Fallout Equestria: SIDEQUEST

We didn’t return to Stalliongrad. Instead, my EFS told me we were in the vicinity of Fillydelphia- a fair piece down south- when we landed. I was alone. Hadn’t even thought to armor up or grab a gun along with me. When did I get so stupid?

I saw her again. Just for a second the ghostly gray unicorn trotted along the street. She looked alone and basically helpless as well. I felt a little better about my situation. Then... She was gone. I stepped down from the rear hatch of the vehicle, the light sulfur yellow through the thick smog cloud that blanketed the city. A male pegasus met me halfway, giving me a hoof that I really didn’t need or want in getting down.

“The Cloverleaf Society has a few ponies here. Mainly under Enclave control... which means exactly one block is safe and the rest... you don’t want to be even during the daytime. Lotta raw steel laying around unmilled, lot of rubble we can chop up and melt down. We share this place with some crazy that wants to rebuild it..”

“Interesting. I’ve heard all this kind of work is done by convicts?”

The male nodded, looking away as he lead me down a brightly-lit street. “Order or the Reich would probably have just killed them outright or something.” I noticed one of his hind legs worked different and shone a little in the lamplight. Enamel paint? “If we can round them up, we put them to work, and whatever it don’t cost us to keep of ‘em of their wages goes to their restitution. Couple enlist when their stay is done.”

I thought for a moment, something bubbling up in my packrat mind. “Ain’t that generally how it was before the bombs?” I had to shout, an Earth pony in a biohazard jumpsuit with ‘Fillydelphia Medium Security Prison’ emblazoned on the back along with the eponymous Enclave insignia was using a large saw to cut up a groundwagon’s frame and the noise was tremendous. Did these guys brand everything with their little logo?

“I forgot you were a Stable pony. Most waster’s ain’t even vurried about tomorrow, let alone zhe past. Zhat’s about it, zyeh. Or at least zhat’s vhat President Surprise says, vhich is zhe same thing.”

I nodded as he lead me past a statue of a severe unicorn surrounded by three foals. She was made of the same impervious black stone as the Rainbow Dash statue in Stalliongrad, the foals were a different stone and hadn’t weathered well. I stopped and squinted up at her for a minute, thinking I recognized her even without my glasses. That expression, that posture, that straight-cut mane... It took me someplace in my head..

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“Now, Class, can you tell me who this is?”

You know those nightmares when you find yourself in class and your father’s dead and your mother is abusive and distant, and on top of all this your teacher is an Earth pony who isn’t shy with a ruler and thinks you’re only just qualified for the worst job in Maintenance- waste disposal? This wasn’t a dream, it was a memory. Miss Strictly’s class about a year after my father had left Stable 105, a couple years before my date with the male that ran the medical clinic in my father’s absence, and ten years before everything coming up Spanner in the Lottery...

A unicorn filly had her hoof raised for Strictly to call on her. The brightest in our class, the most adept at magic, and the daughter of the Overstallion. We’d been nearly inseparable since my dad had delivered both of us over the course of one long night, and were best friends now even though one day that would have to end. “Yes, Silk Spun.”

“I ken ‘er, tha’s Twilight Spahkle. Her pitcher’s on mah wall. Daddy says she single-hoofedly esta.. started Stable-Tek and that without her, we would all have tae live on thur Surface!”

Another Earth pony a year or two from his date with a falling pipe that would split open his skull and kill him (oops), spoke up. His mother drank profusely and he dealt with it by being a peerless dick. “Nuh uh! Nopony can live on the surface cos it got all blow’d up!”

Silk Spun stuck her tongue out at him and sneered. “You can so! My daddy says that when Spannah’s daddy comes back he’ll tell us all about the popcorn that grows from the ground, the cotton candy clouds, and rains of chocolate milk! And we’ll be able to live out on the surface with the sun and the moon and everything!”

I looked down at my desk. This had happened before, it would happen again, and it would be the last straw (pipe) that broke the camel’s back (the foal’s neck). I just wanted Strictly to continue with the lesson and not give the colt a chance to respond. But of course, she hated me, and wanted to watch me squirm.

“Spanner’s daddy is dead, cos nopony can live on the surface an he got kicked out for marryin’ a Maintenance pony.”

I don’t remember what I did next. I remember my bedroom, and a blurred flight from the classroom before anypony saw me crying and made fun of me for it.

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I found myself still staring at the statue of Twilight Sparkle, the building beyond still bearing the sign of.. ‘Twilight Sparkle’s Fillies’ over the entrance. “Miss? You okay?” The pegasus was staring at me, a look of... Concern? on his muzzle.

“Yeah. Went to the moon for a bit. What’s this place?” Finally... Something I’d been searching for all my life. I felt like I would cry. Stairs I didn’t have to hop up! He turned to lead again as we started up towards the doors. I noticed there was something of a temperature difference near the statue...

“Twilight Sparkle’s Home For Fillies. It was an orphanage before Fillydee was hit- this we’ve learned from records preserved inside and elsewhere. The Enclave holds the most complete records of Before of anypony in the Wasteland, completely unbiased. Empty for a hundred or so years, somepony eventually got the bright idea to run a brothel out of it- this is one of the few ‘safe zones’ of Fillydelphia, used to be a settlement here before the Applejack’s Rangers swept through. Well, the brothel’s owner found a Stable with a sealed entrance in the basement- apparently they’d gotten by stallion-free for all that time. Nopony’s quite sure how, but there were... Samples in deep-freeze they coulda used. Fifty or so years ago the Enclave rolled in and took everything around this part of town from the Rangers and got to work rebuilding. It’s one of the places President Surprise has a link to, home to a bit of the Enclave in this area, the Cloverfield Society keeps ponies here, and whatever children don’t end up with the Crusaders in the Fillydelphia operational area grow up here.”

“Barracks, home to eggheads and a politician, and still an orphanage. Got it.” I shook my head. I didn’t ask what it was in a quantum sense, I asked what it was -now- in the observable present. Wait, what? Why were wasteland ponies all so talkative...

We stepped to one side as a flock of foals flew and stampeded past us, a flustered fuschia filly in tow. I rubbed an ear as the hallway quieted down, I felt.. smarter. My head clearer. I could almost hear my brain humming. We were stopped by a couple uniformed unicorns, who waved us on at a nod from my companion. Another elevator. We headed down again, into the depths of Fillydelphia this time.

“That’s an interesting accent you have, Spanner Wrench.”

 “105 was all Bayston area ponies. What’s your excuse, Stalliongrad?”

He chuckled. “You should hear my sister. Hers is much thicker. My name is Crimson Dawn, by the way. The terminal you’ll use to speak with the President is right through here.

I stepped out of the elevator and through a doorway into a room dominated by a terminal. “This is getting old, Surprise.”

“Ah. Spanner Wrench. I was expecting you. Is it done? Did you find, perhaps, resolve in Ponyville?”

“I guess you could say that. I’ll do no more for you until you pay me what you owe. Deliverance of Magenta Sky to Stalliongrad, the eradication of the Ponyville slaver camp... I’ve done enough. Pay me. I also think I deserve a face-to-face meeting... I found out some interesting things from a Major Gilda Stormstrider.”

There wasn’t any response from the other end, and then Surprise replied. “In time...” She paused for a moment, then continued. “In the meantime... I have more for you to do. But you’re right. You have earned something. A commendation for your friend. She shall henceforth be elevated to the rank of Vanguard. For you, access to everything the Enclave has to offer. Our labs and machine shops are open, within reason.”

This pot seemed awful sweet.. I pursed my lips and looked up at the ceiling as if mulling this over. “What’s the catch?”

“Crimson Dawn will brief you on your return to Ponyville. You wanted access to the Fluttershy Medical Center, did you not?”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head a little, trying to chase away the crawling sensation inside. Did the need never end with this one? Didn’t she have an endless army to do these things? I sighed a little and did my best to look put-upon. “I guess I can head back to Ponyville. I need my team and we weren’t finished picking the place over, anyhow.”

“Goodbye, Spanner. The next time we speak will be the Fluttershy Medical Center... Face to face.”

I felt nothing as I left. I guess I was just.. Jaded to the ways of the world by now. Life had lost its luster. I longed for easy days of fucking around in my Stable. Surprise rubbed me the wrong way somehow. Just didn’t feel right to be taking these missions from her.. I grumbled to myself and watched Dawn, who had been watching me while smirking bemusedly. he struck a button that would take our elevator back up into the once and now orphanage. “I’m supposed to travel with you for a while, Spanner.” We stepped off the elevator and trotted down to the streets of Fillydelphia. I heard the subtle sounds of a riot forming not far off- shouting and general grumbling, the clatter of tools being readied for use as weapons. Things were going to blow up soon, and my armor-less ass was going to be far away when they did! Stable riots were one thing... What about Wasteland riots?

I looked up at Crimson, and he frowned as he heard it as well. “That can’t be good.”

“It’s that crazy that is trying to build an empire out of the southern half of FillyDee.. He probably managed to whip up his ponies..” We retreated back into the building, he trotted into a side room and returned with a shotgun. Twelve round drum, twelve-gauge.. Lethal at close range and effective at medium. Perfect.

“This is an I-”

“LR Ironpony-89. I’m aware. I don’t know why it would be stocked in an orphanage, though. Big step up from the 88 model which had a tendency to explode if the barrel was put under too much stress.” Where did that come from?

“Ah.. Yes. Don’t let anypony get too close.. They use the automatic chopsaws as well in their attempt at industry, and it probably wouldn’t do your unprotected flesh too well- there’s no armor that will fit you.” He was slipping me into some sort of saddle- and then I ‘realized’ immediately what it was. There was a crawling sensation in my forehead and then the knowledge was there.

“Combat harness Mark Three... Police special. Probably will need some shoring up to fit under my belly.” I reached out with my magic, helping him clip on the shotgun and hook it into the reloader mechanism, which held two reserve drums. I decided I wasn’t going to argue with my newfound scientific expertise- or at least my freaky knowledge of materiel. “I know, I wear a foal’s Stable suit.”

Now armed, at least, and with me trying not to chew on the shotgun’s bit, Crimson lead me out into Fillydelphia’s quickly-becoming-meaner streets. Night was approaching, and lights were kicking on all over. I whipped around, and realized the noise I’d heard was just my imagination. After tensing on the bit, the shotgun bucking and roaring as it spat buckshot into the darkness. “Must have been my imagination.”

“No, you heard something.” A flashlight on his rifle kicked on and illuminated the shotgunned corpse of something that had once been a pony (and ugly before the Ironpony had taken its face). “They call em ‘hippus’ around here. Something in the air, the water, around here.. Eventually it rots ponies from the inside out, makes them something.. less.”

“Shit. Should just wipe this town and be done with it.”

“Applejack’s Ranger’s tried. It used to be a lot worse...”

I shook my head and checked my Pipbuck. “Let’s see here... Scanning for.. Vertibucks.” The tag tracker found us one, one street over. No debris. “Alright. That way.” I pointed with a hoof, and let him lead as he had the flash and was wearing armor. I heard a low growl and called out to him, he noticed the pony rushing towards him with the grip of a rotary saw gripped in his teeth, getting ready to slice through his chest. His rifles barked three times each in rapid succession, and the pony stumbled, dropping to the ground. I looked around and nudged it with a hoof, unclasping the mask covering its whole head. Luckily, it seemed to be a corpse, and we were about the same size, so I slipped on the mask and nudged the filters. “Holy shit, they have night vision?”

“They work underground, in toxic environments, and it’s almost always too dark to see worth shit in this town. So yeah, they have pretty decent filtration helmets with a vision-field effect in the goggles.”

I laughed. This was almost too easy. No mutation for me (unless it could get in through the skin... hmm..) AND I could see! I trotted forwards, almost not paying attention as I rounded the corner, noticing the pony racing towards me at the last moment, and backpedaling as fast as I could. “Shitshitshitshit!” It looked.. wrong somehow. I realized it was upside down. Both eyes were bloodshot and one looked dead, its jaw worked in a keening screech as it clawed at the pavement. Its legs didn’t seem to work properly; it was all broken up like somepony’d worked it over with a sledgehammer.. Something snapped and it crashed to the ground, bone showing an eerie green in the lenses as it stuck out of the forelimb, the thing trying to rise again before I clenched my teeth around the bit in my mouth. Again. And again. And again. I fired until it stopped moving and the only response from the shotgun was a dry clicking sound. I fought to regain my breathing and realized that Crimson was... holding me.

“What..”

“Breathe. Relax. It’s dead now.” He nudged the mechanism that dropped the drum out of the shotgun, and slapped a fresh one into place. “Orange band... Shit. Be careful with these, I didn’t look at the drums. Don’t shoot anything too close to you.” He pulled away with a small smile as he trotted off towards the Vertibuck laying down the street, spotlights illuminating the area around it like daytime. I shakily rose to my hooves, wondering what good a shotgun that you couldn’t shoot things up close with was...

Nothing came out of nowhere after us, and the trip to the vehicle was actually pretty anticlimactic. We stepped into the circle of light... and then everything exploded. Hot fragments of metal were tossed into the air, both of us tossed backwards. “Well there goes our ride.” I muttered, holding my head and trying to ignore the faint ticking coming from my Pipbuck.

“Shut up. Find us another.” He looked up and cursed. “Belay that.”

I tilted my head and followed his line of sight. Well... shit. “Well.. This day just can’t get any better.” It looked like it once was a pony... before someone fed it up on Buck-up. A massive.. thing of twisted flesh was slowly laboring its way down the street towards us... Somepony had seen to stick at least four missile launchers to this thing, and a massive six-barreled gun hung off either side. A foal rode on its back, a crazed grin in its face as it raced among the weaponry bristling from the thing, reloading, apparently. I saw a flash of something in the little one’s hooves. No, she was injecting it with chems.

Two more missiles streaked through the air towards us as me’n Crimson dove to get out of the way, a high-pitched whine echoing through the street after the concussion of the blasts. “Minigun’s spinning up! Shoot the damned thing, Spanner! Aim for the launchers!”

I saw what he was thinking. I had no Jet, no chems, nothing.. This would be me (and SATS, of course). I tossed myself out from behind the ground vehicle I’d been using as cover, and stared up at the thing before a crazy plan formulated in my head. I dashed forward, lining up a shot with one eye slightly squinted and the other staring down the shotgun’s sighting.

“COME ON, IF YOU THINK YOU’RE HARD ENOUGH!”

I screamed at the thing, it roared in response and I had what I was looking for. It’s undivided attention. I slipped into the calmness of SATS, everything pausing as I balanced on the knife-edge of the moment, waiting, waiting, waiting.. It fired, and I laughed before queuing up the shot, and clamped down on the bit. The spell fell away and returned me to the heat and rush of the Fillydelphia night, the sounds of those massive weapons slung off it speeding up and preparing to unleash leaden death, my own laughter, and a massive explosion as slug met missile and blew off half of its face.

Unfortunately for me, it seemed Tall Mutated and Stupid wasn’t in control of himself, or had such a tiny peabrain that missing half of its skull didn’t bother it. What I can only describe as a roar issued from the cycling barrels on either side as they began flinging rounds my way. I felt each impact, the path of each bullet as a lance of ice, and PAIN. I could feel it. I went down hard, and felt, rather than heard, the rough grumbling sound of the beast’s laughter.

The lights of the helmet went dark, or my vision became blurry and dim as I felt the burning pain of the holes riddling my flesh and allowing my ruby lifeblood to spill in a slowly-spreading pool around me... I heard a scream and looked up, color returning to the world briefly as I saw Crimson flying, taking advantage of my distracting the mutant and ditching me to bleed out in the street no doubt. I wondered if I was dying. Probably. Sure felt like it. I looked forward to dying. I wondered if I’d see my mother.

“Get up.”

“I’m not in the mood for your shit, Sapper. I’m dying. I want to go home. I’m sixteen Luna-scorned years old.. and I’m bleeding out in the streets of Fillydelphia, murdered by a mutant.”

“You’re not dying. Look, hardly even a scratch. Stop being melodramatic.”

I couldn’t do it. I wondered if the gray pony I saw ever had these moments.. When she just gave up. I curled in the pool of my own blood as my vision swam, black eating at the corners of it. I could see Sapper watching me, her outline faintly glowing. She was the most solid thing I could see. I was begging.. Pleading to feel the weight no more..

“Say anything.. or just say nothing.. Please. Just take me with you to Everafter.”

“It is not your time to make that journey, my dear Spanner. You have many miles to walk yet.”

Oh... Celestia... And it was. Just like in my dream. The dream I’d had before... everything. Before the Lottery. I writhed and held up my hooves to her, pleading for succor. Begging for her to take the weight from my back. She stood tall, at least if not taller than Cutthroat. Just as haughty as in my dream. I thought that this was going to go the same way, she would end me in an instant.. But she gathered me in her gilded forehooves, and helped me to rise. I felt... The only way to describe it was that I felt gold. I shone. Light poured from the bulletholes, from my eyes, my mouth... The blood was rising from the ground as I stood there in wonder. The ruby liquid, my life’s blood, was flowing back into me.. Into the holes ripped in my flesh, the wounds healing and scarring over as I stood. Celestia... fuck it can’t really be her... She set me down, and touched her horn to mine for a magical, golden moment. I felt.. Great. I sneered at the snivelling pony I’d been five minutes previously, begging to die.

And then she was gone. I went to take a step and stumbled. My forelock was still electric blue... But I could also spot red and green.. and yellow.. My mane was a fucking rainbow. Interesting. Why did my body still not work?

I realized I was taller. Bigger. I felt something shift in me as I tapped into the magic pooling within me, loosening the straps on the combat harness until it fit better. I laughed aloud as I took the bit between my teeth and stripped off the shredded filtration helmet. I could see in the red twilight as well as if Celestia’s sun was burning directly overhead.

Crimson stared at me, as I stretched out my new form and popped my joints, ignoring the ponies stepping out of sidestreets and alleys to back up the monster. My head felt clear. And I felt power like golden light rushing through my veins. The giant pony wound up his miniguns again, and there was that same awful blasting sound; continuous ratatatatat. But I didn’t care. White wings enfolded me, and an aura bloomed around me, my eyes narrowing as I bit down. Another shell blasted from my shotgun, and exploded against the pony’s shoulder. I laughed and ran forward as the beast fired to no effect, a miniature sun blazing around me and throwing heat and light.. Soon there was the clickclickclick of an empty drum, and I ripped the shotgun from the saddle with a burst of magic as I leapt so freely it felt like flying... The butt came down and crashed in the little pony’s face, I kicked it off and tossed the shattered weapon aside. I grinned at a devilish idea.

A glow hazed into being around my horn, the light of the aura contracting and feeding into my magic, and the miniguns were torn from their housing, the pony casting about for me and still firing. I swung them towards the growing crowd and laughed as the rounds chewed through meat and filled the courtyard with a lake of blood and chunky pony salsa. Abruptly, the guns stopped as the monster below me fell as if poleaxed as rounds neatly severed his head from the neck.

Just as quickly as I’d been charged by this energy, it fell away. I could still see perfectly (almost -too- well), I was covered in blood, but I no longer glowed, and there was no longer a protective nimbus about me. I was free of the murderous lust that had sprung within me at so much power coursing through me, and the sight of so much death wrought by my own horn made me a little bit queasy.

I was breathing hard, and staring down at the ground, examining every grain of the blood-splattered brickwork. “Spanner? What happened? I saw you fall, and then you just.. exploded into a ball of light..”

“I prayed... and my prayers were answered.” I wondered at the cost. “But now it seems I’m free to pave my own way."

“I see. Find us another Vertibuck and let’s get out of here. This place is going to turn upside down over the next hour between the Enclave and Asher’s ponies.. And probably the ponies of Minimum Security will break out.. and the hippi will make things fun for everypony involved. Not deserting or anything, but... Surprise wants you alive, so I’m going to make sure you stay that way, alright?” He seemed to be uncomfortable with the idea of just leaving his comrades like this with the shit just bubbling up from the sewers to drown all of them.

I nodded and looked down at my Pipbuck, shuffling through and peering over my area map. “Uh... There’s another on top of a building to the southeast.”

He nodded and looked up at the dark clouds obscuring the sky, before smiling a little bit. “No worries. We’ll get there. I’ll fly you there, it’ll be cake.” Right, just as this visit was supposed to be a cakewalk..

So that's how I ended up with my forelegs hooked around Crimson's neck and holding on for dear life lest I fall off and splat against streets far below us. Doubt filled my mind as I stared down at the ground so far away, before burying my nose in his mane. "Flying sucks. Why did I agree to this."

He snickered idly and shook his head as he flapped his powerful wings, driving us higher. Luckily, nopony was taking potshots at us yet, so we were free to fly. No more monsters made of towering twisted flesh and wielding more armnament than should be allowed a single pony. His hooves thumped against the top of the skyscraper and I leapt off immediately, still unsure of my new body. I trotted towards the Vertibuck where it lay on a landing pad, dark and unobtrusive. "Well. Looks like the nightmare is now over. We can get the fuck out of this poisoned town."

You're probably thinking this is where everything went wrong, right? Well... Yeah. A couple ponies clipped into harnesses and well-armed thundered onto the rooftop and brandished their weapons at us. Crimson cocked his rifle and cursed, and I cast about for armor, arms, anything! Well.. I did have a friend! I dove behind the pegasus as they opened fire, bullets plinking off his thick combat armor. "The fuck are you doing!?"

I looked over and concentrated, a misty blue haze of thaumic energy collecting around my horn as I recalled my lessons in magic given me by my mother.

"All ponies have magic, Wrenchie."

"Even Earth ponies?"

"Yes. But unicorns are unique in that we can force the magic of our bodies out through our horn to put it directly to work. Your teacher will probably tell you of laws, I will simply tell you not to stretch your limits. You'll die."

I grimaced and reached out with the magic, feeling it collect around the light machine gun attached to one of the ponies' combat harnesses. I treated it like an extension of my own body, 'biting' down on it and wrenching at it with the sheath.

"Like that, momma?"

"Yes Wrenchie. Carefully now." The screwdriver I was holding wobbled and began to carefully turn- like I was biting down upon it or manipulating it with my hooves. The screw came loose steadily, and in my excitement I lost control and dropped the screwdriver, the hardened (but brittle) steel shattering on contact with the floor.

"Oh... momma I'm so sorry! I broke it!" My mother's face screwed up and she set her teeth, her expression quickly becoming that which I began to call her 'rageface' in the privacy of my own mind and when I spoke of our relationship to Silk Spun. And then she sighed, like she sighed on the day that Daddy di- LEFT the Stable, and folded her forelegs around me. I sighed, too, and relaxed against her as I saw her own horn spark up.

"Relax, Wrenchie.. I'm not mad. Just disappointed. Here, watch, I'll teach you another thing."

I realized it would be impossible for me to tear it off the mount; it seemed bolted sturdily into place. I grimaced and felt the world slow as I switched tactics and began influencing the bolts holding it fast.

"Now, if you find yourself without a specific tool, with enough concentration you can make a magical version. The same idea as normally influencing things, only applied in the shape of a tool."

A haze collected as I gritted my teeth, staring and ignoring the bullets ricocheting around me. It contracted in the shape of an electric-blue spanner that gripped first one bolt and then the other, steadily removing them. Now freed, I let the spell go and tore the weapon free as I pounced forward, landing on the back of the male with all four hooves outstretched and placed against one another as I slammed into his spine, hearing a gratifying snap. I wrenched a foreleg around his skull, holding his jaw tight around the bit as I swerved the machine gun onto his dumbstruck companions, making them dive for cover as 5.56 crackled through the air.

"Remember this. Remember E.F.S. Remember S.A.T.S. You never know when they'll come in handy." It didn't strike me then, but it made my heart hollow to remember today. "Most importantly, don't forget to eat, stay in when it rains, and make friends.."

I was so shocked with the thread of memory that I lost all concentration and dropped the gun. Luckily, the ponies intent on keeping us from leaving had dispersed by now, spooked by my show of magical power and the hail of bullets. "... She knew."

"Who knew what, Spanner?" Crimson Dawn immediately flew over and began checking the vehicle out for immediate use.

"My mother. She knew. She knew that the Lottery would call my name. She prepared me for a harsh life in the Wastes as best she could." I now knew why she'd had me help her maintain the reactor that one time; to teach me of the wonders of RadSafe and Rad-B-Gon.

"Would you rather realize that she knew that, or that she knew that and tried her best to prepare you for it? Our parents do their best to prepare us for the world." He reached up and bit a padded grip on the body, tugging down the hatch of the Vertibuck and letting us inside.

"Can you fly this thing?" I trotted after him, staring uneasily at the stairwell the ponies had emerged from.

"Of course. My mother taught me the basics of Vertibuck operation." He trotted towards the front, as I shut the door. I followed after a moment, taking the seat that the copilot would normally take as I watched him. "Diagnostics say we're running clean. Starting engines." A loud thrum began, conducted by the hull, as the rotors on either wing started turning. "Overpressure system active. Maintaining cockpit at one and a half atmospheres." I felt the familiar lurch of liftoff, and smacked my head off the console ahead of me. Pain flared, lights flashed in my eyes, and passed out.

Interlude: Pausing for Breath.

The small female had been slowly shifting over the course of her story as she'd described things. Haltingly at first her story came, before the shade poured herself out into the cups of sweet wine the ponies listening sipped from. Questions came as she fell silent, looking down into her drink as if unsure of how to continue, or finished with the story. Her chromatic mane flopped down in front of her muzzle, but that eye-catching lock of electric blue still remained the focal point.

"Keep going." The gray mare with the Pipbuck cutie mark spoke up, leaning across the table.

A mostly-cybernetic looking white mare with a black and red striped mane sipped from her mug of Wild Pegasus before letting it be refilled. "That's how this place works. You tell your story until it's tired and the Wasteland forgets that you ever existed. You just keep telling that story until the details get fuzzy and you forget. It's a way of atoning for your sins, I guess. But you need to keep airing out that story. Even though you're dead, you still need to get over."

The black-plumed griffon just smirked in that savvy way he had behind his silver mask and continued polishing glasses and the bar in between refilling mugs and cups. He spoke, which shocked most of the ponies in the bar; he was dubbed The Black by some and Listener by others as that's all he ever did. His voice was slightly cold, yet jingled with the mirth of some joke only he was privy to, and carried a tint of that province known as Germaney. "And when all the stories are told und forgotten... Then there shall be an end to things."

Spanner Wrench took a deep breath and tipped back her drink, before staring into the empty mug, content with the way things were at the moment and not wishing for a refill. "Not much has happened, I'll admit. It took a long time to tell, a month of inactivity and no more than a week of frenetic motion without stopping. I slept when I got knocked the fuck out." She took another small breath, the shade seeming to contract in on herself before filling out.

"I have my Arbu. I have my mattress. Just as you have, I've had my moments. But if there's one thing I'm not.. It's a nice pony. I'm not a good pony." She pointed at the gray mare and the white one in turn. "You both have pedestals. You clawed your way atop them and viciously defended your positions. Desperately, you remained the Good pony. The pony wearing the white hat. You were tested, you stumbled, but... I think you both should feel marble under your hooves."

"I have no pedestal.  I never wanted one. If I came across it, I'd probably use it for cover. I'll do as you wish and continue, but I must warn you that it gets bleaker from here on out."

A coffee-colored stallion with a rather scruffy-looking brown mane burst into the bar, leaning on the swivel doors and screaming into the barroom. "I need five stallions who can dance the can-can, and aren't allergic to asparagus!"

I woke up with my head wrapped in gauze from where it had been bleeding. I wondered who had taken care of that. I could see the lights of Ponyville not far off from where we were, probably another ten minutes or so.. "Something doesn't sit right with me. Why was Magenta in a flight with more of your siblings?"

 "We're combing the Wasteland for our sister Twister. The Colonel will be pleased to have her come home."

"The Colonel... I get the feeling she don't like me too much." I felt an odd twitch in the pit of my chest as I noticed a photograph attached to one of the terminals in the bank before me. My magic lifted it, and I tilted my head as I examined the lineup; two unicorns, an Earth filly, and a pegasus, all in slightly different uniforms and appearing only a little older than myself. I turned it over, brow furrowing as I read the careful writing on the back that had weathered the intervening two hundred years well.

'Cutie Mark Crusader Equestrian Army Recruits! - Scootaloo (Airmare First Class), Applebloom (Private First Class),  Sweetie Belle (Private First Class), Dinky Doo (Seamare First Class)'

Dinky Doo... She looked familiar... Then it hit me. I'd seen almost that exact coloration in my brother. I'd seen this mare, middle-aged, in a photograph back in the Stable. I wondered when she'd became Sapper Spade the engineer. Below the names, lay a less-calmly written post-script that bore... Coordinates. My Eyes-Forward Sparkle flashed, and 'Pipbuck tag added' flashed in my vision. A quick check of my map showed us to be close, and I pointed to the same place on the Vertibuck’s map. "Can you put us down... there?"

Crimson raised a brow, but nodded. The Vertibuck whined softly, as we swung over a place my Pipbuck named 'Sweet Apple Acres'. I really wondered how it did that. And then I didn't wonder, because I knew. Mapmaking spell in the Robronco over-engineered piece of scrap on my foreleg that updated itself, loaded with a full map of pre-war Equestria. The landing struts of the vehicle sunk into the loam as I peered out of the hatch at a small building nestled in the trees. My brilliant logic deduced that it was a 'treefort'. My Pipbuck agreed, the tag I was chasing updating to 'Crusader Base' on my map.

"Stay here.. I want to check something out." I flicked my chromatic mane out of my vision as I stepped carefully down, looking around before trotting across the field and up the ramp into the little building. The inside was as bright to me as if it was daytime, despite the clouds shrouding the black sky overhead.

It was nothing I could have dreamed of, back home. (Home, how that word stung after nearly two months..) A foal-sized table with cushions strewn around it. A mural of blankflank Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle that pained me with its hopeless cheer. They had no idea their world would be war within ten years of this painting.. A stairway leading up to a second level, that didn't appeal to me currently, as there was something on the table. A hooflocker.

Now, in my experience, hooflockers abandoned in prewar ruins -usually- held good stuff. I salivated at the thought of what might be inside. I tapped it cautiously in case it had a mine hidden under it, and was surprised to find the lid snap open fairly easily. Would I find anything there? I noticed an orange filly in the corner who had snapped to attention upon my arrival, appraised me with glowing red eyes for a moment, and settled back down. She... it seemed artificial, and I had no doubt its unnaturally smooth flesh was achieved through a metal shell.

Peering over the edge of the locker, I was astonished to find it full of assorted stuff. Obviously if the machine-filly hadn't approved of my message, something would have happened to discourage me from taking anything or entering. Or maybe the steady click-click-clicking of my Pipbuck's radiation sensor was why. I levitated the top object out, which seemed to be a set of combat armor with a rampant Earth filly on each flank where a pony's cutie mark would be. I didn't argue with the find, just slipped it on slowly, reminded of Cutthroat's little performance with her own power armor as I buckled it into place.

A new set of saddlebags followed, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a shotgun and a revolver in the bottom of the locker. There was a holster on the right hoof that the revolver fit into. I marveled at the craftsmanship, surely only a unicorn could turn out a piece so beautiful! A hammer entwined with apple blossoms marked each side of the ebony mouthgrip, the gun itself seeming to be chambered for the rifle cartridges I could spot in the locker, my EFS advising me they were '.45-70 Gov't" and that the box only held ten. Two reloads then. The shotgun was the same story, only the armor held its own harness that it locked into. Beautifully crafted, and I thought I could still smell and spot the oil it had been packed away coated in to preserve it against the ages. A laser played across the far wall as I tried the fit of the bit attached to the gun, to my surprise. The blued steel barrel gleamed darkly in the wan light, and I licked my lips at the thought of what this might be able to do, what I was capable of with this new weaponry.

Shiny bits, a few bottles of Sparkle-Cola, a few assorted books and magazines marked [BANNED MATERIAL] across the covers, and a metal box emptied out the locker and left me feeling accomplished. This little find more than made up for the Fillydelphia fiasco. A holotape caught my eye, that I hadn't noticed before. Thankfully, my overengineered piece of scrap knew how to play it, it involved simply pressing one side of the tape to a small slot that could be accessed just above the screen. A little white pony thumped her hooves impatiently in my head as I waited, before 'CMC- Final Meeting' appeared in my Notes, before the file played.

“This shall be our final meeting." Sweetie Belle.

"Ever'thin's gone wrong. We're in our forties now, girls.. can you believe it?" Accented, I didn't reconize the voice.

"I know, 'Bloom... It's all sideways... I remember.. Seems so long ago now, that we did that stupid talent show."

"All y'all did fine, then. I do remembah beatin' ouah lil songbuhd here in tha Sistahooves Social." Sa- Dinky? Which means the other voices were Scootaloo and Applebloom.

"The Crusaders are huge... everypony's off fighting and dying... Families are being torn apart."

"If you're listening to this, and you aren't one of us four, it means what we're doing next has failed. Each of us will leave something important in this locker, and one of 'Bloom's golems can watch it. I'll put in Lil' Bloom."

Applebloom and Sweetie were embarrassedly quiet as the other two had a quiet giggle at their expense. "I'll put in my ahmah. Gonna trade it in for a 105 bahding tomorrow, anyway.. Kept me safe through my whole careeyuh. Lotsa pockets, room fo'tools."

"I guess muh Applebucker kin go in. Ain't gonna have much use for her from behind a desk."

"I'll put in stuff I saved from the burn pile, a snack or two for the pony who'll read all this, and a backup of all my evidence."

A small sigh. "Ah guess that's all she wrote. Tonight, we'll leave here, and tomorrow Dinky gets shipped off to 105, Ah start drivin' a desk, Sweetie goes back on tour... And Scoots'll... Aw hell, I can't say it..."

"Tomorrow, every newspaper shall know of our crimes against Equestria. Celestia. Luna. Me. You three. Rarity. Pinkie. ... Dash. Everypony who could have stopped this. Everypony who let this drag on for thirty years."

"Hey, why don't we.. one more time..?"

An exasperated sigh, and murmurs of assent. Four voices lift in song, filling one another with strength.

"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders... On a quest to find out who we are... And we will never stop the journey... Not until we have our cutie marks..."

I blinked as the recording ended, finding myself filled with a deep melancholy. Loaded down with new armor, new weapons, ammunition, books, and a weight in my heart, I trotted out of the clubhouse and back into the night, quickly across the field to where the Vertibuck lay idling. Crimson looked at me as I flopped into the copilot's seat and let out a sob.

"Nice gear. Hey wait... Are you crying..?" He turned to me, concern filling his baritone, Stalliongrad-flavored voice. "What's wrong."

"Nothing.. Just a recording I found." I gathered myself up and twitched both my ears, leaning back in the seat. "Just let's go already."

"First one? They'll get you, don't you worry. But something sick inside you wants the hurt, wants to know what is left behind by those that perished in the fire." He looked back to the controls and fired up the rotors, the vehicle raising into the air again and bringing us back the rest of the way to Ponyville. No sooner had the landing struts thumped the cobbles than Magenta rushed forward to meet me, before scowling at the pegasus who disembarked next to me.

"Brother. Spanner? What happened to you? What did they do?"

"I can't explain it myself, I don't exactly know. I got better after getting minigunned. After that... Kinda fuzzy on the exacts."

Crimson thumped an armored forehoof impatiently. "Was she among the rescues, Magenta?"

"We'll talk later, Spanner. No, Crimson.. but there was evidence that she was here. One of the slaves I freed had seen her, she was taken away about two weeks ago. And everypony we could question is dead."

"Not everypony." I left them to their catching up on familial matters (something I was clueless on) and ducked into the library. Doc was upstairs, still tending to the mare I'd shot yesterday. She was awake, and looked ugly. Her ruined face slurred her words oddly.

"I shot you, twice. You should not be alive right now."

"Yeah yeah yeah shove it up your ass. You missed the second shot and the first barely tore my coat. You're luck my little brother is a good sawbones on top of being a bleeding heart. I didn't miss."

She injected a Med-X into her neck, and closed her eyes. "I'm aware. What are you doing here, Stable pony? Why did you destroy my outfit? What does Paradise want with Ponyville, with us?"

"The Enclave sent me to wipe you guys out. Paradise is just a convenient story to get us past the gates. Me? I'm going to pick over this town, then me'n my backup are gonna trot our happy asses off to the Fluttershy Medical Center. Wherever that is. Simply business." I smiled a little. Why was I being friendly to this mare? I oughta put another bullet in her head and make sure this one took. I transferred over my saddlebags, and grabbed Air’s Hammer, putting my barding away as I watched her.

"The Order will be here soon to investigate the Vertibucks fluttering around here. They'll be curious as to why the Enclave is here." She rubbed the place where her face was flat from the bullet ripping it to shit and destroying the underlying bone structure. I noticed her left eye was milky white and.. held a crosshair instead of pupil and iris. Well. First time for everything. "You should be gone when they get here, there will be a terrible battle."

I pursed my lips and took a small breath. A white pony told me that I could talk her out of what I wanted from her, without taking her apart.  "Wha'sser name?

"Twelve-Power."

"Mine's Spanner Wrench. I guess you can come with us a while, if we should de-ass this area with quickness soonish, like you said. I thought Akashi ran this town?"

"Akashi was a fool. But my kind are generally frowned upon. Old stereotypes. I can show you the Center, and you're unlikely to survive it without me. It's in Bayston." She got up with a great stretch, and I realized then just how large she was. She was at least as big as Cutthroat, if less bulky, more slim. Okay. I was friends with a pegasus whose flesh was slowly rotting, the trick filly of a half-mechanical-probably-unkillable-monster that straddled the line between mare and stallion. I myself was slowly disintegrating, hallucinating, and had nearly died a horrible death by minigun in Fillydelphia before being rescued by Princess Celestia and put back on my hooves (along with whatever else had been done to me). Even with all this taken into account... Was I really that jaded of the ways of the world that this didn't bother me? That meeting a goddess in the flesh didn't phase me? I'd have to keep on waiting, see what else came of this...

Her rifle pulled itself apart in a pale-green fog, her minty eyes regarding me as she slung on the massive thing and wriggled on a saddlebag bulging with bullets the size of my horn. Now I knew how lucky I was to be alive- she'd torn a chunk out of me with one of those and had barely even hit me. My ears twitched at a noise, and I raced down the stairs to the main room of the library, hearing some sort of commotion outside.

Vertibucks.

Two had touched down on either side of a gazebo containing a statue of a massive Earth pony rearing up on his hind hooves, brandishing a sword. They were disgorging ponies with Enclave Black power armor, that timeless insectile look and large weapons. A further three were circling, waiting their turn. Ponyville was being occupied. I trotted over to where Magenta was waiting, her expression carefully blank. A slowly stirring Gilda was chained at her hooves.

"Zis is wrong. The Order will see this incursion into their territory and send forces. Ten minutes and there will be bloodshed."

"So let's make sure to be gone and out of the crossfire in nine?"

She shook her head, and watched the troops assembling, ponies in Enclave Scientist uniforms installing what I recognized to be comms arrays, grunts placing deployable cover in the broader streets and blocking off smaller ones entirely. The town square was impenetrable within a minute of their arrival.

Crimson Dawn cleared his throat and looked at me and Magenta, before focusing on me. "I hope you don't mind this detour, but the Enclave, your Enclave, needs you to escort three war criminals by Vertibuck from the town of Ponyville. The foal, the ghoul, and my sister shall remain here, against your return. The foal belongs in an orphanage, the ghoul shot for treason, and my sister assisting us in our occupation by rights, anyway."

Words flashed across my vision- "Quest Added; Milk Run. Objective; Ride with the Vertibuck Crew to their destinations."

I opened my map, twitching an ear to Crimson Dawn, who had given Magenta a ledger, the dyed mare beginning to read from it. Twelve-Power was thrown to the cobbles in front of me, knowing better than to put up a fuss in the face of so much weaponry so close to her, technicians were working on stripping Cutthroat of her arms and armor. I distractedly watched the comms officer finishing setting up his terminal and raising the transmitter. I started to pay attention to the reading again as she was finishing up the charges leveled against Cutthroat.

"Major Gilda Stormstrider, Holy Order of the Golden Dawn. You stand accused of terrorism against the Enclave, four hundred thirty seven counts of murder first and second, assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of attempted murder in the first degree.

Nightstalker Twelve-Power, Stable-Tek Sniper Corps. You stand accused of raiding, murder in the first degree, attempted murder in the second degree, larceny, and slaving.

For each of your crimes against Equestria and the Enclave, I Magenta Sky, Vanguard of the Stalliongrad Enclave, condemn you to life in Canterlot Maximum Security Prison.

Master Sergeant Cutthroat shall be brought to Cloverfield for decommissioning. Enclave-commissioned civilian contracter Spanner Wrench of Stable 105 shall be accompanying you.

May Gods have mercy upon your souls."

So that's how I ended up napping and staring at the white unicorn figurine I'd found as the air transport buzzed off many miles out of my way to run yet another errand for Surprise. Last time I'd looked out a window there had been a whole bunch of nothing but forest and clouds between the pinkish cloudbank surrounding Canterlot and the bustling metropolis of Ponyville. I could already hear the first shots being fired, far off behind us.

I tilted my head, Twelve-Power picked her chin up off her forehooves, Gilda looked worried, and Cutthroat was.. implacable Cutthroat as there was a heavy thump on the roof. Crimson grimaced and readied the bit of his rifles as he pushed open a roof hatch. "I'll go see what it was."

The next thing I knew, I heard him scream before his bottom half fell back into the the Vertibuck, splattering gore as there was another loud thud. Times like these I wished I wasn't quite so aware of my surroundings... Then a shaggy-maned head poked through the thankfully pony-sized hatch and roared, the beast struggling to get the Cram out of the proverbial can. One of the pilots shouted the obvious, obligatory "Shut that hatch! Get on the guns and take care of these manticores before they push us into the forest!"

I wasn't Crimson, and he was undeniably no longer with us. But, I was the only pony not currently restrained or otherwise occupied. I drew Air's Hammer from my foreleg (It was nice to have it back, a little familiarity; I wasn't quite ready for Lil' Bloom or Applebucker yet..) and fired all five times, reloading as quickly as I could.

The... Manticore? just roared and seemed more pissed off by my bullets than anything else. It became apparent that I neede more gun.

Then the world came to a screeching halt. Everything became painfully clear as if I was on mints, as I noticed and lifted Crimson's beam pistol from where it had dropped from its holster. A voice whispered the design specifications of this particular model as I bit the grip. I felt a nudge, somepony guiding my aim. I looked aside and saw the outline of the newly deceased red pegasus, who tipped me a wink from his place next to me, one foreleg around my neck and shoulders. My gaze flicked back forward as I worked the trigger.

There was a flash, and an odd sound as a bright blue bolt of energy sprung from the square muzzle of the weapon, striking the beast between the eyes. There was a neat hole in its forehead and ash ran from its empty eye sockets, disintegrating into powder in slow motion as I stared. Calmly, I dropped the gun and crushed it under a forehoof. Nothing so horrific should be allowed to exist. I trotted forward and closed the hatch, trying not to think of what would have happened had I missed!

"Good shot." I turned, I was alone with Cutthroat and the other two, the voice and Dawn vanished.

"I hope you find Everafter, Dawn.."

I was roused from my mourning of a newly-won friend and mulling over why the death pained me, and why I suddenly felt the way I did about beam weapons- I'd been pleased with Ditzy's and Magenta’s, after all- by a shout from the pilot compartment.

"Shit. Manticores are back. Everypony strap in back there."

I trotted off and found a rather claustrophobic compartment dominated by a seat and terminal with a joystick attached. The drumming of the rotors was louder here, I must be in one of the wings. I dropped into the seat and engaged the harness, shoving my hooves over the controls in front of me. Peering into the scope of the monitor-less terminal, I saw one of those things clinging to the roof of the transport, clawing at the metal. I listened as a serious voice again whispered in my ear.

"General Thaumics VAC. One on top of each wing. Left hoof aims, the trigger under your right will cycle and fire. Hold for three seconds, it will start firing. Hold three more, release. Bursts, don't overheat the guns."

"Who are you?"

"Worry about that later. For now, save yourself."

Whomever my new crazy was, she had a point. I held the button and winced as a loud whine rang out. The manticore looked up in time for its head to be fragmented into mist and the burst to chew huge holes into its body. It slid off the metal slicked with its own gore, and struck another flying up behind us.

Two more were approaching. I swung the gun around and let off a burst, scattering them and scaring them off.

“Good. It would be terrible for you to die here, in such a weak manner."

"Who are you?"

"I used to be Twilight Sparkle. I don't know what to call myself now after I was fragmented and scattered across Equestria... I think I'll be allowed to go to Everafter if you bring me back together. You carry Rarity's endurance with you, and I can feel that Dash flew with you for a short while and then went back to sleep. I can also feel Her hoof upon you. Interesting. Where are we going?"

"Canterlot, if we can get there."

"That pile of Horse's trash got you lost? Wait... Canterlot... Little red flag popping up... It's going to be very dangerous there. I will do my best to keep you safe, but I am weak.. Science is my forte. Another fragment of Rarity exists in Canterlot, I feel.. You should seek her out, you will need her strength. I won't be able to speak with you for a while..."

"So you're the one that's been downloading information into my head... and making me think bad about my Pipbuck. Thank you, though. I should be able to handle things. I've misplaced my touchstone, I'll ask your advice if I need it."

"Technical things to do with Science and Magic I can help with, but... I'm far from the pony you should be asking advice from. I can teach you to build things, but moral and social niceties alike are foreign to me."

Sounds familiar. I scanned the horizon and leaned back in the seat as I felt the weight of Twilight shift in my head. I could almost sense when she fell asleep. Was I hallucinating? Was any of this real? I wondered, and in wondering I returned to thoughts of Crimson Dawn...

I decided to stay on the gun (in case it was needed, not because of the comfy seat or because it was fucking awesome.) I admit to falling asleep in the seat, my face pressed against the scope's viewscreen. I woke to a headache and a keening sound I presumed to be some sort of siren- almost sounded like the riot alert in the Stable.

"Unidentified aircraft, you are occupying Reich airspace. Divert, land, or be landed." A cold voice filled the Vertibuck, presumably through some sort of transmission. I heard one of the pilots call back to us all in the cargo hold- like anypony but me actually needed to know this!

"Don't worry. They don't have pegasi or anything to pursue us. We've flown this before, probably just a pre-war automaton still manning its radio. Never responded to hails or recognized identification before."

Almost before he finished speaking, the vehicle trembled and was tossed around amid impossibly loud explosions as shells burst around us and filled the air with flak.

"This was a warning shot. Our guns are trained on your aircraft. Make your decision now."

"Shitshitshit." I muttered to myself. I hoped that the pilots knew what they were doing enough to evade the the anti-aircraft fire. I didn't feel like dying again today, I doubted that I'd be brought back to life this time..

Next thing I remember is the viewscreen of the cannons smeared with blood, me hanging in the harness awkwardly. Another seizure. Whatever Celestia had done, she'd only brought me back from the brink and gave me the ability to see in the night.. I pushed myself up shakily and listened to the uncertain throbbing of the motors of the aircraft.

"You and me both, yah great steel flyin' sack o' shit."

"How are you holding up?" Was that concern I heard in my hallucination's voice?

"Still dying, I feel. Only slowly now.. He's dead you know. He saved me.. And now he's dead."

"I know. I'm proud of you, Spanner. You've grown up a lot in the past week. You'll carry Fillydelphia with you forever. You'll always return to worrying at the Stable, wanting to go home. But these are places that tore at you. Take it from an old wraith like me. You'll forever regret that Crimson died so suddenly and all you could do was avenge him.

Our sins, our failures, our transgressions, they have shadows taller than our souls, shadows a thousand years long."

"It's getting more difficult to control my body. Whatever was done to me slowed it, but I'm still degenerating. My magic is shakier now than it's ever been. I'm getting so weak.."

"Endure, Spanner. The Wasteland is a conscious entity that wishes for you to fail and break and play by its rules. If you curl up and die, it wins. If you go back to raiding, if you destroy settlements and take prisoners as slaves, it wins. If the Wasteland breaks you, it wins and war never changes.. the great red bitch."

"One day. I just want ONE day without anything exploding or me getting shot."

"Then change war. Clean the Wasteland of radiation. Ban weapons. You will never have that one day if you curl up and die."

"... I know. I know. I'll endure. I can't be broken like this.."

I felt us losing altitude, and the rotors slowed. We must have been landing. I trotted through to the cargo bay and watched as quiet ponies with scarred faces trotted onto the vehicle and unloaded the prone, chained form of Cutthroat and set her on a hooftruck to bring her outside. I could make out 'Cloverfield Research' on a sign off to one side, and numerous buildings that looked less blown up than others I'd seen.

By then Twelve-Power was coming to from where she was laying on the grating of the hold. She stretched and popped her joints before the mint-green alicorn laid down again, ruffling her wings with a sigh as she got comfortable. I put Cutthroat and her fate ('decomissioning' didn't sound good.) out of my mind as I trotted towards her, still marveling at my ability to look her in the eyes without looking up.

"What's your story? Were you always an alicorn?"

"I don't exactly remember... Two hundred years is a long time, Spanner. There are three distinct personalities enmeshed to create Twelve-Power. The facility of our conception is here in Cloverfield. Our point of manufacture was in Bayston if you're curious."

I shook my head and sighed.

"Don't worry, I get the feeling everything will come up sunshine and rainbows.."

It was cold in the cargo bay, so I huddled up against Twelve-Power's side. I winced at the jerk of takeoff, and she folded a wing around me and touched her horn to mine. A spark danced between our horns and my eyes rolled up before my head thumped onto the floor.

"Sleep.. Dream of my memory." She murmured softly into my ear as she held my prone form. What a bitch! Didn’t matter, I faded out pretty quickly...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was Twelve-Power. She was looking at something through her rifle scope- ponies assembling in the square below. I recognized some of the buildings from a 105 mural- this must be Bayston, somewhere. Before the bombs.

"How many." I heard a familiar voice crackle through something in Twelve's ear.

"Ten. Enclave spec ops, looks like."

"Eyes on my mother?"

The hooves bracing the massive rifle swung it slowly to begin reading tags. "Negative."

"Take them out. I'll secure the VIP, make sure those pilots don't leave without us."

"Not much chance of that- they're a little... tied up at the moment." The pony at the other end snickered just about the same time as Twelve smoothly bit her trigger. The gun -thumped- and the thundering crash echoed off the courtyard's wall as one of the ponies was tossed back with his head missing.

Instantly the other nine looked for... anything to attack. For the mystery force that had snuffed one of their companions so cleanly (well, the effect was rather splattery, but you get my meaning). Automatic fire chattered and rounds skipped off the building below me as they tried to fix their guns on us, Twelve smoothly locking on and dropping ponies with measured shots even as they scrambled to attempt to not die. Breathe in, breathe out, bite the trigger. Repeat. Repeat. Ten times in all. I winced at the recoil of the rifle even dampened as it was, the muffled crump of the rounds, a throb in our chest at every pony that dropped dead.

Neatly, Twelve reloaded her rifle and gathered the spent casings before letting out a small breath and returning to scanning the square below us as somepony came out of a roof access hatch behind us. The alicorn twisted, grasping her rifle in her forelegs as she rolled onto her back, two ornately carved large-caliber pistols with lyres engraved on the slides drawing themselves in a sheath of magic and leveling them as she recognised the mare as Sapper.

At least, Twelve knew her as Sapper. All I saw was a unicorn in black combat armor, including a helmet and facemask that she removed to reveal a scarred face and that choppy mane of blonde that I knew mover that purple-gray coat.. Our eyes met for a moment before I turned to face the mare she was leading... The VIP we'd come to Bayston to rescue before the hospital got hit.

She was a butter-yellow pegasus with a cotton-candy-pink mane  and tail. A medic uniform of a type and cut I almost recognized adorned her, as well as a rebreather mask over her muzzle. She coughed a little as I watched her. Her body language spoke volumes of her age, but the set and expression of her eyes spoke of a deep inner beauty, a peace...

".. What happened? Where's the doc?"

The pegasus spoke up, rasping for breath after every few words. Her voice was soft.. It reminded me of... A butterfly. A broken butterfly, if that makes sense. Once soft, cute, now carrying a deep ugliness. "Herr Clancy shall not be joining us. He has elected to stay behind, come what may. He was caring for patients and locking down the research labs when we were on our way out. The Enclave shall never take this place, Princesses willing."

We nodded, as my ten generations removed grandmother lead us and the pegasus up the ramp of a Vertibuck that was waiting on the roof of the Center, the Enclave's insignia painted over with that of Stable-Tek. Me and Twelve turned and peered through her rifle scope, searching for targets, hastily set up triple-A. Seeing nothing, we turned to enter the vehicle that had lifted off at this point and was hovering.

And walked into the barrel of a gun. It was small, but judging by looks would do the job. The face of the pegasus behind it was serious. Horrific scarring stretched from the corners of her mouth to the hinge of her jaw, with multiple false starts apparent. Somepony had cut her badly at one point in her life, made her smile forever... She fired, and we were pitched back out of the vehicle, falling an appreciable distance to the rooftop. The afterimage of that tortured mare's grimace at what she was about to do burned into my brain...

"We trot off to our deaths. Wield your rifle to protect ponies, Twelve-Power. But first your compassion. Those you slaughtered just now like pigs did not need to die. Do better, and perhaps the Stable-Tek nostrum of 'Equestria Prevails' shall come true."

Twelve-Power sat and investigated her unmarred combat uniform, before examining her rifle. I realized what had occurred... The pegasus had used a weapon whose sole effect was a 'shove'. All that pistol would ever do is push an assailant away.

She must be -stupidly- kind and gentle. I hoped the Wasteland hadn't swallowed her up.

We dusted ourselves off and rose, turning and trotting back down into the building. This was different than flying with Dash had been, then the pegasus and I had been one mind and soul. This felt off, I experienced what Twelve did, but didn't get much beyond an inkling of her emotions or a shadow of her thoughts. A thickly-accented voice could be heard over the intercom system.

"AH! Vun of my amalgam friends... Come downstairs, and VE VILL SEE if you are useful.."

We moved through the hospital, past labs and examination rooms. Soft music filled the air as we trotted along, our hoofsteps thunking slightly louder than the cheerful sound of a viola playing circles around the punctuation of a contrabass, a harp plinking over all (how did I know about music?)  The effect of the whole ambiance, from the music to the darkened hallways, was rather creepy...

We turned the corner into a room marked 'Intensive Care- Foals' where a griffon was trotting (trotting?) from bed to bed affixing gas masks to little muzzles. Then he spoke, and I realized this was a stallion; a pegasus wearing a strange mask that had a beaky appearance. He turned his head, and the amber lenses stared at Twelve with such intensity that I swore he could see me riding shotgun.

"I see. I vill not be evacuatingk. I am THROUGH VIS RUNNINK. Ze Enclave shall divulge the SECRETS of the Medical Center over my DEAD BODY."

He turned away, the gray male's body language expessing such compassion for the whimpering foal before him that I nearly cried. I watched, dumbstruck from my place in Twelve's head as he embraced the horrifically injured foal. Then he pulled back, thumping a hoof softly against her chest, a loud CRACK issuing through the space as a mechanism on his foreleg discharged a twenty gauge slug....

"I am not here to evacuate you, Doctor. I am here to... Learn to do better."

"Do better? PAH! The only better zat can be done these days is from ze barrel of a gun. Copies of ponies, mechanical monstrosities, the ability to cleanse the VURLD in a single flash of athaumic FIRE and the constant threat of this occurring... Better is dead. The most ve can hope for is good. Ve must do good, ja? The most good for the greatest number. A better place for those we cannot help. Fluttershy is many things, but this she needs must learn. I have done so much runnink in mine life... It is time for me to stand my ground!"

The vision went white and faded about then...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found myself laying on the floor of the troop transport, Twelve's horn no longer touching mine. I groaned and rose, and realized something was wrong. Twelve hadn't moved, but apparently Gilda had. Judging by the hole in the wall, we'd crashed and hit something...

"She wasn't going to be imprisoned. She managed to break her bonds somehow and killed the pilots."

"Where are w-" 'PIPBuck Tag Added' my automapping spell advised- 'Vertibuck Wreck'. My area map showed us to be in... Canterlot. There was a semicircle behind where our vehicle laid of empty space on the map.

"It's too quiet." Twelve stared at me as we trotted along. We'd managed to extricate ourselves through the hole ripped in the transport's side. We'd been utterly silent ever since- About ten, twenty minutes.

"You're complaining about it being quiet? Not getting shot, blown up, or whacked in the head?" My ears twitched as I tried to follow something I saw in the corner of my vision.

"Quiet is good, yes yes. Silence, no. Silence is not so good."

I was holding Little Bloom in a telekinetic sheath, the blue overglow surrounding it lighting up the darkness around us. (Not that either of us needed the illumination!) I stared up at a haughty statue of Celestia as we passed by it, Twelve covering my blind spots with a pistol "borrowed" from one of the pilots.

"She looks scary..." There was a definite fracture between the image of the mare who had replenished me in my time of need and this effigy. Then she had been all calm grace and beauty, a Wasteland Angel come to heal me. This statue looked like a frosty bitch, liable to salt wounds rather than offer succor. I heard the faint echo of her voice in my head, 'Everypony deserves a second chance'.

Soon my new sniper friend took point as she could follow in Gilda's tracks as if the griffon had stepped in paint. She paused at a thick, foglike section of the cloud surrounding the mountain city that hung across the next intersection like a pall. I could hear unsettling music from where we stood. "We can go no further in this direction. This cloud is made of a highly toxic, corrosive substance. In the amounts that we're currently breathing, damage is acceptable and will heal. No more than a dry nose. If we venture into this thicker part we will be liquified, or our barding will merge with us.. No telling what could happen."

I added 'Crazy pink clouds of stupid gas' to the list of shit that I hated. "Ookay. Where did the Major get to then?"

Twelve-Power cast about and pointed to a building with a large plate-glass window. "Into that building."

Right. Of course. "Well, soldier-types first. I'm just a maintenance mare."

I smirked as she trotted in, blinking as I noticed two things. A, this seemed to be a shop of some sort. B, there were two mechafillies and a glowing blue pony watching me. I stared back at the orange fillies and the ghostly stallion. "... Twelve? Stable pony's confused, here."

"It's a Holo-Vendor. It can replicate items stored by its memory into the real thing. They were beginning to be phased in before the bombs dropped, the only place you're likely to see one is here in Canterlot."

"Sounds improbable, but I've heard worse. I'm less likely myself, and..."

"Watch where you step. Get too close to the vital machinery of it and they'll probably fire upon you." I looked down to see two small dots on my chest from the left eyes of the 'turrets'. I was amazed they were functional after all this time! I longed to tear one apart and peer at its insides!

The holo-whatever stared blankly at my bottlecaps and seemed offended by the few shiny bits I had, so we moved on to try and catch up to Gilda. Why we were chasing her I didn't know. I guess I liked her in a standoffish manner, and was begging for another two in the head.

Twelve lead me own street after street, no time to stop, no time to think about the flashes I saw in the corners of my eyes- shadows and ghosts of the crippled city. We paused to let Twelve find Gilda's trail as I watched two shadows argue about a hooficure. It was rather creepy, honestly. I rubbed my hornn as we started up again.

Eventually we reached a fountain. It seemed as if a party had been set up and then abandoned; decorations festooned the square, and sound equipment and lighting were everywhere!

"This feels like a trap."

I stared at a pony I noticed coming out of an alleyway. Yellow plastic sheathed its form. Another joined it, and another, and another. A soft sound from Twelve beside me made me turn to see another crowd of eerily preserved ghouls forming in the wider street.

They were nothing like the happy bubbly Ditzy that I knew. Those not wrapped in protective suits snapped jaws menacingly as they swarmed, filling every alleyway and street and possible way out... We were trapped, outnumbered, and utterly fucked.

Footnote: Level Up.

Guns +25

Quest Perk Added; Shit Wrecked- You got your shit wrecked, but don't worry; you've been granted a second chance! Unfortunately, having your shit wrecked has the unfortunate consequence of ending in a lot of your shit getting lost... But it also lets you get things back together a little tidier this time around!

Companion Perk Added; Ability Osmosis- Seriously, how did this happen? After spending some time in Twelve-Power's head, you feel like you could play a seductive tune on anything over a candlelit dinner you prepared, and your weapons handling is about 20% better. (Guns increased, cooking and musical skill added.)

Perk Added; Sparkly Science- Twilight tends to whisper in your head. She knows a lot, so you know a lot! Who knew possession could be benign? She also isn't shy of commenting on the current situation (You really should get rid of that Robco piece of junk on your foreleg). So if she's willing, you'll use her Science (100) skill instead of your own in checks!