desert care is a unicorn mare who simply woke up in a hole with a vertibird a skeleton and a rifle but soon she will be thrown into a conflict much bigger than anyone ever could have predicted with friends and allies in toe
In the lands beyond equestria more specifically in the land of Abyssinia were Desert Care wakes up in a hole only venturing out for food and water but inevitably she gets thrown into this wild wasteland tale were she'll face many dangers and meat many creatures, good, bad, and morally grey friend, and foe alike but only time can tell how the story will pan out.
Day 24: It's been about three weeks now since I woke up and the storm outside of my little hole in the ground here doesn't show any signs of stopping. I'm probably gonna give it another week or so but no longer I need some food and the skeleton in the corner is still…
I don't know but something feels off about it with the way it stares into my eyes it feels like something tearing at my soul and putting fire in my eyes.
Realizing that I had started staring at its eyes I quickly broke off eye contact, choosing instead to stare at the big E of the vertibird buried in this cave beneath the sand and on the sand not sure how much sense that makes but I guess it doesn't matter.
Day 25: What to write, I said to myself a few times before just deciding to write about what I was thinking mostly about how lonely it was becoming and how much i wished to have someone there for me to talk to but besides that i decided to doodle a picture of my room from the big vertibird to my plasma rifle in between with the filing cabinet and my couch.
Day 27: Again I woke up today not having anything to write about but at least today unlike yesterday I made an attempt picking up the book today but still i have absolutely nothing at all to write about.
"He he." a bony rasp of a laugh
Startled I jerked myself from writing and jumping up onto hooves not sure as to where the laugh came from and looking around. My first thought was that it came from outside. If I had waited and thought about it I would have come to the conclusion that that's impossible at least with the storm outside but I didn't instead I ran up to the wooden door to the outside slamming it open only to be slapped in the face with the swirling sand outside. Falling back into the hole rolling and landing on my back I slammed the door back with my telekinesis to partially suppress the deafening sound of the storm from outside then as I regained my composure and with it the laughing grew louder and louder as I turned round and round until I laid my eyes upon the empty sockets of the skeleton.
"You." I said it with anger and spite having been laughed at getting myself up and grabbing the skeleton in my hooves not even bothering to use my telekinesis I shook it.
"Why are your laughing at me huh! why!" I was mad but that's obvious
I said these things as I threw the skeleton into the vertibird jumping on it and beating it but nothing happened nothing but the exhaustion of my patience and the exhaustion of my energy. I let it go and fell back onto my haunches exhausted I let out heavy sighs one after another.
Than believe it or not it spoke again in a bony rasp.
"So is that it beat me through me around and all for what? Exhaustion." he was speaking down to me like i was just some fool
"Oh shut up." I said spitefully with great exhaustion and hate for the skeleton because I knew it was right and not wanting to hear his words
"And why should I do that?" he said it all inquisitory like that's a word right inquisatory
I didn't have a response to give I made my way over to a filing cabinet next to my old couch and pulled out a bottle of whisky and started drinking it down, I never had been an avid drinker but after talking to a pile of bones I needed this.
"So that's it just like that your ju-." he was patronizing
I don't know what else the pile of bones said I was too far gone into my whisky by that point, man am I a lightweight.
"Wakie wakie time to get up." I was gonna kill that sarcastic son of a bitch
I heard it the voice of that damn pile of bones rasp and all. Evidently I had made my way to the vertibird I came to this conclusion because I was laying there in the seat of the vertibird with the skeleton right next to me. Then the skeleton rasped out again.
"So how was the indulgence." in his usual sarcastic rasp
Sarcastically I responded with. "Well Mr. Bones It was supposed to keep me sane but clearly it hasn't helped in that regard." I ended my statement by getting up from my seat and spitting on him wasn't sure what made me settle on Mr. bones but I did.
"Oh har har har cut that out." he was both annoyed a bit but besides that nothing had changed
I'm pretty sure you get how this uh… pony talks so i ain't gonna keep repeating that he has a rasp.
"Yeah yeah just keep on talking uh" I dident actually know his name and i said as much "you know it's just occurred to me that I don't know your name."
Nothing he was silent.
"Oh who am I kidding you’re just a pile of bones and to think I thought you could talk I must really be going" then out of nowhere he cut me off. bastard
"Silver streak." he said it sharp and quick
"Huh." Wow what a nice refined response. Oh shut up brain.
"That's my name Silver Streak." he wasent as sarcastic anymore witch I appreciated
"Desert care." I Said with as sarcastic yet truthful tone I could muster through my hangover as it started to form
"Sure. nice to meet you Desert." Said silver with a slight chuckle which was weird to hear from a skeleton, he was being not sarcastic
Our conversion finally ended at that and with it I made the wise choice to get myself a uh…..drink
Nothing the canteen was plum empty not a drop to be found I went to bed but I couldn't sleep I just kept thinking yeah I know thinking is dangerous but I couldn't help it
I thought continuously about the loneliness and my unhappiness I was unhappy and alone i'm hungry, thirsty and out of supplies. So I made a decision right there on that couch I'm leaving and the skeletons coming with me.
Again I woke from my slumber and I having forgot about yesterday's previous attempt grabbed my canteen and tried to drink only to yet again discover it was empty and of course silver had something to say about that.
"Forget that easily do you." he was back to sarcastic
I remained silent eyeing him, choosing to not bother responding to that that ……
"Silver streak" he said with great emphasis as to be the answer to my thoughts punctuating each word as if he had read my mind but hell he is a talking skeleton I would believe it if he could read minds.
A few more hours passed but eventually I got started on gathering some stuff up, grabbed my goggles from the dash of the vertibird as well as my helmet throwing on my duster cloak thing I honestly didn't quite know what it was but it was like a coat shit brown in color.
I checked the door looking out of the cracks in it to see the several week long sand storm had finally dissipated and man was it good timing I only had one or two cans of beans left to eat and even if they were no better than cold slop they were something eventually silver spoke up.
"How's it look." For once he sounded genuine and curious, guess he isn't a complete ass.
"It's good we can head out." I said with a decent amount of confidence to be believable.
"We well that's a surprise." he was ,ying he could read minds but it was compherting thinking i brought a smile to his bones
"Well I need someone to talk to as I wander around out there." (not to mention I don't wanna be alone even if i am in dead company)
"Thank you." he as genuine
"Your welcome." i said putting on the rest of my gear
And at that I picked up the pile of bones throwing them on my back while walking to the door I lightly pressing my hoof down on the couch before transferring over to the table
I opened up the cabinet I have been putting all my belongings in grabbing my pistol 10 millimeter to be exact then I grabbed my rifle from the side as well as a few boxes from the top drawer of the cabinet before shooting the drawer close(and no I didn't actually shoot it closed ) and headed for the door grabbing caps from all the furniture around me and any medical supplies from the same.
"So Desert what's the plan?" Silver actually sounded interested well as interested as a skeleton can sound, to bad my plan wasn't very interesting.
"Well I'm still working on that bit." I said a little dim Whiteley I mean I can't lie this guy can read minds.
"Sigh" he was disproving i could tell
"Yeah yeah don't worry I'll keep us safe" And as I said those last few words I looked into the mirror resting against the wall of my cave
seeing myself with plasma rifle along my back clutched between mine and silvers body's and the shit brown cloak, I have on my goggles left eye shattered and helmet dented scratched by what I assume was the crash of the vertibird, I looked at myself red coat with black mane, and white streaks and then cutting contact with the mirror
i focused my attention on what really mattered I looked at and subsequently threw open the door to the world above.
Footnote: Level Up New Perk: Night Vision You have adjusted and evolved to see better in the dark than most ponies. See 50% better than most at night or in the dark perfect for stealth and sniping. Skill: Small Guns 25. The use of rifles, pistols, and various small arms. Be sure to tag this one, since most combat will take place with small arms. This skill can be increased by reading the popular magazine 'Guns and Bullets
Day 29 No day 1 Outside I wasn't sure what I expected it would be like outside my little hole, I couldn't remember anything beyond when I woke up in that vertibird but I did consider one thing sand, sand, and more sand everywhere I grabbed some goggles and a helmet from the vertibird.
I hadn't been out of my hole more than a half day before my silent thoughts were pierced by the raspy voice of silver.
"So come up with a plan yet?" he was patronizing in tone and The question came from nowhere but despite that I managed to collect my thoughts and answer.
"Well uh walk." I answered dumbly it felt weird talking when the other person didn't visibly talk
"Walk?" he seamed perplexed.
"Yes walk I'm gonna walk us forward until we hit something." admittedly it wasn't the best plan but it was something.
"Wow what a great plan." Said silver in the clearest of sarcastic tone earning an eye roll on my part.
"Ha ha." again silvers raspy, bony, laugh permeated my thoughts.
Damn that laugh damn it right down to tartarus not to mention silver somehow knows I rolled my eyes despite me having on goggles and a helmet not to mention he's a Celestia damn skeleton. Turning my head back to eye at the skeleton on my back and giving him the remark of,
"So I'm insane right your just my mind playing tricks on me all you are is a construct of my insanity to cope with this unending solitude or something right."
Nothing complete and utter silence again I was alone with nothing but my thoughts and the sand blowing out from the ground beneath my hooves.
I began trotting along yet again.
I'm not sure how long I walked but I'm also not sure what time I left my cave so my perception of time has been well and truly fucked. All I know was that it's day one going on two and finally I saw something far ahead I couldn't quite make it out through the exhaustion and what I was only just noticing.
The thirst... I was parched my mouth was nothing but desert I suspected it was drier than the sand I was walking on but I didn't want to test my theory instead I just ran towards the odd indiscernible structure well to say I ran is actually a pretty massive overstatement for the raged shambling of my hooves towards the structure as the heat continued to bore down on me.
"You aren't gonna make it."
Yet again after what I think was hours of silence Silver spoke to me in factually patronizing tone and you know what I said?
"Shut up!" I said it meaning to yell at the pile of bones but all that came out was a strained rasp of the words.
"You need water." thank captain obvious
"Yeah I think I now that." Again my rasp, that now sounded worse then Silvers came out before it happened
my legs started violently shaking and straining to move let alone carry myself and Silver as I got five feet further still not even halfway to the structure I collapsed upon my side rolling down the sandy dunes of this hell-scape staring at the boring sun as it was passing directly overtop me.
"Hey Iron she's coming to." I heard an unfamiliar voice, one soft yet excited and energetic.
"Well by golly Shine your right she's alive." Another voice this one more stern yet equally kind with hints of a strong accent like he'd been raised by farmers which was ridiculous since nothing could grow in this hell-scape.
"Hello." Again I tried to speak only to have a rasp come out that vaguely sounded like the word I was trying to say.
"Please..... water." Without a second thought they floated over a canteen and I drank it happily.
"So fella why the hell are you out here all by your lonesome?" Glancing over I noticed the remark came from a more stern earth pony I think his name was Iron or at least that's what the teal yellow unicorn with pink mane called him and he called her Shine.
Taking my mind off the unicorn I responded to Iron's question.
"I'm not alone, I'm trying to get supplies and some shelter." I was glad to hear my voice returning to me no longer sounding like. I ate the sand.
"Your not alone well then where's your other companies?" the earth ponu was a berly sorts who kinda laughed with everything he said sort like he was on a buzz
At his remark I quickly raised myself up and glanced around for Silver before I saw him there in the sand clutching the plasma rifle close to his chest and seeing it I hopped myself up.
Leme till ya bad idea the blood immediately rushed out from my head making me put a hoof to my head and stumble back after I regained my composure I went to get Silver up and my rifle.
"Hey uh pal are your alright I think your should sit down." Shine remarked in kind words having sorta lost her excitement at my sudden jump.
"Pal I agree with Shine your should probably take a seat your probably still not all with it you know."
Sigh "I'm fine" I said as I picked up my plasma rifle and looked at the name written on it's stock Silver Streak I used my tk to pick my friend out of the sand and put him back on my back sure I might be insane and it's certainly going to freak out Iron and Shine but this gun belongs to him and if I can hear his voice I have to believe that he is still somehow hear.
Turning towards the two ponies that saved me whom I had been ignoring.
"Hey pal uh why are you carrying that skeleton?" He said this with a great degree of confusion and shallow fear or maybe it was unease. I don't know which maybe neither I can't read minds I leave that stuff for Silver.
"Yeah uh friend what's up can we at least know your name?" Piped up Shine with slimier unease
My name was pretty unremarkable but I told them it anyway. "Desert.... Desert Care."
Iron looked to his friend for a second but then back to me.
"My friend or as your call it companion hear is Silver Streak." I quickly gestured to him as he lay on my back.
I could see Shine looking into the eyes of the skeleton. I promptly turned the head away from her gaze because I knew what looking into those eyes would do to somepony.
"But he's dead." Iron said bluntly.
"Yes but some part of him is alive he talks to me." I also said bluntly without thinking.
And right on queue Silver spoke to me.
"I see you have made some new friends." he was still sarcastic as usual
"Yeah it seems I have." I said it bluntly and openly not having a care for the onlookers we're all just a bunch of blunts.
Out of nowhere Shine spoke with a similar tone and expression of Iron’s earlier but a bit worse. "Wha what he say."
This prompted Iron to look to her with disbelief and say with a subsequent tone of disbelief. "Sweetheart you can't be taking this seriously I mean."
"Quiet Iron!" Commanded the little mare just a tad smaller than me.
This sent Iron back a bit I could tell he wasn't used to hearing that from her. Much more calmly than any sane pony would be talking like right now I said. He said I've made some new friends.
"Indeed."he exclaimed proudly but this time Shine heard it I could tell just by the look on her face. It was silent for a bit after that before finally Iron broke the silence.
"Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on." He said it with clear confusion and disdain for what's happening.
And yet again Shine spoke up. "She's telling the truth."
Iron gasped out what in remark to Shines statement and I didn't blame him they had no reason to believe me.
"I don't know how but she isn't lying that thing" their was a pause" it can talk."
"Silver Streak" said the skeleton putting great emphasis on his namesake like he had done to me in the hole, but after all was said and done Iron just laughed.
"Nope, nope no I am done." he was as he said done with this
And with that he pulled out a bottle of something before beginning to drink it down. And as I gazed upon him as he drank he stopped for a moment to regard me and speak.
"What you want some here take it I don't care anymore." he was not hysterical but had just stopped caring
And at that he threw Shine and I a bottle before starting again before stopping once more to talk.
"Oh wait can't forget Dr.Bone over here"he was sarcastic, and at that I piped up again.
"He doesn't drink." wait how did I know that.
I looked over to Shine who was promptly staying quiet and whom had already almost drank all of her drink.
Than back to Iron as he started rambling on to himself. "Of corse he doesn't why would he fucking drink he's a damn skeleton." he was frustrated
I eventually just tuned him out as I drank my ‘Moneshine’ clearly misspelled and meant to be moonshine I drank it.
I'm not exactly sure what followed that but I had made it to the structure I’d seen before passing out it was a train car sticking out from the sand with a tarp attached to the top most part of it and some spikes putting it firmly into some more solid sand
evidently they had been storing their food, water, and possibly moonshine in the train car. Yeah evidently they’re moonshiners I woke up to Shine talking to Silver whom she had propped up in a chair and Iron drinking more of that moonshine from yesterday I didn't bother getting out of the bed they provided me instead I chose to glance around some more seeing they had a makeshift still off in the corner near the base of the train car and a fridge which was partially in the sand and missing the door but it was there
they had been storing all sorts of miscellaneous stuff in it as far as I could tell there were broken bottles, pieces of bark, spare ammo, and all sorts of other shit that I don't feel like listing besides that there were two beds counting the one I was in and the table Shine was sitting at and to top it all off they had a lantern hanging from the roof of their little hut? Yeah that sounds right taking my mind of that I decided to listen in on Shines conversation like the nosy shit I am
Shine was the first to start talking but it seemed like they'd been talking long before I woke up I briefly wondered what they'd talked about what if they had talked about me I quickly pushed the thought away and chose instead to focus back on their conversation.
"Wait let me get this straight, you're an Enclave Remnant? " There was a great deal of disbelief behind her statement but I didn't have a clue what an Enclave even was so I stayed quiet.
"Yes I am from up north specifically above the Hoof where a long time ago I along with a lot of other Enclave were forced to flee our captain or chief in command or something had done a bad thing in the eyes of..."
I could tell he was having trouble remembering but I didn't remember anything at all so I couldn't stand to say anything eventually Silver found some footing for his raspy words and began talking again.
"I don't remember her name but she was big business and admittedly we were cocky we really didn't think much of her but man were we wrong after a pretty nasty battle with her using some fancy gun that generated a shield or something around her before firing honestly I don't know exactly what happened I only got a glimpse of it when she fired but nonetheless she forced us to retreat and move our pony's into this territory and once we tried to cross we got caught in a particularly nasty rad-storm that had fused with a sandstorm needless to say at least half of our birds went down as far as I know."
I felt bad for him honestly
"Wait one pony forced all y'all to run away, and another thing I thought you had to be a Pegasus to join the Enclave?" Again Shine spoke with a great level of disbelief a disbelief I shared one pony driving of what sounded like a metric shit ton of ponies in vertibirds it dident sound right to me.
"Yeah one pony she sure was a special one we were on, or uh near some some uh ships yeah the Celestia I think it was big ships and, yeah but besides that your right your have to be a Pegasus born or at least a real lucky Unicorn born above the clouds for a near guaranteed position in the Enclave I was a Pegasus at least until we had to retreat my vertibird crashed into another one sending me hurtling to the back of the bird"
"I was sprawled on my back and tried to get up when to metal sheets came flying back at me they severed both my wings from my body and by the time the bird crashed into the sand I was already bleeding out and about to die."
That's interesting I thought Silver was an earth pony but I guess it makes sense with his wings missing and all.
"That's terrible." she sounded sorry for him
"Yeah well look at me now I'm nothing but bones but I'm still kicking hell I don't even remember my own name but i saw that name on his gun Silver Streak and started calling myself that." he sounded triumphant
Interesting I never knew you could learn so much just by staying quiet and not moving.
Finally I got out of bed and trotted my way over to Shine and Silver and it's about this time Iron left the tent.
"So what are we talking about fellas?" Man when I'm not dying of thirst my voice sure does sound good.
"Oh Desert your awake oh and I was just talking to Silver here." Her mood sure had changed when she first met Silver your could cut the air with a knife now she's back to being a joyful pony full of enough energy to put a foal to shame.
"I can see that, say Silver what all your been telling sweet Shine here?" whit that light heart'ed comment I got a chuckle out of him and what can only be described as a hate glare from Shine.
"Oh nothing much just my life story as best I could." was that sarcasm
I'll admit that got a little snicker out of me before I spoke. "Hey I might have to hear that someday when we got time to talk"
"Yeah maybe I'll tell it to you sometime." I was gonna hold him to that
After that Shine got up and checked the still she was fiddling around with some tubes and stuff until some of that shiny gold came flowing out as she called it and despite wanting to remark that gold was already shiny I didn't.
She took the new bottle of moonshine and slapped a label on it with the misspelled moonshine on it before putting it in a crate with about five others.
Than I heard it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out three specifically from the outside of the tarp.
I got up from the chair I had unconsciously sat in and grabbed my rifle jumping in front of Shine between her and the flap of the tent. Looking out through the tent I could see the silhouettes of five no six ponies and one uh.., What the hell is that thing?
It was tall, more than double the size of the average stallion it was like a turtle but on its hind legs standing taller than all the others it was with outside than it spoke I'm not sure how I knew it was him speaking but I knew it was him he was a gruff stern I could tell just by his voice it was angry and assertive it commanded respect from all the ponies around him.
"Crimson, Sting search the place and take whatever supplies is in the train Cherry, Sky stand guard. Pyrise with me we will get what we came for."
And with that a Unicorn broke from the others to join him as he came towards the flap than out of nowhere Shine fired off a shot from a rifle I'm not sure where she got it from but she evidently missed because both the turtle thing and unicorn were still standing
the unicorn came rushing in with a shotgun in tk firing in she was a bright purple pony you could see from miles but she was covered in rags much like my own with some leather armor atop them her shots flew in the general direction of Shine thankfully the two shots that she got off missed hitting the still behind Shine the first set the still ablaze and the second well I'm not rightly sure what it did but the still started being encased in this black crystal that turned a sizable part of what the shot hit into the stuff
before she could get anymore shots off I picked up the table and threw it with as much force as possible with my telekinesis slamming it on the Unicorn against the base of the train car than I felt it the touch of a revolver barrel against the back of my head audibly I said the thing all people say when they got a gun to their head.
"Shit." I hissed it out
"Now what do we have here someone trying to play hero and save the fair maiden" at that he let out a chuckle.to go with his gravely voice
I slowly looked over to the Turtle he had a scar over his left eye and Shines mouth covered by his hand holding her squirming body to his chest evidently he noticed me eyeing because he brought it up.
"Oh what is it your afraid for this little gal?" his sickly gravel voice was like rocks on sand paper to my ears
The truth is that I didn't know why I was staring at her all I knew was that she saved my life and I always repay my debts and for this debt this fool needed to die.
"Don't say much do you *sigh* oh well goodbye little miss hero." he was a tad sad at that statment
"Wait!" I shouted out not sure what I was going to say I just yelled it out But I did start working on a plan.
"What missy?" He said it with such a level of sarcasm I only thought Silver could manage but at least I got his attention.
"You can't kill me." I started putting my plan to work.
"Oh yeah and why is that?" Because your stupid I thought but I didn't say.
"He won't let you." I jested towards Silver chanting in my head Please look at Silver please.
He looked away for a split second but that's all I needed I grabbed the trigger of the revolver in my tk and despite my better judgement I prayed that my plan worked as I pulled the trigger making the gun explode in his hand as I had disassembled the gun and shoved cloth in the barrel during our conversation.
man was he blind
Then with his hand gun exploding in his hand ironically he released Shine who gasped for air quickly ran and grabbed the combat shotgun from the unconscious Unicorn and by this point the other four ponies came barging in three Earth Ponies all but one of them with spears in mouth and a Unicorn without a horn but the one Earth Pony had a battle saddle and two pretty shit rifles on it I first took my rifle and started shooting its energy at said battle saddle ponies as Shine put the table down as a barricade which I picked up immediately after shooting and beat one of the other Earth Ponies over the head with it.
Shine promptly shot a look at me and then buckshot at the Turtles face point blank three times until it was unrecognizable and rightfully so
he collapse over dead this left one Unicorn holding a 10 mill in it's mouth and a very badly burnt Earth Pony who promptly booked it as I ran after him and finished the job I started, after which I came back in to Shine with shotgun pressed to the Unicorn's temple making her drop the 10 mill and cry for her life.
"Please don't kill me I haven't done anything I'm just here as support I I ..."
she was pidiful even for someone who attacked and raided moonshiners, a raider
"Shut up! Shut up Celestia damn it you killed him! You killed Iron!"
Shine cut her off permanently and continued to swear.
Shine continued to fire shot after shot into her until the shotgun was empty than picking up the Turtles revolver she unloaded all of the bullets from the Turtles revolver straight into his skull before collapsing onto me mid last shot.
I can't say I Knew Iron or how she was feeling but I did know much pain that this had caused her
A few hours passed we looted the raiders I inspected the bullet hole in the still from the dead Unicorn's second shot it was black and hard as a rock and the still even without knowing how exactly it worked I knew it wasn't fixable at least not in the wasteland let alone this desert we got a bit of drugs mostly Dash and Jet and I got a Sparkle Cola and three canteens. The turtle thing however didn't have a canteen instead i found a jug of water on him .One of the Earth Pony's had his canteen shot through by my plasma rifle but none of that mattered to Shine
we spent the rest of the day digging out a solid grave in the sand to bury Iron personally I think we should have interrogated that unicorn I knocked out but Shine shot her to saying they needed to pay so we can't do that now Silvers currently in bed with Shine she finally stopped crying
I was standing guard as the sun set and I pulled out the journal.
Day 3 I wrote about what I was thinking but. More specifically I wrote about not being alone and how i'm still unhappy I wrote about how. Maybe just maybe it's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy together but what do I know i'm just some unicorn who's best friend is a skeleton.
I eventually went to bed but instead of sleeping I just laid there and thought about everything that had happened.
I woke up in a cave talked to a skeleton collapse in the sand was saved by an earth pony and unicorn stayed with them for a day and then saved the unicorn from raiders after they killed the earth pony doesn't sound like much when I say it or in this case think it and at that I think I went to sleep because Silver actually got out of bed and with each step of his hooves flesh and fur grew rapidly up his legs to his torso and up to his head regrowing his wings and mane he was an almost pure wight pony with a black mane with silver streaks in it same with his tail.
"Hello desert." His voice sounded so smooth it had completely lost it's rasp and I was baffled at first I had no clue what the hell was happening than as I started to reason it I responded to him or at least I was about to before he spoke.
"Yes your dreaming i'm not actually moving let alone have my body back." he was delicate and tired in his words
He had a point but still he can somehow talk to ponies even though he's a skeleton so id believe it if this wasn't a dream he walked over to the table that we had finally put back in place stepping over shine who was just laying their sound asleep as he spoke.
"Tell me desert why do you fight." he was still in the same tone
The question came out of nowhere and I told him. "To survive,"
"Really is that all, that's not much." he was judging me
"That's all" well what did he expect me to say.
"So you fight to survive and that's it." he was so patronizing no inquizatory
He looked up at me it was so sudden and I finally got a good look at his eyes white pure wight and then he walked toward me as his eyes rotted and fell out of his head and the flesh and fur rotted and fell from him starting in the eyes and mouth going past his wings to his tail and down his hooves bringing out his bony rasp once more.
"than tell me desert why why did you save that poor innocent pony put yourself at and everything else at risk." his rasp and bony tone was coming back more and more
I reached at the sight I saw not to mention how badly it smelled but it all stopped when he reached my face and in the most eldritch of voices he whispered into my ear.
"Wake up."
And at that I woke up.
Looking over at shine and silver who had somehow rolled to be staring directly into my eyes. I again cut contact and stood up walking over to shiny to wake her up.
"Hu iron is that you." she seemed a tad happy must have been a nice dream
"No it's just me." i felt bad saying that but the alternative would have been much worse
"Oh desert it's you and," she falter'ed "and it wasn't a dream was it."
the question hit me it was worse than any shot I could hear it in her voice a despite plea for me to say no but I couldn't not on good couches even if it makes her happy I know it would be wrong to make her believe he was alright just to walk outside looking for him and finding nothing but a grave so I told her.
"yes he's dead." i was soft in tone as to not hurt her feelings to fast
I saw it in her face she wanted to die right there and then.
"Oh so ...he's dead."she was broken and crying again and I instinctively Neal'd down and hugged her.
She stopped for a moment before crying once more but it wasn't as bad I don't know how long I sat there but she eventually spoke.
"Why." she was tired and questioningly
The question permeated the silence like a light suddenly turned on in a dark cave But I being the fool didn't now what she was talking about.
"Why what." I said with a level of confusion even a dumbass could tell that they were confused.
"Why save me why not just let me die or be taken by that brute." she was still sad and the color had left her fce but it was getting better
I didn't think about what I was going to respond with I just did.
"Because you saved me and in my eyes that was a debt to be paid." That was the truth as best as I could put it anyways.
"Thank you" She sounded so sweet and was clearly still fighting back tears.
At that I released her went and picked up silver onto my back and at that we took all of what we could carry and we set off Shine said that there was a town down to the south past were they found me by a few miles so we went on our way to Tabby Town as she called it
Footnote: level up New perk:explorer you have more endurance to the deserts heat and gain more xp when you discover a location Skill M.E.W 25
Day 5 we've been walking a while I eventually got shine talking again and I found out we're the hell I’m at Abyssinia a country south of Equestria, Silver told me that and Shine subsequently told me that tabby town was a cat town primarily but we should find some ponies and other races there too I’ve started wearing my mask and goggles full time after shine told me attacks like those are pretty common and that I should hide my face while traveling or in combat at least and since Shines been around these parts longer, I decided to listen to her.
“So desert what’s the plan.” I, as usual, didn't really have a plan but I wasn't going to tell her that.
“You tell me your the one who told me we should head to tabby town.” ive advert'ed questioning
“Yeah, I guess your right I just need to sell this shine and tell irons sister … about.”
She started up on it but before she could get too far I cut her off. “It wasn't your fault and the raiders who did that to him have paid for it”
“Yeah yeah I know but what am I supposed to tell them” Her question was heavy it made the air and thicker and the heat hotter until I spoke.
“The truth, that's it the truth and nothing more”
And at that we again started walking soon silver decided to chime in on it
“the truth aye I bet your now a lot about the truth.” sarcasm always wonderful
Silver’s statement tho perplexing and odd getting a glare out of me wasn't enough to stop me from trotting on.
Eventually, we came over a hill above Tabby Town it was a small town with prewar sand houses with flattened roofs but it had been rebuilt and reformed for the wasteland with a tarp over the main pathway
in the center most part of the city it truly was a town of structures built from the sand I put my cloak over Silver before entering the town as to not raise suspicion or draw eyes and followed Shine into town she said I could take the rags of my face in town but I didn’t.
Tabby town was about as much as you expect it to be but they tried to size the town up a bit there were archways hear and there some of which had fallen down blocking an alleyway between to buildings and despite knowing I could just climb over the ruble something told me that there was no way through there. Aside from that, the town was bustling well as bustling as a place can be after being hit by a mega spell and left to rot tabby town contrast to the name was full of all assortment of creatures of varying character but the mayor of the town, in fact, he believed it or not a cat mostly black with wight on his face and pawls he had a pretty nasty burn on his face and his ear had fallen off but that's not the worst of it his eye had turned pure black You’re probably wondering how I know all this about him and I’ll tell you how he was standing right in front of me talking to somebody and oh shit he's coming towards me.
“hey, dear don't think I’ve seen your face around these parts before.”
His voice was nothing like I expected I thought it would be gruff and raspy but it was just the opposite it was smith and charming and I could tell I didn't want to barter with him caused by the end id have given him my soul for a grain o sand, which to my surprise was an actual thing someone was selling grains of sand in jars single grain jar 5 Klug multi-grain jar 20 to 50 Klug thousand-grain jar 5,00g klugs it baffles me someone was selling sand in jars But where was I oh yeah the mayor.
“Well, technically you still ain't seen my face.” That remark got a smile out of the old tabby
“I guess I haven't had I”
Shine piped up after that
“Howdy Tobias”
She sounded more cheerful again that's good I thought to myself before toning back to their conversation.
“Why Shine nice to see you hows it been business going well hows iron”
At that last bit, I could see tears about to form and she went to speak but chocked it back this made the smile fade from Tobias’s face and as I put my hoof on shine he looked to me before speaking.
“What happened”
He lost his joyful tone for a moment when he said that not wishing to make the air even heavier with silence I spoke.
“We need to talk”
At that the mayor simply nodded and motioned for me and shine who again had regained most of her composer by the time we got to the mayor's office a few buildings down at the end of town it was a small place big enough to work in but two or three people being inside it made the place pretty tried for space. he sat down in a leather office chair with his face painted on the back of it or at least his face before it got burned he was still missing the ear tho.
“So I don't want to sound uncaring or uh rude but I need to know what happened out there”
I didn't respond I only stood there with shine despite the fact that I should have said something.
“Seriously, guy's, I need to know cause whatever happened out their effects this town I need your shine it's the only thing that keeps this town afloat”
He said that last bit with increasing nervousness and tension and what I responded with would serve to only worsen it.
“There is no more shine this is the last of it.”
And at that, I pulled out the six bottles of shine that we're left.
He stared at me after that last statement and eventually stood up brushing his hair back and sighing as he held his head walking back in forth a bit before responding.
“What do you mean the last of it We're screwed you know that we’re fucking screwed without this stuff.”
His voice was cracking
then Shine spoke up through her tears.
“Irons dead”
That took Tobias aback
“We were shot at the still a group of raiders came and killed him they tried to take shine but I stopped them, unfortunately, the still was destroyed in the conflict.”
It was silent for a bit after that until Tobias spoke.
“I'm sorry for your loss shine I’m uh I’m truly sorry”
Again It was silent like someone had just pressed pause on the universe and left it for hours or at least what felt like hours but was more like a minute until Tobias spoke.
“You know you’re the only good thing I’ve seen in a while and I’m not even sure you a good thing”
I finally started to speak up before shine cut me off.
“What do ya mean”
He regarded her with tear-filled eyes.
“about what”
“The uh … why is this town so dependent on our shine”
“Oh is that all” he said it with slight cheerfulness
“It's simple really it keeps us free”
Tobias provided from that point to till us just what the hell was going on and let me till your it's a long list most of the which wasn't that big a deal but there we're 3 pretty big ones that can't just be waved off as he put it water the town needed it every year the wells pull up less and less the town elders estimate they have another two years with optimal conditions which doesn't include storms heatwaves or raids the other issue that was going on was a group called the storm they were an organized unit as far as tobias could tell and they were slavers he didn't do much more than that and the fact that they were unlike anything he had ever seen and had tech that put my rile to shame much less this town he had been paying them off with moonshine but there was one other thing that ultimately scared me and Shine more thane anything the town was sick a virus had been spreading throughout the town and two cats ans a pony had died already with at least 5 more sick and they didn't have a cure.
“So now you know what has me so on edge and why we needed that moonshine”
It finally came to me that the town was in a complete shit hole style of the situation and with that realization I had to open my big dumb mouth.
“What can we do to help”
At that comment shine and Tobias, both looked at me and if I had a brain I would have looked at myself too but I didn't instead I just continued on.
“I want to help you sound like you have a lot on your pate and looking around you don't really seem to have the time or the manpower to really use on the tasks at hand”
Tobias looked at me with that comment and after looking me up and down while shine who was also looking at me piped up.
“Desert why are you so determined to be an idiot”
By the time we were done talking with Tobias, it had gotten dark outside and really cold Tobias said it was normal I didn't believe him but I didn't say that he also set us up with a room after our conversation and told us to meet back up with him when we were ready to help tomorrow I’m still not sure what made me say that id help maybe I’m just stupid.
I woke up the next day and buck was it better than laying on my couch it felt like I could lay there for days and never get up I about fell asleep but then someone decided it would be a good idea to wake up and open the door letting all of the light in.
“Groan shut the door”
She didn't instead she pulled the cover off me
“Now don't be like that we have a job to do and you’re going to do it”
As much as I hated those words and much rather prefer to stay laying we're I was I knew she was right did I mention that I hated that.
Pretty soon I got out of my bed and followed shine out the door she said she had some business to take care of before we meet up with Tobias.
“Alright, first on the list we gotta drop off my moonshine at a few places.”
She then proceeded to rattle off a few names I didn't pay attention tho I was too tired.
The first place we stopped at was this building on the edge of town well I call it a building but honestly it's more like someone saw a mostly destroyed gas station and decided to live there.
While shine went up and took care of business I decided to look over the structure the front wall was completely destroyed besides one bit on the end away from town where it had been patched up with random assortments of scrap the rest of the destroyed wall let me see inside it was like most gas stations there were a few shelves inside and the freezers in the back we're less than stellar in quality I soon followed suit with shine into the back room of the gas station where she was talking to a purple unicorn wearing a torn-up shirt not that it matters he also had light pink mane and tail.
“Your short shine”
His voice was sharp
“Yeah yeah I know but it's all I can give you and it's gonna be all for a while”
“Awhile how longs a while”
The unicorn was getting angrier as his voice raised and raised before shine spoke
“Irons dead”
I could till it pained her to say it but at least she didn't start weeping this time But it got the stallion to shut up quick
“I'm sorry”
At that he got up and got out a bag of caps, in my opinion, it was a little small but shine didn't think so she held him two bottles of shine than it hit me shine makes moonshine that's why she's called shine I felt stupid after finally realizing that because in retrospect it was pretty damn obvious soon after we left there were a few other places in the town a few more houses and such but there was one fairly unique stop it was one of the biggest buildings in town almost there was one bigger one but I hadn’t the slightest clue what that building was but back to this second largest building it was 4 stories tall and had a hole in the top floor wall going inside it was a major cluster fuck there we're ponies, griffins, cats, turtles, robots, rats, Pegasus, foals, everything They were running back and forth but above everything, in the middle of the room, there was a sign made of scrap and un-powered neon signs the shërim kzpont is what it said I soon found out but at the time I called it the Sherm Kozpint. Wading through the madness of the crown I got to what appeared to be a receptionist desk behind it there was a golden yellow cat wearing some headphones or at least I think he was yellow but he was so sandy I could be told differently and id probably believe it shine after also making it through the crowd went up to the desk and rang a bell.
“Butter!”
Butter that's a weird name Soon after shine let out her holler a second cat came out from the stairs too my left he was caring a mug around with what I presume was coffee I at first thought he was a red cat but when he sat down the smell hit me he was covered in blood
“Hello shine”
He sounded tired like he hadn't slept in days
“Hey butter how you been”
“I've been I had to take care of a few patients with radscorpion poisoning this week as well as a broken limb and a foal who had their face smashed in with a baseball bat it was not pretty let me till ya but time to get to business where is the shine”
At that Shine pulled out the remaining two bottles of moonshine and set them on the counter
“Yeah I know I’m short you don't have to say anything”
“Oh I know word spreads fast I’m sorry for your loss and I’m sad to hear that he's gone are you gonna continue the business.”
“*sigh* I doubt it the still was destroyed in the attack and I’m not sure where id be able to find a new one I mean I could make my own but without Iron, I just don't know”
“Well you seem to have some sort of new company”
He waved his paw at me
I went to speak but Shine cut me off before I could get any words out
“Yeah she sure is a special one to”
“Sounds interesting”
After that, he took the shine back with him up the stairs and we left when we got outside I asked a burning question that was gnawing at me to shine.
“Shine why did we just give alcohol to a doctor.”
The question took her aback for a second before she answered the question
“I think he uses it to uh disinfect the wound or something I don't remember why but he told me once.”
He uses alcohol as a disinfectant I’ll have to remember that one
“Yes“
“I was wondering when you'd say something silver you've been awful quiet as is“
“Yes… I have”
“Is that silver talking”
Asked shine she sounded so inquiringly or inquisitory something like that but she sounded like she wanted to know that's better.
“Yeah he finally decided to speak”
Not that I didn't like the silence
“And whys that”
Oh yeah he can hear my thoughts or read my mind or something I’m gonna settle on here my thoughts it's less creepy.
“None of your business”
“What”
Gosh damn it now Shine wants to know
“She prefers it when we're not talking”
Bastard rewording my thoughts
“Oh Really”
She sounded heartbroken or at least close to it
“Now hang on a sec that's not what I said or thought or whatever that's not what I meant it's just that the silence is comforting.”
“Oh yeah and whys that”
Damn it silver why do you have to now so bad
“Yeah why”
Really you to shine
“Well in the silence we can till when something happens because it will make a sound and will… here it”
“I guess that fair what about you shine”
“Yeah I guess that's fine”
“Few they aren't mad I’ll have to watch what I think“
We had a little bit more stuff to do in town before meeting up with tobias but I won't bog your down with the details we went to the market I bought some ammo for my rifle and traded in my old 10 mill for this really shiny revolver with gold lining and a few bullets for it afterward I was left with about 10 caps because it evidently wasn't the only currency the creatures of these lands use I got a few actual coins made of various metals which seemed to be the only thing different about each of them they all had a mole with goggles and a black top hat on the front and on the back, there was a gear with the words The Klug on the top and bottom of the gear but besides that, there was one other thing at the market that caught my eye and when it did I was in love with it it wasn't a gun or anything no it was a piece of armor, yeah I know armor wo ho but this was unique it was a mask red lenses black base it looked like it was made of scales and it would fold and adjust to the wearers face it had a rim along the outside of it that was like polished silver I went over to it and immediately hollered to the salesmen.
“How much for the mask”
“500 Klug”
To put it simply I didn't get the mask
“Hey cheer up I’m sure there are more mask even better versions of that boring old mask”
Shine sounded so heartfelt but I knew she was lying to herself I just knew it
“No your wrong”
“Silver… you always have something to say don't your”
“No”
“Bullshit!”
At that, all the people in the market turned and looked at me. Rightfully so I mean I did just yell out in the middle of a town's market even shine was glaring I guess she hadn't heard silver speaking.
“That would be correct I can speak to you, to her or to both of you no one else not yet”
“Yet what does that mean”
“It means I can speak to others but only once conditions are met”
“Ok anything else you need to say”
Nothing the only thing I could hear was the bustling market around me and the sweetness of Shine’s voice.
“Hey desert you ok you kinda dosed of and uh yelled out bullshit”
She always sounded so caring
“Yeah I’m fine”
I was lying I don't think I’m anywhere near ok I mean for fuck sack I’m talking to a fucking skeleton and he talks back it's insane.
Soon we arrived back at the mayor’s shack it was around 1:00 in the evening as far as I could tell.
“Tobias, we’re hearing”
Shine yelled out as she barged in I followed her in more quietly.
“Oh uh hey welcome *yawning while saying welcome*”
He was in his bed at 1:00 I feel so much better about this town now knowing the mayor is asleep most of the day.
“I wasn't sure if your guys we're actually gonna show up or not if I’m being honest so mind the unprofessional welcome.”
“Oh, it's no trouble I sleep a lot of the time to.”
Liar your up earlier than me.
I didn't voice this opinion not that I would matter silver probably heard it and could tell Shine if he so wished but he doesn't peg me as someone who partakes in gossip
“Alright let's get down to business you said your willing to help deal with some of our problems and believe me we have a lot and I’m not sure exactly what I could have you do but I have some stuff you can pick through we need new material to stave off the slavers keep em from getting all grabby and trigger happy ya now”
“Yea I now”
Slavers why do they have to exist there just like the other vermin of these waste a pest to be squashed
“What kind of new material”
That was a good question exactly what does he want us to get
“Well you see I don't know just something ammo, tech oh wait I’ve got an idea”
He sounded so invigorated at that last bit like he had fingered out the cure to cancer or some shit.
“Theirs this old military base out to the west that you guys could go get supplies from, bring me that supplies to trade and I’ll pat your for what I deem is the worth of what you bring back that sound good”
I thought that it was a fair trade and so I said yes
I think shine was gonna say something but she didn't instead she just sit there idly
Tobias who was digging around in one of his many filing cabinets finally pulled out some files
“This is a map of the area it should help you find a few places if you get lost out there”
The map had an x and tabby town on it saying you here to the west was the E.M.B.4 I asked Tobias about what it stood for
“Oh the emb that would be the Equestrian Military Base theirs like 4 or 5 hear in Abyssinia or some shit”
Tobias seemed to know a fair bit about the shit I was heading into so I pressed him a bit more
“How do you know about it”
“Some scavenger a few years back said he read it on a terminal he also said he set off the robotic defenses when he did barely made it out with his life.”
Robots just great we have to fight robots we can't just go salvage in peace. Than shine had to blurt out and jinx us
“Any other threats we have to fight up through there?”
“Let me think there may be a radscorpion nest a bit southwest of us in between here and there“
Yeay scorpions just what I wanted
The sarcasm in my voice was clear I chose to look at the map some more there was a town to the west past the E.M.B.Sun there was a town called Henry to the north in a place called the dunes and one to the south called Storm, finally to the east there was a drawing of a town with towering spires that looked like they were made of scrap and trash above it was its name Klug Town I suspected it was we're the aforementioned Klug coins we're from.
I repeat it again I fucking hate this desert which is ironic given my name is desert but I digress we had been walking for a few hours until eventually, we got to the base but in the meantime, we chatted among ourselves about various thing's but we mainly talked about the base and how we we’re gonna deal with the supposedly armed facility defenses we eventually came to the conclusion that Shine would run in and blast shit with her shotgun before finding cover while I used my rifle from as far as I could within reason. About an hour later we made it to the base it was a single building looked like the foundation was set up but everything else was rushed onto it as fast as possible so it was an all in all smaller building it was surrounded by a barbed fence but we could jump over it thanks in part to half of the eastern side being buried in sand we dug all the sand out from the doorway in it we found something tho
“Hey Desert look at this”
Footnote: level up New perk added: blunt you sometimes say things before thinking them through all the way this might get your into some trouble Skill note:barter:25
Let me just get this out of the way Buck Robots! Immediately after we walked in the door a light started flashing red and a turret opened fire on us followed by a pony Tron and for those of you who don't now a pony, Tron is a robot mostly shaped like a pony but with a much bigger head that's longer with a glass dome at the top so we're here in two rooms of to the side of the hallway with a pony Tron coming for us and a turret covering the hall shine ducked into a different room than me so I don't know what was going on with her but in my room looking around I saw a table and skeletons … there were four of them all seemed to belong dead soldiers choosing not to focus on them I looked around some more for a way to fend of that pony Tron and I found it a plasma grenade two actually but I only needed one I threw it out the door and waited then I saw the blast of plasma and heard the pony Tron smack against the floor the turret was still firing but now I had some more time to think.
"Desert you ok. "
I was glad to now Shine was ok and it didn't take long for me to respond.
"Yeah just tossed out a plasma grenade took out the pony Tron. "
Yes, I did me being clever and all but now I have to deal with that turret and just on queue Shine responded.
"What are we gonna do bout the turret? "
I didn't know what I was gonna do but I would think of something so I said something along those lines.
"Give me a minute to think of something. "
There were other things in the room most notably a terminal setting down in front of it I turned it on and it flared to life flashing a bit of code by before it flashed up some wartime propaganda on screen it was a pony in power armor but it was a power armor I hadn't seen before it was colored a sickly tan kinda like the desert outside it had an armored container on it's back with a tube leading from it to the mouthpiece of the helmet there was a picture of all the ministry logos around a sun and moon in the background while in the foreground with the odd power armor it said “support your friends and family fighting outside Equestria to keep the peace” the propaganda flashed away and left a few commands on screen as well as a warning.
"Warning security breach takes cover while our brave soldiers and the automated defenses handle the situation."
Following that warning we're a few commands end breach providers, disable turrets, activate gas purge that last one wasn't something I even wanted to consider thinking about what it did but I did click yes on the other two when I did so the red warning lights turned back to their natural color and the turret stopped shooting so I told Shine.
"The coast is clear I’ve deactivated the turrets. "
"Alright uh, desert ya might wanna see this. "
She sounded kinda worried so I hurried my way across the hall and when I opened the door to her room I saw what was worrying her so much but before I could say it silver spoke for me.
"Ghouls…"
They were everywhere all over different terminals they looked like zombies almost Shine started talking all worried or concerned when silver spoke.
"Yeah, they uh the turret stopped and some panels opened up revealing these monitors and uh… sweet Storm. "
Sweet Storm that was an unusual one and I was curious of her unusual swear but more about what she was pointing at on the monitor I looked to where she was pointing her hoof and I agreed with her curse it was one of those power armor suits with what looked like battle saddled machine guns.
"I don't think we can beat that. "
She was right that was too much then something weird happened a voice called out.
"Hey who the bucks up there. "
It sounded so raspy like someone had been chain-smoking for their entire life.
I stared at an intercom on the wall a tad frozen or maybe anxious I couldn't put my hoof on it but none the less i just stood their staring at it until silver eventually spoke.
"Answer it we can trust him. "
Silver sounded so sure that I didn't bother pressing him but shine did.
"Are you sure?"
I felt the same as her but I new silver wouldn't budge not on something like this i dont know how i did maybe its because hes in my head or some shit but I just knew he wouldn't.
"He hasn't fired all of the shots from his machine guns thus he has a mind. "
well i guess that made sense and shine seamed to agree because she didn't protest in any remark
Reaching over I responded to the voice.
"Hello hello this is Desert care airmen E-2."
uh how do I know that.
"Your memories are coming back. "
My memories, what does he know about my memories.
"I know a lot Desert. I know much more than you could ever comprehend."
Shine wasn't committing on anything so i assumed Silver was just peeking to me directly
The voice on the intercom laughed through my thoughts and I discovered there are worse things than getting shot his voice was so dry and raspy even with the power armor filtering every word he spoke through his heavily armored helmet and the armor covering his everything.
"So those damn cunts finally got off their asses and sent someone!"
There was laughter in his voice not of joy though this was a laugh of pain and hatred witch was weird seeing as it was highly filtered, I went to speak again but he cut me off.
"You know how long I've been here?, care to take a guess."
He was holding back tears on the other end of that intercom or at least he would be if he had any more tears to cry, I didn't say anything because I knew if I did id be wrong Shine was also saying quite glancing over at her she was setting down holding back the urge to speak I taking my hoof off the intercom told her.
"Shine can you go see what all stuff you can find without going too far in."
She nodded and got up to search the room while I continued my conversation with the mysterious ghoul.
"I put my hoof back on the com only to get him yelling into it a pained yell.
"Too long I've been here over 200 Celesta damn years!"
He cut the com but I still spoke despite it.
"I'm sorry. "
I felt like I had failed the poor pony and that I hadn’t done enough.
"Your sorry, that's funny. "
He chuckled I didn't speak.
"No that's really funny because before those bastards locked me in here they said we're sorry and you know what happened to them they died horrible deaths by my hoof. "
I wasn't sure if he was trying to threaten me or not but I responded.
"I'll get you out of here. "
He didn't respond and i thought to myself "i need to stop making promises to different creatures".
Pretty soon we finished sweeping the first floor all in all on the first floor there wasn't much in the way of danger only supplies we found seven healing potions and one advanced two bottles of vodka and a good bit of ammo among other things that I dont feel like listing but feel it might enhance your viewing experiences.
Healing potion normal x7 Healing potion advanced x2 Combat armor x4 Fatigues x6 Steady (drug) x26 Ripper (hoof held chainsaw) X1 Vodka x2 Plasma grenade x1 20 plasma cartridge 65 in total A good shit load of millimeter And some services rifles x3 368 5.56 ammo 6 sparkle colas 48 cactus crisp specifically 2 24 packs 40 Equestrian bits 20 bottle caps 8$ in klug And to top it of a single can of mixed vegetables and a fresh apple or at least i think its fresh
Theirs all of are newly acquired shit your welcome I wasted my time making it comprehensive.
There weren't any stairs going anywhere but there was an elevator with three floors going down to the third floor down the light above the elevator went from 0 to 1 than to 2 and finally, basement when the door opened to the basement there was a thundering crash that echoed throughout the dim and darkly light basement some pony had propped a filing cabinet against the door and when we opened it slammed with the force of 200 years onto the ground launching its accumulated dust into the air and alerting all of the ghouls on this level of the facility of where we were and immediately after it hit there was silence and as quick as the silence came it left permeated by the gallop of hooves and the clambering over furniture as the ghouls came running out of a side door on are left and from the right and left at the end of the hall.
And then Shine spoke in low shocked voice what I was thinking.
"Deer Luna. "
I didn't take the time to be baffled that was time I spent lifting the filing cabinet with my telekinesis and holding it horizontal at chest level of where the ghouls were and then yelling to shine in her stupor state.
"Shine help me with this!"
"Oh uh yeah. "
Shine took hold of her end of the filing cabinet and I told her my plan.
"Alright on three we charge them 1."
I started counting off as Shine stammered words out her mouth.
"What! That's the plan. "
What's wrong with my plan it's the best I could think of.
"2."
I continued on as I pulled my rifle from its place between mine and Silvers body's.
"I uh… for buck sake alright let's do this."
Shine then pulled her shotgun out with tk (telekinesis) and began resting it on top of the filing cabinet.
"3 charge!"
At that finale command we both started at full gallop charging the horde of ghouls weapons drawn and firing their must have been twenty, no thirty-some ghouls charging out of doors towards us.
When we collided shine let the first shot ring out through the halls preparing two or three ghouls in the face with her buckshot dropping one of them while I blasted one in the head as another one was trying to climb over it than shine fired off her second shot out from her double-barrel taking another one out and I shot off two more blast of plasma turning one to goo as it clambered over their fellow abominations and burning the ones beneath it with it's melted body than another shot at one trying to crawl under the cabinet it tanked the shot and bit into my fore hoof hard enough to draw a good bit of blood and in retaliation I blew off his head with my shiny new revolver then swerving it in telekinesis I turned it toward the amassed crowd of death and emptied the cylinder into three different ghouls dropping them by now Shine had reloaded her double barrel and was shooting again.
"Shine how many you killed so far. "
It took her a second to answer but she did after downing yet another ghoul.
"That makes four what about you. "
"Nine. "
I said it proudly as I took two more out with my rifle.
We had killed what looked like half of the ghoul horde when we heard a bang and saw a door at the end of the hall come flying off its hinges slamming into the wall across the hall from where it was which took Shines focus for a second and that's all it took for a particularly nasty ghoul to climb over the cabinet and pin her to the ground making her lose focus on her tk and drop her shotgun as well as the cabinet opening the floodgates for the swarm of ghouls and as I noticed this I with all my strength pushed forward with my tk picking up her end and slamming myself into the cabinet to assist in my tk I knocked over all the ghouls immediately behind/attached to the cabinet before reloading my revolver and plasma rifle I opened fire on the ghoul pining her down with the rife and vice versa pointing at the horde with the revolver sending lead into the heads of the different ghouls and burning the one atop Shine with magic plasma as she shot it into the side of the ghouls head blasting it clean off with her shotgun then as she rose up I looked back towards the amass of ghouls and saw what had previously sent the door flying it was a ghoul and it was glowing! Yes glowing it was a sickly bright putrid green color and it was seeping radiation I quickly turned my rifle to it and yelled to Shine.
"Run!"
I was afraid and bucking stupid why did I think it was a good idea to charge them I could have gotten us killed i'm such a fool than as I realized my idiocy Shine went off towards the elevator at full glop and I followed suit with her and pulling my newly acquired plasma grenade from my saddle bags and I tossed it into the horde where it cracked agenst the head of one ghoul before it exploded killing all but one or two ghouls excluding the glowing one.
"Your alright Shine."
"Uh yeah, just a little scuffed and bruised up is all. "
Thank the princess above as I was thanking them Silver's voice bellowed through my head and took my mind back to the task at hand.
"Focus Desert it's not over yet."
Silver was right I needed to focus looking back towards where the horde was there was the glowing one and two ghouls one of them was limping and the other well he was missing some limbs so I didn't count him as a threat.
"Shine ya ready."
I Quickly reloaded my revolver as she spoke.
"Yeah, uh"
she pondered for a second in silence before restarting her statement
"yeah, I’m gonna be fine."
She cracked her shotgun open and slid a fresh she'll in to replace the one she used to paint the wall with ghoul brains.
The glowing one started to sprint at us in full gallop and I started unloading both plasma and lead into him to damn near no effect and thus it didn't stop him, Shine coming to my left side for what I can assume was a better position she shot the hobbling ghoul and the glowing one in it's side dropping one but not both before reloading after having emptied my revolver into the ghoul and the ground around him same with my rifle he finally made it up to me and I knew I wouldn't be able to reload by the time he attacked so I dropped both my weapons from tk to focus all of my tk on the glowing one and grabbed the throat of the ghoul with my tk then I ripped it out more specifically his esophagus, upon ripping it out the putrid green blood from the ghoul began to permeate the ground as he continued coming at me and when he reached me he tackled me starting to go for a bight with his jagged rotten teeth and as he opened his maw letting the drool and breath stain my face and the breath itself was that of a corpse that had laid in the heat for much longer then it should have I felt his blood from the open hole in his throat start to seep through and stain my armor and the coat beneath before the ghoul could get any further with it's radioactive maw Shine shot it twice in the head blowing it to pieces atop me getting it in my eyes and mouth rolling it's now lifeless body off me I wiped my eyes and spit out what I could it wasn't much and I seemed fine so I tried to not think about the fact that I just ingested pure radioactive blood instead I started up conversation.
"Thank you Shine I owe you one."
If we survive this death trap i thought to myself but didn't chose to voice the thought.
"I'm gonna hold you to that."
Shine sounded tired and I didn't blame her I was almost their myself after that encounter but we had a job to do and by luna's ass I was going to do it.
"Alright let's get whatever we can find and I’ll go talk to the ghoul wherever he is."
At that I left shine to go look for the power-armored ghoul from earlier and after wandering around the basement for a bit it notably got darker the further into the basement I went until I rounded a corner and I found a big door in between myself and the door their we're a few barricades facing’ away from the door and some lights crashed down onto the ground one of witch was snapped in-half on the barricade it had fallen from the already flickering ceiling onto one of the many long-dead skeletons laying outside at first I wasn't sure what to think of the scene I saw until I checked a terminal nearby to the door with the screen flickering to life it said on screen.
Blast doors sealed high rads inside please be aware without proper equipment you may die if you open or enter you may want to consult your local engineer or scientist do you wish to continue.
Then a box appeared on screen with the words yes and no on the two sides of the screen I stared at that screen for what seemed like an eternity not sure of what I was supposed to do the air was getting heavy with my thoughts and I honestly wasn't sure what to do pretty soon my heavy thoughts we're pierced by the raspy metallic voice of the ghoul from earlier and then I realized how offensive calling him the ghoul was even if he didn't know about it and though to myself I really needed to get his name I was getting tired of just saying the ghoul but yeah I heard his voice through my thoughts.
"Desert you out there. "
Getting off my haunches I headed over to the intercom and pressed my hoof to the com before speaking.
"Yeah, I’m here…"
I was out off it so I regain my composer before speaking again
" I’m here. "
"Good, I need you to open this door. "
I couldn't do that though not with what that terminal said, but I also couldn't leave somepony here alone for any longer then what I assumed was much longer than what was deemed ok even by wasteland standards.
"I..."
My words choked in my mouth and I didn't know what to say.
"What just open the Celesta damn door."
He sounded like he was gonna knock the door down himself then their was a brief silence before I got my voice back.
"There's a... The terminal out here says that there are lethal levels of radiation behind this door and I can't open that door knowing that id be putting myself and my companions at risk."
I ain't doing any more stupid shit today I led an emotionally destrot mare into a factory and than we charged a horn of feral ghouls with a bucking filing cabinet and expected it to wok when I could have just thrown my luna damn grenade, to begin with, man I really am stupid.
Before I could continue bombarding myself the ghoul cut me off.
"There isn't any more radiation it's safe."
He sounded tired like he'd been awake for days and was about to pass out.
"Oh, really explain how do you know. "
I wasn't sure what to make of the situation still in all honesty more proof I’m an idiot but at leased i was aware of that fact.
"I am the radiation."
Now wait, hold up he's the radiation.
"What!"
"I absorbed it all over 100 years ago and have been releasing it slowly I can reabsorb all of it if you really need me to just please I don't want to be trapped here any longer than I have to be."
That one through me for a loop he absorbed it and was willing to do it again i was dumb founded.
"Uh, are you sure your gonna be alright if you do that? "
I couldn't believe it I was about to tell someone to absorb radiation.
"Yes I’ll be fine I’ll just take a while give me half an hour."
And at that, he sounded more joyful than any time id spoken to him before and he cut the coms.
Heading back through the basement I went and found Shine as she was drinking a 200 some year old soft drink and opening up a fridge that didn't help illuminate the already dark halls we were in, she pulled out another bottle of … cactus crisp made with no artificial flavors it looked warm in a green bottle it had a cactus on the front of its label with a washed-out face smiling and standing in the desert.
Popping the cork off the bottle was an unusually challenging, time had really sealed it tight and I couldn't get it open Shine must've noticed me having trouble because she came over and pulled out this really fancy gizmo it had a handle with a knob on the side of it and at the end of the handle was a circle she slid the cork into than turning the knob three screws at the end of metal pieces coming from the rod started turning and retracting in towards the cork until they screwed into it and shine pulled it out.
I was dumbfounded almost lost my train of thought because of it but I caught myself.
"Hey uh shine thanks but we need to head back up to the first floor kill time for about a half an hour."
"What about mister intercom ghoul. "
So many questions why can't ponies just accept that when I say jump they need to jump and before you start questioning me that was a metaphor so shut up.
"He needs to get some of his shit together that's why we're killing time."
Finishing my statement I decided to take a swig of my cactus crisp and luna bit my flank was that shit sour.
"Shine how do you drink this."
She just looked at me while drinking her own before breaking away from it.
"What do you mean it tastes great. "
That confirms it, my companion, it just as bat shit as me.
I left Shine to her own devices choosing to explore the rest of the basement that I hadn't been through before I found some pre-war bits from Equestria and a good old sparkle cola it was lukewarm but in my opinion, it was better than sex especially since it washed the taste of that cactus crisp out of my mouth which I was very thankful for it, pretty soon I couldn’t even taste it anymore not that I was complaining or anything besides that I found some more rounds for my revolver hollowpoints id read something about them before they were supposed to be good with light or unarmored targets or some shit kinda wish I had them before fighting a bunch of ghouls they sound like they would have been better than my armor-piercing rounds I also found a little bit of ammo for my plasma rifle but not much only 20 cartridges and honestly I’m starting to think the military just didn't use magical energy weapons or MEW’s for short.
"They didn't really they were used more by the airforce and now the “Grand Pegasus Enclave”.
Oh great now Silvers a history teacher what next is he gonna till me he invented the wheel.
"I've done more than you can."
I cut him off.
"Yeah yeah yeah you know more than my mind has the right to know or can comprehend or bla bla bla just shut up about it and give me some damn answers! "
I was getting fed up with his bull and wanted some bloody answers and that simple fact seemed to stun him or maybe it combined with the fact that I didn't sand to listen to his bullshit anymore but who knows with him he was silent after that he always popped in for a brief minute before leaving me in silence than he moved off my back and started walking and just like last time his skin coat mane and tail grew back with rapid succession that's when I realized I was dreaming he had somehow put me seamlessly to sleep without me realizing it damn bastard.
"So what do you want from me Silver? "
I was already tired of his bull I don't even know why I bring him with me still when I don't even need him I have Shine.
"What I want from you is of my concern and I will always be with you don't have a choice in the matter."
Of course, I have a choice and it is my concern as to what he wants from me but I didn't say that not that it matters.
"Oh really if it's none of my concern then why am I here with you."
I wanted answers.
"I know and that's why you’re here you want answers so ask away."
Princess be damned he was seriously giving me answers so I asked the question that i wanted the answer to the most.
"Who am I? "
I knew who I was I'm desert care and I woke up in a hole saved a now widowed mare and I'm trying to save a town but that's all I knew nothing more and nothing less.
Silver than pulled out a clipboard and began reading from it.
"Name: Desert Care, Age 27, Race Unicorn, Allegiance Member of the Grand Pegasus Enclave, rank E-3, Job ground intelligence, Description red coat black mane and tail with a cutie mark of two red syringes crossed to form a cross statement: I want to help better the lives of all ponies by ensuring that all the death of the ground below is eradicated, Status MIA. "
I was speechless I was I don't even know, I keep hearing about the enclave and now or I was no I’m technically still part of it and, I don't even know what it is.
“The Enclave” the last remnants of the Equestria air force and now a mere shell of what they once were thanks to a few ponies. "
Oh yeah silver can read my thoughts which are currently going mad and no I’m not gonna write them they’re too chaotic jumping between the various things Silver just told me about.
"I know this must be a lot of information so I’ll let you ponder it for a while then will talk some more."
I had finally gathered my thoughts by the time Silver finished and went to speak only to be shoved off my haunches and into reality opening my eyes I was sitting there still where I had been before but everything around me was completely wrecked and thrown back from where I was not that it wasn't wrecked before but it was much worse than it had been standing up I figured it had been long enough and I went to check on the rad levels behind the blast door. They were still high but more condensed than they were before so I went and spoke to him on the intercom.
"Are you ready for us to open the door? "
"Desert I’ve been ready for the past two hundred years you can open the door it's safe "
With that he cut off comes and I headed over to the terminal to open the door and going through the loading process I got back to the yes or no box and hitting yes the blast door started rising up as warning lights flashed red and sirens started screaming out their song of.
"warning high radiation please exit the facility. "
I didn't pay any care to the warning beyond just being annoyed by it pretty soon Shine came bolting down to where we were at a damn near full gallop pace she was clearly concerned.
"Desert! Why is the facility entering a warning sequence!"
She was panicking so I tried to calm her down with the truth.
"It's just the blast door opening we're fine. "
That seemed to calm her down a little but she was still visibly concerned as she pulled out one of those cactus crisp drinks and some moonshine that she started spiking it with before drinking it down while watching the door with me.
Eventually, a power-armored pony began to slowly trot out of the rising door he was glowing a sickly radiant green like the glowing one from earlier, I saw his glowing rays of light shooting out of every open spot in his armor permeating the land around him with the sickly glow of his radiation filled body and accompanying his sickly green glow was a bright wight headlamp on his helmet that flashed out into our faces as he clambered his clunky steel hooves out the door.
Hello, Desert I’m Seafire.
footnote:no level up you haven't got enuf experience to level up try finishing this quest.
Seafire a pony mutated and changed to become the equivalent of a corpse and left to rot as a corpse would, trapped for so long was finally free and what did he choose to do he silently stood there looking at us through his helmet the only and very first words he spoke after coming out we're
“Hello desert i'm Seafire “
I was dumb founded and didn't have a clue as to how I would start speaking to him was to foren a concept for me to understand funny I keep running into thing's I don't understand, but Shine had at least some sense of what to say
“Hi seafire i'm Shine”
“Humm I didn't realize there was a foal with you “
A foal did he mean Shine she wasn't no foal I mean she was small but not a foal and she resepricated my thoughts but she used words
“What! I ain't no foal i'm 24 “
Shine exclaimed very proudly putting her hoof to her chest as she spoke admittedly I thought she looked a bit like a foal even if she was older than she looked
Sea fire eventually spoke again breaking through Shines exclamation of how old she was
“I am over 200 years old and have been forced to sit alone in the dark with nothing do do but turn my headlamp on and off while counting the days until id hopefully die but the day never came”
He wasn't very subtitle and it showed through his words let alone his looks he was a mechanical glowing body of steal besides that and his first comment he was silent despite mine and Shines efforts
“So your the strong silent type “
That's it ya say some big long winded shit than your quite
He didn't say anything in response to Shines questioning and I wanted to till Shine to shut up about it and so I did
“Shine shut up”
At that Shine looked at me with a look that said why or something along those lines but she did stop prying on Seafire choosing instead to head into the room he came out of and I followed suit behind her
The room in question was decently large and to the left and right we're places for power armor to be placed as well as some damaged suits laying against the ground missing maybe a limb or two I briefly wondered where some of the pieces had went considering this room had been locked away for so long besides that their was one or two gun cabinets going up to the they were locked I fiddled around with the first lock for a bit before Shine came and tapped my shoulder
“Hey uh Desert you need some help “
At her offer I let go of the lock and let her take a crack at it she sat down and pulled out a screwdriver and some bobby pins from her main than about two seconds later she got up and went to the other cabinet having opened the first one
I was impressed by how quickly she could just open the lock and I made it known that I was
“Shine where did your learn to do that “
“Oh ya mean lock picking well uh my father taught me how to as he put it make the locks sing “
Interesting I wonder what else she knows how to do, and uh did she just store a screwdriver in her mane?
Inside the cabinet there was some ammo for my revolver .357 cal hollow points to be exact as well as a varmint rifle and 4 magazines worth of 5.56mm ammo but besides that their wasn't anything else in the first cabinet just emptiness in the second cabinet was just about the same contents but their was also two frag grenades inside the cabinet more specifically in a little box in the corner it was labeled with a warning label saying Danger. Highly. Explosive. each word bold and punctuated
“Don't take this wrong Dessert but i'd prefer we leave this place soon or at least this room I don't want to be here long “
Hearing seafire’s request I understood that he didn't feel comfortable being back here after having just been freed so I accommodate his request and motioned to Shine who was currently admiring one of the broken and battered suits as well as some papers on a table nearby that was replicated on the other side of the room going over to get her and leave I looked at the pages briefly they were blueprints for said suits of armor apparently they were like most suits of power armor but this suit was special it had some sort of coolant pad lining the inner sides of the suit to reduce the desert heat as far as I could tell as well as a tank on the back of the suit filled with drinking water with a tube leading from the container to the mouth with a function at the end of the tube to keep from drowning the pony within the suit
“Shine I think it's time to move on their doesn't seem to be much more worth scavenging in here”
“Yeah I think your right these suits have corroded to the point of disrepair and are basically useless “
Moving on with my gradually growing ontourage of ponies we went back through the basement before we got to the elevator and well me and shine could fit inside unchallenged but when you try and put a power armored pony one and a half times the size of most other power armored ponies in with two other ponies even if one of them was about the size of a foal you still couldn't fit all three in the small cramped space of thee elevator no matter how you arrange them
“I'll go on ahead and take care of anything that might cause a threat “
Accommodating his request I made way for Seafire to enter the elevator quickly followed bye Shine even if she was inquisitor'y about his safety
“Are your sure your gonna be alright what if there's a sentry or something on the other floor“
I assure your Shine their aren't anymore sentries in this facility they were all taken out bye zebras and the filthy native mercs of these lands
That last bit made shine visibly grimace as the elevator doors closed and began to go up and i didn't blame her I wasn't holy comfortable with his opinion of this lands inhabitants but he was pre war he was told to hate non equestrians a few seconds later the elevator was open and ready for us to follow Seafire up to the first floor upon our arrival we were met with the dead body of a sentry bot shoved into the wall and as out of the way as possible
“Guess Fire was right huh Desert”
“It would appear that way”
Moving past the sentry we continued on forward when I heard the ringing of seafires high caliber machine guns that I now am realizing I haven't told you about
Seafire had two heavy machine guns on both of his sides as well as the sand scorcher power armor and all of it's unique augmentations his armor was also notably more pristine than most suits besides being covered in a thick layer of dust that permeated every ounce of the suit
I suppose I should also detail mine and Shine in more detail but I'll do that in at a more convenient time now back to the present
As I heard the roar of his guns they were followed by the mechanical clang and electrical explosions of various robots one of such managed to get out it's mechanical prewar montra of
“Die your worthless zebra succumb!”
Before said robot was promptly mowed down by Seafire’s guns quickly running too where the shots had range out encountering the crumpled heaps of scrap of an age from a land lost to time their were mister gutstys as well as primarily military ponytrons with more high tech advanced lasers than the standard model their we're also a few pods on the sides of the halls in little inventions that closed up and opened out to realize a new pony tron or it would have if they weren't recently obliterated by machine guns continuing on to find Seafire we eventually rounded a corner coning to face the rear of our new companion as he issued us out a warning
“Stand back there's a assault-pony up ahead and I haven't had this much fun in years so if your run ahead you may die also as I've already said I've been itching to use these old girls again”
An assault-pony id heard of them they we're supposed to be these exactly pony shaped robots designed to look like fillies and colts as some sick way to confuse or just scar the attacker they were also supposed to have clocking tech and a giant eye laser that could melt hotels into solid blocks of steel I've even heard of some having blades that come out of the end of their hooves but id never seen one up close and before your ask how I know about never seeing one yet I also don't now much else I don't bloody know either and I'm chocking it up to weird magic shit
“An assault-pony for real I thought those were just a myth told to scare the foals and fillies”
“No we brought a few of em with us when we came down from equestria to aid in the war effort all pretty hush”
At that he took a stance to buck the door in on the next room before continuing
“Hush!”
*thud* he sent the door flying back through the room and alerting his mechanical presence
“Hush stuff but seeing as the worlds gone to shit i don't think that matters much any-more!”
Suddenly a beam of red energy came shooting out towards the door nearly blasting of fires helmet and the head beneath only barely being off it's intended target curling in a ruff arch line along the wall all but burning a hole through what was left of it before it finally stopped and the room returned to darkness
“Whoa that was close guess 200 years without practice has made me rusty better focus”
Oh great a dark room with an invisible robot that shoots eye lasers this can't get any worse
Long story short I could get worse in fact it did it got much worse! Suddenly the assault-pony was right in front of me sword blades and all drawn from it's hooves about to cut into me
“Intruder prepare to be annihilated”
The voice was that of a sweet child talking through a robotic mic than having that robotic audio played through a robots voice box losing all of the original feminine voice yet still staying feminine in nature
Shine came spinning around towards me shotgun mid draw and she started blasting in the head of the fillie sized death machine
*bang *bang*
She had unloaded both shots from her gun and had already started sliding another two shells in despite the first two shots seemingly having had no effect immediately after having it's head blown in the assault-pony was picked off of me but it did manage to grase in a slash at my cheek as it was lifted up by Seafire and thrown violently back into the room about near where the door had smacked against the wall but when it hit it wasn't a smack it was a smash and a crack as the mechanical horror sprawled against the wall but it still i believe got up i don't actually now seeing as it cloaked itself again living only a minor glint in the air to notify as to where it was not that it mattered considering seafire’s guns we're revving up to fire and fire they did lighting up the room with their bullets drifting side to side until they finally reached and trailed along the assault-pony pulverizing it's already rugged body with the bullets until it finally reached out to stab at him and was demolished shredded by the rain of fire from the Gatling's on his side he called them his girls refrain and liquid lead now you're probably assumed this seeing as i'm telling your about it but he was yelling at the top of his lungs while he fired
“Yeah you get that worthless hunk of scrap. pulverize em em Fire. Melt em down Lead. Make that bitch pay!”
He was in one word enthusiastic about killing it was a tad unsettling in all honesty but he was also pretty good about it even if he was currently shooting the already destroyed assault-pony with his Gatling's until the tips of the barrels had started turning a bright orange hue than he finally let off his assault on the battered robot
Inside the room it was dark, the only thing that we had to illuminate the inside was that of the already poor lighting of the hallway and the light of Fires helmet plus his natural glow of course so light wasn't really too much of an issue but you had to squint your eyes for some thing's the room contained what amounted to poultry finds that being that it was some sort of a private office guarded by an assault-pony? The only notable think I found in the office of sorts we're some more of those klug coins from back in town which I noted that id need to ask someone about soon i'll probably ask shine about them on the way back to town or something besides that I found some intact circuitry on the dead assaultron no the destroyed assaultron yeah that's a better way of putting it aside from it there was a skeleton in the chair behind a desk that had been shoved in the corner and by him on his desk was his terminal as well as the revolver that had i assumed caused the hole in the back of the unicorn's skull
“Wind whistle I wondered what happened to you and from the looks of it you died a coward take that dusk I get… your…. Bits”
He finally had muttered out those last few words before the hulking pony collapsed himself into a heap
“Damn it crisp, timber, dusk why did your all have to go and leave me behind like this!”
If tears could be shed they would have been by this steel behemoth that had effortlessly mowed down robots and even an assault-pony with seemingly no care now he sat before me all four limbs curled as best as they could be with the armor on and he was crying it through away all of the fantastical absurdities that anypony would of had revealing that this beast of a pony was just like any other pony, griffon, dog, or cat he could cry even if tears weren't shed he could walk like any other even if his hooves rumbled the earth, even if his voice was that of a ghoulified robot
*Slam* he smacked his metallic hoof into the tile floor shattering it and denting the ground beneath and i'd swear I felt the vibration through the floor but i'm not sure
“I'm ok I just need to compose myself i'll be outside”
And at that our steel friend walked out
``I'm going to make sure that he doesn't break down again your gonna be fine in here”
At Shines comment I got up and started poking the assault-pony before responding
“Well this death bot seems to be out so I should be fine plus I appear to have my hooves filled right now”
at that I gestured my hooves to the functioning terminal on the desk
“Well alright but if something comes a knocking and it ain't one of us don't fight it alone oh and take one of these “
At that she handed me a pretty not small but not big either radio earpiece thing with a lens attached to it
“I found it in one of those broken power armor suits and I got one myself “
The walkie talkie earpiece in question was a box with a piercing like system on it would pierce the ear to hold it in place I assume there was also a little microphone that came down and around to my mouth as well as a real neat and fancy thing an eye piece kinda like half a pair of glasses when the piece was all set up it lit up the screen and showed a little compass in front of me being projected by the piece beside the compass we're three colors red, green and yellow along with their explanations red hostile green friendly yellow untrustworthy finally on the back was a dial which when I started fiddling with was told bye shine not to because I might here something as she put it
“Hey quit missing with that do your wanna here two ponies bucking”
So I assumed it was the dial to change frequencies so I didn't miss with it
“Hear if ya wanna listen to something your should check out this one”
at that she turned the dial a few clicks before pinning the piece into my ear I caught the end bit of a song that played for a bit before finally a voice all gravely came across the radio
“Hello my wonderful pestilent's welcome back to the abyss news i'm your host the always lovely charcoal so sorry to disappoint all you heathens that sent assassins after me but hey this one got pretty close held the knife to my throat and everything ain't that right sweetie”
There was a brief moment of silence after that before someone else started talking
‘*cough* *cough* Please somebody come help this fucker plane nuts he has a black coat and’
The voice was gruff but scared sounded like he had been sobbing despite being as iron clad as seafire but I knew he could cry so I guess it wasn't as surprising
“Nope can't till them that sweetie now when I take this claw away are your gonna have to make me get the bare traps again or do you think you wanna risk never having children”
There was a brief silence permeated by a quite muffling like someone was trying to talk with their mouth full, so I couldn't understand what they were saying, but after that he started talking into his mic again
“Wonderful now go sit in your corner, now where was I oh yes so sorry listeners i'm back now just had to deal with an unruly dragon but on to your usually scheduled program the news”
He was nuts that had to be it
“Alright let's see not a drop of rain in sight one can only hope right every shit uh it appears that the cloud bank of the south is starting to spread some more but still not by much uh the crimson hoof has officially claimed the entire abyssinia Equestria border so better have a sky wagon if your planning to head north pals uh let see what els of uh yeah there's a pack of sand devils that have been seen near the southeastern edge of the scorch glow remind me to say back from their will ya now back to your regularly scheduled twelve song loop”
“At that the radio cut back to just being that a music radio”
“Wow that guy's a buckin nut”
“Yeah but 4 out of 5 times he's right about the news so I tune in like most everybody else now id better leave your to that terminal while I try and catch up to Seafire”
At that she left me to my own devices and I went to get started on the terminal
Booting it up the old relic flickered it's screen back to life just before the screen derped and blacked out and I wasn't sure what had happened so I did the time honored tradition of turn it on and off again until it works which it did after several minutes of me cursing at the piece of junk It finally started working and showed a few audio logs dating back too only a year and a few months before everything went to shit I played it
“Alright let's see how does this thing work again”
Her voice was that of smith rich chocolate as she responded to an unknown speaker
“What it's already on ok thank your now get back to work!”
“This is Wind Whistle reporting for her first official log in Abyssinia we've finally got the base set up and we're just finalizing a few details we should start suit production in a month or two with luck so I will notify you all back in Equestria if anything happens”
At that the first one ended and believe me I would sit here and list all the status updates but id prefer to keep my sanity I eventually got to a file that admittedly I knew what was coming but didn't like it
“I've received transmission troops we need to take cover everything's gone to shit out their the blasted fools are using the damn mega spells they even sent one down here to this hell hole supposed to handle the situation we failed to, damn fools the lot of them”
I started the next one three to go
“Date uh 1/1/0 after everything got fucked” “Ok so according to this Miss Whistle the blast was more towards the northern center of the country we should get minimal effects from any radiation outside but id still recommend we don't open those doors for a while”
‘’Didn't you just say we should at worst experience the minimal effects of the bast radiation”
“Well yes Mrs whistle but with how much sand that it's kicked up sandstorms are running crazy out there”
“Alright first signs of the storms calming down well send out a scouting party to scope out the situation thank no wait I can't say thank Celestia anymore she fucked us over her and little fuckup sister”
Finally the log ended living only two more I tried to open the next one but it had been eroded from time and when the voice played it was like somepony was really loudly scratching chalk on a chalkboard underwater while on fire
Once my ears stopped burning off my head I started listening to the final log hoping that it was of a better quality which it was
“Well i'm not gonna say much but I figured I should round this off before I die long story short they tracked the scouts back after last weeks mission today they struck we we're unorganized and the zebras along with all there mercs quickly overtook the base I don't think anypony else is left maby some of the desert rangers are trapped in the basement cause I've heard them banging on the blast doors but who the fucking shit knows I certainly don't and I don't thing you care whoever you are listing hell maybe your noone wouldn't that be interesting assault”
“Yes Mrs whistle”
“Attack anything that comes through that door even if i'm dead when that door opens find the princess and those damn ministry mares and cut of there fucking head understood”
“Understood mam”
*bang*
The audio recording lasted several hours after that but I knew that there was nothing left to this place nor the computer so I got up and headed out the door back into the halls and the elevator riding it back up into the original structure before finally
“Desert stop we can't go out there”
“Nice to hear you speaking again silver now what do you mean we can't”
“There's something I don't now it's faint but there's a force aimed right at this door the second we walk out my skull will be shattered and you brain scrambled because i'm sorry to till you this but if I die I don't think you'll live either”
“Well that's wonderful your show up tell me your gonna die if I leave and if you die I die everything just is going my way let's continue shall we”
Turning my radio’s frequency over to one of the channels Shine had given me specifically i was looking for the one she was on
“So uh fire how do you like it outside”
“I've never felt better in my lif-“
I cut him off
“Everybody duck away from door!”
Kicking the door out it came swinging open both guns drawn and firing wildly into the direction that Silver said they we're directly in front of the door right in front of the fucking sun where I CANT SEE! which I told in action
“Where the buck are you I may not be able to see but I can still beat your ass we killed an assault-pony for Celestia's sake so go on and try us!”
“Desert calm the buck down theirs nothing there”
“No she's right I wasn't going to say anything and alert our position but it seems that that doesn't matter now”
As my companions chatted back and forth about me I ran out of ammo and actually considered the situation before continuing
“I think I scared them off whatever it was”
“No there just standing there I don't think you even hit them”
“Oh come on after all of that”
“I agreed with Shine how did i not hit with such a barrage of bullets and plasma”
Then the distinct figure started trotting over the sand dunes to finally come into sight which begged the question how did Seafire know they were there but I decided to hold it instead focusing on the strange figure as he came over the dune he was a cloaked figure with a sniper rifle on his back looked like an earth pony but I wasn't sure, his shadow was prancing yes it's just as your think his shadow is prancing as a physical form
“Now now that's no way to treat your guest especially considering how long it took me to find your”
“Desert we need to leave this pony and this place now“
Silver was scared never thought id see the day despite only having known him for a short time
“Just give me a minute i'm sure we can handle one pony if this goes south”
“If what goes south”
I walked up to the new approaching pony and he removed his rags and flight helmet revealing a Zebra
“Hello there fair hero seams you journey is beginning rougher than I expected this tail to”
Ok so this was getting real confusing rely quickly
“Hero'' what does that mean”
“Oh I see thinoust deeds haven't been recognized as of this part of the story but worry not you worries and rest, soon the fears will resolve making way for enlightenment of thinouset soul, Now back to the point of our contact I request that your aid me in an effort of mine”
My deeds will be recognized man this guy is odd comes out of nowhere puts silver on edge and than starts talking like I'm some Savior or shit
“Well you are“
Oh great another mind reader
“Not in full technically I just have great many sources of great much power such as my shadow”
At that almost as if it was called his shadow moved out becoming an exact copy of himself only pitch black and altogether unnerving it reached out to touch me then shit hit the fan
“Desert we need to move now”
at that Silver despite not being able to move willed my revolver up and shot
*click *click* nothing the gun was empty just shooting the sound of an empty gun at the guns clicking the shadow just grinned a sickly grin of dark teeth
“Ah now I see you have the company of a spirit with you as well as I this will make my request much simpler i request that we become enemies and fight each other to the death for no other being in this blasted inferno has any level of competition in there being”
“But I have seen and I now of events to come and we must be enemies of the most primal kind so I went ahead and made it so your must keep moving there are about 10 griffons that will start tracking your in the next few days I want to see what your do with this information ta ta”
“What”
“Ta ta, fare they well, audios, your free to go i'll be back better be ready and good luck you'll need it. Oh and Ink would your mind returning the items you've stolen from him I want her at her best”
At that the shadow dissipated living behind my accumulated ammunition caps and klug then just as he appeared to us he left us grabbing my returned gear I headed back to the group I informed them of everything
“Guy's we have a problem there are some griffins that are gonna start tailing us and now a zebra with a living shadow wants to fight me saying i'm it's only worthy opponent or something”
“Zebras damn filthy tribal's that's all they are”
“Hey now hey aren't all bad I had sex with one once and they sure now how to treat a mare”
With that last bit Seafire just looked at her before coming over to me
“What did he say”
“Uh well he said something or another about having seen the future to come and we must be enemies as well as expecting my story to be less of a rocky start whatever that means”
“I say it again fucking zebras”
“Ok look Fire not all non ponies are shit”
“Oh I know but pretty much all of them are worthless vermin”
“We're gonna need to talk about that”
“Alright did your happen to get the bastards name”
“No he basically lead the conversation his shadow robbed me of almost all valuables without me even noticing”
Finally Shine spoke up
“I think it's time we head back to town and relax I've had enough excitement for awhile”
“Yeah I think we should just take a break after that but only a day if there are griffins coming after us like he said I don't wanna put that town in danger with our presence”
“I agree in this town I may be able to find out some information as to what's become of equestria after 200 years but don't let your guard down even if we're supposed to be relaxing”
“Alright let's get going than”
“Desert be careful where your walk us”
“I know Silver i'm scared of what's to come too”
Footnote:level up Skills hacking 30 speech 30 New perk: scatter fire weapon when your are shooting weapons with reckless abandoned towards a target all hits have a 25% chance to crit succeed New companion perk rain of fire and lead while with your Seafire’s guns Fire and Lead they will overheat quicker but don't use as much magic ammo crystals
Description an earth pony glowing one clad in sand scorcher power armor that makes him twice the size of a normal pony when including the water tank on his back the suit he has two machine guns one on each side left Fire and right Lead both last name storm they have the standard multi barrel but end in some boxes that your dump either ammo gems which are gems infused with the spell that creates ammo but unlike the version used in some turrets this spell wears out like any other ammo and need replaced or recharged they also can use ballistic ammunition's
You now I never noticed just how bad the town looked but when we got to town nopony, cat, not even a mouse was outside but I digress
“So this is tabby town doesn't seem all that impressive “
Fire had a pretty good point but of course he was comparing it to pre war equestria so i'm not all that sure his opinion carries market
“Yeah this place is more quiet than usual maybe we should just talk to the mayor”
Shine had a good reliable sensible plan but as i'm slowly realizing i'm none of these things and so I decided to make a solid left angled turn and thundered my way to the bar followed by my companions who I believe we're trying to talk to me about serious shit like collecting our pay or sorting out what other problems needed fixing in this town but I didn't pay them any care I just continued forward and well I pulled a Colt Westwood dramatically opened the door to the silent bar full of about two griffins a dragon and two cats I dramatically walked up to the counter slammed my hoof on the counter and oh fuck that hurt I had forgotten a ghoul bit into my flesh and the only thing that had been put on it we're a few bandages that after walking through the desert weren't exactly keeping them on all that well but I despite the pain did not reciprocate the fire in my limbs into words I only committed to the clishay
“One drink, whisky “
The cat tending the bar slid me a quick shot which I telekinetically picked up and turned back towards the door only to be met with the stare of seafire and shines face palm as the rest of the bar just sat around like a bunch of shit faced fools
“Desert would you quit it with the absurdities “
“I agree from what you've told me there's much to be done “
Did they not understand what serenity was I wanted to drink, fuck and sleep and I told them this
“Come on we're supposed to be relaxing you said it yourselves we have been through enough to take a little break “
And at that Shine was about to speak before I continued
“Hey bartender give me enough to knock me out or just in general get a good fuck “
At that he just handed me a case of different beers that which I started drinking as shine stormed out while Seafire spoke
“I'll keep her out of trouble while--”
I don't remember what happened next just that everything felt warm and cosy with the nice musk in the air i'm not gonna go into details seeing as none of us want to hear about my sex life but just now those we're some fabulous hours in bad who knew griffons could give it so well His name was Feather Wing which in his own words was a terrible name
I eventually rolled myself out of bed and went to look myself over my leg was still in pretty bad disrepair my main frazzled and coat filthy with the dust and dirt of the desert turning I took a quick glance at my cutie mark a cross surrounded by glowing sand I never really knew what it meant but seeing as I'm now in a desert part of it made since after that I finally started putting back on my battered gear and where the hell was Silver, looking around I didn't see him anywhere but what I did see was Feather waking up
“Hey beautiful watch look for”
“He had a deep tone but was sweet sounding despite “
“Did I perhaps have a skeleton with me when I drunkenly met your”
All he did was give me a shrug
“Sigh Wonderful “
After putting on all of my gear I rose my face rags up and pulled my googles down only showing one of my amber yellow eyes shining through the fractured lens
At that I slid the radio thingamajig over the broken lens and completed the goggles and let them run their diagnostics and shit
“See ya later doll”
“Thanks for the good time “
At that I left the bird to go see what everypony else had gotten up to as well as find Silver wherever he ended up
I walked out of the door this was not my room and thus didn't know where I was gong and the hangover that had just hit was not helping it was a hallway windows on one side looking out to the wall of another building and rooms to the side I came from going left I discovered this place had stairs and that it was the bar guess I never left walking no that's a lie stumbling down the stairs I just about ran into the the bar
“Miss you ok”
“I'm *belch* “
That was loud
“Fine “
It was the same cat that was manning the bar a few hours ago or at least I think it was a few hours
“How long was I out “
“Well considering you came in around 5:00 and I could hear the roof shaking until 3:00 and it's 8:00 right now i'll let your do the math oh and you owe the bar for the case of beer as well as the shot of whisky “
Shit
“How much”
“25 klug “
Shiite I can't even cont this currency and I know if I have that much
I pulled out all of my continents that could be given as payment klug, caps, equestrian bits
“I don't know how to cont klug so..”
“*sigh* well I don't usually do this but how about this i'll take this and cont it as half then your gonna do something for me theirs this bar on the other side of town it's where those damn blasted slaver’s hang out turned it into an outpost or something”
“And you want me to take care of thing's for ya”
“Well your catch on quick with how your came in earlier you got the guts or stupidity to do it and based on what i've heard it wouldn't be much trouble for your group”
“Well seeing as I planned to do that anyway I might as well “
“See it all works out “
“But before I do that do your know what my companions have gotten up to “
“You mean steel pony and Shine”
“Yep those are the ones “
“well I think your steel friend is talking with the town guard “
“Ya mean the slavers “
I remember hearing they were paid to protect the town or something a while back kinda like that little bit of info your just now you heard from sompony
“No they may protect us but, I mean the guard they may not do anything anymore but I count them as the guard no matter what Tobiass says “
Interesting I wonder what exactly he has against Tobiass
“And Shine “
“She's probably off doing something or another it's hard to place her really now a days especially with everything that happened to Iron”
“Well thanks i'll be sure to do something or another about those slaver’s “
He nodded to me and I left to go find everyone as well as deal with some slavers
Going outside I began the trek to the mayor's office until I finally got to his office it had changed a little since last time the sign saying mayor had fallen of the building so i pined it back up best i could before going in
“Howdy Tobiass”
“Desert ah I was wondering when you we're gonna show up “
“Yeah well i'm here, we cleared out that base for ya now you guys should be able to scavenge that place unhindered “
“Yeah I heard about that I also heard about a special pony y'all brought back with you “
“Yep he's special alright”
“Oh so you know exactly whom I was talking about “
“Well he is the only pony walking around in power armor not to mention how unique his armor is in general “
“Well those are the facts could I get you anything to drink some coffee maybe “
I can hear you now He had coffee! in short yes and it was delicious and invigorating but i'm getting off track after our coffee break came the important questions
“Any clue where Shine and Mr Special are “
“Well mr steel pony was talking to the militia and I heard Shine was looking for him so she is most likely with him “
“Thanks now about our payment “
“Right to the point as usual well 500 klug for your and Shine that's a thousand caps for you liking and one free item out of the market for each of your party “
1 klug 2 caps glad I finally got that cleared up but I didn't really care too much about that I was focusing on the last bit of the reward 1 free thing from the market per pony and I knew exactly what I was going after
Before I left Tobiass’s hut he gave me three metal plates spray painted back said they were free purchase cards or some shit
“Take and give one to whatever shopkeeper you want and he'll give your whatever you wish within reason obviously”
And with the cards I did the next most important thing I went and got my special mask helmet thing and since i've described it in a previous chapter I won't be going into depth about it now just now that I have fancy shiny face mask now and I will call it as such
Moving on from the markets I did the second most important thing I found my glowing steel giant talking to what looked like a bunch of homeless cats and I walked in mid conversation it seams
“Yeah I know what your mean buddy we old relics gotta stick together till we find purpose whatever it may be mine is keeping my old cats hear from using up there last few lives “
“I can sympathies but not with protecting more hating them somewhat at least“
“Something pretty bad must've happened for your to dispose your old team “
“It did”
That last one wasn't followed by a response from the orange one eyed cat only him sitting down and lighting a crooked cigarette
“Sigh ya know Fire I wish there was more”
“What if I told your there was “
Damn it why did I have to speak oh no he's looking at me
“And your name is “
“Desert”
“Scorch, nice ta meet ya now what in tarnation are you talking bout”
“I'm talking about kicking some slavers out of town and giving you your job back “
He smiled a wide grin that went for miles
“Seafire I presume this was the friend you told me about”
“That would be correct “
“Well sweet little unicorn if your gonna go around making statements like that you better have the skills and the friends to back your up which it appears your do but you can always have more”
I wasn't sure I liked where he was going but I went with it
“yep”
“I'm glad to see eye to eye with your now if you get us some guns and armor from the market over their will help your kick those slavers asses isn't that right boys”
They all just nodded and then suddenly It was at this moment in writing Desert realized she hadn't told her readers what the fuck these slaver’s looked like but also that she realized the reason why well it is cause she hasn't meet any of them yet
“ Alright i'll get the gear meet us at the bar by the town gate in an hour I think it's called the Dry Drop tavern”
“Alright will meet you there”
And at that the group of 10 cats got up and headed off to the Dry Drop
“Sefire do you have any clue where the slavers are “
“No I figured you did”
“Sigh let's go find Shine and kick slaver ass “
“Last she told me she was heating to the docs but I'm unsure as to where that is “
Oh shit right you'd think the pulsing pain in my leg where a ghoul bite was would be screaming doctor but it wasn't I was too focused planning to kill slavers I didn't have the time to get my leg treated
“I know where it is follow me “
Upon arrival to the shërim kzpont in all of it's cluster fuck glory going in it wasn't a cluster fuck and honestly that was surprising there I saw the familiar face of butter standing behind the desk
“Hey butter how's it been “
“I don't wanna talk about it if you looking for shine she is off in the corner behind me to the left “
I wasn't sure what was prying on her but I honestly didn't feel like imposing so I went with Seafire to get Shine
“Hey Shine “
“Oh hey Desert your up took your long enough “
“She has a point your know we figured we would just wake your up tomorrow since your we're so adamant about taking a break “
“Well that's cause we needed to relax”
“Yeah I can't disagree this was nice “
“I'm just happy we may be seeing some more action soon “
“Oh yeah what kind of action “
Of course my war loving Ghoul wanted to fight
“Well this town needs cleaning up and if I slap the slave trade hard enough my tab at the dry drop will go away as well as put the old guards back in power so three birds one stone it's gonna be fine”
“Alright well in that case let's get this shit don-”
“*scream*! “
Oh shit what in Celestia's name is going on now
“Sweet storm what happened to your leg!”
A unicorn no wait she had wings to that’s a fucking alicorn!
“Holly!”
“Uhm excuse me my lady I had not realized there was any royalty left in these blasted landscape less I would have come to aid you and serve”
I thought id scene everything and from Shines expression and the alicorns i think they felt the same but he was kneeling Seafire was fucking kneeling for this alicorn whom last I checked was working with red eye and who the fuck is red eye
“He is a pony whom your have no concerns or qualms with “
Well there goes Silver being vague with my memories and wait Silver how was he ahhh!
“Put me down this instant “
She was holding me mid air in telekinesis
“Desert you do not speak to royalty in any such form I am sorry my majesty”
Suddenly a zebra wearing cloak and with several piercings came rushing over to my aid
“Arcane pt her dwn! “
“But Lik look at her leg “
At the alicorns complaining I was thrust forward upside down with my leg being shown to the zebra known as Lik
“Wll zes ut still is rude”
“oh yes that's right sorry small horse “
Now i'm known as dirt horse brilliant just as I turned to face my other companions I was boarded By the confusion of shine and fire both screaming in unison
“What the fuck is going on!”
Oh great they we're clueless and i don't think Arcane as Lik called her was there either
Sitting down we proceeded to designate a talking order we also made sure to try making everypony happy with their seating which was sigh the first hurdle
“I will not sit next to a zebra “
“*groan* for peats sake Fire we've been over this there not bad not to mention your either have to let her sit with the alicorn or your can sit next to her cause you and Arcane have to sit on the ground wait that's it alright Lik you can sit between me and Shine and Fire your can sit next to Arcane alright “
No response
“Now time for the second hurtle Fire she is not a goddess nor a princess “
“But she's an alicorn “
“This is true steel pony but I am not like your grand alicorn sisters I am sorry to say artificial”
“Zis is tru arcane is to say not of ths land nor was she born as this being “
Luna she had a thick accent
“An artificial alicorn I thought that was impossible I mean I heard a rumor about that before the mega spells and all but I didn't think anything of it really “
“No fire there are hundreds of them back up north “
Oh and if you are wondering how I had hear silver talking well evidently he is just a disembodied voice now and it gives me a headache just to think about it so i'm not going to and another thing I just realized is that I can’t punch him anymore
“So you're telling me that up north there's hundreds of these pretty tall pretty ponies “
“Yes that is Correct Mrs Shine we are high in calculation throat all of equestria”
Mrs Shine that was a new one and I just knew she wouldn't let it go to her head
“Mrs Shine I think I like that “
Soon we we're all just chatting Fire was still being stuck up but it's in his nature so I let it slide during our conversation we talked about many things alicorns zebras equestria and why a alicorn was here in Abyssinia
“Well your see we and Lik left the waste due to the many terrible thing up there and the stigma against both our kinds more so mine we heard the lands to the south we're safe but upon arrival we had trouble getting in through the border some group calling them selves the Crimson hoof had taken control of the border thank fully they we're to stupid to or at the very least didn't have the resources to make water perimeters so we just went around and have been spending time in this town we are unsure as to our next step however but enough with our chatter your need care Mrs Desert “
“Arcane speak’s thine trut it is a necisaty that we rapair the sustaned injury’s on thine lim “
“Not to be offensive Mrs Lik but your accent is very thick”
“Why yes Shine thost tong is not mine fist langwich
“We are in the process of teaching her to speak Equestrian and her to me zebrekian “
Did she just refer to herself as we? Evidently Fire was also confused seeing as he said,
“We?”
“Oh yes right “I” (with great intent) am in the process of teaching her to speak Equestria”
Then Lik began speaking towards Arcane in zebrekian and i don't have a clue what she said nor was I ready for it i'll try to be vigilant and write what she says as best I can from now on
“Well yes Lik I agree that is a wonderful idea”
“Desert I have just been informed that you all are planning to leave this place soon and so Lik and I will be accompanying you upon your leave for we wish to see more of this desert lands for a cataloging that Lik wishes to do “
At that Lik looked to the Arcane and said something that my big brain has decided to try and translate
“rmiw ambyo ilitaiwa kbaki sir “
I haven't the slightest clue as to what it says or if it is correctly spelled but it is there for thine wishes
“Oh I see well according to Lik that was supposed to be a secret forget the words for a cataloging that Lik wishes to do in that precise order”
“Arcan pleas stope speeking “
“Oh yes I forget that I need to reserve my words now and Mrs Desert we must treat that leg that we keep getting drawn away from “
“You can treat my leg after I take care of the slaver situation in this town “
“Dos thine men the stange createres that resine in zhe bar “
What did she mean by strange creatures ah fuck it whatever they are they die like any other thing who cares anyway
“What strange creatures “
Evidently Fire interested as to what they are
“What y'all don't know, well actually of course ya don't your came out of a hole “
Yes Shine yes we did
“Well Desert, Fire they are these huge lumbering beast (proceeds to lumber) very top heavy big flowing wight manes and they always seem to have mask made of different materials on as well as armor over there chest but never there arms or legs something about their culture or some shit but they also have other races here and there but it's a rarity “
“Perhaps we should speak to these slavers and hopefully peacefully reach a well rounded non destructive answer to this situation “
“kwamba itakuwa zaidi operable yetu pamoja na suala la miji ya slavers “
“Lik remember Equestrian”
“*sigh* zhat wuld be mst operabel to ous as well as zhe issue of zhe slavers”
“You are improving “
“Well if we're gonna talk with them we have”
Looking at the visre in my vision that had all it's handy info on it it had labeled my task as a quest and said I had 15 minutes to finish getting the cats supplies as well as optional talking to the slavers before hoof
“About 15 minutes to do so as well as get supplies for are possible reinforcements”
“Reinforcements do your mean the present felines outside”
“They are not presents those cats are some of this town's greatest citizens! “
“Do not speak to the princes in that manor”
“Sir Seafire I do appreciate your proper acuity but I would be satisfied and indeed prefer if you do not hold me to golden standards of acting”
“Yes my lady no I mean Arcane”
“And madam Shine I state things as they are scene I am sorry if my comment has offended thine pony”
My companions sure could talk
“Well before shit hits the fan we need to do stuff Shine Fire your both get a free thing from the market thanks to Tobbias so while your doing that buy some armor and weapons than take them to the cats at The Dry Drop it's where we've been staying, Arcane Lik your with me will try negotiating Fire if you hear shooting I want you to engage alright “
“affirmative”
“Sure thing”
“This is agreeable”
“Az long az thr is lil blood shed and Arcane remas safe”
later-ish….
Talking it is difficult and I'm not sure how Arcane does it
We had walked in and we're the main centrifuge of the bar turned slaver outpost there we're the creature's shine had spoken of there we're cats, ponies, and their boss a stunning black and purple peacock taller than arcan an me put together she was wearing a pure as snow wight cloak claws and talons concealed
She was regal and elegant complementing the dark room with red banner in the back of the room as a centerpiece of the stairs that split to either side on the banner there was a black and wight insignia it looked like a unicorn with a broken horn and scared eye
“I have received word my presence was requested “
Her voice was soft and commanding all at once
“Indeed we have come to ask you leave town immediately “
We're gonna die
I think Arcanes comment slightly surprised the peacock seeing as she was i believe august but only for a second it wasn't enough for her to stop her appearance Of claws together in sleeves of her cloak only moving them out from her sleeves to gesture witch she did, she moved her left out in grace of a shake
“Come let us sit and discuss this bold request over some tea”
“Indeed “
And at that Arcane put her opposite hoof forward and they shook followed by one of the burly creature's the size of Arcane sat a tiny tray on a table in the middle of the floor followed by another carrying four cushions that he put as seats
Sitting down all of her fellow slaver’s sat down but only after their leader
“Now let us discuss your wish for us to leave this town and never return is that it”
“Precisely the inhabitants of this location are uneased by your presence and they speak of taking arms to fight your out in fact there is a 12 and counting number of units outside armed for if these negotiations fail “
“Well your sure are a blunt one aren't you well if we're going to be blunt I will speak our say No this town is too rich in resources and too vital a location to be left without our presence “
“Well it appears we have reached a conclusion”
Wait what no
“No we haven't Arcane let me have a crack at her”
“She has made her statement Mrs Desert she won't change “
“The alicorns right I will not falter “
“Well theirs no harm in trying “
I'm never letting her negotiate again
“Perhaps “
“So Mrs peacock here are the facts as I know them we have a militia with a power armored pony in it outside and they have been instructed to rip this place to pieces if a single shot is heard and i doubt that coat of your’s can withstand machine guns with near infinite ammo “
“I see, and I do believe you're right this coat is more of a negotiation and sleep wear type outfit but it's better than you believe but non the less is that all”
I'm not sure why but this bird was just putting e on edge but I continued on trying to intimidate her
“Oh yeah your gonna lose if your try and fight that is”
“Confident little horse aren't ya well i'm sorry to say you left out a few details we have these”
At that she pulled a pistol out from her coat it was weird tho it had a pull back on it's back that when pulled back turned two gears on its sides that also pulled open a chamber on the top on the gun that led onto a see through barrel
“This little pretty is a special little thing the storm gave us whatever it shoots is enhanced farther stronger deadlier than the normal not to mention the ammunition we use care for a demonstration”
At that she revealed her right arm for the first time in all of our speaking it was fully cybernetic the whole shebang but better most cybernetics id scene we're clunky it was rare to see a slick smith nice looking limb but the had a brace colored with black lines running through it, it was smooth silky and just in general cool and evidently she noticed my staring because she commented on it as the demonstration was brought out it was a dummy made of sticks and bags of straw specifically two rods we're stuck like a cross through one bag than three one on each outer end of the rods and than a beast pulled out a red marker and put a smiley face on the head bag
“This arm is my oldest and most faithful tool crushed a few unruly ones with it literally and not but this is about my gun clear the way “
At her command the slavers between her and the target dissipated and she shot with what sounded like a clap of thunder a single shot left the strange pistol, upon contact the sack posing as a head froze solid like black ice it looked exactly the same as the still at Shines shack did after the battle that killed Iron
“And fun fact i could kill all of you with machine guns and no one would come to you rescue seeing as this room is soundproof i'm no ammeter”
Shit
“Oh and you know that turtle you killed out in the desert he was the leader of a raider gang that has been a thorn in our side for some time and you got rid of him so i'll do you this favor of leaving this outpost but if I ever come across you or your mary little gang again we will kill you no actually you'd bake a good breeder but only time will tell “
Thank Celestia I wasn't looking forward to a fight not after seeing how many we're in there I was terrified mostly of her but also her force but i wasn't going to show that that would be showing weakness in the face of power
“Will be ready for you if that happens “
“No you won't your will learn to live in fear of the storm and of me Silina tricenary master of the storm, rank Amethyst but you'll learn that with time just like you'll learn how terrible a decision this was for you“
We left after that as the slavers all got up and collected there gear
“Zhat want will all zhings consderd “
“Arcane i'm never letting you negotiate again”
“I believe that is reasonable”
I unknowingly helped slaver’s and that's the only reason i'm alive that thought the fact they could have killed us with ease why was I so stupid of course there powerful they have control of a town I should have gotten more information but no I went half cocked on of the have beast and that's all I new Celestia's sake why was I so stupid
The slavers followed us out led by Silina Amethyst on stride out
“who is dat “
“That Shine is Silina leader of the 3rd branch Slave trade “
“I looked to who was speaking it was the leader of the militia cats, Scorch “
“She’s a peacock “
“Yes Fire she is, she's also the only one I've ever scene but still I wanted to shoot her so badly “
“And are they just gonna walk out of town really it was dhat easy“
They lined up Silina fronting them, they started walking south there must have been 30 - 40 slavers in there and the rest of the town there was ponies, cats, griffons. the beast obviously, and those were minotaur's four of them they walked at each of the four corners of the slavers kinda like personal escorts there to beat the shit out of anything that came near the group
“Zhat is much more zhen it once seme I do not belve we stod a chance”
Some time later after they we're far from our line of sight everyone finally settled and dispersed Dust the leader of the militia immediately took up position of town guard captain thing and set his cats to patrol round the town meanwhile I was hauled off to the hospital by Arcane and Lik
“Now we will treat this leg “
They wasted no time at all throwing me on a mattress on a table that witch they operated on with me and they started pulling back my bandages and
“Oh sweet Celestia “
My leg ok maybe it had started hurting really bad but it was starting to turn fucking black and is that green puss Lunas sake
Safe to say it was bad and then I heard happy words
“Lik alcohol “
“Riht awae “
Oh bring me my sweet succulent “Fucking hell that burns “
She poured it on the wound witch is admittedly smart and all but still give me a warning next time
Pretty soon specifically after “cutting away” infected tissue and stabbing me with no less than 3 needles she did some fancy magic shit and wrapped it in bandages
“There that should do it “
She sounded so exhausted best I could figure was that whatever spell she used pushed her to her limits
“Zis is zhe tim to rust “
“Asante Lik IM kwenda kupumzika sasa “
You now I think Arcane spoke better zebrekian than Like spoke Equestrian
“Zes slep wll srve thine slef wll “
Not much else happened that day but we visited the mayor and prepared for the next day witch was basically sleep for hours and it's the next day but first we spoke to Tobiass
“Yeah thank your guy's you've really helped out a lot around here and I'm not sure how I could repay your so i'm just gonna not repay you “
Ain't that just wonderful
“Also just curious but what are your bunch of knuckleheads gonna do now “
“Well what do your mean “
I hadn't really thought about where we would go just that we needed to before those talons caught up to us cause i'm sure we could take them but being in town didn't feel right to me
“I don't have the slightest clue but will probably be looking for some information and seeing the sights “
“Well I now how you can start off on both of those go east a ways you'll run into Klugtown it's quite literally next to impossible to miss it “
“Well thanks i'll be sure to head east when we leave tomorrow that is unless theirs anything anything small and simple left to do here”
“No not really your group has helped enough but if your go to a place called the hole it's just past klugtown can your get this to a doctor named Rine Rose”
At that Tobiass handed me an envelope and I stuck it in my bag
“I'll be sure to get it to him”
“You guys have anything left to do before we leave”
“No id prefer to move on let the dead rest and all “
“I as well will continue forward with you and prin- I mean Mrs Arcane”
“As we have already stated there is nothing left for us hear so we and Lik will be coming with you “
Lik just nodded
“Well it's settled then Klugtown here we come”
Footnote:level Up Companion perk added: Healing Glow Arcanes magic heals you and your party two times quicker than any other creature Companion perk added: I Spek Otre Langeges you learning some zebrekian from Lik be proud of this honor skills:
A unicorn no bigger than a foal with a shotgun she calls Thunder according to her own account she has a coat and mane/tail and I've only ever scene her wearing a suit of leather armor so common i don't even mention it
Note: I asked that she write her own little account of some thing's in this book I offered the same to Fire but he Declined
Well I am a now retired moonshiner and evidently adventurer now so how life changes uh Deserts asked me to write about things like my views on our party and stuff so I like Seafire but I hate his tendencies specifically towards zebras cuss my cousins a zebra and all or at least he was till he died got eaten by a sand beast back a few years ago and all Desert herself she's a caring goodhearted pony even if she's a bit uh reckless now Arcane and Lik good but weird that's all I've got on em so far maybe if I do this again I can expand on that but who knows
I might have said it before but I didn't like walking and that's why we weren't before we had left Tabby Town Fire had the brilliant plan of renting a cart or something to ride in and so we did
“Yesery this butty it’s been in the family for generations,”said the old cart salese pony in a cheerful yet reminiscent tone before becoming more serious with his words“so id appreciate it if your brought er back unscaved“
Er? I think he meant her but I wasn't going to ask for fear of insulting him or his family
“Yes,” said our deadpan blunt companion “thank your kind sir if anything happens to your cart we will return all of its remaining pieces”
The cart pony grimaced in response to her
“Id sure hope so” he said it with a sarcastic joy
And at that we finished gathering all of our supplies Arcane and Like specifically had some stuff they needed to get but once they did we took the cart, it had an engine in the back that took a while to start but after Lik smacked it a few times a plum of black smoke kicked out followed by the sweet hum of the engine
“Zhere we go now wee leave” and at that my new found zebra companion snuggled up to Arcane as they sat in the back Arcand had engulfed the lever of the engine with her telekinesis the engine in question was basically a box with a lever sticking out the front but besides that it was nothing to special, after everypony else got on I sat down on one of the side benches with Shine opposite of me than Fire attempted to step into the cart and well he is more than twice the size of a normal power armored pony witch is already very heavy so when he put a hoof on it the entire cart shifted and their was a noticeable indentation when he rose it back off
“I will walk ahead and let your now if anything tries to kill us “ as usual he sounded semi monotone with a hint of a sense of humor, at his remark he turned and started walking with us trailing behind
A few hours passed I must've fallen asleep or something because when i woke up it was no longer mid day instead it was nearing towards night looking back west towards Tabby Town it wasn't their but the radiant glowing sunset was just as it curled around the horizon looking forward to the east there was something was that a deer sweet Celestia it was, there was a missile embedded into the sand and what was that it was a rainbow colored puddle around the base of the rocket and as I looked around their we're smaller ones as I looked back their we're more was I really so dense I hadn't noticed that yet
“Before your think about it, I wouldn't touch that stuff if I were you its taint there's a lot of it in equestria and it causes” Arcane paused her deadpanning voice to what id imaging was thinking before she spoke again “taint in short is bad it does a great many terrible things to your body such as alter you blood to be acidic and thus melt through your flesh, bone, and the ground beneath you”
That didn't sound pleasant
“Though I admit I've only ever seen this much taint in a place called the taint fields it's up in the Vanhoover area if I remember correctly but I may be mistaken” she was uneasy i could till this sight unnerved her
And comparing this to the taint fields seamed fair because when I actually looked around their was taint pretty much everywhere and Fire was walking in it so i assume it has to touch the skin to take effect or something
“You think it's from dhat missile over there“ the filly sized mare called out and admittedly I think Shine was right but something was off about it all of it
“Fire your pre war military any clue what this is “ I didn't have a clue and the only one I know would have a chance of understanding is Fire
“I haven’t the slightest clue but considering they didn't tell us they we're gonna hit this place I doubt anything they would've told me would be the truth“ i could till he was still sore over that despite 200 years having passed
“kwa nini ni lazima wote wewe ponies kuwa hivyo kuingiwa hamu na silaha yako ya hatari” i'm not sure what Lik said but she didn't sound happy
“Well Lik it's because their stupid” said our grand alicorn companion in her glorious holy tone see I can be sarcastic but I didn't say any of that aloud instead I chose to do an eye roll
Passing the fallen megaspell I decided to try and read the writing on it
*ministry of wartime technology symbol* Sand scorcher mk2 *ministry of arcane science symbol*
Sand scorcher just like Fires power armor interesting, leaning in closer over the edge of our cart I tried to get a better look at it and slip “oh shit”
I fell right into a good solid pool of taint and “Desert” Arcane quickly grabbed me in her magic and pulled me into the cart “are you ok”
Admittedly I was fine or at least I felt fine
“Come on open your eyes” she was panicking witch was making me want to panic but i stopped myself
Opening my eyes I hadn't even realized I had them shut I must've really been out of it but oh sweet Celestia that hurt then I was stiff it was like id been frozen but soon that like the pain before it faded and I felt normal again
“That was weird”
“Desert please don't take baths in the toxic rainbow water” their was a great level of sarcasm and genuine concern in Shine’s voice
“Yeah yeah I know let's just get going” taint I didn't like it but at least it tasted better than cactus crisp
“Are you sure your alright” oh why did Shine have to be so concerned about me
“Mrss deserat I belive Shine is corect and understandble for er concern” damn it Lik quit being correct
“I'm fine” this bit was already getting annoying I felt fine just stiff is all and that was probably just my nerves or something
We set up camp at the missile that night and evidently while I was asleep my viser thing had marked this place sand scorcher drop site 2 how my viser knew that I would never know I just added it to the list of weird magical shit right between Silvers disembodied voice and how it knew what was in my saddle bags
“I'll stand watch you should sleep especially after all that” why did no one believe I was ok honestly it was pissing me off
“No i've been asleep all day I need to be awake, get things done “ who am I kidding what was I gonna do I can't get out of the cart without risking death or worse and I couldn't really do much in the cart itself
“So Arcane what exactly are you packing in that case of your’s” when Arcane had got her stuff back in Tabby she brought a big rectangular case down it was longer than her body and almost as wide so given this free time I decided to enquirer about it
“Oh do your mean our acquired weapon well it is our main weapon of defense nothing else” And at that she pulled it off the bench it was resting on making Shine who was resting on it fall and hit her head as Arcan pulled it to the floor and opened it, inside was a uh something it was a big gun of some sorts with a big back long skinny barrel and four curved bladed bits at the end of it
“This is my plasma caster i'm not to keen on fighting but when I do it comes in pretty hoofty“ A plasma caster just like my rifle but with a lot more stopping power in mind it was not in the best looking condition I mean your could tell id been through some use but for the most part if any big ugly fuckers came at us it could probably handle them especially with Fires machine guns included
“What about you Lik what kinda gun do your use” as usual Shine had the good questions while I just sat around and stared dumly at weapons
“I do not indlge mineself in ur tipes of weponry stead I chose to do zhe job with mine own hooves and not reli on a mashne” she sounded disgusted that shine even made a remark about her and gun in a sentence
She won't rely on a gun that's… odd but I can't tell her how to fight
“Interesting very interesting” oh great a bony disembodied voice come to haunt me
He continued on with his rasp “Ha ha yes indeed I am hear to haunt you,” i'm honestly not sure if he was serious about that or not “no I just find it interesting, the friends you've accumulated that is, a mysterious skeleton, ah moonshiner with a shotgun, some 200 year old ghoul with mini guns, an admittedly gorgeous alicorn and zebra both healers one with a plasma caster and another with nothing but their hooves”
Admittedly he was right it was interesting the hodge podge skills and that we all have and hang on did he just complement Arcane's looks or was I hearing things
“I guess weird and interesting ponies, griffins, zebras, creatures in general are just drawn to each other“ he paused for a brief moment as if he was deciding whether or not to say something
“a tiny horn chasing a bird, a mare and buck from a love stable number 99, a giant following task of a false rescue, a ghost wading on 52 chasing rain, one flying from shackles without wings, another in the ice of time emerged time and time again”
What in lunas sake was he talking about
“ many more have rose, killed, fought, and saved many have failed time and time again but what is this a new heroes arose crawled from a hole skeletons in their closet”
Weird and interesting well it was a good way of describing what he was describing I mean a horn chasing a bird it didn't seem all that heroic to me but who was I to judge
Coming out of my thoughts and my as usual confusing conversation with Silver I discovered that Arcane and Lik we're asleep curled up together in the back of the cart and shine had laid out a bed made of two sleeping bags in the base of the cart one of witch she was in meanwhile fire just sat there
Fires voice broke the silence “peaceful isn't it”
“Yeah” I responded quickly but normally “glad we could stop a bit but will have to leave early to keep ahead of the talons” damn that fucking zebra, he appears out of nowhere claims to be my destined foe or something then sends some luna damned mercenaries after us
“I'm not really one to restate what was already said but from what Arcane has said about this taint it sounds serious and I don't want to have the pony that save me only die a few days later” There was a great level of seriousness in his voice followed by a tired comedy in his voice
“Sigh Yeah you're probably right I feel rigid I suspect you know how that feels” I needed a drink good thing I have some…
“ Indeed I know the feeli-” I cut him off
“Oh for fuck sake” Cactus Crisp, before we left Tabby Lik had said she had plenty for each of us to drink and she’d given us all three bottles wrapped in parchment and tied with string around the throat's of the bottles I didn't think to check what she had given me but I wish I had
“What is it” he asked all inquisitorial like
“Cactus Crisp” there was so much disdain in those two words
“Yeah you hate that shit too” he let out a similar shallow laugh to before letting me speak
“So i'm not the only one who wants to blast the head off of whichever bastard made this shit”
“Yes that's a good way of putting how I feel about this drink but now I don't need to drink” he was happy with his robotic exterior and voice just because he didn't have to drink that shit i couldn't agree with him more but
“Yeah but ya can't drink sparkle cola anymore either” I had a pretty shit grin on my face with that one
“Don't remind me” at that I un-quirked the disgusting soft drink and started drinking it
“Yep that's still terrible” i'm not really sure what I expected
“Terrible and disgusting i'm not sure how these creatures drink it”
Terrible and disgusting there was a great emphasis put on those words and as if there was something different between the two descriptive words let me till your real quick there wasn't but still it was both terrible and disgusting
A few hours passed and as time went on I drank the Crisp one sip two sip three *hack* coughf* *coghf*
“you ok“ despite sounding focused his speaker voice sounded concerned
“I'll live” that was the truth the taint despite my protesting had done something to me something bad but I didn't have even the slightest hint of a clue as to what was wrong I just felt stiff
“Yeah you better less i'll kill you and I presume Shine will do much worse to you”
“Yeah you think” we we're, tired both me and him he however had been tired for far longer
“Yeah she really likes you ya know” Shine liking me no that couldn't be right
“If she does I don't see how and she shouldn’t” id led her to a factory full of unknown threat’s where she almost got mauled by a ghoul and then fought an assault pony
“Well she likes you despite you reckless nature” reckless no I was just plain stupid that's all
“Reckless no i'm just an idiot” that was the truth
“Now you and I both know that's not true” was he trying to be sympathetic or something
“Yes I am I bet you can't even give an example of something smart i've done” all i've done since crawling out of that hole is fail to save Iron, lead Shine into a ghoul infested factory before charging ghouls in said factory with a filing cabinet, than I wasted half a day with a griffon before fucking up negotiations with slavers, hero i'm no fucking hero i'm just a joke
“I think I can name a few”
“Really give me one!” I was getting mad why did we have to go from a normal conversation to debating my stupidity it's fucking stupid
“you saved me and despite the fact of their scummy nature you hold that zebra on equal ground to a goddess, and you got those slavers's out of Tabby i mind your without conflict”
I saved him well I guess he was right about that but of course I hold that zebra equally and sure I solved the slaver situation peacefully but that was because of prior violence on my part so it didn't count
“Oh your all the same save somepony cry about the spilled milk save a pony cry save cry just get over it theirs been much worse fuck ups than your’s” Silver why did he have to do this all the time
“Because I now you better than any other pony ever will and it seems i'm gonna have to prove that to you”
Oh shit just at that moment everything in me was thrown backwards into a blackness on blackness but there was something there a wall it was made of water but I didn't go through it just splashed against it then i did the same to the floor it was the same as the wall regaining my composure I stood up to meet the gaze of the council
“Explain yourself Desert what the hell was that about you we're supposed to kill them but you didn't, why?!” what was this
“There our own I can't just open up plasma on our own”
“Yes you can and you will because it was a direct order! but today's your lucky day normal your,d be exiled to the ground!, but you'll be glad to know that that terrorist you let escape got ripped apart by some of those savages down there” with that last bit he went from unquenchable anger to sarcastic asshole tone and i was getting mad
“She was trying to teach some foals about equestria how is that terrorism”
“Silence you dare to question the Grand Pegasus Enclave I ought have you flogged just for that!”
“So what do you think“ his voice was so soft not like it's usual bony rasp looking over I noticed he was back to his prime color and age
“What is this” I knew what it was but I wouldn't admit it
“This is your past but you knew that” he was different tired but easy
An alarm started beeping in my head loud like gunshots it was so loud
“Well it appears will have to continue this excursion another time you need to return” he was sad I think
“What but what about all of “
“It can be saved for another time but right now you just got shot” wait what ow
The shot range out through the air punching the left side of my mask, it didn't make it through but another shot like that might if they hit there again and I didn't want to take any chances it was still dark and my viser said it was 5:34 am so it would be a while before we had any light to see by
“Sniper!” Fire had already started scanning the horizon from where the shot came from when Bang a bullet slammed right into Fires helmet sending his head rearing back as the bullet scraped past not being able to get into the reinforced suit of armor it sent sparks flying
Then a bubble engulfed both of us as Arcane shielded us and pulled out her plasma caster i'm not sure where Lik had gone to but shine was crouched behind the cart
“Where’s it coming from?!” asked shine and after gaining his composer back, Fire let out a gasp and answered “northeast”
And at that one word another two shots came flying both of them hit the shield one bounced of no problem but the other one slammed into the shield sending vibrations through it with it's thundering hit
“We need to move” if we stayed hear those snipers would rip us to shreds and *bang* the shield shattered followed by the tang and crush of the sniper shells hitting the engine and oh fuck it's on fire “Desert what's the plan” I looked to shine and then I thought of my plan in about a half of a second
“Run”
It was a great plan don't judge, we ran east towards where klug town was supposed to be but it was dark and we couldn't see a thing so some pretty predictable and bad shit happened Shine was on top of fires back and at some point Arcane picked up Lik from wherever she had gone and I was left to run on my own unprotected from the elements of taint one puddle two puddle three puddle four oh shit I slipped on, my own hoof it was melting and now I was almost completely covered in taint
“Fuck fuck oh for fuck sake!” My voice, fear, and worry we're growing really really quickly as my body did a lot of fucking shit bad mostly
My hooves we're melting explains why I slipped then my uh I was on fire and it was ho no wait it wasn't hot and why was I not burning, the fire kept growing engulfing me as I looked to Arcane she was aghast at the sight she saw and I was angry and afraid and said emotions we're growing just as the flames grew and grew endlessly then
Bang another shot slammed into Arcane's side throwing her down into the taint and another heavy she'll smacked into Fires head yet again but this time he didn't stay standing but instead he sent the steel goliath into the ground throwing Shine back into a small area between the pools of taint damn near going into it
Rage, anger, my internal anger was manifesting into the fire around my body that much was clear and I tok of towards them with wings? I had fucking wings witch I would have been much more excited about had i not been full of anger
I was off the ground but I didn't care I didn't try to care I was too angry I pulled my taint covered rifle of my back it was just on fire as the rest of my everything hell the space we're my hooves we're meant to be was equally on fire, as I raised my hooves up dropping the gun I flapped my burning wings as fast as they possibly could be sending ashes into the air I here the shoots ringing out
Swoosh the large bullet passed right under me putting out the flames as it passed only for them to start up even quicker than they died out and was I really there already on top of those bastards I guess I was because my burning wing just got blasted off and my burning hoof had glocked the green stallion he was sent sprawling to the ground than holy shit I somehow had already burned the other pony to a crisp couldn't even tell what the hell gender they were
How the fuc- I cut the stallion off with another smack of my hooves then another and another pretty soon I couldn't tell what exactly he looked like not even in the slightest
Eventually I stopped and my flames died down along with my anger and I realized exactly what I had done and I turned back to where we had been shot and tried to take flight only to discover what sand and dirt tasted like
“Ow”
The first thing id said in whoever knows how long, I looked to the taint fields and I.... I was tired oh so tired that burst must have really taken it out of me because I was
Did ever mention how weird it was to start my week waking up to two ponies above me and now ending it in the same way
There was a voice maniacal, sarcastic, and annoying “Well well well Mrs fire fuck wakes up finally“
I was in a cage. No literally they had put me in a cage shaped like a bell and made of that familiar black crystal found in the hooves and claws of the storm
“*Sigh* wonderful” I was tired of this shit already and that was too many ponies no creature's too feasibly fight or count even
“Oh wonderful you say well that's a new one” the unicorn was confused good I tried to use my telekinesis and nothing he shield was reverberating silently and I couldn't get my telekinesis through the cage
It was making me mad and oh shit i'm on fire again it was starting with my horn as i threw fire at the cage but it too was repealed by this point several of the slavers and slaves around m were staring at me and I was tired my hooves fell out from under me and I collapsed
Ha dumb bitch this cage can re- it all melted into blurred nonsense before I passed out
“Hey hey get your ass up dumb bitch” this new voice was dumb and slurred beyond all shit
“Hu wha who is where am I” I was even more so slurred and Celestia sake was it loud there were buildings behind me soaring to the sky as well as in front of me by about four ponies length
“Where are you well little miss bitch welcome to klug town i'm your new owner now follow me” At that the aggressor a fat pig grabbed hold of my tail and damn near effortlessly ripped me from the cage despite my best efforts and went into the building behind us
“Oh how i'm going to in joy breaking your mind” as he continued ripping my tail up the stairs he smacked open a door into a dingy cluttered room magazines socks and oh fuck that smell it was so rank and strong the musk came bellowing out the door the big ugly fuck breathed in deeply and he let out a strong exhale
“Oh yes you smell that that's going to be your and all you can smell pretty soon” No no no this was bad
“Let go of me fucking let go!” fear was over taking me and and there was another pony in the room she was curled up against the wall near the door crying no she didn't have any tears left to cry they we're all used up first session with this bastard
Get over here bitch your have a job to do as he said that he threw me onto his filthy bead it was covered in vile the mare near the door didn't immediately get up and that pissed off Mr ugly
“Did I stutter get you worthless mouth over here and suck my cock “ I was slowly limping of the bed trying to grab my uh my shit I didn't have my gun I didn't have anything so I changed my action to look at the bastard choking him with my telekinesis as he wiped out his uh i'm not gonna describe that
“Go run you fool!” the mare looked at me she just stood there and looked at me until I repeated myself
“Fucking! Run!” at that she did as told and ran out the door as I continued to choke the cunt with both my hooves and my telekinesis then he died I know he did because if he hadn't he would have been flailing still and he wasn't he was dead I let go and I left
Pretty soon I got down stairs and there was the mare on the floor at the end of the stairs the red pool growing from her cracked open head and her broken neck the neck she broke running down the stairs she had died because of me because of my stupid arrogant bullshit because of my bullshit fire and arcane we're shot because of me iron died
“Because of you we're all dead”
Footnote: level up new perk added quest touched by taint You have taken a splash in the Taint pool. And now you have two no three taint abilities here's to hoping your don't die because of this endeavor you've chosen to embark on
Taint ability: The Fires of Anger whenever your get angry the fire of rage engulfs your giving your what your lack in any occasion wings, claws, good looks no that last one was just a joke
Taint ability: your hooves melted good thing cybernetics exist
Skill note: hacking, sneak 30 barter, small guns 25 mealy 35 flight magic 20 Magical energy weapons (m.e.w) 50