150 years after the battle at the SPP main tower, not everything is well outside its borders.
150 years after the battle at the SPP main tower, New Equestria is at peace, but what of the areas outside it's borders, such as the middle ground, a dangerous place between Equestria and Zebra Land, where the Megaspell of cleansing didn't reach. Three factions have risen to power, the New Coaltafoalnia Republic, a society of ponies and zebras who wanted to live outside of the authority of the New Equestria government, and the Legion of Zebras, an army made entirely of zebras who survived the onslaught of megaspells in their own stable and have gained a near monopoly on the slave trade, and the robot army of New Pegasus, controlled by the mysterious Mr. Stable, who has been in control since before the war began. What happens when a simple courier who gets caught up in the middle of this three way war? With advances in technology that are beyond what anypony could have imagined 150 years ago, who knows what will happen. Rated for language and gore, and future content.
AN: A picture of most every character who is mentioned with a name can be found on my deviantart, dragoonian.
CH. 1: And so it Begins
It all started only 2 years ago. 2 years ago today, I was shot in the head, killed, revived, and started my quest for revenge. 2 years ago today. Lets go back to that fateful night shall we, as I tell you a story of revenge, survival, and even a little romance.
My name is Flare, Flare Twister. I am a pegasus and a courier for the Equestria Express. It was tasked to deliver a poker chip to the leader of New Pegasus, Mr. Stable. I was not expecting to be ambushed from the above and below. Now your probably wondering, how could a pegasus be ambushed from above. Well let me tell you how. I can't fly anymore. When I was taking my flight test as a colt, I had an accident of sorts. Both of my wings snapped off and I was given artificial wings. I cant use them to fly but I can run faster than anyone out there. Using my wings, I basically increase the distance between steps 4X. But that's not important. What is important is the fact that right now I am tied up and at the mercy of a pony that is the leader of two ponies that I'm guessing are Iron Will's based on their attire. Lets get back to business shall we. As I said earlier, I am all tied up and at the mercy of one pony, wearing a pre-war jacket and his cutie mark was a poker chip with a bullet in the middle.
“Guess who's waking up over here.” the Will on the right said. “Hey, Benny, you got what you wanted, so deal with the kid and pay up.” the Will on the right ordered. The one they called Benny raised his fight hoof. “Maybe Wills kill ponies without looking them in the face, but I ain't no fink, ya dig.” Benny said. “Sorry you got twisted up in this scene, from where your laying, it probably seems like you are having an 18 apple run of bad luck, but to be honest, the game was rigged from the start.”
Then, he pulled a gun out of his jacket, but it his mouth, and pulled the trigger.
All of a sudden, I see a bright light. 'Wait, how the hell am I seeing anything.' I thought to myself. 'I just got shot in the head. What the f*ck is going on here.'
“Whoa there, just take it easy kid.” An old, gray unicorn stallion who was wearing a black leather jacket and a red scarf. His mane had completely fallen out but he still had a pretty awesome mustache. His cutie mark was a yellow and pink butterfly with a needle and a stimpack over it. “You just got yourself shot in the head a couple of days ago. Now, just take a second to get your bearings.”
I looked around an took in the surroundings. I was in an old house, kind of rustic, could use a little TLC but not bad for the Middle Ground. I was on a bed that had seen better days.
“Now then, you're doin pretty good for just shot in the head. But I had to do some diggin around in your head. Now, I take pride in my hornwork but look in this mirror and tell me if I messed anything up.”
He floated a mirror up to me as I looked at myself. I had a small scar in the middle of my forehead but it was easily hidden by my mane. Other than that, I was pretty good.
“How'd I do?” he asked me.
“Not bad, you even managed to hide the scar under my mane.” I complemented him.
“Thanks. Now, since you seem good enough to talk, you must be good enough to walk. Lets get you up. My name is Doc Mitchell by the way.”
“Thanks for the patch Doc. How much do I owe you.” I asked him.
“Oh this one's on the house. It's not often that you get to bring someone back from the dead.” He told me. “Just don't make me do it again.”
“Ha ha. Will do Doc. Hey, would you mind giving me my stuff back.” I asked. “I kind of need to get back out on the road.”
“Yeah, no problem. I have it all in this box here.” He said as he levitated a metal lock box over to me. “I even managed to fix up your wings a bit. Not askin how you got them, but judgen by your wings nubs on your back, I guessing that your a pegasus and that your wings were broken off. Not askin how but if you need help putting them back on, I'd be happy to help. Also, I read the note in your pack, trying to find your next of kin, just said something about a platinum chip. If you want to know about the people who attacked you, as I'm guessing you are, I would suggest talking to the people in the saloon. Starting with Sunny Smiles. She's always with here dog Cheyenne. Then try the bartender, Trudy Serve-em-up. She's the mother figure in the town and knows everything thats anything about what happens in Good springs.
“Thanks Doc. I would appreciate the help with my wings.” I said. When I opened the box. The first thing I saw a Pip-Buck 3000. “This isn't mine. What's a Pip-Buck doing here?” I asked the Doc.
“It was mine, seein as I grew up in one of them Mark Stables, but seeing as I am getting to old for adventure, I thought that you could use it more than I could.”
“Thank you kindly doc. Ill put it to good use.”
With that, the doc helped me re-attach my wings, attack my new Pip-Buck, and gave me my clothes back. I then checked my Pip-Buck and it was open to the journal menu and showed that the last note was Doc suggesting that I go and see Sunny. I then went to the inventory sorter of my Pip-Buck
“Hey Doc?” I asked
“Yeah son.”
“Is there anything else I should do while I'm in Goodsprings?”
“You may want to thank the metal pony who dug you up. His names Appletracks. He's one of them fancy Applejack securitrons, custom model. Trust me, you'll know him when you see him.”
“Thanks Doc. See ya later.” He's a nice, old stallion. Well, I better get out of his mane. Time for me to go back into the great outdoors.
As I went out the door of the good doctors house, I immediately felt the heat of the sun and the crackle of magic mixed with electricity as my wings powered back on, and with that, my quest had finally begun.
Level Up - LV.1 Perk Added - Cyberwings, Mark3 LV.1 You can sprint 400% faster for a limited time. You can also use the grapples in the wings to handle small weapons(Pistols, Grenades, TNT, Magic Pistols, other one handed weapons). You can use the grapples to pick locks(The higher your lock-picking skill, the less likely you are to have to repair your grapples with scrap metal).
Perk Added – Been there, Dead that. You are 20% harder to kill. You will instead end up unconscious almost every time you would die.
'Now then, where is the saloon that Sunny Smiles is supposed to be in.' I think to myself as I search through the town.
I look in my inventory on my Pip-Buck.
'Yep, everything is just as I left it. Heh, will you look at that, the doctor gave me some additional Spell-packs.'
I equipp my trusty Magic(Power) pistol and continue on searching for the saloon.
"This town is so small, It can't be that hard to find one stinking saloon!" I say angrily
"You wouldn't happen to mean this saloon would you?" a mare who lookes about my age with a light red but not quite pink, almost a dark rose color coat and her mane is a little bit lighter colored than that. He cutie mark is a red smiley face with a pair of small rifles making an X behind it. She has a small rifle on her side which has the trigger hooked up to a bite trigger hanging in front of her mouth.
"I take it your Sunny Smiles."
"Eeyup. You must be that Flare fellow that Doc brought back from the great beyond."
"The one and only 100% living zombie. 0% dead. The Doc said that you would be able to help me find the ponies who killed me."
"All I know is that one of them had a checkered jacked and he seemed to be calling the shots. He had a pair of Iron Will's with him so he either had serious money or he's a Will and you have some serious enemies. Hope that helps."
"Not really but thanks anyways. Do you know where Trudy is. Doc said that she might know more." I ask her
"I just saw her in the saloon. You cant miss her, she's the one behind the counter. Probably gonna be the first one to say hello. Tell her I sent you and heck, maybe you'll get a discount."
"Thank you very much. I'll be sure to tell her you sent me. By the way, which building is the saloon"
"It's the one that has the image of a glass of hard apple cider." she said jokingly.
"I thank you kindly."
I finally find the building she was talking about after another 30 minutes and I feek like a complete moron because it has been right in front of me this whole time. I could seriously have facehooved at my own lack of observance, but I let this one slide for me due to the whole just died factor. The building looked very old-timey, due to the fact that not very many building or anything for that mater had been built since the war. I went in the first thing I saw was a wall. A wall dividing what looked like a billiards area with the bar. I walked over to the bar and found Trudy. She was arguing with what looked like a stallion from the NCRCF(short for New Coaltafoalnia Republic something something) based on the bulletproof vest he was wearing.
"I'm done being nice. If you don't hoof over Ringo soon, I'm gonna get some of my friends and where gonna burn this town down. Understand." A black, like pitch black unicorn pony with a cutie mark that looked like an explosion was threatening a pony who looked like Trudy.
"We'll keep that in mind. Now if you aren't here to purchase anything, would you be so kind as to git out." Trudy said angrily.
With that, the pony who was looking for someponey named Ringo ran out.
"Hey kid, welcome to the Prospector Saloon. Name's Trudy, and you must be that Flare fellow that the Doc fixed up." Trudy welcomed.
'Where have I heard that' I thought to myself. "That's me. Nice to meet you Trudy. Yes, I am Flare. You know, if Sunny hadn't pointed me to where your place is, I may have not found it. Anyways, I'm looking for the people who killed me, you know what happened or where they were going?" I asked her.
"Well, there were 3 of them, two Iron Will's and one fellow who looked like a definite city type. Probably either from New Pegasus or somewhere of the like. He was calling the shots. They were so stuck up as to think that they could get themselves free drinks, but I got them to pay up, but not before they broke my radio. Anyways, I overheard them while they were planning their route. They wanted to get to New Pegasus without taking the main trail. That means that they would have to make a huge circle around the monster pit in order to get to New Pegasus, easily a couple week journey. If you want to catch them, their first stop was a city called Prim. The town has an Equestria Courier company stallion up there so he might be able to help you about your missing delivery. Does that help?" she asked
"More than you know. Could you just mark prim on the map of my Pip-Buck. Also, what's the best radio station for me to listen to out here?" I asked.
"Well, there's always DJ Pon-3's channel. Somehow, that pony has been broadcasting for nearly 350 years. I'm starting to think that the good DJ is a ghoul with a really good voice." she says jokingly. "Here, let me set your Pip-Buck's radio to the station frequency so you can hear the news and the best beats whenever you want. Also, rumor is, the DJ is actually out in New Pegasus broadcasting to us primarily but sends recordings back to Equestria. The DJ's assistant, Rex Drop, is out here to and let me tell you, the boy can't do radio worth a cap but he can remix the crap out of anything. Even invented a new type of music, dub-step I think he called it. It's on his own channel and everything since not everyone is for the massive bass usage in his songs. I heard that the good DJ moved because since the battle at the SPP main tower, there has been nothing juicy to report. Now then, is there anything that I could get you, if not please tell me now because we have a situation on our hand."
"What's the problem, maybe I could help." I tell her.
"Now I can't trouble you, you just got back from being dead."
"No I want to help, it's the least I could do for the town that saved my life."
"Well if you insist. A few days ago, a stallion from the Crimson Caravan Company galloped into town. Said he had just been attacked and needed a place to lay low. So I hid him up in the abandoned rest station jut up the hill north of here. It's just past Doc Mitchell's so it's not to far. Anyway, you saw the rascal who just left right."
"Yeah."
"Well, he was not NCR. His name is Joe Blow-em-up and he is a member of the Powder Gangers. Their just low level convicts without the chains. Turns out, giving convicts explosives and the means to use them is not the best of ideas. They escaped a two weeks ago, almost right before you came to town. Now they're planning to attack the town if we don't give him over. Now kid, I like you. If you can come up with a plan to help Ringo, I'll help and I'll even get some of the townspeople to join in. I'd suggest that you talk to Ringo first, see if he even wants to fight back. To be honest, I hope he doesn't want to fight."
"Thanks. I'll go talk to Ringo right now." I told her.
As I leave the saloon, I activate my wings sprinting feature, letting me run fast enough to get to the rest stop in 10 seconds flat. I then flared my gloriously shiny wings to so they would act as brakes so I didn't go splat through the building.
"Stop right there! Who are you. Wrong answer and I shoot to kill." A mysterious voice called from inside the building.
"My name is Flare! You must be Ringo! I am a friend and I want to help you with the Powder Gangers!" I yelled.
"Sorry about that! Come on in and lets start over shall we!"
'Nice guy, I guess.' I thought to myself.
When I walk inside, I see a pegasus pony with a charcoal gray coat and a crimson mane. He has on a crimson leather jacket and his cutie mark was a letter with bat wings.
"You must be from New Cloudsdale with those wings." Was the first thing out of his mouth.
"Yes. I am from New Cloudsdale and before you ask why I left it's because I can no longer fly with these wings. I can however fast travel by flapping them when I gallop keeping me air born for 20% longer than a normal leap. They help me jump higher to. I can even operate my weapons with them. Off topic. I'm here to help you get out of here alive and well, even if it means that we have to fight. So do you have any plans of attack?" I asked him
"Well, I'm certainly not sneaking out of here, that's for sure. That means that we will have to fight them off. Now, if we go at it alone, then we're both sharing the same grave. Now, if you could get the town to help us fight, then we might stand a chance. I would suggest starting with Sunny Smiles, she was a lot nicer than anyone else here. She'll know what to do."
"Thanks for the tip. If I can come up with a game plan, I can get Trudy in on the action and heck, with her, the town." I inform him.
"Nice." He said exuberantly. "Then we will really stand a chance."
When I went out the door, I ran into Sunny and it seemed like she was eavesdropping on our conversation beforehand.
"Sneaking much?" I ask her in a jokingly suspicious manner.
"Sorry about that, but I'm in by the way. I even have a plan of attack that you can use to bring Trudy into our operation." She tells me rather joyfully.
"Sweet, what is it?" I ask her.
"Well, we would ambush them out by the water tower, push them back. Then, you with your S.A.T.S. would use this 10mm pistol to take their heads clean off from wherever you wanted to be, but preferably on top of the water tower." She said as she gave me a 10mm pistol with that looked custom made with a purple grip with green accents.
"It's called Spike's Rage. I found it on a super gecko that was trying to steal from our water supplies. Don't ask me how it got on the beast, but I got it now. It has a little slot in the clip for Pyremagic so you can shoot bullets that are on fire if you want to deal that extra bit of damage. Normally, if I found an enchanted weapon, I would keep it for myself, but I am not exactly a pistol pony. What do you think?" she asked me.
"It's so devious and seems like a very good idea that it just has to work. Thanks for the gun by the way."
"No problem, I was gonna give the gun to you anyway but now I got a good reason to." she told me. "Here's some ammo for the gun. And I even have a little bit of Pyremagic to. Its enough magic for about 3 clips worth of shots so use it wisely."
"I thank you kindly for this spectacular weapon." I say as I thanked her. "I'll go tell Trudy about the plan and then hopefully, she'll be in."
After I said that, I reactivate the sprinting ability of my wings and dashed off to go tell Trudy the good news.
"Hey Trudy, I have a plan to defeat the Powder Gangers."
"I'm listening, pray do tell what this plan is." She inquired
As I told her the plan, I could tell that she was not into it a first, but then when I mentioned Spike's Rage, she got a whole new expression that told me she was in without her having to actually tell me that she was in.
"That plan would have worked like a glass full of holes if you, S.A.T.S., and Spike's Rage where not in it. I'm in, and I'm sure most of the town will follow suit. When your ready, we will be."
"Alright then, I say we wait for Sunny to tell us that they are coming, then I'll use my wings to get to the top of the water tower and wait, when you give the signal, I'll start picking them off one by one." I told her.
"Works for me, I'll just get ready and then..." she was saying as Sunny burst in
"Their here already!" she exclaimed
"How many are there?" I ask
"Six, including Joe!"
'Really, just six. That's nothing compared to what I used to be able to take on. But hell, maybe after getting shot in the head, a little back up from the town will be helpful and I wont die, again.' I thought to myself.
"Alright, I can fast travel thanks to my wings so they shouldn't even see me when I get to the water tower."
"No, there's not enough time, they're just outside the store. If we're gonna fight, it's now. When I last saw them, they had their dynamite already out and their lighters out to."
"Well Celestia dammit. Let's get this over with." I said as I get out my Magic(Power) pistol with my right wing and Spike's Rage in my left. "Let's do this." I said under my breath as I turn on the radio to Rex Drop's channel
. Went the bass to what I could only assume was dubstep.
When I ran out through the door I flared my wings and startled the Powder Gangers. Joe and two of his buddies quickly realize that I am only one pony and Joe starts shooting at me with the revolver in his mouth while trying to light a stick of dynamite through telekinesis. At the same time two of his buddies decide to rush at me, one with a cleaver, the other with a police baton. I slip into S.A.T.S. and the world seems to slow down around me. I guess that that's the induced extreme adrenaline rush talking. Anyways, I slipped into the targeting system as the Pip-Buck's neural interface took over. I took aim at the stick of Dynamite above Joe's horn. Target, check. Joe's amigo 1, head-shot target, check. Joe's Amigo 2, head-shot, check. Fire at will. Executing.
BANG! BOOOM!
PEW!
PEW!
All of my shots find their targets. Joe's dynamite exploded right over his horn when I shot it with a flaming bullet from Spike's Rage, causing his head to be vaporized instantly. Then Joe's two amigos where melted by my pistol.
POP! chkchk POP! chkchk POP! As Sunny's rifle shot two of Joe's friends, killing one and giving the second one a hole in his face.
BLAM! BLAM! followed as some of the townspoinies took care of the rest of the gang with their single shotguns.
Level Up- LV.2
Perk Added-Pistol Whipped(1)
All damage you deal with a one hooved firearm is increased by 10%(This is a compoundable perk and goes up 10% per rank).
Perk Added-Epic Wub Time
Your moves in battle are 20% cooler when listening to dubstep. You also deal 5% more damage when in S.A.T.S. while listening to music. Attacks with sonic weapons use less AP in S.A.T.S. and do 10% more damage.
"Hey, I have to thank you for this. Here, these are technically Crimson Caravan funds, but I'm sure they'll understand when I tell them what happened. If you ever find yourself up at the Crimson Caravan HQ outside of New Pegasus, I'll be sure to pay you the remainder of the funds." Ringo promises.
"No problem. Just don't get yourself caught up in any more business like this. I wont be able to help you out then. Hey, do you know how to get to Prim?" I ask
"Yeah, just follow the road south of here until you see the amusement park. It will be impossible to miss due to the fact that there is a giant roller coaster that can be seen from over a mile away." says Ringo.
"Alright thanks. See you round." I say.
Before I head off, I turn my Pip-Buck's radio to DJ Pon-3's station.
"HELLO PONIES OF THE MIDDLE GROUND! It's me your glorious DJ Pon-3 here in glorious New Pegasus and I have some breaking news. It seems that the citizens of Goodsprings have just fended off an attack by the Powder Gangers. My sources tell me that the citizens of that quaint little town were assisted by a flaming pegasus. I have no idea what that means but one thing is for sure, even though it has been 150 years since the clouds were cleared by Littlepip, the pegasi have not completely come out of their shell's and moved back down to earth, and that means that this pegasus is either an outcast, a courier, or some form of cyberpony."
'She has no idea that all three are true. And how the hell does she know about this already, it hasn't been 10 minutes.' I think to myself.
"This just in from my assistant Rex, our mysterious helper in Goodsprings is all three of the things I said earlier. He is a courier for the Equestria Express, a pegasi outcast, and a cyberpony. Go figure. In the end, it's good to know that somepony out there is doing good. In other news, the city of Prim has been taken over by convicts who escaped from the NCRCF along with the Powder Gangers. In addition, ponies who have been exploring at night near the Hidden Vally have reported hulking forms out with glowing eyes. Now I don't know about you but anypony out there might want to stay clear of that area. For all we know, it could be anything from super-mutants to robots to heck, even aliens. And now, one of my protégées newest songs, don't worry it's not dubstep, it's called Rainbow Factory"(Actual song owned by Glaze AKA Wooden Toaster)
Now a rainbow's tale isn't quite as nice As the story we knew of sugar and spice But a rainbow's easy once you get to know it With the help of the magic of a pegasus device
Let's delve deeper into rainbow philosophy Far beyond that of Cloudsdale's mythology It's easy to misjudge that floating city With it's alluring decor and social psychology But with all great things comes a great responsibility That of Cloudsdale's being weather stability How, you ask, are they up to the task To which the answer is in a simple facility
In the Rainbow Factory, where your fears and horrors come true In the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through
In the Rainbow Factory, where your fears and horrors come true
In the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through
'That creepes me out. I didn't think that anypony but the pegasi new about the Rainbow Factory.' I thought to myself
tssssssssss
"Huh, whats that hissing noise?" I said thinking aloud as I turned off my radio
BOOOM!
"Owowowowowowowowow! What in the name of Nightmare Moon was that?" I ask in rage to no one in particular.
"Yep, you were right brony, thats the guy who took out Joe and his buddies."
'Screw me with Celestia's horn. It's more Powder Gangers, and these one's have dynamite, and they caught me by surprise.' I raged at myself 'Add to the list of problems my back left leg is crippled, basically ruining my ability to fast travel.'
tsssssssSSSSSSS
'' was the only thing that was going through my mind as I tried to at least use my wings to get the hell away from the fight seeing as I was horribly ambushed.
Out of nowhere a Magic(Speed) Gatling gun started firing on the Powder Gangers vaporizing them one by one.
Then the magic just stopped.
"Well howdy partner. Seems you done got yerself into a bit of a pickle here. Let me fix that leg of your's up. Name's Appletracks by the way."
'Oh, so this must be the robot that saved my life.' I realize
I look up and see the body of a metal pony, a monitor that has a pony face smoking a cigarette, and instead of legs, this thing has 2 wheels, one in front, one in back. It also has a battle saddle style getup with a magic gattling gun on one side and a 9mm machine gun on the other.
"I suppose that now I have to thank you for saving my life twice now." I tell him
"Oh, your that Flare feller. Good to see that the doc still knows what he's doin."
"I guess you could say that. So what brings you out this way Appletracks?" I ask him
"Well I was just on my way back up to New Pegasus. Heard the commotion and decided to check it out, then I saw the Powder Gangers throwin dynamite at somepony so I started shootin at the Powder Gangers. Then here we are. Kid, do you know about your E.F.S.?"
"My what now?" I ask
"Your E.F.S. or Eyes Forward Sparkle. Its towards the bottom right corner of you vision. Thanks to the miracle of the Pip-Buck 3000, the neural interface adds and E.F.S. that detects where the life is, if it's friendly or not, and how far away it is."
"OK thanks, but I really need to get to prim. If you want to come with me your more than welcome to." I tell the robopony.
"Well darn tootin I would but ah need to git over to New Pegasus ASAP. The bosspony wants me there for your arrival."
"Ok then. See ya then."
30 min later.
'What is that crackling noise?' I think as I look around. 'I can't see anything. Nothing on my E.F.S.'
As I keep trotting along, I still hear the crackling noise.
"Hey, I can see the roller coaster that Ringo told me about. Might as well fast travel there." I say to myself.
I set my wings to sprint via Pip-Buck and take off. Except I just go splat into the ground face first.
"What the?" I ask in surprise as I look back to my wings. "Well f*ck me with the moon, my wings are whats making the crackling noise. Guess the dynamite did more damage than I thought."
"HAHAHAHAHA. Oh this is just perfect." I hear someone laughing in a rough voice.
I look around, can't see anyone. There's nothing on my E.F.S.
"Who's there?" I yell
No response. 'Hmm. I got it.' I think to myself. 'S.A.T.S. has an auto lock-on feature. I can use this to find out who or what is out there.'
As I slip into S.A.T.S., my vision immediately shot up to the rocks that were maybe 100 ft from my position, rolling on his back, laughing his ass off, was a griffon. So I did what any pissed of pony would do, I shot at him. Just a warning shot with my magic pistol. A green blast of magic energy just singeing his wing.
"F***************************************************CK THAT HURTS!" The griffin yelled
With that, he jumped down from the ledge, and basically tackled me to the ground. When he lifts his wings a little I can see a pair of shotguns underneath them, both aimed at my head.
"Great Celestia, not again. Can I go one week, ONE, without getting shot in the head and dying?" I yell in desperation.
As the words leave my mouth, the griffin gives me a once over and then jumps off of me.
"AAHH. Sorry man. I thought you were a raider, but then as I gave you the once over just now, I remembered that you're the fellow who was killed by the Will's and the city stallion. The name Hawkens, and yes, I have heard all of the jokes that are possible to make about my name. Your wings look to be a bit messed up. Explosives, am I right, or am I right?"
'Dang, this guy is a regular flipflop of emotion. But it seams that he also knows a bit about machines and such.'
"So, do you want me to take a look-see at your wings for free, seeing as I almost killed you just now?" He asks me.
"Yes, yes I would. Name's Flare by the way."
Level Up – LV.3
Perk added – Accident Prone
You now take an additional 10% damage outside of battle(fall damage, poison, etc.) but are now 10% more resistant to sneak attacks.
Perk added – Made of Tougher Stuff
The more damage any part of your body takes, the more resistant to any form of damage it becomes(This exclude out of battle damage).
"Ok, first things first, if your gonna travel with me, you need to know what I'm doing." I told Hawkens.
'Now that I think about it, this is the first time I get to take a good look at the fellow.'
His feathers are a faded gray/brown color, his most striking feature is the eye-patch that is covering his left eye, that I presume would be dark blue just like the other. He's wearing a wide brimmed desperado style hat that has barbed wiring around the brim, I guessing so he can throw it at ponies and deal some damage. He also had a bandoleer that had 10 grenades on it.
'Talk about explosive personality.'
"I'm on a journey to get revenge on a pony who killed me, stole my delivery to Mr. Stable, and, among other things, is just a stuck up douche who needs to be taught a lesson."
"Well, I am on a very simple quest of my own. Get revenge on any and all raiders. Be it the measly Powder Gangers or the Iron Will's, I will have my revenge." Hawkens said.
"Do you mind saying why?" I ask.
"It's personal. Just leave it at that."
"Will do. So, other than that impressive shotgun rigging you have, what else do you fight with?"
"These." he says as he holds up his talons. I can see that they have some sort of a shiny coating to them.
"What is the coating?" I ask him.
"Observant I see, not many ponies who I show these to notice that. It's actually a covering." He says as he takes one of the coverings off. Made from a crystal that I found in Mark Vault 1. Hard enough to withstand a blast from a frag grenade but weak enough to be ground down into the claw coverings you see here. It even has some sort of absorbing quality so no matter how hard I hit anything, my claws wont be harmed."
"So what's your fighting style?"
"Its the Almaznyi Claw. I would teach you a bit but it's a griffin exclusive style. Speaking of hand to hand, how do you fight?"
"With these." I say as I extend my grapple chains. "These babies are normally supposed to be used for heavy lifting, but I learned early on that you need at least a little hand to hand training, so I taught myself the basics of suplex. If my wings hadn't have been damaged like they were, you would have been on your back with a pistol between your eyes."
"Good to know." He says with a nervous chuckle
"What's the problem?" I ask
"Them." He says pointing over my shoulder.
I turn around and see that we are surrounded by Powder Gangers.
'Celestia's flaming horn in my face I have bad luck. 11 of them.'
I can see that Hawkens is already preparing to fight with his wings halfway unfurled but the ends of his wings still over his guns. I turn my radio on to Rex Drops' channel and then slip into S.A.T.S. three of the Gangers have at least one broken arm, two of them half concussions, but the rest, unfortunately are more than OK. All of them appear as red dots on my E.F.S. I target the two with concussions to use by grapple chains on, then I target the three with the broken arms with my magic pistol and then I pick another two with Spike's Rage. Targets accepted, executing.
"Hey flaming warrior, if your in a fight and listening to my station, this song is for you. It's called CRUSH! KILL! DESTROY! SWAG!"(Actual song owned by General Mumble)
The sound of bomb sirens goes off, originating from my Pip-Buck.
Two of my grapple chains whip out bull-whip style and at the crack, the heads two with concussions have their heads fly off.
"CRUSH! KILL! DESTROY! SWAG!
Three shots come out of my Magic Pistol in quick-ish succession melting one of the Gangers into a pile of green goo and leaving the another one char grilled. One of the ones that is in better shape starts to shoot at me. I jump up in the air using my wings to get that extra hight, pop the head off of a third Ganger, land on a 5th, buck the 6th.
All the while, Hawkins had been jumping left, right, and side to side, all the while taking care of the other 5 Gangers. When he jumps off of the last one, they all explode into a bloody mess.
"What the hell did you just do to them?" I ask wondering how he managed to get all of them to blow up.
He reaches back to the pouch on his right back leg and pulls out a grenade while smiling like a maniac the whole time.
I facehoof when I notice that half of his grenade belt is empty
"Do I want to know how you got that inside them?"
"That, my friend is the Almaznyi Claw style of fighting." He says while putting the grenade back "You use the claws to cut a up your opponent, then, when the would is large enough, you stick something explosive in it. Now, when it comes to robots, this is hard because of their whole metal shell, but that's what I use my claw coverings for."
"Oi vey, why not just use your claws to cut their head off?"
"Yeah, I haven't learned that one yet. I can do it, my claw coverings just get stuck in the flesh."
"Never mind, let's just see what we can get off of these bastards."
'Let's see what we have here.' I think to myself 'Ooh, a 10mm. I can use that to repair Spike's Rage.'
"Hey Hawkens, I found some Dynamite, you want?"
"Yes please. Oh by the way, if you find any shotgun ammo or ammo parts, I would like them. I make my own ammo for my shotguns. They're custom built 2 gauge shells."
"Glad you didn't shoot me then." I say nervously.
"Hey, I found a key over here, wonder where its to." Hawkens informs me.
"Give it to me. My Pip-Buck's item sorting feature also somehow knows the names for everything in my inventory."
"Nifty."
"Let's see here, it's to the NCRCF. That's the prison that the Powder Gangers took over. Heh, well will you look at that, it's on our way to Prim. I'm guessing that you want to stop by there to take on the Gangers, Hawkins."
"You got that right."
"Well it is on our way so we may as well, heck, maybe the security cameras at the place caught checkers and his amigos on tape. You can also go kill some Powder Gangers if you want."
"Will do."
"Hey, if you ever want to talk about whatever happened, I'm here to talk to. Whatever it is, can't be much worse that being killed."
"I'll take that into consideration."
Level Up - LV.4
Perk Added – Cyberwings Mark3 LV.2
Your are now able to generate low level gusts with your wings, capable of harming most insects and stunning weak ponies. Your grapples have been restored to full power, you can now preform basic suplex maneuvers and operate all non-heavy weapons.(Two hooved weapons reload 2X slower than normal weapons)
Perk Added- Neural Interface – LV.1
Your Pip-Buck's neural interface allows you to control your cyber implants with a new precision that you didn't have before(Skill level: You are learning how to use a new limb).
Companion Perk Added – Gear Head
All cyber implants take 50% of the damage they normally would and have now gained a repairing function, restoring damage when not in use.(Takes 1 hour to self repair fully destroyed cyber implants)
'Traveling with Hawkins hasn't been so bad. He can be a bit loco at some points but when it matters, he is there through and through.' I think to myself.
"Hey Hawkins, do you want to listen to anything on the radio?" I ask him
"Let's listen to see if there is anything noteworthy on the news. Let's set up camp while we listen."
'Well it is 10:00 at night.' I realize after checking my Pip-Buck's clock.
"Hey all you ponies out there. This is DJ Pon-3 here with the latest news for the last time today. Rumor has it that the resident doctor of New Pegasus, Dr. Horn, has been treating his patients with zebra black magic, not the good voodoo, but with the bad juju. Now this is an unconfirmed rumor so stay tuned as we update our information. In other news, fighting between the NCR and the LOZ(Legion of Zebras) had been getting more and more violent as rumors are balefire bombs are in the Legions' possession. Finally, plans for a SPP tower in the heart of New Pegasus have been confirmed. With this tower, Littlepip will be able to finally maintain the weather in New Pegasus and the surrounding areas. Tune back in as early as 9 in the morning to hear what happened overnight, and who knows, with the new player in the game, anything could happen. Now for some rockin new beats. With the release of the album Balloon Party, 45 new songs have been released to the public straight from Equestria's greatest artist. From that album, I give you Bronies are Weird by Senntenial."
Now that some techno-step, started to play, we started to look for a place to set up camp.
"Hey, that ridge looks like a good place to set up camp. I'll go scout it out since I am clearly the scout, where as you are the weapons expert. It also helps that I can fly." Hawkins states as he points to a rocky bluff that overlooks the road.
"Yeah, you might want to scout that out in your stealth mode. It looks like the perfect place for a sniper's nest."
"Your right."
While he's scaling up the side of the cliff, I can tell that his claws are taking a toll. It's an 85 degree incline all the way up. Even though it's dark, I can see well enough that I know where he is just by the fact that some of his feathers are brighter than others. I can see where he is on the cliff, already over halfway there when suddenly.
"Nyeeeeeh!" Hawkins screeched as part of the cliff collapsed inward on itself.
"Are you alright?" I yell
"NYEEEEEH!"
I jump up at the sound of his screeching and rush to see what the problem is. I can see a few rocks jutting out from the sides of the cliff and I use my wings to super jump up on those rocks and have reached the the spot where he vanished in 10seconds flat.
"What is it!" I ask
But then I realize what he was screeching at as I look at a pile of skeletons, of earth ponies, Unicorns, and even Pegasi. It looked like some sort of messed up ritual pyre or something.
'What the f*ck is going on here?' I ask myself in my thoughts.
"It's a f*cking bone pile. Judging buy the dirt tracks, it looks like the came from this cave, pulled out by a unicorn because all I see are hooveprints that go back and forth. Whomever did this is still here because these tracks are fresh. I don't know who is doing this, but I need to know why, and if they are messed up raiders, I'm sure my claws can do the talking." Hawkins threatens.
"Well lets just see what the f*ck is going on in that cave first, then we can do something about it.
The cave where it seems all of the bones are coming from is not all that large, maybe 6' to the ceiling and only wide enough for maybe 3 or 4 ponies to walk side by side at the same time.
"I'm going to turn my Pip-Buck's flashlight on OK."
"Please do, it's pitch black dark in here."
When I turn it on, I see that we had almost smacked our heads into a giant metal door. As we step back, I realize that it in the shape of Doc Mitchel's cutie mark without the needle and stimpack.
"I think this is one of the Protomark stables." Hawkins says quietly.
"Why do you say that?" I ask
"Well, you know about the Mark stables right?"
"Heh heh,well, not really. I am only a courier and this is my first time this far out in the middle ground. My most common route had been between Tenpony tower and New Canterlot, which happened to be on the exact opposite sides of Equestria."
"Well let me give you the short version. In the Middle Ground, we don't have normal stables. There are around 24 surrounding the New Pegasus area called Mark Stables. Everything in them was and still is in some cases top of the line. Now, things get even more weird. None of them have the typical cog door like all of your fancy Equestrian stables. The doors look like someponies cutie mark. Now here's where the legend begins, there are allegedly 6 Protomark stables. They all have the cutie mark of one of the Ministry Mares and all of their overmares could communicate with one another. They were also designed to advance some field of some sort by their initial owners, the Ministry Mares. Now, 5 of the Protomark stables make a some sort of shape and in the center of this shape in a legendary megaspell of destruction, which happens to be found in the sixth, and the only way to get into the sixth is by getting a Pip-Buck with the cyber key of the surrounding 5. It was said that the megaspell has the power to separate the New Pegasus area away from everything for a good 1000 years, in case of any apocalyptic event. Now whether this legend is true or not, nopony has ever found a Mark Stable and lived to tell the tale for to long. The usually come out full of holes or in the wind as a pink powder. There are also 6 Cybermark stables which have the same marks as the Protomark doors but those are a lot farther away and a used as decoy's. That's how I got my claw covers, in Raritys' Cybermark stable."
"So then this is Fluttershy's Protomark stable?" I ask
"Yes, and I know this to be true, because I found her Cybermark stable. The entrance is literally inside of a tree and it is full of plant-pony hybrid monsters. I left a.s.a.p."
"Then that means that this stable was dedicated to advancing medical technology, right?" I ask
"Yep, that also means that whoever is in here may be either a looter or somepony just destroying everything. If that's the case, we need to stop them."
"I agree. Do you know how to enter the place?" I ask.
"Yep, through the gap in the side."
"Wait what gap?"
Then I see that somepony had blown a hole in the bottom right wing of Fluttershy's cutie mark door.
"Let's be quite, we don't know who or what is in here." I say as I pull out my magic pistol
Hawkins is glaring at the pistol, probably still a little bit pissed that I singed his wing.
I poke my head through the door first, nothing on my E.F.S. so I signal that the room is clear. As we both enter, we are shocked to see that, not only is the power is running, but it seems that the entire facility is still in perfect condition. Then we notice the security robot floating towards us.
"Hey, I thought I told you raiders to get the buck out of here. Oh wait, you wouldn't happen to be that flaming hero that DJ Pon-3 was going on about would you?" it says after it notices who we are not.
'Someone obviously is in control of this robot, otherwise there would be no other explanation as to why this robot can talk like a 18 year old mare.'
"Why yes I am. What do you want help with." I say
"Well, I was restoring this Protovault to its original condition when I was attacked by the security bots. I ran away and ended up trapped in the Overmare's office. There is an override key on one of the robots that is in the maintenance room of this Stable. If you would be so kind as to help me, I would offer my medical expertise to you and your amigo over there. I would also pay you."
"What are we talking about here, caps, Legion coins, NCR cash?" Hawkins asks her
"Better, I will pay you with a Green Opal."
"Let's do this then!" Hawkins yells
"Whoa whoa whoa, why are you so into this rescue mission right now. Whats a Green Opal?"
"I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it. They are very recent technology, maybe last 50 years, and at one made per month, well you get the picture. You know that the Black Opal allows for non unicorns to see whats hidden in those memory spheres."
"Yeah, I have my own Black Opal."
"Makes this a whole lot more simple. A Green Opal is like a Data Converter. You can take it, hook it up to you Pip-Buck, and if your a Unicorn, download the memory from a memory sphere right into the Pip-Buck's memory. Now, there's a custom hook-up that I have been known to do for the right price that replaces the unicorn element with a Black Opal. If we get that Green Opal, I can hook it and your Black Opal up to your Pip-Buck and then we can just download any info from a sphere straight to your Pip-Buck. There's a software update to the Pip-Buck that allows it to play video but I'm sure that you with your scientific capabilities can whip it up." Hawkins tells me.
"Actually, I can give your the software update. I've been testing it out on an old Pip-Buck 100 but it keeps dying right after I finish the video." Says the mysterious mare.
"Well then, we'll get right to saving you. Would you kindly tell me where the maintenance room is." I tell her.
"It's on the bottom level. Sorry but that's where the robot is and its not moving. It is talking to me for some reason. Says it's name is Appletracks."
"OK, hold the phone. Did you say Appletracks?" I ask.
"Yeah, why?"
"That's the Robot that dug me up and basically saved my life."
"Well that complicates things a bit."
"How so?" I ask her
"Well, the thing wants to kill me. I may have tried to salvage parts from it after I hit it with an EMP spell."
"Your kidding right. Well, I guess I'll try to reason with it. You know it works for Mr. Stable."
"Well f*ck. My mom's not gonna be happy about this. First the taint and now this. Ugh, I'm gonna use this robot to help you while I'm locked in here. The name's Twilight Break by the way"
"Nice to know, now tell us where to go." I say
"Well, the elevator has collapsed so there is no way of getting to it except from the bottom floor, from there, if you could fix it, you could take it all the way up to the top floor and from there, the Overmare's office since the elevator was the only way in. You'll have to take the stairs. Be warned, there are a lot of mutts(mutations) down there. I managed to sneak myself past them but it was hard. I had to use my hypnosis spells just to keep them loony enough for me to pass by unnoticed." Twilight says.
"Well that's no problem for me but Flare here isn't exactly mister light on his feet, even for a pegasus." Hawkins informs her
"Either of you have a weapon that uses Pyremagic on you."
"Yeah, my pistol does. Don't ask how, it just uses it to shoot flaming bullets."
"Then take this robots Pyremagic. It should be enough to last you a while."
Now we set off. She's opening the door and a hiss of steam later, I get tackled by a mutt. Hawkins claws its' face and its ' muzzle just falls off, splashing me with it's tainted blood. It jumps back in shock and I take the opportunity to snap it's neck with one of my grapples.
"Dang, mutts already. This is gonna be fun." Hawkins laughs
Level Up – LV.5
Perk Added – Grapple wizard Rank 1
The damage you deal with your grapples increases by 10% for each additional rank up this perk gets. You can also move 10% more weight with each rank up this perk gets.
Perk Added – Flares' Taint Rank .5
Your inner fire is sparking, you deal 5% more damage with Pyre weapons and take 5% less damage from any explosion or Pyre weapon attack. When Taint Rank 5 is reached, exterior transformations will occur. When Taint Rank 10 is reached, full mutation will be done.
'So far, this night has sucked. First we get ourselves into a rescue mission inside an old abandoned, super-stable. Second is that this place is crawling with taint monsters. Then, every time I kill one, it explodes and if I'm not far enough away, some of it's blood taint gets on me. Finally is that as more and more taint gets on me, I slowly turn into a mutant animal of some sort. I know that Unicorns mostly turn into Alicorns, Earth Ponies usually turn into Super-Mutants, Zebra generally turn into Shadow Demons, and Griffins almost always turn into some form of Chimera. No-one has ever seen what Pegasi turn into when they are fully tainted. They haven't been around on the mainland long enough for anyone to find out.'
"Hey Twilight, how much farther are we? We've been fighting through these Super-Mutants and other mutts for about 8 floors.'' Hawkens says
"This is the last staircase. I promise."
A few minutes later, after killing another dozen Super-Mutants, we reach a door on the bottom level that says maintenance on it.
"Oh my Celestia." I say dumbstruck.
The room is huge. It is about the size of a stadium and has vats of what look like Taint all over the floor spilling out. My radiation detector and taint measurement system start to go off. Looks like an absorption rate of 5 rads/sec and .1 taint/min(Taint is slow to absorb if not in direct contact). The most shocking part is the bodies, hundreds of them. All of the bodies belong to Alicorns. They are on the ceiling, the walls, in the vats, everywhere. I almost throw up but hold it in.
"Ugggh. Let's just find the robot and get out of here." Hawkens groans.
"Howdy partner, what brings you to this neck of the woods?" Appletracks asks us.
"Appletracks, we need the door to the Overmare's office. Could you give it to us. We need to rescue somepony trapped there." I say to him.
"Sorry chap but ah can't. That pony attacked me and needs to pay."
"I'll make it worth your while. I can give you some software updates and Hawkens here can upgrade your weapons. What do you say. When I meet up with you in New Pegasus, I'll give you the mods, if you give us the key."
"Well you got yerself a deal sir." He said as he downloaded the key into my Pip-Buck's memory.
After I get the key, I run to the end of the room where I had spotted the elevator doors earlier. I press the button and the doors open. We step into the elevator and I see that the entire elevator ceiling is missing.
"Well Discord f*ck me. How am I gonna get up there?" I ask.
"Well, you could give me your grapples, and I could hook them up to something up there and then you could pull yourself up." Hawkens suggests
"Good as anything I guess. Here you go. When you attach them to something, make sure the latches are secure, OK."
"Will do."
After he says that, he takes off going straight up, but not before making sure his shotguns safeties are on.
"OK! THEY'RE ATTACHED AND YOU CAN PULL YOURSELF UP NOW!" He yells once he reaches the top of the elevator shaft.
As I pull myself up, I can see a lot of the vault through the windows are part of the elevator shaft's walls. I see hundred's of mutt's on each floor, and I can hear something through the walls. It sounds like a radio broadcast.
"And that's your mutant leader from Uponitha, Tabitha Newlife." An extremely raspy voice says loudly.
'Wonder where that is, Uponitha.' I think to myself.
"This place needs to be sealed up for good." I tell hawkens.
"Why do you say? Is there something wrong here?"
"Yeah, there is a society of those mutants in this Stable. Hundreds of them on every floor. What makes things worse is that they are listening to someone called Tabitha Newlife."
"That makes it a definite that this place needs sealing. Tabitha is an Alicorn that is halfway to insane. She is trying to make a mutant society and some say she is going to try to take over the Middle Ground."
"Well I'm sure that we can set the door to be sealed from the Overmare's office. Speaking of which, is right here."
I input the code to the Overmare's office door and it unlocks just as Twilight said it would.
"Bout time you guys got here. How did you handle the robot in the basement?" Twilight asked us.
"I just told him that we would give him some upgrades when we got to New Pegasus. Now, can you show me where the Overmare's computer is. I need to set up a lockout field that will stop all mutants from coming or going."
"Well, you might want to revise it." she says
"Why is that?" I ask
"Is he really that oblivious?" She asks Hawkens.
Now I take a good look at her. She's a midnight blue unicorn wearing a vault 8 outfit. She has a streamline white and magenta mane and tail. Then I saw what she was talking about, right behind a sky blue diamond shaped patch of fur on her head, were two horns with hooked tips.
"When I was first found the cave that hid the entrance to this vault, I was attacked by a group of mutts. They were small but they were with a mutt that looked like 10 bloatsprites fused together. I managed to take the smaller mutts out with this baby." she says as she levitates out a sniper rifle with the barrel removed. "I can shoot this thing like a high powered pistol if I take off the barrel and I can use the barrel as a melee weapon. After I did that, I jumped over the super bloatsprite and shot it in the head. It turns out that when they die, they explode with the force of an entire case full of dynamite. It got a crapload of taint blood on me and gave me these horns. And as I saw, you got your fair share of taint on you to. You can however, input a genetic access key that will allow us to get into and out of this place so we can get anything we may want from here later. The computer is right over there. I tried to hack into it but my hacking abilities are not good enough."
"Well let me have a go at it." I tell her.
Back when I had first left New Cloudsdale, I had to take care of myself, so I found and old Equicon factory. It was low level security but I still managed to hack into the server with my minimal tech training. Since then, I have gotten pretty dang good at hacking.
'Let's do this.' I think to myself 'OK, the password is 7 letters long. Most of these codewords end in y so that's a start. Let try balcony. Wow, 4/7 right. Boy I should have seen this coming. Let's try harmony.'
Password Accepted
Welcome Overmare Healingshy
Console Command list: Enacted
Activate Auto-Turret defense system.
Engage Biofield containment.
Copy Data Banks to Pip-Buck.
Copy Access pass to Protomark Stable's
I first choose to engage the Biofield. A sub menu pops up that says I can either add DNA sequences to the permitted field or activate the field. I first choose to add Twilight, Hawkens, and then my own DNA to the permitted field, then I activate it.
"BIOFIELD ACTIVATED. ONLY PERMITED PERSONEAL ARE ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE PREMISES. ALL UNOTHORIZED ORGANIC PERSONEL WHO TRY TO LEAVE WILL BE VAPORIZED." A computerized voice says over the intercom system.
"Great job Flare, now the entire facility knows that we are here." Hawkens says to me impatiently.
"Well, at least I was able to set up the field with only our genetic sequences. Now lets get the hay out of here." I say.
Level Up – LV.6
Perk added – Flares' Taint Rank 1
You deal 10% more damage with Pyre and take 10% less damage from Pyre. You regain health at a rate of 5% when you take radiation for extended periods of time but are 5% more likely to develop radiation sickness.
Companion Perk added – Deadly Healer
You regain 10% more health from medicine and food. You can now target enemies in S.A.T.S. to be taken out by your Sniper companion.
After I triggered the biofield, we had to leave the Flutterstable with it immense quantities of Taint. We decide to make camp in the secluded cave that hides the entrance to the stable.
"OK, thanks for saving my ass. I suppose I should reward you now. Here is the Green Opal and now I I'll use my medical expertise to patch you guys up." Twilight says to us.
She uses her three horns to make the magic that heals us, her right horn alleviates the pain, her left horn gets rid of any side-effects that we may have gotten such as radiation and internal bleeding, and her middle horn fixes up everything else. I can tell because her middle horn has a black glow and so do my scratches, my upper head is surrounded in the same sky blue glow as her right horn, and her left horn is glowing midnight blue but I can't see any glowing outside me that matches that color but I can feel myself getting better than before.
"This feels good." Hawkens says as he relaxes. "Hey Flare, if you want me to, I can hook up your Green Opal attachment if you want. I put it together when you were bargaining with the robot. FYI, the memory transfer rate is for every 5 min. of memory, the transfer time is, on average, 1 min."
"Thanks." I say as I put the sphere into a sort of three prong grip that is on the end "Dang, this is a 5 minute download. Must be one heck of a memory."
After 5 minutes had passed, Twilight has finished healing Hawkens and I, I feel that it is time to look at the memory.
"Twilight, Hawkens, ya want to see what this memory has in store for us?" I ask them
"Why not." They both say and then give each other a strange look.
I turn my Pip-Buck to projector mode and a beam of light shoots out of it to the door or the Flutterstable. It turns color and now we see a pale yellow pony with a pink mane and a cutie mark of three butterflies's made of hazardous materials containers.
"Look Healingshy." The pony whose memories we were seeing said. "I don't care what you say; we are not going to test the medical properties of Taint on anypony. You saw what it did to Trixie. The video feed was plenty to tell me the horrors of Taint. We are not going to have a Trixie level disaster on our hooves."
"Um, well, this is my facility, and I say we say what we can and can't do. If you remember the video, which I am sure that you do, the Taint that Trixie had absorbed allowed her to revive Twilight Sparkle. Do you remember why I am the Overmare at this Protostable?" Healingshy asks our host.
"Uhh. Because you are a direct descendent of Fluttershy, the original Overmare of this facility, before she left to help her friends and went missing in the Everfree Forest over 100 years ago."
"That is correct Red Cross. Besides, I already gave the order to flood the basement level with Taint, after pumping it full of toxic gas."
"YOU DID WHAT? I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS, YOU REALLY HAVE GONE INSANE." Red Cross exasperates. "You realize that if your little plan WORKS, we are going to have an ARMY of ALICORNS that we will have to deal with!"
"Not true, if you remember, Twilight had only experiment with taint on unicorns, but on the basement level, there are unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi. This test will be a reputable treasure trove of data."
"But what about Empathy. Are you seriously going to seal away Empathy? Empathy is part of the mechanism that will save all of ponykind from any threat imaginable. Celestia, I hoped that it didn't come to this." Red Cross says as he pulls out some sort of pink grenade launcher.
When he pulls it out, Healingshy get a look of extreme worry on her face.
"Where did you get, that?"She asks Red Cross.
"I see you recognize the Friendship Cannon prototype. I managed to get it sent to me by one of my friends at Pinkie Pie's Protostable. Its design is most impressive. It has the ability to send anything in its blast radius directly to the Ministry of Moral headquarters in Canterlot, but seeing as that is immersed in the pink vapor, survival is 0%."
"But won't you get caught in the blast as well?"
"Have nice day." Red Cross says to Healingshy in a Russian accent before he shoots the weapon.
He misses her completely and the grenade explodes in a cloud of confetti that stretches just far enough from the corner of the room to Healingshy. The next second, everything in the radius of the explosion is gone, just a perfect circle indent in the wall and ground.
"I guess that I will just have to wait until the Taint washes down through the grates before I can get to Empathy. The only problem is time. Taint is a very coagulative liquid. I can handle the mutts that Healingshy created with the Friendship Cannon. Until then, all I can do is wait."
And then the memory ends.
"So that's what this does." Twilight says while levitating the Friendship Cannon prototype out from her saddlebags."
"Is that thing still operational? Hawkens asks nervously
"Don't know, but only one way to find out." She says as she points the gun at Hawkens.
"WHAT THE F*CK ARE YOU DOING YOU CRAZY B*TCH!" Hawkens yells.
"Relax crazy wings, I'm just joking."
"I wonder what he meant when he was talking about Empathy. He seemed pretty pissed when he heard that Empathy was being flooded over." I pipe in.
"Well, I say that we get to sleep. After all it's like what, 3 a.m." says Hawkens
"Well guys, I am ready to sleep. No touchy." She jokes. "Or I will melt your brains." She says a lot more serious and gravely.
Hawkens and I both sweat drop.
I am the last one to wake up in the morning. It seems that Hawkens did some repairs to my wings while I was sleeping.
"AAAAHHH." I yawn. "So what's for breakfast?" I ask.
"Well I made a carrot and cactus stew and there is still a bit left if you want some. Twilight had her fair share."
"It was delicious. Never would have taken Hawkens here to be a chef." Twilight compliments him.
By Celestia it was one of the best makeshift meals I had ever had. I turn the Radio on to DJ Pon3s station.
"GOOD MORNING PONIES OF THE MIDDLE GROUND. This just in overnight. Our favorite Cyberpegasus and his new amigo have rescued a young unicorn from a hoard of mutts located in the Flutterpeak mountain range, which separates Goodsprings from Prim. In more recent news, the Powder Gangers have attacked a group of tribal zebra in their village with no prior aggression from the zebras. Apparently, the Gangers have taken the head warrior and elder of said tribal's hostage in exchange for resources that the zebra are allegedly guarding. With any luck, our favorite Cyberpegasus will save her from captivity as well as an eventual trade into the Legion. Speaking of the Legion, it seems that the Caesar of the Legion has a new personal slave. I really pity this pony because of what happened to the Caesars previous slaves. On a better note, The NCR has recently pushed back an attack by the Legion near Hoover (No pun required here) Damn. Until next hour, this is DJ Pon-3 signing off for a little while, now for some music. It's "You Gotta Share" by Spaghetti Western Ft. Wild Joe (Actual song by Eurobeat Brony).
"Well, here's a story, a little pink pony told me, about friendship
Bill, you just grab that banjo over there, ya that's it. Alright Bill, hit it."
2 and a half minutes of banjo and saloon piano music with the occasional "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAA!" later.
"Hey Joe?
Yeah Ralf?
How do we play these instruments with just hooves and no hands?"
A brief pause later
"Shut up Ralf."
"So where to next Flare?" Twilight asks me.
"Well, I'd say that we have well as any reason to go to the NCRCF now. We ought to get whatever prisoners we can free." Hawkens says. "I'm sure you agree Flare."
"Well I did promise you that we would go and you could kill all the gangers like a good little griffin." Hawkens looks sourly at me. "I also need to go to see if the prisons cameras caught anything on my killer."
"Well that settles it, let's go." Twilight says.
We then start our journey towards the NCRCF. When we get within 100 ft, I give Twilight the command to take out as many Gangers in the security towers as she can. All in all she does pretty good, taking out 6 of 7 tower guards. The last one however, sounds the alarm. Now they are swarming out of the dang place like Meta-bee's out of a Metanest. Twilight manages to take out 3 of the 10 with headshots, another 4 with lighting out of her three horns. I take out rest by simply dashing though them with my wings outstretched, taking their heads clean off. With all of them taken care of, I call Hawkens and Twilight over to the main gate.
"OK, Twilight, I want you to search the facility for the Urgent Care Center for supplies. Hawkens, go do your thing and keep a look out for a building that would look like a Computer hub. I am going to go search for an armory or something of the like, get more supplies for battles that I am sure are going to be coming a lot more often."
"Ya know, I can link our minds so we can communicate even when we are not in the same room." Twilight informs us.
"Do that." I tell her. "It will be very helpful."
With that we storm the place. Hawkens flies over the top of the entrance building while Twilight and I go in. She takes the barrel of her sniper off and it looks like she's levitating it like a club. I pull out Spike's Rage and my magic pistol. When we enter, we notice that the room is filled with at least 10 Gangers. I slip into S.A.T.S. and target one ganger right next to us with Spike's Rage, and another 5 with my magic gun. 3 melted Gangers and a headshot later, all of my targets are down. Twilight, as I could see, used her barrelless sniper as a pistol and popped 4 of the Gangers heads off. She breaks the back of the last one with her barrel/club.
"Nice work." I compliment her.
Now that the room is clear, we head outside. There are only two gangers outside now and I take them out with simultaneous shots from both my pistols.
'COULD USE A LITTLE HELP OVER HERE!' Hawkens think/screams to us.
'What's wrong?' I ask him.
'I'm surrounded in the computer hub. It's the only two story building in this place. I have managed to lock myself in the hub room but they are eventually going to break through. I can already hear them trying to buck the door down. Hold on just a second' He thinks to us as he severs the connection.
BANG!
'Alright, that should stop them from messing with me for a while.'
'Was that your shotguns that I just heard?'
'Eeyup'
'That's what I thought.' I think back to him.
"He's got himself handled over there for a little while. You go find the urgent care center of this place, then, can you teleport?"
"Yes, came with the Taint powers, I just can't teleport that far that often."
"Then when you can, after you find the medical supplies, teleport up to Hawkens up there. I am going to go find that armory."
After about 3 minutes of searching, I find a building that has to be the armory. I can tell because there are three guards with battle saddles. Two of the saddles are mini-guns but what scares me is the Pyre-cannon that the middle guard has. It's strapped to his back because if it were on his side he would just fall over it is so huge. I notice the container of Pyremagic hooked up to the Pyre-cannon.
'If I shoot the Pyremagic, then I can get it to explode, effectively removing the threat that those three hold.' I realize.
I slip into S.A.T.S. with Spike's Rage and take aim.
The flaming bullet leaves my gun with a Bang! and the Pyre-cannon explodes taking the other two guard ponies with it with a huge explosion.
'Yeah, I just opened the door to the armory by blowing up a Pyre-cannon and three Gangers.'
'Alright! Way to go Flare. I just found the Hub's mainframe and I am not going to try to hack it. That, is your job. Looks like a 7 letter password.' Hawkens thinks to me.
'Well that's not so bad.' I think back to him as I enter the armory through the hole in the wall that the explosion made.
"MPMPH!"
"Who's there?" I ask
"MMM!" I hear coming from the corner of the room.
I turn on my Pip-Buck light and find myself face to face with a zebra with a grey and black striped coat, and her mane is in a ponytail which surprises me.
"Guaya!" I yell in surprise. "Who are you?"
The zebra rolls its eyes at me. I then notice the gag in its mouth. I use my grapples to cut the gag, letting it talk again.
"I appreciate your helping me, but how about setting me free." She says.
"First things first, who are you and what are you doing trapped in the Powder Gangers?"
"A zebra warrior am I, and to the Gangers I am no ally. My tribe was threatened with destruction, so I went out for the Gangers reduction. Then I was captured in the night, spotted by their magic of light. I was fully expecting my downfall, but am now saved by your arrival. So a debt of a lifetime is owed to you, so I will remain at your side, through and through."
"Ok then. Well what are your specialties?" I ask her.
"When it comes to blades, I am number one, but I will never use a gun. My words are as effective, if not more. I am normally unseen until there is my enemies gore."
"OK, so in summary, you are a sweet talking ninja pony."
"In a way you can say yes, but I am also full of finesse. My life is in your debt. This is something I will not forget."
'I am going to have to take some time getting used to this.'
'What will?' Twilight asks me.
'Oh, I just recued a zebra/ninja/poet/silver-tongue who says she owes a life debt of sorts.'
'Dang dude, this is serious. My great grandmother's special somepony had a zebra friend who owed a life debt. She stuck with her until the end since she considered protecting my great grandmother after her special somepony died equivalent to her initial debt. 'Twilight thinks to me.
'I'll keep that in mind. See you soon, with my new compatriot and maybe some new weapons.'
'Bring me something fun.'
'Ha ha, will do.'
"So, what do you know about this place, and please, no rhymes? At least until we are out of this place." I say to her.
"Very well. My name is Shiara by the way."
"Nice to meet you. Do you know where they were keeping your belongings?"
"In the footlocker over there." She says pointing to a footlocker under a desk with a terminal on it.
I go over to the footlocker and try to open it but it's locked. I see some wires running out the back of it and think to myself 'may as well hack the terminal, less harm to my grapples that way.'
"Smart choice." Shiara says to me.
'I linked her thoughts to ours.' Twilight thinks to me.
I start the terminal up and get to the login page. No password required. I guess it's my lucky day. I open the main menu and select unlock footlocker. I also see an option that says unlock weapons lockers. I select that as well and the room is filled with the sound of unlocking lockers. While Shiara gathers her goods, I find the closest one to me and find that it has a custom magic(speed)rifle, hinged scope, and dual clip,
'I JUST HIT THE JACKPOT! SQUEEE!'
'What did you find?' Hawkens asks me.
'Just a custom magic rifle with plenty of spellpacks to spare and a low zoom scope on a hinged joint for said rifle.'
'Duuude. Considering what I have seen that you can do with magic weapons, this will just make you a lethal weapon'
'I just checked it over with my Pip-Buck and it says that his gun has a Pyremagic compatible spellpack clip. I would have to make it but that would turn this gun into a rapid fire Pyre-cannon'
'Nice dude, but could you get your ass over here. I am barley holding them back.'
BANG! goes the largest gunshot that I have ever heard in my life.
'Don't worry guys, that was me, just keeping the Gangers at bay until you guys show up. My head hurts.' Hawkens complains
'What happened, did you hit your head or something?" Twilight asks.
'Or something.'
With my new companion in tow, in her zebra infiltrator getup(Image going to be on my deviantart later today) I run over to where Twilight is, a pile of dead Gangers around her and a metric sh*t-ton of medical supplies in a levitation field. I nod to her and then all three of us run over to the place where the incredibly loud shotgun blast came from. It was one of the only two story buildings other than the guardhouse/urgent care unit that Twilight explored and the Armory that I found Shiara in. Twilight uses her horns to levitate a huge bolder out of the ground and lobs it through the door and knocking back a dozen Gangers as though they were small trees. I step through the wreckage and hear another one of Hawkens signature takedowns, a shotgun to the life.
'By the way, the time it took for all of you to get here was how long it took me to recover from the last shot, reload, and shoot my shotguns again. And Twilight, I think I'm getting a concussion.'
'I'll have a look at you as soon as we are out of this dump, OK.' Twilight thinks all cheery like.
By that time, we see what kind of a mess Hawkens has made, and it is a doozy, at least 20 bodies all over the floor where Hawkens had turned Gangers into Swiss Cheese. Another 10 were trying to get into what remained of the holey door. Shiara dashes up next to them and takes all of their heads off with a machete that she pulled from nowhere.
'Hawkens, don't shoot, my new zebra friend just took care of the remaining Gangers. Could you open the door for us?'
"No problem." He says as the door swings open.
"Now show me this terminal. Time to get hacking."
I enter the console command that allows me to hack out the password. I see no obvious patterns to the passwords other than they all are 7 letter words. Then I see one that sticks out like a sore hoof.
"You would think that in a prison the computers would have more security." I say as I input justice as the password.
The screen lights up and shows me four different commands.
Unlock Cell Doors.
Lock Cell Doors.
Download Security Footage
Download Location of Protostable Management.
I first select the one that says download security footage, since that is what I came here for. I then select the one that has Protostable in it, since Protostables are obviously very important in the Middle Ground. Lastly, I unlock the cell doors since we had killed every single Powder Ganger in the facility.
"OK, I freed whatever prisoners are left, got the data we were looking for, and even got some info on a Protostable."
"Let's hope this is lacking in a mutt infestation, because I have a feeling that we are going to be going inside the damn place. Am I right, or am I right?" Hawkens asks me.
"You're right on this one." I respond.
Level Up – Lv.8
Perk Added – Mental sharpness
Your mind is 25% more capable than it used to be. It is now easier for you to hack computers, pick locks, and you have a higher percent likelihood to hit a target in S.A.T.S. You are also 20% more resistant to addiction
Companion Perk added – Nightmare Power
You gain a 20% skill bonus to Guns, Magic Weapons, Science, Lockpicking, Sneak, Melee weapons, and unarmed when hidden.
We just defeated the Powder Gangers at the NCRCF and are now camped out in the guard tower that is over the main entrance.
"Well, it looks like the security cameras did pick up video of my killer. And he was heading in the direction of Prim, with 5 Iron Wills in tow." I say
"Well I know where we're headed. It's also a perfect opportunity to take out some more Raiders." Says Hawkens.
"Indeed. Well, since it seems that all of us but you got out unscathed, let me heal your wounds before we set off, OK Hawkens." Twilight comments
"Fine, but only if we can set off for Prim within the hour. I mean, I can see the dang town from here."
"Trust me, it shouldn't take too long to do this, you only have a concussion from all of that recoil from your freaking two gauge shotguns and a few scratches."
"Yeah yeah whatever. Hey, Flare, how about your new zebra friend tells a bit about herself."
"OK, but she likes to rhyme everything she says so don't say I didn't warn you. Shiara, take it away."
"Where to begin with my story? Maybe with something a bit gory? When I was a filly, I was certainly not frilly. Growing up with very effective assassins, I was taught to handle any circumstances. When I was old enough to be considered a mare, I set out to get some fresh air. I joined the zebra tribe of the rainbow, and protected them from any trouble that they brought in tow. Until recently, there was no trouble, but then the Powder Gangers threatened to turn the village to rubble. I gave myself to them as a peace offering. I was hoping to prevent any violence that was oncoming. Turns out the Gangers had something worse planned for me. Something that would ruin my delightful personality. Luckily Flare here came and got me freed, otherwise that may have well been the end of my creed."
"Sorry I asked. Hey Flare, could I take a look at that new rifle of yours?" Hawkens asks
"No offense to your expertise with the inner workings of machines, but when it comes to advanced technologies and things of the like, I am better than you. Speaking of the new gun, I was wondering, do you know what it would take to make this kind of clip attachment?" I ask him as I show him the schematics that are on my Pip-Buck.
"Well, you would need a Pyremagic Canister or two, a micro pump, some rubber tubing, some scrap metal for the fasteners, and of course, some Pyremagic. You could also get a nozzle that you would put over the front of the weapon if you wanted to increase the range of the thing by forcing the Pyremagic out faster. If you wanted to make it a burst weapon, you would have to get a timer or a delay of some sort and an electric valve. Now if you're asking me if I can make it, you obviously don't know me that well because it is quite obvious that I could. "
"Sweet, I will be on the lookout for said items. I already have plenty of Pyremagic and a pair of Pyremagic canisters, both reinforced so if they get shot, they won't explode. So now I just need the rest of the parts."
"Actually, I managed to get my hands on some larger than normal surgical tubing, maybe that could work." Twilight says.
"Perfectly."
"Well, I will be on the lookout for the remaining parts." I say
"OK Hawkens, you're all better. Please do not fire that blasted shotgun duo in close quarters. Not until Flare gets the chance to modify it with enchanted gems to reduce the recoil. That does seem to be a part of his area of expertise."
"Indeed, I had to get some training in magic gems when I got my wings, since they run on gem power and sunlight. If you ever find 4 black gems, I can make it so your shotguns have no recoil." I say to Hawkens.
"Well, I'll keep an eye out. How about we set out for Prim? We still have an hour till nightfall and hopefully we can get a room for the night and a real night's sleep. Anyone else with me?" Hawkens asks the group.
"How about tomorrow? I haven't gotten a night's sleep since I was shot in the head." I say
" Fine. I wouldn't think that we would need a guard detail considering everypony thinks this is still Ganger territory."
"I would say that that's a safe assumption, but better safe than sorry considering the world's state of corruption."
"I have to agree with Shiara. I'll get the first watch." I say. "If anything that looks like trouble and turns out to be trouble get's to close, headshot."
With five of us, we all did about an hour and a half of night watch each. There was a Centaur or two during my watch but nothing serious. The next day, we set off for Prim and in an hour we were there.
"Halt. The city of Prim is off limits." A dark purple NCR officer mare tells us. The NCR officer had on a roughly made leather armor that had a piece of plate metal over the front chest area that had a two headed Ursa Major on it.
"What's going on? Why can't we go to Prim?"
"Haven't you heard? The dang place has been taken over by convicts who escaped from the NCRCF. It's too dangerous to go alone. I would offer your some form of protection but it seems that you are not alone."
"OK then. Well, there is a pony in there that I have to meet in there who is part of the Equestria Couriers." I say to her.
"Well then you're looking for Johnson. He's in the Vicki and Vance Casino. Good luck getting to him though, because the place is surrounded by escaped convicts."
"Even though you say this place will bring misfortune, we can handle ourselves, of this I am certain."
"Well howdy folks. My name's Johnson. How can I help you?" an old dark brown haired stallion with an even darker close cut mane asks us as we entered the Vicki and Vance Casino.
"I am looking for the pony who killed me. He was wearing a fancy pre-war suit and was probably with some Iron Wills. I need to find him because he stole an item that I was supposed to deliver to Mr. Stable." I tell him.
"Quite the entourage you've got there. You wouldn't happen to be a courier would you?"
"Yes I am. "
"OK. Yeah, I saw the pony when he passed through a few days ago. Definitely from New Pegasus, he was headed there to his Casino after all. If you want to know more, you will want to ask our Deputy."
"Well, where is this deputy?" Hawkens asks him.
"He got himself captured while 'scouting' out the Buffalo Bill hotel and casino. I assure you that the town would be much obliged if you could free him. Get some law back in this place."
"Thank you kindly sir. That is very helpful." I tell him.
"One more thing young 'in, do you know who you're messing with?"
"The real question is, did the stallion who killed me know who he was messing with."
We leave the casino and head over to the hotel across the street. The door is unlocked so we just walk in. There are two convicts on both sides of the door. When they hear the door open, they raise both of their double barrel shotguns at us and are about to pull the triggers when, I stab though their necks with one of my grapples for each, instantly killing them.
"Effective." Hawkens compliments.
Now that we are effectively inside, we split up. I go with Twilight on the main floor and Hawkens goes with Shiara on the top.
"Twilight, link our thoughts again, would you kindly." I say to her.
'Already done.' She thinks to me.
'Hawkens, notify me if you find the deputy, I'll do the same if I find him.'
'Will do. Call me if you get into trouble. You will know if I am.'
'I don't doubt it, but this is going to be extremely close range, your claws should be good enough. Besides, you have our resident ninja to get your six.'
'That you do, my feathered friend. I will protect your back, since I do not want this comradery to end.'
Since Hawkens and Shiara both use weapons of the silent variety, I couldn't hear a thing that they were doing except the occasional thump of a dead ponies body that they felled. The lower level was pretty uneventful, except for the lobby room. There were a 10 ponies and one of them had a Pyre-cannon. I signaled at him to Twilight and she took him out with a headshot. I then managed to pull off 4 shots in rapid succession. Now that there were only 5 left, Twilight zapped 3 of them with her magic lightning leaving two. They both managed to get enough shots of to cripple my back legs, but I managed to cripple their lives with my grapples.
"What is with you Flare, it seems that you never get hit in fights, but when you do, it's always somewhere vital to wasteland survival. I mean, right now, both of your hind legs are broken. If I wasn't here, you would have to crawl out all on your own. Let me take care of those legs for you. Should only take a few minutes and a stimpack to get you walking again. I am going to have to take a look at you later on though to make sure that your legs are completely healed before we get into any more fights."
"Yeah yeah whatever." I say as she stabs my each of my legs with a stimpack after using her healing magic to set my leg bones.
"Now you should be able to walk. How's that feel?" She asks me.
"Much better now that they are usable."
"HEY, ANYPONY OUT THERE? I COULD USE SOME HELP." Somepony with a real southern drawl yells.
We walk towards the voice and see a stallion with a white coat and a shaggy dirty blond mane. His cutiemark was a sheriff's star that had the top point broken off.
"Well hello. You wouldn't happen to be the Deputy for this town, would you?" I ask
"Well you've come to the right pony. Would you mind setting me free?"
'Hey, Hawkens, we found him. We are on the main floor near the lobby. We'll meet you outside, k.'
'Yeah, no problem. I found some more memory orbs. Some seem to be pre-war and others from vaults.'
"Twilight, Hawkens found some spheres." I tell her. "I'll let you free, if you tell me about the stallion in the checkered jacket and was surrounded by Iron Wills." I say to the Deputy
"Well now, I do recollect the ponies of which you speak. But I cannot remember much of anything else, now, considering the stress of being ponynapped and all, my mind would probably be more giving of information if I were in a less stressful location."
"Uuuuh, say what now?" I ask
"He said that he will tell us what he knows if we let him go and meet him outside." Twilight tells me.
"OOOH." I respond kind of embarrassed.
Twilight facehooves.
" Fine, I'll let you go, but just take this into account, I have a ninja zebra and a griffin with f*ck*ng two gauge shotguns and diamond claws, so if you try to bail, they will just take you back up to the roof and my three horned unicorn friend here will have your mind all to her own."
"Alright alright I get your point. I'll wait for you outside the Vicki and Vance, K?"
"That's good with me." I tell him
'Hawkens, Shiara, the deputy fellow is leaving the building, make sure he doesn't run anywhere but to the Vicki and Vance. He has the information we need to find out where the pony who killed me is running off to next.'
'Will do Flare.' Hawkens replies
With that, I cut his ropes and set him free, and he dashes out of there in a blur.
'Were you really going to have me mind-rape him if he fled?' Twilights thinks to me in a concerned tone
'No, but when I have a team like this and we are dealing with a semi-corrupt officer of the law, it's nice to be able to do this. Trust me, you're not going to mind-rape anyone unless you want to and it is necessary.'
I see her make a sigh of relief.
"Let's just get outside so we can get the information." She says
"My thoughts almost exactly, I just want to scavenge some parts from the Pyre-cannon."
"No problem, I will wait for you outside."
We both walk out of the room where they were holding the deputy and while Twilight leaves, I search the main room for the Pyre-cannon but can't find it. Then I notice a neutral tick on my E.F.S. towards the back of the room where there is no light except for the flicker of a Sunset Sarsaparilla machine. I now hear a subtle wing beat but I also hear some occasional sparks. I look to my wings and see that they are fine. As I get closer, my eyes get used to the darkness and I can see a Sprite-Bot hovering in the air. This was different than the normal Sprite-Bots because this one had a camera in the center of its "face" and a pair of multipronged claws. In those claws was the Pyre-cannon, except it was dismantled. The Sprite-Bot handed me some of the parts from the weapon. It hands me the nozzle, the Pyremagic, the burst regulator, and the micro pump. It then proceeds to turn the rest of the weapon into scrap metal and gives that to me.
"Have you been following us?" I ask the robot.
"Yes."
I am practically hanging on to the ceiling.
"I didn't know that you things could talk."
"Well, I am not this thing. I am simply controlling it from a remote location." It says in a monotone voice.
"Well, who are you then?"
"I am adventurer like you, but I am elder to you. I am personal friends with DJ Pon-3 and am one of her primary informants when I am not doing my job. Yes, we go way back, from before she came out here. I also help out the occasional pony from this custom Sprite-Bot made for me by one of my dear friends. I am also in charge of the construction of the new SPP tower in New Pegasus. You can call me Overwatch. I assure you, you will come to see my real face in the future, but only when you are ready. I believe that these are the parts that you need for the Pyremagic alternate ammo system for that gun."
"Yes, thank you very much. Will you be offering any more assistance in the future?" I ask the voice behind the bot.
"Most defiantly, and don't worry, I will tell DJ Pon-3 what you and your friends are doing." It says before it teleports to who knows where.
'Well that was mostly unexpected.' I think to myself.
'HEY FLARE, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!' Hawkens think/yells at me. 'This Deputy is about to piss himself if you don't get out here and tell him that we are not going to carry him to the roof and mind-rape him.'
'On my way.'
Right as I am about to exit the place, a random swarm of bloat-sprites attacks me. I dash into a room and close the door, but not before I lob a few sticks of dynamite in there. BOOOOOOM! When I open the door, the ground is covered in their blood.
'DAMNIT, more taintblood. How the hell did Bloatsprites get in here?'
Then I notice the gaping hole in the ceiling. I then try to leave without stepping in taintblood but find that impossible. When I finally get outside, I see the Deputy, surrounded by my amigos, quaking in fear. I can't help but chuckle.
"Lo-look. I-I'll tell you everything. Just make order them not to hurt me." He says as he hides his head under his hooves.
"OK, guys, step away a bit, would you kindly."
The move away about a ponylength each and the deputy just opens up like a book.
"They were headed towards Nelliton. Said something about a contact there. I also overheard that they were going towards Novac after that's all I know, I swear."
"OK thanks. Have a nice day."
LEVEL UP- LV.9
Perk Added – Flare's Taint Rank 2
You now take 15% less damage from Pyremagic and deal 15% more damage with Pyremagic. When you have 200 rads or more, you regain 2 health per second.
Perk Added – Taintbane
You have deal 20% more damage to all tainted creatures or ponies.
After we left Prim, we headed down the road on our way to Nelliton to see if anypony there had seen the Benny, the confirmed name of the pony who killed me. We ended up ambushed by a few raiders near a rest stop towards the night, but we cleared them out and made camp for the night. After we set up camp, Hawkens used the rest of the materials that I got from Overwatch to make the Pyremagic clip. I then downloaded the memory orbs that Hawkens and Shiara found but I have yet to see what was on them. The next day was pretty uneventful, that is, until we got near to Nelliton.
"OOOOOHH YEAAAAAAH! WHOOOOOO HOOOOO! I WON THE LOTTERY!" A pony dressed as a Ganger yelled at us.
"What lottery?" Hawkens asks.
"It doesn't matter. I WON! YEAAAH!"
"Are you a Ganger?" Twilight asks.
"I used to be, but then I WON! YEAAAAAH!"
With that, he runs off into the wasteland.
"Well that was weird." I say
"You can say that again." Hawkens responds
"Well that was weird."
"I didn't mean that LITTERALY!"
"I know, I just felt like messing with you."
Hawkens faceclaws as we enter the town. We all stare in horror at what we see. Ponies crucified everywhere. I look right and see a group of nearly 50 zebras in some sort of a uniform based off of pre-war armor standing outside what looks like the town hall. They each have some sort of mutant hound with them.
"Why hello young Pegasus and friends, and hello to you comrade." A zebra with the same armor as the others except he had an Ursa hide hat and mask.
"Hello fellow zebra who may not be such a good friend. What have the ponies of this town done to offend?"
"I see you have some blood of the legendary one in you. Not many can still speak in a constant rhyme. To answer your question, this was a town of whores. They did whatever any creature asked of them if they had the money. They needed to be punished for their crimes, so, we laid a trap with the aid of the townsponies. It was only when the realized that they were caught in the trap that it was too late. We rounded them up, and gave them all lottery tickets. The first one's we called were executed quickly. No pain, I assure you. Then came the hangings, then the mutilations, and finally, the crucifixions. We took some to be our slaves, but the last pony remaining was set free to spread the word about what we did here. To strike fear into the hearts of the NCR. Most importantly, to tell the world that the Legion is not to be trifled with."
"What you did here was a MASACRE. You need to be punished for what you did." Hawkens threatens.
"Let him go Hawkens, we wouldn't stand a chance against him. He has 50 well trained zebras with him, whereas we have us. It's 10 of them for each of us. We would be dead before we killed even 5 of them."
"I would listen to your Pegasus friend griffin. He speaks strategically. We would simply focus all of our fire on each of you one at a time. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" He says pointing to each of us. "You know, it's a good thing you came along when you did. You can spread the word of what we did here, especially to the NCR. Now go, we have a town to level."
We leave wishing that there was something that we could do.
"Dear Celestia the Legion is evil." Hawkens says.
"Yeah, but there is nothing we could have done." I say to him
"I know, but still."
"Vengeance, I am sure you will take, but more improvement, we will all have to make."
"I know, but let's just get going. Hey Flare, what are you looking at?"
"At the terminal at the NCRCF that I hacked that gave me the video footage; I also found coordinates for a Protostable that is near here. It's actually only 30 minutes trot off the route we are taking."
"I am guessing that you want to check it out." Twilight says to me.
"Eeyup. It shouldn't take too long. I mean, when Hawkens and I rescued you, it only took us 5 hours to get through the whole place and that place was crawling with supermutants because some insane pony decided to use Taint to cure disease."
"Well wherever you decide to go Flare, I will be with you there."
"Same for me." Twilight says.
"Well than it's settled. We are going to the next Protostable.
On our way there, we get ambushed by 6 raiders, but they are easy pickings. I decide to use Spike's Rage to take them out, but before I can take out a second raider, the weapon breaks. Luckily I get Hawkens to repair it with the spare 10mm pistols that I picked up earlier. After that, we head off the beaten path and on our 30 minute trot to the next Protostable. After a few geckos and Taint scorpions, we reach the location of where the Protostable is supposed to be. But all we find is a small shack. I open the shack and find a slot that sign over a small hole in the ground that says "Insert Party Cannon and Fire."
"HEY TWILIGHT, YOU NEED TO COME IN HERE."
"What's up?" She asks.
"Read the sign."
"Well then. I suppose I had better do what it says then get the f*ck out. You go outside and tell everyone else to back up a good 50 feet. Think to me when you're good. I will fire the Party Cannon and teleport out to you."
"Will do."
I go outside and tell everyone the plan. We get back 50 feet from the shed and I think to Twilight the plan. We leave, and I think to her that everyone is far enough away. We hear a THUNK! and then she teleports with the Party Cannon right next to me.
"Well, any second now should be an explosion." She says
We end up waiting for a good 10 minutes before the explosion happens, and let me tell you, it was a doozy. It was so big that we felt the ground shift below our feet, and then a giant crater just opened in the ground.
"THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" Hawkens yelled when we all started to fall into the newly made nearly 75 foot wide crater.
After all of the dust had settled nearly 5 minutes later.
"Ah sh*t, I my wing is broken."
"What, did you forget you could fly and land on it in the fall?" Twilight asks. "Flare was able to at least glide down on his wings. Let me take a look at you wing. It's only a minor sprain, should take more than a stimpack to heal this one."
"Thanks Twilight." Hawkens says
"Hawkens, can you fly up and see if the Protostable door is visible." I ask him
"Yeah, just give me a few seconds."
"Ya see anything up there?" I ask him after about 5 minutes.
"Yeah, I see a Giant Blue Balloon in the side of a wall."
"Well I am sure that the owner of this Protostable was quite spry, after all, a balloon belongs to Pinkie Pie."
"Lead the way Hawkens." I tell him after he lands while Shiara is speaking.
Turns out, the door he saw, was on the other side of the crater. When we reach the door, I notice a terminal in the shape and color of a yellow balloon. I access the terminal and it asks for an access code. I remember at the Flutterstable that I downloaded an access code to another stable so I decided to test it out here. I input the code, which was a very long password, okiedokielokie, which is so obscure that nopony would ever even think that that would work, and the stable door just drops through the floor. We walk in and all of the lights are out, but the minute we are all in and the door closes again, the lights turn on and confetti cannons shoot at us. It's only a split second after I see that the confetti cannons are actually Party Cannon turrets that I yell.
"THOSE ARE PARTY CANNON TURRETS, JUST LIKE TWILIGHT'S GUN!"
All of us duck to the side as the grenades that the turrets launched go off. Surprisingly, the room doesn't vanish when the grenades go off.
"Twilight, link our thoughts, would you kindly." I ask her.
'Done.' She responds.
"Good." 'Hawkens, could you lob a grenade or something down to those turrets?' I ask him
'With pleasure.' He thinks while pulling off a pair of grenades and lobbing them at the turrets from behind our wall of protection. Three seconds later, an explosion goes off that wrecks the turrets.
'Well, I am going to go scavenge some ammo for my Party Cannon from those turrets.' Twilight thinks before teleporting off to get the ammo while the rest of us walk out from behind the wall like normal ponies and non ponies would. I look at where the turrets were and find that there is just a huge hole in the wall that they had been in. Now that I can finally be not targeted by interdimensional teleportation grenade launching turrets, I can get a good look at this place. The first thing that catches my eyes is that the walls are overly painted. It seriously looks like a rainbow vomited in this entire stable. The second is that the floor is littered with old balloons long deflated and party streamers. I look into the hole in the wall and notice that a pipe had been broken clean through and a strange pink liquid was flowing down through the gap in the pipe. Twilight notices it to and says.
"I think that that may be the same substance in these grenades."
"Daf*q? You mean to say that that pink substance has the power to teleport anything to anywhere?" Hawkens asks
"I do believe that is exactly what she implies, though at first glance it looks innocent, what a disguise."
"Well, whatever it is, it is probably a good idea to avoid it, since those grenades teleport ponies to the old MoM building in Old Canterlot which was destroyed by the enclave nearly 150 years ago." I say
"I wonder what it is." Hawkens ponders.
"Well, judging by my Pip-Buck, it's some form of highly concentrated Taint. The rate of Taint exposure is much higher right now than it was in the basement of the Flutterstable."
"Well then I say we avoid this stuff as much we can, get to the Overmares' office as soon as we can, get the info Flare's looking for off of her terminal, and get the buck out of here." Hawkens insists
"Agreed, let me look at the map of this place to see how to get there. Well f*ck, the Overmares' office is on the bottom floor. Though, the elevator is straight to the left. If we are lucky, it will still be working."
We get to the elevator and just my luck, it's out. Luckily though, Hawkens is able to jury-rig it so it can get us to the bottom. No elevator music so that's a plus. When we get to the bottom floor, the elevator doors open but then stop about halfway open.
"Well I guess that this means we are not going to be riding the elevator back up." Hawkens says.
"Ya don't say." Twilight responds sarcastically.
"Hey, the Overmares' office is straight ahead, unfortunately, either there was an earthquake or the explosion that let us in hear knocked the ceiling in." I say.
"Well then let's get started, and please let there be no mutts." Hawkens begs.
Fortunately, on this level, there were no real enemies, just a few taintroaches. We get to the Overmares' office and it's locked. Luckily it's just a lock an amateur could pick, so I could. Inside we find that there was a veritable treasure trove of technology. The computer itself took up a good quarter of the room. I go over to the computer while the rest of the gang looks around to find anything worth something. I get to the computer and start hacking away. It's a relatively easy password at only 5 letters. I look through the screen at the available passwords and I have to wonder, 'What is it with ponies from back then and using entirely obvious passwords.' Now I input the password that caught my eye, party. The monitor lights up and the menu options read
Deactivate Security Systems
Download Access Key for Protovault 6
Download Memory Banks
Messages
I activate all of the above options.
'The downloads are going to take a while so I may as well read over the messages.'
I click the messages button and the following messages appear.
Project Pinkie Update 1
Project Pinkie Update 2
Project Pinkie Warning
To Flare.
'Wait whaaa. There is a message to me on here. How the hell is that even possible. I was not even alive when this Protostable went under. Then again, who else would have put the Party Cannon shed over the stable so we could get to it through decades and maybe even centuries of sand?"
I select the message to me and open it.
Flare,
First, I know you are reading this because my Pinkie Sense has been tingling for the past week. It's the one that tells me that you are hacking into my computers mainframe in the future. You need to know that these stables hold the key to the survival of all life. The Megaspell at the center of Protostable 6 is not one of destruction, but of resurrection. You will need the elements to use it. Not your Elements of Harmony but much older set of Elements, from which the Elements of Harmony are closely related. They are Integrity, Determination, Wisdom, Empathy, Judgment, and Responsibility. Each of our Protostables hides one of these Elements, which is why we made them so hard to find. My stable held the Element of Integrity before I teleported it off to the SPP tower that Littlepip is now integrated in. I have had all of the other Overmares do the same with their elements to further protect them. Now, you need to gather these Elements and use them to activate the Megaspell. Applejacks Protostable will help you out big time so I have put the coordinates in the memory banks. One more thing, our robots and turrets Party Cannons only teleport those caught in the blast radius to the jail in my office. I left a key inside one of the beds so you can get out if you get caught. I can't hold it in, I have to start laughing soon or I am going to explode. So until next time.
PS
Don't tell anyone about this message; it could ruin the time space continuum.
Pinkie Pie IV
'Well that was weird. Better read up on the other messages and then look up any info on these other elements.'
I select Pinkie Project Update 1
Pinkie Pie IV,
Testing with the Pink Taint has so far been successful. We have successfully doused a radroach with Pink Taint and thusly teleported it to the lab 3 levels above us. This may be how the original Pinkie Pie was able to "teleport" everywhere. What her friends thought was just her being her, was actually a result of Pink Taint, which means that somepony from the future went back in time and doused her in enough Pink Taint to give her teleportation powers. We may have just discovered something huge here.
Head Scientist Smarty Pants.
Now for Pinkie Project Update 2
It seems that when a robot is doused in Pink Taint, it becomes more lifelike, no more monotone voice, it gains emotion, etc. We have only had this happen once, when a pipe containing the Pink Taint burst and sprayed everywhere hitting one of the guard bots. Head Scientist Smarty Pants is still missing. Is it possible that he left for the outside world? He had been acting weird since he sent one of his friends at Fluttershys' Protostable the Party Cannon prototype. Nothing else is new.
Head Scientist Assistant Smart Alec
And lastly is Pinkie Project Warning
Pinkie Pie IV
We now know what happened to Smarty Pants. He was absorbed into the robot that had the Pink Taint splattered on it. We tested a radroach and a smaller robot and they both fused when they came in contact. This is very bad. Add this to the fact that Pink Taint pipes are bursting everywhere; pretty soon, the entire stable will be Robot/Pony Hybrids. Smart Alec was recently fused and since none of the other scientists want to do anything more with the Pink Taint because they're scared, I am the only pony working on it now. I need more help down here or I may never find a cure for this fusing, if there even is one. If there is not, we need to shut down the production of Pink Taint immediately.
Only Scientist Midnight Shadow
"Hey Twilight, you may want to link our thoughts soon." I say
'What's up?" She asks.
'We need to get our asses out of here yesterday. The Pink Taint, it has the ability to not only teleport organic life, but also to fuse it with machines. That is why there are no other ponies anywhere. They were all fused with their robots less than 150 years ago.'
'This is quite disturbing. I agree with Flare, we must be departing.' Shiara thinks.
'Well, how do we get out of here?'Hawkens asks.
'Since the elevator is broken, Hawkens could fly to the top, with my grapples, hook them up somewhere, I could pull myself up, and then I could pull one of you up. Only problem is that it would leave one of you on the ground, so that won't work. I guess we are walking up the stairs.' I think to them as I equip my Magic Rifle with the Pyremagic clips.
With both of my Pyremagic containers at my sides and full of magic, we set off. The bottom floor was pretty uneventful as it was before. Only a radroach that could be taken out with my grapples. Now on the next floor it got interesting. A pair of Robot/Pony hybrids were wandering outside the door when we come up. They start shooting at us with their own Party Cannons. We dodge them and I fire back with two bursts of Pyremagic.
SHWOOOOM!
They burst into fire and their circuits instantly fry and their organic parts become deep fried.
'Done like dinner.' Hawkens thinks.
'Yeah, but remember, these were once real ponies. It makes me feel better that we are putting them out of their misery.' Twilight thinks.
We go through this floor with few other problems. It turns out that this is the medical floor so Twilight gets some more stimpacks and other supplies. It's once we get to the fourth floor that things really get interesting. When I open the door to the floor, I see Pink taint everywhere.
'Twilight, do you have a bubble shield spell in your little arsenal?' I ask her.
She puts up a dark blue, translucent bubble around us that repels the pink taint as we near it. All is still going well until we open the door to the kitchen on his level and we end up surrounded by Robot/Pony hybrids. The fire on us and the shield goes down, allowing for the pink taint to start flowing towards us. All of my palls jump onto the table near them and I have to use my wings to jump to a farther away table. The time it takes for me to jump is just enough for some of the pink taint to get on my wings. It burned like a son of a gun.
'Wait a minute, how are my cyber wings hurting.'
I then remember the message that I read. Pink taint has the ability to fuse flesh and metal.
'Well I guess these things are never coming off.'
Level Up-Lv.10
Perk Added – Neural Interface Lv.2
Your Pip-Buck's neural interface is now accustomed to your cyber implants. You can operate any cyber part as though it were a normal part of your body. You can now pick locks with a 50% less chance of cracking your grapples. You are 10% more accurate outside of S.A.T.S.
Perk Added-Flare's Taint Rank 3
You now do 20% more damage with Pyremagic than normal and take 20% less damage from Pyremagic than normal. You gain 2 health per second for every 100 rads you have.
Permanent Condition-Pink Taint Fusion
Your Cyber Wings are now part of your body you feel pain when they are broken. They are now healable with both medicine and repair.
Stat Update-Guns 50%, Magic Weapons 50%, Science 50%, Lockpicking 25%.
'Well that hurt like a son of a gun.' I think to myself after I burn all of the Cyberpony mutts.
'Flare, what's wrong? I heard your thoughts and it sounded like you were in a world of hurt.' Twilight thinks
"Yeah, I think I got the pink taint on me."
She gasps and urgently says, "Let me take a look at you now. From what you told us, that pink taint is bad news."
She looks me over for a couple of minutes and notices something with my wings.
"This is really bad, I think."
"Well, what is the problem?" I ask her.
"It seems that the pink taint that got on your wings has not only fused your cyberwings with your body were they connected, but it also looks like they made changed your wings from a metal material to an Cyberflesh of sorts. It looks like they are still, hard as the initial metal but it is also as flexible and light as flesh. Flare, just let me do some calculations really quickly." She says as she closes her eyes and mouths calculations."Your wing should be light enough for you to fly now. It may take some practice but with Hawkens help and my recovery plan, you should be able to fly again! This is fantastic!" she almost yells in joy
"Why are you so happy?" I chuckle. "I should be the one jumping around in joy. I wonder if I will still be able to do my signature move." I wonder to myself.
"What's that? Your move I mean." Hawkens asks me.
"When I was younger, a few weeks before I took my flight test, I was out on practice run. I was one of the fastest fliers out of the recently re-instituted Junior Speedsters Flight School. I was practicing the diveboom, the part where you nosedive to try to pull off a Sonic Rainboom, when I did something that shocked me into crashing into thundercloud. I pulled off what I like to call, a Sonic Flare, named after me of course. I managed to go so fast, I ignited the air behind me. It was literally, a stream of fire following me. I did it for my parents the next day and got my cutie mark. Happiest moment of my life, when I realized how much I liked fire. If I couldn't pull off a Sonic Rainboom, they had me set up to go into the military, using my Sonic Flare to defend New Equestria. So yeah, I could fly fast enough to light air on fire, and it looked epic."
"DAMN. I really want to see that." Hawkens says.
"Well, if my plan works, you should be able to see it in no time."
BOOM! The door to the stairs that leads upward through the stable as six more Cyberpony mutts burst into the room we are in and start firing their Party Cannons at us. It startles Hawkens and I into the air and we get hit by the weapons. I really hope that the Pinkie Pie who left me the message on the terminal was right. We are teleported into a dark room. I find a hay bed and light it on fire with a small burst from my magic rifle. It gives me enough light to see that Hawkens is injured and won't be able to walk out of the cell on his own. In the light, I look around and see that the cell door is open and leads to a well lit room, probably the Overmares office. I manage to wake Hawkens by lightly jabbing at him with my now semi-organic grapples.
"What, what's going on? Why do my wings and head feel so bad?" Hawkens asks me.
"We were teleported to the detention room of the stable by the looks of it. I think I am going to have to carry you out, unless Twilight can teleport down to us and heal you. Let me try to get a hold of her." 'Twilight, can you hear me?'I ask her.
'Loud and clear, where are you?'
'The basement by the looks of things. Hawkens is injured and can't move on his own. Do you think you could teleport down here and help him. I really don't want to carry that featherbrain all the way back up.'
"I HEARD THAT!" Hawkens screams at me.
'The hell Twilight?' I ask her
'Sorry, I never disconnected anyone from the mind link.'
"Sorry Hawkens, it was only a joke."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Just make sure I get out of this dump, in one piece."
"No problem."
Just as I get him up, sort of, saw a bright flash followed by a loud crash.
"Ugh, it's a good thing I have relampago, or I may have been splat." A mysterious pony mare says to herself from the direction of the elevator.
'Hawkens, we have company.'
'Ya don't say. If anyone ever tells a story about our adventures, you are defiantly going to be a captain obvious.'
'You just lay down on this bed here while I go check it out.' I think to him as I set him on a bed that I did not ignite.
'Like a have much of a choice.'
I walk out of the room and peak into the Overmares' office and see somepony who I never expected to see again. I don't know her name, or know her very well for that matter. I just saw her in New Pegasus weeks before I had joined the Equestria Express. She was a light blue earth mare with a short indigo and purple mane and tail. Her cutiemark looked like a solid yellow version of Rainbow Dashes with a black fireworks explosion instead of a cloud.
"Ok. I am reporting in from the last known location of Flare. It would seem that he survived the explosion that created the massive crater in the middle of this sh*thole of a place. Turns out the explosion revealed the Protostable of Pinkie Pie."She said to who knows who over an earbloom.
"Will do. I'll. Contact you when I find him, if I find him." She says a few seconds later.
'Well, whoever she is, that plasma cannon looks serious.' I think to myself.
'Hey Flare, does she have two sparking canisters at her sides?' Hawkens asks me.
'Yeah, why?'
'Then we are saved.'
'You sure? '
'100%.'
"Hey. You looking for me?" I ask her.
She looks up, surprised to hear a voice by the look of her face.
"Thank Celestia your alive. Where is the rest of your team?" She asks me.
"Well Shiara and Twilight are on a higher level but Hawkens is injured. You wouldn't happen to have any medicine, would you?"
"Yeah, got some healing potions right here."
"Thanks." I say to her as I take the potions to Hawkens.
"So how do you know her Hawkens?"
"Well I don't personally know her but I know of her. She's a vigilante like us, but is sometimes for hire. Someponies call her Thunderhooves. Not because she can gallop hard, but because of that cannon on her back. Rumor has it that that thing can shoot out a continuous stream of lightning."
"You can count that as true. Darn thing saved my life when I fell down the elevator. Stopped my fall right before I hit the ground. Now how did you get so banged up?" She asks Hawkens.
"I managed to get hit by some Party Cannon grenades along with Flare here."
"Some what's now?"
"They're grenades filled with a pink taint that is weird because it can teleport anything to anyplace." I explain.
"Weird indeed. Well now in your looking better Hawkens, I say we get you guys back to your group. Let me give you a hoof with Hawkens."
"Thanks, it would have taken a lot longer if you weren't here to help."
"No problem, after all, we can't have you all held up down here when the rest of your team is stuck fighting whatever it is that shot you down here."
"We owe you one."
"Hey don't mention it. Where are you headed after you get out of this crazy place?"
"Well, we are headed to Novac. It's the last place that we know of that Benny, the pony who killed me, was."
"Well if you get there by the end of the week, you may get to meet Ditzy Do. She's giving away copies of her Wasteland Survival Guide to the Middle Ground."
By this point, we reach the door and start making our way up the stairs when Stardust asks me "Do you want to listen to Pon-3s' channel. I have a signal amplifier with me because I have to be able to make direct contact with her wherever I am. She did hire me to keep tabs on you after all."
"Sure." I say
She switches her earbloom to the DJs station.
"GOOD MORNING MIDDLE GROUND! This is DJ-Pon-3 with your latest news on all things middle ground. This is just in; one of my desert informants has reported that the Flaming hero survived the explosion that left a 75 foot wide crater in the desert. My informant also tells me that the area is heavily irradiated and has a very high taint level so I would suggest that no-pony goes near the place unless you want to become an insane supermutant, and not necessarily in that order. In other news, the LOZ has massacred the town of Nelliton in cold blood. In other news, it has been confirmed that Dr. Horn has been using Zebra Black Magic to treat his patients. I would suggest that anypony who has been treated by him to go and see White Noise at camp McMaren. He is one of the foremost surgeons in the Middle Ground. For the first time in a long while, I have a new sponsor. This broadcast was brought to you by Mr. Auto Correct, the creator of the Aimbot. When you need that extra bit of accuracy, choose Aimbot. Until next time."
"Well, at least Pon-3 is keeping the Protostables secret, and with them, the secret of the Elements."
"What was that?"
"Oh, just talking to myself Stardust. Hey, how did you manage to get that huge lightning cannon?" I ask her.
"Well, I was on a trip to New Pegasus, a few months before I got my cutie mark. I met a mechanic on the outskirts of the city. He must have seen something in me because he literally, took me under his wing, and trained me on how to use his lightning cannon. It took me a year but when I could use it like I could use my hooves, he gave it to me. Said it wasn't his time for adventure anymore. After that, I wandered the Middle Ground until I ended up back in New Pegasus and met the good DJ. She hired me to be an informant for special stories. Yours caught her eye and she told me to follow you. Sorry I gave you the whole history of how we met, but I sometimes get a little bit off track when it comes to conversation."
We are now at the floor where Hawkens and I got his by the taint nades.
"Twilight, Shiara, you galls still up here. We got a friend with the wrath of heaven on her side."
"Bout time, what took you so long." Twilight nags,
"Indeed, you were making her worry. She was starting to scurry."
"Shut up Shiara." Twilight says with, I think a bit of blushing
"I see that you managed to ruin quite a few Cyberpony Mutts." I say.
"Yeah, after you got teleported, Shiara and I had to deal with at least a dozen more of them. Luckily I was able to get the best combo I had ever gotten, 5 headshots, one bullet. They were lined up just perfectly in the doorway. It was an opportunity I just couldn't miss." Twilight says with a Squee face.
"Well, could you please use your wonderful medical skills to heal me? Stardust here gave me some healing potions but that mainly took away the pain. I still can't move on my own." Hawkens whines while lying on top of a table that I put him on.
"Hey, what happened to the taint?" I ask.
"Turns out, you can just burn the pink taint away with Pyremagic." Twilight answers
"Good to know. How long should it take with Hawkens?" I ask
"Well, judging by my X-Ray spell, it should take at least 10 minutes or more."
"Well if that is so, do have a look ahead, I will go."
After she leaves I comment. "Some of those rhymes she makes don't even make sense."
Shiara gets back by the time that Hawkens is all healed up and reports, "All of the floors above were clear. We will soon be out of here."
I now realize that her machete is stained in blood. We then walk out of the cafeteria room and up a to the entrance level when all of a sudden somepony yells "WAIT!"
We all turn around and see a robot with pink fur all over it.
"So that's what you look like Flare. I can see the Prophecy was correct. By the way, you can tell your friends everything about the elements. They can know. I just got the OK from Littlepip herself." The pink robot says.
"Who are you?" I ask it.
"I am Pinkie Pie IV. I still managed to maintain my mind when I fused with the robots. Now I sense that you are going to level up soon so I will just tell you this, you are much more important…"
Level Up-Lv.11
Perk Added- Flares taint Lv4.
You now take half the total damage you would take from fire and deal twice the damage you would normally inflict with fire.
Perk Added – Pink Taint
You are now fused with your cyber implants. You can now operate them to the same efficiency as you could with your original limbs.
"...than you think. The Elements that are in this desert are the Elements of Leadership. They are a little bit less powerful than the Elements of Harmony but they are powerful none the less. I have to get going now but I will keep in touch with you when I can." The Robo-Pinkie says and then teleports off to who knows where.
"Well that was weird. So what exactly are these Elements?"
"Well, they are similar to the Elements of Harmony, just like she said, except that these ones originate from the Middle Ground. They are why the Protostables are so hard to find. Hawkens, remember how you said the Megaspell in Protostable six was one of Mass Destruction. According to Pinkie Pie IV, it's a Megaspell of restoration." I tell them.
"Well OK then. Does that mean that we need to get all of the Elements from the Stables?" Twilight asks.
"No. All of the Elements should be with Littlepip. We still need to get the access codes though in order to access Protostable 6." I respond.
"Well no use standing around here. How about we get going in high gear."
After Shiara says that, we all nod our heads and gallop off to the north, in the direction of Novac. We run into a few irradiated mutant mole rats and the occasional raider but nothing we can't handle. After maybe an hour or two, we reach Novac. It's a quaint little town. The most recognizable feature is the giant Unicorn with a pale purple coat and a blond mane that is on the outskirts of the town facing the west. I look at its face when I notice a Sniper Rifle barrel sticking out of its nose. As we enter the town, the sun is going down so we go to what looks like the inn. I open the door to the inn and to my right, behind a desk is an older mare with a graying blond mane and an almost lavender coat.
"Well. Welcome to you. Why don't you take a rest here at my inn, The Dinky Doo Deluxe." She says.
"Um, we have never met before." I respond.
"Oh, what manners of mine. I forgot to tell you my name. I am Jeannie Mane and I run this here inn. Now that that is out of the way, would you like to rent a few rooms for the night?" she asks us.
"Sure, how much?" I respond
"Hundred caps a room. You can stay for as long as you like, until the busy season comes at least."
"Twilight, you still got the caps?" Hawkens asks.
"Yeah, here you go, two hundred caps."
"Well then, here are your keys. You have the adjoining rooms on the top floor, closest to the lobby entrance. Don't worry, nopony is going to cause you trouble. After all, we have our wonderful sniper duo keeping our town safe from the slavers. Have a good night." She tells us as she hooves us two keys.
"Thanks."
We go out of the main room and go through a chain link fence to our left, then up some stairs and into our new rooms, for the night at least. They are a little run down, but what can you expect from the middle ground.
"Alright guys, I am going to radio in to DJ Pon-3, so just do whatever you would do if I weren't here." Stardust says.
"Um, ok then." Hawkens says
"I am going to hit the hay." I say as I go to bed at nearly 11 at night.
"Night." Everyone tells me.
Hawkens goes to the bed next to mine and the girls go to the adjoining room.
The next morning, I wake up before Hawkens and go out the front door and I see the giant Dinky Doo overlooking the desert. The Flutterpeak Mountains are a shade of yellow and the caps of the mountains are a light pink.
"Beautiful isn't it?"
I look to my left to see Twilight with her hooves over the railing looking at me.
"Yeah, it is. So how did you sleep?"
"Not bad. You?"
"Certainly wasn't like sleeping on a cloud but it is better than the ground. I wonder what Chef Hawkens will make for us this morning."
"I was thinking something along the lines of grilled cactus fruit and various roots." Hawkens says as he walks out of his and my room. "I am going to put some beans in mine so that I can still get the meat texture."
After he says that, he takes off for the roof, probably to bask in the sunlight and to cook breakfast.
"So what do you think of Stardust?" Twilight asks me.
"She's interesting. Definitely not one to be messed with. Whoever she decides to hook up with is going to have their hooves full. I really hope it's not me, she is not my type." I say and I swear I see a glimmer in her eyes.
In the next 30 minutes, Shiara and then Stardust come out to join us in the daylight streaming from behind the Inn. A few minutes later, Hawkens calls, "Who's Hungry?" as he flies down to us with a pan of delicious looking food.
"Smells scrumptious Hawkens." Stardust comments.
"Obviously you haven't had his cooking before. He could probably turn a meat eater into an herbivore."
"While we eat, I am going to tune into DJ Pon-3, ok." I say
With no objections I turn on my Pip-Bucks' radio.
"ONCE AGAIN, GOOD MORNING MIDDLE GROUND. Remember the crater that we all thought consumed our friendly neighborhood flaming pegasus and his compatriots. Well, it's been filled nearly three quarters of the way up with a mysterious pink substance. The rad-meters are off the charts near it so I would highly suggest staying at least 50 feet or more away from the edge. On the bright side, HE IS ALIVE. My informant helped him out of the pit while the mysterious pink substance was still flowing up. Also, if you want informant, you can travel with him as your next assignment. I have a good feeling about stories that will follow him. In further news, Dr. Noise has moved into New Pegasus and has taken the place of Dr. Horn. The whereabouts of Dr. Horn are unknown but a massive number of rumors suggest he has moved to the headquarters of the Legion. This last bit of news is for any of the fans of the ever famous Ditzy Doo. Her next stop is in fact New Pegasus. She will be staying here for a few weeks so anypony out there who wants to meet the legend, she will be here soon. With that, I am signing off until next hour, don't let the desert consume you."
I switch off the radio and by this point we are all done eating and plenty filled.
"Dang Hawkens, how do you manage to do it?" I ask.
"I learned from the best." He said sadly.
"Something wrong?" Twilight asks him.
"It's nothing."
"If you ever need to talk, I'm here." She says in a comforting tone.
"I'll keep that in mind."
"So that's what that delicious smell was. It's making my mouth water." Jeannie Mane says as she comes up the stairs onto the balcony outside our front doors.
"You want some. We have one serving left." I tell her.
"Why thank you. Flare, was it?"
"That is correct. Oh, did you per chance see a stallion in a checkered jacket pass through here? He has a few Iron Wills with him."
"As a matter of fact, he passed through here just last week. The Wills went to see Manny, one of our snipers, while they were here. You could probably get more info out of him than you could out of me."
"Thanks for the info. Where can I find this Manny?"
"Oh, he should be in Dinky Doo's nose right now. That's where they stay to protect our town from the slavers. They do an amazing job considering that there is a slaver enclave a day's trot to the west. Oh, when you get in there, be sure to visit the gift shop."
After she says that, we store what we don't need in our rooms and go up to the giant Dinky Doo. There is an old metal door in the side, next to the hip. I open the door and I see what looks like an old run down gift shop. There is an old stallion with a gray coat and mane is behind the counter and when he notices us, he looks a lot happier.
"Howdy ya'll, my name Cliff Briscoat. Welcome to the Dinky Doo Gift shop. Ya know, most people hear 'gift shop' and think that it's too good to be true. What can I do you for?"
"Hey, I'm Flare and these are my traveling companions. Do you have any supplies we could buy?"
"Yeah. Dang it, nopony ever goes for the souvenirs." He says kind of disappointedly.
"Sorry about it. See, we are not sightseeing. I am on a mission. Is Manny here?" I ask.
"Yeah, just take the stairs."
"OK, I am going to go talk to Manny; you guys buy what we need."
I walk up the stairs and open another old metal door. Looking out one of the nostrils with a sniper in both hooves is a crimson stallion with a black mane. He is wearing a NCR vest and hat. He turns his head around to look at me and is has a look in his eyes that says shock while the rest of his face is unchanged.
"It can't be. They said you were shot in the head. I guess Pon-3 was talking about you then. I'm guessing you want info on Benny right? Well, I need something to. How about we make a deal, if you take care of my problem, I'll tell you where Benny was headed."
"Deal." I say as I spit on my hoof and hold it out.
He does the same and then says. "OK, my problem is that Ghouls have moved into the Repcon test site over to the east. Now, this town's economy runs off of the junk we get out of that place. If the town's economy goes the bad, then this town goes away. I like living here and want to settle down. Now, what I want you to do is get those Ghouls out. I don't care how you do it, just git er done."
"That's all. No problem. Consider them gone." I tell him.
I leave the nose and go collect my compatriots. They had bought a lot of food so we would be set for at least a month. We left the giant Dinky and set out east. A few minutes on the road up to the site, I see the body of a Ghoul. Its body is glowing and my Pip-Buck starts ticking the closer we get to it.
"Must be one of the Glowing Ones. Best steer clear." Hawkens says.
After another 10 minutes, we come across what seems like an abandoned security checkpoint. Inside it are a few locked boxes that are easy pickings for me. One of them has 8 grenades, which makes Hawkens very happy. We move on from there but not before Twilight gets all of the medicine and drugs from the place. We walk through a tunnel afterwards and find ourselves looking at a building with the Repcon rocket on the front. I hear a moaning that turns to groaning that becomes roaring. My E.F.S. lights up with about 20 red blips.
"Ferals!" I shout.
I slip into S.A.T.S. with my pyre gun and lock onto a small hoard of 8 Ferals that are rushing towards us. I only have enough AP for one shot with the Pyremagic so I target the center of the hoard. FWOOOM! I fire off three quick burst of pyre and hit every single feral thanks to splash. They are all charred by the time they are halfway to us. Hawkens decides to fly up over another pack of 4 Ferals, dive-bomb them, and then fire off his shotguns. The recoil is enough to launch him 20 feet up in the air. Shiara vanishes but I can tell what she is doing because a few of the Ferals that are getting past Hawkens and Twilight are getting randomly cut in half. I see another 15 Ferals coming out of the main entrance to the building a good 100 feet away. BOOOOOOOOM! Stardust fires off her lightning gun and a stream of blue lightning instantly vaporizes all 15 Ferals.
"Remind me not to piss of Stardust." I say to Twilight.
"Noted." She says as she gets a double headshot
Now that all of the Ferals are dead we start up towards the facility. When we open the doors, there is the body of a dark blue Alicorn on the ground to great us.
"Hey. You there, smooth skin. Come to the top of the tower. Go to the back and take the stairs, and hurry." A raspy voice says over an intercom on the wall next to us.
"Um. Why?" Hawkens asks.
"Just do it. Ditzy Doo and her husband are up here and we are all trapped by Alicorns."
"On our way." I say. "We have to save them. I mean, especially Ditzy."
The group all nod their heads in agreement as we head off. Hawkens loads his shotguns and takes the rearguard position. Shiara takes the front since she can do a lot with her machete. I am behind her with Spike's Rage and my magic pistol out and fully loaded. Twilight is behind Hawkens with a levitation field just in case he shoots his guns since I have yet to enchant them to be without recoil. Stardust is in the middle since her thunder gun will just kill us all if she uses it in these close quarters. We walk through the building with little violence, just the occasional feral. When we get to the back room, we see three Ferals eating an Alicorn. I pop their heads clean off. We then go up the stairs and I press the intercom button outside a big reinforced metal door.
"Bout time furred, I am letting you in now." The same condescendingly raspy voice says as the door clicks open.
We all enter the room and find ourselves face to face with a perfectly normal looking stallion with a black mane and a tan coat. He was wearing a white lab coat.
"You'll want to go talk to Jason. He is the one in charge of this operation and is probably with Ditzy Doo and Lionheart. They're upstairs."
"Why are you calling us those names? You're not a Ghoul."
"Flare is right, why are you calling us those derogatory terms. You are a not a Ghoul either." Twilight says and backs me up.
"What are you talking about? Of course I am a Ghoul." He insisted.
'There is no reasoning with this one.' I think to myself.
We go straight up the stairs that are in front of us and turn around when we get to the top and see three Ghouls. Two of them are pegasi and the other is a unicorn. One of them is obviously Ditzy because of her eyes, and the fact that she is a girl. The one standing next to her is a Ghoul who could simply scare you senseless just by staring at you, who must be Lionheart. The last Ghoul is wearing a lab coat and is glowing just like the Ghoul we saw on the way here.
"You must be Jason." I say to the glowing one.
"Praise the creator, for he has sent not one, but 5 to help us." He says in a weird voice. "You will help us right?"
"Sure. What's the problem?" I ask.
"Demons have invaded the grounds of our passage. They appeared out of nowhere and attacked us. We managed to get a few but they killed more than half of my herd. Beware though, they are invisible and all you see is a wavering in the air before they get to you."
"Um, ok. Where are they?" Hawkens asks.
"They are in the basement. One of them was raving at us over the intercoms for easily an entire day."
"Don't worry; they'll be out of your way in a jiffy." Twilight says.
We head out, back down the stair, out the door, down the stairs, again, until we reach the door that leads to the basement. It's locked but Hawkens simply cuts it down. The place is dark so I turn on my Pip-Buck's flashlight. Nothing much, just a door to our right. I open it and it splits off in three directions.
"Ok, Hawkens, you come with me to the left, Shiara and Twilight, you go straight ahead, Stardust, you go right. This way, Stardust can use her lighting as much as she wants. Twilight, would you kindly link our thoughts?" I ask
'Done.'
'Alright, move out!' I think as Hawkens and I take off galloping.
We don't run into any Alicorns yet but we come across a reinforced steel door that even Hawkens claws can't cut through, so I have to resort to picking the lock. I notice while I am doing it, my grapples are forming to the shape of the lock and it is hurting what feels like muscles. I decide to see if, by tensing and relaxing certain muscles, if I can get the grapples into a more key like shape. It works and the lock becomes unlocked.
"THAT'S IT YOU DEMONS! COME AND MEET YOUR END! Wait a minute, you aint no Alicorns." An earth pony Ghoul who was armed with a hunting rifle that was aimed right above our heads says.
"That's right. We were sent by Jason to clear out the Alicorns." I respond.
"Good luck. As you can tell by the bodies getting closer and closer to me, they are a pain to kill. Remember this, they learn. I thought that their mental connection was severed when Trixie was killed. Turns out, I was wrong. Before I killed the last one, I heard him say 'That trick won't work this time.' Hey, if you're headed out there, can you look out for a Ghoul friend of mine. She ran off further into the basement when the Alicorns attacked and I am not leaving without her."
"We'll look out for her." I say
I turn around and we are on our way back through the basement. We turn left into a side corridor and there is an open door to an office and inside is an Alicorn. This one is a noticeably lighter shade of blue than all of the others.
"WHO ARE YOU?" It asks in a very loud and masculine voice. "NEVER MIND! YOUR ALLIES HAS JUST KILLED ONE OF MY UNDERLINGS! YOU MUST DIE!"
It turns invisible but luckily there is enough light for us to see the wavering in the air. It also shows up on my E.F.S. so I know where it is.
'Aim at that filing cabinet Hawkens!' I think to him.
BAANG! His shotguns fire off directly into the body of the burly Alicorn and it causes it to falter. I take this opportunity to fire off a few bursts of magic in the direction of the red blip on my E.F.S. and it ignites like paper. He screams for a few seconds and then finally is silenced. I go and search the now dead Alicorn and the only noticeable loot is a key. I also find that where it's cutie mark should have been, is a circular onyx plate with a golden SS with 3 gold bars underneath it.
"Crap. These guys were sent by Tabitha." Hawkens says
"You mean that crazed Alicorn that I heard over at the flutterstable?"
"The one and only." He responds. 'Hey guys, the Alicorns are Tabithian.' He thinks to the rest of the group.
'F*ck.' Everyone thinks back at the same time.
"Hey Hawkens, why was the Alicorn we just killed light blue? I thought that they only came in three colors." I ask.
A huge boom echoes throughout the basement.
'It's just me guys.' Stardust thinks to us.
Hawkens shakes his head and answers my question. "Rumor has it that Tabitha managed to re-engineer taint to make Alicorns with even more abilities that the normal ones. The light blue one here must be one of the Blue Telepaths. They have the same invisibility spell as the dark blue ones, but they can also control the darker blue ones. They are beyond rare as you can see, only one has ever been confirmed, and that was just now."
"Well that isn't good."
"Ya don't say. Look, we need to get rid of all of the Alicorns and we need to do it fast." 'How goes the hunt?' Hawkens asks the rest of our group.
'We've gotten two of them, thanks to Shiara and her sword skills.'
'Sparky and I have gotten another pair and found what seems to be a prisoner block that they made.'
'Anypony alive down there?' I ask Stardust.
'No, there are a few dead Ghouls but nothing more.'
'Dang it. Well, nothing we can do about that.'
Hawkens and I go back to the Ghoul we met earlier.
"Well, did you find her?" He asks.
"Sorry but one if my partners found the bodies. I'm sorry." I tell him.
"Damn it. Well, no use standing around here anymore. I'll get going back to Jason." He says in his raspy voice.
With that, he comes down from his little snipers nest and goes out the way that we came in. Hawkens and I go back to the place where we killed the lead Alicorn.
'All clear on our side. How goes it on yours?' I ask to the rest of the group.
'All clear on my end.' Stardust responds.
'Same goes for us. Shiara shish-kebabed a pair just now.'
'Good. Let's meet up at the place where we split up. I just found something that you want to see.' I think.
We meet up and I lead the group to the room where the light blue Alicorn was. I open the door that was at the end of the room and we are in a storage room. I go to the back of the room and press a button on the back wall and a secret stairway opens up in the middle of the floor.
"Where does this go?" Stardust asks.
"Don't know. Hawkens just found it a second ago."
"Well, I say we search it, and then go back to Jason. You know, to make sure it's safe." She says sarcastically.
"Good enough for me." I say. "Let's go."
We head down the stairs and the room is very dark. I turn on my Pip-Buck's light and the place is filled with twisted metal. Hawkens rolls some of it up and puts it in his packs. We move on through a door in the back of the room and we are in what looks like an old world sewage pipe. The next room we find is filled with all sorts of drugs, Dash, Mint-als, and Steady. Twilight goes in and when she comes out she is levitating some Stimpacks and healing potions into her saddle packs. Now after a little bit more wandering, we reach the end of the pipeline or whatever it is and come across a reinforced metal door. I pick the lock with ease and we find ourselves in some sort of rocket control room. I know it's a control room for rockets because I see three rockets with the Repcon logo on the sides through a glass pane. I look around and see a workbench with a few pieces of scrap metal and wonder glue. There are some super Stimpacks which Twilight picks up. Lastly is a space suit that was defiantly pre-war. Since there is nothing else, we head back up to Jason and the rest of the Ghouls. On our way back up, we run into some more Ferals but they are not even a problem for us. A minute or two later, we are back with Jason, Ditzy, and Lionheart.
"The Alicorns are all dead. You do know that they were Tabithian right?" I ask him
"Yes, but seeing as you are the one who was revived from death a few weeks ago, I believed that you could handle them. And handle them you did. Now my flock can finally finish the preparations for the Great Journey."
"The what now?" Hawkens asks.
"It's a trip their trying to make to someplace that is overly irradiated."Ditzy Doo writes on her chalkboard.
"YES. THEY WANTED US TO JOIN THEM. SINCE MY DITZY WOULD NOT GO WITH THEM, NEITHER WOULD I!" Lionheart yells.
"Yes. But now that you have cleared out the demons, we can finish our great journey. I would like to show you the means of our travel." Jason says as he starts off out of the room.
We walk back down through the facility and into the basement.
"Wait a minute, you aren't planning on taking those rockets down there are you? That's suicide." Hawkens says with slight desperation. "Those rockets are so old that they'll explode before your 10 feet off the ground."
"I appreciate your concern. We will be fine with the help of Rocket. As a regular pony he is more tactile than we Ghouls."
"Is he the buck who thinks he's a Ghoul? Why have you let him think that and not tell him the truth?" Hawkens asks slightly angrily.
"Trust me, we tried for a few days to convince him but to no avail. So we just went along with it. Anyways, we need a little more help before we leave on the last league of our journey. If you will help us, just talk to him. He is in charge of the final stages of the rocket construction."
"Will do." I say.
I turn around and see Rocket walking through the door to the control room.
"Jason has told me that you are going to help me get these rockets flying."
" Yeah. What do ya need?" I ask.
"Well we has a bunch of isotope 128 igniting agent but it was ruined when the demons attacked so we need some of that. It's very potent so we won't need more than a few ounces. We also need a control module so the rockets know the trajectory their supposed to follow." Rocket says in his raspy voice. "You should be able to find the igniting agent near an old radioactive ruin to the southwest. It glows so you should be able to find it easily. The module may be in a scrap yard because hardly anypony knows its value."
"Is this the igniting agent?" Twilight asks while levitating out a glowing rocket that has the Repcon logo on it.
"That's perfect. Where did you find it?" Rocket asks.
"I bought it off an old stallion in Novac. I could tell he was sad so I bought one to make him feel better."
"Well than that means that all we need now is the module." I say.
"I saw a junkyard a few minutes trot from Novac when I was cooking breakfast this morning."
"How convenient. I'll bet you anything that there is one there." Stardust says with lacking enthusiasm.
We then leave the control room and go out through a hatch in the ceiling to the left. I am first out and decide to try to fly now that my wings are lighter. I simply flare my wings, flap with all my might, and shoot up like a Phoenix. I manage to get very high in a few flaps, just like the old days. I get within 500 feet of the clouds, so high I can barely see the Octavian Mountains, which are the border between eastern Equestria and the middle ground, and are named after Octavia since the mountains are so cavernous the wind sounds like her cello. Anyhow I start to stall at this point and my wings are already very tired so I naturally start to plummet to my death.
'I'm f*cked if I can't pull up soon.' I think to myself.
I'm spinning around in circles headfirst towards the ground. I extend my wings and try to angle them to the point where I level out but I can't.
"I. Will. Not. GIVE UP!" I yell.
I notice a bright flash of light where my Pip-Buck is and feel a huge rush of energy. I smile and flap my wings to get me going faster. At the last minute where I am about 50 feet off the ground I pull up with my wings and zoom off and up.
BOOOOM.
I notice that there is a lot of heat behind me and look back to see that I am on fire.
"BOYAH!" I yell when I realize that I am performing my Sonic Flare. "SO MUCH WIN!"
I now feel incredibly tired and black out.
I wake up with a bandage around my head and pretty much the rest of my body except my wings. I see that I'm in my room and the Dinky Doo Deluxe. Twilight is pacing around the room with her horns glowing. I now notice that my head is encased in a midnight blue glow.
"Thanks for the pain relief Twilight." I say weakly.
"Thank Celestia your ok." She says with extreme relief in her voice as she practically jumps and hugs me.
Her middle horn gains a light a light blue glow and so does the rest of my body.
"Well, somehow your body has healed from that brutal crash you had a few hours ago. I'm afraid that there's some bad news. First is that your mane and tail burned off completely. Second us that your Pip-Buck has fused with your leg."
"WHAT!" I yell as I jump out of my bed.
"Whoa there. You may want to calm down before you burn the whole place down."
"Huh." I say.
I look behind me and see that I have my flowing mane and tail, they're just made if fire.
'Wait, FIRE!'. "DAF*Q!"
"You need to calm down. I can tell from what I have just seen that the intensity of your mane and tail have a direct relationship with your emotions."
"I'm BAAAAaaaack. Daf*q us going on with Flare?" Hawkens asks Twilight.
"Well, I would have to guess that he is in stage 5 taint, like me. Though I have only heard of one other case of an elemental taint transformation."
"Well, now that your awake, we can get going back to the Repcon site and launch those rockets because I got the command module."
Level Up-Lv.12
Perk Added-Flares Taint Rank 5
You are now immune to the negative effects of fire.
Companion Perk Added-Thunderhead
You now use half the ammo for energy weapons shots than normal while still doing the same amount of damage per shot.
"Hawkens, where did you find that?" Twilight asks after they have calmed me down to the point where my mane and tail are out.
"In the scrap yard. It looked like the place had been hit by raiders a few days ago so I scavenged what I could and found this as well as some scraps and this wicked shotgun."
He holds up a double barrel shotgun that looks like it should be a pistol. I notice that it only has one trigger.
"Hawkens, what gauge is that?" I ask him.
"It's a twelve, but with the right parts, I can easily make it a six. It will also be a nice alternative to a concussion in CQC every time I fire off a round. By the way Flare, wicked move earlier, minus the wipeout of course but still wicked. The last minute pull up. I could see the end of your fire tail from the ground and you were at least 10000 feet up at that point. Almost at cloud level before you went down. If Twilight here hadn't caught you in her levitation field, you would have been splat."
"What's up with that indent in your Pip-Buck? It wasn't there before, was it?" Twilight Asks.
I look to my Pip-Buck and I see that in the top left corner above the screen is a circular indent.
"That wasn't there before, and it's to perfect to be from the crash. Curiosity."
"Hawkens, you're going to want to hear this. It involves giving slavers a kiss…of death."
Shiara and Stardust are in the doorway but move to the side to reveal a pegasi stallion with a midnight blue coat, long black mane and tail, and blue eyes. His cutie mark is a maticore's skull with two crossed scoped rifles behind it and there is a 50 caliber round in the skull.
"Hey. Name's Silver Scope. I hear you're the pony to ask if some help is required." He asks me.
"Yeah, what do you want?" I ask.
"My wife was taken by the slavers a couple of weeks ago. They knew exactly how to get to her without tripping the security system, me. Case in point, I want you to find who did this, and bring them in front of Dinky here. I will take care of the rest. "
"Well don't you want us to go after her?" Hawkens asks almost too eagerly.
"No point. I already know she's dead. I just want closure."
"Fair enough. One problem, we don't know where to start, so we can't really help you. Do you have any leads of your own?" I say.
"I haven't had the time. Try No-bark. He may be a few apples short of a bushel but he still notices things that most ignore."
Silver then leaves and Shiara and Stardust come in.
"Are you sure you want to do this Flare? You would be taking the role of Judge, Jury, and Executioner to a whole new level." Twilight says.
"I know. Hawkens, I know you have a thing against raiders and slavers alike, but what do you think about this?"
"If this were taking out raiders or slavers, I would be all over this, but what he wants us to do is to get whoever sold out his wife. Now that is one of the more scumbagish moves to pull but it's probably somepony important to this town, to be able to make deals with the slavers and to have enough trust from the town. Getting rid of whoever did that would probably cripple the town."
"Whatever you choose to do, I will follow you." Shiara states.
"I'm along for the ride as well." Stardust says.
"Well then I say no to this one. It just doesn't seem right. Besides, I can't let the trail run cold on my killer, and we are already two weeks behind him. Let's just go launch those rockets, get the info from Manny, and get going."
With that we leave the room and head back to the launch site. We go back down the hatch that I burst through before nearly dying and give the module to Rocket. He installs it and tells Jason and the rest of the Ghouls who are down on the launch pad.
"Thank you Rocket. Now I would like to give a pre-flight speech. We have finally done it. We are going to the Promised Land. All of this could not have happened if it weren't for 6 sent by the creator to amend the relationships between our races. Rocket, you were the first non-Ghoul sent to us, and with you help, advanced the launch date up by many months. You will be the Patron of this launch. And Flare, without the help of you and your compatriots, we would not have been able to finish this journey in the first place. You will never be forgotten. With that, we bid all of you farewell."
Jason and the rest of his Ghouls get into the rockets and they rise through the ceiling and take off. Rocket then turns to me and says. "Damn it, they were right. I guess I'm not a Ghoul. Well there goes the rest of my life."
He turns and walks away through the open door.
"Well, better get back to Manny if I'm going to get going asap."
"Well the Ghouls are gone so a deal is a deal. That Benny fellow and his Iron Will buddies are headed to Boulder City. It's were the Will's are supposed to get paid, but knowing what I know about Benny, he's not going to give them a cap." Manny informs us.
"Thanks for the info. Adios." I say
"By the way, rumor has it that there is a super powered Alicorn that has been roving the world has made camp in the area you're going to be traveling so be careful.
After that, we all head off, wary of whatever the super Alicorn is. Along the road, we almost run into a few Legion members because Hawkens wants to slay them but Twilight holds him back so they don't see us. An hour later we find ourselves crossing what seems to be a dried out lakebed. The sun is starting to go down so we need to find a place to spend the night. Hawkens fly's up and looks around. He comes back down after a few minute saying he has spotted an old rest stop. He leads the way and we make camp in the stop. I decide that this is the perfect time to look over the memory spheres that Hawkens and Shiara found while in Prim. I turn on the projector of my Pip-Buck so that we can all see it. The projection turns to a view of 6 mares around a table. I then realize that they are Twilight Sparkle and her friends, the other Elements. We also see Princess Luna on the other side of the table.
"Look, we need to figure out something. I have gathered intelligence from some zebra spies that we captured that they are building their own stable in the edge of the middle ground." Pinkie says as she bangs on the table with her right hoof, her candy cane mane slightly bouncing.
"My spec-ops ponies are at the ready if you need them. Just give me a location and we will hit it with a Sonic Nukeboom." Rainbow says.
"Wait, a what? Why have I not heard of this? If we have new propaganda techniques, I could use them." Rarity says with her accent.
"It's when 3 or more pegasi perform a Sonic Rainboom at the same time. Massive explosion, top secret technique. Twilight, remember back when you were going to be tardy with a letter to Celestia and I destroyed AJ's old barn, well imagine that explosion times three or more."
"I approve of Rainbow's plan. If we can find this zebra stable and destroy it, when push comes to shove, we will be ready and they won't. Fluttershy, would it be possible to combine your Megaspell magic with a scanning spell." Luna asks.
"I suppose so. It would take some time but it is possible. With Snowflake's help, it could be ready twice as fast."
"I would be happy to help Fluttershy. Just tell me what you need me to do; though Twilight has already asked me to help her with a special project, I will do my best to help you out as well." The host says.
"Than it's settled. Snowflake'll help Twilight with her project, than help Fluttershy with the scanning Megaspell." AJ says.
'Snowflake, can I speak with you after this meeting is over?' Luna thinks to Snowflake.
'Of course cousin.'
Now that the meeting has ended the Elements all teleport off to who knows where, AJ, RD, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie teleport with unicorn ponies that are wearing uniforms of some sort that all have a badge with the respective cutiemarks of their superiors.
When they all are gone, Luna walks over to our host and says. "Snowflake, I know that you have been doing a lot of good, but something bad is going to happen soon. The Zebra's now have their own Megaspell technology. I don't want you to get hurt. That's why at the end of the week, I am sending you to Protostable 4. It's Applejacks so it will be state of the art. If the Megaspells and whatever the Zebra have are going to hit, I want you in that Stable. It's hidden in a under Black Mountain."
"Very well. But will I still be able to help Fluttershy if I haven't finished the Megaspell?"
"Of course, I am sending her to a Protostable as well, along with the rest of the Elements. They must be kept safe at all costs."
"But what if they don't want to go?" Our host asks.
"They will be able to go once the immediate threat is over."
"What threat?"
The memory times out and the projection dies.
"Where did you get that?" A deep voice asks.
Hawkens pops up, spins around and has his three shotguns pointed in the direction of the voice.
"Come out, we have a ninja, pyro, sniper, thunderhead, and of course me. We can take you."
"You can try, but you can't take me. I have been around since long before the war. I have seen horrors that you will never know. Now answer me, where did you get that memory?"
"Well if you're so high and mighty, then why don't you show yourself, instead of hiding in the shadows?" I ask.
I am starting to get frustrated with this mysterious voice so my mane and tail start to spark up. Pretty soon I'm soon generating enough fire to light up the room. A few second later, a snow white Alicorn, no bigger than me with gold bands on its front legs and two silver bands on its back legs appears out of nowhere. This causes Hawkens to flinch, flare his wings, and fire of his two two gauges. Twilight catches Hawkens and the Alicorn's horn glows a brilliantly bright blue as it catches every single one of the balls of the shells Hawkens shot. My fire goes out because I am in shock at this. The Alicorn then sends the balls through the ceiling so fast the holes in the ceiling caught fire, somehow.
"Who are you?" Twilight asks.
"I will tell you once you ANSWER MY ORIGINAL QUESTION!"
"Fine, we found them in the Buffalo Bill Hotel a few days ago." I tell him.
"How the hell did they get there? I thought I hid those memories in Stable 19. Well, now that you answered my question finally, my name is Snowflake."
"Wait, as in the Snowflake from the memory? The memory from before the end of the world as it was known. The memory from more than 350 years ago." Hawkens asks.
"Yes, the one and only. What can I do you for?" He responds in a less deep voice.
"Nothing right now, what are you doing?" Stardust asks, probably for some news to report to Pon-3.
"Well, I am on my way to Black Mountain to gather intelligence for Jacobstown. Since I run the place after all, it's the least I can do."
"Wait, I thought that the Leader of Jacobstown was an Alicorn named Jacob Newmoon."
"He's just the figurehead, my second in command. He is still very powerful, since he is after all an elemental like you Flare."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"You mean you have yet to hear of Jacob Newmoon, the famous water elemental. You didn't think you were the only elemental, did you?"
"Twilight called me the same thing. What is an elemental?" I ask.
"It's the pegasus version of the Alicorn or the Supermutant. There are just so few of you that it's not widely known. I have only ever seen 5 different kinds so far, water, air, fire, earth, and blood. The blood one was corrupted so he went to Black Mountain but the water, air, and earth ones are my lieutenants at Jacobstown. Newmoon is the water one. On a different point, I have never seen a mutant like you Twilight. What are you?"
"I am a Unicorn in stage 5 taint, and you must be pretty far along in your taint to be in control. I'm willing to bet your in the final stages of taint yourself."
"Actually I am a pureblooded Alicorn. One of the original 20. Did you know that we were created by some higher force that we have only heard from once to defeat Discord? I recently heard from it and that is why I'm back. Discord has finally risen and is behind the whole Black Mountain troubles. Being the last living true Alicorn, I needed to take action into my own hooves and defeat him. I just don't have the Elements to do it, though I heard from Littlepip that there are new elements arising. You know anything about that?"
"You heard from Littlepip? How, I mean, I know that Pon-3 has a feed to her but that is top of the line security." Stardust comments.
"I have my methods. But that is not important, what is important are the elements. Do you know anything about them?"
"Well, I know that Littlepip has them. That's about it really." I tell him.
"Well thanks for the info. I'll be off then. See you around." He says and then teleports out to who knows where.
"Well add him to the list of those not to buck around with." I say.
"And who exactly is on this list?" Hawkens asks.
"You, Shiara, Twilight, Stardust, Littlepip, DJ Pon-3, and now, Snowflake."
"Good to know I am on that list. Otherwise something would have to be done about it."
"You keep telling yourself that Hawkens."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Will you boys stop your little testosterone fight and let us ladies get our beauty sleep?" Stardust asks.
"It's gonna take a lot more that beauty sleep to make her something." Hawkens whispers to me and we both snicker
"You wanna tell that to Sparky?" Stardust asks from her makeshift bed.
We both shut up and get to sleeping and with Twilight on guard, we feel good about our odds, unless Stardust wakes up in the middle of the night in a raging fit, but what are the odds. The next morning I wake up to Twilight lightly jabbing my chest.
"Wake up. Wake up. Damn it WAKE UP!" Twilight yells.
"Sheesh, I'm up I'm up already. Give it a rest Twilight." I say
"Well I would, but everyone is already up and eaten. We let you sleep in since the whole crash landing thing. We have a serving or two left over from breakfast for you." She says in a caring manner. "Take note, this is the last time this is happening so you better wake up with the rest of us or your eating something out of a can next time." She says in a now much darker manner.
"Ok." I say softly
"Good, now eat up so we can go find you killer."
After I eat, we set out in the direction of Boulder City. It's only a day trot to get there but if everypony could fly, than we could have gotten there in a few hours. By the time we reach the dang place, we had already taken on a pack of radscorpions, a few ghouls, and taintsprites. The worst part was that the outskirts of the town were surrounded by even more radscorpions so that was no fun to deal with. The town itself was just a big pile of rubble with maybe a few building left standing. We enter the town and go into what looks to be the bar of the town, somehow still standing. We walk up to the bartender, a pale brown stallion with a blond and white mane and a bottle of hard cider for a cutie mark, and I ask.
"Hey, have you seen a white stallion in a checkered jacket traveling through here with some Iron Wills?"
"As a matter o-fact, they passed through here two weeks ago. The Will's and the NCR have been in a standoff over some hostages for the past week and a half. My guess is that your fancy pants friend abandoned them here. If you want to go and talk to them, they are over in the ruins of the city."
"OK thanks. Any rumors going around?"
"Yeah. Apparently, the New Equestrian Society thinks that they have found the final resting place of Rainbow Dash. It's allegedly near the highest peak of the Flutterpeak Mountains. It's just rumors and speculation so Pon-3 won't air it."
"Thanks for the info."
We walk out of the bar and search around for the entrance to the ruins. A few minutes later we turn a corner and we are halted by a NCR Zebra.
"Stop. There is a situation going on in the premises involving two hostages and a squad of Iron Wills."
"Well, they may have something of mine that I need to get." I tell him.
"In that case, once the situation is resolved, you may get any belongings of yours from the suspects."
"You know, I could probably take care the problem for you. I know my Griffon friend would like to help, wouldn't you Hawkens?"
"Hell, if you're planning on doing what I think you're doing, then I am in."
"Well, we're not making any leeway here so go ahead and have at it, but the minute we hear gunfire, we are rushing in there."
"Trust me, we can handle ourselves."
We go in through a makeshift gate and to our right is a big pile of rubble. To our left are nine or ten NCR that look like they are itching for a fight. I look in the direction that they are looking and see the only standing buildings in the entire ruins. Outside of one of the doors into the building are 5 Wills.
"Dang, if they have 5 spare for guards, than either that is where their leader is or they have a lot of Wills in there." Hawkens points out.
"Hey, Shiara, go see if you can find the hostages and get them free with your freaky ninja skills."
"Will do Flare. I will be quick in and out of there."
She disappears into thin air and the rest of us set forth.
"Twilight, I want you to take out as many of the guards as you can, but after the hostages are free."
"Got it."
I look over to Hawkens and see that he is practically itching for a fight.
"Soon bud. Just make sure that you don't use your 2's unless you can recover before hitting something. Don't want a Hawkens Shiskebab. That would be bad." I tell him.
"Ya don't say captain obvious."
Twilight gives a mock salute at Hawkens comment.
"What did I say? I would be back and for these soldiers, I have saved the day." Shiara says as she appears out of thin air with two freaked out NCR soldiers at her sides.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST THE HOSTAGES? THEY WERE THE ONLY THING KEEPING THE NCR FROM ATTACKING US YOU F*CK*NG MORON!" Somepony yells from inside the buildings.
"Well, I would say that they know what we did. Twilight, if you would."
BANG! BANG! BANG! Three shots was all it took for her to kill the five guards. Unfortunately, when their bodies hit the floor, ten more storm out of one of the buildings and unload machineguns at us. We hide behind some walls in the rubble. Twilight manages to shoot one of the ponies hoof off. Said ponies hoof conveniently flies into the owners face, and makes him shoot some of his compatriots instead of us. I try to get some shots out but another twenty have swarmed out of the building.
"Where the hell did all of these Will's come from? Their like radroaches." Hawkens says
"And just as easy to kill." Stardust says before leaping out of cover with her lightning cannon ready to fire.
The only problem is that one of the Will's shoots the gun so it can't fire.
"Well Fuu. Now what are we going to do? Twilight can't do anything. I am too far away to do anything. You can't even poke your head out. My guns ruined for now. And Shiara can't do much more than we can.
"HERE I COME! HAHAHA! NOW IT'S COWARD KILLING TIME!" A very deep voice says from behind us.
I hear a whirling sound and look behind me. I see a light brown stallion with a dark brown mane. He is wearing a modified version of the Couriers vest that I'm wearing. He has a desert camo facemask to match the vest. The most impressive part of him is the fact that he is standing bipedal while carrying a minigun. He starts walking forward with the gun and he lets the bullets fly.
This continues on for another minute or five as this mysterious pony obliterates the Wills.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
The mysterious ponies minigun explodes in a ball of rainbow fire.
"Daf*q just happened." I say out loud.
"WHAT THE F*CK JUST HAPPENED?" One of the Wills cried out.
"HEY, IF YOU AND YOUR BUDDIES THAT ARE HIDING INSIDE THAT BUILDING COME OUT AND TALK TO A PEGASI OUT HERE, I WONT KILL YOU, PINKIE PIE PROMISE."
"OK, BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOU PINKIE PIE PROMISED!"
Out of the building walks one of the Will's that I saw at the graveyard where I was killed almost a month ago. He is a grey pony with a bright red mane. His cutie mark is a skull and broken crossbones. He has on a grey vest that matches his coat.
"So who am I talking to slayerpony?"
"Flare, I presume you have some questions for this pony?"
"You presume correct." I say as I get up from my hiding place with my mane and tail on since I am more than a little pissed at this Will.
The look on his face is priceless.
"Wha. How, the hell. Benny killed you. We all saw it. You had a bullet through your head."
"Well in that case, Johnny, I'm Hoooome! Where the hell is Benny?"
"He ditched us in the middle of the night. His tracks led off to New Pegasus so that is where I would start. He is one of the managers of the Tops Casino."
"Thanks. By the way, make sure to prepare a welcoming party for Benny in hell."
"Huh. What's that suppose….." He says but I cut him off with a grapple through his neck. I then yank the grapple out one side then send it back in cutting his head clean off. "Have a nice day."
I gather the rest of the group and get out of Boulder City. I turn my Pip-Buck to Drop's channel.
"What'd I tell yall 'bout comin IN MAH SHED?"
Bowowowowowowoooowowowowoowo w.
"Hey hey hey."
"Such good wubs." I say
Level Up- LV.13
Perk Added- Bloody Mess
All kills have a 10% higher chance of increased gore. All attacks deal 5% more damage.
Perk Added-Dat Bass
You are now addicted to bass. You have increased speed, damage, perception, and strength when listening to dubstep. You have decreased speed, damage, and awareness when not listening to dubstep.
Well it's been a few days since we left Boulder City. Hawkens has been re-teaching me how to fly without crash landing. Now I can fly just like my old self before the mecha wings. Stardust finally fixed her gun. Apparently the bullet tore through the cable that connects the flux to the charger that led into the superconductor of the tesla, whatever the buck that means. Last night Hawkens decided to pull out another little gem from the junkyard. It was a memory sphere that was like a mirror on one side and crimson red on the other. I downloaded it to my Pip-Buck and we all watched in horror as two ponies, the host and a forest green one with a red and black mane, slaughtered the old mare who owned the place and her 8 canine companions. The worst part was that the green one rounded up all of the dogs and simultaneously executed all of them at the same time, in front of the old mare. At that point I just had to shut the damn memory off. Anyway, now to the present, we are now close enough to New Pegasus to see the slums of Westside and in the center, an elevator that lead all the way up to New Pegasus, the legendary city of the clouds where all of the richest ponies of the wasteland gather to frolic while the rest of us wallow in the wastes. Las Pegasus was re-designed by the pegasus just before the war with a supershield to prevent any and all attacks from the outside and the entrance was so heavily guarded that you would have to be sneakier than a ninja just to get into the elevator. Now they have a group of Mr. Stable's securitrons guarding the place so it's even more of a superfortress. The only thing it doesn't have is a death ray, but who knows. As we approach the entrance to Freeside, it's just before sundown and we stop at the Gun Runners so we can stock up on our ammo and Twilight wants to buy some mods for her sniper. After she finishes moding her gun, the muzzle has 4 integrated blades in the muzzle, so when she detaches the barrel they pop out and it does more damage, and the scope has a variable zoom. We then head a few minutes further north to the entrance to Freeside. We go in and the place is a little less run down than Boulder city. Most of the buildings are standing yes but they also have a great deal of barred buildings so nopony can get in.
"Psst. Hey you. You want some help?" a Ghoul in rags asks us.
"We don't need any help. I live in the Ultra Luxe. I know my way around these places." Twilight says to him rather harshly.
He turns away and lies down by a wall. We continue on and a few minutes later I ask.
"Do you really live in the Ultra Luxe?"
"Well, my mom does, but I wanted to do something different than what ran in the family so my brother got that job. He's my twin but we look nothing alike. I'll introduce you when we get there."
"So do you know Pon-3? She lives in the Luxe after all." Stardust asks.
"We're actually on the same floor."
"Huh. Well then. Before we get into New Pegasus, I want to stop by the Silver Rush. See if I can't get my hands on a better scope for my rifle." I say
"I don't see the harm. I'll even let you use my discount." Twilight says
"You have a discount at the Silver Rush? The top-of-the-line seller of Magic Weapons this side of the Octavian Mountains. The ponies who supply Mr. Stable with Magic Weapons. Those same ponies." Hawkens says in surprise.
"Yep."
"Who are you?"
"You'll see." She says mischievously to the group and then to me she whispers seductively, "And you'll get the special tour."
My wings flare open with a pomf and she giggles.
"Let's just get going ok." I say
"OK Flare. " Hawkens says. "What'd she say?" He asks in a quieter tone after we get moving again.
"She said she would give me the 'special tour.'" I respond in a hushed tone.
"You both do remember that I can read your minds, right? Hawkens, do I need to hit you over the head with something? If not, then get those thoughts out of your head." Twilight says. She must have thought something about said thoughts back to Hawkens because his wings flared out bigger than mine did. Luckily the safeties were on, on his shotguns.
"Let's move." Hawkens says while appearing embarrassed
Twilight snickers at this. "I didn't know you liked that."
I can see the sweat pouring down Hawkens face. We are all just laughing our asses off while rolling on our backs for a good two minutes. After we are all thoroughly entertained, we head towards the elevator up to New Pegasus. Before we get there though, we make a stop and the Silver Rush. They were about to confiscate all of our weapons and try to take my not so cyber wings, but then twilight walked to the guard and said we were all together and he just let us in. We get to the counter but she is already in conversation with Twilight as though they were old friends. It was awesome to say the least, especially since I am able to get an upgrade for my wings, since they are still semi inorganic, and a variable zoom for my magic rifle. They said it would take a day or two to make it but it would be ready by the time I left. We then head towards the elevator to New Pegasus. It's a huge structure that can be seen from basically anywhere in the Middle Ground and goes all the way up into the clouds. It is a miracle in the fusion of the three pony sciences. Twilight tells me that the Elevator is kept from falling over through Mr. Stable's magic, which also maintains the shield around the city. The actual structure is a mixture of Pegasi and Earth pony technology. The Pegasi technology is what allows it to be easily repaired. The whole dang thing is made of clouds. The Earth technology is a special plating that is light enough to stay on a cloud but strong enough to keep non-pegasi up. It's a work of art in my mind. We get to the gate that lets ponies into the elevator and we are stopped by more of the Securitrons. Twilight shows them her passport and they immediately move aside for all of us. Whoever her mom is, she must be one hell of an important pony. We go onto the elevator and it shoots up. We are easily pulling 20 g's we are going so fast but our bodies can easily handle it. When we get to the top, the door is opened by none other than Appletracks.
"Well howdy partner. Hows it goin for ya?"
"Not bad. I see you finally made it up here. Is it OK if I meet Mr. Stable later on? Twilight wants to introduce us to her family. Apparently they're some big shots up in the Ultra Luxe." I say.
"No problem. I'll be waiting outside the 38 for when you're ready. And about that upgrade?"
"I'll stop by tomorrow and give it to you before we get to Mr. Stable."
We then walk through the city of New Pegasus. We pass by a hotel that has fire everywhere. But I can tell that what really catches Hawkens eye are all of the whores in socks and panties.
"Move along Hawkens, unless you want to catch something even I can't get rid of." Twilight comments to Hawkens and he goes straight to the head of our little pack. The next hotel is the Lucky 38, which basically is a giant roulette spinner and the fortress of Mr. Stable. The place is a fortress with the entrance alone being guarded by 5 of his securitrons along with Appletracks. We move on to the next section of the city and there is The Tops casino. That's where I will be headed tomorrow when I get Benny. I light up I am so ticked off at that guy.
"Calm down Flare, your drawing attention." Twilight says to me.
I look around and everypony is staring at me. It's not like I give a buck but I simmer down and go out. I look across the street and see the teleportation hub for the NCR. I hear that at the back of the building are nearly 50 unicorns who just spend their lives teleporting NCR members where they need to go. Then comes the final section of the city. There's a small motel style place and larger motel called the Skystable. At the end of the section however is the Ultra Luxe. It's basically the fanciest dang place in the entire wasteland. As we get closer, I see a dark green unicorn with a black and yellow mane and tail rushing towards us. He has a pair of aviators on so I can't see his eyes. When he gets to us he says.
"Hey sis. Hows it hanging, other than that little mutation thing."
"Not bad, I have some new friends as you can see. This is Flare, Hawkens, Shiara, and Stardust. Everyone, this is my brother, Rex Drop."
When she says that, all of our jaws drop.
"Your brother is Rex Drop? The DJ's assistant. Wait, you said this was a family business and if it's in the family to DJ, then that means your mom IS PON-3!" Hawkens exclaims as he puts the pieces together faster than the rest of us.
"SAY WHAT NOW?" I ask in a shouting tone.
"Yeah. What say we get up to our suite and I'll fill you in. Maybe mom will be in."
"She should be getting back in from the hourly show soon."
All of a sudden, there is a bright flash of white light right next to Rex. When the light dies down, there is a white mare with a blue dual-tone mane and tail and a record as a cutie mark.
"Do I hear some ponies talking about little old me?"
"Yes mom, we were just talking about you. You already know the gang since you have been reporting about us." Twilight says slightly annoyed.
"Yes, indeed. Flare, you look, different, than what I had expected. What happened to your mane and tail?"
"Well, mom, when he gets excited, angry, surprised, or any really energetic emotion, he lights on fire."
"Well then remind me not to piss him off, unless I have marshmallows."
Twilight facehooves at that.
"Hey mom, Flare and the rest of the gang can stay with us right?"
"Of course. We actually have enough spare rooms for all of them. Why don't you show them around the hotel. And Twi, I need to talk to you before you go to sleep."
"What is it now mom?"
"I found your stash, and not the fun one."
"Oh buck, not again." I hear Twilight whisper under her breath.
"What's wrong? Mind link me." I say to her.
'Well, when I was 15, I went to a party at the Tops. Some prick slipped me some drugs and I was hooked. I knew that pony slipped me a cocktail of drugs because I wanted everything. Mom found my stash a few months later and sent me to Chrystal Horn. He did something that got the need for the drugs out of my system but a few months back, I got the urge to take the drugs again. So, I went to my old dealer and he gave me the usual fix that I would get. I ended up stashing the leftovers in my room. Mom must have found them. I actually have been sneaking some Dash, Rage, and even Buck from some of the places we have been. I'm surprised that nopony had noticed to be honest. I know I have a problem, I just don't know who to turn to.'
'Look, if you ever need help with these things, I used to have a Dash addiction and I got help from my friends back in New Cloudsdale. Without their help, I wouldn't have been able to do my job as courier, and I would have never met you. I'll be here for you whenever you need me.' I see her blush at this.
'Thanks Flare. I'll keep that in mind.'
"Will you two stop your little mind chat so we can get inside and eat something? I'm starving." Hawkens complains.
"Aah shut the buck up and wait just a second would you." I respond. "We're done talking anyway."
"Well on that note, allow me to officially welcome you to the Ultra Luxe Hotel and Casino." Pon-3 says as she opens the doors with her magic.
The place has a very high class atmosphere that rivals that of Old Canterlot before the war. Everypony who works here is wearing a mask and either an old world tuxedo or dress.
"Welcome back Madame Beat. Are these your guests?" A Unicorn pony asks Pon-3 while pointing to us.
"Yes they are, and the griffin is hungry, so could you show him to the Gourmand and put whatever he gets on my bill."
"My pleasure Madame. Follow me sir." She says to Hawkens.
"Thanks Pon-3."
"Please, call me Winter. By the way, Flare, I have a little quest for you if you don't mind."
"Sure, what do you want me to do?" I ask.
"Well, there's an old record stash from the original DJ Pon-3, Vinyl Scratch. If you could get that for me, I can give you a prototype device that Rex made. It is sure to be helpful in your adventures."
"Where is this record stash?"
"It's not that far actually. The Vinyl Stable is maybe an hour flight for you. If you want, I have a custom militarized sky-carriage if you want to take the rest of your group."
"Thanks for the offer, as soon as I deal with Benny, I'll take you up on that offer."
"Sweet, I'll just mark it on your Pip-Buck."
"Thanks. To be honest, I just want to get to sleep now."
"Twilight, show Flare to his room would you."
"No problem mom."
I now go up the elevator to the penthouse suit with Twilight. The door opens and as it turns out, the entire top floor is their suit. Twilight turns around the corner since the elevator is in the exact center of the suit. We walk by a pair of rooms, to which the door of one happens to be open. I see inside it and it is pure pink, with rainbows and butterflies everywhere.
"Is that your room Twilight?" I ask with a bit of surprise in my voice.
"Yeah so shut up unless you want to be paralyzed from the neck down."
"Ok." I respond quietly. Knowing her, she could probably sever my brain stem if she felt like it.
After a few more moments of walking, I ask. "So what room do I get?"
"You get the corner room, with a view of the Octavian Mountains, and is also the adjoining room to mine. Your room also links to the holo-training room. With the wonders found in stable 101, New Equestria got on the tech bandwagon really quickly. If you want help with it, I'll be happy to help."
"I'll take you up on that right now actually. Even though we haven't had much conflict in the past few days, I still want to practice with something."
"I'll set that up, what do you want to fight?" she asks me
"Well, let's throw some griffons, LOZ members, and maybe a hellhound in the end."
"Ambitious are we. I'll set it up, along with a little surprise in the end." She replies. She then proceeds to teleport us into the holo room. I am on the floor, she is in the control booth behind a wall of glass.
"I want to work on my infiltration skills mostly, so if you could set that up?" I yell through the glass.
'No problem.' She thinks to me.
The room seems to pixelize, and the reform into an overlook. I am on the overlook and I see a battle between some griffins and the LOZ. It seems that the griffins are losing, go figure.
'OK Flare, the objective of this mission is to get into the LOZ base, destroy the reactor, and get out alive. Now, how you do that is up to you, but this simulator gives bonus depending on the mission, I've set it up to a particle accelerator for your rifle that increases the damage of the magic shots and the range of your pyre shots.' Twilight thinks to me. 'But only if you can do the mission without raising the alarm.'
'Got it. Alright let's do this.' I think to myself before starting to try to sneak into the building. I first let the griffins and LOZ kill themselves off, leaving only 3 LOZ from the original 6. I wait a few moments before two of the LOZ members go back inside the building. I slip into S.A.T.S. and go for the headshot with the Magic. I shoot and hit the head. His body the proceeds to vaporize, and is blown away in the wind. I sneak down and look around the building. There is a large air vent in the back. I fly up to it and use my grapples to take it off. Inside is a giant fan that is spinning far too fast for me to jump through. Instead, I shoot at it with my Pyremagic, melting the axle stopping its rotation. I crawl through the gap now created and proceed further into the building. I see through more grates that this is a weapons storehouse.
'Better not wake the hive.' I think to myself. I notice a drop in the vent system and jump down. Right before I hit the bottom, I flap my wings rapidly, slowing me down so that I can land without making too much noise. I move further through the vent and realize that I am in the maintenance room, where all of the slaves are. I notice that some of them are pegasi so that gets the gears in my mind working. I move on through the level until I am at a vent above the reactor room. There are no guards here so I jump down. I proceed to walk over to a control panel and start to hack it. The obvious word sticks out, Caesar. Sometimes I wonder. The screen lights up with three commands.
I select the set Self Destruct Timer and it gives me a time input. I give myself 5 minutes to get out and then select free slaves in one minute. I proceed back into the vent and fly back up to the level of that the slaves were on. I open the vent and see two guards, flanks to me, at the entrance. I pull out my magic(power) pistol and fire a shot at both of them through S.A.T.S. One falls dead and the other one is vaporized on the spot. I then walk over to the stunned slave ponies and motion for the pegasi to come to me. I tell them the plan to free all of the slaves by having them carry the others out through the vents. They nod their heads in understanding and begin to pick up two slaves each.
'Dang. They must be so strong from all of the labor they have been doing.' I think to myself.
After all of the slaves are cleared, I fly out behind them. After we get outside, I lead them all away from the facility, only to run into a Hellhound with an artificial limb that looks even deadlier than it would have been.
'Well, I guess that Twilight was listening to me.' I think.
I whip out my grapples and thin them out so they are as thin as a leaf. Dashing towards the Hellhound, I run past its artificial leg and cut through to the bone above where the leg connected. That made the Hellhound pissed off more than it was to begin with. I use my wings to pivot my body around and dash right back at it and cut its legs clean off. Unfortunately, it was ready this time and brought a claw down against my lower back as I passed it. This proceeded to piss me off and catch fire, startling the gruesome creature. It quickly shook of its shock and charged at me. I, in response, took off using my wing power and started to spin quickly in a circle, letting my grapples swing out from centripetal force. This in turn allowed for my flaming mane and tail to grow massive and create a tornado of sorts, made entirely of fire. I take myself and the pyre tornado and charge the Hellhound, effectively cremating it. At that very instant, the facility blows sky high and the simulator switches locations to the top of a mountain. I see the particle accelerator in front of me and pick it up. Now for some unknown reason, I start to get very tired.
"Wakey wakey Flare." I can hear somepony whispering in my ear.
"Huh. What's going on?" I ask. I realize I am restrained in a bed and ask. "Why am I restrained, and who are you?"
"Oh Flare, don't tell me you don't recognize my voice."
"TWILIGHT?!" I ask loudly. "What is going on here?"
"Well, let me show you." She says as her horn lights several candles around the bed and I see that I am in her room, which now has totally black walls and ceiling. There are leather bands holding me down. The most impressive thing is Twilight herself. She is wearing sexy socks, panties, and other black leather wear. Needless to say, I am speechless.
"Uh... uh... uh...uh..."
"Think before you speak Flare. I told you I was going to give you the special tour, and that includes a tour of my entire body, inside and out."
'Was that a dream or, nope. that was real.' I think to myself as I wake up beside Twilight, mysterious liquids on the bed. 'Yep, not a virgin any more.'
"Well you held out longer than I had expected for a virgin. Let me tell you, that was the best lay I have had in a long time." Twilight says as she wakes up.
"Well you were the best I had ever had. Which is not really anything since I have never got action." I reply. She slaps my face lightly with her hoof.
"Hay, if I never came along, would you have ever gotten any, let alone gotten into a relationship?"
"Maybe, if I wasn't killed for real. Maybe move back to New Cloudsdale. But now I wouldn't think of it. I had actually been planning to ask you if you wanted to go on a romantic moonlit hunt or something after dealing with Benny, but i would say that this makes that unnecessary."
"Awww." she sighs and proceeds to kiss me on the cheek. "I would have gladly accepted. For now though, let's try to keep our actions to a minimum outside my room. Never know who could be trying to exploit this."
"Good idea. Let's get cleaned up and see if anypony else is up." I suggest.
Now that we are all seated around a table and about to eat whatever Pon-3 and Hawkens are making, the rest of us have some conversation.
"So was I the only one who couldn't sleep last night?" Rex asked.
"I got a wonderful sleep." I said, "What kept you up?"
"Well, I heard a lot of thumping coming from somewhere that kept me up till at least 1 in the morning."
"I don't know what you were hearing but I was fast asleep." Twilight responds with a slight blush.
"All I know is, I was so tired, I just fell asleep on the couch." Hawkens tells us from the kitchen.
Twilight, Stardust and I laugh at this. A few moments later, Hawkens and Pon-3 bring us some muffins, pancakes, and haybacon strips. Suffice to say it was rather delicious. I thank Pon-3 for allowing us to stay the night and then the group and I head out to the Lucky 38 to speak with Mr. Stable. When we get there, Appletracks is waiting for us outside, go figure.
"Well howdy partner. Are you ready to head on inside?"
"Eeyup. Lead the way."
He does something that opens the plating that covers to doors and I head inside soon after. When we get to the elevator inside, Appletracks stops us and says, "OK, now only Flare is allowed to see the bosspony. He has however comped you the Presidential sweet so y'all can wait in there for Flare."
We all proceed to get in the elevator with no argument considering that we can't really argue against the ruler of the city. Appletracks stops the elevator on Presidential sweet floor and the rest of the gang gets off, leaving Appletracks and I the last ones on. He starts the elevator back up and we get to the top floor where the big pony himself is supposed to be. The door opens and waiting is another Applejack Securitron. Another custom model, this one has a unicorn horn and metal wings.
"Well hello there. You must be the courier that my husband wants to see." She says.
"Yes I am, and you are?" I ask.
"I am one of the Applejack Securitrons, custom model. I am designed after Mr. Stables wife from before the war."
"Works for me. Where can I find the Stallion of the hour?"
"He is in the room to your right and he is waiting for you."
"Thanks." I reply and walk into the room. I see on the bottom level of the room is a giant monitor that is black and white and has a unicorns face on it.
"Hello Flare. Nice see you in one piece. I am glad you came to see me before you went to take your revenge. You see, one of my employees has betrayed me, and I need you to get what he stole from me back. Now, Benny is in the Tops casino and I need you to go deal with him, however you please. Just make sure that I get the platinum chip in the end."
"Will do." I reply and then walk out. 'Well that was weird.'
Appletracks and I take the elevator down and pick up the rest of the group. We all then head to the mane floor.
"So what did he want?" Twilight asks.
"He just wants me to go collect the platinum chip from Benny." I reply.
"Seems simple enough."
We now head out of the 38 and walk to the Tops. When we get in through the entrance, we are stopped by a security pony who asks us to hoof over all of our weapons. Hawkens manages to conceal his shotguns under his wings but since my wings are considered weapons, the security pony tries to take them, he gets a little more than he bargained for.
"OW!" I yell when he yanks on them since I have refused to take them off. This sparks me since it hurt like a colt-of-a-gun. The guard, now taken aback by my fire, pulls his machine gun on me.
"Flare, calm down. He didn't know that your wings are no longer artificial." Twilight says to me trying to put out my fire.
"Ok." I reply, calming down. I now say to the guard. "Look bud, these wings are half organic now. Ever since I got splashed by pink taint, they have been a part of me. So unless you want to be cremated, I would leave them ALONE!" My fire now raging, I can see that the guard has pissed himself.
"Flare, you're going to get us kicked out." Twilight whispers to me.
"Sorry, I just hate it when ponies do something bad to my wings. They're my only reminder of home."
"It's ok. Besides, were here to get Benny, not some lowly guard."
This comment gets me back on track. After I give the rest of my weapons to the guards, I walk into the casino floor with purpose. I see Benny over at one of the corners. Noticing this, I practically run at him. He sees me coming and the look on his face is even more priceless than that of the Will's. His eyes go wide when he sees my entourage. This puts a smile on my face. I knock two of the guards away with mt grapples and the use them to pin him against the wall with one over his heart, ready to pierce, and the other against his neck, ready to slice.
"Look kiddo, no reason to overreact now is there?" He asks with desperation in his voice. "We're all sensible creatures, are we not?"
"Normally this is true Benny." I respond. "But seeing as you SHOT ME IN THE BUCKING HEAD, I think your sensibility is null and void."
"Well if sensibility is not working, then take a look at the odds here. I have one bodyguard for each of you, add to that they're packing machine guns, I believed we can reach some sort of an agreement."Benny counters. I look around and see that each of his bodyguards is pointing a 12.7 mm machine gun at me. "How about you meet me in the presidential suit and ill tell you everything. Here, this key will activate the elevator to the suit. You and your gang head up and ill be up shortly."
"Fine, just make sure you get up there, or I will find you, and I will you."
I proceed to the elevator and once the whole group is in, I activate it and the elevator takes us to the top floor. When we are all out, the elevator doors close and I can hear the elevator going back down to the mane floor. A few moments later, the intercom goes off.
"Sorry bout crossing you again kiddo, but seriously, I would have to be an idiot to go up to meet you."
"That's it. Your a dead pony Benny. YOU HEAR ME!"
"Now that anger of yours is why I am not up there with you. Sorry but i am out of here kiddo. Oh, and stay dead this time would you."
"I wonder what that is supposed to mean?" Stardusts asks.
"Did somepony call the elevator?" I ask
"No, why."
"Nopony here called the elevator. Do you think Benny sent some ponies to be our terminator."
"That's exactly what I think Shiara."
"Well in that case, allow me cut some if them a new face."
"Be my guest." I reply.
Shiara proceeds to jump up to the wall above the elevator with her machete in her mouth.
"Does she have invisible wings or something?" Hawkens asks.
"Shes a ninja remember." I say right before the elevator door opens and 10 ponies with silenced pistols and switchblades storm out. Shiara manages to cut 3 of their heads off as they leave. One of the remaining ones comes after me and shoots my wing, drawing a blood/oil mixture. This causes me to become a fireball and incinerate him. I look around and I see that Hawkens claws are bloody with guts. Twilight had zapped two of the assassins and Shiara had cleaved another 3.
"That's it. Im going after Benny NOW!" I yell.
"Wait a second. He's probably long gone."Twilight says.
"Then we check his suite." I say before storming into the elevator.
My fire dies down to a simmer as we get to the mane floor. I check my E.F.S. to make sure that Benny didn't have any more traps for me. I don't see any but I do see an arrow pointing towards the back of the hotel. I follow where the arrow is pointing and it leads towards an elevator. We all get in the elevator and it takes us to one of the higher floors. My E.F.S. is now pointing towards somewhere further through a hallway. Following it leads me to Bennys suites doors. We all go in and I immediately go as far back as possible. I end up facing an open doorway with a securitron on the other side. It has a smiley face instead of the normal securitron face. It sees me, rolls up to me, and says, "Heeeeellooooooo! My name is Yes Stallion. How can I help you today?"
"Umm. I'm looking for Benny. Do you know where he is?" I ask.
"Oh he ran through here a few minutes ago. He seemed like he was in a big hurry to get to Fortification Hill.
"Thanks. You were oddly forthcoming with that information."
"That's how Benny programmed me. To be 100% complacent with anypony."
"In that case, what is Benny planning to do with the Platinum Chip?" I ask, the rest of the group now with me.
"He was going to reawaken Mr. Stables army if securitrons that are down there, and use them ti take over the strip, after replacing Mr. Stable with me."
"And how would one do that?" I ask because I would rather see the middle ground a free place or at least similar to new equestria.
"Well, one would need the Platinum Chip, seeing as its a data transfer device. After you get it, you would need ti get into the 38 to remove Mr. Stable from his seat of power. After he is out of the way, i would transfer my neuro-computational matrix into the Chip, and upload it to the mainframe."
"Well I have already been in the 38."
"Wonderful. That makes things twice as easy. Benny was always plotting about how he was going to get in there. Now all you would need is the Chip. To bad Benny tried to take it to Fortification Hill. That's where the LOZ is stationed."
"Wonderful, just wonderful. Well, thanks for the info." I say before walking out. After a minute or two more, we are outside of the tops. A zebra in a very fancy prewar outfit walks up to me and says.
"The Caesar wants to extend to you his greetings and formally invite you to his current encampment in Fortification Hill. He offers you this emblem to show that you are not to be harmed. He also wishes to pass on that the one known as Benny is now his captive, and wishes to offer him as a gift to you."
"Thanks. How do I get to Fortification Hill?
"Just go to Cottontail Wood Cove. Ill mark it on your Pip-Buck.". He marks the cove and then walks away. A few moments later, a NCR pony comes to me and hooves me a note.
"It's from the General. He wants to meet with you. Enclosed is a pass and a symbol of good will."
"Um thanks." I reply as he trots away. When he is gone, I say, "Look, no matter how much I don't like it, we have to go to the LOZ headquarters and get Benny."
"If we do, promise me that we will kill the next group of LOZ we meet after this." Hawkens replies.
"I never thought you would ask." I reply.
We set back towards the Ultra Luxe. We go to the roof to get Pon-3's Skycarriage. When we get there, I see that it looks awesome. It has a two pony hitch, reinforced walls, floor, and ceiling, along with 4 windows on each wall. Inside the carriage is what impresses me the most, it has a New Equestrian Solar Power Core. They are some of the most expensive Power Cores made. Since they can actually generate an antigravitational magic for emergencies. Hawkens and I hook ourselves in as Twilight, Stardust, and Shiara get in the carriage. When they are in and the door secured, Hawkens and I take off. When we leave, a hole opens in magic barrier surrounding the city in the sky, allowing us to leave. We fly down to the Silver Rush and I go in with Twilight. The owner recognizes us and waves to a pony in the back. He comes out a few moments later with the new scope for my rifle. Twilight hooves the owner some caps and we leave to the carriage. I hook back in and Twilight gets back in. We take off and fly south at top speed. In two hours, we pass over Novac. Another hour later, we pass over the Colterado River. We follow it south and a few minutes later, I spot an encampment on the shore. We take the Skycarraige down near the entrance to the encampment, which is near an overlook. I leave Stardust and Hawkens to guard it since Hawkens would not do well in the encampment and Stardust should be able to keep him in check. When I enter the Cottontail Wood Cove, I am stopped by two members if the LOZ. I show them the emblem that I was given and they let me through with a look of shock. After we get through the bulk of the camp, we reach a dock where a legionary is waiting for us.
"Are you ready to go to Fortification Hill?" He asks us.
"As ready as I will ever be." I respond.
"The trip will take a while so make yourselves comfortable."
After a 5 hour trip, we finally reach Fortification Hill. It looks like a primitively set up fortress, but with all the legionaries at the place, it doesnt need to be very fortified. We get strange looks as we go on through the place but Shiara is looked at much differently. After a few minutes of walking, we get to the top of the hill, where the Caesar is stationed. As we are about to enter his tent, we are stopped by one of the Caesars guards.
"I am sorry but only Flare is allowed to see the Caesar."
"Its ok guys. Remember, if push comes to shove, I can spark them out of their bad idea."
They stay behind begrudgingly, especially Shiara. Once inside, I see the Caesar with two guards by his side and 6 guards elsewhere. The Caesar notices me and motions for me to come forward. I do so and he says, "Ah, the pony of the hour. Normally I don't allow for a lowly pony to have an audience with me but you, you are one special case. You are one determined pony, tracking your killer all across the Middle Ground, when you could have just turned the other way. I have a request for you. If you agree I will let you deal with Benny over there however you please."
"What do you have in mind?" I ask after a few moments.
"Well, when Benny here arrived, he had on him this chip." He says holding up the Platinum Chip. "This chip happens to match up to a slot in a Protostable that is under this very hill. Since the door can't be blasted or drilled open, something dangerous must be in it. I want you to go in and destroy whatever it is."
"Deal." I reply. "Where is this Protostable?"
"It's under a structure overlooking the Colterado, less than a minute from here."
"I'll get right to it." I say. He proceeds to hoof me the chip and I then leave. Outside, I am joined by Twilight and Shiara, both awaiting my return with worry.
"What did he want?" Twilight asks.
"He wants me to go into Mr. Stable's Protostable and destroy it. The sooner we do, the sooner we can leave, so let's get going." I reply very seriously. I then set off to the structure above the Protostable. When we get inside, we are all given our weapons back.
"You may need them inside, and since you may need to defend yourselves." a Legion zebra inside tells us.
"Thanks." I reply as I equip my rifle.
"Oh, pony, i noticed some parts of your gun were different than even custom models. That gun was taken from a power suit, like the ones those Steel Rangers use." One of the other zebra says to me.
"Interesting." I reply before sticking the Platinum Chip In a terminal. It results in an opening of the ground to reveal a hidden staircase. I walk down the stairs and see the Protostable door. Like all of the Protostables, this one has a door shaped like somponies cutie mark. This one was shaped like a purple shield with a white star in the middle. I stick the chip into a slot in the door and it spits the chip out and opens. Inside is a set of screens that show Mr. Stable.
"You got here sooner than I expected." He says. "I know what the Caesar wants you to do, and I don't want you to do it. What you need to do is go to the last room in here and insert the chip into the computer in that room. That will activate on of the last hopes for keeping the Middle Ground out of anyponies hooves."
"And if I don't?" I ask.
"Then you have doomed us all."
I proceed on through the stable and down some stairs. At the bottom of the stairs is a security bot. It shoots a laser out of its head at us and it goes between Twilight and me. Shiara hurls her ceremonial dagger at it. It goes directly into the head and the robot explodes. We continue on through the stable without a word so as not to make more robots aware of our presence. I pull out Spikes Rage with my grapple after putting my rifle on my side.
"Best burn them then have the lasers or pyre just bounce off them." I say quietly. "Use your E.M.P. spell as much as possible."
We continue on throughout the stable and take down machines that want to kill us very quickly. I get a few shots in that melt the insides of the machines. Twilight E.M.P.s some, letting me move in to manually disable them and gather some spell packs. Shiara, being the ninja she is, manages to avoid all the robots attacks while getting in closer and closer to the point where she can just stab them in the head, jump back, and look awesome as they explode. We eventually reach the end of the stable, and seeing as it was a straight shot path, it was easy-ish to get to. I put the Platinum Chip in a terminal on the side of the room. After a few seconds, the entire structure trembles as though an earthquake was occuring at this very moment. After we all regain our hoofing, we walk back through the stable and I notice that in one of the rooms, another area of the stable is visible through window. The room, now lit, is filled with thousands of Securitrons. When we leave, one of the legionaries takes our weapons again.
"Well well well, from the shaking of the ground, you must have decimated that stable." The Caesar comments with a heart chuckle.
"Indeed, now then, I know how I am going to deal with Benny."
"And?"
"I am going to fight him, one on one, to the death. No guns, just him with a machete vs. me and my wings."
"I like your guts. Very well, go tell him and then we will go to the arena."
I walk over to where Benny is tied up.
"Well Benny, isn't this just some sweet sweet irony?"
"Yeah yeah kiddo, just get it over with."
"Hay, I am going to give you a chance at life. You and me in the arena, to the death."
"Now hold up son. Are you for real?" Benny asks in shock. After a few moments, he continues. "I appreciate this one last try for my life."
Now the guards escort the both of us to the arena. It is a pit in the ground with an entrance gate on one side and the edges are surrounded by spiked wood. One of the guards hoofs Benny a Machete.
"I hope you are ready to pay for killing me Benny." I threaten, my fire lighting.
"New tricks wont scare me kiddo. Bring it on." Benny challenges and we both rush at each other.
Benny tries to finish the fight quickly with a slash at my head but I block it with my grapples. I then use my grapples to pick Benny up and throw him across the arena. Benny tries to rise to his hooves but I am at him before he is halfway up. I rip the machete from his mouth with one grapple and throw it on the ground. I pick him up by the neck with another and lift him up above me. He is burned by my rage, literally. I bring him back down to eye level and say to him through closed teeth, "I will make sure the last thing you see is my rage." At this point, I can see true fear in his eyes as I lift my other grapple up. With a smile, I send the grapple through his neck and with the other, I snap it clean off.
"Brutal." Is Twilight's only word to me as I leave the arena, my Couriers vest more bloodstained than normal.
"I need to get this thing cleaned or get new armor or something." I say to myself. "Benny deserved what he got. He killed me for Celestia sake."
"I know that, but did you have to be so brutal. Just snap his neck, stab him through the heart, dont stab him through the neck then snap his neck off." Twilight replies. "Though it is to late for that now."
"Heh, well at least we get to leave." I say.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
I look towards the voice and see two black ponies, one, a unicorn with a silver mane and tail wearing an elegant black prewar suit and a hat with a bloodwing feather. The other, a Pegasus, was nearly a full foot taller than me and looked to be brutal, with black fur and a spiked black mane and tail. The Unicorn had a voodoo doll with two needles as a cutie mark and the Pegasus had a violet claw ripping at a heat. 'Don't even want to think about how he got that as a cutie mark, not what it means.' I think to myself.
"Hello sweet thing." the Pegasus says to Twilight.
"Easy now Plea." The unicorn says to the Pegasus. "I can sense the love flowing from Twilight, and it is not flowing towards you."
"Chrystal." Twilight says in response.
"Good to see that you remember you old family doctor." The unicorn replies.
"Mind introducing us Twi." I ask.
"Flare, meat Dr. Chystal Horn and his body guard, Plea Night."
"The pleasure is all mine." Chrystal says. "Allow me to heal you up, free of charge."
"Thanks but no, Twilight is my medic and i will have her heal me later." I reply.
"OK then, Plea, go on, it is your time of day after all, have your pick of the slaves."
"Thanks boss." Plea says before flying away.
"What was that about?" I ask.
"You do not want to know, I assure you." Chrystal replies.
I turn around and as we start walking out, I feel a faint prick of my neck. I turn around to see that Chyrstal's horn is glowing and is holding a doll that looks strangely like me. I shove the thoughts aside for now and move on. We get back to the entrance to the camp and the same legionare that brought us here takes us back. After another 5 hour ride down the river and a few minutes back through to Hawkens and Stardust, Hawkens and I get hooked up to the skycarriage and everypony else gets inside. As the sun goes down, Hawkens and I take off and angle back toward New Pegasus. As we fly over the Cottontail Wood Grove, Hawkens drops a few of his higher powered grenades. I look at him with a disappointment look but he has a look of insane happiness.
"Will you get that smug look off of your face. As much as I hate them, you could have at least waited until we were out of range of their artillery." I say to him.
He looses the smug look on his face and says, "Then we had better pick up the pace."
"WHAT THE HAY DID YOU DO HAWKENS?" Stardust yells. "WHY THE BUCK ARE THEY SHOOTING MAGIC AND ARTILLERY ROUNDS AT US?"
A few moments later, her lighting gun, aka. sparky, lights up the sky. Explosions soon follow as she shoots down magic and artillery.
"Damn it feather brain. Why could you not wait just a little bit before basically blowing them up."Twilight asks.
"I wasn't thinking damn it"
"Well there's a surprise." I say.
"Shut up Flare. Lets just get the buck out of here."
"Agreed." I say as I put more effort into flying this carriage out of here.
After we are well out of range, I tune into the radio.
"GOOD EVENING MIDDLE GROUND! This is DJ Pon-3 here with your latest news and best music. One of my news scouts tells me that somepony just blew up one of the Legions bases on the river. YAY for them. The NCR should also be happy about this, seeing as one of the only ways to get to fortification hill is through that base. Meanwhile, Hellhounds continue to control the limestone quarry north of Goodsprings. Lastly in the headlines, reports of a massive earthquake emanating from Fortification Hill worry NCR and locals. That's all for today, so tune in tomorrow for an update of what happened tonight. For now, listen to some music that I made with a good friend a long while ago and didn't even know still existed, as my good friend used to call them, the Tavi and Scratch songs."(Actually by YourEnigma)
For the rest of the flight back to New Pegasus, the Tavi and Scratch songs play, filling our ears with a mix between pre-war classical music and electronic music.
Once we arrive back at the Ultra Luxe, we immediately head to the tops, where Yes-stallion is waiting outside.
"HEEEELLLO there, did you get the chip from Benny?"
"Yes we did, but first I need to go and take care of Mr. Stable."
"OK then. I will be waiting right here."
We walk over to the Lucky 38 and see Appletracks outside again. We walk past him and I see him inside near the elevator and think, 'The hell, is he just a floating AI or something?' We go to the elevator and I think to Twilight, 'When we get in the elevator, E.M.P. them.' She nods her head in recognition. We proceed into the elevator and when I hit the switch before Appletracks rolls in, Twilight sends an electromagnetic beam through Appletracks and into the rest of the securitrons in the lobby. They all fall down while shorting out.
"Well, there is no going back now, we are taking Mr. Stables absolutarian rule of New Pegasus down."
"Ya don't say." Hawkens replies sarcastically.
I look around and see that Shiara is getting her ceremonial dagger out, Stardust is prepping sparky, attaching both of the lightining, Twilight is detaching her barrel, the 4 blades springing out of the end, and Hawkens brings out his double barrel, 12 gauge pistol, that he is now calling boomer. I let Stardust in front of me so she can take any of the securitrons waiting for us. When the door opens, there are twelve securitrons, all with their weapons pointed at us. Stardust lets a bolt of lightning out at the bots and fry's all of them.
"Impressive." Hawkens says.
"Let's go, who knows how many more are coming and are already in here." I order. "Search the place for a computer of some sort. That will likely be how we get to him."
Hawkens goes to the kitchen, probably to get all of the food, Twilight searches the bedroom, Stardust, the living room, and Shiara sticks with me as I search the room with the giant monitor where Mr. Stables face is supposed to be. I try to hack into the computer system below the monitors but that doesn't work, so I search the rest of the room. Over on the wall, I see a computer monitor. I go over to it and there is no security on it so I can simply open the way to Mr. Stable. When I do, the wall next to me slides over, allowing two more securitrons to roll out and start attacking. At least, they would have attacked if Shiara hadn't thrown her dagger into the face of one and cutting the other one down with her machete.
"How the buck are you that good with blades?" I ask in amazement.
"Well when I was a little filly and the sun was going down, the darkness and the shadows scared me every time the sun went down. My daddy told me to face my fears, and cut them down without tears. So I trained with blades to kill anything that scared me. Worked well enough so I just kept practicing and I can sleep just fine and nothing can't get cut down by my blades, and it sometimes makes me happy."
"Well ok then." I reply. "COME ON TEAM!"
Once everybody in my team gets to Shiara and me, we move through the new opening and Twilight E.M.P.s two more securitrons outside an elevator. We all go in and the elevator goes down quite a bit. When it opens, I walk out onto a catwalk that is over a massive chasm. At the end of the catwalk is what looks like a pre-war cryo-pod and it has enough wires running through the head of it for there to be a neural up-link. I walk up to a computer system in front of it and activate it. I activate the function that opens the pod. With a hiss and lots of air release from the pod, the lid comes off and it lifts out a unicorn with extremely wrinkled skin, no hair, and a barely visible cutie mark of a shield with one star in the middle of it and three stars above it. It also has a lot of wires going into a helmet of sorts.
"What are you doing?" He asks.
"I am putting a stop to your absolutarian rule of New Pegasus." I tell him. "And I am going to do that by disconnecting you from the securitons. Your going to live, but you wont be in control of your army."
"You would throw away 350 years of work. All of my work and effort to make this wasteland an ideal place for civilization. I would rather die than live through your attempt to do better." He replies.
With that, I go back to the computer consul and disconnect the neural up-link and walk back to the elevator and, with the rest of the team, go back up to the penthouse.
Now that Yes-stallion is up in the penthouse in front of the computer where I first saw Mr. Stable, I hoof him the Platinum Chip.
"Now if all goes as planned, I will be able to upload my Neurocomputational matrix into the mainframe and be able to control all of Mr. Stables assets, including his securitron army."
"Good, then we can start with the unification and restoration of the Middle Ground."
"Whatever you say." Yes-stallion says before inserting the Platinum Chip into the computer. He falls over and his face shows up in the monitor. "WOW, this is amazing. So that is what the Chip does. Mr. Stable had a presentation set up for you in the basement. Go see it, it is impressive."
We all go into the elevator and it takes us to the basement of the 38. We step out of the elevator to what looks like a firing range of sorts, but blocked off by a field that is probably to protect the observers. In the firing range are two securitrons.
"OK." Yes-stallions voice says over the intercom system. "All securitrons are outfitted with two weapons, as you know. A 9mm machine gun and a Magic Gatling gun. Turns out that these are only our secondary weapons."
"Are you serious?" Hawkens asks. "Secondary?"
"Yes I am serious Hawkens. The Platinum Chip, as it turns out, has the operating system required for securitrons to use our primary weapons." Yes-stallion replies. "Now, these two securitrons have had the Mark 2 OS installed. Now they can use the primary weapons that they have had since manufacturing. First we have access to shoulder mounted missile launchers, allowing us to now deal with airborne and armored enemies. We also now have access fully automatic grenade machine guns. Finally, the Mark 2 OS allows us securitrons to use our auto repair systems. Try taking us on now. All together, the Mark 2 OS give a 245% increase in combat efficiency, per unit."
"Dayum." Stardust says in response. "Flare, you are basically in control of a reputable army."
"While that may be true, I do not wish to take control as Mr. Stable had. What I want to do, is find the Elements of Leadership that Pinkie Pie IV was talking about and put them in control of the army."
"How noble of you." Twilight says to me.
"Well, now that the presentation is over, how about you all come upstairs and we can discuss further actions." Yes-stallion says over the intercom.
"Well, Flare, now it is time for you to shape the Middle Ground you want. Pick your neighbors, remove your enemies, do what you want." Yes-stallion says to me, now that we are face to monitor.
"What I want to do is get rid of the raiders and other bad gangs, and keep the good. If this is going to be a place free from evil, tyranny, or any one creature in command, then the Iron Wills, all raiders, the NCR, Black Mountain Mutants, and LOZ will have to go."
"Well then you will want to stop the legion from taking the Damn, because that is the largest source of non-magically generated electricity this side of the Octavian Mountains." Yes-stallion suggests. "It may be a good idea to ally yourself with the NCR for the time so as to make it easier to take on the LOZ. Then, once you have united the Middle Ground as you like, you can go into the damn, activate the securitron army that you upgraded under Fortification Hill, and then boot the NCR back to wherever they came from."
"Sounds like a plan. How do you suppose I get allied with the NCR?" I ask.
"Try camp MacMaren. It's close and has a lot of important ponies for the NCR. You could probably get some good fame with the NCR from that place."
"Thanks for that." I reply. To the rest of the group, I say. "Come on, we've got some assisting to do."
Now outside Camp MacMaren, I head inside and leave the team with the carraige for now. I look for sompony important inside and ask him, "Would it be ok if I landed my skycarraige in here? I don't want to leave it abandoned outside."
"Sure, just land it over near the wall" he replies.
"Thanks, what's you name by the way?"
"Major Dhatri."
I leave the camp, hook back in with Hawkens, and fly over the wall into the camp and land where the Major told me to. After unhooking myself, I notice that nearly everypony is looking my way. I also notice the Major Dhatri is walking our way.
"You wouldn't happen to be that flaming courier that Pon-3 has been raving on about are you?" He asks as he gets closer to us.
"I am. Is there something you need help with?"
"Well I have been having trouble with a group of raider who call themselves the Fiends. Largest organized group of drug addicts I have ever seen."
"Go on." Hawkens says.
"Well we have a bounty on them and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to have a go at them."
"Sure. Who are the targets and where are they?" I ask.
"Well, the Fiends have 4 leader, Cook-Cook, Violet, Driver Nephi, and Moto-Runner. I wouldn't have you go after any of them unless you want to and I would suggest against going for Moto-Runner unless you really want to."
"I'll take them all." I tell him.
"Very well. Cook-Cook is a pyro, rapist and acording to some of the Fiends we captured, the best damn cook there is. Violet, well we don't know much of anything about her except that she is a unicorn and is always with her pack of dogs that she practically raised from birth. Driver Nephi is a pegasus who is faster than a legionare and just as lethal with his driver club. Lastly is Moto-Runner, a unicorn with a chainsaw. He is in Stable 3 in near the ruins of Las Pegasus."
"Sound like fun." Hawkens says.
"Whatever it is to you, there are a few things that need to be considered. I need the head fully intact in order to give you full bounty, so no headshots. Other than that, you can bring me their heads in any order or all at once, but you will have made friends with the NCR."
"Will do, and the next time you see me, I will be giving you 4 heads."
We all head out of Camp MacMaren and my E.F.S. has 4 new arrows, probably where the targets are. After walking into the Middle Ground towards one of the arrows, I hear somepony saying. "You have been marked for death by the Caesar, and we act on his words. Prepare yourself."
I turn around and see 5 LOZ members, all with their weapons out. Twilight shoots one of them in the head, Stardust cuts 2 of them down, and Stardust char grills another. The last one manages to lob a grenade at me before Hawkens manages to turn him into swiss cheese. As the grenade gets closer, my Taintmeter starts to go off. I pick the grenade up with my grapples and launch myself into the air. After three seconds, I throw the grenade into the air and it explodes a second later. I am far enough away that the shockwave misses me but the taint inside the grenade manages to get all over me.
"Oh COME ON!" I yell in frustration as the taint soaks in.
"Thanks for taking one for the team." Hawkens says to me when I land.
"Are you ok? Anything hurting?" Twilight asks me, rushing to me.
"It's ok. I'm fine. Just some taint."
"Well at least let me look you over." She insists, and I let her. Her horns glow and I can feel the magic feeling around inside of me. It feels very weird but I let her continue. After a few minutes, the glowing dies and she says, "Well, your insides are fine. You have a new organ pair though. Above your spine near your tail and along your neck are two glands. They seem to generate pyre."
"Well I guess now you really are a 'hot head.'" Stardust jokes.
*Thump.* A divot suddenly appears on the ground under my head. We all look around to see what that could have come from.
"SNIPER!" Twilight explains, pointing towards one of the ruins far behind us. There is nowhere to hide so Twilight has all three of her horns glow and generates a transparent, midnight blue field around us. A second later, something ricochets of the field.
"Made any more enemies that we should know about?" Stardust asks.
"Not that I know about."
"Flare, look through my sniper and see if you can see who or what is shooting at us." Twilight orders me. I grab the sniper from her back and set it down. I look through the scope and I can see a reflection from the sun on the top of one of the ruins. I zoom in and can see an outline of a pony, lying down. The only thing I can tell about the pony is that it is an earth pony.
"Sniper alright, on the top of a ruin. It's an earth pony but I can't tell anything more than that."
"We need to get to cover and fast. If not, this day may be our last."
"Ya don't say." Hawkens replies. "Anyone have an idea of where we can hide?"
"There!" I say, pointing to a rest station.
"Good as anything. Let's move." Twilight says, dropping the shield. A second after, a round hits the ground where we were. As we get closer to the station, my rad-meter starts to go off. I lead the gang behind the station but far enough away so we don't irradiate ourselves.
"Is everyone ok?" I ask.
"Yeah. The sniper missed us, barely." Twilight replies
"I guess we need to be more careful." I say.
"Are you really going to be captain obvious?" Hawkens asks sarcastically.
"Whate…huh, what's this?" I ask myself, noticing some red arrows on my E.F.S, closely followed by barking. "I think we found Violet."
Twilight gets her sniper ready and looks down the scope in the direction of the barking. "Twelve dogs, and Violet."
"Take out the dogs as fast as you can. Leave Violet to Shiara." I command.
Hawkens proceeds to jump into the pack of dogs rushing at us, while Twilight takes out what she can. Shiara, meanwhile, is galloping as fast as she can towards Violet, with her machete in her mouth. Some of the dogs get to Stardust, Twilight, and me. I proceed to use my grapples to lift two of them into the air and Stardust char grills them. I then use the grapples to stab the other two dogs through their skulls. Now that those dogs are taken care of, and Hawkens has a pile of shredded dogs bodies on the ground surrounding him, we watch as Shiara fights against Violet. Violet is, well, violet colored with a dark purple mane and tail. He Fiend armor is basically scraps of whatever they could put together, with steel scraps, spikes, rubber tires pieces, and other random junk that somehow fits together to provide protection. She has a hunting rifle attached to her side and is trying to use it to shoot Shiara, and failing miserably. Shiara, while dodging the shots, takes stabs at Violet and one of her attacks severs the rifle from Violet's side. Now defenseless, Violet is trying to hit Shiara with her hooves, and is still failing. Shiara dodges one of the attacks, jumps up to the roof of a nearby trailer, and jumps at Violet. She cuts Violet's head off at the base of the neck. She wraps the head up in a sack near her and the brings it over to me. Twilight grabs it with her magic before I can get a hold of it and puts it in one of her saddle bags. I still have no idea how anything fits in them, with all of the medicine and ammo inside. One of my arrows on my E.F.S. vanishes, so I start off towards one of the other arrows. Soon enough, I an see a few Brahmin, bloated, two headed cow mutts, near what looks like a half destroyed building, but now-a-days, one can never be to sure.
"This must be where Cook-Cook is." I say. "Let me take him, pyro vs. pyro."
"Whatever dude. We'll take on the rest." Hawkens replies to me.
"Sounds like a plan." I reply before taking off and flying into the metaphorical meta-bee nest. The Fiends in their makeshift base try to shoot be down through the gaping hole that comes from a lacking roof. My response to that is to shoot my pyre rifle at them. The Pyre explodes near them and they are lit ablaze. I laugh to myself as the run around in panic. Suddenly, I am hit by a ball of fire, the force of which knocks me to the ground. I, not being even slightly harmed by the fire, get up and look for my attacker. I find a huge earth pony clad in steel armor and it had a welders mask on. On each of its sides were a Pyre-cannon and a Pyre-thrower respectively.
"Come to burn to death?" He asks me. "FINE BY ME!" He continues, laughing insanely.
"If you haven't noticed, I am partially made of fire dumbass." I reply to him, making my mane and tail flare up.
"Well then, pyro vs. pyro. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUN!" He yells before launching more fire at me. I, of course, absorb the fire, and send it into my pyre canisters for later use. I rush at him, taking out my grapples, and prepare to stab through his steel armor, or his neck for the kill. He launches more fire at me until I get close enough for him to use his Pyre-thrower and bathe me in fire.
"You idiot, you're just making me stronger." I shout at Cook-Cook. Now practically blazing, I am next to him, and melting his armor. I send a grapple through a gap in his armor, between his mask and his armor. The grapple comes out through the other side of his neck, and I pull his head off. I turn calm down to turn my fire down and carry the head of Cook-Cook to Twilight and she puts it in her saddle bag. Two arrows left, so I head toward the next one.
"This must be Driver Nephi's hideout." Hawkens says as we near a two story ruin crawling with fiends.
"Now who's being captain obvious?" I ask him rhetorically.
"Nyeh shuttup."
"What do you see?" I ask Twilight, noticing that she is looking through her scope.
"Looks like there are nearly 20 fiends in there that I can see. I can see Nephi. He has a driver on his back, go figure."
"Well then, Stardust, this looks like a job for you. Just make sure not to hit Nephi." I say to her.
"Then let the fun begin." She says before targeting a group of fiends on the second level. *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!* She char grills that entire group. This obviously gets the entire groups attention and they swarm out to get us. Twilight snipes one after the other but by this time they are almost on us.
"How the hell are they this fast?" I ask before almost getting hit with a golf club. I look to the attacker, who must be Nephi. He is a grey Pegasus with a lightning yellow mane and tail. His Fiends armor looks lighter than the others and he is already coming back in for another go at me. I take off to meet him with my grapples out. Nephi tries to take a swing at me when we get close but I fly under his swing, and grab the club with one of my grapples and I threw it on the ground. After, I do an immelmann loop, fly over him, and with both grapples, clip his wings. He tumbles to the ground and crashes in a cloud of dust. I drop down to meet him but I get intercepted by another Pegasus. Seeing as the only one who needs to be in one piece after death is Nephi, I light up even more, let my grapples out to their full length, and begin to spin around, creating a tornado, and proceed to create a flaming tornado, just as I had in the simulation last night. This engulfs the surrounding pegasi and the smell of burning fur and flesh begins to fill the air as more of the pegasi as drawn into my tornado. Soon, my tornado connects with the ground and now it is sucking up the earth ponies and unicorns. I can hear somepony yelling my name from outside the tornado, so I slow my rotations to a stop. I can see that Twilight has Nephi in a levitation field.
"Flare, they're all burned. Hawkens also wants to fight Nephi here." She informs me.
"Let him at the Fiend. Just make sure they are both in a field so Nephi can't escape."
'Thanks bro." Hawkens says at my statement. Twilight then quickly releases the field around Nephi and then remakes it to surround both him and Hawkens. Nephi, now able to move around, is already dashing at Hawkens, driven in mouth, wings flapping to move him faster. Hawkens, prepared for this, already has his claws ready and fly's at Nephi. Nephi draws his club back for a swing as the get closer to each other and Hawkens lets his claws trail behind him. When they connect, Hawkens claws shred through the club and leave a gash in Nephi's shoulder. The head of the club hits the ground with a resounding *ping*. Now defenseless, Nephi begins to try to flee, but is only caught in the field and repelled back. Hawkens takes advantage of this, fly's at Nephi, grabs him with one claw, and uses the other to grab his heart through his rib-cage, and pull it out. The now dead Nephi slouches and Hawkens drops the body. Twilight, using her extensive medical magic, is able to cleanly sever the head from the body. She then proceeds to put the severed head in her bottomless saddlebags.
"How the hell do you fit everything into those saddlebags?" I ask her.
"I put a spell on them that quintuples their internal size."
"Well ok then. Next target is Moto-Runner. I guess it's time to go into the hive."
After returning back towards Camp MacMaren, we enter the ruins that are supposed to house MarkStable 3, the center of the Fiend operation. Upon entry, we are seen by two Fiends who shoot at us with varmint rifles. Shiara proceeds to cut them up with her Machete. We continue on, further through the "hive." There are a few more Fiends every so often as we move along the fallen or partially standing buildings. I can tell we are getting closer to the stable because there are more and more of the raiders coming across us. Soon enough, we are swarmed. Twilight has a field around us that blocks weapons fire. Stardust is popping out of the field every so often to zap the occasional grouping of Fiends. As they get closer to us, Shiara jumps out from nowhere and cuts them up, before disappearing back into whatever ninja dimension that she come from. Hawkens and I can only sit back and wait for the onslaught to end.
"FLARE, HAWKENS!" Twilight yells at us over the sound of weapons and falling Fiends. "I'm going to teleport up to that building to get a better sniping zone. That's going to leave you two to fend them off."
Hawkens and I jump up, flapping our wings to stay up. Hawkens cracks his claws and says, "Bring it on." Twilight teleports up to a three story ledge and begins to snipe down Fiend after Fiend. Hawkens and I, on the other hoof, fly into the fray and take on the pegasi that are keeping Stardust from moving very far. Hawkens takes advantage of the fact that he is airborn to shoot his shotguns into the groups of pegasi. The recoil from each shot sends him flying back a good 10 feet, but there are no buildings at his height so he can easily recover in time to reload and shoot down another group. He also manages to use his grenades again when he cuts one of the pegasi, leaving a gash big enough for him to shove a grenade in, blowing him and another 4 fiends to kingdom come. I, however, am flying around with my grapples out, cutting down Fiends left and right. In a few minutes, the Fiends are reduced to corpses on the ground, some smoking.
"Well I'd say that that is taken care of, now to the stable." I say to nopony in particular.
We head off towards the direction where all of the Fiends seemed to be coming from, and find a still standing building. It's more of a garage of sorts, leading down towards a large metal door in the shape of a golden Lyre. I walk up to the console next to the door and open it. Inside is a mare with a hunting rifle on her side.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" She asks. "Get the buck out now before I kill you."
"Um...no." I reply before sending a grapple through her eye. Not shortly after, the Fiends swarm through the entrance to the rest of the stable to try and kill us. Instead, they come face to face with Hawkens shotguns. Needless to say, there were no more Fiends in our way. Unfortunately, the recoil sent him into the stable door. "We really need to find you those gems."
"Yeah, no recoil would be nice." Hawkens replies, his head wobbling around a bit. Twilight walks over him and uses her magic to heal his newly created concussion.
"You guys go ahead." She says to us. "We'll catch up later."
Shiara, Stardust, and I move on through the stable. Each room we enter has a group of Fiends that are quickly cut down by Shiara or electrocuted by Stardust. I have my rifle out, with the spell-packs for ammo, ready to take down whoever in in our way. I hear an explosion in the distance along with echo of party horns.
"Twilight must be using the party cannon." Stardust observes from the sound.
"I pity the foals who mess with her." I reply.
"Who are you?" Stardust asks sarcastically. "The original Iron Will?"
"Just practicing, in case I need to."
"Whatever the scenario, I will stand beside you. I will stand by you through thick and thin, and ensure that we win."
"Yes indeed Shiara, and I appreciate that. Now then, my E.F.S. is pointing lower, so Moto-Runner must be in the depths of this stable."
"Then let's go." Stardust replies before galloping off in one direction. She soon gallops back to us, with a veritable hoard behind her. In quick response, I change my rifle to Pyre mode and rapid fire off some pyre bursts. The result is a mass of burning Fiends, screaming in pain and rage. We quickly run off in the other direction, and after a few twists and turns and stairs, we find ourselves in what looks to be the maintenance wing, which is confirmed by my Pip-Buck. Since my E.F.S. seems clear of reds, we decided to loot the area. I find some big rounds, some pre-war potions, and a memory sphere. I proceed to download the memory into my Pip-Buck and it says that it will take 5 minutes to download. Once we are done looting, we move further on through the stable. As we get further in, the walls appear to be covered in more and more blood. Surprisingly, there are few Fiends in the halls of the stable, but soon enough, I can hear the sound of an engine. It gets closer as we get even further in the stable until, after opening a door, I can see the pony who must be Moto-Runner. He is a cyber-pony like I was. He is an earth pony, black coat with a crimson mane. His cutie mark looks like a body cut in half. His two front legs are replaced with makeshift mechanized arms with claws. He is sitting in a junk throne in the center of the room with two dogs on his sides, and in front of him is a chainsaw, stuck in the ground.
"So you must be the vigilantes who have been destroying my Fiends. TIME TO DIE!" He yells, pointing a metallic finger at me. His dogs instantly charge at me but Shiara cuts them down. He angers at this, stands up on his back legs, picks up his chainsaw in both claws, and charges at me. At the same instant, Twilight teleports, with Hawkens, behind us. In the time before Moto-Runner gets to me, I say to the group, "Let me take him. Stand back unless I am going to get my head cut off." I bring out my grapples and prepare to fight. He tries to bring his chainsaw down on me but I bring both of my grapples up to block the attack. The chainsaw connects with the metal of my grapples, bringing sparks. It hurts like hell but I hold my grapples against it. With some effort, I repel the chainsaw and jump away before it can drop back onto my head. I then leap back at him, lit up more than normal. He sees me coming and swipes at me with a claw. He hits the side of my head, drawing blood. This lights me up even more, and I fly at him for a headbutt. I'm moving to fast for him to dodge to my head connects with his side, burning him. The metal of his armor melts into his skin, causing him to yell in pain. I take this moment to bring both of my grapples down on one of his arms, where it connect to his body. The metal joint disconnects and the arm falls to the ground with a loud clang. This causes him to drop the chainsaw, due to its weight and lack of an arm. With this opportunity, I send both of my grapples through his chest, and bringing them out the sides. Twilight severs the head with her magic and puts it with all of the others.
"Let me heal you up Flare, who knows what else Moto-Runner damaged other than your face." Twilight says to me.
"Fine, gives us a chance to see what this memory i picked up is." I reply before laying down and setting my Pip-Buck into the projector mode. A still image begins to appear on one of the walls, showing what must have been the Over-mares office.
Other than the Over-mare, who's memory we must be seeing since we are seeing behind the desk, there is a white unicorn mare with a black, flowing mane. Her cutie mark is an open eye with six lines extending out of the pupil, forming a circle. Suddenly, the mares eyes start to glow a bright white and she starts to rise. Our host perks up at this, and begins to pay more attention to her. Now the unicorn begins to speak, but it sounded like multiple voices speaking at the same thing at the same time.
"THE FIRES OF DETERMINATION MARK THE BEGINNING OF THE END! THE BRUTE FORCE OF JUDGEMENT WILL BE THE SECOND, AND WILL GO ALONGSIDE THE FLAME! THEY WILL BE CALMED BY CORRUPTED EMPATHY, AND HEALING WILL SPREAD! HIDDEN WISDOM WILL GUIDE THE SURVIVORS, AND GIVE THEM THE ADVANTAGE WHEN NEEDED! SHOCKING RESPONSIBILITY WILL REVEAL ITSELF, AND MORALITY WILL FOLLOW! ALL WILL HAVE THEIR INTEGRITY TRIED, AND MOST WILL BREAK, EXCEPT THE ONE WITH AN IRON WILL! THE END WILL OCCUR AFTER THE RISE OF MACHINE, AND THE WORLDS FIRST DESTRUCTION!" She then fell on the floor and the Over-mare rushed to her side. The unicorn began to wake up again and the Over-mare asked.
You now deal 10%(40% overall) more damage with your grapples and can lift 10%(40% overall). Your grapples are also 50 less likely to break. You are 20% more dexterous with your grapples, increasing lockpicking skill.
"Let's get out of here before any more Fiends show up." I say to the group.
"Agreed, but how do we get out?" Hawkens asks.
"Just follow me." I set off in the direction my Pip-Buck tells me to go, thank you E.F.S. Anyways, I lead the way back up through the maze of a stable with little interference from the Fiends. A few try to be smart and sneak up on us but they are easily taken care of. By the time we get outside, the sun is going down and the clouds in the sky glow with a red and orange hew.
"Dang, we've been in that stable all day." Hawkens states.
"Yeah." I reply. "We need to get those heads up to Camp McMaren before they start to rot."
"Dahtri is unavailable at the moment." One of the NCR soldiers tells when we ask for him. "Try again after sunrise tomorrow."
"Thanks." I reply. Turning to the rest of the group, I say. "Well, may as well get some rest."
We all head towards the skycarriage and get in. It is surprisingly large on the inside, with 6 bunks on one side, a stove, refrigerator, storage chest, and cupboard on the other, and still had room for the New Equestrian Solar Power Core towards the back, which was the size of a pony. Anyways, I get in the bunk above Twilights and instantly fall asleep. When I wake up in the morning, Hawkens is already making something that smells delicious. I get out of the bunk and see that Twilight is still sleeping, and she looks very cute. I go over to Hawkens and he gives me a plate of food and grabs some for himself.
"It's a mix of various plants, all edible, flavored by some honey that I found in the cupboard."
"Sounds delicious." I say before grabbing some of it with my grapples and eating it. It is, as always, delicious. After I finish eating the delectable dish, I go wake up Twilight.
"Twi. Wake up." I whisper. "Time to go and have some more adventures."
Her eyes slowly open and she yawns awake. Her normally streamline mane is now shaggy with bedhead.
"What time is it?"
"It's time for you to wake up. Everyone else is already awake and Hawkens made breakfast."
She lifts her head into the bottom of my bunk at the mention of Hawkens and breakfast with a bonk.
"I take it you want some food."
"Get out of my way hotshot." She replies.
"Whatever you say egghead." She glares at me and I just crack up and move out of her way. I then go outside and the sun's heat wakes me up even more. I sit down at the side of the skycarriage and turn on the radio.
"GOOD MORNING MIDDLE GROUND! Ready for some good news? The Fiends are done. Our favorite flaming pegasus and his comrades took down their leaders yesterday. If I were them, I would head over to the NCR base at Camp McMaren and pick up their bounty. In other news, Redwing Lucy, the head of the Thorn, is looking for new hunters to collect creatures for the fights. Also, reports of a strange pony who knows about the future have been sent from my sources at Fortification Hill. Lastly, it seems that a new species of mutated creatures is appearing. Reports of doppelgangers killing whomever they look like and then feasting on the body have recently come to me. The reports are only coming from the edges of the New Pegasus territory so don't stay off the roads if you have to leave the area. Tune in later for more updates on the wild wild wasteland. For now, have some music."
"Did she say Redwing Lucy?" Hawkens asks, his head poking out from the doorway to the skycarriage.
"Yeah, why?"
"We need to go to the Thorn. She is a long lost friend of mine."
"After we collect the bounties, we'll go."
"Thanks." He replies, lightly punching my shoulder. "I owe you one."
"OK guys." Stardust says, trotting towards us with a sack of caps in her mouth. "The total bounty for the Fiends was 2000 caps."
"Nice!" I reply. "Could you give those to Twilight? After you do, we need to go to the Thorn."
"So this is the Thorn." Twilight observes, looking at the signs above a ponyhole in the ground that say Thorn. Hawkens pry's open the ponyhole cover and jumps down into it.
"Wait for us!" I shout after him, jumping down after him, followed by the rest of the group. It looks less like a sewer down here and more like an underground town. I follow the sound of Hawkens claws to a huge pit in the middle of the room. I can see Hawkens running towards a griffin overlooking the pit. The griffin notices Hawkens and, even though her face doesn't change, I can tell that something is going on inside her head.
"Lucy, is it really you?" Hawkens asks the griffin.
"Yes it is you dolt. I'm surprised you're here, after the raid and all." She replies, punching his shoulder. She's a bit smaller than Hawkens, but not much. She also has a red tint in her feathers, making her look crimson.
"Well, as of late, it's been a bit harder to stay out of trouble." Hawkens says. "I'd like you to meet my friends. Lucy, this is Stardust, Shiara, Twilight, and Flare."
"The pleasure is mine. So what brings you here?" She asks us.
"Well, I heard your name over the radio, and had to see if it was you."
"I'm sensing you two have some history." Stardust interrupts.
"Yeah, Hawkens and I were part of a caravan of survivors. We had barely escaped a Legion raid on the town where we lived with other griffins and pegasi. Hawkens and I were hatchlings back then. After a couple years of wandering with our group, we were ambushed by raiders. They killed almost everyone. I saw Hawkens and some others fly away but the only ones who weren't shot down were Hawkens, his parents, my uncle, and myself."
"Wait, my parents escaped?!" Hawkens asked with excitement.
"Yeah, I thought you knew." Lucy replies.
"No, but this is great news. I wonder where they are."
"The direction I saw them fly off to was towards New Equestria."
"Oh." Hawkens says quietly.
"Look, I'm sure they're ok. I mean, one of the founding members of New Equestria was Gawd, a griffin. Not to mention that they are non-violent means that they have to be safe."
"I suppose you're right. Anyways, I heard you were looking for hunters." Hawkens responds. "Well I would be glad to help."
"WHAT!?" Twilight and I shout in response.
"Only for a while. Besides, I'll be back on your team immediately after I'm done here."
"But how am I supposed to fly the skycarriage on my own?"
"How about this." Lucy interrupts. "We'll take care of the carriage until Hawkens leaves. That way it will be safe and you won't have to worry."
"I suppose. Well, Hawkens, stay safe my friend."
"Don't worry, as you know, it takes a lot to take me down."
"Whatever, anyways, what is this place?" I ask Lucy.
"I am insulted that you don't know of this place. The Thorn is a place for ponies and creatures to fight for the amusement of others. If you want, you can fight in the arena." She replies to me.
"Why not. What do you have for me to take down?"
"You can have your choice. We have various creatures for you to fight, anything from Bloatsprites to Hell Hounds and everything in between."
"Well give me a warm up, something strong, but not too strong." I reply
"I have something in mind. Head down to the arena gate and when you're ready, head in, or you can just jump down there now."
I leap down and wait for the opponents she sends my way. After a minute or so, three giant mantises come through the gate on the other side of the arena. When they come at me, I whip my grapples at them, cutting straight through two of them and then, when the last one charges at my head, I lower my head and burn it to death.
"NEXT!" I yell up to Lucy.
"Very well!" She yells down to me, and then nods to one of the ponies near at the edge of the arena. Soon enough, three radscorpions rush through the gate on the other side of the arena. I pull out my rifle with both grapples and fire off magic at them. They can take a shot or two but on the third they vaporize. Two down, and one is about to get me, so I leap over it, gaining more air with my wings, and land behind it. I put away my gun and with my grapples, cut its stinger off. Now with it unarmed, so to speak, I send a grapple through its head.
"Come on!" I yell to her. "Is that the best you got!?"
"VERY WELL!" She yells down to me. "I have recently come across some new creature to fight, and I don't know their power. You want to test them out?"
"BRING IT ON!"
"Suit yourself. We don't have many so I am only sending one out." She replies before nodding towards the same pony as before. Soon enough, a new creature comes out of the gate. This one is defiantly some sort of insect pony with a black exoskeleton and a dark blue shell of sorts on its back. It also has holes in its limbs, horn and wings. Instead of normal hooves like your average pony, this thing has full blown scythes that it walks on instead. When it sees me, it rears up on its hind legs and screeches at me, revealing a wicked set of fangs. Its horn begins to glow a strange green and I start to get a headache. I close my eyes to try to block out the pain and after a few moments, it stops. I open my eyes and in the place of the creature was Twilight.
"What the hell is going on?" I ask nopony in particular.
"FLARE!" Twilight yells from the scaffolding above the arena. "THAT THING JUST CHANGED INTO ME! IT'S A FAKE!"
"WHAT?!"
"I thought as much." Lucy starts.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!"
"When we captured it, it continuously changed into impersonations of those we cared for the most. We believe that this is what has become of the Changelings after the war."
"THAT THING IS A WHAT NOW?!"
"JUST KILL IT FLARE!" Twilight shouts at me. The moment after she says that, the creatures horns begin to glow and suddenly, the earth around us shoots up and forms a dome in the stadium. Inside is pitch black, except for the glow of my fire, and the only sounds are my own breath and the creatures hoofsteps.
"What are you?" I ask into the darkness.
"We are the Changelings. We have been empowered by our queen and soon, we will become powerful once again." It replies in a raspy voice
"What do you mean by 'we'?"
"That is none of your business pegasus. All you need to know is that your pitiful life will soon be over. Don't worry about the unicorn that you love, we will take good care of her."
"WRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" I shout, my fire rising and filling the room with light. I can now see the creature, directly in front of me, with a scythe-claw about to spear through my head. I roll back right as the scythe comes down and strikes the floor, cracking it.
"Yes, burn up your oxygen supply even more. We don't need any, and it will simply bring your death quicker."
"And what is that supposed to mean, bug?"
"We don't need to breath like you. We are higher beings than you." It replies before flying at me, scythes outstretched. Before it can get to me, I jump above it and use my wings to keep myself aloft. Suddenly, the makeshift chamber that the Changeling thing made is filled with a blinding light.
"FLARE!" Twilight shouts for me after teleporting into the chamber. "GET TO ME RIGHT NOW!" I dive to her and the second I make contact with her back she teleports us out.
"That thing needs to be put under lockdown or killed now." I say to Redwing Lucy after I catch my breath. "Whatever it is, it is contact with a hive mind and has metamorphic powers along with regular magic."
"How do you know it is part of hive mind, and what is that anyways?" Lucy asks.
"It means it's part of a collective conscious, an entire species that have mental links to each other, linked through a single mind, usually a queen of some sorts for insects like that one. And I know all of that because first, it was always referring to itself as we, suggesting a larger mental force behind it, second, in New Cloudsdale, I was at the top of my class in the science department, which includes biology." I answer with a smug grin on my face.
"So, that's bad right?" Hawkens asks.
"Of course it's bad. If it is still linked to a hive mind, it could be communicating with the queen or whatever is in control of the hive as we speak. Secondly, it can use the communicative abilities of the hive mind to relay any and all information it sees and hears to every single member of the hive mind."
"SOMEPONY OPEN UP THAT CHAMBER AND KILL THAT THING!" Lucy yells.
Some pegasus with what look like giant hammer gloves covering its front hooves flies down to the edge of the chamber.
"Boss, its making some sort of tapping noise!"
"Morse code. Something bad, this does forebode."
"Shiara, are you sure?" I ask her and she nods. "Stardust, blast a hole in the chamber."
"With pleasure." She replies before jumping up from where she was laying down and blasting a hole in the side of the chamber and the creature shoots out of the smoke and slams into the ceiling with a bang. An instant later, it begins using its scythes to dig through the ceiling.
"Stardust?" I ask her.
"Gotcha." She proceeds to target the creature, and hit it with 100000 volts of pure pain. When the smoke from the shot clears, the creature is still digging.
"What the hell is that thing?" Twilight asks.
"I have no idea." I reply. "It's a bug, so I am going to try and burn it." I proceed to hook up the pyre to my rifle and take aim. Shortly after, I send pyre burst at the creature very quickly and repeatedly. The creature catches fire but keeps on digging. It does however, slow down notably.
"That thing is unstoppable." Lucy observes.
"Lucy. Do you have any taint around?" I ask her.
"Flare, what are you thinking?" Twilight asks.
"Yeah, why?" Lucy replies.
"I am already a tainted pony. The more taint I absorb, the more heat and fire I generate. I am already as hot as my pyre, maybe more will make me hot enough to kill that damn thing."
"Are you sure?"
"Flare, stop and think for a second."
"I already did. If we can kill that thing, then the entire hive will know that we are powerful enough to kill them." I reply to her. "Bring me some taint."
Lucy motions urgently to two of her subordinates and they rush off. A few seconds later, they rush back with a small bucket of taint. I nod to them and they heave the taint my way. I close my eyes as it splashes over me. I can feel my body changing on the inside and a little on the outside. When I open my eyes, I examine my body as much as I can. I can see the inorganic parts of my wings are glowing hot, and my grapples are also glowing hot.
"Let's do this." I say before lifting off and rushing at the Changeling mutant. I slam into it, knocking it out of the hole it was digging. On the way down, I whip it with my grapples, sending it to the ground. After it hits the ground, I slam down on top of it, and try to stab it with my grapples. They easily go through its exoskeleton and into its chest, making a hissing sound and the flesh boils. "Hello Changeling Queen. We know how to defeat you now, so back off!" I say to the Changeling mutant, knowing that the queen can hear me through the hive mind. To finish it, I get angrier at it, for impersonating Twilight. My fire gets larger and hotter and proceeds to surround the two of us. The fire gets closer and closer to us until it engulfs us entirely. When the fire dies down, there is only a charred husk remaining of the changeling.
"And that, is how we do things around here." Twilight says to Lucy.
You can now control the element of fire. Your mane and tail can now be controlled and manipulated easily by your mind. Your body can generate enough heat to melt low grade metals.
"So what are we going to do now Flare?" Stardust asks me after we leave the Thorn.
"Well, Pon-3 asked for a favor. May as well do it now." I respond.
"And what did mom ask you?" Twilight asks me.
"Apparently, there is a Protostable that was for the original Pon-3 out here. Rumor has it that there are records in it that haven't been heard since before the war."
"Well, where is it?"
"It's a bit north-west of New Pegasus. Near a cliff." I reply.
"We still have a bit of sunlight. Maybe we can get there before the fall of night."
"Only if we hurry Shiara."
We all head out at a fast paced gallop, well, flight in my case. After a few minutes, Twilight thinks to me, 'Slow down hotshot." in a joking tone. I look back and notice that they are all a good 50 feet behind me. Seeing the opportunity, I decide to show off. I climb through the air, a trail of fire and heated air behind me. I do some loops, dives, and even manage to create my flaming tornado. When they pass under me, I fly back over them, but at their pace.
"Any more fancy tricks of yours you'd like to show off?" Stardust asks me sarcastically.
"Yeah, but they are a lot more fancy."
"Well then. Hay, will you look at that." Twilight says, looking in the direction of New Pegasus. I look over in that direction and see the beginnings of a pure white tower, where the massive elevator connecting New Pegasus to the ground was.
"I guess Pon-3 was right, they really are building an SPP tower out here."
"Good thing too, since the elevator went out as soon as Mr. Stable was disconnected." Twilight responds.
--------------------------------------------
"Well, this is the place." I say, having arrived where my Pip-Buck told me to go.
"Not much of anything, just a cliff." Twilight observes.
"Well, the Protostable is supposed to be out here." I reply.
"Well, looks like it ain't." Stardust comments.
"Let's look around. I'll turn on Pon-3 for the time."
"GOOOOOOOD EVENING MIDDLE GROUND! This is DJ Pon-3 here bringing you the latest news and all the hits. Let's get to the news. It seems that Red-wing Lucy got her hunter, and an old friend by the sounds of things. And remember the reports of doppelgangers, turns out that they were the Changelings of today. Our favorite pegasus managed to kill one, so they can die. It also seems that the NCR is managing to get the Dam to work again, and they are getting more power than they used to. Lastly is that an investigative group from New Equestria has been spotted near the Flutterpeak Mountains. I guess that rumor about them thinking they found the resting place of Rainbow Dash is true. That's all the news for the moment, so enjoy some beats. This one is a rendition of a song that I sang with Pinkie Pie way back when, sung by every-ponies favorite post-war singer, Velvet Remedy!"
Suddenly, the cliff begins to open as the music begins to play. A few moments later, a steel wall with an image of a music note is revealed.
"This must be it." I comment.
"Well, let's go." Stardust says.
I trot up to a terminal on the side of the door and hit some buttons, opening the stable. The stable door slides to the side, revealing one of the Protostable of Parties. Inside, it was dark, and smelled of alcohol. I walk in and naturally, light up the room, revealing skeletons of ponies, all of who appeared to be facing the door.
"What do you think happened?" I ask.
"Who knows, but whatever it was, some of the skeletons look as though part of them was blasted away." Twilight suggests.
"Link us." I order to her.
'Done.'
'OK team, any we are looking for anything that could be used to store music records. Twilight, you go with Stardust and take the left. Shiara, you're with me. Twilight, how good are your at picking locks?'
'Well, I can use my magic to map out the lock, but the precision stuff, not the best at.'
'In that case, just teleport the safes to the atrium. We will all meet up there in 2 hours.' They all nod to me in understanding. I head out of the entrance room, into a hallway, and turn right. Shiara, of course, close behind me. If it weren't for my fire, we would have been entirely in the dark. Fortunately however, I am practically made of fire, giving ample lighting.
'Oh yeah. Everyone, try to find some sort of weapon that Stardust can use in close quarters without killing us all.'
'Roger.' Twilight thinks in response.
Shiara and I continue through the darkened stable, looking into rooms every so often, finding the occasional skeleton and a lot of empty bottles. At the end of the hallway was another split path. I headed right again and after a minute of walking, find a door that has Security on the sign above it. I open the door and see 10 security bots, and jump back out. Shiara sees my look of fright and pokes her head in.
'They are all deactivated. They won't turn anyone from living to dead.'
'Thanks Shiara.' I reply before heading back into the room. I trot up to one of the bots and investigate it. I find a hatch in the back and open it, finding a control panel. I hack into it, almost locking it down completely. I am able to make it friendly and then turn it back on.
"Hello sir. What can I help you with?" The robot asks.
"Tell me what last happened at this Stable." I order it.
"We received information that one of the inhabitants of this Stable was working for the zebras. Security conducted an investigation and found…Records not found."
"What was this purpose of this Stable?"
"The inhabitants of this Stable were directed by Stable-Tec to…Records not found. The inhabitants of this Stable instead researched sonic amplification technologies and weaponization technologies. They also spent a greater majority of their time partaking in recreational activities."
"Thank you."
"My pleasure sir. Have a nice day." The robot replies before wandering back through the door to security and wandering through the Stable. Shiara and I stay behind and I investigate the room. I find a safe and start cracking. I insert my grapples into the lock and see what I can do. After a few minutes and almost cracking my grapple tips, the lock clicks. Inside I find some old sparkle packs, healing potions, pre-war coins, and some sort of device that I have never seen before. The Pip-Buck doesn't recognize it either which is strange. I decide to put it in my pack just in case. I find some more safes and they only have coins and caps, not complaining. I head back out and go through the other side of the hallway. After a few minutes and more doors, I open one of the doors to find a mass of terminals.
'Found the computer mainframe.' I think to the group before linking into it. A menu pops up with the option:
-------------------------------------
Access Archives
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I of course, access it and a sub-menu pops up.
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Access Sonic Research Files
Access Recordings
Access History Files
-----------------------------------
I start by accessing the History Files. There are 10 files that I can access. Three of the catch my eye, that and the other seven were in the New Equestrian History class in New Cloudsdale. The first one that I pick is on the history of Protostables.
----------------------------------
A Brief History of Stables: Vol. 8: Protostables., By Hearth Stone.
As I mentioned in my previous books, Stables are underground shelters, created by Stable-Tec during the great war, to protect pony-kind from any kind of disaster that could befall us. Stables can be found mainly in the country of Equestria, but there are some that are found outside of Equestrian borders. The Stables found outside of Equestrian borders are found either in the Middle Ground or the Sea-Pony Ocean. The most interesting ones are located in the Middle Ground. They are called Protostables, and are the most advanced stables ever built. Unlike normal Stables, Protostables don't have the cog doors that Stables and Submarine Stables have. The doors are instead based on the cutie marks of prominent ponies from the pre-war time period. Protostables also didn't have to undergo the same social experiments as the Equestrian Stables. They instead were dedicated to research and development of sciences using resources found during the war. They are also more secure, being locked from the outside with passwords. Caution must be taken when dealing with Proto
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'Flare, we found a HUGE safe in the atrium, which seems to be a party room. Anyways, the safe is larger than an Alicorn so... can you come open it?'
'No problem. I'm just at the data center now and will be there soon. Just let me download some files.'
'OK, the atrium shouldn't be to hard to find. The music in here is very loud.'
'Got it.'
"Shiara, you go meet up with them. I'll be along shortly." I tell her. She nods to me and trots off, leaving me by myself with the terminals. A few minutes later, the downloads are done so I set out to find the atrium. The Stable is still pretty dark but thanks to my fire, I can see everything around me. I can see the skeletons of ponies, some with bottles near their hooves. As I go further through the Stable, I can hear music coming from further inside. A minute later, I can feels bass through the floor. I recognize the music playing as one of the Tavi and Scratch numbers Pon-3 played on the radio. A few minutes later, I see a door that had a sign above it that had been painted over. It now read "PARTY CENTRAL!" I trot through it and the music nearly deafens me.
'I CAN BARELY HEAR MYSELF THINK!' I think to the group.
'YOU'RE TELLING ME!' Twilight thinks back.
'WHERE IS THE VOLUME CONTROL IN HERE?'
'NO CLUE!' answers.
I fly over to the DJ stand and find the fallen skeleton of DJ, that even has a pair of sunglasses over its eye holes. I hook my Pip-Buck into the stand and look over the command prompt that comes up. I find the one that goes over the volume setting, and set the volume to mute. The room fall silent, and I can finally hear myself think.
"That safe I was telling you about is right behind you." Twilight tells me. I look behind me and see a huge safe, nearly twice as tall as I am.
"Let's do this thing." I say before I begin to examine the safe. The locking system is certainly pre-war, but at par with safes made today. "Can't be cracked through magic, but is pickable. It's going to be difficult."
"Well, good luck." Stardust tells me.
I turn back to face the lock, and insert my grapples. I tense one of my grapples, making it thinner, and relax the other, making it thicker. I move the thin one further in the lock, the hook of it nudging the tumblers. I leave the thicker hook at the entrance to the key-hole, keeping one tumbler in place. I nudge one of the further back tumblers, knocking it up in place. I bring it back to the next tumbler, knock it up, but it falls back down. A shock flows through my grapple, into me, making me jump. I shake it off and try again, with success. I move back again, and knock up another tumbler with success. I do the same thing again, and again, and again on the last one. I pull out the thin grapple, and turn the lock. The safe opens with a satisfying click. I nudge the safe door open and inside, must have been this Stables most impressive creations ever.
"What the hell is that?" Stardust asks, her mouth agape.
"It, my friend, is a mech suit." I reply. Inside the safe was a version of power armor that was twice as large as a normal pony. It was missing a head piece, but it has jets, and a massive battle saddle of what kind I have never seen. On one side was a much larger version of my rifle, and on the other, was some kind of weapon that I had never seen before.
"Twilight, can you..."
"Already on it." She answers my unfinished question, levitating the suit out of the safe. Now that the safe is in better light, mainly mine, I can see the rest of it. The unique weapon extends to be as long as the suit. The suit itself is colored black, with blue and green accents along the back and legs. It also has spikes at the joints, and the tail of the suit is surprisingly not there. On the front right leg, above the knee, is a gap in the armor, that has wires and other circuits surrounding it on the inside.
"Damn. This thing is easily more powerful and high tech than even some of the stuff coming out of New Equestria today." I comment.
"How does it work?" Stardust asks.
"Hell if I know, but it looks as though it has a Pip-Buck interface. Let me hook in." I answer before connecting to what appeared to be a Pip-Buck link. The suit immediately comes to life, the green and blue coloring glowing, both weapons glowing along power and magic conduits, green for the rifle and blue for the other weapon. The back splits open along the middle.
"Looks like a place for a pony to fit in, just deep enough to be snug. Also looks like its freezing up on the inside. Is it malfunctioning?" Stardust asks.
"I think that the suit is adjusting, for me maybe? Makes sense that it would super cool the insides so I don't melt it. I'm getting in." I say, disconnecting my Pip-Buck from the suit, dropping my weapons and armor, flying up to the opening, and falling in. It is very snug, especially with my wings folded at my side. My body instantly begins to heat it up, but is cooled by the suit itself. The suit connects completely to my Pip-Buck and a few new things appear in my vision. The E.F.S. is still at the top of my sight, but below it is a new gauge, and I have no idea what it means. Another gauge appears above my ammo count. It has a shield next to it so I presume that it is suit integrity. Lastly is an altimeter.
"Flare, I know why there is no tail." Twilight says. "It's because your tail is hanging out."
"Interesting." I reply. "Now let's see how this works." I move my front leg up and bend it back, and the entire suit leg does the same. The stranger thing is that my actual leg didn't bend at any of the joints. I walk around, and the suit moves for me, banging against the ground with each step. "Seems that it takes over my neural control and changes it to control the suit itself. Twilight, punch the suit." I tell her. She does and I feel it as though she punched my back leg.
"Did you feel that?" She asks.
"Eeyup. Hey, could you take the pyre-magic canisters and hook them to the side with the rifle. I saw a slot that should fit at least one."
"No prob." She replies. When she does, the ammo bar in my neural interface shows a second ammo type available.
"Thanks. Hey Shiara. is there anything more in the safe?"
"Yes indeed, something else inside. These must be the music records that they tried to hide." She answers in her rhyming voice, holding up a box of music records in her hooves.
"I guess now we can get on out of here." I say.
-----------------------------
"I still can't believe you made it out here with that suit, let alone that you are going to keep wearing it." Stardust says to me, trying not to laugh.
"Yeah, well neither can I. And I am going to wear this thing for as long as I like. I needed new armor anyways, may as well use Protostable armor. Could you tell Pon-3 that we have the records please."
"Yeah sure. I'll also tell her that you grabbed a souvenir." She replies before wandering to the side.
"Thank you. I wonder if she knows what this other weapon is." I say, talking about the glowing blue gun.
"Try firing it off at something." Twilight suggests.
"Yeah, but what?"
"How about you fight something in the Thorn." Stardust suggests, getting back from informing the good DJ.
"Yeah, maybe in the morning. It's pretty late out here as it is." I reply. "You three get some sleep. I'll keep watch."
"Suit yourself." Twilight says with a wry smile on her face.
"Very punny egghead." I reply.
"Shaddup." She says before chucking a can of food at me. I extend my grapples to catch it, or I would have if they weren't inside the suit. Turns out, the suit has industrial chain link grapples instead, and I catch the can in one of the hooks. Using the other one, I punch a hole in the top and swallow the contents, heating them up and I eat them. I lay down in the suit as the girls go to sleep around me, since I generate the heat of a fire. While they are sleeping, I read through the other downloads that I got from the Protostable, informing me a lot about sonic sciences and how power suits work.
-------------------------------
"My turn to stand guard hothead. You need to sleep to." Twilight says to me after she wakes up around midnight.
"Thanks." I whisper back, and fall asleep.
-------------------------------
When I wake up, the sun is already up, and the girls are all getting ready.
"Ready to see what this bad boy can do?" I ask.
"Why not, then we can compare it to Sparky." Stardust answers back.
"Actually, I was thinking one quick fight in the thorn, and then heading back to New Pegasus to give Pon-3 the records.
-------------------------------
"Welcome back Flare." Red-wing Lucy says to me as I trot up next to her. "How did you manage to get in here with that massive suit on?"
"Twilight teleported me."
"Well then. Can I offer you a fight?"
"Give me a Hell Hound, would you kindly."
"My pleasure."
I jump down to the arena, the ground still cracked from my fight with the mutant Changeling. My landing cracks the floor even more. A few moments later, the fence on the other side of the arena lifts up to reveal a Hell Hound, which charges straight at me at breakneck speeds.
"LET'S SEE WHAT THIS THING CAN DO!" I shout, rearing up on both hind legs, slamming them down directly in front of the Hell Hound, causing it to fly back. I slip in to S.A.T.S. and target the beast with the mysterious gun. Letting the system do it's thing, I fire the gun. and what happened next, was totally awesome.
*WUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUB*
A solid beam of blue energy shoots out of the gun, wavering like sound coming out of it. The beam rips straight through the Hell Hound, leaving only its feet where the rest of it was.
"HELLS YEAH!"
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Level Up-Lv. 19.
Perk Added - Honey, Wheres my super suit?
You have learned how to operate a Mech Suit. You can effectively operate any power armor without penalties.
"The hell was that Flare?" Stardust asks me after I decimate the Hell Hound.
"I think that was a bass cannon." Twilight comments.
"Whatever it was, it was AWESOME!" I shout. I jump back up, and I would have flown with my wings, if the jets didn't start up since my wings were trapped in the suit. The four jets on each of my shoulders roar to life, spitting out magically generated fire to lift me off. I end up above the rafters above the arena, and gently ease myself down. I notice the strange gauge that I noticed earlier is dropping as I remain flying, and begins to fill back up after I land.
"Aren't you just a trotting death machine?" Twilight says to me.
"You know it. Anyways, let's get to Pon-3 and give her those records."
"Agreed." Stardust says.
"So how exactly are we going to get up there without the elevator?" I ask as we arrive at the new SPP tower construction site.
"What about the Camp McMaren teleportation center. It's a direct link to New Pegasus." Stardust suggests.
"What do you mean we can't get into New Pegasus?" Twilight asks the NCR guard.
"The teleporters are reserved for NCR personal and V.I.P.s."
"I am the daughter of DJ Pon-3. If I am not a V.I.P, then you stallions have your priorities messed up!" Twilight begins to rage at the guard.
"I am sorry miss, but unless I get the order to let you through, I ain't budgin."
"One second then. Stardust, can you call mom for me?"
"Sure." Stardust replies. She inserts her ear-bloom and a few second later, is speaking with Pon-3, I presume. "Yeah, the guards won't let us teleport up. Yeah, Twilight told him, still wouldn't let us through. No, we are not going to blast our way through, though that would work. We can't fly the skycarriage because we don't have Hawkens right now. Look, I'm sorry, but could you help us get up there. Thank you and see you soon." She takes her ear-bloom out and turns back to us. "She said that she was going to send a message down that should let us get up there."
"Ha." Twilight almost shouts at the guard. "Told you that I was important."
A few moments later, the guard holds his hoof to his ear. "OK, you can go in. Sorry about earlier, but protocol is protocol." He moves to the side and lets us through the door. Inside is a circular room with a giant diamond in the center. There are twenty unicorns in the room, each standing at the edge of the room. It seems that the diamond must amplify the unicorns abilities because each unicorn is linked to the diamond though cables on their heads.
"Just go to a unicorn, they'll do the rest." Another guard in the room informs us.
We all go to a unicorn. The one I pick has to get up on his hind legs to put his horn on my head. His horn begins to glow a shade of gold that soon covers my entire body, and armor suit. I close my eyes as the glowing intensifies and when I open them, I am standing on the metal that makes New Pegasus accessible to all ponies. I look around and see the girls appear shortly after.
"Well, let's go give Pon-3 her records."
"These are perfect. Thank you very much Flare. Don't think I haven't forgotten about our deal. Rex! COULD YOU COME IN HERE!" Winter, a.k.a. Pon-3, shouts for Twilights brother.
"Yeah mom?" He asks, skidding around the corner of their penthouse.
"You still have that prototype thing for Flare right?"
"Yeah, I'll go grab it." He replies before dashing back around the corner. He comes back with something glowing in his horn. "I specially modified the components to be heat resistant, since, well, you know."
"Thanks, but what is it?" I ask him.
"It's a sonic resonator. It..."
"I know what that does." I interrupt. "It has sonar abilities, and some other stuff, right?"
"Yes." He says, obviously bummed that he couldn't explain the whole thing. "But it can also stun ponies at close range, and it also amplifies your E.F.S."
"Thanks. I presume you are going to install it."
"You got that right." His horn glows a little brighter and the resonator moves towards my Pip-Buck. "Twi, could you cast a numbing spell on him. I heard he got fused with his tech."
"Yes he is." Her horns glow her three colors and it feels as though my entire hoof goes away. Rex opens up my Pip-Buck, tearing a bit of skin with the lid, making some plasma leak out. He then slides the resonator into the Pip-Buck, does some fancy magic, then closes it. Twilight then uses her magic to heal the wound and then releases her magic.
"YOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! That frickin hurts!" I shout.
"That's why I had sis numb your hoof. Anyways, it should be working already."
"Thanks. So Winter, heard anything interesting lately?"
"The NCR is looking for you. I think that they are going to go after the Legion soon, and they want your help."
"Thanks." I reply before getting up and heading out to Camp McMaren.
"Speak of Discord and he shall appear." Dhatri says as I walk into Camp McMaren. "We were just talking about you Flare. What do you say about helping us take out the Legion once and for all?"
"I'm in, but I am doing it with my team alone. I trust them completely and I know how they work."
"Suit yourself, but I am going to have a ranger team waiting as backup for you if you need it."
"Works for me. Where's the first target?"
"First, we go to Nelson, then is Cottontail Wood Grove, and lastly, we will make our way to Fortification Hill through the Damn. The other NCR squads are going to take on other bases at the same time so it will be over quickly enough."
"So this is Nelson." I say, observing the Legion base, from a cliff above it, after a week long trot since we don't have the ability to fly the skycarraige.
"Doesn't look like much." Twilight comments. "I could take out at least 5 of them before they even notice."
"Indeed you could. Let me sonar this place first." I reply before triggering the new sonar feature on the Pip-Buck. Sonic pulses, far to high pitched for ponies to hear, radiate from my Pip-Buck. Soon enough, a map of the area appears on my screen. "Looks like they have hostages, and dogs."
"Ok then, protect the hostages, and get them free."
"Agreed. Shiara, could you do your thing and get the hostages free? Twilight, take out as many as you can. Stardust, do your thing." Shiara vanishes like the ninja she is, Twilight readies her sniper, and Stardust prepares to jump into action. As soon as the hostages vanish from their holds, the Legion begins to scramble. Twilight takes out a few before they find her and begin to fire. At this point, Stardust jumps from the cliff, over the fence, and on top of a Legionnaire. She is obviously targeted due to Sparky so the Legion swarms her, and she looses electric blast after electric blast. They are however, beginning to overrun her, so I jump into the fray as well. My landing makes the ground shake and everyone falls to the ground, even Shiara appears from her ninja dimension on the ground. She quickly gets up, vanishes, and I see a head fly off a body. The Legion turns towards me, looks in awe at my armor, and then charges me. I, in response, fire off the laser rifle and send my iron chains at them. The rifle instantly vaporizes three into pink dust and the chains grab two more and throw them in the air, high. Stardust takes this opportunity to electrocute another group of Legion who are being wary of me.
"HALT! You have violated the law of Caesar. Submit now and await trial." A zebra in fancy Legion armor shouts to me.
"Fuck that." I reply, then turn to him and fire off the bass cannon. "Well that about settles it. Next stop is Cottontail Wood Grove." I tell the girls.
"Never thought we would be back here." Stardust says.
"Agreed, but this is the Legions second largest base of operations out here. Its how they get to Fortification Hill." I reply.
"Indeed it is. How do you think we should handle this place?" Twilight asks me.
"Well, Stardust and I would go through the main entrance, guns blazing. Shiara would do her ninja thing, and you could snipe from here." I say, since we are on an overlook that is a good 50 feet above the camp. "You could teleport down when you get bored or it looks like we need help."
"Works for me." She replies.
"And me. Let's see who gets more kills today."
"Agreed, and so we shall. This begins the legions downfall." Shiara comments.
"Want a ride down?" I ask Stardust.
"Eh, why not." She replies before jumping on my back.
"LET'S DO THIS THING!" I shout before jumping off the cliff. immediately before I hit the ground, I fire off my jets, slowing me down. This draws the attention of some of the Legion guards. Stardust jumps off my back and shoots them with Sparky, making them char grilled.
"Two."
"Not for long." I reply. I trot straight into the camp, and a good deal of the legionaries try to shoot me. In turn, I incinerate them with the Pyremagic. "Four."
"Twelve." Shiaras voice whispers in my ear.
'Ten.' Twilight thinks to me.
'I guess I need to step up my game then.' I think back to her.
'Just maybe. Eleven.'
"I COULD USE SOME HELP HERE!" I hear Stardust shout. I charge to her location and see that there is nothing around her.
"What's wrong?"
"Shadow Demons." That's when I notice that she has four shadows radiating outward like wheel spokes.
'Twilight, what do you know about Shadow Demons?'
'They can fade into shadows for one, and the longer they are in ones shadow, the weaker that pony becomes.'
'Well how the hell do you get rid of them?'
'You could find a way to make the entire area dark, making shadows disappear.'
'Can't do that.'
'Then you will have to wait for them to spring out. and kill them then.'
'Wait a minute, get Shiara over here.' I order her.
'Done.'
"You called Flare." Shiara states. "What brings despair?"
"Shadow Demons. Can you get to them with your ninja powers and whatnot?" She nods yes and draws her ceremonial dagger. She jumps to each of the shadows and stabs them with it. The shadows rear up out of the ground revealing the Shadow Demons true forms. The have the normal bodies of zebra for the first half, but their back halves are serpentine. They also have pure black eyes and strange fangs. I send my grapples at two of them when they pop up and hook their sides, drawing black blood. I rip them back and then whip them into the ground, shattering their skulls. The other two however begin to fade back into the ground before Shiara or I can get them.
*BAAAAAAAAAAAANG!* The other two Shadow Demons turn into swiss cheese by the looks of it. I look up and see my favorite griffin, Hawkens, tumbling up into the air and righting himself in front of the sun, looking heroic.
"Looks like you guys need some help." He states with joy.
"Thanks for the assist." I shout up to him.
"No prob. When did you get that wicked armor get-up?"
"After you left. When did you get that Pip-Buck?" I ask him, noticing a glimmer of steel above his right claw.
"Found it near the Quary. Had to get some Hell Hound pups for Lucy, so I did. I found it on my way out along with some black gems."
"Noice! Now how about we get back to winning."
"Agreed." He replies before flying into the fray. I follow closely behind and crush a few zebra under my hooves, incinerate some more, and of course, blast the rest with the bass cannon. Hawkens of course, does fancy aerial manuevers that always end in divebomb shotgun blast that send him a good 30 feet back in the air.
'Is that...Hawkens?' Twilight asks me.
'You bet your horns it is.'
'Good. Cause it looks like they are getting reinforcements.'
'Wait, what?' I ask. I take flight and look around. I notice a squad of 10 zebra coming from the river on a massive raft that could easily hold 50 zebra. I also notice 10 spiraling shadows coming from each zebra. 'Wha...HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSSED TO HANDLE 50 SHADOW DEMONS?'
"EVERYPONY OUT NOW!"
"Why?" Stardust asks me.
"I'M BURNING THIS PLACE TO THE GROUND!"
"Works for me." Hawkens comments.
"Good. NOW GO!"
"It's unwise for you to do this." Shiara says to me. "Just make sure this isn't a hit and miss."
"Don't worry Shiara, I can handle this. Better to remove the entire zebra base here before the Shadow Demons arrive."
"When you are done with your pyromania, I will return and help with the Demons, and maybe even save ya."
"I'll be waiting." I reply as she vanishes yet again. 'Everypony out Twilight?'
'Uh huh. You're good.'
"Then lets...DO THIS THING!" I shout, gathering pyremagic from my canisters and drawing it into my own body. My mane and tail, in turn, grow in size until I am generating an inferno that that seems as powerful as the Balefire Bombs I have read about. The inferno begins to swirl and grab the surrounding structures. The fire spreads and soon begins to burn everything, including the all of the bodies of the dead. A few moments later, I hear cracking, and not the kind that comes from burning wood. 'Pon-3 said that the Legion had Balefire Eggs, right?' I ask Twilight.
'Yeah, why?'
'Found some.'
'Get your ass out of there Flare.'
'Sounds like a plan.' I reply, taking flight towards the cliff just as the zebra reinforcements arrive. A few moments later, the Balefire Eggs go off, creating a rather large green mushroom cloud in the center of the grove. The shockwave from the blast sent me tumbling further up, to the point where I was at least 20 feet above the cliff that Twilight was hiding on. I begin to fall, my suit not responding. I can feel the suit heating up from my generated heat, much hotter than is probably safe for the suit. By the time I hit the ground, it is already melting, and I am lucky the neural uplink is down, or that would have felt like hell.
"Flare, are you ok?" Twilight asks, rushing to me urgently.
"I'm good, but the suit, not so much." I reply, and the suit drips off of me. Within a minute, the suit is just a puddle of melted metal and electronics at my hooves. "So much for a new suit or armor."
"Well, maybe the NCR can get you a good suit of armor."
"Maybe. All I know is, next stop is the damn dam."
"What about those other Shadow Demons?" Stardust asks, out of breath.
"They got hit by the Balefire. They are long gone."
"Well then, I would say that we win!" Shiara exclaims.
"So here's the plan of attack," A NCR officer begins, two weeks after I decimated Cottontail Wood Grove with the help of my team. Upon my arrival, the NCR gave me a nice set of Ranger armor. I nixed the helmet and has Shiara put one of her enchantments on it. "Flare, you and your team will go in and take out the Legion presence on the dam. Then, you will go and clear the Legion camp on the other side of the dam. Meanwhile, my troops will take Fortification Hill. You'll have Ranger backup as before, should you need it. Make any last preparations you need to, we strike at nightfall."
"How long do you think it would take me to fly to New Pegasus?" I ask Hawkens. It's 7 hours before the attack and I need to check something with Yes Stallion.
"Maybe two hours or so. Why?"
"I just need to check on something is all. When I get back, I am going to attach those gems to your shotguns. Should reduce recoil to almost minimal."
"Sweet. I'll be waiting." He replies. I take off from the camp at the dam and fly to New Pegasus at top speed.
"Flare!" Yes Stallion exclaims as I enter the penthouse after an hour and a half long flight. "What can I do you for?"
"We're about to fight at the dam. Is there anything that we need in there for our plan to work?"
"YES! Take this receiver." He replies, and a securitron buts something in one of my new bags. "Attach that responder to the control panel in the bottom of the dam. It will give me complete control of the power and I will be able direct it to the securitron army under Fortification Hill."
"Sounds like a plan." I reply to him before heading back to the NCR base.
"OK Hawkens, I need you to take your shotguns off for me to work on them. Twilight, could you do the spell?" I ask her. I had just arrived back at the NCR after another hour and a half long flight and it is nice to be in a tent with the gang.
"I can try, but no guarantees."
"I could enchant those gems for you. For me, it is nothing new."
"Thanks Shiara." I reply, hoofing over the 4 black gems to her. "I'll still need to see your guns to put them on correctly."
"Fine." He replies before un-strapping his shotguns. They are basically giant barrels with no clips, and instead of triggers, it has pull strings.
"Damn dude, how do these even work?"
"They just do. I made them and they haven't broke yet."
"I can tell. How thick is the barrel. I am going to have do make an indent to fit the gems on each side."
"Quarter inch thick Gildian steel. Toughest thing to come out of the griffin empire before the war."
"OK, will you still be able to use them if it goes down to eighth inch toward the end of the barrel?"
"Easily."
"Good. Let's get started." I say before bringing out one of my grapples. I use the hook to trace a pentagon on each side of the barrel, which is rather easy thanks to superheated me. I then bring the hook around the design I made until I have melted away all of the steel inside the trace. I do the same on the other side, and then on both sides of the other shotgun. By this point, Shiara has enchanted the gems, and hooves them back to me. I inspect them with my Pip-Buck to ensure that they are all good. They are, so I let Twilight levitate them into place. As each one falls in the proper slot, I take some of re-solidified metal and lay it around the edge of the gems, welding it, sort of, into place. "All set. Now you should have minimal recoil on these monstrosities."
"Thanks bro." He replies, punching me lightly in the shoulder. "YOW! Dude, you are hot. And not in that way you weird pony you."
I can't help but smile at this.
"Alright you guys, fight is starting soon." A NCR soldier says, sticking his head in our tent.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" I shout.
"Looks like fun." I say, observing the dam. "What do you know Twi?"
"Well, NCR was pushed from the dam while you were out. The big stallions of the NCR said they would be most appreciative if you could remove their presence from inside the dam."
"That works perfectly with the plans from Yes Stallion."
"Well then. Anyways, it looks like there are at least 50 zebra on the top of the dam, with many more coming. I can also see eyes on the wall shadows so I am suspecting more Shadow Demons. Where the hell are they getting that much taint?"
"My mother told me of shamans after the war." Shiara starts. "There were some who were overly fascinated with gore. They used their black magic to create some sort of body paint. In the end, it had the exact same effect as your taint."
"Just great." Hawkens complains.
"Yeah, well we have to deal with it and win." I reply
"Well, what are we waiting for?"
"Nightfall. The Shadow Demons will have to go inside since they can only be hidden in shadows."
"Fine." Hawkens replies. We spend the last hour before nightfall preparing everything. Hawkens checks that he has a full belt of grenades and his front pouches have enough shells to last a while I fill up my pyre canisters as much as I can and ensuring I have enough spell packs. Twilight sorts her ammo and then uses her magic to put us all in prime condition. Shiara sharpens her blades. Stardust checks the levels of Sparky and that everything is as it should be.
"OK gang, night has fallen, and the Legion is unprepared." I say to my team, giving a pep talk of sorts. "The goal is to eliminate the Legion as best we can. What the NCR doesn't know about the plan is that we are also taking the dam. When we get in the dam, we need to get to the control center at the bottom. I can use a receiver that Yes Stallion gave me to allow him to divert the dams power to the securitron army in Fortification Hill. After that, we can take out the NCR and Legion." I lead the group to the edge of the dam, my mane and tail lighting up the ground around us. "ONWARD!" I charge forward and take flight, Hawkens beside me. Stardust is with Twilight providing ranged support. Shiara of course is doing her ninja thing cutting down the Legion to her best ability, which is a lot. I start launching pyre at the Legion and Hawkens is raining grenades. Safe to say, the dam has turned into hell. I can hear both Stardust and Twilight firing their weapons with very loud bangs. I see Hawkens drop down on top of a group of zebra and he proceeds to cut one deep, shove a grenade in the wound, and take flight again. Before any of the zebra can register what happened, they explode. Hawkens roars in delight and moves on to another group. I head to the entrance of the dam and send pyre at the doors, burning the guards. I land down at the doors and wait for the gang. In a few minutes, we enter the dam and head down the stairs. Not even 5 seconds after we start down, the Legion is rushing up the stairs, sees us, and is about to attack if it weren't for the fact that I burn them all.
"They looked scared." Twilight says.
"Well who wouldn't be, considering that we are us." Hawkens comments.
"Still, I feel sorry that they have to fight against us. What horrible odds are against them."
"Regardless." I interrupt. "We still need to do this, so let's just make our way down and finish the job." As we continue on, I think I hear a faint buzzing, but considering we're in a hydroelectric dam, I ignore it. When we reach the bottom of the stairs, there is a hallway that splits off in two directions, one of which is caved in. Thus, we go the other way, and after a minute or so and a turn or two, we reach a locked door.
"Twilight, is there anything on the other side?" I ask her.
"Nothing living."
"Good enough for me." I reply before bringing out my grapples to pick the lock. I stick them in the lock and it melts. Luckily, the door swings open, as though I opened it. Inside, on charging stations, are defense robots. Not at par with securitrons, but still. They aren't active so that's a plus. I walk past them without setting them off and so does the rest of the group. On the other side of the room is an open door, which leads to another hallway. A few more minutes through that, we come across a room with two of the security robots guarding a large metal door. I move back around the corner leading to the room and motion to Twilight. She moves back around the corner, into the room, and from the light show, I can tell that she used her EMP spell. I lead the rest of the group around the corner and see the robots on the ground, sparking. I move past them and examine the door, which is locked. I decide to skip the picking process and just cut the door out, so, with my grapples, I melt the edges of the massive door and let it fall to the ground. Inside is empty except for all of the machinery. Stardust and Shiara wait outside as guards and I look around with Hawkens and Twilight until I find the main control panel.
"Twilight, inside one of my pockets is a receiver that needs to be attached to the panel. Can you levitate it out and into the slot there?" I ask her, pointing to a slot in the device. She uses her magic to grab the transceiver out of my pocket and levitates it into the slot. Hawkens, I need you to input some commands into the..." I am interrupted by a loud rumbling outside and dust falling from the ceiling. Shiara runs through the opening and begins to lift up the fallen door.
"What the hell is going on?" Hawkens asks.
"PINK TAINT IS FLOWING THROUGH THE HALLS!" Stardust yells from her position. "I'M USING SPARKY TO HOLD IT BACK BUT YOU FOUR NEED TO BARRICADE YOURSELVES INSIDE!"
"HELL NO! GET YOURSELF INSIDE!" I yell at her but Shiara has already sealed the door, due to the metal still being hot enough to re-fuse after I cut it. An instant later, before I can yell at her, the dam shakes again, and the room collapses on top of us.
"There he is, the prisoner of the hour. How's it going Flare?" A voice asks me as I begin to come back to the world of the living, again. I open my eyes and catch a glimpse of Chrystal Horn before I close my eyes again.
"Chrystal Horn, what are you doing?"
"OH it is quite simple. Since the Caesar sheltered me since I was kicked out of New Pegasus, I have been working for him, as head of interrogations. The best part is I can do whatever I want. Fun isn't it."
"Hardly." I reply. Now that I am awake again, I look around to gauge my surroundings. I am restrained on a stone table, probably so I can't burn through it. I see Twilight held up by the hooves, suspended in the air, still unconscious. Hawkens is thrashing like an insane creature, but is restrained with metal cables tied around his waist. Shiara is tied to a pole, also unconscious. Stardust is in a spiked cage so she can't move, since the taintbomb hit the damn and spilled pink taint everywhere and fused sparky to her back. "So what is your plan anyways?"
"Simple, I am going to eliminate your friends until you tell me how to control the securitron army that I know you failed to destroy."
"Don't you dare tell this scumbag anything unless it is a lie Flare." Hawkens says to me in the most serious tone I have ever heard from him.
"Since you decided to speak up first, I think I will start with you." Chrystal says to Hawkens. He then pulls out a griffin doll that even has the eye patch and scar that Hawkens has.
"What are you going to do with that?" Hawkens asks. "Give me a show?"
"Better. I am going to give Flare a show." He proceeds to move the dolls limbs and Hawkens limbs move in the same way. "As you can see, the doll is a metaphysical representation of Hawkens. If you don't tell me how to control the army, then I will rip the dolls head off."
"DON'T YOU DARE TELL HIM ANYTHING!" Hawkens yells at me.
"But then you will die."
"I don't care. I would rather die than let these glorified raiders have their way with the world."
"Have it your way." Chrystal says and with his horn, rips the head off of the griffin doll. Hawkens head flies off, gushing blood, as his body falls limp.
"Now to the traitor Shiara."
"It doesn't matter what you do. In the end, this day you will rue."
"Pity that one of the descendants of Zecora would have to die, would you not agree Flare?"
"Do not tell him anything, or the end of freedom, you will bring."
"Very well Shiara, I relieve you of your life debt."
"Thank you Flare. I wish for you no despair."
"Plea, have your way with her." The evil doctor says to his compatriot.
The horrors that the huge, black pegasus does next are not fit for any ears. They are so bad that I try my hardest to remove the images from my head. But in the end, I am always seeing her body, limbs ripped from it, brutally raped.
"That's enough Plea, our point has been made. So Flare, ready to spill the beans?"
"If I did, it would be ignoring the last words of both Hawkens and Shiara, who have been as much a brother and mother respectively in this hell hole of a world." I say before spitting at him.
"Suit yourself. Now to Stardust, what are we going to do to you?"
"It doesn't matter. The minute I die, Pon-3 will know, and then your murders here will be known to the world."
"Doesn't matter to me. Once this little project is over, the only threat to the Caesar will be either in my control or without its master. You know, I think that you should get electrocuted to death, like all of the legion that you have killed." Chrystal says before pulling out a button from under Stardust's cage. He presses it. Her cage, now full of electrical current, electrocuted Stardust. Her body spasms causing the spikes of her cage to dig into her body. "Well Flare, going to tell me?"
Now panting with tears rolling down her face, Stardust says to me, "You owe me nothing, so don't bother trying to save me." She then fires off sparky, electrocuting the entire cage, and her along with it. The lightning dies down and leaves Stardust's charred, lifeless body suspended in the cage.
By this point, Twilight has woken up and is crying in fear.
"Hello there Twilight, come to join the fun?"
"YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!" I yell at Chrystal.
"OH, what is this recent development?"
"If you touch even a hair on her mane," I threaten.
"Well I won't have to do anything if you just tell me how to control the securitron army now will I?"
"Look, let her go and I will tell you." I say to the bastard.
"Well how about you tell me first, then I let her go. That way you can't lie to me."
"Fine you sonofabitch. The only thing controlling the securitron army is an AI system that is loyal to me and those I approve of."
"Come now, tell me the truth."
"I am not lying you smug bastard." I reply. "Now let her go. I told you the honest truth."
"Well, since you won't tell me the truth, I am going to have to kill Twilight here. I think a live autopsy of an unusually tainted unicorn is in order. Plea, would you get my tools please."
That bastard actually did it. He killed Twilight. All of her organs were on a metal table next to her body. Among the organs were two foals, two months along the growth cycle, my foals.
"Well let me tell you, that was rather informative. Now I see why you were so protective of her Flare, you and she were in love, so cute. Too bad it had to end. Now are you going to tell me how to control the army or am I going to have to kill you as well?"
"I hope you die a cruel, cruel death." Is my only reply to him.
"Suit yourself. Plea, tie the weights to him. I will prepare the vat. Flare, now I get to see what happens to a Pegasus when they are overexposed to taint."
The giant pegasus comes over to me and clasps a steel ball and chain to each of my legs, which immediately begin to glow with heat. When he is done, Chrystal Horn is back.
"Would you carry Flare to the pit for me Plea, set him down, or throw him down, whatever you want."
Plea hefts me over his covered back and takes me to a more open area with a large hole in the ground, at least 15 feet deep. He bucks me off his back and I land face first on the ground. I don't even care anymore, there is nothing worth fighting for.
"Get ready Flare, the taint is coming. I would hold my breath if I were you." Chrystal says before starting magic, causing his horn to glow again. Pretty soon, taint is starting to flow into the pit through a pipe at the edge. I don't even bother trying to avoid it, I just let it wash over me. I feel the mutation advancing, my body growing hotter and hotter as the transformation advances more. I can feel the taint beginning to boil as my body grows hotter and hotter. I open my eyes and see that there is an area of ground around me where the taint has completely boiled off. My body is made of fire now, my breaths, also fire. My wings are molten metal mixed with bone and fire. I realize that now I must be at the final level of my mutation. Now I can get a worthy revenge for all of my friends, and my lover, Twilight. I get angry now, rage fills my body, mind, and soul. My body, in reaction, starts to burn white hot, and the flames growing in size exponentially.
"NOW YOU WILL PAY CHRYSTAL!" I yell at him, my voice now much deeper and sounds like multiple voices were speaking through me. I lift off, able to since the steel balls and chains had melted off a while ago. I see him smiling and this makes me even angrier, causing my fire to get hotter and hotter until I can no longer contain it. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" I release wave after wave of fire, incinerating everything in the vicinity of 100 feet easily. Even though this hits Chrystal, his burning body is still smiling at me. What happens next, I only know because my mind got a back seat for the ride. I go supernova, releasing the energy of at least 20 Megaspells. After that, I black out.
'Wha…what is that noise?' I think to myself, trying to lift my head while waking up to a strange noise that I can't quite describe. Something starts to appear on the edge of the pit. A blue box finally fades into view. It is a blue telephone box, with writing on the door that I can't read from here. The door opens and a huge cloud of smoke flows out, shortly followed by two ponies, one of whom is flying.
"No no no no NO!" One of them, defiantly a stallion says, with an accent. "This time stream is all screwy."
"What is it Doctor?" The other one, a mare, asks with a strangely cute voice.
"Something happened that shouldn't have occurred this early in this timeline, something that knocked that Tardis into this moment. Let me check." I hear a high pitched noise and see a bright green light coming out of the smoke. It points towards me and makes a higher pitched noise.
'What the hell is that. It better not be dangerous, 'cause I'm too tired to fight.' I think.
"Strange." The stallion says. "There's a life form over that way, though I can't tell what it is. The sonic doesn't even know. I must investigate." He jumps down into the pit and out of the smoke. He is a tan stallion with a spiked brown mane and tail, and he has an hourglass for a cutie mark. In his mouth is a strange device that has a green light on one end.
"Wait for me Doctor." The mare says before flying down. I can't believe it, because that has to be Ditzy Doo, from the descriptions that I have heard.
"I'll be, it seems that the life form is some sort of pony, which is on fire. Blimey, he is emanating a lot of power, and heat. What do you think of him Derpy?"
"Well, he has wings, but no horn, so he has to be a pegasus like me, but there certainly is something strange about him."
The stallion, who must be Doctor, scans me with that device in his mouth, and holds it in front of him with his hooves.
"We need to get him into the Tardis, and then take him back. He is part of a temporal anomaly that we need to fix, or I may need to remake the universe, again."
I proceed to black out again and wake up in some sort of futuristic, even by my standards, building.
"Doctor, he's coming to." I can hear Ditzy shout though it sounds distant, probably because I am just coming back to reality.
"Ah good." The Doctor says, galloping into the room that I am in, sliding around a bit reorienting himself to face me. "Now sport, you are probably wondering where you are, and I am wondering what you are, so how about you tell us your story and I will tell you mine."
"Just give me a minute, and something to eat, please." I reply. After I am fed with some delightfully delicious pastries from who knows where, I start my story, basically telling them everything up unto my premature death.
"Hold on, you say you're a pegasus with cyberwings, but you clearly have biomechanical wings and you are, quite literally, made of a plasmatic substance that radiates incredible amounts of heat. What is going on here exactly?"
"Well, it's a very long story involving some dear friends of mine that are recently murdered, along with lots of robots, a very dangerous pony-made mutagen, and lots of fighting centered around me. All in all, I'm a freak of nature who lost everything he was fighting for and now just wants to see the world burn." I reply.
"What if I told you I could help you get all of that back, and save the universe at the same time." The Doctor tells me.
"Then I would tell you to tell me everything you know or I would burn this entire structure down." I reply, in a monotone voice..
"In that case, I guess I have to oblige. You see, I am called The Doctor, and I am a time traveler. This is my assistant, Ditzy Doo, or Derpy Hooves, she is fine with either name." He says, pointing a hoof at Ditzy.
"We're acquainted, in this time. Anyways, go on." I interrupt.
"Something caused the Tardis, the time machine you are in, to crash into this time period and this point in space. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you caused the anomaly."
"Probably, what was the anomaly?" I ask.
"It was some sort of solar explosion emanating from this plane, which is strange because there is not a sun inside this planet."
"Eeyup, that was me. When you were outside, did you notice how the entire surrounding area was burning. That was me, in my rage. As of now, you are in a room with a living bomb much much more powerful than a balefire bomb and has near infinite detonations possible."
"Yep, this is the temporal anomaly alright. Flare was it, I need you to follow me. I have something that you may be interested in." The Doctor says to me before walking off. I follow and he leads me into a room with a surgical table and about 100 different tools, most of which, I have never even seen.
"This is the Tardis's bioscience room. I believe it will be able to reduce your, taint was it?" He asks me. I nod yes. "Yes, it may be able to reduce your taint levels, reverting you back to a less mutated version of yourself. I can then take you back in time to the beginning of the time flux, replace your current memories with your own older ones, and then stop whatever it is that is causing the alteration of the timelines."
"I have no idea what you just said, but if you can take me back and let me save my friends, I'll do whatever you need me to."
"Good good good. DITZY! Please start up the Biofield containment around Flare here while I prepare the substance extractor and the metafilter."
"OK Doctor." She replies before flying up to a control panel, and using a device of her own similar to the Doctors, cause a field to surround me, lift me up, and take me to the bench.
"NOW JUST RELAX AND THE TARDIS WILL TAKE CARE OF THE REST!" The Doctor yells from wherever he is, while at the exact same time, one of the hundreds of tools begins to move on its own. I feel a sharp prick on my front leg and hold it up to see a drop of blood bead on the surface of my skin. I start to feel sleepy and once again, I black out.
"There he is. How you feeling?" The Doctor asks me as I wake up.
"Not different really. Why, did the plan work?"
"Take a look." He replies, stepping out from in front of a mirror. I see my reflection and I look like I did before I started generating pyre constantly. It's very impressive.
"Dang, what exactly did you do?"
"Well, it would involve a lot of complicated words and terms that your race is just not ready for. Basically, I injected a serum into your body that caused it to revert to what it was like before the time stream was manually changed. Now, I am going to use the Tardis to lock onto the time stream that this body belongs in, and we are going to send you back. I am also going to kidnap your younger self and fuse your bodies. Side effects include loss of skills, a second personality, and a strange sense of knowing what is going to happen before it happens. That last one is because I will have to erase your memory of everything that happened after the time stream was altered. You will, however, retain your memory, vaguely, of the events that transpired up to the point where you first encountered us."
"I don't care. Just send me back so I can save my friends, and the world."
"Then let's go!" The Doctor says enthusiastically before galloping out of the room. Ditzy and I follow and find the Doctor at a strange contraption that must have been the control center for the Tardis, as he called it. "You may want to hold onto something. First time riders tend to experience some turbulence."
"Whatever, just get us going."
"Suit yourself." He replies before pulling a lever down then shoving it back up. The entire Tardis shakes and after a few minutes, it stops. "Welcome to the exact moments before the time stream was altered." He says before jumping out of the doors, and into the sunlight. I follow and I see a group of legionaries marching quickly, and in the distance, a group of 3 ponies, a zebra, and a griffin.
"Is that my group?" I ask.
"Yes indeed, right before these nasties decide to attack you by the looks of it." He replies.
"Is there anything we can do?"
"Stop them of course." He replies. "How do you want to handle this?"
"Well, one of them has grenades on them. Do you think your future tool thingy can detonate them?"
BOOOOOOM!
"See for yourself." he replies. I look to the sound of the explosion and see that there is a pool of pink taint and body parts scattered around the area of detonation.
"Well I think that about solved that problem. Now to meld you with, well, you." He says before using his tool on the group and on me, causing the group to fall unconscious by the look of it, and then do the same to me.
"Guys, I have a bad feeling about helping the NCR. Like there is something else we should be doing." I tell the gang, after everyone has woken up from the mysterious blackout.
"Like what?" Stardust asks.
"Like, skipping the whole NCR plan all together and getting to part two, uniting the good Middle Ground clans and eliminating the bad ones."
"Well, you're the boss Flare." Stardust says. "Where to?"
"I think the Steel Rangers would be a good start. Getting such powerful allies would be very helpful." I reply. "Let's go ask Yes Stallion where they are."
"Flare my good friend," Yes Stallion says as we trot up to him in the penthouse. "What can I do you for?"
"I have a bad feeling about helping the NCR. I think getting the Middle Ground to prime condition should be priority number one. Where can we find the Steel Rangers?"
"Well, Mr. Stable had been looking for them for a while, and some of his scouts were shot down with magic weapons near Hidden Valley. You may want to start there. Anything else I can help you with?"
"Thanks. We're good for now. Be back when I am done with the Steel Rangers."
"I see it, I see it." I reply to Twilight, who has been insisting that I have yet to see the bridge that I can see right now and is pointing it out. There's not much there, but I can see two ponies crossing it. One of them looks up, and begins waving at us. I point them out to Hawkens and we angle down to land on top of the bridge. The girls all get out, Hawkens and I unhook ourselves, and the one who waved rushes towards us.
"Hello!" she almost shouts to us. She was wearing a brown leather, hooded armor cloak. She flips back her hood and reveals that she is an earth pony, due to the lack of wings and horn. She also has silver mane and coat, with green eyes. If I wasn't already with Twilight, I probably would have tried with her.
"Shimmer, what did I say about talking to strangers." The other pony, a stallion by the voice. He is wearing worn combat armor and tinted goggles. He has a silver coat, like the one he called Shimmer, but he has a black mane. He also has a huge bumper sword on his back.
"Oh you are just to suspicious Shatter. You heard the radio transmissions. This one looks like the one Pon-3 has been going on about."
"Eh whatever." Is his only response.
"Not to chatty, is he?" I ask.
"Oh don't mind my brother. He's just being his usual grumpy guts." She replies. "Names Shimmer, and silent treatment over there is Shatter. We're the Steel twins.
"Nice to meet you." I reply. "I'm Flare, and this is Twilight, Hawkens, Shiara, and Stardust." I point out the remaining members of the group as I say their names. "So what are you doing out here in the middle of the middle of nowhere?"
"Trying to get by really. Also trying to find some family friends who are somewhere out here. Hey, on a completely unrelated note, what do you know about the Steel Rangers?" Shimmer asks. "We had a run-in with them and so now I'm curious."
"We're actually trying to find them, possibly even ally with them."
"Well, can we come with?"
"I don't see why not."
"Sweet." She replies. "Also, the reason I asked is because we are actually Knights of Applejacks Rangers. Bad things happened to our old chapter and we heard about a chapter of the Steel Rangers out here. You can probably put the rest of the pieces together."
"Damn, can't see a thing in this sandstorm." I complain to nopony in particular. "Doesn't help that whenever I open my eyes, I get sand in them."
"Stop complaining and get yourself a pair of goggles like me." Shatter retorts at me.
"Shaddap will ya. Umph." I grunt after hitting something. I rub my nose and continue on. "Ow. Found something." The group come to me and we find ourselves looking at a metal door.
"This has to be it." Shimmer says, reaching up to the door handle, turning it, and prying the door open. Inside the open door is a simple stairway down, which we follow through. At the bottom is a large open room filled to the ceiling with crates, except for a path through the center which leads to another door, which has a com speaker next to it. "This is probably a checkpoint of sorts. Let me do the talking." She walks to the com, and taps a button on it. "This is Shimmer Steel of the Octavian Mountains Contingent. Our base of operations was overrun and we are the last remaining members."
A few minutes pass and then. "Come in. Leave your friends outside the secondary entrance. They may be admitted upon further inspection."
"I'd say that about did the trick." Shimmer says to herself, full of self pride. "What are you waiting for, an invitation from Celestia or Luna? Come on." She gallops through the now open door, and we all follow. On the other side, there are 6 Steel Rangers waiting for us. One of them, without his helmet.
"You two, rangers, what exactly is going on here?"
"Well, I am Shimmer Steel, and this is my brother, Shatter Steel. We were attacked by a band of the Insurrectionists that had managed to find our base of operations. To my knowledge we were the only ones who managed to escape. The ponies here helped us along the way, and actually want to help you." Shimmer answers the helmet-less ranger.
"Interesting. I'll talk about it with Head Paladin Hawkeye. Wait here" He orders before trotting off.
"So then..." I begin, trying to make small talk. "You said you were members of Applejacks Rangers, and that you were defeated by raiders?"
"Yeah. We had a base in the Octavian Mountains. An installation to be made before the war, but abandoned on the final day. We were going to begin scouting out the Middle Ground but a day before that, a group of unusually organized raiders who called themselves the Insurrectionists managed to take us by surprise. They knew what to do, to eliminate us. It was, disturbing how much they knew." Shimmer replies.
"Sorry I asked."
"Well well well what do we have here?" A griffin in power armor comes out the door that the other ranger went in.
"What's a griffin doing in the rangers?" Hawkens asks.
"Why can't a griffin join the ranger?" the griffin asks. "I'm Head Paladin Hawkeye. I think the Elder will want to see you."
"Lead the way." I reply. Hawkeye leads us through the underground shelter that these rangers call home Might I say, they love their turrets. There is a magic turret in every corner of the dang place. At the end of our makeshift tour, Hawkeye leads us down some stairs which lead to the Elders room. It's a large, circular chamber with a desk of sorts for the Elder, a dark grey pony with a white mane and tail in some kind of robes, in the middle and on one of the walls is a giant map. On either side of the passage we came through, there is a paladin standing guard.
"So you are the fledgling knights who escaped a raider onslaught of your chapter, and you gained the assistance of these wasteland mongrels. Why were you not acting under the order of shadow opps given when the upstart Applejacks Rangers came to be?"
"Well, you see Elder, we were, but we ran out of resources and couldn't salvage any, then these nice ponies saved us." Shimmer replies, and she nearly convinces me of the lie.
"I guess that works, but still. Anyways, you ponies say you want to help us?"
"Yes sir. Anything you need done, we're here to help."
"Well there has been some activity from the NCR around here. We can't let them find us. Can you go handle the situation?"
"No problem."
"In that case, pick one of your traveling companions. The rest will stay here, to ensure that you return and don't flee. If you do not return, we will kill them."
'That smug son of a bitch, may he be smited by Celestia.'
'I thought you pegasi weren't religious?' Twilight asks me, through her thoughts.
'I'll tell you later.' I reply, thinking to her, rather than out loud. "I'm taking Twilight. She's my medic and who knows what could go wrong with my luck."
'So what's with the Celestia thing?' Twilight thinks to me after we exit the bunker.
'I know that they weren't gods or anything.' I reply to her. 'But they still managed to keep the sun and moon under their control while they were alive. Gotta have some big power to do that. I'll go as far as to say that they were demigods, but nothing more. Besides, since I don't have any gods, I don't have to worship them as such, but I can still use them in foul language. Besides, what kind of gods would let the world turn to this kind of hell? It was regular ponies who saved Equestria, not the Alicorns.'
"I guess you're right on that." She agrees with me. "But it is still nice to have something to pray to. Something that, even though it may not be what you think it is, still has prestige, and that can be a little uplifting in these times."
"I can see where you're coming from, but since I have you, I don't need anything else to lift my spirits." I tell her, causing her to blush and look away.
"Thanks." she whispers.
"No problem. Now then, let's find that NCR stallion." I say
"Hey, you two." A voice shouts. I turn to look at it and see a NCR stallion.
'Kill or persuade?' I think to Twilight.
'Well, the poor colt doesn't know what he is dealing with. Just scare him away, or I can persuade him.' She replies.
'I think I'll turn up the heat.' This causes Twilight to giggle quietly.
"What are you two doing out here?" The NCR stallion shouts to us. "This is dangerous territory."
"You got that right." I reply to him, and for some reason, I get angrier at the NCR and I don't know why, just that death is in my memory relating to them. It causes my to light up, causing a look of fear on the stallions face. He fires off a round from the rifle on his side, nicking my side, making me angrier. I fly straight at him, loosing my grapples. I grab his front hooves with each grapple, whip him back over and around my head, and launch him back where he came from.
"Dang. Where'd all that rage come from?" Twilight asks me as she comes up to me.
"To be honest, I don't know."
"Well, it was kinda scary. Just let me look at that bullet hole of yours."
"It's just a flesh wound." I reply but let her look at it anyways. A few moments of magic later and the wound is good as new.
"Well done." The Elder commends us. "Nice touch with the whiplash launch. You and your friends can come and go as you please. Now, if you want, we could use a bit more help."
"Well, that's what we came to do." I tell him.
"Listen up then. Since we are under lock-down, nopony can leave the premises, unless they have special permissions. I sent out scouting teams a while ago but we haven't heard from them in a while. I want you to go find them, and retrieve their memory spheres. One team went to Black Mountain, another to the Repcon headquarters, and the last went to Nelly Air Base."
"No problem." Hawkens replies.
"Good. You can access some of our armory if you need to for the time." The Elder tells us. "You can also come and go as you please."
"Thank you. Now what if you'll excuse us, we'll get going on that mission of yours."
You occasionally get strange feelings about events to come or events past. You also get strange dreams when you sleep, possibly predicting the future. This insight gives you the slightest edge, increasing your luck by one, but can leave you paranoid, decreasing all non combat skills by 10%.
Companion Perk Added - Steel Twin Survival.
You are unaffected by the negative effects of natural food and medicine and gain more health from them as well.
As we near the marker, I spot some red marks on my E.F.S. before we go over a hill and motion for the group to stop. "Twilight, mind link us please." I order. 'Hawkens, go see what you can. My E.F.S. say non-friendlies are over that hill.' He nods and takes off into the air.
'Mutts. I think they are called centaurs. about seven or eight of them.'
'Roger that. Twilight, could you take them out?'
'Easily.' She replies before teleporting with a snap like a breaking branch. A few moments, and 10 sniper rounds later, she returns. "That's all of them. I also saw a few Steel Rangers in a crater of sorts. Some even had armor on."
"My brother could use that." Shimmer says. "He had training by wasn't ranked high enough to get any."
"Then let's get the armor and the memory sphere." I reply. We go down there but my Pip-Bucks radmeter starts to go off so I go ahead of them, since I am already mutated. I loot the bodies, getting some spell-packs and the memory sphere, as well as the armor for Solid. I gather it all up in my grapples and on my back and bring it back to the gang. Solid begins to put the armor on with Shimmers help and Twilight takes the memory sphere. "That wasn't too bad."
"Well, next stop is past Black Mountain." Twilight tells me.
After we leave the crater, we travel around Black Mountain and follow an old road until I can see what I think it the rocket of the Repcon facility.
"So, where is the Repcon HQ?" Shimmer asks me.
"It's on the other side of the old roadway." I reply. None of us talk the rest of the way to the building, but when we get there, I can see a few maintenance robots still running, floating around. They leave us alone and we go inside. Inside are the bodies of a few raiders near a door with a terminal on the side and a computer terminal on the other side of the room. I jump behind the terminal and plug in my Pip-Buck. There is no password but I find some emails from before the war. I read over them and find nothing of major importance. I go to the door and plug my Pip-Buck into the terminal on the side. This one is harder but within a few minutes, I have the door unlocked. Inside the unlocked room are magic weapons and spell packs galore, along with some stimpacks and pre-war money. I take the spell packs, Twilight takes the stimpacks, and we leave the energy weapons behind. Turning back towards the lobby of the building, I notice a maintenance robot hovering near the back of the room. I trot up to it and it turns to me.
"Welcome visitor." It says to me. "Are you ready to begin the tour?"
"Just give me a second." I tell it, trotting behind it. I open up the back panel and unplug its magic battery. "Hawkens, it's down. Feel free to get whatever you want from it. I have a feeling that this will be important." I finish with a key card in my mouth. I grab it with one of my grapple hooks and slide it through a door on the wall behind the remains of the bot. The door swings open and reveals some sort of museum. Inside are a bunch of old tech from before the war. A few rooms later is another locked door that opens with the key card. Inside is a model of the celestial system. At the back of the room is another door. I go to it and open it with the key card. On the other side of the door are some stairs which I fly over to reach a control panel, which has another key card on it. I pick it up and go back to the others, who are with Hawkens and the remains of the robot. "Wasn't there a robot here when I left?" I ask jokingly.
"Yes, and now there isn't." Hawkens replies.
"Well then. What say we find those Rangers." I reply before leading the group through a stairway on the back wall of the lobby room. The next floor is still standing, somehow, considering how few walls still completely standing. We move through the main hallway for a few minutes until we run into a security robot.
"You do not posses access to this area of the facility." It begins. "You have 10 seconds to vacate this area or you will be exterminated."
Twilight then replies to it. "How about, no." She then uses her E.M.P. spell on it and it falls to the ground. The second it hits, an alarm goes off. A klaxon wails throughout the entire building.
"Buck." I say under my breath. "OK GANG, WE NEED TO FIND THOSE RANGERS AND GET OUR FLANKS OUT OF HERE! FOLLOW ME!" I shout over the klaxon. I dash through the remaining hallways, up a flight of stairs, and end up in an even more unstable area of the building, since half the walls and part of the ceiling has collapsed in. Under the wreckage of the ceiling were the bodies of 4 Rangers. I run to their bodies, quickly search them over for the memory sphere, grab it, and get back to the rest of the gang. Once together, we immediately vacate the premise and get a chance to rest, since we had been active for a few days straight. "I suppose we should set up camp here, considering it's around midnight." I tell them after looking up, seeing the moon in the middle of the night sky.
"We'll take watch." Shimmer says, volunteering herself and her brother. "You guys need some sleep by the sounds of it."
We all nod our thanks to her and lay down around a fire that has been burning in a large barrel, and fall asleep.
I wake up with the sunrise, and see Shimmer and Solid standing resolute. I get up and stretch my legs and wings, crack my neck, and shake the sleep away. I look around and see that Stardust, Hawkens, and Twilight are still sleeping, but Shiara is nowhere to be found.
"Hey, do you know where Shiara went?" I ask Shimmer.
"She went out. Her exact words were. 'With danger growing for us each day. I need ingredients to make potions to heal us on our way.' So she should be back soon."
"In that case, I guess we wait, and if Hawkens wakes up, we can eat." I reply.
Hawkens ends up sleeping for another hour, by which time Shiara is back. Hawkens then makes all of us a delicious breakfast using the fire, still burning, in the barrel. After we eat, Shiara uses the still burning fire to make healing potions of all varieties. Once all of that is done, we head off towards the skycarriage so we can easily fly to Nelly Air Base. When we get to it, Hawkens and I strap in and, of course, everypony else gets in back. We take off and I point us towards the last remaining arrow on my E.F.S. After a few hours of flight, we near the airspace of the cloud base. At first look, you wouldn't think it was made of clouds, considering the fact that surrounded in some sort of metal covering, except for a few choice openings that I could see from here. We pass over a hill and I look down to see the remains of houses from before the war.
"INCOMING!" Twilight shouts. I look up and see 4 rockets flying at us.
"STARDUST!" I shout back into the skycarriage.
"ROGER!" She replies. Moments later, 4 rapid bursts of lightning detonate the rockets.
"Better pick up the pace." I say to Hawkens. He nods in agreement and with a flare of our wings, we launch ourselves forward at a breakneck pace. In a matter of moments, we reach one of the smaller openings in the airbase. We fly in and park the skycarriage in the back. Hawkens and I detach from the skycarriage and join the rest of the gang, who are prepared for violence outside the skycarriage. Instead of some sort of army, we only meet one lone pegasus, with a rocket launcher battle saddle.
"How did you get through?" He asks. "All my shots were perfectly timed and I was locked on to you."
"I have this." Stardust replies, pointing to her Tesla cannon.
"Is that a Tesla Beatdown Mark-IV!?" He asks in surprise.
"Yes it is. It also is modified with a hyperconducting coil for much faster shots. I'm surprised you knew what that was." She replies.
"We have a damaged Tesla Beatdown Mark-V Prototype that we have been trying to fix for years with no luck. Anyways, I am going to have to take you to the elder-mare for judgment. Follow me or we can eject this entire cargo bay at any given time, as well as any individual part of the facility." He orders us. We follow him because 5 of the group lack the capability to fly. He leads us through the air base, which has the same metal that was used for the massive elevator to New Pegasus for floors and walls. After a few minutes of walking, we end up in the central room of the air base. The ceiling is over 20 feet high and the room is large enough for 4 pegasi in astromechs, special mech suits made of clouds on the inside, covered in the metal that makes up the floors of this place and are larger than buffalo.
"So you are the outsiders who managed to get through our defenses." An elderly pegasus with a white mane and dulling orange coat who has a cutie mark that looks like a wing of fire. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"
"We were just sent to find some Steel Rangers who disappeared out here. They had something on them that we need to take back. Once we have it, we'll be out of your manes."
"You're looking for some iron-clad ponies right? Yeah, they got shot down when they tried to get close. We have their remains and what they had on them. Take what you came for and then get out." She replies. "Hot Shot, you take them back to the storage bay and the stuff they want will be there."
"Yes mam." The pegasus who escorted us here salutes. He leads us back to where we parked the skycarriage. When we get there, the bodies of the Rangers are waiting for us. Twilight uses her telekinesis to lift the memory sphere out from the bodies, puts it in her bag, and then we prepare to leave. With the rest of the gang in the back, Hawkens and I strap in, and we take off towards the Steel Rangers base.
A few hours after we leave the air base, we end up over Black Mountain. Not the smartest idea, considering that it is the base for the Alicorn Army of Doom.
"We got 3 incoming!" Twilight shouts to me from the skycarriage.
"I hear you loud and clear!" I reply. "Can you and Stardust try to do something about them?"
"We'll try." Stardust replies. Shortly after, a thundercrack sounds behind us, followed by a howl of rage from a wounded Alicorn.
"There's more!" Twilight shouts again. "And it looks like they have grenades! INCOMING!" Shortly after she shouts that, a grenade happens to land and get caught in between the harness holding Hawkens and me.
'I've seen that before.' I think to myself, when I notice the grenade. 'I know that glowing pink aura.' Sudden realization hits as I realize that it is filled with Pink Taint. "Twilight! ACTIVATE THE ANTI-GRAVITY ENGINE! HAWKENS! EJECT! THAT'S PINK TAINT!" After I shout warning, I hear the engine roar inside the skycarriage and Hawkens unhooks himself from harness. I do the same and grab the grenade with my one of my grapples, do an immelmann loop, and whip my grapples to launch the grenade at the Alicorns. One problem. The grenades doesn't get released from my grapples. Thus, I fly as fast as I can into the heart of the Alicorns, and let the grenade detonate behind me. The shockwave from the blast emanated from the direct center of the Alicorn bunch, disintegrating them, making me wonder at what it would have done to us if I hadn't grabbed it. I don't have much time to wonder on that because the pink taint from the grenade splatters all over me, causing a familiar burn as the mechanized parts of me join with the organic parts of me just a little bit more.
You have been physically altered by the Pink Taint. Your bone structure is now coated in the same metallic substance as your wings. You can also grow back lost limbs(both organic and cybernetic).