Everypony in the Wastes has a story, Sunset's is just longer than most.
"When all you know is gone, why do you keep on living? Ponies die every day, but it's how you live that matters. So this is me, on the raggedy edge, don’t push me."
The tale follows the story of Sunset, an orange Pegasus with a green mane and a setting sun on his flank. Set in the Fallout Equestria Universe created by Kkat this story takes place roughly ten years before the events of the 'Vault Dweller'. Though not branded by the Enclave, that is not from lack of trying on their part, Sunset's luck of always being able to fly away from the terrors of the Wastes has finally run out as what started as a normal caravan guard job takes a turn for the unexpected.
I will do my best to keep this updated on a fairly regular basis, though that all depends on how much of a hash I make of the rough draft. Thanks for reading!
Somewhere in the galaxy, a small celestial body was plunged suddenly into a planet-wide thunderstorm. ‘I feel like cooking me some WAFFLES!’
The Equestrian Wasteland, a ravished shell of the once lush and forgiving country. Anypony not tucked away in a Stable or high above in the clouds survived long without it taking its toll. How the ruined twisted remains of what was once a carefree landscape managed to do that, was wholly dependent on the circumstances surrounding each individual pony.
In my case, it was the simple fact that I was alone. To be alone in the wastes meant more than just not having somepony there to watch your flank. You need friends to survive out here or sooner rather than later, the Wasteland will chew on your soul and spit out something that mockingly resembles what used to be a pony. Sure I had acquaintances, ponies here and there that knew of me, I could even call a few ‘friend’, but not in the truest sense of the word. It had been a long time since anyone ‘knew’ me, or cared about me; most detrimental of all, I was growing alright with this.
The names’ Sunset, in case I forgot to mention that and yes I am a Pegasus, no I’m not a Dashite, but that’s not for lack of trying on the Enclave’s part. I do what I can around Manehattan protecting the trade caravans. I help out old Ditzy-Doo seeing as she’s a Pegasus like myself, ghoul, yes, but a Pegasus just the same. We get along seeing as I’m one of the very few ponies that can run cover for her flying delivery wagon and I’d known her most of my life. Shes a little on the scatter-brained side, but that just adds to her charm. I don’t really have any place that I call home, but if pressed I guess I’d say that’d be a small shack just northwest of New Appleloosa, though that hasn’t been home for a very long time.
This job wasn’t much different from my usual. A small trade caravan was heading from New Appleloosa to Gutterville carrying, well, whatever odds and ends this particular band of scavengers had picked up I suppose. It also included a small shipment from Ditzy containing some much needed medical supplies. I saw the job posted on the board outside ‘Absolutely Everything’ and, although not really needing the caps, took the job. Why? Because it gave me a chance to do something I was good at. To protect another group of ponies who, even though they might not be ‘friends’, at the very least they had a mutual understanding. Which is something, if anything, to help them survive against the ever suffocating wasteland. Plus, it would give me a chance to stretch my wings. The currents on the east side of Manehattan created some wicked thermals and I am not one to pass up a good flight.
It would be a three day journey following the old rail lines providing that we didn’t run into trouble. I knew the likely spots for raiders to hang out; their camps were not the most inconspicuous places as they tended to look like a bloody smear across the landscape. We got lucky; the only encampment that we had to go past, due to the road being boxed into a canyon, seemed to be empty, at least for the time being. Not wanting to find out what poor souls those beasts were praying on, I urged the caravan driver to press on into the night putting much needed distance between us and the rotting hell hole. The second day of the trip was uneventful as well. I even caught myself thinking maybe the wasteland was losing its edge. A single mare with a pair of pack Brahmin traveling with a lightly armored Pegasus would have been easy game for a slaver party. Even more so seeing as a cart being pulled by the pair of two headed cows had to stick to hard level surfaces. No, the worst we got was a small swarm of Bloatsprites which was easily dispatched with a few controlled bursts of my twin 5.56mm light machine guns attached to my Battle Saddle. I almost felt as though it wouldn’t be fair taking the caps from the poor caravan merchant for guarding her. I mean, come on, she even handed me a new box of ammunition to replace the ones I just fired, free of charge.
Night fell and a light rain descended from the ever-present cloud cover that perpetually hung over the Equestrian Wasteland. My ‘brethren on high’ saw to that, sealing themselves above in relative safety, not once lifting a hoof unless it directly benefitted the Grand Pegasus Enclave. Okay, so I might not have the Dashite brand, but that’s only because they haven’t caught me. I never said that I didn’t think like one.
We made our camp under the ruins of what was once an elevated carriageway taking shelter from the elements. We swapped stories, shared a meal, and had a laugh or two recalling more humorous parts of our journeys. I looked at the dusty cream colored mare still grinning from one of her exploits involving a deadbeat shop owner and an over ripe fish. Deciding that she wasn’t half bad looking and if she wanted to, I wouldn’t say no. She didn’t. On the third day we reached the jagged buildings marking the outskirts of Manehattan.
This is what I had been waiting for, the flat slabs of concrete and the valleys created by the broken buildings. Even in the weak sunlight that did break through the cloud layer the temperature differences were enough to create some wicked air currents. I told the mare that I was going to go scout ahead and that she should just stay on course. That wasn’t entirely untrue, the road to Gutterville did pass by a set of ruins that seemed to produce a ghoul pony every once in awhile. I’d be sure to bank over that spot and actually pay attention to the ground and not just the eddies of air swirling above it. Something shiny caught my attention as I crested over the top of a rather intact office building. Pegasus eyesight is naturally attracted to glistening objects it would seem and mine was no exception. A bright green flickering light seemed to be emitting from a hole at the center of the plaza across from the building I was flying over. I adjusted course and decided that it needed further investigation. My luck ran out. In the back of my mind I knew that whatever this was, it could be the wastelands’ payment for two days of uneventful journey, but I flew over anyways. The ground seemed to erupt in a ball of frothing green flames. No, that’s not quite right; it seemed to erupt in a ball of frothing green electricity that happened to act like fire.
- Yes, that’s a much better description. -
My brain informed me, as the overpressure of the blast passed through my body forcing my head to look upwards at the hole torn through the clouds by the green blast.
- You’re in pain now. -
Thanks…
- You’re welcome. -
_____~~~~~~~_____
I awoke sprawled out on the ground my head pounding like I’d drank too much Wild Pegasus, or maybe Equestria Bailey’s. Either way the pain in my head gave me merciful seconds of consciousness before the rest of my body reminded me that it existed. My right fore-hoof sent jabbing needles of pain to the base of my skull, however I expected that seeing as that leg was pretty much lame to begin with. The friendly Enclave and an elevator shaft saw to that. What I didn’t expect was the smell of burning Kevlar and hide coupled with the wet sticky feeling of blood running across my neck, and back, and down my side.
Not good.
I tried to move my muzzle to my saddlebags but every muscle in my body protested. I got so far as to be able to look at the vaulted roof that was above me which held at its apex a circular opening which natural light flowed thought. Try as I might from where I was laying I couldn’t see the top of the shaft connecting the base of this skylight to the surface.
Did… I fall down that? How… healing potions right. Oww.
I forced myself to double over and using my teeth unlatched the clasp holding my pack closed. Luckily it landed medical pack up, but as my tongue soon discovered even that wasn’t enough to spare all the contents from harm. As I used my wings to balance myself on my right flank I placed the remaining three healing potions on the floor next to me. I was just biting the stopper off the top of the first when a voice caught my attention.
“He’s awake you know.”
Manure.
“Yes I know you know… Yes I know you know I know…”
Oh Celestia what have I…?
“He can hear us you know.”
Luna protec-
– Drink the potion! -
I did, finally pulling the stopper off the first potion and quickly swallowing its contents. Whatever this fresh batch of crazy was, I knew I had to be at least able to stand to face it.
“What are we going to do with him?” I was chugging the second healing potion now dreading the answer from the pony I couldn’t hear.
“No, no you can’t just shock him, you already did that remember? That’s what brought him here in the fir- no I’m not talking ba-“
Why does it sound like he’s talking through a tin can?
Even in my immobile state, if there was such a thing as a healing potion chugging contest I was a sure winner. Might have been feeling better but my mind was so focused on the words being spoken in the next room over that I might have missed the sensation of the healing magic stitching my ripped and burnt hide back together. However, by the time I licked the last drop from the flask I could feel the magic working and my wounds had already almost completely closed up.
That must have been the effects of the first, maybe second potion.
My seared hide started to regrow is dull orange coat beneath the still very much burnt lightly armored barding I wore. I let out a pained gasp that I was unaware I was holding in as the searing pain of my flesh cooking off my bones finally subsided to less than mind-breaking levels of pain. In this half second of respite my eyes noticed movement from the direction which I thought I had heard the disturbance.
Oh Luna protect me in your wings. What in Equestria is that monster?
“You know,” said what appeared to be a burning green pony wearing all black armor “I don’t mean for this to sound strange, but I can hear your thoughts.”
Though there was physical silence in the air between myself and the personification of Balefire itself, my brain, however, was running all sorts of fight or flight responses. My mind may have been willing to try any of these options to avoid being anywhere near here with the likely source of my impending demise. However, either my body really was that wrecked, or just flat out refused to cooperate.
“Uhh…” said the suddenly awkward Balefire-pony.
Wait, can armor change its facial expressions?
“E-excuse me, but I need to discharge this excess energy built up in Mr. Sherly soo…”
The monster walked towards me, my brain screaming all shades of panic into my consciousness, and aimed something cylindrical and metal towards the skylight. Once again my world exploded in green light and electricity that moved like Balefire.
- You’re hurt again. –
Thanks. I’m going to go back to bed now, alright?
- Most likely for the best. –
_____~~~~~~~_____
I must have only been out for a few seconds seeing as when my eyes fluttered open, the metallic monsterpony was still standing above me. I didn’t smell burning flesh this time much to the relief of my pain addled brain. I didn’t feel any more hurt after the second blast, more tired perhaps but that could be from the initial burst of adrenalin working itself out of my system. My brain was still trying to rationalise what had just happened. Before I could sort any of these ideas into a semblance of order, the cybernetic pony glanced down at me cowering on the floor.
“Look you need to calm down, your mind is moving too fast for me to keep my own sanity.” Stated the buck in a metallic laced voice.
What do you mean my mind is moving too fast? How does he know what I’m thinking? What in Equestria is he? How the Goddess am I going to get out of he-
“Enough!” punctuated with a loud stomp of his very solid hoof into the decking uncomfortably close to my head. “L-look I don’t like it but the Grid has linked both of our minds, and for the moment at least I’d appreciate it if you’d please try and calm down. Care for some chocolate pudding?”
Grid linking our minds? What does that mean, why do I- pudding?
Thinking that it would be, at this point, quite rude to turn down the offer of the cyber-pony, monster glowing green fireball...thing, I slowly opened my muzzle and as deliberate as I could without mentally screaming the words ‘freak’, ‘run’, and ‘panic’ at full mental volume said;
"Sure?"
“Ooh, Good! Been forever since I've had guests! I do suppose introductions are in dire need now aren't they?
There was a mechanical whirr that emanated from a recess in the floor as a single bowl, of pudding raised itself from the ground, clasped in a pair of metal claws.
“The name is...” The cybernetic pony’s face seemed to lose some of its focus. “The name is... name... name name name... what is my name...? Don't suppose you know who I am by chance?”
"Well assuming that your name isn’t ‘Mr. Sherly’, no, ah have no idea who ya are."
I gazed about in every direction possible looking for an open window or anything that I could use to escape this hell.
"I'm sorry, most ah know ‘bout you is that you resemble a Balefire bomb, which walks and talks, and can apparently hear my thoughts. Name's Sunset, though, ah suppose you already knew that.”
Maybe if I extend my hoof only halfway he won't want to shake, or electrocute me.
As much as I looked about there was no easy skyward route out of whatever ‘laboratory’ I’d fallen into. The only way out that I assumed didn’t lead further into the unknown, was back up through the skylight. That was a no-go seeing as green energy was constantly arcing between the exposed conduits lining the shaft.
How in Equestria did I surviv-
“Hmm... Darn... Well then I guess you could call me by my idols name, Tes.”
Great, now the burning green monsterpony has an idol.
“A-and yes, my... appearance is more than a little off putting. Often drives ponies away, calling me a ‘monster’.” The last word biting thought the chill of the room I was laying in. “Tell me, ‘Setting Light’, do you think me a monster? Oh, and don't bother lying, I can feel your emotions, they radiate off of you in small electrical busts.”
A shiver of adrenaline burst up my spine as my mind scrambled with a way to answer the mon-
I mean, nice handsome pony who most definitely did not resemble hellfire incarnate-
In a way that would mean I would get to see the light of day once more.
"T-t-that would all hinge on your definition of monster?" I squeaked. "Do ah have fear of you? Yes, undoubtedly, fear that my vague proximity to you will somehow cause me to, justifiably, burst into ash. However to call you a monster? Honestly, no, I've not, for example, witnessed you reduce a population center to rubble, though ah do not doubt you're lacking in capability".
Silence.
Silence was never a good thing. Silence meant that negotiations had broken down, and that any continuing exchanges were to be carried out by way of firepower. The building electrical charge that I could feel setting my fur on end seemed to confirm my fears. I tried to raise myself up to bring my hopefully still functioning Battle Saddle to bear against the burning cyberpony standing not more than a leg’s reach from me. My body protested with all its might, my right fore-leg sending flashes of pain causing my vision to blur. Still I was able to at least raise myself off the floor onto my haunches. ‘Tes’ started to laugh, I wasn’t sure if he was laughing at my feeble attempt to defend myself, or something else. Either way it set my nerves on edge and I reflexively flinched away when his laughter reached ‘lunatic’ levels.
“You're something else, you know? Judging by action rather than looks, but not disregarding. I do suppose these, green tinted flames are a bit... off putting, but don't worry, they won't spread.”
In an attempt to prove that his flaming aura was benign ‘Tes’ put his hooves around a stack of centuries old paperwork laying atop a nearby table. I suppose seeing that the paper didn’t immediately burst into matching green flames would have been enough for a rational mind to be convinced. However, mine was still fresh with the experience of being engulfed by that same green electro-balefire and my hide still itched from where the new fur had been magically grown back.
“Its special,” Tes continued seemingly oblivious to my inability to reason right now, “designed it myself, regular fire would burn me alive you see. As for firepower, well... I suppose I could throw something together, wouldn't be too hard...”
Oh Celestia you’ve got him thinking on how better to fry you into ash.
Tes coughed, still standing over at the table, thankfully no longer in such close proximity.
Cyberponies can cough?
"Heh heh yeah..." Laughed Tes to break the audible silence creeping its way back into the room.
Oh look pudding! Something I can think about that's not my immediate peril.
"Say, let's suppose that you're not some cybernetic weaponized hellsp- ah mean pony."
I buried my face in the bowl of pudding trying desperately to not look at, what I could only assume was an angry Tes. Still, I wanted to know what it was that I had stumbled upon, not having ever run across anything like him in the Wastes before.
"What are you?” I asked tentatively around a mouthful of the chocolate pudding, which was rather tasty. “At least to yer knowledge?"
Well at least this chocolate pudding is good, last thing I'll taste before being jolted to death, then maybe the nice cyberpony will restart my heart, then shock me again, then revive me, then burn my body to ash. Then, who knows, maybe some magic I’m unaware of will revive my body once more, then back to ash again, and oh Luna why can't I stop thinking about this I'm going to be si-
Something about the idea of being burnt alive by a force so powerful as to turn my body into ash struck a particularly disturbing chord. The contents of my stomach found their way onto the floor of the laboratory, thankfully not splattering on anything that looked important. I really should stop over thinking these things.
"... Sorry.” My head held low, any sense of composure was gone at this point.
“I.. I'll have that cleaned later.” Tes’ eyes flickering to the mess on the floor, then back into mine. “Sure, I have a enthusiasm for electricity and I’ve had to modify my body in order to deal with the currents involved; but, to answer your question, I'm the same as any other pony. As far as I know.”
Few? Well I suppose a few at a time maybe.
“My brain may be encased in a metallic housing, however I still have morals. One of which being 'no frying the guests'. You're the first pony that I have had a conversation with in over... what year is it?”
That question caught me by surprise. When living out in the Wasteland you didn’t really have the time or ability to precisely measure the days, sure you would get lucky every once in a while and find a still functioning terminal with a date and time displayed, but even then you have to take what it read with a grain of salt. You could never could really know if that was correct.
"Ah don't rightly know myself, simple pony."
What year was it? It's been, how many years since I left Canterlot? Why is he asking me at all? With all this still functioning equipment down here you would think that something would have kept track of the current date, right?
"Anyways,” derailing my own train of thought. “I'll take your word that you're not going to turn me into crispy cheese fritters."
Sunshine celery stalks, shut up brain! If I could have physically used a hoof to stamp out the thought of once again being reduced to nothing more than a pile of ash, I would have.
"You'd think that somewhere inside your mechanical, enhancements, you’d have a clock somewhere, right?" As I looked over his form taking in all the various mechanical features, I wondered what all they did, and how much better they would perform over organic. While observing the steel appendages there was a sudden twinge of pain in my right foreleg. This was almost as if it was trying to tell me how much better life would be if I could be free of this lame limb.
“I...do have a clock in here,” there was a look of pain that seemed to cross the metallic face, “but I'm afraid it doesn't keep track of time moving forward, rather, it counts... down, and I don't dare look at it.” Tes paused, then shuffled his hooves on the ground before looking at me with my muzzle still buried in the bowl of pudding.
- Look just because I’d just thrown up doesn’t mean I’m not going to enjoy fresh chocolate pudding when it’s offered to me, don’t judge. -
“Also... Canterlot?” Said the cyberpony interrupting my happy munching. I tried not to think about how I’d be able to lift the bowl off the table if both my limbs still functioned properly.
“And that song? What are they? They sound so new... Also, don't envy this... body.” The last word sounded hollow.
"That landing seven years ago begs to differ" I mutter around the last mouthful of pudding. "Wait new?!?"
A pudding spit-take is not something to be amused by, moreover it looked very much like the ugly spot of sick still adorning the laboratory floor, which in turn triggered two events, the first was to repeat the act of evacuating my stomach, and the second was the thought process of being turned inside out atom by atom.
“Huurrmmmphh-”
"...Caught it that time." I said sheepishly, having forced the bile back down my throat. Vaguely motioning to what I hoped was a fluffy floor pillow and not some form of lab equipment. "Can I lie down here?" My body didn't wait for an answer, or for me to make it all the way.
"Hello floor, we meet again." Nearly biting off the end of my tongue when my teeth snapped shut from the impact of the floor.
“Go ahead, take a rest. And yes, new? Why...? Exactly how long has it been?” Tes walked over to where I’d collapsed, the obsidian color of his body showing as the green flames died down around him. “I mean, I know that I can get involved in my work and quite often and I can lose track of a few months there and there. However, your reaction tells me that it has been a bit longer than ‘a few months’, hasn't it?”
The mechanical pony sat down next to my sprawled body placing a hoof lightly on my right fore-leg. At this distance I could hear the motors and magic running through the limbs as they moved composing a symphony of whirring and buzzing.
“And enjoy that pain in your leg, at least that lets you know it’s still yours.”
My exhausted body lay there haphazardly on the floor. My mind slowly processing Tes’ words, enjoying the cool sensation of his metallic limb on my burning fore-leg. My eyes and nostrils flared wide at the full realization of what the cyberpony had said.
"Months? Canterlot? That's been around since before the bombs fell, since before the time of written lore!” Something popped in my brain. "You, can't have seriously... then, you- your, but, those are recent!” Mustering what little physical strength I had left I pointed wingtip at Tes’ cybernetic limbs. “Fluttershy, the MoP! You can't? How- I..." Mouth and brain refused to work together as the true weight of the physical punishment my body had endured, healing potions or no, finally crashed upon me. The last thing I remember saying, or at least thinking I said was "Ah found the bottom of the rabbit hole".
oo<>oo
“Oh dear. Looks like he's broken. But what was he talking about? Bombs? Fluttershy, maybe a friend of his?... Not even going to try and figure out MoP. Cleaning supplies maybe... And what does he mean before written lore?... Just how long have I been away?... MAP, please transport our new arrival to a guest room. We need to have a talk once he pulls himself together.”
A familiar robotic voice filled the room from the speakers mounted throughout, “Yes sir, I shall also clean the 'mess' he left behind.”
I looked up beyond the single opening in the ceiling as the medical transporter encased the unconscious Pegasus in a field of artificial magic, teleporting him away to a guest room somewhere in the complex. I started to think about just how much time I’d spent down here, or at least, how much time I ‘remembered’ spending down here.
Quest Perk added: Balefire ‘Resistant’- Though not granting you the ability to withstand the blast of a Balefire Bomb, their magical flames now do 30% less damage to your body on contact.
((Authors note: First and foremost I have to thank Kkat for writing the original Fallout Equestria, followed by Somber for writing FoE: Project Horizons. If it wasn’t for reading both of your stories, I’d have never thought about attempting to add to this universe. On that note as much as I am trying to stay to ‘cannon’ throughout the duration of this story, I may or may not trod on some aspects of ‘fancannon’ laid out in other parts of the FoE universe, and for that I’m preemptively sorry for. I’ve read a lot of the major works available, however I’ve not read them all, so if I do cross something, please keep in mind it was not intentional.
Secondly, many thanks for the support of those in the “Hooves and Dials” chat [You know who you are] for pushing me to actually follow through and publish this story.
Lastly I would like to thank my co-writer The Wiseless Stallion for providing me the inspiration and for putting up with my ‘wibbling’. To my editors and pre-readers frozenpyro71, Dawn-Fade, Istalir, KaraSkakalac, and That Awesome Brony Guy, you have my thanks for slogging through the rough cuts and helping me polish this into something legible.
The following chapters will be out hopefully in a timely fashion, though that all depends on how much of a hash I make of the rough drafts. Thanks for reading.))
Chapter Two: "Who uses the Front Door Anyway- oh."
What? Noooo. Mr. Sherly doesn't just kill people. He kills them, revives them, kills them a second time, re-animates them, separates their energy from their body, then reverses time. Not sure how all this works, but it seems to... or maybe I've taken too many shocks to the brain and I just imagined it all. WHO KNOWS!
Sheets, different from the ones I had grown accustomed to. Not the dank mildew-smelling tattered old rags sewn haphazardly together stained in Luna knows what. No, fresh, clean sheets, smelling of the finest lavender cleaning magic like those back before all the hell. In the brief moment before full awareness I felt happy, safe, and content with the world. Then I felt the lack of barding on my hide, the usual weight of my battle saddle and its twin 5.56mm rifles, and the troubling feeling of the anesthetic wearing off.
"Well this is a fine way to start my... let's just go with 'morning' for simplicity's sake," I muttered to myself, acutely aware that "Tes" was almost certainly listening to my thoughts.
A speaker crackled to life somewhere above my head.
"Ah, good morning Sir. I'm afraid that the master is a bit busy at the moment, care for some breakfast?"
Before I could even form a response with my sleep addled mind, my attention was drawn to a bowl lowering itself from the ceiling held in a familiar looking pair of metal claws. As the bowl reached the small table next to my bed I inspected its contents; oats, judging by the smell of them.
"I'm afraid that this will have to suffice, our food stores are running a bit low at the moment. After breakfast, you can find a shower on the south side of the room. Once finished, please report to the main chamber, you can find it out the east corridor, take a right, then take the lift to floor fifteen. If you need any more assistance, please call."
Fresh sheets, actual oats, robotic voices, this reeks of Enclave... Or Steel Rangers.
"T-thanks mister?" Nothing but the sounds of far away machinery answered my question. "Right, I'm just call you Mr. Oats." Wearing a dumb smile, I looked over at the bowl now sitting on a table just next to the bed.
At least until I'm corrected, I'm going to at least get some humor out of a mechanical voice in the ceiling.
“Name configuration activated, setting designated name to Mr.Oats.”
Oh... that... was unexpected.
I munched on the tasty grain and took a look around the room I’d been deposited in wondering if the robotic voice in the ceiling let whomever talked to it designate their own name, or if I’d been the first ever to talk to it like a pony. Thankfully I spotted my gear hanging on hooks near the door that Mr. Oats said the shower was.
"Well," talking to no one in particular this time, "Think I'll take advantage of clean water while ah can.”
Taking the first few steps towards the bathroom reminded me that I had in fact fallen down a very long ventilation shaft and my right fore-hoof was kind enough to point this out by sending a bolt of white-hot agony into my brain.
Could use more of those painkillers...
The bathroom was compact but not small, just efficient in its design. Simple stainless fixtures and all white porcelain didn’t help detract from the clinical feel of the decor. The shower stall was roomy enough even given my larger than normal build, though there was no way I was going to be able to spread my wings and give them a proper wash. Ground ponies never built bathrooms big enough for pegasi. Still, I relaxed when the water emanating from the nozzle was, in fact, warm as I let it flow down my green mane. The clean filtered, hopefully non irradiated water played over the surface of my flanks seeming to sizzle on my cutie mark of a half setting sun illuminating a bolt shaped strip of land.
How long had it been since my last proper wash? Flying through the rain does not count either.
Using a brush meant for a pony of a much smaller size to lather the parts of me I couldn’t reach, I wondered where in the Wastes would there be another shower with hot running water apart from Tenpony Tower. After spending twice as long as a decent pony would letting the warm water wash the amalgamated grime and dried ichor out of my coat, I crushed the absurd feeling of guilt that arose as I did so.
Hey I said I'm taking advantage of this didn't I? Least I can be honest about it.
I stepped out into the empty room my coat still dripping wet and looked around for some form of a towel to dry myself. Not seeing an obvious location in the compact quarters did the best I could to shake myself dry, using my wings to provide extra assistance. I plucked my singed barding off of the hook it was resting on and began threading my hooves through the armor when the overhead speaker crackled to life again.
"Feeling better S..." The robotic voice of Mr. Oats paused in the middle of the word, as if it was thinking about something. "You know, I can provide you with a... cleaner, outfit if you like. Comes with the added bonus of being shock resistant."
There was a mechanical whirring sound like when bowles filled with food appeared in mechanical claws. However, this time a long vertical panel opened up in the wall and a single robotic arm extended forth holding what looked like a shiny metallic bodysuit. It even had rubber insulated hoof covers. Before I could say anything about the garment, the overhead speaker crackled to life this time the deeper voice of Tes filled the small room.
"Glad to see you’re finally awake. If you could please make your way here, there are a few things I'd like to discuss. N-no Mr. Sherly, you cannot shock him... because he's our guest! Manners! Don't talk to me like that yo-..."
The audio cut out filling the room with silence. I stood staring up at the speaker for a moment before the audio crackled once more, this time the voice of Mr. Oats returned.
“I’m sorry about that, Master has been under a lot of stress lately. will that garment suffice?”
"Wing holes?" I instinctively flexed my feathery appendages, "Ah don't think sacrificing the ability for me to fly is worth-" I paused remembering Tes' last words. "Ya know, ah have an idea".
After a few moments to dig through my packs for my utility knife.
- Yes it's a sharpened length of rebar, what? You show me to the nearest centre of manufacturing and I'll show you the largest crater in the wasteland. -
I roughly cut two wing holes in the well preserved suit, much to the oddly audible chagrin of the robotic voice from above. Slipping on the clean, metallic material, I continued my normal routine of replacing the rest of my barding over the stretchy undergarment. While I did enjoy the feeling of fresh clothes that had not been caked with months of Wasteland grime. The garment Mr. Oats had given me seemed to reflect light off of its interwoven metal fibers and that would not do. Nothing says 'Hey, shoot me' to a raider like a flying shiny pegasus soaring overhead. Besides I'd be a idiot to not wear my armor, thin though it was.
"Where is, 'here' Mr. Oats? I feel like I'm being a bad, erm, houseguest by keeping Tes waiting... shortest route please?" I said, glancing down at my leg that was already protesting having been stood on for this long.
“Shortest route?” The robotic voice pauses for a moment. “Hm... That would be...”
My fur started to stand on end as I felt the buildup of energy surround my body. everything in my vision started to tint itself green.
“A secret... Now please try not to cut anything else up.”
There was a blinding flash of light green light and, had I not clamped my eyelids shut, it likely would have caused some damage to my vision. As the residual magic dissipated from around my body I fought the urge not to evacuate my stomach for the third time in as many days. I slowly opened my eyes and found myself standing back in the laboratory with the skylight. However there was no evidence of my burnt and bloodied body ever having been there before.
Does that mean that maintenance is still working in this facility? That could explain why everything is so clean down here.
Just as my eyes started to look about for maintenance bots, the door on the far end opened up and Tes’ green flickering metallic form walked into the room.
"No, you need to understand common curtesy first," talking to himself. The shiny metal cylinder in his muzzle seemed to hum in response. "Well he can't be here quite yet, that leg of his seems to slow him down somewhat." The cylinder hummed again. "I'd refuse him- oh, hello.” Tes’ eyes finally catching sight of me.
“Now, Mr. Set, how about a game? It would seem that you're just as confused as I am about our current situation, so we'll take turns asking questions, sound fair? And since that was a question, you get to go first.” The metallic cylinder in the cyberponies mouth began to hum as small arcs of energy radiated from its end.
Oh crap oh crap oh crap! My mind raced suddenly hoping that this ‘shock suit’ actually did what Mr. Oats told me it did. Wait, electricity jumps to uninsulated parts first, like my head or my exposed wings.
Mind reading powers, the ability to be a walking Balefire bomb, and now teleportation. Luna help me even if I could fly fast enou-
My train of thought derailed as I caught a glimpse of 'Tes' looking at me unamused, small flickers of green magical death licking out of his eyes.
"Well, that sounds fair, ah 'spose," spoken with as much courage as I could. "Ah haven't been the best houseguest, what with making a mess on your floor, and uh," looking at my rubber insulated hoof, "Ripping your clothes."
Oh happy days. Ok, I’ve got my battle saddle fitted, yay! Having it loaded and the firing bit in my muzzle, not so much... I wonder if I can get that done without Tes noticing?
"Hm... I suppose you might be able to get that done without me noticing, but I doubt that the newly named Mr. Oats will let that slide; and I am not a walking ‘bomb’ as you keep putting it. There's not a single part of me with the ability to explode." The blackened cyberpony walked over to the nearest wall and began to tap on it in small, random taps. "That counts as a question, so now it's my turn again."
Oh that is not even remotely fair...
Tes let out what sounded like a sigh and turned back to face me.
"Alright, I'll start with a simple one. What happened to that leg of yours? Being linked by the Grid means I feel any pain you feel. Incidentally, this is why you don't have to worry about me frying you."
Time to be a clever pony... crap, time to stop thinking... crap...
"Look I'm going ta level with you,” I said flatly, “I've no idea how much you know about me, and since you're asking pretty 'common knowledge' questions about the end of Equestria, I'm going to assume that you can't read my deeper thoughts."
Now is not the time to think about that romp in the hay that one time wit- Shut UP brain... Luna protect me it's hard to not think about things when I know he can hear this.
"So I'll answer your question, as clearly as ah can.” I walked over to a floor pillow in front of a set of instruments and sat down. “Seven years ago ah was evading a particularly determined squad of Enclave and ah had ta make a rather, ‘quick’ landing which shattered most of the bones in my front leg... Hydra was about the only option ah had to restore ground mobility so ah could continue to -run away-." Shrugging my shoulders. "Ah guess it just never really healed right.” I got up from where I was sitting and made a show of trying to stand with just my right foreleg, only to have it collapse under my weight splaying myself onto the floor, conveniently bringing my Battle Saddles control bit under my chin.
"I see." Tes said as he walked over and extended a hoof to help me up. "I'm terribly sorry for the pain you went through. Now, it is now your turn to ask me a question and I swear I'll answer it completely honestly." The cyberpony smiled, tilted his head and closed his eyes. Aside from being constructed out of metal plates, it almost resembled that of a normal pony.
"Don't worry about it," Pausing a moment to lower my gaze from Tes’ face to look at the floor. "Ah really only have one question, well two, but one more to the point."
Right switch click and yank. A satisfying click of an ammo feed connecting and the resounding thud of a bolt slamming home added emphasis to my next statement.
"Luna banish you to the sun if you lie! Enclave, yes, or no?"
Please don't call my bluff, I don't think I like electricity, or captivity.
The armored mechanical face of Tes just looked at the source of the sound. "No, I am not Enclave... At least, I don't think I am. I guess my next question then should be what is the Enclave? Also, it'd be much appreciated if you could point that elsewhere." The metal cylinder still held in Tes’ metal teeth started to arc bolts of energy once more. "My...friend, doesn’t take kindly to hostility. Of course he won't harm you until you actually harm me.”
How does he talk around that thing- NO that is not a question...
"I-I'm sorry, it's just..." Looking away whilst shifting my weight to lower my guns. "Look, I'm a hunted stallion, the Enclave are the self proclaimed last bastion of 'civilized Equestria' left in the wasteland. To be honest, you reek of it; the prosthetics, the fresh food, clean water, high level of tech. That or the Steel Rangers." I looked towards the ground, looking anywhere but Tes’ eyes.
One floor tile, two floor tile, three, four, fi- maybe I'm not going to die.
"Thing of it is, the Enclave don't take too kindly to Pegasi that don't see eye ta eye with their policies. As you most likely saw before, ah still have my cutie mark rather than a Dashite brand... They... mean to change that, or worse. Ah don't get along with ‘em because they are sitting up there in the clouds letting good ponyfolk down here get butchered.”
Judging by the blank stare the metallic pony standing in front of me in the spacious laboratory had on his face, he had no idea what I was talking about.
"...I see... you're being hunted then. Not sure what all you're talking about. Wasteland and Dashites? I've really have lost a lot of time, haven't I?" What had been a constant barrage of green energy spewing from the end of the rod in Tes’ mouth died down to a mere flicker. "Actually...now that I think about it, a few things have been a bit...off around here... So you have only two questions, one was if I was Enclave, and the other one was?"
"Well now that one’s a bit complicated."
Part of it I can figure out on my own. I took a calculated step forward actually putting my full weight on my lame leg rather than the carefully practiced move I used earlier. Nopony ever suspects the lame pony falling over ‘oh look I'm actually arming my weapons’ routine.
"You see," I continued looking for any visible pain in the metallic face, "I'm wondering just how permanent this mind reading business is and whether or not I'm going to have to continually censor my mind whenever it turns towards a particularly delicate subject."
Like fine flank. My mind finished for me, remembering the last bit of bar booty I enjoyed back East.
Oh Luna I just actually thought that didn't I...
"Ah yes. Well..." I thought I saw the cybernetic face turn a slight shade of red. "It's not entirely intrusive. The most I can do without permission from the secondary link is see emotions and immediate thoughts. Oh, that’s you,” Tes added after seeing the ‘not a clever pony’ look on my face. “Also, remember how I said that I can feel your pain, and that if you died, I die? Well, same works in reverse. So if you were to actually shoot me with those rifles then you would feel the bullets piercing me, followed by the shock of electricity going through my body frying my brain, and yours.” The cyberpony let a small flash of green electro-flame lick out from the joints in his armor as if to reinforce his point. “I'm not stupid, so you know, just confused." A smile slowly spread across his face.
Sometime when I’m not scared out of my skin, I’m going to have to ask him how metal can be so animated.
"Say, it's almost lunch time, what say we talk while we eat?" Either Tes didn’t hear that particular thought, or chose to ignore it as he started to walk towards me. As he passed on his way to what I assumed was a kitchen, or dinning hall, he paused and with his voice just above a whisper said;
"Indeed, that was a fine flank." Before busting out laughing and heading for the hallway.
“Ah..." Was all I got out before my face turned the most wonderful shade of 'oh Luna he did see that' under my orange coat. I turned around to head in the direction that Tes had walked.
Well I did just eat breakfast, and accidentally named his, house pet? But I'm not going to turn down food that isn't centuries old.
"Ya never answered how long." I called after as I followed along as fast as my leg cou- screw this I've got wings for a reason and there's plenty of overhead. "Wait up!"
_____~~~~~~~_____
Little in the way of actual conversation happened during lunch. After hovering into a room loosely resembling a kitchen, if a kitchens here came with wires and pipes scattered over every square hoof of free space as standard. I landed on another floor pillow which I suspected was some form of scientific instrument cleverly disguised as a cushion. Mr. Oats lowered another bowl of his namesake down in front of me as I shucked off my Battle Saddle.
No point now, I thought to myself, if he was going to turn me into fine murder dust he'd have done it in the lab back there. The easy to clean lab, with the convenient floor drains, where the water can just rinse the 'me ash' down no prob- wow I have a knack for imagining myself dying right before a meal.
After an awkward pause and a mental shuffle urging me to think of things less related to my flesh being rendered apart atom by atom, which was quickly climbing the charts of 'ways I don't want to die', I noticed that there was a lack of anything food related infront of Tes.
"You're not..." I clammed up as I was met with the steady gaze of mechanical eyes twitching with hints of green. As if to answer my unspoken or unthought question a metal snake descended from the ceiling to come to rest between his shoulder blades at the base of his neck.
"This might hurt." Tes said with an apologetic look.
With a sickening crunch the mechanical snake drove itself into his spine. It sunk so deep that almost its entire length was lost below the blackened armour plates.
Sweet Celestia herself is burning me alive!
The pain was so intense, I was so sure someone had just driven my rebar-knife into my spine that I whipped my head around to check. It was all I could do to curl up and try not to shudder from the blinding pain. Eventually I was able to get my hooves back onto the table and remain upright. Several minutes passed, I think, could have been a few seconds for all I know, before I attempted to say anything.
"Whaaa..." Brain and mouth failing to work in tandem again. The best I could bring myself to do was idly chew on a few oats which fell out of the bowl, when presumably I knocked it over in my wild flailing. I could feel the connector pull out of my back. If I wasn’t so distracted by the absurd levels of pain my body was tolerateing, I would have been asking the cyberpony if this was a normal occurrence for him. As I looked towards Tes he was just standing motionless across the table from me. Then however, Tes answered that question for me as the cable sparked and the tip finally cleared the mechanical Stallion’s body.
"Sorry about that. Used to be a time that I had a working stomach, but not now." His eyes sparkled as he looked over at my collapsed form, half chewed oats dribbling past my muzzle.
No wonder he didn't flinch when I stood on my lame leg, that is nothing compared to what he goes through to... feed? Sure, feed, for my sanity let's keep this as pony related as possible.
"Oh dear, was afraid this would happen. Otus, bring me ‘the Mix’."
There was a slight pop as the speaker above protested being activated. This place may have been well maintained, but little signs like that betrayed the facilities true age.
"Yes Sir." Chirped the robotic voice of Mr. Oats as a small vial lowered down from the ceiling, filled with a neon orange liquid. I couldn’t tell with my blurred vision but it seemed like it had a faint glow about it.
"Okay, this'll help you feel better. Should also help with your leg." As the vial slid into a slot on Tes’ cybernetic leg it activated a small needle to protrude from the tip of his hoof. I was slowly regaining my faculties.
Oh hello hooves, nice of you to start responding again.
Looking up at the sound of what could have been a voice, only one thing brought me back to reality. That was seeing a needle heading towards me.
"W-w-wait!" Stammering wildly.
Needles filled with glowing orange fluid heading towards my flank, quick lie, hard! Shit he heard that. I... I started to think the sentence before my words caught up with my muzzle.
"-don't think you should be wasting your time on me, or resources. Besides, ah don't like needles."
Much less so when filled with goo. I mentally kicking myself for thinking that last part. Right, never playing anything card related for money with Tes, ever. My mind was a jumble of ways to talk myself out of a needle to the rump filled with Goddess only knows what. I simply started to roll away from the incoming syringe in vain hope that Tes would get the message that ‘no, I'm not a pincushion!’ That seemed to give the looming metal form pause as his advance was, at least for the moment, halted.
"Time and resources are all I have left now. You have knowledge. Seems like a fair trade to me, now hold still and stop being a colt."
Tes was stronger than me, much stronger than me, as I found out when his hooves pressed me against the cushion preventing any further retreat away from the needle. Sterilized steel met my flank as the injection drove home and I could feel quite a hefty dose being pushed into my body. My fears subsided somewhat over the orange goop now running through my bloodstream as a strange feeling of warmth started to boil in my gut, slowly spreading down my limbs till even my hooves felt like they were aglow.
"See, not that bad was it? Now, I do still have a few more questions for you, although one more so than any other, if you don't mind. Also, I will still answer any new questions you may have with complete honesty and to the best of my ability."
Something clicked, now I've never claimed to be a clever pony-
- okay that's a lie, once, to get in bed with this one... nevermind. -
But at that moment I understood something. The sheets, the shower, the oats, the barding, pain, fear, calm, emotions especially the pain.
Someone slap this colt back to stallionhood please... I'm thinking again, loudly. I looked back up at Tes seeing the somewhat bemused expression.
"Let me guess, and no," I said carefully whilst trying to figure out what this mystery goo was doing to me, "This doesn't count as a question, since ah know you already know ah know the answer.”
Okay, maybe a clever pony at times.
I shrugged myself back onto my haunches and sat more upright at the table eyeing the now neglected oats.
"This link, you could drop it at any time, couldn't you, but you won't. You know damn well how long it's been since you resembled anything pony-ish". I added that last bit carefully in hopes to not anger the walking Hellfire lest he sever the link and decide that 'you know what, I can clean the kitchen easily'. "You're usin’ me to experience 'life' again. Sure you can experience pain, sadness, anger, or whatever vestiges of life you can, but you can no longer ‘feel’ them can you!"
Gotcha! I thought with a smug internal grin, looking for any betraying change of emotion from across the table.
"Re-experience life? Huh, you are clever...sometimes. I do suppose that I have been taking some pleasure in these feelings again... But no, that's not correct, you're not really even a prisoner here. The only reason you've stuck around is because of your fear... fears to be more precise." The look on Tes’ face shifted slightly, becoming curious. "Before, you mentioned you were being 'hunted' by some group called the Enclave? You said they were trying to brand you as a, a... dash bright? Well, my question is, what are the chances that they would track you down to here?"
Yeah well I tend to fear things that go boom... After a brief mental kick to the rump, I continued aloud.
"Ermm... Ah mean well, boom, is a relative term, I'd certainly call it one, and damn straight so would the Enclave. That fireworks display you pulled off... yesterday?"
How long was I out?
"Sure as hell would have triggered all sorts of fancy bells and whistles above the cloudline. Ah guess it all depends on how far away we are from any of the sensors, and how well hidden the entrance to here is."
I started to munch on the oats, feeling my appetite returning. Which wasn't really all that graceful of actions, seeing as my head was starting to swim with that 'oh this is the good stuff' feeling you only can receive from hard narcotics and painkillers.
"Ah, the... tantrum from two days ago.” The metal face seemed to go blank for a moment. “Well, to be honest with you, I've only been awake for about... two weeks now. Last thing I remember was sitting in the lab working, I had just finished having supper with my family, then closing my eyes..." I could physically feel the sadness radiating from the cybernetic pony across the round table. Feel it like it was my own. Wasn’t sure if it was the drugs manipulating my reality, or the link was now interchanging emotions between the two of us. Before I could figure out what exactly was going on Tes continued;
"And then, I woke up. The lab was flooded with radiation, and my fire was burning wildly, green, not orange. I vented the room and... I... Dust, how long does it take to turn bones to dust?"
I blinked, slowly trying to work out what exactly this pony sitting before me was. On one hoof he was clearly the product of advanced cyberpony technology developed by the MoP in the later parts of the war, or by other organizations after the bombs fell. On the other hoof he clearly has no idea about the most basic of Equestrian history which could be the result of memory loss or living in isolation since the dawn of time.
Okay none of this makes sense, this place is spotless aside from the mechanical clutter, he has advanced cyber limb technology that was only invented in the later parts of the war. There aren't even the obligatory corpses everywhere that come part and parcel in the wastela-
- Dust -
... Easy clean floors.
"I'm..." I looked down at the half empty bowl trying to figure out how to shove a hoof down my mind's mouth.
“... War? Advanced technology? But... these were mass produced for any pony who needed them, well, any pony that could afford them, and it was Utopia, it was..." I could almost feel the confusion from Tes. His eyes flickering around the room as if trying to find visual cues to support the memories held within his mind.
"Are you suggesting to me that my past is impossible? That I never had a family? That I'm... I'm..." The confusion began to fade. "What am I then? Either I come from a past that your mind would suggest is impossible, or I don't have a past, that it was made up..." A grin began to spread across the face of the animated armor as his eyes flickered back to life to stare back at me.
"I'm suggesting nothing," I said as calmly as I could trying to focus on the few remaining oats and not the screaming part of my brain saying 'you're going to die if you keep pissing off the nice mechano-pony'. "All ah ‘am’ saying is what ah know, and about all that amounts to is about a cup of water in the sea. However ah have seen things out in the wastes stranger than you, so you can’t be that bad."
Like that one time where that Alicorn ripped a pony in half screaming 'The Goddess is pleased by this'. My inner voice chimed up. Or that one time raiders strung your caravan mates up by their entrail- Shut UP brain!
I shuddered in remembrance.
"Look, from what I've seen of you, you're a nice pony," I said through a forced grin, "With many resources that could help a lot of good ponyfolk up there on the surface, only problem with that is, well, no offence-"
Clearly marked now as offence, good jo- SHUT IT!
"You're kinda nutty."
I wonder how good this table is at deflecting angry green laser death-rays.
There was a pause, I couldn’t tell if the crackle in the air was nothing more than my drug clouded mind playing tricks on me or if I should be ducking below the table in a vain attempt to survive a point blank blast from the walking fireball. A slow chuckle begins to leak out of Tes’ throat which did nothing to ease my growing panic.
"I see... a nut am I?" Proper laughter echoed off the cable encrusted walls as I started to slump myself below the top of the table. "Well then that's perfect! Now that I know what this new world is like, I can't spend my time worrying about my past! You know, I'm surprised you never asked me what this place was used for."
I pondered for a moment halfway below the table now, trying to remember details from my pre, post, and currently medicated brain.
Lab, check. Plush living dorms, check. Some form of food processor or farm still active over 200 years, check. As I ate the last oat. Biomedical and weaponized balefire, check-ish?
"You're right, ah haven't asked; merely how well hidden it was, which you've not answered yet."
There was an itch in my hoof telling me that there was likely to be be running soon, well that or rain, but I feared it was going to be my first guess.
"You’re a clever stallion, I can sense that you have a few ideas formulating in that brain of yours. But only one is right. It's-"
The speaker above our heads popped again as the robotic voice of Mr. Oats called down to Tes.
"Sir..."
"Not now Otus, I'm trying to explain something to our guest. Anyways as I was.."
"Please, Sir.” The robotic voice insisted.
"What! What is it!" Tes’ head snapped upwards to look directly at the speaker cone.
“Hostiles detected above the cloud lining.”
Guns! First thought. Right behind me, barding? On me, flight pat- I looked up remembering, right, bunker, thing.
"Have you any means of internal defence Mr. Oats?"
Without waiting for a reply from either mechanical voice I started towards the door which led back to the larger laboratory.
If anyplace is likely to be the front door it's going to be the skylight, Power Armor is fully insulated after a- A bolt of searing lightning rode up my right fore-hoof straight to my brain as I stumbled over the doorframe. Tes actually winced.
"Hydra," I panted, "It's, not nice stuff.”
I grabbed my battle saddle which I had left sitting by the entrance to the kitchen and started refitting it over my singed barding.
Wonder how many rounds I actually have left?
"Hmm... interesting. Never thought I'd have to use these things inside a hospital, never was sure why they installed them in the first place. Otus, turn on the defence system in all sections, also, send up the ES ammo." Tes quickly trotted up behind me and began to adjust different components on his body. The thicker plates that made up his shoulders slid towards the center of his chest effectively doubling the thickness of his armor over his center mass. His legs followed suit as the rear armor plating disconnected and swiveled forward over the existing metallic armor. If I had blinked I would have missed it, but the cyberpony standing next to me now looked like a highly articulated shield.
Well now isn’t that a neat trick. Looking over the scorched remains of what once was a mostly intact suit of combat armor.
"Before we start shooting, I would like a chance to talk with them. I want you to stay hidden until they make a move. Anything I should know about them? Weapons, armor? Also, Otus, prepare the RPWS and link it to mine and Sunny’s vitals."
Hiding, now that’s a novel thought.
Another speaker close by crackled to life.
“Very well Sir. Hostiles should arrive in seven minutes.”
"Well let's see, most likely they'll be in standard Enclave Power Armor, a good 5.56mm AP round will punch throu- just a sec, could you flip that yellow tab on the gun closest to you down for me?"
Tes deftly complied with a precise swipe of a mechanical hoof.
Envy.
"Thanks!" I said as the sound of the current ammo belt popped off the light machine gun. A few instinctive clicks of the tongue and a yank on the control bit brought what I knew was only six AP rounds into my right gun. The bolt slammed home with the reassuring sound of smooth machined parts sliding cleanly against one another.
Someone’s oiled this... or was that me? Can't remember. I shook my head trying to clear the fog from the pain and drugs still swirling around my head.
"Right, anyways nothin’ some good ordinance can't punch though. Most of ‘em will be armed with beam weapons, they might have some heavy ordinance with them if they think they're in for a fight; judgin’ by your light show, they think they’re in for a fight."
I looked up at the skylight brimming with current.
"And since they're here, they've either tracked me down..."
Which is bad.
"Or they've tracked you down..."
Also bad.
"Either way they're looking for somepony to bring back to HQ to explain what just lit up the sky near one of their bases."
A few more clicks of the tongue and another yank, my left gun was loaded with every other remaining round I had.
Going to be a bitch to shoot airborne off kilter, but Luna stomp me herself if I'm going to spray AP rounds like candy.
"Soooo..." I smiled at Tes, "How much of an explosion do you think that skylight of yours can take?" As I bucked five frag mines out of my saddlebags onto my lightly armored rump.
Tes looked up at the skylight and tapped a rear hoof rhythmically on the decking.
"Well, it managed to survive all those years of torment I put it through, definitely sturdy... although...” Once again, the mechanical face was grinning. “Try to keep the fighting inside the base... If things turn to worse I have a little trick up my steam engine."
And do try and stay connected through the Grid, things might get, loud.
"So how many should we be expecting?" Tes speaking this time rather than projecting his voice directly into my mind. There was a buzz and a pop from further ahead within the domed laboratory itself.
“Sir, preparations have been completed, shall I access Sub-Bunker A-1?”
"Aye! Bring out everything we have! And hurry!" The flickering eyes of Tes looked back over to me. "So, any weaknesses the armor has that I should know about? I suppose that they're rather shock resistance, having to move between cloud layers."
"Visors, weakest part, and yes -very- shock resistant." I said hastily "No idea on numbers, but groups of three are common."
I took flight balancing the frag mines on my rump up towards the arcing electrics surrounding the only point of natural light. A few deft tosses of my head while dodging the errant bolts of green energy and all five landed where I wanted them to. Which was good since I don’t think getting closer to the sides was going to be beneficial to my welfare. The centuries old ordinance were nestled between a bundle of conduits and a large crossbeam, unarmed. I figured that if I needed to prevent reinforcements, or the odd fleeing pegasus I could just shoot the general area and hope that they all detonated.
I hope those things are shock proof. An arc of green fire lanced past my head towards the scaffolding. With the taste of two hundred year old landmines still in my mouth, I flew back down and hovered near Tes who was busy fiddling with some containers. I settled down next to him and watched him rummaging around forelegs buried deep within their contents.
"So, where should I hide?"
That brought a pause, as the metallic form seemed to find what he was looking for.
"Why, in the best hiding spot ever, the open!" Tes tossed me a small vial of semi-transparent white liquid. "Drink that, the energy here should refract the light around you, turning you mostly invisible. Will warn you though, it is a bit bitter tasting."
A small blimp of red suddenly appeared in the upper portion of my vision. "Eyes Forward Sparkle, can only be seen by those connected to the Grid." The red blimp was suddenly joined by two more. "Hurry up Otus, they're nearly here."
“Very well Sir.”
Alright, I am removing the barrier blocking my thoughts from yours. Please try not to panic too much. I already know you don’t handle being linked to another ponies mind well, let alone sharing the physical emotions. But... please try.
Before I could even think a response, multiple speakers lining the laboratory crackled to life. Could be that Mr. Oats was broadcasting directly into my mind.
“Here you are Sir.”
A small box was lifted out of the crate by my hoof-
Okay no, that’s not my hoof.
I picked it up and opened it with a very smooth motion of my right foreleg using my artificial magic to slide it into a small slot located within my mechanical appendage.
Okay, that was not me, I’m standing still, right? I’m not... but that... magic, I can’t do magic...
They are almost here, please, try and get a hold of yourself.
My head hurt, I was starting to confuse just which one of our eyes I was looking though. I wasn’t even sure it was my head that was hurting. It shouldn’t hurt, I had obscene levels of dihydromorphinone and morphine-3-glucuronide augmented with the standard class A-Two healing spell running through my bloodstrea-
I don’t even know what any of that means!
I could see Tes looking at me just as I could see myself looking back at Tes.
“Arrgh... This is just all sorts of weird!” Giving myself a mental smack I remembered the small vial I had caught instinctively in my mouth.
Orange, now white. I thought, my head was still spinning from looking at myself through the eyes of another pony. Well... whatever let's see if thi-
"Bleggghhh..." My tongue rolled out in disgust.
And I thought centuries old metal and explosives tasted bad. I wonder if?
There was as sickly creeping feeling that rose up from the very tips of my hooves to envelop my entire body. My vision distorted momentarily as the feeling crossed over my eyes and finished at the very tip of my muzzle. I waved a hoof in front of my eyes, ‘not’ trying to touch the shiny red blips floating up at the top of my eyesight, I swear. I know my leg moved across my vision, but I only saw the faintest shimmer flicker past. Looking through Tes’ eyes all I saw was a now empty room where I once stood.
"Okay, that is going to take some getting used to." I muttered knowing that Tes could still hear me.
Ayup.
I took up position between the cyberpony and the door to the kitchen, not knowing how exactly how the red blips in front of me were going to enter the facility. Whatever magic controlled the fluttering indicators in the top of my vision it didn't seem to take into account elevation. A loud bang from overhead echoed throughout the facility.
At least they didn't blow it up. I always leave the front doors unlocked. I wasn’t even sure who had thought that. The red blimps continued to move back and forth, weaving through walls and other solid objects.
One more floor and they'll be here. If I don't like the way things are heading, I'll signal you.
I knew who I was. Either Tes toned down the link connecting the two of us, or I was starting to figure out how to separate my mind from his. I was about to ask what the ‘signal’ was when three fully armored Enclave Pegasi burst through the doorway in front of us shattering it with a burst of heavy caliber fire. The two soldiers flanking the one in the lead took a step back seeing the green flamed blackened metal pony standing before them. The one in the center recovered faster and readied what looked like a cannon. I could feel the smile spread across Tes’ muzzle. I knew what he was about to do, and swiveled my ears as flat as I could against my skull.
(( Authors note: Woo the words just racked up fast in this chapter. I would normally try and keep to around 5k however there just didn’t seem like anywhere else was appropriate to break. Sorry about the delay, editing took a long time due to everyone having school obligations these past few weeks. Once again Kkat and Somber have my thanks for forging this universe {at least to me} and bringing two things I adore together. I would like to thank my co-writer The Wiseless Stallion again as we continue to shape the story ahead. Many thanks to my editors and pre-readers; frozenpyro71, Dawn-Fade, Istalir, KaraSkakalac, and That Awesome Brony Guy for taking the time to help this poor writer make this as polished as it can be. I owe most of them many cookies. Once again thank you very much for reading! ))
There’s no such thing as a housecall. Well there is if you count firing syringes out of a pneumatic gun at the patient proper medical procedure. But hey, who said we had to be proper all the time?
I froze as my mind tried to keep up with all the information bombarding it at once. I could make out the standard armaments for Enclave armour, four magical beam weapons two on top of each other on either side of body. However, what really caught my attention was the .50cal MG Anti-Material rifle levelled at my eyes or were they Tes' eyes that I was looking through. Had they stopped in front of me and were they really my eyes staring down the long barrel of that rifle?
This is going to make combat hard.
It will be if you can’t keep you hooves under you. Tes’ voice cutting through the haze covering my mind. I forced myself to stop swaying.
When did I start swaying?
"I am Lieutenant Twister,” The very mare sounding pegasus said standing in the center as her two companions regained their composure, "And by order of Grand Pegasus Enclave you are to turn over any and all pre-war tech into our hooves so we can evenly disperse it to all ponykind.”
Oh now isn't that the largest load of manure. I thought loudly, hoping that my mental volume would hold some weight in convincing Tes that the Enclave really were not going to do anything of the sorts. But that means they're not here looking for me, which means we've got the advantage.
There was a pause. I stood there trying not to succumb to the sensory overload of simultaneously looking at Tes, who was watching the Enclave trio in front of him, whilst also looking at that imposing .50cal MG AM Rifle through his eyes. Even though he was looking around taking in all the details of the Pegasi that was the only thing I was paying attention to since it seemed to be levelled directly at his head.
That is one big fucking rifle...
I felt my heartbeat steadily increase as I thought about how large of a hole a shell like that would tear through my lightly armoured body, and... nothing from Tes other than a slight tingly sensation like from being around too many lightning strikes between cloud layers.
Oh Luna no! He's not actually considering that offer is he? My eyes grew wide as I felt a sinking feeling in my heart.
"Interesting offer, sounds like a good plan."
I felt the adrenaline spike in my own bloodstream as Tes felt my adrenaline spike at his comment as I felt Tes feel my adrenaline spike. My knees went weak at this feedback loop our minds had created.
"However..."
Our line of sight suddenly shifted to the left as both Tes and my eyes moved at the same time to look at the pegasus to the right of Twister, armed with the standard Enclave loadout.
This will feel awkward for a minute or two. Tes speaking silently in my mind once more.
Oh, right, like this wasn't already the single most messed up thing I've ever experienced in my life.
A flash of blurring movement appeared before our eyes. All that could be picked up was a few fleeting images, none really making much sense until... memories. The images suddenly slowed, it was the memories of the stallion we had been looking at before the world spun away.
oooOOOooo
“So what are we doing down here again?” I asked flying with my squad mates through the lower cloud layer.
Oh no that is not right, I didn’t ask that sure my mouth mov-
“That blast that went off a few days ago four clicks from the Tower. We are going to see what caused it, and see if we can recover whatever device punched that large of a hole in the clouds.” It was Twister's voice. “Command wants to make sure that nopony has that kind of power this close to one of the S.P.P. If we find anypony there, we are to neutralize them.”
“Steel Rangers?” My mouth moving on its own again.
“Might be...” Coming through the comms from the mare trailing both of us.
oooOOOooo
My mind twisted as I was ripped out of the body of the Enclave buck. My vision was a blur as the memories played out in shards before my eyes, weaving and twisting through the fragments of the stallion’s mind. I could feel that Tes was looking for something specific; however, the only thing I could feel was terror. Seeing the inside of somepony’s mind like this was as close as I could imagine to watching my own consciousness shatter. Finding what he was looking for the memories sped up again passing in front of my eyes, blurred by the speed in which they played back through my mind. When they slowed back to a speed which I could keep up with we started slipping back into the mind of the armoured Pegasus.
oooOOOooo
I recognized the area the trio was flying over. This was just to the north of where I left to go scout ahead before meeting the wrong end of Mr. Sherly.
“They say that a balefire bomb went off near here, turned everypony in the area into ghouls ‘cause of all the radiation.” The mare that was once behind us said. I already knew that and so did the stallion I was inside who just gave an annoyed huff.
It felt wrong, no that’s not right, ‘he’ felt wrong. His body was much smaller than mine, leaner too. I really didn’t like the feeling of the Power Armour surrounding every inch of me save for my wings.
“Help!”
There was a panicked voice calling up to us from down below. A mare was running in our direction from what looked like an overturned cart, behind her was six or seven ghouls determined to make the poor earth pony their next meal. The stallion suddenly readied his weapon and was about to pull into a dive to bring the beam gems to bear when Twist interrupted.
“Don't waste your ammo! We don't know what will be defending this place. Aside from the abundance of energy picked up by our initial scans, this location had a vault built under it. At least that’s what our records indicate.”
We flew past the mare that had climbed to the top of a small pile of rubble using what looked from this altitude like a small revolver to try and slow the monster ponies down. The ghouls however took little heed to the low calibre fire and managed to clamber up the fallen debris and overpowered the poor pony.
The Stallion and I both shivered, watching flesh being ripped free from bone as the mare let loose a horrific scream that echoed into my skull even after the sensation of ripping out of his body passed.
oooOOOooo
All I could feel was rage. I wasn’t even sure that it was just my feelings or if Tes was seething as well. Something about the way Twister wrote off a life because it wasn’t worth the cost of an energy cell rubbed my feathers the wrong way. The stallion whose mind we had just invaded was shaking his head and steadying himself. I had at least had a day to get used to the sensation of sharing my mind but the buck had just experienced it for the first time, and roughly at that.
"However what?" Twister said, becoming impatient taking a half step towards Tes.
"However," Tes said as a faint pinkish hue covered his foreleg, "The sky burns orange."
My mind checked out, I had officially reached the maximum level of weird allowed by my sanity. Two other ponies memories, emotions, experiences along with my own all crammed into one mind had pushed me to the edge, but when I felt components inside my limbs and body rearranging as Tes configured for combat. That was enough for me to see white around the edges of my vision as my limbs gave out. My consciousness snapping back into me when my chin hit the cold floor with an audible thud.
Ohhh that was loud. I thought as I watched through Tes' eyes the mare to the left of Twister started to circle around alerted by my impact with the metal decking.
"Twist?" She said, pointing a hoof directly at me.
Fuck.
E.F.S. why didn't I remember that sooner? Oh no they aren't clearing every room on their way down here though the facility because they're overconfident, no they don't have to just look for the red tick marks at the top of their vision. The fact that their Power Armour had that spell matrix installed in the helmets had been lost in the sea of memories. Even though my physical appearance, due to whatever was in that vial, was nothing more than a faint shimmer in the dim light of the laboratory it didn’t matter to the magic governing those floating red marks. The only reason they didn't see me sooner was because my angry little mark was lined up directly behind Tes'.
Jiggs up now!
Scrambling back to my hooves I fired one armour piercing round from my right gun into what I hoped was center mass of the poor pegasus, but with my head spinning and my blurred vision, it might have been the table next to her. The retort of my machine gun on select fire jolted my brain back to 'hey, fight, pay attention to not dying' just as a slimy sensation that felt like jello peeling off every inch of my body filled my mind.
I'm not sure I could even find my comfort zone on the map anymore. Looking down at my now visible hooves. Beams of magical energy sizzled across the room as the mare I had shot at returned fire, her companions following suit. The bombardment of my senses, as the world lit up with deadly magic coupled with the memories still trying to configure themselves in my mind, broke me. My brain tried desperately to sort out which ones belonged to me, which to Tes and which were the Enclave stallion’s, my mind decided it was just easier to shut down. The white edges of my vision once again creeped across the entirety of what I could see. Then everything faded to black. The last thing I remember was biting down on my left trigger spraying what I thought was the figure of Twister before my body slumped to the floor again.
oo<>oo
"Oh dear, there's now wounded in my hospital." I rushed forward, driving my hoof into the neck of the pony firing at Sunset. The metal melted around my leg and the smell of burning flesh filled the room. The mare made an attempt to say something but all that escaped her muzzle was a gargle considering my magically altered hoof had just turned her neck into liquid.
"Too bad I only have time for one." I muttered pulling my hoof out as the pink glow surrounding my limb dispersed.
"Otus! Lower section doors and send up the RPWS." The intruders had made it here, which was the plan. Now I wanted to make sure the only way out was up. Sunset had placed mines in the chamber’s maintenance shaft, however I had other plans. Quickly moving forward in the direction of the collapsed stallion. I dodged the incoming fire from the remaining two armoured pegasi.
Hot! Hot! Veeerrry Hot! I grabbed the unconscious orange pegasus in my teeth and pulled him into the kitchen.
"You really need to stop fainting every time I play with your mind," I hissed, "And I need to remember that your mind isn't as used to this stuff as I am." Pulling out another vial, I injected the limp pegasus with yet another drug. "Don't worry, just a simple healing potion mixed with a mild anaesthetic." I wasn’t sure if Sunset could even hear me. His mind was in such a state of turmoil that I didn’t want to risk talking to him though the Grid. The rage had I felt before was still seething inside of me. Flames began to leak from between the joints in my plating.
"Otus, bring me Mr. Sherly. Safety, OFF."
“Right away Sir.”
There was not much that I could do until the inter-facility transports plucked the metal cylinder off my workbench and carried it here through the connecting transport tunnels. The two attacking pegasus ponies continued to rain fire through the doorframe. Magical beams striking off the countertop we crouched behind. Finally an access port by the food processor opened up and a familiar metal cylinder was presented to me.
About time... One of the beams hit my leg as I popped Mr. Sherly over the cover and fired off a green arc of energy.
DAMN! The spot the laser hit glowed red, but my plating stayed intact. While it's nice that most of my body is heat-resistant, it does seem that the circuits are beginning to fry. That damn armour of theirs isn't helping any. The green bolt hit one of the ponies in the chest, but simply dispersed around the body. We're going to get slaughtered down here... no, he's going to be slaughtered; I'll simply be paralyzed... I won't let that happen! He's not dying down here!
"Where's my ammo Otus!" I shouted. As I fired another bolt from Mr Sherly, the door behind me hissed open.
“Sorry for the delay Sir, but I found an old friend of yours.”
Before I could turn around to see what had activated the door controls, a shape blurred past me and tackled one of the Enclave, followed by the sound of a mini-gun firing into the armoured pegasi. Unfortunately the ammo that it was loaded with wasn't quite strong enough to do any meaningful damage. The form was quickly thrown off, but it just tackled the mare again. Using the bullet spewing distraction I quickly slid back into the kitchen.
"Are you awake yet?"
oo<>oo
Colors, so many colors. Green lines danced across my vision, with pink and red following them.
Those are energy weapons you dolt! Kicked the somewhat coherent part of my brain. I remained in my stupor trying to make sense of what was going on.
"Why is mah side hot?" I slurred around my battle saddles' bit.
{Be Awesome}
My eyes focused, the dull burning pain in my side and right foreleg receding to the back of my mind.
"Help me up," I gasped. Tes bit the back of my barding and effortlessly hauled me to my hooves. My lame leg faltered but my wings caught me.
Flight.
I had a plan, well, ‘plan’. It was a loose idea rattling around hinging on luck, but a plan none-the-less. I pulled out a grenade with two blue bands on it.
"Right, ah don't know the range on this thing, or how well shielded you or Oats are, so ah suggest you get behind something solid until this goes off."
Tes just stood there brimming in green fire, a moment passed before he nodded slowly. I wasn't sure if it was heat or rage radiating off him, but either way it made my skin crawl. With one powerful pump of my wings I shot through the door back into the lab while everything lighter than a small book slammed into the opposite wall with the force of my backwash. I may be slow and clumsy on the ground but once I'm in the air, well there's a reason the Enclave had not caught me yet.
I just have to get them all next to each other, I thought as I scanned the large room. One's laying there, one's... blur with a minigun? Where's the thi- The rest of that thought splintered like my left gun as the fifty calibre round blew most of the rifle’s heart apart littering the floor with broken machine gun bits. A part of my mind wept at the loss of a friend, another callously reminded me that now I only had five rounds loaded.
"Where’s that bi-"
Impact, both of us were now falling towards the ground after she rammed me from above, however I was able to correct my attitude well before her due to not carrying the equivalent of a small cannon on my back.
Rookie mistake. I took the opportunity to place two armour piercing rounds down into her rifle, or at least in the direction of where her rifle was.
"Gun for a gun!" I yelled, or at least I think I did. No idea if I had any voice left at all or if I was just screaming within my own mind. Random lead sprayed up from the ground. I wasn’t sure if whatever was wielding that minigun was aiming at us or if it’s shots at the Enclave stallion went wild. Most missed, some passing harmlessly through my feathers, one however lodged itself into my underbelly.
There should have been a plate there... oh, right, that raider with buckshot. It wasn't too painful, hell I'd had worse earlier at lunch, but it was enough of a distraction for me to miss Twister living up to her name as the mare corkscrewed up from under me to level a ramming blow.
Ahnope! I thought as I bit the stem of the EMP grenade tucked into the collar of my barding. All that the mare saw was the stem fly free as I spat the small metal tab free. I didn’t know what she thought belonged at the other end as it would be suicide to use a frag grenade at this range, but it was enough for her to immediately change course as fast as her wings would allow. She shot up for the opening of the skylight. The grenade detonated as a massive crackle filled the chamber. Power Armour spell matrixes all around the room and all of the consoles fried out. I could only hope that Tes and Oats were someplace safe but damned if I was going to let her escape and report back what was down here. She was falling back down the shaft, bouncing off girders and pipes, armour creating paths for green electricity to flow across creating a light show worthy of a Gala as breaker after breaker popped.
I have to catch her! Duty? Chivalry? Idiocy?
I raced upwards to meet her and was about to bite into her harness when I saw the mines.
Oh... fuck...
I brought up my right hoof to shield my face. Time seemed to slow to a dead stop as a bolt of green death arched from the damaged piping to Twister's armour. As if mocking me it broke its grip on the pegasus and shot directly into the pile of hidden munitions. Armed or not, the heat alone from the spark was enough to turn my world into a maelstrom of green and orange fire. The last thing I remember was the sensation of my leg being ripped apart, the very real feeling of flesh being rendered apart, almost as if atom by atom.
oo<>oo
My vision corrected itself I tried to stand, my right leg refused to cooperate. I looked around trying to remember what just happened. Dragging myself towards the door that led to the laboratory a small patch of red light washed over me. Then again. Emergency alarms, but I couldn't hear them, I couldn’t hear anything. Something else was wrong, missing. Still dragging myself I finally pushed through the doorway.
"No..." With this one word everything came back to me, the fight, the grenade, the...
“Explosion!” The alarms finally broke through the deadening silence in my mind, silence that I could not fathom why it felt so out of place. Frantically I looked around the laboratory scanning for any signs of life. None of the Enclave pegasi seemed to be moving, however, trapped beneath a pile scrap metal was a familiar orange figure. There was a large amount of blood seeping out from under the crumpled hulks of the two ponies as a thin haze of dust still hung in the ozone laden air.
"No no no! Sun!" I shouted before switching to the grid.
You can't be! You can't! But there was nothing there, the link was down returning nothing by silence. Moving as fast as I could I hobbled over to the wreckage entwined around Sunset and began to pull loose pieces of debris from around him.
"Otus! Emergency room transport now!" I waited for a response, but none came. "Otus?"
Nothing. Moving over to a console on the wall I jump started the spell matrixes using my built in connector. Once the terminal was functioning I brought up a diagnostics report of the facility. The electrical surge emitted from this room had travelled into the main coil in the generator room. Dead.
We're all dead. My right leg began to glow with the same pink hue from before, twisting and deforming the metal from within. I fell against the wall trying to clear my mind, trying to think of any solution I could act upon to save the essential systems.
Damn it all! The alarms whining continued in the background, the constant whining. Shut up, shut up, shut...Whining...The alarm system doesn't whine... Quickly whipping my head around I saw movement from under one of the Enclave bodies. The tattered form was struggling to push the dead weight off of it. But the shape, it seemed so familiar...
"Copper!" I shouted.
Woof!
A chance, there might be some hope after all! Dragging myself from the terminal I tried to move towards Copper, but something had pinned my foreleg. Looking down at my right hoof I saw that the metal comprising the skeletal structure had fused to the metal plating of the wall. This was it. This was the final straw. I was not going to let such a simple thing as a malfunctioning component stop me, not when help was so close. My rage built and so did my internal flames, spreading throughout my body lapping between the joints. I forced my anger into my foreleg and the conflagration began to move to my will. The heat began to build with in my limb. I could feel the metal of my leg warping and twisting in protest. The small box buried deep with the workings of my leg began to buckle. Then metallic casing was now glowing cherry red and in an instant it cracked. A rippling pink explosion sent shards of gemstone and steel limb flying to every corner of the chamber. The blast sent me hurtling backwards as the wall I was fused to began to crumble. Struggling to what hooves remained attached to my body I stumbled over to Copper, shoving the body off of him.
"Hey, Copper. Are you still alive, are you hurt boy?" There was a small whine as the lights across his casing flickered.
Copper nodded. Pain surged through my body as the telepathic link was re-established. I had installed an independent signal into Copper a long time ago when the Grid had gone down and left me alone with no way of communicating to anyone on the outside. Not wanting to be alone proved to be a most useful source of inspiration. However, that feeling was starting to once again to overtake my brain.
"Can you walk?" I asked, having trouble standing on just three legs.
Copper gingerly raised himself onto all fours and moved to my side. Using the cyberdog as support I walked over the body of Sunset lying half buried under the weight of the twisted pegasus armour.
“Copper, give me vital sign readings.” A small panel on his side smoothly slid open revealing a small screen. Sunset was alive, but only just. I hobbled forward. That was a huge relief. It felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders. The moment I started to move towards Sunset the lights on the screen started flashing wildly.
“Oh no, he’s too weak. He won’t make it to the emergency room,” The weight crashed back onto me tenfold.
Why! Why him!? I tried to lift my hoof realizing that it wasn't there anymore. Everything around me was dying or in pain and I had all the necessary tools to fix it, but I couldn't access any of them. Sunset’s foreleg was in tatters. I had to do something or he would not survive. That would leave me alone once again.
I looked down to Copper, knowing what I had to do.
“I’m sorry old friend.”
Reaching down to the panel on his back I released the catch. Inside was a single unassuming button; such an inconspicuous switch that held such painful ramifications.
I think... I think it's time you took a rest...
As Copper powered down, I stood there above his motionless form comprehending what I had just done. I had killed an old friend, to save a new one.
"Lets prepare you for surgery, this is a hospital after all," I whispered.
oo<>oo
I was flying, low, skimming over the landscape and I felt the warm sunlight on my wings. Sunlight, I had to be dreaming. Unlike what I'm told by my flightless brethren, that they have a feeling of overwhelming freedom when they dream of flight, I was not quite comfortable as I flew just above the terrain. Still it was a nice feeling all the same. What did strike me was rather than the corpse ridden wastes stretching out before me, its twisted ruins of a once lush landscape, it ‘was’ that colorful and beautiful landscape. As I continued to fly, I passed above a small town some of its residents looked up from between the buildings and waved, smiles across their faces.
"N-no... not this, I..."
This was a world I tried so hard not to remember. All the things that once were, the happy uncorrupted versions of places I'd seen in my memory. I continued to fly over hay covered roofs sheltering the pastel colored buildings. Looking about, watching the town scrolling by under me continuing on in ignorant bliss. No raiders coming to ravage the town looking for their next meal. No slavers sneaking in to take everypony away and sell them off to Luna knows what fate. No Enclave diving down from above the cloud layer hot on my tail. This was peaceful. I flexed my legs starting to enjoy the peaceful surroundings noticing not an ounce of pain from my foreleg. Light-hearted glee built up inside me as I felt a smile creep across my face. Looking back over my hide I noticed that I was free of scars, well at least the ones I could steal a glance at whilst airborne. As my gaze returned forward a cyan mare's magenta eyes locked with mine as she flew up alongside me. I couldn't say a word even though I desperately wanted to. My mind screamed at my mouth to form words and my lungs to push them from my lips, but not a single syllable could be uttered. The mare smile as she banked hard and pumped her wings, my world exploding in a spectrum of color.
oooOOOooo
"Shit he's waking up, Oats!"
“On it sir.”
"You!"
Green eyes, so cool...
"Hang in there."
oooOOOooo
I was falling, okay this is unsettling. I pumped my wings in a futile attempt to grab what little air there was in this narrow space. Nothing. I hit the ground hard, landing with a sickening crunch audible over the echoing thud of my impact. White hot agony rushing into my nervous system did a wonderful job blocking out any rational thought.
"I thought in dreams you never hit the ground... or feel pain," I muttered thought my ragged breath as my body tried to sort out the stabbing razors my hoof was sending to my brain. Looking around I suddenly realized where I was. I was lying once again at the bottom of a broken elevator shaft in the basement of some nameless high rise near Manehatten. I knew what needed to be done, even knowing this will hurt like hell. I removed a vivid purple healing potion and a jerry-rigged beer bottle filled with hydra and the other chemicals needed for it to interact with my biology. I could not even remember where I had picked the drug up at. Most likely found it scavenging the high rise and thought I could sell it from some caps. That was the only reason I even entered the building after all. Though in the end I guess it didn’t really matter, it was the only viable option at this point.
"Seven years ago..."
Popping the stopper on the potion with my tongue I readied the hydra in my hoof.
"Drink, then activate the Hydra, ignore the pain, run. My plans suck!" Thinking back to the EMP grenade and just how I had expected that to work out. No time to waste, flying was not really an option down here. The pony who designed this place was definitely not a pegasus, hallways not quite wide enough for my wingspan and hanging lighting.
"If I ever meet the pony that designed 'bulbs on a chain', I'm going to buck him right in the teeth."
A crash and a yell from the shaft snapped my attention back to what I was doing. Knowing full well that the Enclave who had been chasing me were moments from descending down the shaft to where I was laying.
"It's just a dream..."
I threw back my head and chugged the bittersweet potion at the same time crushing the blister packs on the side of the beer bottle to force the chemicals into the Hydra. Having finished off the healing medicine and already feeling its magic starting to affect my lesser injuries, I brought the other bottle to my lips. My teeth ripped the stopper off the top and I gulped down the milky, foul smelling liquid inside. It didn’t take long for the sickening sound of bones magically aligning themselves to echo through my skull. The jagged shards of bone scraping against each other and cutting through my muscle on their journey to their proper place. The pain of my mutilated limb twisting around itself as the bones fused was almost enough for me to wish the armoured pegasus above would finish the job. It only took a few minutes for my once mangled limb to reconfigure roughly back to what it once was, but those fleeting moments felt like a century.
"Now... I have," Panting through the pain, "To run..."
oooOOOooo
"Sweet Tesla's AC he's waking up again, Oats another dose of-"
“I don't think that's wise.”
"We don't really have a choice here now do we?"
There are those green eyes again, sparkling like the stars...
oooOOOooo
I usually have quite a good tolerance for pain. The kind of pain you get from a hangover or getting shot by something low caliber. Sure I'll boast that nothing can hurt the ‘Stallion Stud Sunset’, but throw enough lead into my hide and I'll whimper in a corner like anypony would. Tes' mind games aside, my pain threshold is pretty up there, walking for years on a lame leg tends to dull your senses in that regard. However what I was experiencing right now was like nothing I had ever felt before.
Burning pain coursing through every fiber of my being. All I could do was scream, the feeling was so intense that I could have been skinned alive at that moment and I wouldn't have noticed. I writhed in perfect agony for what seemed like an eternity. My body creating new and spiteful ways to hurt my brain further for what past grievance I had no clue. I could not think, all I could do was feel. Then everything stopped, no warning, no explanation. The immense pain ravaging every cell in my body just melted away and a feeling of tranquility entered my mind. I opened my eyes slowly, tears rolling uncontrolled down my cheeks as my vision tried to focus. What I saw was most assuredly an angel, white face with soft eyes looking at me kindly.
"I'm dead right?" I wheezed.
He just smiled as his face faded into the murky blackness.
((Authors note: There we are. This chapter is more on par of what I’m hoping to have throughout the series. As always my undying love for Kkat for creating this universe and to Somber for showing me it’s possible to add to a universe without everything falling to s**t. Huge thanks to my co-writer The Wiseless Stallion for adding to the creativity of this project. To my editors and pre-readers; frozenpyro71, Dawn-Fade, Istalir, KaraSkakalac, and That Awesome Brony Guy for helping this poor writer produce something resembling polished work. As always many many thanks to my readers, Ring-a-Ding folks!))
They say ‘war never changes’, but they are wrong. Oh how they are wrong. War does change. New and deadly inventions are forged in the heat of battle until one side finally gets so good at killing that the other is eradicated. Then there are the world enders, those weapons that no matter the amount of troops will ensure both sides equal destruction if brought to bare. Those changed war, changed it back to the very beginning. Everything past that is just a repeat.
The artificial glow of the terminal’s monitor bathed my face in the dimly lit office. I absent mindedly pressed the keys cycling between menus in a vain attempt to busy my mind. Journal entries I’ve read over a thousand times before, or the odd maintenance log detailing a problem needing pony intervention rather than the facilities normally routine repair robots. When I finally scrolled back to the top catching myself re-reading the entree I had inputted mere hours before for the fifth time, I couldn’t take it.
"How's the patient doing?" Talking to nopony present in the room however knowing my query would go answered.
"The patient has entered REM sleep again, sir.” The robotic voice crackled from an overhead speaker which showed its age popping on the last syllable. “Vitals appear to be normal; however his brain waves show that he is in some discomfort."
Good, better for him to sleep.
I turned away from the facility reports having already read the files that flooded in since, whatever it was, happened and decided to just start asking for live updates.
"How's the power doing?"
"The coil in the main reactor room is working at 53% capacity. Sir, without the grid, I'm afraid that the system will not be able to-"
"I know...” I said with a sigh, cutting off the mechanical voice. “I think it's time we clear the smoke off the water." I returned to searching through the menus, this time with purpose. It was in here somewhere, buried in some otherwise inconspicuous directory.
Why are there so many hidden files? I continued to dig deeper into the computer, changing my technique from randomly looking at individual directories to searching for inconsistencies in the layout. My eyes flicked between the logs as my hoof moved deftly across the terminal screen. Coming to a sudden realization my mind went into overdrive. I had realized that hidden within the data there were odd keys that suck out here and there, all pointing to the same location on the terminal.
Wait, what's this? I finally found something. After so long and almost consuming hospitals entire supply of Mint-als, I found... Something. It was a text document too long to try and read right now. I connected my pipbuck to the terminal via the grid and started a download.
I stood for a few moments watching the progress bar creep across my screen agonizingly slow. The thin slithers of progress stacking upon each other moved so slowly that they were barely perceptible.
"This is going to take a while..." I muttered. I looked around at what had been my home from since I woke up. All throughout the room were stasis pods lined up on the wall, most were neglected to the point where the casing was cracked or shattered, each covered with a thick layer of dust.
Except for five...
"Otus, I'm going to visit our patient, inform me when this is done." I turned away from the slowly creeping progress bar.
"Very well sir. What about the-"
"Melt it." I stood up and walked out of the old office towards the lift.
oo<>oo
Sheets, smelling of lavender.
My eyes flew open as my vision tried to focus on the details of the world around me. My mouth was dry and no matter how many times I tried to swallow I couldn’t eliminate the feeling of chewing on cotton. Sitting up was an adventure as what little command of my vision I regained was quickly spun away from me as my mind was overwhelmed with nausea.
Okay... I’m just going to lie back down-
A sound coming from the bottom of the bed caught my attention. The ragged sawing of breath that can only come from one thing, somepony was snoring. My eyes went wide the world snapping abruptly back into focus as my brain sent a dose of adrenaline surging through my bloodstream. The machines next to my cot protested the rapid change of vital readings with a chorus of alarms. I quickly sat back up fighting the swirling sensation in my brain and scanned the room for the other breathing pony. I had expected to see the blackened metal form of Tes slumped over the edge of the bed, but rather what my eyes rested upon was a small white unicorn wrapped in a lab coat drooling lightly onto the sheets near my hooves. I chuckled at the comical sight.
Not much of a threat there.
"Hi, name’s Sunset," I said quietly not wanting to wake the stallion, "And ah believe ah owe you my life" figuring that the teal and green maned pony had done more than saving my hide after the mines blew up in my face.
Shit, that's right, the EMP... Tes! My vitals started to destabilize again as the machines next to me started to make warning noises. What had I done? If Tes isn't here, then-
"Morning sleepyhead."
My eyes flew back to the now awake unicorn at the base of the bed.
Those eyes, I... how?
"Who... T-" I was about to start asking the many questions all pounding my brain for attention when the small unicorn spoke.
"Hey, save your strength, don't try to talk just yet."
The tiny stallion looked towards the machines hooked up to me scanning the various readouts before looking back to the sheets where he was laying.
"Oh dear, I made a mess of your sheets. Something about the smell of lavender always makes me drool." His voice was light, carried as much weight as his tiny frame, without the subtle undertones of depth it could almost be mistaken for a colts voice. "Um... If you wouldn't mind calming down, that'd be nice, tiny headache. By the way my name is Joules."
Something in the way he said his own name struck me as off. However my questions would have to wait, the unicorn was right, if the machines screaming next to me were any indication, I did need to relax.
Deep breaths Sunset... In... and out. Try and remember. I thought about the fight, the body on the ground, the one under attack by whatever was wielding that minigun, of Twister. I loved that gun; her sister's going to be- gear! I looked about the room as the machines belted out another round of alarms. The same hooks as before held what remained of my barding and Battle Saddle. Morning Light looked intact enough, however Night Bane... I've lost a friend. Yes I'm aware of how that sounds, but when you have no one to call a friend in so long you start to consider the equipment that has saved your hide more times than you can count, family. I relaxed, the sounds of alarms finally quieted. In... out...
"Joules huh?" I said looking back into his eyes, his emerald green eyes. "Well ah introduced myself, but you were asleep... Thanks..."
The stallion looked puzzled for a moment before speaking.
"For what?"
"For... Ah don't know, staying here..." I mumbled shifting my gaze away from his face. Silence filled the room once more, save for the low monotonous beeping emanating from the now much calmer machines next to me. After a while of me just staring at my gear from across the room trying to gage how much damage I had taken. I closed my eyes and laid back.
"How long was ah out this time?" I asked rubbing my face with my right hoof.
Metal...
"Oh that's not ri-" I opened my eyes as the machines hooked to me protested louder than they ever had before. I looked up and down my leg where my flesh and fur used to be.
Mines... atom by atom. I knew what happened, and I understood what was now attached to my body was a cybernetic replacement limb. It took me a few moments to just looking at the metal before my brain registered that what felt like my old leg was not in fact made of flesh and bone. What I didn't understand is why this limb looked like it was made from the same metal as Tes. Joules was looking at me with a mixture of concern and pain, a look I didn't like. I took a moment to breath letting the cacophony of alarms quiet down.
"Where’s Tes?" I said as calmly as I could manage.
"I...he..." The unicorn shifted uncomfortably before changing the subject entirely. "It's a specialized metal, was the only thing I could use for somepony of your build. You’re quite a bit taller than what the medical charts say is normal for a pegasus, but you're also quite muscular, very muscular actually... so I was able to use heavier components."
There was a pause as the unicorn’s emerald eyes moved over my body and I took the opportunity to interject.
“W-what happened to Tes?”
I could see the gears turning inside Joules’ head as he thought about how he was going to tell me the next part. A twinge in my heart caused my face to wince in pain.
"He's... He served his part in keeping you alive, and he wanted to continue in protecting you. This is what I could salvage after the tainted gem crippled his leg and spread to the rest of his body.” The unicorn sighed before continuing. “It also has a few special features built into it, using some of the spell matrices scavenged from inside of the Enclave armour. I managed to integrate an E.F.S. matrix into it should activate in a similar fashion to that of their armour. Try it out and tell me if there are any problems. Also you can adjust the friendly colors, which is currently set to white."
Most of what Joules said past 'Tes wanted to continue to protecting me' was lost.
Wanted...
Something about an E.F.S. the color white, didn't matter. My brain was focused on Tes and my stupidity.
Sure, use an EMP, I thought, Crash some Spell Matrixes, kill your new friend. Good job Sunset, three days. Two of which you spent asleep in bed. That's ‘got’ to be a record for shortest terminal friendship ever.
I mocked myself as I sobbed into my hooves. No, scratch that, hoof and metal hoof. Any other time that would have pushed me to freakville, but I was too focused.
"I'm... just..." Joules said trailing off as he backed out of the room.
Three hoofsteps and a click, three hoofsteps and a click, followed by a door closing. Even through the grief of having killed the first pony I'd had more than a fleeting conversation with in years, one that saved my life, three times now, I still registered that Joules had at least one metal limb.
oo<>oo
I stood outside in the hallway for a while trying to collect my thoughts listening to the sobbing emanating from the other side of the door.
"Great job Joules, for all your intelligence your still an idiot." Sighing I walked down the hall, my lab coat dragging on the tiled floor behind me, being a size or two too big. A few floors down in the lift and a short way along the hall was a door that had remained locked since the orange pegasus’ arrival. Touching my horn to the handle, a small tint of green washed over the door and the locking mechanism released. I walked into the room, not bothering to close the door behind me. The room on the inside was simple, just a bed, jukebox, table, and a bookshelf all coated in a layer of dust that the filters failed to pull from the recycled air. On the table were various bits and pieces of scrap metal and electronics along the salvageable parts of the Enclave weapons all of which had been deposited there for me by the interfacility transports. Walking up to the table, I floated a book over from the shelf.
Clockwork’s Electronics. After reading a few pages, I began working on the firearms. I would only be able to make one rifle and pistol, but it would have to do. After a while of trying to get unfamiliar components to play nice with each other, I pushed back from the desk, covered in grease stains and a few patches of scorched fur.
"How's the water level?"
It took a moment before the speaker in this room to crackle to life bringing the voice of Otus
“The water talisman is currently operating at seventy two percent with two hundred and sixty nine point se-”
“Thank you.” Cutting the artificial voice from the ceiling short, not needing to know exact numbers on how much water was left in the facility. Walking over to the bed I pulled off my lab coat exposing my hide to the magical illumination for the first time since waking up. The light reflected off my foreleg since its casing had long since lost its original enamel. The cybernetic limb was at this point little more than a mechanical hoof with a built in pipbuck which I was honestly surprised still functioned given the leg’s state of disrepair. Wires poked out from the exposed joints as I hung the coat on a hook near the shower. I removed the five small pins from inside the leg, each one sending a tiny twinge of pain up my leg. Feeling the limb release from the socket I removed the cybernetic leg and replaced it with what was little more than a steel rod. Slipping into the shower I turned the temperature down as cold as it would go, no sense taxing the failing reactor by cycling the heating coils. I stood there for a few minutes before letting my body slump against the wall, sliding down the tiles.
"Otus...open the deceased list." I said feeling the water running across my face doing a wonderful job masking the tears.
"Yes sir."
"New entry; Tes. Date of birth, Unknown. Date of death, Unknown. Family status, Unknown. Blood type, Unknown. Marital Status, Married. Children, One." I curled up on the floor of the shower. "Cause of Death... magical radiation poisoning from a corrupted gem. Add sub-note... Best damn psychopath out there... and an even better friend."
oo<>oo
Apparently I fell asleep at some point, probably for the best. The machines next to me were finally quiet, their leads detached. There was only one tube snaking across the bed, one end connected to an IV bag hanging above my head the other...
Ugh, I hate needles.
My eyes moved to my other limb, Tes' gift. The hoof looked like a normal hoof should, just with four raised sections around the side. I traced the outlines up my foreleg noting the access covers most likely used for lubrication.
How do these things work anyways?
The joints were covered with what looked like thick rubber protected by articulated plating. The metal was still Tes colored, a stark contrast to my dull orange coat. It was worn in places, scratches here and there and just for a moment I thought I saw a hint of green flame lick out from a joint. I shook my head.
Luna what have I done?
I'm no saint; I've done my fair share of killing. I do try and avoid it when possible, try and make whomever is shooting at me stop without ending their life, but to say I'm some 'Hero of the Wastes' is too much. I'd gladly take on assignment to keep caravans safe, protect ponyfolk just trying to survive and make an honest cap to support themselves or kin. I won't, however, go out of my way to help. It's too risky, a high profile isn't something I need when the words 'death from above' hold special meaning to me. Just let me slide under the radar, ignore the orange pegasus in the corner drinking whiskey, be about your way, pay me the caps I'm owed, please don't make a fuss, and we'll be alright.
Water started to trickle down a drain somewhere and my body reminded me that the little colt's room was just past the hooks with my gear.
Well... test trot? Looking back to my new limb.
I carefully rolled out of bed setting my three natural legs on the ground first. Then I tried to move my mechanical limb to meet them. It was smooth, natural almost silent and I felt-
Felt? My new hoof touch the ground.
"This is going ta take some gettin’ used too," I muttered under my breath.
I started to shift my weight onto the leg. It held, corrected for balance. I overcorrected by instinct, as the cyberleg corrected again. I stood there trying to get a feel for how the limb operated and could tell a great deal of work went into fitting this prosthetic to me. It really felt-
Felt? Like my old leg, the sort of semi stiff movement however with none of the pain and as I found out when I carefully picked up my left leg, it didn't collapse under my weight.
Trickling water.
"Okay... let's try for the restroom."
After a few false starts, I put my left hoof forward first and took a few hesitant steps as drops of sweat beaded on my forehead from the mental effort. I just past the foot of the bed when the surgical tubing pulled taught at the IV needle removed itself painfully from my leg. The distraction broke my concentration and both forelegs buckled.
"Oww." I said through gritted teeth as I lay on the ground hindquarters raised. "Buck this."
I stretched my wings giving them a few experimental flaps making sure that they had survived intact.
"Thank Luna you protected me." I ‘would’ figure out how to walk with my new limb, but right now nature called. I hovered a little off kilter towards the bathroom. Tes' gift was heavier than my natural limb used to be, but not by more than I could compensate. I closed the door with a kick of a hind leg. and sat down on the fixture. After relieving myself I stood looking at the pony reflected back in the mirror. I still looked like myself, no random additions that I could see, though the black mechanical plating extended up past my shoulder and curved around my neck to cover just under half my chest.
Was the blast really that bad, or was that just to attach the limb to the rest of my fleshy bits?
I stood there watching the armoured plates move over themselves as I articulated the joints in the mirror and half contemplated taking a shower. I felt physically clean, sure salt crusted my face, but other than that I was spotless. No, I wanted a shower because I felt unclean. I had killed four ponies that didn't need to die. Sure three of them weren't there for me and most likely would have been killed by their own actions against the hospital, but it was my fault they opened fire. Then there was Tes. The tears started again, this time more controlled. I wiped them away with a metal hoof.
Why was it so easy to use this when I'm not thinking about it? I looked at the tiny water drop on the hoof. Is this even waterproof? Will I rust?
I decided against the shower. Making my way back into my room I snagged my Battle Saddle in my teeth from its hook and took it over to the bed walking slowly, deliberately. Disassembling the rigging to free the twin guns onto the mattress, or at least what was left of Night Bane and her sister.
"Oh Goddess what did she do to ya?"
The gun was a mess, the Anti-Material round had lived up to its name entering the top of the receiver at a slight angle causing the round to tumble as it proceeded to displace the bolt, gas chamber and trigger sheer before bouncing off the forged casing and removing the magazine catch from the bottom of the weapon. I looked at her as my mind worked out what might be salvageable aside from the barrel. My attention turned to Morning Light looking as pristine as ever. I reached a hoof out to work the bolt to make sure the weapon was empty before servicing the rifle and a little appendage popped out and hooked around the cocking handle of the bolt. I pulled slowly. The bolt slid back against the return spring as the mechanical hoof’s appendage held firm as the catch locked the bolt in the open position. I let go of the handle and brought my hoof to my face. Three more of the little appendages popped out of the side of my hoof and with a little thought I found I could control them individually.
I blinked. "That... is going ta be useful."
oo<>oo
Turning off the shower after actually cleaning the dirt from my coat, I carefully hobbled out.
Really need to add a grip to the bottom of this thing. Looking down that the improvised crutch.
I entered the main part of my room and flopped onto the bed, which managed to make me look even smaller, being a princess size. Removing the pins from the temporary leg hurt almost as much as re-inserting them into my cybernetic limb. Slinging my over-sized lab coat back on I returned to the table, this time inspecting the third firearm resting atop the particleboard. It was a large rifle, okay that was an understatement, it was a small cannon. At least it used to be seeing as the blast had done quite a number on it. I sat there awhile prodding at bits of the gun not really sure what could be done with it. The centre of the cannon looked intact but I was pretty sure the rest was slag.
Maybe he can make use of it.
Deciding that there were better things to be doing with my time than poking at a half mangled firearm with an idle hoof I got up and made my way to the lift.
Hopefully he's had time to cool off. [Hopefully he won't think that you're a kid.] Shut up. [Maybe a mare?] Seriously? As I reached the door that held the patient, I raised a hoof to knock, then hesitated. Maybe I should wait. [For puberty to hit.] I swear I'll kill you. I knocked on the door.
"Excuse me," Once again, I couldn't help but notice how my voice really sounded like a little colt, or mare’s voice. "It's Joules. Do you mind if I come in?"
There was a moment of silence from the other side of the door before the pegasus responded.
“Yeah, c’mon in.”
Trotting slowly into the room I noticed that he had littered the bed with his possessions and gun parts. Most of the objects I recognized as really weather worn versions of things kept in the storerooms however.
What’s with all the bottle caps?
The orange stallion was working on the one gun of his that had survived the battle, using his new cybernetic hoof with aptitude I had not expected from such a recent transplant.
"I see you've gotten used to the new... hoof." I cringed a little at having to mention it, but protocol is protocol. "However, I still need to run over the spell matrices installed in it. Been awhile since I worked with them and I need to make sure that they're working by tomorrow morning."
I trotted over and jumped onto the side of the bed, propping my forelegs up on the rusty crate the pegasus seemed to use as a toolbox so I could feel taller, my hoof bumped something.
{Be Awesome}
A pegasus, or rather a small statue of one. The athletic body seemed to be crafted with the utmost care so that her radiant beauty was overly apparent even in this miniature form. At the same time I felt a boost of confidence course through me.
"Interesting statue, seems to have some magical properties to it.” I looked at the large pegasus concentrating on smoothing some part of his remaining rifle. “Say this was one of the Six Hero's isn’t it?" I thought back to a book I had read as a colt, mentioning tales of six friends and the adventures they had. "Interesting that they would enchant a toy."
"Yeah, one of the Ministry Mares." Replied the preoccupied pegasus taking a moment to look at the statuette "She..."
He trailed off returning to work on the disassembled firearm, grabbing the better of the parts from between the two guns. I could tell just by watching his expression that I had hit a nerve.
Okay, careful how you say things from now on... nothing witty?
"How much do you know about her? All I have to go on is the stories I was told when I was a foal."
[You mean you’re not?] There we go. I looked back at the statue.
"She was supposed to be brave, awesome, and loyal I hear." I poked the statue again, and felt the same boost of confidence as I had the first time I made contact with it. "It was said that she could break the color spectrum while flying, but that's just silly foalish talk, would be physically impossible to do that." "Oh that was foal’s play for her.” Muttered the blue eyed stallion before his hoof slipped sending a spring flying into the air. I caught the projectile with my horn and floated it back to the pegasus as silence filled the room.
He continued to work on the gun until I noticed his eye flick upward in his vision and he racked the bolt back.
"Seven minutes twenty seconds, that's a new record." He said looking into my eyes once more. "So what's so special ‘bout tomorrow?"
I stared back into his eyes for a few seconds before moving to get off the bed.
“When you came here, you were being chased by a group called the Enclave.” I walked over to the medical equipment and started fiddling with it, just trying to do something other than look at the pegasus.
“This group was then drawn to this place for pre-war tech,” I waved a hoof in a circle. “and they also found you here.” I returned to fiddling with the equipment. “So, when the group you killed doesn't return, they will send out another team here...”
Confidence is much needed with this next part please... I looked at the statuette. Is it possible to become addicted to a spell? I took a deep breath steeling my nerves.
“Now that my guardian is dead, staying here is a death sentence. But going outside alone is just as much of a death sentence for me as staying in here is.” I looked at the orange pegasus with hair as green as mine sitting on the bed. “Which is why tomorrow, you are going to leave, and take me with you.”
oo<>oo
How many days was I out? Should have had at least five days before that patrol would be missed.
"Yeah, ah figured that they weren't gonna leave this facility alone, one hint of tech and they'll swarm a place. Well, that's if the steel rangers don't get there first."
I started rigging Morning Light onto the left of my Battle Saddle to offset the weight of my new limb.
"What you meant ta say is that ah killed your guardian, and now you're my responsibility." Tes...
"Well... ah don't even know ya," Looking over the compact unicorn, wearing the 'one size fits most' lab coat, "But, I'm betting it's what Tes would've wanted, and ah bet... you're the one ah have ta thank for this." I waved my cybernetic hoof in the stallion’s direction.
“No, you didn't kill him. He was dead long before you arrived; he just didn't realize it until you showed up.” Joules moved away from the machines next to my bed. “But you're right about that leg, and I doubt that you know how to keep up repairs on it. Actually, I know you don't. This is a specialized model, created to use spark batteries for power rather than burning gems.”
I blinked and tried to process what the unicorn was telling me as he started for the door when he suddenly halted.
“Oh, right! Stupid me!” He trotted back over to me and grabbed my new limb. “Okay... just let me...”
He seemed to have trouble rolling the sleeve of his coat up over his left foreleg, getting the cuff caught on the tangle of metal and wires beneath. Wrapping a connector of apparent importance amongst the tangle in his horn’s magic he floated it over to my metallic leg and plugged it into one of the small ports near my shoulder.
“Aaand, there. Just updated the software to include a S.A.T.S And established a D.G.C But don't worry, both transmitter and receiver must be on to establish the link.”
A slew of new readouts filled the upper portion of my vision as I tried to work out what those acronyms stood for.
"Ooh more shiny things." Escaped my muzzle before I mentally batted my hoof back to my side. There has to be something about pegasus eyesight that disagrees with whatever magic was now showing me all these readouts on the edge of my vision. I took a moment to quickly toggle through the effects that I knew. E.F.S worked, though the single white line of Joules was hard to see due to the contrast.
"Right switching that too.... green," I mumbled.
S.A.T.S powered up normally as my mind entered the augmented reality of the targeting spell. I cycled across the body parts of the stallion standing next to the bed. I dropped the spell without selecting any action.
"So, any particular reason why your left limb reads twenty seven percent?”
Joules just stood there mouth slightly agape.
"B-but I... instructions."
"It's a big wasteland out there kid, you pick up a few things here and there." I looked back at the unicorn taking my attention off the readouts.
And now why does he look offended by that?
"Fair enough, why don't you get some rest," Joules said curtly. "Call for Oats if you're hungry, there might be some pudding left." With that he walked out of the room not bothering to shut the door. I waited till I heard the lift doors close and the carriage depart.
Did he go up or down? I can’t tell. I started to gather my belongings returning them to their place within my saddlebags. Well saddlebag, either the blast or exploding parts of Night Bane shredded the bottom of my left bag. Not that it was really a problem at this point, I had so little in the way of possessions everything fit with a little room to spare in my one remaining pack. My attention turned to my barding, I hadn't so much as looked at it since I woke up. Lifting it off the hook with my mouth brought back all sorts of memories, most prominent was the taste of exploding plastique. Laying the garment out on the bed I started to pull the first of the plates free from the fabric.
"Oh this is going to be bad." I said as the first thin ceramic plates crumbled.
Out of the thirty five plates this barding had when it was new, I still had twenty eight before the fight with the Enclave three, Four? Days ago, what now lay on the bed before me was a large pile of armour like chips, and seven plates. Sure these were only designed to fend off small arms fire, maybe a 12.7mm round at best, never meant as an E.O.D. suit by any means. Yet somehow I expected better. The cloth holding all this together had not fared much better. Riddled with small holes and rips, the seams were split around most of the plating pockets. Sighing I brushed the armour fragments into one of the few remaining intact pockets and wadded up the outfit stuffing it best I could into the comically undersized waste bin. The remaining seven plates filled out the rest of my saddlebag.
"Well now what?" Talking to the wall again.
Not really all that hungry and still unsure if I was in fact waterproof, more scared now knowing that my new limb ran off of spark battery.
That is a large explosion waiting to happen. I mused while idly looking at my leg, trying to guess which of the many access panels the powerful little component resided under. Giving up after a short while, unable to find the M.O.P. warning label that I was sure would have read 'Warning, don't shoot here, boom'. I laid back in bed and just stared at the ceiling. I tried to sleep, I really did, but three, Four? Days of sleep and my brain was raring to go. Fidgeting in bed I looked over at the open door.
"Test run?" Again...
I started out slow, just trying to mastering the slowest of walks shuffling about the small patient room. I walked to the end of the hallway and back, then again, a little faster with only the slightest falter as I tried to correct when turning around to do it again.
Don't think, do... Think, no, don't. Do...
"Uhg I need more space."
Walking over to the lift at the end of the hallway I pressed the call button.
Come to think of it, I have no idea where I am this place. I made sure to make a mental note of my room's floor number. Inspecting the control panel I noticed that the lobby was marked as the uppermost floor confirming my hunch that all of this was, in fact, built below ground.
Makes sense, most everything is intact here. The megaspells would have taken it out if it was above ground. Wonder if Stable-Tec had anything to do with this. Looking further down the list of floors nothing really caught my attention. The first five floors looked like patient rooms and doctor offices, minor labs, radiology nursery and so on.
"What floor would the lab be on... the one with the skylight?" I asked the panel, like that was going to do me any goo-
"That would be subfloor twelve." The speaker built into the lift chimed up.
"I- uhh... thanks? I said pressing the button labeled 'Sub-Floor 12: megaspell Chamber’. The lift descended, smooth, well maintained, until the floor counter reached twelve and after a moment the doors slid open. I stepped out into a small waiting area attached to a viewing deck.
This has to be what was beyond the door the Enclave came through. I stepped through the partition.
It wasn't long before I wound my way into the hall leading to the main chamber. I think it was the smell that got to me first. Whatever automated systems had been keeping this part of the building sanitary were knocked out by my EMP grenade. Stepping into the open area I took my first good look at what had become of the place. Rubble was strewn about everywhere. The whole area was dimly lit with emergency lighting which made it hard to distinguish between rubble and what could be the remains of Power Armour. The only way I knew I stumbled upon something that was once alive was my hoof slipping on the congealed blood. I corrected, my limb corrected, I corrected again, my limb corr- and I toppled to the ground.
"Ah have wings you know." I chastised myself.
Laying in the ichor I realized two things. The Enclave armour I was lying next to was Twisters, and that somepony had scavenged parts off of it judging by the non-scorched tool marks around the now empty mounting for the large Anti-Material Rifle. Secondly, was the tufts of orange colored fur snagged on it.
Oh, that's not snagged that was plastered on... from the... Atom by atom.
I started to cry, this time not for Tes, or the lives of the three other ponies I had killed, or crying for Joules whom was now forced to brave the wastes because of my actions. No, as I lay there matting my coat with my own days old blood, I cried for myself, because I had come so close, after all I've been through, to dying alone.
Footnote: Maximum Level Reached New Perk: Cybernetics: You’ve made permanent enhancements to your body! The Cyborg perk instantly adds +10% to your Damage, Poison, and Radiation Resistances, and 10 points to the Magical Beam Weapon skill.
((Authors Note: Here we are once again, another chapter down many many more to go. As always Kkat and Somber have my undying love for creating and expanding upon this universe respectively. Huge thanks as always to my co-writer The Wiseless Stallion for adding to the creativity of this project. To my editors and pre-readers; frozenpyro71, Istalir, KaraSkakalac, and That Awesome Brony Guy for spending hours of their time working on making this as polished as possible. And most importantly to you for taking the time to read this story.))
There are times that I wonder how much of life I’m dreaming. How much of this reality can really be real? If so, how does one tell when one is dreaming and when one is not? That said, take that a step further, if you’re dreaming half your waking hours, why is there so much continuity between the two compared to the times you know you’re asleep? Crap... I’m awake aren’t I?
“Stupid programing, am I really that rusty?”
I was pacing back and forth in one of the many storerooms, trying to think of what else to pack.
“Twenty seven percent? Really, did I let my leg get that bad?” Lifting up my left foreleg I gave it a quick look over. “Okay, well maybe it was correct... Ah! That's what I forgot!” Face-hoofing again I opened a nearby crate, levitating out a small tool kit. Dropping the box into my saddle bag, I began to pace again.
“Let's see. Think, think, do you have everything you need...”
Food, drugs, weapons, ammo, waterproof spray and repair kit. Should be everything... I think...
“I hate working with unknown variables. Never been outside and I never got any good readings. However, if the Enclave are any indication, then I can never be too prepared.”
The speaker above me squeaked before letting out a small puff of blue smoke and another one turned on elsewhere in the room.
“Sir, power is starting to fail, down to twelve percent efficiency.”
“What? We should still be at twenty five! This isn't good, we need at least five percent power to exit the skylight.” I stood there tapping a hoof on the floor wracking my brain for another solution. Sure we could just walk out the front doors if the emergency defenses had not shut all the blast doors again. “We’ll just have to leave early. Where is... What was his name?”
He said he told me his name while I was asleep... Who tells someone their name while they're asleep?
“Sunset can be found on level twelve.”
Sunset? Oh! That’s his name!
“Right. I’m going to go find him and make sure he’s ready to leave. You... you take care of this place for me okay?”
“Yes sir. And don't worry, I'm sure you'll hit puberty one day.”
I tripped over my saddlebags.
“Oh come on! You have my biological scans, you know exactly how old I am!” I argued before returning to affix my saddlebags.
Ugh! Heavy.
“Never repairing your matrix again.” Shaking my head I proceeded to the lift, levitating the laser pistol and rifle off the table sliding the pair into their makeshift holsters.
“Forgot something?”
“Oh son of a! Could you send it to twelve?”
“Of course, sir.”
oo<>oo
Now I needed a wash, waterproof or not I looked like a raider with my coat smeared in ‘my’ blood. Didn't matter, I needed to take my mind off things, and this was the only room I knew about that was large enough for flight. I'd been practicing tight aerial maneuvers trying to get a feel for how my new limb's added weight effected how I needed to shift my weight for the tightest of turns. Sure this was something I should have been practicing out in the open, you know, with plenty of recovery space for when things didn't go quite right. However the pain from a few fresh cuts when I bounced off a panel, or jutting piece of scaffolding reminded me that I was alive and that I should not pay attention to the large brown smear in the center of the room. Hearing a few hoofsteps with the rhythmic metallic thunk told me that Joules had entered the room, or was at least within earshot.
Shit!
I didn't pull hard enough with my primary remiges and I clipped a light fixture. I tumbled, corrected, lost forward velocity and slammed down with four hooves a little harder than I wanted. Thinking I'd damaged my new limb my eyes flicked upwards to the readouts. Everything was green showing a ninety two percent power level remaining.
"Huh" I said trying to slam the limb as hard as I could on the deck plating looking for any change in the readout and was only rewarded with a moments flicker of 'Hard Impact Detected' next to the power level. Looking under my right leg I noticed that the metal deck now had a nice depression matching the shape of my hoof. I was about to take off again and repeat the stunt but my eyes locked onto Joules standing in the doorframe with a look of horror across his face.
"...Hey there." I mumbled looking at the unicorn.
“Are... are you alright?” His eyes flicked rapidly across my body, I was fairly certain he just used S.A.T.S. to check my medical condition. Before I could ask him about it he crumpled up his nose.
“Oh Tesla! That smell!” To his credit Joules didn’t seem like he was going to vomit, if he was going to stand any chance out in the Wasteland the unicorn was going to have to get used to that smell. “It would seem that sterilization is broken... not that it matters anymore.” He walked farther into the room, looking around at the bodies.
“Such a shame they had to be hostile, we could have gotten so much data from them...” Walking up to one of the bodies, the unicorn ran a hoof over it. “Say, I was wondering something.” He turned around and looked back at me. “The one over there,” pointing to what was once Twister, “Cameras, only thing that didn't fry, show that you hit her with an EMP, then you tried to catch her, why?”
"Ah..." Looking back at the dent in the floor, "Didn't want her to die, ah didn't want any of them to die. It's... just, there's no need." I started to walk towards the stallion, he flinched back.
Luna did I look that bad?
"I'm fine by the way. Well at least physically.” I paused for a moment. "Anyways, that's why ah decided to use that grenade rather than just shoot ‘em a bunch. Ah figured once their suits stopped functionin’ and held them trapped ah could maybe have a talk with ‘em, maybe, ah don't know."
I stood there a few seconds, just looking at the body, Joules did the same.
“I see...” The unicorn walked across the room stopping at a small terminal built into the wall. “Well, the dead stay dead, nothing is going to change that.” He touched his horn the screen causing it flicker to life.
“Trust me, I've tried bringing them back before, does not turn out well.” He started typing.
I thought EMP’s blew out spell matrixes. He didn’t just restart that with his magic did he?
“Ah never said ah wanted you to... Just ah don’t like ta kill ponies when ah don’t have to.”
The unicorn continued to type away seemingly indifferent to my words before turning his emerald eyes back to me.
“Anyways, turns out that we're losing power, quite quickly too. Going to have to depart early.” He pressed the final button with a flourish, a small whooshing sound came from overhead.
“Brought it, sir.” The robotic voice of Mr. Oats crackled through fried speakers.
“Thanks.” Joules said levitating the gun in front of my head “Here, it's... in poor repair to say the least, you could get one shot off, maybe two if you're lucky, before the gun breaks.”
"Thanpfffsss." I slurred around the large mouth bit. The Ironclad AM50BMG Rifle was heavier than I thought. Setting the rifle down on the decking in front of me I looked back at the unicorn.
"I have to get my things... and," looking back over my hide, "wash up a bit, don't want to get shot by mistake."
First things first, clean, eat, gear up. Looking back at Twister's rifle.
"Say, does this place have a maintenance room?" then with a pause "Oh!" I waved my mechanical hoof in the air. "If I take a shower am I going to rust?" I added with a grin.
“Only one maintenance room, and it's OFF LIMITS!” Joules glared at me, not quite sure of what I had said, but I decided that I wasn’t going to press the issue further. “and yes your leg is waterproof, or did you forget what it's made out of?” he turned back to the terminal.
Okay, that was a low blow. Said the back of my brain. But... I suppose I deserve it.
I caught the flash of magic bringing something to his mouth before he turned back around.
“Look, sorry, didn't mean to snap like that. It's just, been stressful lately. I mean, here I am, going from the Stable repair pony, to one of the only survivors left in the Stable...” He started messing with the terminal again, not actually doing anything, just trying to look busy as I caught him flipping through the same menu three times. “Now I'm going out, out ‘there’. It's new, it's dangerous, and I don't have a choice in whether or not I want to stay here.” The unicorn sighed. “Look, just... go get cleaned up, get your stuff. We have two hours, tops, then we have to leave.”
Joules got up from the terminal and walked over to a clean spot on the floor levitating out a screwdriver and assorted scrap. His back towards me was a pretty good indication that this was my cue to leave. Just as I passed through the partition on the way to the lift my ears caught the stallion muttering.
“For all that intelligence.”
I took the long route back to level five where my room was situated. I looked around the various parts of the complex near the stairwell I was using in lieu of the lift.
This doesn't look much like any stable I've heard about. As I took note of level seven being dedicated to prosthetics seeing the plethora of rigging and light fabrication equipment.
'...and it's OFF LIMITS!'
That didn't look very off limits with the wide open doors and well lit interior.
Well he's already mad at me. As I made a plan to come back here after a wash.
Lugging an Anti-Material Rifle up ten flights of stairs sounded like a good plan six levels ago but by the time I got to level five the blood matted into my hide gleamed with a fresh coat of sweat, but at least I mastered stair climbing after only falling down twice.
Woo! Sunset the stairmaster. I thought as I hefted the AM Rifle onto the bed next to my belongings. Right, two hours, let's make this quick.
Normally I'd take time to wash thoroughly, enjoying the time spent in a warm shower, but my mind was elsewhere already building a new Battle Saddle in my head. The little hooves on my right limb made scrubbing myself with the brush ever so much quicker.
"Really useful," I mused.
Stepping out of the shower I dried myself quickly with a good shake and a few powerful flaps of my wings. I only took the time to dry Tes' gift completely with the towel, less in fear of hurting the limb more so out of respect.
Barding, well I could do without, but... Looking over at the remains of my old armor in the trash can then back to the exposed blazing sun on my flank. Yeah no, need to cover that up.
"H-hey Mr. Oats... you there?"
“Yes Sunset, how can I help you?” The robotic voice crackled from the ceiling once more.
"Any chance ah could get a few of those electro-whatever suits?" Looking up at the direction of the voice I added "And... sorry..."
“For what?” Replied the voice from above as three of the metallic suits dropped on hooks from the ceiling.
"For... everything, if ah hadn't... " I looked at the black metal, "None of this would have happened. Forgive me?"
“Can I help you with anything else?”
Ouch.
"N-no... thanks."
Yay you messed up another life in the waste, what's the tally now?
I buckled my battle saddle on after stuffing the suits into the rigging, at least for now, and after grabbing the large rifle off the bed headed for the lift.
Not taking the stairs this time.
Apparently I had missed my calling as a gunsmith at Ironshod. Having disassembled the rifle on a clear table in the workshop on level seven. The damage wasn't quite as bad as Joules had said. The main body of the gun seemed to have been spared the brunt of the blast most likely shielded by, well, me. Worn for sure, the firing pin was slightly bend and needed to be replaced though I doubted that was a result of the explosion.
Where in the wastes am I going to find a replacement? I mused as I did what I could to smooth down the nicks on the bolt. The extractor catch was worn meaning that I was going to have to watch the rifle for a failure to clear the spent casing. Really the only thing wrong with the gun mechanically was the bolt assembly. The barrel, however, was bent at just enough of a angle to make discharging the weapon turn it into a localized pipe-bomb when the round caught. Using what tools the prosthetics lab had the best I could do was cut the length down to what best could be described as a snub nose. The stock was a loss, but I had other plans to mount it.
An hour later most of the rigging on my old saddle was replaced. I had shifted the remaining saddlebag over to the right behind Morning Light and attached the AM50BMG-
No, this needs a name. Thinking back to the fight. Bah, I'll get to that later, back to work lazy.
I attached the large rifle to the empty side of the saddle. Rigging up the new cable controls for the bit took a little time as finding the correct gauge cable in the unfamiliar workshop was a game of 'ooo what's in this drawer' but eventually I found what I was looking for. Using a pair of shears I found whilst playing the drawer game I turned my attention to the thin stretchy barding. After cutting away the legs just above the knee level and cutting some proper wing holes this time I slipped it on started to attach my saddle over it.
Joules cleared his throat.
I turned around knowing full well that he was going to be mad at me, but the Wastes was not a place to go wandering about without your weapons in the best condition you can manage, and frankly one gun down, it felt nice to have a fifty caliber shotgun at my side.
“Did you see anything? Anything at all?” I opened my muzzle to answer but before a single word left my mouth the unicorn cut me off. “I thought I told you not to come in here!”
He moved from drawer to drawer opening them with a flare of green magic before stopping at a terminal clicking its screen on with another pulse of magic.
“I can't believe this! One thing I tell you to do! Off limits means Off Limits!” I could see him pulling up a file that looked like access records. Apparently satisfied that I had not been sticking my nose where it didn’t belong he turned back to me. “Well, did you see anything?”
"I-" looking deeply confused. "This is just a simple fab shop."
Right?
"Ah mean, only thing in here was parts for buildin’ regular prosthetic limbs, among other things." I added as I finished strapping the newly refitted Battle Saddle to myself, quite proud of my hoofwork.
"Whooo ah hope that all holds." Looking at what was now a .50calMG shotgun attached to my left. With the barrel being as short as it was, accuracy was about as good as point and pray. Cut the weight of the firearm considerable though.
"To answer your question, no I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, sure, little bit more machinery in here than what I'd expect to find for a little workshop but," Pointing a wingtip at the sign above the door to the hallway, "You said stay out of maintenance, pretty sure that reads 'Prosthetics lab." Looking at the small stallion I noted the time, and his lack of provisions. "Shouldn't you be packing?"
“And if you would pay attention,” countered the unicorn, “You would notice that floor seven is designated as 'Maintenance'. Anything and everything in this place was brought here for repairs of one type or another.”
Joules walked back out to the lift and checked a terminal by the doors.
“This entire floor is supposed to be locked up and off limits!” He paused for a minute seeming to question why the door was wide open. “Anyways... You didn't see anything, that's good. Get your stuff and head to the skylight, we only have ten minutes left before the power fails, and trust me, you do not want to be inside when that happens.”
A not so gentle nudge from the stallion got me moving towards the lift. After a few moments the carriage arrived with a ding and we wedged ourselves in.
"Seems rather silly we can't just take this lift to the lobby." I said as we descended back down to level fifteen in a carriage clearly not intended to hold an oversized pegasus with what basically amounted to a sawed off artillery cannon strapped to his side.
"...Okay then." Joules was not in the mood to talk to me apparently. "Hi, names Sunset, do believe last time ah said that you were asleep, and ah was delusional. Nice to meet'cha." With the largest smile I could muster on my face extending my hoof.
Joules just looked at the metal, then to me, and back to the doors.
"How old are yo-"
"Shut up!"
Okay time to just not say anything... The lift chimed and the doors opened to the lobby on level fifteen. Oh thank Luna!
We walked back down the hallways leading to the skylight Joules leading the way. Stepping through the doorway into the main chamber I spotted a pair of saddlebags leaning up against a crate in the center of the room.
"You don't expect me to be able to lift that outta here do you?" I said pointing a wingtip at the sizeable box.
“No. It's just some stuff I forgot to put into my saddlebags.” With a green glow of magic he levitated a few objects out of the crate and placed them in his saddlebags. “Now if you don't mind, we must be leaving here.”
The unicorn floated his saddlebags behind him as he walked over to the side of the room to the one active terminal. Before he could get there the crackle of the overhead speakers caught my ear.
“We are down to two percent power. Sir, please hurry.”
Joules bolted the remaining distance to the terminal before rapidly pressing keys. There was a hiss from the center of the room as the decking parted to reveal a round platform lifting slowly on buried hydraulics.
“Sunset, stand on the platform.” There was a mild undertone of panic in the stallion’s voice that told me asking questions wasn’t an option.
I grabbed Joules’ saddlebags in my mouth and tossed them onto the rising platform just in time to see the unicorn jump up to meet them. I flew off the ground landing in the middle of the circular metal lift, the speakers within the laboratory crackled to life again.
“Sunset, I want you to know that I know what is out there. When you were connected to the Grid, I saw deeper into your mind than Tes or Joules have, I've seen what you've seen. I know that what is waiting out there is nothing but misery and death, and I want you to know this. One day, I will power back up, and this place will be operational again, and if I find out that while I was down that Joules died while in your care, I will find you, and I will make you pay. Now take good care of her.”
I looked at Joules questioning if my assumption of stallion.
“Otus! You know that I'm male!”
“And you were overstressed, now you’re not. Have a good life, Sir.” With that the platform sealed off the chamber below as it continued to travel up the shaft.
Fifteen stories seemed to crawl past. Thankfully with the power in the facility being so low none of the circuits lining the skylight were active. Looking up I saw nothing but nighttime silhouette of the dark rolling clouds ever present over the Wastes.
Well at least it's not raining, maybe. Not knowing what kind of barrier lay at the top of the skylight. Whoever designed this would have done something to prevent rainwater from falling into the middle of the lab.
Right?
Screams of metal protested as we continued our ascent. This lift, unlike the rest in the facility, seemed to be barely used and not as well maintained. Looking at what Joules and myself were standing on a little closer I noticed the writing.
{Warning, Blast Shield.}
"Oh..."
"Hmm?" Joules said turning from his rock steady gaze upwards at the gradually opening sky.
"Uhh... " I bit my lip. "S-say, Oats you said you were inside my head. And..." I shifted nervously "what'd you see?" Knowing full well the landmines in my memories. To my surprise a speaker crackled to life further up the shaft.
“What I saw, was a life. Once occupied by free thoughts, now sitting in turmoil. I have seen not just the death of friends, but the death of everything... but, I also saw a light. Hidden away behind your memories, there it sits, waiting for you to notice it, waiting for you to use it.”
Joules just stood there, staring at me as I froze knowing exactly what the robotic voice ment.
“Power at one percent. Sir, you must hurry.”
I seriously considered biting the unicorn’s barding and hauling the both of us up the remaining distance when he floated out a screwdriver and pried off a panel working furiously within the access hole.
“Come on, speed it up!” A puff of smoke lifted from the panel as the platform picked up speed. “Haha! Still got it!” Seemingly proud of himself he turned to me and blurted, “What did Otus mean by, 'the death of everything’?”
"I..." The color washed from my face.
The lift continued to grind its way upwards passing the signs indicating level three access points.
"When you were working on me, I'm going to assume that you ran my blood through some form of automated testing, and I'm also assuming that the Ministry of Peace had a hoof designing this place given the high level of medical care available here, am I correct in any of that?"
I waited, I already knew the answer.
“The M.o.P.... Yes, they lent a hoof in building this place, along with a few other organizations. And yes, I ran blood samples, had to make sure blood type if things went sour during surgery. We found a small anomaly within your blood, but it wasn't anything serious, just thought it was a side effect from living above.”
"So... you didn't run it through the Canterlot Central Medical Records database then?" I said looking directly at Joules ignoring the fact we were getting very close to the surface now.
Joules chuckled. “Well... no, the systems have been cut off from the CCMR for quite some time. From the reports Otus showed me that’s most likely because Canterlot itself no longer exists.” The unicorn looked away from the darkness above and stared into my eyes. “I mean, we couldn't find anything in the database here, but I figured that was also normal. What does the CCMR have to do with what Otus said about you though?”
"Think about it... You're a clever pony."
Whatever the rest of that conversation would have entailed was lost as we passed though a shield at the top of the skylight, it ‘was’ raining.
Oh wasteland, welcome me back with open hooves why don't you?
The blast shield we were using for transport slammed home at the base of what would have been a cleverly disguised fountain if everything surface side was still operational. The sounds of locking bolts slamming home echoed off the surrounding ruins. I looked over at the young stallion lost in thought as the rain started to seep through his lab coat.
“It's... endless...” Joules stood there looking up into the night’s sky. Sure it was dark out but you could still see the underside of the cloud layer far above. “Outside... I'm actually outside!” He started to jump around in small circles.
"We have to go... quickly." I didn't even need to bring up E.F.S. to know we were in trouble. This was the place that I had been scouting before being caught in Tes' blast.
Fifteen stories, how had I managed to survive that? Glancing back down at the shield covering the skylight. The area was infested with ghoul ponies and I was checking how many were near the road the caravan I was protecting what seemed like months ago.
Wonder what happen-
"Oh..." Remembering the memory from the Enclave stallion of the mare getting run down by the zombified beasts. I thought she looked familiar.
Where to go?
I looked around at the ruined buildings and rusted carriages hoping to see some obvious solution of where we could take cover.
Nighttime, far from settlement, hotbed of ghouls and I can't just fly away like I normally would because I’ve got a unicorn to protect, if we stay here this isn’t going to end well. My brain reminding me of what Oats said would happen to me if I let any harm befall Joules.
"Argh I don't spend enough time on the ground around here," I said to the scattered debris under my hooves.
An unpony like scream raged forth from a ghoul as it walked around the corner of the building nearest to us. Instinctively I let a small controlled burst from Morning Light tear though its unprotected flesh.
That was loud... Fuck. I switched on E.F.S and saw just how many of the monster ponies were around us.
"Say... how much do you weigh," I said to Joules as I let another burst of fire shred another zombie's face.
“Well... my levitation should be able to negate the weight of my saddlebags, however, my leg isn't exactly light... about a hundred fifty pounds.” The unicorn started to fire his beam pistol at a ghoul to my right. “Jeez they smell, I suppose being a decaying creature, you don't really care for hygiene. Wait...You’re not...”
I grinned as my blue eyes shone in reflection of the muzzle blast as Morning Light tore another monster pony nearly in half.
"Lightweight!" I said in a friendly mocking tone as I lowered myself closer to the ground. "Climb on... watch the barrel of Morning Light, she heats up pretty quick.”
“Right, flying... I can do that.” Joules fired off three more shots with his beam pistol before climbing onto my back. “Right... promise me you won't drop me.” The unicorn wrapped his saddlebags in a telekinetic field before tightening his grip on my back. “Just keep your eyes shut, don't look down.”
I was pretty sure he had not meant to say that aloud. My wings unfurled as the primal part of my pegasus brain checked over them for me. Everything felt fine and the practice in the lab helped me compensate for the new limb, but I was still unsure if I had regained all of my strength.
Well here goes nothing.
"Hang on!" I yelled over the rush of air from the downblast my wings created.
Not enough! My hooves made contact with the concrete once again. I kicked hard with my forehooves and Tes' gift shattered the ground. That got me airborn.
~Be Awesome~ a little cyan pony called to me from the depths of my mind.
Straining to maintain flight I gained altitude over the mob of ghouls milling about, looking at their meal receding into the night's sky. It felt good to be in the open sky once again, sure it was nighttime, and raining, and we could have been lunch for a pack of hungry zombie ponies, and yes I was overexerting myself carrying the now shivering Joules on my back. But I didn't care, wind, thermals, currents and eddies, the feeling of fresh air flowing under my wings I felt my heart rise up for the first time in days. Now the question was where should we go, Manehattin is no place for an inexperienced pony, besides with the recent loss of a patrol the Enclave would be looking around the city.
Well... should probably head back to Appleloosa, someone ought to tell them what happened to their caravan.
Shifting my wings I brought us about and started to follow the road leading back the way I had come from what seemed like weeks ago.
_____~~~~~~~_____
Maybe I was getting old, or I had not recovered as much as I thought. But I couldn't keep us airborne as long as I had hoped. After only flying for an hour forty, that chronometer is going to be useful, I set the both of us down on a section of raised carriageway isolated from the ground below.
At least I got us this far I thought as I panted collapsed on the road deck.
“Oh sweet merciful ground.” Joules tumbled off my back. “Ooh, never liked heights. Hate heights. Please tell me we won't have to be doing a lot of that.” The unicorn stumbled to his hooves. “So where is it we're heading to exactly?”
"We..." trying to catch my breath, "We... aren't going anywhere for a while," I said realizing just how tired I actually was. The chrono in my vision informing me that it was just shy of three in the morning. "Eventually we're headin’ to New Appleloosa." I said as I tried to remove myself from the road surface. Propping myself up with Tes' gift as even though I was spent it moved with an energy of its own.
"Look, we should be safe here, least till morning. I've used this place a few times seeing as you have to be able to fly to get up here." I said motioning with a wingtip to the broken ruins of the elevated carriageway around us. "Keeps the raiders off us, slavers too, bloatsprites on the other hoof..." I trailed off as I caught the look in Joules' eyes.
"Right, first let's see if we can't do something about getting out of this rain." Though it was doing a wonderful job cooling my overheated body.
“Right. Out of the rain. Good idea.” The unicorn shook his head. “A really good idea.” Joules took a moment to look around where we had landed. “So. New Appleloosa, what can I expect when we get there?” His horn levitated out a small can from his saddlebags and began spraying down his cyberleg and packs.
"It's not much more than a small trading hub, Ditzy's got her store there, and ah need to let her know what happened to that caravan ah was ‘sposed to be guardin’." I began to move around, if we were lucky that carriage wreak would still be intact and we could use it for shelter, maybe even start a small fire. Skipping dinner? Breakfast? Midnight snack? Whatever my last meal should have been was catching up to me and a hot meal sounded pretty darn good right about now.
"Best you not worry too far down the road Joules," I called back over my shoulder, "You gotta take things as they come." I picked up a bottle cap and tossed it back to him.
Level Up! New perk added : Swift Learner. You gain an additional 10% whenever experience points are earned.
(( Author’s Note: Sorry that this chapter came out a little late. I’ve been working more as of late along with that there is a lack of sleep in my life right now which is messing with my ability to put time into this story. However I will continue to try and get these out in a timely manner. Which, should not really be all that difficult. Anyways, Many thanks to Kkat and Somber whose work continue to inspire me to write along with the whole creating this universe so on so on. Huge thanks as always to my co-writer The Wiseless Stallion for adding to the creativity of this project. To my editors and pre-readers; frozenpyro71, Istalir, KaraSkakalac, and That Awesome Brony Guy for spending hours of their time working on making this as polished as possible. But most importantly to you for taking the time to read this story because that really does mean a lot to me that people care about my work. ))
There is a measurable difference between unintentionally causing the death of a living thing, and taking the time to steady a firearm and pulling the trigger.
“Thank Luna it's still here!”
Sunset bolted inside the rusted hulk of metal that once might have been a large passenger carriage. I trotted in after the tired pegasus my legs still shaking from the flight. I took stock of the interior, rusted metal exposed under the peeling paint and torn paneling. Most of the interior was bare, though that might have been by design since it was large enough for eight ponies and a driver. Most of the roof was intact save for where the metal had rusted away near the rear of the vehicle leaving brown streaks running down the sides of the carriage walls.
“Not gonna be as comfy as the beds, but...” Sunset lay down on a passenger bench causing the cushion to make a wet squelching sound in protest at his weight.
“Well, this is better.” I said flatly, lowering my packs onto the floor. My stomach growled as my face turned a light shade of red.
“Ya’d think by the sound of that you’d been the one fly’n us here.” Sunset chuckled from his seat near the back of the transport.
“Um... Tell you what, you get a fire started, and I'll cook us some dinner.” Opening my packs, I began pulling little odds and ends out of it. Small pieces of scrap metal, a screwdriver and some bobby pins.
Ooh, bobby pins! I levitated a few into my hair, pinning it out of my eyes.
“Okay, canned beans and dried fruits. Won't be as delectable as my chocolate pudding, but should fill up the stomach.” I said turning back towards Sunset, who was already asleep. He had not even stripped off his packs or Battle Saddle. Water dripped off his fur adding itself to the pool collecting within the metal carriage as he nuzzled his head into his cybernetic limb.
“Great... He’d better not snore.” Levitating a few pieces of splintered wood from the fragmented flooring, I then touched my horn to the pile, igniting it.
I sat there for a while letting my lab coat dry over my fur as the food slowly cooked atop the tiny fire. I didn’t know what this new world might have to offer but I had enough common sense to realize that a large campfire might attract the attention of, well anything out there. The sound of the rain pelting the thin metal roof was a constant reminder that I was, in fact, outside, and I wished I could see more of what was out there besides the dark rain soaked ground in my immediate vicinity.
It didn’t take long for the tiny fire to heat up the beans to a palatable temperature. The orange pegasus was oblivious to the food, so I let him sleep. After all, he seemed like he needed it. My magic levitated the warm can of beans over to me and I started to munch on them thinking about nothing in particular. My fur had mostly dried by the time I finished up my portion of the beans and since I was not really all that tired I figured that maybe I ought to have a look around the top of this platform.
Maybe because it’s so hard to get to, nobody has picked over these ruins? It was a good enough excuse for me and I exited the carriage. The rain had lightened to a drizzle which was a plus as I had just barely dried off from my first excursion into the Wastes. Looking around I saw few other rusting carriages crumpled into the roadway, the decay of time clearly written across their shattered husks. Walking down the road a bit, I stopped to look down through a hole in the deck trying to see the ground below.
Damn, too dark. Pushing myself away from the hole, I headed over to one of the more intact looking abandoned carriages. Running my horn over the metal my magic enveloped the whole vehicle with a slight green hue.
Well let’s see what we’ve got. Basic machinery, plenty of oxidation, runs off spark batteries; simple unicorn technology, not really much here worth picking over if they are all like this. Turning away from the carriage I walked to the edge of the road, looking over what little of the wastelands I could see. The lack of light and the rain obscured my view, but I could still just about make out a few details of the twisted landscape below me.
Looking out over the broken landscape before me I remembered something I was told when I was younger, after my first operation left the patient brain-dead. We're nothing but Dust in the Wind. I could not even come close to understanding what that phrase meant until just now. Standing on the edge of the collapsed roadway feeling the wind pull on my barding and the particles of water splashing into my face I felt a profound sense of insignificance under the rolling night time clouds. Looking up, in what little light there was I could still tell that the darkened sky seemed to stretch on forever. Memories of being lifted into its impossible expanse on our flight here made me lay down, not so much from the light-headedness, more so from wanting to have as much contact with the wonderfully solid ground as I could. Unfortunately that was not much comfort; this was not the ground I had been hoping for. A dilapidated weather beaten stretch of road several stories high was not my idea of a good place to stay for the night, but it was better than nothing. The surface below me felt pitted and rough under my barding.
Decay, everything out here is rotting away.
The impact of what happened today hit me and sent shivers up my spine that made my fur stand on end. I was outside. Outside outside, in what I had always been told was nothing but a barren irradiated landscape where nothing could survive. Sunset’s existence proved that wrong, and a quick check of my pipbuck showed only radiation levels mildly higher than standing outside the medical labs. Still, the pegasus landed here because it was ‘safe’, rattled off a whole list of names, most of which sounded bad, then passed out. E.F.S. was still showing nothing but the one white bar of Sunset to my left, however...
I really need to practice firing this thing. Levitating my beam pistol in front of my face I looked over the cobbled together device. Yawning for the first time tonight, I slipped the firearm back into my saddlebags and trotted into the softly lit carriage where Sunset was resting, I lay next to the fire thankful the small amount of heat had dried a spot on the floor.
Well, this has certainly been an eventful first day. Lost your home, shot a ghoul pony in the face, and flew on the back of an oversized pegasus. Closing my eyes to sleep, a single thought floated through my mind.
[At least your hooves are already red] Wh...? I began snoring lightly.
oo<>oo
It was already midday when I cracked my eyes open, embers of a fire remained at the rear of the carriage and still spat out the odd flame if the wind caught them just right. I looked around for Joules but he was not inside the vehicle.
Maybe he’s already gotten up. I’m still breathing so it’s unlikely the Enclave paid us a visit. I tried to calm my breathing; this camp was fairly sheltered from the Wastes, slavers, raiders and scavers never made it up here. Still I needed to convince myself he was safe. Crap. How far can he have wandered off? This artificial plateau was at least a mile in length, which wouldn’t be all that hard to search, however not all of it was structurally sound.
That was not the smartest plan, just falling asleep like that, should have at least told him not to wander off too far. I exited the makeshift shelter and looked skyward. It had stopped raining however the omnipresent cloud cover looked as if it was going to open up again soon. Quickly scanning the roadway I was relieved to see the flanks of a white unicorn sticking out from a hatch on one of the other larger carriages not too far from the one we spent the night in. I trotted up loudly so as he could hear my approach I couldn't help but smile.
"Mornin’!" I said cheerily "Find anything good?"
“Ooh, this is tricky.” Joules was sitting in front of a small gray box, his mane spilling onto his face being only half pinned back by bobby-pins. I heard the telltale snap of a pin breaking.
“Gah! This should be easier!” The small stallion backed up out of the carriage followed by a floating screwdriver and a broken bobby-pin. “Those books I read made this out to be foals play. It really isn't...” He looked over to me. “Say... It's just a box. Why don't we give that new hoof of yours a strength test?” His horn glowed brighter for a moment as the unicorn floated the box out and set it in front of my hooves. “See if you can pry the top off.”
"Not quite sure how you mean me to do that," I said giving the gray box a little kick. I thought about it a moment then batted the box onto its side. "You may want to stand back."
Hovering a few meters above the box on the road I dove, landing with full force on Tes' gift, 'Hard Impact Detected' flashed across my vision.
Okay that’s an understatement. I thought wincing at the pain which shot up my body. While the mechanical limb didn't give way or show any signs of damage, it was however, attached to my skeleton in a multitude of places. This became painfully apparent when shock transferred from the unyielding mechanical limb to the squishy bits of me. I shook my head to clear my vision blurred by the impact and looked down at the box and I was rewarded with the sight of crumpled metal and the sound of the lid landing a few yards away, unfortunately its contents fared about as well as the box.
"Only some two hundred year old paperwork." I said looking back at Joules right before my stomach erupted in protest of my aerial antics. "Heh... Think ya can get that fire going again?"
_____~~~~~~~_____
After prying up some more of the splintered floorboards a slightly larger fire than I would have liked was burning nicely under the rusted hole in the roof. The unicorn emptied the rest of a can of beans onto a small sheet of metal that looked suspiciously like the side door of the carriage he was scavenging earlier before placing it above the flames.
Well at least he had something to eat last night. My stomach grumbled at the sight of the slowly cooking food.
“Say... about last night.” Joules stirred the beans with a clean bit of scrap. “You're right, I am a clever pony, and I've been thinking, throwing a few theories around, and only one makes sense. Your blood, asking about the Canterlot Medical Records...” He stopped stirring and sat there thinking for a moment, “I suppose we both have things the other doesn't know and each of us has their own reason for exploring the wastelands. I wonder, what is it you strive for out here? What has kept you going for so long?”
I whistled low. "Now that's a good question," Taking a moment to think. "Yes, ah do have somethin’ from my past that I'm... not really runnin’ from, just... more don't want nopony to know about." I looked back at Joules stirring the beans on the metal again before scraping half back into the can.
"And?" he asked passing me the partially filled container.
"Ain't nothing bad, ah assure you." Grabbing the offered can in my hooflets.
Really need to ask what those were called.
"Just, well I'd be worried if the wrong pony found out, and we're gonna leave it at that." I buried my muzzle into the can after the cooked beans.
"Uh... huh..." Joules said as he started to eat with much more dignity from the scrap metal plate.
The rest of the meal was spent in silence. I didn't want to ask Joules any questions, and he apparently was content with me just having my face squeezed into a can. By the time we had both finished the rain had started up again.
"We'd better go." I said checking the chrono. "It's at least another six hour flight ‘fore we reach New Applelo-"
"NO!"
Surprised that such volume could come from such a tiny unicorn, I turned and looked at the demure stallion.
"N-no... please, no more flying I..."
"Gotcha." Remembering how he clung to my back shivering from what I thought was the cold of the rain. "We'll walk, but now ah do gotta fly us down to the ground, you gonna be okay with that?"
Not like he had much choice in the matter.
"Yeah just..."
"Ah won't drop you, Pinky Promise."
Joules looked scared, but nodded. It was going to take the better part of two days to walk from the overpass to New Appleloosa. I decided it would be best to avoid the tracks seeing as I particularly didn't want to deal with the Talon mercs at Junction R-7, but then again I knew it was suicide to try and pass through Old Olneigh on the ground.
Why couldn't we just fly? I kicked myself, which only seemed to confuse the terrified unicorn more. Right train tracks it is.
_____~~~~~~~_____
We had been walking for nearly three hours, roughly following the tracks but staying well out of sight of them. I had explained to Joules dangers of sticking to well-worn paths. Slavers and raiders watch those carefully as they both pray on the caravans that are forced to use the packed trails because of their carts. Oddly, for the wasteland, the journey was uneventful; sure there was the occasional bloatsprite that needed to be dispatched. However, Joules was getting the hang of things quickly and by the sixth downed bug he only needed one shot to fell the mutated insect.
"Well look at you, Wasteland exterminator." I said after the sprite fell to the earth smoldering from the beam strike. Joules just smiled at me.
Oh sweet Luna the stallion can smile! My brain yelled as I took a moment to make sure I had not just said that out loud.
We carried on, the terrain forcing us to move closer to the tracks and finally as the canyon closed in we were walking on the ties themselves. I didn’t like it. This portion of the trail was always infested with some vermin, pony or otherwise. Passing the switching station we turned north to follow the lines to R-7. That's when I saw the tiny wisps of smoke rising up above the canyon walls around the bend.
"Hold up," I said placing a hoof across Joules' chest. "Take cover and keep an eye out I’m going ta scout ahead, see if that's friend or foe." Pointing a wingtip to the rising smoke columns just visible over the cliff.
Joules nodded and I left the ground pulling near vertical flight. I wanted to get as high above them as I could, didn't want whoever it was to notice the metallic pegasus flying above their camp. A few seconds later and I had a good view of what was just around the bend.
I hate being right...
Raiders, not too many, but enough to pose a problem if we were to just try and sneak past. I activated my E.F.S. and scanned the area on my next flyover.
All red, no green. Either they had just finished their meal and killed off the last of their captives, or they were hungry and about to go live up to their namesake, either way I felt an old familiar emotion boiling up in my gut. I banked and flew back to where I had left Joules landing behind the rock he was using as cover.
"We got a problem, ‘member those raiders ah mentioned? Well we got a whole bunch a 'em holed up just up the tracks." I said as I placed my Battle Saddle's bit in my mouth with the mini-hooves. "Now ah don't want you ta get involved, but if any of em run your direction, don't hesitate to open fire. Raiders ain't ponies no more."
Joules just nodded with a grim look on his face as I racked the bolt on Morning Light.
"Hey now, this ain’t anything ah can't take care of, but..." Joules looked at me with a pang of fear. "Do me a favor?"
"What?" The unicorn’s ears perked up slightly.
"Rack the bolt back on the fifty? The springs too heavy for me ta do it by cable." I said with the biggest 'everything's going to be just fine' smile on my muzzle.
Joules chambered the massive round with a deft kick of his hind leg.
"Right, we're in business, remember, stay hidden, don't shoot unless you have to, but for the love of Luna ‘shoot’ if you have to!" Without waiting for a response I took back to the air. This time, however, when I banked to circle the camp I dove hard and triggered S.A.T.S.
Here goes nothing!
I looked at the dismal hit percentages displayed by the targeting spell and decided that if I was going to miss, I was at least going to miss and be awesome about it. Selecting two raiders with the fifty caliber shotgun I bit down on the right trigger of Morning Light and accepted the spell. The sky in front of me erupted in flames as the muzzle blasts from my twin guns barked forth sending lead down onto the unsuspecting raiders. The recoil from the .50 on my left nearly spun me in air before I corrected. By the second massive round I had figured out how to compensate so I continued to bite down on both triggers as S.A.T.S. dropped away letting both guns cycle on full auto. My body twisted and rolled navigating the speeding air as I dove bringing the saddle's aim-point onto each target that I could see.
"That's for Carmel! That's for Sugarsnap! That's for Maple!" I yelled sending round after round down upon the raiders every time my teeth clenched. I wasn't sure if these were the same raiders that descended upon my caravan so many moons ago, same camp yes, but who knows if these savage ponies were any of the ones that had mutilated what remained of my friends. Not sure if I even cared. I pulled up from my dive spiraling back up to gain altitude. Looking back at the ground I noticed the muzzle flashes from raiders lucky enough to be armed with ranged weapons. Those without started to flee, most running north along the tracks but one went south towards...
“Joules!”
Before I could do anything about it, a red flash of energy lanced out and the raider fell in a glowing pile of ash.
Atom by at- ERGH Shut Up!
I dove again bringing my guns back on target once again to the remaining raiders not scattered into red mist by my combined firepower. The light popping sounds of Morning Light were interspersed with the thunderous crack of the fifty. The twin retorts issuing from the muzzles just below my head deafening my ears. Bullets zipped back up at me as the raiders started to find cover. However I returned more than my fair share of lead back down onto them. Their aim was horrible, but so was mine at this range, luckily I didn't have to be as precise when lobbing shells the size of a unicorn’s horn. The tracer rounds thrown into the mix helped. One raider did get lucky however and something bit my flank as I banked to spiral back to gain altitude for the second time.
One more pass and the fight would be all but over. Which I was glad, the recoil from the AM-
No, I had the name now.
The recoil from Twister's Rage was causing my flank to bruise as each round fired rammed the gun against my body. Though that could have been the bullet I'd collected from the now spattered raider. Either way I put a few rounds from Morning Light into the last red bar on my E.F.S. and flew back towards Joules.
One green bar, good.
I landed next to the shivering unicorn who was clutching his beam pistol tightly against his chest.
"I-I-I... " Looking up at me deeply troubled, "Killed somepony!" He blurted out as tears started down his cheeks.
"Whoa there, you did no such thing." Putting a wing around the stallion. "Sure it looked pony like, much more than a ghoul that's for sure, but there ain't nothin’ left in there that was remotely pony like, common you gotta see something ta understand."
I helped the shaking unicorn to his hooves before putting his beam pistol back in its harness, Joules being too distraught to mind his belongings. I walked with him, wing over his back, past the still glowing pile of ash towards the camp just around the bend in the tracks. Many shaky steps later we finally rounded the side of the small bowel in the canyon wall which was location of the encampment. Tactically speaking, from a pegasus point of view, it was a lousy place for a base, only two ways in and out, no cover from the air, though I suppose their normal prey aren’t flying.
I was jerked from my tactical assessment of the crazy ponies by a gasp as Joules fell to his rump, mouth agape in horror at the sight before the both of us. Body parts littered every surface of the makeshift encampment, most of them not placed there by my munitions. Ponies partially dissected and strung up on railroad ties planted into the earth. Entrails stretched between the posts like streamers at some sick party. Empty rib cages littered the side of the camp, some still glistened in the dim light. The smell was thick enough in the air to almost taste, overpowering even my jaded senses.
"Not! A! Pony!" I added for emphasis. "Let's go, I want to put as much distance between here and sundown, if anypony else was near here they would have seen my little light show." I practically had to headbutt Joules in the flank to get him to start walking again.
oo<>oo
Two hours later and the sun was sinking into the west when I saw a small switching shack like the one we passed by earlier next to the rails. Sunset quickly looked about in what I could only guess was E.F.S. assisted vision. After a quick nod to himself the pegasus cracked the door open and walked inside the small building.
"Think we should hold up here for the night." He said as I entered the small building behind the stallion.
Dust in the wind... Never thought to take it so... literally. The image of the pony... no, raider charging me, being hit by the beam, disintegrating... I shook my head. Learn to get used to it quickly. [Or just kill yourself here.]
I shook my head again. Standing up, I began to explore the shack a bit. It was small, two rooms divided by a single wall with a doorway in it. The image of the camp flashed through my mind as I imagined organs and body parts strewn about and strung up.
There we go! Quickly sprinting outside, I emptied my stomach onto the wasteland. [You know, I’m pretty sure those beans were expir-] Shut it, not now! Walking back in, I noticed the table. Right... Still need to make repairs. I floated out the screwdriver and some scrap metal. Just need to make a shell to protect against all this rain.
After taking a while to start fabricating a simple bit of plating to hopefully better resist the ever present elements, along with letting my stomach settle, I could no longer contain my mind and my muzzle let slip a simple question.
“Say, Sunset, I was wondering...” Well, a lot of things, but one in particular. “Those raiders, when you attacked them, you were yelling something. What was it?”
I watched the color drain from Sunset’s normally orange fur.
"Of all the questions you could have right now, you ask me why I was screaming out the names of-" His voice cracked as I stopped working and looked at him, not really sure why such a simple question would cause this much despair.
"L-look... " The pegasus cleared his throat, "I've been out here a long time, longer than most. The one thing I've learned is that you gotta have friends, or companions, or somethin' with you else the Wastes will kill you. I'm not talking about any specific way mind you, but it'll figure out somethin’ gruesome."
Sunset sighed and started to push some of the empty crates littering the abandoned shack into a set of makeshift beds.
"Ah just... Well ah have a tendency to outlive mostpony ah meet." Tears welled up in his eyes as he turned back to look at me. "Do you have -any- idea how much it hurts to make friends knowing you're going to outlive them all?!?"
I rightly didn’t know what to make of how that conversation went. I had been expecting a simple explanation like, ‘they were friends’, or, ‘I was yelling ammo count’. I sat there, tools hovering in my magic forgotten looking at the stallion at the other end of the shack.
“Yes and No,” Finally bringing myself to answer, “Do I know what it's like, knowing that everypony around you will die? Yes. Do I know what it is like to lose a friend? No. That would require actually having friends.” I opened the saddlebags, floating out another white capsule into my mouth.
“That shelter... It holds more dark secrets than I care to know about. All evil derived from good intent, makes it hurt worse.” I finished making the ‘sleeves for my cybernetic leg, leaving only the pip-buck visible. “Down there, you simply worked to get your next 'upgrade'. Eventually... you stop being pony and start being machine. Like Tes had become; stripped, of memories, feelings, anything that let you know you were once alive. Eventually, the clock stops and the horror that you now are is euthanized automatically. Of course, unicorns weren't allowed to be upgraded, we were too important...” I felt a tear in my eye. Looking at the table, I realized I had driven the screwdriver into it.
“There was never room for friendship.” Pulling the screwdriver out, I walked over to a corner and lied down, resting my head on my hoofs.
"Well now," Said Sunset from the corner beneath the veil of tears running down his snout. "Aren't we a pair or regular toughponies."
I chuckled under my own ragged breath trying my best to hold back my emotions. Several minutes passed as the sun settled lower in the sky casting colored rays below the ever present cloud cover.
"Who was Tes?"
“If you had asked anypony else, they would have called him a failure.” I started fiddling with the screwdriver between my hoofs. “He... When a unicorn is born, they are put through intense schooling. They must learn the simple mechanics of cybernetics and medicine.” I started flipping the screwdriver.
“After completing schooling, we perform our first surgery of attaching cybernetic limbs. Then this continues for a few years until we...” I closed my eyes, sighing. “We remove the brain and place it inside of this... gel. It preserves the brain far longer than anything else had. Tes was my patient.” I curled up into myself sitting on the floor. “Something went wrong his vitals began to fail. It...He...” I took a few ragged breaths in. “We managed to transfer the brain, but not without damage. As punishment for a failure, they connected me to him through the grid. I was ten. Then about... I don't even know how long ago... Tes locked me in cryogenics. Only woke up a week ago, when you showed up. Everyone was gone... dust was everywhere. The grid showed that there were only six ponies alive, me, Tes, and four others that had left before...” I placed the screwdriver down.
“I wasn't even sad that everypony else was dead. They were cruel and corrupt. All I was to them was 'little ‘miss’ battery', just couldn't get enough of the teasing.” I curled up into a ball. “He was my guardian, and he was my child, I suppose... There's still a lot I'm not telling you, I hope you can understand that.
oo<>oo
"I..." my mind locked up.
Should I tell him? Would that be a mistake? If he knew would it crush him or help him? Knowing could help him see that his problems aren't so bad, or would that be patronizing?
"Oh Luna guide me with your moon..." I said under my breath tapping my hoof against the floor of the shack in an attempt to ‘do’ something.
He's a clever pony!
"Hey..." I said to the stallion.
Foal? He did say he was locked in cryogen when he was ten. Or did I misunderstand something? I mean he does look young.
"You ‘member when you said that breakin’ the color spectrum with a sonic boom was impossible?" I unbuckled my Battle Saddle carefully laying the guns and packs beside the makeshift bedding.
"Yeah, but... how does that have anything to do wi-" Not letting Joules finish I stepped outside looking at the sun just touching the horizon. I started to limber up, stretching one wing at a time. Preening a loose feather here and there I ignored the dull ache of the bullet lodged in my flank from our friendly neighborhood raider. Flexing my back I turned to look back to where the unicorn was standing just outside the shack looking at me quizzically.
"It’s been too long since I've done this properly." Eyeing the slowly sinking sphere of burning light. "You might wanna cover your ears in a moment."
With a small jump my wings caught me in their downward arc and I climbed as steep as the currents would allow. I gained speed, despite my steep ascent, the winds prevailing out of the west as the hotter air from the sunward side of the earth rushed to fill the dense cooling night air behind it. Reaching an altitude not too high as to alert anypony above the clouds I corrected, pointing my muzzle directly at the dimming light. I had to adjust my natural flight slightly due to my weight being slightly off center as I climbed away from the soggy ground. I tucked my metallic limb up against my chest and started to build speed.
Here we go.
I felt the wind breaking against my face, the pull of the drag against my mane and tail. Thankfully my barding was fur tight and offered no added help to the forces acting against my acceleration. I pressed on, faster and faster. The wind screaming past my ears as the pressure on my one extended hoof built. I pushed all twenty wingpower into my flight and soon enough I felt the air crack. A cone formed around my body in flight, thunder ringing in my ears as my vision, or what I could make out through the wind streaked tears smearing my vision, exploded in a finite spectrum of colors ranging from the deepest of rust red to the most vivid of purple, yellow to orange, and every variation thereof. There wasn't a pony alive that could wipe the smile off my face at that moment. Joules sat back on his haunches looking at me off in the distance as a word escaped his muzzle just barely audible above the din of the rushing air as I streaked back over the shack.
((Authors note: Right, due to work constraints, of both myself and my editorial team this chapter took longer than I had wished, but hey, I’m not really on a schedule, and neither are they. So in the end all that really matters is that this tale keeps on moving forward. Once again massive thanks to both Kkat and Somber for creating and expanding upon this universe respectively. Honestly without your two, along with the wonderful assistance of The Wiseless Stallion I would not have even started writing in the first place. Along with that many thanks to frozenpyro71, Istalir, KaraSkakalac, and That Awesome Brony Guy for editing and pre-reading this mess, making it something actually presentable. Last, but never the least, thanks to all of you for taking the time to read this story. Honestly it does mean a lot to me. ))
