have installed, and I didn't wish to endanger you.” Thanks... “I am sorry for going through this all so fast, but you had a visitor who said it was important.”
“About time, Doc.” Flare walked into the hospital without his armour, and looking like he desperately needed a shower after being cooped up inside it for so long. “You look good, Hired... okay, you look better than you did. You've never looked good.” At least Flare was honest. “Serenity's up, and I think she had something to tell you.”
“Serenity!” I leaped from the bed without a second thought, and the impact on the ground to my newly installed limbs caused jolts of pain to run through me. “Where?” I ignored the pain. It didn't matter. Nothing else mattered.
“I'll show you,” Flare said, stifling a chuckle. “You're so predictable. This way, I'll show you to her room.”
There were many questions I'd normally be asking. Like... how long I was out? Where was all my stuff? Why wasn't Flare in armour anymore? But who cared about that shit? My daughter needed me, so I had to go to her.
Flare showed me through a series of odd-smelling halls before he reached the room where Serenity was. I found myself nervous for some reason, and hesitated going in. She had saved my life back in the tunnels without a doubt, and I had almost gotten her killed by bringing her with me. Of course the other options hadn’t been much better, but there was that pang of guilt I always got. I should’ve been a better mother to her, but I didn't know how.
I steeled my resolve and moved to go through the door. But again I faltered. What if she wanted to leave, stay with Platinum Haze at the orphanage? That'd be a good thing, right? ...except she couldn’t know that was no longer a possibility. If that was what this was about, how could I disappoint her?
Just talk to her... a familiar voice said in my head, and instantly I felt silly. I couldn't have a pretend discussion about something when I had a real one to attend to. Worrying about things she hadn't said yet wasn't going to get me anywhere but one step closer to death by anxiety. So I just opened the door.
“MOMMA!” Came a shrill cry as soon as my head stuck through the door. Before I could respond the little filly had wrapped her hooves around my neck. It seemed like forever since I had seen her without that black fireproof outfit on, she was wearing it the entire time she was passed out. “MOMMA, LOOK!”
I did. Well, I had been anyway. I was admiring how clean she managed to keep her pink coat despite everything, but when she said 'Look', I knew what she meant. There on her coat was what she had been waiting for.
“Isn't it awesome?! It's just so perfect! Look! See?!” For being sick, she sure was hyper.
“It is awesome, sweetie; it fits you so well,” I said in a soft tone as I admired her cutie-mark. It was a much better one than mine; hers actually made sense.
It occurred to me that she must have gotten it back in the tunnels. When she saved my life and made me a leg on the spot. It made sense, but with everything that was happening I hadn’t thought to take her outfit off to check.
On her flank was a picture of a heart. The left half of it was a bright pink, enough to stand out against her pale coat, while the other half was comprised of three yellow gears and a snaking yellow wire on a gray frame.
Level Up!
Companion Perk: Emergency Mechanics: Serenity now has a +30 chance to complete mechanics checks, and an extra +15 when the check has to do with cybernetics.
((A/N: There’s a lot of excuses I could make for the slowness of this chapter. Like I was looking for a job, and I’m at school now, and my editors have lives that sometimes delay things. All are true, but most of it was because this chapter was hard to write. Not because it was a long chapter, or an emotionally hard one, but because its that part of the story where it’s hard to keep writing. The middle part of stories is always the hardest, and its hard to write sometimes. I haven’t given up, nor will I, I just need to force myself to write even when it’s hard. It’s my fault for the delay, and I’m sorry. I will try my best to do better for you, my lovelies.
As well I need to thank Kkat for creating this world that I get to play in, and my editors three for helping me out and making the story suck less; theBSDude, Menti, and Julep. Cheers! ~No One~))
Stats
Page generated in 0.034 seconds
Total duration
1,079 users online
1,588,274 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
There goes my night of gaming. TY No One!
Go, Serenity!
i'm loving this fic. Congrats, Serenity!
Yesssssssssssssssssss...
Hey, it updated! Glad to see you're still working on this -- Hired is one of my favorite protagonists.
While the threat the radiation poses keeps the mood a bit low, it was a nice breather chapter. And Serenity has her cutiemark, that sure brought a smile.
7TH I AM 7TH!
and,
OMGOMGOMGOMG UPDATE!
that is all
- thank you
yay she got her cutie mark knew it had to be cybernetics
Fall out series sucks dude
2133625: Your amazing and persuasive argument has swayed me. I shall stop writing this story I have worked on for over a year immediately.
Nice work man! Good chapter, albeit slightly short ;)
Awesome work no one. I loved it
After reading the chapter, gotta say I loved it. Especially the last bits. Can't wait for the final bits about Foundation though I know I'm going to cry when reading them
and Silver's new toys are going to be fun to try out. Also FUCK YEA SERENITY! Saw it coming a mile away but who didn't? 
Amazing none the less. High level Serenity is going to be able to look at cybernetics and work on them with just her magic, just you watch.
Minor typo right before they exit the underground.
"Have been for year;"
Pretty sure you meant years.
Hey you made it further than I did with any of my stories. I think I have Valve syndrome or something, I can't get past chapter 2.
Yay more Heroes!
SPOILERS BELOW
About time Serenity got her mark Though it kinda obviously with her talent of cybernetics as for me I thought it might be something medical as well mending woulds with mechanics or something.
Good filler chapter ......................Does that Shotgun Hoof happen to use Explosive Shells No_One? (two trot goodbye :) )
Well done another great chapter leaving me wanting more can't wait for the next.
Awesome to have you back, and awesome chapter.
Awesome a new chapter!
Silver just got that much more deadly, who needs a regular leg when your new one has a shotgun built in?
2133091
Don't worry, me understand No One rambling.
My "complaint," so to speak, was mainly due to Project Horizons' last few chapters really starting to piss me off with all the "wangst" you spoke of, and I really didn't want to see the same thing happen to Heroes as well.
I think the "Captain Walker/Silver Storm" parallel can still apply, in a way. There's an extensive analysis of Spec Ops: The Line called "Killing is Harmless," which points out that there's a lot of things in Walker's past that are only hinted at, but never actually spoken of. Sure, he puts on a mask of "a steadfast good guy," but who knows what kind of effect they may have on him behind the scenes?
I kind of felt the same way with Silver: she turns herself into Hired Gun, wears the character like that "mask" you mentioned, so she could avoid facing her failures and bear the emotional burden, but somewhere, deep down they are affecting her judgment, and are threatening to slowly tear her apart.
That, and I'm starting to see certain elements of "The Line" directly in chapter 26...
Okay, getting carried away there... My point is: I am fine with characters reacting emotionally to the consequences of their actions. What I kind of hate seeing is the character reaching a certain point in the story where they have a "breakdown," and from that point on we cannot have a single chapter without a large dose of angst and self-blame. Not going to accuse you of this just yet, since there's only been one update since then, but I really hope this story won't follow the kind of character arc that I described above.
2133625 if it sucks... then why are you reading this?
as epic as ever. nopony writes like no one!
love the story
great to see you back
2133625
Really loves how you can´t even write Fallout properly
2133687
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
2133091
And he replies almost ten weeks later. Not complaining though. You brought a new chapter with you. I'll have to read this soon.
Nice chapter. Dise is much more for my liking the way it is now. Empty and ghastly.
And Serenity finally got her cutie-mark.
Hoof shotgun? Reminds me of Ripple from Guise of Chaos.
2134668
It's an unwritten law that every Fo:E fic has to contain some kinda homophobic character.
I personally think that gay or bi ponies are somewhat cute.
Long wait? I blame curly fries.
Yay an awesome chapter where no one that I cared about died and Silver doesn't want to kill herself, huzza!
Now we just need to take care of that nasty Med-X addiction...
I cant wait to see serenity's reaction to a job in cybernetics from Mr.House haha
I didn't red this i just left a comment
No apologies necessary, No One. No matter how long a chapter takes I still jump for joy every time I see this story update. Keep it up you glorious rapscallion!
Recovery chapters are hard to write, but this one is good. The only thing I have a gripe with is the finish- it's delivered in such a way that it ends rather abruptly, and I think it could probably use a little tweaking. On another note, it seems that Silver is now in a literally poisonous relationship, so Rad-X'll be needed for more than just trekking through the burning city.
2134999 So this makes her a fusion of Security and Two Kick Rip then?
A CHAPTER?!
Seriously, though, take your time. Even if you update once a year, I'll still be following the story
2135992
That'd be...... Good lord.
Good chapter!
The joy I felt when I saw this updated was off the charts. I was shocked to find out more enclave where in dise. And Serenity finally got her cutie mark about time that happened.
I enjoyed this chapter, always a good idea to take a break in the writing to let your characters breath. Also yay, Silver gets new cyberlegs, Serenity gets an apprenticeship and her glorious cutie mark. Looking forward to what happens next, I imagine Dise has several days of recovery ahead of it.
Yay! Serenity got her cutie mark!
2133687
That's the most sarcastic thing I've read today. Well done. Also, well done with the story.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! This was a good chapter! When it updated, my reaction was, "OMG YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Man, I love this story! Keep up the amazing work, and I will keep reading it! You rock, woo hoo!
What is this! No One could write a story this good!
Terribly happy this updated! HEROES TOO OP
Great chapter! I wonder what will happen to Dise now that it's made, well, pretty much uninhabitable... I mean, this level of radiation will probably last for years... even if it was smaller than the first megaspells.
And Serenity got a cybernetics cutie mark eh? Well, House will be thrilled, that's for sure
Found a few errors:
> There's less then there was.
less [than]
> but on the other, having that sort of power on my side could be crucial.
Double space after "but on"
You also seem to say "me either" instead of "me neither".... which sounds odd in my opinion.
2135992 The Buckshot. How many ponies have one? Don't forget Citquine, from that other FoE fic I need to find again.
2147993 I've read a ton of FOE, but I haven't read them all. I only remember Ripple from FOE: Guise of Chaos having one. A simple google search reveals that the story you are trying to remember is likely FOE: Wings.
Fallout + MLP is best thing since MLP itself!
Yes, yes... This pleases the Turtle...
Good recovery chapter.
As for Silver's new shotgun leg, two things:
1. You totally stole that from Justmoth's FOE fic "Wings", and I don't mind.
2. How does it not go off while she's walking, running, or absentmindedly stomping the ground in frustration?
2149541 That's the one, dankesehen.
Nice to see another chapter, and it gets more and more nail biting interesting with those dreams, it is hard to say what I look most forward to, to know more about the past of the present
Gasp an double space have sneaked itself into the chapter here "but on the other" and a period have escaped here "It's.. a long story
But a few small upsies here and there in this chapter: "but on the other" is there an double space, those can normally easy be found with an Crtl+F search after them, put they are also pesky and are sneaking in everywhere. An period to few in "It's.. a long story". And so far I know is the triple periods on the wrong side of the space here" right? ...except she couldn’t know that was no longer a possibility" And I think that the except should start with capital... Damn my pre-reading work must have affected me when I can spot those without looking after them.
And four days after I should have read it, I finally finish. And my only thought is:
"Whatever happened to Major Lucky's letter to House?"