Fallout Equestria: Broken Steel - Under the Red Cloud

Fallout Equestria: Broken Steel

Under the Red Cloud

Chapter 2: The Cloud and the Ghost

I sat down after my conversation with the hologram and groaned. What the fuck have I been dragged into this time? From the conversation I had with the old git over the hologram I seem to have been dragged here for a fucking robbery. I can’t believe I’ve been brought here to steal from this place. What can be so valuable in the casino that drives everypony to be greedy assholes willing to kill their own friends over? Gold? Technology? Nothing is worth that.

I let out a deep sigh. I have no choice but to do as he says since I have this thing around my neck. I can feel the worn cushion on the inside of the collar rubbing against my neck, a constant reminder that I’ve got no choice. Well I do, but the alternative isn’t worth thinking about. I have a family I need to get back to.

I looked down trying to see if I could see the collar but my eyes instead met the dirty white jumpsuit I have somehow been shoved in. I remembered the beheaded corpse back in the bunker and my skin began to crawl as this was the same kind of jumpsuit. I didn’t know if it was the same one but just wearing this made me feel dirty and horrible with the idea of wearing a dead pony’s outfit. In a fit of disgust I used my magic to grip the fabric of the suit and then pulled it with my magic in several different directions and was happily met with the satisfying sounds of the fabric tearing and the sensation of the cloth being torn away from my body. I sighed with relief as the cold air of the Maredre met my hide. Free of the horrible jumpsuit I looked around myself. On the floor next to me lay a pair of magical saddlebags which had fallen off me when I tore the suit off and just in front of me lay the weapon I was left with. Picking up both items with my magic I placed the saddlebags on my back and fastened them around my waist as I placed the weapon across my back. I lifted my cybernetic leg and opened my PipBuck compartment to view the device. I scrolled through each of the tabs in my equipment screen and sighed in frustration.

“Nothing, I have absolutely nothing,” I groaned. Indeed I have virtually nothing. The Weapon tab only had one item, which must be the rifle I was given. My PipBuck somehow labelling it the “Holorifle”. Whatever the fuck that means. The Apparel tab only had the slave bomb collar. which was unselectable, obviously. The Aid tab had nothing, so it seems I have no healing aids. Gonna have to scavenge around the Villa for meds. Oh wait… I opened a small compartment which houses my regeneration talisman. The compartment opened and I nearly screamed in frustration. My pink regeneration talisman was gone. Why, why the fuck would the Villa’s security system label it an illicit or dangerous item? It can’t be because it’s a zebra talisman can it? Fuck, never mind, can’t brood over this now, it’s done, nothing I can do about it. I looked back at my PipBuck to continue my evaluation of my current state. The Misc. tab was also empty. Finally I checked the ammo tab, which showed I had only twenty five Microfusion Cells [BULK]. Well at least I have a few rounds for the rifle but its still pretty much nothing. This is going to be rough.

Coming to grips with my situation I stood up and looked around. The Fountain was the dominant feature in this large open area of the Villa. This is obviously the entry point to the Villa and where most traffic would have gone through. The Villa must have looked nice when it was new. It had a nice brick base for all the arches I am seeing around the ground floor of most of the buildings around me, and white walls with red shingled roofs. The nice look of the place was spoiled by many patches of the plaster that have crumbled away from the white wall areas to reveal the bricks underneath, and plenty of roofing tiles have slipped and fallen from their places. The windows were mostly framed with old style wooden shutters that had been painted blue, but several of the shutters have either fallen off or were barely hanging on with one hinge. The constant darkness and deep red shade from the sky didn’t help to give the Villa an inviting look, it made it more dark and creepy. Taking another look around I see that there is a gate up in front of me which I believe will take me to the casino on the cliff, a street to my right, behind me the gate home and to my left another street. I lifted my PipBuck again and toggled to the world map screen. As the image of the Villa’s map appeared I found that I am in the dead centre of the Villa and that the locations of the streets and gates were lined up to be exactly North, South, East and West. The street going east would lead me to the gates for the “Residential District” and “Salida del Sol South”. The street to my left would lead me to the “Medical District”, “Puesta del Sol North” and the “Villa Police Station”. I also then become aware that I had a direction marker already pointing me to the police station for one of the ponies I’m suppose to find. I need to look around a little first, I can’t just head straight there as I don’t know what dangers could lurk the streets and I need some supplies. With that in mind I began to look around.

The basin of the Fountain was dry but is also littered with lots of gold, hexagonal objects. I used my magic to pick up one of these gold coinlike items and examined it. One side of the coin was decorated with the face of Celestia, and on the back it was decorated with a full body image of Celestia with her wings and forelegs outstretched, holding a banner that read “Begin Again”. On the left side of the engraving it had “Sierra” and on the right it had “Maredre” written. My EFS labelled the coin as a “Sierra Maredre Chip”. Of course, it’s a casino chip to be used in the casino itself. No, that can’t be right, if it was the chips wouldn’t be scattered about in a fountain like pennies for wishes. With the sheer number of the chips lying in the basin, they must also be the currency of this place, it’s the only explanation I can think of to explain why so many of them were scattered about like this. I climbed up and into the basin of the Fountain as I began to collect the chips. They might be useful to me. By the time I did a complete circuit of the Fountain I had picked up fifty three chips and thanks to the magical storing properties of my saddlebags I didn’t have a huge weight and bulge to slow me down or get in the way. Climbing down from the basin and back onto the floor facing the gate to the casino, I noticed something lying on the floor at the base of the Fountain. Picking it up with my magic I was surprised that I had found a very useful skill book. “Pugilism Illustrated”. I haven’t seen many of these books before, but I know from other ponies that they are very informative and have helped to teach lots of ponies how to do things. This particular book focuses on hoof to hoof combat, something I sorely lack experience in. I sat down and took a few minutes to quickly skim through the book. It’s a good thing this book is also illustrated, as the information would take ages to read but the pictures are like an idiot guide. With only skimming through it I’ve already picked up one or two things from the book which might turn out to be useful while I’m here. I stuck the book into my saddlebags for reading later and began my search.

Walking around the roundabout road and looking under the archways of the Villa, I came across lots of useless junk and a fair few items I could use. Such as: Drained Microfusion Cells, some packs of food, a couple bottles of purified water (I did find more bottles, but the water in them was contaminated), and a new weapon. I had picked up an odd looking knife. It looked like your mother’s large kitchen knife, the kind used to chop vegetables, but the entire thing was metal where the standard knife normally had like a wooden mouth grip. This knife is also ridiculously sharp. Even with the knife being dirty and has been exposed to the elements for two hundred years. I had accidentally scraped it along my cybernetic leg as I picked it up and it left a groove in the metal, which is why I say it’s ridiculously sharp.. I don’t have a clue what it’s made from, but my PipBuck has labelled it as a “Cosmic Knife”. A part of me thinks the knife is made from Starmetal, but I don’t know.

Another interesting thing I’ve found is graffiti on the walls, like what the old stallion had mentioned. One of them is on the arch over the gate to the casino which read “The Gala is the Key”, which I don’t understand, and the other one I saw is on the arch over the gate to the exit which was more of a warning, as it read: “Try to leave and BOOM!”, with the “BOOM” surrounded by a spiked speech bubble like those seen in comics when somepony is shouting. The longer I explore the more I dislike this place.

Under an arch towards the east road I found an odd looking device. It looked like some sort of TV, with the top half having a circular screen, but completely see through. The base was more like a large box with no buttons or anything to explain to me what it is. It did, however, have a small slot in the upper half of its base which had a small image of a chip on it. I suppose it takes the chips, but for what? Curious to find out what it is, I lifted my organic forehoof to the screen and gently poked it to see if I could interact with it. To my surprise, a table appeared on the screen showing my inventory on the left and inventory of the machine on the right. Above the right side table it was labelled “Vending Machine”, and its list of items backed that up. It had practically everything I could think of, and it also separated each item into categories to make it easier to find the items you are looking for. In one tab it had Pack of Cigarettes and Carton of Cigarettes but with [RETURN] beside them. I assume that means if I find said items I can exchange them for the number of chips it states, which are five chips for a pack and twenty for a carton. This vending machine has at least told me the other purpose to the chips and also that I can get supplies from them if I need them. It might not be that hopeless here after all.

I may have found a fair few supplies, but I am still without any healing aids, so I decided to explore a little down the east street. I followed the street for a minute or two until I came to a right turn. There is another fountain against the wall, this one more of a wall decoration but still with a floor basin and, inside it, more chips. After pocketing an extra six chips I looked up to see a lantern still working. Next to it was more graffiti but this one sounded like one of the ponies described to have lost all sense as it simply said “Maredre mine, Mine, MINE!”. I shook my head at the stupidity of the pony that wrote that and turned away to my left to see a set of arches with a tunnel leading to a small square courtyard.

Walking through the passage, I found that the square courtyard had a path going around it lined with arches, so ponies could walk around under the arches if the weather was bad. There is also a wooden balcony above me; it seems to start from the top right of the square upper wall and to the bottom left. I then became aware of a red marker, and quickly turned around to my right to see the hostile target. I waited for a moment since I couldn’t see it, but then a Radroach scurried out from behind an arch pillar. I sighed with relief that it wasn’t anything bad. I quickly took the Cosmic Knife off my flank and approached the insect. The large bug noticed me and began to scurry towards me. Before it could try to bite me, I swung the knife and effortlessly cleaved the bug in two. I was amazed with how easy it was. Damn this knife is sharp. Placing the knife back on my hip I continued to look around. As I approached the top left corner from where I came in, I noticed something wooden poking out from behind a pillar. Curious, I walked around. On the wall facing the pillar, I saw more graffiti, but this was just a heart with a black painted arrow pointing diagonally down. Following it made my heart flutter. Lying propped up against the pillar is a Brayning Automatic Rifle, BAR for short.

“Hearths Warming’s come early” I practically shouted in glee as I seized the huge heavy rifle with my magic. I revelled in the feel of the heavy weight. I love big rifles. I was lucky to have used one of these during my training back when I was a Pondale Ranger Initiate. The weapon is deadly powerful with it using .308 rounds and being a fully automatic weapon. This thing could stop a minotaur in its tracks. Despite its firepower and being automatic, the weapon was let down by having a wide spread. Its power and recoil made it a difficult weapon to control. It was best firing this weapon in a few round bursts to maintain accuracy. While I examined the large, long and heavy weapon my pipbuck was able to tell me the condition of the weapon and my glee at finding this rifle quickly faded to disappointment as the condition of the weapon is around eight percent. Its condition was so poor that it would likely disintegrate if I fired it. I opened my saddlebags and gently pushed the weapon inside to keep it for later. Once it was safely packed away I looked back to where I picked it up and found two small cardboard boxes of ammo lying on the floor. I smiled as I picked them up but again my smile faded as I read what the boxes contained.

“Twenty gauge shotgun shells?” I whined as I then pocketed them as well. “Ugh, first I find a kickass rifle which ends up being in shit condition, and then I find two boxes of ammo it can’t even use. What a load of bollocks.”

I grumbled to myself about my find as I walked over to an open door with a wall sign saying “Gift Shop” and walked inside. I had seen the door from the courtyard, and there was a blue light coming from within. When I looked up from my grumbling I nearly shat myself, because standing behind a counter looking at me stood a hologram. I stared at it for a while and it stared right back. After standing there for about five minutes I determined the hologram wasn’t going to do anything. The hologram looked to be a stallion in a business suit and he seemed to be looking at me expectantly, as if it was waiting for me to do something. I took another quick look around and it finally dawned on me. The hologram is a shop clerk. It must have a similar barter system to the vending machines, but how do I initiate transaction?

“Um, err, Hologram, initiate transaction” I ordered, half expecting it not to do anything.

“Transaction initiated” It stated emotionlessly and then a table similar to the one the vending machine displayed appeared in the air in front of it. However, unlike the vending machine, the hologram appeared to only accept Pre-War Money, aka Bits. Of course I didn’t have any Pre-War Money and even if I did, the condition of the old currency wouldn’t be accepted so these hologram merchants would be useless.

“Transaction cancel,” I groaned.

“Transaction cancelled, Have a nice day,” it said as the table disappeared and the hologram resumed its staring contest with the wall.

I rolled my eyes and began to search the shop. I frowned. It looked like the shop had already been ransacked by other ponies that have been brought here before, as there wasn’t much left on the shelves. Whatever was left was nothing but crap. While I trotted about the store however, I found a bunch more chips in a broken old freezer and picked them all up. After another quick look around I found the cash register on the floor behind the counter. Usually when I’m looking at something that’s owned or would result in bad karma, the object would be highlighted red by my EFS. But my EFS was showing the register in blue, meaning I could open it and takes its contents without any negativity. The hologram didn’t budge or look at me as I used my magic to open the register. Inside, I found two bundles of Pre-War Money in the form of paper banknotes, ten more chips which brings my total to eighty, and a holotape. I raised an eyebrow as I pocketed everything and pulled the holotape up to exam it.

“Return Code Holotape: Casual Wear” it is labelled as. I flipped it around to look at the back, where I found text on the bottom. “To be used with Villa and Maredre vending machines”. Oh yeah, the vending machine I saw earlier had return options for returning items. I smiled as I realised that if I could find more holotapes with these codes, I could maybe return more items for chips.

Another quick look around the shop told me there was nothing left to even bother with. At the back of the shop, I saw a set of stairs leading up to the first floor. I approached the stairs, and tucked away between the back far corner next to the stairs and a set of shelves, lay three suitcases. Two of the suitcases were empty, but the third just had a set of Pre-War Casual Wear. My EFS told me the old sundress I picked out of the suitcase somehow increased my Endurance and Agility by one point. How a dress like this can do that I don’t know, but at least this’ll be something to wear for the time being. I quickly removed my saddlebags and slipped into the cream coloured and butterfly decorated sundress and placed the saddlebags back on my back. Despite being two hundred years old, the dress actually felt really nice on my fur.

The first floor was barer than the ground floor. To the back of the room behind the stairs sat a kitchen area with a worktop, cooker and a fridge without a door. Along the wall opposite the stairs sat two sets of old shelves which had a few pieces of junk sitting on them and some cigs. Remembering what I saw on the vending machine, I pocketed the three packs and the one carton from the shelves. Along the wall facing the stairs was nothing but an old run down couch and a door that looked to be bulging, as if something was pressing hard against it. I could see rubble pushing out from the gaps so I assume the room beyond the door has had a cave in. The far wall had an open door that lead onto the balcony above the courtyard, and beside me at the top of the stairs is another door that was closed.

“I can go through the door to the balcony on the way back,” I thought as I then gripped the door handle with my magic and pushed it open. The door opened up onto another balcony and my eyes widened in surprise as what lay beyond the threshold entered my vision. Past the balcony I could see a swirling, thick, deep red cloud, and the smell of sulphur and the taste of copper was far, far more potent here. This must be a dense cloud of whatever is in the air here, and by the burning in my nose and throat it wouldn’t be a good idea to stick around. I was about to turn around to go the other way when I then noticed something glowing on the far side of the courtyard filled with the cloud.

I poked my head out of the door to have a look around outside. Up above the balcony is a roof that is largely intact and seems to be sheltering the balcony from the thick cloud. The balcony still had a guard rail in place until the far end which looked like somepony had barrelled through it. The hole in the rail is only a few feet from the back wall, and level with the balcony is a roof that at the bottom, met up with the balcony. The roof actually forms a pathway to the glowing thing on the other side.

“Hmm,” I thought aloud as I wondered if there are other low roofs like this one that can form pathways to other places. I stepped out onto the balcony and slowly trotted to the hole in the railing, and then onto the low roof. I climbed up the shallow roof so I was flush with the wall and looked over to the glowing thing on the opposite side and frowned.

“That horrible cloud is on the roof,” I groaned.

Looking up, I could see that there is a small overhang of a roof above that didn’t cover the roof to shelter it. I hugged the wall where the overhang did shelter and could see clearly to the other end and to what looked to be a small alcove. The glowing thing turned out to be a glowing horseshoe print with a red dot in the middle. Remembering the heart I saw on the wall in the last courtyard, I figured this could also be a marker with some supplies I could use, but I suspected a trap. The print is glowing and is indeed meant to attract attention to it, so it could be as much as a trap as it could be for help. I sighed. With no supplies to speak of as of yet, I decided to take the risk and began to run through the cloud over the shingled roof.

Almost immediately I began to feel queasy as I began to breathe in the thick cloud. I could feel my stomach start to churn and flip and almost threaten to send up whatever was still in my belly. My throat, lungs and nostrils felt like somepony had lit a fire in them and was also beating them with a rake, and my head began to swim. I could feel something like a horrible migraine coming on as I ran through the cloud and not only did my vision also began to blur with how my eyes were burning and watering so badly, my head felt like somepony was putting it in a vice and tightening it. Everything I could feel was getting gradually worse the longer I was in the cloud, and I was even starting to become unbalanced on my hooves. I could feel myself starting to sway as I ran, but thankfully before anything got really bad I came to the alcove, and discovered that it had a recessed roof, causing my hoof to slip on the lip of the wall and I face planted into the alcove. I didn’t move my face from the floor of the roof as I wheezed and panted, coughing every now and then as recovered from my ordeal in the cloud. I was so grateful to be out of it.

XXXXX

I bolted upright with a start and looked around as I regained consciousness. I’m still on the flat roof in the recess in the upper wall of the cloud filled courtyard. I looked worriedly at the cloud as I couldn’t remember losing consciousness.

“How long was I out?” I shakily asked myself as I stood up and looked up at the thick cloud cover. Eventually I saw a little break in the clouds, and there were twinkling dots in the red sky. “Oh shit,” I cried, “it’s night!” I quickly brought up my PipBuck and checked to see exactly what the time is. As the screen flicked to my status tab, I caught the time in the top corner and gasped. The time read thirteen minutes past eight. I’ve been out for almost six hours. Realising how late it is and that the sun would have set by now, I looked around again in bewilderment, as everything looked the same. It hasn’t darkened at all. Wow, this cloud must be so thick that it blots out the sun.

Recovering from my shocking realization that I was out cold for so long, I looked around again at the recess now that I wasn’t panicking. Thankfully there aren’t any traps lying around, but there are some things that made me smile. First is a suitcase standing up against the wall. I trotted up to it and sat down as I used my magic to open the case. I was pleasantly surprised with the contents. Inside I found a Colt Police Pistol, a small short barrelled six shot .357 Magnum revolver with a filed down hammer and mouth grip, a small plastic bag of .357 Magnum rounds, with my PipBuck somehow being able to tell me that it held thirty six rounds even though I haven’t even opened the bag. I found a hoof full of Microfusion Cells, a few miscellaneous items which would be worthless to me, and thankfully four healing potions which, according to my EFS’s health meter, at least, I needed them badly as I was down to just under a third of my health. Damn, just what is in that cloud? I drank the potions one by one and sighed with relief as I felt myself getting better. The headache and most of the burning in my throat and lungs fading away, I was back in the state I was in before I went through the cloud.

My medical skill isn’t very high so it takes every one of the four potions to bring me back to full health. I seriously need to talk to Sky Fire about some lessons. Without my regeneration talisman I’m quite vulnerable. I forgot how fragile a pony’s body really is from ten years of having that thing keeping me healthy.

After taking what I could use from the suitcase. My PipBuck had labelled the case as “Dean’s Stash,” which I found a little odd, wondering who this Dean is and how the PipBuck knew about him, but shrugged it off. I found three bottles of alcohol and another bottle of something I didn’t recognize. My PipBuck labelled the unknown bottle as a “Sierra Maredre Martini”. I decided to pocket it for its healing properties that my PipBuck said it had, but left the rest. I don’t drink.

Next to the alcohol sat a box that made me sigh with relief. A familiar yellow and pink cross with butterflies, a Fluttershy medical kit. I opened the box and smiled brighter. It was full. I picked out three more healing potions, a single super healing potion, four Rad-Aways, one Rad-X and five bobby pins. This’ll hopefully see me through the cloud again with the super healing potion remaining.

Lastly, nestled in a corner is something that had me smiling again, another BAR. I hefted the twenty pound rifle over to me and examined it. My first impression is that the weapon looks to be in better condition than the last one. I performed the necessary checks and the weapon seemed to perform smoothly. My PipBuck displayed the BAR as around eighty percent, which is just what I wanted to see. My mood now a little higher, I took out the other BAR and used my repair spell to increase the condition of the one I just found. Once the spell was complete I now had one BAR now just over ninety percent. I put the Holorifle into my saddlebags and placed the BAR on my back. It felt good to be carrying a huge heavy rifle again. My mood got even better when I also noticed the three boxes of ammo that had been hidden behind the BAR when I picked it up. I picked up the three boxes and smiled in delight. Three full boxes of .308 means I’ve now got seventy two rounds for this BAR. Oh thank Celestia.

Once I packed away everything I needed I looked back to the cloud and sighed. I have to go back through it to get out of here. At least now I know to avoid the fucking thing if I run into it again elsewhere in the Villa. I gulped nervously as I looked at the thick swirling cloud of death before taking a deep breath and  bolting through. Even though I galloped as fast as I could, I still came out suffering nearly as much damage as before, but since I’ve experienced it once already I knew what to expect and thankfully didn’t collapse when I made it to the relative safety of the living room above the gift shop. I took a moment to rest and drink another two healing potions before I set off again.

The balcony in the clear courtyard led me to another apartment room with a kitchen and a double bed with a nightstand. The nightstand contained a pair of sunglasses which I slipped on as my PipBuck said increased my perception, and six more chips. The room had a door opposite the one I entered which lead onto another balcony into the main street above the passage I used to get into the courtyard. The balcony had some more chips lying around on it, which I took, and a metal box that was locked. The lock looked complicated and with only five bobby pins, I decided to leave it alone. Now that I have some supplies, I might as well head to the Police Station.

XXXXX

The walk from the Fountain down the west street led me to a fork in the road, and to a set of gates that would take me to “Puesta del Sol”. I was scared shitless as I got close to the gate, as out of nowhere that old bastard uses a nearby speaker and shouted “Don’t go through the gate to Puesta del Sol yet, gather the others first!” With the threat of my head going pop if I continued, I turned around and went the other way. Along the way I picked up more chips and explored an open apartment, which had an upstairs with a balcony. The balcony had three boards going across it to a neighbouring balcony, and in the room on the other side I found a gun locker with a Magical Laser Pistol and thirty two Energy Cells for it. Jumping down from the balcony, I found more graffiti, but this one was different. It was scratched into the wall and looked like the letters were backwards, but I could tell what it said. It read “Find me and we can talk”. I didn’t get what it meant, so I ignored it and made my way up the stairs.

The stairs opened up to a large open area. I could see a little recess in the wall to my left, to my right more stairs, and ahead more arches. Nestled between the stairs and the arches is another small fountain, but I could see the blacken bones of a pony from behind the stairs with a wooden pole sticking up from it. I walked to the recess and found yet another fountain, this one filled with chips and tucked away into a corner is a bottle of whiskey that I left alone after pocketed the chips. As I walked over the arches I stopped and swivelled my ears around as I could hear something. I closed my eyes and strained my ears, and over the rumble of thunder and the constant howling noise, I could now pick up periodic chimes, as if somepony is ringing a bell. This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

As I approached the arches, I noticed another one of those glowing hoof prints. I smiled, remembering what the last one gave me as I cantered under the arch and found the suitcase up against the brickwork pillar along with a double barrelled Caravan Shotgun.

“FINALLY!” I yelled to myself when my eyes fell upon the shotgun, “something to use those damned shotgun shells with!” I was also glad to find another box of shells to go with it. I have plenty of twenty gauge shells now, but unfortunately the Caravan Shotgun is a pretty weak weapon. I pocketed the shotgun and ammo and moved onto the suitcase, my EFS confirming it to be another “Dean’s Stash”. Smiling, I used my colourless magic to pry open the worn suitcase and gazed at its contents. This one was actually disappointing. It was filled with more junk than anything else but I did manage to pull out a few more Microfusion Cells and another Cosmic Knife. Sighing with disappointment with the stash, I pocketed the cells and used my repair spell to combine the two knives to make the high quality one better.

Shaking my head from the find I turned to the other fountain nestled between the wall and the stairs. I gasped when I saw the skeleton up close. The pole I saw earlier turned out to be a makeshift spear that was made from a broom handle and four of those Cosmic Knives strapped to one end. I cringed as I looked at how the skeleton is posed. It looks like the pony was reaching for a pair of Purified Water bottles that are just a few inches from its hooves, and with how spear is angled it looks like somepony quite literally stabbed this pony in the back. The blades of the knifes had cut right through the pony’s ribs and embedded themselves into the floor. That old stallion isn’t full of shit after all. I hope none of these ponies I’m supposed to gather have the same idea about stabbing me in the back.

I decided to leave the spear where it is in respect of the dead as well as leaving the water the pony had been reaching for. I didn’t feel right taking something this pony died trying to get. I did, however, pocket the chips I found in the fountain. Once I picked up the last chip, I turned to the stairs and began to climb them. As I neared the top of the flight of stairs, I slowed right down as I noticed a red marker on my EFS and then suddenly my broadcaster crackled to life.

“Watch out for the Villa inhabitants, they’re… difficult to kill unless you chop them apart… if you can, blow them up or disintegrate them”

I yipped out in surprised and then quickly hugged the stairs to hide myself from sight in case that hostile heard my cry.

“Celestia damn it,” I silently said to myself, “does he have to do that? He scared me half to death”

I began to hear what sounded like a broken rebreather and the clip clop of hooves. Curious to what the old git meant by “Villa Inhabitants”, I slowly crept up the stairs so I could see over the top step. I raised an eyebrow as the “Villa Inhabitant” turned out to be a pony wearing a hazmat suit, but it did give off a creepy and dark vibe. The pony walked in a strange manner, almost as if it was drunk. The worn dark brown suit covered the entire pony, even its head was covered up by a breathing mask with glowing green eye lenses. I shivered, hearing the rebreather and when I saw a green puff of gas come out of the mask. The hazmat wearing pony stopped facing me, crouched down and then levitated out a Knife Spear like the one in the skeleton and seemed to prod the ground with it. I found it odd that it was doing that, as there was no horn sticking out of the creature’s head to suggest it was capable of magic. Ok, this thing is weird. Seeing as this thing is a hostile I assume I’ll have to take it out in order to get past it.

I slowly pulled my BAR off my back and hefted the gun up. I looked through the square window to the semi-circle sight at the end of the barrel and sighted up the creature’s head while it was busy poking the floor with the spear. I slowly raised myself to full height and placed my legs to brace myself, took a deep breath, and then pulled the trigger with my magic. I fired off a burst of two rounds at the creature. Oh yea, this thing packs a punch with how hard it hit back into my shoulder with the recoil. My first round went wide but the second struck the creature’s head, but was deflected by the breathing mask and into the hood of the hazmat suit pulling it down. Shit, it saw me now. It let out a weird croaking growl as it then jumped to the right. The way it jumped, it was facing me but seemed to jerk about as it was in the air before it landed. What the hell is this thing? I quickly slipped into SATS to get an aim assisted shot but silently groaned in frustration as it gave me a twenty four percent chance of hitting its head. I suppose it’s only right with the BAR’s wide spread. I came out of SATS only to see the spear flying at my face. “OH SHIT” I cried and quickly dropped to my stomach. The spear flew over my head and embedded itself in the floor behind me somewhere. The creature jumped again. While it was airborne, I sprinted to a nearby arch to take cover. While I hid in cover I heard a clang. Coming out to take a shot I saw another spear embedded in the brick. Dear Luna what the fuck are those Cosmic Knives made of? I lifted the rifle and fired another two rounds as the creature was busy magically pulling another spear out of Celestia knows where. The two rounds went wide of the creature’s head. Shit! The creature flung its third spear at me as I tried to get back under cover, but this time I wasn’t quick enough, and one of the flour blades sliced through the fabric of my dress and my shoulder before impacting with the wall. I cried out in pain as the knife had cleanly cut through my dress and a good inch into my shoulder, the wound now oozing blood freely and dirtying my dress. Damn, those things are sharp. I quickly jumped out of cover and closer to the creature while it was busy pulling out another damn spear and fired off two more rounds at close range. The two rounds impacted the creature’s head, both boring into its head with a spurt of greenish blood and the creature doubled over and collapsed to the floor. About time it went down.

I turned away from the body and approached another large fountain like the one back in the centre of the Villa. I smiled as I found that like the others, it was full of chips. I heard a strange sound behind me that sounded like something gasping for breath. My smile turned into a frown as I slowly turned around, then gaping in disbelief as the supposedly dead creature seemed to raise itself into the air like it was being levitated with is back arched, before it seemed to unnaturally bend over so it hooves landed back on the floor, fully revived.

“WHAT THE FUCK?” I cried out in shock at what I just saw, the dead coming back to fucking life.

I didn’t want that damn thing to throw anymore of those spears, so I quickly ran up to it before it could react and smashed it in the face with the butt of the BAR. As it staggered away I slipped into SATS at practically point blank range. I toggled as many action points as I could into my shots,, making sure I targeted its head, thankfully having a ninety five percent chance at hitting it. When I came out of the spell and time resumed I fired out three bursts of two rounds each into the head of the creature. All six powerful .308 rounds slammed into the creature’s head and I was rewarded with the abomination’s head exploding in green blood and its body falling to the floor again. I panted with adrenaline running through my system as I stood over the body with the BAR pointing at it, waiting to see if it would get up again. Thankfully, nothing else happened. Fuck, that stallion was right. I put two rounds into its head and it got back up as if nothing happened. It took me putting six rounds at point blank range into its skull to kill the bastard. I groaned with frustration as I checked my ammo count in my current clip.

“Eight left, fuck, I wasted twelve rounds to kill that thing” Suddenly, the seventy two rounds I found for the BAR didn’t seem like all that much now. “I hope there aren’t too many of these things. Just what the fuck is it anyway?”

Looking down at the corpse, I was again surprised to find that my EFS was able to give this thing a name. It called the creature a “Ghost Harvester”. Ghost Harvester, just what the fuck is that supposed to mean?

Sighing with frustration at the encounter I turned back to the fountain and resumed my scavenging, picking up all the chips, bringing my total to over a hundred and fifty. In front of the fountain are two arches leading into another open area. Along the wall to my left, a monitor sat next to a set of stairs leading up to another street. On the wall next to the stairs and between the terminal was more of that backward lettered, scratched out graffiti. This one read: “The Casino is the Old Stallion’s collar”. What the fuck is the deal with these cryptic messages?

I trotted up the stairs and followed the street to an open door, which led into another apartment that sat next to a set of stairs going down into the plaza outside the Police Station. I looked up and noticed another set of three boards leading to a balcony. “There must be something up there for somepony to have made a makeshift bridge,” I thought to myself as I then entered the apartment. BAD IDEA!

It wasn’t until I was starting to climb the stairs that I realised the room was full of that red cloud. I didn’t see it at first because the room was so dark, and with the element of danger I started to run, barrelling up the stairs and sprinting for the hole in the wall. I crashed through a music stand and a guitar as I flopped onto the wooden bridge, coughing my guts out from the cloud. Goddesses, if this collar doesn’t kill me, this place surely will. Thankfully I wasn’t in the cloud as long as before and only suffered minimal damage, but it still had my health down to below fifty percent. I pulled out my last healing potion and downed it like a shot. I sighed with some relief as I felt it work its magic. Once I felt that it was finished, I stood up and looked back to the music stand and guitar. I picked up a magazine that I had knocked off the music stand and found it to be a mag on explosives. Weird item to have in a holiday resort, nevertheless on a music stand. I pocketed it and also stuffed the guitar into my saddlebags. What? It could be worth something back home.

Turning around, I looked to the balcony the planks led to and found that at the end of it, there were two metal ammo boxes and a medical kit. I trotted up to the boxes and opened them all, taking their contents. The first ammo box contained fourteen .357 magnum rounds, the other contained five frag-grenades which could be useful if I ran into another one of those Ghost Ponies. In the medical box I found two more healing potions and two more bobby pins. Not a bad haul from nearly killing myself in that cloud filled room. I’ve got to be more careful here.

I lowered myself down from the balcony and trotted down the stairs until I stood in the plaza outside the Police Station. I could clearly hear the bell ringing now. It was coming from the Police Station, almost like a beacon. In the large open space I saw another large fountain and a passage to the right of the Police Station. Surprisingly there aren’t any hostiles in the area, but I didn’t want to hang around with that bell ringing. Instead of going directly to the front door of the Police Station, I made my way to the passage, ignoring the chip filled fountain. I can pick them up on the way back after I find the pony with the collar.

The passage led to another square courtyard, but before I entered into it, I noticed a taught wire going across the exit, an obvious trip-wire trap. I cautiously approached the wire, and with my magic, carefully cut it to disarm it. I exhaled softly with relief as the wire fell away and looked around to find what the trap would have triggered. I cringed as I saw two chains bolted to the ceiling above me, both connected to a large metal girder. Memories of the girder that slammed into my chest and caused my wings to sprout out of me from the taint I consumed flashed in my head. I shivered at the memory, remembering how painful it was. Looking to my right from where the girder would have likely hit me if I triggered the trap I found two bear-traps where I would have likely have landed and I gaped at the position. It looked like one would have clamped on my mid-section and the other would have closed on my head. Damn, somepony really thought out this trap.

The courtyard had two doors I could see and a path leading to the back of the Police Station. I walked into the middle of the courtyard and became aware of a hostile marker on my EFS. I braced myself for another Ghost Pony but thankfully a Radroach scurried out from behind an arch pillar. I simply stamped my cybernetic hoof on the bug. The door to my right opened up into a cloud filled store, so I simply stayed away from it. The door facing the way I came opened up into another apartment. The ground floor was pretty much bare, so I headed up the flight of stairs at the back of the room to the first floor. The first floor was pretty bare too, but something caught my eye. Past a table and a metal locker, I saw a bookshelf which was empty apart from said something. I trotted up to the shelf and pulled out a bundle that had been folded up and smiled as it unravelled into a set of security armour. The armour looked identical to the Stable Security Armour I remember my stable’s security force wearing but where  the Stable Armour was blue, this armour was brownish yellow. I smiled as I slipped out of the dress and then slipped into the armour. My legs weren’t protected by the armour, but thankfully the torso had ceramic plates sewn into an armoured vest. The boots I now wore on my legs, minus my cybernetic leg, also had steel hoofcaps, which would make kicking somepony a viable compat option. I lost the endurance and agility boost the dress gave me but didn’t care as this suit of armour, which thankfully was in good condition, gave me a decent damage threshold of fifteen. I felt better now that I had something that could offer me at least some decent protection from attack now.

I exited the apartment and proceeded down the path to the back of the Police Station. I had to dispatch another roach with my Cosmic Knife and found three metal boxes, one of which was locked with a pretty easy lock and another fountain. The boxes offered me nothing but a couple of chips and Drained Microfusion Cells, and the fountain had a few more chips. I’m going to be one rich mare with the rate I’m finding these chips. After taking what I could, I turned to the door at the end of the passage and tried the handle. It didn’t budge so I assumed it was locked. Using one of the bobby pins I picked the lock, which thankfully was also quite easy, and then opened the door to the Police Station, where I should find Collar 9.