A malfunctioning device sends the Lone Wanderer to the land of Equestria. How will she react to a land filled with happy niave ponies?
It had been a few years since she was forced to leave the vault she called home, now people don't even know her name but the title she was given. A malfunction with a device she was given takes her to a land that is not like her own. How will she handle this new environment and these happy ponies?
It had been six years since the ‘Lone Wanderer’ had been forced to leave the vault and look for her father. Over the years she had traveled all across the Capital Wasteland helping those who asked her for assistance. She was doing a lot of good out here in the wastes and met a lot of very nice people, but also some not so friendly people and made many enemies. Eventually her travels lead her to the Mojave Wastelands where she met a man known as the Courier; whom she was planning on meeting up with that day. Last time they had met he had given her a portal device to instantly travel over to the Lucky 38, this being a prototype modeled off of his. No one actually knew whether or not it would work. He had reassured her that it would since it was like his own but allowed for further transportation. If she remembered correctly he called it a transportalponder.
I would have named it something else but that's not my call. It was nice of him to throw in a manual as well for me to tinker with it.
Turning to her companion she said, “Welp, we better get going Dogmeat or we’ll be late.”
Walking around her home she grabbed her gear and prepared to leave, a smile coming to her lips as she remembered the nickname some of the Brotherhood had given her. Someone had thought it would be funny to call her a ‘Walking Armory’ and somehow it stuck. Though it was not that far off with all the weapons she carried with her. While most of the Brotherhood wore the standard power armor, she had opted to wear something different altogether. Her armor was a combination of both the Brotherhood’s power armor and the Enclave’s Tesla armor that she had collected.
The armor was still in a prototype stage, but that was the reason for her visit to New Vegas. She was going there to work alongside the Courier to finish its development as they had planned for the Brotherhood and with his help it would be done in no time.
Stepping out of her home in Megaton, with Dogmeat right behind her, she activates her Pip Boy’s recordings and began to play on of Agatha’s songs she had stored in there. She couldn’t receive a signal from Agatha out there so she had some of the songs saved on her Pip Boy for just an occasion. Just as the first song started playing she pulled out the device she gave it one last look over before pulling the trigger on it and watch it light up.
There was a blinding flash of light that was there for a split second before it was gone, taking with it the Lone Wanderer and her companion with it, out of the Capital Wasteland.
----
The first thing that alerted her that anything was wrong was the sound of Dogmeat growling right next to her. Blinking to reduce the amount of the after image burned into her eyes she could hear the sounds of lots and lots of footsteps halt all around her. As she got back to her feet she saw that there were a few hostile indicators right behind her as well as a large mass of non hostiles all around her. Looking around to confirm all the contacts surrounding her, she was forced to do a double take when she saw that the beings that were there were not in fact humans or any kind of animal she had seen before outside of books. What she saw was a large group of horses in the middle of a town with a variety of colors that she had not seen since she left the vault.
It took her only a second to realize that the hostile enemies were in fact a group of these horses dressed in golden armor that was similar to the Legion’s. She could tell that they were saying something but she couldn’t make heads or tales of their language. There was movement in the corner of her eye that caught her attention. Not wanting to be snuck up on she turned her head to see what was going on. Looking up and to the right she saw that there were several of these horses flying around the the air above them, some of them even wearing the golden armor.
Turning her head back towards the main group, she raised her hand in a non threatening gesture she said, “Now calm down. We aren’t here to cause problems. We are lost and we will be leaving here in just-,” she was cut off mid sentence as one of the hostile contacts chucked a spear at her. She was too slow to react to the sudden attack unlike Dogmeat, who jumped between her and the thrown spear catching it in his side with a loud yelp. Everything seemed to slow down to a crawl as she watched Dogmeat fall to the ground, the look of horror on the aggressor’s face at seeing it miss its target.
Wasting no time she knelt down and activated her VATS to halt time entirely to assess the damage done to her friend. With her medical knowledge she could tell that if she didn’t get him some medical treatment soon then he could die. Not having done anything to cause such aggression infuriated her but what made it worse was that she didn’t react fast enough, causing one of her friends to get so severely hurt. Over the years there has only been one response to such aggressions taken towards her and her friends and that was to kill them. However much she would like to stay and dispatch some Wasteland justice there just wasn’t any time, she needed to clear a path and get out of there with Dogmeat.
Switching her attention to the horses in front of her and thought up a plan. What better way to get back at them for attacking while clearing a path to escape than attacking the very thing that started it. Immediately after she exited VATS she unsheathed her Shishkebab,with her right hand while wielding the Blackhawk in the other and lunged at the creature with her sword ablaze only to be stopped mere inches from his throat by a sword shrouded in a green glow. Whatever was causing the sword to float on its own like that was of little concern to her at the moment as two more of the horses charged her on either side. Firing the Blackhawk twice into the chest of the one on her left, which had a horn causing it to drop along with the once glowing sword. Sweeping her right arm back she caught the one charging her on her right in the face with the flat of the blade, the attacker fell back, screaming from the burn on its face. Her original target stood rooted where it stood in fear at what had happened and was rewarded with a firm kick to its face sending it back into a wall.
“Time for us to get out of here boy.” Running back over to her companion she sheathed her sword before gingerly picking him up and running down the path that just opened up. Behind her she could hear the sounds of several of the armed things chasing her down the street and was confirmed by her HUD. She fired a few rounds over her shoulder with the revolver in order to slow them down as much as she could. As she sprinted she looked at each building that came into view, looking, looking for the one building she hoped would be fully stocked with what she needed.
Her hands were becoming slick from Dogmeat’s blood, telling her that she was running out of time and she need to find what she was looking for quickly.
Finally she saw just what she had hoped to see, a giant red cross for a sign, she didn’t know how to read the text on the signs but she hoped that the red cross was a universal emblem. Come to the door, she didn’t want to slow down to open it so she lowered her shoulder to take the force of the impact while shielding Dogmeat from any damage. The door offered little resistance as she barreled through it into the room beyond. Many of the creatures in the building screamed as she busted through, some of them ran away in fear while some coward in corners as far away as they could. Spotting a gurney along the wall, she set him down and began to push him forward farther into the building.
Turning her head side to side she looked into each room while she flew by them searching for one room in particular. Run as fast as she might though she couldn’t outrun her pursuers. To slow them down as much as she could, she knocked down anything that was within arms length from her as she passed. She was lost in the maze of halls before she finally found the room she was hunting for, a surgical room, and rushed through the doors. Closing the doors behind her she then went around the room knocking over cabinets to barricade the doors to the room.
Maneuvering the gurney over to the operating table, she transferred Dogmeat over and quickly collected whatever medical supplies she would need.
Patting Dogmeat on the head she said, “Its OK boy I got you.”
He responded by giving a soft whine as he laid his head back down on the table, waiting.
Placing the equipment she would need on tables around her she took out a syringe and injected him with some med-x to relieve the pain before she started. As she was preparing to remove the spear from his side there was several loud smashes against the door from them trying to get in to which she responded by firing six rounds from her revolver into the door to scare them off a bit and buy her time. Returning to what she was doing she began to work on the wound and stop the bleeding. Minutes ticked by as she diligently worked on Dogmeat’s side, ignoring the sounds coming from the other side of the door.
Thirty minutes passed by before she was finally able to stop the bleeding and close the wound, finishing it off with a stimpack to speed up the recovery. Everything was quiet now that she had time to stop for a moment and think, and that unsettled her. After all of the commotion that had been going on there was suddenly nothing which from her past experience never meant anything good. They need to get on the move again but she didn’t dare try moving Dogmeat again until he was able to recover a bit more. Until that time they were trapped in that room while the hostile horses waited for them on the other side of the door.
----
It was a lovely day like always thanks to her friend Rainbow Dash and she was truly enjoying it with all the animals that she took care of at her cottage. She would be there right now still and not in town but had to go buy some food for the poor little creatures. She was interrupted from her thoughts by a bright flash followed by the sounds of screaming and yelling coming from just ahead of her. She could hear the sounds of a dog growling which peaked her interest. Something this scary would not normally interest her in the slightest but when there is an animal involved there was always the potential for her to help another poor animal.
The first thing she saw was a group of guards making a ring around something then she saw the large dog that they were surrounding. The guards didn’t seem to be paying a lot of attention to the dog though and seemed to be yelling at something. When it stood she realized what it was that they were yelling at. Standing on two legs was a large metal beast that seemed to give off a faint electrical pulse. The creature was holding its head in its hands as it shook it, then slowly turned its head and take in its new environment. The creature seemed to notice the guards forming up around it and above it, taking great care in its movements.
The guards fly to the right of the creature seemed to catch its attention for a moment before it raised its front left leg, which reminded her of Spike’s claws, and say something but was impossible to interpret its meaning since it wasn’t speaking equestrian. What happened next brought her to tears as she saw one of the new guards react out of fear and hurl his spear at the metal creature only for the dog to jump in the way and take the hit. The creature knelt over the wounded animal examining the spear in the dog’s side and before most ponies there could think of what was going on it was towering over the young guard that had attacked only to be stopped by another guard’s magic encased sword. That didn’t seem to stop it as it used some odd looking device in its other claw to make two loud bangs, making the unicorn guard charging it fall to the ground, then whip around and smash the other charging guard in the face with the flat of the burning blade severely burning his face. The final guard it kick in the face and sent it into a nearby wall where he crumbled then quickly scooped up the dog and ran for it.
Half the guards went to their fallen comrades while the other half chased after the metal giant. Seeing that the guards hurt were being taken care of Fluttershy decided to follow after the creature carrying the dog, she wasn’t going to stand by when there was an injured animal nearby... Even if they are really really scary. Taking to the air she followed close behind the guards who themselves were close behind the metal giant. The creature made its way into the hospital and forced its way in, not bothering to slow down. The guards went in after it and soon found themselves leaping over turned over medical carts while all the Pegasus pony guards flew close to the ceiling.
None of them were fast enough to reach the creature before it entered one of the surgical rooms, loud crashes could be heard along with the sound of glass shattering. The guards formed up on each side of the door as a couple of them tried bashing them open which was followed by six more bangs and six holes blown through the door hitting one of the guards in the leg. The guards carried him off to be treated while the others made plans on how to get in there or how they would flush out the monster.
Making her way over to the pony that seemed to be in charge she timidly attempted to make her presence known, “E-e-e-e-excuse me. Excuse me, sir. Sir, I wish to help.”
No matter how many times she spoke her normal voice, that barely rated above a whisper, could not be heard over the discussion amongst the guards. Gathering the remains of her courage she approached the guard again and gently tapped him on the shoulder, finally gaining his attention.
“Yes ma’am, what is it that you need?”
“I-I-I-I want to help, maybe if I went in there I could get it to come out.”
“Ma’am please step back. Let the guard handle this, this is not something civilians should be involved in.”
Not wanting to give up with an injured animal just in the other room she tried to make her way to the door but was blocked by two guards.
“I need to get in there, there is an injured animal that needs help.”
“Ma’am this is the last time we will tell you to stand back and let us take care of this. Those two are too dangerous and must be dealt with.”
Stepping away from the door she searched for a different way she could get into the room without having to deal with the guards. Looking up at the ceiling she saw something that would do just the trick.
----
She had been in stuck in that room for the past thirty minutes as she waited for Dogmeat to recover a bit more. After checking on him every once in awhile she could see the stimpacks at work, closing the wound in his side but it would be much longer before he could fight like he usually did. According to her HUD there were still hostiles outside of the door that she would have to go through in order to escape and on top of that she would have to carry him until the stimpacks are finished.
There was a faint thud that could be heard but wasn’t coming from the doors. The Lone Wanderer couldn’t locate where the sound was coming from but she could tell that it was getting closer. Her HUD wasn’t being much use in locating individuals when there are large numbers in a small amount of area, their indicators just begin to stack on top of each other. Pulling out her Blackhawk again she waited for whatever may come into the room.
There was another thud this time she could tell that it was coming from the ceiling and was confirmed when the vent cover came loose and fell to the floor with a clatter. Training her revolver on the opening she was expecting to see an armed horse come out but was surprised to see a butter yellow winged horse crawl out of it, then glide to the floor with its wings. They just stood there staring at each other until she decided to lower her weapon, unlike the others this one didn’t seem to be a threat, if her HUD was anything to go by. Keeping her revolver out, not trusting the creature that made it into the room to remain friendly, she walked back over to Dogmeat and gave his wounds one last examination before starting her plan of escape.
Having gathered the medical supplies from most of the cabinets she went about pushing them over to make a small wall in the middle of the room facing the door. Once that was taken care of, she gently lowered Dogmeat to the floor, behind the wall, where the yellow horse started to softly pet and talk to him. Then taking the table he was just on, she turned it on its side for the extra layer before heading to the door that was also barricaded. Taking out a frag mine, the Lone Wanderer rigged it to the door like a makeshift breaching charge then ran back behind the cover she made.
Giving one final look over to her companion and the yellow horse, pulling it down behind the cover, then yelled, “Fire in the hole.” Not wanting to miss, she used her combat shotgun that she carried with her and blind fired in the general direction of the mine. Quickly slinging her shotgun, she picking up Dogmeat again and bolted for the now missing doors and cabinets for the opening that the mine created. The contacts on the other side had been thrown away by the explosion many of them bleeding from shrapnel.
Running as fast as she could, the plan was going off smoothly enough all she needed to do now was find an exit or make one of her own. Hearing the sound of flapping behind her, she glanced over her shoulder to see the same yellow horse.
What the hell is up with this one?
Now that she has had the time to actually see one of them up close without it trying to attack her she could tell that it was shorter than what any of the books in the vault described a horse to be.
What did those books call about small horses? Oh right, ponies.
Finally knowing what to call these creatures gave her some comfort but the fact that some had wings and others had horns still bothered her. Her thoughts were interrupted when a red beam similar to that of a laser rifle flew over her head and into the wall just feet ahead of where she was going. Looking over her shoulder the force of ponies chasing her down the hall could be seen, the ones with horn were glowing and releasing these beams at her. Using her armor to shield Dogmeat from the beams as she ran, she could feel the multiple impacts along her back as the suit tried to absorb as much of the damage as it could.
Any hope of her finding another door to exit through died when she came to a dead end, the only choice she had was to jump through the window. Taking a few steps back she rushed to the window and leaned in with her right shoulder while holding her companion out of the way of the window. With the combined force of her weight and speed the glass shattered before her allowing her passage. The yellow pony continued to follow close behind her out the window and down the street.
That might actually slow them down for once, then again it didn’t seem to slow down this one so maybe not.
It wasn’t long until she found herself in an open market filled with stalls to sell a variety of produce. Not willing to risk slowing down, she used her momentum to plow through any stall she could not jump over, leaving a trail of shattered carts and damaged produce in her wake. The yellow pony gave a quiet “eep” at each impact.
The end of the market was in sight and from what could be seen so did the town after three more blocks. Forcing her body to its limits in order to shorten the distance, there was just one final cart that blocked her path. Standing at the stall was an orange pony wearing a hat that the Wanderer had seen in her travels over the years. The yellow pony also took notice of where they were heading and decided to fly up ahead of her progress to the orange one.
There seemed to be a brief conversation between the two until the orange one turned to see her charging her way. A look of shock crossed its face before it took action kicking the cart out of the way with its hind legs and jumping to the side, letting her pass by with little problems. No sooner had she taken five steps past the cart did a lasso appear over her head and wrap around her neck. The sudden force pulling on her throat caused her to nearly fall on her back but not before it cut off any air circulation. Coming to a halt, she reached for the rope around her neck with her right hand and pulled. She could feel something get pulled along with the rope and turned just in time to see the orange pony getting back up to its feet and take a more stable stance, rope still in its mouth.
Taking out the combat knife she kept on her person no matter where she went, she sliced through the rope and freed herself, coughing while taking in large gulps of air, much to the pony’s chagrin. Now that she was facing the way she had came, the approaching armed ponies could clearly be seen half way across the market and closing while she just stood there. Not having the time to stand there and fight she started sprinting again for the exit to the market leading out of town.
Clear of the town she saw a nearby forest that could easily hide her and her companion from the ponies chasing them. The clearing however was roughly one hundred yards of open ground that would leave them exposed to anything that the ponies might have to stop them with. Seeing the reward being worth the risk, she continued forward into the clearing.
“Almost there boy just a little bit farther and we will be in the clear.”
The yellow Pegasus seemed to be panicking more and more the closer they got to the forest and tried multiple times to block her path just to be pushed aside. She was almost there, just a few more yards and they would be able to lose the ponies in the trees. Sharp electrical pain shot through her entire body as a loud thunderclap sounded in the air. The electricity having overpowered the suits energy resistance caused one of the gears in the right knee to burst, locking up the joint and sending shrapnel all through her leg. The pain was only worsened when she fell on her new injury so as not to fall on top of Dogmeat in her arms. This new pain elicited a cry of pain from her and nearly made her pass out.
Looking up into the sky she saw a single cloud floating just above her with a single cyan pony sitting there looking back down at her. Not willing to go down without a fight, she forced herself back to her feet, using the locked joint to support her weight on her right side, placing herself in front of Dogmeat. Unslinging her combat shotgun and assault rifle, holding both in either hand prepared to take on the mass of ponies now facing her.
When the ponies made it twenty yards away from her they all stopped and a few even took a couple steps back. This new reaction confused her and was only made worse when the orange one and a purple one, she had not seen before, started pointing with their hooves at her and shouting something. Her confusion was answered when there came a loud roar from directly behind her. Spinning around as fast as she could, she was met by a giant paw slamming into her and sending her flying a good ten feet, knocking both her weapons from her hands and her helmet off in the process. The sounds of multiple gasps and a scream could be heard from the group as their eyes were finally able to see her corpse like face.
This is why she never took her helmet off around others, besides her friends, the reaction to her being a ghoul was always the same. No matter what she did to help the people they still feared her when they saw what was beneath the armor. She could only feel human again when she was able to interact with others with her armor on and not as the freakish monster.
Standing back up from the ground, she unsheathed her Shishkebab and set it ablaze with her right and reach for her Blackhawk with her left only to find it missing from its holster. It took her just a second to spot it lying on the ground next to Dogmeat where she had fallen the first time. The creature that stood between her and Dogmeat was a mix between a few animals she had read about or seen in the wasteland. It had the body of a lion, wings of a bat and a tail of a scorpion. It stood there eying both her and her companion and there was no way in hell she was going to let it do what it was think of doing.
Entering VATS and targeted its head with her sword before going for the attack, the bones in her leg needed a little more time before they would have properly healed themselves prevented her to gain the momentum she wanted for her charge. When she was within striking distance she swung only for the creature to dodge at the last moment forcing her to swing again. However on her second attack the creature caught her arm in a vice like grip of its mouth and clamped down. The teeth stabbed into the area of the joints that were not protected for mobility forcing her to drop her weapon. Now unarmed she started striking the monster in the face with her fist in order to get it to let go and was rewarded with a growl and a sharp yet powerful tug on her arm, pulling it from the socket. The pain was causing her vision to darken along the edges, on the verge of losing consciousness altogether
She had only one weapon left at her disposal, reaching behind her back she pulled out the Wazer Wifle and shoved the end into the side of the lion-like thing, pulling the trigger. The beast let out another roar as it released her arm and took several steps away from her. Seeing that she could not use her right arm or leg it leapt at her again this time to finish it. While the beast was in mid flight she entered VATS and targeted the body, to compensate for her unstable firing, pouring everything she had into it. Exiting VATS for the final time, she let the system handle the rest and fired hitting most of her shots. As the last laser hit its mark the creature turned a bright orangish red before becoming nothing more than simple dust that flew into her.
The crowd of ponies just watched in shock as she limped back over to her companion picking up and placing her helmet back on. Everything seemed to lose color to her bit by bit as she made her way to Dogmeat and simply limping over there had become a monumental task for her. Before she could understand what was happening, the ground rushing up to meet her. Then there was nothing.
The first thing she noticed, as she became aware of her surroundings, was the constant beeping sound coming from her left. It took her a couple more seconds to realise that she was in fact completely naked, if you don’t count the fact that every inch of her was covered in bandages, even her Pipboy was missing.
I don’t recall ever getting that hurt, but then again if I was to dream up something like oddly colored and armed ponies, then maybe I was. And where the fuck is my Pipboy?
Slowly she opened her eyes, just to slam them closed again from the bright light that flooded the room. She tried again but this time not opening them all the way and squinted at everything around her until they adjusted. Looking to her left she confirmed that there was in fact a heartbeat monitor on a stand right next to her, beeping away in rhythm with her heart. Turning her head to the right, she felt her stomach drop as she saw sitting at a table a purple pony with a horn looking at papers; while an orange pony and cyan pony with wings sitting on a sofa in front of a window. A butter yellow pony was adjusting the window’s blinds, none of them seemed to be paying her any attention in the slightest.
Realising that what had happened earlier was not a dream did not raise her spirits in the slightest and only proved to worsen her mood. Her thoughts were interrupted as she was repeatedly poked in her left side. Turning to investigate she found two large blue eyes inches from her own, pink filled the rest of her vision.
The sudden face mere inches from her own caused her to scream, “SON OF A BITCH,” and would have fallen from the bed if it were not for the handcuffs she had on either wrist that were connected to the bed. Her sudden outburst and erratic heart beat, had alerted the other ponies to the fact that she was indeed conscience once again. The pink one moved closer to her again, despite the Wanderer’s best efforts to keep her back, saying something that she couldn’t figure out. But whatever it was it was being said at incredibly fast speeds.
“Hi, what’s your name? My names Pinkie Pie. Where are you from? I’ve never seen something like you before. You’re new to this town, right? Silly me, of course you're new here because I know everypony that lives in Ponyville, since I am friends with all of them. With that being the case that means I get to throw you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party and introduce you to all the other ponies in town. What kind of cake do you like? What’s your favorite color? Why haven’t you answered any of my questions?”
To the Wanderer’s relief she saw the pink menace become encased in a purple glow and levitated away from her and towards the other ponies in the room. One of them even seemed to say something to it with what she could only guess, as she saw a scowl on its face. She felt and heard her heart slow back down to a more stable pace as the purple horned pony and yellow winged pony approached her together. The purple one had a look of curiosity on its face while the yellow one had the same scared but concerned look from earlier. None of which really interested her though except for the paper and quill being levitated in the same purple glow that had both moved the pink one and which now shrouded its own horn.
Trying to reach out and grab it, she was halted by the restraints around her wrists that only allowed for short distances. The handcuffs had become rather annoying and something that needed to be dealt with if she planned on finding where Dogmeat was. Glancing over towards the door she could see that there were currently two guards posted just outside and would most likely cause a bigger problem after she had removed the restraints.
The purple one seemed to be trying to communicate with her but since she couldn’t understand it to begin with, she couldn’t care less for what it had to say. A quick look around the room, she found just what she had hoped for. Sitting just on the end of her bed was her very own medical information. It wasn’t so much the information on the paper, which she knew she couldn’t read but the paperclip attached to it.
Using her feet, she attempted to lift the clipboard onto the bed and pull up towards her, failing at each attempt. The yellow one saw what she was doing and grabbed it with its mouth before bringing it over to her. Taking the medical charts into her left hand she smiled at the yellow pony as a sign of appreciation. Flashing her canines however proved to have the opposite effect as it jumped back and hid behind its mane. This seemed to not go over so well with the rainbow maned pony as it was now hovering in front of her glaring daggers at her while, from what she could tell, screaming at her, she gladly returned the glare. Not being able to understand and talk back to these creatures proved to be the most annoying part of this whole predicament for her.
Doesn’t matter I’ll be out of here soon enough.
Seeming to have lost all interest in yelling at her some more it flew over to its yellow friend, drawing the attention of the purple horned pony. She took advantage of the distraction and swiped the paperclip holding a few of the papers together and placed it under her sheets. Looking over the medical charts she saw a outline of a pony body that they used in place of a human body that she had seen on normal charts. There was an arrow pointing towards the right foreleg’s shoulder, the same one that had been dislocated, with some scribbling in the strange curling text.
Talking to no one in particular she said, “They must have popped that back into place for me, even though if they hadn’t chased me around town in the first place that wouldn’t have happened.”
Further inspection of the pony outline showed that the back right leg was covered in marks around the knee from where the joint motor had blown shrapnel into her knee and surrounding area. There was even a mark at the head which was as far as she could guess an indication of a mild concussion sustained during the fight.
The talking had drawn the attention of the purple pony, as it turned back towards her, she made it look like she was testing her range of motion with her restraints on. The handcuffs were obviously meant for a pony as it allowed her to nearly bring her hands together and a considerable amount of range at which she could stretch out. Taking the time to look around the room she made note of each pony in the room and those that she could see standing just outside the door. From her position she could see that in the room was the purple horned pony, that she remembered being called unicorns, standing right next to her bed watching her and writing something down every couple of seconds while the two winged ponies stood closer to the door talking with each other.
What were those damn things called, I could have sworn it was in that same damn book back in the vault. This is just going to bug me until I remember.
Giving up only for the moment she continued her examination and saw the same orange normal pony with the same rope resting next to it on the sofa that sat beside a small window. The thing that they all shared though was that they were all female ponies. The only male ponies she had seen since coming here were the guards that stood outside the door and the ones that had attacked her and Dogmeat.
With all the ponies sitting around in the room, the Lone Wanderer couldn’t start her next plan of action and was forced to do the only thing she could do, she prayed that something would happen soon to cause them all to leave. ----
Twilight had been there taking notes about the strange creature all day ever since she had sent the letter to the princesses about the creature the day before. They had sent a letter stating that she should take thorough notes about it and wait for their arrival in the next two days and that all its weapons should be locked up until then. Removing the armor and the device from its leg proved to be a difficult challenge as none of them knew how they worked and in the end she was forced to use her magic and teleport the thing out of them. From there it was all taken to Twilight’s Library and stored in the basement lab to be kept safe from everypony until the princesses arrived. Having removed the armor and undersuit that it wore, they quickly discovered from its nude form was that it was in fact female.
The doctors had the job of removing the bits of metal from its leg and to force the joint back into socket. Most of their initial reactions at seeing the corpse like being was to either faint or scream like little fillies, though she had to admit the creature was very frightening to look at. The idea to completely wrap the creature in bandages was decided between the doctors to make it easier on both them and the nurses to look at the thing without having panic attacks.
When the doctors were done and had taken the blood samples they needed to run tests on, she began her study of the creature. From her first examination of the being it was ape like in appearance with little fur covering the body and stood on two legs, placing it roughly as tall as Princess Celestia. Upon closer inspection she saw that the clawed appendages on the end of its front legs were similar to that of Spike’s claws but with dull round tips instead. The more interesting thing about the creature was its mouth, as the teeth indicated that the things diet consisted of both meat and plants making it omnivorous.
Fluttershy had taken the dog to her place for treatment and had only returned after lunch once she was sure it would be fine alone. Applejack had joined them later that afternoon when she had finished her daily chores to make sure that this creature would not pose a threat to her friends if it woke up. She didn’t like how it was able to take on that manticore so easily while it was already hurt by Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash had herself arrived shortly after with news of a scheduled storm that would be taking place that evening, but stuck around to see if the thing would wake up or not and ask it a few questions.
It proved to be several hours before the thing finally awoke and alerted everypony by yelling something none of them could comprehend. Pinkie Pie had managed to sneak into the room without anypony noticing that she was there and stood inches away from its face and speaking to it extremely fast. Not wanting anything bad to happen to her friend, Twilight used her magic to levitate the pink pony away from it and saw that there was an immediate effect as the monitor’s beeping noise slowed back down.
All attention seemed to be on her as she approached the thing that sat there hoof-cuffed to the bed, notes and quill floating alongside her.
After she cleared her throat she began, “My name is Twilight Sparkle and I have some questions that I need to ask you. First, what are you and what is your name? Second what are you doing here in Equestria and what are your intentions?”
The beings attention was lost as it started to watch the quill and paper floating there and she even made a move to grab it but when she was stopped by the cuffs she frowned at the restraints. She seemed to give up on trying to grab the quill and then changed targets. Twilight watched as the creature in front of her used its feet to reach for the medical clipboard on the foot of her bed.
“Oh let me help you with that,” came a quiet voice from directly behind Twilight. Walking up from behind her, Fluttershy grabbed the clipboard and gave it to the ape thing.
Fluttershy’s response to the toothy grin that she received, in return for her efforts, only solidified the idea of how little effort is required to scare the poor pony as she bolted to the other side of the room away from the bed. Rainbow Dash on the other hoof wouldn’t stand to have one of her friends intimidated by anypony.
She rocketed up to its face screaming, “What’s the big idea scaring her like that, she was only helping. Your not so tough without all your armor and zapper so don’t think I’ll let you get away with bullying my friends.” In response it only glared back at her not saying anything to her.
“Rainbow, while I’m sure Fluttershy always appreciates you standing up for her, it wasn’t really called for this time. All it did was smile at her, you know her even better than I do about how timid and skittish she can be around others,” lectured Twilight.
Rainbow Dash merely grunted in response before she flew over to where Fluttershy sat, allowing Twilight to return to her notes and examining the creature before her. She was surprised to hear it start saying something to itself as it looked over the medical charts in what she could only guess as a look of amusement but at what she had no idea.
She watched and took notes of how the creature moved while it stretched its different legs and the amount of range that they had, similar yet again to that of Spike. Its interest seemed to change yet again as it started looking around the room at everypony present, it seemed to have something on its mind while looking at each of them in turn before settling back down.
“It sure is gettin’ dark out. We best be gettin’ back home before it starts to rain.”
Applejack’s sudden statement caused Twilight to jump as she hadn’t heard the cowpony speak the entire time she was there until that moment. A quick glance outside proved the cowpony right though as it had indeed become considerably darker with all the clouds out. Collecting all her notes, she placed them into her saddlebags while everypony waited before heading for the door with her friends in tow. Fluttershy was the last to exit the room saying her goodbyes to the creature, who only looked at her in confusion as to what she had said, and closed the door behind her. The guards gave them a firm nod as they continued to stand in position on either side of the door and wait for their shifts to end and their replacements to arrive.
“Girls, I’m going to be here tomorrow trying to find out anything I can about that thing before the princesses come tomorrow. If you want you can all join me again, but I am not sure if you will find any of it as interesting as I do.”
The others were not as excited about returning to the hospital the following day as Twilight was and backed down from the offer.
Applejack looked back at the building they were leaving before she finally replied, “Ah’ll try and come by after Ah finished up with my chores, but thats going to take me all mornin’ again. Ah wouldn’ feel right leaven ya in there with whatever that thing is, after what we all saw it do.”
Saying their goodbyes to each other they made their ways to their own homes across Ponyville. ----
Really? That didn’t take long for them to leave and they even closed the door for me. Ask and you shall receive I guess.
Wasting no time, she pulled out the paperclip from beneath her sheets and got to work picking the locks on the handcuffs restraining her. It only took a few minutes to break through the simple locks, but she didn’t like the idea of walking around naked. To solve her problem she pulled the sheets off and made a simple toga, not quite satisfied but having nothing better she moved ahead with her plan. Her next step was to get out of the room without getting caught again but with her leg not fully healed yet she couldn’t just take on the guards outside the door leaving only one other option, the window. The window would normally be too small for her if she was in her power armor, but since she didn’t have any of that she could just barely fit through.
Once through the window her victory was interrupted by the sudden clap of thunder followed by a downpour of rain that came. She needed to find her things and fast before the guards outside her room realise that she is not actually in there. The last thing she wanted was for them to find her walking the streets naked and unarmed. The positive side of things was that due to the rain, no one would be out walking around and those that were, would be too much in a hurry to be very observant making it that much easier to hide.
Grabbing her impromptu clothes closer to her body she made her way farther into the city, on the hunt for what was rightfully hers.
“By Celestia, its finally quieted down out there. I thought I would never hear myself think again,” exclaimed the rookie Lunar guard standing by the hospital door.
“Quiet, you’re on duty and at your post,” growled the rookie’s more experienced companion.
“Sorry Sergeant, it won’t happen again. I was just...”
“You were just what Private?”
“Do you hear that Sarge?”
“Hear what,” he went quiet as he listened closely to the things around him and sure enough with the thunder dieing down he was able to hear the sound of a monitor that had flat-lined. “Don’t tell me the damn thing died because of a little storm,” the guard huffed in irritation.
The private stepped to the side as the Sergeant pushed the door open and froze in place. Dangling from the metal railings were the set of hoofcuffs, that he personally placed on the creature, open while the bed itself lay bare of said creature. There was a pool of water over by the open window in view of everypony.
“Private go get the rest of the guard and that includes the Solar guard and I don’t care if they complain about it being too early, just get them,” shouted the sergeant as he made his way over to the empty bed. As the private ran off to get the others he looked over the hoofcuffs and found a paper clip firmly jammed into the locking mechanism. He knew everything he needed to know and now only needed to help hunt down the creature again. Who knows how far it got during the storm.
----
Twilight Sparkle had just barely made it back to the library before the downpour started and was met by a very distraught baby dragon. A certain grey earthpony cellist had not left after repeatedly being told of the storm and the library closing for the day. The reason could easily be figured out from the music bleeding through the basement door. The pony, Octavia, had been pretending to read while her ears were directed towards the door. Not wanting to send a pony out in the middle of a storm like that, she let Octavia stay for the night while Twilight worked.
After heading down into the basement she looked around at the many devices that had been removed from the creature at the hospital. There were some that had an obvious purpose while others she couldn’t make heads or tails of without seeing them being used. She wanted to be cautious with these things after she saw what a few of them could do to a pony or a manticore for that matter. A shiver ran down her spine as she recalled the effects the laser had on the manticore, turning it into ash before being blown away in the wind. Twilight would want no such fate to befall anypony no matter what they did.
It did not take long for Twilight to find the device that was playing the music and levitate it beside herself. Out of everything that they had recovered it was this device that interested her the most, it was similar to her own computers but on a much smaller scale. On the screen was a small cartoony figure, similarly proportioned like the creature in the hospital, scratching his head with a confused look on his face. There was some sort of text on the screen as well but she couldn’t read it, probably in the native language of its owner. Twilight did not fear this device doing anything harmful to her or anypony else, having had to remove it herself from the creatures arm, she doubt it would keep something attached to its limb if it was dangerous.
With it levitating right next to her, Twilight made her way back up the stairs to the main part of the library to a patiently waiting Octavia. She seemed to be enjoying the music that was coming from the small computer and was even playing an imaginary cello when she saw her again.
“Well at least I will have company while I’m working on finding out the secrets of this thing, Spike wouldn’t have made it through the night even if he tried.”
Octavia giggled at this and replied, “Quite, I have never seen him to ever be much of a night pony like Vinyl, but then again not many ponies are.”
They shared a laugh at the thought of Octavia’s roommate’s nightly activities.
----
She was cold, wet and hungry. It had been a couple of hours since the Lone Wanderer had left the hospital, the bed sheets and full body bandages did not last long in the amount of rain that had been pouring down on her, this caused most of her discomfort. She was on the search though for Dogmeat and her gear, so she paid as little attention to those things as she could. The search was proving to be fruitless though after leaving yet another unlocked building that held no clues to where any of the things she was looking for might reside. She would not give up and pushed forward to the next building, this one looking like she could eat it if she so chose, just adding to the list of weird things she had seen since coming to this place.
Entering the building the first thing that she saw was the wide assortment of sugary delights that lined the walls. Her stomach used that moment to remind her of its need for nourishment, it had been six days since she had last eaten anything, thanks to her ghoulification it reduced her need for such things. She had always been a firm believer in the effects of karma and didn’t think that taking from these ponies would be such a good idea but her stomach was having other ideas. Going against her better judgement she took one of the cupcakes that sat out ready to be consumed and took a bite.
----
Pinkie Pie awoke with the sensation of her hind hooves itching like crazy, it was something she had long grown used to, her Pinkie Sense, and she even knew what this one meant. Somepony was stealing cupcakes. Nopony steals cupcakes on her watch. Narrowing her eyes she got up from bed and went to her closet to get her stealthy suit, she was going to catch this thief.
----
Finished with the first cupcake the effects of it were immediate as some of her discomfort was gone. It wouldn't help with her being wet and cold but it was a start. She reached out and grabbed a second cupcake and looked at its colorful frosting that covered it for a moment lost in thought over the current events. Without the sound of generators running all the time she could hear everything going on around her, even the sound of that box falling over behind her. Realizing the danger she spun around to confront the threat that had snuck up behind her and was surprised to find a pony, dressed in full black clothes and a pair of night vision goggles, in mid flight right for her.
The unexpected attack left her unprepared and unable to react in time to stop the pony from wrapping its legs around her and clamping her arms to her body. The pony was now nose to nose with her, the flight even knocked loose some of its mane from its suite, giving her a clear view of its bright pink fluff that she had seen once before at the hospital. No matter how much she struggled she couldn’t get the pony to loosen its grip on her, only proving to make it try harder to hang on.
“Now that I gotcha there's no way I’m letting go.”
The Wanderer needed to get out of there and quick, the commotion would no doubt cause a lot of noise that would attract even more unwanted attention. Glass was broken on the ground from her attempts to get it to let go of her, but was only able to free her arm holding the cupcake and even that was only enough to bend it at the elbow. Bringing her hand up, she smashed the cupcake into the pony’s face stunning it momentarily from the blow. It was all she needed to force the pony off of her and hurl it across the room away from herself.
Not wasting her chance she bolted for the door and left the stunned pony. Now that she had been seen in the open it was only a matter of time before word spread of her escape. It was not her main concern, as she ran full steam around corners and down alleys, at the moment though as it was to get as far away from that pony as possible before she was able to catch her again. She didn’t like how easily it had caught her off guard and only made her feel even more vulnerable without her things in this strange land.
It was only after she had taken shelter in the shadow of a large tree, far away from the candy house, that she was able to catch her breath again. The sky rumbled but gave no evidence of it raining further, now that she was in the shelter of a tree it didn’t really matter. The tree itself was the largest she had ever seen before in her life and she had seen a forest before. Music could be heard coming from somewhere on the other side of the tree, which confused her as it must have been sometime early in the morning.
This music however wasn’t any old music, if she listened hard enough she could hear a very familiar voice, "Because one dog ain't enough, and two is too low, it's me, Three Dog!" She could recognize that voice anywhere, even if it didn’t just say who it was. Her curiosity got the best of her as she slowly worked her way around the base of the tree to the other side, making sure to stick to the shadows that it created.
It took only a minute to stealthily work her way around the tree until she was, at what she could only guess to be the front of it, standing in front of a door and windows with light flooding out of them. She had never seen someone build their home out of a tree before and for it to still be alive for that matter, it just wasn’t possible. As she hid in the shadows she took a look inside and saw what she expected yet didn’t expect at the same time, her Pipboy.
Though it was a relief to have found something that belonged to her it also infuriated her to see it in the hands or in this case hooves of one of the ponies of this backwards world. It would normally be simple enough for her to get in there and take it back but with the presence of another grey pony she didn’t want to push her luck, hand to hand combat had never been her forte.
As she examined the room she could see that it was some sort of library, if the amount of books in the room was anything to go by. A set of stairs could be seen in the back of the room and a plan started to quickly form in her head.
There was three outcomes that she could foresee from this plan:
1. She gets her things back with little conflict
2. She has to kill one (or both) of them
3. She screws up so bad that she is either killed or captured again
She was really hoping that things went her way without having to kill these ponies, but if they gave her no choice then she would.
Stepping away from the window she searched for a low hanging branch to climb up. From what she had seen at the other homes in this town, no one locked their doors or windows. All she had to do was climb up to a window or balcony and from there she could enter in and sneak around. It didn’t take her long to complete that portion of her plan as she now stood on a balcony with an unlocked door.
----
It had been a few hours since the rain started and Twilight had come up from her basement with a strange device held aloft in her magical grip, music flowing out of it. The device was the very reason why Octavia had stayed behind even with the storm approaching. This device held music she had never heard before in Equestria and she would be damned to let an opportunity to write it down and record it now that she had the chance.
While Twilight had a stack of notes from her examination of the device, Octavia had her own stack but instead of letters that one would normally see, the lined paper was covered in a variety of musical notes. She was forced to come to a stop when the recordings stopped and a voice of a different creature began to talk. They had listened to the older feminine sounding voice that had played in between songs earlier but this one sounded much more masculine in comparison. Though she couldn’t understand what the voice was saying, just from the way it spoke reminded her of her housemates, Vinyl Scratch. The thought brought a smile to her muzzle at what Vinyl would think of another creature that acted like her.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden urge to use the restroom but her glances around the room did not reveal the location of any on this floor.
“Um, Twilight.”
Twilight lifted her head away from her notes that she was studying and looked at her companion and asked, “Yes Octavia, what is it?”
“Well, I don’t mean to interrupt your studying but could you please tell me where you restroom is at.”
“Oh, its no problem. All you have to do is go up the stairs to my room, then go down the hall and it will be the first door on the left.”
“Thank you.” Octavia immediately stood up and made her way up the stairs in a hurry, the sound of rain wasn’t helping her in the slightest.
As she stood at the top of the stairs she could see the door to the hallway that lead to the bathroom that she needed. Making her away towards the door she soon stopped after stepping in a small puddle of water that had formed by the balcony doors.
The winds must have blown the doors open and Spike just never cleaned it up. I’ll just tell Twilight about it and worry about it later.
Pushing that to the back of her mind she opened the door and quickly found the next one further down the hall. With an increase in her trot she made her way over to the door and opened it to find what she was looking for.
----
As she opened the balcony doors she used the moment to take in her surroundings. From what she could see this had to be one of the ponies downstairs bedroom and they must have really like to read. There were books everywhere that could put the collection of books kept in vault 101 a run for its money. After closing the balcony doors behind her she quietly made her way to the door that would take her to the stairs. Her progress came to a screeching halt when the sound of loud snoring filled the room. Having nearly jumped out of her bandages from the scare she went about the room to find the source of the disturbance and was rewarded with a basket with a strange mutated gecko that she had seen something similar once in one of her trips to the Mojave.
With her lack of weapons, she definitely didn’t want to wake it up and took careful steps away from the thing and back over to the door. Her journey was interrupted yet again, to her ever growing annoyance, as the grey one stood up and started walking over to the very stairs she was just about to sneak down.
Shit.
Quickly she backed away from the door and searched for another door in the room, finding only one on the other side of the room. Briskly walking over to the door, so as not to wake the sleeping gecko, and opened the door. The door led to a hallway that also held two more doors, one on the left and the other was further down. She wouldn’t make it down the hall fast enough before the pony was upstairs. She made up her mind and opened the door on the left and swiftly entered, shutting it behind her.
Her heart dropped into her stomach when she realized what kind of a room she was now standing in. It was a bathroom. Not wanting to waste any more time than she already had, she opened the curtain that separated the shower from the rest of the room and stepped behind it. Her hurried actions were rewarded with the sounds of the bathroom door opening and quickly closing again.
I would say this would be a funny situation if it wasn’t so serious of a problem.
Not wanting a creak from the tub she stood in from giving herself away, she stood as still as possible until the sounds of a running faucet could be heard followed by the sound of the door closing again.
A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she eased her posture now that she wasn’t going to caught in that instant.
After exiting the room she returned to her position at the door at the top of the stairs planning her next move, now that she was actually inside. She watched as the purple pony stood again but instead of making its way to the stairs like the other, this one went to a door on the other side of the room. The pony left the room but returned a short time later holding a small pouch and another small device that she recognized all too well. In that pouch was all her caps that she carried on her person at all times and the device was none other than the transportalponder, her only means of getting back home with Dogmeat.
If my bag of caps were in there, what else could be stored in there?
The pony emptied the contents of the pouch on the table and lifted up a few of them holding it close in examination. A knock on the door distracted it from the examination of the caps, as it stood to answer the door, a curious look on its face as it was just before dawn and too early for visitors. The look of surprise when it saw guards standing outside could be seen as plain as day even at the distance she was from them. A brief discussion could be seen between the two parties before the purple one closed the door but this time locking it behind her.
If she was going to get her things back, it was now or never. Slowly she descended the stairs making sure to stay out of sight and as silent as the night. She was relying on all the years of experience she had gained during her travels across the Capital Wasteland to make her way to the door and slip inside. This door lead her to another flight of stairs that went further down into a well lit basement. From where she stood she could see multiple tables covered with different types of computers and chemistry sets that put her small set up, in Megaton, to shame.
Her spirits soared when she caught sight of her things sitting on the last table in the room farthest away from her. She had hoped to find some of her things but not all of it and it only proved to her that her luck and good karma was still holding true. Grabbing the under-suit she stripped off the bandages and then began the process of suiting up in her custom designed power armor, pausing only when she reached her right leg. The servos in the joint where blown apart and would not be able to make use of its strength augmentation. She would have tried to fix it but had none of the parts to do so.
Well at least I don’t have to worry about my leg, there are some benefits to being a ghoul.
Now that she was armed and ready to go there was just three more things she needed to get back before she could get Dogmeat and they sat just up those stairs. The Lone Wanderer didn’t need to worry about being quiet anymore, with her power armor that was no longer an option and she would have to confront the two ponies anyways. Unholstering her Blackhawk she opened the door and walked into the room, her approach was being drowned out by the loud music playing from the Pipboy, until she stood just behind them. Standing there she leveled her revolver at the two ponies sitting at the tables mere feet away.
The sound of two gunshots could be heard as the first rays of light rose above the horizon.
Twilight had absolutely enjoyed her night looking at the objects that were laid out before her. Though she knew not what they did, she had a feeling that she was at least making progress towards the answers. With the leg computer she was able to change the image on the screen by turning the little knobs that had obviously not been designed for the pony hoof. Some of the screens held a long list of words that she could not read but she vowed to figure it out at some point, maybe even getting some help from the creature in the hospital. Turning the dials on the device eventually led her to what appeared to be an incomplete map that went straight to her library, an arrow even showing her location. It seemed to have been mapping out everywhere it was taken, even during the chase that took place the other day.
Setting the computer back down on the table she stood up and made her way over to the basement door. There were a few other things that had caught her interest when she had first gone down there and she wanted to take a look at them. Walking down the stairs she quickly made her way over towards the table holding all of the creatures possessions, she had even taken the time to organize them into orderly groupings so as to properly catalog them. What she wanted sat at the end of the table waiting for her. Reaching out towards them with her telekinesis she picked them up before turning back for the door.
Back at the table she set the two new objects along side the computer, a new stack of paper sitting on the floor ready, in preparation for her notes. Not wanting to wait any longer she lifted the bag again and ever so carefully emptied its contents onto the table and watched as bottle caps came pouring out.
“Huh, I wonder why a creature, with obvious technological advances, that could very well surpass our own, would carry around a pouch full of these things. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Bringing one of the bottle caps closer to her face she could see the writing that curved along the edge, only proving to frustrate her even further at inability to understand them. Her investigations were interrupted however by the sound of a knock on her door. Twilight looked over to Octavia who merely shrugged before going back over her music sheets, ears now swiveled facing the door. Curious as to who would be up this late at night besides herself, she made her way over to the door and upon opening it she was greeted by a pair of lunar guards. Her curiosity immediately changed to worry upon seeing the guard's serious face, but unlike their normal expressionless seriousness that they always presented to the public, there were signs of worry ever present in his eyes and posture.
“Um, can I help you?”
“Ms. Twilight Sparkle?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Both the Lunar and Solar guard are currently going around and warning all residents to lock their doors and windows as the creature that was being held at the Ponyville hospital has escaped. We are advising all residents to remain indoors and if they see the creature to send a message to any of the guard. There will be increased patrols in the area for your safety. You have a good day ma’am,” and with that the two guards turned and walked away to go to the next home.
Twilight gently closed and locked the door before turning back to a now worried Octavia, who sat waiting for Twilight to say something.
“Well, I am sure they can find it again. I mean its not like it has any of its weapons and armor.”
This seemed to comfort the earth pony as she returned to her notes with Twilight sitting back down next to her. Scooping the bottle caps back into the bag with her magic she changed her interest to the last item on the table. It was the one thing out of all the objects, minus the bottle caps, that she could not understand its purpose. It consisted of a red glass tube that was encased in white metallic alloy, shaped to fit the creature’s appendage. The white metal had a scorch mark that she would have to guess happened when Rainbow Dash shocked the creature with that lightning bolt. It must have been damaged from the electricity, like when the creature’s suite was damaged at one of the joints.
The sound of a metallic click brought Twilight back from her thoughts and from how Octavia gasped next to her, she would not like what was behind her. Slowly she turned to face the source of the disturbance and brought her face to one barrel of the many weapons the creature carried with it. What scared her even more other than the fact that the creature was standing before her with a weapon, but that it was infact wearing all of its armor and belongings again and the open basement door behind it further confirmed this.
The armor encased creature slowly raised its claw-like appendage and pointed at the items on the table before turning it over so that it had the flat inner surface facing up to hold them. Understanding what it wanted, she let her magic flow into her horn to grab the items but as her horn began to glow the creature reacted. With lightning like reflexes it reached out and firmly grabbed hold of her horn barking something at her. The sudden movement caused Twilight to lose focus and release her magic and didn’t dare try again in fear of the creature’s next reaction. It slowly let go of her and upturned its appendage again waiting for them to act.
Carefully Twilight grabbed each item with her mouth starting with the bag of bottle caps, then the unknown device and finally the leg computer. She watched as it secured each piece somewhere on its armor, but when it came to the computer the creature moved the weapon from its right appendage to its left while still pointing it at them, then it carefully opened up the band that secured it to its leg before once again attaching it to its own leg. Once attached, it promptly shut off the music making the room go quiet, Octavia and Twilight remained as still as possible to see the thing’s next move.
----
God I hate putting this thing back on, stupid needles always irritate the skin for a while. Well what skin is left anyways.
Finally reunited with her things, the Lone Wanderer just had to find Dogmeat and then they could get the hell out of there, she just need to ask where he was. Looking the two ponies over she could see that they were absolutely terrified of her which only made her feel a bit guilty since they had done nothing to her. It was the armored ponies that had done that.
After getting her thoughts in order she asked, “Do either one of you know where my dog is?” She waited a few minutes for them to react but she only received confused and scared looks in return, she nearly face palmed at the stupidity of her question.
If I can’t understand them why, on God’s brown radioactive earth, would I expect them to understand me.
With the Blackhawk still in her left hand, she reached out towards the stack of paper with her right and took the top couple of sheets. Next she scanned the table for a pencil but found nothing but feathers, from some sort of bird, with ink on the ends. Setting the paper on the table she ignored the quills and reached into a side pocket and retrieved a small worn out pencil. Keeping an eye on the two ponies she began to draw, nothing too elaborate but something to get her point across to them. She quickly sketched a rough drawing of herself and Dogmeat standing next to each other, circling her companion in the picture. When she had finished she showed them what she had done and watched to see if they understood what she was doing.
The purple one seemed to examine the drawing closely before turning to its friend and speaking to it, “I-I think its looking for its pet.”
The grey one seemed to respond to whatever the purple one had said, since it too said something, “Do you know where it is, so this thing will leave?”
The conversation must have been taking a turn for the worse as the purple one’s ears pressed back as it replied, “Yes, Fluttershy took it to her cottage, to take care of it. It is her area of expertise after all.”
“Then what could possibly be the problem Twilight, all that we would have to do is show it and hopefully it will leave us alone.”
The purple one glanced over at the Lone Wanderer before it replied, “I am worried about what will happen if it doesn't just leave. I have a plan but its going to require your help."
The grey pony's expression seemed to sour and whatever they were discussing had started to worry her a bit. To try and speed up the process she began to tap on the picture with some force to show her lack of time and patience.
From what seemed like they had reached an agreement the purple pony leaned over and bit down on the end of a feather and began to draw as well. Once finished the pony slid the paper back to her for her own examination.
With her attention briefly off the ponies, she did not see the horn on the purple unicorn flare to life for a brief moment, unlocking the front door, before dying back down.
The drawing from what the Lone Wanderer could tell was a depiction of her following the two ponies to what looked to be another home with her dog waiting. She knew it wouldn't be as easy as that with other ponies on the lookout for her, so that only left one option for her to take to get them there. Stealth.
Finished she brought her attention back to the two ponies and was uncomfortable with how they watched her as if waiting.
“Alright lets get this over with, sooner I find-,” whatever she was about to say next was interrupted as something clamped down on her back.
“I told you I wouldn’t let you get away with taking one of MY CUPCAKES,” it screamed next to her head.
With the sudden wait difference and without the motors in the right leg to compensate she started to lose her balance but was just barely able to remain standing. Seeing its chance the purple one blasted her with a beam that finally pushed her over the edge and onto her ass. The suddenness of it all caused her to squeeze the trigger and sent a round through the ceiling above. Taking the distraction the grey one bolted for the door.
Oh no you don’t.
Firing a round at the pony, she was too late as the pony made it out the door, the round obliterated the place where the doorknob once was leaving a fist size hole. Now she had to deal with the two ponies still there and get to Dogmeat before the escaped pony got help.
Fan-fucking-tastic
One of the problems with power armor was that you could never reach the small of you back, so if anything ever decided to stick itself to your back, like now, it generally took a squadmate to help out. Not having a squadmate on hand at the moment she was going to have to improvise. Not being able to reach the pony she had to use the only option available to her and resorted to slamming her back into the nearest bookshelf much to Twilight's dismay. She had to repeat the process a couple of times before the pony finally fell off her back and to the floor. It laid still on the ground unconscious from the repeated blows. Now that she could see it, she saw that it was in fact the pony that had attacked her back in the cupcake shop.
Enough of this.
Leveling her revolver on the pony she pulled back the hammer and was about to fire when she felt a force pull on her arm. Unsheathing her shishkebab in her left hand, leaving the revolver still on the pony, she looked at what was pulling on her arm and found the purple one pleading for her to stop. Or at least that is what she thought it was trying to ask, it was kind of hard to tell, luckily though there faces displayed human like expressions otherwise she would have not a clue in the world.
Taking the point of the blade the Lone Wanderer tapped the drawing of her and Dogmeat and with much anger in her voice said, “Bring me to him now.”
The pony must have understood, or at least could put two and two together, when it lowered its head and motioned her to follow it out the door. Wanting to get out of there as quickly and quietly as possible she holstered her revolver but kept the blade of her weapon close to the pony as a reminder as they went out the door.
----
“Oh no, that thing got Twilight. I need to get help.”
Standing up Spike stepped away from the hole in the floor, that had caused him to wake up in a scare, the purple and green baby dragon ran over to the table that Twilight used to hold all her scrolls for the princesses. Grabbing two scrolls he quickly wrote down what happened before bathing them in his dragon fire. One for Princess Celestia and the other for the Captain of the guard, Shining Armor. He just prayed they would be able to get here in time before anything worse could happen.
----
The Wanderer had force them to take things slow on their way to where Dogmeat was, always staying in the shadows as much as possible. The last thing she wanted was for the armored ponies to chase her down the street again with a damaged suit of power armor. There was no way she could keep ahead of them now with the weight she was carrying and no power coming from the armor in her right leg to counter it. It took them close to an hour before they were finally on the other side of town, the entire time she could see a dramatic increase in activity as more and more of the armored ponies ran around looking for her. She suspected that the grey pony had to be the cause of that.
She was running out of time and was becoming more and more aware of it as the sun slowly rose above the horizon. Soon there wouldn’t be any more dark alleys to hide in and no place to hide, she needed to finish this and now. Another ten minutes passed before they made it to the outskirts of town, when all of a sudden the pony she had been following stopped and looked at her. Raising one of its hooves it pointed to the cottage out in the distance then pointed at Wanderer and then back at the cottage.
Finally.
The only problem with it being way out there, it was a long way to go and there was little to no cover in between. She was going to have to sprint the distance or as much of it as she could in order to lessen her exposure. Sighing in irritation she scooped up the purple pony, which gave a yelp of surprise, she ran as fast as she could. To say it was tiring to run in underpowered power armor would be an understatement, each second put her closer and closer to exhaustion and that much easier to capture again.
----
It was such a lovely morning to take care of the animals. The birds were happily chirping and all of her furry little friends were running around playing and having fun. She just loved these kinds of mornings nothing seemed to ever go wrong. She had one new friend with her today though that she needed to check on, he hadn’t been eating or playing with her other friends and it worried her. He may have been bigger than the others, he being roughly as tall as her, he just stayed near a window most of the previous day.
He seemed to be waiting, not for his injury to heal that had healed shortly after she took him into her care. Whatever his owner gave him had taken care of the wound but she still wanted to keep an eye on him just in case. Coming back inside she found him once again lying in front of the window watching, his bowl of food still full from the previous day. Angel was laying next to him, the little bunny had taken a liking to the dog which surprised her in a good way, she was aware of his unruly behavior when it came to others and it made her happy to see him get along with somepony. The little bunny had even gone as far as to share his spot on the couch which he wouldn’t even do with Discord or for that matter her friends.
When the guards had taken the creature away to the hospital, until it could be relocated to a more permanent holding facility with medical equipment, she had been the only one able to approach the dog while the others even her friends had received angry growls when they tried to approach him. It took awhile before he finally let Applejack and Pinkie Pie pet him but the others were still unable to approach him, even biting at Rainbow Dash when she dared get too close to him. This didn’t faze Rarity much, while Rainbow Dash only just gave him the same glare that she had been giving his owner later that day. Twilight on the other hoof only became more curious as to meeting his owner and learn about the two of them.
It took only a little to convince the guards to let her take the dog, they didn’t have anyplace to keep it and like everypony else they could not approach him. That left only Fluttershy to take him and since she was also the local veterinarian she was more than qualified.
Now that she had finished all the animals that normally stayed outside, all that was left was to feed Angel and to do that she would have to prepare that in the kitchen. Even though he could be picky at times, she had started to work him out of it and expand his tastes. It was while she was in the kitchen that she heard the sounds of barking, coming from the living room area, followed by a knocking on the door. She had not heard the dog ever since taking it into her care and was surprised to hear its deep bark out of nowhere, but had to guess that it had to do with whoever it was at the door.
Leaving the unfinished salad dish for Angel she left to answer the door. Fluttershy didn’t receive many guests other than those who needed their animals looked after, due to how far she lived out of town, it was strange that somepony would come by so early. It was a pleasant surprise to see one of her friends Twilight standing there when she opened the door.
“Oh, hi Twilight. I didn’t expect you to be coming by this early in the morning... Not that I mind or anything.”
When Twilight didn’t immediately respond Fluttershy’s demeanor turned from that of carefree happiness to her normal shy weariness. She didn’t get a chance to word her concern as, seemingly out of nowhere, the creature materialized beside Twilight with a sword like weapon to Twilight's throat. Fluttershy gave a cry of surprise as she fell back into her home for safety, Angel running to her side to protect her.
----
Huh.
The Lone Wanderer had not expected to find herself standing on the doorstep of the butter yellow pony from before, but that wasn’t her concern at the moment. That could wait for later. Not wanting to waste even more time she did what she thought would get Dogmeat’s attention the best.
Removing her helmet with her free hand and holding it at the ready to put back on at a moments notice, she took a deep breath and whistled. The effects were near instantaneous as Dogmeat came running full tilt out the door to meet her. She knelt down to greet her longtime companion and wrapped her arm around him nearly forgetting where it was she currently stood and the dangers that there were for staying for too long.
It was when she placed her helmet back onto her head did she see the red markers begin to pop up as more and more hostile forces came within her Pipboy’s sensory range and was startled when a large host of them suddenly appeared at once, as if they had been there the entire time but only just now wanted to be seen. Turning to face the forces approaching them, she now understood why the sudden explosion of hostiles. What stood before her were numbers she had not seen anywhere in town and could only be achieved if more had arrived from other towns or a stronghold and even more just appeared in flashes of light by the second. It was unsettling to her if anything.
There were three ponies that stood out amongst them though, standing at the front and center of the group poised to strike at any sudden movement that she might make. The one that stood on the far left was similar to the other armored ponies but where the others wore a bright and shining gold armor, this one had a deep shade of purple that must have signified its rank amongst them. It looked extremely pissed at her and it seemed to only get worse when she raised the blade of her weapon and let it rest up against the purple pony’s throat. If it could kill with glares alone, she would be mere ash like the mutant creature she vaporized when she got here.
The pony that stood in the middle was a mystery to her, it was a white pony with what seemed to have a constantly waving mane as if caught in an ever constant breeze. It stood roughly as tall as herself but unlike the smaller ponies it had both a horn and wings. On its head rested a golden crown and had a more calm expression while its eyes told another story, like the pony to its left, it was absolutely furious with her and was probably a hairs breadth away from attacking her on the spot.
The third, that stood on the far right, was similar to that of the tall horned winged pony but stood a head shorter and had a midnight blue coat with a mane that looked like it held the very stars. Unlike the taller one though, it had difficulty holding back its emotions as they were plainly visible on both its face and how it stood, but unlike the others it had a hint of curiosity in its eyes at the being that stood before it.
Not daring to turn her back on the crowd before her she asked, “Well Dogmeat this seems like a bit of a situation, got any ideas?”
Dogmeat’s only response was a mix of barks growls and whines.
“Yeah, I’m not liking our chances much either here boy. I do have one plan left though, stay close.”
Igniting the blade of her weapon the the purple pony gave a mixed cry of shock and pain as the the flames singed part of the coat at its throat. The action was followed by a collection of gasps and shouts from the armored massed before her. Forcing the pony next to her to walk, they slowly started circling around closer and closer to the forest edge. If any of the ponies tried to take a step closer to them she would press the burning blade closer to the hostage’s neck and let the cry do the translating for her.
With the forest to their backs she spoke again, “OK Dogmeat, on the count of three we run.”
“One.”
“Two.”
“THREE.”
Together the two of them spun about and charged into the forest that stretched out before them, a conglomerate of guards went in after them in hot pursuit.
It had been four days since the guards had returned from their chase after the creature that escaped into the forest with its pet. All the ponies in town had returned to their daily routines, allowing a semblance of normality to return, minus the fact that there was a dramatic increase in guards. It had become common knowledge that the Captain of the guards little sister lived in town and had even temporarily been one of the hostages, so it surprised everypony little when he stayed there and used it to coordinate the guards. No matter how many guards were sent into the forest, none returned with any further clue of where it might be, it was easily eluding them and it just further irritated the captain.
The library had been closed to the public until the guards were finished and as of late there could be yelling heard from those who passed by, none willing to work up the courage to see why.
“How is it that one, giant metal clad, freak able to evade all of you, my best lieutenants, for four days,” screamed Shining Armor at the guards before him. None of them were wanting to make eye contact with him, having only heard him get this angry once and that was only after an invasion on his wedding day. “This thing has disgraced the Royal guard, and killed several of our own along with causing severe damage to the local hospital and library. And to top it all off, it not only took hostage my sister and bearer of the Element of Magic, but also threatened her life. Now I want you all to go back into that Celestia forsaken forest and FIND IT.”
With his orders given the guards stumbled over each other, in an attempted to get out of the building, to carry them out. Shining stayed and glared down at the reports that laid out before him, he could hear the clopping of hooves coming up behind them, but he refused to react to them. Hoping that by glaring at the papers long enough they might finally yield the information that they just did not hold.
“Shining.”
He didn’t have to turn around to know that it was Twilight standing there behind him, possibly giving him worried looks.
“Shining you need to calm down, everything is fine, I’m fine.”
He couldn’t stop himself from snorting at the last comment venom in his voice as he said, “That may be true, but it was not thanks to my help. I could only stand there as it held its blade to your throat. It was in control of the situation and it was obvious that it knew it. We are suppose to be the best line of defense yet here is another situation where we can do little to actually help. I will not let this slight stand, I will make it regret ever coming here.” He finally turned to face her and saw the saddened look in her eyes along with the burn mark on her neck, it would probably leave a scar, which only proved to worsen his already foul mood.
Twilight could hear every bit of anger and hate that filled his voice as he spoke and it scared her, for she had never heard him this angry before. “I understand that you are angry, but I have faith that you and the others will find it soon, I have faith in you and your stallions. Until then don’t take it out on them, they’re trying their hardest and probably want to find it just as much as you do.”
Shining took in a deep breath before slowly letting it out, he lowered his head as he could feel the lack of sleep finally hit him. In his efforts to find the creature, he had not been sleeping well and often found himself going over report after report late into the night. “I know I just want this done and over with, the sooner the better.”
“Well in the meantime why don’t you go take a nap, you could really use it.” She felt relieved when she saw him finally give in and head over to the couch removing his armor as he made himself comfortable.
Its not like anything unexpected will happen if I just get a little sleep, were the only thoughts going through his mind as sleep took him.
----
Three little fillies sat together at the table just beneath their clubhouse, boredom having taken hold hours prior.
“Guys lets just do something already, just sitting around here is just so boring. There has to be something that we haven’t done yet,” groaned the young pegasus as she banged her head on the table in frustration.
“I have an idea. We can try selling stuff at the market to get our cutie marks,” spoke up the small unicorn, who had been on the verge of falling asleep herself.
“Sorry Sweetie Belle, Ah’ve tried that already. It ain’t all it’s cracked up ta be,” stated the earth pony in the group.
“Oh oh oh, I have an idea.” Leaping from her chair, her small wings buzzing with excitement as she slowly alighted on the table. “We can be monster hunters, it would make us famous if we can capture that metal creature that ran through town.”
Sweetie Belle looked up at her over excited friend before asking, “Don’t get me wrong Scootaloo, but haven’t we already try that once before and get nowhere?”
“Uh Sweetie, Ah don’t think yer sister who's been pranked by Pinkie with some Poison Joke counts as a monster,” laughed Apple Bloom.
“So its settled then, lets get our stuff guys and lets catch ourselves a monster.”
“CUTIE MARK MONSTER CATCHERS, YAY!”
The three little fillies quickly galloped up the stairs to the clubhouse to get the things they would need, their capes being a necessity.
----
With the forest being so dense and dark it was simple work of eluding the armored ponies, what came afterwards was not what she expected though. The Lone Wanderer had been in a forest before and though it did have a few creatures, she had to kill, it never gave off the oppressive feeling this forest did. She could never fully relax no matter what her Pipboy’s radar was telling her, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. The forest was acting like a double edged sword, though it prevented the ponies from seeing her, she too could not see them and was forced to rely on her Pipboy to give her warnings when something wandered too close to her camps.
Each camp had to be moved each day so as not to be found, there had been many close calls and proved that if she wasn’t careful she wouldn’t stay hidden for long. What time she didn’t use moving her campsite and keeping an eye open for the ponies she spent tinkering with her armor and her transportalponder. When she had first lost the ponies, she had tried to use the device but much to her dismay found that it had been fried by the same thing that blew out part of her armor. What made matters worse was that she didn’t have any of the required materials to even consider trying to repair it. She would have to go back into town in order to find the things she needed, if they even had them. She did not look forward to the prospect of going back.
In the time being until she prepared to venture back into town, she decided to take a nap while Dogmeat stood watch for her.
----
In order to increase their chances of finding the creature, the three fillies had decided to go through town in its footsteps. By the time they had actually reached the forest edge they were each experiencing second thoughts but refused to voice them to the others, not wanting to let the each other down. Working up the last of their courage they took their first steps into the forest after the creature.
One hour passed yet they couldn’t find anything that might lead them to the creature or even show that the creature had ever even been there to begin with. The time spent in the woods was having its effects on the fillies as they became more and more afraid of what it was they were actually there to do and where it was they had chosen to do it, even if they had been in there several times before.
“G-g-g-girls I think we should go back now,” stuttered the scared young unicorn.
“What are you talking about Sweetie Belle, we haven’t even found anything yet and you already want to turn back,” asked Scootaloo not willing to let her fears show in front of her friends.
“Ah don’t know, Sweetie migh’ be right, we should probably go back,” said the third crusader.
“What are you two chickens,” exclaimed the Pegasus.
“Ah am not a chicken, you take tha back,” growled Apple Bloom at the accusation.
“Well if you’re not a chicken then you wouldn’t be afraid to come with me to nab us a rare creature,” egged on the pegasus.
Their arguments were interrupted by the deep growls coming from the bushes a few feet in front of them. They froze where they stood, none of them wanting to give whatever was on the other side of the bushes any reason to come out and attack them. What came out was what they had been looking for but yet not what they had hoped to have find them. Walking out came the pet of the metal clad creature, it towered over them menacingly, staring them down where they stood. As it came closer to the fillies it stopped its deep growling and sniffed at them before stopping just in front of them. It seemed confused at what it was looking at. It seemed to have been expecting the guards coming in after them not a group of children, who were obviously scared out of their minds. It had no idea what to do with them.
Seeming to have made up its mind, it turned and started to make its way back in the direction it had come from only to stop and wait for the fillies.
“Ah think it wants us to follow it,” suggested Apple Bloom, as she tried her hardest to quell the shaking in her legs.
“H-H-How did you come to that conclusion,” asked the frightened unicorn, not bothering to try and hide the fact that she was scared and no longer wanted to be there.
“Well fer starters its not attackin’ us and didn’ Fluttershy say it was friendly.”
Coming to a hesitant agreement they each approached the dog as it continued to watch them, only turning around once he was sure they were following him. They followed in silence for several minutes as the dog padded at a steady pace keeping the fillies close. Only once they had thought that the dog was not in fact taking them to its owner, did they pass through a bush and trot into a makeshift campsite. It was at this campsite that they saw the creature, it sat propped up against a tree but it did not seem to respond to their presence.
It seemed to only stir after the dog barked a couple of times. The creature shifted its weight and turned its head in their direction.
----
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
Standing across the small clearing was not what she had expected or wanted to wake up to. Three of the ponies stood there staring at her with different levels of fear and curiosity that seemed to be the normal reaction to her. But what shocked her the most was the fact that Dogmeat stood in front of the small group. These ponies however were not like the others she had seen since arriving here though, they were much smaller than the others and they wore some sort of explorer gear.
“While I have to admit they are kinda cute, you did just compromise our location Dogmeat.”
Dogmeat barked a few more times before padding over and taking its seat next to her, panting slightly.
The Lone Wanderer rolled her eyes, before scratching him behind the ears, “I can’t stay mad at you. But what am I suppose to do about them, huh?”
They must be children, I don’t think their parents are going to be very happy that I have them.
Whatever plans she was going to come up with were ground to a halt when a large collection of hissing could be heard coming from multiple different directions at once. Scrambling to her feet she pulled out her combat shotgun and took a fighting stance. Not wanting to be caught from behind again she had her back towards a tree while Dogmeat took a stance and growled at the hissing noises. The fillies shrank back, huddling close together for protection as the sounds got louder and louder.
What came into the clearing caused her to pause to assess the threat of the things before her. To her they looked like someone had taken the head and legs of a chicken and placed it on the body of a snake, it was an odd thing to look at nonetheless. She couldn’t quite determine what kind of a threat these snake things possessed to her and Dogmeat but the small ponies seemed to be terrified. When a snake would stalk close to the fillies, the normal pony would start kicking out and forcing them to back off a bit, proving that whatever these things could do was probably dangerous.
Shouldering her shotgun she fired shell after shell into the mass of snakes that seemed to be pouring out of the surrounding shrubbery. They didn’t stand a chance to her onslaught but the ponies weren’t holding up so well. Before she could get to them, a snake had coiled itself around the unicorn and brought its face right up to the little fillies. What happened next both shocked and confused her as the little pony turned to stone before her eyes. Dogmeat chased the snake away as another tried to repeat the action on the winged pony as well. Unlike the other pony though, as it brought its face to the filly the Lone Wanderer reach out and closed her fist over its head, crushing the life out of it with a soft crunch.
She was too slow to fully stop it however as the pony fell over screaming, its legs turned to stone and making it too heavy for its wings. The third fled screaming, heading in the direction that they had come from.
“Dogmeat go after it, make sure nothing happens to it.”
Dogmeat charged into the foliage after the pony at her command. This left her alone to deal with the few snakes that remained from her massacre. They slowly backed off having had second thoughts of continuing their attack. As the last of them ran off from the clearing, everything became much quieter, the only sounds coming from the whimpering pony that laid next to its petrified friend. Scooping up the two, she felt the filly squirm in her grasp until she placed her closer to her gear she had placed before her nap.
----
Ah need to find some help.
Running as fast as she could, Apple Bloom pushed herself to her limits, not wanting to leave her friends for long. She needed to find her sister, Applejack, she would know what to do. She could hear the sounds of paws hitting the ground behind her, closing in on her and only driving her try even harder to stay ahead. It wasn’t long before she burst out of the forest with nothing following her out. Turning back she could see the dog stand at the edge, watching her before turning back. She gave a sigh of relief until she realized the time she was wasting.
There was only one place she would find Applejack at this time of the day and that was at the orchard collecting apples. With a destination in mind she redirected her mad dash back for home.
----
Applejack had spent most of her time out here in the orchards collecting apples, it was what she was best at and she was proud of it. She and Big Macintosh would normally split up to cover more ground, so they didn’t ever really see each other until later in the day or when they had to drop off the basket of apples they had collected. Twilight had fallen into the habit of visiting more often ever since her brother came and made the library his base of operations and Applejack was happy for the company. Applejack had heard about the yelling coming from the library lately and she could understand why Twilight would not want to stay there.
Twilight hadn’t visited today which was fine too, Applejack would just get more work done this way. Moving from tree to tree, bucking the apples out had become second nature to her now and allowed her mind to wander. The escaped creature was the hottest topic as of late, with so many of the guards hurt from their first encounter, it wasn’t a surprise to her. When she had seen it running and tried to lasso it and then again at the hospital, it just looked unnatural to her. She had seen many critters in her time but nothing like that, she couldn’t stop the shivers that followed the thought.
It was about time to call it quits for the day, so Applejack gave her last buck at the nearest tree and watched as her hard work came falling from down to the ground. Her thoughts were interrupted as in the distance, distressed cries could be heard calling her name. It only took an instant for Applejack to recognize the voice as belonging to her younger sister Apple Bloom and from the sound of her voice she knew something had gone horribly wrong.
Running full speed into the direction of the shouting she spotted the little filly panting on the ground. Coming to a halt next to her, Applejack gave her little sister a quick examination for any kind of injury, seeing none was a huge relief to her and allowed her heart to slow down a bit.
“What in tarnations goin’ on sugarcube, I’ve never seen ya so worked up before.”
In between pants Apple Bloom tried her hardest to speak, “Sweetie Belle... Scootaloo... Trouble.”
The mentioning of the two names brought Applejack’s heart rate back up, it was common that these three fillies would get themselves into trouble but it was never a pleasant experience to hear it.
“What kind of trouble sugarcube,” she asked worry starting to creep into her voice.
“Scootaloo... Sweetie Belle... Creature has them... We were attacked.”
Applejack’s blood ran cold as she heard the words leave her sister’s mouth. Scooping up Apple Bloom, Applejack placed the exhausted filly on her back.
“We need to go get Twilight and her brother, we’re going to need their help.”
With the filly secure on her back Applejack bolted for Twilight’s, hoping that they would get there in time to help the fillies.
----
It had been a while since Dogmeat had run off after the small filly and the Lone Wanderer was starting to worry for her companion, not that he couldn’t take care of himself but nonetheless the feeling was still growing. After he had left and things had calmed down again did she finally have time to get a closer look at what had attacked them. They looked just as they had earlier, chickens with a serpin like body. There was no indication as to how they managed to turn a pony to stone, it was a puzzling thing to think about.
Having examined them long enough she walked back over to her gear and pulled out the now ruined bed sheets. Tearing a strip along the edge, she kept that to the side as she made an impromptu bag. Once the bag itself was finished, she tied the strip to it making a strap to slip her arm through to carry. With the preparations finished, the Lone Wanderer went around the campsite and collected the carcasses of the chicken-snakes. Her plans were going to be accelerated tremendously and she was going to need something to give the ponies to show this wasn’t her fault.
The local inhabitants must have something to use against these things, otherwise this is going to be a lot worse.
As the last of the snakes were being stuffed into the bag, Dogmeat came walking into the clearing alone.
“Did the pony get out of the forest?”
Dogmeat barked in response to her question.
“Alright lets pack up camp. If we can drop these two out of the forest before more of those ponies come to help the better.”
The small filly watched as she put away her things and slung the makeshift bag over her shoulder. When it was picked up, it gave a yelp and struggled in her grasp again until it was placed on Dogmeat's back. Once the Wanderer was sure the filly wouldn’t fall off, she picked up the stone filly and started walking.
With the added weight of the two fillies, their progress was slowed and by the time they had reached the forest’s edge it had been over an hour. From her kneeling position in the brush, what she saw made her stomach drop. From where she was she could count roughly thirty-five armored ponies on the ground with an additional sixteen flying ones already in the air. To make matters worse she could see the purple armored pony along with the crowned white winged-horned pony giving orders. Standing around the crowned pony stood four unarmed ponies three of them she recognized from the hospital while the fourth she had not seen before. It was the purple unicorn, the cyan winged pony and the orange regular pony that seemed to pop up wherever she went and was beginning to get very annoying. The fourth however was a pearly white pony with a stylized mane and if the make up smears were any indication under its eyes, it had been crying recently.
As she knelt there she saw the purple armored pony line up the others into a formation and give them commands. It was while these commands were being given did she see the crowned pony close its eyes then its horn flare to life for a moment, then die back down as it opened its eyes again. It scanned the forest’s edge before it stopped at where she sat. Neither moved.
Well fuck.
She had the sinking feeling that she was not hidden like she thought she was and the longer she stayed there the more restless the filly got.
“Dogmeat, I need you to stay here.”
Dogmeat only whimpered, knowing what would come next and was not happy about it, more than willing to go out there with her.
“Whatever happens do not come out of the forest to help me. Stay. Here.”
Giving a last whimper, he forced her hand on his head before lying on the ground.
Taking the filly off of his back, she stood up and stepped out into open view of all present. Now that she was standing she could make out the shape of a large carriage that was obviously designed to carry something much bigger than a pony and had thick metal bars blocking the windows. It took little thought as to who that carriage was designed to carry and where, it didn’t help her mood much but it did tell her one thing:
They were not going to try and kill her.
Shortly after the rays of light made contact with her armor did the armored ponies look her way, many of them freezing in place while others looked ready to charge her. Slowly she lowered the two fillies to the ground, every eye keeping a close watch on her every movement. With the fillies in sight many of guards took to offensive stances. The Wanderer thought she heard one of them yell something, “What have you done to MY SISTER YOU MONSTER,” but as always, she was unable to decipher it. Carefully she removed her arm from the strap of the bag and gave it a toss, making sure that it landed halfway to the group, it made a soft splat as it landed.
Your move.
The purple armored unicorn looked to the crowned one, a moment passed as the crowned one never took its eyes off her before giving a slight nod. With approval given the purple armored unicorn's horn began to glow, the same glow surrounded the fillies and bag. The fillies were given to the four mares while the bag stopped before the crowned and purple armored pony. They seemed to take their time in opening the bag. Once it was actually open, the armored one took a step back in disgust while the crowned one showed no differing expression, making it all the harder for the Wanderer to judge what was going through its head.
Finally the armored one stepped towards her, she made a note of the sword on its side, only stopping when it was a few feet away from her. From there it became a stare down, the absolute loathing of her was present in its eyes. Minutes passed before it gave any indication that it was about to speak.
“You are hereby placed under arrest for murder, the destruction of property and foalknapping. Relinquish your weapons and come quietly or we will use force to stop you.”
She groaned in irritation, I can’t understand you fucker.
As its horn began to glow again she waited to see what it would do next and saw as the sword on its side took the same glow and begin to float next to its head. She might not have understood what it said but she knew a fighting stance when she saw one and with its weapon out like that it was all she needed to know. She unsheathed her own sword and flipped the switch, bathing the blade in flame, if it was waiting for an answer it got it.
The pony’s eyes narrowed at her actions as they continued their stare down, then suddenly it struck out with its blade. Without the blade being attached to the main body it was impossible for her to predict his next strike. Without the opponent's body giving away their next move she was forced to take a defensive course in the fight, reacting at the last moment to each attack. The pony seemed to take advantage of her lack of a formal training as he bashed at her defenses, pushing her farther and farther back. It wasn’t long before the armored pony slipped past her defenses and slashed her across her wrist severing the tendons. Crying out in pain, her hand released the weapon and it fell to the ground, her hand now useless.
She felt the opponent's sword rest against her throat and could see the victorious smirk on his face. “You not so tough, now then you are under arrest and-,” it was cut short as the sound of a loud bang from her revolver could be heard by all present. In his victory she had pulled it out with her left hand and brought it to her stomach for support.
I never said I would fight fair, that's just stupid.
The victorious smirk faded and was replaced with a look of surprise and shock as it looked down at its chest, seeing its now ruined armor. The round had punched through the top right peytral plate, blood flowing from the wound. It was another second until its legs gave out and it fell over and a pool of its own blood began to form. What followed was as if a group of people started demolishing a collection of bee hives and released the angered swarm on her. A wall of laser like projectiles impacted into her, some being negated by the tesla coils on her back while the rest harmlessly hit her armor, doing nothing harmful to her person.
That only lasted until a particularly strong blast slammed into her chest and threw her into a tree. The tree gave a thunderous like crack from the impact, knocking the air from her lungs and disoriented her. When she tried to remove herself from the tree, she found that she couldn’t move and for that matter it felt as if a stronger and stronger force was pushing down on every part of her body, the pressure prevented her from sucking in air to feed her now burning lungs. She could hear the sound of the metal in her armor and the wood from the tree behind her groaning in protest from the abuse. What peaked her terror was the hair line crack slowly working its way up her vision. Utilizing every ounce of strength she could muster, she lifted her arms up and removed the helmet, letting it drop to the ground.
With the helmet off, her vision began to darken at the edges and she was on the verge of blacking out from the lack of air. Silent screams was all she could do in her vulnerable state, many of the armored ponies watched on as the life was being squeezed out of her. In the distance stood the being that she guessed was doing this to her. Standing there was the lavender unicorn, its horn shining brightly but unlike the others she had seen do this, this one’s eyes were giving off a green like smoke with the appearance of pure rage and hate. The ponies around it were reacting in different levels of fear, the crowned one seemed to be trying to talk to it.
Just as the last points of light were leaving her vision did the pressure lift. Gasping for air, life returned to her at the last moment, muscles spasiming as they received the much needed oxygen from the lungs. Without the force keeping her pinned to the tree, her legs buckled, her face meeting the ground once again. Every muscle burned from exhaustion and refused to respond to any command that her brain might give them, the most she could do was tilt her head and pant. The sounds of approaching hooves kept her from passing out. Looking up she saw that the white crowned pony was walking towards her, its horn constantly glowing, the purple one next to it having stopped what it was doing to her and was instead crying as it watched the armored ponies, that were not surrounding her, were hurriedly carrying off the purple armored one.
As the white crowned pony stood over her it said, “You will come with us and there will be no more resistance.”
Not able to lift a finger she was helpless to stop them take her things yet again and place her in the large carriage. She was once again in their custody.
It had been a long day since their return from the edges of Ponyville. Celestia sat upon her throne in wait for the news of the operations that her captain was having to go through. He had been teleported along with half the medical ponies that were part of the royal guard, so as to keep him alive long enough to reach the capital for better treatment of his injuries. The creature that had caused the severe wounds to Shining Armor had been hold off to the dungeons as soon as the carriage keeping it contained had touched down within the castle grounds. It had been stripped once again of its possessions to insure the safety of her ponies, she wouldn't give it the chance to harm her little ponies again.
Though she wished she did not have to, Celestia had responsibilities as one of the rulers of Equestria and was forced to open the day court as usual for her little ponies. There were always problems that needed her attention and though her sister had recently returned, Luna still needed to adjust and learn the new laws that had been passed in her thousand year long imprisonment. There had been many changes since Luna had last ruled and though Celestia knew Luna tried to hide her discomfort from her older sister, her hesitation in her actions spoke for her. Until Luna had regained her confidence to rule like she once had, Celestia would just have to continue overseeing the day court like always.
Try as she might Celestia could not stop her mind from wandering off during the hearings, her hopes riding on Shining Armors recovery and with luck return to station after a lengthy vacation. It was only after Celestia had to have the question a pony had asked her twice before, once again repeated, did she finally call things to an end. With the courts closed early there was nothing for her to do but wait for word to reach her.
The sound of gentle clopping hooves brought Celestia back to the present with her sister, Luna, just a few hooves away. A look of concern was etched on her face as she asked, “Is there any word on Captain Shining Armor’s condition?”
“Not yet Lulu, but I think we shall hear of his condition soon. He has been in surgery ever since his arrival earlier this morning. At the moment all we can do is hope that our little ponies can do their best and get him back on his hooves quickly.”
“I fear Tia, that even if our prayers are answered and Shining Armor does recover, he won't be able to continue to serve as the Captain of the guard. You and I have both seen injuries like this before and know what lasting effects they have on the body.”
Celestis let a tired sigh escape her lips, a rare sight that she only let Luna see, before saying, “I am just as much to blame for his situation as he himself is. I was aware of his instability but chose to ignore it in hopes that he would keep it in check, I have been proven wrong as you can see. There are few ponies who can command the guard as he does, not even his second in command can control them like him, except for us of course. His inability to control his own emotions makes me only fear about what would have happened if he was not there and I had replaced him like I probably should have. Is there another who could have done better or worse. These are just some of the many unanswerable question floating in my mind as I now sit and wait.”
“There is another matter, Lulu, that I wish to discuss with you later however. Its something that we will need to be alone for.”
As it was Luna’s turn to finally speak there was just one other thing that concerned her, “And what of the creature, what are we going to do with it and its weapons?”
Celestia looked into her sister’s eyes as she spoke, “As far as the creature’s weapons are concerned, nothing. We shall simply lock them away and be done with them, they are just too dangerous for the public to know of. The creature, from what Twilight’s notes have told me that it is a female version of its kind, will remain in the dungeons so that we may study her and learn of its kind. From there we can see what kind of threat they can pose to us.”
Luna snorted in frustration towards her older sister’s decision and voiced her complaints, “It is simply a waste to lock away its weapons. If we could give those to our scientists they could improve our guard’s combat abilities far beyond any other nations. With this technology we can prevent the gryphons to the west from ever again attempting to take our territories for their own. They would come to fear our might once again like in the years of old.”
Celestia was firm yet not unkind in her response to her sister’s complaint, “No Luna, we will not exploit this technology for our own gain. We will not bully the other countries with it either just because they once thought of taking what is our ponies land. We shall show compassion towards them and treat them as equals, otherwise we are no better than Discord during his rule. So the weapons will remain locked away until they can be disposed of without bringing harm to one of our little ponies.”
Seeing that she wasn’t going to convince her sister to reconsider, Luna changed target, “Fine, then what will become of the female after we have learned what we wanted? She has hurt and killed many of our beloved ponies and must pay for its crimes. I think I speak for all when I say that justice must be done.”
Luna watched Celestia’s face sink down towards the floor in sadness before she finally responded, “I fear Lulu, now that I have had the time to read over all the reports, that our guards may have provoked the creature and it simply acted in self defense. We cannot act against the creature and still call it justice, not at the level you wish. It is only after we have learned about her can we truly judge her for her actions. In the mean time she will remain there until then, for her safety as well as ours. Luna I know this is not what you want to hear but this is how it must be if we are to rule this land justly.”
Celestia was right, that wasn’t what Luna wanted to hear and was not going to stand around as her sister did nothing. Turning with a huff Luna stormed out one of the side doors. If Tia will not make use of the weapons confiscated, then I will just have to speak with the scientists myself.
After her sister had left the room did the doors leading into the throne room, as if on cue, opened and who came trotting in was none other than the chief surgeon in charge of Captain Shining Armor’s operperation. Celestia’s hopes rose as he made his approach but felt them come crashing back down at seeing the hesitant manner at which he took each step. Whatever news he carried, she sensed it was only going to be the end of Shining Armor’s carrier.
----
There was nothing left. No matter how much Twilight wished to cry, there was just simply no tears left to shed. She had finally been allowed to sit in her brother’s room after waiting for the operation to end. They had him hooked up to many different monitors as he laid there in the bed under heavy sedation. Twilight had been told that he still wouldn’t wake for a few more hours and when he did, she had been told to be very careful around him and not stress him out. The more he could relax, the faster he would recover from his surgery.
Their parents were also there to see their son but had stepped out to get some food, only after being informed that Shining would not wake for several more hours. They had asked if Twilight would like to come with them to the cafeteria but she had declined since she didn’t have any need to eat. She just sat there in the seat next to the bed staring absentmindedly as she was deep in thought, thinking about what had transpired earlier that morning. The events over the past day had scared Twilight but it wasn't just what the creature had done but it had been what she had done in response. When she saw Shining fall, her anger had taken over. She had very much intended to crush the life out of the creature and she nearly succeeded, if it hadn’t been for Princess Celestia intervening.
Sitting in the chair in silence, Twilight was unaware of the door opening and a maroon armored pegasus stallion entering the room. The stallion walked half way towards her before stopping in the middle of the room, glancing between her and Shining Armor. He let out a deep sigh before trying to get Twilight’s attention by clearing his throat and waited a few moments for her to react. He was not surprised at her lack of a response so he tried another approach, moving right next to her and asked, “How are you holding up squirt?”
Nearly falling from her seat, Twilight whipped around to face the intruder in the room, only to find him standing right next to her. She felt her heart jump up into her throat before slowing back down as she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly again. Taking a moment she finally lectured, “You know you shouldn’t do that Charge and I’m fine. And on top of that stop calling me squirt, I’m not five anymore.”
Blind Charge didn’t believe in the slightest that Twilight was fine at all, but decided not to say anything on the subject. He instead chose to strike up a conversation with her to keep her as distracted as possible, “Have you spoken with the doctors yet, did they say when Shining will wake up?” He knew the answers already from Princess Celestia but he wanted to get her talking about anything.
“They said that he could wake in a few hours. They also said that he should make a full recovery too... I just have the feeling that he wasn’t telling me everything though.”
Not wanting her to explore that thought, he interrupted her thoughts changing the topic, “How are your friends doing? I thought that they would come up here with you, I mean I’m pretty sure the princesses would let them stay in the castle again.”
“My friends are fine too, and many of them said they would come up later this afternoon. Applejack has to get everything ready at the farm while Fluttershy is getting somepony to watch the animals while she is away. Rainbow Dash said she would talk to her weather lieutenant and would catch the train with Fluttershy, while Rarity couldn’t come at all until they find a way to cure Sweetie Belle. Pinkie Pie wasn’t allowed passed the door by the nurses so she is sitting in the waiting room right now.”
“Thats good to hear. Its always nice to have your friends close by.” A sly smile grew across his muzzle as he jokingly asked, “You wouldn't mind introducing me to any of them would you, I have heard a lot about them and would really like to meet at least one of them. Maybe you could put in a good word for me?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow at his request, “Aren’t you married to Sunny Days?”
“Yes we are, and happily I might add.”
Wishing to be at least a little bit polite to her brother’s best friend she asked, “And how is she doing?”
“Oh you know, pregnant as usual.”
“Thats good to hear--- What?!”
The sly grin only grew in size as he nodded his head in confirmation that she had indeed heard him correctly. Seeing the shock that now replaced her previous sadness told him that he had succeeded at last. Taking this opportunity he filled her in saying, “We found out about three months ago, and have been keeping it a secret from a few ponies.”
Twilight was confused at the secrecies about the pregnancy and chose to voice her curiosity.
Blind Charge chuckled and leaned in close to Twilight’s ear so that he would not be overheard by others that might enter. Speaking just loud enough for her to hear he announced, “I want to ask Shining to be my foal’s Godfather and I wanted it to be a surprise.”
Jumping from her chair in excitement, Twilight shouted out, “Oh, Shining is going to be so happy to hear the news. This is very good news. Do you-”
Charge cut her off by shoving his hoof into her mouth, not wanting her to cause any more noise that might disturb her sleeping brother. Once she seemed to have calmed down again did he remove it and allowed her to continue. He took a moment before he continued with what he wanted to say, “Sunny would be more than happy if you came by during your stay here in Canterlot. She has become a little stir crazy from being forced to stay home from weather duty, the doctors said that she couldn’t work as the weather captain during her pregnancy.”
Twilight gave him the first true smile he had seen since entering the room and replied, “I would be more than happy to. And with Shining’s luck, he’ll be back on his feet and serving as captain of the guard again soon.”
Blind Charge had to force himself to not reveal what he had learned from Princess Celestia, he couldn’t tell her that Shining Armor would be forced to retire and that he would take Shining’s place. All he could do was put on a forced smile and sit in silence with her as they listened to the steady sound of Shining Armor’s heart beat.
----
The Lone Wanderer had been in worse places than a windowless dungeon, its not like there were giant radroaches that threatened to eat her or anything. Sure she had to hunch over so as not to slam her head on the ceiling and the only thing that lit the room was a single candle, that was set out of reach of her in the corner of the room. The only thing stopping her from getting it was the shackles that connected her to the opposite corner of the room. In no ways would she have normally found being chained to a wall odd in her line of work, but what perplexed her was how they did it. The manacle attached to her leg were similar to the one that connected her to the medical bed before and had even caused the same dilemma for the horse creatures, that is until one of them that had a horn, began to glow and the manacle shrank down to the needed size.
Now that they had locked her away there was really little for her to do. There were not any windows for her to see through and the only other thing in the room besides the candle, that was out of reach, and herself was the cot and blanket. In no time at all she had turned said blanket into temporary clothes again, she may have been a prisoner but that doesn’t mean she has to walk around naked.
Having no way to keep track of the time, the Lone Wanderer was surprised when a flap at the base of the wooden door opened and a tray, of what appeared to be food, slid in. Making her way from the cot, she picked up the tray to see what they were giving her and wasn’t surprised with what she saw. Sitting on the tray was a pile of hay, a green gelatin blob and a wooden bowl of water. The hay she couldn’t eat and wasn’t quite sure about the green blob either but decided to be cautious and would slid everything back through the flap, except for the water. Bending back down, the Lone Wanderer fit her fingers under the flap, just enough to get a good grip on it and lifted it up to the hall on the other side. Placing the tray on the floor, she slid it back out and let go of the flap.
She was shortly rewarded with the sounds of a shout of surprise and the sound of the tray crashing against another wall. Opening the flap again, she was greeted with the site of one of the armored ponies moaning on the ground and on the opposite wall was a splattered mess of what was her meal. A fit of laughter racked her body at the expense of her capture’s situation, through the door the guards could be heard bickering about something and the sound of a faint growl, that she suspected was directed at her. Having had enough of the little show, she stood back up and went to stretch out on her cot for a little sleep.
----
Quietly stepping out of the hospital room and closing the door behind him, he started to make his way back to the throne room. He needed to report back to Princess Celestia and get his next order, if she didn’t have any for him, he had something else he would like to do. Namely paying a little visit to the creature that did this to his childhood friend and if there wasn’t a guard looking, maybe even buck it into the wall.
Having spent most of his career walking the halls of the castle, he had learned the fastest routes to take, making this walk just like any other. As he walked into the throne room he noticed that everything was just as he had left it earlier, there was only one exception however, floating in front of Celestia’s face was one of the many papers that Twilight had sent her pertaining to the creature. He also saw that sitting in a neat pile next to her were the reports made by the guards who participated in the first contact with the creature and the subsequent chase.
When he approached the throne he watched as first the princess's ear flicked in his direction, due to the sound of his hooves clicking on the floor, her eyes going back and forth over the page before she finally stopped and turned to face him. She hid the stress she was under very well, even from her own guards but they all knew what she had to deal with each day. This wasn’t like those normal days either.
“Did you ask her?”
Her question broke his train of thought and brought him back to the present. He dipped his head before he replied. “Sorry ma’am, I couldn’t ask her. Its just something I couldn’t force onto her so quickly.”
A sad smile formed on her muzzle while she gave a slight nod in agreement.
“I too do not wish to ask this but this situation has forced me to do so. I do apologise for putting you in that situation as well, I know how close you are with the Twilight and her family. I should have been the one to ask her.” As if to emphasise her point, Celestia stood and gathered energy to her horn.
“Would you like for me to accompany you ma’am?”
It took a moment as Celestia thought it over but eventually replied, “That will not be necessary, you may go. But Captain Charge.”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Pass word that nopony is to go near the creature unless given my permission, and that includes you too. If we are to get the information we want from it, it is best that it hasn’t been injured any more than it already has.”
Blind Charge hesitated, having to bite back a retort for a second before he finally agreed and saluted. With his reply she cast her spell causing a brilliant flash of light that indicating her departure to the guards outside the room. With his orders, Blind Charge reluctantly left to spread the word to the other guards.
----
Celestia appeared in front of the closed door leading to Shining Armor’s room, the doctors around having been surprised by her sudden arrival were just now kneeling before her. She quickly told them to rise and see to their other patients before entering the room.
Glancing around the room, Celestia found whom she had been looking for, asleep with her head lying on Shining Armor’s bed, Twilight sat waiting on her brother to wake. Taking her time, Celestia walked around to the other side of the bed, looking her former captain's lying form on the bed up and down. If she hadn’t known better, it would have been hard to tell that anything bad had ever happened.
Unfortunately there were many signs of his injuries, from the constant beeping of his heart monitor to the uneven breaths that he had to take due to his injuries. Lifting the clipboard from its resting place at the foot of the bed Celestia decided to read it over for herself while she too waited for either of them to wake. There was always something that could be learned from reading the reports yourself rather than have them being told to you and this proved no different. From reading over the sheets, she could see the comments the doctor had made about the path of slug of metal had taken when passing through Shining Armor’s chest.
The pages went into detail the extent of the damages to his right lung and the steps they were forced to take in order to repair it. They had removed a large portion of damaged lung in order to close the wound and salvage the rest of it.
He is lucky that the creature had been kneeling when it decided to fire its weapon. If it had fired down on him instead, I doubt he would have lived long enough to realise what had happened. Small blessings I guess.
Gently placing the clipboard back, she looked over to her sleeping student and was barely successful at suppressing a chuckle at the expense of Twilight. In Twilight’s sleep, she had formed a rather impressive pool of drool around her muzzle, drenching the surrounding blanket. Using her magic once again she proceeded to bring a small towel into existence, knowing Twilight and her habit of overreacting to small inconsequential things, it was best that she didn’t wake to this mess. Taking great care so as not to wake up Twilight, Celestia went about dabbing at the mess.
Celestia's endever was for not as the contact eventually woke Twilight from her sleep. She woke slowly, her eyes trying to adjust to the level of light, her body not wanting to awaken until Celestia came into focus. With the realisation that her mentor was sitting patiently across from her did her mind kick into panic.
Acting quickly Celestia tried to calm her student, “Its alright Twilight, I didn’t mean to wake you. If you are still tired I will return later so you may rest.”
Making a move to stand, Celestia was interrupted by Twilight sputtering, “No no no no no no, I’m awake. Thank you for visiting.”
Celestia could only give Twilight a sad smile as the bags under Twilight’s eyes told her otherwise, the ordeal that she had gone through for the past couple of days added with the level of magic she had used within the past six hours left her spent and on the verge of collapse. It pained her to ask Twilight to handle this important task but there was few who could match her abilities. This was one of the drawbacks that Celestia had to deal with as part of the diarchy and one of her least favorite duties.
Gathering her resolve, she pushed that pain to the back of her mind and went forward with her plan. Looking her beloved student in the eyes she asked, “Twilight, I have a favor to ask of you, but before I ask you, you have to know that I would not trust anypony else with this task. This is a very important task and it may demand more than what I should ask of you. Do you understand?”
Twilight gulped at what Princess Celestia was telling her and it made her afraid. Hesitantly Twilight nodded her head, confirming her understanding to her mentor and received the same sad smile again.
“Very well, since you understand I’ll now tell you. What I need is for you to learn everything you can from the creature we have contained. Anything you learn could prove useful to us in many ways. Do you have any questions?”
There was only two questions that won out over the others in Twilight’s mind, “How am I suppose to get it to cooperate with me, and why shouldn’t I just buck that thing into the nearest wall? After what that thing has done to my friends and family, it should just stay locked up in that dungeon.” By the end of her statement Twilight hadn’t realised that she had been screaming and quickly stammered out a stream of apologies.
Celestia had feared that Twilight would have reacted negatively but she had underestimated had badly, which only pained her more. There was just simply no choice in the matter and had to push forward with her plan.
With a firm tone she started, “Twilight, while I understand your anger towards the creature you must also consider that we were just as in the wrong as it was. From your own reports and that of the other guards, we were the original aggressors and the creature just responded. What we must consider that while this one creature did a lot of harm to both Ponyville and the Royal guard, what would happen if another came here? If this creature has friends, will they come looking for it and if so how did it get here to begin with? If you can uncover the answers to these questions then we can prevent more harm from coming.”
Twilight couldn’t come up with anyway she could answer these questions from her own observations of the items she saw or from the creature. She just hadn’t had enough time until everything went to tartarus. She took pride in knowing that her mentor came to her for such an important task but at the same time she resented being asked so quickly after the fight. There just wasn’t any helping it and she could only give a final sigh of defeat.
“Very well, I’ll do what I can but you never said how I could accomplish this.”
With the return of Celestia’s motherly tone she replied, “The fastest way I can possibly think of, to coxe this being into talking with you, is to befriend it. If you can become friends with this creature, like you did with Discord and Trixy, then I can see things becoming much easier for you. And do not worry, you will not be forced to do this alone. If you wish, you may ask your friends for assistance with this task. I’m sure they would be more than willing to help you.”
Celestia’s reply had obviously irritated Twilight, but chose to ask, “Is there another way to gather the information?”
Shaking her head Celestia answered her student honestly, “Though there are other ways this one has the least risk of backfiring and without it causing more harm than good. The best path to take is not always the easiest one to follow.”
Lowering her head slightly, Twilight looked over Shining Armor’s body before she conceded, “Very well Princess Celestia, I’ll do it, but may I spend some time with my brother while he is awake before I start? My friends should be here by then too and I can ask them for help.”
"That is fine, just let me know when you wish to begin and I'll have the creature moved to better accommodate you and your friends."
With nothing else to talk to Twilight about, Celestia said her farewells before leaving the room, there were a few other things she needed to get done before she could call it a day.
----
The sun had moved far across the sky since last he had seen his master. She had told him to stay there and wait for her return and that is what he would do. Dogmeat had lay hidden in the undergrowth as he watched them take his master, but he did not fear that she would not return, she had made it back to him before. Once they had his master none of the armored creatures stopped to search the forest for him, he didn’t seem to be a big concern to them, which was fine by him.
From where he lay, Dogmeat watched as the kind creature went about her home taking care of many different animals. Her kindness reminded him of his master, but without the courage and everything else. There didn’t seem to be many other creatures like it in the town down the road from the forest. He could smell the different animals’ scents off of her unlike the other creatures who had their own scents, hers was masked. He couldn’t think of any reason for it until she brought him into her home and he saw all the different animals living in and around her home.
They were all at different stages of recovery and it confused him. He had never seen such care being given to another creature like this before, not at this extent anyways. Sure when he was hurt his master would do what she could to help him get better, but he hadn’t seen another of her kind do that to other animals. The only things he had seen most of her kind do was kill and consume them. He kind of liked her, she didn’t seem so bad.
As he waited he had passed the time observing her as she went around her house feeding the small animals that he would have been more than happy to call food himself, but decided that might not be the best of ideas. One of the creatures that he had seen from the first chase visited four separate times over the passing hours. She had the scent of rain, sweat and adrenaline, it was different compared to everything else he smelled from the creatures he had met. He didn’t like this one.
He had seen her stand on the clouds and strike with a blinding hot light, hurting his master severely and damaging her armor. There were few that got away with causing him or his master harm and those that did, didn’t get away with it for long.
Everytime she came by and spoke with the kind-one, she spoke very excitedly while waving her hooves in the air. This had the effect of causing the kind-one to shrink down, smaller and smaller, until the aggressive-one would shoot off back towards town. He was always on edge afterwards as the kind-one would look over the forest, her gaze lingering on where he hid. He was sure he could not be seen from where he was but just in case he moved each time, never too far from his original position.
After the fourth visit did he hear one of the trees rustle and a bird take flight towards the small home landing on the kind-one’s back. She seemed to listen to it for a few moments before speaking with it. Once she had finished the bird took flight again and flew back into the forest canopy. To Dogmeat’s surprise, when he looked back at the kind-one he saw her making her way towards his hiding place. Crouching lower to the ground, he hid himself as best he could, if he moved from where he was now would reveal that he was there to her and he didn’t want that.
He lay in wait hoping that she would pass, he would prefer not to have to fight the kind-one. She eventually came to a stop roughly six yards from the edge of the forest, her eyes never turning away from where he was.
“You can come out now, I’m not going to hurt you. I actually want to help you and be your friend.” She seemed to shy away for a second before continuing, “That is if you don’t mind.”
Dogmeat could not understand a word she was saying but the tone that she spoke with gave him the feeling of comfort, something only given by another caring creature. He wanted to go out but yet at the same time he didn’t. He was conflicted.
“I-i-i-if you don’t wa-wa-want to come out, then I’ll come in there i-i-i-if that will make you feel better.”
Slowly the kind-one started making her way closer and closer to the forest. The very act seemed to be a daunting task to her, he could smell the fear radiating from her shaking body. She had made it halfway to the forest before he finally made up his mind. Standing up to his full height, Dogmeat left his small sanctuary behind and stepped out into the open, he could be seen by any that chose to walk near the kind-one’s home and it made him uneasy. If he was forced to flee it would make it harder for his master to find him again, making him very tempted to just turn back and return to the forest. Glancing back to where he had just left, he was having a hard time deciding. This place was just not like his home and nothing acted like everything did at home.
Before he could change his mind however, he felt something gently stroke his neck. The sudden contact brought him back to the present with a start, causing him to jump back with a yelp of surprise and a small growl. The kind-one seemed to be very sorry for startling him but did not retreat from her place. She tried to repeat her actions again, this time with him watching but before she could pet him again the wind picked up and bringing with it a faint cry.
Looking around to locate this new sound, Dogmeat only narrowly found the aggressive-one, charging him from the sky, in time to jump out of the way. The ground seemed to shake slightly from the impact as she now attempted to stand between him and the kind-one. She crouched low as if ready to pounce on him, her eyes glaring daggers at him. He was unimpressed as he returned the gesture but gave a deep menacing growl back at her, he was ready for her if she decided to press the attack. This was a fight he was sure he would win.
As the two stared each other down, Dogmeat prepared to make the first move when a looped roped went in front of his eyes and around his throat. A sudden pull tightened it before he could begin to even try get it off. Turning his head to get a look at his other assailant he saw that it was another of the creatures but this one had a strange hat on its head, similar to the hats he had seen back home. This creature also smelled of sweat and adrenaline but instead of clouds she smelled of fruits that master had eaten on occasion when visiting the people of the forest and the talking-tree. As he observed her he saw that she held the rope that looped around his neck within her teeth.
His efforts to identify his second opponent was just what the aggressive-one needed to strike. The next thing he knew a sudden impact sent him on to his side, hard. He could feel the weight of the offending creature on top of him trying to pin him down, while the one holding the rope pulled on him. He wasn’t one to take this lying on his back and he was going to make sure they knew it too. Kicking out at the aggressive-one, he made sure to sink his hind claws into her soft flesh. She gave a cry of pain as she was fell off of him, blood dripping from the scratches on her stomach and left inner thigh, a pained look on her face.
Quickly rolling over to be on his stomach again, he grabbed hold of whatever rope was slack from his maneuver and gave it too a tug of his own. To his dismay it only temporarily unbalanced the other creature for a moment but she instantly righted herself. It soon turned into a struggle for dominance through strength, his confidence was dropping faster than his own strength.
The two of them were locked in an effort to overpower the other, neither gaining advantage over the other. The sound of faint cries could be heard but were ignored by both parties. Their eyes met and he could see the stubbornness and determination, the same that she would probably see in his own.
Neither saw who would be the winner as the kind-one stepped in between shouting, “ENOUGH. STOP THIS NONSENSE.”
The aggressive-one seemed to take offense to what the kind-one said as it walked over, a slight limp in her step shouting back, “NONSENSE? That monster’s pet was about to attack you and you say what we are doing is nonsense?! We are trying to help you Fluttershy.”
The kind-one replied not in an unkind tone, “It was not about to attack me, I had just startled it from suddenly petting him. He won’t attack unless you show aggression towards him, like you have been. Now stop it.” Turning back towards Dogmeat she slowly reached out towards his throat causing him to flinch away. She continued again when he did not move any further away, partially due to his restricted range, and began to untie the rope saying, “See a little kindness is all that is needed.”
The determine-one collected the rope and placing it upon her back, her eyes never leaving him, not trusting him. Once he was free of the rope, Dogmeat jumped away from the three of them keeping an eye on them for anything suspicious. He began to back further and further away from them, slowly heading back towards the forest.
Realizing what he was doing the kind-one stepped forward lifting a hoof towards him saying, “Wait. Don’t go, I only want to help you. Come with me.”
He wasn’t sure what stopped him from turning around and fleeing into the forest like his inner voice was telling him. He could not understand what she was saying to him but the tone at which she spoke was very reassuring as if he could trust her. He halted where he stood, his gaze never leaving that of the kind-one. She was a curiosity, she seemed to hold no ill intent against him, he couldn’t say the same about the other two however, but she seemed to be able to reason with them. He could hear them argue behind her.
“How in tarnation do ya plan on helpin’ this thing? It almost seems wild.”
“Yeah, how do you plan on helping something that only wants to hurt us?”
The kind-one turned back around to face her two friends looking at each in turn before replying, “How many times do I have to say it, if you don’t try to attack or harm him, he won’t try to do the same. He is far from wild and is just as intelligent as any of our pets. I’m going to take him with me to Canterlot.”
The other two responded negatively to her response shouting back for her to reconsider, but they fell on deaf ears, the kind-one had made up her mind. The kind-one began walking back to her home then stopped alongside Dogmeat and smiled to him saying, “If you come with me, I will take you to your friend. Stay with me and nopony will try to harm you.”
And with that she gathered her saddlebags that lay at her door, ready for departure and looked to him for his decision.
Glancing over his shoulder to the forest where his master had told him to wait, he had never left a spot he was told to stay at before. This would be his first. He had the urge to follow the kind-one, as if she would take him to what he wanted. Turning his head away from the forest he raced up to the kind-one’s side standing taller than her, ready for departure. His master was waiting for him.
The trip back into town was less confrontational than he thought it would be. Most of the creatures just kept their distance rather than test his ability to fight, though this didn’t stop them from either glaring at him, fearing him or being in awe of his appearance, generally the former of the first options was what they seemed to prefer. Most of the creatures females that they came across were generally shorter than him by just a few inches while the males were taller than him.
That isn’t to say that all of them stayed away, there were a few of the armored ones that stopped them and began readying their weapons, but it seemed that the kind-one carried some weight as far as influence went with them. It only took a short discussion between the two groups before the matter was resolved and the armored ones left them alone once more. The aggressive-one and the determined-one said little during their trip until they reached the edge of town, it was then that the determined-one left, taking another path away from town again. The aggressive-one never left him or the kind-one, in fact she kept exceptionally close to him, watching his every move for signs of an attack. He was liking her less and less, which wasn’t saying much.
The three of them finally came to stop at a station that was all too similar to the ones back home but above ground. He recognised the purpose of the metal rails running along the ground, but he had never seen how they were used until today. The large wood and metal beast that sat upon them rumbled with life, unlike the giant metal ones he was used to.
A familiar voice caused his ears to flick back, it was the voice of the determined-one but she was not alone. A glance back over his shoulder proved him right as he saw one of the three young ones that had come to see them in the forest. This one was the one that had escaped, the one with the bow on her head. She seemed to want to take the approach of the kind-one when dealing with him, that is to walk up very slowly until she is able to reach out and pet him. Not having any ill intent he allowed the contact, slightly enjoying the petting, which showed from the slow wag of his tail.
It was after this petting that he was introduced to the one-that-will-not-stay-still. This one had more energy than master’s kind hyped up on all those chemicals her kind used so much. She scared him. Though he could not understand a word that came from her muzzle, the rapid rate at which she spoke told him that even to the others in the group, she could be a hand full. She had not remained still for more than a couple of seconds after she had been introduced to him, or at least thats what he thinks had happened, he saw a lot of gestures pointed towards him from the kind-one, none of which didn’t seem to offend the others. She had spent a couple of minutes bouncing around him, looking up and down before going over to the bowed-young-one.
The group broke into discussion over something, whatever it was had distracted them from another smaller group approaching them. This group consisted of two armored creatures and another of the young ones. It was the winged one of its kind, with its legs still encased in stone, she lay on the back of one of the two armored ones. The armored creatures were much different than the ones he had seen throughout the town. While the others seemed to shine in the light of day, these seemed to absorb the light, as if they were trying to remain within the shadows. Each had the same symbol on the front of their armor, the crescent moon on their chest seemed to give off a slight glow. These armored ones were much more fierce looking than that of their shinier counterparts.
The two were also of the winged kind but unlike all the male armored creatures, one of the two that stood before him was a female. She held the young-winged-one on her back, not seeming to notice the added weight but cautious of her movements so as not to cause the little one to fall, glancing back at the young one every so often. The male’s eyes never left Dogmeat on the other hand, he tracked his every movements in the same manner that the aggressive-one did. Dogmeat was regretting his decision to follow the kind-one more and more.
Male armored-one noticed where Dogmeat was looking and moved in between the two. He shuffled his wings in discomfort revealing something else to him. Their wings were also different as well. Unlike their shinier counterparts, who had feathery wings, their wings had a thin skin like membrane.
He was going to keep his distance from them, no sense in getting into another fight right now, it would only be trouble. He decided to get the kind-one moving again, the sooner he got back to his master the better. Dogmeat approached the kind-one from the side and with his head gave her a soft nudge. She took notice and gave him a gentle nuzzle and a smile before entering the wood and metal beast along with the others. He followed behind the them until they reached another door inside. Upon entering there was of little to note as there was only two seats facing eachother. The others took their places and sat on the soft cushions and continued their conversation.
Dogmeat just stood in the hall, he didn’t like the inclosed space of the compartment and lack of exits that it provided. The armored-ones seemed to be following as well as they too stood in the hall, the male still watching him. A sudden and loud whistle caused him to jump with a yelp of surprise. The sound didn’t seem to affect the other creatures in the slightest only looking to him with fear, confusion, worry and alarm. Everyone present eventually calmed back down and resettled back into their seats while the two armored-ones entered a separate compartment with the winged-young-one.
A few seconds passed before a jolt from the wood and metal beast caused Dogmeat to stumble and regain his posture, taking a low stance to keep his balance with all the movement. A quick glance out the window was all he needed to know where this thing was heading. The same place as his master.
----
The sun was close to setting, Twilight had done little beyond sitting by her sleeping brother’s side, being as patient as possible. The few times she was forced to leave was to eat or use the restroom, even those were much to her own annoyance. She wanted to be there for when he woke up, taking short naps every now and again after her visit with Blind Charge allowed her to remain more alert. Their parents would stop by throughout the day to check on his condition, after they had been told that their son would make a full recovery much of their worry had dissipated. With there not being much they could do for him there, they had set out to collect somethings to make his stay at the hospital as comfortable as possible.
Twilight had received a letter from her friends back in Ponyville telling her of their departure on the train. Rarity was the only one to not come along as she was waiting for her sister’s condition to be taken care of before leaving. There had also been a request, from Princess Celestia, that both Applebloom and Scootaloo both come along as well. Twilight could only guess that the princess had a few questions for them about the creature, they were the only ones to see it when it wasn’t being so hostile. Who knows maybe something they say might be of some use to her when she tries to ask it some questions herself.
While she had told the princess that she would talk to the creature and gather whatever information that she could, she still didn’t have a clue on how to actually get it to be friendly with her. Sure she had made several friends during her stay in Ponyville and had been able to befriend the spirit of chaos as well as the showmare Trixy, but this was out of her element. There just wasn’t enough time for her to get an understanding of the creature beyond the fact that it could and had been in many fights. Twilight might not have been unfamiliar to a fight but she had never seen such weapons of lethality before or had ever dreamed of somepony ever using such a thing let alone carry around with them several different kinds.
Thinking back to what she had seen sent a chill down her spine, her brother was a testament to the power that they wielded if in the wrong hooves. She had seen the blood and it frightened her, but what frightened her more was her own reaction to it. If Princess Celestia hadn’t of stopped her, Twilight knew that she would have continued until she had either a) used up all her magic and worn herself out or b) killed the creature in hate fueled rage. She had never come so close to taking another’s life before and the ease at which she could, scared her.
The sound of sheets rustling brought Twilight back from her dark thoughts, looking down confirmed that it wasn’t her imagination as the left side began to shift from his hoof moving slowly. She watched as her brother slowly raised his hoof to his face giving off a slight groan as the last of the sedatives wore off. From where she was she could see the look of confusion and disorientation on his face and eyes. Looking around the room he examined each thing as his eyesight focused again, adjusting to the level of light after being closed for so long.
His eyes finally came to rest on Twilight sitting next to him, a smile stretching across his muzzle.
“Hey there Twi.”
Twilight couldn’t stop the flood of tears as they forced their way out, wrapping her brother in a strong hug, she wept into his good shoulder. She was too overjoyed to him finally waking up to actually respond to his greeting, but he didn’t seem to mind as he returned the hug. It was Shining Armor who eventually pulled away from the contact, trying to push himself into a more inclined lying position. The use of his right foreleg caused him to grit his teeth in pain and frustration, the effort eventually left him panting. It seemed most comfortable for him to leave his limb lying across his chest as he took a moment to control his breathing again. Shining Armor’s expression showed that his condition left him perplexed and worried that such a simple action would have winded him like that.
“Twi, where am I?”
Sniffing a few times, Twilight wiped away the tears from her face before finally replying, “You’re in the medical wing of the castle Shining. Princess Celestia had you brought here for immediate attention after the fight with the creature.”
Shining’s face scrunched up in thought, glaring at the two hills that were his hind hooves under the sheets. He finally brought his attention back to Twilight and asked, “Did I win? The last thing I remember is drawing my sword to face that monster.”
She bit her bottom lip not sure exactly how to answer his question, she didn’t want him to get upset by saying ‘no’ but it wouldn’t be exactly true if she told him ‘yes’ either. The decision was ultimately taken from her as another voice answered it for her from the door.
“That depends on what you mean by winning, Armor.”
Stepping into the room Blind Charge made his way to the other side of Shining Armor, sitting in the same place as the princess hours earlier.
Shining Armor watched their pegasus friend with a perplexed look finally saying, “What do you mean, you either win or lose, there is no maybes.”
Blind shook his head then tapped his chin thinking of a way to explain, he never was one for words until it finally struck him, “Let me explain, while you may have beat it in combat with the sword, it won the war with tricks. After you disarmed the creature of its blade, did it reveal another weapon and attacked you by surprise. We just barely got you here in time, you had lost a lot of blood. But don’t you worry, squirt here was able to catch it before it could make a run for it. The thing now resides in one of the deepest dungeons below castle, waiting to be interrogated.”
He had ended that last sentence with a twisted smirk on his face that unsettled Twilight, she had never known Blind to hold a grudge towards another pony.
Shining gave a huff of approval saying, “Good let it rot there until I can go see it again. If it thinks that it could get rid of me that easily its got another thing coming. Preferably my hoof to its face.”
Blind went silent not willing to make eye contact with either Shining or Twilight, in fear of giving away the fact that Shining would not be able to return to active duty. This aversion didn’t escape Shining Armor’s notice however.
Quickly changing topics again Blind announced, “Hey Twilight, I have some news you might want to hear.”
Curious as to what news Blind Charge could have for her she asked, “And what news is that?”
An actual smile adorned his face that day as he said, “I have received word that your friends have finally made it to the castle and are currently waiting for you in the entrance hall.”
Twilight bit her lower lip in indecision, shifting her gaze between her brother, who lay crippled in bed, to the door, which lead her to her friends. Her wanting to see her friends didn’t escape Shining Armor’s notice either, he couldn’t force her to stay with him any longer, knowing her she had probably never left his side.
“Twilight, why don’t you go see your friends. I’m sure they would be more than happy to see you. I need to talk to Charge about some boring guard things anyways.”
With the consent of her brother, she gave him one last hug, while saying her goodbyes before trotting out the door into the hall. Now that his sister had left the room, Shining gave his long time friend his full attention. There was some questions that needed to be answered that he knew Twilight would have a hard time answering.
Gathering his courage, he forced himself to ask, “How bad is it?”
The smile that once covered Blind’s muzzle slowly changed to a thin line, he didn’t have any good news for his friend and it hurt him.
“From what the doctors told me and Princess Celestia, you will recover from this.”
“I sense a ‘but’ in there.”
Blind grimaced as he continued, “But, because of the piece of metal the creature fired at you passed through the top right portion of you right lung, it is now about two-thirds its normal size.”
Shining Armor grit his teeth as he adjusted his sitting position again. The effort of moving his right foreleg again sent pain through his chest again. The limb itself felt slightly numb in comparison. There was more to be heard, he would have to just press Blind Charge for it.
“That would explain the chest pain, but there is something else. Why is my leg so hard to move?”
Blind broke eye contact from him again as he spoke, “There was a complication during the surgery. While they were trying to repairing your lung, a blood clot lodged itself in your shoulder cutting off the circulation to your leg for a minute. They were able to clear it but it caused some nerve damage while it was stuck.”
Forcing himself to look his friend in the eye again he continued, “The doctor did say that with the use of physical therapy, you would gain the full use of your leg again.”
“Yes, and then what?”
Blind hesitated for a moment from the bitterness in Shining’s reply. “What are you talking about Armor?”
“Don’t play dumb with me Charge, we both know I have had to release guards from service with lesser injuries. What am I to do after I’ve recovered and can walk for myself again?”
Blind sighed, “I’m not sure, but I’m sure your wife would love for you to go back to the Crystal Empire as her prince and rule by her side, like you two originally planned when you stepped down. But that is something you can ask her yourself when she decides to come inside instead of snooping around the corner of the door.” He made sure that the last part could be heard clearly enough outside to anypony passing by and was rewarded with a soft ‘eeep’.
Leaving her hiding place on the other side of the door frame, Cadance entered the room to be with her husband and his friend. As she stat down next to her husband however Blind stood and made for the door saying, “I'll leave you two alone, I know she’s been worried sick.”
Before he could make it out the door, Shining Armor called out to him, “When will it happen?”
Blind froze where he was, turning his head back over his shoulder towards his friend he started, “I don’t kno-”
“Stop, don’t even start that and just answer my question. When will you be made the next Captain of the guard?”
Blind made his reply short as he left, “Two hours ago.”
----
The sun pleasantly warmed Dogmeat’s back as he sat with his back towards the window of the cabin, choosing to face the only entrance into the room. He had to admit, the constant rocking of the room caused by the metal-wood-beast was slightly hypnotic. Many of the creatures he was traveling with had eventually quite speaking and chose their own ways of relaxing while they waited to arrive. Only one of them had chosen to actually venture outside the cabin. When the young-bowed-one chose to leave, he had made an attempt to leave as well, out of curiosity, but was stopped just as soon as he had started once the determined-one had seen him. She had placed herself between herself and the door, her expression showing clear to him that she was not going to let him follow.
He was interested, but not interested enough to start a fight, so he sat back down and continued his vigilant watch, sniffing at the air for the smells that occasionally wafted into the room from the open door.
The sun had traveled most of it path across the sky before they finally reached the other station and disembarked. He was little surprised to find that the young-bowed-one had joined up with the young-winged-one, as they too got off the metal-wood-beast. What he saw outside however was something he had never seen before in such perfect condition. The city before him spread out before him and towered over him. This was nothing like the towns-that-are-not-towns back home.
While he had seen nothing but rubble back with his master, this city was just the exact opposite to all of that. While you could not take a single step without stepping on some sort of collapsed building, here they stood tall and clean as if there was never going to happen to them. Sniffing the air revealed the scents of freshly made foods and the presence of many of their kind, too many for him to tell from smell alone. This would not be a place that he could get into a fight and expect to get away safely, he would have to be extremely careful around them.
The group he traveled with quickly formed a line in front of him and started walking into the heart of the city, the kind-one waving a hoof to indicate that he should follow with them. He chose to follow behind her, not wanting to walk alongside them but not wanting to lose sight of them, they were his only guides after all. The two armored-ones followed behind him, finishing their little formation.
Time seemed to creep by as they made their way further and further into the city, the twists and turns were like a maze, everything looked alike, the only differences were the smell. There was only one thing that was changing the farther they walked and that was the size of the structure just ahead of them now and it had a giant wooden gate blocking their path. Many armored-ones stood to each side of the gate watching all that passed with their expressionless faces.
There was a short discussion between the two groups until the armored-one that had spoken with them stretched out a wing and pointed to the others. A moment later and they stood in the shadow of building that he had never seen or heard of before. There seemed to be several smaller buildings that came off the sides and towers that sprouted from the top in different areas.
Having stopped to take in the sites around him, Dogmeat had to hurry along to catch up with the others. He could hear the soft sounds of the pads on his paws hit the ground, he wanted to hurry them along, but they seemed to just continue along at this leisurely pace. They finally came to a complete stop with the entrance hall, when their friendly banter turned into a more heated argument.
“Twilight is not going to be happy that you brought that monster’s pet here Fluttershy.”
“Ah’m afraid Ah’m goin’ ta have ta agree with Rainbow on this one, sugarcube. We all know what it’s owner did to her brother and bringing him here may just be rubbing salt in the wound.”
“B-b-b-but I couldn’t just leave him in that scary forest all by himself, he never hurt anypony. Why should he be punished when he hasn’t done anything wrong?”
“Come on sillies there is nothing that can be done about it now, and besides its a good thing we know where he is so he can’t hurt anypony with us around.”
These arguments went on for a time, not being able to understand what the topic was or being able to give voice to his own opinions, Dogmeat passed the time exploring the room they currently occupied. The room was large and had many halls and doors that lead away in multiple directions. Another maze to be explored.
While looking down each hall, he came to a halt when the sound of galloping hooves caught his ear. Another glance down the hall showed nothing until the sight of another horned-one came bolting around the corner right for him. Jumping out of sight, he was able to escape detection by the horned-one as it entered the hall and right up to the others. They all seemed overjoyed to see this newcomer and accept it into the group. It only took him a few moments to recognize the smell paper and books off of the one before him as another from the small village that he had left.
“Girls, I’m so happy you all could make it. How was the train ride here? Is Rarity ok, I know she couldn’t come along too with her sister currently turned to stone.”
It was the determined-one who replied to the new-one, “Of course we would come and give ya all the help we can, thats what friends are for. Rarity is doin’ fine, just waitin’ for Zecora to come up with one of her potions. As for the train ride well, lets just say it was interestin’.”
The new-one cocked her head to the side in obvious confusion, “What do you mean by interesting, Applejack?”
As the determined-one tried to come up with how to phrase her next statement, she was never given the opportunity to actually say anything. A firm smack on Dogmeat’s back forced a yelp of surprise from him, the one-that-will-not-stay-still had managed to get behind him without alerting him. He fought the urge to bite at her for sneaking up on him like that. His surprise also alerted the new arrival of his presence as well causing the air to fill with an uncomfortable tension, something the one-that-will-not-stay-still couldn’t seem to comprehend.
“Yeah, this guy made it a lot of fun on the train, well not that he did anything but we had a lot of stuff to talk about because of him. Fluttershy couldn’t leave him behind and Applebloom and Scootaloo didn’t seem to mind him being around either.”
The new-one stood with her mouth hanging open a mixture of surprise and shock evident as she tried to figure out what was going on. A third emotion won out over the others however, storming forward towards Dogmeat, he made himself ready for a fight with her. She stopped only feet away from him, point a hoof at him shouting, “Why in Celestia’s name would you all bring him HERE of all places. He is the pet of that monster in the cells down below, who knows what it will do when it finds out that we have its pet...” A light switch flipped in her head as her entire demeanor changed to that of excitement and gratitude. “Fluttershy you’re a genius. You might just have solved the problem I was having. This might turn out to be a lot easier than I thought. Thank you all so much for your help, I will meet up with you all for dinner, I have to get a few things prepared for what Celestia wants me to do. I’ll explain everything then.”
Just as quickly as she had arrived, she was then charging down another hall leading further into the heart of the castle, leaving everyone present staring off after her more confused than they were on their own arrival.
It was the aggressive-one who would finally say what the others were thinking, “What the hay was that all about?”
----
It felt like days since she had last seen the sun, instead of the cold walls of her cell. The regular supply of food however told her that it was not in fact been any more than a day and a half, there hadn’t been any improvement on the food either, the same thing was brought to her each time. Of course the Lone Wanderer eventually tried to eat the green blob, only to find it too was not something she could eat. The only thing she got from the meals were the wooden cups of water that came with them, though they only gave her a few mouthfuls of water it was at least something. She had tried to make a weapon from one of the cups but it proved pointless as they were too brittle and would crumble when force was applied to them. She stopped trying to do it again when it failed and any other attempt would have been a waste of time.
In one of their many attempts to feed her, they had actually brought her something different from everything else, an uncooked steak. She had felt insulted even though she could take a guess at the fact that they might not have figured it as such, but just because she was a ghoul didn’t mean she would eat raw meat like any of those feral ghouls, she still had her sanity. She had even gone to the attempts to tell them as such, but any attempt she tried to make contact with the guards outside her door were ignored.
If this continued, with her not getting any sort of nourishment for extended period of time, then even she might go feral. She had listened to the many audio logs left behind, she might not have to eat as often but going too long would be very taxing on her and any of her kind. It was a constant fear of hers after hearing all the recordings of other sane ghouls who, after being locked away or trapped for long periods of time, became feral and gave into their most basic of instincts in order to survive. She had always traveled with extra rations for herself to alleviate those fears, but now she didn’t have any of those.
To top everything off, none of the guards had even bothered to replace the candle that lit the entire cell. In the corner where it stood was nothing more than an inch left of it, she was amazed to see it last as long as it had but it couldn’t last much longer. Soon not only would she be a hungry ghoul trapped in a cell, but a hungry ghoul trapped in a pitch black cell with nothing else to entertain herself with.
With all the free time she had, she had already counted every stone that made up her room multiple times over and when that got old she would stare at the patterns on the stones and imagine little pictures etched into them. Nothing lasted for very long even trying to keep track of time grew dull and unimportant. It wasn’t until after what she could only guess was the noon day meal, that she had discarded in the corner with the others, did her cell door finally open again. She wasn’t surprised with what came trotting into the room, from the looks of the group it was an entire squad of armed guards surrounding her with spears pointed at her.
Each guard that stood before her were a clone of the next, there was only one that stood out from the others. The winged one that stood in the front of the group and who did not have a weapon out, wore a maroon armor that matched his fur coat, giving him the appearance of being much bigger than he actually was. Unlike the others who had a blue mane and tail, his was a snow white with streaks of brown strands here and there. He seemed to be measuring her up with his violet eyes before reaching back into a saddlebag with his mouth and pulling out a set of handcuffs, all connected to form a giant ‘H,’ and tossed them on the floor at her feet.
Picking up the new restraints it was obvious what he wanted her to do and she wasn’t in the position to refuse his demands. Her regenerative abilities wouldn’t be of much help if they decided to use her as a pincushion. They waited for her to put them on and once she had did they remove the shackle that connected her to the wall. After they had made sure that she was in fact ready to move, they each formed a perimeter around her and forced her to move out of the cell and down the hall. They had been walking for sometime before the stone used on the walls changed to that of a more polished white stone. The floor eventually changed as well from the hard stone she had become accustomed to to that of a soft red carpet, it felt good on her bare feet. Paintings adorned the walls while vases were placed on pedestals beside every other window.
The amount of wealth out on display amazed her to no end. There wasn’t a sane person out in the waste that would dare show off this much money and valuables when there was the possibility that someone would go out of their way to kill you for it. The only person that she had seen with a display like this, but not to this scale, was the Courier in the Mojave and he had a military army that was stationed right next door to him, so noone would consider the thought. He had told her that because of his close relationship with the NCR, he never worried about someone coming to rob the casino he lived in, they didn’t need to since he would give them whatever they needed for free anyways.
Whoever lived here must have had a lot of confidence in their guards if they would be willing to do this. She wasn't too impressed by them, she had seen raiders fight harder than they did in the village and on top of that there wasn't a raider alive stupid enough to go one on one against her and expect to live. Which probably explained all the failed ambushes she had to deal with on a regular basis.
She was brought to a stop in front of another door. This one looked just like any other door that she had passed, she wondered how they could navigate in such a place without any visual markers anywhere. The maroon guard opened the door and entered followed by another three normal guards. The two behind her nudged her forward into the room and closed it behind her, never actually entering the room with her.
They must be standing watch outside the door just in case they might be needed.
With the four of them now in the room she stood there and took in her new surroundings. There wasn’t much in the room but what was there was interesting enough. In the middle of the room stood a table with a chair on one side and a group of five miniature horses on the other that the maroon guard was now talking to. The Lone Wanderer didn't like the fact that she recognized most of the creatures that sat there from her time in the village, there was only one that she hadn't seen before.
The three normal guards that had also entered the room with them guided her to the opposite seat and indicated for her to sit there. Not having anything else to do, she complied with their orders and took her seat, the shackles making movement a little awkward to do, but she managed. Most of the creatures that sat on the other side from her each watched her while making their own judgments about her, some of them seemed to make note of her use of the blanket again as clothes. The violet unicorn sat in the center of the group next to a stand that held a giant stack of papers that stood up vertically for all to see.
There was another unicorn that sat on the other side of the stand giving the Lone Wanderer fearful looks before returning her gaze back to the paper. This unicorn had a grey coat with what looked like smudges of ink on her face, while her mane and tail were a shade of dark green. The pink mini-horse that she recognize was like the orange one, who sat in between the violet unicorn and the winged horse, and didn’t have any unique parts other than the overly bushy pink mane and tail and the inability to stay still but instead chose to jump around behind the others.
Once the group had finished their conversation with the maroon one, who took a seat along one side of the table in between her and the group, did the violet unicorn levitate a stack of papers and a quill with a bottle of ink over to her. The Lone Wanderer just stared a them in confusion until the other unicorn sitting next to the stand began to draw on the large sheet of paper. On the paper she drew a sketch of the Lone Wanderer standing in front of a board writing something down while an audience of horses took notes. She received a blank look of confusion for her efforts, the Lone Wanderer didn’t know what to make of the picture. It wasn’t until she felt the quill and ink being pressed into her hands did it dawn on her what they wanted.
They want me to teach them something? What are they wanting to know?
A thought crossed her mind causing a mischievous smile to stretch across her lips, exposing her teeth, making many of the horses have chills run down their spines at the sight of the sharp teeth. Grasping the quill in hand she dipped it into the ink and began to draw her own very crude image. She took her time with her own drawing, wanting to make sure that it had as much detail as she could put into it. She was as much of an artist as a raider was an environmentalist. She had to throw out a couple attempts as she kept on getting ink blotches all over the sketch, never having used a quill to write before was a new experience for her and one she could have lived without.
When she finished her picture she smiled proudly at what she had done and presented it to the group. They all leaned in to get a good look at it and were confused with what they saw. In the center of the page, in defiance was a bold middle finger.
If they want anything from me, they’re going to have to work for it.
