When Stable 33 is attacked the Rangers must do what they can to save everypony.
Stables were designed to stand up to any assault, be it armies, bombs, or atomic balefire. But what happens when they're attacked from within? The Rangers were meant to be an exploratory program to explore the surface for signs of life and resources, but they've been betrayed. Now the members of Ranger Team Blue have to find out who and why.
(A/N: Woo! I've officially had content posted to EQD! Not a full feature or anything, but I've been added to the Fallout Equestria Side Stories Comp.)
““Hello! My name is Scootaloo. You probably know me (since I am pretty famous) for my awesome performances at events like last year’s GALLoPS, or maybe just as the founder of Red Racer. Not that it probably matters any more… Anyways have you ever thought about what makes a pony good? And I don’t mean how they act good, because that’s easy; don’t cut in line, don’t interrupt, put down the seat when you’re done. I mean what actually makes them good. What makes a pony feel the need to go out of her way to help somepony else? Is it how they were raised, is there a ‘good’ gene that controls whether or not you’re a flankhole, or is it something else entirely? That’s the question you are going to help us answer. Stable 33 was built to house 1000 of Equestrias best ponies. We at Stable-Tec have decided that the best way to get the very best ponies was to pick them from the places they were most likely to be good. 250 doctors, 250 cops, and 250 soldiers were randomly selected from their ranks. The final 250 were randomly selected families screened with an experimental morality detection spell. Every single one of you adds up to be the sum total of the best ponykind has to offer. Not only is this stable your second chance, it’s the second chance for all of ponykind, please don't waste it.”
My dad once told me the story of when our ancestors first sealed the stable doors. In the beginning the four factions had separated themselves from one another, but it didn't take long for the lines between the four groups to fade and form the blocs. The police became the security bloc, the doctors became the medical bloc in charge of the clinic, and the randoms did everything else, officially becoming the support bloc. Anypony could work for any of the other blocs as long as they were qualified.
Of course the military stayed the military. You don’t just dissolve an institution like the military; that would be like leveling a mountain named after the royal sisters so you could build a parking lot for a restaurant that caters exclusively to cannibals. But it did shrink with lack of use. That is until about a decade ago. The council, a select group of representatives from each of the blocs, decided to unseal the stable and to create the Rangers. The Rangers were going to be Stable 33's first step into the outside world, part ambassador part commando unit. They also decided that it would be appropriate if the Ranger program was handled by the military, and just like that we went from a total twenty volunteers to over a hundred.
I guess some ponies can get a little stir crazy after nearly two centuries of concrete walls and fluorescent lighting, and what better way to alleviate the monotony than to go above ground. My reasons for joining were a little nobler; I was one of twenty I mentioned earlier. We were the ones who truly believed in keeping the stable safe. That or we were looking for the easiest job in the entire stable. But I assure you that I was among the former.
I joined the day after I got my cutie mark because I wanted to be able to protect my family if we were ever attacked. What I didn't realize at the time was that if we hadn't been attacked before then it was pretty unlikely we would be ever attacked. And if we were attacked then whoever was attacking would have to make their way through a meter of stable door.
I guess I got pretty lucky when the council decided to unseal the stable. Because I was one of the few who was a soldier before the decision was handed down I was assigned my own squad to command.
In the interest of equality the council made sure that each squad consisted of four ponies, one from each bloc.
Our representative from the support bloc was Impact Crater, a runty little earth pony with a gray coat, a fiery yellow mane, and an explosion on her flank. Despite the fact that she was more than old enough to have her cutie mark she was still only slightly larger than the average foal. That fact earned her the nickname Imp (get it?), and in her short time (pun only slightly intended) of working for the support bloc she had garnered a reputation for her skill with technology and her extreme ingenuity.
The story goes that when she arrived for her first day of work she wasn’t strong enough to carry the standard issue tool belt, but the next day she showed up wearing a a jury-rigged medical exoskeleton that she’d ‘borrowed’ from the clinic and started carrying steel girders for a collapsed tunnel all on her own. If you’re having trouble picturing what it looked like then imagine a suit of Steel Ranger armor, strip away all the armor plating and the helmet, and you have something that kind of resembles Imp’s exo.
After joining the military she discovered her affinity for big guns. You should have seen the look on her face when she saw the 25mm grenade machine gun, I was convinced that if she'd never had sex before I was pretty sure she was going to try it with that gun(In retrospect that sounds really creepy). She spent the next week rigging it up to a special battle saddle that would attach to her exo and inventing new kinds of ammo for it.
Representing the medical bloc was Trauma Bandage. He was the single biggest unicorn I'd ever seen. He was at least a head taller than I was and had a pearly white coat, a blood red mane, and a cutie mark that looked like two red bandages that formed a cross. Other than that I don't know much else. Let's just say he's not much of a talker. The only other thing I knew about him I'd learned from his sister was that he used to be a trauma surgeon.
He refused to carry a gun at first, I later convinced him to carry a sidearm, but he did take a shine to a force multiplying hammer that Imp showed him. The hammer strongly resembled the axle rod of an earth pony wagon with a high-tech coffee can shaped device on the end. Imp later told me the hammer head had a force talisman in the middle that took the kinetic energy of a swing and multiplied it. I could only imagine the damage that could be done with it if Trauma used his magic to swing it instead of his mouth.
It probably wasn't a coincidence that our representative from security was Traumas twin sister, Pin Point. At first glance it’s pretty obvious Trauma was the only one to inherit the ’goddam-big’ gene; she was a little bit shorter than I was. Her long mane looks like it's forest green, but apparently before she'd dyed it that color it was the same color red as her brothers. Apparently she'd gotten sick of other ponies saying how much she looked like her more successful brother.
Her cutie mark was a little of odd. It looked like a single black dot, she told me she got it when she got three double bullseyes in a row when she was playing darts in the rec-room with her dad.
Until the announcement of the Ranger program her job amounted to a stable beat cop. She’d patrol the corridors and keep an eye out for trouble, but in a stable of what was supposed to be the most moral ponies in all of Equestria trouble usually amounted to foals getting into fights.
After she joined up she discovered that her eerie ability to bullseye any target with anything also extended to the rifles in the armory. She was the only recruit to earn a perfect score during the marksmanship exam. She even got a shiny medal.
They were a mixed bag to be sure, were I to pick my preferred team out of a line up I doubt I would have picked this one. Except maybe Trauma, seriously he's huge; I once saw him hit his head on a hanging light.
***
(Authors notes: This is my first fic. I was inspired to write it after reading the original Fallout Equestria by Kkat. And if you haven't read it then I don't know what you're doing reading this, go read it! Anyways, first fic blah blah blah. Please don't expect regular updates I'm a busy brony with many unfortunately non-pony related things to do, and I don't have an editor to run these by. I'll update when I can. Tell me what you think and comment with any constructive criticism you may have. Thanks You All For Reading!)
There’ve got to be better ways to wake up in the morning.
I felt two warm forelegs wrap around my chest and heard two very sweet words, “Mornin’ babe.”
That’s better, “Mornin’.”
“Are you actually going to get up?”
“Maybeh,” As in no.
“You wanted me to remind you that you gotta.”
“Why’s that?”
“You said Pin was going to be here early for something and you wanted to get ready before she got here.”
Damn her logic, “Sounds like somethin’ I’d say.”
“Then get up.”
“But you’re warm.”
“Then I’ll make this easy.” My dearest wife removed her legs from round my torso then removed the sheets from the rest of me. Cold air is a distant third to a shower or coffee, but it’ll get you out of bed under the right circumstances.
These ones for examples.
“Oh sweet Celestias shimmering horn!” I sat bolt upright in our bed doing my best to keep my more sensitive anatomy warm. “That wasn’t very nice Summer.”
She just smiled back at me and said, “Then you should’a gotten up.”
“Are you sure I have to?”
“You told me that you do and if you didn’t then I should do something to get you up. You suggested that I hit you.”
If I told her that then it must have been important, “Past me is kind of a jerk.”
She took my messed up logic in perfect stride, “And present you is going to be late, go get ready and I’ll get coffee.”
“Works for me.” I couldn’t help but admire her as she walked out the door of our little room.
I met Summer Nights two years ago in the bar after a particularly long day. I was sitting there sipping hard apple cider from a mug when out of nowhere a very pretty, dark purple, orange maned unicorn sat down next to me. She told the barpony that she’d have what I was having, which was the only thing other than sparkle cola. I looked at her, she looked at me, and we got to drinking. She told me she was a Support Bloc technician who worked on the spark generators that powered the whole stable. I told her I filed papers and exercised all day for the Military Bloc. We hit it off and we got married two months later.
Sometimes I can’t believe how lucky I was to have such a strong, intelligent, and beautiful mare who would actually put up with me.
I half fell out of bed and made my way over to the bathroom. After a nice long shower I inspected myself in the mirror. My fine beige coat was nice and shiny, but my orangy-blond mane was still matted to my head. I rubbed my towel through my mane a little harder, trying my best to get it dry.
Knock Knock Knock
I guessed damp would have to do. I opened the door and was greeted by the sight of long bright green hair and a wide grin. “Good morning Boss, are you ready for the big day?”
“I’m not quite awake yet. Don’t suppose you’d care to remind me what’s going on, I guess I forgot to tell Summer what to remind me about.”
“Perhaps the cup of coffee I see said wife holding will help.” At the time I wasn’t sure how she managed to see Summer when she was looking straight at me, but when I glanced down the hall I saw that Summer was indeed coming towards us floating two cups of coffee. One of the cups was floated into my fetlock.
Like a bolt of lightning the caffeine struck my brain and a wave of memories rolled over me.
“Oh sweet Celestia! Red team’s supposed to be back today! Sorry babe, gotta go.” I passed my coffee back into Summers telekinetic field, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and ran down the hall with Pin Point in tow.
***
I was charging down the halls, rushing as much as I could without running into anypony else (mostly). “How could I possibly forget?” I asked nopony in particular.
“Because your brain apparently runs on caffeine Boss,” snarked Pin Point.
“Thank you private, I’ll make a mental note of that.” My words dripped with sarcasm.
Sarcasm which was immediately ignored, “You might want to write it down for real Boss. Yuh know, just in case.”
“Har de har har.”
We made our way up through the many levels of the Stable until we finally joined everypony else in the stable door atrium. Everypony who mattered in Stable 33 was there. The Council, consisting of two representatives from each Bloc, stood to one side of the stable door ready to welcome Red Team back into the stable personally. General Silver Bullet, both my superior and one of the councilponies for the Military Bloc, was there as well in full dress uniform; standing immediately in front of the door. Pin and I took our positions next to the rest of the Rangers.
The atmosphere was electric. Everypony was chattering about this and that, “What do you think it’s like out there?” “Do you think they’ll bring back souvenirs?” “What should we get for lunch?” I was so excited! Clip was finally coming back, it’d been so long since we’d seen each other. Out of nowhere a noise came from the loudspeaker.
*CRACKLE* Hello Stable 33, Ranger Team Red reporting.*CRACKLE*
A technician tapped some controls on the door control system and pulled down on a large handle. The door ground open, deafening metallic screeches and howls filled the chamber. I wonder if they sounded like that when they were new.
The door inched open. And behind it was Red Team, they stood there waiting for the door to finish opening. They walked in dragging their hooves and hanging their heads like they were going to collapse from exhaustion. It wasn’t until my best friend, Full Clip, was standing in front of the General did I realize what was wrong.
The General asked before I could, “Clip, where’s Butter?”
If the mood had been festive before then it was dead now. Clip didn’t say anything; he just looked the General in the eyes. No one dared say anything. Water Tank and Everheart walked around the General like he wasn’t there and through the door. Everyone froze and just watched them as they walked through the door to the rest of the Stable. I couldn’t not do something; I followed them.
As I got closer I realized that the outside hadn’t returned my friend in the same condition I’d left him. He had a long and rather painful looking scar that started right under his left eye and ended bellow his ear.
“Hey Clip, wait up! What’s going on?”
He kept walking and looked back at me, but he didn’t say anything.
“Clip?”
“Not now, please.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Clip please.”
He rounded on me and got right in my face, “I SAID NOT NOW... please.”
He turned back around and continued down the hall. He was hurting, that much was obvious to me. I stopped trying to follow and just watched him until he was out of sight.
I heard hoofbeats coming up from behind me. “Sarge, is he okay?” Pin had followed me.
“I don’t think so.”
I felt another rather large presence behind me. “What now, sir?” Trauma Bandage too, his toneless dark voice was unmistakable.
“Consider today a free day Private. Go get drunk, read a book, sleep; whatever it is you do when you have free time.”
“Yes sir.” He stalked away making surprisingly little noise for a pony of his size.
“You okay, sir.” A voice that sounded considerably closer to the ground said.
“I’m fine. You should be more worried about Clip.”
“I am. But I know you better. What do you want to do now?”
“Like I said, today’s a day off. But while I’m thinking about it could you tell me what’s going on with you and Amber?”
“It’s nothing, I swear,” She lifted her leg and glared at her pipbuck, “But she’s developed a bit of an attitude problem.”
A sweet little fillies voice emanated from her pipbucks speaker, “Hey! I resent that. I didn’t develop anything I wasn’t programmed to have.”
“That’s funny, I don’t seem to recall programming a sarcasm function.”
“Then maybe I’m just awesome like that.”
“You see what I mean Boss?”
I sighed, “Just try and get it worked out, okay?”
“I’ll try. No promises though. If you need me I’ll be in the workshop.” She trotted down the corridor in the direction of the elevators her exosuit hissing and whirring softly with each step.
In case you’re confused Amber is Impacts homemade, pipbuck based artificial intelligence. She was so named because Imps pipbuck glows a dark yellowish orange, as opposed to the standard bright green. She’s probably in violation of some code or regulation by modifying her pipbuck, but no one seems to give a buck. And honestly I think it suits her.
It was just me and Pin then. I could feel her looking at me, “You’re not okay.”
“You’re probably right.”
“I knew Butter Cream too. She was a friend.”
“Yeah?”
“She used to work security with me. She’s small, but she was a scrapper.”
“We lost a friend, but Clip lost a wife.”
***
It was so quiet in the atrium. Everypony else had gone back to their rooms pretty soon after it stopped being awkward. The only sounds left were my own breath and that kind of silence that can be described as the Earth breathing around you. Although the latter might have been air bubbles in the water pipes.
Across the room from where I was sitting I could see the stable door. It had protected my great great grandfather and my pregnant great great grandmother from the balefire bombs the day they dropped and they continued to protect their son and his son and so on from the radiation that followed. For nearly two hundred years it’d stood resolute against the nuclear horror of the outside world. I always get existential when I’m around them.
It might help you understand what I’m trying to say if I told you the story of how I got my cutie mark. When I was little I never had to worry about bullies because Clip and I were always together, but Butter Cream wasn’t so lucky. She was a year or two younger than us and some of the other colts my age liked to pick on her. It was mostly harmless at first, they would call her some mean names and stuff like that, but it eventually escalated. They started pushing her down and pulling on her mane. Me and Clip did our best to try and stay out of it, but one day we were walking down some corridors and we saw that some of the other colts from our class were gathered around Butter. She was on the ground, crying, and they were kicking her and laughing.
It was wrong. I knew it, then I guess I lost it.
I don’t really remember much about what happened next. Afterwards Clip told me what he saw. He saw me take off down the hall and tackle as many of the bullies as I could to the ground and started smashing their faces with my hooves. The whole time I was screaming, “Leave her alone!” over and over. Apparently even after I beat some of them into unconsciousness I kept hitting them until a security pony pulled me off of them.
While I was out of it Clip had helped Butter run away and got the security pony. While he was doing that I was pounding their leaders head in while the other colts were either too stunned or unconscious to do anything but watch me or drool on themselves. Sometimes I feel guilty, but not much nor for very long.
The same security pony that had pulled me off of that bully escorted me to the clinic. The leader I’d beaten had a concussion and fractured skull, and I’d apparently broken some of my bones on his skull. It wasn’t until after the casts around my forelegs had hardened did I realize that I’d earned my cutie mark. And when Clip brought Butter to see me I saw that he had as well. He was absolutely ecstatic to have gotten his cutie mark, but I was happier to see that Butter was fine than to find out I had a picture on my butt. She was pretty shy at the time, but she thanked me for saving her from the bullies and gave me a sweet roll her mom had made.
She started hanging out with us. And then she started getting closer to Clip. Then they started dating.
I was his best stallion.
I’m not exactly sure if I’m proud of what I did that day, but I’m glad I did it. I hate that I lost control, but what else could a stallion with a stable door cutie mark have done?
I don’t usually tell others about how I got my cutie mark, but you needed context and I would feel dishonest for not telling you.
Back in the present a voice I loved dearly came from behind me, “Are you brooding at the door again?”
I didn’t want to tell her what I was really thinking about so I tried to roll with her setup and make a joke, “Summer, is it wrong for a pony to be jealous of twenty tons of stainless steel and lead?”
I could hear her hoofbeats as she walked up behind me and put her forelegs on my shoulders. She put her head next to mine and whispered into my ear, “Only if you start trying to stab it so you can take its place.” I couldn’t help but smile; she always knew just what to say.
“You’re right. A blow torch would probably work a lot better.” We both laughed. It felt good to just sit there, laughing with my wife, and not having a care in the world. I wish I could’ve stayed there forever.
When we finished laughing at our own joke neither of us said anything. I don’t know what Summer was thinking about but my gaze returned to the massive door. I needed to break the silence. “I guess you heard.”
She paused for a moment before answering, “Yeah.”
“How’d you find me?”
“Lucky guess.” She grabbed my shoulders and rolled me onto my back so that my head rested between her front legs and look me straight in the eyes, “I know what happened is really sad, but it’s not your fault. You don’t have to sit here and think about what you could have done, because there’s nothing you could have done. Even if you’d know that they were in danger you wouldn’t know where to find them. And besides that, the door was supposed to stay shut either until they came back or their time ran out. So we’re going home right now and getting you out of this little funk.” She smiled down at me as she bent to give me an upside down kiss.
I was stunned to say the least, “Is this really appropriate, given the circumstances?”
“It wasn’t a request.”
***
Fallout Equestria by Kkat
(Authors note: The final story is still kind of in flux. I’m pretty sure I know what I want to do, and you may see it too (don’t ruin it for everyone else) so tell me what you think of how it’s building up so far. )
“Sweetheart?” a very tired voice from a very tired face buried in a pillow said.
“Yes?”
“I think it’s broken.”
BEEP BEEP BEEP
“You know I think you’re right.”
“Could you fix it please?”
BEEP BEEP SMASH
“Fixed.”
“Works for me.”
It might have been broken, but it still did its job. “Well, I’m up now. How ‘bout you?”
“Can’t talk, sleeping.”
“Of course you are.”
***
Because our Stable was supposedly larger than a lot of others we had more than one restaurant. There were maybe four or five scattered around areas of higher activity, mostly where people worked. I usually frequented the one nearest to my office on the upper levels. Today I decided to take a stroll to The Commissary.
The Commissary was situated closer to the clinic and maintenance offices on the lower levels, and was thus mostly frequented by doctors and techs. It looked a lot like an old timey diner, if that diner were buried under a mountain. There were booths, tables, barstools at the counter, and a kindly old buck with a graying mane manning the grill. It was as closed to a real life cliché as you could get without a laugh track.
After the incident with the clock I made my way down there for some breakfast. Hay bacon and apple fritters; my usual with a coffee chaser. The bacon was crunchy, the apples sweet, and the coffee was creamy and nicely bitter. You couldn’t ask for a nicer breakfast. Lucky for me that coffee didn’t count against meal allowances, so refills were unlimited.
So I sat there for a few hours, sipping my joe and contemplating my severely limited view of the universe. Have you ever had one of those moments where you lose yourself in thought so completely that time loses all meaning, and minutes start to feel like hours or vice versa? I guess I had one of those moments because when I finally noticed my cup was empty the breakfast rush had come and gone. I was almost alone with the exception of Mr. Griddle who was cleaning off plates in his sink.
After considering my lack of beverage I scooted myself out of my nicely warmed spot in a booth and relocated to a stool at the counter. Mr. Griddle was hunched over his sink, but I guess he heard me coming.
He looked over his shoulder and kept scrubbing a plate, “Need anything?”
“Refill would be nice.”
“If you drink anymore your eyes’ll turn brown.”
“How about one more before I go.”
He put down his scrub brush and grabbed the coffee pot. “Alright.” He started pouring, “How’re you doin’? You look like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
“It’s… complicated. You know the Ranger program?”
He stopped pouring my coffee and cocked an eyebrow. “That pre-war thing with the armor? What’s that got to do with anything?”
“No not that. That’s the Steel Ranger program, I think. I’m talking about the thing the council was voting on a few months ago.”
He propped himself up on the counter. “Oh, that thing , where they’re sending ponies outside? Yeah, I heard the bad news the other day. It’s all anypony was talkin’ about.”
“Yeah, that’s the one. Me and some others are next to go out.” I took a sip of my coffee. “Oh, that’s nice.”
“I guess I can understand why you might be a little… cautious about going out. You said others, anypony I’d know?”
“Maybe. Impact Crater?”
“Her? Sure, I know her. Nice filly. Kinda an oddball though, always whispering to her pipbuck.”
“Yeah, she is isn’t she? How about Pin Point?”
“Is she the cop or the plumber?”
“She used to work for security.”
“Yeah I remember her. She broke up a fight in here a while ago, she put a bucks head through one of my table when he took a bite out of her ear; took me forever to clean up the blood.”
“Wow.”
“Yep. It wasn’t even during the fight, apparently some idiot tried was a little sore about getting beaten down by a mare.”
“That definitely sounds like my Pin.” Our little chat was turning into a fun little game. “How about Trauma Bandage?”
That one caught him off guard. “Oh.”
“Oh?” Less fun.
He looked down for a second, like he was considering just saying nothing. “I used to know him pretty well, a lot of ponies that come here did. He’d come in every day, get something to eat, and just talk. Not always with me, but with anypony who would talk back, and even that wasn’t completely necessary. Then one day he didn’t show up at all. He didn’t come back for almost two weeks. When he finally came back he’d clammed up tighter than the Stable door. He only ever opened his mouth to order and eat. Something bad happened to him. You can see it in the way he moves, like his hooves are made of lead, but he just keeps on goin’. He used to be a real happy guy. Must’ve been pretty bad if it got him to stop talkin’.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. I mean. I knew that something bad had happened, I’m not completely dense, but to hear it like that. It was just, I don’t know, eye opening. And I was shaken. I defaulted to courtesy. “You’ve, uh, really given me a lot to think about. Thank you.” I downed the rest of my cup and passed the cup back. “I’ve gotta go.”
Just as I was almost out the door he stopped me. “Hey!”
I stopped. I briefly considered pretending I didn’t hear him. I turned to face him. His demeanor was considerably less warm than it had been a few minutes ago. “Yes?”
His voice had taken on a harder edge. “He’s like family to a lot of us down here, so if you’re going to take him out there then you have to promise me you’ll talk to him first. I know he hasn’t talked to you alread and judging by your reaction I know that you haven’t thought to.”
“Okay.”
If looks could kill I’d have been a stain on the wall. “Promise me.”
“I promise.” I trotted out the door and let the pneumatics slide it shut. The hall was empty and the artificial sun bulbs were flickering ever so slightly. I just stood there for a while, trying to figure out what I should do. Mr. Griddle was right; if Trauma had a problem then I had to talk to him. If not for the good of the mission, then for his own good.
My train of thought was interrupted by the public address channel flaring to life on my pipbuck. “Ranger Team Blue, please report to General Bullets office immediately.”
My talk with Trauma was going to have to wait until after our meeting with the General.
I made my way up through the levels of the Stable towards the military offices. The Commissary was situated on a lot lower level than my usual place, which meant my walk was considerably longer than usual. By the time I actually got to the Generals office the rest of my team was already there, standing at attention, when I joined them.
The General was wearing the same freshly pressed dress uniform that he’d worn the day before in the atrium and his voice was imposingly deep. “Thank you for joining us,” he said like a fed up teacher.
I seamlessly changed the subject, “What do you need sir?”
He chose his words carefully, so as to not accidentally convey the wrong message. “After yesterday’s events the council convened to vote on whether or not to disband the Ranger Program…”
“But, sir…” Pin interrupted.
The general interrupted her right back, “I wasn’t finished private! As I was saying, we put it to a vote and despite the untimely death of Private Butter Cream we are going to continue according to plan.”
I was mildly surprised, “After yesterday I’m surprised the rest of the council didn’t decide to weld the doors shut and smash the controls.”
“We nearly did. I suggested that we get Red Team in there for their debriefing, to see if it was worth going out or not. Unfortunately, no one seems to be able to find them.”
That I didn’t expect, “It’s a big Stable sir, and if I’d just lost my wife or friend I wouldn’t want to be found either.”
“I can understand that. I can also understand if we couldn’t find one of them, maybe two, but all three?”
He had a point, which worried me, “Perhaps they’re all hiding together.”
“Hmm. Perhaps, but I don’t like it. I want you and your team to do a thorough search of the whole Stable and find them.”
“Sir, I don’t mean to criticize, but you want four ponies to search the entire Stable, by themselves, to find three other ponies who probably don’t want to be found?”
“I’m trying to keep this low key, ponies are already on edge, and the last thing we need is panic. No ponies going to find it odd that you four are walking around together, and if you happen to find your three traumatized friends, then that’s bonus.”
“I understand sir. Permission to speak freely.”
“Go ahead.”
“Sir, this is still going to take forever.”
“Not necessarily. Private Crater!”
Imps mind must have been drifting. She hadn’t expected to be called on and had let her posture slacken, and she had been staring into the ceiling. She immediately snapped back into attention, “Sir!”
“If you needed to disappear for a while, where would you hide?”
“The lower levels. Maintenance is basically a maze, if we didn’t get maps for our pipbucks on our first day we’d have been getting lost constantly.”
“And Water Tank was maintenance prior to enlisting, correct? So he’d know all the good hiding spots?”
“He worked on water filtration and storage, all those pipes and cisterns, lots of nooks and crannies.”
He turned back to me, “Then you’ll start there and work your way up. Any questions.”
“What do we do when we find them?” We all looked at Trauma. His question was probably the most critical.
The general paused for less than a second, “I’ll leave that to your discretion.”
***
The maintenance areas look about how you’d expect them to look. Lots of pipes and ducts hanging from the ceiling, fewer lights than anywhere else, and everything smelled damp. The lights sucked so badly I had to turn on my pipbuck lamp just to see properly. I swear I saw at least three rats down there.
“Would you stop freaking out.” Imp was right behind me. I didn’t know where Pin and Trauma had gone after Imp uploaded the map to our pipbucks and we split up.
I looked over my shoulder and saw her own displeased face lit by her pipbuck, “I’m not freaking out. I just keep nearly hitting my head on all these stupid pipes.”
“Oh the benefits of small stature. Food portions are always big enough, clothes are never too small, and cranial trauma is nigh nonexistent.”
“Yeah yeah. You’re all smiles until you need something of the top shelf. Then you’re all, ‘Help me tall ponies, help me.’ and then all your lack of brain damage is useless.”
“I bet a short pony invented the step ladder.”
I hunched my head lower and continued down the narrow tunnels. A few tunnels converged into a room that I could stand up straight in. “Alright let’s take five.”
“Wuss.”
“Hey. I’m still your CO. I could still punish you or something.”
“Oh, really? How?”
“I could make you do pushups.”
She held her foreleg and waved at me, causing her strength enhancing super suit to whir like a robot.
“I could take away your workshop privileges.”
That got her attention. She narrowed her eyes and nearly hissed at me, “You wouldn’t.”
I smiled back at her, “Calm down, I’m kidding.”
Her eyes widened, “Oh…”
We sat there quietly for a few minutes and rested. There are few thing creepier than a dimly lit maintenance tunnel, which didn’t help when some piece of machinery suddenly gurgled and hissed right behind me. “Sweet merciful Celestia! How did you work down here?”
She just looked at me like I was an idiot. I have to admit she wasn’t far off.
I regained some semblance of composure before asking her a real question, “How much more is there?”
“I don’t know about Pin and Trauma, but we’re pretty much done. We might as well go up to the next level.”
“What’s on the next level?”
“Spark reactors and storage mostly.”
“Mind if we make a stop before we start searching?”
“Why would I care?”
“Right. You lead, I think I’m lost.”
“Can’t you read a map?”
“You call this a map? This think looks like the technical schematics for an artificial cow stomach.”
“Here let me see. Amber! What did I tell you about taking creative license with my files.”
Amber snickered, “Doesn’t it look pretty? And you can still use it!”
“I don’t care, fix it.”
“Fiiine… Done.”
When I looked back down I saw the map was far easier to understand. Instead of looking like some kind of abstract art project it looked like a circular floorplan. “How did you do that?”
Imps pushed her chest out in pride, “I modified my pipbuck to be wireless a while ago. I can broadcast files and other stuff to terminals and pipbuck without having to plug into them.”
“Neat. Why?”
“So I can back up my notes to my terminal.”
“Huh. Can you do anything else?”
Ambers voice started coming from my pipbuck, “This! Wow, it’s nearly empty in here. So roomy!”
“Well, uh, thanks I guess.”
“Yeah, she does that every now and then.”
“Why?”
“Because she can.”
“Huh, well, you lead I’ll follow.”
We both stood up and I followed down the twists and turns of the tunnels. One last turn and we were back at the stairs. Then we were up the stairs and on the next level.
I took a quick look around, “I think I know my way from here, this way.”
The corridors on this level are much nicer compared to the level below. I don’t have to crouch, not even a little, and it’s glorious. And if I remembered correctly it was a right, two lefts, another right, and we’re there. A door just like every other door, with one exception, it has a sign over it that says ‘REACTOR’. I clicked the control and walk through with Imp in tow.
There were three or four ponies milling around, checking readouts, and opening access panels. However, I was only married to one of them. Summer was looking around inside one of the big sparking machines. I snuck up behind her, tip-hoofing and slowing my breath. Ever so slowly I put my hooves over her eyes, “Guess who.”
“Princess Luna and her royal court?”
I spun her around and embraced her, “Not exactly.”
She hugged me right back, “What are you doing down here?”
“Just running some errands for Silver. What are you doing?”
“We’re having some trouble with output, it’s fluctuating like crazy.”
Imp peaked into the machine through the access panel, “Let me take a look.”
Summer looked down at her, “Uh, sure, I guess. Be careful, it’s very sensitive.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t touch anything,” she stuck her pipbuck into the opening and said, “Amber do a scan.”
He pipbuck chimed, “Rodger Dodger!”
Summer and I looked at them for a second then returned our gaze to one another.
“So how much longer are you going to be down here?”
“I can take a break when we figure out what’s wrong. If you can wait, we can get lunch.”
“Sure. Sound okay to you Imp?”
A second later Imps pipbuck chimed, “I don’t think the General will mind if we stop for lunch. How’s it look Amber?”
“I’m detecting an obstruction in the primary capacitor bank.”
Summer was clearly surprised, “Woah, where can I get one of those?”
Imp looked up from her pipbuck, “You already do. Pipbucks are capable of a lot more than we realize. Amber just taps into that potential.”
“Can I ask her a question?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, um, Amber? What kind of obstruction?”
There was a soft hum and Amber spoke again, “Unknown, but it appears to be metallic.”
Summer was wistful for a moment, “That is so cool. Well the access for the capacitors is right over here.” She moved around the giant machine to another panel.
She floated the access panel out of the way. Her horn glowed and illuminated the interior, “I think I see something. What is that?”
BEEP
For a moment I thought I recognized that sound.
BEEP BEEP
Then I realized that I did recognize it. I’d heard it only once before during a weapons demonstration years ago.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
I tackled Summer out of the way and screamed to everyone else, “GET DOWN!”
BOOM
***
Level Up
New Perk: Filly Killer – You have a way with the fillies. You now have unique dialogue options when dealing with the fairer sex. And, just in case, you now do 10% more damage to mares.
Stupid alarm clock. Why did it have to go off right then, I felt so good. I must have had an amazing sleep because I felt all warm and fuzzy and happy and lots of other good stuff. I wondered if this was how pegasi felt when they slept on clouds. I’d like to imagine it is.
“C’n shumpony pleash turn of the alarm clock?” Why was I slurring my words? I didn’t remember drinking.
Somepony answered me, “Unfortunately no, we can’t. But the good news is that ‘alarm clock’ means you’re alive Sargeant.”
“Of coursh I’m alive, why wouldn’ I be. I feel sho good.” I finally opened my eyes. I was in the clinic, of that much I was sure, but something was off. Everything was red.
“Well you very nearly weren’t. And the reason you feel so good is the med-x drip we’ve got you on.”
“What happened?”
“There was an explosion, down in the reactor room. The spark generators have been severely damaged, as have you.”
An explosion? That couldn’t be right. If there had been an explosion I would remember that, “Whatsh wrong with me?”
“Nothing too severe. Some second and third degree burns along your back and neck, and some shrapnel as well. No broken bones as far as we can tell and a slight concussion. You’re luck considering some of the other injuries we’ve seen.”
Oh crap. “Wheresh Shummer?”
“Who?”
“Shummer Nightsh, my wife.”
“Oh, Summer? I thought you said ‘Shimmer’ She’s fine. Minor burns. She’ll be out of here within the hour. If you hadn’t been there she probably would have died. And sorry about the slurring, side effect of med-x makes it a little hard to talk.”
“What about Imp?”
“Who’s Imp. Do you mean Impact Crater?”
“Yesh!”
“She’s not doing so hot. About as bad as you. Her suit thing saved her from the worst of it. Some shrapnel did pierce one of her lungs, but all in all she’ll be out of here alongside you.”
“You shaid there was worsh. What happened?”
“There was one casualty. Valve Knob had a piece of shrapnel piece his temple. He died instantly.”
“What caused the ‘splosion?”
“Miss Crater was still conscious when we got there. She claimed there was a ‘frag mine’ in the generator. We’re not sure that’s a thing so it might be shock.”
I remembered. I remembered everything. Looking for Red Team, going to see Summer, the mine. “It wasn’t an accident. It was shabo… saba… a trap.”
His expression changed from one of calm and concern to one of fear and concern, “Are you sure? I mean, how could they make a generator explode?”
“I’m sure. It’sh that thing you shaid, the mine, it’s an explosive that explodes when a pony gets near it. It went off when Shummer opened the thing.”
“I should probably tell the General.”
He turned to run out the door, but before he could get out I stopped him, “Hey, wait! One more question. Why’s everything red? Is something wrong with my eyes?”
He was just this side of panicked, but the question calmed him a little, “No your eyes are fine. It’s the generator. When it exploded the lights went out, then red lights came on, and a new message from Scootaloo played over the radio.”
“New message? What new message?”
“Right after the red lights came on the new message played. It was something about a ‘critical system failure’ and ‘emergency protocols’ and some other stuff. She said the backup generators would last for a few years if we were careful and the Stable door was opened so we could get out, just in case.”
That raised some alarm bells, “Wait, what?! The doors open?”
“Sure, I mean, I guess. I haven’t checked, but I suppose it should be.”
Dots were connecting in my head, and they were drawing a picture I didn’t like. “Okay, go tell the General, and tell him I need to see him.”
He ran off and I was left in my bed. I tried to look around but my view was blocked by privacy curtains. I looked around my little area and found some clampy tong things that could extend my reach. I grabbed them in my mouth and stretched over to the curtain on my left. I gingerly opened the curtain. When I saw what was on the other side I nearly dropped my tongs. It was the tech pony the doctor had mentioned. He was looking at me with lifeless eyes and a wedge of metal sticking out of the side of his head. I tried to close the curtain again, but I couldn’t reach it. I went to reach for the other side, but I could still feel his eyes looking at me. I did my best to ignore the dead buck and hoped the other side was less grim. I pulled it open just an inch or two to make sure. I saw something moving, so that was a good sign. I flung them open the rest of the way and was surprised to see Imp.
She looked back at me and smiled, “Hey, Boss. What’s up?”
“Oh, not much. Got exploded.”
“Really? Me too. Small Stable, huh?”
Her torso was wrapped in bandages, oddly enough, over her suit. “Why are you still wear your exo?”
She got a really dreamy look on her face, “They couldn’t figure out how to get it off, so they operate around it. Hey, Boss, am I flying?”
“No, doctors said it’s med-x.”
“Med-x? More like *snrkt* heaven-x.” She started laughing at her own joke.
I didn’t think I was going to get through to her now, “Amber, you still there?”
Imps pipbuck lit up and I could see an amber fillies face smiling at me, “Where else would I be?”
“I don’t know, but could you tell me if she’s okay?”
“She’s fine. High as the sun, but the doctors did a good job.”
“Good.”
“Hey, Boss, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“When you were looking for Red Team, why didn’t you ask me to scan for their pipbuck tags?”
“Their what?”
“Their tags. Each of their pipbucks has a locator in it that anypony else can use to find them, why didn’t you ask me to look for them.”
“You mean the whole time we could have just found their exact position?”
“Well, yes and no.”
“What do you mean ‘yes and no’?”
“You would normally be able to find them with their tags, but theirs have been disabled. Which is weird because users aren’t supposed to be able to disable them.”
“Then how did they?”
“You’d need someone about as tech savvy as Imp to physically remove it.”
Imp giggled, “No one else could figure it out, trust me, cuz I’m the smartest pony in the whole Stable!”
Amber was slightly exacerbated, “Little Miss Modest isn’t too far off. She’s the only pony I know of who could have done it, and I know she didn’t.”
“That doesn’t bode well for any of us. I need to talk to the General.”
The door hissed open and the same doctor who’d run off walked in with General Bullet.
“General, we need to talk.”
He came to my bedside, “I should hope so. Two of my soldiers are in the clinic after an explosion, tell me what happened.”
“We’d just finished searching the bottom floor and we were going to start the next one when I suggested we take a break. We went to the reactor room so I could visit Summer. While we were there Summer mentioned some trouble with the reactor and Imp volunteered to help. Amber found the problem and Summer went to fix it. When she opened the panel I hear a frag mine triggering and I tackled Summer out of the way before it exploded.”
“That’s good work son. How do you know what a mine sounds like?”
“The weapons demonstration, remember, all those years ago?”
“Ah, yes, I do seem to recall Sergeant Clip nearly blowing his leg off with a mine.”
“That’s not all sir. I think I know who put it there.”
“You do!? How?”
“Did you know pipbucks have locator tags?”
“I… nearly forgot, we could use them to find Red Team.”
“That’s just the thing sir. Amber says that Red Teams have been disabled.”
“Is she sure?”
“If she wasn’t she wouldn’t have told me.”
“I see. Do you have any other evidence?”
“Well, the mine. You can only get those from the military armory, not even the guards can get in there. And I think I know why they blew the generator, so the door would open automatically and they could make their escape.”
“You’re right. It’s circumstantial, but at this point I’m willing to believe it. Red Team has betrayed their home. The only question is why.”
“That’s what I intend to find out. Sir, with your permission I’d like to take Blue Team out to hunt them down.”
“I’m not going to order you to. But once you’re out there you’re free to do what you believe is best for the future of the Stable. For the moment, however, your orders are to stay in that bed until you’re well again and get some rest.”
I saluted him, “Yes, sir. Shouldn’t be a problem sir.”
He returned my salute, and like that I was out.
***
Level Up
New Perk: Fast Learner- You are good at putting the pieces together. You gain experience 10% faster than normal.
A week of bed rest and sucking down bland healing potions had left me feeling like a million bits, if bored out of my skull. There’re only so many times you can count the number of rings holding up your curtains. When I wasn’t getting visits from my friends and loved ones I was thinking about Clip and why he’d betray everyone he’d ever known. I just couldn’t understand it, and I couldn’t think of anything that would make him do so.
Imp spent most of her time sleeping and babbling nonsense. I guess her smaller size meant that med-x had a more profound effect on her than me. She didn’t share my concern; although, to be fair, she also forgot how to swallow for a little while.
We were eventually weaned off the painkillers. I felt less lethargic, but definitely more painful. I felt achy all over and my hide where I was burned didn’t feel like it was bending like normal, like it was made of leather or something. The doctors told me it would feel better when the nerves grew back into my skin.
I was supremely relieved to hear that we could go. I had something I needed to do before anything else. I made my way to the residential area where everypony lived. I moved past row after row of near identical doors until I found the one I was looking for; Number 117, Clip and Butters room.
I was a little hesitant at first; I wasn’t sure what I’d find. Maybe Clip left another mine, maybe Clip was still inside waiting for me so he could finish the job, maybe there’s nothing. I worked up the nerve to open the door and found that my lattermost suspicion had been confirmed. The room was perfectly clean. There were no clothes on the ground, the bed was made with military precision, and the dresser had been emptied.
The only thing I found was a piece of paper on the desk. Something was written on it. It was really crude, almost like somepony tried to hold the pen with their hooves instead of their mouth. Scrawled on the paper was the following message;
HELP
THEY HAVE HER
THEY’RE WATCHING
It didn’t make any sense. I needed to show somepony.
KNOCK KNOCK
“Come in!”
The door opened and Pin looked through the door at me, “You’ve been out of the hospital for all of ten minutes and the first thing you do is visit the room of Stable 33’s first traitor? I’d accuse you of having mixed up priorities if you didn’t have a look on you face that said you found something.”
“I did find something, take a look at this.”
She scanned the note and considered its contents, “What does he mean ‘They have her’. Who’s her?”
“I’m not sure, but I think it’s Butter.”
“How could somepony have her? She’s dead.”
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember Clip saying she’s dead. In fact, I don’t remember him saying much of anything.”
She didn’t argue my point. “Okay then, who’s ‘They’ and how could they be watching, Red Team were the only ones to walk through that door.”
“I don’t know, but if they were watching then Clip took an awful big risk writing this note. But I’ve got an idea. Let’s go find Imp.”
I grabbed the note and we made our way to the one place I was sure Imp would go when she got out of the clinic. The workshop.
The air stunk of oil and metal shavings. There was also the high pitched grind of metal cutting metal. Imp was at a workbench cutting a length of pipe in two. We waited until she’d completed her cut, so as not to startle the little pony with the power tools. She powered down her saw and turned to meet us. “Sup?”
“How’d you know we were here?”
“That door’s louder than you think. What do you need?”
“I need Amber for a second, I need to test a theory.”
“Sure thing. Amber, you have a visitor.”
The screen on Imps pipbuck hummed to life, “How can I help?”
“A few days ago you said that Red Teams tags have been disabled. Did you check Butter Creams?”
“Why would I? I was under the impression she was deceased.”
“Humor me.”
“Okay… huh, that’s odd.”
“What is it?”
“It’s still active. And if I’m correct it’s a long long ways away.”
“Good. Could you synchronize her tag to all of Blue Teams pipbucks?”
“I did it before you finished that sentence. Check your eyes forward sparkle.”
I brought up my EFS and sure enough among all the other marks showing nearby ponies there was a bigger diamond shape that didn’t move when I shifted side to side.
“Good job. Could you send a message to Trauma to have him meet us in General Bullets office asap?”
“Say please.”
“Alright, please. Now lets go.”
We met Trauma right outside the Generals office. I went in first, followed by everypony else.
The General got up from his desk to greet us, “Afternoon. Sergeant, Imp, How are you feeling?”
I answered for myself and Imp, “Much better thank you.”
“What can I do you for?”
“I think I’ve come across something important.”
“What is it?”
I passed him the note. “I found this in Clips room.”
He read the note carefully. “And you didn’t find anything else?”
“No, sir. His room was completely bare.”
He considered this new information, “The implications this raises are troubling, to say the least.”
“If you’re thinking what I’m thinking sir, then you know we have to leave immediately.”
“Are you sure? Didn’t you get out of the clinic an hour ago?”
“I’m sure. We’re ready.”
“Okay, let’s get you outfitted.”
“Just a second sir.”
I turned to Imp, “Amber, could you send a message to Summer. Tell her to meet us at the Stable door atrium.”
Amber sang her answer, “What’s the magic word!”
“Ugh, Please?”
“Sure thing! Done.”
I turned back to the General, “Ready sir.”
“To the armory then.”
The armory was right next to the firing range. The door was a solid slab locked by two terminals. The General took his place by one, and I took my place at the other. We typed in our unique passwords, scanned our retinas, and, after a quick wipe, scanned our taste buds. The door ground up and revealed a long room with several rows of shelves and dozens of lockers.
Four of the lockers had our names on them. I went up to mine and opened the door. Inside there were a few personal items. A heavy leather jacket with a Stable 33 door branded on the flank; it’d look a lot like my cutie mark if it didn’t have the number. There was a battle saddle rig that could be adapted to a number of different guns and had some saddle bags attached to the back and holsters for smaller weapons. The last thing was a gryphon trench knife. Supposedly my many times great grandfather took it off the body of a gryphon commando that had nearly killed him during the Gryphon Wars. It looked a bit like a standard combat knife except that it had a spiked guard that gryphons used for punching in close quarters. A pony can’t punch like that, but the spikes are supposed to be a nasty surprise for anypony trying to buck you in the face.
I pulled on the coat and put on the battlesaddle. I sheathed the knife with a smooth shick. I looked at the rest of my team. We all wore the same jacket, but our equipment differed quite a bit. Trauma had pulled his massive hammer out of his locker and put an automatic pistol from the wall behind us in his shoulder holster. Pin had her custom rifle slung across her back and a silenced automatic pistol in its holster. Imp had her insanely intimidating grenade machine gun attached, gun on one side and ammo pack on the other, I’m sure her exosuit made it as light as a feather.
I moved to the wall and selected my preferred load out; a combat shotgun with a barrel magazine on my left, and an assault rifle on my right. I preferred this configuration because it would allow me to fight effectively at mid and short range. I kicked two levers and the actions on both weapons cycled with a satisfying click.
We all loaded up on provisions; canteens and freeze dried food packs. We must have look like big damned heroes right then. We were armed as heavily as any pre-war commando unit. I’d go so far as to say that we might have given Macintosh’s Marauders a run for their money.
I spoke to the rest of my team, “Let’s go.”
We followed the General out of the offices and down the stairs to the Atrium. The door was indeed ajar as the doctor had told me, and Summer was waiting for us. I excused myself.
I walked up to Summer, she was clearly very worried, “Hey Babe.”
“Hey. Are you sure you have to go now? I mean you just got out of the clinic and…”
I cut her off, “I’m sure. I think I found something really important, and if I’m right then we need to find Clip.”
“If you’re sure, then…” she threw her arms around my neck, pulled me in tight and kissed me.
I have no idea how long it lasted, but when we were done everypony else was looking at us with expressions varying from surprise to respect.
“Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, and good luck.”
Summer left. She didn’t want to see me leave.
Pin hit me on the shoulder, “You are one lucky buck loverboy. I wish I had somepony who’d kiss me like that.”
I smirked, “I bet you do.”
The General coughed, “Sergeant, before you go I have something I need to tell you. It’s been an honor to know you, and I commend your bravery.”
“Thank you sir.”
“Good luck Sergeant.”
We saluted one another and the General left, leaving me alone with my team. “Are you all ready?”
Imp spoke first, “Can we do this before I lose my nerve?”
Pin took off down the tunnel yelling behind her, “Last one there’s a rotten muffin!”
No one gave chase, but we trotted out the door after her. The tunnel was circular and was made of the same rock some of the lower levels are carved out of.
We found Imp at the end of the tunnel struggling with a second metal door. “Hey help me get this.”
Trauma walked up to the door and spun the release handle. The entire door slid up and Pin fell flat on her face. Bright light flooded the tunnel. I was the first to step outside, followed by Trauma, then Imp.
Everything was so… big. Big and empty. Oh so very empty. I’d never seen so much empty space before. I’d read about the fields and deserts and mountains, but words can’t do it justice. I didn’t see any fields, but what I saw was almost what I’d pictured a desert would look like. There were massive orangish stone pillars scattered around the horizons. They didn’t look like mountains, their sides were too steep and their tops were flat. I decided that they must be mesas instead of mountains. Something else I noticed was that we were really high up. The door had been placed midway up the side of one of the many mesas. The ground bellow wasn’t made of rolling sand dunes, it looked perfectly flat. The sky wasn’t what I expected at all. It was gray and looked all lumpy. I’d kind of been hoping to see a grand blue expanse with the sun shining brightly, I was honestly disappointed.
We were on a smallish ledge with a wooden railing. The railing encircled the ledge and continued down a skinny trail off to our left.
Off in the distance I could see massive craters pockmarking the land at random. If I was right then they were balefire bomb craters. But what were the Zebras aiming at out here? They couldn’t have known where 33 was, could they? Had they been firing blindly? Were they just burning everything?
Pin finally joined us and was transfixed by the sight. When I looked at her she was staring at the horizon with her mouth agape.
“I guess that makes you the rotten muffin.”
***
Level Up
New Perk: Gun Nut- You are something of a firearm savant. You gain +10 to small guns and repair.
The spiraling trail to the bottom of the mesa was mildly treacherous. Two hundred years ago it was probably just wide enough for one pony at a time, but two hundred years of erosion had not been kind. I made the mistake of putting some weight on the safety railing and I had the opportunity to watch as it tumbled into oblivion. Trauma had the worst of it, even hugging the side of the mesa he barely fit on the path.
Still, all things considered, the hike down had been pretty uneventful. When we got to the bottom we faced a rather glaring issue. There was nothing there. With the exception of the mesas in the distance there were no distinguishing features to give us any hints as to where we should go.
Imp was the first to point this out. “I don’t know about you guys, but I didn’t see any towns or roads or anything. Where do we go now?”
I brought up my EFS and looked at my compass. Butters pipbuck tag pointed directly away from the mesa. “We still have a direction,” I pointed in the direction of the tag, “We might as well follow it.”
We started walking. And walking. And still more walking. There wasn’t a single sign of life anywhere. Every now and then we saw some carbonized twigs growing out of the ground that might have been cactuses at some point.
The sky was starting to grow dark by then. We couldn’t see the sun, but our pipbuck clocks told us that it was late afternoon. We decided to stop for the night. During Ranger training we’d been taught how to start a fire, but none of the sparse plant life looked like it was capable of burning. So without the warmth of a fire we just spent the night shivering and taking turns keeping watch. I took first watch and had the pleasure of watching the sky go completely dark. I spent a few hours flipping through my pipbucks menus and staring at the clouds. When my shift ended I woke up Pin for hers and went to sleep.
I had to hand it to the wasteland, if it was nothing else, it was dull.
I woke up a few hours later. The sky had brightened enough that we could see what we were doing. After we ate some of our rations we were on our way again.
I won’t bore you with the details of our thrilling adventures in even more walking, but sometime around midday we finally saw something on the horizon. On the horizon we saw what could have been the suggestion of buildings. They weren’t on the path to the tag, but we all agreed that it was worth checking out.
A few more hours walking and we found ourselves in the middle of a ghost town. There were only a handful of wooden buildings, all leaning to one side like they’d been hit by a massive wind. There was a barn off to one side, and behind it a grove of dead trees with black leaves.
We found a long faded sign knocked onto its back. On it were the words, ‘WELCOME TO DODGE JUNCTION! HOME O…” The rest was illegible. My pipbuck confirmed the name of the town with an alert message.
As a team we went from building to building, looking for any signs of recent activity. The first building was a sheriff’s office with a couple desks, some holding cells, and a gun cabinet that had long since been looted. The next building was a general store. We found some canned food that might still be good. All the other building didn’t have anything apparently useful. The only even mildly interesting thing was a giant machine in the barn that had a pony sized hamster wheel attached.
Just outside of town there was another building, this one collapsed, with a much smaller shack next to it. We weren’t going to find anything in the collapsed house, but we did find something near it. Train tracks, and on them sitting like a blessing from the goddess herself was a pump cart. All we had to do was use it and we’d be blazing across…
BLAM
I wasn’t sure what hit me in the back, but it felt like Celestia had come down from the heavens and smashed my spine with a mallet. I fell flat on my face. The door to the shack burst open a purple unicorn mare burst out of the shack floating a shotgun, “FREEZE! Step away from the… from the… Clip? Is that you?”
I rolled over and yelled at her, “You shot me! In the back!”
She raised her shotgun again, “Who’re you? And why’re you wearing Clips jacket?”
She looked like she was going to shoot me again until she noticed my three friends pointing assorted weaponry at her. She dropped her gun and backed away. I got back up, “What do you mean his jacket? How do you know Clip?”
She started stammering, “I-I-I met him a f-few months ago. Him and three others came to N-N-New Appleloosa out of the desert. Told us they were from a S-Stable and a bunch of other stuff and please don’t kill me.”
I looked back at my team and told them to put their weapons away. That calmed my ambusher a little. I turned back to her, “When was the last time you saw him?”
“Not for a while, but I’ve been out scavenging for the past few weeks. Look, I’m sorry I shot you, but I thought you were gonna steal my cart. I can make it up to you. I’ll give you a ride, I’m heading back to town now.”
“Alright, alright, just calm down. What’s your name?”
“Plum, Plum Jelly.”
“Nice to meet you Plum, you can call me Boss.”
“Boss?”
“If you prefer you can call me Sarge or sir or mister…”
“So it’s not your name?”
“Nope.”
“Are you gonna tell me your name?”
“Nope.”
“Fair enough,” She grabbed a stuffed rucksack out of the shack, “Well, let’s load up.”
We climbed onto the cart and were on our way. Plum and Pin were first on the handles. I laid on my stomach while Trauma took a look at my back.
I definitely felt like I’d been shot in the back, “So, will I live doc?”
He looked my back over, “You’re fine. You’ll bruise.”
“Bruise? I got shot!”
“Coat’s thick. Door’s thicker. “
I’d nearly forgotten that Plum had shot through a door, “Oh, right.”
I rolled over and was treated to a sharp pain that slowly ebbed away. I watched the sky move by at a slow and steady pace. The wheels and mechanical bits and pieces squeaked with each cycle of the handle.
Imp started to get restless. She got up and offered to take Pin’s place at the handle.
Plum looked at the diminutive filly, “Are you sure about that?”
Everyone looked at Plum, me and Pin smirked at one another. Imp grabbed the handle and said, “Hold on.”
Everyone but Plum grabbed some sort of hand hold, Plum continued to pump the handle. Imp pumped the handle faster and faster. The squeak from the wheels became a constant squeal.
I couldn’t tell how fast we were moving, but the wind was blasting my mane back and I could barely keep my eyes open. Plum, bless her heart, tried her best to hold on to the handle. She wasn’t pumping it anymore, but rather was being shaken by it. She screamed, her voice fluctuating with each up and down movement, “SToOoOoOoOoP!”
Slowly Imp eased down to normal equine levels and eventually stopped altogether. Plum tried to keep herself upright by holding onto the handle. She failed, collapsed, crawled over to the edge, and vomited.
She looked over her shoulder at Imp, “What are you?” She got an odd look on her face and vomited over the edge again.
Imp looked down at her and said, “Consider it me getting even for you shooting my friend.”
“I’m already giving you a ride!”
“You could have killed him! I didn’t think we were quite square. And now, we are. I’d say sorry, but that would defeat the purpose of getting even.”
“Well, at the very least could you do that again, minus the vengeance?”
Imp thought about it for a moment, “Sure, why not.”
Imp started pumping the handle again, though at a much more reasonable speed. We were going a lot faster than we had earlier.
Plum laid back on her haunches, “You know, I could get used to this.”
“Don’t get used to it,” Imp put on her best sad puppy face, “What will the ponies in Appleloosa think of you when they see you’ve got a foal doing your work.”
“Last time I checked a foal couldn’t do whatever the hell that was. Speaking of, what the fuck was that?”
Imp just grinned, “A technician never reveals her secrets.”
The rest of the ride was enjoyed in silence. Imp only broke a sweat because it was so damned hot out.
In less than an hour I could see something new on the horizon. As we got closer I saw that it looked like a train accident. I asked Plum when it’d happened and she replied by laughing.
The closer we got the more details I saw. If it was an accident then it was an odd one; some of the boxes were stacked very neatly on top of one another. There was also a ring of cars forming a wall around the majority of it. There were also ponies, quite a few of them. Some of them were on the wall and appeared to be armed.
Plum didn’t appear to be alarmed; in fact she seemed rather relieved by the sight. And none of the ponies on the wall seemed unduly concerned by us. Imp gave the handle one last shove and we drifted into the settlement. We came to a stop in the middle of a train yard filled with flatbeds in various stages of loading and unloading.
I marveled at what I was seeing. I mean, the whole point of the Ranger Program was to see if there was anypony out here; survivors and the like. This bordered on civilization.
I rolled off the cart and onto my feet. I stretched and felt a joint or two pop. Imp hopped off and windmilled her forelegs. I turned back to Plum to thank her for giving us a ride, but before I could…
CLACK CLACK
“Good afternoon. Please leave. I don’t appreciate people who try to kill my friends.” The voice was that of an authoritative and yet kindly stallion.
I did my best not to move. I looked over to Pin. She wasn’t moving either, “Does he look like he’s going to shoot me.”
She spoke softly, “Not immediately, but he does have a gun pointed at you. So, maybe.”
Without moving I tried to talk to the buck behind me, “I don’t know what you think is going on, but as you can see Plum is fine.”
“I’m not talking Ms. Jelly. Now if you and your friends would kindly leave without causing a fuss this won’t become an incident.”
“If you don’t think we tried to kill Plum, then who?”
“You know.”
“I really can’t say that I do.”
“Full Clip told us that when they tried to go home after his wife died you and your lot tried to kill him and his friends. They escaped, came here, and left after they told us that you’d be chasing them. I must say that it took you long enough. Now, leave.”
“Mister… uh…”
“Railright”
“Mister Railright, I don’t understand what’s going on, but we’re not here to kill Clip. I found a note from him that he needed help. I’d show you the note, but I left it in our Stable.”
He considered that for a moment, “Why should I believe you?”
“Um…”
“Good enough for me.”
CLICK
I wasn’t dead so I chanced turning around. What I found was a black and grey stallion with a lever action shotgun on a battle saddle.
I couldn’t help but ask the obvious question, “Wait, what?”
He smirked, “If you were lying you would have had an excuse lined up.”
“Oh.”
“I’d had a feeling something was wrong with Clip last he was in town. The three of them hid it well, but they were more nervous than an herbivore at a carnivore convention.”
“I’m glad you noticed. I’m not really in the mood to get shot again.”
“Again? How long have you been out of your Stable?”
“Maybe a little over a day.”
“How’d you get shot already?”
I didn’t say a word and just looked over at Plum as she rummaged through her pack. She noticed the two of us looking at her, “How many times can I say sorry?”
I turned back to Railright, “Perhaps we should properly introduce ourselves. You can call me Boss. If not that then Sergeant or Sarge. Stable 33 Ranger team leader. The big one is Trauma Bandage, the little one is Impact Crater, and the middle one is Pin Point.”
“I’m Railright. Mayor, sheriff, and whatever else New Appleloosa needs me to be. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to New Appleloosa.”
“Thank you. Do you mind if I ask why ‘New’ Appleloosa?”
“Because it’s not the old one. How about I give you the brass bit tour.”
He showed us around town. There was the bar, a few vendors, and our next destination. Railright suggested that we stop by New Appleloosa’s general store so we could pick up a copy of The Wasteland Survival Guide. He told us that this guide would have all the information we’d need to survive.
The store was called Absolutely Everything and apparently they do deliveries. The building appeared to be three boxcars welded together. We walked through the door and found that they did indeed have everything; weapons, ammo, food, a body.
Behind the counter there appeared to be the desiccated and nearly hairless corpse of a pegasi mare. The body was sitting in a chair, its head lolled over the back, mouth open and tongue hanging out. It also had a small chalkboard hanging round its neck. There was something written on the board.
BE BACK SOON
That was perverse. Somepony had killed this pegasus and left a note promising more. I signaled my team to stay by the door. I moved around the counter, keeping my eyes on a swivel in case whoever had done this was already back. I looked at the body more closely; I couldn’t see anything from there. I placed my hoof on the chair and tried to swivel the chair so I could get a better look.
That’s when the corpse opened its eyes.
The body jumped out of the chair and started flapping its deformed wings. It flew around the room banging into the walls and ceiling. Everyone was screaming; I was screaming, Imp and Amber were screaming, Pin was screaming, the corpse was screaming, I think even Trauma screamed a little.
The thing landed in a heap behind the counter. I backed away from it. The thing got to its feet and looked at me. At least I think it was looking at me; its eyes were constantly rolling and pointing in different directions. It grabbed the chalk board around its neck and erased the words. It took a piece of chalk and wrote something else, “You can’t have it back. I found it fair and square!”
Great. The dead body was alive AND insane. I tried to talk to it, “What are you? What are you… writing about?”
It wrote something else, “Aren’t you Rangers?”
“Well yeah, but…”
“THEN GET OUT!”
“Why?”
“Because you’re trying to steal my suit!”
“Suit? What suit?”
“The armor suit I found!”
The thing was pointing it’s board at me, so my team was only getting my half of the conversation.
Pin spoke up first, “Boss, what’s going on?”
I looked over at my team, they were all pretty scared, “I think it thinks we’re somepony else.”
The thing wrote again, “I’m not an it! I’m Ditzy Doo! And this is MY shop!”
“Wait this is your shop? You’re Ditzy?”
“That’s what I wrote!”
Imp spoke up this time, “What suit?”
The thing, Ditzy Doo, wrote and showed us all the board this time, “A set of your armor.”
My turn, “We don’t have any armor.”
Ditzy looked confused, “But you said you’re Steel Rangers. Of course you have armor.”
“We’re not Steel Ranger.”
“Then why do you have gears on your coat?”
“We’re just Rangers, from Stable 33. Didn’t you meet Clip and his team? Everypony else seems to have.”
Understanding filled her eyes, and then embarrassment, “Oopsie.”
***
After some apologies and introductions we learned that Ditzy had recently found an intact suit of Steel Ranger armor. Imp was very interested, but she would have to wait. I told Ditzy that we were there for a copy of the Wasteland Survival Guide. She pointed to a sign that said that we could get a copy upon request with a purchase. I told her we didn’t have any money. She jumped over the counter, walked around behind me, and started rummaging through my saddle bags. I started to protest, but before I could she pulled a can of Cram out and went behind the counter. She placed the can on a counter and grabbed a nearly identical can out and placed it in front of me. I was confused, but she gestured for me to take it. I put the can in my bag and Ditzy pointed at the sign. I figured she wanted me to ask for the book. I did so and she produced a white book with black lettering and an equine skull on the cover.
Ditzy flipped the cover open and turned a few pages. The heading said ‘The Basics’. I read it aloud, “If you’re reading this then you’ve either been hit by lightning and forgotten everything, bucked upside the head and forgot everything, born yesterday and don’t know anything, or fresh out of a Stable. Whatever the case this section of the Wasteland Survival guide will tell you the bare essentials of what you need to know. First and foremost, don’t be afraid to shoot somepony. While you shouldn’t shoot everypony you have to keep in mind that there are ponies out there that will shoot you for what you have. Second, some vendors still accept bits as currency but most, if not all, prefer bottle caps. Yes bottle caps, it just sort of worked out that way. Third, beware anywhere that doesn’t look looted. It’s been two hundred years since the bombs dropped, if it hasn’t been looted yet that means there’s something dangerous keeping it that way.”
Once I finished the passage Ditzy flipped the book closed and pushed it across the counter. I took it and put it in my saddlebags. The… thing smiled at us. I had to ask what she was.
She took her chalkboard and wrote, “I’m a ghoul. Ghouls are ponies that have been exposed to too much radiation. There’s more info in the book.”
“I’ll take a look at it later. Can I ask you one more thing?”
“Anything.”
I brought up my EFS and scanned the compass for Butters tag. I pointed at one of the walls, “What’s in that direction?”
The ghoul pony tapped her chin, “Lotsa stuff. There’s Shattered Hoof, Fillydelphia, Manehattan. It’s all in the book. But if you’re going that way you’re gonna need lotsa stuff.”
“What sorta stuff?”
“Food, ammo, armor. It’s dangerous in that direction. I got all that stuff, I can even armor your barding. But you’re gonna need caps to pay for all of it.”
“Where can we get caps?”
“You can find them all over. But if you need a lot you’re gonna have to do some jobs on the bounty board.”
“Bounty board? Like, killing ponies?”
“No no no. Ponies all over town have jobs they need done. And if they can’t do it themselves they post it on the board. If someone does it, they get paid the bounty.”
“Oh, that’s okay then. Where’s the board?”
Ditzy flew over the counter and pointed a hoof out the window. I looked out and right across the road there was a wooden board with scraps of paper tacked to it.
The wall-eyed ghoul pony was grinning from ear to ear. “Thanks Ditzy. You’ve been really helpful.”
She landed and brought out the board again, “No problem! Come back any time.”
Imp trotted up to the ghoul, “Hey miss ghoul. Before we go, can I look at the Steel Ranger armor?”
“Sure, I keep it in the back.”
The ghoul floated over the counter and through a door to the back. Imp followed her. I had to admit I was interested too. I followed Imp, and Pin and Trauma followed me.
The back room was just storage. Crates and shelves where stacked high with random bits and bobs. Ditzy shoved some boxes out of the way. And there it was, gleaming like a steel monument to earth pony ingenuity. The armor looked magnificently complicated. The muzzle had rubber hoses coming out the sides, a spot lamp was attached to the head near the right ear, and armor plating covering everything from nose to tail. For being two hundred years old it was in impressive condition.
Imp was gawking. She circled around the suit taking in every detail, “I can’t believe you have one of these! How much?”
I scowled at her, “How much? Imp, I realize it’s cool and what not, but why would you need it? You’ve already got the exo.”
She gave me a look that suggested that the answer was obvious, “Mostly because I need the parts. The exo is medical equipment, that armor is military grade. If I can get the spell matrix out of it I could double, maybe even triple, the output easily. Not only that, but I could intall the repair talisman and I’d never have to fix the exo again. I can think of a dozen things I could do with what’s left over. I could take the rebreather out and you’d be able to breathe underwater. Ditzy could use the armor plating and put it in our barding.”
I looked back at the armor with renewed interest. That would be really helpful. I looked to Ditzy, “How much?”
She took her board and wrote, “2500 caps.”
“Is that a lot, cause that sounds like a lot.”
“It’s a lot.”
“Darn. Maybe we should take a look at that board. Thanks again Ditzy, hopefully we’ll be back soon.”
“Not a problem. Seeya soon!”
We left Ditzy as she shifted the boxes back into place. We stepped back into the streets. Imp was lost in thought, probably thinking about what she’d do with the armor when we got it.
We walked over to the board. There were a lot of job posted not only on the front of the board but on the back as well. I looked to my team and told them all to look for jobs. Pin and I took one side, Trauma and Imp took the other.
I started scanning the bits of paper. None of the ones I saw paid nearly enough, or just sounded ridiculous. “I’m not sure, but I think this one says that they’ll pay fifty thousand caps for… evidence of moon ponies.”
Imp giggled, “That’s nothing. This one’s a bounty for the goddesses.”
Pin hopped around, “Let me see that. Ha-ha, they pay extra for their horns.”
“Found one,” Trauma grumbled. I came around and looked at where he was pointing.
STANDING BOUNTY MAGICAL TALISMANS PRICES NEGOTIABLE SEE RAILRIGHT FOR DETAILS
This one seemed good, and if I understood it right then ‘Standing Bounty’ meant that he’d pay for any talismans we brought in. “This one seems promising. Let’s go see Railright.”
The mayor of New Appleloosa was sitting in a rocking chair in front of the sheriff’s office. “Howdy. I could hear you ‘meeting’ Ditzy all the way over here.”
Pin stepped up, “Yeah, thanks for the warning. It would have been nice to know there was such a thing as zombie ponies.”
“Now where would the fun have been in that?”
Pin narrowed her eyes. “Well played.”
I cleared my throat. “Actually we came to ask about your standing bounty on talismans.”
“Oh, that? You’re the first to ask in a while. I need to get a new sign.”
“Does that mean the jobs closed?”
“Nope. Actually it’s just the opposite. I need to add some jobs.”
“Really? Well, we need to get enough caps to buy supplies for our journey.”
“If you need’em quick I’ve got one idea that will work out well, but it’ll be pretty dangerous.”
“We’ll take it. What is it?”
“A ways away from here there’s a building. Before the war it was a Ministry of Technology Research and Development hub. They’ll have all sorts of talismans that I’ll happily buy from you. But what I really want are the plans for a machine. A digging machine. Apparently they wanted to use it to dig behind zebra lines. I want modify the designs so we can use it to dig wells. If it works we can dig our own well, and we could rent it out in exchange for caps.”
“Sounds good. What are you paying?”
“Thousand caps for the plans, and depending on what you find we’ll discuss prices when you get back.”
“Just one thing. Something I read in the guide. It said that if a place like that isn’t looted already then it’s because there’s something dangerous there.”
“I don’t know about it being dangerous, but I think it’s gone unlooted this long because of ghost stories.”
“Ghost stories?”
“You know, ‘Ponies go in and they don’t come out’, woooooo,” he waved his hands around. He obviously didn’t give the story any credence. “It’s probably security robots or some raider gang squatting.”
“Raider gang?”
He gave and exasperated sigh that sounded suspiciously like ‘Stable Ponies’. “Raiders are ponies that do bad things for bad reasons. You’ll know them when you see them.”
“How’s that?”
“They’ll probably be trying to shoot you and gnaw on your face.”
“That’s… different.”
“If you’re luck that’s all they do, unless you shoot’em first.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. So where is this place?”
“Here let me see your pipbuck.”
I offered him my leg. He fiddled with some nobs and buttons and a new waypoint came up on my EFS.
“Thanks.”
“It’ll be about a day’s trot. I’d imagine you packed enough provisions for that.”
“Sure,” I looked at the skies, it was getting dark again, “Don’t suppose there’s a place we can sleep tonight.”
“Course there is; the bar’s got some rooms. Just tell Apple that I said you could stay the night. He’ll say something, and you need to say ‘Yes he did’ and he’ll give you a key.”
“Oookaaayy. Thanks, we’ll leave in the morning.”
We left Railright in his chair and went to the bar. We pushed our way through the swinging door. There were a few ponies in various stages of inebriation and a unicorn stallion behind the bar.
I walked up to the bar and got up on a stool. The barpony came over and asked, “What can I get you?”
“Railright said we could stay here for the night.”
He glared at me, “Horseshit, no he didn’t, get lost.”
“Uhhh, yes he did?”
The barpony smiled and reached under the bar. He threw a key to me. “I love Railrights password thing, the looks I get from ponies are priceless. There you go, should be enough beds for the four of you. It’s up the stairs and second from the end.”
I took the key and we went upstairs. We unlocked the door and went in. It wasn’t much, there were beds and it was a room. We could sleep there. We all removed our weapons and barding. I shucked my stuff at the foot of my bed and laid down.
Our first day outside, sleeping under the sky, getting shot, discovering the survival of civilization, meeting a zombie. I’d call that a pretty full day.
Now all I wanted was sleep. So I did.
***
Level Up:
New Perk- Comprehension- You have always been a good reader, but the wasteland has forced you to read a little more carefully. You gain extra skill points from reading books.
Have you ever woken up and wondered to yourself, ‘Gee. My bed really smells like urine today.’
You haven’t? Then you can understand my confusion. An alarm clock right next to my head was going off, my face was buried in a bed that stunk of bodily fluids, and I wasn’t done sleeping yet.
I reached out to push the snooze button, but that just seemed to make the clock mad. I pushed it again. Same reaction. Before I could try a third time I found myself and my bed to be airborne. Suddenly the bed was above me and the only thing bellow was air and floor. Pretty quickly the first one was replaced with pain.
I was face first on the floor and a bed was on top of me. Not exactly on my top ten list of places to be. I attempted to crawl out, but I was pinned under the bedframe. I decided to call out for help. The edge of the bed lifted and Imp was looking down at me, single hoofedly lifting the bed.
She leaned down and talked into my ear, “Please don’t touch my face.”
I looked up at her, “I can’t decide if you’re the best alarm clock or the worst.”
Imp flipped the bed up onto its side, “Considering it’s almost noon, probably not the best.”
I stood up and shook my head, “I don’t know. Don’t think I’ve seen a clock do that before.”
She smiled. “If you want, I can make you one that does when we get back to 33. Come on. Everypony’s waiting downstairs.”
I followed her downstairs to the table where the rest of my team was sitting. Pin nudged a box of Sugar Apple Bombs my way along with a bowl and a bottle of milk. I poured the appropriate items into the appropriate receptacles. The cereal was as sugary as it claimed and the milk was liquid. It’s hard to complain about a free meal.
I downed the last of the milk and looked to the rest of my team. “We’ll be leaving in about a half an hour. If you have anything to take care of before then and we’ll meet at the gate. “
They looked to one another with questioning looks. They looked back to me and gave a simultaneous shrug.
“Then let’s go.”
We left the bar and went to the gate. The guards winched the slab of a gate out of the way and let us out. I brought up my EFS and started walking in the direction of Railrights tag. Luckily for us it led down a mildly destroyed paved road.
It was a couple of hours before we found anything worth looking at. Turns out the wastelands boring! Who knew? We came across a restaurant. Pony Joes, if I was reading the sign right. The windows and front door were boarded up and we couldn’t see inside. I brought up my EFS, but it only showed that my friends didn’t intend to kill me.
“Hey Boss. Let me take a look.” I looked back at Pin as her horns started to glow bright red. Her eyes started to glow the same color.
“What are you doing?”
“One of my many talents, I’m seeing if there’s anything warm inside.”
“Why? EFS would tell us if there was something.”
“Apparently not, I see something around back. Something big,” Her eyes stopped glowing and came back into focus, “I don’t think it’s moving.”
“Everypony, ready weapons.” I took my battlesaddles bit in my mouth and walked around the side of the building. There was a tall wooden fence around the back of the building. We hugged the wall until we came to an opening. I kept one eye on my EFS, but it still wasn’t picking anything up. I peeked around the corner, but I couldn’t see anypony. I risked peeking out a little further and I finally saw what Pin had seen.
I stepped out into the open. “Nice job Pin. You found a campfire.” There was a smoldering pile of charcoals in the middle of a ring of cinderblocks.
“Hey, I said ‘warm’ not ‘alive’. For all you knew it could have been an invisible mutant pony that can’t be detected by pipbucks. So, you’re welcome.”
“Yeah, thanks.” I looked around the fenced in the backyard of Pony Joes. There were a few dingy tables with dining ware on them, some shelves, and a few rather disgusting beds. “If the coals are still warm that might mean they’re close by. They might not be raiders, because this place looks fairly nice.”
Imp sniffed loudly. “Does anypony smell that?”
I had a smell too. Something was rotten, and I thought it was coming from inside Pony Joes. I checked my EFS but it was still clear. “Pin, do you see anything?”
Her eyes flashed red for a moment. “Nope.”
I tried to push the back door open, but it seemed to be locked. “Trauma, wanna help out?”
Trauma grunted to the affirmative around his hammer. He lined up his swing, pulled back, and…
BAM
The doorknob and lock were gone, replaced by a neat hole. The door slammed against the inside and a wall of stench rolled out and hit us. By Celestia I could taste it. My eyes were watering and we were all hacking and coughing. I don’t think I’d ever smelled anything like it before.
I managed to get my eyes open, and I wish I hadn’t. Bodies were everywhere. Some were on the countertop with all their limbs removed, charred pieces were on the grill, and one was hung by chains with its own decaying entrails hung around its neck.
Amber blared from Imps pipbuck, “Sergeant, I count seven incoming hostiles approaching from all sides.”
Time seemed to slow down. My eyes still burned but I managed to grab my bit. I whirled around to face the way we’d come in just as a pony with a pistol in his mouth came crashing in. I yanked my bit to the right and felt the kick of the shotgun at about the same time as a dozen pellets tore a hole in his chest. I heard the crack of Pins rifle and the surprisingly gentle thump of Imps launcher. One of the bastards must’ve hopped right over the fence because I felt her land on my back and start strangling me. I felt something whoosh past my head and heard something snap. The pony on my back went limp and I bucked her off. I spared her a glance and saw that her head was twisted at an odd angle.
And like that it was over. It couldn’t have lasted longer than twenty seconds, but it’d felt so much longer. And I’d killed a pony. I know I’d trained for it, spent countless hours at the firing range, but now I’d actually done it.
You know what scared me the most? It was easy. One little pull of the bit and somepony was dead. I looked at him. He was dirty, brown, and most of his mane was gone. He was incredibly thin; if I’d wanted to I could have counted his ribs. His body was covered in scars, some from blades others from bullets. The gun he’d dropped was a little rusted up revolver; I doubt it would’ve fired even if he’d had time to pull the trigger. The wound in his chest was about the size of an apple. Blood leaked from it and pooled on the ground.
Somepony gently shook me. “You okay Boss?” Pin stood beside me, and she looked concerned, “Boss?”
I snapped out of it. “Y-Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s get out of here.”
I walked out the opening in the fence; I didn’t think I could handle seeing what Imp and Pin had done to the diner. I had to step over the buck I’d killed; his eyes looked like they were following me.
I leaned up against the side of the diner. I felt numb. Both physically and emotionally. It’d never occurred to me when I was studying the wars of the past that it was ponies dying. At the time they were just numbers on a page. Now I knew what a paradigm shift felt like.
Imp came tearing around the corner lugging a green metal box. She dropped it in front of me. “Woo! That was awesome! I never thought I’d actually get to use this thing! I mean I knew what to expect, the firing system was designed to use most of the recoil to feed the next round, but wow it still kicks like a mule! And the modifications I made to the exo worked perfectly! I was worried it might accidentally interpret the recoil as one of my movements and throw me against the wall or something but it-“
I interrupted her by kicking the box. “What’s this?”
She looked down at it as if she was noticing it for the first time. “Oh, that? Ammo box we found. I can’t get it open. Can you?”
“Why would I know?”
“Because I figured with all your spare time before the Ranger Program you’d have taught yourself to pick locks or something.”
“I spent my time studying. Why would I need to know how to pick locks? If something was locked then I probably wasn’t meant to look in it.”
“Oh… That makes sense too.”
“Go ask Pin or Trauma, I’m trying to have an existential crisis.”
“Oh, suck it up. They tried to kill us, so we killed them.”
Pin and Trauma came around the corner. Pin must’ve overheard the conversation. “If it’s any consolation Boss, they definitely looked like they were trying to shoot us in the face and eat us.”
Imp picked up the box and took it to Trauma, “Can you open this?”
Pin almost looked insulted. “Why not me, I might know.”
Imp cocked an eyebrow. “Do you?”
“Well no, but…”
Imp looked back to Trauma. “So can you open it?”
Trauma picked up the box with his magic and considered the lock, “Hmm… Maybe.”
“Wait. Seriously?”
He put the box back on the ground with the lock facing up. “Maybe.”
His horn glowed the same color red as both his mane and his sister’s magic. A solid block of crimson energy appeared in the air above his head. It quickly reshaped into two thin strips that slid neatly into the slot. And in a single smooth movement the lock yielded. Traumas horn stopped glowing and the strips disappeared. He used his hoof to right the box and kicked open the lid. Inside was a hodgepodge of ammunition. Those raiders had obviously been ambushing ponies for a long time.
I dumped the lot into my saddle bags and checked the inventory on my pipbuck. A couple dozen rounds for my assault rifle, half that number of shotgun shells, almost a hundred rounds for the pistols, but only a hoof-full of ammo for Pins rifle. I doled them out appropriately.
“Sorry Imp. Looks like your brand is rare around here.”
She shrugged. “It’s all good. I can make more.”
I looked to the big guy. “Where’d you learn to do that?”
He blinked. “Book.”
“What book?”
His horn glowed and he produced a copy of Tumblers Today.
I took the book from his magic and flipped through the pages. There were cut away diagrams of the inner workings of various locks, examples of tools, and techniques. “Where’d you get this?”
He looked at the diner.
“Why would psycho killers have a book on lock picking?”
Pin sauntered to my side to look at the book. “I’d wager somepony they killed had it. I’m surprised they weren’t tearing pages out for toilet paper.”
When I got to the end of the book we both saw that a hoof-full of pages had been torn out.
“Ew.”
“Ew.”
I passed the possibly soiled book back to Trauma and he put it in his saddlebag.
I took a deep breath; the smell of cooked gunpowder clung to the air. “Let’s get out of here.”
The road ahead looked a little darker all of a sudden. Literally. I’d have to wait till later to get all emotional about my first kill. It was starting to get dark so I shoved my introspective feelings into a dark corner of my mind.
We moved a respectable distance down the road until we were out of sight of the diner. We set up camp off the road and behind a rise to keep out of sight of anyone traveling the road. We spent the night taking turns getting some shuteye. Even after my watch was up I had trouble getting some sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I kept seeing that pony looking back at me with dead eyes. I eventually drifted off into a, thankfully, dreamless sleep.
***
The next morning was very relaxed considering the previous day’s events. I came to a sudden realization as I munched on my freeze-dried oatmeal. And that realization is… Army food sucks. Compared to yesterday’s breakfast of two hundred year old cereal and milk of questionable source my two hundred year old dehydrated oatmeal was nasty crap. I think the reason I didn’t come to this realization sooner was because the only other food I’d ever had was Stable food, I’m not a hundred percent sure where we got our food but its taste had been on par with the packets of military stuff.
And there you have a sterling example of my brain at work trying its best to keep me distracted from the fact that I killed somepony…
And like that it failed.
I should be okay with this. I mean. They were cannibals or something. Right? They attacked us. Right? That makes it okay to kill them.
Right?
WHACK
Somepony smacked the back of my head. “Ow! What was that for?”
Pin had a very serious look on her face. “I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say you’re trying to feel sorry for yourself.”
I had to wonder if her propensity for pitting the ace extended to my thoughts. “What gave me away?”
She kicked my meal packet which had fallen on the ground at some point. “Dropping your food, failing to pick it up for ten minutes, and staring into oblivion seem to be pretty good indications.”
I couldn’t stop myself from face-hoofing. “Oh, Celestia, I’m stupid.”
She picked up my breakfast with her magic. “Yes, you are. Now eat.” And she shoved the packet into my chest.
I ate in silence and pretended nopony was looking at me.
The silence continued as we packed up and started on our path again.
Imps pipbuck blared without warning, “Congratulations, I think you guys have set the new record for awkward silences! I’d give you an award but incorporeality makes that a little difficult. If anypony cares at this point we appear to be nearing our objective.”
Amber was right. On the horizon there were a few low buildings and one taller one, all of which were surrounded by a security fence topped with razor wire. The fence wasn’t a problem because sompony had left the swinging gate slightly ajar. The buildings had a very solid utilitarian feel to them; each was blocky and had hard edges. I got the impression that the architect had been designing a model that she could beat her boss to death with. The smaller buildings lacked windows; the big building had windows, but they were all covered by metal shutters.
If we were going to find anything important it was probably going to be in the largest building. As we approached my EFS flashed the words, ‘You have discovered M.W.T. Mining R&D’.
Pin made it clear that we’d all gotten the same message. “Ministry of Wartime Technology Mining Research and Development. I can see why they used an acronym, that’s a bit of a mouthful.”
I was confused. “How did you get that from M.W.T. Mining R&D? I thought it was Ministry of Technology.”
“It’s both. Supposedly the ministry mare of the M.W.T. didn’t like the wartime part of the name so she’d always call it the M.o.T. instead. I guess both names caught on because I heard both a lot in history class. I thought you were the history buff Boss.”
“I am, but I didn’t really study our side in the last war. Truth be told, with the exception of the first megaspell and Steel Rangers, we were really uninteresting. The Zebras on the other hand, wow. Subterfuge, infiltration, massive warbots, invisibility cloaks! The only reason we lasted so long was because we had pegasi and unicorns. Pegasi owned the skies and the only ones who could match them were dragons and gryphons. And the unicorns have inherent magic while zebras had to create theirs with potions and talismans. Our only real chance was the invention on megaspells, but the zebras got ahold of those too.”
My team stared at me with varying degrees of surprise on their faces; Traumas eyes had widened slightly so he must have been absolutely stunned. Pin couldn’t help herself. “Fillies and gentlecolts, we should stand in awe. We have been blessed with the rarest of all things. A history nerd just geeked out.”
“Please keep in mind that I’m armed.”
Pin shifted the rifle slung across her back, “So are we.”
“But I’m actually considering shoot you.”
“You’d just get all weepy like you did yesterday, only worse because we aren’t crazy cannibals trying to eat you.”
I smirked because I finally thought of a clever comeback. “I don’t think I can see you at the bottom of that hole you’re digging anymore.”
Pins razor wit took my comeback and turned it on me in an instant. “Well, when I find diamonds you can’t have any.”
Imp thoughtfully tapped her chin. “I wonder what a diamond studded grenade would do?”
“How ‘bout you bro, need some diamonds?”
Trauma gave her a noncommittal grunt.
“Oh, don’t be like that. Because of the Sergeant we’re all gonna be filthy rich!”
Trauma gave her a slightly more positive grunt.
“That’s more like it.”
I squeezed my eyes shut trying to delay my rapidly forming headache. “Okay, whatever. Can we end the weirdness and go finds those stupid plans.”
Pin grinned from ear to ear. “Don’t forget the diamonds.”
I was about to shoot her a look, but instead I gave up and sighed, “Can we go inside now?”
“Why are you asking me? You’re supposed to be the one in charge.”
“Fine. Go inside, that’s an order.”
Pin positioned herself in front of the door and attempted to applebuck it open. All she achieved was stumbling. “I think it’s stuck. Not locked, cause the doors gave a little.”
Imp hopped in place a little. “Oh, let me try! I’ve always wanted to do this.”
She positioned herself in front of the door just as Pin had. She gave double doors a solid kick and they flew open. In the light let in through the door we saw that she’d scattered a pile of bones blocking the door. And behind them…
Darkness.
***
Level Up:
New Perk - Intense Training - You’ve gotten better at noticing the little things. Perception +1.
