I stood above it all, the Wasteland, the ruined world below me. With a thought, I could see anywhere across the Equestrian Wasteland, from Manehattan to Fillydelphia, from the ruins of Canterlot to the raider fortress of Vanhoover, watching it like an all-seeing goddess. But I could also see into the remaining functioning terminals from across the Wasteland and beyond, giving me a good view of the inhabitants both good and evil.
It was divine power, the power I don’t think any pony should have but I needed to perform my duties as The Wasteland's new weather manager and guardian. So I accepted my place as the Wasteland’s Watcher. “Spike probably hates that I’m stealing his job.” I joked to myself.
“I don’t think so, that Dragon has been stuck up in that cave for two centuries. He needs some time off.” The form of a pure white goddess trotted up beside me, her mane a mix of light blues, purples, greens, and sparkles flowed in the nothingness void we lived in. She was the goddess I was taught to worship since I was a filly, and if it wasn’t for the fact she told me otherwise I would still think she was one. “He should find a nice lady dragon. Share a treasure with her, lay some eggs.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “I don’t think there are that many dragons left in Equestria Celestia.”
“That just means the competition is lower and the need to mate is higher.” She said that with a hint of sauciness in her voice I still wasn’t used to hearing from a pony I worshipped. “And being a war hero with an eye patch, wounds surely will woo the ladies.”
“Yeah, I don’t think Spike’s getting a mate anytime soon.” Nor do I want to think about him getting one so I changed the subject fast. “Anyway, I was about to do some ‘Watching’, got anywhere specific I should start?”
She put her hoof to her chin deep in thought at the idea. “Let’s look over the less populated areas today. They're usually a hotbed for trouble and the big cities don’t need us now.”
I nodded to that, the Wasteland was putting itself together again after the biggest war not seen in two centuries struck it. The Enclave war left its marks but the land was healing with the efforts of good ponies, some of which were my friends.
A screen appeared in front of both of us, showing the brown and grey landscape of the dead world. It quickly changed to various views of different parts of Equestria’s more lonely areas. My eyes fell over small towns, little shakes in the woods, tribal villages, and wandering ponies in groups or alone. I was like a secret protector, looking down on them without them knowing.
One scene caught my eye. The scene of four stallions tying a mare to a rock next to a small lake as they looked at her with hungry eyes, the mare was fighting with all her might to escape, crying and pleading to Celestia to save her. It didn't take much thought to know what was happening, and it didn’t take much thought to know how to deal with it.
Dark clouds quickly formed in the sky, and without warning, lightning rained down like a goddess's wrath! The first stallion it struck fell to the ground a burning husk, his friends panicked with one of them galloping away in complete fear. He was the next victim, two bolts burning him alive. His friends looked to the sky with pleads of mercy, they knew who was watching and they knew the judgment coming their way. Their bodies were so burned by the end of it they were more ash than pony.
The mare set herself free, getting on her knees and thanking Celestia for her salvation.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding back. The rage inside of me lowered to a whisper. I looked at Celestia seeing a face of utter hate written on her, her expression changed when she looked down at me, she looked like a proud mother beaming at her filly. “Good job little one.”
I blushed a little. Having Celestia see me in my ‘enraged’ moments wasn’t how I usually wanted her to view me, but sometimes my job called for me to be judge, jury, and executioner. “Eh, thanks Godd- I mean Princess Celestia.”
She rolled her eyes in an annoyed fashion. “Pip we’ve been over this, just call me Tia. I’m not a Princess anymore, so Tia is just fine.”
Normally I’d call any pony calling Celestia Tia an insult, but when it’s Celestia saying it while giving me the stink eye I shut up and silently accepted it. “Okay...Tia.” That hurt to say. “Let’s keep Watching.”
The scene of the mare praising Celestia fell away as the screen flashed across scores of views. More valleys, dead forests, hillsides, until they came upon the sight of conflict. It wasn’t unusual in the Wasteland, especially after the Enclave war, but it was the combatants that caught my interest.
Battling each other in the ruins of an urban street, magical energy and rockets traded blows as the scenery was ripped apart. Both sides were former enemies I knew well, on one side of the streets was the steel clade power armor form of the Steel Rangers. Wielding weapons fit more for tanks than ponies, launched attacks against their long-time rivals, the false artificial Alicorns, the daughters of the Goddess. Alicorns of blues and greens fired Eldritch knives and arrows at their armored enemies while magical bubbles blocked incoming rockets like they were nothing.
Though there were few of them the battlefield bore scares as if a small army was fighting there. It was truly a showing of how formidable as enemies they were, a display I was all too familiar with from both groups.
“Should we do anything?” Celestia’s usual soft tone had a little bit of contempt in it. “Should we stop those things and the Steel Rangers from fighting?” She looked at me, she clearly had her own opinion on the situation and it clearly went along the lines of no.
I thought that too, I had no love for either of these ponies. But I caught that thought when the words of a certain Unicorn rattled in my head ‘We have to do better.’ She wouldn’t let even former enemies suffer if she could help it, and I would be disappointing her if I didn’t. “We’re going to stop them. There’s been enough bloodshed in Equestria for a lifetime.”
I could tell Celestia was somewhat put off by my answer, but she must have bottled it up because she gleefully shouted. “Well then let us play mother and discipline these ponies.” I stomped in approval of that, I knew the perfect way to scare them off.
Dark clouds began forming in the sky, their built-up barely noticed by the combatants. The Clouds bellowed, grew, and began to twist as the wind became violent. The combatants finally took note as rubble and dust kicked up in the violent wind around them, fighting stopped as all looked to the sky to see the horror being created in it. A tornado, the monstrous child of storms. Its spinning tip lowered to the ground like a snake to eat its prey. It touched down a mile away but moved towards them with murderous intent. Both parties saw the writing on the wall and fled the scene for their lives.
Keeping the storm active for half an hour to make sure the fighters wouldn't get any bright ideas of returning. I finally let the storm die down once I saw the combatants were a few miles away from each other. Sighing in annoyance I thought of how many times I would have to do this.
The fallout of my adventures and the Enclave war had been for lack of a better term game-changing. The entire landscape of the Equestrian Wasteland had almost completely changed into something else, on both a political, or what made for politics in the Wasteland, economic, social, environmental level. I only really understood the scope of my actions when I saw them from the universal view of the S.S.P system. And they were unmeasurable for me.
Factions I had never even heard of, places I had never been to, were affected by my choices. And I watched them all play out in real time. I watched towns die or rise up, I saw groups either killed off or grow stronger. I saw ponies become heroes following in my hoof steps or my enemies. Watched ponies struggle to rebuild what they had lost or moved on. And I needed to be the big mother that guides it all.
“Being a mother to the Wasteland is harder than it looks.” sighed, already tired at the thought.
“I think you mean Goddess.” Celestia cut in.
All my thoughts stopped at that, goddess? “I’m no god.” Nor do I want to be. I'm just a pony, not some divine goddess blessing the Wasteland. I barely accepted my title as the Lightbringer, the hero title I was rewarded, after much reluctance. I didn’t kill a false Goddess and stop another from being created to become the new one. “I’m just a pony who helps ponies okay Celestia.
I tried to put on my best ‘this joke makes me uncomfortable’ look but I saw her expression. There was no irony written on her face, no humor, just the look of a princess whose words carried weight behind them.
“Little Pip. You at this moment control the most powerful computer system in the entire world. under your command, you control the Single Pony Project, the weather of the entire wasteland bows to you. You control the Crusader Maneframe, the most advanced supercomputer in the world. You can view any camera across the Wasteland, hack into any system, and even take over the still functioning terminals or machines that are hooked up to a maneframe. At your back and call the Wasteland bows to you.”
Her gaze bore into me, she wanted this warning to be burned into my mind. “You are not a goddess my little pony, but you are the closest thing to it. The world bends to your will now, you can not wield power of this scale and think of yourself as just a simple hero saving ponies from raiders. You must view yourself as a ruler, every major decision you make can have consequences for all Equestria and beyond now, thousands live or die based on what you do. Do not underplay your role.” She let that last phrase hang in the air to get the point across.
I tried to debunk those claims but there was no right rebuttal to them. I thought of what I could do now, and she was right. I wasn’t a god but to the average Wastelander I might as well be. I didn’t want to be but what could I do? Not help ponies? Just manage the weather and leave everything else alone? No, I couldn’t just watch. But I could limit how much I helped.
“ I will think about it.” was the only response I could muster.
Celestia smiled with warmth that could melt any heart, placing a wing around me to bring me closer to her. “Don’t worry about it too much, it’s still okay to help ponies here or there. Just be careful, okay?” Celestia for her grandness sure knew how to talk to you on your level. “Now my little pony, let us take a break from the Wasteland, I will bake you a cake for saving lives today.”
“Apple favored?” I muttered weakly.
“You know it.”
It had been months but Tia’s words were still burning into my head, every now then I wondered if I was doing the right thing. I hadn't done anything major, saved lots of ponies from raiders, broke up fights, provided aid and information to settlements, but nothing that seemed world changing.
It seemed Celestia's warming would never mean anything, so I put it out of my mind as much as possible. I was no god and I liked it that way.
“By Celestia-, sorry I mean it’s beautiful.” I blushed a little as we stared at the beautiful sight of the Sun setting. I still wasn’t use to not saying Tia’s name in my speech anymore, it just felt wrong. One of the many oddities with getting to know your ‘goddess’ I guess.
“Yes, I lowered that baby thousands of times but nothing beats watching it go on it’s own.” When Celestia told me the Sun and Moon move on their own and don’t need the princesses, my mind almost broke. It was unthinkable, it was like being told no god created life. Even now I was still in disbelief that something I was told since I was a filly was just untrue. “Maybe I should change my name since I’m not guiding the sun anymore.”
I gawked at her. “Why do you need to change your name?”
She cocked her head. “You know a new name for a new pony.” That seemed unnecessary and kind of childish but okay. “I always loved Griffin names, so how about Henrietta?”
“No.”
“It’s very cute Pip.”
“I’m not calling you that.”
“Henrietta can be a pony’s name!”
“If that pony’s mother didn’t love her.”
We both laughed as the last bits of sun disappeared behind the horizon. The shade of night consumed the world as we closed out the view screen. We were stopped in our tracks by the sounds of a ringtone I had become all too familiar with. Some pony was calling us.
“Who is it, Tia?” She was more connected to the systems of then me on a ‘spiritual’ level, making using this terminal easier.
“Hoofington?” I understood the puzzlement on the Alicorn’s face at that revelation. Hoofington had been the only part of Equestria where I had little control over the S.P.P tower outside the cameras, It was like something had knowingly prevented us from accessing them. “Who are they, where are they transmitting from?”
“Somewhere from inside the City of Hoofington itself. Ponies these days call it the Core.” That sounds ominous. “It’s a Taint-ridden death trap but the ID doesn’t lie.”
“Put them on screen, don't let them see us.” I wanted to meet this pony, not many in the Wasteland knew how to connect directly to us outside of going into the towers and talking to the screens hoping I will listen. On top of that Hoofigton had become a three-way warzone with each side dividing the place up. Barely any news came out of there that wasn’t just horror stories. Was this some pony trying to get me to join in?
My questions fell away as the screen appeared in front of me. Static covered its features until a video feed cut into view. Looking at me from the other side was the striking grittiness of a pure white Unicorn mare with a black and red mane, her eyes were a yellowish glow that made her seem ghoulish. But what hit me the most about her was the cybernetic legs, in fact, her whole chest was cybernetic. Was she one of Red Eye’s ponies? Upgraded soldier who survived his fall?
“Eh, hello. This thing on?” Her voice was a bit whiny and scratchy but she sounded cute? “Hello? This thing says that it’s connected."
“Give her full view Tia.” Her jumping back a bit was a good signal her screen turned on, I never got tired of scaring ponies like that. “Hello! You’ve reached Pip and Tia cloud management INC, what can we help you with miss?”
“Oh sorry, Name’s Blackjack. Big bad hero of the Hoof, Security.” She boasted but there was clearly resentment at the title. Glad I wasn’t the only one who hated the titles they got. “So your the Stable Dweller! You look...different from how I pictured you.” I swear if she says I’m smaller than usual. “Your cuter than I expected.”
“Eh, thanks.” I tried to hide my blush, I could feel Tia’s smug smile.
“I expected a more...bigger, rougher, so badass they kill you with a stare pony but.” she paused as she gave her next words thought. “Your one cute filly for the toughest hero in the Wasteland.”
I didn’t know whether to be insulted, weirded out, confused, and moved that I didn’t let up to somepony’s superhero dream of me, but found me cute as a young mare. I didn’t even look at Tia to feel her smirking. “Thank you.” I took it as a compliment not wanting to offend. “So Blackjack, what do you need from us? Information, help finding somepony?” She didn’t need to know about our lack of control of the weather there.
She looked away, shame written on her face. “Your a great pony, you know that Stable Dweller? Your always helping ponies even after you saved the Wasteland. Your Adventure helped inspire a lot of ponies to ‘do better’ including me.” I could hear hurt in her tone. “You pushed on even when the world was against you. Now your looking down, protecting us all from the sky. Hearing about how you kept fighting kept me fighting. Even when ending it was on my mind.”
“WHAT!” I wasn’t getting her suicide confession was I! Dear Celestia NO!
“Don’t worry, don’t Worry. I recovered now, I moved on from that almost a year ago.” She told me in panic. Somepony didn’t know you're not just supposed to drop facts like that on you. “I kept fighting even when thoughts like that were going through my mind. You and Watcher saved me...thank you.”
I didn’t know how to react to any of this. This pony was probably dealing with a lot and I was a source of light in her life, that well, that’s a lot to take in. So I just gave her a warm smile. “Your welcome,” I muttered kind of weakly. “It’s good to get calls just telling me I helped a pony.”
She looked away again, was there more she needed to confess? Sins she needed to get off her chest? “That’s not the reason I called.” She bit her lip for a minute before saying. “I want to request something of you. Something that no pony has any right to ask another.”
I was getting chills from this, her tone and phrasing gave away whatever it was I needed to do something vile.
“I need you to wipe out ponies, hundreds, maybe thousands of pon- people to end the war in the Hoof.” I froze at that. Was she really asking this of me? Was she asking me to kill that many ponies on that level?
“I need you to become an executioner, I need you to pass judgment on all of Hoofington. I can’t do it anymore.” She fell back on her haunches looking down in shame. “Never was one.”
She looked at me with hurt eyes, tears starting to form in them. “Every pony is telling me to choose sides, Reapers, Harbingers, Legion. I'm Security, wielder of EC-1101. It’s my birthright to take control of the city, use it to bring order to the Hoof. But I didn’t want this, I never chose to wield this power, to leave my Stable, to become chased by Bounty Hunters, to become the target or golden trophy of every faction in the Hoof. Everything was forced on me or I had no other option.”
She looked at me, with want and despair in her yellowish eyes. “Please take this all away from me, I don’t want any of this. Please let me have the only choice I’ve had in my life, the choice to leave this. Decide who should stay in power or don’t but please don’t let me do this.”
There was no talking for minutes on end as the cyber Unicorn wept. I didn’t know who this pony was, but I could feel her pain. They were like me, thrown into the unforgiving hell of the Wasteland, nearly broken by it, the only difference was I chose that path, she was forced down it by things out of her control. This was as she put it ‘her only choice.’
Finally, I gave my answer. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
“Thank you.”
I let her have a minute to compose herself before telling her the truth about our lack of control of the SPP Towers in Hoofington. “That’s Cognitum's doing. She’s a crazy AI made by Luna to take over Equestria if She and Celestia died.”
“What!” Celestia cut in.
“It’s a long story. Basically, Luna designed the Hoof as her secret Shadow ministry for secret projects and facilities, she used building up the city for the war effort to cover it all up, all the systems in the city and around it are linked, even the towers.” She lifted her metallic hoof showing a Pipbuck like device attached to it, a different model? “But I have the key to the city, EC-1101. With it you can gain complete control of the towers here and more.”
More power, more ponies lives in my hooves. “You're giving us this?”
She shook her head. “Yes, you're the only pony in the Wasteland I trust to wield this power. Plus with you being stuck in that tower no pony can take it from you.” She really was putting everything on me huh? I didn’t know ponies looked up to me that much.
Another few minutes and the code was sent to me. Celestia was shocked when we gained access to the Hoof’s systems, the things her sister was doing behind closed doors seemed unreal. “Chimera making, Cloning, Super Soldier experiments on injured soldiers, it just goes on. Luna, what were you doing?” she said in disbelief. “I understand she wanted to protect Equestria but some of this stuff is downright criminal.” She stomped her hooves in anger that wasn’t normal for her. “Pip, whatever we do, this city has to go!”
I agreed, this city was a city of dark secrets, and those secrets needed to stay buried. “We will take care of this Blackjack, you don’t have to suffer anymore.” I tried to put on my friendliest smile, this was a pony who needed this burden lifted off her shoulders and I was going to do that.
Did she bow to me? “Thank you again. The Reapers, Harbingers, Legion. I leave it up to you to decide, I’m getting away from this city before it destroys what’s left of me and my friends.” Talons sprouted from her raised forehoof as she waved at me. “Goodbye Stable Dweller, you're always my hero.”
With that, the screen cut off. I just sat in the void, left to my own thoughts as the weight of what I was about to do overcame me. Blackjack wanted me to wipe out ponies, not just a few but most likely hundreds. I was no stranger to it, my actions during my ‘adventure’ left a trail of bodies behind me, but this was genocide.
I looked to Tia to see if the goddess I worship had an answer, and she looked lost. “What will we-”
“We will think about it, Tia, that’s what.” I cut her off.
I took responsibility for this away from Blackjack, I promise her I would stop this and damn sure I will! “Tia! Do we have access to all the cameras, footage, reports from the towers in the Hoof now?”
“We’re still getting updated but yeah.” She knew what we’re going to do.
“Good, we’re going to be the judge, jury, and if it comes to it, the executioner.” If having the control of this system made me the Wasteland’s watcher, then I was going to use my all seeing eye to pass judgment.
--------------------------.
The Reapers, I didn’t know what to make of them. Gangers? Raiders? Militia? Police? They seem to be a mix of all those things. They were a group of the toughest ponies in the Hoof, composed of Raiders, gangs, tribals, and just the meanest ponies you could think of. They were so feared and respected that every two-bit Wasteland warrior wanted into their club. On some level they brought peace to the area, they acted as police between the various gangs and kept them in check. But they were still a gang, I saw their sins. Reapers mass killing rivals, mauling ponies who didn’t show respect. Forcing settlements to pay tribute, turning ponies they killed into hide for their armor. On top of this, they had a change in management recently, a warlord of my former enemy Red Eye had taken over by force, killed any pony loyal to the former leader and added all the gangs in the Hoof into his army. He turned them into an army of well-armed Raiders, but I was good at dealing with Raiders.
The Harbingers, another cult of fanatics led by a false Goddess, this one a machine rather than a mutation of magic and science. This Cognitum prided herself as Luna reborn, so she sold that lie by giving her followers free care, shelter, and food. She was the hope of the down trotted of the Wastes, but in reality, they were just stepping stones for her. She forced them to fight in her army, gave the poor and sick newly made guns then sent them to the battlefield. She forcibly made all her followers Cybernetic, connecting to them through a network she created. She murdered any pony who didn’t bend the knee to her. Another Goddess who needed to be stopped.
The Legion, they were Zebras descended from a warship that crashed to shore when the world ended. Equestria’s old enemies found a home in the ruins of a port, led by a Ghoul Zebra calling himself ‘The Legate’ ; they sought to recreate the Zebra Empire in his image. They created civilization in the Wasteland, I saw culture, commerce, and construction that looked like I was staring into the past before the bombs dropped. All of this however was built off the backs of a massive slave population. A few thousand ponies and Zebras, probably imported, worked as slaves for the few hundred that I could tell were actual citizens. They toil the fields growing crops, they were used as pleasure toys. They fought to the death in an arena. And most importantly they were forced to fight for the Legate to gain any sort of freedom. I saw foals being mowed down by Reapers or Harbingers, slaves turned suicide bombers, and even experiments on them. This Legate was no different than Red Eye, another warlord with delusions of grandeur and willing to sacrifice thousands to get it.
I saw them all for what they were, conquers, murders, enslavers, warlords. They all put on the cloth of being saviors of the Wasteland, in reality, they were the devils of it. Reapers forcing settlements to give them supplies or burning them, Harbingers mass executing ‘heretics’, legion raiding for more slave soldiers.
They were mini versions of Unity, The Enclave, and Red Eye. And for that, I judge they all needed to be stopped. A pony I respect once said, “you can’t really stop something bad until you take away its reason for existing.” And I knew where to strike to do that.
So my eyes fell upon my first target. The Arena, the home of the Reapers. A former sports stadium turned combat zone, it was the place where Raiders grew into Reapers. There were thousands of them down there, training, fighting, smithing their own weapons. None paid attention as clouds billowed up above them, energy building up until it was ready to strike. Like a gun firing, the lightning blasted the Arena, raining down endless bolts of death that set the former stadium ablaze. No pony escaped as the attack came down like a hailstorm of bullets. Within minutes the Arena burned.
Next was the Legion, they had turned their port into a bastion of prewar Zebra civilization. Newly constructed buildings that bore stylish Zebra architecture, swelled with Zebras and ponies in fancy classical clothes going about their day. But on the outskirts of the reborn city was a large collection of rundown ghettos occupied by the lifeblood of the city, slaves. They needed to be free and this city needed to go.
From the sea hot and cool air smashed into each other, spinning around in a dance of violent wind as the water was lifted into the clouds. Ponies and Zebras saw it before it hit land, a giant tornado the size of a prewar skyscraper pushed towards them.
Ponies and Zebras fled as hail the size of soccer balls rained down on them. When the storm hit land tidal waves followed, flooding the streets of the city and washing away any person on them. The storm tore through the city, destroying much of the grand restored vision of the past. The only place untouched by the storm was ghettos on the outskirts of town. From there slaves watched as the city they served burned. Some were happy, some were horrified, but all were silent.
And last was the Harbingers, for them I saved the most fitting. Their goddess was located in the city itself, a supercomputer built to be Luna’s image seeking to unlock the secrets of its creators' shadow ministry. Out of all the three, she was the worst, like the Goddess the power she sought threatened ponykind itself. If she won she would use the city to create a cybernetic army that she could march across a still healing Wasteland conquering everything in her name and forcibly connecting every pony to her network. She needed to be buried and that city with her.
So I raised a storm so fierce, so violent, it darkened the sky. pouring it all into a reservoir that surrounded the city, the lake swelled until the two dams blocking the river gave out. After 200 years the river flooded into the dead husk of the city, drowning hundreds of Harbingers, their newly created weapons, and any hope of their goddess future. When it was done most of the city was flooded, the core turned into a green swelling pool, only the skyscrapers that tower over everything escaped being buried.
When it was done I stood there watching the screen, I felt. Nothing, I didn’t feel sad, angry, joyful, or victorious. I just felt tired. “I'm done here Tia... Let's just rest now.”
I closed the screen and started to trot away. I didn't feel remorse for what I had done but it was nothing to take joy in. I knew you had to be the villain of the piece sometimes.
“Being a Goddess isn’t easy, Pip. But is a burden that is forced upon some of us whether we want it or not. I know your burden Pip, I know the pain of making these hard decisions. My only advice to you little one is this: love all those below you equally, hate those below you equally, and judge all those below you equally because you will need to make choices like these again.”
I let her words burn into my head, the words of a pony who had the wisdom of centuries behind them. I remember back to what she told me months ago.
‘You are not a goddess my little pony, but you are the closest thing to it.’
She was right, and it was the scariest burden I ever could imagine.
