A Waterworld-esk Fallout Equestria Story, featuring Seaponies!
When balefire and death rained from the skies, many took sanctuary in the giant underground shelters known as Stables. However, those who could not make it to one of the many Stables set sail for the Summer Sunset Islands. They hoped that the tourist hot spot would be spared the devastation. These refugees soon faced a sheer wall of violent weather, known today as The Storm Wall, sealed them away from the rest of the world. The refugees were forced to live their lives on the high seas of Oceania.
Two hundred years later, a tribal seapony has a chance encounter that would change life in Oceania forever.
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria…
War, War never changes. It was once said that the fate of the world hinged on friendship. It was so much a fact of life that when it was cast aside wholesale, the entirety of Ponykind was punished for it. In just two short hours most of the planet was reduced to cinders. Some had the good fortune to survive the apocalypse by taking shelter in the great underground shelters called Stables. The less fortunate attempted other, more desperate measures. A rushed mass migration took place as ponies set sail from the mainland, sailing on anything that could float, hoping to reach the Summer Sunset Isles. All of them gambling that the resort islands would be spared the holocaust. What waited for them was Toxic fire and dark magic raining from the sky. The surviving ships disappeared behind a vast wall of wild weather; cutting Summer Sunset Isles from the rest of the world. The survivors would then seek out an existence in the Oceanic Wasteland.
Fallout Equestria: Dark Shores
I guess this is where you’d get the scrolling text or some narrator telling the audience the who, what, when, where, and why of the story. If the director is good, they can tell the exposition though the story without a boring the viewer. Really good directors can nab the audience’s interest with just one line. Well, here goes nothing. My name is Riptide, and I am a Seapony.
Heh, Figured that’d get your attention. Yes, Seaponies do exist. We didn’t originally. At least not in the traditional sense. We were fictional. Something you’d see in a picture book or children’s movie. We are a product of the apocalypse. The first of us, Lord Poseidon, was born roughly ten years after the end of the old world. He rose and brought the rest of the Seaponies into existence with him and ruled over Oceania. Fifty years later he shed his mortal shell to govern the seas of the world as Celestia and Luna governed the sun and moon. He left a void of power that, to this day, left the seaponies scattered and alone. Or that’s how the myth goes. He’s more of a saint than a god, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a cult of him somewhere.
You’re probably curious about seaponies in general. We’re a tribal society, spaced out in isolated parts of Oceania. There are three types of us. Just like normal ponies. We have your run of the mill seapony with two front legs, a mane and a back end like a dolphin’s tail. Then you have ones that have a unicorn’s horn, like me, and finally you have ones that have fins instead of front legs. We’re amphibious. Land doesn’t bother us that much; it barely even slows us down, though we prefer to be in the water. Just the freedom of movement under the waves, it’s something you just can’t find on land. I suppose a Pegasus might find the air to be the same, but I digress.
My particular tribe, The Reef Dwellers, is centered on a very small island with three buildings on it; The Dock-house, The Tower, and the Theater. From what we could find about the island, it was one of those hidden gem vacation spots that you’d only find ‘off the beaten path’. We use The Dock-House as a clinic and for housing our land based cousins. The Tower is first and foremost a lookout tower. Then there’s the workshop and armory at the base of the tower. Nothing military, just a collection spears, war clubs made from the coral, a few squirt guns, and a rifle we could never get working. Then we have our crown jewel (in my eyes at least), The Theater. Half stage, half silver screen. This is where we have important meetings, ceremonies, open mic night, and my personal favorite the nightly film showing.
The other tribes that I know of are the Bottom Feeders and the Spotted Sharks. We don’t see them very often. Our little neck of the woods, I think that’s the term, pretty out of the way for their hunting grounds. If we do meet them; they’re mostly admissible. Some have even traded with us for medicine and a private showing. However they have been known to pick a fight with our four legged family members. Other than them, we don’t get outsiders. In fact my parents were the last land ponies to end up here.
Oh yeah, Mom and Dad were unicorns. It’s very possible for land ponies to have seapony foals. Dad’s the one who got me hooked on the silver screen. Ever since he fixed the projector and opened up the archives. They passed away when I was still young. So Shaman Hollow Bones adopted me and made me her apprentice. Her guidance and those old movies raised me into the stallion I am today. Don’t worry there was a whole section of Educational films in there.
Anyways, the previews have been dragging on a bit too long. Unless I plan on making this a trilogy, I should probably get to the opening scene. Please silence all PipBucks and radios, stay courteous and avoid talking during the film, concessions can be purchased in the lobby and emergency exits are at the front of the theater.
Enjoy the show…
--- --- --- ---
The night is hot as hell. It’s a lousy room, in a lousy hotel, in a lousy city. I’m staring at a goddess. She’s telling me she wants me. I’m not going to waste another second wondering how I got so lucky. She smells like princesses aughta smell. The perfect mare. The Goddess. Goldie. She says her name is Goldie…
Three hours later I wake up with my head feeling three sizes too big and that cold thing happens to my stomach and I realize Goldie’s dead. Not a mark on her. You’d have to check her pulse or notice those beautiful wings of hers weren’t moving the way they would if she was breathing. She was murdered and I was right here when it happened. Lying next to her, stone drunk just like she was.
Dammit Goldie, Who were you and who wanted you dead? Who were you other than an angel of mercy giving a two time loser like me the night of his life? It sure as hell wasn’t my looks. So why the sleazy saloon? Why the kindness, Goldie? *Sirens*
The cops. They’re telling me too much. Showing up before anyone but me and the killer knows there’s been a murder. Somepony paid good money for this frame.
No reason to play it quiet. No reason to play it anyway but my way. “Whoever killed you is gonna pay Goldie.”
*Bang bang bang*
“Open up! Police!”
“I’ll be right ou-ou-ou*VVVRRRRIIIIIITT!!*
--- --- --- ---
“Aw come on!” I yelled as somepony pulled the movie from the player. The shutters opened. The cloudy light from outside was blinding compared to the near pitch of the empty theater. I hissed as hid myself from sudden brightness. My braided salt and pepper mane reflected onto my sea green coat; which in turn reflected more light into my eyes. Eyes were still busy adjusting to the light.
“Now how did I know you’d still be in here.” A soft, weathered voice came from the entrance to the theater. It was Hollow Bones. She was a very old unicorn ‘zony’, half zebra, striped blue and grey, red mane, and a splint for a Cutie Mark. To the untrained eye she looked emaciated, but that’s just how she was built.
“You’ve been cooped up in here for near two days. It’s time to go outside and get your tail wet,” She ordered. Friggin mandatory exercise horse apples. I just wanted to pick out the next movie from the X rated section everyone else was too embarrassed to touch, but nooooo.
“I was just getting to the good part too…” I complained. I looked at the projector, still spinning as if the film wasn’t rudely pulled off not a moment ago. That could have damaged the film. I could almost feel tears welling up.
“The movie will be here when you get back, Riptide.” She wrapped her front leg around my neck dragging me, out of the screening room. I dug my hooves into the wood paneling.
“but-” I started to protest before she shoved a hoof in my mouth.
“Ah-ah! No buts. Besides, we need ingredients and I can’t swim.” And the cat is out of the bag. Figures she needed something and wasn’t really concerned about my physical fitness.
“…Fine,” I said defeated. Hollow Bones and I would have these exchanges all the time. It usually ended with me giving in and going along with whatever she had in mind. She’s old, and the closest thing to a mother I had. “What do you need me to get?”
“I need an extract of a fluffer fish, some xander root, and sea cucumber.”
“Fluffer fish, xander root, sea cucumber…” I thought for a moment as we walked past the main theater and into the lobby, “Soul nectar?” Soul nectar was a drug. Medical books would call it a class S hallucinogen. The stuff was rough, but it did its job. We used it for vision quests. Colts and Fillies get of a certain age and not have their cutie mark would get pumped full of the stuff. Four out of five times you got you cutie mark before you sobered up. One out of five times, it’d kill ya; Hence the ‘of a certain age’ clause.
“Glad to see you remember some of the things I taught you.” She smiled thinly.
“Who’s it for?” I asked.
“Sea Breeze.” We went outside; the salty cool breeze hit me like cozy blanket. The sky was cloudy, it always was. You could see little pillars of light poking through the holes. The palm trees swayed ever so slightly in the wind. A couple of fillies were playing with a ball.
“She really that old now?” I mused.
“If your eyes weren’t so glued to the silver screen, you’d know that.”
“If my eyes weren’t so glued to the silver screen, I would have never found out how to treat a sucking chest wound.” I snapped back, giving Hollow Bones a gentle nudge. I was referring to an advanced first aid film I found in the romance section a month ago.
“Fine, I’ll let you have that. Star Gazer would be dead without you. Now, get you hence. I have to make Sea Breeze Ready and the sun is falling.” She gave me a swift kick in the hind quarters as she went off towards the Dock-House. I dragged myself to the tower. If I was going out into the sea, I was going to need my effects.
--- --- --- ---
Fishing spear… check, coral club… check, diving knife… check, canteen… check, shark stomach saddle bags… double check. More than enough for a short trip past the reef. Heck, Brass Bits said I was over packing. Then again he probably just didn’t want me taking his best looking club. He studded the sucker with bullet casings and carved a likeness of Poseidon into the side.
I stood at the water’s edge. The ebb and flow of the water gently tapping the wooden supports of the dock. I leapt into the water. Its coldness enveloped me. Slowly, it faded and the sensations of the sea took over. Micro currents of water, only noticeable to a practiced mind, pelted my skin. I breathed in deep. Sucking in, allowing the water to fill my lungs. The smell of the seaweed drifted past my nostrils. The taste of the salt as I filtered the air from the water itself. This was home.
I made my way past the grottos. Somepony was deboning a fish. Another couple was in the middle of flirting. I could feel eyes on me. ‘Oh, it’s the Shaman’s apprentice, Movie Freak’ I could feel ponies thinking. That or ‘Oh hey Riptide, What’s up. Bones got you doing stuff? I’d help but I work for a living.’ Stuff like that. Nothing too bad though.
Don’t get me wrong, the other villagers are decent folk. Though if you could get them to be straight up about it, they would tell you that the prospect of me being their future spiritual leader was disconcerting at best. In fact I’d be the first to tell you to be worried. There’s too much to keep track of. First there is Celestia and Luna then you got the Zebra faith. On top of that we got Poseidon’s worship.
I sighed as I reached the edge of the reefs. --- --- --- --- Fluffy.
Fluffer fish are fluffy. However they are also very, very poisonous. Every single tuft of fluff could kill a pony. The whole fish? Forget about it. So when a saw a whole school of the suckers get swallowed whole by a Radshark and the thing didn't die, I was convinced to keep my distance.
The thing was at least long as six ponies, with a mouth big enough to get me whole. It had mean eyes. Three of them. And three rows of teeth. Heck the thing had three dorsal fins.
I sank down to the rocks, careful not to nick myself on the sharp ones. Pony blood doesn’t attract radsharks as much as some would think. Fish oil on the other hand will. Pony blood mixed with fish oil? Forget about it.
Three eyes roamed around as it slowly made its way away to some new spot. I rose from my spot. Scanning the area I found some stragglers from the fluffer fish school. My telekinesis wrapped around my spear, as I floated towards the fluffer fish.
Then I waited.
The fish started to gain their bearings.
I waited still.
They reformed a school.
I floated the spear closer to me.
One of them abruptly turned.
My spear pierced its side. I grabbed the fish and shoved it into my saddlebag, ensuring a tight seal. A little fish oil seeped out. I could smell it. It was time to leave.
The corners of my mouth pulled themselves toward my ears. Today was go-
I stopped dead. That scent. It was sour. It hurt like iron going into my nose. Blood. Pony blood. And it wasn’t mine.
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
My head burst from the surface. Vomiting up water, my lungs re-adjusted to breathing open air. I felt heat. Fire was on top of the water. I could feel my stomach churning as I scanned the area. The ruins of a boat floated along the surface.
I stuck my nose back in the water and sniffed. The source of the blood was ahead of me. Swam over to what looked like the nose of the boat. I swam back under, holding my breath. Not enough time to adjust to the water again. The boat had cracked in half. Or mostly, it looked like a good chunk of it was ripped through. They didn’t run aground, nor were there any ice burgs to hit. I swam into the wound and found a pocket of air. The smell of blood nearly floored me on the way up. An earth pony mare and filly were tied to a buoy. The mare had several shards of shrapnel sticking out of her back.
“Shit!” I rushed over to their side when I got to the pocket. Both of them were out cold. My head bumped against the top of the nose. The wreckage was sinking, and the unconscious don’t have a history of holding their breath. I pulled out my club and started beating the ‘roof’. I couldn’t go down, so I had to go up.
Wham!
The wood splintered. A couple shards hit me in the face.
Wham!
The hull parted just barely.
Wham!
Large chunks of wood fell down from a now pony sized whole. I grabbed the buoy and the two others and pulled them through the portal. The nose of the boat was swallowed by the sea. I dragged the injured ones to a floating piece of wood, big enough for two.
A wave hit me in the face as I hoisted the two onto the raft. Running the rope the two had tied the buoy to themselves with through a hole in the raft.
“Now I know you probably can’t hear me but you’re going to be alright. You’re gonna- why do I smell fish oil?” blurted to myself. I glanced backwards. My saddlebag was sliced open by a sharp wood splinter. The fluffer fish floated by my tail, marinating in the blood of the injured mares.
A thousand searing hot needles pierced my tail as the Radshark clamped down on me, dragging me under. My lungs filled with water as I adjusted to breathing it. I could feel sinew and muscle tearing as it kept pulling at me. The world blurred as I felt helpless. My telekinesis wrapped around the diving knife.
“SonofaBITCH!” I heard my voice screaming as I rammed it into one of the Radshark’s eyes. Red sludge flew everywhere. The pressure around my tail released. The giant rushed on by. I could feel in the currents that it was circling around. I pulled my spear out. If it wanted something to eat, it was getting it. I could barely see but I felt it coming.
Jaws burst into view. I rammed the spear forward. The tip caught itself into the roof of its mouth. I then shoved the other end into its tongue. It kept coming forward, mouth propped open like it was at the dentist. I shifted left. The corner of its mouth bashed me as it rushed by again.
Again I felt it circle around. I pulled out my last weapon. The club.
“Come on big guy, let’s do this.” I said aloud, more to myself than to the Radshark. The water swelled as I saw its pearly whites. I swung upwards. Its jaw muscles working in tandem with my swing. The spear forced itself into the brute’s brain. The momentum of the huge beast carried us up to the surface.
I vomited up water, blood and probably a tooth or two. Most likely, not even mine. Thankfully, I floated up to the raft. I wrapped the rope around me, the shark and the raft. I needed medical attention for three. Oh, and the other two mares could use getting looked at as well. I swam as fast as my punctured tail would allow. I could see the tower light. It was only a few more minutes. After a few minutes even the tower light wasn’t visible.
-- --- --- ---
A singular ray of sunshine hit me in all the right places. My eye fluttered open. I felt really warm.
“Open up! Police”
“I’ll be right out.” A huge muscular pony burst through the door. Knocking several cops off their hooves. He then proceeded to lay the smack down while he was unfazed by the metric tons of bullets hitting his body.
“Kind of them to fast forward it to where I left off,” I mused aloud, I drifted off to the smell of antibiotics and popcorn.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Tag Skills: Medicine, Speech, Melee Traits: Skilled: You practiced your technique quite a bit but never got out much. You Receive +5 to all Skills; but get a -10% experience gain. Hot Blooded: You don’t like getting hurt, it makes you angry. They won’t like you when you’re angry at <50% health +15% damage w/ -2 to Perception and Agility.
Author's Notes: This is my first MLP fanfiction. So if anything seem a miss, please point it out so i can fix it. Also please suggest how this story can be better. I'm writting for your enjoyment as much as mine. Lets make this good!
A spurt of blood hit me square in the nose as I struggled to pull a chunk of shrapnel from the mare’s back. I had to focus on the task at hoof. Her ear splitting screams weren’t helping my nerves. We tried to dope her with morphine, but we only had enough to dull the pain enough to keep her awake during the operation. The exact opposite of what I needed to happen.
My telekinesis wrapped around a rod that lay in the fire. Floating it over to me, I gave Hollow Bones a nod. She nodded in return and produced a rope.
“Bite down on this child, lest you bite your tongue off.” She pushed. Obediently the mare put her mouth on the sturdy rope. Having gnawed through two already, I believed it. Hollow bone looked back at me when it was done. The glowing hot rod made me sweat. I sucked in sharply, and pressed the rod to the open wound.
SSSKKKTTSSSSSSSSS
Tiny orange hairs caught fire as the hot metal boiled away blood and fused flesh. The mare seized. I pulled the rod off. The bleeding stopped, the wound was cauterized. It was the last one too. She was still writhing; her teeth were hell bent on ripping straight through the rope separating the jaws.
“It’s okay now. That was the last one.” Bones cooed. She stroked the Earth pony’s sandy mane. The injured pony panted. The ordeal tired her as much as it hurt her. I rolled bandages around her wounds. The morphine finally did its business and put her out. Or at least aided in doing so.
I gathered the tools and brought them to the water basin. Scrubbing them vigorously, I let out a small chuckle.
“We are officially out of Old world meds. Unless we can scrounge up some new stuff, we’ll be in a bad way.” I stated. Bones looked at me with a smile.
“And my knowledge of Zebra alchemic medicines is not enough?” She asked.
“I can think of a couple of reasons.” I replied. I knew where this was going.
“Those being?” she asked again
“First, ingredients. we have to venture out, more often than not, past the reef to get the reagents needed. This is dangerous. I nearly got eaten alive by a Radshark while getting the things for soul nectar.” I explained.
“Wrong, you nearly got eaten alive because you decided to go out of your way to rescue our two guests. You could have very well just went on your way.” She added
“If I left them, the blood in the water would have brought more Radsharks into Reef territory eventually. I’d rather that not be the case.” I countered.
“No need to make an excuse for your actions. It is just you’re confusing saving the two young ladies and gathering ingredients. You’re still in the right here.” The zony assured. She motioned to me to continue.
“Whatever. Secondly patients, most zebra remedies use substances that a large enough number of ponies are allergic to. Pre-war medications generalized enough that an extremely few number have an adverse reaction to them.” I explained further.
“There are substitutes for those, many of which are easy to obtain.” She countered.
“This means every single remedy has to be custom made for each patient. The time it takes to determine and gather the proper ingredients could kill them.” I countered. The zony stopped for a moment. Then started to chuckle
“You’re getting better at this game we play. You’ll be a fine shaman when I’m gone. Now then go check on the little one, she may yet be awake.” She gestured for me to leave the room. She had things from here.
“You let me know if her condition changes.” I responded smiling, making my way towards the door. Exiting the clinic area, I scanned the Dock-house bunks for the filly. The bunk we placed her in was empty, and the door outside was cracked open.
Pushing open the door, the filly sat on the bottom step to the ground. The bold yellow ‘122’ emblazoned on her blue jumpsuit reflected off the sunlight, giving her sand colored coat and brown mane a slight highlight.
“Glad to see your awake” I slid in beside her. She jumped slightly. Her eyes were pretty wide.
“Heh, I ‘m still thinking this a dream. You sure this innt?” Her accent was pretty thick, but from where I couldn’t place it. I smiled and poked a bruise on her rump. She sucked in through her teeth, wincing.
“Satisfied?” I said smirking.
“Not really.” She replied. She shifted back and forth, looking about. “Is this the Summer Sunset Islands?”
“No, they’re a long ways north from here.” Way north. Did they get turned around somehow? We were about as far south as we could get here in Oceania.
“Oh… I wuz hoping we made it.” She sank down a little. I looked around swiftly, searching for someone her age to distract her. Alas, nopony was nearby.
“Sooo, Where are you from?” I asked. Maybe I could figure out a good conversation topic.
“Stable City.” She answered. Nothing I’d heard of. Must be from farther east.
“Where’s that?” I inquired, still curious.
“Inna mountains ‘round Totting’am. North a ‘oofington.” Wait what? That was on th-
“The Mainland!? You’re from the Mainland!?” I blurted out. That was impossible!
“Wut are you on about?” She asked. She leaned back. Obviously to her, the mainland wasn’t a big deal.
“No one’s gone out of or came through the storm wall in over 200 years! How’d you do it?” I asked excitedly. A mainlander! This was so awesome!
“The Capt’n found a spot that weren’t so bad after a bit of sailing and we bolted for it.” She shrugged.
“Then?” I was practically bouncing up and down.
“We got hit by loitnin. Then we-” she stopped for a moment. I quickly gave myself quick mental hoof to the face. I just led her to recount how her ship crashed. Goddesses damn me.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.” I apologized.
“No, it’s okay. Mum probably knows more. I conked out right then.” She said with a thin smile. He eyes widened suddenly. “Is mum okay?!”
“She’s sleeping right now. She was in a rough spot and she could use it.” I replied. Her eyes narrowed a bit. She raised an eyebrow. I sighed.
“We used up the last of the good medicine working on her. Even then it wasn’t enough. So we had to burn the wounds closed. We can make more medicine, but without a good sense of her medical history, the stuff we make could make her worse. It’s pretty much up to her now.” I stated methodically. Despite her age she seemed mature enough to know the reality of it. She closed her eyes and nodded slowly. She was quiet. I was quiet. Only the waves could be heard. Had to break the silence somehow.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Éclair.” She looked back up at me.
“Riptide.” I replied, held my hoof out to her, she touched it with her own. I smiled. Now to go in for the kill.
“Hey, wanna watch cartoons?” I offered.
“Wut’s a cartoon?” She asked. I smiled wider. Oooh this was gonna be good.
-- -- -- -- -- --
Éclair was asleep, lying next to me in the Theater. The hum of the projector continued on as I picked her up. She was giggling in her sleep; most likely dreaming of a duck and a rabbit arguing violently or a colt dressing in drag to mess with the Big Bad Timber Wolf. I made my way out of the theater and to the Dock-House.
It was night. We lit the tiki torches placed around the pathways on the island. The ocean spray cooled the air to a mild chill. The cloud cover was light enough that you could make out a star or two. The other seaponies were heading back into the water, making their way into their own little nooks and crannies in the reefs. Hollow Bones sent out a few search parties earlier, to look for the other ponies on the boat. According to Éclair there were at three others besides her and her mother. It’s been several hours since they started. So far they only brought back chunks of the wreckage. A boat is still a boat, even after it’s been ripped to shreds.
Inside the Dock House, Hollow Bones stood near the clinic door, her old eyes drifting from each of the Non-seaponies that lived here. She ushered me into the clinic. Éclair’s mother was awake. Still lying on the bed, she looked no better than when I left her. I floated Éclair to her. She wrapped a foreleg around her. She looked back up to me.
“Well I’ll be the first to say it guess. Thank you for saving us.” She said. Her voice was slightly husky. She had the same accent as Éclair but it was far more subdued. “My name is Sorbet.”
“Riptide.” I introduced myself.
“Watch out we got a badass over here.” She remarked, snorting as she laughed. “Or did your parents really name you that?”
“Well mom wanted my name to be Silver Screen, but dad pressed the issue of my subspecies.” I said nonchalantly. She looked around. Her ears and eyes drooped a bit.
“I notice we’re the only ones here.” She had a smile on her face, but it was hollow.
“I’m sorry but you two were the only ones I could find.” I lowered my head. She closed her eyes and shook her head.
“It was a foolish thing, this whole trip. Capt’n was right set on getting through” she said with a pained smile. She nodded to herself.
“To be fair, you did. No one has gone through the storm wall in two centuries. You two are the first ever outsiders to Oceania.” I tried to lighten the mood a little.
“Well innt that a thing! Only cost five of the best of Ponykind these days and probably a few pints of my blood.” She said sarcastically. I guess getting through wasn’t worth it. She kept looking around, sighing after a while.
“Look, I’ve got a slight bit of a problem. I came here to do a job. Now, seeing as the state I’m in, you're banking on me healing on my own. I can already tell you it’s a rough bet. And if I do it will take months. I haven’t the luxury of months. ” She summed up the situation pretty good. She had a good head on her shoulders I guess.
“Let me guess, you want to take your chances at finding a place with better med supplies.” I finished for her. She’d rather sail then stay in one place. Understandable.
“Well, I figured maybe you could do it.” Her eyes narrowed on me.
“Now you’re going to have to explain that one to me.” I replied.
“You need medical supplies, so do I. Get me some and I’ll get you some. I also need to get to Summer Sunset Island. If you help me and mine getting there, I can figure out some way to pay you back with interest.” She offered. It was so… Simple. She was cut off from the mainland so whatever supplies she could ship over would be null. Getting her fixed was a tall order in of itself. So I was supposed to take it on blind faith that she’d pull through? No de-
“We’ll do it.” Bones interjected.
“Hubadawha?” I stammered. The zony looked at me. I gave her the ‘Are You Serious?’ look.
“We will take the deal.” She reconfirmed. My jaw was wide open. Scooting over to me, she put a foreleg around my neck.
“I just have to discuss the finer details with my apprentice then we will start in the morning. Until then, try to get some rest. You’ll need it.” She pulled me out of the clinic. Okay, if she thinks she can get out of this one without some kind of resistance then she’s got another thing co-
“She can’t pay.” She stated to me bluntly. Of course she couldn’t. All her stuff is- wait what? Is she agreeing with me?
“She’ll try to reimburse you but you must not let her. It would be too much.” She continued. Wait… What? I must have had a clueless look one my face because she kept explaining.
“Listen, The trip will be enough payment. Yes, we need medical supplies. Yes, she may be able to pay later. But helping her will benefit The Reef more than some medicine from the mainland.” She explained. Okay, my interest peaked.
“How exactly?” I asked. This ought to be good.
“Trade. Our village doesn’t have the capability of being truly self-sufficient. The only supplies we have are those we’ve scavenged from the island, stuff we’ve made ourselves, and from lost ponies. We need caravans, traders, and the like.” She elaborated. That… made sense.
“I bet Brass Bits would love to get the parts to fix that old rifle.” I mused to myself. “If we are going to be doing that, then let’s not forget our biggest asset. The Theater. Start charging outsiders who come. That should bring enough trade for the stuff we need.”
“That can work, but that all depends on you sending ponies here.” She smiled. This could work.
“Heh, I just though sending somepony to get the medicine would have worked. This is a much better plan.” I chuckled to myself more than to anything.
“That is why I’m still the Shaman, and you’re still Apprentice Shaman.” No need to get smug Bones…
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
I have never seen the Island so active before.
Ponies left and right were working on this… bastardization boat. Chunks of the boat that we recovered made up a good portion of craft. The bottom of the boat was made up of surf boards and wood from the wreckage. It had a thatched roof with palm leaves and a sail made from beach towels and a small palm tree. The rudder was made from stuffed Radshark fins. The nose had the most important feature. It was a potted lemon shrub. Oh and a harness, for me to pull the boat.
The bastard boat floated near the dock. Sorbet was being loaded onto the boat. Éclair not far behind her. I however had to go to theater. There was somepony I had to see yet. I walked back behind the theater, towards the employee entrance. There was a small clearing by the shrubs. Two headstones stood in the clearing, Serene Scene and Gibson Score.
“Hey mom, hey dad. Just wanted to say Hi, before I left. Probably going to be a while before I come back.” I said. I smiled slightly as I rested my head on mom’s headstone.
“Watch over the place while I’m gone ‘kay mom?” I asked. I moved over to dad and placed my hoof on the stone.
“Make sure mom doesn’t get into too much trouble while she does okay?” I smiled. I could almost feel a spectral bump on the head from my mom.
“I’ll see you later.” I said finally. I turned to see Hollow Bones standing there. She was smiling.
“They’ll be watching over you instead of The Reef.” She said to me.
“How do you figure?” I asked.
“I’ll just tell them I got it covered.” She replied.
“Really? Hey Ma! She says she doesn’t need you to look after the place!” I called back to the graves.
“Now I didn’t say… Oh please don’t call your mother’s wrath from beyond. It’s not nice.” She had a face that pretty much said ‘Not Cool.’
“Don’t worry about it, Dad would rein her in before that would happen. Most of the time” I started chuckling. Hollow bones still didn’t buy it. Gotta love messing with the religious. Even if mom could it would just be a playful prank. Bones shook her head.
“The boat is ready if you are.” She stated.
“Yeah, I’m ready.” I replied.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
The boat was loaded and ready to go. Both Éclair and Sorbet were on already. I had gotten my things, my spear, knife, club (much to Brass Bits' distress), and a new item. Hollow Bones had Brass bits make some barding for me from the Radshark I killed. It was light, but probably the toughest leather out Reef. And as Brass Bits put it ‘payment for services rendered’ he threw in a necklace made from the teeth.
Hollow Bones walked up to me. She patted me on the back and bowed her head.
“May the Goddesses guide you, and Poseidon clear your path.” She prayed for me.
“And the stars be kind to your life.” I returned. She smiled.
“I’m glad your remember something I taught you.” She said.
“Not even half of it.” I joked as I turned towards the boat.
I was about to get on when I thought of something. This boat needs a name. I thought hard for a moment. The name popped into my head suddenly. I looked around and found an empty bottle of Sparkle-Cola.
“I, Riptide of The Reef, Hereby dub this vessel The Poseidon!” I shouted as I smashed the bottle against the side. A cheer sounded out. I looked back and saw a few ponies applauding. A voice called from the newly christened boat.
“Oi! Are you just gonna stand there or are we sailin!?” Éclair shouted to me. I smiled and climbed aboard. I smiled wider.
“Arr! Hoist the anchor me Mateys! Bring up the sails! We arrr about to make way!” Shouted in pirate speak. Éclair and Sorbet were less than impressed.
“Fine…” I grumbled as I steered the boat to the left. The wind caught the beach towel sails. We were heading north. To Summer Sunset Isles.
The morning light poked through holes in the thick clouds. I was already awake. Somepony had to steer this jalopy. Sorry Poseidon, we’ll upgrade soon. However, Éclair and Sorbet had just woken up. I could tell because I swear I could smell biscuits baking, despite the fact that we had no flour or any mix at all. I lifted myself out of the boat and undid my harness.
The ladies had a small fire going, heating up one of the bread loaves. I shook myself moderately dry. Sorbet was still laying down munching on her piece while Eclair tossed me a nice toasty chunk. Warm bread was a nice change of pace. Little bit dry though. Probably needed butter, whatever that was like. I set my piece down and moved over to Sorbet.
“How are you feeling this morning?” I asked. She swallowed the bread in her mouth then winced.
“Well, I’m horribly injured and in terrible pain. So I think I’m par for the course,” She replied making light of the situation. Probably a defense mechanism. That or she was really that optimistic.
“So other than pain you feel fine? No chills, nausea, or light headedness?” I asked. She nodded.
“None of that, just the hurt. But I figure if I can take my mind off it, all is well doc,” She said.
“Please, I never got a medical license.” I smiled. “Well, in the interest of keeping your mind occupied, how about good conversation?”
“What do you want me to talk about?” she asked me. I furrowed my brows as I cycled topics through my head.
“The Mainland.” I replied. She snorted.
“Bit of a broad subject there,” She said. I smirked.
“You have an urgent meeting? A pressing engagement?” I said gesturing to the open blue around us. She burst out laughing then immediately winced and stifled herself.
“Ow, hurts to laugh,” She moaned. After a few moments of collecting herself she asked, “What do you want to know?”
“What is it like over there?” I asked. She nodded.
“Overall? Imagine land as far as the eye can see. And all of it is just a festering wound.” She spat out. “A lawless, hate filled wound bleeding the blood of hundreds of poor souls daily.” That was… eloquent.
“Sooo not a place for a summer vacation.” I offered. She raised an eyebrow. I sucked the comment back in.
“Now, that’s just the general picture. From there it’s got its ups and downs,” She explained further. “You’ve got the beacons of civilization like Tenpony tower and my own Stable City. Then there are pits of Instant death like ‘oofington’s Core and Canterlot, not to exclude Everfree Forest.” I did a double take at the mention of Canterlot being a ‘pit of instant death,’ however I wanted to keep the conversation positive. Good emotions help the sick and wounded recover.
“Could you tell me what Stable City is like?” I asked. Maybe thoughts of home would bring up good vibes. Her shrug told me maybe.
“Well, about say fifty or so years ago, Stable 122 opened and got right to work on making the surface settlement. Tons of building supplies, and tons of eager ponies to use them. It went from an outpost, to a town, to a city in no time at all practically.” She recounted. She took a sip of bottled water.
“We would trade citizenship for any prewar tech anypony could scrounge up.”
“Why would somepony trade tech for citizenship?” I asked. I wouldn’t cut a deal that way.
“Citizenship got you housing, protection, clean water, fresh food, and one of these babies” she waved her hoof out bringing attention to the device on her foreleg. The only tech I really had any knowledge in was cameras and projectors. The only thing I knew about what was on the two ladies’ limbs was that they looked damn uncomfortable.
“And that is…” I gestured to her to continue. Éclair actually jumped in to the conversation
“This is a PipBuck, best bit ov tech to ever be made. It tells time, has maps, has a radio, keeps track of your to do list, manages your junk, points out blokes that want ta get in a scrap with you, and best of all helps you aim!” she listed off cheerfully. How her accent got so different from her mother, I’ll never know. Nevertheless, it seemed like it was useful.
“Can it play movies?” I asked. Maybe this trip wouldn’t be boring after all.
“Nope.” Thus my hopes were dashed to the deck and ground to dust.
“Tough sell, but I’ll pass,” I said.
“All this talk about home is borin’. Tell me about seaponies!” Éclair announced. I looked at Sorbet, who shrugged and rolled her eyes.
“Come bother me when something interesting happens.” Sorbet said as she shuffled her way to her cot and lowered the palm tree drapes. Éclair looked back at me with expectant eyes. I sighed. Despite my job description, I hate preaching.
“Long ago after last day of the Old World, the youngest of three demigods, Poseidon, was born. He was born in form of the seapony, but had the blood and soul of a god within him...” I began. She leaned in closer.
--- --- --- ---
I kept poking her but she was being stubborn.
“Wake up.” I implored. Sorbet slowly tossed herself over to face me. Her eyes were half closed, blinking the sleep from her eyes.
“Where’s the fire?” She asked rubbing her face.
“You told me to wake you up when something interesting happened right?”
“Yeah, and?” she gestured me to continue on. I figured visuals helped more than words. I rolled up the drapes around her cot.
It was foggy outside but the focus of her gaze was clear. The hulking mass of rusted metal next to our mighty Poseidon loomed nearby. Okay, the mighty Poseidon is a bit of an embellishment. The, remarkably still floating, ship hidden in its own little pocket of mist had snuck up on us.
“That’s… pretty interesting.” She finally said; her jaw loose at its hinge. “Is there anyone on it?”
“Doubt it, no life rafts and no lights. We got ourselves a ghost ship.” I said.
“Nopony on board huh.” She said more to herself than anypony. Oh the wheels in her head were a turnin’.
“Salvage?” I offered. She though a couple moments further.
“Salvage” She confirmed. I nodded in return. This boat could have something we need. Medicine, tools, weapons, Casabronco: The Director’s Cut; the possibility was there. All of that said, I’ve seen this movie before. A two hundred year old abandoned ship surrounded by mist appears from nowhere and somepony decides to go treasure hunting? That’s a B-rated horror flick right there. Gotta do this right.
“Okay, since you can’t move that well, I’ll go on board. You and Éclair stay here. You hear something bad, start sailing.” I said my plan. She shook her head.
“No, you take Éclair with you. She’s good at scrounging, and you’ll get done faster with two.” She said. Please let me be paranoid in peace.
“Look, this thing looks like it could fall apart any minute. You want to put your daughter on there?” I put that little tidbit in there for good measure. Her eyes widened a little bit and she glanced at Éclair. Or where she was supposed to be. The Poseidon only had two passengers at the moment.
“You two comin’ or not?” Éclair called to us from the main deck of the rusted hulk. Poseidon protect this child, for she may be the death of me. Or vice versa. Sorbet lurched toward the ship, but then she inhaled sharply. She shouldn’t move like that. She’s liable to open a wound.
“Look calm down, I’ll make sure she’s safe. Yell if you need help.” I tried to reassure her. She nodded, slightly shivering. I really shouldn’t have tried to guilt her into them both staying. I started making my way up the ladder. Whoever designed these things did not have flippers in mind. My telekinesis helped me put weight behind the fins in my tail but by the time I was at the top I breathing heavy.
Éclair stood on top of the fallen remains of a crane. Part of the deck had caved in and brought down the crane. The crane had smashed open a storage container. Smaller brown boxes sprawled out from the wreck. Many of the boxes and their contents were smashed. Éclair was sifting through them.
“Some goodies in here Riptide. Can’t quite tell what though.” She said to me. The scolding I was about to give her had to wait as an unbroken box was tossed to me. It had Equestrian Military markings. I rubbed some of the dust away. M.R.E. Hah, these were soldier’s lunchboxes.
“These are Meals Ready to Eat. I guess these guys were doing some government work.” I answered the filly. Might as well make use of her while she’s here. I’ll spank her later. “Pile up the good ones and we’ll take them with us when were done.”
“Right o’ Boss!” she replied and started carrying a few boxes towards the port side. That’s the left side for those of you that aren’t nautically inclined. I made my way to the cabin towards the back. The door screeched as it opened. My horn glowed. Navy Blue wasn’t the best light for illumination but I could see better than before.
Dust flared up from decades, maybe centuries, of stillness. Immediately before me were stairs going up to what I assumed was the control deck. Stairs down led to the Cargo hold and engine room. Beyond those stairs were two doors. One leading left, the other directly ahead. I walked to the doors. Dust lazily fell as I pushed open both doors. The mess hall and the crew quarters were before me.
There were ten bunks. Five on each wall, most of them were unmade but two were completely bare. A couple of posters were on the wall. Enlist Today! One of them said. Another one was actually a pin up calendar. With mares around artillery with sultry looks or a Rosy Rivets photo. One poster was slightly creepy though. A pink earth pony was staring at me with a huge grin. ‘FOREVER’ was the only word I could make out on it. Tearing my attention away from the posters, I looked for the potential gold mine. Ten Lockboxes were underneath each bunk.
The ones near the unmade beds were empty. Not surprising. They were also the ones without padlocks on them. I took out my club. My horn glowed as I lifted it up. I gritted my teeth as I swung.
“You’ll break it that way.” Éclair said. When the hell did she get here? My club clattered to the ground as my concentration was broken.
“I thought that was the point of me hitting it.” I replied.
“Yeah, you’ll get it open but your club will be busted too.” She moved over to the lockbox, pushing me over. She then brought her mane in front of her face. And pulled out a… Bobby pin? “You got a screwdriver ‘andy?” I sifted through my bags and pulled out the diving knife. She shrugged.
“Eh, That’ll do. Give it here.” She ordered. I nodded and gave it to her.
“Don’t cut yourself.” I warned as she put the bobby pin and the knife into the padlock. She fiddled a little bit, turning the bobby pin. Then she started to turn the lock and CLICK! The padlock came loose from the lockbox. She gave a little curtsey.
“Don’t get cocky now. Let’s see if there’s anything good first.” I said pushing up the lid. Clothes came into view. We started sifting through the stuff. A bag of prewar bits was the first interesting thing we found. Then was book filled with drawings of buildings and ships. And at the bottom of the bin was a thing that made Éclair’s eyes light up. She took it out quickly, giving it the once over. Captain Equestria, Vol. 1 in mint condition.
“There’s no pages missing! This is so awesome!” She started to giggle as she danced in place. She quickly took it and put it in the ‘Take’ pile. I smiled.
“Think you can sort through the rest of these while I check the mess hall?” I asked. She nodded and started on the next box. I walked out the room and into the mess hall. The table in the center was overturned and lots of trash was on the ground. Most likely due to the crane outside falling over. However I wasn’t interested in any of that. I was interested in the first aid kit above the counter. I popped the sucker open. Nothing too good was inside, but useful stuff still. There was gauze, a sewing kit, a few band aids, and most importantly painkillers. They were expired, but an expiration date on medicine only counts if it’s liquid. I emptied the lot into my saddle bags.
The fridge was actually cold, surprisingly. Not much to raid though. I grabbed a few bottles of vodka and Sparkle-Cola and tossed them into my saddlebags. I slid a couple cooking knives into my bags as well. I was the only one with weapons. Which basically means if I’m away, the ladies are defenseless. Given Sorbet’s current state, she’d probably need something more of the shooty persuasion.
I walked back out into the hallway. Éclair had loaded up the ‘take’ pile into two of the lockboxes and was dragging them out towards the pile of MREs. I stepped up the stairs to the control deck. The deck was in disarray. A small section in the corner had a cot with few amenities. Apparently the captain enjoyed a very Spartan existence. A map was pinned on the wall behind the wheel. A slight green glow filled the room. Near the front of the room the glass screen of a terminal was lit. I poked the keys. Words flashed on the screen
]///…… Data corruption due to unauthorized access detected: only recently saved files available…. Enter Password…
Oh crap, okay how did they do this in the movies? Umm. >c/Registry key log Processing… Key Log stores granted…
A huge mess of letters and symbols appeared. Out of the cluster, a few words could be seen. One of these words was the passcode. I tried a couple. And…
Seriously? The password was ‘password’? No wonder they had unauthorized access. I clicked ok. A few files showed up. They were labeled damage report, shipping records, and Captains log. The shipping records told me what these guys were carrying. It wasn’t much, just food and building materials like concrete and rebar.
Wrench just finished figuring out what happened. Engine is crushed. Crane fell through and smashed it after the explosion. Were dead in the water. Short wave is down, can’t raise anyone. The thing is however, Wrench says the explosion didn’t come from the engine. Something blew that cause the crane to crush the engine. And when he was playing with the radio he found cut wire. Something ain’t right.
That’s interesting… Tell me more Captain’s Log.
Log entry #56 Date <#%(*@&#%^> I have reason to believe that someone on this ship caused the explosion that stopped us dead. Talk amongst the eight of them has turned up reports of tapping noises in the rear cargo hold. I’ll investigate myself. I hope to Celestia whoever did this is a stowaway. If not…
Oooo that’s a good movie plot right there. Wouldn’t mind seeing that back at the theater. Curiosity sated, I pulled the map off the wall and headed back down the main deck. Éclair was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. She cocked her head to the side.
“Nope nothing good. Let’s get downstairs and wrap this up.” I said. She shrugged and began heading down to the cargo hold.
Save for the hole caused by the crane that punctured to the engine room, it was black as pitch. Suddenly A bright light nigh blinded me. I turned to face the peril, only to find that it was Éclair’s Pip-thingy. The new light revealed lots of bags. Bags full of concrete mix. Boring.
We went behind the concrete bags to find I-beams and other such building materials. Nothing we could use. I edged my way past the hole in the floor, the crushed engine rusting in the open air. A small pool of water reflected the daylight back up at us. One door was attached to the wall. With a little effort the door swung open. Then I learned that this boat was never abandoned.
The Bones of eight ponies found their resting place in this room. The tattered remains of the clothes flaked off them in the gentle breeze. I looked at their bodies. There was a hole bored into one of their heads. These ponies died in a firefight. I closed my eyes. The projector started running.
--- --- --- ---
Captain Musket Ball pushed open the rear storage room door. He looked around severely. The First mate was fiddling with something in a box. Tapping against pipes in the wall. He froze and looked at the Captain.
“Captain! You startled me. What are you doing down here?” The first mate asked
“I could ask you the same question dear boy, There has been evidence of foul play. All of it leading to this room, where I find you after hours.”
“You’ll find nothing of the sort here Captain.” The first mate said.
“I hope so. That said, I must have the others detain you. In case you are the culprit and would further seek to sabotage this vessel.” He turned towards the exit.
BANG!
The Captain’s blood leaked out of his forehead as he lay on the ground. The first mate, pistol at the ready walked over to him.
“Don’t worry, I’m already done.” He said coolly. Rushed hoof steps resounded as the rest of the crew burst into the storage room. The visage of the first mate melted away as the zebra infiltrator tossed away his amulet. Gunshots rang out, the first three fell quickly. The other four crewmembers produced rifles and began returning fire. The zebra was perforated with bullets, blood spraying across the wall.
Suddenly the zebra lurched and fired his weapon wildly. The final crewmember fell dead, the door closing behind them.
--- --- --- ---
I gathered the rifles. Standard bolt action 30.06 rifles. Very poor condition though. The actions on each of them were rusted, hell a few wouldn’t even budge, and the ammo itself was unusable in its current state. Strange then was the zebra 9mm pistol being in decent repair. The only problem with the 9mm was that it had no ammo. I turned around to the bones of the crew and bowed my head.
“May Celestia’s light guide you to the afterlife.” I chanted. A snort was heard behind me.
“Ain’t that a nice sentiment?” A rough, smoker’s voice said from behind me. I whipped around. A unicorn with a torn face stood behind me a red tinged glow enveloping a machete. He wore what looked like tires wrapped around his chest. His eyes were yellowed and in a glare. Worse than all of that was, Éclair was nowhere to be found.
“So freak show, you just wandering about huh?” he said advancing toward me. He’s already got his weapon drawn. He’d be on me before I could do anything decent.
“Now what happened to hospitality?” I asked. I went through my assets.
“Shut up, fish stick. Or do I have to smoke you like some salmon.” He smiled, I wish he didn’t. Half his teeth were missing. I didn’t want to, but I started to chuckle.
“What so funny freak show?” he sneered. I knew what I had to do.
“Oh just wondering something.” I mused.
“What’s that?” he was getting angry. Good, this makes it better
“What’s faster?” I whipped the 9mm out and shoved it in his face. “My bullets or your blade.” His eyes widened to dinner plates.
“n-now hold o-” he started.
“Back the fuck up!” I commanded. He stepped back a few.
“n-no problem pal. I ain’t worth a bullet now.” He begged. I kept my gun trained on him.
“Shut up! Keep going!” I said. Had to control the situation.
“Gotcha pal gotcha.” He said, continuing to back up. I kept him on the tips of his hooves.
“Did you see a filly around here?” I asked him. He shook his head. Okay, Éclair alright.
“One last thing.” I ordered. He shook his head up and down.
“Watch your step.” I said. His eyes widened. He looked behind him. He realized he was standing on the edge of the hole the crane made. He looked back at me. Only the distance had been closed. I kicked him into the engine room. No scream. Just a thud sound.
I looked at him. Apiece of rebar found its way through the back of his skull and through his right eye socket. His small intestine was wrapped around a broken piston of the engine. Every odd moment or so, a leg would twitch. I backed away from the hole and nodded. Ow.
I was about to continue on when a small ‘tink’ caught my attention. The unicorn had dropped his machete. My magic wrapped around it as I brought it to my eyes.
“Thanks friend, I think I’ll hold onto this.” I said while putting it into my saddle bags.
“AAAHHHH!” A shrill voice called out. I jerked upward. That was Sorbet! My hooves beat metal as I bolted for the stairs. I burst out onto the main deck. There were four of them. Three earth ponies, One had a rotten top hat on, another had some armor the other (next to Sorbet) had one eye; and a unicorn. They all had knives and machetes. But one of the earth ponies had some bastard of a gun made from a pipe and clock bits. They looked surprised to see me. Sorbet was on the deck, blindfolded and at knife point. Still no sign of Eclair. The pony with the gun must have been their de-facto leader, because he spoke up first and was the most protected.
“The hell kind of toxic muck did you roll in to end up looking like that?” He asked. The rest of them started laughing. Might as well add to the joke.
“Nah, was born this way. The doc said my momma had to stop drinking but noooo” I said. They started laughing some more. A glint of light came from the gun-wielding pony.
“Hah! I like this guy. It’s almost a shame.” He replied.
“How so?” I asked. If tried the gun trick again, he’d just shoot me. Had to think, and the flashing wasn’t helping. It’s distracting enough to figure out its coming from a hatch to the cargo bay.
“See everything on this boat belongs to us now. Since you’re on this boat, so do you.” He said. He gestured to top hatted pony of his crew. He started going towards me, knife drawn.
“Look, you want my stuff? Here, I’ll make it easy for you” I said, pulling a strap on my saddle bags dumping the contents on the deck.
“Nice try, but we’ll do this our way.” The pony heading towards me said. Fine then, we’ll do this your way.
“Fine.” I said, looking up to the sky. Then lurched forward and grabbed the machete in my mouth.
“Think fast!” I screamed. My magic burst behind the kitchen knives I picked up. Like bullets they flew straight into the gun pony. One punctured his throat, the other his eye. I ducked. My ear started to bleed. It got nicked by a knife. The pony was following through his swing. I jammed my machete towards him.
He started gurgling as he drowned in his own blood. A unicorn on the far left launched a knife at me. I shoved the pony I just stabbed into the flying knife.
My spear darted out like a lightning bolt into the chest of the unicorn. Only one remained. The one eyed pony. I glared at him with murder in my eyes. He looked at his fallen comrades. He screamed bringing the knife to Sorbet. I sprinted towards him.
BANG!
Some invisible force had smashed itself into the one eyed pony. I stopped in my tracks. I looked over to source of the sound. Éclair was standing there with a bastard of a gun made from a pipe and clock bits and a smoking barrel. I stood there in raw disbelief.
“Well, that could have been bad.” I stated the obvious. I started to laugh. I was defiantly high on adrenaline. The filly smiled.
“I told yah it helped you aim! Glad you got my plan.” She said.
“What plan?” I smiled back.
--- --- --- ---
It was a good haul. Twelve MRE’s, sixty bits, bandages, pain meds, six knives, a machete, some matches, a 9mm Zebra officer pistol, 9mm pipe rifle, thirty 9mm rounds, 3 30.06 bolt action rifles, a comic book, five blankets, two bottles of vodka, a radio and five bottles of Sparkle Cola.
We were loading the booty on the Poseidon. Busy work. Especially since I had to go down that damn ladder again. But we finished soon. I sighed as I pulled the harness over me. Had to get the boat away from the wreck if we were going to use the sail. I could use a nap. Leaping into the water I heard a thud. The radio fell over and sparked.
“-ow Quiet Now, by Sweetie Bell. Thanks for listening, children! This is DJ Pon3! Telling you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.”
--- --- --- ---
Level up! All skills at least 25. Perk Gained: Heave ho! Thrown Items have 50% more velocity and distance.
The sky was clear, not a single cloud could be found. The wind rushed through the pegasus’s wings. Circling above the sea, Smiling brightly in his uniform. He began to sing.
“Again, today I’ll go soaring through the sky!
My Enemies, I dish ‘em up in a stir fry!
Gracious goddess of light, watches from up above!
At dinner time I always show the cook some looove~!” Just as he finished a beeping in his ear drew his attention.
“Ensign Cake! The Zebra Empire is attacking the HMS Celestia! We need Captain Equestria” The voice screamed. The pegasus nodded audibly. He pulled out a button and pressed it.
“Soul-lar Reactor Activate!” he yelled as he was consumed in a blinding light. The pegasus was now enveloped in a gloriously shining armor with the flag of Equestria emblazoned on his chest and back.
“For Truth! Justice! And the Equestrian way!” He yelled as he dive bombed toward the Zebra Battleship. Smashing onto the deck. Several snarling zebras advanced on Captain Equestria.
Bang! Pow! Biff!
The zebras fell down in dramatic fashion after being assaulted in unarmed combat. Captain Equestria looked around assessing his surroundings heroically.
“Ahh, Captain Equestria! So good to come to your doom!” a Zebra officer announced. “Legate Laudanum!” Captain Equestria gasped.
“The Same! Are you prepared to die for your pitiful country?” the Legate taunted.
“I’ll die for my country any day but you won’t get the satisfaction!” The Captain retorted. The Legate laughed as his right eye opened to reveal a glowing laser. A glowing ball of hard light appeared before the Captain. The blasts of energy from the two opponents collide with a burst of light.
Who will come out on top! Find out in the next issue of Captain Equestria!
*Do your part children and recycle cans and paper like this issue for the war effort! Every little bit counts!*
*This comic is produced by the Ministry of Morale and edited by the Ministry of Image.*
--- --- -- --- --- ---
“Well that sucks!” I heard Éclair announcing after putting away the comic book. “Gettin’ right to where the good part is and jus’ they end it on ya!”
“It’s called a cliffhanger, Éclair” I said. “Comics always do that to you to get you to buy the next one.” Éclair was pouting. She was right though. The way they ended the first issue sucked. Now if they had done a movie adaptation, then they’d have to wrap up the climax. Then just lead to the foreshadowing of the next two potential sequels. Providing it does well enough in the box office.
“Any luck on that radio?” I asked Sorbet. She had been fiddling with the radio and both of their PipBucks ever since that broadcast went through a couple hours ago.
“Spotty, even after I boosted our reception with my PipBuck. Can’t keep the signal long enough to get anything good.” She twisted some knobs for a few moments. The static buzz of the radio would give way to a couple notes from a song then cut out again. “Honestly, I’m surprised DJ-PON3’s station can even reach out here. Broadcasting from Tenpony Tower, which is miles from the coast I might add, all the way out here.”
“So who is this DJ-PON3 anyway?” I asked. I was surprised anypony even listened to the radio, let alone run a radio station.
“Somepony who in addition to playing decent music, does news reports on the happenings all across Equestria. How he does it I’m not sure, but if his signal can reach out here then maybe I can keep tabs on Stable City”, she said aloud. ‘And the rest of Equestria’ I thought to myself.
“That, and there is only so much arguing about story structure one pony can take.” She said through her teeth as she continued fiddling with the radio. One of the corners of her mouth started to curl up ever so slightly. Smug little…
“Hey! I see lights!” Éclair pointed excitedly. I turned my head in that direction. A smallish dot to the north-east of us was immediately visible. A glint of light would blink in regular intervals. Something was signaling us.
“Éclair, can you flash your PipBuck’s lamp feature thing a couple of times?” I asked her. She nodded and lifted her PipBuck up. She pressed the light button on the device on and off at about once every half a second. The glinting in the distance stopped.
“Sorbet? Get ready; Somepony wants to talk to us.”
“Get ready for what exactly?” She asked raising an eyebrow.
“Well if they start to get unruly then well… Shoot ‘em.” I answered, thinking of the best wording
“Shoot ‘em?” that eyebrow was going to stretch to back of her head if she wasn’t careful.
“Politely” I elaborated. She smirked and loaded the Zebra 9mm. Éclair rustled up anything that looked valuable and stashed it in the lockboxes. I stood and watched the other vessel approach.
The boat that approached looked like it was expensive at some point. A personal yacht, probably enough room on board for maybe two ponies, three if one slept on deck. The word ‘PRINCESS’ was stenciled on the bow. Its sail was legitimately designed to be a sail. Our Mighty Poseidon had it beat in deck space, but comparing a yacht to a flatbed is like comparing oranges to bananas.
Atop the nose stood its captain and noticeable only resident. A pony wrapped head to fetlock in belted leather. A slight reflection of goggles hid the pony’s eyes. The only part not obscured of was a blond tuft of their mane and tail. The pony tilted its head back slightly at the sight of me.
“Well then, I’m glad you stayed your course to indulge an old mare” The pony said. I couldn’t see any real signs of age in her posture or in what little I could see of her face but she sounded like she’d been around the waves a lot longer than me.
“Glad to find a pony not trying to kill me right off the cuff” I spoke up. The leather bound mare cocked her head to the side. “Found an abandoned cargo ship a bit ago, A group of malcontents decided the place would be easier to scavenge with us dead. Can’t say I blame them too much, we already got the good stuff.” I told my story, but she seemed to be staring past me. Or through me. Or… in me. I could feel her eyes practically dissecting me.
“Well then, to the winner go the spoils.” She remarked. I couldn’t tell if she was congratulating me or judging me. “It’s certainly strange to see any of your kind out this far away from the Storm Wall.” She stated finally.
“Yeah, we tend to keep to ourselves.” I replied. “Anyways, did you have a reason to pull us over?”
“Reasons, everyone wants a reason to do things these days.” She said whimsically. “But if I had to say I had one, then it would be to give some friendly advice.”
“That advice being?” I asked
“The weather is going to turn sour in a couple of hours. Unless you have a deep sea anchor or are skilled enough to sail a storm, I suggest that your find someplace to go to port.” She said plainly.
“How can you tell? The clouds look the same kind of half grey as they always do.” Éclair asked looking up at the sky.
“The smell of ozone.” The mare replied. “Sail these waters long enough and you’ll notice the signs. First you smell ozone, then the wind picks up, and finally the clouds turn a dark green. That’s how you tell a thunderstorm is coming.”
“Nice little tid bit, but that leads into a little problem.” Sorbet added to the conversation. The leather bound mare looked at her, scanning her with an extraordinarily intense gaze. she was clicking the roof of her mouth as she did.
“There are a couple of sand bars east of here, but judging from your impression of a mummy, you’ll need a settlement. Head north east from here a mile or two, and you’ll get to Steam Town", She said to us. "They have a little beacon lit all day and night. I just came from there.I doubt you’ll miss it.” I looked northeast. Finally, some civilization. Took us long enough. I made for the mast began to unfurl the sail.
“One more piece of advice, seapony.” She started. I stopped to turn to her. “You have encountered this, but your kind is rare enough to be considered a drunken bar story. Ponies who see you may think of you as a mutant before a pony.”
“Thanks for the information, if that storm is coming like you say it will, then we had best get going.” I said, nodding. I was truly thankful for the info, but something about her rubbed me the wrong way.
“Good luck on your travels and such.” She waved as she headed back to he own sail. “Before I go, I didn’t catch your names.”
“I’m Riptide, this is Sorbet and Éclair.” I pointed to each of us as I answered. “yours?”
“Ponies call me Ghost. Can’t imagine why though…” she mused aloud. Our vessels separated. I brought The Poseidon around to the northeast. As soon I knew that Ghost was out of ear shot I spoke up.
“That pony was weird as fu-” I began shaking my head.
“Children are present.” Sorbet bopped the back of my head. It kinda stung.
“He was just gonna say fuck mum, twernt nuthin bad.” Éclair protested my case. She got spanked for her trouble.
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
When an enigmatic pony sails in from the distance and gives you advice, you take it. Because a soon as we saw the beacon’s light, it started raining like Celestia had a nasty break up with a childhood sweet heart. Seriously there were objects thrown about and plenty of name calling. And the rain was pretty bad too.
The wind was blowing against us so I had to drag the boat towards what I now know is Steam Town. The water was getting shallower as I drew closer to three Steamboats moored on a sandbar. Small gouts of steam jetted from converted engines. Rickety walkways from each of the boats connected to random levels of each of them. Other boats, parked next to sand bars and walkways, sat while the rain pelted their decks.
I found a free Sandbar that we could park next to and dragged The Poseidon to it. The water sloshed up against me as I lifted myself back onto deck. Sorbet and Éclair were under the leaf and canvas roof of the sleeping area, trying to stay dry. I still can’t figure out the appeal of dryness but to each one’s own. I turned to the others and relayed the plan.
“Okay, lock up and cover the stuff we don’t want to trade. I’d rather not have somepony dash with our supplies while we’re away.” I ordered. The two nodded and start stashing some of the essentials into the lock boxes. I dragged out the rifles we snatched off the cargo ship. I could probably trade these with somepony. I also grabbed the bag of bits we had collected. Strapping the rifles to my back, I made my way off our ship to the ramp up to the town.
“First stop is the clinic, pain killers and a sunny disposition won’t heal those wounds.” I stated as I started walking that way. Sorbet stopped suddenly.
“Maybe we should do something about your appearance.” Sorbet stated.
“What’s wrong with my appearance?” I asked. Did I have something in my hair? Shut up and get it out!
“Well, grab one of the blankets. Outta sight, outta mind.” I responded. She pulled one of the spare blankets from our ship and tossed it to me. Wrapping the short end around my neck, I fashioned an impromptu cloak. Sorbet limped around me, inspecting the disguise.
“Well, it looks like your dragging your flank everywhere. Think you can fix that?” she asked. I don’t even have a flank; the lack of one may be off-putting to some. I thought for a moment. I hiked up my tail as far as I could. A twinge in my pelvic region buzzed in my brain.
“Eh, that’ll do.” Sorbet said. Oh, this was going to be bad. Everything was getting pinched as I waddled my tail to simulate hind legs. The sooner I had a chance to ‘sit’ the better. Two ponies approached us. They wore slightly heavy barding and had submachine guns pointed in our general direction. Fighting the instinct to get into a defensive stance, I stood there as they approached us.
“State your business in Steam Town.” The taller of the two spoke up. I put up my stern ‘don’t want any trouble face.’
“My companion here has been severely wounded and needs medical attention.” I gestured, inwardly struggling to keep my balance, towards Sorbet. The guards immediately turned their attention to the coug- I mean bandaged middle aged mare. They also completely forgot about me and rushed to her aid. I took this moment to plop dow- oh sweet Celestia that felt better…
“We’ll take you Doc Stitch. Just hang on.” The shorter guard said, escorting her further. I grunted as I ‘stood’ back up to follow them. Éclair by my side was giggling at some joke I didn’t know.
The area between the three steam boats was a garden partially submerged in water. I saw some basics like maize and wheat. A singular apple tree was in the center. The fruit itself was pretty pitiful compared to the pictures I saw, but I’ve never had an apple before so I couldn’t say.
The ramp up to the clinic was murder on my fins. The smell of antiseptic filled my nostrils. Then I saw it. A glorious monument to stallion-hood. The greatest handlebar mustache ever to grace a pony's face. And Doctor Stitch bore it proudly. With a practiced eye he observed Sorbet as she was brought into the room.
“What’s the damage?” he spoke with a rumbly deep voice. The kind you’d expect a hardboiled detective who was back on the case. I moved up next to Sorbet. ‘Let’s hope my movie know how and shamanistic traditions hold up to a professional’ I thought to myself.
“My friend here received several injuries along the spine due to shrapnel from an engine explosion a few days ago. The shrapnel was removed and the bleeding staunched, but medicine was in short supply. We headed here to further her treatment. ” I related past events as professionally as I could manage. The doctor looked me in the eyes.
“How was the bleeding stopped?” he asked levelly.
“Cauterization” I replied. His lips pursed and a slight scowl formed on his face. He closed his eyes, And nodded morosely.
“You were right in bringing her here. I’ll have to put her under for the procedure. ma’am if you would follow me.” Stitch directed Sorbet to the operating table. He brought out a needle and pushed it into the skin between her neck and shoulders. It didn’t take long before she started to nod off. Éclair scooted up next to her and lay down. After that -clunk- she was out cold.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
I was sitting in the tavern, sipping on some locally brewed whiskey. The storm did not want to let up. Every once in a while, a flash of light would make me jump from my seat at the bar. It had been two hours since Sorbet was put under. I’ve sold the rifles we scavenged and the bits. Apparently, bottle caps are currency out here. Makes sense, I doubt you’d find a working mint or press out here in Oceania. I had a haul of 432 caps. Which got whittled down to 200 real quick due to the Operation and some other fees (looking at you purified water). I finished off my glass and walked to the market again.
Since I was good with the essentials, food and water, I started noticing things. For instance the job board. Little odd job requests like obtaining wood for the boilers or removing some rattlemantas nests near the town. One job in particular interested me.
Help the Signal! See Short Wave for details.
Tiny directions were sketched out on the ad stated that Short Wave’s place was nearby. I went upstairs to a slightly lonely bit of the Steamboat. Heavy curtains were closed under a sign reading ‘Short Wave’s Do-dads!’ I drew open the curtains. A sauna of hot air smacked into me. Suddenly I was hungry despite recently eating. I slightly chubby sky blue pony sat there inhaling what I hope was just hookah. His bloodshot eyes glanced at me.
“eeeehyy maaaangn Whaz up?” he said deliberately slow. I coughed slightly as plume of smoke erupted form his mouth and into my face.
“You posted a job offer?” I asked.
“Sweet, maaang. Finally somepony wants to fix the signal.” He replied. He leaned in and brushed off a space on the table. On that open space he put a map. Circled on that map was an area due east from Steam Town.
“You gotta know by now that radio signals around the inner sea region are shit, maang.” Short Wave stated. “Now, I know for a fact that more than a couple ponies are playing sweet tunes over the airwaves. There’s a radio tower here, it’s not active now. If it was, we’d all be listing to some Sweetie Bell right now.” I nodded.
“So what the job is, and I’ll pay for it, is to put power to that station to keep the signals put up around here alive maang!” he announced to the world.
“How much are we talking, bro?” I asked.
“My bro was a prick maang, you aint a prick I can tell that much. but I’d give you, say… three fifty caps, and some trade from the shop here.” He said, looking back down into his hookah. I glanced around. Random curiosities doted what I thought was just a private hangout. I really didn’t need any of- what the shit was that. My senses caught something in a small pile. I walked over and started sifting. I- I started crying. Right then and there. My heart started to pull at my brain.
“Ya okay maang?” Short Wave asked concerned. I looked back grinning ear to ear, wiping tears out of my eyes. My telekinesis lifted up the Super 8 Home Movie kit into his view.
“You have a deal maang.” I told him.
--- --- --- --- --- --- No Signifigant Level Change
‘It was on the way’ I said, ‘two birds one stone’ I said. I hate my logic. Clear out a nest of the little bastards and I got myself a good 150 caps. A baby’s rattler broke my inward ranting. I shifted toward the noise. The water transferred sounds well. The kite looking creature swam towards me. Its scorpion-like tail rattled its venom sac warning its attack.
“Top of the food chain pal, you lose.” I said. The rattlemanta lunged, intent to kill me. Lunged right into my spear. Wafts of blood spurted at it thrashed around on the tip. A black flash whizzed by my eye. The stinger whipped by my face, the will to stab me was strong in this one. It missed again, slowing down as it lost more blood. My teeth sunk into the base of its tail. I yanked my spear in one direction, my head in the other. With a neat little RRRRIIIIIIIIIIPPP, The tail came lose. I spat out the tail. The body of the rattlemanta started to float up to the surface. I slowly opened my saddle bag on my left side. That’s where I kept the waterproof stuff. I added the tail to the several others I had collected.
One item of business left to take care of. Doc Stitch could mix up some anti-venom from those sacs, but the nest was still not taken care of. That was the job of a little piece of Pre-war goodness. From my bag I extracted the soda can from hell. A hoof held depth charge, designed for conscripted ships to combat Zebra U-boats.
I flipped the switch, and let it sink. I swam for the surface. If what that salesman said was right, I didn’t want to be under water when that blew. The surface shattered as I came up for air. My tail left the water for a moment, I was in the air.
THUD.
The rumbling bubble shoved a ton of water into the air behind me. My eardrums rattled as vibrations erupted from the ocean floor. I dove back into the water. Tiny bubbles tickled my sides as I sunk back down to a comfortable depth. The nest, predictably, was no more. The rusty smell of bloody fish oil filled my nose. Parts of rattlemanta floated past me to the surface. Well, now that that was over with. I had a radio tower to boot up.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
(About six hours eariler)
“All you need to do, mang, is to stick this holotape into the main terminal, it should boot up right then.” Short Wave explained to me, while giving me the item.
“What if the thing is shot?” I asked.
“Get the terminal up, it should tell ya what to do if it needs fixin. Ponies back then were smart like that mang.” Short Wave shook his hoof at my question. Tufts of the ganja he was smoking wafted from his fetlocks.
“Okay, I’ll take your word for it.” I replied. Short Wave leaned in from his cozy seat. He pulled a box-like thing from one of the piles of doo dads.
“The holotape has got a recording on it, set to play as soon everything is config-gee-ated." Short Wave elaborated. "Use this trotman. Turn the dial to radio. That’s how you’ll know you did it right.” I nodded and took the Trotman. It looked like was a juice box with an antenna; Cutting edge tech for the laypony music listener.
“Listen to the radio; you’ll know when I’m done.” I smirked. He returned my smile and took a long draw from his pipe. I exited before he exhaled.
The corners of my mouth threatened to overtake my eyes as I was giggling madly. I started prancing a little. A home movies set, right here! Not only could I watch movies, I could MAKE movies. Just a simple job and I’d get it free of charge! My inner child was about to burst out of my chest.
Thud!
I ran smack dab into the wall next to Doc Stitch’s clinic. Éclair was shaking her head at me disapprovingly.
“What?” I asked.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
The evening sun only extended the shadow cast from the listening post. Four steel girders planted into the ocean floor secured in concrete. The water was warmer than the area near the rattlemanta nest used to be. I popped out of the water, tossing the ocean from my lungs. The building was three stories tall, not including the part submerged in water. A small gridded tower extended from the roof, with a slightly bent dish hanging from the top. No boats, canoes, nor ships surrounded the building. Nopony home I guess.
I flopped myself on the docking area. Upturned crates and barrels littered the floor. Nothing useful in the stuff. Figures. I walked to the entrance. This is where things got interesting. The door was chained shut, from the outside. Somepony didn’t want their stuff gone through while they were away. From the rust of the chain and the lock, they’d been gone for about two hundred years or so. I took out a bobby pin, Éclair certainly taught me to appreciate something so simple. I jimmied the lock, turning the ‘key’ and~
Snap! How did she make it look so easy?
“Fuck it” I pulled out my machete, ramming it between the door and the post it was chained to. I pulled, using the leverage of the blade and my body weight to stress the cha-
SNAP!
I fell to the floor as the chain burst. The door was loose; it had a deadbolt but it didn’t reach far enough to lock itself. Pushing open the door I stepped my way into the tower. The air was stale and close, and little to no light was available. Midnight blue light from my horn gave me a better idea of what the room was. It was a store room, or something like it. A desk was immediately in front of me with a terminal that looked like it was kicked in. behind that were shelves filled with boxes. One of the boxes in particular had fallen over, papers sprawled out of it. Sifting through the documents, i saw notes on a pony’s entire life were laid bare in that box. Criminal records, parking tickets, dental fees, drink orders; everything was there.
Tearing myself away from the files I explored the room further. A workbench littered with tools and parts sat next to what looked like a cellar door. Stairs up to the next floor were next to the cellar door. My vast knowledge of radio towers and buildings dedicated to them, i.e. that one Con Mane flick, suggested that the terminal controls for the radio would be upstairs.
Following my gut instinct, I took the stairs upward. Thankfully this room was better lit due to it's many windows. It was an office, I guess. The desks were centered on a board on the north wall. Red twine was extended from photo to photo with notes and newspaper clippings. Terminals were on each desk. I prodded a couple of them. But power wasn’t connected to any of them.
Bunks were laid out on the north wall. ‘A work place that sleeps together’ maybe? I doubt it. The files on the floor below me, the connection board up here. This was an Equestrian Intelligence listening post. I was surprised to see that there wasn’t a poster of Pinkie Pie somewhe- Oh there it is. Okay, I can’t be the only pony that smile freaks out. Anywhere I went, it looked like her eyes are following me. Forever…
I ripped off the poster, crumpling it up. None of the terminals here were the one I needed. I continued upstairs. The dust shifted from wind blowing in from the broken window panes. The panes themselves were spray painted black, enough to let light in but to keep away prying eyes. How prying eyes were out in the middle of the ocean I couldn’t say. The light that did bleed into the room illuminated hanging cords and wires. Computer towers, radios, indicator lights, dials, spinners, and a coffee maker was jury rigged into this mechanical cluster. All of it dark and unmoving.
I pushed the power button. The blank screen mocked me. I checked the power cord. It was plugged in. I followed the cord the power cord was plugged into. It leads me to a box on the wall. Popping open the box, fuses stared back at me.
“Somepony popped the main” I said to myself. The fuse itself looked intact. Okay, how did MacGrover do this? I pulled the main fuse out of the socket. I licked both ends. The copper taste stuck in my mouth. I put the fuse back in and flipped the switch.
FWOOM!
“And Celestia said, Let there be light! And there was light, and it was good.” I quoted in my moment of triumph. The florescent bulbs bussed at me as they kicked on. The monitor on the terminal hybrid thingy flashed green as power came to it as well. I whipped out the holotape Short Wave gave me. Let’s get this show on the road!
Input password:
Fffffffffff…
I pulled the key log in debug mode. Pancake? No. Training? No. Celestia? No. Dragons? Yes!
Dragons
Processing…
Password Accepted.
“Yeah!” I began to navigate through the computer. Some logs about and interrogation, maybe later. Sports stats, not now. Subscription to badass weekly? Nerds. Ah! here we go. Data Input. I confirmed my choice. A small slot next to the monitor opened. I slid in the holotape. I stated waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting…
“Come on!” I yelled. I kicked the base of the computer. THUNK! Something fell off of a shelf above me. Rolling off the computer towers. A deep blue ball fell off the computer tower. My midnight blue aura wrapped around the ball as I brought it to me.
“The hell is this thing doing here” I brought it closer to my eye for scrutiny. I blinked. The world was gone.
<-=======ooO Ooo=======->
The sun was beating down on top of my head mercilessly. But it didn’t feel like it was my head. I couldn’t move. The strangest sensation came from my- I HAVE FREAKING REAR LEGS! This was not me, I don’t have four legs; I have two. Plus I’m not brown. And I certainly remember a certain organ being there that wasn’t anymore.
“At ease!” A commanding voice resounded throughout the field. I felt this pony’s body relax as her flank hit the ground. My, rather her, attention was drawn to the two official looking ponies in front of her. Both of them were stallion unicorns. Military from the looks of their uniforms. One of them had blue, striped hair and a shield with a star in the middle for a cutie mark.
“All right, trainees, as unicorns joining Equestria's beloved Marine Corps, there is one essential skill every one of you has to master before you are put in the field. Barriers. Now, Brigadier General Shining Armor has so very kindly opened his busy schedule to assist in your training. So let’s not waste his time by getting it right the first time! Is that clear?”
“Sir, yes sir!” boomed in the field, I could barely hear this mare’s voice over all the others. All the trainees lined up and grabbed a manual from the pile. The mare’s eyes looked over the colorful pictures in the hand book. I felt her eyebrows furrow as she continued.
“Having trouble trainee?” A smooth yet stern voice sunk into the mare’s ear. The general was standing next to her. She lurched back.
“Sir, N-no problems here S-sir.” She stammered.
“Then why haven’t you started yet?” he replied. He gestured to the other trainees. Roughly half of them had at least half a bubble of colored light manifested.
“I-I’m an… auditory learner sir.” She admitted to her superior. He sighed smiling.
“Okay, I’ll talk you through it. First, visualize the shape you want to make your barrier.” He said. The mare closed her eyes.
“Now just like levitation, wrap your magic around that visualization.” He continued. I felt the nerves in her horn firing off as her magic began doing its thing.
“Almost there. Now just increase the power. And imagine that area is solid. Aaaand You got it!” He finished. The mare’s eyes burst open. A light yellow glow formed a dome around her. General Shining Armor tapped the bubble with his hoof.
“Now, while spherical barriers are the most common type of barrier, They're also the most energy inefficient.Try doing in the same with just a wall. ” The mare complied. She retraced her steps and formed a glowing panel of shield between the two of them.
“Now try moving it.” Shining Armor commanded. A tingling sensation shot up her nose. Her lungs seized.
“Ahchoo!” She sneezed monstrously, her concentration lost. Her drill instructor rushed over, along with the other trainees. She looked around, obviously confused. Then it dawned on her. Shining Armor was no longer next to her. She turned around to see the general pinned against a wall by her barrier. Gasping, she released control of the barrier.
The world began falling apart again as the general stood back up, laughing his guts out.
<-=======ooO Ooo=======->
My eyes began processing on their own again. I was sprawled out on the floor. The orb lay next to me. I gave myself a once over, seeing if everything was back in their proper place. I had heard that they had stuff to extract memories. This was not what I was expecting. I thought they just put it on a screen or something. Standing myself up, a blinking phrase on the monitor drew my attention.
Run Program? Y/N I took out the Trotman and flipped it on. Let’s see this baby dance. I pounded the Y key.
“Waazzzzaap mangs and mangettes! This is your soon to be best friend Short Wave, and I’m bringing you The Signal!” Short Wave’s raspy voice poured out of the tiny radio and, to my surprise, the intercom as well. Nice little bit of surround sound.
“Now you’re asking yourself, what is The Signal? Why it’s the newest and hottest radio station coming out of the inner sea region, bringing you good vibes and awesome tunes. And not just from us, but from every place that’s a-broadcastin'. From Summer Sunset to Dry Dock. Hell, from Equestria to Oceania. If it puts out waves, we bring it in for y’all to listen.” He announced. How in the heck does one little spy hideout do all of that? The intercom was kinda loud. I scanned through the terminal to find the shut off and promptly used it.
“Let’s start things off right with a little tribute to us island cats with ‘The Next Flight Out Today” Short Wave’s recording finished. Then music started up. I was chuckling a little bit at the little show when something stuck me as odd. It smelled in here. Something fetid, spoiled, and rotten had made itself known. I turned around to the source.
“~let’s fly away, we’re on vacation. A holiday with you!~”
Something, somepony stood at the top of the stairs. Hairless flesh looked ready to fall off of the bones that shaped it. Milky white eyes trained on me. It gurgled a hiss, like its vocal cords had rotted away. A corpse alive. A zombie.
“~I’m dreaming of a tropical location. A paradise for two~”
“Fffffffff” I started. The zompony lunged at me. Had to think, first rule of zombie movies.
“~Let’s head on down to southern hemispheres~”
“Cut off the head.” I recited. My machete whipped out; the handle bashed against its temple. Staggering to the left it started to correct itself. The momentum of my blade carried itself into its neck. Chunks of coagulated blood pumped out of the wound. I shoved my body into the corpse, knocking it over. Ripping the machete out, I lifted it up. I started hacking. I cleaved through bone, sinew, and muscle. The head came free. I could tell it was already dead(er), by the time I was halfway done.
“~Where the sea is blue and the sky is bright and clear~”
“Second rule of zombie movies, there’s never just one.” I recited. Steeling myself, I readied my spear. I slid a couple knives under a strap to my barding, making a makeshift bandolier. I crept downstairs. I could hear hooves against the floor. Peeking my head out, I saw five walking corpses. I slid back into the stair well. Breathing deep I scowled.
“~No second thoughts, no hesitation. Hurry! Don’t delay.~”
“Let’s party.” I muttered to myself. I burst into the room. My knives flew from my bandolier. Three of the five hit nothing but air. The two remaining struck one of the zombies in the neck and chest, taking it down.
“~we’re leaving on the next flight out today~”
I thrust my spear into the chest of the nearest zombie. The spearhead tore its way through the back, taking a large chunk of spinal cord with it. One of the other zombies lunged at me. My machete sliced the air above its head as it ducked. The thing tackled me, bowling me over. My spear out of reach. It started beating my chest with its front hooves. I flipped up my tail, tossing the corpse over top of me. a sharp needle-like pain shot up my spine as the other two clamped onto my tail with their teeth. The two started to drag me, while the other I just tossed sunk its teeth into my shoulder. Then they started to yank on me like a wishbone. My abdominal muscles began ripping.
My machete swung wildly. Hitting something solid, I lopped off a foreleg. It didn’t stop them from playing tug of war with me. My vision got blurry. My teeth gritted. My mind went blank.
Visualize the shape. Wrap your magic around that visualization.
A small midnight blue wall appeared over part of my tail. I poured my power into this wall.
Now try moving it
I screamed, the wall rocketed out , colliding with the zombies. The wall smashed into the wall. And then through it. A bloody stain on the shattered windows was all that remained of the two corpses. I wrapped my telekinesis around the one clamped on my shoulder. Flipping it over me, I pinned it to the ground.
“This is going to feel real bad!” I shouted at it. I impaled my machete into its gut. Ripping and tearing, I dragged the blade through the flesh, separating the ribcage. Exposing it’s organs to the open air. Finally I shoved the blade in through the bottom of its jaw. I twisted it around until the monster stopped moving. Yanking out the blade, I clinched my jaw.
“WHO ELSE WANTS SOME!?” I yelled. My answer was hooves on metal. A sickly green light poured in from down stairs. My stomach started to turn. I could hear in the back of my head a tick tick ticity sound. A Zompony like the rest of them came up. Dripping what looked to be glowing green acid.
“C'MON!” I yelled at it, brandishing my machete and spear. It hissed at me. I wasn’t gonna let it start. I bolted at him, my machete spinning like a saw blade. My lungs emptied themselves with my roar.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
I tossed the last piece of the glowing one out the window as I breathed the fire from my lungs. The first aid kit here was fortunately better stocked than the one at the cargo ship. It had three of the best Equestrian medicine ever to exist. Healing potions accelerated the healing process tenfold and tasted like cherries. Actually it didn’t taste like cherries at all, that was just what I imagined I tasted instead of cough syrup.
They did a number on me, but I figured I wouldn’t change into one anytime soon. I was already on the mend and would be good as new in an hour or two. The cellar was my theory on them. Inside were barrels upon barrels of some glowing green substance. It had the toxic and the radioactive symbol on it. And they were all leaking. The inside of the cellar door looked like they were trying to claw their way out. Somepony locked them in there, a long time ago. Slowly they changed into these things.
I chained up the door to the cellar, making a mental note to tell Short Wave to not go down there if he plans on ever dropping by. Heading back into the main control room, I figured I'd take a peek at the files on the terminal. I selected the log entry. The computer started whirring.
Case Log We intercepted an illegal shipment of radioactive magical material on a cargo skiff. The cargo itself was manifested to head to the Summer Sunset Island Dinky World. We can’t rule out Zebra operatives using this as a cover for moving war assets across our borders. It’s doubtful the theme park of an animation studio needs weapons grade bio-magical fluid. The ship was impounded at Summer Sunset Naval Base, however we had to store the contraband here.
What is puzzling is the transporter. Her name appears nowhere in Equestrian Census records. Her current name is an alias, but what is also interesting is that no identification matches her. Dental Records, Retina pattern, hoof prints, nothing ties her anywhere. So we dug deeper. We extracted memories from her and found she was at one point in the Equestrian Marine Corps, but no other memories state her name. All parts where a name would be, all that’s heard is static. It’s like before today, she never existed. We’re detaining her here, until further notice.
A pony that was completely erased? That’s some Con Mane shit right there. No doubt she lured everypony in the facility down into cellar, locked the door from the outside and hightailed it out of there. I downloaded the files and added them to a spare holodisk. For giggles.
It was high time to head back. It had been a few hours. Sorbet was probably at least half awake by now.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---- ---
Level Three obtained! Quest perk gained! Barrier Warrior: Learned Basic Barrier, and Barrier Shove magic tricks. Barriers cost AP and have a DT of (INT + END) *Level /2 Melee 50 Medicine 50
Music was in the air. It pretty much had to be. When suddenly every single radio station in a thousand miles becomes available to you, it’d be a sin to not channel surf. I couldn’t get even half way past the docks without hearing DJ Pon3 talking about a Stable Dweller sacking a slave camp, Short Wave’s playlist on The Signal, and The S.S.I.R. (Summer Sunset Isle Radio) weather report. It was pretty cool. It gave the quiet docks some life in it. I had just got to the top of the ramp to the inner gardens when something attempted to break my nose.
A ball bounced from a stick swung by a young foal and hit me square in the face. It was made from rubber bands, duct tape and most likely a rock. Children were playing a game of stick ball. I tossed the ball back into the field of play. I still had to collect for my service, and get my toy. I followed the scent of the plant that made me wanna hug someone then raid their fridge.
Sure enough Short Wave was in front of his shop. He was loading some boxes onto a dolly. He turned to see me and straight up tackle hugged me.
“Maang! You are the best friend a guy could ask for! Yah know that!” Short Wave nuzzled himself on my chest. I looked off to the side trying to escape the grapple huggy bro-ness that was Short Wave.
“Yeah, no problem. What’s with the boxes?” I asked trying to get him off me.
“Well that Holodisk just has the reprogram… program and a playlist of about two dozen songs. Somebody’s gonna have to go live with that sucker sooner or later.” His language stumbled over the technical terms hiding his brilliance.
“Just don’t make a habit of going into the cellar; unless, of course, you’re a fan of melanoma, with a touch of the radiation poisoning.” I warned. He nodded his head repeatedly.
“See, I knew something was up with that place. You just get that gut feeling something isn’t right maang. S’why I hired you.” He explained.
“So you had a feeling that the living dead would ambush the one who booted the place up?” I added.
“Oh, so some ghoulies where shackin’ up there as well? See this is why I hire ponies with that killer twitch. Anypony who looks like they could beat me in a scrap is inherently better suited to do this sorta thing” He said reconfirming his own thoughts. Wait… what?
“I got a killer twitch?” I asked. I didn’t feel like I had a twitch. Sorbet and Éclair certainly didn’t say anything.
“Everybody’s got twitches. Even non pony dudes. Yah just gotta look real hard.” Short Wave explained. He put an arm around me and brought me up to a balcony overlooking the market. He pointed towards the gun merchant.
“A couple of muscles are tensing and releasing in his lower left flank cheek. He’s been in a dry spell, and really wants to get it on with the missus. However, the quiver of his neck muscles mean he’s fuming about something that happened earlier. Putting two and two together, I’d say there is a lover’s spat going on, probably going to end in make-up sex.” Short Wave dissected the scene with his eyes. Before long, the merchant and his wife start having words, Very heated words, followed by a sudden kiss. The two went in the back room hanging a ‘Closed’ sign on the door.
“How the…” I mumbled in awe.
“One of my favorite things to do after hitting some of my stuff is to people watch. Best trip you’ll ever have. Now judging from the way your ear is a movin. You’re looking for your reward.” Short Wave dropped a back of caps in front of me. Along with my newest and favorite child. The Super 8 Camera levitated up to my eyes. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. I had to play with it.
“If you ever need my help again, don’t hesitate to holler. I’ve got no less than 3 radios on my boat.” I smiled as I began to walk away
“I’ll do that my aquatic friend.” I froze at Short Wave’s farewell. I looked at him. He was smiling.
“I’m that obvious?”
“Not really, It took you getting to the listening post and back without a boat to clue me in. Just keep the cloak on, you’ll be fine.” He said to me.
“So, no freaking out or anything?” I filled the dead air. He shook his head.
“As an a accomplished druggie, I’ve learned to cope with my long dead grandmother climbing up my leg with a knife in her teeth. Your amphibiousness-ness doesn’t even rate.” I took his word for it. I looked around again.
“Hey, if you got any friends, specifically friends in the trading business, who are not opposed to my kind of peculiarities; could you send them to these coordinates. My folks back home would really appreciate it.” I wrote down the directions to The Reef. Short Wave looked over the note.
“I think I know a couple. I’ll make sure their on the up and up before I send them your way.”
“Thanks, now if you’ll excuse me, I have a Camera to play with! And one of my friends in the clinic, yeah I should see them too…”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“I was hoping you would show up soon.” The Doc Stitch said. The clinic was empty save for me and him. “Sorbet has made a full recovery. She asked to be alone for a few minutes, stretch her legs.”
I nodded at the statement. She’d been lying down for at least three days now, I’d be restless too.
“She’s in the back room right now; she’d like to talk to you if you’re free.” Dr. Stitch relayed.
“I’ll go see her then.” I replied. He ushered me to the back room, opening the door. I walked in as the good doctor closed the door behind me. Sorbet was looking out the window; the sun was sinking into the horizon, giving way to the night. She was wrapped up in a blanket, drinking some tea from a mug. No light was in the room besides window. She regarded me but didn’t turn from the window.
“I heard you were out doing jobs while I recovered.” She said to me.
“Yeah, can’t have enough supplies for the trip we have a head of us.” I answered.
“Good use of time, but I would have liked you to stay here.” She replied.
“Why’s that.”
“You left Éclair here, for one. Two, you could have been here to defend yourself to me.” She turned her head towards me. Her eyes were daggers.
“What’s this about?” I raised an eyebrow. My heart started to go cold.
“The doctor told me I made a full recovery. It sure as hell doesn’t look like it.” She dropped the blanket. Pale jagged and raised skin ran along her spine. The hairless scars flowed down like a morbid river. My eyes narrowed.
“He said the scarring was due to the fact that the flesh was warped from the first aid techniques used. Because you burnt my wounds closed, I don’t have a cutie mark anymore.” She pointed her hoof at her flank, accentuating the warped flesh where her cutie mark would have been. The only evidence that a cutie make had been there at all was a thin red triangle.
“Oh okay, I thought this was going to be serious.” I mumbled aloud. She just needed to blow off some steam.
“It’s pretty damn serious to me! Your haphazard way of saving my life took away part of my identity.” She hissed. She looked damn near ready to pounce on me.
“A cutie mark isn’t that big a deal.” I said in a monotone. I waved away the statement like it was a fly.
“Oh, this is coming from a pony from a village that shoots foals up with drugs so they can get them! I had to work to get my cutie mark!” She raised her voice. Ouch, really Sorbet? Having her vent wasn’t helping. Plan B!
“Ok, how did you get it then?” I asked evenly.
“I-I what?” she stammered. The angry puzzled expression on her face told me a lot. She wasn’t expecting curiosity towards her past.
“How. Did. You. Get. Your. Cutie. Mark?” I punctuated. I had to get her focused on the new topic. All the anger flushed out of her body as I saw the wheels turning in her head. She turned around towards the window.
“It was raining. Mum and I were at our hut outside of Trottingham. She worked as an escort bodyguard. Twernt living at Stable City yet, just another wasteland family. Anyways, a family of salvagers hired Mum to escort them up the mountains to Stable City. Offered double the usual rate if they could get up there before night fall. Mum, always one for cash, took the job without so much as a second thought.” She began her tale.
“What Mum never really got through her head, or more likely never cared about, was when a pony is willing to pay more to get somewhere on the double; they are running from something. Probably getting ahead of myself a little. The family was three ponies, a mum, a dad, and a little boy, about my age. It was pretty dull, Up until half way up the mountain that is. Sure enough that something they were running from was on us. ” she frowned at the thoughts she was conjuring.
“It was the Steel Rangers, a clan of ponies that collected Technology like it was life itself. They came at us claiming that the family nicked something valuable from them and they wanted it back, with them cocking their guns to emphasize the unspoken ‘or else.’ Now any sensible pony would have left the family out to twist in the wind at that point, but Mum? She took a job, she had to finish it. She was old fashioned like that.” That last statement from her drew out a small and hollow chuckle from within herself.
“Did they steal from these Ranger guys?” I asked
“They never said, but I figured they did. They were running, so they knew the brother hood was on their tail. They were banking on this being the score that got them Citizenship.” She explained
“What was ‘it’ exactly?” I inquired. It was obviously high tech, but it still peaked my interest.
“Can’t really say, it just looked like a medallion that had glowing lines on it. Didn’t pay much attention to it back then.” She answered. Her face was pretty impassive. To her the ‘stolen’ tech was useless to the story.
“So what happened next?” I urged her on.
“Everything went tits up is what happened. Mum fired one bullet, a singular bullet. That lump of lead hit a grenade on one of the Steel Rangers, part of a set of ten on a bandolier. That poor bloke went up like an exploding sun. Took his buddies with him too. The problem was it took out the rock me and the kid were standing on. We go straight down the mountain side.” Her hooves moved about, pantomiming the explosion and the two falling down the mountain.
“The weather got so bad we had to go into a cave to stay dry. The other kid is freaking out. He didn’t get the hint that his mum and dad were safe and sound. I noticed a little path up to a bigger part of the cave. The storm wasn’t letting up so I figured I’d kill some time while mum got around to finding us. I followed a path upwards, just letting my gut take me wherever felt ‘right’. Next thing I know I pop out of an old rabbit hole, dragging the other kid with me. Only to see Mum and the other two clambering up to me.” She continued on.
“By taking that path I ended up beating them to the city. Ponies clambered around me, in awe at me for some reason. I looked at myself and sure as the rain that was falling; I had a golden compass on my bum. ” She had a wide off look. As if she was staring at something a thousand yards away rather than right in front of her. Her head wasn’t the present.
“So your special talent is your sense of direction, and finding your way.” I assumed, breaking her from her flashbacks. She needed to say more if this was going to work.
“Yeah, don’t get ahead of me though. This story is a double whammy.” She waved
“Go on, I’m all ears.” I gestured to her to continue.
“Anyways, the colt kid was worshiping the ground I walked on. Finally I got to talking to him again and the damned fool popped the question, right then and there! How the heck is a little filly supposed answer that. All I could manage was a ‘maybe later.’ He kept asking, and I kept answering ‘maybe later’. We kept doing that for twelve years before I finally said yes.” Sorbet continued sifting through the nostalgia.
“So the day you got cutie make is also the day you met your husband.” I connected the facts. Jackpot.
“Yep, also the day Éclair was born. Funny how that works.” She admitted, chuckling to herself softly.
“Now that day when your husband fell in love with you. Did he fall in love with your special talent that got him out of that cave and back to his parents? Or the Cutie Mark representing it?” I asked. Her jaw tensed.
“Y-… I… This is your idea of psych therapy!?” she demanded. Fire in her eyes. Though no anger bled through her gaze.
“Did it work?” I asked with a smirk. Her face contorted into a vast majority of faces. Ranging from disbelief, frustration and amusement, before finally settling in a vanquished sigh. And the winner is!
“…yes…” she mumbled, looking off to the side with a slightly defeated expression. I smiled and walked up next to her.
“Good, now if I’m not mistaken; Éclair is playing stick ball with some foals from town. Who is gonna cheer for her if not her mom?” I gave her a little nudge. She looked up at me, the corners of her mouth rose giving way to a pure distilled happy smile. We walked out of the back room together. If only for that moment, there was no sorrow in the world.
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
The Super 8 whirred as it captured the game in the gardens. The makeshift ball soared past the lens. A filly ran past the bases before finally being tagged out. There were not teams, just kids having a go at how far they could get before getting caught. The same kind of free form play that makes children have more fun with the box rather than the toy inside.
Éclair was up at the plate, a mighty stick in her mouth, ready to strike the foolish ball that dared to try its luck against her. The pitcher, secure in his malevolent cause, set out to remove the mainlander filly from play without her taking a single base. A deathly chill made its way through the ocean breeze. For an eternity, the catcher and pitcher spoke to each other in a sign language only they knew.
A pause before the storm. A moment broken instantaneously by the ball leaving the hoof of the pitcher. The world slowed to a crawl as the ball was in in mere feet from home plate. Éclair drew back her bat. Swinging with the might of a thousand gods. Tornadoes of sand blew out from the attack. The dust settled.
“Steeriiiiiiiike! One!” The volunteer umpire called. The applause of some adults echoed in the gardens. Words of encouragement and praise from sideline parents filled the air. Accompanied by bemused chuckles as others went about their business. The ball was put back into the pitcher’s hooves. Gameplay recommenced. The air grew close with anticipation. I moved closer to the edge of the balcony. The second pitch flew like a bullet towards its target.
Krackow!
The resounding sound of a broken stick, and a flying ball resonated throughout Steam Town. The ball seemed intent to kill me as it whizzed by my head. Éclair bolted for first base. Several ponies bolted in front of me. I couldn’t see the game.
I needed a better angle. I moved down from the balcony into the gardens. Nearly tripping on the makeshift benches. Éclair rounded second base. The ball was tossed towards the third baseman, but the slack jawed child made no move got grab it. Éclair hit third and was at the home stretch. Shouting and cheering mixed together into a white noise. The catcher attempted to bar her passage by blocking the path to the home plate. Éclair shifted right, the catcher moved right to match her. The two were on a collision course with each other. Suddenly she shifts left and weaves around the catcher with the deftness of a leaf on the breeze. She jumped up and down on home plate, as if to stake her claim of it. The crowd went wild.
Éclair was doing a jig as Sorbet ran to her. The two turned to me smiling. But they stopped. Their eyes glued to my direction. The cheering stopped, the shouting continued. Hoof steps thundered behind me. Ten guards had entered the gardens behind me, weapons drawn and trained on me. I looked over the balconies of the three ships; everyone’s eyes were on me. Everything was still, save a mild flapping near the ramp I descended. My cloak danced in the wind, caught on a jagged edge on a railing. My body was bare for all eyes to see. The world grew quiet, only the waves could be heard anymore. I looked around nervously.
“Heh, heh… Um… Shoo Shoo Be Doo?”
---- ---- --- --- --- --- --- --- End of chapter No Significant Level change.
*Author's note* Be aware that i do re-edit these later, so if you notice grammar/spelling errors, let me know.
I awoke with a start; something caught my bottom lip and yanked it down. A small droplet of blood ran down my chin.
“Ah Damn!” I hissed. “I know I look like a fish but did they have to put a hook in my mouth?”
“Relax; they do that to everybody here.” A voice emerged from nearby. In its direction I found two others with me, one tall one small. Hooks with fiber wire hung from their lips.
“Why’s that?” I asked
“Some kinky pony stole all the shackles from the sheriff last Tuesday. This was the next best thing.” the tall one of them explained. My jaw dropped.
“That’s just silly.” I finally said
“Stranger things have happened.” The small one added.
“For example?” I asked
“Well naught thirty minutes ago the guards tossed a pony with the backside of a dolphin in here.” He continued. I rolled my eyes
“Fair enough. At least they didn’t shoot me.” I said aloud. The door swung open. A grey haired mare walked in wearing an ascot.
“We’re still working out whether or not we should.” The mare said to me, “I’m hoping you can convince me to one or the other.”
“I’m hoping what I say leads you to the former.” I added.
“That all depends on how you answer these next few questions.” She stated. Her eyes were stern and judging.
“Such as?” I asked
“What is your name?” she asked.
“Riptide” I answered robotically.
“What is your business here?” she said evenly.
“To seek the holy grail…” she eyed me. I shifted in place. No sense of humor “Okay bad joke. My client was injured and we put in for help and supplies.”
“Your client?” She raised an eyebrow.
“She’s hired me to escort her and her daughter to Summer Sunset Island.” I answered straightly
“You mentioned supplies.” She pointed out.
“Food, water, medicine. The essentials.” I replied.
“To include a video camera.” She added.
“Not essentially an essential but yes.” I danced around the statement.
“You think your funny don’t you?” She remarked.
“I used to, but I continue to be proven wrong. Look, we’ve already got what we want. Let me go, and we leave. We were planning on leaving after that game anyways.” I sighed
“Here’s the thing, the inner sea region, hell Steam Town itself has had bad luck with mutants. Last time a mutant came through here; it ended up poisoning almost the whole town with radioactive spores. Locking you in here was erring on the side of caution.” She explained.
“Well, all I do is breath water just as good as air and save money on shoes. You needn’t worry about me and my kind.” I said automatically
“Your kind?” Her eyes grew narrow.
“Yeah, my home island has got a few others like me, its genetic birth defect isolated to my family.” I lied. She didn’t need to know there were hundreds of us.
“I’ll take your word for it. Word of advice though, do not advertise that there are more like you. The ghouls learned that the hard way.” She said.
“So I’m free to go?” I asked.
“As long as you leave immediately, yes.” She confirmed.
“So no chance for a return trip I guess.” I added.
“You can dock here; you personally cannot enter the town limits. Your crew however is fair game. That’s the most I can allow, I apologize.” She bowed her head.
“No worries, I can live with that.” I replied. It was no big deal, just inconvenient. I figure that other towns may be more accepting. The mayor motioned to the guard. The guard promptly removed the hook from my mouth. I flexed my oral muscles; it was hard talking with that thing in there. I made my way towards the door. I had best leave before I over stayed my welcome.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
The Poseidon was loaded and ready to sail. The stick ball fiasco over with, the three of us were ready to depart. Restocked on supplies, we had food enough for two weeks, good medicine to include several healing potions, and nice 30.06 rife for Sorbet with a matching rawhide jacket. We still had her old jumpsuit but couldn’t find anything to patch the holes with.
Steam Town was still bustling even with the lateness of the hour. Strapping the harness to me, I tugged our vessel to the north east. The sounds of the settlement being drowned out by the waves on the horizon. The sun finally fell out of the sky, only the occasional pocket of stars lit the way.
The ladies were asleep. My eyes kept closing on me. The day had been long, eventful, and most of all tiring. I clambered back on deck, shaking the sea off my skin. I picked my usual corner of our raft and curled myself up. No blankets, no pillows; I didn’t need them. I don’t care what anypony tells you, there is nothing more comfy than a seaponies tail. Especially his own.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
I sat in the theater. Watching the pictures move across the screen. A unicorn stallion was tuning a guitar facing away from the screen. A tiny sea green seapony walked up to him with beady yellow eyes.
“Daddy, I have a question.” The child asked.
“What is it Riptide?” He turned around, his short cropped hair parted across the pair of goggles he wore. Only one lens covered an eye and it was painted black.
“How comes you only gots one eye?” The child asked.
“Because I lost one.”
“Where did you lose it? Maybe I can helps you find it.” The child offered.
“Well, that’s kind of you but daddy lost it a long time ago. I don’t think it’s any good now.” The older stallion chuckled to himself.
“Well how did you lose it? Eyes don’t just fall out of heads like that. ” the young me had asked.
“I’ll tell you this, the day I lost my eye is the same day I met your mother.” The film caught fire and snapped.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
I felt I twinge in my nether regions. That was a good dream, damn ‘call of nature’. My eyes fluttered open. Lifting my head I was greeted by a cold metal barrel of a belt fed monstrosity touching my esophagus.
“Unless you want about twenty blow holes to go with those fins, you’d better not move another muscle” Said the pony attached the machine gun. He wore metallic armor with a twisting hourglass like symbol emblazoned on the chest plate. Moving my eyes around, I saw that four others in similar garb were on deck, guns pointed at the ladies. One was hanging back raising his hoof into the air.
“The boat is secure.” He spoke in to a mouth piece.
“Bring them in.” A voice over his walkie talkie ordered. A roar erupted from the darkness next to the Poseidon. A motor boat off the starboard bow kicked on. It flew across the water, with a rope attached to our mast. We were being dragged to where ever these guys wanted.
It didn’t take long to find out. Lights from a massively flat ship quickly approached. A converted barge with junk buildings was their base of operations. We docked alongside it. They dragged us up on board, doing a good job of taking our guns, my knives and my spear. Ushering us towards the middle.
We stopped at a little bonfire between four buildings made from storage containers. The ponies that confiscated our weapons walked away from us and into the building to our left. The one with the walkie talkie stepped closer towards the bonfire.
“We’ve brought them as you’ve ordered.” He said to a figure I couldn’t see past the fire.
“Thank you Major, at ease.” The figure had what I can only describe as a ‘dusky’ voice. He stepped into view. He looked like he had a serious love affair with pockets. I couldn’t see his eyes due to his helmet and shaded visor.
“I’m going to venture a guess and expect you know why you’ve been brought aboard this ship.” The figure said. Shit, fucking racists called a hit on me.
“Look if it’s about the thing in Stea-”
“You shut your damn mouth Seapony, I’m not talking to you.” The figure snapped at me. The fuck… then it hit me. I looked over to Sorbet, who had a scared shitless look in her face.
“You know what we want. you’ll give it to us, either willingly or forcibly with your leg still attached. Your choice.” The figure gave his ultimatum. I could see Sorbet starting to shake. She leaned in closer to me.
“I-I can’t do it, I can’t explain right now. Just get me and my daughter out of here.” She whispered, her voice wavering on sobs. Damn it woman, you’re gonna have some splainin’ to do. I looked around as subtly as I could. Three on the roof with rifles, one next to me with a light machine gun, two in front of me with submachine guns, and Celestia knows how many others are on this barge. What to do? What to do- what’s that poking me in the ribs?
“Listen to me; you know what you gotta do.” I told Sorbet. She looked at me. I jerked my head to the figure. She closed her eyes for a moment.
“Fine, I’ll come quietly.” Sorbet said aloud. The figure smiled. Sorbet began walking to him. I eyed the pony next to me, he looked almost disappointed. Too bad for him.
“She didn’t say a damn thing about me!” I shouted. A rocky rod sung in an arc and impacted in the pony’s jawbone. His head turned a complete 180 with the swing of my coral war-club. My teeth clamped on to his trigger. The most lethal typewriter erupted with bullets. The others scattered. My magic wrapped around the pony’s side arm and tossed it towards Sorbet. Without missing a beat she caught it in her mouth.
The figure bolted. The belt fed bullets ended. I released the machine gun and dashed for the building with our weapon’s captors. One of the ponies on the roof fell next to me, with a smoking hole instead of an eye. The door to the building shattered beneath my hooves. The two ponies that had our gear just pulled the triggers on their submachine guns.
BANG! BANG!
The two ponies that had our gear crumpled like tissue paper. Sorbet ran past me with a smoking 10mm pistol. We snatched up our gear. I had lifted the metal armor off the mercenary and slipped it on.
Suddenly several thousand thuds dotted the side of the building as the ponies outside let loose their weapons on full auto. Bullets punched through the siding and dug their way through to the other side. Despite the peril, Sorbet was smiling.
“And here I was worried; these ponces can’t shoot worth shit! Let me show you tossers how it’s done!” She exclaimed. One shot, one of the streams of bullets, jerked up and suddenly stopped. However the everypony else traced her shot with their streams. I pulled up a barrier. Time to go Crazy!
Weakened by the rain of bullets the siding was easy to crush. The wall parted as I leapt through, bullets pinging off my shield as I flew towards them. My spear in range, I skewered one of the six shooters. My machete out, I started carving. The blade dug into the neck of the next attacker in range. Blood spurted out on my new armor. The other shooters had finally turned to face me, ready to unload. Too bad for them I had two sets of armor to go through now.
One of their heads exploded, thank you Sorbet, as I approached. The opened fire again. My telekinesis launched my recently felled foe at them as I dashed alongside it. Their bullets tore the dead pony in half. My coral mace concaved the next one’s leg. He crumpled to the ground as I slid one of my throwing knives into his neck. I dashed towards the next one, only to find myself staring down twin barrels of a sawed off shotgun.
The blast threw me into the wall. My armor caught the most of it. I realized that it was good against bullets but crumbled under close combat. Sorbet was reloading, and my machete was knocked away from me. The two mercenaries approached. I was distracted by a soft thunk; I saw a gunmetal colored egg land not too far from my assailants. That’s odd, I wonder what that… Oh Shi-
The explosion ripped the two into bloody shreds. An eyeball was rolling down my hastily put up barrier. I looked over to the ladies. Éclair was playfully dangling a grenade pin from her teeth. Apparently, killing ability runs in the family.
We, as Sorbet put it, legged it. The ladies led the way. I preferred it if I was in front but the simple fact was that I just couldn’t keep up with them. I ran after them but they still kept out of pace. They leapt under a bunch of barrels suddenly. A sledgehammer hit me square in the chest, knocking the wind out of me. It was actually a rifle round but it damn sure felt like it! I rolled into cover, while Sorbet and Four other exchanged potshots.
That’s when I heard the chainsaw. Bloodshot eyes and empty syringes burst from the sheet metal next to me. A burlap sack for a mask, the crazed mercenary howled, swinging the spinning blade to and fro. I lurched back. I could feel myself quivering. The corners of my mouth rose however.
“NOW we’re talking!” I screamed. My machete and club whipped out as I charged. The chainsaw slasher pony did the same. Our weapons collided in a shower of sparks and debris. We separated. The whirring blade whizzed by my head, taking off one of my braids. My machete cut the bridge of his nose.
The crazed pony reared up, swinging the chainsaw down. I dodged left as it dug its way into the ground. My club impacted with his jaw. My magic wrapped around the chainsaw. I drove it into the pony’s chest. Blood red and midnight blue mixed together make a very weird combo.
The Poseidon was there in front of us. It was time we got outta here. They had set up chocks on our boat. Hoping to keep us attached to their vessel for a while.
“Cover me, I gotta get us loose.” I called out to Sorbet. She nodded. I proceeded to rip off the connections barring our escape. Every few seconds I heard the bang of a 30.06 round. The last one broke free. I heard an fwhooshing sound.
“RPG! SCATTER!” Sorbet screamed. The explosion tossed me a good ten feet. It also sent the Poseidon adrift. I traced the contrail of the rocket to its source. The figure from earlier stood on a storage crate. He tossed the spent launcher and hopped down.
“Did you really think it’d be that easy? Well I guess you would actually. You should be proud; you just took on an entire detachment of Helix Mercenaries and came out of it no worse for wear.” He said to us, advancing.
“Now, you ladies are giving me what I want, one way or another. Actually after all this, I think we’re going with the other way.” He said. You know what? Fuck this guy. I charged at his smug ass. I swung my machete right were his neck was. Or where it used to be. He ducked underneath me, and kicked me square in the jaw. Sent me rolling a yard. He pulled out a weird looking submachine gun. It had a bunch of blinking lights on it.
“It’s as good as mine.” he announced. He shot a five round burst at me. The bullets collided with my barrier as a charged at him again. I slashed at him. Only to find he flipped above me. Three stinging bullet pierced my back. I threw my shield at him, knocking him over some crates. I ducked behind some cover, and gestured to Sorbet to do the same.
“Naive little bitch. Cover does jack shit in a fight like this.” I heard bullets coming from his gun. And they promptly dug their way into my side. Blue contrails curved around my box as they stuck me. HE CAN CURVE FUCKING BULLETS!?
I pulled up my barrier in a bubble around me. It started to crack under the onslaught. Think Riptide, think! I wrapped my telekinesis around the box I was hiding behind. I shoved it closer to the bastard. My barrier shattered, and I jumped over the box. He was right there. I swiped my club at him. I felt it connect with his shoulder.
His submachine gun fire off its curving bullets right next to my head, hitting nothing but air. I was too close for the bullets to re adjust. That’s where I had him. Stay close. My club uppercutted the son of a bitch into the air. It was immensely satisfying.
He bounced off the ground once, then a saw a flash of light. Three of him stood before me. They all charged at me with a smug grin. I promptly lopped off on of their heads with my machete. I didn’t feel any contact. When the body disappeared into tiny globs of light I realized I hit nothing but air.
A hoof connected with my face as the real one kicked me. The other two circled around me. Both of them had hoof beats. Both of them breathed. I could not for the life of me figure out which was which. One of them was suddenly riddled with bullets. It burst in to light particles. I turned to the remaining one. He looked at me then at the smoking gun that Sorbet had, and then back to me. Another flash of light.
They surrounded me. Ten of them. All chuckling with their smug grins. I returned the smile. Then I started laughing.
“You know, now I have the tactical advantage.” I said aloud.
“And how is that?” The bastards said all at once. I pulled up my barrier.
“When I’m surrounded. No matter where I swing, I can’t miss!” I roared. I shoved all my magic everywhere. My shield exploded outward in a shockwave. A brilliant storm of light particles erupted from the fakes as everything was thrown back. The one that wasn’t evaporating, I rushed towards. I rammed myself into him and created a barrier to pin him to a wall.
“I gotcha now you little bastard, let’s see you hop around now.” I hissed. He still had that smug look in his face.
“Just get it over with. You’re gonna die soon anyways.”
“Who are you what do you want.”
“You know when you die and see your Lord Poseidon, tell him Gamma says suck my nuts” he spat in face. I ground my teeth.
“I’m the one talking here, you answer my questions!” I yelled at him.
“You can’t interrogate what isn’t here.” He said. He disappeared into tiny globs of light. My eyes widened. I felt contact, how was that one a fake? Laughter echoed in the air.
“Oh when I said ‘suck these nuts’, I meant these nuts specifically.” His voice echoed. Panels opened in the deck. I saw twenty or thirty bundles of dynamite ticking away.
“Bye bye, Seapony” He said.
“Run!” I managed to yell. The barge exploded.
---- ---- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Level Up! Twice!
Perk(Quest): Shield burst. Expends remaining Action points to make an AOE attack with barrier. Perk(level): Toughness: +5 to Damage Threshold.
A popping sound caught my ear. My eyes fluttered open. Moss hung from the cave ceiling. Shadows flickered to and fro. Warm dry air pushed at me from my right side while cool water licked at my left. A bonfire made from driftwood burned.
“Poseidon smiles upon you brother. I was afraid you wouldn’t wake.” A male voice made itself known to me from my left. My body stiff and numb, I managed to rotate my head towards my prospective benefactor. A brown coated Seapony treaded water in a pool next to me. Fins swayed where forelegs would be. He was a Deep One, the seapony equivalent of a Pegasus.
“Riptide of the Reef Dwellers thanks you brother.”
“Jetsam of the Bottom Feeders” He gestured to himself, “it was nothing. We are all one family after all.”
“Family or not, I still thank you.” I replied. He smiled and accepted my thanks.
“Your companions led me to you.” He informed me. My eyes shot wide. The explosion.
“They’re alive!” I jerked upward. Nerves exploded in my abdomen. I lay back down swiftly.
“Stay still, brother. You’re gravely injured.” He lurched toward me. I looked back down towards my center. A large chunk of wood had ripped its way into my guts. A meaty rope protruded from the hole.
“You don’t say,” I grimaced. “I know I’m a bit blood thirsty but they didn’t have to put a stake in me.” I tried not to laugh at my own joke. My intestines were hanging out and a spear sized splinter was stuck in my gut, laughing uses your abs, put those three together and you get pain.
“That was in terrible taste,” My attendant responded, “At the risk of sounding stupid, how do you feel?”
“It’s not that bad really,” I said looking over the wound. He had bandaged it around the splinter and the intestine was not stuffed back in or tied down. If he did, it might have gotten twisted and cut off circulation which would mean removal. I’d rather not amputate my guts and smell tomorrow’s bathroom break. “I’m not bleeding, and you did your bandages right. I’m figuring I still got another twelve hours to forty eight hours left to live. I trust you sent for help?”
“I sent my Sister to the nearest village about three hours ago to collect a shaman.” He nodded with his reply.
“I am a shaman.” I replied.
“I know, you wear the braids. But even shamans need shamans from time to time.” He responded sagely.
“True. So where am I?” I asked.
“You’re in one of our havens” he answered. I tilted my head to the side. His eyes furrowed then relaxed, “The Reef still doesn’t travel much I figure.”
“We’re comfortable where we are.” I nodded.
“The havens are like… motels. They are places that are devoid of contact from our land dwelling cousins. You’ve no doubt seen their cruelty.” Jetsam responded.
“You can say that again.” I smirked. Safe houses would a more appropriate term but I didn’t want to steal his thunder. I lay there for a moment feeling like I forgot something- oh yeah. “Where exactly are my companions?”
“On the island above us.”
“So we’re underwater right now?” The room started going dim.
“Air pocket.” He responded
“Oh cool, you know I think I’m gonna pass out for a few moments. Could you wake me up when the shaman gets here? Or I start dying?” I requested. I didn’t get to hear his response. A torrent of water shot up from the corner of the cave.
“Speak of the devil and she shall arrive.” A voice croaked. It was old, rusty even. A wrinkly mint green deep one moved toward me. Braided hair almost touched my face as she loomed over me.
“Hi Auntie M.” I greeted her. Merry Marigold, she was pretty much my second foster mom. She took care of me during the few times I was outside of the Reef.
“Goodness Riptide, what happened to you? Did Kelpie beat you up again?” She voiced her concern, her mouth turned upward.
“Auntie, I don’t know what’s worse that your suggesting Kelpie would do this, or that he even could seeing as he joined up with the Spotted Sharks years ago”
“Oh don’t deny an old mare her teasing, So your finally a Shaman now? Or is Hollow Bones still dragging her hooves.”
“She won’t quit as long as she is alive.” I chuckled, wincing.
“Hrmm, I can’t banter with you when your guts are hanging out of you.” She leaned in and sniffed my abdomen, “You’ll end up laughing yourself to death. Let’s get you sewed up before you go septic.” A second jet of water burst from the corner of the cave. A Bright blue mare covered in bags and boxes dragged herself onto the cave floor panting. Auntie M turned to her with a scowl on her face.
“What took you so long, Flotsam? We have a life at stake.” She chided. The aged shaman procured a vial from the overburdened mare, holding it over my mouth.
“I can’t have you squirming while I sew you up. This will make you not feel it.” She said. The bubbly green liquid simmered. My eyebrow rose of its own accord.
“Quit lying Auntie, it’s unbecoming.”
“Suit yourself. You won’t feel it till after.” The liquid slid into my mouth, like molasses. Warm waves rushed down my body. I felt myself filling up. You know when you go under water and your ears start to hurt. Same thing only five times worse. All over. My skin burned. The nerves in my brain started twisting together. A soundless scream echoed in the cave. Then nothing.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
The Dreamless Sleep Potion. In medical terms it’s a paralytic that dulls all five senses and leaves the victim in a proto comatose state, preventing rapid eye movement. Layman’s terms, your asleep but can’t dream, until a chemical cancels it out.
That’s the theory anyways, but I did dream. I think. It was probably a memory playing back in my head. It was the fight at the freight ship. Everything was happening again. The shooting, Sorbet getting head shots, the grenade, the chainsaw. Then I was reliving the fight with that Gamma freak. The bullets curving and twisting around cover. Telekinesis doesn’t do that. Theoretically, it can but the main issue with that was he wasn’t a unicorn.
Then his blasphemy against Lord Poseidon. It didn’t hit me then, but hindsight is twenty-twenty. He knew about him. And if you know about Poseidon you know about seaponies. He wanted Sorbet’s PipBuck. Not both their PipBucks, just Sorbet’s. Things didn’t add up. I was missing variables.
--- --- --- --- ---
I woke up with four ponies dog piling me. I was screaming and Auntie M was on the ground, with blood on her lip. I do believe this means I tend to toss and turn at night. It took a good ten minutes for me to stop convulsing. Another five to stop screaming.
“Auntie, what the hell did you mix with Dreamless Sleep?”
“Oh, nothing much, some cannabis, holly, some Hydra-”
“You pumped me full of Hydra!? Auntie, you know there is such a thing as the Hippocratic Oath!”
“That’s for doctors, not shamans. Besides, I was told to put your fins back under you as quick as possible. I did so.”
“Then it’s a damn good thing I didn’t have a fractured bone somewhere. Then I’d have a bone fragment floating around in me, cutting who knows how much tissue.”
“Which is why I used it. Honestly Riptide it’s like you think I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Just let me vent Auntie, it keeps my mind off it. You took away the hurt but left the pain.”
“Sorry sweetie, you have a lot of chemicals in you right now. Giving you a painkiller now would mess up you insides.”
“I’ll manage; just don’t move me just yet.” A small little figure moved up to Auntie M. Little Éclair was looking up and down me with the damnedest expression.
“He’s gon’ be alright? Right? I mean his innnads were tore up real good. And even ‘ellounds don’t even howl that loud.” She was looking at my injury, or rather the bald patch of new skin where it was. I started laughing, and for once this evening it didn’t hurt. As much.
“Please to kill me you have to cut off my head, put a stake through my heart, burn my body and scatter my ashes at a crossroads. For further instructions consult Bram Stallion” Listed off. She cocked her head to the side… kids today; don’t even know what a vampire is.
Okay, that’s one lady accounted for. I looked around to find Sorbet standing off to the side, sporting another bandage across her leg. She was looking off in the distance
“Are you going to be fine?” I asked. She jumped slightly, like when you wake someone up.
“Yeah, yeah. Just… yeah.” She murmured. It didn’t sound fine.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I was just staring off into space.”
“If you say so. Since you’re not preoccupied. You mind helping me understand something?”
“Sure, what do need help with?”
“Back at the barge, what exactly freaked you out so much? What did he want that you absolutely couldn’t give?” I looked at her square in her drooping eyes. Her head drifted over to Éclair.
“Éclair, do me a favor. I need run an inventory of our loot.” Sorbet told her daughter.
“Nuh uh! You’re talking about goodies. I’m staying for this.”
“Go!”
“I’m adult enough for any conversation. I know every curse word from A to Zed.” Éclair pounded her chest.
“A fact I graciously save your behind from a good spanking. You’ll be able to listen to secret conversations after your first heat. ” Sorbet stomped her hoof to the ground. My face scrunched up. That’s an odd stipulation on for an age limit. However it seemed to have the desired effect. Éclair dragged her hooves towards the end of the cave towards a trapdoor to the ceiling. I turned to her, raising my eyebrow.
“Is this explanation particularly raunchy or something?” I asked, she looked at her PipBuck and flipped a few switches. It brightened up slightly.
“No, not really. I need to speak with Riptide alone.” She looked over at the others. The siblings looked at each other and back to Auntie M. She nodded and the others dove into the pool. Auntie smiled and looked at the two of us.
“If he dies let me know.” She mused before leaping into the pool herself. Sorbet fiddled with some dials on her PipBuck, I could see the faintest outline of words in the reflection in her eyes.
“Stable City law 23 A2, Classified information is not to be shared with non-citizens, minors, or personnel without proper clearance and need to know. Under this law, Individuals who have the need to know this information are deemed essential by Echo Seven and above personnel, are granted disclosure thereof.” She cited, going over the words with her eyes as she read them.
“Sorbet what are yo-”
“As Team Chief and Echo Seven of the Summer Sunset Expedition, I hereby grant essential status to Riptide. Riptide, as essential personnel you are sworn to secrecy of all classified information given to you. If you fail to keep this information, you are subject to a court martial. If not in an environment where a court martial is possible, you will receive summary execution. Do you accept these conditions.” She looked my dead in the eye. It was really unnerving. She was dead serious. That said, I wasn’t getting anywhere with conjecture.
“I accept these conditions.” I responded. Sorbet nodded. She held her PipBuck to her mouth.
“Access code: Five, Eight, Two, Three, Miracle.” The screen on her PipBuck hissed and lifted up. She pulled out a silvery metal disk from a hidden compartment. Placing the edge down on the cave floor, she flicked the disk. It spun like a bit. That’s when it happened. It lit up in an orange light. It lifted into the air as it picked up speed. A glob of orange light enveloped it. A cone of light hit the ground.
The world was on the floor. More specifically, a map of it. The ball of light floating above it twisted and moved. A featureless pony formed from it.
“My work, was nearly complete. It was going to end the war, and change the way we lived. But, I just had to take a vacation, see my son for the first time. I had gone home to Equestria thinking I could come back to my work; the war was in a stalemate. Then everything ended. Thaumaturgy was gone.” The figure spoke.
“I tried going from memory, but I had most of it removed. All of my notes were in my laboratory in Summer Sunset Isle. My benefactor, wished that I did so. They have a right to their investment. All I was allowed to remember was where my laboratory was and fragments. All of what I know is in this disc. I know it isn’t much to go on but hear me out. I know there isn’t much hope out in the ruins of my world. But Thaumaturgy can make life so much better than it is, even better than it was before. You just need to get to my laboratory and finish my work. The result will be reward enough. The life of the world is in your possession. Use it well. End recording.” The light reverted back to a ball. Broken equations and diagrams floated idly in the air. On the map, a blinking spec came to life.
I examined it closer, revealing to be on the main island of Summer Sunset. The equations drifted in front of my eyes.
“So the mission you were on was to recover this mystery pony’s discovery. It supposedly has the potential to change the world. No offense but, that’s cliché as fuck. The next thing you’re going to say to me is that you can’t let it get into the wrong hooves.” Sorbet opened her mouth then immediately shut it. Ding! Score one for Riptide.
“I’ve seen this movie before. Either its evil and needs to be destroyed, or it’s already destroyed or fate is telling us that it’s the journey not the destination that’s important.”
“Riptide, this isn’t a movie. My husband is the top researcher on this project. He’s crunched what numbers he could. He described it as ‘pulling more clout than Celestia on her best day.’ Heck even the name Thaumaturgy translates to ‘Miracle Working.’”
“So what exactly is it?”
“We don’t know, ”
“Look, I’m not going to knock it. Just keep a healthy dosage of skepticism up.”
“Believe me, I already am. But all this being said. Are you still with me?”
“In fact, due to recent events. More invested than ever.” I said. Sorbet’s eyes furrowed.
“How so?”
“Our opposition. The real official looking pony with the helmet back on the barge. The one who wanted you specifically? He said his name was Gamma.”
“Yeah, that guy.”
“Looking at some facts about him we can see what we are up against. First, hired mercenaries. He’s got funding and resources.” I stated.
“He also has some serious tech available to him. Holograms I’ve seen before but not to that scale. Homing bullets? Never seen anything like it.”
“Yeah, now here is where I’m most interested in. Before the barge blew up. He mentioned Poseidon by name. Now we Seaponies are a very private species.”
“Most ponies think you’re a mutant on sight. The whole species thing is still on the down low. Except you and Steam Town.” Sorbet added.
“Yeah, now out of all the ponies that know about my kind. How many know about our religion?”
“Scant to none I’d wager.”
“So there is a well-equipped, well-funded, and Blasphemous, Psycho running around, that knows my kind exists and is most likely after a pre-war scientific discovery that is rumored to have world changing capabilities. I can’t have that.”
“So you’re figuring, your figuring is if you stay with me. You’ll run into Gamma.”
“A bit for the smart lady. After I meet with the sonovabitch, I’m I ‘ll see who he works for and if they know about my kind. If so I will engage in aggressive diplomacy.” I wanted to engage in a dramatic blood thirsty grin, but I must have flubbed it. Sorbet started laughing
--- --- --- ---
Fate had given us a clear sky. The morning sun poked it’s self over the horizon and above the barely visible Storm Wall. My main-lander companions seemed content to watch the sun rise. I rolled a barrel of well persevered centuries old barrel of cider to The Poseidon. It tasted foul, but it burnt like petroleum and had a high enough alcohol content to work as an antiseptic.
Thankfully, all the explosion of the barge did to the Poseidon was singe the sails. I floated just fine with in all its makeshift glory. We loaded all the loot we had accumulated. Éclair had done a good job with the inventory taking. Some of this we didn’t even grab. Jetsam and Flotsam picked up from the mercs thinking it was ours.
Aside from the armor I had lifted from that mercenary, I was the runt of the litter in terms of gear get-age. Sorbet had strapped on something called a battle saddle. She said it had something to do with using big guns. Something I didn’t need. She also claimed a sub-machine gun. She said it kicked like a mule.
Little Éclair got her first weapon today. It was a nice little pistol with a tube on it that made it go ‘fwip’ instead of ‘bang’. Seeing as I had upgraded from my shark hide suit, I had Auntie adjust it to fit the little girl. While it was definitely better in terms of protection than her jumpsuit, she claimed it smelled like blood and mildew.
Our vessel beckoned us to our journey. We were less than two days sailing from Summer Sunset Isle. Sorbet was getting anxious about losing time. I shared her sentiments. We keep moving, Gamma has to keep chasing us. He chases us we can meet him on our terms.
A tap on my shoulder brought me out of my thoughts. Auntie M was there, wading on the beach.
“You take care of yourself Riptide. Surface life has given you a killer’s eyes. Don’t let them make you do anything dishonorable.” She regarded me with a soft smile.
“I’ll manage Auntie, thanks for everything.” I replied.
“I know you will, but never the less be careful of yourself.”
“I will. Hey you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“Send a message to The Reef. I want them to know how I’m doing.” I said. She smiled and nodded before turning into the tide of the ocean. I hurled myself onto the deck of The Poseidon. We de-beached ourselves and we were once again at sea. I heard a faint buzz and a click.
“That was Short Changed Hero, by the local band The Heavy. Now to give you some News waves; This is The Signal’s Current Events at the top of even hour!” The familiar voice of Short Wave came through the radio sounding like he just smoked a bowl.
“Ladies and Gentlecolts, an aquatic guardian is among us.” Oh fuck.
“Scavengers we shocked to find a barge burning and blown to bits. The barge in question was supposedly owned and operated by The Helix Mercenaries. An eye witness account states that this particular detachment had taken to piracy as it had boarded and captured a smaller vessel. A humongous gunfight burst out on it, brah. While the eyewitness, wishing to remain anonymous, claimed that the boarded group fought off the mercs with the aid of mutant. And here’s the good part. ” Oh no man, don’t do it.
“Said mutant matched the exact description of a Seapony. While normally I’d say that someone was hittin’ the chems too hard, had I personally not seen one myself. And if I’m right, this exact ‘Seapony’ had helped clear out and brought The Signal studio online for us all to enjoy.” Short Wave continued. I sank to the deck of the boat.
“So straight from Short Wave himself, say this. Shoo Be Do, mang. Shoo Shoo Be Do.” I lay there motionless. My mouth was open.
“I always knew radio would be the death of me.” --- --- --- --- --- No Significant level change. Quest Perk: Like Lock Ness and Bighoof. You have mythical status, but the average pony will doubt your existence. +5 on speech checks on those who believe your real. Authors Notes: Sorry for my absence. Military matters and all that. Hopefully I can update semi-regularly every two weeks on Friday. CALLING ALL ARTISTS: While i consider this writing piece in terms of quality to be on the level of "Guilty Pleasure" i think some fan art is just what this fic needs. If would have some fan art or are in the process of making some. Send me a link. Anything would be awesome for my ego and self centered morale. GET TO DRAWING!!
I was beset by two skilled opponents. They blocked every attack, anticipated every move. I was on the ropes, the credits were about to roll. They prepped the finishing blow.
“You seriously have never had a girlfriend before?” Sorbet asked, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly. Éclair was leaning in while chewing on some hardtack.
“Yeah, I haven’t. Why is this a big deal for you?” I asked.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty four,” I answered.
“Hell son, ponies have married and had their first foal by now. The rest are either dead or not of an applicable orientation. You’re not…”
“I like the ladies.”
“Figured, but sometimes it’s hard to tell.”
“Well how about it then, why haven’t you had a significant other?” Éclair jumped in the conversation.
“I guess I never really looked.”
“That is not an acceptable answer!” She was yelling at me now. “Mares should be throwing themselves at you like your Corn the Barbarian!”
“Éclair! You’re much too young to be reading that sort of thing,” Sorbet jumped in.
“C’mon mum, its classic literature!” Éclair pouted.
“Everything is classic literature!” Sorbet shot back. I took this chance to break away from the conversation. I looked over the map. Judging from the distance we had covered, we were less than a day to Summer Sunset isle. I was hoping it was those dots in the horizon.
“Hey, Riptide? I see something coming up from behind us.” Sorbet was pointing of the aft end of The Poseidon. A flashing light aboard a vessel was catching up to us.
“Signal back. Maybe we can pawn off some of this swag,” I said, gesturing to our collection of loot. Sorbet lifted her PipBuck into the air and began signaling back with its lamp function. I slid my cloak on over my tail. Just because I’m on the radio doesn’t make it safe to expose myself. The vessel changed course to bring itself alongside us.
The familiar PRINCESS stencil came into view. It was Ghost’s yacht. The leather bound mare stood atop the cabin as it matched out pace.
“I had figured it was you,” Ghost said, hopping down to the main deck. “You look like you’re doing well for yourself.” She was eyeing me with her goggled piercing gaze.
“More along the lines of being a trouble magnet. What are you doing in this neck of the waves?” I asked. I think I saw a smile under her garments.
“I’m on my way back from fairy hunting,” She stated simply. Éclair bounded up past me with stars in her eyes.
“You hunt fairies?! Did you catch one? What do they look like? What are they!?” she spouted out. Ghost stepped back a little at the little filly’s barrage of questions.
“Yes, I did find one actually,” she said. Éclair made a noise that could only be described as a squee. Ghost reached into a bag and pulled out- OH SHIT! I shoved Éclair to the side like a rag doll.
“Garden of the Flutter Ponies: 2 Return to Castle Midnight! Intact! Oh my goddesses and the great spirits from beyond, you are a gift from the heavens,” I exclaimed. I couldn’t believe it was actually there! In front of me just waiting to be watched.
“I thought that the little one would be more excited,” Ghost mused. Éclair stood herself back up.
“What’s that?”
“What’s that!? Why that’s the greatest animated film ever to come out before the war! The Magnum Opus of Doo Doodles!”
“What’s Doo Doodles?”
“Do not smite the child, for she is merely ignorant,” I prayed to the almighty movie gods aloud. “Doo Doodles is an entertainment company based out of Summer Sunset Isle, started by the legendary animator Dinky Doo.” Éclair cocked her head to the side. *Sigh* save this child.
“They make cartoons,” I stated flatly.
“Oh! Did they make The Captain Equestria shorts?”
“Yes Éclair yes they did.” I replied. I whipped back to Ghost who I could see was amused.
“How much do you want for it?” I asked. It had to be made mine! She looked the tape, then back to me. I could hear the leather move with her frown.
“Two hundred thousand. No less.” That shattering sound you heard? That was my heart. It had… to be made mine!
“I will give you this small child as collateral until I can come up with the money.” I lifted up Éclair with my telekinesis.
“No deal,” she said flatly. The sound of a cleared throat broke the dealings.
“If you done trying to use my daughter as a bargaining chip, then maybe we can get some actual deals done.” Sorbet dragged up the spare loot we had.
“Fine… ” I slumped down slightly, shooting both Ghost and Sorbet a half hearted glare, before curling up in the corner. I’m not above pouting when I don’t get what I want. Using a child as collateral is a perfectly legitimate form of bartering.
The method that Sorbet seemed to use could only be described as “Coaxing.” During my time staring at the slightly misty direction we were headed, all could hear from her was “What about if I did this?” and “If you keep that, what would take for the rest of it?”
I found myself looking at the copy of GotFP: 2, like a lover that spurned me. Cruelly, Ghost had left it among the things being bargained for and Sorbet had callously refused to include in her wish list. We did get some useful things though. Some more 30.06 ammo, a grenade, and a Traveler’s micro guide to The Summer Sunset Isle Territory. A tome Éclair took happily, probably due to the colorful illustrations. I however feel that Ghost made out like a bandit on the deal. Mainly because not only did she have the most glorious piece of animated history in her possession, but she now had Captain Equestria Vol. 1! Éclair gave it up without a fuss, saying she read it forty times already… I need more nerd friends.
I stared lazily out at the open expanse. Eight pretty clouds in descending size approached us from far off. They had a twinge of green in them, must have been thunderclouds. Electrified air tends to get the green effect.
“LAND HO!”
“Wait what?”
Éclair was leaning over the edge of the ship with her hoof extended forward towards the pretty thunderclouds. I raised my eyebrow and looked at her funny like she drank the seawater. She pulled out the Traveler’s guide propped it against the siding between the two of us.
“The Summer Sunset Isle Territory is actually eight islands instead of one. It is named after the second largest island and home 85% of the Territory’s population. When first discovered by Equestria in the late third age before the return of Princess Luna it was originally mistaken for a grouping of thunderclouds.” Éclair read the text out dutifully. I leaned over her and looked at the guide myself.
“Of the eight islands, only four are actually inhabited by Equestrians. Those four are Summer Sunset, Four Seasons, Maw Rock, and Eagle Islands. The other islands, are no go zones for various reasons. Sandbar isle has no freshwater and is uninhabitable. Kalivou is a reservation to the indigenous Pudu Tribes. Red Blaze Island is an active volcano, and ‘Bull’s-eye’ Isle is used as a target range for the Equestrian Navy,” she continued.
“The Navy had a big influence here I take it.”
“Getting to that… The Summer Sunset Isle Territory is home to the largest number of Equestrian military installations per square mile in all of owned Equestria.”
“Most of it Navy, And R and D.” Sorbet chimed in. “You don’t know this?”
“Outside of the pre movie newsreel shorts, no I don’t. So where on Summer Sunset are we headed?” I asked. Sorbet busted out the map. She pointed to the second largest island, slightly inland from Pineapple Harbor.
I looked over at Ghost, or rather where she was. She was no longer there, nor was her boat. I swiveled my head around, looking for her. A shrinking speck in the horizon caught my eye. Somepony bopped me in the back of the head.
“Agh! What was that for?” I looked at the two girls, Éclair was pouting
“Did you even pay attention to me? I just explained the whole history of Captain Equestria’s induction into the Royal Navy!” Éclair asked pointing her hoof at me.
“Nope!” I smiled. She snarled and lunged at me. I dove off the side of the boat. Éclair was leaning over the side.
“No fair!” She yelled at me.
“Bet I can reach the island before you do!” I called back, smiling as wide as I could. She smirked. I whipped my tail forwards and splashed her with about a gallon of water. I threw myself toward the islands.
“All hooves! Full sail!” Éclair ordered to no one in particular. Sorbet just rolled her eyes.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
I treaded water. It was about all I could do, seeing what I was seeing. I was by a cliff. The spray of the waterfall next to me brought the temperature from a hot day to a slightly chilly air. The reefs below me had a sort of… radiance. The evening sun mixed with the coral below me, reflecting a kaleidoscope of colors onto the cliffside. But this was nothing to what was before me.
A mountain, the tallest I had ever seen above the waves, reaching high into the sky covered and coated with the swaying of tropical trees. The lightest gusts of wind caused waves of green to form on the land. A collection of clouds formed at its peak, swirling about like a slow fan.
Summer Sunset Island. The panning landscape scenes never really do the real thing justice.
“No Time for sightseeing, slow poke.” Éclair said beaming. The Poseidon crept its way past me.
“I had a stitch!” I protested. She stuck her tongue out at me. The boat kept going ahead of me. I followed suit and climbed aboard. Judging from the directions from Sorbet’s PipBuck and references from the map we had, we were on the southernmost point of Summer sunset. Our destination was just around the bend in the coastline.
Smooth leaves and coast gave way to grey concrete, cold steel, and the most hodgepodge assortment of vessels to float on water. Small flat boats to full galleys, the docks had most every kind of non-military ship available. The pier itself was huge, designed for massive battleships or luxury cruise liners, with wooden extensions built off of it. The wooden extensions, while worn, looked much newer than the pier itself.
I donned my cloak. Sorbet steered us in towards an open spot. A bearded pony with three legs was there to meet us.
“Ahoy hoy strangers! What business have ye here in Diamond Harbor?” he called to us. His voice was seasoned and deep, but had good cheer to it. As far as I could tell anyways.
“Trade venture, out of Steam Town,” I responded to the old stallion. Sorbet nodded, playing along with the story. He whistled and smiled.
“Good folk, good folk them. Say, I don’t seem to recall you ever docking here. I know my memory ain’t what it used to be, but I scarcely forget a face.”
“You’d be right, sir. This is our first time at Summer Sunset,” I replied.
“Hoo! That means I get to do the sales pitch! I haven’t done that in years! Now how did it go?” The old stallion searched the back of his mind while he muttered to himself. He stamped his singular front hoof when he finally had it.
“Hello and welcome to Diamond Harbor! The Crown Jewel of Summer Sunset Island. I’m Salty Seas, your liaison from the Diamond Harbor City Council. As a first time customer of the dock services we give you the discount of two shillings for a week’s time docked as opposed to full price of five. Exchange rate for Summer Sunset shillings is 5 caps a coin,” the old pony recited happily. I wasn’t surprised that they had docking fees. I was, however, surprised they had their own currency.
“And that’s only the basic package. With our new premium offers, you can receive not only a dedicated parking spot of your choice, but a discount on future docking fees and marine repair services,” he continued.
“I think we’ll take the basic package for now. We’re not sure how long we’ll be staying,” Sorbet interjected.
“Fair enough, let me get your ticket.” The stallion rummaged into a pocket where his fourth leg would have been, and produced a numbered ticket. We debarked from the Poseidon. Sorbet paid Salty the five caps. I made my way up the ramp to the concrete portion of the pier.
Each pier had two gigantic naval guns at the end of them, though patches of rust hinted at their disuse. I saw wooden structures, guard towers, lining the piers. Each of the guard towers had spotlights trained in four directions.
I saw a pony suspended in mid-air. You’re gonna laugh, but I thought she was being dangled by something. Then I saw wings. I didn’t think you could do a mid-air backstroke. This was the first pegasus I had ever seen. A pony called to her from below and she swooped down toward the wooden section. I followed her down with my gaze only to see something else I’d never seen before. Black and white stripes coated the ship sales pony at a booth. He was a full blooded zebra, as he had some weird stripe pattern in place of a cutie mark.
“Move it or lose it pal!” a gruff voice called behind me.
“Oh sorry, I di-fuuuuuh?” I turned to see a towering figure behind me. Two horns jutted from either side of its head, and it stood on two legs. It was heavily muscled and covered in fur. It snorted angrily at me as it readjusted the weight of the large crate it was carrying in its upper legs. I quickly slid to the side of it.
“Tourists…” it muttered as it walked past me. Once it cleared my vision I could see Sorbet stifling a giggle.
“Culture shock, much?” she said, approaching me.
“It’s not like I haven’t seen any of this stuff in real life before. I’m allowed some gawking. To be fair, there’s NEVER been a movie on THAT!” I pointed in the general direction of the bipedal hulk. “Relax tribal boy. You get one free pass.” Sorbet waved away my protests. She moved her gaze to the posts that suspended wire down to the floodlights at each guard tower and towards the inner parts of the city. She stopped moving her head when it reached a flat pane of glass at the top of one of the posts.
“Solar power?” she said aloud. “Figures, that you can use that out here.”
“Try not to get star struck now.”
“Shut it.”
“Now then, next order of business?” I asked our fearless leader.
“We need a place to stay. I doubt they’ll let us stay at the Poseidon after hours,” she said.
“Right then, let’s have a look see.” I responded motioning to the greater part of the city.
We followed the flow of traffic off the pier and onto main street. It was like a scene straight out of a movie. The local yokel gets to the big city for the first time. Signs with lights, buzzing streets, and a jazzy rat pack tune. If the town had been bombed or attacked in any way then it had been masterfully repaired. There was a single ruined building on Main Street. Yellow helmeted ponies were clearing away rubble and rock from it.
Some booths and small shacks were set up on the curb sides. They were of a newer design than the older buildings. They were built from wood. They looked a little less neat than the metal and brick structures, but were by no means ramshackle.
At the end of the street was a saloon-like building attached to a larger much taller building with balconies in every window. A flashing sign on the saloon front bared a name.
“Seaside Apartments,” I read aloud. “Sounds like this is our place.”
“Definitely liking it,” Sorbet replied, pulling Éclair closer to her. We traveled inside. The saloon bit actually was a saloon. Tobacco smoke made the air hazy. A few tables had cards set out on them. The front desk was manned by a pony sized bird. No wait, lion. Hang on. Griffon. Yeah that’s it. A full wall of keys and lock boxes lay behind it.
“How can I help you, sailor,” the griffon addressed me. It was a girl. Her voice was a bit… squawk-y? The cigarette in her mouth bounced up and down as she spoke.
“Got a room for three?” I asked her. The corners of her mouth curled up. She pulled a key from the wall
“A Family vacation. I never thought I’d see the day.” She chuckled.
“We’re not married. He’s my escort,” Sorbet coughed into her hoof.
“Reeeally now. Didn’t think he looked the type to turn tricks!” She laughed a little too loudly at her joke.
“Mum, what’s she on about?” Éclair asked, tugging on her mother’s clothes. Sorbet shoved a hoof in her mouth.
“She means bodyguard.” I flushed red.
“Oh gosh, you are all too easy. Third floor, second on the right.” She jerked a… thumb? Towards the door further inside.
“How much do we owe you?”
“Oh right… thirty caps a night.”
“Not shillings?”
“Do you have shillings?”
“Fair enough…”
We made our way through the door. I grimaced slightly when we walked through. That was a lot of stairs. Usually, I don’t mind stairs. That said, I’m also usually not using my fins to make it look like I’m using four legs.
Three stories and 46 steps later, we opened the door to our new room and I flop inside. I feel a very cool breeze collide with me. The room was simple. It contained a bed, two cabinets, a bathroom, a ceiling fan a wall radiator, and a closet. The bathroom itself had a bathtub, a sink and a toilet. Sorbet stood there, in the door frame, with her jaw on the floor.
“Air conditioning? They have air conditioning out here!?” She gulped and ran past me. Turning the knob on the sink, she stuck her hoof in the water. She quickly pulled it out and shook it, wincing.
“Hot and cold water!” Sorbet exclaimed. She busted out her PipBuck and looked at a dial in the upper right corner of it.
“It’s not even irradiated. It’s pure water!” She was laughing hysterically to herself.
“This is brilliant! No more sleeping in a repurposed lorry for me!” Her natural accent started to flow into something similar to Éclair’s. I poked her in the side.
“Culture shock much?” I echoed.
“Shut it, Riptide.”
“Okay, okay. Now that we got a place to stay. What now?” I asked. She looked around, still a bit giggly.
“We’ll start second thing in the morning,” she answered.
“Second?”
“Well, I figure we can do some shopping before we actually set off,” Sorbet elaborated looking at the setting sun.
“Dibs on the bed!” Éclair shouted and jumps on, bouncing up and down. The springs inside creaked each time she bounced. I shook my head and walked over to the bathtub. I put the stopper in the drain and hopped in.
“Dibs on the tub,” I said, kicking the water on with my tail. I smiled and let my eyes close as the water filled up around me.
The remnants of tobacco smoke drift through the open door of the saloon. I was sitting in a corner booth, comfortably alone. It was that magical time of day between last call, and breakfast is ready. Ponies were either still waking up or too wasted to pay me any mind. I’m was doing what I never thought I’d see myself doing. I was drinking orange juice from a box. the thing was probably a hundred years past its expiration date, but the mare across the counter of the bar assured me it was fresh. I took her word for it.
Sorbet and Éclair were still upstairs snoozing. No amount of noise I made getting ready even registered with them. To their credit, this place was really kitted out in the comforts department. Seeing as Summer Sunset was a tourist hotspot, luxury was one of their highest priorities.
The tobacco was making my nose itch, so figured I’d stretch my fins outside. I walked towards the front door and gave the counter girl a nod. I breathed in the morning air. The first rays of sunlight stretched over the sea and onto Diamond Harbor. Just like that, the whole place just lit up. It shined like… well a diamond. The sight just made the corners of my mouth turn upwards on reflex.
“I see you’re a pony who enjoys his mornings,” a voice said next to me. A stallion with a greying black mane and a thick mustache was sitting down by a bulletin board. There was a hammer and a box of nails next to him, along with a stack of papers.
“Nothing wakes you up better,” I replied to him.
“On that, I can agree with you,” he said to me.
“It’s a bit early to be working isn’t it?” I asked him, motioning towards the tools next to him. He looked down at them and smiles back at me.
“Oh it ain’t too much. I’ve been working from dawn till dusk for thirty years now. Never missed a sunrise,” he replied, nodding at me.
“What are you doing, by the way?”
“Oh, nothing much, just changing out the adverts. I've got about nine more after this one. You buy space on the board for a week, after that you either gotta buy that space again or you’ll drop your spot.”
“Hrmm… anything about work?”
“We’ll there’s an open job at the distillery, and the Avina Avis is looking for extra hooves for their next fishing trip,” he mentioned.
“Not exactly my kind of jobs,” I said with a weak smile.
“Well there is always the Mason’s Guild. They’re always looking for folks with skills. Of any type,” the stallion replied.
“I’ll look into it if I’m free. It was nice talking with you.” I said. I looked on the bulletin board. A symbol was on one of the ads. A horseshoe overlaid by a hammer. The tagline was Build the future, join the Mason’s Guild.
“You have a good one, son,” he said to me returning to his work nailing up an ad that said if you're looking for a good time... look for Candy. I turned back into the saloon.
The girls had finally decided to come downstairs. Éclair was fighting off a serious case of bedhead. Sorbet was rubbing the sleep from her eyes. I walked up smirking.
“Sleep well?” I asked looking at the slight bags under her eyes. Sorbet stretched her eyelids while she formulated an answer.
“I think I slept so well it bounced back into a bad night sleep.”
“Think you’ll be good after breakfast?” I inquired.
“Most definitely,” she replied with a nod
“Hope you both don’t mind, I ordered for you. The food should be out in a minute.”
“No, that’s fine,” she said. I brought them over to the booth where I was originally sitting. She reached into her saddle bag and pulled out a map of the islands. It was annotated with several markings on certain locations.
“Alright, so where exactly do we need to go?”
“Here.” She pointed to an ‘X’ on the map. I was a little bit inland from diamond harbor. It was a smaller town that didn’t even have a name on the map.
“How far is it?” I asked.
“Oh not that far.”
--- --- --- ---
I collapsed on the ground and rolled on by back. I couldn’t feel my hooves. My tail was throbbing with pain. The girls stood over me with smiles on their faces.
“Oh come on, that was only six miles. we still got another mile to go,” Sorbet chided me with her smug grin and her unexhausted face.
“You. have. four. LEGS!” I said between gasps for air.
I knew I was in for it when the smoothly paved roads and tall buildings gave way to bumpy dirt paths and heavy foliage. It was rather sudden actually. The only sign that we were even at the city limits was that there were the outlines of cleared away buildings and a sign that said, ‘Now Leaving Diamond Harbor.’ The main road after that sign had disintegrated into gravel and felt like I was putting my underside through a cheese grater. It’s not a fun feeling dragging your nether regions through hundred year old broken asphalt.
Thankfully, it petered off into regular dirt roads. Much less painful, but longer in scope. The buildings that seemed so ubiquitous from the shore were just a trick of the sky line. The areas off the beaten path were a thick tropical jungle. Palm leaves and banana trees up the wazoo.
I put my hooves back under me. I could see the town we were headed. It had a pleasant name. “Sunnydale” read the faded sign. The forest saw fit to reclaim what was theirs in the last hundred or so years. In the well maintained streets of Diamond harbor, there was maybe a weed or two in the sidewalk. Here, those weeds were full on trees and underbrush. The buildings were crumbling from centuries of rain, wind, dust and other exposure. Vines covered walls, and the parking meters that still stood were nearly rusted in half.
“There we are,” Sorbet pointed ahead of us, “That’s our lab.”
The building at the end of the street was larger than others. The front portion looked like it was once made up of windows. Only vines and roots filled the empty frames. The revolving door at its entrance refused to budge, however, the panes of glass had nearly disintegrated with the ages.
We walked through, and my hooves instantly stepped in some stagnant pond. The interior proved to be more durable than its exterior. About twelve chest high poles stood up from the murky pond in front of a line of counters behind shattered glass. Between each pole was tattered fabric that was strung across from each other.
“Well, it makes sense to hide it here, I guess. Lots of security in a bank,” Éclair chimed in. Sorbet nodded at her daughters comment. I looked up to some greenish letters embossed under the counters. Bits & Berries Bank.
“Ten caps says it’s in the vault,” I said smiling, “I’ll start there.” Sorbet nodded.
“We’ll check the offices. If it’s locked up, we’ll need a key or something. Be careful, this place looks like it’d fall over from a good sneeze.” I nodded as I went behind the counters. That’s generally where the vault is. The Godmother series hasn’t led me astray yet. I walk behind the counter. The natural light disappeared, though I could make out the outline of a huge door. My horn lit up the room. The door was made of solid metal, barely any rust on it. Had to give it to the ponies of old. They knew how to build things to last. Next to the vault door there was a lever, relatively free of foliage.
“Hang on… this is too easy,” I had to say.
Then my eyes were drawn to a gleam in the corner. It was a turret, suspended from the ceiling, covered in almost entirely in moss and mold.
“And there it is.” I backed up slightly and made the wheels in my head turn. I nodded and pulled out a rope I had stashed in my saddlebags. After tying a noose around the handle of the lever, I exited the room. I gave it a swift tug. The lever jerked towards me.
The entire room started to screech with metal scraping on metal. The massive door slowly and painfully inched open. Once it stopped. I peeked inside. Nothing besides the vault door had moved.
“Nice job, Riptide,” Sorbet said. She walked into the room.
“No! Wait, there’s a-”
“Turret? They put a work order on it to get it fixed. It’s not gonna shoot at anyone,” she responded, turning back around. Éclair walked in behind her.
“Oh… well now I feel stupid,” I said. I walked into the room ahead of Sorbet.
“Well that’s the proper reaction to a turret. It just doesn’t work.” She says, patting me on the back. Then something prodded me in the side. Éclair was looking up at me.
“We may have a bigger problem than turrets,” she said to us, pointing forward. My face fell as I saw glowing hot metal. A circular section of the wall had been melted free and lay on the bottom of the vault. A hallway illuminated by halogen lights and a staircase downward were beyond the hole.
“Someone used a laser to cut through the wall,” Sorbet said, poking at the heated circle cut from the wall. “Recently.”
“I’m going to venture a guess and say they didn’t cut that hole to leave,” I sighed. My blue aura wrapped around my machete as I drew it from my back. “I’ll take point.”
I slowly walked through the hole into the hallway. The lights would flicker ever so often. The floor was metal grate. Wires and pipes ran underneath. The stairs lead to an open chamber. A cross walk was suspended over a pool of water. Four pistons submerged in the pool churned and spun. They stuck out of huge metal boxes I assumed were generators. The water itself smelled of iron and copper. I figured it was probably not safe to swim in.
Suddenly, my head was forced to the grate floor. I looked at the source to see Sorbet on the ground shushing me. She pointed to our left. I saw the air warp slightly as the heat from a small jet kept an orb of metal floating. It had three manipulators hanging from it. Each arm had something I wish a robot didn’t have; A flamethrower, a buzz-saw, and a pneumatic hammer.
It floated in front of us slowly, but with purpose. When it was finally out of sight, we moved quickly to the other side of the catwalk. The grate floor gave way to metal plates. The hallway had four rooms on either side. Each was an office. I looked back to the other two. They nodded at me and split off into the first two rooms. I went into the remaining office on the left.
The office itself looked like most everything had been rifled through. There was a desk in the middle of the room with a back row of filing cabinets. A makeshift cot was in the corner. Papers and files covered the desk. The papers themselves were full of nonsense, just a huge collection of strange looking formulae and symbols, or an assortment of squiggly lines. I set them down. The filing cabinets yielded little either; their contents were most likely already upended on the desk. I exited that room.
The girls were a little busier than I was. Sorbet was aiming her rifle down the hallway we came from. Éclair, on the other hoof, was staring rather intently at a terminal monitor. I went into the other office. Despite a security drone lying on the ground with its faceplate melted off, this room looked almost identical to the other room. The only real difference was that where the last room had a cot, this room had a safe. Thankfully our predecessor had already cracked it. I slid it open.
And I thought this place was going to be boring. The safe was stashed full of film reels. The kind you needed a projector to play. They fit my home theater system quite nicely. I stashed the reels into my saddle bags and strutted out of the room. Sorbet and Éclair were waiting for me at the catwalk.
“Anything interesting?” I asked the girls.
“Nothing I could make any sense of. Except for a few memos, everything looks like it’s in code,” Sorbet said holding up a couple long strips of paper with random assortments of letters.
“I’ve got some film reels. They look like they can fit my Super Eight,” I mentioned, lifting one slightly out of my saddle bags. “I don’t think our predecessor is interested in the research.”
“Or more likely they’ve gone to the source,” Éclair chimed in, “The terminal in there was already accessed. It was left open to a file. It had a six numbah code on it. 775613. It was to a ‘Mainframe Core Room.”
“Let’s get there before this guy sets off any security or accidentally damages any data we need,” Sorbet said. I nodded at her. I’d really hate if this turned out to be a lost cause.
I took point again, keeping low. The girls right behind me. I looked around. There was no sign of that patrolling hover bot from before. I went down the path to the right of us.
The hallway stopped rather abruptly. The door that now stood before us was rather elaborate. It was thick steel with interlocking bars. It looked like it was designed to take an explosion to the face and not care. There was a key pad next to the door. I dialed in the number Éclair told me with my machete. The keypad beeped at me. It wasn’t a very nice beep.
“Riptide. We have a problem!” Sorbet said loudly. I whipped around. The floating robot was floating down towards us slowly yet alarmingly fast.
“HALT!” It said in a booming monotone, “PRESENT IDENTIFICATION! YOU HAVE TWENTY SECONDS TO COMPLY!”
“Uhh…” I found myself saying out loud. Think Riptide, THINK!
“SECOND REQUEST PRESENT IDENTIFICATION! YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY!” it boomed again. THINK DAMNIT!!
“Look! A distraction!” I pointed behind the robot. Smooth Riptide, smooth.
The robot turned around. For a fraction of a second I was dumbfounded. I wrapped my magic around my spear. Gritting my teeth, I thrust it into the jet exhaust port. I was rewarded with a pneumatic hammer to my face. With a resounding CLANG, I was sent sprawling end over end into the door.
The crack of Sorbet’s rifle produced a neat little hole in the robot’s plating. I righted myself and rushed towards it. The whirring of the buzz saw stopped me. Its spinning blade descended towards my head. I brought my machete to meet it. Sparks showered me.
It suddenly got very hot. The robot brought its flamethrower to bear. The fire singed my hair as I brought up a barrier with my magic. The pneumatic hammer swerved around my barrier. I beat it back with the blunt end of my spear.
Over the noise of the grinding metal and burning air, I barely noticed the subtle fwip noise of Éclair’s pistol. I was then greeted to tiny flakes of glass landing on my nose. Suddenly the robot started spinning. Fast. The flames started flying everywhere erratically. I wrapped my existing barrier around the robot to contain the fire. It continued to beat and saw at my barrier aimlessly as I enveloped it in a bubble. I held it fast. Then I got an idea.
I made the bubble smaller. And smaller still. I started to hear the crumpling of metal. I closed my barrier like a trash compactor. I stomped as I smashed the compressed robot into the ground. Slumping over, I released the barrier. The ball of robot twitched and sparked. I started to turn away when a jet of flame shot out at me. I encased it in a barrier again.
Screaming at the top of my lungs I smashed it into the ground. I smashed it over and over again. I lifted it over the pool of water in the central area. I dropped the crumpled robot in the water. Sparks shot out from it as it sank to the bottom. Smiling a little, I walked back to the girls.
“Well that’s done. Now can you figure out why this door won’t open?” I asked the girls, specifically Éclair, “I put in the code.”
“You didn’t press enter after you put in the code.” Éclair said flatly. I stood there for a moment. I felt my head tilt to the side. I smacked myself in the face. Éclair shook her head, calmly put in the code, and pressed the green enter button at the bottom.
The door screeched open. A hallway stretched before us. The air was slightly cooler than the previous rooms. There was a frosted window in front of us with a flickering light. A pony was outlined by the light. It was moving around and messing with a massive terminal. The door was next to it. It only had a push button to open it. Everyone had their weapons ready. I pressed the button an-
“I’m gonna give it everything I’ve got!” A radio was blaring a fast pace song. I had to actually clamp my ears shut. The radio was on a desk nearby.
“Lady Luck please let the dice stay hot!” the radio continued to scream the music into my earlobes. I moved towards it.
“Let me shoot a seven with every shot!” the lyrics themselves seemed to be pushing me away. I was almost upon it! I reached towards the off button.
“Viva~! Las Pegas!” It was inches away!
“Viva~! Las Pegas!” allmooooosssst!
“Viva~! Viva~!” I pressed the button. All was silence at last.
“Las Pegaaaaaaaas~!” Sang a mare unassisted by the radio. I followed the sound of the voice to what I thought was a mare. She had her head in the air and her eyes closed.
Her mane was halfway shaved off. In place of the shaved part was a bunch of cables that drooped over an eye like bangs. A glossy chrome plate ran down the base of her neck and over her spine. All four of her legs were metallic. Sprouting from her shoulders were manipulators much like the floating robot from before.
Her eyes opened. They glowed in the dark slightly. Her head turned our way slowly. One of the manipulators held a bottle of cola. We stared at each other blankly for an eternity.
“Fuck!” She screamed dropping her drink into a pile of twelve empty bottles. She whipped around toting a boxy cannon like thing almost as big as she was. Red death exploded from the barrel. Everything went white as it rocketed towards me.
If I could still feel pain then I was alive. My ear hurt, and I smelled burning hair. A little bit of burnt meat too. I was breathing heavily. Must have been running or something. I was standing on something soft. I look down.
That cyborg was under me. My hoof was on her chest and my machete had her pinned to the ground by her collar. Her eyes were wide and dancing about the room. She was sweating bullets. She was crying. I could hear some muffled voices behind me. I thought it was Sorbet. Couldn’t tell. My eyes were on the huge laser the mare had pulled out on me. Three of my knives were sticking from it and it was sparking like crazy. I looked back at the cyborg mare. I leaned in close. She shivered under me.
“I’m going to let you up now, will you play nice?” I whispered in her ear. She nodded as much as my machete will allow. I shifted my weight and removed my machete from her neck. She shakily stood up leaned up against the cool metal of the wall.
I breathed in deep and I polished off a reflective part of the metal wall. The tip of my right ear was burnt. Second degree burns. Meaning it was going to blister and ooze for the better part of a week. I gingerly tapped it with my hoof. It stung like I just put salt on the burn.
“That was a close call If I do say so myself,” I said aloud looking back at the two girls. Their mouths were agape.
“What?” I raised an eyebrow. It took a couple seconds for Sorbet to respond.
“How does a pony with no back legs move that damn fast?” She asked.
“Uhh… Strong abdominal muscles?”
“Rip, look where you were,” she said sounding exasperated. I turned to my starting position and immediately all the color drained from my face. The most of the wall that stood behind me was gone. It was a glowing puddle on the ground. Speaking of the ground, it was blistered and red. I pulled out my canteen and poured some water on the red ground. It fizzed and popped as it turned to steam.
“Well… Fuck,” I found myself saying. Not much I could say.
“Right then, let’s get what we needed to get done. Sorbet, the disk,” I requested. She looked at me and motioned to the mare on the wall and giving me a questioning look.
“I wouldn’t worry about her. She’s been thoroughly neutralized,” I said. I hoped that was the right terminology. Sorbet scowled slightly as she closed it over. I guess she was mulling it over. She finally nodded to herself. She extracted the silver disk from her PipBuck. Walking up to the computer, she looked it over. The computer was in its debug state. With a few short button presses, Sorbet brought it back to its main screen.
She slid the disk into an access port. The screen began to shift. I saw the cyborg mare move. She was looking very intently at both the computer and Sorbet, absorbing every detail she could. The computer screen chimed.
“Access Granted,” a synthetic lady said in a monotone. And then the screen went black. There was a flashing message.
“No… no, no, no… nononono,” Sorbet started ranting.
>No Data
“GODDESS Damn, Son of a- Mother FU-…. AAAAARRRRGH!!!” Sorbet screamed. She kicked the console and stomped away.
“WHY IS IT NEVER EASY!?” She screamed to no one in particular. She fell to the ground and started sobbing right there. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the Cyborg move.
“Uhh… lady?” The Cyborg‘s voice was a tomboyish and slightly deep.
“WHAT!?” Sorbet yelled back. The cyborg sheepishly pointed back at the screen.
“It’s doing something,” she replied. The screen was pixelated and moving constantly. The screen suddenly showed a mare fiddling with the same console sorbet was. She looked middle aged and very tired. It flickered and audio was started to play.
“… out of time,” a male voice urged off screen. The mare turned away from the screen for a moment.
“I’m almost done!” she said as she looked back at the screen, “Watt, if you’re seeing this, it means we had to bug out. Things are hot right now, and our employer said it’s Endgame. We moved the prototypes to the other facilities. We’re purging all the data and moving it to El-”
The audio shorted out for a moment and then kicked back on.
“…left the directions to the other facilities in your safe. Had to hide them, but even with your mind wiped you’ll find them. You practically memorized that movie and you’d notice anything different. Your memories will be there. Be safe… I lov-” The video feed cut out right then. The terminal ejected the silver disk.
Sorbet sniffed and stood up. She placed the disk back into her PipBuck. Turning around, she sat down.
“Right, let’s assess what we got,” she said to us, “our buried treasure is not where the X is. Our pirates have buggered off with it to parts unknown. Thankfully they’re showing honor amongst thieves and left us some bread crumbs to follow. ”
“You lost me at the pirate metaphor,” I chipped in.
“The clue is in those films you picked up from that safe. Think you can find it?” She asked me. I smirk back at her.
“You know who you’re talking too right?” I smirk back at her. I pull open my saddle bags
“Just gotta slip them into the old Su-” My heart sank. My baby, my Super 8 family home entertainment system, had been snapped in half. I could not control my tears.
“Uhh… Rip? You okay?”
“Allow me to mourn my loss in peace. For an innocent has been taken unjustly from the world,” I sniffled. What cruel and hurtful god would visit this tragedy upon the world? I sucked up my words and marched over to the cyborg mare. I looked her square in the eye.
“You have twenty seconds to explain both what you're doing here and why you attacked us... and two seconds just passed,” I commanded. Her eyes went wider for a moment.
“U-uh, I’m a trouble shooter! I go into ruins and clear out the place so someone else can set up shop in here! And i thought you were pirates, or bandits or... fuck i don’t know! Just don’t hurt me!” she stammered.
“We’ve got a kid with us!” I growled at her.
“That doesn’t mean shit. I’ve seen little foals kill mercenaries before they even had cutie marks! I happen to see a silenced pistol strapped to her side,” she retorted. I rolled her words around my head. It seemed logical.
“I have only one question left,” I said to her.
“Y-yes?” she squeaked out. I lifted my Super 8 out in front of her.
“Ma’am, are you mechanically inclined?” I asked her. She looks at my baby. Her red eyes shrink on it, I can almost hear them whirring as she examined it.
“I can fix it,” she said. I immediately felt the joy of a thousand suns showering me with gentle afternoon rays of light. “Seeing as you decided not to open my throat like a can, I’ll let you use my projector while I fix it. Sound good?”
I stood there and eyed her for a moment. Her eyes weren’t dancing all over the place like before. Her breathing was steady. It seemed genuine.
“Deal. Just remember this. If you try to kill us again, make your first shot count. You already know you won’t get a second one,” I warned her. She nodded sheepishly.
“Sounds good! The deal bit! Not the kill…y bit… Name’s Sugar Rush,” she extended a metallic hoof.
“Riptide, The one with the duster is Sorbet, The little one’s Éclair. Now, I hear tell that you have a projector we can use… mind leading us too it?”
“Hold the fuck on!” Sorbet marched over to us. “I have questions too.”
“What do you need to know?” Sugar rush asked, shrinking a little bit.
“First, you said that you clear out ruins for someone else to set up shop. Who’s your employer?” Sorbet asked her.
“The Mason’s Guild. They handle all the troubleshooter contracts. Someone set up a contract for the whole of Sunnydale and I landed it. Five hundred shillings and first dibs of any salvage,” Sugar Rush explained.
“What else do you know about the contract?” Sorbet asked.
“That I got jipped,” Sugar Rush grumbled, “Pest control and some hacking my ass!”
“Thats all you know?”
“Honest to Celestia,” Sugar Rush said, crossing her heart. “You’d get more info out of the guild than me. They have a privacy thing. They don’t tell us peons anything.”
Sorbet looked her. Her eyes traced Sugar Rush’s body up and down. Sorbet then closed her eyes.
“Alright i’m satisfied, but like Riptide said. You try ANYTHING we don’t like, your ass is grass.” She pointed her hoof in Sugar Rush’s face. I pushed her hoof out of the way and put myself between the two mares.
“Now you were saying something about a projector?” I smiled at Sugar Rush.
“It’s at my place back in diamond harbor. I’ll give you a ride,” she replied.
“Ride?” I tilted my head.
--- --- --- ---
The chromed metal gleamed in the sunlight, illuminating the mare that rode the beast in metallic light. It was long and menacing. A pair of heavy treads strode beside the chassis, with a lone wheel at the front. Bearing a faded war paint, a logo was embossed into the side of it. It depicted a large rabbit with antlers. Sugar Rush smiled from atop the vehicle.
“I see you like my Jack Rabbit halftrack. This is the C22 model, designed for cargo transport and reconnaissance. Didn’t make them for long, but they made enough of them to see a lot of use on the bigger islands.” Sugar Rush described the vehicle while caressing its shiny exterior.
“Sweet! What’s under the bonnet?” Sorbet asked, oddly interested. I had no idea what she referred to when she said bonnet.
“Just a little custom number. I haven’t put it through its paces but I figure it’s got about 40 Bison power,” Sugar Rush responded. I cleared my throat loudly.
“Ladies, we’re burning daylight,” I reminded them.
We piled into its cargo bed and made ourselves as comfortable as possible. This was no mean feat, as it was full of salvage and Sugar Rush’s gigantic laser. She assured me that it was thoroughly busted but I don’t trust anything that could melt me in two seconds. The Jack Rabbit roared into life. It kicked up dirt as we set down the path towards the harbor.
Due to the size, the actual contents of the cargo bed and my general seapony-ness, I was stuck looking at Sugar Rush’s backside. Her cutie mark was a half-eaten chocolate bar. It made me start making assumptions about her habits. To be fair though, her behavior and body didn’t help matters. For example, to put it politely as I can, she filled the front seat of the Jack Rabbit very well.
She turned her head back at us. Thankfully she focused her attention on the two girls. Her staring at me staring at her ass, albeit unintentionally, would be exceedingly awkward.
“So you ladies from the Mainland?” she asked over the engine.
“How do you figure?” Sorbet replied.
“Because there weren’t any Stables built in Oceania and you’re wearing the uniforms under your armor. Snazzy threads by the way. Stable-Tec was primarily focused in Equestria herself. Very little influence out here,” Sugar Rush explained.
“Fair enough, but I gotta ask. How do you know that much about Stable-Tec?”
“Simple, I’m from the Mainland too. Well, above it,” she responded frankly.
“Wait… You’re Enclave? You’re a Pegasus!?” Éclair shouted in surprise. I looked up at her from my position and saw where her robotic arms met her back. There were two jagged scars in the exact spot wings would have been. Curious.
“Yeah, formally,” Sugar rush said back with a shrug. Her robot claws mirrored the motion.
“How in Tartarus did you get through the Storm Wall?” Sorbet asked. She leaned into the conversation, shifting her weight on my tail. I winced but kept my mouth shut.
“I didn’t plan on it. I was just a little thing back then. Probably about her age,” Sugar Rush pointed at Éclair. “It sucked me through and I’ve been living here ever since. I could get into more details but I’m driving right now.” I decided to shift myself around away from Sugar Rush’s posterior and into a more decent position. While I succeeded, it a metal groove was jabbing me in the dorsal fin every bump. Sugar Rush was now glancing back at me.
“I would like to ignore the elephant in the room, but I gotta ask. What are you?” She asked. Here we go again…
“Ain’t you heard the song before? Can’t hardly get anywhere without it,” I said, whistling a short bit of Shoo Shoo Be Doo.
“Yeah, but you’re not real.”
“Now that’s just rude.”
“Are you a science experiment?”
“I’ll let you know when I discover whether or not your innermost chakra falls under the purviews of my agenda.”
“Huh?”
“Exactly,” I said immediately. There is no sense in letting her know about my heritage until I got a better feel for personality. Her face scrunched up in confusion, and she focused her attention on driving.
--- --- --- ---
After a little while, we were inside the confines of the city. The sun was thankfully still high in the sky. We were in the residential areas. I swear to Poseidon these people had it good. I saw not one, but three white picket fences and a freshly mowed lawn! Granted the lawns were a square meter and the paint on the fences was chipping, but that’s beside the point.
“And here we are!” Sugar Rush announced as she rounded the corner with the Jack Rabbit.
I was actually curious to see what her house looked like. A mare like her would obviously have tons of gadgets. It would have automatic doors, and an observatory and a satellite dish and a-
It was a large shack made of welded together sheet metal. Not sure why I expected a mad scientist lab. It was a missed moment of awesomeness and I blame Sugar Rush for not living up to the standard.
She pushed open the door and I heard the rustling of trash and used bottles. Then my nose was greeted by a strange mixture of old sweat, machine oil and cinnamon. We stepped inside. The metal walls were completely covered in pages from hundred year old pinup calendars. The ladies on the pages all had a sort of ‘come hither’ expression on their faces.
With a resounding CLANK, Sugar Rush put her damaged laser cannon on a small weapon rack. It performed its duty with diligence, despite the fact it looked like it would buckle at any moment. She wandered over to a vending machine next to a fridge.
“Please make yourself at home.” She extracted a Sparkle Cola from the vending machine, she popped the cap off and put it in the cap in a jar. Before the cap hit the bottom, she was already halfway done with the drink.
“Thank you.” I walked over to the fridge and pulled it open. I had to stare at the inside for a good minute before I realized what the contents were. It was full of cake. No fruits, no vegetables, no meat. Just five rows of cake. Each cake had a label on it, designating it as either breakfast, lunch or dinner. I recoiled in horror at the implications.
“Sweet Celestia, lady!” I found myself saying, “How on earth is your blood not maple syrup!?”
“Ha, that’s not even my worst stuff!” I heard her reply, “The old world ponies came up with some of the best stuff.” I saw one of her robot claws reach in the fridge past the cakes and pull out a wrapped up bar.
“Chocolate chip cookie fudge ice cream sandwich. Has more calories and sugar than you need in an entire week, and enough preservatives to mummify a large cat. Sold In a box of twelve and oh so good.”
She described the confection with sparkles in her eyes. I swear I could see her mouth start to water. She started lean towards the wrapper, but she suddenly lurched back and placed it quickly back in the fridge.
“That’s for a special occasion. These cakes, however unhealthy they may seem, actually have everything the equine body needs to survive. I made them myself. The icing makes it go down easier,” She puffed out her chest with pride.
“Still, that is a metric fuckton of sugar. How are you not diabetic?”
“You may not believe this, but I am not entirely flesh and blood. In fact, did you know, that I am at least half metal!?” she said in a completely overblown tone of voice.
“Whatever could you mean, my dear? You see every bit as natural as any other mare I’ve met,” I shot back in an equally overtly dramatic method. That got a grin out of her.
“It’s kinda complicated, but to sum up, I had my stomach added to. That addition takes excess glucose… sugar... and converts it for energy for my other metal bits. So yeah, if a normal pony had my diet, they’d be dead inside of a month. But for me, completely normal,” she elaborated.
“That seems… logical. But why not batteries or something like that?”
“Well, magical energy storage is not exactly ubiquitous outside of Dry Dock, my home town, so a more common method of powering one’s cybernetics is usually attached. It also helps I have a sweet tooth a mile wide and I’d eat this much anyways.” She closed one eye and stuck her tongue out a little. She stopped suddenly when Éclair poked her in the flank.
“If your stomach is supposed to suck out all the sugar to your metal bits, then why is your ass so big?” the little filly asked, “Were you born with it? Cause I know some mares have bigger bums than other girls,”Her face was completely devoid of any kind of maliciousness. I could feel the heat radiate from Sugar Rush’s blushing face.
“N-no sweetie… no it’s not supposed to be that big,” Sugar Rush managed to squeak out. Sorbet loomed over the top of Éclair with a deadly gleam in her eye and a scowl on her face. I winced in sympathy pain as the most epic of spankings unfolded. I could see Sugar Rush’s mouth form the word “Ow”. Eagerly wanting to distract myself from Sorbet’s particular form of parenting I quickly pulled out the movie reels from the laboratory.
“So! You said you had a projector I could use?” I asked loudly to drown out the painful memories of my own childhood punishments. She quickly turned to me in a wide nervous smile.
“Yes! Let me go grab it!” She responded in kind, swiftly rummaging through a pile of junk and placed a C-32 Color Screen. It was the kind projector and sound system you’d find in a prewar office and it was primarily used for meetings and slideshows. Not the best for watching movies, that would be the ViewMax 6000, but it sufficed for what we were using it for.
“Let’s see what we got here…” I placed the first reel in the projector and flipped the power switch. An impromptu silver screen was set up by Sugar Rush from a bed sheet on the wall. The images started to form on the screen. 3. 2. 1…
--- --- --- ---
Two stallions were sitting at a table in an outdoor diner of some kind. One wore a sun hat and deep large sunglasses, and was smoking a cigarette. The other was poorly dressed, with shaggy hair, a chubby body, and a mustache. The stallion in the hat just hung up a portable phone and leaned in to his companion.
“They want me to go to Los Pegas at once, and make contact with a Neighponese photographer in the Celestia Casino. He’ll have all the details. All I have to do is check myself into the suite, and he’ll seek me out. What do you think?” he puffed on the cigarette as he spoke to his compatriot.
“Sounds like real trouble. You’re gonna need plenty of legal advice before this thing is over. As your attorney, I advise you to get a very fast car with no top… and you’ll need the cocaine,” the chubby pony said almost bored. The first stallion nodded in agreement.
“As well as a tape recorder for special music… I’ve got pull cord shirts… Get the hell out of L.A. for at least forty eight hours… Blows my weekend,” he said standing up from the table.
“Why?” the first stallion tilted his head in confusion.
“Because naturally I’m gonna have to come with you. And we’re gonna have to arm ourselves… to the teeth.” The chubby pony adjusted his clothes. The first stallion nodded and stood up as well.
“Well, If anything is worth doing, it’s worth doing right. This is the Equestrian dream in action,” the first pony said standing up and walking towards the door.
“What’s the story about?”
“The Dirt 500! Greatest rally of motorcycles and dune buggies in western Equestria! At least that’s what the press release says,” The first stallion said as a car pulled up to the front door billowing smoke.
“Well, as your attorney I advise you to get a motorcycle.”
The two froze as they got into the car when I stopped the film. I rubbed my eyes and laid down on my back. It was by no means a bad movie, but I was on my fourth time watching it in a single sitting. There is only so much hallucinogenic political commentary you could take.
I leaned my head to the right. I saw Sugar Rush writing something down on a pad of paper attached to a bathroom scale. Éclair was on the lone mattress, nestled up next to her mother, softly snoring. I levitated an orange juice box that I found in the back of the fridge to my mouth. I sucked down on the straw. All I got was a bubbly emptiness.
I saw a box lower towards me, identical to my first drink. I followed it up to see it was attached to a robotic talon. Sugar Rush stood next to me, carrying a two ice cold juice boxes in either robot arm. I wrapped my magic around one retrieved it from her.
She sat down next to me. I stood up and arched my back. Lowering the juice box to eye level, I jammed the disposable straw through the box.
“Bored to hell?” she inquired, shoving a straw in her juice box. She winced after taking a sip.
“Memorizing a movie should be an accident,” I sighed, rubbing my eyes again, “If you watch a movie to learn a specific thing then it’s like studying a textbook for one statistic.”
She nodded her head in agreement. I took a big swig from my juice box. The nice cool tangy feeling woke me up a little bit. I felt a small chill up my spine. I followed the chill with my eyes. I could feel a disturbance coming from the left of me. Sugar Rush was staring at my tail very intently.
“If you want, I can pose for a picture,” I said to her. For a fraction of a second her eyes went wider.
“No thanks, you already did,” she replied.
“Wait… you can take pictures with your eyes?”
“Yeah, don’t have a printer though. Couldn’t find a place for it.”
“Okay, hold up. What happened to you that necessitated eye cameras?”
“Nothing. Just thought it would be useful. And kinda cool,” she said frankly. I tilted my head to the side.
“So you swapped out your flesh and blood eyes for robot ones, because you thought it would be useful.”
“Yeah.”
“What about the rest of you?” I pointed to her other obviously mechanical body part.
“Depends on which part you point at. Some was because I lost it, others was because it was better than what I had. To tell you each one would be my life story,” she stated.
“Well it’s better than making my eyes bleed watching this again.” I gestured over to the frozen screen.
“Hrm…” she put her hoof to her chin, “On one condition.”
“That is?”
“You tell me how you got to be fishy.”
“You first.”
“Okay, settle in.” She took a swig of her orange juice, shuddered, and put the box aside.
“First off, you’re an Ocean pony, born and raised. Least that’s what I’m assuming,” she said while gesturing to my tail. I rolled my eyes and nodded.
“Seeing a that’s the case, you’ll need a little history lesson. I’ll be quick. Back in the day, near the end of the war, all the pegasi said ‘fuck this, we’re outta here.’ So they turned the cloud generators to max and closed the sky. And those pegasi made The Grand Pegasus Enclave. Their domain was the clouds over Equestria up to Oceania’s most noticeable meteorological feature: The Storm Wall,” she began.
“Fast forward some two hundred years and you’ll find little baby me at a science facility near the border of The Storm Wall. Why was I there you ask?” I didn’t ask, but i was curious anyways.
“School field trip. It was the first year of Junior Officer School. Essentially, it was kindergarten. Only about half the class had cutie marks. I don’t even remember what the trip was about. Something about the clouds being uncontrollable. Not important,” she continued.
“So we were having lunch on a terrace. I was near the fence having a lolly. A stray wind knocks my lolly on a slightly lower level. Being a little filly, I figured the best course of action was to reach for it. I fell off the terrace and into a test area,” she closed her eyes and nodded.
“Now this may come as a surprise to you, but I used to be a fat filly,” she said to me. I looked back at the fridge that was filled to the brim with cake, then back to her. I raised an eyebrow.
“Shocking, I know. Anyways, this also meant I was too heavy to fly. Now I was in the test chamber, right in the middle of a test. Some bay doors started to open. The Storm Wall was right there, roaring. Then I was sucked right out of there. Last thing I saw of them was a foal from my class reaching out for me. Little red guy, big ass wings. I was thrown around for a good five minute before I was sucked into a mini twister.” She breathed in deep, letting it go slowly. She clenched her jaw. I suddenly knew. This was going to be bad. I reached out to her. She turned me down with a weary look smile.
“It started to spin me. And when you spin around fast, everything inside gets pushed outside. Then my skin started to tear, I could hear cracking. I vomited what was left in my stomach. Then POP! It ripped out both of my wings. Just like that! It wasn’t done though. It then pulled off my left hind leg. Then it took my right. It started to work on my forelegs. That’s when my weight shifted around just enough to throw me out of the twister. I landed on a little lonely raincloud. That raincloud was thrown out of the storm wall like a bullet.”
“I was bloody, and my forelegs were hanging on by their tendons. And I was drifting off over an endless looking sea. I stayed like that for three days. I was living off the moisture in the cloud. When you suck out the water in clouds, it can’t hold as much. So I started sinking. Then I got low enough that I floated over a settlement called Dry Dock. You know anything about it?” she asked me. I shook my head no.
“I got picked up by a group called The Singularity. We... they believe that cybernetics are the next best thing since sliced bread and everybody should have them. They set up shop in a floating naval shipyard. They named it Dry Dock, because you could empty out the water from underneath ships to fix them. Anyways, thats when uh...” She seemed to be searching for the right words. I knew where it was going.
“I think I know this plotline. They took you in, nursed you back to health, and raised you. Then you became a member. Until recently?” I filled in. she shook her head.
“No, still a member.” She smiled and closed her eyes. “No drama or lover’s quarrel, just an adoptive mother that looks like she’s the love child of a tank and a transistor radio.”
“Sorry I asked. I have no doubt in my mind that telling me this was painful. Hell, I’m getting sympathy pain. I don’t even have wing analogues!” I apologized.
“Do you see any of my blood on the ground? I’m fine. Or, rather, I will be. Your turn! What kind of disgusting, and horror filled experience did you go through to become aquatic?” She leaned in eager as puppy with a ball.
“Well, Sugar Rush, when a mare and a stallion love each other very much… or got really drunk one night.” I began speaking in my best ‘dad’ voice. She snorted in response.
“You laugh, but basically that’s what happened. Mom and Dad decided to have kids, and then I showed up. They were kinda confused that I was a boy. They were shooting for a girl.”
“So… no radioactive waste? No experiment?”
“Nope! Just two land born unicorns having a little mutant baby.” I responded.
“Well… no offence, but that’s a bit of a letdown.”
“Well, you’ll like the story better when I mention that there are thousands of us.”
“Probably… Wait, What!?”
“Seriously, ponies in Oceania have been living next to water for two centuries now. You don’t think that’s plenty of time for a biological adaptation or two to occur?” I asked, smirking.
“Well… no, not really. At least not one as… drastic as yours,” she replied.
“Well, evolution is strange bitch.” I walked over to the projector. Sugar Rush’s head tilted to the side.
“More eye torture?”
“Hell no! I’m packing this up and going to bed.” I flipped the rewind button on the projector. The ponies on the screen started reversing the scene movement to movement as the tape wound back up into its spool. It was almost completely rewound when I hit the stop button. I felt my eyes widen.
“You’re leaving it in there?” Sugar Rush Asked.
“Did you see that?”
“What?”
“Hang on,” I said, pressing the fast forward button again. I stopped it at the beginning of the last scene before I started rewinding it again. I pointed at the screen.
“There!”
“I don’t see anything.” She said moving closer to the screen. I couldn’t see anything either, but my brain was telling me otherwise. I started thinking.
“Does this thing have a slower rewind or a frame by frame mode?”
“Yeah, just hit rewind twice for slow mode,” she replied. Set it to the beginning of the scene before following her instructions. I started rewinding, staring at the screen. Then I saw it. Plain as day.
“THOSE CHEEKY FUCKERS!” I yelled. I saw motion in the corner of my eye. Sorbet just woke with a start and was looking at me with angry eyes.
“I found the directions!” I said to her excitedly. She perked right up and stumbled out of bed. I reset the tape. I was grinning like a madmare. Sorbet got herself untangled from the bed sheet and stood next to me.
“How did they hide it?” She asked, trying to sound awake. My smile grew when I hit play I walked over to the screen.
“In the film industry, feature length films are put onto multiple reels of film. The projectionist, the guy in the back room, has to switch out the reels at just the right time to provide a seamless viewing experience. To signal the projectionist to switch the reels they use, what they call in the business, cigarette burns.” I pointed to the upper right corner of the screen. After a few moments a black dot flashed where I was pointing. I could see that both Sorbet and Sugar Rush were nodding as soon as they saw it.
“Now these dots have to be put on multiple frames of the film reel in order to be seen. Each frame in the film reel goes by faster than the equine eye can process. Basically, if you put something in a single frame of a film reel; you’ll see it, but you won’t know that you saw it. Now, Sugar Rush, if you could rewind the reel to right before we saw the cigarette burn.” I waited until she finished rewinding the tape.
“Now look closely at the cigarette burns as we play it frame by frame.” I signaled Sugar Rush to continue the tape. The individual pictures of the movie moved top down as it continued. Once the black dot appeared I pointed at it.
“Alright, stop the film!” I ordered. Sugar Rush stopped the film. The frame was stuck on one of the main characters picking their nose. Inside of the black dot was a number. Seventeen. I rushed over to the bathroom and pulled the pencil and pad of paper from the scale. I wrote down the number.
“Go to the next frame,” I said, pen at the ready. The next frame came down. The black dot contained a new number. Twenty four. I smiled. Sorbet walked up to the screen, staring at the black dot.
“Coordinates. These are longitude and latitude! This will tell us exactly where we can find the other facilities!” Sorbet was prancing about like a filly at an amusement park. I continued to write down the numbers as they came up on the screen.
“Thank you, not wasted childhood!” I found myself saying as I swapped out the film reel.
The cool tangy taste of my orange juice was a refreshing contrast to the swelter of the noontime sun. Eating lunch at Seaside Inn wasn’t a bad decision. However, having the meal on the roof top patio certainly didn’t spare us from the heat.
Sorbet was across from me, sipping a glass of ice water. She was looking very intently at her PipBuck fiddling with the dials and knobs on it. Éclair was next to her, reading an issue of Captain Equestria that she had ‘liberated’ from a box in Sugar Rush’s shack. Sugar Rush herself was downstairs.
“Well the good news is, of the three locations we got from the films, one of the labs is close.” Sorbet pushed a map to the center of the table. It detailed the eight islands of the Summer Sunset territory. A red circle around one of the smaller islands stood out from the other landmasses.
“That line usually precedes bad news.”
“I did a little leg work while you were sleeping off your midnight movie marathon,” she continued. “Target Island is apparently a no go zone around here. Back in the day, the navy used it for target practice, hence the name. There are a whole lot of unexploded shells liable to go off. Not to mention the place is apparently toxic. Anyone who went there didn’t come back looking pretty, or at all.”
“Right, so if we go there, we’ll be blown up or grow an extra head. I’m going to venture a guess and say that’s not stopping us,”
“You bet your ass.” She smirked at me.
“I don’t have an ass,” I said, smirking back.
“I- what?”
“Forget I said anything.” I waved my hoof dismissively. “So what’s the plan?”
“Right, sorry. We need to take at least some precautions. Chem-suits and metal detectors would be ideal,” Sorbet suggested. “Though, plenty of Rad-away and a decent magnet would suffice if we can’t manage that.”
“I doubt they have anything in my size.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“I think I can work something out,” I said. “You should focus on getting you three prepped.”
“Three?” she raised an eyebrow at me.
“Yeah. You, Éclair and Sugar Rush.”
“I never said she was going with us,” she said, incredulously.
“I thought she joined us.”
“What she did was offer us the use of her utilities and pay for our food as penance for trying to KILL us.”
“You’re still sore about that?”
“Yes, Riptide, I am sore about that. I tend to be sore about any time somepony endangers our lives. Besides, her story sounds fishy.”
“Hey now, I resemble that remark.”
“You’re not really offended by that are you?”
“Guilty. Just trying to lighten the mood.”
“It’s not really working. Look, just break it down. A mare goes to an abandoned town, a town she is being paid to remove threats from no less. She goes to the bank, opens the vault and randomly cuts out the back wall to discover the hidden lab. Not to mention she has yet to collect her payment. Doesn’t that raise any red flags with you?” she leaned in a little bit closer.
“Yes, when you say it like that, it does. However, you’re going off of incomplete information. She did open the vault and she did cut through the wall to get to the lab. Why was the vault door closed when we got there? There weren’t any obvious controls to open the vault from inside the vault. Perhaps the vault door closed on her and she figured cutting the door itself wasn’t viable.”
“That’s conjecture.”
“So is your suspicion towards her motives. The thing is, without more information, conjecture is all we can do. For all we know that asshole from the barge was her employer and she was to going to collect the prize”
“Hell, that’s what I was thinking.”
“Now, if that was true, then they already know about our plans and what your PipBuck holds. However, this presents to us a unique opportunity.”
“That is?”
“If she is a rival agent that is leaking information, then we can do the opposite. Probe her for information on the enemy. We can even feed her misinformation to get the drop on whoever she works for. Now if we’re false, then we can still use her as an asset, she’s technically minded and is computer savvy. That, and having an extra gun never hurts.”
Sorbet put her hoof to her chin. I could see her eyes dancing around behind her closed lids. “You’re right about one thing at least. I am working off of limited information. So I’m going to get more,” Sorbet said finally. She glanced over to Éclair.
“Hey honey, do remember when we ousted those smugglers back home?” Sorbet asked her daughter.
“Operation: Curious Filly?” Éclair replied, tilting her head to the side.
“Good girl,” Sorbet ruffled the little filly’s hair. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the glint of metal in the sun. Sorbet quickly folded up the map on the table and put it in her saddle bag.
“Much, much better now!” Sugar Rush sat down at the table. I smirked at her as she scooted up closer.
“Did ya fall in?” I prodded her shoulder
“No, but I feel about twenty pounds lighter,” She admitted. Sorbet put on a smile and faced her.
“Sugar Rush, can you do me a favor?” Sorbet asked her.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I need to take care of some errands. Can you watch Éclair for me?” Sorbet continued to smile as she asked her.
“Um… I can, but I gotta go by the Mason’s Guild to get my pay and-” Sugar stammered a little
“Mum, I wanna see the Mason’s Guild! Can I go? Can I?” Éclair blurted out excitedly. Sorbet looked at her with a puzzled expression. She then looked back at Sugar Rush with a questioning glace, shrugging after a moment. Sugar Rush looked back and forth at the mother daughter duo.
“Fine… I take her with me to The Masons while you do your… thing,” She sighed.
“Yay!” Éclair bounced out of her chair and pranced about in place. Sugar Rush got up from her seat, a weary smile adorning her face, as she lead the filly towards the door. Sorbet got up as well and began to follow them out. I swear I could have seen a wink come from Sorbet before she left.
I sat there for a few seconds, downing the rest of my orange juice.
“Well, if she’s doing that,” I said to myself aloud, “I might as well work on my radiation protection methods.”
“Wonder if there is an herbalist in town?”
---- ---- ---- ---- I was standing in front of the only place of business on the street. The storefront stuck out like a sore fin. It was decorated with the bones of what appeared to be a dragon, with its skull above the door. The sign of the shop was being held in the dragon’s jaws. Several charms and fetishes were hung over the storefront, ranging from dream catchers to spirit wards. The sign was written in the unmistakable glyphs of Zebracan text. The sign was subtitled in Equestrian, reading “Juju’s Alchemy and Talismans.” Upon the door was a posted message, “No love potions or weight loss elixirs.”
I pushed the door inwards. The bell that hung over the door rang as I entered the shop. It was warm, and the air was very still. Behind a broad counter was a zebra mare with a pair of shears. She was trimming a bonsai tree. As soon as my eyes met her she was looking back at me smiling. She then looked up to the ceiling.
“Juju! Sisi wateja!” she called upstairs. I heard a quick series of thumps as someone moved towards a set of stairs.
“Take your time,” I found myself muttering. The hoof steps traveled down the stairs and a small zebra boy reached the bottom. He jumped on a step stool with wheels on it and slid over to me.
“Welcome to Juju’s Talismongery and Alchemy! I’m Juju. What can I do for you?” the little one sing-songed to me. His voice was cracking and had surprisingly little accent to it.
“I’m going to be heading out into some nasty stuff fairly soon. I was hoping you could provide me with some components.”
“Well, sir, we can provide the reagents for all your alchemical needs. I we don’t have something in stock we can have it added to our shelves in less than two weeks!” Juju replied in an obviously practiced piece of information.
“Cool. Now here are the things I need for my project. Mint extract, xander root, a pegasus’s pinion, mandrake root, an-”
“Did you say mandrake root?” Juju looked up at me. His eyes were wide and looked back at the zebra mare. “One moment please sir.”
“Take your time.”
“Mama, yeye kuuliza kuhusu mzizi Mandrake. Nini I kumweleza?” he asked the other zebra.
“Mwambie hatuwezi kuuza kwamba hapa. Ni kinyume na sheria!” his mother said back. I tilted my head to the side.
“<Why is it against the law to sell mandrake root?>” I asked them. The two zebra looked at each other agape, before returning their gazes back to me.
“<You speak Zwahili?>” Juju’s mother asked me.
“<Well we had a bunch of foreign movies back at my home and I hate reading subtitles… Back to my original question.>”
“<R-right, mandrake is a very dangerous plant. Pulling it out of the ground can be lethal without protection.>”
“<Right, when you pull it out it releases spores that cause neural damage and auditory hallucinations. Usually, it’s an earsplitting scream.>”
“<That’s correct. Someone assassinated a council member twenty years back by flooding his room with mandrake spores. It’s been illegal ever since.>”
“<Well that certainly puts a damper on things. Got any peace lily?>”
“<Got a fresh batch this morning.>”
“<I guess that will have to do. Gonna hate myself later though.>”
“<Would you like anything else?>”
“<Hrmm… five empty vials with stoppers, a mortar and pestle, some cilantro… yeah that’ll be it.>”
“<Would you like this bagged in paper or plastic?>”
“<Plastic please,>” I responded.
“<Too bad, we only have paper,>” she said back to me with a smirk. I rolled my eyes.
“<Paper, then.>”
“<One moment please, sir.>” the nice zebra lady walked towards back of the store where I assumed the herbs were. I smiled as she turned the corner then looked at the little guy on the step stool. I cleared my throat.
“So how did you end up running this place? You seem a bit young to run a business,” I asked him in plain equestrian. He looked up at me with a smile on his face.
“Great business sense!” He beamed at me. I raised an eyebrow at him, maintaining my smile. He looked off to the left and started nodding.
“It’s my dad’s store,” he admitted. “His name is Juju too. Mama named me after him ‘cause we look so alike.” Something clicked in my head after he finished speaking.
“So your name is Juju Junior?” I asked him biting my lip.
“Yup!”
“Awwww,” I found myself saying, with the corners of my mouth rising of their own accord. Juju Junior crossed hooves on the counter giving me the poutiest of glares. Juju’s mom stepped back out from corner. Her back was laden with three paper bags full of herbs. She shifted them to the table.
“<Here you go sir! Will you be paying in caps or shillings?>”
“<I’ll be paying in caps.>”
“<That will be two hundred and seventy five caps then.>”
--- --- --- ---
My groceries weighed down my pack. It was a small blessing that when I finally processed them into the alchemical potions I planned, they would weigh far less. I couldn’t complain though; the day was too good.
The mid-afternoon sun beat down over the buildings. The bustle of the marketplace was dying down slightly. The seagulls could be heard from the bay. That slight bite of salt from the sea. That fresh smell of the palm trees in my nose. It felt so much like home I could almost hear my mom singing.
I would chalk it all up to nostalgia, except for the fact that she was really singing. It was faint and coming from my left. I couldn’t believe I missed the building the sound was coming from.
Sunset Cinema. The name didn’t ring any bells, but by Poseidon I could barely call myself film enthusiast if I didn’t dart forward instantly. I shoved myself through the door. Not a soul was in the lobby, or the ticket booth. The muffled voice of my mother, accompanied by a soft guitar, was coming from one of the theaters. I marched right past the concession stand. I opened the door to the theater.
On that silver screen I saw my mom. She looked young. She sounded beautiful. She…
She was taking a steamy bath and was in a sultry pose. My mind wanted to erase the mental image of her wet blonde mane sticking to her light purple coat and the pair of bedroom eyes she sported. I was just about to turn and repress the memory when suddenly the singing stopped with metal falling on the ground.
“Who intrudes upon me bathing? Show thyself! Lest I have thee run through by the guards!” my mother threatened into the steam. A shadowy figure was hiding behind the open window.
“Twas I milady, though I meant no intrusion. Thine melody left me so enraptured I could not help but peer in,” A stallion responded just out of sight. The voice was deep, but youthful. The bath steam cleared and a much younger version of my dad was in the window. He was wearing a Middle Ages style suit of armor with a full metal wide brimmed hat that almost hid his short black mane and pale white coat. His eye patch offset the shine of his right golden eye. A badge on his collar was emblazoned with a stylized crimson rose.
“I recognize thee, thou wert the knave that first leapt the ramparts and mowed down its defenders like so much grass. Comest thou now to rend thine way into the castle?” she questioned, with a hint of fear in her voice. My father shook his head with a mirthful smile.
“Nay, during that hateful struggle upon the outer walls, I did spy thee guiding the young ones into the inner sanctum. I would seek thy safety in these coming days. Whilst the skies are calm now, this storm has yet to break. Should a maiden as fair as thee come to harm from this feud of former friends, my soul may not bear the pain,” he explained sheepishly. My mom giggled as she began blushed.
“Thou should wield thy tongue in battle, ‘tis clearly sharper.” She smiled with half lidded eyes. My father returned the smile.
“I would humbly ask thy name.”
“Buttercup. And thou, good sir?”
“Messer… It means knife. Mine parents were queer folk.” He rubbed the back of his head, “Mightn’t I come in? It would be a misfortune if I were discovered.”
A thunderous crack resounded. My father nearly jumped out of his barding. With a golden eruption of magic, he drew a single edged cutting sword that nearly was as long as he was. His eyes went wide as they slowly raised up. His body became shadowed by something large.
The camera panned upwards from the ground revealing a pair of cloven hooves covered in ring mail. Plates of steel were sown into the suit as the camera showed more. A huge minotaur stood high above. The angle of the camera made it seem fifty feet tall. A large badge depicting a stylized white rose was welded to his bulging chest plate. His hands held a staff that could be mistaken for a stone pillar, with azure gems studding both ends. Flicks of lightning shot from each gem.
“I see thee, bloody rose,” the minotaur yelled, his voice booming with authority. “I saw thee cut down my brothers upon the outer ramparts. Didst thou think thou could steal into the castle under darkness to repeat the act upon the nobility!?”
“Nay, vanguard, my intentions tonight are pure. Stay thy hand and I shall trouble thee no longer this night,” Messer replied to the minotaur. The minotaur snorted and shook his head
“thou thinkest me a babe? An oaf?” he retorted. “Surrender thyself, or thy life will be fodder for Voltaga!” A thunderous crack resounded through the courtyard as hundreds of tiny lightning bolts flew from the staff.
“Thou art clearly beyond reason. Thou wisheth a quarrel? Thou shalt receive one!” Messer roared back at the vanguard. The background music swelled into a mixture of orchestra and electric guitar. He leapt towards the minotaur, sword hovering overhead. Messer’s leap was cut short by horns of the tall beast ramming into his skull. Messer flew back, faster than a blink straight into a tree. Chunks of bark splintered across the courtyard.
The sound of a Tesla coil rumbled as Voltaga smashed into the tree, splitting it in half. The leaves caught fire in a flash. Messer narrowly tumbled under the swing. His eyes widened to the minotaur swinging downward, meaning to crush him into smoldering paste.
Messer dashed in between the giant’s legs, cleaving the armor from the beast in a few deft swings. A small spurt of blood littered the grass. The minotaur swept his mighty staff in an arc toward the unicorn swordspony. Messer brought his sword down to parry. The two weapons collided. A massive thunderclap resounded and Messer was sent sprawling across the courtyard. Smoke drifted off of his body, and a faint sizzle of burning flesh could be heard over the music. The minotaur loomed over his mangled body with his staff ready to strike. Like a mighty bolt of lightning from the heavens, the minotaur drove the staff toward Messer’s head.
The picture froze and the audio stopped. I stood there leaning forward and teeth clenched. I blinked twice, Perhaps it was the adrenaline causing the movie to move slowly. The overhead lights to the theater came on. My worst fears were answered.
Somepony had stopped the movie.
“Your ticket please?” A voice questioned from behind me.
“Uhh…” I managed to vocalize as I turned toward the source. An alabaster earth pony stallion, who looked like his body couldn’t decide if he was middle age or venerable, Stood there behind me with a lever action shotgun leveled at my head. While the shotgun was scary, the scarier thing was he had a kindly old smile you’d expect your grandpa to have.
“Go ahead son, explain yourself,” he said to me calmly. I looked back at the screen, before brewing up some words in my mind.
“They did a good job, the makers of that film you were playing. The actors showed genuine emotion, the special effects were obviously done with silver age techniques, but they used modern camera angles. The score was delightful… this is probably the best film that’s come out in the last two hundred years,” I started gushing about the film. His kindly old grandpa smile grew wider and he lowered the shotgun.
“Well I don’t want to toot my own horn, but it is the best film I’ve ever made. Though that’s not saying much, The War of The Roses was considered Shake Pear’s magnum opus. There’s also the fact that I’ve only made three films, but that’s beside the point,” he responded. My eyes widened and my mind went blank.
“I love you,” I blurted out.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but I am already married,” He said with a smirk, “My name is Thespian.”
“Riptide,” I returned his greeting and extended my hoof. He shook it eagerly.
“I apologize for the shotgun, miscreants like to come in here and make messes.”
“No harm done. However, I must ask. If you have a working theater, why aren’t you selling tickets? This place looks like it’s been abandoned for years.”
“That’s the rub isn’t it? We were in business some thirty years ago. However, a movie theater can’t run on just three movies now can it?”
“No, I suppose you can’t,” I looked wistfully back at the screen, “They always talked about movies. They never said they were in one.”
“Bingo,” Thespian said suddenly, smiling broadly.
“What?”
“I thought you looked familiar. Couldn’t place it at first, but putting two and two together I see now. You’re Gibson Score and Serene Scene’s son,” he said. I looked him square in the eye. I couldn’t sense any malice, or ulterior motive. Just understanding.
“Yes, yes I am.” I replied simply.
“Well son, I’m glad to have met you. It a shame your parents aren’t with us anymore.” He said.
“That easy to tell, huh?”
“Thirty years, and the only sign they didn’t fall of the face of the earth is their grown son trespassin’ in my theater. May I ask h-”
“They got sick. Mom went first. It was faster than it should have been.”
“She did have a delicate constitution. She was at the doctor almost every other week.”
“We didn’t have a whole lot of meds, but she went peaceful,” I said. “She slept right through the worst of it. Dad, on the other hoof, was more stubborn than a mule. He held on a whole two years before he went under.”
“I apologize for bring up painful memories.”
“I was young. I let my grief out when it happened. It’s nice to know they were a part of something like this though.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t talk about it.”
“Heh, the only thing about the past they mentioned was that dad lost his eye the day they met.”
“Ha! That’s all? He didn’t mention that Serene tore it out herself?”
“The fuck!?” I blurted out.
“When they first met, they were trying to kill each other. That’s what mercenaries do.”
“I… wha… Huh!?” My jaw was ajar. My brain couldn’t process what my ears were hearing. I looked to Thespian for solace in this news but all he did was laugh in my face.
“Shocking, I know.”
“Dad seemed like he would do something like that, but mom?”
“They did quit after they got done fighting each other. Got sick of fighting altogether after their encounter. Then they bonded over their mutual appreciation of music and theater.”
“That… makes sense. I guess.” I fought to wrap the thought of my mother being a grizzled mercenary posed on top of a mound of spent bullet casings with my dad. It was… probably a good premise for a movie. I saw Thespian pull out a pocket watch and study it for a moment.
“I tell you what. You keep on coming here and I’ll keep telling you stories about your folks,” he said, smiling. Extended his hoof. “Deal?”
“One condition,” I said quickly.
“That being?”
“Start playing movies again.”
“Son, I told you, I can’t run a theater with only three films in the whole house.”
“I can get you some more,” I replied.
“How? Most of old films are too decayed or damaged to use,” he asked with an eyebrow raised. I smirked in response. I lifted up my cloak.
“What do you know about seaponies, Thespian?” I asked, smirking.
--- --- --- ---
Dusk was near. A bandana rested on my nose to guard it from the acrid smells of the concoction I was mixing. The lights were all off. I learned that the ceiling fan of Sugar Rush’s home was wired with the lights. I couldn’t risk dust being kicked up into the mix and ruining the delicate work I was engaging in. If I didn’t hurry I would be working in the dark. If I rushed, the mixture would kill me rather than help me.
I slowly sifted through the crushed herbs in the mortar and pestle, allowing the fine white specks of what I needed to fall gently into the glass vial. Then I raised the mint above the vial and bled the liquid left in it into the container. White powder in the vial began to sizzle. My eye started to go wide.
“Needs more iron,” I said to myself while looking around. I grabbed my knife with my magic and raised my left hoof. I pressed the blade into the side of my foreleg until I saw tiny beads of red. I let the blood I just drew slide down the blade. I held the tip of my knife over the beaker. A single drop fell into the vial. The sizzling stopped abruptly as the substances mixed into a sanguine fluid. I wafted over the top of the vial and smelled the air. I saw a few spots of color before I put a put the stopper on the vial.
I levitated the red vial and placed it with its four purple brothers in a leather pouch. I pulled off my bandana and craned my neck back and forth. I felt a few pops in my spine. I scraped the leftover materials into separate pouches. You never know when you need alchemical reagents later.
The door opened behind me a few minutes later. Sugar Rush strode in, dragging her metal hooves on the ground and heavy bags under her eyes. She walked straight to the bed and collapsed on it. Sorbet followed in with a satisfied smile and a fast asleep Éclair on her back. Sorbet slid the little filly on an unoccupied portion of Sugar Rush’s bed. I smirked as Sorbet approached me.
“I guess they had an eventful day,” I commented
“Bards will sing of their fun filled adventures for eons to come,” Sorbet responded, walking past me to the door. “I say we give them some time alone to rest.”
I packed up my work and followed her out of the shack. She sat down on the curb of the street. I walked up beside her.
“What did you find out?”
“She was a champion eating contest winner in three different food types in her teens; She can’t hold a romantic relationship for more than a week, not for lack of trying; She bats for both teams; and she’s a fan of mystery novels.”
“…And?”
“And her story checks out,” she continued. “Real estate is apparently big business in Summer Sunset. Lots of demand for land and very little land is secure and available. So being a troubleshooter like her is lucrative but highly competitive business. It’s not uncommon for troubleshooters to fight and kill each other for the job.”
“And the buyer? Any info on them?”
“Not a word,” she said, shaking her head. “Lots of money goes around the real estate game. Stuff that’s less than kosher goes on between rival landlords, so anonymity is a requirement in all the trades. That said, the Mason’s Guild keeps them from fighting out in the open. So far, the guild has a controlling interest in the island. Technically, they own the entire island, but that’s just so they can sell the landlords what isn’t settled.”
“So what happens next?” I asked.
“Well, like you said, Sugar Rush can be an asset. We give her the offer when she wakes up from her nap. I found a merchant that will rent us the Chem-suits. Have to pay a deposit though. I didn’t see any metal detectors or magnets. Hopefully, Sugar Rush can whip something up. She seems like she’d know how. How about you? Get any use out of your day trip?”
“You don’t know the half of it,” I said, grinning. “Found a nice Zebra shop, got some materials and made this baby!” I pulled out one of the purple vials. “This is six hour radiation immunity in a bottle!”
“What the… why didn’t you tell me you could make that! We could just whip up a bunch of- there’s a catch isn’t there?”
“The thing works by creating an absorbent membrane around the lining of your stomach. That membrane sucks up all the radiation that enters the body. After the six hours the membrane breaks up in your stomach to be evacuated.”
“Evacuated? you mean...?” She slowly began to comprehend my meaning with increasing horror.
“You spend the next ten minutes puking your guts out. Best case scenario, you lose a meal or two. Worst case scenario, you burn a hole in your esophagus,” I elaborated further. I saw her body visibly shudder at the thought. We sat there on the curb for a few moments. The sun had finally fallen past the horizon. The stars came out in full force, sparkling like tiny jewels.
“Well then, you think we’re ready for this?” Sorbet asked me. I looked at the stars for a few moments. I lowered my gaze back at her and smirked.
“Your call, boss,” I replied. She looked at the stars for a few moments then closed her eyes. The corners of her mouth rose into a smile and she nodded. Standing up from the curb, she walked into Sugar Rush’s shack. I chuckled slightly and followed her in.
The waves splashing against the docks were a welcome sound. It had been three whole days since I had been in the water. Normally I’d be doing a movie marathon to get to this stage of dryness. Amphibious I may be, but being out of the water for extended periods of time is at the very least unsettling to my kind. There hasn’t been a single reported case of dehydration among my kind, and I think we like to keep it that way.
That said, I couldn’t just throw my cloak off and dive off the pier. We still had to load all our things back onto the Poseidon. Although somepony, who shall remain nameless, had much more to load because she has a warped sense of packing light.
“You do not need a cooler!”
“I have strict nutritional requirements that require refrigeration.” Sugar Rush stated flatly. Sorbet took a peek inside and immediately scowled.
“Ice cream, Seriously? Of all the things you could bring, you’re bringing ice cream.”
“Why are you making such a big fuss outta this?”
“Because, Missy, we are going onto a boat, made out of palm trees and surf boards. We can’t fit half a machine shop and your bloody ice box on it!” Sorbet said, jabbing her hoof into Sugar Rush’s chest.
My eyes scanned the other five boxes Sugar Rush decided to bring with her. Each one was filled to the brim with tools, scrap metal, and I think a few spare limbs. They were certainly heavy enough.
I lifted a crate of supplies from the pier onto the Poseidon, and I tucked the box under our brand new ‘cabin’. Our old ‘living quarters’ consisted of a glorified pavilion tent. Now, we had a roof that ran the length of the length of the ship, a trio of masts for our sails, and a proper rudder made of wood and not stuffed Radshark fins. All of this was courtesy of the local shipwrights of the harbor. How Sorbet managed to convince them to give us a new customer discount, I’ll never know. The arguing was giving me a headache, so I did what any good Samaritan would do. Remove the subject of the argument.
“Ice cream doesn’t weigh anything when it’s gone. If Sugar shares it with us it’ll be gone in no time, then we can stick other perishables in there. It’s an investment, not an indulgence.” I reasoned to the mares. Sorbet looked up, silently mulling over my logic. Sugar Rush however looked like I just crushed her feelings.
“B-but that’s supposed to last me a whole week! I’ll die without it!” Sugar Rush looked like she was about to cry right then and there. I would have fallen for it, if Éclair didn’t pull that trick all the time. She was far more adept at it than this full grown mare.
“We’ll be back in three days. You can stock back up then. You’ve also got a box of snack cakes on board to tide you over if we’re late.” I responded. A quivering whimper squeaked from Sugar Rush. Her bottom lip flexed into the biggest frown her face could hold. I rolled my eyes and uttered the finisher.
“Éclair would probably love you forever if you let her have some of it,” I said, smiling. I took a glance at Éclair, who was flipping through a comic book that I doubt we ever got her. Sugar Rush, meanwhile, was puffing her cheeks with her hooves crossed. She shot me a glare that evoked the image of a filly pouting that her parents wouldn’t let her ride the Ferris wheel.
I looked back at Sorbet. She rolled her eyes and exhaled sharply. She grabbed one end of the cooler and motioned Sugar Rush to assist her. The cybermare obliged, hoisting up her end of the cooler. The two mares hauled the icebox onto the Poseidon. I pulled out a few silver coins and held them up. “One shilling, in the sun we trust” was embossed on the side with the image of a diamond on the side. I smiled and levitated to a mustachioed dock hand. He returned my smile and collected the coins.
“Pleasure doing business with ye. Come back soon,” he said, shaking my hoof. He then got into the pilot’s seat of Sugar Rush’s Jack Rabbit. Sugar Rush herself walked up next to me.
“Keep him out of the rain! He’s liable to rust,” she called out to the dock hand. He nodded and kicked the half-track motorcycle on. He drove it towards the end of the dock with a dull roar all the way.
“Right, that’s everything. Let’s embark, shall we?” I said to her. She smirked and boarded The Poseidon. I untied the rope mooring us to the dock and boarded myself.
“Full sail!” I called out. Our three sails opened up in their entirety. I quickly took the wheel when the wind shoved us forward with a jolt. The Poseidon cut the waves in half as we, in no time flat, were away from the dock and on the open sea.
“Sorbet, what’s our heading?” I asked her. She was tracing her hoof over the map while looking at a compass.
“North-West-West!” she responded, pointing to our starboard bow. I turned the wheel to the right, and The Poseidon made a half circle turn in response. The sails began to droop slightly, as less wind was going directly into the sail.
“First mate Éclair! Take the wheel if you please,” I called out to her. She scampered up to me, carrying a stool on her back. She slid the stool up to the wheel and climbed up on top of it.
“Steady as she goes until I say otherwise,” I ordered her. She smiled and took hold of the wheel.
“Aye Cap’n!” She saluted me in an adorably over the top fashion. I walked over to the starboard side, grabbed a ball of knotted twine with a wooden stick tied to one end, and tossed the wood stick overboard and counted to thirty. I grabbed the unraveling twine and pulled the wood stick back onto the boat, counting the knots as I did so.
“We’re sailing at a speed of six knots,” I said aloud as soon as I was done. “How long until we get there?” Sorbet looked back at the map, and then rolled her eyes to the top of her head. She started mouthing words while drawing in the air with her hoof.
“Well, if we keep this speed we should get there in six hours,” she answered. “Plenty of time to go over the game plan.”
“Sounds good.” I walked over to where the two mares were sitting. Sorbet rolled out a paper which had a blown up version of Target Island drawn in colored pencil. It had a grid overlaid on it representing longitude and latitude in blue, and a red dot in the center of the island.
“Okay, let’s make sure everypony is on the same page. Sugar Rush, I already told you we were doing a salvage mission on Target Island but it’s a little bit more complicated than that.”
“I figured as much, you don’t offer forty percent and first pick of the loot for a scav job. Even if the job is in a deathtrap.” Sugar Rush leaned her head on her cyberarm.
“We have reason to believe that a laboratory similar to the one in the bank is here.” Sorbet pointed her hoof at the red dot on the map.
“What do you think is there?”
“A prototype regarding research of great interest to me and the ponies I represent. Real ground breaking stuff, even if the specifics are vague.” Sorbet answered. Sugar Rush raised an eyebrow.
“What if this turns out to be a wild goose chase?” she asked.
“Then our secondary objective becomes our primary objective. Take everything of value that we can fit on the boat.” Sorbet smirked. Sugar Rush blinked a couple times, and then made the mother of all mischievous grins.
“Bitchin!” She was nodding in increasing agreement.
“Now remember, if we do find something pertaining to the research, you’re under a non-disclosure contract,” Sorbet reminded her.
“Yeah, yeah, mum’s the word.”
“Right, we’ll park off the coast to assess the island from a distance,” Sorbet said, drawing a circle on the map with her hoof. “Maybe we can avoid any unexploded ordnance altogether.”
“We should also do an equipment check,” Sugar Rush said. “I saw the Haz suits in the back there and if one of those is for me, then it’ll need to be modified for these.” She began wiggling her cyberarms like noodles.
Sorbet nodded. “Yeah, good idea.”
“Well if you gals are going to be doing that, I’m going for a swim.” I chimed in. Sugar Rush suddenly looked concerned.
“But we’re going almost full burn in a boat, you’ll fall behi-” She stopped abruptly as I slapped my tail on the table. “Oh, right.”
“I’ll be back soon,” I said, undoing my cloak and armor. With a running start, I leapt over the starboard side and straight into the drink. I blew all the air out of my lungs and inhaled as much water as I could fit in there. It felt invigorating. Then again, it always feels good to breathe water after not doing so for a while. I let my fins stretch out like nature intended. I spun around, did a flip, and a barrel roll.
Now that was out of the way, it was high time to get to the real reason I jumped in the ocean. It was time I met some of my kin. I took a deep breath, and sang out at the top of my lungs. I waited for a moment. Then, to my right, I heard a tenor voice sing back. I swam towards the sound full tilt.
Interesting little science fact for you, sound travels really well in water. It travels about four times faster and farther than it does in air. Combine this little tidbit with vocal pipes designed for water and you’ve got long distance shouting. Though we usually just sing notes to each other. That way, above the water, it just sounds like we’re whales or dolphins.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long to reach my duet partner. Or rather partners, in this case. The pair of seaponies didn’t look like any tribe I recognized. They were two stallions, one light red, the other one a muddy yellow. The yellow one had a large cylinder strapped to his back, and the red one had a triple barreled harpoon gun hooked up to what looked like a homemade battle saddle. They both swam nearby and waved a hoof.
“Hello, brothers, what brings you in these waters?” I asked the pair. The red one gave me an appraising glance then nodded.
“As a matter of fact, you’re the reason we’re out here, Riptide of the Reef,” he replied smirking. His voice was very high for a pony of his size.
“Really now?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I am Oyster, and this is Dagger Fish of the Ghost Waves. We’re couriers. Your surface friend named Thespian contacted us with the ritual you provided him,” The yellow one explained.
“Oh good, he did it right. I take it you're heading to the Reef then. Since you're already heading there, would mind delivering this for me?” I pulled out a letter sealed in a plastic bag.
“Who is to receive this?”
“Hollow Bones, my mentor and the tribe’s shaman.”
“Very well, I’ll deliver it as soon as I get there,” Oyster replied, snatching the floating letter.
“It must be nice, having surface trade. The most we get are shipwrecks. While they’re more common where we live, they aren’t the most reliable of sources.”
“You could talk to Hollow Bones, and see if they can set your tribe up with a trade route,” I suggested to them. Dagger Fish rubbed his chin, and then looked at his companion. Oyster shrugged in response to him.
“I think we might just do that. But, we’d need to speak to our chief first. Don’t want to screw over the whole tribe just because we peons think it’s a good idea.”
“Fair enough. I have to leave now. My companions are probably starting to worry about me. I hope your travels fare well.”
“Same to you, brother.” Oyster smiled as they began swimming off. “Try not to get too popular!”
I snorted as soon as they were a fair bit away. Great, now that my folks are prospering, everypony wants in on the deal. I swam away towards Target Island. The Poseidon would be on the way.
I saw the multicolored surf board bottom of The Poseidon fairly quickly. I did my best impression of a dolphin as I drew near to it. I burst from the water the water, gaging the angle of the jump I needed. I leapt up out of the water and landed on the forward deck. Sorbet was nearby, cleaning her rifle out with an old toothbrush and some oil.
“Oh you’re baaaaaa…” Her mouth slowly gaped as she began staring at me.
“What?” I was genuinely puzzled at her expression. Sugar Rush and Éclair walked up next to hear similarly wide eyed.
“I thought it would be like that, but I did not expect this!” Sugar Rush exclaimed in either shock or amazement.
“It’s so big!” Éclair said bluntly.
“What the hell are you all talking about?” I asked. Sorbet shook her head and spoke up.
“Your… mane is huge!” she blurted out. I looked up and saw the problem. My braids had come undone. My mane was now a very long wet mess that extended well past my tail.
“Son of a… This will take forever to fix!”
---- ---- ---- ----
It took a painstaking two hours to re-braid and compress every strand of my mane back into its required style. I did trim it a little bit, just a few inches. The shaman’s braids are supposed to help instill a sense of patience and meticulousness. Personally, I think it’s just annoying. It looks awesome when it’s done though.
“There she is! Land ho!” Sugar Rush pointed off our starboard bow. I walked up next to her, squinting in that general direction. The portion of the horizon she was pointing at was obscured by a thick mist. I could faintly see the outline. It looked like a hill with jagged outcroppings. Sorbet pulled out a rifle scope and peered through it.
“Yeah that’s it. Éclair, change our course. Head north,” Sorbet called.
“Yes, mum!” The little filly turned the wheel to the right. The light turn in gravity almost made the stool she was standing on slide out from under her.
“Riptide, do you think you can swim ahead and find us a good place to park?” Sorbet asked me.
“You got it, boss! Be back in a-” I was halfway over the bow when I saw three dead fish floating past.
Sorbet trotted up next to me. “What’s up?”
I pulled out my spear and skewered one of the dead fish. I pulled the fish close and gave it an appraising lick. I instantly balked at the high iron taste.
“I think we’ll have to just sail up to it.” I shoved the fish back into the water. “That thing died of blood poisoning. Of the radioactive kind.”
“The water is radioactive then? Should we be suiting up?” Sorbet asked. Sugar Rush walked up to us.
“Nah, if it was radioactive enough to affect us here in the boat, we would all be hearing tick tick tickty right about now,” Sugar Rush explained. “I figure it’s just heavy water.”
“Meaning?” Sorbet asked, gesturing for her to continue.
“Meaning, unless you start drinking it, you’ll be fine,” I continued for her. “Or in my case, breathe it.”
Sorbet rubbed her chin with her hoof. As she was mulling over the new information our destination grew closer. The Island itself and what was on it were now visible to the unassisted eye. Target Island was surrounded by ship wreckage. Whether they were mock targets for the navy or unlucky salvagers was anypony’s guess. The island was also covered in wreckage and rubble. Mock-ups of tanks, trench fortifications, and other targets worthy of bombardment were all in varying degrees of blown up.
Suddenly a sharp hissing noise broke the silence. I looked towards the source to find a rubber boat slowly inflating. Sorbet was steadily unfolding it as it filled up.
“We have a life raft?”
“Apparently not having a life raft is against regulations in Diamond Harbor. So they gave us one during the refit,” Sorbet said while lowering the raft into the water. “Éclair, fold up the sails. We’re going in.
“Should we also anchor?” I asked Sorbet. The kid was rolling up all three sails. That would make us go to almost a complete stop.
“No, we’re going to use the raft to pull us to the island. Then we anchor. The wind is against us and you can’t get out and push.” Sorbet looped a rope through my harness to drag the ship, and tied that rope to the raft. Sugar Rush was looking very worriedly at the raft.
“Is it a bad time to mention I can’t swim?” Sugar Rush said sheepishly.
“It’s okay! Mum and I can’t swim either!” Éclair answered from atop the forward mast.
“Yeah, but I sink like a rock. I weigh about two and a half ponies. I dunno if that raft can hold me,” Sugar Rush continued.
“It’s rated for eight adults. Éclair is about a half, and then there is myself and Riptide. Counting you, that makes five of us. Quit your belly aching,” Sorbet said flatly and shoved Sugar Rush onto the raft. It wobbled in the water for a couple moments, but failed to sink like Sugar Rush had feared. She still glared fiercely at Sorbet.
“Right, Éclair I need you to stay on the wheel. In case we need to steer,” Sorbet said to her daughter as she stepped onto the raft. Éclair did a mock salute and trotted back up to the wheel. I joined the mares in the raft. Sorbet passed out paddles to everypony. We started rowing.
Slowly, we came up to a pair of ships that ran ashore, locked in place by decades of tide. They were ironclad sailing ships. More accurately, rust clad sailing ships. The positioning of these two ships made them an adequate dock for the Poseidon.
One by one, we clambered back onto the Poseidon, pulling the raft with us. We made a lasso with the rope we tied the raft up with and used it to latch us onto our impromptu dock. Sorbet tossed a few pasty white lumps of clothing in front of everypony.
“Suit up, everypony! I don’t want to take any chances with this island,” she ordered while slipping into her own hazard suit. I pulled out my purple vial of Rad-blocker and uncorked the stopper. I closed my eyes and downed the whole thing. It was minty in flavor but it bubbled and burned all the way down. My eyes started to water. After a few less than comfortable second, the sensation passed.
“Six hours, starting…. now!” I managed to croak out.
“Let’s try to find the for certain rad free spots if we’re going to stay for an extended period. This little brew is only going to last 6 hours.” I wiped the tears from my eyes and shook my head. Sorbet nodded and fiddled around with her PipBuck. Sugar Rush snapped in place her clear glass helmet with her cyberarms. Éclair was bouncing up and down in her own little suit, which was covered in pink butterflies. The three ladies strapped saddle bags over their suits.
“Right, I’ll take point. If anything looks like it could explode, point it out,” Sorbet said while strapping a large pole-like contraption to her saddle. It had a round black ceramic disk at the end. She boarded the marooned ship. The rest of the girls soon followed. I removed my cloak and stuffed it in a box. No real need to take it with me. Especially since it would have just gotten caught on a mortar and killed us all.
Sorbet walked ahead of us, slowly waving the black disk in a wide arc as we moved forward. A dull high pitch could be heard as she went over a chunk of metal. We would see divots and craters in the ground as we walked. No doubt the result of naval ordnance pounding into the ground.
One of the craters stood out to me as we passed it. It looked like somepony had pressed a huge crude glass bowl into the ground. Éclair was looking at it too with a tilted head.
“What did that?” Éclair pointed at the glass crater. I saw Sugar Rush look over to it as well.
“Plasma Charge. The explosion superheated the sand and turned it into glass,” she explained.
“So that’s how you make glass? Heating it up?” Éclair continued.
Sugar Rush shrugged with her cyberarm. “Essentially, yeah.”
I looked ahead to Sorbet who was just a few feet ahead of the rest of us. We were walking near what looked like a prefabricated bunker. There was a gigantic hole torn through the side of it. I leaned towards it. A giant cylinder was embedded in the floor of the bunker. A puddle of brown liquid pooled around the shell. I backed away from it swiftly.
“Yeah, that might just explode.” I pointed towards the inside of the bunker. Sorbet pointed at it with her PipBuck.
“That’s definitely a bomb with a big boom. It’s not radioactive, at least. Let’s keep moving. I don’t want to be within its blast radius.” Sorbet moved back to the head of the group. I trotted up to her.
“How much farther?” I asked her. She stole a quick glance at her Pipbuck.
“Not much farther,” Sorbet replied. “I’d start looking for something that could be an entrance.”
“Easier said than done.” Sugar Rush pointed ahead. Veritable piles of bombed up vehicles and structures were ahead of us. We approached the cluster of wreckage slowly, halting abruptly every time Sorbet’s metal detector gave off a screech. The ordnance targets were filled with life size dummies painted to look like zebras. We froze at the persistent screech of the detector. Sorbet’s eyes furrowed as she followed the signal up and down.
Sorbet pointed at the ground. “Sugar, I need you to dig whatever this is up.”
“Are you nuts!? I’m not digging up any bomb!”
“I’m fairly certain its not a bomb. It’s too long and too thin to be one. It’s most likely a cord or something.”
“Ever hear of a little thing called Det-cord? That’s an explosive long thin thing!”
“And Det-cord doesn’t have metal in it. Please? You don’t even have to pull it out.” Sorbet nudged Sugar Rush’s rump.
“… okay, but if my arms blow up, you’re paying for replacements.” Sugar rush shuffled to the area Sorbet pointed at and gingerly scraped away the dirt with her cyberarms’ claws. However, when her arms had barely dug into the ground, a clink resounded in the air.
“The hell?” She leaned in closer, her cyberarm drawing back what she had unearthed. “It’s a chain.” She pulled the chain higher so that the rest of the group could see.
“Who the hell buries a chain?” Sorbet scratched her chin with a hoof. I leaned in to get a closer look as well. The chain looked to be leading closer to the mass of wrecked vehicles ahead of us, while also leading back where we came.
“It might be a path marker. Bury a chain so that you can find your way past the explosives but not let anypony else figure out.” I offered to Sorbet. She tried to put her hoof to her chin, but all she got was hazmat helmet.
She shrugged. “Worth a shot.” She began pulling up the chain. The thin earth parted as the length of the chain extended inland. Our pace quickened. We followed the chain onward for at least half an hour. We came upon a collection of vehicles. Tanks, Auto-wagons, wagons, and even a train engine were strewn about. Most of them were half buried in the ground. The others were shot to pieces.
Suddenly, Sorbet stopped. She let the chain drop to the ground, and swept the metal detector in front of the chain’s path. She wrapped the loose chain around her hooves and yanked on it. The chain rattled violently as Sorbet put more of her weight on the chain. I clenched everything I could on reflex.
Suddenly, Sorbet flew past my face. No loud bang. No searing heat. No shrapnel. Just a middle aged mare cartwheeling backwards onto her ass because she pulled something out of the ground. It was really hard not to laugh. So I did the exact opposite and busted a gut. After shooting me a glare that could melt through metal, Sorbet looked at the chain and the small divot in the ground.
“End of the road,” she said while getting her hooves back under her. “If this is a path marker, like you said, our entrance should be near.”
I looked around. We were surrounded by old tanks and long canvas-covered trucks minus the canvas. I puzzled my puzzler. If I were a mad scientist working on top secret experimental technology, where would I hide my lab?
“Well,” I said, “the best place to look would be in, on, or under these wrecks.”
“One step ahead of you,” Éclair called out from the tip of a tank barrel twenty yards away. She was balancing on it by her tippy hooves. I could feel something boil up. It was angry, with a pervasive theme of worry creeping up the back of my neck.
“Eclairetta Rosewood! You get down from there this instant!” Sorbet shouted. Ah, yes. Maternal instinct…
“Mom, I think I see where it is!”
“Get down or I’ll-… You do? Point it out!” Sorbet responded. Éclair dutifully pointed behind the tank’s chassis. We jogged over to the ruined tank. Éclair slid down the barrel of the tank like it was a staircase railing. We rounded the edge of the tank to find…
... a Bushwhacker camper trailer. It seemed perfectly ordinary. In fact, it was almost immaculate, save the wheels being on blocks and a few centuries of rain and wind damage. Not a single bullet hole to be seen. I walked to the door and knocked on it.
“You expecting somepony to be home?” Sugar Rush said.
“You never know,” I replied calmly. I then just as calmly kicked in the door. The door flew off the hinges and lodged itself into the other side of the camper. Aside from the remnants of centuries old upholstery, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. This is, of course, if you ignored the obvious trap door in the middle of the floor. Sugar Rush stepped forward, flexing her cyberarms.
“Right, let’s pop the cork.” She dug her tri-pointed claws into the seam of the trapdoor. With a metallic screech, the door lifted free. The hole belched out cold air and dust. The cloud remained in the air for a few moments before dissipating. I smirked.
“Well that was dramat-AAACHOOO!” I sneezed.
“Bless you,” Éclair chirped through her mask.
Sorbet stuck her hoof into the darkness. Her PipBuck’s light did little to push back the black. It did reveal a pulley and a chain descending into the darkness. I wrapped the pulley in my magic and began turning it. The chain rattled and clanked as it tugged upon something heavy. I felt a twinge of pain in the back of my neck. Whatever it was wasn’t meant to be moved manually.
Finally, the light revealed what I was pulling. It was a wide platform with a lever next to the chain. Up and down arrows were painted in both directions the lever could go. After a minute of pulling, the platform docked with the entrance of the trap door.
Sugar Rush warily stepped onto the lift first. She shifted her weight around the whole platform.
“Seems sturdy. Let’s take her down.” She beckoned the rest of us on with a cyberarm. After we all got on, she pulled the lever to the down position. With a jolt, we shot down into the darkness. Wind rushed past us as we fell.
With a clang, we jolted again. We did not stop, but we slowed down considerably. I ran my hooves over myself. After I was satisfied that my heart was still in my chest and not on the roof of my mouth like I feared, I sighed in relief. A clunk resounded in the empty chamber as we stopped moving. The platform had reached the floor.
“Well, that was fun,” Sugar Rush said in between gasps for air. Sorbet could only glare at her. Éclair, however, was her usual bouncy self.
“Let’s do that again!” she cheered.
Sorbet shook herself before stepping off. “Not now, sweetie.” Midnight blue light emanated from my horn, painting the chamber in a cool light. Sugar Rush was looking upwards. I followed her gaze. A small speck of light was above us, no bigger than a playing card.
“How far down are we?” I asked to no one in particular.
“My guess is at least four stories. Don’t really have a ruler on me though,” she said, scanning the shaft we had descended. “These walls are probably lined with lead.”
“You have X-Ray vision!” Éclair exclaimed. Sugar Rush chuckled.
“No, X-ray cameras in my eyes would probably give me cancer. But I do have heat vision!” Sugar rush said polishing the metal on her left foreleg. I saw Éclair’s eyes go wide enough to be in danger of falling out of their sockets. Sorbet looked at her daughter with a smile.
“I think she means she has thermographic cameras in her eyes,” Sorbet said, “So she can see heat signatures. Not shoot heat out of her eyes like your comics.”
“Only slightly less cool!” Éclair responded. I smiled, then took a closer look at our surroundings. The bottom of the shaft we were in was only slightly larger than the platform lift we took down. The walls were made of a black dull metal. Directly in front of us was a sizeable metal door. They seemed to be very thick and heavy. A dusty keypad was attached to the wall next to it.
“Sugar, do you think you can get this open?” I gestured to the door. She trotted over to the door. She stood there, unblinking, for a half a minute. I saw her eyes darting left, right, up, down, and sideways. Her mouth formed words but she said nothing. Finally she blinked and looked back to me.
“This is usually when I bust out The Excavator. Buuut, seeing as you put a dagger through the focus matrix…” she started before shaking her head. “Anyways, the keypad is cold. Even low voltage wiring has some heat running through it. So there’s no power. All that said, however, the door looks hydraulic. Meaning there should be a manual bypass.” She walked closer to the keypad. Her claws dug into the sides of it. With a grunt, she yanked the keypad out of the wall. Small fragments of metal fell to the ground like dust. Wires and small hoses stuck out of the newly formed hole.
Sugar Rush snaked her cyberarm into the hole and placed her ear against the wall.
“Let’s see… Here we go!” She shifted her weight downward. A heavy metal clang resounded through the shaft. The door split open at the seam. Sugar continued shifting her weight in different directions, tugging about behind the wall. Slowly but surely, the door opened wide. I shined my light forward.
For a split second I thought I was in an airport scene from a B action flick. Several paths marked by rope barriers were laid out before us. There were several waystations in this labyrinth of lines. I saw a portable shower at one, and a walk through metal detector at another. A conveyor belt ran into a passage to the right. There were three doors. One next to the one we entered from, one across the room and another to our left.
“We had something like this back home,” Sorbet said after observing the room. “Just after you got past the Stable door, you had a decontamination station and a security check point. This looks about the same, if a bit less streamlined.” She lifted her PipBuck up to her face and fiddled around with some of the dials.
“If this place is built like a Stable, then some things should be set up similarly,” she continued. “There is probably a power station and a security room nearby.”
A rush of air along with a harsh screeching came from behind me. I whipped around to see Sugar Rush prying open the door next to the entrance. She peered inside.
“Security room,” she said flatly.
“Auxiliary power room!” I heard Éclair’s voice from across the room. I looked over to see Éclair waving her glowing PipBuck-laden arm.
“Sorbet, put a bell around the kid’s neck! We’re gonna end up losing track of her,” I said to Sorbet. “Two for two, by the way. Nice call.” You’d have to be looking closely to see it, but she was definitely smirking behind that glass helmet.
“Right, let’s check out that power station. Maybe we can get some bloody lights up and running,” Sorbet said as she trotted over to her daughter. Sugar Rush and I followed suit. With another loud screech, we pried the door open. We shined our collective lights into the power room.
It would be more apt to say it was a power hall. The area we just opened was a long chamber, half filled with what looked like a jet engine fused to the ground. Sugar Rush trotted ahead of us. Her head was locked in position, staring directly at the engine-like device along the hall. She stopped about a third of the way to the end of the power hall.
“Hydroelectric generator. Probably only used once or twice. Parts are still in decent condition. Just needs a little charge to kick it back into gear. Which…” She reached into her saddle bag and pulled out something that looked like a step bike pump, “…I can do.”
She pulled a pair of wires from the pump thing and strung them along a thing that looked like a long light bulb. She then started pumping the bike pump. Due to the dark, I could see miniscule sparks coming from the pump. I could hear something tiny spinning with each pump.
“Should be good aaaaaaand…” She disconnected the wires and pulled a lever. A winding roar resounded in the hall. The room grew brighter and brighter as the lights in the ceiling remembered their purpose. I began to feel a slight breeze come from the vents.
“Celestia raises the sun!” Sugar Rush said triumphantly, cyberarms raised. With a small hiss, a door opened behind Sugar Rush. She looked behind her and her ears perked up.
“Oh, cool!” she rushed into the door. I jogged up to the door to see what the fuss was about. She was in a hallway with a long glass window. Peering into the window, I saw the other end of the conveyor belt from earlier. Several robotic arms were suspended from the ceiling. At the end of the conveyor belt was a glass chamber with smaller robot arms. Sugar Rush turned her head towards me, beaming widely.
“It’s a salvage station! They’d bring any goodies from the surface down here. And if they were explosive they’d disarm them in that glass chamber.” She started prancing down the hallway looking at the machinery like she was in a toy store. The hallway wrapped around the chamber before hitting another door. The door did not slide open automatically like the previous one. Sugar Rush pressed a button next to the door. The door barely made any noise at all when it slid open.
The room ahead was very dimly lit, just enough that you could see your own hoof in front of your face. It was noticeably colder in this room and the air smelled stale. Sorbet and Éclair walked in before me. Their PipBuck lights made it slightly easier to see. I shined my own light into the room.
The room was full of pillars covered in shelves that rose to just above eye level. The pillars were laden with the most random of things. Lockets, bent bits, old toys, and other such nick-knacks made up the majority of them. There wasn’t any real order or pattern to the arrangement of junk. I made it to the wall of the room. Then everything made sense.
The entire wall was covered in photos. At least one pony was in each one. Each photo had a name and two dates separated by a dash.
“It’s a memorial.” I heard Sorbet say off in the distance. I looked over to where I heard her voice. As soon as I did, I got a cold feeling in my gut. Something caught my eye next to one of the pillars. I walked closer.
“No,” I said, staring at the corpse on the ground. Its dead eyes stared right back at me. “This is a tomb.”
The four of us stood in a semi-circle around the body on the ground before us. Only its shriveled matted head was visible from underneath a rather clean lab coat, its eyes staring through unblinking lids.
"Well, let's see what we can find out from our stiff." I moved closer to the body. I lifted up the lab coat and leaned in to get a better look.
The near-skeletal creature was equine in form, though it was no larger than a preteen. Two small horns jutted out between its ears. Its spotted hide was stretched taut against its bones, with barely any sign of muscle. Its small hooves were cloven.
"Well, he's a Pudu. That much is sure," I said.
Sorbet learned in over my shoulder. Her eyebrows were raised. "I've never seen one up close."
"So you've seen one far away, have you?" I remarked, smirking.
"No, I saw a picture of one in an almanac. Except the one in there looked a lot more alive."
"Heh, was he in a group of scientists or at a casino?"
"Casino," Sorbet replied.
Éclair was flipping through the booklet on Summer Sunset. "But why would tiny tribal deer be at a casino? Or a group a scientists?" she asked, turning the booklet sideways.
Sugar Rush cleared her throat. "Well kid, All Pudu are born geniuses. Back in the day they were often allowed to become researchers for the many of Equestria's R&D teams. The Ministry of Technology, Stable-Tec, Trotworth Independent Technologies, Western Equestrian Armaments; you name it, they most likely were in it."
"But the casino?" Éclair's head was tilted and her brows were furrowed.
I smiled. "Equestrian Immigration regulations were extremely strict. In order for a Pudu to get citizenship, they had to be either a scientist, or a member of a scientist's family," I explained. "So the families of these scientists did what wasn't considered a proper job at the time. They ran casinos. This was so common that almost every single casino in film had a Pudu manager."
"Okay," Éclair finally said. I returned my attention to the Pudu. Carefully, I pulled the lab coat off of his corpse. I patted the coat down for pocket, but to no avail.
Sorbet cleared her throat. "So how did he die? And how long ago, if you can tell?" I scratched my chin with my hoof.
"Well, judging by the complete lack of tissue, rotted or otherwise, I'd say he starved to death." I hazarded a guess. "He's very well preserved, The optical orbs are still intact. Otherwise I'd say he's at least a century old." I draped the lab coat back over the body.
"So there is a possibility he could’ve been an original worker here." Sorbet turned away towards a door. "Well this can be either a good thing or a bad thing. Let's keep moving so we can find out."
Sugar Rush trotted up next to her. "You got it, boss." Éclair followed closely after her. The door hissed as it slid open.
I started my way towards the girls, but turned back around. "Rest in peace, friend."
The next room we entered was a long corridor. Monitors and terminals lined the wall opposite of us. Chairs were pulled up intermittently to the equipment. Sugar Rush was right next to the row of machinery, eyeing each bit like a foal would a shelf of comics.
"This is a pretty elaborate set up for a communications room. You could hold a dozen radio calls at once with this set up!" She sat down in one of the chairs. It protested with a loud creak, for it was old and not used to so much weight.
"It looks like it's even connected to a local database, too!" Sugar Rush said excitedly.
"Can you figure anything out about the rest of the facility?" Sorbet said.
Sugar Rush poked her head underneath one of the terminals. She resurfaced with a hoofful of cables and a huge grin. "Wanna see something cool?"
Sorbet rolled her eyes. "Sure, why not."
"Well, I connect this here," she explained while attaching one of the cables to one connected to her head. "And this one here. Then finally this -HURK" Her head violently lurched back and slammed into the terminal.
"Holy shit!" I think I said. I was a split second from pulling those cables when the monitors on the wall came to life.
"Look at the screen." Sugar Rush's voice echoed. Its tone was distorted and not coming from Sugar Rush's mouth.
The monitors started to fill with random letters and symbols, forming the vague image of Sugar Rush’s laughing head.
"Ah, that NEVER gets old. Don't worry, I am completely fine," Sugar Rush said by proxy. I looked at her body. A small pool of drool was forming around her limp mouth, her eyes wide open and unmoving. I looked back at the image, raising my eyebrow as high as I could. Sorbet and Éclair were slack jawed and wide eyed.
"What the fuuuuuck?" Éclair eventually said. Sorbet, still staring, tried swatting Éclair in the back of the head. She missed completely. Sugar Rush simple giggled.
"Neural Interface," she replied, "I can inject my consciousness into any computer. If they have hard area connections. This way I can search for and read files at the speed of thought."
Sorbet's face relaxed and she cleared her throat. "S-so... any info on the facility?" Sugar Rush's image face smiled and closed her eyes.
"Do do do do... Wow, they wiped this thing. That or they severed the area connections. Registry entries... file removal logs... Oh, hey! Facility blueprints!" Sugar Rush's image beamed and nodded.
"Great. Can you display it for me?"
"I can do you one better! Walk over to my body and grab the red cable." Sugar Rush's image pointed at her body. Sorbet's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"O-okay," She walked over and picked up a cable near Sugar Rush's ear. "This one?"
One of Sugar Rush's eyes shifted, rolling slowly over to Sorbet's hoof. Sugar Rush's eye whirred as the pupil focused on the cable. Color drained from Sorbet's face.
"Yeah that's the one. There should be an access port on your PipBuck. Slot it in, and I can upload the blueprints." Sorbet guided the cable into the side PipBuck.
The PipBuck erupted in a series of hisses, screeches, and distorted jaunty tunes. Its lamp flickered like a strobe light. Sorbet was trying to distance herself from the device like it was about to explode. A split second later it ceased.
Sugar Rush's body jolted back into life. She rolled both eyes in opposite directions while twisting her neck. She arched her back like a cat that just woke up and smiled. "Done!"
"Greatletskeepgoingokay,okay!" Sorbet whipped around and inelegantly trotted to the door.
As soon as she rounded the corner, Sugar Rush chuckled. "Didn't figure her for a technophobe. She barely even uses that PipBuck. Everything except for the map, radio, and lamp is disabled. No HUD, no EFS, no SATS, no nuthin."
I looked over to her and raised my eyebrow as hard as I could. "You did most of that on purpose, didn't you?"
She sheepishly raised her hoof. "Guilty. Although, it's almost required to mess with others when you have a good opportunity."
"Yeah, look, just try to dial back the creepy machine factor if you can. At least until we get back on open water." I walked on to the exit.
"Pfft, on my honor as an Enginphilosopher of the Singularity, I will try my best not to fuck with you with my metal bits," she recited while rolling her eyes. I looked back at her with furrowed brows and a smirk.
Sorbet was inside a new chamber, with her eyes closed and breathing methodically. The room itself was extremely well lit. It was a long lobby with two raised platforms containing mossy dirt with rows of lights with a purplish tint suspended directly above them.
I walked next to Sorbet. "You good?" She exhaled sharply.
"I am now," she said flatly. "None of the rooms in the blueprint are labeled. That said, following Mainland building code traditions, The important stuff is at the lowest level.” She pointed at the other side of the room. “The stairs down are that way." I walked over to the area that she indicated.
The stairs down brought us to a wide corridor with a door immediately present and a path that turned a corner to the left of us. Sorbet peered down the hall while fiddling with her PipBuck. "If we cut through this area," She pointed at the door, "we should be able to get to the bottom floor faster."
The door before us slid open. The floor became slightly spongy yet firm, and the walls were lined with mirrors. To the left of us was a rack filled with triangular weights in ascending size. A door was on the opposite side of the area.
"Hey, look! A running machine!" Éclair was on the right side of the room and there were, indeed, treadmills.
"Okay, I'm making a serious plea to tie a bell around her neck." I said, exasperated.
"You make it sound like I haven't tried that before," Sorbet said, dryly. She looked back down at her PipBuck with a slight grin. She pointed towards the door. "Through here."
She walked to the door and it slowly parted. Bright light poured through the opening with a short gust of warm air.
"Holy shit."
We were outside. In the middle of rolling hills and green grass. The sun beat down with nary a cloud in the sky. Sunflowers swayed over yonder with the wind. In the middle of the clearing we were in there was a singular tree with a tire swing. Two stone arches were present in this field.
Sugar Rush was next to me wide eyed and jaw dropped. Sorbet was vigorously rubbing her eyes. Éclair was trying get on the swing.
"How the, what... Huh?" Sugar Rush stammered. I could hear her eyes adjusting.
"Did... did we teleport or something?" Sorbet pondered. I looked behind us. The gym we just left was fading from view. All that was left was an empty archway in the middle of nowhere. Something clicked in my head.
"Hahaha! No way! They actually did it!" I yelled.
Sorbet looked at me, head tilted. "Care to share with the rest of the class?"
"They actually recreated the Illusion Deck from Space Frontier! Look, check this out." I pulled one of the knives from my bandolier and threw it into the distance. After about ten meters it bounced off some invisible barrier. The landscape by that barrier blurred and twisted revealing a silvery wall panel before reverting back to rolling hills.
"In that series, they used the Illusion Deck to create places and stories for recreation." I smiled as I retrieved my knife with my telekinesis.
"Back in the stable, the closest thing we had to this was plastic grass and a painted ceiling," Sorbet remarked. "I can even smell the grass."
"With a gym and a simulated outdoor area, this makes me think two things," Sugar Rush said.
"They don't want their scientists getting Cabin Fever?" I offered.
"Well, no. It makes me think that, one, they expected to be here a long time, and two, scientists weren't the only ones here."
"First point I get,” I said, “but why the second one?"
"What adult in a secret underground facility needs a tire swing?" she asked. I looked over to the tree and swing. Éclair fell off the swing and was clambering back on saying "I got it!"
"Point taken," I said. Sorbet was making gestures in the air and her eyes were rolled back slightly.
"Unless some crazy warp happened, the way forward is that way." She motioned to the stone arch on the far side of the field. We approached that arch, and a steel door manifested within the empty opening. It slid open as we drew closer. The grass abruptly stopped and gave way to metal flooring.
The room we had entered was filled with rows of lockers. Each of the lockers looked to be the size of a broom closet, and there were roughly twenty in each row.
"Oh, thank goodness! I found the mare's room!" Sugar Rush exclaimed. She trotted past me and out of view. "Excuse me for a sec." The slight hiss of a door opening echoed through the locker room.
"Oh hey, cool, communal showers." I heard Sugar Rush's voice say. I glanced over to the other girls. I waved my hoof towards the bathroom and raised an eyebrow. They looked at each other, then back at me, and shook their head. The hiss of the door opening echoed again.
"False alarm!" She trotted back with a sheepish grin. I rolled my eyes. Sorbet was already waving at us to join her at the next door. The door opened as we got near, revealing another locker room nearly identical to the first.
"Lotta folks work here I guess?" I guessed.
"At least a hundred. That, or they had extra storage space," Sorbet responded. "Given the bathrooms and these lockers being so close to each other, I'd say the residential area is somewhere back that way." She pointed towards the rear of the room.
"We've got plenty of time, I figure. Let’s go back and look around," I suggested.
"I would rather look for what we came here for before we start strip mining the place," she answered dismissively. "We need to go through this way to get to the bottom floor." She caused a door to open next to us.
Rows of tables filled the far half the room we entered. several chairs were placed neatly inverted on top of the tables. The area near where we were was an industrial-size kitchen and storage area. A large dishwasher with a conveyer belt was opposed to a range of ovens and stoves of various makes and models. I heard the slight whirring of Sugar Rush's eyes before I saw her dash past me to what looked like a pantry. She nearly ripped the door open with her cyber claws.
"Dude, this is simply impossible."
"What is it this time?" Sorbet sighed. Sugar rush pulled a box from one of the pantry shelves and shoved it in our general direction. The box has adorned with a cartoon of a flexing colt wearing a cape.
"Wonderfoal Flakes! Did you grow up under a rock!?"
"Does a train car count as a rock?" Sorbet responded. Sugar Rush rolled her eyes and pointed at the box with her cyber claws.
"This is the mother lode of rare cereals! This shit was on the market for a single month, before it got pulled," Sugar Rush explained, "This right here is the world's only cereal to be banned for performing exactly as advertised!" I leaned in to read the tagline under the label.
"'Guaranteed to make you big and strong.' Is it full of steroids?" I asked.
"Oh no no no. That was a controlled substance," Sugar Rush answered. "It's just chock full of essential vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and growth hormones."
"what the fu-"
"In any case, This box alone is worth at least a thousand today. And this pantry has a twenty year supply!" She started giggling.
"So it's rare. So wha-"
"We've also got MMMMs, Corn Pops, Chocolate Horns... They even have Lion Chips! That's the only cereal tailor made for Griffons!" Sugar Rush continued. "If you sold all of this, You'd be set up for life! And still have enough left over to stuff yourself silly once a week!"
I thrust my hoof out and gingerly bopped Sugar Rush on the top of the head. She yelped and shrunk back.
"Sorbet already said we’ll strip mine the place later. Make a mental note, and get it later," I reprimanded her. She frowned at me and stuffed the box into her saddle bags.
"You guys going to stand there all day or are we continuing on?" Sorbet called from across the cafeteria.
“Coming!” I called out to her. Sugar Rush and Eclair jogged up to Sorbet. I looked back at the pantry. Something didn’t sit right. If this was a twenty year supply, how the hell did hell did that guy upstairs starve to death?
“Today, Riptide!” Sorbet yelled.
“I’m on my way! You’ve got four legs, I’ve got two. Be patient,” I yelled back.
The next area was an oddity beyond compare to the rest of the facility. It had signs! Which was a good thing, considering there were six doors, counting the one we just came from. We had just come from the dining area. To our left was the administrative office, the two doors on the opposite side of the room were labeled “Medical Center”, and to our left was the hobby shop. Nestled next to the door we came from was a label with “Library/Theater”.
"Wonder if I can find something in there that Thespian would like," I blurted out.
"Wazzat?" Sugar Rush asked.
"Something for later. Let's keep moving. Our fearless leader will surely dock our pay if we ask for any more detours." I prodded Sorbet in the shoulder.
"Pfft. We need to get through the hobby shop for stairs access." She approached the door, and it slid open just like all the others. She started to walk forward, but froze mid step. Her eyes widened. Her lips quivered. The beginnings of what would be the goofiest smile in the known universe.
Sadly, this wonder was quickly shot to pieces and stomped on with a severe frown, furrowed eyebrows, and swift marching to another door.
I looked to Sugar Rush for some explanation, but all I received was a dropped jaw, similar wide eyes, and general obliviousness. I traced her gaze to a four wheeled vehicle on stilts. It had silver paint job with Black stripes across both sides and no roof to speak of. The hood was open, revealing a disconnected sixteen cylinder monster of an engine. I heard a small squeak of noise from my partially robotic companion.
"T-that's a K12 Roadster. THE fastest car on the planet. Zero to one hundred and twenty in two point three seconds," Sugar Rush stammered. "I feel torn; the only acceptable places for this piece of art are a museum or a race track."
"Come on, we can figure out what to do with it once we finish up our other business," I said. This place was starting to worry me. Every single step of the way, we are assailed by distractions of a magnificent nature. I wrapped my magic around Sugar Rush and started to pull her through the door. Éclair was ahead of us, bouncing up and down.
"Stairs!" She beamed while pointing ahead. Sugar Rush bolted past me, breaking my magic connection with her, and rushed ahead.
The next door was a lobby of sorts. An open door labeled "Lab Access" next to a long glass window that gave a clear view of descending stairs. One door was near the open one, labeled Medical Center. Other than that there was a pair of restrooms on the right side of the room.
"Awesome!" Sugar Rush yelled, "Let's find the thing so we can loot the place proper!"
"Race ya!" Éclair Ran towards the stairs.
"I'll win! Running doesn't make me tired!" Sugar Rush bolted after the little filly. Sorbet shook her head.
"Rushing won't find it fast-" An ear piercing screech blared from the ceiling. The room went red. A feminine voice rang out.
The opening the two mares ran through slammed shut with a resounding CLANG! Smaller clangs thumped through the metal door as Sugar Rush beat on the door with her hooves.
Running into view, she reached into her saddle bags and pulled out two grey metal weapons: two drum fed, wire covered, triple barreled, hateful-submachine-gun-looking things that fired lasers. She pointed them at the window. Rapid flashes of burning light enveloped my sight. Once light show stopped, I looked back to see the damage. Or lack thereof.
The window was unscathed save for a nearly fifty glowing hot dots. Sugar Rush looked at her guns like they had betrayed them.
Suddenly, the red lights faded back into the normal lighting. A less screeching tone leaked out of the ceiling. A slight static noise kicked on as the voice began again.
"Lockdown complete. Please remain calm and await further instructions from your administrators. Section admins, report to your secure terminals for lockdown keys and instructions."
Sugar Rush's mouth was moving, but no sound passed through the glass. I pointed to my ear and shook my head. She frowned, then pointed to the ceiling, she then gestured to the two of us and made typing motions with her cyber claws. She repeated the typing motions after pointing to Éclair and herself. I nodded.
"She's saying we need to look for a terminal that may release the lock down. She's going to try the same," I relayed back to Sorbet. She was making motions around the door back to the hobby shop, but it remained motionless.
"Yeah, I was thinking something similar. Let's see if we can't get this door open; I bet you the admin office back this way has one of those terminals." She started to push the door. I turned to follow her.
The hiss of a door sliding open stopped me. I looked to my right and saw the open passage before me.
"Or we could try cutting through the med center." I pointed towards the opening next to me. Sorbet jogged past me without a word. I trotted after her as she rounded a corner through another open door.
The next room was a waiting room. Lots of chairs, tables with magazines, and a few board games. A pair of double doors was Sorbet's target. She shoved the doors open without breaking her stride. I held the doors open while rushing after her.
"Slow down!" I yelled.
"Keep up!" she yelled back. I growled as I tried speeding up. Then something clicked.
"We should check the med center first! It might have one of those terminals from the announcement," I called to her. She slowed down, finally.
"Yeah, rushing is bad in this situation. Doctor's office?"
"Most likely."
We ended up in a large operating room. There were a few areas with curtains, and a large glass closet with medications galore. In the corner was a small cubicle. Inside the cubicle was a terminal. I started typing away, going through the boot up keylog tactic of password detection.
"Damn it! This door is sealed!" I heard Sorbet say. I felt an odd chill go up my spine.
"Look for a crowbar or a manual override or something."
Password protected function. HINT: Remember the fallen. >enter PIN#
>>0112 Access denied
>>0527 Access Denied
>>0616 Access Denied
>>1225 Access Granted
"Yes! I'm in!" I exclaimed. It was quiet.
"Sorbet, I can end the... lock... down." In between each word was a tiny bit of fog drifting up from my mouth. I exhaled hard. Condensation formed on the monitor. I poked out of the cubical.
"Did it get really cold in her-" Sorbet was collapsed near a hospital bed. "Shit!" I ran to her side. She was shivering but unresponsive to anything I did to her. I lifted her on the bed. A red spot on her neck was immediately visible. It was lined with a ring of frost.
A stinging sharp pain erupted in the right side of my neck. My vision mixed together into one big color. A searing hotness followed by abrupt freezing hit me. It hurt to blink, so I closed my eyes. Breathing became hard, so I stopped.
