Twilight is back in Equestria after a year in the Mojave but things aren't like they used to be when a familiar friend returns
It's been a year since Twilight Sparkle returned from The Mojave Wasteland and she's having some troubles adjusting back to the quiet and peaceful life back in Equestria but she's in for a surprise when her past comes back to remind her what she escaped.
Now old faces come to Equestria and Twilight doesn't know if she's glad to see them again or worried about what else might come as well...
“Twilight, when you get angry you can’t punch the other pony,” Luna stated as she sat upon her throne, hoof rubbing her eyes tiredly. “Even if they keep do touching your wings…”
Twilight sat down on the marble floor in front of the throne, two uncomfortable looking royal guards sitting either side of her.
“I took it off because it gets uncomfortable sometimes…" The purple alicorn mumbled as she looked down at the floor in shame. "And I don’t think taking it counts as just ‘touching’”
Luna sighed sadly before turning her attention to the guards.
“Leave us.” She stated, all guards snapping to attention before bowing and leaving. Once the guards had all left the room, she stood from her throne and slowly descended the stairs. “I don’t envy what you went through… and I know that you had to adjust in order to survive in such a hateful place. But it isn’t like that in Equestria, you know that…”
“I know…” Twilight said softly, still not looking up.
“If it keeps happening, ponies might want you thrown in prison… you’re lucky this stallion isn’t pressing charges,” Luna said. “It might be worth thinking of anger management, on top of the therapy that we’ve already set up.”
Twilight grimaced at the thought of the ‘therapist’. She was meant to be the best in Equestria but was nowhere near good enough to help with Twilight with the nightmares she was having. What she ended up with instead was a mare that treated her like a foal with a bit of an attitude, and that really pissed the princess off.
“When you go outside you need to say sorry to the stallion,” Luna stated. “Then go home and spend time with your friends, maybe read a book, do something calming.”
The purple pony princess just sighed and nodded, not wanting to get into an argument even if she knew she was in the right.
Walking out of the hall she saw her six worried friends, as well as a sore looking Pegasus stallion with a brace around his neck and one of his forehooves in a sling. Walking up to said stallion she looked at him.
“Sorry for attacking you, Thunderlane,” She mumbled.
“It’s okay… the princesses are paying for my medical bills,” He said, his voice rough and croaky from being punched in the throat.
Nodding, Twilight turned and approached her worried friends.
“Let’s go home," she said, "I’m tired…”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Twilight spent the train ride in silence, her head resting on a hoof as she watched the clean and colorful landscape speed past. The bright greens and blues of everything seemed almost surreal to her after having been stuck in the Mojave where everything was mostly brown and grey, or a mixture of both.
Her friends, meanwhile, were all huddled together as they watched the princess. She had been acting like a completely different pony since she came back, being extremely easy to anger and prone to violence. She had also seemingly lost interest in things she used to care about, and refused to lease her house without some type of weapon on her. The knife wasn't a huge issue, as it was easily hidden, but when she had that loud 'L' shaped weapon on her ponies knew to avoid her.
Deciding that just hiding from the problem would solve nothing Rainbow stood from her seat and trotted over to the princess, taking a seat beside her.
“I don’t think I’ve seen Thunder that beat up since we had that weather accident a few years back," Rainbow said, lounging back in the seat. "Were you like that over in that other place?”
“Don’t try to make her feel bad, darling," Rarity said, approaching the two with a glare as she scolded the colorful pegasus. "It's already bad enough that she had to resort to violence, we don’t need her to be mopey on top of that.”
“No, I did mess him up pretty badly,” Twilight stated with a bitter chuckle. Pulling a metal flask out of her saddlebag, she unscrewed the top and took a sip of the burning liquid to mellow her out.
“Should ya be drinkin' at this time of day?” Applejack asked, approaching the group to voice her concerns.
“Probably not,” Twilight stated as she took another swig from the metal bottle. Deciding she had had enough for the moment, she screwed the cap back onto the flask and stored it.
“How’s Owlicious doing since you’ve been back?” Fluttershy asked timidly.
“He’s been avoiding me lately," Twilight grumbled. "He used to sleep in the library normally, but now he hides in the rafters during the day. But at least he seems happy around Spike…”
“We still haven’t had your coming back party,” A certain bright pink pony said with her normal happy grin.
“I don’t want a party...” the princess stated. “I don’t want to be around large crowds.”
“You’re a princess, crowds tend to happen,” Rainbow stated.
“Last time I was in a massive crowd," Twilight said, "half of them wanted to kill the other half.”
“You know that type of thing doesn’t happen here," Rainbow shot back. "there hasn’t been any serious fighting since Nightmare Moon.”
“Just be glad you weren’t in the Mojave…”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Twilight walked back into her empty castle, noting that there wasn't even a speck of dust around. Spike refused to accept the fact that she wasn't coming back and made sure the castle was kept clean for Twilight's return. Much to his surprise, however, when she did return he was shocked to hear that she didn't care one way or another, stating that during her time in the Mojave she was only able to bathe a few times during the year she was there and that she had literally spent most of her time sleeping in the dirt.
Upon her return she found that she was no longer able to sleep in her bed, it being far too soft for her. Unable to get comfortable in her own bed, she settled with spending the nights sleeping on the floor of her room with nothing more than a blanket and a pillow.
Spike had kept himself relatively busy since she left, pretty much becoming Ponyville’s handyman. Even though the other princesses said they would be more than happy to have cleaners and such take care of the castle for him, the drake just sent them away.
“I made oatmeal cookies, would you like some?” The dragon asked as Twilight walked through the castle.
“Yeah… I guess," She responded with a sigh, deciding she should stop pacing around. "I’ll be in my study.”
She didn’t really use her study for what it was intended for anymore, she felt restless with just reading books and wanted to do something instead. Inside her study were what would normally be expected; pens, ink, scrolls, and books. But there were also some things that she had brought with her from the Mojave. On shelves and in stands were her little trophies she had collected during her time in the wasteland, like the broken hilt of a Legate Lanus. There was her first pistol, complete with the scratches and dents from all the use in a locked case along with her revolver, Lucky. Her ‘armor’ was on a mannequin, the tears and bullet holes visibly stitched up. There was an unopened bottle of Whiskey and Nuka Cola, as well as a number of books. And finally, there was an old rundown teddy bear that she had on her desk, right next to a framed picture of her and all her friends from the Mojave that had been taken after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.
Sitting down at her table, she pulled the knife out of the sheath she had strapped under her wing and stabbed the tip into the corner of the table. Letting her head rest on the table, she closed her eyes as she just let her thoughts wander, something she found herself doing a lot lately.
“Lucky for you I was also making some cocoa,” a certain voice said as the patter of his claws on the marble floor.
“Thanks,” Twilight mumbled. Sitting back up, she looked over at Spike with a plate of cookies and a steaming cup with a smile. Reaching out, she affectionately ran a forehoof over the spines on his head. “Best assistant a pony could ask for…”
Spike beamed at the praise, placing the two items down on the table next to her. Taking a seat at a shorter table he smiled at the princess.
“Pinkie keeps telling me to help with a surprise party for you, but I know you really don’t want one," he said. "I’ve been trying to convince her otherwise, but you know how she can get.”
“She keeps bringing it up to me as well…" Twilight said. "It isn’t much of a surprise if I know it's going to happen.”
“I think she just doesn't want to scare you by having half of Ponyville in your room all of a sudden,” Spike said with a shrug.
Twilight picked up one of the warm cookies, smiling softly at the homely smell from them before bringing it to her mouth and taking a large munch. They were moist, but not so much so that they become soggy, with a nice crunch on the outside that made it pleasant to bite into. Picking up the hot mug, she took a drink from the liquid inside and tasted the sweet chocolaty flavor mixed with the milk.
Spike had been really supportive of her when she got back, staying with her the entire time she was kept in the hospital while doctors checked her over. Although there were a few times he had gotten curious, he wasn’t asking a whole bunch of questions about all the stuff she did, opting instead to ask mainly about her wellbeing and if there was anything he could do for her. He had really grown up a lot since she went missing, and she had yet to decide if that was a good thing or not as he had lost a lot of his childlike behavior…
‘THUD’
…But not all of it.
Twilight sighed as she put down her mug, taking the small pile of books Spike had accidentally pulled down on himself as he was sitting on the coffee table.
“Sometimes I wonder if you’re still a hatchling or not…” She joked as she picked him up by the tail with her magic and lifted him up in front of her.
Huffing, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away in embarrassment.
“You need to stop just leaving piles of your stuff everywhere,” He stated.
She chuckled and floated him over to her, pulling him into a tight hug, a hug he didn't hesitate to return.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Have any threes?” Twilight asked, looking up from her cards over to the princess of the night before her. The two of them were sitting in the middle of a large black void, surrounded by nothing but the calm and peaceful light of the stars.
“Go fish,” Luna stated.
Twilight had nightmares on an almost nightly basis, and when she did Luna always came in and pulled her out of it to the best of her ability. Sometimes she was unable to break the hold of the nightmare, but when she could she would spend some time with the younger princess, normally playing some card games or a round of chess.
“It has been two months since you have come back to us, how does your recovery fair so far?” Luna asked offhandedly.
“Better than when I first got back," Twilight responded. "I’ve stopped yelling as much as I did when I got upset. I also haven’t gotten into a fight since that Thunderlane incident.”
“I was informed that you used that ‘gun’ of yours again," Luna said, glancing up from her cards. "You know it scares the foals when they hear it…”
“I know," Twilight sighed, "but the BB gun that was packed didn’t have the same kind of kick a real one has…”
Having no idea what the younger pony was talking about, Luna fell back on a tactic that had served her well in her long tenure as a princess; she just nodded slowly in response.
“I don’t want to take anything away from you that makes you feel safer," Luna said, "but you can’t keep scaring the other ponies in town.”
“I guess I’ll go into the Everfree if I want to shoot again…” Twilight sighed again tiredly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Twilight found herself sat across a crystal table from Spike, the two of them having a nice lunch together consisting of a burger and hay fries for the pony and porridge and gems for the drake. Twilight was enjoying the time with her surrogate brother/son.
“Did they have nice food where you got lost?” Spike asked, gaping at how Twilight was almost inhaling her food from with gusto.
“Some of it was two hundred years old packaged junk,” She grimaced, the phantom taste of the dusty old snack cakes filling her mind.
“Didn’t they have fresh stuff?” Spike grimaced.
“Well, they did, but it tended to be radioactive, which is kind of like a poison that gives you cancer and tumors.” She stated while grimacing.
“I see why you didn’t eat that then…” Spike said.
“To be honest, it was the least of most people’s worries there. Everything wanted to kill you, including the insects which were bigger than even you.” Twilight stated. “The worst was the Cazadors, giant wasps that have the most painful sting I could think of.”
“I’m just glad you got back… Home wasn’t the same without you here.” Spike said reaching over the table and resting his claw on Twilight’s hoof.
Twilight smiled softly. “Thanks…" Twilight smiled softly, "It’s good to be back.”
“If I tell you how I lost my wing will you stop nagging me every single day about it?” Twilight asked, eye twitching.
The large beaming grin of the blue Pegasus in front of her nodded quickly before sitting herself down on the crystal floor of the castle and waited to listen to a story.
Twilight sighed, rubbing her eyes with a hoof. “Fine, you asked for it…”
Taking out her flask the princess took a drink from it before closing it back up. “A war was coming in the Mojave and we needed help if we wanted to win-“
“Who were you fighting?” Rainbow butt in.
“Bad people.” Twilight answer before trying to continue but was stopped again
“How bad?”
“They would crucify people they didn’t like.”
“What’s that?”
“They would nail you to a large cross using giant metal spikes and leave you there until you die days later of either dehydration, blood loss or trauma.” She state, feeling slightly smug by the shocked and sickened reaction she got by that. “Can I continue now?”
Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment before nodding, her blue coat looking slightly greener.
“Okay, so we needed some allies for the upcoming battle so I was going to an old air force base and before you ask, it’s a place where they fly to and from.” Twilight stated, continuing before Rainbow had a chance to question it. “But they didn’t like outsiders from coming so as I approached they started to shell me, pretty much meaning they tried blow me up. They succeed to an extent, some shrapnel took out my eye and tore off my wing.”
“How did you survive...?”
“I got close enough to their fence that they didn’t want t blow up their own stuff and stopped.” She stated with a shrug.
“What happened after?”
“Well, I managed to convince them to help after helping them a bit, and then I left to go onto the next one.”
“Just like that?”
“Pretty much, not much time to do nothing when work needed to be done, so I took time off whenever I could which ended up with me just reading and playing cards or drinking.”
“They have cider over there?” Rainbow asked.
“Not that I could find, although I ended up finding a drink I like, Cola and Whiskey.” She stated. “But after a while I got used to just whiskey.
“What does that taste like?”
Twilight grinned, an evil idea coming to mind. “I have some, you can try it.” Twilight stated as she pulled out her flask and opened it up, hovering it over to the Pegasus.
Rainbow took hold of it, looking over the flask before taking a sniff. “Smells funny…” She stated before bring it up to her mouth and taking a drink from it that was probably a bit too large for someone who never had whiskey before.
Her eyes went wide and her face contorted in a look of discomfort as she dropped the flask although it was caught by the princess who brought it back over to herself while she giggled like a filly. She spat what was in her mouth out with a sputter, stumbling back as she clutched her throat with her hooves, coughing heavily as she fell to the floor. Twilights giggles turned to laughter and soon to out tight bawling on the ground as her friend sputtered.
“It feels like hot sauce!” Rainbow yelled, her voice sounding even rougher than normal.
“It’s a lot stronger than cider Dash.” Twilight aid between laughter fits.
“I can tell…” Rainbow grunted in embarrassment, her cheeks tinting red.
“And that’s how we defeated Chrisalis.” Starlight said as she and Twilight walked through the Everfree, heading back to the castle with some herbal painkillers for the princess. Metal implants on her back and in her skull could hurt at times.
“Definitely different than the way problems were solved a year ago for me.” Twilight stated, her pistol strapped to her leg since the Everfree had a history for not exactly being known for the friendliest place to go through.
“Then Chrisalis better hope that she doesn’t poke her head out again in that case.” Starlight stated with a bitter chuckle.
“My gun isn’t even all that powerful compared to other’s I’ve seen or even used.” Twilight stated, pulling her revolver from its holster.
“How does it even work?”
“Well it uses a small explosion to cause a pressure wave to send out a chunk of metal.” Twilight stated, cocking the hammer of the gun. “And while the projectile is light, with the speed it travels at, it more than makes up from it.”
“Can I have a look at it?” Starlight asked.
“Sure, just don’t point the barrel at yourself, it would kill you if you mess up.”
Twilight floated the gun over to Starlight, lowering the hammer again.
Starlight looked over gun, looking over the white ivory handle with a three leafed clover in the middle. The black metal barrel and firing mechanism had detailed carvings into its surface and the name ‘Lucky’ on a small plaque. “And this thing can kill ponies?” Starlight asks in morbid curiosity.
“More than just ponies.” Twilight stated, stopping as she got closer to Starlight, pulling the hammer back on the pistol. “Point it at the tree and pull that lever on the bottom.”
Starlight nodded nervously, pointing it into a tree before slowly pulling the trigger.
‘BANG’
“Ah!” Starlight yelled out as she fell backwards, not expecting the gun to kick in her magical grip as much as it did.
Twilight chuckled as she picked up her gun from the floor, flicking the cylinder cover off and taking out the empty casing and putting in a new .38 bullet and clicking it closed.
“Holy horseapples.” Starlight exclaimed, clambering to her hooves before looking over at the tree, and the shattered bullet hole in the wood and bark. “Is that what it did?”
“Yeah.” Twilight stated as she dropped the gun back into the holster. “No wonder Anne laughed her ass off when I was learning to shoot, it was pretty funny to watch you.” She said with a giggle.
Starlight blushed deeply.
“Thank you for coming Twilight…” The timid voice of the pink haired Pegasus said as she looked through her bangs.
“No worries Shy, it’s nice to spend some time with friends.” Twilight said happily as she lifted the tea cup to her muzzle as she took a sip of the hot sweet liquid inside.
“And thank you for not… bringing a knife…” Fluttershy added, even softer than before.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.” She said quickly with a sweet smile as she brought her cup up by her wing to take a drink.
“Thank you for taking care of Owllilious while I was away.” Twilight stated.
“It was no trouble, he was very well behaved whenever I went over to take care of him and see how he was.” Fluttershy said happily. “Were there any cute animals where you went?”
“If it was ever cute it’s not anymore.” Twilight said with a shiver, one word rattling around in her head, cazadors.
“All animals are cute, they’re all softies at heart.”
“There were animals in the Mojave called Deathclaws…” Twilight stated. “The name alone should tell you that they weren’t that nice.”
“Well… they might just be misunderstood…”
“Trust me when I say they’re not, I’ve seen what they’ve done to a person before… I won’t give details because I don’t want to scare you.”
Fluttershy was shaking slightly in fear, her tea cup rattling against its saucer.
“Ah don’t mean to be rude when ah say dis but yer in better shape since comin’ back.” Applejack said as she trotted along, pulling a cart behind her filled to the brim with barrels of apples.
“I did a hell of a lot of walking with heavy things in the other world.” Twilight explained, also pulling along a cart to help her friend with a very large delivery for a party that was going to happen up in Canterlot. “This is rather nice compared to other things I had to do.”
“Ah don’t envy what ya went through.” Applejack said. “And while ah can’t say ah know what yer going through, me, and all our friends are here for you if ya need us.”
“To one year of Twilight being back!” Pinkie cheered as she held up her mug of cider at the table all her friends were around, the dragon not allowed to drink cider yet so he was stuck with a glass of lemonade.
They all let out a soft cheer and clinked their drinks together in a toast, bringing it to their muzzles and taking a drink of the sweet liquid before bring the mugs back down to the wooden table in front of them all.
“To being home…” Twilight said with a soft smile as she put her mug back down on the table. “I’m just glad that my life has returned to some form of ‘normality’, for here anyway…” She said with a soft smile.
“Do you know if Princess Celestia has left her chambers yet?” Starlight asks, taking a dainty sip from her mug.
“Not yet, I’ve been in contact with Luna, she’s getting pretty worn out doing all the work.” Twilight stated. “I wonder how Celestia did it for a thousand years. She still hasn’t forgiven herself after I went missing, even though I know everything that happened was an accident.”
“Well, it hit everypony pretty hard when it happened.” Starlight said. “Celestia thinks of you like a daughter, of course it was going to be bad for her. And she wasn’t the only one, your brother and Princess Cadence came over a few times a month to make sure everything was okay in the castle and offered to help Spike. And your parents moved into town once you got back…”
“Yeah, I love my parents but they kept coming over for breakfast every day for a month!” Twilight said with a tired sigh.
“Well at least things are going back to normal now right?” Rainbow clarified, taking a gulp of her mug.
“Nothing wrong will happen for quite a long time.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide in horror as they said that. “Don’t jinxed-“
Just as she said that there was a girly scream from outside, along with the sounds of running on the cobblestone outside.
“You jinxed it.” Twilight grumbled as all of them quickly got to their hooves, rushing outside to see what was going on, Twilight kind of wishing to actually brought a weapon with her.
Outside ponies were running away from the direction of the town center, a few guards that are around Ponyville running towards it. “We have to see what’s happening.” Rainbow stated, flying just above the ground like she normally did.
The group ran towards the ruckus, hearing yells and screaming. Soon they arrived in the town center, a group of guards running after a floating sack, flour puffing up from the remains that lingered inside it. The sack kept flying away from the guards in fear, something inside it just trying to escape from everything.
“It’s getting away! Catch it!” One guard yelled, the scene quite humorous with the small pile of guards that were tangled in a wooden cart, and another few running after the bag while being covered from head to hoof in flour.
“Nothing’s faster than Rainbow Dash!” the cocky pony yelled, charging towards the back as fast as she could. Just as she was about to crash into it though it moved out of the way and with the speed she was going she couldn’t slow down fast enough before crashing right into the running guards, a massive pileup forming.
Twilight sighed, rubbing her eyes, nothing changes.
Starlight and Rarity meanwhile had the same idea, grabbing onto the sack with their magic, pulling it towards the ground. The thing inside the sack jerked around, trying to break out of its Hessen prison but it couldn’t.
Twilight approached, horn charged and ready for an attack. “Open it up.” Twilight stated, the two unicorns nodding and allowing their horns to fade.
The thing floated up again, the sack falling away to reveal a rather familiar ball of metal, the antenna coming from its back bent at odd angles and a few new dings in the metal. Stickers and plates were along its surface, one very notable, a green license plate that red E-DE.
“E-de?” Twilight asked in confusion, the bot turning around to look at her.
“Stand down everypony,” Twilight commanded, giving the guards that had their spears leveled at the bot a stern look.
The guards looked at each other in confusion but did as ordered, lifting their spears away from the bot while keeping them at the ready. The group of ponies watching looked on in confusion at Twilight’s recognition of the strange creature.
“You know this thing?” Starlight asked in confusion.
“Yeah, this is E-DE,” Twilight explained. “He was in the Mojave with me. What are you doing here boy?”
E-DE floated over to the princes, happily beeping before bumping into her much like a nuzzle. After the little greeting he floated back a bit and with a thud a scoop opened up underneath him. A note floated out and slowly landed on the cobbled floor below.
Using her magic the princess picked it up, bringing it to herself to read.
“Dear Hopefully Twilight,” She read aloud so her friends could understand. “Long time no read, eh? A lot has happened since you left, including myself finding a more stable power for teleporter (with a bit of help from Gannon, the entire Big Empty, and a dozen scientists that I had hired but they didn’t do much). We’ve tested the teleporter a few times and when we were happy with it we sent this little ball of fun, hopefully he’s still kicking! Anyway if this is Twilight I wanted to let you know that I’ve decided to visit with our friends! (Also since you don’t have radiation it would be nice to have a place to grow crops but that isn’t as important) From The Queen of the Mojave, Anne.”
“So your friends from that place are coming to visit?” Rarity asked. “It would be nice to thank the pony that took care of you while you were gone.”
“I’ve never thrown a party for an alien!” The party pony cheered. “This will be awesome!”
“It will be cool to see Anne again, see how she’s been taking care of the Mojave,” Twilight noted. “Although, it doesn’t say at all where she is right now…”
There was no more signs that Anne was coming to Equestria for quite some time, only E-DE sticking around Twilight and annoying her somewhat at times. He stuck to her like a bad smell, always there wherever she went, even having to have a talk with him to make sure he knew it wasn’t polite to follow someone into the toilet.
The biggest sign that something was happening is when Giant Metal golems were spotted on the edge of the Crystal Empire. Despite everypony being to afraid that it was some form of Sombra’s magic still lingering in the frozen wastes, the few descriptions they were able to get made them sound a lot like power armor to Twilight. When she received word that one had been ‘captured’, she knew she had to get there quickly.
Joined by her seven friends, including Spike, Twilight caught the first train to the Crystal Empire she could. Upon arrival they were greeted by Cadance and her brother, with many hugs being shared between them. A majority of the hugs, however, were directed towards Twilight. WHen the strange golems started appearing, her brother and his wife had feared she would fall off the face of the planet again.
“I take it you’re here for the golem we caught?” Cadence asked, releasing Twilight from her hug.
Twilight didn’t want to just say yes, because she thought it would seem rude that she made the trip all the way there simply to sate her curiosity, but before she could say anything her brother let out a chuckle.
“You don’t have to say anything, we’ll show you,” He stated. “Any of you that would like to come along you’re more than welcome, otherwise feel free to go to the castle. We’ll have some guards escort you.”
It wasn’t much of a surprise when everyone went along in a big group, with Spike choosing to ride along on Starlight’s back. Much to everypony’s surprise, instead of heading towards the dungeons where they assumed the ‘golem’ was being held, they instead altered their course to travel directly into town.
Although she didn’t say it out loud, Twilight couldn’t help but wonder how they had managed to even capture someone in power armor. Due to her refusal to share any of the guns she had picked up during her trip, for fear of Equestria turning out like the Mojave, she hadn’t seen any type of heavy weaponry since her return to Equestria. She doubted that a spear would do much against an inch of solid steel plating, much less titanium, so she had to assume that whoever they captured had stood down willingly.
Her train of thought was derailed, however, when she saw the building they were heading towards. In front of them stood a modest cottage with a contingent of guards stationed around it. One of the walls of the cottage had been destroyed, with the debri frozen in place by a large translucent blue crystal that encased the entire building. Surrounding the building were a circle of wooden barriers meant to keep the many curious onlookers out, however they looked so flimsy that an errant breeze could probably knock them over.
As they got closer, Twilight was able to make out a massive bipedal figure in the center of the crystal. Due to the warping caused by the crystal it was encased in, she couldn’t make out any details, but she could tell that whatever it was was covered from head to toe in metal.
“This cottage belongs to a student over at the university,” Cadance explained. “It fell through the roof and gave the poor mare such a fright. She froze it in crystal before running off to get help. We’ve got her put up at the Castle right now.”
“This was the only one?” Twilight asked, peeking around as she tried to find a less distorted view of the creature.
“That we know of yes, and since we didn’t know what it is we haven’t unfrozen it yet. We wanted to have a few more alicorns present first.” Shining stated. “We don’t know how powerful it is.”
“Is this something you saw in that place?” Rainbow asked, hovering a few feet above the ground like she normally did.
“It might be, but I can’t really make it out.” The purple alicorn stated.
“Well, the mare showed us the spell to get rid of the crystal,” Shining said, “so if you’re sure about it we can do that any time you want.”
“We might as well get on with this, then,” Twilight sighed. Taking a step back, she glanced over at a nearby guard that lookrd a bit more scared than his counterparts. “Give me your spear,” She commanded and wasn’t met with much objections.
Grabbing the spear with her magic, she turned to face the crystal as her friends prepared to fight whatever came out of the crystal, should it be necessary. Not ones for fighting, FLuttershy and Spike stayed towards the back of the group.
“Okay, when you’re ready,” Twilight stated.
Cadence nodded in response before charging her horn. A beam of magic shot out of her horn and directly into the crystal, causing a few small cracks to form. Within a few moments the small cracks could be seen spreading along the surface crystal, and with a sound like breaking glass the entire thing shattered into dust, collapsing like it never existed in the first place.
With a loud crash and thump the heavily armored figure collapsed to the wooden floor below, causing it to crumple and splinter under the weight. Bits of the wall and roof, no longer held in suspension by the crystal, rained down around the figure as it laid on the ground.
With the crystal no longer distorting her view, Twilight now could say for certain that this was power armor. She identified it immediately as a set of X-01 power armor, with the massive shoulder pads and large plate encircling the neck being a dead giveaway. The head slowly moved after a minute of being still, causing all the ponies present to nervously aim their horns and spears at the being.
Owwww…” a muffled voice groaned, the normally glowing yellow lights on the helmet dead and dark.
It had no identifiable markings of any factions she knew of on it, a dull gray coat of paint being the only color on it.
“Who are you?” Twilight called as she stepped forward, spear at the ready. Being familiar with the suits design she kept her spear aimed at the neck joint, where the armor didn't cover.
“Wha?” The body said again. They tried to turn their head, but the large shoulder pads prevented them from turning too far.
“What group are you with?” Twilight asked again, slightly louder.
“I can barely hear you,” The voice stated. “The fusion is dead.”
Despite her words, nopony present relaxed. They were all still on edge.
“I said ‘who do you work for’?” Twilight asked, raising her voice even more.
“I ain’t saying anything until I can see who I’m talking to,” the person in the armor responded.
“Then get out of the armor.” Twilight stated.
“…”
“You’re stuck aren’t you?” Twilight asked when no attempts to remove the suit were made.
“No….”
Sighing, Twilight lit up her horn, using her magic to levitate that armor up from off its back and onto its feet.
“There’s not even emergency power,” the armored individual stated. “I can’t open up.”
Going up behind it Twilight, twisted the large wheel on the back and saw the burnt fusion core. Happy that the core didn’t explode, she used her magic to manipulate something on the inside of the suit. With a hiss the hydraulics depressurized, allowing the armor to come open at its multiple hinges.
With a grunt a human fell out backwards onto the rubble, hands going to his eyes as he was greeted with the bright light of the outside. He was wearing a red skin tight uniform, a hood over the head that hugged his scalp on the back was an icon of the Lucky 38 silhouette.
“From New Vegas?” Twilight asked, using her magic to take the .32 revolver he had in a holster on his hip along with a knife strapped to his shin.
“That obvious?” He groaned, sitting himself up.
“It’s a lot smaller than it looks.” Applejack stated as she tilted her hat back.
Once he opened his eyes up he looked over at Twilight, eyes first going to her scarred face where her eye was replaced before drifting to her side where the robotic wing was.
“Midnight, right?” He asked pointing a finger.
“Twilight,” She corrected.
“I remember it being something about night,” He stated as he slowly got his feet under him and pushed himself up. “God, since when was it day? I swear it was night a minute ago…”
“You were frozen,” Twilight stated as she took a step back. “Now you’ll come with us, I have some questions.”
“Great…”
It turned out this man went by the name of Mark, just Mark no matter how many times Twilight asked for a last name. He was a member of a small scouting group of seven pairs that was sent to Equestria, since they didn’t know if the teleporter would work right in the first place. Mark told them about how he appeared on the top of a mountain with a fellow scout. While he was lucky enough to make the trip unscathed, his compatriot was unlucky enough to end up halfway inside of the mountain. Whether you consider it luck or not, with everything from his armpits down being fused with rock, the scout didn’t last long. Twilight couldn’t help but blanch at the thought, now glad that she hadn’t ended up under Canterlot where nopony would find her remains.
“We had beacons we were given that we were to place in a large open area where we wouldn’t piss anyone off at,” Mark stated as he sat down at the small table that wasn’t really built to comfortably seat someone of his size.
“So what were you doing in the city?” Twilight asked.
“Well I wanted to communicate with the other scouts to see if they set up shop somewhere,” Mark answered, “and I needed to get somewhere really high up to get a signal. That oversized castle thing was big enough so I tried to sneak up-“
“In power armor?” Twilight deadpanned.
“…Yes…”
Twilight thumped her head down on the table, sighing in frustration. “Did Anne purposely surround herself with idiots to make herself feel smarter?” She mumbled.
Cadence didn’t take much convincing to allow Mark to go to the top of the castle. Twilight only had to tell them that he was signaling the person that had helped Twilight make it through the Mojave in mostly one piece and the royal couple couldn’t get him to the top of the spire fast enough.
“Echo 3-2, Echo-3-2 reporting contact has been made with locals,” Mark said into his rather sizeable radio, holding the speaker up to his mouth. Static came from the box for quite some time and many repeats were made until a very static filled voice popped out.
“Echo 2-1 here, Echo 2-2 lost in random fucking Mutant attack,” A voice stated. “Currently holed up in a jungle. Contact was made with Echo 3, 5 and 6. Echo 1 and 7 silent as of now. Have you found landing point?”
“Negative, unless you want to freeze your balls off 2-1.”
Twilight made sure to keep an eye on Mark, since all the other ponies around seemed to be almost scared around the human, even the guards. But one pony who was surprisingly not scared was Fluttershy who was constantly pestering the man, constantly checking him over to make sure he was all healthy after being frozen. The princess enjoyed the discomfort he was in a bit more than she should.
He had set up a little tent on the top of the castle at first even after being warned about the cold and had managed to stay up there until the sun started to go down and the temperature dropped very quickly and without any thermal gear without his Power Armor and so went down inside where it was warm.
Communication was kept with the other scout teams and Team Seven had made contact but Team One was still silent. Altogether out of the 14 scouts sent only 9 of them were still alive, and from what Twilight could tell one died from teleporting into objects, one was hit by a manticore, one was teleported off a cliff while two were missing, Echo 7.
They had managed to figure out where they were a few of them are with the night sky and with Luna’s help there were pretty much arrows pointing altogether to the crystal Empire for the scouts. The first one was a woman in a power armor under suit since when she arrived she was dropped right into the middle of a massive lake and couldn’t figure of a way to walk out so decided to ditch the armor while the partner was knocked out and drowned inside their armor.
The next was a pair who wondered in with their power armor, both wearing a full suit of somewhat burnt T-60 power armor, brothers.
A wing of the castle was made available for the scouts to stay at and within a week 7 of them had arrived, a further 2 going missing.
“- And that’s when I looked him straight in the eyes and told him to shove it” One of the scouts recounted, telling stories of their time in the Mojave to the rest of the scouts along with Twilight, Starlight and two Crystal Guards.
“And?”
“Turns out telling your commander to fuck off gets you a one way ticket to the curb.”
“I doubt their crying for their loss.” Twilight stated flatly.
Mark leaned back in his seat, stretching his back while chuckling softly. “We’re planning on setting up the transport beacons tomorrow morning, if we can use a one fifty by ninety meter area that is.”
“Shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Depending on what Anne planned on bringing.”
“Only the essentials, you know, meds, tenting, that sort of thing.”
The beacons were about the size of a can, being dug into the ground to stay stable. They were placed every ten meters on the area as well as being activated with a few twists and button pushes.
Twilight was stood with her friends, Rarity dressed in her ‘first contact’ clothing which just looked like all the others. Shining Armor was fully dressed in his ceremonial armor much like his sister. Celestia, Luna and Cadence were wearing their ‘fancy’ regalia which was just shinier and had more intricate carvings on the metals. There was also close to a hundred Pony guards stood in formation behind the group, at the ready. E-DE was floating just next to Twilight, a soft little tune coming from a hidden speaker inside.
“Is it going to be much longer? There’s a reason I don’t wear this.” Luna muttered down at Twilight. “I always hate political meetings… I guess missing out on a thousand years had one upside…”
“Well when you consider that they’re traveling unknown distances. And they lost a lot just getting the scout here. They’re just trying to make sure no pony else gets hurt.” Celestia said down to her sister.
The scouts came together, what they were saying inaudible before they started to make their way towards the ponies. “Everything is ready to go. They should receive a signal and be here soon.”
“How soon is soon?” Rainbow asked, pulling on the collar of the clothes she was made to wear by Rarity, although she managed to get it down to a Wonderbolt Flight Jacket although rainbow fluff around the collar instead of the normal white.
Glancing down at her empty wrist the scout hums in thought. “I think it would be around fourteen hours from now.”
“WHAT!?” A large group of ponies yelled out.
“I don’t know how long they would take, I’m not in charge of that kind of st-“
‘CRACK’
‘SNAP’
With a flash of light that was as painful to look at as to stare into the sun, a heat almost matching that to the point the snow around the area was vaporized to steam and the dirt underneath was scorched black.
Once everyone could see again they could see what looked like a small building made out of thick looking metal with no windows visible on any side and only one sealed metal door that was sealed with a hatch lock. Smaller metal crates were piled up to one side but from the teleport they had fallen down into a messy pile, smoke rising off their surfaces.
A dozen humanoid figures were in different states while cased in power armor, some were stood up straight, a few were knocked down to their knees and a couple were flat on their backs. Groans were audible through the microphones of the armor, one person getting to their feet before the fainted with a loud thud as the armor sunk into the ground from the force.
A few had large ammunition packs strapped to their backs with a chain on bullets going down to a minigun they were holding. Two had missile launchers that they quickly brought up to their shoulders, and one even had a Mini-Nuke Launcher with one loaded in the catapult. There were a couple others with other types of gun, a few .50, assault rifles, and even one with super-sledgehammer.
The power armor was coated in what must be a type of uniform. It was painted over the entire thing with a dull yellow like the dust of the Mojave but on the left part of the breast was an outline of The Lucky 38 with an Eyebot in front of it.
The little bot floating next to the purple princess floated through the air as if he was skipping, bobbing about as he made his way over to the new visitors, going up to a certain one in the middle with a plasma rifle strapped to their back and a Laser Pistol on their hip
The figure hesitated for a moment before it reached out with one of the large metal hands and patted E-DE on the top of his metal dome. The figure turned to look at the delegation and started to stomp forward, feet sinking into the burnt dirt and then crunching on the non-melted snow that still remained around the teleportation site. The guards approached just behind, weapons at the ready.
Twilight grinned, stepping forward as the person did, two of the crystal guards following up behind her.
The pair stopped about a dozen feet away from each other, the X-01 armored figure crackling slightly as small bits of electricity jumped between the diodes over his surface.
“It’s been a while.” Twilight stated, taking a guess at who this was.
“Glad to see that you made it home.” A male voice said through the microphone of the armor.
“I had only just been informed that there’s an accuracy problem with the teleporter.”
“Anne didn’t really consider that when she had it built. It was even more surprising that it even worked with how much she did herself. She might know how to survive in the Wastes more than most, but we both know that she is hopeless when it comes to anything else.”
“Can you get out of that tin can so I can actually say hello to your face?”
The person straightened out before the armor let out a loud hiss, the back opening up and peeling back to allow the user to climb himself out.
The man stepped forward, blonde hair a bit disheveled, adjusting his glasses correctly onto his nose. “I know, irradiation has done wonders on my skin.” He stated as he flattened out the old lab coat he was wearing.
Trotting up happily she wrapped her hooves and wings around the man as he knelt down to do the same, wrapping his arms around the smaller pony. “I’ve missed you Gannon…”
“Things have been pretty dull since you’ve left.” He stated with a small chuckle.
The hatch on the smoking metal building let out a cry of screeching metal as the door slowly opened, a youngish looking woman with a lab coat and brown hair stumbling out before collapsing to the floor, huffing for air as she dug her fingers into the dirt below her.
“I’m alive!” she cried out.
“With the beacons installed correctly there was rather little in the way of danger with the teleportation.” A posh-ish British voice stated as a robot floated out, glass domed body with three display screens held aloft by thin metal arms, two with eyes and one with a mouth.
As the group of everyone watched this exchange take place they started to notice something about the grey fluid inside the glass dome of the robot.
“I-Is that…” Fluttershy started but before she could finish her question her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted with a cute sigh.
Luna and Celestia just looked over with a small smile, more forced than before, they were rather off put by the sight, but they didn’t want to do anything to insult these newcomers. Cadence couldn’t stop from her face going a few shades whiter.
Twilight sighed in annoyance. “Why did you bring him here?”
“Well, Anne is unavailable at the moment after a failed assassination attempt by the remains of the Legion.” Gannon stated.
Twilight grimaced. It had always been in the back of her mind that the Wastelands were not a nice place, and considering how Anne got power it wasn’t a surprise that assassins were around out for her head.
“But why did it have to be him, he’s an asshole.”
“He is, but he isn’t stupid, he’s kind of a good choice for a diplomat.” Gannon said. “That and he demanded he come.”
“So that’s the brain of your friend floating in a jar?” Celestia whispered over to Twilight, soft smile on her face masking what she really felt about it as they sat at a large table in a garden of the Crystal Palace.
“Yes.” Twilight whispered back. “But they’re different people, it’s hard to explain.”
Celestia looked across the table, where the Mojave delegate was sat with consisted of Gannon, the brain in a jar, and the head guard who had stepped out of his suit of power armor and was in the under suit uniform. The brain had the body resting on a chair, since it couldn’t sit, and had the two screens with eyes lifted quite high so it could see above the table at everyone.
The Equestrian delegation was just the princess and prince, the elders looking very dignified and respectful, Twilight a bit more relaxed, Cadence unable to take her eyes away from the brain and Shining looking at the armed Mojave guards every few moments.
“I hope your travel to our land uneventful, it’s a very long way and could have been very dangerous.” Luna stated as she took a sip of a cup of tea in front of her as her sister sat back up.
“It was instant, if anything did go wrong our atoms would be spread from here to the Mojave.” The brain stated flatly.
Gannon reached down and flicked the bot with a soft ping sound. “Don’t be so rude when the Princesses are just trying to start pleasant conversation Brian.”
“I’m sorry if I can’t enjoy this as much as you. For I do not have a mouth and cannot enjoy the canapés.”
Gannon sighed tiredly as he took a drink from his tea, the cup rather small for his hands so he had to use only two fingers to pick it up lest he break it. “At least be nice to them.” He muttered into his cup.
“Why do we deal with all this formality? It’s always false smiles and half promises.”
Gannon pinched the bridge of his nose with his hand, sighing tiredly.
The guard captain slapped a hand against his face. He was a middle-aged man, a few visible scars along his head and neck.
“You really don’t have much self-preservation do you?” Twilight asked blankly.
A stifled giggle broke the silence that came, and everyone looked over to Luna who was trying to cover her smile with a hoof. “I too find politics rather dull.”
Celestia slowly removed the crown from her head, placing it upon a bust with a tired sigh. "It's rather obvious that they haven't gone through many diplomatic meetings."
"It made it a lot more entertaining than with the Griffons and their constant boring traditions or the Minotaur's that are just all shouty all the time." Luna stated, holding up the 'gift' that the Move delegation gave to Equestria, which consisted of a rather well-crafted dagger made from metal that seemed to swirl along its surface. The handle was wrapped in a scaly leather with a pummel of a curved claw.
"Well I enjoy some of the Griffons traditions, I love the cake they make to welcome dignitaries." Celestia said fondly. "It's the reason I always go over there for talks if I can help it."
Luna just rolled her eyes as she slipped the knife back into the sheath it came with and into the dark wooden box. "From what Twilight explained I doubt you'd want to eat any of the food that they might bring over."
"It means we have something to offer them if negotiations take place on trade. Fresh clean foods for something of theirs, Twilight mentioned they have a rather advanced medical knowledge." Celestia stated as she leaned back in her chair.
"I wouldn't have been able to guess with the metal eye and wing." Luna stated bluntly.
"Come on Lulu, you know what I mean."
Gannon strolled along side Twilight as they went down the one of the main streets of the Crystal Empire, the human drawing many eyes as he walked around with his old friend, two guards walking behind them. One thing the man couldn't get over was that the Crystal Ponies looked as if they were really made from crystal, reflecting light along them like a prism and he could swear they were almost see through. "Don't take this the wrong way but you're home is almost weirder than the Mojave, and I've seen all the implants Anne has now."
"How many does she have now?" Twilight asked, looking up with a somewhat worried expression.
"Blood filters, tissue re-generators, her other leg after a failed bombing. I could keep going for a dozen minor ones, she'd probably crush anyone she sat on with the amount of metal in her." Gannon listed.
"How many times have people tried to kill her?"
"Probably as much as before she became the leader of Vegas. Just from more powerful people." He stated with a shrug.
"So besides Anne becoming more and more robot, what else has happened since I've gone?"
"The Strip is practically the same, including not allowing people in from Freeside. Although she removed the NCR from the airport and set it as a base for her own army, but didn't remove them altogether from the Mojave lest she really piss them off more than telling their general to bite it." He stated. "Securitrons are more common and not just around The Strip, extend the reach and all that. But she's been focusing too much on forming her militia that we have to cut so many other costs on things like helping the Mojave with aid. She's preparing for a battle that won't happen in a long while."
"What about the Legion? Wouldn't they attack to get revenge against us for taking them out of the Mojave?"
"They've all but retreated, they threw a lot of men to try and take Hoover Dam that they we weakened when it failed." He stated. "That and from what spies have told us, Caeser hasn't been seen by his troops in a very long time, he either ran or he's dead or dying."
"Good riddance I say." Twilight stated. "That asshole deserved worse than whatever he got."
"The Legion will fall much like the civilisation it was based off." the man stated as he glanced up at the massive castle that towered over the Empire, sun shining off it brightly. "I doubt you have problems like that here."
Twilight let out a chuckle. "Unless you fear how a tea party will turn out or the latest fashion trend there isn't much in the way of constant problems. The worst thing I can think of off the top of my head is that an old enemy that my friends and I once defeated might be trying to stir up problems."
"Could be worse." He stated. "Anne could visit and start an interplanetary indecent."
"She knows I'd hit her so hard in the nose she'll have to replace yet another thing."
Cadence stood on a small hill that looked over the camp that the Mojave was setting up on the outskirts of their city, her husband stood next to her, sides pressed together.
So far three uses of the Teleporter had been done, bringing building supplies and regular supplies. A fully metal small building was in the middle, two stories tall and made from a flat pack and build up within a matter of hours instead of days with the volunteer of a few unicorn guards who wanted to be nice to the new visitors. The windows were just holes in the wall with metal slabs folded to the side. Walls had been erected around after that along with another smaller building that seemed to be a barracks for the troops and scientists that had come over. There was only one gate that was guarded at all times by two heavily armed and armoured solders. The actual delegation was staying in the castle for now until something along the lines of a temporary embassy was built in Canterlot.
"I hope it wasn't a bad idea that we allowed them to Equestria." Cadence said softly to her husband. "I don't want anypony to get hurt."
"I just hope that Twilie knows who she's bring to our home." The stallion said. "I don't like all the weapons they're bringing, I didn't even like the one that Twilight brought with her."
"How do you even work?" The brash cyan Pegasus asked as she hovered over the glass dome that contained the human brain, the two screens for eyes tilting to look up.
With an annoyed sigh Brian tried to ignore the pony, turning slightly in his 'seat' which was just a railing on a balcony halfway up the Crystal Palace. He thought that with his own room he might get his own privacy, but it seemed that even being high up doesn't mean anything when a third of the population could fly.
He was stopped from his ignoring when a tapping could be heard and felt on his dome. "I would prefer if you didn't treat me like a fish in a tank."
"Then stop ignoring me." Rainbow stated, continuing to tap.
"You should know that I can shoot lasers out of my eyes."
"Alright! Just shut up, oh my god how the hell does anyone put up with you!" The robot yelled, floating up to turn to the pony.
"Cause I'm awesome!" She said with a large grin, scooting back a bit so she could watch the laser show.
"If that's what you want to call it..." He muttered to himself. He considered just shooting her to get her off his back, or dome, but he didn't want to deal with the shitstorm that would come from it.
He didn't want to drag it out so looking over at a wall he fired one of the weapons he had, which was two little laser emitters just above the screens of the eyes. Just the two hits didn't do a whole lot besides leave a little burn mark.
Before she could say something he turned and looked directly at her. "If you ask for me to do it again I'll do it right at your painfully colourful hair."
Rainbow was quiet for a few seconds before saying. "Wanna watch me do tricks?"
"Why are all you ponies so infuriating?"
"Higher." The white unicorn said, biting her lip as she squinted.
"I don't think this is why I'm here for..." Mark said, brushing a hand through his sweaty brown hair. "Not that I don't mind doing something else besides guarding."
"Those hands of yours have uses and using my magic gets tiring after a while." Rarity stated.
"Aren't you an adult? And isn't this your job?" Mark asked as he grabbed another length of ribbon, reaching high above his head to tie it to the end of the last one.
"But I saw you standing there looking so bored and with nothing to do so I thought I might do something nice for you." She said, taking a step back so she could get a better look at the many ribbons that were already put up.
"I don't know how you've turned me working for you as being a favour for me, or that I'm helping set up an over the top picnic for your friends, Gannon and Brian." He said as he tied the knot on the end of yet another ribbon up.
"You're more than welcome to come along as well if you'd like."
"Thanks for the offer but that's not normally my type of scene, and I doubt I'd be wanted there by two of my bosses." He dismissed, looking down at the very large pile of untied lengths of fabric that he needed to tie into ribbons AND up into place around the frankly over sized gazebo. "And I may just pass out before I even finish..."
_
"How did ya first meet Twilight?" Applejack asked as she lifted up the small teacup to her lips, while this isn't something she would normally drink she didn't want to seem rude or anything.
"Well, that's a funny story." Gannon stated with a soft chuckle. "Her friend was going through... issues and Twilight came looking for her. After Twilight fixed my glasses I-"
"How did you brake your glasses?" Rainbow butted in, Twilight just rubbing the side of her head in annoyance.
"Anne broke them. Anyway I-"
"Why did she break them?" Rainbow continued.
"Because she punched me, and if you butt in again I'll stop telling the story." He stated with a soft glare. "As I was saying she came in looking for Anne and I mentioned how the work I was doing was useless and she offered for me to tag along and I did. And I even stuck through all the weird crap that happened with those two, including coming to a totally different world altogether just to meet up again."
"What issues were going on with your friend Twi?"
"That... would probably be best if I didn't say anything about that." The princess explained awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. "Its about personal reasons and all that."
"Come on Twil-" Rainbow stated before getting s firm slap on the back of the head with a napkin by Rarity.
"Now now Rainbow. Its impolite it go asking about things that ponies say they'd rather not talk about." She said, picking up one of the colourful cupcakes from the tray in the middle of the set up. "What are the fashions like where you're from?" She asked changing the subject.
"It's nonexistent , almost everything is pre-war and two hundred years doesn't do much into having anything of quality." He stated as he looked down to his rather clean and new looking lab coat and undercoat uniform. "This was only made to make a good impression on coming here. My old lab coat is older than my grandparents, and has more patches than original coat." He stated, to a very nauseated looking Rarity.
"So... there's no fashion industry, no fashionistas?" She asked in disbelief.
"Where can I sign up?" Applejack said with a chuckle.
"Unless you want to die slowly and horribly from radiation or starvation I recommend you stay far away from the Mojave if you know what's good for you." He stated flatly. "Coming over here probably extended my life another few years as it is. It's not a pleasant place to say the least."
"The why doesn't everypony try to fix it?" Fluttershy asked, not looking up from her long mane.
"That would be nice if everyone agreed to that line of thinking." He said. "But people just want to be better than everyone else, and when everyone is looking for power they're not looking for how they can improve things." He said taking a sip from his tea. "But trust me when I saw you don't want to talk about the Mojave Wasteland. It'll make you feel depressed, I should know after thirty six years of living there."
“We don’t get paid enough for this shit.” The wearer of the blemished suit of X-01 power armor stated, trying to wipe blood off the plates but try wiping metal with metal and see how that cleans something.
“Nah, I feel that we get paid more than I need.” The other one stated as he jammed in the last teleportation beacon. “I just hope those idiots actually made the teleporter correctly, so we CAN get paid.”
The first looked over at the still Equestrian Guard corpse, pool of blood under him all leaking from the broken spear jammed all the way through his throat. “Hope they don’t figure out what’s happening here.”
“We have to be at least two hundred miles away from them, just get rid of the bodies somewhere far from here so we don’t get discovered.” The second responded. “Besides, we’re not the only scouts that didn’t report in, they’re just think we died in transfer.”
Stepping back they watched the beacons just sit in the dirt, nothing notable happening. “How long does the travel take?”
“For all I know a hundred years.” One stated. “We could never get back but hopefully it’ll just be when they’re ready.”
The second sighed in boredom. “You set up the tent. I’ll go try to find something to carry the patrol away on.”
More and more things were brought to Equestria through the teleporter, the little compound they had now growing to the point close to a hundred members from the Mojave came, or the New Mojave Authority as the technical name was but not many used it except those really nitpicking with the rules since it was only a year old. Only around forty of the group were guards with only a dozen or so suits of power armor while the rest had either the dress uniform or combat armor colored red like the uniforms.
The rest were science staff with a few others here and there like doctors, builders and craftsmen to maintain everything from the troops to the gear.
It got to the point that something was brought over that Twilight was both surprised and worried about being in her home world.
“Why would you bring that of all things?” Twilight asked scratching her head with her hoof as she stood next to Gannon.
“Well after you left I managed to convince Daisy to train up others to be pilots.” He stated and when Twilight looked confused. “She was the ex-Enclave Pilot that flew the Vetibird at Hoover Dam.” He clarified.
“Is this the same one?” Twilight asked, looking over the dull metal fuselage of the flying vehicle, its arms fixed in the outward position but the blades were folded back, it was the only thing brought over in its teleportation.
“No, we took that one apart while learning how they work so we tried to get as many destroyed ones as we could to repair or remake.” He stated. “Anne wasted a lot of caps and resources to just get five of them up and running. Most of which transporting them from the Capitol Wasteland to the Mojave, it took three months!”
“Okay. Why did you bring one here?” Twilight asked. “We have trains and flying carriages if you needed to get to a city fast.”
“I think it was just showing off on Anne’s part.” Gannon said with a shrug. “I got word she’s recovered enough that she refuses to allow something like liver replacement to stop her from seeing you.”
“She was always an idiot when it came to her own health.” Twilight stated with a roll of the eyes. “You would have though she would have realized that after the first time she got herself burned alive.”
“Just don’t be too surprised how she looks when you see her, a fair amount has happened after all.” The man warned. “She gets a bit self-conscious about how much damage she’s taken but won’t admit it.”
“It couldn’t have gotten much worse than she was already right? I don’t know what you humans consider attractive but she drifted from that more and more every time a bullet hit her or she held onto a grenade like an idiot.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“And you just put your eye down the view finder.” Mark said, leaning over the shoulder of Rainbow dash as she sat in the metal seat fixed behind the firing mechanism of one of the two small artillery pieces that had been set up.
“Then what happens?” The Pegasus asked with a loud, a Mojave Barret lazily flopped on her messy mane and awkward earmuffs
“Well just give that lever to your left a yank and hope you don’t go deaf.” The man stated as he tapped on one of the number of levers there were.
“I never really listened to anything anyway!” She cheered before reaching out with a hoof and yanking on the lever.
It didn’t budge.
“You need to hold down that safety lever as well otherwise it won’t move.” He added.
Rolling her eyes she held down the handle attached to the lever and pulled.
The shockwave from the cannon going off was enough to knock the air out of her lungs and loud enough to send her ears ringing even with the earmuffs. Once her eyeballs stopped rolling around inside her skull she staggered out of the seat, feeling as if she was just hit by a train.
She could see Mark yelling something and pointing in the direction that the cannon was angled in but she couldn’t hear it with all the ringing. Glancing where mark was pointing at the barren stretch of snow right before the ground exploded in a shower of black dirt, the snow vaporized almost instantly as the shell made impact.
Mark went up and slapped her on the back, his laughter hidden behind the ringing in the pony’s ears, although it was starting to lessen after a few moments. Her hearing came back enough that she noticed when with a flash of purple a furious looking purple princess appeared, the anger almost visible as it radiated off her.
Rainbow could only hear her muffled yells as she vented at Mark, a few other guards rushing over, either to the cannon going off or the screaming princess although no one seemed stupid enough to try and intervene lest Twilight’s fury be directed at them. He responded and in response Twilight shone her horn and sent out an impact directly at the man’s crotch, immediately making him fall over in pain as he clutched the injury, face contorted.
She turned back to the cannon and charged up her horn. A beam shot out, cutting through the barrel effortlessly and the tones of metal sunk into the ground when it fell. Turning to the next one she gave it the same treatment, slicing through it.
Rainbow was starting to understand what Twilight was saying, the ringing subsiding from her ears.
“- bad enough that you’re bringing miniguns for Celestia’s sake! But you are not bringing in that sort of shit! Not here!” She yelled, looking around at all the rather shocked looking humans around the camp. “If you bring anything bigger than a BB gun from now on I swear I’ll drag every last one of you back to the Mojave.”
Rainbow Dash was kind of surprised at the level of anger Twilight was showing and was in somewhat of a daze, one she was knocked out of when the anger was then directed at her. “Don’t think you’re off the hook either!” She stated. “I’m going to explain exactly why you can be so stupid.”
Twilight charged her horn and with a flash her and Rainbow disappeared.
A young woman in a lab coat stood to the side, looking around awkwardly at everyone else. “Should we go… help him up or anything?” She asked gesturing to Mark.
“I think… we should leave him for a few more minutes.” A man in Power Armor said with a shrug as he turned to get on with his day.
Nightshade, a lunar guard for the past ten years slammed her wooden mug down onto the table in front of her and stuck both hooves in the air. “I can keep going all night!” She claimed confidently.
The day guard across from her rolled his head down on the table as he groaned, hoof still clutching his mug. “How da hell do you bats handle your drink so well? He stated.
“I thought small ponies were meant to handle it worse than big guys like you!” A friend of the solar guard said with a laugh, slapping him on the back with his armored hoof with a clang.
“I ain’t small!” Nightshade claimed with a pout. “I’m fun sized!”
“If that’s what you want to call it.” The first stated. “I think I might need to head on home…”
He clumsily slid himself off the stool he was sat on, getting to his hooves and started to walk away…
… until he fell face first onto the bar floor.
A number of ponies around chuckled at the sight, the second guard rolling his eyes as he pushed himself away from the table. “I guess I’ll drag this idiot back home. We’ll see you around sometime webbed wing.” He said with a chuckle.
“I’ll drink you both under the table anytime you want!” The bat cheered as one guard dragged the other out before adding. “Make sure he gets home safe!”
Nightshade stayed at her table, leaning back and stretching out her wings and letting out a yawn. With the visitors from the Mojave here in Equestria guard deployment had been really chaotic, day guards working at night, Night during the day, Crystal guards thrown in where ever they could fit. It was meant to show unity and all the different guard units there were in Equestria.
Nightshade had even seen a few of the special forces here and there, the Crimson Moons and their uniforms magically enchanted for stealth, or the Flaming Suns that were clad head to hoof in plate metal and also enchanted to make it as hard as dragon scale.
Waving over at the bartender she pointed down to her mug for a refill.
Work had been all out lately for the bat, she was just a grunt so she didn’t really have much say in what she would be able to do and when, although the overtime pay was good.
Just as the mug was refilled she heard a loud stomping coming from outside the bar, a number of ponies going quiet and turning towards the door as the sound got louder and louder until it just stopped.
And after a few moments the door opened and one of the Humans many of the guards in the bar had seen during their shifts walked in, having to duck under the short door frame lest she bump her head on the way in, and even when she was inside her head wasn’t far from touching the ceiling.
Everypony went quiet when they saw the visitor, all eyes on the human as she looked around.
The human noticed all eyes on her and she looked over at the Bartender awkwardly. “I ah… have some of your currency, can I get a drink or two?” She asked.
“I guess so…” The bartender said, gesturing over to an empty stool to the side, but when the human went over they saw a problem when it barely came halfway up to the woman’s knees. “I’ll try to find a bigger seat.” He offered.
“Don’t worry bout it.” The woman said with a dismissive wave of her hand, crouching down onto the stool, knees coming above her waist. “How much will I get for twenty coins?”
“Well for cider it’s six a mug. We have some bear but that’s about seven bits a mug.”
“I’ll take a cider then.” The human said, pulling out a small pouch and pulling out half a dozen of the small golden coins.
“The gold ones are worth two.” The bartender said as he took half the coins and dropped a mug of the sweet drink onto the bar top. “Just to let you know.”
“Thanks.” She said as she took the mug with her gloved hand.
Ponies started going back to what they were doing before, chatting or like in the corner, playing pool. But Nightshade just sighed to herself, considering whether she should go over and say hi or not.
“Why not.” She mumbled to herself as she grabbed her mug and headed over, taking a seat next to the human. “Heya.” She greeted.
The human turned to look at the pony, hair shaved almost to the scalp along the side while the rest was kept short and swept along the side. The scars along her head and face were quite noticeable. “Hey.” She said.
“So, you with the New Mojave Authority?” Nightshade asked.
“I thought there weren’t any other humans here, so who else would I be with?” The human asked turning to the pony before sighing. “Sorry, I just came through on the teleporter and it made my stomach turn like nothing else, and I’ve been shot in my stomach before!”
“I don’t know what your teleporter feels like but I remember once during training we had to go through the shock training where they just teleport us in and hope we know which way is up.” The pony said with a bitter chuckle. “I got chewed out so hard for throwing up after that.”
“I didn’t throw up but it felt like my head was run over by a tank.” The woman said with a bitter chuckle. “I just need to get a drink, it’s just so surreal to be in another planet!”
“It makes you wonder how the Princess did it, I heard your world isn’t a really friendly place.”
“It does if you have a big gun.” She said. “Most people want to be on your good side when you have one.”
“Gun?” Nightshade asked. “Those weapons your people have, that’s what they’re called?”
“Yeah.” The human said. “Pretty nasty when you get hit, which I recommend you don’t… That or grenades…”
“Why does your planet even have so many different weapons?” Nightshade asked with morbid curiosity.
“Cause killing people gets boring after a while if you do it the same way over and over.” The woman joked darkly. “Almost every single one that I know of has been used on me.”
“Just glad I don’t live there…” She said before shaking her head and sticking out a hoof. “Nightshade by the way.”
“Oh!” The woman said, reaching over and bumping the pony’s hoof with her gloved fist. “I’m Anne!”
Twilight was leaning against the railing on the balcony of the room she always was put in when she visited her brother and sister in law. The visit from the Mojave had turned to be a hell of a lot more hectic than what she first considered, and that was already pretty low in expectations. But Twilight was getting to her whit’s end with all the humans.
Twilight caught them trying to bring heavy weapons in yet again and after reducing them to a molten slag she hoped they would get the message. She had also ‘convinced’ the Commander of their Guard to send back a number of their troops since she felt there sent over too much for a diplomatic visit, but a teleporter had to be sent through so they could be sent back. Signals were sent once a day, requesting the materials that they needed since just sending a holotape worth of data had to go through a very powerful bank of computers inside one of the metal buildings built in the compound.
Only problem was they weren’t ready with the second teleporter, as it was still being built and they didn’t think the base would be set up in the snow so they had to build a large hall to store it insides to reduce damage done to it.
Rubbing her eyes with a hoof she looks down at her glass filled with half melted ice at the bottom. “At least they brought something of use… besides the Stimpaks I guess.” She mumbled to herself as she floated over the bottle from the table it was on in her room.
Pouring a bit more of the amber liquid into her glass she looked back out on the part of the Crystal Empire her balcony looked over, but before she could relax she saw a dozen Crystal Guards marching along swiftly, spears resting over their shoulders. It looked like they were trying to get somewhere, and fast.
Grumbling to herself Twilight set aside her glass and looked around her room for a second until she found her Royal Sword and strapped the sheath around her side before running over to the balcony and jumping off.
Spotting the guards again she glided her way down, landing in front of the group. The Guards stopped and snapped to attention, the one at the front, a purple crest over the top of his helmet signifying his rank.
“Princess!” He said curtly with a salute.
“Where are you all off to?” She asked.
“Disturbance at a bar your highness, we’re headed over.”
“I’ll go along with.” Twilight stated.
If it were with any other princess the Lieutenant might have objected but considering she introduced new techniques and regimes for guard training he knew she could handle herself. “Yes Princess.” He said. “For your knowledge, it’s reported to be based around a visiting Human.” He added hesitantly.
Twilight sighed in annoyance. “Surprised it took this long…” She muttered. “Alright, lead the way.”
With a salute the guards started to trot along again, metal covered hooves clanking against the crystal streets.
The bar wasn’t too far away, and it was easy to guess a human was in it with the power armor parked out the front and the ruckus that was coming from inside.
“Send four around back to stop anyone from making a run.” Twilight ordered as she approached the door.
Upon entering she saw the inside of the bar and said to herself. “Could have been worse…”
“A long time ago, way back in history, when all there was to drink was nothin but cups of tea! Along came a man by the name of Charlie Mops, and he invented a wonderful drink and he made it out of hops!” The white-haired woman sung with a drunken slur as she stood on the large table in the middle of the bar. In her gloved hand she had a wooden mug and in the other she held onto the hoof of a bat pony, wearing half the armor as she danced on the table along with the human.
The rest of the patrons seemed to be enjoying the show, slamming their mugs down in unison to a beat along with the bad singing.
“He must have been an admiral a sultan or a king, and to his praises we shall always sing. Look what he has done for us he's filled us up with cheer! Lord bless Charlie Mops, the man who invented beer!” she continued, spinning around with her dance partner but stopped when she glanced over at the doorway.
Her stupid grin just got a bit bigger. “Ello there!”
The beat quickly faded out as everyone looked at the door as well, the cheering and fun that was happening suddenly cutting off as many of the ponies noticed who was in the doorway.
The silence was so thick that one could cut it with a knife until Nightshade suddenly blurted out. “Oh crud it’s the fuzz!” before falling off the table and landing with a heavy thud.
“Aren’t you a guard though?” Anne asked looking down at the prone bat.
“Right…” She mumbled, rubbing her head with a hoof. “I should head home, I’ve drunken too much.”
The bat slowly got to her hooves, stumbling about as she went over to the front door. “Excuse me…” She slurred as she squeezed herself between Twilight and the Lieutenant but was quickly grabbed by two of the guards.
“I thought the doctors wouldn’t clear you to come over for another week.” Twilight stated as Anne slowly made her way off the table.
“They wouldn’t but I got sick and tired of them constantly worrying about me.” The human explained drunkenly.
With a tired sigh Twilight looked over to the Lieutenant. “Take her in until she sobers up.”
“Wait!” The woman protested. “Lemme just…” She added as she brought up her Pip-Boy and pressed a few buttons on it.
“What do you hope for that to accomplish with that?”
“Well, I need to turn my liver up.” Anne muttered. “Four beers would not get me this plastered. I needed to turn it down if I wanted to get wasted.”
Twilight’s hoof collided with her own forehead. “You lost most of your liver, something that might make many think about cutting out alcohol and cigarettes out of their life but instead you get a robotic one so you can drink and smoke even more.”
“What makes you think I still smoke?” Anne asked offendedly.
“Did you stop?”
“Well no, but I don’t like you assuming anything.”
With a frustrated groan Twilight turned to the very confused bartender. “If that idiot has done any damage have the bill forwarded to the palace.” She stated before turning back to Anne. “Just get your ass outside so I can keep yelling at you.”
“Yes your highness.” Anne said with a mock bow before making her way to the door and outside where said princess and the guards left as well.
All the bar patrons stayed silent for many moments after everyone had left before one older pony just stated. “Not as weird as the griffon envoy came to town…” Before everyone started to chat and talk like nothing had ever happened.
Anne was sober almost within ten minutes once she ‘turned up her liver’ but Twilight didn’t really care much for that, still demanding that she was arrested for drunk and disorderly even though no one had pressed charges. She wanted the human to make sure that if she tried to squeeze by laws without punishment she would surely be mistaken.
So that’s how Anne found herself looking up at the ceiling of a crystal prison cell, laying on a bed far too small for her size and far too comfortable for something that was meant for a prison. Twilight had made sure to take the shotgun shells Anne had in her arm as part of the shotgun built into it but if the woman really wanted out she could leave when she wanted to but she didn’t want to piss off her friend.
Twilight came back in sometime late in the morning to release the very bored woman.
“I don’t want you trying to turn Equestria into New Vegas, because we all know how stable and peaceful that place is.” The pony stated. “That means no excessive partying and stop bringing through heavy ordinance because I’ll keep destroying whatever you bring through.”
“I was just having a bit of harmless fun princess.” Anne said sitting herself up. “And I just wanted to show off a few new toys I managed to get…”
“Well I don’t want them here unless it’s non-violent. Equestria hasn’t seen war in hundreds of years and I don’t want the weapons used to wage it all around them.”
“So I take it trading for guns is a no go?” Anne asked.
“Definitely.” She stated. “The only things we would want from your world are the electronics and medical equipment’s. And I don’t know if you’ve gotten the messages but stop sending through more of your disgusting MRE’s, as our guests we’re giving you food that you and your troops can eat.”
“Well you never rely fully on the kindness of others because they might just take it away and leave you out in the cold.” Anne said with a shrug. “I thought some of my guys were still eating the MRE’s…”
“They taste like ass Anne.” Twilight stated flatly. “And when your guys started eating actual fresh healthy food that doesn’t taste like radiation they only ate our stuff.”
“I guess I’ll have to try it out sometime…” Anne said before sighing sadly. “Can I come out now? I want to give you a hug…”
Lighting up her horn she floated the ring of keys to the door, taking a few attempts until she managed to finally unlock it and push open the crystal door with a creak. Once it was open she didn’t expect how quickly Anne could move but with apparently two artificial legs it wasn’t too surprising. The woman whisked up the pony in her arms (although one was a lot harder than the other) and pulled her closely to her chest and buried her face into her friend’s neck. “I missed you Twilight.”
Twilight didn’t hesitate in returning the hug, her rear legs hanging below her as she was held up in the embrace of her friend. “I missed you two Anne.” She replied.
The two kept the embrace for minutes before they both slowly pulled away but Anne still held Twilight up like one would a cat. “I thought you said Equestria was meant to be all green and stuff. All I’ve seen is snow.”
“Well you came in through the frozen north. What would you expect.” She said. “Can you put me down now, I’m not a foal.”
Anne lowered Twilight back down to the cold crystal floor and looked down at it. “You guys are already so small, how much smaller are your children?”
Twilight held out a hoof at the height she could guess an average foal to be.
“Wait. Was that mare I was dancing with a teen or something?” Anne asked in confusion.
“That Night Guard?” Twilight asked. “She was just short.”
“Twilight!” Anne explained in mock offence. “Should you be calling your own military members short?”
“She’s not a part of my Guard force.” She stated. “Mine are more well trained and disciplined to go out drinking while still in armor.”
“So you have your OWN army now as well?” Anne asked. “Who do you think would win, mine or yours?”
“Mine.” She stated flatly. “I can use spells to raze the entirety of Vegas to the ground.”
“Wait.” Anne said in confusion. “Why didn’t you use those types of spells while you were in the Mojave?”
“Because I wasn’t bothered about leaning spells like that until the Mojave.” She said. “Besides, I would win because you’re an idiot.”