Prologue

I felt the pain before I woke up.

I floated in space for just a second, then I came crashing back to consciousness, feeling cold concrete under my back. At first, I couldn't locate the pain, I just felt that it existed. When I opened my eyes, I was blinded and quickly screwed them shut. I heard somepony groaning nearby.

Oh, wait... that was me.

I found the source of my pain and my left hoof went to my side. I felt blood. I'm wounded.

I opened my eyes again and let my eyes adjust to the one bright light from the ceiling above me. I looked to my side hesitantly. Oh, it looks like a stab wound. It wasn't too deep, but it hurt like hell and blood was flowing too quickly for my liking. I turned my head to look to my right and saw a saddlebag next to two books and some sort of machine.

Let's see: I'm bleeding and in pain, so I don't think I'm going to be reading any books. What's in the bags? I tried to concentrate hard enough to levitate the bag next to me, but I didn't have it in me. Much like my blood...

Alright, moving. I dragged myself over to the saddlebag and checked inside. Oh, blessed Luna! Healing bandages! A potion! Med-X! There were other things, but I focused on the medical supplies, as they were the only things in the bags that I needed right now.

I poured a small amount of the healing potion into the wound before drinking it. I could feel the hole closing as I drank the potion. It wasn't until then that I noticed some parts of my body were sore. The gash didn't close all the way because it wasn't the only part of my body that needed healing. I then elected to use the bandages as well. Rather unprofessionally, I layered the bandages tightly over my stomach. Finally I stuck myself with a needle of med-X.

Then I just lay there. I lay in a pool of my own blood, breathing deeply, waiting for the pain to subside to manageable levels. The wound in my side seems to have been ripped open instead of cut.

It took me a while, I don't know how long, to gather my thoughts enough to roll onto my stomach and look around the room. It was a small rectangular room with concrete walls, floor and ceiling. There was one singular light on the ceiling, but it was bright enough to light the entire room. I lay in the middle of the room along with the small puddle of my own blood. Ahead of me was the door that lead out. Well, at least I thought so, given it was the only door here. To my left lay the books and the saddlebags. One of the books looked new. Looking around the room again, I decided that it was pretty out of place. Nothing looked new. The walls were clean and all, but here and there, you could see stains and chips that denoted their age.

My sky-blue magic surrounded the newer book and levitated it in front of me. The title read: The Lightbringer. It wasn't a hefty book, but it certainly couldn't be read in a short amount of time. I set that one into the saddlebags and lifted the more worn looking book. The cover had no title, as it was faded by time. I flipped the book open to it's first page and read that it was a manual of some sort. I couldn't find out what about, as it wasn't just the cover that had faded, but I did find a mouth-written message on the inner cover of the book. It was three messily scribbled words that I couldn't help but know in my heart to be true.

You are Demi

Flipping through the book, skimming the pages as I went, showed that there were no other message in the book other than whatever it was the book was trying to teach the reader about. I tossed this object aside, as it proved no purpose to me right now, and moved on to the weird device.

The device looked like something you wore, but had a screen and buttons. It's like a terminal one could wear on their foreleg. The device was sleek and smooth looking, and on one it said: PipBuck - Omega.

Against my better judgement, I put the device on my right foreleg, just above my fetlock. As soon as I closed the device, there was a small blip in my vision that would have made me fall over if I had been standing. The screen on my device said, in cyan, 'loading...', so I figured it was booting up. A second later then... stuff appeared in my vision. It didn't obstruct my vision, but I could certainly notice it. One thing I clearly recognized is the compass. The other stuff I simply couldn't explain. My mind, suffering from both exhaustion and blood loss, took a while to deduce that the information in my vision was a result of the PipBuck on my leg.

I decided to check what was in my saddlebags later, levitating them onto my back, and find out where I was. I felt steady enough to try my hand at standing, and pulled the feat off. Then I stepped towards the door, opening it with my magic. I did not expect to see what I saw next...

I left the room and entered the second floor hallway of a building in the middle of a ruined city. The almost every building still intact enough to be called one had lost almost all of their windows, if not every single one. Rubble and destroyed chariots littered the streets where entire fallen buildings did not lay. Some buildings were short, and some were tall, but in this area of the city, no building was a single story. At least, not originally. Every building was in extreme disarray. The building I was in was missing most of the wall in this part of the hallway, allowing me to see out into the rest of the city.

When I opened the door, I hit something on the ground: a glowy, crystal-looking orb. I was too late to make a grab for it before it fell over the ledge and into the rubble below. Whatever it was, I would never find it now. That is, if it hadn't broken in the fall.

I had more important things to worry about than a dumb orb. I had thought so at least. Had I been careful and grabbed it, this entire story might have gone differently.

I had a feeling deep in my gut that something was coming. I don't know why or how, but I knew I didn't want to be here when it showed up. I tested each leg individually and found that I, maybe, had one real gallop in me before I had to give my legs a long rest. Why was I so exhausted and my body so sore?

That's when the questions came.

Why was I wounded? Who wounded me? Where am I? Why am I here? What happened to make the world as it is now? What is this thing on my leg? What is this thing in my vision? Where is everypony?

Who am I?

I could only really answer that last one with confidence. I am Demi.

The other questions will be answered later. I needed to leave. I looked right and left before deciding to check left. It came to a corner, turning left again. Before trotting down that hallway, I took a peak. It looked just like the other hallway behind me, sans large hole in the wall on the outside. I hadn't taken two steps down the hall until I saw the fire escape out of one window. I poked my head out and noticed that the whole thing seemed a bit rickety.

I wasn't exactly in my right mind, so I elected the structure good enough and climbed out of the window. The creaking nearly made me jump back in, but I noted the platform held. I climbed down the metal stairs to the bottom platform and made a short leap to the ground. The force wasn't much, but with my sore body, it was enough to force me to my knees. I laid for less than a minute before getting up and trotting down the alley further into the ruins.

* * *

While trotting steadily, though with haste, through the streets of the city, I noted that the destruction seemed to be from a fire and explosion both. It's as if the city was engulfed in one single giant explosive flame. That said, many of the buildings seemed to have been constructed by a god of architecture. I'm no architect myself, but I had to assume that a building standing with only its windows blown out was constructed many times better than the completely demolished structure next to it.

More and more buildings seemed to be worse and worse condition as I went along. The PipBuck thing on my leg clicked every so often as well. I wasn't sure what that was all about, but I noticed the pattern. An increase in destruction directly related to an increase in clicking from my PipBuck. Now, what does the clicking mean? I didn't want to find out, so I changed direction.

I was walking slower now, as I felt that whatever was coming had already passed. After walking for a couple hours, my PipBuck no longer clicking unless I stepped in the occasional puddle, I came across actual ponies. Well, I thought they were ponies. Most wore large armor that seemed to make them invincible. There were some unicorns that only wore ropes, but they all seemed to wear the same emblem. While the details of the emblems differed as though they were painted over another emblem by different artists, they all had the same core design: three red apples.

The whole dozen or so seemed to be coming from someplace inside the city and heading to the broken bridge I could see yonder. I sat on the side of the road and watched them. If they all didn't intimidate me so, I would probably have went to talk to them then. Instead, I watched them pass me by and onto the bridge. Of course, I did earn myself odd looks and a couple looks of pity from a few of the unicorns.

This means I had two known options to head if I wanted to interact with other ponies. The first was to follow the intimidating armored ponies. I wasn't quite sure how they would react to that. The second was to go where the intimidating armored ponies had come from. That might lead to more intimidating armored ponies. If given the choice, I would like to deal with less intimidating armored ponies. Oh, look at that: I had the choice.

I caught up to the group of ponies and they stopped before I could get within spitting distance. The armored ponies all turned around and I heard the clicks of guns readying. I stopped in my tracks and sat in place, eyes wide and staring at the maws of each gun at once.

"Who are you?" rumbled one of the armored ponies. It might have been a mare, but it was hard to tell with her voice distorted as though through a radio.

Oh great, a question that I know the answer to. "I am Demi."

"Okay, Demi. Why are you following us?"

That question seemed simple, but... why was I following them? Well, I was wounded, but that didn't feel like the reason. I was lost, that could be it. Or rather, quite simply, "I need help."

"Unless you're sick or dying, we can't help you right now," she said, relaxing her stance.

I stayed tense when I replied, "I don't know where I am."

That one seemed to get her. It also surprised the others, more clearly visible on the unicorns. One unicorn mare, brown in coat and tan in mane and tail, stepped forward. I didn't notice until then that, while the unicorns also had weapons, they were being guarded by the armored ponies. She stepped to the front of me and looked me over. She seemed to wince at my poorly wrapped wound. Then, her eyes stopping on my PipBuck, she asked, "You don't know where you are?" I shook my head in response. She firmly planted her hoof into her face and said, "You're in Manehatten. Just down the road from Bucklyn Cross." Then I said something that shocked everypony further.

"What's Manehatten?"

The mare in front of me whipped her narrowed gray eyes from my leg device to my face. After a moment of silence, she asked the same question as the other mare. "Who are you?"

"I am Demi," I responded.

She thought for another moment and then asked again, "Who are you?"

"I am—"

"Not your name," she interrupted. "Who are you?"

That's when I realized something I wouldn't have noticed unless she had pointed it out: I don't know who I am.

Who am I? I thought I had that question figured out. I don't... Think, Demi. Think! I am a white unicorn stallion, with a mane and tail as blue as the sky and his magic, named demi... That's it. That's all I could come up with. I have no memories of any second before today. I could feel myself start to shake. My breathing deepened, and my eyes focused on nothing. Fear nearly overtook my battered body's ability to stay conscious, but the mare softened a bit and put a hoof on my shoulder. My eyes focused on her, but my other faculties betrayed me still. I finally swallowed heavily and said in a shaky voice, "I don't know..."

I don't know. Those were probably the three words I didn't need to hear from myself right now. The mare looked back at her friends before turning to me and asking, "Do you know where you are? What ponies call this place you're in?"

"Manehatten...?" I answered hesitantly. She shook her head. "Bucklyn Cross?" Wrong again. I thought for a second, searching my mind for a single word that would mean the place I'm in. I found nothing, so I shook my head in defeat.

The nameless mare now looked worried. A sort of motherly look that she passed to the faceless mare in the armor. It wasn't apparent at first glance, but this mare was starting to get up in the years. She then asked, "What does the name Equestria mean to you?"

I searched my mind again and reported, "It has some meaning, the name itself, but I don't know what it is."

That was the one that did it. The motherly unicorn took me in her forelegs and brought my head to her chest. I was startled, so I stiffened and listened to her heartbeat for a moment. I relaxed eventually, but didn't know weather or not to embrace her back. Before I could decide, she released me and looked at me as if to say 'you poor thing.' The unicorns behind her looked at me with faces ranging from surprise, to pity, to annoyance. The armored ponies looked uncomfortable, and I don't think it was because of the armor.

I looked, bewildered, from one pony to another. My eyes eventually fell upon the kind mare in front of me again. She looked me in the eyes and asked, "Where did you get your things?"

I looked to my PipBuck and back to my saddlebags and bandages. I then replied, "I found them earlier today in the room I woke up in."

The brown unicorn looked as though she was going to ask another question, but was cut off by the armored mare who spoke to me before. "Scribe Maud, we should really get going. We're late as it is."

"Can we take him, Paladin? Please?" I looked from the armored mare to this Maud character and back. Take me? really? You want to take the amnesiac? Well, I won't complain.

The Paladin stood a second before turning away and continuing on to the bridge. She called back, "Don't let him slow us down. He is your responsibility, Maud Pie."

Maud Pie smiled and motioned for me to get up and follow. I pushed myself to my hooves with some effort and attempted to trot in pace with the other ponies. Bucklyn Cross grew larger in the distance as we closed their journey. As we marched, Maud Pie occasionally glanced to me and I to her. I didn't know what her motive was for bringing me along, but I followed the best I could. Maybe they could help me regain my memories or something.

Suddenly, gunshots roared from the right of the group. The armored ponies, much more quickly than I thought possible, rushed in front of the unicorns. The bullets from the gross-looking ponies on the hill barely affected the thick armor. These ponies looked unwashed, dirty, caked in blood that didn't look to be their own, and their barding was covered in spikes. Though they seemed incredibly inefficient in the way they attacked, they did prove to be dangerous all the same.

That is, to normal ponies. These armored monstrosities picked them apart, quite literally in some cases, one by one. I felt I was about to vomit, so I averted my eyes and tried to hold it in. The only comfort I received from anypony was a hoof on the back from Maud Pie. I looked to her with wide, frightened eyes. She simply smiled worriedly and shrugged. It seems this isn't the first time she's seen something like this.

Blood still flowed from the bodies of the ponies as the group walked over to the corpses, I following after I settled my stomach enough. Then they started checking them for stuff. I gaped at the sight. They stole from the dead. I guess, logically, it was fine since they had attacked us and they were dead, but it still didn't feel right.

Maud noticed my appalled look and smiled again, this time with a hint of sadness in her eyes. She finished her looting and trotted over to me. She wiped her hoof on her robe, bloodying the garment further, and set the hoof on my shoulder. Then she whispered softly, almost apologetically, "Welcome to the wasteland, Demi."

* * *

The group slowed down not long before we reached the river. While it seemed the armor on the armored ponies allowed them to move much longer distances faster and with less effort than normal, the unicorns didn't have such a luxury. Apparently, they had all come a pretty long way even before they crossed paths with me. At some point, the group stopped next to what seemed to be an abandoned supermarket. The sign was broken, but I could guess that the word 'Horseshoe,' was part of the name of the store.

Two armored ponies went into the building to check for danger. One came back with his helmet off and motioned for the rest of the group to enter. The armored ponies filed in, some removing their helmets as well. It was about then that my head started to clear up and my thoughts organized themselves easier. That's also when I noticed that only earth ponies wore the armor. I guess it made sense, as unicorns couldn't wear it with their horns and pegasi couldn't with their wings.

I stayed outside as everypony else went to check out the super market. The unicorn, Maud Pie, was about to go in, but I saw her stop and look back to me. Our eyes met. She motioned for me to follow. I looked to the sky for a second. The sun had passed its highest point a while ago, but the light hadn't dimmed yet. Little to no clouds floated between my eyes and the blue sky. I looked back to Maud and saw that she, too, looked to the heavens. Though, she had a happy smile on her face this time. I, not wanting to keep her waiting, trotted to the motherly unicorn.

When I approached, her gaze fell back to me. Her smile wavered slightly, as though she was taken from happy thoughts. She entered the building and I followed her. Her tan mane flipped as she looked side to side, probably searching for a more private area.

I looked around as well, but for a different reason. I noticed that the store looked ransacked. It's as if the place had been raided a long time ago. The market was dirty and the wallpaper was peeling. Posters, some half-torn from the walls, were faded beyond my ability to read. Shelves were empty, and those that weren't were covered in moss and fruits and vegetables that looked to have been rotting for hundreds of years.

Maud Pie started to move, so I followed her. She lead me to a room in the back that was locked. She produced a screw driver and a bobby pin from somewhere under her robes and picked the lock. She seemed to do it effortlessly. Either that, or the lock was a poor excuse for security. She trotted inside, followed by me. This room seemed to have been an office of some sort. Papers and pencils littered the room, but they seemed of little importance. Maud quickly checked the desk in the center of the room with practiced ease. After she found nothing that she deemed useful, she walked behind me and sat on a sofa I hadn't seen yet.

Maud Pie patted the cushion next to hers, clearly asking me to sit down with her. I climbed onto the seat and looked at her. She cleared her throat and then said to me, "I'm sorry, I haven't really introduced myself. I am Maud Pie VIII. Please, just call me Maud." I nodded in return. "If you have anything you would like to ask, I can answer some of it. I'm sorry, but long answers will have to wait until we reach Bucklyn."

I nodded again, then immediately asked, "Who are you ponies?"

Maud stood and showed me the emblem on her robes: three red apples. She smiled proudly and said, "We are Applejack's Rangers. We collect technology from all over the Equestrian wasteland and use them for the betterment of the people of the wasteland. We also protect some settlements, caravans and travelers we see walking alone from the likes of raiders, gangers and other various bad ponies."

I nodded as Maud sat back on her haunches, her hooves hanging off of the sofa. I understand that those words probably meant what I think they meant. A few caught my ear though, so I asked asked, "What are raiders and the like?"

She frowned and then stopped to think. Then she asked, "You know those ponies we were attacked by earlier?" I nodded. "Those were raiders. Most are simply mad and just wish to destroy your life and body as much as possible, but there are a few who simply want to destroy your life and body as much as possible, but are entirely sane. It's a horrible end, but that's how a lot of wastelanders seem to end up."

That was a horrible thought. What in this world could be so fucked up that ponies would go crazy? Well, there were apparently those that simply wished to ruin your life. I gulped, dreading my next question, but I had to ask, "What... what is the wasteland?"

Maud's frown deepened. She shook her head slowly and said quietly, "That's one of those long answers, Demi."

We sat in silence, and I dreaded to ask any more questions. I decided to see what was in my saddlebags. I had overlooked a few things earlier, as I was bleeding out, so I thought I should know what I had. Hopefully something to defend myself with, as it seemed like I'd need it. I floated my saddlebags from by back to in front of me as Maud watched in silence. I opened the bags and peered inside. I pulled out that book from earlier: The Lightbringer. Mauds eyes gaze drifted to the book and she said, "That could answer quite a bit about this world, Demi. And it's true, from what anypony can tell. Especially the end." I looked to her and nodded in understanding. I set the book beside me and looked back into the bag.

There were a few boxes in the bags with faded lettering, but I could make out the word 'ammunition.' Sure enough, there was also a gun in the bag. I removed the gun from the bag and showed it to Maud. "That's a .44 caliber magnum revolver. It's a very powerful handgun. The Littlepip had a similar weapon, though her's was custom made by Applejack herself." I didn't recognize those names, but I understood most of the sentence: It was a decent weapon to have. I set the gun down on top of the book and looked back into the bag. There was a few boxes of something else and a couple bottles of water, but that was all that was in the bag. I showed Maud the boxes, and she informed me that these 'Sugar Bombs' were a cereal.

Yay, I had food. I opened one of the boxes of cereal and began to pour some down my throat. They tasted deliciously sugary and crunchy. I offered the box to Maud, and she partook in the tasty treat. I levitated a bottle of water and unscrewed the cap before taking a drink. It was clear and pure and refreshing. I offered my companion the bottle as well, but she shook her head and showed me she had her own canteens of water. I didn't think I'd want to drain myself of all my water, so I only drank a small bit of the bottle. When Maud had her share of sugar bombs, I resealed the box and replaced it and my book into my saddlebags.

A box of the .44 caliber rounds came out in their stead. I emptied the contents of one box into a side pocket of my right bag and placed the revolver into a side pocket of the left bag. I tossed the box back into my saddlebags. Waste not want not. I levitated the bag back to my back and felt a little more prepared for this world. Maud watched the whole thing in silence. Not until I was done did I notice the smirk on her face.

"What?"

"You honestly have no idea how to use that thing, do you?" She pointed to my PipBuck. I already forgot it was there. I raised the screen to my eyes and shook my head. Now I inspected the machine with a clear mind. The cyan screen lit up, as thought detecting that I was looking at it. I heard Maud say, "It doesn't look like any PipBuck I've ever seen before, but it should function like any other. It should have a spell that organizes your belongings and catalogues them as well, so you won't need to dig through your saddlebags for everything."

"Perhaps it's this middle button captioned 'items,'" I said, tapping it with my hoof. Sure enough, a list of items replaces the screen telling me what bad shape my body was it. The wheel on the side of the device probably would have scrolled through list had I more stuff. I tapped the first button, 'stats,' and the screen went back to my body. The third and final button was 'data.' This seemed to be the main storage area of the PipBuck, holding files, folders, applications and the like.

I could have continued playing with the device for a long while more, but the pink Paladin pony poked her Lavender maned head in and said, "We're moving out. Like I said earlier, Maud, we're running late as it is."

Maud and I jumped to our hooves and trotted out after the Paladin. She stopped only to put her helmet back on and left the supermarket. The rest of the Rangers followed her, Maud and I being the last ponies out.

* * *

The cross shaped building was annoying me. I could see it in the distance, given the fact we were uphill, but It didn't get bigger anymore. In fact, the group turned away from the remains of the bridge and headed upstream. I was under the impression that this Bucklyn Cross place was our destination. According to maud, it was, but we were making a little stop before we get there. Other than that, she couldn't tell me any more. Information for Ranger ears only, apparently.

That didn't bother me though. My mind was stuck on my PipBuck. I wanted to see what else this machine could do. Item organization and health monitorization. It couldn't just have those two kinds of spells on it. Well, there was also this thing in my vision. I asked Maud what it could be, as we didn't have to stop for me to voice this question. It wasn't Maud who answered my question rather than another earth pony Ranger.

"That's called the Eyes-Forward Sparkle, or E.F.S. for short," he said through his armor. "It's quite handy. That compass can also sense the presence of other... I'm not sure about the criteria for it, but it detects other lifeforms and robots. It can also tell you if their hostile. Don't ask how. Not everything Stable-Tec made is still understood completely today, even with their archives."

Maud nodded in agreement. Then she added, "It should also have a section that gives you general information about your health so you don't always have to look to your leg. It should do something similar with your weapon, telling you how many rounds you have loaded and how many rounds for that weapon you have in your possession."

I could only utter a simple awestruck and foal-like, "Whoa," in response.

On the bottom right corner, I saw, what I guessed to be, a heart monitor of some sort. I could also see a few darkened icons. One was a broken bone. which was pretty obvious. Another was drop of water, which probably meant dehydration. Next there was another icon of a ponies stomach so empty you could see its ribs. That was probably starvation. Then there was a horn and some squiggly lines coming from it. It was a poor representation, but I had to guess that was a burn out. Finally There was another symbol that was fancy be the general shape resembled a triangle. I didn't know what that one could be. I'd have to ask later.

I then looked to the other side and, sure enough, I could see numbers in the bottom right corner of my vision: 0/66. That meant I had about sixty-six .44 caliber magnum rounds in my saddlebags and none in my weapon. I corrected my mistake and watched the numbers shift to 6/60. I grinned, replacing the revolver into the side pocket.

The armored ranger joined the conversation again. "If you think that's cool, wait until you first use S.A.T.S. That's 'Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell.' You can use it to increase your accuracy and target specific points of an opponent."

That lead me to ask, "How do you know all of this? Do you guys have PipBucks?" I hadn't seen any of the unicorns wearing them, and I don't think PipBuck could fit under that armor.

Maud shrugged and said, "As a scribe with Applejack's Rangers, it's my job to know about any kind of technology that's out there so we know how to combat it if it falls into the wrong hands."

"And a lot of PipBuck features, like the E.F.S., S.A.T.S. and the item organizer spell were put into this power armor," the ranger said. "Since one of the three Stable-Tec founders and Applejack were sisters, it makes sense they could implement Stable-Tec spells in the armor."

"Who are those ponies?" I asked.

Maud patted my back and said, "Believe it or not, that book you have explains more about that stuff than we ever could." Just how much does this book explain?

I nearly got a muzzle full of armored flank when the Rangers stopped. We seemed to have stopped at what looked to be an old abandoned wharf. Next to the rotting wood docks was a large building that didn't seem as abandoned. It didn't seem high-profile either. The warehouse still looked very run-down, but all the doors and windows were closed and the windows were also covered from the inside. While closed doors and windows didn't seem odd at all from what I've seen so far, why would the windows be covered from the inside? Also, for a second, I thought I saw a red dot on my compass from the direction of the building.

The Rangers started gathering away from me, Maud stating she'd be back, and talked about something. Probably that 'Rangers ears only' thing we were here for. I didn't try to listen in, but I did pick up a few words without meaning to. Steal. Scout. Remnants. Dangerous.

This little meeting was interrupted by a thnk-thnk-thnk-thnk-thnk coming from the warehouse rooftop. I heard the weapon before: one of the rangers had one. It was a automatic grenade launcher of some kind! All eyes turned skyward as the small apple-shaped death-balls fell towards us. They fell slowly, almost unmoving.

Wait... They weren't moving. And neither could I! I nearly panicked, but in the corner of my vision, I read 'S.A.T.S. activated.' I could have sighed in relief if I hadn't known that as soon as whatever was happening was done, I'd be blown to pieces. Then I noticed activity on the left side of my vision.

>Detecting abnormal files in /SATS
>Abnormality debunked: SATS-D Modification installing...
>SATS-D Modification installed
>Compatible spells detected in User's knowledge: Upload to SATS-D Database?
>Y/N?

I wasn't sure what some of it meant, but I mentally replied 'Y,' out of curiosity. Was this thing searching through my mind? Was it checking my memory for spells? Well, even if I didn't have memory of events, I apparently had knowledge of things, like spells. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to levitate anything. Why didn't I notice that earlier? Having no memories is weird.

After the PipBuck understood that I input 'Y," the text continued:

>Uploading spells...
>Uploaded
>activating SATS-D program...

I still didn't know what was going on, but I just went with it. Pale cyan lines curved down through the sky. I realized that these were the projected paths of the grenades as well as estimated paths of yet-to-be-fired rounds. They weren't there before, where did those projections come from? Then, suddenly, time went back to normal. I braced for the impending doom...

But, while I heard the explosions and felt distant heat from them, I lived. I still heard the firing continue, but I still lived. I opened my eyes to see something that felt familiar to me. Blocking each grenade in mid-air at safe distances away were small, sky-blue hexagonal shields that broke after hit. They kept appearing and breaking and appearing for each grenade fired from the warehouse. The barrage of grenades were met with a barrage of tiny shields. These blue hexagons resembled my cutie mark, that's why they felt like a familiar sight.

Activity just above the weapon information in my E.F.S. lead my eyes to a meter that was rapidly decreasing. If I had one guess, that would be the energy of S.A.T.S. At the rate it was going, S.A.T.S would be down in a matter of seconds. I tried to shout over the barrage of explosions and pointed to a group of buildings downstream and away from the warehouse, most likely out of range from the grenade machine guns. I couldn't even hear myself, but the Rangers caught on and retreated, myself backing up the group.

That one good gallop I had left? I used it now and poured on all the speed I could. We might not make it out of range before S.A.T.S. died and the shields stopped. I was right, and I hated it. Seconds before we left the range of the falling bombs, my shields dropped. My E.F.S. still showed my the paths of the grenades, so I tried to cast the spells manually, which was more difficult and tiring than my PipBuck made it look. Leave it to a machine to make spellcasting look easy.

I was only watching the paths in front of me that would hit the Rangers. I didn't pay attention to the grenades that would land behind me. Many of the explosions missed my body, but my ears still suffered and shrapnel still tore at my hide, making me seeth in pain, but I kept running. I knew that if I stopped, I would fall and I wouldn't be getting back up.

We all just barely made it out of range before I tripped over my hooves and landed in a heap meters from where I originally lost my hoofing. Fortunately, our attackers didn't pursue. Unfortunately, while my body was done and wouldn't move at all, I was still conscious. So I was able to hear when the Paladin mare spoke in a voice that clearly denoted that she was calmly furious.

"Damn. Rangers, there's been a change of plans." I couldn't move my head, so I didn't see why she paused. "We'll set up a temporary outpost in that office building over there so we can ensure they don't move. To prevent radio interception by the remnants, two of us will withdraw, under cover, to Bucklyn Cross and request reinforcements. Understood?"

I heard some ponies stomp, and some say "Yes, ma'am!" I could guess that some also nodded as well.

"I'll go, Paladin," Maud said. "Demi looks hurt anyway, and he's my responsibility."

"Demi can't move, Maud." She was dead right on that point. "Besides, I need you here. You're the best medic we have right now. If somepony gets seriously injured before back-up arrives, we'll need you."

I then was enveloped in a soothing warmth and a grey field of magic. I could feel the cuts from the shrapnel heal themselves. My breathing and my heartbeat slowed to reasonable levels and my muscles started to react to my commands. Once I stood up, the light diminished. I looked at Maud, who looked to the Paladin, frowned and nodded in understanding and agreement.

Now that I was back to my hooves, still breathing rather deeply, I could see that I was getting quite a few looks. While I couldn't tell how the earth ponies were looking at me, the unicorns looked at me with either mouth agape in awe or eyes narrowed in a glare. More specifically, they didn't look at me, but rather at my PipBuck. I awkwardly covered it with my left hoof and shied away from the group slightly.

The Paladin ended up selecting one unicorn and one armored earth pony. They left the group, taking back alleys instead of going through the streets. It'd probably take longer that way to get to Bucklyn, but this way these 'remnants' won't see them. I hope they get that reinforcements.

"Now, everypony," The Paladin turned to face the group. "Let's get into that building. Knights Archer and Broomstick, keep one floor ahead of the group and clear out any hostiles. Non-hostiles should be asked to vacate. Everypony else, once a floor is cleared, move in and set up defenses. Barricade any windows we don't need and keep eyes on any window facing the warehouse. Buck down walls if you feel it will aid our line of sight. Once the rooftop is cleared, I want Junior Paladin Brimstone and Knight Archer to keep watch up there. Let's use their own tactics against them if we have to." Now she turned to face only the unicorns. "Scribes, set up a medical room. Hopefully we won't need it, but just in case... We all know darn well what we're up against here."

I didn't. Nevertheless, the Rangers saluted and said their "yes, ma'am"s. Then they all went off towards the indicated office building, including Maud and the Paladin. I stood alone for a second and then trotted lethargically after them, wondering what in the world had I just gotten myself into.

>Compiling Data...

Name: Demi
Sex: Stallion
S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:

Strength: 4

Perception: 7

Endurance: 9

Charisma: 4

Intelligence: 6

Agility: 6

Luck: 4
Traits:

Alicorn-tier Magic - The bare power and endurance of your magical ability rival that of the alicorns', both of old and new. It's difficult for you to burn out your horn, but takes longer for you to recover from a burn out as well as lowers all S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes by one during a burn out.

Wasteland Challenged - Waking up with little to no knowledge of the Equestrian wasteland will make your journey difficult for you. Skills related to S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes (excluding Luck) 5 or under are reduced 5%. This trait allows unique dialogue options. Effect null when you obtain the Wasteland Educated perk.

Chapter 1: Applejack's Rangers

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It didn't take long for the ten Applejack's Rangers to set up an outpost inside the four story office building by the wharf.

I was only a minute behind the last one in, Maud Pie VIII, and they had already cleared the first three floors and started setting up defensive positions on the first. I guess clearing each floor was easy since nopony was inside the building. At least nopony hostile, according to my PipBuck. Wait, what's the range of this thing?

The building's interior wasn't big. It was mostly walls, most of which were bucked down by the armored earth ponies to increase the range of sight from inside and make for easier patrols, or something like that. That left a bunch of pillars surrounded by rubble all over the place. After a minute or so of climbing through the first floor, I found the stairs leading up and left the rangers to their business down there. The sight upstairs wasn't much different than the one downstairs. Walls, most of them broken, and small offices, their effects broken, rotting or simply destroyed. I clambered my way to the third floor.

This is where I found the scribes (or so the nameless paladin called them) setting up their medical rooms. The armored rangers hadn't gotten to this floor yet, so I stopped climbing the building and searched for the nice mare, Maud.

I found her and the other three scribes setting up a foldable table and scrubbing the dirt and dust off of it vigorously. They must have just about finished when I entered because they stopped scrubbing and placed a large white cloth over the table. This is where they set tools, most of them sharp and/or pointy. I cringed at the sight of them. Having woken up just earlier that day with a tear in my side, sharp tools weren't high on my list of friendly things. Maud, however, was, so I approached the scribes. I caught Maud's eye and she smiled to me and motioned for me to wait until they had finished. I stepped into a far corner and watched the scribes do their thing.

Another two tables had been brought in and scrubbed down. This time, though, the white cloth simply laid bare. This was probably where the injured ponies would lay. The thought tugged at my heart (and my stomach). About around the time the second table was brought in, I heard the familiar sound of walls being broken down. The rangers from below must have finished down there and started on the third floor. I silently hoped to myself that the building could handle such abuse.

I had noticed that the scribes, including Maud, all kept sneaking peaks at my PipBuck as they worked. It was quite clear that I would get a lot of questions about my machine soon. Questions I probably couldn't even answer.

I waited quietly, still, as the unicorns moved on to another room. Before they exited, Maud Pie had a quiet word with the three other scribes. They left and Maud stayed, looking back at me. We looked at one another for what seemed like minutes, but could only have been a few second.

Finally, she approached me. "Demi, are you lying to us?" That question caught me off guard. It hadn't even occurred to me that lying was a possibility until then. I stammered in response and she spoke thus, "That spell—those shields... I've never seen anything like that. That's not a spell anypony who didn't know about the dangers of the wasteland would have. It was too perfect and well calculated in every way."

I knew what she meant. I may not have remembered the spell until I saw it, but each shield was perfectly calculated. They were to defend one attack and shatter, using the minimum amount of power possible for each shield to shorten cast time and allow rapid casting while being a decent form of defense. It takes a long time to calculate all of that. Thinking back on it, the shields lost their uniform size and power when S.A.T.S. died and I took over. This wasn't just some defense spell that could be effectively cast on the fly. This spell had a lot of hard work and effort put into its creation, and it seemed to have something to do with the PipBuck on my leg as well.

I was silent for a couple seconds before responding. "I know. But, Maud, please believe me. I'm not lying." I looked her in the eyes and winced. She had a different look in them. They looked stern, betrayed and, most of all, disappointed. She thought I was lying. And that hurt. "I don't remember events and other things, but I remember some stuff, like spells. It's..."

I sat back on my haunches and pushed my forehooves into to the sides of my head, like I was trying to drill information from my own mind. I tried to think of a way to explain this to her; how I could remember spells and other little bits of knowledge without remembering where I learned it all. "It's hard to explain," I said simply, but went on trying anyway. "Think of it like this: try remembering anything that doesn't have anything to do with anything whatsoever. Ah!"

I finally figured out a way to say what I want to say. I leaned forward and placed my forehooves on Maud's shoulders. "It's like—no, it's not like, it is—trying to search your memory for something, but not knowing what to look for. It's like trying to search an unorganized database for a specific thing without being able to query for it."

That last one was the one that made her understand what I was going through. Scribes, as Maud said earlier, were supposed to be proficient with technology. I assumed that also meant the software as well as hardware. Wait, did I just compare my memory with database software? Since when did I know anything about databasing?

Oh right. I don't remember.

Nevertheless, Maud Pie seemed to understand it and her features softened, but not entirely. She was right not to completely trust me. If I was lying before, why would I stop just because she confronted me about it.

Maud backed away from my grasp and then asked, "What do you remember about that PipBuck of yours?"

I closed my eyes and thought intensely. "All I know is what I've seen so far. It seems to be called a PipBuck - Omega and S.A.T.S. found abnormal files in the S.A.T.S. root folder when I first used it, which were debunked by the system and revealed to be some sort of modification for the spell. The file was called SATS-D." I opened my eyes and crossed my forehooves. "Can you make anything of that?" Because I sure couldn't.

Maud Pie scratched her brown mane and screwed her face in thought, proclaiming, "It doesn't make any sense. How could you insert files into the spell's program folder? It's not a program, it's a spell! Maybe with a Stable-Tec terminal, or a terminal with access to all the backdoors of a PipBuck, and a unicorn who knows the spell inside and out and can also work with gem-based spell matrices, you could modify the spell itself. The odds of that even being possible in this day and age are similar to the odds of shooting the head of a pony in Fillydelphia from the roof of this building." I guessed that was impossible or next to it.

She turned away from me and walked over to one of the tables. "It's quite a mystery, that's for sure. Even with backdoor access, the PipBuck's software is nothing easy to modify. Right now, though, I'm more worried about the welfare of your body. Your wound was badly bandaged and hasn't completely healed. It's a miracle you didn't reopen it while running."

At the mention of the shallow hole in my side, my wound started to bother me a little. Maud tapped a hoof on the table, so I leaped on it and laid down on my stomach. Even with the topic change, my mind never left the machine on my leg. Spells and programming. I apparently understood a little of both, but whoever modified this PipBuck was a master in both, according to Maud. Way above my apparent level in every way.

Maud Pie proceeded to do magic stuff to me. It didn't feel like healing, but I could guess this was some sort of diagnostic spell, as the grey field of magic was centered over my badly bandaged wound. When the magic dissipated, my saddlebags were levitated from my back. My bandages were then undone. She then healed my wound closed and re-bandaged them, much more professionally than my own work.

No sooner than Maud had finished with me had the unicorns returned from the other room. "Senior Scribe Pie? Paladin Pie is asking for you. She's on the fourth floor."

Paladin Pie? I saw Maud nod and exit the room. The two unicorn scribes that returned stole another peak at my PipBuck and left behind her. I simply lay on the table, having nothing to do. Seconds later, Maud returned and said, "Come on, Demi. I'm still responsible for you. Besides, I think the Paladin would like a few words with you as well."

I nodded and leaped off the table. Before following Maud, I quickly levitated my stuff to me. I followed her through the room of broken walls and to the next stairwell leading upward. Once on the top floor, I immediately noticed that it was different than the other floors. Instead of a bunch of tiny offices, the entire floor was one big conference room and a couple rooms to one side. One seemed to be a kitchen and the other a large office. Apparently whoever owned this building probably liked watching the wharf, as the entire wall facing it was one big window.

The rangers were making this floor the command center of the outpost, setting up what looked like a radio on the large table in the conference room. The Paladin, with her helmet off and her lavender mane falling over her armor, stood over the table. She looked younger than Maud, but clearly less than a decade so.

Once she saw Maud and I coming off of the stairs, she tilted her head in a motion that confidently ordered us over. We obeyed the unspoken order and stood on the other side of the table. Well, Maud stood. I sat.

Paladin Pie looked from Maud, to me and back. "I believe that we should take a defensive and watchful stance here. We could send scouts, but I don't think we can lose the ponypower. I chose this building because it was the tallest on the edge of the block, but we don't have enough ponies here to properly defend the building."

Maud nodded and said, "Nevertheless, it was a good choice. We just have to be vigilant and assure the remnants don't sneak up on us. The only floors that need patrols are the first floor and the roof. May I give you advice, ma'am?"

"Always."

"Well, I would put Broomstick and Pencil on the ground floor, keep Archer and Brimstone on the roof and leave the second floor without guards. The Scribes can take the third floor with Dan, and you can remain here. If Demi agrees to assist us, he can run orders for you to prevent them from picking up our radio chatter. Alternatively, you could leave Archer on the roof and put Brimstone on the ground floor and have Pencil run the orders. I believe these are the best options we have right now."

The Paladin nodded, agreeing with every word of it. She then looked to me and asked, "Will you help us, Demi?"

I finally get to ask the question eating away at my mind since I almost got blown up. "Who are those ponies?"

Paladin Pie and Maud Pie shared unsure looks with each other and stayed silent. Finally, Maud said, "I guess since the report was confirmed, it's no longer for Ranger ears only. They are the remnants of the Steel Rangers. Steel Remnants, if you will." I was about to ask who they were, but Maud didn't need me to ask to know that, so she explained. "They are who we, Applejack's Rangers, used to be. We broke off and became outcasts within the entire faction, but since the Lightbringer brought back the sky, more and more ponies have been leaving the Steel Rangers and joining us. Eventually, the Steel Rangers had become the outcasts.

"Most ponies were hostile with the Steel Rangers after that book you have was printed and distributed. It showed that their goals were corrupt, misguided, inefficient and, most simply, just wrong. Steel Rangers became Applejack's Rangers. Naturally, some resisted. This led to a civil war that only went on for a few months. Some believe it's still raging, but to most, it's quite clear that Applejack's Rangers were and are the victors.

"The Steel Rangers were isolationists and still are: you have to be born into it. Not too long before the end, though, they started re-recruiting Applejack's Rangers who left the first order..." Maud looked to the floor, looking as if she were going to cry. The Paladin quickly took over from there.

"Ah... Yes, that happened. Otherwise, there was no joining those Rangers, only working for them as mercenaries, which was really a one-sided deal. We, on the other hoof, allowed outsiders to join our ranks in an attempt to aid in the unification of the Equestrian wasteland. We were still gaining members more than we were losing them, so the Steel Rangers disbanded. At least, the main force of the faction had. It's not often, but you can still find remnants like the group in the warehouse down by the wharf."

Maud cleared her throat, signalling that she had her emotions all under control again. She took the conversation back and stated, "We haven't the time to get into the rest of the history. What you need to know, Demi, is that they are armed like us, with power armor and large weaponry, but they are much more aggressive. Will you help us?" I nodded. I had no reason not to so far. Besides, those Steel Remnants tried to blow me up. I am against anypony that tries to blow me up. "Good. Paladin?"

Paladin Pie nodded to Maud and said, "Right. Demi," she addressed me now, "I want you to stay here. I have some questions to ask you." Then she addressed the armored pony who had finished setting up the radio that we weren't even going to use. "Broomstick, did you catch all that? Good. Find Mech Pencil and Dandelion and give them your guys' orders."

The armored pony saluted and said, "Yes, ma'am." Then he departed.

Again, Paladin Pie looked to Maud and said softly, "Go inform the scribes, Maud."

When Maud and I were about to go separate ways, I stopped her and wrapped my hooves around her. This time, she was startled. The aged pony didn't quite know how to react at first, but she eventually embraced me back and whispered, "Thank you." We pushed apart and I nodded and smiled. I might not have known why she was sad, but a good hug always helps. She looked like she really needed it.

She trotted away and left me with the Paladin. I stood in place for a second, watching her go down the stairs. Then I trotted into the large office, following Paladin Pie.

* * *

This office was much different than the others downstairs, which were now probably demolished and broken. For one, this office had a metal desk. Wouldn't those have been cheaper than the fancy wooden desks rotting below? There was a safe in the corner also, already open and emptied. Another big difference between this office and the ones downstairs: this one had a skeleton in it.

I stopped fast and stared at it with wide eyes. This prompted a look from Paladin Pie, who shook her lavender mane and sighed, "They're everywhere, Demi. You'll have to get used to that."

The powerful mare stomped her way to the other side of the desk, where there was a chair. She probably had bad experiences with chairs in her armor, as she knocked the chair away lightly and stood. I was able to tear my eyes from the corpse to look at the ranger.

"You know, that kind of face isn't one ponies can fake easily. Not in the wasteland. I don't trust you, but you've been nice to and for Maud. You also had the patience to listen to stories about things everypony already knows about. Celestia knows I'd be tired of hearing those stories, even if I were under cover for some reason." Her turquoise eyes narrowed and stared into mine, as though daring me to step out of line and give her a reason—any reason. I then pegged her as somepony who doesn't liked to be crossed. "Besides, if you're keeping something, we can get it out of you at the Cross."

I waved my forehooves in the air and stammered, "I-I'm not k-keeping anything!"

"Maybe not, but if there's anything my family has taught me, it's that coincidences aren't always that."

We looked each other in the eyes now. Mine wide and frightened, hers confident and narrow.

"Another thing," She spoke now with more fury than before. I was scared. "If you make Maud cry, I'll kill you. It's only been a couple hours, but you two are too close for my liking, and Maud is a lot more sensitive than she lets on. I'd tell you to back off, but I don't want to step into my sister's personal life where I don't belong." She looked away and added, "She wouldn't like that."

Pie's armored hooves flew onto the table and she said, each syllable overflowing with warning, "Even if you make her cry by accident, I'll kill you. By asking a question you shouldn't have, you're dead. Hell, if your death makes her cry, I'll stomp your corpse until there's nothing left but a gelatinous goo that I have to wash off my armor. Understood?"

I swallowed and said in a shaky voice, "Yes, ma'am."

She stared at me for a second, drilling her point into my mind. Then she nodded. "Good. Now let's get to business," she said, as her voice softened, but kept the commanding tone of a military officer. "That PipBuck, where'd you get it?"

It still took me a few seconds to calm down. Apparently this isn't the first time Pie's done something like this, as she was completely patient with me. I finally was able to squeeze out an, "I don't know." One more deep breath and I continued, "I found it in the room I awoke in this morning. I don't know anything more than what I told Maud."

"And what did you tell Maud?"

"Someone seems to have put a file inside the S.A.T.S. root folder that held a program that some spells I know are compatible with."

"That doesn't make sense," Pie said, her face screwed in thought. "S.A.T.S. is a spell itself. It shouldn't need, nor even have, a root folder." Then she shrugged. "Then again, this isn't my area of expertise. I'm just stating what I remember hearing before. Now, let's get to these compatible spells. Those shields?"

"Yes, they were one of the spells," I said, nodding. "The fact that it said spells might have just been a typo in the string, so it might be the only spell compatible."

"And it also might not," Pie finished for me. I nodded in agreement. Then she asked, "My question is: why would you even need a PipBuck to be compatible with spells?"

"I might have that answer," I said hesitantly. I wasn't sure if I was right or wrong, but what I had hypothesized seemed like a logical answer to the question. "Those shields, each and every one of them, were calculated perfectly to only guard against the one grenade using the least amount of magical power possible. That was not something a conscious pony brain can do that fast."

She waved a hoof to go on, nodding that she understood so far. "While we were retreating, did you notice the amount of protection you had worsen drastically?" Another nod. "That was when S.A.T.S. died and I had to cast the shields myself. They lost their uniform size and thickness and were simply poor shields, either in defense, size, power consumption, or a combination of the three."

"I see, and that's what the PipBuck is for? Calculating the factors of the spell?" This time, I nodded. Then she said something that made me uncomfortable. "That means that you had this PipBuck made especially for you." I nodded slowly in response to this. I hadn't thought about who I might have been until then. Who was I that I could have a PipBuck's software and spells edited? I clearly didn't know enough to do it myself. Unless, of course, I forgot how.

Pie was thinking this too, as she looked at me in wonder and clear distrust. Those eyes made me lean away, my ears back. After a moment, she sighed and shook her head. "This is neither the time nor the place to be distrusting of you. You're stuck in this mess with us." She stepped from behind the desk and stood in front of me, towering over me in that power armor of hers. Then she held out her hoof. "For now, I'll trust you just under as far as I can buck you." At first, I thought that she had said that wrong, but looking over her armor, I figured that she could probably buck me fairly far.

I tentatively touched my hoof to hers, maybe a little bit scared. She responded with a smile, as though telling me I made the right choice. "My name is Paladin Pink Lemonade Pie." She leaned close to me now, and I nearly fell backwards trying to keep away. Then, in a menacingly calm voice, still smiling, she warned, "Do. Not. Call. Me. Pinkie Pie. Understood?"

I nodded my head, though it was really more of an vertical vibration of the skull. I wasn't about to ask why. It was very apparent I wasn't high on Pink Lemonade's list of friends.

She nodded and stood straight again and looked me over. I looked everywhere but her eyes. I did see that she now wore a satisfied grin on her muzzle. What's got her in such a good mood all of a sudden?

"Alright, Demi. It seems we all know our places." Oh, that's why the good mood. "Let's go back to the conference room. There's not much we can talk about anymore. Might as well watch what the Steel Remnants are up to."

"Agreed."

We trotted back into the room with the large window and the large table. I sat down in front of the window. My company stood. Doesn't anypony like to get off their hooves every once in a while?

Across the bombarded flat area between the warehouse by the wharf and the office building, that may or may not have been a lot of some sort before it was destroyed, was, well, the warehouse. It was quiet. I saw no movement or anything. Nopony outside. They must be keeping inside, but why? We knew they knew we knew they were there, so why hide it? Maybe they were protecting something. Or maybe...

"You don't suppose that warehouse has a backdoor?"

Pink Lemonade nodded and said, "Probably."

"Why wouldn't they just use that to escape? Odds are, they saw us go into this building and not come out. They could just go out the backdoor."

Pink Lemonade shook her head and said, "Probably."

"Why not stop them?"

Pink Lemonade chuckled and shook her head. "You probably won't understand, but most of us used to be Steel Rangers. We don't want to eradicate the rest of the faction, but we would like for them to go away and leave Equestria to us. If they escape while we wait for backup, which we probably won't get, I'd like that more than having to kill former siblings-at-arms."

I nodded. I didn't truly understand, not on a sympathetic level, but I understood her words. "Why wouldn't you guys get backup?"

Pink Lemonade now adopted a slightly annoyed tone when she said, "Weren't you listening earlier? We were sent to reinforce Bucklyn Cross. They won't send reinforcements to reinforce the reinforcements. It's a pointless waste of time and resources"

I scratched my mane, still not getting it. "Then why are we even here?"

"Because we have to do something. We're required to. While it would be nice if the Steel Remnants came to their senses and gave up and disbanded or joined us, they are pretty hung up on their codes and laws. Because of it, they're cornered, like a bunch of wild animals. What does a wild animal do when cornered?"

I shrugged. But then I realized I had some knowledge of animals. Cats, dogs, mice, rabbits, and the like. I guess when cornered... "They get desperate."

Paladin Pie nodded solemnly. "Yeah... They're simply well equipped raiders now, some of them. Not all of them though. Usually the ones who run aren't like that yet. I like to let those groups live so that, maybe, they might come to their senses. That they might try to be better..."

Now it was silent between us. We sat and stood in front of the window, watching and waiting for anything to happen, nothing more that dared to be said between us. One could simply say it was an awkward silence, but I think it's safe to say it was only awkward for me. Pink Lemonade seemed to enjoy my silence.

I found myself checking out the armored maiden. Not her physical form, but also her armor and her weapons. Her armor looked thick and heavy. Despite how fast the rangers moved before, it was clear that this armor did, in fact, slow them down. Not to mention the weapons they all had. They were all big! The mare beside me herself held two guns with multiple long barrels arranged in a circle with a chain of bullets leading into the box closer to her flanks that the barrels projected from.

Unfortunately, that's when she found me looking. She smirked at me with an amused expression on her face while I averted my eyes quickly and felt my face warm and my breathing quicken. Then she teased, "What, do you like doms, or something? Finding it hard to check out my flanks in this armor?"

"No!" I said slightly louder than warranted. Then I amended, at a more acceptable volume, "I was looking at your weapons. I was! Honest!" Mostly...

Pink Lemonade nodded as though it were an acceptable mistake. She must think highly of those guns. "They're my personal miniguns. They may look like regular miniguns, but they can fire longer without overheating, due to a complex liquid cooling system, and are also compatible with more types of ammunition, such as incendiary rounds, which most miniguns can't handle for long. Quite vicious, but also extremely difficult to maintain and supply with those special rounds. I'm afraid I'll have to scrap them when I arrive at Bucklyn Cross."

Her tune totally changed when the topic went to her weapons. Apparently this Pie was a gun nut, while her sister was a medical mare. Interesting match.

When the room when silent again, I stood and trotted to the other side of the room. I was just supposed to relay orders from the boss mare by the window, she can do the watching.

I used this time to follow Maud's advice. I laid on the floor and levitated The Lightbringer from my saddlebags. I flipped open the first page and started to read.

If I’m going to tell you about the adventure of my life — explain how I got to this place with these people, and why I did what I’m going to do next — I should probably start by explaining a little bit about PipBucks.

* * *

I stopped reading when I had finished the third chapter, but I didn't close the book. This Littlepip was only hours out of her stable and had already seen more action than I have. Of course, she was in the middle of a raider den, but still. I wasn't even sure I could do what she had. So far, I knew i could run and I knew I had at least one spell that could protect me. That is, as long as S.A.T.S. lasted.

I looked up to Pink Lemonade Pie. She seemed not to have moved for the entire time I was reading, but she was sitting now.

I felt I should check in, so I called to her, "Anything happening out there, Paladin?"

She chuckled as she replied, "Good job addressing me by rank. No. Nothing's happened so far."

My first day in the Equestrian wasteland was almost over. It was less than eventful in comparison to the Lightbringer's first hours. She met slavers first and I met Applejack's Rangers first. She fought raiders and I watched raiders be fought off by Applejack's Rangers. She met a robot-controlling pony called Watcher and I met Maud.

She had a reason to be out here.

What is the point of me? Where would I even start if I wanted to find out who I was before I woke up? Why would I want to know? What if I found out and regretted knowing? What other spells do I know? Who modified this PipBuck?

Questions, questions and more questions popped into my head one by one, and I couldn't think of one answer for any of them. Finally, the most important question popped into my head and drowned out all others.

What am I going to do next?

That was a good questions, and I was stumped. What was I to do? I had no goals. No guide. No Life. Littlepip was lucky enough to have or gain all three in her first hours in the wasteland.

No, that wasn't entirely true. I had a sort of guide: Maud Pie VIII, who answered some of the questions I had about the wasteland and had been friendly with me since we met. She advised that I read this book, so I was, and I'd learned a little bit. Not much about, well, anything useful to me so far, no, but the fact that somepony else with no knowledge of the wasteland was able to gain a title like Lightbringer and bring back the sky (or so Maud had said) means that I could do... something.

I just need to find that something.

Feeling one internal conflict resolve made me feel a little better. It also helped me push the questions to the back of my mind. The doubtful side of my mind subdued I was able to focus on the next chapter of the book.

Before I could start, though, Maud came back up the steps. At the sight of her, I rose to my hooves and watched her trot past me with a nod and approach Pink Lemonade. They spoke quietly to one another. I didn't want to eavesdrop, fearing that the earth pony might hurt me if I had.

So, I continued with my book.

* * *

"That's why you don't wear a raider's armor," Maud said behind me just as I finished. I jumped as I hadn't noticed her before. I may have possibly yelped like a filly in the process...

Maud giggled and walked around to the front of me. "Which reminds me, you need to get some armor."

I nodded and replied, "I made that connection when Littlepip met Watcher. I'm gonna die as it is right now."

"Yes you are," called the cheerful voice of Pink Lemonade from the other side of the room. She still hasn't moved, but instead of sitting, she was now laying down.

I frowned and whispered to Maud, "I don't think she likes me much."

"She doesn't like when ponies check her out."

"I was looking at her weapons!" I exclaimed defensively and innocently.

This lead Maud to laugh harder and ruffle my mane with a hoof and say, "That's what Archer said, too."

"And it'd have been a really good excuse if I believed either of you," said Pink Lemonade.

The sisters shared a laugh and I smiled. Then my thoughts went back to the situation. "Any change, Paladin?"

"Normally, that's what I'd be asking you while you take watch."

"So, nothing?"

"I didn't say that. I said get off your ass and get over here if you want to know."

Maud chuckled and levitated my book over to her and began to read. The authors, Life Bloom and Homage, really did a good job making the book readable.

I got to my hooves and trotted next to the paladin, peering out the window. I couldn't see a thing. That's when I noticed that Pink Lemonade had put her helmet back on. It must be able to see in the dark or something.

>installing Night-EFS spell

What?

>Installation complete

My vision was tinted green and things outside became, well, visible. I was so surprised by the sudden change I stumbled back and nearly fell back on my haunches. I looked back to Maud, who now looked up to see what the commotion was about, and my vision returned to normal. I looked out the window again and the outside world was tinted green again, but visible.

"Oh, this'll be useful," I said to myself, nodding and smirking. Also earning a look (or as much of one as I could get from a faceless helmet) from the paladin. I said nothing as I looked out the window.

Nothing had changed. The warehouse still stood across the vast lot and the lot still appeared empty. I scanned the sight again and confirmed that to be the case. I trotted back to the other side of the table, saying, "Could have just said no."

"How'd you see out there?" The paladin queried, jumping to her hooves.

I waved my PipBuck at her and informed her, "The device seems to have a few more hidden features. Namely a spell it called 'Night-EFS.'"

The room went quiet. Even Maud was torn from the book to watch us, her face replaced with a serious expression. That's what notified me that the atmosphere grew tense. I stepped tentatively away from the closest Pie, Pink Lemonade.

"You're coming with us to Bucklyn Cross, no arguments" the paladin ordered. "A weird PipBuck with one weird program earns a mention to an Elder and some constant eyes, but the possibility of there being more programs placed onto it earns you a proper arrest."

"What?!" I exclaimed. I looked to Maud and she never looked to the floor. I was going to try to go with them to Bucklyn anyway, but now that the choice was taken away from me, I felt threatened.

My eyes flew back to the paladin. I stared into where her eyes would be behind the armor, taking slow and unsure steps back.

"Stop."

Pink Lemonade's voice was filled with so much command that I froze mid-step. There was no longer any wonder why she was in charge.

"Demi, we need to know how somepony put programs and spells onto a PipBuck," Maud said from the other side of the room. "It could really help the Rangers, not to mention the rest of the wasteland."

"We really only need the PipBuck," Pink Lemonade jumped in. "Since nopony brought PipBuck keys, though, we have to take you too. Once we get the machine, you're free to leave. Unless the higher-ups say otherwise." She said that last part in a way that made be believe that they surely would say otherwise.

As the Lightbringer would say: "Oh fuck me with Celestia’s forehooves!"

Despite the tension, the Pie's laughed hard.

* * *

After returning my book, Maud rejoined the scribes downstairs. Pink Lemonade still watched over the empty lot, not having much better to do. I, no longer in the mood to read, sat in the large office on the chair, the Pie visible in through the open door. I wasn't sitting around doing nothing because I wanted to, mind you. It was because I had to. I would honestly had loved to search the buildings in the area, but Pink Lemonade made it quite clear that I was no longer Maud's responsibility, I was hers, and she is, and I quote, "A very responsible mare."

Meaning I can't do anything until they get my PipBuck and these 'higher-ups' had everything they wanted from me.

That's when I had the idea to play with my PipBuck. It had two programs that apparently weren't on other PipBucks, so I thought that maybe I could find more. I tapped the data button with my hoof. The PipBuck screen went to the one I saw in the supermarket, with the files and folders for the programs. After browsing the visible menus, I determined that I had no access to the system files from this screen. That backed-up what Maud said earlier about needing a terminal.

I did, however, find the maps. The world map (could have been more properly named the Equestrian map) showed the physical terrain from a birds-eye view, and on it, were a few points. One point, a full point next to where an arrow sat, was called 'IF Manehatten Warehouse.' Based on where I was, that arrow was probably me and that place across the lot was probably the IF Manehatten Warehouse. I wonder IF stands for.

Another was 'Bucklyn Cross.' This point was hollow. I guessed that the Cross's point was hollow because I haven't been there yet, but the Warehouse's point was full because I've been to that location before. The other points were the places that Littlepip had visited up until the end of chapter four as well as Fillydelphia.

I was wondering how my PipBuck even knew where those places were simply by the mentioning of them when I spied another point labeled 'Friendship City.' It was just south of Bucklyn Cross. This point was interesting since I had never heard of this place before. That was worth taking a mental note of. As soon as I could, I'd go to friendship city.

I celebrated the fact that I finally had a goal internally. I was to find out why Friendship City was the only location my PipBuck knew that didn't follow the pattern of the others. To do that, I'd have to keep my PipBuck. To keep my PipBuck...

I'd have to run.

But I had no way of escaping now. There were ten ponies in the building, and the entrance was guarded. I knew for sure that Maud and Pink Lemonade knew I was under arrest. The two ponies on the roof had absolutely no idea. Everypony else below... Maud could have told them. If I tried to escape from this building, I would be caught. I thought about trying to jump from the second floor, but with so much debris below, there was no way I could make the jump without taking some serious damage.

No, I was stuck. Even if only the Pies knew, all it would take is one order—one shout—and all the other rangers would be on me.

Looks like I'll have to make the best of my time, I thought as I pushed my hooves against the desk, stretching. What I didn't expect was to move. Looking down, I realized that this chair was on wheels.

I rolled the chair with my magic next to where Pink Lemonade laid in front of the window. Her helmet stayed facing forward, scanning for activity. I simply sat there and watched with her. The scene hadn't changed since my last look.

No, wait...

"Activity at nine o'clock, Paladin."

Just to the right of the warehouse, I saw bulky forms that resembled ponies exiting the building. They moved from the warehouse to somewhere off to the right. I couldn't see beyond that as another building was in the way.

Pink Lemonade saw it too, as she rose to her hooves and turned to me. She was about to say something, but then noticed the chair. I tried my hardest to keep a straight face, as I probably looked stupid, and succeeded.

She sighed and planted a metal hoof firmly into her face and said, voice muffled by the helmet, "Go downstairs and tell everypony that we gotta move. We can't see them anymore and that puts us at risk of a sneak attack. Send Knight Broomstick back up for the radio."

"Wait, why would a sneak attack be a problem? The building is well defended, isn't it?"

"No, and it's also two hundred years old and they have grenades. This outpost, while only intended to be temporary, was still completely half-assed. We'd have only been able to defend against mindless and poorly equipped raiders, not organized Steel Remnants." Then, under her breath, she said, "They were supposed to flee..."

I nodded and leaped off the chair for the stairs. She followed, but probably to head to the roof. I stopped her when something crossed my mind and asked, "Do we just wait outside for you?" She nodded and galloped upstairs. I galloped down my own set and nearly ran into a scribe. This unicorn was a dark grey with a darker blue mane.

"Watch it," he said.

"Paladin Pie is ordering an evacuation. Get downstairs and outside. Then wait for further orders." The pony nodded and galloped downstairs. I trotted quickly to the medical room that I watched Maud and the other scribes set up earlier. I found the ranger, Dandelion, and two other scribes here, chatting it up. I relayed Pink Lemonade's orders and asked where Maud was.

"She wanted to be alone, so she went downstairs to the second floor," answered the armored knight.

"Alright, thanks. I'll find her. Oh, and the paladin wants you all to wait outside for further orders."

I galloped to the second floor as they packed up their medical supplies. I walked through the maze of demolished walls. Since nopony was supposed to guard the second floor, I guessed they just stopped breaking the walls down halfway. I trotted quickly, so as to keep up a decent pace while not tripping on any debris. "Maud," I called.

"Demi? Is that you?"

"Yes," I said, slowing down. "Pink Lemonade wants everypony to evacuate and wait outside for further orders." I hesitated for a second then asked, "Are you okay?"

Maud trotted out of the next room coming up on my left. She nodded and said, "I just wanted some quiet to think."

"Could have just stayed upstairs," I said. "It got pretty quiet. C'mon."

We made our way down to the first floor where we found everypony from the lower floors outside already. I asked Maud to point out Broomstick for me and I approached him.

"Knight Broomstick? The paladin wants you to go back up for the radio really quick."

"Understood," he replied, then trotted back into the building.

With my mission done, I walked away from the group of ponies, as some talked among themselves. Maud stayed close to me. I assumed it was because she, indeed, was the only pony who knew of my arrest. Paladin Pie, Brimstone and Archer exited the building and, minutes later, Broomstick rejoined us. All ponies stood at attention and looked to the Paladin.

"Let's retreat deeper into the city. We'll lose visual, but if they intend to do us harm, they'll have to find us."

"Why not attack the warehouse? Didn't they leave?" asked a stallion. I didn't see who, but based on how clearly I heard his voice, it was probably one of the male unicorns.

This time, Maud stepped forward. Its seems the group was used to the Pies partnering in leadership, even while the younger sister was clearly in charge. It just shows how much trust these two have for each other. "Because, Silver, we don't know how many they have in their, but they know our numbers."

The stallion, Silver, who I know saw speak, countered, "For all they know, we could have more hiding not far from here."

The Paladin spoke this time. "Wrong. We ran, remember?"

Maud added, most likely for my own benefit, "Any Ranger, of Steel or Applejack, would not retreat for so long unless they could not handle the situation or were too unsure to take action. The exception is if the unit was ordered to back off."

Now I cut in, "You know, since you all gutted the building, they just have to drop a few grenades inside to make it fall on us. Shouldn't we move right now, wherever the crap we're going?"

Maud nodded and the Paladin said, "The colt is right." Hey! "We'll regroup downstream under the cover of night and buildings. We'll split up to hasten our withdrawal. Maud and Demi will be with me, the rest of you pair up among yourselves, but be quick about it. As in leave ten second ago. I'll leave the usual hints around the rendezvous area. You'll have to find it, so keep your eyes open. And remember, radio silence." There was no saluting or 'yes ma'am's this time, just nods.

The Paladin started trotting away and Maud immediately followed. I was left sitting there. I could have ran if I wanted to, but something the paladin did caught my eye.

She looked back.

She didn't stop. She didn't shake her head, motion for me, give Maud any notice. She just looked back. As though daring me to escape. That's when two armored ponies, most likely Brimstone and Archer, as the only two ponies with grenade machine guns, caught my eye. They were looking at me too. So were their guns. Then Maud stopped and looked back to me as well, her eyes pleading with me not to make the wrong choice after taking in the situation. Everypony else started to pair up.

Everypony who didn't know about my arrest started to pair up.

Running would probably earn me chase by the two large stallions in power armor. They clearly didn't even need the guns for that. With no choices left, I trotted up to Maud. Then the two of us caught up to her sister, who simply kept trotting the whole time.

* * *

"Why not just tell everypony I'm your prisoner now?" I asked the paladin quietly as we snuck inside what seemed to be an apartment building.

Our path had been blocked by a downed building and going around would have taken far too long, so we decided to go over it. This building we were entering had broken near the center and the top half leaned onto a building in the direction we were heading. I found it quite dangerous and suggested that we just go through the nearby subway, which, according to the map on the stand compared to the map on my PipBuck, ran and opened up in the same direction. This earned a look from the sisters that said I was the stupidest thing since the war. Then they remembered I wasn't a real wastelander.

Apparently underground is more dangerous than traversing a building that looks a couple pounds away from collapsing in the Equestria wasteland.

"Because she wants to break you," Maud whispered from behind me.

"Not break, manipulate into not defying me," Pink Lemonade corrected.

"Because there's such a difference."

"There is. Now Trolley? I broke her. She wasn't just not defying me, my words were like dogma to her. Celestia rest her soul, but she wasn't all too bright to try and tame a radscorpion when i made the joke."

"You're kind of horrible," I cut in.

"And you're kinda a foal. Gah, another blocked staircase!"

"Dear Luna! stop it, Lem. He's having enough trouble as it is."

"See what I mean, you have your mommy fighting your battles for you."

"Hey, respect your elders! Especially your sister!"

"You're right. Sorry, sis."

"Much better."

During the conversation, Maud had pulled ahead of me. We walked through the building, finding our way around broken or blocked staircases. We made our way to the second floor when the conversation ended. Based on the end of the conversation, I had to assume the Maud was still the one in charge when it came to things other than Applejack's Rangers. Wait a second...

"Hey, is being my mother an insult?"

"Oh! I-I didn't mean it like that, Demi," Maud said.

Simultaneously with her sister, Pink Lemonade said, "Yes."

"Lem!"

"Hey, I would be offended if anypony called me his mother."

"Lem, now you're just being rude."

"I'm not a nice pony to ponies I don't like, bite me."

Maud looked as though she might have taken her sister up on that offer had she not been clad in power armor.

I watched from behind the two, unsure as to what to do now. We made our way up another floor and the paths were getting more difficult to tread, slowing us down. We remained silent after the paladin Pie had the last word. Just a few minutes later, we heard the explosions. Then the rumbling of something large falling could be heard and felt both from where we were. It had only been ten minutes since we left the office building. That could have been us had we not spotted them moving.

Still, ten minutes? They were less than a minute's gallop away if they went over the clear lot. Did it really take ten minutes for the Steel Remnants to find an undercover path to the office?

"Damn," whispered Pink Lemonade, looking back in the direction of the sounds.

"I'm sorry," I whispered in condolence. I understood that she didn't want them to be hostile, as well as why. Now she has no choice but to eliminate the Steel Remnants based in the warehouse.

The paladin was silent for a few seconds more, but simply said, "Shut up," and trotted ahead, leaving Maud and me a few paces behind.

The Pies and I now traveled in silence. We were having trouble finding a way through the rubble to the fourth floor, and Pink Lemonade was getting pretty frustrated. I, fearing she'd take said frustration out on my limp and lifeless form after she killed me out of frustration, walked behind Maud. Finally Pink Lemonade broke her silence by bucking a wall down and cursing.

"Luna fucking dammit all!"

"Lem, calm down," Maud said calmly from a safe distance.

"Yeah, why should I!?" was the response her sister gave, throwing her helmet off while turning on Maud violently.

"Because getting angry and destroying the building won't help anything," Maud said rationally. Too bad anger wasn't rational.

"It sure helps me," Pink Lemonade replied, bucking another wall to pieces. I dreaded to wonder if that was just the power armor, or was Pink Lemonade that powerful.

"Lem, these ponies are counting on you to lead them to Bucklyn safely. We'll deal with the Steel Remnants when everypony's safe," Maud tried to reason.

Pink Lemonade seemed to calm down, as her snarl turn into a sneer. She walked over to her helmet and placed it back on her head. She leaned close to Maud and probably whispered something, but I couldn't make it out. Then she lead the way again through the halls of the broken apartment building. Maud followed her sister and I stuck close to Maud. I took note to ask Maud about Pink Lemonade at some point. Nopony should get this mad over having to kill those trying to kill you and your friends. Something else was going on.

Finally we made our way to the four floor, where the building had broken. This is also where we were stopped.

"Paladin, I think we have a problem," I stated the obvious.

"No shit," Pink Lemonade responded.

"What now?" Maud asked.

"Well, we can't really drill through the ceiling. And Pink Lemonade—" I started before being interrupted by the paladin.

"Paladin."

"Right... The paladin's bucking might destroy or unbalance the building," I amended. "I would suggest the same thing I suggested before we entered the building five minutes ago: that we find a way around."

Maud shrugged and said, "The wasteland's full of dead ends, but it doesn't mean everything is. Maybe we can find a stable path through the rubble."

"Or die trying," the paladin grimly replied to her sister. "Let's play it safe from now on and go around the debris."

I replied, "Aye," while Maud nodded.

"Aye?" Pink Lemonade chuckled, leading us back down the apartment. "I thought I caught the faint accent earlier, but that right there confirmed it."

"Accent?" I asked, looking to Maud for answers I didn't think Pink Lemonade would give me.

"You have a faint Trottingham accent, Demi," Maud answered, helpful as ever. "It's actually quite cute. That'll catch you a nice mare, y'know."

"First you have to become less stupid, though," Pink Lemonade chimed in, as usual, trying to get on my nerves. "Mares nowadays like a stallion who can survive on their own."

"Hey, who's to say he couldn't?" Maud defended.

"Me," countered the younger sister.

Maud paused but then replied, "Just because I don't have a retort does not mean that you're right."

"It doesn't mean I'm wrong either, does it?"

"Is this how she wins all your arguments?" I quietly asked Maud.

"To be honest... yes," she answered, her ears drooping. "She's not the smartest mare, but she can corner you with words and logic as easily as I could. Usually the only way out is incivility and force. Quite frankly, you'll have trouble winning in both of those too."

"Damn straight," Pink Lemonade called back.

"Dear Celestria, this boring."

The new voice made me jump. I stopped in place and looked from side to side. I felt stupid as there were walls to either side of me, but then I did a 360, looking at my E.F.S. and saw that there were only us three in the vicinity. Well, the Pies, actually. I couldn't see myself on my E.F.S.

"Demi?" Someone asked. I couldn't tell who, as I wasn't paying attention. If I had to guess I would say it was Maud. Pink Lemonade probably wouldn't have given two craps what was wrong with me, let alone one.

"Did you hear that? A fourth pony?" I asked the two sisters.

"No," replied the armor clad Pie in a clearly annoyed tone. "Don't stop us because you're insane."

"I really heard something," I pushed. "She said she was 'so bored.'"

"Well if 'she' doesn't like our conversation (with your input), she can suck a—"

"Lem, maybe he did hear something," Maud defended me again. "It's not like you have the best hearing with that helmet, and, let's be honest, I'm kind of getting up there in the years."

"Oops, maybe I should have stayed silent. Hello Demi."

My ears perked up. "You have got to have heard that."

Now Maud looked skeptical. "Demi, I didn't hear anypony else. I didn't hear anything."

"Only you can hear me," the mysterious voice spoke again. "Why the Omega was given to you, I do not know."

"What?" I asked.

"'What' what?" Pink Lemonade asked, now impatiently trying to get back on the move. "Let's get going, we can sort out his insanity later."

"Go on, Demi. We'll talk later. Now's not the time," the invisible mare only I could hear instructed. "I'm not here, okay?"

I, unsure how else to respond to the voice, nodded hesitantly.

"Good. Now run along. There's a clear path around the debris just south of this apartment."

Did she see me nodding? Can she see me? Is she here? These questions prompted me to looked around again.

"Demi, are you okay?" Maud asked.

I didn't know quite how to respond, so after staring blankly into her facial area for several seconds, I focused my eyes on her and nodded, saying, "Yes. I am all fine."

The Pie sisters stared at me for what seemed like hours. Maud had an eyebrow raised in suspicion and I supposed that Pink Lemonade did as well under that helmet, I couldn't tell. Maud stepped up to me and placed a hoof on my head, just under my horn. I, confused, looked at her sister with questioning eyes, then back to Maud.

I stepped away from her hoof and shook my head, as though dismissing the whole situation. "Listen, let's go south as soon as we get out of this building. There might be a way around there."

"Alright, so let's go north," Pink Lemonade rejected, also dismissing the whole situation, but much more effectively than myself.

I, totally regretting the decision as I acted, jumped on the paladin's armored back, then over her head, to land in front of her. I quickly turned around and faced her. At this point, I was tired of her being, well, a bitch. She didn't know me and I didn't know her. She had no right nor reason to act the way she did and I had gotten tired of it. Anger clear in my voice, I stated, "If you want my PipBuck, we're going south. I don't want to hear a word out of you about going any opposing direction, either. Understood, paladin?"

Pink Lemonade Pie didn't like my outburst of anger, so she countered with her own. "We will go wherever I want, creep! And if I really want your PipBuck, I'll just rip your leg off! Understood, dumbass!?"

That was when I snapped. I summoned one of those hexagonal shields (I really need a name for these things) directly between the two of us. This one of bigger than any of the other ones, taking up the entirety of the hallway. It was also thicker and much denser, clearly less transparent than the other shields.

"If you can get through that alone, we'll go north. Kay?" I said, purposely trying to antagonize the mare that is much bigger, stronger and well equipped than me. I really don't think that was a smart move. Even considering what happened next.

She couldn't get through. She bashed and bucked for a full three minutes straight, but the shield didn't give an inch. At one point, she apple-bucked the shield so hard, she was lucky to be wearing the armor. The recoil probably would have broken her body, and the flying to the floor that fast had probably still hurt even with the helmet on. At first, I thought she'd be able to buck that shield to pieces the first time through. Now I was much more confident in my unknown spells.

Pink Lemonade switched with Maud as she calmed down a bit. Maud stepped up to the shield and poked it a couple times. Then she took several steps back and launched a lightning spell at it. We were both very surprised when it got through and nearly hit me in the head. The shield didn't break, no, but the spell just slipped through. The sky-blue hexagon still stood as it did. Well, floated in the middle of the hall as it did.

"Luna defend me. How the hell...?" I started to question before Pink Lemonade excitedly attempted to buck the shield again.

Keyword: attempted.

She still fell back on her face. I was still enjoying the sight of her failing and falling. Maud was indifferent about the situation.

"South, Paladin?"

After several seconds of silence, the paladin agreed, "South..."

I finally collapsed and sighed heavily. I wanted to keep up a strong front, but keeping a shield that big, thick and dense up while some impossibly strong mare bucked away at it was tougher than you would have thought. It's no wonder the SATS-D program calculates the shields' parameters to shatter after defending something; These things were tough to maintain.

Also, the spell simply slipped through. Why? Was it because it was magic? Was the spell designed to pierce shields? The question was on my mind even as Maud rushed to my side.

"Demi! Are you okay?"

"It's not an easy spell," I explained, breathing deeply and slowly. "The PipBuck makes it look simple. It's much different than a standard shield spell, because..." I paused. At that moment, I realized that I couldn't cast the standard unicorn defense spell. I had knowledge of such a spell existing and the extent of its ability, but I simply could not cast the spell. I couldn't even try. I had no idea where to start. Levitation and the hexo-shield (bad name?) came naturally to me, so why was this spell such a blank?

Maud's level of concern grew when I didn't finish my sentence and solemnly stared into space. She laid a hoof on me and shook me, and spoke in a insistent voice. "Demi? Because why?"

I shook my head, planning to think on this at some other time. "Nothing. Never mind. Let's just go. Paladin?"

Without a word, Pink Lemonade passed Maud and me and lead us out of the apartment building.

* * *

"Okay, okay. South was a lucky call, but that's all it was," Pink Lemonade attempted to make very clear as we set up a small temporary hideout in what used to be an underground pub before the war. The place was mostly intact and was mostly one room. No further destruction of supporting walls needed. I still didn't understand that.

"y-Yeah. Was just luck, I guess," I lied. I hoped the mysterious disembodied voice didn't mind me taking credit from her.

"I don't."

What?

"It's fine. I'm not here, remember?"

Uuuuh... okay?

"Dummy, what's up? You're staring into space."

"Whu?" was my response. The fact that I responded seemed to make Pink Lemonade laugh. I realized what she did there and was immediately annoyed. "You really have nothing better to do than act like a filly?"

"Yes I do."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that in a way that I would come out on top. Then I came up with, "Then you should do those things."

For a commanding officer to do something someone with absolutely no command said was probably a buck to her pride. I seemed to have forgotten that I was scared witless of this mare. The paladin's helmeted muzzle pushed against mine and she warned, "Don't tell me what to do."

I stammered and mumbled timid gibberish in response as she trotted up the stair leading outside, laughing.

"I explained this earlier, Demi," I heard Maud chuckle from the behind an overturned pool table. "You won't win. You need something on her, like me."

"Oh, do you mind sharing?"

"Not a chance," she said with an amused smile. "She's still my sister."

I nodded, understanding that Pink Lemonade trusts Maud and Maud trusts her back and giving me dirt on the paladin would be a betrayal of said trust.

With nothing better to do, I went to a wall in the back and sat on my haunches. I took the time I had testing and observing different properties of my shield spell. First, I examined the shape of the shields. Every single one was a perfect equilateral hexagon, as far as I could tell. I also noticed that I could make them as thick as one inch, regardless of size, and so thin that it nearly looks like it has two dimensions. By this point, I was starting to feel the strain of casting the spell so many times, as I could only summon a shield in a fixed shape, so I had to cancel the spell and re-cast it to make these observations.

Next, I looked at the density. I couldn't make the shields completely solid, meaning there was always some transparency in the shapes. Nor could I get them too thin, always having a faint tint of sky-blue when you look through the shield. I poked one shield, wondering if I could move it. I put all my weight on a shield I cast in the middle of the air, literally stood on it, and it still didn't move a bit. Apparently all of these shields are fixed until they run out of magic, shatter or the spell's canceled. That might be a useful trait in some situations.

Learning all I felt I could on my own, I pondered the idea of asking Maud to use her magic, but now the fatigue of casting spells so many times so quickly were getting stronger. I felt I should rest, so I read. I removed The Lightbringer from my saddlebags and opened up to chapter five, wondering what happened to Littlepip after she lost consciousness in the last chapter.

Alive!

I was still alive!

* * *

Pink Lemonade came back just before I finished chapter five, but she didn't bother me. In fact, the Pie sisters seemed to stay quiet as I read, not talking to each other much, and if they did, did so in hushed tones. I knew Maud was polite, but I didn't expect such treatment from the paladin. I didn't let it bother me, and finished the chapter.

I finally broke the silence by asking Maud, "So the sky was really full of clouds?"

Maud hadn't been expecting a question at all, let alone this one, so it took her a couple seconds to answer. "Yes. The Pegasi covered the sky in a blanket of never-ending clouds to evade the Zebra Balefire Missiles targeting the cloud cities after Cloudsdale was hit."

"And the clear sky was Littlepip's doing. You said that also, right? How did she do it?"

Maud looked to be about to tell me, but decided not to. She simply shrugged and said, "Spoilers."

"Yeah, I also think you should read it," Pink Lemonade added. "Anypony could say what happened, but only that book could tell you."

I arched a brow and mumbled, "Seems a bit philosophical for something that came out of that muzzle."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, ma'am."

"Don't make me hurt you."

I have got to stop patronizing that mare!

"Yeah, you probably should."

My expression took a serious turn as I faced away from the two mares. Enough of this. Who are you?

"I'm nopony." the mysterious mare voice replied. The Pies still didn't seem to notice any noise and continued to do what they were doing before: nothing.

Why can only I hear you?

The voice remained silent. I heard no reply for almost a minute. I was about to believe she had gone silent again when she replied, "Because only you're wearing the PipBuck."

My eyes shot to my leg device. The cyan screen lit up as I did so. I still wasn't sure why the PipBuck was relevant. I noticed it had a speaker, but if that's how she was speaking to me, Maud and Pink Lemonade should have heard it. I remembered then that the PipBuck output a string that stated it searched my mind for spells, or something along those lines. Did that mean that whoever this mare is, she could speak directly into my mind? Thinking about it now, I've been speaking to her through thought, so it's not that far-fetched of an idea.

"No, that's exactly right. In a sense."

"Demi? Are you alright?" I turned to see a concerned Maud. "Is something the matter?"

I stared blankly into the area, processing the situation and coming to a decision. I decided to keep quiet about the freaky psychic mare, so I focused on the older mare and shook my head. "No, I'm fine."

"You've been acting strange since... well, since we met, but even more so since the apartment building." Now Pink Lemonade looked over, helmet-less. She probably didn't care, but this was the most interesting thing happening right now. Maud looked deep into my eyes and asked, "What's going on, Demi? You can tell me."

"You haven't known her for more than a few hours, you don't know if you can trust her," the mare in my head argued. "Even if you can trust her, you can't trust that paladin back there. Not with knowledge of me. Please, keep me a secret for now. When we can be alone, I'll explain what I can."

I couldn't really trust that mare's voice either. I've known Maud for longer, and she's been more trusting of me than this mare in my head. Either way, the mare was right: I couldn't trust Pink Lemonade. I had to keep silent about her.

"Nothing's wrong. It's, uh, this E.F.S. It's hard to get used to." That was a lie. I've had the E.F.S. since I could remember. Literally. It was all I was used to. That excuse seemed to lose Pink Lemonade's interest, but Maud seemed to know I was lying. That motherly look she wore when we first met returned now. It was like a mother seeing through the lies of her child. Luckily, she seemed to realize she wouldn't be getting more out of me because she backed off, but her looked clearly stated that this conversation would come up again later.

"Thank you, Demi. I would rather not have to use our last resort."

Last resort?

"It's what I'd have to do if you were ever under a real threat of getting the Omega removed. You don't want it to come to that, so find a way to keep from Bucklyn Cross."

Oh my. Now, isn't that quite ominous.

I was considering my options when some information popped up in my E.F.S.

>Message for D - Radio Signal Found

Message for D? No... It couldn't be me.

Could it?

"Maud, I found a radio signal. Where's the radio on this thing?"

"Yeah, because I'm not gonna know," Inviso-mare said sarcastically. I'm not allowed to talk to you. Your rule.

Maud approached me and said, "Well, the radio should be somewhere in the Data menu."

Following Maud's directions, the paladin watching from the other side of the room, I was able to connect to the radio signal. What we heard sent shivers down my spine and made my eyes widen.

"—on the signal by now. So, you're calling yourself 'Demi' now?"

That voice. I recognized it. I couldn't put a face, color or cutie mark to the voice, but I recognized it all the same. It was a slightly raspy, gruff voice that was deep for a mare, and she always spoke in a cheerful tone. Always? How could I know that. I didn't understand why, but that voice scared me. My breath quickened once again, and if it weren't for the adrenaline rush I was having, I might have started to feel light-headed.

"And you've taking quite a liking to Applejack's Rangers, haven't you?"

Now I my eyes had glued shut and my hooves covered my head as I hid under the nearest table. I couldn't stop myself from muttering apologies and prayers to the goddesses, but I wasn't sure if it was to the Pies, the radio mare or myself.

"Whoa," was all Pink Lemonade had said. I heard hoofsteps trying to get close to me, but I flinched at every one. Sorry Maud.

"You're probably hiding under the nearest whatever there is around you, praying to the goddesses and apologizing, but unsure who to."

That one made me lose my voice. My mouth continued to move, but my voice was caught in my throat. I opened my eyes to see the Pies wore the same shocked expression I did. I noticed then I was shaking, though I had been since I heard her voice.

"You can erase as many memories as you want, but your instincts will always fear us. Yeah, we found your shattered memory orb. Knowing you, you probably erased your entire memory of the wasteland in order to hide from us. Sorry kid, but you can't even hide from us in death!" She punctuated the sentence with a laugh. The sound of her calm laugh almost made me cry. Why was I so frightened? Who could scare me so badly that fearing her became instinct? "I forgot, you don't remember that. Come back to the Ironshod Firearms warehouse. Oh, and don't worry about the Steel Remnants, they had something big dropped on them. They won't bother you. If we don't see you there by tomorrow at noon, we're hunting you down and killing everypony you're with." She let loose another calm and controlled laugh.

The signal died abruptly and white noise took its place. My E.F.S. told me that the signal was lost, but I knew it was just cut. My voice returned to my mutterings, but this time I was sure:

I was apologizing to the Pies.

>Compiling Data...

>Level Up...

New Perk: Oh, That's Right! (1) - You discovered that you knew a bit about software development and use. Science is raised +10%.

Quest Perk: SATS-D Spells (1) - You remembered the 'Blue Face' spell. Though, you haven't quite remembered the name.

>Factions Relations updated...

Applejack's Rangers - Under Arrest
While you aren't an enemy of Applejack's Rangers, your unique situation has made them place you under arrest.

Steel Remnants - Stranger
You may know of them, but they do not know of you.

??? - Ultimatum
You can either meet their demands or be hunted.

Chapter 2: The Mare With the Machine Gun

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That voice... I don't remember that voice.

This is something I realized after Maud managed to calm me down and I was laying in a back room, one embarrassing scene later. I didn't remember that voice. I did feel a familiarity with it, but the voice was honestly new to me. It's similar to seeing the color red and relating it to blood. I heard her voice and related it to fear.

"Demi," I heard Maud call, opening the door into the dimly lit storage room. "Are you okay to talk?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly.

"Well, we're doing it anyway." Pink Lemonade barged past her sister and into the storage room.

"Lem, I told you to stay out there, you're only going to make his condition worse."

"What condition, he was just scared and freaked out a little," countered the paladin.

I sat up and said, "The paladin is right, I should be fine. It's not like I lost blood or anything." I then looked to Pink Lemonade. "I'll assume this has something to do with that voice. I'll answer you now, I don't remember her. My fear was instinctual."

"Instinctual fear of a pony?" Maud asked.

"Yeah, that doesn't make sense," Pink Lemonade agreed.

"Yeah, instincts are in your nature," Maud explained. "Fearing the dark would be instinct."

I waved a hoof and shook my head. "I know that instinct isn't the right term to use, but it's the one that feels the best. I guess a more correct way to say it would be that she left a powerful impression in my mind that erasing my memories of her could not get rid of."

We heard a voice coming from the main bar. I couldn't make out any words, but I could tell it was a voice.

"Oh, Lantern is here," the paladin pointed out. She got up and went to leave the room, but before she opened the door, she looked back to me and said, "Are they really so dangerous that they can confidently challenge Applejack's Rangers?"

I looked to the floor, unable to meet her gaze. "The most I can say for sure is that your lives may be in danger."

With a sarcastic, "Welcome to Equestria," Pink Lemonade left the storage room, entering the bar, greeting the Lantern mare who just walked in.

Maud and I sat in silence for the next few seconds. Finally she asked, "Do you know any memory spells?"

I looked to her and thought about it. Finally, I nodded, looking back to that one spot in the floor. "Yes, a few. I can read the surface memories of an idle pony and I can extract memories into a memory orb. I also know a spell that can simply delete memories. I suppose I used that one on myself after extracting something else. if I know any more, then I'm not remembering it right now." I started to regret letting that memory orb fall. I was now very curious to see what was on it.

I looked up to Maud who wore a look that said she was thinking deeply about something. I touched her shoulder and she jumped. I quickly retracted my hoof. We both relaxed. "Sorry," she said apologetically.

"Are you alright," I asked.

"Yeah, I was just thinking..." She paused. She shook her head and changed the subject. "Demi, you just rest in here. When everypony arrives, we can decide our next step." With that, she got to her hooves and headed out the door.

Another few seconds of silence.

"We're alone."

"And I was starting to think you had forgotten about me," inviso-mare replied. It was time to find out what this thing was. "Don't speak aloud. I don't want that paladin barging in here because you're talking to yourself."

Alright. Lets start with who you are.

"That is a harder question than you'd think."

Is it really?

"Yes it is," she replied.

Well give it your best shot.

After another few seconds of silence, she spoke. "I don't have a name. All I know is that I am a CI turned AI that dwells within the PipBuck - Omega."

CI turned AI?

"The Omega was a PipBuck with a CI, conditional intelligence, program that allowed the user to control the PipBuck - Omega with their mind."

Many questions, but first: what's a conditional intelligence?

"It's pretty much what it's called. A CI is a program that is given sentience that it's only able to use within the bounds of its programming. In my case, I was supposed to allow easier use of the 'mind control' feature of the Omega. I'm not exactly sure why, as I don't have all of the development notes, but I speculate that regular algorithms weren't responsive enough, and a VI would take more time than needed.”

And a VI is?

"Virtual intelligence. It's just a CI with a personality. This Omega is just a prototype, so the development team didn't want to spend too much time trying to create a decent personality before the PipBuck went to the secondary test phase."

Wait, so this PipBuck was created before the war?

"That is difficult to say. After searching folder upon folder, file after file, I haven't found a single date or even a name. Only talk of a team and early development. I don't even know what those files are doing on this thing anyway."

Searching? Does that mean you're not the PipBuck itself?

"No. I am just one program of the PipBuck. I can control the PipBuck and enter the back-end folders that you can't, but that's as close as we get."

So, I thought, laying down on my side, how did you get turned into an AI?

"The PipBuck's been getting little packets of information all day, since you put it on. Updates, most of them say. Which actually should be impossible. Most of them I haven't installed yet, but have organized so that I can inspect them later. The first one turned me into an AI. As a CI without any real judgement, I automatically installed it. It gave me a personality and sentient learning capabilities as well as some basic knowledge, such as speech, arithmetic and how to use the PipBuck - Omega."

So that was you who installed SATS-D? And that night vision thing?

"Yes, but don't flatter yourself. If I hadn't, I'd be dead too. That's not a concept I had until this morning. Also, I thought I'd repay you for getting your ass out of the artillery zone."

What other spells are compatible? I sat back up now and listen eagerly to the mare.

"Sorry, Demi. I can't find them. It seems SATS-D is also a CI. I have to actively search for these spells it's archived. It seems it's been instructed to hide them. Whoever sent these programs to the Omega doesn't want to make this easy for us."

What makes you think somepony sent the updates?

"What makes you think somepony didn't?"

Fair point.

"Demi, could you come out here?" I heard Maud call from the bar.

"I'll get out of your head now. I haven't finished organizing these new files, anyway."

Now alone, er... now with one voice on my head, I lifted myself to my hooves. A sudden wave of fatigue washed over me. I had been tired since I woke up this morning, but now I was really feeling it. I fought the urge to just lie back down and trotted my way into the bar.

* * *

I trotted slowly into the bar and saw nopony. I just heard Maud from outside the door, where did she go? With very little inspection, I found Maud behind the bar, levitating tiles from the floor. Through the empty spaces, I saw something black and metal. I was pretty sure that's not what's supposed to be under the floor. I approached Maud from behind, who looked back to see me, then continued her work after saying, "I found a hidden safe."

Oh, was that all? "What did you need me for?"

Maud levitated a screwdriver from the bar counter and dug it into the tiles around the safe, trying to free the safe door from the floor. I waited patiently as she did, and when she was finished, she lifted the remaining tiles obstructing the safe. She levitated the screwdriver and a bobby pin from somewhere under her robe. "I'm not very good at picking locks."

Had I not been distracted trying to decide my next course of action, I might have remembered that Maud was fairly good at picking locks. I'd seen her at the supermarket before. I took the tools on my magic and went picking the lock. It wasn't until I heard the click that I realized what I'd just done. I looked to Maud with a awed look on my face. She looked back with a smile.

"How did I—" I began.

"I figured you might need to be reminded of what you know," Maud explained, motioning to the now open safe. I nodded, as it was a safe assumption, seeing as I'd remembered my spell after seeing it in action. I turned my attention to the contents of the safe. It was under the floor the whole time, it must have something good in it.

"These might sell. What's the currency here again? Caps, right?"

"Sell? What's in—Oh my!"

Inside the safe was a treasure to any lonely pony who enjoyed their mares with horns. Judging from Maud's reaction, she was one such pony. She was blushing and trying to keep a steady breath, but she clearly couldn't take her eyes away. I'll admit the mares were very attractive, but I wasn't drooling. I closed Maud's mouth, dragging her attention from the... strategically positioned unicorns.

"Sorry, it's... been a while."

"If that's your reaction, how well do you think they'll sell?"

"I don't think you should be worried about raising funds right now, Demi," said a voice behind us. We turned to see that Pink lemonade and the two unicorns who'd come earlier had returned.

"I'm not," I replied in a serious tone.

The paladin turned serious as well. "It sounds like you made a decision that I'm not gonna like."

"Not unless you like living."

"We get it," Pink Lemonade said, adopting an annoyed tone and rolling her eyes. "These ponies are dangerous. So is half of Equestria."

"These ponies are more than dangerous," I said back, slightly irritated. I took a deep breath to calm myself and continued. "I don't remember anything about that mare or whoever she's with, but I just know that we can't win. How many ponies are at Bucklyn Cross?"

"At least thirty on standby and maybe a dozen more out on missions," a black unicorn mare answered proudly. I recognized her voice as the one of Lantern, who arrived earlier.

"I feel they have less ponies than that, but I can honestly say that I can see all of your ponies dead."

The room went silent. It was silent for a few minutes more until the second unicorn, a stallion with a voice I recognized, Silver, whispered, "Says the amnesiac."

That was enough to get Pink Lemonade started up, "Yeah, stop trying to weasel your way out of Bucklyn. Applejack's Rangers can take a few raiders."

I was breathing slow and deep now, attempting to cool my head. It wasn't working. My muscles were tense and I felt a dull ache at my side, where my wound was. Magic can only heal so much. My jaw was visibly clenched. I was pissed. Why was I so angry? It didn't make sense to be angry, which only made me angrier. As if on cue, somepony came barging through the door and tripped on the stairs. I was quick enough with my magic to catch the mare before she fell all the way down, but she seemed to already be hurt.

"Mech Pencil!" Maud called from behind as I gently set the pony down on the bar counter.

"Brim... He's... Brimstone..." the grey ranger muttered weakly.

"Brimstone? What about him? And where's your power armor," asked lantern from behind Maud, giving her space. Silver went into the back room to fetch Maud's equipment, as he was ordered.

Mech Pencil attempted to focus and say what she wanted, but she could only get out a few words through deep breaths. "J.P.... Dead... Weird Ponies..." She nearly lost consciousness but was able to regain focus. "... It hurts so bad." With that, Mech Pencil closed her eyes and her head rolled to the side. Blood poured from one of her left hoof. No, there was no hoof. It'd been cut off. No, that's also wrong.

Somepony tore Mech Pencil's left hind-hoof off.

Maud had already come to the conclusion and was trying to stop the bleeding with her magic.

"She probably trotted all the way here..." Lantern mumbled softly.

"You cringe at a skeleton, but keep your shit at this?" Pink lemonade asked, disturbed.

It took me a few seconds to register that she had spoken to me. I had nothing to say to justify my reaction. I just felt that this was more familiar territory; the blood, gore and pain. Not reminders of what once was. Instead, I asked, "Where do you think her armor is?"

"That's not important!" Lantern screamed at me, slapping me across the face.

I kept my cool, rubbing my burning cheek with a hoof. I found odd that I could keep calm now. I said, "It might be more important than you think. From looking at your power armor, I can't figure out how to get it off. Can somepony from the outside do it?" Pink Lemonade's eyes widened when she figured what I was getting at. "They can't, can they? Not unless the pony in the armor was standing still."

"Whoa," the paladin stopped me. "Are you saying that Knight pencil allowed her armor to be removed?"

"Or not."

"What does it matter?!" Lantern yelled at me again, too distraught to follow. She didn't seem to be a medical scribe, like Maud and Silver, and was clearly not used to seeing such injuries.

"Power armor is useless against these ponies," I said bluntly.

"Or not as effective as usual," Maud put out, optimistically.

"Your three knights and final scribe are still out there. If they attacked Brimstone and Mech Pencil, I can only assume one of two things: Either they don't intend to wait for me and the ultimatum was an illusion of choice, or, the preferable choice, though I say it with a heavy heart, Brimstone and Mech Pencil were simply unlucky and—"

This earned me an interrupting buck from the armored paladin. She sent me flying into the storage room door and actually knocked it off its hinges. I fared little better than the door.

"Hey! One injury at a time!" scolded Maud, not moving from Mech Pencil's leg. Quietly she added, "If we can help it."

I, on the other hand, was trying to keep conscious. As I thought: the paladin could buck me fairly far. I coughed and gasped as I got to my hooves, slipping once and having to get back up. Twice, now, SATS-D didn't guard against an attack. Even my E.F.S. deemed Pink Lemonade and Lantern hostile. Did Omega's AI do something?

"Hey, don't blame me. I'll see what I can find out, but I still haven't made this place livable."

I stepped further into the room and levitated my saddlebags onto my back. I exited the room again only to face an angry pink mare blocking my path.

"Applejack's Rangers would only rally together after this and hunt those raiders down. Don't act like you have to sacrifice yourself to save us." Then she said something else that I thought a bit to philosophical for her. "We often exaggerate our fears, Demi."

My gaze fell from Pink Lemonade Pie and shifted to Lantern, who glared back at me. Then my eyes passed over Maud and settled on Silver, who didn't seem to care about my situation at all. Finally I looked to Maud, who looked back without stopping her work on Mech Pencil's leg. We held the look for what felt like minutes, but could only have been less than a second, lest Mech Pencil bleed out. My eyes went full circle; back to Pink Lemonade.

As I looked up to her, defeated, I expected an order, but she looked at me with unusually calming eyes. Then, with an equally unusually calm and soothing voice, she said, "Why don't you go lie down, Demi. You've had a long day."

I had almost taken the suggestion, turning to walk back into the storage room and lay down and just sleep. But I stopped, a thought coming to my mind.

"Paladin?" I questioned. "If you don't want to leave me alone, come with me."

I turned back to see she'd taken up her usual hard look, but she'd stayed silent, which I took as a sign to continue. This was a long shot, but... "I don't want to go to Bucklyn Cross—"

"Here we go."

"Just hear me out." I took a deep breath and started again. "There may be another way to find out how this PipBuck was modified." That got her attention. It was going better than expected. "The PipBuck has Friendship City marked on its map. I don't know what's significant about it, but it's the only location on my PipBuck that I haven't heard of yet."

Maud had finally finished bandaging Mech Pencil's leg and joined the conversation with, "You were going to escape us and head there?" I nodded my affirmation. "What do you think you'll find?"

"Something. Anything. I don't know. Quite honestly, I'm grasping at straws," I said, unsure. I simply wanted a purpose to live. So far, all I had was 'get to Friendship City.'

The room stayed silent as Pink Lemonade closed her eyes and made her decision. She gave a sigh and asked, "And you want me to come with you?"

"Yes."

"Heh... You're willing to lead these ponies to a large city, with foals and the elderly, but you won't lead them to a heavily armed and fortified military base?"

"It's always been less about 'where I led them' and more 'where I was going,'" I responded.

"So you don't care about Applejack's Rangers?" the paladin asked with a smirk.

"I don't think I have the capacity to care for strangers," I said. "Either way, I've made up my mind. I would just prefer that we cooperate."

"Fine, Demi," Pink Lemonade said, surprising everypony in the room.

"Le—I mean, Paladin!" Senior Scribe Maud started, alarmed. "You can't just leave the rangers. You're the paladin of this platoon, and the paladin—"

"Except that paladin and senior scribe are equal in rank on the field since the first restructuring," Paladin Pie countered.

"I can't just let my sister go alone on some epic quest without me," Maid declared, proudly. "Besides, what if you get a boo-boo and your big sister's not there to kiss it."

"I'll have the filly kiss it."

"Oi!" I interject from the sidelines of this conversation.

"Knowing you, you'll have him do a lot more than kiss it."

"Really? Nothing about the fil—m'kay," I said, still ignored.

"I'm a strictly 'stallions only' mare, and you know that."

"Yeah, any stallion."

"That one still doesn't fall under that category."

"I am male. I can show you. Most of the traits are physical," I said, still not receiving any recognition.

"Maybe not in front of everypony, but when you're alone and you get bored, you know you'd jump him."

"If I had the choice to pleasure myself with a frozen iron pipe or him, I'd choose the pipe."

"I'd rather not buck you either, but that's just mean," I commented to myself, done trying get a word in between the two.

Suddenly, Pink Lemonade turned on me. "And what's wrong with me?" she queried, in my face.

I fell on my ass and stammered out, "Gah! Dah—er! y-You scare me!"

"See, Maud? I scare him. Therefore, no sex," Pink Lemonade told her sister triumphantly.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Maud exclaimed.

"How so? He thinks I'm gonna bite him with my filly parts, and I think he's stupid."

"That's also what you said about Archer."

"Hey, he saved me from some raiders. I had to repay him somehow."

"He happened to shoot a couple raiders behind you. They didn't even have guns, just boards of soggy wood. Look, you're practically already on top of him!"

"You both are so adamant," I said, from earning a look from both Pies. The conversation ended when we heard a weak giggling from the bar counter. We all turned to Mech Pencil, who had barely regained consciousness. "Didn't the pain just make her lose consciousness?"

"Anesthetic spell," Silver explained, lazily. "She can't feel a thing. It usually also knocks ponies unconscious, but when it doesn't it make them a bit... distraught."

Mech Pencil slurred in a weak, but cheery voice, "Youg guys 've mmuch chem'stry t'gedder."

The comment seemed to cheer the five of us up. Even lantern, sniffling in the corner. I looked up to Pink Lemonade and said, "You should deal with your subordinates. I'll grab my saddlebags."

"What'd I say about telling me what to do?" Pink Lemonade warned.

"Not everything is a challenge," I countered.

"Whatever." Pink Lemonade rolled her eyes and walked into the storage room. "Maud, we should ditch our ranger equipment for now."

"Yeah. We'd stick out like a pink mare, in the rubble of Manehatten," Maud teased, walking into the room behind her sister. Once behind the threshold, she levitated the door back up and held it there.

I called in, "You are aware that ponies don't normally wear clothes, right?"

"The Pies do," Silver said behind me. Mech Pencil just giggled and fell asleep. Lantern continued to glare at me from the corner. I started feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Finally the Pies exited the room and allowed me to retrieve my saddlebags. Maud and Pink Lemonade both wore dresses. Identical dresses, save the colors. I decided not to comment on that and just to leave the building. Pink Lemonade didn't stop me, so I waited outside.

* * *

Five minutes had passed and neither Pie had come from the bar. I was starting to debate going back in and getting them, but I decided against it. I decided to pass my time looking around. What were taking those mares?

I had trotted my way into a back alley to pick at the dumpsters. I thought that maybe somepony not very smart would stash something in there, thinking nopony would look in a dumpster. After lifting the lid, I realized that maybe those ponies were smarter than I gave them credit for. Nearly vomiting on my hooves, I hurried back onto the street.

I stopped to take breath free of that horrid stench. I mean, the wasteland, so far, was one horrid stench, but that one was like Tartarus in your nostrils. I was sure that was a body, but I didn't want to check.

While shuddering from the rank smell still in my nose, I was flashed with a bright light. I quickly looked up and, my night E.F.S. not able to convert to regular vision fast enough, I was blinded. I exclaimed and covered my eyes, blinking rapidly. That's when I heard a mare ask me, "Demi, is that you?"

Surprised to hear my name, I screwed my eyes and tried to see through the light as my eyes adjusted. I saw that the pony flashing a light on my was a ranger. Based on the grenade machine guns, and the fact that Brimstone is dead, I assumed this was Archer. With him was a scribe. It was that dark unicorn I bumped into in the office building. I didn't know his name. Behind him was a young, white unicorn mare in a clean white dress. She was looking to me though her teal-green mane with wide eyes, full of hope, fear and confusion.

"Archer? Could you—with the lights?" I asked.

"Sorry, Demi. I thought you were a raider, or one of those ponies from the radio," Archer explained as he moved the light off of my face.

While my eyes readjusted, I asked, "You heard that too?"

Archer laughed and said, "Even DJ Pon3 heard it. He even said a few words about it."

"Pon3?" I asked, not having heard the name before.

"He's the one with the only radio station worth listening to. He's—"

"Archer," the unicorn interrupted.

"Ah, yes. Where are the others?" Archer asked.

"In the bar," I pointed behind me.

"Demi?" The unicorn spoke up. "Do you know who this mare is?"

The mare visibly swallowed and stepped from behind the scribe, shyly. I looked her up and down, but I didn't recognize her. I shook my head and the mare looked like she broke, collapsing onto her haunches and stared into the ground. It felt like she was willing the ground would open underneath her. She mumbled something under her breath. I didn't catch it. Then it hit me: this was somepony from my past. What was she doing here?

I took a step back and bumped into something. I looked back to find Pink Lemonade and Maud. The paladin wore a smirk and said, "Oh my, what a filly killer."

"Oh, bite me," I said, rolling my eyes. I was really surprised when she did.

"Yeah, she'll really bite you," Maud warned, a bit late.

"Demi! How could you?!" The mare leapt from a depressed state right into anger, jumping to her hooves.

I turned on her and shot back, "I don't remember, so i can't answer that." Then, automatically, a hoof reached out a tapped her horn. She let out a cute little squeak that seemed to stop the world. Everypony seemed to have their minds blanked by the sound, including me. Well, everypony except Pink Lemonade, who was desperately trying to stifle a judging laugh.

The mare held her horn in her forehooves and looked up to me hopefully, once more. I shook my head and said, "I don't remember anything from before today. Did you hear that broadcast?" She shook her head. So she can't tell me anything about those ponies. We did seem to have some sort of history if tapping her horn like that was a habit of mine. I looked back to Pink Lemonade, who caught my gaze and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, your marefriend can come."

"Oi! Sister!" the mare corrected. "I'm his sister." Well, that was a surprise for everypony. Just what was going on?

"Well, what do I call you?" I asked.

"You should know," she grumbled. Then she sighed and said, "Laguna."

"Okay, Laguna. Welcome to our little group, I guess," I said, unsure about the situation. A bigger group just means slower travel, but this mare seems to be a link to the answers I want. I had to take her with us, especially if she could help when we arrived at Friendship City.

"Demi," Maud said, grabbing my attention. "Let's be on our way."

"Archer, Dusk. Silver and Lantern are in the bar with Mech Pencil. They have your orders."

"What?" Dusk asked.

"Where are you going?" Archer asked, just as puzzled.

Maud, Laguna and I started trotting away as Pink Lemonade whispered something to the two stallions. If I didn't know better, I'd think that there was something that mare didn't want me to know.

Huh. I guess I don't know better.

* * *

"Tells us about yourself, Laguna," I heard Pink Lemonade ask from the back of the group.

"Well, I don't know much about myself," the white mare replied, brushing her teal-green mane out of her face with a hoof.

This caught Maud's interest in the mare. "Did you have your memories erased, like Demi?"

Laguna shook her head, trotting beside me. "No, brother did it without my consent."

"I did?" I asked, alarmed. I mean, it sounds like something I feel I would do if I had to, but why would I have to erase my and my sister's memories?

"Yeah. I'm not sure why, but you left me with a memory orb containing a message to me. You said who you were and that you erased our memories. Then you said..." she paused and continued trotting.

"I said, what?" I pursued.

"Uh... Nothing," Laguna dodged, badly.

"Say it, colt."

"You really have a problem with genders, don't you?" I called back to Pink Lemonade.

"Shut it, filly."

"Lem, cut it out," Maud scolded.

"But, he's egging me on," Pink Lemonade complained.

I rolled my eyes and said to Laguna, "Ignore the young one. She sucks."

"See, Maud?" Pink Lemonade pointed out. Then she added, "And his face is very slap-able too."

"Hey, he's right," the elder Pie agreed.

"Ouch, Maud. Just, ouch."

"Speaking of ouch, you pack a mean buck, Paladin," I complimented and complained at the same time, rubbing my sore back.

"Aww, thanks. Want another one?"

"Up yours."

"That's the general idea," Pink Lemonade replied, earning a groan from both me and Maud.

Laguna, however, gasped. "You..." she hesitated then whispered loudly, "had relations with the sucky one?"

"I am the sucky one," Pink Lemonade answered, fishing for more reactions.

"Celestia, this is horrible," I prayed, wishing she'd stop.

"This mare just loves to get any reaction out of you," Omega's AI commented in my mind.

Yeah, I thought in reply.

Maud said to her sister, "Lem, we went over this: no bucking my patients."

Pink Lemonade replied, "Oh, he's fine."

I asked, "I thought I was a filly."

"Oh, that was just in front of my friends," Pink Lemonade admitted, shamelessly proving her sister right. "I haven't had a good stallion in too long."

"It's been less than a day," Maud said.

"Has not!" was Pink Lemonade's only argument.

"The entire platoon could hear you and archer going at it in that motel," Maud informed her sister.

I looked back to see that Pink Lemonade shrug her shoulders and say, "I said good stallion."

"He doesn't have any memories, how would you know if he's any good?" Maud countered.

"I'm not sure whether I should be insulted or agree and make her stop." I murmured.

Beside me, Laguna complained, uncomfortably, "Could we please not talk about... intimate relations?"

"Sorry, dear," Maud apologized for her and her sister, who we all knew wouldn't.

I turned back to Laguna and asked, "So, what did I tell you?"

I heard her curse under her breath, then mumble something unintelligibly. I poked her ribs, earning another ticklish squeal from her. Finally, Laguna admitted, "You said not to go looking for you."

I trotted in silence for the next few seconds, wondering what was going through my mind at the time. Eventually, I said, "Well, I don't remember saying that, so I guess I can't scold you for no listening." That brought a smile to the young mare's face.

We trotted in silence for a few minutes more when Pink Lemonade said what I'm sure we all were thinking. "Trotting is boring!" She more yelled it than she did say it, but the point was clear.

"Don't, like, raiders exist, or something?" I asked Maud.

"We're getting closer to Bucklyn Cross," she answered back. "Insane or not, most raiders still at least have a general concept of self-preservation. Nopony would be stupid enough to set up camp too close to one of the more powerful outposts of an opposing faction. Y'know, unless they were competent."

Laguna tripped and landed on her face. After I helped her up, she complained, "How, in Luna's domain, can you see? It's so dark!"

I tapped my PipBuck. I doubt my point got through to her, as she probably couldn't see my gesture, nor did she know about the night-vision. Pink lemonade, however, stated bluntly, "I'm following the two light blurs." Maud was silent in agreement.

Laguna asked me, "Well, how much longer until we can rest? I've been trotting all day, and I woke up exhausted." I understood the feeling better than I wanted to.

I looked to my PipBuck to find that the map of Manehatten had already been loaded. I spoke as I traced a path mentally to find the path being drawn on the map as well. "Well, I want to avoid Bucklyn, but that's in the same direction as Friendship City. We also don't know where those ponies from the radio are, despite their claim to be at the warehouse."

"Paranoid, much?" Pink Lemonade teased.

"Paranoia or not, it doesn't change the fact that being cautious might save our lives. We'll avoid as much sidetracking and exploration as possible, assuming we don't run low on supplies. So, we move closer to the crater."

Maud voiced her concern with sarcasm. "You mean that irradiated crater where the balefire bomb exploded two hundred years ago? The same one with the creepy critters, some of which are still only just being discovered?"

"Yes, that's the one," I confirmed, but quickly added, "But we, of course, don't get too close. Just close enough that we avoid detection from Bucklyn."

Laguna asked, curiously, "Why do you want to avoid this 'Bucklyn Cross' place?"

"He's under arrest, by order of Paladin Pink Lemonade Pie," the paladin answered.

"That's... Wait, isn't that you?" Laguna asked.

"That's off topic," I interjected. "We'll continue this way until we come across some decent and defensible shelter, agreed?"

The mares all agreed and we continued on with our trot, this time Laguna behind me, following the light blur.

* * *

We walked for about another hour before Laguna didn't look like she could last for too much longer. I offered to go ahead and scout for a place while the mares rested, but Pink Lemonade didn't want me going off alone. In the end, we agreed to let her scout for a place to rest for the night.

Meanwhile, Laguna laid on her side, next to me, not moving an inch. She might have been asleep, but I didn't want to check. I laid on my stomach, watching over the mare who claims to be my sister.

Maud stood over a small fire in between us, dropping some old books she had found into the fire. The fire was just bright enough to return my vision to normal, now able to see in colors other than shades of green.

I stroked Laguna's teal-green mane with a hoof, noticing a familiarity with the action. It was clear that she was awake when she smiled and nuzzled into me. Despite my actions and their familiarity, I still didn't feel close to this mare. She was supposed to be my sister, but she feels more like a friendly acquaintance.

Once Maud was satisfied that the flame would last until the younger Pie returned, she sat beside Laguna. We were all silent. We didn't have much to talk about, so I didn't try to force anything. Maud, however had something on her mind.

"I'm sorry about Lem," she said sincerely, honestly surprising me. "She's really a good mare, honest. She just... She's always on edge and it stresses her out."

That piqued my interest. "Always on edge?" Even Laguna's ear perked up. Pink Lemonade certainly didn't seem always on edge.

"I know she doesn't want me talking about it, especially to you..." She said, leaving me unsure if she was ending it there or not. Eventually, she said, "It's hard to explain, and I really don't think I should be the one to do it." Then she looked me in the eyes and pleaded, "Please, just humor her. Just until we have to part ways." Quickly she added, "And by humor, I don't mean... you know."

I did know. I nodded and said, "I'll try, but I don't seem to like verbal abuse all that much. Also, she scares me. We aren't going to... you know, anytime soon."

Maud smirked, knowingly, "That's what archer said."

Laguna groaned, apparently just realizing what we were talking about. Maud and I shared a look and laughed, but it died down quickly though.

There was silence again. It wasn't an awkward silence. It was very natural, but it was overwhelmingly noticeable to me. I didn't like it, but I didn't hate it either. I just noticed it. It bothered me, as though I was used to constant noise, but also soothed me, like it was a calming change of pace. I didn't know what to think of it.

So I didn't. I pushed the thoughts from my mind and asked the mares, "Why are you wearing dresses? Ponies don't normally wear clothes."

Laguna mumbled, "Woke up in it." I was sure that's all I could get out of her. She was nearly out of it. If Pink Lemonade didn't return soon, we might have to just camp here.

Maud didn't respond right away like my sister. Eventually, she just shook her head. I waited for something else, but there wasn't anything next. I took that she didn't want to say. There was a short, but awkward, lull before Maud asked Laguna, "Did Demi not leave you with saddlebags?"

Because she had eyes closed, it took Laguna a few second to realize the question was directed to her. She shook her head, well, shook it as well as she could with it against the ground. She said, out the side of her mouth, "He left me with one, but I woke up in raider territory. They would have taken me too, but they had weapons." She didn't say anymore.

Blessed Luna, these mares did not like to talk about things.

"What exactly does that mean?" we heard Pink Lemonade say, as she approached from behind us.

"Just that: they had weapons," Laguna said, rolling onto her stomach and rising to her hooves. Then she seemed to realize that she wasn't with familiar people. "Oh... Well, it's my special talent. I don't want to get into it."

Maud nodded in, what seemed to me to be, sympathy and changed the topic. "Lem, what did you find?"

Pink Lemonade seemed to leap onto the new topic as well. "I found a roof and four walls."

Laguna walked in the direction opposite of where Pink Lemonade approached us, saying, "Well what are we waiting for?"

"This way," I called out to her. She immediately turned around and fell on her face. There was a muffled statement of pain, but that seemed to shock her awake enough to move in the right direction.

Pink Lemonade lead us for ten minutes to what could have been anything from a spark energy station to a corner store. Probably both. That wasn't where we were staying though. Beside the building was a back alley, one that would normally be missed if you weren't looking for it. The alley was narrow, so Paladin Pie lead the way, followed my Maud. I was going to let Laguna go through before me when we were stopped by a couple of ponies.

"Hey," came the, quite frankly, annoying voice of the green stallion on the right. He levitated a submachine gun at us. "You should drop everything you have, right now."

"Myeh," came the muffled addition of his red-orange earth pony marefriend, the same kind of gun in her mouth.

Luckily, I could see the cyan lines extending from their guns, denoting the trajectory their bullets would most likely take. I bent low, getting ready for a fight, hoping my PipBuck wasn't going to let me down again.

Laguna, however stared, annoyed. Her horn flashed a teal-green the same color as her mane. It was a quick spell, but it was effective. In the blink of an eye, the guns of the muggers had been taken apart, each piece floating in the air just inches of where they used to be a whole, floating in a field of Laguna's teal-green magic.

Laguna's horn glowed again. I stood as I watched the pieces of the weapons float over to the young mare, coming back together as they did. The two SMGs floated at her side and Laguna stated simply, yet clearly, "I want to go to sleep. I am willing to kill you to do so."

The two muggers charged and were quickly gunned down with their own weapons. Laguna didn't stop firing until the guns clicked. Then she broke them down again and scattered the pieces around the rubble. I watched in awe as she sleepily lumbered past Maud and Pink Lemonade, who rushed back out at the sound of gunfire.

They looked to me for answers. I simply shrugged and said, "They... had weapons?"

* * *

The next morning, no notable events happening during the rest of the night, Pink Lemonade and Maud confronted me and Laguna about what they saw Laguna do. They made it pretty clear that gun manipulation of Laguna's caliber was extraordinary and a nearly impossible feat in this day and age.

"Then how do you repair your weapons?" I asked.

"Well, taking apart guns and putting them back together isn't really an amazing feat," Maud admitted, but then added, "but the way she did it, and that speed..."

"Coupled with the fact that the guns sounded as though that had been cleaned and oiled, despite looking like raider junk," Pink Lemonade added in.

Laguna was awake for the first part of the conversation, but she took advantage of my curiosity and managed to fall asleep once again. Once I saw that she had, I groaned and woke her again.

"Laguna, cut it out," I said.

"Hmmgm!" she groaned at me, defiantly, rolling away. I poked her ribs, like I did last night, earning one of her squeals as well as her attention. "Fine, fine!" Laguna grumbled, getting back to her hooves.

"The one ticklish pony in the Equestrian wasteland," Pink Lemonade announced, raising her hooves, as though to present Laguna to the audience of two.

"Laguna," Maud started, totally ignoring her younger sibling, "how exactly did you do that?"

"It's my special talent," Laguna said again. "I don't really want to get into it." Last night, it was harder to tell, as she was pretty much half-asleep, but now I could tell that she was simply disinterested about the topic, as opposed to uncomfortable talking about it, like Maud had been.

Maud, however, didn't press further, despite looking like she really wanted to. Neither did Pink Lemonade. At the time, I didn't understand why, but I understood that I also didn't want to press the subject, unless I wanted to get hit by the pink one again.

"Let's just get going," I suggested to group. Pink Lemonade and Maud left the small storage room. Laguna was on her way behind them when I stopped her and whispered, "We'll get into this later, understood?" We shared a look for a second before she nodded, understandingly. Finally we followed the Pies out of the room, through the alley and back into the city of Manehatten.

The bloodied corpses of the muggers still laid outside the alleyway. I guess it's too much to wish for someone to clean up the bodies when you're done with them. I mimicked the Pies and their rangers and searched the bodies. I probably could have done so last night, but Laguna was tired.

The mare didn't have anything besides spare ammo, which I took despite not having a gun to use them with. Laguna helped me check the stallion. As I would have suspected from a stallion like him, he carried all of the good stuff.

I found a healing potion, some syringes and another gun, complete with ammunition. It was a different one from the one in the front pocket of my saddlebags. Instead of having a cylinder that held the rounds, it had a clip that you put them in. I wish I'd known half as much about guns than I did technology.

I levitated it to Laguna who instantly said, "A nine millimeter semi-automatic pistol." To took it into her own field of magic and updated, "Weight suggests a full clip, and so does that pocket with the spare mags. I'll take these." She levitated the magazines out of the pockets of the dead stallion and they simply floated in the air with the gun.

I hadn't noticed, but while we were searching the corpses, Maud and Pink lemonade had gone to search through some rubble. I didn't realize this until Maud had called us over. "Guys, I found their stash!"

As we approached I asked, "What do they need a stash for?"

Maud looked to her sister, the look most likely telling her, 'It's your turn to explain stuff.'

Pink Lemonade groaned and started, "It's nearly impossible to travel too far from home without a saddlebag holding food, water and other various supplies that keep you not dead." She lifted a large piece of debris seemingly effortlessly, knocking it yards from it's original spot, revealing two saddlebags. "And sometimes muggings go wrong. The smart bandit leaves their bags somewhere hidden so that, if they need to run away very fast, they can come back and get their things and continue to travel, eh... relatively safely. Small groups of bandits like this are becoming more common as the larger raider gangs are being killed off."

Laguna levitated the bag that looked to be in better condition onto her back, strapping it on. She didn't bother to see what was in it, but she place her weapon and ammunition in the same places I did in my bags. Maud and Pink Lemonade took the second one, transferring everything they deemed worthy enough of taking with us to their own saddlebags.

While they were doing that, I was checking our bearings on my PipBuck. We were still not as close as I'd like to have been by now. I didn't know how long it would take for us to reach Friendship City from here. I couldn't judge distances accurately on this thing yet. I could, however, see that it was around ten in the morning. Two hours until she came for me. Just thinking about it made me shudder. Why was I so scared?

"Dunno," my PipBuck's AI said, abruptly. "I wasn't programmed to understand the equine mind. I was, however, programmed with the ability to search the Omega. I found why your shields didn't guard against that ranger's attack."

Well, shoot then. It's not like I can actively respond to you.

"Yeah, right. Well, the SATS-D software can only predict projectiles that come from weapons. It'll guard bullets, rockets and grenades launched from a weapon just fine, assuming they are within range, but if somepony, say that ranger, wants to buck you across the room again? You're on your own."

Is that right?

I lowered my right foreleg as I thought about this information. I know now that SATS-D has a range, can only predict projectiles that are fired from weapons, and therefore only defend against said projectiles. I also knew that the face shields can effectively guard against multiple bucks from Pink Lemonade, as well as grenades, and most likely other explosives and bullets as well. I also observed a bolt of magic sliding through this shield, but not shattering it, which happens when it has broken. It was also apparent that SATS-D was powered by my regular S.A.T.S. charge, and that the shields were tiring to cast repeatedly without the help of the Omega.

It's get some good pros, but it's also got cons. It's balanced like an ability in a game.

"Yeah, I can see that. But this isn't a game, Demi."

I'm well aware of that.

"Good. I'm going to do some more digging in the PipBuck, this time in the update packets. The input of information is finally slowing down."

You do that.

Coincidentally, my conversation with the PipBuck - Omega's AI (maybe I should name her?) ended just as Maud and Pink Lemonade finished taking things from the saddlebags. Laguna saw me look back and trotted up to me, a smile on her face. Maud and the paladin were right behind her.

"What's next, Demi," Maud asked before her sister could insult me.

"Well," I said, with not much to say, "We trot onward."

* * *

It was almost noon. I suggested we duck into a restaurant, as they seemed to be plentiful in this part of the city. It seems this was Manehatten's food court back in the day.

We chose a diner on the corner of a block with a downed chariot right in front of the entrance. Maud looked at it, as though inspecting the damage done to it. It seems this one wasn't good enough. It was almost like she wanted to know if she could restore it to working condition.

We'd gotten a deal closer to Friendship city, but not yet past Bucklyn Cross. Entering the diner together, the Pies dropped their saddlebags and made themselves comfortable. While I removed my saddlebags and set them behind the counter, I could not relax. I kept an eye on the E.F.S., waiting for it to tell me when a new radio signal was found.

"You're going to put yourself through that again?"

I'm calling you Omega, now.

"Yeah, cool. I have a name. Woop-dee-doo," She declared dryly. "Demi, are you seriously going to put yourself through hearing that mare's voice again just on the off-chance she gives you a couple of answers?"

Yup.

Omega was silent for a second, then said, "You are the most desperate, courageous or stupid pony in Equestria. I'm voting for stupid."

Desperate, Omega. You're in my head, you should know that.

"Whatever. What about Laguna? If you two really grew up together, she must have the same fear of that mare."

I hadn't thought of that. I looked to Laguna, wondering what to do. She was taking apart her new gun, checking each piece individually for any faults. My eyes wandered to Maud, sitting in a booth. She was also looking at me. Yes, maybe Maud could help. I motioned her over with my head.

When she got close enough for me to whisper, I asked, "Could you take Laguna out, I dunno—scavenging or something?"

Thankfully, Maud whispered back. She said, "What for? We've barely touched what we... Oh, it's almost noon, isn't it?" I only nodded. "Are you sure you don't want her here? You could comfort one another. Lem and I don't really know what this is about, so we could..." She then realized what she just said. "I guess you guys don't either, huh?"

I shook my head and then asked, "Then she should stay?"

"Well, that mare never said she was going to broadcast at noon, did she? She just said that she was going to hunt you down," Maud said, making a valid point. I nodded, pondering my decision. Should I send her away? I dove under a table. Will I react the same way? Will Laguna?

My thoughts dissipated as a voice seemed to emit itself from the walls. "I gave simple instructions, Demi."

Instantly, the same crushing fear tried to force me into the corner of the counter I stood behind, but I was ready for it this time. I physically braced myself for it. I felt the emotion wash over me, almost physically. That's when I realized it was magic.

Laguna, however dropped the piece of the pistol she was working on and froze, wide eyed. We all looked at her for a moment before she let out a blood curdling scream. She tried to shove her hooves into her ears, screaming still. A quick look to Maud sent her over to comfort her.

"Your tricks won't work on me again, mare," I declared, confidently. Honestly, though, I was still afraid. I had quite a few theories on different magics buzzing through my brain, and those were just the ones I'd remembered so far. But when I thought of emotional magic, I drew blanks.

"Oh, poo." The voice changed. No longer was it the deep gruff voice that frightened me before. It was now sweet and soft, but still very menacing, in a way, and she also spoke in that accent you could find only a hint of in my own speech. Additionally, Laguna stopped screaming. She was, however, panting to catch her breath, which was unsteady and shaking.

"I was hoping I'd get you under the table again," The voice now came from the entrance to the diner. All eyes shifted to stare at a mare, white in coat, mane, tail and eyes, with a blissful smile always on her face. She trotted a few steps into the building, eyes fixed on me. "That was quite amusing."

I leapt over the counter top and asked, "You said 'we' on the radio?"

"I decided to come alone. There are others."

The tension in the room could be bitten into. Pink Lemonade was going to move, but I gave her a look and waved her off. She looked to Maud for final judgement, who nodded, before taking a seat in one of the booths. The white mare finally broke eye contact with me and looked about to room. Her eyes stopped on Laguna.

"Oh, Forty-five!" She said, sounding pleasantly surprised. "I didn't know you were here! I wouldn't have used that spell had I known. I know how it causes you pain you don't understand."

Laguna responded by burying her face in Maud's chest, who embraced her consolingly.

"Who are these two, Demi?" she asked, her attention back on me.

"One usually gives their name before asking—"

"Then I take back my question, because I don't really care." Despite her words, the white mare sounded so sweet.

"Hey, Demi," Pink Lemonade called from her booth. The tension was so thick, I even glossed over the fact that she actually called me by name. "She doesn't have a cutie mark."

"What?" I replied, giving the paladin little more than a glance.

"Oh, it must look that way, doesn't it?" The white mare showed me her flank to prove that it was, indeed, blank. "I do have a cutie mark, honest. It's just hard to see something... invisible."

"This is the mare you were so scared of?" Omega whispered in my mind, even thought only I could hear her anyway.

She was using magic, I thought in reply. "So, I gather that you've been right behind us the whole time? I doubt you could cast that spell on me from so far away as the warehouse."

"Oh, you always were the smart one."

"So, what now?" I asked, unable to dance around the big questions any longer. "You kill them and take me, like you said?"

"I could," The blank mare said, completely confident in her ability to do so. "However, the good professor said something that weighs heavily on my mind. I have to confirm his suspicions first."

I felt something grab my body. I just knew it was magic, but there was no aura. I couldn't move as she trotted closer to me. A quick look from side to side showed that my companions were having the same trouble.

The white mare stopped just in front of me. I tried to back away when she leaned forward and touched her horn to mine. I could feel her trying to get into my mind, but I couldn't stop her. She was on a completely different level than I was. I finally ceased resisting and just let her through in order to save myself a headache. When she found what she was looking for, she backed away, looking quite surprised. Her damn smile even turned into a frown momentarily.

She sighed and said, "It seems, as usual, the professor was correct. I jumped the gun. I underestimated your ability with memory magic. You aren't ready."

"For what?"

"In due time. I can't just tell you. It doesn't work like that. Magic is a fickle thing. It might not even return." At this point, she was mostly talking to herself, but I still listened to every word, trying to get answers, but only getting more questions. However, she didn't say any more aloud. She proceeded to make her way out of the diner, releasing us from whatever froze us in place. "I'll keep observing you, Demi. I hope you become ready soon. It's pointless to follow through with the rest of my ultimatum now."

"Wait," I said, casting a face spell in front of her as she continued to trot right through it. She did stop, but not until she was halfway through. I hesitated for only a moment before asking, "Who are you?"

"Oh, well I am many things. Just call me..." She seemed to ponder a name to give to me before deciding on, "Mystery. It fits with the situation, doesn't it?" Finally, she just kept trotting, passing the rest of her body through my shield, and continued on to pass through the downed chariot.

"Did she just..." Pink Lemonade started to ask.

"Yup," was all I could think to say.

"That's..." Maud joined in.

"Yup."

We all shared a moment of silence to honor our fallen sense of reality.

* * *

Eventually, we got our minds back together. Pink Lemonade and Maud seemed unfazed by the whole ordeal, but clearly they were putting up some sort of strong and stoic Ranger front. Laguna, however, passed through several emotions before settling on angry. She bitterly continued to inspect each piece of her gun, looking like she really wanted to use it on somepony.

Between Pink Lemonade and Laguna, I've come to the conclusion that little sisters are a terrifying race of ponies.

When Laguna pieced her weapon back together, we were all ready to move on. We let Pink Lemonade have a few second to try and figure out how Mystery walked through the chariot. After finding nothing, we continued on our way to Friendship City.

I was wondering why Pink Lemonade even let me continue to Friendship City now that there was no death hovering over our heads. Well, none more than usual. I would have asked, but I didn't really want to be taken someplace against my will.

I wasn't really sure what to make of our situation. We all knew that mare was following us, but no matter how much well looked around, all we saw was rubble, rubble, rubble, debris, raiders, rubble, debris—

"Paladin!" I warned, lowering my body. I levitated my revolver from its place in my saddlebag and held it up.

Maud stood behind me and Pink Lemonade jumped to the front of the group. I counted four raiders charging at us, crazed smiles on their faces. Their pupils all seemed dilated, something I could tell even meters away. They were hopped up on some kind of drug.

"I am not in the mood," came the ominous voice from beside me. Laguna's horn flashed just as it had before, and the guns that the attackers had readied all split apart. Two of them stopped, confused, but the others didn't care. They continued to charge. Laguna, with a furiously annoyed look on her face, assembled the weapons in the air and fired on the two from behind, quickly ending their charge. Those two that had stopped seemed to sober up quickly, realizing their situation. They ran, several shots biting them in the rump as they did so.

The two weapons, SMGs like the other muggers had, disassembled themselves once again and the trail of pieces found their way into Laguna's saddlebags. Bitterly, she simply continued trotting, like it was all in a days work.

"Hey, remember when I said we were going to get into it later?" I asked my sister in a cheerful voice, trotting along beside her.

Quite bluntly, she explained, "My special talent is in weapons. Any kind. Especially guns, though. I can take them apart in a blink of an eye with magic. It's a spell I created that I like to call 'Machine Gun'." With that, she pushed the dress of her skirt up to reveal a cutie mark of one of those SMGs she had disassembled into her pack. "I think I have more spells related to my talent, but I haven't remembered them yet."

I backed off of the clearly irritated mare and we continued to trot silently.

"The Mare With the Machine Gun, huh? Catchy."

>Compiling Data...

>Level Up...

New Perk: Quick Talker - CHA < 5 - You've never been the best at convincing other ponies, but at least you think quickly. You gain +5% to Barter and Speech skills and some dialogue skill checks will be reduced.

>Factions Relations updated...

Mystery - Right behind you
You've failed to meet her demands, but she no longer immediately needs you. Mystery and her ponies will be keeping an eye on you until they do.

Chapter 3: Friendship and Magic

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Chapter 3
Friendship and Magic

Laguna was angry for some reason, and the unneeded stress was causing visible unease in her body. Only a couple of hours after the two-pony ambush, we had to stop so that she could rest. I would have tried to talk to her, but I didn't know what the problem was, and I feared only making it worse. Instead, I settled for watching her as she sat at the edge of what seemed to be a indoor playground for foals.

Pink Lemonade was attempting to pass through a wall behind me, still not over Mystery's mysterious powers. She gave up when she got frustrated bucked a large hole in the wall.

Maud had also been watching her sister, but now walked up beside me. She looked from me to Laguna then back. Only from that simple glance, she seemed to understand my plight.

"Why don't you just go talk to her? It's what older siblings do, starting the talks," She said, attempting to wipe the dust and bits of broken wall out of her straight, messy mane.

"I don't know how to," I replied simply, taking a look at my PipBuck and pressing the buttons absently. I wasn’t really doing anything, I just wanted to look busy planning our next move. The all-knowing Maud, however, set a hoof over my leg device and looked at me expectantly. I didn't give in until she tilted her head towards the brooding mare.

With each step I took, I wished more and more that there were some way to pause and save this moment, so I could come back and start over if I screwed this up.

Her ear twitched, hearing my hooves over the padded floor which had long since lost its stuffing. She didn't move as I sat beside her, which I took as a good sign. I moved my hoof to her back, but then I hesitated. After deciding that maybe it was the correct action, as it felt like it was, I asked, "Wanna talk about it?"

A pouty, "No," was the only response I got.

I prayed quietly to myself, "Celestia guide me, little sisters are all terrifying and stubborn, aren’t they?" That elicited a breath from laguna that sounded a lot like a small chuckle. "It's about that mare, isn't it?" After a few moments, Laguna nodded her head, still unwilling to look up at me, "And you still don't wanna talk about it?" She shook her head this time. I wasn't sure where to go from here.

Eventually, I folded and said, "If that's what you want" Then I started to stroke her mane, enjoying the familiarity of the action.

After almost a minute, she let out a weak, "It hurt." My hoof stopped for a moment then continued in its repetitive motion. After a few more moments she said, "It hurt a lot. Then it just stopped hurting." She had shifted closer to me. "It hurt everywhere. Then it hurt nowhere." She sat up, if only to bury her muzzle into my barrel.

I didn't know what else to do, and stroking her mane in this position would simply be awkward, so I wrapped my foreleg around her and squeezed as I felt her start to shake. I heard hoofsteps behind me as Maud trotted over to assist me. She gently stroked Laguna's side and said, "I'm sorry we were unable to help you, dear. We’re sorry."

Laguna head barely moved in a gesture that could barely be considered a nod and continued to silently sob in my hooves.

I then realized how young Laguna actually was. She was only just becoming a mare.

* * *

The sun was just starting to set by the time we reached Friendship city. It took us much longer than it really needed to, but considering how slow Pink Lemonade trots and the low endurance Laguna has, making us stop more often than needed, we made some pretty good time.

Nothing much of note happened. Well, Pink Lemonade and Maud got into a quiet, though heated, argument an hour before we could see Friendship City, but if the Pies were actually angry at each other, they didn't show it.

As we approached the green river, I heard Pink Lemonade ask, "When did they add that?"

We stood at the edge of a small shanty town that was built before a bridge on the east side of where Friendship City was on my map, which extended from the mainland to an island that held the remains of what looked to be giant statue of a pony, if the hooves were any indication. The bridge looked to be made of scrap, and was a bit unnerving to look at. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was going to fall apart any second. Despite that, however, ponies coming and going across the bridge we visible even from this far from it.

"What do you mean," Laguna asked, speaking for the first time since the first stop that day.

"Friendship City only had a bridge on the west side. This one is new."

My ears perked up when she said that and I turned to her. "What?" I knew it probably wasn't a good idea, but I stepped towards the pink pony menacingly.

Of course, the paladin wasn't threatened in the slightest. "I said, this bridge didn't exist last time I was—Oh..."

I stepped forward again, "You mean to tell me that you intended for me to waste my time only to have to go back to Bucklyn Cross to get to Friendship City?!" She nodded innocently. I turned to Maud, who seemed to be very interested the space between her forehooves. "Ugck! Rangers!" I stomped my way onto the town. I saw Laguna looking confused for a second before taking my side and stomping in after me.

The town appeared to have been built primarily with the same material as the bridge. Scrap from some behemoth of a wreckage in the river as well as what looked similar to the material of the statue. The shacks were less than uniform, despite them all having a similar look. They were all boxes made out of scrap, aside from a few built upon the remains of pre-war buildings. As I approached the center of the town, I heard one of the last things I'd expect at the time.

"Demiiiiiiii!" called a soft, feminine voice, holding the last syllable in my name. I looked around to find everypony looking towards the sky. I turned my head upward to see a small cream pegasus mare making slow and lazy circles above me, descending as she did so. She held her forelegs out to her sides as she flew, like an earth pony foal pretending to fly like a pegasus. Eventually, she landed in front of me and wrapped her forelegs around my neck in a very friendly embrace, only finishing my name when I was in her hooves.

"Um..." was all I could get out before Laguna spoke.

"Brother, who is this whor—uh... odd mare being strangely intimate with you?" A peek at my sister revealed her eyes narrowing dangerously. I had no idea why I felt like I was in some kind of trouble.

Just as awkwardly, the pegasus leg go of me and grabbed Laguna, calling out her name just like she did my own, even going so far as to hold the last syllable in her name as long as she did mine.

"Could you answer your own question, dear sister?" Laguna only narrowed her eyes further.

"Oh, and the sister's a fillyfooler," Pink Lemonade teased as the Pies caught up to us.

"So's yours," I replied, still watching the awkward scene play out.

"Maybe we should set 'em up?" The paladin asked, nudging me. Because the last time she touched me I knocked down a door with my entire body, I jumped, which only urged her grin to grow wider.

"Guys!" Laguna snapped, "Help me!"

The Pegasus's ears swiveled as she heard somepony approached. She pushed off Laguna and flew backwards and upside-down, gliding to a tower of an earth pony (bigger than Paladin Pie in her power armor, even) and lazily flipped onto his back, all four legs drooping off his sides. He didn't seem to mind though, as though he were used to it. He might have been intimidating had he not had such kind eyes and a charismatic smile.

"Um..." I repeated my first statement.

"I know you don't 'member us, Demi," the pegasus spoke, adjusting herself so that she was straddling the back of the stallion. She flicked her head in an attempt to get her brown mane away from her eyes, "But you said ‘a come at ya friendly." She pointed a hoof at Laguna and informed me, "An' ya also said that she wasn't gonna be wi'chya when you came back." She gave a little giggle and said, "But I like Laguna. Yay!" As she exclaimed, she pushed herself into the air a short height with a single flap of her wings and threw her forehooves into the air, like an excited filly. When her display of affection was over, she fell forward onto the the large stallion's back, resting her head in her crossed forelegs. The earth pony simply nodded, having no followup to his friend's explanation.

"Um..." I repeated a third time.

"Oh yeah! You don' know us. Heehee!" the small pegasus giggled. She brushed her mane out of her face again and said, "I'm Breezy! Ya 'member? Easy Breezy! An' this is Rocky Road!" Breezy wrapped her forelegs around Rocky’s neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then sang "An' he's my lover too!" Rocky Road nodded again.

The way she spoke was interesting, if a bit annoying. It would almost be foalish, were it not as lazy as it was energetic. She held her body in a similar manner, making exaggerated movements at times she spoke, but never left Rocky Road's back, as though he were a mode of transportation.

We were all confused, but I was the first to regain my senses and ask, "Could you tell me what we spoke about when I was last here?"

Breezy smiled wide and said, "Nuttin' we can talk about here. Hi-ho, Rocky! Away!" Rocky turned and trotted away. With few reasonable options left, I followed. As we traveled, Breezy rolled onto her back and watched us follow behind the mammoth of a pony. After a while, she sat up on her haunches and asked, "Aren'chya gonna introduce us to your friends?"

"Oh, um..." I waved a hoof to Maud, on my right, "This is Maud Pie VIII, and this," I waved a hoof to Pink Lemonade behind Maud, "Is, uh, Pink Lemonade Pie."

Breezy gasped and started, "Pinkie—" Only to be interrupted by a deathly glower from the paladin. Breezy giggled nervously and waved.

Bitterly, Pink Lemonade ordered, "Call me Paladin."

"Oooh, are you a Ranger?"

When Pink Lemonade didn't answer, Maud trotted forward and replied, "Yes. I am a Senior Scribe, and my younger sister here is a Paladin."

Breezy gave a small flap of her wings when she asked, "Well, watchya doin' here? An' where's your armor?"

I wanted to hear what she’d come up with to explain herself out of this one. I saw Maud look back to her sister for the answer. The paladin decided to go with, "That's classified." Well, shucks.

Breezy giggled again before turning around and whispering something to Rocky Road. I don't know what she said, but he shook his head and Breezy shrugged. She turned back to us behind him, but didn't say anything else. She just watched us with a smile, lifting her wings occasionally to balance herself on her moving platform.

Eventually, Laguna asked, "So... where are you taking us?"

Breezy giggled and whispered loudly, "It's classified!"

When we all realized we were just going to have to wait and see, we followed the couple in silence.

* * *

"Welcome to my Raptor!"

Breezy held her hooves in the air, presenting the large vessel behind her. It looked like a... well I'm not sure what it looked like. I had nothing to compare it to. The body of the ship looked to be some hulking mass of metal with propellers on the back. It was small enough to hide between some buildings, so you wouldn't have seen it unless you got within range of a decent sniper.

But one question: "What's a Raptor?"

Maud had a question of her own, "I thought Raptors were bigger."

Breezy just beamed and started to explain, "Well, Demi, a Raptor's a battleship they made 'fore the war. Since they were normally built using unicorn magic, they stopped being made. Until the fall of the Enclave." Now she addressed Maud, "I built this one from scratch. Well, sorta. I started up in the sky, for fun, and kinda illegally, but when we came down, I was able to finish it. This is what I like to call a Falcon."

"A battleship?" I asked quizzically. The Falcon behind Rocky and Breezy didn't seem like it was meant for battle. There were no noticeable guns on the hull, "Don't battleships need... water?"

"Yup," Breezy replied.

Maud understood the question and explained to Demi, "This is a cloudship, Demi. They use a mixture of pegasus engineering and unicorn magic to use clouds to stay afloat in the air."

"Yup," Breezy repeated, with a giggle.

"So, what? You got a unicorn to help finish this thing?" Paladin Pie asked, a curious brow raised.

Now Breezy wore a sly grin and replied, "Well, unicorns are nice n' all, but what if there was somepony better at enchanting physical objects?" I didn't know what was going on, but I felt the tension thicken suddenly.

"You didn't..." Pink Lemonade asked threateningly.

Breezy nodded, "We did."

I looked from the pegasus to the earth pony and back. I was clearly missing something. Maud looked too uncomfortable to explain to me and Laguna was just as lost as me, hiding behind me.

"De—!"Thud!

All heads turned to see a pony had fallen out of the lobby window of the closest building next to the Falcon, which was the remains of some hotel. From our position, I could barely hear the mare's loud groan of pain as she slowly picked herself up.

"You fucking did..." Pink Lemonade swore venomously.

"The war ended two hundred years ago. Everypony lost," Breezy countered quietly. The serious tone seemed out of character.

I didn't know what she meant by that until I actually got a good look at the mare dusting herself off. She looked like an earth pony, but she wasn't. She was white in coat with black stripes forming over her entire body. The black even streaked her white mane and tail. Furthermore, on her flank, right where her cutie mark should have been, was an intricate pattern that I couldn't quite understand. There were lines, curves and a spiral, but it all seemed random to me. That said, I could clearly tell that this mark was unique to her, must like my own cutie mark.

When she had regained her footing, she looked our direction again and called, "Demi, it is you!" She didn't speak like everypony else. She had an accent. Not like mine or Mystery's. It sounded as though Equestrian wasn't her native language. The mare galloped to the group, but slowed to a stop meters away when she met Pink Lemonade's hard stare. The striped mare's eyes narrowed and her muscles visibly tensed, rippling under her grey jumpsuit, "Demi, explain: who is this mare? And please inform me, why does she stare?"

"She's nopony, Ji-ji," Breezy said, waving towards the paladin, who was actually surprised that somebody dismissed her so easily. "Go give 'im a biiiig kiss."

"Excuse me, what?" was all I managed to say before the mare, Ji-ji, charged me with speed that caught even the two trained military mares off guard. I would have put up a shield, but she was moving too fast for me to determine a decent plane in which to cast it in time. Before I could react further, she was on me, sending the two of us rolling meters away, eventually wrestling herself on top of me. I barely got out a surprised grunt before she pressed her muzzle against mine in a passionate kiss.

The paladin and Laguna were both less than happy, and very obviously for two different reasons.

After what could not have been less than a minute, Ji-ji released me, if only to keep herself from suffocating. I was surprised, to put it simply. It was an enjoyable event, despite having, at first, been forced upon me. The mare blushed and climbed off of me. "I'm sorry, Demi, if I was too forceful." I started to climb to my hooves when I heard her gasp. "Oh, your side! Whatever happened to your hide!"

I was starting to catch how Ji-ji occasionally spoke in rhyme and started to wonder if she did it on purpose. Though, I had been asked a question, so other thoughts had to wait. I assumed she had seen my bandages. Earlier that day, Maud had taken a look at my wound, which was healing fine, but wanted to keep healing bandages on it, just in case. So, I replied, "That's nothing. It's fine." I hesitated when asking my question, but I had to, "Um... who are you?"

Ji-ji, however, gave my nose a peck and nuzzled my neck, "My name is Sedaji, and I'm a Zebra mechanic. I'm aware you don't remember, so please, do not panic."

The rhyming was really distracting. I would have asked about it, but I had another question I wanted to ask first, "And the..." I circled my hoof around my muzzle, uncomfortable actually saying the words.

"I am sure, this must be awkward for you, Demi, as you do not remember your daring rescue," Sedaji started, taking a step back as a her cheeks gained color, "I could start from the beginning, if you'd like."

"No," came the commanding voice of the Paladin, "Back off, stripe! Demi, Maud, Laguna! We're leaving!"

I, however, was experiencing one of those mood swings where I forget how terrifying this mare was.

"Paladin—" was all I could get out before she shouted back.

"I don't give a shit about your past," she declared, taking a menacing step towards me. "We need to know how that PipBuck works so we can work on selling that information to the NCR! It's just something I have to do!" At this point, Pink Lemonade was getting dangerously close to Sedaji and I. Luckily, Maud was watching the paladin carefully and magicked her sister back to her side. She seemed to have calmed down, having gotten all of that off her chest. At least, for the moment.

"Demi, I can't have you going off on some epic quest to find yourself." The way she said it sounded as though it were a recreational activity, "I have obligations here. I'm on thin ice as it is, and this following you and leaving my knights without a C.O. is probably the last straw. I need you to come with me to Bucklyn Cross."

I had to hand it to the mare, she was much more charismatic than she lead me to believe. She didn't speak in her usual harsh tone. It was like back in the bar, when she'd suggested I rest. But I hadn't listened then, and I didn't have to now. I thought quickly, trying to find some convincing reason to allow me to keep going. I know it was five on two, if it had to come to that, but I didn't want to fight the rangers. I didn’t want to fight Maud.

Finally, I thought I had something.

"Think about it," I started. I immediately regretted starting my argument like that, "Neither Maud, nor I, could even hypothesize how this was even possible, modifying the PipBuck, let alone getting into the system files. Whatever spell matrix the PipBucks use is not only completely unknown, apparently, but the fact that ponies still can't modify them freely by now means that they are also impossibly intricate. Definitely something that can be done, but not without access to the source pattern." I could tell I had lost everypony but Maud, Sedaji and, surprisingly, Breezy. Then again, the pegasus was impossible to read, so she might’ve been either way. Despite this, I pressed on. Maud could vouch for my facts if my words weren't convincing enough for the paladin.

"As Maud has told me, the Rangers should have access to the most information about any technology, including PipBucks, being who they were before Applejack's Rangers. If anypony has the source pattern, it would be you guys. However, you don't."

I took a beat here, letting that sink in, examining the faces of everypony present. It was still very clear that not everypony got the techno bits, but they followed what I was saying well enough. "Your experts can locate the source pattern; it's possible, yes, but, as I said, the matrix is impossibly intricate. Lines and runes are going every which-way, maybe even overlapping on different layers of the gem. It would take years of research just to find even the layer in the matrix that the source pattern is on. That time could be reduced graciously if you had the Omega's matrix gem to examine as well, true, but it would still take years, only fewer, assuming that the Omega uses the same matrix pattern as your average PipBuck."

"Get to the point." I'd apparently said enough technobabble that the paladin was listening. Good.

"Yes," I said, stepping to Rocky Road's side. "My point: somepony has already found it. Either they found the right backdoors into the system, which is essentially finding the source pattern through the software, or they modified the gem matrix, like I talked about before. There's even a chance, however very slim, that they produced their own PipBuck matrix gem. I got this device from somepony, and that somepony is somewhere in my past. You could take me in right now, or you could come with me and make it easier for everypony."

As I finished the last sentence, Sedaji trotted to my side and leaned against my body. The Zebra mare was being very friendly with me, despite my circumstances. Though, when a beautiful mare throws herself at you willingly, you don’t complain.

Pink Lemonade knew I was right. I could see it in her eyes just as clearly as I could see the wheels turning in her head. Everypony had their eyes on her, but she had retreated into her own mind, her eyes firmly planted on the ground. I knew she had made one decision for sure: she wasn't letting me out of her sight. Though, she knew she wasn't getting me to Bucklyn without beating me unconscious first... which was, unfortunately, a very possible outcome.

She ruffled her lavender mane as she lifted her head to find us all waiting for an answer. With a huge roll of her eyes, she exasperatedly declared, "Alright, fine! I'll follow you for only a little bit longer."

"Settled," I proclaimed before anypony else could speak and ruin it for me. I had to gain control of this conversation and steer it back towards our original topic. "Miss, ah... Easy Breezy, you said? Could we get to what we talked about last time I was here?"

"Last time?" Breezy yawned. Give her a second, Demi, "Oh, yeah, last time!" Good job not shooting her, Demi.

The cream pegasus sat up on her lover's back and put a hoof to her chin, "Uuuuh... Yes! You said 'a let ya on the Falcon an' take ya somewhere, an' I said, 'yup.' But I didn't think I was gonna let three more ponies on my ship. That's a problem."

Take me somewhere?

"Take me somewhere?"

Breezy nodded, "I'm not tellin' you where, though."

"Why not?" I asked, visibly annoyed.

That sly smile returned her face as she replied, "Cuz the deal was just ta take you." I threw her a glare, but she continued, smiling down at me, "We made a deal with ya that we'd take you where ya needed'a go, but we never said we'd take any more ponies or tell ya where you're goin' if ya asked."

"Great, she has business sense," I heard the paladin mutter under her breath.

"Ji-ji, how's the Falcon?" Breezy said, losing the sly look in her eyes and laying back onto Rocky's back again.

Still nuzzling against me, the zebra said, "I've got the last of the talismans in place. They just need power."

"Oh, hey, there’s something! Demi, I think we got a way for you to pay for your friends," Breezy called down to me from Rocky Road's back.

* * *

"So..." Laguna spoke up for the first time in a long while, "Where are we going to find spark batteries?"

Yeah, that's the errand Easy Breezy set us on to pay for the extra passengers. She also said to gather some extra food. She didn't say how much food we needed, though. How long were we going to be on that cloudship?

"If I'd have to guess," Maud answered my sister, "we could find some in friendship city." Guess? Why does she have to guess?

"Maud, aren't Applejack's Rangers the biggest and strongest unified faction in Equestria right now?"

"Yes."

"Why don't you guys know anything then?"

A hoof clipped my left ear, "You should rephrase that."

"Ow! Uh..." I thought my words over carefully this time, "Why don't you have the kind of information a leading faction should have? Like, the bridge: how didn't you know about it? The Rangers should have eyes out here, right?"

"Oh," Pink Lemonade mumbled. She stopped to scratch her mane in thought before answering, "We've been going through a ton of restructuring. The current Elders have agreed that Applejack's Rangers don't have enough ranks to manage the large numbers of recruits that are signing up to join. I think it's stupid."

"Now, now," Maud chided her sister as she slowed to trot alongside us, "you know just as well as I do that this is necessary."

"It's throwing our information networks completely out of whack, Maud. Nopony knows who to report to anymore."

"It'll settle," Maud assured.

"I don't understand," I cut in, "I'm not knowledgeable on the whole military organization thing."

"Would you like me to explain it to you?" Maud asked, pausing just outside of what my PipBuck labeled as ‘Bridge Town’. After I nodded, Maud looked back to Laguna. My sister sped up to trot beside the aged mare before she began.

"I can't say too much. We are a military after all," Maud started, using a tone as though she were telling a story, "I'll get in trouble for divulging secrets to an outsider." She was silent, as though figuring a place to start.

"Before the Steel Rangers became Applejack's Rangers, and for a while after, still, the Rangers had only two branches one could join after they are promoted from initiate. The branch a pony joins was traditionally decided by their race. Unicorns went on to become a scribe’s apprentice, and earth ponies would become a squire to a knight. This is no secret.”

"Remember when I told you Applejack's Rangers started recruiting outsiders? We were fine working with the old organization for a while, but the elders are reluctant to promote outsiders above the rank of knight. Because of this, there were so many ponies of the same rank, the Chain the Binds became almost unimportant. Oh, all I can explain about the chain is that it's part of our codex. If you want to know more, you’ll have to join up with us."

Pink Lemonade had taken the lead, heading through town, towards the bridge. She was staying close enough to listen. She was probably making sure Maud didn’t get too chummy and say something she shouldn’t.

"The Elder Council, a new concept since the civil war turned in the favor of Applejack's Rangers, thought it best to create new ranks within the existing two branches. Then, just after these changes were made, they thought, while they were changing things, to add more branches and restructure the entire faction as a whole. This decision added more structure to our chain of command, but they've made a bad move, though it was also a good move at the same time. We are in a time of relative peace, meaning this is the calmest Equestria has been since everypony died. The Elder Council is taking this chance to restructure the Rangers further, as they may not get another chance to change so much at one time."

"The trade-off," the paladin cut in, "is that the Rangers have to work on re-organizing ourselves while we recover from the confusion the first restructuring had us in."

"That's very interesting and all," I commented when Maud had finished the story, "but, sadly, it doesn’t really answer any of the questions I originally had."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Demi," she apologized, "What might those be?"

"Well, how is it all structured? How does one decide who joins what platoon and such?"

It was Pink Lemonade who answered, "Classified."

"I told you guys, we can't really say all that much," Maud explained.

“You can’t say more than that, but you can tell us that the communication network within Applejack’s Rangers is broken?”

“Eh, it’s not like they’ll find out that anyway,” the paladin said, dismissing the problem with a wave of a hoof.

I let out a deep sigh, disappointed in the secrets of a military. The conversation had at least helped to pass the time. When I looked up, I realized we were nearly halfway across the scrap metal bridge. Looking around, I didn't really find much anywhere but in front of us. There seemed to be some sort of toll booth. The bridge was cut off entirely from edge to edge by a wall made from the same scrap as the bridge itself. The wall was only half as tall as your average pony, but the ponies with the guns really deterred any who wished to jump over.

As we neared the short wall, the number of ponies begging for caps had increased. We, however, simply overlooked them. I had more important things on my mind. The most they received from us was a sad glance from Maud or Laguna.

"Stop," came the bored order of a mare behind the wall, "Don't come any closer, or we will open fire. To get into Friendship city, you must state your name, business and have made prior arrangements with a resident or pay a fee of fifteen-hundred caps for entry. Alternatively, you could purchase a residential pass for eight-thousand caps."

"Whoa! Why so expensive?" the paladin asked.

With a sigh, the bored mare with the big gun answered, "If you don't have the money go fu— wait... You, buck. Are you Demi?"

I probably shouldn't have been surprised at this point, but I was anyway. I gave the mare a confused look before nodding slowly.

The mare nodded and looked at a notepad in her hoof, "Yup. A mare came by earlier and paid for residential passes for you and your friends." A stallion to her left moved part of the little wall aside as she gave us further instructions, "You'll be stopped once more before you enter friendship city. Ask for Stamp. Train, give 'em a rezzy pass."

I was handed a paper with an intricate design on it by a stallion. I guessed it was probably a way to prevent people from sneaking past this checkpoint on their way into the city, though I'm not sure how anypony short of a pegasus could sneak past this wall, however short it was. Once all four of us were behind the checkpoint, we continued on our way towards Friendship City.

A few minutes in, I asked, "Is fifteen-hundred caps a lot?"

"Yes," Pink Lemonade said immediately.

Maud, more helpfully, explained, "It's not quite a lot, but it's more than most ponies are willing to spend on a simple entry fee. I wonder why the prices are so high. They used to just let in anypony who they thought they could trust enough to do their part."

"Well, the place looks recently beat up. It couldn’t have been sooner than a month, considering how much time this bridge must have taken to built, even with pegasi. I’d guess two months, aye?"

"That's exactly right, Demi," Maud praised me. She pointed at the wreck in the river I had seen from the mainland, "That's a raptor. At least, it was. Two of them came from the Enclave and attacked the city. There's another one somewhere... Ah!" When she found what she was looking for, she stopped and pointed a hoof. On the other side of the bridge was a tiny island of metal in the river, probably only big enough for two ponies to stand on. I could see how I didn't notice that one.

"Wow, you talk about it like you were there," I said in awe.

"Oh, no, I wasn't," Maud replied, with a chuckle, "The Lightbringer was, though. It's written about in the book." I briefly thought about the book in my saddlebags; the book that would supposedly tell me everything I needed to know about the Equestria Wasteland in the form of a narrative.

But I was quickly taken out of the thought by Laguna mumbling, tiredly, “C’n we find somewhere to sleep soon?”

“Aw, is the baby getting sweepy?” the paladin teased.

“Shaddup.”

“She does bring up a fair point, Lem,” Maud said, “Where are we staying for the night?”

We were all silent for a couple seconds before I said, “We’ll have to figure that out when we get in there. If we can find and grab the spark batteries quickly, maybe Easy Breezy will put us up in the Falcon.”

“If I’m going on a trip with that zebra, I want at least one more night away from it,” Pink Lemonade declared colding, “We’re staying in the city. Let’s use our newfound residency while we’re here.”

As the sun started to lower itself behind the remains of the tower, casting a shadow over the last part of the bridge, we approached the second checkpoint. It wasn’t like the first, having, instead of a half-wall, an entire small building. With lighting, I was delighted to notice.

While the night vision spell allowed me to see in the dark, it’s annoying having no control over it. As far as I’ve noticed, it was automatic. The soft green tint that swam into my vision wasn’t hindering me so much as it was simply irritating me.

Outside the building stood two stallions with saddle mounted guns pointed at us. One simply muttered, “Pass?”

I levitated the piece of paper with the design out to the stallion and said, “I was instructed to ask for a ’Stamp’ pony.”

The pony didn’t speak until after intensely studying the paper I had received and deeming it authentic, “So you’re one of Stamp’s?” He looked us over with an odd look I couldn’t place, “You don’t look his type. He’s in the office on the end of the second hall to your right. You,” he tapped a hoof to my chest, ”Only you go in. Your friends can wait in reception.”

I gave the stallion a nod and made my way through the building, my friends and the paladin following behind me. We stepped into a room that could only be reception. The room was empty save for a handful of ponies sleeping along one wall, probably waiting for somepony to see them, and the mare behind the circular desk that centered the room.

“I didn’t know architechs still existed,” Pink Lemonade muttered under her breath.

“We do,” called the mare from behind the counter. We all stared at her, but she never looked up from her terminal screen, “Yes, my hearing is uncanny. Stop staring at me and come over here.”

I stepped towards the desk, followed by the others, and attempted to speak, but was cut short before I even formed a shape with my mouth, “I heard the guard talking, so just go. Only the stallion, though. You mares—” she slid three small rectangular slabs of leather over the counter—”will have to wait here. Your benefactor has been notified and will have to send somepony to pick them up. If she doesn’t you’ll have to do it later. Is that understood?”

“I—”

“Right, then. Stamp is in his office, like guard number one said. You can be on your way, now.”

I hesitated for a second, completely silent, but trotted on my way when she didn’t start talking again and continued poking her earth pony hooves at her desk terminal.

“Demi, wait,” I heard Laguna call before I passed the threshold that led further into the building. I stopped and turned around as she wrapped her hooves around my neck. I froze and looked to Maud, who simply smiled at the sight, “Be careful, please.”

After recovering from the shock of sudden affection from the mare, I gave Laguna a shallow hug and pulled away. There was a beat before I said, “You be safe, Laguna. And keep them safe, too.”

With one last glance to Maud and back to Laguna, I turned and walked down through the building’s main corridor. The entire building was small, but that much could have been seen from outside. Dim lights lit the hallway just enough for me to be able to see the walls in color. Any additional light leaked in from outside through the cracks in the scrap metal walls, but even that was waning as the sun set.

I passed by the first right turn, as instructed. That’s when a pony who barely acknowledged my existence quickly trotted in the opposite direction. I’m not sure why, but stopped to get a better look at him. His coat was light gray and his green mane was kept short. His tail, was practically non-existent, but the stubble that was left was a clearly a different color: red. The stallion didn’t look back. I took a mental note of the stallion and tucked it away for later.

I turned down the second hallway, which had only a single door at the end. As I approached the sheet of welded-together scrap metal on hinges they call a door, many possibilities of what could lie behind flashed through my head. Even so, I had never expected that the office would look normal.

The office wasn’t big, thought it wasn’t small. It was a respectable size for a wasteland desk worker, which didn’t seem like a job many people would even have, let alone want, in Equestria. In the center of the rectangular room stood a desk, a metal one just like the one from the office building. Behind that, sat a pony on a chair. He was a well groomed brown-coated stallion. His black mane was gelled back with… something. I didn’t want to think about what a pony could use as mane-gel in Equestria nowadays. He held himself in a manner that contrasted his well-kept image. He slouched and propped his head on one hoof, rolling a pencil up a desk and catching it with his other hoof as it rolled back down, only to repeat the task and revealing that the desk was slightly unbalanced.

When I pushed the door open, the stallion gave me little more than a glance before grunting and nodding his head toward an uncomfortable looking pillow at my side. I sat, silently following instructions so I could get out of there as fast as possible.

However, this stallion wasn’t giving any more instructions. Or so it didn’t seem for the longest while. Finally, he sighed and said in a smooth, charismatic voice, “So you’re this ‘Demi’ everypony’s talking about?”

Everypony’s talking about me?

He looked up from his pencil to check me out. He wasn’t being very sly about it either, craning his next to check out my cutie mark. After almost a minute of being visually violated, he continued, “Well, only ponies underground. You know the type: powerful, hidden, unknown—” he paused on purpose to look me straight in the eyes—”mysterious.”

He remained silent to let that word sink in. Mysterious.

Mystery.

“A mare came by earlier and paid for residential passes for you and your friends.” The words of that guard at the first checkpoint echoed through my mind. I couldn’t help but groan silently and mutter aloud, “Of course it was her.”

“‘Of course it was her,’” he repeated quietly to himself. We sat in silence for another short while. He went back to his pencil and my eyes darted around the room quickly, searching for any indication of the blank mare. There was nothing else in the room, of course, but I’d seen her walk through a downed sky chariot and disappear. It wasn’t just paranoia that made me think she was in the room, though. I felt something. I’m not sure what, but I could just feel she was in here with us.

I moved my head slightly, barely turning it to the right to get a better look in that direction, but it was enough to catch the stallion’s attention. He stopped his pencil and looked at me, his head still resting on his hoof. My eyes darted back to meet his. There was another silence before he said, “It took him long enough, but I think he noticed you. Otherwise, he’s more paranoid than we both thought.”

“I do believe you’re right,” her voice sounded to my left. Her real voice, not her magically imbued voice, that manipulated me. I looked to my left to see that Mystery had appeared out of thin air. No noise, magical light, or anything; she was just there. It took every bit of willpower I had not to jump back, but I failed to stop myself from looking startled.

“Hmm…” the stallion sighed. The three of us were silent once again, the tension in the room seemingly only felt by myself. Mystery still held that smile on her face, blissful, as though ignorant of the uncomfortableness in the room, and the brown stallion went back to playing with his pencil, aware of the uncomforting feeling, but simply ignoring it.

I was getting impatient, understandably, but I dared not be the one to break this silence. The stallion who paid very little attention, as it seemed, clearly noted every motion I made and quickly came to eerily correct conclusions about what I was thinking. Either that, or he was a very good guesser. Either way, I felt threatened by his intuition. If bad things were to happen right now, I didn’t know how I’d fare with him in the room.

Mystery, however, was on a whole other level. I only had a glimpse of what she was capable of, and I’m sure that her ability to insert fear directly into my mind was a docile trick, barely scratching the surface of her magical capabilities alone, let alone her ability to wield them. And that’s not taking into account that she can not only walk around invisible, changing her transparency with not even a flicker of magic, but she could also walk straight through solid objects, including my shields. She was a truly terrifying opponent that I did not want to provoke more than I have already.

So, I decided to shut my trap, waiting for either of them to tell me why I was there.

“Do you not know why you’re here?”

It was then that I suspected that Mystery could read my mind. I wouldn’t have been surprised if that were true.

Before I could form a sentence more understandable than a stammering jumble of noise, Mystery continued, “Mister Passage Stamp, I thought you had said the secretary would tell him all he needs to know.”

“All he needed to know was where my office is,” the stallion replied. I suppose before this point, I should have deduced this was the very ‘Stamp’ I was sent here to meet. The room went silent again as he continued play with his pencil. Even Mystery’s blissful smile was starting to waver.

Finally, Passage Stamp sighed and let the pencil roll off of his desk. He pushed himself from the desk, stretching his back until it made an audible pop, a relieved groan muffled behind his lips. Without a word, he climbed out of his chair and walked to the back of the room. He reached a hoof out and tapped the wall, which swung open without so much as a squeak. Then he walked out into the darkness.

Mystery frowned slightly, glanced at me, then proceeded to follow Stamp. Having no other place to go but away, which would have gained me absolutely nothing, I reluctantly followed behind the pair.

Outside the hidden door was a metal platform that was hidden from both the island and the bridge. There was enough room for one pony at a time and no rail. Totally safe.

Heading towards the island, the platform lead down and turned under the bridge, where I saw the tip of Mystery’s white tail disappear. I hesitated once again, but took the first step down the slope. It was dangerously steep, but I managed to keep my hoofing.

The hidden passage turned once again and lead towards the island under the cover of the bridge. I wasn’t exactly sure what this passage was meant for if the bridge above also lead to Friendship City, so I could only assume that something shady was going on.

I had to trot to catch up to Mystery, which shook the hanging platform. Neither of the ponies before me seemed to mind, Stamp keeping his balance as though nothing were even happening, and Mystery seemingly stuck to the platform, staying upright relative to the platform. It was weird. I, however, nearly fell off. I had to catch myself and settled with keeping a few paces behind the two of them.

We moved silently, not one of us even making a sound, save for the clip-clop of our hooves on the metal platform. I tried my hardest not to look down, but I couldn’t help it. Under the shadow of the bridge, in the light of a rising moon, I could not see the water below.

We walked for minutes, still in silence. I was beginning to lose my nerve, but I knew full well that going back now was no option. Mystery had been taking quick glances behind her, as though making sure I was following. I noticed her mouth move, but I couldn’t make out any words from this distance, so she must have been talking to Stamp. I could only guess at what they were talking about.

Stamp and Mystery stopped where the platform widened into an area that would easily fit the three of us. They waited for me to reach them before Stamp stood up on his hind legs and pushed on the bridge above us. The floor swung open.

“What’s with all the secrecy and hidden passages?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

Stamp shot me a look. A blank and uncaring look, but a look nonetheless. Mystery didn’t speak, but she seemed as though she was wondering the same thing. I had thought she was in on the whole thing until I saw the unsure look in her eyes.

Instead of answering my question, Stamp climbed up into the bridge. I looked to Mystery to find that she had disappeared once again. I launched myself into the air and caught the side of the hole and pathetically clambered my way inside behind them. When I rolled back to my hooves, I took stock of where I was.

The room was dimly lit, as was the whole facility, but this room, somehow even more so. My vision immediately tinted green and shapes became definable as recognizable objects. The room was empty, aside from the three ponies, myself included, standing around, so there wasn’t much to recognize but the light bulb and string dangling from the ceiling only a short distance from my head. The only time my vision returned to normal was when I looked anywhere near the bulb.

“Mister Stamp, please tell me how much longer I am to remain in the dark,” I heard Mystery ask as I looked over the entire room again, checking for even a door. I allowed myself a light chuckle at the pun, intentional, or not.

“Oh, and he has a sense of humor, too,” Passage Stamp muttered sarcastically. He looked to each side before slowly stepping to the left and sitting down by the wall, which he tapped with his hoof. I expected another secret passage, but this time, the lights came on.

Upon further inspection, I noticed small gems on the ceiling which most likely housed lighting spell enchantments. Or they were just wastefully being pumped with spark energy until they shone.

“There. You’re no longer in the dark,” Stamp said, sounding, and looking, very bored.

“With all due respect, sir, this is not quite what I had meant.” Mystery trotted to my said and sat down on her haunches, keeping excellent posture, as usual. I didn’t want to do anything to upset her, so I resisted my urge to move, “We’ve both done what you’ve asked and—”

“I don’t remember asking either of you to follow me,” the stallion said bluntly, looking in our direction, his blue eyes much more piercing than they had been before.

Mystery had no immediate comeback, but she managed to regain composure and continue, “Even so, we have and you did not ask us not to do so. I had a request which you had agreed to fulfil, and I expect you to live up to your word.”

“A lot of ponies expect a lot from me.”

“A lot of ponies can’t kill you where you stand.” Mystery’s voice became unnaturally cold. When I looked to her, that blissful smile she always wore was gone. I felt fear once again, but it wasn’t ‘instinctual’ like the last time, not crippling either. It was a more natural fear, born from the faint remembrance in the back of my mind of what the mare was capable of.

Stamp, however, was calm as ever. No, not just calm: bored, “I suppose that is true. Just be patient, blank flank, I’m waiting for something so we can work on your end of the bargain.”

Mystery’s smile hadn’t returned completely, but the scowl was gone, which eased my nerves a bit, “I thought I was to do that myself. You mean you plan to come with me?”

“The colt, too,” Stamp confirmed, gesturing to me with a hoof.

“What?” I asked, confused that I was a part of this.

“What?” I heard Mystery echo beside me, sitting up at attention.

“I’m coming with you and we’re taking Demi, don’t make me repeat myself anymore,” Stamp bluntly explained. He slowly laid down onto his side and drew circles onto floor with a hoof, absently.

* * *

The next few minutes were as silent as the first in Stamp’s office. Whenever Mystery or I asked about what we were waiting for, he would barely mumble, “Something,” and go back to drawing with his hoof. This happened three different times, so I decided to ask something else.

“What are we going to do after ‘something’ happens?”

“Oooh, nice question, Demi,” Omega commented suddenly.

Oh, where have you been all day.

“You know where I’ve been,” she said, a hint of playfulness in her voice, which immediately disappeared as she continued, “I need to talk to you, so hurry this up.”

Fortunately, Stamp chose just then to speak more than one word at a time, “We’re going to kill somepony.”

I looked to Mystery who, while keeping that blissful smile on her face, wouldn’t meet my eyes. Turning back to Stamp, I asked, “Might I be able to get more information than that?”

Letting out a heavy sigh, Stamp clopped his hoof on the floor before speaking, “There’s a weird earth pony stallion who has taken control of a small island off the shore of friendship city. Unfortunately, that’s where my people have stashed something they want, so we have to kill him. Not convince him to leave, not retrieve the item, kill him.” He made sure to be very clear and firm in explaining the job to me. He didn’t trust me.

I, however, had only one question more, “What makes this stallion so weird?”

“On top of him just existing there one day?” Stamp said sarcastically before he pushed himself onto his other side, just so he could look me in the eyes. There was a moment of silence before he asked, “What do you know of earth pony magic?”

This question caught me off guard. Not because one wouldn’t generally associate an earth pony with magic, but because I knew a lot on the subject. Once my mind had settled back into a state in which I could properly use it, I offered, “Well, generally speaking, an earth pony’s magic is related to their body and the earth, in that order. It’s what gives an earth pony their superior strength to the other pony races, and gives them the innate ability to grow crop and relate more easily with small critters.”

Stamp wasn’t expecting such knowledge, and he actually looked surprised as opposed to bored. Quickly, he jumped to his hooves and muttered, “That’s… correct.” His mood visibly shifted as he continued, growing steadier and livelier in his speech, “Well, this earth pony, in particular, is attuned to the earth as well as a unicorn is attuned to the general flow of magic. I’m not exactly sure what he’s doing, but he’s seemingly able to control the earth at will. Actually, not just the earth, but anything inanimate, from what I’ve seen. He’s created an entire building on the island, and I watched him do it with little more than a flash of light. The first wave we sent is still mounted on stone spikes that grew out of nowhere, and the second was swallowed by the floor of one of the buildings, from what the lone survivor had said. He’s clearly using some kind of magic, but I can’t even begin to guess at what it is.”

I was pleasantly surprised by Passage Stamp’s sudden change in mood as well as a mutual interest in the subject of magic. I smiled at him before wracking my brain for hypotheses. The whole idea sounded familiar, like a theory in the very back of my mind, but I just couldn’t lock it down.

A sharp knock on the floor notified us of a presence below. Stamp quickly tapped a hind hoof to the switch on the wall, activating my night vision once more. A few seconds later, the hatch opened and a large bag was tossed in. Stamp opened a compartment next to the light switch with practiced dexterity and reached his head in, pulling out a small bag filled with jingling metal somethings. I could only guess they were caps. He tossed the small bag down the hatch and shut it.

“Wha—” was all I could get out before being shushed sharply by Stamp. His ear went up, and mind did as well. Faintly, I could hear the fading sound of hoofsteps leading away.

Stamp sighed before turning the lights back on and explaining, “Our group is very secretive. Members don’t meet each other. Ever. The ponies I’m with every day could be in the same group and neither of us would know it. I don’t understand the point of it, but it pays, so I don’t complain.” As he spoke, he made his way to the large bag and opened it and reached his head inside.

Stamp pulled out barding and weapons, all of kinds of both. I was handed a smaller set of leather barding. I didn’t ask how he knew my size, and knew to shorten the right sleeve for my PipBuck. I’d suspect Mystery, but she had no idea I was coming along.

I was able to figure out how to get the armor on with with minimal instruction. Next, I was told to select a weapon. None of those spread out along the floor seemed like something I’d know how to use, let alone want to, so I just stuck with my revolver, taking some extra ammunition that was available, as well as a holster to strap on my left foreleg.

After sliding some rounds into an ammo belt I found, I looked up to see Mystery with a thin barding with only patches of leather covering vital areas. I didn’t think she really needed any protection, but I wasn’t going to argue. Looking to Stamp, I noted he was in a heavier set of barding than I. Plates of metal armored vitals and other areas, a battle saddle on his back with a long rifle on one side and a shorter rifle with a belt of ammunition leading into it on the other. It wasn’t quite a minigun, like Pink Lemonade’s, having only one barrel, but the weapon looked no less menacing with just the one.

Stamp looked Mystery up and down and asked, “No weapon?” She responded simply by poking a hoof at her horn. This prompted the stallion to sigh and shake his head, “Whatever. Let’s go.” At the command, Mystery disappeared again, leaving Stamp and I in the little room. He tapped the lights off and opened the hatch and dropped down to the metal platform with a heavy clang.

I dropped down behind him, landing on my hind legs. I didn’t drop down to all hooves until after I found Stamp leading Mystery away towards the island again. Then, I quickly followed after them.

* * *

Stamp lead us to the very edge of the bridge, where we climbed down some stairs that ended at a sliver of land by which a small boat was docked. At this point, my vision was in a green hue once again. I was the only pony moving with confidence in their actions. Once Stamp finally found his way onto the boat, he turned on a light only bright enough that he could see the controls.

It was a small boat, barely more than a motorized raft fit for five ponies, shoulder to shoulder. When we were all on, we lurched slowly out onto the moonlit river. Looking up at the building on the bridge, I wondered how the Pies and my sister were doing.

We rode in silence the entire way to the island. It was a long flat chunk of land with buildings rising from the dirt beneath them. As we got closer, I could see that the buildings were in ruin and the island was seemingly deserted. We were still a ways away from shore, but I could faintly see the long pointed spires Stamp had mentioned before. Thank Luna the boat was quiet.

We circled to the far side of the island. According to Stamp, they hadn’t sent anypony through from this side before. He maneuvered the vehicle into a port and hid it among the other unused and unusable vessels floating about absently. We climbed onto the dock and made our way, swiftly and as silently as we could, into the nearest building.

“Mystery,” Stamp started, taking command, “Find him, but stay hidden. That shouldn’t be too hard for you.” With a smile and a playful salute, Mystery disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Stamp looked to me and said, “She’ll find us when he’s been located, I’m sure. We need to go set up a temporary hideout of sorts. The island is much larger than it looks from the water.”

I nodded and followed him wherever he went. I wasn’t sure what criteria he was using to judge the buildings for suitability, but I was sure they were much stricter than my own.

I think was getting suspicious of the lack of tripping and stumbling behind him because he asked, “Can you see?”

I nodded, but then remembered that he couldn’t see me, and said, “Yes.”

“How?”

“Nightvision.”

“What?” He stopped and looked back at me.

“Nightvision,” I repeated.

Stamp didn’t move for a good five second before turning away and continuing on. He had no more questions. We made our way through, around and over about five entire buildings before we found a room he said should be, “Good enough for now.”

After we started a fire with the materials at hoof, I took the chance to fetch a box of the Sugar Apple Bombs cereal from my saddlebags and poured some into my maw. I hadn’t eaten since before we made it to Bridge Town hours ago, so I needed the snack. I had eaten half of what had remained in the box before I offered it to Stamp, who took it and ate half of that before hoofing it back to me. I resealed the box and traded it for a bottle of clean water. I drank some and offered it to Stamp as well, who declined this time, drinking from his own canteen. Afterwards, we sat in silence again, a theme I’d gotten used to. A minute or so went by before Omega called once again.

“This seems like as good of a time as any,” she started. I walked to a window on the opposite side of the room as Stamp and looked out of it, “It’s about the updates the PipBuck has been getting. Well, they aren’t really updates. I’m not sure what they are. They all have readable text files attached giving a little explanation…” She paused.

What is it?

“It’s… Well, from what information has been given to me about pre-war times and this, I can make a comparison to that of a trait system from pre-war roleplaying games. Each update will give you access to an ability or something else useful, but will always have a penalty. The more powerful, complicated or useful the pro, the bigger the con. Of course, there are some other files on here that are simply programs, like the night vision and SATS-D, but these ‘traits’ make up the majority of those received.”

Omega gave me a moment to process all of this information. I didn’t need long, what she was explaining seemed pretty straightforward. It didn’t make sense, but it was straightforward. I thought to her, what do you mean by penalty? Give me some examples.

“There is a file here that will help you remember a spell, but it will cut off the connection between your mind and the PipBuck - Omega, meaning you wouldn’t be able to take any more of these things. There’s another here that will improve your ability with common firearms in exchange for dulling your senses slightly. Here’s one that—”

I understand. Still, that’s extremely odd. I’m not sure what to make of it.

“Some of these exchanges might be worth it, in the long run, but you had better hear about them before you make any decisions. That is, assuming they actually do anything. I would open the files and examine the programs, but they’ve been compiled using a database I don’t know and cannot find anywhere on the PipBuck. At least, anywhere I have access to.”

For now, we’ll assume that they’re just here to mess with us and are useless. You should put the traits away and handle the regular programs at your own discretion.

“Great minds think alike, or so they say,” Omega said, before going silent again.

Everything about this PipBuck had been screaming ‘game’ to me so far. There was the AI helper, giving me information when I needed it, then the map dropping a breadcrumb, telling me where to go next, then there were these trait things. I didn’t know what to make of it. The theory made too little sense, so I shook it off and told myself to forget about it. These were all pieces of a puzzle, and I just wasn’t fitting them together correctly.

The strained grunt from Stamp’s direction caught my attention. I turned quickly to see him fall onto his side, clutching his gut, a short pillar where he stood moments before. I rushed to his side, sweeping my surroundings. The entrances, the window by which I stood before and the door that Stamp himself was guarding were both empty. Nopony. There were no other openings—

No…

I turned my eyes to the sky, the one place one would least expect and earth pony to ambush from. Standing on the ledge of the only remaining piece of the second floor stood a white earth pony stallion with a blonde mane and tail. There was no doubt this was the stallion we were meant to kill. I met his golden eyes, which immediately filled with rage without end.

“Demi…” He growled, his sneer shifting into a look of complete hatred, “You… MONSTER!”

“Fuck!” I yelled before barrelling out the door. I heard a faint crackle behind me just before the entire wall of our little hideout exploded outward at me. I had already been cut several times by the projected remains of the ruin by the time I was able to cast a shield.

When the dust had settled enough to see, the white stallion, now green in my eyes, having put out the fire, stood between me and Passage Stamp, who was now lying unconscious, or worse. The stallion was breathing heavily, more in growls than in actual breaths. What had I done to him to make him like this?

“This is it, Demi!” he roared, “We end it now! No more running away from me!” With our death battle declared, he reared up onto his hind legs, slammed his forehooves together, and stamped them down on the ground again. As he did so, tendrils of gold energy sparked from the ground around his hooves, creating a light bright enough that returned color to my vision.

Then I felt the ground beneath me shift.

>Compiling Data...

>Level Up...

New Perk: Oh, That's Right! (2) - You discovered that you knew a bit about magic and its relation to the other pony races. Science is raised +10%.

Quest Perk: Magical Awareness (1) - You have a gift, but it’s still in its early stages. You can now faintly sense the general presence of magic being used in close quarters.

>Factions Relations updated...

Easy Breezy - Employee
You’ve employed Easy Breezy and her gang to take you somewhere in their ship. You don’t know where, though.

Bridge Town - Jealous
The people of Bridge Town only live there because they cannot make it into Friendship City. They aren’t very happy that you get a free pass. Residents will not help you if you are attacked or robbed.

Friendship City - Citizen
Somehow, Mystery has paid for residential passes for you and your friends in Friendship city. Despite it being gained through shady means, Friendship City residents will now treat you like one of them.

Fallout: Equestria - Answers

by Krynnymuffin

Prologue

Chapter 1: Applejack's Rangers

Chapter 2: The Mare With the Machine Gun

Chapter 3: Friendship and Magic