The little dust-brown pegasus looked out the water-distorted window- it had started raining again. Rain was healthy for the soil and the crops, he learnt. It also meant the rest of his race wasn't slacking off again, which was also good.
And yet he still hated the rain. How it pelted the window and made him flinch with almost every thud, how some water would leak through the hay ceiling above his head, and how the water was always so.... Cold. And oddly enough, it hadn't stopped raining for a week now.
He was watching the farmland outside through the windows of this little house, tinted brown by age. It was more like a shed, but he called it a house. Because 'house' sounded more like 'home', and that was what it was. It was home.
And a pretty big one at that. Not sturdily built, but boy was it a big house.
He retreated from the window, getting down to all fours. He sighed, now a full two heads below the window sill. How he hated being small.
"Citrus! Dinner!" His mother called from the living room.
"Woof!" Barked Ardor, the black and white border collie.
Citrus sighed, giving his favorite book a glance, which was gathering dust on a wooden desk. It was an old book- an ancient one. Almost five hundred years had passed since it was written, and over the years its title had changed multiple times. It had been called the 'Birth of New Equestria', sometimes simply as the 'Beginning'. Because that really was what the book was about, and despite all its names- everypony knew the original.
'The Book of Littlepip'.
It had a new name now. One that everypony seemed to like and agree on- because it both had the word 'Equestria' in it, and had a word before it that really signaled what the book was about and fore shadowed the grim dark stories of how this new paradise came to be.
The words 'Fallout: Equestria' glimmered under the candlelight, written in gold on a thick leather cover. The stories may be centuries old, but the physical book was pretty new.
"Coming mom!" Citrus called back after his mother gave him another yell. He threw the book one last glance, then walked past it and into the living room.
The main door to the house flung open, and an adult stallion with a coat of the same shade of brown as Citrus's walked in. He would've been completely drenched for it not the thick artificial leather coat he was wearing.
He slammed the wooden door shut behind him, the house seemingly quaking from the impact. After all, the pinewood walls were kind of a few decades old. They weren't exactly high quality, either.
Flicking the rain water off his cowboy hat, the stallion took off his coat and quickly set both pieces of clothing down on a chair nearby. Taking off his leather coat revealed the gleaming silver battle saddle he wore beneath, mounted closely to his body. It would've been concealed completely with the coat on- and judging from the amount of holes in his clothing, he must've used it for surprises quite a few times already. Made sense though, for his line of work.
Ardor ran up to his first official owner, giving him a nuzzle. The stallion patted him on the head in return.
"Hey, Peach- honey! I'm home!" He called out, a warm smile spreading across his face as he saw his wife and son. "Heya, Citrus! How's the day been?"
"Awfully wet." Citrus pointed out, bored.
His father chuckled, flicking some water off his dark brown mane. Ardor seemed annoyed as the water got on him, and he too gave his body a quick shake.
"Hey, you made it just in time for dinner!" Peach, a light orange and slightly pink earth pony with a creamy tangerine mane; walked out from the kitchen, delicately balanced on her back was a tray of cooked hay mixed with some vegetables from the farm. More veggies.
"Awww, we don't have any meat left?" The father seemed to whine, which was an odd sight since he was a particularly muscly stallion. Probably from the days when he was in his prime, hunting heads for the money. Just any other hired mercenary. Money and contracts. Yay.
But now he was a father and a husband. Also a much less sinister type of 'Yay'.
"Save the best for special occasions." Peach replied matter-of-factly. Ponies, according to legends; were herbivores- but eventually they realized veggies don't grow everywhere, so they resorted to eating lesser beings like pigs(Mmm bacon) and sometimes cows. And that was, what? Six hundred years ago?
"No objections sweetheart, but bacon would've been great in this weather. Wouldn't you agree, Citrus?" The stallion grinned at his son.
"Mom wouldn't listen." Citrus hummed.
"Oh great, you little traitor." Peach sighed. "So I'm the one to blame now?"
Father and son looked at each other with raised eyebrows, then looked back at her and nodded with honest innocence on their faces. She sighed again, face-hoofing as she placed the tray of food down on the table.
"If you don't like what I made you, then don't eat." She said flatly, tossing her mane clear of her face.
"Awww, don't say that. I'm sure what you cooked us is lovely, it's just that we're kind of part-carnivore too." The husband put an arm around his wife, who was acting upset in a teasing manner.
"Stop, Rover." Peach blushed, but nuzzled him back anyway. "Oh yeah. Have you asked the other pegasi about the storm yet?"
"Well ah..." Rover looked everywhere but into his wife's eyes.
"You didn't ask them, did you?" Peach titled her head to one side questioningly.
"I did, but... The answer's complicated." Rover sighed. "They said they weren't the ones controlling the weather. Someone was lobbing weather bombs all over the place, making it rain for a whole week. Must be one of those anarchist colonies from down South in Macintosh Hills, but the pegasi say it ain't them."
"Odd." Peach frowned.
"Odd indeed." Rover slumped down in a chair, almost falling asleep instantly after the day's hard work.
"Dad, what's a weather bomb?"
"Well, ever since the Single Pegasus Project stopped working, we had the pegasi controlling the weather the old fashioned way- that much you know." Rover said just as his son was about to interject and say that he knew that. "But before that, earth ponies and unicorns also tried to find means of controlling the weather. And ta-da, weather bombs were what they came up with. Don't ask how, cause I don't understand that ridiculousness either."
"Oi." Peach-the-earth-pony said, offended.
Suddenly there was a loud thud above them on the hay ceiling, and that area of the roof dented inwards a slight bit.
Everypony but Rover flinched, looking up. Ardor barked at the ceiling, looking up and baring his teeth. Obviously he was smelling something.
"The hay?" Peach raised an eyebrow. Then another thud, this time somewhere else. Ardor barked again.
"Wait, hold on- ya hear that?" Rover held up a hoof, shushing Citrus before he could say anything.
Just the continuous bombardment of rain outside, loud as perhaps the raging sea itself.
But there was something layered behind that noise... Something very unusual...
Thuds, and crunching of... Bones?
Rover frowned. He was used to that noise- he had to have gotten used to that.
"Hey, son- you wanna go check it out with me?" Rover got to his hooves, shrugging his leather coat back on again and placing his hat over his head.
"I don't like the rain." Citrus seemed to shrink away from the door.
"Oh come on- it's just a little water. Plus if you're not curious about what's going on out there..." Rover teased.
"Rover, don't encourage him. He's gonna catch a cold."
"Yeah, and I might not be able to go to school... And stuff..." Citrus added to his mother's argument weakly.
"Yeah, as if you wouldn't like that." Rover rolled his eyes.
"Rover." Peach said warningly, and he raised his front hooves in surrender as he backed towards the exit.
"Got it, got it." He said, opening the door. "Nah-ah. You stay here and look after mommy and Citrus." He said sternly, blocking the exit from Ardor as he waved his tail and whined. But he was an obedient dog, so despite the whining- sat down anyway. Rover sighed, then stepped out into the cold.
The first step he took after closing the door behind him almost led him straight into a pool of mud.
"Buck!" He cursed. Water had pooled all over the place outside, forming large puddles. He had flown in earlier, so he hadn't noticed. But boy was this a mess.
He heard a thud to his left, and instantly looked in that direction. Nothing.
The night was making it hard to see, and the clouds above were shielding out the moon and the stars- which were really the only two light sources at night these days.
He looked down, and found a small dark form the size of about a hoof laying crippled on the ground. He approached it cautiously, watching the black form. It was covered in dark, gleaming feathers.
Was it a... Crow?
He shuddered. Never did like crows.
Another thud. He turned around to find another dead bird. Then another. And another. They just kept falling out of the sky.
"What the hay..." He looked up. The clouds provided him with exactly zero answers.
He took a look around the house, and came around to the back where the animals were kept.
"Ugh..." He waved a hoof at the smell of rotting flesh, which the heavy rain failed to wash away. What he found was inevitable- yet so very unexpected. "So much for bacon."
Most of the pigs had been slashed open, their entrails thrown about in the mud and rotting away in the puddles. The few remaining pigs were silent, clearly aware of their dead partners however unable to escape their mutilated bodies.
Rover took a closer look at the bodies- they were carved apart by some sort of blade weapon, but carved was an understatement- shredded was more appropriate.
Then he froze as he felt a pair of eyes bear holes into the back of his neck. He could feel the cold stare of whatever was behind him, and it sent shivers creeping down his spine. It was there- he knew it was. Something, definitely not pony- nor anything he knew. He found himself paralyzed on the spot, unable to move from fear. He could feel a dark chill slowly consuming his body, like a frozen breath rolling down his side.
And maybe it was one.
From the corner of his eye he saw a head, covered in black organic matter. The only sign of a face was its mouth, which opened much wider than even a shark's unhinged jaw. And it had much longer teeth- no, fangs- too. It let out a dry hiss, and that's when Rover broke out of his frozen stance.
He swung around, mouth over his battle saddle's trigger and ready to fire at any given moment.
But whatever was there before, wasn't there anymore.
Breathing heavily, he swiveled about- trying to find that creature. But it just wasn't here anymore.
He could feel his own sweat on his coat from the terror, despite the rain. Then he heard a loud yell behind him which almost made him jump out of his battle saddle, and turned around.
"Rover! HELP! ROVER!!" There was a lamp in the darkness beyond, its carrier concealed by the shadows and the rain. It wobbled about, its flame flickering; as the owner ran closer.
He frowned. Who could it be, in this somewhat literal dead of night?
"Rover!" Finally the figure was close enough to be visible through the storm. A stallion, no older than Rover, huffing and puffing from the run. He must've taken a long time to get here- probably New Appleloosa folk. "You gotta help me man... They're bucking after us... NA's under attack!"
"What? By who!?" Rover felt his heart sink. New Appleloosa was where he grew up. He was still unable to see the stallion's face clearly, but the voice was familiar. The accent was definitely Appleloosian.
"The bucking drow-" the stallion started, but his voice was replaced by a dry rasp. Rover saw the same faceless creature peak out from behind the stallion, its fangs sprouting out from its gums and its throat letting out that same paralyzing hiss again.
"MOVE!" He yelled at the stallion, but the stallion couldn't even move a muscle. "GET OUT OF THE WAY DAMNIT!!"
Then the creature slipped back behind the stallion, disappearing into the shadows. For a second the stallion was able to let out the breath he drew earlier, seemingly thrown back to this reality. But then...
"WHAT THE HELL-!!" Rover jumped back as a long claw tore through the stallion's chest, gore exploding outwards and splattering over the soaked ground. His blood was no more than black goo in the darkness.
"Help... Me..." He managed, before being dragged into the shadows by whatever the buck killed him. Rover heard a light splash in the dark before him, and was temporarily frozen in place. Then he blinked and shook his head, trying to get rid of the image still lingering before his eyes.
Carefully, and with his mouth over the trigger of his battle saddle; he stepped into the shadows. The rain continued on, shielding out any noise that the attacker might have made. Rover could feel cold droplets slipping past the collar of his coat and trickling down his neck, but he ignored it.
There were bubbling noises coming from a puddle before him. Gurgling.
The stallion must still be alive, however barely.
Then the puddle stilled all except for from the pounding rain. Whatever was inside had stopped struggling.
"What the hell was that..." Rover muttered to himself.
Then the puddle tore apart, a bipedal creature leaping out from the murk with a rasping scream, nothing more than a blur of black and grey in the darkness.
"HOLY CELESTIA-" Rover cursed, but didn't have time to finish it as he bit down on the trigger and opened fire.
Bullets tore through the creature, ripping its chest apart and tearing its head off. The head disappeared into a deep puddle, the rest of the creature collapsed onto the floor and splashed into the rain.
It was covered in a slimy black fluid, seemingly glued firmly to its skin. The substance looked like oil, but it couldn't be because it wasn't getting washed away. The creature itself had long sharp claws, and looked almost like some sort of demonic skeleton.
Rover didn't give it a second look. Right now he wasn't curious about what the creature was. He just needed to get his family out of here.
"Rover!?" Peach yelled, opening the door. Warm yellow light poured into the darkness.
"PEACH! GET INSIDE- GET INSIDE NOW!!" Rover screamed at her, running for the door.
Peach quickly moved out of the way, and he burst into the house and slammed the door shut behind him. Rainwater and mud flung off his coat and dripped onto the floor.
"What's wrong? I heard gunshots..!"
"Get Citrus. We're getting out of here." He replied, breathing heavily. This house definitely was not a stronghold- if there were more of those things out there, these walls wouldn't hold for long.
"What happened-"
"Just get Citrus!" He spat. Peach didn't argue- she could tell when Rover wasn't fooling around, because he would get a whole lot grouchier.
Ardor trotted back from wherever he wandered off to, ears pointing up at the ceiling as he looked about on high alert. Clearly his master's mood was affecting him- he probably hadn't seen him like this in years.
Peach rushed into Citrus's bedroom, where he had picked up that book again.
"Citrus, father's calling us to go to the living room."
"Why...?"
"Just come."
Citrus studied his mother's face. She didn't look the slightest amused.
He quickly tucked the book under a foreleg and trotted out the door with Peach.
They both came back to the living room to see Rover throwing things around, packing everything into a bag.
"What are you doing?" Peach frowned.
"We're LEAVING. Don't ask to where or for how long, because I don't know." Rover replied, a picture frame between his teeth. He tossed that into the bag too. "I recommend you two start packing as well."
"Hang on- do I at least get to know why?" Peach's frown refused to go away.
"Raider." Rover lied. They hadn't gotten a raider in like seven years- but it was still a more convincing story than ponies getting dragged into puddles then re-emerging as bipedal creatures with bony structures and claws and covered in mysterious black slime with obvious magical properties. "Might have buddies. Better safe than sorry- time to leave."
"Did you check the guy?" Peach raised an eyebrow. "Sure he wasn't a merc?"
"Couldn't have been." Rover replied, zipping up the bag and slinging it over his back. "You gonna pack or what? I'm going to go set up that freakin wagon." He said, galloping off into the garage. "Stay away from the doors and windows!"
"Mom? What's going on?" Citrus looked around, eyes wide. The rain was still pelting the house from outside, still accompanied by whatever those thuds were from.
"Just get your stuff. You know that emergency backpack dad and I tell you to keep? Yeah, grab that. We're leaving- and I don't know for how long." Peach muttered. It would seem the family was prepared for situations like these, for whatever reason. "We might have a few raiders outside."
"Raiders?" Citrus's eyes were filled with fear. He'd heard of them before, of course not from his parents. But from townsfolk down in New Appleloosa, not far from here. He heard that raiders kill ponies and take their stuff, torture them, and maybe cut them up into...
He shuddered. He didn't want to imagine what it would be like.
Without needing a second warning, he bolted off into his room, found the backpack under his desk, stuffed his book into it and quickly flicked it onto his back. He flexed his wings, making sure the pack was out of the way.
"Peach! Citrus! LET'S GO!!" He heard dad yell from the other room, which was followed by a loud click that was probably from him switching to explosive bullets in his battle saddle.
"Come on Citrus- we gotta leave!" Peach came into the room and grabbed him by the hoof, tugging him towards the garage.
"Mom! You didn't bring your back pa-!" Citrus started, all fours off the ground as Peach dragged him from his room.
"I don't need it! Dad's got all the important stuff." Peach replied quickly, striding into the garage.
The garage was just another wooden barn, but with a concrete floor for easier passage for the wagon. The flux generator inside the wagon was humming, and a soft purple glow was gleaned across the floor beneath it. It was ready to take off into the sky at any moment now.
"I've got the energy cells in! Hurry up!" Rover yelled, already mounted in on the sky wagon's pilot saddle. Ardor stood guard by the wagon, tail wagging as he monitored everything. Then he turned and started growling at the far wall, which grew into a loud bark.
"We're here already-" Peach started, ushering Citrus towards the passenger wagon- then screamed as the wooden walls next to her burst apart, shards and splinters of rain soaked pine scattering across the floor.
"Son of a-" Rover bucked the quick release behind him, dropping him from the wagon's mount. He quickly swiveled around, his mouth already clamped around the battle saddle's trigger.
A short burst of explosive rounds tore through the creature that stumbled in, blowing it into pieces which hung on the walls as black chunks and slime. Peach looked from the slime on the wall, back to Rover, then back to the wall again; keeping Citrus close to her.
"WHAT THE BUCK WAS THAT!!??" She stared at the gaping hole in the wall that the creature tore through, rain water pouring in. More dead birds were falling down, rolling onto the ground. "THAT AIN'T A RAIDER!! YOU LIED TO ME!?"
"Would you have believed me if I told you there were monsters attacking our farm!?"
"No, but-" Peach started, short on words. "You lied to me!"
Rover rolled his eyes. "Fine. Fine, I lied! Are we clear on that? Now get the hell in!" He made sure there were no more of those things lingering around the house before jumping back into the wagon's harness, flexing his wings and readying for take off.
Then there was a loud bang, deafening on a different dimension.
Oh, this can't be good.
Yelling and shooting and screaming, all audible through different ears.
"WAKE UP! YOU BUCKING RETARD!!" Rover's voice, loud, angry, and much deeper and harsher from age. None the less intimidating, and the accent he now had didn't do a thing to change that.
Then a crack across the face, pain exploding from the other reality.
Time to really wake up and get the hell outta here, cause he's gonna kill-
<-=======ooO Ooo=======->
"-Me." The cream colored alicorn with a golden orange mane finished. "Crap."
A dusty brown earth pony stallion grabbed her around the neck and brought her nose to nose, the fury in his eyes making her cringe. She could feel the cold metal fingers closing around her throat, and the warm barrel of a revolver pressed against her cheek.
"What the buck did you just watch in that thing?" He pressed the gun even deeper into the side of her face. Wow, the gun must've been fired recently. Cause it was seriously burning.
"I-I... I was just curious and-" the alicorn tried to explain. Great, she thought. Just fourteen years of age and I'm already getting my only ally in the whole wasteland pointing guns at me.
"What did I tell you about the rules, kid? HUH!?" Rover, now thirty years older than he was in the memory simulator; yelled at her face. His dark mane had turned grey with age, and a large beard was now on his face. The wrinkles only reinforced the anger trenched into his features.
"Um... Don't touch a thing in your back pack, ESPECIALLY not the memory simulator; and to stay quiet?" The young alicorn pulled on a sheepish and hopeful grin. Maybe she could get past this one by repeating what he told her word by word?
"Go on. Finish that sentence." Rover snarled, and the alicorn looked everywhere else except for into his eyes- because she feared that she would fuse with the rock behind her by simply trying to get away from the anger if she so much as caught a dose of it in his eyes.
"Um.... Or else you'd blow my head clean off my neck?" She finished the quote, still keeping up the hopeful grin.
Rover stared at her for a few seconds, fuming and still with the gun pressed into her cheek. "You know what? You're lucky. But luck runs out." He said, then pointed over his shoulder. "Just like for that guy that tried to sneak up on us." He said, and the alicorn's eyes darted to the headless corpse in the dirt behind him, blood and bits of flesh still pouring out of the severed neck. Explosive bullet. "Now, you see; I won't be taking your head off this time. Cause somepony else took that one for you. But you better not do anything else for the next few days till we get to that bucking destination, are we clear? Even if we're already on the front door step, I'd kill you anyway- cause I really don't give a damn about how important you might be. AM I UNDERSTOOD!!??" He yelled.
The alicorn seemed to shrink, but just nodded. Rover shoved her away, flexing his cybernetic fingers.
If he was once a pegasus, there was barely any sign of it. His wings were gone, but the alicorn had wondered what the two large scars on his back were from since the day they met(which really wasn't that long ago). He stood on two hind legs, an odd sight. But it made sense, since he had cybernetic hands. And he had cybernetic legs too, and feet. Which were also weird. He sits down funny because of it. It's just too much weirdness for the young alicorn, but she got used to it over the days.
She rested by the campfire that they set up the previous night. Right now it was morning, and the sun was peering over the red dunes of the canyon. A few cacti had their shadows stretched across the red sand, their silhouettes seeming like wardens standing guard against the blazing ball of flame itself.
She pocked a hoof at the pile of burnt wood, then turned her attention to the memory simulator. Those things used to be memory orbs, until somepony came up with the idea of recording memories in third person and not have the pony living through the memories get hurt along with the host. And with that, ta-da- the memory simulator. Lets you get out whenever you want to and all.
The only way to differentiate a memory orb from a simulator was by color. Simulators were a murky dark purple, which was kinda creepy. Looked like a sphere of evil, and maybe that's what some of them contained.
There was a click as Rover reloaded his revolver. The thing didn't have the cylinder pop out the side, instead he modified it so that the gun would snap in half like a double-barreled shotgun.
He clasped a hand over the fully exposed cylinder, and a socket in his cybernetic implant loaded a fresh bullet from a compartment in his arm into the gun. He flicked the cylinder back into place, and slid it into his belt.
"Get up. We gotta keep moving." He said, picking up the purple orb.
"But I just woke up~" the alicorn whined.
"No shit you did." Rover growled, putting the orb into his backpack. "That just there was a raider. Might be more of his buddies coming soon."
The alicorn lazed on the ground for a second, but got up the next. She did NOT want to mess with raiders. At least there weren't any of those black creatures- the 'Drowned', so they called them now- lingering in this canyon.
There was shouting in the distance, traveling across the red sands.
"See, this is why you don't buck'n go into my backpack when I'm still asleep." Rover snarled in a harsh whisper. "Some of those buckers have special detectors! You spark magic and they'll find you in seconds."
"Sorry!" The alicorn whispered back as they hid behind a large rock.
"Where the buck did they go!?" They heard one of the raiders say.
"Oh crap- well, good ol' Luckless is dead. Suppose his name makes sense now."
"Never liked him."
"See? Luckless."
Rover peered around the corner, revolver in hand. One of the raiders was prodding the dead pony's body, looking down at it with some level of amusement. The other was standing next to him, looking bored.
"Doesn't answer my question. Where'd they go?"
Rover could see the two stallions in red outlines through the rock via his Mark Fifty Eyes Forward Sparkle, or EFS. Ponies nowadays called it a HUD(Heads Up Display), but he preferred the old name because that was what he grew up with.
One of the raiders had a high calibre battle saddle, the other an anti-machine rifle slung across his back.
Using the Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell, he quickly targeted both stallions in the head through the rocks. SATS assisted him as he leaped out from behind cover- the two didn't stand a chance at this range.
Looking around, he realized he may have just wasted that burst of the advanced SATS. It was recharging, and his EFS was showing red outlines slowly reappearing around him out of thin air.
StealthBucks.
"Kassandra, get down!" He yelled at the alicorn, but before she could actually move he swiped her hooves out from under her and made her fall painfully to the ground.
He took out a shield projector and threw it at the rock behind him, the shield bursting from the projector as a big sheet of glowing blue matter.
The rocket fired from one of the cloaked raiders came flying towards them, and Rover swung out of the way just in time.
The rocket hit the shield behind him, and with a loud warping noise bounced high up into the sky; having completely lost control of itself.
Rover put a bullet through it before it could do anything else, then immediately snapped his aim down to the pony with the rocket launcher, who was desperately trying to reload. An explosive round to the leg blew it clean off with a big puff of smoke and flames, and she collapsed. The rocket between her teeth fell and rolled to her buddy's side, and his eyes widened.
Rover didn't have to hit the rocket. The explosive round that landed near it detonated the explosive, taking both stallion and mare out.
"Rover! More raiders!" Kassandra yelled, pointing. Rover put a bullet into the mare's chest, then another into her brain. Kassandra peered around the rock, then ducked down almost immediately. "Machine gun pony!"
"Pick up that shield!" Rover jabbed a finger at the shield lying against the rock on the other side, and Kassandra went scrambling for it as the raider with the automatic planted the area with bullets.
"Ah!" She squeaked as a bullet scratched her ear, making a light graze. She dove behind the rock again, the shield still out of reach. Bits of shredded matter were flying all over the place as the machine gun pony let loose.
"Bucking hell-" Rover dove behind the rock, his hat at an odd angle and a smoking bullet hole in the side of it. "I gave you one thing to do! ONE THING! GET THE SHIELD!!"
"But it's on the other side!!" Kassandra yelled back as Rover seemingly flicked his revolver up and fired a shot into the air before them. A second later the cloaked pony's chest exploded.
"Can you just make yourself useful for ONCE!!??" He snapped at her. "Have you noticed how USELESS you have been throughout our entire journey? I bet you haven't! Cause 'I'm the last alicorn on the planet and I'm so bloody important'!" He said mockingly, even though Kassandra never said anything about being the last alicorn nor being important. It only made her angrier because she didn't even think about things that way.
She was fuming, but said nothing.
"Sorry." She said.
"What?" Rover looked at her, completely caught off guard. She just looked away.
"I said I'm sorry." Kassandra muttered, looking down at the ground. The machine gun pony must be reloading.
Rover leaped out from behind cover, his sights already trained on the pony's head. And then the pony had no head.
"What do you mean you're sorry?" He reloaded, bullet shells clattering onto the ground.
"This isn't your fight. You're just doing your job, aren't you?" Kassandra finally looked up, and those teary eyes were the only things that made Rover flinch. Just a little. But he didn't show it. "You're just following orders, and you've done this before, haven't you? You've killed others? Well I haven't! And I'm sorry that I can't help you do your job!"
Rover didn't say a thing. He just holstered the Diplomat and folded his arms, and waited.
"Are you done?" He said, his voice cold. Kassandra looked like she just took a hoof to the stomach. "You think I bucking CARE!? You know what? You're right. I'm just bloody doing my job. I don't have to deal with this bull crap." He turned away, ready to head off in the direction they were going to head off in earlier.
Kassandra just watched him as he picked up the shield projector and stuffed it into his back pack.
"Is this what you were like back then?" She said suddenly.
Rover paused.
"What do you mean? 'Back then'?"
"Forget about it." Kassandra muttered, turning away. "It's not like you give a fuck anymore, anyway."
She didn't see it, but Rover cast her a sympathetic look before turning away. He knew what it was like, to feel all alone in a universe where you seemed to be the one to be blamed for everything. Where you were the only thing in the world that nopony ever cared about.
But being sympathetic didn't mean he was going to stop being all grouchy. Kassandra was a nice girl, he knew she was. But he didn't want to make friends with her, or even be friendly- because he knows that when he hands her over to his clients, it's going to be all the more painful.
"Come on, kiddo." He said, shrugging his back pack into a more comfortable position. Then he started walking in the direction of their destination. "Move your arse. We ain't got all day."
*
About a week ago...
Turnpike Tavern was a small watering hole in New Appleloosa. Now it served as both a bar and an inn, owned by a specialist in mixing cocktails- Blender.
New Appleloosa was positioned at such a place in the wasteland that almost every traveller would visit it- not that there were many left since the Drowned came. It was one of the less well protected towns, only having weak corrugated metal sheets as defense against the Drowned. But it had also brewed some of the hardest fighters, which was probably why the town hadn't been destroyed or overrun yet.
The doors to the tavern swung open, a tall figure striding into the chaotic bar full of cheering and laughing ponies. But the noise grew quieter and quieter with each metallic clang of the figure's footsteps, which accompanied him along his way to the bar table. By the time he reached it, the bar was so silent that when he pulled a stool out the wooden screech was almost deafening.
A black and white border collie wandered in with him, one of its front legs replaced by a mechanical one. It clunked around on the wooden floor, an irregular beat to all its other steps.
"Well well, lookie here. Haven't seen you in a long time, Rover." Blender leaned forward onto the bar table, studying the old stallion's face with a grin. "Where have you been for these few weeks?"
"Tracking down some THC arsehole." Rover replied, tossing a few coins onto the table. He paused, sensing the silence around him. He looked around him, raising eyebrows at the ponies listening in on this conversation. Almost instantly they took the hint and resumed their chatter.
"Heh, THC? Never did like those guys." Seuds said, a blonde-maned earth pony mare that frequently visited the tavern- and whom Rover especially didn't like because of her attitude. She did have a nice yet odd physical appearance though- one eye orange on the brink of red, while the other was a deep blue. She also had strips of both colors running down her mane.
He chuckled at her remark.
"What'd ya do to the guy?" Blender cocked his head to one side, curious.
"Broke a limb. Get that son of a parasprite to step back in line and stop dealing with things he shouldn't be dealing with." Rover said. "And get me that bottle of Apple Whiskey, will ya?"
"Hey! Rover! Haven't seen you in a while!" The always-cheerful local barmaid Sherry grinned. "Who's a good boy?" she leant down and patted Ardor on the head. he returned a nuzzle. "How are you two holding up?" She looked back and forth between the two with a friendly smile on her face.
Sherry and her little brother Alky had to be two of the most cheerful ponies in the whole bloody nation. If Rover ever laughed or smiled truthfully at anything since the war, it was to them. They simply enjoyed making other ponies happy, and they seemed to have an infinite well of humor stored inside their young minds to help their cause. Their adorableness in general didn't fail them in cheering ponies up either- which only gained them empathy and sad looks when ponies remembered that their parents died in a raid soon after Alky was born. Sherry had taken care of her little brother ever since. Nopony had forgotten her tearful face yet- and she'd been here long enough to see ponies come and go.
"Great." Rover tried to sound happy, although his false tone betrayed his words.
"Great!" Sherry grinned that adorable grin of hers, standing a good head shorter than Rover and completely ignoring the pained sigh he let out.
"Got more orders, Sherry! You mind?" Blender yelled out across the bar, then approached and placed down an iced bottle of Apple Whiskey in front of Rover.
"On it!" Sherry called back, gave Rover a wink, then moved off.
As soon as she was out of ear shot, Rover leaned forward and whispered to Blender.
"The hell have you been telling her and Alky?" Blender had taken care of the two since the raid. He was once a soldier under Rover's command during the war, and naturally he had shared many war stories with others. Rover had warned him not to tell Sherry and Alky about it, but who knows- the guy was drunk half the time when he wasn't working.
"Oh, you know. Good ol' civil war days." Blender replied. Damnit.
Rover smirked.
"You mind not idolizing me for them next time?" He raised an eyebrow.
"They automatically idolize you every time your name gets brought up." Blender replied with a nod. "And in case you haven't noticed, it's all the same with all us folk here in NA."
Rover chuckled again- but this time there was a bit of coldness lingering in his heart.
"Why again?"
"Cause you're a bloody war hero!" Blender gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"You know the reason I quit, Blender?" Rover's smile faded as he leaned forward, taking a swig from his bottle.
Blender didn't reply, sensing that he had hit a sensitive topic. And nopony wanted to get Rover angry about anything- cause it meant someone's bones will be breaking in a minute. Sure, he's the hero of the town which everypony is rather proud of- but he was still that same easily agitated old stallion. And for that, Blender stayed silent.
"That's what I thought." Rover snarled, clearly not wanting to discuss it.
"What's the matter, old man?" Seuds took a sip from her glass. "You know, I find it funny how you can break bones but just can't do something as simple as talk about your past."
Rover turned his head a slight bit, eyeing the comparably smaller mare sitting by the bar next to him. Ardor started growling at her, just because his master didn't seem to like her.
"You have a death wish or something, kid?" Blender spoke in a harsh whisper.
"Maybe." Seuds said, standing up.
"Sit down, kid." Rover growled.
"Stand up." Seuds replied, glaring down at the sitting Rover.
Rover stood up, the bar silent as he towered a good few heads over the mare since he stood on his hind legs. Ardor fell silent- his owner had taken over the situation, and he knew it was his job to not stir up any unwanted emotions.
"Watch that mouth of yours, kid." Rover had his hand resting on the Diplomat by his side.
"I shall tell you the same." Seuds replied, smirking at Rover's silent rage. "Next time maybe you should think twice before saying anything about working against the THC."
"Yeah? Like they can do anything about it. You should know by now, I don't leave traces. Ever." Rover snarled, turning away.
"Agent Sydney AB, here behalf of the Twilight High Council." Seuds flicked out a badge, an annoyingly adorable smile on her face. "You're under arrest for the assault of a government official."
Rover just stared, still part way through insulting the THC. "You've got to be bucking kidding me." He muttered, shaking his head. Well that ended bad real quick.
"Now you better come with me, unless you want the Talons on your arse." Sydney casually tucked away the badge, ignoring the silent glares cast her way(which included Ardon's). Wow, arresting the town's hero. That ought to reinforce her reputation around here.
Rover never left any trace behind on his 'missions', so the THC and Jackals(depends on who's paying) couldn't track him down specifically. All they'll ever know is that it was 'some random merc', never 'Rover'.
"How'd you bucking hear about me in the first place?" He leaned close, making sure nopony else was getting this conversation- even though pretty much everyone was looking at them. Seuds(Sydney, damnit!) had been here in New Appleloosa since-
Wait...
"Son of..." Rover muttered to himself, shaking his head. Seuds(DAMNIT! SYDNEY!) had been here since he officially moved here. The THC had been keeping an eye right on him, just in case one day he made a move against the council- like today when he snapped that guy's right front leg as part of a contract. They must've been suspicious of him ever since he left the Talon army.
"How's that five thousand bottle caps doing ya?" Sydney tilted her head to one side, grinning.
"Five thousand...?" Rover's eyes widened. That was the amount he was payed for the 'message'. "How the hell did you know about that?"
"You got set up by the THC." Sydney said flatly. "We hired you because that guy you beat up had... Well, stepped out of line. But unfortunately you don't have any evidence that you acted by the law, and as far as we're concerned you just beat up one of our councilors. So, you're under arrest."
That made sense. The THC made him commit a crime by hiring him to do so then left no evidence of them actually hiring him or doing anything, which lays blame on him and also sends a message to that councilor, making it a two-in-one for them. Great.
"And you're bothering to explain all this to me because...?" Rover raised an eyebrow.
"I'm offering you a choice on behalf of the THC." Sydney bowed her head a slight bit out of courtesy, which was odd since a second ago she was taking a piss at him. "You can either help us, or get charges laid down for assaulting a councilor."
"Help you?" Rover chuckled. "Heh, I'm fine thanks." He said, standing up and getting ready to leave. Ardor got up from under the bar table where he was crouched and started following his master.
Sydney waited for the two to get as far as the exit.
"You can make up for what happened in the war, you know." She said, and Rover froze.
Slowly, he turned back around and glared at Sydney. "I thought I told you not to talk about the war."
"Convoy 104." Sydney continued on, completely ignoring Rover's warning. "You were in the escort squad, picked out from your original squad the 'Razors' to protect a high priority target. And you failed."
Rover glared at her, his right hand itching for the Diplomat. How he wanted to just blow that bucking mare's head off.
"You can't escape from the past. Because the past is what made you." Sydney said simply, leaning back against the bar table.
Rover stayed silent, weighing his options. Maybe he should just listen to what the THC is offering, but at the same time he didn't want to because they set him up for it in the first place.
"Talk outside." He said simply with a snarl, and shoved the double doors open. The bar remained silent for a few more seconds, then resumed its normal chatter. Sydney chuckled at that.
She left the table, following him outside.
A minute later she found him leaning against a brick wall in an alley between two buildings, almost completely invisible in the shadows from his relatively dark clothing. Ardor sat guard by the entrance.
"Is this the part where I get strangled and die?" Sydney cocked her head to one side, walking into the alley way and ignoring the snarl Ardor gave her.
"You know me too well. But I'm interested in this... Deal, of yours." Rover said, lighting a cigar. Then he folded his arms.
"I just phrased it so that it sounded like a deal. You must realize it isn't." Sydney leaned against the opposite wall.
"And you're here to force me into it?" Rover chuckled. The THC must be very smart- better send this little excuse of a grown mare to force the wasteland-renowned cyborg mercenary freak into doing something he doesn't want to do.
"Originally, yes." Sydney nodded.
"Originally?" Rover raised an eyebrow.
"Now I'm here to escort you to the THC's headquarters in Manehattan." Sydney said.
"Escort?" Rover chuckled. "You think I need escort?"
"I just got a tip that the Deleters got news of the THC wanting you to help with our... Project." Sydney phrased carefully. The Deleters were a group of assassins and hunters which go after high-priority targets and usually work closely with the Jackals- but sometimes, they also operate as their own mercenary group, giving the Jackals an excuse to say 'We didn't do it!' when the Deleters do something against the THC. "And the project... Well, it's gonna affect their way of life and make the Jackals unhappy, so they're probably gonna try kill you."
"Gee, thanks. So basically, if it weren't for you assholes I wouldn't even be in any of this trouble. You sons of parasprites dragged my ass into this bull crap!" Rover jabbed a finger at Sydney's chest. "And you mind telling me what this 'project' of yours is?"
Sydney pretended to look hurt. "I can't speak of the project, and you don't need to know. All you have to do is do what we tell you, and we'll offer you protection against outer forces- until you do something against us again."
"And what's stopping you from setting me up again?" Rover growled.
"We'll sign a contract, and the THC is part of the Talons." Sydney explained. "And you know how that goes."
"Bits and the contract, in that order." Rover nodded, quoting.
"And the Talons are a government now, not a merc group. Bits and bottle caps aren't in the equation anymore." Sydney said.
"Heh." Rover snickered. "Alright." He got off the wall. "I'll comply on one condition. Fifty thousand, and I'll help you get this project done."
"Get to TenPony with me first. I don't have the authority to make such a transaction."
"Then talk to me when you do." Rover walked past Sydney, back towards the bar. Then just as he exited the alley way he felt a sharp pain in his neck.
His eyes widened as he recognized the feel of a needle sliding through his flesh, the same type used in quick-inject combat drugs and healing potions.
He quickly pulled away, feeling the needle get ripped away from the back of his neck. He turned around, drawing his weapon and pointing it right between Sydney's eyes. Ardor darted in from the entrance, standing by Rover and waiting for a signal to attack.
"The hell did you do to me?" Rover growled quietly, waiting for Sydney to give him a reason to bust her head open.
"Slow effect poison the THC made. You'd be dead by the end of the week if you don't get an antidote." Sydney said simply, tucking away the quick-inject syringe. The needle automatically retracted into the syringe's main body with a hiss as she did so. Wait, did she just tuck it away with her hooves...?
Rover only snarled angrily. That is to say, the only way he's gonna live any longer than this week is to go with her to the THC, where they have the antidote.
"Effects will show in five days. I can get you to TenPony in six hours." Sydney cocked her head to one side, looking extremely cute- which unfortunately only reinforced Rover's urge to pull the trigger.
"How do I know you're not bull crapping me?" Rover asked, not lowering the Diplomat.
"You don't. But you're not willing to risk it." Sydney held her head high and walked past him, leaving him searching for words in the alley with the gun still raised at thin air.
"Fine!" Rover exclaimed a second later, tucking away the Diplomat and following Sydney out into the open.
"Good." Sydney said cheerfully, and Rover only let out a glum sigh. Good to know he was first set up, then poisoned into this. Sydney lowered her head and spoke into a hidden mic embedded in her shirt collar. "Officer Bolt, you can come out now."
"You bucking kidding me?" Rover frowned, a figure shimmering to life above them on the rooftop.
"Hello to you too!" Bolt bowed as he deactivated his StealthBuck, slung his rifle over his back, then glided down to join up with the two. The pegasus was dressed in full Talon stealth uniform, as opposed to Sydney who wore a simple white shirt with black pants. She seemed to have made them especially baggy just to fit in with the ponies here in NA.
"You got a stealth ship sitting in that clearing over there too or something?" Rover smirked.
Sydney raised an eyebrow, taking it as a challenge. Then she reached into her pocket(what) and pulled out some keys with her hooves(what) and jiggled them around in Rover's face.
Then she through some crazy earth pony magic clicked the button(WHAT) on one of them. There was a short beep from the key, then a responding one much further away.
A second later a massive drop ship glided down onto the clearing, the local townsfolk peering up with surprise and curiosity. They don't often see much high tech stuff around here down West- let alone full on high class military equipment.
"You're kidding, right?" Rover stared at the ship as it landed, then down at Sydney's hooves. "And how the hell did you..?"
"Family secret." Sydney cut him off, took out some shades and put them on. The ship had stirred up a large amount of dust in the air, which Rover and Bolt had to peer through while Sydney seemed more organized than ever with her sunglasses. She stepped forward to get aboard, followed by Bolt. Rover noticed the words 'Falcon' painted in white across the ship's side. Must be the ship name.
"This is insane..." Rover shook his head and sighed. Still trying to get over how Sydney managed to use her hooves as hands, he followed the two and got aboard.
*
The next day...
The poison turned out to be a hoax(and luckily for Sidney, she had other duties to attend to so wasn't in the same room with Rover when he got the news). Now he was in one of TenPony's containment rooms, sealed off by steel reinforced concrete walls and magic energy bars.
"Haven't seen you in a while." A grayish purple bat pony with dark violet eyes said, her short mane which reflected the color of her eyes dangling part way down the side of her forehead, bits of aged silver showing under the light. She sat behind a metal desk, in which there was another chair opposite of.
"Been hearing that from a lotta ponies recently." Rover muttered, pulling out the chair and taking a seat. Just to show he really didn't care, he propped his feet up on the desk. They made a hollow metallic clang with the desk. "So, I heard from your pet agent- HIGH COUNCILOR Skylight!" He chuckled.
"You beat me to squad leader, and I beat you to highest rank in all of Equestria." Skylight nodded, and Rover sighed. "Although I do miss the old days."
"Really? Civil war days?"
"Let's not talk about those days, though. I enjoyed them, which is more the reason not to bring them up." She leant forward in her seat, the light above finally shining down on her face. If she ever looked old, it was now. The wrinkles seemed to have been carved even deeper into her features now that the light was stretching shadows about. But she didn't have many of them- and it didn't make her look weak, at all. Like Rover, she looked... To say the least, formidable.
"Finally, somepony that bloody understands me!" Rover rolled his eyes. "Anyhow, since I'm already here. What's this project of yours that you need my help with?"
"I need your help with some tasks involved in the project, some vital ones. Unfortunately I can't explain to you the importance of this project. Only I and several other specially trained ponies know." Skylight said seriously.
"Memory hunters?" Rover guessed, and Skylight nodded. Memory hunters were ponies that forced one to give up their memories, which were then used as evidence or for other more sinister purposes. This act was banned since almost two hundred years ago.
"The ponies that know underwent special training, they know how to reject access to their minds from extractors." Skylight explained. "Therefore you must know nothing, in the event that you get captured."
"I get it. Do what I'm told." Rover nodded. "On one condition. Seventy thousand in payment."
"Agent Sidney told me it was fifty thousand." Skylight said flatly.
"That was then, this is now. Seventy." Rover folded his arms. "Plus you have to look after my dog whilst I'm gone. Personally." He added just to annoy the high councilor.
Skylight studied him for a moment. Her old squad mate, the one that she watched lose his wings and limbs. The memories still pained her, but she didn't show it by the slightest. Then she leant back into the shadows again, and let out a sigh.
"I'll see what I can dig up in the THC savings." She said. If this amount of money and a minor inconvenience was what it takes to get the most crucial part of this project done, then... It would be worth it, should the project be a success.
Plus she didn't particularly feel like forcing an emotionally unstable old man into a job of such nature.
*
The next night...
Rover walked past a flag pole, the flag on it illustrating a comically rendered skull with a dark crimson background. It flapped around in the night wind, its silky quality making it glimmer under the stars.
"All you have to do is send them a clear message. And that's your first payment's worth." Skylight said, her voice traveling through the earpiece lodged in Rover's right ear.
"Ah got it." He replied, lighting a thick cigar. The smoke was only visible through the light coming from the lit tip, white and murky in the clear night sky.
He took in a deep breath, taking the cigar away and keeping it pinned between two fingers as he waved a hand to clear the smoke. He was standing in the middle of a clearing, at the edge of Whitetail Woods. Before him was a drop, roughly thirty feet in height.
Then after that came a large open area, nothing but dirt and dust. Like a good portion of the rest of Equestria.
Much of the fertile land was used for farming, and ponies soon learnt that while costly; the most efficient way to contain a population was to have them packed in towers. Over the years several of these spots have formed, large cities booming with activity and filled to the brim with towering skyscrapers and large tall walls to keep out the Drowned.
TenPony tower in Manehattan was one such example- with the tower as a center, many other buildings had risen up around it; the old remnants of the past destroyed and leveled to make way for the new.
There were others too. Fillydelphia, Junction R-7, and a much smaller one in Ponyville. Junction R-7, otherwise simply known as R-7; was the new capital of Equestria. Gawd's Talons, after the initial Fallout Equestria incident, formed a new government along with TenPony's Twilight Society. The new government was now simply called the Talons, as it accepted more members from other Talon groups and just other people in general. Ponies, griffons and the occasional hellhound were all allowed into the Talons, should all requirements be fulfilled. Before the second president Regina Grimfeathers passed away, she willingly handed the role of a leader over to direct descendant of Velvet Remedy, Dyva Remedy. But this was centuries ago.
Regina knew that kindness and generosity was something that ran in the Remedy family, she had seen it first hand. She had also heard stories of their bravery and strong will in battle and in dangerous situations- Velvet Remedy herself had been injured many times before and had been in the middle of firefights with the legendary Littlepip herself. And apparently her ancestor Rarity defeated a pack of diamond dogs(the original form of the much feared hellhounds) single hoofedly, so her family seemed like the best choice.
Soon the Remedy family gave way to a line of Princesses caring of their subjects, yet strong enough to make harsh however beneficial decisions that even Celestia herself may have hesitated upon. But this was the wasteland, and the Remedys were exactly what everypony needed.
But it all ended thirty years ago when the Drowned started appearing, born of an odd mutation of Taint. Next to nothing is known of the substance itself, as it is extremely hard to safely contain for research. A tragic example of such was a relatively large city in Baltimare, when Black(the new dark-colored slime variant of Taint) leaked through a test tube and seeped through a unicorn's levitation hold on it. The unicorn researcher was then somehow killed and infected, and soon the infection spread- reducing the entire city into nothing but an example of what the world would soon be like if Black and the Drowned were not properly contained. Thankfully all the Drowned were trapped within the walls of the city, never to come out. The city itself was left with almost too many tempting supplies for brave souls to wander in and try to salvage- but none have made it out so far. There were simply too many Drowned there.
From that incident researchers learnt that Black could kill a subject by coming into magical contact with him or her, making it extra deadly against unicorns. Alicorns for whatever reason, are immune to that sort of transfer. It was later discovered that a victim would only turn into a Drowned mutation if he or she died while in contact with the substance, or if the substance came in contact with a dead body. This discovery's credit was given to an anonymous Twilight Society researcher, who several years later was revealed to not even exist. The real discoverer was Doctor Hein, who was executed by the Talons for offenses against the rights of applicable living creatures. It was revealed that he kidnapped victims to test Black on, all of which were either dead or turned into Drowned.
Several years later the Twilight Society announced its merging into the Talons, changing its name to the Twilight High Council or THC inside the Talon government. The THC consisted of seven councilors and an entire parliament made of over two hundred members. As Twilight Sparkle had no descendants, they were instead strong supporters of the Remedy family taking over sovereignty, whom were descendants of Twilight's close friend, Rarity.
The Remedy family had some point in history turned into a family of alicorns, and it was assumed that Diva Remedy married an alicorn husband; thus starting a line of proper however slightly impure alicorn princesses.
No one had anything to say about it until the Drowned came, and the Remedys were blamed for it by the Jackals, a secondary governmental party that controlled the Western districts of Equestria. They made logical arguments that Black consisted of elements and traces of dark magic only found in ancient Zebra books, and the Talons were well known for their interaction and right of equality between all species in Equestria. Plus Taint, the former substance of Black; was widely associated with alicorns. There was also the unexplained immunity that alicorns had to Black's ability to pass through direct magical use, further laying suspicion on the Remedys and the alicorns. And if that wasn't enough, the Drowned started appearing from the West where the Jackals were- and it was widely known that the Jackals and the Talons were strong rivals. People assumed that the Drowned were a biological attack on the Jackals commanded by the Talons.
With both factions almost equally powered, civil war was almost inevitable as both sides fought for what they believed was the best for Equestria. The war lasted several years, and ended with the Jackals in victory. There were many losses, but by the time the war ended both factions were still at an equal stand-off in terms of power and support. However, the Talons took a more crippling blow due to the death of the Remedy family- whose several convoys were attacked and destroyed when they were being transported to a safer location, leaving both Talons and the THC without a leading monarch.
And that ended the Remedys sovereignty, now the Jackals had taken over the majority of Equestria with Scourge as the most powerful stallion in all the land. The Talons were frowned upon and no longer trusted due to their history with the Remedys, and they only possess a few cities around Equestria nowadays. The Twilight High Council firmly believed in their cause, and like the Talons; believed that the Remedys could have never even thought of doing such a thing. The Talons have been since taken charge of by the THC, who share their views with the Talons. The Talons may have been largely weakened, but the THC remains one of Equestria strongest powers right beside Scourge and the Jackals- which may be the reason why the Talons have survived this long. Assassination attempts have been staged on both sides by each other, but none of which were successful. News that occasionally got out was often discarded by both sides as 'anonymous mercenary/raider attacks', when in reality both sides knew the truth. They were just telling a sweet lie to keep the ponies under their protection at peace.
'Anonymous mercenary attacks' seemed just about accurate, however- as both sides hire freelance mercenaries and bounty hunters, keeping the contract anonymous and untraceable.
Then assassination attempts were simply discarded, and attacks on faction outposts were repeatedly carried out by hired freelancers, and with each attack the factions try to lay the blame on each other to gain more followers to their side; where in reality the truth was almost impossible to determine.
And Rover was doing the THC's dirty work this time. Formerly a Talon, he had then discarded his carrier and pursued something that was more beneficial- and more risky. Freelancing.
He surveyed the area. Just vast plains, in the middle of it the outpost he was meant to 'send a message to'. It was a research facility that the Jackals were using to contain and research Black- and another one of their classified projects that Skylight wanted 'investigated'.
"Remember, keep it clean." The high councilor reminded him through his earpiece.
"Copy. I think I know how to do my work."
"I agree. Just a reminder." Skylight replied. Her calm voice would've made anypony else hide in a corner- she was just that scary of a mare, not to mention a bat pony(bat ponies were always mysterious and creepy); and leader of the THC. Nopony messed with her- and definitely not after the third assassination attempt on her failed and her attackers' lives ended abruptly in fractions. Somehow it had something to do with the scepter she walked around with all the time, but nopony knew exactly how. Not even Rover, who served alongside her for several years during the Equestrian Civil War. He just called it 'time changes ponies', because it does.
Rover wasn't scared of her, though. Maybe it's because they've both seen enough horror in the wasteland to know it like breakfast. Or maybe it's just because they're both old.
Rover turned back and tried to find another way down besides falling thirty feet. A minute later he made it down via an old dirt road that was possibly a pre-war installment, and continued on foot towards the facility ahead. What he had to do was simple- release a sample of Black or a Drowned, retrieve any data they might have on Black and their project and then get out. But he might have to crack a few skulls on the way- no worries, though. All in the payment.
After a few more minutes of walking he made it to the base. The night gave him cover, but he didn't need the shadows. The StealthBuck he installed in his left wrist should do the trick of getting inside, just like it did to get him right by the front door step.
And like he anticipated, he got in without a problem. Apart from snapping the sniper's neck because he would've been a problem for later.
"What the hell have you guys been doing here..." He muttered, watching two ponies in lab coats roll away a tray on which there was a disturbingly pony-like shape under blood-stained sheets. The blood was red, meaning the pony died a pony- not a Drowned. Drowned only bleed Black.
He took another look around- he had a clear view of the base from the sniper tower. There were rows and rows of bodies covered in stained white sheets in a corner, ponies in lab coats moving busily between them and jotting down notes.
"Skylight, you seeing this?" He asked.
"Ignore it. Do what you got payed to do." Skylight replied flatly.
Rover sighed. Exposing this could deal a great blow to the Jackals, but it would mean that people would have to know that the Talons had sneaked into Jackal territory- which would only put mistrust on both their heads. They only want people to stop trusting the Jackals.
"Copy." Rover said, gave the base's layout a quick last-second scan; and proceeded to head down the sniper tower.
His metal feet touched the floor with a light clunk, and he looked around. There weren't many patrols in this area, but there were a large number of guards further into the base.
They seemed to be protecting something, or someone.
His ears twitched as he heard talking, and quickly backed into the shadows and away from the spotlights set up to brighten the base. Shadows stretched across the floor, a deep black in contrast to the bright white lights around them.
Rover watched, two stallion Jackal guards talking and striding past, their backs bearing automatic rifles. They were marked as a neutral 'yellow' on his EFS- looks like he hasn't alerted them.
The one thing he hated about stealth missions was that he couldn't use his custom built revolver, which he had ironically named the 'Diplomat'(an arrow with 'diplomacy' written on the barrel was pointed at the muzzle). It was modified for all pistol ammo types, be it explosive, flammable, or just armor piercing. It also was capable of linking directly through his hand to his EFS, giving him an ammo count as well as the bullet type loaded.
Instead he was given a crappy old revolver with a forcibly installed silencer on it that decreased both range and accuracy. At least he could load different ammo types into it, though.
The silencer was a 'Butterfly' model from HEX Corporate, the largest weapons and attachments manufacturer in the wasteland. The silencer had an advertising phrase on itself: 'Hush now, quiet now'; it read.
He grunted in annoyance as he had to flick the cylinder out from the side, and had to feed the revolver bullets one by one.
"I heard they have a new shipment coming in-" there was a stallion guard just around the corner- no, wait- inside the building. Rover kept as quite as possible, waiting.
Then the door to the small structure slid open, and a pair of guards walked out through the door and into the open. They didn't bother check the shadows next to them, where Rover was hiding inches away from the two.
He quickly pulled out a knife and lunged for the first guard, stabbing him in the throat and preventing him from making any load noise while slipping into SATS to target the second guard.
Time slowed down for him as SATS kicked in, and he adjusted his aim and fired the revolver.
There was a flash of dim light from the silencer, no brighter than a dying bulb and as brief as an eye blink(hush now, quiet now). The thud of releasing gas from the silencer was followed by a comfortable and satisfying amount of recoil as the bullet busted through the second guard's skull even before his hoof reached his weapon, and he dropped down with half his head missing. Blood splattered onto the dirt ground, but too dark to be seen in the night.
Checking his EFS and making sure nopony else was inside the structure, he dragged the two bodies into the small camp with him while he waited for SATS to recharge.
Inside there were a few wooden tables in the center, surrounded by chairs and decorated with cards and half-empty glasses of alcohol. Rover picked up one of the bottles of whiskey and took a sip, then emptied the rest of the bottle down on the floor as he heard hoofsteps outside.
He watched as a figure outlined in yellow approached the door. The electric door slid open, and he threw the bottle at the entering guard.
The bottle cracked against her face before she could even utter a curse, shattered shards of glass cutting into her head as she fell backwards. Rover quickly moved forward and grabbed her around a foreleg, dragging her into the room then snapping her neck as the electric door slid closed behind the dead body.
He quickly dumped the body with the rest of them, and went to hack the electric door. He could hack things that have a really basic operating system, like locks and lights. A minute later he had the door rigged to his EFS, so it only opens or closes once he gives the command.
Next he took off one of the guard's uniform and armored vest, cleaned it of blood, and put it on himself. He also put one of the standard issue assault rifles on his back, just to seem realistic. This way if anypony spots him, they won't immediately recognize him as hostile.
He scavenged the room, and found several grenades and some ammo in a storage box. He quickly broke one of the assault rifles in half and took out the spring from the firing pin, making a quick wire and hook out of it. Next he glued one of the grenades to the wall beside the opening side of the door, rigging the wire to the door itself with the hook under the grenade's safety pin. That way if he opened the door again and closed it, it should all just slide into place.
Exiting the building and locking the sliding door behind him, he proceeded to the center where the Black research labs should be held, instead of the camps for the soldiers.
It turned out that the labs themselves were fenced off by electric bars, and only specific personnel were allowed into the research areas.
Rover frowned at the warning sign on the fence- didn't that mean the Jackals were hiding stuff from their own people? That meant they could potentially be using Black as a weapons' base chemical in there, or modifying it for other purposes...
He shook his head. Just do what he was told, and he'll be fine.
He'll need to ambush one of the lab ponies, and get their gear- or else he won't be able to go in. Although, being self-conscious; his grey beard and mane might help with the doctor-ey look.
It didn't take long. He just camped outside the fence, standing against a wall outside the main entrance and smoking his cigar. Nopony questioned him, which he found amusing.
Then the gates of the facility slid open, a group of ponies in those white lab coats rolling out a trolley of tools. Most of the tools were stained red, and there were also several bottles of chemicals slushing about on the trolley.
Rover left the wall, pinching out his cigar and saving the rest of it for later. He started following the ponies, but suddenly felt the barrel of a gun press against his spine.
"Stay where you are." The stallion holding the gun warned, his voice slightly muffled by the shotgun in his mouth.
"Easy goes, son." Rover said calmly, raising his hands above his head.
"Cyberpony, eh? Pretty boy?" The stallion smirked. "Didn't you know that first level security isn't supposed to be in sector eight?"
"Then why are you here?" Rover asked provocatively.
"I've got a higher rank than you, cunt." The stallion growled, then poked the gun at his back. "Now mov-"
Rover launched a metal foot behind him, catching the stallion in the leg and bending it painfully far back, breaking it. The crunch supported that statement.
But before he could scream, Rover grabbed the shotgun around the barrel and shoved it even further into his mouth, sending him falling backwards. Rover then slammed the gun, along with the guard's head which was kind of stuck on the handle of the shotgun; down on the pavement. The shadows from the building above covered their fight- but one gunshot and guards will be rushing to this area.
Rover got down, pressing a knee against the guard's exposed belly and forcing the shotgun against the back of his head through his mouth.
"That's right, take it deep- cunt." He smirked.
The guard yelled a muffled insult, heard by no one nearby and the words uttered completely indistinguishable. His tongue was pinned by the shotgun's handle, and now he had nothing to fire the gun with.
"Sorry, what was that?" Rover asked sarcastically, but he clearly wasn't amused. "Couldn't heard you over my prettiness." He snarled, then cranked the shotgun forward as a lever- ignoring the death screams from the guard who was as arrogant as ever just a few seconds before. The effect not only snapped his neck, but popped his jaw out from the rest of his skull before he could've had a chance to die- hence the muffled screaming.
Rover pulled out the shotgun, the handle and trigger dripping with blood-stained saliva. He could use that- might clean it first though. He bashed it against the guard's face, smearing the saliva over his face. That cleaned most of it, but there was still some residue left- however still much more comfortable for use now. He slid it into a side pocket of his backpack next to the looted assault rifle, clicking it into place.
Placing the body of the guard in a dumpster, he proceeded to track the ponies in lab coats. It wasn't hard, considering they left a trail of glowing chemicals behind them.
He found them pushing the trolley towards one of the deposits of bodies he spotted earlier whilst on the sniper tower. A sign nearby read 'Sector 02', which should be safe for him to go to.
Problem was that there were too many other guards in the area as well, and there weren't any safe spots that were out of sight for him to... Well, murder somepony in. But maybe there'll be something that he could use somewhere...
Then his eye caught on something to his right- a large white billboard, propaganda written all over the damn thing with its dark blue and red colors.
It illustrated research ponies and guards working happily together and doing their job, which was rather ironic since it was positioned above the bodies covered in blood stained sheets.
'For a Brighter Future!', the title read. Below it it said: 'follow these guidelines'.
Rover stopped for a second to read it, intrigued.
After a few lines of standard safety regulations, the big red 'In Case of an Emergency' part caught his attention.
'All researchers are to evacuate to the secure research facilities in case of an intrusion and await further updates from guards. Guards are to secure the base before resuming normal patrol duties.', it read.
Well, that pretty much took care of everything.
He partially rolled up the sleeve on his right arm, revealing a PipBuck integrated into his cybernetic components. On it there were several wireless signals being displayed, one of which were his comms with Skylight. The other few were items in his backpack inventory, wirelessly linked technology. The last one and the most recent one was the electric door.
He sent a signal to it, telling it to open. Skylight said 'keep it clean', not 'keep it quiet'. And an explosion from that grenade plus the spilt whiskey would most certainly 'keep it clean', that is- no evidence at first and second sight.
Suddenly the base shook as the grenade trap went off not too far away, visible as a plume of flame and smoke rising into the night air just behind several buildings. Rover flinched as a fake reaction along with the other ponies around him.
First was the stunned silence, then came the cursing and running. Then the piercing siren.
Rover checked his PipBuck- the 'electric door' signal read 'unavailable', which was then followed by 'disconnected' as the link deleted itself due to no longer being valid.
"Sir! You must evacuate to the central research facility immediately!" One of the guards yelled, waving a hoof at a pony in a lab coat and gesturing towards the facility.
Ponies were rushing off through all possible ways to evacuate towards the central facility, which included conveniently dark alley ways.
Rover waited in a corner, watching("is this the part where I get strangled and die?" Sydney's quote came to mind). Then his chance came when one of the researchers ran into the gap between two buildings he was camping by, followed by a guard and another pony.
SATS had long recharged, and Rover used it as he leapt in the way of the three ponies. He already targeted all three of their heads through the walls via his EFS beforehand, so all three went down with three quiet thuds from the silenced revolver(hush now, quiet now). The thuds weren't even audible in the chaos.
He quickly took off the Jackal guard vest he was wearing and shrugged on the researcher's lab coat, which covered over everything else he wore. The only out of place item was his backpack, which he was determined to keep with him.
The explosion had stirred up so much activity that he went completely undetected as he slipped out of the alleyway, finding a pair of specs in the lab coat pocket and slipping them on as a precaution- but he had to look over them as to not go dizzy.
He made his way back to the fenced off research facility, a squadron of guards standing by the only entrance and herding ponies in.
"Ah damnit..." Rover muttered, watching as the ponies that were going in showed one of the guards their IDs. He peered down at the card attached to his lab coat- and unfortunately, he looked nothing like the ID photo on the card.
Well, luck had brought him this far.
He got in the line, which was guarded by soldiers every two meters. Looks like they really valued these researchers, for whatever reason. The line was moving fast, and soon he was at the checkpoint amongst the anxious Jackal ponies.
He hid the ID card, making sure nopony could see it- if they did, his cover would be immediately blown.
"Show me your ID!" One of the guards yelled as he got up to the gates.
"It's ze intruder!" Rover faked a thick foreign accent, pointing at the fences far on the other side. "a pegasus!"
"What!? WHERE!?" The guard ponies swiveled and pointed their rifles up in the air, but there was nothing in the night sky.
"He hid behind ze wall! Come!" Rover waved towards the back of the facility, already taking off. The other guards instantly forgot about checking for his ID, and immediately the squad split in two- one to stay behind, the other to go after the 'intruder'- which they kind of were.
Rover turned a corner. "He vent over here!" He yelled, pointing at the shadows. The guards quickly followed him around the corner- and out of sight of the others.
Rover whipped out the silenced revolver, but SATS was still recharging.
He pulled out his knife, stabbing the first guard in the throat and spinning her around into a strangling hold to use her as a human shield. Four more guards, but he only had two shots left in the revolver.
The rest of the guards were still confused as to how a researcher had taken down one of their own. And where the hay was this intruder!?
Rover threw the dead pony forward, yanking the knife out. The body distracted the other guards as they tried to draw their weapons from their backs.
One of them dropped his shotgun to yell something, but was immediately knocked over by the dead body. Rover had already marked two of the three that had successfully drawn their weapons, busting the closer one's head while shooting the other in the gut. That left the closest one still untouched as he raised his rifle.
Rover ripped the rifle from his mouth- oh, how convenient hands were. Then he followed the disarmament with a swift roundhouse kick to the guard's temple, dropping him almost instantly.
The stallion that had been shot in the gut earlier was getting up, crawling for his weapon. Rover threw his knife, sending it cracking into the guard's skull. It went halfway through his brain.
He then kicked the guard who had failed to draw his weapon in the head, splitting it. No alarms set off, nopony alerted to his presence.
On his way to the facility's back door, Rover yanked the knife out from the dead guard and flicked the brains and blood off of its serrated edge, then sheathed it by his side. He reloaded the revolver, putting in explosive rounds this time as to not leave any immediately traceable evidence behind.
He tried the electric door, but it was locked. Well of course it was. The terminal must be on the inside, so he couldn't hack it.
He looked around- there had to be something he could use. Maybe there'll be something on the roof.
He spotted a dumpster nearby, which should give him a decent boost upwards to the roof. But first... He emptied the dumpster, putting everything beside it. Then he stuffed the bodies of the dead guards in it, and filled in the rest with the trash he emptied earlier. It also made the lid just a bit higher, which was good.
Climbing onto the roof, he was treated to a view of the entire facility. It wasn't big at all, only about thirty by forty feet. A research facility like this should be quite large...
He spotted a skylight nearby, and peered in. It was a decorative one, rectangular shaped and set over the hallway that led from the main entrance. Everything inside was an over-cleansed white, gleaming under the lights. Inside the researchers were gathered, about thirty of them along with several guards. Taking a closer look, he spotted a sign on the far wall.
'Elevators', the top line read; followed by an arrow pointing to the right.
"That's why..." He muttered to himself. The rest of the facility must be underground- which added a large amount of uncertainty, considering the facility could potentially be larger than the base itself.
The researchers and guards all showed up as a neutral yellow, meaning they weren't alerted to his presence yet.
He quickly retreated from the skylight, then heard the distinct sound of a rusty old metal door opening. He ducked down behind a vent as two snipers exited onto the roof via an opening in the floor, which they closed and locked behind them. Rover watched through his cover as the two outlines moved to different corners of the roof, overlooking the area.
"You reckon the report was true? That our intruder was a pegasus?" One of them said, a malicious looking machete strapped to his leg.
"Well, we're here just in case." The other replied. "But no, I don't think so. There aren't many of them wandering around after the Pegasus Civil War."
Rover didn't bother listening in on this conversation. He knew what happened in the Pegasus Civil War- the entire race almost eradicated themselves over what they should do about the wasteland hidden below their hooves.
Both snipers were unicorns, levitating their rifles and scanning the area. One rule about unicorns- never alert them if you don't have spells to counter their magic, because once you do- they could easily just strangle you with telekinesis, the most simple bit of magic in their books. The two were on opposite ends of the roof, which meant SATS won't be able to target the both of them and kill both with effective succession. If he killed one of them, the other would immediately be alerted- even if he used his knife, it would still produce noise close enough to hear. The only way to do this was to catch the both of them unawares.
If only he could shoot like this 'Magnum AB' pony he's read so much about in pre-war books.
He checked their positions. One was by the side where the gates and main entrance was, the other by the back of the facility. He needed the one by the entrance away from it, because he could alert the other guards below.
Easy, right?
Slowly, making sure the guard by the entrance wasn't going to turn around; he sneaked up behind the sniper near the back.
Unsheathing the sniper's machete, he quickly stabbed it into his throat before he could fully turn around or even utilize his magic. By the time he was falling over the edge of the roof, his eyes were already rolling into his head. The light green aura of magic around his rifle faded, and the rifle fell towards the ground.
Rover quickly ran and slid back behind the vent he was hiding behind earlier, just as the rifle hit the ground with a loud clang and the stallion fell to the floor below with a meaty thud.
"What the-?" The other sniper quickly turned around, aiming his rifle at the darkness. But there was nothing there, and all he could see was some blood and his buddy's rifle lying on the very edge of the roof. "Who's there!?" He demanded, his horn glowing brightly as to light the way. He slowly approached where his buddy had been a second ago, looking around and checking his corners.
But Rover had gone to the other side of the vent, once again out of sight. It didn't take much for him to sneak up behind the sniper and close a hand over his mouth to sink a knife into his neck. A few seconds of struggling later, the sniper fell and Rover laid him aside.
He made short work of the lock, putting a bullet through it and kicking the door open. Behind it lay a set of stairs, leading down to Level 01- according to the white letters and numbers on the old concrete wall.
The facility must've been something else years before, perhaps even pre-war. It might've been renovated from an underground shopping mall, or something.
He slipped into the crowd of researchers without a problem, the only thing making him slightly out of place his backpack.
'Black and Drowned containment area, level F03', read a directions board.
Rover proceeded to the next flight of stairs- the elevators were on lock-down. He only had to go down three floors though. Funny how there was security guarding the elevators, but not the stairs.
He slipped into the stairwell, a concealed room surrounded by concrete.
"Ah damnit..." He muttered. Now he knows why nopony was guarding the stairs.
An entire floor worth of the stairwell was missing, and it was just a big drop straight down from where he stood.
But it was his only choice if he wanted to go in undetected.
He dropped down, but misjudged the jump and went too far right- his left foot slipped to the right of the handrails, causing him to fall an extra floor and onto a different set of stairs below. He cracked his head painfully against the wall before slumping down on the sharp-edged stairs, having broken a bone in his body and suffered a traumatic blow to the head.
"Gah..." He groaned, trying to get up. Then the steps beneath him sunk a slight bit. "Oh buck~~!" He screamed, the stairs giving way and sending him tumbling down. He hit the wall, flipped on his side, then took some handrails to the stomach. He tried to grab on as he slipped over the edge, peices of debris from the steps above falling down below to the bottom of the stairwell. These stairs were so old the concrete had become crumbly, and the steel reinforcements inside had rusted. That explained why they were using brand new elevators now.
With a loud snap, the handrails Rover was holding on to broke from the stairs and sent him plummeting down once more. His shoulder hit the edge of some more steps, popping his arm out from its socket.
Then he hit the bottom of the stairwell, slamming the back of his head against the cold stone floor. He screamed, feeling a searing pain in his leg as he landed on a steel reinforcement rod which was jutting out from a piece of concrete from the stairs that collapsed earlier.
"Gaaannngh!!" He growled, clamping his jaw shut and trying not to make too much noise. Already a puddle of crimson was forming around his leg and soaking the white lab coat he wore as a disguise.
Author's Note
The rest of this fic will be a weekly release next year once it has been fully completed. This is a preview, and thankyou for taking your time to read this. If you wish to get more information, there will occasionally be posts regarding the fic on my deviantART page: http://jasper77wang.deviantart.com
Once again, thanks for taking your time to read this preview!
